《Path of Divinity》Chapter 12
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Hunter got to his feet and shook off his irritation. It wasn’t fair. He had followed the Archive’s instructions. He had crossed miles of perilous territory. He was attacked along the way by demonic creatures and seen even more dangerous enemies higher up the mountain. He had no level, no class, and only tainted weapons with which to fight. The entire world felt against him in a way that he hadn’t experienced before.
He had the feeling that he was being tested in some way. He was being pushed in a direction, and the entire thing had the Archivist’s stench. If he hadn’t leaned one way or the other, then this would definitely be a way to get him to choose either the Infernal Horde or the Heavenly Host. Even he could see it literally written on the walls.
The frescos in the Sanctuary depicted a vast battle between good and evil. There weren’t any figures untouched by either in the paintings. This was a binary decision. Demonic taint had given him a quick path to power, while the Sanctuary was designed to encourage more substantial growth in skills. The problem was he needed both if he were to survive this Rift. He needed power now and in the future. Instead of making the decision easier, the Archivist had made it more difficult.
Hunter picked up his gauntlet and slapped it back on his wrist. He stared down at the sword and hesitantly reached down for it. When his palm was within an inch of the hilt, it swung up, and his fist closed around it. That was the beneficial thing about greed weapons. They wanted to be used, and Hunter wasn’t sure he wanted to fight. It was easier to give in to greed so that he didn’t have to think about all of the horrible shit he’d already had to go through. It was clear that the further he gave into greed, the less he would have to worry. Whenever he thought about the monumental quest he had been given, it was an attractive proposition to become a slave to his greed.
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Hunter shook his head. He knew he shouldn’t focus on the big picture. That would only keep him from achieving his plan. It was the same in sports. Sometimes it didn’t help to focus on the game overall. It was better to focus on the quarter or even the next play and allow the training to do the rest. Leave the strategy to the coaches and focus on just getting the job done.
With that in mind, he needed to figure out what his goals were.
First, I need to explore the rest of the Sanctuary. There might be resources here that I can use. After that, I’ll round up all the weapons outside and feed them to my equipment, and then maybe a training montage?
Hunter wished there was a Mr. Miyagi around to help him. He was starting to feel overwhelmed now that he had a measure of safety and had to think for himself about what to do next.
With a sigh, he made his way to the first portal. Instead of rushing into it like he did the last, he decided to be more circumspect. When he neared the precipice, he reached out with his hand to touch the portal. He flinched, expecting a shock, but his fingers slid easily into the portal. The sensation was slightly chilly and a little bit slimy. Seeing that he hadn’t been blocked from entering, he entered the portal entirely.
On the other side of the threshold was a grove of trees within a huge stone chamber. The floor was covered in a lush layer of bronze-colored grass. The walls were crafted from unblemished white stone that stretched into a peaked ceiling. The ceiling of the room stretched far above the trees, and at the very top, there was a large gem that bathed the room in a warm light.
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There were seven trees arranged in a semi-circle around a plain circular fountain. They were beautiful in an ethereal way. The trunks looked like molten silver and the leaves were a glinting gold. They were heavy with similarly colored apples. The smaller fruit was metallic silver, while the larger ones tended to be gold. Just looking at them reminded Hunter that he was starving.
He walked past the fountain and noticed that it was filled with crystal clear water. It reminded him of the time he had visited his grandparent’s home in Florida. They had a vast multi-story home off of the coast. The water there had been so clear that he had been able to snorkel and watch the fish swimming in the coral far below the surface.
Hunter reached a hand into the fountain and cupped a handful of water. He brought it to his mouth, and greedily drank the water. His parched throat felt refreshed as the cool water touched it. When it reached his stomach, it started to feel warm and comforting.
Congratulations! You have drunk from a Spring of Eden. Your mana has been replenished, your regeneration rates have been increased, and you feel an inner peace settle over you.
It was quite simply the best water Hunter had ever tasted. He grabbed more handfuls of water and gulped it down until he was satisfied. His thirst quenched, the teenager glanced around for something to eat. There were about a dozen apples lying on the ground, so he quickly went around and collected them. Once Hunter had them gathered and lined up on the fountain, he grabbed one and took a large bite.
Congratulations! You have eaten an Apple of Eden. Your stamina has been replenished, your hunger has been diminished, and you feel a sense of contentment settle over you.
In addition to the buffs, the taste was divine. The apple wasn’t a typical piece of fruit. It was as juicy as watermelon but tasted like a mix between a strawberry and a cherry. Hunter thought he would need to eat at least a few of the apples to be full, but his hunger had been entirely satisfied when he finished the first piece of fruit.
This has to be a type of heavenly ration. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense for this small grove to feed an entire outpost like this one. This is a place of rest and protection—truly a Sanctuary. I wonder what kind of demon had the ability to raid it and make off with the Sentinel.
He had met his most basic necessities except for one thing. He really hoped this Sanctuary had a bathroom. Now that he wasn’t running for his life, it was like all of his biological imperatives were coming back at once. The grumbling in his stomach didn’t herald pleasant things.
