“Hello!” Way Way said excitedly when Bert dropped into its mana tides again.
“Hi, Way Way,” Bert smiled. “Ready to build some more carriages?”
“Of course,” The voice sounded distracted.
“What’s wrong?” Bert asked.
“You plan to complete the change today,” Way Way hesitated. “I will miss talking to you.”
“No, you won’t,” Bert grinned. “I’l...
2023-10-13 09:23:18 +0000 UTC View Post“Welcome back!” Way Way called as Bert dropped into the tides once more. “I love feeling you inside me!”
“WHAT?” Bert was not ashamed to feel a sense of panic at that moment.
“Sorry, Bell made me promise to say that as soon as you returned!” Way Way explained. “It doesn’t even make sense as I haven’t absorbed you again…”
“What is Bell doing right now?” Bert asked Way Way....
2023-10-11 07:15:09 +0000 UTC View PostBert noticed the difference in Way Way the moment he dropped into the massive tides of mana it contained.
In all of his previous visits, the mana had felt welcoming but wild and uncontrolled. It moved in a rush in Ebb or Surge tide with massive flows in a constant struggle.
He always saw it as a storm-tossed sea, never feeling threatened but always with the feeling that the sheer power of it could sweep him away.
This time, it was differen...
2023-10-11 07:14:12 +0000 UTC View Post“I’m sorry, Sir,” Sully said solemnly, “There is no way we can take everyone off the walls today.”
“We… have… to,” Joe said, staring flatly out at the fetid marshlands that took over from the verdant plains surrounding the city. “That’s what I think it is, isn’t it?”
“Land of the Dead,” Sully confirmed. “Yes, Sir.”
“They went out into that?” Joe asked.
“Apparently,” Sull...
2023-10-10 09:44:09 +0000 UTC View Post“I hereby ordain this town, Paladin’s Rise!” Sully cheered along with the gathered crowds.
And it was crowded these days. Over a thousand souls now resided inside his former village, with dozens over the level of thirty and an average level of ten in the population. It was amazing!
Joe allowed himself a moment to bask in his accomplishments. If any lingering worries still existed, he could finally put them to rest. He...
2023-10-10 09:43:10 +0000 UTC View Post“Get up, you lazy bastard!” When Joe got downstairs, Annalise was yelling and banging on the spare bedroom door.
“What’s up?” He asked.
“He’s drunk again!” Annalise sighed. “I’m sorry, Joe. He’s been drinking every night for weeks.”
“I know,” Joe frowned. Cristoff was a puzzle. He seemed to go downhill more and more every day. The larger the village got, and the more people leveled, the mor...
2023-10-10 09:42:21 +0000 UTC View Post“You are sure it will not follow me back into the village if I need to retreat?” Joe checked again.
“They never have before,” Cristoff explained the idea of safe zones again.
Joe was having difficulty believing it was possible. Any of it.
The Safe Zones, the terrain that changed overnight, the Fifteen. What kind of world had he come to?
The mechanical spider he was watching was about half his height...
2023-10-10 09:41:26 +0000 UTC View PostIt didn’t take more than a few minutes of walking for Joe to start to get nervous. It was finally beginning to occur to him how completely out of his depth he was.
He had never even held a sword, let alone fought with one.
What if he dropped it?
What if he looked like an idiot?
His ability to summon weapons and armor was constantly there, tempting him. If he used it, he could practice. Make sure that he kne...
2023-10-10 09:40:37 +0000 UTC View Post“God bless you,” The woman wept as Joe handed her the small box of food. “You don’t know what this means to us.”
“My pleasure, Ma’am.” Joe smiled at her, moving humbly on to the next person in line. They thanked him profusely as well. Again, he demurred from the praise, simply nodding and turning to the next.
In less than twenty minutes, his boot was empty, and he hopped into the car with a promise to come back soon.<...
2023-10-10 09:39:44 +0000 UTC View PostAs the Images slowly faded, the young man’s life ebbing away as they did so, Dave felt a deep sense of loss.
He would have liked to know Denny. Nevertheless, he felt like he had accomplished his initial goal.
“I asked for someone who never gave up,” Dave East said, surprised to hear his voice horse with emotion, “At the very end, he turned away from life and moved into the light.”
Accepting the...
