< [Vice of Speech] >
< With a sealed mouth, she allowed their words to dress her into a form she despised the most >
< “Jesters. Even in my dreams I could never wear the pale dress I loved.” >
A metallic cranking could be heard within the distant Ber as she stood in place, trembling with both palms clasped over her mouth. The atta...
2023-03-09 00:00:31 +0000 UTC View Post“There was a point my life where things felt like they were at their highest. We became Moons of the Nexus. Survivors of Serum S.”
Ber internally narrated these passages of her memories, flickering through them like a children’s book. Page by page, Ber read out the lines that were etched into these core memories.
“I remember D-13. The Wandering Healer who found us on that moonless night as everything burnt down. And there, like an Angel sent by Deities we neve...
2023-03-07 20:10:24 +0000 UTC View PostBer’s mental state was depicted in the form of a children’s book. Vibrant watercolors bled into surrounding objects as a background of painted trees, mountains and reeds surrounded them.
The lake was calm, and in the reflection of the Unloved Duckling sat a weeping, child-like Ber who cuddled with a poorly woven stuffed teddy bear. It was worn by negligence, and its button eyes were the only eyes that had ever truly looked at Ber for who she was.
The lonely Unloved Duckling, w...
2023-03-06 23:01:26 +0000 UTC View PostNav’s message was the last thing she ever wanted to hear. In that moment Frost turned on all heels, dropped every last Impuritas, quenched all flames that were not a part of her body and shouted at the top of her lungs.
“BER! CALM DOWN!”
“WHAT’S UP WITH YOU ALL OF A SUDDEN!?” The hairs along Cer’s tail and ears rose like the quills of a porcupine as all eyes immediately fell onto Ber.
“WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR VOICE BOX JUST A MOMENT AGO!?” Res complained, spi...
2023-03-05 21:30:43 +0000 UTC View PostThe City of Spades Massacre was the one-week war between Justica Arms and the Scarlet Logic, spanning across several Sectors. No official number of the total death toll was ever conclusively decided. Whilst the 2nd Branch claimed they had killed no more than a thousand, the aftermath spoke for itself.
The imaginary world that unraveled before Frost as the triplets fought with the Complex Heart, phasing through its erected structures caused her to question what was real and what wasn’t...
2023-03-05 14:04:58 +0000 UTC View PostVengeance. The collective hatred against Raoul – the Wise Black Wolf – was the driving force of their mission to eliminate Cer, Ber and Res. This did not mean the Crimson Hunger thrived solely to take down Raoul, however. Rather, Raoul was but one piece of their puzzle of hatred.
Additionally, this hatred stemmed from not only the denizens of the City of Spades, but from the Monkey Brothers. Their encounter in the Derma Layer was far more premediated than she could begin to comprehe...
2023-03-04 03:06:46 +0000 UTC View PostThe City of Spades was sparse of sapient life, contrary to the population that was known to exist in S4 and its neighboring Sectors.
The disease that was the Crimson Hunger had plucked countless lives over course of the Nex Megalopolis’ lifespan. What they all allowed to fester within their walls was worse than the nightly invasions of Brandar’s plains, sanctioned by an Atelier no less.
What was once a nightly fear that kept the streets of S4 and beyond silent had sept into th...
2023-03-03 19:44:50 +0000 UTC View PostBer was the first to reunite with Frost whose underside of her hair shone blue, evident that she had manifested the Greed Counter. Similarly, one hundred golden arms extended out from Frost’s back like the wings, each brimming with a flame at the tip.
She was a living bonfire.
The flames in her arms could not be quenched, and they burnt strictly up to her elbows. Miraculously her apparel was left unscathed as she watched the swarm of a hundred bear-pawed Bers approach with uncon...
2023-03-02 21:58:11 +0000 UTC View Post< CONDITION: Nil >
“Nil…?” Her voice was rife with disbelief, wondering if it was maybe a mistake, or a trick of some kind akin to how the Heart of Ours negated the RESIST stat.
But this did not appear to be the case. It was truly Nil.
“I too am at a loss for words. It has no condition like any ordinary Corrupted, but it resonates with the Archivist and her Floor. It is a Main Sequence Corrupted, as she has come ...
2023-03-01 19:13:26 +0000 UTC View Post“You’re right. I know I don’t know a single fucking thing. But if it’s your right to live, then the same goes for everyone else… No matter what, there’s taboos that shouldn’t be broken. Eating flesh… even I’ve dabbled in it! But unlike you – I’ve never once done it because I enjoyed it!” Frost threw her forward, and just before she moved out of reach, Frost punched her and used Thermal Propagation to send her flying faster than ever before.
Her body flailed in th...
