Hi everyone!

Today, I’m bringing you what’s currently the last story in the timeline… that of a dangerous mission, which has the potential to change the War for ever!

My next post, however, will be about the different time periods of the War, so keep an eye out! And don’t forget to check out the Kickstarter, which is currently active!

This story was written by J. A. Cummings. In fact, it was one of her first ever pieces of Roleplaying work. She’s since written for a variety of games, including Feral Games’s “Ghost Ops”, as well as contributing to the creation of Era: The Chosen!

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They gathered at one of the houses in the Rostov compound, the one with the light blue stucco walls and elaborate flower gardens, at the dinner hour. Paula Rostova welcomed them in her throaty contralto and showed them into the dining room, where the table was heaped with a dazzling feast of roast meats, savory sauces, breads and candied fruits.

Annie Garcia leaned over to Roger D’aoust, who was seated next to her. “What’s the occasion?”

He tucked a sugared fig into his mouth and shrugged. “I don’t know. Dad just said to be here, and when I heard there’d be free food, well…”

On her other side, Everette Chike said, “I think I heard what this is about. I hope you have your schedule clear for the next month, at least.”

Annie raised an eyebrow. “A month?”

Their speculating was cut short by the arrival of Paula Rostova and her partner, Kira Nakamura. They sat at opposite ends of the table and smiled at their guests.

“Welcome,” Kira said. She inclined her head graciously, the sakura ornament in her glossy black hair shimmering. “Please, enjoy this meal that we have prepared for you.”

Roger whispered to Annie, “That means shut the hell up.”

“You shut up.”

The meal proceeded with unhurried elegance, with polite conversation and delicious culinary creations paraded out from the kitchen by the household staff. Annie hadn’t eaten so much in one sitting in months, maybe even years. Roger, who probably ate this much every time he sat at a table, was particularly happy.

After dinner drinks were served in the garden, and the guests – all of them Chosen, Annie noted – retired to the fresh air to admire the bay from the vantage point of the Inner Circle. Annie lived closer to the docks, and she rarely made it this far up the hill. Something told her that tonight would be memorable for more reasons that that before it was over.

Paula gathered the attendees – herself, Kira, Annie, Everette, Roger, and the two taciturn Isak brothers, Rostov cousins – beside the fountain. The central figure was shaped like two cavorting dolphins, water jetting out of their open mouths. Annie was silently grateful that there were no naked cherubs spouting into the pool.

“You may be wondering why you were all invited here tonight,” Paula began.

Roger nodded. “Good call.” Everette shot him a nasty look, and he fell silent.

Their hostess smiled tightly and continued. “We are all Chosen here, so there is no need for subterfuge or secrets. With the help of the Nakamuras and the Garcias, working with the Shadow Runner and Falling Rock clans, among others, the Anonassi have been beaten back toward Erebus. They have lost their footholds in many corners of the Lost Lands, and it has given us time to investigate them, and Erebus.”

Kira stepped forward. “We know that they have the power to create the portals they use to access the Lost Lands from their dimension. We also know that they have been breeding the Anohaashi for release into the Lost Lands as swarms.”

Annie crossed her arms and suppressed a shudder. She had seen one of those swarms, tiny bee-like monsters from Erebus that devoured everything the encountered – human and otherwise. She had barely escaped with her life. Only the appropriate application of some major explosives by her brother had saved their party. She had hoped to never run into the little bastards again.

Kira nodded toward the Isak brothers. “Pete and Richard have undertaken some dangerous surveillance missions, and they have pinpointed where an Anohaashi breeding hive is located, just inside Erebus. They have seen it three times in the same place when nearby portals were opened by Anonassi brutes.”

Roger sniffed. “Right. So… does anybody have any bug spray?”

Paula nodded. “Chike Laboratories have been hard at work at developing something along those lines. They’ve come up with pesticide-filled explosive cannisters that will disperse a very potent anti-Anohaashi toxin upon detonation. They have three units ready to be deployed. The only thing we need is a team willing to try to enter Erebus to lay the charges.”

Annie went cold.

Everette said the obvious. “We’re the team.”

“You have been selected by your respective families for your speed, night vision, and demolitions skills.” Kira looked at them seriously. “I think you know what this means.”

Annie’s hands were shaking. Roger took a breath. “Once we get into Erebus, there’ll be no getting us back out.”

Their hostesses looked at one another, and then Paula nodded gravely. “Yes. This is a one-way mission.”

“Our families have chosen us to die,” Annie whispered.

“Your families have chosen to you to be offered the chance to do this thing. If we can destroy the hive, it may end the Anohaashi threat once and for all.”

Everette laughed bleakly. “For the small, small price of five lives.”

“You are not obligated to accept the mission,” Kira said.

