《Bloodborne》17 - A new friend
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A city on fire, crucifixes everywhere and beasts tied to them. The beasts are also on fire and they seem to howl and wriggle out of their bounds to no avail. People are watching them as they burn and they seem to be laughing hysterically, as if enjoying the scene before their eyes. A man, dangling upside down, hangs from a rope and blood seems to be falling, drop by drop from his neck.
Surgit opened his eyes to find himself in the house. Was he dreaming? He could only remember the feeling of dread before waking up, but nothing about the dream. Gherman was nowhere to be found in the house or outside. He had vanished to god knows where and Surgit, feeling the urge to go back to Yharnam to find some more clues about what’s going on in the city decided to pay the messenger a visit. “Hey little one, can you show me that lamp again? I’d like to go back to where I was” the ghostly creature pulled out a lamp from the pool underneath it and held it to Surgit. He looked into it and pictured the last place where he saw the lantern pole. He felt some force dragging him towards it and slowly the image of Yharnam started expanding in front of him.
A cool breeze brushed against his face. He was back on solid ground, to silence and loneliness. Suddenly, he heard a cough… the sound emanated from the house with barricaded doors. He approached it and shouted “Hello? Anybody here?” he didn’t expect to get any answer and he was ready to dart back in case some beast came crashing through the doors. “The window…cough…cough… come towards the window.” Someone was actually alive and answering his question. There was a small window on his left, next to the closed Iron Gate. Once he reached the window, Surgit could see that a lantern was hanging from the top part of the steel frame that was protruding outwards in a circular shape. People in Yharnam apparently used any mean necessary to protect themselves from beasts. “You’re outside on the night of the hunt? You must be an outsider and a hunter to top it all” said the man from behind the curtains. “You hunters have a special scent. This is how we can tell” continued the man, as if answering Surgit’s inner thought.
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“I’m Gilbert, an outsider like you. This city has given me hope, I thought my case lost but their miraculous healing is real.” He said as fits of coughs interrupted his speech. “How long have you been here?” Asked Surgit “Who knows? I’ve been recovering from my illness, before this hunt began. Yharnamites will not open their doors to you on a night like this.” “What is this night of the hunt anyway?” “This is when hunters go out and hunt beasts, the night always ends but this one seems to linger more than others”
At long last, Surgit had found someone to give him some information about what’s happening in the city. So he decided to stick around and ask him more questions.
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- In Serial20 Chapters
On the Road to Elspar (Book 1)
The year is 1329. The Huntress' War has entered its tenth year, inflaming competing nationalisms and pitting the Confederacy of Caldrein against one of the continent's superpowers, the Tenereian Union. Desperately outnumbered, the Confederacy has relied on the prowess of its famed Caldran mercenaries, with highly-trained and experienced warbands returning from foreign conflicts to the defense of their homeland, and it is on their backs that Caldrein has successfully mounted a valiant defense for a decade. But they are losing, and day by day, with all the grace of a sledgehammer, the vast Tenereian armies take one more bit of Caldran territory, one footstep at a time. Sixteen-year-old Neianne from the village of Caelon has submitted herself to Faulkren Academy, one of the centuries-old institutions established to train the next generation of Caldrein's elite soldiers of fortune, to learn the ways of wars for three years before embarking upon the defense of her country. Her dryad family once hailed from reclusive woodland communes isolated from Caldrein's complicated mainstream society, and her upbringing leaves the shy village girl unprepared to suddenly train alongside other apprentices from backgrounds as low as the dirty slums of Caldrein's cities and as high as the halls of aristocratic power. Yet the war is eroding the norms and traditions that the Caldran people have long considered part of their national mythos, and the tensions within the confederacy that have long simmered under the surface - race, class, community, identity - are slowly but surely dividing its people, and Neianne must grow and discover who she really is, even as the war that she is steadfastly training for comes to its inexorable end... On the Road to Elspar is a fantasy quest - a work of interactive fiction wherein readers get to vote on what happens next at critical junctures - that is the first entry in a story that follows Neianne of Caelon, which first began on July 20, 2016. Originally a three-part in medias res prologue to a larger story titled On the Elsparian Road, it was eventually decided that this section - which covers Neianne's three years at Faulkren Academy - become its own independent story due to length, structural, and accessibility reasons. Despite this being a reader interactive work of fiction, due to logistical and verification concerns, voting will only be counted on its thread on the forum Sufficient Velocity, where this story originally began. As such, the content here on Royal Road serves as a story-only archive. You are, of course, entirely welcome to enjoy On the Road to Elspar as a conventional work of fiction, just as you are welcome to comment, discuss, and provide critique. But if you would like to participate in the voting, then I would be honored to welcome you on Sufficient Velocity. To facilitate accessibility and to ensure the best reading experience, this story-only version of On the Road to Elspar will be updated at a periodic pace, even though further content exists, so as to not overwhelm new readers on Royal Road. If you enjoy this story, wish to binge it, and/or want to participate in voting immediately, you may of course read all additional content via the link provided above. This paragraph will be removed once the content on Royal Road catches up with what has already been posted in its original thread. Cover artwork by DreamSyndd.
