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Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 22 - Silver

Elijah dreamed of happiness, homecoming, and falling asleep in Sadie’s arms. 

And then, it all shattered.  A sound like rolling thunder, followed by cracking glass echoed through the abyss as a fissure exploded across the green crystal encasing Elijah’s draconic body.  His eyes fluttered open as wave after wave of dense vitality misted into the atmosphere. 

A building-sized tentacle slammed into the obelisk with enough force to cause an earthquake miles bel...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 21 - One Cell at a Time

At one point, Elijah considered body cultivation to be the least complicated of the four categories, and for good reason.  That wasn’t to say that it was easy.  Breaking down and rebuilding one’s body came with incredible agony, to the point where he’d allowed himself to believe that pain tolerance was the primary hurdle he’d need to clear. 

So far, that had been true.

But pushing forward into the fifth stage changed everything. 

The idea behind b...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 20 - Drive

Elijah felt it long before he laid eyes on it.

The spire jutted from the ground, rising dozens of miles before disappearing into the darkness of the abyss.  It was visible even from hundreds of miles away, glinting in the violet light cast by the tendrils of illumination slithering through the sky. 

Situated in a giant crater, it was surrounded by nothing.  The ground had been worn smooth and melted into black glass, and the pierced sky roiled like an angry storm.&n...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 19 - Making a Connection

Benedict stood atop the low wall making the boundary of Dravkein and watched Elijah walk away.  He knew he should be going with him.  His sense of responsibility demanded it.  And yet, his feet remained rooted in place.  He couldn’t force himself to take a single step, much less to embark on such a long journey across the desolate world.  He stood there for nearly an hour before a subtle and unique aroma, born on the back of a light breeze, reminded him that he was ...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 18 - Finishing Preparations

“Vhalor, the Emerald Tyrant is the unquestioned leader,” said Zek.  Elijah’s understanding of the language had progressed well over the previous couple of months, but he still needed to concentrate to understand everything. 

By anyone’s reckoning, learning a language – even to mild fluency – in only eight or nine weeks was a great achievement.  But Elijah still found his lack of linguistic talent frustrating.  By comparison, Benedict could already speak t...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 17 - Giving Up and Moving On

Elijah sat in the center of the field, surrounded by foreign vegetation.  With his senses fully extended, he could feel every single plant in his vicinity.  And they all felt hollow, as if they were missing some vital part of their very identities.  Like the very air within Dravkein’s influence, the crops felt artificial.  Sterile.  Almost antiseptic. 

Yet, they were packed full of life and nutrients. 

There were no insects buzzing in the air.&...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 16 - History

Their traversal of the city came with more than a little attention.  And it wasn’t difficult to see why, either.  For all that seeing mutated people was shocking to Elijah and Benedict, so too was their unblemished appearance a surprise to the natives. 

For his part, Elijah had already familiarized himself with the layout and the residents of Dravkein, but there was a marked difference between observing a city unseen and feeling as if he was the main attraction of a par...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 15 - First Contact

“Are you certain they’re peaceful?” asked Benedict, his eyes flicking back and forth between the city in the distance and the terrain they’d just covered.  Elijah was familiar enough with his companion that he could predict his thoughts.  And he was obviously wondering if it was better to simply forego making contact with the natives.

Elijah had already walked similar ground, and though he had no guarantees that they would be welcomed, he felt pretty sure that, if push...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 14 - Normal is Relative

Elijah stared at the wall, unsure if he was meant to take the next step.  After two days of observation, he’d already exhausted his capacity to learn more about the natives.  In that time, he’d watched their work cycle, and against all odds, he’d even picked up a few words of their language.  It was much easier than he’d expected, largely because he effectively had eighty-one minds he could devote to such a mundane task.

If he kept at it, he suspected he could mas...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 13 - Finding a Way

Elijah crept closer, his body low to the ground.  Despite his confidence in Guise of the Stalker, he kept to the shadowy crevices cutting through the valley.  Hopefully, the combination of his skill and the terrain would suffice to keep him hidden. 

He had chosen to leave Benedict behind, much to the other man’s chagrin.  He didn’t regret it, and he knew it was the right choice.  Without a stealth ability of his own, Benedict would have been entirely exposed...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 12 - The Nature of Cleansing

For the next few weeks, Elijah struggled to ignore the call of evolution.  As much as he wanted to honor his instincts – and he did – the draw of more power was a potent one.  He knew that using the corrupted Branch would be a mistake.  He felt it down to the core of his identity that nothing good would come of it.

