Lidarion: Chapter 4

There are two types of wars. The ones you win and the ones you lose. The longer it takes you to figure out which type you’re fighting the more likely it’s the second, and we fought the machine war a long time.

You’ve never been there, but far to the south of Lidarion there is an impossibly long island chain. It is the ancestral home of the gnomes. Each island in the chain was the territory of the clan that had settled it, and each clan was in their own way industrious and experimental. The gnomes love technology, always have. And their obsession with gadgets and contraptions had led them to generations of technological advancement that turned their chain of islands into a never ending parade of mechanical marvels. Each designed to solve a specific problem, while accidentally creating three new ones, requiring more machines and gadgets to solve the new problems which created three more and so on and so on. Looking back on it, we were our own best friends and our own worst enemies. At least, until we discovered the outside world.

Gnomes have photographic memory. And they have no schools or universities. All their knowledge is passed down from master to apprentice and from one familial generation to the next. For all the technical knowledge the gnomes had amassed, nearly none of it was written down, the very nature and workings of their society were a part of their living memory.

Orcs and Humans discovered gnomes roughly around the same time. The gnomes were happy to make agreements with both races and for the first time gnomish technology left the islands. It was not long before the brilliance and ingenuity of the gnomes was turned to ruin and damnation in the hands of the orcs and humans.

With their newly acquired tools long silent borders were awoken with bloody conflict. These skirmishes grew until they exploded into a full-fledged war. Not long after war had broken out, representatives of both races returned to the gnomes to request the creation and delivery of grandiose war machines. The gnomes having seen the plans the other races brought for them, they refused to take part, and at first these denials were accepted.

The lies both sides fed to the Gnomes may have been simplistic but they need not be complicated to fool a race of people who by nature assumed everyone was telling the truth. Lies are the enemy of knowledge, so there was no use for deception in gnomish society. By the end of that first year the gnomes were building death machines piecemeal and shipping them back to their respective owners to be assembled and used on the field of battle.

It wasn’t long before both sides realized the gnomes were an advantage they could not allow their enemies to possess and so Orc’s and humans brought their war to my homeland. They burned my paradise to the ground.

Now, there are no more masters, all the apprentices are gone, very few working machines left to remember them by. We had to abandon the islands we had always known as home, islands we had never thought to count, until after there was nothing left to count.

With the factories destroyed, there were no new machines. The war simmered back down to border skirmishes, the fires of conquest were dying out. The machine war did not end with a cease fire, or proclamation of peace. The machine ended because killing with your bare hands was no longer the coolest way to die.

It was these final desperate battles before boredom set in that Trent’s life would change forever.

The XP: Chapter 4

The door to the trinket and magic shop opened the bell inside ringing as they exited out into the busy street. Bob was actively retelling a story about her favorite player character. “So the Matriarch accepted their challenge and all hell broke loose. No one on her team was allowed to interfere.”

Stygian was wide enough to part the crowds as the group walked in his wake. “And that’s how she earned the ‘Arbiter’ title?” He asked without turning around. “Damn she’s gotten way better.” He muttered.

Yermum was being shoved along by Blackout who was in the back of the group. “What’s the significance of the title?” he asked.

“Twenty five player kill streak.” Blackout answered. Yermum’s eyes got big. “DAMN!” He whistled..

Bob laughed. “The woman is death on wheels!” She shouted to the sky.

The gang turned a corner on to a much less busy side street and stopped in front of an unassuming building. The sign above the door says nothing more than ‘Names’.

Blackout gave Yermum a little shove. “In there.” He stated.

Yermum looked at the sign. “Why?” he asked.

Bob shrugged her shoulders. “You’re changing your name.”

Yermum shoulders dropped. “any particular reason?” He asked in desperation.

Stygian nodded. “Because ‘Your Mom’ is a joke name. You are not a joke. Pick a name you want people to actually say legitimately.”

Yermum looked at Bob. “You legitimately want people to call you ‘Bob’. He joked.

“Change your freaking name!” She exploded.

Yermum threw up his hands in defeat. “All right, all right I’m going already.” He whined as he went inside. A few minutes later he came out with ‘Rokzors’ having replaced ‘Yermum’. Bob snapped her fingers and pointed back at the name building. He turned around and went back inside. Emerging with ‘LayDkella’ Stygian stomped his foot and glared at Yermum who backed himself into the name building with a quick little shuffle. He finally came back with the word ‘Trart’ above his head.

Blackout glared at him. “I’m not finding anything in Urban Dictionary, what’s it mean?” He asked.

Trart shrugged his shoulders “Nothing. Just sounded cool and wasn’t taken by anyone else yet.

Blackout smiled. “Fine by me.” He approved.

Bob got nose to nose with Trart. “If I find out that this is some foreign word for something nasty I will hack your account so hard it will retard your children.”

Trart thought is over for a second. “We talking learning disorder or full on helmet?” He asked while dashing free of Bob’s grip as Stygian held her from chasing Trart. “Kidding! Not funny! My bad!” He bowed several times and Bob relaxed. Trart realized that his three new friends were looking him over from head to toe. “What?” he asked.

Blackout gripped his chin, considering his options. “Well you fixed your name. but now we gotta get this –“ He gestured to the entirety of Trart’s avatar. “Taken care of.”

Trart looked down at his mismatched, off color clothes. “What? What’s wrong with my gear?” He asked, completely clueless.

Stygian pointed to Trart’s feet. “For starters you are wearing two different shoes.”

Bob shook her head. “I didn’t even know that was possible.” She sighed.

Blackout nodded. “There are a few worthless gray items that are single shoes, noobs are supposed to sell them for early cash, not wear them.” Blackout glared at Trart.

Trart shrugged his shoulders. “I needed shoes, I got shoes! What does it matter what they look like?” He asked legitimately confused.

Bob. “Boys, let’s go shopping.” She turned toward the clothing and armor district.

Stygian clapped his armored hands. “I love this part!”

