#crossxworlds

A CrossXworlds story

© 2025 - Kevin W. Burke

__________

Little Aiani wiped her nose on her pants, sobbing, and looked up to plead again with her Ada to stay. But her father was already gone, footprints trailing over the sand dune. 

She panicked.

“Ada?”

The Stormcrawler answered instead, a shrill backwards shriek from over the dunes, moving towards the rogue Pocket. It was chasing her ada. 

He had ordered her to stay, to wait there. In her heart, behind the fear for Ada, she was angry at him for leaving her, for facing the Stormcrawler alone, for not letting her help him. 

She was a good girl, but she couldn’t obey him this time. She had to help him. One man couldn’t take on a Stormcrawler alone, but maybe with her Firebolt, they could fight it together. 

She ran after his tracks in the sand, her courage building as she ran. That is, until she cleared the last dune. She found the Stormcrawler hissing above Ada, far bigger than she had expected. Its tall legs were twitchy and stabbing, its spider shell crusted over with hardened lava, a ghoulish skeleton head in place of a spider’s head. 

Aiani’s courage wilted. But Ada didn’t flinch below the Stormcrawler as it targeted the spot in the sand where he sat crosslegged in front of the Pocket. He was methodically casting a ritual spell that Fire Elves in their clan used to release their elemental fire essence when they were preparing to die. 

With no village elders to contain it, Aiani knew her Ada’s fire essence would flare out, taking the Stormcrawler and the rogue Pocket with him. Ada wasn’t planning to go back to the village with her. He was sacrificing himself for her, and for the village. 

She screamed, calling after him, climbing the last dune. The Stormcrawler turned on her, stabbing at her with those deadly pointed legs. She dodged them and struck back, firing her Firebolt at it. 

It hissed angrily, but was unhurt. It returned fire of its own, and when it burned her, it also consumed some of her memories. Body and mind aflame, she cried out in agony, rolling in the sand. She was helpless against this monster. 

Before it could consume the rest of her, Ada hit it with his crossbow, making it chase him back towards the Pocket, saving her. But the delay would cost them both: A second Stormcrawler came through the Pocket, trapping Ada. 

He charged toward the Pocket anyway, running under the second monster and desperately rushing to finish his ritual spellcasting. 

Just as he finished the spell, one of the Stormcrawlers stabbed Ada clean through with an obsidian tipped leg. His fire essence erupted in his place before the Pocket, the violent burst of fire energy causing the rogue Pocket to flicker and implode. As it did, it sucked sand, fire, and both Stormcrawlers inward. The Pop! of their molten cores bursting were barely discernible over the thunderous implosion. 

Aiani couldn’t even hear herself screaming her Ada’s name as his essence was sucked away. 

And then, just as suddenly, it was deathly quiet, except for a faint whistling wind over the dunes. 

“Ada?” she whispered. Her breathing came in gasps. 

The wind blew, sand stinging her eyes.

She stood, little legs quivering, and ran towards the place where the Pocket– and her Ada– had just been. 

There was a pit in the sand, blackened at the bottom, and smoking. 

“Ada?” she cried, her voice cracking. She knew he was gone, but a part of her fought it. 

Aiani stumbled down into the scorched pit, towards a stream of smoke trailing up from the center. There was a glow down in the sand at that spot, and she reached into it, oblivious of the heat. 

She pulled out a smoke hued nugget of glass, and as she did, the glow came with it. The glass nugget had a vague flame-like shape. The glimmer inside was smaller and much more faint than the pendant her Ada had given her, the one with Nana's fire essence inside. 

But it was there. She hadn’t lost all of her Ada. 

Suddenly the wind picked up, whirling sand around her.

A voice shrieked with the wind behind her.  

“Councilor Caladstone, hand it over!” 

Aiani spun, clutching the glass nugget in her hand defensively, her long legs planted widely in the sand for stability. She calculated her Mana reserves and quickly did a mental inventory of her available spells. 

Isvarae Sivelle floated over the nearest dune in the center of a vortex of wind and sand, one hand extended from her swirling robe strands, gesturing Aiani forward. What was the Council Delegate doing here? She didn’t belong here. 

“I won’t let you take it!” Aiani shouted defiantly over the sandstorm, “I can still save it!”

“You think you’re protecting something valuable, but you’re being selfish! That will endanger all of us if it’s left to grow!” 

“This is all I have left!" Aiani cried out, tightening her grip around the glass ember. 

“You must let it go!” Isvarae demanded, a curl of her hand causing the winds to pull at Aiani, tugging the nugget loose in her grip. 

“I will save him!” Aiani insisted through gritted teeth, clenching her fist around the glass ember.  

The torrent of wind pulled at her fist, and as she tightened her grip, the ember cracked.

“You fool!” Isvarae shrieked. 

