eligos

Monarch - Pyrrhic IV

I wound my way through graves and crumbling buildings. The sepulcher itself—Infaris’s sacred resting place, a monolithic crypt with an iron gate that had once haunted my dreams, was a crumbled heap of ruins.

There was a sad irony in that.

As the first infernal, Infaris had died thousands of years ago. She was deified, her memory honored with the creation of the sepulcher. It had withstood the test of time, standing as a beacon of history as countless infernals mad...

Monarch - Pyrrhic III

There’s a lot to learn, living rough in a place like the Sanctum. It wasn’t like I could walk into a trade-post and buy supplies. Even if I wore a mask, my eyes were a dead giveaway.

What you can eat and what you can’t becomes a weekly gamble that could turn daily at any given time. Shelf life is a serious concern. Dehydrating and drying food is the best way to ensure sustainability. Conditions and weather are always up to the whim of whatever grand magical apparatus ...

Monarch - Pyrrhic II

As the man ate in silence, Lokerias waited impatiently, unable to still the incessant twitch of his tail. Since they’d extended an invitation for the stranger to share their fire, the Writ of Arkus was clear. It would be improper to impose on him in any way. Lokerias tried instead to focus on his meal. Though stringy, the wyvern meat was delicious, and he devoured it quickly, nearly forgetting to breathe.

Finally, the man leaned back and seemed to relax. When he spoke, th...

Monarch - Pyrrhic I (Second Draft)

Lokerias shivered in the cold, stifling a cough. He had always been prone to illness, but his now threadbare apparel, along with the drastic shift in temperature between Sanctum chambers hadn’t done him any favors. He wished, not for the first time, that his genealogy had far more water mages, and far less from the earth. If they had an unlimited supply of water, at least he’d have a way to not feel hungry.

A rustling from a nearby bush caught his ear. He called out. “N...

Monarch Returns, Amazon Announcement, and Schedule Updates

The Re: Monarch hiatus is over!

If you’re a patron who stuck around through the break, thanks so much for your patience. It’ll be worth the wait.

Monarch Book 2 is now available on Amazon.

If you’re a patron from Double-Blind who’s never gotten around to Monarch and you’re up for something a little more traditional dark fantasy or just have a thing for time loops, now’s the perfect time to jump in as both e-books are accessible with a Kindle Unlimited subscriptio...

Double-Blind CH135

It was closing in on two in the morning. Still wired from the meeting, I’d parted ways with Kinsley, finished the last recovery potion, and headed down to the apartment’s gym complex. Despite usually being locked around this time, I’d gotten special permission to access it after hours from the landlord—a middle-aged woman with a blonde bob haircut named Dawn, who coincidentally never seemed to sleep. It wasn’t the iron I was after, but the adjacent racquetball court.

A handf...

Double-Blind CH134

The meeting concluded after what felt like an endless round of questions. I intended to make a casual bee-line out of the conference center, but I was waylaid by a combination of well-wishers and schmoozers. I handled them as politely as possibly, slowly making my way to the exit at what felt like inches per minute.

<Kinsley: Are you sure we don’t need to run?>

She was sticking closer to me now, her jaded facade slipping. Every minute that pas...

Double-Blind CH133

AN: Chap for yesterday ended up being super long, even after I cutting it in two. Second chapter going up shortly. Enjoy the combined 5k wordcount. 

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I was more confident, now, that I had Tyler’s trust. His wife had been in the region we’d saved, and whatever he and Miles had talked about, I was reasonably sure he didn’t suspect me. The man was careful, but he didn’t hide his emotions well.

Miles was another story.

I�...

Double-Blind CH132

“Not that I remember?” I gave Kinsley a questioning look, struggling to stay indifferent despite the rising internal panic.

Why the fuck was Miles here? He had no direct connection to the adventurer’s guild, at least as far as I knew. It was possible that he was one of the people they’d talked to, as part of their investigation. But it felt like more than that.

“Matt, this is Miles. He assisted with the raid on region three.” Kinsley said quickly, eyes darting back and...

Chapter 131

Steinbeck let out a low whistle from the back of the room.

“What is that?” Sae whispered.

“Gehenna.” Estrada murmured.

“Are those things… people?” Kinsley’s face was pale.

There’s a lot of ugly in the world. Shootings. Genocide. Apartheid. The list goes on and on. At first, it’s nearly impossible to look away. Our minds need logic, some sort of pattern to follow. So, at first, we stare the horror in the face and searching for the reason i...

Chapter 130

AN: Quick note. It came to my attention that I mislabeled certain regions. The most noteworthy being that region 15 failed the transposition, when that should be region 13. It was a pain in the ass to fix, but the chapters should reflect that now. My fault for trying to keep twenty regions straight in my head. Anyway, I've made some notes on the regions mentioned so far, and I'll post a non-spoilery version of those notes later. 

After double-checking to make sure the hallway was...

Double-Blind CH129

Before I explained anything, I wanted to make sure I could back it up. I called Doctor Ansari first and asked if it was alright to use minor abilities. Ordinator’s Guile significantly reduced the amount of mana required to use anything on the Probability tree, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt.

She muttered something disparaging, but eventually relented after I promised to do nothing physically taxing, stop if I got short of breath, and agreed with her requirement to “sta...

Chapter 128

Ellison made his choice. He’s an enemy now. Same as the rest.

I shook my head. That was wrong. Not only was Ellison young, he’d just been through one of the biggest societal upheavals in the last century. If not the biggest. Anyone would be confused. Reevaluating what you once held as fact and using that as foundation for challenging old thinking was a natural part of learning.

Even if that’s true, it doesn’t excuse what he did. You can say with r...