On the strength of faith

And so Abraham, tried until only his faith remained, killed the false angel sent by Satan, and then fulfilled the command of his Lord.

.finis.

Education

See? There's nothing under your bed, said Mother. The monsters are all in your head.

As if that made things less scary.

.finis.

The Ego, Squared

There are conceptual drugs, imaginary solutions in the algebra of need. They are packaged in whispers and very rarely sold, and the difference between a searching detective and an addict can be as thin as the semantics of a shade.

.finis.

Fermi's test

The H'zlaa steer asteroids toward every planet found by their probes. Species that don't survive weren't interesting enough in the first place.

.finis.

Post Praelium

We lost the Memetic War of 2023, but only because they had been right all along.

.finis.

Monuments not of stone

They built the forest huge, sentient, and in pain. They wanted to be remembered forever, and cared not in what way or by whom.

.finis.

Dictum

Sufficiently advanced technology is what you've been calling reality all along.

.finis.