nrsearcy

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 67 - Convalescence

Elijah focused on the ripples.

With every passing second, a pulse of ethera sent tiny waves through the atmosphere, not stopping for hundreds of feet.  He wasn’t certain where they truly dissipated, but he knew it was somewhere well outside the sensory capabilities of Soul of the Wild. 

The most powerful of those ripples originated with him as torrents of vitality flooded his body.  It had been three days since he’d begun his convalescence, and in that time, he�...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 66 - A Clash of Wills

Sadie stood stiffly, gazing across the city of Eldrathûn.  The awe she’d initially felt upon seeing the city, with its crystal architecture, was long gone, replaced by irritation, worry, and excitement.  Somewhere out there was a horde of trolls waiting to be killed.  The potential progression that would come from that was more than just a motivator.  Gaining levels was often intoxicating, even when, at this point, a single level’s attributes wouldn’t make a noticea...

Chapter 729 - Damnation

Zeke watched as a thousand ships broke free of the staging ground, then sailed off into space.  Most of his friends were on those ships.  People he cared about, along with millions of kobolds, beastkin, and humans, were meant to descend upon the moons and do his monstrous bidding.

Many would die, and not just on the other side.  Those moons were well-protected, but if his armies could punch through those defenses, they could strike a blow that Aja would feel more fully th...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 65 - Ripples

“You will leave him be,” came an authoritative voice. “You have no authority here.”

“I have authority wherever I go, goblin,” another, more feminine voice responded. “You will relinquish the creature or suffer the consequences.”

“Be certain you are prepared to inflict those consequences,” the first stated evenly. “You are not in your city. You have no walls to protect you. If you push this, you will die. I give you my word as High Speaker of the Leopar...

Death: Genesis Chapter Delay

I just wanted to let everyone know that tomorrow's Death: Genesis chapter will be delayed until Saturday. Hope that doesn't inconvenience anyone!

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 64 - Contingencies

Decided to go ahead and do the double chapter today instead of Sunday (thank the folks on Discord for it!). Enjoy!

Gunnar stared at the monster in his scope as the projectile – nearly a foot long and four inches wide – slammed into him.  It hit with the kinetic force of a round from a naval cannon, and that was just the beginning.  The local ethera went wild as his abilities doubled, then tripled, the impact.  At the same time, other abilities cut i...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 63 - Mass Destruction

A wave of fire swept across the army, roasting the first few ranks alive.  They did not survive, but even Incinerate wasn’t enough to destroy the entire force.  Elijah had already killed a few via his biological bombs, but killing the army had never been the intention of that tactic.  Instead, he’d only wanted to sow chaos, allowing him to destroy the boundary unfettered.  And in that endeavor, he had been more than effective.

Yet, when he faced off against the g...

Chapter 728 - It Takes a Monster

Zeke sat beneath the tree, leaning against its trunk as he toyed with the threads all around him.  He’d been experimenting for the past week, and he’d made stunning progress in manipulating the strings that comprised every part of existence.  As he tugged on the thread, the leaf to which it belonged disintegrated. 

Sighing, he picked up another and continued his efforts. 

He’d intended to change the color from reddish brown to green, but his control was l...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 62 - Priorities

Frustration stubbornly gripped Elijah’s mind as the landscape surrounding Benediction flashed beneath him.  He scarcely paid attention to the terrain.  He didn’t appreciate the wildlife or the ruins.  Instead, he was wholly focused on his recent meeting with Benedict.

Once again, he’d committed himself to a Primal Realm, and already, his stomach was twisting into knots as he considered what was coming.  It reminded him of how he’d felt when he’d gone to job...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 61 - Shouldering the Burden Alone

Standing at more than a hundred feet tall, the moss-covered wall loomed above Elijah’s comparatively small form.  He’d spent the past few hours circling the structure, confirming that it was perfectly round.  There was only one entrance, marked by a massive and imposing gate that currently stood closed.  When he’d laid a hand on it, he had once again received the system message that he needed to destroy the remaining Ethereal Anchors before he could enter the Labyrinth of...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 60 - As the Web Wills

Sadie ripped her sword free of the wild troll, showering the area with gore.  The monster’s blood was oddly thick, and great clumps of hair came with its flesh.  More distressingly, despite what should have been a fatal wound, it remained upright.  And over the past ten minutes, it had endured dozens of other attacks just like it.

The thing swung its long arms like clubs, and hard enough that Sadie’s personal shield – Aegis of Faith – nearly shattered after only t...

Chapter 727 - Children

“If there are any of Aja’s worshippers left in the Eternal Realm, they’re well-hidden,” said Jasper.  The dark elf looked tired.  His eyes had sunk deep into their sockets, and he’d clearly not been taking care of himself.  However, there was a hard edge to him that told Zeke just how difficult the past few decades had been. 

For his part, Zeke had never meant to thrust so much responsibility onto his friend.  His plan had been to relieve him after tha...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 59 - Not that Kind of Druid

“I don’t understand why we haven’t bound ourselves to the grove,” Vesk announced, pacing back and forth across the room.  Like nearly everything else they had, its use had been paid for by Elijah.  Or Nerthus, rather, who acted more like a Druid than the actual master of the island grove.  “At least then the children could tolerate the ethera.”

There was a clamor of conversation from the others – nearly forty adults who’d accompanied Nara from the dying vi...

