The multiverse has been rendered apart by a fatal flaw, causing universes and timelines to warp, twist, and collide. Reality has ceased to have any meaning, and most spend their lives in a constant struggle against the chaos that has enveloped the multiverse; living in the hollowed out shells of once great empires with technology and systems beyond comprehension.
Yet our protagonist, Dalia, who, in a normal universe, would be considered an 19 year old girl, has perhaps found answers. Deep within a facility beyond spacetime, guarded by an angel, are the answers she seeks. Or perhaps she already knows the answers.
Since even I'm not sure where this is going to go, I'm not sure what content warnings to put, but here I go:
Currently, there's blood, gore, death, and minor curse words. Very likely there will be depictions of insanity, suicide, murder, guns, worse curse words, and horrors beyond all human comprehension. Aside from that, I don't expect much else.
This is a first draft of...whatever this is. When I finish it, I'll spiffy it up so that it seems like I knew what I was doing all along, then repost it in all its chaotic glory.
I appreciate any and all feedback, though in a website flooded by romance, I doubt something this experimental will get much attention. But if you did find this thing, thank you for joining me.
-Love,
Naptime™
Antique store owner Liz brings home a Victorian taxidermy hound from auction, unwittingly unleashing dark forces on her wife and son.
*****
Nat Loman has finally married the love of her life, Liz, and is getting used to her role as stepmother to Liz's 5-year-old son, Liam. The Loman family runs a bustling antique business so they attend a sale where a striking, black taxidermied hound is up for auction. Liz picks it up for the business, but it ends up being stored in their home, where Nat notices strange things occurring. She quickly discovers the past residents had died violently. Then she hears from a friend about the myth of "the devil's dog", a hound that perches in the shadows, tearing families apart from the inside. Soon, people around the Lomans are dying, and Liz is changing, darkening. It's up to Nat to save the woman she loves from the darkness closing in, and to save Liam from danger no matter what she has to sacrifice.
[[Winner of the 2018 Wattys "Hidden Gems" category]]
[[word count: 60,000-70,000 words]]