《Plumbing the Depths》Chapter 4
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When I got up after my rest, I found that there was an ominous set of doors, carved with yet more skull motifs. I could see them, because swirling balls of red fire were set in their eyes.
I approached them, carefully. They looked heavy, but to my surprise a light touch caused them to swing open. Then, an arrow was in front of my face, as everything seemed to slow down massively.
I moved my head to the side, and then winced in pain as my muscles briefly protested. Everything was still moving slowly in my sight, so I began rushing forward. There was another arrow - I jumped over it.
That turned out to be a mistake. A second arrow was coming, aimed right for my chest. A half-formed instinct set my legs shaking, but before I could finish the movement, time returned to normal.
The arrow punched into my shoulder, and with my legs out of position, I went crashing into the ground. Through sheer luck, the satchel landed on my front, keeping my talismans safe.
I scrambled back, slowly getting myself upright, wishing that time was slow again so that I could think.
[High-Speed Reflexes] the voice that was not echoed in my head. The next arrow I snatched out of the air. There were twinges in my arm muscles, as I began charging forward again - I didn’t have time to get a Talisman out of my bag, and I cursed not having one in hand before opening the ominous door.
Back to the present - I had finally found the sources of the arrows, which I was dodging with outright superhuman ease. I vaguely heard High-Speed Reflexes activating again as I slid below a pair of arrows fired by two skeletons that stood at the end of the hallway.
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I came up, and slammed my palm into the face of one of them. Then, I twisted, and the skull went flying back, corkscrewing through the air and shattering when it hit the wall as the rest of the skeleton collapsed into a pile of bones.
A roundhouse kick with the rest of my momentum smashed the brittle skull of the other skeleton, and High-Speed Reflexes deactivated. Once more, I found myself leaning against a wall. It was only now that I became aware of the sweat drenching my body, and the various aches and pains… But first, I had an arrow to take care of.
I grabbed one of my spare scalpels, and laid it on my leg… Which had some very concerning bulges, no that I looked at it. I poked at it for a bit - the muscles were stiff, and tender, but on the whole… It felt fine.
I growled, suddenly. My mind kept drifting, noticing new things. Arrow. Arrow, arrow, arrow. Do nothing until you have the arrow out, I thought to myself. I twisted my neck to look at it. At least the head wasn’t barbed, I thought, as I took up the scalpel and began digging around my shoulder injury. The pain was distant, dreamlike, as blood slowly flowed down my arm.
And then it was out, leaving me with a nasty looking hole in my shoulder, and no cloth to staunch the bleeding. I stared at the injury, feeling like an absolute idiot… and then I was struck by an idea.
I pulled the plate out and let the blood pool on it as I focused on what I wanted. This was complicated by the edges of vision blurring a little, and a general sense of fuzziness setting in…
[Synthesise Spell]
Transmutation, Sound>Blood, Vortex, Constructive Matrix.
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I chanted some prayer that my mother had had me recite before bed when I was a child. Drops of blood flowed out of folds in space, and whirled around and into my injury.
When I stopped, the vortex began shrinking… so I started up again, and more blood came into existence. I rapidly lost track of time, especially since my vision and my thoughts kept blurring - I was still losing blood, after all.
Eventually, though, my voice gave out. I gazed woozily at the injury… which was looking a lot better than I had thought it would. By which I meant that it was only leaking a trickle of blood, and was otherwise a mass of angry red scab and scar tissue. Certainly my shoulder didn’t move right when I tried it.
My head lolled back and I looked up, heaving a sigh of relief. It would be utterly awful to die to an arrow now.
