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Path of Dragons 9 - Chapter 74 - Diamonds in the Sky

Elijah turned his back, sheltering the dogs as best he could as they were pelted by hundreds of thousands of sharp crystal shards.  They cut through his armor, embedding themselves in his muscles, but they didn’t stop there.  Instead, they burrowed deeper, ripping through his flesh with every vibration. 

He knew he couldn’t endure it for much longer.  So, even as he cast his heals, he focused three facets of his mind on the task of warring against what turned out...

Path of Dragons 9 - Chapter 73 - The Rhythm is Gonna Get You

Lightning arced from one crystal to the other, blistering through the air with deadly finality.  It was the signal Elijah and the pack had been waiting on.  They sprinted forward as one, leaping to the now-inert crystal.  The sky titan was still a couple hundred feet away, but that was close enough for Elijah to attack.  Even as he leaped from that crystal to the next, he used Dragon’s Echo and cast Storm’s Fury.  A dense bolt of lightning erupted from the end of ...

Path of Dragons 9 - Chapter 72 - Sky Titan

Elijah landed for what he hoped was the final time and allowed Oscar to climb off his back.  The other dogs erupted into a cacophony of barks as he set Escobar down, and at last, Elijah allowed himself to resume his human form. 

As it turned out, the journey across the Gauntlet of the Sky Lords was even more frustrating than Elijah had anticipated.  He’d lost track of the passage of time, but he suspected they’d been at it for the better part of a month.  In that...

The Shape of the Master

By Rashed al Aroka

The Shape of the Sea

By Rashed al Aroka

Elijah (in full regalia)

By Rashed al Aroka

Path of Dragons 9 - Chapter 71 - Sky Lords

Another updraft slammed into Elijah just before he reentered the broken tower, and with enough force that he would have broken bones had he been a pre-World Tree human.  Thankfully, he wasn’t, so it only drove the breath from his lungs.  Throwing his arms and legs out wide, he angled his ascent so that when he fell, he would do so on one of the silvery bridges nearby.

It worked, and soon enough, Elijah crashed down on the smooth surface.  It swayed a bit with the impact...

Path of Dragons 9 - Chapter 70 - Updraft

The tower was broken.

From afar, that wasn’t entirely apparent, but as the group drew closer, Elijah saw the jagged gaps between the silvery sections.  At first, he found himself wondering how the various pieces remained aloft, unconnected to the ground as they were, but it only took him a few seconds to come to the obvious answer. 

Magic.

Or more appropriately, air-attuned ethera.  The force was invisible and difficult to sense – far more subtle than fire...

Death: Genesis Break

I've been going back and forth on this for a few days, but I've finally made a decision to take a week-long break from Death: Genesis. As much as I hate to mess with the schedule, I think it's necessary. The last chapter posted was the end of book 11, and I'm sure most people can tell that we're on the verge of completing the story. The upcoming arc (which will take either one or two books to finish) will be the end of the series, and I want to make sure I get it right. To that end, I'll ...

Path of Dragons 9 - Chapter 69 - Humanity and the Lack Thereof

When Elijah returned to the cave, Oscar and the pack were gone.  However, it only took a few seconds for him to realize that it was temporary.  Not only was there evidence of their continued occupation of the cave, but Elijah could feel it via the combination of Soul of the Wild and his newly solidified mantle of authority. 

Only then did he realize how large of a stride forward he’d taken.  Even gone, Oscar and the dogs had left behind a subtle disturbance of the ...

Path of Dragons 9 - Chapter 68 - Stillness

Instinct is an interesting concept.  Most of the time, it functions as it’s meant to, running in the background to ensure a person’s survival.  Other times, it drives a man forward into an elemental storm before which most sane people would flee.  Not as some ephemeral survival mechanism, but rather, because it is convinced that what that person needs can only be found amidst such life-and-death struggle. 

Such was the case with Elijah.

He was well aware th...

Path of Dragons 9 - Chapter 67 - The Next Step

Elijah flopped onto his back with an audible groan.  “Remind me again why I came into this hell?” he complained.  Without waiting for an answer, he said, “Oh, right.  Because I’m an idiot.  That’s – yech!”

