carrarn

[rework] Minglings - chapter 8: Hidden truths

Jake sat on the bed beside the window, mindlessly looking out the window. He didn't see the dark plants in the little courtyard beyond as scenes of what had happened that day replayed in his mind. Left with time to try and analyze what had happened, he found he was dealing with the changes better than was reasonable.

Shouldn't he be panicking? Or afraid? He looked at his hand, examining the unnaturally sharp and thick nails and the thin silvery-blue scales. A day before, he'd had skin, ...

Status update

Hey everyone!

On Nothing But Bones:

I've just put up the final chapter of Nothing But Bones 3. This is the unedited first draft, but the edited version will hopefully be done within a month. Due to some things outside my control, everything has taken far more time than I'd initially expected. Still, if you have any feedback or are missing something you'd love to see in it, this would be the last chance to provide the feedback. The first half is at the editor and almost done, but I...

NBB3 - chapter 43: Spreading

"Where the hell did that green midget go?" Galg snapped as he stared down at the head beneath his feet. "Did he flee already? I'd have thought he would have stood his ground and fought and all that!"

The massive dragon below him remained silent, and Galg angrily stomped his feet as he examined the mana-core.

"He needs to move slower, or he might break something," GD18 said, his gaze directed to the planet.

"What? What are you mumbling about, you over-enlightened can opener!"...

Kernstalion - chapter 77: Sharp edge

What felt like hours later, we were moving through the narrow caverns towards a cacophony of insanely loud screaming and howling. In the distance, a dull red light indicated the end of the tiny cavern system. Lark swam ahead of us, and I could almost sense how content he was with the situation.

I couldn't blame him. His intel on the location of the first Lieutenant had proven exactly right. The thing was, he didn't want to tell me where he had gotten the intel, which was bothering me im...

Kernstalion - chapter 76: Blood essence

I held onto the edges of my Armedshark and kept my head down. The memories of how the sharp, uneven stony outcrops on the roof had scratched deep gauges into Casiron's back were still fresh, and I wasn't interested in finding out what they would do to me. Instead, I remained low across the wooden back, glad that we were almost at our first goal, as my mind drifted back.

It had taken us weeks to traverse through hidden caverns, along the sides of seemingly bottomless trenches to reach a ...

Kernstalion - chapter 75: A Deitie's point of view

"You have been staring at that thing for weeks! How can you not know what to do yet?"

Flowheart's cold voice rang out through the small plant-covered room.

Rathica ignored her as she glared at the canvas covered in lines, archaic symbols, runes, and glyphs. She knew by now that it was a spell with each part explained in another highly complex language, and she could make out large parts of it. The trouble was that it seemed to be changing, and she was almost sure by now that someo...

Kernstalion - chapter 74: Another day, another army

I held onto Casiron as the serpent led us back through the corridor to the main cave of Lark's lair. Two of the demonic merman's hovered near the entrance, staring outside, but they didn't even look up as Votrix quietly brought us to another hole at the top of the skull. It led to another stony, plant-covered corridor, roughly a hundred feet long, with a few narrow paths leading away into the rock while ending at another skull.

Casiron swam inside the vegetation-filled lair. Mushroom-li...

[rework] Minglings - chapter 7: Horrible hospital

Jake cursed under his breath as he moved up the tunnel slope. With each step, he scraped his foot across the ground to remove the disgusting shit caked on the bottom. When the last of it finally came off, leaving only a brown stripe behind him, he looked up, inspecting the tunnel exit.

A jumbled shape was partially blocking the moonlit sky, the gleam of metal, and the reflection of broken glass. As he moved closer, he saw it was a traffic light that had fallen across the entrance. The t...

Kernstalion - chapter 73: Renown

“We are almossst there, Massster,” Lark hissed.

I snapped my attention back to the direction ahead, seeing nothing beyond more endless reefs.

A few hours after leaving, the overgrown cave system had widened, and we had entered an abandoned reef, the cavern roof no longer visible above us. The pale-white, spongy material was covered in cancerous dull crimson growths while thin tendrils of blood drifted through. A dark stretch of water extended to our left, soft roaring coming f...

Kernstalion - chapter 72: The Vile Snake

I lay on my back, breathing in water through my gills, weary beyond belief and unable to form coherent thoughts as the confused status remained. The pain in my body was almost gone, just some soreness remaining.

Some timer must have ticked down to zero because my mind suddenly cleared up, like the sun poking from behind the clouds. Memories from the last few hours suddenly made sense again, and I felt like a computer that had been rebooted, as my faculties seemed to return one at a time...

