116 Results in the "Burned Cover" category
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Chapter
26 – The Brier Patch
Erika leaned out the window of the moving SUV, squinting through the violet glitter. She could almost see that deep red sun hanging over the distant mountain. Uncountable flickers of shadow soared over the bramble patch, doing their best to blot out the sun where the glitter failed. Armed with her bat in one hand and gun—loaded with regular bullets—in the other, Erika gnawed on the corner of her lip. “You can’t reapply this misty stuff? Cast the spell again?” she asked as she tried to figure…-
403.0 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
20 – i – A Cultist’s Fall
July 13, 2011 “We have lost something, my brothers and sisters. Society has become plagued with the Self. The Self before the community. The Self before the neighbor. The Self before God’s work on this earth.” Father Kevin Mould stood at his podium, hands firmly gripping the lectern’s edges as he leaned over the microphones. His dark eyes sought out the regulars of his sermons—Laura Huxley, a woman recently widowed in a bout of police violence. Peter White, a man cast out from his job due…-
403.0 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
21 – Spread
“Left.” Erika pivoted at The Stalker’s call, not hesitating as she swung her bat into the crunch of a human’s chest. The body broke as a ripple of Erika’s power shattered every bone in its body. It still lived. The body squirmed on the floor, still moving but unable to maintain its own structure. She stared for one moment, feeling revulsion deep in her chest, but focused as movement caught her eye. “Behind you,” Erika said, even as she swung her bat at another zombie approaching from…-
403.0 K • Ongoing
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“We were aware of the unusually high concentration of birds in the area,” The Adjustment sighed, watching the police cordon off the roads. “Ongoing orders were to avoid agitating them until after the root cause of the problem had been resolved.” Erika chewed on that for a long moment, glaring up at the apartment building. The Eclipse showed up on the scene, just as Erika sent The Stalker away, and started locking the place down. The Fool used his earthen golem to block off windows and doors,…
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403.0 K • Ongoing
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“I feel sick.” Alarmed, Erika took her foot off the gas and looked at Delilah. “Don’t throw up in here!” Rick, in the back seat with his laptop out, paused what he was doing to glance up. “Why? It can’t possibly make this thing worse.” Erika leveled a flat look at Rick before turning back to Delilah, eyeing her out of the corner of her vision as she focused on the road. “We can’t exactly put this off any longer. The Emperor was quite clear on that.” Rick answered before…
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403.0 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
24 – Standoff on the Bridge
Erika scanned the skies over the long cobblestone bridge. As before, that crimson mist clung to the air, but it wasn’t as thick as the first time around. Erika couldn’t see well, but she saw further than before. Faint, foggy silhouettes of that hanging city dotted the skyline like bubbles, visible only in the contrast of the dying orange-red sun. She didn’t recall seeing a sun, last time, but the fog had been much thicker then. The change in the fog bothered her. Did this place have natural…-
403.0 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
25 – Into the Belly of the Beast
“It is a parallel space. Alternate universes do not exist and dimensions are simply points upon which you can travel, regardless of whether or not you can traverse all of them.” The convoy of SUVs traveled along the bridge at a slow albeit steady pace. The Eclipse adopted a cautious approach to navigating the bridge. Erika would have preferred a little more speed despite the danger of careening off the side… Anything to get her out of this vehicle a little sooner. “That’s very…-
403.0 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
27 – The Carrion Eater
The Emperor glassed four city blocks worth of the brier patch. Looking at the mountain of a bird glaring at them, Erika wasn’t sure it would be enough. It moved in a lethargic, sluggish manner, like footage captured on a slow-motion camera. Both wings rattled, shaking off more crusted remnants of rock and stone. The boulders rolled and tumbled down its feathers, cratering the ground where they landed around its feet. “Physics won’t let that thing fly, right?” “It’s a god, Rick,”…-
403.0 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
28 – That Which Cannot Die
The birds did not follow. The SUVs carried on down the new path The Emperor carved towards the mountainous terror bird, but none of the birds were interested in them anymore. They stayed clear, still dotting the red skies in the distance, back toward the bridge, but without approaching. On one hand, it meant they weren’t having to fight endless hordes off while driving. On the other, Erika wondered what they were wary of. Nya said they feared the Carrion Eater, but it hadn’t moved since…-
403.0 K • Ongoing
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