CoCo_P

Chapter 3

“I said,” Maddox drawled slowly, “fancy taking a dip with me?”

“That’s what I thought I heard,” Bruce replied, trying not to look at the portal humming angrily on the ground a couple of feet to his left.  “I just assumed that it was a mistake because it’s an absolutely idiotic thing to say.”

“We live in strange times,” Maddox responded, reaching into one of his armored pockets to withdraw a length of narrow but durable polyester rope ordinarily used fo...

Chapter 2

There was no doubt about it.  The pyramid wasn’t natural.  Its walls were made of a shiny black substance that was honed to a razor’s edge.  It towered over the three rovers, silent and foreboding.

The interference had gotten worse to the point that Bruce could only talk to Andy through direct contact.  Any radio transmission was a garbled mess, even when the recipient was only a foot away.

Apparently, the rover was steering like it was a bathtub being pull...

Chapter 1

Overhead, the dropship rumbled away, the light and flame of chemical thrusters sending shadows skittering across the barren landscape as it sought to clear enough room from the small group of humans and equipment to activate its much more powerful fusion drive en route back to orbit.

“Sierra Charlie 81 here, we have touchdown”

Team leader Maddox’s voice crackled over the radio.  There was too much dust in the air for laser communication, and the stellar radiation that w...

Somnus IV - Chapter 17

Kat took a deep breath, eyes locked on the banshee glider as it sailed in between the trees.  As soon as their team came up with a plan, Stekat had produced a set of herbs that would mask her scent.  Apparently, they were fairly standard and easy to produce for players with the Tamer class.  After all, they needed to have the ability to sneak up on the animals that they were trying to trap and hunt.

Their first fight had taken annoyingly long.  Not necessarily the fi...

Dream II - Epilogue

It was surprisingly easy to leave Vereton.  The defenders were beginning to push the bandit forces out, but chaos still reigned.  Buildings burned and humans mourned their fallen.  If the previous attack had been a disaster, this one was a cataclysm.  Even with the City’s practitioners working full time it would take months for things to return to anything approaching normal.

Samazzar trudged onward, the three books in a burlap sack that he clutched to his chest li...

Dream II - Chapter 39

- - - - -

Race: Draconian

Bloodline Powers: Improved Strength+, Rending, Firebreath+
Greater Mysteries: Fire (Noble) 5, Wind (Noble) 4, Sound (Advanced) 2
Lesser Mysteries: Heat 4, Oxygen 4, Embers 4, Pressure 4, Current/Flow 4

- - - - -

“By the mysteries,” Rose said, shaking her head. “I recognized that water magus I killed.  It was Saasmani.  She graduated a year or so ahead of me but stayed on at the...

Dream II - Chapter 38

- - - - -

Race: Draconian

Bloodline Powers: Improved Strength+, Rending, Firebreath+
Greater Mysteries: Fire (Noble) 5, Wind (Noble) 3, Sound (Advanced) 2
Lesser Mysteries: Heat 4, Oxygen 4, Embers 4, Pressure 4, Current/Flow 4

- - - - -

A blast of wind caught Percival throwing the young man across the room in the blink of an eye.  If a sphere of water didn’t catch him just before he hit one of the archive’s s...

Dream II - Chapter 37

- - - - -

Race: Draconian

Bloodline Powers: Improved Strength+, Rending, Firebreath+
Greater Mysteries: Fire (Noble) 5, Wind (Noble) 3, Sound (Advanced) 2
Lesser Mysteries: Heat 4, Oxygen 4, Embers 4, Pressure 4, Current/Flow 4

- - - - -

Samazzar blew through the entryway.  Furniture and paperwork covered most surfaces, upended and askew.  Behind the front desk, one of the two clerk guards lay unmoving with a...

Dream II - Chapter 36

- - - - -

Race: Draconian

Bloodline Powers: Improved Strength+, Rending, Firebreath+
Greater Mysteries: Fire (Noble) 5, Wind (Noble) 3, Sound (Advanced) 2
Lesser Mysteries: Heat 4, Oxygen 4, Embers 4, Pressure 4, Current/Flow 4

- - - - -

Jamise’s company barely made it a hundred paces onto the campus before they ran into resistance.  A trio of students were sheltered near the edge of a cafeteria, a wall made of ...

Dream II - Chapter 35

- - - - -

Race: Draconian

Bloodline Powers: Improved Strength+, Rending, Firebreath+
Greater Mysteries: Fire (Noble) 5, Wind (Noble) 3, Sound (Advanced) 2
Lesser Mysteries: Heat 4, Oxygen 4, Embers 4, Pressure 4, Current/Flow 4

- - - - -

They saw the smoke before they saw Vereton.  Hanging on the horizon like a smudge of menacing black air it guided their column home.  The guard was leagues behind them, unabl...

