And We Will Sing into the Void — Part Six
By Samantha L. Strong
Just wait, I tell myself. When I’ve vanquished it, I will press its consciousness into my essence for a thousand orbits—and then a thousand more for good measure.
The sun’s nourishment fortifies those I’ve convoked and—
Something else new?
Enraptured, I watch while my flock’s cords oscillate, frequencies harmonizing, congruence manifesting for the brief of nanoseconds.
Yes! I crow. This melody, this song is more exquisite than I’ve ever heard, and when congruence twangs again, tears rise to a million of my eye-bodies.
The Bloated One’s grey-tinged eyeball twirls, sighting on the nearest combatant. It strikes, and my child sings its last before falling lifeless.
Saddened, I pull it into me. The other cords shimmer as they part curtain-like to allow me to cradle, then absorb it into my flesh. But this will not dissuade me—how many more would perish if I waver? All, truth be told, if I don’t keep fighting.
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