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Chapter 324 - The Brink

As the unicorn galloped closer, Zeke allowed himself the instant of focus necessary to get a good look at the thing. And when he finally beheld every detail, he was forced to suppress a shudder of pure revulsion.

The sleek, black creature was skeletally thin, as if it was on the edge of starvation. With lean, stringy muscles that writhed with every galloping step, it cut a wholly disgusting figure. Even worse, its skin was covered in lesions, some as wide as Zeke’s hand and twice as l...

Mistrunner 3 - Chapter 4 - Status Report

I didn’t intend for anything to happen with Cy. But after Mira and I went our separate ways, she was the only person I could turn to. She welcomed me with open arms.

Patrick Ward

With some anticipation, I navigated through the menus of my interface, settling on the one dedicated to my overall status. Once it flashed before my eyes, I couldn’t help but look upon it with a mixture of satisfaction and regret. On the one...

Chapter 323 - Good and Evil

Zeke smashed his hammer down on the prone figure, sending metallic shards flying away to embed themselves in the nearby walls. And then, he did it again. And again after that. Over and over, he pulverized the tangled mass of metal wires, each blow sending slivers of dislodged pieces flying in every direction. The sound of screeching metal filled the air, but Zeke could tell that the odd creature was on its last legs.

Still, it took almost a hundred more attacks before he spotted the goo...

Chapter 322 - Back at It

Zeke leaned back, letting the scalding water cover everything but his face as he floated in the center of the pool. Above him, wafts of steam snaked through the air, intertwining with one another until they created a dense, low-slung fog bank that hung only a few feet from his upturned face. And as much as he knew he needed to, he didn’t want to move.

“You know you can’t just float here forever,” said Eveline, drifting through the wafting steam. She twirled. “Though I can unde...

Weekly Check-In (7/9/23)

This past week was pretty productive and I'm pretty happy with the progress I made in both main stories.  

In Death: Genesis news, the third book is still holding strong, and I think its performance has been comparable to the second book's.  I won't know for sure for a little while, but based on the rankings, I think it's safe to call it a success.  As to where I am with writing the fifth book - I'm maybe three chapters from finishing it up.  It turned out a touch lo...

Mistrunner 3 - Chapter 3 - Trust

I’m not an insecure person. Or at least, I never thought I was. But that first Rift with Mira, it opened my eyes to how far ahead of me she was. At first, I didn’t let it affect me, but after the…incident, I couldn’t lie to myself anymore. I was slowing her down, and unless I did something drastic to figure out my place in all of this, I would never be more than a dead weight.

Patrick Ward

After Patrick and I agr...

Mistrunner 3 - Chapter 2 - The Offer

After Nova, Mira was broken. I tried so hard to be there for her, to help her heal, but she needed something I couldn’t give her. In the end, that’s why she needed to go off on her own. Me sticking around was only going to make things worse.

Patrick Ward

“Oh, grow up. It’s just a flesh wound,” I said to the ridiculous man writhing on the ground. My shot had barely even clipped him, and though its passage had ta...

Chapter 321 - Melancholy

Pudge sat on his haunches, staring at the flickering flames of the campfire Sasha had started. It was tied to some sort of barrier that would supposedly dissuade monsters from stumbling upon them in their sleep, but he didn’t understand any of that. Her ability to manipulate different forms of mana was a confusing mess to his untrained eyes, and he much preferred his own skills. They were straightforward, and they made sense to him in a way her amorphous abilities never would. Still, throug...

Chapter 320 - Pitiful God

When Zeke reached the top of the spiraling staircase, he let out a sigh of relief. With his luck, he’d expected the thing to start crumbling the moment he’d set foot on the first step. But to his mild surprise, it had remained steady and sturdy, easily bearing his weight. However, with every step of ascension, Zeke had felt the corrosive influence of the demonic mana in the air further dissipate. It still swirled like a storm of corruption, but its density had dropped significantly.

Mistrunner 3 - Chapter 1 - Three Years Later

Mira was lost after what happened in Nova City. For the longest time, I had no idea how to help her. I tried everything. Eventually, I decided that the best thing I could do for her was to give her the space to grieve. Maybe it was necessary, but walking away was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.

Patrick Ward

I leaned back, enjoying the slight sway of the hammock as I felt the warm sun playing over my mostly bare ...

Chapter 319 - Cages

Zeke trudged through the basin, his feet digging huge divots into the loose sand with every step. He felt as if he’d been climbing the latest dune for days, but he knew it had only been a few minutes. Rather, his frustration was borne on the wings of a trying week that had seen him traipsing across the Sea of Corruption and fighting various demonic monsters.

After breaking the second cage, Zeke had expected to encounter similar guardians at each stop. However, that had not been the ca...

Chapter 318 - The Warden

Sorry about the double-post.  I guess I wasn't quite awake when I scheduled it yesterday morning.  This one should be right, though!

“I think these steps were made for bigger…ah…people,” said Eveline, floating beside Zeke as he arduously climbed the slowly winding crystalline stairs.

Just as levered himself up – each step came up to his chest – and rolled to his feet, he muttered, “You think?”

He probably could have just ju...

Weekly Check-In (7/2/23)

This was a pretty big week for me.  First (and most importantly), book three of Death: Genesis released with a bang.  The numbers suggest that it was just as successful of a release as book two, and it hit #1 in a couple of categories just like the last.  However, there was some pretty stiff new release competition this time around, so I count the consistent performance as a really big win.  And second, the last chapter of Mistrunner's second book released on here today, s...

Mistrunner 2 - Chapter 70 - A New Tomorrow

To my ruin, I overestimated Mira’s capacity for empathy. Or maybe she did care about all those people. I don’t know. But she refused to veer off her chosen path just because a few innocent people were going to die. It was only in the moments before my death that it became clear that she truly had become Jeremiah’s successor.

