Palus Somni Mystery Tragedy Supernatural Slice of Life Psychological Horror
It is the final days after the end of the world and you only have one month left before the last sanctuary erupts into chaos. There's a dead body hanging from a tree and cadaverous giants watch you sleep at night. The end is already here, you just don't know it yet.
Now rated in the top 3% of all novels on Royal Road!
Palus Somni (‘Marsh of Sleep’) is a worldbuilding webnovel about what happens when your God forsakes you.
Inspired by gothic horror and mingled with British myth and folklore, join the Alucinari nuns as they struggle with day-to-day life after the world has ended.
Every night when the sun sets the monstrous Gol, colossal beings with too many teeth, awaken and roam the marshlands. Only those with a faithful heart will be spared. Young acolyte Wille has never seen the walls fail, but when a fellow nun is murdered within their sanctum the very safety of the monastery is thrown into question. Did the Gol find a way to breach their defences, or is there a human traitor amongst them? The answer lies both far in the past and deep beneath the earth, through the maze of ancient catacombs.
With a cast of over thirty different characters, watch as your friends and enemies spiral into inevitable madness at the hands of a callous and unforgiving world. Discover the secrets of Palus Somni through letters, diary entries and notes found scattered across the monastery. Uncover the mystery of the grotesque giants that stalk the night and bring your challenge to the Gods themselves.
Each character has their own handmade pixel art, and every update includes a music recommendation for a dark atmospheric dungeon synth album that you can listen to while you read.
Slice of life meets cosmic abomination: Palus Somni is a collection of intertwining stories, some chapters are stand-alone tales while others feed into the overarching narrative. It is an exploration into a community, and rather than focusing on any one character the story meanders through the convent, exposing the hopes and fears of its inhabitants.
Story updates every full moon.
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Chapter Selections
1. Canto I - A Visitor in the Night
2. Canto II - The Tatter Tree
3. Canto III - Death Comes
4. Canto IV - Letters by Lamplight
5. Canto V - Into the Larder
6. Interlude - Inka's Tale
7. Canto VI - The Rookery
8. Canto VII - A Kiss for Claudia
9. Canto VIII - Echoes in the Dark
10. Canto IX - No More Silence
11. Canto X - Funerals and Fading Fears
12. Canto XI - The Willow-Woven Basket
13. Canto XII - The Quiet Space Between
14. Canto XIII - The Margins
15. Canto XIV - Primordial Pilgrims
16. Canto XV - The Dream Eater
17. Canto XVI - Hide and Seek
18. Canto XVII - Saint Francesca of the Inquisition
19. Canto XVIII - Here Comes the Arm
20. Canto XIX - The Road
21. Canto XX - Chrysalis
22. Canto XXI - The Lord of Everything Under
23. Canto XXII – Conventional Habits
24. Canto XXIII - Fall From Grace
25. Canto XXIV – This Too Will Burn
26. Canto XXV - The Wille and the Wisp
27. Epilogue
The Core: The First Guest (Book 1 of 3)
Book two starts here: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/46417/the-core-the-hive-daughter-book-2-of-3 --- Kevin was just a normal 10 year old kid until he saw a woman vanish right before his eyes. This made Kevin just a little bit different. He paid more attention to people now. Little did he know that this little difference would kill him the next time he encountered another alien about to return home. It would tear him apart, cell by cell, until he was unmade. His mind being transported away. So distantly far away there is a race that advanced to the point where they built dyson spheres to house their civilizations. In their continual expansion, they seeded galaxies with pods and connection satellites. Over time they upgraded their dyson spheres into matryoshka brain Cores. Imagine a computer powered by a star. Citizens of Cores no longer age once they upload their minds into the virtual living system of the Core. While they didn’t age, most still choose to cycle through life and death though at a different scale of time compared to our lives. Citizens can visit other planets and live there as if they were on a "vacation". Mercury is Earth’s hub connected to the closest Core and Earth is a remote vacation spot for wealthy citizens. When the main character was 10 he witnessed a citizen returning to the Core. The story continues 10 odd years later when he again witnesses a similar situation unfolding and manages to touch the person returning to the Core. This causes him to be swept up in the transfer as well and for his mind to join as a "Guest" user of the Core. As a Guest he has limited powers, a starting balance of zero cr or Citizen credits, and no idea how he can get home. He is the first human to ever become a Guest of a Core. Where money itself is the highest form of their science. --- Progress update: Progress update: COMPLETE Stories:✦The Core: The First Guest (The Core: Book 1 of 3) ✦The Core: The Hive Daughter (The Core: Book 2 of 3) The Core: The Hive Daughter (Book 2 of 3) | Royal Road Stories in PROGRESS:✦The Core: The Dark Enemy (The Core: Book 3 of 3)PROJECTED Stories and Series: ★The Radiative Zone Series: The Girl with Powers (3 book series) ✶The Convective Zone Series: Into the Game (3 book series) This series is a work in progress. Major editing will be done after each book is complete, so there will be typos and parts that need further explanation. Please, please feel free to point out any of these things. I will attempt to keep readers apprised of all changes and big updates.
