alexclaw

Brewer King 22

“Sweet Senta, sweet Senta!” Elgava was crying as the buzzing filled the air.

San’s ears ached from the noise; he worked his jaw trying to ease the pressure that seemed to have changed. Elgava continued to mutter prayers and shiver. San pulled out the bottle and gave it to her.

“Drink,” he said.

She looked at him uncomprehendingly and sniffed the bottle, reeling back from the smell.

“I’m not looking to get drunk,” she said.

“It’s cou...

B3-22 - Armies

“An army that’s made up of fanatical cannibal death cultists?” Hanna asked.

“Yup.”

“And they’re coming right for the ship you’re basing this entire Cage out of?”

“Yup.”

“What happens if they capture the ship?”

“Well, they could probably figure out how to shut down the Cage, forcing it back into the RSH and killing everyone within it,” Maya said.

“Let’s not have that happen, shall we?” George said.

“That’s why I�...

Brewer King 21

“This is barbaric,” San muttered.

“Does your land have better ways of ensuring military discipline?” Pavano asked. He too looked uncomfortable with what was going on.

“I’m not sure. I was never in the military, but we stopped using corporal punishment on soldiers or civilians,” San said as he watched two men be stripped of their coats and tunics. They were tied to a post that had been recently planted in the ground and another solider with a lash was limbering up the...

B3-21 - The Return of the Tarvana

Maya twisted the bolt holding the mechanism in place. She could feel it grinding and crunching within her gauntlets. The suit’s hearing protection kicked in, reducing the screeching of metal into a low noise.

“Dang,” she huffed. “This thing was on tight.”

“I would have gladly done it,” Tender said, his voice coming through her comm. Currently the rogue AI was sitting in his ‘special chair’ controlling the scores of ants picking over the hiveship. Most of the heav...

Brewer King 20

The entire household and San stood in the freezing front area of the farmhouse as the Baron’s Guards arrived. A messenger had arrived an hour before, announcing the Mage Lieutenant and the Guards, then asked for something hot to drink.

“They could conquer the Empire,” Azios said, amazement in his voice.

San had other opinions on the military force that arrived into the komai. Opinions that would probably not be taken kindly by… actually as San thought about it, none, besid...

B3-20 - Making a List

“Cores away!” Maya shouted as she pressed a button. There was a soft thump that she could feel through the deck of the Cage as the first of many C5 mana cores were launched.

The view screen before her showed the tall cylindrical cores exiting the Cage, falling into the blackness of space, and a moment later a series of thrusters pushed the cores toward a waiting craft. A small modified shuttle sat a kilometer from the threshold, Zoya and Veskari occupying the vessel.

The shutt...

Brewer King 19

San woke with a half forgotten memory. It tickled his mind, that something, a figment that he could almost remember. It was on the tip of his tongue, like a word that he knew but couldn’t summon at the moment.

He could feel the ice cold and the soft voice whispering in his ears. He could feel the ice in his veins and the cold washing over him and the words. The words that spoke of… something.

Endaha and Azios were awake; both looking bleary eyed for some reason.

B3-19 - Who is the Merchant Here

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Maya said entering the tense room. She looked at everyone and then at the two with the weapons draw upon one another. “I’m sure we can measure dicks in a different way, like without shooting one another.”

“This is not a matter of measuring dicks,” one of the men said. Maya vaguely remembered him as a man from Indonesia, one of the small groups that had been given a Sullivan Box, but then immediately made contact and organized several little b...

Brewer King 18

“King me,” San said.

Azios scowled and flipped the wooden piece over to reveal a crudely drawn crown. He stared at the board between then and frowned at it.

“I’m losing,” he said.

“There’s no shame in that, Azios,” San replied. “It’s a new game you’re learning. You don’t need to be the best when you’re starting out, maybe after you’ve gotten a few games under your belt, you’ll be good at it.”

Cassa reached for the pieces befor...

B3-18 - Suds

There was a lot of shouting going on among the Chicago representatives. Maya noted the Mayor there in a well fitting suit, along with an older man, a bit of silver in his close cropped hair, but fit and wearing a simple military BDU. He stood with the Mayor and several other men who didn’t look military, but were well armed.

Facing off against them was a bigger old guy with a uniform that was a tad too small and with so many medals on his chest that Maya figured he’d stop...

Brewer King 17

“Fire in the Night,” San muttered. The fire flared a moment, causing Azios to look up at him. San smiled back. “Just a bit of precaution.”

Azios nodded, still holding Cassa and giving her some kimchi. She ate it eagerly.

Night began to fall and San sat before the fire, adding fuel and trying to keep the temperature at a constant level. The last thing he wanted was to burn the mixture. He had on his headlamp and constantly checked the simmering imbar. If it worke...

B3-17 - The Thread That Connects All SIL

“It’s not all fun and games,” Maya said to the gathered men and women. The viewscreen before them showed a land of horror, of madness, of sickening brutality that stunned the mind. “You here, you who have been chosen to work and learn, to level your abilities; this is what you’re fighting against.”

A small caption below the screen displayed the name of the city, Faisalabad, Pakistan.

“Mana mutations aren’t the only monsters out there,” Maya said as she...

