University of Console Heroics: Chapter 13

The intro to energy midterm is over. The class is awkwardly sitting around Foster who is proudly sitting in the rest of the room. Electric red fire rising up from his shoulders.  He is sitting with his legs crossed but he has a predatory shit eating grin spread across his face. He was staring at Cynthia who was staring right back, somewhat less than pleased.

She uncrossed her legs and stood up. “Class dismissed.” She didn’t have to say anything else. Everyone else in the class scrambled to get their things and quickly vacate the room. Not a single one of them looking back in Fosters direction. Foster uncrossed his legs and the fire on his shoulders was snuffed out. He leaned back assured of himself. Cynthia sat in front of him but further back than normal. “Well, I guess he felt like talking.”

Foster looked at his right hand “Not exactly.” He replied.

Cynthia waved her hand referencing the red flames. “He must have helped you in some way.” She said.

Foster walked a red flame up and down the tips of his fingers in the same way that Thompson had. “I wouldn’t call it helping, it was more of an awakening.” He said closing his fist and snuffing out the flame. Giving his best attempt at a disarming smile. “Cynthia, there is nothing to worry about, everything is under control.”

His overeager assurance pushed her over the line into worry and concern. “Under the control of what Foster?” She asked while getting to her feet.

Foster joined her in standing. “This was your idea, remember?” He accused.

Cynthia turned away from him to grab her bag. “Then I was wrong for sending you to him.”

Foster held out his hands at his sides. “How can you say that this,” Foster exploded in full body flame. “Is wrong!”  

Cynthia felt the heat and turned to face him, backing up against the front wall.  She glanced at the open classroom door and Foster brought the fire back under control. She angrily grabbed her back and walked over to the door.

Foster killed his flame and grabbed his shoes. “He wants to see you…You know that right?” He offered.

Cynthia stopped packing her bag. “He is welcome to see me whenever he likes.” She spat her answer over her shoulder.

Foster pulled his second shoe on. “How about tonight? He asked me to pass along an invite to dinner at his place.”

She shouldered her bag and turned to face him. “He could have just called me.” She said.

Foster shook his head. “Fear of rejection turns every man into a coward.”

Cynthia moved forward until she was aggressively in Fosters space, and even though he was taller than she was, she stared him down. “And power turns every man into a liar.” She growled, leading Foster to look away in submission.

“What makes you say that?” He asked.

Cynthia moved to the door. “Dean knows that I would never turn him away. Therefor you are lying.” She accused.

Foster looked at his feet. “I thought it was what you wanted to hear.” He admitted.

She left her reply behind as she walked through the door and out into the hall. “Think again. Get your head on straight Foster, cause something in you isn’t right.”

Foster waited until he heard the front door of the building close behind her and punched the classroom wall.

Shades of Justice: Chapter 17

Blinding Light was losing the fight against the tentacles. They had completely wrapped around each of its limbs and its chest and were slowly dragging it back into the sea. The beach sand was scarred by the drag marks of Blinding Lights feet as it was pulled further into the water. As the ocean waves were crashing against its waist compartments all over the body opened to reveal lift off jets which fired, beginning to lift Blinding light out of the water as the tentacles pulled back. The output got brighter and larger. Again Blinding light make a little upward motion out of the water, until the jets ran out of fuel, the fires died and the compartments closed. The tentacles reaffirmed their grip and finished dragging blinding light beneath the waves.

In the command center shades were looking a long lists of internal and external damage from the tentacles. Now that they were beneath the surface of the ocean though they could see the entirety of the monstrosity that had defeated them.

It was an ancient squid so impossibly large that it did not seem proper for the earth itself to contain it. With its prize secured the leviathan made its way deeper into the depths of the ocean.

As Blinding light was dragged along the pressure of the water began to cause its own damage to the mecha. Warning lights flashed and alarms went off. The left arm elbow joint bucked and tore until all information coming from the systems it contained ceased and the status lights went dead. Everything in the giant mecha was on the verge of failure. The view screen flickered in and out and was beginning to crack.

The lights on the outside of Blinding light were the only sources of real light this deep in the ocean. As they began to fail, flicker and die the abyss filled with ancient nightmares once again returned to its mysteriously inky darkness.

Inside the command room a new alarm joined the cacophony. Blinding Lights onboard oxygen storage was damaged and they could see their air bubble out and upward toward the now impossibly distant surface.

The Leviathan settled on the ocean floor, pulled blinding light in close and closed it eyes.

Gordon pulled the Oxygen warning up on his console. “Sonya we’ve got about seven minutes of air left, what the hell do we do now?” He asked.

Sonya was looking through the depressingly small list of powers still available to use on Blinding Light. “I’m looking, give me a minute.” She answered.

Dante looked in her direction away from his screens “We don’t exactly have a lot of those left you know?” He was starting to panic.

“Electricity” Kelly blurted out.” The others looked her direction.

“What?” Sonya asked.

“Our left arm is damaged, that’s our primary sword arm, so we can’t summon the Blade of Blinding light, but it’s also the secondary power station, so maybe we could figure out a way to electrify the entire mecha and irritate the leviathan enough to let us go.” She explained.

Dante pulled up the status of the left arm. It showed the power station was still generating power but there was nothing in the left arm to use it for. “We’ve got the power but we need to access it. Somehow.” He enlarged the status window.

“And we’re going to have to figure it out on our own, because communications are down.” Warren added.

Everyone looked to Sonya. “All right kids, stay calm and start thinking of a plan, we’ve got less than seven minutes to make this happen.”

Blood and Profit: Chapter 40

With his sister found, Eamon turned back toward his ship. "Let's go, I can't guarantee the council is smart enough to realize attacking the forest is the stupidest course of action." 

Mew stayed where she was. "And the second stupidest is thinking that we can just walk away from this situation. I may have crashed but you came Willingly." 

Her point made Eamon turn back around. "This situation calls for more experience than either of us have." He said.