2023-10-10 09:38:40 +0000 UTC View PostAs darkness fell, the pale glow on the tower showed more and more. It took hours, but in the end… it was worth the wait.
A mountain, blocky and pixelated by the brickwork but recognizable, shone at the top of the tower. From there, a winding path led down deep into the earth. The bottom of the tower showed a gateway, shining pale and ghostly against the darkness.
Bert acted on instinct, entering the tower and running up the central ...
2023-10-06 06:27:04 +0000 UTC View PostDenny jogged for a good couple of hours before he took a break. Sitting on one of the distance markers that appeared now and again, he rested in the late afternoon sun, getting his breath back and watching the surrounding landscape warily.
He could see a fair distance across the dry savannah that comprised most of the Rangelands, and it was clear as far as his eyes could see. The occasional fresh breeze ruffled Denny’s hair, ...
2023-10-05 09:57:54 +0000 UTC View PostDenny dug at the built-up mud on the sides of the drainage ditch as quietly as he could. He’d managed to crawl all the way back to the farmhouse without too many false turns, but the growing number of undead was a problem.
Twice already, he had seen a few pushed into the channel by the weight of numbers.
He needed somewhere to hide, and the only place he could think of was back behind the farmhouse.
All he had to...
2023-10-05 09:56:50 +0000 UTC View PostThey were almost to the gate when Magda finally managed to pull her hand out of Denny’s grip.
“Magda, come on!” Denny reached for her hand again. “We have to get out of here!”
“I’m not running down the road with my tits out!” Magda hissed at him. “And we don’t even know if the road is safe!”
“Fine!” Denny snapped. “You put your tits away, and I’ll cast Flare again,” Denny said, feeling h...
2023-10-05 09:55:50 +0000 UTC View PostDenny rested his shovel against the side of the hole he had been digging for the last two hours. Looking up, he saw a small flock of drakes wheeling high up in the cloudless sky.
“Lucky buggers.” He sighed. The tiny drakes reveled in the long, cloudless days of high summer. Of course, they did. This unremitting sun and heat was precisely what they thrived on.
Also, they weren’t being made to dig a new privy in the mid...
2023-10-05 09:55:01 +0000 UTC View PostSearching the tower turned out to be primarily a waste of time. There was a considerable amount of old maps and a few more journals, all of which Bert could now read well enough to tell they were absolutely useless.
Bert felt like he was covered in an inch of dust by the time they finished. He was leaning against the wall outside the tower while he got some fresh air and enjoying a fresh breeze in the evening air when he felt a faint thrum o...
2023-10-04 06:47:27 +0000 UTC View PostBud saw the Express idling at the drawbridge of the Waystation as he arrived back. He waved to a very grumpy-looking Wendy as he waved the Orcs over to help with the unloading.
He could see Slothy’s pet dwarf and one of the Half-pixie girls helping to hand a veritable stream of metal to the vines that dragged them inside. Scruff was ignoring all of this as she tried to get Wendy to talk.
With a heavy sigh, Bud sped up his pace. That l...
2023-10-04 06:46:16 +0000 UTC View PostDave East drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair as the image slowly faded. Once all he could see in the mirror was his reflection, it slowly slid back down into the floor.
“I am not like her,” Dave frowned. “I would never have treated others the way she did.” He fought to keep his voice calm, aware he was only slightly succeeding.
You found the Story displeasing?
“No,” Dav...
2023-10-01 10:00:39 +0000 UTC View Post“A week is all you need to change your world for the better!” Emilia said while she watched her latest spirit, Dozer, repair the cottage. It was a free-floating torso with two massive arms and a tiny little head that made her smile every time she saw it look her way.
Best of all, Dozer never tired. In the last day, it had already repaired the boundary wall, which was much higher once Dozer put all the stones back, found and...
2023-10-01 09:59:39 +0000 UTC View PostThe following morning’s first rays of light woke Emilia. At first, she simply sat, staring at the burnt-out fire, feeling that same twisting in her stomach that accompanied her every waking moment.
She was lost and alone in some other world and had no idea how to return to where she belonged.
It was intolerable.
“The intolerable is only intolerable to the weak,” She said automatically as soon as she had the though...