The End of 2020

The End of 2020

It’s been an interesting year, folks. I began the foray into online novel writing with Interdimensional Garbage Merchant on the first of May, but it turned out I had to wait 24 hrs for RoyalRoad to gander at my first chapter. So I technically began on the second of May.

There had been ups and downs, there have been moments where I did not know what to do and hated every word that was appearing before me, there were times when I thought about givi...

Brewer King 16

“That’s not how you use a sword,” Azios said, his eyes wide and shocked by what San was doing.

San looked up from where he was working, the broadsword in his hand. He looked down at the log laying before him, a forty foot tree that Azios and he had fell. The one handed sword was being used to denude the tree of branches.

“It’s enchanted,” San said. “Self sharpens and will never rust, so the durability is probably pretty high.” San turned the silver bladed weapon in...

B3-16 - Sanctuary Nexus

“I mean will any one really care if I steal other SIL’s designs and schematics; then make them myself?” Maya asked Bell.

Bell looked at Maya, an expression of disapproval on his blue face. “Yes.”

“But what if I just use them for myself and not sell them? No harm, no foul, right?”

“No. It’s still wrong.”

“But what if it’s for a good cause, like saving humanity.”

“I do not see how stealing the designs for a hover car will help humanity,�...

Brewer King 15

“You realize it will rip out your throat one day and kill everyone around you, right?” Pavano said as San carried Wolfram to a somewhat standing hut.

“She’s had the chance to do the several times,” San said. “So far, she’s not done much besides saving my ass. She warned us about the Nox scouts, she saved me from getting killed by the trappers.”

“Aye, maybe, but that horned wolf is no pet, boy. They’re notorious for stalking and killing would be Adven...

B3-15 - Should’ve Bought a Sullivan

It was an invasion of alien creatures and robotic monstrosities. The survivors of Ko Sumai stood watching as a giant spider like creature marched down the main street of the settlement. It was a metallic purple color and upon it sat another being of metal.

Roci Sullivan tossed a handful of single credit discs to the crowds that watched the procession of machinery and tools and ant drones. The assault craft hovered above the crowd, the engines a low rumble and kicking up a slight breeze ...

Brewer King 14

Night had fallen and San carried a torch of Fire in the Night. Azios had fallen asleep; but the trail was simple to follow and it led to only one place. Exanarios Komai; settled after the Empire returned to take what they had once destroyed.

There was an abrupt transition between a wooded area and a wide open valley, the creek they had been following ran down the center, with a backdrop of mountains and tree studded hills. What looked to have once been a village sat upon a lo...

B3-14 - Mana Stripper 2000

“Mana Aura, y’all know what it is, right?” Maya asked.

“Yes,” Bell said.

“No,” everyone else chorused.

“It’s a thing that SIL have. Very important. Like that cloud of CO2 everyone has around their head from exhaling.”

“It’s nothing at all like that,” Bell said.

“It’s the way I see it.”

“You, by far, have the highest Mental stats of those gathered in this room; how is it that you come up with that as an explanation?...

Brewer King 13

“What do you mean you haven’t heard of imbar before, silly,” the girl at his side playfully slapped him on the shoulder, her hand lingering for a long moment.

San uncomfortably shifted. “I’ve heard of it, I’ve just never seen it,” he said.

Ellavano Alkava was Orbaris’ daughter. She had bright green eyes and dark hair, with olive skin and a narrow high cheekboned face. She carried a one year old baby at her hip, one of her siblings or cousins San figured. There were...

B3-13 - Maria and Maya

Maria Valdez eyed Maya Sullivan, the two woman sat across from one another in the generic boardroom Maya created. Maria leaned forward and lifted a white cup off the table. She brought it to her lips.

“This is horrible coffee,” she stated.

‘Blame the Astronauts,” Maya replied.

“Seriously, its god awful.” Yet, Maria continued to drink it.

“If we get some better samples, we can probably recreate them, although Nan says flavor has a lot to do with...

Brewer King 12

“How can you be this bad at riding a horse?” San asked as Pavano gloomily looked at him and clutched the saddle horn.

“I’m a lover, a poet, a singer, but a rider? There’s a reason I was walking, boy. You think I can’t afford a horse? A mule? I could afford hundreds, but I refuse to ride these unruly creatures.” Pavano had been upset when his leg had swollen up and then blackened with bruises. The heavy load of furs hadn’t been the only thing to hit him, there ...

B3-12 - Customer Service

“Well, there are limitations to everything.” Maya sighed and tossed the tablet onto the table.

“It seemed your teleportation device worked remarkably well,” George said looking at his own tablet.

“Yeah, but it’s not Star Trek and we just can’t beam things everywhere. A few kilometers away from the device is fine, local sensors and scanners can gain enough detail to ensure that the things teleported aren’t disrupted. But if we’re talking tens of kilometers, then t...

Brewer King 11

“You didn’t say you were an Adventurer,” Sagaris said.

San glanced at the woman. “No one asked.”

She snorted and folded her arms. “We wouldn’t have treated you like shit when we first met,” she said.

“That so?”

“You’re dressed like one of the forest fuckers, you’re carrying odd gear, the sword is probably worth more than the fur all these damn trappers are carrying, and you’re neither Tribe or Imperial,” Sagaris said. “If you�...