Living Armor Novels & Stories

She gave me a tired look. “ That is why we are craving for a home. I use to think we're existing because we are here to live and die later. But I realized, living while dying is possible. No one seems to understand us the way we understand ourselves. It's crazy to think we can give comforts to others we wish we could give to ourselves.”

--- ### The Iron Testimony I turned to the Arbiters, my voice dropping to a low, dangerous register. "You want to talk about efficiency? You want to talk about the 'Grand Design'? You’re nothing but cowards in fancy suits! You sit up here in your rings and judge us because we’re 'messy'? We’re messy because we’re **Alive**! You’re clean because you’re **Dead**!"

Was he savoring the spectacle of my turmoil, a connoisseur of chaos basking in the art of my survival? Life's elixir coursed through my veins, a pulsating river of vitality, binding my very flesh to the shield's protective embrace. The shield, a testament to the skill of ancient artisans, stood resolute, akin to a guardian who had patiently awaited eons to fulfill its duty.

But for Livia and Elias, these were mere illusions—glittering distractions with high price tags, utterly unrelated to their true objective. Livia sat near the back, her figure cloaked in shadows beneath a hood. Her eyes, however, never strayed from the auction stage. Her garments had been specially tailored—unremarkable to the eye, but suited for swift movement. A short dagger and pistol were concealed at her waist. These were habits from her previous life as Alia—skills honed over countless infiltrations into noble estates, ancient ruins, and clandestine markets in another world. She knew the rhythm of these events intimately—and she knew, danger always lurked in the corners that seemed saf

A towering being carved from ancient armor, scarred by time, pulsing with molten gold beneath the plates like veins of light. Each step as it descended cracked the mountain stone. Each breath created heat waves that shimmered across the forest. Its eyes— two suns in a skull of obsidian— locked on Lena. Elias froze mid-movement. “…that thing… that thing is alive?” Z-03 bowed its massive head. “It is life that predates us.” Z-04’s lights flickered violently. “We are fragments. It is the whole.” Alexander pushed against Z-03’s restraining arm.

Its spires jutted from the cliffs like knives, and beneath them, the terrain bent unnaturally—shadows stretched wrong, stars blinked too slow. The guards were no longer living things. I saw one up close, crouched behind a shattered fountain. It wore armor, but its flesh was waxen, stitched. Not risen dead. Constructed. They were definitely not gods. They were creatures that Veyrith tailored just to be his defense. "Do you know how to kill them?" Lira whispered. "Yes," I said. "I believe so." We waited for the first to pass. I pulled my blade free—silver-edged. One clean stroke across the neck, and it dropped like a puppet cut from its strings.

There was a moving truck unloading furniture and decorations and taking them into my house. Someone, please kill me.

Stripped of their dignity and souls, they lived only to survive. Back then, one day, after defeating an opponent and drenched in blood, a young man suddenly appeared before Mia.

It was a fragment of Jarek’s shoulder armor. It wasn't just torn. It was scorched, glowing with a soft, eerie, bioluminescent nectar—the hallmark chemical signature of Vanguard’s specialized Rebirth Chambers. Jarek hadn't escaped. He had been intercepted, and my daughter was gone.