Hey everyone,
Keeping it short since I’m dealing with a migraine but I wanted to thank everyone who came out and saw us this weekend. We sold lots of books and almost sold out of coffee.
Before every big con, I wonder why I put myself through it, and then the nerdy community spends a few days being awesome to us.
Thank you!!!!
Éric
Hello Fellow geeks and nerds,
This coming weekend is Ottawa Comiccon Winter Edition 2026 It’s at the EY Centre..
Come see us at booth 314 and 316
We’ll have coffee, crochet, and books.
Hope to see you there!
Éric
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12
“I know this is bad timing with us heroically headed to fight the council but um… am I free?” Grant asked. He looked younger than his nineteen years and I felt bad for him.
“As far as I know, Luc is no longer a threat. Your soul is your own. But you’re not free, you’re still a Gatekeeper and you’re still stuck with me,” I said with a smile.
The group laughed awkwardly and Grant said, “I’m okay with that. Um… how do we find Lance?”
That was a good question. I knew that he had a house in Toronto and an apartment in New York. Sylvie said my thoughts aloud before I had the chance, “He’s got to be close. No way he’s sending waves of public domain assassins at us from across the province. Maybe I should call my fiancée and see if she can track his cell?”
She hadn’t finished the whole statement when my phone rang. Since I was driving, she reached into my pocket and said, “It’s him.” She put it on speaker.
I took a deep breath and said, “Hey Lance. We found Galaus, he’s no longer a threat.”
“Excellent. You’re well on your way to redemption. Did you find his base of operations?” Lance sounded excited. I could faintly hear bells in the background.
“No, sorry. We had some issues with a superpowered devil Aetherborn.” You bastard, I added in my thoughts.
There was a silence and then Lance said, “I guess that’s okay. I’ll get a team out there to clean up your mess. There’s a report of gremlin-like creatures in Winnipeg. I want you and your team to take care of it. Your new recruit should head back to Westmeath and start getting ready for her apprenticeship. Bruce down in Lima will be training her.”
Sylvie made a face and looked angry.
“Sure boss,” I said.
“Good job not screwing this one completely up.” Lance hung up and everyone started asking questions at the same time.
I had to stop at a train crossing. The lights and bells were ringing to tell me a train was coming. “Bells!” I exclaimed over everyone’s shouting..
“What?” Sylvie asked.
“The bells. I heard faint bells on the call with Lance. This train is coming from the west, where Shield’s Crossing is, which means he’s there.
“Shit,” said Galaus. “He’s planning an ambush.”
“Or he believes us and thinks we’ll run along on the new errand without hesitation,” I suggested. “Let’s give him exactly that. We’ll go to the motel to pack up and pretend to head out. Then we’ll double back and catch him at whatever he’s doing here.”
Everyone agreed and I was thankful the rental van had tinted windows to hide Galaus. It didn’t take us long to pack up. Lance would be expecting us to head to Westmeath to get a new van and drop this one off. It was almost dinner and we could make it if we hurried. Traffic into town would be bad but since we weren’t going, I didn’t care.
Maybe it was my imagination, but I could swear someone was watching me the entire time we packed up. I tried really hard not to look for them.
“Sylvie, where’s your car?” I asked, not remembering her ever using it.
Looking mischievous, she replied, “I don’t have one.”
“How did you get here then?”
“That’s classified,” was the only thing she’d say.
I knew that Yggdrasil Command was working on strange stuff but I had no idea how she’d gotten here.
“How do you plan on hiding a big white rental van?” asked Robin as she climbed in.
Before I could reply, Sylvie said, “Leave that to me.”
When everyone had piled into the van, we drove toward Westmeath.
When we were fifteen minutes out, we turned into a rural road and parked out of sight of the highway. “Did anyone follow us?” I asked.
Everyone said, “No” and I turned to Sylvie.
“My fiancée makes me little gadgets,” She placed a small metal cube on the dash and flicked the little switch. I felt the magic rush over the van but couldn’t see any difference. “It makes the vehicle invisible. It only works for a few hours before it needs to be charged again.”
