Zeke stomped on the ground, and the earth cracked. A line of destruction tore across the ground, covering the distance between the two combatants in the blink of an eye. The Puppeteer’s ghoulish eyes widened, and he tried to leap to the side. But before he could move more than a foot, the ground exploded, disgorging a gout of lava at least forty feet across.
It wasn’t just melted rock, though. Woven into the liquid earth were black tendrils of pure corruption that made the geyser of...
2023-11-03 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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During the fight with the skeletal marionettes, Zeke hadn’t gotten a good look at the room. However, as it began to shake, he took the time to do so. It was octagonal, around forty yards wide, and featured walls composed of millions of bones. Some were clearly human, but others were just as obviously monstrous. Every ten feet or so were skulls whose eye sockets glowed, casting the room in pale blue light.
But Zeke was more worried about the four arches, one in each direction, along th...
2023-11-02 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Deep down, we all know that anyone who says they can solve all of our problems is lying. But it’s so easy to just surrender control, to let someone else take responsibility out of your hands. That’s why the Pacificians were successful. It’s just human nature.
Patrick Ward
My assault rifle was up in less than a second, and before they could take one step, I’d put the first one down. As he fell, I swept the weapon ...
2023-11-01 13:00:09 +0000 UTC
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In his unattuned [Triune Colossus] form, Zeke led the group to the massive chains leading to the floating chunk of rock in the pit. Glancing over the edge, he saw the charred remains of the tentaracles, and once again, wished he could have gone down there to loot it. Who knew what kind of useful materials he might get?
But due to the sheer sides and depth of the pit, it was impossible to get down.
“Well, technically, the descent would be extremely easy. It’s the getting back u...
2023-10-31 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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A wave of dizziness swept through Sasha, and she fell to one knee as Zeke shouted, “Now!”
She looked up to see the flashing lights of Silik’s [Spear of Memories] mingling with Pudge’s more subdued balls of [Hellfire]. Then, she fell back to sag against the wall, which shook with the impact of a huge explosion that filled the entire chamber with the acrid smell of smoke, burning flesh, and dense corruption.
And then the screams started.
Inhuman and high-pitched, they ...
2023-10-30 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
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So, this past week was really big for me for a couple of reasons, and I think the next couple of weeks will be even bigger.
First, Death: Genesis is really progressing, and I'm having an absolute blast writing the dungeon arc. It's fun to come up with these different scenarios to see how everyone's going to react to it, and as I said, I'm having a great time putting it all together.
I should note that, with the way I wrote book five and six, I've also changed t...
2023-10-29 13:22:15 +0000 UTC
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We’re playing with forces we don’t understand. Every detail I uncover about the way Mist circuits interact with cybernetic parts shows me just how ignorant we are. We don’t know what the system really is. Nor do we know where it came from. Not really. We’re just scrambling to keep our heads above water. Meanwhile, the aliens have known how to swim for years.
Patrick Ward
Buildings crumbled as my carefully placed ...
2023-10-29 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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People change. We grow. We regress. Our priorities shift, and we commit to courses of action that would’ve once seemed unthinkable. Never was that more apparent than when I realized that I didn’t want to save the world. I didn’t really care about a bunch of innocent strangers. When it came down to it, all that really mattered to me was that Mira and I survived. Everything else was secondary. But Mira – she’s different. She talks the talk, but when it really come...
2023-10-28 13:00:02 +0000 UTC
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“This is a bad plan,” said Jasper as he looked over the edge of the cliff. He adjusted the rope around his waist. “I just want it known that I do not like this idea.”
“It’ll be fine,” said Zeke, clapping him on his shoulder.
“Unless it’s not,” interjected Sasha. “There’s not telling how far it can reach.”
“Sasha…”
“What? I’m just saying that there’s a lot of tentacle down there,” she countered. She peeked over the edge and scrunc...
2023-10-27 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Zeke met the diving gargoyle with an uppercut from his hammer that shattered the lower part of its jaw and reversed its course. It went cartwheeling backward through the air, colliding with one of its fellows along the way. The two fell in a mass of tangled limbs and wings, but Zeke couldn’t afford the attention to track their descent. Instead, he was wholly occupied with the next gargoyle, which used the opening to tear into his earthen form with its wickedly sharp stone claws.