She nodded. "Entirely true. But until the rest of the planet makes up their mind, I'm not abandoning the Starseeds, not now."

Eamon pointed at the still silent line of Starseeds that had greeted him. "What could they possibly have done to earn your trust and loyalty this quickly?" He asked skeptically.

Mew looked annoyed. "You mean other than not kill me, bring me to you, and let us go freely after the one aboard my shuttle died? Nothing more than diverting from their journey to save this entire planet." She answered.

Eamon was frustrated now. "Save us from what Mew?" He almost yelled.

Mew shook her head. "It's very hard to describe," She started as the nearest Starseed in the greeting line moved forward to stand next to Mew. "Much easier to see it for yourself." She said as the Starseed reached out a limb of branches and vines with one tendril extending further than the rest which touched Eamon right between the eyes, which instantly clouded over as the rest of his face went slack.

Lidarion: Chapter 12

“Now are you going to give me a hug or do I need to get you drunk first?” Alex asked a huge smile crept across her face. Trent hugged her, the entire bar came back to exuberant life. Lisa breathed a sigh of relief. Alex moved them to the nearest empty table and sat down with Lisa and Trent. “So tell me everything, starting with your lady friend’s name.” Alex glanced at Lisa.

Lisa held out her hand. “I’m Lisa, I’d love to say I’m his big sister but something tells me that that particular job was taken long before I ever met him.” She smiled warmly.

Alex laughed and shook her head. “If he’s anything like he used to be as a kid he needs all the level headed oversight he can get, I appreciate you looking after him all these years.” They shook hands warmly. “Do you have anything to do with his banishment ending?” She asked.

Lisa looked confused and Trent’s head dropped into his hands. “Banishment?” Lisa said shooting a look at Trent.

Trent glared at Alex. “Yeah I hadn’t actually told her about that part.” He whispered in Alex’s direction.

Alex looked shocked for about half a second then stood without a word. Turned and addressed the entire establishment. “We’re closed. All your tabs are settled. If word of the last five minutes leaves this room I will find out where that word came from and they will be unwelcome in my house for the rest of their lives.” The patron’s didn’t need the threat, they were all in love with the establishment and most has at least a passing interest in Alex, none had an interest in loosing access to one of Lidarion’s best kept secrets.

When the bar was empty except for the trio Alex moved to the nearest window and pushed the curtain aside just enough to check the street and make sure her patrons where shuffling on about their lives. “That won’t buy you much cover, I can almost guarantee that at the very least one of the king’s spies noticed that you have returned.” She looked as far down the street as she could.

Lisa looked at Trent in shock. “Trent I’m sorry. When you said you couldn’t come here you really meant it, I shouldn’t have pressured you.”

Trent shook his head. “Lisa I can’t run away from this forever, and now that most of the cards are on the table I might as well show you the whole hand, the King’s reaction is the least of my worries.” He said seriously.

“He’s coming.” Alex said moving away from the window.

Lisa watched as she returned to the table and waved her arms to usher them behind the bar. “Who’s coming?” Lisa asked.

Trent got down on his knees behind the bar as Alex replied. “One of the only two people who employ better spies than the king.” She said, causing Lisa to scurry under the bar herself.

Alex disappeared from view and Lisa could hear her move around the room cleaning table after table brining the items from each back to the bar.

Lisa heard the front door open and a higher pitched voice asked “Where is he Alex?” The voice asked.

She heard Lisa turn to address the new person. “Where’s who?” She feigned ignorance poorly, even Lisa could hear the insincerity in her voice.

Lisa looked at Trent who returned her glance with extreme nervousness.

“He’s here Lisa, why is he hiding?” The voice asked. She then heard lighter heeled footsteps make their way toward the bar. Trent appeared to be vibrating he was so Nervous. Looked down the opposite end of the bar to see the wood wall that left no escape for them. Suddenly a gnome poked his head around the open corner of the bar. “Trent what are you doing hiding under the bar?” the gnome asked, then glanced at Lisa. “And who is your lady friend?” He asked with more personal interest and less general curiosity.

Trent stood up and Lisa followed suit. “Squints! Sorry about that, Alex and I were messing with Lisa.” Alex, Squints, and Trent smiled at her. “Squint's this is Lisa, and she is very gullible.”

Lisa glared at him. “I hate you. Be honest, is the banishment story even real?” she asked.

Trent nodded. “Very real. The king and I are not friends.”

Lisa moved back around the bar. “Then why not tell me that before we left Saintcitia? Why risk what I’m assuming is a severe punishment for me?”  She asked.

“Because we are friends.” Trent smiled.

The XP: Chapter 12

Stygian, Bob and Blackout are farming mobs in a zone called the Volcanic Wastes. Blackout casts a spell that causes the three fire imps charging him to fade out of existence. “How come we’re farming for cash here instead of the Temple Flats?” He asked.

Stygian easily finished off the last group of enemies with a single swing of his absolutely massive sword. “Did you not read the patch notes?” Blackout shook his head. “From now on your first death has a ten minute re-spawn timer and starts a one hour clock. If you die again in that hour your re-spawn is a half hour and the clock resets back to an hour. Third death earns you a twenty four hour re-spawn delay.” Stygian explained.

Blackout grimaced. “Lemmie guess, the next day they hour timer resets and if you die a fourth time they send someone to your home to kick you in the balls?” He said as he and Stygian fist bumped.

Torcano appeared in the zone and ran over to his friends. “I made it! I’m a GM!” He shouted.

Blackout and Stygian met Torcano halfway. Bob finished off the mob’s she was fighting and joined them. “Grats. You’re ‘the man’ now dog.” She deadpanned.

Torcano looked a little down. “Come on Bob this is a good thing, don’t be like that. I’m gonna get paid to play the game!” Torcano leapt into the air, unable to control his excitement.

Bob was still unimpressed. “And police the player base.” She reminded him.