2023-10-01 09:58:37 +0000 UTC View PostEmelia Cannon swept her auburn hair behind her ears as she checked her makeup in the mirror one last time. A stray lash caught her eye, and she fixed it quickly.
“Perfect Em, perfect day!” She said with a smile. The twisting in her stomach calmed a little, as it always did when she was sure that there was not a hair out of place. She flashed a few practice smiles in the mirror, then dashed out the door.
South Ruislip, a f...
2023-10-01 09:57:12 +0000 UTC View PostDave East, former Janitor and very briefly a mage, felt the skin on his hands tearing as he pulled himself up the mountainside made of broken glass. Everything in this cursed land was broken glass… or shadows.
His bloody fingers found one more crevice to dig into, the pain flaring as he finally pulled himself onto a ledge. Wide, flat, and, most importantly, smooth glass stretched away from him.
He was almost there; he just needed to rest f...
2023-10-01 09:55:08 +0000 UTC View PostBert and Bell rounded the corner, finding the front of the building dominated by a stone patio and ornate wooden columns rising to and supporting a decorative awning. The awning was made of thin wooden strips that were woven in a complex and intricate pattern.
It had a few places where the delicate wood had given way over the years, with little evidence of what had caused the collapse. A few stains suggested it might have been Shells, but it was...
2023-09-29 06:07:31 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey all.
These are the cover images for my two new stories launching on Oct 1st. Both will be having extra chapters coming here to Patreon before any other platform.
For anyone worried I will be neglecting the Waystation series, worry not. Nellie and the Nanites is in fact an already completed novel, while The Lost Ones is more of a Halloween Anthology Special!
The Waystation will be continuing not only uninterupted but with some truly great sotrylines and changes over the s...
2023-09-28 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post“What the hell?” Bert growled as he received the summons. He pulled his armor back into place, and Bell clicked her fingers, her clothes returning a split second before a lighting strike blinded him.
When the flash faded from his eyes, he found himself in a tall, expansive, opulent room. Bell was beside him, in human form and looking defiant. The iridescent stone floor swept into a patterned wall broken by a parapet with a series of thrones...
2023-09-27 05:48:45 +0000 UTC View PostBell leaped into his arms, kissing him long and deep. Bert lost himself in it, a feeling of warmth and complete happiness wiping all thoughts from his mind.
She let go, dropping to her feet as she stepped back.
Bert’s head snapped to the side as she slapped him.
“How can you tell someone you love them out here?” She demanded. “Do you have NO sense of timing?”
“You demanded I tell you!” Bert pointed out. ...
2023-09-27 05:47:15 +0000 UTC View PostHey all,
I really hope you are all enjoying the books, and I just wanted to let you know that next month is going to be a big one!
The Waystation - Sept. 29th will bring the thrilling conclusion of the Bert/Gwen storyline, and following that... A whole new area we have never been to before, complete with new tech, new spells, the return of leveling up, and whole new threats, plus the return of a certain cult! Also, Way Way gets a makeover!
The Lost Ones - My short story coll...
2023-09-22 06:44:04 +0000 UTC View PostAfter spending the last few hours on watch, Bert stretched as he exited the Control Tower. It had been a quiet night as the mist rolled back. The first rays of the sun had already started to reveal several interesting-looking ruins and buildings in the surrounding area, and he felt good about the idea of sending out some search parties a little later today.
He was just trying to decide between cooking breakfast or getting a s...
2023-09-22 06:28:16 +0000 UTC View PostThe group came to another set of guard posts on the far end of the hall. A single, shining, short sword was all that remained. It was buried almost to the hilt in the stone wall.
“Yikes,” Bert flinched. “I do not want to meet what did that.”
“Dad! Dad!” Wendy’s tiny voice from the Pretty made them all jump. “Do a King Arthur impression!”
Bert laughed and grabbed the sword, pulling as hard as possibl...
2023-09-20 09:36:54 +0000 UTC View PostBert looked around at the faces of his people. A lot had changed in the last day or two in the mists.
Which was the point of this little meeting.
“So, it seems our attacker, Felicia, may actually be gone for good.” Bert dropped the bombshell, and… nothing.
“I had a little visit from… something. It dragged me off to a weird office and informed me she could never interact with us again.” Bert went on. “It was weird, but I b...
2023-09-20 09:35:16 +0000 UTC View Post