EdgeCases

DRR Book 2, Chapter 44 - Preparation

Author's Note: Just a heads up in case you don't see the notification, but I made a small change near the end of chapter 43, just before the scene break. It's an Interface popup for Ethan with information that's referenced in this chapter.

45+ will come a bit later. I'm in a slightly better position healthwise for once, and it's amazing how much of a difference that makes to being able to plan and write. Just had to revise things to accommodate

As always, thank yo...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 43 - In the Stands

Author's Note: Just a heads up - billing will begin again in a few days, since I feel mostly recovered. I've got some medication that's helping a lot. The update schedule will stay relatively fixed at 2-3 chapters a week, although my main metric is that it stays ahead of RoyalRoad by at least 15 chapters (we are currently 20 chapters ahead!)

Posting this chapter early so I can drop a heads up about the billing. At least one more chapter coming at the end of the week - h...

EC Book 4, Chapter 11 - Cast in Shadows

Vex understood what Raltis meant as soon as he completed the glyph. Tendrils of intent — not mana, but intent, invisible to his normal mana-sensing abilities but clear as day when it was directed toward him — connected to his mind, providing him with a lens through which he could see the world.

The new perspective was almost dizzying. He saw the world weighted with history and metaphor, saw a thousand subjective realities superimposed onto ontological truth.

And he sa...

EC Book 4, Chapter 10 - Lost in Translation

"You're using the Roads to translate the system?" Vex asked. Derivan couldn't blame him for sounding stunned; he felt much the same way.

And maybe a little offended. Patch hadn't been the easiest stat to understand nor get used to, and the little ways it pinged at him to fix things bothered him even now. It hadn't proven to be a problem yet, thankfully, and with the system on the verge of falling apart Derivan was hopeful that it never would, but...

He would have...

EC Book 4, Chapter 9 - Journey

Author's Note: It's been a while since we've had new EC, huh? Editing Books 2 and 3 have been a journey for me. Book 3 changed a little less than I thought it would, which helped, but there's also a lot of pieces I have to fit together for Book 4. I'm getting back into it, so here's hoping I do it justice. I've missed these characters.

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Activating his divine sense again gave Sev a unique, dizzying sense of vertigo as a path suddenly manifested in front of him â€...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 42 - Spark of Rebellion

One of the biggest problems I have right now is that I'm a little... directionless. I have many disparate goals, and nothing stringing them together; that means I'm just leaping for the first opportunity to complete whatever goal seems within my reach.

I need to save Rotar. To do that, I've decided I'll try to save Guard as well, a process which involves me in Isthanok's politics and necessitates that I work on a counter to She-Who-Whispers's main skill — her Whisper. That's where my ...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 41 - Restart

Author's Note: I've edited the chapter and inserted an extra scene between the first and the second scene break, covering in a bit more detail the start of Ethan's loop and a small bit with Virin. Hope you enjoy! I'll be posting another chapter today, and then more chapters on Friday when they're done.

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"I don't know if I like that you're resorting to dying as a solution," Ahkelios says.

It's not the first time he's shared this sentiment. It's probably the...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 40 - Slipping Away

To say that Whisper is angry is an understatement. I can see the color of her anger turning her Firmament with a dark, stained crimson. It's so strong it's impacting the nature of her skills, even without having to use something like Hueshift; I can feel her anger like it's heat against my skin, and I shift back out of Phaseslip to avoid it.

"I forgot how arrogant you Trialgoers can get," she sneers at me.

I cock my head. "Aren't you a Trialgoer too?"

The sound she ...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 39 - Trial Run

"...That's one hell of a story," I mutter. I don't know how to respond for the longest moment. What Miktik tells me is horrifying and terrifying in equal measure — horrifying because of what's being done to Guard, and terrifying because of the sheer amount of power Whisper seems to wield.

It's not a surprise, necessarily. I've fought her. I know how strong she can be. But if this story is any indication, there are many cards she still has left to play.

"Do you think Guard is sti...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 38 - Symptoms

Author's Note: Patreon has messed with the formatting of text posts. It should show up correctly when posted anyway - it's just the text box I type in that's messed up, for whatever reason - but please let me know if this shows up without proper new lines in email or something.

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He-Who-Guards remembered when he first met She-Who-Whispers.

