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Path of Dragons 3 - Chapter 1 - A Second Wind

Alright - that was the end of book two!  I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did writing it.  Book three starts now:

As the noon sun shone down on Elijah’s head and a gentle wind tousled his curly hair, he sat in the middle of the square known as Druid Park, wearing a mantle of contentment. After everything he had been through, he thought it was important to keep a positive mindset.

When he’d been diagnosed with terminal cancer, it would have been...

Chapter 456 - The Arena

“This is wrong,” said Adara. “The dungeon is not meant to be used this way. It is a reward. Not a…whatever it is you are doing.”

Zeke rolled his shoulders. “You’re welcome to sit it out,” he said, glancing to the side. She was wearing her armor, which he could admit – if only in his mind – looked good on her. She certainly cut a striking figure. “I’m sure I can find someone else to fill out the group.”

“That wasn’t my point.”

“I know,” Zek...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 82 - The Hunter

Thor Gunderson knelt atop the hill, staring across the valley at the creature. The monster was huge, but then again, most of his prey had been of late. It was the only way to get any sort of challenge. The animal was a little bigger than an African elephant, with a long shaggy coat of soft fur that hung down to its ankles. Its head was similarly elephant-like, with a long, tapered trunk, great floppy ears, and a pair of massive tusks that Thor had seen disembowel lesser creatures.

But u...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 81 - The Deal

Carmen struggled against her bonds, though it was no good. She’d tried to use her various techniques to escape, but they were all meant to bind things together, rather than to tear things apart. Her lone ability meant for that kind of thing was only useful on metal, so in her current situation, she had nothing. Perhaps one of her future abilities would fill that void.

If there was a future.

She was well aware of how dire her situation was, which made that a dubious prospect. Aft...

Mistrunner 4 - Chapter 48 - Running Battle

I’ve seen so many planets die. Some were outright destroyed, much as the Gamoris want to do to Earth. Yet others experienced a much slower death as the wider universe exploited and oppressed until there was nothing left. Then, they were abandoned, and their people left to wither and die. I wish I could stop the cycle, but I’m only one person.

Galatira Iamaxis

I fired, but the storm of bullets never reached their targ...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 80 - Bound Fate

A new day dawned on a field strewn with corpses. Having recovered overnight, Elijah stood on the earthen bulwark where Ironshore’s defenders had made their last stand. It was little more than a slight rise next to a trench, but from a symbolic – as well as a literal – perspective, it had been incredibly important. To Elijah, it looked like an island amidst a sea of grey bodies.

“How many, do ya think?” came Kurik’s familiar and gruff voice.

Elijah turned his head to se...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 79 - Humanity

Trace had screwed up.

He knew it, too. Pacing back and forth, he periodically glanced at the boy who’d caused him so much trouble. Miguel was bound, hand and foot, like a trussed pig – a necessity, after everything that had happened. Over the past few days, Trace had been forced to take a host of precautions against the troublesome child’s persistent escape attempts. The moment Stun had worn off, the child had started kicking and screaming, necessitating that Trace chain the abili...

Chapter 455 - The Benefits of War

As he turned the crown over in his hand, Zeke said, “It’s not very strong, is it?”

“No,” Eveline said. “Not to you, at least. For a demon, it would be scalding. This is a similar artifact as the one I’ve told you about.”

“The one the demon used to develop a holy attunement?”

“Yes,” she answered.

“Huh. It doesn’t feel like something that could alter a demon’s fate,” Zeke mused. Indeed, the crown looked impressive enough. It was a circlet ...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 78 - Teamwork

The warlord roared, and the orcish horde responded to its call, clambering to cross the trench-strewn battlefield on their way to destroy Ironshore. The defenders attempted to fend them off with their long spears and copious use of their various abilities, but the frenzied orcs had no sense of self-preservation. As a result, they crashed into the defenses with reckless fury, nearly breaking the line with the sheer weight of their charge.

Meanwhile, Elijah picked himself up just in time ...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 77 - Blind

“Bring her back,” growled Carmen, staring down at the woman in the chair. She couldn’t have been more than twenty years old, and once upon a time, she’d been quite lovely. And she would be again once Keith was done with her. She glanced at the Healer, seeing hesitation on his face. “Now.”