Nora Lancaster

Panic gripped my mind as tremors shook the city. I’d never been in an eart...

Mistrunner 2 - Chapter 69 - It All Falls Down

I had always hoped she had survived. I took solace in the idea that she might be out there somewhere, living her life to the fullest. Free of Jeremiah and his insanity. But now? I just wish she’d been there with him when he fell. It would have been kinder.

Nora Lancaster

I hefted my assault rifle, aiming it at Nora as I said, “Or I could just do what I came to do. My way seems easier.”

“How did you do it?�...

Chapter 317 - Awakening

Hellfire rained from the sky, bathing Zeke a wave of heat and flame. It didn’t hurt him – he barely even felt it – but it did one thing remarkably well in that it obstructed his vision to such an extent that he never saw the swooping fish-demon before it swept in, grabbed him with one of its numerable talons, and dragged him back into the sky. Instinctively, Zeke increased his weight, even as he struggled against the grasping claws digging into his body. But with a mighty beat of its fi...

Chapter 316 - A Flock of Fish

Zeke felt heavy. His legs were like lead weights, and his every breath was labored. However, the further he traveled from the epicenter of his recent explosion of power, the better it felt.

“It’s the ambient mana,” Eveline supplied, gliding along beside him. Her own progress looked effortless, but every now and then, her entire body flickered as if she was barely holding herself together. “With every step of progress you make, you grow more powerful, but that power comes at the ...

Mistrunner 2 - Chapter 68 - Terror

I know she’s coming. And after what she did to those people – more than a thousand dead, most without so much as a scratch – the terror has reached a fever pitch. I know I’m safe. I know she won’t kill me. But still…the fear remains.

Nora Lancaster

The R-14 spat fire as I kicked off the ground and flew through the air. I landed half-a-dozen feet away in a roll that ended with me behind one of the concrete col...

Book Three of Death: Genesis is Now Available

Just wanted to remind you again that book three just went live.  So, if you want to check out a freshly edited version,  you can check it out at: 

2023-06-27 13:58:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 315 - Rupture

Zeke strode forward, his grip tightening on the haft of his mace. Even though he was still pulling energy from the earth with [Metallurgical Repair], it was all he could do to keep his shoulders from slumping in exhaustion. Physically, he was mostly fine. His body could keep going for hours – perhaps days – more. But from a mental perspective, he was completely wrung out. And his spirit felt as if it had been chewed up and spat out. In short, he had little patience for the impending fight...

Chapter 314 - Unmatched Power

Enhanced by his racial ability to manipulate his weight, Zeke crashed into the skullcrab in a vicious shoulder tackle that sent the monster tumbling away. As that demonic monster flew into another, he whirled around, letting his hammer lead the way with a backhanded swing that took yet another creature in the descending pincer. The crab’s thick carapace cracked, and viscous, black blood sprayed in the air. But Zeke had already moved along, leaping high into the air. At the peak of his jump ...

Weekly Check-In (6/25/2023)

So, this has been a really busy week.  Not only have I been plugging away at both Death: Genesis and Mistrunner, but I've also done a fair bit of work on Heretic as well.  In addition, I think we're closing in on a final cover for Death: Genesis 4. Hopefully, it'll be done by the third book's release on Tuesday so we can have the pre-order up and running on release, but sometimes that isn't possible.  That book doesn't release until November anyway, so it's not like it's urgent...

Mistrunner 2 - Chapter 67 - Climbing the Tower

I never meant for things to get so out of control. I just wanted what was owed me. Is that a sin? Is that wrong? No. I refuse to believe that. I just wish everyone else could see the truth.

Nora Lancaster

The sub-basement might’ve been completely abandoned, but I soon discovered that the same couldn’t be said for the rest of the mega-building. The place was huge, spanning multiple city blocks, and normally housed mor...

Mistrunner 2 - Chapter 66 - A Mile of Shit

At this point, fear feels like a constant companion. I’ve never been so afraid. Not when I decided to get rid of Jeremiah. Not when the tribal wars broke out all over Nova City. And not when facing down the Enforcers who conveniently insisted that I take their protection. I think I created a monster.

Nora Lancaster

I sped through the streets of Nova City, the scheduled rainstorm coming down in a steady pour. Night had ...

Chapter 313 - Field of Giants

The descent was easy. Too easy, if Zeke was honest with himself. Everything since his ascension into the Eternal Realm – or since his rebirth, really – had been an absolute slog. Simply moving forward, putting one foot in front of the other, had always taken every ounce of effort he could muster. So, when that difficulty wasn’t there, when it felt like he was just walking down a huge, black sand dune, his hackles were inevitably up.

“Relax. You’re too tense,” said Eveline, f...

Chapter 312 - Unique

“You could’ve just told me,” Zeke grumbled, sitting on the ground, his legs splayed and his shoulders slumped. His hammer lay across one thigh, and his sweaty hair hung in a soggy curtain around his face. “It would’ve saved me a lot of effort.”

Floating near his shoulder, Eveline said, “I’ve told you a hundred times already – that’s forbidden. The application of Will is a personal journey, and it’s protected by the Framework. If I explained how it works before you ...

Mistrunner 2 - Chapter 65 - Mark Two

Mira had no idea what she was doing. The leaders of the tribes of Nova City are all proud people, and they don’t take too kindly to being manipulated. Even I didn’t realize how angry they would be when Gunther laid everything bare. I wish I could deal with her myself, but there’s no way they’ll let her escape alive. If I just had a chance to explain, to reason with her, we could take the whole city for ourselves. Pity that the others will never leave her alive lon...

2023-06-21 13:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post