The rainbow swirl of light faded, depositing Kat in the center of a circular marble chamber. Diffuse white light filled the room, seeming to emanate from the walls themselves.
She frowned. Rather than the usual single pathway exiting the entrance to the dungeon, four circular archways, equally spaced around the circumference of the room, marked the tunnels leading away from the starting chamber.
A prismatic soap bubble of mana sprang into being beside Kat as she inspec...
2021-05-03 05:23:08 +0000 UTC
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Kat grinned through the nylon pulled over her face. The improvised mask wasn’t much, but then again, neither was Copper Spook. It would keep anyone monitoring Spook’s video feed from making out her features before Whippoorwill could delete the evidence.
She touched the earpiece to her smart panel, eyes not moving from the pawnshop that Copper Spook used as his headquarters from her vantage point, one store over.
“Is our friend still there, Chiffon?”
“He...
2021-04-26 17:37:29 +0000 UTC
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“Are you sure about this?” Whippoorwill brushed a strand of pink hair out of her face, shifting the car into park. “That building looks like warcrime wrapped in a maintenance violation and dipped a dumpster. Any information broker that can’t afford to move out of a place like that isn’t going to be worth a bent credit.”
Kat undid her seatbelt, looking out her window at the building where she’d agreed to meet the broker. It was a squat two story building, ...
2021-04-23 22:18:34 +0000 UTC
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The maglev to Schaumberg seemed to last forever, the handful of minutes stretching out until they lasted months. The landscape hummed by. The neon and bustling streets of Chiwaukee giving way to the bombed out shantytowns of the suburbs. Their residents, little more than ghosts, crowded around the mouths of alleys as they stared warily at the train.
Kat sighed, running a hand through her hair. Given one or two missteps she could have easily become any one of them...
2021-04-18 19:30:53 +0000 UTC
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Kat backpedaled, a whirlwind of spinning blades glittering in the air in front of her as the Flesh Crawler advanced on her, thrusting what resembled a garbage disposal on the end of a metal rod at her. Two of its multi-jointed piercing arms spread themselves past her, ready to attack Kat’s flanks on a moment’s notice.
With a grunt, she flung a throwing dagger into the Crawler, casting Overpressure a moment after it hit. Thick black blood popped the knife out of its wound...
2021-04-17 16:46:46 +0000 UTC
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“Are you ready Miss Kat?” Dorrik asked, the big dark four armed lizard standing just in front of a dungeon portal. A pair of sword hilts stuck out above their armored shoulders as their crest fluttered placidly. “So far we have only conquered wood tier dungeons. This will be our first iron tier, and the increase in difficulty will be severe.”
“Fighting the Wooly Spider to get off of the fifth floor was bad enough,” Kat replied with a shudder. ...
2021-04-15 08:01:10 +0000 UTC
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Kat’s lunch tray clicked against the wood of the table as she sat down next to Jasper and Iris. They stopped talking for a second to toss a pair of smiles her way before they resumed their discussion on labor theory for their upcoming exam.
She stuck a fork in her baked potato, splitting the steaming tuber open so that Kat could apply butter and sour cream. She didn’t eat in the expensive end of the college cafeteria every day, after all the college provided better food ...
2021-04-13 07:18:09 +0000 UTC
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The planet hung like a sapphire off the Undaunted’s bow, brilliant and beautiful in a sea of glittering stars. Dorrik turned to the captain, an elderly male lokkel with greying scales.
“Commander Tosset, how long until we’re within scanning range of Earth?”
“Patience,” Tosset shook his head as he crossed both pairs of arms. “We’ll be there soon enough to investigate your friend’s claims. I do hope she’s right. It would be incred...
2021-04-08 15:13:01 +0000 UTC
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Mana swelled in Kat’s chest, erupting as she cast Dazzle on the heavily chromed samurai only for him to not blink, his rifle pointed unflinchingly at her throat. He grinned without any real warmth.
Internally she swore. Flashbangs were popular enough that it only was a matter of time before she ran into someone with an immunity like hers. Still, it had been worth a try. Knives might be her forte, but they weren’t terribly useful in a situation like this.
<...
2021-04-05 02:06:58 +0000 UTC
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Xander’s rifle barked twice and the guard that rounded the corner dropped, hole in the faceplate of their helmet. Another stepped into the open only for Kat to fire a three round burst from her stolen weapon, missing wildly but forcing the figure to dart back behind cover.
Kat let loose a burst of stamina, pouring it into Cat Step as she blurred forward. At the last second she dropped to the ground, letting her moment carry her past the wall.
She could almost see the...
