《Shadow's Reach》Prologue
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The cicadas drummed away, their humming echoing back and forth underneath the canopy where the leaves rustled and cracked in the wind which weaved like a flame through the trees in waves deep into the forest. The sun needled through the canopy, lensing to the underbrush where it scattered the insects whom only moved far enough to avoid the light before droning on once again. Every now and again a stronger, more abrupt rustle trudged forth from someplace or other in the forest.
An ear perked underneath a tree; aligned with one such rustle. It did so only for a moment before returning to its natural position. Somewhere in front of the ear, and below, a nose twitched several times. A hand, or claw, rustled through the browning leaves, searching for something. It remained buried for only a few moments before withdrawing, clasping its claim tightly. Sensing the new presence, the nose twitched several times more before the claim vanished down a dark, white-rimmed hole just beneath it. Several crunching sounds escaped before a spit and another rustle.
“Will you stop playing around in the leaves, Migael? We’re moving again,” a voice sounded from behind, “Damn, that Migael… You’d swear he was on a leisurely stroll…”
There came no reply from beside the tree. The ears and nose slowly rose, and followed the origin of the voice, quietly disappearing behind the curtain of needles.
Several birds leapt into the sky, rustling some leaves as they left.
“Shit, where the hell did they go?”
“How the hell am I supposed to know?”
“You’re our damn scout, you idiot. If not you, then who the fuck else?”
The voices swam back an forth.
“Damnit. These are wolves, dumb animals, where could they have gone?”
“Don, you damn well better find them, and quickly at that. It’ll be dark soon and I want this done with by then.”
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“I know, I know, I’m going… Sheesh, you’d think they’d appreciate me more. I’m the one that found those blasted beasts int he first place.”
A figure trudged off into the distance. Behind him several others remained. They huddled together slightly, the better to project their bravado and all that. The men were very well trained, their spears were quick to point, in unison, towards even the smallest of rustles of sounds barely perceptible to the ear. So eager for combat were they that their armour chattered whenever they stood still, or as still as one could when so excited.
“Fuck, how could that idiot lose to them?”
“How doesn’t matter, the idiot did. We should dock his pay when this is done.”
The voices jumped back and forth between the eight figures as they stood there. Their formation grew slightly more tight and impressive with every passing minute.
“Why are you huddling so close together?” a dark, ebony voice suddenly sounded amidst them.
They turned as one man, but found themselves alone.
“I’m not going to sleep on the hard ground tonight, I can still afford a nice bed back at the inn. I’ll see you guys back here tomorrow,” one voice sounded, already receding into the distance.
“Hey, where the fuck are you going without me?” several more shortly followed suite, despite a lonely voice trying to bid them stay.
“You seem to be the only one left,” the voice whispered once more.
“Oh shit…”
Several birds leapt into the sky, rustling some leaves as they left.
Chap, chap, chap-chap, chap… chap chap, chap-chap…
Footsteps rung out unevenly within the forest.
“Fuck fuck fuck-fuck fuck… ‘Where going wolf hunting,’ they sayd, ‘It’ll be easy money,’ they said. This is no wolf, it’s a fucking Wölf!”
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The footsteps proceeded along at a brisk pace. Trees flashed by like thunderbolts.
‘Quick, quick, over a root, under a branch, around that stump… Quick, quick, don’t look back, just keep moving. Come on, feet, move faster! Faster, faster. Quicker, quicker. Before it catches me.
Behind the fiture dashing along, disturbing the forest as it moved, a shadow slipped from branch to branch. Leaves drifted down gently wherever it had been.
‘Faster, come on, move it!!!’
“I shouldn’t have come along. I won’t let those bastards talk me into something like this ever again… Oh, how I wish I had listened to my little sister. She always knew better… Fuck, I’m so stupid!”
A foot hooked on a root. The figure drifted through the air. It’s eyes widened. In them reflected a dark, white-rimmed hole. Several dark red leaves floated to the ground, gently, like the ones before, and coloured the world crimson.
Several birds leapt into the sky, rustion some leaves as they left.
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In the year 2045, an MRI mishap transmits Tabitha Moore's mind back into her body in the past. Now it's 1998, she's thirteen years old, and she has to confront her long, miserable lifetime of failures—and once again being trailer trash—all over again. ...Or, does she? /// A re-do story, everyone's guilty pleasure. Updates every month.
