《Sandstorm Story》 Chapter 1 – Sandstorm Part 1 The dry red sand was blown across the landscape and even with glasses it was hard to even see her feet. Her heavy synthetic cotton coat, a remnant of a bygone parent and a bygone age, was battered by the harsh winds. The coat was always too large for her. Its tail dragged when she walked and its hood covered her whole face. In the weather she was walking through, it could be described as the ideal outfit. Its green colour, that seemed ill-matched with her bronze tanned skin, marked it as military, or at least trying to seem military, and the durability of the fabric would give credit to any maker. It was a good coat and she loved it both for the memories of its previous owner and for its services to her. Her heavy lace up boots sank into the sand as she placed one foot blindly in front of the last. The sinking made each next step progressively harder to take. She knew that if she were to stay out in the sandstorm she would be buried, and no-one would be around to dig her out. Her only available option for shelter was one that made her feel like risking the storm, a glass tower; a place that was synonymous with death. The glass towers were the remnants of the cities before the cataclysm, in a time when oceans had water and cities didn¡¯t lay three stories below the red sand. They shined brightly it the day, like blue sales floating across the red, but there wasn¡¯t a soul on earth who didn¡¯t know that they were black to the core. Her father had told her that the towers were once normal buildings, houses and offices, but few thought that that was likely. Each and every tower was filled with treasures beyond compare and enough danger to make that not worth the risk. It didn¡¯t make sense to her that people would live in a place that was surrounded by that much wealth and danger. Her father had justified it by saying that the dangers used to be able to discern who to attack and who not to. That also didn¡¯t make sense. She had never seen a spell or a gun that could pick what they shot. She had heard a trader boast about an energy weapon that wouldn¡¯t shoot anyone that was wearing the necklace that came with it, but it hadn¡¯t ever seen another necklace like that one so that weapon was probably too rare to be the normal. In all likelihood, her father had simply been mad. Even with the long lifespan of an elf, the years were rarely kind to the mind. It had been nearly a hundred years since the fall, when the shock of it was added to it, that he had a working mind at all when he past might have been a blessing from Arawn. As she trudged forward and reminisced a powerful gust picked up and nearly pushed her from her feet. If the weather continued to worsen, she wouldn¡¯t be able to even chance waiting it out. With a cold dread filling her, she knew that she had to enter the glass tower. With a deep sigh and a silent cursing towards Daghdha, she moved towards the tower. With some luck she was able to find an unlocked window fairly quickly. Taking one last chance, knowing that her radio wouldn¡¯t work once she was inside, she let out an emergency broadcast. No-one who heard it would be able to respond or help her; instead it was a tradition amongst people who raided the towers. It was a will of sorts, a message on the off chance anyone came looking. ¡°This is Louise Zeeb, War-Maiden of Enoksen. With the blessing of Morrigan and Nuada, I will now enter the glass tower of Springhill and Locke. Over and signal out.¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! With her static filled message broadcasted, she pulled a revolver from her oversized pocket and tried to calm her heart. All her instincts told her the storm was safer. After all, the sandstorm could only kill her. The revolver wasn¡¯t likely to be of much use against anything, both in the tower an out of it, but having it in her hands calmed her. It was her Ladysmith .38 special revolver, and the cold feeling of it in her hands helped Louise steel herself. Sliding open the large window, she crawled through and fell about a meter to the ground. Franticly looking around the strange room she didn¡¯t see any immediate danger. She turned around and shut the window, not wanting the room to fill if the storm got too strong. Placing her pistol down on a nearby cubicle desk, she flicked her hood back and opened her heavy coat. Underneath the coat she wore sturdy black pants with plenty of pockets and plain dark green polo shirt that she wore to balance out the heat her coat trapped. Her shoulder length bouncy black hair had been slightly dishevelled by her hood so she took a moment to straighten it out. The cord for the earpiece plugged into the bulky radio on her belt was tangled through her glossy hair and was a pain to unknot. As she made herself comfortable and presentable, she hear a slight sound from somewhere in the room and without even a trace of hesitation picked up her gun and crouched facing the cubicle entrance. In the dark of the room, illuminated only by the red light that passed through the raging store, a deeper red passed her vision for a single moment. The far wall was decorated with slashes and an oaken conference table in the centre of the room had been cracked in two. As she crouched, waiting for motion to pass by the narrow gap, she started to wonder, what was the wall beside her made of? Could it stop the claws that cut to pieces that far wall? Thinking that, she jumped to the side with sword like claws piercing the space she had been. As she jumped, her Ladysmith slipped from her hands. She scrambled to pick it up again. With the cold metal in her hands she looked up. Meeting her gaze was a pair of large glowing red eyes. The glow of the eye outlined a shadowy, vaguely human figure. It was like heat-haze personified and the glow revealed no sweet intent. As the claws swept down, she kicked where she thought the creature''s legs would be. Making contact and pushing the creature off balance, it fell on top of her with its massive claws stuck in the floor on both sides of her head. While it was still disorientated, she placed her trusty silver revolver in the creature¡¯s mouth and squeezed the trigger. As the back of the beast¡¯s head burst open a strange blue box filled the lower left corner of her vision. It was opaque enough that she could read the message but still transparent enough to not block her vision.
System Message
Welcome to Glass Tower management System. The system will now personalise your Stats Sheet.
Chapter 1.2 - Sandstorm Part 2 Part 2 Daniel Selby waited in a large tent for the storm to pass. He sat in his squat, black, two-seat sand buggy with his seat reclined. Like most vehicles, the buggy had been modified so that the engine ran on the same mysterious crystal energy that traders used as currency. Inside most monsters, people and advanced technology were a small crystal, about the size of a thumb, which could store an energy that acted in many ways like magic, but was somehow different. Daniel didn¡¯t really understand, or care to understand, the details of it, all that mattered to him was that people used the charges as money and it would keep his car moving. In many ways it was an ideal currency; exact units could be traded by touching stones and saying the number, touching the stone to your forehead somehow conveyed how many units a stone contained straight to the mind and no matter how much money was in a stone it didn¡¯t gain so much as a gram. Furthermore, even non-traders wanted the energy in order to run any devices they had or use powers if they didn¡¯t know any magic. The system even helped keep the poor safe, since bandits knew it usually netted more wealth to hunt the prolific wildlife then it was to shoot a farmer. Not that that stopped every idiot with a gun, but it seemed to help a little. As he lay there in boredom he took out a cloth and started shining his scales. As a Draconian, a member of the dragon-like race, plate-like scales lined his arms, legs, chest and some of his face. He also had two jagged, backwards facing horns that protruded from his head. He would someday also grow a tail and wings, as he was still only in his early thirties that was still a long way off. Taking after his mother more than his father meant that his hard scales were redder than they were yellow. Unfortunately, that same red had a tendency to look pinkish if they weren¡¯t shined regularly. Not that a Draconian would have a problem with pink scales, pink dragons were some of the fiercest and had one of the most powerful acid breaths of all the dragon species. No, his own species wasn¡¯t the problem there, the issue was that he had spent a lot of time around humans and despite their own pale pink skin they seemed to associate the colour with weakness. He found that odd. Did humans inherently believe themselves to be weak? Having been inside a bar more than once told him that there were at least some that didn¡¯t think like that. Questions of human frailty aside, he cleaned and oiled his naked body taking special care to ensure the oil cleaned his horns and not his hair. Experience had been a harsh teacher and once the cleaning oil got into his brown hair, it wouldn¡¯t come off without cutting. Since he was already cleaning, he picked up his rifle for the passenger seat and started to clean it also. It was a strange weapon, a F2000; it was mostly plastic and gave a futuristic impression. Though it was a relatively heavy five kilos, it was reliable when well maintained and, most importantly, the only rifle he owned. So long as that remained true, he would sing its praise as the best gun ever made. The gun was originally made to support a power sources in the stock, so adapting it to run with crystal energy was easy enough. It had several strange attachments around the scope, though most of them didn¡¯t seem to function, and hadn¡¯t since he owned it. The only thing that needed power was the torch in front of the forward hand grip. Even knowing that, he still put his crystal in it. If the crystal was hidden in his gun and someone else had it, chances were that he wasn¡¯t in a situation where money would help. As he finished cleaning, a message displayed in the corner of his vision; ¡®Skill level increased¡¯. Normally he wouldn¡¯t bother checking every little increase, but he was board to the point that he had cleaned his already clean gun and scales. Anything that helped pass the time was a plus.
Stats Sheet
Name: Class Level:Daniel Selby Gunner Mage (4)
Race: Variant: Sub-Variant:Draconian Red Yellow
Health: Mana: Prana:120/120 50/50 20%
Strength: Perception: Speed: Intelligence: Natural Armour:300 40/20 8 116 2.5
Racial Bonuses:Fire Breath (low) Pepper Breath (mid) Strength (up) Perception (up) Prana (up) +Racial Skills
<-EquipmentSkills->
He then navigated to the skills sheet. A sense of dread filled him as he thought about what skill could have levelled. Sure enough, there it was, both cleaning and vanity had increased.
Skills Sheet
Name: Class Level:Daniel Selby Gunner Mage (4)
Racial Skills:Mana Perception [Lv.6] Prana Perception [Lv4] Fire Manipulation [Lv.8] Gas Manipulation [Lv.2] Flight [Lv.0] Breath Attack Mastery [Lv.5] Claw Mastery [Lv.2] Tail Mastery [Lv.0]
Trained Skills:Car Mastery [Lv.2] Cleaning [Lv.6] Cooking [Lv.4] Endurance [Lv.6] First Aid [Lv.3] Knife Mastery [Lv.1] Mana Manipulation [Lv.5] Pistol Mastery [Lv.2] Prana Manipulation [Lv.3] Quick Draw [Lv.2] Quick Drawing [Lv.5] Repair [Lv.3] Rifle Mastery [Lv.7] Sprinting [Lv.3] Stealth [Lv.5] Survival [Lv.5] Sword Mastery [Lv.1] Traiding [Lv.1] Vanity [Lv.5]
Glass Tower Skill Points:30
Glass Tower Skills:Fast Healing [Lv.2] Unnatural Accuracy [Lv.3]
<-EquipmentStats->
Closing the window with a sigh, he set about practising mana and prana manipulation. There wasn¡¯t a lot of difference between the two, mana was the magic in his body and prana was the magic that occurred naturally. The way it was explained to him was that every living cell produced mana, even when they were too full to hold any more, and the excess mana leaves the cell to get caught in the air as prana. Mana could be easily moved like a muscle, just by thinking about it, but prana had to be forced into shaped using mana. If a spell required 200 mana but the person casting it only had 180, would they be able to cast it? Yes, since if a person has that kind of crazy mana supply, they probably had at least 10% prana efficiency. That meant that 10% of the total mana cost could be paid with prana. The more a person practiced prana manipulation, the higher the prana percentage. On the other hand, the more a person practiced mana manipulation, the lower the total cost per spell. To use the most basic kind of spell was easy enough; just pore mana into a hand and draw two concentric circles. Then in the middle of the two, draw a six sided star with the points of the star somewhere between the two circles. The lengths of the points determined the ratio of each element in the spell which then created the final effect. The six elements in the basic category were Force, Fire, Wind, Water, Earth and Anima. While the other elements were fairly self-explanatory, Anima was a little vaguer. It was once known a spirit or life element, and others described it as pure mana. It was the element that was responsible for more complicated actions, like healing, animating objects or raising ghosts. As it could also be used to simply change the shape of a spell, very few spells were cast without any Anima in them. As he lost himself in reviewing his lessons on magic, a static filled message came through on the radio. ¡°-s is Louise Zeeb¡­ ¡­den of Enoksen. Wi¡­ ¡­ssing of Morrigan and N¡­da, I will no.. en¡­ glass tower ¡­Springhill and Lo... ¡­ver and signal out.¡± This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Shit. While he waited for the storm to pass, someone forced a march on his prize. In a rush to regain lost time, he quickly dressed himself in cargo pants and the chest piece from a set of silver-black riot gear. If he didn¡¯t hurry, whoever that Louise person was, and whatever group she was with, would take the treasures before he could get anything. Few boots fit Draconian feet comfortably, so he was able to save more time by not having to put any on. He grabbed his belt and webbing from the passenger seat and clipped in secure while broadcasting his own will. If they hand any lookouts doing that would give him away, but a Draconian was bound by his word, both by tradition and instinct. ¡°This is Daniel Selby, of the Southernmost Den. With the blessing of Surtur, Tyr, Heimdall, and Odin, I will now enter the glass tower of Springhill and Locke. Over and signal out.¡± With the ritual finished and his clothes on, he took his crystal out of the car and slotted it into his rifle. After making sure his tent was hidden, and that he could find it even if it were buried, he made his way over to the tower, just ten meters to his side. Checking the entrance he had scouted out before the storm hit he found that someone had already entered from there. Sliding himself through the window he immediately saw a haze monster with the back of its head blown out and its claws stuck in the floor. That wasn¡¯t entirely unexpected; hazes were just about the weakest thing he had ever seen in a tower. What was strange, however, was the woman trapped under its body, wiggling her way out. It was entirely a guess, but he assumed that she was the Louise from the radio and her group left her behind when she got pinned. That wasn¡¯t uncommon. It was bad practice, but it wasn¡¯t uncommon. With her somewhat panicking about his sudden arrival, he quickly pointed his F2000 and told her to drop her pistol. ¡°Listen girl,¡± he said with a thick, gruff voice that was somehow uncomfortable with human languages, ¡°I¡¯d rather not shoot you, so drop the gun, don¡¯t try to attack me and we¡¯ll get along fine.¡± It wasn¡¯t until halfway through that sentence that he noticed she wasn¡¯t completely human. Going by the ears she was probably part elf. Despite their race being notoriously racist, they were known to fuck a human every now and then just to boost their low birth rate. When he said they were racist, he wasn¡¯t just being xenophobic, a stigma attached to his own race, as elves were slightly feared for having locked all of their dark skinned and unattractive people underground. That messed up attempt at eugenics lead to a very beautiful people, who were sociopathic and basically cruel by nature. Although they cross-bred with humans to counter their own low fertility, they would still kill any ugly or dark children at birth. The fact that the half-breed in front of him had such tan skin meant she was either the product of the rare, almost mythical, loving relationship with an elf, or was a rape-child whose parent got away. Very different situations; neither had any bearing on the current one. Since she dropped her gun and slid it over to him, his worries that she might not know English were baseless. As bad as his English was, he would hazard a guess that it was better than her Draconian. That wasn¡¯t even considering how little Elven he knew. If they needed to speak Elven he could only say ¡®yes¡¯, ¡®no¡¯, ¡®that¡¯ and ¡®fuck¡¯; that wasn¡¯t the best way for a team to survive a tower. If she was the Louise from the radio then she spoke English better than he did. Seeing that she had acted peacefully, albeit under pressure, he lowered his gun and helped her out from under the body. ¡°Are you Zeeb, the one that broadcasted their will a few minutes ago?¡± She seemed to be startled by that, Odin knows why when it was on an open channel, and after a moment she seemed to calm down and responded in English with the slightest hint of an Elven accent, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s me, Louise Zeeb, Third Shield-bearer for the Order of Morrigan. To whom am I speaking?¡± There was a slight hint of annoying pride in her voice; it wasn¡¯t as thick as elven pride, so it was probably the pride she took in her position. Bad enough it was he had to deal with a soldier from the Celtic Pantheon, but a devout one was a whole different game. The Shield-bearers were the protectors of the faithful, something like military police and assassins, and she was only three ranks from the top of her order. On top of that, the Morrigan Order was notoriously aggressive. He had a soul¡¯s chance in Helheim that if she found out he followed the Norse Pantheon she would simply say, ¡®Well, the world takes all types¡¯. Rather than risk an unneeded fight against someone who managed to get a high rank in a war-party at an apparent young age, though he couldn¡¯t really tell, he¡¯d rather avoid that situation and work with her to some extent. ¡°Urr, yeah, I¡¯m Daniel Selby, of the Southernmost Den. What¡¯s a group of War-Maidens doing this far south? I would have thought you¡¯d be busy with the armies of Zeus amassing to the east.¡± ¡°About that, that¡¯s the reason I¡¯m here alone. Ares¡¯ Spear made a night raid and the Smith Street Village has fallen. I made it out but I lost my supplies and got pushed around by sandstorms.¡± When she said that a wave of relief filled Daniel¡¯s body; she was alone and out of supplies. If he hadn¡¯t given her his word that he wouldn¡¯t be hostile unless she was, he would have shot her then and there and be done with it. As it was, he¡¯d have to make sure she didn¡¯t find out who he followed and wait for the tower to take her. He¡¯d also like to keep anything spear like out of her hands; the Morrigan Order trained to perfect spear arts and giving her one would likely end him. ¡°By the way,¡± she asked with a face filled with genuine curiosity, ¡°what order are you with? I don¡¯t remember too many Draconian near Smith Street.¡± Thankfully she didn¡¯t seem to know where she was. Smith Street was some distance to the north and Springhill and Locke was in the Celtic-Norse Contested Zone; in other words, no-man¡¯s land at the enemy border. Shit. That was another thing he couldn¡¯t let her hear. Dealing with War-Maidens was never easy. ¡°Well, putting that aside,¡± he said while trying to make it sound like he had difficulties with English, ¡°you don¡¯t seem like you came here particularly well prepared. Are you just going to wait out the storm here, or are you going to try and raid the tower.¡± ¡°Er¡­ I was originally going to wait out the storm, but since I have you for back-up, I guess exploring wouldn¡¯t be impossible.¡± ¡®Way too trusting!¡¯ he screamed in his head, ¡®How hasn¡¯t she been gutted if she¡¯s so willing to trust a strange dragon on their first meeting?¡¯ ¡°Um, don¡¯t you think you¡¯re putting a little too much faith in a stranger¡± He asked cautiously, while hoping it wouldn¡¯t spook her into actively opposing him. ¡°Well¡­¡± She started to say with a deep blush forming on her cute face, ¡°I think that anyone who helps a stranger to stand without thinking about it deserves at least a little trust placed in them. Besides, you¡¯re Draconian, you can¡¯t lie, right?¡± ¡®Was she a War-Maiden or a shrine-maiden? What¡¯s with that blush!?¡¯ he once again screamed in his mind. Though for once, he was somewhat happy that for other races ignorance. Demons couldn¡¯t lie, Draconian didn¡¯t break their word. It wasn¡¯t that hard a concept. Was it the horns? Was it because both races had horns that people go them mixed up? Oh well, anything he could use was good. ¡°Something like that, anyway. So aside from that gun, do you have any other weapons?¡± ¡°Just a knife in my boot.¡± He had no idea why she seemed to get happier as they spoke, nor why she seemed proud of how ill-prepared she was. It didn¡¯t matter, even if it turned out she couldn¡¯t fight, he could still use her as a shield. Chapter 1.3 - Sandstorm Part 3 Part 3 In general terms, there was no way of knowing if it would be safer to go up or down a tower. While going down usually meant fewer levels if there were at least four floors visible from the outside. The exact danger of each floor depended on what was hiding there. Springhill and Locke was fairly small for a tower, only three floors above the sand. That was one of the reasons Daniel had scouted it. It wasn¡¯t always the case, but taller buildings normally contained more dangers. It was generally considered safer to go up then down, however, since it was possible to escape by jumping out a window. Two floors was about the highest anyone could reasonably think they could safely jump out of, and the first above ground floor was often called the safety net. Below was thought of as more dangerous for essentially the same reason, only instead of a person going out it was sand coming in. Having convinced Louise to take the lead, equipped with a five-shot revolver and a 15cm blade, while he watched her back with a rifle. Apparently she was also short on ammo, only having nine more bullets in her pocket. Granted, a woman with her position should be able to handle a few hazes with only the knife. As they entered the stairwell, Louise started to walk up towards the next floor, cautiously, as he made sure nothing would come up from below and bite them in the ass. As she went to open the door to the first floor, Daniel heard a familiar sound. Fighting back his fears and memories, he dashed forward at his fastest speed and pushed her to the ground and out of the doorway. Less than a second later, the passage was filled with bullets. The sound filled the stairwell like thunder and there were bullet holes just centimetres above where they lay. Rolling off of her thin, soft body and onto his back, he let out a deep breath, he whispered to himself, ¡°Not this time.