EdgeCases

DRR Book 4, Chapter 25 — A Sky Full of Stars

It takes me a moment to figure out where I am. My first impression is that there's something wrong with the Tear—it's not like that would be a surprise. Maybe it just doesn't have enough energy to be able to simulate whatever past event is trapped in here.

Then I realize that my eyes just haven't adjusted to the darkness yet. When it does...

Well, the sight is beautiful, but I can't deny that it's also deeply concerning.

I think I might be in space.

The good...

DRR Book 4, Chapter 24 — Strained

Teluwat was exhausted.

He'd fended off no less than... he'd lost count of how many temporal resets he'd fended off at this point. If Raskar and He-Who-Guards hadn't arrived in his lair before the worst of it began, the situation would have been far more dire. He would have used up twice as much power, and more to the point, there was only so much Firmament he could channel through Raskar before he risked burning the crow out entirely. He was loathe to lose one of his best conductors. 2025-04-12 14:59:21 +0000 UTC View Post

DRR Book 4, Chapter 23 — Stray Not From the Path

Adeya brings it up first, which is a bit of a relief. We find ourselves walking together as we lead the way through the Sewers. Ahkelios, Gheraa, and the scirix form the middle of the pack, and Dhruv and Taylor take up the rear.

"Most of us are holding off on completing our Trials," Adeya says. I quirk a brow at her, and she shrugs. "It's the best we can do, considering what we know." She hesitates, apparently trying to figure out how to approach the topic, and then just goes for it. "H...

DRR Book 4, Chapter 22 — Marching Ever Forward

It does not, to my relief, take much time for us to find the expedition team again. They've mostly stayed put since my death, as far as I can tell, and my Chromatic Strings lead me straight to them instead of into a group of monsters; it helps that most of the monsters near the entrance to the Sewers have been largely cleared up.

The other thing that's a relief? The Interface opens up with a new notification as soon as I find the expedition team and meet with them properly.

2025-04-08 14:24:06 +0000 UTC View Post

DRR Book 4, Chapter 21 — Analysis

He-Who-Guards was impressed, and he quite hated that fact.

The most he ever remembered of a loop reset was vague flashes of color. The density of his Firmament and the unusual nature of his implanted core allowed him some ability to resist the loops, which was the only reason he remembered events between them. Even with all that, he'd never been able to sense them coming.

Certainly not like this, with enough advance warning to put up some kind of barrier against it. This ...

DRR Book 4, Chapter 20 — Party Wipe

Adeya had no idea what had happened.

By the time she was conscious again, there was a lot of noise and arguing. The good news was that there weren't any giant beetles still trying to kill them, so she assumed they'd survived somehow. How they'd managed to survive she had no idea: the number of Root Acolytes and Seedlings swarming them even without the Seedcracker had, in her estimation, made that battle an unwinnable one.

The fact that she'd also survived elevated he...

DRR Book 4, Chapter 19 — Closure

I'm not sure what I'm expecting as we approach the expedition team—and I'm very sure we're approaching them now, because the Sewers have aligned themselves enough for me to be able to sense their Firmament in detail—but it's not the rapid uptick of Firmament saturation followed by what I can only describe as an explosion of gore.

Current saturation: 99%

Well, that's not good. Shards of chitin rain down around me, and I narrow my eyes, trying to catch a glimpse...

DRR Book 4, Chapter 18 — Debugging

It's not far into the Sewers that we encounter the first real obstacle to our progress. In hindsight, it's a problem I probably should have anticipated.

Monsters.

Root Acolytes, specifically, according to the Interface. They're Rank A monstrosities that look a little like a cross between a tangle of vines and a very irate spider, and the nauseating bloom of tiny, color-packed flowers across their backs doesn't really help. It's probably something I should have anticipated—my Str...

DRR Book 4, Chapter 17 — Labyrinthine

The good news is that we're not surrounded by sewage. I'd been a little worried about that.

The bad news is... well, we're in a sewage system. It's a small, cramped series of tunnels, and my ability to sense Firmament is limited, what with the walls blocking my senses. If I'd been particularly claustrophobic, this stage of the dungeon would probably have been a nightmare.

As it stands, it's mostly just uncomfortable.

Though that's far from our primary concern at the moment. ...

DRR Book 4, Chapter 16 — Restrictions

The first solution is obvious—reach out with my Firmament sense as far as I can and try to locate Adeya and the others that way. If I can find them, then we could, in theory, dive straight through the ground and into the Sewers using Phaseslip.

That, unfortunately, is where I run into the first problem: the sewers are apparently composed of the same "blessed brick" that blocks my Firmament sense. Why the scirix would build their sewers out of something like that is beyond me, but I wo...

