《The Accidental Chosen One》12 - Around the Corner
Advertisement
Looking like a stunned fish, Stephen slowly stumbled back to his room. In all of his experience playing games and watching moves, he'd never known a prophetic scene to lead to anything good. At least, not in an easy way. Sure, the stories often had a good ending, but Stephen was less excited about the atmosphere 'death waits to strike' gave off. He didn't have the heroic powers people usually possessed to fight off bad omens.
As Stephen rounded the corner, he spotted Sebastian standing outside his door. Instinctively, Stephen backed away and hid before taking a peek. The mad magician was impatiently tapping his foot. Sebastian huffed, turned around to knock on the door, and then ran his hands through his hair. Whatever the sadomasochistic mage wanted, Stephen had no interest.
Turning to leave, Stephen found himself uncomfortably close to Kate's face. It took all of Stephen's willpower to not let out a startled shout, he only barely managed to convert his surprise into a hysterical gasp. This was too many shocks in a single day!
“Kate!” Stephen whispered harshly, almost shouting, “Why are you sneaking around like that! You're going to give me a heart attack!"
“Your heart's going to be attacked?” Kate replied flatly, tilting her head.
“What do you want?” Stephen glanced to his left, trying to listen for Sebastian’s approach. The last thing he wanted right now was to get caught up in another experiment.
Kate narrowed her eyes, “You’re sneaking around.”
“No, I’m hiding.”
“What’s the difference?” Kate tilted her head, looking at Stephen quizzically.
“Well, I might live longer,” Stephen moved to peek around the corner again but Kate reached out and tapped his shoulder. He stopped and Kate lifted her finger to her mouth.
Kate stepped out and Stephen could hear Sebastian gasp.
Advertisement
“Oh, it’s just you, Kate,” Sebastian sighed with relief, “Thought the castle had a shadow-monster. Have you seen my new apprentice, Stephen?”
“I heard the other maids say he went to the garden,” Kate said.
Stephen grimaced, had she been watching him before, too? Then again, he was sure it was like any workplace, whether they be in fantastic worlds or his own.
“Did he, now?” Sebastian replied curiously, “Thank you, Kate.”
Sebastian’s footsteps came closer, Stephen braced himself, sure he wouldn’t have time to run. Kate spoke up again, “The Southern garden.”
Sebastian stopped before turning to where Stephen was and turned to move in the other direction, “Oh! Excellent, thank you again. You always keep a finger on things, I like that. Very helpful.”
“I do my best,” Kate said quietly.
“I hear you’re in charge of taking care of my new apprentice?”
“That is correct.”
Sebastian thought for a moment, “Do keep an eye on him, too. After all, we haven’t had a visitor in a long time, I’d hate for him to have a bad experience.”
“Of course.”
“And another thing,” Sebastian’s voice was quiet, Stephen could barely hear, “You haven’t, by chance, heard anything about the king and his… esteemed guest?”
Kate didn’t reply.
“Of course not,” Sebastian answered for her, “The king’s keen on privacy, as we all know. Ever since the queen…” Sebastian’s voice trailed, “Never mind that, go on about your business. If you could, please have someone clean my study. There's quite a mess now, though it's not as bad as my closet.”
Sebastian let loose a loud laugh that echoed down the hall, growing distant as the wizard left. As soon as Sebastian’s back was turned, Stephen quietly slipped around the corner and headed towards his room. Kate stood in front of the door, tall and proud. Stephen caught a slight smugness in her expression, but it was soon corrected.
Advertisement
"The nuisance is taken care of," Kate gave a tiny bow that could have easily been disguised as a nervous twitch, "Have a great night."
Stephen nodded, "I owe you one."
The smugness in Kate's eyes flared once more, "I'll keep that in mind."
Before Stephen could regret his words, Kate swiftly walked past him and down the hall. Stephen watched her go, thinking she moved like a soft breeze. How she could move so quickly without making a sound astounded him. Stephen could barely walk across his apartment without kicking something.
When he flopped onto his bed, Stephen's thoughts eventually returned to the conversation he overheard between Kate and Sebastian. From the sounds of it, Kate knew everything that went on in the castle and Sebastian was interested in what the king was up to – seemed like the king kept his affairs a secret. Wasn’t there a court, or some kind of noble who the king worked with? When Stephen first heard of the Court Mage, he assumed it was someone who worked closely with the king.
There was an eery element to what Stephen heard that bothered Stephen, however.
“Was Sebastian using Kate?” Stephen muttered out loud.
Stephen paused, unconsciously waiting for Kate to pipe in, but he shook his head.
“If I keep this up, I’ll grow paranoid. There’s no way she’s spying on me, that’s ridiculous. She’s short, that’s why she’s so quiet,” Stephen nodded, content with his obviously warped logic, then changed into pajamas. It wasn’t late, and he hadn’t eaten supper, but Stephen was just ready for tomorrow to arrive.
Stephen fell asleep quickly, he was mentally and emotionally exhausted. Between his bizarre encounters with the castle staff, the dark prophecy he was told, and his stealth mission to reach his room, Stephen had experienced more stress than any gaming session.
In the middle of the night, something woke Stephen up. He thought he’d heard that snapping sound again, like the one he heard in the garden.
“Kate?” He muttered aloud to the dark, then groggily fell back on his pillow and drifted off. The cool nighttime air drifted into his room. His curtains billowed silently in the moonlight.
