Mecanimus

Changeling Part 123: Reavers

Changeling Part 122: Countdown

Changeling part 121: Pendulum

Changeling Part 120: Battle of Lome

Announcement: one week off for CNY

Changeling Part 119: Star Bastards

Changeling Part 118: I knew it

There was, perhaps, something magical about tool-use when your species seldom used them.

“This is so good for hunting!” Grook declared with unwavering conviction.

Nestra watched her land all her shots on target this time, the shotgun barely moving under her heavenly mask’s fingers. Which were quite meaty. The tall girl was having a blast trying everything Gorge had and packing...

Changeling Part 117: Paradigm Shift

AN: I SENT THE WRONG PDF AND EPUB BY MISTAKE SO I AM REUPLOADING MB SORRY

Her dad led Nestra to another part of the suite rather than outside, both for security reasons and because the suite was so unreasonably large. They ended up in a private conference room with the full remote corporate package in case she wanted to call Buenos Aires. Nestra glanced at the coffee machine.

“Co...

Changeling Part 116: Summit

Nestra paced the penthouse of the Capricorn, Threshold’s most exclusive venue whose upper floors were reserved for the most affluent of post-Incursion’s elite. A post-modern zen design hid a fully integrated smart system for safety and comfort. It was hubris hiding terminal paranoia framed in greed: an amusing representation of Threshold’s essence yet the understated wealth upset Nestra. ...

Changeling Part 115: The Big People League

Nestra watched the customs people fiddle with their systems with some measure of amusement. The check should have been a mere formality. In fact, it should have been entirely avoided. Mayor Kim leaned over the counter.

“Is there some sort of problem?” he asked in a very affable voice that made the glorified doormen pale.

“That is, you have a sanctioned individual with you. Our...

Changeling Part 114: A bit Cross

The troop transport touched down on the bridge of CVN-79 with the airborne grace of a dead chicken. Cross adjusted her borrowed uniform with no small measure of annoyance. She’d signed the damn contract with Vanquisher, not with the government. There was, perhaps, also the question of stolen valor. Her grandfather had served in the rangers. Wearing a uniform she hadn’t earned felt wrong on ...

The Calamitous Bob part 19: Chapters 191 -204

Looks like I forgot that one sorry.

The Calamitous Bob Collection 22 chapters 226 - 238

And that is it except for the epilogues.

The Calamitous Bob Collection 21 Chapters 215 - 225

Hopefully clear of most mistakes.

The Calamitous Bob collection 20: chapters 205 - 214.

Relatively typo-free for your reading convenience.

Eternal Game of the 108 Chapter 20: Again

Chronos wordlessly places a cup of tea in front of me. He and Morag already sit with their own. I try it. Some strong black tea smoothed out by just a little too much tea or as my mum would have said, ‘the whole cow’. I don’t even like black tea but I think I’d be crying if I my emotions were not so dulled here. In a way, I realize this is a blessing as much as a curse. It would be even...

Eternal Game of the 108 Chapter 19: Soul World

There are worlds beyond the physical one, often born of it, but not it. When one adjusts their soul like one goes from visible spectrum to heat, or infrared, the hidden is revealed. The truth of what is opens to those willing to see it, and those denied a choice.

There is a tree growing inside of Enderlith. The station is the cocoon, the nest that keeps the tree safe until it is ...

Eternal Game of the 108 Chapter 18: Butterfly Effect

The refugee camp is packed wall to wall, and I do mean that literally. Some enterprising engineer bolted scaffolding there where basic cots and hammocks could be installed, drastically increasing the amount of people who could sleep there at the cost of lighting. The smell of countless cooking pots mingles with that of sweat and unwashed flesh. 

The only reason I was allowed in is th...

Eternal Game of the 108 Chapter 17: Affinities

Xan actually expected me to have to make arrangements at some point. He doesn’t mind shortening the training time.

“Most of those who work out here have their own obligations. You mentioned having to earn your keep, so I am neither surprised nor annoyed. I will just remind you that keeping a balance between your duties remains your responsibility. If your awakening is delayed, and you...

