Chapter 23 - Trojan Horse
**Chapter 23 - Trojan Horse** It had been a long time since most of the people I cared about were in one room together. I had nearly forgotten what that sensation was like as I...
Chapter 22 - From the Desk of Mordecai Crossbell - American Division (part 4)
Chapter 22: From the Desk of Mordecai Crossbell - American Division (part 4) Anger is not an emotion I experience often. I can vividly remember the few times I have been angered to the point of irrationality, and each time I was left disgusted...
Chapter 21 - Puzzle Pieces
**Chapter 21 - Puzzle Pieces** One thing I always find funny about books and stories, especially the high adventure kind, is that the characters' lives are always thrilling and full of events and excitement -- that their lives are now on a course so...
Chapter 20 - High-Up Eavesdrop
**Chapter 20 - High-Up Eavesdrop** "What the hell do you mean _these are explosives_?" I said loudly, probably too loudly. I picked up a bottle and turned it around in my hand as if that would suddenly make sense. Rut's gaze was fixed on the...
Chapter 19 - Across Enemy Lines
**Chapter 19 - Across Enemy Lines** Tin was in agreement that he shouldn't go home just yet. We had stopped by the Arc and Siro had helped me find some clothing for him. The shirt he had tied around his waist had barely kept him decent,...
Special Anniversary Story #2 Come to Dust - Origins
**Come to Dust, Special Anniversary Story #2 - Origins** "Simon, I'm booooored!" The familiar voice echoed out at me as I looked up from this very journal I had been neglecting for weeks now. I saw Fiz, the black fox kneeling on a...
Chapter 27 - We Continue Ever Onward
**Chapter 27 - We Continue Ever Onward** I never take for granted a warm bed. Growing up, I always had a small bed and a thin blanket and it was even worse at sea. The bed I had back at home was nice, but it wasn't anything like this...
Chapter 26 - Burn Down the Tower
**Chapter 26 - Burn Down the Tower** Click. Click. Click. Nothing happened. I stared at the gun in my hand and then ahead at Mordecai and all at once terror hit me like a train; I was going to die because I let anger get the better of me. I...
Chapter 25 - End of Divergent Paths
**Chapter 25 - End of Divergent Paths** It was Rut who suggested that we split up. After all, we still had many floors to examine, and while we were certain the thirty-seventh floor was the one we needed to go to, ignoring the possibility of the...
Chapter 24 - It's All in the Cards
**Chapter 24 - It's All in the Cards** Waiting is the name of the game that I don't cherish playing. It feels like I'm wasting time and I've always been a man who likes to be moving forward, or at least tries to, but this time I didn't have...
Chapter 4 - Family Far and Near
**Chapter 4 - Family Far and Near** A couple of weeks into my move to the Pacific coast, I found that San Francisco was starting to grow on me. I couldn't exactly explain why, either, but there was something about the city that really made me...
Chapter 3 - Third Time's a Charm?
**Chapter 3 - Third Time's a Charm?** It had taken us some time to get up after our...morning activities. Tin was very convincing when he wanted to be, and honestly, I loved every moment of it. There was something nice about a...