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A Soldier's Life - 119 - Close Call

Chapter 119

I was cold. My body felt like I was left out in the snow naked. I was in the barn that I had arrived in this world. I was naked, and the air was freezing. My skin was goosebumped, and I felt like I was frozen solid, unable to move. I tried to force myself to move, and pain erupted through my whole body.

The barn door rattled, and my eyes focused on the light bleeding through the corners. The door suddenly burst into a thousand pieces, and a massive wyvern was perched a...

A Soldier's Life - 118 - Aerial Ballet

Chapter 118 Aerial Ballet

The wyvern made the drake look small in comparison.  Sebastian turned hard and low as he flew his drake among the scattered trees.  The wyvern did not pursue but instead landed at the base of the tree where the summoner was.  Konstantin and I used the trunk and lower branches for cover, only barely looking at the scene in the distance.  The summoner emerged from the tree and stood before the wyvern that towered over him.  Its serpentine...

Wolrd Sphere - 165 - Gareth POV

Chapter 165 Gareth POV

Gareth woke early as he only needed two hours of sleep for a full rest.  The tier one hasten dream ability had been awarded for his first Annual Tournament victory by means of a dungeon essence.  To his disappointment, the Annuals had not been held since.  He had been looking for his next dungeon since then.  He needed something to help him catch up with Storme—if that was even possible.

His childhood best friend was easily the most pow...

World Sphere - 164 -

Chapter 164

It had been just over a year since the Black Mauraders had attacked Skyholme. The Night Moon, controlled by the Black Mauraders, had passed overhead with no retribution from the organization. Each of the twenty-three moons in the Sphere was the size of a planet and had its own set of ley lines, dungeons, and populations in the hundreds of millions.

The Sphere’s interior surface was infinitely larger than a single moon, so our insignificance in repelling the Sky King ...

Starship Engineer - 186 - The Legacy

Chapter 186 The Legacy

After many hardships, the Sylvan city ship Falffir had reached the deep space object they suspected was built by the Mavelolents and concealed by the quadrupeds.  As they approached the dense mass, a rough metallic sphere of 4,980 kilometers was covered in the wreckage of hundreds of massive transports.  Their gravimetric sensors could not penetrate the Sphere to give a clear interior image.   There was also interference when they tried to scan...

A Soldier's Life - 135 - Shared Dreaming

Chapter 135: Shared Dreaming

We all started to get accustomed to the persistent cold as it became the new normal.   We sealed the doors to the small library as best we could and kept the five fires going in the offices.  Part of my duties was to watch over Scholar Favian as he paged through the hundreds of books.  I also finished going through the entire herbalism and apothecary section.  Each night, I added another ten books to my dreamscape collection, and I think ...

A Soldier's Life - 134 - All We Need is Time

Chapter 134 All We Need is Time

Castile returned with the others over an hour later.  Three specters had stumbled into the large library while we were gone, and they had been killing them repeatedly as they reconstituted, waiting for Castile to return with the kettle of souls.  As the company arrived, Adrian used the five offices to set up as small bunk rooms.  There were twenty-five of us if you, including Maveith, Castile, and Scholar Favian.

I was rooming with Ma...

A Soldier's Life - 117 - Familiar Faces

Chapter 117

I followed Konstantin as he moved quickly through the trees.  I knew he was experienced at this, but he seemed too aggressive—too excited.  Why not wait for the company to catch up?  I am sure Zyna could handle the summoner by herself.  “There!” He whispered harshly to me.  About two hundred yards ahead, the brown cloaks were moving steadily.

We were gaining ground quickly, and I guessed a mage was just not as fit as a legionnaire.  ...

A Soldier's Life - 133 - Forgotten Knowledge

Chapter 133: Forgotten Knowledge

After the scouts returned, the men huddled near the center of the massive library.  Konstantin and Mateo’s news that there were thousands more spectators under the city was not met with much cheerfulness.  Mateo’s new runic elven blade was being passed around, but I ignored the interest.  I shifted my position to listen to Konstantin, Castile, Adrian, and Delmar talking.  They were all circled around the Scholar to plan an exped...

A Soldier's Life - 116 - Pursuit

Chapter 116

I started to walk with Konstantin when Zyna halted me, “Eryk, good job protecting me.  Castile suggested I give you one of these as a reward.”  She placed an essence in my hand, “Don’t get yourself killed,” she smiled and returned to talk with Castile, Delmar, and Adrian.

Konstantin walked beside me as we entered the woods. Flavius was already ahead of us to the left. When everyone was out of earshot, Konstantin asked, “You know I serve a Praetori...

