The writer gives life to a story, the reader keeps it alive.
After being supplied with various blood weapons, by Anesidor Sumian, present Alexand refuses to leave her mother, Inajda in the cell.
Guild Master Anum Anzeti, along with Guild Masters Heyem Merek, Octavia Vijay and the rest of the Guild, watch as the captured Floating Asylum ship is transported to a holding cell on the outskirts of the Hungarian Kinjoutouchi, a heavily guarded Kyo-ashita city on Martial Earth. Octavia Vijay seethes, as Heyem Merek indulges in her victory.
Present Alexand, has not relented to Inajda’s request for her to sit patiently inside the containment cell, (see issue 586: The Prison of Souls Part 7)
After spending hours inside an isolation cell with Jarad, Alexand was relieved when her mother Inajda finally joined them in the cell. Unfortunately, Alexand learnt very quickly that Inajda was not there for her own protection but was being held as a prisoner due to her association with Anya Ranyevzsky, the woman Alexand had warned her about.
President Bomani and Samira Ganesh escorted their prisoner, Inajda Rekaya from the maximum-security laboratory, and took her to another maximum-security facility for processing. The Prison of souls. Generals Grace O’Malley and Xan Medani hover in the observation chamber, watching the captured Inajda Rekaya brief Alexand Merek from inside the holding cell.
Inajda left Xan, Alexand and Jarad in the Prison of Souls, and with a vial of Xan’s precious blood, went searching for the elusive Anesidor Sumian, so that Sumian could synthesise Xan’s blood to allow it to create blood weapons to fight the Amanojuko.
Faced with an unstoppable indestructible Amanojuko in their home, Alexand appeals to Inajda, to help get out of this impossible situation. (Re: Longsheng, See Issue 299 The Unbound Box part 4, Issue 300 The Unbound Box Part 5 and Issue 326 The Search for Filius Anderson Part 8)
Alexand is tired, and cold, but her mother’s offer to show her the true extent of Lord Anderson’s campaign is far too tempting to turn down.
After realising Heyem did not wish to be protected by her, Inajda set search for Alexand, so that she could fulfil Asenath Bomani’s wish for Colonel Merek to gain full intelligence to the Amanojuko agenda.
Alexand follows the woman, whose name is Ehri, to the outskirts of the village, to where a pathway leads up a steady incline, the entrance of Bogd Khan Uul National Park.
Two months have passed since Alexand decided to live away from Jarad in the military base, after their house was found to be bugged. He visits her each week, stays the night occasionally, but always retreats back to his shack in the woods. The military base is no place for a family, and he has come to talk with Alexand and try to convince her to come back home.
Jarad has spent a few days alone, after Alexand disappeared again, without telling him where she was going or when she would be back. He is expecting a student to arrive in an hour, for their Russian lesson, and he is quietly seething, but extremely worried about his wife’s absence.
The Guild Master’s General returns Katherine to the safety of the Kyuunansen ship, after showing her a future world, which resembled heaven. (This issue is dedicated to my dad, Eric Moore, who died 25 years ago today, the day after my 21st Birthday. Alexand and Heyem were (or will be) born on 2nd December, so this day represents both death and life. Love outlasts death.)
Lord Filius Anderson has personally followed Alexand around, ever since she exposed the Amanojuko live in front of the world. He has camped out in the woods near Alexand’s house, and is currently observing her and her husband as they sit on a flat roof having dinner. He has planted bugs all over their cabin, and is listening into their conversation. He is waiting for the perfect opportunity to make Colonel Merek ‘disappear’, as she has caused great damage to the safety of his vision for a new world order.
Alex has been rather secretive since she returned back from Georges De Somme’s mansion, but Jarad is pleasantly surprised as she has invited him up onto the flat roof of their house. There is a table and a candlelit dinner, (which he believes she has had delivered from a nearby takeaway as she is an appalling cook.)
Alexand and Jarad returned home, back to Jarad’s house, which is in the middle of the woods. There are no other houses for miles, which was ideal for Alexand, as she sees it as a retreat from her stressful military life. She can be part of two worlds, whist remaining blissfully outside of both. She and Jarad have spent the night making love, as they have done every night, since they returned from Hong Kong. (Please be warned this issue contains some scenes, some readers may find offensive. If so then you may prefer to read issue # 344: Jay and Ali where Katherine gets her cloned cat back.)
Alexand hasn’t the resources left to deal with Jarad’s emotional demands. She is beginning to suspect he is more damaged than she can cope with. He has been needy and possessive and has tried to encroach in her private thoughts. She has to deal with a very demanding role as colonel, and in order to do her duty, she has shut Jarad off, and wishes he wasn’t so insufferably needy.
