Maidens of the Fall, Arc 4, Autolysis, Chapter 1
Chapter slinks down benighted corridors, dodging grasping undead claws and avoiding dripping pestilent maws, heading for secrets held deep in the sprawling underground basement.
https://hungryshedgerow.net/maidens-of-the-fall-autolysis-4-1/
Password is: putrefaction
Epub version of the chapter is also attached, as always!
Arc 4, arc 4! We're here, dear readers, where the meaty middle of the story finally begins; though to briefly zoom out, this is going to be a looooong middle, and it's likely to be a very long time before I consider such things again. I don't really know if Maidens will be as long as Katalepsis was, but it's ... likely??? My plans indicate so, anyway!
As for this arc, I'm predicting/planning/outlining for about 7 chapters, but that's quite a conservative estimate, now that we're into the main body of the thing, so to speak. Don't be surprised if this one is longer, perhaps 8-9 chapters. That's a lot though, so I'm going to try to keep it shorter and snappier whenever I can.
As always, though, the final decision is down to Octavia (with a little input from the growing number of magical girls and others in her expanded orbit), and last we saw of her, Octavia isn't doing so hot.
Onward we go, dear readers! I hope you enjoy more Maidens, just as much as I am enjoying writing it. Thank you all, so very much.
Comments (8)
And then Octavia fully transformed just so she could get Grimgrave to stop teasing her.
That would be a very powerful incentive!
Oh gods, Octavia is rlly going thru it. At least she's not alone right now
She is deep down in a dark, dark place, indeed. But Grimgrave won't let her go through it alone, yes! She's lucky for that, if not much else right now.
Getting caught in an awkward situation here... I don't think poor Octavia is going to be able to say she isn't into girls anymore.
It would take a truly superhuman feat of cognitive dissonance for her to continue to deny it to herself at this point.
Well, that was certainly a chapter. O.o I've definitely been where willow is rn though, breaking up after a toxic relationship is ROUGH. Also grimmy is absolutely never gonna stop teasing Octavia about how she found her, and what was on her laptop screen when she did^^ It still stings a little every time I finish a chapter and have to wait another week, this together with Are You Even Human is absolutely my favourite webnovel rn!
I really wanted to capture the sense of a breakup after a toxic relationship, exactly! Though filtered through the supernatural elements of the story, and the particular unique shape of what was done to Octavia and where it's left her. I'm glad that resonated, glad it felt somewhat real. As for what Grimgrave is about to see ... eheh, yeah, oh dear. One glance at the laptop screen will give Grimgrave a pretty good idea of Occy's tastes. Aww, and thank you so much for the compliment! I only wish I could write even faster! I'll keep doing my best!