“I’ll be careful driving,” I said and turned back onto the main road. It was dark now and I was fairly certain Lance would be at the fancier hotel that was near the train tracks.
There were a dozen cars in the little parking lot and most of them were rentals from Ottawa or Westmeath. That wasn’t unusual in itself but I suddenly got a bad feeling.
“Either the Halloween festival is attracting guests early or there’s a conference in town,” Ursula said. Her deep voice sounded annoyed. “Should I take out my sword to see if there are any illusions?”
“No. We’re hidden by one now,” I reminded her.
“Oh, right.”
“If that’s the council of Gatekeepers, we’re in trouble,” Galaus remarked. “No offence but you’re all young and in need of more training.
That’s when the council members, including Lance, came out of the hotel. I had met them all before but never in the same place. What were they doing? The twenty members from all around the world drove off in the same direction and I followed them.
“Whatever they’re up to it can’t be good,” Galaus said somberly. “The last time they were all together, they blamed me for killing the previous council.”
The cars drove to the same field that we’d just left, and with a wave of Lance’s hand it turned into an old stone agora.
Whispering, with a quiver of fear in his voice, Grant asked, “What can we do against twenty Gatekeepers that throw magic around like mages?”
No one had an answer and we watched as they started some sort of ritual. Magic was pouring into it and the members were all so focussed on what they were doing that they didn’t see the two dozen musketeers take aim and shoot at them. I didn’t see until it was too late either.
I swore as all the members of the council except for Lance fell to the ground. Not thinking, I jumped out of the van and ran to the nearest member. They were dead and I could feel their magic being drained by Lance.
“You killed them all? Why?” I shouted and summoned my sword.
Lance smiled a toothy grin, “Power. The Gatekeepers are mine and it’s time we showed the world our true strength. Join me, and together we will rule this realm as gods.”
“Wow. He’s gone full Bond villain,” quipped Sylvie. She had her gun out and shot at him. The bullet turned into a rain of rose petals that fell at Lance’s feet.
Lance tossed a bolt of pure power at me. My sword already in hand, I tried to parry it and was shocked when it worked. It made a sort of sense, our blades were made of Aether barrier energy and that held the magic at bay. What other knowledge had we lost because of the council’s lust for power and control?
“I can’t let you get away with this. You’re making a mockery of everything it means to be a Gatekeeper. We’re meant to protect people, not control them!” I shouted as I rushed him.
He met my blade with his but he was slower than me and not as careful as Galaus. We traded blows but I was confident I could beat him.
“You don’t understand, we are just power. There’s no higher calling, no noble knight, if the Ladies of the Lake wanted us to be honourable they’d have stopped me by now.”
There was a certain logic to his words but they still made me angry. I was promised honour, mercy, and a mission to make the world a better place. My anger grew at the betrayal of everything we were, and my black blade started to glow a silver light.
“Lance, you are a disgrace to Gatekeepers and I won’t let you get away with it.” I put all my feelings of betrayal and anger into a downward cut, and Lance raised his sword for an easy block.
My sword sliced through his, releasing all the magic stored in him into a wave of brilliant light. His sword sizzled and disintegrated.
“NO!” he screamed and made the motions to cast a spell and nothing happened. Sometime during our fight, the musketeers had disappeared.
“Lance, I strip you of your power and position as a Gatekeeper,” I said and felt a reverberation in my sword. I knew I was broadcasting the message to all other Gatekeepers. Another thing I didn’t know we could do. “The council was killed by you in a gross misuse of power. I think it’s time to make this a democratic institute.”
There was a lot of politics and setting up before the Gatekeepers could work as a cohesive unit again, but I was confident we could do it.
Maybe it was time to pick an assignment. I heard Baker was missing Gatekeepers. It was time to go home.
While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:
Hello Friends, Family, and Fans,
Come see us tomorrow at the Merivale Mall between 10am and 4pm. We’ll have coffee and books for sale.