Torcano nodded. “You have to admit, most of the players could you some policing. If I see another 'SukmeyeByall’s' I’m gonna scream.”

Stygian pointed at Torcano while talking to Bob. “Man’s got a point.”

Bob shook her head. “Whatever.” She replied turning and walking away.

“When do you start?” She heard Stygian ask.

“And what do you do when you’re not actively helping players?” Blackout asked before she was out of earshot.

She looked around the empty Volcanic Wastelands waiting for a mob to spawn. Volnado appeared instead. “So your brother made it, he’s a full time tool now.” She nearly spat at him.

Volando looks out in the same direction as Bob. “Guess you wouldn’t be happy for me if I told you that I made it as well.” He replied.

Bob shrugged her shoulders “I should be happy for you, it’s what you both wanted.”

Volnado nodded. “And your only annoyed with Torcano, It’s totally fine if I become a tool?” He asked.

Bob sat down on the ground. “Yeah, no, I don’t know. Look, why don’t you go celebrate with the others?” She sighed.

Volnado shook his head. “We were supposed to tell everyone together, but he couldn’t wait.” Volnado looked back at his brother horsing around the Stygian and Blackout. “Just another example of him being an attention whore.”

Bob looked back over her shoulder at Torcano. “Don’t take it personally. His awareness of the world doesn’t extend much past his own nose.” She turned away from her friends.

Volnado nodded. “Trust me, I’ve noticed.”

“Go steal some of his thunder. You deserve to celebrate with them just as much as he does.” She said just before fading out of the game.

Volnado looked back at the trio in the distance. “Yeah, thanks.” He said to the wastes.

University of Console Heroics: Chapter 12

With the sun just setting Clay and Faith are walking back to the dorm together. Clay wearing a classy button up dress shirt and a suit jacket. Faith in a nice floral Sunday dress. They are holding hands and grinning like idiots.

“I have to say, this is easily the weirdest and most fun date I have ever been on.” Clay explained.

Faith nodded. “You can admit it. It’s because I’m awesome.” She fake curtsied, making clay laugh.

The wind picked up a bit and she wrapped her arms around herself. Clay noticed, took off his jacket and put it over her shoulders. “You made me eat sushi and play Skee Ball.” He said.

She slid her arms into the sleeves. “What’s wrong with that?” She asked.

“Nothing.” Clay shook his head. “That’s the cool part. I never thought an evening at Super Fun Palace, playing games in the middle of a river of kids would be nearly as much fun as we had.”

Faith nodded and laced her arms around Clay’s. “Well you are better at Skee Ball than pool, that’s for sure.” She giggled.

Clay shrugged his shoulders.

Faith moved in closer to Clay as they walked. The temperature was dropping and it was a decent excuse for bodily contact. Still he noticed it when she shivered as a gust of wind came to life. “It’s going to be a cold night.” She commented.

Clay stopped walking and watched the cars making their way down the main street in front of the campus. It wasn’t long before a suitably stylish car came down the drag and Clay politely disengaged from Faith. “I’ll be right back.” He assured her before jogging out into the middle of the street, he calmly walked up to the car he wanted, opened the driver’s side door and almost gently yanked the driver out of the car. He pointed down the street. “Go on, get.” He said without raising his voice. The Driver scrambled away from the car without further resistance. Faith walked over to the car. Clay put it in park long enough to come around to the passenger side, open her door and hold her hand as she sat down into the car. He then made his way back to the driver’s side, ducked into the car and shut the door.

He flipped the heat on and Faith held her left hand over a vent spewing hot air. He put the car in drive and made his way toward the dormitory parking lot. “It was getting too cold to walk the rest of the way back, this seemed easier.” He was trying not to brag. 

She looked at the sparkle in his eyes and he watched the road. “You really like your major don’t you?” She asked.

Clay smiled and glanced at her when he answered.  “It has its advantages.”

The light turned green and the car turned off the main road toward the housing section of campus.

Later, in the hallway of Faith’s dorm they were holding hands and Clay noticed that her nails had been painted to match the color of her dress.

She smiled as he kissed the back of her hand. “So do all Thug Studies majors leave fifty bucks in the cars they steal?” She asked.

Clay smiled awkwardly. “You saw that?” He asked. She nodded. “Yeah I think it’s pretty obvious that I’m not the best Thug Studies major.” He admitted.

She shook her head. “Actually I think it shows character and a sense of honor.”

Clay smiled in spite of himself. “Both of which will get me nowhere in Thug Studies.” He sighed.

Faith gave a little shrug. “Maybe switch majors?” It was instantly clear that her suggestion made him uncomfortable. They finally reached her door and she decided to change the subject. “So, wanna watch a movie or something?” She asked casually.”

He kissed the back of her hand again to hide his reflexive smile. “Tempting, but I can’t” He tried to politely decline.

Faith stopped smiling and wasn’t hiding the fact that the rejection hurt. “Is something wrong?” She asked.

Clay shook his head. “Not in the least. I just don’t want you to wake up in the morning worried about what I’m going to tell my brothers about you.” He couldn’t take his eyes off his feet.

She touched the side of his face and he looked her in the eye. “I don’t think you’re the kind of person to kiss and tell.” She smiled at him and he smiled. Back.

“When you know I’m not, then I’ll spend the night.” He confirmed with a chaste kiss. 

She turned into a full blown kiss before she leaned a little further and whispered in his ear. “Clay, my roommate is gone for the weekend. Neither of us is an angel, but come in for a while, and have Faith.” She moved away, turned toward her door and led him inside.

Shades of Justice: Chapter 16

It was five twenty and Kelly was twenty seven laps into her morning mile swim. She had left the school but her coach worked at the Y.M.C.A and had given her access to the pool. Some kids swam because the team had a long history of victory. Others swam because no other sport appealed to them or their friends swam. Kelly swam because it gave her peace of mind. Following the line on the bottom of the pool had become a sort of mediation for her.