His complaints were cut off by one of the dogs attacking his face with an enthusiastic barrage of licks.  He pushed the dog – Sophie, as it turned out – away with mock annoyance, but the animal’s antics had brought a smile to his face. ...

Chapter 693 - Grief and the Future

Zeke sat on the bench, his elbows on his knees as he stared at the gravestone.  He knew there was nothing beneath the ground.  No body had been recovered.  Yet, his family had correctly assumed that when he returned, he would want some place to concentrate his grief. 

But it didn’t help.

Adara was gone.  In so many ways, it seemed like only recently that they’d met.  They’d spent years together.  Sure, during that time, they’d both been d...

Path of Dragons 9 - Chapter 66 - Downfall

Six hobgoblins closed on the ogre, spears at the ready.  Each one moved with sinuous agility, their footsteps light and their muscles bunched.  By comparison, the ogre was like a mountain with a studded club – a titan by most measures and as durable as that label would imply.   The differences didn’t end there, either.  The hobgoblins were lightly armored in hardened leather, and their faces twisted into expressions of cruel bloodlust. 

Meanwhile, the o...

Chapter 692 - Everything Changes

“You’ve changed,” Zeke said, glancing at Talia.  She was so close that he half expected her to take his arm.  Thankfully, she hadn’t, but she clearly didn’t intend to let him get far out of her sight. 

In any case, his observation was accurate enough.  Talia had always been beautiful in a pale, delicate sort of way.  Sure, she was also a horrifying combatant who could move so fast that most people couldn’t even perceive her, but she was also waifish ...

Path of Dragons 9 - Chapter 65 - Together

A scythe of water sliced through the air, narrowly missing Elijah’s tail.  He flipped backward, acknowledging the addition to Heart of Fire, but immediately discarding the errant thought.  He couldn’t afford even a moment’s distraction.  Instead, he needed the focus of every available facet of his mind just to stay ahead of the rapid barrage of water blades. 

He remained balanced on a knife’s edge, entirely incapable of doing anything but dodging.  It pu...

Path of Dragons 9 - Chapter 64 - The Tidal Titan

Even as Elijah stood only half a mile away, he couldn’t deny the creature’s power.  It was no mere water giant.  Instead, it was something else.  Something primordial.  Like a predecessor from a long-lost age where things were bigger, stronger, and more vicious. 

It was a titan.

The word just popped into Elijah’s head, likely a remnant from the notification he’d read upon arrival into the Primal Realm.  And while he wasn’t certain if it was ...

Path of Dragons 9 - Chapter 63 - Duty

They remained in the cave for two weeks – not because they needed the rest, but rather, because the environment offered a perfect opportunity to grind out some experience.  For Elijah, the impact was minimal, though even he managed to progress to level one-eighty-four.  The dogs were even more affected by the glut of experience, gaining a multitude of levels as they displayed their cooperative abilities. 

It was only because the experience had truly begun to dwindle tha...

Chapter 691 - Long Delayed

“They are waiting for you,” Oberon said, leading him through the forest.  Zeke could feel that most were inhabited, much like the embassy back in the Nexus had been.  Though unlike that massive oak tree, these were home only to fairies.  There was no way any could accommodate his presence.

“All of them?” Zeke asked, taking in the sights.  The forest was ancient, with the trees spaced far apart.  Between them were gnarled roots, babbling brooks, and moss-...

Path of Dragons 9 - Chapter 62 - A Brief Respite

When Elijah peered out across the island, an alien landscape stared back.  In a lot of ways, it resembled what he might see at the bottom of the ocean.  Some of the characteristics were similar enough to make that connection, and seeing things like strands of kelp streaming upward in mid-air was certainly a novel experience. 

Great coral mountains jutted from the sandy ground, while fish-like monsters swam above and through forests of seaweed.  Yet, aside from the fa...

Chapter 690 - The Agony of Anticipation

Zeke felt the Waymaster’s attention settle onto him, though he ignored it as he left the site of the battle behind.  If the powerful figure wished to hold him accountable, then there wasn’t much he could do about it.  Fortunately, that didn’t seem to be the goal, and it wasn’t long before the Waymaster turned away. 

Still, Zeke knew that he hadn’t escaped the god’s attention.  All he’d done was avoid his focus – for now, at least.  Eventually, it...

