《A Study in Rain》Anything but the Rain - IV
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He was carrying on with his explorative stroll, ignoring his recent mishap at the restaurant. He could see a huge overhead bridge, perhaps built for motorcars. Before that, there was a gasoline refill station, with a built-in shop.
“Like I would ever go into one of these things again”, he snorted as he gave it a look.
The rain had stopped for today but the mud was still there, as annoying as ever. He had to take extra steps to avoid it, he jumped up from the pedestrian trail to the elevated path used for people who had businesses on the side of the road.
He could see that the overhead bridge he saw before was just one of many, it seemed to be a junction of roads. There were four or five roads intersecting in the distance. He always wanted to climb one of these bridges and Alzeria seemed to have plenty of them.
He smiled faintly, exploration could wait a bit. For now he had every intention of trekking up to that bridge just for amusement.
“Never lose that childlike innocence, it keeps you going”, he often used to say that to himself.
He would have to get down to the main road, if he wanted to walk to the bridge. There was mud just below the point he was standing. He took in a deep breath, back tracked his steps, and charged. As he reached the edge of elevated path, he jumped towards the main road.
“Mud successfully avoided”, he seemed to be satisfied with himself.
It was the little things like this that kept the spirit intact, treating everything mundane as an important hurdle to overcome, kept him entertained. But especially, it kept the boredom away. Being never bored in an empty world was not an easy task by any means. He would have gone half-senile, or would have given in to severe paranoia if he lived a life only for the sake of survival.
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He wasn’t far off the mark with his line of thought. Many had succumbed to the tedious and redundant lifestyle of living to survive another day. Their spirit had given in, they were nothing but empty husks of life now.
“Could such a living be called living at all?” he had thought of this before.
Hence, he strived to be different. And for that mindless entertainment was a necessary step.
“I am the last insane man in this abnormally sane world!” he shouted as he walked on the main road that was slowly elevating as he progressed.
His voice produced an echo that went all over the area, reverberating. He smirked and kept walking on the ascending road, now high enough that he could see buildings he couldn’t see before. In particular, there was a huge grey colored building in the distance that piqued his interest. Its structure looked very familiar.
“Hmm”, he kept eyeing it as he now increased his pace.
And soon after, he was at the highest point of the bridge. Normally one wouldn’t have been able to stand here and admire the view. As this road was meant for fast moving motorcars. He could now see the building in grey. Turned out, it wasn’t just one building, there were four buildings, with one being under construction.
“Ah, no wonder it seemed familiar”, he spoke, reaching a realization. “This is an educational institution, most of them have that distinct structure that never changes”.
And his hunch was correct, he found a board indicating this was a university at some point.
“I’ve always wanted to go into one of these”, he sighed. “I never got to go into one of these back when everyone was alive”.
He hurriedly started to descend from the bridge. He learned two things that day.
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First, descending is way easier than ascending.
Second, it is also way easier to lose your footing and stumble when the roads are slippery.
It was too late, he couldn’t keep his balance and went rolling down the wet road as if it was a water slide. Only stopping when he reached the bottom.
He remained laying there, looking at the sky filled with grey clouds, contemplating on his own stupidity. After a while of staying down, he sat up. His raincoat was ruined by dirty water.
“I would laugh, but this isn’t funny”, he said as he got up and looked at rain coat he was wearing, now dripping with mud water. He had found it in the store today after a meticulous search. “Damn and I really liked this one too”.
At least, his clothes were mostly safe from the muddy water at the expense of his raincoat’s sacrifice. Thinking of that silver lining, he took off and threw the rain coat at the side of the road.
“So long, I guess”, he said as he walked off towards the entrance to the university.
The area the university was occupying was large, and he seemed to be at the back side. There were no entrances here. He kept walked along the wall, hoping to eventually find the entrance, but after ten minutes of waking there was nothing new in sight.
“This isn’t going to work, is it?” he said huffing.
There was a wooden bench, under a shade, right next to the wall. He walked up to the bench and took off his backpack, putting it on the bench.
“I think I had a rope I stole, I mean borrowed from the wholesale store”, he said pillaging through his bag. “Ah, there it is!”
He took out the rope and tied a knot with a loop at its end, and walked back a few steps, gauging the height of the wall. At the very top of the wall, there were iron or steel spikes, meant to keep out intruders he guessed.
He started to swing the rope and threw it at the iron spikes, it missed of course.
