Demonic Devourer's Development Chapter 9
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Water met me like a cold, hard blanket, soaking me through but not letting me get inside so easily. I had to push with my legs to dive in. Then the water smothered all smells, lights, and sounds.
I could barely see a meter away in its murky depths, and I only had so long until I will have to get up for more water, and I was sure that mice could swim. My only escape would be to hide at the deepest depths of the lake and hope that the mouse couldn't hold her breath for long enough. Or that it won't find me underwater.
Wasting no time, I wiggled my legs and my forewings to swim downward, towards the bottom of the lake. It wasn't too far down as I was only at its shallows.
I had to find something to eat. I had to evolve a water-breathing skill before I ran out of air, and before some fish made me their food.
Luck smiled down on me as I spied a small school of tiny fishes—just fries, barely longer than my body—nearby. Rowing with my thin legs wasn't easy, but I could move with my forewings well enough. It let water soak through my wings, but thankfully, they were water-repellent. I will only have to shake them and they will be good to fly again.
And if I won't swim now, I won't fly anywhere.
I felt my insides slowly beginning to burn. With my tiny body I didn't need a lot of oxygen to go by, but I didn't have lungs to store any air at all. I pushed on, hurrying to catch these fries.
They scurried to the sides at my approach, but I lunged forward, grasping one with my jaws and gluing it to my forelimbs with spider silk. I didn't even waste time on killing it, instead just biting down while it still trashed in my grip.
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I chewed, for once, without feeling the taste. The cold fish meat disappeared in my stomach in a blink.
[Creature devoured. Gained 1 EXP. Gained new evolution options.]
Without a pause, I opened my evolution screen and scrolled through the list of my evolution options. Sure, the fish was just a fry, but it should have had the ability I needed… If it was something the System deemed an ability at all. If not, then I was screwed. I didn't have EXP or time to evolve into a fish.
[Underwater Swimming (1 EXP)]
Thank System! I immediately picked up the ability, and just in time, as I saw the red glow approaching the water's surface. Without waiting for the evolution to set in, I rowed away from the shore and deeper into the lake.
The pain hit me just a second later, starting at my abdomen and spreading to my limbs. I faltered for a moment, but then continued to swim until the ache slowly dissolved.
After that, I took a deep breath. Something changed in my spiracles, the tiny holes through which I breathed. Now they took to water as well as to the air. My growing lack of oxygen disappeared like it was never there.
My limbs changed, too. I took a glance at my forelegs to see flat outgrowths between my claws, almost membrane-like. Similar ones must've been on my other legs, as I found it much easier for me to row.
In a much more relaxed manner, I swam deeper into the lake. My approach drew several curious fishes to me, but I kept to the bottom and threw sand at them with my legs whenever they swam too close.
I had one obsessed animal chasing after me, and that was enough, thank you very much.
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And chasing after me, it was. All the sounds were a mess, my antennas could only feel water, but I saw the red glow of the mouse following me into the water. Immediately, I swam faster, despite my exhaustion.
Still, this wasn't air, and the mouse was a much better swimmer. It had sharp senses, too. I hoped it won't be able to see me in the water, but it only had a brief pause before beginning to move in my direction.
I, of course, moved away. The distance between us began to shorten, and I prepared to defend myself with all I had when it will reach me. But then it stopped and turned back towards the surface. It was out of air.
With a mental sigh of relief, I hurried to get even deeper, the red glow never too far away from me. The mouse dived again and again, and each time it drew closer and closer to me. Soon, the lake stopped growing deeper even when I swam farther in, and yet the mouse kept descending deeper with each try.
Now, though, I noticed the sound of rain tapping on the water diminishing, and I knew that the sudden rain was almost over. I only had to wait a little before I will be able to fly away again, but…
Before that happened, the mouse reached me at last. It slashed at me with its claws, and in this movement, inadvertently saved my life from itself.
The movement of the water caused by the mouse's paw threw me away from it. I didn't let this chance drop, swimming away and up with all my might.
I emerged from the water with a glorious feeling of sounds, colours and smells returning to me, only to find myself stuck to the water surface. It took a second of effort to pull myself out of it, and then, finally, flew straight upwards.
There were no trees on the lake for the mouse to launch itself off. Would I be able to wait it out here, in the air?
A sharp cry of a bird over my head told me it might be a bad idea.