DRR Book 4, Chapter 15 — Collisions

Zhao picks up almost immediately, to my surprise. It's almost like he was waiting for the call. "Ethan!" he says, full of excitement. "You are alive!"

"I should hope so," I say, laughing at the enthusiasm. "I found a way to get around my Trial's restrictions. You should be able to contact me freely now."

"That is good news!" Zhao says. "It has been such a long time since we were able to speak! Or at least, it feels like it has. I suppose not much time has passed on Earth. These Tr...

DRR Book 4, Chapter 14 — Trouble in the City

"Ethan!" Zhao's voice filters through the Interface with a little bit of static, like the voice is being partially suppressed. I suppose it is, in a way. "I hope you remember me. I do not know when you will receive this, so I am leaving this message to ensure it will reach you as soon as possible. Also, I do not want to keep checking my Interface to see if you are online. I already do it too much."

I snort, a little amused by the introduction. It's a fair point. I do remem...

DRR Book 4, Chapter 13 — Parallels in Time

Soul of Trade leads us to what looks like the ruined remains of an office. Once inside, however, I see that it's surprisingly well-kept. It's not luxurious by any means, though. There's mold in the corners of crumbling walls, thick layers of dust on what remains of the shelves. Given that nothing here can escape the humidity of having an entire ocean dumped on top of the city, though, it's impressively tidy.

All four of us are silent as Soul of Trade hobbles over to a seat. There's an a...

DRR Book 4, Chapter 12 — Tides of an Ocean

Fyran's Truth was that of Inevitability. He was like the coming of the tides, a force of nature unto itself; when that Truth filtered through his deepened core and into his skills, he became something more than he'd ever dreamed he could be.

Perhaps the greatest gift this state of being offered was the assurance that he would see his daughter again. It didn't tell him how—he had no ability to see the future. He only knew that it would be, in much the same way he knew Ethan an...

DRR Book 4, Chapter 11 — Back and Forth

The worst part of this fight, Ahkelios decided, wasn't that Soul of Trade was a difficult opponent. She was, but at this point he'd faced far worse with Ethan and come out alive on the other side; the fact that she was powerful wasn't really a problem for him.

No. The problem was that they were fighting in the middle of a massive cavern crowded with civilians, and Soul of Trade kept eating them.

Guard was doing his best to run interference, and to his credit, the...

DRR Book 2 now on KU!

It's time! Book 2 has launched, which means it's now time for Ethan's journey to Isthanok to hit the shelves. Feels weird thinking about how far we've come since then, haha. I'm really excited about Book 4--there's so much I have planned and so many details that pull on things that happened previously. We're not done with Isthanok's rebels, either (though it might be a bit before they show up again).

So! Book 2! Check out the cover:

2025-03-12 17:15:35 +0000 UTC View Post

DRR Book 4, Chapter 10 — Interconnected

The more I connect with the Web of Threads, the more I understand it. And the more I understand it, the more I understand what Firmament is.

Which isn't something I expected to get out of all this, I admit.

Threads and Concepts have always felt like a form of power that exists almost separate to that of Firmament. Control of them seems to grant me a level of influence over the ideas they embody—it's the primary way I've been using them. The Thread of Insight gave me wha...

DRR Book 4, Chapter 9 — Cascade Effect

Soul of Trade was both confused and terrified, and that was a state of affairs she hated with a passion. The last time she'd ever been that far on the back foot was when she had to deal with Teluwat, which she refused to do without a lengthy chain of proxies. The second-last time she'd ever been that far on the back foot was when the Disconnected came to her about establishing a presence in her city.

She had categorically refused, of course, even with their promises of skill vials and t...

DRR Book 4, Chapter 8 — The Right Time

I find Guard sitting by the painting, and from the draw of Firmament around him, he's working on reinforcing his core. I wait a moment to see if he'll notice my presence; when he doesn't, I tap him on the shoulder.

It's clear that there's been a significant change in Guard's mood from the way he looks up at me, but all he tells me is that he isn't yet ready to talk about it. I take those words at face value—he'll talk to me when he's ready—and instead apprise him of the situation; h...

DRR Book 4, Chapter 7 — Lost in the Past

He-Who-Guards stared at the painting of Isthanok, wondering why it felt so achingly familiar. He reached out for it and brushed the edges of the paint with a finger. His sensors reported to him all the ways it varied in texture, thickness, and color, none of which was quite the same as being able to feel it beneath is fingers.

