Ashwood put down his binoculars, clicking his tongue. He stood fully armoured atop a mountain plateau, above the Serpent’s pass and the besieged fortress. Jane and Grimsson stood with him, along with five soldiers who guarded the shuttle behind ...
2024-11-11 20:19:13 +0000 UTC View PostIn a long mountain pass named for its serpentine nature, a mighty fortress stood. Built-in one of the narrowest points of the pass, the fortification’s high stone walls blocked the passage entirely. No interloper could enter the Sarak Archduchy ...
2024-10-29 19:19:12 +0000 UTC View PostSitting cross-legged on top of her tower, the Custodian had to admit that she had perhaps underestimated the Terrans a tad. The aliens had proved decisive in their response, resulting in a steady stream of projectiles hammering the sky above the F...
2024-10-20 11:54:39 +0000 UTC View PostSerana was having a great time. The experience of seeing Eigos from the outside was truly magical.
Poor Edward had died some time ago, but she didn’t actually need him. The pendants were, first and foremost, conduits. Since she couldn’t ...
2024-10-01 18:04:28 +0000 UTC View PostThe blazing silver eyes were not what Ashwood had wanted to see.
“Interesting,” an eerie voice spoke as the prisoner sat up, breaking his restraints.
“What the fuck,” Ashwood took a step back, reaching for his...
2024-10-01 17:51:08 +0000 UTC View PostAshwood sat on a chair in the strategy room of the Kirslev family’s palace, pretending to read a map in his armour while some local ‘general’ rambled on about the virtues of envelopments. In reality, he was going through spreadsheets through...
2024-10-01 17:28:36 +0000 UTC View PostOrder Master Keres disembarked the ship while displaying more confidence than he felt. In truth, he felt like a fraud. He had seen his fair share of combat in his younger years, but bandits and brigands weren’t exactly challenging opponents. Oft...
2024-10-01 17:17:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe Custodian sat on a rock on a lake shore, her head tilted towards the night sky. Usually, Agnu’s blue glow and size made seeing anything else quite difficult, but the gas giant was especially dim tonight, letting even ordinary people see the ...
2024-09-20 18:41:52 +0000 UTC View Post“Let’s talk specifics then,” Ashwood responded after some uncomfortable silence.
There was clearly something the old King wasn’t telling him, but he wasn’t sure how much he should care either. He doubted it was something that would...
2024-09-20 18:41:12 +0000 UTC View Post“Now announcing, his excellency Colonel William Ashwood of the mighty Terran Republic!”
The voice of the… announcer person loudly proclaimed beyond the large doors before which Ashwood stood. He was quite sure the position had some sor...
2024-09-20 18:40:30 +0000 UTC View PostThe Custodian sat on a chair, reading through a newly made dictionary, the only illumination provided by a lit torch set attached to the dungeon’s wall. Her chair sat in the middle of one of the underground corridors that ran through the Temple...
2024-09-20 18:38:56 +0000 UTC View PostIt was, not, in fact, time for Ashwood to practice diplomacy again. Not yet, at least.
The Colonel was led along with his entourage to the guest wing of the palace, where a few servants helped them settle. They would meet with the king in th...
2024-09-20 18:38:23 +0000 UTC View PostAs a shuttle once again descended towards the surface of Eigos, the Colonel bemoaned his bad fortune in silence.
His prediction turned out accurate. With Ashwood being the only expert on Eigosian culture, the Admiral spared no time ...
2024-09-20 18:37:40 +0000 UTC View PostAshwood was not pouting. He was a grown, battle-scared man, and those did not pout. No, he was carefully evaluating his chances of requisitioning the dreadnought and coming to unfavourable conclusions.
Apparently, Admiral Renard did...
2024-09-20 18:37:10 +0000 UTC View PostFar to the south, beyond the Teilen mountain range, stood the prosperous city of Latis, the capital of the Kerania kingdom. In its very center, behind no less than three nigh-impenetrable walls, was a grand palace. In that palace was a large, heav...
