NYC, 19 Hours Earlier
Becca lounged in the armchair she’d dragged out of home furnishings into the center of the abandoned mall’s plaza. The power was out, but late dusk light filtered in through the skylights high above. Her Bushmaster lay across her lap, glossy black and gleaming. With one hand she brushed the tip of her braid over her lips; with the other she thumb...
2022-12-02 13:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostSteam rose from the skull that was half buried in the sand. Driven by morbid curiosity, James flew his Wing down and passed slowly over it. The skull alone was bigger than a school bus, the bone undamaged by the impact with the boulders, the stench of boiling brains and burned flesh filling the air.
“That’s next level, man,” said Yadriel, his voice tinged with awe. Then: “No new l...
2022-12-01 13:55:23 +0000 UTC View PostJames emerged into a vast chasm, perhaps fifty feet off the red rock floor, the cliff-like walls rising a mile before disappearing into metallic-blue mist. The scale was mind numbing once more; it seemed the demons couldn’t pass up an opportunity to go big.
The air was cold and acrid. Everywhere James looked he saw fallen boulders, some shattered in half, drifts of rust-red sand, and th...
2022-11-30 13:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe next three levels were as varied, bizarre, but ultimately unchallenging. The Hollow Hill was a small mountain of bones that had calcified into a funereal whole that resembled a giant skull. Great orb spider demons picked their way delicately over the white surface, and from their spinnerets came virulent sprays of Infernum-tainted webbing.
James and his crew dropped Heavenly Assaults ...
2022-11-29 13:49:48 +0000 UTC View PostThe portal to the second layer was hidden in the depths of the citadel tower. The Wings made searching for it a quick affair; they zipped in and out of the levels after exploring the abandoned crown, and finally entered the ground level floor which sank at a precipitous angle. A huge staircase descended into the depths, large enough for the Wings to swing around and around, down and down, until...
2022-11-28 13:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostPits are Now Open
Layer 1, The Fallen Plains, Unlocked
Denizens of Layer 1 May Emerge
Deeper Layers will Unlock Every Subsequent Day,
Releasing Its Denizens
Humanity Must Defeat All 27 Layers to End the Apocalypse
Advance Access to Deeper Layers is Po...
2022-11-25 17:16:21 +0000 UTC View PostHe found Crimson Hydra gathered around Kimmie and Kerim. They lay in twin beds in one of the penthouse bedrooms. Late morning sluiced into the chamber. Folks had pulled up chairs, and Denzel sat beside Kerim, holding his hand, his expression profoundly lost.
“Nothing?” asked James, stepping into the doorway.
“Vital signs are fine,” said Jason quietly. “There’s nothing to...
2022-11-24 13:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post“Once I absorbed the Reservoir Cube, a completely new understanding as to how to approach manufacturing filled me. Not only was I flooded with new possibilities and schematics, but also an appreciation for how best to realize the greatest number of accomplishments by the Pit deadline.”
They were still floating down into the cavernous space. James crossed his arms and allowed his gaze ...
2022-11-23 13:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostCrimson Hydra elevated fifty-six local Blue Light and special forces operators to level 117, Ascender 1, and cleared out every hive in the local Philly area.
They reconvened at just past one in the morning at the central airfield. Righteous Obelisks glimmered as they slowly revolved in the stadium lighting, and the choppers and Wings used up the entirety of the field.
James sat on t...
2022-11-22 13:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostEven going all out it took James two hours to clean all of Manhattan. From Battery Park at the very southern tip all the way up north of Central Park where it bled into Harlem and the Bronx, sweeping through the Upper East side and then down the West, burning his way through Midtown and dropping bombs through NoLiTa, Tribeca, the Meatpacking District, all of it.
Two hours.
The Wing ...
2022-11-21 13:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostIf he pushed the Wing too hard it started to fall apart. James wished the damn thing came with a speedometer. Was he going 200 mph? Faster? He couldn’t tell. But as he drove it harder, forcing the craft to blur up the avenues, he felt its components begin to shake apart, its chassis separating, held in place by raw Aeviternum and his will.
He ripped north up Bowery, tearing along betwee...
2022-11-18 13:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostWhite fire snapped out into a broad circle that encompassed their group. Strange, mesmerizing glyphs rose up in columns, endlessly scrolling like some heavenly Matrix code, and then a rushing roar filled James’s ears and the world fell away, like some kind of elevator-drop rollercoaster ride. For one delirious second they fell through space and time, everything distorting, and then with a sla...
2022-11-17 13:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post“We don’t have much time,” continued James as everyone gathered around. “And I’m not even talking about the Pits fully opening by tomorrow. Everything that we just killed -”
“We?” asked Serenity.
“Is appearing across the world right now. I need to get back to New York as quickly as I can. But first you need to absorb these cubes.”
“What are they?” asked...
2022-11-16 13:50:51 +0000 UTC View PostJames emerged from the demon symbol’s heart and stood, poised, upon the iron lip. Five hundred feet up he had an unparalleled view of the Yukon wilderness. Belanger’s homestead was a matchbox below, while endless conifer forest extended in every direction, dense and dark and snow laden.
The sky around the symbol was no longer fractured. Before the Light Eternal had ruptured the very p...
2022-11-15 13:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe thought of absorbing another Reservoir Cube evoked within James a complete sense of negation. He’d barely been able to retain his sense of self with one Cube; a second would double his power at the expense of his soul.
No. That way lay annihilation.