In a flash, the ember burst in her hand, and everything went white.

__________

CROSSXWORLDS: The Pocket Rift

Three worlds. One fracture.

Tryl: A near-future, Earth-like world on the brink-- divided, disillusioned, and unaware it's one of three worlds joined by ancient seams.

Illia: A hidden, magic-rich realm whose agents have quietly shaped Tryl’s fate for centuries… until now.

H'el: A monstrous Outworld of chaos magic, long sealed away-- until the Rift shattered the veil.

When a cataclysm known as the Pocket Rift exposes the gateways between realms, Tryl must confront the hidden influence of Illia-- and the rising tide of horrors from H’el.

As fear and unrest spread, Aiani, an idealistic elf from Illia’s Council, seeks a bold new plan for harmony. But a shadow faction within her own ranks plans to Surge the weakened gates, tipping the balance of power between magic and technology. Her mission collides with Davin, a cynical yet earnest streetwise native of Tryl, who may hold the key to bridging-- or breaking-- the worlds forever.

The race is on to survive the Surge, expose the truth, and choose what kind of future these worlds will share… now that they know they are not alone.

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Index & Episode Links:

Episode 1 - Aiani Crosses Worlds

Episode 2 - Into Tryl

Episode 3 - Flint and Spark

Episode 4a - Ice Warden*

Episode 4b - Enchanted Tech*

Episode 5 - Spark's Advice*

Episode 6 - A Scrying Point

Episode 7 - Hearing by Council

Episode 8 - The Council Charter

Episode 9 - Difficult Questions

Episode 10 - A Bold Proposal

Episode 11 - Exposure in Totality

Episode 12 - Hel's Bulls

Episode 13 - Demon Cow

Episode 14 - Rift Chaos

Episode 15a - Cold Conflict*

Episode 15b - Human Relations*

Interlude 15.3.5 - #glitchday / #riftday - I

Interlude 15.3.5 - #glitchday / #riftday - II

Interlude 15.3.5 - #glitchday / #riftday - III

Interlude 15.3.5 - #glitchday / #riftday - IV

Interlude 15.3.5 - #glitchday / #riftday - V

Interlude 15.3.5 - #glitchday / #riftday - VI

Interlude 15.3.5 - #glitchday / #riftday - VII

Interlude 15.3.5 - #glitchday / #riftday - VIII

Interlude 15.3.5 - #glitchday / #riftday - IX

Interlude 15.3.5 - #glitchday / #riftday - X

Episode 16a - Aiani's Dream I

Episode 16b - Aiani's Dream II

Episode 16c - Aiani's Dream III

Episode 16 - Rude Awakening*

Episode 17 - Unexpected Guest

Episode 18 - Meeting Davin

Episode 19 - A Rooftop Flame

Episode 20 - Rooftop Reverie

Episode 21 - A Paladin's Arrival

Episode 22 - Security Standoff

Episode 23 - Council Civilities*

Episode 24 - A Brief Exchange

Episode 25 - Sobering Spark*

Episode 26 - The Aiani Report

Episode 27 - A New Proposal

Episode 28 - A Counter Surge

Episode 29 - Trouble in Centrecity

Episode 30 - The Council Vote

Episode 31 - Defeat and Restlessness

Episode 32 - Welcome Distraction

Episode 33 - Hoverboard Horizons

Episode 34 - Courting Gloomspire

Episode 35 - Trouble on the Horizon

Episode 36 - Defensive Maneuvers

Episode 37 - Sky Speed Chase

Episode 38 - Tunnel Secrets

Episode 39 - Cautious Return

Episode 40 - Guarded Identities

Episode 41 - Comm Text is Everything

Episode 42 - Morning Mood

Episode 43 - Conflicting Reports

Episode 44a - Reluctant Disclosure*

Episode 44b - On Thin Ice*

Episode 45 - Plausible Deniability

Episode 46 - Pattern Matching

Episode 47 - Reluctant Spark

Episode 48 - Surge Effects

Episode 49 - Grim Outlook

Episode 50 - Local Impact

Episode 51 - Lunch Date

Episode 52 - Testing the Waters

Episode 53 - Curious Questions

Episode 54 - Caught Off-Guard

Episode 55 - Preemptive Defense

Episode 56 - The Coming Attacks

Episode 57 - Personal Attacks

Episode 58 - Trust Broken

Episode 59 - Fallout Preparation

Episode 60 - Watch List

Episode 61 - Odd Coincidence

Episode 62 - Restless For Episodes 63+ see Episode Index II

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These episodes are being posted at first draft level of story development, and will change in the revision process before the final for-publishing version is complete. I also plan to share sketches for illustrations, but those will also be developmental. The final rewrite, with the illustrations, I plan to make available as a free ebook for players of the CrossXworlds RPG that I'm co-developing, as backstory to the RPG.

