The Fifth Descender | Chapter 2 by AnotherDemon, literature
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The Fifth Descender | Chapter 2
Everything hurt. His back felt like it was burned, his side felt like it was on literal fire, his pulse was pounding against the inside of his skull- everything hurt. The worst of it all, though, was the nausea. He wasn’t sure what had woken him or how he was even awake in the first place. Beyond the pain and the nausea, he was exhausted. It dragged at him, keeping him in a weird limbo between unconscious and alert to the point that he was certain he dreamt at times. There was no way he and Kaveh were out in the desert with him feeling like this but he had this vague impression of Kaveh against his burning side taking his weight, talking like always, - not that he could remember what Kaveh had even said - and the grit of sand in his shoes. There wasn’t enough sand near home for him to have it in his shoes so it had to be the desert; but there had also been so little light and the terrain didn’t give like sand normally did so it definitely had to be a dream. The nausea got
Harry Potter and the Altered Timeline | Ch 13 by AnotherDemon, literature
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Harry Potter and the Altered Timeline | Ch 13
Sirius muttered some curse into the lid of his hot chocolate before taking a drink. Severus understood his frustration. Even reiterating the events from Halloween made it even clearer how poorly things were being handled. Sirius bit out, “And nothing happened afterwards? Nothing for the parents?” A pause as if it dawned on him. “Nothing for the kids?” “The few nightmares that were reported were discussed and only two students were prescribed Dreamless Sleep.” Severus sighed. “But, no. Nothing more was done.” “Fuckin’ hell.” Silence settled between them, filled by the sounds of the world around them. Godric’s Hollow was anything but a sleepy little town late that Saturday morning. Severus could hear kids playing somewhere on the street behind them and quite a number of cars had passed since he and Sirius had settled against the fence. There had even been others who had walked through the graveyard and most bid respect to one of the many gravestones. If any had been inclined to
The Fifth Descender | Chapter 1 by AnotherDemon, literature
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The Fifth Descender | Chapter 1
Kaveh was still hovering, not that Alhaitham was surprised. It had only been a day since he had returned to work so some hovering was to be expected; no, the thing that was odd was the nature of it. Usually by the time Alhaitham returned to work, Kaveh was less attentive, less present in a sense, and oftentimes antsy to get back to work in a greater capacity. Kaveh wasn’t behaving like that. Alhaitham watched him, book lying open and temporarily forgotten on the table, as Kaveh quietly worked on some illustration. From what glimpses Alhaitham had managed around Kaveh’s normal behavior of hiding it before Alhaitham could really see it, it didn’t look like Kaveh’s normal work. It had looked a bit too abstract, less focused, or perhaps too complex for a simple sheet of paper to hold, like Kaveh was trying to capture how the stars hung in three dimensional space in a two dimensional image. But despite Kaveh’s appearance of working diligently away on his latest piece, Alhaitham knew
Harry Potter and the Altered Timeline | Ch 12 by AnotherDemon, literature
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Harry Potter and the Altered Timeline | Ch 12
Harry stared at Severus, school robe halfway on with his hand caught in the other sleeve. “What?” he asked, the word coming out more like a squawk than an actual word. It returned inertia to his body and he haphazardly shoved his arm into the sleeve. “Why? What are the other kids receiving?” “Detentions,” Severus offered crisply, though the softened edges of the man’s expression was enough for Harry to know it wasn’t simply being brushed aside. “A few will only serve a day or two. Mr. Malfoy will be serving two weeks.” “But I’m supposed to suffer through mine until Winter Break!” Severus sighed as he knelt. “I know it seems unfair right now but this truly has your best interest in mind.” Harry initially backed away from Severus’s reaching hand but seeked it out as the man talked. Severus’s hand carded through his hair, grounding and reassuring in equal parts. “Hogwarts lacks a lot of what you are used to back home and this will guarantee you spend some time not studying. While I
Harry Potter and the Altered Timeline | Ch 11 by AnotherDemon, literature
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Harry Potter and the Altered Timeline | Ch 11
