Nihilea

Chapter 58: Dead to Rights

Chapter 58: Dead to Rights

Nothing else bothered us on the way back, granting a rare moment of reprieve to mark the end of our search. We’d been going in a large circle, rounding up one group at a time, so we weren’t actually that far from camp, and arrived back where we began in less than ten minutes. The mission tally wasn’t great, from an objective point of view: we’d recovered six horses while losing twelve, lost another three archers to leave only six of th...

Chapter 57: The Wild Hunt

Chapter 57: The Wild Hunt

A wounded animal is the most dangerous of all. That old saying was a popular one in the corporate world, typically rearing its head in discussion around mergers and acquisitions, but just as applicable in a hundred different settings. That said, I doubted my old managers ever envisioned a scenario quite this literal, as the Horsedra turned a dark shade of crimson, wholly distinct from the flames eating away at skin and bone. What remained of it...

Chapter 56: Horsing Around

Chapter 56: Horsing Around

[Horsedra - Level 7 Demon]

It would have been amusing if it weren’t mildly terrifying. To reiterate, I grew up in the suburbs before moving to the big city at a young age: before this, the largest animal I’d ever had charging in my general direction was someone’s angry dachshund. Even Harvey didn’t try to take the charge head on, and I was pretty sure he had a substantial head start on me in terms of physicality....

Chapter 206: Crystal Clear

Chapter 206: Crystal Clear

Crystal cut a distinctive figure, wearing a dress that lived up to her name: ten thousand fractals that somehow maintained both cohesion and by extension her modesty, even as they constantly moved, rearranging themselves into kaleidoscopic patterns of blue and white with each passing second. It was sufficiently distracting to overshadow all else, such that Emma had already landed next to her, before realising she hadn’t a clue how first intr...

Chapter 55: Blood Money

Chapter 55: Blood Money

I wasn’t sure if the lone driver would make it back at all, given the lack of an escort, but there wasn’t anyone we could spare, so he’d simply have to hope for the best. We’d thinned the herd in terms of predators, at least, though who knew if our efforts would be enough to keep him safe? Either way, he was on his own, because we still had a job to do. Harvey up front, the driver in the middle, and me bringing up the rear, all of this wa...

Chapter 54: Something’s Not Quite Right

Chapter 54: Something’s Not Quite Right

“I’m happy to talk specifics, once we’re back on the road,” Harvey promised, returning to his feet. “For now though, let’s get the rest of the horses back, before anything else makes a meal out of them.” 

I wasn’t about to argue with that, as the more I saw of the wilderness, away from the main road, the less I liked it. Our numbers had been whittled away, both due to sending a few men back to camp as ...

Chapter 205: Space

Chapter 205: Space

Elizabeth appeared rather reluctant to talk about whoever was on the other end of the call, not even relenting after a minute of Emma staring disapprovingly at her. That was when Emma remembered two things: firstly, that the effectiveness of this strategy was probably diminished when she had a helmet instead of a face, and secondly, that there were alternative sources of information available.

What have you got for me? Emma thought, dec...

Chapter 53: A Horse is a Horse, Of Course, Of Course

Chapter 53: A Horse is a Horse, Of Course, Of Course

Six horses had been recovered, and three confirmed dead; with nine left to go, the search continued. As we continued due East, signs of life began to make an appearance. Far from the emptiness from before, field mice, rabbits, voles and more scurried by, paying little heed to the threat we posed as they scurried through the grass, close enough that I had to watch my step so as to not accidentally squash them. Pumpkin ...

Chapter 52: Dawntrail

Chapter 52: Dawntrail

Harvey had gathered all of the drivers together, huddled shoulder to shoulder like a football team in the moments before the game started. As I approached, the two nearest to me parted slightly, allowing me to see the star of the show: a crude map one of the drivers had scratched into the dirt with a stick. At the centre, six boxes surrounded by stick figures, representing our encampment, with six horses scattered around it at various odd points. T...

Chapter 204: The Great Filter

Chapter 204: The Great Filter

Thankfully, the number of messages Emma had to sort through wasn’t actually as bad as the top line suggested. While there were indeed 1121 individual messages, most of them were automated messages from the administration, repeating at one minute intervals and reporting the same thing: a total loss of connection. Clearly, the disruption to the Weave had been poorly received, resulting in a flood of diagnostics into her inbox. Emma clicked ...

Chapter 51: Popcat

Chapter 51: Popcat

[Mask (Cat) upgraded.

Processing. Please wait.]

Nobody ever enjoyed being told to wait, and I was no exception to the rule; I could be patient, certainly, but I didn’t particularly like it. That being said, I was still rather happy to see this particular notification pop up, if only because of what it represented. You see, until now, everything the System did had been resolved near instantly, whether it ...

