Plum Parrot

O24

Olivia was surprised when the person from her cohort who came to see her that first day was Rald. She wasn’t sure why, but she had expected Veena or Adaida. Rald had smiled grimly at her when Professor Thain opened the door, and then he’d come in and tried to tell her about all their classes. Unfortunately, his recall was spotty at best, and the real reason he came was revealed when he got to his summary of Physical Education and Combat Practice. “Look, I was talking to Commander Grobak...

Victor 16: Justice

Several days passed at the Wagon Wheel before anything new or remarkable happened to change up the doldrums of Victor’s days. He’d just finished with a particularly infuriating bout of cultivating, managing to level his Core again when the door to the main exercise room slammed open, and Ponda came striding in, holding the end of the chain they used to bind the prisoners for travel. However, this time, he wasn’t there to chain up Victor and the other fighters; he was delivering a line o...

Victor 15: Contract

Victor looked at his status page and the flashing green button labeled “Class Selection.” He touched the button, and a message overlaid his current view:

***Level 10 Class selection. Class selection is permanent. Human Energy cultivators will next be offered a Class refinement selection at level 20. To view your options and make your selection, use the arrows to page through this interface.***

Victor had talked to Vullu and Yrella about classes quite a lot dur...

Victor 14: The Bathhouse

Ponda ended up having to jump down into the pit and help Victor out. He lifted him by his good arm, and swung him over his shoulder, then clambered up the side, with Yund giving him a hand. “Take him to the infirmary; we’ll pick you guys up after Zan’s fight.” Yund reached out to clap Victor on the shoulder but thought better of it, pulling his hand back. “We’ll get you to a bath tonight, kid. You did good.” Victor just closed his eyes, hanging over Ponda’s shoulder; he didn�...

Victor 13: Underdog

Victor didn’t remember a lot between climbing out of the ring and slumping down against the wall in the roped-off area. There were only a handful of fighters standing around or laying on the wooden floor, everyone else presumably dead, injured, or off fighting in a pit. He remembered Ponda’s big meaty hand on the back of his neck, guiding him along the walkways above the pits, then his gruff, “You got maybe an hour ‘til your last fight.” Then Victor had stumbled, still soaked in sti...

Saturday delivery: More Victor Chapters

Dear Patrons - I'm running a little low on FWFW backlog, so I'm going to give you four more chapters from Victor's story today. Back on track with FWFW Monday.

Let me know if you like/hate anything, please.

Cheers!

Plum

M75

Morgan and Issa had found their roladii about a half-mile up the valley from where they’d tied their leads. As Issa had predicted, they’d pulled free when their supply of food had run low. Still, they hadn’t wandered far and came running when the two adventurers whistled. Issa was hugging and scratching Gopp, and Morgan did the same, running his hand over his mount’s dusty back and scratching between his feathers. “Good boy, Munch!”

“They seem fine - no scratches or cuts, ...

Victor 12: Crowd Favorite

Yund clapped Victor on the back, put his big, meaty arm over his shoulders, and led him back to their staging area. On the way, he said, “I told you those things are weak. You made minced cutlets of ‘em. Listen, your next fight isn’t in this bracket; we gotta wait for the first bracket fights to wrap up, so you might have twenty minutes or an hour. Go shake out the cobwebs, get some water, and be ready!” Then he propelled him toward the rope, and Victor slipped under, looking for thei...

Victor 11: Berserk

Victor didn’t sleep well the night Vullu left. He lay in his cage, feeling like he had way too much room to himself, and listened to the sounds of all the other prisoners. They came drifting over the wooden slats, between the bars of his cage, snoring, mumbling, farting, and rustling around in the scratchy hay. Victor used the piss bucket twice, always looking back and forth in the dim room, trying to see if any of the cages had wakeful occupants. There was one thing he could praise Yund’...

Victor 10: Alone

“It’s a shame, but it’s the reality we live in, Victor.” Vullu was trying to sound composed, but Victor could see the pain in his eyes. He felt guilty for making the older guy feel like he had to comfort him. Vullu should be dealing with his own grief, not trying to console someone he hardly knew.

“Yeah. It sucks. Anyway, I’m sorry for your loss, Vullu.” Victor moved to his corner of the cage and put his face toward the corner post, resting his forehead on the iron. He clo...