University of Console Heroics: Chapter 4

The Jarvis Hall of 2D studies was an unassuming brick building. Most students never stepped foot in it unless their one history requirement was scheduled in one of its lecture halls. Sanders had already taken the required history class as a freshman but had willingly signed up for History of The Second Dimension. Taught by Professor Bannister, who had been lecturing at the university for longer than Sanders had been alive. Sanders found the lecture hall and took a seat as near to the front as he could find. He set his bag down and pulled a fresh notebook and a pencil before kicking his bag under his chair with the heel of his shoe. The rest of the students were chatting to fill the time before the class started and two hundred students having personal conversations caused the auditorium to be quite loud. But not loud enough to drown out the echoing crash of Professor Banister violent shoving the door open. The entire room went dead silent as He made his way down to the front of the auditorium. The door closed even louder in the now silent auditorium.

“Who is here because they heard that Takahashi is a brutal and unforgiving professor?” He asked setting his shoulder bag on the lectern. He looked at the frozen silent room of students. “Come on now, hands up.” Slowly two thirds of the class raised their hands. Banister turned to the white board and started scribbling on it with a blue dry erase marker. “Everyone with their hand up please write a one page essay, due next class period. Your topic is ‘why the history of the second dimension is important to my chosen major’” he finished the title of the paper on the board and turned to face the hall again. They were still frozen. “Come on, I should be seeing way more of you take notes on this.” He motioned for the class to write the title of the essay down. The room filled with the noise of over a hundred pencils being put to paper with something less than enthusiasm. “For those of you who didn’t raise your hands, I expect a one page paper on why you did or did not research this class.” Sanders stopped writing the title of the first essay in his note book and watched Banister for a moment. Banister turned back to the board and uncapped his blue marker again. “Those of you hoping the book would be option will want to go to the book store after class and pick it up.” He scribbled ‘History of the Second Dimension” on the white board. Capped his marker and began to pace slowly. “It’s not expensive, it’s a rather fascinating topic, and as I do nothing more in this class than answer your questions and elaborate on the topics you choose, you’re going to need it.” A girl in the front row raised her hand. Banister looked down at her. “Did you just figure out the cure for cancer?” He asked. She meekly shook her head in the negative. “Then put your hand down please I’ll answer questions in a moment.” The girl lowered her hand quickly. “Your grade in this class is based on the five papers you will write this semester. As long as you write about something that interests you and you write a complete paper, I will not impose a minimum page length. “The class cheered. And he silenced them almost instantly “Please do not make me impose a page length. I assume we are all adults, do not prove otherwise or this class will become unpleasant for all of us.” He stated with finality. Bannister stopped pacing and faced the class. Pointing to the girl. “Your question?” He asked.

She looked at her friends to her right and left and then found the courage to speak. “Professor, is it true that you were the original Mario?” She asked.

Bannister froze for a second, possibly attempting to keep his cool but his cheeks began to redden. He reached for his shoulder bag on the lectern. He throws it over his shoulder and then turns back to the girl. Clearing his throat as if he had just swallowed something awful. “No, I was not the original Mario. Your introductory papers are now two pages long. I suggest you stop putting so much faith in rumors. Facts will serve you far better in life.” He stated with finality as he stormed out of the auditorium. Stopping at the door long enough to shove the door open “Class dismissed” His voice echoed down the hall. 

Sanders clicked his pencil top in and forced the lead back into the body with his thumb, closed his notebook and reached under his chair for his bag.“It’s gonna being an interesting semester” He said to himself as he deposited his notebook into his bag. 

Shades of Justice: Chapter 8

 The pool, the gym, the football field, the library, the computer lab, the auditorium and the student parking lot. All totally destroyed. The kids breathed a sigh of relief when they were teleported back to the ground, and Raptarus’ body disappeared. They all went their separate directions as they heard sirens coming from every direction.

By the next morning the local news had announced that school was canceled for the next week at least. The emergency crews had worked all night and found no bodies. There was no mention of the spaceship or any possible evidence of the aliens that may have been left behind. By the afternoon the Feds had arrived and taken over the entire campus. They pushed back the local and national news to the apartment buildings across the street from the school. By night fall there were chain link fences around the perimeter of the school campus and the way to the end of the football field. Giant work lights had been placed on generators and crews in hazard suits were sifting through the rubble. These developments had sent the news crews into a piranha like frenzy, hungry for information. By sun up 

the next day the fences had been electrified and warnings were posted every ten feet.

Even with all the news coverage and army of Feds crawling around the campus Warren found himself standing at the top of a hill on the edge of the small forest on the distant far side of the campus. The electrified fence was only another ten feet beyond the hill, then the half of the football field that had escaped total obliteration, the debris that used to be most of the high school crawling with feds, then the parking lot, the perimeter fence and in the distance the rabid media scrambling for content. He couldn’t see much but stood on the hill anyway and watched the circus with his hands in the pockets of his zip up hoodie.

“What did you lose?” Sonya asked, finishing her ascent of the hill to stand next to Warren.

“My laptop, you?” He asked.

She sighed heavily, a mixture of sadness and anger. “My car.”

“I lost my phone. Somewhere in the library.” Kelly offered sitting on the ground next to Sonya.

“You dumb dumbs know we’re gonna get caught right?” Dante said loudly from forest side of the bottom of the hill.

Gordon emerged from the forest. “Caught saving what we could of the school and the rest of the town, how dare we!” He snarked as he and Dante scrambled up the hill.

“You’ll forgive my fear of the cops.” Dante offered once they had reached the top.

Warren shook his head “At this point I’d be more worried about the feds.” He pointed to the large operation that had taken over the school.

Dante sat down hard. “Doesn’t matter how you slice it, it’s all pig to me.” He quipped making the others laugh.

Gordon kicked a small rock down the kill toward the electric fence. “How about we worry about this crap when there’s something to worry about?” He offered.

Sonya nodded. “I’m with Gordon, and thanks to Dante I’m ready for breakfast, anyone else wanna come?” she asked.

Gordon pulled a set of keys of out of his Letterman jacket pocket. “I borrowed my dad’s SUV, lets go.” He said making his way down the hill toward the tree line.

