I checked the palm of my right hand as I followed Handsome Guy.
Forty-four minutes to go until… dunno.
Was it a timer for this transformation running out, the same way Pino had a limit? Or was it counting down until I could use my powers? If something unfortunate happened to me, like going into stasis, as my Erind body does during Pino’s transformation, I better be secu...
2023-04-18 23:15:00 +0000 UTC View PostBending down, I chose a box from the pile by my feet—easy-to-cook cheesy lasagna—and slotted it into the remaining space on the shelf level with my eye. I was rearranging our pantry along with all the new stuff I bought. The box fitted so perfectly at the end of the row like a Tetris block that I half-expected the entire shelf to poof away and points given to me.
Points should be ...
2023-04-16 22:54:30 +0000 UTC View PostThe scientific method was the process of finding out stuff through experiments. Tonight, I, Erind Hartwell, was going to be a scientist, experimenting with what the Domino mask could do—cue sci-fi-ish intro music. Make sure there’d be atoms and planets, maybe a lion and a dolphin too, during the opening theme of my show.
It had been ages since my last science class. The secon...
2023-04-11 12:17:32 +0000 UTC View Post“Not exactly this very place,” Aileen corrected herself, sheepishly grinning. “We’re in the inner ward of the Hold. From all historical accounts—” she neglected her history lessons and had no right to utter those words “—the Blighted Multitude never made it past the innermost walls you see over there.”
She nodded at the tall window with an arced top across the h...
2023-04-09 09:38:55 +0000 UTC View Post“Deen is a weirdo, Deen is a weirdo,” I sang as I chose a carton of milk from the many brands on the shelf. It was for Mom; she mixed milk with her coffee. As for me, I drank tea, sometimes adding honey as a sweetener. After chucking the milk box into my grocery cart, I ticked it off the list on my phone. “Weirdo, weirdo, weirdo.”
“Can you stop that?” Deen irritably snapped—...
2023-04-01 12:52:42 +0000 UTC View Post“It’s in the same envelope as your note,” I said. “Just asking if you put this here or maybe the—”
“I didn’t have an envelope,” Imani replied, brows pressed together as she examined the flyer. “I gave my folded note to the woman at your condo’s front desk. She probably placed it in one to not get lost.”
“Oh, you’re right.” I turned over the envelope and...
2023-03-31 10:12:39 +0000 UTC View PostEarlier this morning, the lobby receptionist at the condo handed me an envelope as we were about to leave for the police station. Inside were two pieces of paper—the first was a flyer for a cruise ship, and the second was a note from Imani. She wrote that she wanted to talk face-to-face about something.
Did it cross my mind that this could be a trap?
Yeah. But I had Deen ...
2023-03-28 00:43:20 +0000 UTC View Post“There’s so many of them!” Clement exclaimed. Hiero put an assuring hand on the Khayo gardener’s shoulder. Clement looked up at Hiero, eyes struck with fear, tried as he could keep composed. “Wha-what are they?”
“Werswach Reyuseh, the people of the east calls them,” Hiero replied.
“Werswach… Decaying? Or diseased? Blighted! Blighted Giants, is i...
2023-03-22 12:56:35 +0000 UTC View PostI subtly eyed the police officers in the room. Four. None of them looked my way. Three more were in the adjacent room, and two should be by the lobby. How many were in the rest of the building? How many were outside?
The answer: not enough.
I could kill all of them. They couldn’t do anything to stop me. No one here could. They didn’t even know what I was capable of. Blanchette w...
2023-03-17 14:20:25 +0000 UTC View Post“Sit here,” I said, pulling out one of the chairs by the dining table. Deen had a quizzical look, her hands on her hips. Before she could ask, I explained, “You’re too tall, duh. Even if I stand on tiptoes, I can’t reach your ear. What do you expect me to do? Stand on this chair? You sit here.”