Victor 9: Massacre

“That’s right, pull that rope next to Lesha!” Ponda shouted at Victor. He wasn’t sure who Lesha was, but he figured it was probably the Ardeni woman standing nearby. He grabbed the rope and yanked, and Ponda hollered, “Good!” He bent and pulled on a brass latch, and a massive section of the floor started sliding toward Victor, slipping underneath the wooden planks where he was standing. He kept pulling the rope, and he heard Vullu and another guy grunting as they pulled theirs, an...

Victor 8: Rage

Victor had to tiptoe when he returned to his cage with Ponda because he didn’t want some pissed-off pit fighter to toss shit at him for waking them up. He didn’t know if they’d actually do that, but Vullu had seemed serious about the risk, so he figured he wouldn’t take chances. He’d crept to his corner of the cage, curled up on some straw, and gone to sleep, listening to Yrella and Vullu breathing and the soft, deceptively soothing sounds of prisoners shifting around, snoring, and ...

Victor 7: Core

Yrella hadn’t been lying about Yund not giving days off. The next morning and day went just the same as any of the others Victor had experienced in the Wagon Wheel. Wake up, get breakfast, workout, and go back to your cage to be bored shitless until the next day. At least it seemed to be going that way until the Boss, himself, approached Victor’s little trio as they were working on his axe forms. “Runt! What level have you managed to get to?” he hollered as he got close.

“Uh, ...

More Victor Chapters

I've written a few more chapters. They aren't on RR yet - still waiting on cover art. I'll probably post them all over the course of a couple days, though, so you all might as well have an early crack at 'em.

Appreciate any feedback!

O23

In the middle of the night, Olivia’s Core leveled again. She’d been a little surprised, but not terribly so; Sange had told her that early Core levels came quickly. She wasn’t too worried about hitting level ten from cultivation because she knew that only a tiny portion of the Energy she cultivated went toward her personal level, most of it went to her Core improvement, and until she started really pulling huge amounts of Energy into her Core, it wouldn’t have a significant impact in ...

M74

When they entered the courtyard, it was empty save for Von-dak, who stood idly in the center of the open space. When he saw Morgan and Issa, his expression brightened, and he waved them over. “Let’s begin your lessons; my time is limited with you since you won’t be staying.”

“There’s a limit to how long we can stay here?” Morgan asked, stepping down the short stairway to the flat flagstones of the courtyard.

“Oh yes. Have you noticed the other inhabitants of my lit...

O22

Olivia slipped her book into her ring and stood up, stretching. She, once again, had lost track of time in the library and seemed to be the only occupant still studying. She winced as she straightened her wrists over her head; they were sore from combat training. Commander Grobak had them doing grappling drills over and over, and Olivia’s wrists and forearms were covered in bruises from yellow to purple, some being a week old and some fresh from today. Grobak didn’t do anything in half me...

Victor 6: Afterparty

Yund practically yanked Victor out of the ring when he finally moved to climb out. He pulled Victor up into a laughing hug and slapped his back several times. “By the Lady’s swingin’ tits! That was well done, boy! You and that old Ghelli made your Boss several sacks of beads!” He reached down for Sarl’s hand and pulled him out of the pit. “Come on, men! You can rest and watch the rest of the matches. I’ll even buy you each an ale. Dead Gods, but it was fun to see Tarlen’s face...

Victor 5: Pit Night

The Rusty Nail was like a bad fever dream to Victor. As the sun set and the crowd grew, he and his comrades from Yund’s stable were kept sequestered in a roped-off section of the enormous warehouse, but he could see the craziness unfold from behind the ropes, just fine. Just like when he’d been led through the streets, he noticed the wide variety of people who cohabitated in this strange world. Red, blue, white, brown, black, tall, thin, short, fat, winged, feathered, furred, hooved, claw...

Victor 4: The Rusty Nail

Victor followed Yrella through the spear forms for the third time, stepping, thrusting, and shouting, “Eyah!” Then he brought the spear shaft around, pushing it with the rear gripping hand, then stepping back, snapping the spear back straight, and moving the spearhead in a small loop. He really didn’t know what the fuck all these moves were for, but he could imagine an enemy before him and did his best to mimic Yrella.

***Congratulations! You’ve learned Spear Mastery - B...