2024-09-20 18:36:29 +0000 UTC View PostSerana stood in her living room, looking at a small portrait of a smiling black-haired woman in contemplative silence, having paused her work.
A drop of paint fell on the floor from the brush the Custodian held, bringing her out of her thoug...
2024-09-20 18:35:59 +0000 UTC View PostColonel Ashwood sat in one of the grounded shuttles present in the makeshift Terran camp, brooding. His only company was one of the pilots moonlighting as a communications officer, his entire job being to stare at an empty screen, waiting for a me...
2024-09-20 18:35:27 +0000 UTC View Post“Remember, we are but receptacles for her power,” Serana explained to the thirty-three knights arrayed in front of her in the Temple’s courtyard.
Five of the original thirty-seven had failed to form even a simple shield and were reassi...
2024-09-20 18:35:02 +0000 UTC View Post“The Kerania, Accad and Faras kingdoms are in open rebellion, Lady Custodian,” Aisac announced while beginning his daily report and rousing Serana from her thoughts.
The two of them stood on top of her tower, her in plain white robes and...
2024-09-18 19:24:53 +0000 UTC View PostAdmiral Renard frowned as space reasserted itself. A moment later after Bastion, the dreadnought-class battleship exited the warp, the rest of the task force arrived, announced by dozens of dots appearing on Bastion’s sensors.
He straighte...
2024-09-18 19:23:49 +0000 UTC View PostThe Custodian stood in the middle of the battlefield, surrounded by the screams of the wounded and dying.
Despite the bloodshed in which she participated, her robes were unmarred. In her hands she held a long Terran weapon, examining it.
... 2024-09-18 19:23:27 +0000 UTC View PostAshwood waited with bated breath, his EM rifle propped up on the edge of the trench, pointing towards the general direction of the dots currently descending from the sky.
His soldiers waited with him. No one moved a finger.
Suddenly, h...
2024-09-18 19:23:00 +0000 UTC View Post“Why is she staring at the sky?” Asked Ashwood, putting the binoculars down.
Minutes after their pitiful sensors detected the approaching aircraft, Lieutenant Jane noticed movement in the Eigosian ranks.
Now the Custodian, still si...
2024-09-18 19:22:14 +0000 UTC View PostThe Colonel gaped at the laughing Custodian in disbelief, before schooling his expression. Hopefully quickly enough that the unsettling woman did not notice.
He had no idea what had set the possible lunatic off.
Ashwood could admit tha...
2024-09-18 19:19:35 +0000 UTC View PostThe city below lay quite close to the First Temple, though it still took a bit of time to reach, their journey prolonged by the precariousness of the path that led down the mountain.
Nevertheless, the Custodian and her guard made good time. ...
2024-09-18 19:18:57 +0000 UTC View PostThe Custodian stood alone on top of her ruined tower, watching the remaining flying transports land on a nearby hill. Less than ten of the metal machines remained, over half lost to Terran infighting.
Her face looked serene, yet inside she f...
2024-09-18 19:18:33 +0000 UTC View PostAs hundreds of thousands of rounds saturated the sky, Colonel Ashwood, sitting in one of the many shuttles performing emergency manoeuvres, cursed Song and her entire ancestry.
She had proven to be the more ruthless of the two.
Minutes...
2024-09-18 19:18:05 +0000 UTC View Post“You aren’t human, are you?” The pilgrim said in strangely accented Sirnesian. It sounded almost identical to the way the Terran officer spoke, down to the mistakes.
The Custodian stared expressionlessly at the diminutive woman, “I s...
2024-09-18 19:17:43 +0000 UTC View PostThe Custodian stood in one of the Temple’s courtyards, watching the thirty-seven silent knights in front of her. She wore her customary white robe and held an intricate silver pendant in her hand. The silver formed an eye, with an embedded blue ...
2024-09-18 19:16:56 +0000 UTC View PostAshwood startled awake as an alarm blared inside his head. He instinctively reached for his gun on the nightstand while looking around the tiny room. The cabin held only a bed, a work desk along with a chair and a small bathroom. The walls were ma...
2024-09-18 19:16:28 +0000 UTC View Post