[Story] Tales of Annihilation -- Latest episode: #29 Blood and Fire IV

Another free bump before I head off to work.

Today I brought a really special surprise to you folks. Check out the contents of this "spoiler" below.

Spoiler

Read this spoiler only after you'd seen the first. Warning: long read

Spoiler: more spoilers

Perhaps, this might not be the perfect time for this rant, but...

As you probably guessed, the above spoiler contains the complete episode list of Tales of Annihilation; this includes all the released and all the still unreleased episodes, and also the character from whose perspective the story is told.


You probably might ask: "Is this the end?"
Well... it is the end of the current plotline(s). In my mind I finalized most of the details that lead up to the end, and only the writing process remains, which ofttimes comes as a tough challenge to me, as I am not a native english speaker, (and sometimes I regret sleeping through all those English classes, back in school, despite scoring perfect grades in that subject all the time), but still, I try my best to send the message properly.


"Will there be more?"
Perhaps... or perhaps not. It depends on a lot of things, mostly time and my always fluctuating mood.
There is still a lot of potential in this universe, and there are still tons of plotholes to be filled. I even have many ideas on how this could go on, and for that, I will finish this series with three major "loose ends", on which the story could carry on in the future. I will not spoil it by telling what those loose ends are... you will see to yourself when we're there. But you're always welcome to theorycraft.


"How would this continue, and why should I do it?"
The current series would be named "Tales of Annihilation - Book One" or something like that, and "Book Two" would be entirely on the Telian and Progenitor lines, mainly because when I worked on episodes from one of the commanders' perspective, it was just weird, and resulted in a lot of weird sentences and dialogues... The commanders would still be major elements of the tale, as this is still a PA fanfic, but not anymore from their perspective.
As for why should... or more like why would I do it... I have no idea. If people want me to do this, the story will continue in some way. Time will tell... time will tell.


I love my "fans" <3
Yes, I love all of you who frequently came back here and read what I wrote. It means a lot to me, considering this was my first ever attempt at writing something big, and it certainly earned me a bazzilion litres of experience (yes, that sounded weird).


The Second Day of February
In a few days, the very first episode will have its One Year Anniversary!! W000t!
On February 2nd, 2014... on a boring day, sitting alone in the campus, I was merely fantasizing of playing Planetary Annihilation, as I was a poor college student... well, I'm still poor, except I'm no longer a college student...
So that boring day in February, almost one year ago, for some weird reason, I decided to write a short story about the mighty commander: Warwick. Then it turned out quite nice, so I decided to post it on the forums... It received some nice comments, then...
A few days later, Brad Nicholson (oh, how I miss him ) sent me a PM, and there was an activation code inside for PA!! I was like . So, that's how I started playing the game! Shortly after, I decided to write more... then more... then more...


This might not be the game that needs fan fiction
As much as I love this game, and writing this fanfic in general, I asked myself a lot: "Why am I writing this?"
Mainly because this game started with almost zero lore, giving fanfic writers very little basis as for what to write about and what not to write about, so basically, I ended up with a lore of my own, and not an unofficial extension for an already existing lore.
The main let down, though, is not the lack of lore... it is how Uber just doesn't care about lore, and neither about fanfics in general.
Why am I thinking this? Well, it was almost a year since the start of Tales of Annihilation, and ever since it was growing and growing and growing... 69342 words, 390673 characters later, this story became long enough to fill a whole book, and with tons of editing, polishing and some more emphasis on small details, this could be an actual book (once it is finished, of course).
But did I receive any comments from Uber, apart of that one time at the start. Ha-ha... no.

This might sound selfish... well... it IS selfish, but still... a fan made project of this magnitude should at least get a "Hey, bro... we appreciate your efforts. Keep it going." from Uber, considering that this thing was on page one for quite a lot of time. Or am I wrong on this?

At this point, I believe nobody at Uber Ent. had ever read this thing.

Oh, and a more interesting spoiler!!

Spoiler: even more spoilers

Did I promise a book?
Oh, yes, I did promise a book. A few months back I talked about the possibility of me writing a book. That's still on the table.

I have finished the preparations, and finalized the main plot line for it, and created all characters and their roles in the story. I feel extremely committed to this now, I feel like I can actually do it.