Dream II - Chapter 34

- - - - -

Race: Draconian

Bloodline Powers: Improved Strength+, Rending, Firebreath+
Greater Mysteries: Fire (Noble) 5, Wind (Noble) 3, Sound (Advanced) 2
Lesser Mysteries: Heat 4, Oxygen 4, Embers 4, Pressure 4, Current/Flow 4

- - - - -

“Denied!”

Samazzar couldn’t tell whether Jamise or Adam shouted it first.  Sandra froze in her saddle, eyes widening as both of the captains stared her down.

“...

Dream II - Chapter 33

- - - - -

Race: Draconian

Bloodline Powers: Improved Strength+, Rending, Firebreath+
Greater Mysteries: Fire (Noble) 5, Wind (Noble) 3, Sound (Advanced) 2
Lesser Mysteries: Heat 4, Oxygen 4, Embers 4, Pressure 4, Current/Flow 4

- - - - -

The Knights were impressive, Samazzar had to give them that.  One hundred men and women in gleaming steel armor atop war horses that were almost as big as Dussok.  There were...

Dream II - Chapter 32

- - - - -

Race: Draconian

Bloodline Powers: Improved Strength+, Rending, Firebreath+
Greater Mysteries: Fire (Noble) 5, Wind (Noble) 3, Sound (Advanced) 2
Lesser Mysteries: Heat 4, Oxygen 4, Embers 4, Pressure 4, Current/Flow 4

- - - - -

Samazzar hurried through Vereton’s post-lunch buzz en route to the Academy.  Another shift at the smithy was done, and he could feel the soot of the forge clinging to his aching...

BT IV - Epilogue [Revised]

Epilogue - The Seventeen

“I would say this is a surprise,” Mursa said cheerfully, “but I am the Goddess of truth after all.”

Micah blinked.  He was everywhere and everywhen simultaneously.  It should have been disorienting, but it wasn’t.  Like putting on an old and comfortable shoe for the first time in months.

“I’m surprised,” Luxos growled.  “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that the boy managed to defeat the daemo...

BT IV - Epilogue

“I would say this is a surprise,” Mursa said cheerfully, “but I am the Goddess of truth after all.”

Micah blinked.  He was everywhere and everywhen simultaneously.  It should have been disorienting, but it wasn’t.  Like putting on an old and comfortable shoe for the first time in months.

“I’m surprised,” Luxos growled.  “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that the boy managed to defeat the daemon, but all of this feels like you managed to plan ...

BT IV - Chapter 37

It charged a second time, swinging its sword wildly but with such force and speed that Micah had no choice but to dodge.  As heavily enchanted as his spear was, it had no chance against the bolt of frozen soul power that the Prince was somehow using as a weapon.

His body was battered and weak.  The battle against the luoca flock had been taxing, and the attack from the daemon’s flames had ravaged muscle and scorched bones.  His hit points were at around half of their to...

BT IV - Chapter 36

Wind whipped past Micah’s face as he raced through the air.  The rest of the team was flying behind him, near enough that he could help them if necessary, but far enough away for Micah to fight freely.  Already a half dozen of the bird monsters and a single brensen had tried to attack them, but the combined ranged attacks of the entire group was more than enough to make short work of the monsters.

Forgotten on the castle walls were pointing at Micah’s team.  He could ...

BT IV - Chapter 35

Micah gripped his spear with his right hand, grasping hold of the scepter with his left in order to take mental control over two of the crystal spears that sat in the bandoleer on his back.

“So Princess,” he said tightly, eyes locked on the battle fortress.  “Do we have a contingency plan for this?”

Onboard the floating castle, groups of forgotten began tipping what looked like human bodies over the edge toward Sandrovok’s army below.

“Our battle lines are m...

BT IV - Chapter 34

The battle unfolded in slow motion as Micah watched.  Squares of soldiers, each a thousand strong, marched from both sides toward the river, forming battle lines on its banks to prevent the other side from finding a shallow stretch and chancing a crossing.  Periodically the flash of spells or blessing erupted as the forces on opposite banks tossed attacks at each other, but they rarely landed.  The river was almost 300 paces wide, and there was more than enough time for defensi...

BT IV - Chapter 33

Micah’s horse fidgeted underneath him, spooked by the giant war lizard to his right.  He wasn’t sure whether or not the monster was a mutation of something natural or dungeon-born, but now that he knew what to look for, it was clear that it had a faint taste of Elsewhere on its ponderous body.

