There is a passage in Book 2 that I felt needed a bit of explaining. So, here it is.

There's a scene where Thomas is talking to his less-than-nice brother A'loc about WW2 and how it's more, or less A'locs fault. The reason it's his is fault is due to A'loc tampering with some "German Philosopher" and driving him nuts in the process. The idea in the book is that altering a persons mind too much can make the subject unstable, even insane. This is touched on briefly before...but that is not my point here.

Friedrich Nietzsche, for those of you who don't know, was a German philosopher. He lived from 1844 to 1900. He's the one who most people when the word nhilist comes up. I won't go into some crazy rant about Will to power, or any other such thing that makes people roll their eyes at me...it doesn't matter here.  What does matter is there is a chance that Nietzsche's writings were influential on the ideas the Nazi's were so proud of.

Let me state right now. I don't know this to be fact. I dug around for a while before writing this for citations and ended up finding it's a decently argued subject with no agreed upon answer (like I said, argued  :P  )  The idea was actually brought to me years ago in school during a high level philo class I was taking at the time - the professor believed it to be true. Personally, I can see that, there's a lot of similarities.

Now then, where did I come up with this "driving him nuts" idea?  I really didn't, I merely fudged reality a bit. When Nietzche died, he was not all there. Initially, it was believed to be syphilis, then it was challanged as periodic psychosis, then it was offered that it could have been dementia....needless to say...a screw was loose. From what I've read, it's believed that his sanity handicap did not effect his writing...for my purposes it makes for better storytelling that it did.  

The idea is that A'loc had this great idea to help lead humanity in to a better tomorrow, so he tried to share it through a proxy, Nietzsche. The spell worked, the idea was written down, but ended up becoming twisted and foul because of his deteriorating mentality... then another crazy got a hold of it and... you know  /end rant

Two friends enjoy a beverage and each others company outside a local restaurant.

"Alright, Thomas. I'm gonna need you to explain this to me one more time."

"The elves are on strike. Their list of grievances are posted online, all very reasonable."

"That I get, no one likes to be treated like garbage. What are they doing here and where the hell is the fat man?"

"I suppose after they destroyed the factory they realized they needed to deal with me next. I'm betting they don't know about you, M."

"You? Why you?"

"I'm Nicholas's only living friend."

"What? How do you know Santa?"

"I helped him build the first factory and set up relations with the elves, back when he was St. Nicholas."

"And now they want out?"

"They don't want out, they want what everyone else wants: hourly pay, vacation time, benefits."

M snorts. "Since when did Santa start turning a profit?"

"Since he started selling the rights to his name and image to everyone and anyone."

"Where is he anyways? This is his problem not ours."

"Vacation in Florida. The moment the elves came in to town, they became our problem."

M shrugs. "Fine. So, why are we eating here? Shouldn't we hunt them down and end this?"

"They wanted to meet."

"To meet? They flew all the way here to talk? That makes no sense. It's not like you have anything to do with their problems."

"I know."

"Then you think it's an ambush, is that why all the roads are closed?"

"You got it."

M smiles. "Kill, or capture?"

"Capture if you can. Kill if you must."

"Added challenge, awesome. So, what do they look like?"

The ground trembles and I point over M's shoulder. "I'll give you one guess."

In the empty intersection a block away stands two gigantic, metal, domed feet. Dirtied and scratched from use, they leave giant craters where the landed. I follow the feet up its rigid legs and over its blocky, broad chest to it's boxy head and oversized eyes.

"That is a big ass robot. I'd be a lot more concerned if this thing didn't look like it was from the 50's. Where's the guns, lasers, rockets? It's nothing more than a giant toy." M says.

We stand up and start walking towards it. It's here for me, not to destroy town. We don't have to hurry.

He points upward. "What the heck is that and what's up with the hat?"

On top of the robot's head rests a red cone-shaped hat, but where the white ball should be, is a long, metal pole.

"Probably an antenna. I bet it's controlled remotely. The hat is the sign of a Northern Elf."

"Oh, the cowards didn't even show up to fight, they sent in a ringer?"

"Northern elves are exactly what the stories make them out to be: short little people that are good with their hands, but have little access to technology."

"Fair enough."  M cracks his neck. "All right, let's do this."

"You take top, I take bottom."

"I'll see you in the middle."

I take off at a jog, checking the runes on my fingers and loosening each of them like a pianist. From my fingertips, I pop off a couple lightning bolts at it's legs. They connect, but only leave scorch marks behind. Hoping the attack did more than I can see, I send off a couple more in rapid procession. Each one ends with the same result.

The robot steps towards me and I hear a loud Boom, that has me look up just in time see a very large, metallic hand sail through the air and crash into the building next to me. So much for the elves not destroying the city.