A bit more info on this:

• Simple, linear plot line; not as complex as Tales of Annihilation
• Medieval/Fantasy Theme
• Female Protagonist (who is also a human)
• There will be sheep
• Plot twist: the protagonist is actually a shepherd
• Blood and violence confirmed
• There will be at least one wizard present in the book
• Small budget: meaning no big battlefields where thousands fight for some reason
• Might take over a year, or more to finish

I explored the interwebs a bit... and found that getting it proofreaded by an editor will be quite an expensive investment, so it is time to start saving up. It is an investment that is a must do if I ever hope to make this book a thing. Just a quick glimpse on Tales of Annihilation, and I found several grammar mistakes, and sentences that sound weird or silly.
I am yet to decide if I'm going to self-publish or try to convince a publisher for it... but that part can wait.
I added this to the post to get myself "committed"... now that I promised this (again) I can't "just give up". You guys are counting on me now, and I can't afford to let you down, even though, you are all just strangers on the web.

You folks will be among the first to know about it, once it's released, unless the forums would be already shut down by then, heh...

If you have more questions about this project, feel free to ask below...
... just please, for the love of all seventy gods and their fathers... don't ask what the release date is!

Sorry... I ran out of spoilers.

Sounds pretty exciting. Keep us up to date on that endeavor!

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The Other Side of Evil

Commander Seth allowed the enemy commanders a short glimpse of hope as he pulled his forces back from the choke point in the canyon. The next moment, the enemy tanks and assault bots were vaporized by a massive beam, falling from orbital space.

With a combination of his own technology and that of the alien Hivelord's DNA, he managed to create a powerful space platform that is completely invisible to any radar, that is capable of dealing massive damage against ground forces from the orbital layer.

The combined forces of the Synchronous and the Revenants retreated back to their fortifications, and Seth's forces suddenly turned back towards them for a pursue while the platform recharged. The mobile artillery managed to pick off a few tanks from the rear of their battalion, but his pursue had come to a halt the moment the Synchronous commander's line of stationary artillery started pounding, causing some minor losses before Seth pulled them back.

It was clear the enemy fortifications were impregnable by ground, and the air forces were of equal strength, so bombing was not much of an option either, combined with the bases' own anti-air batteries, their air force would demolish his bombers before they reached the airspace above them.

Preparing nukes would take too long, and he had doubts in the phase shifter general that held the front to the far west. Unlike Seth, he relied on fragile bionic units and stealth attacks; his only way to reinforce his force was the single teleporter further behind the front line.

Despite his own systems being taken over by the Hivelord's collective mind, he still did not trust them. He was no longer a simple machine, his mechanical systems were corrupted by some bionic life form that was developed near a hundred-thousand years back by a scientist in a distant galaxy... by a simple bionic scientist, a mere mortal who later became the immortal conqueror who dominated nine galaxies across the universe.

Hivelord Vyl'arak, the mastermind behind everything, controls a massive army using his own DNA to take control over nearly anything, be it bionic or machine... His DNA is even present in Seth's neurosystem. He communicates with his vassals through an encrypted radio channel that exploits a specific faultline of the Universe. The progenitors even captured the signals of his channel in the past, but being unable to interpret, they named it “noise”.

However, it is not the Hivelord himself that controlled every single warrior in his army; he only gives his commands to the Supreme Overseers, who distributes his commands to the lesser lifeforms.

Seth was only a mere slave on the table; an expendable soldier with no value in the long run. Every valuable technological data that he had was already transferred and adapted to the Phase Shifter technology, including the nano-lathe. Every knowledge he had possessed was now owned by the collective mind.

The highest valued blueprint that they managed to claim by deeply analyzing Seth's systems during his imprisonment was the teleporter technology. Before they learned of the teleporters, the Phase Shifters' forces had to travel in space for several years before they reached their destination, and while reinforcing their lines they often faced difficulties.

They arrived to this galaxy with some spies at first, and they found the powerful self-replicating machines, that they had little chance to defeat at their technology level at the time...

The Hivelord was ready to recall his forces from this galaxy and looked towards another target, but then they captured Seth, and the tides have changed. With the new technology they were able to face these vicious machines, and claim victory after victory. Even with the four opposing factions forming an alliance, they struggled against the Phase Shifter forces, and at the current pace, it was only a matter of years before they fully driven them out of the galaxy.