The five Chosen looked at one another. They all knew the shame that would attend a refusal, and none of them were willing to bring that stain upon themselves. Their answers were foregone conclusions.

Everette, who seemed to be positioning herself as the party leader, said, “When do we leave?”

With a sigh, Paula clasped her hands in front of her dour black abaya. “One week from today. That will give you time to…make arrangements.”

There was another deep silence as they all wrestled with the things they had been too young to consider until now. Finally, Roger chuckled.

“Just make sure you send us off with a feed like this one next week. Those meat pies were to die for…”

Hi everyone!

Ivan Rostov is not a threat for ever. A task force of Chosen made it their mission to bring him to justice for what he did.

Eventually, they caught up to him…

This story was written by Darren Pearce, who decided Ivan Rostov was his personal vendetta! It was, as always, brilliant to have Darren on board for Era: The Chosen – he brought his considerable experience, along with his sense of (slightly insane) fun to the mix.

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It was a plan that required near-perfect timing and ranked on the suicide-scale out of ten, as an eleven. Ramon Garcia had been in the Lost Land with his constant companion, Okami Nakamura and they had become a near-inseparable reconnaissance team for the Chosen. They had managed to learn so much over the last few months in the wake of Aki Nakamura’s death. The final piece of the puzzle had been handed to him when they’d both seen the Kapavuk in action, the spider-like monstrosity that tore the Chosen asunder as they battled to save a tribe in the Lost Land.

Ivan Rostov, somehow he had joined the enemy and there was a rumour he had been possessed by a creature that no one truly believed in. Yet Ramon had heard Ivan’s voice, distorted by the Ethereal’s own and he had drawn a simple conclusion: the man must die. He had no argument from Okami in this regard, she was still looking for revenge for Aki’s death and even though the creature responsible had been put down recently, the puppet master behind the cunning attacks on the Chosen had not.

Ivan Rostov must face a reckoning. To that end the plan had been formed, they’d turn the tide on what was once Ivan Rostov and they’d gain some closure. As well as depriving the enemy of their most ruthless tactician, someone who knew the Chosen’s methods inside and out. So it was a dark and grim day in the Lost Land when Ramon wandered alone through a dangerous territory, he carried with him a scroll case, for electrical devices were not known to function well in the land beyond. He made certain this was an area where Ivan Rostov prowled with his Anonassi followers, and all he had to do was wait.

He didn’t have to wait for long as Ivan came from the shadows, he paused and looked at Ramon Garcia with a haughty tilt to his jaw. “You’re a Garcia, thank the gods!”

Ramon stepped back a pace and then blinked. “Ivan, Ivan Rostov as I live and breathe, we’d thought you lost. Many had given you up for dead, but my motto is that I never leave a brother or sister behind!”

Ivan tilted his head and clutched his wounded side, it was a deep gash, he was bleeding badly. “I’ve been dodging the enemy for a long time Garcia, but I think my flight has come to an end.”

“Nonsense,” Ramon tried hard to keep up the charade, but he did so. “We can get you back, there’s a portal not too far from here.”

“You can?”

“I’d be a callous bastard and ally if I didn’t bloody well try.” Ramon smiled thinly. “You can heal up and help us with the weapon.”

“Weapon?” Ivan quirked a brow and behind his eyes the Ethereal smiled wickedly.

“Oh yes, it’ll end the Anonassi once and for all. My companion Okami has it, she was waiting for this.” Ramon patted the tube at his belt. “The final piece of the puzzle.”

“May I see it?” Ivan offered his hand and then thought better of it. “Who are you anyway, Garcia?”

“Ramon,” he bowed. “At your service.”

“So where is this Okami now?” Ivan questioned and walked closer to the Garcia so he could lean on him for a moment.

Ramon supported the other man’s weight and chuckled. “She’s outside Harbour City in a small valley, just shy of the Rostov Compound. Our closest portal is a few miles from that, but it’s dependable — one of the original portals that Nicholas mapped all those years ago.”

Ivan’s Ethereal was impatient, this weapon must be observed and dealt with. The two Chosen must be silenced and he must act quickly, no time for an elaborate plan or backup. “I know of a portal, with you here we can make it, as long as we’re careful. With another to watch our back we can slip by the Anonassi patrol that passes here unnoticed.”

Ramon thought about this and then nodded. “You think it’ll get us closer to Okami?”

“I think so, might even drop us right atop her!”

“That would be fortuitous indeed.” Ramon knew the Anonassi had control over the portals and if they opened them into Harbour City as long as the Dome was active, 80% would be caught and focused inside. This is why he’d made plans to do this task before the Dome came on for the night. He was running out of time. “We need to move then, and be quick.”