As she headed into the last half of her laps she began to feel like someone else was in the pool with her, while not uncommon she couldn’t shake the feeling of unease. She rebounded off the wall and tried to out swim the hysteria rising in her chest. She started to panic, the water had become too choppy to see where she was, she began to flail her arms trying to find the surface, she felt lost, scared and confused. Suddenly a single desire filled her mind. She needed to breathe. She dove for the surface in a panic, terrified that she might suffocate. Her head broke the surface of the water, she took big gulps of air, wiped the water from her face and looked around the pool. She was alone, standing in the four foot section of the pool. The panic was gone, the paranoia was nonexistent. She gave herself a few seconds to shake off what was left of the quickly receding panic off and dove back into the water.

By five fifty she had gone ten laps past the mile to cool down. When she could delay no longer she climbed out of the pool and grabbed her towel, revealing her flashing glasses. She threw them on to hear Technarious’ voice 

“Where have you been?” He asked.

“I was getting ready for school, just got out of the shower what’s up?” She asked.

“Something has refaced, off the coast of California, something that shouldn’t exist.” He said, “The others are waiting for you.”

She fished drying off gathered her things and ran into the empty girls locker room to change and teleport to California.

She arrived on the roof of a beach side hotel next to the other Shades. They were watching five impossibly large tentacles emerge from the ocean, flailing wildly creating chaos and destruction on the coast line. She felt the same exact panic from the pool well up inside her and she had no clue how but she knew she was feeling what this creature was feeling.

“Nice of you to drop by.” Sonya greeted her.

Kelly held up her middle finger. “I was in the shower, sue me.”

“How many laps you do in the shower every morning?” Sonya shot back.

Kelly’s advance on Sonya was stopped by Dante. “Hey! We’re all tired and stressed, this isn’t a prison sentence. She wasn’t neglecting her duties and I can guarantee she won’t be the last one of us that is going to miss a few calls. Life is unfair like that. Now, let’s call blinding light and get rid of whatever that thing is.”

Kelly relaxed and Sonya threw her hand in the air. The others followed her lead and together they called their giant Mecha. It appeared a ways into the surf as far away from fleeing beach goes as possible and the Shades teleported in to the command station.

Blinding light came to life and launched itself at the closest two tentacles grabbing one with each of its hands. Each of the tentacles wrapped itself around the arm of the hand that had grabbed it. The other three tentacles zeroed in on Blinding light and began to wrap themselves around its legs and chest as Blinding Light futilely tried to fight its way free.

Blood and Profit: Chapter 39

Eamon had landed his cruiser roughly a hundred yards from the edge of the forest. He cautiously approached the tree line on foot, looking for signs of life. If he had not seen the footage of the seed pods come out of the ring and crash into the planet he would have found it nearly impossible to believe this forest was less than a week old. There were uncountable trees that stretched hundreds of feet into the sky. The canopy above blocked much of the sunlight from reaching the ground and filtered the rest to tone down the ambient light by a drastic amount. The shade provided by the canopy extended about fifteen feet beyond the out most Trees and Eamon found himself stopping at the lights edge. He scanned the forest as far back as his sight could define anything other than darkness.

“Hello?” He nearly shouted his questioned greeting. And he listened as his voice seemed to ping pong off the trees as it echoed deep into the woods. He was met with silence and waited what he considered to be an overly long time for some kind of response. Finally he let himself consider the possibility of trying a different edge of the forest line and turned back to his ship. Before he could spin around the tree’s opened up and root people began to emerge from the trunks of the trees closest to the edge of the forest. Some even dropped down on ropes of vines from the canopy up above. In what felt like the blink of an eye Eamon was face to face with what he estimated to be a few dozen aliens all standing silently at the edge of the tree line.

To put it mildly Eamon was stunned. “I, I um, come in peace?” He stuttered and then tried to pick himself up. “That’s stupid. Um, this is my, our, my people’s planet. So um, on behalf of, my people, I guess, we, or I, for the most part, welcome you to, our planet.” He held out his arms as if he were about to try and hug the assembled group of tree people. “They had not moved during his awkward, bumbling speech and he also noticed that none of them were responding verbally either. ”I have every hope that our two races might learn to coexist with each other and thrive together.” He looked down the line of the alien greeting party. They just stood silently, staring at him. He let his arms drops back to his sides. “In the spirit of unity and cooperation, I would like to enquire about a shuttle that landed in your forest, and the status of anyone who may have been aboard.” He reached the end of the sentence feeling as lost as the aliens looked. With nothing else coming to mind to break the tension he felt he gave an exaggerated bow, hold his hands out again to make it as excessive, He didn’t know why he had decided to bow and he wasn’t even sure how long he should bow or even if the aliens had any idea what he was doing. He glanced up from his exaggerated position and saw that the entire group of alien tree people were copying his bow as closely as they could. Something was coming out of the darkness behind them and he lowered his eyes back to his feet.

“Why are you bowing?” A familiar voice came from the tree line.

Eamon righted himself with excitement to see his sister making her way through the alien’s toward him. The aliens returned to their upright positions as she passed them.

Mew had a few visible bruises on her neck but they did nothing to distract from the huge smile on her face as she charged her brother for a hug. “What were you babbling about? How the heck did you get elected when you can’t even give a simple speech without tripping over your own tongue?” She asked after they separated. “Seriously please tell you are paying Kepi a reasonable amount to put up with you, because, just, damn.” She exaggerated her disappointment as she shook her head.

“Actually she just took over my seat so she’s free of me and I’m free of the senate.” He replied.

Mew nodded. “Probably best for all involved really.”

Eamon agreed vigorously. “So what’s with the root people?” He asked. 

Lidarion: Chapter 11

The line at the front gates of Lidarion city seemed to stretch on for miles. In the time since Brandon’s death the war had officially ended and there were hundreds if not thousands of people looking to transition back to their peacetime lives as quickly as possible. They had gotten in line sometime in mid-morning and shared lunch together as they moved forward little by little. They traded what news they had with the people ahead of and behind them in line and none of them missed the large number of families and other travelers leaving the city throughout the day.

