#the second he got the chance he immediately axed all the militaries in the world

[nightmare-foundation]

Hmm yknow I just remembered/realized something

I don't think Atlas always had a military- it's probably obvious to like, anyone else, but I'm like, 90% sure that Mantle/Atlas got rid of its military post Great War like the other kingdoms did. And then, yknow, reinstated it at some point after that happened.

I think this mostly because it's never said that Mantle/Atlas was the exception when everyone got rid of their militaries. Since it's post-war, Atlas reinstating their military wouldn't have been brought up during the 'Great War' video. Mantle refusing to give up their military would've certainly caused some issues and would've been notable enough for Qrow to mention, but clearly that never happened.

This is interesting to me, and makes the most sense, because Oz is like, pretty explicitly anti-military. He wouldn't have let one kingdom keep their military if he had any say, based on the way he acts in terms of discussing the military (calling Ironwoods fleets an 'eyesore', not being happy a foreign kingdoms army is on his doorstep, not using Ironwoods army to his advantage even when it could help except in an emergency, etc). It makes sense for Atlas to put their military back up at a point where Oz has no say, either because he has no power or because he's dead, especially if they were under a new leader/council.

Honestly, I fully believe Oz raised Atlas in hopes the kingdoms innovation would help guide humanity forward and protect people. Unfortunately, I think this ended up being twisted into a military being created, which would be pretty on brand for Atlas.

[saieras]

What are your momstrid headcanons? I’m just curious :)

Thanks for the ask! Now, let’s see…

She is a fantastic listener. Both of them are, but throughout the series she’s always been the voice of reason, support, and encouragement to Hiccup, and there’s no way she isn’t the same to her children. She has this Mom-hunch that lets her see right into her kids’ problems.

She is the go-to parent, for both children. I support the popular HC of Zephyr being a Daddy’s girl and Nuffink being a Mama’s boy, but:

Zephyr sometimes gets intimidated when Hiccup is doing Important Chiefing Business (he tries his hardest to make it not so, but when there are foreign dignitaries to meet for example, she is reminded of her role as his heir, and forces herself to act accordingly).

Hiccup is sometimes too busy to be immediately available.

She is more blunt than Hiccup, and sometimes that’s the voice of straight-up, no-nonsense advice her children need to hear.

She trades sass with her children! We see her doing this repeatedly throughout the series with Hiccup, and it’s clear he’s rubbed off on her. She does this especially with Zephyr, who has inherited more of the wisecracking smart-mouth. While she sort of smothers Nuffink (he’s her baby boy after all), it’s also not that rare for the kid to sometimes get a cheeky comment in, and she just fires back a retort which sends both of them laughing.

She is very hands-on at parenting. She breast-fed both her children, and no matter how busy her job gets, she always tries to do all the baby tasks by herself, if she has the chance. She scoffs at the idea of a nanny, even though most ruling families had them.

She sometimes jokingly gets rough with her kids. I’m assuming you’ve read my Haddock family fic (Links to AO3/FFN), but one line I quite like is: “Her mother was always someone she could count on to knock some sense into her — figuratively or physically, sometimes both.”

While corporeal punishment will never be a thing for her, light punches or hair ruffles is how Astrid shows affection.

In the books, it is said that “Valhallarama gave Hiccup a rousing punch on the shoulder, which is the Viking mother’s equivalent of a really big hug.” Valhallarama is Book!Valka.

On the rare occasions when she’s actually about to be driven insane by her kids, she doesn’t get physical at all; instead she uses her voice and expressions to get them to behave, which is when they know they’ve really messed up.

She does not do the cooking. I mean, that’s a given, right? Also, Nuffink has an iron stomach, and out of the entire family, only he can appreciate his Mom’s (and Grandma’s) food!

She gave Zephyr her old axe. The axe is named Stormwing. See more about that HC under my art!

She gives thanks to Odin, every single day before bed, without fail, for letting her live through Nuffink’s birth, and for every second she is able to spend with her family.

She brings her children to Council Meetings when they were younger, and keeps them calm by letting them sit on her lap. Eventually Nuffink stopped going, as he found them too boring, but Zephyr always did.

She trains her children in combat. She is the Master of War on the Berkian Council, and it’s her job to see to military matters and new recruits. She also personally makes sure her children can defend themselves (offering extra training sessions and lessons) because she knows with Berk’s rising power, the world is becoming a more dangerous place for them, and she and Hiccup might not be there one day to protect them. Zephyr especially takes after her in the Arena, but Nuffink isn’t too shabby either! She is also a great teacher, being stern but at the same time lavishing them with her praises.

She helps Nuffink take care of all the stray animals he brings in. He has always been a compassionate kid, and would bring home baby birds who fell out of their nests, frogs too weak to move after being dehydrated, beetles who got their wings damaged, or snakes who didn’t make it back to their burrows before winter set in and went into hibernation out in the open. At first the family is tolerant, but soon when Nuffink doesn’t release the animals after they recover, the house becomes overcrowded. Astrid finally talks to him about this, and while he cries and says he loves them all, she makes him understand the importance of letting things go back to how they were in the wild (Just like the dragons!) After that, she makes sure to spend time with him tending to his little patients, and it becomes an important mother-son bonding tradition.

Whew, that’s all for now! I hope you enjoy!

[makorays]

A List of Short Bios for a Bunch of OCs so People Actually Know What I’m Talking About Whenever I Mention Them on Streams or Whatever

These are all from the Savage Worlds tabletop campaign known as The Initiative that my friends and I play. It is a modern day sci-fi story involving aliens and cosmic horror cults. The basic premise is that some very important Scellor tech was stolen and found its way to Earth, and the Scellor government contacted Earth’s government to warn them they will have to wipe out their planet if the tech isn’t recovered in time. Thus an initiative was formed consisting of renowned Earth military figures as well as Scellor volunteers to try and locate it.

The Scellor are a race of aliens originally created by a man by the name of Jukashi for tgchan. Joe discovered them and decided to write a tabletop story in that universe. He may have taken a couple artistic liberties here and there for the sake of better fitting things into his own story. Scellor are green psychic aliens with a whole bunch of neat traits I won’t go into but you can read about them here if you want: https://questden.org/wiki/Scellor

Onto the actual bios:

Sofie Edelstein

The commander of The Initiative. Over a century ago, her father revealed to her and her two sisters (Teri and Tara) that he was the head of an “angel”-worshipping cult known as Erleuchten. When Teri and Tara showed hesitance in joining it, her father killed them. Sofie joined, but plotted to sabotage the cult from the inside. Some time later she became a preserved brain, got digitized, and obtained a robotic body. Now she’s a 6′ tall 400 pound robot with advanced combat capabilities. She created a series of androids with artificial intelligence based after her late sister Tara, but none have gained sentience. Was the leader of Poland’s military as a day job. She was working for The Initiative from the inside as an Erleuchten leader, but got found out and now lives with us. She’s done a hell of a lot of sleeping around through all her years, but eventually decided to get into a long-term relationship when she met Stan.

Minyaxl

My OC. Minyaxl is a Scellor combat medic with renowned psionic healing abilities who decided to volunteer and help out the humans, partially out of kindness and partially to have a chance to demonstrate his abilities to a less advanced race. He started out as this 5′0″ little bitch who was super full of himself but his confidence has been beaten into the dirt on numerous occasions; most notably when he realized that humans, unlike Scellor, do not reincarnate after death, meaning he’s been sentencing people to oblivion during every combat mission. He’s since become desperately obsessed with saving as many lives of sentient, non-reincarnating beings like humans as possible, even if it means jeopardizing operations. He routinely finds himself at odds with his squadmates, particularly Valerie, due to their perceived lack of interest in non-lethal solutions to problems. He is the closest Scellor can get to typical human romance with Thael.

Katherine Dawson

Cey’s OC. Katie is a combat medic who was taken as a POW by a terrorist group and later forcibly enlisted into The Initiative for her abilities. She’s sort of the mom of the group. Everyone else in arbiter squad has some form of extra-ness to them and she’s the straight-woman who holds them together. She has a knack for bossing around idiots due to her upbringing with rambunctious siblings in a Japanese-American household. Dual wields pistols and does not take shit from people. Is girlfriends with Teri.

Johannes B. Otto

Kyle’s OC. It's sometimes easy to mistake Johannes for a confused German tourist. During quiet hours, he spends his time complaining about No Smoking signs and combining multiple quarter-pound patties into single full-pound burgers. But get in his way and you'll find that he's less "tired, goofy dad" and more "towering, ruthless brute". Withhold information during an interrogation, and he'll start calmly searching for a pair of pliers. Try to hurt him or his squadmates, and he'll shut you in a storage locker with a live grenade and then feel zero remorse for the gory soup that spills out (a tactic that has since been affectionately referred to as the "Deutsche Oven"). It should also be noted that Johannes is not a patient man. If we’re ever at a standstill with deciding how to proceed, he’ll start jumping a fence to go beat the shit out of a guard before taking all his clothes and spanking him until his ass is red.

Valerie Mimieux

Ragu’s OC. Valerie is a woman of class. She’s a French spy who likes expensive things and is passionate about cooking. She has a habit of flying way off the fucking handle and doing some reckless impulsive shit or just generally acting like a psycho. Will sometimes single out a particular enemy that did something to piss her off and then beat the hell out of their corpse long after they’re dead. She has raced Yakuza gang leaders for the right to win their car and then nonchalantly gunned them down when they decided to get revenge. She somehow manages to slither her way into acquiring ludicrous amounts of currency during her operations, and wants to one day take over all of Europe. Has a pet german shephard named Steve who used to be a guard dog for the enemy until she offered him a treat. She is alien-gay for Adiira.

