The street climbed at a steep angle, soaring up into the sky. At the top of the hill, a small park’s parking lot provided the setting for an impromptu Rainer Drift tailgate and pregame party. Cars decked out in Rainer Drift gear filled the lot, while fans stood around, chatting, eating fresh hot dogs off the grill, and drinking beer and wine coolers.
Levi stood on his tiptoes, looking around. “You see our boy anywhere?”
“No. I barely remember his face. What’s his name, a...
2024-02-08 00:19:32 +0000 UTC
View Post
Ice Queen sighed, shooting a glance over her shoulder at the body behind her. “Yeah, I know, I know. I said I’d stop killing petty criminals. But what was I supposed to do, ignore him? If he actually kicked off a rampage, do you know how late I’d be to dinner? I can’t waste those reservations, David.”
The vague grumble of the voice on the other end interrupted her, and her expression darkened. She shook her head.
“It’s the Molliere. The Molliere...
2024-02-08 00:14:17 +0000 UTC
View Post
Crack.
The man’s helmet went flying. It bounced along the ground, ringing out with each strike. Under the helmet, the man didn’t look much like Alpha. His strong jaw gave way to soft cheeks, aging eyes, graying hair. He stumbled back a few steps, lifting a hand to his bruised cheek. Rounding on Levi, he snarled, “What the fuck?”
The tourists fled, photography session forgotten. All around them, eyes turned, dark and judgmental. One of the other characters, dressed...
2024-02-08 00:13:35 +0000 UTC
View Post
Levi took a deep breath and sighed. “Sunlight! Fresh air! Fucking hell, it feels so good!”
Fira glanced at him, awkward. “So, uh…”
“Your brother! Right! Let us go! Haha, lettuce.”
Fira cut a look at him. “Are you okay?”
“Nope.”
“Okay, fair.”
Levi nodded. He gave her a thumbs-up. “Don’t worry, young Fira. I have a plan.”
“Oh… you do?” she asked, hesitant.
“Indeed I do! It’s called, ‘let’s go talk to a...
2024-02-08 00:12:56 +0000 UTC
View Post
The buzz of a phone startled Levi awake. He snatched it up, lifting it to his ear. “Hello?”
“Levi, was that you?”
“Was what me?” he asked, suppressing a yawn.
Kella sighed. “The five hundred dollars or so cash that showed up on Mom’s doorstep. That was you, wasn’t it?”
“Huh? No idea what you’re talking about,” Levi lied playfully.
“Levi, come on,” Kella said, but there was a giggle in her voice. After a moment, it turned serious. “...
2024-02-08 00:11:29 +0000 UTC
View Post
Fira sat curled up in the corner of Maury’s bed when they returned, arms wrapped around her legs, her head resting on her knees, eyes shut, quietly snoring. Levi glanced at her, then shook his head and let the plastic sheeting quietly fall closed.
“Sleeping?” Maury asked.
Levi nodded.
“Poor thing. She’s been through a lot. I bet she’s exhausted.” Maury yawned, then clunked off toward the back of the cave. She paused at the table to grab the engine off it, then ...
2024-02-08 00:10:37 +0000 UTC
View Post
Levi climbed back down the stairs with three plates of steaming hot scrambled eggs and toast. “You’re outta bacon, old lady!”
“I gotta watch my fat intake in my old age!” she hollered back.
“Smh, just build yourself a mechanical heart,” Levi grumbled, kicking the door open at the bottom of the stairs.
“Those things clog up even worse than real hearts, ya big dumb idiot.” Maury wiped her hands on her coat and grabbed a plate out of Levi’s hands.
“L...
2024-02-08 00:08:58 +0000 UTC
View Post
Crossing the forest, Levi came out in a quiet part of town. Faded old townhomes lined the streets. Here, only stumps showed where the overgrown trees from the forest had infiltrated the space, and the streets, though worn, remained patched. The houses bore scars of battle, both from age and the elements, and from monster and super battles. Boards covered a few windows, and one house’s siding was torn, while shutters showed gnaw marks from hungry beasts.
He glanced left and right, then...
2024-02-08 00:08:05 +0000 UTC
View Post
As they walked, the streets got scragglier, the lights fewer and further between. Electric lines drooped between buildings, strung with tied-together sneakers. Women in tight dresses leaned against the walls of alleys, smoking cigarettes. They cast a look at Levi and Fira, but didn’t bother calling out to them, instead focusing on the men in suits and nice clothes. The nice restaurants and fancy boutiques fell away, replaced by pharmacies with green plus signs, liquor stores, pawn shops and...
2024-02-08 00:06:43 +0000 UTC
View Post
Levi hurried into Jet Engine’s bedroom. Ignoring the ruffled bedsheets, he went straight to the closet. He threw open the doors and perused Jet Engine’s clothes, picking out a few nondescript t-shirts and jeans. A backpack sat in the bottom of the closet. He upended it, tipping old notebooks and a few plastic bags full of strange powders and pills out on the floor. Methodically, he stuffed the bag full of clothes.
