eligos

Double-Blind CH156

It didn’t feel great doing this to Miles. Fed or not, I meant what I said. He was a good guy. But this was about survival now. And survival was where I lived.

“No.” I struggled to my feet.

“I’m… not sure if I understand.” Miles said.

“You’re being very patient with me, but I want this over with.” I started to walk towards the Adventurer’s Guild building. Miles caught my arm and redirected me down the sidewalk instead.

“Come on, the Five Guys d...

Double-Blind CH155

My first thought, as I followed Miles to the Adventurer’s Guild Hall, was how oddly cavalier Miles was. He’d effectively drawn a target on his own back with the presentation, yet he didn’t seem worried.

Correction. He appeared not to be worried.

Now that I was looking closer, there was a distinct oblong outline under Mile’s dress shirt that was probably kevlar, and he’d mastered that method of looking while not looking. Turning and walking backward ...

Double-Blind CH154

I went to the local library for a change of scenery.

As it turned out, Buzzcut was a little of column A, little of column B. The dossier covered his career extensively—He was hired by the Austin City Police Department right out of college. Climbed through the ranks with many accolades and no black marks except a few excessive force complaints that went nowhere. Eventually, he hit lieutenant, at which point he submitted an application to the FBI. The interview went well. All signs po...

Double-Blind CH153

I doubled back multiple times on the way to the hideout, alternated moving through both low and high population areas.

No sign of a tail. But I’d been wrong before.

Emulation hadn’t pinged once during the conversation with Gray-hair. He probably didn’t use a skill on me directly, but that didn’t mean someone hadn’t. Someone nearby, in one of the cars behind us. After returning to the hideout, I stripped off my armor and combed through it for a tracker, speci...

Double-Blind CH152

I kept low and approached the car from the rear and to the right, staying in what should have been a natural blindspot, assuming the rearview mirror wasn’t positioned strangely. In case it was oddly positioned, I cast <Probability Cascade> on the Benz, hearing a resulting click as the car’s locks released simultaneously.

The gears ground several times as the driver fiddled with the locks.

Before the spell wore off, I opened the side...

Double-Blind CH151

When I’d glanced over the contract, I’d read the number as twenty-thousand, and was more than happy with that number considering we didn’t know what the ability did. Somehow, I’d missed the extra zero.

Kinsley and I bickered for a while—I accused her of doing the new-money thing of throwing money around irresponsibly, while she insisted two-hundred thousand was chump change, and to consider it a retainer.

I left the majority of my User cores with Kinsley whe...

Chapter DROP + Schedule

Let's go. Thanks for your patience. If you've been on the discord, you know I've been working like crazy to get some extra chapters done for an upcoming break. And since I don't really want to login to post them one at a time during said break, and there's no good way to do scheduled tier releases with Patreon's current system...

I'm just going to post them all now.

Enjoy. 

Some quick notes on the individual stories. 

Double-Blind 2022-09-03 08:02:27 +0000 UTC View Post

Monarch - Pyrrhic XI

Casikas arrived with a massive satchel, shortly after I went to work on the gate. The bumbling red infernal gave me an apologetic wave and went straight to Veldani, pulling several potions out of the pack. I watched out of the corner of my eye as he tipped her head back and poured two of them down her throat.

Veldani suddenly reanimated, snatching the third potion from his clutches. She proceeded to tear into the apothecary over his bedside manner, the quality of the potion...

Monarch - Pyrrhic X

My heart thundered like a war-drum in my ears from across the clearing to the portal, down to the Enclave’s central reaches until I reached the Council’s compound.

The implication was that Maya would be safe so long as I stayed within the time limit. While it wasn’t directly said, it was implied. Problem was, while my father was capable of perceiving and employing subtext, he seemed to relish pretending they didn’t exist.

I’d watched him go back on countless...

Double-Blind CH150

Thousands of lines of text streamed through my vision. It wasn’t the void, but I was so blind it might as well be. I staggered on my feet and attempted to catch myself, flailing wildly as rapidly flowing text obliterated my vision. My hand impacted something solid, and I clung to it. I nearly fell several times as I fought an inevitable sense of rotation until it felt as if I was clinging to the handhold upside down, straining against it to keep my feet planted on the floor.

“Matt...