Advertisement
Savage Divinity
A modern man finds himself reincarnated in the body of a young slave with no skills and quickly fading memories. Follow his journey to find normalcy while living in a savage world, filled with myth and legends, monsters and Demons. In a land where the strong rule, the weak serve, and bloodshed is a way of life, peace is a luxury few can afford. Author's note: Expect a chapter every tues/thurs/sun, unless I start writing faster. The story is eastern themed, but not Xianxia, no chasing immortality, MC is not OP. Less action, more character and world driven is my aim. Mature language and themes, but no raunchy sex. It's my first story, constructive criticism would be appreciated. Cast List Military Rankings Fanart Map Album Post Chapter pictures Discord Channel
8 689Blood Quest - A LitRPG
Leon's family has been diagnosed with a new type of incurable blood disease. It's an absolute death sentence and when it turns aggressive, you only have a few more years of painful life left to live. His mother has just begun the last years of the disease when a person supposedly comes back from death with supernatural abilities. He talks about a choice you get after death--get an extra chance to come back to life, or die. Even with Leon's diminishing life span, he won't consider the option of going there, until he meets another survivor who had the same goal as him and succeeded. Leon has a choice to make—die now for a chance to save his mother, or die in a few years, where the disease rapidly melts his muscles from his own body. He enters a game-like world, a sort of limbo, where his ultimate goal is to climb the tower of Katastroph before his mother's time runs out. There are a few problems with this though. The tower is almost impossible to beat, if you die you won't revive, and only three people in over twenty years have actually made it back. Leon has two years to climb the tower, with the help of the few people willing to try, while Ai, the tutorial guide, makes things harder for them. ***** The story starts pretty dark but goes onto a lighter tone. Then (more) dark again. Disclaimer: This story is an experimental project and I hope to get any and all feedback you can give me. Warning: First draft. Chapters tend to be between 3400-4100 words long (about 8-11 A4-pages). Mentioning it since I've seen it in other fictions :P Sometimes they're shorter, sometimes they're longer. ******************************** CHAPTER RELEASES UPDATE: As the first "book" in the series is done, I'm going to release coming chapters somewhat sporadically, and when Writathon ends, I'll probably go back to publishing one chapter per weekend. We'll just have to wait and see! I hope you enjoy the story! I really appreciate all comments and feedback, so if you have anything to say, feel free to voice it :) ************ [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]
8 187A Demon Lord's Reincarnation
Selina’s got a pretty active imagination. When doing math, she pretends that she is a great detective solving a heinous crime! Ordinary tasks, like a trip upstairs, turn into a perilous adventure to raid a dragon’s cave! She believes that life should be full of wonder and magic, and tries to force the world to cope with her conviction! But when Selina wakes up to remember her past life as the Demon Lord, she has to face the fact that real life is messy, and not anything like what she imagined. With ancient powers stirring, family problems, and the hectic life of a teenager, Selina will have to discover more about herself if she is going to survive the trials ahead. With the help of her best friend and a fair share of luck, she might just get through this alive. Maybe. (Updates (hopefully) on Sundays) This story started out as a flipped isekai. Instead of a hero being pulled into a medieval world, a Demon Lord is pulled into the modern world. It has since moved a bit beyond that initial premise but it is the foundation of the work. Along the way, I threw in dragons, elves, dwarves, and some vampires (but no werewolves, gotta nip that in the bud) all wrapped up in the political drama of a modern world. The story, however, will mainly focus on the characters and their development and as such, is a bit of a slow burn. It may take a couple of chapters to get into. You have been warned! (PS, please show patience for the author's notes. They're a bit crazy and don't always make the most sense. The author's a bit of a ditz. Please ignore him.)
8 152I Just Want To Eat 3 Meals a Day
This is the chronicle of a man who just wanted to eat three meals a day and at the same time have some wicked time online. No job? No Problem!
8 237Aftershocks
When the long-overdue Cascadia earthquake hits, Portland is not only devastated by the damage, but also abandoned by a corrupt government, isolated by broken infrastructure, and overrun by organized crime networks fighting the strict federal regulations on fossil fuels. Lacey, the captain of a high school outrigger canoe team, persuades her girlfriend Rede and the other paddlers to use their unique skill as a means of survival, acting as couriers who navigate the waterlogged ruins of the city. All goes well until a botched job leaves Lacey with no other option but to disappear in order to protect her team. Rescued from her attempted suicide by a criminal duo, Lacey reluctantly begins her new secret life among the community she once exploited. Meanwhile, Rede and the team try to move past their anguish at Lacey's apparent death, but when a mysterious newcomer sheds a new light on the circumstances, they find themselves embroiled in a plot to bring about justice. *updates every other Tuesday*
8 173The Final Light
The Last Light is a city that all of humanity remains in as all life outside is gone from Nuclear war during this period of war people who were safe from most impacts of this war formed Last Light a final hope for humanity to once again take back the lands of the old and call it home but this will have to wait as the mutants from the lands of old have started to die out and are starting to be replaced by a unknow something as no one who encountered one has come back alive so the people have called the unknow mutants or whatever they are as Aku-no. how will the people of Last light survive this unknow threat? we shall never know how, unless you read the book. Hi good evening this my first book so don't easy on criticism, and I have all warning tags as I am going to go into very dark shit in this book now for some this is not so tasteful or what they like but it can change beware of that, now go enjoy what shit I have conjured up for you to read.
8 170