And We Will Sing into the Void — Part Three
By Samantha L. Strong
As is my habit when deep in thought, I taste photons all across my fourth, fifth, and sixth segments. The meal is saccharine with a hint of pungent salt, but suddenly I taste…
It’s a flavor I’ve never experienced, hinting at discoveries lurking beyond the velvety starscape. I yearn for more. A revelation eludes me. What is this, and how can I possibly gather more? Where is it coming from?
My fifteenth segment aches.
The Bloated One is rallying others to its shadow, seducing with lies, sucking dry those who trust it. A patch of silver threads not under its protection loses its luster. I feel them dimming in the few moments it takes to fully turn my attention to the uproar.
I undulate deep within my core, trying to thrust the dying eyes into sunlight, starlight, any nourishment at all.
They wither, and I smell crimson.
What good is this ignorant child? Does it not know we thrive or perish together? I love it, this is true, but I will crush its very soul—suck it back into me. I don’t want to—but I will! Why must …? Why …?
No. Down that path lies madness. I nearly authored my own demise many aeons ago, and I learned my lesson well. My scion wither and die on their own; any attempt to interfere unbalances—unravels, even—my very universe.
I cannot.
But it would be so much easier to—
No, I cannot.
Samantha L. Strong writes dark and beautiful SFF stories about complicated characters. Like many Elder Millennials, she’d like to become an herbalist and live in an abandoned, haunted nunnery somewhere far away from people.
Samantha’s short fiction has appeared in Amazing Stories, AE: The Science Fiction Review, and elsewhere, and she’s the former Executive Editor at Flash Fiction Online. She has four novels out about angels and demons: her Fallen Redemption trilogy and a companion novel. You can find her on Instagram and TikTok @SamanthaLStrong, and more of her writing is available on her website www.samanthalstrong.com.
Copyright © 2025 Samantha Sabovitch