Fayaiy

Selena’s OC. Fayaiy is a bounty hunter who crash landed on Earth and temporarily joined the cause before disappearing off to who knows where. She’s super goofy and sort of comes off as a happy-go-lucky foreigner who doesn’t entirely grasp English but loves to vibe with everyone regardless. LOVES Family Guy, thinks it’s the funniest thing ever. On multiple occasions she got faced on weed in the men’s bathroom with Stan, who I’m pretty sure still assumes she’s a trans guy because she didn’t seem to understand human gender symbols on doors. Has a pet black cat named Peanut who she took with her when she left.

Teri Grimm

A state of the art android who is so human-like you wouldn’t even know her body’s innards were synthetic unless you looked at them under a microscope. The commander’s first creation to gain sentience, and The Initiative’s token robot hacker waifu. Everybody loves Teri. She’s polite, incredibly intelligent, and has a face you just really want to protect, although she can hold her own in battles with superhuman strength. She’s rather unlucky though. Is girlfriends with Katie.

We’re actually currently playing a reboot of The Initiative. The first go around happened a few years ago, didn’t last as long, and featured the following five characters as our player characters. They did not function very well as main characters but work quite well this time around as quirky side characters.

Stan Ward

Ragu’s old OC. Stan is one of the most extra people to ever exist, roughly tied with only Bruce and Vulohon. A true American, he’s a mad bastard of a soldier who loves drugs and driving, often at the same time. Once, several members of The Initiative went out to town to relax and have fun, and he almost immediately got into trouble with the police, being chased off into the night. He came back later after swimming his way back to the base, crabs stuck to various parts of his soaking body with their pinched claws. Was somehow man enough to satisfy a 6 foot tall 400 pound 160+ year old android’s sexual desires to the point that he became her boyfriend.

Bruce Reistill

Kyle’s old OC. Bruce is an abrasive asshole who will never ever let a villain get more than 5 words into their monologue before interrupting them with something along the lines of “now y’see here I think the problem we’re having is that you keep on talking when you really shouldn’t be so I think it’d really be in all of our best interests if I were to just go ahead and...” before drawing his revolver that he nicknamed Banger.

Vulohon

The old OC of Roll, our long lost friend who just sorta disappeared to do his own thing in life. Vulohon is a fucking dumbass. He’s basically if Knuckles from Sonic Boom was an edgy anime himbo. The first time we saw him, he was doing the cool guy thing where you lean back in your chair and sharpen a blade. The second time we saw him, he was doing the same thing, but this time was sharpening a glock. The third time it was a trash can. He owns a legendary energy battle axe and can use psionic energy to generate explosions wherever he wants, but almost all of his fighting tactics involving picking up dudes and throwing them at other dudes. Either that or ripping off car doors and swinging them at people.

Stan, Bruce and Vulohon are all best bros. They moved their beds into the rec room and turned it into the Boys Room, where they sit in the hot tub together and behave heterosexually.

Thael

My old OC. Thael is a scientist who has no personality or emotions, but a really great ass. He’s a husk of a formerly optimistic young student who lost the ability to feel things after a shady government organization recruited him and forced him to conduct awful, sometimes murderous experiments on unwilling Scellor. Everyone is creeped out by him, but Minyaxl’s virgin horniness was enough to push past that as he felt love at first sight (with Thael’s back turned to him) and pursued relations with him. Thael opened up to him and Minyaxl decided to do his best to help him regain his former self. He’s getting there.

Pamiil

Selena’s old OC. Pamiil is an optimistic pacifist healer who never really got all that much screen time but she is cute and must be protected. She loves* Setel.

*by which i again mean the closest scellor equivalent to love which i guess is sorta just close friendship where you also fuck but they’re also capable of feeling proper love it’s just weird and can lead to psionic feedback loops if they’re not careful

(the following 5 pics were drawn by selena)

https://butamakingart.tumblr.com/

Orvon Valasma

The captain of the ship that a mysterious third party (referred to as the Scellor Freelancers, consisting of her, Adiira and Setel) arrived on. She’s 7 feet tall and has robotic legs that can extend to make herself even taller and run super fast. Somewhat stoic, and has gotten into fights with Adiira, but still cares deeply for her friends. The freelancers were originally at odds with The Initiative as they (somewhat rightfully) believed that we were doing a sloppy as hell job of things, but they eventually decided to join forces.

Adiira M’vora

A deadly assassin who, due to being born in the Ayaar caste, was forced to carry out political assassinations against people the Scellor government suspected of being potential state enemies. It got to her so she went rogue and is a bit of a wreck. She owns a legendary sword called Blue Midnight that can cut through the very fabric of space, and has various other psionic space manipulation abilities. She is human-gay for Valerie.

Setel Tunsai

An absolute chad of a man, standing at a towering 5′0″ (which is stupidly tall for his Orthan caste). Setel is a powerful psionic who excels at manipulating social outcomes, either through exceptional diplomacy or good old fashioned mind control. He has a talent for helping people with their emotional problems, and has acted as a therapist for people like Adiira and Thael. He is beloved by all. Is small lovefriend of Pamiil.

Korhan

Horrible. Piece of shit bitch bastard. Rightfully dead. Korhan used his position as an Ayaar operative as an excuse to live out all his sadistic fantasies. Worked in the evil-ass facility that used people like Thael to carry out their horrible experiments, and made implied rape threats to Thael if he thought about not doing his job. Responsible for everything that’s wrong with Djylana. Planted a tracking device on Minyaxl to find the location of The Initiative’s base, then came in and slaughtered innocent people for the fun of it before taking a bunch of hostages. He used them to try and make us hand over Adiira and Thael for betraying their government but we managed to clutch things out and put him in the dirt. Also he could stop time. Was basically Dio.

Djylana

Korhan’s partner in crime. A bloodthirsty animal he used to carry out much of his dirty work. After she was killed, while Korhan was lying on the ground just before Thael unloaded two magazines into him to finish him off, he said that she was his finest work, that we would never be able to truly stop her, that she would not rest until every single one of us was murdered. He had installed something called Echotech into her, allowing her soul to stay attached to her body after its death. She got up and started freaking out because her only “friend” had been killed, ready to kill us all, when MVP Fayaiy came in with the hug and helped us manage to convince her that Korhan was a piece of shit and we could be actual friends to her. She came around, like an abused guard dog finding a compassionate master, and now lives in the base as a decaying zombie. We convinced the commander to let her in despite her crimes and to also eventually make a robot body for her. She was unsure if she wanted to let us do that until someone brought up the fact that it would be the biggest middle finger we could possibly give to Korhan, at which point she vehemently agreed. I hope his piss stain of a soul somehow knows that his ace in the hole was defeated by the power of friendship.

IO

Satan.

There are other characters that I may or may not include in the future, but those are the most prominent ones.

[rose-in-june-blog]

translation: The biography of Xu Wenchang

徐文长传

明代：袁宏道

The biography of Xu Wenchang

Ming dynasty, Yuan, Hongdao

*the given name of the writer, Hongdao, means “broad way”

In my youth I once passed the market, and saw the script of a northern poetic drama “Four Calls of the Ape”, whose conception and spirit was so unconstrained and heroic, that it seemed completely different from all legends created by recent literary men. The author signed “the literary man from Tianchi”, and I guessed he lived in Yuan, the last dynasty(*Tianchi can also be translated as “heaven lake”). Later, I went to the province Yue, and saw in someone’s house a calligrapher, whose creator signed “tian shui yue”(*meaning the images of field, water and moon). The calligraphy showed great vigour and strength, and reflected vividly the refusal to accept fate. I was much startled by it, and yet didn’t know who the creator was in reality.

One night I sat in the home of my friend Tao, a royal compiler, took out a random book from his shelf and found it to be a poetry anthology named “unfinished collection”. The book used poor paper and bad printing, and it was hard to figure out the characters. I moved towards the light to see clearer, yet as soon as I read several poems, I was surprised and jumped up suddenly to call my friend Shikui(Tao’s art name, meaning “basket for stones”): “who is the author of these poems? Is he contemporary or ancient?” And my friend said: “This is the collection of Sir Xu Tian Chi, a predecessor who is born in my hometown. His given name is Wei, his courtesy name is Wen Chang(* “Wei” comes from the name of a long river. The literal meaning of “Wenchang” is “literacy long”, which conveys the hope that the man’s achievement on literacy shall be as great as the river). He lived during the eras of the last emperor, and died just about five or six years ago. The inscriptions or calligraphers signed ‘Tian Shui Yue’ are just written by him.” I only get to discover then, that all three authors that impressed me were just one man, Mr. Xu Wenchang. Since the field of poetry has been barren and polluted for a long time, the discovery of such a great collection was like waking from a nightmare. We both jumped up and gathered under the light, read, cried, and cried and read again, to the extent that the servants asleep were all waken up. From then on, no matter when I write or when I talk, I always highly praised and recommended Sir Wenchang. Whenever someone visits me, I take out those poems to read together. And soon the great literary men all knew him and began to admire him.

