riverfate

Path of Stars, Ch 40: Titan's Heart

“What do you want out of your subclass?” Asenya asked as the energy around Sam continued to build. “It’s a much more open choice than your primary class. The Path can construct almost any secondary option for you as long as your body supports it.”

Sam considered the question, thinking over the options. Until now, the Astral Guardian had always given him a subclass that had worked, but he had spent some time while on the Path thinking about what he would do if the choice was up...

Path of Stars, Ch 39: Critical Decisions

The rainbow sky of the tree turned dark and the streaks of light became stars spread across the Void. Silver, white, blue, red, green, emerald, purple, yellow, and gold points appeared, stretching across the distance. There were even ones as dark as night that glimmered like diamonds in the vast sprawl of the heavens.

Each of them was a class, an option in front of him.

Sam rolled his shoulders as he reviewed the changes he’d gone through since his last Evolution, including all ...

Path of Stars, Ch 38: Ancient Memories

The world in front of Sam became a starscape that stretched outward to an endless distance, marked only by the brilliant light of the stars as they sparkled in the dark. It was a thousand colors and none as the stars flowed away into the Void, joining together into a river that stretched beyond the limits of sight.

He was tossed on the current, rolling from star to star as waves of energy crashed around him, but compared to the vastness of the river, it felt like he was barely moving. T...

Path of Stars, Ch 37: Echo of the Ancients

The explosion rang out across the meadow, followed by the disintegration of the commander’s corpse. Sam was struck by nearly a hundred fragments and tossed backward across the field, but his cloak held, shuddering under nearly a hundred individual strikes. He poured what essence he had left into it to strengthen the enchantment.

Behind him, the demonic construct exploded at the same time, erupting into twisting spatial fragments that shot across the meadow. Some of them struck him fro...

Path of Stars, Ch 36: Bloodsigil Commander

“An Astral Titan? Here?” Elasia’s eyes widened as she turned to Sam and really saw him for the first time. She’d been busy fighting the commander and then talking to Alora. “I haven't seen a Titan since I was a child. I thought they'd all long disappeared. Still, you have to be careful. His abilities corrode everything they touch!”

“He won’t be leaving here,” Sam said as a golden spear appeared in his hand. He pointed it at the demon as a spir...

Path of Stars, Ch 34: Descent

Alora’s world was called Verdant. It approached swiftly, growing larger moment by moment as the Ice Drake descended. Their speed slowed at the same time as they prepared to enter the denser atmosphere.

From here, Sam could see some of the cities below, although to most eyes they would have still been indistinct. The homes of Alora’s people were interwoven through the forests and plains, their structures nearly invisible as they blended with their environment.

He had spent the ...

Path of Stars, Ch 33: Verdant Sun

Moments later, Sam fell off the astral thread that led to the green sun and collapsed into the Void where he floated like a dead man. Just behind him was the glowing green emerald of the closest world. He was lying between it and the sun, some distance from where the fortress had been. The sun was friendly, its warmth washing across his body like a blanket.

The tiny bit of essence he regained had only lasted an instant, but it had been enough to pull him away from the vortex and throw h...

Art of Altey when she’s older

The little sister eventually has to grow up a bit.

By EL Geron, like the last ones of Sam.

Path of Stars, Ch 32: Touch of Starlight

Sam swore as he was pulled toward the vortex. Even with his sense of caution, he’d still underestimated what the Outsiders were capable of. He’d been prepared for them to blow up the fortress, but he hadn’t expected they were able to disrupt spatial energy like this or set up such a massive enchantment.

The gleam of light from the message rune was still there like a blood-drenched ruby in the wild darkness of the trap. He could feel the commander’s heavy presence in it, watching...

Path of Stars, Ch 31: Blood Fortress

Congratulations, Astral Titan. You are now a Level 287 Astral Artificer.

The Titan’s Star’s announcement rang in Sam’s mind with a bell-like tone. Sam gave a nod as he studied the summary, looking only at the highlights. Apparently, killing something at the Fourth Evolution was worth a lot of experience. It was the first time he’d ever managed that, and he’d gained sixteen levels combined from the runemaster and the weaker enemies with her.

Between the t...

Path of Stars, Ch 30: Outpost Runemaster

Two arcs of brilliant orange-red light blasted through the Void from the second fortress as Sam headed toward it. The attack was faster than the last one he’d seen and the bolts had some ability to compress space and arrive more quickly than they should have, but they still had a long distance to cover. They were much too slow to catch him. Astral energy blazed around him as he found a thread leading in the right direction and disappeared.

