A gray, overcast blanket of clouds pushing from the north, coupled with a steep, inclining ascent into the Graves, helps ease the oppressive midday heat, bringing relief to the scouting party searching for Cedar. Though helpful today, Rihas is certain … Continue reading Foolish Lessons

“… you animals!~~” “m-my mates… you k-killed them!~~”” Why!?~~” “WHY!?~~” “RAAAHGhhh!” Rihas awakens with a violent, tortured jolt, his heart racing and body covered with sweat. It has been the same occurrences these past few mornings as his growing sense … Continue reading Greater Familiarity

Rihas repels a wave of nausea while struggling to remain seated, desperately clutching the bulkhead to prevent himself from being thrown off. He realized his mistake the moment Mehetabel propelled the vehicle into motion. He wishes now that he had … Continue reading In More Ways Than One

Matters concerning leadership and authority within various nomadic tribes scattered throughout the Hinterlands can appear confusing and convoluted. In most circumstances, decisions governing each tribe are deliberated among elders from the tribe’s most respected and influential families. It is an … Continue reading Nothing Found in Nature

Author’s Note: I gave Tamah a bit of a makeover to fit better her character concept. Her hair has changed, and she is a bit shorter. After speaking briefly with Mehetabel, Rihas learns the missing woman’s name is Cedar. According … Continue reading For What is to Come

Although progress has been slow, I continue to work out the plot for Cedar’s story. I have the overall concept worked out and a good chunk of the story planned. Finding time to write the words is now my biggest … Continue reading People of the Hinterlands

During their walk from the perch where Rihas’ daughters had gone to meet him, Japhia discloses some very thought-provoking revelations regarding her budding empathic trait. Her description of an entity roaming the Hinterlands is most concerning. Japhia believes that despite … Continue reading Empty-Handed

“…you animals ~~ …killed my mates ~~ …I will send you to hell myself…” Rihas awakens abruptly inside his wikiup alone, entangled within a mass of twisted, sweat-soaked linens. Dreams sometimes exert their will upon his sleep forcing him to … Continue reading Demon Tribe

I’ve been very motivated about working on Cedar’s story lately and have some really good ideas brewing in the back of my mind. We left Cedar in a particularly suspenseful, unresolved predicament at the conclusion of the previous post, leaving … Continue reading Finding Cedar

Cedar’s fourth day in the old ruins concludes with having found no new sources of food, water, or firewood. Rain most of the day dampens any hope of finding dry kindling or tinder needed to build a fire and forces … Continue reading Something Else

Morning arrives after a restless night spent cramped inside a small cavity among the long-deserted ruins hidden within the Graves. The name given to this region of densely forested highlands is well earned, given that all who were known to … Continue reading The Graves

Daylight breaks before Cedar rests. She has not stopped moving since her flight from the insects and has been traveling at a near-running pace for what feels like an eternity. She has no idea which direction she moved, how fast … Continue reading Homing Sense

Cedar reflects on the events in her life as she expends the last cartridges for her weapon. She’d made every one of them count and not a single one of the valuable implements was wasted, just as she had been … Continue reading Zero Hesitation

Cedar is startled awake by the injured companion she had met nudging her urgently, “NEH, NEH!” Confusion swirls around within her sleep-muddled brain while the man shuffles about the cabin in a bluster, making an unruly racket. Her limbs feel … Continue reading Without a Fight

Cedar lives in a post-civilized, Earthlike world set two thousand years after a series of events that led to humanity’s rapid decline and near extinction. Nature has reasserted its dominance in mankind’s absence and time has erased all but the … Continue reading The Follower