I just realized I need to do a pinned introduction so here it is.
Hi, I am Arthur Griffe.
Arthur Griffe is my artistic name, my real name is a secret.
I am 26 years old.
I studied Creative Writing and Literature at a private university.
Currently I am working on getting my college degree.
I also stream from time to time but I do it with my real identity so I am never to share that info…
Not like I am super famous either way, I just started.
Straight/he/him/polyamorous
Became a writer because I wanted to read certain things that the books within my reach when I was 13 didn’t have.
I love zombies, videogames, anime and science fiction
My favorite foods/snacks are hamburgers, pizzas, pistachios, peanuts, pretzels, tacos de canasta, and mint chocolate ice cream.
Tumblr quickly became a place where I put my stories and my unhinged thoughts so I think I am doing it right.
WIPs
New Fate
The year when a small city changed forever, from this moment, many great personalities and future-shaping achievements have their roots sown thanks to the unexpected events where Dreko’s metamorphosis into the immortal and interdimensional polyamorous being begins.
Fate
After the critical point of the last book, everything is hidden and buried, the witnesses are dispersed and vigilated. The biggest mystery among Dreko’s allies is where he is.
At the same time, an unknown vigilante appears in another city.
Alone
In a newly founded city, a young adult, Kieran, is living his best life until a sudden success at his job starts a chain reaction that pushes him into self-destruction mode.
The Tower
Dreko’s first life has come to an end, transferring his consciousness into a new body in Lumen’s universe, where many new adventures await the couple.
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Who knew touching grass, getting out of my own head and changing scenery would help me with my writer's block? Almost as if obsessively escaping reality from my moist dark bedroom isn't the way to go.
Awesome Online Resources for Writers & other Creatives
papyr.com: freely accessible and summarized classroom materials in rhetoric, composition, grammar, and linguistics from a retired english professor
typelit.io: practice writing speed and accuracy by copying entire classical books
wordhippo: thesaurus where synonyms are separated by specific meaning and connotation, making it very easy to find a variety of words
adjectives for: get a selection of adjectives matching to any word you need them for
Heraldicon: create your own coat of arms
A Soft Murmur: make your own personalized ambience music
dmnes.org: database of names found in historical sources all across Europe from the middle ages
foodtimeline.org: timeline of the development of human foods and from when the first evidence we have of a food being consumed
Google News Newspaper Archive: archive of old newspaper pages, some dating back to the 19th century
Green’s Dictionary of Slang: a history of slang and insults in the english language
HathiTrust: digital library and archive with an extremely wide variety of topics and archived books and articles
- eg. Fashion Periodicals: an archive of fashion magazines dating back to the 19th century
Marginalia Search: search engine that prioritizes non-commercial content (forums, blogs, and academia) and does not use genAi
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"I can't, but if I could, I wouldn't die for someone else." He says to her as straight forward as possible. "Dying is easy and leaves things out of my control; I can, however, promise you that every breath of my eternal existence is focused in giving everything you ask and need from me." His deep abismal eyes soften, getting closer to her. "I know that's not the answer you want or that my lifestyle isn't ideal to you, but know that I care enough about you to share the truth of who I am and how I see the existence of it all."
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So I have been thinking for the total of five minutes that I should use this app for more than just chapters of characters no one besides me cares about so that's what I am gonna do.
Hiya, kiddos, I am currently getting raw-dogged by life and the academic world, I am also hungry at 6:21 am in my house, whatever, on the bright side I finally got a DnD group to play with and that's about it... oh, I am turning 27 in two weeks, so if this text were to go viral as a birthday miracle, that would be great.
With Rowena going out to meet Lumen’s friends, Dreko is preparing food for his trip. Obsidian, who is sitting on a chair, watches him pack containers into his black and red backpack. When everything is ready, they hop on the elevator to the Teleportation Room, where he sets coordinates, and a scar opens.
The fox and the immortal emerge on the top of a mountain. Abed waits for him, not surprised anymore by the portal, having been visited many times.
“Welcome, my friends!” The man greets the duo in his language. Obsidian jumps down from Dreko’s backpack to salute Abed. The fox lets out happy noises while being petted, and the man smiles as well.
“Hello, Abed.” Dreko says in the same language. “How’s everything?”
“Splendid, truly. How about you? How is Rowena settling in?”
“I think it is going well; she is getting used to everything; she even met Caradoc.”
“That’s good.” Abed claps gently with joy. “If meeting an ancient creature went well, meeting me should be fine.”
“Absolutely, I told them I was coming, but they already had plans. Next time.”
“Splendid!” He exclaims again. Dreko doesn’t even notice anymore how much he says that. “Let’s go inside.”
Abed’s home is not like The Tower at all, being one floor and made from wood, but it has a unique charm. As soon as the door closes behind Dreko, two pairs of bare feet run from a room further into the house.
A three-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl, followed by a woman, stop in front of Dreko and Obsidian.
“A doggy!” The boy screams as soon as he sees the fox, but before Obsidian runs away or jumps on Dreko and the boy throws himself at her, Abed stops him.
“Wait, wait, Revy.” Abed carries Revy in his arms. “We don’t approach guests like that, and we always respect the animals. Is that clear?” The kid pouts, nodding. “Introduce yourselves to my friends, please.” Abed puts Revy down.
“Hello, sir, I am Revy.” The kid extends his hand; Dreko shakes Revy’s tiny hand.
“Hi, Revy, pleasure to meet you; you can call me Dreko.” After letting go of his hand, Dreko looks at the girl.
“Hello, sir, I am Zaffy.” She shakes his hand as well.
