EdgeCases

DRR Book 3, Epilogue 1 — Hopes and Dreams

Gheraa wasn't used to this.

Not the act of existing in realspace, though that was certainly strange in and of itself; the straight lines and square rooms of his home were nonexistent here, and the purity of Firmament he was used to was nowhere to be found. A part of him rebelled against it—yearned to apo...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 68 — Home Away From Home

There are a few more loose ends I need to tie up before risking a reset, which means I spend most of the trip interrogating Gheraa and trying to understand the intricacies of the loop. He's a lot more free with information now that he doesn't have to hide what he's doing from the rest of the Integrators, but it's also surpris...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 67 — The Sunken King

It takes only a few minutes for Gheraa to go through the magnitude of what he'd learned. Ahkelios, Guard and I all exchange glances as he describes the legend of the Sunken King and everything he was supposedly involved in. The more he speaks, the more things click into place.

A startling number of things, actually. I w...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 66 — Showmanship

Gheraa wasn't entirely sure what had happened. One moment he was speeding toward what he assumed was Ethan and the others and the next the world had gone dark.

It was like he'd briefly died. Again! Which was insulting, first of all. Dying once was bad enough, but twice? While he was a paradox-sustained...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 65 — Synchronization

The world around them changed, and He-Who-Guards watched.

He didn't recognize this space. It was a small workshop of some kind with a ceiling so low he had to bend over to avoid scraping his head against it; an assortment of technology, both legal and Integrator-derived sat, scattered around the workbench and shelves. 2025-01-18 16:30:24 +0000 UTC View Post

DRR Book 3, Chapter 64 — A Pound of Core

The core of an Inspiration is that they alter the skills that pass through them in some fundamental way. The Knight is the strongest one I have, and the skills that pass through it usually emerge as some physical alteration to my form rather than the usual energy projections.

The Mirror Twice Shattered, on the other han...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 63 — An Ounce of Prevention

"Don't let that get to the Hand!" I call out.

I dash forward as I speak. Guard must have reached the same conclusion a second before I did, because he's already moving, determination blazing in his optic. He yanks on the chain, dragging the Hand toward us and away from that storm of incoming Firmament; at the same time,...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 62 — Confrontation

It feels good to have my Firmament flowing through me again. I waste no time in kicking things off, activating the Knight Inspiration and feeling myself change; this time, the transformation is smoother than ever, and the pain that usually accompanies it is reduced to nothing more than a dull ache. Like my physi...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 61 — Changed

I sense them before I see them.

The pattern in the Firmament around me changes suddenly, and just like that, the rhythm of the battle is different. Even before Ahkelios's voice reaches me, I can feel the tide of Firmament moving in a new direction—the pulse of action and reaction turned on the Hand. I'm sure ...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 60 — Overtime

Gheraa stared at the destruction before him.

There was a whole section of the dungeon that was just... obliterated. He could feel it like a physical pain in his chest. Which was unusual and deeply unpleasant in and of itself, but not quite as unusual or as unpleasant as the hands he saw dragging themselves through the r...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 59 — Missed Opportunities

Rhythm. It's all about the rhythm.

It takes me a while to realize it. I don't know how long I try to fight while just bearing the pain of my cracked foundations, holding them together with sheer willpower while I stumble out of a blow or try to tear my way through another part of the Hand. The problem is that it's regen...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 58 — Duality

It's not exactly easy to fight while layering threads of Firmament into my core, but it's not impossible, either. I rely on Guard and Ahkelios for the bulk of it, thankful that the dungeon's challenges are—at least for the time being—restricted to something that isn't particularly dangerous.

Ahkelios's...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 57 — A Tale of Three Stars

It took Gheraa a while to piece it all together. Part of the problem, he thought, was that there was a part of him that didn't want to put it together. He understood now why the higher ranked Integrators kept it secret—there was something about the truth that was... uncomfortable, for lack of a better word. Tr...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 56 — Wish You Were Here

It takes us longer than I'd like to get to the Intermediary. Without full access to my skills—at least insofar as it'd be incredibly unwise to use them—I'm forced to rely on Guard and Ahkelios to get us there.

In their defense, they're still fast. Ahkelios maintains his access to my skills, but his Firmamen...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 55 — It Takes a Village

Before we leave, we check in again with the Cliffside Crows. There's a good chance this will be the last time we see any of them with their current set of memories, considering the dangers of the Intermediary. That we've escaped having to loop for as long as we have... well, it's a miracle in and of itself.