Chapter 50: Shades of Grey

Chapter 50: Shades of Grey

Somewhat predictably, I ended up slumped in my chair inside the carriage, completely failing to fall asleep. I wasn’t that tired, as whilst the night time skirmish had been intense, it had also been very brief. Even the backlash from Last Stand had faded after digging into some emergency rations, so as it stood, my body simply wasn’t feeling all that sleepy, which left me awake enough to do some thinking. Pumpkin wasn’t making it any eas...

Chapter 49: Ice Ice Baby

Chapter 49: Ice Ice Baby

Harvey had wrapped up his discussion with the drivers, while I was preoccupied with the System. Each of them were heading back to their respective carriages, climbing back into blankets and sleeping bags to snatch what sleep they could. On one hand, that was a reasonable course of action, since the sun would be rising before long, and sleeping in the daytime was always harder. On the other hand, this meant we were ignoring the issue of the horse...

Chapter 48: Rule of Three

Chapter 48: Rule of Three

[Level up!

Will Swindell

Class (True): Level 3 Soldier of Fortune

Class (Public): Level 3 Soldier

Title: [Empty]

Experience: 311/500]

I took a moment to look around, as notifications began to flood in. Harvey was huddled together with the carriage drivers, all of them talking in quiet whispers, beyond my abil...

Chapter 203: Malcontent

Chapter 203: Malcontent

Given how much the Solstice had dominated her thoughts as of late, Emma’s first reaction was bemusement, as she watched finely dressed servants flit to and from between tents, carrying everything from wooden support teams to trays laden with tea and crumpets. The morning was bright, with not a cloud in the sky, by all means a picturesque day for an outdoor gathering, and yet the scene before her felt strangely out of place.

“It’s not ...

Chapter 47: Ghostbusters

Chapter 47: Ghostbusters

Bereft of their supernatural compulsion, the Wispen weren’t particularly threatening. Sure, they could levitate, which let them bypass the earthen stakes around our encampment, but their maximum speed capped out at a brisk jog, and their movements were well telegraphed, in the manner of amateurs who knew nothing about how to fight. Mostly, they lunged at me, attempting to use momentum and sheer weight of numbers to drag me down. I cut down the...

Chapter 46: Whisper on the Wind

Chapter 46: Whisper on the Wind

I only stayed on the ground for a little bit: the stars, while impressive to look at, were not known for their being quick to change, so the novelty ran out before long. Even the pale blue flames that flitted around in the distance couldn’t keep my interest for long, so back to mundane affairs it was. Also, I didn’t want to fall asleep, lest Pumpkin decide to try a creative way to wake me up. Odd sleep schedules were nothing new to me...

Chapter 202: Will of Stone

Chapter 202: Will of Stone

It was a bright and sunny morning, on the 14th of June, when Emma returned to the Decision Tree with her immediate family. Last time they’d used this path, it had led to the Sherwood Gallery, for a very confusing day of shopping. On this special day, however, all paths had been reconfigured to converge upon a singular point: Stonehenge, the beating heart of magical England. They were arriving a week ahead of the main event, as was customary,...

Chapter 45: Watch Out

Chapter 45: Watch Out

It was difficult to sleep, after the excitement that had punctuated my third day on the road. Part of that, I knew, was down to the residual adrenaline coursing through my body. I’d barely fought, but even so, the evolutionary traits behind the fight or flight response were hard to overcome. The other half was the driver, who slept towards the front of the carriage. He snored, loudly. I still managed to catch a few winks, despite it all, and was ...

Chapter 44: Bottom’s Up

Chapter 44: Bottom’s Up

The problem with facing an enemy coming from underground, is that I had no way to see them. An obvious statement, perhaps, but no less true for it. I had no way of going on the offensive, so even after Pumpkin’s warning, all I could really do was to wait for the enemy to move, and then mount a counterattack, hoping that their first strike wasn’t decisive. There was an undeniable element of luck at play here, but such was life on the battlef...

Chapter 43: Foggy Bottom

Chapter 43: Foggy Bottom

The fog definitely wasn’t obeying the laws of physics I was used to seeing, as it wrapped around our convoy like the smothering hand of a government regulator, smothering all individuality within a thick, formless morass. 

[Water stored.]

The sole saving grace was that it didn’t appear immune to my inventory, allowing me to carve away any strands that got too close to my person.

“Storages work on it!...

Chapter 42: Violence is the Answer

Chapter 42: Violence is the Answer

You’d think I’d be worried, facing the prospect of actual combat for the first time. I wasn’t necessarily counting the sparring matches back in Allensward, against baby monsters and people who’d never fought a serious battle in their lives, but even whilst killing the latter, I’d had little reaction to it all. To this day, I’m unsure exactly why my reactions were so muted, when popular media loved to portray a...

Chapter 201: The Last Supper

Book 2 start!

Chapter 201: The Last Supper

Emma, knowing there was unlikely to be any once she arrived at Stonehenge, followed Edith’s advice and took a week off to rest and recharge. No combat, and barely any crafting: only making batches of ordinary candles, as that was what was most in demand. Ironically, the residents of Oxford had become very good at dealing with any threats her more potent candles might have helped with, whereas lighting was still somethin...