Klaxons. Klaxons everywhere. Truly this was it.

It was the dead of night, of course. They never attacked during the day. That was too obvious, and we'd see them coming a mile away -- on a cloudless day. (And even on overcast days, they always mysteriousl…

"And on that day, I will be here to turn you back. This truce will stand, this war is over, whether you wish it or not." I approached the god-post and jammed my blade into the wood just below the loathsome face that peered back at me.

"You are releas…

"This is truce by ultimatum," the god sneered.

"It is," I agreed. "But it is a truce, nonetheless. You and your kind leave this world alone forevermore, and I and my descendants will cease our war upon yours. That I must force this is irrelevant, but pea…

The god was silent for a time. Irritation appeared across its countenance, but it knew now it had no choice in this matter. It was merely processing this information, coming to terms with it, making peace with its new fate.

"Very well," it agreed. "I am …

"You are not a man at all, are you?" I heard the god ask behind me. "Nor a god. You are both less -- and more."

Suddenly the weight of everything that had happened fell upon me. The burden weighed heavily on my head, on my shoulders, and I felt immensely…

The god finally found its voice, and not to my surprise, there was a quaver to it. "What are you?" it asked. "You are less than expected, yet more than you seem. The power you hold does not compare even to the simplest Alderman, and yet you are fluent i…

I said nothing to the god, merely turned my back to it and stepped to the golden post from which the spectre of death continued to emanate. The fleshing blade was still in my hand, and using the curved tip of that sanctified steel, I drew the point along …

"The bargain is this," I began. "A truce. An end to this petty war that began with my ancestors, that has led to so much death."

"NEVER!" the god roared, cutting me off. "WE WILL HAVE OUR VENG--"

I held up my blade again and said nothing. The god's mout…

"Telemetry from the probe has been parsed and analyzed, Captain," Lady responds. The ship's voice is a soothing alto, designed to accommodate for the crew as they recover. "The data has already been uploaded to your stations and synced with your datapad…

The Classy Lady parks itself in a synchronous orbit above the asteroid Berger-Behregen before waking and decanting the crew. The ship locates and contacts the telemetry beacon planted in the surface of the rock while the members of the crew shake off th…

We moved lightly through the corridor, which eventually opened up in a larger space, pocked with deep pools of the evil liquid. We paused, scanning the room, then looked to each other. Without a word, we clasped hands.

We moved quickly but carefully acro…

I am a dead man walking. That's not a metaphor, not a promise of a future event the way you usually think of it. I really am dead -- and have been for some time now.

I walk the streets of this city. I pass by people on the sidewalk, and they instinctivel…

"Explain what I'm looking at."

"Timestream 8496775816-AQZ-25.13.4. We pulled it from yesterday's archives when it was flagged anomolous."

"Meaning?"

"Look here. Grid 117, Segment 16, Node 135. See that curvature?"

"Yes. Explain its significance."

"Ti…

He trudged through the sand, up and over great dunes of the stuff, while the wind blasted him with even more of the fine grains. Visibility was shit, and he walked more by instinct than anything. He'd long ago lost his way. The gale-force storm did nothin…

At some point the redolent scent of moisture reached our noses, clinging to the air around us. Soon, it became apparent why.

We reached a section of tunnel that was damp and cool, moist with condensation that itself brown and foul-smelling. We avoided to…

We traveled again, the tunnel growing narrower and wider at sporadic intervals. At times we were able to walk side-by-side. At others we were forced to move one behind the other, and when we did, we each took turns leading the way forward. When you led yo…

You were at my side in an instant, an angel of light and beauty so magnificent that even now I cannot put it to words. You fell to your knees and cradled my head in your lap. I barely heard the slight pop of a vial being uncorked, but a second later a liq…

We spotted dozens of other traps as we progressed, avoiding each with ease. They were not well hidden, seeming to be laid more as an annoyance than as to be any genuine threat. And yet we took no chances. We treated each one as potentially lethal, until f…

The floor leveled out and opened up into a cavernous space. We held our lanterns aloft, as high above our heads as we could manage, but even so there was not enough light to chase away the inky blackness. In the shadows around us we could hear things movi…

We set out again, following the same pathway we'd been on before. The floor beneath us continued to slope downward. The ceiling of the tunnel dropped low in places but never so much that we needed to stoop. We weren't certain where we were headed. Such wa…

You reached out your injured arm, placing your hand on my shoulder while I wrapped and bound it. You didn't even wince as I pulled the bandages tight to help slow the blood flow. One of the Healers would need to tend to the wound once we returned to the H…

Our blades flashed in the dark, sparks of light from our lanterns flickering off our weapons. The things were all around us, attacking from the sides, the floor, even the ceiling. We stood back-to-back and warded them off -- one, two, sometimes even three…

We traveled like that for some time. Talking. Sharing. Laughing. It was always a joy to travel with you, and it was no less so this time.

And as we walked, we noticed the ground beneath our feet begin to slant ever so slightly downward.

The thing about…

We found each other in the dark some time later. Or, rather, the semi-dark. A crack in part of the tunnel ceiling extended through the rock over our heads and let in just enough light that we didn't require our lanterns. It did little to dispel the gloom …

The Watchers tell me you departed some time ago, that you walked into the tunnel by yourself armed with nothing but your pack, walking stick, and a lantern. An incredible risk, if you ask me, given what we both know lurks there in the dark. But I know you…