A CrossXworlds story

© 2025 - Kevin W. Burke

__________

“Gallwraith is in on this too?” Lyra raised an eyebrow, skeptical.

“No, but he’s into something, ma’am,” Aiani said. “I’m still trying to figure out the full extent of it.”

“Explain.”

“Wednesday night, before my meeting with Gallwraith ended, one of his men interrupted us to whisper a message. I didn’t hear much of anything, but I caught the name of Stormweaver in the whisper.”

Isilhuine’s head jolted to attention. She also took a long look around the Council chambers and then lowered her head and her voice.

“Go on…”

“Gallwraith ended our meeting abruptly, but before he did, he dropped mention of his attention being needed on some unrest by the locals in Centrecity.”

Lyra’s eyes sharpened. “What time was this?”

“Before midnight, ma’am.”

“You’re sure you’re remembering the time correctly? And the details of his comments?”

“Crystal clear.”

“Hours before he was supposedly surprised by the attacks on his return,” Isilhuine mused. “An attack that was instrumental in swaying the urgency of Council’s vote on the Surge plan.”

“Exactly.”

Isilhuine straightened up. “What else?”

“Flint tried to corroborate the details of the attack with his contacts in the Centrecity BaseOps team. He couldn’t find any hard evidence of the casualties from the attack, and their Delegate is refusing to provide any, citing confidentiality of the surviving families. There was a list of casualties produced, although with one conflicting report– a dwarf agent on the casualties list who is very much alive… Davrik? He refused to talk to Flint and everyone else is reluctant to discuss how he ended up on the list, other than calling it a mistake.

“Oh, Council personnel went missing, alright,” Councilor Isilhuine said. “They were all low-level assets like Davrik, exactly the kind of nobodies whose absence wouldn’t be felt in operational stability or political impact. I hadn’t managed to pin Councilor Gallwraith down on producing the remains to return to their surviving families. Now we may never know.”

Aiani nodded. “Flint and I suspected as much. We speculate that either there are Council assets who are in on it with him, who gave up their identities to become casualties in name, or else he sacrificed assets to force the urgency of the vote. Either way, it gave us the impression of a man who would stop at nothing to get his way. Which is the real reason I feared for Davin’s life.”

“What do you mean?” 

“Gallwraith seemed particularly petulant about my connection to Davin on the rooftop the night we met. His disdain for Davin was palpable. And in the runup to the Surge plan there were Council Guard sentries placed on each floor of the BaseOps building. It felt like an effort to monitor my interactions with Davin.”

“There were what? I had no knowledge of this!” Isihuine said, incredulous. 

“I thought I was just being paranoid,” Aiani said. “But in the fog of war, on the night of the Surge attack, a hit team was sent to Davin’s apartment.”

Isilhuine stared at her. 

“Those are serious allegations, Aiani.”

__________

A CrossXworlds story

© 2025 - 2026 - Kevin W. Burke

__________

Note: The following interlude takes place between the events of Episodes 15 and 16.

TRYL NODENET ARCHIVES

CYCLE 5 - TURN 17 // TRENDING FEED // TAG: #GLITCHDAY / #RIFTDAY

__________

Source: Centrecity News 7 - Evening Commcast - Closing Segment

Timestamp: C5.T17 - 17:50 MT

Wide shot of the News 7 Studio, showing an angled desk. Two anchors, a man and a woman, are positioned at it, facing both the camera and each other from a diagonal.

As the segment starts, the reporters are in uncharacteristically candid conversation. 

“Well Mitch, it’s no understatement that today has been a news day like none I’ve ever experienced.”

“That’s right Don, and no sign things will normalize any time soon, based on the sheer scope and scale of this so-called glitchday– or riftday, as some are beginning to call it.”

“You’ve always ended our broadcast with a feel-good story to offset some of the regular news stories, which are often frightening or depressing. Please tell me you have a story like that to offset today’s insanity.”

“Don, I have three feel-good stories today. But in true Glitchday / Riftday fashion, none of them are normal.”

Don sighs.

“We’ll take what we can get, Mitch.”

“Alright… first up, a story of a needy father who became the unexpected recipient of a gift from a generous stranger– A Centrecity man received his SkyGrab meal delivery for free when the SkyGrab hoverboard driver transformed into a glowing dwarf in the middle of the transaction. The driver kept his calm, told the customer to keep his credits and enjoy the meal, then escaped quickly on his hoverboard into SK-42 traffic. As a struggling father of four, the SkyGrab customer said the free meal couldn’t have come at a better time for his family. SkyGrab corporate is cooperating with an official investigation.

