Iron Lung writes

FG, Ch 86

“I…I don’t know what to say…”

For the first time since he’d been summoned to the world of Thea, Marcus Graham was looking at something he actually wanted.

“That makes a change,” Mari said, her voice hoarse as she held back tears.

To look at her was to look upon a lucid dream. He could barely even feel the intensity of the creatures’ stares all around him as they watched these two humans gaze into the eyes of the other like they were looking at a ghost. Th...

CC: Chapter 82

The roar of the crowd could be heard even through the thickness of the Eternal Dragon Quarters.

XJ-V and Feng-Lung sat staring at the ground, their heads almost knocking together as each man contemplated what was to come in silence. Until, finally, the silence was broken.

“THE TIME OF OUR PENULTIMATE BOUT APPROACHES!”

“Looks like destiny is calling me,” Feng-Lung whispered.

“Feng,” his Cog companion said. “Whatever happens, know that you are a Cultivator...

FG: Book 1 Epilogue

Silas stared through the cracked windows of his Summoning Chamber, watching the meagre force of ratguard bustle about as they tried to spruce up the place in preparation for the King’s arrival. 

He smiled to see it. Ants, toiling under his vision. 

Only a week ago they had looked on him as an enemy when they burst through the Shai-Alud’s barricade and found only the bruised and crumpled body of Silas lying before the Summoning Circle. They had probed him with startle...

FG: Chapter 85

“We’re gonna make it, son!” Marvin screamed above the death-rattle of the rocket that was currently on course to turn them both into mincemeat.

No, Marcus thought again as he looked into the black column homing in on their position. Not this time…

Marcus’s hand flared up of its own accord and he sent a spark of cackling green energy straight up at the projectile, shielding his eyes as it then exploded directly above them, and Marvin finally lunged towards the stone cave ...

FG: Chapter 84

The First-Talon watched the eyes of the Talon-Commander of Clan Red-Eye in the split second he had before the latter lunged with his machete, killing instincts well and truly taking over now.

Marcus’s hand flew of its own accord to protect him, firing an arc of chained green lightning at Skeever’s body which the ratman only narrowly managed to meet with the edge of his weapon. He was pushed back, slowly being dragged from the circle by the power of Marcus’s new ability.

“D...

CC: Chapter 81

“Sit down, Disciple Jung,” Longhua said.

The Disciple standing dutifully before both Masters of Ramor-Tai did as he was instructed. He moved as one unperturbed by notions of rebuke, perhaps knowing what was coming before the Planeswalker was even sent to grab him in the prelude to his next match.

That was something Longhua, surrounded by shadows as dark as dragon soot, decided to test first.

“Do you know why you have been summoned before us?” he asked.

In resp...

FG: Chapter 83

The unlit staircase of the Grindlefecht West Tower seemed to stretch on forever as he stumbled up their dank, dust-strewn steps.

“How much farther?” he asked his companion.

“To the top of the tower, Marcus!” Silas shouted up at him as they peered round the bend in the staircase column. “We must make it through the guard barracks to the adjoining spire. Let us move with haste – I fear our unfortunate dungeon guard will have been discover-“

His voice was stopped ...

FG: Chapter 82

Silas licked his lips in the face of Marcus’s pain and the urgency of his question.

His answer was no less urgent: “In exchange for your transportation, I will require some small payment.”

Marcus’s raised brows asked his next question for him.

“That,” Silas said, nodding hungrily at the tatty notebook lying at his feet.

“My journal?” Marcus queried, fighting through the increasing pain throbbing up his arm, wracking his whole body with shudders as thou...

CC: Chapter 80

“VICTOR: XJ-V OF THE ETERNAL DRAGON!”

He really was getting tired of hearing that man’s voice…

But you’ll be traveling with him if you win, will you not?Arha was fond of reminding him. Arha thinks you should be getting used to the noisy Planeswalker.

“Yes,” he said as he limped back to the Dragon entrants’ quarters. “Curse the intelligence of Hulis…whenever will mankind match them?”

His initial plan when he returned to the Dragon quarters was to i...

CC: Chapter 79

The atmosphere of the arena had grown so quiet that you could practically feel the renewed tension in the air.

