Surrounded by Mark and the eight members of his harem, I stood next to Lysandra and Saelia in the center of the dilapidated, moonlit village. The steady glow of the forest seeped into the outskirts of the former settlement but wasn’t strong enough to reach further. The warden was back-to-back with Lysandra between her scarlet wings. With grim determination etched into their faces, they were in fighting stances. Fists up, both women kept their eyes moving to keep the ring of likely enemies in sight. The answer to Mark’s question of whether or not I wanted to go with him came effortlessly. However, my uncertainty at how he’d react to this answer made my core flutter with nerves. I smiled nervously at him. “Thanks, but I’m fine where I am…” He let out a deep sigh but ended up nodding. “Alright, if that’s what you really want.” My eyebrows raised in surprise. “Really?” “What?” he said, chuckling at my expression. “Did you think we’d drag you away kicking and screaming?” “Uhh… No…?”
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
Faelius stood about half a head shorter than me, yet I still felt as though the pale ice primal towered over me as he came to a stop half a dozen feet away. In each hand, he held a rapier and a dagger made from ice. His gloved fingers clenched around his weapons as his annoyed expression chilled into an angry glare. “So… You’re an ice primal then?” I said, forcing a grin onto my face in an attempt to hide my growing fear. He nodded. “Yes…” Saelia had told me not to fight this man, but I’d not technically said I wouldn’t. What I’d said was for her not to worry about me, which wasn’t actually a promise to not scrap with this asshole. Had I been a bit sneaky in my wording? Maybe… But I wasn’t content to just preoccupy Faelius by forcing him to babysit me to keep me from running away. I intended to take him down so the warden didn’t have someone to deal with when she was done with Mark and his creepy, yellow-eyed… whatever. That said… while the guy wasn’t as strong as Saelia, he was
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
Wanting to get away from the growing patch of sticky, wet dirt where I’d been spitting out blood, I slowly sat up. The skin around my right eye felt tight as I winced at the shock of tender unpleasantness that bolted through my stomach. I tentatively investigated the spot where my right canine had been and cringed at the pulse of pain that jolted through my jaw. “Fuck…” I groaned. Standing over me, the ice primal glanced down at me and narrowed his eyes. “If I let you rise, will you behave yourself?” I raised a hand weakly as I struggled to my feet. “Nah, I’m all good… I’ll behave.” “Good. Because while I might delight in beating you back down, Mark would likely take issue with more punishment being inflicted upon yo–” Both our heads swiveled at the sound of a glass shattering from the decrepit building in which Saelia fought Mark and Lexia. Shards of glass glittered in the moonlight around the warden as she threw herself out of a top-story window. Clutching a stone in one
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!
In the cold light of the moon, everything in the rundown town appeared almost monochromatic in color. With the warm radiance of the forest ringing the settlement as a backdrop, my world took on a surreal quality as Mark raised his weapon to execute Saelia. He towered over Saelia, shadow coming off the metal of his black armor like fog from dry ice. He held an ax conjured from his spirit in a two-handed, overhead grip and was poised to behead the kneeling warden. Lexia stood nearby. Her heavily damaged, mannequin-like body and four bladed arms remained completely still as she stared through glassy eyes at Saelia. Faelius blocked me from going to Saelia, his mouth curled in a sadistic grin at my horror and frustration. The jagged pain in my eye, jaw, and guts fell away from my attention, time feeling as though it slowed to a crawl as reality settled in. Horribly wounded and covered in blood, Saelia knelt next to her crumpled coat. Atop its black fabric, lay her breacher and l
About thirty feet from where I sat in the dirt with a glowing spear conjured from spirit stabbed through my thigh, Saelia screamed as the somatonic healed her wounds. Dodging a glowing arrow streaking towards her from mark, she darted towards Lexia. The construct scuttled away on her legs and four arms towards mark, but she wasn’t fast enough to outrun the warden. Howling like a banshee, the shadow primal dove forward, her breacher raised in a reverse grip. With a thud, she tackled the fleeing construct before repeatedly driving her dagger into the construct’s back. “No!” Mark roared, conjuring a dozen more spirit arrows and firing them one after another as soon as they materialized. Pulling her knife free from the dead construct woman, Saelia rolled to the side into a crouch before springing up into a sprint to keep ahead of the volley of deadly conjurations. When the final arrow whizzed past her, a rock the size of her fist diagonally burst from the earth in a puff of dirt t