2021-04-04 18:52:16 +0000 UTC
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Hestia fired a handful of shots in Dorian’s general direction to keep him under cover. Rage twisted her face as a quartet of blue flames appeared behind her, twisting into the shapes of butterflies and drifting through the air toward the impostor’s hiding spot.
“You didn’t give me a chance to contact my handlers before the prison raid,” the clone shouted back mockingly, tossing a small metal box into the center of the room. “But I suppose I should thank you for d...
2021-04-04 18:51:20 +0000 UTC
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“I can’t believe they offer tours of this place,” Kat remarked with a shake of her head as the Hestia, Whippoorwill, Xander and her walked by the looming skeleton of a dinosaur. “It seems like a security risk to me.”
“At some point that risk became a status symbol.” Xander frowned as Hestia stepped past her in order to crowd closer to Kat. “The Field Tower used to be a museum, but as the Megalopolis grew they started adding floors on top of it. Th...
2021-04-03 07:07:01 +0000 UTC
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“Three sevens beats pair of aces,” Iris laid her cards down on the cheap plastic table, drawing a groan from jasper. The woman grinned, leaning forward to rake the pot, the metal pull tabs from some fifteen vacuum sealed meals, over toward her.
“You should have known better Jasper,” Kat said with a click of her tongue as she collected the cards from the stained vinyl surface so that she could deal. “Iris was acting way too smug not to have a winning hand. Tha...
2021-04-01 16:48:23 +0000 UTC
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Humbrass Atoll wasn’t what Kat was expecting. She’d expected another dingy shantytown made out of bleached driftwood and populated by half-awake locals. Instead, the Marka sailed past a necklace of gorgeous tropical islands filled with will maintained and multi story brick buildings. Here and there a shop or house would be made of wood, but given the intricacy of the carvings on their windows and doors, She could tell that it was an aesthetic choice.
The atoll i...
2021-03-31 05:14:22 +0000 UTC
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“I hope you’re excited for the Humbrass Atoll,” Kaleek said with a grin, plopping down on the bow of the Marka next to Kat and letting his paws hang over the edge. “It isn’t the biggest hub on the fourth floor, but it’s fairly popular. A good chunk of my pod spent time there so I was able to get us some good recommendations for seafood places. Apparently the Deep Delver has the freshest saltwater prawns you’ll find anywhere in the Tower.”
“Is...
2021-03-29 00:59:43 +0000 UTC
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As you can all probably see, Blessed Time Book One is done. Clocking in around 255k words, I'm assuming any release on kindle for Blessed Time will likely be 2-4 Volumes in length.
What does this mean and what am I up too? Good questions!
Will there be a book two?
Probably eventually! Right now I'm a bit burned out on Blessed Time. I received a fair amount of pushback on Royal Road in the last month or so, and although that shou...
2021-03-27 20:18:26 +0000 UTC
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“Your mind is made up?” Jo asked, leaning against a nearby tree. “After all of this you’re really just going to Sandrovok?”
“I’m not sure I’d say ‘After’ all of this,” Micah chuckled, putting a crate of clothing in the back of the crude wagon he’d made with wood magic. “I think it’s more fair to say I’m leaving ‘because’ of this.”
“But the Durgh destroyed Westmarch.” She was almost pleading with him. “There we...
2021-03-27 17:48:43 +0000 UTC
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Krosst looked at Micah curiously, cocking his massive head to the side slightly as Micah took a defensive stance, spear held horizontal to the ground in his right hand while his left faced the Durgh, palm out and glittering with rings.
“You know my Blessing human?” The Khan asked, surveying him calmly.
Micah nodded.
“You know my mana and my level?” Krosst continued, grabbing the chain of his flail in his left hand and lifting the spiked metal head from th...
2021-03-27 17:22:37 +0000 UTC
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A massive Durgh, bare-chested and covered in tattoos stalked out of the crowd. In each hand, he held an axe almost the size of Drekt’s great cleaver, large silver bracers glittering on his muscular arms.
He strode confidently into the clearing, stopping abruptly in its center. A hush fell over the soldiers surrounding them, the only sound the steady tattoo of the warbeast heaving boulders at Westmarch.
The Durgh through both of his hands into the air with a bestial r...
2021-03-26 16:12:04 +0000 UTC
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Congratulations Adventurer!
You have completed the Wood Tier Level Four Dungeon, Lost Forest.
Three of Three party members surviving. Good Job!
Assigning awards:
+1 Spirit
Kat dismissed the notification, walking away from the dungeon portal as she waited for Dorrik to exit. Kaleek and her were in a small cave, hidden behind a picturesque waterfall on a small tropical island.
The otter was grinning, his paws filled the fist sized gemstones they...
