A Dark and Stormy Night

The lighthouse stood tall against the stormy night sky, its once white paint now peeling and streaked with age. The crashing waves of the angry ocean lashed against the rocky coast, creating a symphony of nature’s wrath. Lightning illuminated the dilapidated structure, casting eerie shadows that danced in the howling wind.

Three figures, Mortimer, Grimble, and Wade, clad in dark, rain-soaked cloaks, approached the lighthouse with ill intentions. Their leader, a burly man with a scar running down his face, led the way. Behind him, a lanky thief with a crooked smile and a squat, muscular brute trudged through the wet sand.

“Are you sure about this, Mortimer?” Wade whispered, his eyes darting nervously.

“Shut up, Wade,” Mortimer growled. “I’ve heard the legends. The old man in there is loaded with treasure. We’ll be rich.”

“But what about the stories?” Grimble asked, his voice trembling slightly.

“What stories?”

“They say he’s got dark powers.”

“Yeah. Some sort of dark wizard or something.”

“It’s a lighthouse, not a wizard tower, you dolt.”

“What about the stories?”

“Stories to scare off cowards like you, Grimble,” Mortimer snapped. “Now keep moving.”

The bandits reached the lighthouse, its door creaking open with a gust of wind. The interior was dimly lit by flickering candles, casting long shadows that seemed to writhe with a life of their own. The air was thick with the scent of must and decay, mingling with the salty tang of the sea.

Mortimer motioned for the others to spread out, their eyes scanning for any sign of the rumoured wealth. The room was cluttered with strange artifacts and dusty books, but no treasure was in sight.

As they moved deeper into the lighthouse, an unsettling feeling crept over them.

“Where is he?” Wade whispered, his voice barely audible.

“Probably hiding,” Mortimer muttered. “Keep looking.”

A sudden creak echoed through the room, freezing the thieves in their tracks.

From the shadows emerged an elderly Moon Elf, his long silver hair flowing like a ghostly veil. He was dressed in resplendent pink silk, his blue eyes glowing with an otherworldly light. The lighthouse beam passed overhead, briefly lighting up the room. The ancient Elf leaned heavily on a cane, but his presence was ghostly in the dim light.

“Where’s the treasure old man?”

“Treasure?”

“The Ruby! Where is it? Everyone says you have it.”

“This?” Quaraun pointed a gold plated finger to the giant cabochon star ruby which hung from a gold chain round his neck.

The Blood Star Ruby, shimmered as the lighthouse beacon passed by again. The ruby’s star hovering, dancing in the light.

“There it is! Grab it!”

“So, you have come for The Blood Star Ruby,” the old Elf said, his voice calm and cold. “Foolish mortals.”

Mortimer stepped forward, brandishing a knife.

“Hand it over, old man, and we won’t hurt you.”

The Moon Elf’s lips curled into a sinister smile.

“You think you can harm me?”

Quaraun burst out laughing.

“You won’t laugh with a knife in your belly, old man!”

Quaraun stopped laughing.

“You know nothing of the power you face.”

With a swift motion, the Pink Necromancer raised his cane, and the air crackled with dark energy. The lighthouse shuddered, its walls groaning as if awakening from a deep slumber. The floor beneath the thieves’ feet began to shift, and the structure itself started to transform.

“What’s happening?” Wade screamed, his eyes wide with terror.

“It’s an earthquake!”

“We don’t have earthquakes here, you dolt!”

The lighthouse twisted and contorted, its lighthouse glimmer spell melting away, it’s true form emerging. The three bandits, stumbled, fell, and found themselves rolling across the floor.

The Pink Necromancer, knowing what was coming, clutched the banister, as the lighthouse rose taller, higher. The walls sprouted crab-like legs, and the entire structure rose, a monstrous amalgamation of stone and flesh.

A huge black crab, wearing the lighthouse perched on its shell, scuttled along the cliffside. The three bandits fell from the door, landing on the ledge in front of the giant monster crab.

“What the — -”

The bandits stumbled, their courage evaporating as the lighthouse-creature bore down on them.

Tentacles of darkness lashed out, ensnaring the thieves. The lighthouse’s beacon blazed with an eerie light, illuminating their terrified faces.