2023-02-27 23:31:54 +0000 UTC View Post“The Seeds transform people into Impuritas… An imperfect version of themselves. What a fucking disgrace.” Frost adorned her disdain as she spat with rabid vitriol.
Her irises flared unexpectedly like the headlights of a truck; the golden lights appearing like a pair of seeds to the eyeless woman. Somehow, despite this flaw in her physiology, the woman noticed this flash as a tendril left her mouth. The tipped barb struck her embedded halberd free from the rubble, flipping it into ...
2023-02-27 23:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post[Inferno].
Her body moved on its own. Something deep within her heart snapped as flames suddenly consumed her gloved hands like blazing wicks. Punching, biting, and trampling over the unwashed scum that took pleasure in devouring the innocent could not do their sins justice.
They needed to be cleansed with fire. Erased from the face of this world with a heat that would not even leave their ashes behind. Her hands up to her elbows were smeared by these flames as they trickled onto ...
2023-02-26 20:05:35 +0000 UTC View PostFrost’s imagination was vast. Having been exposed to the worst of injuries in her past profession, she thought of herself as someone who could swallow their disgust and push forward with an iron will. But her past reality and current fantasies were only but a fraction of the misery caused in this world.
They took a moment to consolidate everything the Archivist confessed at a crossroads of their own. Nothing but cracked earth ran in all directions. The night concealed the silhouettes ...
2023-02-25 18:26:21 +0000 UTC View Post“Missionary…”
The Attuned Messenger croaked.
“Attuned Messenger…”
The Missionary hollowly hummed.
Her presence froze the room. The disorderly cannibals of the Blood Filter Syndicate immediately ceased everything and stood still as if a single wrong move would warrant them a swift death.
The members of Act X were powerful in their own right. Even the Heralds, however weak they may seem, were far stronger than their levels would ever suggest. Missionari...
2023-02-23 21:42:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe elevation changed drastically the closer one approached S4. It sunk lower and lower into the recesses of the world, surrounded by nothing but walls, much like the ones that cut off the entire Outskirts away from the rest of the Nex Megalopolis.
It was a caldera within a caldera. A sinkhole so deep that that in some instances its world was kept in perpetual midnight. The sheer cliffs made escape impossible for the ordinary, aside from a single route that connected it to S4 and the do...
2023-02-23 12:17:54 +0000 UTC View PostThe Arbiter was undoubtably an Angel. Her tails were plentiful unlike Jury’s and her skin was as white as snow. The Archivist wondered if there were different types of Angels, but she kept this thought to herself as she approached the patient Arbiter, never knowing where to place her eyes.
An aura of excellence encased the fabled Archetype of Judgement. The aura was not a superficial, psychological phenomenon. It was physical, and the Archivist struggled to move through layer after la...
2023-02-22 18:10:16 +0000 UTC View PostWhilst Brandar sunk into another long night, someone moved frivolously somewhere within the Nexus. The upper Sanctums where the Beholders and the Arbiter gathered were endlessly gripped with political wars and conflict. Further below, past the middle Sanctum saw the layered residential floors sleep in the comfort of their impenetrable haven.
The Beholders knew no rest. Neither did the Arbiter. The esteemed Nexus rose and rose further than one could see. If a bird could fly as high as th...
2023-02-21 11:25:06 +0000 UTC View PostIn only a day they had already traversed halfway through S3. Syndicate after Syndicate were uprooted along their warpath towards S4. Due to the time restraint, they could not afford to escort the people they had freed back to Armistice Point.
But this was not an issue.
“Looks like an Office is cleaning up after us. I guess that woman was trustworthy after all.” This voice came from Res. She was perched atop the only tree in these urban wastes carrying a brass spyglass.
T...
2023-02-21 01:38:54 +0000 UTC View PostThe City of Spades was surprisingly diverse in its landscape. Gone were the flat plains of green. Instead, a world of chasms, gorges and canyons of volatile land crept through its sectors like ivy.
These passages were known as the ‘fast route’, or the highways of the Outskirts. Trains were not used in the City of Spades. Instead, the railways were built above the fog across the entire span of these hidden lands. The view from those trains would be akin to one seen within a plane. 2023-02-20 01:33:20 +0000 UTC View Post
There was once a time when Frost didn’t believe that death was an appropriate punishment. In her civilized mind death was a barbaric method to stave people away. Her profession made it clear that people could be healed. They could change for the better.
But this was only applicable to humans: sapient and sentient beings. Frost could not call the members of the Sleeping Dogs Syndicate ‘people’. To her, they were no better than the Impuritas who kept people as livestock.
Their...
2023-02-18 19:20:39 +0000 UTC View PostLong ago the City of Spades ran along the same flat plane as Brandar. Bordering H10 and S3 was the terminating line of H10’s escarpment. The smooth cliffs plunged straight into an endlessly thick blanket of fog. The outskirts of the City of Spades existed in a colossal canyon spanning from the City of Hearts all the way to the distant City of Clubs.