In a moment Warren was the only one left on top of the hill he took one last look at the operation on the high school campus. He kicked a rock toward the fence in frustration. “I needed that laptop.” He grumbled and then followed the others down the hill.

On his cloaked command ship in orbit around Earth, the shard of possibility in Raptarus’ eye socket had allowed him to hear the shades discussion and Warren lamenting his lost laptop. Raptarus paced back and forth as he considered his next move. The shard of possibility filled his mind with ideas. 

“Techology is an incredible tool, almost magical in its power over the daily lives of these pathetic humans! Perhaps It might be possible for me to help the poor Evergreen Shade with his technology conundrum!”

Raptarus held his right hand over his left eye where the shard of possibility was when he move his right hand a beam of pure empty blackness shot from his eye socket and hit the floor. When the empty blackness dissolved it revealed what looked like a giant super computer with bundles of cat5 wires that made up its arms and legs. There were buttons and interface panels that were lit up in magical like symbols and runes and the giant computer monster’s face was a horrible rendition of a flat screen monitor that projected a sixteen bit eyes and mouth.

Raptarus clenched his fist as he looked at the monstrosity before him. “Hexa Decimal! Go to earth. Terminate the Shades of justice and bring me their heads!”

Hexa Decimal’s flat screen face disappeared to show a command line prompt that echoed Raptarus’ demand. “Terminate program initiated!” The face returned as it laughed. “Getting rid of the shades will be easier than defragging my hard drive!” He bragged.

Raptarus’ punched a command into the nearest console interface. “Then go, and do not fail me!” He said, teleporting Hexa Decimal to Earth.

Blood and Profit: Chapter 34

Things outside the battleship had gone about as poorly as expected. Toll’s team was outnumbered five to one but they were using any and every trick they could think of to survive. They played dead to surprise enemies, they used the battleship’s immense size to hide and lay ambushes and boobie traps. They flew the kind of dangerous stunts that only rookie pilots who didn’t know any better could fly. Things like skimming the edge of the battleships shields at incredible speeds and letting their pursuers own insecurities make mistakes that ran them into the shields and either bounce them off with dead systems or cause them to explode from the force of the impact. They had lost five of their own but Laborite had spent a full fifteen to taken them down.

Toll wasn’t concerned with killing or disabling the enemy. He started no fights, he just flew coverage, in an attempt to be anywhere and everywhere he needed to be to save the lives of his pilots. The countdown timer on his H.U.D showed him he didn’t have much longer to go, the odds would be shifting in their favor in less than half a minute. He reoriented to line of sight on what was left of four three man squads. They reformed into a deep striking V formation and came around for another pass. Toll noticed that Smart Guy was too far out from the ship and sitting at the wrong angle to see the new threat. Toll didn’t know why he was so far out from the ship but his scanners didn’t showed life signs and no damage. He opened a channel and moved to intercept the attacking V. “Smart Guy, V formation at your five o’clock!” Toll’s first shots winged the fighter at the end of the closest arm of the V. The fighter spun wildly out of the formation with no engines to maneuver with he would be spinning for a while.

Smart Guy flipped quickly and thanks to computer assisted targeting was able to get two shots off before his ship was completed disabled. His two shots were direct hits and stopped the two lead ships of the V dead in the sky, no power, no weapons, and emergency systems only. Which is more than what Smart guy was left with. “Sorry Boss.” He said as the safety systems on his fighter automatically ejected him before the electrical system in the cockpit fried completed in a brilliant light show.

“Nothing to be sorry for Smart Guy, just get to the landing bay.” Toll instructed as he easily picked off the last two fighters from the V. As the jets on Smart Guy’s ejection pod lit up so to did all four transit rings around Mars. Three Baceten ships emerged from each ring one after the other. As they hit cruising speeds they launched their own fighters, some headed for the contested battleship but most headed to grief the Laborite battle cruisers. Laborite's channels lit up as what was left of their fighters were called back to their ships and the retreat command was given. With the Baceten presence the contested battleship was no longer contested, at least in space. On board was a different story.

Toll opened a channel to Conner “The Laborite are bugging out, you on the bridge yet?” He asked. The not too distant sizzling echo of blaster fire getting louder answered his question pretty clearly.

“Very nearly there, which is to say, no not yet.” Conner snarked as a response.

Toll continued his sweeps around the ship for his crew, perfectly content to let the Baceten settle scores and clean up the rest of the actively retreating mess. “Just tell them their side lost and is currently leaving them behind. They might wanna get some distance between them and the Baceten before its too late.” He commented while chasing off a lone fighter that was on the far side of the ship and most likely had lost his communications and had not seen the arrival of the Baceten. When he came within view of their ships he pushed the fighter to max speed in an attempt to catch up with the retreating Laborite forces. Toll realized there was silence on the channel. “Conner.” He asked suddenly worried.

“I’m here, came his crackling voice. You’re probably not going to believe this but I think they got something along the lines of your message.” He sounded slightly confused.

Toll smiled. “They just surrendered?” He asked.

“That they did.” Conner confirmed. “The ship is ours. Jobs well done all around.” He said.

One of the Mars rings lit up, surprising Toll “Don’t celebrate just yet, this is far from over. It looks like Rusty failed to shut down the ring system.”

Toll opened a channel to Rusty. “We’re about to be a in a world of hurt, what happened to shutting down the ring system?” He almost shouted.

“It’s taking longer for the entire system to shut down than I estimated. I had to manually override the command cancel in the case of active rings.” Rusty shouted back.

Toll typed an order for his surviving fighters to dock in the battleship landing bay. “Are you shutting the system down or not!” Toll started to panic.

“It’s already shutting down, big systems take time Toll!” Rusty yelled back.

And then as if proving Rusty’s point the Ring the Arbitration Guild Hall was emerging from shut off instantly. The massive spherical ship appeared to violently drift apart as the slip stream faded leaving debris scattered across hundreds of thousands of miles of empty space.

“Oh my God.” Toll uttered watching the devastation of the destroyed ship get worse with each passing second.

“Toll what happened?” Rusty asked.