“Hi, you also can call me Dreko; pleasure to meet you.”
Obsidian gets closer to the kids, seeing that Dreko talked to them; the collar around her neck glows from a black gem, and a robotic voice comes out of it.
“Obsidian.” The fox offers them a paw. Both kids are amazed by this, Revy immediately tries to pet her and she lets him, Zaffy does it too.
“And this is my wife.” Abed is standing next to a woman. As tall as Abed, short black hair, and a small, gentle face. Revy is the spitting image of her.
“Hello, I am Ofelia; welcome to our home.” She makes a small bow before shaking his hand. “Abed has told us a lot about you; please, sit, I’ll go get us something to drink.”
“Excuse me, Ofelia.” Dreko stops her. “I appreciate all your kindness, but I actually brought something.” He puts the backpack on the floor and takes out several containers with warm food and two large glass jars.
“Oh, you didn’t have to.” She says, embarrassed.
“I couldn’t arrive empty-handed; besides, I love to cook for others.” He smiles. “Unless I am overstepping, I am so sorry.”
“No, no, it’s really kind of you.” She thanks him. “I’ll go get us some plates.”
“I’ll help you.” Abed follows her.
The kids try to see what’s in the containers, and Dreko lets them see a dessert.
“It’s only for after we eat, ok?” Both kids nod, barely keeping it together. “Fiiine, here.” He pulls two lollipops from his jacket just when their parents come back with plates and glasses. “I just gave them a lollipop each; is that ok? I made the mistake of showing them the dessert I brought.”
“Sure, that’s ok, kids, you can have them now, but you have until we finish serving the food; after that, you’ll save those for later.” Ofelia indicates firmly but not harsh.
After a couple of minutes, the food is served, and the five eat together. They have a casual conversation between the adults until it arrives at a natural stop. Only then does Dreko notice Zaffy is looking straight at him.
“Zaffy, is everything ok?” He asks, both her parents look at her.
“Why are you so scarred?” The girl asks directly. Abed and Ofelia jump in their seats, reprimanding her immediately.
“Zaffy! We don’t ask those things!” Ofelia is livid, covering her mouth.
“Apologize this instant, young lady.” Abed is not as angry but adamant in teaching her what’s right from wrong.
“No, it’s ok; I understand.” Dreko looks at his hands. Following the scars with his eyes, he sees the hand-shaped scar in the middle of his arm. “When I was younger, I got in an incident, and these scars were the result of that.”
“Did it hurt?”
“A little.” He lies, remembering the pain from inside out and the screams that tore his throat apart. Zaffy nods.
“Can I have some dessert now, mom?” She changes the subject when her questions have been answered. Ofelia accepts, trying to move on from the awkward conversation.
“Take yours and your brother’s, eat it watching TV, go ahead.” Abed tells them, and the kids leave in a hurry. “I am so sorry, Dreko.”
“Don’t be; it’s normal, at least she didn’t seem weirded out about them.”
“You are good with kids.” Ofelia compliments him. “Have you thought about having any?” Dreko’s eyes darken immediately, but Abed talks before he can say anything, and neither one of them notices the sorrow.
“Dear, please, he isn’t even married yet.” Abed smiles. “Have you thought about it? Tying the knot with Lumen and Rowena?”
“With Rowena it is still too soon, but with Lumen… yes, I have been thinking about it.” He admits it. “But I haven’t found the right ring, the right moment, and we have been together for so long that it makes any ceremony feel a bit… meh… Am I explaining myself?” He receives no immediate answer; both are fascinated by the idea of a potential wedding.
“Nonsense, you’ll see; when you find the right moment to do it, everything will feel perfect and any doubt will disappear from your mind.” Ofelia assures him. “If you want, you can have the ceremony here; this place is beautiful.” Dreko didn’t expect that, but he nods, admitting it is not a bad idea.
“And with your portals, you can have the honeymoon wherever.” Abed says, barely containing the enthusiasm. Dreko realizes how he looks exactly like their kids when they wanted dessert.
“That’s a good point, but there are some loose ends I have to figure out first.”
He stays a little longer before going back to The Tower, where he brushes his teeth and immediately jumps through another portal. They now appear on a barren land, closer to the green giant’s settlement. Obsidian yelps after exploring a bit of the land; Dreko understands what she wants and pulls out a container with food for her, serving it in a bowl: a couple of mice, a small bird, some berries, and two eggs.
While she eats, three green giants walk in the distance; Dreko is sitting down on the ground when the giants stop in front of them.
“Hello, Dreko; hi, Obsidian.” Mathilde waves. She is a nineteen-foot-tall green giant with long, loose black hair, a formidable physique, and wearing a brown leather top only covering her breasts and a loincloth from the same material. The woman behind her, Amelie, is a half-giant Dreko has met before, being shorter than the average giant but still being taller than humans with a height of fifteen feet. Another thing that's different is her hair: all pure-blooded giants have it black, she has it brown, and the tips are dyed green. The third giant is a man, the same size as Mathilde, wearing a leather shirt and jeans, Lanx. These two wave at the duo too.
“What’s up?” The immortal says, Obsidian is too busy eating for her to engage with the giants.
“I am glad you could come. Let’s go.”
“We have to wait for Obsidian to finish eating.” He reminds her. “Sit.” The three giants agree to this; Dreko feels the floor shake when they sit down. “Is there something specific you wanted me here for or…?”
“We have a-- I guess, festival is the most accurate way to describe it.”
“Am I like the guest of honor or something?” Dreko smiles, waving like royalty and giving a presumptuous look to the three giants.