They did so, quietly and stealthily with only a few close calls between them and the location they sought. They picked their time and slipped past one patrol, then another, and finally made it into the central area of the Anonassi patrol ground. Ivan concentrated and brought the portal to being, seeking out Okami in the land of Aether and he hoped that the Dome would not pull him off course.

It didn’t, the Ethereal blinded by the need to deal with this weapon didn’t think this was odd.

Ramon saw the portal open, he took a deep breath and looked around, he pretended he’d not seen the portal until Ivan pointed it out across the way.

“Look Ramon, there!” The once-Rostov said and began to slink toward it.

Ramon followed his companion and nodded. “Great!” He ran toward it low to the ground, he stopped as a Hellhound passed nearby and then waited behind Ivan.

“We go on your signal.” Ivan said, he didn’t want to appear to be too eager to get into Aether and throttle the Nakamura woman.

Ramon moved suddenly and tapped Ivan on the shoulder, he didn’t call out, he just ran for the portal and leapt through it. The once-Rostov growled and followed suit, appearing on the other side in a flicker of a heat haze.

Okami Nakamura stood with her back to the pair of them, she seemed to be holding a tube with a series of wires and a display connected to it. A counter appeared on the display and Ivan reasoned it must be some kind of bomb, a bomb designed to kill them all. He wasted no time and drew his pistol, he fired three times at the back of the woman’s head. Nothing happened.

Ramon levelled his Mag 60 at Ivan and smiled thinly. “Ivan Rostov, the joke’s on you.” He fired the moment he said the man’s name, split his skull almost in two at such close range and sent fragments of bone flying in all directions. A fragment pinged off a nearby device, once which used an old style of technology to project Okami’s image onto the ground before them whilst she stood safely nearby holding the mock device in her hands.

The Ethereal screamed as it left the host body, but due to its very composition it burned up in Aether’s atmosphere almost instantly. The threat of Ivan Rostov had come to an end, and with it, one of the enemies most powerful tools. He was not the only weapon in their arsenal, but he was an important one and the Chosen would be more vigilant from now on.

“It is done.” Oakmi stepped out from beside the rock and looked at the smoking device, all lenses, mirrors and rudimentary circuitry.

Ramon nodded. “Yes.”

“Let us go home, perhaps I could make you some tea?”

“I’d like that.”

They left the body of Ivan Rostov where it had fallen, they’d inform the clans and they could recover it for a proper burial. One accorded to the man prior to his enslavement by the enemy, the hero he once was. As the sun began to set over Harbour City, the Crystal Dome hummed into life and a new night of terror began for those inside. The war, the war was far from over.

Hi everyone!

Today, I’m talking Ethereals.

One of the most sinister troops the Anonassi have, Ethereals cannot be harmed. It gets better: they can enter a Human and take control of their body, permanently.

Inside a Human body, they can even safely enter Aether – in fact, many believe that this is they way they intend to invade our universe.

Any Chosen, any Human, could be an Ethereal by the Third Era. How will you tell your friends from your enemies?

– Ed

Hi everyone!

Probably the most heinous villain in the war against the Anonassi was Ivan Rostov. Well… sort of.

Ivan Rostov was a promising young man, the heir to one of the Chosen Clans, until his first visit into the Lost Lands, and the encounter with the first Ethereal. From then, the Anonassi which possessed him used his body to wreak horrible massacres on Humans, both Chosen and native to the Lost Lands.

Come back tomorrow for more about the Ethereals, but for now, here’s a story about Ivan and the Ethereal!

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What had begun as a pretty easy foray into the Lost Land to provide some aid to the Glass Spirit tribe had turned into a full-on assault by the Anonassi. The attack had come without warning and decimated the front line of the settlement’s defences before anyone knew what was going on. A pair of Brutes had hammered the main gate into splinters as they roared in anger, their massive spiked hands knocking chunks from wood and stone alike with a single hefty swing. Hellhounds had poured through the breach and swarmed the interior of the compound biting, clawing and savaging men, women and children indiscriminately. It would have been a massacre if it were not for Anna Rostov, Kinto Nakamura, Luis Garcia and Genevieve D’Aoust who stood in defence of the settlement. The Chosen had brought with them a small cadre of soldiers as well, to act as guards as they delivered their supplies.

Anna threw a knife into the throat of one of the dog-like Hellounds and smiled grimly as her shots passed through the midsection of another. She was silent in battle apart from the gunshots: words were a waste when she was focused on the art of dealing death to the enemy.

Kinto Nakamura was likewise silent as she moved from beast to beast cutting them down as she went. Her katana flashed in the grey light, slashing with deadly effect.

Luis Garcia a heavy sword that he liked to use, but at the moment he kept his gun trained on the Brutes and supported his D’Aoust comrade as she trained her own heavier assault rifle on the monsters.