Though, that would not mean the complete eradication of the powerful commanders. The machines that the Progenitors created were present in at least a thousand other galaxies across the universe, and they only formed an alliance in this specific galaxy, whereas in the other galaxies, the war of the four factions was still raging.

However, there was one huge setback against the plan of taking over the galaxy... a powerful human made warship: The Valhalla.


[…]


The main weapon of Seth's spacestation fully recharged, and was ready to unleash its power. It took some more time until the guide thrusters positioned it in the correct angle, but then the deadly cannon unleashed its wrath.

The target was the main base where the Revenant commander was suspected to be. The night sky above the pale dirt of the planet's surface was illuminated by the massive beam that headed towards the base to cause extreme annihilation, then after a friction of a moment, the sky was dark again and the starts were once again visible, but was shortly illuminated again by a massive nuclear explosion; the Revenant commander was down.

In the meantime, the commander of the Synchronous devastated most of the Phase Shifter forces, and advanced deep behind the front line. Seth's scouts detected some stealth movements from his ally; a tiny group of stalkers headed towards the commander's position, who apparently did not detect them.

Those units carried weapons that were capable of trapping him. That only meant one thing: they wanted to convert him to their side, just like they had done with Seth. Perhaps they could not make a copy of me?

Seth directed one of his scout planes towards the commander himself, and made it land right it front of him, allowing to easily extract data from it – at least, that is what Seth expected he would do. Some minutes later, a few Synchronous assault bots headed out to intercept the stealth force, and without serious efforts, they were devastated by the massive firepower, ripped to shreds by the neutronium bullets.

Why did I do that? Seth wondered. Perhaps he just did not want competition... or perhaps he thought they would need him no more if there was another one of his kind on the side of the Hivelord's forces.

Soon, Seth's assault forces arrived to the vicinity of the final commander's base, and began the assault. Just in one hour, the commander was dead, and the planet was officially a part of Hivelord Vyl'arak's empire.

Upon their victory, Seth commanded his fabricators to reclaim the bodies of both dead commanders.

They did not try to stop him. Perhaps they can not fully see my thought processes?


[…]


Days later, the fleet reassembled near a gas giant that served as a resource supply for the army. The reinforcements from the Phase Shifter home galaxy arrived through six teleporters, all floating in space, orbiting the mighty planet that had a storm riddled atmosphere.

A few more days; a short time to resupply before heading out for a hunt. The goal of the next mission was to intercept the mighty battleship, known as the Valhalla. The ship that was previously controlled by Nero of Legonis Machina, but apparently was somehow taken over by humans, who were the original owners. Such a waste, Seth thought about the situation.

Seth thought the humans were too weak, and did not deserve to own such a powerful ship. It was perhaps the opportunity to claim it as his own.

The Phase Shifter fleet consisted of six-thousand smaller battlecruisers, armed with the Phase Shifter beam weapons, and eleven large Destroyer Class starships, armed with some of the weapons that they managed to copy from Seth's blueprint database. Seth's fleet was merely the spacestation and some poorly armored, but fast ships. Even his own flagship was smaller than the smallest Phase Shifter battlecruiser; they would not trust him enough to allow him more than that. Seth suspected that they believed he was still not fully one of them. They feared he might switch sides.


[…]

(Continued in next post due to character limit)

The fleet prepared to ambush at the desired location, which the Valhalla was expected to pass by. They hid the entire fleet as close to the local star as possible to hide them from the Valhalla's sensor system. Then they waited; waited until the legendary battleship reached close enough.

Hours passed after hours in complete silence. Nobody communicated, nobody had sent a single piece of signal. Doing anything was forbidden by the Overseer who watched the fleet from aboard his flagship at the rear of the fleet.

Seth wondered if it could be possible to take over the Valhalla, but within a few nanoseconds, he concluded that in the chaos of the ambush that they were about to make, it would be most logical to use his beloved allies, the Phase Shifters as shields against the mighty firepower of the progenitor warship. That was the surest way to maximize his chance for survival.