Toll turned his ship to avoid watching any more of the accidental horror. “Nothing man, the system was shut down. Nice work.” He knew he couldn’t hide this from Rusty for long but every moment he didn’t know what he had accidentally done was a moment Toll would give him.

Lidarion: Chapter 3

For the first few hours Bernard took in everything. Everything he could remember consisted of was little life he had in the capitol of Lidarion, the trip to Border wood keep and the last three years in the home that was his world. Squints had two horses pulling a small covered wagon, which held their things and something large, wrapped in blankets. Bernard wanted to ask about it more than he wanted to ask about the conversation he had overheard the night before, but the beauty of spring had him in its grip and so he pushed aside his concerns to enjoy the sights and sounds of the seasons as they traveled north.

By the afternoon Squints hadn’t said much, mostly giving him the names of flowers, animals, rivers, lakes, hills and far off mountains. They had stopped for lunch in a clearing and had unfortunately scared off some deer, they didn’t run far and stuck to the farthest edge of the clearing eating from a field of beautiful yellow flowers. There was a river a few hundred feet away from the road. Bernard had gone over to fill their water skins but sat for nearly an hour just listening to the river. He had stayed still long enough that the deer chanced coming closer to pick at some small berry bushes. It was peaceful in a way that he had no memory of.

Back on the kart they followed the road which pretty closely followed the river. “My father used to bring me to this river when I was younger. We’d spend summers out here away from civilization.” 

Bernard looked at Squints who continued sharing his memory. “At the time I just wanted to get back to my books, it’s a cruel irony that as an adult I dream of the summers I spent here.”

Bernard had no memory of his childhood or his father. He was both sad for and jealous of Squints. “I think your father may have known he was giving you a gift you wouldn’t know how to appreciate until you were old enough to understand what you had received.”

Squints looked at Bernard with curiosity. “Are you talking about the initial experience or the memory?” He asked.

Bernard shrugged his shoulders. “Aren’t they both just love in different forms?” He asked.

Squints smiled. “That they are.” He confirmed.

The rushing river and the creaking wheels of the wagon filled the silence. They hit a divot in the road and the large object wrapped in blankets shifted in the cart, knocking against the wooden wall of the cart.

“What happened to my memory?” Bernard asked quickly. As if he was worried he might lose his courage half way through the question.

Squints smiled a little. “How much of our conversation did you overhear last night?” He asked.

Bernard looked at a tree as they passed. “My sister is worried about things ‘going back to the way they were before’” He answered in question.

Squints nodded. “Indeed she is.” He confirmed.

Bernard looked at Squints. “How were they before? What is it that I can’t remember and why can’t I remember it?” He pleaded.

Squints sighed heavily. “The simple answers are, not good, a lot, because we made a mistake.”

Bernard shook his head. “I didn’t come on this trip for simple answers Squints.”

Squints nodded. “I know. You want the whole truth.”

Bernard nodded resolutely. “I do.”

Squints stared him down. “Even if it changes everything you know about everyone you love, including yourself?” He asked.

Bernard nodded. “Squints, I don’t actually know much of anything about anyone, especially myself.”

Squints sighed again. “That’s a fair point.” There was silence again for a moment as he considered where exactly to start his narrative. “I guess the most important place to start would be the end of the Machine Wars, six years ago.”

Bernard was instantly lost. “Machine Wars? No one has ever said anything about a war less than a decade ago.”

Squints nodded “Because we made sure you would never hear of it, at least, not until you were ready.”

Bernard looked at the road ahead. “So what does this war have to do with my missing memory?” He asked.

Squints shook his head. “The war has almost nothing to do with your memory loss. The war was how Trent ended up coming home to Lidarion after a long fifteen year absence.”

Bernard did the math in his head. “That’s over half his life.”

Squints nodded. “Generally that’s the point of banishment.” He offered. “How about I start from the Beginning?” He offered.

Bernard nodded. “Please.”

The XP: Chapter 3

Pratchett turned out to be an elderly merchant NPC pacing in front of his ramshackle shop. It was picked cleans and barely standing and Pratchett looked like he was having a panic attack. 

Yermum walked up and gave a simple wave. “Hi.” Which broke Pratchett out of his worried pacing.

“Hail and well Yermum. Terry said you might be coming by to take up my quest.” He said forcing a sad smile on his sunken face.

“What is your quest?” Yermum asked. Looking at Pratchett’s busted up shop.

Pratchett pointed to his ruined shop front. “The villainous Thieves of Ire robbed my shop and kidnapped my grand daughter. The town security forces are too afraid to go after them.” Pratchett dropped to his knees to beg, “Oh please Yermum! Rescue my granddaughter!”

Yermum looked down at the man who was crying at his feet. “ummm….ok.” He agreed.

Pratchett smiled genuinely for the first time in days and there was a sparkle in his eye. “Oh thank you Yermum! I know my daughter will be safe in your care.”

Yermum nodded and ran off in the direction his mini map pointed him.

Half a zone away Bob, Blackout, and Stygian emerge victorius from the Sea of Ever Burning Fury. Their bags full of loot and pockets full of coin. Stygian’s happy voice echo’s from under his massive helm. “I should have come back a long time ago.” He admitted

Blackout nods. “Seriously, you missed out on some sweet opportunities.”

Blackout couldn’t see the glare but he could feel Stygian staring him down. Far to their left Yermum is being chased by one of the Thieves of Ire. He doubles back to try and loose the thief but agros another one who joins the first in chasing him down.

“You do know that most people place this game for the actual fun of it right?” Stygian asked.

Bob nodded. “We have fun all the time.” She pointed out.

Yermum has agroed another two thieves, He is just barely ahead of the pack of murderous NPC’s and getting closer to the trio.

Stygian turns to face Bob. “Selling gold and items on the black market!” he throws his hands in the air.

Blackout shrugs his shoulders. “That’s fun for us.”

A few of the thieves give up the chase and head back to their original target area’s. Yermum has given up and is now just running blindly as quick as he can.

“It goes against the end user licence agreement and could get us banned!” Stygian shouted.

