GODSWAR: The Spear of Athena, Chapters 21 and 22

Couldn't post on Friday and the weekend was busy, so here, two for one! Raiagamor's getting ready for the new arrivals he expects, and our friends are busy learning from THEIR new friends! -----   Chapter 21. He divested himself of the constricting ceremonial armor with a sigh of pleasure. Of all the minor annoyances of pretending to be the General, Ares Incarnate, it was perhaps that armor that was the worst. Not only was it an impediment to the flowing free movement he preferred, it also incorporated, rather unavoidably, a [ Continue reading... ]

Princess Holy Aura: Chapter 33

In this final snippet, Procelli found he had been suckered... -----     Chapter 33.      Silvertail felt a cold, cold smile crossing his tiny face as he saw the Mirrortaint stagger back in disbelief. "But . . . how . . ." Seika's face was radiant with understanding. "It was you, not Cordelia's father! But he sensed the distress—" Silvertail locked gazes with Procelli, and he could see fear in the defiant Mirrortaint's eyes. "I merely allowed myself to remember the day I gave my daughter to this fate . . . and let my fear [ Continue reading... ]

Princess Holy Aura: Chapter 32

Things seemed to have taken a turn for the worse, and they were bad enough already...   Chapter 32.      Even as that happened, Procelli loomed somehow larger, though his physical form changed not a bit. "Another wish granted," he said with a slasher smile, turning to Holy Aura. She could see Cordy, now in her father's embrace, but her face showed only the shock and anguish and confusion of the impossible; even a father's presence could only do so much. "You . . . obscene . . . thing," she choked out, unable to even form a proper [ Continue reading... ]

Princess Holy Aura: Chapter 31

The tyrpiglynt was out and apparently so was their secret... -----     Chapter 31.      "Holly? Seika?" Tierra said after a few frozen moments. "Fuck," Seika said succinctly in the powerful soprano of Radiance Blaze. "But, that's the way the meme rolls, right?" Holly found she'd covered her face with one of Holy Aura's hands. "Yes. Yes, of course it is." Is Tierra going to be one of the Maidens? Or one of those ordinary characters that happens to learn the secret? If it was the latter, whether Tierra survived the [ Continue reading... ]

Princess Holy Aura: Chapter 29

They'd figured out who they needed to talk to... -----   Chapter 29.      Holly shivered a little, then pulled her coat tighter. "Jeez, I'd forgotten how cold it gets sitting in the bleachers." "Did you forget how boring this is?" Seika muttered to her, barely audible over the cheers and other shouts as Whitney High's White Lions contested with Columbia's Blue Devils. "You don't know anything about football, do you? This is a pretty good game." Seika gave her a scandalized look. "You call yourself a geek and you like football? [ Continue reading... ]

Princess Holy Aura: Chapter 28

Silvertail now knew what they were up against... -----   Chapter 28.      "A . . . tyrpiglynt?" Holly repeated. The word sounded somehow creepy in and of itself. "What is that, exactly?" "A Reflecter of Desire," Silvertail said wearily. "Also called a Mirrortaint. A being from far Outside, so far that it has a difficult time manifesting in our ordinary world and can do so—to begin with, at least—only as a projection that echoes an existing projection in this one. A reflection, in short, which is a projection of the features of the [ Continue reading... ]

Princess Holy Aura: Chapter 26

Holly had a new friend who was an old friend, and a new conundrum...   -----     Chapter 26.      "Okay, I like that," Nikki said with a grin. Tierra looked confused. "Is there a joke in Dex's character's name? I don't get it." "Seriously?" Holly said. "Geraldine 'Geri' Rigger? Never heard the term 'jerry-rig' or 'jury-rig'?" "Nope." "Basically," Dex began, then stopped as he realized Holly and Seika had already started speaking—both of whom stopped at the same time. After a couple of "oh, wait, sorry" [ Continue reading... ]

Princess Holy Aura: Chapter 25

Well, now that Seika's parents hadn't killed them, life had to go on...     Chapter 25.      "I can't believe it's this cold!" Holly said, shivering even within the thick, puffy blue coat she was wearing. "It was seventy three days ago!" "Welcome to New York," Tierra said with a smirk, shoving the door open ahead of her and holding it to let the others pass. A tall blonde girl zipped in between Holly and Seika, muttering a quick "'Scuse me!" and then sprinted down the hallway, causing one of the guards to call ineffectually [ Continue reading... ]

Princess Holy Aura: Chapter 24

They were explaining the situation to Seika's parents... -----     Chapter 24. "Both died a while back, honestly. Look, I know this is all crazy and you're going to need a lot of time to adjust, but there's one more big bomb we've got to drop on you." "Another?" Dave looked torn between amusement and outrage. "More than changing the whole world we've known and telling us Seika's some kind of . . . magical soldier-girl?" "Sorry, sir, but yes, and if we don't tell you . . . it's all about the willing sacrifice, right? I [ Continue reading... ]

Princess Holy Aura: Chapter 23

As Seika had noted, telling her parents was going to be the hard part of this...       Chapter 23.      "Well, Trayne? You called this meeting, it's your show," Mrs. Cooper said. "Little Van's over with one of his friends for the night." Marilynn Cooper was almost as petite as her husband was huge, but she had her daughter's sharp gaze and an adult aura of responsibility. Both parents are formidable, Silvertail thought. And both must be our allies in what is to come. He thought of how badly this could end, and cringed [ Continue reading... ]