It’s our last show of the season, so if you want Christmas presents, this is the best time.
Hope to see you there!
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12
With a plethora of fictional fighters coming toward us, Galaus, my team, and I prepared to fight.
I’m not sure if you’ve ever tried to do anything after an intensive training session but it’s not easy. You’re tired all the way to your bones and no matter how good you are, your body moves slowly.
We started by trying to dispel the fighters but they had been formed too long ago. We can’t return things to the Aether unless they’re freshly summoned.
Galaus and I were able to boost the others’ energy but not enough to fight half a dozen experienced fighters. We were soon spending more time retreating than fighting and we needed to do something.
“Sylvie, remember what Great Uncle Ray always says?” I asked her. I didn’t want to be any more specific and it was hard to think, parry, and talk at the same time.
“When are you and that wizard getting married?” she replied questioningly as she moved forward on the Scarlet Pimpernel.
“He asks you that too? Nevermind. The other thing!” Our uncle seemed more than a little preoccupied about the love life of our expansive family. He says it’s because he wants us all to have the same happiness he’s found with his husband.
“It’s annoying but I know he cares. You mean combat isn’t chess. If you’re losing, cheat,” she said, and I could hear the annoyance in her voice. “How is that useful? Are you saying my gun would be useful here?”
“I wish,” I said wistfully before adding, “No. I need you to make a distraction.”
“Okay then,” she replied and parried the Pimpernel with her sword in her left hand. In a smooth motion, she pulled out her gun and shot him in the head. It did absolutely nothing but the noise and surprise made everyone stop.
I’m not a wizard but I have been trying to learn about runes. As a ritual, they take time to set up, but if you do it right, they can have a big effect. My plan was to pat down the grass around the fight in the right runes to dispel the fictionals. It was something I’d been learning from a friend who was a wizard, not from the other Gatekeepers, and I hoped that was going to surprise them.
In my fatigue, I must have done something wrong because nothing happened. Everyone on my side was bleeding or hurt, and it was just a matter of time before someone made a fatal mistake.
I had to get help. I took out my phone and dialled a number I knew very well before putting the phone in my front pocket.
Thinking of Luc, the literal devil, I said, “I need your help.” Louder, I added, “Please!”
“No!” a petulant demonic voice said, echoing through the fields.
The combatants all stopped. Galaus was the first to move again and took down one of the musketeers. The fight continued and my heart sank.
“Please, I’m begging you!” I said loudly. “Help me!”
The field disappeared and we were all sitting around a poker table with Luc as the dealer. The enemy fighters were gone and I was holding a losing hand of cards.
“Aces high, jockers wild, and play like your soul is on the line,” Luc smirked.
“What the hell?” Galaus asked. “Didn’t I kill you?”
“Can’t kill the devil, young man. I’m eternal.”
Hoping to get some information, I said, “As real as those fighters.”
“Are you going to call or raise?” Luc asked before adding, “I’m a person. They’re just golems, homunculi, Aether robots; no souls.”
“With enough time, they could become sapient just like us,” Galaus said, in a tone that was both disapproving and grumpy.
I smiled at the old man, “When it comes to sapience, a little time and some magic does wonders, but when it comes to true power, it’s not that easy, right?”
Looking at me quizzically, Galaus replied, “That’s true, Aether-creatures and even certain Aetherborn will grow in strength as they get older. What are you up to?”
“Enough. Let’s get down to deals.” Luc rubbed his hands and a contract appeared in front of each of us except Grant, who’d already signed one to save us from the Adlats.
“No thank you,” I said, doing my best to look smug.
Red-faced with anger, Luc screeched, “You begged me for help!”
“No I didn’t,” I said and pointed at the entrance of the room. I was starting to think she wasn’t going to come, but thankfully she opened the door. “I was asking her.”
She was a sight to see in her tall boots, jeans, and long leather coat. Her light brown hair was tied into a long braid. Annabel was unarmed but radiated power to anyone who knew what to look for.