¡± He hadn¡¯t intended it for her, but her elven hearing caught it anyway. It made her curious but she knew that wasn¡¯t the sort of topic you brought up with strangers. ¡°I¡¯ve seen that before,¡± he spoke in a soft low voice, unsure if he was speaking to her or himself, ¡°it¡¯s just a turret. It shoots at anything that moves but can¡¯t think for itself.¡± Having calmed himself, he started to move mana to his hands. The spell he was going to cast wasn¡¯t a simple one, and required a more complicated spell then a simple hexagram. The shape was instead similar to six overlapping crescent moons of varying sizes. Unlike a simple spell, it required far more time to draw and control over the size of the shapes. For the spell Daniel was casting, the Wind and Anima Moons were both enlarged and the Fire moon was reduced below the starting point. Louise looked on the process with surprise; she had seen magic plenty of times before, but found it difficult to use. She really admired anyone who took the time to learn it while maintaining a healthy body. To her even greater surprise, when Daniel finished his adjustments he glowed for a second and then vanished. She could feel a rapidly spinning field of air in front of her and could make out the vague and blurred outline of a person, but Daniel had otherwise vanished. Having cast his spell, Daniel stood up and walked calmly into the room, being careful not to bump anything. Seeing that the turret hadn¡¯t reacted to him, he moved to its side and shot its camera. Without its sight, it fired blindly at the place he had been. Having moved out of the way he walked up to it, having cancelled his spell to conserve mana. Since the turret couldn¡¯t do anything, he took out a knife and cut its power crystal free. He wasn¡¯t willing to take out his crystal in front of Louise, so he kept the turret¡¯s crystal to use and would transfer it all over once she was gone. Pressing it to his forehead he found that it had five and a half charges in it. A clan elder once told him that when he was young, the government traded the currency of the time, dollars, for crystal charges at a rate of ten dollars per charge. He didn¡¯t really know what that meant; it was a currency that didn¡¯t exist anymore so that could translate to nearly any value. After making sure there weren¡¯t any more dangers in the room, he took out a pocket tool kit and started dismantling the turret. Taking apart the heavy weapon, he found its ammo supply was starting to run dry. It was built to hold four five-hundred bullet belts, and it was on the last belt. In total it had two-hundred and forty shots left. More than enough to kill him, but it hurt his profit that it had so few. If they fit his gun then it would be a great haul, but for selling purposes it was a bit lacking. Stupid 7.62mm rounds don¡¯t fit in a 5.56mm gun. The rest of the turret, all forty kilos of it, was placed on a sturdy cloth tarp and dragged out to the stairwell. If they weren¡¯t leaving in a hurry then they could drag it out with them and sell it as scrap, but otherwise it wasn¡¯t worth much to him. Going through the office desks didn¡¯t grant much; another 3 crystal charge, a P9S pistol with nine bullets, a bottle of well-aged whiskey and a bunch of working pens. It was odd, but traders really loved pens. Even if they couldn¡¯t sell for much, gifting them did wonders for relationships. The pistol and drink were both good finds also. Even a gun without bullets could sell for a lot, since someone out in the wastes was bound to find or make more eventually. The whiskey however, he would save. Daniel certainly didn¡¯t mind a drink, but his taste wasn¡¯t anywhere near refined enough to warrant drinking it himself. His younger sister, however, was a different story. Her scales shone a golden colour and when she drank, a smile spread across her face the made her look like the sun itself at night. He gave the gun to Louise, who seemed somehow blissfully ignorant to the value of each object. She lit up when he passed it to her, but the way she barely looked at it made him think that the gun had next to nothing to do with the reaction. But that didn¡¯t matter; she placed her old gun in her coat and used the P9S instead. The pistol used 9mm ammo, yet another different type. Between them they had three guns and four types of ammo; that was usually considered a bad situation but they didn¡¯t have much choice. The room also had a water tap, so they took a moment to fill up their water bottles with cold water. Cold water wasn¡¯t the greatest of luxuries, since water could be made then cooled with magic, but since there were many other things the mana could be used on, it was still somewhat rare. The fact that almost every glass tower had its own cold water supply was one of the reasons that villages were often made in and around cleared towers. It was said that at the core, roof or bottom floor of every tower was a large crystal that had a thousand charges and generated more over time; the so-called crystal-hearts were what powered everything in the towers. Daniel had been it two other towers before, once with a group and once by himself. In total, the number of floors he had cleared, not including the one he was currently in, was four. Two floors the first time, two floors the second time. On neither occasion did he see anything like a crystal-heart. Furthermore, there were towns inside of tower ruins, if crystal-hearts existed, someone in one of those villages would have found something. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Brushing aside his soft hair and the baseless rumours while he was at it, he looked into his unfortunate partner¡¯s soft blue eyes. Even if her skin and hair were discoloured, those eyes, that were calming with a cool beauty, were her hallmark as an elf. Sure, she had the whole elf ear thing, but to him, the most elven trait was their enchanting eyes. Even if it was the result of selective breeding, her eyes drew him in like the sun¡¯s rays in winter; a blue that could inspire or ignite. Without noticing, he had moved close and was staring into her eyes. Blush spread across her face, but she held his gaze. Suddenly the moment passed and they turned away, as if to try and remain professional. Despite that, he could still see those eyes when he shut his. With the room stripped of valuables, they returned to the stairwell. The bullet holes that the turret made had already repaired themselves, leaving no trace of the damage. On the next floor they approached the door more carefully. Louise placed an ear against it and Daniel tried to sense traces mana through it. He didn¡¯t have any luck; the walls were filled with mana and there was no way to distinguish anything inside. Since it seemed to be clear, Louise opened the door slightly then re backed up to re-draw the knife. As she moved closer to open the rest of the way, things started to take a turn for the worse. A metal skeleton started to move its way down from the floor above. Metal skeletons were one of the more dangerous ruminants from the old age; they combined the endurance of the undead with the durability of metal. There were made from the bodies of the dead that were then coated in a metal alloy rich in ground crystal. Since their entire body conducted charge, they had no weak points and could see in every direction. Not waiting for it to get close, Daniel¡¯s F2000 lit up as bullets slammed into the metal ribs and skull. A few moments passed and the thirty-round clip was empty. The creature however was unharmed. It approached slowly, the heavy metal of its body weighing it down. Not bothering to reload the ineffective gun he instead started casting spells as fast as he could. The earlier spell had used twenty-four mana units and he had since regenerated one. He had half his mana available and that meant he could test the water a little. With one hand he drew up a hexagram entirely with force element and used eight mana units. It created a wave through the air, like a ranged punch and wedged the skeleton into the plaster of the stairwell wall. Its heavy bones flailed helplessly but it wouldn¡¯t hold it for long; with his other hand he created a ray of fire that struck against it and heated it red hot. That ray had eaten another sixteen units. He hadn¡¯t expected that. He only had a single point of mana left and he was starting to feel it. His body felt light, like his mist wasn¡¯t quite attached to it. It was like he was completely drunk, but really sick at the same time. Seeing Daniel look suddenly weak, Louise stepped up to the plate. She knew that the heat had stressed the metal and ran forward without hesitation. Her body seemed to glow with power; it seemed that she could use a divine strengthening technique. With the force of her trained body and the power that her faith had granted her, she swung her short knife down and shattered the metal. Not the metal of the skeleton, but the metal of her knife. As fast as she reacted, it simply wasn¡¯t fast enough, and the skeleton had cooled down enough to survive the attack. Not giving up, however, Louise ducked out of the way of its swinging claws. Taking a moment to brace herself she placed her 9mm pistol up against the creature¡¯s sturdy head and fired repeatedly. At point blank range, while its body was still hot, in a spot that had been thinned by her knife; those parts together let the third bullet make a hole and the rest to follow through. The metal beast reached to grab her throat, but its arm fell limp before it made it to her. With the creature dead, or as dead as the undead could be, a small level up notice popped up. With that, and the extra mana that came with it, his head cleared enough for him to move. He walked over to where she was stand, hovering over her kill. As he came to face her, he noticed what was wrong. A large fragment of her broken knife was lodged in her chest and a couple of bullets had rebounded to do the same. With a skilled medical team of an abundance of mana, it didn¡¯t have to be fatal, but as thing were, she would be dead in minutes. With tears down both their faces, they knew the situation all too well. Much to his own surprise he held her in his arms. It was odd, he had originally wanted to kill her, but in less than an hour, she had come to mean a lot to him. It was another stereotype humans had for long lived races; they say that the longer they live the longer they dated. It was often wrong, since Draconian would as often mate with the strongest mates they could find, without any affection, as they would a loving relationship. He wasn¡¯t sure about elves, though they were probably similar only replacing strength with beauty. They stayed there in each-other¡¯s arms for a few minutes, once again locking eyes, though this time through tears. As she seemed to feel her last few breaths nearing she made a final request. ¡°Please tell my order. Please get word to the Central Morrigan Order that Smith Street Village has fallen. Enoksen has to know.¡± With those words she went quiet. When he first entered a glass tower, this friends and kin died around him. He had thought that there was nothing worse the towers could do. When his dead brother stood back up and tried to eat him, he was forced to kill him with his own sword. The towers were a dark place, and he let his fear eat him up. Had he not panicked he could have cast that fire for half as much. Had it not brought back such painful memories, he could have made it twice as hot. Had he not failed as both a mage and a gunner, she wouldn¡¯t be dead in his arm. As he swore to himself that he would see her request through to the end, he could hear the nearby door open. A group of hazes thought that he was in a state where they could win against him. He steeled himself like the cold-blooded creature he was. He drew Louise¡¯s Ladysmith; the small-handled revolver didn¡¯t fit well in his hands. Lining up the shots without thought, in a zen state devoid of emotion, he killed all four with one bullet each. The last round in the five-shooter, he removed from the cylinder. He intended to keep that one for himself, both as a memory and a manifestation of his promise. Chapter 2 – Fallen Tower Part 1 Two hours later and the sandstorm had passed. Daniel stood numbly, surrounded by bags filled with office supplies and machine scraps, slowly digging his tent out of the red sand. If he told himself from that morning that he would leave the tower with a level, an extra thirteen and a half crystal charge and a large pile of scrap he would have entered without the slightest hint of concern. Himself in that moment, standing in the afternoon light with its fire-like shades dying the ground in it colour, would have passed on the cash and waited the storm out on the first floor or in his tent. Not that his regrets mattered, he made a decision on greed and bloodlust and would have to live with that. As twilight came, his tent was packed and his was buggy once again free to move across the wasting sands. He removed the metal plate that served as the buggy¡¯s roof, tied it behind with a sturdy rope and proceeded to load hit treasures onto it like a sand-sled. Having absorbed his old and new crystal together he confirmed the amount; one hundred and thirty-eight charge, his life¡¯s savings. He said it was his life¡¯s savings, but it was more than that. A large portion of it had been his friends and kin. When he fled the Southernmost Den, he had thought about giving the money to someone they cared about, but in the end he didn¡¯t. He didn¡¯t for three reasons. The first being greed; he couldn¡¯t bear to part with that some of money. The second being fear; he couldn¡¯t face them, tell the loved ones of those close to him that he survived while the one¡¯s they cared for were devoured by the tower. Thirdly, and it was just as important; he didn¡¯t have the opportunity. When he fled the den, he wasn¡¯t chased or cast out but as a Draconian sole-survivor he was a shame on his parents and kin. Had he gone back, he would have shamed himself and his family, so he left the den and let them think he was dead. Tail-Biting Hatchling; that was the name Draconian gave a sole-survivor. It came from the oldest legends; that dragons were born into the world with their tail in their mouth because they were whole and complete as solitary beings, able to survive by themselves from the moment they first left their eggs. However, while there were the dependents of dragons, Draconian weren¡¯t dragons. They were born without a tail to bite, and had to live together with others to be complete. When someone failed to live and die with their kin, they disgraced that concept and acted like a hatchling; thinking they could live alone. Kin were a subset of a den. If a den was a town, then a kin was a street. Every member of the kin shared the same last name, kin name, and were treated as family even those without blood relations. After overcoming a rite and being labelled an adult by the den, a Draconian entered the Kin of their strongest parent. In the case that they were evenly strong, or the heritage was unknown, then it was the individual¡¯s choice. In Daniel¡¯s case, he was the sole-surviving member of the Selby kinship. Night had fallen and the steady thump of his buggy¡¯s engine was the only sound to be heard across the no man¡¯s land. Despite the danger, he was headed northeast into Celtic Pantheon territory. If he encountered a warrior order, or just a trigger happy zealot, then he would be hunted till he either retreated or died. To reach Enoksen, the Celtic capital, he would have to drive for several days and he didn¡¯t have the supplies to make that trip on hand. He was going to have to make a stop at either a prosperous town or a trade depot. Some called trade depots the founders of civilisation. They were large metal platforms about the size of a sport field, which floated about a meter above the sand. In the centre of each was a stone tower, with a glass dome ceiling, that they called an ACC. The rear section of a depot was covered with storage crates and the front was a great bazaar. The most important aspect of trade depots was their neutrality. They didn¡¯t belong to any denomination and had the firepower to make sure they didn¡¯t get dragged into it. As midnight came, he arrived at the border town of Fallen Tower. It was named, quite literally, because the glass tower the town was built around had broken, with the top falling to the ground and leaving only two floors standing above the sand. It was a situation that had worked out well for the founders. Most of the dangers had died or were injured in the fall, so they just moved in and cleaned out what was left. They then used the treasures from the top section to clear the remaining section. Despite losing its top, the bottom half still generated an abundance of water. With that as a basis, they slowly used magic to improve the and into soil, around the tower, and start growing crops. With a steady supply of food and water, it wasn¡¯t long until it became a thriving town. The town had a patrol of four people in riot armour and a two meter fence that was made from the strange metal-like glass of the top section of the tower. Given its durability, raiding the city would be very difficult. The glass was normally strong enough to survive a bullet from a pistol unharmed, but if mana was circulated through it then a car crashing into it wouldn¡¯t scratch it. He approached the front gate and waited for one of the guards to signal him to approach. To his annoyance, the guard was a human with a stupid looking smirk on his face. ¡°Can I see your licence and registration, please?¡± The pale skinned man asked something incomprehensible. Was that some new thing they were doing in warm-blood cities? Seeing Daniel give zero reaction, the man gave a sigh and then laughed, ¡°It¡¯s a joke, lighten up lizard, it might be the middle of the night but you can still have some fun. Since you¡¯re Draconian, I just need your word that you won¡¯t start a fight unprovoked and you can go straight in.¡± If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°If that¡¯s all then you have my word. Is there an inn or a traveller¡¯s lodge in this town?¡± ¡°Sure is, May¡¯s Place on sub floor three or just get yourself arrested for drunk ¡®en disorderly and we¡¯ll throw you in a cell overnight to sober up. Depending on your tolerance that might be more expensive, but.¡± The man gave a hearty laugh at his own attempt at a joke, and waved Daniel through the gate. He found where the town¡¯s vehicles were parked and pulled up there. He was able to park his car there for .1 crystal charge per night. It was fairly cheap, but there were no guaranties about the security. Before heading off to find the inn, he used 50 points of mana to construct a force-field around his buggy and trailer. Magic force-fields were fairly simple things to use and break, the only problem was efficiency. They could only, realistically, be broken by the person who set it up or with a force-spear spell with higher mana concentration. For example, the field he set up could be broken with a 51 mana spear. He doubted, however, that there were too many people in that town who had that much mana to spare, and if they did, that they needed to resort to petty theft. It wasn¡¯t well known, but the most valuable thing Glass Towers housed was experience. The first time someone killed something in a tower, or broke something like a turret, the tower installed a monitoring system in their body. The purpose for that system wasn¡¯t fully known, but it recorded their actions and improved their bodies through levelling. When Daniel first got the system, his mana capacity was 15; slightly higher than this species average and higher still when compared to a human. Since his level rose to five, his current max was 90. Apparently the amount he gained each level doubled. It was easy to understand how the previous civilisation grew so powerful, if they had access to technology that made them grow so fast. Since crystal charge could be used as a mana replacement, it was possible for someone to buy their way through his field, but they weren¡¯t likely to make a profit when considering the value of the junk he placed on the outside of the pile. With reasonable confidence that his things were safe, he took his crystal and headed for the inn. The ground floor of the tower seemed to serve as a combination, reception and government office. One of the window sections had been replaced with a large doorway and a ramp was placed to make the entrance seem seamless. At that time of night, the reception was vacant and only a couple night-fill staff worked in the offices. The stairs were kept clean and clear with a guard preventing anyone from traveling to the first floor. He made no attempt to look at the lower two floors and went straight for the third; even if they were open at that hour they wouldn¡¯t have appreciated his business. From looking down the stairwell, it seemed that there were several more floors lower than the third. That gave him some small relief; they weren¡¯t hiding the inn in the basement in shame. In fact, the inn was a pleasant surprise for him. He was used to communities paying little mind to the living conditions of travellers and throwing them wherever they fit, but May¡¯s Place had actual beds laid out neatly with walls and curtains. The ¡®rooms¡¯ weren¡¯t much bigger than the beds, but considering some of the places he had stayed, it was far from the worst. He was greeted by a young Draconian girl. She seemed to be in her developing stage and her scales still seemed too large for her body. It was a cute look and it was amplified by her height. She was a white variant, also known as a night-drake, a Draconian with white scales that were incredibly sensitive to sunlight. With the state of the world, her variant were even rarer with a large portion of them being destroyed by the light. She seemed surprised by him, but tried to imitate professionalism anyway. ¡°Welcome to May¡¯s Place. Will others from your den be joining you soon? We offer group discounts.