ZachSkye

Knives & Levels - Chapter 95

"The Frozen Academy," Colt said.

The rest of the group around the table fell quiet. They had made their way to the top of the White House office, though, like the rest of the White House, this was being stripped apart. The pieces were being taken and moved elsewhere, though Nate still used this place to hold meetings. Soon, it would transition away from that entirely.

For now, though, it was a barren place, with disused wood in corners and a haphazard folding table that had been e...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 94

Their arrival back to the city was marked with little fanfare. Colt and his team minimized their time moving through Nashville's dark, foggy night. Sure, it wasn’t exactly a peaceful trip.

Colt was well aware that just because they had slain some of the phantoms didn't mean that the town was free from phantoms entirely.

That was the crux of the issue. 

Colt was sure he saw the vague outlines of ghostly shapes prowling through the night a couple of times. Whenever he e...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 93

“Don’t worry we’ve got this!” Julia yelled, reassuring Leon even as a group of phantoms rushed them. A group of phantoms that would have torn Julia and Colt apart a month ago in seconds.

With Julia's confident words hanging in the air, Colt focused on the approaching phantoms. The misty apparitions glided across Vanderbilt's once-familiar grounds, their hollow forms a perversion of the students who might have walked here years ago. His edict, Cut, wrapped thick around his weapon...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 92

The mist curled around Julia, its edicts swirling within the lingering mana like a signature of its origin. With Colt guarding her back, she could focus entirely on her task of analyzing the mist as they moved.

Nashville had never been her favorite place. Before the apocalypse, she'd spent her adult life tucked away with her computer, pretending the outside world didn't exist. Now, with friends and purpose, the city had transformed for her. Even as the cold mist sank into her flesh with...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 91

Colt flicked black blood off his blade as he looked at the three massive corpses of the Mimics; they were a strange thing. The interiors could be seen… Barren rooms with fake furniture that were only flesh deep… Beneath it and within thick walls were organs, flesh, and blood. Somehow, these things could shapeshift, too, but that hadn’t been much of an issue in the fight.

He supposed that it was more of a preparatory thing; these monsters were meant to wreck you in a single surpris...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 90

Colt moved in towards the house-shaped monster, keeping himself low and concealed within the mists as he went; now that he got closer, with the mist receding and giving way to the truth hidden beneath its twisting and forbidden interior, more wrongness stood out. The wooden paneling on the side of the house looked warped, moving slightly as it took in breath. The roof tiles had an almost bone-like look, jagged and off.

Then, once he got close enough, he used one of his old favorite skil...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 89

The next couple of days passed with ease to the atmosphere that Colt sorely needed.  No more big monster invasions at the gate—though, it had resulted in the guards withdrawing and simply watching the entrances. Some of their friends who had helped them free this place from Denny have instead retreated into the town and decided to stick it out with the increase of mist and danger in the world.

Given the state of things, Colt couldn’t fault them. Though they fought for their fre...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 88

After the meeting with Nick ended, Colt made an excuse and left. Though he had been the one to give him a chance to pay back the debt he owed to the city, it didn’t mean he felt like talking to the guy any more than necessary. Nate seemed fine to take responsibility for that particular action, and Julia would tag along and help…

Whether or not that meant he was in a cell up until they spotted the dungeon and went in it, or Nick was going to be loose in the city and trusted not to ru...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 87

Colt kept his hands in his pockets as he walked; Sarah was with him, a scowl stretched on his face as they went down into the depths of the ‘maze’ that lay under the city. People still weren’t sure what to make of this place and what exactly to do with it now that Denny was no longer here. The layout was complicated and had gotten a bit of a reputation around the city since people who were held down here returned to the surface.

Personally, even when walking down the halls, he cou...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 86

Steam was the first thing that Colt saw when his senses returned; that and the feeling of heat soaking deep into his skin, carried through by the soft sensation of running water. The last thing he remembered was the cold mist and those twisted phantom scholars—then blackness as his overtaxed soul had finally given out.

How long had he been out, an hour? Someone must have carried him here.

