Emily Wilson
Stories
6
Chapters
1,139
Words
357.3 K
Comments
0
Reading
1 d, 5 h
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The news came through the earbuds, and it was like a shockwave rippled through our assembled ranks. Some of the strongest of us dropped to their knees, staggered, or planted their feet further apart as though they were bracing against a physical impact. The one Azazel that was still in the area landed atop one of Bohu’s buildings, nearly falling as a section slid off to drop to the empty street below. It found its footing and roosted there. The pilot couldn’t fly, and the A.I. wasn’t willing or…-
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The entity swims through the void and it In the beginning, a species chokes their gray planet. Here and there, landmasses appear, created by inhabitants to trap or uncover the scarce food that exists, but the landscape is largely liquid, water thick with silt and other particles. The creatures worm in and around one another, and the planet has as much space taken up by the creatures as there is space left for other things. Each has evolved the same capacity to shift between layers, to explore the…
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167 •
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The house was bustling with activity, even this early in the morning. Ten children, aged four to seventeen, were doing their utmost to get ready for their morning activities. It was a rule, that everyone had to keep busy. A way, really, for the Gails to have a “You all set?” Mr. Gail asked, looking at him. “Yeah.” “Need a ride to your co-op?” “No. Takes about as long to take the bus.” Mrs. Gail smiled. “Thank you, Theo.” He shrugged, feeling awkward. It had only been a few nights…
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167 •
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Theo exhaled slowly. He hadn’t realized he’d been holding his breath. Inhaling again, the smell of shit and blood was so heavy on the air it choked him. His suppressed cough was almost a grunt, almost a gag. His eyes returned to the two bloodstained spikes that had been stabbed into the wall. It was the space where Nilbog had been crucified, apparently. Something dangled from one of them. A tendon, maybe, a vein, or a strip of meat. The goblin king had been torn down with enough haste and enough force…
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167 •
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The large box sat in between the benches and seats at the back of the Pendragon, beside a heavy device with an ornate looking gyroscope on the top. I could feel the bugs within. I instinctively knew what they were, how they operated, and could even pinpoint exact bugs in the swarm, among dozens of their kind. I focused on them. It was almost meditative. I’d taken to focusing more on the conscious uses of my power, so I’d be more aware when I was making Rachel was focusing on her dogs in much the…
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167 •
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Unholy screams and screeches followed us as we made our retreat, landing beyond the walls of Ellisburg. In moments, Nilbog’s fairy wonderland had become a hell on earth, thousands of demons crawling from the literal woodwork to attack. The ground split as subterranean creatures emerged, while others climbed out of buildings that seemed to have been built around them. One was somewhere between a dragon and a gargoyle in appearance. Big, leathery wings, with a gnarled body and a leering, fanged face. The…
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167 •
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Ellisburg loomed before me. A small town, surrounded by a massive wall. Ellisburg had been situated by a river, and the wall included a section of the waterway. The building that managed the flow of water was bigger than any structure within the walls, a filtration and guard system that ensured that nothing was making its way up or downstream from the small town. It was a risk to even have the measure, no doubt, and it would cost money to operate and maintain. There had to be a reason they had included…
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167 •
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“ “ Dragon’s systems were already taking in the data. Two hundred and sixty-four individual maps that marked the possible locations of the Nine with colored highlights shifted. Eleven feeds went dark, their engines taking over calculations in other departments. Overlays scrolled with the various calculations, the last known location, the speed they were capable of traveling, resources available to them, their personalities and willingness to hitch a ride with one of the more mobile members, their…
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167 •
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“Hey, Weaver?” I had to twist around to look at Crucible. We were in the hallway just outside a set of elevators, windows on one side, doors at either end of the hallway leading into offices. This was something of a waiting game, as Tecton and Revel got their teams into position to support Golem. Through countless stakeouts, I’d found a routine. Cheating on the ‘can’t do anything but sit there’ rule and reading while my bugs saw to everything else was a part of that routine. I was nestled in…
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It started at the center of town, a rolling plume of fire, sparks and smoke that seemed to almost Then the charges around the perimeter of the city went off, each focused inward. The rolling mass of fire and superheated air at the center of the city shot through the cloud cover, and the entire sky turned colors. Reds, oranges and yellows, interlaced with the gray and near-black shadows of the smoke. Killington was officially gone, the buildings leveled, the bodies and bloodstains scoured from the earth.…
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167 •
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