New Release Excerpt
Oblivion's Triumph by Dylan McFadyen
As the galaxy's last embers of hope flicker in the face of impending doom, Shaara stands at the precipice of an impossible decision: to forge an alliance with the enigmatic Eternal and confront a cosmic threat beyond imagination, or to let her few remaining friends slip through her fingers like stardust, and watch as all existence crumbles into the clutches of the void.
Shaara is running out of friends.
The sacrifices she and Warden made two years ago bought the League time, not victory. The war against the Undying has left them exhausted, drained of everything but hope—and precious little of that. The simple fact is that the Undying are going to win. Warden knows it, Shaara knows it. The Undying sure as hell know it.
Until, out of the black, the Eternal comes to Shaara with an offer she can’t refuse, however much she’d like to. The threat he warned her about two years ago is real, and now it’s come calling. It cares nothing for their little war. All life in the galaxy, Undying or not, will end if it spreads unchecked. Shaara and the Eternal have little choice but to work together to destroy it . . . At least, for now.
But people on both sides aren’t happy with an alliance, however temporary. Some of them are willing to risk all life just for a shot at power—and revenge. If Shaara can’t find a way to defeat them, she and the few friends she has left will lose more than their lives.
They’ll lose everything.
Excerpt
Shaara tossed the Gaean against the wall. He slumped into a seated position on the ground, taking struggling breaths through his shattered jaw. Shaara squatted in front of him, pushed his chest back into the wall with her right hand. His eyes were wide with fear.
“He implanted?” Shaara asked.
Confusion mingled with the man’s fear, but he nodded as Warden answered for him. Yes. A wireframe diagram appeared over Shaara’s vision. A modified version of the standard Undying enthrallment implant.
“That was part of her deal, wasn’t it?” Shaara said.
We should begin the procedure, Warden thought.
“Was it worth it?” Shaara said. The man looked away, toward the street. Shaara took his chin, turned him back to her. He winced. “I asked you a question. Offering yourself up to be a slave again. Was it worth it?”
The man spoke through his broken jaw. “It was . . . Gaea’s will.”
Shaara, we don’t have much time.
“Funny. Gaea seems to change her mind an awful lot, for a god.”
Anger flashed across the man’s face.
“You want to call me a traitor, don’t you?” She leaned in. “Go ahead. I’m not the one who put us back in chains.”
Shaara—
“Fine,” Shaara said, startling her prisoner. She leaned back. “Where?”
Either tear duct will do.
Shaara raised her cybernetic hand and pointed her index finger at the prisoner’s right eye, almost touching the tear duct. He went cross-eyed staring at it.
“Hold still,” she said.
A thin, fibrous tendril shot out of her fingertip and burrowed into the prisoner’s tear duct. The man’s eyes went unfocused as well as crossed, and his body began to quiver as the searching tendril did its work in his brain.
“I said hold still.” Shaara gripped his chin harder with her other hand, stabilizing his head. He didn’t notice the pain this time.
He can’t hear you.
“I know that, I’m not stupid. I’m just talking.”
You’re distracting me.
“Really?” Shaara looked down the alley. “I’m distracting you? Mister immortal AI can’t handle this and a simple conversation at the same time?”
All right, fine. You’re annoying me. I was trying to be polite.
Shaara scoffed. “Great job.”
A call just went out over the local emergency net, Warden thought, subconsciously relaying her the metadata. The authorities are on their way. ETA ten minutes.
Dylan has been writing science fiction stories since he was old enough to write. He’s been writing original science fiction stories—discounting admittedly awesome fully illustrated Star Trek and Star Wars fan fiction—since he was twelve.
Other than sci-fi and storytelling, Dylan loves history. He has a master’s degree in international relations and conflict, and to this day spends as much time reading history as anything else.
When not reading or writing, Dylan enjoys spending time with his lovely wife, Victoria, particularly watching yet more stories, from brilliant favorites like Battlestar Galactica and The Expanse, to joyously terrible films like Miami Connection and Samurai Cop. He also enjoys long walks with their dog, El Doggo, who is the fabled Goodest Boy.
Finally, Dylan enjoys shooting sports, and like all good children of the 90s, video games. He’s played more hours of modded XCOM 2 than some babies have been alive.
He also has a Lord of the Rings tattoo, which in a way tells you everything else you need to know.
