Alright - that was the end of book two! I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. Book three starts now:
As the noon sun shone down on Elijah’s head and a gentle wind tousled his curly hair, he sat in the middle of the square known as Druid Park, ...
2024-02-29 16:00:07 +0000 UTC
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“This is wrong,” said Adara. “The dungeon is not meant to be used this way. It is a reward. Not a…whatever it is you are doing.”
Zeke rolled his shoulders. “You’re welcome to sit it out,” he said, glancing to the side. She was wearing her armor, which he could admit – if o...
2024-02-29 14:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Thor Gunderson knelt atop the hill, staring across the valley at the creature. The monster was huge, but then again, most of his prey had been of late. It was the only way to get any sort of challenge. The animal was a little bigger than an African elephant, with a long shaggy coat of soft fur th...
2024-02-28 16:10:00 +0000 UTC
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Carmen struggled against her bonds, though it was no good. She’d tried to use her various techniques to escape, but they were all meant to bind things together, rather than to tear things apart. Her lone ability meant for that kind of thing was only useful on metal, so in her current situation,...
2024-02-28 16:00:06 +0000 UTC
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I’ve seen so many planets die. Some were outright destroyed, much as the Gamoris want to do to Earth. Yet others experienced a much slower death as the wider universe exploited and oppressed until there was nothing left. Then, they were abandoned, and their people left to w...
2024-02-28 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
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A new day dawned on a field strewn with corpses. Having recovered overnight, Elijah stood on the earthen bulwark where Ironshore’s defenders had made their last stand. It was little more than a slight rise next to a trench, but from a symbolic – as well as a literal – perspective, it had be...
2024-02-27 16:10:01 +0000 UTC
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Trace had screwed up.
He knew it, too. Pacing back and forth, he periodically glanced at the boy who’d caused him so much trouble. Miguel was bound, hand and foot, like a trussed pig – a necessity, after everything that had happened. Over the past few days, Trace had been forced to take...
2024-02-27 16:00:12 +0000 UTC
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As he turned the crown over in his hand, Zeke said, “It’s not very strong, is it?”
“No,” Eveline said. “Not to you, at least. For a demon, it would be scalding. This is a similar artifact as the one I’ve told you about.”
“The one the demon used to develop a holy attu...
2024-02-27 14:00:07 +0000 UTC
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The warlord roared, and the orcish horde responded to its call, clambering to cross the trench-strewn battlefield on their way to destroy Ironshore. The defenders attempted to fend them off with their long spears and copious use of their various abilities, but the frenzied orcs had no sense of se...
2024-02-26 16:10:00 +0000 UTC
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“Bring her back,” growled Carmen, staring down at the woman in the chair. She couldn’t have been more than twenty years old, and once upon a time, she’d been quite lovely. And she would be again once Keith was done with her. She glanced at the Healer, seeing hesitation on his face. “Now...
2024-02-26 16:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Grand Magister Tordal slammed his fist against the desk, demanding, “What?!”
His advisors – morons, every single one of them, as far as he was concerned – shuffled their feet nervously. Perhaps he should make an example of one of them. That would incentivize them to perform better. ...
2024-02-26 14:00:13 +0000 UTC
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I got this back about a week ago, and I've been itching to share it:

The painting is of Elijah, sometime after his first tower run but before the invaders landed on the island. Credit to
2024-02-25 17:29:24 +0000 UTC
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With three orcs clinging to his exhausted body, Elijah struggled to stay upright as the monsters bit and clawed, stabbed and scratched. Roaring, he tried to dislodge them, but the creatures were nothing if not tenacious, so his efforts were for naught. Still, he managed to grab hold of one with h...
2024-02-25 16:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Templars are just people. We have hopes and dreams, flaws and fears just like everyone else. The only difference is that we somehow managed to peek behind the curtain. For many of us, that is the source of those fears.
Frederick Connoly
2024-02-25 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Many of you know I have been pushing really hard over the past couple of months. Part of that is because Mistrunner is just about finished (I only need to write about 9 more chapters), but it's also because of what I have planned for March for Path of Dragons.
And I'm here to t...