“Keep firing!” Genevieve yelled. “That’s the only way we’re going to take them down, aim for those damn eyes.”

Luis did so and his gun spat flame towards the Brute on the left. In response, the monster roared and batted at its eyes. Meanwhile, the tribe’s nearby warriors, who had been unloading the supplies, did the best they could against great odds. A few of them fell, crushed to death by the hammer-like fists of the Brutes and that did nothing to deter them. The warriors hacked and cut with their relatively primitive weapons at the right hand Brute as his companion was assaulted by the gunfire from Luis and Genevieve.

“That’s it, men, for Aether and the Chosen!” Luis roared, intending encouragement.

It seemed to work: the warriors renewed their attacks and, by sheer weight of numbers, managed to hamstring the beast. Now the Brute was brought low, they lashed at it, stabbed it, cut it and struck it with blow after blow until it lay unmoving upon the floor. A great cheer went up and the defenders of the Glass Shadow tribe brought more men to the fight as the warriors who had felled the beast joined the Chosen in attacking the remaining Brute. By now,it had a dozen or so bullet holes blown through its tough hide,but was still standing.

Anna and Kinto had done their work on the Hellhounds and, now that they troubled the settlement no more, they circled around the back of the Brute to join the fight. Anna climbed a pile of rubble to gain height and begin carefully placing shots around the head and shoulda of the Brute to distract it while Pinto made her move. The older Nakamura slipped under the Brute as it slammed a fist down to crush her. Her blade sliced into its belly from below and, as it roared in agony, a bullet from the D’Aoust’s heavy assauly rifle pierced down hard enough to slide into the monster’s skull and pierce the vital organ there. As it crashed to the ground, Kinto Nakamura offered a simple bow as she hopped off the twitching corpse and slashed backward with the blade.

The body twitched no longer.

Another cheer went up from the interior of the settlement. It was short-lived, for on the horizon something moved into view. It was tall, suspended on four spindly legs that ended with a vicious claw. The central chitinous mass, protected by a spiked carapace, rose between those legs. Three dark, hollow eye sockets peered out across the landscape. A pair of mandible-like appendages lashed back and forth at the bottom of the body, making a terrifying sound as a sticky web-like substance lay suspended between them.

This monster shook the ground as it walked and it chatged with speed right toward the settlement, emitting a strange purring sound as it did so. On a hill nearby, as Ivan Rostov watched the monster move toward the settlement, a green light behind his eyes danced, mist-like.

“Incy wincy spider.” He said with a chuckle. “Climbed up the Chosen’s spout. Incy wincy spider, killed all inside without a doubt.”

The Kapavuk reached the outer wall and ignored it, stepping over to pick up a defender with a single flick of a dexterous leg and tossed the tasty morsel into its gaping maw. Ivan saw the Nakamura caught in the web between the mandibles and cut clean in two.

“Bravo!” Ivan clapped as though it was some fine overture from an excellent composer. “Bravo! Encore!”

The creature seemed happy to oblige as it fell on the camp with a fury. Ivan knew from the reputation of the monster that it would not leave anyone alive. It was all coming together nicely and soon he’d go back to Aether, declare he had been evading the Anonassi and give them some information on the destroyed settlement — some juicy tidbits upon the monster that had done such work. They’d send him to lead another group of Chosen to eliminate it and those fortunate individuals would find out first hand what happened to his previous team.

He could keep this up for a long time, perhaps until there were hardly any Chosen left: why use a hammer when a knife would do?

He was sure there was a joke there.

What Ivan Rostov didn’t know is that whole exchange had been watched by a pair of Chosen who had been tracking him and his creatures for a long time.

A reckoning was soon to come for the Ethereal that possessed Rostov.

Hi everyone!

While the Anonassi were developing their new weapons, the Chosen were not idle.

The creation of the Crystal Dome, an ingenious device which concentrates the portals into a single location, allowed better protection of Harbour City than ever before! And, of course, the chance for Anonassi to assault our world directly…

But every step bolstered the Human resolve which keeps the Chosen fighting for Aether!

And it brought a new way to train recruits…

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It was beautiful.

The crystal sculptures stood in concentric circles, graceful and white with flowing lines that made them look like clouds, or maybe ice that had been shaped by the sea. They gleamed in the fading summer sun, reflecting light up toward the numerous closed-circuit cameras that recorded every inch of the Dome.

The Crystal Dome, the newest attraction in the Jewel District of Harbour City, had been a brain child of Hitoshi Nakamura, but all of the clans had taken a hand in its construction. D’Aoust had conceived of the mechanism by which the crystals worked, and Rostov had supplied the cameras and the surveillance system. Garcia provided the materials through means that were best left as unexamined as possible, and Chike had confirmed that the radiation that passed through the crystals was negligible, at least for the human visitors who came in the day.