8 286{The Dragon Within}; Daughter of Storm
Brought to you by the Author of; Our Chaoz; Our Reality And a continuation of; The Dragon Within I present you Erika, daughter of the golden storm Dragon Erikathyr and chosen Legend Theaviss. On her 16th birthday, she was caught in the mischevious plots of creatures beyond. Erika now finds herself lost in an unknown and relentless world. Striving to survive, follow Erika through her adventure back home, and all that she faces in between. Spoiler: Spoiler It was a stormy day that afternoon, wind roaring over the great capital’s rooftops as rain barraged the streets just as well. Not a soul was visible, not a light shimmering in any of the windows.
8 55Encapsulation - FIRST DRAFT
This is the first draft of the story. The edited and expanded final version is available free for KU subscribers and for sale on Kindle. Planet Dirt: Remnant of an exile world, ground down by governmental and megacorp warring.The Accident a generation ago erased what its inhabitants had not already forgotten.Their brightest scientists vanished without a trace, leaving only the icy Wasteland.Carrick, a gangster, chooses Wasteland exile rather than betray the Family. Intelligent and loyal, he determines to bend the frontier’s prisoners to his will.After all, when people won’t choose what’s best for themselves, they must be forced to choose.But the Wasteland conceals impossible scientific phenomena that force Carrick to realize how little he understands.And when an officer of humanity’s ancient, starfaring empire crashes into the Wasteland’s heart, he reveals Planet Dirt’s coldest secret.The Accident was only the beginning of a bitter end.
8 195SteelStar
After years of waiting, Andy Gatlin is ready to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a superhero. His first day goes great at first, but then tragedy strikes when a veteran superhero, Spectramancer, loses control of his powers and goes on a rage fueled rampage. Not knowing what caused this well respected hero to go berserk, Andy tries everything he can to stop the other hero without hurting him. However, Spectramancer’s rage brings him close to Andy’s home, and Andy is forced to use his most powerful attack lest Spectramancer cause untold death and destruction. This move ultimately results in the veteran hero’s death. Andy is heartbroken by what he had to do, but his troubles aren’t over. A hostile news media and an easily riled up public label this new superhero as a murderer before learning the whole story. Meanwhile, Andy learns that Spectramancer was investigating a tragic event. A few days ago, Redwell City was destroyed in a mysterious explosion, and one of the suspects deliberately triggered Spectramancer’s rage to throw the veteran superhero off his scent. Armed with his knowledge, Any vows to get to the bottom of what happened, learn why Spectramancer’s rage was set off, and bring whoever destroyed Redwell City to justice. Andy will face supervillains, shadowy government agents, corporate spies, and angry news reporters in his quest to learn the truth and hopefully clear his name in the process. This is the story of a new superhero. A hero called SteelStar.
8 141Living Armor
A young man who wasted most of his life as a office worker for someone who didn't care is given a chance to experience a new life in a different way by being reincarnated after death, but as Living armor that continuously evolves. Follow this reborn Knight as he copes and adapts to the challenges he will face. Will he learn to trust again, or will he walk this road alone? (this is my first novel so there will be mistakes but I will learn as I go)(warning: there will be sex scenes written out and some fighting scenes may be intense) (Also currently publishing on web novel, though my intentions will be that Royal Road will be my long-term platform.)
8 51Sky: Children of the light x Reader Oneshots/Scenarios
!if you're here to complain, please dont read the book!*This is a FanFiction AU don't bring the real cannon**some of the AU's are my own Opinions so please respect it*read the #INFORMATION# page first, before reading the story's. -ta76-
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