Chapter 726 - Disconnection

The Shattered Hold had survived, though it was a shadow of its former incarnation.  Part of that was because of the damage it had endured.  Deep cracks ran through the crystal surface, and huge chunks had calved from the main structure.  That, in turn, had exposed massive sections to the space beyond.  At present, those cavernous interiors were protected by transparent shields, but it was obvious that the population had been vastly reduced.

According to Oberon, many ...

Whispers of the Wild (Path of Dragons 2) Cover Reveal

It occurred to me that I hadn't revealed the cover art for book two of Path of Dragons (at least not on the Patreon - I have on Discord, though). So, here it is:

Shadow of the Hunter (Path of Dragons 3) Cover Reveal

I just got this from my publisher, and I think it looks pretty cool. So, I decided to share it. This is the cover for book three of Path of Dragons. Shadow of the Hunter will be released in January of next year on Kindle, Audible, and Paperback. I'll let you all know when the pre-order goes up. Obviously, book two will come sooner - September 2. If you want to pre-order that, head over to this link: Whispers of the...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 58 - The Labyrinth of the Dead Gods

Elijah chose his moment well.

From where he’d remained perched in a tree, he threw himself at the lone asharii.  His talons flashed, ripping into the blue creature with ease.  Blood – paler, but still blue – splashed across the undergrowth, and the thing let out a gurgling wail. 

That’s when things went wrong.

The first hint was when Ethereal Sepsis halted its quick progress, expelled before it even took hold.  Only a second later, the same became...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 57 - The Beginning of the Campaign

For what felt like the thousandth time, Sadie surveyed her troops.  Many were ill-prepared for what was coming, as evidenced by their obvious discomfort with their new gear.  The armor itself was perfectly fitted, as befit a product made by the world’s most powerful blacksmith.  Some displays of unease were limited to standing uneasily.  Other soldiers fidgeted with straps, tightening, loosening, then re-tightening them.  A few even went through the motions of their...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 56 - Oddities

As he left the Seat of Benediction behind, two things occurred to Elijah.  The first was that he didn’t need to solve the world’s problems on his own.  By all rights, he probably should have left the devils to Benedict.  He already had them in check – at least from how he described the issue – and there was no indication that situation wouldn’t continue. 

Certainly, he’d rationalized it by telling himself that he was just trying to get Benedict’s help w...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 55 - Accountability

“It’s not what it looks like,” Benedict insisted, holding his hands up in surrender. 

“Oh.  Good.  Because it looks like you’ve been sacrificing people to summon demons,” Elijah said with mock relief.  “And that your people are cannibals.  Can’t forget that.  So, I’m glad to hear you say that it’s not what it looks like.  I was getting worried there for a second.”

Benedict relaxed.

“That was sarcasm, in case you miss...

Chapter 725 - Unraveling

Zeke was unmade.

His body unraveled as his mind scattered in every direction.  Through willpower alone, he forced it to coalesce, maintaining his form.  Then, the threads came again, this time from an entirely different direction.  He endured that attack, same as the last – and hundreds before it – rebuilding himself as quickly as they could tear him to pieces. 

And then they came at him from different dimensions that he couldn’t even perceive.  One ...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 54 - Sacrifice

Elijah ducked down an adjacent hall, then turned another corner just in time to avoid being detected by one of the Watchers.  He’d only learned their name recently when he’d overheard a conversation between two passing priests, but he had to admit that it fit the floating green eyeballs quite well.

Not for the first time, he considered that he should have chosen differently with the evolution of Shape of Venom.  Perhaps then the Watchers would have been incapable of seeing...

Chapter 724 - The First Iteration

Reality closed in on Zeke, suffocating and caustic.  Pressure unlike anything he’d ever felt threatened to crush him even as his body dissolved.  Yet, with [Hand of Creation], he managed to remain intact, if only barely.  Days passed.  Weeks.  Months.  He lost track of time after that, but with every passing second, he became more acclimated to the corrosive divine energy pressing down on him. 

Just as he had planned, he was becoming inoculated to it...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 53 - The World Keeps Turning

“Do you think they’re ready?” asked Sadie as she surveyed her assembled force.  Thankfully, Ironshore’s training yard was large enough to accommodate so many, if only barely.  Some of the lower-level people only needed a little space for training, but the more powerful among them required quite a lot more room. 

The training facility had been conceived with that in mind, though the yard itself had been built when Ironshore’s defense force could be counted in the...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 52 - Shackles

The city bustled with manic energy.  To Elijah, it felt like the prelude to an explosion.  Everywhere he looked, he half expected to see an eruption of violence.  But the Seat of Benediction remained peaceful, though with a barely contained atmosphere of electricity.  To call it disconcerting would have been an understatement.

Elijah traversed the city, and he was continuously surprised at what he saw.  For one, his impressions of the architecture were spot-on �...

Path of Dragons 10 - Chapter 51 - The Seat of Benediction

Elijah spent the better part of an entire day studying the settlement and the pyramid at its center, but in the end, he had neither the expertise or the desire to learn its secrets.  The best he could come up with was that it resembled the summoning mechanism used by the gnomish golemancer he’d killed.  Different, largely because it didn’t feel even remotely reminiscent of necromancy, but still similar enough that it immediately came to mind.

The most troubling part was th...