Percy Vox Machina Novels & Stories

It wasn't a human, but a Sovereign-Centurion—a ten-foot-tall mechanical knight whose chest cavity had been hollowed out to house a Living Rose grown from Earth-soil. ​The Centurion’s Plea ​"I am Unit 774," the machine said, its voice a deep, resonant cello. "I was built to harvest your world. But I saw a Davis child playing a flute in the ruins of New Babylon, and my 'Logic-Gate' failed. I spent ten thousand cycles trying to calculate the 'Math of the Melody' and found only... Longing."

A ghost in the machine. "If you are seeing this, then I am gone," her voice echoed, gentle but firm. "And the war has truly begun. The Astropheles is yours now. Its core is a story-engine. It no longer needs my consciousness to guide it. It needs a new heart. A new narrative to fuel its light."

It had taken us six chapters to figure out how to scratch its paint. My father froze, staring up at the machine he had helped design. "It's online... Oh god, it's online." The Titan’s mono-eye flashed red. Its cannon spun up with a terrifying whine. "Target Acquired," the synthesized voice boomed. "Threat Level: Extremis." Dax didn't slow down. He didn't take cover. He kept walking toward the twelve-foot death machine like he was approaching a vending machine that had eaten his dollar. "Mia," Dax said calmly. "Left knee. Vent 4."

The sex, the dirt, the grease, the orders, it’s all just the medium. She ended it with “My machine.” Not “my man.” My machine. Because a man could leave. A machine, if you’ve built it right, if you’ve broken it in perfectly, if you understand every torque spec and stress point… it runs for you. It purrs for you. It exists for you. And part of me, the part I don’t show anyone, thinks… what would it be like to be Violet? To have that kind of creative, destructive, absolute power?

she stammers. "Knife and Dagger, All types of guns, Rifles, I've used a sword once, ooooh a crossbow, basically anything though. I don't discriminate." "O...O...Okay, that's all I need to know. Welcome to RBMS, Miss Collins." "Oh please, call me Ava, oh and might I recommend a job change; You're not cut out for this," I state before I'm dragged by the hancuffs on my wrists and taken out of the room by the guards.

he sneered and activated the machine. The air cackled with energy. Camila’s arched her back, a scream ripping from hr throat. Vivid blue light pulsed from her body, drawn into the machine like a moth to flame. Her screams grew weaker and turned into whimpers…finally ragged gasps for breath.

My voice sounded different—heavy, echoing with a power that made the air vibrate. "Or what?" Malrec laughed, his thumb pressing down. "You’ll read me a book? You’re nothing but a vial of medicine with legs." I closed my eyes. I didn't reach for my gun. I reached for the air. I reached for the microscopic machines floating in Malrec’s own lungs—the same "virus" he’d used to kill a generation. Freeze.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 The world was upside down. Smoke curled from the van’s engine, smelling of burnt rubber and ozone. Maya’s ears were ringing, a high-pitched whine that competed with the rhythmic pulse of the progress bar flickering at the edge of her vision.

"You think... Arthur is the danger? You think I am the one... He is afraid of?" Vesper pointed toward the back of the ship. A third door opened slowly. A tall thin figure walked out. It was not a man. It was not an alien. It was a machine made of bone and gold wires. It held a clipboard made of glass. "Patient 81 " the machine said. Its voice was a copy of June’s own voice. "It is time for your exam." The machine raised a hand. The violet light from Vesper and the purple light from June were suddenly sucked toward the machine.

“That’s what the warriors saw?” “It is….” As the anger grew, his eyebrow raised up. “There weren’t reports of those machines.” Piercy showed me a particular one that made my skin crawl. “This is used to keep the woman open for multiple men. Tell me that didn’t happen to you?”