Skyscrapers, or what was left of them, clawed at a sky choked with broiling dark clouds. They were skeletal, their glass eyes long since shattered, revealing the rusted bones of their inner workings. A colossal ruin, a megastructure of decaying metal, cleaved the apocalyptic city in two like a butcher’s knife through meat.
My boots crunched on pulverized, frost-covered concrete. An orange safety vest, incongruously bright against the monochrome decay, hung loose on my frame. A yellow ...
2025-02-18 02:34:59 +0000 UTC
View Post
Zheng and his bodyguards retreated rapidly, not wishing to get zapped by the extra-hostile Thunderbird.
The Kitsune waitress brought us our meals and we ate in relative silence.
Vespera’s cheerfulness gradually returned. Cinder, though she hadn't joined in the verbal sparring, chewed her steak with a tense expression, her blue eyes darting around the room every few seconds as if expecting Uxtish to show up.
Katherine remained impassive, chewing on her dragonsteak. Io...
2025-02-17 02:04:40 +0000 UTC
View Post
After a flurry of quick illusionary adjustments, we emerged from room 818 as a group of six male Omnids. Cinder, back in her bulky masculine form, took the lead, her gait deliberately swaggering as we headed back towards the elevator.
Vespera, also disguised as a broad-shouldered Thunderlander, bounced at my side, occasionally sending out controlled sparks that crackled against the silver walls scanning the wards. Lilith and Magdaline adopted more stoic, reserved male personas, while I...
2025-02-16 02:01:29 +0000 UTC
View Post
The music coming from below intensified. Cinder’s head-feathers appeared beside the edge of the bed rising up like a submarine coming out of ocean waves.
Then her wings unfurled and she landed on the top bunk beside me and Vespera. One of Cinder’s black-taloned hands held a backpack. She then dropped it into my lap.
“What?” I blinked.
“I believe this… bag might have something to do with you,” she commented.
“Me?”
Instead of an answer, Cinder beg...
2025-02-14 05:33:34 +0000 UTC
View Post
Balancing two steaming lattes in fanciful Silverfox mugs carefully, I navigated the crowded Silverfox balcony, the scent of roasted beast croissants,coffee and spiced mana-wine thick in the air.
Silver and argent banners with stylized winged foxes rippled overhead, and chattering Mystagogues in matching robes milled around, already forming cliques and comparing enchanted stationery and exchanging Omnigram numbers. My eyes scanned the lower balconies as I made my way back to Cinder’s t...
2025-02-12 23:30:29 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Dad?” Magdaline asked. “How exactly does the worldwide dimensional shift happen?”
“Hrm,” the Scrutimancer shark cleared his throat. “Basically a cataclysmic event such as freeing an Archangel can unleash a lot of mana, which triggers a resonance pulse across the Wormwood Star impact sites, which causes a planet-wide celestorm that overwrites reality across space-time, like cracks spreading out across history, events, people and places, etc.”
“Do worldwide Celest...
2025-02-12 02:52:04 +0000 UTC
View Post
I tried to think of a solution to this dire situation but nothing was coming up, my thoughts colliding against each other, inconsistent memories fluttering about like colorful butterflies too quick for me to latch onto.
How had the Frontenachii Scruts found me? Wasn’t Infinity supposed to conceal my Astral imprint? Did they manage to overcome the Nazarite Church’s Witness Protection Program or did my concealment contract dissolve away just like my foxkin disguise when Archangel ...
2025-02-11 16:36:34 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Hey, Vee, what's the date?” I asked Vespera as she pulled me out of the compartment by the elbow.
“September 3,” she replied with a raised eyebrow. “Why?”
“My internal clock is off,” I said.
“How off?” She squinted at me.
“My sharpest memories are telling me it’s January,” I said. “Was January?”
“Dang,” she commented. “That’s some serious mental skewery. I should look in your head tonight, see what’s what.”
T...
2025-02-10 18:13:17 +0000 UTC
View Post
Through continuous wobbling of my soul armillary I have arrived at more handy dead-world memories. The girls sitting around me in the Skyfall Express train compartment were indeed my friends in our past life, no… lives.
I could remember bits and pieces of at least two separate lives before this one. The first one ended when I sacrificed myself as Alexa to stop Bob Proverra from killing everyone. The second ended when Vee, Ci and I freed Archangel Zadskiel from her bonds beneath the Si...
2025-02-10 16:16:57 +0000 UTC
View Post
The magisteel stairs unfolded themselves down in front of me with a groan like a rusty giant stretching awake, each step black like deepest darkest space.
I looked at them and then tilted my head up and around, feeling off, my mind utterly derailed, skipping sideways.
I was certain that I had just spoken to an Archangel, but this memory was illusive and already fleeing from my head like a half-forgotten daydream.
I decided not to cling to it, focusing on the present. My eyes...
2025-02-10 02:11:44 +0000 UTC
View Post
“I love you…” Martin uttered with a bubbling hiss and then fell silent.