Eternal Game of the 106 Chapter 16: Gainful

I collapse on my tiny bed feeling like I’ve aged three decades before getting run over by a pack of American tourists. Embers glower under my skin where all my muscles are supposed to be. I guess. I can hardly move them. The strangest thing, I think, is that it’s not that bad. By all rights I should have collapsed six hours ago, but the frequent pauses, meditation, and steady supply of ener...

Eternal Game of the 108 Chapter 15: Lifting

The trip is uneventful. Sweat cools against my skull as I find myself shivering with cold now that the adrenaline has faded.

I think I still considered myself a Londoner until today. Well, a Greater Londoner. Something shifted in my mind when I realized I had many other options. I think it’s only finally registering now, truly. I’m an Enderlithian. I’m going to spend many, many year...

Eternal Game of the 108 Chapter 14: False Starts

I drop my empty cup on the table at the same time as I grab my ID. Everything feels awkward, like I just woke up and I’m barely in control of my body. I feel slower, less responsive, but at the same time I am no longer exhausted and starving so… silver linings I suppose. The wall panel opens quickly this time, and my call is picked up on the spot.

“Please state the nature of your em...

Announcement: End of Year Break.

I'll be taking two weeks of lighter activities to spend more time with me spawn and me wife. No Changeling but I'm almost done with the next batch of 108 chapters.

Happy end of year holidays people, whatever you celebrate! And thanks for allowing me to live my dream for yet another year.

Cheers everyone.

Meca.

Changeling Part 113: Chaos Demon

Monday

The reporter smiled at the camera after a short, vain attempt at seriousness. In the background, police searchlights and drones illuminated the three wings of the Museum of Art of Philadelphia, beige stone and columns offering a neoclassical gravitas to the scene. The contrast of pre-Incursion glory and post-apocalyptic resilience was almost more of a distraction than a setting, bu...

Changeling Part 112: The War on Disinformation

Nestra looked at the pictures of her target. The ‘troll farm’ was an innocuous series of buildings forming a compound on the southern edges of the city, near the limit of fully controlled lands. The buildings were a boring corporate white and as bland as possible. Were it not for the antenna masts and the cooling tower she associated with heavy server loads, she would not even have guessed ...

Changeling Part 111: Agency

Stupid stupid stupid. Nestra had been so focused on getting back to Earth that she’d just forgotten to use her damn brain. It had only been around nine months in her perspective, a little less here… Shit, she should have just asked Riel to take her with him! Except he didn’t know where Threshold was, and he had made it clear he would be busy… but she could have at least told him to —<...

Changeling Part 110: Heading Back

Riel, or Malik as he asked Nestra to call him in the privacy of his ‘estate’, turned out to be a pretty good host. He had snack aplenty which partly explained his physique. Mostly, it was clear he missed speaking to another human. After a few minutes of hesitation, Nestra might as well have been one. Using her human form certainly helped.

“There is a species of smart herbivorous cre...

Changeling part 109: The Great Filters

The Child felt the ground shake first. At first, he believed it was only a tremor. Those sometimes happened when strong Earth users like the guard trained or sparred. He knew something unusual was happening when the Master entered the room at a brisk pace. It was not the time. They were scheduled for history training next, then lunch. He also never walked this fast. The stomp of heavy boots tol...

Changeling Part 108: History in the Making

August the 13th, eight months after Nestra’s departure. Pacific Ocean.

Condensation stuck to Mazingwe’s armor. Rivulets fell off the golden armor into the hot air, mixing with other mana-rich emanations meant to mask the task force’s approach 160 nautical miles east of Threshold. The cloud had aroused suspicion, but it was fairly large and fully under the control of the Specter init...

Changeling Part 107: The Last Card

Agathon slowly rose from his throne in the silence that followed. He approached Nestra, each step slow and purposeful. 

She couldn’t move one fucking fingernail. 

Sereth felt like a mountain when he was angry: massive and implacable. Shinran was a sealed demon in a saint’s robe. Agathon just was. If his presence had a taste at the moment, Nestra’s mind was simply too...