NBB3 - chapter 42: Awake at last

Sumil followed Scathia's small shape as it loped across the wasteland far below.

How is she this fast, she thought, eyeing the long trail of dust that trailed behind Scathia.

It started from the hills and continued as a long, straight line to where they were now. Even up here, she could hear the insanely rapidly tapping of the other's footsteps.

Trying to squeeze out more speed, Sumil knew she wouldn't catch up. Worse, she might lose her if she sped up more.

S...

Kernstalion - chapter 71: Bad, worse, impossible

Est, heal yourself! There is a plant below you!

Casiron's voice made its way through my muddled mind. We had stopped moving, but I couldn't remember when or how. He had been shouting for a long time, though, I knew that.

What? I asked, my mind's voice sounding slurred.

You are on top of a plant! Heal yourself before you die!

Die? I groaned as I tried to realize what that meant. Right, death. Not a good thing. Focus!

My mind kept doing f...

[rework] Minglings - chapter 6: Goblin rage

Sandra kept her back straight, her head up and cooly looked at the multitude of eyes turning towards her and the other non-goblins. From the corner of her eye, she saw the remaining Goblins in her squad quickly distance themself, lining up with another group without so much as a wave.

She gritted her teeth as she put them out of her mind and cast a glance at the Kobolds behind her. They were all roughly the same size but smaller than her, barely reaching her shoulder. Their scales were ...

Kernstalion - chapter 70: Confusion strikes

If I hadn't had a mouth full of seawater, I would have probably had a dry mouth as I gazed from our hiding place amongst the chaotic coral. Behind it was the edge of a gorge that looked like it was so deep that it would reach the very depths of the planet itself. Thick clouds of blood wafted up from it, propelled by the chaotic water currents that surged from the crevices.

Above, and for as far as I could see, titanic monstrosities, dwarfing Casiron, were fighting, ripping each other to...

[rework] Minglings - chapter 5: Meanwhile...

The long line of army trucks rolled in an orderly fashion across the narrow stretch of hardened sand that people in these parts called a road.

It was hard to hear the soft voices inside the truck with all the noise the vehicles made. They were discussing things related to games, fantasy, and goblins. It was a topic utterly different from regular conversations, but this was understandable considering the current situation.

Sandra kept her eyes peeled on the forest from her position...

Kernstalion - chapter 69: Below the waves again

This has to be the worst ambush yet, I thought as I jumped across a bush half my size.

It barely registered that a little over a year ago, I'd have broken my legs attempting the same. Instead, I sprinted towards the town ahead with no strain.

Still, it could have been worse. It could have been those Demons again, I thought, shivering.

We'd encountered two roaming bands of ravenous demons, and the first had almost got the jump on us. Even after that, and kno...

Kernstalion - chapter 68: Parenting one'o'none

"How dare you!" Thiwick squealed.

I could almost feel her cold eyes, but Casiron ignored the outburst, focusing on me.

"Although it gladdens me that she survived, as it means there might be more, it seems I'll have to ask you to ignore her presence until I have sufficiently taught her about our people's ways."

"I am a silver scaled one, a queen! How dare you-" Thiwick began.

Casiron snapped his head towards her, and a wave of emotions burst from him. I caught some of i...

Kernstalion - chapter 67: Juvenile delinquent

I stared at the message in disbelief. How could that be Eliandra? She should be asleep, resting until her body was ready!

> Are you still there? Answer me already!

As the following message popped in, a wave of joy washed over me. I quickly replied.

> I'm here! Elli? How come you are awake? And how can you respond? Shouldn't Rathica be there?

> Rathica's not here! She created this clone of herself, a partition, she called it. After she didn't come back, it bega...

[rework] Minglings - chapter 4: Broken pipes

The dark, unlit, and almost destroyed city seemed tranquil in the middle of the night. No wind passed between the tall buildings, and the lack of rain had caused dust from the collapsing buildings to cling to everything. Inside the entrance of a dead-end alley bordering a partially collapsed building, the occasional moonlight made something glisten. A shadow, previously invisible between the others, abruptly stepped back, disappearing entirely.

"I don't see it anymore. I think we lost i...

Kernstalion - chapter 66: Connection

"How far are they behind us," I hissed.

I sprinted across the rocky terrain, wishing it would stay dark a little longer. The sun that poked over the hills to the right obviously didn't care for my hopes.

"At this pace, roughly ten minutes until they reach us," Grem shouted after a second.

"And they are still heading in a straight line here?"

"Looks like it," Grem said.

"Someone is directing them," I said, looking around. "Find it!"

The hills ahead of us flo...

