Just for the sake of the Journal Skins~~~

Stolen from who stole it from

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[ MOUNDCHAP'S STORY MEME ]
Here's a chance to hash your brain over a story you may have in the works. Each answer will be part of a WIP, just relax and let it flow!

Story Title:
KAIROS. The word is Greek for "moment of destiny". Here I liken it to "moment of reckoning".

What inspired you for this story:
I wanted to write a story taking place in the human world. I remember my original idea was a bunch of secret agents/vigilantes working with magic/supernatural powers. Very plain idea.

Give us 3 different words that describe this book:
Reckoning, humanity, identity

Who's the main character:
Asdredemaen, Fayte, and Asher.

What's his/her story, in one or two sentences:
In which Asdred comes to love people again after severe indecision, borderline apathy, about humanity and makes a choice to live despite her past sins (this last detail allows her to save us all), Fayte becomes able to understand that he is a true being and not a freak lab accident A.I. (which enables him to save us all), and Asher...just complains about it all. Yes, and that does enable him to save us all. XD

Who's the antagonist:
A shadowy woman who remains unnamed. She's full of misanthropy herself and she's itching to really HURT humanity. She's currently manipulating events from her position on top of the financial, political, and underground worlds. She has a really plain name, like Melissa or something O_o (code names include Dalia, Laima, and Syntyche). Sound familiar?

Name some other characters:
Avery the vampire, Cairn the old leader of Kairos, Maricela and Jyo Long, ex-members of Kairos. Mikhail, the old handler of Kairos members. Also perhaps some human-engineered werewolves. Sigmund Mirna, a young tycoon/heir, also the younger brother of the antagonist. Members of Syntyche and a second, unnamed syndicate.

What is a unique feature of this world:
The human underworlds; there are several. One is an astral underworld, a crossings-place of spirits, magic-users, psychics, creatures divine and infernal. The other underworld is the human one: syndicates, mafias, drug cartels, smuggling rings, the yakuza, etc. It's when these circles blend that things get really interesting.
The focus in Kairos is on the latter underworld.

All right, what's this whole thing about anyways? Give us your summary as it is now:
In Assyrian times, there was a priestess who suffered great inhumanity at the hands of her kingdom. She swore revenge. Life after life, she has been setting her plan in motion. Kelath, who knew her and failed to save her from the horrors she endured, is trying to stop her. In one conflict with her, he sacrifices his "heart", in exchange for more power, essentially tearing it from the rest of his soul (ironically, the increased power comes from the instability of his soul afterward).

However, the time he bought with his sacrifice is coming to an end. As an incomplete being living a half-life without emotions, he has begun disintegrating (just like Deoth). He's also given up hope of recovering his "heart". Then he meets Ling and Eric.

That's the set-up to Kairos. XD

In Kairos proper, we learn that Asdred and Ling were cousins who were very close to each other up until Asdred's birthday. They used to be able to see ghosts together, predict weather and major events, and understand animals. Ling's mother was rather abusive, neglecting her and taking her anger out on her daughter while in the midst of divorce. Asdred would protect Ling and together they would terrorize everyone, bullying people on the playground, and beating everyone at school and sports as well. Their bad behavior caused problems with the authorities of course, but as long as they were together, they were unstoppable.

In the month leading up to Asdred's 13th birthday, she and Ling were too smart for their own good and ran into Asher and a couple of other new recruits for Kairos, along with Mikhail, the handler. After discovering what Kairos was, Asdred and Ling decided that they had found the right opportunity to run away from their boring, normal lives. Mikhail was impressed by their abilities, but initially rejected their efforts to join, stating that they were too soft-hearted. The two persisted, and Mikhail agreed to let only one of them join if they passed his test.

Asdred successfully joins Kairos, leaving Ling behind.

This separation causes them great regret and sadness, but neither acknowledge it, instead turning their denial into misanthropy and frustration. Asdred's new life is crueler than she imagined, and she struggles to reconcile the existence of her principles with amorality. She had thought (foolishly, at 13) that she was tough enough to shield her private self from her own actions, but in the end, her choice to live life as a Kairos member nearly ruins her.

One mission, Kairos is betrayed, and it results in the deaths of most of the members. Misinformation deliberately passed to Asdred causes her to assassinate Asher's uncle and father. Asher, who has been a close rival up until now, cannot forgive her, and the two become bitter enemies instead.

Before Kairos is dissolved completely by the U.S. government, the remaining members are given one last mission and Asdred commits one last act of rebellion. She takes the head of a certain Martin Dalry, a powerful CEO who had been involved with Syntyche and had partially mechanized his brain. However, when she finds Martin's body, she discovers that the human is already dead. Instead, there's someone else inside Martin's head.

Asdred cuts off Martin's head nonetheless, and when Kairos finds no use for it, Asdred uses her funds to hire an underground doctor who can reattach Martin's head to a new body. She raises the new being inside, teaching it how to survive in the outskirts of society. The being eventually names itself Fayte and "he" and Asdred become best friends. Fayte, however, has very few memories of his prior existence before he downloaded himself into Martin's body and wonders if he can ever be really human.

They live quietly as mercenaries until Asher re-enters their lives. During Fayte's quest to find out more about himself, he, Asdred and Asher discover "Melissa's" plan to create a soul weapon (a sort of Frankensteinian abomination) out of soul fragments she has gathered. New syndicates reveal their plans to harness and use Fayte's existence. As the trio are further embroiled into Melissa's plot, Asdred is finally reunited with her long-lost "sister" at last...

PSYCHOPOMP tells the story of Ling's coming of age.
KAIROS solves Asdred's question of how to live her life.

Now you've got our attention. Give us a memorable quote or two:

"I used to think the whole world was just a hypothesis to be questioned."
---Asdred

"You haven't betrayed what you taught me."
---Fayte