Chapter glides through star-void space, armoured in miles of ablative ice, hugging the speed of light like a lover beyond the thinnest veil.
https://hungryshedgerow.net/maidens-of-the-fall-parasomnia-5-5/
Password is: evacuation
Epub version of the chapter is also attached below!
Hooooooooo my gosh. This chapter is, I am pretty sure, the longest chapter of Maidens thus far. Which I didn't expect! I was going to stop this one at a slightly earlier point, but Octavia herself would not let me. She made it very clear. So I had to carry onward until the next obvious stopping point. You'll probably see why!
Partly as a result of that and partly because of just the way things have fallen, I believe that means the next chapter is the conclusion of arc 5! It miiiiiight go to 7 chapters, but I would be very very surprised. 95% chance the next chapter is the finale, before we move onto arc 6! And I am, as always, extremely excited for what's up next.
Also! This week, I have lots of art to share, from over on the discord server. First up we have this striking illustration of Scarlet Edge's selfie from back in chapter 4.8, 'me2.jpg' (please note this one is very much NSFW!!! Not joking, it is exactly like it was in the chapter!) (by Miss Entropy!) Then, this incredible drawing inspired by one of Octavia's stray thoughts earlier in arc 4, when she was ... 'worried' about how Grimgrave might treat her. Ahem. (By sporktown heroine!) Next up is another dog joke, simple but good, (by tirrene!) And then we have a series of three Maidens-inspired MTG cards: Consume the Dead, Zoog, and Zoogpile, (by An Evil Eel, using art by Cera!) And last but absolutely not least, we have dontworrykitten.jpg, an illustration of the end of chapter 5.1, and one of the funniest pieces of fanart I have ever received, (by cubey!) I've also updated the memes page with some absolute bangers, but listing them all would double the size of this passage, so, go look!
I genuinely cannot express how delighted and flattered and amazed I am by all the fanart for Maidens so far. It's great to see people having so much fun with the characters and setting and zoogs and everything. Thank you all so much!
And now, on with the show! Back to the heart of a Nightmare, and the gears of our struggling magical girl.