Chapter 8.5: A Spot Of Tea
In a different part of the multiverse, Beatrice Phidel closed the window and gazed out thoughtfully into the evening sky. Summer evenings were always pleasant - sweltering heat becoming soothing cool as the sky turned dark by shades. At the point of sunset, it was almost as if the sky itself was being coloured in by the orange glow of the Bidfold-on-Trent streetlights writ large. Of course, that wasn't for a couple of hours - but there was no need to rush an evening like this.
No need at all. She gracefully walked over to the patterned sofa she had been resting on just before, ignoring the obnoxious braying of nex
Chapter 8: Room Service
'Room for two for one night will cost you fifteen.'
Lucian folded his arms. 'Twelve.'
'You know what? Fine. It's late.' The lich behind the wooden counter turned around to pick the key off the rack and Lucian smiled tightly at a deal well won. Without turning his head he said 'Jason, stop staring.'
'I'm not staring!'
'You've been staring at everything since we got into this city. Also, you sound defensive when you're lying.'
'But that thing has a shelled carapace and an eye in the middle of its face and-'
'Then stop staring at it. You want to draw its attention?'
'...Oh.'
'One floor up,' the lich declared in i
Chapter 7: Teenager On Top of the World (Meanwhile)
From the window you could see right the way across the horizon, spotless blue sky stretching brightly over great swathes of field, forest, farmland and dirt. Flowing across the landscape were the cities, huge sprawling masses of urbanisation from Beluvia in the south to Lerrus in the north-east, spilling out over the plain like concrete lakes. On a good day you could even see Antu-wp just over the horizon. Lucy looked out over all this land from her window, and knew that one day she would own it all.
She hated that thought. It spoiled her ability to enjoy the view.
It wasn't her fault tha
Chapter 6: The Eagle And The Stallion
We now rejoin Jason, who has been very busy since we saw him last.
'Ahhhhhhhhhh!' Even if there had been anyone to hear Jason up here eight-and-a-half-thousand feet above the ground, they would have had a very hard time doing so over the cries of the roc in whose talons he hung, as well as the flock of similar creatures only a short distance away that they were beginning to glide towards. Wings the size of building storeys caused great downdrafts of air that would have blown Jason away had he not been grasped tightly in the great bird's talons, one set of claws being enough to hold his entire body with
Chapter Five: Men At Work (Meanwhile)
Please allow me introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste.
- The Rolling Stones, Sympathy For The Devil
The hotel doors opened softly and the receptionist looked up, only to look down again immediately at the sight of the entrant. Normal holidaymakers he knew how to deal with, but this was no normal guest - and neither, doubtlessly, were they here for holidaymaking. Leadweight B, the leader of the Iron Cyclops Clan, was hardly likely to be here in Torchester to take in the beautiful scenery. To a race that lived most of their lives on the rugged southern coast where there were all the rocks, cliff
Chapter Four: Social Gathering (Meanwhile)
'Dear Diary.' Technically it was a journal, really, but Mia had put 'Dear Diary' in it when she was just a kid and she liked it enough for it to stick.
'I got back too late last night to update then, so I'd better do it now and then do today's entry later at some point. Yesterday was fun, after everything. It's still good not having to get up too early in the holidays, but once traffic gets going outside it's hard to ignore and there's no way of sleeping through it. It doesn't matter, though - it's still good to lie in bed and watch all the different species go to work through the window. It's like
Chapter Three: Meanwhile
The situation is very precarious. Jason Riley has just been tipped into a world he does not comprehend, met a strange teenager who has just been evicted and who introduced him a world of real magic, met another, even stranger teenager who appeared from nowhere, went back to nowhere and gave a very strange and distressing message in the meantime, been told to find a centaur by the name of Callum only to be told immediately by his newfound companion not to bother finding said centaur as it definitely wouldn't be worth the time before he was suddenly snatched up into the talons of a roc and is now soaring into the sky a
Chapter Two: The End Of The World As We Know It
The breeze had picked up nicely and the Sun had resolved to keep shining. If it wasn't for the fact that he was going to be sleeping wild for the next half a week or so, Lucian would have been in a positively good mood. Tarrowin was falling behind him - good riddance - and he had managed to get something to eat before heading into the hills. Not bad, which was to say that he'd certainly had worse. The hills were now rolling around him in a sea of green punctuated only by the city behind him, its counterparts on the distant horizon, the higher peaks and valleys in the middle distance and, if you
Chapter One: The Tipping Point
If you perceive, then you will experience.
Jason ran.
Branches whipped at his face, scouring him like leather straps, but he didn't care. He had to keep running. He knew he couldn't run forever, but for now he still could and that was enough. The undergrowth and fallen twigs crunched under his feet like so much debris, but he didn't have enough time right now to care.
The howl sounded again, and this time it was definitely closer. His legs couldn't run any faster.
Dexter could have at least warned him about this!
The ground banked suddenly and with a shout he pitched down the slope, skidding through the mu