Bob threw her hands in the air like she was being held at gun point. “Oh no! not the EULA! Stygian why do you care?” She asked.

Yermum blows through the middle of the trio followed by the last three thieves from the mob, which the trio disposes of as reflex actions. Bob, Stygian and Blackout all look over to Yermum who is now laying down arms and legs splayed out on the road. He is gasping for air.

Stygian disappeared his comically large sword. “I don’t really, I just wanted to make sure you weren’t gonna get pissed if I kept some of this gear cause it seriously puts my current stuff to shame.” He said stepping over Yermum.

Blackout followed him. “What did you expect after being logged out for two years?”

Bob walked around Yermum and took a quick glance down at the noob. “You’re welcome.” She said before catching up with her friends.

Yermum sat up and watch the trio head back toward town. He got to his feet and ran to catch up with them. “Hey!” He shouted, The trio stopped and turned to face him. “Um, thanks for that, back there, saving my life and all.”

Stygian shook his head. “Don’t mention it.” He said turning toward town again. Blackout and Bob followed his lead.

Yermum continued the conversation “You guys seem pretty hardcore.” He stated.

They didn’t turn around this time. “And so, very busy.” Blackout said without looking back.

Yermum jogged to keep up with them. “Busy with what?” He asked.

Bob rolled her eyes. “Important things, high level things, and judging by the way you play, things you won’t be seeing for a really, really long time. So, do the world a favor and go back to the World of Waterslides.” She snapped, as they entered town. Yermum stopped walking and they began to separate from him. Bob grits her teeth and stops walking. She Glares at Stygian whose metallic whistle of innocence echoes under his helmet. “I hate you.” She points at Stygian.  She turns around and motions Yermum over. He is all smiles as he jogs back to the group.

“We’re going to need to get him trained and geared.” He pointed out.

Yermum nodded. “You won’t regret this.” He offered.

Bob shook her head. “Too late.”

The foursome headed to the item shop in town and Stygian’s metallic laughter echoed off the buildings.

University of Console Heroics: Chapter 3

Foster and the rest of the students are sitting in rows on the floor of the Intro to Energy classroom. Each of them attempting to mimic the pose and breathing patterns of their teacher Cynthia sitting on the floor facing them at the front of the room. Foster is the only one with his eyes open, awkwardly looking around the room at all the serenity he is clearly not feeling. He looks up at his teacher, her eyes also closed, she takes a deep breath in, and slowly exhales.

“Ok everyone.” She alerted the room with her eyes still closed. Foster shut his tight quickly so as not to stand out when she opened hers. “That’s enough for today. You can open your eyes and relax now.” 

The class including Foster opened their eyes and relaxed their sitting positions. “For class Wednesday I would like you all to work on your breathing. Three seconds in, and three seconds out. The point is learning to control your natural instincts, the fun flashy stuff come later. Are there any questions?” She asked stretching out her legs. The class remained quiet. “All right then, good first day, I’ll see you all on Wednesday.”

The students move quickly to gather their things up and leave the room. Cynthia is in no such hurry. Foster stretches his legs out folds himself in half. Cynthia looks over, then decides to get up and sit in front of him. Foster sits back upright and sees Cynthia sitting in front of him. “Sorry, I’ll get out of here.”

Cynthia shakes her head. “No you’re fine, it’s not like you were doing much in the way of meditation during class, a little extra practice will be good for you.” She moved her legs back into sitting cross legged.

Foster copied her awkwardly. “I didn’t really think the basics of fighting were going to be sitting in silence and breathing, no offense.” He verbally stumbled over his thoughts.

Cynthia smiled a little. “None taken. Sitting in silence and breathing is hard for many people because they have spent their entire lives controlling things through physical force.” She closed her eyes and this time Foster copied her. Letting his visual awareness of the room and of Cynthia transfer to his ears and his nose. “Hitting, kicking, screaming, yelling, taking up space and making sure people know it.” She continued at a measured and calm pacing, almost hypnotically. “Self-control and self-awareness are forms of mental control, two forms of control that many people and many Combat Studies majors have a very hard time learning to wield.”

Foster was finally starting to relax, his breathing was still an uneven ragged mess but he felt less awkward just sitting with his eyes actually closed. “You make it sound like brute force is inherently weaker than mental prowess.” He stated.

“Not weaker, just enslaved. All biological life is enslaved to their own mind.” She opened and eye and looked at Foster who legitimately still had his eyes closed and was trying intensely to count three second breathing windows silently to himself. She closed her eye. “For what is brute strength but the will of the mind made manifest by your body.”

Foster lost his count. “So, like, I am my own worst enemy.”

Cynthia smiled. “But with proper training you have to potential to be your strongest and most loyal ally.” She opened her eyes, so did Foster. She got up and walked over to her bag.

Foster put his left shoe on. “Oh! Um, so, do you know Dean Thompson?” He asked with all the awkwardness back in his voice.

Cynthia zipped up her bag. “Used to.” She offered. “He, stopped talking to me a while ago.” 

Foster contemplates this as he shoved his right foot into his sneaker. Then stands up and grabs his bag. “Hey, um, I really appreciate the extra help and everything.” They stopped at the door. “But if you don’t mind me asking why he would tell me to say hi to you for him if he has been ignoring you?” The question rushed awkwardly out of his mouth.

“If you need to know so badly, ask him. I haven’t gotten anything useful from his answering machine.” She said bitterly.

“Sorry, it’s really none of my business.” He apologized.

She shook her head. “He’s the dick for using you as a messenger. You can’t exactly mind your own business when someone is actively shoving your face in theirs”

Foster shrugged his shoulders as he Followed Cynthia out of the room and shut of the lights before the door closed.

Shades of Justice: Chapter 7

Raptarus couldn’t see or smell anything. He could feel his body floating in this place that lacked both gravity and light.

“Raptarus” A voice filled the darkness.

“Who said that?” he asked, pointlessly scanning the all-encompassing void.

“I Did.” The voice was everywhere and nowhere all at once.

“And who are you?” He asked, beginning to get annoyed.