“No, but you are gonna attract just as much attention, if that wins you over.” Mathilde ruffles his hair with her fingers; Dreko pushes her hand away, playfully. His long hair is mere inches away from the floor when sitting down, styled with a loose half man-bun.
“We also have dances and alcohol and food.” Lanx sweetens the pot. Obsidian finishes and, with a little hesitancy, goes closer to the giants.
“So it is a festival.” Dreko concludes, jokingly.
“They… we call it the Leisured Convite of Hunts and Nature.” Amelie explains, shyly. The immortal looks at her, not smiling but with an appeasing look. “But yeah, it’s a festival.”
“Perfect, just let me tell Lumen and Rowena.” A drone flies out of his bag. On its own, the messaging app opens and starts recording a video message. “Hey, Lu&Ro, I am here with Mathilde, Lanx and Amelie.“ The device records simultaneously from the frontal and back camera, showing the giants with the appropriate zoom so the three can fit in the shot. “They invited me to this festival thing, just wanted to let you, guys, know, if you want come at any point, you have my location and… I am sorry, I should have asked first, it’s cool? I can rerecord this if…“
“Don’t be ridiculous, yes, you can come.“ Mathilde says to the camera with a big smile.
“There you have it, um, text me when you get home.” An “I love you” for the two of them almost slips out, but he holds it in and plays it off by squeezing his lips. “So, yeah, bye, have fun.“
“You don’t say that you love ‘em?” Mathilde asks, confused.
“I do… to Lumen, with Rowena is still so new, I don’t think it’s the right moment just now.“
“Fair enough, let’s go, it has already started.“
After a few minutes walk, the group arrives to the rudimentary village, where giants, from the seven-feet-tall hatchlings to the forty-feet-tall elder ones, are either drinking, dancing, eating, competing, telling tales of hunts and battles or hooking up. Loud music blasts from a band standing on a tall platform made out of rock. The air smells like wet nature, alcohol, fruit and meat.
“I am definitely going to get trampled by giants drunk feet and hit by some baby —still big— hands.“ The scarred man sighs, finding it both dreadful and funny. “Let’s go.“
As he walks through the party, some inebriated looks go his way. Not being a truly welcoming village, but having Dreko gained the respect of leader Barnabas; the giants have to begrudgingly accept it. It doesn’t mean they are happy about it.
The three giants, the immortal and the fox sit down in a circle after Lanx carries a 9.5-feet-tall barrel of alcohol with wooden mugs on top of it. The giants look at Dreko, finally remembering the size difference, embarrassed.
“Wipe those expressions of your faces, I brought my own.” Out of his backpack, he pulls out a glass beer mug. He puts it on the ground so he can go for a rock to use as a stool chair.
“Now I gotta warn you, this stuff is made for getting drunk people bigger than you so pace yourself.” Quietly, instinctively, they compite to see who chugs it faster, being close between Amelie and Mathilde. Indisputably, Mathilde wins when Amelie puts down the mug with her throat burning. Lanx and Dreko lost by being tied last.
“Yes! Undefeated champ!” Mathilde chants, clapping and flexing. “How are you feeling?” After finishing gloating, she asks Dreko.
“Mm? I am fine, it takes a lot to get me drunk, trust me.” He smiles with clear eyes.
“We’ll find out how much.” She opens the lid with a punch and the four fill their mug while Obsidian lies on the floor, listening to the music and watching everyone enjoying themselves.
The barrel is almost empty. Mathilde, Lanx and Amelia are drunk unlike Dreko who is only tipsy and his fingers are jittery despite having drunk as much as his company.
“Let’s dance!“ Mathilde shouts, slamming the barrel. Before getting an answer, she pulls Lanx into the dance floor; Amelia and Dreko look at each other before following them. The music has a sylvan vibe that the immortal had never listened; something awakes inside of him. Not only joy, certainly not community, something animalistic that twists his heart and a sudden wave of excitement cuts any inhibition remaining more than the alcohol ever could.
The giants dance in an aggressive —yet passionately— way. A slam. Dreko takes a couple of seconds to catch the vibe first, he also tries to figure out if the ground is shaking that much or if he is dizzier than he thinks. He jumps into the dance when he finds his friends. The four of them jump, push and scream. Lanx and Mathilde dance together in the middle of the slam without taking eyes of each other meanwhile Amelie and Dreko are pushing each other between laughs. Despite his inhibitions numbed, Amelie notices her dance partner looks around hyper vigilant and his body is a bit stiff.
“IS EVERYTHING OK?” She screams, lowering a bit her head to be closer to his ear. Amelie’s size compared to Dreko’s positions his head more or less at the middle of her thigh. He nods, with a small smile, staring into her eyes. Drunker than him, Amelie feels weird when looking back into his eyes and, extremely flustered, she grabs his hand. “JUST LET YOURSELF GO!” Together they start jumping and dancing, twirling around and pushing others harder. Mathilde and Lanx snap out of their romantic bliss to pick up on their friends, exchanging a gossipy look.
Soon the night reclaims the sky, this doesn’t stop the celebration but does changes something in Dreko that everyone around notices. His scars are glowing red all over his body. His friends look at him with a mix of strangeness and wonder. Not knowing what to do or how to explain that it sometimes happen, mainly because the entire village has eyes on him, he focus a couple of seconds and the glow disappears.
“I’ll go get a drink.” He mumbles, walking away. The music didn’t stop so his friends didn’t hear him; Amelie goes after him.
She doesn’t find him at first, going to the barrel they were drinking from. She spots him carrying a full closed barrel by himself on his back and pushing another with his foot.
“Dreko? Where did you get that?” She tries to help him but soon realizes that help isn’t needed.
