Art by Aria, http://atelier-aria.tumblr.com/

Silas Nash, disgraced FBI agent, medicated schizophrenic, lifelong outsider. When a high school football hero dies unexpectedly, he finds himself sent to the small town of Zion, a city that hasn’t seen a murder in the last hundred years. Before he’s been there a day, he’s fought the walking dead and seen impossible things. For the first time in his life, Nash is forced to consider that he’s not insane. Zion is a special town, full of myths and legends. They live in peace to keep the world from falling apart. If Nash can’t figure out who’s responsible for the murder, and make things right, things are going to get much worse, because the shadow of War has fallen over the town of Zion.

Silas isn’t a hero. He’s just a normal man trapped in a story about gods and myths, trying to stop the chaos from spreading. He’ll be forced to overcome the hatred the townsfolk have for him, and the hatred he has for himself, just to keep from being crushed between the grudges of the town’s founders. For the first time in his life he’ll have to trust people, just to track down a Serpent in Zion.

Death goddesses trying to protect their children. Halfbreed kids trying to prove they’re worth listening to. Good people trying to keep their city together. Deli store cannibals. Fiery police chiefs. Steel-toothed women. And snakes. A whole hell of a lot of snakes.

For those who enjoy: Modern Fantasy, Thrillers, The Dresden Files, Twin Peaks, Horror, and Myth. This story includes depictions of mental illness, abuse as a child, and many other terrible things, and a fair number of wonderful things. None of the things in this story are Fact, and Truth is something for you to decide for yourself. All I can hope to be is Interesting.

Arc 1: Air
Chapter 1: Windfall
Chapter 2: A Change in the Air
Chapter 3: Dead Air
Chapter 4: You Don’t Need a Weatherman
Chapter 5: Blowback
Chapter 6: Miasma

Arc 2: Earth
Chapter 7: Bedrock
Chapter 8: Ear to the Ground
Chapter 9: Subduction
Chapter 10: Sheer Stress
Chapter 11: Mohorovicic Discontinuity
Chapter 12: Seismic Event

Arc 3: Water
Chapter 13: Lethe
Chapter 14: Acheron
Chapter 15: Phlegethon
Chapter 16: Styx
Chapter 17: Cocytus
Chapter 18: Abyss

Arc 4: Fire
Chapter 19: Gnosticism
Chapter 20: Escapism
Chapter 21: Optimism
Chapter 22: Idealism
Chapter 23: Romanticism
Chapter 24: Cynicism

Arc 5: War
Chapter 25: Overlord
Chapter 26: Pearl Harbor
Chapter 27: Barbarossa
Chapter 28: Fall Weiss
Chapter 29: The Manhattan Project
Chapter 30: Exodus

 

Afterthoughts and Q&A