Double-Blind CH149

The lithid had chosen “Azure.” One degree of separation away from calling itself blue. Since it was—you know—blue.

I shook my head. Creatives came up with the worst names.

“Earth to Matt?” Kinsley prodded me sternly. “You’d give me hell if I was zoning out during prep.”

“Can’t plan if I can’t think.” I countered. Realistically, though, she was right. I was having trouble focusing on anything since the lithid encounter. And my hands were still shak...

Double-Blind CH148

Imagine, for a moment, the darkest secret you have. Something that haunts you, lingers in the forefront of your mind like an incomplete shadow. It should be something you are desperately afraid of, something you’ve managed to live with by shoving it as far down and deep as possible.

Now imagine that your hand has been forced, and you’re now required to reveal that secret in front of everyone you care for. Despite knowing how their opinion will change, imagining the looks on their ...

Double-Blind CH147

It always came down to the same question. What, exactly, was I willing to risk for power? My path through the system seemed expertly designed to constantly push me to the brink of what I was willing to tolerate, tossing out little tidbits to reign me back in if I ever drifted beyond that point.

<Eldritch Favor> was a particularly egregious example.

Without it, I had zero interest in the lithid. None. Nada. The psychological trauma it could dole ...

Monarch - Pyrrhic IX

The plan I’d been so confident of moments before felt flimsy now. This was my father, after all. I’d watched him carve through armies like butter, shrug off spells that would have killed a normal man. Using the line of infernal infantry as cover, I bent down and unleashed dozens of tiny violet sparks on the grass.

Twenty was my safe limit. Instead of setting the grass alight, I kept their potency as low as possible. They singed individual blades of grass as they spread to the side...

Monarch - Pyrrhic VIII

It was difficult to believe. One of the first interactions I’d had with Ralakos was a reflection on the warring histories of our peoples. He’d shown me a monument built from the horns of fallen infernals. Most notably, a pair that belonged to his son.

During the trial of Infaris, I was transported to a place beyond time alongside Xarmos, who’d taken the trial decades before me. We took the trial side by side, eventually completing it together. Towards the end, I’d given him a po...

Double-Blind CH146

Slowly the expanse of sky and street below me eroded, leaving a simple gray-paneled room with visible support beams. Even the original dungeon floor was gone. The lithid hadn’t left anything behind. I tested my arm carefully and was surprised to find it in working order.

Out of curiosity, I checked my inventory and found that none of the arrows or bolts had been spent.

Everything that happened within the lithid’s thrall was undone. Physically, anyway.

Mental...

Double-Blind CH145

There was a bone-jarring impact. My skull collided against the sidewalk as lithid tackled me to the ground. It outweighed me significantly, and as my lungs compressed, it became nearly impossible to breathe.

Strong arms grabbed me and began to yank.

It's trying to get us both out of the way.

I locked an arm around its neck and kicked its knees out from under it, forcing it into a grapple. I was slower than normal because of the poison of clouded judgement, but tha...

Monarch - Pyrrhic VII

“Holy hells.” Guemon breathed out.

I glanced around the room, intentionally avoiding Maya’s expression for the moment. Guemon and Persephone were much as I remembered them, though there were minor changes. Guemon was still a rotund, brash looking man. At some point in my absence, one of his horns had broken off, making his appearance asymmetrical and slightly unhinged.

Persephone looked far worse for wear. I’d once found the bisected nature that reflected her ...

Double-Blind CH144

How could I forget something so important?

More than that, I had other memories that directly conflicted with it. Recent memories. I remembered googling the killer’s name less than a year ago to confirm he was still in prison.

And mom was there. She knew. She’d known for years, and we’d never talked about it. And despite the many opportunities she had to throw my shortcomings in my face, she’d never mentioned it, or even hinted at it.

The only times I’...

Double-Blind CH143

Kafka’s Metamorphosis lay open on my lap, unattended, as I watched dad’s parked squad car at the end of the street. He’d been inside the paint-chipped house for a while now. Ellison was kicking his legs out in mom’s antique rocking chair, the chair emitting a rhythmic squeak as it reached its apex, leaning so far back it threatened to topple at any moment.

“I’m starving.” Ellison complained.

“You’re not starving. You’re hungry.” I corrected absentm...