It was late afternoon by the time they arrived at the front gate. The guards looked each of them over, glancing in their saddlebags and one of the guards took a nice long look at Trent deciding not to make anything of it. The guards signaled for the gate to open and the giant doors opened letting Trent and Lisa into the western most side of the central market district. Lisa was immediately stunned by the level activity, the density of the buildings. She couldn’t help but browse each of the road side carts piled high with fresh fruits, sweet breads, low quality jewelry and trinkets that lined the cobblestone street.

They walked by a bakery that smelled of countable flavors of fresh bread. Lisa turned to Trent. “Hey, are you hungry?” She asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, but trust me, we’re going to have dinner in the best restaurant in Lidarion.”

Lisa followed him as he snaked through the crowd. “If it’s still open.” She replied.

Trent laughed. “If Lidarion is still here, Lisa’s Bar is still here.” He took a turn off the central street and the crowd thinned greatly.

“You really loved growing up here didn’t you?” She asked.

He nodded. “It’s the greatest city on the planet, why wouldn’t I love it here?” He asked.

Lisa shrugged her shoulders. “Why haven’t you been back in almost fifteen years?” She asked.

Trent turned down another street and Lisa followed him. “Remember that whole war thing we just finished fighting?” He asked.

She shook her head. “You’ve had the same amount of time off as we did, we were able to get married and would have made it here if we hadn’t just gotten married. Not to mention I had to beg you to come with me even AFTER the war ended…So what happened?” She finally asked.

Trent nearly runs up to a very large building, He stops in front of the door, takes a deep breath and then opens the door to the Bar.

The restaurant is busy. There are more tables and chairs in the room than would be casually comfortable to maneuver around and all but one table are occupied by people eating, drinking, and socializing. A middle aged woman is maneuvering in between the tables so efficiently they might as well not even be there. She picks up empty glasses, drops of bread and fresh drinks, all the while she holds conversations with multiple conversations.

The door closes behind Trent and Lisa which grabs the woman’s attention. “Well I’ll be a red headed step child. Trent Coppersmith has finally returned.”

The entire establishment seems to freeze. Alex weaves around the tables toward Trent and Lisa. Trent smiles nervously. “Hey Alex, It’s been a long time.” He says.

She clears the tables and stops in front of him. “Over a decade.” She paused and stared him down as the entire establishment holds its breath. 

The XP: Chapter 11

Volnado is flanked by Wainwright and Shizaboom. Torcano moves to the front of the group. “I thought we were avoiding each other.” He asked.

Volnado smiled. ‘This is a special occasion.”

“Do tell.” Toracano requested.

“You violated the terms of your Game Master Employment contract.” Volnado accused. Torcano looks like he just got slapped. “You have repeatedly used your abilities and powers to grant advantages and favors to players that they haven’t earned. Mainly the players standing behind you.” 

Volnado gestured to the rest of the group.

Shizaboom took half a step forward. “After revie –“ Volnado held up his hand to silence Shizaboom. 

Shizaboom not only went silent but stepped back a full step.

Volnado waited a moment, dropped his hand and then continued. “After reviewing your activity logs the management team has decided to remove your status as a Game Master and deactivate your account.”

The entire group is shocked. Torcano moves to rebut but Volnado waves his hand and Torcano disappears. “Good bye brother.”

Bob gets into Volnado’s face. “What the hell is your problem Volnado?”

Volnado glares down at Bob. “Funny, I thought you of all people would have enjoyed watching that.”

“I didn’t want him turning into what you’ve clearly become.” Bob shot back.

The two groups have gathered a bit of a crowd. Volnado shook his head. “Torcano was never going to be as good at this as I am. It was only out of respect for our connection that I let him get away with as much as he did. He never really cared about the game, at least, not like we do Bob. He was always more concerned with Impressing his friends. And now without him I suspect your little club is lost, unable to compete. What will you do without a fifth member?”

A horn sounds and the crowd gathering turns their attention to the opening ceremonies of the clan wars. Volnado turns and moves forward through the crowd, the other two Game Master’s in tow. The gang looks at each other in complete shock.

Stygian clenches his fist. “Damn it.”

Blackout shakes his head. “There has to be someone who hasn’t joined a clan yet.”

“Any idea how we find them in the next ten minutes?” Bob asked.

The group watches the opening ceremonies, a huge digital fireworks show is lighting up the sky. The group is looking up and the light reflects off their faces.

“Well one thing is clear.” Trart says.

“What’s that?” Stygian asks?

“Begun the Clan Wars have.” Trart smiles at his own joke. Bob slaps him upside the back of his head. “Ow, right, sorry…sorry.” Trart apologized.

University of Console Heroics: Chapter 11

Banister is handing back another stack of papers. His silence hangs like a weight around the neck of the room. Out of papers he grabs his satchel and leaves the room without a word. Only when the door closes solidly behind him do the students check the grades on their papers. Sanders turns his paper over to find another note on the first page. The title of his paper is “An analysis of series plot structure, the destruction of artistic ingenuity and creative expression: A history of the Mario Brothers.” Banisters note is in big bold red sharpie pen. “All right then, see me after class.” Sanders flips the paper face down.

Every stack of paper on Banister’s desk is different than the ones that were on his desk during the first meeting he had with Sanders. And yet the defensive castle wall looks almost exactly the same. Sanders walks into his office without knocking. Banister doesn’t even look up from the essay he is grading.

“Was that your idea of a joke?” He asked.

Sanders dropped into the empty chair on his side of the desk and shook his head. “Not really. It just sounded like an interesting hypothesis.” He explained.

Banister looked up from his work and slowly put his red pend down. “And this had nothing to do with you trying to pry into my life?” He asked skeptically.