“Second, an elderly woman whose faithful dog protected her from harm’s way. The 83 year old woman went out to check her post box when a horde of goblins stormed her yard and began to threaten her with sticks and daggers. The dog rushed to her rescue, barking and scaring off the goblins. The woman had just adopted the dog last month. Animal Control is investigating the whereabouts of the goblins.”

“Finally… a heroic rescue from a traffic accident. When ViewTime personality CentCityCutie encountered a very real and very dangerous dragon in Sky Corridor traffic, she suffered a loss of limbs and may have certainly perished– if not for the intervention of a brave hoverboard courier, himself a ViewTime streamer. Half the NodeNet today watched as Cutie’s daring rescuer, deliveryTimeDave, cut through institutional red tape with his persistent livestream pleading and expert hoverboard piloting. We’re pleased to report that, thanks to his heroism, CentCityCutie is in stable condition and expected to survive.”

“Thank you, Mitch. We all need a lot more Dave after a day like today.”

“Indeed we do.”

__________

TRYL NODENET ARCHIVES: AFTERSHOCK

__________

Source: s/trylWatch channel, seenit NodeNet Forum

Timestamp: C5.T18 - 15:51 WT - One day after #riftday

Subject: You Called Me Crazy – I Am Vindicated!

Posted by: u/grimlingprophet

Hello again, my disciples– and all you smug normies who downvoted my last fortytwo posts about ZetherCorp CEO, Cam Zetherbert, being “a manipulative eldritch elf-thing hiding in human skin.”

LOOK AT HIM NOW. 

A sparkling blue, elf-skin thing running down Centrecity’s executive corridor, screaming to be left alone. 

You mocked me when I said the Synapse Systems CEO Rider Vincent was an alien. 

You mocked me when I said Senator Mitt Connel was an alien plant in the Fed Assembly. 

You mocked me & u/autopods_sukk when we said AutoPod CEO Rylan Mink was an alien. 

You mocked me when I told you there was a secret cabal of aliens controlling the world!

And then yesterday, #glitchday happened. The freaking Pocket Rift opened, or whatever they’re calling it.   

This isn’t even the full list! These are just the highlights!

A high school science teacher who’s a gnome. The Centrecity mayor’s an elf. A freaking SkyGrab hoverboard driver is a dwarf. Even CentCityCutie turned out to be dragon food!

The point is. 

I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE RIGHT IN MY LIFE!!! 

New theory: Their world is collapsing and they’re colonizing. 

Or maybe ours is collapsing and they’re escaping.

Either way–

I TOLD YOU.

I. TOLD. YOU.

Oh, suddenly we’re all quiet now? 

Suddenly I’m not the crazy one?

#Vindicated #IWasRight #ToldYouSo #VictoryLap

67K upvotes

Comments:

- u/SparkAnon: bruh, simmer. u sound like u just ate 6 energy bars

- u/grimlingprophet: THEY'VE BEEN HERE FOR YEARS. YOU THINK THIS IS NEW??

- u/cutiefansunited: Too soon with the Cutie snark, she’s barely stable. Low blow!

- u/node_surfer77: Bro. Calm down before the corporate lawyers come through your vents. 

- u/JustLemmeCommute: My brother in Maris, you said the same thing about pigeons.

- u/grimlingprophet: THE PIGEONS ARE NANOBOTS

u/GloomyGloom4: this thread gave me an aneurysm

__________

I'm starting this series over on Substack. I may post one or two new episodes here while I get the Substack series up and going, but once set up, episodes that I post here on tumblr for this series will be a small selection or summary of the episode and a link to the Substack post for that episode.

And they will start over from the beginning of the story, so *new* new episodes will be a ways off, although each episode that includes content from previous tumblr episodes will have changes and additions not found in the original tumblr episodes. The Substack episodes will incorporate 2 - 3 tumblr episodes plus any new characters or revisions, so the episode numbering will change. Why am I doing this? First, I've gotten a better idea of what the story needs as I've written through it. That's meant the addition of new characters and new methods of revealing parts of the world that the main character's POV alone doesn't permit, and THAT has meant reworking early episodes and even adding additional episodes between existing episodes.

Second, the growing size of the story requires an index to navigate but Tumblr's link limitation per post makes a single index post unworkable, and managing and updating multipart index posts is a growing chore as I add earlier episodes.

A CrossXworlds story

#glitchday / #riftday Part I

© 2025 - Kevin W. Burke

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Note: The following interlude takes place between the events of Episodes 15 and 16.

TRYL NODENET ARCHIVES

CYCLE 5 - TURN 17 // TRENDING FEED // TAG: #GLITCHDAY / #RIFTDAY

__________

Source: Internal Gloomsburg Metro Police Department memo

Timestamp: C5.T17 - 06:35 Western Time (WT)

From: Chief Detective Bunning

To: GMPD Squad Leaders

Subject: Possible NodeNet Hack today (C5.T17)

Gentlemen,

I’ve received a tip from the Federated Intelligence Agency regarding rumors of a network wide NodeNet hacking attempt today. 

