Update.

 Hey readers! I will not be posting again for a bit, as I am trying to find a job and I got my wisdom teeth removed recently. I hope you all enjoy the more recent releases, and I hope you all enjoy getting to meet the newest member of the group, Vayne. 

I would also like to announce that I finally have my own Pinterest account, where I will be posting new, updated art of my characters and making personalized boards for the main characters as well as the monsters. If you're interested in checking it out, here is a screenshot of my account name. I eventually will be posting more art on my blog, but my Pinterest account is where you'll find the newest art for characters like Eos, Lonely, Pandora, Vayne, and Foe. 

That's all for now, dear readers. I'll get back to writing as soon as I am able. Thank you for your patience.       

-Z.D. 

Vayne Of Newslater, Pt. 1, Chapter 15

 Eos chased after the fox from a distance, quietly passing by openings in the grey walls around her. The openings led into large cubicles where giants sat, typing at keyboards or typewriters. Stacks of paper piled around the giants. 

"Why is there a fox here, and where is it going?" She thought as the fox darted into one of the ginormous cubicles. The three skidded to a stop in front of the gap, as they had been expecting to see a black fox. They were surprised to see a boy standing near the base of a tall swivel chair. He was stretching his arms and tilting his head to pop his neck. He wore black combat boots and cuffed grey jeans. A black leather jacket was unzipped, showing the bandages that covered his chest. A dark kitsune mask with red markings rested on his orange hair, which had random white highlights. The package the fox had been carrying was set on the floor in front of him. 

As the boy bent down to grab the brown paper-wrapped rectangle, he seemed to sense their presence and looked up. Eos felt her face get warm; his expression had startled her. he had two sets of smaller eyes under his normal pair, which were a normal size. The boy's irises were an off white, or the first two were. The smaller sets had a yellow tinge to the irises. Dark half-circles sat under his larger set of eyes. he had a beauty mark next to his mouth, and he had shorter hair with choppy curtain bangs. 

His face changed from startled to a blank expression. "You three need to leave, now,"  he said this like it was nonnegotiable. 

"No way." Eos shook her head, "We just got here. we-"

the boy held up his hand to stop her from continuing, "I know who you are, princess. I've been writing updates on you and your little friends adventure since you two left for whispwood. I know why your here and I'm telling you to leave." he stood and tossed the package up and onto the chair before turning and giving her a tired look. She took notice of the electrical scars on his collarbone and the metal cuffs on his wrists. 

Lonely stepped forward, "So you know why we're here." 

Wincing slightly, the boy turned to look him in the eye, "Of course I do, but I can't in good conscience let you continue forward, not until you know what you're getting into anyway." 

Eos pulled her rifle from her back and knelt down, aiming for the boy, "What'll happen if we don't listen to you? You'll rat us out?"

"No need for violence, sunshine," he walked over to her and crouched down in front of the barrel, "put it away." 

Surprised by his closeness and the fact that he called her "sunshine", Eos hesitantly slung the gun back over her shoulder. 

"Smart girl," he smiled slightly as he stood up he looked like he was about to say something, but then the cuffs beeped. His expression changed to fear, "Hide! Now!" 

Lonely and Pandora scurried off, ducking behind large piles of paper. Eos struggled to stand; her leg felt as if it were burning. Panicked, the boy held out his hand to help her up. As soon as she was standing, she was pushed against the front wall, close to the opening, but out of view if anyone were to look in. His cold hand covered her mouth as he put a finger to his lips, telling her to be quiet before he removed his hand and stood in the middle of the entryway to his cubicle. The ground beneath Eos's feet started to shake as someone came down the large hall. The shaking stopped as the giant stood before the cubicle. 

A voice boomed down into the room, making her head feel like it was splitting, "Surprise check-in, Vayne, is that new piece written yet?" 

The orange-haired boy, Vayne, looked up to meet the giant's eyes, "Halfway done, sir. Should be finished in the next hour or so."  

"It better be," the giant said as Eos imagined the creature's smile that went with his next words, "you remember what happens if you don't meet your daily quota." 

Vayne moved a hand to his collar before replying, "Yes, sir, I'll get it done." 

Without saying anything else, the giant walked away, making the floor vibrate as he did. Two minutes went by before Vayne spoke quietly, "You can come out now." 

The boy turned and started walking to his chair. Eos had no idea how he got up onto the seat and was curious to find out, but Pandora stopped him before he could. 

"Help us, and you can leave too," she offered, stepping in front of Vayne. 

He chuckled bitterly, "I gave up on running away a long time ago." 

Lonely stood next to him, "I think I know the feeling," Eos's friend hesitated, "I didn't think I'd ever get away from the people who made me miserable, but I did. With no second thoughts, after I failed to run so many times. It just took the right opportunity." 

"You guys know nothing about this place; you won't make it." Vayne shook his head. 

"So give us direction," Eos spoke up, walking towards the three of them. Turning to look at her, Vayne smiled slightly. 