“He did drugs?” Fira asked, startled.
“Most low-grade sup...
2024-02-08 00:03:57 +0000 UTC
View Post
There’s this thing. You know. This small thing. Really pisses me off.
Needless death.
Yeah. Big surprise, right? I’m really making a statement here. Needless death, whew. What next, am I going to suggest feeding starving orphans?
I get it. But seriously. I hate it.
All those supers go about their lives. Fight crime, whatever. Beat back the monsters infringing our reality from the Gates. But they aren’t thinking. They aren’t thinking about the little gu...
2024-02-08 00:03:12 +0000 UTC
View Post
In Central City, there’s only one hard rule: everyone dies.
Everything else? Soft, soft rules. Suggestions, really. Flying? Sure, why not. We’ve got fliers left, right, and center. Build a jetpack if you can’t fly on your own powers. Go nuts. Invulnerability? What kind? You’re going to have to be more specific. Healing factor? Oh, sure. Who doesn’t have that? I mean, dime a dozen, am I right? You aren’t even a classed hero if you don’t have a healing factor. And i...
2024-02-07 23:54:32 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Yeah. What is that?” Oz murmured, half to himself.
Loup wiped her face, inadvertently smudging mud from her dirty hands across her face. Her nose twisted, and she shook her head. “Bad.”
A simple earthen jar sat in the ground. Its lid pointed up out of the earth, still half-stuck in the mud. Oz knelt, reaching out, then paused. He retreated to the rocky jut’s edge and grabbed a long rock, then returned and used that long rock to nudge the lid open.
It didn...
2024-02-07 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
View Post
Loup wound through the forest, taking a circuitous path along deer tracks and rocky passes. Even using Fflyn’s foot technique and his own light body technique, Oz struggled to keep up as Loup bounded along unfriendly terrain, using all four limbs to leap from rock, to stump, to patch of grass. Aisling kept up more handily with her strength and stamina from her training as a martial mage, but still struggled with the rough footing compared to Loup’s practiced motions.
Crouched atop a...
2024-02-06 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
View Post
Oz picked the way across the meadow, sliding into the forest with careful footsteps. Fflyn’s instincts guided his feet, picking the spots between fallen sticks and on the firmest ground, avoiding the slick piles of leaf mould and slippery, loose rocks. Oz paid attention, noting down Fflyn’s stealth movement technique. People can be books, too. After all, Madame Saoirse didn’t capture every tiny, unnotable technique, only the large, important ones. I can learn from anything, includin...
2024-02-05 16:00:04 +0000 UTC
View Post
Oz looked up at the gate. Shoulder-height was definitely an estimate based on my adult height. It’s well over Fflyn’s head. He lifted his hand and knocked. “Hello? Is anyone inside?”
The gate creaked, swinging with the wind. It whistled through the gaps in the planks, rattling the rusty old hinges. A few signs rattled on the far side of the gate from shops lining the road, a glimpse of the town’s one-time prosperity.
“No reply,” Aisling commented. She went t...
2024-02-04 15:00:03 +0000 UTC
View Post
The two of them walked down the road, Oz with three fresh, if false, manuals in his bag. He hummed to himself, enjoying the crisp early morning air and the moisture of dew still thick in the air.
Why’d you buy them? If you knew they were fake.
I bought them because they’re fake. They might be evidence for this crime, or they might not, but either way, I have a vested interest in identifying and cataloging fake manuals.
You are a librarian, after all...
2024-02-03 15:00:03 +0000 UTC
View Post
At the edge of town, Aisling stopped. She gestured ahead of her, where a ramshackle old stable stood outside a small farmhouse. “They agreed to let us sleep in our stable.”
“Good, good,” Oz murmured. He lifted his head, gauging the area around them. Yes… this should do.
She paused, looking at the stable. “They warned me not to leave after dark. Something terrible might happen.”
“That’s ominous. Did that ‘something terrible’ involve hundreds of ...
2024-02-02 15:00:03 +0000 UTC
View Post
As the man sorted through his books, Oz tipped forward, watching the colorful titles flash by. “Mister, you’re a traveling merchant? We’re traveling bards, me and my sister.”
“Oh, you are? How delightful! Can you tell me a tale?” the man asked, distracted.
Oz shook his head. “I’m still too young to be any good at it.”
In his head, Fflyn raged. How young do you think I am? Stop acting like a baby!
Shh. It’s all part of the plan!
...
2024-02-01 15:00:04 +0000 UTC
View Post
All the villagers stared at them, stock-still, unblinking eyes gazing to their cores. Oz forced a smile and gave a little wave, distinctly uncomfortable.
One by one, the eyes shifted away. The villagers went back about their tasks, ignoring him and Aisling once more.
“Well, that was weird,” Oz muttered. Did we immediately fail the stealth mission? Or is that just how these people greet everyone?
“Travelers?”
Oz and Aisling turned.