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Cultivating Earth [Hiatus]
[This fiction is on indefinite hiatus. I'm currently acting as a 24-hour caregiver for my step-father who had a massive heart attack. I apologize for disappearing so quickly, but sometimes that's just life. I'll return as soon as possible. Sorry everyone!] Zhao Gang, after hundreds of thousands of years cultivating, has finally reached the penultimate threshold. He is ready to ascend to the level of True Immortal. Driven by the need for a place his enemies won't find him, Zhao Gang puts together an audacious plan. He has developed a revolutionary new formation which will allow him to ascend while on even the lowest planes. To avoid drawing attention, he has to choose a plane that is relatively desolate, however. He chooses Earth. Fast forward three thousand years. Zhao Gang discovers what his work has wrought - a cultivation-free culture that has delved the deep mysteries of creation - he can't help but think how this tiny little planet devoid of natural energy could affect the course of all creation. There's only one problem. For that to happen, he has to succeed in cultivating Earth. Notes: Chinese names should be ignored in the social context - they don't mean anything. Sorry for slaughtering such a beautiful tradition. This novel starts off slower than most. If the slow-roll isn't your thing, you might want to give this a pass. If it's not for you, I understand. Also, releases may be broken up into smaller chunks. The goal is 5k words, but definitely more than 4k. If you see a short release, be aware that more is probably coming. I'll be honest and say that I'm struggling with each new scene, if only because I want to balance the scope of vision with good pacing. I hope the work I put into it is worthwhile.
8 77Midgard
Midgard, the currently hottest announced MMROPG for the virtuality capsule "Alpha 706" is due to be launched. Through unforseen circumstances Milo, a random male gamer, is thrown into the game and enjoys the pleasure of playing it 24/7. As "One" he tries to be the biggest and badest Player this game has ever seen. Airing every sunday. (currently on hold.)
8 156Zoomchard: The Battle of Dominance(Cancelled)
The planet "Metalet" was wrecked by an episode of a destructive war that is still ongoing and had its 1000th anniversary. It was a war of dominance that got out of hand and became a struggling battle for life as many nations with the appearance of a humanoid robot divided by the colour of their eyes join aside the two nations that began this endless war; Green-eyed robots named Province of Conaire and yellow-eyed robots named The Tretse Federation. On the other hand, a fearless shopkeeper named Zoomchard had an average life, besides the fact that he was born with "The Unchosen Illness." An illness where the melanin coding failed and gave the eyes an appearance of a grey colour. It was a rare illness that only affected the 1% quadrillionth inhabitant planet. The illness never stopped him from living a normal lonely life with only one friend that saved him from the death of his parents that were bombed in their home city while Zoomchard explored the southern borders of Conaire. Zoomchard one day had contact with a friend who is a medic and both were excited to see each other again, but that never lasted like three days after the reunion party - Zoomchard's friend's home city was bombed and they went missing. This affected Zoomcharrd and it changed his mindset entirely, he went from a peaceful guy that hated the idea of revenge because it will ruin his mind to a guy that needed the most revenge he can grab hold of. So he was recruited for The Conaire Army and had his first-ever mission, the mission to save all the soldiers imprisoned behind enemy lines. This is a journey of a Rookie Soldier exploring the war while searching for a way to revenge his family and locate his missing friend.
8 92Get Off the Mountain
Odon and Terry want to get off the mountain and far, far away from their remote village before the next Sacrifice Day. Terry relies on superstitions while Odon relies on common sense. Terry carves charms too keep souls safe and Odon, she follows an old goat that leads her to a single path which winds down the side of the mountain. Note: May be considered grimdark for certain readers, please be advised this work discusses death.
8 143Vell, the Gluttonous Mirror [HIATUS]
(Loop, END?) When he died, Al's grandfather left behind a mystery: a set of notes describing the creation of...well, Al wasn't quite sure. He knew magic was real, and that his grandfather was not crazy, but his knowledge ended there. Nonetheless, He vowed to complete his grandfather's legacy. Al decided to seek help from an expert. (Pause. Process. Reset.) Al's employer, Bram, is an expert. Probably. Relatively speaking. As a paranormal investigator, he knew a fair bit about magic. Sure, he didn't really comprehend magic's inner workings, but that was understandable: Bram had discovered magic by pure chance. Together, the pair investigate mysteries and urban legends that defy normal explanation. Of course, though they might be clueless, Magicians still walk the earth…and Al’s grandfather left behind more than some dusty notes… Now, if only Al could discover why— (Loop, START.)
8 153Witch's pet
A lone cursed catser, used as a weapon by nobles, wanted revenge. He got it, but the price was ... unexpected? The great witch who lent him power turned him into a witch's beast. And now he have to live again as a cat? monster? ... at least he got his revenge.
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