《Wavebound》Unwanted Attention
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The mutated man stood in the weaver's doorway. His voice was harsh and low, and the arms that the villagers held onto ended in claw-like hands. He'd become somewhat more human-looking than when he'd been possessed and fought, but would still be called a monster anywhere he went. Something like a mole or boar. He said, "Thank you, miss Ruyo. I remember what you did, now. I've come to apologize for my actions."
"You weren't in control of yourself, were you? You, men, why are you still holding him?"
Sheepishly they let go, though they still looked ready to jump him.
"Not once the gnome took me. That was its name, or its kind. What I'm sorry for is that I didn't fight it hard enough. My family, we've had a way with spirits -- subtle ones, nothing like this. This one knew enough to threaten my relatives, if I didn't let it in."
"Relatives, plural?" said one of the men.
The mole-man paled and said, "Forget it." To Ruyo he said, "Can you forgive me?"
"I do. Is there any way I can help?"
His deep-set eyes glittered. "You can let me tend the shrine here. It's a reason for me to stay, since these people don't want me here but I've got no place to go."
Ruyo said to the men, "Would you throw him out of town, for sacrificing his body to protect his sister from being possessed?"
They just muttered and looked aside.
The transformed one said, "I can't stay with her, and be a constant reminder of what happened. And I want to find some meaning in this disaster. Let me do that by working for you."
Ruyo looked down. What meaning could she offer anyone? She did magic and tangible things, not principals and morals. She said, "I... I can't pay you much, yet. And there's a ritual involved and... prayer."
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"I can help with the garden at Moira's place for now, and start one of my own. Stumpy the Mage offered to help clear a little land for me out by the pond; maybe I can dig." He showed off his hands. "As for the other things, I can think of worse fates."
The mole's self-appointed guards grumbled. One said to Ruyo, "Are you trying to make us keep him around?"
Ruyo sighed, looking back and forth between them and the lone man. Should she push the town to accept his monstrous presence, or risk having him banished when he just wanted to live quietly here?
She held out her hands. "I'd accept him working for me and I think you should, too, but it's not my village. You tell me what your rules are."
"Hmmph. At least you're not declaring yourself the new elder. There'll be talk about this, merchant-mage."
"That makes good sense." She asked the tusked man, "What's your name?"
"Miras," he said, bowing his head.
The escorts wandered off. The weaver woman said, "I knew you a little, Miras. Your family never did anything wrong to me. I'd better go speak with certain people before they work themselves up to do something stupid. If you'll excuse me, miss?"
Ruyo nodded and started to leave.
Miras stopped her outside. He said, "I'm not offering this out of pure gratitude, ma'am, although you saved me. I like to think I was a handsome man, before. If I serve as a priest, I don't want to be thrown away because someone more charismatic came along. Let me tell people about 'inner beauty' in your name, and encourage them to create art and other fine things and be kind to the malformed."
It sounded reasonable, and she saw no reason to spurn him. She stretched high and planted a kiss on his hairy cheek. "All right. We can work on the exact wording later. If they don't accept you here, we'll find something else." She stepped back and left him.
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Ruyo returned to the shrine and was pleased to find the three hired men hanging around and not causing trouble. One was hammering stakes into the ground. Nusina's presence registered like a phantom hug, which she tried to return.
One of the men was tending a fire buried in dirt, which gave off much smoke. He said, "This is a charcoal pit. See what I'm doing, choking the fire? The wood beneath will be blackened and refined to burn hotter afterward. Hot enough to work iron."
Ruyo studied it, coughed, and had to be nudged upwind. Blazing air rippled up from the covered pit. The column of smoke spoiled whatever secrecy she had left.
"A wagon passed this way from the west. From Brotherhood. Seemed like traders, but the driver stopped to leave a letter."
Ruyo took a little scroll from him. A speck of wax hinted that the men had broken a seal on it without telling her. The note said, The Witch Hunters know of you, and mentioned your roof.
Ruyo shivered, even next to the flame. "Thanks for showing me. Excuse me." She ran back into the cave.
Nusina zoomed into view. "Are you all right, milady?"
Ruyo showed her.
"Who are they?" the spirit asked.
"Men like that monk, trained to kill monsters and evil wizards. They're heroes, really. Not people you want targeting you." She looked up at the stone ceiling. "I like to think this place is secure, but a few of those magic chisels can chew through a rocky hillside as easily as a quarry. If the Hunters are clever enough they probably found a way to do it quietly."
Nusina gave a bubbling sigh. "I'll reset the timer on that 'one week where nobody attacks you' rule. But you've got allies coming, people who'll pray here."
"But assassins! Not just a robber gang!"
"If they're planning to dig to avoid the many fearsome traps in the entryway" -- which meant a lock and a noisy tripwire -- then they're still assaulting you where you're most powerful. Really smart killers would catch you next time you're on the road without me."
Ruyo groaned. "So now, any time I leave home, that could be when they strike."
"Could be. How powerful are they?"
"I've only seen a little demonstration where they were punching bricks and jumping with gusts of wind."
"Then they likely haven't got real practice at fighting spirits, elementals, or especially gods."