“I am the nightmare of possibility that exists just beyond the edge of every light in the universe.” The voice did not echo, it was just there, even and ever present. His annoyance gave way to the slight chill of fear.

“Stygian.” He whispered.

“So, you have heard of me.” The voice seemed pleased.

“I cannot imagine there is a living warrior who has not heard the only name on the lips of death.” Raptarus offered reverently.

“And what would a warrior give to swear fealty to that name?” The question settled into an empty space in Raptarus’s heart that he had never known or even dreamed existed.

“I would die to serve the hand of darkness.” Raptarus admitted.

“That you have already done I require, more.” The voice demanded.

“I would bring you the heads and hearts of all those would stand against you.” Raptarus offered.

“This would please me greatly.” Stygian admitted.

“Then it shall be done.” Raptarus bowed but realized it was pointless in the darkness.

“Do agree so quickly. I Require the shattered remnants of Lumarion. Extinguish the light that guides others to peace and prosperity.” Stygian demanded.

“Gladly my lord.”

“This is no easy task. I expect you to fail pathetically before I arrive.”

Raptarus clenched his unseen fist. ‘I will see the Shades of Justice and Lumarion dead with my own eyes!”

“That is impossible. One of your eyes belongs to me now. But in its plae you will find possibility. Darkness so black you can call upon the void for nearly anything you might want to accomplish your task.” Stygain offered.

“With this weapon, I shall sunder the earth.” Raptarus yelled at the void.

“I didn’t say it wouldn’t hurt.” Stygian amended.

There was no telling how far Raptarus’s screams made it into the void as Stygian implanted the shard of possibility into his now empty eye socket.

Blood and Profit: Chapter 33

Connor checked the synchronization status between the bio computer and the rest of the ship a final time. Once it passed thirty three percent anything that went wrong would mean a catastrophic failure in the bio computer and another two years to grow a replacement. The sync status showed thirty seven percent. He took a deep breath and not for the first time missed the physical presence of his nanobot generator.

“Sir, team one has secured the landing bay.” One of the other twenty four members of his personally selected team announced.

Connor pushed off from the wall he was resting against and made his way over to the other side of the computer bay. He felt around the wall until he a panel lit up. “Thank god for sloppy corporate oversight.” He sighed with relief. He pulled his right suit glove off and placed his hand on the panel. It scanned his hand and the extremely well disguised door slid open revealing a maintenance hallway. He floated in zero gravity as his team went through the door into the artificial low gravity of the hall. Once they were through he passed through as well and the door closed behind him.

Every member of the team removed their suits to reveal tactical gear. Within a few minutes each of the newly revealed soldiers were assembled into four teams of six people. Their helmets had visors with heads up displays that showed them the way to the battleships bridge.

Connor had placed an arm band around his bicep that injected him with nanobots at the required intervals. He took the offered pistol from the leader of the squad he would be traveling with throughout the ship. He then quickly turned to the rest of the men. “With Laborite soldiers on the ship we’re moving to plan C. You all know your targets and goals, be smart, stay safe, shoot to kill.”

The men nodded and exited the maintenance hallway, splitting off in different direction to secure choke points along the route from the landing bay to the bridge and decrease any resistance. He and his team turned into a major hallway that they were planning on taking to the bridge and discovered an entrenched group of Laborite soldiers. He ducked back down the side hallway he had come out of along with two of the soldiers, one had taken a very powerful suppression bolt to the face and was dragged by his unconscious hand into the safety of the opposite side of the hallway by the other two members of the unit. “I need reinforcements in the primary command hallways follow my teams path and you’ll come up right behind us, there’s a group of at least six soldiers behind combat barriers and we need to clear them out.”

The channel wasn’t silent for long. “Bravo team is closest, we’ll double back.” Bravo team lead confirmed.

Connor switched channels until Rusty’s name came up with a countdown timer next to it. “Rusty we’ve been delayed, we’re going to be five or so minutes late getting to the bridge.” Connor alerted him.

Rusty’s voice came through along with what sounded like an warning alarm in the background. “You made it onto the ship, the timeline only really matters for everything except securing the ship.” Connor

“Unless we’re forced to move to plan B.” Connor pointed out.

Even with the alarms in the background Rusty sounded calmer than Connor expected “Lets worry about plan B if and when we get to plan B.”

Lidarion: Chapter 2

Bernard had cleaned himself up and changed into a tunic and pants that were more formal in nature and less covered with dirt. He made his way down the steps but was stopped by the conversation that he overheard happening on the first floor. Squints was discussing the trip with his sister and Trent.

“It’s long past time Brooke. For this and many other things to come to an end.” Squints stated with sadness in his voice.

“And what do we do if the truth returns everything back to the way it was?” She asked worry in her voice.

“The truth may not be the best option, but nothing can turn back time now. We have to deal with the way things are. And as unpleasant as it will be, I think Squints is right.” Trent offered.

“It would be less unpleasant if you didn’t decided this all needed to happen on a road trip to the other side of the planet.” Brooke pointed out.

Bernard was confused, he had no clue what ‘truth’ they could be talking about and whatever it was had to relate to him, and Squints had offered to take him on his trip to the Minotaur cliff city.

“Brooke I’m not saying you shouldn’t be a part of this process. I just think he’ll need proof, and some time to let it all sink in.”

Bernard couldn’t stand it any longer and came around the corner. “Let what sink in?” He asked nonchalantly.

Brooke was holding back tears and forcing a smile on her face. “That you’re not my baby brother anymore.” She explained.

Bernard returned the fake smile. “I haven’t been your baby brother in a long time, not that I can remember but just based off my age you had to have given up this “baby brother” thing years ago.” 

He pointed out.

She got up and gave him a genuine hug. “We may be adults now, but you’ll always be my baby 

brother, and I will always love you.” He returned he hug which lasted longer than any of their other hugs that he could remember.

“Brooke I’m going to be gone for the summer, not the rest of my life.” He pointed out. She reluctantly let go of him and made her way into the kitchen.

“Yeah well. Neither if you is leaving till the morning, Dinner will be ready soon and I want to hear all about the darkest night celebration in the capitol.