Kernstalion - chapter 65: Forward

An uneasy silence hung in the ornate room. A group of people silently stared at me as I stood before Cityholder Lamuire.

Bastian and Libidi are lucky they don't have to be here for this, I thought, annoyed and waiting as the annoying, pompous jackass in front of me made a big show of thinking. His wrinkled brow and narrowed eyes made me want to smack him, which I hadn't ruled out doing yet.

"So, let me get this straight," Lamuire said, his voice an octave higher than befo...

Kernstalion - chapter 64: Bariered

I looked up at the massive sixteen-foot statues and swallowed. We stood before one of the large estates, almost a castle, and two tall stone statues flanked the entrance, almost like guards. They resembled classical fully plated warriors with shields and swords with faces hidden behind helmets with scaly wings on the side that angled back.

If this works, I might be able to stomp through with a stone army, I thought as I looked at the Goliarn beside me. He was staring at me with...

[rework] Minglings - chapter 3: Internal changes

Jake snuck back through the heavily damaged rooms to where Mason was kneeling on the ground, bandaging the small kobold.

"You were right. Those devolved idiots didn't even think of checking up here," he whispered as he sat down next to his friend.

"Of course I am right. I am amazing after all! But more to the point, not many people their age would go to this floor," Mason replied as he waved offhandedly at the shelves lined with diapers and other baby products before continuing to...

Kernstalion - chapter 63: The south gate

The foreign-creature exposition was easy to find, a massive sprawling set of tents filling another of the squares the city was rich. A long slit was made in the front side, reminding me of how Libidi had gotten us into the tent in the army camp. As I slowed down, two raggedly dressed men climbed out. Arms filled with small wooden carved animals, they froze when they saw me approach.

Before I could even decide what to do about the looters, they dropped what they were holding and sprinted...

[rework] Minglings - chapter 2: Boiling anger

Jake's consciousness returned slowly.

What? Did I oversleep? he thought, wondering why he was sleeping while sitting on the downstairs sofa.

With a jolt his mind replayed what had happened before, and he snapped fully awake. What had happened? He had been talking with Mason, and then darkness had wrapped around him. There had been five images hovering in the dark and the irresistible urge to pick one. Then a fuzzy memory of focusing on the distinctly reptilian one, then n...

[rework] Minglings - chapter 1: The broadcast

The coffee shop was silent as everybody stared in disbelief at the television. The shocking message was starting to replay for the second time.

"Fuck..." Jake muttered as he leaned back in his chair.

He glanced at the ceiling, trying to get a grip on himself, then looked across the table. Sitting on the opposite sofa was his best friend, spacing out and staring into the dark contents of his coffee cup.

"Mason, snap out of it! What do we do?" Jake said, breaking the silence.<...

Kernstalion - chapter 62: Search for defenders

I'd almost finished the second tree when the stonites reached the wall. Some staggered into the hole, scrambling across the debris, while others still stood, barely. With shields raised and interlocked, they held back a mass of pushing, shoving, and slashing enemies. How they weren't tramped and swarmed was beyond me.

The screaming Torpels above us deafened most battle noises, and I didn't see Bastian anymore. Libidi was also nowhere to be seen, and both facts worried me.

I backed...

Another new Patron

I'm happy to welcome Ozbun as another patron! He is here for Minglings, which I have neglected for a long time. With NBB3 in editing, this means im closing in on the moment that I'll pick that up as my second novel beside Kernstalion. 

Now, as I still have a few chapters of Minglings in my backlog from back when I wrote it actively, I'll be editing a chapter and releasing that sometime this weekend. This won't get in the way of either NBB3 or Kernstalion, but be an additional relea...

Kernstalion - chapter 61: Howling defence

"How do you suppose we stop those things?" I shouted as I ran after Bastian.

I'd asked him before and gotten no response.

"I don't know," he finally shouted back, looking at me across his shoulder.

"I was hoping you knew some way?" he asked, a slight hope in his eyes.

"Only if I have enough time to grow this tree big enough and make a statue," I shouted.

My reply seemed to surprise Bastian, and he slowed down and gaped at me. "How much time?"

I tried to ima...

Edits to Kernstalion 57 and 58

As the title suggests, I've made a few major edits to Kernstalion 57 and 58. If you don't feel like reading, the changes are as follows. 

- Est doesn't give the ring to Antoni

- Antoni is a little less 'dangerous' and Est is less scared

- Est fights the guard and wins easily

- Est takes a whole lot more seeds/nuts as payment for Antoni trying to trick them

- A whole lot of grammar/sentence structure fixes

These changes were made a...