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8 174NOVA INTERIT.US
It's 2063, and the town along with much of the nation are in disarray. The decay started years before the Great Event. Our town still had hope thanks to the five families, who'd created a blockchain based water distribution system for the locals, a valuable secret hidden from the Global Water Commission and their network of mercenaries. Earlier in the mid-2040's, right after the state secessions of Idaho, Montana, and Texas, the Global Council of Water Commissioners made their deals and moved into towns throughout the country. They called it "the integration." The Commission and their contractors integrated with municipal water departments, using their organized network to invade like parasites on local services. It all coincided with the 29th Amendment to the United States Constitution, later referred to as the Regional Trident Plan. Nova is a story about survival, power structures, the turning of relationships, and the networking between people and the systems to which they belong. It’s about A.I. blockchain possibility, and its potential for human betterment versus our detriment. It’s about the question of whether or not we need to be saved from ourselves, and by who or what? The Great Event at the end of the first chapter might just be what actually saves us. The epilogue will take place in 2517. This scene is fully sketched and the full arc of the novel is set. I expect to finish Nova Interitus by summer of 2023. This is realist hard-sci-fi dystopian fiction. I hope you find Nova to be a challenging and consuming story. This is not something I planned to write. It all came to me in a dream and I haven't been able to stop writing it. This Royal Road posting is basically a beta test with chapters and drafts to get some feedback and see if there's any readership for this narrative. For the full experience read Nova on Substack. I will be narrating a podcast version later this year there. https://novainteritus.substack.com/
8 143Papercuts to Fell Immortals
Qing Shen is a girl from the counrtyside, forced into a role she never wanted by a Young Master who's infamy is spread throughout the land. As a Cultivator in the path to immortality, Qing Shen has to deal with her own problems as well as the mysteries surrounding her Young Master. Things, however, are not as they seem, and the young girl finds that sometimes the truth is more unbelievable than the lies we often follow. . . . If you want a less hidden-meaning summary: This story is about the struggles of one girl as she tries to become an Immortal. There won't be any meaningful romance, but there will be a plot that spans most of the story, and violence. Oh the violence! I'm not going to say that my ideas are 100% original (because hoo boy are there a lot of Wuxia), but hopefully I can write something entertaining. Guaranteed things: 1. Cliche events with a twist (I mean, it's literally in the description) 2. Important Characters will have backstories and motivations that will hopefully make them not one-dimensional (honestly, that's just normal stuff...) 3. Untrustworthy characters (everyone in the story lies, even me, so don't trust everything you read... but at the same time, trust everything you read) 4. Goodish grammar (not gonna say mine's the best, but it's readable in most cases) 5. Plot! (Everywhere!) 6. worldbuilding? (Should be there somewhere, but I probably won't do blatant info dumps... probably) 7. Character development? (Its there... at some point...) 8. The story gets dark at some points (if you don't like characters dying, then this might not be your cup of tea) 9. A strong main character? (She'll be strong, yes. However, her enemies are also strong. If everyone is strong, then is she no longer strong? My brain hurts) 10. Wow, this list is going on for awhile... uh, Believable and reasonable Action? (I mean, I'm writing for mainly my fun, so if I want a fight scene, then I might craft a scenario to explain it... or I might suddenly throw in a Dragon and call it a day) This story also goes by the same name over on Webnovel.com, but I'm going to be updating it here because, well I want to. They are both by me, and created by me. If there's anything that seems like a copy of another work, then that's just the genre being saturated by everything under the sun.
8 153The Animo Saga
Before history was well-recorded in the world of Ulakam, primordial animal spirits adopted humans, provided protection and developed deep spiritual connections with them. Millennia later, humans now host animal spirits and are split into tribes named for the species they host. Ulakam is slowly being consumed by a decades-long war pitting the main tribes against the smaller tribes and a group of bandits calling themselves "the resistance". Callida Animo was born into this world. Coming from a mixed family of generational soldiers, Callida joined the family business at a young age. In her words, she was practically bred, born, and raised to be a soldier. And she's good at what she does... which inevitably attracts attention that makes her unambitious self extremely uncomfortable. Love, loss, influence and growth. This is her story. Written episodically, this story focuses on relationships and character growth through a series of mini-arcs that connect to make a greater whole. (Honestly, the story would lend itself well to a TV series.) "Episodes" range from 3-7 chapters (at least so far), and average about 4 or 5 chapters. Author's note: I'm always thrilled to receive comments, follows, ratings/reviews, messages.... All forms of feedback are welcome and encouraged. However, I have no interest in begging readers for more engagement to get better visibility. I tried that with my last story and found the game soul-sucking. So! This constitutes my only self-promotion request. If you are reading this story, let me know what you think! I love engaging with my readers. We'll see if growing the readership organically is even possible. Thank you! 😘 Release schedule: Weekly on Wednesday afternoons
8 93Righteous Sovereign, Shameless Rogue (hiatus/rewrite)
"…Just, Fair, Kind, the Righteous Sovereign reigns supreme above the Myriad Heavens. Countless creatures sing of his unrivaled attainments, looking upon his divine might with eternal reverence, offering innumerable praises for his perpetual conquest...beloved, what do you think of this Sovereign's ‘correction’ of the 'Hallowed Fate Records'?" the Sovereign spoke as he peered over his shoulder at the peerless beauty behind him. "Just? Fair? Kind? You?! Screw off! You're just a shameless rogue! To dare speak these words so unblushingly, is the thing stuck to your skull a person’s skin or a donkey’s ass?!" Lin Xianyi is in some sense of the word, an idiot. After a lifetime of *Spoiler, read to find out 😜*, his soul is somehow drawn into the body of a child inside of a mysterious cocoon. Waking up as the cocoon shatters, he slowly comes to the realization that he has arrived in a whole new world, the world of cultivation! A world where the strong ruled over the weak, reason be damned! A world all ripe for him to conquer! Or is it...? Follow the ups and downs of Lin Xianyi as he daydreams about his heaven-defying might, his eternal kingdom, and the innumerable fairies in his embrace. All the while everyone else around him schemes to seize everything from him...or not? Maybe some of them genuinely care about this idiot? Who knows? Well, you could! Find out as you follow the tale of the illustrious Righteous Sovereign, an incomparably Shameless Rogue! The cover art was provided to me, free of charge (I did a quick review for her novel), by Ariana Vivoni, it was really a pleasure working with her, 10/10 overall, would do it again. Her novel's also really fun if historical romances are your thing Here's a link to her novel - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/33058/the-beast-and-the-swallow
8 104SUN AND MOON | ziggy berman
❝for once in your life.. can you just not be so.. so mean?❞ y/n asked ziggy.❝for once in your life could you just stop pretending?❞ziggy threw the shirt at y/n aggressively. ❝you're shadyside. incase you forgot.❞in which two opposites attractedziggy berman x fem! reader
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