Roman stood on the balcony, his hands clasped behind his back as he stared at the horizon. Below him, the city of Easton spread out for more than a mile. The old wall had been dismantled, and the area surrounding his palace – the former police station – had been meticulously redesigned. The Architects, Builders, and Sculptors had only had time to implement the new plans in an area of about two square blocks, but they covered more ground by the day.
“It truly is amazing how quickly...
2024-01-01 16:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Zeke’s insides twisted into knots as he beheld the landscape before him. The expansive galaxy that had so captivated him was gone, replaced by something decidedly more mundane, yet still impressive in its own way. At first, Zeke thought he was back in the ruins he’d left behind on the surface, but it only took a cursory examination to mark the differences. The first was that the structure in front of him was no city. Instead, it was a maze of worn walls, with each stone used in its constr...
2024-01-01 14:00:11 +0000 UTC
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It's hard to believe that we've reached the end of 2023. For me, this has been an incredible year, and it's hard to believe how far I've come with my work. This time last year, I'd just released the first book in the Death: Genesis series, and its performance was still a little up in the air. At the time, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make a living doing this. However, over the past twelve months, my work has received such a nice reception that that is no ...
2023-12-31 20:06:20 +0000 UTC
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She is volatile, unreliable, and selfish. Despite that, she represents Earth’s greatest chance for survival. I wish it were otherwise, because I believe Mira is just as likely to destroy the world as save it.
Alistaris Kargat
Magnificent mountains, each one wearing a cap of snow, rose to prominence all around us. I’d never felt smaller than in the presence of those giant natural edifices. Patrick piloted the Leviathan through th...
2023-12-31 14:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Some people have a talent for battle. All those split-second decisions just come naturally to them. Others have a knack for training. It’s a combination of willingness to push themselves to the limit, over and over again, and the willpower to keep at it long after others would have given up. Mira has both, which, given her other talents, makes her an absolute monster when it comes to progression.
Alistaris Kargat
The next three months p...
2023-12-30 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
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The prisoner looked up with heavy-lidded eyes, his face creased from advanced age, and locked his gaze onto Elijah. He opened his mouth as if to speak, revealing a mouth devoid of teeth, then let out a rasping cackle that quickly turned into a coughing fit. Elijah’s instincts told him to step in, to offer comfort to the elderly man, but he pushed that urge aside. Looks, he knew, could be deceptive, and he had no idea what capabilities the old prisoner possessed.
“Help?” the man cr...
2023-12-29 16:00:37 +0000 UTC
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The sky roiled, angry and impatient to unleash its fury upon the Mukti Plains. A persistent wind whipped the grassland into a frenzy, bringing with it a desperate chill. A lone drop of rain fell upon Zeke’s upturned face, a herald of the storm to come. He glanced to his right, where Rasa Tomasi stood unmoving, her hooves planted firmly in the ground. The other nearby centaurs possessed none of her stoicism, though, and they showed their nerves – whether from the coming deluge or because o...
2023-12-29 14:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Looks like because I made a mistake with RR scheduling, we're getting two chapters today! So, from here on out, we'll be getting five chapters a week for this story. Yipee!
After Elijah tied the Sash of the Whirlwind around his waist, he looked at his status. What he saw was incredible – a boost of three points to both Strength and Dexterity – but what he felt was even more impressive. It was difficult to explain, but he felt faster and more energet...
2023-12-28 17:22:42 +0000 UTC
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The smell of death and decay hung heavy in the air as Elijah crouched in the cell where he’d defeated the Warden. The corpses of the troll, dark elf, and ogres were a long way from decomposition, but to Elijah, they still smelled of rot.
Perhaps that was just his imagination.
Or given the things he’d seen in the other cells, maybe not. Either way, he was eager to leave it all behind for more pleasant environs. However, before he could do that, he had a few tasks before him. Th...
2023-12-28 16:00:04 +0000 UTC
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“This is unwise,” spat Raku Tomasi, stomping his hooves in a petulant show of irritation. He gestured to the gathered leaders, growling, “We are the People. We do not bow to two-legged abominations!”
Rasa loomed over the much smaller centaur and glared down at him. That was all it took to quench the fires in his heart. He didn’t cower – not precisely – but he was cowed nonetheless. She raised her voice, but she didn’t shout. She didn’t need to. Even at a normal volume,...