8 337 - In Serial6 Chapters
Duplicity
Follow the charming yet devious Lyman Leepsky as he and four magical creatures attempt to survive in a small town in an alternate dimension Earth, fighting off demons, debt collectors, and deep ones as they sort out their differences in this adorable slice of life magical adventure strung across two worlds! Yaaaay, friendship!Except... friendship isn't going to heal the uncurable trauma they have. No, that's way too unreasonable.-------------------------------------------------------This stories first couple chapters are pre-written over the course of three months of notes, worldbuilding, well-thought-out planning, and of course, writing. This is the second biggest writing project I've ever undertaken, and I strive to make it my best. I hope you think so too!
8 158 - In Serial43 Chapters
Ghostified City
‘Ghostified City’ is a post-dystopian sci-fi tale, set in a fading world that might be a future version of ours, running out on autopilot into oblivion. Adaman Yimmand is a simple robofactory operator in The City who's working with robots and machines every day. He doesn’t even realise that he might not have met another actual human being in years. Everything begins when he breaks his routine for once and enters a bar where he meets Evelith. This pesky other person does not let him go after he has had his -rather terrible- beer, because according to her actual humans are much rarer than he’s aware of. And from then on ‘the genie is out of the bottle and won’t get back in’, to use her words: Adaman meets more people, and gradually he has no choice but to accept that the reality of The City is not what he always thought it was, and to face the darkness of a fading humanity on the brink of self-inflicted extinction.Is there any hope left for him, and for his species? I have selected 'sexual content' and 'traumatising content' to be on the safe side, because there is a stripclub-like venue in the background of the story, and an almost-extinct humanity that has institutionalised suicide which might be disturbing to some. Apart from that it's not really a heavy 'adult' story.('Ghostified City' is my first long story in English as opposed to my native language Dutch, and an earlier version was published on my fiction blog 'Oranderra' until I stopped updating. This is a slightly altered version of the first series.)
8 91 - In Serial17 Chapters
HEIR OF LIGHT
The realm Aratia is under siege by the goddess of the storm herega and her protégé Marxis. The last hope of the realm is the long lost prince of the house of elixtu. coming to terms with his powers and the kidnapping of his aunt, he is forced to delve deeper in his origins
8 195 - In Serial28 Chapters
Straight out of Hell(A Villain!Deku Fanfic)
Deemed as inferior and weak for not having a quirk, Izuku Midoriya get obsessed with finding a way to gain more power and show the world who he truly is. In his desperate attempts he meddles with dark forces he should have never attempted to manipulate. How will our beloved green protagonist unfold in this scenario?
8 434 - In Serial12 Chapters
Adventure Wins
The home to our adventure winners.!Dear daredevils and seekers, we welcome you to our book of anthologies, Adventure Wins. Here, at adventure win, we'll be showcasing our winners from different contests. The remarkable entries, the thrilling twists and a full dose of suspense, all in one place. So hold on to your hearts and welcome aboard!
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