Spring 2023

Lordza got in trouble. How does the tension feel? Chained on a table, I watched the night beset the rocking boat. My small window to the open sea slowly obscured in the thick fog of—what appeared to be—the middle of nowhere. The iron gripped my wrists like hands pinning them together. At least

As Waterlord Azurilina tours the Military District with General Isabel, they meet Professor Alexis.     “Agh, Zu-wel! Relax, unwind. Be yourself! You want to cast a spell. I know you do! Watch this!” Isabel shot a strange ice bolt at the water—I had never seen a ball of snow sparkling in white part

“What in Nash’s name is that!?”  Megrez gaped as the monster raised its head and roared. Midnight-black flames expelled from its breath and broke through the clouds in the sky. Megrez’s ears rang; it was like a bell had just sounded right near her head. That voice was so utterly powerful it made th

DAMIEN JONES: A young, kindly investigator who wishes to use his skills to help others. His humility shines through as he considers himself “just doing his part” and often refuses promotions to stay on as a field agent. Despite his many achievements, he still feels that he has not fulfilled his duty

Context: This is from A.T.X.D. Storm Seeker - Book 7. I want to exhibit what a one-on-one fight scene would look like. In this scene, the main antagonist has corrupted a whole army of the operatives against their comrades by turning them into bewitched, revenant anti-operatives. They're not zombies,

Disclaimer: this scene is not an actual chapter of Wayward Dreams! Rather, it's going to spliced into a future chapter told from Takeru's perspective giving a little peek into his psyche and mindset. The attempt is to make him a bit more sympathetic and likable in the eyes of the reader since he's b

Oliver is grappling with his feelings for his long-term friend Rafael, and his mother's illness. He is in denial about both, and has been struggling with an increasing desire to drink all the time. Oliver turned the wheel of his Mazda 3 and slid the car perfectly in between two cars on the side o

Context: As we roll out of the climax of Book 2 - A.T.X.D. Full Scale - Ashley has recovered from a post-combat surgery (I can't say from what yet because that's a critical plot element). She then has a nightmare in her barrack and is forced awake by it. The below scene is inspired from the 1986 Ali

The following are excerpts from Book 7 - A.T.X.D. Storm Seeker - where I have been exploring a concept inspired from the Mortal Kombat franchise. My main character Richard has a nightmare of seeing the aftermath of a battle in which all his teammates appear to have killed each other. This nightmare

This is a chapter about midway through the story, where Oliver is dealing with the slow loss of his mother due to her breast cancer relapse. Oliver has been dealing with the stress with over dependance on alcohol and drugs. This scene is not finished, but its all i've got written down so far. Ol

Context: In the second-to-last book of the A.T.X.D. Legacy - A.T.X.D. Storm Seeker - Richard, Ashley, Dave, and extraterrestrial operative Rister Arshian (first introduced in Book 3) are investigating an abandoned military base in Siberia, which some of their allies were investigating earlier. The l

Context: The surface antagonist of Book 3 - Jeffrey Kone, the CEO of the tech company Cyocent International - has just been captured by the A.T.X.D. for his efforts to create an illegal, commercial space colonization program funded in secret by the shady SIGA Syndicate. But as we saw in a previous s

Takeru drew Gladion from his back and held it in front of him. He lowered his knees and glared at his target. Megrez flicked her fingers towards her. A plume of water burst from the ground and blasted Takeru far into the sky. It traveled beneath his feet and quickly froze into a single path leading

Zul was given a task to go under the great city of Ra'Sasha and enter the Catacombs - a collection of haunted rooms and hallways, which had been explored by Professor Alexis, but after a reason not mentioned, Alexis pleaded to the government to never open the Catacomb doors.    Trianite’s Pala

Dr. Francis Judd is perhaps the most important, yet unseen, antagonist in the A.T.X.D. Series. He is the leader of the human-extraterrestrial intelligence syndicate The Luminara Society. He was inspired from an equally sinister villain named Mr. Frederick White from the video game Area 51, a 2005 re