“There, look. See him?” “Where?” “The one wearing the glasses?” “Did you see his face?” “Did you see his scar?” For not the first time, Harry felt endless gratitude towards Sirius, Severus, and Remus for doing all they could to keep him out of the public eye. With no such protection now, Harry found whispers tailing him even in his own common room and it weighed heavily on him. It was understandable people were going to be eager to see and meet him but at least the Hufflepuffs were trying to be normal about it. It helped that he had some buffer with Hannah, Susan, Cedric, and even surprisingly Roger keeping most of the overly eager at bay but the rest of the student body wouldn’t be as satisfied with just seeing him. The Great Hall wasn’t nearly as full as the night prior when all of the student body was present for the Start of Term Feast but it certainly wasn’t anywhere near empty. Sure enough, as soon as he approached the open doors, eyes and words were quickly focused on
Harry Potter and the Altered Timeline | Ch 10 by AnotherDemon, literature
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Harry Potter and the Altered Timeline | Ch 10
The shout was probably just as loud as every time before but tucked within the hat caused a weird muffling that barely dampened the sound; he flinched. His Sorting was finally over and done with. He quickly pulled the hat off as he slipped from the stool and placed the hat on it. His legs felt strange, wobbly and weak in a way he didn’t like, but it barely registered under the enormous relief he felt as he hurried over to Hannah and Susan. It barely registered just like the odd way the hall was full of noise barely registered. The hat had listened. For a heart stopping moment, he had thought it wouldn’t but the hat - sounding very amused with either itself or the situation - had placed him in Hufflepuff like he’d wanted but hadn’t been able to voice. The whole thing was exhausting and left a weird buzzing beneath his skin. Even his hands were shaking. No, wait; they weren’t shaking but it certainly felt like they should be. Before he could do anything with the sensation, though, he
Wayward Souls at Halftrot Inn | Chapter 2 by AnotherDemon, literature
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Wayward Souls at Halftrot Inn | Chapter 2
Chapter 2: Ilravis's Deceit The soil was hard beneath his thin shoes as if the rain that had drowned the world the day before hadn’t happened. Even the flash flood that had been brought on by the previous day’s torrential downpour had only left a veneer of clay mud clinging to the remnants of buildings and marked where the waterline had reached on the trees. The mud squelched beneath each step and clung incessantly to anything it touched. Those unfortunate enough to fall in it wore the mud like a second skin. It clung to his legs high on his thighs and plastered his pants awkwardly to his skin. Either the plaster-like clay itself was cold or it was making his pants increasingly damp and he hated it. Laughter rang out from what remained of a building to his left and habitually he glanced over. If there had been a second floor, it had been obliterated right along with the rest of the town. Most of the walls were under half of their original height, the shortest points being on the
Harry Potter and the Altered Timeline | Ch 9 by AnotherDemon, literature
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Harry Potter and the Altered Timeline | Ch 9
“What are those?” Harry looked up from the snacks, a colored pencil caught between his teeth. He hadn’t even realized he had stuck it there until the rather familiar voice had cut through his thoughts. He grabbed it with the hand holding five other colored pencils and asked, “What are what?” “Those.” The speaker - where had he seen someone with platinum blonde hair before? - pointed at the small bundle of colored pencils in Harry’s left hand. “Colored pencils,” he stated simply as he turned his attention back to the food trolley and picked up another packaged Liquorice wand. Three ought to be enough along with the small box of Liquorice Comfits. “Colored what? Are those a muggle thing?” Harry looked at the strangely familiar kid again in surprise. “Colored pencils,” he repeated. He was fairly certain he had seen colored pencils in a wixen supplies shop before though they may have been called something else. But when he didn’t answer the latter question quickly enough, the
Wayward Souls at Halftrot Inn | Chapter 1 by AnotherDemon, literature
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Wayward Souls at Halftrot Inn | Chapter 1
