Silverdawn

Unclassed - 15

“Adam, you’re on your own again today,” Toar said, handing me a piece of paper. “Here’s a map to where you’re working, and a list of what you’re looking for. Tell me if any of it’s confusing.”

It wasn’t lost on me that Toar was calling me by my actual name. Anything to keep up appearances, it seemed.

I took it and quickly left. I eyed the paper before deciding I wasn’t going wherever the hell Toar sent me and would instead find my own spot.

Lik...

Unclassed - 14

“What the hell happened to you?” Toar asked as I stumbled back to camp, covered in a fresh array of bruises.

“As if you don’t know,” I grunted, setting myself down on a log.

Everyone was staring at me. Clearly I looked even worse than I felt. I imagined my face was pretty bloody.

“Seriously, what happened?” Toar pressed, trying his hardest to sound concerned rather than happy. 

It was obvious to me, at least. Whether the others could tell was beyond ...

Unclassed - 13

Punching rocks was painful. 

I mean, yeah, I’d tried shadow boxing at first, but after half an hour my arms barely felt tired. I didn’t feel as if I was getting anything useful out of it. I was used to having a punching bag.

And nothing in my [Hoard] seemed to serve as one. There were rags, rocks, empty boxes and tubes from the storage room…

No fitting punching bags.

And so I punched a rock wall and bit my arm so hard after I broke the skin. 

Th...

Unclassed - 12

I ran as fast as I could without allowing myself to stumble. The cave was dark, and a single misstep would be perilous.

Behind me, a massive spider with shiny steel pincers gave relentless chase. It was about as tall as a horse, its body twice as wide. When you added the span of its legs, the monster became gargantuan.

I ripped another strip from the steak in my hands, still as warm now as it’d been when I’d originally placed it in my [Hoard]. Every now and then, I pulled off ...

Unclassed - 11

“Target identified.”

Exploration was quickly cut short as projectiles struck my chest.

I fell, clutching at myself as breath fled my lungs, torso crumpling as I attempted to scramble behind a large crate.

I’d barely made it a few paces into the terrifying, wondrous facility ahead before two mounted guns had started indiscriminately firing at me. 

At least, I assumed they were guns. They looked similar to the weapon I’d managed to pick up earlier.

Gas...

Unclassed - 10

I couldn’t believe how stupid I was.

Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid.

I huffed a shallow breath through my unfiltered mask as I replayed every exchange I’d had with Toar until now.

He’d always known about my signing bonus. That was why he took an interest in me. It’s why he brought me down here.

It was possible others knew. So why hadn’t anyone else tried to get me to sign up to their group?

No. Toar had someone tell him. That or he overheard staf...

Unclassed - 9

“Tell me about the underground.”

The three of us left two minutes ago, and only now was I choosing to break the silence. If I needed an excuse to back out, now was the time.

“I was wondering if you were gonna ask,” Toar mused from up front. He glanced back at me as he spoke. 

“About fifty feet down from here, the caverns start to become more abundant. Way less has been stripped from them, so there’s a lot up for grabs.”

“Well, why don’t more peop...

Unclassed - 8

I am a dragon.

Toar Halfshade affirmed those words to himself so often that he almost believed them.

A half-leopard, half-tiger beastkin born under the bloodline of a deer… there was a lot in Toar’s composition that he couldn’t rightly make sense of.

His mother had married into a clan of tiger beastkin who predominantly bore dragon bloodlines. Toar had inherited the deer bloodline from his mother, a bloodline that had skipped multiple generations up until his ...

Unclassed - 7

My stunt with the grenade had earned me, in Tattia’s words, ‘the most lucrative contract she’d ever given out’. 

I frowned as I picked at a tough piece of steak with my fingers. They’d given me a knife and fork, but right now, I didn’t have the patience. I bit and tore into the meat like I hadn’t eaten in years—which, considering my usual propensity for gruel, was almost true. The meat was tasty. It was ike daydreams and silk. 

It didn’t make me smile. ...

Mana Devourer/HHS - Book 2, Ch. 6

“You really wanna go back down there?”

