philtucker

Chapter 121

He found Crimson Hydra gathered around Kimmie and Kerim. They lay in twin beds in one of the penthouse bedrooms. Late morning sluiced into the chamber. Folks had pulled up chairs, and Denzel sat be...

Chapter 120

“Once I absorbed the Reservoir Cube, a completely new understanding as to how to approach manufacturing filled me. Not only was I flooded with new possibilities and schematics, but also an apprec...

Chapter 119

Crimson Hydra elevated fifty-six local Blue Light and special forces operators to level 117, Ascender 1, and cleared out every hive in the local Philly area.

They reconvened at just past one ...

Chapter 118: Cleaning House

Even going all out it took James two hours to clean all of Manhattan. From Battery Park at the very southern tip all the way up north of Central Park where it bled into Harlem and the Bronx, sweepi...

Chapter 117: Nem8

If he pushed the Wing too hard it started to fall apart. James wished the damn thing came with a speedometer. Was he going 200 mph? Faster? He couldn’t tell. But as he drove it harder, forcing th...

Chapter 116: Rampage

White fire snapped out into a broad circle that encompassed their group. Strange, mesmerizing glyphs rose up in columns, endlessly scrolling like some heavenly Matrix code, and then a rushing roar ...

Chapter 115: Cohesion

“We don’t have much time,” continued James as everyone gathered around. “And I’m not even talking about the Pits fully opening by tomorrow. Everything that we just killed -”

“We...

Chapter 114: Party Time

James emerged from the demon symbol’s heart and stood, poised, upon the iron lip. Five hundred feet up he had an unparalleled view of the Yukon wilderness. Belanger’s homestead was a matchbox b...

Chapter 113: 2,315 Unspent Points

The thought of absorbing another Reservoir Cube evoked within James a complete sense of negation. He’d barely been able to retain his sense of self with one Cube; a second would double his power ...

Chapter 112: Reservoir Cube

Heart in his throat, breathless, James stepped into the demon symbol. Light swirled before his eyes, fractals that dizzied him, and he reached out, shuffling his feet, unsteady.

Then he found...

Chapter 111: Light Eternal

“Oh man,” breathed Jason. “Disciple 1! And I get to pick a brand-new Benediction.”

The others murmured their agreement, but James dismissed the message from his vision and turned to t...

Chapter 110: Kumite

Several things happened at once.

More, even, than James could keep track of.

Somebody started yelling.

He summoned Dikastís. The Avatar of Justice came pouring through space and ...

Chapter 109: Demon promises are shit

Belanger narrowed his eyes. Even from this distance James could tell he was a striking man; his face was dramatic, with deeply carved cheeks and a hawk-like nose, his eyes gleaming from under brist...

Chapter 108: Belanger

James fell the fifteen yards and landed solidly on the rock floor below. Before, a jump like that would have fractured both his legs, shattering his bones and driving the shards into his pelvic cra...

Chapter 107: Defiance

(Here's the last missing COVID chapter. Things are picking up. Enjoy!)

It took only twenty minutes of hustling around town to round up three more snowmobiles and then they were off, mounted a...

Chapter 106: Jaywick

(Second COVID catch-up post. I'm still writing my way through brain fog, so I hope you understand if the chapter isn't quite as sharp as I'd like.)

“How’d that go?” asked Serenity, look...

Chapter 105: Old Crow

It was a four-hour flight to Old Crow. The Gulf Stream was svelte and elegant and cut through the air with silent efficacy, cruising just shy of the speed of sound and with enough gas to make the r...

Chapter 104: Bouncy castle from hell

They walked and talked. Or, more accurately, flew and shot at demons and talked. With their eight Wings forming a flotilla they floated over Brooklyn, allowing Jelly to guide them to obvious locati...

Chapter 103: My kind of terrible

(First COVID make-up chapter. Technically the Interludes mean we're already 20 chapters ahead of RR, but those feel like bonus content.)

James cleansed the rest of the Marriott by the time th...

Chapter 102: Star Boy

Star Boy nearly tripped as he scrambled out of the elevator, pushing everyone ahead of him. “Go, go!”

He knew everybody in the gaggle of personnel before him, comm officers and assistants...

Chapter 101: Jersey

Step by step. Ever deeper. The murk swirling, the pressure of the river above pressing down, unfelt but clearly imagined. The stark burn of his eye lights did little more than illuminate a great ha...

Chapter 100: Old Friends

(Good morning! I felt sufficiently recovered last night too hammer this one out. Chapter 100, what a mile stone. If it's a little rough around the edges, you already know why. Cheers!)

2022-10-31 12:02:01 +0000 UTC View Post

It's COVID

Got tested yesterday, results came in today. Explains why I was knocked on my ass so hard. Apologies, everyone. I was ramping up to finally build a backlog when this hit. I've written almost 300k s...