“Whatever.” Deen shrugged. “It would’ve been funny if you climbed—”
... 2023-03-16 01:05:37 +0000 UTC View PostEudora (Euphonia)
Euphonia touched her face. Her cheeks had risen, and her lips had curved up. She didn’t realize she was smiling while reviewing old videos and pictures in her files. Perhaps she did miss the good ol’ days when she was human.
Or not so good.
Being human sucked more than a black hole. So brittle, so fleeting. If she hadn’t become an Adumb...
2023-03-12 05:54:38 +0000 UTC View PostHiero gazed east as the horns sustained their call. Through Molding, he enlarged his eyes into that of the owl king, this time allowing his skull’s sockets to deform and widen to fit them better. He had returned to the walls before the cannons began firing.
The Blighted Multitude in the distance had again sent tendrils, thousands of fiends in each, snaking across the plains. From atop t...
2023-03-10 01:24:54 +0000 UTC View PostI frowned as Deen stood on my left and held my hand—more like hugged it. She laced her fingers with mine and sandwiched my arm between her two giant marshmallow bumpers. The warmth of another human—Deen’s no longer human, but still—triggered a bolt of disgust to shoot up my spine. The sound of her breathing and the exhaled air patting my cheeks tempted me to murder my best frie...
2023-03-04 07:54:06 +0000 UTC View PostVanessa Minnows
Vanessa Minnows was the last to go through the door on the floor. She wavered momentarily, thinking of asking Euphonia how to pay for helping them. But Euphonia was busy directing her monstrous creations; more emerged from the flames and dug out of the ground. Vanessa promptly jumped into the portal, anxious it’d close. She didn’t want to get stuck wit...
2023-03-03 10:06:34 +0000 UTC View Post“An expelled Gardener,” Hiero clarified, glancing at the throne hall doors to see if they were shut tight. He then strode down the hallway, beckoning Alluverius to follow. “I swear Rebecca has an uncanny sense to detect any mention of Mitho’s name. Don’t let her hear you referring to him as a Biosyn magus if you don’t want to become—I don’t know—perhaps a smudge-brained slug....
2023-02-27 12:59:40 +0000 UTC View PostImani Nanda (Tove)
Imani Nanda checked her phone again, anxious to get a message from anyone. Jubilee, who went by Jubjub during missions, had sternly reminded her to turn off her phone because the police would be tracking signals. But Imani couldn’t help herself. She had been waiting for Jubilee’s return for more than half an hour and was desperate to know <...
2023-02-24 08:08:25 +0000 UTC View Post“Auntie Dora?” I might’ve heard that name before but couldn’t place it.
I began summoning my Blanchette mask, ready for a challenge. Our enemy—I assumed she was one—knew that we, mainly me, trashed the Tea Party boss and his minions, but still came here. Either she was pretty strong or stupidly confident.
The large beast with a woman’s voice shrugged off the curtain of...
2023-02-18 08:33:39 +0000 UTC View PostHiero had been called many names since he set out, a fledgling self-taught Flesh Molder. Early monikers related to the scar across his left eye. Thought by many to be the remnant of a sword slash suffered in battle, the scar fueled a reputation of a cold-blooded warrior—a doubly wrong belief that Hiero didn’t bother to correct.
“Ravager of Lapanshar Plains?” Hiero wistfully echoed...
2023-02-15 22:18:07 +0000 UTC View PostAmber Deen Leska
“What are you doing?” Amber Deen asked Erind despite knowing what was going to happen.
Not exactly this—Deen was super shocked that Erind went through with her threat. But Gabe did warn her to move her leg. She thought it’d be a twisty pinch, maybe a hard poke, or another cracking slap. Not a bite! Infected by the mischievous bug of curiosit...
2023-02-15 22:09:55 +0000 UTC View Post“Argh!” Boojum stumbled forward but didn’t drop. Deen looked surprised he wasn’t knocked down. Boojum twisted back at her. “What the fu—?”
I grabbed his right wrist.
Deen caught his other hand and pulled his arm out. “Take back what you said about Erind!” She punched his nose. It wasn’t strong enough. She might be unconsciously hesitating.
Boojum tried to p...