“I sure suck at this”, he said disappointingly.
It took him six more tries until he got the rope stuck on a spike, and luckily it was a spike not far from the roof of the shade. He could grab the shade for support when vaulting over.
Thinking that, he wore his backpack and started to climb the rope, after reaching the top, he grabbed the edge of the shade and threw the rope to the other side, and vaulted over into the university grounds.
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Nowhere Island University
Nathan Jacobs was just another kid from suburban US. No super powers, no special skills, and, more importantly, no direction. With his senior year of high school coming to an end, Nate is approached by representatives of the international law agency, UNIX. They want him, as well as a team of two other teenagers to infiltrate a college in the mid Pacific called Nowhere Island University. However, Nowhere Island University is not a normal school. Nate, due to enrolling in the Academy of Military Science as part of his mission, is thrust into the brutal Hell Semester, a special course for the people who want to be mercenaries. There, he meets mob hitmen, former child soldiers, mysterious martial artists, cat girls working for secret societies, and many more strange people. Meanwhile, events outside NIU are transpiring, threatening to destroy the world, or maybe just kill a huge amount of people. Can Nathan stop it? Or will he die in Hell Semester? Updates every Wednesday.
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A seemingly chance encounter with an ancient machine and an assassination attempt threaten to disrupt Veil’s education at the premier mage academy of Ithalaan. The bombings and terrorist actions that follow throw the entire region into chaos and draw him inexorably deeper into a mystery involving cults, gods, and ancient mysterious races. These events threaten Veil’s carefully crafted plans, but there are few limits on his ambition. He is willing to do whatever it takes to advance his schemes to become a Magus, including pursuing the illegal discipline of soul magic. While Veil isn’t a powerful mage yet, his spell wrought guns and illicit abilities will help even the playing field. The need to face down his enemies and fulfill his ambitions will send him desperately searching from Forerunner ruins in the Great Northern Forest to ancient abyssal cities within the depths of the planet. _________________________________________________________________ The book is primarily fantasy with a steampunk background. Science fiction elements won't be introduced for quite some time. I currently update my work at a rate of one chapter per week. I'm also in the process of editing chapters 1 - 7, changing the format to make it more readable, and introducing more show and less tell. The reworked chapters will have (edited) after the title. All chapters after 8 have already been written in the new style. I have a Patreon page if you wish to donate. Also, there will be intense situations, some explicit violence, and although it is not an erotic work, one or two sex scenes.
8 154Black flame Devil
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8 194Rogue Prince
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8 138Ripped Jeans and Werewolf Kisses
"I am visiting under unusual circumstances. I won't bore you with the details but I have lost something of mine and I was hoping you could help me find it." " I'm sure I can help you find whatever you need." He was slightly confused. "But what exactly have you lost?""My mate." Silence."Does she know you are looking for her?""Oh yes, she knows."Camila started choking on her food. She tried to maintain her spluttering so she wouldn't draw attention to herself. Taine noticed and decided to keep going. His eyes bored into her. "She actually decided to run from me... I don't know if she was a coward or just too weak and selfish to even consider giving me chance."She threw her cutlery down and stood up, leaning over the table. Her teeth were bared and a low growl emitted from the back of her throat. She felt hairs rising on her arms and neck. Usually even-tempered, she was now bubbling with rage. Taine didn't react well to her growl and mirrored her pose. He was trying to put her in her place, into submission. She was not having it. ---Destiny's collide, they crash and they scar. Rough seas, tidal waves, fighting for dominance in an ocean so deep...Despite the viscous ink of lies and deceit, secrets, sins one breath from leaving the lips. Love is the serenity that can calm all storms and transform all hardened hearts. For to love is to be set free from all shackles that bind you to the darkness. Whether it is the red string of fate or the curse of the moon, you cannot hide from your destiny. IT WILL FIND YOU. So...will you fight it?
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Heir to a wealthy shipping family, Adam S Hayes has his life carefully mapped out. Career, marriage, family. After establishing himself successfully as Captain of the Patrol Ship Revel, it is time for the next step. Everything is going according to plan ... until he meets Danyel King. Trapped underground together after an explosion, Hayes seizes the opportunity to try something he's only dreamed of, but finds he is totally unprepared for the consequences. Troubled and confused, Hayes risks losing his chance for love as he finds himself torn between his heart and his head. A gay romantic sci-fi. Aurigan Space Saga.
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