Cedric stumbled out of the way of the incoming sword in a panic, just barely dodging the initial impact only to be knocked off the station by the shrapnel it sent flying. He sent out a pair of illusory drones – one to catch him, and one to secure Dyllan, who he was choosing to …[continue reading]

Dyllan slowly turned around. There, hovering in midair with a condescendingly stoic pose, was Andie’s Dream. It took the form of a large knight-like mecha, its shape was angular but without harsh edges, and its armor plating was made of a shiny and uncomfortably clean silver-chrome alloy. Fire flowed out of thrusters on its back, …[continue reading]

Andie’s Nightmare stared down at Dyllan. It was a strange four-limbed beast, its basic frame somewhere between a Sphynx cat and a malnourished monkey. It clambered around on four bony, taloned hand-paws, and a jagged plastic toy crown rested lopsidedly on its head. Draped over its back and tied around its neck like a superhero …[continue reading]

Down below the rest of the mindscape sat a massive concrete box. It was wrapped in warning tape and barbed wire, and covered with numerous splotches of hate goo and claw marks. Small, metal bar reinforced prison windows were scattered sparsely across its surface, and a single, massive hole had been blown out of it …[continue reading]

Dyllan landed with a thud in one of the more damaged train stations, and quickly began hunting for anything that could clue him in to the root of Andie’s problems. If the previous two awakenings had been any indication, they’d actually need to talk through Andie’s issues – and Dyllan was sorely lacking in insightful …[continue reading]

“Yeah. Okay.” Dyllan took a deep breath. Gruesome rat-based mental images aside, Cedric was right. “We can handle rats. Let’s go.” With that, Dyllan plunged into the orange and black plume before him, fell through the tunnel of smoke and electricity, and burst into Andie’s mindscape.Yep, this was definitely Andie’s mindscape. Had there been any …[continue reading]

Dyllan bounced from rooftop to rooftop chasing after the existential crisis smoke pluming out through the roof of the apartment building Andie lived in. Cedric had fallen behind a bit, but was doing his best to keep up.Something about the whole situation just… didn’t feel real, like this wasn’t how it was supposed to go. …[continue reading]

Dyllan landed with a thud on the rooftop of the building where he’d agreed to meet Cedric. It had been a week since Cedric’s awakening, and Andie had been weirdly… normal for every day of it. Not Andie normal, not normal normal, but something somewhere in between the two. Tonight, Cedric had asked to meet …[continue reading]

“I guess that makes me feel a little better…” Andie heaved a sigh. “But I just – it’s just… how could I have missed that? Awakenings aren’t exactly subtle. You’d think I’d notice giant plumes of stress clouding up the sky.”“Well… do you want an actual answer to that question, Sprout?” Finn leaned up against …[continue reading]

After a few more jokes and jabs – some verbal some physical, Andie waved goodbye to her friends. She’d missed this sort of thing. She wouldn’t trade the feeling of the three of them having each other’s backs for the world, but ruffling each others feathers and pushing each others buttons was much more fun. …[continue reading]