2023-12-28 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Sometimes, Mira frightens me. I know she would never hurt me, but she has so much power and so little regard for consequences. She once murdered millions of people without even trying, and that’s not considering what she did to the moon. What if something goes wrong and one of her abilities goes out of control? It’s not outside the realm of possibility that she could destroy the entire world on accident. That keeps me up at night.
...
2023-12-27 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Pain lanced through Elijah’s chest as the blade parted his scales and drove deep into the meat of his torso only to erupt from his back an instant later. The sheer force of the attack drove him backward until he thudded against the wall, sending a spiderweb of cracks arcing out from the point of impact. Dust and debris rained down on his head as the sword pinned him in place.
Panicked, he lashed out, his claws raking against the elf’s face. But they never reached his dark skin. The ...
2023-12-26 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
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The wind whipped the tree’s branches against Zeke’s legs as he held himself in place. He barely noticed it, instead focusing the whole of his attention on the army in the distance. There weren’t just thousands of them. There were tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds, spread across the valley and blocking the way through.
Knights, all in gleaming silver armor that, even from so far away, pulsed with mana. Mundane soldiers, wrapped in leather cuirasses and carrying bows and spea...
2023-12-26 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
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The floor of the cell shook with titanic battle as the two ogres clashed with the freed troll. Warbling screams filled the air, suggesting that things were not going well for the jailers. That was as expected; the troll wasn’t just larger, but it had looked far sturdier, as well. Still, even if the winner had been assured – which was no certain thing – Elijah had no intentions of letting it play out.
Not without having his say.
So, wedged in the shaft, he shifted his way up ...
2023-12-25 16:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Grand Magister Tordal Irangar slammed his fist into the wall, letting out a bestial scream of anger and frustration. He wheeled around, facing the arrayed advisors as well as the messenger who’d just broken the bad news, and demanded, “Gone? How can it be gone?! It was a city of more than twenty thousand!”
And that wasn’t even including the slaves. With them, that number skyrocketed to near fifty thousand. More importantly, Heartwood had been home to one of Adontis’ key border...
2023-12-25 14:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Mira has been through a lot. I’ve lost count of the number of times she’s almost died. But none of those instances have affected – or continue to affect – her quite like the time she went up against a horde of irradiated Wildlings. It wasn’t until that moment, when someone else had to rescue her, that she started to recognize her own mortality. And that has stuck with her ever since.
Patrick Ward
A month later,...
2023-12-24 14:03:53 +0000 UTC
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I'm back from my vacation (which was great, by the way), and I'm raring to go. I had some time to think about the stories, and I came up with some really cool ideas that I'm eager to implement (when the time is right). That said, let's dive into the good stuff:
Death: Genesis is just starting to get into the fun part of this arc, and I'm very excited about what Zeke and company going into a real war. It's going to be a bit brutal, so I hope you're all ready for that! &...
2023-12-24 02:30:35 +0000 UTC
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I think Mira always wanted to go back. She has so many regrets that she just can’t leave behind.
Patrick Ward
The wilderness surrounding Mobile was both familiar and not. It felt like I was looking at a landscape that I should have known like the back of my hand, but none of the details were right. The terrain was populated by the same wildlife and thick vegetation that had overcome the signs of long-gone civilization,...
2023-12-23 14:00:10 +0000 UTC
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The odious smell that permeated the dungeon had grown no less pervasive, but Elijah ignored it as he stalked forward. On either side of the hall were more cages not dissimilar from the one in which he’d left the troll. However, they were mostly empty, and the ones that were occupied contained only corpses of fearsome beasts. The only ones Elijah recognized were smaller trolls, but even those were so plague-stricken that he could barely make the connection between them and the sole living mo...
2023-12-22 16:00:09 +0000 UTC
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From within a burned-out husk of a building, Silik watched as a fireball soared through the sky. It was the signal for which he had been waiting, and he felt his muscles tense in anticipation of the battle to come. Turning to his battle-hardened and elite squad, he said, “Come. We fight.”
Twenty massive fists slapped against leather armor as the squad signaled their agreement. With that, Silik set out from the charred building at a dead sprint. As he did, he embraced [Lightforged], ...