[…]


The first signals of the approaching Valhalla were captured. It traveled in the hyperspace, as was expected, instead of using the slower, but more energy efficient FTL (Faster Than Light) generators. After all, the Valhalla was equipped with extremely powerful generators.

Hyperspace is an alternative phase of reality that coexists with the other dimensions in the universe. Progenitors invented a device that would allow them to shift their spaceships into the hyperspace, where they can travel at incredible speeds, allowing them to completely bypass the technical limitations of the traditional FTL generators.

However, warping into the hyperspace, and keeping the ship there were two different things. While the former could be done even with limited power supplies, they would almost immediately shift back into “normal” phase, unless they had sufficient energy sources.

While it was a great invention, the progenitors could never use the technology to its full potential, mainly because none of their ships could carry such powerful power plants – none, except the Valhalla. Therefore, the Valhalla was the only ship that was equipped with a Hyperspace Generator.

The commanders did not have the technology either, as it was invented after the outcome of the XziphidWar was already clear. Therefore, the progenitor leaders did not see the need to equip their war machines with the technology.

Coincidentally, while the Phase Shifters had no access to the hyperspace technology, yet; they had the tools to entirely disable any hyperspace generator in their vicinity, and force the objects traveling in hyperspace back to the normal phase of existence.

And that is exactly how it happened as the Valhalla arrived, and it appeared near a moon in the solar system, slowed down to a speed that could be intercepted by the fleet.

The trap was successful... except not as how the Overseer expected. The Valhalla immediately unleashed a flurry of missiles and changed its direction directly towards the fleet, allowing its powerful frontal beam cannons to wreck tens of the Phase Shifter battlecruisers at a time. It was the progenitors' trap, Seth concluded.

Millions of drones swarmed out of the Valhalla's countless hangars, rushing towards the fleet, getting lost in the crowd, firing at random, all of them flying and shooting somewhere and something irregularly.

Against Seth's ships they could only deal minor damage, but the Phase Shifter ships' hull were built of some organic matter that vaporized as the countless projectiles collided against them.

The Valhalla was finally in range of Seth's space station. He aimed at the warship's frontal cannons to disable them. The beam touched the hull of the Valhalla, but it maneuvered slightly sideways to minimize the damage to the front.

That also meant that the position of his powerful weapon was revealed to them. The humans did not hesitate much with the counter strike; the next shot with their beam cannon was a direct hit against his precious space station, which vaporized following the impact.

Though, after closer analysis, Seth found that his only successful shot caused heavy damage on the outer hull of the progenitor warship, and it seemed that oxygen, which is a substance humans needed to remain alive, was leaking out through the massive breach that was opened by the beam. Still, the Valhalla was pouring out thousands of missiles into the space, decimating the fleet of the Hivelord.

The Phase Shifter fleet was slowly reduced to dust by the superior firepower. Soon, the command was given: Retreat!

Less than a thousand battleships remained, and each one of them started to rapidly accelerate as they activated their FTL drives. About a hundred ships, however, – including two of their highly valued Destroyer Class ships – remained stationary after having suffered heavy damage. Seth's own flagship was one of them, with him on board.

Seth's whole ship was split in half by a missile; the rear of the ship detached from the rest of the hull, so he remained trapped in the control room.

The countless drones that were still out in the battlefield began to attach to the trapped battleships, then they started to drag them towards the Valhalla. They were collecting prisoners, he realized.

Seth still had some fabricators aboard, although, the vast majority of them were positioned on the rear to maintain the engine's and the weapon system's structural integrity in the heat of battle.

He decided it was best to reclaim parts of his ship for metal, then use it to construct a makeshift teleporter on the deck.

The few fabricators he had left proceeded to disassemble the ship with the nano-lathe technology, while he built the gate for his escape.

However, the drones eventually reached his ship, and they were not happy to see his efforts. They immediately commenced fire, and they managed to pick off two, then another three fabricators before Seth had the chance to take them down with his personal gun.

The teleporter was nearly complete, but more drones approached, and this time in an even greater group. There was no more time left; Seth activated the teleporter prematurely, and a made a leap of faith into the swirling portal, hoping to end up in the right place...


[…]


As he arrived to the other side, there was no floor below his massive metal feet. He was floating, floating among the stars above a gas giant. The same gas giant where his fleet joined the main fleet a few days earlier. Perhaps it was luck that helped him this time.