That was nothing new, of course. He couldn't feel anything these days. The body he now wore came with many advantages, but a sense of touch wasn't one of them. 2025-03-04 15:23:04 +0000 UTC View Post

DRR Book 4, Chapter 6 — Connections Through Time

Despite the loops, Fyran turns out to be both surprisingly stable and surprisingly kind. It's no surprise that the Integrators had to resort to more underhanded tricks to change him into someone they could more easily control. I didn't consider it before now—that their manipulation could extend beyond the psychological.

With the nature and existence of Firmament, all they need to do is catch someone at exactly the wrong moment. If they're pushed right to the edge and forced to undergo...

DRR Book 4, Chapter 5 — Twofold

I start by pouring Firmament into Quicken Mind so I can assess the situation. The other looper is on nearly the opposite side of the cavern we're in. He's similar to the silverwisps, in a way. Like them, he looks like he's made of living energy. Unlike them, that energy is tightly controlled and contained into a defined humanoid form. There's no ethereal flame, no silvery mist—just a bright-blue pulsing energy shaped like a person.

A very angry person, in this case. He stands there li...

DRR Book 4, Chapter 4 — Temporal Snapshot

To my surprise, that hole in reality seals shut behind us. Even with my Firmament sense extended as far as I can handle, there's no hint of the Fracture, no hint of the seething mass of time we just left behind. I don't know if that means the hole has somehow permanently sealed itself—although I very much doubt that—or if it's changed locations in some way, but I'm willing to bet it's the latter.

Either way, it means that whoever Teluwat and Rhoran sent after us has no...

DRR Book 4, Chapter 3 — Culminated Tear

Guard tells us a little more about Inveria as we make our way through the tunnels, and from the way he talks about it, it's clear it means something to him. His voice softens when he describes the Great City's network of interwoven caves; according to him, it's the prime place to trade on Hestia, with merchants from all around the globe visiting to sell their goods.

"Every tunnel has its walls and ceiling painted with luminescent paint that draws on the city's Firmament," Guard explains...

DRR Book 4, Chapter 2 — Darker, Yet Darker

We wait for the Fracture to erupt with Firmament a second time before beginning our descent, hoping it'll give us more time to find something that can act as cover. That's still a real and present danger of traversing this place, even with all the ways we've grown—Gheraa has admitted to that the kind of power emitted by that explosion could erase even the strongest of the Integrators in the later stages of the loop.

Frankly, that's a terrifying thought. I file it away for later.

DRR Book 4, Chapter 1 — Lost Civilization

My Trial has changed my relationship with death time and time again. For once, though, I feel like I'm finally in control of those deaths.

Not that I'm under any illusions. I'm well aware that as much time as I've spent training—as much as I should be above any new problem the Fracture might throw at me—I'm not invincible. Neither are any of my friends, even if they're quite possibly three of the strongest Firmament practitioners on the planet.

The difference now...

End of DRR Book 3, Epilogue 5 — Once More Unto the Breach

I sit in the corner of my cabin, breathing.

We’re due to leave in a few days. I can sense it in the air—the Temporal Firmament fueling this place is slowly running out, and nothing’s quite as real anymore. I’m grateful that Hestia has bought as much time for us as it has, and I’ve made it a point to take advantage of every ounce of the time given to me.

According to Guard, I’m now passable with the Threads. I still don’t prefer them, but t...

DRR Book 3, Epilogue 4 — Scattered Events

I close my eyes and breathe.

The artifact the crows gave to me is a lot harder to fully access than I'd imagined—even with all the ways I've grown, the imbuement within the stone is woven with so much complexity that reaching any useful information is a challenge at best. I've retrieved a number of different visions, stories, and tales, but nothing I was explicitly looking for.

It's not just about quantity. If it were, it would be trivial to navigate with Guard's h...

DRR Book 3, Epilogue 3 — Long Way From Home

Ahkelios didn’t quite know what to make of the cabin he’d picked.

Part of that was the fact that it was apparently designed specifically for him, despite the fact that he’d chosen it pretty much at random. It wasn’t like the cabins looked different from the outside. The first time he stepped into it he’d almost forgotten to breathe; the whole place ached of…

Well, it ached of home. And it had been a long, long time since he’d been home.

It was odd...

DRR Book 3, Epilogue 2 — Names and Roles

He-Who-Guards had known this question would come eventually. He'd even been ready for it. What he hadn't been ready for was... well, himself. He'd thought it would be a quick and simple explanation, and instead he'd been sitting by the campfire for the past hour and a half, trying to decide on an explanation he thought was satisfactory.

His answers, it turned out, didn't even satisfy himself. Did he still want to go by He-Who-Guards? He-Who-Protects felt like it described him. The name ...