My reservations about the Federation’s competence and the reliability of its intelligence go without saying. But in this case, they cited a source in Centrecity that Centrecity PD has confirmed. 

In any case, I’m told the NodeNet has a “backbone.” Some of the key players maintaining this backbone are based right here in Gloomsburg, like CloudWeave Solutions. 

Any targeting of backbone nodes in Gloomsburg could have a detrimental effect on our own intelligence and operations reliability. 

Have your squads review their SOPs on data security and stay alert for any disruption of services. 

We can’t afford surprises today– eclipse days already bring out enough of them.

Chief Detective Bendric Bunning - GMPD #1111

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Source: NodeNet Transit Node, AutoPod Lift Channel

Timestamp: C5.T17 - 09:13 Midalon Time (MT)

commuterPod_jon: Am I losing it? My AutoPod lift choked mid-air like something surged the Lift units, and then all Centrecity sky corridor route overlays on the NavSys flickered red. Now there’s a red notice saying “Satellite Interference – Please Wait.” Lots of personal Lifts buzzing past me no problem, but I’m stuck hanging in the middle of SK-42! I get nothing but autoreplies from AutoPod support– go figure! Anyone else’s AutoPod Lift acting like it’s had a few too many? I’m going to get pay docked for another tardy fee at work. AutoPod better compensate me… One star rating FR!

Comments:

- autopods_sukk: bwahaha i’ve been trying to tell you guys that autopod doesn’t care abt the ppl they transport– ur all just revenue to rylan sable

- metroMom: MY KID IS HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM I PUT HIM IN AN AUTOPOD BC HE MISSED TEH BUS LIFT?? WHAT DO I DO!

- cityside_bob: Satellite Interference? There’s no solar activity, unless you count the eclipse coming this afternoon. AutoPod’s just excusing their glitchy app!

__________

Source: ViewTime Video Sharing Node - CommStream - CentCityCutie Channel

Timestamp: C5.T17 - 09:23 MT

The live nodestream starts with a young attractive blond woman in a dressing room. Wearing only a silken cream-colored spaghetti strap camisole and matching tap pants, she’s coyly revealing and then covering her lingerie by swapping sets of outfits hung from clothes hangers in each hand. 

 “Good morning ViewTimers!” she says brightly. “Help me pick my outfit for my lunch date today!”

She swaps the outfits again. 

“Do you like outfit 1? Or outfit 2? Like my livestream and comment below on which one you like best.”

Another outfit switch. 

“Guys, if you were going to lunch with me today, which one would make you want to skip going back to work afterwards?”

She giggles, then turns to the side, holding outfit 1 in front of her, no longer attempting to cover her lingerie. 

“I kinda like the color on this one…” 

She turns the other direction, holding outfit 2 in front of her now. 

“...but this one definitely shows my curves better.”

She drops the clothes hanger for outfit 2, which falls to the floor. 

She puts a finger to her mouth in mock surprise. 

“Whoopsie!” she says. She bends over slowly to pick it up, backside towards the camera, the hem of her tap pants inching up to show slightly more skin below the short lingerie shorts. She looks back knowingly at her Comm camera as she does it. 

She straightens up and covers herself with the outfit again, a self-indulgent smirk on her face. 

“Anyway, wish me luck on my lunch date today– I hear he’s pretty hot, but we’ll see how he measures up.” She rolls her eyes. “If it goes like the usual, I’ll be streaming again when I get back from lunch.” 

She giggles. “But with any luck, you won’t hear from me until much, much later.”

The video freezes with her face in another smirk, then glitches.

*Feed buffering. . . Please wait*

“--happening with my stream today?” she sighs, exasperated. “You’d think this wouldn’t happen to a top steamer like me. Get it together, ViewTime!”

“Anyway, for my premium subscribers, I have a bonus poll in the meantime– If you were my date, which one would you rather see me not wearing later? Vote in the poll and I’ll send one lucky subscriber a random piece of my outfit after I wear it!

“If you’re not a premium subscriber, tap belo–”

*Feed buffering. . . Please wait*

__________

Source: Palomar / Federation NodeNet Authority - Huracan Hub

Timestamp: C5.T17 - 07:26 Western Time (WT)

Status: Network Degradation Ongoing – expect anomalous behavior.

Comments:

- NomadNet: Buddy of mine in CloudWeave CyberSec says there might be a hack going on.

- Skywatcher_Huracan: Huracan still uses old tribal treaties to regulate Node ingress. Try to hack a bay node and you might trigger a 250-year-old Maklamish safety net. Respect the red lines, or the bots will fry your cred!

