xodus

The Book Club

Boy does it make me glad that people are talking and discussing Wheel of time here, especially since that series got me back into reading and into "epic fantasies" so it holds a special place in my heart. My judgement about that series may be biased but then again these are recommendations based on opinions.

While yes the Wheel of time has the standard tropes, "great looming evil", "destined savior" etc, it also has heart. I mean if you pick this series and go with it till the end, it is not just a read it is a journey, an experience. You see the magnificent world, the cultures, the endless abundance of characters and especially the progression. How these three boys, whisked away from a small village, grow to be the 'Ta'veren' that they are and how they shape the world around them. Another something that I really liked was the each book was known for a special event that would change everything, a single event that is extremely important and would have consequences reflected in the next book. Throughout the book Robert Jordan shows us that fate has a grand plot, "the wheel weaves what the wheel weaves" and if you read carefully you can actually see how it is all woven. Each event propelling you forward towards the inevitable goal.

Now aside from the wonderful Wheel of time series and it's bad ass titular character 'The Dragon Reborn - Rand al Thor - I also really enjoyed 'The Prince of Thorns'. Mark Lawrence knows how to create a gritty world and he really gets the reader into the mind of Jorg. I would not suggest this book to those that don't like gory and or dark and morbid themes. It is a story of vengeance and of a 'prince' who will go to any lengths to achieve that vengeance, he will quite literally watch the world burn and stomp right over to grasp at his ambitions. This is not a story of a hero but of a villain and his rise to power.

EDIT: Oh and here are some of the book series that I have on my 'to read list', listed in priority.

The Book of the Ancestor - Mark Lawrence

Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn - Tad Williams

The KingKiller Chronicle - Patrick Rothfuss

Stormlight archive - Brandon Sanderson

Chrono Asylum (You call it magecraft, we call it Alchemy) - Spots open for chapter 2

Spots are still open, we are looking for two new players!

~Chrono Asylum: Devil's Plague

A Devil's Innocence~

"I knew this mission was gonna go to shit. It always does when we start on that fucking ship and you two are involved."

Angel had just about to part his lips to protest only for his words to fall short from the surmounting chaos, the Banshees had destroyed more than half the opposition through their over-drive, a terrifying spectacle that one. Angel had always pondered over the sheer scaling in power just via merging two alchemic drives, such was the genius of the Asylum link.

"I believe our cohorts actually believe we 'murdered' the management," Angel spoke with a rueful shake of his head.

"The path we tread is littered in the blood of our foes and allies alike," Rin replied, her callous tone bearing not a hint of guilt for the unfortunate that are trampled underneath the misfortune that hounds Ante Mortem.

"Quite poetic," the Lost Number crowed with a smirk has his spectacles gaze scrutinized the, once sacred and now bloodied, grounds of Ouros.

"Who are you!" A voice cried out from the death and decay, the aftermath of the overdrive.

"Ah yes, we haven't dropped this charade!" Angel clasped his hand in mock surprise. "My lovely little partner is the Chrono Asylum known as Reri and I am -"

"Crow..." The man spat vehemently, disgust is his tone. "The very existence of you two is profanity, I will watch you burn for this!" The executioner bellowed as he limped closer. Upon a closer look, the alchemist's was a tattered mess, his arm a mess of sliced flesh and bone and his leg attached by just the tendons. "Even if it means to sully myself in the forbidden!" As soon as the fool of a man screamed his final words, Angel didn't need to see the unnatural glow to realize the executioner had turned his very body into a bomb.

"You are dabbling in the archaic you fool, you do not even understand the magnitude of your folly." Even while saying those word the Reaper knew the executioner was no more and the shell that was his body had already gone critical.

'Sacrificial alchemy' he thought with his lips awry, as if tasting the foulness of it all.

"There is no containing this without incurring casualties."

Even the thoughts of Rin came across as cold and stoic, but they bore the truth. With each passing time that shell of a body was continuing to draw in alchemic energy. Every alchemist has a defense mechanism that prevent them from over drawing from the source, continue and a 'backlash' occurs. There is only so much a human body can hold and if you ignore your limitations your body starts to tear apart. "Eventually you die from that backlash and that deactivates your Alchemic Drive." As far as Alchemic theory went, what Angel had thought was the agreed norm but there were, far obscured, counter arguments. Like say one sacrifices their very life to fuel their alchemic drive into overload, no conscious control means the backlash is useless and the energy keeps consolidating until..."

