Tsaimath

Chapter 193

Back in Mundus we were back on the road, heading west. I was feeling a little under the weather, so to speak. Not the physical weather but the emotional turmoil within me was taking a toll. I had, since coming to Mundus, employed a strange mental separation between the mobs that were to be slaughtered for fun, EXP and profit and the beings that I considered just as alive as I was, even if they were born from electronic impulses.

Cogito ergo sum, as the philosophers said, an...

DLM Bk 4, Chapter 5

After splitting from Isleen, I took refuge in Technica’s underground lair. Not just because it was much closer than my dorm-room but because I knew that taking off my armour would involve some rather unpleasant sensory effects. Galatea had managed to cut off the parts that were too damaged by the overclocking of my nanites the day before but those had to go somewhere, so there was so semi-cooked human flesh marinating in my armour. Calling the idea disgusting would be putting i...

Chapter 192

I had to chuckle to myself, the final edit of the advertisement I had filmed looked quite good. I was having some second thoughts about my actions, but from a purely artistic point-of-view, I was quite happy with my creation. And not just artistic, it was also what I had intended from a meta-gaming perspective and even, to use an overused label, from a propaganda point-of-view. What I had created pointed clearly to the darker aspects  of Road to Purgatory, something I ...

DLM - Bk 4, Chapter 4

“Now, what do we have here?” a voice intruded into the blissful nothingness of my mind and I felt Galatea prod me a little, to hasten my return to consciousness. Calling my memories fuzzy would be an understatement, I remembered Sophia waking up and talking to her, but afterwards, I did not remember. I noticed that I was sitting at her bedside and that I had taken off my right gauntlet to hold her hand, which felt right. I noticed that I was wearing my helmet again and Galate...

Interlude: Advertisment III

In a snowy forest, figure stands, all features concealed by a dark cloak. All, but one feature, a large raven on the figures shoulder, its feathers midnight black, other than those on its head, which are bone-white. The raven gives some scale to the figure, showing that it is a small, slender being. 

The winds swirls around the two, carrying with it a dusting of snowflakes and causing the cloak to flutter a little. As the camera pans around them, the Raven gives off a ...

DLM - Bk 4, Chapter 3

Just hearing the voice behind me almost caused me to drop the vile-tasting brew I was holding, as I spun around. Sophia was awake, blinking owlishly in the dimmed light of the hospital-room and on her face was an expression that was both sad, disappointed and a little angry, all at the same time. I felt my mouth open and close, like a fish on dry land, as my mind tried to come up with the right thing to say. It was as if I was struck dumb, my mind not working right, or at all, ta...

Chapter 191

We, that is the combined form of Lenore and I, kept our ritual and dance going throughout the night, only stopping once the first rays of the sun drove the surrounding darkness away. Not that the sun truly weakened us, but there was power in symbols and we needed to stop anyway, so why not use that moment of dawn to do so.

With our dance, the avatar-state we had been united in also came to an end and I stumbled a little, suddenly feeling lonely after hours of constant, inti...

Chapter 190

A cold wind was blowing and I was standing atop a hill, overlooking the village we were targeting. The others had taken up positions nearby just in case something went wrong, but I doubted it. The night was as dark as a night ever got, clouds kept the little light from the stars away and, luckily for us, it was even a new moon night. Thus, not only was the night dark and very unpleasant, my classes’ bonus even kicked in, boosting the darkness-magic that would be involved in the...

DLM - Bk 4 Chapter 2

Looking at Sophia, I started to feel strangely faint. The doctors had placed her on her back, which seemed a little strange to me, knowing that she had been whipped bloody but on the other hand, she had been beaten just as bad on her front-side. What little I could see from her body was covered in bandages and the air coming through my filters carried the smell of disinfectant salves, softer compared to the industrial strength disinfectant-smell that lingered on me from the decon...

Chapter 189

“Yes, let’s talk magic. You said that you wiped out a burrow of Snowbolds and I noticed a few slivers of memory, can you elaborate?” Lenore asked with a chuckle.

“It was just after coming to Mundus, so I was weak in level but had a couple of interesting ideas. I caught two snowbolds and used their life-force to fuel my spells. It was one of my first, real workings with Blood Magic, I tried a few things before, but nothing on that scale.” I started to explain, reme...

