《The Order and The Lost》8. Roan (2)
Advertisement
Roan Egrethore considered himself incorruptible. A large part of that was ignorance, with a healthy dose of disrespect for authority--mainly his father, since he had no other authority figure danging anything over his head.
The idea of being incorruptible meant, to him, that his instincts were never wrong. That kind of self-confidence, of course, was very easy to manipulate. The corruption within him didn’t manifest as a need for gold or a desire for women, nor even an affinity for the sweet mind-killing agents he sometimes peddled and often sampled; indeed, his time with Chandra had been making him less and less satisfied over the last few months, and his snuffing powders were less and less appealing. The last few times he’d visited the girl’s space beneath the factory, he’d found he had no lust at all, and had started to see her flesh as being actively repulsive. So he’d found excuses to abuse her instead, lightly, since she was too well hidden to have the conditioning redone, and he didn’t really want her gone, not yet.
Seeing his father, sister, slave, and precious metal all in one room caused a start in him that he could not fathom. Out of everything, what offended him most was his father’s hand, so he drew his sword and lunged at it.
The guards began moving all too slowly, unsure of how to deal with a threat from one of their masters. Amon was too shocked to even consider moving, except perhaps to take a step back. Jani, to her credit, was more than ready for Roan to do something stupid, and would have drawn steel but that the jackal girl was in her way. Her face registered confusion, then panic, in the space of ten running steps.
Amon’s hand fell to the ground, still clutching a metal ingot.
Advertisement
Roan dived for it, picking up the bit of metal with relief. He knew that this metal was from the factory. To him, the whole room stank of the factory’s despair and his own malice. A prick in the back of his mind told him that he had done well, and he pried it out of his father’s severed hand, and clutched the ingot to his face as though it were a newborn infant, feeling the manic need leave him. He had needed to go back, he knew not how much. The metal reminded him of home--of rotting corpses, of despairing workers, of tears and sweat.
Roan didn’t notice or understand anything else right up to the point where two swords stabbed him in the back. He twisted, feeling the blood pour out, and looked at his sister with shock. Yes, she had responded quickly, as he should have known she would. She was always the competent one.
The other sword, however, he did not expect. It was a guard’s, but in Chandra’s hand, and the look in her eyes was familiar. She had just a spark of what she had lost, and the instincts had come back all too quickly.
The others didn’t know where Chandra came from or who she was. The realization made him cold, but also caused him to bark a laugh that he could scarcely afford, as one lung was quickly filling with blood.
Something else was odd, though. The prick in the back of his mind tingled with delight, then receded. The metal in his hands beckoned. His mind closed around it, and he fell into it.
Roan Egrethore’s body fell unceremoniously to the floor.
The things that came next came quickly. Amon was rushed out a back door. The ingots were collected and put in a sealed box. Roan’s body was disappeared, and the bloodstains cleaned. Servants and guards were silenced.
Advertisement
Chandra was quietly, efficiently moved out of the room and into a servant’s quarters in a dark and disused back hallway. The door behind her was locked and Kan took a position outside, saying nothing to anyone.
For some reason, it was hours before anyone came to ask Chandra about the guard’s missing sword, although it had last been seen in her hands. By then, she had found a safe place to hide it. Hiding things came naturally to her, or it had before she’d been caught.
Chandra d’Amanci had once been a very dangerous woman. Although her mind was still addled by torture, dark magic, and binding spells, there was within her a second heartbeat, a gentle thrum in her magic Sparks. That beat had long been weak and scattered, but now it had started to steady. It fully intended that she would be very dangerous again some day.
And not far away, a mage slipped a jewel back into his pocket, as though he had been no more than fidgeting with it.
Advertisement
The Joy of Evolution
"Alright, so I have this idea, a completely original one by the way, never done before." I say. "Alright, lets hear it." You reply happily. "What if you got trapped in the body of a tentacle monster that looks like a virus in a world that is like a videogame, with skills and... whoops slip of the tendril there, what I meant to say is Mutations and Levels as you evolve your way up from being that lowly creature into a slightly better lowly creature, all the while, an evil devil person watches over you for entertainment purposes." I say making weird hand gestures across the table. "Oh and that main character used to be a human male and uses its past experience as one to survive in this new world as a little mass of flesh." I pull out a little ball with suction cup tendrils and show you. "So, what do you think?" " I dont know seems, a little sameish, I think Im gonna go." You say as you start to get up from your worn but still plush velvet chair. "Wait" I sigh, " I didnt want to do this but you leave me no choice, I promise you an extremely diverse harem..." The door closes as you leave. "They'll come back." I say hopeful. Cover: https://phil.cdc.gov/Details.aspx?pid=21073
8 232Galsia: Sanctum of Desire
In Galsia, a country that is divided into seven different areas under the ruling of the seven leaders, we follow the comedic yet tragic story of Muuri Chiyo, an average intern who just happens to possess special powers. Through a series of events, she manages to capture the leaders' attention, and now finds her fate entangled with theirs. The story will change according to the person she chooses to join forces with. But ultimately, in order to reach her goal, Chiyo will have to ally with one of the seven political leaders of the country in order to win the Battle of Galsia.
8 149The Hopeful Project
A pair of twins stumble their way into the world of blood magic, lizard people, and cultivation powered mecha-armor. And by stumble, I mean one of them falls on their face while the other laughs. [Writathon Participant] People read this far? What are you doing down here? Escape! The chapter buttons are over there, stop reading this. No? Fine. This book is an excuse to put a world I spent around 3-4 months of my life building over the pandemic into writing. I was planning on doing the writathon last year, but somehow managed to confuse October and November. Dont laugh, I'm already ashamed enough. This book is about a pair of twins, doing twin things: calling each other names, going to school, learning how to use their blood to become unstoppable, juggernaut, killing machines... You know, twin stuff. It's like if someone stuffed a school arc inside of a tournament arc inside of a war arc. A good time, basically. I hope you enjoy it.
8 81Guardian Kayden
Kayden Royal is from a race of giant aliens who are intergalactic law enforcers known as Guardians, but he stepped away from the job after a tragedy. He works as a bounty hunter taking commissions to apprehend criminals. In a time of low recruitment rates, will he stay just a bounty hunter on the precipice of war? Does he still believe in the cause of a Guardian under that threat? Startling dreams and visions haunt him that question who he is. They speak of him wielding strange abilities. Who is he? What is he really?
8 123bratty girl
lily is anything but a good girl, her being a little and a very very bratty ... it's hard to tame her with only one Dom... Follow lily as she get sent to Forks only to meet a certain Cullen family
8 189MHA Boyfriend Scenarios
DISCONTINUEDSome My Hero Academia boyfriend scenarios! ❤Male Character x Female Reader.(I do not own any of the art in this book)
8 163