carrarn

Kernstalion 28: Short term goals

When I woke in my bathroom adorned room, alone, I stared up at the ceiling for a long time.

Sandra, or Eliandra, whatever she wanted me to name her now, had brought me here after listening to my story. She hadn't said anything, just looked at me for a while before shaking her head with a lo...

Kernstalion 27: Corlon alphabet magic

After my shock at finding an English book abated a bit, I quickly understood that the book probably wasn't really in English. More likely was, that a spell on it made the words turn legible to anybody who read it.

I could think of only a few reasons why anybody would go to that effort, but ...

Kernstalion: 26: Lost and...

As I felt the soft mattress against my flesh, I almost wept for joy, and it almost made me forget the fact I was not in Sandr- no Eliandra's room. It would take some time to get used to calling her that, but she had been very clear, and I knew her well enough to know it was no joke.

Proppin...

Kernstalion 25: Sandra or Eliandra?

I looked at the two female knights and smiled, hoping this would go as smooth as the first gate. They didn't respond, but one thick brown eyebrow rose in obvious question.

"I am Est. I am here to see Eliandra," I said, stepping towards them.

This time the guards reacted, and they shar...

Kernstalion 24: Dursic

The cold wind blew through the cracks in my armor and across my bare arms. Standing in front of the wall with the tear, I looked at the sky. It was still afternoon, but I had no idea if I had been in there for hours, days, weeks, or even longer.

The hound was gone, as were any tracks off it...

Kernstalion 23: Choices and consequences

I could, in essence, shape what a god or goddess would become?

My hyperactive mind began picturing increasingly odd things, and I quickly pushed the images away before they turned into reality.

"There are no limits?"

"There are. I am what you call a good deity. I lean more towar...

Kernstalion 22: Nameless

The thing about being on your own isn't that you have nobody to talk to or whine if you stub your toe. The thing is that if something threatens to go wrong, you have only yourself to trust to fix it. There is no safety net, and if you fuck up, you get into trouble. Or you die.

"Leave me alo...

Kernstalion 21: Never split the party

"Alright, that's enough for tonight. Go and carve some more ugly monsters, and rest. Tomorrow will be another long day," Haltir said.

I was so tired I couldn't even groan. Instead, I nodded and trudged to the small campfire Egilla had made. Dropping the ax beside my backpack, I lay down and...

Kernstalion 20: The Harrowing Hills

"I wonder what happened to those elves," I said as we trudged forward through the thick mud.

"Who knows. They hate fighting, always have. They must have used some bloody Fey magic to flee," Haltir replied.

"They left us there to die... "I said, confused why the other didn't sound the ...

Kernstalion 19: Fleeing

When I woke up, my body hurt all over, and I heard the muted sounds of combat. Blinking, I groaned as needles seemed to jab every part of my flesh.

"Stay still. You need to rest!" Four's voice came from beside me, and someone put a cup to my lips. I swallowed what was in it and felt it flow...

Kernstalion 18: Pink blood

"Get ready!" Haltir screamed. He jolted forward, running to the center of the wagon circle. Thirty enormous warriors joined him, men and women, that dwarfed even the basketball players I knew. Besides Haltir, they had no weapons but wore gauntlets with spikes on the knuckles. Spread-out, they cou...

Kernstalion 17: Sometimes shit just happens

"So, this happens every month?" I asked Four as we ran alongside the wagon. Every time I touched the ground, I felt a jolt.

"Sometimes twice," she said.

"Stop talking. You will waste your breath!" Haltir shouted.

Looking beside me, I saw him and Three staring at us intently.

Kernstalion 16: Beyond Sart

A kick against my leg woke me, and I wished I could go back to sleep. My body still ached; the double session Haltir forced onto me had taken its toll.

But it wouldn't happen again! Rolling up, groaning at every movement and feeling like an old man, I rose.

Agga already sat at the tab...

Kernstalion 15: Haltir

Cold and shivering, I moved through the darkening alley. It had taken ages before the heat had left my body, and now I felt cold and even more tired than before. The dense grey cloud cover blotting out the sun that had been there this morning wasn't helping either.

Pushing open the door, th...

Kernstalion 14: Deities

Staring up at the red tint in the sky, I sighed in relief. Those stupid Goblins had continued attacking throughout the night. From what I could tell, they hadn't made it far into Sart, or at least not very far.

