
by Jeff Harris
Characters based on RPG rule set: TAG Role Playing Game Rule Set Ezima fled into the Salty Desert believing she had been rescued from a life already decided for her. She was wrong. Barely escaping the traders who meant to sell her, she found refuge in a buried cave—an abandoned engineer’s domain filled with broken systems, unfinished designs, and fragments of lost knowledge. Nothing worked. If she wanted to survive, she would have to rebuild it all. Piece by piece. What began as survival became something more. The engineer’s craft was not limited to tools and machines—it could shape living things. Under her hands, animals became obedient, altered, useful. Controlled. But control was only the beginning. Deeper in the cave, the work turned darker. Designs that did not preserve life—but repurposed it. When survival demanded more than beasts could provide, Ezima crossed the threshold into necromancy. The dead would serve where the living could not. Each step forward made her stronger. Smarter. Less human in the ways that mattered. Survival became stability.Stability became power. And when she is strong enough— She is going back for the ones who tried to sell her.
| # | Title | Words |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | CHAPTER 1 - Desperate | 0 |
| 1 | CHAPTER 2 - Awakening | 0 |
| 2 | CHAPTER 3 - Secure and Recover | 0 |
| 3 | CHAPTER 4 - Darkness | 0 |
| 4 | CHAPTER 5 - Descent | 0 |
| 5 |
| CHAPTER 6 - Control |
| 0 |
| 6 | CHAPTER 7 - Oil | 0 |
| 7 | CHAPTER 8 - Understanding | 0 |
| 8 | CHAPTER 9 - Acquisition | 0 |
| 9 | CHAPTER 10 - Tools | 0 |
| 10 | CHAPTER 11 - Failure of Form | 0 |
| 11 | CHAPTER 12 - Reset | 0 |
| 12 | CHAPTER 13 - Precision | 0 |
| 13 | CHAPTER 14 - Assembly | 0 |
| 14 | CHAPTER 15 - Optimization | 0 |
| 15 | CHAPTER 16 - Expansion | 0 |
| 16 | CHAPTER 17 - Refinement | 0 |
| 17 | CHAPTER 18 - Canyon Encounter | 0 |
| 18 | CHAPTER 19 - Recovery and Discovery | 0 |
| 19 | CHAPTER 20 - Ascent | 0 |
| 20 | CHAPTER 21 - Inventory | 0 |
| 21 | CHAPTER 22 - Scrolls | 0 |
| 22 | CHAPTER 23 - Systems | 0 |
| 23 | CHAPTER 24 - Precision | 0 |
| 24 | CHAPTER 25 - Clarity | 0 |
| 25 | Chapter 26 - Control | 0 |
| 26 | CHAPTER 27 - Regulation | 0 |
| 27 | CHAPTER 28 - Structure | 0 |
| 28 | CHAPTER 29 - Application | 0 |
| 29 | CHAPTER 30 - Capture | 0 |
| 30 | CHAPTER 31 - Control | 0 |
| 31 | CHAPTER 32 - Integration | 0 |
| 32 | CHAPTER 33 - Stabilizatiion | 0 |
| 33 | CHAPTER 34 - Reset | 0 |
| 34 | CHAPTER 35 - The Hunt Begins | 0 |
| 35 | CHAPTER 36 - The Trap | 0 |
| 36 | CHAPTER 37 - The Hold | 0 |
| 37 | CHAPTER 38 - The Break | 0 |
| 38 | CHAPTER 39 - The Balance | 0 |
| 39 | CHAPTER 40 - Burial | 0 |
| 40 | CHAPTER 41 - Darker Path | 0 |
| 41 | CHAPTER 42 - First Working | 0 |
| 42 | CHAPTER 43 - Dead Rising | 0 |
| 43 | CHAPTER 44 - Final Door | 0 |
| 44 | CHAPTER 45 - Disturbing Extraction | 0 |
| 45 | CHAPTER 46 - Lapidary | 0 |
| 46 | CHAPTER 47 - Cave Dwellers | 0 |
| 47 | CHAPTER 48 - Refinement | 0 |
| 48 | CHAPTER 49 - Cave Limits | 0 |
| 49 | CHAPTER 50 - Preparation for Descent | 0 |
| 50 | CHAPTER 51 - Into the Cavern | 0 |
| 51 | CHAPTER 52 - Lines on Paper | 0 |
| 52 | CHAPTER 53 - Eastward | 0 |
| 53 | CHAPTER 54 - Slippiing Lines | 0 |
| 54 | CHAPTER 55 - The Map's Promise | 0 |
| 55 | CHAPTER 56 - Distance Between Water | 0 |