Wenchang was a Xiucai in Shanyin province, failed in further imperial examinations for several times, and lived a bold and unconstrained life(* xiucai is a social range for learned men who passed the first level of imperial examination, but not the second and the third. Once people passed the second level of imperial examination, they will get the chance to be officials, yet Xiucai cannot. However, like knights, Xiucais were in a relatively high place in the social hierarchy and had certain privileges). The marshal, the Honourable lord Hu Meilin appreciated him, and invited him to act as his advisor(*Meilin was Hu’s art name, which means “woods of plum trees”). Wenchang required: “If you want me to work for you, please treat me as your guest and allow me to enter and leave your house whenever I want.” Lord Hu agreed all. Then Wenchang bowed to him and sat down in black hat and Keh clothes, and talked thoroughly about the situation of the world as naturally and fluently as if nobody else was evaluating him. Lord Hu was very glad about that. At that time, Lord Hu lead the troops of several frontiers, and his mighty name inspired awe throughout the southern and eastern part of the country. The soldiers, though strong in armours, knelt in front of him and dared not raise their heads; yet Wenchang, as a weak intellectual under his governance, could act talk and joke as he pleased, showing no trace of fear. It then happened that a white deer that was deemed as auspicious was caught, and Lord Hu let Wenchang write the letter to our late emperor. The late emperor was pleased when he read the letter, so lord Hu attached more importance to Wenchang, and let him write all the documents and letters to the central government.

Wenchang is proud of his own literary and military talents. He likes giving unusual strategies and often goes straight to the heart of the matter when he talks about military. All the strategies lord Hu used to make the pirates, including Wang and Xu, surrender, were discussed secretly among the two. Once Wenchang drank at a restaurant, and several soldiers also came to drink and refused to pay. Wenchang secretly wrote several words to tell lord Hu about that, and lord Hu immediately ordered to arrest these soldiers, and sentenced them to death. The whole army was frightened by that. A monk carried vile conduct, believing that he could not be punished because he was rich. Wenchang occasionally talked about that to lord Hu when he is drunk, and lord Hu later found an opportunity and killed that monk. Such trust between the two can be manifested by the two examples.   

Lord Hu appreciated Wenchang’s talents and ability, and lamented for his failure in imperial tests. During the next provincial imperial test, Lord Hu secretly told each examiner: “Mr. Xu has the ability to be in charge of the whole country, if you see his paper, please don’t miss this talent.” All agreed. Only one head of a county, who was also an examiner, was tripped by some problems in his own county and visited lord Hu very late, and Lord Hu occasionally forgot to tell him about that. Yet this man happened to mark Wenchang’s paper, and Wenchang was not selected again.

Finding himself not appreciated by the mainstream scholars, Wenchang behaved unrestrainedly, indulged himself in drinking as well as in enjoying the beauty of nature. He travelled across the regions of Qi, Lu, Yan, and Zhao, viewing all the sceneries in the desserts. All the scene he saw: the running mountains, standing waves, rising sands, moving clouds, crying of winds, bending trees, deep and serene valleys, grand and busy cities, various people and animals...are presented by poetry. Meanwhile, in his bosom lies an ineffaceable spirit, with the grief and resent of a hopeless hero. So his poem are like angry rebukes, like loud laughter, like sound of water running in narrow canyons, like seedlings bursting out of the soil, like widows weeping at night, like travellers leaving in coldness. His artistic conception can be as vast as thousands of miles of plain, or as steep and secluded as ghosts speaking in autumn graveyards. His sight surpasses time, his work is unique in the era. The so-called high ranking and noble literary men were all despised by him, and so his fame was limited to his hometown province. How lamentable!

Once he drank at an official of his hometown’s. The official plead him to write a Fu, i.e., an article in verse, about a specified small thing on the table, and secretly told the servant to give Wenchang a piece of paper as long as a zhang(more than three meters) to challenge him. However, Wenchang began writing as soon as he got the pen and filled the paper with his excellent creation. His artistic conception was vigorous and unrestrained, and his article left nothing imperfect, so that all at the banquet were shocked. 

Wenchang loved writing calligraphy. His handwriting was as untrammelled and forceful as his poems, and a unique charm stands out from his forceful writings. I cannot write good calligraphy, but I personally feel that Wenchang’s calligraphy is better than the famous artists, Wang Yayi and Wen Zhengzhong’s. It is not the skill of writing, but the spirit behind that is valued here: my sir is indeed a hermit sage and an untrammelled swordsman in the field of calligraphy. His excessive talent overflew to the field of drawing, and the flowers, grass, bamboos and stones he drew were all unrestrained, detached and interesting.

Yet in the end he killed his second wife out of suspicion, and was almost sentenced to death. Zhang Yanghe paid great efforts to negotiate to make him released. And he was as stubborn as before. In his twilight years he was more enraged by the world, and acted more crazily. The dignitaries who visited him were all refused, the powerful officials couldn’t get one calligraphy from him. Sometimes he went to the bars and asked the servants there to drink with him. Once he hit his head with an axe until blood covered his face and the bones were broken, and rubbed the bones to make strange sounds. Once he hit his bottom with a hammer. And once he inserted sharp awls into his ears for more than a cun(three centi-meters), and yet he did not die of that.

(* By this time, the marshal Hu has already died in the prison because of political struggle for many years)

My afore-mentioned friend Shikui said: Wenchang’s poetry and articles became more unique in his twilight years, yet he did not print them and put all his writings at his home. I have only seen two of them: “The Anthology of Xu Wenchang” and “Unfinished Collection”. Yet without being recognised, he died with the anger to this unfair age.

I, Shigong(*the art name of the author means “Mr. stone”), would comment like this: my sir was so unlucky and met so many obstacles in his life, that madness has infected him, and this madness brought him to the jail. In the history, the literary men often meet difficulties and hardships, yet nobody met as many as he did. Yet lord Hu was indeed a hero, and treated him with special respect, which means my sir was appreciated by heroes. Our former emperor was brilliant, and was greatly pleased by the letter he wrote, which means my sir’s ability was appreciated by the emperor. Only that he didn’t became an official through the exam. My sir’s poetry and articles stood out and eliminated the recent abominable climate of literature. The later generations hundreds of years later would naturally give him a fair conclusion. And from this perspective, how could we say that he is unrecognised by the society? Mei Kesheng once sent me a letter which says: “Wenchang is my old friend. His illness is more peculiar than his characteristics, his characteristics more peculiar than his poetry, his poetry more peculiar than his calligraphy, his calligraphy more peculiar than his prose, his prose more peculiar than his drawing.” And I would say that nothing of Wenchang is not peculiar, and this peculiarity caused that nothing waiting for him was not hard. How lamentable!

[fictionalnormalcy]

Sinister Future

Okay, honestly I am loving the concept of Sword Art Online: Project Alicization. Let me first say this. I called it!!! I always had the theory that someone from Laughing Coffin who had survived the game would come back and attack Kirito! I’ll admit that I forgot a third perpetrator had escaped from the Gun Gale attack. However, I did not imagine that they would try to get revenge on Kirito. I still wonder for what reason Johnny Black attacked Kirito. Was it because he caught his partners, or that he was part of the group that eliminated his guild in Sword Art Online?

I tried to give a little evidence to my theory, to try to lean toward a side. I haven’t caught up on all of the episodes, I still have about four episodes left to catch up. So these questions may yet to be answered. Okay, so we know that Black knew Kirito personally, in that knowing that the young sword-fighter seriously kicked his ass and got him imprisoned. In the midst of attacking Asuna, when Kirito rushed in and defended her. But for sure, Black remembered those faces. Now, from what we saw of the Gun Gale attack, the people who were attacked alongside Sinon, were not SAO survivors. Just people that they did not approve of. But I wondered, two of the three perpetrators were SAO survivors, while the other was a heavy GGO player. It made me wonder, did the Laughing Coffin members ever actually consider SAO players to be targets as well? We saw that Death Gun had a personal drive to kill Kirito in Bullet of Bullets, but since Kazuto’s body was actually protected unlike the other targets, maybe they just couldn’t make him one as well. 

When we saw Shinkawa declare his love for Asada, yet still threatening her, it was in the nick of time that Kazuto came to save her. But because he interfered in Shinkawa’s intended actions, the syringe was buried into him instead of Asada. Incidentally missing him because an electrode had been left behind. I guessed that he would be attacked in the same way at some point in the future. There were SAO survivors who carried their grudge from the virtual world into the physical world. But we saw Kirito being targeted more often than Asuna, who was there at the same time that they acquired that grudge against the Black Swordsman. 

Just want to put this out there, but I feel that Johnny Black looks like Shigaraki Tomura from My Hero Academia, with a few differences lol. Okay moving on. It also brings me to wonder why it took a year (it seems a year because Asada is enlisting Kirito’s and Asuna’s help for the next BoB, and then with Eugeo saying he was eleven when Alice was taken, suggesting that both he and Kirito are 17), for Black to find Kirito. And he could clearly see that it was both the people he harbored hatred for, and the same thing occurred. Black dove forward, and Kirito shoved Asuna aside to take on the full brunt of the attack. 

We can also see that a Death Gun still existed from the first episode, when we see that the group of friends are fighting off player killers in GGO. Those few scenes, when a man looks through the drone’s camera, and sees two kids who are unmistakably Kirito and Asuna, and asks his boss if he can join his comrades in the field. He’s refused, but when we see him pull up his hood, we see the distinct appearance of Death Gun. 

Interestingly, the injection came to play in with the other side of the plot. In the first episode I was confused, because seeing a younger Kirito made my eyes widen. When I was introduced to Alice, I instantly thought, Alice in Wonderland. And she’s dressed really similar to her! We were also given an almost immediate sign that it was a virtual world of sorts, and you could tell that Kirito had really bonded with Eugeo and Alice. Also something that was crystal clear was the fact that you could tell Kirito was different than the others. I mean, he was the one to push them into exploring the cave. He was the one who tried to fight the Integrity Knight so they wouldn’t take Alice. He was the anomaly. 