At night, though, when the power was turned on, that radiation spiked, and so did the activity.

The Dome relied upon its crystal sculptures to help focus the Anonassi portals into one place where they would consistently open, and where the Chosen could deal with whatever came crawling out of them. Before, he portals had opened wherever and whenever their monstrous enemy selected. Now, when the power was on and the Dome was humming, 80% of all portals from the Lost Lands would open here.

Naturally, that meant there could be no tourists after dark, and that the security guards wore a little more in the way of armament and firepower than the average.

Miguel Garcia walked through the Dome with a sense of satisfaction, bolstered in no small part by the weight of the pistols in his shoulder holster and at his hip. He was one of the security guards for the place, shooing tourists out at closing time, and he looked forward to the moment when all of the non-combatants were gone and he and his squad were ready to face the first night of focused portals.

Miles Parker, one of his comrades, grinned at him as he passed on one of the interior paths, following the spiraling trail that wound through the crystal sculptures to the fountain at the center. When the sun went down and the power was turned on, the water in that fountain would be turned off, and then a gigantic focusing mirror would be extended on robotic arms, ready to receive the reflections from the crystals amplifiers.

He hoped that the Anonassi came calling tonight. It had been weeks since he’d been to the Lost Lands, and he was itching for a fight. He and Miles had been discussing their recent inactivity just that morning over breakfast, and both of them were eager for the game to begin.

The last tourist was escorted out of the Dome, and then Hilda Marin closed and locked the gate. Miles high-fived her, and then the three of them headed back toward the fountain.

Hitoshi Nakamura’s calm voice spoke over the loudspeakers. “Power shift in three…two… one…”

There was a loud rumble, and then a buzzing sound as electricity began to pour through the bases of the sculptures, activating the complex web of reflection and redirection that they formed.  Near Miguel, one of the crystals hummed, and he saw a dark spot on the milky surface closest to the rest of town.

Miles raised an eyebrow. “That was fast.”

Hilda nodded. “Let’s go!”

They trotted to the central fountain, passing other sculptures that began to hum as the dark spot was reflected onto them. It was an Anonassi portal, captured in their web and being funneled to the center of the Dome. The rest of the team should have assembled there by now.

Hilda was a sprinter, so she reached the fountain first. Their team mates, Sarah Wilson and Rowena D’Aoust, were waiting for them, their weapons in their hands. A soft squeak rose in the air, and then the water in the fountain turned off. The base of the center feature, the one with the pumps and the water distribution points, slid aside, and then the robotic arm extended, its highly-polished mirror lifted high to catch the reflected portal just as it arrived.

The portal was larger now than when he had first seen it on the exterior statue, but he didn’t know whether that was a function of the amplifiers or of the Anonassi that was creating it.  A feeling of static passed over his arms, and his skin twitched with it. This was what he had been waiting for.

Wilson ordered, “Hold your fire until the portal is completely open.”

They did as they were told, watching as the dark splotch became a spreading stain on the surface of the mirror. In the center, there were shadows moving, taking form and then retreating again. He had the feeling that the monster on the other side of the portal was watching him.

Abruptly, the portal opened, and the Anonassi’s roar echoed off of the other sculptures. Wilson shouted, “Fire!”

They opened up on the thing in the opening. It was taller than a man and nearly as broad, and unlike many of its fellows, it had a human face. It roared in its ugly language again, then reached out a long, clawed hand to try to grasp D’Aoust.

Miles shot its hand, and it released her, and then she was screaming back in its own language, firing with her semi-automatic rifle and cutting the offending thing in half.  Riddled with bullets, it reeled back into the Lost Lands, and the portal closed like a gate slamming shut.

Nakamura’s voice returned to the loudspeakers. “First test has been successful. Powering down.”

They had caught and contained their first portal. The war was about to change.

Hi everyone!

The Anonassi are not stupid. They realise they are beginning to lose in the Third Era, and they begin to deploy new weapons to the battlefield. These take two major forms, each as horrific as the other.

Of course, being the Anonassi, these won’t be mechanical weapons…

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A cold grey sky swept overhead, tinged in part with fingers of blue streaks, lighting that danced through static laden heavens. The Lost Land was exceptionally violent today as a trio of Chosen swept through the ruin of a previous civilisation before they passed close to a turn in what might have once been some form of thoroughfare. There were signs of conflict all across this region, and they weren’t the good signs either. They were indicators that whatever battles the tribes had fought here had not gone their way.

“The trail leads off this way, Albina.” Doctor Aesha Chike looked around nervously and shook her head. “I just can’t shake the feeling that we’re being watched.”