"And I'm not experienced with hit squads. What can we do?" Ruyo paced. "We need to go to them. To Brotherhood."
"That doesn't sound like a favorable battleground."
"And they won't expect it. We must have an ally there, somebody who's sympathetic, or a random trader wouldn't have found out about this."
"Right; random traders never find anything important on their own."
Ruyo snorted.
Nusina drifted near the ceiling. "About defendng the shrine. One option is to put a thick layer of ice on the ceiling and freeze part of the stone, to interfere with earth-magic digging tools. That will slow intruders down."
"Long-term we need something better."
"With enough power, you can do it. Do you want me along for this trip, or guarding this place?"
"I want everyone."
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Dungeon of the Dead [hiatus]
The dungeons in this realm usually do not develop truely sentient personalities until much later on in their life. As such they are unable to generate the power the Dungeon God needs to function. Plus when they do develop their personalities, they are usually sociopathic killing machines because...well...their dungeons. Because of this the Dungeon God isn't doing so hot, and in a latch ditch attempt to preserve his Godhood he creates one final dungeon that will have a personality immediately. Unfortunately this particular dungeons seems to be just a little.....incredibly stupid. Due to the dungeon not paying attention during its earliest moments it ends up being a dungeon of the undead. This dungeon is the Dungeons Gods last chance and if it fails he will be stripped of his power by the other deitys and his creations will be exterminated. As the sentient races throughout the land despise undead and seek to destroy them where possible, this could well mean the extinction of the dungeon race...
8 156Forsaking Reality
I am a genius. My talent for fighting is peerless, yet my talent for destruction has reached the pinnacle. My family is gone. My friends are gone. Those dearest to me are gone. Everyone I know and love are gone. And yet I... I remain. For I am the sucessor to life. Yet, I will also be the one to end it. Current Release Schedule: At least 4 a month
8 146Beta Zero
You have been selected and given THE choice... From the depths of your desire and desperation you have elected to accept OUR invitation... Your pain and suffering has brought you this chance and through pain and suffering you may yet become more... Arise ye tortured and damned. Your World has abandoned you but you are not yet forgotten. For the Operators it was a chance to learn. For those participating it was a chance to rise. For the Host it was a chance for survival. For Wren and Hiidan it was a chance to exploit... the SYSTEM. This story is sexually, religeously and all kinds of other types of irreverant. Consider yourself warned. Hey, new author here and a relatively new author otherwise. Feel free to take a crack at my writing at whim. Oh, and show the love! The cover is a shopped picture donated from a friend. In other words, I have permission to use but that permission doesn't extend beyond the use as my cover.
8 92We Are Humans
In a distant future where humans are thought to be extinct through the death of their own creations, The Machines. An earth rebuilt by the AI where they now rule the planet with an iron fist until one baby boy is found and changes it all. follow the grim and wretched journey of Axel Iridian, the boy who will change humanity and machines alike as he struggles with his beliefs and discovers the truth behind the extinction of mankind and the rise of The Machines.
8 177Alternate Worlds
This is actually a group of short stories I did some time ago. The first group are 3 stories, all starring the same Protagonist but with different foes and ways of how the stories play out. Past this I have other story lines that I have done this with and will likely use this heading to put them out there. - Note: The Book Picture is the location of the Portal the car went through. There are 4 such statues set across from each other and then two of the large pillars, set across the street from one another. New Story Line: Lost is about a man lost in a world that Used to have summoned hero's, ones where the mages who did the summonings did not close the pathways properly, so sometimes people from all across time, space, and dimension end up falling in to their world. Some become heroes, some 'Demon Lords' and some something else. I have 3 versions of this story which I will put here, one chapter a day. 2cd version was massively flawed, which I only realized while sharing it. As such I am skipping it and moving on to the 3rd version. The 3rd Story of Lost is about a man who mysteriously fell in to a world based on video games, complete with leveled zones, levels of skills, professions and so forth. Being from a world like ours, with the knowledge of these things, gives him a decided edge and better potential than normal. --------------------------------------- New story - New Life, Old Soul is the story of a man who used desperate experimental magic to grant himself a new life in a new world. This is an Iseki story with a single twist as no outside force dropped or summoned this soul to its new life. Come and see what sort of world and life this willing traveler of Realities unknown experiences. I will try and post once a day, though times may vary depending on my the wierdness that is my life. ^-^ ------------------------------ Cosmic Chaos A Void Maker tried to destroy several realities, by forcing their crystal shells in to each other. The AOs of those realms fought back the best they could, including a desperate play of opening random portals between the divergent universes and the void. Several things, peoples, and animals fell through these portals. In the grand scheme of things very little of this had long reaching consequences. However, Some of these universes gained new time lines from these events.This is a story of one such event, of one very lost traveler dropped in to a very different world than the one he came from. Tags: Isekai, Gender Change (Male to Female), Magic, Drama (lets face it most of my stories have a bit of this in them even when I don't tag them thus, though I don't know how 'Realistic' the characters are.) -------------------------------
8 240~Mi querido Auron~
Historia de el amorcito de AuronPlay x Luzu. Disfruten uwu
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