¡± She may have meant well, but seeing his reaction, she realized something was wrong but wasn¡¯t experienced enough to work out what. ¡°Eh, um, I mean, well, Its 2 charge per night.¡± With the sound of her panicking, he quickly corrected his appearance; the kid hadn¡¯t meant anything and worrying her seemed wrong. ¡°Yes, that will be fine.¡± He said as he held out the crystal, ¡°is there any chance you can wake me up at first light?¡± ¡°Sure thing, the sun¡¯s bright early around these parts so warming up won¡¯t take too long. I¡¯ll wake you up before I go if you help make sure I don¡¯t burn.¡± As partially cold-blooded creatures, Draconian didn¡¯t generate enough body heat and required to supplement what they made with sunlight. It wasn¡¯t as bad as some lizards that needed to spend most of the morning in the sun, and they could survive without, it just made them drowsy and weak to go without. Even night-drakes, that were mostly nocturnal, still required some sunlight each day to maintain their health. ¡°Sounds fair. I¡¯m Daniel Selby, a red tail-bitter from the Southernmost Den. It¡¯s nice to meet you.¡± With a cute laugh the girl replied, ¡°I¡¯m Loralei May-child, a white night-drake that hasn¡¯t been attached to a den yet. It¡¯s nice to meet you, too.¡± Chapter 2.2 – Fallen Tower part 2 Part 2 At first light the following day the Draconian of the town lay down in a clearing next to the tower and the farmland. True to her word Loralei woke Daniel up and they made their way out together. Her mother never married and instead mated with Loralei¡¯s father out of respect for his strength. With that wasn¡¯t a rare occurrence, the father was who she inherited her colour from. For a white scale to have the kind of strength that was involved in a power mating, that was rare. From the stories Loralei told, it seemed that he had been a member of the team that conquered the lowest level of the fallen tower. Her mother, being the local trader and a member of the town council, had seen up close just how strong he was. As they basked in the morning sun, he noticed that some soldiers were pushing a Draconian prisoner out. She was in a cube cage made from tower glass on five sides, leaving the top open. Her scales her bright pink and her long bent wings were chained down in the cell; her scales seemed far more vibrant and dangerous with their contrast to her pure black skin. Letting a Draconian prisoner warm up was generally a bad idea and a pink variant in her mature stage could break tower glass with her claws. He noticed that under the cell was a crystal powered generator, a device that hardened the glass with magic. He wondered why she warranted such strange and expensive precautions, so he asked Loralei who was absorbing the morning light beside him. ¡°The guards caught her a few days ago. She¡¯s a fighter for the Southwest Den and she made a fuss after refusing to give her word that she wouldn¡¯t cause trouble. The city leader was only able contain her by using an old-world stun rifle. Since she clawed some guards to death, they¡¯re sentencing her to death by exposure.¡± Even the young girl could understand how strong the caged woman was. Hearing about her strength was enough to start his blood boiling. There probably wasn¡¯t a man in that field who didn¡¯t feel the mating urge when they saw her. Using his lonely feelings as a basis, Daniel managed to suppress the drive. Once clear headed, he noticed something strange about her. She had wings, indicating she was in her mature stage, but her horns, which stuck out from her short hair, were too short and straight. For her to have reached the mature stage at her age either she was the product of perfect breeding or she had conquered a tower and selected a skill that aided wing growth. The Glass Tower system not only monitored existing abilities, it also allowed the user to purchase new ones. Each time a level was gained, the person earned 20 skill points that could be used to purchase new abilities. He had acquired ¡®Fast Healing¡¯, which made his injuries heal at an unbelievable rate, for 20 points when the system first triggered in order to save his life. ¡®Unnatural Accuracy¡¯ was also useful to him as it made corrections to both bullets and spells. It was really effective for its price at 30 points. The list of skills was more than 400 pages long and there wasn¡¯t an option to read about a skill without buying it. With his curiosity in full flight he approached the cage. The guards seemed to tense up as he got near, but didn¡¯t draw their weapons. When he stood at the edge of the cage one of her snakelike yellow eyes stared at him, looking at him with a gaze that sent a chill through him. Locking eyes with her the best he could, he gestured to her wings with his eyes and asked, ¡°So, which skill is it.¡± That seemed to warrant a small chuckle, and her deep voice filled him and drove up the breeding desire once more. ¡°Look up ¡®Rapid Growth¡¯. I thought it would make me level faster but that happened instead.¡± Her eyes had lowered the pressure slightly. A strangely distant smile moved across her small red lips and her golden eyes seemed to become distant. After a moment of apparent indecision, she eventually asked, ¡°You¡¯re not a local, right? Which den are you from?¡± He wasn¡¯t sure why she was asking, but didn¡¯t see any harm in telling her, ¡°The Southernmost Den. Though a tail-bitter like me can¡¯t go back if that¡¯s what you¡¯re going to ask.¡± Hearing his status, she made another light chuckle. ¡°Well, that makes two of us. Though, I think I can top just losing my kin. The Southwest Den has been overrun. The survivors have been seeking other dens to take them in.¡± That time it was his turn to laugh, ¡°A destroyed den tried to enter other dens? What are they, humans?¡± The guards around the cage looked annoyed at that comment but acted like they didn¡¯t hear anything. ¡°That¡¯s what I said. Turns out, tradition isn¡¯t as strong as the need to live. The elders died protecting the den and the youngest generation has no problem living in shame.¡± She paused for a moment then added, ¡°Watch yourself, Red; this town isn¡¯t as simple as it seems.¡± With that, the guards pushed him back and he returned to Loralei, who was starting to get a little red around the scales. Warning her, that she¡¯d been in the light too long, they headed inside. Once back to the inn, he set to work cleaning his scales. With a real pink in town, last thing he wanted was for people to get them mixed up. As he cleaned he looked through the skill list and got ¡®Rapid Growth¡¯ for 20 points. He could feel movement and growth on his back, but didn¡¯t think it would implead his business at all. Once he was done, he noticed that Loralei was sleeping softly at the counter with a contented look on her face. Knowing that she would have to retain her heat for a full day and night, he wrapped her in the large coat he had taken from Louise. At the time he thought he would keep it as a reminder, but it wasn¡¯t used to wearing coats and found anything more than a shirt or vest to by stifling. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. When he made his way up a floor to the general traders, he was met with by a Draconian woman with a sly smile. She was in her matriarchal stage, complete with wings and scaly tail, and her silver scales were a sight to behold. Humans didn¡¯t seem to be able to tell the difference but to Draconian, white and silver were like heaven and earth. Where white meant a lack of tolerance for sunlight and a frost breath, silver meant super hardened scales and a powerful electric breath. Silver and Gold Draconian were the only variants that also had pure anima breaths. A silver Draconian was considered to be a gift to any den, for her to be living in a human town, there were very few situations that could bring that about. After he recovered from the shock of it, he realized who she was. ¡°Might the lowly I be speaking to the illustrious Miss May.¡± He started to speak in overly respectful tones, entirely on reflex. Even after noticing, he didn¡¯t stop, since it would seem strange to change midway. Thankfully, she stopped him. ¡°Enough with that; I¡¯m not from your den and I don¡¯t want someone who¡¯s been looking after my daughter talking like that.¡± As she said so, she pointed to a monitor that was displaying the counter in the inn, complete with a little girl sleeping in a coat. ¡°If you¡¯re good with children, you should just have one.¡± The provocative and sly look on her face hadn¡¯t left for a single second since he entered. He normally didn¡¯t like that look, but he had to admit that it suited her, made her seem devilish and charming. ¡°Putting that aside, there were a few things I was hoping to sell. Would you mind walking with me to the parking area, I¡¯d rather not have to carry it all down stairs without selling it first.¡± A few minutes later they were in the parking area and he dispelled the force-field. May gave a nod on seeing the field, as if agreeing to something in her head. Shortly thereafter, she was looking through at the scrap. ¡°Do you know how much there is? What does the system say?¡± Her voice seemed less playful as she asked, as if she had started to work. ¡°The system just says, ¡®Assorted Metal (112 kg)¡¯.¡± ¡°And that bottle of whiskey¡­¡± ¡°¡­is not for sale. Sorry, it¡¯s my sister¡¯s favourite and I need to find some way to have shipped to her safely.¡± He could hear her click her tongue with his reply. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a tail-bitter? How do you have a sister, then?¡± It wasn¡¯t a very tactful question as she seemed to realize moments after asking, but he answered anyway. ¡°It¡¯s my younger sister; since she had only just passed the Rite of Ages after my kin had departed, she hadn¡¯t been assigned there yet. At the time she complained that we could have just wait around for her to finish, but since you never know how long the rite can take, we were just going to pick her up afterwards. I guess she ended up with a different kin name after all.¡± ¡°Err, sorry for asking about that. Old prejudices are hard to get over.¡± She seemed a little relieved to hear what he said. The fact that his sister was alive meant that some dens would rule that he wasn¡¯t a tail-bitter. It wasn¡¯t as cut and dry as being branded for life; some dens even said that if they married or mated they were no longer tail-biters. ¡°For the metal, I can give you 11.2cc.¡± He was annoyed by that price, it was way too low, but he didn¡¯t let that show on his face, ¡°That¡¯s a little too low for my liking, especially when I¡¯ve said I¡¯ll move it down stairs for you.¡± He paused for a moment and pretended to think about how much it was worth, despite already knowing how much he¡¯d accept. ¡°How about for 30cc.¡± Within a second, as if she had anticipated his response, she countered with, ¡°I can offer 22.¡± They both knew that was about fair and ended the game with that offer. With the deal made, they moved onto the next point. ¡°I have two hundred and forty 7.62mm bullets, do you have any 5.56mm, 9mm or .32 special to trade?¡± She thought about it for a while and responded, ¡°It may not be the best deal, but the company only sells bullets as one for one trades, and only in situations where they get the better side of the deal. If you can live with that then I have seventy 5.56mm, sixty 9mm and thirty-five in .32 special. I can buy the rest for .1cc each.¡± It wasn¡¯t a great deal, but it would do. He ended up trading away all except for one of the 7.62mm bullets. It was a wasteland superstition, the moment use get rid of all of one type, is when you need that type to save your life. With the deal done, he used a simple wind and force base spell to float the traded scrap down to May¡¯s shop. After the goods were exchanged he then spent 10cc on food that could survive travel and more water bottles. The food he ended up getting were a locally made product called, ¡®travel cakes¡¯ that seemed to be a sweet hard-bread with some kind of oat smell to them. Though they seemed to be hard to each, May assured him that they were fine if you dipped it in water. When he was done reloading the buggy and the force-field was re-applied he suddenly felt his head get light. Unable to keep himself standing, he fell to the soft sand beneath him. Chapter 2.3 – Fallen Tower Part 3 Part 3 He woke up some time later in his bed at May¡¯s place. Night had fallen there was an odd smell in the air. From his back he felt a strange discomfort that almost felt like pain, but at the same time it felt like a normal occurrence, like a foot going to sleep. Looking over himself, his fit and strong body was naked under the blanket; a thought that triggered a skill level notice. Tucked behind him were two large folded red wings. They seemed to be folded with five joints and rather than bone, the hardened sections felt more like a mass of muscle. Observing his wings through mana, it seemed that the frame needed to be strengthened with mana to sustain flight. As an approximation, he felt that his wingspan was at least a couple meters. To his side, he noticed a small, white scaled child sleeping against his bed. He face seemed more worried than relaxed, but he face eased when he stroked her hand. After a few moments of peaceful rest, Loralei suddenly woke up. She blinked a few times looking at him, then tackled him in a hug. She tried to speak, but pressed herself too tightly against his chest for any words to be audible. No words were needed to convey what she was saying, it was clear that she was worried when he fainted. Before long she noticed the large red wings. With shock clear on her face, the adorable appearance made Daniel give a sudden burst of laughter. After poking them a few times and getting him to move them around, she ran off to fetch her mother. Before long, he could hear a playful laugh coming from the entrance. Sure enough, walking towards him with a mischievous grin was the silver matriarch May. With her hair every bit as silver as her scales and her creamy white skin, May was a truly unmistakable beauty. As she came closer, she looked him over with her icy blue eyes and started to speak. ¡°Young people these days are in such a hurry to grow up. Congratulations on reaching your mature stage.¡± She said that with a melodic and sweet voice. That didn¡¯t last long, however, as she immediately became serious. ¡°As a silver matriarch and a descendant of the Golden Den, I, May Isaksen, hereby command you, Daniel Selby, to take my daughter as a mate and member of your kin.¡± He was shocked. There were many thing things there that he wanted to ask about and they all seemed to come up at once. He hadn¡¯t heard her kin name before, and if he had he wouldn¡¯t have dropped the formality even when asked to. The Isaksen were the most powerful kin in the Golden Den, which was in turn the most powerful den. It maintains its power by only allowing gold, silver, pink, obsidian and other rare variants join their kin, and any offspring that were born as lesser variants were sent to join a kin in other prominent dens to maintain relations. Obedience to the Golden Den was a blood instinct. ¡°Seeing how confused you look, I¡¯ll grace you with some answers.¡± Her voice seemed to have turned cruel, filled with the contempt and pride her blood allowed. ¡°Since the Draconian in this town have fooled themselves into acting human, once my Loralei undergoes the Rite of Ages she won¡¯t have a kin to join. If she¡¯s your mate however she can take your kin name and won¡¯t be a disgrace to my line.¡± For a while, she seemed to steep in anger. After taking in a deep breath and letting out a heavy sigh she seemed to have calmed somewhat. ¡°I chose you because you managed to fill the precepts I decided on. Firstly, you didn¡¯t treat her badly for being white scaled, even before meeting me; I¡¯ll not have my daughter suffer from a cruel mate. Secondly, you traded shrewdly; I¡¯ll not have any idiot decedents in my bloodline. Thirdly, you meet my requirements for physical strength, barely, and surpass my requirements for magical strength. Having reached the mature stage sealed the deal for me. Before then, I would have simply offered, but now it¡¯s a demand.¡± Through gritted teeth, he replied, ¡°As¡­ you¡­ require.¡± Despite his intentions to turn her down, the compulsion was simply too strong. Only once he gave his word did the pressure lessen. ¡°Good, make sure you take her with you when you leave town. I¡¯ll start conducting the rite tonight, and you can leave once she¡¯s done. I¡¯ll even let you stay for free until then.¡± With a laugh that reeked of malice and control, she left the room. Apparently, Loralei had been listening through the door, as she bowed in apology before chasing after her mother. The humans in the room seemed to be giving him strange looks. He understood that Humans had very different relationships to Draconian. For one thing they had a strange concept called marriage, where they pledge themselves to a mate before the gods they worshiped. They also seemed to dislike mating for the sake of powerful offspring. They also seemed to have problems with large age gaps, multiple mates, arranged parings and mating with those that they just met. There were so many rules he wondered how any Humans were ever born. It was much simpler for Draconian, at the age when claws grew, between seven and fifteen years after birth, they entered the adult stage. When an adult stage or older Draconian woman became sufficiently aroused, she could lay a clutch of one to three eggs. A male could then fertilise the eggs by covering them in semen. While their species was just as compatible as any other humanoid, Half-Draconian were a rare occurrence and usually infertile. Within a year of entering the adult age, a Draconian was required to undertake the Rite of Ages and join a kin; not doing so was seen as shaming the bloodline. As a side note, from birth, Draconian could handle alcohol better than most humans. Only Dwarves, a race that developed a dependency that required them to drink it instead of water, could out-drink a matriarch stage Draconian. Not caring to stick around to educate them about the inferiority of their biology, Daniel got up, dressed and went out to stretch his new wings. He had been sleeping for several hours and it was already late in the afternoon. There were people rushing about frantically, and at first he didn¡¯t realize what they were doing. It wasn¡¯t till he realized what the smell he had smelt in the air was, that he worked it out. There were dark coloured clouds approaching quickly from the east. Rain; rain was an incredibly dangerous occurrence. Directly after the rain, monster populations would rise, and during it, valuable soil would wash away. Rain at night was especially dangerous; after becoming wet, the night¡¯s cold would sap away any strength and leave only the dead. He had found it strange that they were trying to kill a Pink Draconian with exposure, but if it were going to rain it was an entirely different matter. Not only would it kill her, it would be one of the worst deaths a warrior like her could suffer. Her body would priorities her brain and heart, letting her limbs freeze and die off first, in an extremely painful process. Only once every other part of her body was dead, and she had suffered incredible pain at the hands of her own body, would her brain let her die. He wouldn¡¯t wish that on his worst enemy, let alone an attractive, powerful woman. He waited until the storm was about to hit and the guards went inside to escape the weather. Since the night was beginning, and darkness was spreading, there weren¡¯t many people around. Furthermore, he made himself invisible with the spell he had used in Springhill and Locke. As things were, seeing him would be basically impossible from a distance. He moved silently over to the mana generator and pulled out his pocket tool kit. After confirming it didn¡¯t have any kind of alarm he opened the catch and examined the crystal. It had 10cc in it, so he helped himself to 9.9cc. He then sealed the catch back up and tapped on the glass. ¡°The glass loses power in an hour,¡± he whispered, ¡°fly out of town when that happens.¡± As he said that, he passed a small bag over the wall, into the cage, and walked off after casting a force and water spell to keep rain out of the cage. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Inside the bag was his spare radio and knife. It also contained two travel cakes, a water bottle and a loaded P9S with fifty spare rounds. The knife alone was probably enough for her to escape, but since she would be in the wasteland after rain, he didn¡¯t think she would last long out there with only that. Afterwards, while he was inside, he heard a commotion, as it appeared that the prisoner sentenced to death managed to escape. It seemed that some idiot forgot to recharge the generator and she flew out after ripping the chains out with pure force, the chains were also strengthened by the generator and without it, were like paper to her strength. With the excuse that Loralei would be coming with him, the next day, he replaced the food and knife he gave away, plus a little extra to make it seem more natural. In the end he had to spend 5cc more. It was a small consolation that he was given a slight discount by the caring mother, worried about her child. At the time he was told that Loralei would be finished with the rite by that afternoon, so they could leave the next day. That afternoon, Loralei walked up to him as he was doing some entirely voluntary modifications to his buggy. May noted that his vehicle didn¡¯t have enough sun protection and suggested that he add some shade cloth. As she approached, he could see that she was completely worn out. The rite would normally take a minimum of three days, but it was somehow reduced to one. His remembered his own rite was very difficult and he took four days; he couldn¡¯t imagine the kind of methods the silver witch used to make that much of a difference. When she was close to him, she simply fell into his arms, not in a romantic sense, but almost entirely due to exhaustion. She wore the thick synthetic coat, which was much too large for her, over the top of a black dress that was made so that it wouldn¡¯t impede movement. The heavy coat definitely didn¡¯t help her overworked state, but it protected her delicate skin completely with its sleeves and hood. Before she fell asleep, she managed to weakly say her traditional first greeting. The first greeting was an important practice, as it was like a spoken signature that would be used as an introduction from then on. ¡°Loralei Selby, first mate of Daniel Selby, makes her greetings.