Aniel's Plight Characters
Forcas The Fallen “The Blind Witch"
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Art By Oscar I.
*Excerpt from Chapter 14 of Aniel's Plight. Forcas turned around, exposing her back to him. “Now is your chance, Malphas.” He said nothing. “What are you waiting for? Is it not your intention to kill me?” She held out her arms. “Do it! Or are you a coward, and I mistook you?” Malphas’s eyes shifted to the single dagger hanging at her hip. He conjured his sword and thrust it into her upper back. A fountain of green flames erupted from her chest, and she fell to her knees without crying out. Black flesh surrounding the wound sizzled and smoked. The flame blade flickered, extinguished, and reignited in a violent violet light. A shadow crept up Malphas’s arm. He released the hilt and backed away, clutching his wrist. “What is this?” Forcas stood and faced him. “You are about to learn the consequences of attacking your summoner.” He searched for somewhere to sever his arm. The shadow reached his neck and spread until his legs refused to work. Pulling the blade from her chest, Forcas approached him. Her cauterized skin swelled and reformed. “I have died every death.” A rib snapped into place. Tiny slivers of bone found their homes and bonded. Other ribs followed until the cage was fully reassembled. With a suctioning sound, her breast again became pale with healed white scars. He opened his mouth to curse her, but she placed her palm over it. She lifted the blade to his face, searing his cheek. “I am tempted to kill you now and claim your echo shard, amplifying my power. If I thought that would help me achieve my goals, you would already be dead. You are a tactical advantage to me, nothing more. I give the commands. You execute them. Nod acknowledgment.” He did.
Detective Velic
MMP Bounty Division
“Blood Badge"
Art By Mark
*Excerpt from Chapter 1 of Aniel's Plight. Detective Velic and his partner waited outside an abandoned apartment building, listening to the daily morning countdown for an outlawed radio station. At zero, an animated voice burst onto the airwaves. “Underground Radio is aliiiive! Eddie Deadfingers signing on. Goooood morning, Mazarathhhhh!” Velic frowned, his hazel eyes narrowing. “I hate this guy.” “Then why do we listen to him every morning?” Holliday reached to turn off the radio, and Velic swatted his hand. “Nothing but the truth is our motto here. Today’s topic is Red Zones. When are the police going to get off their asses and retake them? I see zero effort from the mayor. What are your thoughts? Taking callers.” Velic twisted the radio knob until it clicked. “It’s that voice, all nasal and arrogant, that will get him caught one day. I listen so it’s fresh in my mind. But,” he pulled a folded paper from his jacket pocket and held it between two fingers, “first things first.” Looking over the bounty instructions, Velic paused at the Taken Alive section. He smiled upon reading “dead or alive.” The moment had come when he would finally cross off the second-highest name on the city’s most wanted board: Doctor Bohuslav Yeznith. Mazarath Metropolitan Police Tier One Bounties: 1. Rocco Pierce: Drug Lord 2. Bohuslav Yeznith: Serial Killer 3. Jonesy Lyons: Rogue Blood Badge 4. Eddie Deadfingers: Underground Radio Host 5. Hobbes Spakowsky: Resistance Leader 6. The Handyman: Drug Lord
Emma McWerth Owner McWerth's Used Books
Art By Lucinda H.
*Excerpt from Chapter 2 of Aniel's Plight. The trees rustled, stopped, and swayed in unison, creating an eerie stillness as if the woods had inhaled. They stared at each other, waiting for a noise, a movement, anything. Emma opened her mouth to call out again, but stopped when the ground rumbled. Alex took her arm, steadying her until a shockwave burst from the woods. It lifted them into the air and flung them onto the frozen ground. Alex grunted and called out to her, pain in his voice. “Emma, are you alright?” She struggled to breathe as she rolled onto her side. “I’m… okay.” Pushing herself to her knees, she noticed the side of Alex’s head. Blood ran down over his ear. “You’re cut.” “I’m fine.” She unwound her scarf from her neck. “Take this.” He hesitated. “Hurry, before you get dizzy, and I have to drag you. I’ve washed worse than blood out.” She faced the direction of Kilo’s barking. “I hear him. Can you walk, or do you want to stay here?” “I’m coming.” She stumbled toward the woods. “Kilo!” “Emma, wait.” She searched for breaks in the brush, finding only a thick wall of briars and evergreens. A silver glow illuminated the forest. Scurrying through, she deflected the branches from her face. Her glasses fogged to uselessness, and she clutched them in her slush-covered gloves as she crawled. Thorns tore at her clothes and cheeks. “Slow down and let me catch up.” She did not. The smell of burned trees and earth intensified the deeper she ventured until she broke free into a clearing. Her cheeks stung, and wiping them, she found a smear of blood on the back of her glove. She replaced her glasses and peered through the scratched lenses. Her face twisted at the sight of the knee-high black smog covering the clearing, smelling of burning tires. Within it, mini lightning storms flashed red. Emma looked down, unable to see her feet. The sturdiest trees on the perimeter were splintered, and the smallest had been strewn outward. Beyond them, the forest was snow-covered and undisturbed. She looked up and gasped. Rustling sounded from behind as Alex broke free into the clearing. “What the hell is that? Don’t get too close.” She remained silent, unable to do anything except stare at it. Suspended in the clearing’s center, level with the treetops, was a shattered sky. A silver-lined, malformed window to the abyss from which the smog seeped into the clearing, looking as if a boulder had crashed through it. The fragments that had broken free hung frozen in time or whirled in random orbits, creating an overlapping chorus of whooshing sounds. Some collided, producing tiny snapping noises. From the tear’s center, jagged seams radiated outward, blocking the view beyond. The entire network swelled and receded, giving the impression that pressure from the other side struggled to be contained. Magical strips, glowing red and blending into a golden center, appeared as makeshift bandages to repair the cracks spreading from the main wound. Kilo returned to her side, and she petted his head without looking down. Alex stood shoulder to shoulder with her. “Let’s back away slowly.” Emma stepped closer. Curiosity and fear wrestled in her mind. A flash of golden light caused her to hide her eyes in her elbow. Heat touched her face like a summer afternoon. She risked a squinted peek. The rift’s cracks expanded against the repaired areas, dislodging more fragments. Thunderless red lightning shot from the rift and flashed across the cloudless sky. “Holy crap.” Heat touched her face like a summer afternoon. The rift’s cracks expanded against the repaired areas, dislodging more fragments. It warbled as something fell to the ground with a thud.
“Fox” Real Name: Classified
Art By Lucinda H.
*Excerpt from Chapter 26 of Aniel's Plight. Fox grabbed Velic’s sleeve, dragged him to the edge, and pointed to a space between two skylights. “Needless to say, you will have to land between those, or you are screwed. Keep your feet and knees together and tuck and roll. Do it right, and you’ll break fewer bones. Plus, you are jumping into the wind, which adds another layer of difficulty.” She kissed his cheek. “You will do fine.”
Aniel’s Plight© Copyright 2026 by Ace Van Zandt. All Rights Reserved.