I finish the last dozen feet in a sprint and use the robot's leg to shield me from the building and office debris. The robot makes no indication that it knows I'm here. M is doing a fantastic job of distracting. Seeing as I have an opportunity to do some real damage, I set my hands in position and torch the robot's leg in fire. Maybe I can melt the damned thing.

*                                  *                                  *

"I'll see you in the middle." Is all I have time to say before Thomas advances on Santa's Little Slayer.

Waiting for the perfect moment, I watch the combatants with complete focus. Distractions and ambushes are in need of precision, of perfection. Without both, it all ends in failure and for naught. Waiting, waiting, waiting, now. With but a thought, I launch in to the clear skies at the head of the metallic monster.

The robotic giant takes notice and lifts its arm against me. Boom! The hand explodes through the air, but my speed is misjudged. The five-fingered death shot ends its journey with a three story explosion of chairs, desks, stone and mortar that rains down on the city street like a bad day.

My partner makes it through unharmed and unnoticed. He goes to work on the legs of this towering toy of terror as I slam into and through it's head like a bullet. Electronic innards explode out of it's new cranial cavity behind me. I twist, spin and plant myself feet first into the building behind the mechano-man. I explode into the air once again, shattering the shatter-proof office window and setting forth for it's back.

*                                  *                                  *

The flames turn the metal leg red-hot and dripping with molten iron. The spell begins to drain me mentally and physically as the heat draws sweat from my head, the stench of burning metal doesn't help either.

As M explodes through the robot's head. it teeters slightly from the impact, but remains on its feet. I turn the heat up and begin to melt holes into the robot's hollow leg.

Exposed wires begin to liquefy and sever their connections with the foot. I cut off the flames and shoot electricity up the wires of the leg, maybe I can short it out.

I never find out if it worked. M slams into the back of the robot and sends it face down in the street, barely missing the buildings on either side. The force of its landing bounces a car up in the air.

M lands lightly next to me and grabs the partially melted, partially torn foot and rips it off the rest of the way. He hops on its back and bashes it with his bare fists over and over, leaving it's body looking more like Swiss cheese and less like a robot. He hops off the back of the robot and smiles.

"Kick it while it's down."

"Nice to see you finally learned that." I look back at what's left of the robot. "Although I think it might have been overkill this time."

"Excuse me!" A distant voice says.

Running out of a building adjacent from the smoking robot is a reporter and his cameraman. They stop in front of us, catching their breath and facing each other.

"Okay, phew. Let's go Chuck on 3...2.." The reporter takes a deep breath. "A fantastic battle has ended today here on Troost and Arland between two unknown men and a giant robot." The reporter turns towards me and asks, "Sir, what is your name?" He puts the microphone to my mouth.

"Thomas."

The reporter shoves the mic in M's face. M looks at me and back at the reporter. "Um, M."

The reporter looks at us, confused, and continues on without missing a step. "Thomas, can you tell us what has happened here? Was the robot going to destroy the city, or was it here for you?"

"It was here for me."

"Why would someone send a robot to murder you?"

"Santa's elves are on strike, they thought I could be a threat."

The reporter stares at us for a moment. "Are you saying that Santa Clause is real?"

"Yes, sir."

He turns to M. "That was a spectacular fight."

M scratches the back of his head. "Thanks, I guess."

"How did you learn to fly, have you always been able to?"

"Um, I just, sorta...jump really well."

"How did you manage to fly through the robot, are you super strong?"

"Yes."

"Is there anything you would like to tell the public?"

M looks at me and I shrug. "Kids, don't do drugs."

M and I walk away from the reporter and towards our car before the reporter can say anything else. I can't help but laugh.

"What?" He asks.

"Don't do drugs?"

"Isn't that what you're supposed to say?"

I think about it. "I honestly don't know."

"Why did we even talk to that guy?"

"It's time we went public, we're going to need help with what's coming. This seemed like a good time to do it."

"Yeah, shit's about to get real!"

I added another game tonight, "Stick RPG Full." It seemed like it could be a fun game, but I honestly didn't play it a lot. If anyone has any suggestions on games they would like to see here, drop me an email or comment on this posting and I'll see what I can do. I am limited to html embeded games (meaning the site the game from hosts the game)

I could post the whole thing and let you read it here, but that would take away from you checking out a website full of reviews. So here's a link instead: http://fullmoonbites.blogspot.com/2012/12/review-ammit-chronicles-of-m-2-by.html

I was thinking about adding a section that lists the days when an author's book(s) are free to the public. I would just have them email me and I would post it with the book cover, a link to it on amazon (US and UK) and maybe a description of the book. Would anyone be interested in that that comes on here? Thoughts, comments appreciated.  :D