“I get it all the time.” A tall woman with a straight back walked next to a skull, a skull that had been picked clean to the bone. On her right shoulder she bore the double-headed eagle insignia of the Rostov clan. “Usually I’m right.”

“If Albina’s hairs on the back of her neck start to stand on end, best start worrying.” Vladim Rostov grinned from ear to ear. “Albina Rostova has a legendary neck for trouble.”

“Bah.” Albina ignored her brother’s comments and bent down, her gloved hand closed around the skull and she lifted it. “Polished almost to the very bone itself.” She passed it over to the doctor.

Aesha Chike shuddered as she gingerly took it. “What am I supposed to do with this, I mean I can tell you that the victim was male and that he’s obviously dead.”

“You don’t say?” Vladim walked over to another corpse, the same was true of this body. “What could have done this, I mean there’s not a scrap of flesh on this skeleton at all.”

“I don’t know brother,” Albina rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. “But we best be on our guard. I don’t want to find out the hard way.”

“You and me both dear sister.”

Aesha Chike poked into the skull with her finger and shook it, there was a sound, it was like a tiny buzzing and before she knew it she felt an intense pain in her right hand. When she withdrew her finger there was nothing left of the flesh there, not even a single drop of blood stained the wound. She let out an ear-piercing scream which caused the Rostov’s to whirl around in her direction.

“Aesha?!” Vladim shouted. “What’s wrong?”

She shook her hand violently and a few tiny dark bee-like shadows flew from it, they buzzed angrily and surged forward again as the woman tried to swat them away. They were like shadows that ate the flesh and matter of others, they consumed parts of the doctor before the Rostov’s horrified eyes. They went for soft extremities first, buzzing almost happily and then began to devour the rest as the doctor screamed and wailed on the ground.

Albina and Vladim stood transfixed by this horror show, this sudden terrifying assault on their companion and when they finally regained their senses they heard the buzzing increase in volume and tempo. Upon the edge of the clearing there rose a dark cloud, lit with tiny glowing eyes. A cloud that surged forth with sudden ferocity and speed that it looked like a black bird had taken flight and now swooped on death’s wings toward them.

“Run!” Albina snapped to her head around and looked for a way out. “There!”

Vladim didn’t take a second order to get moving, he sprinted away from the dark cloud and together with his sister they bolted for an area off to one side where there was once a settlement. As they ran they felt their hearts pound in their chests, their blood rush to their ears and their lungs pump to near bursting. It was a flight that had played out across the Lost Land in numerous places and locations recently as the Anonassi had unleashed their newest weapon in the war against the Chosen.

Swarms, tiny bee-like shadows that were more akin to piranha than the pollinating variety. These swarms could devour everything, flesh, bone, other matter in a manner of minutes once they descended. They didn’t get tired, they didn’t give up and the only way to stop them was to blow the bastards into oblivion. Of course, you had to stop running to do that and that’s when they swarmed you — a few seconds later — you were gone.

Albina and Vladim had seen first hand what a few of these little monsters could do, and now they ran for their lives. Albina didn’t look back and she heard her brother running behind her, his feet clattering on the stone, his heavy breathing came more and more ragged as they pushed themselves to the limit. Then she heard the buzzing grow louder and louder.

“Come on, we’re almost there. We can make it to the portal.”

Vladim didn’t answer, and she could no longer hear the sound of his hammering feet on the ground behind her. She heard another sound as a dark shadow swarmed around the corner and met her head on. By the time the swarm were finished, which was in seconds, her skeleton toppled out of the cloud and landed in a tangle of bone upon the floor brought forward by the momentum she had when she was devoured. Its grisly work done, the swarm moved on and left the two Chosen’s bodies to lie under the ashen sky.

Hi everyone!

I’m going to fast-forward once again, this time to the third era of the Anonassi War.

Here’s a story from the start of that era… but things won’t always be so easy…

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The small group of Chosen lay quietly on the crest of a nearby hill, they looked down at the group of Anonassi creatures that moved slowly below them on the right. At the lead was a winged figure, one of the Fallen, seductive and dangerous. They led many humans into the Crossing and broke them, preferring psychological destruction over physical most of the time. Two Hellhounds flanked her as if they were the female Anonassi’s honour guard. Next to the female, walking on the right of her was a lumbering creature that had spikes which protruded from the back of its hands, atop its head and all around its mouth where there was a mass of whirling tentacles. At first glance they mistook it for a Brute, but there was something about the monster’s garbled speech that seemed to indicate it was anything but an engine of mass destruction.

Four glowing eyes scanned the ridge as the creature spoke to the female in the lead, then looked back to the cart that held three large cages, within them were a mass of tangled bodies and mewling figures. Humans of the Lost Land, one of the tribes, or perhaps a mix of captives they’d taken from the more recent raids.

