《Into The Unkown》Chapter 7
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+In New York+
Olivia stood on the balcony of her hotel room. Lucy was in the room next to her. How they could afford two rooms, was a mystery to Olivia. It was night time, but Olivia can't sleep so she was looking at the busy new york street below. Cars were driving and people were walking.
Olivia was excited to be in New York. She wanted to explore but the two big men at her door weren't going to let her leave that she knows for sure. Lucy told her that they were for her protection. Olivia was not sure why she would need two big men to protect her, but she let it be.
Her phone ran on the bedside table and Olivia walked towards it.
Lifting it up she saw it was Charlie. "Hi, Dad," She answered the phone as she walked back to the balcony. "Hi, Livy. How are you?" Charlie asks and Olivia could hear the relief in his voice that she answered.
"I'm all right. It is so beautiful here. Lucy sais that I get to meet him tomorrow," Olivia says leaning against the railing of the balcony. "I am glad you think everything is beautiful. Well, I better go, I just wanted to check in on you, but I suspect that you are tired and you will need your rest for tomorrow," Charlie says and Olivia hummed.
"I'll call tomorrow night to tell you how it went. Send Bella my love please," Olivia said and CHarlie said goodbye before hanging up. "Miss Swan, your dinner is here," One of the men said from the doorway. Olivia had yet to learn their names, but they are reluctant to give them to her.
"Send it in," Olivia says and the door opened and a waitress walked in with a cart. She set Olivia's dinner on a table before leaving. It seemed as if the woman was afraid of Olivia.
Olivia her dinner before she decided to go to bed, she needed her sleep for the next day.
+Next day+
Olivia woke up the next morning to a knock on her door. "Olivia! Get up and get dressed or we will be late," Lucy's voice came through the door of the room. "I'm up!" Olivia screamed back and got out of her bed. Olivia walked towards the bathroom and took a shower before she got dressed.
She walked towards the door and opened it. Lucy stood there with the two big men by her side. She was texting someone on her phone. "I'm ready," Olivia said and Lucy looked up at her. She looked at Olivia's outfit before she nodded. "Let's go, we need to pick up breakfast on the way to the hospital," Lucy said and Olivia nodded.
They stopped at a small cafe, and one of the men walked inside and not even two minutes later he walked out with a bag. Olivia frowned. "We pre-order it," Lucy said when she noticed Olivia's expression and Olivia just nodded.
They arrived at the hospital and Olivia took notice of a few people standing by the entrance holding cameras'. "When we go in keep your head down until we are inside. Don't react to anything anyone says," Lucy said and Olivia nodded, she was confused but there was no time to question why Lucy told her to do it.
Lucy got out of the car first and Olivia got out next. The two men were with them in an instant. One in front and the other one behind them, and they led the two females into the hospital.
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The closer they got to the door the more aware Olivia became of the people taking photos. "It this his daughter?" One asked as they snapped a photo of Olivia. Lucy puts her arms around Olivia and led her into the hospital. Once they were inside everyone looked towards them. Lucy just rolled her eyes and led Olivia towards the elevators.
"What was that about?" Olivia asked once the door closed. Lucy looked towards Olivia and let out a sigh. "You will see once you meet your father," Lucy said and Olivia nodded. It made her even more curious about who her father is.
They stopped on the fifth floor and when the door of the elevator opened, Olivia noticed a lot of men, all dressed in black suits and they were huge. Two of them stood in front of a closed door. The doctors and nurses stopped their movements and looked towards Olivia.
"Get back to work!" a male voice screamed and the doctors started to work again. Olivia followed with her eyes were the voice came from and saw a man, maybe in his late twenties standing in the middle of the hall. He had dark hair and wore a leather jacket. The sleeves were rolled up and Olivia could see his tattoos trailing up his arms and disappearing underneath the jacket.
He stood there looking at her for a few seconds before he approached. He walked towards Lucy and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "You must be Olivia," He says looking down at Olivia. All she could do was nod. "Well, come on then, he is eager to meet you," The man says and led them towards the room with the closed door.