When we arri...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 54 — A Coming Collision

There's a bit of a problem. Not a huge one. Probably.

My core isn't recovering anywhere near quick enough to survive a trip into the Intermediary. Meditating helps, but the damage runs fairly deep—I can't just walk it off like I'd been hoping. All the improvements I've made so far is the only reason that dive into the...

DRR Book 2 epub

Might as well provide this ahead of Book 2's publication (that's off in March, though). Makes for an easier reading experience. Enjoy! I'll have to remove it like... late February or early March, probably.

Here's a link to the start of Book 3 o...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 53 — Parallels

Coming out of the skill-induced trance of The Road Not Taken is a heady thing. Most of that, I think, is because I pushed myself to the limit and more. I hadn't really been planning to hold on to the skill for that long, but when I looked Miktik in the eyes—when she realized what was happening...

I hadn't expected or ...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 52 — Past Events

What I want to do now is something I considered doing from the moment I acquired The Road Not Taken. The only reason I haven't done it yet is because... well, because I couldn't. I've tried. The amount of Firmament it takes to go back and explore a different path increases almost exponentially the farther back I go; using the...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 51 — Call and Response

It had been a long time since He-Who-Guards had attempted a phase shift.

The first phase shift was usually something that occurred almost at random. When a practitioner's Firmament reached the right state—when they were sufficiently in tune with both themselves and their power—the base, foundational layer of their c...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 50 — Elsewhere, Elsewhen

In the streets of First Sky, a change sparked. It was a change that was set into motion years ago from the perspective of its citizens—a small, barely noticeable alteration to the materials the scirix used to build their homes.

A certain parasite thought that a larger change might have been too noticeable. That it mig...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 49 — Trial Run

We've moved into the nearby forest. I'm alone, at least for now—Guard is hovering nearby in case something goes wrong, but that seems unlikely. I can feel how much cleaner my Firmament is, how much more easily it flows through my body.

More than that, every skill I own resonates clear in my mind. I'm almost certain I ...

DIE. RESPAWN. REPEAT. Book 1 now out on KU/Audible!

Hey all! I want to thank you all again for all the support since I started writing this series—it means the world to me. It’s now finally released on Amazon (KU/Audible) complete with a full professional editing pass and some sick cover art! If you want to help support it, you can check it out on KU and maybe give it a re...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 48 — The Scion of Change

Kauku frowned. Something was wrong.

Several somethings, in fact. That in and of itself would not normally be enough to make him worry—things went wrong all the time, and it was usually no trouble for him to nudge them back into place or simply adapt his plans to accommodate them. He hadn't expected someone like Ethan ...

DRR1 epub

Hey folks! Here's the mostly-edited epub for Book 1 ahead of the Amazon launch. (I'm mostly hoping it goes well so I can afford a surgery I probably need and also so I can pester my publisher about the webcomic they promised). I'll have to take down B1 in a couple days, but anyone who's a patron can always just ask for the ep...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 47 - The Four Pillars

There's one thing that's been on my mind ever since we encountered it with the Seedmother—one thing I've been ruminating on and trying to work out. The Interface is lying to me about the skill categories. Why? What's the point?

And more importantly, what are those categories, really?

It's not some arbitrary way ...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 46 - Thread of Insight

There are secrets within secrets hiding within this whole system of power. The Interface, Firmament, this whole idea of Threads, Concepts, and Talents. The boundaries between them are less distinct than the Interface would like me to believe.

It's telling that Ahkelios is surprised by what we've learned, despite possess...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 45 - Choices and Changes

To say that Ahkelios was a little disappointed in his selection would be an understatement, but to his credit, he gets over it pretty quickly. I sit back as he goes through a rapid series of choices and selections, mostly outlining the start of something that'll make him combat-capable even if he's not in my immediate presenc...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 44 - Rolls

I watch as Ahkelios paces back and forth, trying to decide what to roll first. Despite all his excitement, actually taking the first step and banking his credits is apparently something of a struggle for him.

For the fourth time in a row, he reaches out as if to select something, hesitates, then pulls his hand back agai...

DRR Book 3, Chapter 43 - A New Era

I am, in all honesty, quite surprised when nothing actually goes wrong. I was half-expecting to wake up in a new loop, all activities in the last one erased from some terrible event in my sleep. Or an inconveniently timed heart attack. Maybe both.

But no. I wake up in bed—I don't even remember getting out from the tub...