Iron Lung writes

FG: Chapter 71

They often said that the moments of calm before battle was where fear struck most men’s hearts.

But personally, Marcus found that the sprinting towards the enemy was generally worse.

...

CC: Chapter 69

“…Tell me once again, Brother. Slowly.”

XJ-V blinked in amusement as he watched Feng play with his metal kitten. Looking at the boy these days reminded the metal man of how his friend h...

CC: Chapter 68

For the next five days straight, XJ-V remained locked in training with his Master.

Those Disciples who saw him emerge from the Dragonpyre Hearth whispered of how the Cog was possessed by a ve...

FG: Chapter 70

-Grindlefect perimeter, Sire Marcus Graham’s War Camp-

Marcus looked upon the army assembled in his name – a patchwork force compiled of creatures that could turn ...

CC: Chapter 67

'Self'

He awoke with a scream and a start, his Creator’s face still burned into his retinas even as he knew that same face couldn’t be here, in Ramor-Tai.

I ...

FG: Chapter 69

When Marcus opened his tent flap and breathed in the smog of the Underkingdom, he wasted no time in getting right back into where the fighting would be thickest.

It would be better than tryi...

CC: Chapter 66

XJ-V looked into the dying eyes of the bandit whose life he held in his hands.

And within the Dao, the XJ-V of the future looked back, feeling his metal gut churn with fear.

Such memo...

FG: Chapter 68

“Truth, eh?” Marcus smiled.

Skeever approached him cautiously, like a sick cow approaching its driver.

“You are once telling me to trust you, Sire,” he said, weapon suspiciously...

FG: Chapter 67

“Those of you who still value your lives,” he said, in a voice that would reverberate through the ears of every Kobold child from that day forward. “Pledge yourself to my service. Open your m...

CC: Chapter 65

Hensha became a place he would have been proud to call home.

That made things much harder for him, now. His Creator had told him he was almost ready for ‘extraction’, whatever that meant....

FG: Chapter 66

Deep within the fortress he had earned through the sacrifice of a thousand lives, Boss Skegga was roused from his slumber by a thunderclap.

His eyes shot open to the ceiling of a chamber that...

CC: Chapter 64

His first few days in Hensha were surprisingly…familiar.

Not that he’d ever seen any of the ashen-faced members of the wasteland before, but when he looked into their despairing eyes he f...

FG: Chapter 65

-Two Weeks Later-

Another clap of thunder sounded in the deep. The ratman engineer’s cries of “Be bracing!” were barely audible against the bellows of the twelve-pounde...

CC: Chapter 63

He was staring into the clouds of the Dao, knowing he had to return. Feeling the pull of life on his back like a set of heavy, rusted chains fettering his soul.

But the will that was ...

CC: Chapter 62

The mists of the Dao parted, and the world of snow melted away with it.

In its place, a chamber of chromium stretched out from XJ-V’s inert body, and her felt the distinct impression of som...

FG: Chapter 64

Deekius’ pale form shifted as the door to his chamber opened, and the two guards watching over him turned their spears on the intruder.

The groggy eyes of the ratman opened to nothi...

CC: Chapter 61

[Anima Cores: 149]

Almost…there…almost…

“Oi, oi!” a little creature screamed in the night. “XJ-XJ! Wake up!”

XJ-V roused as though from a long, deep slumber, hearing...

FG: Chapter 63

Marcus stared at Shrykul’s weary face, totally lost against the rat-monarch’s candor.

“I am making decision on this,” he said with a heavy wave of his hand. “Any Kobolds conscripted...

FG: Chapter 62

Marcus sat pensively in the war-council chamber of Castel Carfaxx, his quill tapping incessantly on his notebook as he waited for King Shrykul to attend the meeting.

It struck him as odd tha...

CC: Chapter 60

The face that stared into XJ-V’s eyes shone with the light of familiarity.

It was the face of an old man as grey as the walls of the laboratory he stood in, wisps of white hair cling...

FG: Chapter 61

As Marcus and his army marched wearily through the winding tunnels back to Fleapit, the echoes of their footsteps reverberated off the damp stone walls, creating an eerie symphony that seemed to ce...

CC: Chapter 59

[Anima Cores: 145]

Words that were used to define something beyond definition…words used to entrap something that was pure feeling alone. Raw. Untouched.

Entrappe...