“I bought it from those guys over there.” Dreko answers, pointing to two drunk giants counting gems. Amelie recognizes them as the brewers, also gets impressed by Dreko’s ability to hold the barrel with only one hand.
“But all alcohol is free tonight.”
“I know, as long as it is shared, I want to drink these ones by myself.” This shocks Amelie, who worries he is going to die from all that booze.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, hey, if you are embarrassed about what-whatever that was, it’s not a big deal.” He puts the barrel down effortlessly and turns around. The look on his face is normal, no trace of shame or anger.
“I am not embarrassed about that, but I get it’s something you don’t see everyday and I don’t need to be even more in the spotlight around the village so… I’ll drink until I get drunk…” He looks at the barrels with a calculating look. “Eh… yeah, drunk enough, I suppose.” He answers, letting know that those will barely do the job.
“Ok, can I join you?”
“Sure.”
At some point, later that night, the barrels are empty; Amelie lies, unconscious, on the floor after she cut herself off, leaving the rest of the alcohol for Dreko, who indeed drank it all. The festivity is still going on, although less giants are still up and the music has stopped. Obsidian left long ago, opening a portal through her collar. The immortal stumbles around in silence with million thoughts in his mind but not one coherent, also flashes of moments from his past that he currently doesn’t have the strength to bottle up. He drunk texts Lumen and Rowena, both answered, but by then he didn’t remember where was his phone and couldn’t really feel his fingers.
In his alcohol induced walk, he sees Lanx and Mathilde going at it. Dreko tilts his head to the right, trying to understand if he broke into their home.
“These giants don’t have homes.” He remembers, thanks to the last pinpoints of sober brain he has left. He speeds away, abruptly stopping to puke. “Not my best idea.” The retching sounds caught the attention of three male giants and a female one.
“Look it here, the shining tiny fairy can’t hold his booze.” Everybody laughs. Dreko doesn’t acknowledge them at first, being busy puking. Once done, he turns around to look at them. The four are the same size: thirty feet tall. The three male giants look slightly alike: same facial features and a birthmark on the left arm.
“You wouldn’t say that if you knew how much percentage of alcohol I am now in comparison to ‘blood’.” The air quotes go over the giants’ head, not having to know what he means.
“Our alcohol made by giants for giants.” Reeking of alcohol and humidity, the giant moves fast towards Dreko and picks him up, putting his giant hand around the immortal’s entire body. “You shouldn’t have come.” Dreko feels how the grip tightens. Blood comes out of his orifices and the giant feels how the body crushes against his hand. After a few seconds, something changes and the giant feels it inside his hand; his prey is wide awake like nothing happened, except for the blood trails down his face. An unexplainable force hurts his hand. “Fuck! My hand!” He lets the man fall like a rag doll; a stump when the body hits the floor is heard and Dreko immediately stands up. The long hair is soaked in his own blood, at some point at night, the man bun got undone. The moonlight is behind him, highlighting his silhouette, his face can’t be distinguished in the dark.
“Jesus, you can’t endure pain for shit…” He laughs and points. “I just tensed my body, you completely shattered my bones." His laugh stops abruptly. One look sends chills down the giant’s spine and he gives a step back, somehow the small man appears an indomitable mountain. “I don’t understand why we can’t be friends.” His eyes glow red in the dark, soon followed by the scar labyrinth.
The petrified giants are waiting for Dreko to make a move, instead he vanishes into thin air. With the alcohol quickly burned by his metabolism, the immortal corrects his course as he runs at a non threatening speed for the surroundings. By the time he arrives at The Tower, Lumen and Rowena are asleep on his bed; after a quick shower, he joins them with nothing else on but his underwear. Everything feels so cozy: from his long fresh hair under him to the warm soft bodies that immediately cuddle against him. His eyelids feel heavy as a peaceful dream takes over and his body relaxes after he puts his arms over the ladies.
Next morning, he is the first one awake. Rowena drools on his shoulder, the blue hair is covering half her face. Lumen lies on top of her chest with the sun highlighting her muscular physique on her back and the red hair.
The women wake up at the same time twenty minutes later. Rowena wipes her cheek, drowsy; Lumen turns around with a small pleasant smile.
“How was it yesterday?” The redhead asks with hoarse voice, before answering, Dreko runs straight to the kitchen for three glasses of water and comes back within seconds.
“Not so easy to climb the elevator stairs with these.” He says, handing her a glass.
“You could have asked the drones to bring them.” Rowena suggests, streching. “Come back to bed.” He obeys after putting her glass down on the night stand.
“Yesterday was ok,” he clicks his tongue, “I met Abed’s family and then went with the giants, it was fun until it wasn’t.”
“What happened?” Lumen turns around, supporting herself on the elbows.
“Apart from my friends, no one there seems to like me… On the bright side, I can atest to not being entirely personal, nothing like casual racism as the silver lining of being rejected.”
“I thought you gained their respect by beating the eldest one.” Lumen immediately gets upset by the idea of someone disrespecting her beloved.
“Wai-- what?” Rowena asks. “You beat up an old person?”
“It’s not like that, the eldest one is a giant on his prime with seniority; when I met Mathilde, she took me to him and dictated that if I could make him take a step back, i would be welcome.”
“And they didn’t honor it?”
“Sort of. I can be there, but they are racist towards humans, even the half giant is rejected constantly.” He shrugs it off. “Their booze is great though.”
The thriad remains on the bed in silence for a while.
“Do you have any plans for today?” Rowena asks. “Any mountain to climb or giant beast to fight or an insurrection to start, maybe lifting an entire city out of the ground.” Dreko straightens up when she says this.