Beneath the fog the lands dug deeper. The fog merely scratched surface of its impossible depth. An uneven valley of shanty towns and ruin...
2023-02-17 01:28:59 +0000 UTC View Post“It’s a legitimate fear. And I’m thinking what I’m about to do will begin a chain of disaster. Iscario. The dungeon monsters. Scarlet Logic. I have every reason to believe they’re all working against the Nexus, and actively seeking the Piece of the Fallen Star. If they’re festering, then it’s all the more reason to strike them down before it suddenly becomes your problem.”
“The issue herein lays in that statement. Until it becomes our problem. Retaliation is how we ope...
2023-02-15 00:00:37 +0000 UTC View PostThe teleporting platform transported them to an unknown floor. They could not tell if they were somewhere higher or lower. The purple and white walls still surrounded them as they found themselves in what appeared to be a chamber for worship.
It was a vacant space where only a pale crystal hovered high above, draped with purple ribbons. Scented candles and chandeliers were the only source of light in this oddly bright place. Frost was told by Res that they were likely going to be meetin...
2023-02-14 23:54:34 +0000 UTC View PostThey recognized Frost as the fabled Black Incandescent Color, a title arguably more revered than the Stars and Moons of the Nexus.
There were 13 recognized Colors in Elysia: The White Wing; Black Dove; Violet Key; Red Barron; Blue Chorus; Yellow Pulse; Green Composer; Orange Disruptor; Pink Sublime; Brown Banquet; Teal Tear; Golden Crush and finally; the Grey Lock.
Their whereabouts were largely unknown, with the Orange Disruptor and the Red Barron having been confirmed ‘dead’...
2023-02-14 23:49:04 +0000 UTC View PostH10 was one of 12 locations in Elysia collectively known as an ‘Adventurer’s Hub’. Each location was defined by a great, crystal spire belonging to Justica Arms, ran by one of Beholder Galia’s trusted Apostles.
Only 11 locations remained after the Iscario debacle.
The fate of the 12th Branch, which was constructed in Grandis, was unknown.
Major Associations, Offices, Branches and Adventuring agencies tended to flock and build their head of operations within their tur...
2023-02-12 16:28:35 +0000 UTC View PostSultry outfits, bunny suits, maid uniforms, and bikini armor.
Otherwise collectively known as the four horsemen of Frost’s apocalypse. H9’s streets were infested with these apparels. The smaller settlements afar were relatively sane, but the deeper and closer one went to its major city, the more they became commonplace.
Brothels. Clubs. Shows. Massage parlors run by Aquatids with an ending that could only lead to one thing. Inns for various overnight recreational activities. W...
2023-02-11 23:53:23 +0000 UTC View PostDay after day, night after night, they were greeted with the peerless sights of the City of Hearts. The Sectors of each City were diversified and fostered their own unique subcultures.
H7 was a vast, architecturally impressive Sector where artists conglomerated. From the humble oil painter to the brazen marble sculptor, there was never a dull sight. Frost wondered if this place somehow had an influence on the newly formed Objet D’art.
The Hearts were a mysterious existence to be...
2023-02-10 21:58:39 +0000 UTC View Post“What does an Atelier mean to you all? Just a pack of wolves with a fake alpha and their little tool that makes them the big shot? Or is it a sense of belonging? An identity?”
A wise Ber spoke as she lifted her chin towards the moon. They climbed the vast hill that stretched for kilometers across. Fallen stumps and shriveled fauna littered every step of the way, as did half-buried homes and ruins of a not-so-distant past.
“We could’ve joined Justica Arms when Galia extende...
2023-02-09 18:28:45 +0000 UTC View PostThe Express Networks were the fastest means of transport in the Nex Megalopolis
Outside of the Chained Theocracy’s sealed passaged that linked each city’s reception, and the Hyperlinks of course.
It would take 24 hours at the most to travel from one end of a City to another using the Express Networks.
Unfortunately, these Networks were no longer in use. The mysterious disappearing trains and the urban legend of the Express Train to Hell rose in infamy. As a result, the t...
2023-02-09 07:22:35 +0000 UTC View Post“But a tale can be interpreted. Our world is a tale itself. Our fabric of existence is but a page, written by the ebbs and flows of the metaphorical pen we call time.” The woman whispered, her grimacing at the quality of their catch.
“I suppose that’s why Stir Cube is fascinated by the Eternal Library. Compendiums of the past, present and future. Our future is already prewritten. But it has begun to change. Have you heard of the Amalgam?” He asked as a lumbering, mass of flesh...
2023-02-08 02:25:56 +0000 UTC View Post