I heard them run back into the forest far to the left and got up. Grabbing the l...

Kernstalion 13: The reason for a wall

Three days later, the grin had long since faded from my face. Sweat poured down my head as I crouched down with my back towards the tree. A long gash on my arm bled profusely, and bruises covered my now well-muscled upper body. Counting silently in my head, I hoped I would get time to open my sta...

Kernstalion 12: Woodcrafting one o one

I made it back to Sart without further incidents. Running through the streets, I was happy when I saw Agga's smelly shop.

Moving inside, I saw Agga still working at the woodcarving table, her face pale and weary. When I came in, she looked up, hope, and hunger on her face.

"And?"

Kernstalion 11: Daggers of doom

As I moved away from Sart, I wondered again if I shouldn't have brought the ax. There wasn't any place for anything to hide on the road to the mining outpost, but did that guarantee anything? Not really.

As I trudged forward, my stomach was a clenched mass of growling fury. I'd not eaten a ...

Kernstalion 10: An empty belly

The trip back to Sart was slow and painful. To make sure Agga wouldn't be too upset about everything if she found out, I passed the tree and got the branch. Between hauling that, the ax, and the Wirg carcass, it was pitch black when I reached Sart.

Seeing the burning torches atop the wall a...

Kernstalion 9: Waking up to a nightmare

I was walking. I didn't know how or why, but I could feel my body move. After a few moments, my vision came back. I saw a dark, unlit alleyway in front of me. Garbage bags on the ground, and some ridiculous graffiti on a wall. It depicted a cock with a knife sticking in the tip and blood spraying...

Kernstalion 8: Wirgs

I kicked the night wight corpse twice for jumping out and scaring the shit out of me. The head rolled away, thudding against a nearby tree. The blood seeping from it tainted the mud.

This was the fourth day that I headed towards the tree on my own and the fourth night wight I had encountere...

Kernstalion 7: Sart

I quickly found that Sart wasn't that big. It consisted of one wide road, leading from the square in front of the east gate all the way to the harbor. Smaller alleys and streets led away from it, and those only ran for a few hundred meters before ending beside the wall. From what I could tell, a ...

Kernstalion 6: A proposition

Hours later, I lay on the hard ground before the fire in Agga's house. It was getting dark, and it had taken three trips to bring all the wood back. It lay in a neat pile in the corner, adding a fresh wood scent to the room's dank and smelly odor. It was quiet, Agga having left to get us more foo...

Kernstalion 5: Stop hagging me

The second trip to the tree was a lot faster, and my stamina even increased by a point before we arrived.

Staring at the bloody spot on the ground and the drag marks that led into the woods, I frowned. Did something else drag it away, or did that Grablon with the red dagger on his chest do ...

Kernstalion 4: First encounters of the painfull kind

As soon as Agga's figure disappeared between the trees, I slumped down. "Stupid game… bite me!" I decided to take a look at my gains before heading off into the woods.

All three bars were filled, blinking green, and as I watched, they emptied with a rewarding ping. My weariness faded some...

Kernstalion 3: Meeting Agga

A few steps from the end of the street, it was like I tore through a veil.

A cacophony of sounds washed over me; the wind that howled through the street carried shouting, laughing, and yelling voices, while the sound of crashing waves from farther away sounded like a giant softly...

Kernstalion 2: Pick a profession

Going through the portal isn't as fun as it sounds. It feels like you are burned to a crisp, whooshed along a highway of wind, and then get doused in water before you shoot out the other end.

The first thing I saw was a dark, cloudy sky, and then I crashed on my back. All the air...

Kernstalion 1: Select a race

Have you ever read one of those books where people play an awesome VR game, and then they are locked inside without a logout ability? Their bodies in the real world, still and inert while they scramble for a way to get out of this insanely cool virtual world, all the while unsure they even want t...

Some information and a picture

So just one post this weekend, and no chapter. This week I'll post the Kernstalion chapters that are on RoyalRoad here, so it's nice and chronological. Then, starting next weekend, I will post my backlog to my backers only.

Also, I'd like to thank 256 for backing me! Welcome and ...

The end of Nothing but bones - book two

I've just added the last three chapters of Nothing but bones, book two, and I'm really curious to see what you thought. 

Beyond this, I've begun on book three-which will mark a transition. Solus will still be the main character, but not for the whole book, and his role will vastly chan...