Joroboros

[YF] Chapter 242: Origin Point

“Wow, the ocean sunrise sure looks glamorous up this high.”

Two days have passed since the second Collapse, and somehow, I still haven’t managed to shake Anoures. The Jarl slouches in the flames between my wings; an unwanted guest that refuses to leave.

“Do you even know the m...

[KoJ] Chapter 53: Repeat

The trio of young are completely oblivious to their surroundings. As I slither up beside them, not one even glances my way. Of course, the fallen nests and broken stones are the perfect environment to remain obscured, but they are unbelievably unwary of their surroundings. Do they believe nothing...

[YF] Chapter 241: Alternate

The soft soil chars black beneath my feet as they reform on the heights of the clifftop. A grunt escapes the Jarl as her back impacts the earth, while Leal slowly lowers to the earth cradled in my flames.

Stepping forward, I cast my gaze over the ledge of the cliff. Considering only a few m...

[KoJ] Chapter 52: Literate

Cipactlteteo tier update: I accidentally unlocked this chap rather than 51, so instead of rolling that back, i'll just keep it up instead of friday.

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I remain on the back of the not-snake, the train, for a good long...

[YF] Chapter 240: Drained

Once more, after so many months of silence, the world shivers.

The Titan Alps, barely even visible by the glowing white envelope of its summit-line, shifts. It fractures. The entire line breaks, filtering light through cracks in mountains that weren’t there moments ago.

With Eldest ...

[KoJ] Chapter 51: Communication

"I'm telling you, there's no way a snake made this hole. Are you sure it wasn't, I dunno, a bit of pipe or something?”

“And you think all of us hallucinated together? Unless there’s a mage playing tricks on us, there’s a snake in this train.”

“A mage huh? Well that’s a b...

[KoJ] Chapter 50: Interest

The land is covered by the touch of these sapients.

Between their large stone nests, the perfectly organised plant-life, and the web of compact dirt that carries moving structures, nothing is untouched by these beings. They’ve reshaped the land, and made it more suited to their needs to s...

[YF] Chapter 239: Jarl

Jarl Anoures stands alone on the bow of her massive longship. With a vicious smile, she stares up at me. The axes she dropped stand wedged in the timber to her sides. She may have discarded them in a way that I hope means she wants to talk and not that she thinks taking me on will be easy — tho...

[KoJ] Interlude IV: What Just Hit Us?

The defensive ring was in uproar. Mercenaries rushed around, those closer to the attack moving to fill the gap in their defence, while those further away tried to figure out what happened.

Ceph was no different. She crept toward Hirsh’s station in the hopes he had a better understanding o...

[KoJ] Chapter 49: Offence

The first to attack, is one of those flying squirrels with fake wings. I snap at the creature, but its reaction time is swift, and it twists away from my jaws. Small claws that extend from the fake wings — and are likely just as unnatural — scrape against my scales to no effect.

Followi...

[KoJ] Chapter 48: Guilt

The climb was long, but not nearly as difficult as the abyss had been. With a satisfied stomach and a body willing to cooperate, the flight is so much more enjoyable.

Spatial distortions extend only a quarter up the voided column’s height; no wonder I never found the end last time I tried...

[YF] Chapter 238: Firewood

Jarl Anoures' forces are an unwelcome sight.

Despite the Jarl’s entire purpose for being here likely to put down Sylvan and his navy, she is still the slaver I’ve been fighting to free the heqet from. We may now have a common enemy, but that hardly makes us friends.

But the fury b...

[KoJ] Chapter 47: Hunger

The quad-eared bilby didn’t know what hit it. Before it can even detect my presence, I’ve already swallowed it whole.

Once, I enjoyed watching the little burrowing creatures. They were nothing on the joy of being with Scia, but it was amusing to watch them play. None of that enters my m...

[YF] Chapter 237: Jarlship

In an instant, water is everywhere. The flood crashes over me with a power rivalling a chthonic cube — though thankfully nothing near the Anatla boosted power of the island — leaving me stranded beneath a raging river as it closes in on me.

With the waterfall already below, and this new...

[KoJ] Chapter 46: Hope

With my full sized girth locked around the pillar, I create a distortion in the air before my face. The spatial fabric bends in on itself before touching and creating a link between the two separate points.

This is not the first time I’ve achieved so, but finally, the distortions open wid...

[KoJ] Chapter 45: Discovery

The climb is far slower than I hoped.

