Prologue V
The Loop Stops Here
The universe had changed overnight and only one person realized. In a moment it went from being a universe where the Celestials would watch over. Celestials, those long-vaunted beings that many inhabitants of the universe took to calling gods. They would often be found, keeping track over the universe until the next apocalypse occurred. The only problem? They were gone. Their reason for leaving? Simple, there were going to be no more apocalypses.
...
2022-11-04 09:40:51 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 170
Brenna
The Snake in the Garden
Brenna watched the whole time as Lykan made comment after comment to the strange alien. Judging by Lykan’s reactions, it was clear that more was happening. The Titan before them, was not the largest threat this world faced. Rather they were just the largest known enemy that they currently faced.
He didn’t trust the creature, that much was certain. Just the way his qi felt on edge when she had around caused her to question ...
2022-11-04 08:01:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 4
A Typical Date (1)
Alexa was out on her way through town. By now most of the boys from Central knew not to even attempt matching wits with her. Unfortunately, for Alexa, she was in North’s territory. Why was she here? Was it to perhaps win another sporting event? Such an event could happen, but her next match against North would be on Central’s territory.
No, the reason she was here now, was due to her brother coming through for her in a big way. When she had a...
2022-11-04 05:38:54 +0000 UTC
View Post
Epilogue IV
The Extractor stood before the council of elders. These were the supreme beings of administration, the ones tasked with ensuring resources are allocated properly. Here the extractor stood, ready to receive his final verdict.
“You had one task to perform, can you recite for us what that task was?” The first supreme being asked.
The Extractor answered without missing a beat. “My task was to locate and remove the former project lead, before the Behemoth was de...
2022-11-03 08:58:26 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 3
The Aftermath
Silence.
The entire ride back to the Thyme residence was done in silence. As usual, Alexa tilted her head to face out the window. This was not done out of interest of seeing anything outside, but something she offered her brother as an out, so he didn’t feel the need to fill the car ride with excuses, or small talk.
“Look I’m sorry.” Luke began.
“It’s no big deal.” Alexa replied. Of the two, Alexa was the one who had showered...
2022-11-03 02:29:16 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 2
The Principal’s Office (2)
“You paid her for a date, and then what? You failed?” Mr. Courtland asked, turning to his son Matthew Courtland.
Before he could continue, he was cut off.
“He did not fail. Unless by fail, you mean a lack of ability to understand social etiquettes that I have come to understand them. He also came to the date, after clearly having been out sweating. He did not apply deodorant and did not even have the courtesy to bru...
2022-11-02 18:32:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
<<<<Author's Note: Good afternoon everyone. As I noted yesterday, I will be creating a new piece of work for the November Writathon for Royal Road. With that, I intend to use this piece as my new story. I intend to get at least 55,555 words out of this story, and environment. That said, hopefully you all will like it too and wish for me to continue.
As an aside, this is a personal project of mine that is mainly meant to spread the idea of Alexithymia awarene...
2022-11-02 16:02:25 +0000 UTC
View Post
Bonus Chapter 4
Dr. Thurston Charleston (13th Universe)
What an odd life. One second you are, well Dr. Charleston didn’t quite know where he was, at least not at first. He was a psychiatrist, a very good one. He even had the recommendations and back story to make it, so the military was more than happy to hire him, without question.
There was just one problem, he had no memories. Well, he had one, his first and only real memory. The memory of when he first...
2022-11-02 09:48:52 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 169
Pentra La’H Twol
The Lies and Deceptions of Diplomacy
Pentra La’H Twol had them. Better still, she knew she had them. It was as easy as catching two already trained mice. Mice that could then be used to conquer this pitiful planet. The more she spoke, the more she realized these creatures had no understanding of deceit and trickery. While many cultivators thought such tactics were beneath them, there was still merit in the ancient art of subterfuge, an art th...
2022-11-02 08:00:03 +0000 UTC
View Post
Good Evening everyone. First off, I would like to thank you all for continuing to follow me for another month.
I was trying to think of a way to both recharge and give you all a gift for the holidays. With that, I have come up with a plan. I plan on waiving all monthly fees until 2023. This is just my way of saying, thank you all for being with me, and I hope that you all continue to stay into and through the holiday break.
With that, I should give a fe...