¡± It was a meaningful greeting. When Daniel said his greetings, he would introduce himself by way of his den, ¡®Daniel Selby, from the Southernmost Den¡¯. When she introduced herself by way of him, it was akin to saying that he was more important to her then her heritage. Doing so was called the ¡®lover¡¯s greeting¡¯ and it wasn¡¯t unheard of, it just wasn¡¯t anywhere near as popular since the calamity that scorched the earth. On top of that, she added the variation, ¡®first mate¡¯. It was a possession name that told him that she expected him to have other permanent mates. It was an odd combinations, the ¡®lover¡¯s greeting¡¯ was an old world way of saying ¡®this one is mine, back off¡¯ but the ¡®first mate¡¯ was a way of saying ¡®others mates are welcome¡¯. He wondered if she had consulted with her mother before choosing that one. It was a little bit degrading to her ancestry, so the proud ¡®silver born of gold¡¯ May would probably have a fit if she heard it. Shrugging it off, he placed the sleeping Loralei in the passenger seat and lowered it so she could sleep comfortably as he finished installing the shade. As he was finishing up, a group of five guards, fully armoured and armed with spears and pistols, came up to him. He looked curiously at the group while resting his hand on the f2000 within the car. ¡°What can I help you with?¡± he asked with a look of near sincere curiosity. ¡°You are required to come with us to be questioned regarding the escaped pink Draconian prisoner. If you don¡¯t come with us we¡¯ll kick your scaly hide to the sand and drag you back.¡± He remembered that he gave his word not to fight unprovoked. He remembered that all too well. That was why he was almost glad that the ill-washed, fat and fleshy lump of human trash in front of him was trying to provoke him. ¡°Hurry up and come with us, we all know you stupid lizards like to look tough, but a prissy little pink lizard like you can¡¯t do anything against the five us so just¡­¡± Before he could even finish, Daniel had pushed himself forward, pulled his knife and imbedded it in the man¡¯s throat. As he wasn¡¯t wearing his armour, he kept the fat man¡¯s body between him and the other¡¯s before making his next move. They couldn¡¯t be sure if their friend was alive or not, so they couldn¡¯t risk shooting him. Using that as an opening, he drew a spell that would prevent his gun from making sound for a few minutes. As they tried to move themselves into a position they wouldn¡¯t, he made another sudden burst of speed and collided with one of the guards. As they tumbled to the ground, he embedded the knife deeply through the left armpit, through the opening in the armour and into the heart. With the body on top of him, they couldn¡¯t see the knife. With him moving the body and pretending to struggle, they couldn¡¯t tell he was dead. As they moved closer to help their friend out, he lined up clear shots. With the weapon being completely silent, the remaining guard, couldn¡¯t tell that two more had been killed until they fell backwards, like dolls with strings cut. The final guy tried to run, but was shot in the foot and fell over. Before he could stand back up, Daniel was behind him with his knife. After taking the time to steal their guns, bullets and money, he started up the car and sped towards the farm side wall. It was fair to say that he was annoyed with the town, though mainly with the silver woman and her human guards. Since they would probably never stop going after him, his only hope was to cause as much damage, make them look weak, and hope that the Norse Pantheon made a push north. He drove across the farmland, destroying crops and getting people to follow him. They thought they were cornering him against a wall. As he got closer, they started running mana through the glass, hardening it beyond what his gun could damage. Earlier, when he took the crystals of the dead guards, he gained a little over a hundred crystal charge. As he drove he forced all of that energy onto two bullets. The first one struck into the glass and overloaded the field; four or five sections of glass suddenly lost all their extra harness. The second bullet, however, wasn¡¯t made to break fields. It was an explosive charge that shattered the glass with a satisfying sound. Beside him, Loralei was woken by the blast and was shocked to find herself in a buggy, driving away from the town shooting at them. As she looked behind them, she suddenly yelled, ¡°Look out!¡± as she pushed against the steering wheel. Daniel what trying to stop them from spinning out as a bolt of energy flared in the space they had been. It was bad. It was the energy weapon he had heard about. Has he crossed the broken gate, he pushed the car to its limits, getting away from the town as fast as he could manage. It wasn¡¯t just that everyone there now wanted him dead; it was also to do with the recent rain. After rain, the monsters of the wastes breed like crazy and existing populations got far more violent in order to attract a mate. Since the wall was broken near a source of food, namely the farmland, it wouldn¡¯t be long before the town was inundated with beasts. Once he put enough distance between him and the town to make them think they were headed west, he took a sharp turn and resumed his trip north. Chapter 3 - Buried Tower Part 1 After a tense night of restless sleep the sun began to rise across the wasteland. With the rain Daniel was on edge, constantly looking out for signs of approaching hordes. As he and Loralei took in the first light and warmed their bodies, they worked together to slice and toast a travel cake. Toasted, it tasted more nutty and fresh, while untoasted it was more like a mix of bran and brown sugar. A couple slices of bread wasn¡¯t a very substantial breakfast but few Draconian had much appetite before they finished warming. If breakfast was the most important meal of a human¡¯s day, than lunch was a Draconian¡¯s. After warming and eating they set off. Shade cover couldn¡¯t be placed at the front of the buggy, since it would obstruct sight too much, so Loralei still wore her heavy coat with its hood flipped. As he drove he could hear her soft breathing, echoing through the synthetic fabric. She had been nervous during the night and he was happy to see her catch up on her sleep. When they escaped the town, he explained what happened and why they fled. At first she seemed afraid to have made an enemy of her mother, but quickly seemed to resolver herself. As he let his thoughts take a break from focusing on the road, and looked at his sleeping companion, he heard a sudden daunting sound. It was a mechanical click, like the sound of a snapping branch or the release of a spring. He felt a sudden movement. He heard a thunder like crack. He tasted the dry, red sand. As his ears rang, he looked around to see the buggy flipped onto its back with its rear wheel melted, the axle bent and several parts shattered. He was on his back in the sand, pain flared up from his leg. He couldn¡¯t tell if it was broken, but there was a large gash that had been bandaged with one of his shirts. Nearby was Loralei, with a relieved expression on her face. ¡°Ah, be careful. You blacked out for a few minutes and you¡¯ve lost some blood.¡± She held his back as he sat up, it was more to calm him then to physical aid him, ¡°I used magic to heal your leg but your body still thinks that it¡¯s hurt so you¡¯ll feel the pain.¡± Hearing her through his damaged ears, Daniel nodded and looked about as he stood. In the distance he could see the reflection of an approaching vehicle. While it was possible that someone saw the smoke and came to help, it was far more likely that it was the bands that placed the trap coming to loot their bodies. They only had a couple minutes till the bandits arrived, so he picked up Loralei and placed her under the buggy. With the crystal removed, there was no risk of the vehicle catching fire, aside from the melted tires. He gave a quick look at his supplies while he grabbed his gun and armour. He didn¡¯t have time to put everything on, so he just slipped on the vest. ¡°In the supply bag there¡¯s a revolver.¡± He told the hidden Loralei, ¡°If you run low on mana and need to protect yourself, use that.¡± With preparations made and the possible enemies only a few hundred meters away, he crouched behind the buggy and waited for them to arrive. As the drivers pulled up he realized they weren¡¯t getting out of there without a fight; it was a car filled with six Dwarves. Dwarves were one of the most disgusting races to Draconian. They resembled short and wide, almost round, hairy humans with featureless faces and empty holes where the eyes would be. The eye-like holes were actually nostrils, and they navigated the world with a sense of smell that was sharper than any other species. The scent base sight led to another trait that a Dwarf was attributed; stench. To a Dwarf, the scent of each person was a complex balance of smells that allowed them to grasp a little bit of each other¡¯s life story from the first moment of meeting, than distinguish them afterwards. For every other race, they smelt like the worst parts of a rubbish bin. Furthermore, little else was needed to distinguish themselves so they outwardly looked alike, making them impossible for other races to tell them apart. Another sickening trait was there racial dependency. At some point in their race¡¯s history, they began to drink alcohol and found the scent of a strong drinker to be attractive. Over the cause of a couple millennia, Dwarves became physically attached to the substance. Where other races needed water to survive, Dwarves required alcohol. Daniel wasn¡¯t sure about the exact reasoning, but he had heard that it acted similarly to insulin in humans to their unique physiology. When the apocalypse happened, few in their race were able to secure a supply of liquor, so their species underwent a natural culling. There dependency, however, forced them to become the fastest race to start rebuilding and led them to owning the largest city with the most farmland. ¡°We know you have liquor. We can smell it.¡± The apparent leader called out, ¡°Hand it over, little lizard girl, or we¡¯ll shoot you full of more holes then fuck them.¡± The revolting creature said those words then let out a cruel laugh. His voice was filled with the hope that she would choose the second option. In all likelihood he would kill her after she handed over the drink. It was then that Daniel realized that they were only talking to Loralei. Although he had planned to hide her while he remained in the open, the situation turned out in reverse. Being under the car did nothing to hide her smell from them but standing within the smoke did. Furthermore, he cleaned himself to the point of obsession, making his own smell easily suppressed by the burning rubber. So long as they didn¡¯t notice the blood, so long as they paid attention to her, he was hidden from them. It wouldn¡¯t take them long to notice so he had to work quickly. He had inherited his father¡¯s pepper breath and gas manipulation abilities, and with them set a trap. Yellow Dragons were physically strong but their breath attack was the weakest. The pepper breath was essentially just a powerful pepper spray (mace); although on the scale of a dragon it was more than capable of melting a human, on the Draconian scale it was painful but not lethal. The only race that truly feared it more than tear-gas was Dwarves. With their powerful sense of smell, taking a direct blast of pepper breath could blind them for life. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. A matriarch that trained in gas manipulation could control the air in another person¡¯s lungs; however with Daniel¡¯s experience he could do little more than control his own breath attacks. That was enough for the current situation. He controlled the flow of mana to his mouth and empowered the glands at the back of his throat to begin the production of the acidic gas. As it left his lips, he moved the prana in it to hold it and shape it, hidden within the smoke. He started shaping the gas into thin arrows as the six figures started to approach his mate. She looked towards him with a worried expression. It was at that moment that he was discovered. ¡°Show yourself, smoke lizard.¡± The leader pointed a PA3 shotgun towards him, its black, metal frame blending into the near black skin of the Dwarf. Although Dwarves were capable of accurate shooting, they had a real preference for shotguns with cartridges similar to birdshot. It wasn¡¯t uncommon for them to use cartridges filled with crystal shards charged with magic. Even if that was an extremely effective way to spread death over a wide area, it was also an expensive use of mana. It seemed far more likely that they were using normal bird or buckshot. ¡°I know you''re there, so come out.¡± Daniel hadn¡¯t finished preparing the arrows, but he had three ready. If he could stall them, he might be able to make a few more but even though he held them tightly together they still gave off a smell and could be discovered if they focused on it. Not willing to take the chance, he shot out the bolts he had, hitting the leader and the two closest to Loralei. As they were struck they shot their weapons wildly as they dropped and reeled from the pain. One of the weaker Dwarves was unable to stand the burning sensation and was unmoving, either in death or unconsciousness. Furthermore, even the enemies that weren¡¯t hit were disorientated, with their sight completely disrupted by the overwhelming smell. As spells went, it was an incredibly cost effective attack. Unfortunately, luck wasn¡¯t on Daniel¡¯s side and some of the shot that the blinded creatures fired stuck him heavily in the chest. While the riot armour stopped the metal, the force still winded him and knocked him to the ground. As he tried to pull himself together and recover his breath, one of the least affected attackers managed to approach him. With sun heated metal pointed towards him, there wasn¡¯t much he could do. The weapon was aimed, armed, deadly. He could barely focus enough to look up at the weapon; rolling out of the way was beyond his current state. He shut his eyes and awaited his reunion in Helheim. A gunshot sounded, its echo passed through him. He opened his eyes to find the filthy gunman dead. Loralei shot the man and given him the time he needed to recover. Not letting her effort go to waste, he quickly got to his feet and shot the incapacitated men as he moved to a more secure place. Four of Dwarves were dead. The remaining two retreated back to their car. Feeling victorious, he rushed towards them to finish them off. It was at that moment that he realized that his situation was in no way as good as he had thought. They hadn¡¯t retreated to their car to protect themselves. They were instead seeking to use the machine gun that was mounted on its roof to finish him off quickly. To make matters worse, his armour hadn¡¯t fared as well as he had thought and a stream of blood was starting to flow from beneath it. The adrenalin had prevented him from noticing it earlier, but since he was aware of it the pain caused him to seize up, with even the slightest of movements increasing the sensation. Daniel gritted his teeth and rolled under the buggy, next to Loralei, narrowly avoiding a barrage of large bullets. Moments later, the buggy was hit and metal shards few throughout the landscape. Stray rounds hit near their bodies as the attackers shot blindly into the pepper filled smoke. Daniel shielded Loralei with his damaged body and waited for their ammo supply to run dry. As he shielded her, his mind grew light and his eyes were heavy; looking at where he had rolled from, there was a clear trail of blood. He looked over to the Dwarves, with their faces distorted by cruel snarls, and noticed something approach behind them. Through his hazy eyes he couldn¡¯t tell what it was, but it was approaching them incredibly fast and didn¡¯t seem to touch the sand as it moved. In a moment of clarity he realized what it was. It was a pink object flying towards them. It was the woman he helped; Leah Lemann. He gave a chuckle to himself as he prepared for her appearance to create an opportunity. The car was made from a thick dark metal, and with his condition it was doubtful that he could hit anything with the gun. Instead he prepared a knife and waited for them to notice her. It didn¡¯t take long; Leah charged straight for them, only moving the slightest amount to avoid their fire. With the way clear, he used his wings to fly himself towards them in one powerful jump. Caught up in their pincer attack, the Dwarves became confused. Both Leah and Daniel killed one of the smelly creatures each. With the threat passed, Daniel reached out his hand to greet Leah, but instead found himself in her arms. His body didn¡¯t seem to have any energy left and she caught him as he fell. With the last of his effort, he looked over at his once treasured buggy and confirmed Loralei was safe. chapter 3.2 - Buried Tower Part 2 As Leah cleared the car, ensuring that she wouldn¡¯t have to sit in Dwarf blood, Loralei applied the best first-aid she could to the sleeping Daniel. His wounds were many and serious; he wouldn¡¯t live long without treatment. Although Loralei could use medical magic her mana capacity was simply too low to handle injuries of that extent. Leah on the other hand had more than enough mana, but didn¡¯t have the patience to learn any kind of magic other than her natural breath attacks and simple body strengthening. That left them with a problem, neither could save him. There best plan wasn¡¯t particularly great either. They¡¯d stabilise him as best they could, drive to the nearest tower, and either level Loralei up to the point where she could heal him or earn enough tower power points that Leah could buy an ability that let her transfer mana. While Leah had raided several towers before, even survived a couple solo raids, she hadn¡¯t ever tried one with a time limit and a dead-weight. Towers were dangerous things and rushing through them would only lead to making fatal mistakes. However, she resigned herself to the fact that she didn¡¯t have much of a choice. Daniel saved her life when she was in that cage. Her pride as a warrior wouldn¡¯t let him die ¡®till she repaid that. Once the seats were cleaned and Daniel was bandaged, their luggage was loaded into the back of the large black car. Its engine roared with the ignition as the inefficient design of the motor converted crystal energy into fuel rather than directly into kinetic energy. Despite the far worse energy cost, the design was favoured by Dwarves as it helped them to navigate and coordinate in groups. The car¡¯s wide wheels were fitted with scooping, paddle like tyres and it moved smoothly through the sand. With the quality of the tyres, they made great time and arrived at a nearby tower that Leah had been aware of. The tower was a rare type; it only had three floors, all of which were beneath the sand. Leah had found it by chance when she was camping, shortly before she was captured in Fallen Tower. In the morning when she went to bury her camp fire, she dug up a section of the roof. As she was busy at the time, she simply made note of the location and promised herself that she would be back. Although a buried tower didn¡¯t have a safety net, the fact that it was a small tower, and close by, served their purposes nicely. Brushing aside a thin layer of sand, Leah revealed a few meters of the cement roof. With a deep breath, her considerable chest started to swell. Moments later she exhaled with incredible force, almost like a passing storm. The cement that was hit by the breath broke apart into dust within seconds of coming into contact with her fearsome acid breath. Pink Draconian ruled the lesser Draconian variants for a very simple reason; without a neutraliser or shield, nothing could withstand their acid breath. Their higher variant, the amethyst Draconian, was arguably more powerful than a gold Draconian, though they ranked lower due to rarity. It was said that amethyst Draconian were the only variant where the child of the lower variant, in that case a pink Draconian, had zero chance of being born an amethyst. Even the child of a yellow Draconian had a slight chance of being born a gold, but no such occurrence had ever been recorded for pink. With a hole in the roof, sunlight filled to top floor of the buried tower and Leah attached a rope to the car. Although the roof would eventually fix itself, it wouldn¡¯t do so while a thick rope dangled through the hole. With a pistol and knife drawn, Leah spread her wings and jumped down the hole. Landing softly against the carpeted floor, she swung her knife at a fur covered snake that lounged at her. As the blade sunk deeply into the creature, its fluorescent yellow-green blood burst from its body and dyed the surrounding area. Glow snakes were a popular creature amongst tower raiders; their blood could absorb light and heat to glow for several hours. As a non-magical, renewable light source, bottles sold very well. As Loralei finished climbing down, Leah drained the snake¡¯s blood into a plastic bottle. Loralei drew her revolver enviously from her heavy coat and waited quietly for Leah to make a move. She seemed to be scouting the room cautiously, expecting there to be more than just one snake. Leah¡¯s caution was somewhat contagious, and Loralei could feel anxiety build in her small stomach. With the room secured, they didn¡¯t spend any time searching for supplies. The experience was the goal and they would pass through there on the way out, so there was no reason to bog themselves down. With no elevator, there only choice was the stairs. The door to the stairwell was oddly secure, with extra metal protection the joints and bracing the frame. The protection seemed out of place with the rest of the room and Leah hadn¡¯t encountered that in previous towers, but she also knew that there was an incredible amount of variation between towers and encountering something for the first time was in no way rare. Since the door wouldn¡¯t open, Leah once again let out her acid and watched it melt away the floor. Her mana had been reduced to the halfway mark as generating that quantity of volatile matter required an amount of energy that, in crystal terms, could power all of Fallen Tower for half a day. With the door out of the way, they moved through the gap with their weapons ready. The tower¡¯s lighting seemed to be broken and strangely, didn¡¯t seem to fix itself. With no small sense of annoyance, Leah pulled out her newly acquired glowing blood bottle and, insuring that the lid was on tight, rolled it slowly down the stairs. As the light moved and bounced, the pair scanned the path with unbridled focus, looking for any sign of danger. The light stopped against the door one floor below and they used that as an opportunity to advance. As they approached the door, Loralei realized that they hadn¡¯t sent out a will. Since she knew Leah was experienced with tower raids she became curious enough to ask her why they skipped that tradition. Leah¡¯s response was far less noble than she had expected. ¡°Huh, broadcast a will? Yeah, I skipped it since anyone that heard it could trace it and find this place. I found this tower and I¡¯m the only one who knows where it is. As it stands, everything in it belongs to me and I can even turn it into a base; why would I want other people taking my stuff?