alexclaw

Fractured World 004

“Holy crap,” Samira stared with amazement. “You’ve healed already.”

Dal tried to crane his head to look at the scratches he had received from the Titan Spider, instead there was just slightly redden skin and dried blood.

The pair sat out in the cool morning air as they moved the priority equipment from the storage units into the warehouse. Breakfast had been granola bars, chips, and coffee.

“Gotta love magic worlds,” Dal said.

“That’s just ...

Fractured World 003

“It’s illegal to store weapons and flammables in self storage units,” Dal stated.

“But it gets done?”

“More than you think. We don’t ask what you’re storing, if you do store weapons, we can’t really do anything unless we actively see you doing it. If we do catch you, then it’s time to call the police and such,” Dal continued. “I guess we can’t do that here.”

“Plus we’re technically stealing these,” Samira said.

“True,” 2022-02-11 18:59:59 +0000 UTC View Post

Fractured World 002

“They’re attacking,” Samira cried out as the lead goblin staggered toward them. Dal stared at the creature and then back at Samira, who was already stepping forward with the crowbar at the ready.

Dal followed suit; hefting the bolt cutters and scampering to her side.

The lead goblin let out a warbling cry and charged, the spear dipped slightly, but the head was weaving in all directions, not steady on the target. Samira stood stock still as the creature charged, h...

Fractured World (working title) 001

“So this is it,” Dal Park said, offering a clipboard to the woman before him.

The woman barely glanced at him, taking the clipboard and scanning it. Dal noted she gripped the clipboard tightly, her light eyes scanning the pages of the standard contract and then finishing it off with a harsh scribble of a name at the bottom of the last page.

“Payment is the first Wednesday of each month, after two months of continuous non-payment the items stored within will be considered aba...

Kill System Engaged 001

All good things come to an end; in the end the House always wins.

Conner “Con” Morales sat in an uncomfortable pleather seat that squeaked and groaned with every jolt of his six feet five inch frame. His knees pushed into the seat before him, offering him the barest of support to keep his chained up figure in the shitty seat.

“Big guy,” a voice said. The voice dripped with hatred. Con guessed he wasn’t a fan.

He turned his head to the man. A man about hi...

Not Dead, just… IDK, Life Happens

2021 was very odd.

I’m not dead, I didn’t catch Covid, nothing truly dramatic happened in my life, and I can’t really say why I stopped posting or writing.

I think since September I’ve been saying to myself that I need to get back into writing. Then Life Happens, stuff needs doing, minor emergencies happen, more stuff occurs, it’s too late in the day, I’m too tired, I just don’t feel up to it, the words are in my head but can’t get them out, those kinds of things.<...

Brewer King 52

The death rattle of the Barony’s keep was one of distant howls, screeching, and the occasional echoing of sobbing and running feet. San had led the way out of the Baron’s secondary chambers, but it was Havatair that knew the way toward the White Tower.

The man, who was the bastard son a Baron, knew his way around the Keep. Both the official passageways and the lesser known passageways frequented by servants and others who wanted to keep a low profile.

The twelve fil...

May 2021

They say that if you wanna hear the gods laugh, tell ‘em your plans. I suppose writing it down and posting it on Patreon is equivalent to speaking it out loud. Although that would mean the gods are eavesdropping or subscribed to Patron only posts.

Either way, the last month was a doozy. There were illness, fam troubles, celebrations, and the ever devouring ability crushing writer’s block. It wasn’t just your normal writers block of not knowing what to write, but that in...

Brewer King 51

The secret tunnel into the Keep was a well travelled path. San noted that there was little dust, debris, or the cobwebs he expected to see from watching too many movies. He even saw graffiti written on the walls that made Densa shake her head at. He would need to learn to read the Imperial script one of these days.

The tunnel was not a straight one, nor did it only have one path to take, there were side tunnels and it twisted and felt as if it turned in on itself several time...

B3- 39 - Judging Books by their Covers

Maya figured that judging books by their cover, when it came to the Tarvana, was an acceptable method to figure out who was in charge. She had the Skill Analyze, but as she marched toward the Flesh Army camp it was obvious who the head honchos were.

There were no uniforms, no flags or other symbols that displayed who was a commander and who was cannon fodder. In a world where food was something that didn’t exist naturally, the big boys and girls who towered...