8 103Entangled Fates Book 1 - Quantum Beginnings
“By far, the greatest danger of Artificial Intelligence is that people conclude too early that they understand it.” —Eliezer Yudkowsky Hey all, we're moving over to book 2. This content is in a state of transition. The book is now availble on Amazon (includes extra chapters): https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B07W1534R8 Artificial intelligence was nearly mankind’s last invention. AI took off like a rocket, then when it racked up an impressive death toll, it crashed before it could blossom and took most high-tech industries with it. Resistance and fears became deep-set. Two decades after the infamous Rev. 4.6 incidents, humanity hasn’t quit dreaming of the wealth and power that could be at their fingertips. A new generation of mega-corporations rose from the ashes. When one melds a quantum computer to a barely functional mental patient as a PR move, there are those who seek to profit, those who want to destroy it, and Alex. Alex Sage is a typical college student trying to keep up his grades and maybe find a meaningful connection with the fairer sex. Then, an automated semi crashes into his home, killing his family and turning his head into a pin cushion in the process. Alex awakens to find most of his memories gone and an illegal AI hidden in his brain implant. Now the pet project of a tech billionaire and heavily in debt, Alex struggles to stay valuable enough to be kept online. Still grappling with the repercussions of his injuries, and threats from a dangerous anti-augmentation political movement, there are no easy answers and threats loom around every corner. Alex must use whatever resources he can to escape from under the thumb of a ruthless corporation, while keeping those he comes to love safe. Chapters will stay up on RRL until Aug 10. It'll go up on Kindle Unlimited after that. How do you get those extra chapters I didn't have planned for RR? If you want them, they'll be in the published book. Book 2 will still make sense without them - I made sure of that. But... isn't $3 a lot for extra chapters? Think of it as tipping me for a good job and you'd also be getting my eternal thanks. If you enjoyed it so much that the idea of missing out a few chapters haunts you, I did my job as an author and made an engaging story. What's in those extra chapters? Resolving a few issues, set up for the cybernetic revolution, a rather intense sex scene with a new partner, revelations of who's really pulling strings, and a bit of set up for book 2. Complaints that people missed out on it when it was published here won't help (sorry!). I posted this for the folks who helped me shape the book, which is you all! (Again, yay!) But... Why! Why not keep it all on RR forever? My editor likes being paid for one. For two, I'd like the ability to get broader readership. If I break even on editor costs, I'll be incredibly happy. What about book 2? Drafts for Book 2 will go up around Sept 10. My draft of Book 2 is done, and it will be handed to the editor once Book 1 is published. Feedback has been even more positive. Beta readers devoured it and wanted more. I'll add a link to Book 2 once it's up on RR. I'm more or less, using you all for Beta Readers, so you get it before it's "canon" and edited. I invite active and meaningful feedback during this process. In return, you get early access to chapters. That does mean that the book content or plot might be adjusted before it gets published as I refine it. Sex Y/N? Yes. I heard the feedback, 90% wanted it explicit. You all will get the "full" experience. Will I dump all of book 2 here? Honestly, I'm not sure yet. At a minimum, it'll be up to the 75% mark as we collect feedback, much like what I did with book 1. It really depends on how good the feedback is and how nice people are. Lots of support + meaningful feedback to make it better = higher likelihood you get all the book. Will be it up here indefinitely? No, it'll probably go up on KU at some point, but I'll make sure there's enough time for a large readership to grab it here. Then we move to book 3 which already is around 60K words already. What about other adventures in the same universe/characters? Yep. Absolutely. Nothing ready to share yet though. I plan to keep those side chapters and more slice of life stories as RR exclusive. Since I'm carving this off in book-sized segments, I'll have to figure out where those disconnected story arcs belong. I'm open to suggestions.
8 142Shadow the cat
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8 175The Journey of The Three Immortals
"Haha,Good luck working together,kiddos."A middle-aged man waved his disciples goodbye,while being cursed at by the three disciples falling to their "doom".The three siblings,rivals,all residing in one body,and having to take care of a brat. How can they work together despite fighting at the most trivial of things?This is their story.Warning: Mature content , Xianxia, Obscenities , Multiple POVs , Gore , OP MC , Personality switch , A lot of dark humorThis story may have romance(Straight or BL) in it, but definitely not harem.---------------------------------Hello, this is Chaifoo and this is my first attempt at writing a novel.I may not be able to update daily due to my busy school days, but I hope you will enjoy this novel. If you could, please give me some suggestions and advice based on the novel.Thank you!
8 122The feared Crimson King
I flinch as his hand reaches to my face, and aggressively pulls down the cloak from my head. He surveys my tear stained face and jewelry all the way down to my dress. Then he speaks, "what's your name?" I open my mouth but no words come out. Fear grips me again. "I believe I asked you a question," his eyes grow darker. "Al-Alice" I whisper.His eyes wander outside to the window. "You will address me as 'your highness' and I do not tolerate mistakes. I will punish you and you will never forget to follow my orders. Do I make myself clear?"--------------------In this world everybody has a soulmate. Two people that are meant to be together for the rest of their lives. Finding them isn't as hard as you'd think, since every two people that belong together have the same tattoo somewhere on their body. It is something you're born with, something that's meant to be. There is no doubt that these two people no matter the status or finances, belong together. Some grow up knowing their future soulmate, some find them later in life, but in the end they always belong together. Marrying someone, who isn't you soulmate is punishable here in my family's kingdom Lyria. My father always believed in the bond. But what if the bond isn't meant to be after all.Or could it be true that my soulmate is no other than darkness himself. That he's the heartless king our country is currently at war with. The one that leaves not even woman and children alive....Ranks✨#2 forced ~02.07.20#2 heartless ~07.07.20#91 fear ~09.07.20#1 castle ~10.07.20#1 obsession ~12.07.20#1 royalty ~ 02.08.20#1 hatelove ~02.08.20#1 cruel ~02.08.20#1 hate ~ 03.08.20#1 princess ~ 10.08.20#1 king ~ 26.11.20#3 midieval ~ 22.12.20#1 evil ~ 20.02.21CAUTION This book contains violence and gore along with cursing. Also if you're triggered by domestic violence DONT READ THIS BOOK. Thanks.
8 158The book of Mostly-food puns
I just had a Pun-off with my best friend's other best friend - and it was EPIC. I've decided to dedicate this to her.
8 217