Atop the creature sat a palanquin made from rare wood and silk.  Micah didn’t have a good angle to see who was inside, but the officer who had called him over had been incredibly n...

BT IV - Chapter 32

One shout calling for a runner to alert the rest of the army later, and Micah was off.  He abandoned his horse, casting Flight on himself, Leeka, Drekt, Trevor, Esther and Eris and taking to the air.  The spell cost some mana, but it was faster than a horse.  Maybe not on the thick paving stones of the highway they had been taking to the border, but over open sand, the spell’s mobility was unmatched.

Plus, all magic came easier to him now.  It was like mer...

BT IV - Chapter 31

“I appreciate the horses,” Trevor prattled, “but given that you’re somehow best friend with Sandrovok’s royal family, would carriages have been too much to ask for?”

Micah pursed his lips.  The entire Silver Wolves guild was mounted, a not insignificant expense in time of peace and prosperity, but now?

Ahead of them were the first and second battalions of Sandrovok’s first legion.  Elite units.  Blooded constant campaigns against the nomads of the deep...

BT IV - Chapter 30

They opened their eyes.  The world swirled around them, the metallic tang of mana attacking their senses.  They were on their back, cold stones digging into their shoulder-blades and spine.

“Micah!”  A voice was calling a name.  Both were familiar.

Click.  They could hear the sound of their eyelids closed as they blinked.  All of their senses were operating in overdrive, firing information into their brains so quickly that there was no way that th...

BT IV - Chapter 29

Karin flinched as one of the wards on her anti scrying bracelet flared to life.  Temporal and soul magic.  Rare magics on their own, but unheard of together.

She set down her pen, leaving the notebook where she had been performing calculations.  Her ritual could wait.  Right now, someone was trying to spy on her, and they were using methods rare enough that Karin wasn’t entirely sure that her defenses were up to the task of stopping them.

A short walk later a...

BT IV - Chapter 28

Kylie opened her eyes.  The room was warm, the large fireplace crackling with flames despite the summer heat assured that.

She sat up slowly, bones creaking in protest against the movement. Her blanket fell away revealing wrinkled skin and thin night clothes that almost seemed a full size too large for her frail body.

They had fit once.  Years ago when Kylie had first begun to think of herself as old, she had bought them from a local tailor.  Snug and comfortable th...

BT IV - Chapter 27

Snow.  It fell gently from the sky, drifting in the garden outside while Victoria stoked the fire.  Andres lifted his morning tea to his mouth, taking a sip and smiling at the peaceful scene outside.

Grene’s Corner wasn’t a large village.  500 or so citizens lived in the town proper while another 1000 lived in the surrounding countryside, farming rice in the Raan valley and corn in the highlands surrounding the great river that cut through the territory.  Idley, ...

BT IV - Chapter 26

Micah twisted his hands together impatiently.  Servants were bringing in another stack of reagents, piling crystal rods and candles rendered from the tallow of powerful monsters onto a nearby table.  At his feet, 20 chunks of glass, all pulled from the desert sand after his fight with the greater daemon, sat at the center of a ritual circle.  The glass was covered in runes, the first steps toward the enchantments that Micah sought to imbue into the objects.

Gwen stood jus...

BT IV - Chapter 25

Micah’s spear flashed upward, blowing a hole in the luoca’s torso.  It blinked at him once in surprise before collapsing to the sand beside him.

He rolled to his feet, fighting through the wave of vertigo that washed over him.  Daemons raged across the abandoned village.  Half of the huts were burning and lay half destroyed as the nobles fought furiously amidst the flickering wreckage.  In the center of it all, mist rolled out of a rip in space created atop the s...

BT IV - Chapter 24

“No,” Dakkora replied, barely suppressing an eye roll.  “I am not an evil spirit haunting our crown that is trying to possess your body.”

“I apologize,” she continued, slipping to a seat in one of the couches, “I said that we were smart enough to know what was going on, but apparently I was wrong.  I failed to account for the fact that at times, you’re as clueless as a brick.”

“I was kidding,” Micah responded, running his hands over his body to make...

BT IV - Chapter 23

The madame, a sixty year old woman with gray hair and crafty eyes, ushered the two of them into a sitting room.

Micah frowned, he couldn’t remember having ever been in a better furnished room than he was right now, but at the same time, everything seemed… tawdry?  The couches were overstuffed, the colors were too bright, and most of the artwork had uneven brush strokes here or there.  Somehow, he could just tell that they were reproductions, works made by apprentices as mi...