[…]


The defeat against the Valhalla was a disastrous loss to the fleet, but they had a new plan. A new plan to once and for all erase a major obstacle before finally conquering this galaxy.

Through analysis of the Valhalla's recent movements, they found that it spent some considerable amount of time around a specific planet where it always returned after its voyages.

That planet was the next target. The Overseer prepared the entire fleet for a massive engagement. It was still unclear what was waiting for them on that planet, as it was still unexplored, but Hivelord Vyl'arak has gifted them some fifty-thousand warships from the home galaxy to ensure his victory against the Valhalla and the army it serves.

It would take a few more months before the entire fleet arrived through the few teleporters they had the energy for, and another few weeks to reach the planet using the FTL...

However, the Hivelord was eager to claim his victory... But most importantly: to see his new secret weapon in action.

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'Dis be the reserved post.

More goodies confirmed!!

Wow, I don't think I have anything else to say. Very good work!

Another great chapter, keep up the good work!

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Blood and Fire IV

A mere accident, only a tiny little miscalculation within the equation, and the whole thing was down. Life is a cruel demon, Eldora already knew it, as she had to learn it during the siege of her hometown. For some time she believed that she was the only one whom Life hated. However, as she gazed at Alyssa as they sat by the campfire in the middle of a dark forest, she realized Life hated her, too.

Alyssa's followers listened to her words with pleasure, they consumed the words without question, but the moment they realized who she was, the same people were ready to burn her as a sacrifice to the Glorious Nyl for forgiveness. But after all, Eldora thought, it was her own fault to play the woman she was not. The worshipers were rightfully angered, as the woman they thought to be one of them was an alien impostor...

Eldora just gazed at her; watched the teardrops that raced down her pale cheeks. Alyssa would certainly never see home again, she had come to a place where she had no friends. She was alone, prisoner to some elders.

Talk about friends... Eldora wondered if her "friends" were truly friends after all... The ones whom she had thought were innocent old fools suddenly armed themselves and were ready for combat within minutes, then a few moments later, they turned a ceremony into a bloodbath, only to save Alyssa, and drag her away on chains.

The five ancient warriors sat by the fire, too. Occasionally persuading Alyssa with various questions, with a tone of mockery and disrespect; treating her like some lesser being... But the woman remained calm and diplomatic, answering each question with respect towards them.

Eldora just continued to gaze at the woman until her eyes became weary and tired, and she eventually turned to sleep.


[…]


It was still dark when Eldora awakened to the screams of a woman. It was Alyssa's scream who lied on the ground, then a second later was lifted to the air by Teros Palathagon. As she looked down at the old man, Eldora saw her face was bruised and covered in blood.

“Hey! Stop that!” said Eldora. “Leave her alone!”

“Stay out of this you little ****!” Teros replied with a tone full of hatred.

“Yes, girl. Stay out of this.” Arbor Peam added.

Eldora gazed around, and saw Joras Vox and Bex Narmal lying on the ground, passed out, surrounded by empty bottles of booze. Alexandros was nowhere to be seen.

“You are drunk! You're not yourself! Please, let her go!” Eldora begged to the old man.

Teros tossed Alyssa away, and she unleashed a moan of pain as she landed on the hard earth. Then the old man turned towards Eldora, his face full of fury. He rapidly approached her, then with a strong push, he knocked her to the ground. She could feel as her tiny feet left the floor below, then the next moment, her back crashed against the ground behind her; it hurt her, but she knew she had to flee.

Eldora jumped up in a haste, and ran. Her scream echoed in the dark, and in the edge of her sight, she saw Teros running after her.

“Teros! What the heck are you doing?” Alexandros demanded as he appeared from behind the woods in fron of her, with a handful of dry wood in his hands.

Eldora found protection behind the old man who always called her little lady. Teros faced Alexandros.

“The little pest conspired with the human! She must die!” Teros explained.

“Calm down, Teros!” said Alexandros. “You just drank too much. It will be fine again in a few hours.”

“You are with them, too!” Teros accused him. “Traitor!” he said, then he reached for his gun that was in a sheath attached to his belt.