Chapter 1: Niko’s Visions Halftrot Inn was never truly still no matter what time it was. Granted, three o’clock in the morning was far quieter than three in the afternoon but there was always someone at the front desk doing something and at least two other staff members working somewhere on the property. Niko loved those early morning hours. Not because of the quiet - oh Gods, no; she lived for the noise and bustle of the day and the secrets and information that slipped through it - but because of the occasional body that wasn’t supposed to be up at those hours. It wasn’t very often someone bustled in from outside too early in the morning to be considered normal - or unconcerning - and it was even less common for someone to leave, but it happened. It always happened. The clock had just chimed the quarter hour past four when the front door opened. She stilled her hand, pen lifted from the page to not blot the ledger. Two individuals entered before the door was shut with some care
Harry Potter and the Altered Timeline | Ch 8 by AnotherDemon, literature
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Harry Potter and the Altered Timeline | Ch 8
The mid morning crowd of King’s Cross Station swallowed them as they entered the massive building, a familiarity that came from traveling often. Harry expected the same comfort that always came from that familiarity but the apprehension remained heavy in his chest. He hated it. There was no need to worry; he was well aware that there was no point in worrying. Everyone had reassured him multiple times that Sirius taking Harry as himself would be fine, that anything that could go wrong could be handled. But for Sirius to be at Harry’s side with no hint of disguise or as the all too familiar large black dog was setting off every warning bell Harry had and he couldn’t quiet them. Sirius ruffled his hair, the trolley listing slightly to the right despite the weight of Harry’s trunk. “You’ll have a great time at Hogwarts, Harry. Don’t you worry.” He offered Sirius a soft smile, one he knew Sirius would see as appreciation. Harry couldn’t correct him. It would only lead to the same
Altruistic Endeavors | Inktober Day 20: Coral by AnotherDemon, literature
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Altruistic Endeavors | Inktober Day 20: Coral
Everything was heavy and he hated the fact that he was waking up. It took a moment before he realized that he couldn’t remember taking whatever the healer had wanted to give him, let alone actually falling under its sedation. At least his head didn’t hurt and his thoughts seemed rather clear compared to the last time he had done this. There was something on the edge of his hearing that he didn’t quite understand until the voices became discernible. It took the words a bit longer to make sense. “...seen him that shaken before.” Elias’s voice was low, rough, but he took comfort in the fact that they had done their best to keep their promise to him. A voice he didn’t recognize drifted through the room. “You asked him what had happened, then?” Elias snorted. “Of course I asked. Sheer curiosity would have driven me to ask had my duty not.” There was a heavy pause. “I’m going to write up a report but I don’t think I can repeat what he had told me. If you want the story, you’ll have to
Altruistic Endeavors | Inktober Day 16: Rocket by AnotherDemon, literature
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Altruistic Endeavors | Inktober Day 16: Rocket
“I expect we will be seeing them before the week is out. However, that is not anything I can set in stone. It will solely depend on how things progress over the next few days.” A knock interrupted anything else the man had to say. Elias stood. Artemis idly stirred what remained in his bowl watching as the man crossed to the door and opened it. There was a man on the other side, strong, tall, and who grinned a brilliantly bright smile when the two older men’s eyes met. “Thought I would find you here. Cass sent me down with this for you.” The man gestured with the bundle in his hand. Artemis wasn’t sure if it was a thin book or a stack of paper. Elias took it, flipping through the pages as the man continued, “How’s our newest guest?” “Awake so you’re welcome to ask him yourself,” Elias offered, voice cordial and expression soft as he took a step out of the way before actually crossing to the chair. The stranger at the door stepped in enough to close the door before smiling gently at
Altruistic Endeavors | Inktober Day 21: Sleep by AnotherDemon, literature
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Altruistic Endeavors | Inktober Day 21: Sleep
When the door closed behind the woman’s departure, Bethany turned a disappointed and confused look on him. “So what’s so significant about this echo thing?” “It…” But he found that he didn’t actually know. He frowned, gaze drifting down as he searched for the information he could have sworn had just been there. When he came up with nothing, he turned his gaze to Tolnoran. “Have you seen anything like it before?” Tolnoran shook his head. “That was a first for me.” Elias spoke up. “I know most if not all the creatures in the Second Plane but I’ve never seen anything like Tolnoran described, nor anything called an echo.” Frustration churned in his chest. “It’s the translation of the name. It has one like Dlmor or Kret but I don’t know how to say it.” That drew Elias’s curiosity. “Can you spell it?” He gave the man a flat look. “I can hardly say it and you expect me to know how to spell it?” “Then how…” “I’d heard it. The thing had spoken it.” Bethany placed a hand on his
