Hiding in the treeline, I peeked around a tree next to the road leading to the temple and peered into the village that’d been overtaken by flame krolls. In the fading light of twilight, the bonfire at the center of the ransacked town burned brightly. Around it, about twenty flame krolls and their chief impatiently waited. Snapping and snarling at one another, they gnashed their jagged, pointed teeth. Their blood-red faces were etched with savage expressions of ravenous hunger. Each in various thread-bare clothing ranging from large tunics to poorly-sewn animal skins, their small bodies shifted restlessly as their impatience grew. From the double doors of a squat, wooden building about the size of a three-bedroom house, a flame kroll wearing a blood-stained potato sack as a dress emerged. It dragged behind it a cart piled high with arms, legs, and meat. The wooden wheels of its wagon squealed and groaned as the goblinoid creature hurriedly pulled the gory load to its chief. My s

In the cold moonlight, the plundered village looked desaturated. With the embers of the bonfire out, the glowing forest around the settlement was the only source of warm color. Lysandra and Saelia stood back to back, their eyes darting between the six figures emerging from the surrounding buildings. I glanced nervously to my left and saw a smirking orc built like a bulldozer come to a stop about twenty feet away. Muscles bulging beneath his clay-gray skin, he held a double-sided ax, casually resting the haft against his broad shoulder. A few feet from him stood a petite woman with violet skin and reverse jointed legs. Clad in leather armor and with a quiver of arrows slung between her delicate dragonfly wings, she wielded a bow almost as tall as she was. To my right about half a basketball court away was a narrow-shouldered human with a pretty face and long, glossy hair. Not a thread of the crimson cloak covering her body moved as she stared at me through flat, glassy eyes the

Alea and the elf lay dead, the top halves of their heads blown off by fist-sized stones Saelia had launched in a surprise attack. Chunks of skull and globs of brain were strewn out behind them in the dirt of the rundown town, appearing almost colorless in the cold light of the moon above. Lysandra, Saelia, and I were surrounded by Mark and the remaining members of his harem. They stared at the corpses, momentarily stunned by the sudden, horrible ends of the demi-aviatin and the mysterious elf in the luxurious gray robes. “Bryan, get down!” Saelia shouted from behind me. Her command shook me free from the shock that’d rooted me in place. I ducked, and just as I did a round stone as large as a grapefruit shot over my head towards Mark’s face. His shadow lifted free from the ground and whipped forward like an inky tendril. It slapped the projectile from the air and into the ground. “Kill them!” Mark roared, his rage-filled face specked with the blood of Alea and the elf. “Leave

Falius and I faced one another at the center of the dilapidated town, our fists raised. The moon shone above us, bathing us in cold light as we faced off as though it were a cold sun presiding over a duel at high noon. Alright, let’s make it look good. My boot ground through the warm, red dirt as I slid forward and fired off a quick series of jabs at Faelius. Sounds of leather against leather thudded as his gloved hands smacked away mine with practiced ease. After slapping my last blow away, he threw a lazy right hook. Knowing I didn’t have a chance at blocking it, I ducked it and rammed a fist into his gut. He barely budged, and pain surged through my hand as if I’d punched a leather-covered wall. “So weak…” His palm hit my chest like a battering ram Gritting my teeth against the shock of pain from his one-handed shove, my boots created shallow four-foot-long trenches in the dirt as I slid back. Through the fear and adrenaline rushing through my veins, a twinge of annoy

Hey, just wanted to say thanks again to the people who've made it this far. I was also curious as to if/how many people have actually made it this far. I don't have access to the numbers to actually know how many people are up to date (or if people have made it this far at all), so I thought I'd use this as a janky alternative. If you could leave a like or a comment here (or better yet a review for the book on the book's main page), I would be super grateful! Anyways, I realize that most of the book so far has been mostly sex, world building, and slice of life, but I'm going to try and be more focused on trying to balance those things out with... uh... a story going forward. Thanks for reading!