“Fascinating construct. Made by the same power as those fighters outside,” she commented, looking around at the casino and everything in it.
“Who are you?” demanded Luc.
Ignoring him and turning her hazel eyes toward me, she said, “Seriously, you go silent for three months and suddenly pocket dial me for help?”
“I’m a jerk,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
With a dramatic sigh, Sylvie added, “He totally is, but he’s had this whole guilt complex because of the colour of his sword. Probably didn’t think he was worthy of you or some such male bullshit. Thanks for coming though.”
“If I knew you’d be here, I’d have called your fiancée.”
The lights darkened and red fire seemed to erupt from behind Luc. In a menacing baritone, he shouted, “I do not like being ignored. Get out of my house.” With that, he gestured at Annabel.
I felt the jolt of power he threw. It should have thrown her out of the building, if not the province. She moved her hand around and suddenly there was a cool breeze in the room.
Annabel was a wizard who specialized in alteration magic. She takes things and turns them into other things.
With her coat blowing dramatically, she walked slowly toward Luc. She stopped in front of him and just eyed him. It reminded me of the way a knitter looks at a nice sweater, like they’re trying to figure out how it was made.
Finally she spoke, “You are a beautiful piece of work but you’re so young. Given a few more decades, you might become powerful enough to be a threat. I’m sorry, this is going to hurt.” She reached out and plucked a hair from his head.
A tremor rocked the building and it was as if the world was unravelling. Things started to disappear until there was nothing left but Annabel, Luc, Galaus, my team, and I standing in a field with the sun setting.
“What have you done?” Luc demanded. “Where’s my power?” He fell to the ground and started weeping.
Kneeling next to him comfortingly, Annabel said, “I disconnected your being from the Aether. You are now just a regular Aetherborn.” Looking up at me, she asked, “Do you know who created these things?”
“Yes, and we’re going to deal with it,” I replied.
“Is it a Gatekeeper matter?”
“Yes.”
Nodding, she said, “I’ll take care of him. You go finish this. Then call me.”
Read Chapter 12 (December 2025)
While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:
Come see JenEric Coffee and JenEric Authors at Geeking out for the Holidays.
This Sunday (November 30th) from 10am-4pm at the Nepean Sportsplex.
Tomorrow JenEric Coffee, Crochet, and Authors will be at the Merivale Mall from 10-4.
Come by and see us!
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12
Everyone’s blades were drawn. We were all on edge after dealing with the devil himself and then seeing him killed by the man opposite us: Galaus the rogue knight, accused traitor, and probably our only hope.
He dispelled his massive sword and played with his orange moustache. When we didn’t move, he asked, “Are we all going to stand around or are you going to do some real training?”
“Why should we trust you? You just killed a man,” Grant said, sounding more relieved than fearful.
“Oh, he’s not dead. Just dispersed for a bit. He’ll be back and probably angry. Part of the reason you need to train.” Galaus looked smug but behind the bravado, he looked lonely. Or maybe that was my imagination.
I took a deep breath and dispelled my sword before saying, “Pie filled you in?”
“Yeah. Dealing with one of my mistakes. Sorry about that, sonny.” He fiddled with the hem of his coat before adding, “He and the other golden blades think they should lead because they can do magic, but the blackblade are better suited to leadership. When I suggested that, they banished me.”
Sylvie looked smug as she asked, “So blackblades aren’t evil?”
“Naw. They can influence the mood around them and inspire people to do better but we’re not evil. We’re protective of our teams and can get grumpy but not evil.”
He looked at me with piercing grey eyes and asked, “You’re the senior knight?”
“Yes,” I replied, barely swallowing the ‘Sir’ that wanted to come out. Some things are hard coded in a military family.
“Show me what you have,” his sword reappeared. “Just you to start.”
The great thing about magic swords is that you can set them to not hurt your opponent. When we duelled, we normally made sure to avoid killing each other.
We stayed in the field of grass, the others moved back, and I summoned my sword. When I was young I assumed most older men were frail or at the very least slow. I was wrong and it almost cost me my life when I fought against a wizard. I attacked Galaus; his swordsmanship was impeccable.