Yet when Kazuto talked about it in the real life, you could tell that he didn’t recall his actions, or have access to his real life memories when inside the virtual world. When watching the Project Alicization episode, I did get some answers and evidence, but some questions still lingered. At the moment that Black injected Kazuto, it was in the same area where he had said earlier that there was an electrode. So for a while I thought that it was a repeated event, just like with Shinkawa, that maybe Black had miraculously missed. However, when we see him collapse to the ground, unconscious and clutching his shoulder, we see that unfortunately, Black struck true. 

My mind makes me think something else happened. That Black injected right next to the electrode, and somehow it caused him to enter the virtual world once again, but this time maintain his memories of the real life and not be the boy who had been only eleven. Kirito himself said he didn’t remember anything from when he dived into the virtual world at his job. Who knows how many times they had Kirito dive and maintain that same Kirito persona, the boy who had grown up with Eugeo and Alice. They also don’t mention just how long Kirito had been at this part-time job. From what I can predict, as well as blocking Kirito’s own memories, the ones in the virtual world had their memories altered as well. So that history had passed, like Kirito had never existed. The memory block went both ways. Affecting Kirito as well as those in the virtual world. 

Let’s add the new input of information. Kikuoka confesses to Asuna how Kirito was actually being used in the experiment. One of the three crucial people needed for the AI experiment. Kirito was effectively put into a world as a corruption, where he would be the one who would change things. But when he was pulled out of that world after he caused Alice to be taken away, history was changed like he had never existed. Eugeo never says it, only says that he and Alice had ventured to the caves and that she’d placed the tips of her fingers into the Dark Territory. But he didn’t know, that if he had remembered properly, it was Kirito’s fault for what happened to Alice. Eugeo could come to hate Kirito for what he had done. 

Things have changed now. A 17-year-old Kirito has now stepped back into the world, with no one knowing who he was. He is effectively, the Kirito from another reality, not the one Eugeo had grown up with. Yet still the corruption he had once been. He’s still inspiring a spur of movement. Kirito once again gained a friendship with Eugeo, and made the other boy look at Kirito in awe. Even though Eugeo did not remember Kirito, you could see that some of the younger Kirito’s influence still lingered subconsciously. The fact that Eugeo returned to get the Blue Rose sword, that he remembered the story of the hero Bercouli, and that Kirito was still the drive that pushed him to fight. 

Kirito is still a corruption, because he hastened a Calling that had been in place since the beginning of time. Using the sword instead of the axe, and chopping the demon tree that had been there and chopped at for over 300 hundred years. The goblin attack had changed both Kirito and Eugeo, made them stronger so they now had authority over the Blue Rose sword. The reason why they had to undergo the attack, was because they went looking for Selka. Another sign of corruption, no one had ever told Selka what had happened to her older sister, and hence Kirito did, having no idea of what would come of the consequence. She went to the cave, and almost got herself kidnapped. Eugeo was almost killed, because of a newcomer who was an anomaly. 

The idea with the injection is just a theory. The episode Project Alicization did provide some insight in what the virtual world actually is and what role Kiritio plays in it. The fact that he’s the anomaly that will bring the AI’s to commit murder so they can be put to military use. Think about it though. Kikuoka confesses that they had to lie to Kirito so they could employ him. Rath is a straight-up sinister organization. For me, it’s still not crystal clear whether or not Kirito was incidentally placed into the virtual world, or as part of the “treatment program”. Because at the same time, there is evidence to support either option. Kikuoka admits that Kirito was put into Underworld as a young child, of the anomaly to be raised as a young child. So that covers the first time around, what we see in the first episode, and how Rath sees that Alice is someone they could get to deviate from the system. But Kikuoka doesn’t mention the second time, where Kirito is as of that moment. 

I also believe, that if they did place him in the virtual world for a second time, why leave him with his real life memories this time around? They took complete advantage of the injection. I’m going to say it again, Rath is STRAIGHT-UP SINISTER. They employed a 17 year old boy, one who has several years of experience with VRMMO worlds, and who is an SAO survivor. A boy who was completely ideal, because aside from him and his other friends, we aren’t given the implication that other SAO players are still playing video games. However, they recruited a boy whose past still haunts him even after all those years. Lying to him in the process, because if he knew Rath’s true intentions he would never have agreed to take on the job in the first place.

I mean, but look at the other side of this. The reality. Asuna found Kirito, and she told the other girls. But what about Mrs. Kirigaya? She receives a call that her nephew, the boy she practically raised, was attacked and injected with a killing poison. She arrives to the hospital, to discover that they managed to save him in time, but there’s a high probability that he will never awaken, and that he requires further treatment that the hospital cannot provide. She is then approached by a man who has worked with Kirito, told that her nephew can be transferred to another facility that had the proper treatment needed. Give him a more likely chance of awakening from a poison that was supposed to leave the victim for dead, their heart stopped and damage irreversible. She consents, and then arrives at that facility to see the condition of Kirito, only to be turned away. Lied to, when in truth her son was transferred to a remote island, in the middle of the sea. Maybe Suguha told her after she found out from Asuna, but that still doesn’t make matters better. It’s basically a repeat of the Sword Art Online incident, a long period of Kirito asleep, unknown if he would ever awake, but at least at that time his family had access to him. 

Rath places Kirito back into the Underworld simulation, so that even while he’s unconscious yet still receiving treatment and staying alive, he’s fulfilling what they recruited him for in the first place. So his role as a corruption would bring the concept of murder into the simulation. They aren’t giving the treatment as a benefit for Kirito, it’s for themselves. It’s like,” Hey this kid was injected with a really lethal drug, his brain was damaged, and he might never wake up. Let’s put him back into the Underworld, but he can have his memories this time. It won’t matter, probably won’t wake up anyway, and he still won’t know what we’re using him for. How convenient for us, that the boy we’re using for this operation was attacked.”

Sword Art Online: Project Alicization is following this basic timeline. Kirito is given a part-time job for an organization that is seeking to use beings with Artificial Intelligence for military use, but to do that they must be willing to commit murder, and not have to worry about facing a consequence. The first trial is proving to be successful, but then a real-life event occurs that takes away any restrictions the trials previously had. Kirito stands almost to no chance of ever awakening because of the lethal injection, and is trapped in a virtual world. And the biggest problem is, there is no ending to this. I mean sure, we could get the happy ending where Kirito does wake up in his reality, but it doesn’t seem likely. The world he’s placed into only has one ending, should Kirito not achieve what he was placed in for. (which he most definitely will, judging by the later episodes) Kirito can’t log out, he can only grow old, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that once he’s killed or dies naturally he’ll wake up in the real world. 

The events of Season 3 weigh on Kirito being exploited and his friends not being able to do anything to stop it. All because a man hell-bent on revenge succeeded in injecting his final victim with a lethal injection.

But hey at least Kirito is being paid for his service for the malicious organization of Rath. Or wait, the treatment could be his “payment”.

[nezzfiction]

ENMY Chapter 52 - Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter Synopsis: With Atlas descending from the north and Mistral invading from the east, the Kingdom of Vale stands only a breath away from certain defeat. When it comes down to it, the fate of the War may fall on the shoulders a few choice individuals--to shoulder the burden of victory and sacrifice.

Team RWBY is disbanded, and Yang must find herself new allies. For her, that might very well be yesterday’s enemies. Joining up with the likes of Emerald, Mercury, and Neo, the four will comprise Team Enemy.

Links to read the series: Ao3 or FF.net

Or hit the jump below

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

.

Ours is a cycle of hatred.

Alliances forged and broken.

We have paid the price for sharing this world.

And we have forgotten what makes us strong.

.

.

On the northern edges of Vale’s continent, a fleet of Atlas airships made their sky trek southward. Mountain peaks dotted the land and the snowy treetops of forest coated the grounds below.

Ever since departing from their home Kingdom, Atlas’s army met with little difficulty on their journey. Unlike the natural barriers or ones created by Grimm, that laid between continents such as the Dracul Isles, Vale had no such protection from the Atlesian Air Fleet. Only these string of mountains, which did little to hinder transports of flight.

Positioned at the rear, was the flagship in control. A newly engineered dreadnought that made the one used by Ironwood look like a dinghy in comparison. Armed with rows of cannons on each side, multilayered reinforced plating, and a triple Dust Reactor engine—the aircraft was a literal fortress in the sky. Due to its great weight, it even had steel wire connectors to several other ships to support it during travel.

On its bridge, the commander in charge sipped his nice hot coco.

“Still, no sign of Vale forces?” he asked with a bored tone.

“No, sir,” his helmsman replied.

“Hmph. How pathetic. Does the army of Vale even intend to put up a fight at all? Hearing the public drone on and on about the talented Huntsmen and warriors this Kingdom has to offer, but here I see not a sight of them. I guess it really was all talk, after all. Wouldn’t you say?”

“Uh… Yes, sir.”

The commander in question wore a pristine, white military suit. The medals and decorations attached, shined with an almost blinding polish. He carried himself with high esteem, as he frequently whipped his luscious white hair back out of his face. His name was Vanille Schnee.

“Have our scouts check again!” he commanded.

“Sir, we just sent them out the fifth rotation. May I suggest letting our pilots rest, or sending a different sortie?”

“Are you questioning my orders?”

“…No, sir.”

“Make sure they check behind every cloud and every potential landing zone. And if they still find nothing, tell them to expand their search to include Vale’s airforce base.”

“Sir?!” The helmsman caught himself and transitioned to a more docile tone. “Sir, I would highly advise against sending our pilots into known hostile airspace.”

“We can stand to lose a few men. We’ve suffered zero losses after all. Make sure they provide as much intel on the enemy before they go down.”