__________

Source: Centrecity Parenting Node Board

Timestamp: C5.T17 - 10:32 MT

Subject: “Can we talk about how many things are tracking us?”

User: mom_of_three

Earlier every single Lift-pod on my street rebooted. Now the laundry drone bots are refusing to give my towels back because my “identity signature is unreadable.”

My husband says it’s “only temporary” but in the meantime, our recycling bin just took itself for a walk without permission! 

Anyone else’s home feeling like a semi-autonomous prison right now? 

Comments:

- palomarPrepper: Respectfully, ma’am… this has been true of Centrecity for the last 15 years. 

- civicWatchPunk: Wait ‘til you learn what SideGrid is doing with your doorbell cams. 

- urban_druid: Those bins always knew too much. Stay alert!

__________

Source: Owyhee Valley NewsNode, Basindale Province

Timestamp: C5.T17 - 12:43 Highland Time (HT)

Posted by SpudFarm42

NodeNet Auth: Viewer discretion is advised.

Shaky Comm video feed: Sunny farmland, mountains on the far horizon. Leafy green crops with white blossoms in foreground. A glowing oval is suspended over the field beyond a barbed wire fence. Locals approach cautiously, long double-barreled firearms at the ready. 

One of the men adjusts his cap after peering into the oval. “There’s nothing here, LaMar… just looks like my field used to, back before we planted spuds. Barren fields and– what the–”

The feed jitters, audio warping, then stabilizes as lava-belching imps and demonoids leap out.

Screams. 

One farmer fires, metal fragments erupting through demonoid flesh.

The feed freezes with a second demonoid mid-leap, claws shredding through a farmer's overalls, with a warped, shimmering pixel block distorting the feed where the demonoid head should be.

Video feed ends abruptly. 

Comments:

- BasindaleContGuard: Emergency Services are en route in coordination with Continental Guard Units. Public is strongly advised to steer clear. 

- thisIsFine: We was told by Owyhee EMS that it was a wildfire that made all them emergency vehicles to evacuate the valley! They didn’t tell us the fire came from some kinda Outworld H’elscape!

__________

Source: trippr (Node microblogging platform)

presidentshoelaces

reblogged gloomshoe - 3m (C5.T17 14:51 Valmera Time - VT)

OP - justgrlytings - C5.T17

sidenote but like. is anyone else on Abbotton transit feeling extra perceived lately or is that just me

the side-cams on the commuter shuttle were all pointed inward.

inward.

one of them zoomed on me three separate times. i counted.

when i covered my face it immediately panned down to my shoes instead

love to simply ride a train without being subjected to a psychological evaluation, thx :)

sixlenceee - C5.T17

love to simply ride a train without being subjected to a psychological evaluation, thx :)

Louder for the people in the back!

gloomshoe - C5.T17

congrats OP you’ve encountered the behavioral anomaly subroutine

presidentshoelaces - C5.T17

oh sweetie. that thing’s been running for years

it’s just glitchy enough now that it stopped pretending not to stare

13,963 notes - Like - Reblog - Queue

__________

A CrossXworlds story

© 2025 - 2026 - Kevin W. Burke

__________

Note: The following interlude takes place between the events of Episodes 15 and 16.

TRYL NODENET ARCHIVES: AFTERSHOCK

__________

Source: PolitEcon - NodeNet longform magazine

Timestamp: C7.T24 - 06:58 MT - Two months, six days after #riftday

Subject: The Oldest Hand in The Room

Byline: Palomaran Affairs Desk | Analysis

It was meant to be a deflection.

In the fifth hour of a strained Armistice briefing, with negotiations stalled and tempers thinning, Illia’s newly designated Elven “Special Agent to Tryl,” Aiani Caladstone, was asked a question that had already begun to circulate beyond the chamber: By what legal authority had the Illian Council on Sovereign Harmony acquired land surrounding Pocket sites across Tryl over the past several centuries?

The premise behind the Tryllian legal inquiry was simple. Illian entities, as non-Tryl actors, had never held recognized standing under Tryllian law. Their land claims, therefore, were invalid.

Caladstone did not dispute the premise.

“If Illian agents have no standing under Tryllian law,” she replied, “then Tryllian law itself has no standing.”

The laughter in the room was audible and immediate. 

To be fair, the Tryllian legal experts were already straining at incredulity since the infamous #riftday events had turned their understanding of the world upside-down. The things of children’s stories— Elves, dwarves, magic, dragons, and the like—had become sudden, brutal reality. That, they had to concede.

But this legal argument, on the other hand, felt like something the Tryllian experts knew more about than some young neophyte PR elf. So the laughter erupted. The sort of laughter reserved for statements so disproportionate they collapse under their own weight.

Laughter that lasted approximately nine minutes. Then the Council backed her up. 