Altruistic Endeavors | Inktober Day 17: Storm by AnotherDemon, literature
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Altruistic Endeavors | Inktober Day 17: Storm
His head snapped around, startled by the new voice, but the only other beings in the room were Tolnoran and Dlmor. He looked to Tolnoran only to find a curious look on the man's face. "Did you hear that?" Tolnoran frowned. "Your Dlmor talking?" "In his defense, this is the first time he's actually been able to hear me." He looked down at Dlmor as the creature rested its chin on his thigh. "I've had to use Transference to talk with him." Tolnoran frowned at that, looking to Artemis. "You weren't able to hear them?" He shook his head no. "First time I ever interacted with Dlmor was after it defended me against some other shadow." "Kret," Dlmor supplied. "Do all Kret do damage by screaming?" Tolnoran laughed. "That's one way to put it. They do a sort of psychic attack but I haven’t heard of any doing more than giving someone a severe headache for a few hours.” “So my experience was strange?” “In many ways.” Dlmor bared its teeth in a silent snarl. “The damage you had sustained
Altruistic Endeavors | Inktober Day 22: Chef by AnotherDemon, literature
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Altruistic Endeavors | Inktober Day 22: Chef
“Artemis.” “I’m ok,” he assured Dlmor. “Just...worried.” Dlmor chuckled. “Aren’t we all?” A sharp turn and suddenly they were in the midst of whatever was happening. Trevak was massive, hissing and snapping as it used its tail to throw people and creatures back. Elias was nowhere to be seen, not that the chaos of bodies made finding anyone easy. He gained the urge to go fight, to join in, but he gripped at Dlmor’s fur, urging, “No. We have to find the Olnvorox.” Dlmor sidestepped an incoming body. “If we don’t, then fighting will be useless.” “Then where to?” Dlmor growled. “Find the starting point. We’ll go from there.” Dlmor took off through the chaos, weaving this way and that as Artemis’s head whipped around this way and that frantically searching for any sign of the things that were causing all of this. But trying to traverse quickly through a space that was not meant to be fought in rapidly turned into a nearly impossible task. Several times Dlmor was forced to stop
Altruistic Endeavors | Inktober Day 25: Buddy by AnotherDemon, literature
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Altruistic Endeavors | Inktober Day 25: Buddy
“By an Olnvorox?” Elias clarified. “Buddy, you can’t be serious,” Cass cut in, her words wavering with the fear she was trying to hide. “How would an Olnvorox even get in here?” “Does it matter?” he challenged, frustration blending with the echoes of emotions from whatever it was he lived through. He suddenly became aware of the headache that was pounding inside his skull. He closed his eyes against the pain, putting the weight of his head back into Elias’s palms. The man’s hands flexed against his neck and skull but took his weight with apparent ease. “It got in and it got its hands on me.” He opened his eyes only to meet his uncle’s gaze. “It toyed with me, killing everyone I knew and have come to know with such ease that it’s terrifying. The power these things have is terrifying. If an Olnvorox ever decided to actually take us out, this entire compound would be eradicated in a matter of minutes.” His breath shuddered in his chest but he couldn’t stop now. “The thing took everyone
Altruistic Endeavors | Inktober Day 23: Rip by AnotherDemon, literature
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Altruistic Endeavors | Inktober Day 23: Rip
He looked to Cass. “So why send me along?” Cass glanced at the other two men, visibly confused. “Are you sure he doesn’t have memory loss?” She looked at him again before they could answer. “Do you not remember what you did?” Was this a trick question? “What do you mean?” “You took out the majority of the Ilnu in a show of crafting that I have never seen and that hasn’t been seen in generations.” His gaze snapped to Elias and gained a sharp pulse of pain for his endeavor. The man’s expression tightened. “She’s not lying. I only know two other people that can levitate their creations but neither of them can handle more than three let alone throw them without actually touching them with such pinpoint accuracy.” It was like trying to recall a half remembered dream. He remembered the spear he had summoned and he could recall what he knew now were the cores of all the Ilnu being pierced by the things he had crafted but anything around that wouldn’t stick. There was the faint echo of