The man opened the door poked his head in. "She's here," The man said, Olivia could hear a muffled replay before the door fully opened and the man before her, gestured for her to go in. Olivia slowly stepped forward and walked into the room.
Her gazes instantly fell on an older man layin in a hospital bed, he was already looking at her.
He gave a small smile as he studies her. He smiled at her before reaching his hand out. Olivia hesitantly stepped forward and took his hand. He took her hand and turned it so that the scar she had on her wrist showed. She never knew ho she got is and CHarlie never told her, but this man instantly knew where it was.
"Here she is," He smiled up at Olivia who gave him a small smile back. "Lu," The older man looked towards Lucy who was standing by the door with the younger man's arm around her waist. Lucy looked over her shoulder and the two men handed her the bags where the food was in.
Lucy walked into the room and unpacked it on the table at the foot of the bed. "Oh thank goodness, you brought real food," The younger man said and walked towards the table but before he could take anything Lucy hits him on the hand and he holds it as he pouted at her, causing Olivia to let a giggle slip. Both men looked towards her and smiled.
"Come, Olivia, sit next to me," The older man says patting an empty spot next to him. Olivia sat down on the bed and looked at the man. "My, you have grown into a beautiful woman," The older man said smiling at Olivia and Olivia looked down at her hands.
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"How did you know about my scar?" Olivia suddenly asked looking towards the man. He gave a small chuckle as he leaned back and looked at her. "You were a few months old, a small innocent child and Alexander wanted to play with his new baby sister. He accidentally gave you the small cut as he was lifting you out of your crib, your wrist got scratched on a piece of a screw that was pointing out. The moment you started crying and Alexander saw the blood, he panics and came to get me. I remember him running towards me with you in his arms, you were crying and Alexander was on the verge of tears, afraid he would get in trouble for hurting you. Luckily it wasn't bad and a doctor tended to it instantly, you got left with a scar," The man says, he was smiling at the memory.
"Alexander?" Olivia questions confused, she has an older brother. "That would be me," The younger man says looking at Olivia who looked at him surprised. The more she studied him the more she saw the similarities. He is her brother.
"Why now? After so many years do you want to see me?" Olivia asks turning back to the man. "After your mother started to get into the drugs, she took off with you and some of my money. I later found her again, but she kept talking about how you were taken away from her. I asked her where you were and she just told me the surname, Swan. On your fourth birthday, I finally found you, but you were already living with your adoptive mother. I hired Lucy just as she came out of law school to be your social worker. I didn't want to take you away from the people who were willing to take care of you and it was a lot safer for you with them," He says and Olivia nodded.
"Why would it be safer with them and not with you?" Olivia asks still looking at the man. "Over the years I took over my father business, which is a big corporation, and Alexander will take it over after I die, but the point is, I made a lot of enemies in my line of Business and, I was afraid that if I did decide to raise you you would get hurt and I wouldn't allow that," He says and Olivia nodded.
"We did check in on you over the years. At a distance of course," Alexander says and Olivia looked towards him. "Really?" Olivia asks and Alexander nodded. "I remember one year, I was sent to look to see how you were doing and if was during one of your art exhibits, I think you were twelve or thirteen. You stood next to a painting of a wolf in the middle of a snow-covered forest. Next to the wolf was a little girl. I sent one of the men to talk to you and you rambled on and on about your painting, and by the end of the night, you kept Damian so entertain because he was the only one who asked about your painting that you ended up giving it to him. You smiled so big when he accepted it you hugged him," Alexander said and Olivia instantly remembers that day and the man who she gave her painting too.
She smiled at Alexander. "How many times did you check on me over the years?" Olivia asks curiously. "A lot of times, we mostly sent Lucy to you when you were younger, but as you got older we decided to check on you ourselves," Her father said and Olivia smiled.
They sat and ate while they talked and Olivia got to know them better and they got to know her better. Around six that night Olivia laid next to her father as they talked about small things. Lucy and Alexander went out to get them more food for dinner.