“You saw my archives.” Rowena grins playfully. “Maybe tomorrow, I don’t have plans for today.”
“Let’s spend it together.” Lumen suggests and the others immediately accept.
I have nothing to add here but I need to make a small separation
By first light, Delilah already has been up for, at least, two hours. They exercised for about an hour, then hopped in the shower and got dressed in the tactical suit, minus the mask, followed by another hour of target practice; by that moment, some of the members have started their day by having breakfast. Delilah doesn’t join them, nodding at them when passing next to the cafeteria.
On top of all they have already done, Delilah gathers information on their next targets. Like everyday, the others try and avoid their leader’s vicinity before having breakfast or they will pull them into a long discussion that soon turns into a mission debrief. Normally, Zom is the one happy to be on the spot but, as the rumor spreads, they had a fight and Delilah is burying themself even more on work. So the general consensus is to tiptoe around both of them until everyone is fed and completely awake.
An angry, starving and emotional Delilah is aware of everyone walking on eggshells and this only adds to their angst. The more vulnerable voice aches inside of them.
“Are you happy about what you’ve become?” This intrusive thought acts as a knife straight to the heart. “No one wants to talk to you, you aren’t a leader, you are a tyrant.” Delilah feels the fatal blow of their insecurity when a raging fire explodes from the belly straight to the brain.
“I am a damn good leader, that’s why I have all these people under my command and I am helping everyone by taking out scumbags. I won’t let anyone get on the way of that or of saving my sister.” The angst is eaten and used as fuel for their extreme determination; through a drone, Delilah delivers a message to everybody all across the base. “Briefing starts in thirty minutes, everybody be there or don’t be here when we return from our assignments.”
The briefing can be defined by two adjectives and it would be enough: brief and uncomfortable. They divide in ten teams, eight of this teams are made out of five people, one has six members and the last one—Delilah’s— only has four.
“Each team goes to a different state, coordinate among you which state your teams are going, take all the equipment you might need but equally and give us update reports for each state you free.” Delilah is still a sound leader, but this plan is received by whispered rejection, fear and defiance. “Quiet! I wouldn’t ask this of you if I didn’t think you all are more than capable to do this. Besides, the way we have been doing it is too slow and ineffective. We can’t let anyone suffer the same fate any longer—” They choke on their words. Everyone gets that their leader is hiding —or baring the weight of— a big piece of information that no one truly wants to insist for.
Zom writes something real quick in a piece of paper that hands over to Ashley, a woman in his team, with an indication for her to say it.
“We should also… um… get a hideout and get some allies in each state so it gets easier each time we do it, after… after thorough background checks.” She manages to explain Zom’s idea, this last part reveals to Delilah the true, paranoid voice puppeteering Ashley.
“That’s a good idea, Ashley, thanks.” Delilah nods, sincerely, not adressing in any way that they know Zom really said it. “You heard her, add that to your task lists and go as soon as you are ready. Go kick some ass.”
With all teams ready to depart, ten portals are open side by side to different states. Zom sits on the back of a chair against the wall, observing quietly all his allies and Delilah standing in front of a portal. Through the eyes of the mask, a gloomy stare watches Delilah and their team go through the portal without even looking back.
Soon the hideout gets emptied and no one knows when it'‘ll be full again, if ever.
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So... it wasn't up that long nor am I so famous, but I accidentally published the chapter 27 before the 26 so I am publishing it now in the correct order.
Since the first strike, which positioned a little unknown hacker group at the top of every governmental agency's watch list, the, now known as, freedom fighters —or insurrectors— have been attacking detainment centers across the country. Each and everyone of them, by that point, is hardened, traumatized and trained. By some miracle, no one else had died. They were even more members now than the original thirty.
In the middle of taking over a detainment center, Delilah treats a wounded Warren, a fellow combatant, while bullets are flying everywhere around them. Drones, a gift from one of their mysterious allies, protect the two. After Delilah does the best they can given the circumstances, they jump back into the fight with only one drone protecting them; the remaining drones operate autonomously, protecting everybody and taking all the injured to an improvised safe zone, Warren included.
Delilah catches up to their teammates, having some trouble wheeling through empty cartridges, blood and bodies on the ground; Zom, their right hand, looks back at them for a second to corroborate their well-being, focused on the fight. Slow and steady, the tide eventually turns their way with the remaining migration agents either gagged and cuffed or bleeding out.
“Is it me or this is getting slower each time we do it?” Symphony says, wiping blood from their jacket.
“They are putting more and more agents.” Brio assures, strutting towards the security office.
With dismal calm and the penetrating smell of blood on the main yard, the hackers inspect the bodies in search of keys, phones, equipment and anything else that could be useful. One of the women, Paola, struggles with the nausea and Finch notices this only by watching her trip with nothing.
“Hey, boss,” Delilah and Zom turn to see Finch. “I am going to prepare the extraction point; I am taking Kali, Xare, Gami and Paola with me, if you don’t need us.” Delilah nods, with no issues or hesitation. Zom, on the other hand, gives him a nasty look through the protective mask —wore by everyone— that Finch ignores, leaving the main yard with the chosen ones. Wry finds the keys attached to the belt of a dead legless woman, torn off by a shotgun blast. He throws them to Delilah, who speeds away to the cells followed by Zom.
“Karla! Karla!” After Zom helped them down the stairs, Delilah frantically shouts their sister’s name in hopes of her being there; a couple of prisoners answer to that name, none is their sister. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuuuuck!” They scream at the top of their lungs, frustrated; Zom knows better than to console them at that moment. The keys fall from their hand and he picks them up, freeing everyone; by the time he has finished, Delilah is no longer there.
