#cosmicwar

On Mahashivaratri, the Hindu festival celebrating Lord Shiva—the destroyer and transformer—we’re honored to release The Crownless King: Born of the Demon King and the Saint’s Sin by Diamond Celeste. The timing couldn’t be more perfect, as this epic fantasy explores themes of destruction, transformation, and the cosmic battle between light and darkness that Mahashivaratri commemorates. Long before…

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Reality inverts itself here. The air is thick with smoke and ozone here on the outskirts of the crumbled remains of the nation’s heart, WIPED OFF THE MAP to prevent a cancer from spreading to the rest of the body. The Institute has taken great pains to learn the events (and subsequently, the advances and resources) of this version of reality, and Quinn herself is the one that directly oversees it all. Circling in the air above, a Synth Watcher provides a direct feed to the eggheads back home from a bird’s eye view. Quinn, however, provides a feed on the details as she perches herself at an equipment stand used to perform sonar readings of the underground.

Her armor is a silvery, pale gleam in the sallow lights from a dying sun. The design of it was specifically tailored for this world universe after the preliminary reports. Alabaster white under the Institute lights & when inert, but in the field, it generates a modulating field that transmits the reflected lights from Quinn’s surroundings, providing an almost mosaic-like form of camouflage. An advancement of Robert Mayflower’s work -- only refined by the Institute’s hands.

The Synth Watcher caws overhead. Quinn pauses, her visor just barely tilting up from the display of the sonar equipment. It takes only a few seconds lag before a message bursts through on her Pip-Boy.

>> Take cover.

       –––   –––   –––           ❝      you  gonna   knock?    ❞          shadow   asked,   watching   the   other   man   over   the   brim   of   his   coffee.   he’d seen the  stranger   circling   around   the   small   hoosier   town   like a SHARK who’d  smelt BLOOD. he  had   first   caught   sight   of   him   the   day   before.   a   man   sitting   alone   while   wednesday   talked   his   way   out of   paying   for   their   lunch   wasn’t   an ODD sight  by   itself   ...   but   once   shadow   looked   at   him   ; REALLY   LOOKED   AT   HIM ,  he   started   to   find   a   pattern   wherever   his   employer and   he   went.   the   same   jacket,   the   same   posture,   the   same   look   of   a   man   who   had   seen TOO  MUCH. and  now   he   lingered   there,   by   the   bright   red   motel   door   where   he   and   wednesday   ought   to   be   staying   in,  something   in   the   twitch   of   his   fingers   indicated   he  wasn’t   there   looking   for   a HANDSHAKE and  a BEER.  the   motel’s   bright   neon   sign   did   a   poor   job   illuminating   the   parking   lot   where   shadow   sat.   he’d   been   leaning   against   his   car   for   what   felt   like   hours.   the   waitress   that   had   had   two   lunches SWINDLED out  of   her   by   the   old   god   had   also   been persuaded to  follow   him   into their his room,  leaving   shadow SHELTERLESS and SLEEPLESS. wednesday  did   this   often   :   looking   after   himself   before   looking   after   others.   shadow   moon   wasn’t   sure   how   much   longer   he   could   endure   this   sort   of   treatment   without SNAPPING. he  took   another   sip   from   his   coffee.   a   whole   little   bag   of   sugar   had   been   poured   into   it.   shadow   had   never   liked BITTER tastes  ...   but   he   needed   the   caffeine   to   remain alert in  case   any PREDATORS came  sniffing   around   their   hiding   spot.   this   one,   however,  didn’t   seem   to   be   built   up   of   any   wires   or   codex.   he   felt   REAL.

     “    y’  gonna keep sittin’  there staring off into the distance like a statue  ,  or are you gonna act like a human being ?   ”   there’s a lightness in his tone despite the sudden decision he’d made to  SPEAK UP.  the man looks like the observant type  ,  keeps to himself maybe.  fuck if he knows  ,  he’s just itching for an interaction.