Stories from the outer limits of space and time

Science fiction and fantasy short stories

The door beyond time

A door. That one word changed the mood instantly. Ellis straightened, his eyes narrowing as he considered the possibility. There were stories in the deep space circles, tales of hidden relics and portals left behind by civilisations long gone. Most explorers laughed them off. But here, on a forgotten world in the middle of nowhere, he began to feel that chill of possibility.

The veil of the unkown

Dr. Kai stood by the porthole, captivated by the swirling eddies of crimson and emerald gas clouds outside the survey vessel, Astraeus. Just beyond those clouds was the enigma that had been his obsession for the last few days: a fragment of alien technology suspended within the mist, pulsing faintly with a rhythm that felt almost... alive.

The deeper truth

The storm was the first sign.

On any other day, Professor Malcolm Gray might have welcomed the rumble of thunder over the remote excavation site. It was a reprieve from the oppressive heat of the desert, a brief interlude of nature’s fury in the endless monotony of dust and stone. But this storm was unnatural, violent and sudden. It had come out of nowhere, crackling with a ferocity that set the hairs on his arms standing.

The last day of forever

The world ended in silence.

There was no great cataclysm, no fire raining from the sky, no devastating earthquakes splitting continents apart. Instead, it was a subtle unraveling, a quiet erasure of time itself. One by one, the hours fell away, slipping through humanity’s collective grasp like grains of sand. And when the clocks stopped, truly stopped, there was no more denying it.

The last day had begun.

The immutable past

The machine beeped, startling Ethan from his reverie. One minute left. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for what lay ahead. The plan was simple: to travel back in time and save the love of his life.

Home in the Shadows

The train rattled through the countryside, its wheels clattering a rhythm that matched Ava’s heartbeat. Outside the window, the world blurred into a patchwork of dark woods and moonlit fields. But Ava’s eyes weren’t on the scenery; they were fixed on the small, worn envelope in her hands.

The letter inside was short, written in a hand she didn’t recognize. It had arrived two weeks ago, its message as simple as it was haunting:

The clockwork prophecy

In Victorian England, an eccentric inventor creates a machine that can predict the future. But when the machine foretells a tragic event in his life, he becomes obsessed with stopping the prophecy. As he manipulates events in a desperate attempt to change his fate, the line between man and machine blurs. Each decision tightens the clockwork noose around his destiny. Can he escape his own creation, or will the prophecy claim him? A thrilling blend of steampunk and existential dread.

The silent watchers

In the year 2237, Earth was a dying planet. Its once-vibrant ecosystems had been ravaged by centuries of unchecked pollution and overconsumption. A desperate mission had been launched to colonize a distant exoplanet, Kepler-452b, a world with a similar atmosphere and climate to Earth.