Aster Brooks Books

Ch. 15: Halls of Fortitude

Cass followed the Priest of Fortitude deeper into the temple. Inside was made of the same glass bricks, most the opaque blue that had dominated the outside, though certain hallways leading off the main one took other colors. The colors of the other gods, perhaps. 

The man before her was dressed in a dull green, the hem trimmed in a tawny bronze. Were those the colors of Fortitude? 

Then, was the blue the color of divinity in general? Or just of Alacrity since this was pr...

Ch. 14: The Temple of Velilia

Cass heard little in the tavern that she didn’t already know. All the gossip was about the Festival, which, in retrospect, wasn’t surprising. 

The expectation among the populous was Alyx, as Major Blessing Holder, and Fioreya, as Alacrity’s Champion, would be the two winners this year. Cass didn’t want to hear about that, though. 

She left the tavern in favor of finding the city’s temple. There had to be one around here somewhere, and who would know more about ...

Ch. 13: Alyx: Appraisal

Alyx pushed her way through the streets of the lower city. It was already busy despite the sun barely rising over the horizon. Already, Festival goers were celebrating. Or perhaps, still celebrating from the previous night? The smell of alcohol was heavy in the air, mixing with the heavy spices of festival treats and overpowering the usual unwashed smell of the lower districts. 

“My lady, are you sure we have time for this today?” Telis asked as she followed Alyx. Marco bumbled...

Ch. 12: The Inn

Night had long and truly fallen before Cass stepped into the tiny closet of a bedroom. The smell of must and alcohol battled for dominion of the space. The only furniture was a single bed and a chest at the foot. The room was only wide enough for the bed and a person to shimmy alongside it. 

Cass sighed, dropped her few things on the chest, and then collapsed on the bed. 

This had not been the first establishment she had tried to get a room with. She’d started in the u...

Ch. 11: Trouble in Paradise

Cass followed Alyx out of the city. They’d sent Marco and Telis ahead with made-up tasks. It hadn’t fooled either of them, but they also hadn’t argued or pried into why Cass and Alyx were… at odds. 

Early evening descended over the city, though the festivities had not lessened with the sunlight. If anything, the city was even more riotous as the sun disappeared behind the buildings.

The noise of the crowds didn’t fade even as they climbed the palatial hill. The city...

Ch. 10: Shopping

Alyx led them to a simple two-story building with an enclosed front yard. 

“Tabith, I hope you're—” she stopped mid-sentence as they entered. 

Inside was a homey shop, made of warm-toned stone, proudly displaying numerous examples of swords and axes. Two doors stood on the opposite wall. By the entrance stood a long trough of water. Was there ice in it? 

A tall, scaled person stood behind the stone-topped counter, inspecting a short sword’s handle with...

Ch. 9: An Afternoon Out

Cass lay on the bed staring at the ceiling and her stats window. 

Stamina: 138/138

Focus: 549/549

Health: 101/133

The value had increased in the last 3 days since they’d returned from the catacombs. In that time, she’d barely seen Alyx. 

Alyx was busy. 

It was that simple. 

Alyx had a dragon to impress. 

It had nothing to do with Alyx avoiding her. ...

Ch. 8: A Day Off

Cass groaned as a beam of sunlight peaked between the curtains of her window and shone into her face. She rolled over, curling into a ball and dragging the comforter over her head.

“Salos,” she mumbled, “Is there any chance I can convince you to close the curtains?” 

There was no answer. 

Oh.

Her hand went to the necklace. It was cold against her chest. 

A heavy sigh escaped her as she curled up tighter. 

Right. 

She d...

Ch. 7: Alyx: Demons

Alyx didn’t really remember the rest of her conversation with Cass. It was all a blur after Cass had confirmed Salos was a demon. 

She walked down the halls of her house, the passageways passing in a blur. 

That cat was a demon? 

A pain in the ass, but a demon? 

Did he have some weird skills? Not more than Cass. 

Abyss and blood. 

Cass. 

Cass was a demon’s master? 

Cass? 

Cass, who cried for...

Ch. 6: Demons

“Well, that went well,” Alyx said as she fell back onto Cass’s sitting room couch. 

Cass raised an eyebrow. Had it? “Really?”

Alyx nodded.

“You call that well?” Cass repeated. 

“Sure, Kohen didn’t try to stab me at the table, and father ran out of the room with his tail between his legs. I’m not sure it could have gone better!” She laughed, reclining further into the chair. 