“Mark you, XJ-V,” Fai-Deng whispered as he nodded at the arena. “The arena floor favors my Brother. The dragon does not draw the same breath of fire in the cold. But for the Tiger, any plain is a hunting ground, no matter how wet.”

XJ-V and Feng-Lung spared a look at eachother, while Fai took it upon himself to join the cheers of the othe...

FG: Chapter 81

“Quite a thing, isn’t it? To live in terror.”

Marcus looked into the dark beyond his cell, trying to make out the creature that spoke in clearer tones than anyone he’d ever heard down here.

The cracking green light from his throbbing hand afforded him just enough luminosity to bathe the face of the speaker in lambent green hues, and he saw a sniveling snout twitching across from him, with a face scarred by scratches and wrinkles of age. The ratman...

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CC: Chapter 78

“ARE YOU READY, RAMOR-TAI!?”

The Planeswalker was doing his best, but the atmosphere in the colosseum was decidedly less electric than XJ-V remembered. It had only been a few hours since his last fight, and it seemed the exploits of the last few duels had not impressed the Disciples and their Cianjie compatriots.

XJ-V found Feng-Lung among the crowds on the West rafters of the colosseum ring, after making his way through a chorus of affirmations from his Brothers who had watch...

FG: Chapter 80

“‘Honor’?” Marcus spat back at Skeever. “You have a funny way of showing it, Skeever Steelclaw."

The Talon-Commander shook his proud snout. Whatever his aspirations were, he clearly didn’t imagine that the man sitting across from him had the moral high ground here.

“You think I am a traitor, Marcus,” he began, stoically facing his now-foe. “But I am being loyal to my people. Nothing more.”

“By imprisoning me? The General chosen by your people?”

...

CC: Chapter 77

'Full Disclosure'

Master Longhua sat in quiet meditation high above the colosseum pit, having covered the viewing window with a thin screen of moving shadow.

It was a break sorely needed by the Master and his Brother, both – though Yoma-Dur had opted for contemplation within his own chambers for now. The Master of the Waiting Tiger had concurred with his assessment that the constant perusal of showmanship seen in this tournament brought with it the drudgery of spectacle. ...

FG: Chapter 79

A single torch sconce burned bright against the darkness of Grindlefecht’s fourth dungeon.

Most of its underground chambers had survived the initial assault and the subsequent collapse. The etched carvings on the cold iron walls were untouched by the chaos that had erupted above. Through two great battles it had stood strong, and stable – a testament to the endurance of those who had built it. Many of them now occupied its main cells, their skin long since wasted away as they succum...

FG: Chapter 78

Marcus stared through his groggy eyes at his servant, watching the high priest work his magic, weaving threads of restorative energy through his gnarled fingertips. Energy that he sorely needed himself, by the looks of his pallid features.

“We are born…in rot,” he said with an almost serene air. “We…die…in rot.”

His statement was punctuated by a series of bloody coughs and sputters. Every movement of his lips, every word he formed, seemed like a lingering agony. Marc...

CC: Chapter 76

“Arha knew you would win! She just knew it!”

“Well…that makes one of us.”

XJ-V sat on the concrete bed of the tournament entrants’ quarters, thinking for the first time that if his body were capable of producing sweat, Arha would be addressing a puddle right now.

“Your man has no bravado,” another voice broke in from beside him. “Perhaps we should amplify our cheering, little Huli?”

Before XJ-V could toss a piece of loose stone at Feng-Lung’s laug...

FG: Chapter 77

“How do you do it?”

He asked her the question in what felt like a vacuum, the stars above serving as the only reminders that he was still on earth.

“Do what?” Mari replied, turning over on the grassy knoll to face him. “If this is about my looks, I wake up in the morning like this. And – yes – you are punching way above your weight.”

He rolled away from the stars to look at her, seeing the twi...

CC: Chapter 75

XJ-V unleashed a barrage of Dragon’s Teeth to keep Fai occupied while he charged his next technique. His Tiger Brother ducked through two of his firebolts before crashing through the last one, his barren arm crackling with scintillating light as he charged to deliver a final electric punch that would end this duel once and for all.

XJ-V saw his body move through the sands like the real predator his Sect was named for, watching as the light of his own flame was reflected in the rampagi...

WE ARE BACK

New chapters today same time as usual - 09:30 CST.