Altruistic Endeavors | Inktober Day 18: Trap by AnotherDemon, literature
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Altruistic Endeavors | Inktober Day 18: Trap
The three higher ups walked away leaving the door wide open. “Ysle,” Tolnoran softly commanded. The Kret moved to the door and pushed it closed before laying down against the bottom. Artemis looked to him. “I take it they’re not the best of company to be around?” Tolnoran snorted. “Oh, Colonel Conner and Cass are great people to be around - some of the better, in fact - but it’s the other higher ups that aren’t all that great to be around. Leader Fox runs a tight ship but there something about him that’s always put me on edge. Madam Drev I don’t know well enough to have an opinion of but the way her Jaun behaves has many of us thinking there’s more broken about her than what we’re seeing.” Artemis looked to Dlmor. “How did you know their names?” He caught Tolnoran looking over sharply out of the corner of his eye as Dlmor finally let him go. “Vulren came by the first night you were here, curious no doubt, and happened to be a bit more chatty than was probably wise. Jaun are not
“Independent and Free! Independent and Free! Independent and Free!” The mantra was thunderous and sharp, seeming to shake the entire world as it was repeated in the same thunderous way all around the world. “Independent and Free! Independent and Free!” “They’re gonna get themselves killed.” He scoffed at her words, eyes not wavering from the crowds below, the shouting of the crowd barely muffled by the window. “At least it’ll make our lives easier.” “Yer an ass,” a separate female commented from behind him. He looked over at her, arching an eyebrow but not challenging her words. The female that had spoken first clicked the rifle pieces together a bit sharper than necessary. She locked eyes on the female he was currently looking at and supplied instead, “He does have a point.” “Thank you, Nine,” he said, dipping his chin to the sniper before turning his gaze out the window once more. Nine clicked together another portion of her riffle. “Was not supporting you, Twenty-Six.” He
One. Two. Three. Four.
They counted because there was nothing more for them to do.
Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen. Nineteen.
They started small because that was all they knew.
Twenty-nine. Thirty. Thirty-one. Thirty-two.
Slowly but surely their numbers grew larger and slowly but surely their mind got stronger.
Forty-eight. Forty-nine. Fifty. Fifty-one.
They wondered how many they would count before one chose them.
Sixty-three. Sixty-four. Sixty-five. Sixty-six.
Would they be alone with ridiculously large numbers?
Seventy-five. Seventy-six. Seventy-seven. Seventy-eight.
They could make neither heads nor tails of the thought.
Eighty-nine. Ninety.
The glass clattered against the counter sharply but Marcus didn’t overly care much. He rubbed at his face as Derek settled beside him at the kitchen island.
“So this is where you ran off to. Though you were avoiding the party.”
Marcus chuckled. “No, not avoiding the party. Avoiding the small talk that comes with said party.”
Silence settled over the pair of them and, for once, neither strove to break it.
“This has been one hell of a month,” Derek finally uttered, rolling his own glass against the counter.
Marcus snorted. “No kidding. First your accident–”
“Then the natura
It was late. So late in fact that the clock had rolled over into the new day, turning “late” into “early”. He glared at the offensive device that was seeming to mock him with the new hour. He knew he should have gone to bed hours ago but he had been feeling as if the day just wasn’t long enough.
That, or he was being left behind by time.
That was a scary thought, one that he tried to avoid. He didn’t like being left behind in general and all of the sudden time was leaving him behind too?! He stomped on the thought and focused on the task at hand, glancing at the word count as he went.
He was going to reg
“I thought cities were supposed to be bustling, not unsettling ghost towns.”
Angel glanced back at Kyle, full-heartedly agreeing with him. The city was massive yet there was a scattering of people that they’d come as they followed their guide. Said guide looked back at them, smiling softly like he always did. “That is because it is a Holy Day.”
“Holy day?” she asked, frowning. “You’re entire city follows one religion?”
Their guide nodded. “The majority do. Those that do not still respect the rules of Holy Days. After all, there are only so many Holy Days in a year.”
D
The water was deep, but I couldn't drown. by AnotherDemon, literature
Literature
The water was deep, but I couldn't drown.
