Novels by Micci

Riko moved like water. Unpredictable and impossibly fast. His blade came at me from three different angles in the span of a heartbeat. I blocked the first strike, barely deflected the second, and the third opened a shallow cut across my forearm. I tried to counter but my body wouldn't respond the way I needed it to. My muscles were lead. My reflexes, normally sharp, were dulled by exhaustion and blood loss. Riko pressed his advantage. He feinted left, then struck right. His blade scored across my ribs—another wound to add to the collection. I stumbled backward, raising the Reaper's Edge defensively. "You can barely stand," Riko observed, circling me. "Just give up. Make this easier on yourself." I lunged forward, putting everything I had into a wide horizontal slash. Riko ducked under it effortlessly. While I was overextended, he swept my legs out from under me. I crashed to the tunnel floor hard. The impact drove what little air I had from my lungs. Before I could recover, R

They came at me like a living wave, attacking in patterns. One would feint from the front while another struck from behind. I had to keep moving, never staying in one place long enough for them to surround me completely. Their attacks gave me no time to recover between assaults. I managed to take down a few, but some got through. One used it's leg raked across my chest, opening three deep gashes. The pain was distant now. My body had moved beyond pain into some state of numb determination. I wonder if this ritual was worth it? But my experience without my suit on the surface makes me rethink. Even if I want to get back to the others, I will definitely not make it. A smaller one darted in, too fast to track properly. It caught my knife arm, its mandibles piercing through muscle. I screamed and smashed my elbow into its head repeatedly until it let go. My knife arm hung useless for a moment, the muscles too damaged to grip properly. I switched the weapon to my other hand. It was

The creature lunged before I could even get to my feet. I rolled sideways, my blistered skin screaming in protest as it scraped against the toxic ground. The creature's mouth snapped shut on empty air, close enough that I felt the displaced wind. My lungs burned with every breath. Each inhale was like swallowing fire. My vision blurred at the edges, darkness creeping in. I couldn't keep dodging forever. Not in this condition. The creature struck again, faster this time. Its leg caught my shoulder, slicing through fabric and skin. The wound immediately began to burn thanks to the toxic air. I bit back a scream and stumbled backward. More creatures were emerging from the darkness. Smaller than the guardian, but no less deadly. They surrounded me in a loose circle, their compound eyes reflecting the faint starlight. I was going to die here. The smaller creatures advanced. I swung my knife wildly, more out of desperation than strategy. The blade caught one across its face, and it

The ground wouldn't stop shaking. Every step I took sent tremors up through my injured leg, reverberating through my entire body. All around me were the horde moving through the tunnels. One wrong turn, one miscalculation, and I'd be nothing but a feast for the Blackvein swarm. I ran harder, my breath coming in ragged gasps that echoed off the narrow walls. No team this time. No Jabari with his impossible strength to pull me out of danger. No Raven to watch my back with his lightning reflexes. No Lyra to patch me up when things went wrong. And definitely no Vira who would have my back. Vira. Was she okay? Had the team managed to keep going without me? Was she worried? Did she think I was dead? The thought consumed me, pulling my focus away from the tunnel ahead. I could almost see her face, the way her brow furrowed when she was concerned, the way she— WARNING! THREAT DETECTED: BEHIND DISTANCE: 3 METERS The system alert slammed me back to reality. I spun around just in ti

The Council chamber felt colder than before. Or maybe that was just my imagination, my body responding to the pronouncement still echoing in my ears. Cleansing Rite. The high-one with that cold gaze, rose from his seat. The other Council members deferred to him immediately, a subtle shift in posture that told me everything about the hierarchy here. "The Cleansing Rite," he began, his voice carrying an authority that demanded silence, "is reserved for those whose presence poses... uncertainty." He descended from the platform, his robes trailing behind him. Each step was deliberate, measured. He stopped directly in front of me, close enough that I could see the lines etched around his eyes. "You will enter the Blackvein Hive," he continued. "Deep within its chambers lies a crystallized cocoon, the egg of the colony's next queen. You will retrieve it and return here within one cycle." "One cycle?" I asked. "Roughly twelve hours." His lips curved into something that wasn't quite

"Good work, citizen." One of the vigilantes clapped Riko on the shoulder, his voice warm with approval. "We've been searching for this one all night." Riko shifted his weight, his expression uncomfortable for a fleeting moment. Then he straightened, adopting a more confident posture. "I spotted him walking through the lower passages. Seemed suspicious, so I followed him. When I heard the announcement from your patrol, I knew I had to track him down." The vigilante who'd praised him tilted his head, studying Riko's face. Then he shook his head slowly. "You really think we'll fall for that bull-crap story?" Riko froze. His jaw tightened as panic flashed across his face. Then the vigilante's expression brightened, and he laughed. "We all know you did it for the reward." The tension in Riko's shoulders eased slightly. "You heard about the bounty and decided to cash in," the vigilante continued, leaning closer to Riko. His voice dropped to something more intimate, more dangerous.