Cinder blinked blood out of her eyes, focusing on her body to heal itself as she held onto her little ginger fox. He seemed lighter somehow, wrong, softer. He was bleeding all over, but then so was she.
Cinder choked as Lissander’s fox ears dissolved, fur and skin sloughing off like melting wax. His lavish red jacket, diamond necklaces, and sparkly pants remained, collapsing into a heap in her claws as...
2025-02-10 00:40:22 +0000 UTC
View Post
Arch-Elder Altair nearly toppled from his ornate chair as the Probability Engine behind him erupted in a cacophony of alarms. Dials spun wildly, settling on a stark, red warning message.
[CRITICAL ALERT: PRIMA-HEIR SUCCESSION PROTOCOL DECLARED]
[WARNING: SIMMITECH CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING IMMINENT]
[PROBABILITY OF MAINTAINING CURRENT CORPORATE CONTROL: 0.601%]
The SimmiTech compound shuddered. Blast doors slammed shut, ...
2025-02-08 16:07:20 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Welcome to Oodway,” Oodway Ningen employee Kimbercha Sawl drawled through the speaker. “Are you collecting any points toda…”
Kimbercha choked on her words, her heart hammering into the depths of her chest when she saw the abomination that was parked at the Oodway drive-through through the camera. It was a Corpse Seeker.
The biggest Corpse Seeker she’s seen in her entire life. Gargantuan, blood-red crystalline legs held up the unnatural monstrosity in the air, dragon-o...
2025-02-05 01:21:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
“How do you like your engagement tank, Princess of Thunder?” I asked the swear-hissing Thunderbird below me.
“What?” Vespera’s swears fell apart. She stared up at me.
"Miss Possible," I gestured to the massive crystalline tank. "Your lovely familiar. My engagement tank for you!”
"I... you… WHAT?!” Vespera choked. "Engagement tank?! Where the fuck did this monstrosity even come from?”
“I stole her for you from a villainous Necromancer,” I replied w...
2025-02-04 01:33:53 +0000 UTC
View Post
"How do I look?" I asked Cinder.
"Like someone I want to slap," my Quetzi GF commented, eyeing my garish red jacket, diamond necklaces and sparkly pants.
I turned to the Stollwurm.
"You look like a cartoon fox about to sell someone a very dubious potion," Katherine chortled.
"Perfect," I wiggled my fox-ears at them.
This time around, my foxy disguise was the work of several overpriced Shandrian Biomancers. The Arx mages had done an excellent job with the modifica...
2025-02-03 03:46:48 +0000 UTC
View Post
Justice Nova stared at me for a long moment, his orange eyes flaring against dark gray scales, hands twitching. Then he glanced at his wife, who was still radiating maternal power, her wings spread and shimmering with mind-bending colors.
Finally, his gaze settled on Cinder, whose hands and wing remained firmly wrapped around me.
"Cassiopea...." He began.
“No,” Cinder said sternly, reality around her bending into wobbling rainbows. “I’ve made my choice. You can...
2025-02-01 00:56:26 +0000 UTC
View Post
I glanced in the direction of the shark-girl. She reached out to my shoulder, sensing my intent. I turned to Father Matthias.
“I was never here,” I told him, inhaling hard as Scrutosmia poured across me from Magdaline.
“You were never here,” the Arch-Priest agreed. “Your former identity as Alexander Glock is now under the Witness Protection Program of the Nazarite Church, Astrally unplottable. I already signed the paperwork after all.”
“How does it work exactly...
2025-01-31 16:22:32 +0000 UTC
View Post
“No looking," Cinder ordered when she returned into the Warden's office. "Close your eyes."
I obeyed and then felt something cool slip around my neck.
"Okay, open your eyes," she said.
I looked down to find a large crystal pendant hanging off me–one of her iridescent feathers perfectly preserved in clear resin-like strata. The crystal caught the light, making rainbow patterns dance across its faceted surface.
"It's beautiful," I touched the pendant gently. "Just fa...
2025-01-29 18:09:55 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 35: The Perfect Heir
The Simmi family dining room gleamed with polished marble surfaces and crystalline chandeliers. Vespera sat perfectly upright, her silverware aligned with geometric precision, her movements controlled and deliberate.
Ceter Kalik Simmi studied his daughter carefully, watching for any sign of her previous rebelliousness. Beside him, Hanni Simmi served a traditional meal–rare Arx-meats prepared with intricate Thunderland spices.
"Tell your great...
2025-01-28 02:36:09 +0000 UTC
View Post
Ceter Kalik Simmi placed his magisteel-covered talons on his sleeping daughter's forehead, his consciousness diving into her dreamscape. The intrusion was precise, calculated–a technique passed down through generations of thunder-gods.
He found Vespera sitting on a marble bench in Skyfall's dream-garden, her legs crossed at the ankles, scrolling through her phone. Her dream-self wore a blue and white gothic lolita dress with glittering chainmail top, complete with black platform boots...
2025-01-26 03:53:41 +0000 UTC
View Post
The inmates stared at me, their expressions ranging from shock to eager interest.
