anathemafiction

Sweet Nectar — Alessa (Mature)

Alessa feels herself being lifted.

Her eyes are closed, eyelashes locked on each other, and from her slightly parted lips, a soft sigh escapes to the silent air. A soft sigh that matches the calmness that spreads throughout her limbs, the warmness that radiates from her chest, that makes her head sluggish without any thoughts and worries, and Alessa can simply...

Feel.

She feels herself being lifted as if her spirit is no longer bound to her body but is finally free to seek ...

Sneak Peek

Been editing the Prologue...

Progress Report

Another Friday, another meeting.

Excuse my lateness. I had a power shortage in my area that lasted for far too long — my phone was at 8%, the sun was starting to dwindle, and I wondered if I had to read by the light of candles when finally, electricity was restored and the world was set right.

I know I'm writing a medieval fantasy, and in the distance fiction provides, I can envision their lives fine without modern comforts, but my God is it near impossible to live myself withou...

Q&A — Part 1

• What are the ROs thoughts on children and marriage?

I will admit, at this point in their lives, none of the ROs can seriously think about marriage and children or anything ahead of what is the immediate future. They all live... very unstable lives at the moment, and those circumstances don't allow them to think much of what stability can look like.

Hadrian doesn't think of the future much. He doesn't like to. He also doesn't particularly like ...

Progress Report

I just finished an amazing writing session!

Work has been tough this past week — people are starting to take time off for their summer vacation, so everything has been much more stressful, but! I had today free, and I took advantage of it.

The words were pouring, my fingers were flying over the keyboard, and I'm almost done with the romance version of Alessa's conversation! I added a few more choices to the first draft which, of course, turned into more branching dialog...

No Stranger to Touch — Neia

The skin is raised around the knuckles, hard to the touch, like leather that was left too long in the sun. Large calluses, of skin made of nothing but scar tissue, grow on the very edge of each knuckle, and even as you press hard into them, you wonder if she can feel it at all. 

It is as if nature made a natural cover, a protection against the damage this hand is faded to make. 

The skin beneath her fingers isn't much softer. Scars and cuts litter almost every inch, maki...

Progress Report

We meet again! 

It turned out that the game patch required much more work than I (naively) assumed. I worked on it pretty much all week, adding around 10k words to the game — which, in a million, I know it's not much — and countless corrections and improvements.

I also had a lot of fun coming up with achievements. If I'm honest, I forgot about achievements halfway through writing the game, so there were a lot of special parts and hidden paths that I forgot. But now, with ...

Lingering Glance

This month's lingering glance, I thought I'd share snippets of two scenes I'm working on for the patch update — which I'll, hopefully, submit tomorrow!

The first is a new conversation at the interrogation with Rafael. I just love the bickering between him and the MC 😆:

(...)

Lance smiles again. "There it is, my big secret."

Rafael slumps back in his chair. "The blue freak is playin' you all," he says, shoulders shaking around a c...

A Different Kind of Zeal — Hadrian (Mature)

All his world resides in his hands.

There is nothing else that Hadrian can pay attention to. No sound, no sight, no smell or taste. It all comes down to his hands, to what his fingertips touch and his palms press, and his skin brushes. He doesn't know if it's dark or if the sun brightens the sky. He doesn't know if he listens or if silence has finally become absolute. He doesn't know, even, if time continues forward, or goes backward, or has simply stopped, and reality is nothing more t...

Sneak Peek

Alessa is propped on the bench, back leaning on the window, with her knives spread all around her. She perches like a bird of prey, one knee up, hands flashing with steel.

Whoosh.

Her many rings shine with the flames as her fingers move up and down. She sharpens one knife with a wetting stone, each stroke sending a sizzling hiss that vibrates the air around you.

Whoosh.

Shadows cling to all the walls, and there isn't anything else to look at but her. ...

Progress Report

Friday is upon thee. It is upon us all.

Another week ran past, but what a week it was! I didn't quite manage to write every single day — Wednesday didn't give me a respite — but it was close enough. Six out of seven is not a terrible record, I reckon.

Alessa is, as always, a pleasure to write. While the conversation isn't too long, for you don't have a lot of time to dwell around, it has different variations just like Hadrian's did. They depend on your past choices, your past ...

I played myself

When you're on the second draft and have to write the paths you left as placeholders in the first. 

Scenario Vote

Neia won the character vote poll! That means a scenario with our menacing specter will be posted on the 29th!

However, I was thinking. Now that the official list of ROs has been released, I'll stop with the bi-monthly scenarios focusing on just one character and write instead snippets for all of them. The first method made sen...

Truth or Dare — Alain

"Why not play a game?"

The words lift in the quiet air like feathers blown by a gentle breeze, and you swear you almost see them materialize before you. Rising upwards, in the translucent shape of mirages, towards a ceiling so elaborate, your eyes can't focus on a single detail.

There are too many, in engravements along the edges, in the frescos painted on the corners, in the texture right in the middle. A rose made of stone, its petals wide open. It's not painted in gold, nor is ...

Achievement Guide

A very helpful Forum user, Nell, has made an achievement guide for Book One!

Read it here!

The only thing that I'd add is that, if you achieve the "Friends in High Places" achievement, you do get a new scene in Chapter 7 at the inn with Captain Cynthia — if you went to the Harbo...

Progress Report

We're already a third of the way into June. Is it just me or is time flying too fast, now? Here I was complaining not two weeks ago that it needed to pick up the pace, and now I'm afraid there's just not enough of it. It keeps slipping like water through my fingers. 