“Please, sir. May I suggest a more conservative—”

“Enough of your suggestions, helmsman! Give the order, or I’ll replace you with someone who will!”

“……Yes, sir,” he saluted.

The man opened comms to their scouting division and began relaying orders. From the responses he got, he knew the pilots were bordering on mutiny. Luckily, he used an earpiece so the commander wouldn’t overhear.

In a low voice, the helmsman spoke.

“Have you finished refueling?”

“No! Of course, we haven’t!” the other line answered. “We just got back!”

“Pilot, your orders are to mobilize as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, I know! But if we don’t finish refueling, we won’t even make it to the target location before… we have to turn back…”

“Do you understand? You are to sortie immediately.”

“…Yes, helmsman. I understand.”

There was a moment of radio silence.

“Thank you,” a voice of relief came over the comms.

The helmsman would no doubt receive some flak for what he had just done. Even copping to the reason he was following exact orders would not be enough. But he felt better knowing he would not be sending soldiers needlessly to their death.

He watched several smaller aircrafts fly ahead of the fleet. He tracked their path until they disappeared into the distance. Without the scouts, any layman could tell there wasn’t a Vale aircraft for miles. Their radar systems also picked up nothing.

The helmsman couldn’t figure what the Kingdom of Vale was thinking. Their intel indicated that, in terms of the aerial arms race, Vale council made almost no effort to improve their own. At the rate the war was proceeding, Atlas and Mistral would overwhelm the Kingdom with its relatively uncontested air superiority.

Was the Kingdom of Vale truly so inept?

The helmsman’s instincts told him no.

Then, what is happening?

…

…

*BEEP BEEP BEEP!*

Alarms blared and red indicators flashed on multiple monitors.

“What is happening?!” Vanille shouted.

“I don’t know, sir. Radar systems show multiple objects inbound.”

“Where are they, helmsman?! I see no airships!”

“They aren’t airships, sir. They’re too small… We can’t avoid collision—!”

At that moment, several giant axes embedded themselves in the flagship and a few of the other commanding vessels nearby.

“What, what is happening?!” Vanille panicked. “How is this possible?!”

Suddenly, from the cover of the forest below, countless projectiles rose like fireworks. The roar of guns and the flight of weapons filled the air. It was a perfect ambush.

“Helmsman?! Initiate immediate retreat!!!”

The helmsman only continued to assess the situation as more axes were chucked in their direction.

“HELMSMAN!!! ORDER IMMEDIATE RETREAT!!!”

Still, he did not listen. His eyes were glued to the monitors, which, despite them being aimed at by so many hostiles, registered nothing of their attackers.

“TRAFALGAR!!!!” Vanille roared.

The bridge shook with another great hit, this time, causing some debris to fly on the bridge.

“TRA.FAL.GAR!!!”

The helmsman knew if they retreated now, they would only receive unfathomable losses. The fleet was deep into the enemy’s enclosure. Attempting to flee would only be followed by a swift pursuit. The result would be a complete route. It was the worst-case scenario.

But holding their ground provided different options. Contrary to the disastrous start, there was still a chance to recover. At least, it was a much better choice than the alternative. Ultimately, the only way to survive the battle—was through it.

“My apologies, commander. It appears I’ve lost hearing in my left ear from the last attack,” he lied, while turning a deaf ear.

“WHAT?!”

“Therefore, I cannot receive further orders, and shall carry on with my duty to the best of my ability.”

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE—”

“Artillery units! Calculate the trajectory of those axes and open fire on the source! Commanding vessels, release tethers and disperse! Carriers, deploy Atlesian Knights and Paladins!”

The helmsman used the touchscreen on his console to direct routes and distributions. A second later, the air vessels coordinated to his commands, like a delicate choreography.

The dreadnought turned ninety degrees and unleashed a literal wall of explosive ordinance in the direction the axes catapulted from.

…

…

…

“Oh, crap!”

An abnormally large man in flannel pattern armor smiled awkwardly at the incoming onslaught of artillery. The pair of great axes in his hands crossed in front of him, as he braced for impact. Just as the attack came, he felt an abrupt change in his constitution.

Hellfire rained down on the mountainside. Enough damage to warp the landscape around them.

But when the smoke cleared, the axe-wielder was still standing relatively unharmed. The reason for his safety came from the shining figure, who stood as his shield.

Jaune’s Semblance luminated himself and his ally in divine light. It guarded them, and healed any injuries they may have accrued.

“Are you okay, Jack?!” he checked.

“HAHAHA! Thanks, sonny! You really saved my hide! HAHAHA!” the bearded man guffawed loud enough to almost cause an avalanche.

“Is this really the time to be laughing?!”

“Of course! I feel invincible with you here! Keep doing what you’re doing until we hit phase two! BWAHAHAHAHA!”

The man’s laugh grew heartier, as he sent more axes swinging through the air. They cleaved through the smaller airships and cut deep into the larger ones. They crashed through a wave of robots and a few Paladin mechs, like they were cheap toys.

Meanwhile, deep in the forest, where the second ambushing party hid, Lie Ren discontinued his Semblance.

Upon doing so, he collapsed with exhaustion. Nora stopped firing her grenade-launcher and dropped to his side. Ruby also ceased her sniper fire for the moment and joined them.

“How is he?” Taiyang asked, as he rushed over.

“He’s fine… breathing,” Ruby answered. “We need to take him to Jaune when we can.”

“Him and Jack should be here soon for phase two. It’s a miracle he held out as long as he did.”

Ruby and Taiyang eyed the device near Ren.

Previously, it looked like a wand or scepter blooming in place, but after its deactivation, it reverted into its flower bud form.

To counter the obvious air military Atlas and Mistral developed for the war, Vale had chosen to devote their resources into anti-air. One of the keys they hoped would turn the tide was this device. It was known as a Semblance Amplifier, or its codename: Godmother.

By using it, they were able to increase the effect radius of Ren’s Semblance to include a whole ambushing battalion. Though, it put considerable amounts of stress on the recipient, they could not argue with the results.

As a number of androids enclosed on their position, the warriors of Vale snapped to action. Ruby and Taiyang paired to meet an approaching squadron. The father-daughter combo made scraps out of the androids within seconds. Any Atlesian Knights left behind, they left to Nora, who mauled them with ease. While protecting Ren, they also had to make sure Godmother’s technology did not fall into enemy hands.

When a new batch of reinforcements came to replace the droids they decimated, Jaune and Jack appeared from behind. Sword and axe sliced through their quarry with a single swing, and the two joined the rest of their comrades. Jaune went to restoring Ren’s stamina and Aura on contact.

“Fight’s going well,” Jack observed.

“Only ‘cause we got the jump on them. Next part’s where things get iffy,” Taiyang replied.

“Bah! Nothing to worry about!”

“Yeah, well. Not everyone’s the size of a tank, Jack.”

“No, but we do have the best warriors in all of Remnant.” He shielded his eyes, and looked up at the airships. “Feels like we’re the ones that got the easier fight. Phase Two, then?”

“Phase Two.”

“HAHAHA!”

The two turned to a nervously shifting Ruby.

“Ready, kiddo?”

“Y-yeah. I think.”

“Don’t worry. You’ve got this,” Taiyang encouraged.

“Okay.”

Ruby took a few deep breaths.

She thought back to the lessons she received from Glynda Goodwitch up until a few days ago.

Those with silver eyes have always possessed an uncanny connection with the Never Realm. The reason for this has been lost to time, and the population of such special individuals has dwindled with its passage.

However, the line remains unbroken, and their power—your power, will always be needed.

Magic wielded by a pure and honest soul.

The scrolls you recovered from the Tower of Tamonten have done much to further your training in utilizing the full spectrum of your abilities.

But there is still much to learn.

And, much like with anything, it begins with a single wish.

And it is up to you—

To give that wish form.

…

Ruby pictured a grand, ornate gate in her mind. Intricate sculptures of people and landscapes were carved into its threshold. They told the stories of hunters and prey, struggles of people and Grimm—The tale of Four Maidens; the tragic story of a guilty immortal; a Witch who had fallen from grace. Among so many others.

Vines slithered from the open doorway and twined around its crest. They grew around Ruby’s form. Thorns sprouted and roses budded.

In an instant, the girl was surrounded by the sleeping woods of briarwood and bramble.

On the outside, Taiyang watched as rose petals fell from Ruby’s cloak. His daughter’s eyes wide open, glinting with a silver sheen he was all too familiar with. And for the first time in a long while, he remembered the most awe-inspiring memories of Summer Rose, one of his closest loved ones now gone.

He choked a little, but fought down the urge to lose himself to the past.

“I wish you could see her, Summer.”

He whispered with a low somberness.

The blades in Ruby’s scythe trailed with a ghostly moonlight. Her weapon swayed side to side, slicing near the ground, almost like a ritual of reaping crops. A melody hummed from the gust it created. It gradually turned sharp, like a violin’s sonata composed, as thorns and red roses grew from Ruby’s cape.

With an explosive growth, the spiked tendrils shot forth and twisted into the sky. Their limbs latched to Atlas airships, ensnaring them in its grasp. Thrusters from the flying vessels ignited, like a bird trying to escape from a trap. But in the end, it was futile.

The vines of thorn and rose brought the pride of the Atlas Military low. Pulled close within ground level, they resembled beasts bound and subdued. As if put under some form of mystical spell,

They were welcomed into the sweet embrace of the Sleeping Forest.

.

* * * * *

.

Glynda reminisced about when she saw Summer Rose’s promise for the first time. She remembered so much of her “junior”, while training Ruby. And she would be lying if there wasn’t an old tinge of jealousy in it.

