I have been reading on my smartphone for a few hours now.
I had the time to check the news and the latest releases of a few of my favorite pieces of fiction. Not all are released daily, and not all are released in a chapter-per-chapter format, or even on the same platform, but nowadays, most of what you read can be bought in electronic format.
I am a bookworm, but I do not own more than a few books. But there is a reason for this. While I do entertain unrealistic thoughts, like dreams or escapism, things that are common to about everyone, I also am not one to be overly attached to the paperback format. If I am able to read as well, if not better, on a phone than with a physical book, why waste both space and energy unnecessarily?
Anyway, getting back to the matter at hand, I hear footsteps coming from the stairca
After writing this chapter, I was a bit troubled about what direction to take. It took me a while to settle on one that fit best this volume. Also, for those who are worried about not feeling the stakes, don't worry, you will feel them soon. What happened so far was the introduction to the choice system, and the brother-sister dynamic, as well as the stakes. Next, it's about time to turn the abstract stakes into gripping ones that feel real.
In Sydney, Australia, in one line of trams.A young mother sat down, with her baby in her arms.At the same time, not far away from where she was, a particularly loud group of teens arrived.A few minutes later, her kid cried. She first attributed it to the noise, and tried to calm him down. But a few seconds later, she understood he was simply hungry, and started feeding him.It was a calm scene.As she started feeding her baby, lightly holding his head, she felt a slight pain from his underdeveloped teeth. She tried to have him clench his mouth less, and adjusted her position.A few minutes later, her child stopped sucking, so she assumed it to be finished, but before she even r
Today was just an ordinary day for them. They were a family of four going on vacation. Two parents, two brothers. They wanted to avoid traffic, so they left early in the morning. The father was driving, and the mother was sleeping. Meanwhile, for the two brothers behind, one was playing with a portable console, the other was reading. They had been on their way for a while, and the small amount of sleep they took weighed on the father a lot. They were on the highway, and the slow, calming rhythm had made quick work of putting the mother to sleep. Yawning, the father hesitated on turning on the radio for a while, then decided othe
It's Sunday evening, and my brother sent me messages on a chatting app we both use. Not any messages, though. There are various links. It includes videos about random subjects and various articles. The important content there is among the various articles. We do send each other content we find interesting from time to time, but the rest of this batch only serves to hide one particular article issued from a local newspaper. I do click on a few other links for pretense's sake before getting to the article that interests me. It directly concerns us: "Chaos in the southern hemisphere: At around 10 am this morning, several accounts o
Left: I bet on 10.Right: Bet on 20.Welcomed by new but already familiar voices, I open my eyes.I take my phone and look at the time.It seems like I turned off my alarm in my sleep, and I'm 5 minutes late on schedule. Nothing too important, it seems like I was lucky.-So, what's your choice today?As I say that, I dress up.I have to get down, eat, and leave soon after. It is Monday, and I have school.Left: Today's simple. Either your school burns right about now...Right: Either the city hall burns right about now.
Today was boring as usual. It's probably the same for my sister. My sister is two grades below me, and I rarely ever see her, but I know for sure what kind of person she is. We are a stoic pair of siblings. We are more loners, and enjoy having our own personal space. We have friends, but never at the cost of not being true to our personalities. At least that's what I believed. Today, I was with two friends of mine. My only two friends, actually. Except I saw a sight I would never have believed to be true. My sister, with a huge smile, being the leader of a group of 6 girls. Who knew she could lie with such ease. If I didn'
Left: There are two severe events we wish to prevent, but there is only one we can stop. So please choose. Right: Today, a gamma-ray burst will hit Earth, destroying most of its ozone layer. Left: And several zombies will appear, causing the start of a zombie apocalypse. Why are there two world-ending events today? That's the same day, you know? They didn't mention it, but I'm pretty sure that one of these was caused by my brother's choice. If I had to guess, I'd say the zombie apocalypse, as it's the one we have the most chances of surviving should I fail to stop it. And it seems like I'll have to fail to stop it. I don't think I can ignore the gamma-ray burst. If most of our ozone layer is destroyed, even if we manage
If I need to alert the world, there is no better way than to have the media talk about it. For that to happen, I need to be as straightforward as possible. Enough to create doubt. So long as it CAN be true, it will be investigated. Especially if investigations are encouraged. The best way to do that is money. It just happens that a few years back, I took interest in a new technology: blockchain. Back then, it was just starting, and I saw it mentioned in a few forum posts. I did like the idea a bit, so I hosted a node, and also mined quite a bit. I did not think it would go as far as it did nowadays, so the amount I mined, while high, is nowhere near what I could've mined had I taken it seriously. My early mover advantage, though, allowed me to have thousands of the c
For this 100th chapter, I want to thank everyone who has read so far, and this story is meant to thank you all. This Volume 10 might stretch pretty far, so I'm not in need of keywords right now, but do know that I'm still out of keywords... The whole concept of this novel is that it's supposed to be written using the readers' keywords! Join the discord! discord.gg/j6pKFkq26p I had several ideas for what to write for this One Shot, and I thought about using various stories I wrote with the intent to use for this novel. In the end, I think that I should go for something experimental, in line with the spirit I started this novel with. With that out of the way, have a nice read. [...] Latest Chapter