He’d gathered the experience and essence fr...

Path of Stars, Ch 29: Bloodsigil Outpost

When Sam reappeared from the astral thread, he was standing near the edge of the outpost, a mile above one of the stone spheres on its outer ring. From here, it loomed like a mountain in front of him and he could see more of the details of its construction. The stone was molded into ridges that rose and fell, but they were irregular, almost like the teeth of a key. Waves of faint essence flowed between the ridges, channeled in some strange manner by the construction.

The fortress looked...

Path of Stars, Ch 28: Alora's System

Not long before they arrived at Alora’s world, Sam was seated on the forward deck of the Ice Drake as a storm of astral ice swirled around him. Threads of energy from it connected to a translucent blue-white sphere that was condensing in his hands. Moment by moment, it slowly grew larger.

At the same time, silver runes were flickering all around the sphere as they poured from his hand and imprinted themselves into it. As the astral ice spun, complex runic patterns at the center glowed...

Path of Stars, Ch 27: On the Ice Drake

The stars flickered with rainbow light as the Ice Drake cut a wake through the Blue Star system and began to accelerate. Before long, the Titan Hall was invisible in the distance and the blue sun was slowly growing smaller. Sam stood at the prow of the ship as he looked toward the astral thread ahead of them.

It was faster to travel alone, but the ship would reach the thread in about an hour and then they would leave this system far behind. The thought was already nostalgic. If he’d h...

Path of Stars, Ch 26: Astral Rift

He spent a few days walking the astral threads and exploring nearby systems as he adjusted to his new abilities and tested them out. Here and there, he found a few more beasts to hunt, but there weren’t many that were good sources of essence so close to the Firesail Void Lizards’ home. They’d probably long ago been driven away or eaten.

He would have hunted the lizards more, since they were an excellent source of essence, but the presence of the Fifth Evolution lizard king kept hi...

Path of Stars, Ch 25: Illusion Army

After he finished creating a handful of scrolls, Sam turned his attention inward, checking his condition to make sure he had recovered enough to keep hunting the lizards. He wasn’t done yet, not if he wanted to face more Outsiders or Alora’s uncle.

Fortunately, the damage from changing his subclass had mostly healed over the past few hours. It had taken a few scrolls, but there had been many minor points of damage rather than a single large wound, so it healed quickly. Eventually, h...

Sam Hastern, Current Status Sheet

Sam Hastern

Level 250

Race: Astral Titan

Class: Astral Artificer

Subclass: Spirit of Astral Flame

Essence Constellation (Single Star): 1,691,532 / 2,000,000.

Titles: Horned Hunter of the Moons, Light of Silvas, Guardian of Aster Fall, High Councilor of the Moonlight Relic, Architect, Chaos Smith, Starflame Forger, Golden Titan.

2023-01-28 19:39:23 +0000 UTC View Post

Path of Stars, Ch 24: Aura Transformation

He traveled deeper into the red sun system, but there were no more lizards to be seen in the middle regions. Eventually, he followed the traces of essence they’d left behind and headed to the center, where he could sense a massive concentration of energy. It was strong enough to send a crackle of alarm down his spine, so he proceeded carefully and with one of his metallic escape scrolls close at hand.

Near the core of the system, there was a massive red world that was bubbling with ma...

Path of Stars, Ch 23: Astral Paths

He spent nearly a day scouting around the system as he headed deeper, but most of the middle regions were also absent of lizards. Eventually, he managed to find one group and it was only by chance, since it looked like they’d been delayed in their retreat. He studied them from a distance. The group was five strong and there was one at Level 350, which was more than anything he’d faced so far, but he should be able to handle it.

The rest of the lizards had retreated even farther in t...

Path of Stars, Ch 22: Astral Blade

A silver streak flashed through the Void, heading for another part of the lizards’ system. As soon as Sam stepped off the astral thread, he felt the essence from the two slain lizards flowing into his essence constellation. It was a large amount for just those two enemies, similar to what the Outsider giants had and those had been forty levels higher.

It looked like the Void beasts really were rich in essence. From those two, he gained 92k essence and a level. It was a good beginning,...