And people, I'm parched. 

But, racing time aside, this week has been so good! I've had to turn off my phone whenever I sat down to write because I'm getting notifications every second, but I was able to focu...

Different shreds of the same fabric

I adore my sarcastic MCs, using words and quips like daggers and pocking the world until, eventually, the world can't help but poke back. I love my stoic ones, the ones whose real thoughts are as much a mystery as the constellations shining in the sky. They face everyone from behind a stone wall, impregnable but for a few.

I love the exact opposite too, those that can't — and don't want to — hide even a shred of who they are. The ones who frown when they see an injustice, who laugh ...

Character Q&A — July!

Hello!

This is yet another post asking for input for what shall be future content. 😋 But! Please send in your character asks for July! It can be directed to any character that appears in Book 1.

Hope you participate! ♡

-

Edit: Thank you to those who have submitted questions already! I'm already brainstorming on how to answer them. 😋 

But I just wanted to remind everyone that you can also ask questions to the characters themselves - a...

Character Vote

The first Bonus Content for the month has been mostly written — it'll feature Alain, the last poll winner. I was going to write the second about Ysabella since she was in second place, however, since the game's launch and new characters coming into the mix, I think it better to ask you instead. 

Which character should feature in the second scenario of the month? 

So long, Book One

I sent the patch to COG!!!

It was a bit more work than I expected, specifically because of the number of variables that I had used, but it is all done, and I truly believe the book is better for it. I know it may seem like just a small thing, but Nero and his life will have a significant impact on the game. 

So, you need to be aware of him. 

Other than the Ner...

Touch — Alessa

She does not like how her fingers stiffen.

The joints are cold as if the bone is cracked, and she cannot have as full control over her movements as she would like. The chamber is warm, she can feel the beads of sweat gathering on her forehead and slipping down her tunic, but her hands are cold and unresponsive, and for the first time in a long while, Alessa wishes she could be gentler.

She wishes she could be softer, like those absurd ladies who seem to only speak in demure whispe...

Progress Report

'Tis not Friday, but Saturday, and thus I find myself a day late to our weekly meeting. For that, I can only apologize.

As you're aware, Book One was (finally!) released on Thursday, and to tell you I've been overwhelmed would be the understatement of the century.

It has been... a rollercoaster. Or, more fittingly to the Rose's world, it has been like riding Billy for an extended period of time. My head hurts, my nerves are flaring, and there's an uncomfortable sore spot right at ...

The Golden Rose: Book One is OUT NOW!!!

“As the artist mourns his fortune

So the Dynasty falls to crumble,

And the two branches snatch asunder”

You are a recent member of The White Company, a mercenary guild on the far side of the law. Your job consists of hunting artifacts and roaming ruins that the Church has forbidden to mention. One ...

Beka

Beka, the street urchin made by the amazing lilyveins (Here's her Tumblr— check out her commission page!)

I just adore how Beka looks! 😭 Lily really took my scattered description and transformed it into a piece that looks like a real person.

...

Raindrops in Time

And way down

Her hand stills, fingers clenching around the blade so tightly that nails turn white and dig into the flesh of her palm. She does not shake, but something within her chest does. Alessa has him at her mercy, and she did not want to see it, but the fool angled his head, and now he stares right at her.

Fear. Desperation. "Please."

Her hand does not shake. "Alessa." She hears from behind her back.

The fool's eyes.

Alessa closes ...

Progress Report

27th of May.

Seven more days have gone by, and May is coming to a gentle end. This week has been all about Book 2! I wrote in every free time that I had, and that list I showed you last week is almost— almost!— done. The dialogue has been a delight, as always, and I'm honestly finding new sides of not only Hadrian but the MC as well. New lights on how they communicate and understand each other.

It's very challenging, going back and writing a different path to the one I had fir...

Sea Spell — The Pirate King

You wouldn't call them waves, for they're much too gentle and make too little noise.

They're more akin to a tide, you think. The kind of which you imagine rules the deep, cold bottoms of the ocean. The surface doesn't rise to meet you, but it moves all the same, somehow staying in place while the ripples slide back and forth. Back and forth.

They do not crash against the plier, but they swallow it gently before letting go. The sea isn't greedy tonight, you think, looking past the ...

Progress Report

Friday is upon us.

This week went by in a rush! Sometimes time moves like a snail, unhurried, for she knows that the destination awaits, and what matters is the journey. While other times, it seems it flies like a sparrow with her little heart hammering when it sees an eagle soaring in the sky above.

For time has been running out on me. The week has been busy, although Book One took most of my attention. There was an issue with the art assets— wrong sizes. It wa...

Lingering Glance

Your eyes narrow, watching him laugh with too much glee. "If we're throwing blame around, then don't let me out of the fun," you say, lifting your chin defiantly. Hadrian's arms shake up and down, his fingers tickling your sides. "You should have locked the door."

Slowly, almost too slowly, his chuckles subside. Hadrian still smiles, close to beaming at this point, and you wonder then how proud he is of himself. "Don't blame the burglar if the lock is ill-fitted?"

You clench your ...

Bonus Content Vote

It's that time of the month!

Which character would you like to see in one of June's Bonus Content?

Also... I will complete this list and eventually write a scenario for each of these remaining characters, but after that, I was thinking of diversifying things a little bit. For the Bonus Contents, I could maybe host a Character Q&A event - I'm planning on adding discord benefits in the future, so asking questions should be easier. Maybe once I post the first demo of Book 2 here?...