Thanks for being here to support my writing. Coming up on Fantasy General we have the conclusion of book 1 (The end of the Siege of Grindlefecht) as well as some tournament action in Cog Cultivator.

See you soon!

FG: Chapter 76

As he let Ix’s limp arm fall from his hand, Marcus felt only a dull numbness take over him.

He ignored Deekius’ words meant to console his fading spirit, and instead stumbled away from the Kobold’s fallen form in silence, lumbering back up the crater to see the seven or so still-living Sharpshots complaining about a lack of ammunition.

His glazed eyes hovered over the environment, seeing clouds of smoke drifting across the battlefield to reveal an ocean of blood. Wh...

CC: Chapter 74

The tiger wasn’t holding back.

The Lightning Claws he sent arcing round the circumference were stronger, faster, and far brighter than ever before.

“Witness the staple of the Tiger Sect!” Ori’un shouted above the sizzling din of Fai’s strikes. “How shall our metal man deal with the natural enemy of all Cog-kind!”

He really is enjoying this far too much, XJ-V thought.

The Cog readied to Dragontail Swipes to redirect the lightning strikes away from him, f...

CC: Chapter 73

“Brother Mah-Jung has emerged victorious! Commiserations to good Brother Mal’Thorl of the Eternal Dragon!”

XJ-V sat in the seclusion of the Dragon Quarters of Spearclaw. He had been trying his best to meditate before his own duel came up, and the mention of Mah-Jung’s name startled him out of his reverie.

The Top-level Temperer. He had bested his opponent in barely one hour. And Brother Mal-Thorl was a Seventh-Ranked himself.

“Just as expected from the Dragon-ace...

FG: Chapter 75

“-ire! Sire!”

The world was a blur of sound and fury.

Marcus’s eyes opened to reveal the bloody form of Deekius above him, his hood long since singed and discarded, revealing a face scarred by the remnants of the explosion.

Around him was a field of burning ratman corpses – the ratguard. Those who had not been caught in the immediate radius of the Kobold’s suicidal explosions had suffered the most. They lay, screeching in infinite pain, as their fur burned down to ...

FG: Chapter 74

The once sprinting Kobolds of Grindlefecht had dropped their weapons before Talon-Commander Ix. They threw themselves to the ground, faces twisted, doubled-over with fear. As soon as the ashen cover had dropped, it seemed they had finally succumbed to rationality. They had realized just how insane all this resistance was.

“Talon-Commander?” the ratman shouted over the crying forms of the now supplicant Kobolds. “Shall we be taking them down?”

Ix calmly stepped forward, his...

CC: Chapter 72

From the shuddering earth beneath Ramor-Tai monastery, something was rising.

The Disciples staggered back as the ground shook, cracks appearing in the ancient stonework of the Ramor-Tai courtyard before their very eyes. But it was not – each man would say afterwards – a spontaneous thing. Each line carved into the ground was controlled – like a series of precise, clean cuts being made across willing flesh.

The Regulators faces flew to the skies, and as a single unit – Ti...

FG: Chapter 73

“FIRE!”

The cannons roars ripped through the dank, dust-filled air, tearing into the Kobold’s uncoordinated mass with the ease of an eagle in a dovecot. The cannonballs struck true, splintering pieces of Kobold skulls and torsos and then rolling along a deadly path that cut right into the horde.

In the meantime, the ratguard seized the opportunity to seek out defensive positions at the nearest rotted farmstead – leaping the tiny walls and using them as makeshift shields fr...

CC: Chapter 71

[Anima Cores: 158]

Not there…not…yet…

The fog was obscured. His path was uneven.

Closer…find the owl…

He was searching for the final scraps of memory that he needed. He had the visions of peaceful Hensha that venerated him after he had proved himself. And he had the images of the villagers bodies lying crumpled, their skin peeled away from their rotten bones as he sprinted away from the village perimeter.

He needed th...

CC: Chapter 70

Mah-Jung found himself in a kind of trance these last few days.

He often wandered the walls and courtyards of the Eternal Dragon commune on the occasions when he was not Dao-Walking or training in practice Katas. In truth, he felt more disconnected from the world the more time he spent in the Dao. To him, it seemed like this mortal realm was the unreal plane – a place where humans were nothing but pawns, moving pieces in the great game played out by forces far beyond their ken.

...