A purple burp of a slime biter hid amongst the thicket. The scale-charred sword of the guhl shard drug across the dirt inches away. Though hidden, the blades could cut, giving seconds to escape perhaps, but more assured it would be, they could shoot from the trees, after coating their blades with these links. Marnix…
Blocks fell charred and knurled from the flame lined jaw of the timber chewer. Each halted bump of its immense body shook the trees blanketing the wall of our escape. With our elm and metal armor and twisted pinon bone spindles we would have to move quickly and be sure to coat each piece in…
A strong wind swept across the drenched black sand. The limestone mountains gleaming in the crisp morning air. The entrance close. The razor ’s gears cutting around each cube of solid light. Each surface smooth. The brightest one of all riddled with time shards of these links. Aaron Limonick – LA-based concept artist with a range of…
It began slowly, a low hum buried in a flea-bitten haze of fur and glowing eyes. What we were hearing in the cavern and what we were measuring on the nibblometer didn’t match though. The power readings were off the charts, and all we could do is huddle in the corner, cover our eyes, and…
Thunder clapped around the base of the red metal arms tearing up through the soil and fog. An uncountable number of drones shot from the launch bays on its back, streaming laser beams and orange juice streams, all moving as a single entity at the bidding of its master, attempting to quell the fiery rage…
Satchels swung from the fenceposts snagged on the barbs by the passerby’s whipping past on steel steed with wind on their heels chasing a pint of mead. Rusted eyes would catch a glimpse of the bags against the sun, oiled eons past when the mechs tilled the land, bound to happen again once hatch the…
15 million water spouts dripped against a noticeable stench rising out of the eroded interior of the last great Puchaungle warrior’s shell. Hollow, crumbles of metal flakes fought floating against the drops and every once in a while the sounds all came together like a song, a song sifting a course, asking for these links.…
The canopy was a sandwich of eyes and dew-drenched leaves. We had all but to shift our gaze to see blinks that would start a rainfall. We inched closer to the clearing, their movements becoming more intense with each of our steps and their eyes starting to glow like the edges of these links. Alice…
We heard the crunch as we stepped up on the platform. Wood. Metal clamps. Held together with what looked like veins of a five-day-old onion thrown against the wall and dowsed with curry powder. The smell wasn’t too dissimilar. We had two choices, continue on and make the ridge before dark or settle in, grill…
A tailwind caught the sails. We could do it – cut the reefs and jump the sandbars. We would have to hit the engine cycles perfectly though and make sure the cords held the turnip load. Fear would have overtaken us, but we had plenty of cord, cord made from the sinew of these links.…
A fog heaved above the rusted arms as it peeled itself from the crucible. We were outside the radius of its detection as that delicate candied green lightning struck and shattered about. The tales were true and if we were to harvest any of the shards, we would need to distract it with these links.…
Tired and torn the Chinzwhithal cut a furrow at the canyon pass up to the chiseled peaks of Monteretch, collapsing at dusk having cut just deep enough to unblock the spring where the vein would now fill with the nectar of these links. Maciej Drabik – New space scenes and cities (plus a city kitbash set) with…
From the top of the trees it took more time but going by ground or sky was impossible. The limbs provided us brief cover when melon seeds would come exploding through the leaves. The only thing we knew for sure is that these incredibly massive weather anomalies could only be generated by these links. JaeCheol…
We slid down, hitting each branch as we went, as we meant. For, if we hadn’t, we surely would have been caught in the sudden ooze of the of the Slinktree sap. It happened only every 18 months and was the only time we could capture the bore weevils pincer flares, dripping with the liquid…
Glances from beneath their transparent sheath missed us as we hid, the hair of their eye jibbles quivering in time with the rattles of their undulating movements, moistening the corridor with the critical ingredient needed to find, extract, and combine these links. Mack Sztaba – A concept artist with a wide range of talent, particularly in the…
Eight times we ran the code. Line upon line scrolled past, reflected in the hollow glass orbs festooned across its metal skull. The inch-long tusks would jitter occasionally as the eyes shuddered and lit, as if it were anxious to finally catch a glimpse of these links. Reza Afshar – Wonderful pieces of nearly abstract…
A blue moss wall, iced with frost spider webs, grappled its way past roots and branches of the Shornfort realm. The forms would glisten and melt, recrystallized with a shrill scream as you pass holding your finds, cold shadows waiting to be within reach of these links. Nick Gindraux – Ancient dragon riders, old Russian…