“A portal… fuck.“
With Delilah gone, leadership goes straight to Zom, who leads every last one of the prisoners to the extraction point: A portal opened in the cargo bay leading to another part of the city.
In that exact moment, Delilah finds themself on an undisclosed location: a cold dark room with a bloody battered man hanging from the ceiling, like a cocoon.
“Where is she?” Delilah’s voice is raspy and somber. The man shakes horribly even before facing his captor; their voice sends chills down his spine and immediately cries in desperation. “WHERE IS MY SISTER?” If spoken, it frightened the man; shouted, it almost sends him to a total collapse. They cut the ropes holding him, with little to none consideration about he hitting the floor hard. “My sister is nowhere to be found…“ Their voice change again now to a bloodthirsty tone, the body language projects a barely contained aggression. “I am loosing my mind every day I go without knowing something about her… at this point, I would love to know that she is dead… except no one is giving me even that.” Delilah finally straightens the man up. Gerald Pearl, abducted former president of V.T.B., cries out of horror. “So I am not going anywhere until I get what I want and this is going to be different from your sabbatical here, now it’s going to get messy and uncomfortable.”
Screams and cries start not long after.
Five hours later, Delilah jumps to the compound through a portal; they go to their private room to wash and rest without speaking to no one. In the shower, they listen the door open.
“Shit.” Delilah mumbles to themself, knowing well Zom is on the other side.
“We need to talk.“
“We really don’t.“ There is no malice or anger on their voice, only exhaustion. Delilah notices the water dyeing red when washing their hair and hands. “I really want to be alone, we can talk tomorrow.“ They say, hoping Zom doesn’t notice the sudden nervousness on their voice when redirecting the water to send the red liquid down the drain.
“You went to see him.” Zom ignores their request, opting to go straight for the elephant in the room. “Where do you have him?”
“None of your business.“ Delilah closes themself off; Zom feels his insides churned by that answer, almost tasting the vile of their indifference. He leaves in a hurry to get as far away as possible and they mask their rogue tears with the water.
That night, despite all sleeping in a communal area, Zom sleeps as far away as possible from Delilah, on a small and uncomfortable corner right below a hole in the wall from where the freezing night air and the morning drizzle could enter. Delilah stares longingly to the starry sky, their silent exterior is only a poorly maintained facade as their soul have been screaming non-stop for Karla.
I don't remember when is the last time I updated this blog, but here we are, so...
As soon as Rowena leaves The Tower, the immortal goes straight to the rooftop and jumps without hesitance.
Not using his ability or trying to slow down right until the moment he is about to land, he enjoys the wind resistance against his body and the smell of fresh fruit and cut grass. He lands softly, with not so much as a stone turned.
Obsidian, the fox, only lifts her head up to see him and rests it back down when he lies next to her under the shadow of a tree. The warmth hits a perfect temperature, the fresh breeze and the quiet surroundings make him fall asleep for an hour, with one hand on the fox.
Rowena walks like she is on an alien planet. AIs are appearing and disappearing everywhere, hovering over the ground in their preferred holographic form or as drones; satyrs and minotaurs are walking around, minding their own business, some fully, partially, or not at all dressed, with no one batting an eye. Pegasi fly by and land on designated areas. At first, she thinks they are like any other animals until she listens to them talk. Distracted by this, she crashes against a cyclops not much taller than her; after apologizing, she keeps going. The wild fauna are big cockroaches with horns, squirrels with peaks and prehensile tails on trees, flying octopi, and medium-sized four-legged owls with large necks. She can’t even tell which establishments are for what, and just when she is about to collapse, a voice and a strong grip around her arm prevent this.
A female minotaur sits with her on the ground. It takes a couple of seconds for Rowena to realize who is sitting in front of her. The minotaur’s face is, as can be expected, of a bull, but it has big, lined eyes, a small snout, and medium-sized horns peeking through a mane of black and white hair just above her ears. The white sclera is almost fully covered by the heterochromatic irises, one light green and the other blue. She wears a loose batwing sleeve t-shirt with a V-neck and lace trim, a pair of bootcut jeans, and no shoes because of her hooves.
“Are you ok? Do you need me to call someone?” The image of an anthropomorphized bull talking to her threatens to send her over the edge again. Veronica, the minotaur, doesn’t imagine that what’s wrong with the blue-haired woman is the fact that a minotaur is trying to help, so she gets Rowena up and takes her to the nearest shop. ”Sorry for grabbing you without permission.” A bohemian coffee shop with brown walls, illuminated by old-looking lanterns shining purple, and one big creeper plant all over the roof. “Hey, sorry, can you bring me a glass of water for my friend?” Veronica asks the barista, a tattooed cyclops. With the glass in her three-fingered hand, she turns around to find that Rowena has bolted.
Rowena, incapable of pretending anymore, runs erratically. Not a coherent thought is formed in her head, not even using the necklace to jump away or bring Dreko to her aid, who is still sleeping in the garden. A couple of officers stop her, not in a menacing way and without putting a hand on her.
“Miss, please, stop. Is everything ok? What’s your name?” Rowena calms a little when she finds herself in front of two humans.
“Ro-Rowena Devi.” Veronica catches up to them soon after.
“Hey, miss, you stop right there too.” The minotaur obeys immediately. “I am Officer Long; that’s my partner, Officer Langdon.” The officer talking to them is a middle-aged blonde woman. Her partner is an older man with grey hair going bald from the back, some wrinkles on his face, and a gut visible through the leather trench coat.
“I am sorry; she seemed about to pass out, and I tried to help, but she ran away.”
“Is that true, miss?”