Brewer King 50

San wondered how in his twenty-eight years of life he had never headed a group of armed revolutionaries in his own world. He hadn’t done anything spectacular since he had arrived to this world, only what he thought was the right course of actions. Defending the caravan, fleeing from being potentially murdered for coming across the gold ore secret, killing the monsters plaguing the komai, and then fighting the battos in their home.

All of those things were, to him, the right...

B3-38 - That Tiny Bit of Hope

“Hot damn, that’s a lot of bacon,” Chu muttered.

“Don’t say that,” Maya replied. “They’re literally farm pigs that evolved into living beings. They’ve got a lot of issues with that part of their past.”

“Got it,” Chu said. “But still, you think this is a good idea? Not just arming these people, but also giving them levels, making them strong enough to fight off humans. Folks like your dad.”

Maya watched as the Orcs marched into the Cage,...

Brewer King 49

“You’re okay, you’re okay,” a voice said frantically. San felt hands on his face, shaking and fumbling. He cracked open his eyes to see Densa looking down at him. She looked terrible, her skin taunt across her bones and dark hollows around her eyes.

“I’m okay,” San groaned.

A faint trace of a smile flickered across Densa’s face. “We don’t have much time,” she said.

The memory of his last moments before being hit with the Slumber Power struck ...

B3-37 - The First to Know

“We are the Ok’oma horde,” a black streaked Orc squealed. He carried a massive club and slammed it on the ground repeatedly. “We have slain thousands of humans and gained many levels! This land is ours! Flee before our might or become our next meal.”

“Fool pig,” a blue black Crow snapped. “You have run from humans, they have slain you, instead, and they are the ones who feast upon your flesh.” The Crow cackled a laugh as the Orc roared. “All stupid pigs. F...

April 2021

I have a tendency to overthink everything I do. In this case, I’ve been going over IDGM as I’ve begun trying to edit some coherency to the story and discovered one of my issues with the entire series.

Big ideas are fine, but tossing together a lot of big ideas into a blender and trying to sort those story threads out and intertwine them, balance them, and still produce an enjoyable story is pretty dang difficult.

IDGM is supposed to be as the title say a story about...

B3-36 - Denison

“This is too damn creepy,” Chu said watching as cagestuff marched out of the Cage. Maya didn’t respond as she was struggling at the control panel.

She felt like a drunkard trying to assemble Ikea furniture. Everything was slow, fumbling, and not working as it should have been. There was the mental disconnect between her and the Cage, that bit of melding that she had felt, but didn’t realize how important it had been. She had already expended all her cursing abilities on the cont...

Brewer King 48

“The city crawls with their ilk,” Havatair said as a soldier sent out to scout returned. “They’re looking for me and my men now, it seems our disloyalty is known.” The big man seemed more worried about his betrayal of the new baron.

“I need to get back to Densa, with her help, we might be able to turn the Afflicted back to normal. Then we can deal with teh fire and the baron,” San said.

“I shall deal with the cult,” Havatair stated. “The other cults ...

B3-35 - Twenty Million

“Maya Sullivan,” Anisa Karam said, extending her hand.

Maya only grinned and grabbed the woman in a hug. She jerked back in surprise, but relented, grinning also.

“Good to see you, Anisa,” Maya said. She noticed a young girl beside the woman, she was thin and lanky, a child moving onto becoming a teenager. “Who’s this?”

“This is my daughter, Yasmine,” Anisa said.

“Good to meet you Yasmine. You’re mother’s a brave woman,” Maya said.<...

Brewer King 47

“Blessed Mother, you’re okay,” Endaha said as the barricades were finally removed. San and the soldiers stumbled into the warehouse. Endaha, Pavano, Azios, Herokov, and Bostarion were all armed and ready for a fight.

“You bring the Baron’s men here?’ Herokov demanded, his craggy face etched with anger.

“Peace, brother,” Pavano said. “San can explain.”

San had to admit, a blossom of gratitude bloomed within him at Pavano’s words. “The Baron ...

B3 - 34 - Stick to Merchant Things

The world is experiencing an apocalypse. The death of billions, the infusion of mana into the world which destroyed all of human technological progress, and that very same mana mutated animals and opened renders that brought creatures from other worlds to Earth.  Maya had seen all of those events occurring in her nearly one month of reconnecting to Earth. Billions of humans have lived it.

She stood before a podium, a simple affair of Cagestuff, with a set of lights and a camera bef...