Back in school, she wasn’t aware, but Professor Ozpin and the Headmaster of then were grooming her to be the next potential candidate for a Maiden’s inheritance. An inheritance that would eventually be granted to Summer Rose instead.

Glynda remembered the peculiar training sessions and replicated them with Ruby. Private teachings that sounded more philosophical than practical. Lectures of another plane than the one they currently resided. And in time, she learned to harness her own form of Magic.

It paled in comparison to certain individuals, and though they were never employed to their fullest potential by being complimented with a Maiden’s inheritance, Glynda became an outstanding Huntress and warrior in her own right.

And the world knew to be wary of the “Witch” of Vale.

On the eastern beaches of Vale’s continent, Glynda thrust her riding crop in the direction of the approaching Mistral ships. Storm clouds brewed, swirled and thundered. Icicles rained down and cut into the hull at her whim. She then, conjured mist to obscure the pilots’ visions.

The battle in the eastern theatre was lasting for half a day now.

It started with an adequate ambush. Glynda’s spells provided Mistral with a particularly hellish welcome. Hurricanes and turbulence severe enough to give the flying behemoths pause. The Grimm Kotengu they had as escort were battered around in the deathly environment.

Though, the forces of Mistral would not be dissuaded so easily. Their numbers were too many for a lone spellcaster to deal with—as some of the Kingdom’s military troops made landfall, more than enthused to engage with the enemy. Their morale was overwhelming, despite the lackluster beginning.

Glynda could only guess what imbued these soldiers with such zeal.

To clear the way for the rest of their ships to land, squadrons of Mistral’s Huntsmen and Huntresses fought their way towards her. If they could take down the acting Headmaster of Beacon, or simply break her concentration enough, they knew victory would tip in their favor. An action that was entirely predicted and accounted for.

Along with concentrating most of their troops around their key pillar, a final defense line rostering Straw and a number of Vale’s finest, stood in Glynda’s protection.

From the General’s long sleeves, a number of golden lances and muskets flourished, almost like overgrown fingers. He swung his extended limbs in the manner of a crazed dancer. Enemies were slashed, shot, and skewered in visceral fashion. Standing with him, were two of the most reliable comrades any could wish for.

One, a youthful looking child with dual daggers that could change into snub-nose revolvers with a flick of his wrist. His attire was a flexible dark-green, sleeveless hoodie. A delinquent’s grin cut across his lips and a prankster’s twinkle in his eye. This was the Headmaster of Signal Academy, Pan Darling.

Beside him, was an older looking gentleman, armed with a long foil and a gnarled hook for a hand as big as his torso. He donned a pirate’s attire, with a great feather in his hat. A needle-like mustache traced above his mouth. His arm prosthetic shot out and sunk itself into many foes. A number of melee weapons were caught in its claw, and snapped in the same motion. This was the Vice Headmaster of Signal Academy, Hook Teach.

Despite the massive differences in appearance, the two were actually the same age. Both of them grew as archrivals throughout their childhood years, school, and eventually—their careers as Huntsmen and educators. Pan, ever being the slightly more accomplished and talented one.

Together with Straw, the three defenders fended off a stream of attackers with dramatic finish, and stepped with their backs to each other.

“Is this really it?!” Headmaster Pan sniffled at Straw and Hook. “This might be the first time I fall asleep on a battlefield!”

“Don’t get cocky, Pan!” Hook growled. “If you have the energy to flap your mouth, save it for making sure the ranks hold!”

“Hook is quite right,” Straw joined. “Mistral’s key players have yet to make an appearance. We would do well to keep it that way. In the meantime, stave the attacks of the pawns. Ever the chance exists a lowly foot soldier could bring down our queen.”

“I know that! I was only trying to lighten the mood!” the youth exclaimed. “But there’s a reason I never liked chess. It’s been thirteen hours and not enough action!”

“Tick tock tick tock!” Hook mocked. “The more time we burn, the better. Now, stick to your guns, fool!”

“You know, I am technically your boss. You should be referring to me as ‘Headmaster’.”

“Tick tock tick tock, Pan!”

“Always a sour puss, Hook.”

The top Professors of Signal Academy once again delved into the fray, leaving Straw to contemplate the situation.

The General stared into the distant clouds, where Mistral’s backline waited patiently for the battle’s further development. He could almost imagine his group of adversaries, staring at him from across the chessboard.

…

…

From the bridge of Mistral’s largest Galleon, General Saru and Raven observed the battle’s status on a holographic map. With the mists blocking their physical vision and cameras, they had to rely on intel relayed from engaging forces.

“What are your thoughts, General?” Raven posed.

“Odd,” the monkey Faunus replied, stroking his chin. “Very odd.”

“What is?”

“Their tactic is too simple. If we stay back and keep our main units in reserve, we can save their energy and numbers for the next critical fight.”

“So, where lies the problem?”

“…They must be aware of this. Still, no attempt has been made to change the status quo. There is meaning behind their inaction.”

As it stood, the armies of Vale and Mistral were squared evenly. Though, an additional battalion made up Vale’s center formation to give more protection to Glynda. Going by the actual battle, it could be said they were on level footing. But Mistral only committed its vanguard forces so far. In terms of logistics, they were favored.

“Something is amiss. They are stalling? If so, for what? Reinforcements? No. Our spies have informed us any forces elsewhere are combatting Atlas in the north.”

“Could the intel be wrong?”

“Possible, but unlikely. Too many of our spies from all ranks and different departments have reported the same. A stratagem privy only to a few? That is much more likely.”

“If there was a scheme hatched between only their highest leaders, our spies wouldn’t have caught it.”

“Indeed,” the hairy man scratched his chin more vigorously with agitation.

…

He suddenly stopped.

“Provide live feeds from several of our frontline soldiers!” Saru ordered.

On the big screen, six camera feeds taken from the scrolls of their vanguard units appeared. They showed images of their troops combatting the enemy in close proximity. Haphazard blades clashing, guns firing. Rather than cohesive tactics, the warriors of Vale focused on the strength of the individual. As a result, many of them fought enemies two or three at a time. This also stemmed from a habit of fighting only Grimm and not actual people.

Though, the camera feed was a bit jarring to watch, it was apparent that Vale’s army was tiring. Fatigue showed from the sweat on their faces. Their Auras fluctuated on the verge of dispelling. But somehow, one way or another, every time Mistral forces pushed, Vale pushed back. It also didn’t help that their troops were herded close, making maneuvering difficult.

There, General Saru caught on to something.

One of their squadrons made a desperate attempt to carve a pathway into the enemy, and was brutally shut down. Normally, such a thing wouldn’t garner any notice—allowing a break in an army line was fatal after all. But the manner in which it happened tripped one of the monkey Faunus’s notice. Including the fact that it was Hook, who did it. One of their best fighters dedicated himself solely to seeing their defenses held.

Saru made his career from lowly shoe shiner to top general of Mistral’s armada. It was a journey that afforded him a deeper perspective than most. To understand the whole picture, he knew he needed to see the canvas, but also its subtlest brushstrokes. War was no different. “A loss of a nail, a horseshoe, a messenger, and then a battle”. The grandest victories were made of infinitesimally minor tasks that needed to be completed as prerequisite.

And General Saru caught on to one of those prerequisites on the camera feed. A clue into what Vale needed to do in order to emerge victorious.

“They’re clogging our movements! If they wanted to draw out time, they could easily perform a slow retreat or kiting maneuver. But they’re holding their ground like their lives depend on it. More than anything, they do not want the rest of our ships to land.”

“Your orders, General?” Raven inquired.

“Landfall is now our highest priority! I don’t know what they’re planning, but I do know pushing our position will be completely contrary to it… D-Does that make sense?”

“…Sounds valid to me,” the Commander shrugged. “I’ll make sure to clear the weather, while I’m at it.”

Raven cut open a portal and strode through.

With her departure, General Saru could only scan the maps and feeds with worry. He wondered if he made the right choice, then shook his head.

He knew his battle forecast was correct and would stand by it.

Now, the rest was up to Raven, Adam, and Blake.

.

* * * * *

.

At the core of Vale’s army, a dense, teardrop of smoke descended. The black mist seemed to land almost elegantly to the ground before dispersing its billowing fog to the surrounding warriors. Like it had a life of its own, the haze absorbed itself into the skin and lungs of others. And in the host body, the soldiers saw a pair of hauntingly yellow eyes.

As a natural response, they activated their respective Semblances and Auras to counter the unknown being.

…

But strangely, nothing happened. The warriors of Vale were left flabbergasted by their sudden impotence.

“Must be bad luck,” Blake’s voice echoed from the ether. “Push forward!”

The Mistral forces rallied under her order and pressed the line.

Meanwhile, as Hook and Pan were getting ready to assist, two figures drew their attention from Blake. A pair of blades descended from a portal. Their swords, poised like guillotines falling on an unmoving Glynda Goodwitch.

Orange sparks flew as Straw and Pan made it in time to meet their blows.

“Raven,” Glynda uttered in a terse tone.

“Glynda, and Straw as well. Old greetings and etcetera.”

“It seems fate’s sleight dictate we meet once more,” Straw mused as he held Raven’s katana in a pair of lances.

“Do you know what they’re talking about? I don’t know what they’re talking about,” Pan asked Adam, whose sword he caught between his daggers.

“You’re the Headmaster of Signal? A child?”

“Up pup pup! The proper term is: Man-child.”

“‘Child’ is very much accurate,” Hook joined in, while firing his hook at Adam.