“Sh-she didn’t do anything to me; I just panicked a little. Am I in trouble?”
“No, we just need to contact someone to come pick you up and an ID.” Rowena pales at the mention of an identification.
“I don’t think my driver's license from Azglam City will work here.” When she is about to reach for her new phone, she thinks. “It’s easier to say that I have been robbed.” The officers and Veronica are expecting Rowena, who finally answers. “I got robbed; I have nothing on me, but I live with Lumen. She works at a private security company, Font Group, I think.”
“Do you know Lumen’s cellphone number?”
Meanwhile, Lumen is in her office when the call comes through.
“Yeah?”
“Hi, this is Officer Long. We are with Rowena in midtown; she was visibly shaken, and when asked, she told us she had been robbed and gave us your number.” Lumen stops everything.
“Is she ok?”
“Yes, but we can’t let her go just like this; we have to leave her with someone capable of proving their identities. Can you meet us at the station 19?” Rowena didn’t expect to have to wait at the station.
“I’ll be right there.” As soon as the phone call ends, Lumen lets her workplace know she has an emergency before jumping through the window. In her holographic form, she isn’t in any real risk from the fall, but she still sends herself to the nearest rooftop before even getting close to the ground. On her way to the station, she texts Dreko to let him know and stop him from literally crashing in the station.
Five minutes later, Lumen is walking through the front door of the police station like she hasn’t just fallen out of the sky. Unfazed, the receptionist, a male astral projection, watches her land on the sidewalk and addresses her when she is in front of him.
“Good morning, miss, how can I help you?”
“I am Lumen. I received a call telling me they were bringing a woman who was mugged, Rowena. I am here to pick her up.”
“I am gonna need an identification, your signature on these forms, and the name of the officer who called you.” She gives her ID and takes the papers. “What’s your relationship with the woman?”
“Roommate and girlfriend.” The AI answers without hesitation. Officer Long overhears this and jumps in the conversation.
“Maybe you can explain to us, then, why your girlfriend doesn’t appear in any database.” Lumen turns her head to see the lady cop. “I am Long; we talked on the phone.”
“Hello, pleasure to meet you.” Lumen offers her hand. “I am sorry, I can’t tell you that. We have only been dating for a couple of months, but if she isn’t arrested, I would very much like to take her with me.” Long stares at the redhead with eyes pretending to be cynical and distrustful, but the AI sees right through the facade.
“She isn’t arrested; I’ll have someone bring her to you.”
“Thanks.”
When Rowena and Lumen walk out, Long keeps them in her mind for a couple of minutes before being dragged to whatever mess crosses her desk.
In the street, Rowena walks embarrassed; Lumen doesn’t seem too worried or eager to know what happened. She purposely takes Rowena down a calm and beautiful path on their way to her job. She buys two ice creams that the blue-haired girl barely tastes.
“Hey.” Rowena stops to turn around. Lumen kisses her before anything can be said, and then she smears a bit of ice cream on her nose. “It’s not a big deal.”
“I don’t know what happened.”
“It was more our fault; we threw you alone to the deep end, but hey, you can be with me until we go home and then try again later, another day.”
“I don’t know… maybe I don’t belong here.” Lumen doesn’t answer; instead, she brings her down to the freshly cut grass.
“Lie down with me.” Rowena accepts. Once lying down, Rowena manages to calm down a little. The sky and smell of grass are pretty similar to that of her world, and Lumen helps as a beacon of peace and normality. “I have seen you excited to learn about new things ever since the first time we met, and Dreko and I know your strength and potential. Whatever happened today isn’t a testament against it; you are the second one to move to a different Earth in a different universe… and the first one was Dreko, not exactly normal that one… and you fucked him!”
This last part gets a rich and hearty laugh that is soon joined by the elegant, synthetic laugh of Lumen.
Back at The Tower, Dreko is tinkering inside the lab. On a table there are so many pieces that the surface is barely visible. Some half-built prototypes are on top of all the pieces. Sporadically, he goes to the pods, checking the schematics and the insides of the machine before running back to the table and trying something new.
An hour goes by, some pieces are now on the floor, and the prototypes have grown from a couple to ten of the same-size round emitters but with different models. When he is about to activate the first one, his phone rings.
“Yeah?”
“Hi, Dreko, I just wanted to fill you in on Rowena.”
“Is she OK? She left a while ago.”
“A police officer called me. She is ok, but they asked me to pick her up.” At this, he immediately looks at the window.
“I’ll go.” The tone in his voice lets Lumen guess he is going into a frenzy state.
“No, Dreko, no, you’ll make things more complicated; stay there. I am already on my way. What were you doing?”
“I am working on the nanohealing.” He says, throwing the device up in the air and catching it.
“Keep doing that; it’s important work. I’ll give it a look when I get home.”
“Fine, call me when you are with Ro.”
“Will do, love you.”
“Love you.”
Rowena and Lumen arrive at the agency. After registering her, Lumen takes her partner to the floor in which she works. Rowena, who is calmer now, doesn’t expect to see a wide room full of servers and a multi-screen workstation.
“So you work here all day?”
“Most of the days, sometimes I go out in the field, but my main task is to help field operatives either with complex technological and virtual issues or by feeding them information.”
“So you can watch all the city from here?” Rowena watches the keyboard with keen interest.
“Well, no, but I can see what our agents are doing through the drones that follow them around, and some are not even in this city.” Lumen explains, noticing the curiosity spark in her eyes. “Go ahead, see, no one will know; just don’t open the mic.”
