Yeoldebard
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Morning greeted Mason with a wet tongue. Groaning, he reached up and patted Wishbone’s head. His face was covered in slobber, and Mason sighed as he sat up in the darkness. A sleeve wiped away the rapidly cooling drool. Dragged from dark dreams, it took Mason a moment to comprehend his current situation. Still homeless… but with two grand to his name… taken off a dead man’s body. It wasn’t the first corpse he’d looted. He doubted it would be the last. Andrea… Jessie… and now Michael. He’d done
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They had lost their first game. When Leo returned to the rink, shivering after the heat of Howling Canes, he felt Ayisarra’s eyes burning into him, though he couldn’t see her yet. “Leo! We have half an hour before game two!” Cora called, hurrying toward him. “I hope you had a good lunch, because shit’s about to hit the fan.” What- oh. Ayisarra was storming toward them. Shit. “YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN HERE!” He didn’t even try to reach for his tablet. Ayisarra was so pissed she was speaking h
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Mason bit back a yelp, leaping to his feet. Beside him, a man stood, tall, bright, with a small goatee that somehow didn’t make him look stupid. Curly brown hair swept across his head, and hazel eyes observed Mason with a mixture of curiosity and mischievous mirth. A tight grey shirt showed off a lean, muscular torso, contrasting with baggy blue jeans. Greek lettering stenciled neatly across his shirt, with a stylised donkey set in the middle. Wishbone sniffed around the stranger. He didn’t se
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The apocalypse was the best thing that ever happened to Mason Hill. When his dreams were interrupted by a strange voice, he thought he’d finally died. The cold streets of Reno had claimed many a friend that winter; what was one more body to the pile? There was no regret… well, that wasn’t true. What would happen to Wishbone if he died? “The gods have grown weary of your world. Rather than being destroyed, they offer a more entertaining mercy. The downtrodden, the homeless, the disabled, will
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When the gods are bored, the world becomes their playground. For Mason Hill, deific whims turn his world upside down. What is a disabled homeless man to do when the world is ending around him?
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Jeisa spliced a pair of wires together, tweezing them into a careful lattice. He tucked the resulting strand into the synth’s throat, combining it with several other wires. Over the past couple of weeks, the group had succeeded in moulding a head, giving their project a face. Cervidae face, naturally. Jeisa had argued in favour of a Faro face, only to be shot down because “Faro don’t like physical contact. Why would they want a synth built for physical contact?”. “Testing vocal module in three
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He still wasn’t ready to forgive the tiger. Leo refused to sleep in the same bed as Jeisa. It hurt, knowing that he could hold Jeisa, that he could sleep with someone again, but denying himself on the principle of the matter. He couldn't give in. He couldn't let Jeisa think it was alright to kidnap people and sell them as trophy wives. The tiger had shown remorse for what he did to Leo and Devin, but that was probably just another manipulation on his part. What was real? What was just Jeisa tryi
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Leo didn’t return home until nearly four in the afternoon. In that time, Jeisa had made Devin a snack, cleaned the house, and finished all the laundry, all while nodding along to Devin’s babbling about his day with Cai. At least, Jeisa assumed it was about Devin’s day — he still couldn’t understand the kit. Devin was trying though. Occasionally Jeisa would hear “More please” or “I am tired”. “If you’re tired, you should take a nap,” Jeisa said, dodging Devin as he carried a basket of clothes t
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Cosy warmth enveloped him. Devin pressed against Leo, and Leo reached out, stroking his head. Coarse hair slipped through his fingers- “Daddy?” Leo’s eyes shot open. Devin’s voice hadn’t come from beside him. He let out a muffled curse, scrambling away from Jeisa. Caught up in the comforter, Leo extricated himself painfully, nearly hitting his head on the wall. “What?” Jeisa jolted awake. Wide green eyes stared at Leo. Jeisa groaned. “Aw fuck. Don’t worry, we didn’t-” Leo clamped his h
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He was not good with kits. Jeisa didn’t know why that was so surprising — he’d been practically raised by a Lidikrys for Blue Fox’s sake! Parenting skills did not come with the territory. But with Devin and Cai bouncing around after dinner, chasing each other around and around, Jeisa was at his wit’s end. At least Rhiannon seemed more interested in reading a book than joining her brother in a game of tag, and Erin was in her room, studying for a test in… Jeisa wasn’t sure what. Positive reinfo
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“Up! Ten! Up! Eleven! Up! Twelve! And down we go!” Furry red hands rested under the bar, carefully lowering it as Leo blew out a heavy breath. His arms were killing him after only two sets, and Cora said this was a light load. He’d seen her remove several weights from the bar after she’d finished, adding insult to injury. How could a female lift more than him? And why was he so sore after so few sets? He still had two more to go! Leo stood up reluctantly, letting Cora take his place on the b
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Jeisa poked his head through a door. The room beyond teemed with tools and wires, all messily sprawled in no pattern Jeisa could recognise. A group of Cervidae sat around a table covered in drawings of what looked like a processing chip. Five sets of eyes stared back at Jeisa, and he cleared his throat nervously. “Is this the Robotics Club?” “This is the Synth Club,” a tawny doe sniffed indignantly. “Robotics imply an unequal relationship between synth-” “Yes, this is the Robotics Club,” a
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“Puppy!” Leo grabbed Devin before he could throw himself at Jar’dasha. The giant Dalmar took a startled step back, holding up his hands peacefully. Behind Devin, Siôn chuckled quietly. “Devin, what do we say to people when we meet them?” the buck asked. “Oh!” Devin squirmed out of Leo’s hands. Straightening, the kid craned his neck to look up at Jar’dasha, and spoke in clumsy Xanthian. “Hello! I am Devin! It is nice to meet you!” “Dras’kay ja’trevan,” Jar’dasha rumbled, pressing his hand
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Hopefully soon.
