Episode 1 · Mature · 18+ private alpha
Falling
Odran POV. Between Worlds
Release cadenceNew chapter at least weekly until it is finished!
Table of ContentsEpisode 1 · 10 episodes available
About this story
Astra has rules.
Sifira and Odran know them well. They know the monsters that stalk its wild places, the magic woven through its people, and the dangers waiting inside its dungeons. Alongside a mismatched group of companions, they’ve learned how to survive a world where adventure has teeth.
But the rules are changing.
Creatures are behaving in ways they shouldn’t. Dungeons are breaking patterns that have held for generations. Familiar dangers are becoming unpredictable, and encounters that should be routine are leaving behind questions no one knows how to answer.
For Sifira and Odran, facing the unknown together is nothing new. They’ve spent years fighting beside each other, sharing beds, trading insults, keeping secrets, and knowing one another well enough to recognize the things neither is willing to say aloud.
Now even that familiarity may not be enough.
As their party ventures deeper into a mystery that should be impossible, each discovery chips away at what they thought they understood about Astra—and suggests that whatever is happening is far bigger than a few unusual monsters.
Magic. Dungeons. Dangerous quests. Questionable decisions. Complicated relationships. Six people trying very hard not to die.
And a world that has suddenly stopped following its own rules.
The monsters were never supposed to change.
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View story content warnings
These warnings apply to the story as a whole.
- Violence
- blood and injury
- death
- fantasy monsters
- body horror
- sexual content
- strong language
- nightmares/trauma
- alcohol use
A grunt ripped from my throat, cutting through the air, thick with anxiety. My arms burned with strain and exhaustion. Stinging pain plagued my fingers as I desperately clung to the rocky cliff ledge. My head felt numb. Wisps of panicked thoughts raced through my brain like electrical pulses, fading before I could logic my way through any of them. I couldn't see a way out of this.
Maybe if I had gone to the gym, I would be strong enough.
But now was not the time for regrets. Now was the time for action.
What action was possible, though?
Cold sliced through my body as a deluge of adrenaline pumped through my veins. My chest tightened impossibly more when my hands started to grow sweaty.
No! I have to save him.
I couldn't let this be his end. He has so much life left to live.
Somehow, even as my chest constricted, my heart raced ever faster, as if attempting to rip through my rib cage to save itself from my inevitable demise. Tingles manifested in my fingertips, tongue, and chest, and began to radiate outwards. This was it. I had failed. I failed him, my precious little brother. I failed my parents, taking both of their sons from them at the same time. I failed myself. I wasn't strong enough to save the person I loved most in this world.
Hope died as realization set in and acceptance took over. I swallowed the lump in my throat, blinked away the tears that were obscuring my vision, and looked down at my brother's lifeless body dangling from my slipping grip. I could still see the panic in his little eyes as I caught his arm. I remembered the strain in his hand, his arm, his shoulder as he clung desperately to me—right up until he looked below us and passed out.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't enough. I wish with everything I have that I could save you," I whispered. I gulped in a deep breath. The air stung my lungs as if it knew I was about to die and felt betrayed by the knowledge. My fingers on the ledge slipped further, causing my brother's body to jerk, and his wrist slipped just a bit more from my grip. His big blue eyes popped open in panic as he woke and looked up at me.
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