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📖 Paths and Topics

A topic is a starting point on Swift Axis: you read its first story, then choose where to go next. This page will guide you through how threads and series work, what the choice cards mean, and how the map and gem belt keep track of where you have been.

Starting a topic​

Open the "Explore" page, or any topic from the site, and press "Start reading". Once you have read part of a topic the button changes to "Continue reading", which takes you back to the story you left off at. This ensures you can pick up a topic days later without hunting for your place.

Reading a thread​

A thread is a topic made of stories joined by choices. At the end of a story you see a card section headed "The path continues", "The path splits in two" or "The path splits", depending on how many choices the writer offered (up to three). Each card shows the story's title, a short hook, its reading time and, if you have already read it, a "Read ✓" mark.

The cards are labelled by what they do:

  • Continue the path: the main path, the way the writer suggests you go. Its button reads "Take this path".
  • Go deeper: a side path that explores something in more detail.
  • Take a side road: a crossroad, a link to a story elsewhere on the site, sometimes in another topic. Its card says where it leads.

A card marked "Coming soon" is a story the writer has planned but not published yet. You cannot open it, and it becomes a normal card once it is live.

Endings and the gem belt​

When a path has no more stories you reach an ending, and the page says "You found an ending". Each ending in a topic earns a gem for that topic's belt. The belt, headed "Your belt", counts how many paths you have explored, such as "2 of 5 paths explored", and says when every path is done. After an ending, "Return to the fork" takes you back to the nearest earlier choice that still has a path you have not explored.

The map​

Press "Map" on a story, or "Open full map" in the side panel, to see "Your map" for the topic. The map shows every story as a node, and its key tells you what each marker means:

  • Read: you have finished that story.
  • You are here: the story you are reading now.
  • Not explored yet: published, but you have not opened it.
  • Ending: a story with no stories after it.
  • Coming soon: planned, not yet published.
  • Shortcut: a crossroad to another story.

Use "View as list" if you would rather scan the topic as a list than drag a map. The "Open the map" button on the "Explore" page shows every topic's map together, and "Reset my progress" clears what the site remembers as read on this device.

Reading a dated series​

A series is a topic of dated entries, newest first, such as a daily report. There are no choices. Each entry ends with "Previous day" and "Next day" cards, a "Latest" button that jumps to the newest entry, and a link to the full archive of entries. If an entry is the first or the latest, the card says so.

tip

Your progress is kept on this device by default. To carry it between devices, see Signing in and syncing.

Best Practices​

  • Follow the main path first: it is the writer's intended route, and the side paths make more sense afterwards.
  • Check the map before leaving: unexplored nodes show what you have missed.
  • Use the list view on small screens: it is easier to scan than the map.