Professor Alexis had always been a cold, distant professor to Waterlord Azurilina. Because of this, and a few other reasons, Zul stopped training with Alexis. But, the Professor told her pupil, Zul, to meet her at her house in the evening if she ever wished to continue training. So, one evening, she

“Another one?” Dante raised his chin, eyeing Isabel’s sword in hand, making him all jumpy and ecstatic. “Another friend to defeat, Zul? Oh, they just keep coming!”     “Mm… I’ve heard a lot about you,” Isabel’s disgusted tone really struck a chord with the Shadow Icelord.     His head tilted, mum

After Lordza and Zul's verbal fight, Lordza joined Valdrec in becoming his right-hand man. Valdrec, a known merchant who cooperates with the Shadows, has nefarious motives when he meets with Trianite. “Please, let me get that for you,” Valdrec ran toward the doors that led to the stairs and ope

Context: During an earlier op in book 3 - A.T.X.D. Stealth Angel - Corporal Laney Davidson and her close friend Cassandra "Cassy" Wayne were pursuing the main antagonist - superhuman terrorist Hannah Robinson from the SIGA Syndicate. Laney has an implant that gives her superhuman senses and a greate

While Waterlord Zul (POV) and her friend Icelord Eryx journeyed through the Subcontinent, they stumbled on a Shadow near the shore. The Shadows were too close to something Zul does not want them to have, so she decides to take a stand at the beachhead of her adversary's landing. Unfortunately for Zu

Context: Unlike A.T.X.D., Xenarus is narrated from the 1st Person Point-of-View of different characters. Throughout each of the books, viewpoints of narrations will change between characters at least in each chapter, although a narrator change may occur in the midst of a chapter if events warrant it

Many suspicious events have transpired while Zul has been the CEO of the Sashan Free Traders. Just this evening, her right-hand man, Lordza, gave her a report detailing that the company is in the negatives due to crippling Shadow raids on the company's merchant vessels. With the board meeting tonigh

Context: This is a haunted scene in A.T.X.D. Full Scale I have been planning since I was in early high school, but it was only fully written in the last week or so. Does it scare you? Read to find out. This next section was a grayish, concrete room that was wide enough to be a hallway in either di

In Eric's story, there are multiple artifacts sprinkled through each character (Eric has Roulette, Jacob has Paradox, etc). But in Zul's story, not many people have artifacts. The reason? Well, Zul takes place 10 years before Eric's story so the artifact arms race hasn't started yet, but it still ra

It seemed like every minute, reports kept rolling in, notifying Skylar of a new place the Shadows’ been spotted in. It wasn’t long before Shellport was under siege, enveloped in two sides by Shadow forces. The fort soon came under fire by cannons from various angles, paving the way for lord-on-lo

Context: A critical part of Book 3 - A.T.X.D. Stealth Angel - is the friendship between this book's main character - Laney Davidson - and Cassy Wayne, a former Air Force Tech Sergeant and pilot who has been serving with A.T.X.D. officially since Book 2 but debuts in in Book 1. In the below scene in

Representing the worst aspects of Doryoku is Wayward Dreams' antagonist Count Christophe Sakamoto! His worldview is drastically different from that of the Tiakians' yet his worst traits are the same ones he is celebrated for in the empire. We're about to learn just how Doryokans are when Christophe

An excerpt from chapter 16 of Wayward Dreams revealing a key portion of Kakane's character as well as his worldview. I want to make the characteristics of this scene more present in other parts of the book but for now, this one is a standout. In this scene, Kakane has dinner with Kai, king of Tiaki

Context: Dr. Christian Scollay, one of the lead scientists at A.T.X.D. Headquarters, has been assigned to find a way to block or fix the implant that was forcibly installed in Lance Corporal Laney Davidson by the SIGA Syndicate when she was a three-year-old child. Laney, for context, is the main cha

Context: Victor is a single dad who lives with his daughter Opal in a poor apartment. He works his way up the ladder and becomes successful. However, in his endeavors, he neglects his daughter and she has drifted apart from him. He was too wrapped up in his success to notice his daughter growing up