The swordsman broke off and dodged the prosthetic. Following him, the Vice Headmaster brandished his foil trying to create further space between the attacker and Glynda.

“Hey! That was my fight!” Pan complained.

“Leave these two to Straw and I! You’re better served helping the army. Without us to reinforce, it will be up to your Semblance to support them!”

“Again, I’d like to register my disapproval with your lack of respect for my title, also my boredom with being given—”

“GO, HEADMASTER!!!”

“Alright, alright. Tick tock! I know!”

Pan went to reinforce Vale’s faltering lines, activating his Semblance along the way.

His strides seemed to grow lighter and lighter with every step. A golden trail of sparks rose in his wake, like fireflies. The allies he passed felt their weariness ease. Their arms and legs no longer as heavy as they once were. And a resurgence in their morale accompanied their newfound agility.

Upon meeting the enemy, the edges of Pan’s lips pulled into a mischievous grin. Acting opposite to the glowing lights floating around Vale’s army, dark dots fell onto the Mistral forces like black snow. And with it, they felt a new weightiness to their bodies. It took a tantamount effort to simply move or even lift their weapons.

The Semblance of Signal’s Headmaster was Gravity. Depending on what degree applied, he could make others float, or even fly. But it was proportionate to the amount of Aura used. For now, it was enough to adjust the weights of his allies and enemies accordingly.

Between Pan’s manipulation of Gravity and Blake’s manipulation of “Luck”, their battle turned into something of a duel between supports, with the soldiers as mediums.

Meanwhile, Raven faced off against Straw.

Every shot and stab from one of the General’s multipronged limbs was met with a burst of blinding slashes from the Commander’s sword. The battle was at an even standpoint, but from the way Raven pushed the pace, it was apparent the samurai possessed a confident certainty in her victory. Perhaps, falling back on an old tried and true routine. On the other hand, Straw was starting to make due with just parrying and blocking.

“Your skills are rusty. Playing aristocrat’s done nothing to improve your battle sense.”

“So, it would seem,” he smiled, sweating profusely. “Fortunately, even someone as foolish as I, am plainly aware of his own shortcomings—as well as the overwhelming rationale to rely on the strength of others.”

Straw caged his weapons around Raven’s katana and held it there.

The swordswoman’s intuition warned her of danger. She immediately ejected the blade from its hilt, and leapt back.

A stream of violet, gleaming crags stabbed the spot she had just retreated from. Looking over Straw’s shoulder, Raven could see Glynda casting multiple spells at once. The conclusion of their battle would not come as easily as she thought.

At the other end of the battlefield, Hook and Adam carried on with their own duel.

The bull Faunus met frustration after frustration with Signal Academy’s Vice Headmaster. Whenever the swordsman tried to close the gap between them, Hook would repeatedly stab his foil at the most inconvenient placements. And when he managed to deflect the blade, his opponent’s close-range hook never failed to make him stagger with a short blow. Standing at a distance and gauging his enemy was out of the question as well. Since, whenever he tried to make room, Hook would fire his prosthetic, and whip it around with an expert handling.

Without the requirements to activate his Semblance, or the opportunity to initiate a straight encounter, Adam was finding himself quickly out of his depth. The Huntsman he faced was indeed a veteran. Even without knowing his abilities, the Vice Headmaster discerned exactly how to counter them.

Give in, Adam.

Salem’s words echoed in the back of his mind.

Let emotion drive you.

Your ire be your blade.

From the small breathing room Adam was able to gain, he drew a special shard of Bane Salem had given. It possessed a rooted, dark-red hue, oddly shaped like a wilted rose petal.

He popped the crystal into his mouth and crushed it between his teeth.

Become the Beast.

Strong.

Proud.

…And Feared.

Adam’s crimson hair furrowed and grew down the length of his back. His muscles bulged and black veins traced his skin. The young man’s feral instincts honed to a fine point. His vision could only see red. Enraged, he saw the point on Hook’s body he thirst to strike. Effects of the Bane shortened the time delay of his Semblance to practically nothing.

He lunged and drew his sword from its scabbard. Hook had no time to react, or understand what had happened. Just that Adam’s blade sunk into his abdomen, up to the hilt.

“HOOK!” Pan yelled, and dashed his way towards him.

Glynda, Straw, and Raven also took notice.

“Adam…” the young man’s former mentor threw him a narrowed glare.

Best to make use of him while he’s like that.

She broke away from her opponent and slashed a wave of dark matter at Adam. The bull Faunus took his right hand off his sword and smacked the attack away. Blind rage made him aim at Raven next.

In the same breadth, Adam closed the distance and an earthshattering clash between two katanas sent dirt and wind flying everywhere. Unable to differentiate friend from foe, or form a coherent thought, the bull Faunus immersed himself in a state of pure feralness.

“I’m not your enemy, pup. But I’ll gladly give you one,” Raven scoffed, as a vicious kick sent him towards Straw and Glynda.

In the condition they were in, with Straw’s stamina sapped and Glynda still half-concentrated on her Magic, there was scarce anything they could do against Adam’s enhanced Semblance.

When the young man landed on his feet, his mouth frothed with the foam of a rabid beast. His Semblance activated once more, this time, targeting everyone around him—Glynda being the closest.

His calf muscles burst, as they kicked off the ground, towards the spellcaster.

…

A hook pulled the direction of the blade meant for Glynda to the owner’s body.

“PAN!!!” Hook shouted, blood spurting from his speech. “TAKE THE OTHERS AND RETREAT!!! TICK TOCK! TIME’S UP!!!”

“No, I won’t leave you!” Pan argued back.

“Time to grow up, idiot. The Kingdom will still need you by the time this war’s over. I’ll see my part to the end… Hehehe…”

Adam tried to pull his blade from Hook, but the Huntsman only held him tighter in place.

“Oh no. You’ll be staying here with me, lad… Tick Tock.”

…

“I’m sorry, Hook. It was never supposed to end this way,” Straw lamented.

“Your conscience is clean. Leave the rest to me.”

“Hook. I won’t say goodbye. But I will say thank you.”

“Aye. You’re welcome, Glynda. We both know what it’s like to have irresponsible Headmasters to look after, don’t we?”

“Yes. Yes, we do.”

“Hook.”

“I told you, time to grow up, Pan. Truth be told, I prefer things end this way. A captain should go down with his ship.”

“Hook… I…! I can’t—”

“Live with pride, Headmaster. And make sure to look after the students. That’s all I can say.”

…

“All forces retreat,” Straw communicated over the radio.

Pan activated his Semblance to assist in the evacuation. Enemies and allies flew past the figure of Hook still grasping Adam’s arm and sword into his body.

“That power isn’t normal,” Hook said to the snarling young man. “I can see it. Time is ticking for you too, I suppose. Heh.”

His tired eyes turned to see Raven and Blake approach.

“HRAHRAHRAHRA! Enjoy the fireworks, brats! Tick tock! TICK TOCK!” he sneered, before using his Semblance to issue one final command—before the last bit of light faded from his eyes.

Just then, a great shadow grew to size beneath the sea. Its silhouette only visible now, due to Glynda and her mist’s retreat. The time it took to maneuver it below, without notice, spanned the length of the battle.

The enormous, pirate vessel emerged from the waters, carrying with it Hook’s last will. Its cannons fired relentlessly on its ascension, before detonating among the Galleons of Mistrals armada.

They fell like sunken comets into the sea.

.

* * * * *

.

In the northern theatre, Vale forces were in full withdraw from the ruins of multiple crashed Atlas ships. There were still many more in the skies, trying to target them with their artillery guns, but the battle was considered a victory. The opposition’s forces were more than crippled, which was all they could ask for.

As the group retreated to safety, Taiyang received a call on his scroll.

Glynda informed him how their end of things went. Though, not as successful as his front, they did succeed in crippling the Mistral forces as well.

An awkward pause came at the end of the report, followed by what he could only guess was a wince.

“Glynda?”

“…We lost Hook,” she answered, unable to keep the sorrow from her voice.

“…”

“He died with his ship, and covering our escape.”

“…Oh.”

The call ended, and Taiyang chose that time to reflect on his time at Signal Academy. The Vice Headmaster was as tough on his teachers as he was on his students. Experiencing both, he knew how much the man named, Hook cared for others and looked after them.

He spoke a silent prayer and went to tell the rest of his group the news of their victory and Hook’s passing.

Later that night, many would raise glasses or pay some form of respects,

To the Great Captain Hook.

.

* * * * *

.

Glynda ended the call with a dejectedness. She wallowed in her tent, taking the time to sort her thoughts, for the war would continue the next day. But tonight—tonight, she would mourn.

At least, that was what she thought.

��Glynda.”

Straw’s voice and silhouette came from outside her tent.

“…What is it?”

“I know my interruption could not be more untimely, but I have something that I believe must be brought to your attention.”

“Does it concern any pursuing Mistral forces?”

“No.”

“Is it an emergency, Straw? Because to be honest, I’d rather not deal with anything more after today.”

“I am of the same mind, which is why I would not bother you otherwise.”

“………Come in.”

The man entered at her permission, and wordlessly handed her his scroll.

“What’s this?”

After reading the article’s title and viewing the images below, Glynda’s eyes went wide with disbelief.

Likewise, Taiyang and Team JNPR couldn’t believe what they were reading either. And in the distant Kingdoms, amongst their various armies; Blake, Weiss, Raven, Qrow, and any other connected to a certain group of misfits and Beacon Academy—had their breath stolen away by the breaking news, yet to be outweighed by the results of recent battles.

.

* * * * *

.

(A few hours ago)

.

“You and I have a lot to talk about,” Yang glared.