2024-02-25 08:08:41 +0000 UTC
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The smell of charred flesh and the screams of dying orcs filled the air as Elijah let the rage of the lamellar ape rush through him. All around him, gnomes, dwarves, goblins, and a scattered few elves screamed their various battlecries as the orcish horde bore down on them, leaping the final ditc...
2024-02-24 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
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I wish I could take some of the burden from Mira’s shoulders, but I know I couldn’t bear the weight. In most ways, she represents our only hope, and if she fails, Earth falls. That is a lot to take on, but the harsh reality is that she can do things nobody else can. I jus...
2024-02-24 14:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Elijah awoke to the gentle sound of a flute. As his eyes fluttered open, he glanced around the enormous and garishly appointed room, but he couldn’t find the origin of the music. Yet, even so, he found it enormously soothing, as if it was capable of washing all of his cares away.
Of cours...
2024-02-23 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Zeke felt the world roil as the sky split open, but even as thick bolts of arcane lightning descended upon the increasingly terrified Knights, he had other things on his mind. Only a few minutes before, Karik had discarded any limitations he might’ve once had, and he’d embraced a transformati...
2024-02-23 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Trace was bored out of his mind, and the worst part about it was that he didn’t think there was any end to it in sight. It was his own fault, really. He knew it, too. He should have just killed the bitch and let the chips fall where they may. It was still on the table, as far as he was concerne...
2024-02-22 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Pudge burst out of [Concealed Steps], ripping through the Adontis scout. The man’s light armor offered little resistance to Pudge’s sharp claws, and the bearkin tore through him with enough violence to send his two halves flying in opposite directions. That was as expected, given Pudge’s ne...
2024-02-22 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Elijah sat on the edge of the ditch, his legs dangling nearly ten feet above the deepest portion. It was filled with sharpened stakes, many of which glistened with ethera from various skills. After his initial success with the divide-and-conquer strategy, he’d managed to use it one more time be...
2024-02-21 16:00:06 +0000 UTC
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I don’t know why I stayed. It was hopeless, and just like I’d seen happy a hundred times before, the planet was doomed. Still, I stayed. I wanted to help, and I still don’t know why I didn’t just pick up and leave the moment I knew we were going to be blockaded.
2024-02-21 14:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Searing heat buffeted Carmen as she stepped into her newly expanded forge. Inside, there were seven apprentices working, and that wasn’t even considering the number of people who’d been tasked with smelting the freshly mined cold iron ore. After exterminating the last of the critters, Silvera...
2024-02-20 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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The head of Zeke’s hammer fell with a wet thunk, collapsing the enemy knight’s skull. A spurt of blood escaped the man’s helmet as he fell to the ground in a limp heap. Yet Zeke wasn’t concerned with that foe. Instead, he only had eyes for the huge and menacing form of Lord Karik, who was...
2024-02-20 14:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Wearing Guise of the Predator like a cloak, Elijah crept forward, his body low to the ground as he stalked the stag. It was an enormous deer, at least the size of a full-grown moose, which meant that it was a perfect target for his plan. However, the creature was powerful – he’d known that fr...
2024-02-19 16:00:07 +0000 UTC
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The morning dawned, crisp and cold, but a sense of impending doom hung over Zeke and his people. Beside him were thousands of kobolds and beastkin, with hundreds of humans interspersed. Some of the latter wore the armor of Knights, but most had donned the cyclops-skin armor so prevalent amongst t...
2024-02-19 14:00:10 +0000 UTC
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The night hung heavy in the air as Kurik crouched atop a thick branch, looking down at the game trail. For the past day, he and his squad had steadily engaged in a campaign of guerrilla warfare against the orcs. They had killed dozens, and yet, their efforts paled in comparison to their ally.
...
2024-02-18 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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The quarantine system was supposed to be foolproof. Or that was what history tells us. When it was implemented, it was intended to give frontier planets a chance to adjust to the Mist without undue interference. However, where there are rules and regulations, there are always...
2024-02-18 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Thanks to everyone who gave this story an advanced review on Royal Road. It's super helpful, so if anyone else hasn't done it (and is willing to put in the time and effort to do so), I would appreciate more! That said, we hit our goal, so here's today's chapter:
Horns blew, an...
2024-02-17 16:00:10 +0000 UTC
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