The Pink Necromancer watched impassively as his creation exacted its punishment.

“You sought wealth,” Quaraun intoned, his voice resonating with power. “But you have found only doom.”

The monstrous lighthouse tightened its grip, crushing the thieves with a relentless, supernatural force. Their screams echoed through the stormy night, swallowed by the howling wind and crashing waves.

As dawn broke, the storm subsided, leaving the lighthouse standing tall and silent once more. A plain, normal lighthouse once again. The morning sun shone across the ocean, glistening and sparkling.

Inside, Quaraun sat at his weaving loom, the peaceful rhythmic clanking of the shuttle a stark contrast to the night’s horrors.

The front door creaked open. BoomFuzzy and GhoulSpawn entered, their arms laden with groceries.

“We got caught in the storm,” GhoulSpawn explained. “Had to hunker down in an old barn last night.”

“Ghouly was scared of getting his hooves wet,” BoomFuzzy added.

“Hoof rot is a serious problem.”

“You’re a wimp.”

“I am not!”

“Anything happen while we were out?” BoomFuzzy asked Quaraun, his voice cheerful.

Quaraun glanced up, a faint smile playing on his lips.

“Nothing out of the ordinary.”

As they put the groceries away, GhoulSpawn’s eyes fell on a tiny blue bottle sitting on the shelf.

“What’s this?” he asked, picking it up.

“Oh, just another bottle of souls I caught while you were out,” Quaraun replied nonchalantly, returning to his weaving.

The lighthouse stood silent and still, its secrets safely guarded once more.

This story is published in:

• Three Wizards and a Lighthouse

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Includes the following stories: The Cursed Mirror A Quiet Morning with the Sound of Waves, Wind, and an Abundance of Fresh-Caught Fish Candied Nightmares Sapphire and Calm The Soul Eater The Drip The Cold Embrace  GhoulSpawn in the Walls A Dark and Stormy Night Braving the Icy Winds Herons in the Dunes Emerald Reflections Under The Lighthouse Light Whispering Shadows in the Fog Walking Through the Wreckage Bone Dice A Flapdoodle Wackadoodle Noodle Wizard’s Duel Chaos in The Lighthouse: Shattered Panes, Shattered Minds Yelling at the Snowstorm The Lighthouse Keeper Quarrelling Over the Last Slice of Pizza MoonSnail Cove, Maine Walking Along the Edge The Singing Crabgrass Crabs: A Green Fairy Wine Tale A Pocketful of Memories The Potter’s Hands Cold Beach, Warm Hearts Unease Dance in the Rain Every Lighthouse Keeper Dies A Cliff-side Overlook Breezy Afternoon Adoration - GhoulSpawn’s Perspective Adoration - BoomFuzzy’s Perspective Bitter Cold Winds Lover’s Triangle The Storm's Embrace Rosewater and Silk Weaving Memories by the Sea Necromancy: A Day in the Life of a Bumbling Necromancer Terror in the Silver Mist Gourmet Wonders A Threatening Letter Under the Light of a Dying Moon Unspoken Words Between Us as We Walk Through the Snow Together The Restful Sigh Psionic Warriors Channelling the Power of the Mind Springtime Drizzle Lens and Light Maintenance Tumultuous Tempest Silvered Lament Zoning Out, Watching the Snowflakes Fall Without Feeling Anything Realizing We Might Actually Be Safe The Scent of Ink and Roses A Shared Moment of Silence: Quaraun, BoomFuzzy, and GhoulSpawn Under the Moonlit Sky The Floating Paper Lanterns Beneath the Black Tower Shadows Stormbound Shadows Halloween Chaos with BoomFuzzy the Candy Corn Unicorn  Staring at the Stars Sitting on the Edge of a Cliff The Day the Lighthouse Glowed a Little Too Brightly Longing for the Warmth of the Sun, We Found Only More Darkness The Woes of Laundry: A Small Task in a Quiet Day The Shared Quiet Moments The Arrival The Scents of Simplicity: BoomFuzzy’s Kitchen and the Softness of Home In a land of ice and gloom, Where the blizzards often loom…(A blizzard hits a village...) Desolate Nostalgia on a Frozen Shoreline The Trade Caravan Bone Dice - Again Lightkeeper's Dilemma The Silent Knock The Old Haunted Quilt  Resting by the Fire The Struggle of Maintaining Their Lighthouse Home in a Harsh Winter Storm Golden Hands Sweeping the Lighthouse Sunrise Mocks the Aching Heart, a Poem by Quaraun the Last Moon Elf The Real Nightmares There’s Beauty in the Destruction The Lighthouse’s Glass-Eyed Horror What Unites Us? Velvety and Vile Mud, Bums, and the Epic Quest for Cleanliness BoomFuzzy’s Clam Chowder, His Love for Seafood, and The Joy of a Shared Meal The Cold Night's Warmth Haikus & Historians The Evening’s End: Quiet Conversations and Comfort in the Home They Built Together Peering Through the Mist and Finding Nothing But More Fog Wandering Paper Boats A Solitary Black Sock The Brownies & The Witch, or Why Faeries Don’t Wear Socks A Quiet, Relaxing Foot Rub Making the Bed The Black Sock, Again The Eaten Moon Sunset: A Bleeding Wound Upon The Sea, a Poem by Quaraun the Last Moon Elf Making Tea in the Middle of a Storm If Objects Had Desire Drying Herbs Lighthouse at the End of the World The Reflection in the Fog The Series Prologue aka Quaraun’s Backstory