Sanders smiled and shook his head again. “Have you always been this self-centered? I didn’t write the paper to get your attention. If I had I would have written something much more eye catching.” His smile betrayed a secret but Banister couldn’t figure out which.

“Such as?” Banister asked.

Sanders thought about it for a second, then made up his mind. “Do you really want to know? Or are you just hoping I’ll give you a decent reason to kick me out of your office?” he challenged.

Banister’s hostility cracked slightly. “After you worked so hard to get here?” He started. “That would be rude.” He finished.

“I didn’t write the paper to get your attention.” Sanders groaned.

Banister smiled. “I heard you the first time.” He confirmed, picking his pen up and getting back to grading essays.

Sanders takes a moment to glance around the tiny office. “Hey, how come you don’t have any photos of family or friends?” In my experience most professors are super sentimental.”

Banister glanced up from his papers again. “I thought you wanted to be my friend, not my psychiatrist.” He asked.

Sanders shrugged his shoulders. “In a place like this they are pretty much one in the same.” He looked at Banister. “Don’t you think?”

Sanders point threw him for a second. He set his pen down and sat back in his chair. “Are you sure you’re just a student?” He asked.

Sanders met his gaze. “Are you sure you’re just a teacher?” He asked in return.

Banister glanced down at his castle of paperwork. “Some days, I’m not even sure about that part.” He admitted.

“How so?” Sanders asked.

Banister began to fidget with his pen. “I came back here because this is the last place I remember being happy. I used to want that.” Banister was looking at his pen, talking more to himself than Sanders now.

“What Changed?” Sanders prodded.

Banister’s mind returned to his body and he sat up straight in his chair. “Mostly it’s like you said. The fire started, and sadly the first thing to burn was my love of this place.”

“So why are you still here then?” Sanders asked.

Banister leaned back over his work. “Paycheck.” He answered without looking up.

Sanders shook his head. “Bull”

Banister let his pen hover over the essay he had read half of three times now. His mind and Sanders distracting him from his work. He gave up finally, capped the pen and set it down on the desk. “Where else would I go? What else would I do? He asked to the universe.

Now Sanders mind went a million miles away. “Somewhere you can finish grieving.” Sanders said mostly to himself.

Banister cocks and eyebrow at in curiosity. “What?” He asked.

Sanders mind snapped back to the office. He shook his head and looked at his empty wrist where a watch might sit. “Sorry, nothing, was talking to myself.” He said as he stood up out of the chair and grabbed his bag.

“About what.” Banister asked.

Sanders shook his head. ‘Nothing, I. uh, I gotta get to my next class.” He excused himself and opened the office door quickly disappearing on the other side of it.

Banister watches as the door pulls itself shut. “Damn” He grumbles, picking up his pen again.

Shades of Justice: Chapter 15

Raptarus was completely unprepared for the unrelenting power of the possibility Stygian had placed in his left eye socket. He had not slept since he had returned to earth as it ceaselessly bombarded him with ideas.

He felt his body demanding the tiny amount of sleep it required but the possibility would not stop. The longer he was awake the more annoying the possibility became. When he started to hallucinate, he knew it was time to seek Stygian out. The only problem was he had no clue how to do that, and it happened to be a topic on which the possibility had nothing to offer.

“Raptarus” Stygian’s voice echoed in his mind. “I am not some creature you can summon as you wish.” He chastised.

But Raptarus was near delirious with lack of sleep. “Please, Stygigan, I need, it, it won’t let me sleep. I need to sleep Stygian.” He rambled on and on.

Stygian was a little more than annoyed. “The weaknesses inherent in mortal beings cause me nothing but frustration. If time were of no consequence, you would all destroy yourselves, but even the eternal darkness that birthed me is nothing more than the willing slave to the hands of time. Very well Raptarus, You shall have power over the possibility shard, but when you awake I will have a job for you to complete.”

Then there was nothing but blessed silence. Raptarus burst into tears and was in a fitful state of unconsciousness within minutes. He felt euphoria wash over his mind as it sank into the dark abyss of sleep.

But it was not peaceful sleep. It folded the plans of his master into his dreams. In his dream he saw the moon reflecting off wild ocean waves, sinking beneath and passing fish of varying sizes, going deeper and deeper as he passed whales and the deepest sea creatures man knew of. He stopped in the deepest part of the earth’s oceans. Where monsters never before seen swam over the ancient fossils of deep sea titans. He could feel the currents on his skin, the ocean floor beneath his feet, so much so that his mind began to wonder if he was actually dreaming or if the possibility was using his body while his mind was unconscious. He touched his hand to the deep ocean floor and felt a vibration so dense that he worried about bodily damage. The ground gave way slowly at first but picked up speed as a nightmare older than geological memory was reborn unto the earth. It left its watery tomb and headed for the surface, every few seconds the sheer size of it caused a small fracture in Raptarus’ mind. Until finally the leviathan was fully free of its final resting place and headed for the surface. He tried to follow the leviathan but it was so quick that even considering its size he lost it quite quickly.

His dreams devolved into nonsense shortly after that. When he woke up, his feet were covered with 

sand.

Blood and Profit: Chapter 38

First contact was not something the colony senate had ever prepared for. Eamon had quietly sat through the first day of hysterically reactionary babbling from the other representatives that had nothing but the senate to focus on. By lunch time on the second day he had had his fill of official statements and oratory concerning the importance of this moment in history. He was ready to get on to the actual moment.

The policy speeches were worse. Almost immediately the entire senate became entrenched in a 'nuke first  excavate bodies later' versus 'unroll the welcome mat and share the planet' argument. Eamon avoided getting involved in the argument and spent the evening of day two researching their capability to actually nuke or in any way strike the new alien forest. It didn't take him long to discover that they didn't have a stockpile large enough of any weapon to do enough damage to matter. The satellite photos had confirmed that the alien forest was now the largest forest on the planet. The senate ended the second day having made no decision either way.