An old man appr...
2024-01-31 15:00:05 +0000 UTC
View Post
“It’s…” Oz froze, the words dead on his lips. Do I admit it or not? After all, dark mages are worse than assassins in this world, and possession isn’t an entirely upright technique, even if Fflyn agreed to it.
He coughed. “Oz sent me out to investigate on his behalf.”
Not quite a lie, Fflyn commented.
“Hmm,” Aisling murmured. After a moment, she shrugged. “Master told me to come along. He said I might learn something. I was hoping I coul...
2024-01-30 15:00:03 +0000 UTC
View Post
The night passed. Oz dozed off against the wall in the tavern, and woke up in the library. Jumping to his feet, he took a moment to drink water, take an antidote, and swallow a fasting pill, then curled up in one of the nooks and cast the possession spell again. Let’s find out if I can still possess Fflyn from here.
He opened his eyes in the tavern, blinking awake. In the back of his mind, Fflyn yawned, just waking up. Welcome back.
“Good morning,” Oz greet...
2024-01-29 15:00:04 +0000 UTC
View Post
In the next moment, Oz leaped to life. As the bartender’s arm fell, Oz threw the ruby under his hand. The bartender’s hand smashed down, and the ruby shattered. Black and red light wisped out, swirling around his hand for a moment, then dissipated.
Maisel screamed. “What did you do? What did you—”
Her voice cut off. Her eyes flickered out. The flames surged up, swallowing her wooden body. In a few moments, the hearty logs that made up her form crumbled to ash, and the fi...
2024-01-28 15:00:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
Fflyn jolted awake, startling Oz awake as he did so. They’re making a move!
“Huh? Oh… oh right,” Oz muttered quietly. He wiped his eyes and stood, brushing the straw off his clothes.
Outside their room, the wood floor creaked as something heavy moved quietly down the hallway. Oz moved to the door and pressed his ear against it, listening. When the thing passed his door, he inched the door open and peeked out.
A preternatural darkness cloaked the hallway, thi...
2024-01-27 15:00:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
It took Oz until the sun dipped toward the horizon to put the Mages’ Quarter behind him. At the city’s gate, he gazed down a long, long path down the small mountain to the valley below. From this high up, the mortal villages and cities sprawled out before him like playsets, picturesque farms cut out of dense forests, little clusters of houses knitted together in bundles. Distantly, a huge castle dominated the valley’s other end. Walls hundreds of meters tall blocked off the mountain pas...
2024-01-26 15:00:05 +0000 UTC
View Post
Oz sat down just outside the World Door, gesturing for Fflyn to do the same. Fflyn obeyed, sitting down and immediately entering meditation again.
“I half expected you to run for it,” Oz commented, sitting beside him.
Fflyn shook his head. “If you can buy me out from the Black Blades, I’ll do anything. Like I said, they’re willing to sell anything. Even one’s own life is a matter of price. As the lowest rank Black Blade, my life is cheap. I won’t last long with them....
2024-01-25 15:00:04 +0000 UTC
View Post
Taking the last bite of his roasted chicken, Oz tossed away the stick he’d cooked it on and stood. “Now that we’re rested and ready to go, let’s give that possession spell a try!”
Linnea fixed him with a look. “You’ve replenished your qi?”
Oz grinned. “I have a few tricks up my sleeve, you know?”
Squinting, Linnea pressed her fingertips to his forehead. That tingly energy swept through him again. She lowered her hand, her frown deepening. “Your qi is fu...
2024-01-24 15:00:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
The tempestuous power of the last of the qi storm, condensed into two powerful bolts, drilled toward the stone and the pearl. Wreathed in fog, lightning crackling around them, they flew forth like bullets, locked on to the mediums.
Oz tensed, holding on with all his might. His tired, numb arms trembled, on the verge of giving out. Gritting his teeth, he circulated his qi with all his might, reinforcing his entire body.
The bolts struck home. His hands dropped under the force. The ...
2024-01-23 15:00:05 +0000 UTC
View Post
He lifted the stone and put his hand over it, ready to make the first mark, then set the stone aside. Rifling through the grass, he picked up a normal pebble instead. Let’s test engraving things with qi. That’s the absolute last step that I need to practice, and then we should be good to go.
Oz put his finger to the surface of the pebble and pushed qi into it. In his mind’s eye, he pictured the fey word for ‘take,’ one of the shorter words on the list. Qi flowed out o...
2024-01-22 15:00:07 +0000 UTC
View Post
Oz tossed the pearl in his hand as he walked, humming under his breath. Even after all this time in his pocket, it still exuded a faint coolness, as if it sat under a cold vent. He rolled it around on his palm, then slid it back into his pocket. Out the door and into the grassy realm, pausing a moment to see if Fflyn was waiting to attack.
“Oz. Are you ready to try the enchantment?” Linnea asked, a bundle of squirming silk under her arm.
Oz looked at the bundle. “Fflyn wante...
2024-01-21 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
View Post