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The Legend of the Fake Hero
*I don't own the cover image**This has the Tragedy Tag; please no genre hate. Bad things can happen to good people, just like in real life (not that they will. I almost didn't put the tag there as it doesn't really fit the genre. I like happy endings.).The year is 201X, and the line between reality and the imaginary has become blurred. Approximately nine months ago, the event which became known as "The Convergence" occurred. People on Earth began to obtain powers. Some received them for seemingly no reason while others had obtained them after they had returned from the many different worlds that they had unwillingly been abducted to. These new worlds existed beyond time and space, and many could have different rules different from what we know as standard reality. That is because these many worlds seem to have traits taken from imagination. Things from stories and myths, like magic and plots, existed in these worlds as if they were inspired by them, and that was only a start.On earth, there was a young man. On appearance, he could be considered only slightly better-than-average. The only thing he was known for was his incredible mind that left him feeling bored and out of touch with reality. But soon he would leave this reality altogether. One moment he was lying in his bed. The next, he was face-to-face with a beautiful young lady who he had just woken up upon him falling into her bed. This young man has an incredible fate and will soon visit many worlds, gain many powers, and meet many women who, like the young girl whose bed he had fallen into, will blow him away.Upload Schedule (Updated 3/28/2021)Upload one chapter every-other-weekend PST (with rare exception, typically due to length).Breaking Fate/Origin Arc (Done) Albion Arc: Vol 1 - Origin, Vol 2 - Rise of the Red Dragon (Done) New Earth Arc: Vol 3 - New Earth (Done) Dealing with the Past Arc: Vol 4 - Ghosts of the Past, Vol 5 - The Dracul Descends, Vol 6 - War of FateBound Fate Arc Fake Hero Arc Vol 7 - Martel Side Stories #1 Shield Hero Arc Vol 8 - Second Chance Vol 9 - The Adventure Begins (Current) Vol 10 - First Quest Vol 11 - TBD (Writing [37%]) (Multiple Future Volumes TBD)Currently ONLY posting on Scribble Hub, Royal Road, and Wattpad (Same user name)If you find my work on other sites please let me know!
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8 68You Only Smol Twice: A Smol Detective Story
This is a fanfic set in the universe of They Are Smol, a delightful series of stories by TinyPrancingHorse which you should totally go and read. It’s the third in my own series about a human investigator in a galaxy full of aliens who are much bigger and stronger than any human. Obviously, there are plenty of spoilers for the previous two stories in here so consider yourself warned. After many successful investigations, Oscar Williams has his loyalty to his adopted alien family sorely tested. What appears to be a simple theft turns out to be anything but, and to capture the perpetrators Oscar might just have to betray his own species… Formal Disclaimer: I do not take credit for the original setting, this story is set in an alternate version of the 'They are Smol' universe, written by the one, the only TinyPrancingHorse TPH takes many forms and is known by many names. He is like Nyarlathotep, only smaller and cuter and more prancey. TPH also has a website should you require more Smol Shenanigans in your life. Which you do, so get over there and read it. The cover art for this is courtesy of Firebane.
8 187Sarsaparilla's Scary Super Power. Completed
Sarsaparilla is an older teenage girl living on Mars. And, like many other young people around her, she has a super power. Or, rather, she is supposed to have a super power. Only she has never been able to activate it, she doesn’t even know what her super power is. This annoys her, tremendously. But she hides this behind a really sweet smile. Adalace is another teenage girl, also on Mars. She knows what her own super power is, and it is quite a good one. She is also really cute… so long has she keeps her feelings under control and doesn’t let out anything from her dark past. Teylon is a man, currently living on Earth. He likes to think of himself as still young, even if he is over fifty. He’s a bit smug about his successful career and is thinking of retiring… until a sadly unfortunate event leads him to the conclusion that he had better immigrate to Mars. Immediately. Apparently, meeting one’s own Angel of Death tends to cause people to make profound changes to their lives… Mars society had better brace itself, because once these three people, plus another three also not so quite stable individuals, collide with each other, the resulting explosion is not going to leave anyone on Mars unaffected. This is another Esmeralda, the Angel of Death, story. It follows on from my previous two such stories, but it is in no way dependent on the previous stories. They can be read in any order. It is fully written and proof read (using Word for Windows, no real editor touched this transcript) and comes to about 247,000 words (about 895 Royal Road pages). It is organized into 50 chapters and I will be publishing them roughly one per day. In my writing, there are multiple characters and multiple points of view. Each change in a point of view is introduced by a header, giving the viewpoint character’s name first, and possibly a title. Inside a Point of View section, dialog in italics represents the Point of View character’s thoughts, while dialog between quotes represent normal spoken dialog. This story is very much inspired by the anime A Certain Scientific Railgun. However I have only taken some elements from the anime, and changed everything I took to make my own story, and so it does not count as fanfiction. Yeah, I know, the book cover page isn’t very good. It’s the best I could do, by tracing over a stock image. The two ladies shown are supposed to be Adalace and Sarsaparilla. Ideally I would have liked there to be two images of this pair, one where they are smiling sweetly and looking cute, and one where they are looking really angry and dangerous. But that totally exceeds my graphics abilities. You will just have to imagine it.
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Jace Norman and Ella Edwards,23 had been dating for 9 years but little did they know that the story was only just beginning Copyright ©salutingjerrie 2016
8.18 196YOUTH ⇢ BENNY WEIR
❝ MY YOUTH IS YOURS ❞[based on the movie of my babysitter's a vampire][ranked 3rd in 'benny weir']
8 140