Human.
Frost didn’t feel very different. Not immediately. It didn’t take long for her to notice that the sounds of the crowds in the Central Relay were not competing against each other. She could only make out faint murmurs amongst the commotion.
Her hearing was not overstimulated, and her eyes could only see the faces of people ...
2025-09-13 02:42:04 +0000 UTC View Post“There should be, what, six hours till daylight?”
“Six hours, fifty minutes, thirty-two seconds.” Orth corrected.
“So seven hours.” Frost began a mental timer.
“Haaaah.” Raoul sighed as she dropped to their level, spreading her legs out as a sign of fatigue. “… I forget how weak this body is. I’m used to t...
2025-09-09 08:13:05 +0000 UTC View PostNothing pursued them anymore. The walk to the central spire was a tranquil one. A well-worn animal path followed a scenic route, navigating through the edges of small cliffs that overlooked the island’s shores.
The scenery was a much-needed moment of respite. Joy and the Judge’s Prides watched the light dance on the shimmering waters. ...
2025-09-09 08:10:59 +0000 UTC View PostThe island sat directly beneath the star. A tranquil sea surrounded the island.
So clear was the water that an undisturbed seabed could be seen kilometers beneath. Residual Heavy Water caught on the ship sank into the sea and was purified after a hundred meters.
Silent gasps of awe came from Joy’s lips whenever she peered into the ...
2025-09-05 09:11:15 +0000 UTC View PostFrost narrowed her eyes. Beside her was the string belonging to the twins. The Moth Missionary pointed at these with a fuzzy finger, and then, she wore an empty smile.
“It is no longer attuned with Act X. Traitors… those who disobey the Script, lose their attachment. It goes elsewhere, beyond the fog of the Advent of Purpose, to fuel a...
2025-08-31 03:52:07 +0000 UTC View Post“Bring me the Decanid. You can cease fighting the Anids after.”
Acedia was torn between relief and humiliation.
A part of her desperately wanted to keep fighting. To surrender meant that she had failed to utilize her Mother’s body to its maximum potential.
She could not understand how she was the problem.
“This is...
2025-08-31 03:50:15 +0000 UTC View PostThe Abilities were starting to make sense.
Of course, this belonged to the Trianids who were the weavers of the outer Anid nest. Each Anid had a role in maintaining the nest. If she were to gain all ten Anid archetype Abilities…
… Will I be able to create a nest of my own?
Frost tested this Ability. Thin strands fo...
2025-08-31 03:49:20 +0000 UTC View PostThe poison barbs scattered off Acedia’s body. She winced in agony, still hardly used to being struck. They did not pierce flesh, but the moment they touched the floorboards they began eating away the wood.
Interestingly, the Anids ignored Frost and her Judge’s Prides. Acedia was their primary target, and they swarmed her like a dewdrop...
2025-08-31 03:48:16 +0000 UTC View PostThe ship barreled through the river with a weightless grace.
It was a fifty-meter-long exploration vessel with a double-hull design. This meant that even if the ship was breached, so long as the inner hull was intact then the ship could remain entirely functional.
Heavy pale embellishments were incorporated into the fine woodwork. Go...
2025-08-31 03:47:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe Audition was far from the primary method of recruiting Actors.
But it was also where 90% of Act X’s Heralds, Missionaries, Prelates and Prophets were born depending on how far they were able to push through the Audition.
Personnel of higher orders, such as the Exarch, the Patriarch and Matriarch were not considered in the Audit...
2025-08-27 06:36:16 +0000 UTC View PostAct X had numerous ways of bringing Actors under the influence of the Scripts. Commonly, the area around a designated Installation (Textorium, Nest, Theatrum) was altered so that its inhabitants will turn to the Strings for safety.
Entire ecosystems were disrupted, manipulated, and often artificially created to achieve this purpose. Depend...
2025-08-27 06:28:35 +0000 UTC View PostThey had been running for over an hour and half now. Jury periodically rammed Death through the walls to pave new pathways for them. Because of this, they had to run in a single line behind Frost to avoid being run over by Jury.
Of course Frost knew this wasn’t Jury. But given how closely their roles were to their original personalities...
2025-08-24 02:22:40 +0000 UTC View PostJoy did not tear her eyes away from where Jury just was moments ago.
“Juwy…” Her heartbroken voice barely made it out of her mouth.
A yelp took over as a nearby wall crumbled. She was tugged around by Frost. One moment she was moving left, another forward, and then suddenly, she was being dragged on her heels.
Her eyesigh...
2025-08-24 02:21:58 +0000 UTC View Post“You’ve seen it a thousand times. Why is it only now that you hate it? You’ve seen worse in the memories of your clients. But you’re such… such a…!”
Jury clashed with Death again. This time, she used him as a battering ram and collapsed tens of walls in her wake. Death’s body was the only thing capable of damaging the walls...
2025-08-20 03:23:20 +0000 UTC View PostMeanwhile, as Frost led the group through the second Act, waves of a second battle rippled through the maze.
