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Mistrunner 4 - Chapter 53 - Abandoning Ship

Hope is a strange thing. We cling to it, often when, by all rights, we have no reason to. Yet, even though we know it isn’t real, it remains a comfort. A light amidst the darkness, and one that we hope will light our way to salvation. It will not. Only death and destruction can save us.

Alistaris Kargat

“Do you really think this will work?” I asked, staring at the holographic display meant to represent Earth. The s...

Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 20 - Cloak of the Iron Bear

Ironshore was a bustling town, though its population was low enough that it often seemed a lot sleepier than it really was. Still, there were enough wary glances aimed at Elijah that his trip through the city felt claustrophobic in a way that had nothing to do with tight quarters. So, he was more than a little relieved when he arrived at his first destination, which was the central government building where Ramik kept his office.

The lobby was much the same as always, with a floor of wh...

Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 19 - The Importance of Goals

For a long time, Elijah just floated in the cave. As he gently swayed back and forth with the weak current, he reveled in the feeling of his Body of Stone. He’d only progressed an hour or so ago, and yet, he could already feel more of a difference than he’d felt when he’d taken the first step on the path of body cultivation. That initial stage had cured his cancer while also acting as a multiplier on his physical attributes. Progression to the Body of Stone stage came with a similar inc...

Mistrunner 4 - Chapter 52 - Screams

I didn’t know how to react when I thought I’d lost her forever. I knew nothing could have survived that explosion. It was too powerful. But then I heard her voice, and I saw her face. I was too shocked to wonder if she was still the girl I love.

Patrick Ward

I sat on a cushion of Mist, hovering a hundred feet above the ground, my eyes closed and my mind – every thread of it – focused on my surroundings. ...

Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 18 - Stone

The smell of lavender twisted in the air, fusing with the steam from the shower. Meanwhile, Elijah sang Tiffany’s I Think We’re Alone Now as he scrubbed the dirt, muck, and salt from his body. It wasn’t his favorite song or anything – though he did have a soft spot for eighties pop music – but it was catchy, and for some reason or another, it had been in his head for the past week. So, as one did, the moment he’d stepped into the shower, he had immediately burst into song...

Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 17 - The Lady of the Lake

Carmen wrenched the leaf spring of the vehicle free, then set it aside. The ends were still smoking from her use of Smolder, which she’d utilized to weaken the steel so she could pull it away from the car.  She could have used Fracture, but it required a lot more ethera than Smolder, making the choice easy even if it required a judicious application of her Strength. Slapping her hands together, she pushed herself to her feet and let out a sigh as she looked around.

The parking lo...

Chapter 461 - Multiple Disciplines

Lightning flashed as a deluge of rain fell upon the battlefield, yet Zeke was unconcerned with the weather. Nor did he pay attention to the muddy conditions that would make for treacherous footing. Instead, he stared at the solid sheet of mana that constituted Adontis’ vaunted Barrier.

“It looks solid,” he said. “Like a pane of blue glass.”

Indeed, the entire city of Ivern – often called the Heart of Adontis – was encased in what looked like a dome that reminded Zeke...

Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 16 - A Strained Relationship

It was a subdued group that left the tower behind and swam to the shore of Elijah’s island. For his part, he spoke little – only as much as absolutely necessary to ensure the others knew what he needed them to do – and what he did say was terse. Even with Kurik, who by all rights, had done nothing wrong. If Elijah was honest, he was angrier with himself than with the people of Ironshore. After all, he’d known that there would be repercussions for killing Cabbot and his band of mercena...

Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 15 - An Uneasy Feeling

The smell of blooming flowers hung in the air, reminding Carmen that spring had well and truly arrived. In any other situation, she might have welcomed it. Indeed, even as a refugee who’d been banished to wilderness, she appreciated the warmer weather. However, it also highlighted a series of issues, not least among them that with the passage of time came the increased risk of hunger.

Her group had long since run out of rations, and though they’d had some degree of good fortune hunt...

Chapter 460 - Refuge

Zeke remained at the edge of the crater for hours, just staring at the devastation he’d wrought. But he was far more concerned with the absence in his mind. He could scarcely remember a time when Eveline hadn’t been with him. Certainly, he knew that he’d not had her company throughout his entire time in the Mortal Realm, but with every passing day, those memories had felt less solid, the details less important.

That was how memory worked.

Now that Eveline was gone, would he ...

Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 14 - A New Challenge

“How did we only get a C-Grade out of that?” Elijah complained, looking at the item he’d found in the silver reward box. It was a pair of boots, called Footpads of Silence. “It was flawless.”

“I’m just glad to be outta the water,” Kurik remarked, looking at his own set of footwear. He held them up. They were grey, with dark soles. “Manta Ray Boots.”

All the others had received similar items, though with different themes. None of them would share the names, thou...

Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 13 - The Power of Foreknowledge

Irritation bordering on anger coursed through every facet of Elijah’s mind as he threw himself at the huge turtle. Its jagged-beaked head snapped out, its jaws clamping down on his hastily-raised arm. He’d used Iron Scales, but even then, he felt his bones creak under the enormous biting force the monster could bring to bear. Still, he only grunted, shunting the pain into its own facet of his Quartz Mind as he wrapped his other arm around its neck in a headlock. Then, he squeezed.

�...

Mistrunner 4 - Chapter 51 - Guidance

I hate the things I’ve had to do. The lives I’ve ruined. The lies I have told. And for what? So when the time came, we would be abandoned to a fate none of us earned? The Templars were supposed to save us. And yet, we find ourselves in the same boat as everyone else on Earth.

Frederick Connoly

The trip back to our temporary base was characterized by a subdued attitude. We’d set out to save a team of likeminded defe...

Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 12 - Breeze

A cold wind swept across the open field, cutting through the warm spring air and heralding the storm to come. Thor glared at the horizon as if he could intimidate the weather into a delay. But as powerful as he had become, that was still impossible. Though who knew what the future would bring? Godhood was on offer, and he wasn’t going to fail in his quest to attain it.

But the first step was to complete the quest given to him by the annoying little man. To that end, he pulled his atte...

Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 11 - Unavoidable Conflict

Elijah knocked a thrown spear aside with his Crook of the Serpent Healer, then dove beneath the surface. The water wouldn’t completely mitigate the momentum of the missiles, but it would slow them down enough that his high Constitution could protect him properly. Once he was ten feet underwater, he shifted into his lamellar ape form, then used his long arms to propel himself forward.

As he did, he cursed himself for his obvious oversight. He’d known the ulthraks were at war with the...

Chapter 459 - Too Far

Mana swirled all around him, but Zeke barely paid it any mind. Instead, he focused entirely on the task at hand, because anything less would result in disaster. He had created some complex skills before, but none of them came close to what he had planned for his latest creation.

Which was odd, because the skill itself wasn’t meant to be complex. Indeed, it was the height of simplicity. Yet, getting to that result required more than just a sturdy foundation. It was an expression of Wil...

Weekly Check-In (3/4/24) - LATE

Okay, so I intended to do this yesterday, but I ended up going to see Dune 2 and completely forgot.  So, you all get the weekly check-in a day late!  

So, this past week was fun.  I've been rolling on all three stories, and everything's been a blast  to write.  Without further ado, let's check in on what's going on with each story:

In Death: Genesis news, we've got a book release coming up!  On tomorrow (March 3), book 5 of Death: Genesis will be comi...

Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 10 - Inevitable Enmity

“Ye didn’t have to scare him so bad,” Kurik said, running a hand through his spiky hair. “He was just curious.”

“Curiosity killed the cat,” Elijah replied, having just shifted back to his human form.

“What cat?” Kurik asked.

Elijah sighed. “I always forget that the system’s translation feature doesn’t really do anything for idioms,” he muttered. “But that one seems obvious if you take it into context.”

“Fair enough,” the dwarf replied....

Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 9 - Meeting the Team

“He’s going to kill us,” said Nia, wringing her green, long-fingered hands as she stood on the dock. “He’s going to take us over there and sacrifice us for some sort of ritual, like he did with all those mercenaries from Black Sun.”

“If he wanted to kill us, he would have already done so,” pointed out Robolo. “And that nightgown is ridiculous, by the way. We’re going to a tower. Not a sleepover.”

“It’s not a nightgown!” she insisted, resisting the urge ...

Chapter 458 - An Avalanche of Progress

Zeke summoned a chair from his storage space, then settled down to think. A small contingent of kobolds had taken up in the keep nearest to the dungeon, and though most of that fortification had been destroyed, there were enough intact buildings to provide a base of operations for the area. So, after exiting The Arena, Zeke had made his way to an isolated room where he could peruse his gains.

