Tasty Tales of Transformation

 Artwork - Yuzuyu010     This story was in collaboration with Cretax “So, I assume you are here for the interview for bodyguard of Ms. Yao?” A well dressed man in a suit addressed the rather shabbily dressed individual who had entered the stale white board room. The suited man looked exhausted, burned out from a day of conducting far too many interviews. His latest applicant simply nodded to his question, yet he was not convinced. “Are you sure you have any experience in the field? Ms. Yao is quite the handful and is a valuable asset to the company as one of the most popular performers in the city. We can't just hire anyone you see.” The one benign interviewed, Chet, began to rattle his own nerves trying to think of something to say. The only reason he had taken a chance on this job was for a chance to meet Astra Yao, the famous musician of New Eridu City. For a city so constantly at threat from apocalyptic outside forces as well as ones from within, stars like her who in...

  Artwork - Ema (Emaura) This story is a sequel to A Dominating Cosplay Caspian Inc. the ever present symbol of oppression that loomed over the lives of all in Silicon Shores. In the high tech future, all who did not bend to the whims of the tech barons were left to fester within the dredges of this mega city. Even still, working for such corrupt forces hardly guaranteed one a better life. For most, it was either living in squalor or eking by. Rachael, was one of those eking by, living paycheck to paycheck, hating that she worked for the very corporation which oppressed her. But what else was she to do? It wasn’t like she had the power to change anything, not even a profession she could feel proud of. The depressed woman certainly dreamed of greener pastures, thinking she could find solace perhaps in creative or performative fields of work. Seeing the many eye-catching neon signs and billboards advertising performers made her long for such a liberating lifestyle. She wasn’t naive t...

  High upon the towering hills and peaks of a land called Liyue, sat an abundance of shrines and temples seemingly frozen in time. So far removed from the outside world and being difficult to traverse kept untouched by the common tourists and rabble that would have otherwise flocked to see their serene beauty. They were a perfect picture of a bygone era, kept alive by the few who still tended to them. Every aspect of these locations was kept as pristine as they could manage, replacing artifacts a regular occurrence every few decades. One such artifact, a couple of binding ropes meant for dulling the cursed, violent energy said to be sealed within a blessed stone, was due for replacement, a new one having been made and shipped to the shrine. “Is this the package young one?” the elder shrine attendant asked. He approached a younger groundskeeper shuffling through a box. “I-I… don’t understand! This was supposed to have been mailed from one of the head temples. How did it get mixed up...