2021-03-25 06:51:17 +0000 UTC
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Eidrak led the way, pushing through throngs of Durgh en route to the Khan. The massive warriors glanced at Micah and his party bemusedly, but let them pass with little more than some off-handed curious comments.
A cheer went up from the mob of soldiers as a warbeast, easily as tall as the walls of Westmarch itself thumped toward the citadel, stopping about five hundred paces short. Two Durgh rolled a boulder up to the monster, and its handler, a man clad in black armor crack...
2021-03-24 07:24:39 +0000 UTC
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Dawn brought drums. The great, repetitive bass thump of the Durgh war machine spurring into motion woke Micah from his restive slumber. For a moment he just lay there, staring up into the cloudless sky. Birds chirped from nearby berry bushes as a gentle gust of wind rustled their branches.
It was a perfect day to end things. One way or another, by the time the Sun set, Basil’s Cove would no longer be his concern.
Micah sat up, stretching the stiffness fro...
2021-03-23 04:05:59 +0000 UTC
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The SUV’s wheels screeched against the highway, throwing Kat into the wall as the vehicle swerved through traffic, cutting off another car. Iris practically spun the steering wheel, returning them to the fast lane as she hyperventilated noisily.
Inertia pulled Kat back into her seat and the engine revved, switching gear. She glanced out the window worriedly. Luckily, the night traffic was just a shadow of the daytime chaos. Still, Iris’ erratic driving would ...
2021-03-22 03:40:47 +0000 UTC
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“Are you sure this is going to work?” Trevor asked, standing over Martin Osswain’s bound and unconscious form. “The Durgh look pretty angry.”
He shrugged, a wry smile on his face. “Well, they seem to be angry even for Durgh. Durgh always look angry.”
“Probably.” Micah glanced down at Martin. It didn’t feel right turning anyone over to the Durgh knowing their penalty for the faithless and those that betrayed matters of honor. ...
2021-03-20 21:03:55 +0000 UTC
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Air rushed past Kat as she quietly jumped from the roof of the squat concrete building toward the ground. She hit with a muffled thud, quickly glancing back and forth for any of the guards she might have alerted with her descent.
A moment later, Xander landed next to her with noticeably less grace and more noise. She winced as he pulled himself up from the ground, dusting mostly imaginary dirt off of his infiltration suit.
They’d made it to the laboratory with only m...
2021-03-18 17:25:05 +0000 UTC
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Micah crept through the tower’s hallways, occasionally ducking into a side room when he heard voices. This high in the building, there weren’t regular patrols. Apparently, the alarm on the roof was considered sufficient.
On one hand, he was surprised that there weren’t more guards keeping the VIPs on the upper levels safe. On the other hand, given what Micah knew about Martin and Brenden’s predilection toward rituals that were frowned upon by the Kingdom, he wa...
2021-03-16 07:23:20 +0000 UTC
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“I don’t see why the new girl gets to drive,” Xander complained, his arms crossed.
Kat glanced back at him from the front seat of the SUV where she sat next to a white knuckled Iris. Xander was sulking, arms across his chest in the middle row of seats.
“Because I can’t drive safely in this traffic and you’re a maniac,” Kat responded smoothly, turning her head back toward the road. “Iris is getting us to Beloit fast enough, and without drawing attention....
2021-03-14 06:35:10 +0000 UTC
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“We’ve been over this Jo.” Micah shook his head. “You’d be helpful on the raid, but I’m going to need the rest of the party for the final encounter. There’s no way in hell they’re going to let me just challenge the Khan without proving myself, and right now I just don’t have the spare mana to fight his lieutenants. That’s going to fall on the rest of you.”
“But I should be there,” Jo hissed, pacing back and forth with short jerky motions...
2021-03-13 04:49:50 +0000 UTC
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Xander and Kat walked into the restaurant together, and the quiet conversation stopped. A dozen pairs of eyes dissected them as they stepped through the door. Kat shifted slightly, feeling exposed as every aspect of their dress and demeanor was inspected and catalogued.
It’s not that the two of them were explicitly underdressed. Kat was wearing a fitted button down shirt with slacks. Xander’s button down might have fit at one point, but after a decade or so o...
2021-03-11 17:33:40 +0000 UTC
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“I really thought we were past this sort of thing.” Jo stood shirtless facing away from Micah, his hand on her back. “Seriously Micah, we had that big heart to heart and everything. I thought we made progress and then you told me to take my shirt off. At least buy a girl some flowers or something first.”
“It’s not like I’d be seeing anything new,” Micah responded, his eyes closed as he tried to focus on the muted flow of energy inside Jo. ...
2021-03-09 08:30:52 +0000 UTC
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