“Put that down, there is no need for this!” said Alexandros as he dropped the wood to the ground. He carefully backed away, pushing Eldora back, gently.

“Look at us, Alex... look at us!” said Teros. “We are here in the forest, trying to hide this creature. It told us everything we had to know. We need it no more!”

“We are not barbarians, my friend!” Alexandros said in a calm tone.

“You're not my friend, old man!” said Teros. “Every day we spend out here, we risk dying! You're going to kill us, trying to save that thing!”

Arbor appeared from the darkness, holding a torch which illuminated the scene. He was dragging Alyssa by pulling her shackles.

Teros looked at them for a moment. “I say we kill the human!” he said.

“Yes. Then we return to Ingenti, and go on with our lives.” said Arbor.

“To Ingenti? Did the booze completely destroy your brains?” Alexandros asked them. “The moment you tried to enter the city you would be arrested for killing all those fanatics!”

“And whose idea was it to kill them?” Teros demanded.

“Admit it, Alex,” said Arbor. “We didn't become any smarter by taking this thing as our hostage.”

“Yes, and that stupid little child,” Teros referred to Eldora. “Why did we have to take her with us?”

“You two are insane, we – “ Alexandros tried to say, but was interrupted.

“Insane? WE?” said Arbor in a demanding tone. “We should never have followed you! You are the one who's insane!”

“I say we kill them all,” suggested Teros.

“Yes, start with the human!” Arbor agreed.

Teros pointed his gun at the defenseless woman whose face was filled with despair. Her tears and blood mixed on her dirty face. “No!” she begged, her voice was so weak, Eldora could barely hear it.


(Continued in next post due to character limit)

The next moment, Teros was on the ground, unleashing a sound of pain, he fell into the dirt as his blood streamed out his mouth.

Alexandros' strike was precise; his axe landed just below the back of his skull. He drew out the mighty weapon, unleashing a splash of blood.

Arbor dropped his torch to reach for his gun when Alexandros was just a few steps away from him. He managed to fire two shots, then the axe shattered his skull, and he collapsed with the axe in his head, his blood flowing out, soaking the soil below.

As Alexandros turned back to see Eldora, she noticed the blood escaping his body through a wound in his chest, where his heart was.

“No!” Eldora screamed, and rushed to help the old man as his body slowly descended towards the ground. Tears quickly filled her eyes, as she begged him not to die, trying to close his wound with her tiny hands. “Stay with me, please! Don't leave me!”

“Little lady...” he said with a bitter tone in his voice. His eyes closed, and he said no more.

Eldora started sobbing. In a few moments, she noticed Alyssa searching for something inside Teros' clothing. “What are you looking for?” Eldora asked her.

“The key to open this lock,” she replied as she gestured with her hands to point at the handcuffs she still had on. “Help me!” she said.

Eldora remembered as Alexandros told him where the key were; he had it, and it was in a small pouch in his pocket.

Eldora walked up to the human on her knees, desperately trying to find the key to her freedom. The young telian child held the key in her grasp.

Alyssa stopped the search. “You are not going to help me?” she said, looking deep into her eyes.

Eldora remained speechless as she gazed at the woman, thinking what to do; what was the right decision. Alyssa turned back to the corpse, and continued her search, trying to loot the key.

Eldora turned her back, and walked away, and stopped at the top of a cliff that towered above the rest of the forest below. She had no idea why, but she looked up to the night sky to see the stars.

The sky was completely cloudless, and all the stars were clearly visible. Perhaps they could tell me the answer? She wondered.

She eventually spotted a really strange and bright star that was bigger and brighter than any other star in the night-sky. But there was something else strange about it: It seemed to move; slowly, but fast enough to be noticeable. “Look!” she said to Alyssa.

The human walked up beside her, and looked up, too. “What do you see?”

Eldora pointed at the moving star. “That! It's moving!”

“Strange...” said Alyssa. “Could you help me now?” she put in with a slightly disappointed tone.

“Could it be a meteorite?” Eldora asked her.

“No,” Alyssa replied. “It's a spaceship.”

Eldora looked after the woman, and asked, “How do you know?”

Alyssa this time was searching Arbor's clothes for the key. She looked at Eldora. “I saw many spaceships in the night-sky when I was a child.” she said. “Though, I've never seen any that was this huge.”