2022-11-02 02:19:56 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 109
When You're Dying, But Still Trying
Pain. Blood and pain, those were the two things I noticed most about where I landed. The world was alight with the blur of light, as my mind tried desperately to keep up with the world.
Bleh!
I vomited blood again, right on the person before me. We were in the streets; I could tell because of the way morning dew seemed to settle on the concrete blocks that were everywhere I could see and touch. It was dark, but m...
2022-11-01 09:21:41 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 108
Becoming A Martyr
Martyr. Martyring. There is something so tragically lovable about someone purposefully sacrificing their lives to save another. That is part of why I feel so hollow. Yeah, sure, I am technically a martyr in that I now realize I am sacrificing my own life for the sake of everyone else.
I even feel a little bit better about making it so Wizard me from this universe doesn’t have to worry about such problems. That he will never have to be burdened...
2022-10-31 09:22:53 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 168
Lykan
Attempted Deception
Lykan had been immersed with Brenna’s training. As always, she was able to take the lesson given to her and internalize it in a way that was all together frightening. Part of the fright came from the fact that earth was so foreign. In many ways earth made no sense, to motions of the ground were many and varied. The ground would rumble and then Brenna would produce deadly spikes.
While there was a pattern, the effects were deadly....
2022-10-31 08:01:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 107
Another Day, Another Set of Problems
Mount up, prepare, and wait. Those are the three components to any soldier’s life before they go out on a mission. So why do I feel like we are setting ourselves up for disaster?
Resonance. Grating Resonance on my Spirit.
I feel like we are being both too cavalier with this second “easy” Behemoth, and simultaneously taking it too seriously. I don’t know how or why I feel this way.
Alien Je...
2022-10-30 11:15:30 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 106
Doubling Down
We had won. Within an hour both Jesses were back up, awake, and responsive. We were saved, supposedly for a few millenniums. Granted our universe would at one time be threatened again, but that was so far in the future that we should just take our victory while we could.
Still, I had a nagging sense of loss.
I could almost feel a phantom pain telling me that I was not done yet. That I still had karmic ties to another universe.
“Don...
2022-10-29 11:47:58 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 105
Hitting Little Girls To Save the Universe
Sometimes the universe gives you lemons and expects you to learn to make lemonade. Other times the universe seemingly insists you stop everything and help a little girl who is selling lemonade to raise money for a charity. In both cases, you; either as the lemonade creator, or purchaser, feel better about yourself.
Why do I say this?
Why even bring up the image of a cute little girl selling lemonade at a time like t...
2022-10-28 11:09:15 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 167
Pentra La’H Twol
Trapped
For over a millennium Pentra sat in isolation. Her wounds slowly, oh so slowly being healed in the toxic air of the newly integrated planet. She was part of the vanguard, a scientist cultivator who dedicated her whole life and future to this one mission. To begin the terraforming process on a newly discovered world that could sustain life.
Pentra, much like the others who had come with her, thought the inhabitants were primitive a...
2022-10-28 08:00:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 104
Swarmy With a Hint of Elder Horror
Waiting. The number one pastime of all soldiers.
We were of course waiting for enemy forces to begin spawning in the spatial rifts that were forming all around us. For those without enhanced senses and sensitivities to magic and psychic resonances there were instruments. Instruments that showed the ever-increasing bulges formed from pocket dimensional rifts, that were forming all around us.
There were sub-channels where pe...
2022-10-27 09:54:29 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 103
Times Not to Plan For Retirement
I awoke to find that only my Jess had remained by my side. I was somewhat alarmed and somewhat relieved that Alien Jess left. I was alarmed in the fact that I completely missed the moment she left. I was relieved in that I had a chance to watch my Jess slowly awaken.
We wouldn’t do anything. We were after all out in the middle of an Endarian garden after all.
“Don’t worry Father. I will watch over you two, while yo...
2022-10-26 10:05:39 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 166
Lykan
The Phases of Air
To say that the training was grueling would be putting it lightly. There were extreme heat waves, followed immediately by fierce biting cold winds. Each wind Lykan was forced to stand through and endure. Midway through the training, despite being far removed from the worst of the elemental forces Brenna had to leave. This was fine, as it allowed Lykan to let the restraints go from his training. Her leaving allowed him to explore the full d...
