Leviathan's Mask: Ashen Dreams, #3

By Q. Dagbjort Huangington

For two years, the god patiently gathered much of his followers only to mercilessly eliminate them last year for a gruesome display of power. At Camp, demigods face a dilemma: quarantine due to the mortal threat of SARS-CoV-2 or actively engage in a defensive battle against the god. The medical division is on high alert, while the infantry hunts the lord, their numbers drastically reduced compared to December 1944. To stay means witnessing the lord's ruthless rule; to fight risks leaving the ones who could've fought another war at a dreary cost.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Q. Dagbjort Huangington
• Release date: Nov 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223004035

Q. Dagbjort Huangington

I don't know what I am, nor do I know myself for myself to know thyself according to oneself.

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Qihua Huang

Leviathan’s Mask

Copyright © 2023 by Qihua Huang

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

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Contents

I. ANTEBELLUM

Star-rust

Note

II. WINTER TO SPRING

Nightlight

Medicaid

B-Day

Gold Utah

III. SPRING TO FALL

Bandit

Bleeper

Sundown

Way-tides

Grimm

Plethora

Ypres

Wither

War-Dove

Plana

IV. WINTER

Black-glass

Mountaintop

About the Author

Also by Qihua Huang

I

Antebellum

What is even black and white when the last resort is war?

Star-rust

2020, the year of COVID19.

The lord’s prediction was on some extent, correct. The disease was essentially a spiked-up ball of nonliving entity that needs something else to duplicate itself as well as not being able to keep themselves in a fully stable status. Though it is insofar sporadic from the years before 2019 as SARS-CoV-1, only to be reported this year in 2020 as SARS-CoV-2.

Now at Camp, everything’s hunkering down to classes shrinking their time to fit in a 5.5-hour school day schedule, with the rest of the day no longer was there children of the second or even the sixth generations playing in the streets: they all were only allotted an additional 30 minutes before technically a curfew starts. The protective disguise surrounding all of Camp was at its highest adaptive level of protection, and thus was just a safe-zone as on January 1st, the city gates were locked.

ALL PEOPLE SHALL NOT GO AWRY. the loudspeakers would speak, DEATH IS TO ALL MISDEMEANORS. WAR-ZONE SECURITY IS LIVE.

At least we have training to do. Yue said as we walked to our own apartment rooms, There’s still the 30 minutes.

Yeah. I said, There’s the lord we have to search for.

Happy birthday, Garcia. Elizabeth tried to cheer, but with the policy for War-zone, no one can celebrate.

Thank you. Garcia turned and cracked her knuckles, Hope yours do well.

Between March 13, 2019, and January 4th, 2020, much has changed between our friends but we still held together. Yue now had full-range of every water dragon child ability, while I, on the other hand, was a bit more of a fighter even in contrast to my… um, sister on my godfather’s side who now had full range of a dragon-born’s abilities as well as an archer’s. Garcia was much, much stronger nowadays, though what was the secondary magician was Nicole, who had picked up efficient skills for using a meteor to fight enemies. Triss still had the occasional spurt of defending us, while Mallory was so-so okay with being alone though having learned magic, she could be at times seen floating off the ground like a spirit.

Then came the next day, January 5th, and this may be the day that I could tell you the story.

Good Morning Quanfei. Yue said to me as soon as I awoke, Don’t stress yourself.

I know that. I said.

Yueliming smiled as I walked to the sink, splashing my face with water before doing the normal business of the mornings: brushing my teeth, washing my face, and that such. With school staring at 5:00AM, we had no time to lose, though at least each period was limited up to 55 minutes, meaning that only up to 5 classes were able to fit in that time frame.

So, on January 1st, the War-zone policy… and then it’s still is? I asked Yue.

Yes, Yue answered, Do you mind coming to the basement 12 after school today?

Yes, if it’s for hunting him down. I replied as I picked up my pen, We could stay within Camp, but I doubt he’ll get the message.

Morning. Garcia said as we walked out the door, How as your sleep?

Great. I and Yue said, We both had no nightmares.

School? We had school in sector 8, in the middle school which name was Sc-8-2. Not a very creative one, but considering that Camp experienced wars, so many that they seem to parallel with all of them all there way from the post-Xia dynasty to the end the Qing, we’d stick to the simplest naming schemes.

Morning class. our teacher—the Baize Lion greeted us.

Morning. I and my classmates replied.

How was your day so far?

Various answers, but just as soon as the teacher quieted us all down, a Messenger-designated robot came running in on all six wheels like a mini Curiosity rover.

Message to Garcia, Elizabeth Nicole, Rachel, Yue, and Quan. it announced just as the teacher telepathically lifted the expo marker, Basement 12 needs you guys to help.

Then it quickly reversed and left the same way it came.

The entire class sort of did cheer at the announcement, though the Baize lion immediately took out her stick and the whole class quickly fell silent.

Loose lips sink ships. our teacher hissed as she nodded for my friends’ dismissal, Quan, Garcia, Yue, and all others mentioned in the notice, you may all leave.

***

At Basement 12, we were greeted with Triss, Zolàna, and Rachel at their stations, readied and with Hui confirmed KIA’ed by Garcia, there were only eight of us there. To have an layout, just picture a one-story room—covering all sides as far as the eye could see, though fortified much more than just plastered walls: the walls there were three yards thick of concrete, steel, and Bing steel, though the technology within was updated to have the eight zones be operate-able by eight individuals instead of hundreds as it was used to be.

From the time before this day and to the last recording which had to be snipped due to contamination breach, they were the usual ones down there who would man the stations, improving the battle capabilities if need be and to monitor the surroundings as assistants to all eight watchtowers.

Even the queen was stressed to the point where she would at times call me by what relation I had with her, which was obviously a stepson, while she would also call on Garcia as Stepdaughter number 2 and Yue as stepdaughter number 1. Due to that, I would add stepmother in the long list of personal references to Zolàna herself.

It wasn’t high-tech, but with computer monitors, security cameras, and eight containers containing our exosuits that were wired up for system updates,it was like an situation room or control center that managed all War-zone and Battleground policies—the latter basically being groups of laws that are to be enacted in case something like actual war was within sight of the borders or during the armed forces’ deployment.

I, Triss, and Zolàna have developed this. Rachel announced as she spun on her swivel chair, "This is a web-scraper that at least tries to web-scrape everything from news to videos to correlate anomalies, though will not