"Tell me about school," Her father, Matthew, asks her as he stroked her red hair. "Well it has been busy, I have a painting due at the end of next semester. I was moved up a year since my GPA is above standard so they decided I should be in a higher year. I have a few friends that I am close with," Olivia said and Matthew nodded.
"ANy boys I should know about?" Matthew asks and Olivia laughed. "No. The few I have are just friends. There is Mike, he is like a brother to me. Eric is just a friend, although he does flirt a lot. Tyler is also a friend, he is the class clown. Jacob, Embry and Quill are my friends in La Push, I have known them since I was small. We are all the same age so we get along really well," Olivia says and Matthew nodded.
"Is Tyler the one who's van almost hit you?" Matthew asks and Olivia looked up at him. "Of course you would know about that. Yes it was, but his van slipped on the ice in the parking lot, but Luckily Edward Cullen pulled Bella and me out of the way," Olivia says and she felt Matthew nod.
They laid in silence. Matthew was about to ask Olivia another question when he noticed that her breathing had slowed down. She was fast asleep. Alexander and Lucy entered laughing and Matther gestured to them to be quiet and Alexander took notice of Olivia's sleeping form.
"I'll get her home. We'll come back in the morning," Alexander says and carefully picking Olivia up. He carried her bridal style out of the room. Her head in the nook of his neck hiding her face with her hair. Lucy walked next to them as they walked towards the exit. The press was still outside, so Alexander gestured to one of the men to throw his jacket over Olivia's sleeping form.
"Alexander!" The people screamed as soon as they were out the doors. Cameras flashed and Alexander and Lucy hurried towards the car. He laid Olivia in the back seat, before closing the door and climbing into the driver's seat. They drove off.
"Do you think he will tell her tomorrow?" Lucy asks glancing towards Olivia, who was still fast asleep. "He will, I just think he wanted to spend some quality time with her. She is his little girl. I suspect he is just afraid," Alexander says as they drove towards the hotel.
"They looked so happy talking," Lucy says and Alexander nodded with a small smile. "I was so shocked to see her when she stepped out of the elevator. She had grown so much since I saw her last year," Alexander says and Lucy nodded.
"Everything will work out," Lucy says and Alexander nodded. He knows it will but he was still concerned.
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- In Serial20 Chapters
Sword System Academia
2/17 NOTICE: I'm putting this on hiatus, possibly permanently. I didn't want to spam with an "update chapter", so hopefully here and in the story blurb will get enough eyeballs. There are a couple reasons for ending SSA for now. 1) I wrote the next chapter but wasn't happy with it. I've been less and less satisfied with SSA's quality the more I thought about it. Part of the reason is... 2) I am seriously thinking about trying to publish some novels to help pay the bills, since I don't have my other source of income anymore. I have never asked for anything from SSA readers, no money, not even a review or rating. SSA is written for fun to amuse myself, primarily, and I would kind of feel bad actually charging someone money for something as unserious as that. I don't think it is good enough to ask anything in return. To use an analogy from music, SSA is more like a jam session with a bunch of friends. You're just chiling and having fun playing some music. I mean, if you are Mozart or even Eminem, your jam session is good enough to sell, but for an amateur beginner like myself, haha, no. If I want to publish something, I feel like I need to go the proper route of practice and rehearsals, which might be more similar to a classical concert performance. With SSA, I work from worldbuilding notes and a loose outline, but what you are essentially getting is the first draft with lots of so-called pantsing. Pushing out a web novel like this also means it is very difficult to go back and improve things without breaking everything else downstream. I wanted to try this "jamming" approach, as it was a good way to teach me about another aspect of writing, but to move forward, I think I need to hone my "classical" techniques, which emphasize rewriting, or at least, revising outlines. 