Chapter 188

After I returned from the real world, I sat down with Lenore to plan. Both of us were a little giddy to be able to play with new magic, merging the new-ness into what we had done before. Deep down, I think Lenroe was so adamant when it came to punishing, or really, attacking, the village because her near-death experience had scared her. From what I could tell, she had always been the watcher, looking onto the world from safety, at first the safety of the skies, there were few pre...

DLM - Bk 4 Chapter 1

“Go for Technica.” I was commanded by her slightly tense voice, after the dial-tone faded. 

“It is I, your apprentice. I’m nearly at the island and need a hidden place to land. You know the drill.” I answered, not even mentioning my name, just in case someone was listening in.

“Good. I will upload the required information and notify the appropriate groups.” with that, she terminated the connection and Galatea told me that the information was placed ...

Interlude: Once more into the Forum

Official Road to Purgatory-Beta Forum

• -Ghostblade, confirmed Beta-Account-

Hey guys

Yes, it’s me again.

I’m curious, why do people buy games? It’s to play, to have fun, right? Do you know what’s not fun?

Standing in some medieval shaming device for a good ten minutes, because the Log-Out timer is increased in the pillory, knowing that for the next day, in real life, you can’t play - that is not fun. At ...

Chapter 187

“Now, that was not nice. But, I guess you’re right, it could bring troubles if someone spreads lies about us, especially if the lie is that we ruthlessly murdered a bunch of idiot kids.” I said to Lenore, once the orc fully stopped twitching.

“And they tried to kill me. Just for that, I wanted to kill her.” Lenore added, landing on my shoulder and vanishing into her Hallow.

“But that wasn’t the main reason, was it?” I asked her, now conversing mentally...

DLM - Bk 4 Prologue

 AN: Chapter will go up on Royal Road tomorrow or something like that ;)

Darkness.

For just a moment, I was surrounded by darkness, before a jolt from Galatea pulled me back into the waking world. I was just so tired, so incredibly tired.

Just an hour ago, I had been calm, collected, poised to strike the final blow against someone who had, in one shape or another, haunted me for years. That focus had held me together, held me against the exhaustion trying to put me unde...

Chapter 186

“I found something!” Rai called out, pulling my attention away from the log I had just checked and towards him. He was walking back towards us, from somewhere across the road, making me curious. 

“What did you find?” Adra asked, obviously knowing more than me. 

“I checked the spot where those guys waited and found their tracks. Want to check out their hideout?” He asked, grinning a little.

It was a good idea, I had to admit that. The bandit...

Scarlet - Chapter 42

Later that day, after two more training-sessions driving Keera to the brink of brain-damage, Scarlet finally conceded to start making camp. On their journey, she had taken down two more crystal monsters, one rockdog and one nutty squirrel, so things were looking up. While Keera was, once again, unconscious after a brutal, mental exercise, Scarlet considered what she had learned from her.

She took the tales related to her with more than a grain of salt, more with an entire s...

Chapter 185

Sitting in the snow, after draining the bandits of their Astral Power, Vitality and ultimately life, I was getting a little queasy. While I had acted, I had been in a strange fudge-state, almost like a bystander, driven solely by my desire to safe Lenore but now, in hindsight, I was a little appalled by my actions. Not necessarily the killing, that would be hypocritical, but the intimate way in which I had drained them.

Shaking off those thoughts, I focused inwards, taking ...

Chapter 184

The giggle broke something in me, I was no longer in full fight-or-flight more, but it was as if I had taken a step back, looking over my own shoulder. It didn’t change what I planned to do, but it added… perspective.

As I pulled the dagger from the wound Sigmir had struck into her target, that idle part of my mind took in more information than, target, need to kill. Before, it had just been that, the enemy, now, I took in more, the coarse, mottled grey fur, the solid m...

Chapter 183

After amptly demonstrating just what I thought about the stooges and making plans to upload the video onto the forum later, after some creative editing, we made our way to the gates. I noticed that the guards seemed a little more friendly towards us, not that it was easy to notice, trolls didn’t seem to show a whole lot of emotion, but their frowns were not quite as deep as they had been. I kept my eyes open, just in case the bandits were having us followed but it seemed that w...