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The Pink Necromancer, Moon Elf silk weaver & merchant: Quaraun on Noodle Beach. His master chef Phooka turned Lich husband: BoomFuzzy with his 1968 VW Bus Beach Noodle Food Truck. And their on again/off again mad scientist Sheep Demon lover: GhoulSpawn with his 1974 AMC Gremlin time machine. Time Travel setting swings back and forth between 40th century Maine after a comet hit the moon decimating the planet, and the 1970s, Maine. Quaraun in the main character, he and BoomFuzzy are a married gay couple. GhoulSpawn is their shared live-in lover. Art by Wendy Christine Allen.

BoomFuzzy King Gwallmaiic aka BoomFuzzy the Unicorn: Quaraun's husband, BoomFuzzy aka King Gwallmaiic, a Scottish Phooka, who is King of The UnSeelie Court. BoomFuzzy is a "classic fantasy type" Necromancer who uses sorcery to raise the dead. Being a Faerie he is also an illusionist and master of trickster magic. By profession, he is a Master Chef, owning the global monopoly on restaurants, taverns, pubs, and food trucks. Until his death, BoomFuzzy was regarded as the world's most powerful wizard. He is now a Lich. BoomFuzzy is also half-Human. His mother was a Mongolian/Chinese Human, which is why he wears distinctively Asian outfits, along with a great kilt worn as a cape. Known as BoomFuzzy the Unicorn, he often takes the form of a purple Unicorn. BoomFuzzy's exact age is unknown, though he was well over two thousand years old at the time of his death, and Quaraun resurrected him as a Lich around 500+ years ago, making him close to 3,000 years old. In his BlackBird form he is fifteen thousand years old. Art by Wendy Christine Allen

Quaraun Quaraun aka The Pink Necromancer: The F2M transgender Persian Moon Elf main character: The Pink Necromancer, Quaraun The Insane, with BoomFuzzy the Unicorn. F2M for those unaware = Quaraun was biologically born female, but transitioned to live as a male; this is why there are stories where Quaraun is sometimes pregnant, in spite of being male and using he/him male pronouns. Quaraun is a Necromancer by the actual dictionary definition of the word, meaning he is a psychic medium who sees and hears ghosts, and uses tarot, spirit boards, and seances to communicate with the dead. By profession he is a silk weaver/tailor/silk merchant. Quaraun is an Elder God JellyFish who takes the form of an Elf to blend in with society. His 12 foot long hair is made out of venomous, stinging jellyfish tentacles. Quaraun is BoomFuzzy's apprentice and regarded as the world's most powerful still living wizard. Quaraun's exact age is unknown, but he is somewhere around 750 years old. In his SunTa form he is twelve thousand years old. The Scared Pink JellyFish that lives in him, is stated to being over two million years old. Art by Wendy Christine Allen

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