Jarad spent the morning looking for Alexand, as they had argued the night before and he knew that she had hidden from him. He found her in the military camp, administering the vaccine. It has only been a day since their honeymoon, but desperate to keep her, and frightened of rejection he sits next to her, to help administer the antidote to the infected.
Alexand returns to the army vehicle she arrived in, sits in the driver’s seat, watching people walk past, from behind the safety of the glass, after her very short honeymoon ended. She and Jarad had argued over why she wouldn’t talk to him about crying on the banks of the river. Jarad stormed off, leaving Alexand to become Colonel Merek again.
The Guild Master’s General wants to show Katherine something important, as he knows she will try to contact Alexand now she has her writer back. He takes her to Saskatoon, just before dawn, to the military graveyard, where Katherine’s fake corpse is buried.
Heyem wakes up, hearing Alexand calling for her from the bathroom. (Thank you to everyone who has supported these stories over the years. As a gift to you, Unbound Boxes Limping Gods has been upgraded and is now an advert free home, with limitless space for my fictional family to grow! Happy reading everyone. The writer gives life to a story, the reader keeps it alive…)
After their new year’s celebrations, and an impromptu marriage, Heyem, Alexand and Jarad ended up sleeping in Heyem’s apartment. Heyem is slumped still sleeping in her chair, with Alex and Jarad unconscious in her bed. Alex is the first to wake up, disorientated and hung over.
It’s New Year’s Eve, and after being deployed in Hong Kong for a week, Alexand and Jarad are celebrating the coming of the New Year, along with Heyem. They are taking a break from their relief mission for an evening, and are out in Hong Kong, enjoying the city. They have been to many bars and clubs, and all three are quite drunk. Alex has been overly affectionate towards Jarad, as the three of them parade around the outside night market.
It’s nearly New Year’s Eve, and Jarad has attempted to make Alex feel at home. She has re materialised her piano, which is now positioned in the centre of his living room. Her clothes are in his wardrobe, alongside his and he helps her place her books next to his in his very large bookcase.
After three more weeks on Christmas Island, recovering, Alexand is now fit for duty, and has returned to her army base in Saskatoon, India.
The news of a cure came a day before Alexand and Heyem’s twenty-fifth birthday. As Heyem is soon to leave the island to go back to her career, and Alex is almost recovered enough to return to the army, Heyem is looking for her twin, outside on the beach, as she wishes to celebrate a day she thought they’d never share.
Alex presses her hands against the exit door, anxious to get outside onto the beach.
Alexand was left with her promotion to Colonel, and to wander alone along the corridors, not feeling very soldierly.
Heyem told Jarad all about Alex seeing the Ghost of Baio-Yujia, and so Jarad made his way straight to her hospital bed to be with her, using this as a good excuse to visit.
Abouna Panak has seen the future and the past, yet he is still quietly upset at seeing Lieutenant Colonel Merek’s condition. He stands at the back of the room as her family stand at her bedside, waiting to hear her prognosis from Doctor Azizi.
After a month of overseeing Katherine’s rehabilitation, Inajda has been left behind, wondering where future Anesidor has taken her friend. She has been accompanied by the mysterious future version of Katherine, who seems to have an agenda for her as well.
Alexand managed to persuade Doctor Azizi to disconnect her from the wires, and remove the sedative drugs. He has hooked her up to a mobile drip, which feeds Katherine’s inhibitor into her bloodstream at regular intervals. Her Uncle Antun helps her into the living room.
Alexand wakes up, but can’t move, her body is heavy and she’s alone. (Happy New Year)
Jarad returned to Nan Ha and spent the next few days sitting beside Alex, as she lay unconscious, trying to think of ways to tell her about Lord Anderson’s escape. (Thank you to everyone who has read these stories this year. I now measure time through releasing them, so this year has disappeared very quickly. Happy Christmas and best wishes for 2018)
Jarad ran away from Helga Ritter, towards the last room in the hotel, and stepped inside the wardrobe, in an attempt to hide from the approaching Amanojuko. She has been pacing up and down the room, attempting to figure out where he is.
Jarad finally made it to the grounds of the hotel, in which Alexand hid Lord Anderson. He wades through the hot springs, towards the hotel entrance, but has a creepy feeling someone is following him, as he climbs out of the water and walks up the steps.
Helga Ritter materialises inside the bedroom, and walks towards a sleeping Alexand Merek.
Alexand attempted to follow Jarad, despite being blind, but ended up collapsing by the doorway. She lay there, staring at the darkness, unable to move, calling out for someone to help her. Her cousin Toreth came, and carried Alex back into her bed, then called for Doctor Azizi. He sedated her and she has spent the night sleeping. She has woken again and insisted the doctor help her get out of bed. Doctor Azizi has spent the past few minutes scolding her for ignoring his advice.