Chapter 182

We were quickly shepherded out of the castle, and, without a good reason to linger, started to leave the surrounding area, not wanting to get into trouble with the residents. As we walked, Adra spoke up.

“What are we going to do now? You mentioned that you are weakened, do you want to stay in town until you are back at full strength? Or do you want to watch the three idiots in the stocks, maybe throw something at them?” she asked, looking over to me.

“No, certai...

Scarlet - Chapter 41

Once Scarlet felt that they were far enough from everything to be safe, she turned to Keera.

“Now, I promised I would train and shape you. I guess I should apologize in advance.” she said, mustering Keera. “The first lesson you need to learn is that your mind is more powerful than you think. You were taught to stay in safe limits, to back off when you start feeling pain, but there are moments when you have to push through the pain.” Scarlet explained, before going i...

Scarlet - Chapter 40

“Let’s have breakfast as we walk. We can have a real dinner, later. I hope you still have at least some of the ration bars, do you?” Scarlet asked, after they passed the gates of Albertina, passing a curious looking guard. 

“Yes, I have.” Keera answered, taking her bag off as she walked, pulling a bar out, like Scarlet did. Eating such a bar only took a few bites and the taste didn’t invite one to savour them, so before they even managed to get to the fores...

Advertisment II Clavran

From high above, a city becomes visible, below the clouds. Around it, endless plains, dotted with villages, fields, forests and meandering rivers stretch. Far away, snow-covered peaks are barely visible in the horizon. The city is surrounded by strong walls and the inner parts are built from white stone, giving it a pristine appearance. However, outside the inner city, that pristine image falls apart, the further away from the center one is, the less impressive the buildings, as ...

Scarlet - Chapter 39

A noise caused Scarlet to wake once again, from an uneasy slumber. Her mind had been on the edge of waking all night, every time one of the others in the room moved too much, or turned around in their sleep, she had taken notice, her powers ready to strike, if the person made a move towards her. When she noticed a bit of light, just the glimmer of dawn, outside the window, she decided that trying to get real sleep would be futile. With a thought, Crysna materialised next to her a...

Scarlet - Chapter 38

The two of them stayed there for some time, short moments of conversation interrupting the silence between them. Scarlet learned that what she had thought of as a coincidence hadn’t been one, Telram had approached Keera each evening, since they got back into town. Keera had been too frightened to resist and went along with him, swallowing the humiliation and whatever else he wanted to throw at her.

It was then, that Scarlet felt she needed to speak plainly, hoping that it...

Chapter 181

Lagor guided us through parts of Kolyug we had not entered before, towards the center. I had seen them from the sky before, but only in a very superficial way, due to the height Lenore had flown at. What I had seen had made it obvious that the houses were larger and more elaborate, which combined with what I had heard had led me to believe that it was where the elite of Kolyug was living.

On the ground, my view was confirmed, the magic around us felt stronger and the houses...

Scarlet - Interlude: Bea I

Looking into the sky, Bea, formerly Beatrice Lienhard, illegitimate daughter of Desmond Lienhard, cursed her fate once again. There was another capsule descending, the second she had seen. That meant, she had been on this hellish planet for two years. If she hadn’t messed up and gotten herself shafted by the system, she would likely be on her way to an early release.

Thinking back, to her monumental mistake, she was still bitter.

Growing up had been easy for her, he...

Scarlet - Chapter 37

After what, at least to Scarlet, felt like hours upon hours of sobbing cries that had lasted, in reality, for maybe five minutes, Keera had cried herself out. Hiding the grin on her face, banishing the laughter into the depths of her being, Scarlet schooled her faces into a mask of compassion and pulled back a little, so that she could see Keera’s face.

“Good Gods, what happened to you?” Scarlet asked, compassion again thick in her voice.

“You vanished. You, y...

Scarlet - Chapter 36

AN: I've created many characters, not just for stories but also for Pen&Paper. I think Scarlet might be my most realistically evil character, to date.  

Watching Keera approach her, Scarlet had to suppress a smile, instead focusing on the food in front of her. She had seen the signs Keera was showing before, the signs of a beaten human, trying to muster a last resistance. The signs, right before they rolled over and simply gave up. A look of defiance, coupled with wear...