The time monster portal was gigantic. It wasn’t like this single doorway that
they all stepped through. If that had been the case, the Durune humans could
have created some kind of blockade around it. Maybe they would have built an
actual impenetrable structure, or simply stationed mages around to bottleneck
them as soon as they arrived. Unfortunately, that was not practical. The
portal was a ring, several kilometers in diameter, and a monster could appear
from anywhere along that ring. Had the planet enjoyed Earthan population
numbers, they probably could have figured it out, but they just didn’t have
enough manpower, or resources. But the population was rising, and people were
already developing a pattern of building more towns to accommodate the
increase, rather than simply expanding the borders. It just became an
assumption that a fifth town would follow the fourth, and would probably be
finished around 2056. Every new town up to that point had its own reason for
being, though. They weren’t making them just for the sake of it. Splitsville
arose from a fundamental dispute about how to protect themselves against the
monsters. The ones who built Parade wanted to be closer to Watershed.
Hardtlanders wanted to live in a forest, which didn’t always exist, as
plantlife took a long time to take root. So what would the fifth town be all
about? Well, it had to do with the monster portal. As explained, the portal
was a ring, so monsters could be heading in any direction when they arrived,
but they wouldn’t stay that way forever. If they wanted to get to the other
towns without circumnavigating the globe, they would all eventually head in
the same direction. Experts surveyed the land, and found that—no matter
where the monsters originally came from, and no matter which town they would
end up attacking—they would all pass one specific spot. So they chose that as
the site of the new town, and called it Frontline. Families would not be
living in Frontline. Having children around would not only be discouraged, but
against the law. It was designated only for mages, and particularly adept
fighters. It would also remain pretty small, and be used primarily for
defense. Once this was determined, they stopped calling it a town, and started
referring to it as a fort. Fort Frontline. It did have everything anyone would
need to live there happily, though, just like any town. It had an inventorium,
and a forge, and even a barber shop. They did do some training, in preparation
for attacks, but they didn’t spend all of their time that busy. They
still enjoyed themselves. The other towns kept all the mages they needed, but
their jobs suddenly became a little bit easier, because now there was this
protective barrier between them and their enemies. The best part about it was
that the monsters didn’t communicate with one another, or warn each other of
obstacles. So they just kept coming this way, sensing that there was life to
destroy, almost always completely oblivious to the fact that they were not
going to get far. Some did manage to move around it. Speedstrikers, for
instance, were cunning and strategic, and capable of planning for the future,
instead of only following instincts. And there was the occasional monster who
just randomly went all the way around the planet. But for the most part, Fort
Frontline was considered to be a grand success.
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Current Schedule
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Sundays (macrofiction)
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The Advancement of Mateo Matic
Now that the lineup has been irreversibly established, and their reliance upon the direction of any external force removed from the equation, Team Matic must decide for themselves what missions to take. As they approach the year that changes everything, they may find themselves on a long detour.
Click here for the complete list of volumes thus far
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Weekdays (microfiction)
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Mateo Daily
Daily installments of The Advancement of Mateo Matic have temporarily replaced all weekday stories.
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Saturdays (mezzofiction)
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Mateo Daily
Daily installments of The Advancement of Mateo Matic have temporarily replaced all Saturday stories.
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- Multiseries
- Single Series
- Darning Wars
- Recursiverse
- Miscellaneous
- CONTACT
- About Me
My name is Nick Fisherman III. It's not my real name, but that's not because I'm trying to hide from my former agency, or something. I named myself after someone I've known for most of my life, and he chose it in honor of his late best friend. I took up writing when I found myself failing 8th grade science, and realized I might never reach my dream of becoming a biochemist, a meteorologist, and a quantum physicist. I started developing my canon after a scouting trip to an island inspired what I thought would be my first novel. I founded this website upon the advice of many people, who told me I needed to get my work out there, and not wait for an agent to accept my manuscript. You can expect one new story every day. Weekdays are for microstories, which are one or two paragraphs long. They're usually only thematically linked, so you won't have to read one to understand another, but they do sometimes tell a combined story. Sundays are for my continuous longer story, The Advancement of Mateo Matic, which I started in the beginning, and won't end until 2066. Saturdays are for long series, most of which take place in the same universe as Mateo, and add to the larger mythology.
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