Eamon had reached his limit of bureaucracy. He messaged his aide and they met at the front steps of the senate building. Eamon was the first member of his family to run for a senate seat. He was currently the only member of the senate who was not a third, fourth or fifth generation politician and it showed. He was more interested in making sure the job got done than he was in assuring his families honor and his districts status among the colony. He did not fit in well and he had stopped trying to long ago. His aide was a sixteen year old fifth generation political wunderkind. None of the other senate members would care that Kepi was sitting in for him in the morning. He had no need to brief her, he knew she was likely more aware of the political aspects of the situation than he was. Her family had practically bred her for this job, when other children were learning their letters and basic math she was learning the senate families and the structure of the colony government. Truthfully without her he would be completely lost and he hadn't even hired her. She had appeared in his office on his second day and practically taken the place over. She ran him through education drills and briefed him on all aspects of every bill, law, and ruling the senate was considering, she never needed any notes, and he knew that when his time was up he would give the seat to her. Not because it was tradition for seats to travel down lines of ascendancy but because he and Kepi had conversations that ran long into the night about the direction they saw for the colony and what they wished for their people. She had chosen to be his aide because he was not a politician and she had every desire to change the way the senate ran and his was the seat she could accomplish her goals. No the senate would not miss him, until they discovered the force of nature that had taken his place.

He didn't want the Skyway security systems to pick his cruiser up so he had to stay dangerously close to the ground as he made his way to the forest. He didn't know what he would say when he arrived, he didn't want to think about the possibility that the species seen in satellite photos was hostile or predatory toward humans, and based on the size of the forest he knew that the task ahead of him was likely impossible but his sister's ship had landed somewhere in the forest and he was determined to make sure that she was all right. 

Lidarion: Chapter 10

After a long day Lisa and Trent are camped a few hundred feet off the road, a small camp fire is dying down. Trent was lazily pushing the embers around with a stick as they listened to the woods around them.

“What’s Lidarion actually like?” Lisa asked out of the blue.

Trent set his stick down. “You spent your honeymoon there, even if you only left your room to eat you should have seen some of the city.” He pointed out.

She smiled softly and shook her head. “With the war about to start we never made it further than the first inn we came to after we got married.”

Trent smiled. “That explains why he never said much about your honeymoon.” He said as he used his stick to turn over the last log on the fire.

She had laid down next to the fire and stared intently into a bright orange ember. “So, tell me about your home town.”

He added another piece of wood the fire and set his stick down. “Most of my memories come from a life time ago, that Lidarion doesn’t much exist anymore. Sometimes I wonder if it ever did in the first place.”

Lisa had closed her eyes. “Tell me what you remember then.” She said starting to fade out.

He moved his feet closer to the fire as the fresh wood began to light up. “My parents were the elected representatives for the farmer’s guild. They sat in on the council meetings and because of their duties we got to live in the capitol city. My father’s brother took over our family farm when they moved. I have dreams about it sometimes but I wasn’t even three when we left so I couldn’t tell you if they were even close to accurate. What I do remember is that as a child, the city seemed to stretch on for a thousand miles. It was safer back then, before the war. In the summers we would have free reign of the inner city from the steps of the royal castle in the east, through the central market district where we could go north up to the gates of the docks district. It seemed like the central market district never ended. There were always new shops to discover and new foods to try, new people to spy on and trouble to get into. I didn’t know it as a child but we were always under close watch by palace guards that made sure we never got into more trouble than we, or they could handle. Most days our little gang of royal brats would end up in the booths of the Room at the Inn. The oldest and most successful bar and inn in all of Lidarion. Lisa was older than all of us. But by all rights she was still a kid, so the fact that she ran the place herself while her parents served as the market district representatives on the advisory council impressed everyone but us. What impressed us was cinnamon milk and sweet bread snacks, and napping in the wintertime by the huge fireplace that seemed to heat the entire Inn perfectly. None of the others kids cared, but often I would break off from the group and spend hours in the royal libraries that made up a large portion of the southern knowledge district. I loved wandering through the shelves, reading the spines of books I could reach or opening scrolls just enough to read their titles before putting them back on the shelf. My best friend was Squints and his father was the royal archivist so squints had free reign of the entire district. We would spends days upon days reading from the personal diaries of the kings of old as they described the wars that settled the Kingdom of Lidarion from the feuding squabbles of the nine ancient families to the unified kingdom it had become. Every hall in every library had its purpose. Some halls were better for being the sea swept battleships of Lord Vendalth’s assault fleet. Other hallways were perfect for playing out our favorite events from the succession wars. I may have been just a kid, but we lived a hundred lifetimes in the halls of the knowledge district.” 

Trent’s attention returned the present and saw through the fire that Lisa was fast asleep, her breathing was deep and even. He put another small log on the fire and let his mind wander back to his childhood.

The XP: Chapter 10

Bob, Blackout, Stygian, Torcano, and Trart are wandering through a player run shopping district trying to come up with names.

Blackout is flipping through cooking recipes and stops suddenly. “Ok, what about Eternal Damnation?” He asked.

Bob shakes her head as she picks up a Lute/flame thrower hybrid. “Too Goth.” She decrees, strumming the lute and causing a fairly large burst of flame to explode from its neck.

“The shadow Syndicate” Stygian offers setting an unimpressive chest plate back on the counter.

“Sounds like something out of an Asian B movie.” Blackout replies.

Trart is leaning against the wall of the shop just staring out the window. “What about –“

“No.” Bob interrupts him.

Trart stands up off the wall. “But –“

“I said no.” Bob glared at him.

By the afternoon they had made their way through the shopping district and were sitting together in a café. Still trying to come up with names.

“Oh!” Torcano said with excitement. “What about Blinding Might!” He held fist in the air.

Blackout rolled his eyes. “Oh sure, and we can all wear tights and do nothing but wrestling moves.”

“Imortalis Corporeal?” Stygian offered.

Trart let his head roll back onto his shoulders. “None of us glitter so enough with the Gothic names already.” He groaned.

