Clash with the Ancients

Elliot,   Remember to breathe, love. In: one, two. Out: one, two. And repeat. Keep doing this ...

As I took one wavering step after another on top of the garden wall, I cradled my precious burden...

Grabbing hold of my siblings’ hands, I hauled them to their feet so I could drag them behind me. ...

During yearly lesson rotations, my stints with Vaessa, the House in charge of maintaining Ibis, h...

I didn’t know if leaving the kalasa’s care this early was wise, but I wouldn’t keep my sister awa...

Ostiu was fucking cold. I’d known this from multiple people’s warnings on the subject, but there ...

As soon as the door had slid closed, I dove into my array, requesting Feena’s location. She’d las...

Eventually, an alert chimed from the console while our speed slowed to a stop, and tapping into t...

“-haven’t seen someone show such promise in ages, Talira. He’ll work well. Start the process.” W...

With my back pressed to crumbling concrete, I counted my breaths, loosely holding my rifle in fro...

I met Fyester when I was fifteen years old during a House Kirst rotation. We’d immediately hit it...

With our guide gone, Fyester looked a little lost, so I flounced onto the bed, hoping to distract...

Islae didn’t want me to leave. She wasn’t being clingy, to my relief. I’d never been sure of how ...

I’d been left alone with House Kolb’s shukusen, a situation that should and would have had my sto...

As I got dressed, I considered how best to ask the question on my mind. In the end, I decided to ...

A waking state came to me slowly with a gradual diminishment of vivid dreams leaving me blinking ...

Once we were in the outer layer, the Lokke Vitras angled us toward one end of it, moving into an ...

I imagine that you found this part of my story predictable and somewhat annoying, Elliot, but it’...

The face of the man shouting at me had been red for a solid five minutes now, and I was beginning...

My footfalls spun the conspiracy’s remaining members to me, and I held my hands to either side, s...

Well. This had been a travesty. For the love of all that might be holy, say I was wrong. Say he ...

In the Terminal, people popped into being around me with the same rattled look on their faces, bu...

The Southern Fells Travel Center was smaller than the one in Ibis, and although its layout was si...

For a while, I didn’t move, simply considering how lucky I was that evushk had let me off easy th...

The skycruiser set down, and I sat, motionless, in it. I hadn’t announced my arrival yet, uncerta...

I wondered what my parents wanted. Would they ask me to leave, taking the danger that I represent...

The tower that we siblings were standing in front of had a much shorter profile on the horizon th...

Clicking her tongue, Feena whacked the back of my head. “Inspiring speech?” she snapped. “He’ll...

Xygek’s ground level was reserved for the middle Strata: Sixth through Eighth. Most people in tho...

I hurried us toward the closest public lift, half-hoping that Fyester would slip away while my ba...

Bucking Fyester to the side, I scrambled away from him until a headboard and wall stopped me, set...

Considering what had happened the last time I’d been here, arriving at the Crescent early felt st...

Evushk held something out to me, ignoring the hysterical giggling bouncing around us, and dazedly...

I didn’t find the escape I’d longed for. My world became the interior of the cabana with my every...

The length of the road that I’d traveled earlier today, a time that seemed like years ago, went b...

The outer layer of Acceptance Arena held a reverential air, spilling over from the ceremony takin...

I landed the skycruiser far from evushk’s estate. After finding me in the Crescent, Talira had le...

My barricades against my emotions had yet to be raised again, as evidenced by my narrowing field ...

Korix and I seemed like a terrible match for many reasons. First of all, he was my teacher, and ...

A shiver ran through the aircraft, rattling stored equipment in its bins, and in the seats closes...

House Kolb speed was plenty useful in short stretches, pulling operatives or strike team members ...

Korix looked ravishing at the moment. In black dress pants and a button-down shirt with a wine-re...

Even though it was still early, people had filled the Crescent, and clumps of them were congestin...

When I returned to Feena, she looked grumpy rather than just acting like it. I cautiously approac...

Neither Korix nor I wanted to say something. If we did, our inevitable answer would become concre...

Over the course of several hundred years, House Cerullis, in their efforts to better understand o...

After we’d walked for quite a while, enough to ensure that no one would interrupt us, Korix stopp...

Ace and I left the guesthouse, circling the main building. At the first side entrance we found, I...

Leski sucked in air like a dying fish, and from the corner of my eye, I caught Niklaus glancing b...

Niklaus led me away from the dining room. He took us on a convoluted route to his office, which m...

As I got dressed, I reviewed my list of mysteries, the ones that had once more begun flocking to ...

Darting back around the corner, I shot out an arm, driving Leski into the wall beside me. What w...

First, I secured Ace in the guesthouse, leaving him with an elaborate, treat-filled puzzle to sol...

Avoiding Leski for the rest of the day became the most annoying trial I’d endured in years. Havin...

Finishing off my snack, I glanced over my stowaway and almost didn’t recognize her, considering e...

Bowing, I stuttered, “L-lokke Vi-vitras.” Korix, something deep inside whispered with relief. S...

How I managed to stay on my feet was beyond me. I didn’t have adrenaline to help me ignore the pa...

