Fallen Tree

Fallen Tree is a speculative fantasy short story that follows Avon, a young druid, in the immediate aftermath of the chosen hero’s death. As ritual, prophecy, and communal need threaten to erase the man he loved, Avon must navigate grief, anger, and abandonment in a world that teeters on silent oblivion. The story explores how destiny can hollow the people it elevates, and how love persists even as memory, faith, and certainty begin to decay.

Told in an intimate first-person voice, the narrative moves between public ritual and private remembrance, tracing Avon’s gradual reckoning with loss and the terrible burden of destiny. Through cycles of memory, sacrifice, and return, Fallen Tree examines grief as both a destructive and transformative force, the tension between fate and choice, and the quiet, painful act of letting go.

“Fallen Tree” is available to read here.

First Night placed first in Peliplat’s Editor’s Pick Award and fifth in the Community Award for the January 2026 challenge.

Editor’s Comment: “Ryan writes with a rare kind of control; equal parts lyrical and cinematic, never defaulting to spectacle. Fallen Tree pulls you forward with clean pacing and vivid, tactile images (the obsidian catacombs, and the ring warm in the palm stand out), but what really sticks is the voice: intimate, urgent, and emotionally precise. The story knows when to widen into myth and when to tighten into something painfully personal, and that tonal shift is handled with real confidence. Ryan's short story is propulsive, immersive, and reminds us how compelling "destiny" can be when in the right storyteller's hands.”