I. The Documents

The Illian Council did not issue a rebuttal. It issued an archive. Not a statement, nor a clarification, but a structured release of authenticated materials spanning multiple centuries of Tryllian development—legal drafts, trade accords, advisory correspondences, maritime sponsorship ledgers, arbitration frameworks.

The implication was not argued. It was meticulously indexed.

Within hours, Tryl’s legal scholars began isolating familiar language—phrases long assumed to be products of early Palomaran governance—embedded verbatim in much older documents bearing Illian seals or signatures attributed to known Council intermediaries. Many of the intermediaries—primarily the long-lived elven and dwarves—still on the current Council body. Even for documents as old as the Federation’s founding two centuries ago.

Within days, challenges were filed. Forgery was asserted.

Within weeks, the legal challenges began to fail. Parchment, ink, and handwriting analysis showed the documents were legitimate—and many of the ancient document authors, in fact, still contemporaries in the current Illian Council.

II. The Federation Layer

The first layer of Palomaran history to give way was the most recent: the Federal Charter itself.

Every Palomaran school child has been taught the origin of the Charter—delgates from the sovereign colonial provinces, loosely allied under the Colonial Compact, had gathered to revise the Compact to address shortcomings with it, and instead emerged with an all-new Federal Charter, soon ratified by the provinces involved. What had long been treated as a uniquely Palomaran synthesis—balancing provincial sovereignty with coordinated arbitration and trade—began to show structural parallels to earlier Council-authored frameworks. Not mere inspiration, or influence...

Continuity. From Council origin.

The office of the High Envoy. The arbitration conventions between provinces. Even the limitations placed on executive consolidation—each had precedent in documents predating the Federation by decades, in some cases centuries.

The prevailing assumption had been that Palomar invented its system of checks and balances out of necessity. The emerging conclusion was less flattering: it had inherited it.

III. The Colonial Compact

Further excavation led to the pre-federal period—the Colonial Compact.

While the Colonial Compact is mostly a footnote in common historical narratives of Palomar, scholars found here that the Council’s presence became harder to dismiss as coincidence. Trade and labor reforms once credited to pragmatic colonial governance bore hallmarks of coordinated intervention: standardized contract durations, early prohibitions on indefinite servitude, and arbitration mechanisms designed to supersede local authority when disputes crossed settlement lines.

These were not organic developments of a frontier society. They were externally introduced constraints.

More curiously, correspondence between colonial administrators—long archived and rarely examined outside academic circles—revealed a pattern of external advisement. Recommendations, phrased cautiously, consistently aligned with what would later become Compact doctrine.

The advisors themselves were never formally identified. They didn’t need to be.

IV. The Break from Valyra

Beyond the Compact lay the storied Palomaran Revolution—the formal severance from the old Valyran kingdoms that initially colonized the continent.

For generations, this had been understood as a predictable outcome of distance, taxation disputes, and political misalignment. A colonial inevitability. Yet newly surfaced materials complicate that narrative.

Council-linked intermediaries appear in diplomatic margins and trade disputes years before open rebellion—advocating for colonial autonomy in terms that mirror later independence rhetoric almost exactly. Not merely supporting the break once it began, but prefiguring it.

More telling still: earlier Council efforts within old Valyra itself, predating Valyran knowledge of the Palomaran continent.

Records indicate sustained attempts to reform Valyran trade and labor systems—efforts that met resistance from entrenched monarchies and guild structures. Proposals were diluted. Compromises stalled. Structural change failed.

Shortly thereafter, Council-directed attention had shifted west to “discovery” and colonization.

V. The Palome Expedition

At the center of that westward shift sits a familiar name: Pietro Palome.

Long celebrated as the navigator who first charted the Palomaran continent for Valyran powers, Palome’s voyage has occupied a stable place in continental history—ambitious, risky, and ultimately transformative.

Less discussed, until now, is its financing.

Ledgers released in the Council archive indicate that a significant portion of the expedition’s backing did not originate from Valyran courts or merchant houses, but from entities now attributable to the Illian Council’s network.

The expedition, in other words, was not merely permitted. It was enabled.

And the risk in Palome’s voyage must also be necessarily reframed—documents showed evidence that agents of the Illian Council had themselves discovered the continent that would become Palomar in the process of meticulous mapping Pockets and their entrance into Tryl. Framed in this light, the “discovery” of Palomar becomes something closer to a redirection—an intentional pivot away from an unreformable Valyra toward a more malleable frontier. 

A new continent to act as a new vessel for old ideas. But not old to Tryl. Old to Illia, where they originated.

VI. Before the Voyage

The final layer is the least complete, and the most contested.

Fragments suggest that Council engagement with Tryl predates Palome’s voyage entirely—appearing in advisory roles, trade observations, and legal commentaries within late Valyran records. Peripheral at first. Then recurring. Then embedded.