After settling into the chair, he took a look at his oft-ignored status:

2024-03-04 14:00:13 +0000 UTC View Post

Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 8 - Putting Together a Team

Elijah rowed across the strait, his strokes straining the integrity of the paddles as he crested one rolling wave after another. Normally, the strait was fairly calm, but as was the case far more often than not, a storm had rolled in overnight, and it had brought some rougher seas with it.

As always, Elijah could feel what could only be called sea monsters swimming around beneath him. He’d seen a few during his time transplanting sea flora to the cave, and he was still in awe of those...

Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 7 - A Long-Term Plan

Elijah sat on his treehouse’s balcony, his feet on the banister as he cradled an earthenware mug his hands. The sun had barely risen, so there was still a slight nip in the air, but he’d decided to temporarily use the bearskin as a blanket. He raised the mug to his lips and slurped at the tea. He didn’t know precisely what the leaves were, but the drink bore a striking similarity to coffee. He’d even managed to get some sugar in Ironshore, so he could make it precisely the way he like...

Mistrunner 4 - Chapter 50 - Unlimited

Theoretically, there is no limit to what a powerful mystic can do. Despite studying it for centuries, we still don’t know everything about how Mist interacts with people. We can see the mechanics of that interaction easily enough, but there are so many things we can’t explain. In a way, that’s reassuring, but it’s also terrifying.

Galatira Iamaxis

Pain unlike anything I’d ever felt before tore through my body. I couldn’t think...

Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 6 - An Unwilling Warrior

Even in the old world, badgers were fearsome creatures that no sane person would confront unless absolutely necessary. And since Earth had been transformed, they had grown even more terrifying – a fact of which Carmen was intimately aware, considering she was facing one such monster armed only with her summoned blacksmithing hammer.

From its snout to the end of its tail, the low-slung creature was almost ten feet long, making it nearly the size of a grizzly bear. Yet, snarling and his...

Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 5 - A New Staff

The next morning dawned bright and cheerful, and Elijah rose to the sound of birdsong. For a few moments, he just lay in bed, enjoying the morning for the peace it represented. It would have been so easy to let himself get wrapped up in all the terrible things he’d seen and done. Yet, for all the danger of the new world, it was also incredibly beautiful. Remembering that was key, he was certain.

After all, attitude was a choice. If he focused on nothing but the most negative things, t...

Mistrunner 4 - Chapter 49 - Think Happy Thoughts

We don’t really know where the Mist came from. Even those of us who claim to understand it are really just repeating something someone else told us. It has always been there, and it always will be.

Frederick Connoly

I leaped high into the air and shoved against the Mist behind me. And I shot upward, but for only twenty feet, and then I started to fall. I repeated the action, throwing as much power as I could behind it,...

Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 4 - Brains, Fat, and Bear Hides

Upon arrival in his grove, the first thing Elijah did was to return to his treehouse and collect a few things he knew he would need. The hide, which he’d left there for the past few weeks, was the most important bit, but there was a sealed cask he’d gotten from Kurik that was equally necessary for what he had planned. The rest of his materials could either be found in the forest of his island or he’d already collected them in his pack. So, gathering the massive pelt, he descended back i...

Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 3 - The Wall

Elijah sat on the edge of the bed, trying desperately to get his thoughts in order. He had so many things to do, and it felt like the clock was ticking on his opportunity to do them. More than anything, though, he was eager to get back on the proverbial road. Now that he had a lead on where to find Seattle, he felt the call of family even more keenly than ever before. If he hadn’t been called back to defend Ironshore from the orcish invasion, he would have almost assuredly already reached t...

Chapter 457 - Gaming the System

The smell of burnt flesh, blood, and all sorts of odors Zeke didn’t want to contemplate filled the air as he stomped on the ground, sending a line of ragged devastation cutting across the battlefield to erupt into a huge gout of flame, earth, and corruption. It enveloped his opponent – the last caprid standing – searing the flesh from its bones and sending a wave of kill energy into him. Then, he let his shoulders droop in exhaustion.

“Was that the last one?” he asked, glancin...

Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 2 - No Safety Net

The wide world spread out before Carmen, and all she could think of was the city she’d just left behind. However, as she clutched her son’s hand, she wouldn’t allow herself to look back. Even as she heard the guards of Easton chuckling and jeering, she refused to give them – or Roman – the satisfaction of appearing hesitant. So, with her shoulders straight and her back unbent, Carmen strode into the wilderness.

Beside her, still trembling, was her son, Miguel. She could well u...