《Wavebound》Arc 2 Opening: Beast Of the Earth
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"Nope, you're done. Get out. You're fired."
It was a new experience to get physically butted around by a water spirit. Ruyo felt Nusina pushing her back toward the entrance of the sacred cave, though there was hardly any force to the shoving. Ruyo said, "I thought you didn't like talking about fire."
"It's a negative word. I can't believe you! You're the new God of Water and you can't swim?"
"I was meaning to ask for lessons! There's just been so much to do."
Ruyo was officially a deity now, but had barely had time to learn the trade. She was dressed in a brown linen tunic that'd been dirtied, bloodied and burned in the last few days. Her long brown hair was tied back with a bit of green ribbon left over from her last trading run. She said, "I'm still more of a merchant than an avatar of all things wet."
A plain woman named Cydi stood on the cracked mosaic floor of the cave, too. She could only see Nusina because the spirit was spending power to be visible at the moment. Cydi shook her head gravely and said, "A flaw like this might echo throughout the ages, miss goddess."
Ruyo took advantage of Nusina's material state to snag the watery guardian like a ball between her hands. "Well, droplet, whose job was it to teach me the basics?"
Nusina's glittering pearl-like eyes flicked through her body to face the other direction, avoiding Ruyo's gaze, to focus on Cydi instead. "I'm sorry, Cydi. The glorious Ruyo needs to dismiss you from her radiant presence so she can learn beginner skills."
Ruyo said, "It sounds like duty calls. If you'll excuse us?"
Cydi smiled and bowed. "I should head home anyway. Please keep her from drowning, Nusina."
When she was gone, Nusina started tugging Ruyo toward the cave's hidden back door. Ruyo said, "All right, all right. Save your energy, though."
Nusina dutifully vanished from the material world, remaining as a translucent watery orb few people but Ruyo could see. "Downstairs with you! Ahem. Milady."
Ruyo snorted. "Seriously, how can I practice? It would take me a long time to fill the shaft down there, and I don't know how to destroy water or where to put it afterwards if I flood the place."
The spirit paused. "You did bring rope. Between that, the ice-platforms trick, and the Glittering Foebound Quills" -- the newly made ice elementals guarding the cave -- "we can get you down safely to the bottom."
Last time, Ruyo had descended using a series of improvised ice ledges, and it had been terrifying. "I don't want to fool around with a method that unreliable, again, and the Quills don't seem to do much but lurk and attack. Also, Quintus the mason-mage wants to see the crystal down there and can you picture him riding ice monsters and slippery platforms?"
Nusina gave a bubbling giggle. "I can, but it'd only work if he were too distracted to notice gravity tugging him down. All right; fine. We can save the lesson until you have the power and control to use this shaft safely."
"How about going to the baths in Averell?"
"We've been asked to avoid the city for a bit, remember?" The authorities were grateful for having that kidnapping resolved, but it had pointed them toward bigger problems.
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Ruyo nodded. "There's a pond at Sor's Hill. Let's go there tomorrow. Besides, I have a horse to return and I want to ask about that wandering beast." There was a wagon near Ruyo's cave, showing signs of having been attacked by a supernatural creature.
Nusina said, "A good idea. And today, the door?"
Ruyo looked at the iron fittings and lock she'd bought, and then at the cave tunnel she'd have to install a door in. "That's going to be the limit of my divine power for today."
Nusina's glittering eyes darted around her. "Hey, did you notice? It's not dusty in here anymore."
The air now was stale and chilly, but clean. "I'll wash the floor too. It'll be practice."
First she used her power of Flotsam to make things. She conjured up wooden planks, making glittering raw mana appear between her hands and then fashioning it into real objects. She lacked the control to make more than the simplest shapes of some common materials, though. With basic boards and a few tools, she set about trying to make a door. Fortunately, she'd gotten the wizard Quintus to use an enchanted chisel during his visit. He had tapped a few holes into the stone walls where Ruyo would need them. Ruyo was proud of herself as she managed to build a crude but useful front door to keep intruders out. The project took much of the day, though.
It was good to build something, to shape the world in a way she understood. The door swung tolerably well on its hinges, and resisted one woman's shoving when locked. She nodded in satisfaction. "I'll feel a little safer sleeping here alone tonight."
"You have me, too."