A Fallen, two Hellhounds, and whatever this monster was. Plus the cart drawn by what looked like a monstrous horse.

“What do you think of our odds John?” A hefty broad-shouldered woman lay next to her rifle, a curled mass of reddish hair cut short framed a scarred face. “Think we can take them?”

“Honestly, I’m not so sure. I’m not certain what that creature really is, it doesn’t seem to be acting like a Brute and it looks formidable. Those spikes especially.” John D’Aoust leaned on his elbows and propped himself up to scan the group again.

“Ravenka?”

Ravenka Rostova sighted down the scope of her rifle and settled the crosshair onto the Fallen in the lead. “If you want I can blow her head off, I’m pretty sure that she won’t be able to recover from that.”

“More importantly,” John said and tapped the woman on the shoulder. “You’re our team leader Constanza. What do you think?”

Constanza Garcia grumbled at the back of her throat. “I’m not really one for complex plans, you know that John. I like to dive in and get things done, but I don’t think we’ll win if we do that.”

“You were voted our leader unanimously, so it’s ultimately your call. Sorry, but rules are rules. There’s a chain of command for a reason.” John observed and shrugged his shoulders.

“Yes,” Ravenka gave a tiny grin. “The chain of command is there so you can throttle those who don’t follow it.”

Constanza drew her Mag 60 and sighed deeply as she hooked her rifle onto her back. “We have to do something, or they’ll make off with those prisoners and that’s a fate I’d not wish on my dearest friend or enemy.”

“You can have dear enemies?” Ravenka moved her rifle sight onto the big creature.

“You know what I mean.” Constanza grumbled again and rolled up a little so she was on her knees.

“We go on your order.” Ravenka said and switched her target again. “I shoot the Fallen one, then the two Hellhounds. You pair can handle the big one, yes?”

“Agreed.” Constanza settled her rifle in her hands and began to count softly. “We go on a count of 3. 3-2-1… NOW!”

Ravenka Rostova was a good shot, perhaps one of the best marksmen in their tiny group. She fired and watched the Fallen’s head explode as the round went clean through the side of the female’s skull and blasted a large portion of it over the shoulder of the big Anonassi. She fired again in quick succession and slammed the Hellhounds to the floor with two easy hits. Her final shot landed through the left eye of the horse-like monster and it buckled to the floor.

John D’Aoust ran down the hill and fired a couple of times, his shots missed their mark as the big creature rolled out of the way and came up a snarl. It moved brutally fast and placed itself between the cart and forced the man to go around. Constanza saw this and flanked the big monster as she fired with her rifle, the shot hit it square in the back and rather than causing much damage only seemed to rile the beast.

“What manner of thing are you?” John said as he approached from the right hand side of the cart. The Anonassi had no where to go and John saw not fear in the monster’s eyes, but revulsion as he got closer. “Are you scared of me?”

The Untouched looked at him as though he were mad, it bellowed in its own language and if John could understand what the monster said he would have been disturbed.

You are tainted, a broken thing, an unclean thing and you must be purged!

“Careful John,” Ravenka warned from her vantage point on the hill, her sight blocked by the caged humans. “I can’t cover you from here!” She got to her feet and began to find a better vantage point.

“I’ve got him covered,” Constanza said and fired again into the back of the Untouched. “Shoot it John, for fuck’s sake!”

The monster moved with speed and sudden brutality toward the D’Aoust, it seized him in those powerful clawed arms and tore him in two like tissue paper. Then it threw the legs at Constanza as though they were an infected thing to be disposed of quickly, hissing in its own language. The Garcia woman suppressed a shudder and rolled toward the thing, she fired three times with the Mag 60 at the same time that Ravenka emptied her sniper rifle’s clip into the Untouched. With so much firepower, including that of the pistol’s explosive rounds they brought down the beast and as it lay dying on the floor Constanza Garcia, daughter of Carlos Garcia pointed the Mag 60 at its face as it feebly lashed from side to side in the dirt.

“For John, and the Chosen.”

She fitted a fresh clip of normal ammo and fired the whole magazine into the monster, the beast lay still. What was left of its face turned to the side and fluid leaked out onto the desolate ground.

Hi everyone!

And we have now reached the final Chosen Clan, the Chike.

The Chike do not believe in relying on Human-made weapons to combat the Anonassi. Instead, they choose to enhance their biology, mutating themselves when in the presence of their enemies.

This leads to powerful abilities, from near-invulnerability to superior Strength, similar to the various Anonassi species. This has made them not only an amazing asset, but the only Clan to ever make themselves Chosen through manipulation of their genetics!

– Ed

Hi everyone!