¡± Although she was a little disappointed, Loralei could recognise where Leah was coming from. Most people in the wastes would probably make the same decision, but a part of her felt that abandoning a tradition for a reason like didn¡¯t sit well with her Draconian pride. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Leah felt relieved when Loralei didn¡¯t call her bluff. She actually didn¡¯t care if other people knew about the tower and was fairly sure there was no-one within range of the transition even if she did. The real reason she hadn¡¯t followed the tradition was because she had simply forgotten. However, her pride as an experienced raider wouldn¡¯t let her admit that. That Loralei was willing to accept her explanation so easily made Leah a little bit happy. Having her there reminded her of when she was still with the Southwest Den. Before the destruction of her den, the Lemann kin were the protectors of the den. Even before her rite, she spent most days with a weapon in her hands, and once she was officially apart of the kin she was in a tower for a week each month. The Southwest Den was built around a thirty floor Glass Tower and it was a tower that had never been completely conquered. Since new enemies would fill the lower floors after a few weeks, the tower was considered to be the best place to train. She had fond memories of being trained in that tower and even more of training others. She was recognised in her kin as a genius and they would brag about her even to other dens; Leah the Death Bringer. When the Glass Tower system first activates on a person, they are analysed. Not only were their physical and magical traits recorded, but they were assigned a class based on their proficiencies. Leah had received the rare class Death Bringer, a point that marked her as a prodigy to her kin. Classes affected what the system improved when levelling and Death Bringer was a powerful combat class. Although her mana, prana, intelligence, armour and non-combat skills rarely improved, her strength, speed and health were beyond compare. Leah slid the bottled light into her shirt, holding it in place between her breasts. She hadn¡¯t thought to bring string or anything to hold a light, so that was the best solution she could think of without thinking. With the light raised higher, Loralei suddenly yelled ¡°Get back,¡± as the hinges of the door broke from weight and strain. The door fell with a heavy crash as the metal and wood collided with the cement surfaces and echoed throughout the confined chamber. Leah reacted to the warning in time and managed to move out of the falling door¡¯s path by ducking to the side. However, avoiding the door was small comfort compared to what was inside the door. Tower Leaches; metallic, slimy masses of blades and teeth. The room was filled with them and no part of the floor could be seen. Suddenly the problems with the tower made sense; the building wasn¡¯t fixing the lights because it was too busy fixing everything else. Furthermore, the people from before the fall had reinforced the doors in the hopes to seal them inside. If they had started on the bottom floor and every door was similarly sealed, with the tower constantly fixing itself, it would have taken them scores of years to reach the surface. Luckily for them, they had all the time in the world to do so. Tower Leeches were extremely uncommon, to the point that some people could go their lives without ever hearing about them. Despite that, they were still one of the worst plagues in the wastes. They devoured metal, crops and energy. If someone tried to shoot them, the bullet would be eaten without hurting them in the slightest. The only thing that seemed to work against them was pre-fall concussive pulse energy weapons and hitting them with electricity till they overfed and died. Given the lack of advanced weapons, magic was their only real option. The pair ran back up the stairs and started to prepare spells. Although Leah wasn¡¯t particularly skilled with magic, she could at least draw simple double circle hexagrams fairly quickly. She sent bolt after bolt of lightning at the leaches, pushing them back at the bend in stairs, she knew her mana reserves wouldn¡¯t hold out for long, but her regeneration rate seemed far higher than usual. She gained confidence as she realized the Glass Tower was supporting them and with a surge of confidence increased the pace of her attack. That was a mistake, however, since while she had the mana to continue, she forgot about the mental strain casting placed on the body. As she was using more power than she was normally able to, and at a rate she hadn¡¯t trained for, her mind was under incredible strain, as if she had been driving for a day straight without taking breaks. As her concentration broke, she slid backwards into a wall. She was confused and her vision wouldn¡¯t focus. The leeches were getting closer by the second and she was struggling to remember how to put strength into her legs. As the hoard was almost within reach of Leah, Loralei moved in front of her and took a deep breath. ¡®Ah, of cause,¡¯ thought Leah, ¡®a cold breath would slow them down enough that we can get away.¡¯ To her surprise however, what came out wasn¡¯t cold energy, but was instead the pure electric energy of a lightning breath. The energy spread throughout the stairwell, feeding the leaches till they dropped. Although there were still other levels to the tower, and only the youngest and weakest would be at the top floor, Loralei had managed to kill a floors worth of leeches with a single breath attack. It took a moment, either because of surprise or fatigue, but Leah had finally worked out what happened. Loralei wasn¡¯t a white variant; she was a silver/white variant. When a Draconian was born, their colour variant was determined by the colour of their parents. It would normally be the colour of the more powerful parent, but it could also be the other parent or the lesser, or higher, variant of either parent. More rare options were taking the variant of an extremely powerful grandparent or taking on a sub-variant. What that meant was they would take the traits of the stronger parent and some of the other parent¡¯s traits. Daniel was an example of that and, as it turned out, so was Loralei. Sub-variants were apparently more likely when the two parents were similar in power. With the number of opponents Loralei had killed, not only did the system activate, but she immediately rose to level 3. With her newly acquired mana capacity and Storm Mage class, she had everything she needed to heal Daniel. They quickly moved back to the surface, with Leah flying them out rather than wasting time with the rope, and rushed to heal their patient. Chapter 3.3 - Buried Tower Part 3 Part 3 Loralei started to prepare a complicated medical spell in the back seats of the car¡¯s cab, while Daniel slept on those same seats. It might not have been practical, or particularly good for the patient, but she worked while sitting in his lap. She felt safe and comfortable there, and that safe feeling helped her concentrate on getting the elemental ratios of the spell perfect. While spells would usually have the desired effect if the ratios were about right, more complicated spells required more exactness and more simple spells could benefit through reduced mana costs. An example would be an ice bolt attack, which required a ratio of one water to one force and negative two fire. If that exact ratio was reached, it could be cast for about eight points of mana. If any of the numbers were off by point one, then it would take twelve mana points to cast. The cost would increase further with more errors until the price was twice the ideal; after that the ratios were usually closer to a different spell or shape. Getting ratios right was hard enough with simple arrays, but if a spell required more than six elements then a more complicated array, such as a linked moon array, would have to be used. The array Loralei was using was one suited almost exactly to healing. It was called a linked triangle array and, like the name implied, it only used three elements. The reduced number of elements however didn¡¯t make it easier to use. It was shaped with twelve overlapped triangles of different sizes and shapes forming a ring. Each individual triangle controlled how the mana would act to a specific part of the body and the relative sizes of the triangles controlled how much of the supplied mana went into each action. Since she wasn¡¯t completely confident in the array she drew, she fixed it in place by drawing a single line in the centre of the ring, preventing it from fading away or activating, and went outside while looking up the spell formula. By levelling up, she had received a total of 60 skill points from the tower. With those points she purchased the skill ¡®Intermediate Spell List [Medical]¡¯ for 20 points, which let her look up any healing spell up to what the system designated an intermediate level. Before she entered the tower she didn¡¯t have enough mana to cast anything but basic spells, so she only ever practiced those. Another way of looking at that, however, was that she was well practiced at simple spells. Because of that, she didn¡¯t think that the ¡®Basic Spell List¡¯ series of skills was a good investment for her. Other than basic and intermediate, there were also expert, master and sage levels. Considering an intermediate spell would use more than half of her newly enlarged mana capacity, being able to cast a sage level spell seemed like a dream within a dream. As she looked up the spell the ground began to shake. Earthquakes weren¡¯t uncommon in the wastes but it was disconcerting that the shaking seemed to emanate from the tower. As she fished through her bag for her gun, the ground busted open, sending sand and cement fragments flying throughout the area. A lump of sharp rock skimmed across Loralei¡¯s face, splitting one of the white scales on her cheek. She fell back on her ass with wide eyes, filled with fear, as she saw what exited the buried tower. It was a Tower Leach, but not like anything she had ever seen or heard of. Its body was at least thirty meters long and ten meters high. It was covered in near-unbreakable tower glass over its metallic skin. Each of its many sharp teeth were as long as a person and they moved throughout its body, both inside and out, to both shred its food and move itself forward. To make matters worse, at the centre of what could reasonably be called its head was a solid crystal structure, about a metre large in a prism shape; it was a Tower Heart, a crystal-heart that generated crystal charge over time and could store up to ten thousand charge at a time. They were a closely guarded secret amongst those who governed towns with towers and the only reason Loralei knew about them was through her mother. Most people that knew of them thought them to be rumours or simply larger crystals. Her money had even gone so far as place a curse on her to prevent her from revealing that Tower Hearts generated cc. Seeing the monster appear, Leah remembered a story her own mother once told her. It was one of the four simultaneous disasters that caused the world to fall; the Queen Leech. The story said that Tower Leeches were weapons made by humans, something both mechanical and living that could be dropped in an enemy¡¯s territory; that would destroy anything they had to increase in numbers. But they weren¡¯t an effective weapon and with the abundance of technology and power before the fall, they were hunted and killed easily. The creator couldn¡¯t stand that his creation was being beaten so he did something he shouldn¡¯t have; he made a queen with a crystal eye. The story didn¡¯t mention how, but with the eye it became unbeatable, its former weaknesses meant nothing to it. Being as unbeatable as it was, it broke free and, with the other three calamities, helped to bring about the near end of the world. Every instinct in Leah¡¯s body told her that the mountain of metal flesh in front of her was the Queen Leech. It was the first time that she had felt such a primal embodiment of both hunger and power. Fear filled her. Fear filled her like she was a child once again and the world was a cold stormy night. She could feel her hands shake and no matter how much she willed it, her hands couldn¡¯t draw her weapons. The metal monster came closer. Its body drew heat to it and the air around it became as icy as a winter night in the wastes. She knew she was only moments away from being eaten, but her legs were heavy and unmoving. She closed her eyes as the cold drew the life from her. In the darkness she suddenly felt a sharp impact, as her mind went blank. Daniel sat in a blurry space. He knew it had to be a dream since nothing around him could be focused on, yet at the same time conveyed on overwhelming sense of opulence. The illogical nature of understanding something without being able to understand it could only be rationalised with the notion that he was dreaming. The sun in the sky seemed to be setting rapidly. No, that wasn¡¯t right. It was getting closer, like a meteor headed straight for him. Before it struck, it slowed and shifted, becoming a humanoid shape. Before him stood a tall warrior, whose features were and indistinguishable as the room¡¯s. He understood the man to be both human and Draconian, but at the same time was neither. He was in a suit of extremely practical, yet somehow also elaborate, armour and was missing one arm. Even without the mysterious sense of knowing Daniel would have been able to recognise him. It was the god he followed and respected most, the patron of the Draconian Norse, Tyr. ¡°Young warrior,¡± a voice he knew to be Tyr¡¯s boomed in his head, ¡°you must wake soon. Though I can only stir people to strife and can never reconcile them, you are not me. You must follow you word and reach Enoksen. Ares¡¯ Spear does not strike of its own will, but is being pushed to claim new land after the Aegis was beaten back.¡± That shocked Daniel more than the appearance of his god. The Aegis was the Olympic Pantheon¡¯s most stalwart defenders, it was said that no member of that order had ever been injured in battle. Their order¡¯s leader was supposedly granted the name Athena by the goddess herself. He couldn¡¯t even imagine a force that could drive them back in battle. Yet despite that, he knew that it was true, Tyr¡¯s honour wouldn¡¯t let him tell a lie to his followers. As he thought that, Tyr continued, ¡°When you reach Enoksen, you must tell them that the true threat isn¡¯t Olympus, but what threatens them. To the Far north the Children of Izanagi and the Swords of Kali march together. While only a small part of the both Hindu and Shinto Pantheons support the attacks, their forces are stronger than they should be and even we gods are being obstructed from their territories. As more land gets taken, more of their orders will join the fight, to survive, the Olympians, the Celtic and the Norse must stand together.¡± As Tyr finished speaking, Daniel felt the entire room shake. He opened his eyes and found he was in the back of the Dwarves¡¯ car, covered in bandages with a spell paused over his head. Not willing to risk its activation while he had no idea what it did, he quickly drew a line through the whole ring to dismiss it. As he did that, he noticed that his ¡®Fast Healing¡¯ skill had activated and levelled up from four to five. His current health was about eighty percent healed at 115/140. It still hurt a bit to move but the sounds outside made him curious enough to look out the window. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡®Shit.¡¯ He thought, ¡®I took one nap and Leah and Loralei somehow used the time to summon a world eating monster; fucking amazing use of time, there.¡¯ After his mind caught up with what he was seeing, and worked out that he wasn¡¯t still dreaming, he realized how bad a situation they were in. Loralei was on the ground and Leah was about to be eaten, neither showed any sign of moving. ¡°Start the goddamn car and stop just sitting there!¡± he yelled towards the stunned Loralei. She seemed to notice him after a couple of seconds. Her face seemed to flash between a variety of emotions before settling back on panic. Thankfully she seemed to be functioning now, as she moved towards the driver¡¯s seat. As she got in, he got out. His wings unfurled and he pushed mana and strength heavily into them sending him forward with incredible speed. He could see Leah close her eyes as the monster got closer. He wasn¡¯t going to let her die. He pushed more mana still into his wings, more than they could hold. He could feel them heating up, like they were over a fire. He collided with her and pushed her out of the way, her skin felt cold and one of his horns stabbed her side. He hopped that if they survived she wouldn¡¯t hold that against him. The pain of being stabbed, however, did Leah some good. The pain hurt. She could feel it. She was still alive and wanted to stay that way. With her eyes now open, she could see that she was being held tightly by a Red Draconian with blood stained bandages. The rugged look and scent of battle filled her mind as he placed her down and faced the creature once more. Daniel left the car without a weapon. He was concerned about Leah and hadn¡¯t taken the time to grab his gear. Since Leah didn¡¯t seem to be much use, when he put her down he had taken the pistol back from her. He could feel roughly from the weight that it should still have some rounds left in it so he rushed towards the monster with it. Of his ninety mana points, he had used thirty getting to Leah in time so he still had magic to use as a weapon. Sixty mana points was usually enough for most battles, but against something like the worm he was seeing, he doubted it would be. Two shot rang out, neither had any effect of the glass or the crystal. Daniel wasn¡¯t surprised, but he always felt better about things after seeing for himself. The shots did, however, draw the creature¡¯s attention to him. The cold chill in the air followed him as he ran, looking for anything that could be considered a weakness. He couldn¡¯t find anything and the bladed mouth got closer every second. Suddenly he had an idea. It was a terrible idea, one that would last for a minute at most. He ducked to the side suddenly, causing the massive mouth to pass by him. With the few seconds he had before it turned around, he prepared a spell. A blue tinged clear field covered his body, it was one of his best force field spells, but against the abduction effects that monster seemed to have, he thought that it would drain one mana every second. With the eight he spent on casting, he had fifty-two seconds to kill the creature from the inside. Not wasting so much as a moment, he dove down its throat Its blade like teeth rushed to greet him but he moved out of their way each time, even going so far as to use his wings to jump over them. While moving out of the way of the dangers, he ran forward, looking for anything that could be used to kill the beast. With twenty seconds left he reached what might have been the stomach of the creature, or at least a waiting area for what had been eaten to be broken down. That space was filled with the remnants of a tower, with office supplies and sections of wall strewn everywhere. There were even the remains of much smaller versions of the monster he was inside. At the core of the stomach was a lump of half dissolved crystal. He recognised it as an enlarged crystal charge storage crystal, possibly even a legendary crystal-heart. Without even having to think about it he ran over to it and used it to sustain his field. Checking its level he could see that it had well over a thousand cc in it, more money than he had ever seen in one place. That amount, however, was decreasing faster than his just his shield could draw and he knew that the monster was draining it. Oddly though, he could almost feel something in it. Like a pulse or a voice. He wasn¡¯t sure how but he knew what it wanted him to do. If he hadn¡¯t felt something similar when he met Tyr he would have ignored the sensation. An array diagram filled his mind and recreated it exactly, not willing to make any kind of error with such a complicated spell. The array was like nothing he had ever seen, it was six hexagrams arranged within one large hexagram with a strange writing around the edge and a rune in the centre. He couldn¡¯t imagine what all the parts would do, but trusted that pulse, trusted in its warmness. With the array complete, he activated it with the crystal as a medium. In an instant, the crystal was drained of all but a dozen cc and a strange multi-coloured beam burst from the array. The beam shot out, melting a line though the monster to connect directly with the crystal on its head. Cracks filled the shell and its energy was drained into the array then passed into the half dissolved crystal. The monster¡¯s crystals emptied and, as sand, blew away in the wind. The loss of the crystal however, didn¡¯t kill it, and Daniel could feel its desire to melt him increase. He just laughed at it, thinking, ¡®If you want power so bad, I¡¯ll give it to you.¡¯ Using the newly charged crystal as a medium once more, he drew a deep breath and let his chest swell, both with air and power. His fire breath burst from his mouth with more power than he could ever have used, manipulating it into a tight, hot beam. Although the heat was being drained from the attack, without the crystal to store the energy, it wasn¡¯t able to disburse that amount of energy fast enough. Before long, it reached its limit and the ray tore through its flesh, cutting it in two, then four, then eight pieces. With its body shredded, it finally died, letting out a soft whimper from its bloodless body.
System Message
Calamity Class Beast Slain. Rewards: 3 Levels, +40 Tower Skill Points, Tower Skill [Racial Variant Improvement], 100cc, Weapon, [M77 of the Gem Dragon].