“Have you ever had one of those dreams where you wake before you hit the ground?” He looked over at her but didn’t comment. Her arms were crossed and resting on the railing, shoulders high but her gaze was situated towards the horizon rather than down at her arms like he had expected. Her entire stance screamed exhaustion but her expression, the fact that her gaze was still straight ahead, spoke of something stronger than the exhaustion itself. “I’ve never had one but I’ve heard people talking about it; how they wake with with a jolt still feeling like they’re falling.” Her gaze dipped downward slightly. “I never really understood what they meant till last night.” He frowned. “You dreamt you had fallen?” She shook her head, her gaze coming back up. She didn’t look at him, though. “I dreamt that I was swimming. I was swimming with no sign of land in sight and I was exhausted. But I couldn’t stop. For whatever reason, I just couldn’t stop. But then something wrapped itself around my
“Sensuality.” He frowned slightly as he let the hammer come down on the nail. “In what context?” She looked up from the book, confused. “What do you mean?” He leaned back enough to look at her perched on top of a set piece, his class notebook and textbook resting on her knee. “Is it meant to be associate with sensuous or sensual? Are we dealing with the older definitions or the more modern ones?” She shrugged, showing him the page she was reading from. “You’ve got me. It just says sensuality.” He let out a sigh, turning back to his work. “Fricken vague professors.” He hammered in a few more nails before he had to move the ladder. It wasn’t till he was on the ground that he realized she hadn’t spoken up again. He looked to her, curious. “You alright, kit?” She looked at him, blinking as if coming out of a daze. She nodded, smiling. “Yeah, sorry. Just thinking.” “Bout sensuality?” She nodded again as he crossed to stand beneath her. “It’s hard not to, with what we are.”
His breath froze in the air, drifting slowly skyward only because it was warmer than the air surrounding him. He didn’t even notice. His gaze was turned to one end of the road, hands buried deep inside warm pockets. A vehicle drove passed in the other direction but he didn’t react. He merely watched the end of the road, waiting.
The vehicle that had passed him came to a stop before the bend he was staring at. The back up lights flickered on. He turned his attention from the bend to the vehicle as it reversed and came to a stop before him. The driver rolled down their window, asking, “You alright? Need a lift?”
He sho
He was standing on stage singing a lame karaoke song his coworkers had picked. It was surprisingly fitting as he sung it for the dark haired man sitting alone near their table. Those blue eyes held his own gaze for the entire song and he ignored the catcalls and chatter when he walked passed his table to talk with the blue eyed stranger.
He finds himself going on a date with the blue eyed stranger a week later after they end up chatting through karaoke night. He finds out the man’s filthy rich and is the owner of the building he and his coworkers are constructing. He finds that he doesn’t care.
Somewhere along the way, six month
It was simple in design. The black paint started at a point near the center top, expanding as it came down the left side to encompass the eye before condensing back to a point near the center bottom. Around the other eye was a circle of black, large enough to mask the ridge of the cheek and eyebrow. The mouth was made to look like an unnatural grin coming to points rather than soft curves. In it’s simplicity it was meant to be disconcerting and creepy.
It was.
No matter who wore it or possessed it, they were always known as Fate; they were a branch of an entity most mortals cannot understand. The complexity of just the role of Fate wa
Updates happen on the 2nd of any given month, though an update is not guaranteed. While projects are currently in flux, Harry Potter and the Altered Timeline has remained one of the prominent pieces still being worked on.
With the posting of Gaster's Involvement | Chapter 6 another story has completed and The Othertale Timeline story is finished, a feat years in the making. At this point, the only thing I have planned is continuing to work on Harry Potter and the Altered Timeline. Outside of that, I have a number of original works I would like to touch after a year of not having the drive to but I'm not committing to a set plan quite yet. I make no promise on any sort of schedule for anything outside of HPAT remaining on a three month cycle, meaning there will be at least one chapter posted April 2nd. I do not plan on changing that any time soon. I am looking at potentially taking a break from writing on the off months for the time being. We will see how my muses take the free time. I hope life is being kind and muses are staying strong. ~AnotherDemon