Betrayal, as you know, is one of the worst ordeals that someone can experience. So many emotions ...

What was taking so long? This question echoed in me as I circled the confines of my cell with my...

On the facility’s main level, House Cerullis members were crowding the halls that had been empty ...

Shukusen Alezand showed no sign of leaving, and cursing in my head, I settled in to wait. Obvious...

I didn’t rush him. I wasn’t an idiot. If I did that, he’d just shoot me from the landing pad. No...

A mishmash of rotating colors abruptly halted with my head smacking into plastic, and my vision f...

Shukusen Talira was glaring at me like I’d offended her highest sensibilities. I stood perfectly ...

I was so tired. While this shuttle sped through the city, the light of the setting sun splashed ...

I barely stopped myself from laughing into Leski’s mouth. How had I gotten myself into such a str...

When my alarm dragged me to wakefulness, I groggily silenced it, struggling to remember where I w...

When I could think again, I frantically patted my body down while a buzz muffled my hearing. I ha...

When I extracted myself from my siblings’ embrace, I was aware of how many people were staring at...

“Why were you really in Rane’s bar?” I eventually asked Feena. Because there was no way in hell ...

My laughter filled the foyer, bouncing in the air around us, and as if a switch had been flipped,...

I was only half-aware of tracing the path to my old bedroom, and a few steps in, a message from m...

As you might have noticed, I wasn’t great at controlling extreme emotions when I was young. I cou...

Niklaus had changed since our first meeting. With sunken eyes and drawn-together shoulders, he ju...

Pheniks was, as usual, ensconced in a nest made of books, and as we came closer, he made room for...

Pheniks, Feena, and I arrived at our parents’ apartment within the hour, not long after I’d left ...

I’d never seen the lobby of House Kolb’s headquarters more deserted. A few people scurried betwee...

The full meaning of Talira’s words didn’t penetrate my thick skull until I’d almost reached my de...

When I eased into the room, Korix was sitting on the floor with his knees up and his head in his ...

Walking into the room, Feena froze when she saw Korix and me before shoving Pheniks into the hall...

Talira’s office went unnaturally still, and glancing between its occupants, I clicked my tongue. ...

The people with me seemed to agree with my assessment. Around me, blanched faces stared into noth...

As we approached my room, we slowed down while a funny look passed over Korix’s face. “She’s sle...

I closed the skycruiser’s door and headed off, waving for Korix to follow as I did. Not that he’d...

Reluctantly, Niklaus started with his story. “Before Laryse, I had a dull life. I served my lieg...

I was pretty sure that I was going to be sick. Opposite me, Niklaus looked so self-assured, as if...

“Phen? You here?” I called as Korix and I entered the Library. As the question echoed back to me...

Later that night, I slipped out from under Leski’s arm, cautiously disarming the alarms around my...

“Remind me why we’re here again?” Korix asked. The city's lights cast a glowing corona around th...

Even with an undercurrent of worry following her, Jayla looked good, much better than she had as ...

The air around Korix hung heavy on the shuttle ride home, and given how much they’d pulled away f...

Finding Leski didn’t take me long. When I stormed into my parents’ garden, she was examining the ...

I pulled Korix to me, pressing our lips together, and as I entangled my body with his, I tipped u...

In the end, I had to let them go, no matter how unwillingly. You and your family have served as a...

Carefully, I lifted the decanter on my grandmother’s sideboard and tilted it over my flask’s narr...

As if to echo my unease, Korix shifted in front of me, but we couldn’t let it overcome us. If we ...

When we reached the apartment, Ace barreled through its door to me, but like the good boy he was,...

As soon as I was out of sight, I took off at House Kolb speed toward the apartment’s sitting room...

I was busy with Korix and Leski when a message flashed into my array. Given the circumstances, I ...

As soon as I’d stepped into House Cerullis’ headquarters, I removed my camouflage disk, working m...

DO YOU SEE, BRETHREN? WE ARE ALWAYS VICTORIOUS! Pheniks, Feena, and I chase one another across...

The Ancient left me, steam and electricity billowing out of a scorched-through body. I was on the...

As I descended through House Cerullis’ headquarter, I set about dismantling as much of its securi...

“Zaeden! I need you come back, kuvesk.” Hurt is the world is the world is the world is my- “Fig...

Once we were a good distance from headquarters, I requested direct connections between my compani...

Feena was right. Below us, way to fucking far below us, the Preserve soon gave way to a beach and...

Ostiu had fallen behind us a while ago, and with us once more over the sea, we were flying betwee...

“Should I do this?” I asked. Korix would know what I meant, just like he’d known my plan since I...

The strangest aircraft I’d ever seen slowed to a stop beside me with only a faint whir coming fro...

I easily caught up with Pheniks, but when I pulled alongside his aircraft, I slowed down, peering...

Waiting in the foyer of shukusen Talira’s office, I examined her latest acquisition, another pain...

My grandmother’s office was in shadows with the glow of the city’s lights lending it an aura of m...

So, now you know how I became who I am, and if you must judge me, do it. I can no more deny my pa...