"BOOM!" The Chrono exclaimed, her hands gesturing the blast as if to emphasize it all the more. Even in this predicament, just like how her partner maintained his casual demeanor, Rena had her usual joviality at it's prime.

"Quite accurate little one. We leaving the Asylums as distraction and teleporting to a safe distance where we can watch Ourosboros be destroyed gloriously....." Even as the Reaper voiced his judgement he quickly appeared to raise his hands at his partner's pouty stare.

"You know we need to get the suspect!" Rena chirped as she chastised her partner, the glowing human bomb forgotten in the background. "People in A.M.R.O don't like you big brother...and they want an excuse to hurt you....and I....I don't want you to fight....you're getting weaker..and.." Before the teary eyed Chrono could complete her sentence Angel had already dropped to his knees and embraced the child.

"Come now little one, there will be no fighting. There will be no running, we will find the girl, stop the Bloodlines from going to war and clear this Ourosboros mess. Now what say we do something about him huh?" Even though Rena had her face buried in Angel's chest, her quiet sobs eventually seized and with a smile the Chrono gave a nod and uttered a single word.

"Fall"

With that the floor under the executioner appeared to give way, and the one under that, and the next one. Very few knew exactly how many levels did Ouros have and so Angel stopped the count after what should have been the sixty fifth floor.

"Excellent thinking as ever, this should give us some modicum of relief, perhaps enough to escape," Rena appeared to beam at the compliment and at her partner's hand that nestled atop her head. "I need you to help Cade, we need to find Anya and leave immediately." The Chrono merely nodded once more and vanished in a gust of superhuman speed.

"Oh yes." Angel clasped his gloved hands once more upon realizing he had completely forgotten about the Asylums. Apparently the Banshees and gained enough strength to stand and SenDep had cleared the remaining rabble of opposition.

"I would have offered to help but I see you all managed to kill everyone, oh woe what to do with all this time. And by that I mean the few minutes we have left before we all die excruciatingly," As if responding to the Reaper's sarcastic taunts, something appeared to crash through one of the walls, something big.

The Reaper couldn't help but tilt his head up to look at the monstrosity in front of them, an action he assumed that was mimicked by the others as well. What stood in front of the five (Lawrence, Olivia, Maeve, Kiara and Angel) was a behemoth. It stood at roughly fifteen feet, a terrifying bulk of writhing muscles covered with scales. Twelve inch claws appeared to protrude from its twisted webbed fingers and a massive tail whipped around the floor, upon a closer look you could see several jagged and sharp scales embedded in that tail. Though perhaps the most vile and or inhuman feature was the creature's face, while its eyes were human everything else was not. The abomination had a long snout akin to a crocodile which when opened revealed the cluster of predatory teeth.

In but a few heartbeats the creature's eyes appeared to meet with the Asylums and in the next few minutes chaos would start once more but before that Angel managed to raise a finger to silence the others.

"If anyone blames me for that," Angel pointed to the abomination in front of him as if to emphasize. "I will kill you before another Chrono does or before the bomb does or before the collapse of the building does or before a 'Chimera' does..." It didn't take long after that for the creature to lunge.

Though right before the Chimera managed to land it's pounce, right before the five managed a last moment evasion, Angel's eyes finally observed exactly what Maeve was wearing and even the Chimera's scream couldn't overshadow Angel's echoing laughter.

Chrono Asylum (You call it magecraft, we call it Alchemy) - Spots open for chapter 2

Bumping this up =)

Chrono Asylum (You call it magecraft, we call it Alchemy) - Spots open for chapter 2

We are recruiting once more!

~Chrono Asylum: Devil's Plague

Alright guys post is up. Looks like our characters are in an interesting mess. ;p Oh and trust me this will come back to haunt us.

~Chrono Asylum: Devil's Plague

A broken oath~

Ante Mortem had not wasted time in idle banter, despite the disguise they have donned both Reri as well as Angel had a strong distaste for places like Ourosboros. That is exactly why the two had quickly disappeared into one of the lower levels to proceed with a meeting with the management, for most such audacity would have been met with a swift removal from the premises, but then Angel and Reri were not most.

After half an hour or so, Angel and Reri finally appeared to walk out of the elevator, urgency in their steps as they approached the Asylums.

"There is a little problem," Angel spoke announcing his presence in his usual non nonchalant manner, his gaze casually sifting through the crowd as if weary of some presence. "I went to see the management and well, I only found their bodies." As the Silver Reaper spoke the Chrono appeared to tug at his sleeve, the nudge of her chin gesturing towards a stir in the crowd.