2023-02-08 14:20:52 +0000 UTC View PostCan we return to the tents outside? Hiero grumbled in his mind as he squinted his eyes. The rainbow shimmers gave him a headache, and his blurry left sight wasn’t helping. Could the braids be straining his scalp?
Hiero had fixed his messy hair in the style of Mesbeth Core monks—a thick ladder braid over the middle of his head like a rooster’s comb. Unpracticed for long, it ...
2023-02-04 13:25:52 +0000 UTC View PostCan we do something else? I thought, going through another photo album. We had passed the high school era and were now unearthing fossil records of the college era.
I didn’t want to continue doing this shit. But what other stuff could we do? Watch movies on TV?
Just sitting on the sofa and staring at a fucking box sounds like a good idea… if I was on my own. As the host...
2023-02-01 23:25:42 +0000 UTC View Post“How dare you kill my trusted subordinate!” Rabbit Ears growled, standing in the bloodied pit he had cleaved. “I picked him and his brother off the streets and raised them to be fine young men of flesh and steel!”
Why was this fucker blaming me?
He couldn’t be totally positive I had offed his minion before he came crashing down like an impatient meteor. Yes, I substituted ...
2023-02-01 23:18:08 +0000 UTC View Post“This was in Ireland,” I said, pointing to a picture of Mom and me. “Mom used to work there. I think I was in the second year of high school here, not sure.”
“I must say,” Deen said from above me, “your looks barely changed. You’re an absolute baby face.”
“People say that like it’s a good thing, but I’d rather get treated my actual age, not half of it.”
... 2023-01-27 00:26:46 +0000 UTC View Post
Another great fanart made by Eri. Just going to post this here for those who don't visit our Discord. This is post-barbecue Vanessa with the metal bands on her right arm to hold back the mouth familiars. She has a more confident and badass attitude (or so she likes to pretend) and is quite unhinged, so the first expression is quite fitting I think. Alternative art for a softer expression. ...
2023-01-26 07:07:01 +0000 UTC View PostWhen I fought Auron, I ignored Myra’s lesson to keep my distance against an Adumbrae. I was confident I could pulverize that pompous weakling without breaking a sweat. Finlay and another Adumbrae even joined the fight, but all they could manage was flee with a dying Auron. My super strength far surpassed theirs. I knew it before the fight began.
In contrast, I was now rushing at several...
2023-01-26 06:50:15 +0000 UTC View PostBullets ripped through squishy normal humans.
Boojum rushed to shield them with his body. Shots thudded on his back. He grabbed the nearest person on the floor—a lady in a torn business suit and slacks—and used his powers to heal himself. It must’ve tormented him to absorb her, even if she was dying, so he could save the rest.
But was there a ‘rest’ to save?
Three ot...
2023-01-20 08:10:10 +0000 UTC View Post(Author’s Notes: This next set of chapters is after Erind’s first meeting with Imani, chapter 5.21 in the main story. In the original, Deen was asleep, so Erind went out to buy food and met Imani. When Erind returned to her condo, Deen was still sleeping. Things will play out differently in this dimension.)
“See you tonight, Mom. Have a nice flight.” After a second of h...
2023-01-17 13:09:43 +0000 UTC View PostI grabbed the tentacles coming at me and sliced them with the rock. Full caveman with primitive tools! More chopped tentacles followed. This rock was sharper than expected. Probably more accurate to say everything was fucking sharp with enough super strength.
My limbless opponent screeched as it retreated.
Behind it, I saw Deen sprint through the parasite monsters attacking Vacuum H...
2023-01-12 11:19:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe kiss barely lasted a second before Deen let go of my face and pulled away—just a cowardly peck on my lips. If I had my eyes shut, I would’ve thought a passing wind brushed me. After all that teasing, Deen didn’t have the guts to escalate things.
She was going to lose the war if that was her limit.
Deen opened her eyes. Our eyes met. She stepped back and quickly averted her...
2023-01-10 00:35:12 +0000 UTC View Post