Novels by TRY

The laboratory didn't just collapse; it shrieked. Metal screamed as the bulkhead twisted like wet taffy, the industrial-grade steel anchors of the siphon machine burrowing deep into Vaelric’s spine."Vaelric! I’m telling you, this wasn't on the itinerary!" Seraphyne yelled, shielding her face as a pressurized coolant pipe burst, spraying ice-cold mist across the room."It’s not me doing it! The machine is... it’s hungry, Seraphyne! It’s eating the furniture!" Vaelric’s voice cracked, sounding like a choir of glass being shattered in a blender."Well, tell it to pick a different snack! I’m still standing here!""I’m trying! But it’s got a real attachment to my vertebrae!"The metal rippled. From the center of his shoulder blades, jagged, obsidian-hued shards erupted outward, unfurling with the wet, crunching sound of a ribcage expanding too far. Within seconds, they had hardened into massive, blade-like wings of pure, volatile energy, crackling with a violet-gold intensity that made th

"Dad?" Vaelric’s voice wasn't just a whisper; it was a ghost of a decade-old memory, shattered by the cold reality of the present.The man in the tattered coat didn't smile. He just stared, his eyes pulsing with the same rhythmic gold that thrummed in Vaelric’s own chest. Then, like a glitch in a broken video feed, the man vanished, replaced by the heavy, tactical boots of two Preservationist soldiers who emerged from the treeline. A stun-baton cracked against the back of Vaelric’s neck, and the world dissolved into jagged sparks and static.Vaelric woke up to the smell of ozone and burnt coffee. He was strapped into a chair that felt like it was made of electrified razor wire. His arms were pinned, his chest exposed, and a dozen thick, glowing conduits were spider-webbed across his torso."Oh, great," Vaelric groaned, his voice raspy. "I always wanted to be a human power strip."A man in a crisp, white lab coat stood over a monitor, tapping at a holographic screen. "Your vitals are f

The shadow tilted its head, a sickening, fluid motion that lacked the hitch of human vertebrae. It mirrored the way Vaelric had tilted his head three seconds prior, but held the angle a heartbeat too long."Seraphyne, please tell me you’re seeing the two-dimensional horror show," Vaelric whispered, backing away until his heels hit the rough bark of a giant, rotted cedar."I see it. I’m also seeing that it has claws that look suspiciously like yours," Seraphyne replied, her grip tightening on her crossbow until her knuckles were ghost-white. "Is it an echo? A projection? Or did you just leave your soul back at the camp?""I’m fairly certain my soul is still in my chest, though it’s currently screaming in a very high register," Vaelric said, his breath hitching as the shadow took a gliding step forward. "Hey! You! Shadow-guy! We’re not hiring right now, so if you could just go back to being, you know, a lack of light, that’d be great."The shadow mimicked his gesture, raising a hand. It

The floorboards groaned, then surrendered, erupting in a shower of splintered timber and rusted nails. A limb, vast and covered in the same obsidian, jagged armor currently colonizing Vaelric’s own forearm, slammed onto the concrete. The beast below was not just a creature; it was a mirror of his own cursed potential."Sibling?" Seraphyne shouted, shoving a discarded chair into the face of a rushing guard. "I don’t care if it shares your DNA, Vaelric, it’s currently trying to make a shish-kebab out of the local architecture!""I didn't mean literally, Seraphyne! It just looks like... like the same tailor made us both!" Vaelric yelled, backing away as the creature’s massive, scaled head crested through the floor. It shrieked—a sound like tectonic plates grinding together."Well, tell your relative to stop remodeling the furniture and focus on being less murderous!" She fired a bolt into the beast’s shoulder, the metal sparking uselessly against the armor. "Do you have an off-switch, or

The iron gates of the camp groaned shut, sealing them inside a compound that smelled of rusted scrap and unwashed fear. The warlord, a man who called himself Kaelen and wore armor seemingly made from flattened stop signs, gestured toward a long, grease-stained table."Sit," Kaelen commanded, his eyes fixed on the golden, pulsing veins creeping up Vaelric’s neck. "An associate of the Ruin deserves... hospitality."Vaelric sank into a chair that felt suspiciously like a torture device. Beside him, Seraphyne didn’t miss a beat, her hand resting casually on the hilt of her blade."Hospitality?" Seraphyne asked, pulling out a chair and propping her muddy boots up on the table. "That’s a big word for a place that smells like a damp basement."Kaelen’s eyelid twitched. "We take pride in our efficiency, scavenger. And you, guest... you are glowing. It’s quite distracting.""It’s a mood ring," Vaelric muttered, his chest emitting a low, rhythmic thrum. "And my mood is currently 'hungry for a v

The blue flash of the containment rounds singed the air, turning the humid night into a strobe-lit nightmare. Vaelric didn't wait for a second invitation. He sprinted, his boots barely touching the cracked asphalt, his body fueled by a kinetic surge that made him feel like he was running on springs."Hey! Don't you dare leave me behind, you neon-glowing track star!" Seraphyne shouted, her breath hitching as she vaulted over a jagged pile of rebar."I’m not trying to leave you! My legs are just on a very strict itinerary!" Vaelric yelled back, his voice strained.“The girl is a drag on our momentum,” the entity inside him rumbled. “Leave her to the Preservationists. They will dispose of her, and we shall proceed to the summit undisturbed.”"Shut it! If she dies, who’s going to keep me from turning into a pile of ash?" Vaelric hissed at the dark sky."What was that?" Seraphyne panted, catching up as they dove into the shadows of a collapsed highway overpass. "Were you just arguing with