Then?
James sat up. Ten cubes. He knew a few good people who could make the most of them.
But first he had to square ...
2022-11-14 13:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostHeart in his throat, breathless, James stepped into the demon symbol. Light swirled before his eyes, fractals that dizzied him, and he reached out, shuffling his feet, unsteady.
Then he found solid footing beneath his feet and the refracted brightness steadied and became clear.
It took him a moment to process what he was seeing. He stood within the heart of a giant flower, its petal...
2022-11-11 13:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post“Oh man,” breathed Jason. “Disciple 1! And I get to pick a brand-new Benediction.”
The others murmured their agreement, but James dismissed the message from his vision and turned to the far throne.
Belanger had slumped down to the ground and lay still.
“Be right back,” said James and took off at a run. He crossed the cavern quickly and leaped up to land lightly bes...
2022-11-10 13:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostSeveral things happened at once.
More, even, than James could keep track of.
Somebody started yelling.
He summoned Dikastís. The Avatar of Justice came pouring through space and time to flood James with its power.
You have Summoned Dikastís, the Virtue of Justice
15 of your Arete have been Claimed in His Name
You Ar...
2022-11-09 13:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostBelanger narrowed his eyes. Even from this distance James could tell he was a striking man; his face was dramatic, with deeply carved cheeks and a hawk-like nose, his eyes gleaming from under bristling brows, his skin heavily wrinkled like a paper bag that had been crumpled over then smoothed over his skull. Yet for all that he burned with a youthful vitality, and his presence was searing.
<... 2022-11-08 13:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostJames fell the fifteen yards and landed solidly on the rock floor below. Before, a jump like that would have fractured both his legs, shattering his bones and driving the shards into his pelvic cradle.
Now he just sank into a crouch, skeggox propped over one shoulder and slowly rose to standing. Jelly floated down as the others leaped down after him, landing in an arc around him. Yadriel ...
2022-11-07 13:00:21 +0000 UTC View Post(Here's the last missing COVID chapter. Things are picking up. Enjoy!)
It took only twenty minutes of hustling around town to round up three more snowmobiles and then they were off, mounted and with their gear stowed, helmets strapped on and tearing out of Old Crow in the pre-dawn gloom.
The tracks were easy to follow. Something like a dozen snowmobiles had left town, churning up th...
2022-11-05 22:05:53 +0000 UTC View Post(Second COVID catch-up post. I'm still writing my way through brain fog, so I hope you understand if the chapter isn't quite as sharp as I'd like.)
“How’d that go?” asked Serenity, looking up from a 1970’s magazine she’d fished out of a basket.
“Jelly says we’ve got people watching us right now,” said James, restraining the instinct to move to a window and peer outsi...
2022-11-04 17:42:40 +0000 UTC View PostIt was a four-hour flight to Old Crow. The Gulf Stream was svelte and elegant and cut through the air with silent efficacy, cruising just shy of the speed of sound and with enough gas to make the return flight without needing to refuel.
Yadriel was like a kid at Christmas. He let out a cry of sheer amazement as he entered the plane and then stopped, taking in the huge leather seats, the t...
2022-11-04 14:20:13 +0000 UTC View PostThey walked and talked. Or, more accurately, flew and shot at demons and talked. With their eight Wings forming a flotilla they floated over Brooklyn, allowing Jelly to guide them to obvious locations where they could wipe out Nem3’s while James reviewed the situation.
“If I understand what you’re saying,” said Kerim, putting up his M4, “this Belanger started making claims of an...
2022-11-03 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post(First COVID make-up chapter. Technically the Interludes mean we're already 20 chapters ahead of RR, but those feel like bonus content.)
James cleansed the rest of the Marriott by the time the rest of Crimson Hydra arrived. The damage done to Blue Light was substantial; from a purely operational point of view, the loss of a score of key personnel and the psychological damage done was enor...
2022-11-02 18:23:04 +0000 UTC View PostStar Boy nearly tripped as he scrambled out of the elevator, pushing everyone ahead of him. “Go, go!”
He knew everybody in the gaggle of personnel before him, comm officers and assistants mostly, their terror rank, their breaths coming in panicked gasps. The brilliant lighting of the parking garage was a balm, meant they were safe, and Fabricators were on hand to pull folks away from ...
2022-11-02 12:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostStep by step. Ever deeper. The murk swirling, the pressure of the river above pressing down, unfelt but clearly imagined. The stark burn of his eye lights did little more than illuminate a great haze. The push of the current was strong, inexorable, and James course corrected by angling obliquely upriver in the hopes of remaining steady.
No monsters. No krakens. No fish, even. The ground w...
2022-11-01 12:01:02 +0000 UTC View Post(Good morning! I felt sufficiently recovered last night too hammer this one out. Chapter 100, what a mile stone. If it's a little rough around the edges, you already know why. Cheers!)
James pounded out of the hive and back out onto West Street. The siren call of the demon symbol had fallen silent, but before James had destroyed the Nem3 queen and brought the black egg low it h...
2022-10-31 12:02:01 +0000 UTC View PostGot tested yesterday, results came in today. Explains why I was knocked on my ass so hard. Apologies, everyone. I was ramping up to finally build a backlog when this hit. I've written almost 300k since Dawn of the Void started In August, but have been posting so quickly that I never got ahead.
Good news is that I'm starting to feel better, and should finish recovering over the weekend. Ex...
2022-10-28 20:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post