Bernard listened along with Trent and Brooke as Squints regaled them with tales of the winter festival from their previous home. The food and the performances, the fireworks and the nightly celebrations of dance and song. He knew that there was more than just the sadness of temporary distance in his sisters heart and the fact that he could think of nothing but his own lack of memory as the cause or some form of symptom of that sadness worried him.

They ate dinner together and talked of old times. They told stories that Bernard had no real memory of but had heard so many times he could recite whole sections of them himself. He had initially been excited about his impending adventure with his friend, but try as he might he was unable to shake the feeling that his entire life would never been the same come tomorrow morning.

The Xp; Chapter 2

It’s a busy day in Finderal. A large city built around the player economy. At the very center of the city sat a large fountain depicting the three characters that started Finderal when the game was a text based Multi User Dungeon. Bob sat down and pulled her Sabertaur off her back. The combination of guitar and giant sword was slightly taller than she was if she stood next to it but she played it with a level of skill that made the imposing size of it disappear. Another player logged into the game sitting next to her. “I really appreciate you coming back Stygian..” She said without stopping her song.

The other player was hidden under layers of black and blue armor. “I was getting bored with real life.” Stygian replied.

Bob stood and slung her Sabertaur on her back again. “Do want to check your bags or need to do anything else to get familiarized with the game?”

Stygian stood up and shook his head in the negative. “No, let’s get going. If I start rummaging through my bags it’ll take me weeks just to figure out what’s worth anything anymore.”

Bob nodded and made her way out of the center of the city. Stygian followed. “Blackout’s meeting us at the dungeon entrance.”

Stygian laughed. “That fool is still around?”

Bob nodded. “And leveled half a dozen characters.”

The crowds were thick as they made their way through the scrolls and potions district. “so why the rush all of a sudden?” Stygian asked.

Bob was shoving people nearly twice her size out of her path. “Blackout’s got and acquaintance, who has a roommate that’s a data miner. He found the stats for a series of weapons in the expansion that’s about to come out that use nothing but old world materials.”

They cleared the scrolls and potions district and were now on the outskirts of town. Once they had finally put some distance between them and Finderal. Stygian continued their conversation. “Am I missing the part where this isn’t just sliding for dollars?” he asked slightly annoyed.

Bob turned around to clarify face to face. “LOTS of dollars.” She held her hands out wide as if describing an impossibly large fish. “Orb’s of questionable sanity are required for each one of these new weapons and this dungeon drops them like they are going out of style.”

Stygian pointed at something behind Bob. “Same shit different day, eh Bob?” Torcano asked.

Bob turned around angry and annoyed. “Jeez B.O. did you even try to fight him?” She demanded of her friend who was sitting defeated on the ground.

Blackout pointed at Torcano. “He snuck up on me, and my name is Blackout not B.O”

Bob shrugged. “Coulda fooled me, cause you stink.”

Stygian shook his huge armored head. “You two fight like an old married couple.”

Torcano looked at him in pleasant surprise. “Stygian! It’s been so long…I hardly recognized you!” he laughed.

Stygian shrugged his huge armored shoulders. “I’ve lost weight.” He offered. As they fist bumped.

Torcano turned his attention back to Bob and Blackout. “All right then, who tipped you of about the orbs?” he asked, looking intensely in Blackout’s direction.

“The…matriarch?” Blackout offered hesitantly.

Torcano shook his head. “Uh huh, sure she did. No matter, it’s an easy fix. I wouldn’t bother farming them here from now on. I dropped the percentages back down to a more reasonable level.

Bob kicks at the dirt. “It really gonna be like that?” She asked.

Torcano nodded. “Sorry Bob, it’s my job.”

She glared up at him. “Being a dick is NOT your job.” She accused.

He smiled right back at her. “Always the silver tongue.” He turned his attention to Stygian. “I’d say welcome back but you were gone for nearly two years, been back almost twenty minutes and you already got wrapped up with these two, might want to think about finding new people to play with my friend.” Torcano offered before he waved his hand and disappeared in a flash of light.

Blackout stood up and brushed himself off “well, now what?” He asked.

Bob thought about it for a second and then perked up. “Sea of ever burning fury?” She offered.

“The sea of what?” Stygian asked.

“Oh man! Wait till you see this place, the artists really out did themselves!” She started heading off in the direction of the sea.

Stygian and Blackout followed. “Any good gear for a Ruffian in the sea?” Stygian asked.

Blackout nodded. “The gauntlets of eternal rage.” He answered.

Bob turned around and talked to them while walking backwards. “Oh yeah! Those drop off the magma squid!” She waved her arms in an attempt to interpret the squid, making both Blackout and Stygian laugh.

University of Console Heroics: Chapter 2

The student union building was completely packed. On any other day it would have been a great place to meet with friends, get lunch, talk to an adviser, work on a Greek life fund raiser, or any one of a hundred other social things that you might find yourself interested in doing throughout a semester of school. Today all of those things and more was happening with every possible student that could fit in the building.

The Nu Tau Delta sorority was running a fund raiser for the 1 up foundation, they were selling 1 cUP cakes and their table was easily the most popular place in the union. Tanya, Faith, and Lacey were manning the booth and being as nice and polite to their customers as they could as they took handfuls of cash.

Clay was sitting at the far edge of the food court area. From where he was sitting he could see the insanity of the fund raising table. He shook his head and returned his attention to his studies. His table was covered with several books all of which he was using to prep notes for a class. Porter swiped an unused chair and sat at the opposite side of Clay’s tiny overfilled table, His Rho Sigma Gamma shirt is black with camo colored letters.

“Dude! Last night was crazy awesome! Where were you?” Porter asked after taking a drink from his soda cup.

“I was working.” Clay replied without looking up from his notes.

Porter smiled and made a donut with his right pointer finger and thumb and moved it over his left pointer finger. “Like workin’ a girl?”

Clay looked up from his notes and put down his pencil. “No, working my job, over at Supply and Demand.” He clarified. Watching as Porter glanced at the dude sitting at the table next to Clay’s. He was in the middle of an intense phone call, completely ignoring his lunch as he yelled into his phone. 

