“Fire in the Night,” San invoked. The bonfire flared to light, illuminating the grim faced men and women who awaited the falling of the night.
“There was only one in the beginning,” Orbaris said. “One of the fuckers, but now there are more. I think… I think they might be the one...
2022-04-15 02:02:38 +0000 UTC View PostThe first step to creating core material was the creation of conductive gel. The first step to creating conductive gel was leveling up mana channelers to shape the mana base components. The first step to creating mana base components was processing the right materials to a high degree ...
2022-04-14 02:15:45 +0000 UTC View PostThe snow crunched under Sanjay “San” King’s boots; the thin crust of ice snapping and his boots plunging into the undisturbed snow. The wind was still, but he could smell smoke in the air. San glanced to Pavano and the old man had a worried look on his bearded face. Their eyes me...
2022-04-12 15:52:38 +0000 UTC View PostMaya appeared upon the flat RSH plain and began summoning drone workers. Tender appeared and immediately began ordering the drones to grab the summoned material and begin building. Soon the silent plain was filled with hammering, banging, and the sizzling of tools as the drones went to...
2022-04-11 18:28:14 +0000 UTC View Post“What have you sneaky little buggers been up too?” Maya wondered out loud as she stared into the internals of the C5 rogue AI mana core. She tapped her tool against the marsani casing and used it to the poke the fleshy mass within. The mass shuddered and she watched as the work man...
2022-04-05 02:23:31 +0000 UTC View Post“Lemme out, lemme out!” Emilia screamed and then began vomiting.
“Oh, god, did you just barf on me?” Maya demanded.
“Lemme out!” Emilia kept yelling.
Maya disengaged the straps and Emilia fell backward onto the RSH dirt, gagging and sobbing. She retched so...
2022-03-30 15:49:48 +0000 UTC View Post“Easy, now,” Maya called out as she detached the last bolt. There was a massive shudder as the bolt plinked off into the darkness, lost forever in the maze of wires, components, and machinery. “Dang.”
“We’ve got it,” Tender said, there was a burst of static as the t...
2022-03-25 19:38:48 +0000 UTC View PostThe wind whistled as Maya stared into the gloomy horizon. She tapped her fingers rhythmically upon the rough roll cage of the scouter, casting occasional looks over her shoulder. The two crows, Shadow and Lost Talon, were equally quiet; their sharp eyes scanning for any sign of trouble...
2022-03-23 21:02:06 +0000 UTC View Post“Contact!” one of the scouts from Vehicle Four announced.
Maya pivoted the railgun in their direction and turned on the active scanners. Her HUD lit up with dozens of rogue AIs moving in their direction. She cursed. They weren’t a rampaging mob, instead they moved in an ord...
2022-03-21 19:14:55 +0000 UTC View PostMaya shook her head and let out a series of soft curses.
“Stupid,” she said as she unhooked various cables from the flesh sample before her. She grabbed hold of a metallic rail and pulled herself out of the control center of the omni-miner. Sky looked up from her controls as ...
2022-03-17 12:10:45 +0000 UTC View Post“Ah, there it is,” Maya said.
“What do you got, boss?” Tender asked, looking up from the disassembled motor assembly he was working on.
“The mighty mana-chondria,” she replied as she opened up a window and displayed the image before Tender. “Look at this, it...
2022-03-14 17:59:00 +0000 UTC View Post“This is so fucking ridiculous,” Emilia muttered as the wind whipped her hair and she clung onto the grab bar. Around her dust swirled and the thumping of feet and the slight squeal of metal wheels could be heard.
Emilia gripped onto the grab bar of a chariot, pulled by one o...
2022-03-11 19:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post“The orcs seem to be having fun,” Emilia said, with a tight look on her face.
Maya looked up from her tablet to see the young Mage enter what she was calling the command center. The woman was dirty, tired, and in tattered clothing like the rest of them, but she did her job ve...
2022-03-10 17:12:05 +0000 UTC View Post“Always be prepared,” Maya said as she summoned weapons and material. The drones began handling them, setting them out on the gray dirt. “Well, Actually I was preparing for the defense of the Hanganathorie before being hit with the Dimensional Poison. My Inventory was pa...
2022-03-09 19:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostMaya awoke to a rumbling noise and her world rocking slightly. She blinked her eyes and realized there was a bandage covering her vision. She moved it aside to see a familiar sight.