"Blood can never be spilled on the grounds of Ouros." The Lost Number quoted as his hands slowly balled into fists. "That rule has existed before this establishment was declared a 'Parle' and it has been broken and I have a feeling the host may hold us accountable."

"Stop right there!" A shout rang through the crowd and in the next few seconds a dozen or so security personnel had quickly surrounded the small group of Asylums. "You have shed blood on neutral ground, you Mr Legna and your guests are Anathema!" As soon as the executioner spat out his declaration of war, all the security personnel unleashed a volley of flame, countless orbs of fire being hurled from the palms of their hands.

"I bring shape to the void."

Before the volley could reach the Asylums, the world suddenly appeared to go still and timeless and then it all shattered the very reality around them breaking like glass and fading away in a blinding glitter of diamond dust.

"This is beyond a simple retrieval mission now," Rin's voice echoed in what appeared to be a formless white abyss.

"Beyond simple? This is a haunting mess." Angel's voice echoed in reply along with a sound of his footsteps and with each step the formless white void around them slowly appeared to wax and wane. Walls appeared to manifest out of thin air along with furniture, a roof with a brilliant mural of Angels, a wooden floor, a kingly fireplace and finally countless bookshelves and candles. And just like that all the Asylums found themselves standing in this library.

"Ah I see you have all managed to give shape to your psyches, excellent," Angel slowly clapped as he stared at the Asylums in front of him. His appearance in this world appeared to differ greatly, for one Angel did not wear spectacles and instead had an elaborately designed eye patch over his right eye. Another change was the lack of stubble and longer hair which reach roughly below his shoulders and far more meticulously groomed. Angel's clothing retained their usual flair, the only difference here was the inclusion of a sword belt buckle however without a sword.

"Time is limited Angel, do not over tax yourself." Rin spoke in her usually monotone, her words being carried without a shred of emotion. "Rin is right Big Brother, you can't stay here long so hurry up!" Rena nodded as if agreeing with her alternate personality, her tone brimming with livity and cheer. And just like the stark difference in their personality, their appearance appeared to reflect the difference, being in a constant state of change. Transforming from a bland black frilled gown to an elaborately laced red one. Their eyes appeared different as well, she no longer appeared to have Heterochromia iridium in this world. Instead, both of Reri's eyes changed from red to green.

"As my lovely partner has put it, I lack the stamina to exist in this world for long. The Banshees have already been here with me in the past, but for the rest of you I can try and explain. The mind is a vast expanse, you can think of it like a world. Now we have seven billion individuals, so that is seven billions worlds. Every mind is connected to some degree and this includes that off the deceased, the place we are is in that void which exists and doesn't exist, it is the in-between." The Reaper slowly locked gazes with each individual, and despite the fact that one of his eye lied behind an eye patch, his good eyes appeared to be concealed as well, made to look like a blackened eye socket.

"Explanation is unnecessary, the point is we have been compromised," Rin's interruption gave her partner no time to further elaborate the Void. "We have been framed. The probability of another Bloodline interrupting our course of action is likely, third party intervention is at 15%. Suggested course of action would be to interrogate the Pallidinos." Suddenly Rin appeared to go silent, her cold calculative gaze going distant as if another variable had come into play. "Priority task is package, alteration to suggested course. Locate package and retreat, the meeting of crest cannot be delayed."

"This will come back to haunt us, but with the management dead we have no way to prove our innocence. You all should know, once A.M.R.O investigates this mess....a Chrono will come for all of us." Despite the grave and almost fatal implication of his words, Angel tone retained its usual casual demeanor. "Cade I leave finding Anya to you, use whatever Alchemy you deem necessary. Everyone else, congratulations, we are the distraction."

With those words the same bizarre events appeared to repeat themselves, the stillness, followed by the shattering, followed by the reshaping until finally all the Asylums found themselves in the path of a hundred flaming orbs and roughly two dozen highly trained alchemists and the executioner who appeared to lead them all.

"Ah I forgot about them...."

~Chrono Asylum: Devil's Plague

Alright guys I should have a post up soon to keep things moving, how is everyone doing so far?

@Voodoo
@Konan375

~Chrono Asylum: Devil's Plague

No problem Voodoo, you can take your time. Those hurricanes are nasty business so I understand.

Stay safe!

~Chrono Asylum: Devil's Plague

RL can be a pain no doubt. ><

Though lets try to follow the rule of one post per week, so as to keep things moving.