CyberCinder

Chapter 377: It's Somewhere

It takes all of five minutes to get Gisela and Dora to see things our way. Considering that they don’t have anywhere to go, the Preservation definitely won’t want to work with them, and another...

Chapter 376: Recruitment Effort

Overgrown buildings and weed-pushed stones greet me at the end of my relocation. I glance around at the previously-floating platform that now sits motionless in its hold in search of Jumble and the...

Chapter 375: A Proof of Cataclysm

I really hope I’m wrong. But I have a horrible feeling that I’m closer to right on the continuum of gut feelings. While Fleur freaks out about her new travelling tattoo I pull out my Class Card...

Chapter 374: A Nameless End

All-too familiar stone walls take the place of the lake. Quest appears a moment later right on my heels, its brow furrowed in deep thought. I motion for it to go ahead to wherever it has to go, and...

Chapter 373: Life, Dissolved

The panic in Pearl’s voice spurs me to action. I dive off my shield and summon another to land on, then roll over my shoulder and come up in a crouch just in time to feel the water erupt where we...

Chapter 372: A Purifying Splinter

The empty obelisk shines in the sun like a gemstone splinter in the Earth. I instinctively reach for Fleur’s brooch, but she seems to… shy away from my touch. As if she doesn’t want to admit ...

Chapter 371: Looking for Sisters

It takes about a week to find the exact spot in the desert where the twins disappeared a while back. Takes even longer to pinpoint the floating island that they’d technically been standi...

Chapter 370: Let Them Fester

The walls of my room back at the resort flicker into view before any speakers get too close. I crack my neck and grimace at all the errant thoughts swarming about like a cloud of gnats, like for ex...

Chapter 369: Call It Day One

This time, I hold back the snarl. Slosh zips up through the catwalk and into the flask, then uses my body for cover to fly the entire thing into my back pocket. My awareness screams as someone blin...

Chapter 368: Just A Kid

“The front door was open.”

The words flow easily, but hit Taylor like a ton of bricks. The kid’s frown grows so deep that he could hold playing cards between the furrows on his brow, an...

Chapter 367: Empty Soldiers

An empty chamber rests at the end of the hall, working on auxiliary power from some batteries in the corners. I kneel, confused, at the edge of the hatch and stare down into the space. Why the hell...

Chapter 366: Locked Away

It’s the kid that came up to meet Call and me when we first got here. And he’s… well… not quite dead yet, but whoever left him here fully expected him to be dead by the time anyone found hi...

Chapter 365: Too Many Victims

Crowds of people litter the streets. Most of them don’t have a speck of dust on them, but all of them have the slight uncertainty of a life freshly upturned. I apologize meekly and tread carefull...

Chapter 364: What It Should Stand For

The teleport back to the Preservation isn’t anywhere near as off-putting as the first. Call nods as I appear in the room, then steps to the side so Lament can appear. I shake my head.

“No...

Chapter 363: Hostage Until Proven Guest

Lament shudders at the weight of my coins pressed to her shoulders. She stares deep into my eyes in an attempt to see if I’m testing her somehow. Whatever she sees scares the hell out of her. Goo...

Chapter 362: New Boss

I can’t see Lament’s face through her mask, but my imagination does a good job of filling in the blanks between the excited little noises and energized motions. Quest sends a quick message to m...

Chapter 361: A Casual Chat in a Faraway Place

I shove the relocation coin at Lament’s chest. She raises a hand and screams, but only the first moment sneaks out. The city steals the signal before she can trade places with the coin in my hand...

Chapter 360: An Unknown Bringer

Grim understanding hits me before anything can play out. Lizzie did something. But that shield wasn’t her magic; if it was, there’d be residual stuff all over her. Someone else did that to her....

Chapter 359: Namesake

I stand transfixed staring up at that mass of uncomfortable power as people and metal crash around me. Some poor sap skids across the catwalk and screams all the way down to a heavy thump at the bo...

Chapter 358: Weakening Restraints

Sounds hit me first. Not in a simple way, but in a much more visceral kind of horrible warning; physical sounds that batter at my body like a flurry of blows brought on by possibility itself. Each ...

Chapter 357: Ongoing Tragedy Number...

“Go! Go! GO!”

Call screams in my ear with every single hurried step I take towards the hangar. Pearl groans and covers her ears after the dozenth-or-so exclamation that’s somehow gettin...

Chapter 356: A Much Bigger Problem

I blow past the plexiglass-hidden desk worker and nearly throw the door off the hinges in an attempt to leave as fast as possible. Nobody makes any comments on it, even though Call complains every ...

Chapter 355: Papers, Please

“Hey, did you see the flyover? Crazy, huh?”

I smile behind Call’s mask and nod at the person behind a pane of plexiglass. Whatever it is muddles and shifts my view of them into a formle...

Chapter 354: Public Servant

The amount of eyes that stare as I walk down a simple path is unnerving. It’s only a few dozen, but the people they’re attached to are a very strange bunch. Some have a healthy glow and a littl...

Chapter 353: A Sideways Promotion

It’s utterly unbelievable that we’ve been caught so fast. So unbelievable, in fact, that I refuse to accept that it’s the only truth. Call’s shitting his pants at the prospect of being caug...

Chapter 352: Paradise with Riot Control

It doesn’t take more than five minutes to spot the first ‘ragged edge’, as Call called it. The road that winds down from the risen hangar is lined with signs, warnings, and simple chain link ...

Chapter 351: Mundane for a Mech Flight

The robot’s somehow bigger on the inside than the outside. Not much of a surprise considering what I’ve seen so far, but from how Pearl condemns every little engineering choice, it’s supposed...

Chapter 350: Catch a Ride to Paradise

The ruins of my old home stretch for miles and miles. Not a day’s work has been done on them since I left, but the caution tape and countless military-lite barricades at all the entrances says so...

Chapter 349: New Problems, Same Sources

The doors to a sort of familiar meeting room hiss open and a motley crew of suddenly very tired people stumble inside, myself included. Someone turned the AC up to eleven, which is more than welcom...

Chapter 348: New to the Neighborhood

I gently reach up to push Jumble’s hand down with a stern smile. She hums deep in her throat and drops the idea of killing all the people on the beach–which I really hope was, at least a little...