Jarad couldn’t stand waiting and watching Alexand get sicker. He has spent the past few hours on the train from Yunnan to the Guangxi Mountains. He is now walking towards, Longsheng, where the writer full of potential cures for Alex’s illness has been hidden. All he has to do is release the containers without releasing Lord Anderson. He has brought his toy writer along too, so that he can transfer them to it.
Alex wasn’t well enough to get out of bed, but she had been visited by most of her family once the news of her being awake spread. It’s night time now, and the last of the visitors left half an hour ago. Alex is exhausted, but quietly happy, knowing her family accept her. Jarad has been by her side for the past half an hour, reading to her.
Antun Rekaya has turned his youngest son’s bedroom into a hospital room for Alexand. Alex hasn’t woken, since she arrived, because Doctor Azizi has sedated her in an attempt to stabilise her. Jarad hasn’t left her bedside for two weeks.
Jarad had helped Alexand to walk away from Lord Anderson’s tomb, and heavily disguised, the two of them caught the train home, towards the village they grew up in. After leaving the train, Alex is finding it harder to walk, but she is too stubborn to let Jarad carry her. The village is a mile away, and Jarad is getting nervous.
As darkness falls outside the hotel, Alex lays in bed, unable to sleep.
Alexand and Jarad head towards the last room in the hotel, where Alex promises a solution to the problem of hiding Lord Anderson. (Thank you to everyone who has joined Alex on her journey these past seven years. To celebrate issue 300 and seven years on wordpress, Part 1 is released today and part 2 of the anniversary special will be released on Sunday 25th June, exactly seven years to the day of the first release back in 2010.)
Jarad follows Alexand towards the creepy hotel, in which she is planning to hide the captured body and soul of Lord Filius Anderson.
Jarad follows Alexand towards the ruins of an old hotel, as she attempts to hide the writer with Lord Anderson trapped inside.
Alex takes Jarad to a hideout deep in the Guangxi Mountains, in China, where she plans to hide the writer, containing Lord Filius Anderson.
Lord Filius Anderson has discovered Alexand’s infiltration attempt.
Since Katherine’s death, Alexand has bigger plans for the fate of this factory. She has memorised the layout, and knows where all the corridors lead. She chooses her moment to fade out of focus, using her writer to disappear, so that she hovers between matter and electro magnetic energy.
Jarad has never seen an Amanojuko base up close, although he has been thoroughly briefed, it could not prepare him for the wealth, and extravagance around him, as the group are escorted into the socialite lounge. (This issue is dedicated to everyone who reads these stories. I hope you have a safe and happy Christmas.)
Heyem is escorted through the gates of the factory, along with the others.
The factory is close, but Alex has been shivering for hours and her body is letting her down. The group has stopped to rest, overlooking the Amanojuko factory, which is just across the horizon. (This issue, and every story I’ve written, is dedicated to my dad, who died almost 21 years ago on 2nd December. This is for you Dad, I will never forget you.)
The group have been waiting for Alexand to return, and have set camp back in the cave, near Lake Baikal.
Alexand is still angry after her fight with the Guild Master’s General
The group has headed northeast and zigzagged around inhabited areas, to where they are about eight hundred miles away from the Amanojuko factory, near Lake Baikal. Doctor Azizi has been tasked with convincing a very stubborn Inajda to part with her writer and potentially endanger the mission.
The group set down for the night, they’ve been using the cave as a base, to formulate their strategy. It’s cold, and Inajda has set up a heat shield around the perimeter where they’re sleeping. Alex has been feeling ill for the past few hours, and has moved away from the group, as she doesn’t want them to see her when she’s sick.
Alexand and the rest of the resistance have settled in a cave in the mountains of Southern Russia. Alexand has scanned the area; there are no inhabitants for hundreds of miles. Inajda has illuminated a map on the far cave wall, showing the topography for two hundred square miles. She scrolls through the map, until she reaches the nearest settlement.
The group prepare to cross over to Russia, into the forbidden zone, marked out by the Amanojuko. (Happy Birthday, Dad and Uncle Robin, wherever you are.)
The survivors bury their dead, deep in the dirt of the Red Sand Hills of Kekexili. They lost four people, including a very young, Farokh Merek.
Alexand has recovered enough to address the party. Her troops have been getting jumpy, and she needs to do something to remedy the lack of trust they have in her as leader.
Alex wakes up after falling unconscious, due to her illness.
There are some complications in their attempt to leave the pub, and get Alex safely back to the carriage. Alex is understandably weak, she’s in pain due to her broken rib and battered feet, but Farokh has given her some morphine he acquired on his meander around town.
After being rescued from a farmer, who was intent on killing her, Alexand lies in bed, semi conscious.
