Author: GrinNoCat

Index

  • Chapter 05 – The Door

    Gerald heard the burn before he understood what had happened. A quick, wet sound — skin on hot steel — and then a sharp intake of breath that cut through the workshop’s hum. He was standing at the edge of the yard, near the well, as he did most mornings now after the chickens were

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  • Chapter 04 – The Sound of the Workshop

    The days had a shape now. Gerald woke before the light was right, or just after, and the shape was already there — waiting in the cold floor under his feet and the hum through the walls. He dressed. He set the table. He swept the hall and moved the chairs. He filled the woodbox.

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  • Chapter 03 – The Community Table

    Gerald picked up the split log on his way to the woodshed. He did not think about it. His hands found the two halves where they had lain since yesterday, bark side warming in the early light, the pale wood still damp where it had been pressed against the flagstones. He carried them with the

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  • Chapter 02 – The List

    Wynn found him before he found her. He had come downstairs meaning to look for her — Da had said Wynn would tell him his duties. The morning was already moving around him, the kitchen sounds, the smell of porridge, the creak of the stair under his feet. But Wynn was in the front hall

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  • Chapter 01 – Eight

    Gerald woke to the hum of the Hot House’s rune furnace. It sounded just like his dream. He could still feel it — the heat on his face, the bright gather of molten glass turning at the end of the pipe, the way his father’s hands moved it through the air like it weighed nothing.

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  • The Awakening

    The morning Lira Voss turned ten, the world changed color. Not all at once. Not the way her mother described the harvest sunsets over the Greenvale, where the whole sky supposedly caught fire and the wheat fields burned gold from horizon to horizon. This was subtler. A shimmer at the edge of things, like heat

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  • Journal Entry 2022-12-05

    Just got back from lunch and wanted to take a moment to keep pushing to build my daily blog habit up. Was having a conversation with a co-worker who has been out of the office for some time due to a broken leg and had one of those random thoughts that may end up being

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  • Journal Entry 2022-11-30

    Trying to get back into the habit of consistently posting a JE and doing so at lunch… Yesterday I did a little shopping to replace some worn-out clothes, nothing fancy and I’ll call those Christmas presents, along with the spaghetti pot I had to buy too. I originally bought a little one from Walmart, and

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  • Journal Entry 2022-11-27

    No I didn’t forget about posting here, it’s just been stupidly busy in my life and I don’t think I am going to put a lot of it in the Journal right now. I spent a lot of time on Second Life this weekend and have finished the first story. Still debating on if it’s

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  • 47 Training Montague?

    I started with the multitasking skill, assuming it would be an enabler, and I was right. It was more significant than advertised. I’m sure others have pushed it too, but the breakthrough wasn’t with two conscious streams but four interactive ones. I’m not sure how the others did it, but getting the second consciousness to

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  • 46 Ps & Qs

    Before I can begin, there’s a shimmer of light, and a third beach chair is under the umbrella with Nirvana sitting in it. This Nirvana is older and wearing a swimsuit. While attractive, she hasn’t made her appearance the epitome of beauty, simply more aged than the little sister she’s been going around as. Looking

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  • 45 Beach Bum

    Nirvana certainly delivered on her promise; this place was outstanding! I swear she just copied a postcard of Hawaii or something. Where I was standing on the beach was a swirling mix of black and white sand. To my left, the beach went from streaked grey to white, and to my right, the sand became

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  • 44 Time Out

    Thinking about this a little more, as I fly towards the beach, I find that I don’t want to do this, as it feels like cheating. But it’s better to find out how far Nirvana will let me go before interfering now than when it’s my butt on the line. Before the temple’s opening, ARC

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  • 43 Flexing My Magic Muscle

    Under my breath, I cast the spell Mislead, allowing the illusionary double to appear where I was standing while simultaneously turning invisible from the spell. I concentrated for a few moments while setting up the commands for the illusion, and then I started issuing orders to ARC. ARC, please activate Oracle mode and raise me twenty-five

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  • Journal Entry 2022-10-29

    Ok, I have Second Life caught up and ahead of RR now. I been hiding in Cancun this week support a convention hosted by our company. So things are still out of whack between work and personal life. I’ll post some more about my trip later! Enjoy the new chapters!

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  • 42 The Beginning of the End

    At the stroke of midnight, it was just as Nirvana said – every grave split open, allowing a zombie to crawl out. We could smell them before we could see them but see them, we did – zombies of every shape, creed, age, and color. Fresh corpses were just as common as seriously decayed ones.

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  • 41 More Tricks in my Bag

    Billy cocked his head to the side and thought for a moment before replying. “I think that most of the squad leaders are about even with me. Justin has been working to break the 200 mark.” “Cool. I have some other combat cantrips ideas that are probably expensive. They’ll have prerequisites, too. Could we have

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  • Journal Entry 2022-10-23

    Scrambled to get a chapter ready for Second Life today. I need to write one tomorrow and Tuesday, too, so I can be ahead while I am on a business trip this week! Keep watching for them to post! Once this trip is over, I have to turn in my current leased car. I need

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  • 40 Get Ready for the Zombie Apocalypse!

    “Billy! We should pull back to the gate – it will be a choke point, and we’ll be able to contain them better!” Billy shouted, “Pretty is right – everybody run back to the gate!” The other squads followed us, and we all rallied at the graveyard gates. It didn’t take long for our company

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  • Journal Entry 2022-10-17

    I finished chapter 39 yesterday, but it was very late. So, it didn’t get posted until today. So many work things are taking my time. One of them is a new computer on my desk – which I am very happy about. I have been suffering from computational performance issues for months now! 😉 16

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  • 39 Finding a Groove

    After watching Mark shift into his hybrid form, ‘American Werewolf in London’ style, we head into the graveyard. Forming up behind Jennifer, we move off the main path into the gravestones on the left side and head along the fence. Billy continued the lecture he started while we were in the wagon. “Again, we want

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  • 38 The Wheels on the Bus

    “All right, we’re done waiting on stragglers. Let’s get squads sorted out before we leave for the graveyard,” shouts Justin! We collect together, and there are close to 30 of us in his grinder group. Justin asks, “Are there any pairings? We’ll try to preserve them, but I’d like five squads if we can balance

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  • Journal Entry 2022-10-10

    Last week was stupid busy at work and had me missing updates! Damn it! Building a good habit is hard if you don’t have consistent behavior. Yesterday I started working on all the home chores I missed last week. I also put my nose to the grindstone, and you get a new chapter today. I

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  • 37 Waiting Around

    I stomp out the front door and look around. Two groups are assembling here, and there is an obviously fancy hat. The short, maybe five feet tall, human has a tricorn that he is wearing backward just to make a peacock eye feather stick out straight behind his head by at least two feet. It’s

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  • 36 Accidental Example

    I walk out of the lab and see that my furniture was delivered, as expected, waiting for me to place it. I absorb it all into my inventory and then walk around putting it where I want. Fifteen minutes later, I finished furnishing the suite. Nothing has changed; I’m still pissed off. I flop down

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