《I Still am a Spy》Winner winner chicken dinner
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Istambul, Turkey
In a few minutes the aircraft was about to land at Sabiha Gökçen. After a long and exhausting trip of more than nine hours, all they could wish for was to be on solid ground. But as it turned out, the Universe had another surprise just waiting for them. As Enzo slept with his cell phone on the app playing his music on, Vini noticed something very interesting. And as soon as the flight attendant woke him up to adjust his seat to the landing position, Vini asked.
- Do you listen to Westlife?
- How so? - Enzo answered, still a little sleepy.
- Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You.
- So what, asshole?
- You like a boy band?
- Yes, Vini. I listen to Westlife.
- I can't believe it. "Flying Without Wings", "My Love", "Beautiful In White"...
- Yes yes. "I'm Already There", "Unbreakable", "Uptown Girl". - Enzo added.
- So the whole Phil Collins and Elton John shtick is all a hoax?
- Of course not, Vini! I still think they are the greatest of all time. But I like the old boybands too.
- Backstreet Boys too?
- Of course.
The landing at Istanbul Airport was not in the usual place. Actually, Silva had other plans, as Ana and her friends went with him to a restricted area of the airport, in a shed away from the other parked airplanes. A green Jeep pulled up right next to the military man. The rear door opened and the driver had a brief conversation with Silva. After the chat, he signaled with his hands.
- You may enter.
Ana sat down near the window. Enzo, Vini and Belgium took a seat next to each other. The Jeep picked up speed further away from the airport and closer to the center of Istanbul. During the journey, the quartet couldn't help but admire the unsettling Turkish city. A mix of excitement about being so far from home, in a different country, and completely unaccompanied, something Kevin may have felt in Home Alone.
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- What a beautiful city. Lots of beautiful women too. - Enzo remarked, to Ana's protests.
- What an idiot you are, Enzo. - Belgium complained.
- What's the matter? Enzo can't say anything? - Vini stood next to Enzo.
- Isn't it? I mean, Adam did something stupid by eating the forbidden fruit, instead of eating Eve, when he was the only man on earth and would have no competition.
Historical references - or not - aside, the Jeep driver took them to a neighborhood away from the center, in Aksaray. Ana assumed it would be a quiet and touristy neighborhood, but her expectations were soon unfulfilled. The streets were poorly lit and somewhat sinister. The four were minors, so Vini thought that Silva would not have any stupid ideas. His mistake, because the Jeep stopped on a one-way street, right next to a neon green hotel.
- This is it. - he said.
- Here? - Vini questioned. - What the fuck is this place?
- Vini, be quiet. - Belgium complains. Again.
Silva took them to a very, very strange bar, with the smell of alcohol and naked dancers. It literally smelled wrong. A man approached Silva and exchanged a few words with him. As soon as the conversation was finished, he pulled Ana by the arm, even if against her will. Vini's intuition told him that this was where the plan would go south. Despite their protests, there was not much they could do, except to pray that Ana had remembered to turn on the tracker on her cell phone.
- This is our only hope. We will follow her every move.
As soon as they returned to their hotel in central Istanbul, Belgium charged her cell phone. And noticed something else. Immediately she called Vini, who smiled.
- Winner winner chicken dinner.
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In Search Of The Sanctuary
[CURRENTLY ON A MONTH-LONG HIATUS. PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST CHAPTER FOR MORE DETAILS.] A man summoned to a fantasy world agrees to the request of the Humans to vanquish the Demon Race and becomes the Hero. After a lengthy ordeal fraught with obstacles, he, along with his allies, defeat the Demon King and drive the Demon Race to the brink of extinction. But he is betrayed by most of his allies, who attempt to exterminate him. He is saved by the Goddess of the World, who shows him a vision of a Sanctuary of unparalleled serenity and urges him to come to her. He is reincarnated as the son of a wonderfully cheerful Elven couple Elrohir and Luthien, who name him Aldon. Follow Aldon on an adventure of a lifetime as he seeks out the Sanctuary to get answers. Chapters will be updated weekly on Mondays at 08:00 AM IST (Indian Standard Time). This novel is also published on: Wattpad, Scribble Hub, and FictionPress.
8 160Moonblood
Five moons rise over Evanir, each in her own cycle, and each moon is also a god, one of five sisters. Many gods create spirit attendants and companions, brought forth fully-formed. Long ago, the moons worked together to create a lineage that are, instead, humans transformed by the mingling of blood. They intended them to be long-lived and to draw their strength directly from the light of the moon who chose each individual. The five sisters had different goals in mind – one wanted it to be a blessing for scholars and artists, to give them more time and fewer physical distractions; another wanted them to have an animal form, different for each, to keep them more in tune with nature so they could serve as guardians of the wilderness. There are drawbacks to their children having human lives and personalities before being chosen: not all share the goals of their divine mothers, and some choose to put their gifts to darker uses. Those carrying the blood of one woman, fleeing the corruption in search of a quiet life, take a different path. -=-=-=-=- Moonblood isn't so much a novel as a series of adventures of varying length. They involve a core group of people, which does grow over time. They take place in a fairly low-magic world, but despite that, our core cast are directly connected to the moons and have various abilities, including limited shapeshifting to a single individual animal form. As with all my work, unless gender, orientation, or other aspects of sexuality are explicitly stated, I suggest not making assumptions. Probably most significant, I think, is a major trans character who appears about 80K words in - no spoilers, just a note for those who care about that one way or the other.
8 133Tales of Ackerhon
Aftermath of a war which plunged the world into darkness. Where there's darkness there's light. But is the light the light we seek? Or is it just another form of darkness? One far vicious than the darkness we experienced before? Records of happenings in a forgotten era from Ackerhon, a higher realm which exists far far away…
8 56Lost Things
"In this disordered continent, where everyone seeks to be the heroes of their own tales, there are still some rooms for smaller stories to breathe." "Past, present, and future—keep your eyes open, and see where they lead you to." This story follows three housemates’ lives: Carson Calding, Virgil Barion, and John Salore—onto their adventures of finding Carson’s past, Virgil’s present, and John’s future. Despite their clashing backgrounds and circumstances that forced them together, they’re definitely going to find the things they had lost, for sure. Each entire chapter will be updated biweekly. There'll be three smaller parts per each chapter. Note that this story was written to be an interactive one, with polls at the end of each parts deciding on what happens next. Though, the polls for this story won't be available on Royal Road updates. (I also upload this in Arcane Odyssey forum, and it's currently the only place where I open the polls and use the poll results from.)
8 255Cheating Monster
Book 1 - Cheating Monster: The mightiest tadpole.Book 2 - Cheating Monster: The mightiest spore.A comedy taking itself seriously. Follow Kneeko, a formerly dead man who used to live as a digitized consciousness, dwelling in online worlds commonly known as VRMMOs, who has now returned to the real world with a new body. He now live a comfortable life, working for his father's company as a 'competition crusher'. His job description, ""to hack and create chaos in their competitor's VRMMO worlds."Everything would seem as if he Kneeko had finally met a good ending, but how did having lived for over 10,000 in-game years affect his ancient mind. -Author's note: Those who know my work know to always expect the unexpected... Things are not always what they seems to be.
8 227The Hunter's Alpha
Amber Lyndon's future seemed inescapable as a second class human citizen growing up among the hunters, at least until she is rescued from an attack and taken captive by a brooding alpha who is interested in getting answers from her, and a lot more.#1 in Werewolf (12/03/2021)#2 in Vampire (12/03/2021)Mature content including violence, adult themes and sexual content. Not intended for the 18- crowd.
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