"Fate" Prologue: Nexus

Anna wiped blood out of her eyes.

She remembered reading somewhere that head wounds tended to bleed a lot, but she’d hoped to spare herself the experience if at all possible. Thankfully, it didn’t hurt that much, but the stupid cut wouldn’t stop bleeding.

She wiped her hand off on her shorts.

Anna pressed herself back against the wall and inched toward the next blind corner, hoping desperately that she wouldn’t encounter another of those things moving around in the maze. She didn’t know what they were and she couldn’t catch a good look at any of them, but they were fast, damn fast. The maze was their territory and she was an intruder, though it escaped her exactly as to how she had come to be in this strange place.

She shook her head and immediately regretted it. . .

"Blood from Stone" Chapter 2 : Inner Turmoil

“God, why am I...the way that I am?”

Chrissy spoke quietly, though there was no one nearby to hear her in the little chapel. She had started going here a few months ago, after the services ended at the other, much larger church her family attended. This was a small place, barely enough room for maybe a hundred people in the pews.

The altar was a simple space with an unadorned wooden cross hanging behind it. This place always felt a little more personal to her, as if someone were actually listening to her instead of her voice getting lost among hundreds and thousands of others. She seldom came away with any true sense of fulfillment, but at least it was peaceful here . . .

"The Knowledge Keeper's Daughter" Chapter 2 : A Fair Trade

The room was silent, save for the gentle sound of pages turning. The sole occupant, a young girl with long silver hair and violet eyes, lay curled up on her bed with a large stack of comic books resting beside her.

In her hands she held issue twelve of “Gunrunner Kid.” She turned the colorful pages almost reverently, revealing a cyberpunk fantasy story about a young girl who worked as a courier in a futuristic society while wielding a semi-sentient cursed gun. The artwork was fantastic and the storytelling was quite good. She burrowed deeper into her blankets as she read, reaching automatically for the next comic in the series as she finished the one she was currently reading.

Jenna was surrounded by books. . .