NYC, 19 Hours Earlier
Becca lounged in the armchair she’d dragged out of home furnishings into the center of the abandoned mall’s plaza. The power was out, but late dusk light filtered in through the skylights high above. Her Bushmaster lay across her lap, glossy black ...
2022-12-02 13:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostSteam rose from the skull that was half buried in the sand. Driven by morbid curiosity, James flew his Wing down and passed slowly over it. The skull alone was bigger than a school bus, the bone undamaged by the impact with the boulders, the stench of boiling brains and burned flesh filling the a...
2022-12-01 13:55:23 +0000 UTC View PostJames emerged into a vast chasm, perhaps fifty feet off the red rock floor, the cliff-like walls rising a mile before disappearing into metallic-blue mist. The scale was mind numbing once more; it seemed the demons couldn’t pass up an opportunity to go big.
The air was cold and acrid. Eve...
2022-11-30 13:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe next three levels were as varied, bizarre, but ultimately unchallenging. The Hollow Hill was a small mountain of bones that had calcified into a funereal whole that resembled a giant skull. Great orb spider demons picked their way delicately over the white surface, and from their spinnerets c...
2022-11-29 13:49:48 +0000 UTC View PostThe portal to the second layer was hidden in the depths of the citadel tower. The Wings made searching for it a quick affair; they zipped in and out of the levels after exploring the abandoned crown, and finally entered the ground level floor which sank at a precipitous angle. A huge staircase de...
2022-11-28 13:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostPits are Now Open
Layer 1, The Fallen Plains, Unlocked
Denizens of Layer 1 May Emerge
Deeper Layers will Unlock Every Subsequent Day,
Releasing Its Denizens
Humanity Must Def...
2022-11-25 17:16:21 +0000 UTC View PostHe found Crimson Hydra gathered around Kimmie and Kerim. They lay in twin beds in one of the penthouse bedrooms. Late morning sluiced into the chamber. Folks had pulled up chairs, and Denzel sat beside Kerim, holding his hand, his expression profoundly lost.
“Nothing?” asked James, step...
2022-11-24 13:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post“Once I absorbed the Reservoir Cube, a completely new understanding as to how to approach manufacturing filled me. Not only was I flooded with new possibilities and schematics, but also an appreciation for how best to realize the greatest number of accomplishments by the Pit deadline.”
...
2022-11-23 13:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostCrimson Hydra elevated fifty-six local Blue Light and special forces operators to level 117, Ascender 1, and cleared out every hive in the local Philly area.
They reconvened at just past one in the morning at the central airfield. Righteous Obelisks glimmered as they slowly revolved in the ...
2022-11-22 13:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostEven going all out it took James two hours to clean all of Manhattan. From Battery Park at the very southern tip all the way up north of Central Park where it bled into Harlem and the Bronx, sweeping through the Upper East side and then down the West, burning his way through Midtown and dropping ...
2022-11-21 13:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostIf he pushed the Wing too hard it started to fall apart. James wished the damn thing came with a speedometer. Was he going 200 mph? Faster? He couldn’t tell. But as he drove it harder, forcing the craft to blur up the avenues, he felt its components begin to shake apart, its chassis separating,...
2022-11-18 13:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostWhite fire snapped out into a broad circle that encompassed their group. Strange, mesmerizing glyphs rose up in columns, endlessly scrolling like some heavenly Matrix code, and then a rushing roar filled James’s ears and the world fell away, like some kind of elevator-drop rollercoaster ride. F...
2022-11-17 13:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post“We don’t have much time,” continued James as everyone gathered around. “And I’m not even talking about the Pits fully opening by tomorrow. Everything that we just killed -”
“We?” asked Serenity.
“Is appearing across the world right now. I need to get back to New Yor...
2022-11-16 13:50:51 +0000 UTC View PostJames emerged from the demon symbol’s heart and stood, poised, upon the iron lip. Five hundred feet up he had an unparalleled view of the Yukon wilderness. Belanger’s homestead was a matchbox below, while endless conifer forest extended in every direction, dense and dark and snow laden.
The thought of absorbing another Reservoir Cube evoked within James a complete sense of negation. He’d barely been able to retain his sense of self with one Cube; a second would double his power at the expense of his soul.
No. That way lay annihilation.
Then?
