Dispatches From The Institute of Magical Historicity

An unexpected shift in tectonic plates a thousand miles off the coast of Cornwall caused a series of ancient caves to open again to the sun for the first time in 1200 years. Within them were found the burial chamber of an ancient royal family. And within that crypt was a library of scrolls...For more info on the Institute of Magical Historicity, visit magicalhistoricity.com

Long ago, there lived a saint. And it was said that his smile could calm storms at sea and the touch of his left hand heal the cruelest wounds of war, while the touch of his right hand could heal the cruelest infirmities of birth...

It began, as things often do, with love. Ever new love is a new beginning. Its own spring, bringing up sprouts of life in defiance of whatever else the world may be doing...

One day, a young girl left her house and went to school. And came back to an entirely different family...

It came to be that the last dragon, wise and powerful, felt her claws grow tender and her wings grow stiff, and felt a sharp pain in her heart. Peering through the tides of time, she foresaw her own death and the extinction of her race...

Once, there was a terrible and cruel dragon who reeked of smoke and lived inside a mountain. There he slept upon his horde, a vast cavern filled with gold, and jewels, and precious artifacts stolen from the great cities and ships of the world...

She dropped out of her classical music program and abandoned her scholarship to travel to Europe and be an au pair. Because seeing the world seemed like a better life than spending long days in practice rooms the size of a closet...

Once there was a species of animal that looked up at the stars and tried to find the rules governing them. At first, because it could not see very far, the species made rules that governed nine planets and a few hundred stars...

Sitting in a cafe, a young man on a first date tries to impress the woman he fears is too beautiful for him by performing a card trick. It fails. All three times. And the expression on her face burns itself into his hear, where it will stink of char and fear. What he does not know is that the three cards he pulled by accident are the most important in her life...

Once, there was a great tower surrounded by a wall of sharp thistles in which a gentle princess was kept prisoner. A dragon too, lived within the wall. Its massive body wrapped around the tower, guarding it from any who approached. And there were many...

In a small in Switzerland, just underneath a mountain, there is a quiet restaurant where the villagers never eat...

Once upon a time, there was an Idea lost in a woods. It flitted from tree to tree. And when it touched a leaf, it thought it was an idea about leaves. And when it touched a caterpillar, it thought it was an idea about caterpillars. In a clearing, it thought it was an idea about the sun during the day, and an idea about the moon at night. And these were its favorite times...

There was a young girl who lived in a large house near a warm beach. For as long as she could remember, she would walk along the shoreline and collect shells. And for as long as she could remember, she did not grow up, but was forever a young girl.

"Once there was an old man and a young girl who walked from city to city, begging for coins. He would hold his antique cap out and tell stories of old wars in a quivering voice, while she would place one scarf on the ground for coins and hold another in her hands and make it dance and spin around her as though it were alive and swimming through the air. When they had spent three days in each city, they would depart again, however many coins were in their possession, and take the darkest road, whatever direction in went."- Inspired by a prompt by John Marx

A young woman who had moved to the city and learned the art of sculpting from the last legendary survivors of a once boisterous scene now shivered in her garret each night, in fear...

Once very long ago, the world and all who lived on it were protected by a goddess. Great was her power but infinite was her mercy. And her sacred voice breathed in the ears of every living thing...For more info about the Institute, visit magicalhistoricity.com

There once was a city built high around a mountain lake, famous for its watchmakers, its clockmakers, and its precision engineers...

Because not even angels or demons could know the place and time of their true death, there is a woman with long white hair and fiery eyes who guides the bones of the dead across the world...

A long time ago, long past the memories of your ancestors, there was a man born inside a hut, in a land that was constantly on the verge of famine...For more information about the Institute of Magical Historicity, visit MagicalHistoricity.com

In a hip farm-to-table café in Prague sits a man who calls himself “the last alchemist.” It is a lie in the eyes of God, but not one that matters to most of the people he meets. For more information about the Institute of Magical Historicity, visit MagicalHistoricity.com

It was said, among the prosperous and powerful inhabitants, to beware the swans that live on the river that wound through their city of art and industry. Learn more about the Institute at MagicalHistoricity.com