Monarch - Pyrrhic VI

As we approached the exit to the tunnel, I felt a small weight lift from my chest. Jorra had clearly matured. He even walked different, his gait confident and self-assured, albeit hurried, considering the circumstances. But more noticeably, he seemed to have shed the petty twist in his personality that led him to brooding and holding grudges.

We’d regained some of our previous camaraderie in a matter of hours.

“One for the lift.” Jorra called ahead.

“Groups of four...

Double-Blind CH142

The smiling shadows assailed us on all sides. There were dozens of them, the sole saving grace that they didn’t seem to have much in terms of health. I nailed one between the eyes with <Page’s Quickdraw>

Talia tore pieces of the first few shadows and took several glancing hits from their knives

“Go for vitals!” I shouted back at her. “They’re coordinated. They’ll keep dogpiling if you give them an opening.”

“I resent… that turn of...

Author is alive (mostly) + Schedule

Hi all. Just wanted to apologize for my absence this week. If you've been around the discord, you know I've been pretty sick since last weekend. I'm feeling better, but still have residual exhaustion and mental fatigue--it's amazing how sleepy you get finally eating solids after a weak of minimal bland food and mostly liquids. I did manage to finish a chapter of both stories however, and I'll be uploading those shortly. 

We'll hit it pretty hard next week. If all goes according to ...

Double-Blind CH141

“That’s probably for the best. Taking some time apart.” The younger version of me answered. I did a double-take. Was my voice really that subdued and robotic?

“What?” Daphne asked, her warm disposition unsettled.

“There was a notebook in my bedside table. It’s gone.”

“Maybe Ellison was being nosy?” Daphne tried.

He shook his head. “Nope. As far as I can tell, it’s no longer in the house. Did you take it?”

“I didn’t even ...

Double-Blind CH140

The body disintegrated into dust before I could react.

There was an unearthly shriek as a metal paneled floor pockmarked with dirt and rust replaced the black and white diner tile. The booths and tables aged hundreds of years over the span of seconds, the cushioned seats growing a yellow patina of discoloration before eventually turning brown.

A familiar off-white wallpaper speckled with silhouetted flowers spanned the entire wall around two stories hall. There was at least doub...

Monarch - Pyrrhic V

Precept Jorra led the small group of pre-adolescent infernals into the sanctum. He watched them obsessively as they crested the halfway point. When there was no vomiting, or excessive crying, or combination of the two, he felt himself relax. Other than the requisite groaning and clutching of stomachs, this batch was more or less solid.

Still, as he watched them struggling along, tiny hands clinging tightly to the two long spans of rope desperately as they navigated the winding cave pa...

Double-Blind CH139

Iris sat across from me at a diner down the street from the adaptive dungeon. She’d sent me a message that she was hungry and mom was MIA. Despite it being well past noon, she kicked both legs out in front of her in excitement as the waiter brought a stack of pancakes slathered in syrup.

It was almost nostalgic. Like the old days.

Only instead of SAT prep, I was perusing Kinsley’s store page, racking my brain on how to prepare to fight a creature that might not ha...

Double-Blind CH138

I knew there was a chance this wouldn’t go how Talia wanted. Of that original group, Jinny was the friendliest towards her, with Nick as a strong second. Sae, by comparison, was a distant third.

It was entirely possible that this could backfire completely. People don’t always act rational after a tragedy. Looking for someone or something to blame is par for the course, and what better scapegoat than the spirit guide that led us to ruin?

Realistically, there was no...

Double-Blind CH137

I was perched on the overhead rafter of what appeared to be a large, banquet style dining hall. Annoyed, I squinted at my scrawled notes. They were a byproduct of trying to cram preparation for the fifth floor in last night after practicing at the training grounds. Not surprising that they were sloppy, considering I could barely see straight by the time I got back to the room.

“So, for a bow, we’re thinking either light, water, or divine.”

Talia was sitting acro...

Double-Blind CH136

It was better to maintain the appearance of low stakes. A friendly spar of no consequence. Even if, in reality, Sae’s performance directly decided whether it was worth risking bringing her into the adaptive dungeon. We’d skated through the trial by the skin of our teeth, and the venture hadn’t ended well.

While it was true that, as individuals, we were both far stronger than we were during the trial thanks to her recent stat boost, our combined strength was still prob...