Cass grimaced. 

It had hardly been the fa...

Ch. 5: Lord of the Manor

The Warden

(lvl 41)

[Keeper of the secrets of the Vaisom duchy and its past. Few know as much as he of the inner workings of Vaisom. His combat skills are considerable despite his lack of dragon.]

Cass’s chest contracted at the sight of his level, and her hand clenched over her chest. Over Salos’s necklace. 

The duchess and her dragon had been higher, but they’d also been much further away. There had been countless ot...

Ch. 4: Family Dinner

That evening, the banquet was held in the family manor rather than the palace. Cass came down dressed in the borrowed robes Telis had provided. They were a gorgeous sapphire blue, with voluminous sleeves and embroidered with silver stitching and glass beads swirling like gusts of wind up and around the body. It came with a large broach depicting the Lord of the Deep snarling in an almost opaque blue-black glass. 

Against the common sense of Earth, she carried her staff. That was ju...

Ch. 3: The Core

Still, she wasn’t entirely without leads. For one, there was the Keeper’s Core they’d collected in the Catacombs. 

Cass pulled it from her Bag. The orb glistened in the firelight, a sea of misty stars within. 

Salos sat up a little straighter. His desire pinged at her senses and pulled at her own. She wanted to shove it in her mouth. Would it dissolve like sugar on her tongue? Or pop like a grape, the outer membrane bursting and releasing those misty oceans down he...

Ch. 2: Friends

Telis, Alyx’s butler, awaited them when they exited the coliseum. She stood at easy attention, her hands folded in front of her, her suit neat and pressed. 

Cass wasn’t even surprised. While she might have raced over at the commotion when Alyx's blessing was announced, Cass was all but certain Telis would have been waiting for them even had they snuck out of the arena in the dark of night without even the whisper of fanfare.

“You’ve done well, my lady,” Telis said, ...

Ch. 1: Victorious Return

A roar of excitement met Cass and company as they stepped out of the Velillia Catacombs and into the stadium. The crowds were packed and cheering from the stands, their voices a physical force over the arena. 

An announcer yelled over the crowd, “Folks, looks like one of this year’s candidates for Dragon Knight has returned from the deep! Alyx Aretios Veldor has returned! Just in time, too, the Silver Serpents Treasure Company is on the ropes. Can she defeat the dread Alke and ...

Epilogue

The trip back was slow but uneventful. The monsters were notably fewer now than they had been going down, a side effect of so many other teams of divers clearing the path as they searched for treasure in side rooms. 

If Cass’s Health had been higher, they would have made quick progress through the dark halls of the catacombs. As it was, it took them four days to climb from the seventh floor to the first. 

In total, they had been in the catacombs for a little over a wee...

Ch. 77: Pellen: The Vamphelish Core

Pellen’s heart pounded as she walked away from Lady Alyx’s party. The danger should be minimal at this stage. Lady Alyx and company had just fought their way through those floors. It should be safe. 

And, she was with the dependable Sir Daidyn and also Lords Kohen and Tiador. They had a contract to bring her safely back to the city. She would be just fine going back down and fighting whatever had crawled back up.

Pellen took the tiniest peak over her shoulder through one ...

New Cover

Hello everyone! Exciting news. We have a new cover!

This was made by the talented Richard Sashigane.

Ch. 76: The Way Out

Pellen accepted her blessing without fanfare. It happened instantaneously. Apparently, Cass’s blessing had been just as quick from Alyx’s perspective. 

They climbed back up the stairs, Pellen humming happily to herself. 

Do you want to talk about what just happened? Cass asked.

No. Salos’s answer was swift but retracted just as quickly. But we probably should.

Cass waited a moment for him to begin. She climbed a step. And then...

Announcement: End of Book 2

Hello everyone!

We’re getting very near to the end of Book 2! I can hardly believe we’re already here. Thank you all for accompanying me and Cass on this journey. There are just 3 more chapters (not including today’s).

The last chapter of book 2 will go up on December 7th.

After wrapping up book 2, I will be taking a short 2 week hiatus to finish preparing book 3, The Copper Crescent, for you all. I will be back here on Patreon on 2024-11-30 23:15:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Ch. 75: Blessings for Everyone

Over a day later, they finally left the closet they’d camped in. Cass’s health was only up to 16, and she felt it. There was a hollowness to her. Like something integral had been scooped out of her. Like she was a ghost among the living. 