She was stunning, he remembered thinking. The daughter of the then-ruler of Isthanok â€...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 37 - Signs

With the strange change in Firmament density going toward Miktik's workshop, I was almost expecting the building itself to be shining with Firmament. It's not. It's barely different than it normally is — the Firmament is densest here, certainly, but that's the only real difference...

...No. The imbuement cycling through her walls is moving faster, too. The Firmament within it is noticeably more powerful. As far as I can tell, every bit of stray Firmament is being drawn into it, with n...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 36 - City of Glass, Redux

The journey back to the City of Glass is surprisingly uneventful. I suppose part of it is that we're used to the trip by now — I'm able to tune out everything that happens on the way, up to and including the strange interaction with the guards where they take a sample of my Firmament. Nothing's come of it so far, but I still make sure to give them a fake sample.

Tarin, as usual, doesn't bother. I imagine he's done this plenty of times before he ever met me, though, considering his rel...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 35 - It's Just a Phase

The first thing I have to get over is the skill being immensely disorienting. It's worse than my first few tests of Warpstep — everything feels off and wrong in a way that's hard to articulate. Ahkelios also immediately falls through my shoulder and onto the floor, which is the only positive thing about this experience.

"Hey!" he complains.

"Sorry," I say. "Had to test out the skill." I lean down to pick him up again. Phaseslip seems to allow me to choose what ...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 34 - Key

Author's Note: Not going on an extended break again, I swear. Just have a deadline this week. So one chapter today (it's longer than usual though!), and more once I submit my manuscript tomorrow and can focus on writing again. I will be keeping billing paused.

That said, hope you enjoy the chapter! I liked writing this one.

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548 credits. I better get a good skill out of this.

[ Are you sure you wish to bank 548 Durability credits? ]<...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 33 - Experimentation

Author's Note: I always forget how busy Christmas and New Years get. One chapter this week, more coming as I get them finished! 

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Even with my newfound Firmament Control and Firmament Sight, the aligning step is... a lot harder than I anticipated.

It's not impossible by any means, but it does take an effort of concentration and will that leaves me physically exhausted. The experience is not unlike having to tense every muscle in my body and t...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 32 - Mistakes

She-Who-Whispers had a headache. This time, her headache was not caused by incompetence among any of her underlings, or even by yet another plot to rebel being whispered about in the dark underbelly of the city where her citizens thought her ears might not be able to reach.

Foolish. She could hear everything that happened within the city, and everything that happened around it. Her range extended further than she let anyone be aware of. The castle she'd constructed helped extend it even...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 31 - Old Beginnings

I consider fighting the Guilty Chimeras again before heading off, but I feel a little pressed for time — there are too many things to do, and I still haven't seen the chat with Earth connect again. A few other humans have died, from the looks of things, and I'm no closer to figuring out how to escape this Trial than I was last loop.

Hopefully figuring out what's going on with Guard and Whisper will help. If nothing else, Rotar's connections in the Great Cities might be able to get me ...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 30 - Loop 15

Author's Note: I somehow managed to sprain my thumb this week, so writing kinda hurts! I still wanted to get this out for Christmas, though. Merry Christmas (or happy holidays if that's not your thing). Hope you're all having a good one!

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[You have died. +37 Strength credits. +46 Durability credits. +57 Reflex credits. +39 Speed credits. +25 Firmament credits.]

I stare at the death message hovering in front of me for a moment. I can affor...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 29 - Gauging your Enemies

I might only have charged up Compounded Mind for a while, but it's surprisingly effective. Whisper's Firmament buildup is slow, maybe because she isn't expecting me to be able to get away in time or maybe just because it's the nature of the skill she's using. Either way, with Compounded Mind running, I have about thirty seconds of perspective-shifted time to figure out what I want to do.

Do I let her kill me? If I try to escape, she'll almost certainly know I'm the Trialgoer; I won't be...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 28 - Laboratory

A/N: Fixed a skill inconsistency - Ethan should be using Firmament Control and Temporal Link now, not Firmament Manipulation and Temporal Fragment. Forgot to update the names. Most of the errors are in Chapter 25, so that's been updated.

Writing is fun again. I may be a little rusty, but I'll recover!

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I'm pretty sure Whisper is planning to kill us.