“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble.” Lumen smiles and pushes Rowena towards the workstation by her lower back. The hacker feels a sudden warm rush inside that begins with the touch of the AI. Pretending nothing happens, Rowena goes through all the drone cameras, watching nearly fifty different operatives that are protecting human assets, vaults, data banks, or precious belongings. Most of these show calm scenarios where they are only making vigilance rounds and rotating shifts. Some, however, have changed into high-stakes situations where shots are being fired and the agents are on the move with their designated task. It so happens that, when Rowena is using the console, a distress call enters, asking for Lumen to open a closed gate. The AI is about to step in when Rowena jumps into action, opening the door like she already knew how that system works. “Piece of cake.”
“Maybe you should work here.” Impressed, Lumen gives her a quick peck on the lips that Rowena wasn’t expecting.
“Or maybe we should open our agency.” The hacker proposes on a whim.
“Is that something you would like to do here?” The AI asks with a smile. “Because it’s something we can do.”
“Ah, yes, you, me, and Dreko. An unstoppable force.” Rowena exaggerates but actually gets chills when she notices that Lumen isn’t joking. “Are you for real?”
“Well, Dreko wouldn’t be a part of it directly, because he is kind of…” She gestures with both hands next to her head, moving them in a way she understands that he is too much. “For the kind of clients I see that pay for this service, besides, he doesn’t want a job where he gets sent around the world.”
“Isn’t that what he does every day?”
“Yes, but because he wants to, it’s different somehow. I think he just doesn’t want the chain around his neck.”
“Has he ever worked?” Rowena asks, unable to imagine him in an office.
“Not in a normal way; he is an immortal that didn’t finish middle school, so…”
“Right.” The conversation arrives at a natural stopping point.
Rowena juggles the proposal in her mind while watching Lumen work the rest of her shift, even being a witness to her ability to multiply herself. At eight o’clock, Lumen clocks out for the day, and they open a portal to The Tower.
The women appear in the lobby and go up to the dining room, where an entire dinner awaits them, still hot. The scarred man is in the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of wine; a big smile appears across his face when he sees both his partners.
“Hi, beautiful women!” He kisses both on the lips before putting the wine in the ice bucket. “Dinner is served.” Lumen puts her purse on the bar before going to her seat. Rowena is about to sit down when she is grabbed gently by the arm. “Are you ok?” He is visibly worried, and the expression softens his face a lot. Rowena melts on the inside.
“Yes, yes, I am ok; Lumen calmed me down.”
“She is good at that.” He strokes Rowena’s cheek before speeding to Lumen’s side, pulling her chair, and does the same for Rowena before sitting in his chair. The three toast and eat in silence for a couple of minutes at first, enjoying the food and the atmosphere.
Halfway through the dinner, Dreko finally breaks the silence.
“How was work today?” He takes a sip, watching both of them. Rowena sees his eyes, truly asking, but a spark shows how unintentionally analytic his nature is.
“Fairly normal. I was in my office all day.” Lumen answers after cleaning her mouth. He looks at Rowena, waiting for her answer.
“Oh, well, it was fascinating and intense.”
“She is a natural, of course.” The AI compliments her. Rowena smiles, awkwardly but sincerely, with food in her mouth that washes down with wine.
Silence fills the room once again. The atmosphere, despite being homey, feels like there is something brewing between the three, and Rowena is the first to address it.
“I am sorry if I worried you today; it wasn’t my intention.” She looks down at the table, afraid of facing them. “Don’t think I am not ready for… whatever this will be… I am all in, really.” The couple looks at each other from across the table before running to embrace her in a tender hug. Rowena is caught by surprise; the love is so pure and fulfilling that tears run down her cheeks. Dreko is the first to speak.
“You have nothing to apologize for; your commitment and love towards us was never in question. I know this is new, and maybe you feel like you have a position to reach; you don’t. This relationship will grow and evolve in its own time; don’t sweat it, and we can show you how to navigate this world… I mean, I did it, and you are way smarter than me.” Rowena chuckles, turning to see Lumen.
“You really are smarter than he.” She confirms. Rowena feels better, kissing both.
“So… we are boyfriend/girlfriend/girlfriend?” Lumen and Dreko look at each other again.
“You mean a triad? Yes, or what would you like?” The AI asks her.
“I am fine with that.” Rowena smiles at her now-defined romantic partners. “What are the rules, by the way? Boundaries?”
“I don’t know what Dreko has already told you, but you can do whatever you want; just let us know and regular STD exams.”
“Dreko said pretty much the same.” Rowena rummages through her thoughts. “Are you two seeing anybody else?” The AI and the immortal both shake their heads no. “Why not?”
“We don’t want to right now.” They answer in unison.
“Well, I am not seeing anybody else either.” She clarifies. Dreko and Lumen go back to their seats, where Dreko remembers something.
“Oh, btw, this was before we even shared that kiss in the bunker, but I want you to know that Delilah kissed me.”
“What? When?” Curious instead of jealous or surprised, the urgency for gossip immediately has her accepting it like no big deal. She is also polyamorous, after all.
“Like the first week of being inside the bunker.”
“That didn’t take long.” Rowena is now surprised. “I didn’t think you were their type.”
“I don’t think I am.” Dreko agrees with her. “Delilah kissed me impulsively; I think they did it only to let out some of their anxiety.”
“Have you heard from the hackers since then?” Rowena asks, remembering how things in V.T.B. were when she left with the couple.
“No, I am sure they are ok.”
After a long day, the triad rests on the same bed. Dreko is wide awake, Rowena sleeps all cuddled up against his left side, and Lumen is on his right side, back in her human body. The triad’s day finally ends with the immortal contemplating the infinite night with his eyes glued to the ceiling.
