《Dragonknight Chronicles》Chapter 8
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The dragon came to a halt some twenty feet away, its mossy yellow fangs bared, watching as its prey screamed in terror; it looked faintly amused. They broke off and stared at the beast for a full thirty seconds, and it stared back, its tiny, evil eyes alight with malice. The dragon, Milius thought, bore a slight resemblance to Verdona, Sirius’s companion, though she was about twice as large, with longer and thicker spines, and looked much more majestic than the dragon looming over them.
The Knights had huddled closer without even realizing it; it seemed that the sudden appearance of this new threat had driven the memories of their grudges squarely out of their minds, for when Shakil spoke, he addressed them all. “What do we do?” he said timidly.
“Oh, I don't know,” Sirius said with awful sarcasm, “maybe RUN!”
They bolted into action at the same time the dragon reared, blasting a plume of fire and scorching the spot where they so recently stood. Sirius and Ariana rushed to one side, while Shakil and Milius darted to the other. The dragon's head jerked about as it stared from left to right, evidently trying to decide which pair to devour first. Deciding, it lunged at Milius and Shakil.
The dragon was much faster than they could have imagined. Shakil only narrowly dodged its head as it beared down upon him, and in the mess of trying to escape, his sword flew from his hands. Oceannerva was thrust, point-first, into the ground. Then something strange began to happen.
As Milius struggled to get to his feet, the ground began to quake so violently that surrounding boulders burst open, and large cracks appeared in the forest floor; trees were swallowed whole into these fissures, and Sirius had to grab Ariana by the scruff of her neck and throw her aside to prevent her from falling into one, herself.
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It was as though the particles inside Milius’s body were struggling to break apart and burst out of his skin, so powerful were the pulsations. The dragon was being affected too. In fact, the only place that seemed still was a small circle of the forest floor where the sapphire-encrusted sword pierced the middle.
Shakil must have noticed this, too, for he was crawling towards the spot, reaching out for his blade. As he pulled it free, the vibrations stopped as suddenly as they had come. The dragon was still lunging blindly, but Milius was starting to get some feeling back in his arms. As it flung its head in his direction, he slashed out with the sword. The blade connected, tearing a clean gash in its scaly jaw. It screeched in agony, stumbling backward and falling over. It got up, now looking weak and tired, rather than simply dazed as it did seconds ago, then it melted into the trees.
Sirius made his way over to Milius, head still spinning, and grabbed his shoulder for support.
“How did you do that?” he asked.
“I … I don't know,” Milius said, raising the sword. There it was again. A pulsing in the blade, stronger than the first time he felt it, and like it was with Ariana, there was no trace of the dragon's blood on it, despite it trailing all over the ground ahead of them.
Shakil and Ariana stumbled over to them, too. “We should move,” Ariana said, eyeing Palpatunde uneasily.
Sirius, though his head was still revolving, sneered at the sight of her. “If you think we'd really —”
“It’s okay, Sir,” Milius said. “She's right. We need to move.”
Sirius looked incredulous for only a moment, but then his expression softened. “Fine, let's go,” he said grudgingly.
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Slowly, clumsily, they made their way across the torn-up forest floor. Once or twice each of them stumbled and fell. When they'd finally cleared the area, Sirius looked at Shakil, then Oceannerva, and, in spite of himself, demanded, “How did you do that?”
“Do what?” Shakil asked, with genuine curiosity.
Sirius glared at him. “That earthquake, you idiot! It started the second your sword dropped, and stopped as soon as you picked it up!”
Shakil was silent for a moment. “I don't know,” he said finally. “It just … happened.”
“And you just happened to know that picking it up would cause it stop, did you?” Sirius said coldly.
“Enough, Sir,” Milius said. It was more of a request than an order.
“I was just wondering,” Sirius grumbled. Then he held up his own sword. The ruby in Vulcatrix’s hilt gleamed as it was struck by the sunlight. “Calder tells you two that you unlocked your swords’ abilities, now this dolt causes an earthquake with Oceannerva, and I still haven't figured out what this thing does, yet!” His tone was unbearably bitter.
In an effort to cheer him up, Milius said bracingly, “Right, Calder said we tapped into the swords’ abilities, but I still have no idea what Palpatunde actually does.”
“Whatever it is, it was good enough to take out that dragon, back there,” Sirius muttered. “And her,” he added, shooting a contemptuous look at Ariana.
She looked uncomfortable for a few seconds, but Milius, who felt as though his brain was pounding against his skull, and who couldn't be bothered at the moment with petty arguments, said, in an effort to steer the discussion in a more positive direction, “Calder said you tapped into Stormpyre’s abilities, too.”
Ariana looked startled as Milius addressed her, but recovered quickly. “So he did,” she said, “but I've no recollection of doing so…. Then again, a lot of things became a blur after — after my treatment,” she finished, going slightly pink around the ears.
Milius watched her as she spoke, but she kept her gaze fixed firmly ahead of them. When she finished, Milius turned away, looking back down at his blade. The pulsing had faded again, though it took longer this time than the last, but it was still shining as though recently polished. So lost in wondering what on Earth the sword actually did, he almost missed Shakil’s cry of relief.
“A cave! We can spend the night there!”
Milius followed the other three, though rather reluctantly, into the cave, where they all sat down.
“We should take turns doing watches, so everyone else can get some decent hours,” Shakil suggested immediately.
“I'll do it,” Sirius said.
“I'll help — I'm not tired, anyway,” Milius said. He sat down at the mouth of the cave, beside Sirius, eyes trained on the surrounding area, but they had barely gone fifteen seconds before Shakil let out a strangled cry. Upon going deeper into the cave, he had trodden on something — something very much alive.