Eldora was amazed by the sight of the distant spaceship, and for the time, she forgot about the grief of losing Alexandros.

For some minutes, she gazed at the ship until it disappeared behind the horizon, where the light of the morning sun was slowly crawling upwards.

“Damn it!” said Alyssa. “The key must be with the others.”

Eldora approached to her, and gently touched her left shoulder from behind her. Alyssa turned back to see her, and then, Eldora proceeded to open her shackles with the key. Moments later, the iron chains were on the ground, and for a moment, Alyssa gazed at her speechless.

Eldora then decided to follow the star, but first, she had to find a way to the bottom of the cliff. She left Alyssa behind without saying a thing.

“Thank you!” said Alyssa as the distance grew between them.

Alyssa seemed to hesitate, but soon, she decided to join Eldora...


[…]


The two of them walked for some hours among the trees, towards the direction where the star headed. The sun was already high in the sky.

“Where are we going?” Alyssa asked her.

“I don't know,” she replied. “Just away from here, I guess.”

“We should stop and rest,” the woman said. “My legs are becoming weary from all this walking.”

“What?!” said Eldora, surprised. She stopped walking and turned to her companion. “I've walked for just as long, and just as far as you did, but I don't feel weary at all.”

“Somehow I can't believe that,” Alyssa responded.

She's right, Eldora thought, but admitting otherwise did not pass her mind. “Do you hear that?” she said, referring to the sound of flowing water in the distance.

“A river?” Alyssa suggested.

“It comes from over there!” Eldora pointed towards the direction from where she heard the sound.

They arrived to a small open field that was crossed by a tiny creek that was vividly cascading down across several steps of stone.

“We should take a rest here,” Eldora suggested.


[…]


About an hour passed since they decided to take their rest by the creek. Some ominous dark clouds appeared above them, and the wind seemed to awaken.

“A storm is coming,” said Alyssa. “We should find shelter soon.”

“We're in the middle of a forest. Where could we hide?” Eldora asked her.

“I have no clue... but I don't think we should stay out in this field,” the woman replied.

The two prepared to continue their journey, when Eldora saw something what appeared to be paper being carried by the wind, and headed towards them. It slammed right into her face.

Eldora examined the paper, and found it was a torn piece of a newspaper from Madara. “How did the wind carry it this far?” she asked.

“What's in it?” said Alyssa.

Eldora proceeded to read the headline out loud:

“Lyth Royal Forces bombarding settlements of Zeel near the shared border. Rodhoros launched full scale assault deep into zeelian territory.”

“Following the alleged assassination of a high-ranked Lyth officer who was tasked to oversee important operations within an important weapon production facility near the capital city, Boris' End, the King of Lyth declared war against the Republic of Zeel.”

“Shortly after, without the declaraction of war, Rodhoros launched a surprise offensive against the northern parts of Zeel.”

“Following the sudden escalation of conflicts, Norwen Ollex, the president of the Demian Federation sent several diplomats to Rodhoros in a hasty attempt to create an alliance against the aggression of Lyth and Rodhoros.”

“Well... that is all,” said Eldora.

“So it is happening already...” said Alyssa.

“Happening? What's happening?” Eldora asked.

“The war.” she replied.

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The whole story is a little over 74 000 words as of this moment...
... and that is 240+ A5 pages using Liberation Serif font on 12 character size.

I estimate that when finished, Tales of Annihilation will be about 330 A5 pages long using the same font and size as above, and about 110-120k words.

And when I say "finished" that doesn't meant it's actually finished, because it would still be uncomplete and a complete mess at some parts of the story. When I say "finished" it means that the plot comes to its end. Then it would need several revisions to fix the countless mistakes that I left in the thing to make it somewhat more readable.

Free bump.

Bumping because I can...

Some extra delays to be expected with the arrival of #30 because lately I've been feeling rather down and out of the mood. Hopefully March and the upcoming Spring will fix that a bit.

Also, as I can judge by the number of "likes" and comments on #29, it wasn't that much of a hit... Could someone point out that is probably obvious, what only I can't see... What might went wrong?

I think the problem with blood and fire is that this is a community which likes robots blowing up, which is absent from this set. Don't really know that there's much else to it.