A blur indistinguishable from the distortions of heat trailed behind to figures who were locked in combat. It was impossible for an ordinary onlooker to notice that a battle was even occurring.
To them, it was easier to believ...
2025-08-20 03:22:01 +0000 UTC View Post“Were you aware that your presence was enough for her?”
… No, Amalgam. I didn’t. Because my presence has only brought misery.
“If you were to hear it from Ber, then will it change anything?”
“Do you hope that it will?”
...
2025-08-15 13:39:04 +0000 UTC View PostTheir hell was only just beginning.
They hit a string of dead ends after diverging from the chamber, leading them to constantly backtrack through the maze. Incidentally, they were not opposed by the Alabaster Mistress whenever they were heading towards a dead end.
However, the moment they backtracked towards the chamber, a Mistress w...
2025-08-15 13:38:09 +0000 UTC View PostThere was a common idiom used on Earth that associated a concept with a mistress. For instance, Frost remembered the idiom ‘Nature is a cruel mistress’ being used whenever a natural disaster struck.
She never heard of misery being associated with this idiom before. The idiom itself was not especially common in Elysia either. The only o...
2025-08-15 11:09:29 +0000 UTC View PostCer was not the only sibling close to Raoul.
Res had a personal history with him too.
It wasn’t as convoluted as Cer and Raoul’s relationship.
If anything, it was simple.
On rainy days when Res had nothing to do but remain by her mother’s side… Watching the silhouettes of children stomp in the mud behind a paper s...
2025-08-11 12:58:13 +0000 UTC View PostPerils awaited every corridor. Acedia began to second guess whether it was worth possessing Frost’s body when she was constantly being put in front lines. She had honestly believed being Frost would mean boundless pleasures and, most importantly, fulfilment.
But it couldn’t be further from the truth.
Five hours had already passed...
2025-08-11 12:56:42 +0000 UTC View PostRed’s presence was made known in the form of brilliant flashes of red light.
Her blade glided through trees and vegetation. The leaves of shrubs and the petals of giant eighteen-leaved clovers tumbled seconds after her blade sliced past, as though the world needed time to process it had been cut.
Trees slid out of place, screeching...
2025-08-09 00:12:20 +0000 UTC View PostHack
Slash
A cleaver descended upon the bones of an ox carcass. It was to be shared equally among another thirty-eight people who had arrived at the gathering site of the quest. Amongst these people there were fifteen Adventurers (including Snow and Red), thirteen hunters, and ten gatherers.
They were naturall...
2025-08-09 00:11:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe frosted walls of the maze felt exactly as how they appeared. They were cold, as though made from a single block of ice. So blue were the walls that Frost could not help but compare them to icebergs she had seen in artic documentaries.
She was half correct to assume these were ice. She only assumed that they weren’t was because of the...
2025-08-07 00:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostLooming before them were the foundations of an enormous wall comprised of transparent ice-blue trees.
They grew like giant icicles sticking out of the earth.
The wall stretched as far as the eye could see, and in the center was a grant entrance blocked by a door over a hundred meters tall. Intricate inscriptions resembling a network ...
2025-08-02 09:38:52 +0000 UTC View Post“A close brush with death~” Acedia loomed over her, her eyes suddenly dazzling like stars. “Did you see the light at the end of the tunnel? Or hear a voice? Humans have tales about experiencing the world beyond death when they brush with death. I’ve yet to find a human like the eighty ninth meal, who told me she dreamed of having legs ag...
2025-08-02 09:37:29 +0000 UTC View PostIt didn’t take long to find the correct Gateway to Nowhere. Trial and error led them to the furthest puddle, much to their disappointment. Logic would have had them second guessing themselves, and Frost would have considered reverse psychology, which was why she had first checked the ones closest to where they arrived.
But no, it was sim...
2025-08-02 09:35:26 +0000 UTC View PostPuddles of ankle-deep water quickly replaced the vegetation. Giant reeds and cattails grew around the edges of these puddles. They gently swayed in the wind, attracting small creatures such as one-eyed frogs, and eight legged bunnies with unicorn horn called the Horned Bunny.
This should not have been possible, as there was no wind. The hy...
2025-07-30 10:19:38 +0000 UTC View PostAnid Nests.
Over a thousand Anid Nests existed in Elysia. The majority naturally infested the forests of the Anid Region, which was known for the Anointed and the Celestial variants of the Anids.
The Anointed Anids were those who possessed more than 10 limbs, and the Celestial Anids were those with over a thousand. Nests outside of t...
2025-07-30 10:18:38 +0000 UTC View PostJoy was correct to assume that the Drones would keep moving in a single direction, but what she hadn’t noticed was the white mist that rose from the calcified remains of the Drone she killed.
“Pheromones.” Orth mentioned, softly placing a fist into her hand like a gavel.
There was no semblance of urgency in her voice, let alone...
2025-07-22 11:25:34 +0000 UTC View Post