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Frontrunners
While studying at university, Edwin Stein finds his life interrupted when an army of otherworldly forces invade the city. At the same time, an unknown power is unlocked across the globe. In the ensuing chaos, he tries to save a man’s life but instead he receives experience points as a reward for the man’s death. As one of the first to unlock the title Frontrunner, Edwin finds himself mixed up in a deadly scavenger hunt where he fights for survival and plunder. Many others will take the same path as him, while technology fails and society starts to break down. The world is emerging into a new era, one where only those who push forward can expect to succeed.
8 85Path of Blood.
In my world, there are only idiots who know nothing of the true workings of the world. They only see what is shown to them, only accepting and not questioning anything. They brag about the strength given to them yet do not know how or where that power comes from. Sick of this competition for power that is unfair to all who participate, I’m tired of being given choices that seem fine to others but don’t make any sense to me. Others are blessed with supreme talent, others are born cripple; the world is unfair and that is a fact. But what if you could see? What if the world was open to you and only you? Would your life change forever? Would you become a King amongst men? OF COURSE NOT! For the heavens are fair and they shall maintain the balance of the realm, no matter what the case. Did I ask for the knowledge I was given? NO! Did I ask for the abilities I was given? NO! So then why make me different? Why turn me into a monster who sees all yet cannot participate in the competition for power that you have arranged? WHY HAVE THE HEAVENS FORSAKEN ME? From birth I saw everything, nothing could escape my sight. However, the heavens made me a cripple, they put me in the shadows and I can’t help but yearn for the light. Why am I still of the living then? Well, Why should I give the Heavens the satisfaction of seeing me give up? I will not submit to the heavens nor will I submit to the bastards that wish to use me. All I can do now is continue to rebel against everything. All I can do is continue to battle the Heavens in my heart. I shall carve out a new path for all those like me, a path that will go against the very constitution of this world. How will I do this? I do not know. But I will! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I will upload a chapter a day on Royalroad (maybe more) however if you want more of the story at a quicker pace then go to fantasy-books.live. There are currently 110+ chapters of Path of Blood there. P.S - I started Path of Blood about a year ago so the first fifteen chapters have some problems character wise however I'm currently working with an editor to remedy these to make the story a better read. Anyway, these issues don't last long and since Pob is a story that rewards the patient, only those who've read till the latest will understand how good the story really is....I designed it to get better with every ark, surprises planned at every corner and the eventual ending of Pob will definitely not dissapoint, so stick around and give it a chance. :D
8 146In Another World With My House
A guy and his home were transported to another world. Though he got separated from his former world, he gained a lot in the new one. Warning, mature content once in a while.
8 196Mutant Farmer in the Apocalypse
In the year 2022, one year after the Z-20 Virus outbreak, all of humanity had been infected by the virus, and their bodies reacted differently. The majority of the humans turned into zombies, while the minority turned into ability users. Some didn’t change into either. They were powerless in comparison, as even feral zombies were more powerful than an average human. At 20 years old, Yang Zhang was used as a scapegoat and kicked out of his town; a medium-sized shelter base used to protect humanity from the ever-growing threat of zombie attacks. Scared and powerless against the harsh world infested with zombies, he stumbled upon a squirrel that ate the brain of a dead ability user and began discharging electricity constantly. He realized that he could use this newfound information to protect himself. “That’s right! I can build a farm and create more and more of these mutated animals and plants to protect myself!”Thus started the journey of Yang Zhang as he created a farm while continuously breeding many magical —albeit grotesque— mutated animals and plants. Yet, once the zombies and ability users started noticing his unique farm, they began to invade. With no choice left, he armed himself by creating stronger mutated animals and plants to protect the farm at all cost! “Get off of my lawn, you bunch of greedy pigs!”**Tower Defense + (Mutated) farm simulator + Zombie waifu.**--Original Cover art, using Picrew.Cover + Editor by Silly_FoxThis book is also available in Webnovel and Scribblehub--
8 222[PUBLISHED] Substation Seven: Condemnation
You can get your hands on the complete novel at https://mybook.to/substation7book1 Claire Aireneth needs to write her entire thesis in one week. As a student of the prestigious Royal Academy, her work on magitech automatons needs to not only hold sway with her professors, but keep in step with her late mother, who practically wrote the book on humanity's mechanized companions. If she fails, she'll have failed in her only self-given purpose: to become as good an engineer as dear ol' ma. Focusing the other half of her energy on keeping herself from keeling over in an anxiety attack, she does her best to weigh in her options. After hours of thought, she's at the verge of giving up hope on it altogether, until she realizes she has a unique edge on her fellow peers when it comes to doing research in a unique environment; A very unique environment. Her father is the kingdom's only magitech substation rounds officer: an incredibly important job that only requires a single person. It's through him that the magic powering the city's tens of thousands of devices operate smoothly from his small weekly adjustments, for it's industrial automatons that do the rest of the work for him. It's illegal to go down there, but Clare feels as though she has no choice. Going undergound into the substation system, she finds much, much more than a few simple androids busy with their menial tasks. She finds the kingdom's true form, a secret buried so, so deep, that it will stop at nothing to remain concealed. She runs dead center into a vast conspiracy that not only brings her walled off country into question, but her very perception of reality. It just so happens that this new reality doesn't like her one bit. On hiatus until someone asks me for some more! PM or email me and I'll make it happen! Kellinkston.com
8 153ESPU:Zero
Nero Satou is a young man without any power to his name. Fetter Young is the heir to a crime syndicate partnered with the government. Maria Rodriguez is trying to escape a life of poverty and crime. Their stories all center on the mysteries of the city founded around a university.
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