Considering how long we fell, it's not all that surprising that it takes forever. Each curl around the pillar seems to bring me no closer to my goal, but there’s no other way.

My body coils around the pillar, gripping it and pulling myself up in...

[KoJ] Chapter 44: Depression

I stretch far from the pillar, but as always, gravity remains absent.

It is such a strange sensation, like constantly falling, but that could only be the case if the pillar I cling to is falling alongside me. Lacking an external point of reference, it is impossible to say. Only the fact tha...

[YF] Chapter 236: Fort Path

Leaving a burning fleet behind me, I fly to the docks at the neck of the fjord, where the cliffs funnel into a river. With hard stone meeting my feet as they form, I cast my gaze up the path cut from the side of the cliff. Unlike the insets for the cannons, this is wide. Wide enough for a dozen m...

[YF] Chapter 235: Fjord

The Jarlship fort is unmistakable, even from kilometres beyond the fjord it sits within. A massive wall of stone stretches across the sheer-cliffs, with many other fortifications carved into the rock. Directly below the wall, the cliffs taper into a river of rapids that flow into the fjord. If no...

[KoJ] Interlude 3: Hirsh

“This is an inconvenient situation for all. Upper management would like you all to know that you remain important and shall be generously compensated once these difficulties pass, but we must ask that you follow regulations and comply with the Order’s changes.”

Hirsh watched on from t...

[KoJ] Chapter 43: Despair

Scia is dead.

There's no denying it any longer, no arguing against fate, no fighting reality, no refusing what's real, no living in a fantasy I so wished was true.

Scia is dead.

The lack of heartbeat in her cold body is nothing if not undeniable proof. Without so much as a breat...

[KoJ] Chapter 42: Abnegation

We fall.

The abyss welcomes us with its vast emptiness. Nothing reaches my sight. There’s not a rock to be seen, nor does space bend and weave beyond the rend we just fell through.

Gravity grips us tight and drags us down.

The Titan's roar bellows into us from behind, unleashi...

[KoJ] Chapter 41: Hyperfixation

The sharp pinpricks of diamond scrape across my scales, gouging ugly scars through the once pristine shine. But the marring of my scales is hardly a concern right now.

What's far more distressing is the major presence squeezing down on me. The power of the Lynx's growl crushes my scales and...

[YF] Chapter 234: Expansion

Turns out, the heqet’s main defence against the highly enhanced elite of the rest of the world in addition to their relentless aggression and apparent endless numbers, is their rapid construction times. In the few weeks we’ve been at war with Jarl Anoures’ forces, they’ve simply flooded t...

[KoJ] Chapter 40: Reminisce

My attempts to help Scia bring her manipulation of space closer to what I can achieve were mostly fruitless, but it was still enjoyable to work with her.

She chirps again, happy that she’s able to hold the slightly shrunk state once more. I hiss a congratulations. Her reactions are far mo...

[KoJ] Chapter 39: Tranquil

I slide through the bend, moss in mouth, and arrive next to Scia. She flaps once before landing on my head, snatching up her meal from the jaw that ripped it from its home.

While she chews through the strands, I spit out whatever remains. I know she likes it, but to me, it tastes horrid. Ju...

[KoJ] Chapter 38: Relief

We fall for a long time.

The Titan’s tear holds back the earth to both sides, but does nothing to slow our fall, or push us to either side. Gravity continues to pull at my body, a constant battle against the cushioning of air to drag us into the deepest pits.

Cleaved cliffs show a p...

[KoJ] Interlude 2: Ceph Part III

The blow was sudden and fast. Ceph was flung from her perch before she could react. A mighty shriek deafened her of all else. The dohrni wanted to react. She wanted to bring herself back to the earth, but the pressure was back. She couldn’t move her limbs; they flopped around like limp noodles ...

[YF] Chapter 233: Weight

It isn’t long before we reach Sylvan’s target. First, the islands’ mountain peaks rise over the horizon, followed by the tip of a lone tower. Finally, from my position flying far above the ship, dozens of masts come into view.

I dive back down to the deck below, passing the burning je...

[KoJ] Interlude 2: Ceph Part II

Ceph didn’t think. She just threw herself to the nearest collapsed structure. Heavy pillars and piles of junk were thrown to the side. She knew there were still people here. Whenever her team wasn’t out for work, she would be here eating and chatting with those who climbed the Titan Alps for ...