He ro...
2023-10-26 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Finally creating the working prototype of my armor was a huge moment for me. I knew it wouldn’t really close the gap between Mira and me. But I felt it would make me a little less of a liability. I’m still not sure if I was right or wrong.
Patrick Ward
I pored over the map of Olympus, memorizing my route. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I thought that, so long as Alistaris came through, I had a real shot at rescuin...
2023-10-25 13:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Zeke awoke to a blindingly white light.
He blinked a few times, trying to clear his vision, but it was no use.
“He’s awake,” came a familiar voice that it took a few moments for him to recognize as belonging to Sasha. He felt a gentle hand on his arm before she added, “Just stay calm. If you start seizing again, I don’t know if we can keep you still.”
“W-what…”
The word came out as an inarticulate grunt, which sent Zeke’s mind staggering toward pani...
2023-10-24 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Zeke ducked beneath a hammer blow meant to decapitate him, then dove to the side as he employed every ounce of agility he possessed to avoid the follow up. He succeeded, if only barely, but the shockwave of the overhand strike knocked him off-balance and sent him sprawling across the floor. He hit his head against the golden frame of the mirror, sending stars dancing across his vision. But through sheer willpower, he managed to maintain his wits enough to drag himself behind the frame.
...
2023-10-23 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
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My beer really isn’t that bad. I don’t know why Mira hates it so much. It’s not good. I’ll grant that. But it’s not that bad.
Patrick Ward
The dawn of a new day brought with it a palpable sense of anticipation that I couldn’t really place. I spent most of that day training, and when I’d finished, I took a look at my long-ignored status:
2023-10-22 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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War is inevitable, now. Maybe it always was. I don’t know. It just feels like, somewhere along the line, we failed, and now we’re just waiting to be buried by the consequences of our failures.
Patrick Ward
Upon returning to Fortune, I had a few days to myself while Alistaris gathered the means to get me inside Olympus. I had already established that I wasn’t capable of bypassing the Pacificians’ defenses, so my i...
2023-10-21 13:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Jasper let out a piercing cry that shattered one of the newly reanimated tables’ legs. He danced backward, parrying a thrust of the monster’s other leg, then sending a riposte to chip away at the table’s surface. Meanwhile, he continued stamp his feet in a rhythm so he could keep [Accelerating Crescendo] active. That, along with his above average agility and dexterity, gave him ample ability to avoid any lethal attacks the table might bring to bear.
But he knew he was fighti...
2023-10-20 13:00:04 +0000 UTC
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I just wanted to let you all know that, in preparation for the upcoming release, I took down the chapters for Death: Genesis 4. As I'm sure you're aware, that's necessary due to Amazon's exclusivity policy. But don't worry - the book releases on Nov. 7. You can pre-order it HERE.
2023-10-20 04:33:31 +0000 UTC
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“Sit, sit!” said one of the women.
“Join us!” another added.
“We’ve been waiting for you!” the third exclaimed, clapping her hands together with glee.
The fourth just grinned, the expression stretching obscenely across her face without touching her eyes. On the surface, each of the women looked different, with varying hair colors, facial features, and complexions. But there was something about them that marked them as all but identical. To call it unnerving wou...
2023-10-19 13:00:04 +0000 UTC
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When Mira blew up the moon, it was like a starting gun had gone off. Suddenly, the aliens were very aware that humanity had no intention of going down without a fight.
Patrick Ward
The trip back to the surface was uneventful, though I did learn something extremely disturbing along the way. I sat in Alistaris’ ship, which was a purpose-built smuggling vessel intended to get through quarantines and blockades. According t...
2023-10-18 13:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Zeke ducked beneath a flapping book before aiming a horizontal swing at an ambulatory couch. His hammer took the thing in the armrest, sending it skidding sideways a few feet. The moment its momentum was spent, Silik crashed into it, furiously stabbing it with his spear. He let out a hissing roar as the intensity of his light-based enhancement flared. Every attack ripped into the cushions, leaving scorched leather and tendrils of smoke behind.
But the animated couch was nearly level six...