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Two hundred credits a week. That’s how much housing went for next to campus. Add in an extra fifty for new clothes, and a replicator Leo barely understood how to use, and they were in bad shape. But they were free from Jeisa, and in a much better position than before. Leo was able to pay for three weeks at their new house. And who cared if their first night there was miserable, cold, lonely? They were free. Without Athalaean Science to take in the morning, Leo had a free period. He brought a
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Unknowable time passed. Arlo was trapped in darkness for a second, for a century. Voices whispered in his mind. He was forced to endure his own thoughts, to witness his past two lives, to feel every agonising failure again. “You have done well.” It took him a moment to remember who he was. Where he was. The laboratory spread around him, clones of various races stuck in vats to remain fresh. “Well enough for your existence to continue,” the lich leered. “There is no rest for you. I seek ano
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Devin bounced beside the two as they walked home. Snow kicked up in heavy clumps, joining the cold flurry around them. Leo trudged through it all, his mind a complete mess. On the one hand, he felt vindicated. If even a therapist thought there was no hope for them, he was free to go whenever he wanted with no obligation to Jeisa. But he knew it was a lie. There was no hope for them because of him. Because he wasn’t trying to keep them together. Why should he? After everything Jeisa had done to
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Arlo’s musket fired one last time. And the lamia harridan collapsed under an immense golden globe. He glanced at his mana — he was down to 120 points. A respectable amount, but something told him Karzoug was still his better in magic combat. Around the room, energy transferred from giant corpses into the golden orb. Lazy flames bathed the focus, and Arlo watched the flickering lights with interest, trying to figure out just how this device worked. No matter how he wracked his brain, no clues a
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“[Hungry Pit]!” A hole opened in the ground under a rune-enscribed giant. The creature bellowed as the walls closed around it, chewing it apart. Within seconds, three of the remaining giants turned, their clubs swinging into their companions. Arlo glanced at his mana — he was down to a hundred points after all the casting he’d done that day. At this rate, he would have absolutely no spells left against Karzoug. They were bleeding him dry. But the turncoat giants were a great distraction. A
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Leo held Devin’s hand as they wove through a crowded hall. Dozens of Faro children wandered with their parents, some crying, clinging to their… Leo wasn’t sure what to call them. Their adult? Jeisa had called them segal or something… or was it mara? “Daddy, I don’t wanna go,” Devin said, pressing against Leo’s leg as a Faro threw himself on the floor. Leo sighed at the display. He nudged Devin along, stopping in front of Siôn’s door. “Devin! I’m so glad you could make it!” Siôn said bright
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The miles glided by over the golden brick road. David whined as they passed thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, worth of gold. Coradiel had to physically restrain the cambion when massive gemstones appeared on either side of the massive road, shining bright even in daylight. “Just one brick! I just need one brick!” David protested, scrabbling against Coradiel’s arms. “You’ll get your brick on the way back down the mountain,” Coradiel said as Arlo focused on driving them down
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They appeared in Jorgenfist after two days of preparations. Free of any obligations, as a party that — reluctantly, in David’s case — accepted the gravity of the situation, well aware that this was likely their last journey together, the four climbed onto the empty wagon set outside the Black Tower of Jorgenfist. Arlo took a deep breath. He hated heights, but for the next seven days, they would be flying between mountain peaks, hundreds if not thousands of miles above the ground. He released
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“Devin.” The tablet’s flat statement was enough to freeze Jeisa. Thoughts of redemption, of cautious joy, were squashed with just one word. Leo wasn’t here for Jeisa. He’d only returned for Devin’s sake. Jeisa hoped he was wrong. Leo felt something for him — what was all that kissing and touching on Aegean Station? He didn’t need the human to fuck him; Jeisa would settle for Leo not hating him. He sucked in a breath as Devin rushed toward him. They collided, and Jeisa took a step back as the
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Stone scrabbled beneath their feet, dropping hundreds of feet off a rolling ledge. Wind whipped around them, strong enough to risk blowing them over the edge. Arlo scrambled back the second he landed, dragging the group with him until their backs were pressed to hard rock. “Desna’s blessed tits!” David stared at the ledge not more than three feet away. “Get us the fuck out of here!” Arlo’s free hand was already tracing sigils through the air. His eyes squeezed shut against the dizzying sight
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They regrouped at the well. Arlo had the components of the weapons set out as the trio emerged. He avoided Coradiel’s sharp glare, focusing instead on [Prestidigitation]ing his musket clean. “How many times do I have to watch you do something reckless?” The paladin glowered at Arlo. “My life is reckless. There is no safety in saving the world. Who’s first?” The amurrun motioned toward the pairs of components. He dropped a pair into the waters of the well, and the prismatic liquid began glowi