An Incubus Life - 169

Chapter 169

The wheeled vehicles, each the size of two buses side by side, had parked outside the oasis.  I sat on the lip of the well and kept positioning myself to appear as unthreatening as possible.

I was in my human form and wearing black combat fatigues.  A thin person with a head wrap walked through the dilapidated wall carrying two large jugs and a bright lantern.  He dropped everything and scrambled back toward the vehicles, “Dad!  There is someone h...

Chapter 163 Kiara (Interlude)

Chapter 163 Kiara (Interlude) POV Voted on by Readers

Kiara crouched low in the grass, her muscles tense.  She could also sense the prey in the low grass assessing her back from inside its burrow.  Her sister was far to her right, her black tail up in the air, twitching to attract prey’s attention.  She huffed at her black sister as she had learned the tail trick by pure accident and got much praise from Father.  Kiara preferred to surprise her prey rather than lur...

Starship Engineer - 185 - The Lull

Chapter 185 The Lull

While human-controlled space was engaged in endless battles for resources and control of strategic systems, the RIM worlds had a lull of peace.  Millions of humans fled and scattered to the RIM worlds and beyond.  The Brotherhood had checked human expansion, controlling how far they reached out into the universe so as not to draw attention to humanity.  That was now broken.

In communication with Admiral LaRoche, I learned colony ships were passi...

A Soldier's Life - 132 - Glimmer of Hope

Chapter 132: Glimmer of Hope

We had been in the library for most of the day, with the snow not letting up outside.  The night was coming soon, and the windows of the library were darkening.  They were not even real windows, just massive blocks of semi-transparent stone, probably quartz.  The fire was burning merrily in the center of the ancient elven library, constantly supplied by men breaking apart old bookshelves.  Fortunately, everything was dry and burned well w...

A Soldier's Life - 131 - The Library

Chapter 131 The Library

The heavy, wet snow crunched under our feet as the discordant rhythm of our steps headed toward the western gate of Caelora.  Adrian and Konstantin were out front and cut down another specter while Castile took its death essence.  The dark walls of the city soon shadowed over us, blocking some of the snowfall.

Large stones were scattered at the foot of the wall, having fallen with time.  Being close to the city felt wrong, and aged stone was ...

A Soldier's Life - 115 - Pig Roast

Chapter 115 Pig Roast

I had asked my question about the variety of giants to be rhetorical, but Maveith answered me anyway.  “The Titans come in many varieties.  There are the cloud and fog giants of the Dresimere Mountains.  Then, the corrupted two-headed ettins, but you are familiar with them already.  The stone giants are builders but are nearly extinct as all the great Titan cities have been destroyed.  The storm giants ruled all the giants before the civi...

An Incubus Life - 168 - The Nomads

Chapter 168 The Nomads

Sharn was not unattractive for an orc. Although my entire perception of attractiveness was changing the longer I was an incubus.  Her naked body reminded me of an amateur weightlifter.  She had nice feminine curves.  I had even become accustomed to the orc face with tusks.  Her scars added character to her middle-aged body.  This was not meant to be a romantic coupling.  It was Sharn submitting to my authority.  I moved forward.<...

A Soldier's Life - 114 - Zyna, the Fire Mage

Chapter 114 Zyna, the Fire High Mage

I had been ordered to talk with Castile and the High Mage, who seemed familiar with each other.  I walked down the hill from our camp, stepping between the stakes.  Castile was a head shorter than the auburn-haired High Mage.  They both turned and faced me in unison.  Castile introduced the mage, “This is High Mage Zyna, Mistress of Fire, Baroness of Piscatio, a small village on the northern coast.”

Zyna looked me up and...

A Soldier's Life - 130 - Gates of Caelora

Chapter 130

As I joined the company for breakfast, I didn’t feel immortal.  Quite the opposite.  Even with my slow aging active, I was constantly in danger being part of the legion.  I realized I had become somewhat numb to a fear of injury and death—it was just part of my life now.

Castile was watching the dire wolf as she ate some dried fruit and salted crackers. “Blaze, can you hit it?”  She asked the marksman.

Blaze looked up, excited at the p...

World Sphere - 162 - Book Three Epilogue

Chapter 162 Book Three Epilogue

I was inside my dimensional closet.  It had grown substantially when it reached level twenty-three and received another evolution.  The space had continued growing with my aether core as well.  The space was now a twenty-five-foot cube and was still growing.  It was an impressive space for the tier-three spell.  The first floor was crowded with crates of valuable materials we scavenged from the massive skyship, the Sky King. I had...