Blackout tried to stand with a sense of imposing severity. “Thunderstar Imperium” He boomed.

Stygian nodded. “I’m down, but if we’re going to be an 80’s hair band I wanna be the drummer.” He did some air drumming for effect as blackout stuck his tongue out at him.

“Guy’s I really think I –“ Trart started but was quickly interrupted again.

“She meant ‘no’ as in ‘nuh uh’” Blackout clarified.

A week later and they still had not agreed on a name. The competition sign up closed in thirty minutes. The entire gang was standing in front of the sign up station.

“The Cult of Anarchy” Bob offered.

“I accept!” Torcano said with excitement. “Now lets go hang out in a graveyard and read Edgar Allen Poe Stories!” His joke earned him a rude gesture from Bob.

Blackout was next. “Prisoners of Fate?” He asked.

Trart held his hands over his heart. “A painfully emotional Hermione/Dobby Fan Fic.” Blackout shrugged his shoulders and nodded in agreement.

“All right then Trart, what have you been sitting on?” Stygian asked.

Trart smiled. “The Almost Entirely Awesome Adventures of the End of the World Club.” He finished.

There was a moment of silence as the rest of the group thought it over.

“Why the hell didn’t you say something earlier?” Bob shouted and then took off running as Trart chased her to the sign up table.

Once they had finished signing up They turned to leave the table and came face to face with Wainwright, Shizaboom, and Volnado. All three of whom were well known Game Masters.

Volnado stepped to the table and looked at their clan information. “Oh Torcano, I knew you were pathetic but this is a new low even for you.” He moved back over to the other two Game Masters.

“Who the heck is this guy?” Trart asked.

Torcano’s shoulders slumped. “Trart, meet Wainwright, Shizaboom, and Volnado, my brother.”

University of Console Heroics: Chapter 10

Thompson’s book is spread open, pages down on his coffee table. Channel surfing has distracted him from his homework. There is a knock at his front door. He waits for a moment and there is another knock. He mutes the TV and then tosses the remote on his couch. “Coming.” He grunts getting up. Opening the door revealed Foster waiting anxiously on the other side.

He blew into the living room without being invited. “How did you do it? He asked. Dropping his bag against the wall before he started to pace.

Thompson shut the door. “Hello Foster, what’s new?” He asked sarcastically.

Foster paced as he explained himself. “You used to be a Combat Studies major. How did you do it?” He stopped pacing and looked to Thompson for an answer.

Thompson walked into the kitchen. “Can I get you something to drink?” He asked as he opened the fridge.

Foster flops onto the couch. “Damn it Thompson I need your help! How did you produce your energy signature?” He asked in frustration.

Thompson grabbed a soda out of his fridge and shut the door slowly. “You’ve been talking to Cynthia.” He replied.

Foster had leaned his head back on the couch and let it flop to the side so he could see Thompson. “She felt you were the next best place to get the help I need.” He explained.

Thompson opened his soda. “The only help I can give you is letting you know that you do not want my help.” He explained before he took a drink.

“I absolutely do want your help. It’s your way or I fail the class.” He pointed out.

Thompson shook his head. “That’s not true. Intro to energy had never required the production of an actual energy field. So what’s really bugging you?” He asked.

Thompson sat forward and put his head in his hands. “My mother thinks this is a waste of time. If I don’t show consistent improvement all the time she’ll take me out of school, this is the only thing I have ever wanted in my life.”

Thompson tried to stare through his soda to the bottom of the can.

Foster waited for a moment in the silence and then stood up. “Look I’m sorry I barged in here, this isn’t your problem. I”

“You don’t understand. Once you go where I have been, there is no turning back.” Thompson warned.

Foster sat back down on the couch. “I passed the point of no return a long time ago.”

Thomson sighed and set his soda on the coffee table. A small flicker of the lightest blue flame came to life on his left shoulder.  It grew down his arm picking up color and intensity as it went. Thompson held up his hand and the flames reached his fingertips as a deep arctic blue flame. He walked it from pinky to thumb and back again over and over. Foster is entranced. “I had the same troubles as you in the beginning. I was the only student in the class that hadn’t produced anything even remotely close to an energy signature and it pissed me off. Back then the class was taught by Professor Daigo. He saw my tenacity and my failure in meditation. So he showed me his secret.” Thompson closed his fist, snuffing out the flame.

Foster blinked. “Which was?”

Thompson finished his soda and walked back into the kitchen. “A different way to produce energy.”

Foster rolled his eyes. “Quit avoiding the question. How did he do it?”

Thompson retrieved another soda from the fridge. “Most of us never search themselves long enough to find it, those that do are forever changed.”

Thompson stood up. “Oh my god find what?” He almost shouted in frustration.

“The desire to kill another human being.” Thompson answered before he opened his soda. Foster sat down hard. “It’s a primal urge that goes beyond self defense. There is a darkness in all of us, buried deeper in some than in other. Most don’t even know it’s there. Once you find it within yourself only one question remains. Are you in control or is it?”

The color had fallen out of Fosters face. “Does he teach anymore?” He asked.

Thompson swirled the contents of his can for a second. “You see, the fire very nearly has a will of its own. Daigo was tired, had been for years. The kind of tired no sleep can cure.” Thompson paused for a moment, fidgeted with his soda and then started again. “Late last year he came to me, begged for my help…he had tried to many times to count but the fire wouldn’t let him go. So I helped him.” Thompson chugged his soda. Foster’s jaw hit the floor. Thompson crushed the empty can and tossed it in the garbage. “After his funeral I switched to adventure studies.”

Foster was completely blown away. “Oh my god.”

Thompson looked at him with weary eyes. “There are worse things in this life than disappointing your parents Foster, Believe me.”

Foster stood up from the couch, walked into the kitchen. Thompson passed him and grabbed the remote off the couch and went back to channel flipping. Foster opened the fridge grabbed a soda and silently watched Thompson fly by station after station of programming.