3) While I intend to try to make $$$, my actual current goal is to "get gud". I've spent a lot of time recently trying to understand the self-publishing industry, and I'm pretty sure I can make some money by using short-term strategies with my current amateur skill level. But I've seen too many authors come and go/burnout, and really, the only way that I think I can enjoy writing and still make money on a long-term basis is to become a better writer. And the next step for me, which I haven't done much before, is to spend more time on rewriting and outlines. That is pretty much antithetical to the way SSA is developing. I've always been kind of 20/80 plotting/pantsing, but I want to spend a lot more time outlining before I even start writing. SSA jam sessions don't really fit my goal anymore. If you're curious about what's next, read on... Among other regrets, I regret not finishing SSA. It's the first story I've dropped, but then again, it's the first web novel I've attempted, so I suppose that's not a surprise. I don't think traditional web novel formats suit me that well. The whole SSA story I had loosely planned (beyond a first book or major arc) is way too large as well. Big story = good for neverending webnovel with Patreons, bad for penniless and fickle writer like me. I am currently outlining a complete trilogy to another story in great detail. I want the story to end concisely, and I also want the chance to really spend a lot of time on the full outline to spot pacing problems, character issues, lost themes, and so on. I'll still share this story on RR. What I intend to do is finish book 1, flash-publish the whole thing here for a few weeks, then publish on the big Zon. Repeat for books 2 and 3. The upcoming story will be about crafting heroes. The backdrop is an isekai-like setting, where elves will summon humans to their world as heroes, but the whole hero crafting business is still in its infancy. The elven mage researchers are figuring out how to imbue heroes with power, while the heroes are trying to figure out how to use the powers that they gain. Humans are the best hero templates because they are blank and have no intrinsic magic. Or at least that what the elves thought. The human MC has his own secrets... There will be some similarities with litrpgs, but I would call it more a progression fantasy or gamelit story. For example, the stats are very low, at least initially. Say we have a stat called Str. Going from Str = 1 to Str = 2 is a huge deal. Also, going from Dex = 0 to Dex = 1 is an even bigger deal. I guess you could call it a "low-stat litrpg", haha. Also, the heroes won't be gaining stats simply by killing things or leveling up. You can't increase stats arbitrarily, either. There will be rules to how stats can increase, and how they work with each other. The elven mages will be figuring out these rules in order to craft stronger and stronger heroes. Some inspiration will be from cultivation magic systems, but there won't be overt cultivation, at least for now. A theme I really want to explore is the idea of interactions. That includes things like hero crafter vs hero, tactics vs strategy, skill synergies, racial interactions (dwarves, elves, etc), and son. Yeah, so hero crafting. I'm super excited about this project and venturing into publishing. If you want to check out the upcoming story, you can follow my RR author profile to see when it drops here. Finally... THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! I'm very sorry that SSA is stopping, but I hope at least some of you will find the next story at least as enjoyable, if not more. Thanks to all the readers who gave SSA a shot. Big hug or solid fistbump to all of you, whichever you prefer! I hope this message is not a downer but an upper, because I am psyched!! -purlcray -------------- BLURB: Talen, youngest Master of the Koroi, makes his way to the Empire's capital to salvage his clan's fate. But the bustling city has few opportunities for the traditionalist. For the old sword clans are fading. With the rise of alchemy, gold can purchase strength that ordinarily took years of training to cultivate. Sword artists, once rare and accomplished, are quickly growing in number, especially among the wealthy noble class. Even with such alchemy, though, no one has advanced to the rank of Grandmaster in countless years. Talen's true dream is to walk the path of a sword artist to the very end while fulfilling his clan duties. And then the Swordgeists return, fabled founders of all sword arts, gods who had touched the world long ago and vanished. These myths turned into reality warn of a coming threat. Alongside this warning, they issue an invitation to the Sword System Academy, a path to power beyond the mortal realm. But first, they will hold an entrance exam... Story notes:Sword System Academia blends elements of western and asian fantasy such as xianxia and litrpg. I took parts from different genres I enjoyed and twisted them into my own creation. There will be an explicit system, both of the litrpg kind and the hard(ish) magic kind, but it is embedded within an academic structure that will develop over the course of the story. This is my attempt to design a unique type of system, the System Academia.
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