alexclaw

Brewer King 2 - 02

“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 ones they took.”

“Don’t they usually feed on the ones they steal away?” Elgava asked. “They’re void horrors, they cannot corrupt the souls of the living, right?”

“I dunno, las...

IDGM4 - 13 - Saturn Numbers

The 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 of purity. Specifically five different naturally occurring Tier 1 minerals found on all planets in the Multiverse at Large.

The minerals were found easily enough among the trash piles.

“...

Brewer King 2 - 01

The 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 met and the old man checked the crossbow that sat beside him on the wagon seat.

The lead wooly let out a low groan that was echoed by the thirty-odd other woolies pulling the five wagons that made...

IDGM4 - 12 - HN4528Z

Maya 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 work.

With a railgun hanging loosely in her hands, Maya crested a small hill and watched the distant horizon. Her scanners showed there was nothing out there, but twenty kilometers away was a r...

IDGM4 - 11 - Bio Core

“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 mana output spiked on the reader.

“That does not look like a usual C5 core,” Tender said, watching over her shoulder.

“I thought rectangular shaped cores were just compact versions, but...

IDGM4 - 10 - Down Time

“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 some more and lay there shuddering as she stared sightlessly at the sky.

A bottle of water later and using a liberal handful of dirt to rub away the mess, Maya made her way to Emilia who sat with ...

IDGM4 - 09 - Working the Problem

“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 thermal shielding interfered with their comms.

Maya wiped the sweat off her face and watched as the large piece of machinery began to move. Metal ground against metal, but that was fine. What was...

IDGM4 - 08 - Operation Overlord

The 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.

They didn’t need to use their eyes, as the passive scanners would have alerted them of any changes, any motion, and any rouge AI that were moving about. But it was SIL nature to keep an eye ...

IDGM4 - 07 - Trash Valley

“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 orderly fashion.

She supposed it was to be expected. A fast adapting intelligence who was at war with an organized opponent would eventually have to begin organizing itself too, right? Rogue AIs he...

IDGM4 - 06 - Third Army

Maya 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 Maya disappeared over the side and up the miner.

The gentle swaying motion of the fast moving miner reminded Maya of the time she and her family had gone onto a whale watching trip. She had been...

IDGM4 - 05 - Double Step

“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’s like a biological cell, but restructured to be more versatile and obtain instructions. Its like a machine, but also a living cell.”

“Technically aren’t all living cells machines?” Ten...

IDGM4 - 04 - Dick City

“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 of the Tender drones. Twenty chariots thundered across the open plains of the RSH, each pulled by a drone. Four additional drones pulled the large wagon that had also been created. From what she unders...

IDGM4 - 03 - Skip

“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 very well. If Maya had gifts and medals, the woman would definitely be getting those.

All Maya could offer was a cup of coffee and some chocolates. Emilia eagerly accepted those and sat down befor...

IDGM4 - 02 - Flesh Mob

“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 packed with crap we would need to set up defenses.”

“It’s a lot of weapons, but seven thousand enough weapons?” Chu asked.

“We’re currently at about forty percent effectiveness,�...

IDGM4 - 01 - Seven Thousand

Maya 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 the dome above her. They didn’t seem to move, but with enough time Maya could make out the small shifting of the colors, seemingly bleeding into one another and slowly being consumed and replaced. Am...

Brewer King - Epilogue

For 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 danger, not that San could see. It was just wind and snow. Damaged roofs collapsed. Badly fixed walls crumbled. And hundreds huddled around fires trying to keep warm in the blizzard.

The dead lay...

Brewer King 54

Hesna 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 ripping of the veil between the worlds. He could feel it in every fire that was burning across the city. The bonfires that the cultists had set up, each and every one of them was a gateway to horrors. Soon ...

Brewer King 53

Havatair 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 would be more fighting and more killing, every Afflicted was some poor person who had been turned into a monster. They were still within the shell of their bodies, but whatever Void Horror was piloting t...

B3 - Epilogue

Pegarios 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, he would have been dead. He moved fast, even if he was Asoltolia’s child, that did not mean he would be granted leadership. One had to move fast and brutally. Power abhors and vacuum.

It was t...

B3-43 - Bubble

Yosi 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 bit more, she could reach some other plateau of control.

As it was, she was barely managing the mana that was being spewed out from the death and destruction of so many people. Normally it would...

Fractured World 011

“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 amount of magical power. They managed to give you a shock when they were touched.”

“And these?” Garran asked. “Is this what Dal was looking for?”

“These bad boys will probably ki...

B3-42 - Battle of the Rune

Maya 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 rubble again and saw there was nothing waddling its way to explosive demise.

“Ugh, disgusting,” Chu muttered. “Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just build a bomb? Not grow one?”

“To each...

Fractured World 010

“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 Temple, which from her own understanding of history, Petra was a temple. The old woman’s featherless head bobbed up and down, with cloudy eyes not even focusing on Samira.

“This world is a terrib...

Fractured World 009

“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?”

“One full sun.”

“How long to reproductive age?”

“Nine red stars,” the Cuthoma responded.

“What’s that mean? How long is a day on your planet? How many days in what ...

B3-41 Only Fools Lead From the Front

The 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, purified mana, and even some essence mana were leaking into the Cage itself. It had been months since she had last shut the Cage down, which would cause the ‘bubble’ that surrounded the cage to collap...

Fractured World 008

There 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 were a sacred place to dungeons, or that’s what he had read in the fictional books of his youth. It was their sanctuary, the safe space, the place they could kick back with a beer and put their feet ...

Fractured World 007

Dal 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 tiny room and saw that Samira had already beaten him to the coffee machine. It was their biggest electrical expenditure in the morning. The solar panels were barely enough to charge their phones, walki...

B3-40 - Etched in Blood

“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 fuck am I doing? Emilia thought as her boots hammered across the metal flooring of the Cage.

The heavy tesseract bag on her back dug into her shoulders and seemed to try and topple her with ev...

Fractured World 006

“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’s not really all that much, when you think about it. A cubic feet of concrete is roughly a hundred and fifty pounds. I can hold at least three hundred in the wheel barrow, just took a few trips back a...

Fractured World 005

“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, sipping hot tea.

Dal peered through his binoculars at the strange event Samira had seen.

“I saw it yesterday too,” Samira said. “I just came up to look out before heading to sleep and p...