Path of Dragons 9 - Chapter 61 - Crushing Silence

The water was warm.

Elijah surfaced with a sharp exhale, but after only a second, something sliced into him.  He grunted audibly, then felt another dozen attacks slicing through his sides.  They only went an inch deep, but Elijah couldn’t stop himself from clenching at the combined sting of saltwater and some sort of mild toxin.

Belatedly, he concentrated on Soul of the Wild and sensed hundreds of manta rays drifting in the current, and they stretched as far as he coul...

A Quick Note

To date, I've blocked exactly one person on this Patreon. I've blocked less than ten on Royal Road (and if you know anything about how toxic that place can be, you'll recognize that's a low figure). But I just had to block and delete the posts of an obvious troll.

I don't care about negativity. If you don't like something about the story and want to say so, that's fine. Sometimes, it can even be helpful. However, this instance was different, largely because the comments weren't t...

Path of Dragons 9 - Chapter 60 - Reflection

Elijah crouched in the entrance, the butt of his scythe planted in the ankle deep water as he studied the chamber before him.  The room itself was more of a hall, lined with weathered but still strikingly realistic stone statues of water giants.  If they hadn’t been monochromatic, he might have thought they were the genuine article.  Coming in at a height of fifteen feet tall, they each displayed the characteristics of their particular race.  Kelp-like hair and beards, a...

Path of Dragons 9 - Chapter 59 - Traps

Elijah clutched his arms before him, using his thin Mantle of the Chimera as a coat.  As he did, he muttered, “I miss my other cloak.”

Indeed, he very much did.  He’d habitually worn the Cloak of the Iron Bear for so long that he’d almost forgotten what it felt like to be so cold.  It went past discomfort, seeping into his bones and souring his mood. 

He glanced down at the shivering Jackson, and he realized that he had no room to complain.  So, he...

Chapter 689 - Bloody Wake

“You’re not going to get pissed if I slaughter a bunch of assholes in your little city, are you?” Zeke asked aloud. 

“Who are you talking to?” asked Eveline.

“The Waymaster.  I know he’s watching.  And I really don’t want to offend him just yet,” Zeke insisted. 

“Just yet?”

“That’s what I said.”

Despite feeling that the Waymaster was indeed watching – or more importantly, listening – there was no response. ...

Path of Dragons 9 - Chapter 58 - The Glyph

“My mom would be so angry,” Elijah muttered, holding the small shaving mirror at arm’s length as he used it to inspect the results of his labor.  The glyph had been burned into his chest, and though he couldn’t make any sense of what it meant, he could feel the ethera circulating through it. 

“Why?” asked Oscar, who sported a similar marking on his own chest, though it wasn’t visible beneath his ragged shirt.  Even the dogs had gotten one. 

Elijah...

Chapter 688 - Nexus

In all, Zeke stayed at the Dusty Lizard for three days before he decided that he’d recovered well enough to continue the journey through the Ways.  During that time, he’d met a few helpful people who’d explained the unique political situation in the Ethereal Realm. 

There were ten total realms within the realm – not counting the Ways themselves – though three were entirely unclaimed.  Those were where most people hunted monsters to gain experience and extend the...

Path of Dragons 9 - Chapter 57 - The Flamewrought Duelist

The air shimmered as a wave of heat washed over Elijah.  He barely felt it as he focused on the oncoming rapier.  It moved with blistering speed, and despite his vastly improved reflexes, he couldn’t avoid it entirely.  It clipped his shoulder, slicing neatly through the amphibious flesh and searing it closed with the same blow.

He let out a gasp, but he couldn’t stop moving.  Not if he wanted to avoid being skewered.

Because the duelist wasn’t just fast....

Path of Dragons 9 - Chapter 56 - Obstacles

The attack came out of nowhere.

One second, Elijah was leading the pack along the path, and the next, a monster of ash and coals loomed over him.  The thing was at least twenty feet tall, with six limbs and a face wreathed in smoke, but Elijah didn’t hesitate to respond.  He leapt forward, scythe flashing. It sliced through burning coals until it struck something harder, jarring his arms with the impact.

The monster burst into a corona of white-hot flames. 

...