"What are you doing?" Cinder hissed at me as I pulled off my orange jumpsuit.
"Ah, right, introductions!" I said. "Misfits and Murderers, I'd like to introduce all of you to my lovely Hearth Shield Keeper! Cinderella!"
Cinder's eye twitched.
"Now, what are you calling in regards to, my starshine?" I grinned at Ci. "Did you miss me since our last conversation and want to shower me with win...
2025-01-25 04:52:55 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter 31: Collaborators
Kai Xing Ker, Arch-Elder of the Golden Star Clan tapped his bronze fingers on his opulent desk as the call connected.
"Greetings, Arch-Elder Simmi," Kai's ancient voice carried through the encrypted Voicecast holo. "I trust you've heard about your Prima-spawn's... unfortunate entanglement?"
"Entanglement?" Altair Raiden Simmi asked with a frown, his crystalline, pale silver Skyfish scales glimmering.
"Yes," Kai continued, hi...
2025-01-24 18:38:14 +0000 UTC
View Post
I tipped the cup back and drank deeply.
The coffee infused blood tasted somewhat metallic, salty - but underneath that, something else. A wave of flavor that spoke of predatory instincts, of sharp edges and sparking hunting impulses. The sensation vanished as soon as it appeared, so maybe that was just my mind playing tricks on me.
"So?" Magdaline asked. "Feel anything?"
"Not how it works," I shook my head.
"How does it work then?"
"You have to bounce your skill ...
2025-01-21 22:02:31 +0000 UTC
View Post
28: Feathers and Fury
Cinder sniffed the air, focusing on the door where Martin had disappeared moments ago. Her feathers shifted through alarmed colors as she realized his scent had completely vanished - not faded, not moved elsewhere, but simply ceased to exist. The implications hit her like a physical blow.
"He's gone," she hissed, her feathers flaring with defensive reds and worried silvers. "They... they gated him somewhere!"
Katherine's emerald eyes narrowed dangerou...
2025-01-20 17:12:51 +0000 UTC
View Post
Cinder bolted upright, her feathers flaring through a hurricane of alarmed colors - sharp reds, defensive oranges, worried blues. The sudden announcement from the speakers had shattered our warm, peaceful moment.
"Why does Graves want you?" she demanded.
I stretched lazily. "Probably getting expelled and deported. No big deal."
"NO BIG DEAL?!" Cinder squawked. Her feathers exploded through an entire spectrum of panicked colors. "I… You-"
"Relax," I said. "I've been e...
2025-01-20 03:30:24 +0000 UTC
View Post
It was four AM in Thunderland when Zheng had been shaken awake by his great-grand-grandfathers personal butler and told to come right away to his office.
Zheng didn't like the old man, didn't like being woken up so early, so instead of heading straight to the Arch-Elder's office, he loafed in bed for a few minutes, grabbing at his tablet to aimlessly scroll through his notifications to wake up his brain.
A new, unread email was there from an unknown sender there. A Skyfall Academy...
2025-01-19 19:36:25 +0000 UTC
View Post
June watched the Arx gate and the clock on the wall with growing anxiety. Her Kelpie mane rippled with nervous energy, droplets of water scattering across the dark marble floor of the classroom. She crumpled and repeatedly unfolded a paper in her pale blue hands, the official seal of the Arx Bank glaring up at her in stark black lettering.
"By order of Arx Bank, your delving team has been deported from Shandria for the period of one hundred years. Consult Lord Zalimar for future delves....
2025-01-19 04:30:48 +0000 UTC
View Post
Miss Possible spiraled upward through the rock, her crystalline drill carving a smooth tunnel as she ascended. Inside the control bubble, Vespera hummed cheerfully while manipulating the controls with electrical currents from her feet.
"Must you be so... chipper so early in the morning?" Cinder grumbled, her feathers shifting through irritated oranges and tired gray-blues. She was curled up in one of the crystalline seats, leaning onto me for support.
"Early bird gets the interdim...
2025-01-19 00:39:08 +0000 UTC
View Post
The evening deepened, painting the world in surreal hues as the sun began setting behind Nihilim, reflecting as orange disks across the clouds.
The black hole's corona created an otherworldly twilight, casting everything in deep oranges and purples. The crystalline body of Miss Possible caught these colors, refracting them in mesmerizing, eerie patterns across the wheat field.
"Speaking of biting," I said, watching the cloud ring thicken above Shandria, "can Leviathan Nighti...
2025-01-18 00:10:59 +0000 UTC
View Post
"No shit, your insane actions have consequences," Cinder commented, her face lengthening and becoming more draconic. "What are we going to do now, smart-ass?"
She jabbed me in the side with a clawed finger.
"Improvise," I replied.
I pulled out Lance's anti-scrying wardstone and shoved a bunch more beast cores into it, cranking up the ward bubble strength, so that we could not be seen or overhead from below.
"Vee, fox me up to the max," I ordered. "Give me big ears. I w...
2025-01-15 23:42:30 +0000 UTC
View Post