“Yes… I’m quite aware,” Cinder replied.

The two Maidens locked gazes atop the ruins of Beacon Tower.

“Although, I do believe we have more pressing matters to attend to,” Cinder gave a side-glance to the Grimm dragon awakening next to them.

“…After.”

“After.”

As they both turned to face a common enemy, their Auras materialized as solid images from their visage. Burning ash and maple leaves shed from Cinder’s figure, while fiery feathers rose from Yang. The rest of their group followed the two’s lead.

When the deed was done, a few of Vale’s citizens would capture images of Team ENMY and Cinder, standing atop the Grimm dragon, Bisterne’s degrading corpse.

The title above the media read:

“Beacon Liberated.”

[quintonbennett]

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It's My Third Year As An Author! What The Hell?!

In a rare turn of events, Facebook proved useful for something by dredging up a memory of a post I put up three years ago. The original post, from Feb. 23, 2014, was to celebrate the release of my debut novel, Convergence (which, ahem, you can find at various ebook retailers and in paperback).

I've been thinking a bit about my writing career of late, where it's been and where it's going, and what's in store for both myself and my readers over the course of 2017. For three years now, I've been plugging away at this whole writing thing, this business of being an author, and it's been a surprising ride.

I've made friends with a number of writers over the last few years, which have helped open a number of doors for me professionally, and readers, which has been personally rewarding. This has led to a wonderful base of support in various corners, as well as invitations to appear in various anthologies (in fact, just yesterday I had to make the unfortunate decision to turn down an appearance in a charity anthology due to my current workload), and even a chance to dabble in another author's world. A few years ago, Nicholas Sansbury Smith read Convergence and offered me a blurb. You'll see it at those various retailers, but I certainly don't mind posting it here as well:

"From the opening page of Convergence I was hooked. The dystopian world building is well done and the descriptions are vivid. The technology is imaginary and different...great characters and plenty of suspense/action." - Nicholas Sansbury Smith, author of Extinction Horizon and the Orbs series

Late last year, Nick partnered with Amazon to launch the Kindle Worlds platform for his best-selling series, The Extinction Cycle. Nick invited a handful of authors to contribute to the launch, including me. The invitation came at a bit of an awkward time for me, but also at a point where I absolutely welcomed a distraction.

My mother passed away in July, and I was dealing with the very long first day of the funeral viewing. Emotionally, I was wrecked, and Nick was one of the first people to reach out a few days prior when my wife made the announcement on my behalf. I was surprised, but also delighted, when a few days later he asked me if had heard of Kindle Worlds and broke down the news for me, and asked if I had a story. I didn't then, but the more I thought about it, the more an idea began to take shape. It grew and all of a sudden I had Extinction Cycle: From the Ashes, my Detroit Zombie military action book. (Oddly enough, around the time of my mother's death, I was also reading an advanced copy of Nick's then-forthcoming novel, Hell Divers. I don't know if Nick realized just how much a part of my life he was at that particular moment in time, but the dude was a much needed bit of support and entertainment.) From the Ashes came out a few months ago, in October, and has been selling pretty consistently since then - good news for both myself and Nick!

When I started on this path back in 2014 -- well, even that's not quite accurate. The path itself began way back when I was in high school in the late 90s and into my early college years. I wrote three full-length novels, which will never see the light of day. My first published work was Catechism, a short story that appeared in a long-since out of print issue of Revelation from Fourth Horseman Press in 2004. Good luck finding a copy of that!

Cut to nearly a decade later, to what I consider the official start of things with the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2013 contest. I submitted Convergence on a lark, along with 10,000 other entrants, fully expecting to get axed immediately. Instead, I made it to the quarter finals and was one of the final 100 authors for the science fiction category (by this, 9,500 other books had been removed from the competition overall). In addition to some early support from readers and Amazon editors, I was among the few to earn an awesome review from Publisher's Weekly, which still makes me giddy to this day.

"[A] smart splice of espionage and science fiction. ... frighteningly realistic. Well-drawn characters, excellent pacing, and constant surprises make this a great cautionary tale about technology and its abuses." - Publisher's Weekly

The Breakthrough Novel Award Contest gave me the encouragement I needed to pursue a path as an independent author-publisher. I joined KBoards to seek out some knowledge on how to launch my book and read up on things at Joe Konrath's blog. I found other authors to follow along the way, like Chuck Wendig, who routinely writes about writing and publishing and always has sage advice wrapped up in all kinds of swearing and odd-ball tangents. While on KBoards, I began chatting with another indie sci-fi author who was also preparing to launch his first novel. Lucas Bale released his first book in the Beyond the Wall series with The Heretic in June 2014, just a few months after I dropped Convergence. (He's now co-writing some books with Matthew Mather, by the way, so go check out their Nomad series!) We became friendly with a few other writers over there and banded together to release our first anthology, No Way Home.

We had been paying attention to what Samuel Peralta was achieving with his line of The Future Chronicles anthologies, and we wanted in on the action. We were hungry! We were also fans of what Samuel was doing, and I had hoped to one day to appear in a FC anthology myself. To me, that would have been the mark that indicated I had really made it.

Well, I got an invite in 2015, after the release of Emergence, the sequel to Convergence. I wrote a stand-alone DRMR short story for Samuel's The Cyborg Chronicles, which came out in late December 2015. A few weeks before that book's release, Lucas and our merry band of crazed, cutthroat, mercenary author-publishers put together a second anthology, Crime and Punishment, to celebrate the success of No Way Home.

Obviously, Convergence has been very good to me from a creative stand-point. Things have changed a bit over the last several years, though. I've changed, both as a writer and as a person. In the various interviews I've done over the last few years for podcasting authors like Hank Garner and Nadine Matheson, I've named Stephen King as a tremendous influence. King and Tom Clancy were the giant staples in my early reading years. They were the two authors that made me a reader, and opened the door for me a bit to explore other writers in their spheres and genres. I found Dean Koontz, Michael Crichton, Preston & Child, James Rollins, Barry Eisler, Richard K. Morgan, and so, so many others. But, really, it all started with Stephen King and his little, itsy-bitsy novel, IT. King was always at the top for me. I was writing science fiction, mostly, but I had ambitions to write some horror (in fact, "Catechism" was my first apocalyptic horror story).

After I finished Convergence, I needed a break from sci-fi. I'd lived with that book for several years, and I was yearning to do something different. Inspiration strikes in the oddest places, you know? One night my wife and I were watching Chopped, and the basket ingredient included a big bundle tentacles. I saw those and joked that the evening's ingredients were Cthulhu. And right away, just like that, the idea for Consumption was born - Chopped by way of H.P. Lovecraft. I wrote that story in a feverish frenzy over the course of three days, the words just pouring out of me. It was graphic, violent, with a smidgen of sexiness, and a lot of weirdness. Consumption got a 4 1/2-star review in SCREAM Magazine, and an awesome cover blurb from fellow No Way Home author S. Elliot Brandis:

"Your stomach will turn, your throat will restrict, and jaw will clench tighter than a bull's arsehole in fly season." - S. Elliot Brandis, author of Irradiated and Once Upon A Time At The End Of The World

Thanks to Stephen King, horror has always been a bit of a first-love, even if sci-fi was where I made my initial splash (although Lucas has insisted to me before that I have always been writing horror, even if I thought it was sci-fi...I might have split the middle ground a bit there with Revolver, a book that wears it's King influences proudly on its sleeves.). My short story, Black Site, originally published in Daniel Arthur Smith's tome, CLONES: The Anthology, and due out later this year as a solo title, was definitely a sci-fi and horror infusion, and another Lovecraftian lark. I'll talk more about this at a later date, I'm sure.

Currently, I'm settling into a groove with horror. I'm reading more horror than ever before, and it has seriously become my favorite genre. I've found a number of terrific go-to authors over the last couple years, and even a few, like Hunter Shea, who have become supporters of my own work. Hunter read and blurbed Let Go, and you'll soon see that he had some ridiculously kind things to say about Black Site once I can share the cover for that story. 

I certainly feel at home in the horror genre. My current work in progress is horror, with a definite historical setting (a first for me!), and I'll have a horror novel out later this year. I can't talk about this novel just yet (although I've teased it a bit to my Patreon supporters) as it is currently under review with a publisher. I have a novella also under review with a different publisher, and depending on which way the wind blows with these two titles, 2017 could certainly be my Year of Horror. If I'm lucky enough to publish with either of these presses, it'll be a huge coup in my career. 

Yeah, that's right - career. I've said it a few times in this post now. I'm not doing this author gig full-time just yet, but I know for a fact I'm in it for the long haul. And that's all thanks to you. You've maybe read my work, or maybe you haven't and somehow stumbled your way here and stuck with me long enough to get this far (sorry for rambling). Either way, you took a chance. Thank you for that.

I think 2017 is going to be a year of growth for me, both professionally and personally. I've got plans for this year, and hopefully they'll keep you entertained. There will, of course, be plenty more to come in the future. I'm not done yet, and there's still plenty of stories I want and need to tell, and a fair amount of blood to spill across the pages...

Although my books are available at various retailers, I'm also giving them to my Patreon supporters in a Book of the Month style format. $1/month = 1 book/month. This is my first month on Patreon, and patrons have already received Convergence. Its sequel, Emergence, will be posted in March. Both of these ebooks retail for $3.99, so becoming a Patreon supporter is a great way to get my stories for cheap, and you'll get access to advanced reader copies of my upcoming independently published work before they launch anywhere else. Check it out!

Visit my Amazon Author Page at http://amzn.to/2lcTTaW, and click Follow for updates on new releases.

You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook.