Marcos fired at thin air, aiming where Emiliana’s targets had been. Spurts of blood guided his aiming as he moved toward Ramira, who’d started shooting even before he did. The little girl was on the move as well, trying to avoid the cluster of metal spikes that were shooting up from the floor.
One of them found her. It skewered her shoe, and she screamed as she fell to the floor. In the next moment, Marcos was there, scooping her up with one arm and pulling her out of the next spike’s path. But there were still more to evade, and one of them caught his left leg, which it then began coating with newly materializing metal, trying to slow him down.
Marcos dropped to the floor with his sister still in his grasp, scrambling to shield her with his body.
That was when the room heaved, throwing everything into confusion, and briefly, Marcos thought there’d been some kind of explosion or earthquake.
And then he saw the crystalline spears. The area by the door was completely filled. Glassy pillars, so numerous and densely packed that they almost looked like a wall. The only anomaly among their brilliantly clear bodies was the blood, long streaks of crimson, splattered and dripping and pooling on the floor.
He looked around for Lord Asad, thinking it must’ve been the Sandlord’s doing, but instead, he saw his father, standing at the foot of the bed he’d been using only moments ago. It hadn’t been glass. It had been ice.
“Pa!” said Marcos. He wanted to rush over and hug him, but he was still mindful of Ramira’s injury. By the time he made it to his feet again, he realized that something was off.
His lord father was just standing there, silent, face drawn downward. Axiolis was still attached to his back and also saying nothing.
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
Sleep fighting... awesome, lol. At least that's how I will interpret it, until I -maybe- get corrected,
ReplyDeleteHe looked around for Lord Asad, thinking it must’ve been the Sandlord’s doing, but instead, he saw [he>his] father, standing at the foot of the bed he’d been using only moments ago.
ReplyDeletebut instead, he saw [his] father
ReplyDeleteTypo:
ReplyDeleteThe little girl was on the move as well,
The sentence just cuts off here.
Papa Wolves never truly sleep... they only rest their eyes. ;)
ReplyDeleteHoo boy, I got no ideas with what's happening with Zeff. At first I thought he was in a barely controlled hyper state (almost like what happened with Harper), but Axiolis is still visible so I'm stumped.
ReplyDeleteFixed, thank you.
ReplyDeleteGot it, thank you.
ReplyDeleteGot it, thanks.
ReplyDeleteZeff can sense all the DICs in the basement that are now visible. KILL ALL THE DICS!
ReplyDeleteTypo:
ReplyDelete"Marcos dropped to [the] floor"
I guess Zeff forgot to take his sleep asskicking meds before he passed out.
ReplyDeleteMore ancestral cheaty powers, perhaps? We already know that three bits of cheese run in the family: Em's special mutation power with extra hallucinations, Zeff's ease of emergence and the compound materialization power.
ReplyDeleteI think the emergence is just a Zeff thing; Burning Justice/Heroic Willpower-type shit or something.
ReplyDeleteWell, for the longest time, I've said Elroys are predisposed to winning the Power Lottery. I dunno about Emy, though... Can we really say those are really hallucinations?
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be surprised if the multi-emergence is an Elroy thing.
ReplyDeleteGiven that she was seeing the Cloaked Crew and only thought she was going nuts... nope. They were collecting Intel before striking, I think. :/
ReplyDeleteGiven that she was seeing the Cloaked Crew and only thought she was going nuts... nope. They were collecting intel before striking, I think. :/
ReplyDeleteRhetorical question. I was trying to Steve think a bit more. Your response should have gone to him.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how you was able to do it, but you double-replied...
ReplyDeleteMy guess on what happened: Zeff isn't exactly concious but his father senses were tingling so it sucks to be the Abolish attacking his kids now. Also - the same thing for Axiolis. Or maybe he's still attached to Zeff and came along for the ride.
ReplyDeleteI'm mobile: crackling connection might have something to do with it. *shrugs*
ReplyDeleteThat's what weirded me out. Not that you replied twice, but that it was the same exact reply. Anytime I tried that, Disqus wouldn't let me lol.
ReplyDeleteGiven that Emiliana started perceiving the Cloaked Crew after messing up her eyes, I wonder if it might be a flaw in Invisibility that allows damaged eyes to penetrate it, like how most camo is really obvious to colorblind people.
ReplyDeleteNow there's a thought. We (or at least I and the reaper community) thought that the ability forces a change to a random body part if it isn't used for a while, but it might be that those forced transformations are triggered by a subconscious realization that a particular body part isn't serving you well enough.
ReplyDeleteNo, it talked about it was though it wasn't a surprise, and that has been stated to be fundamentally impossible, will of cheese or no.
ReplyDelete