AnotherArchetype

144. Resistance

We made our way back downstairs to the ground floor hallway entrance. The Sub-Divisioners had already reached the front door, which they opened easily enough since the lock had long since been brok...

143. Desperate Times

“No talking about anything we’ve discussed,” I whispered, “Because they’ll be able to hear anything we say to each other.”

The other two nodded in understanding.

“And if i...

142. Smudge

I was the first to reach the mansion kitchen backdoor, taking hold of it, but finding myself not turning the handle, because a sudden overpowering sense of dread had taken hold of me.

It was ...

141. Dismayed Princess

I knew all too well the kind of grief Xandra was going through. To take a life, the most precious thing there could possibly be, wasn’t something anyone could just forget and move on from.

...

140. Free Spirit

It took me much longer than I would have liked to put the slip-suit back on. Each second which passed was one more that the stranger outside had as a head start to roam in on the mansion. The figur...

139. N

I had finished another patrol of the mansion grounds, and had discussed with Azad that we would take turns doing a patrol every hour throughout the daytime. Then, through the night, both of us woul...

138. Moussaka

I was examining the burn mark on my wrist where Azad had gripped me during our ‘training session’.

I then willed the sinew-suit to heal the burn there, and after a moment the darker hue f...

137. Slip & Clang

It quickly became apparent I had two ways to deal with Azad’s sudden new speed and power.

The first was to evade faster and with greater distance than I had done before. To do so would like...

136. All-New, All-Improved

Combat really was a whole other means of existence.

The visual stimuli of the fight with Azad was only the first layer to contend with.

When he bounded up to the edge of the pool where ...

135. One In A Million

When the door opened I wasn’t at first sure it was Azad I was looking at.

Because the young man standing at the doorway was, objectively, very handsome. He was standing shirtless, his leanl...

134. Prickles

Stepping out the back of the kitchen to the start of the sprawling mansion garden beyond, I found myself thinking of home.

Not the London flat. But my true home, my childhood home on the far ...

133. Cowl

It was morning by the time I left the classroom and ventured back out to the mansion proper.

Has so much time really passed? I thought to myself.

As ugly and vandalised as the ...

132. Workbooks

Azad had taken a handful of the dwindling food supply from the blue basket, and when I had asked him about what he was intending to do he said, “Major healing.”

“How are you going to do...

131. Adhesive

Thankfully, the mansion proved to be deserted throughout its entirety. There were many rooms on the ground floor and first floor, all of which had been gutted of anything valuable. Those who had be...

130. Recon

I couldn’t resist the temptation to try out what, if anything, I might be capable of whilst wearing the new ‘sinew-suit’, a term I made up in my head on the spot.

With very little foret...

129. Muscle

At last Azad brought us to a wall that would have been twice my height were I still my normal self.

“It’s here,” said Azad.

He had his hands at his hips and he took several steps ...

128. Zig-Zagging

Azad had been running at close to a sprinting pace when he suddenly went limp, as if shot by a taser gun. He collapsed to the tall grass in the field we were in, and let out a long pained groan. 2025-03-18 06:49:39 +0000 UTC View Post

127. Stop, Look, and Listen

The three of us breached the last of the national park forest, which bordered a quiet winding road at the start of a huge stretch of open field.

If I had learnt one thing about roaming across...

126. Another Five Minutes

We stopped to rest after an hour of traversing more of the national park forest. We moved slowly, opting to be as quiet as possible and to not push ourselves physically. 

Conversation be...

125. Up & Down

Our progress was painfully slow going all the way up the slight forest incline. Azad limped ahead, barely at a jogging pace. 

Xandra sprang along too, but like some kind of feeble rabbit...

124. Human Noises

I returned to my body the instant the fox-frog-monster relented control. Like before at the textile factory I was still in the beast's hulking form, and needed to change back. 

The beast...

123. Eldritch

The beast lumbered sideways on its good left arm to avoid any potential blood-spears thrown from Xandra. The effort proved unneeded, since Xandra, who was standing at the far bank again, was simply...

122. No Time to Heal

The beast was moving fast on Azad and Xandra. Its mind and eyes had plenty of time to soak in what they were doing, as if in slow motion. 

Xandra had her fists closed, her arms at her si...

121. The Monster's Prisoner

"Please run!" I screamed, my voice no longer my own, but much deeper and that of the monster taking over. 

Both Azad and Xandra, who were backing away from me, looked as if they were bec...

120. To Beast, or not to Beast

I screamed bloody murder. 

My legs thrashed and the muscles in my back tensed up to the point I thought my spine might snap. 

Azad and Xandra were kneeling by me, their hands ...

119. A Coloured-In Shadow

Azad continued to explain more about his encounter with the Sub-Division escapees, but I stopped comprehending anything he was saying. 

A feeling like indigestion started in my gut, and ...

118. Baba

"Is he okay?" I said. 

Azad's caramel coloured eyes stared vacantly beyond Xandra and I. 

"I think so," he said, "I watched from a distance when he went into the police statio...

117. Blue Basket

Since Azad was resting on the sofa, I made my way over to a corner nook of the den and laid down on the soft ground; it was mostly soil with sparse bits of foliage peeking from underneath the adjac...

116. Fight the World! Fight the World!

The sticks and stones and other bits of forest debris hurt my feet. Trekking through the increasingly dense forest in such a sorry state made me feel, for the first time in a long time, as if I wer...

115. Stretch

Xandra stayed far enough ahead with Azad that I couldn't ask her any questions, like what the whole deal with the skin-cocoon was.

She seemed stronger and able to move with a deft ease despit...