I have always had a weakness for psychopaths. Strife and Xander are absolutely the best. Omg.

I really absolutely love this. I usually wait, when I start a work this long in progress, to review until I get to the end. But after the first chapter I'm already hooked. I've fallen in love with your writing style, your portrayel of emotion (your grasp of your characters, and especially the weariness and awkwardness) and attention to detail is amazing. I should working, I have a million things I should be doing, but...just one more chapter...XD

Ha! I like how your "beginning" is half a fantasy epic in length!
And Tallen really needs to get himself together and explain things, several times. It's painful to read!

Wow, looks awesome. I don't have anything fabulous to say, just starting this now, but I think 100k words warrants a few review number boosters. I'll put this out now, and eventually meander back and add better reviews :}
The summary looks super interesting though.

Woot, an update!
That was a great chapter. Really interesting. Finally something that could almost be called answers. xD
I'm still amazed by your writing. Normally, I would've skipped the gory details of how Strife got his revenge. But this was really fascinating, interesting. I really like those two, they're so much fun.
As usual, looking forward to more! Thanks for an amazing update. :)

Thank you. There were some things in this chapter I have been looking forward to, and it was everything I could have hoped.
If, as I suspect, you continue your usual pattern of chapters, I am not sure whether to be happy or sad. As much as I look forward to hearing more about Frost and Tallen, I am not sure I can bear the wait until Canaan's and Strife's story continues!

Well, I'm definitely hooked.
Great story so far, and I must say, the language is way more mature than what I tend to expect from these sites. I am very grateful for the lack of ikea erotica and overly detailed descriptions of the characters.
I instantly fell in love with both couples. The characterization is great, and I love how you explore "deviant" personalities without turning it into a freakshow or cardboard cut-outs.
Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. ;)
Other than the occasional spelling/grammar mistakes, you have some problems with sentence structure and confusing POWs. I also have some issues with your chapter pacing, and think the beginning could use some work.
But all that is for revision later, when you have finished writing the story. :)

Thanks for this chapter. It was absolutely fascinating. I really, really like those two. They're fun and so not the kind of protagonists you usually get to read about.

I love this. It is just vague enough to be interesting. I do think the pace might have gotten just a little too slow since maybe the middle of chapter 3- maybe it needs more obvious tie in to a climax rather than just random personal history?

grammar note: when you endure something, you get past it, not passed it.

Okay, I really don't know what you did to me. I started reading this a few days ago. The first part of the first chapter was a little boring. Or maybe I just wasn't in the right mood or something. Anyway, I didn't think it was that great.
But then I thought I'd read a bit more, since it's only such a small part of a relatively long story. So I continued reading. And kept reading. And reading. And reading. And suddenly I realized this isn't boring or not great anymore. I realized I was utterly intrigued and thoroughly addicted. xD
The little pieces of information you keep throwing at us, the tiny flashbacks, the interludes, everything just dragged me further into the story. What should've been way too confusing, with too much gore on occasion, was instead fascinating and hot.
And I think I finally have a theory about this. At least for Tallen and Frost. Still not sure about the rest... Anyway, I think Tallen and Frost are kind of reborn and in every new life, they're destined to be together. They always seem to be facing hardships and they have essentially the same personality.
As for Xander (I forgot his real name... whoops) and Strife, I just don't know. One moment I'm convinced Xander died and was reborn as the child of a human family here in our world, while Strife lived longer and went to hunt his lover down. Then I'm convinced Xander was somehow put under a curse or something, sent to our world, his memories wiped, to be replaced with those of growing up with his parents here in our world.
How the four of them go together and who that mysterious boy from Xander's dream is, is still a mystery to me though...
And I really don't know how you do it, because normally I get squicked out by gorey stuff easily, but somehow you made those scenes with Strife so incredibly hot...
Seriously, this story is amazing. I have no idea what you did to me, but this story worked its magic on me and now I'm hooked. xD

*throws rocks*
You're f*cking with me, aren't you?
Lol, jokes. You have me confused but I did find this to be an endearing chapter. Now please, get back to making sense so I don't rip out my own hair :)
And you know what? You didn't write the stranger's name! I kept waiting that. Do you enjoy infuriating us?

Oh, I was wrong. I was so wrong. They're not ideas, they're /flashbacks/. Wonderful, fantastic flashbacks trying to break through and make themselves known when something that happens arouses them. Ohoho, that is glorious. Beautiful little pieces of information slipping through, letting us in on things that we have yet to understand, that don't make sense to anyone but /them/. Absolutely beautiful.

I want to say that I feel for Daniel, but I don't know him, I don't know what he's been through, and I certainly haven't had the same thing happened to me. I do feel sorry for him, oh so sorry, but that won't get him anywhere. This whole chapter was necessary, and fantastic, and- Oh, I just love it more than words can describe. It's just- I can't explain it. I think it helped that towards the end I was listening Happiness by The Fray.

Apart form a few grammar mistakes (again, nothing mayor), this 'interlude', or flashback, was rather exciting and well written and wonderful. I really think Tallen is hiding something now. Why change his own name? Or maybe he was given a new name by his uncle? So many questions.

-Just Kill Me Alive

I decided to wait until the first chapter was over before I reviewed.

Well, I like this story a lot, the plot is still not quite clear to me, but the way you write intrigues me nonetheless. You writing style seems effortless and it looks so easy the way you write the little insights into the character's thoughts or the details from an action or a question. It feels right for it to be there, written like that. It doesn't seem forced or like it would be better if it wasn't there. Apart from that, I have noticed a few writing/grammar mistakes, nothing too big, and I would suggest to make the paragraphs a little smaller, if possible.

The characters' dialogue also seems very natural to me. The way they act, too. They are hesitant and thoughtful, the way I find a lot of people to be, rather than confident in their every being and saying everything with ease. I quite like Frost, and when he met Tallen I had my suspicions that they had met before. The little snippets of his thoughts (the ones that looked as if they were hidden from view of everyone) in brackets helped me with the thought. It wasn't until Part IV that it turned out to be correct.

I'm extremely interested to see what happened to Tallen in order to get the scars on his face when he was a child. I have a few suspicions, but I want to see how that pans out. Overall, a very interesting story, I'm curious to see how it continues.

I'm quite envious of your style, if I must say. Good luck with the rest of this story, I hope it's going according to plan.
-Just Kill Me Alive

Darn it! You had to end it like that?
Once again, some of these memories seemed to confuse me, whilst others made more sense. Looking forward to next chapter. And of course I'm still wondering of any of these character stories will ever link up.

Wow. I think things are starting to make sense now. And this is the part where you decide the next chapter will be about a completely different pairing, in order to confuse me again.
I think this chapter had the most fantasy elements so far. Lynk was SOO creepy. And the talk of a eunich had me thinking of Lord Varys from Game of Thrones. lol.
I'm starting to understand why Strife told Xander that his marriage was "complicated". I'd like to know more about Xander's past life. Keep going... You have me intrigued.
I really liked this chapter :D Thank you!