“I’m not comfortable with this,” he said, wringing his hands. He’d already brought the woman back from near death a half-dozen times, and as far as Carmen was concerned, he would do...

Chapter 454 - Disbelief

Grand Magister Tordal slammed his fist against the desk, demanding, “What?!”

His advisors – morons, every single one of them, as far as he was concerned – shuffled their feet nervously. Perhaps he should make an example of one of them. That would incentivize them to perform better. But then again, they were idiots, so maybe they’d already hit the limits of their capability. In that case, it might be time to prune their ranks and bring in some fresh blood.

“So? No respo...

New Art for Path of Dragons

I got this back about a week ago, and I've been itching to share it:

The painting is of Elijah, sometime after his first tower run but before the invaders landed on the island.  Credit to Rashed AlAroka, who's doing five more paintings in the Path of Dragons series.  And maybe more in the future (when I can a...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 76 - The Warlord

With three orcs clinging to his exhausted body, Elijah struggled to stay upright as the monsters bit and clawed, stabbed and scratched. Roaring, he tried to dislodge them, but the creatures were nothing if not tenacious, so his efforts were for naught. Still, he managed to grab hold of one with his free arm and rip it free. A second later, it was sailing through the air to collide with another of its fellows.

When it did, a handful of arrows fell upon that area, piercing through their d...

Mistrunner 4 - Chapter 47 - The Rules of War

Templars are just people. We have hopes and dreams, flaws and fears just like everyone else. The only difference is that we somehow managed to peek behind the curtain. For many of us, that is the source of those fears.

Frederick Connoly

For a brief moment, I panicked.

There’s something primal about the feeling of falling. It didn’t matter if, by all accounts, I could survive a fall from basically any height. No...

Weekly Check-In (2/25/24)

Many of you know I have been pushing really hard over the past couple of months.  Part of that is because Mistrunner is just about finished (I only need to write about 9 more chapters), but it's also because of what I have planned for March for Path of Dragons.  

And I'm here to tell you that it's coming sooner than planned.  Starting Monday, I'll be going to the two-a-day posting schedule for Path of Dragons, and that will continue until the end of March.  Now, a bi...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 75 - The Battle of Ironshore

The smell of charred flesh and the screams of dying orcs filled the air as Elijah let the rage of the lamellar ape rush through him. All around him, gnomes, dwarves, goblins, and a scattered few elves screamed their various battlecries as the orcish horde bore down on them, leaping the final ditch before ramming into the defenders.

For his part, Elijah threw himself into a trio of clustered orcs, his claws sweeping out to swat them aside. Another roar escaped his maw as he turned that i...

Mistrunner 4 - Chapter 46 - Bad to Worse

I wish I could take some of the burden from Mira’s shoulders, but I know I couldn’t bear the weight. In most ways, she represents our only hope, and if she fails, Earth falls. That is a lot to take on, but the harsh reality is that she can do things nobody else can. I just hope she can endure the crippling expectations she’s put on herself.

Patrick Ward

A vast cityscape stretched out before us, looking like a jungl...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 74 - The Horde Arrives

Elijah awoke to the gentle sound of a flute. As his eyes fluttered open, he glanced around the enormous and garishly appointed room, but he couldn’t find the origin of the music. Yet, even so, he found it enormously soothing, as if it was capable of washing all of his cares away.

Of course, it only took a moment for him to remember the urgency of Ironshore’s situation, and when he did, that dense brick of anxiety that had plagued him for the past couple of weeks returned to the pit ...

Chapter 453 - The Power of Gods

Zeke felt the world roil as the sky split open, but even as thick bolts of arcane lightning descended upon the increasingly terrified Knights, he had other things on his mind. Only a few minutes before, Karik had discarded any limitations he might’ve once had, and he’d embraced a transformation skill similar to what Zeke had seen before among the high-level Knights. Yet, with Karik, it was far more powerful, sending his already-imposing physical attributes soaring into even more superhuma...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 73 - An Unscrupulous Man

Trace was bored out of his mind, and the worst part about it was that he didn’t think there was any end to it in sight. It was his own fault, really. He knew it, too. He should have just killed the bitch and let the chips fall where they may. It was still on the table, as far as he was concerned, though if he went down that road, he’d have to talk fast to keep Roman from gutting him.