Brewer King 46

San didn’t know much about urban infrastructure, but as he walked down the tunnel, he suspected the White Tower engineers didn’t know much about it as well. Although, judging from the different stonework and signs of rebuilding in some areas, the entire tunnel seemed to have undergone some repairs or expansion.

When he had met the Stoneman in the past, the site of White Tower had been a expansive forest with the obelisks being the only signs that people lived there. He ha...

B3-33 - Mages

The wrecked skyline of Washington DC was lit up with firelight and screaming monsters. Emilia Morales flopped to the blood splattered ground as missiles screeched over her head. The tin helmet she was wearing was pelted with debris and the railgun in her hands was slick with sweat and blood. She took in deep breaths and tried to steady her hands as she swapped out the mana battery for a fresh one.

“Move it, recruit!” a voice screamed in her ear. “You’re lagging behind.”

...

Brewer King 45

San opened his eyes. Ash filtered down from the red hued clouds billowing across the sky. He could hear the crackle of flames and the distant screams of people. He sat up, slowly and carefully, looking down to see that he wore a steel cuirass and plate armor. His hands were covered by gauntlets and pauldrons covered his arms.

He got to his feet, seeing the enchanted sword lying on the ground before him and an unlit pistol. He picked up the sword as hot wind blew across his face, bringin...

Brewer King 44

The ten workers Pavano hired were all chuckling and talking as they consumed their portion of the heavy stew Endaha made. Their laugher and joking was exuberant, more so because it was fueled by the moonshine San had offered them. A cup full of the recently distilled liquor.

Pavano was the salesman once more, extolling the virtues of the drink as Endaha prepared the meal for all of them. It wasn’t a hard sale as the men were laborers and free booze was free booze. They happily accepte...

B3-32 - Do A Stalingrad

“I haven’t tried it yet, but I think I can do at least ten meters by ten meters,” Yosi said.

“That’s not going to be wide enough to send anything through,” George said. He looked down at the tablet before him and frowned. “We’re nearly done with the ships and now we can’t use them.”

“What’s that saying about war and enemies?” Maya asked, she picked up a chocolate bar and chewed on it.

“Bad Blood’s intelligence is pretty much worthless...

Brewer King 43

A woman sat on a stone under bright moonlight. San looked around his surroundings, seeing a far off ocean on the horizon and tall skeletal trees towering over him. Snow crunched under his boots and he saw that he was dressed as he had been the first day he arrived to this world.

The woman glanced in his direction and San caught the high cheekbones and brilliant green eyes. She nodded at him and turned back to looking at the far horizon. She wasn’t dressed for the weather, d...

B3-31 - Mother's Touch

Black Horizon stood in the darkness of the rainbow sky hellscape. He raised his arms to the black sky, he tried to extend his senses, pushing it to sense any kind of mana in the world. No mana existed in the black spaces between the Motherland and the ship that the heretic Bad Blood had escaped to. He could feel the mana there, a glow on the horizon that was a beacon in the maneless world.

Tesseracts, black goo, rogue AIs and system tech. The Merchant Sullivan had them all. A...

B3-30 - Mother's Claw (redo)

Nope, Maya thought. I’m not going to see the System because I’m not about to friggin’ die just yet!

Pain was the surest sign that you had just fucked up, according to Pops Sullivan. Maya was in pain and she knew she had fucked up. There was a simple security measure that would have prevented what she just experienced from happening. It was called vetting the damned Tarvana that Bad Blood had decided to bring to the Hanganathorie.

I just ...

B3-29 - Mother’s Blade (redo)

The screaming of metal, machinery, and the cursing of men and women filled the Dock as Maya opened a doorway into it. The stench of hot oil, gasoline, smoke, and other exhausts filled the air. Orders were being shouted, announcements were being called out via intercoms that now worked, and officers and engineers roamed the area, yelling, pointing, or checking lists.

Maya stood there for a while taking the sight in. Sixty vessels filled the Dock that had been created in the Cage. Fifty t...

IDGM Update

So, i've changed some things since Chapter 28, with Chapter 29 and 30 being slightly the same, but with some changes.  Chapter 31 will be somewhat different as its going into a different direction, so... I suppose re-read 29 and 30.  I'll post up 31 and the other chapters this week, one per a day as most haven't been rewritten. 

I tell you what, trying to get back into the flow of writing something you've been avoiding for like a month is pretty dang hard. Gett...