2023-10-17 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Zeke reached out to the door, and for once, hesitated before opening it. “There’s probably going to be something horrible inside, isn’t there?” he said.
“That seems likely,” Jasper, who was positioned just behind him, said. Eta and Silik stood back a little further, clearly intending to leap into battle if the situation demanded their intervention.
“And there were no other ways in, right?” Zeke asked, peeking back at his friend. While he’d recovered from his woun...
2023-10-16 13:00:07 +0000 UTC
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When Mira told me she was on the moon, I half expected her to tell me that use that as an opportunity to escape the situation on Earth. But in retrospect, I know that doing so never even crossed her mind.
Patrick Ward
Still cloaked in Stealth, I stalked forward until the Pacificians came into range of Misthack. However, when I tried to infiltrate one of their systems, I got quite a surprise. The moment my awareness touch...
2023-10-15 13:00:04 +0000 UTC
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In the old world, people had the luxury of solving their problems peacefully. But now? It feels like war is inevitable, and I don’t think humanity is ready for those kinds of stakes.
Patrick Ward
I searched through the compound, which was at least the size of a small city, looking for supplies. I only had so much room in my arsenal implant, and most of that had been reserved for necessities like ration bars, water, and...
2023-10-14 13:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Pudge shoved Sasha aside, sending her skidding across the disgusting floor. Bits of bone and flesh got caught in her fur, as she splashed through a pool of half-congealed blood. The smell alone was enough to make her gag, but she pushed that feeling aside. If she could keep her rebellions stomach under control in the Dead Mire, she could endure the smell of a bit of rotting offal.
The half-rotted hand, which was big enough to wrap its fingers entirely around her, crashed down where she...
2023-10-13 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Sasha collapsed to the ground, her breaths coming in shallow, quick pants. But she had made it, which was all that mattered. After the eel-infested waters, she’d been forced to drag Pudge through a long, winding tunnel that eventually terminated in what seemed like a jail. It had been a difficult journey fraught with tension, but at least they hadn’t been attacked by any additional monsters. If they had, Sasha was sure that they would have died.
Not for the first time, she cursed he...
2023-10-12 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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There’s something so satisfying about creation. I can take a bunch of seemingly unrelated pieces and put them together to create something far greater than the sum of its parts. It doesn’t matter if I’m cooking, brewing beer, or building cybernetics – if I could just spend the rest of my life creating useful things, I’d be happy.
Patrick Ward
For the longest time, I just stood there and stared at the scene laid...
2023-10-11 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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The creature stood on two legs, but they were neither dog legs nor comparable to a human’s. Instead, with their cloven hooves, they reminded Zeke of the demons he’d fought in the Mortal Realm. The rest of the monster’s body was a weird amalgamation of the canine horrors and a hulking humanoid. As the pair faced off against one another, Zeke used [Inpect], hoping to identify the monster.
Wereterror – Level 60
It tilted its canine head back and howled. The sound bounced arou...
2023-10-10 13:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Zeke gazed across the chasm at the mountainous building in the distance. The lowest level was the largest, spanning what had to be miles in each direction, and each floor above that was a little smaller. That pattern continued until, at the very top where it merged with the chamber’s ceiling, it was the size of a normal building.
“Like a wedding cake, right?” said Eveline. “I hate that I even know what a wedding cake is. Your world was weird.”
Zeke ignored her, instead c...
2023-10-09 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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I know I haven't done this in a bit, and for that I apologize. I've been incredibly busy with splitting what was book five of Death: Genesis into two separate volumes. To do so, I had to add quite a bit of material. Most of the new stuff was always going to make it into the story, but I just accelerated the time frame a bit for those chapters. As a result, I had to write about 100k extra words (over what I've already published here) while trying to keep up with the nor...
2023-10-08 23:19:17 +0000 UTC
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Sometimes, I wonder what it would be like if Mira and I just settled down somewhere. No more fighting. No more crazy missions. Just us living normal lives. I know it’ll never happen, though. She would never be happy with anything ordinary.
Patrick Ward
I glanced around the warehouse, but I didn’t see anything out of place. Nor did anything trigger my {Mistrunner} senses. As far as I could tell, it was just a normal w...
2023-10-08 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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