 His breath was hot and, with it, carried a restorative feeling. As if the water were ...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 85

Colt froze as he watched the half-figures of floating ghosts swarm the guards at the gate. The long-tendril-like fabric came off their bodies as if they were wearing half robes, though they lacked a bottom half and simply floated.

As Colt sat, absorbing what was happening, he witnessed one grab a guard. Its ghost-like limbs managed to hold him and clench him by his clothes. Though it appeared to be a ghost, it had no trouble pinning him down and then screeching in his face.

Like s...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 84

CThe mist of New Nashville had never been this thick before. Colt could barely see two feet ahead as he trudged through the fog-choked streets, hands buried deep in his pockets.

Each breath drew the vapor into his lungs—a strange weight settling on his chest. He could feel it coating his skin, leaving a cold, slick residue that carried the unmistakable signature of both Mana and Edicts. That combination wasn't natural, and it was exactly why he needed to find Julia this morning.

Knives & Levels - Chapter 83

Colt sat in the highest seat available on the side of the stadium; it was a tad overkill, and actually, the height of this seat was larger than he ever remembered it being before the apocalypse. Without a doubt, this place had grown larger, maybe even a little larger than when he’d first arrived. He suspected that whatever the faction points went to, Denny must have used some reward to stretch this place out and make it bigger to fit all the people below.

A waste, in his mind, but the...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 82

It had been a grand total of five hours since they conquered Denny and then marched to the city of New Nashville and declared the former dictator dead.

The reaction was mixed. Even now, Colt was still reeling from the change and surprised by just how fast the remainder of the guard had capitulated to them.

Colt stood in the office of the most prestigious of all within this little begrudging city in the middle of the apocalypse. Nominally, the White House was it. And within it, he ...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 81

Nate snapped his fist into the last of the soldiers’ faces—after the glow had left them minutes ago, the fight seemed to go out of them, too. At first, despite having superior numbers, his side had struggled to maintain the fight. Retreating, relying on traps, transforming the chaos of the battlefield into a more hit-and-run scenario.

Even with Colt yanking Denny out of the fight, these people fought stronger than they should have, the golden crowns on their chests dra...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 80

Denny spat on the ground and ran his hand over his mouth. His eyes were narrowed, his muscles tense. And that golden glow still surrounded him, a pure Edict of Subjugation that, even as they were now, wanted to press down on Colt and make him fold beneath the man who declared himself a King. Colt paced carefully past some rubble, making sure not to let any of the trees on this wild Nashville street get between him and his target.

How he got here from some kid cooking in a kitchen, to fa...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 79

Of course, the second Denny stormed in, marched up to Nate, and cocked his fist back for a punch, several things happened at once, several things which would decide the course of fate for an entire city of thousands. One which Colt had the premiere seat to witness, given his position on the second story balcony of the mall overlooking it all.

For one, their ranged units appeared at the balcony—ten men and women, darting out from their hiding spots to rain down hell on the invading for...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 78

Denny stared at the soldier who had brought him the note; it sat in his shaking hands. The anger roiled around deep, the same anger he felt whenever someone had dropped a particularly nasty law-suit-worthy problem in his lap at the last minute. A bad government manager who had a record of harassing employees—this was the same thing.

Another vexing problem dropped in his lap, courtesy of that damned Colt whose head he would place on a pike when this was all said and done.

“Have...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 77

Colt still felt amazed when that golden light of his Edict came through, warping the very air itself with a heaviness. Even now, with his knife just at his side, as he interrupted Finn’s capture, he felt the way the air chose to avoid his weapon. Afraid that even it, too, would be cut, as if it were a living thing…

Actually…

He felt the Edict underlying that air, avoiding the blade; groups of Edicts, knowing how thick the presence of Cut was. Still, one didn’t have to have...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 76

Colt handed over the black cloak to another man; it felt odd to give it to another after all they’d went through to earn it. But if he rocked up to New Nashville to deliver the news that they’d taken the Minotaur, the letter wouldn’t even have been read.

Gone would be their opportunity to set up the ambush in the guise of a ‘hostage trade’, and gone would Jimmy’s best chance of freedom in the first place, since the Governor probably chained him up somewhere.