Mostly because she's leading us directly to Guard in that secret laboratory of hers. As far as I can tell, his body ha...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 27 - Meeting

Author's Note: If you didn't see the other post, two more chapters tomorrow. Some non-canon writing in there if you want to check it out! It's mostly just recap stuff. Also, if you got charged for this month, let me know so I can refund you.

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Whisper was exhausted.

She was exhausted because she had been manually controlling all of He-Who-Guards's bodies... she couldn't even remember how long it had been. She was exhausted because she had not been able to ...

Recap Episodes: DRR

A/N: First off, I want to thank everyone for the well-wishes and the patience. It means a lot to me. I'm still feeling a bit antisocial, but the writing is going now! I'm posting one chapter today and two more chapters tomorrow; I didn't want to start delaying again.

New chapters will drop roughly at the end of every week going forward.

Important: Quick note in that Patreon's bill-pausing thing is kind of terrible and requires you to re-pause it e...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 26 - Sensory Delights

It takes about an hour for me to hit upon something I think will work. It's an hour well-spent, considering what it's going to be used for, but... not a particularly enjoyable hour, I have to admit. Tarin and Ahkelios, initially sympathetic, got more and more amused as time went on. I don't really blame them, but I grumble under my breath nevertheless.

"You wouldn't be smiling if you were the ones doing this," I mutter.

"But I not," Tarin says smugly, folding his wings across his ...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 25 - Aspects and Colors

"What you mean?" Tarin glances up at me.

"There's Firmament everywhere, and there are different aspects of Firmament. The imbuement stones are labeled with different aspects. Miktik's Firmament sink converts one type of Firmament into two more harmless types. How many aspects are there? What do we know about each aspect?"

Tarin frowns. "We not sense Firmament like you," he points out. "But Firmament in everything. All types, yes? Elements, but also abstract. Thought, shape, color....

DRR Book 2, Chapter 24 - Problems Back Home

A/N: It's been a while, huh? I'm sorry for the delay - it's been a whole mess of things between medication, pain, and mental health. I'll be posting three chapters in total, and tomorrow I'll be working on a "recap" chapter - non-canon (or semi-canon, depending on how you look at it) for anyone that just needs a refresher on the story and characters so far.

I was planning on posting the recap chapter first. That's part of the reason I delayed posting this. But I figured I shoul...

Billing Pause

I should have done this earlier, but it slipped my mind. No real excuse for it - I apologize. Things have been rough on the personal side. Health issues, among other things.

I will upload chapters when they are ready while billing remains paused, to make up for the charge. I appreciate the understanding.

ETA on chapters is probably next week? I'm finishing up with the second round of edits on DRR at the moment. 

Delay Explanation + Some Medical News

Sorry for the lack of chapters lately - long story short, mild illness and very bad jetlag after flying back from the States. I've been asleep and out of it for most of the past week. I'm feeling better now, so more chapters should be coming out soon!

And for anyone who's been worried about my back, the diagnosis was lumbar spondylosis and "severe bilateral lateral recess stenosis". Long story short: The discs in my spine are degrading and causing my spine to press on nerves. Not super...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 23 - This and That

Once Miktik confirms that Rotar is still in the same place within the Fracture — the process is much faster when we have a general location to give her — we head off to the Arena. It's early enough in the day that it isn't particularly crowded this time. I'm a little apprehensive about joining. I don't want to draw attention from Whisper or any of her goons, but she doesn't have any reason to keep an eye on me right now.

Probably. As long as she hasn't sent a message back to herself...

DRR Book 2, Chapter 22 - Bird Problems

The next problem I need to deal with is getting to Tarin without having to fight all the Guilty Chimeras in the way. Or, alternatively, I could fight them, and earn myself the commensurate credits. I'm so close to my next Durability upgrade I can almost taste it.

I'm in the midst of convincing myself to fight at least one chimera when Tarin shows up, charging into the clearing with blistering speed. There's a trail of black lightning that cascades behind him and at least two cr...

EC Book 4, Chapter 8 - Trouble

They couldn't save everyone, in the end. Even with the Shadesplitter's help, even with all the powers they had working with them — there were too many to save, and the dungeon's monsters were too many in number. Creating three high-level monsters was one thing, but Halis' civilians weren't nearly as high-leveled; the dungeon didn't need powerful monsters to kill them.

It just needed a lot of them. Enough to get to people before either Sev or Vex could get to them with the shi...