A small edge was all but was left. We had plenty of rivets though, rivets and enough mech shards to till the thousand acre leek fields. Building back the launchpad would take time, of course, but the body’s internals we’re all intact. New armor and a blast shield would work better this time. This time,…
10 bags of blistered tentacles crawled their way through the corridor. Eyes bulging against the cloudy sack to peer deep into the darkness of the chasm that rent the ship in two and caused the escape of these links. Ivan Tantsiura – Exceptionally minimal scenes of concept ships. And then you get an enjoyable smattering…
Peaks tipped in the trees of a juniper freeze rose out ahead of us. Nine times out of ten you wouldn’t see, wouldn’t hear, the wood spider’s howl but, on a night like this, your chance was better than others, when in your bait pouch, you carried these links. ShuoLin Liu – EVA units and…
A spray of foam exploded out the sockets of the metal chewer’s rusted neck seams. It was the first time he’d laughed in centuries. Before he had finished devouring any more of the pickled light orbs though, there was a job to do. It was time to get to work, hunt down, and capture these…
The move to the hinterland was upon us. We had shards of daylight split between vast nights, bridged only by the shifting tree worm’s shrieks. We were not sure if the wooded channel actually existed, but we were sure of the Hintergurgle. For once it knew what you were after, it would do everything to…
A dizzy spot in a timber rot grew up through the forest, and quiet bears chunked little bear up through the treetops, to see where the Habble Shrumper might have stashed its gold, the gold as old as grandpa bear who fought him five scores before, to bring the village these links. Boti Harko – Wonderful…
The tundra trails wound through the brush, dusted in the sticks of fallen trees and the fancy winter people’s sculptures of clay and ice. We had to find the blue one though, darker and slightly larger than the others, glowing with rich, sticky gum juice of these links. Alejandro Burdisio – You’ve not seen flying…
The cap slapped shut with a thud and the tunnels expanded. You would never think a labyrinth of this complexity lay beneath the grass, yet the expanding corridors of hinged plates, overlapping gears and pistons steaming drew us toward the cavern, the cavern where we would slap muffin bubbles into these links. G liulian -…
Dealt and determined to pitch his strength against the bow, he swung from the cliff, rope unfurled—a moose looked up, rabbits perked their ears, whales began to sing, and the punch came down, with a thudding, watery sound that sprang the veiny gold tendrils from these links. Greg Danton – Epic creatures, giants, trolls and…
The Vensovians would land their ships at dusk. Tall and lanky with silver eyes and clip fins at each joint, the gill rifles hung at their hips like a set of pin pistols. They were effective shots too, easily taking out each lycanthrope to harvest tubes of these links. Steve Chinhsuan Wang – Dragons, ships,…
Eight days it rained with each inch exposing more and more of the mud imps’ lairs. There are two things to remember when preparing to take on so many mud imps at once: 1) keep your jugular covered at all times and 2) they have an insatiable hunger for these links. Jakub Javora – His…
A trip across the roots slowed us down but, gaining speed as we had, we were nary less than 100 meters upon the blast pad. There was something about the sparks as we reached it, seen for a blink as our grapplers sank through the metal. Once we were onboard, stopping the planet melt would…
It wasn’t classified in any of the journals, but the muzzle horns looked vaguely similar to another Furzle Skorn we had seen on the upper ridge. This was certainly the right place. Now, all we had to do is lure out all fifty feet of it, launch the gelatin, and harness it with these links.…
Dusk hit, and the whir of a million tiny mechanical feet clinching the rock could be heard for miles around. The cliffs were not ours, but a good cliff isn’t formed out of its desire to be a good cliff. The centuries were ours as well, the time spent carving, the dust, the strange finds, and…
It wasn’t until the storm began that we saw just how many joints the spider titan had. Socket upon socket, torn rubber stretching it’s wiry tendons between. Fifty bends and deftly drawing its way up the chasm wall, and strapped to its back, a hundred of its babies suckling on these links. Yaroslav Kotsubinskiy -…
The piers ended where the gas vents began. From there, two miles to the ridge and another half mile to the crater. We could see their necks from the boat, weaving and twisting, laced with lava, and skin that glowed like the coals of these burning, red links. Klaus Wittmann – An excellent cacophony of concept…