But it still pulled at his mind.

At his desire for progression.

At his need to escape the excised planet and return to his home.  To the g...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 11 - Black Branches

The structure rose hundreds of feet into the sky, its base planted in the center of a wide plaza of pure white stone.  Despite the howling wind and the obvious age, no debris or dust stuck to those pavers.  Even the erosion, evident everywhere else Elijah had been, failed to destroy their surfaces. 

That left the glyphs carved into them entirely exposed.

Elijah knelt beside one, momentarily distracted from the building more than half a mile away.  The glyphs we...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 10 - Frozen in Ash

“I want to go.”

“You can’t.”

“Why?”

Elijah sighed, shoving a bit of monster meat into his mouth.  He immediately chased it with a gulp of water, washing it down.  The taste lingered, but not nearly so strongly as if he’d bothered to chew.  Thankfully, his stomach was strong enough to break it down for whatever nutrients it could provide.

Another two months had passed since that first abominable meal, and eating monster hadn’t gotten any...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 9 - The Illusion of Freedom

Elijah banked right, the tip of his wing skating only a few inches above the ground as he changed direction.  Reoriented, he flapped his wings and pushed himself to top speed.  Below and behind him, hundreds of monsters followed.  None could catch him, and for the first time in the months since he’d arrived on the excised planet, he felt free.  He felt powerful.  He felt like he was in charge of his own destiny.

But he wasn’t.

Despite the victory that ...

Announcement - Protector of the Grove (PoD 1) Sale!

I just wanted to let everyone know that Protector of the Grove (Path of Dragons 1) is now on sale for $0.99 (running from yesterday until November 23). So, if you haven't gotten your copy yet, now's a great time! Check it out at:

And don't forget to leave a rating or review. That seriously helps the story attrac...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 8 - The Better Part of Valor

The monsters were difficult to describe.

One part spider, another part octopus, and a third part wholly terrifying eldritch creature with a multitude of mouths, screaming, simian faces, and enough tentacles to make a man o’ war jealous. 

Elijah met them in the Shape of Spores, fighting tentacles with fungal tendrils born from Throne of Spores.  The tendrils lost.  Repeatedly.  But even as Elijah ripped the enemy apart, one by one, he knew just how outmatched ...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 7 - Desperate Times

The potion vial glittered in the faint light, the liquid inside trembling as if it was alive.  Elijah could feel the energy trapped within – like a bomb waiting to go off – but he had nowhere to direct it.  With the failure of his dolmen, he was well and truly stuck in the mud.

But he strongly believed that the Riftsteed potion was the key.  A shortcut to power he shouldn’t have been capable of achieving.  A way to expand the tools at his disposal in the hopes ...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 6 - The Quiet Tragedy of Hope

Elijah awoke to a cascade of pain.

But a quick inspection told him that he wasn’t dead.  Nor had his body been corrupted.  In fact, he’d managed to maintain his Mantle of Authority, even without his direct input.  However, because it spread out entirely uncontrolled, he felt even worse than when he’d passed out.

With an effort of willpower, he retracted the mantle, reducing its area of effect from a little more than a hundred feet down to the size of the tent....

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 5 - Wrung Dry

“This is newer,” Elijah said, kneeling next to a wall.  It only rose a few feet above the ground, and it ended after a length of ten feet.  The surface had been worn smooth by the elements, though there was enough scoring to hint that it had once been highly decorative.  There were also a couple of depleted crystals embedded into the stone.  “It seems curved to me.”

“Then it probably is,” Benedict said.

In the past month, he’d recovered significan...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 4 - Natives

“This is humiliating,” said Benedict.

Elijah ignored the man’s oft-repeated complaint, mostly because there was no other choice in the matter.  But also, because he was too focused on everything else.

“Did you hear me?”

“I heard you,” Elijah sighed, continuing to put one foot in front of the other.  The terrain was steep, and he’d been at it long enough that his attributes had begun to fail him.  Not to the point where he would collapse, but en...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 3 - Inhospitable

Corruption pressed in on all sides, searching for cracks in Elijah’s Mantle of Authority.  So far, it had found none, but it was only a matter of time before it began to fray at the edges.  And he had no idea what he would do when that happened, because it was the only thing keeping him alive.