Denny woul...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 75

Colt sat outside the warehouse, which was a good way away from New Nashville, tucked in one of the reworked city's more ‘industrial’ patches. A big oak tree sat outside of it, a nice piece of nature compared to what had been some kind of paper packing place. But as with all of Nashville, nature had tried to claim it, wrapping the whole thing in vines as if it wanted to give it a nice firm hug.

He’d been here for a couple of hours, taking his break after they finally dragged the Mi...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 74

The next hour was dominated by the logistics of how best to effectively pull a pissed-off Minotaur torso and head through the dark streets of New Nashville—when they tried to tie ropes around the chest to drag it, it would try to gore your hands and bit the ropes until they broke.

With all the black blood spilling out on the street, Colt would’ve thought the thing should be weakened, but no, that Savage Edict burned bright, a supply of raw power that should’ve felt frightening to ...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 73

Colt stood on the edge of the rooftop, his hair billowing as a gust of air took to it; down below, in the darkness, he saw the barest movement of the Minotaur, a mass of shifting black fur and rage as its Edict expanded and rolled outward. The air already had the stench of blood, and as he braced, he knew things were about to get serious.

Him against the Minotaur. No matter what he told Tom, that was the crux of the issue; he was the only one with enough Edicts and raw power to cut thro...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 72

The next couple of days after returning from their destruction of the former restaurant, their days were filled with a buzz of activity. Diplomatic missions every day—most of their effort was spent weaving the groups who felt sympathetic about their plan tighter and tighter. Their web of alliances were growing stronger by the day; it was an unfamiliar feeling to Colt as he increasingly pressed upon these new alliances and worked on their foundation. His mother had taught him the power of li...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 71

The next couple of days fell into a steady rhythm. The morning would start with Colt and the rest sharing a breakfast—which typically was eaten only in the evening—from the food scavenged from nearby buildings. Even with the large percentage of people simply missing, there was less now than before. Things were getting worse. One could only eat canned meat so many times before going crazy—hunting animals was possible, and one morning, Nate came in with a couple of rabbits h...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 70

Colt sat in a pancake booth with three cops, a girl with bright blue hair, and a steaming mug of coffee, which Julia refused to touch. Buttery maple syrup wafted through the air, which made Colt’s stomach rumble. He settled back in the dinner chair; the three cops looked over his map and added their own notes.

In the kitchen of this place, he heard the faint laughter of children playing.

“How exactly are we going to take down his pet?” One of the cops asked his gruff demeano...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 69

Julia euthanized about twenty more stone men over the next four hours. There was no other word for it. After Colt stripped them of their mobility and capacity to do much else save for blinking, she had to end their lives.

The work hadn’t been simple. With the map given to them by Harry, there were about five blocks to cover that the monsters had been spreading out in, but with diligent work and careful routing, he wrung out enough Earth Elementals to see what he was looking for.

Knives & Levels - Chapter 68

Harry's group was a small squad of eight—the father, the son, and some other strangers who banded together in fear of New Nashville and did their damnedest to stay far away from the city. Colt sat on the boulder remains of a monster next to Harry, while their group listened from above. But as Harry recounted his story, Colt got a sense of what life was like outside of the confines of the city he’d first been introduced to.

The truth was that, whether Denny liked it or not, Nashville...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 67

Colt snuck toward the apartment he’d seen the face in, using a burst of Movement to close the distance from his open position on the street to being near the towering eyesore in only a second. Julia still stood in the middle of the road, shuffling through the rubble that had been their enemies. It was her job to pretend as if everything was normal. In seeing her looting, she would lull them into at least some security.

Neat and tidy. Colt pressed a hand ...

Knives & Levels - Chapter 66

The next day—was one of business. After Colt finally got up from his rest, he found that only Julia was left in the house with him. The girl was busy drinking a small cup of water in the kitchen and raised an eyebrow as he crawled out of his room. Colt felt like death itself as he moved, muscles sore and his Soul still bruised from overuse.

“Where’d they go?”

“Scouting, hunting, and trying to find groups. That soldier guy, Nate, said that he didn’t see much point in wa...