The piles were many, yet it stood atop, triumphant. When the sounds started again, we were not quite ready, but we could tell it was. Leaping from mound to mound toward us, it landed with its masked face pointed away, a beam of light shining out of the tiny visor, suddenly turning, holding in its…
4 AM and the mouse nest stirred. Frost lit the channels, the straw, by the moon. And stolen away in the warmth, a light gray, eyes set ablaze, by the flames that were set, in the morn on the quest, for this raw band of links. Vitali Timkin – The concept artist from Minsk can crank…
Threads were drawn across their arms, five arrows each, held by their teeth. Ten times they let fly. Ten times the ship shielded our descent. Dust blown, then settled, they were gone, and left in their wake, the skin of these links. James Gilleard – Love the mix of stylistic vector illustration with bits of edgy,…
Rolling side to side, on toward the rough hewn slide, and we, barely touching foot to ground, jumping across their heads, fled, and as we did the large one turned, with the others flanking round, to jump and eat, and trigger the uplink from their ship to these fine links. sslololss – He’s an illustrator…
The piles of wooden legs, metal arms and felt bacon strips was an odd combination to line the corridor. We hadn’t been on board for long, and nearly 45 minutes before they docked, but we knew what they would be seeking. Arm and leg repairs, of course, but they knew the most nutrients would be…
When the bowls dropped, we jumped out of the barrels. In the rambunction we didn’t notice the machines had moved in. Hundreds of them, thin and towering, light and quiet, only noticed when their combined silhouettes blotted out the sun revealing these links. Juan Pablo Roldan – Massive scenes, ships, mechs and more. Beautiful lighting…
A tall lanky fellow slid down the old gutter, water shedding below where his feet landed. Small bottles hung at his side where a coat of velvet jade hid most of his legs. A wind-broke, wide-brimmed hat recorded the marks and bore his intent to devour these links. Jan Buragay – If you missed Jan’s…
There were elbows. Not just elbows, but the thick skin of elbows, poking up through the surface of the ground. Now, there’s one thing a bean sprite doesn’t like, and that’s when you step, scrap or trip upon the elbows of the sycamores they’re sworn to protect. Every vibration, every damage, it felt through these…
The leaves we raked through the mist had left the eaters confused at first. We pushed the piles close as we could without them seeing, but you could tell they were trying to smell what was helping them feed. Why assist such creatures? Though blind, their quills were the only things that could protect us from…
The bottles opened on their own. Not like you might think. The caps peeled themselves off slowly, cracking and grinding, the bottle content overflowing. Then the veins. Oh, the veins. Barely visible through the glass at first, but pressing, spreading up and out, forming the flapping tentacles of these links. Elijah McNeal – Oh, how…
The cones of bear fur lined the cavern ledges. Though they seemed uniform and color sorted, it was quickly apparent why we had heard the noises and rumbles from this place. One by one, we saw, hidden at first but there in the fur, the glowing eyes of these links. Nik Henderson – Fabulous! Loads of…
Jets raced through the sky, skimming the embered edge of the fire kraken’s atmosphere. Most wouldn’t make it to the cloud tower port, but if they did, the beast would fall. For there it was discover and known this day what icy hell would be wrought once aligned were these links. Tomislav Jagnjic – delightful, oddly…
A sound came from the crevice. And also a smell. It wasn’t unlike a musty dried grass. But wasn’t like it either. Could all of them have made it to the shed? Too small. Too many. But we hadn’t factored in how they could shapeshift into these links. Laurent Palmier – Ships, ships and more ships.…
Five times we heard the rapping at the gate–a tinny echo, guttural and shrill. We were not sure if it was their claws scraping the steel bars, the sound from their jawless face or both. But when we heard them break through, we decided unequivocally it was time fire these links. Brian Sum – New work from…
The tired, worn hinges held the remaining chunks of a massive, metal door shredded. It’s where the tapping started, echoing down the corridor to an area that sounded much bigger, much bigger indeed. Of course, we knew they were big and with this one able to tear through 20 inches of steel, it had to…
Nuts and Bolts. They seemed to fall like a thin rain. We could hardly tell what they were at first but, sure enough, the puddles of oil magnified the miniature hardware. But every third or fourth one was something different. Something different indeed. And the there were more, until nothing but their gears were grinding…
The glass fell from the skylights as the ships retreated overhead. The assassins were small, but furry and leapt from the aft cargo bay without fear and one mission on their mind – harness the Veggomancer and extract these links. Elana Limkina – Here cross hatching is among the best. These are photos of her…