2022-10-26 08:00:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 102
The Calm Before The Storm
There are a lot of things I can do. A lot of things I need to do. I should check in on Jess, to make sure she is okay. I should check in with Prime to see if anything has happened with the rebooted timeline.
But what do I do? Well, I check in on my ex, because yeah, that never ended poorly for anyone.
Poof.
I appear next to Goldhammer, an old grizzled Dwenvarian with a long silver beard. Seeing him, not her, causes m...
2022-10-25 08:52:33 +0000 UTC
View Post
Interlude XI
Dr. Thurston Charleston panted rapidly, as a surge of excitement filled him.
“It worked.” He said out loud to only himself. As if only now that he said it, did it become real. But it was real. All the heralds were dead. He had done his Full Reveal, which caused the final three Heralds to be revealed.
Of course, there was wild pandemonium at first and a lot of news sites all began blaring the news of the three people who had all transformed i...
2022-10-24 08:21:15 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 165
Brenna
The Dungeon Under the Stairs
Lykan could feel the entrance. He used his naturally enhanced senses to guide him towards the only location where the dungeon entrance could be. There was just one problem. Well two problems. The first problem was that the entrance was in the palace, the very heart of the Sidherthan empire. This by itself was no problem, not for Lykan and Brenna who were so far beyond the human guards who idly stood guard throughout the palace....
2022-10-24 08:01:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
<<<<Author's Note: Sorry about the delay, there was an update that ended up breaking everything. Fortunately I was able to restore everything, but it took a while. Thank you all for being understanding.
>>>>
Chapter 101
Temporary Resets
Poof.
I appear in a hospital room, next to a nearly translucent General Tigran.
Whir-shur.
The sound of an automatic breather is attached to the oth...
2022-10-23 20:29:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 100
Plots Within Plots
The moment I saw her laying on the emergency room bed, my breath froze in my chest. My entire body constricted as I just saw the pain, she was in. Even though she was in a coma, it was clear that there was a struggle going on, under the surface of her skin. She was battling something, but her mind and body could not seem to win.
Seeing her, I forgot almost everything. I forgot where I was, how I got there. In that moment all that mattered was h...
2022-10-22 10:56:09 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 99
Operation Brotherly Payback
In the end I had to get a new suit entirely. It seemed that the patented tri-weave blend still has not come to this universe. That is why I am stuck with this seemingly semi-archaic version of a space suit that barely has four hours of oxygen available. Of course, with my powers and abilities, I can theoretically extend that for quite a while.
Why am I thinking about being lost in space, dying slowly as I wait for death to take me? No c...
2022-10-21 09:58:35 +0000 UTC
View Post
Interlude XV
Gamma Cluster Observatory
The observatory was the last vestige of a bygone era. Old programming from millennia ago that still sputtered and clung to life by the barest of margins. Everyone who was sent to the Observatory was sent as a death sentence. For a true cultivator the observatory was a death sentence. Either someone who would be seen as too much of a threat, or someone who failed to reach the stages of enlightenment in time were sent. Of course, being sent to ...
2022-10-21 08:00:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 98
A Second Time to Make a First Impression
There standing on the landing dock for the Endarian Fleet, I realize a few things. First, I realize that this is my second time coming to this fourteenth universe. Then in that same thought, I realize that for the second time I got here by a random portal opening and my disabled ship floating through. Granted last time there was an extra hop that I had to make after coming to and maneuvering around a destroyed world. But...
2022-10-20 09:34:31 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 97
Unfettered Consciousness
I was floating aimlessly throughout the universe. My consciousness was simultaneously everywhere and nowhere all at once. Here in the void, I saw three figures of darkness and four figures of light.
If I focused on the different entities, I could see them. The entities would go from being a glowing light, to a true entity that was easy to understand. The dark entities were Admiral Lemitov, the Dwenvarian Queen’s Bro Consort, and someone ...
2022-10-19 11:09:49 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 164
King Philipon
Grief
The Crippling power of grief is something that cannot be fully described. It is a cancer of the mind and spirit that eats away the want and will to live. In some cases, it can cause even the mightiest of heroes to be brought low. Such was the case for King Philipon. He had watched how his beloved youngest daughter was slowly brought low to madness, then death.
He watched his youngest daughter slowly wilt away to madness. A madness that u...
2022-10-19 08:00:07 +0000 UTC
View Post