Ruyo appraised Nusina. "Do you work as a pillow?" She tugged at the spirit's edges and mimed fluffing her.
"Regretfully, milady, I don't have the energy to stay material all night."
Ruyo slept on her uncomfortable nest of blankets, with Nusina intangible but cuddled against her chest anyway.
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She woke up sore and groggy. "Need a proper bed," she muttered. She had only a rough pile of sticks and leaves and scraps of cloth, with blankets from her merchant supplies.
"Some swimming will help! Can we show off for the villagers? I don't mean your swimming skill, obviously. But you should start winning them over."
The thought of convincing people to pray to her still unnerved Ruyo. She didn't deserve praise, not yet. On the wall of this ancient ruin hung a fragment of a beautiful aquatic mosaic, made by someone's patient and holy effort. To pray before it was to send spiritual energy to Ruyo, not to the dead goddess it was made for. It felt like cheating to have this fine artwork.
Yet until she grew stronger, she might die if anyone wrecked it. She was an art collector by necessity.
Ruyo said, "It's not safe to start bringing villagers here to kneel and pray. Even if they were willing to do that in return for a few bits of free metal and cloth like what I can make."
Nusina bobbed in agreement. "Not yet. But you can take another step toward establishing mythos. The more that people have some idea of your identity and symbolism, the closer you'll be to having widespread power."
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Mythos, Nusina had explained, was partly who she was and partly what people thought of her. Her every action might shape the sort of powers she'd gain and the best form for divine relics, shrines and prayers.
Ruyo went outside to check on her borrowed horse. The mare looked pleased, having found some tasty flowers within reach of her rope. Ruyo patted her and told Nusina, "I shouldn't be keeping a horse out here while a dangerous beast is around."
The spirit left the cave's defense to the mindless elementals and iron lock, and hovered along with Ruyo as she rode. The ride east to Sor's Hill was pleasant, filled with chat about magic theory.
"It seems quiet on this road," Nusina said, as they passed an especially tall oak.
Ruyo said, "One of the westward routes has been blocked by ice all winter. The sun and the mages will have it clear about now, though. See these ruts? They're from the heavier wagons."
At Sor's Hill, the mood was subdued. Ruyo found Henrik the injured hunter and returned his horse. "She's saved me some time. How are you doing?"
Henrik was walking with a cane and with a splint on his leg. "Still trying to stay off it, which makes me pretty useless. The missus isn't happy."
They stood outside his tiny cabin, hearing clanking noises from inside. "We're fixing up my traps," Henrik explained.
"I can get you some food if you like."
"That'd be helpful, ma'am."
"A chance to show off!" Nusina commented.
They went inside to a home smelling of wood, leather and fur. A lantern hung from a set of antlers on the wall. The hunter's wife was tinkering with springs and metal jaws, nodding briefly to Ruyo.
Ruyo went to the table and said, "Watch." She waved her hands, hummed, and created a biscuit that dropped onto a plate.
Henrik said, "How'd you do that?"
With a bit more effort she made another one. "I'm learning spells. This one isn't usually possible, I'm told."
Now the wife was really paying attention. "Can you do meat as well?"
"So far, no. Later...?" She looked to Nusina.
The spirit said, "Probably not unless you work on the versatility. Maybe fish."
"Not soon," Ruyo said.
"We're not in competition then; good."
Henrik said, "Thank you, however you did that. We don't have much and I'd rather not lean on my neighbors."
Ruyo pushed herself to keep going, but felt worn out after making four of the small loaves. She leaned against the table, strained in a sort of muscle that didn't physically exist. "Best I can do today."
"What brings you here again so soon, miss Ruyo?"
Ruyo said, "I want to learn to swim. Also, there's a more serious problem: somebody's been attacked." She started talking about the wagon she'd found, in a pit that seemed to have opened suddenly beneath it.
Henrik's wife interrupted. "Oh, that! I knew that poor man. He was hoping to start a new home in the west."
"Would've been a very small start; there wasn't much in the wagon but fodder and fruit-tree saplings."
"He was making several trips. Had one too many disagreements with his neighbors, and the hunt incident was the last straw."
"What did happen in that hunt, exactly?" She'd heard that the villagers were after a dangerous beast recently, but they'd been tight-lipped about it.
Henrik muttered, then said, "You wouldn't believe me."
