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
Spirit spear having dispersed into a cloud of fading light, the hole in my leg bled and radiated nauseating pain that eclipsed all my other injuries. I felt a little woozy as I raised my eyes towards the battle taking place about thirty feet from me in front of the dilapidated four-story building. “Damn… I’m kinda bleeding a lot… aren’t I?” I said, eying the wet patch of red dirt around my thigh and wondering how much blood I’d lost from all the punishment I’d taken tonight. It’s going to be hard to aim like this… I wished one of my briotonics could regrow teeth and close up the hole in my leg instead of accelerating my body’s natural ability to heal. As I thought this, my eyes widened in realization. I dug into the long pouch on my belt and pulled out the vial of somatonic Saelia had given me this morning. A tight, loopy giggle slipped from me as I stared at the potion like it was the most valuable treasure in all of existence. “I’m a fucking idiot!” I raised the stopper of the
In front of the towering, abandoned building, Saelia lay dying in the warm, red dirt. Only a couple of feet away, I was flat on my stomach with a spectral blue arrow staking my forearm into the earth to prevent me from giving her the somatonic clutched in my fist. With a hole in my left thigh and a broken right arm, I stared up in horror and pain at Mark. Framed by a full moon, he was poised to knock me out with a punch to the head. I’d screamed and begged, knowing that if I lost consciousness Saelia was done for. Mark had responded with promises of somehow making it up to me later, but he hadn’t wavered in her resolve to kill the warden. Hearing this had pushed me into a chasm of mind-numbing frustration and panic. At a loss for words, I’d let my rage speak for me. I’d been about to threaten to kill her if she murdered Saelia, but before I could get the sentence out, he blurred into motion trailing black smoke, as leapt half a dozen feet away from me and stood. His face jerked
“Hmm!” The warden’s jaw clenched, and her face scrunched in pain as the wounds covering her body suddenly knitted together. Lysandra let out a deep sigh of relief and a tear rolled down her bloody cheek. “Thank you, Passion, for your benevolence and compassion.” She planted a soft kiss on Saelia’s forehead before gently lowering her head to rest against the soft dirt. “She's… going to be okay?” I asked tentatively. The fear that was wrapped around my heart like barbed wire loosened as I watched the shadow primal’s chest rise and fall with each of her steady breaths. “Quite right.” “She’s just unconscious still because she burned her soul and got hit with spiritual overdraft?” I asked woozily. With the fight seemingly over, my adrenaline started to drain away, causing my pain and consciousness to fade as blood loss started to finally get the better of me. “With her tended to, let me see to you.” She looked me over and winced with sympathy at how thoroughly I’d gotten fucke