And he would, too.

That cold bastard would slaughter his own children if he thought it would f...

Chapter 452 - Outflanked

Pudge burst out of [Concealed Steps], ripping through the Adontis scout. The man’s light armor offered little resistance to Pudge’s sharp claws, and the bearkin tore through him with enough violence to send his two halves flying in opposite directions. That was as expected, given Pudge’s newest skill:

[Sinister Claw] (D) – You are an ambush predator of rare talent. Spring from stealth with a mighty attack. Upgradeable.

The description of the skill lacked nuance, but Pudge ...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 72 - The Importance of Ditches

Elijah sat on the edge of the ditch, his legs dangling nearly ten feet above the deepest portion. It was filled with sharpened stakes, many of which glistened with ethera from various skills. After his initial success with the divide-and-conquer strategy, he’d managed to use it one more time before the orcs – or rather, the shamans – wised up and refused to follow him into the wilderness. They still sent a few bands of orcs after him, but he quickly discovered that they weren’t nearly...

Mistrunner 4 - Chapter 45 - Bailing Water

I don’t know why I stayed. It was hopeless, and just like I’d seen happy a hundred times before, the planet was doomed. Still, I stayed. I wanted to help, and I still don’t know why I didn’t just pick up and leave the moment I knew we were going to be blockaded.

Alistaris Kargat

“I don’t know if I can keep doing this,” I said, looking up at Patrick, who was pulling on a tee-shirt in our bedroom. “It’s t...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 71 - Equipping an Army

Searing heat buffeted Carmen as she stepped into her newly expanded forge. Inside, there were seven apprentices working, and that wasn’t even considering the number of people who’d been tasked with smelting the freshly mined cold iron ore. After exterminating the last of the critters, Silverado’s miners had found thick veins of the stuff, and ever since then, they’d been steadily pulling it from the earth.

And it was just as potent a resource as Carmen had expected.

She cr...

Chapter 451 - Round One

The head of Zeke’s hammer fell with a wet thunk, collapsing the enemy knight’s skull. A spurt of blood escaped the man’s helmet as he fell to the ground in a limp heap. Yet Zeke wasn’t concerned with that foe. Instead, he only had eyes for the huge and menacing form of Lord Karik, who was racing in his direction, the huge slab of metal that was his sword held high above him.

All around him, kobolds and Knights clashed, and the light of skill activations filled the air with a str...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 70 - Hunters Hunting

Wearing Guise of the Predator like a cloak, Elijah crept forward, his body low to the ground as he stalked the stag. It was an enormous deer, at least the size of a full-grown moose, which meant that it was a perfect target for his plan. However, the creature was powerful – he’d known that from the moment he set eyes on it – so he needed to take care in his approach. One wrong move, and he would end up with a set of sharp antlers in his chest.

It had already happened once during a...

Chapter 450 - Battle

The morning dawned, crisp and cold, but a sense of impending doom hung over Zeke and his people. Beside him were thousands of kobolds and beastkin, with hundreds of humans interspersed. Some of the latter wore the armor of Knights, but most had donned the cyclops-skin armor so prevalent amongst the rest of the army. Zeke didn’t expect many of those to survive the coming clash, and he’d cautioned against the former peasants’ inclusion. They weren’t ready, and everyone knew it. Yet, the...

Path of Dragons 2 - Chapter 69 - Harassment

The night hung heavy in the air as Kurik crouched atop a thick branch, looking down at the game trail. For the past day, he and his squad had steadily engaged in a campaign of guerrilla warfare against the orcs. They had killed dozens, and yet, their efforts paled in comparison to their ally.

At one point, Kurik had doubted that a single person could make enough difference to turn the tides of the coming conflict. No longer did he harbor such doubt, because he’d gotten a small peek at...

Mistrunner 4 - Chapter 44 - The Dawn of a New Age

The quarantine system was supposed to be foolproof. Or that was what history tells us. When it was implemented, it was intended to give frontier planets a chance to adjust to the Mist without undue interference. However, where there are rules and regulations, there are always those who will endeavor to bypass them. So, it was always inevitable that people would find a way around it. As a result, the fall of the quarantine rarely affects the fate of a world. Earth will alm...

2024-02-18 14:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post