With the unexpectedly good rewards appearing in his lap, the crystal floated itself back down the hole, where its tower had been. Burying itself under the sand, within a few years he imagined there would be a new tower there. Part of him wanted to dive in after it and take everything it had, but he knew it had a pulse, that it was alive and was filled with compassion. One of the things he learnt from it was how the creature came to be trapped in the tower in the first place. The tower, Staple Street Design Co., drew it in with its own heart as bait, all to stop its rampage. It wanted to save as many lives as it could, while its own body was slowly eaten and it lived every day in pain. He truly respected the strength she showed, to the point that it overwhelmed his greed. As he lay there in the sand, next to the broken body of the leach, Leah ran towards him. Loralei had already healed her wound, but he dreaded the idea of a pink Draconian holding a grudge against him. As he sat up to try and grab his things and run, she pounced on him. She straddled him, pinning him down with her long arms and legs. Her face seemed to be contorted into a disturbing smile and her eyes looked like they were eyeing the tastiest of meats. With a sly laugh, she leant in and started to kiss him wherever her mouth would reach, pressing herself against him, and wrapping her nimble wings around his body. Suddenly she let out a creepy laugh and said, ¡°Hehehe, you actually went and became a higher variant for me. As expected of the mate I¡¯ve chosen; a shiny gem all for me.¡± It was then that he noticed that Leah, in her power-lust filled state, was right, his scales had changed colour. Before they were clearly a sold dark red with some yellow highlights, but now they shone like semi-transparent red stones with gold dust throughout them. He was able to push her back enough to free one arm, a feat he wasn¡¯t even close to being able to do three levels ago, and looked at his status. The skill he had been granted, Racial Variant Improvement, had changed both his variants. He wasn¡¯t a red and yellow Draconian, but instead a ruby and gold Draconian. Valentine’s Day Special 2016 Valentine¡¯s Day Special 2016 A few years prior, before Daniel started wandering the wastes, he lived in the Southernmost Den. The den was the most common type of Draconian village; a tall mountain hollowed out through magic. The bunker-like structure made them able to survive the world¡¯s collapse and the strength of the people inside prevented them from being stolen by bandits. The space was shaped in a very traditional way, with rooms along the outer edge and a large lake of water filling the centre. The peak of the mountain was removed to let in the sun and the water was heated with geothermal energy. Few places could be as comfortable for Draconian than a den. Floating on the centre of the lake was a temple made from sturdy wood, where the elders of the den conducted meetings, rulings and rituals. In a house on one of the middle layers was the family house where Daniel was raised. He lived there with his sister, mother and her three mates. His mother was a red matriarch, a powerful warrior who subdued two of her mates with pure force and, prior to becoming a matriarch and giving up her place in the kinship to take a leading position, led the Selby kinship to destroy several nearby towers. It was her power that led the den¡¯s elders to push her third mate onto her and that order that led her to take a position on the counsel. Daniel¡¯s father, her third mate, was a Golden Den reject, born from a line of golden Draconian but none the less being yellow. As such, as soon as he reached a level of training where he wouldn¡¯t disgrace their den they pushed him off to be someone else¡¯s problem and pretended it was for the sake of strengthening ties. Any golden children he had, such as Daniel¡¯s sister Aria, could return to the Golden Den and join the Isaksen kinship, but he himself could never return home. His mother hadn¡¯t been particularly happy with the arrangement and referred to him as reject trash, but eventually came to tolerate him enough to mate with after taking on raids while her other mates were away. The fact that Daniel and Aria¡¯s ages were more than ten years apart spoke wonders about how little respect she had for the man. If not for the fact that her other mates were infertile, and therein existed solely for her enjoyment, neither Daniel nor Aria would have been born. Aria, despite being a golden Draconian, had only grown her claws and become an adult recently, at the late age of fifteen. That kind of delayed growth was expected from weak bloodlines, such as white or blue Draconian, but for a golden born of a powerful red it could only be seen as shameful. It was shameful to the point that despite her tall build, fair skin, radiant golden-blond hair and sweet personality, she was still picked on and bullied. There were many times that Daniel had to shoo people away from her. Even if he clearly had traces of yellow in his scales, few in the den would mess with a Selby. It was a few days after Aria grew her claws that it was announced that she would undertake the Rite of Ages once the elders who had gone to the Southwest Den returned. They had heard rumours about that den having a new prodigy, and went to negotiate to have it mate with someone from the Southernmost Den to strengthen their ties though powerful offspring. Although it was possible to communicate between the dens with either magic or technology, the meetings were done in person out of tradition. Although he understood and respected the tradition, he was annoyed that the delay it caused would prevent him from seeing Area emerge from her rite. On the day after her rite was now scheduled to begin, the Selby kinship would depart on a tower raid. Part of Daniel had hoped that after the rite she would join the Selby kinship, but it seemed to him that it was very unlikely that she would stick around when she had the opportunity to join the Isaksen. His cousin, Land Selby, just responded to his worries by saying, ¡°You¡¯re both dense and blind, my young kin, and that¡¯ll get you killed faster than anything in a tower.¡± Daniel wasn¡¯t numb to the point Land was trying to make, Draconian were incredibly genetically complicated and a child born between direct sibling had almost no extra risk of deformity. That combined with the far less restricted environment around mating and the human taboo of incest simply wasn¡¯t understood by Draconian. Land knew that the pair was close and, having fought with Daniel at his back, thought that any child they had would work out well. Land had light brown scales and his tower class was Sniper, with that and his tendency to try and pair people together he earned himself the nickname Freya. Although he disliked being compared to a goddess, he liked that it gave his suggestions more credibility too much to stop people from saying it. Lifting his trusty F2000, Land continued, ¡°That girl would tear the wings off any elder that tried to force her to leave, and that you doubt that at all is a wonder to me.¡± Daniel had no idea where Land got that impression, both that Aria would act violently and that the den would order her to leave. Even if it strengthened ties with the Golden den, having her there meant more golden blood in the den gene pool. A few days passed and Aria would be leaving for her rite the next day. As Daniel arrived home from training drills he found Aria standing outside their house waiting with a worried expression. When she noticed him, her face lit up with a shining smile, an action that infected him and he felt himself grin like an idiot. As she rushed over and greeted him, she held his hands and looked up into his eyes. He could feel her excited heart through her hands and his mind was slow to comprehend what she said; only focusing on the beautiful gleam in her red eyes. Only after agreeing did he run what she said through his mind. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Since you¡¯ll be gone after the rite starts, we won¡¯t see each other for a while,¡± she had said, ¡°because of that, would it be alright if we went on a date tonight?¡± Since he had already agreed he couldn¡¯t go back on that, instead he quickly got cleaned up and changed clothes. Not long after they were moving through a cave system towards the lower levels. There were very few traditional date locations with the den. Draconian dates typically came in two forms, bedding or bloodlust; either coming to an understanding after spending time getting to know each other or killing things ¡®till their bodies were too filled with adrenalin to think clearly. Despite the Selby reputation for the latter, Daniel wasn¡¯t completely willing to risk Aria¡¯s life on the former. Daniel¡¯s opinions on the matter were, thankfully, not important as Aria was constantly a step ahead of him, subtly directing him while making it look like they were just walking randomly as they spoke. She asked him about his Rite of Ages, about the Selby kinship and other things like that. While the questions themselves made it sound like she was worried about her future, her voice hid a hint of confidence that undermined the effect. He just laughed inwardly at how cute she was acting and enjoyed the sensation of her on his arm. As they reached their coincidental destination, Daniel couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised; having lived in that large cave for all his life he had though he had seen all of it. Before them was the edge of the lake, stretching out for hundreds of meters, cloaked in the darkness of the night and reflecting the billion stars like a water was claiming them as its own. The soft ripples on the water dispersed the light and revealed the cave walls, showing colours that seemed somehow truer than in the harsh daylight. The ripples gently churned the steam, the scents around them seemed to blend together and in the haze, Daniel could only think about Aria. Separating herself from him, Aria fetched a bottle and a dish from behind a nearby rock. Once again wrapping herself in his arms she poured herself a drink. From the aroma her knew what it was; whiskey. The den brewed a couple varieties of drink but whiskey seemed to be the most popular. Daniel didn¡¯t really drink much, but he enjoyed drinking together with her. With a dish in her hands, reflecting starlight against her metallic scales, Aria shone in the night, as luminous as the sun and as warm as dawn. Aria could only drink the cheapest stuff, but he promised her that he would someday bring her some from a tower, some old world whiskey that had aged through the fall. Hearing his promise, she smiled and blushed, nuzzling her head against his chest. Together, in that moment, they felt content and happy. More than the pride he had as his mother¡¯s son, the reason he worked so hard during tower raids, why he never missed a deployment, was to keep that promise and to become strong enough to protect her. After nearly an hour of simply enjoying the view and each other¡¯s presence, they finally began to head back. Along the way, Aria made a confession. ¡°When I was waiting for the elders to see me,¡± she began meekly, ¡°I overheard their discussion; they want to force me to go to the Golden Den and will send you to the Southwest Den to stop you from causing trouble over it.¡± He could see tears start to form in her eyes, and felt like a piece of him broke on seeing that. But despite that, he couldn¡¯t help but carry doubt. ¡°Oh sweet thing, the elders can¡¯t force you to go, and there¡¯s no reason for the Southwest Den to let me in. I know you¡¯re anxious but there¡¯s nothing to worry about.¡± ¡°But that¡¯s the thing, there is a reason. Their new prodigy, a pink Death Bringer called Leah Lemann, they want to offer you as a potential mate once your next tower run¡¯s over.¡± The concern on her face was real, and the point she raised was a valid one. He let out a deep sigh and replied. ¡°Even if that¡¯s true, all we have to do to stop it is say no. No, you won¡¯t go to the Golden Den and no, I won¡¯t go to the Southwest Den. Simple as that.¡± His confidence seemed to help sooth her a little and her anxious face started to relax. Early the next morning, Daniel woke up first. Partially do to her anxiety, though mostly not, Aria slept together with him. Using all of his stealth training, he managed to get out of the bed without waking her. As with most mornings, he started the day with stretches and a basic workout. Unlike most mornings, however, there was a messenger from the elders there to interrupt him. The Copper patriarch snarled at him and began to speak is a whispering voice which could embody the meaning a malice. ¡°Tread lightly and think things through carefully. It¡¯s more important to us that she goes to the Golden den than it is that you stay alive. Make sure she makes the right choice.¡± Having delivered his not even thinly veiled threat, the messenger left, leaving no trace of his visit behind. The way the elders were handling it filled him with a kind of anger he hadn¡¯t felt before; it was a mix of righteous fury and simple loathing. If that messenger had stuck around he might have attacked him, even to the point of disregarding their status differences. The anger inside him made him feel too petty to even mention it to Aria and instead focused on making their last morning together for a while enjoyable than seeing her off to the rite. Not long after the rite started, he got a message over the radio, saying that the Selby kin would be departing a day early. With a sudden sense of urgency, he rushed towards the meeting point to prepare. With the rush of the departure, he had completely forgotten about the ominous words of the council representative. Chapter 4 - Dead Tower Part 1 Amongst the Draconian higher variants, there was a subset called the gem dragons. Emerald, sapphire, obsidian, ruby, alexandrite and other gems; just like how gold and silver had an anima breath, the gem dragons had a force breath. Unlike the metallics, where the breath was simply a release of pure element, the gem dragons each had their own unique ¡®breath attack¡¯. For emeralds it was ¡®Collect¡¯, an inward force that drew everything to its user. For sapphires it was ¡®Wall¡¯, a wide, impenetrable force field. And rubies had the effect ¡®Crush¡¯, a downward force that pinned things to the ground and flattened them. While the effects had less versatility than other elements, and they could be replicated with magic, the benefit was that the effects were stronger and required less mana than their equivalent spell. The efficiency of breath attacks was what made them so powerful and the reason the higher variants were called so was because they each possessed two elements instead of one. That being the case, a Draconian like Daniel, who could use four elements, had the kind of power needed to start his own den. Another point that made the higher variants powerful was their racial skills ¡®Draconic Command¡¯. ¡®Draconic Command¡¯ was as strange subject to understand. It wasn¡¯t a magical compulsion, as it didn¡¯t require any mana to use, and yet it those affected by it would behave as though it were. In its simplest form, it allowed its user to command a lesser variant of a similar variation. The more powerful the user, the less similar the variations had to be and the harder it was to resist. At the time he hadn¡¯t realized it, but the power May had used on him to force him to take Loralei with him was ¡®Draconic Command¡¯. When he looked through the tower skills list he found a related skill, that was considered a legend amongst Draconian, ¡®Draconic Command [King]¡¯. It would cost him 500tp, but its possessor could command any Draconian or Dragon to do anything. It worried him that a skill like that even existed, but if there was a Draconian out there who reached level 25, most people would obey them anyway. With Daniel¡¯s variants both being boosted, he both ¡®Draconic Command (Gold)¡¯ and ¡®Draconic Command (Ruby)¡¯. Although they were both only level one, once they improved to max, the effect would be similar to that of ¡®king¡¯. It would be altogether possible for him to command armies by the time he reached his patriarch stage. Though as it was, it would probably only make him seem slightly more charismatic to lesser variants. On a related note, although pink was a powerful variant, it was still a lesser variant. That was a pressing issue for him, as it turned out. He apparently was only able to free his arm because Leah let him. Even if his level was higher, her class and variant was devoted to strength, and she had him completely outmatched. The strength difference was to the point that even straining everything he had, he could at best free one more arm. That was, when not taking into account technique. Although neither of them had an unarmed skill, Leah was noticeably better at grappling, and showed no sign of letting go. ¡°If you want to free your arms,¡± her seductive deep voice began, ¡°then all you have to do is hold me with them.¡± Putting aside the illogic of how she expected him to do that before releasing his arms, it was clear that she wasn¡¯t going to start thinking clearly any time soon. In fact, her mood seemed to be infectious, as Daniel felt himself start to lose his own rationality. She was incredibly strong; her tone arms were muscular, but in no way unattractive. The clear desire in her eyes and the certain focus that she could take what she wanted filled his sight. Sweat made her scales glisten and the smell sent his heart racing. As Leah pressed him against the sand and their bodies sank slightly into the warm earth, she stripped their pants off using her wings in a display of surprising finesse. With the fabric out of the way, she rubbed her moist slit against him, pressing down against him with redoubled force. With her beautiful body in full view, his dick stood vertical and pressed against her soft skin. As they lost themselves to their urges and filled each other with hot passion they lost track of everything around them. When the moment had passed, and they lay exhausted beside each other, coated in fluids and sand, their minds started to clear. Daniel had let out several loads inside her and from the resulting arousal Leah had released a clutch of three eggs. Draconian eggs were strange from a biological sense; they were both leathery and gel-like, about the size of a loose hand. The squishy leathery ¡®shell¡¯ wasn¡¯t technically a part of the egg, as the actual egg portion was within it, and the ¡®shell¡¯ was hard to define at a cellular level. It acted like a secondary, external womb and the cells that composed it contained chemicals that acted like chlorophyll while still being animal cells and were insoluble to any liquids that didn¡¯t contain enzymes found in semen. The result was that the ¡®shell¡¯ could be fertilised both inside a female Draconian and externally and generated energy for the foetus through a process of magic combined with photosynthesis called photo-pranasynthesis. By looking at the flow of prana into slimy green structures of the three eggs it could be easily seen that they were each fertilised. Unlike human pregnancies, Draconian fertilisation happened within the space of a few minutes, though the stillborn rate was much higher. The eggs would require a reasonably consistent supply of sunlight and prana, but too much of ether would be damaging to the unborn. As such, large spells couldn¡¯t be used near them, as once the prana from an area was used nearby prana would fill the area, hitting the eggs like a wave. Because it was counterproductive to successful childbirth, but Draconian women would also take the eggs with them to combat. From their perspective as a race that could live for centuries, it was better that the weak eggs get weeded out. It was an objectively cruel practice, but the result was a race with very few recorded birth defects. By that point, the day had almost past with the time being sometime in the four to five pm region. As the sun was setting early at that time of year, they wouldn¡¯t have much light left in the day and none of their group was in prime shape. It was at that point, while Daniel was considering setting up camp, that he remembered Loralei. Looking around, he found her collapsed, panting nearby. At first he started to panic, but that subsided when he realized what had happened. She had also become aroused by the experience but instead watched him be possessed by Leah and engaged in some solo-play. Seeing that she was alright, he instead moved the eggs to a warm safe place near the car. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. When the three of them had caught their breaths and cleaned themselves, they set up a rough camp for the night. Their new car was much larger and more comfortable than their old buggy, but still far from wide enough for the two Draconian that passed two meters in height. If not for her insistence of sleeping together with Daniel, Loralei could have slept comfortably on the wide back seats. Instead, they rolled out and pinned up the plastic tarp tent, threw down a thick blanket and prepared a fire on a lump of building rubble. With the bedding sorted, Daniel thought that it would be best to understand his new rifle before he needed to start using it. The ¡®M77 of the Gem Dragon¡¯ was a pre-fall M77 sniper rifle with a reasonably large scope and a good performance record. The only real differences between it and a normal M77 was that it was etched with elaborate depictions of dragons throughout the stock and barrel, and that there was a red gem where the box should have been. Seeing that gem he recognised what the weapon was, he had seen a similar modification on a weapon used by his mother. It was a mana-bolt rifle. Simply put, the box shaped crystal stored mana in it and when he pulled the trigger a portion would be siphoned and converted into a solid mass. They were incredibly uneconomical weapons when compared to the price of normal bullets, but they had the benefit of producing rounds anywhere without having to carry the weight of a manufacturing set. In the case of his mother¡¯s gun, if mana was fed to it calmly and carefully, then one bullet would cost ten mana points. Someone without the tower system would only be able to store one shot without having to wait for their mana to restore, making it an impractical weapon at best. Daniel, however, had no such problem. With the levels he gained by defeating the Queen Leech, his new capacity was six hundred and fifty units. He could easily fill it with three score rounds, though he would avoid doing so near the eggs, since rapidly moving that much mana would make waves in the prana. To test it out, he filled it with three shots and waited to see if it would drain over time. When he checked it an hour later, having had dinner with his mates, he found that the charges had dropped by one. It was just like his mother¡¯s prized pistol, it lost a charge every hour, making it useless as a battery. None the less, he knew his mother used to poor her left over energy into her gun before going to sleep. Since her gun had a maximum charge of twenty shoots, it would still be useable when she woke up. After moving some distance away from the camp, he tried to find the box¡¯s charge limit. It was shit. Ten shots; by the time he woke up and sun-baked it would be dead again. To make matters worse, even being as careful as he could be the box still drained thirty mana points for each round. Nearly half his supplies to charge a weapon that would be flat by morning; fucking worthless. Just to see if it was even slightly worth the cost, he looked around for something to test it on and found a pair of Armoured Crocodiles, four meter long carnivorous reptiles with thirty centimetre thick carapace skin, a few hundred meters away. He quickly cast a spell to ensure the weapon¡¯s accuracy, and then lined up the shot. Conveniently, the scope was enchanted with what seemed to be life sense, and the living targets seemed like beacons or flares through the looking glass. The gun let out a thunderous roar as he squeezed the trigger and in the distance the first croc was shattered into a cloud of blood, its body thrown back and broken. The mana cost made a lot more sense when he observed that scene. It wasn¡¯t that the weapon was inefficient; it was simply creating enchanted explosive rounds instead of normal ones. The damage difference between the two was like heaven and earth, as the now dead animal in the distance would attest to. After quickly finishing of the second one, he flew over to the bodies, drained a total of 2cc from their mana cores, returned back to camp. Sitting comfortably around the fire, Leah and Loralei started to explain what happened after the fight with the Dwarves. At first he was surprised by their panic, and then he understood that he hadn¡¯t ever explained his abilities to them. After he explained to them that he had the ¡®Fast Healing¡¯ tower skill and that so long as he wasn¡¯t killed outright he would recover from most things within a few days, so long as he was in areas with prana, they seemed to understand why he thought they took an unnecessary risk. Since Leah had decided to travel with them on a more permanent basis, they decided to spend some time revealing their abilities. When Daniel mentioned that his class had changed to ¡®Calamity Killing Gunner Mage¡¯ Leah seemed to express confusion; aside from receiving an advance class, she hadn¡¯t heard of anyone¡¯s class changing like that. The next morning, they packed up their camp after sunbaking and breakfast. With the crocodile meat magically salted and set on a tray on the car¡¯s roof to cure, their food supply was assured for a while longer, even after the travel cake were gone. With the preparations done and as they were ready to leave, Daniel walked over to the pit once more to say farewell to the tower-heart that saved them. During the day they encountered several small and large creatures, the rain from a couple nights ago had done its job and the beasts of the wastes had multiplied considerably. It wasn¡¯t really that much of an issue for them, since it gave Daniel something to practice his rifle on, and provided power for their gas-guzzling car. Above the rear seats was a sunroof, where the light machine gun that shot Daniel was fixed. By rotating that gun out of the way that place became very useful as a place to shoot from without having to stop the car and get out. While he was shooting, Loralei did the driving. As it turned out, Leah had never learnt to drive, and was, as such, delegated the job of fetching the crystal charge from anything killed along the way. As the afternoon rolled in, on the third day of traveling like that, they saw a massive structure moving in the distance. As it got closer they could see that it was an oil-tanker, a 240 meter long boat that had been heavily modified to work on the sand. On either side of the ship were massive paddle like drills that appeared to pull the boat forward. Each drill was at least 200 meters long and had churning, fan-like blades that were between ten and twenty meters wide. While it wasn¡¯t a trade depot, it was the next best thing; an Orcish village. Chapter 4.2 - Dead Tower Part 2 Part 2 When Orcs were first discovered, they quickly made a reputation for themselves as bloody barbarian who committed one of the largest massacres, when not including the bloody history of the elves. They were first found on a north eastern continent and they spread out from there using swords, spears and their own large bodies to slaughter their way through the land that was at the time controlled by humans. The humans back then still controlled most of the planet, having only recently started to find the other races, and had confidence in their technology as a method to maintain supremacy. The Orcish invasion showed them that their technology meant nothing and caused the human race to start accepting the other races out of necessity. A two meter tall Orcs was considered short, and their bodies were wide enough that the height felt normal. They also had large heads to match the large bodies with dark or pale green skin differentiating men and women. Though their bodies were mostly similar to muscular humans, they lacked physical ears, and instead heard through their whole skulls. Furthermore, while they couldn¡¯t differentiate colours, they were able to see in the infrared spectrum. Their complex auditory system, and the spatial awareness that it granted, and ability to see heat was the result of their adaptation to underground environments. One of their greatest resources as an enemy to humanity, however, was their innate rage. One they became enraged, they would continue to fight, even after their hearts were crushed and brain was damaged. Since their whole body sustained its functions during a rage, the only option was to wait for it to end. The modern Orc however, had long since discarded that image. A century after the bloody massacre, an Orcish emperor declared that their only way forward as a species was to coexist and learn. He created learning institutions and it was quickly discovered that their large heads had equally large brains, capable of rapid learning. In fact, their bodies could sustain themselves after death during rage because they actually had brain cells mixed throughout their entire bodies. Furthermore, their short lifespan and rapid growth period let each generation pass far faster than humans could have imagined. Within three decades, they had replicated all of humanities technology and even surpassed them in some areas. That wasn¡¯t going to change how they were thought of, however, as their reputation was already soaked in blood. Even if they invented the first 3D-printer capable of printing new vaccines, they would still be remembered as a warrior race. Even if they made new methods for improving agriculture outcomes, they would still be called raging barbarians. For them, the battles were more than ten generations ago, but for the humans, some of their grandparents were survivors. Even after the fall, despite their efforts in stalling two of the calamities, they were still looked at by humans with the same eyes as monsters. That same reputation, however, was one of the reasons they got along so well with Draconian. As much as the short lived Orcs wanted to forget, the long lived Draconian couldn¡¯t stop the praise for them. Amongst the eldest Draconian, there were still some who were there to see the fields of blood. They insisted that Orcs always get favourable treatment in negotiations in honour of those scenes, and so long as they lived their words would be followed by even the youngest generations. The open respect meant the two races had strong trade partnerships that often took precedent over land and religious conflicts. If two factions were at war, it wouldn¡¯t be odd to see Orcs and Draconian within those factions to still come to an agreement. Despite their close relationship, Orcs were one of the races that had the fewest Draconian half breeds. The respect was directed towards their past achievements, their logical and borderline pacifistic approach won little respect on a personal level. Another issue with them was that they never slept. They simply didn¡¯t have to, and that meant that their villages were active, bright and noisy at all hours. For races that required sleep, being near them for long periods of time would wear them, and their sleep cycle, out. When Daniel, Leah and Loralei saw the village they were somewhat excited. The village was flying a neutral trader¡¯s flag, meaning they would trade with any party and wouldn¡¯t ask unnecessary questions about why Norse warriors were in Celtic territory. It was a good opportunity for them to get an updated map and resupply on things besides essentials. Leah hoped that there would be a decent armourer, as she was somewhat tired of fighting with just jeans and a loose shirt for protection. She had confidence in her scales being nearly as hard as diamond, but given there was a lot of her body that they didn¡¯t cover she would feel safer with something like Daniel¡¯s riot gear. They signalled the ship over the radio and received permission to board. A side section opened like a draw-bridge in front of one of the turbines to invite them in. They were expected to simply drive in while the ship remained in motion. Since the momentum of the large vessel was so great, changing speeds, such as stopping and starting, would drain the energy must faster. Rather than risk draining their power every time someone wanted to get on, they instead let visitors risk being buried in loose sand if they got too close to the engines. When they successfully pulled into the lower deck, they were instructed to park in one of the nearby bays. The tanker had three layers, the lower, upper and outside decks. The lower deck was split into two sections, with the engine room at the rear and the loading area/warehouse at the front. The middle deck was mostly living areas and other vital areas. It was all off-limits to strangers, with the exception of the only inn on the boat. The outside deck was used as a common area and a bazaar. Traders would set up there and the local militia would train in any unused space. With the soldiers so close to the merchants a good public order was maintained. Having placed a force field over the car¡¯s rear tray to secure their items, the three of them made their way up to the markets. At the entrance to the stairs, they were checked for weapons and told that if they wanted to travel on the middle deck to anywhere besides the inn, they would need to have a local with them. While they didn¡¯t really have any business in that area, that they were being directed away from it made Daniel want to check it out. The bazaar was set up in a figure eight with two rows of stalls and mats forming two stretched circles across the deck. In the centre of each circle were overlapping rugs that could be used as public seating. The busy bustling sounds of the market were almost melodic when compared with the violence of the previous days. Taking a moment to simply enjoy the atmosphere, they began to look around casually before getting to business. ¡°Ah, I remember you.¡± As they looked around, one of the store owners suddenly called out to him. The man was an Orc that was about fifteen years old and as such was a venerable old man with more wrinkles than skin. His dark green skin was littered with brown spots and his muscular body was hunched over. ¡°A few years ago I was a part of a group making a trade deal with the Southernmost Den. I saw you during the security check. What¡¯s a security officer doing all the way out here? Are you with the other group from that den?¡± Eidetic memories were normal amongst Orcs, it was to the point that not having one was considered having a learning disability. Given that, it wasn¡¯t surprising that the old man, who had seen him only once before, recognised him. What was more surprising was that the trader mentioned another group from the Southernmost Den. They were a considerable distance away and the land they were in was held by both an enemy sects and a rival den. Either they were in a different place to where they thought they were, or something was wrong with his Den. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Although he hadn¡¯t left on the best of terms, and was too disgraced to return there, it was still the home he had fought to protect and the house of his family. Knowing that it might be important, he asked the trader what he knew. The Trader was happy to answer and replied with a chuckle. ¡°They were a scary lot, even for Draconian. They were armed to the teeth and had some serious armour. Not like yours there, serious stuff with better materials and layers of enchantments. I¡¯d never seen gear like that; I can¡¯t imagine how much a set would cost. And, each of the four had a set. They turned up as they were passing through two days back in an actual hover car. Old world tech, that, and not cheap to maintain, either. Whatever they¡¯re after, they need it quick and they¡¯re not afraid to spend money on it.¡± From what the old man said, it seemed that Daniel¡¯s den had deployed its most elite fighters. The armour that was mentioned was the best the den had, and they only owned six of them. It was the kind of armour that only the strongest of matriarchs could own. Before she became a member of the council, Daniel¡¯s mother had owned a set, but with her appointment she had to pass it onto another promising warrior. The day she had to hand over that armour was the only time he had ever seen his mother cry. Granted, it was only a single tear, but it still showed how attached she had been. On top of the armour, they were deployed with the den¡¯s only hovercraft, it was the fastest vehicle the den had, but it chewed through power and couldn¡¯t take any damage. He couldn¡¯t imagine what they were after with a force like that; he didn¡¯t think anything could put up much resistance. Thinking about it like that, they would probably be done before he could be of any use. Also, if they worked for the council then they would probably not want to see him. He thanked the old man and they continued throughout the market. At the edge of the training grounds they saw a slight commotion. A young looking Orc woman, that looked about late teens/early twenties in human ages and wore a lab-coat, was getting pushed aside by a militiaman that was trying to train. ¡°For the last fucking time, Mel,¡± the men yelled, ¡°we don¡¯t have time for your shit. If you want to go, go by your fucking self.¡± Both the arguing parties seemed very agitated. The woman, whose name was apparently Mel, yelled back, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll just drive to Enoksen myself; all alone in the wastes. Then, once I¡¯ve been eaten by a sand worm, I hope you¡¯ll be able to sleep well at night.¡± With a childlike tantrum, she stormed off, heading for the stairs. The man seemed to let out a heavy sigh, while hunching forward. ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m telling you not to go¡± he said under his breath. Hearing her intended destination, Daniel became interested and approached the soldier for details. ¡°Sorry, I couldn¡¯t help but overhear, why is she so keen to get to Enoksen?¡± ¡°Ah, don¡¯t worry about it,¡± the soldier spoke, ¡°it was our fault for yelling so loud. And that stupid woman wants to go there since she was offered an internship at a lab there. The lab here is too small and the fact that we¡¯re constantly moving affects a lot of experiments, so she¡¯s dreamed of working at a large lab in a city.¡± After speaking he once again sighed heavily. ¡°What was the argument about, then? Something about her getting there?¡± ¡°Yeah, we don¡¯t have anyone free to accompany her. She knows the way, can navigate better than most and has her own little sand-sled, the only thing stopping her from leaving is the hoard of monsters between here and there. It might sound bad, but this is one time that I¡¯m thankful that she¡¯s such a coward. I know she¡¯s three years old and adult enough to make her own choices, but as her friend I can¡¯t help but worry.¡± Daniel was momentarily distracted by that, as he was once again reminded of the stark differences between their races. An Orc could die of old age at an age where a Draconian wasn¡¯t yet an adult. Once he recovered his mind, he asked the soldier if he could escort them to find her. ¡°We¡¯re headed for Enoksen, so we could guard her for you while she navigates.¡± The Orc¡¯s eyes lit up at the offer, like his prayers were answered. He quickly told another militiaman where he was going and escorted them to the middle deck. The space was efficiently used in the middle deck, with very little room unused. From a human perspective it would definitely feel cramped and overcrowded, but for the Daniel and Leah it reminded them of their dens. They found Mel in her house, a two by four meter room with space for a bed, some storage and little else. Calling it a room was generous, as it was only one meter high, which allowed for another such room to be placed on top of it. Eating and bathing were done in public mess halls and bathhouses, so there were few things that the rooms actually needed. The only reason the room was as wide as it was, was to accommodate relationships. As they slid open the folding door, the militiaman explained their offer to Mel. She seemed especially grateful, and deeply embraced the guard. She introduced herself to the three Draconian and swiftly threw all of her limited belongings into a single small bag. With her room cleared out, they went restocked non-essentials at the market and prepared to leave. Mel had her own vehicle and said that she would prefer to use it and would dive ahead of them as their navigator. Her sand-sled was essentially a kayak that had been modified with turbines, similar to the ones on the oil tanker, and a small cabin that housed both her and the engine. Looking at it, they were doubtful that it could keep up with their car, but instead found they had to radio her and tell her to slow down. If it were a race, there was no way they could catch it. That evening, as they set up camp, Daniel took some time to bond with his eggs and gently pass mana through them to check on their health. During the day the eggs spent most of their time in Loralei¡¯s lap. With her own light sensitivity, she was the best equipped to know when the eggs had had too much light. Leah recognised that it was the best solution and wasn¡¯t about to fuss over someone else looking after her eggs. They wouldn¡¯t hatch for another two and a half years, so there wasn¡¯t any chance that they would mistake who their mother was. Seeing the eggs, Mel became surprised. She had heard stories about the properties of the eggs and her curiosity as a scientist was flaring up. After observing for a few minutes and asking an endless barrage of questions none of them had answers to, she seemed to form a determined expression. During the night, Mel volunteered to take the first watch. Orcs required a single hour¡¯s sleep each night so it only made sense for her to do so. Since they trusted her to wake them up at the first sign of trouble, they left the job to her. Not long before morning, they heard the sound of the sand-sled¡¯s engine starting and they awoke to find Mel driving away. Taking a look around camp, they found she had taken the eggs. They fought off their cold blooded lethargy, and had the camp packed in under two minutes. Since there was no way to catch up to her their only option was to track her. Since Loralei was too cold to drive Daniel was the only driver and Leah manned the turret instead. She had the M77 equipped but with her mana capacity, she would face mana exhaustion after loading it with six shots. It was mostly being used for its scope, making sure that they didn¡¯t lose track of her and that nothing took them by surprise. As morning came and their bodies began to warm up, they saw a tall tower in the distance. It looked to be about seven floors above the ground and the structure was littered with shattered windows and metal frames that were dulled with sand. It was easy to tell with a single glance that it was a tower that had been conquered and had its heart drained or broken; it was a dead tower. Chapter 4.3 - Dead Tower Part 3 Part 3 Large sheets of hardened glass protruded from the golden sand, reflecting the morning light like burning knives warding any who would set their sights on the great beast¡¯s grave. Though the tower was long dead and rust grew along its surface like a vine, it still seemed to be proud in its own way; a warrior that didn¡¯t fall even in death. As many though tower-hearts were myths, the notion of a tower¡¯s death was strange to comprehend. Whether it was age, damage from raiders or simply an inevitability of the design, it was held that towers simply died eventually. Those who did believe in tower-hearts would say that towers died when the heart was drained or broken. The idea that a tower could die was also strange to think about; for it to die than it would have had to have been alive. The idea of a living building didn¡¯t sit right with most people, so it could also be called broken. But broken also didn¡¯t seem to sit right, given a tower¡¯s ability to fix itself. Even the tower that Broken Tower was named for rebuilt a floor every few years. But as they drove closer to the decaying building, the definition of life was far from Daniel¡¯s mind. As Loralei and Leah prepared their weapons and checked over their supplies, the building dropped one of its scale like glass sheets. Caught by the wind, the sheet hit the sand next to the car; a reminder that a dead tower was by no means safer than a living one. Monsters would often seek out the remains of towers, both as shelter and materials to improve themselves. While monsters, aside from Tower Leeches, in living towers wouldn¡¯t damage the tower, dead towers were often consumed by monsters, after both the residual mana and rare minerals. As such, dead tower monsters were often made from the hardened materials of the tower and had an abundance of magic abilities. Given the remains seemed to have weathered at least a few storms it was likely that there were numerous beasts within. Both Daniel and Leah were filled to the bursting point with anger that their eggs were being taken to such a location. The moment they reached the edge of the tower, the car stopped and they got out. Once again only spending the time to put on the chest piece of his armour, he passed the M77 to Loralei and told her to back the car up and shoot Mel if she exits the tower without them. She responded with a confident nod and received the weapon that was two thirds her height. With the life sight on the scope, he had complete confidence that Loralei would be a competent rear-guard. Even if she wasn¡¯t confident with the rifle, she could always use magic. Leah drew her pistol and knife, waiting by at the side of a broken window entrance. With his F2000 braced, Daniel signalled forward and they entered the building. The first floor was clear; no sign of monsters, but warm bullet casings littered the area and strange coloured blood throughout. The rounds were 5.56mm, the same kind he used, and from the temperature, they weren¡¯t fired very long ago. Furthermore, the blood was still wet with dragging trails leading both up and down. Splitting up was never a good idea in a tower, but in their anger they were far from thinking clearly. Leah started to head upward and Daniel moved down. With the light on the F2000¡¯s barrel, it was easier for him to hunt down then it was for Leah. Aside from just the light, Daniel also felt safer on lower levels than upper ones, it wasn¡¯t a rational thing, but instead an emotional one. If he were calm, it wouldn¡¯t affect him much, but while he was worked up, the memories of everyone he¡¯d seen die on upper levels would well up. As they separated and he snaked his way down the stairs, he could hear voices coming from through a nearby door. It was the distinct sound of desperate pleading. Somehow Mel was in trouble and was begging and rationalising. ¡°Please, please, you have to understand. My research needs these. My research could save thousands, even millions of Orc lives.¡± Fear and desperation coated her every word. But a voice responded with a tone so cold, it pierced through his anger and sent a chill down his back. ¡°I truly couldn¡¯t care less. You dared to touch something you shouldn¡¯t have. You dared to trick someone you shouldn¡¯t have. I should cut your legs off and leave you to the scavengers.¡± His instincts told him to flee, avoid the owner of that voice at any cost and run. However, he couldn¡¯t do that. His eggs were in that room and his pride wouldn¡¯t let him run without even seeing what he was running from. ¡°You have to understand, we Orcs require so much more food to survive than other races. We need so much, and kids need even more still. Our village is pushed to its limit just surviving and each year more of it is converted into food production. If I can replicate the egg¡¯s photo-pranasynthesis in my species, then the need for food would drop by so much. It would save us.