2023-12-22 14:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Snow gently fell, drifting down from the slate gray sky as Carmen steadily trudged along beside the pickup truck. As heavily laden as it was, the vehicle could barely move more than a few miles per hour, and even that was only possible because of the incredible accomplishments of a few Engineers. Electric motors still worked after the apocalypse, but far less efficiently than they had in the past. As a result, even electric cars – or trucks, in this case – were vastly underpowered. Still,...
2023-12-21 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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The sun hung high in the sky as Zeke gazed at the castle across the street. When morning came, he had been forced to descend from on high, so the view wasn’t as pristine as he would have preferred. However, he could still see the steady stream of healers going back and forth through the gates. The ones headed in had their heads held high, but the ones leaving all wore defeated expressions. Each and every one of them looked exhausted, with slumping shoulders and shuffling gaits.
Eta ha...
2023-12-21 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Training is one of the most hotly contested subjects in all the universe. Some believe that hyper-focusing on one aspect of a person’s development is the key. Others think that a well-rounded approach is better. Still others resort to methods that more resemble torture than training. But the reality is that there is no perfect solution because the most important facet of a person’s development is their own persistence.
Alistaris Ka...
2023-12-20 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
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A steady flow of gelatinous sludge dripped down into the drainage tunnel. The smell alone was enough to turn Elijah’s stomach, but he was even more concerned with the persistent drops clinging to his scales. Most of them were confined to his upturned face, which made it all the worse.
Further complicating his situation was the enduring pain of the caustic ooze still burning its way through his scales. It wasn’t enough to derail his thoughts – especially after he’d spent so much ...
2023-12-19 16:00:04 +0000 UTC
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“You don’t have to do it,” Sasha said, resting her hand on Pudge’s knee. “I’m sure he has another plan that doesn’t involve you sneaking behind enemy lines.”
Pudge just shook his head. Sasha was smart – far smarter than him, at least – but there were some things she just didn’t understand. One of those was his relationship with Zeke. They were family, and what’s more, he knew just how far Zeke would go for him. The same was true from Pudge’s perspective. If Zek...
2023-12-19 14:00:04 +0000 UTC
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The water was warm.
And not the sort of warm one usually experienced in a bath, but rather, the kind that usually came when someone urinated in a pool. That was to say that it was absolutely disgusting, and it was made even more so by the stench invading Elijah’s nostrils. It was so horrid that, for a brief moment, he considered going back. However, it only took the memory of those monstrous ogres – or more importantly, the enormous weapons they wielded – to keep Elijah paddling f...
2023-12-18 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Zeke seethed.
At some point, he’d forgotten what true anger felt like. So often, he was subjected to the artificial fury that came from fueling his skills with demonic corruption. That had given him an erroneous perception of the debilitating nature of true rage. Sure, under the influence of demonic mana, he was often too angry to even think. But the real thing – the sort that came from his own heart and mind – was something entirely different.
It didn’t just overwhelm him...
2023-12-18 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
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The quarantine of any Initialization is supposed to give the natives a chance. With a hundred years, they can progress and grow so that they can stand up to the wave of invaders and colonizers that will come with the Integration. And yet, we all know it’s little more than a joke. Even if they had twice that time, there’s almost no chance any native population could stand up to civilizations with millennia – and sometimes eons – of development behind them....
2023-12-17 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
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This week's check-in is coming a touch early (I usually like to post them in the middle of Sunday) because I'm going on vacation this week, and I'm set to leave pretty early in the morning. So, I figured I'd throw this thing up there now instead of trying to do it in transit. But don't worry. There shouldn't be any interruption in chapter postings because I've already got everything scheduled for the coming week.
This past week has been pretty incredible, and as a resu...
2023-12-17 06:48:39 +0000 UTC
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My preference is to build my own equipment. It’s probably not better, but with my skills giving me significant modifiers for self-made gear, it’s close enough for the distinction to not matter. Even if that wasn’t the case, I would do it anyway. There’s just nothing like building your own weapons and using them to protect someone you love.
Patrick Ward
“Do you need to know anything about your skills?” I...
2023-12-16 14:00:04 +0000 UTC
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