Maya looked up the cracked rainbow sky. Every color imaginable twisted its way across t...
2022-03-07 19:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostFor a week heavy snows hit White Tower. It was as if an entire season’s of snow had been waiting for this moment. Howling winds tore through the shattered and burned out buildings across the city, giving rise to echoing wails that sent people hiding.
There was no supernatural d...
2022-03-06 19:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostHesna had arrived. San stared at the towering figure in the flames. It hurt his eyes, it shook his mind, and all he wanted to do was scream and gouge his eyes out. Yet he stood frozen before the bonfire and watched as flame spun and wove into a shape.
He could feel it, the rippin...
2022-03-06 19:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostHavatair took the lead, relegating the non-professionals to the rear. San shuffled along, his thoughts straying and varied. The bottle of mana weighed heavily in his robes; the responsibility of being the one to try and stop the spread of the Affliction was a heavy one.
There wou...
2022-03-05 19:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostPegarios felt the death of his Mother. He grieved and wailed and cut his flesh as any good grieving son would have done. As was expected from him. As the gods would have wanted him to do.
Then he began killing everyone who could be of threat. If his brother had been still alive, ...
2022-03-04 19:03:13 +0000 UTC View PostYosi was getting a headache from the battles going on. She could almost feel the explosions and death filling the Cage. It was one of the side effects of being connected too long, so said Maya. She could feel herself somewhat melding with the device, as if she could only push a little ...
2022-03-04 19:02:04 +0000 UTC View Post“Well, don’t drink the water or stay in here too long,” Samira said, glancing at the corpse of the cub.
“These stones, they do this?” Yasimir asked.
“We found some flakes in the creek by where we live,” Samira said. “For their small size they had a decent am...
2022-03-02 22:19:51 +0000 UTC View PostMaya hopped over rubble only to immediately hop right back over. There was an explosion of flesh and bone and gore a moment later.
“What the hell was that?” Chu demanded, wiping sludge off his suit.
“Somekind of explosive critter,” Maya said. She peeked over the rub...
2022-03-02 22:18:29 +0000 UTC View Post“I speak to you thus, mother to mother,” the old monkey bird lady said, “kill these beasts that terrorize our people and we shall have good relations between our people and yours.”
Samira grimaced in annoyance. The old monkey bird was the head honcho of Petra or the Templ...
2022-02-28 17:13:38 +0000 UTC View Post“Live young?” Dal asked.
“Of course they’re alive,” Allakor replied.
“Not born in eggs?”
“Eggs? No, they are born from mothers and they grow up.”
“Okay, how long for gestation.”
“One full sun.”
“How long to speech?”
<... 2022-02-21 17:27:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe Cage was in pain. Was that even possible? She had been getting quiet a bit of ‘feelings’ before the Dimensional Poison had shut her down, but it never really occurred to Maya that the Cage might be coming into its own over the last year.
Mana was a tricky thing, universal mana, puri...
2022-02-17 03:26:40 +0000 UTC View PostThere was a hideous squelch as Dal slammed the machete down into the creature forming from the floor of the core room. He could almost see the melted core angrily gleam at him as he killed yet another one of its defenders. What the core must be feeling, Dal wondered.
Core rooms w...
2022-02-16 19:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostDal rolled his shoulders and began stretching. It was still early, perhaps half an hour before sunrise, but he felt completely rested and awake. That was the wonders of upgrading to Regeneration 2. Is this how Samira felt every morning, clear eyed and ready to go?
He exited his t...
2022-02-15 19:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post“Move, move!” the sergeant screamed. “Come on, little piggies, you wanna live forever?”
The boars surged forward, carrying their shotguns, glaives, and swords. Emilia staggered behind, breathing in the heavy animal musk and fear that filled the air.
What the fuc...
2022-02-15 02:09:09 +0000 UTC View Post“Two thousand pounds of concrete make one iron bird,” Dal said. He flopped down onto the couch, his t-shirt slicked with sweat and his arms scratched and covered with concrete dust.
“You moved a ton of concrete by yourself?” Samira asked.
Dal nodded slowly. “It’...
2022-02-14 20:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post“There it is,” Samira whispered.
The pair sat in on the third floor, looking eastward toward the vast landscape that spread before them. Or would have spread before them, if it had been daylight. Sunset had been three hours before and they sat in a pair of camping chairs, sip...
2022-02-14 03:09:47 +0000 UTC View Post