Markus had found Abrah not long after retrieving his weapon. The imp was in the middle of scrubbing a large pot when Markus had pulled him away from his duties, which he didn’t seem all too fussed about despite his loud protests at the time. Luckily, Markus had remembered his new proximity-silencing ring and activated its effects before Abrah could cause too much of a scene.

“Yeah, I do,” Markus nodded. 

“What about all...

Mana Devourer/HHS - Book 2, Ch. 5

Waking Cyrus was a surprisingly difficult task. He’d have imagined that rousing the orc would be a simple matter considering the life of battle he’d had, and yet Markus had to call his name at least ten times to make him so much as stir a little.

“You’re really enjoying that new bed, huh?” Markus chuckled, getting a nondescript grunt in response.

Cyrus slowly rose to a sitting position. He looked like a zombie.

“What is it,” he more stated than asked, ...

Mana Devourer/HHS - Book 2, Ch. 4

Markus couldn’t remember the last time he’d genuinely tried to do push ups. He almost expected to do ten and then feel his arms start shaking, but it seemed he’d underestimated just how much raw improvement his body had been through in all the time he’d spent both dumping stat points and fighting for his life over and over.

Fifty push ups would’ve went like a breeze if it wasn’t for the lingering pain in his left forearm. He was pretty certain he could’ve done a hundred or...

Mana Devourer/HHS - Book 2 Ch 3

“Markus?”

Markus barely heard his name being called. He shifted to look ahead, dropping the mostly unfrozen rag in his hand and finally acknowledging the voice tapping against his brain.

He looked down at Lexi, who might’ve been stood there calling his name for a good few seconds. Markus wasn’t sure.

“That is your name, right? I’m not getting it wrong again, am I?”

Markus laughed in spite of himself. Then he released a breath and felt the pants s...

Mana Devourer/HHS - Book 2 Ch. 2

Negotiating with Randall was much less daunting than Markus would’ve anticipated. He really was willing to offer a ton, and for Markus, it was more the matter of trying to narrow Randall down to things Markus could specifically use than try to get him to increase his offer.

The first thing Markus and Randall settled on was a book of golden writs stamped with Randall’s seal. It was like a checkbook. Randall assured Markus that giving one of these sheets to pretty much any ar...

Mana Devourer/HHS - Book 2, Ch 1

“Let’s say I agree to this,” Markus started, eyeing Randall intensely. 

He watched as Randall’s eyes shifted so suddenly, as his body lurched so violently against his seat that he seemed to have been struck by lightning.

Yeah, that got your attention… you want this so badly. I could ask for anything and you’d give it to me, wouldn’t you?

“I obviously need assurances I won’t die. I’ve got a contract with the demon in charge of this p...

HHS/Mana Devourer - Book 1 Epilogue

Baron Samell Toth was rather peculiar as Malari lords went. His fief was filled with serfs that respected him. His grand castle atop the hill was more akin to a point of pride amongst his workers than it was any source of resentment or anger.

They all liked him… 

Lisa, however, was beginning to learn why. Working under the baron’s steward and chief aide, it was her job to know.

Well, in actuality, it wasn’t her job ...

Mana Devourer - 60

Ember growled.

Markus gaped.

Serena simply stared. She looked more frustrated than anything.

“I couldn’t keep you gone for more than a few days? Seriously?”

Randall glanced down at himself, as if notating the lack of marks on his body. “You mean our little spat the other day? I recovered within hours.” He smiled. “I do have to hand it to you, though. I haven’t felt quite so tied up in decades! You’...

Harmless Human Sacrifice (Mana Devourer) - 59

Markus’ eyes bugged. “Okay… the fuck’s a Faith point?”

“Did you ever have a stat you couldn’t see the name of?”

“Yes. It’s been bugging me for weeks, now.” 

Serena smiled. “Well, now you can see the name of it.”

Markus blinked rapidly as he pushed through his menu screens in search of his stat sheet. 

[Name: Markus Brown]

[Class: Champion (E...