"I have a feeling that I'm going to regret this decision," he sighed, pushing his hair back. Lonely threw an arm around the boy's shoulders, "Nah." 

Pandora glanced towards Eos, asking a question with her expression, "Can we trust him?" 

Eos didn't bother answering; she was too busy watching the sky where their spaceship was supposed to be. 

The Black Knight Pt. 2, Chapter 14

 Lonely slid into the hallway and started chasing after Pandora, hitting his right foot on the corner of the wall as he turned. 

"Ow, ow, ow, ow. Wait up!" he called, hopping on one foot slightly before taking off on a run. 

Pandora turned her head to glance at him and shouted, "I can't believe he's been chasing you this whole time!" 

"WHO???" 

"THE BLACK KNIGHT! Foe's right-hand man! Do you seriously not know?" She turned another corner.

"All this space stuff and fighting foe and all that is still pretty new to me!" groaning, he reached the next room and saw Pandora climbing into a small hole. 

"Get in the other one, and try to aim for the windows," she ordered, pointing behind Lonely. He nodded and pulled himself into the small turret. He landed on what felt like a leather seat, and there were controls in front of him that moved him from side to side. He grinned and made a mental note to geek out about this later. He felt like he was in one of his favorite movies. Lonely grabbed the headset from above him and spoke into the mic, "Red leader, standing by."

"Just start shooting!" Eos's voice yelled into his ear. 

"Aye, Captain!" He nodded forcefully before positioning his thumbs over the trigger buttons and tilting the controls to the right to aim for the large, squarish-looking spaceship. The turret jerked to the right, startling him slightly, before he brought his thumbs down on the small round buttons. As the lasers shot out from the cannon, the small room seemed to shake.

"THIS! IS! AWESOME!" Lonely screamed, a huge grin on his face. He couldn't really focus on where he was aiming, though. he just hoped he was hitting something. 

Suddenly, Pandora spoke in his ear through her own headset, "Whoa, calm down, dude. I think you got them. We only needed, like, ten shots max." 

Quickly, Lonely took his hands off the controls and raised his arms above his head, smiling sheepishly. He looked out through the large window in front of him, and the front of the enemy ship was peppered with holes, its crew members floating out into space. Puzzled, he took off the headset and scooted closer to the window.

"Are-...Are those chess pieces?" Lonely muttered to himself, "They're the size of bodybuilders!" He focused on the Knight piece that was floating towards his window; he guessed it was the black knight that had been chasing them. It was probably the same ship that had attacked them before they landed on Ancient Geese.  Lonely groaned as he thought about when they stopped there. He felt angry when he remembered how that winged boy had treated Eos. Shaking the thoughts from his head, he decided to make his way back to the brig. 

Sighing, he slid into an empty seat and clicked the seatbelt into place. "Space is weird." Lonely glanced past Eos's chair and at the incoming planet, "Is that a cube?" 

"Yep, we're about to land on Newslater." She didn't turn to look at him, just focused on what was to come. Pandora came in and strapped herself into the seat next to him. 

"Good job with the cannons, sharpshooter." Smirking, she elbowed him, "Didn't even let me get a hit in, had to take all the glory, huh?"  

Lonely smiled sheepishly, "No, I'm- I'm just not used to it. All of it, really." he fidgeted with his fingers, glancing down at his feet, "Still working on understanding it." 

"I wouldn't try to understand it, just roll with it," she put a hand on his shoulder, her galaxy eyes calmed his thoughts. His shoulders relaxed as Eos brought the starship to a hover a few feet above the ground.

Eos turned her chair to face them, "There's no clear place to land, we'll have to throw the ladder." She stood up and winced slightly, "Look, I barely know anything about this planet. I know this is where the newspaper for the whole star district is, and I know that it's super hard to get off the planet once you're spotted." 

Nodding, Lonely stood. This had to be better than Carnalavilia and whispwood. 

                                                                                      *

He was very wrong; it was much, much more boring, at least in the visual sense. 

Exasperated, Lonely threw his left hand in the air as he held onto the rope ladder with his right. "Is the whole planet cubicles?"

"Appears so." Eos sighed from below him, "With luck, we should be able to find the passkey and get out before anybody notices." 

"Judging by what you've told me about your adventures, you two have no luck." Pandora rolled her eyes as she stepped off the ladder. 

Lonely jumped down next to her, "Ha ha, Hilarious." 

She smiled at him, and he felt his ears get warm. he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his hand moving up to scratch the back of his neck out of nervous habit. 

"Hey," Eos called from above them, "Could you two maybe move so I could get down?" 

Pandora took a couple of steps back, "Sorry. My bad." 

The Starlin jumped from the ladder and rolled across the ground before standing on her feet. She looked up at the tall cubicle walls around them. She frowned and gestured to something above them. A black fox with red markings was running on top of the walls around them. It was carrying a package in its mouth and had small cuffs on its front legs; the cuffs emitted a glowing teal beam that stretched to a painted line on the floor. Eos dashed off, gesturing to them to follow her and the strange fox.