Almost – Part 4      “I’m really worried,” I tell the others as Rose is brushing out my hair.      “For Charlotte?” Mimi asks in between bites of some kind of fruit.      “That too, of course. But this is getting absurd, isn’t it? I haven’t been here long but, the violence has increased dramatically.”       …

Almost – Part 3      My throat is parched and threatens to close in on itself. I really didn’t know anything about Kay, did I?       “Two years ago, the Consulate brought the Vagars together. I don’t know how they knew about me. I never left evidence. But matters of the Zeroth can’t be ignored. So Ame …

Almost – Part 2      I shift my gaze from her, back to the building. I can’t help but feel inclined to agree, this place looks abandoned- like it hasnt’ been touched in a decade. Rose nods. She turns to a passing person and asks them about the building. Evidently, it was an orphanage directed by a woman who …

Almost – Part 1      I enter the nurse’s room Kay was left in. Immediately the guilt of it all hits me. Kay was sitting up, but huddled around the now-statue of the bird. She looks so weak, so broken.      I move to place my hand on her head but she flinches away from me. Looking down …

Criss-Cross – Part 3       “Nina, I need answers…” I mutter weakly.       Her face contorts again, a sigh escapes her lips. She gestures for me to sit on the lounge chair in the corner that I’ve never used before. As I lean into it, it seems to swallow me whole. I’m swallowed even deeper as I …

Criss-Cross Part 2       I leave the cafeteria, disgusted at the ideas Gabe was spitting out. I’m going to find Nina and talk to her. That’s my only thought as I move through the institute. However, my searching ends quickly as I run into her, literally, as I turn the corner into the next hallway.       …

Criss-Cross – Part 1       I roll over as I wake up and shake my head while trying to stand up. One thought dominates my mind- I must get to Nina. I don’t know how long I’ve been out, but this is bad! I push myself to stand and shake the confusion from my mind.       …

Breakthrough – Part 3       “Ninavin, the stories surely do not do you justice,” he tells her- seemingly impressed with whatever it is he reads.       She gives him a wry smile and says, “All that matters to me, Master Domnis, is getting Zero home.”       Dom gives her a long stare before letting a …

Breakthrough – Part 2       Fennis… I hadn’t thought about him recently. I wonder how he’s doing? Surely he found some kind of refuged in the Outerlands. Maybe he was able to put his sword to work for coin. Perhaps he was able to find peace in simpler work, maybe that of a farmer.        I’m brought from …

Breakthrough – Part 1       Upon our arrival in the city, guards swarm us. When Rose protests and inquires as to what is going on, the woman who seems to be in charge simply informs us that they were the unit sent to escort us to the Consulate; and that is when I fully realised the severity of today’s gathering.     …