"Try me. I've seen strange things lately."
The hunter slicked back his hair. "Where to begin. For years there's been trouble with a certain family. Not Naveen's. They're a little clan of herb-pickers and potion-brewers. They're useful but have never been fully trusted. You may've done business with them."
Ruyo nodded, having bought some medical ingredients for sale east. She vaguely recalled a stooped-over figure in a dim hut smelling of cut grass.
"Well, we had a monk over here from Brotherhood, and between him and Naveen's hunting party we tracked signs of the beast that'd been killing livestock. The funny thing was, there were pits and tunnels involved. Something digging under our fences, collapsing the ground. So we should've guessed what was coming, when we tracked it down to the alchemist's favorite grove." Henrik spoke quietly and tapped his injured leg. "By we, I mean the hunting party. I didn't see this myself. But I'm told that the ground opened up and swallowed the group, and that a monster used the confusion to tear at them. Skin like a boar, claws like a mole."
"And they killed it?"
Henrik gulped. "A man and a boy died slaying it. And then they saw the beast was a man, too, one of the alchemists. Whose own sister had been in the hunting party and gotten slashed up by his claws. So that's why things are quiet here, now. We've got one of our own who turned out to be a monster. His sister's half-dead, and her brother's finalized his plans to move out of town. And now it sounds like the brother's dead too."
His wife said, "But if he got attacked afterward, there's more than one of the beasts!" She held one hand edge-forward over her heart, and Henrik imitated the gesture.
Ruyo made the same sign of the Steadfast Church, though she now felt guilty about it. She turned to Nusina for advice. The spirit said, "Ask about the body. And can we help the wounded?"
Ruyo asked. Henrik said, "The monster, you mean? Ugly thing. I saw what was left of him. We'd never noticed the claws and all before, so I guess he changed, somehow. Must have been hiding what he really was. And maybe the whole family is monsters too. There's some worry that everyone who even got scratched or bitten in that brawl might be cursed the same way."
Ruyo went pale. "Thank you, Henrik. It sounds like I ought to get involved. Maybe I can see to the wounded sister at least."
"But you're an outsider. A merchant."
"I'm more than that, these days, but we can talk about that later. Good luck, Henrik."
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Flight of The Draykes
You can join my discord community where we meme and derp around here: DISCORD LINK Welcome to the Flight of the Draykes. This novel is a System-based sword and magic Western Fantasy with elements of gamelit (Dungeons) and eastern cultivation (The system). Genre: Fantasy, Historical, Action, Adventure, and a sprinkle of Romance with Comedy. Pacing: Slow at first till chapter 30 before becoming a rollercoaster. Known Issues: Ages of the Protagonist and allies at the start. NOTE: THE AGES IN THIS NOVEL ARE NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF THEIR ACTUAL MATURITY. THEY ARE PROTEANS FIRST. AND HUMANS SECOND. Also, if you're looking for smut, this novel isn't for you. Not in the slightest. On a fewer caps note: The age maturity thing is integral to the plot and it will be explained rationally as the books go along. You are free to guess why that is. Synopsis: Book 1 presents to you the world of Protos. Protos is the land of the blessed. Its inhabitants are of many races, but most of them have diminished in the long wars against the beasts that also inhabit Protos. This has led to humanity becoming the dominant species and eventually, all other races, including the beasts, have been banished to pockets of land where they survive on meager existences. However, Protos was destined not to be peaceful as the inhabitants could only fight off the beasts with the help of warforce. A bloodline system that allows them to activate their war potential and battle fiercely. Now, with the beasts defeated and the other races diminished, humanity - having no common foe to fight turned upon itself, for war was in their blood and they again shed their blood in rivers. As the years passed, kingdoms and empires rose and fell and eventually stabilized into an uneasy peace until - 300 years ago, the world went through yet another change. A change where the wielders of warforce now possessed additional powers that had been lost for millennia. These powers changed the face of war again and conflict, which was dying down, reignited madly. In this world was born Faustus Drayke, Scion of House Drayke - which, in turn, was the frontier protector of The Kingdom of Leon. Fate decreed him to be unimportant. His Destiny and the desperate prophecy of a powerless girl decreed that he will be an immortal. Set in the backdrop of betrayal, honor, and loyalty - Follow the tale of Faustus Drayke as he forges his destiny and becomes an immortal. For himself, he has to fulfill the prophecy. For the world, he better fulfill the prophecy. ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` The inspiration for this book came from Smoke is a Path's TotRL - which has unfortunately been discontinued. I have no interest in finishing others' stories, but I love creating my own. So I took inspiration from TotRL and I created this vast original overreaching world of over 30 books, with each book being around 100 chapters. Expect the full story to be close to 3000 chapters. Release Schedule: 3 chapters a day. 11:30 am - Eastern Standard Time - 1st Chapter 01:00 pm - Eastern Standard Time - 2nd Chapter 02:30 pm - Eastern Standard Time - 3rd Chapter All timings are subject to + or - 30 minutes. If you like this series, please do support me by leaving reviews that help me improve my writing, comments that inspire me to keep writing harder, and ratings that allow this series to be seen by more people. Thank you very much and cheers all! Horizon out. Current Arc: Arc 4 Current Volume: Volume 2 You can join my discord community where we meme and derp around here: DISCORD LINK
8 173Legendary Poise Fighter
Her breath linked her heart's rhythm, and some blood petals that spewed from her vanquished foes turned her rosy cheeks rose. Just as her heart was beginning to soothe due to the brief respite with in sea of blood and torn armor. A man in red and black heavy steel stood in front of her, taunting her with a massive halberd that seemed to half the heaven's from her abyss like pearl eyes. With her remaining mana and stamina, she positions her blade at the front of her chest, twisting it to the side and gazing at the dark warrior. She chanted her skill. "...point grace..." Author Note: Um hello, I'll say it now its very rough this is basically like the alpha version and i'll update it after the release of vol.1 even if its the only vol. this story will ever receive
8 159Universe Traveler
A child with his ancient bloodline awoken gets killed in a plot, he then reincarnates into a different universe with a piece of his previous universe spirit sticking with his soul.
8 206The Origins Of The Races [Español!]
Primero quiero decir que como veras esta historia esta en español ya que mi ingles es muy malo para hacer una novela. Segundo puse todas las advertencias para más libertad de expresión. En un mundo tan grande, los orígenes de las cosas pueden ser muy interesantes desde la casualidad, por Dios o por simples mortales. Al haber muchas razas cada uno tiene sus Orígenes ya sea el más débil o el más fuerte cada uno tiene su razón de estar hasta el que dicen que si se extingue mañana no pasaría nada. porque las razas no son solo un grupo de seres ellos representan una emoción o más y aunque otros pueden sentirlos no viven por ello. Vamos a ver desde el punto de vista de muchos personajes históricos de este cosmos como se origino muchas razas, hechos de culturas, tecnología, frases, facciones y demás. ¿Te atreves a leer estos mitos? Soportaras el intento inútil de Finnegan, verás como Stacy tiene una mala infancia, verás como Yare hace todo lo posible por amor aunque el sea un Yandere. Si te atreves a leerlo porque esto es solo el comienzo. Quiero decir que si quieres saber bien de qué se trata la historia con leer el prologo no basta ya que solo lo hice para dar un trasfondo a la historia y no se puede tomar muy en cuenta de cómo es la historia, si quieres saber bien cómo es lee el primer capítulo y el primer pensamiento del autor que está después del primer capítulo. La portada tiene de base una foto de Fotos de Stock por Vecteezy y editada por mi. Horario: lunes,miércoles,viernes y domingo por ahora la hora especifica está en cambios.
8 120The Sleeper's Serenade
An age ago, the last of the gods ascended. Centuries have come and gone without them hearing their true names. A poor fisherman and a worse drunk, Harpis Akkeri, is stumbling and struggling to find his place amidst the bitterly divided city-states of his home. Unknown to most, there is a secretive organization keeping order through manipulation and murder, but are they the puppet or the puppet master? Not all who work in the shadows are willing to suffer them, and the greater good for all does not always suit those who execute it. Facing death, in a moment with nothing to live for, Harpis finally begins to fight. If he can find his voice, the gods may yet have ears that listen.
8 102Let's Form a Party to Kill God
A boy has been given a reason to kill god. He awakens to his power and enters a school to train it, where he meets a genius girl who says incomprehensible things. How will he gather enough power and allies to wreak his vengeance upon the strongest being?
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