World Sphere - 161 -

Chapter 161

My reunion with Aelyn had not gone as I had imagined.  She looked and acted different than I remembered her.  As I watched her, she was authoritative, confident, and focused.  “Glint,” she yelled at the Minotaur, who snapped to face her.  “I want everyone spread out on the deck.  When the Skyholme fleet engages, we will target one of the ships and board her, and the goal is to capture a prize.” The bullman’s face contorted in a gleeful odd ...

Starship Engineer - 184

Chapter 184

The slow-burning of human-controlled space laid a lot of guilt on my conscience.  Hundreds of millions were fleeing the central systems toward the Rim worlds.  Admiral LaRoche’s Federation welcomed them with open arms as they typically brought resources in the form of ships and skilled labor.  My Arcadian Collective of the Bradbury system was not known to be a safe haven, so we did not see any refugees seeking asylum.

Although we badly needed skilled l...

A Soldier's Life - 129 - Traelorian POV

Chapter 129 Traeliorn Kelran POV (Patreon Vote)

After arriving in the Telhian wilderness, Traeliorn left his apprentice Vaeril and the Ranger Raelia and flew north on the back of Kylma.  The ice drake was a good mount and friend, she moved with his body and did most of the work as they flew north, so he didn’t even require a saddle.  His plan was simple.  He would summon the largest wyvern he could and attack small towns south of the Telhian capital.  The wyvern wo...

A Soldier's Life - 128 - Dire Feelings

Chapter 128 Dire Feelings

The dreamscape looked as I left it—I was half expecting to find strangers inside for some reason.  Oscar greeted me with his bobbed tail wagging emphatically.  I petted the excitable Australian Shepherd.  I continued the dog therapy by talking to him, “Guess this secret is out, Oscar.”

Oscar barked and ran to get a tennis ball I had made him.  I laughed, “Guess it doesn’t matter to you.”  I tossed the ball for him whil...

A Soldier's Life - 113 - Sebastian's Entrance

Chapter 113 - Sebastian's Entrance

The march on the road was mostly orderly.  We kept three men abreast, spaced ten feet apart, with Castile, Adrian, and Delmar leading.  We passed refugees headed to Sobral every few hours.  The refugees found the most interesting thing about our company was Maveith.  I had Maveith on my left and Brutus on my right, so it felt like every refugee was also staring at me.  It felt like it had been a long time being part of the comp...

A Soldier's Life - 127 - The Black Blade

Chapter 127 The Black Blade

I followed Konstantin down to the training yard, carrying my pack and two blades so I would be ready to leave when the company marched.  It was still dark when we arrived.  The training yard was adjacent to the Citadel barracks, where the rest of the company was quartered.  No one was up yet, and it was maybe an hour before sunrise.  I decided to tease Konstantin that I knew some of his secrets, “So, you have a spell form that allows you...

A Soldier's Life - 112 - Raelia POV

Chapter 112 Raelia POV (Voted on by Patrons)

Raelia walked the promenade in the King’s Palace, following the mage.  After being sent home by her brother from Macha, she spent two days recovering in the Rookery.  She had been mucking nests and showing the newest class of Griffin Riders how to care for their saddles and tack.

Then news came of the Telhian ruthlessness.

The mages of the Telhian Empire had torn down the city’s outer walls with earthquakes.  It...

An Incubus Life - 167 - The Oasis

Chapter 167 The Oasis

The temperature had plummeted after the sun had set.  I removed and gave the magical sleeping bags from my mind space for Aurora and Bedelia.  The bags drew a trickle of the occupant’s aether to keep them warm.

The two were sleeping as the Molten Fist Clan reached the oasis.  They collapsed at the pool and drank heavily before falling asleep.  I had two more magical sleeping bags in my mind but did not offer them to Sharn.  I had a ...

World Sphere - 160 -

Chapter 160

I breathed relief as the black dragon ended its attempt to intercept when the Maelstrom altered its course away from the Black Spire.  There was no way the dragon could match the speed.  The Sky Wraith was proceeding to slow crash into the orchards a distance away, its runes being a mess from the dragon’s claw attacks, and Pakkam had little control over the skyship.

The Mage Hunter didn’t like my focus wandering from him and charged me.  Some type of...

World Sphere - 159 -

Chapter 159

We waited in silence as the minutes ticked by—my small group across from the hundred Bricios and the Mage Hunter, Devious.  Relik seemed content to wait everything out.  At this point, I was willing to trust his judgment.  I was concerned as I could hear explosions in the distance within the capital’s walls, but my fight was here.  Having the confident Relik next to me and knowing my Titan’s Shield was safe helped calm my anxiousness to do something...