Tales of Strings: Three Short Steps

The Story

On an ordinary trip to the mall, Andy watches a man die of a heart attack, and is utterly unable to save him. He learns of a page on the internet run by "The Judge" that passes judgement on the people of Midvale, and the sentence is death. Andy and Dorothy take it upon themselves to stop The Judge, but his methods remain elusive. Andy is going to need every ounce of his wits to save the next victim, because if he doesn't, then it will be the Knights he passes judgement on next.

Tales of Strings: Three Short Steps is a novella in the Knights of Justice series. It takes place before the events of Varsity Vixens, though you don't need to have read the other entries in the series to enjoy this one. It takes place in the same universe as the other Tales of Strings series but stands independently.

As an important content note, this story contains numerous depictions of death and a bit of suicidal ideation discussion. It is not for the faint of heart. As such, I do not feel right charging money for it, and have disabled all monetization. If you want to give me money, give it to a charity instead, they need the help more.

The Knights of Justice Series 

Want an intro to the series? Check out The First Joust, a short, free demo story!

In chronological order: 
Twin Jade Eyes
Strings Are Attached
Their Base Material
High Lord of Dust
Crush Depth
Bound by Love and Grace
Knighttime
Sticks and Straws
Three Short Steps (You are here)
Actirangers, Come Forth!
Solace of Orange
 Varsity Vixens

If you are interested in future stories, you can check out the Knights of Justice Catalogue.

Next time on the Knights of Justice: Disaffection
Zoey Bafford is going to die. She has a rare disease, so rare that there is no known treatment, and certainly no cure. Except one. Becoming a hybrid to bypass the flaw in her genes that deactivate her bone marrow. She'll have to give up her old life and take a new one in an organization that she knows is, on some level, an evil one. 

She is assigned to work security at a soup kitchen. When a handsome, charming, friendly boy in a black jacket volunteers to work there, she finds herself falling for his nerdy charms.

The great cosmic gardener tends to his garden. All things must become right in the end.

Important Contents:  

This is a novel with minor transformation elements. Unlike most of the Tales of Strings series, this one is not sexually explicit. There are explicit descriptions in the story of violence, death, and suicidal ideation.

Statistics: 110 pages, 37000 words. 3 full-page images by artist Judith plus title.
A zip file is included with hi-res versions of the in-story images as well. 

Other Works by these authors: 

Salty Justice is the chair of the Bottled Starlight game studio. This story takes place in the String Tyrant universe (sort of), which is tangential to Runes of Pandemonium. If you like this novel, you'll probably find something to like in those games. 

Judith (aka Blue Orchid) the artist is on VGen, Bluesky, and Instagram! Go check her out!

Chibi Knights by Nox Butterspace on vgen.

Special Thanks: Editing/Proofreading/EPUB formatting by MarioneTTe. Stinkehund for adding title lettering.

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