According to Salos, this was quite a fast recovery, given she still had open wounds and they were in the depths of a dungeon. Cass attributed it to Demonic Vitality doubling her Health regeneration and Beacon of Hearth and Home increasing it f...

Ch. 74: Logs

Cass came to on the floor with a pounding headache and a deep-seated exhaustion. 

Oh, she’d passed out again.

She sat up and immediately regretted it. The whole world spun around her. Her body was heavy, and there was a soreness that was entirely sourceless but also all-encompassing. 

She didn’t usually wake up feeling this bad. 

Stamina: 102/138

Focus: 47/504

Health: 7/130

Ch. 73: Salos: Guard

Salos did not wait for Alyx to finish her business with Alacrity. He’d done as Cass wanted, kept her safe up to the altar, and now it was time to do as he wanted, which was to hurry back to Cass’s side.

He Stealthed across the chasm, not setting off a single lightning trap on the way, sprinted past Marco and Pellen and back up the stairs. 

Cass lay in front of the door. The color in her skin was faded. Her usual rosy hue had fallen to a soft blue. Pretty, but not a sign o...

Ch. 72: Alyx: Blessing

Alyx ran from beam to beam, leaping with all her Strength and Dexterity over the gapping chasm below her.

They were in a long room. 

Far behind her was the door leading back up the stairs to Cass and Fioreya. Marco waited there with Pellen, his head flicking back and forth between Alyx and the stairs. 

Just as far ahead stood Alacrity’s altar. It was a gazebo on a stone outcropping hanging from the room’s far wall. The wall was rough like a natural section of a...

Ch. 71: Confounding Mists

She just didn’t have enough resources left to stop Fioreya. 

If she just had more Focus, she could throw down a Confounding Mists. It needed about 100 to activate and then more to further redirect her opponents within. What was that? Like 150 Focus? She was just 100 points short. Far more than the single burning of Health at her Hearth could provide. 

Maybe if she had more Health left.

If she was just a little stronger. If she had just rationed her Focus better e...

Ch. 70: Spells

There was just one problem with her plan: it required coordination with Pellen. Coordination Cass did not have the freedom to arrange. 

If she could just pull away from the swordswoman long enough, maybe she could. But Fioreya’s swordswoman was relentless. Cass ducked under another sweeping blade, the air screaming to get out of its way over her head.

There was no way to disengage. 

If she knew what spell Pellen was preparing, maybe she could take advantage of a ...

Ch. 69: Melee

Fioreya’s swordswoman was a head taller than Cass, if not more. Frozen in shock below the woman’s arrested sword, it felt like much more. 

She wore crimson plate armor. A serpent was etched into the plates, winding up her body. It was the kind of pattern one might not notice unless you were up close and personal with the wearer. 

And her sword was even bigger. The blade must have been longer than Cass was tall. Was it taller than its wielder? Maybe. It was a huge cho...

Ch. 68: One's Place

Alyx and Fioreya stared at one another, neither moving. Behind the other noblewoman, her team gathered, all as ichor stained but none particularly winded.

Vaisom Fang (Lvl 32)

Vaisom Swordsman (lvl 30)

Vaisom Ranger (lvl 28)

Vaisom Mage (lvl 29)

Marco had set Pellen down beside the far door. Salos had disappeared, but Cass could feel him nearby. She and Alyx stood in the cen...

Ch. 67: Run

They ran down the halls. The lights flickered on and then off again as they ran past under the effects of Salos’s Abyssal Aura. 

Cass, who had begun at the back of the group, had quickly caught up with Alyx at the front. Marco brought up the rear, carrying Pellen over one shoulder. 

“The golems won’t keep Fioreya long,” Alyx said. “Heaven’s Blade, when backed by a proper Lightning Concept, can easily split their cores. Hopefully, the Living Lightning gives he...

Ch. 66: Dance on the Wind

Cass struck down spirit after spirit, every sweep of her staff destroying two or three or more. Yet they kept coming. 

Above her, she could feel the first golem shaking, pressing free from the bindings Pellen held it in. 

Marco cut his way toward her. 

“Abyss and blood,” Alyx wheezed, pushing herself up.

“You’re alive!” Cass said. It was a stupid thing to say. She already knew Alyx was alive, but she was just so surprised to see Alyx moving, al...