Description

Within the enigmatic Illian Cluster, a hungry creature named Zev prepares to depart from the space station for good, content to go wherever the cosmos might lead them. When they arrive on planet Hallow, they set a chain of events in motion that will change countless lives, human and otherwise.

Also in the AUU-16 universe:

Soulless (Apparently)–The Departure–Night Game–Ystets Lake

Community Reviews(4)

DeeeRoyal Road

★★★★★ 5.0

I am so happy with this story, every chapter is such an adventure with twists unexpected! I love, love, LOVE zev!!!!

Deep LurkerRoyal Road

★★★★★ 5.0

Its not everyday when I find a book that contains some of the elements of my favorite things, but this is one of them. It feels like a particularly good SCP story, with a well developed, horrifying universe, but with the main focus being on the monster, one more sympathetic character, and the occasional victim. Zev is a fun and wacky character who seems innocent and naive, until he kills and eats someone in a hunger fueled rampage as he kills for pleasure and to sate his lust for sustenance. I do particularly enjoy the mystery that his murderous actions unveil, and I would like to see where it goes. All in all, this is a good story, and I hope it stays that way.

M.D. DhalgrenRoyal Road

★★★★★ 5.0

I received a hardcopy of The Departure and its companion piece, "Soulless, Apparently," while deployed to the West Pacific and read it over them both over the course of a month or so. As it stands, the pieces overlap, but don't quite touch outside of the universe, where you can see the grass-roots overlap and spoil some of the future intricacies for yourself while satisfying your sweet-tooth for additional content.
"The Departure" perspective shifts between Zev - a predatory alien captive - and his concerned staff and the story jumpropes between conspiratorial intrigue, hunger and violence, and the musings of Janice, one of Zev's staff, struggling with her sensations of outersider-ness, as a xenobiological specimen-turned-researcher.
The story is well-written and stylish, even introspective at times, with compelling characters (most of all, Zev, our predatory alien himself, who has earned himself a cult following across the broader AUU-16 fandom) though it does show itself as a companion piece to broader media - the only 4/5 I've rendered the story, which I will explain below:
The Departure is a scene-setter. It is an opening act. It is baby's first spoonful of Volon. While it concerns itself with the conspiracies and intrigue it builds, The Departure sees very few of its intrigues through to their conclusions. But that is, to an extent, by design - this story is here to establish the mysteries and inconsistencies surrounding Zev, the dangers inherent to the Volon, and conflicted duality of our part-time protagonist, Janice. If you want to see these mysteries resolved (or tantalizingly developed further) you have to invest in the long-haul and pick up other companion pieces from AUU-16 and Illhark's ever-growing sci-fi portfolio.
I would highly recommend The Departure for anyone getting into the AUUniverse. If all its established mysteries don't hook your attention and coax you along to the website's compendium or the logical next installations in the series, its c

Sydney667Royal Road

★★★★★ 5.0

Great little story... I'm a huge fan of Illhark's work, The Departure is my current favorite of hers, very digestible and exciting. Zev as a character is frightening and engaging, a new and real boogey monster of online literature. I think Janice as a character is fantastic, the setting of the underground lab was very interesting and engaging. Putting a creature like Zev in an isolated space like that is a very frightening prospect... perfect for a horror setting~
I ended up getting a physical copy of this story, it was a very engaging read. I was very honored to be involved in developing the artwork for this story as well<3

The Departure

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Chapters(12 total)

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Community Reviews(4)