Now serving the freshest updates for Celestial Feast, our sci-fi short story anthology.

Feast on this:

Fall of the Jellarks

By Christian Ochoa

Gel-Memory AD-00000001

Our sick diving team has ventured up into the gelcean but I am the only one that can hear the jellark’s voice.

Help us
*Click-pop*
Promise us
Ploop-pop

Their cries remind me of my promise to you and your mama, of my Alzheimer's and of the depressing fact that I will leave you again but this time I won’t -*cough* - remember.

"Warning! Liquid detected inside suit. Warning. Liquid detec- Suit disable warning. cough"

It’s just tears and phlegm. We are approaching an injured jellark the size of our main spaceship. It’s pretty small but loud enough to vibrate us all to death with the whale-like noises it emits. We should stop here and wait until it dies before we extract anything.

Command center:
"Remember your mission. We are here to study and extract. As the jellark dies it will transform into a tiny blob of tissue and become a polyp once again. We are here to study how it transforms and to extract that tissue. Your main mission is to extract. This is for the sake of our planet, for the possibility of immortality, for the Council of Eight, for - Suit mute command center."

"Command center muted."

Fuck the council of eight. I’m here for immortality. We’re so close to achieving it. I’m here so I can save myself to go back home, wake up my family from cryosleep, and hug them before my mind eats itself. I *cough* promised you. Papa promised you.

My team stays at a safe distance from the tentacles of the Jellark. Those tentacles are similar to that of an extinct creature from our original home planet. The octopus. They have a decentralized CNS, meaning that unlike us, where control happens in the brain, they have control systems in each arm. Sort of like a mini brain in each limb ready to fire the galaxy’s deadliest toxins into whoever touches it.

One of the tentacles feebly reaches out towards me.

Help us
Click-pop

I reach out. My suit should protect me from its toxicity. My arm is vibrating from the Jellark’s final cries. I think my brain is too. I’m starting to remember your face. I miss you so much but I need to hear what it is saying before it’s too late. As the darkness feasts on my brain I keep my hand out and listen.

Help us
*Click-pop*
Cycle Broken
*cli-click*
Help us
*Click-pop*
Save Planet
Popp-clik

We touch and somehow exchange memories at the speed of light! I gasp in wonder and pain. The Jellark suddenly sinks through the bottom of the gelcean and falls thousands of miles down into the ocean below. I wonder if I’ll remember any of this. Darkness.

End Gel-Memory AD-00000001

A Planet's Song

By Bradley Ramsey

***BEGIN TRANSMISSION***

Cora: Felix! Felix, please tell me you’re awake!

Felix: I am now…(coughing) your incessant messages have seen to that.

Cora: I’m sorry, but I had to reach you. I’ve done it, Felix! The translator is working!

Felix: What? You’re serious?

Cora: Yes! We were right, the Gelaton peoples do in fact communicate through some form of music. They’re singing, Felix!

Felix: We already knew that, please tell me that’s not why you woke me up. (cough)

Cora: There’s more. They’re singing to the volcanic jellyfish we’ve discovered around the planet. What were those called again?

Felix: Yes, the Jellarks! Remarkable, are the Jellarks singing back?!

Cora: Unknown, but the translator has decoded the language they’re using when they gather on the Jellarks. We’ve managed to transcribe the lyrics in their entirety.

Felix: Okay, now you have my attention.

Cora: I’m transmitting the lyrics to you now. I’ll see you soon. I love you!

Felix: I love you too, even if you do wake me up at unreasonable hours. (repeated coughing), Damn, this cough is going to be the end of me.

***END TRANSMISSION***

//BEGIN DATA TRANSFER…

The tides above go out.
We, the children remain devout.
Darkness crawls across the land,
But here we firmly stand.

Fellow Medusas, raise your voice,
Holy Seamounts, may you rejoice!
Upon this place where purpose grows,
We remain through the highs and lows.

Protectors of the oceans hear our cry.
The Seamounts, who float and fly.
We stand guard by your side.
Setting aside all of our pride.

Here and now, we sing the planet’s song.
Our bodies are weak, but you are strong
As the ocean stars finally align
We see that your purpose here is divine.

Seamounts, please accept our sacrificial dead.
With reverence, upon your bodies we tread.
We humbly feed you this sacred specimen
so that you may consume and recycle our kin.

Take our feeble flesh and skin
and transform it into sacred gelatin.
As our bodies feed the sky’s ocean,
We will never waver in our devotion.

Seamounts, we listen patiently for your voice.
And when that day comes, we shall rejoice.
The day our gods grace us with their song,
Returning to the clean ocean above after so long.

…END OF DATA TRANSFER//

Jellark Creature Design Concept Art

By Ryan McCowan

Team Credits & Bios

Christian Ochoa
Creative directing, writing, art, graphic design
Chris is an architectural drafter by day and the publisher and creative director of comicalfoods at night or early morning. They love to use their architectural background and love for food to build high concept food-themed story worlds. They have published a middle grade comic book called Journey to the Top of the Food Pyramid Book 1 Grain Chamber which is becoming their daughter’s favorite bedtime book. They like to do a lil bit of everything.

Bradley Ramsey
Writing
Bradley Ramsey is a Content Marketing Manager by day and aspiring author by night. His writing explores genres like cosmic horror, science fiction, and fantasy, often experimenting with combinations of the three. You can find Bradley's work on AudioMazes and Substack, where he runs a publication called "The Writer's Journey." Bradley is also the host of the Saved as Draft Podcast and Creative Director of an upcoming animated horror-comedy series called "The Chronicles of Clenchport."

Ryan McCowan
Art
Ryan is a 2D creature concept artist who has freelanced in the entertainment industry since 2018. His works have been featured in multiple expansions of the card game “MonsDRAWsity,”  the concept art magazine “Almost Real Vol. 4,” and “Dungeons and Dragons” campaigns developed by Loot Tavern Publishing. He has hopes of one day creating a concept art book showcasing his personal designs.