Not as rulers or conquerors. Societal architects, they saw themselves, working from remote halls. 

And not just on the Valyran side of Tryl. Ancient documents, when aligned with Palomar’s indigenous nomadic tribe oral traditions, reveal a collaboration between the Illian Council’s nomadic tribe representatives and Tryl’s pre-Palomaran tribes to foster the concepts of sovereignty of tribal lands ahead of Valyra’s arrival on what would become known as the Palomaran continent.

VII. The Question That Remains

None of this, on its own, proves malign intent. 

Every intervention can be read as stabilizing. Every reform, as progressive. Civilized. The erosion of feudal structures, the limitation of indefinite servitude, the spread of arbitration-based governance—these are, by most measures, improvements.

But taken together, across centuries, a different question begins to assert itself:

Not whether the Illian Council influenced Tryl. But whether Tryl, as it exists, was ever entirely its own.

Caladstone’s remark was dismissed as absurd when it was first spoken.

It is no longer being laughed at.

Comments:

- nodeMatrix: What else isn’t really from Tryl? Next we’re going to find out Illia invented pizza, beer, and pushup bras?

- spark_anon: Bruh, Illian Dwarves invented beer and Illian Gnomes invented pizza, lol. We kept it clean too. Cheese and vegetables, no Tryl meat stack abominations. Pushup bras are 100% on you though.

- grimlingprophet: Since Pietro freaking Palome? Are you kidding me? I’ve been saying they’ve been here for years, but this… this is too much. This goes all the way back. 

- TrylFirstBro: So what, we’re just going to pretend this is fine? They wrote our laws. They shaped the system. Maybe that elf chick was right—none of this is legitimate. Maybe it’s time to build something that actually belongs to us. 

- civitas_legal: If even half of this holds up in arbitration, every land claim near a Pocket is going to be litigated into oblivion. But with Council magic users on every Pocket perimeter… maybe litigation will be less relevant than incantation. 

- dockhand77: “Societal architects, not conquerors.” Yeah? Come down to Crosshaven again and architect your way outta that!

 - blueharbor: Everyone’s jumping straight to conspiracy. The Council pushed labor limits and killed feudal systems. That’s not nothing.

- ironveil: Or they optimized us to be better cattle. There’s a difference.

- midreach_mom: I don’t care who wrote what. I just want to know what’s coming through those Pocket things and why nobody told us! __________ END INTERLUDE

A CrossXworlds story

© 2025 - Kevin W. Burke

__________

Davin stepped back, her arms sliding down his. He caught her hands in his as they slid down, then squeezed them. She looked back up at him. 

“When you’re ready to trust,” he said, “come see me again.”

Davin took another step back, letting her hands slip from his. She wanted to step towards him, to feel him again, but she let herself continue to shrink against the cold cement wall where he’d left her. 

He took a deep breath, straightening up. His face brightened. “I believe you have a Council to wow,” he said, an almost mischievous spark in his eye. 

He shot a hand out to the bar across the door without so much as a glance at it, hitting it squarely in the center and triggering the latch, maintaining his gaze on her as he did. Davin swung the door outward. He smiled at her wistfully for a moment, then stepped out. 

When the door latched closed, the darkness hiding her again, Aiani slid down against the wall until she was crouched onto the floor. She propped her head back against the hard wall with a slight thump, harder than she'd intended. The pain was cathartic, though. She clenched her teeth and leaned her head slightly forward, then made it thump against the wall again, a bit harder this time. A third thump, even harder. 

She grimaced at that one, eyes watering, and leaned forward, rubbing the back of her head. Not so smart, Aiani. That was all the self recrimination her head would take at the moment. 

Aiani scooted herself along the cement floor until she reached the steps, sitting on the first step like a bench seat, resting her feet two steps down. She fetched her Comm device out of her hoodie pocket and turned it on for the first time since the Surge pulse. The screen flared to life, illuminating her and the flight of stairs. 

Spark had told her that the Pocket energies still seemed capable of supporting a scry connection. Aiani tapped the series of menus and glyphs that he had taught her, and opened the app that the comm used to enable the scrying. 

Aiani hesitated to start it, already imagining the clamor of the Council hall, the questioning demands by certain members of the Council body. She grimaced again, this time from a pain of a different sort. She held the Comm away from her at arms length, shrinking back from facing it all for a moment. 

She sighed, then resigned herself to facing her fate with the Council. She swallowed hard and looked up, stalling one more moment before she’d commit. She closed her eyes, trying to drown out the swirl of Council faces in her mind. As she did, one face came into focus. 

Davin. The spark in his eyes. His tease about wowing the council echoed in her ears. 

She breathed out unexpectedly, her chest trembling, her eyes popping open. 

Fine. She’d show him. She’d face them down.

__________