He suspected that he could survive without it for a few hours.  Maybe a day or two at most.  But slowly succumbing to the toxic atmosphere would not be a pleasant experience....

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 2 - Dissolution

Elijah landed with a bone-breaking thud, kicking up a cloud of rock and dust upon impact.  The resultant crater was only a few feet deep, though not because of a lack of force.  Instead, the ground was far more durable than expected.

Nearby, there was a second impact a second later. 

But Elijah was far more concerned with the abyssal corruption eating at him.  It sapped his energy and fouled his flesh.  His veins blackened, and he gasped for vitality that ...

Path of Dragons 13 - Chapter 1 - A World Alone

And so, we arrive at book 13 of Path of Dragons, which I'm tentatively calling The Forgotten. I'm aware that I ended the last book on a cliffhanger, but that's been planned for more than a year now. I hope everyone enjoys this book, because not only has it been planned since the very beginning, but it also represents a huge shift in Elijah's journey. And in a lot of ways, he's getting back to the survival roots that epitomized the first book.

After this chapter, don't e...

2025-11-12 16:10:02 +0000 UTC View Post

Path of Dragons 12 - Chapter 92 - Unforgiveable Sins

Rage mingled with frustration and pain, and so thoroughly that Greffyn Cornelius didn’t know where one ended and the others began.  In the back of his mind, he could catalogue the events well enough.  The ranged attacker had caught him unaware, but he’d quickly adjusted to the situation.  The moment the attack landed, he’d known that he couldn’t afford to leave that threat untended.

If he had, the culprit would have picked his people apart.  What was worse wa...

Path of Dragons 12 - Chapter 91 - Indomitable

Miguel was surrounded by bodies.

Corpses in various states of dismemberment littered the bloody ground.  A few had managed to survive, but that wouldn’t last for long.  Even with their outsized durability and regeneration, they were already too far gone for recovery.

Most of them were Healers.  Men and women who’d dedicated themselves to mending others’ injuries.  Killing them was the key to winning any battle, though Miguel regretted the necessity.

Path of Dragons 12 - Chapter 90 - Echoes

A clang echoed through the forest, bouncing off the mountains and startling the wildlife.  Birds took to the skies as animals darted away, uncertain of the sound’s origin.  And perched atop one of those peaks, Gunnar’s face bore a tight smile. 

It was the best shot he’d ever taken.

Almost nine miles from his target, which was only a few inches across.  Even with all his abilities, many of them passively augmenting the bullet’s flight, he’d been forced...

Path of Dragons 12 - Chapter 89 - Outmatched

As he stared into the crystal orb, Greffyn Cornelius clenched his fists in frustration.  It was a trivial piece of artifice attached to a pendant worn by one of his scouts, but despite how common it was, it had proven to be very useful.  In this case, it gave him an unrestricted view of the ongoing siege.

The scout must have been perched high in a tree, and the perspective let him see everything.  The first emotion that had come to mind was anger.

When he’d picked...

Path of Dragons 12 - Chapter 88 - The Price to be Paid

For a fraction of a second, the emergent bolt of lightning froze in space and time as the force of its own momentum warred with the gravitational pull of the imploding ethereal star.  Even as that roiling ball of disparate energies collapsed in on itself, Elijah flooded Lightning Rush with ethera. 

It was not enough.

By the time it reached the halfway point of its duration, he’d barely traveled an inch.  Harnessing every ounce of willpower he possessed, he churned...

Path of Dragons 12 - Chapter 87 - A Matter of Time

The undead abomination rammed the wall, sending rippling shockwaves of ethera arcing up and down its length.  Defenders aimed a barrage of ranged attacks – both physical and spellwrought – at the hulking creature, but its thick, blubbery flesh protected it like a suit of macabre armor.  Every movement sent undulations through the sewn-together fat, eliciting a wave of nausea in anyone who looked its way.

And then there was the smell.

From experience, Carmen knew just...

Path of Dragons 12 - Chapter 86 - In the Palm of a Hand

Ethereal viscera splattered across the silver disc, staining it deep indigo.  Before the blood had a chance to pool, it coalesced into an arm that latched onto the ground.  Like it was pulling itself from a well, the reforming djinn crawled out of the ground, only to use its newfound existence to rejoin the attack.

Elijah had seen it play out hundreds of times over the past few minutes as he wreaked havoc on the summoned creatures.  To his senses, they felt both like inde...