James sat up. Ten...
2022-11-14 13:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostHeart in his throat, breathless, James stepped into the demon symbol. Light swirled before his eyes, fractals that dizzied him, and he reached out, shuffling his feet, unsteady.
Then he found solid footing beneath his feet and the refracted brightness steadied and became clear.
It too...
2022-11-11 13:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post“Oh man,” breathed Jason. “Disciple 1! And I get to pick a brand-new Benediction.”
The others murmured their agreement, but James dismissed the message from his vision and turned to the far throne.
Belanger had slumped down to the ground and lay still.
“Be right back,...
2022-11-10 13:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostSeveral things happened at once.
More, even, than James could keep track of.
Somebody started yelling.
He summoned Dikastís. The Avatar of Justice came pouring through space and time to flood James with its power.
You have Summoned Dikastís, the Virtue of Justice...
2022-11-09 13:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostBelanger narrowed his eyes. Even from this distance James could tell he was a striking man; his face was dramatic, with deeply carved cheeks and a hawk-like nose, his eyes gleaming from under bristling brows, his skin heavily wrinkled like a paper bag that had been crumpled over then smoothed ove...
2022-11-08 13:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostJames fell the fifteen yards and landed solidly on the rock floor below. Before, a jump like that would have fractured both his legs, shattering his bones and driving the shards into his pelvic cradle.
Now he just sank into a crouch, skeggox propped over one shoulder and slowly rose to stan...
2022-11-07 13:00:21 +0000 UTC View Post(Here's the last missing COVID chapter. Things are picking up. Enjoy!)
It took only twenty minutes of hustling around town to round up three more snowmobiles and then they were off, mounted and with their gear stowed, helmets strapped on and tearing out of Old Crow in the pre-dawn gloom. 2022-11-05 22:05:53 +0000 UTC View Post
(Second COVID catch-up post. I'm still writing my way through brain fog, so I hope you understand if the chapter isn't quite as sharp as I'd like.)
“How’d that go?” asked Serenity, looking up from a 1970’s magazine she’d fished out of a basket.
“Jelly says we’ve got peop...
2022-11-04 17:42:40 +0000 UTC View PostIt was a four-hour flight to Old Crow. The Gulf Stream was svelte and elegant and cut through the air with silent efficacy, cruising just shy of the speed of sound and with enough gas to make the return flight without needing to refuel.
Yadriel was like a kid at Christmas. He let out a cry ...
2022-11-04 14:20:13 +0000 UTC View PostThey walked and talked. Or, more accurately, flew and shot at demons and talked. With their eight Wings forming a flotilla they floated over Brooklyn, allowing Jelly to guide them to obvious locations where they could wipe out Nem3’s while James reviewed the situation.
“If I understand ...
2022-11-03 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post(First COVID make-up chapter. Technically the Interludes mean we're already 20 chapters ahead of RR, but those feel like bonus content.)
James cleansed the rest of the Marriott by the time the rest of Crimson Hydra arrived. The damage done to Blue Light was substantial; from a purely operat...
2022-11-02 18:23:04 +0000 UTC View PostStar Boy nearly tripped as he scrambled out of the elevator, pushing everyone ahead of him. “Go, go!”
He knew everybody in the gaggle of personnel before him, comm officers and assistants mostly, their terror rank, their breaths coming in panicked gasps. The brilliant lighting of the pa...
2022-11-02 12:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostStep by step. Ever deeper. The murk swirling, the pressure of the river above pressing down, unfelt but clearly imagined. The stark burn of his eye lights did little more than illuminate a great haze. The push of the current was strong, inexorable, and James course corrected by angling obliquely ...
2022-11-01 12:01:02 +0000 UTC View Post(Good morning! I felt sufficiently recovered last night too hammer this one out. Chapter 100, what a mile stone. If it's a little rough around the edges, you already know why. Cheers!)
James pounded out of the hive and back out onto West Street. The siren call of the demon symbol...
2022-10-31 12:02:01 +0000 UTC View PostGot tested yesterday, results came in today. Explains why I was knocked on my ass so hard. Apologies, everyone. I was ramping up to finally build a backlog when this hit. I've written almost 300k since Dawn of the Void started In August, but have been posting so quickly that I never got ahead. 2022-10-28 20:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post