Dark Fever continued to be a killer in Harbour City for generations. No-one knew how to stop it until one of the Chike family, one of the larger clans present in the city finally figured it out.

As they had got too close to the truth about the Anonassi, in the eyes of the Rostovs, the individual was “dealt with”, to ensure that the secret was kept.

Here’s a horror short story in the world of Era: The Chosen about what happened next…

———————————————————————————————————————–

It was barely past three in the morning and Lucius didn’t give a damn how much noise he was making, or that he was banging so hard on his nephew’s door so hard that his knuckles bled. Let people wake up angry; let them glower at him from the lofty perches of their bedroom windows. Let them throw barbed words and blunt, heavy objects for all he cared. So long as his efforts woke Royaume up as well.

It had seemed to him like he’d been knocking for several minutes, but Royaume was at the door within moments. His years worth of military experience had made him such a light sleeper that he’d had to remove several trees from the property for the quickness with which he would wake whenever their branches brushed against the gate.

“Oh thank goodness, I thought you might not be home,” Lucius said as soon as Royaume opened the door, oblivious to the confused eye quirk he received in response. “Something horrible has happened, and I need to discuss it with you. Now.”

When Royaume opened the door, Lucius rushed inside like he was being chased by something that would see him dead. He was trembling badly but held himself well in spite of it, nodding politely to the few maids who’d gathered to see what the commotion was about then fixing Royaume with a steely gaze.

“Are you in danger?” The question didn’t surprise Lucius – Royaume was prone towards blunt and simple questions – but it did frustrate him, somewhat, for how plodding such conversations always felt. Even amid crisis.

“I don’t know!” he spat out, hesitating briefly to consider whether or not an apology was in order. He concluded that it was, but it could wait. “I don’t know if the Rostovs after me or if it was just my research they wanted to strike from this world. That’s what I need your help with.”

“Let me get you something to drink.” Royaume rang the service bell and when the maid arrived, he sent her off for coffees mixed with bourbon, a favourite of his when he knew he’d be awake for a while on little sleep. “What were you saying? That you think the Rostovs are targeting your research?”

“I know they are.”

“What about your competitors? If I recall correctly, you were on the verge of a breakthrough.”

Lucius had to force himself to calm down and to remind himself that what seemed like pointless questions to him were only Royaume extending his feelers so that he could best offer assistance. “I know it’s no secret that we didn’t get along as well as we could have, but the work we were doing… we all understood that it was for the right reason. I can’t think of a single one of them who would have seen fit to burn my laboratory to the ground.”

By the shock flushed across Royaume’s face, Lucius realised he’d neglected to reveal what had set him off to begin with. He hadn’t been at the lab when the fire was set, but his home was near enough to it that he could hear the explosions set off by the various chemicals he kept. The fire itself had seemed to be the lesser issue. It had been reduced to the past, now. Only the future that mattered.

Royaume agreed by not broaching the topic. “Why would the Rostovs want to destroy your research towards a cure, of all things?”

The maid returned with the coffees, and Lucius took a ginger sip of his as though it was too hot, though it wasn’t. The maid had seen to that. “Because,” he said, drawing out the word in a similarly ginger manner, “They didn’t like the cure I developed.”

Another pause. Longer, less composed. Then: “You developed a working cure?”

“My serum didn’t just heal existing symptoms. It was also capable of immunising against Dark Fever.”

“That sounds wonderful.” Royaume looked into his mug, considering, then took a drink and swished it around in his mouth before swallowing. “I still can’t grasp why you think the Rostovs would want to destroy such a capable cure.”

Lucius couldn’t answer him. His cure had been a miraculous discovery that had set his research forwards several years, by his own estimations, and though it was still too late to save his dear son, it could have saved hundreds of people from the pain and the despair and the hopelessness of the disease. Instead, the Rostovs, or whoever was responsible for destroying it along with his laboratory, had condemned them to death.

It made no sense. It was infuriating. They had no right, no justifiable reason. He considered them heartless, cruel, traitorous.

“Uncle Lucius?” Royaume’s voice was soft, gentle. Not patronising but close enough to make Lucius angry with himself for not having the wherewithal to protect his research, and for failing to put everything into words not only in the moment, but in the countless opportunities he’d had in the past.

“The cure has the effect of turning whoever takes it into a Chosen.”

Whatever Royaume’s thoughts were, Lucius couldn’t read them. “Can you recreate it?”

“No. I have done so much attempting a cure that the components and the measurements, the temperatures… it’s all muddled together with failed serums. It would take a miracle for

“What do you mean?”

“Against your knowing – against everyone’s knowing,” Lucius took another sip of his drink, larger this time, meant to delay. “I already administered the serum to the entire Chike family. We will never again lose one of our own to the Dark Fever.”