As we fought, he spoke to the group, “You will almost always fight something that is more powerful than you. The trick is to find out their weaknesses, and to exploit them.”
He performed an impressive set of moves and beat me back. I couldn’t find his weakness when it came to swordfighting. “Not just exploit their weakness,” I added, “but use our strengths.”
He smiled and asked, “What is a Gatekeeper’s greatest strength?”
“Our sword!” Grant shouted.
“No!” both Galaus and I shouted back.
“Our minds?” Clifford suggested.
Galaus laughed and replied, “No. Too many Gatekeepers forget to use that.”
“What’s left?” asked Robin in her squeaky voice. She sounded defeated.
Sounding a little annoyed, Sylvie replied, “Each other and the community we protect. You sound like my grandfather.”
His eyes flicked to Sylvie for a moment and it gave me the opening I needed, I beat at his sword and lunged, nicking his shoulder. If we’d been dueling for real, I would have cut deep enough to sever muscle.
“Excellent,” he told me but kept looking at Sylvie. “I trained your great-grandfather. He was one of the knights that didn’t try to kill me. Instead, he helped me get into the wizard’s library and study the old texts.”
“I didn’t know,” both Sylvie and I said in unison.
“Can people stop doing that? Please. It’s creepy,” Robin said.
Galaus smiled widely and said, “I’ll teach you the things I learned and help you when the time comes. But I won’t train him.” He pointed his sword at Grant.
“What? Why not?” Grant looked guilty and surprised at the same time. His indignation was obviously fake.
Giving the young man a stern glare that would have made a seasoned soldier uncomfortable, Galaus replied, “You broke your vow and don’t deserve that sword. If it was my choice, I would strip you of it and deliver you unto your master.”
I put two and two together and it added up to three dead adlats. I sighed deeply and said, “He saved the team’s life. I might not like how he did it but he’s young.” Grant must have made a deal with Luc to save us. That meant either his soul or something worse.
Galaus took a step toward Grant who looked ready to cry or run and the older man said, “Is that true?”
“Yes sir. I traded my soul to save everyone’s lives. I made sure it only cost mine,” Grant said and looked down.
I thought Galaus was going to hit Grant but instead, he chuckled and said, “You’re a fool but a fool with his heart in the right place. Let’s get to training. It’ll only be a matter of time before Lance sends something to attack us.”
There was a moment where we all looked around, half expecting something nefarious to appear, but nothing happened and we started training. A lot of it was new ways of using our swords and group tactics that he said were standard a thousand years ago but had been shunned for the Romantic ideal of the solitary knight errant.
As the sun started to set, we retrieved food from the van and had a picnic. As we rested, Galaus said, “You work well together. I see why Lance might be scared of you. Especially you two. Gatekeeper legacies are rare enough, but to have two in the same family is unheard of.”
“It’s a really big family,” Sylvie said, only partly kidding. We had more cousins than I could easily name.
“It looks like we’re about to find out how well you can do against a real opponent.” Galaus pointed back toward the road and I had trouble believing what I saw. Walking toward us were four musketeers, a masked man in scarlet, a semi-naked man with a laser sword, and a masked man all in black.
While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:
Morning,
Can-Con was a lot of fun. I had been reconsidering going next year but after this weekend, I’m looking forward to it. I was greeted warmly by lots of people I really like and respect. Some of them I hadn’t expected, and it made me feel way more welcome than I’ve ever remembered.
It was a nice weekend filled will great people and a really chill vibe.
Thank you to everyone who came to talk and I look forward to seeing you all next year.
Stay safe and be kind,
Éric
Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;
JenEric Coffee and JenEric Authors will be at Readers Harvest this Saturday in Brockville.
When: October 4th, 10am to 4pm
Where: 100 Magedoma Blvd Brockville, ON, Canada
What: Free Entry for the Public, First 20 Adults get a Swag Bag!
Hope to see you there!
Éric
