There lingers, out there, those who watch us. Those who tally our acts. Those who balance. Always hovering on the outskirts of Taryn McAlister's dreams, a recurring motherly figure watches on - a corporeal guardian angel, if only a figment of her imagination. But when her illustrious imagination warps into a twisted reality, all her preconceptions of the world are fed to a shredder as she learns that her straightforward, small-town life may not have been the beginning of her story. With the aid of her mysterious Woman in White, Taryn must distinguish the truth of the realities presented to her and why forces much greater than herself feel so threatened by a provincial nobody. ~*~*~*~*~ This story has been a work in progress for a number of years, starting out as a series of rough events that may have been more suitable to a lengthy D&D homebrew in the beginning. Being my first attempt at a novel-length story, I have continuously been rewriting sections, and now, nearly three years from the completion of the first draft, it finally feels cohesive as a story, if not still a little rough. So that is what this is for: a way for me to do one last thorough edit, running from start to finish, with the aim to finally mark this as "complete" in my mind. Both to give myself a sense of accountability and pace myself at the same time, my goal will be to post a chapter once a week.

What if you come across a box said to contain an immense and horrifying power? Would you open it? And how would you wield that power? Ten years after the Third Tech Bubble, the Western world remains in shambles. For an ex-convict like Alberto, life after prison is an uphill battle. All that changes when a mysterious woman lures him into her hacker group. Wanting fame and romance, he readily throws himself back to the underworld. But nothing is what it seems, for his outlaw brothers have acquired the box and hope to summon its power. Torn between his ideals, Alberto must either stay loyal to the group or choose to defend the fallen and hated world. The storm is coming, and only those with unwavering beliefs will remain standing. "I enjoyed the characters and the uniqueness of the story. It was well written and easy to follow, I'd recommend this to anyone who is looking for a short read that is a bit deeper than most short stories." -1Romantic_Fanatic Awards: 1st place winner of the Aeryn Awards 2021, Science Fiction category. 1st place winner of the Royal Throne Awards 2021, Best Protagonist category. 1st place winner of the Big Dipper Awards 2021, Science Fiction category. 2nd place winner of the Rose Gold Awards 2021, Dystopian category. 2nd place winner of the Opulence Writer's Awards 2021, Short Story category. Cover created on Canva. Cover Artwork: "The Last Judgment" by John Martin, 1853.