“Dude are you even listening to me?” Clay asked.

Porter brought his attention back to his friend. “Of course I’m listening to you, and I don’t like what I am hearing. A job, really? Clay you are a Thug Studies major.” Porter takes the guys soda without a glitch.

“And I steal enough shit to make grades, so don’t worry about it.” Clay watched as Porter pulled a flask out of his pocket and poured a large amount into the soda. Clay dropped back into his book at Porter took a swig of his concoction.

Porter scanned the crowd in the union for a moment until he remembered why he had sat down in the first place. “Oh hey! You should come by the house tonight. We’re gonna order some pizza’s and play I’d steal it. The pledge with the lowest cash value of cars claimed has to wash every toilet in the house with a tooth brush.”

Clay realized he wasn’t going to get any more studying done with Porter at the table and closed his books. “As much fun as drinking and watching British car shows sounds, I gotta finish this for my class tomorrow.”

Porter took another drink and rolled his eyes. “Dude! We never see you any more, what’s with all the responsibility?” He picked up one of Clay’s books and looked it over. “History of the second dimension: the complexity of simplicity." What the hell is this crap?”

Clay swipes the book and the cup from Porter. He puts the book in his bag and takes a drink from the cup. “It’s the class I’m taking. I’m a senior, I’m set to graduate at the end of this year. I wish I could, but I can’t stay in college forever.”

Porter stole his cup back. “Speak for yourself, I’ma graduate the day I die.”

Clay packed his other books away one by one. “Oh sure, the way you drink we’ll be at the same graduation ceremony.”

Porter looked out around the union again. “Oh sure! Two funerals but only one dead guy.”

Clay glared at his friend. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked.

Porter held his hands out to highlight the union. “It means that this is the life Clay. We get four years, maybe five years, if we’re lucky to live it up. Then society demands that we die from the neck up and complacently sit behind a desk, fuck that.”

Clay grabs the soda back and takes another drink. “Ok then, so how come the only other option is staying here and living from the waist down?”

Porter raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”

Clay zipped his bag. “There’s more in this life for me than sex, drugs, and alcohol.”

Porter counted off the list on his fingers and then nodded. “Dude if you wanted to watch sports instead of Car commercials you coulda just said so. Clay’s shoulders slumped in frustration. Porter took his cup from Clay. “Seriously though, stop by the house tonight. Everyone would be glad to see you.”

Clay stands up and slings his bag over his shoulders. “I’ll try.” He offered heading off toward his Class. Porter noticed the guy at the next table was still having his conversation and had yet to touch his forgotten lunch. He waiting until the guy had his back partially turned and swiped it easily. Clay appeared over his should and took the drink.

Porter flipped Clay off without looking as he dug into his newly procured burrito.

Shades of Justice: Chapter 6

“Um, guys, I don’t think we should be standing here.” Warren said as Raptarus’ body began to grow at an exponential rate. The Shades ran for cover as he regained consciousness and got back to his now gigantic feet. He was easily fifty feet tall and just one of his feet could decimate any one of the buildings left on campus.

Warren looked around frantically. “Can you see where he is? My visor is flashing the words “Blinding Light!” When he said blinding light the jeweled centerpiece on his chest armor glowed for a second.

“I have the same words flashing in my visor!” Kelly offered. “What’s Blinding Light?” She asked as her chest piece lit up.

Sonya saw it and the words in her visor as well. “Everyone say it at the same time!” She commanded. 

They all stood and shouted “Blinding light!” together. Each of their chest pieces lit up, firing a beam of their light color to the same point in the night sky. Where their lights converged it got brighter and brighter until none of them, even giant Raptarus could not look at the light. When the light faded, They saw a giant robot in gleaming gold and silver.

“I’m dreaming, I must be dreaming.” Warren said to himself. And sat down hard. By the time his butt hit the ground the group had been teleported into the command center of the Blinding Light and Warren landed in his chair. They had precious little time to get used to their new toy however as Raptarus charged them with his staff. Everyone took their seat and in much the same manner as their suits felt a strong subconscious connection with the machine. Raptarus swung his staff for the right side of Blinding Light’s head. Kelly reflexively flinched her own hand as if she was about to get hit and the robot copied her.

“Something tells me this is all so very new to you children.” Raptarus took a step back and twirled his staff. “How long have you been the defenders of earth? Could this perhaps be your very first fight?” Raptarus used his staff to launch himself into a brutal kick that connected with Blinding Lights Chest knocking the robot off its feet and causing it to land hard on the pool building.

The kids should have been thrown out of their chairs but something about their suits held them in place. “We’re going to die!” Warren screamed.

“Shut up Warren! Get a hold of yourself!” Sonya yelled back. Kelly, how did you make the arm move?” She asked as Raptarus stood over them.

“I just moved my arm and the robot copied me!” She replied.

Sonya crossed her fingers and closed her eyes. “Please let this work.” She whispered to herself and kicked her feet out into the air as far as she could until she kicked her command console. Blinding Light’s right foot kicked out and caught Raptarus off guard. He flew back and fell hard.

“Nice Kick copycat.” Gordon called out. “Now how do we get back up?”

Through trial and error and a few minutes of exploring their consoles they were able to figure out what systems and limbs each of them was primarily responsible for. Sonya was the right leg, Warren was the left, Dante was the left arm, Kelly was the right, and Gordon was the head and chest systems.

“What happened to Raptarus?” Warren asked once they were on their feet again. They looked around and found him, he had fallen in just such a way that the schools flag pole had stabbed through the back of his head, and straight through his left eye. Gordon turned Blinding Light away from the scene. Dante took his helmet off. “Do not throw up in here man!” Warren yelled.

Dante shook his head. “Just needed to breathe…we won guys, it was a crappy haphazard win but he’s dead.”

They looked out at the ruins of what used to be a large portion of the school Sonya looked down at the smoking pile of rubble that used to be the theater. “Yeah” she huffed. “We won.”