Path of Stars, Ch 21: Deep Hunting

Before they left the bandit hideout, Sam went to inspect the transfer point. It was a large metal portal about thirty feet across that was heavily inscribed with spatial runes, most of which dealt with directional transfer, mana stability, and location.

He studied it for a little while and then altered the receiving point on it. When the bandits returned, they’d be sent to an area inside a trap enchantment he’d prepared. If things went well, they’d be held there until he had time ...

Path of Stars, Ch 20: Sleset's Ultimatum

Sam had to work to keep his eyebrow from rising as he kept his attention on the bandits’ reaction. He’d been expecting Sleset to go off into another dramatic speech, but at least his ultimatum was short and effective. Hope and fury, frustration and desire warred on the Curved Blades’ features as they took in the challenge.

The twenty-nine nagas were the most shocked of all, since they understood the history of what Sleset was saying. They towered over the rest of the bandits, thei...

Path of Stars, Ch 19: Blue Star System

They rested on the moon for another day to recover their strength and then Sam pulled out the Ice Drake, waving everyone onto it. Laimar, Alora’s uncle, was barely awake, but staying here was only wasting time.

“My lord, you have only just met her. What if she is lying to you?” Sleset protested once they were under way and he’d heard all the details of Sam’s plan. He was standing next to Sam at the prow as they looked off into the distance. “She is not bound to you by blood....

Path of Stars, Ch 18: Wild Ritual

“The heart of the ritual is bringing your spirit into balance with the Void,” Alora explained. She was standing next to Sam as they looked out at the stars together. Not long had passed since she’d brought up the idea. With his height close to hers, the pillars that made up his hall seemed to tower into the heavens. It was only a change in perspective, but it left him thoughtful.

“Wild Spirits are one of the few races born in the Chaos Wild,” Alora continued. “It’s our hom...

Path of Stars, Ch 17: Faults of the Family

A streak of silver cut through the Void in a distant system. When it faded, Sam and the rest appeared. He looked around as he took stock of the situation and the condition of the Wild Spirits, and then he nodded.

He could feel streaks of blood running down his body beneath the remains of his armor, but it was something to deal with later. His cloak had absorbed most of the wraith’s attacks that had broken through his other defenses.

The Wild Spirits were injured and exhausted, b...

Path of Stars, Ch 16: Soul Wraith

The demons were a good distance away, since they’d been hanging back from the fight, but it wouldn’t be long until they were here. The Wild Spirits were shielded behind him, but with the level difference between him and the Outsiders, winning was unlikely.

Nonetheless, he’d chosen his path and he had to try. Fortunately, he’d made a lot of artifacts over the past few months.

It was time to fight like an Artificer.

A wave of artifacts flew out of his cloak. With a fli...

Path of Stars, Ch 15: Strength of an Artificer

Aboard the Gilded Scroll Merchant Ship

Naia was looking out the window of her family’s merchant ship at the fierce battle behind them. Her small hands were gripped tightly around the burnished wood that made up the window ledge as she tried not to tremble. Unless something happened to save them, she was worried that they would all be eaten soon.

Until now, nothing had ever threatened their ship like this. Their ship was battered and fleeing, and a handful of those huge ...

Path of Stars 14: Wild Spirits

The stars of the Chaos Wild passed by in a thousand colors as Sam and Sleset headed toward the origin of the aurora ore. Now and then, Sam dragged Sleset onto an astral thread to speed it up, much to the naga’s distaste, but they spent most of their time looking for encounters along the way, since the main reason for coming here was to gather experience.

Sam kept up his Wild Giant disguise and bandits attempted to ambush them twice more, but each of the groups was smaller than the fir...

Song of the Caverns by Clamavi de Profundis

Here is the holiday surprise!

Clamavi de Profundis composed and performed the “Song of the Caverns” from Book 4. It’s live on Youtube today.

If you’re not familiar with Clamavi, check out their work! They’re absolutely fantastic.

https://youtu.be/nTydA2h7BsQ

Audio Codes for River of Fate, Book 1

The audio narration for River of Fate, Book 1: The Jade Scripture is now ready!

Narrated by Zachary Johnson (who you might know from Soundbooth Theater)!

This is the first book in a cultivation progression fantasy. Two books are out on Amazon KU right now, and I'll probably do the third late next year. 

Here's the blurb:

"What happens when the soul of an old soldier collides with that of a young cultivator in the River of Fate, where destinies...