¡± Mel continued to try speaking passionately despite the voice¡¯s apparent disinterest. It wasn¡¯t clear whether the passion was for her research or her life, though it was likely a mix of the two. ¡°I said I don¡¯t care. Now shut up or I¡¯ll cut your filthy mouth ou¡­ wait.¡± As Daniel reached for the door¡¯s handle, the voice trailed off. With the sound of footsteps approaching, he ignored his instincts once more and opened the door and prepared to run. Before he could even react, the moment the door was open, he felt heavy pressure against his chest as he was knocked back. His rifle clamoured against the floor outside of his reach, coming to a stop while balancing over a ledge. His hand shot for the knife on his belt, only to stop in response to a familiar voice. ¡°Brother! Brother, I¡¯ve finally caught you.¡± The sweet voice filled his mind completely as he looked down to find his younger sister pressing herself against his chest. Any thoughts of the earlier voice, that sent shivers through his body, had vanished completely; he couldn¡¯t even remember what he had wanted to run from. Aria had grown in his absence, she was filled with a confidence she had always lacked and her golden scales gleamed with vitality. The past her, who was often sick or hurt, seemed like a lie when compared to the woman that was tightly holding herself in his arms. The most surprising part was her aura. She was giving off more waste-mana then he was. When the body held its mana capacity, any leftover mana, waste-mana, was released into the air where it would eventually become prana. From her aura, Aria had about a full third more mana then he did. He had thought that his own capacity was already unbelievable; hers could only be described as monstrous. Furthermore, the prana around her seemed to dance, swaying happily while trying to get close to her. It was like her body was a magnet, and the prana was caught in rings or fields around her. He had never seen anything like that, and couldn¡¯t imagine what kind of magic she would be capable of. She was wearing a form fitting light brown robe and around her neck was a glass orb, about as large as a rockmelon, held to a cord with a silver clasp. The outfit suited her, and each element was coated with enchantments. He didn¡¯t know enough about the subject to know what they did, but the mana flowing through them was obvious. Her gem like red eyes looked up at him and he could feel her warmth, both physical and emotional. He felt overwhelmingly comfortable, to the point that he was willing to ignore all the questions that filled the back of his mind. At that moment, Mel sneaking past them went entirely unnoticed, as her existence only served to dampen their reunion. ¡°Brother,¡± she repeated once more, ¡°I won¡¯t let you go anywhere without me again.¡± Their comfortable mood didn¡¯t last long, however, as the echo of gunfire filled the building. From the sound of it, it was Leah¡¯s pistol and from the number of shots, she was in trouble. He rose to his feet and picked up both his sister and gun. She showed no sign of letting go of him, even with the tension, leaving him no option but lifting her. With his recently improved strength, it was easy for him to hold her weight, though it was still awkward to move. Seeing his difficulty, Aria reluctantly agreed to walk for herself, on the condition that he held her hand at all times. While he was happy for how cute she was, he did wish she would consider the time and place a little more. His F2000 could still be used with one hand, but it was uncomfortable to do so, and he wouldn¡¯t be able to reload it. As they ran up the stairs, he thought that if he needed to reload, he could always drop the gun and use his claws or magic. The first floor above was empty, so they continued to rush upward. On the second floor, the sound grew louder, as they saw Leah through the open door. She was covered in small cuts, from head to toe, and was lashing out at the surrounding monsters. They seemed to be haze monsters, but something wasn¡¯t right with them. There were too many and each time Leah¡¯s knife struck against them, sparks would fly. Their natural armour level was far too high. The bodies of a couple dead ones were littered throughout the room, with small holes in their bodies from Leah¡¯s gun. The gun itself was lying not far from Leah, discarded once no rounds remained. If she had a spare magazine, it might have been possible to reload in the chaos, but without it was just a weight to slow her down. As things stood, her nine bullets were able to kill two, despite being close range and on target. Her knife wasn¡¯t doing much better. The knife scraped against their bodies doing more from the impact than any kind of cut; their bodies were infused with the hardened tower glass and her knife was doing nothing to it. Out of pain and frustration, Leah let out a cry. ¡°Buy ¡®Class Skill 1¡¯¡± she yelled as her body gave the slight glow that showed that she spent Glass Tower Skill Points. The Class Skill series of skills were different for each class, and there wasn¡¯t any real way of knowing what they would be, aside from asking someone else with that class. For rare classes, the best they could hope for is that someone left a legend somewhere. As Leah hadn¡¯t noticed Daniel¡¯s arrival, she used her last ten points on a gamble, that the Death Bringer¡¯s first skill would be useful. As knowledge filled her, she knew that it had paid off. The skill was called Mana Weapon, and it was definitely worth it. Suddenly her knife lit up with a myriad of blue-purple colours, and the blade extended to about thirty centimetres. The blade sunk deeply into the closest creature¡¯s skin; while it didn¡¯t break the armour completely, with Leah¡¯s skills it was more than deep enough to be lethal. With newfound confidence, she danced throughout the enemies, slicing her blade through limbs, necks and chests as she moved. Her dance was reinforced by the covering fire of Daniel¡¯s rifle. At first Leah barely noticed Aria¡¯s presence, but when she started to cast magic, both she and Daniel were taken aback. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. She drew the circle dexterously with her whole hand, moving each finger simultaneously with precision. From a distance, it looked like she waved her hand and a spell was formed. It was a kind of Quick Drawing that put Daniel to shame. And it wasn¡¯t just the speed of her spell; it was the exactness and power. Not a drop of wasted mana was used and the result was several times as powerful as anything Leah had ever cast. With a single exaggerated wave of her arm, a dozen hexagrams were created, sending large sharp shards of ice into each of the creatures. Prana fed itself into the shots, to the point where it looked like they were powered four-fifths by prana, but surprisingly there were no waves in the nearby prana. To Daniel¡¯s shock, after massacring the creatures effortlessly, Aria let out a cold laugh. ¡°That¡¯s what you get for interrupting my time with brother.¡± Her cold voice echoed throughout the silent room and Leah and Daniel could only stand there confused. Not waiting for a response, Aria rubbed herself against the unmoving Daniel like a cat. She wrapped herself in his arms, once again, as if she were declaring it her rightful spot, and broke the silence by speaking to Leah in a haughty tone. ¡°You there, Leah Lemann, I¡¯ll thank you for looking after my brother till now, but you can leave now. I, Aria Selby, the Golden Sage of the Selby Kinship, am taking back my rightful place at his side.¡± The words were coldly spoken and they left no trace of doubt; she saw Daniel as her own thing and Leah was only a hindrance to her. When she turned to face Daniel, however, that cold tone completely disappeared and once again started acting sweet. Towards him, she would be the kindest angel to ever walk the earth, but towards hindrances, she was the avatar of a blizzard. Sighing to himself that his sister had become so twisted, he decided to reason with her. ¡°You know Aria, Leah is one of my mates. It makes me sad to see my sweet Aria being mean to her.¡± With that, her eyes lit up with the realisation that she might have made a mistake. ¡°Eh, brother, I¡¯m sorry.¡± Without a moment of hesitation, she sincerely apologised to him and turned to face Leah. ¡°Sister Leah, I said something mean to you. I hope that from now on we can get along together.¡± Though her tone and words sounded entirely honest, Leah could see the look in her eyes say, ¡®Try to monopolise him and I¡¯ll cook you¡¯. It was at that point the building rumbled with the sound of a metallic impact and glass shattering. From the ground floor they could hear Loralei¡¯s yell. ¡°We¡¯ve got a problem; a really big, well-armed problem.¡± Looking out a window they could see what she meant. Waiting outside of the building was a car sized floating disc with five people riding it. Four of them were dressed in thick, black, ultra-modern looking armour. The only flesh the armour left visible was their mouths below the one-way mirror visor, the tails and the wings. In short, they were the elite strike force from the Southernmost Den. Each was equipped with a weapon that defined their position in the group. The Fighter with a heavy two-handed sword; the mage with a long range rifle able to back them up while having mana for healing; the sprightly shooter with a pistol and knife to get or lose attention and make silent attacks; the woman with a rocket launcher. They were a balanced group, and even without their armour, it would be hard to deal with them. As he wondered what they wanted what they wanted, the mage used a spell to boost the fighter¡¯s voice. ¡°Aria Isaksen, we know you¡¯re in there and we know you have company. We may need them alive, but they have no such need. Come quietly with us to the Golden Den or we¡¯ll kill everyone.¡± From the colour of the fighter¡¯s wings, and the sickening sound of his voice, Daniel knew who it was. A venomous snarl spread across his face, frightening Loralei, who had the misfortune of walking up the stairs at that moment. In her arms was a soft foam box with the eggs and over her shoulder was the M77 of the Gem Dragon. A mix of relief and joy, spread through him on seeing her, and he quickly expressed that with a kiss. While she was distracted, he took the rifle from her and charged it to full. Waiting for the perfect moment, when the fighter turned sidewards to talk to one of the people next to him, Daniel let the rifle roar as the heavy bullet cut the copper wings off the fighter¡¯s back. He fell to the ground, writhing in pain as his blood burst from his back. Wings were useful but they couldn¡¯t be used with armour. For most mature stage Draconian and older it was considered somewhat like kicking genitalia, but that meant it was a very effective first strike. What he did feel bad about, however, was that the shot continued after hitting its target, striking the hovercraft. Damaging something that valuable never felt right. As the disk hit the ground, spinning out of control, the driver and the mage, who were still in it, were sent flying by the collision. Not losing a moment, he passed the M77 to Loralei and flew from the gap with the F2000. He glided through the air and landed atop the copper scaled bastard. While kicking his armoured gut, Daniel yelled out. ¡°My name is Daniel Selby, a ruby gold tail-bitter from the Southernmost Den, and by Tyr I¡¯ll send you to Helheim you bastard.¡± Without a moment of pause, and without letting anyone¡¯s thoughts catch up, he place the barrel of his gun in the exposed mouth of the copper colour patriarch and shot through the head. Through the sound of the rifle, there was the distinct sound of impact, as the armour¡¯s helmet refused to let the bullet pass, even at that range. The gunner fell back with surprise; he had long since started to think that they were invincible in the armour. What was more; the killer was someone they had been told was dead. He trembled as he cried out, ¡°You can¡¯t be here, you¡¯re dead!¡± as if thinking that if he said that he would go away. As Daniel raised his gun to repeat the process, the woman with a rocket launcher took aim with her sidearm. Not wanting to risk getting shot, he dove behind the remains the hovercraft. ¡°You fuckers can still leave you know. Go, go and tell those little bitches in the council that they failed, that the Selby kinship survives with me. Tell them that Daniel will have them pay in blood for what they¡¯ve done.¡± On hearing the pure hate spill from his mouth, the woman was shaken. Like most in the Southernmost Den, she grew up hearing stories about the Den¡¯s protectors, the heroes of the Selby Kinship. When the council announced that they had been wiped out, there was a full week of public grief before another Kinship was promoted to fill their place. Several years later and the elite were still overworked compared with before. She was filled with conflicting feelings over her current target; a survivor from the Selby kinship proved that Aria was right, but at the same time, that man was letting out a loathing more pure than she had ever seen. It was clear that he was dangerous. Wilhelm had been an absolute dick who made her feel worse for being the same species, but he was still their leader. Even if he was the leader simply because the council gave him the position and he hadn¡¯t ever demonstrated any kind of merit. Even if he had endangered the rest of the group with his bad orders and stupid boisterous nature, he was still their leader. The more she thought about it, the less reason she could see to do anything. After a brief pause she sighed and yelled out, ¡°Sure, give me your word you won¡¯t shoot me in the back after I leave and give me that sand-sled, and you¡¯ve got a deal.¡± Daniel honestly hadn¡¯t seen that coming, but after a moment to think about it, he made the arrangements and radioed the others to tell them about the deal. The shooter however, didn¡¯t agree with it. Instead he dashed to the side and started to shoot at Daniel while he was busy with the radio. Taking a round into his armour and scales, Daniel fell back into the soft sand. The shooter made a triumphant pose and sent a thumb up to the woman, thinking he was victorious. While he was feeling like the world shone for him, the air around him started to turn cold. It hadn¡¯t literally, but as a reaper like figure approached, it felt as though it had. Aria, their target, walked slowly out to greet them. Not taking a hint, the shooter thought that she had come to surrender and approached her. Thinking his idiocy couldn¡¯t be cured with death, the rocketeer, left him to his fate. As her hands danced through the air, a complicated array formed with twists that could be mistaken for a knot of snakes or Gaelic art. Before he could even react, four thousand units worth of mana and prana formed ice and encased him, crushing him into a fine powder in an instant. It was like a tower or iceberg formed in that desert, serving as a warning for any who would see it. If seen through eyes that could see prana, it was like a vortex drawing power from the heavens and collapsing it into her. The elite¡¯s mage could only cry to himself on seeing that display, there was no way he could ever hope to even come close to that level of mastery. They knew she was a monster, that was why they had the armour, but she could have just as easily killed all of them. He felt no remorse over the loss of his teammates, the only thing he could feel was grateful that she had spared him. Not willing to wait for her to change her mind, he ran after the sand-sled, not even minding if he had to walk back. As they left, Daniel stripped off his armour. He felt sad to have to throw it away, since it had been with him since he left the den, but it was damaged beyond the point of usefulness. Burying it beneath the sand, he stripped the copper idiot of his armour and claimed it for his own. With new armour and a new companion, they took a moment to rest and introduce themselves. While Daniel wasn¡¯t there, Aria had ensured Loralei knew not to get in her way, only to find Loralei not willing to back down and instead provoked her with her greeting. ¡°It¡¯s so nice to meet you, dear sister Aria I¡¯m Loralei Selby, first mate of Daniel Selby. I hope we get along.¡± Chapter 5 – Memories left in a Tower Part 1 As Daniel dreamt, he looked at the dead body of the copper Draconian and he remembered how he came to leave the Southernmost Den. With a small part of his revenge taken, he sent a silent prayer to Hel, that she continue look after his companions souls. In that mangled body he came to remember the Selby kinship and how unfair their final moments were. It was years earlier, when their scheduled training raid was pulled forward unexpectedly. The council of elders hadn¡¯t given a reason for cutting short their preparation time, but they had just assumed that they would be needed back sooner. No-one really worried about it. After all, the council duty was to protect the den; just as theirs was. The Selby kinship was the protectors of the den, second only to the den¡¯s Elite. To some extent they were used to having their actions controlled for the sake of the den. It wasn¡¯t till after they were almost at their destination that they realised that some of their supplies were left behind in the rush. What was left behind was half their weapons, ammunition and food supplies. For other units, that would be enough to make them have to turn around, but for the Selby kinship that was just an inconvenience. All of the eight senior members either had their own custom weapons or relied on magic, meaning there would still be enough weapons for the juniors. Furthermore, they could still hunt creatures out in the wastes if the supplies ran out. Ammunition would be a bigger problem, but since everyone in the kinship could use magic and knives, they could just use those once the bullets ran out. It was a principle of the Selby training method to use whatever they had without getting too caught up on the details. While the seniors wore black and silver riot gear that covered their bodies completely, save for their wings, the juniors had to make do with thick, black, hardened leather clothes. When a junior entered their mature stage and grew wings, they would be awarded their own suit of riot gear. Until then, they just had to avoid getting hit with anything strong or practice using magic to strengthen and shield. Daniel was one of the people who left his weapon in the supply crate that was left behind, and only had his side arm, a 9mm pistol, to use. He had recently made it to level two, and as a gunner mage, he was reasonably confident that it wouldn¡¯t be a particularly large problem. His class wasn¡¯t common, but it wasn¡¯t rare either. It was fairly well known amongst tower raiders as a reliable ranged attack class. Since it was so well know, the class abilities were well documented and he was reasonable use about what he could get. The first class skill, Basic Spell List [Ranged Attack], seemed incredibly wasteful since he had already learnt them in training. Daniel¡¯s older cousin, Land, was the leader of the junior group. Despite his tendency towards romantic notions, he was a reliable leader. During the journey, he was the one who noticed the missing supplies as he did a pre-fight readiness check. After discoursing it with the seniors, they ruled that it would be even better training for the juniors to go with light supplies. After hearing that, Land ensured that every one of the six juniors had a weapon. With only fourteen active members, the Selby kinship was one of the smallest in the Southernmost Den. That wasn¡¯t surprising though, since every member that reached matriarch or patriarch stage was accepted into the council of elders. Only the Elites had that same certainty. No one would complain about favouritism; serving as the den¡¯s shield for upward of a century was more than enough reason to gain respect. The Selby kinship was therefore one of the only ways the lesser coloured variants would ever get onto the council. John, the current eldest member, was a light blue variant, one of the weakest possible variants whose only breath attack was a sleeping gas. Not only did the gas not affect Elves, Orcs and Demons, it was also completely useless against all but the youngest Draconian. Given that it only affected children, the derogatory name for a light blue variant was a nanny-dragon. Another huge problem with their power was that it was a type of materialisation magic; magic that formed matter out of mana. The problem with that form of magic was that it used far, far more mana than simply adding force. It was exactly that issue that led to the strange issue where the most powerful magic types, force, anima and electric, were actually the most efficient. It also seemed strange at first, but ice magic used less mana than water magic, as it decreased the amount of energy in the area. It was thought that the energy, in the form of heat, that was in the area of the ice was somehow converted into mana or prana during the formation of the spell, which offset some of the cost associated with creating new water. When using complicated magic, it was a common technique to bring material to supply the spell rather than needing to make new material. An example would be using sand spears instead of dirt spears. While the spells were very similar, one created dirt with mana, while the other used the sand that covered everything. While there was a noticeable increase in power from the dirt spear, the sand spear was less than a third of the cost. John managed to counteract the uselessness of his variant through hard work as a mage, and when he reached level 5, he was able to get an improved class; Materialisation Mage. His first class skill actually revealed a spell list that no-one had seen before. With his hard work, in only a few more years, he would be the first light-blue variant to be welcomed onto the council. There was even a stump of a tail starting to grow from his back, the sign that it wouldn¡¯t be much longer. Given his dedicated attitude and friendly nature, there wasn¡¯t a single person amongst their kinship that wasn¡¯t waiting for the day when he could renounce the name Selby and take on the name Southernmost. Their destination for the training was the Noel Drive Triplets; three towers next to each other, standing tall as the only buildings as far as the eye could see. As their convoy pulled up at the foot of the shortest tower, the tower nicknamed Annabell, John rallied everyone together. Firstly he ensured that everyone knew the plan, the seniors would take control of the ground level then the juniors would go up each floor by themselves. As the amount of experience they would gain would be split between them, it was much slower to gain levels, but the safety benefit well outweighed the gain made by hitting towers solo. It was at that moment that John had looked out into the distance, towards the way they came, with a worried expression. Seeing their leader pause with such an expression, the group grew quiet. Everyone knew his instincts were good, but they couldn¡¯t see anything in that direction. With a shrug he continued the preparations, setting out with the ritual radio broadcast. ¡°We, the Selby Kinship of the Southernmost Den, do challenge the youngest Glass Tower of the Noel Drive Triplets. Tyr, witness our strength and Odin guide our weapons as we go now. Over and signal out¡± You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. The way John projected himself on the radio was, quite frankly, entirely more masculine than in person. While many group leaders would delegate saying the will, none in the group would let John do that. His confidence was like a ritual, a blessing from a priest that ensured their safety. The seniors entered and cleared the room in no time, working like clockwork the large crab like robots inside went down almost effortlessly. As they set to work ensuring the ground was secured and the robots completely savaged, the juniors began their ascent. Land checked over his F2000 one more time and switched on its under-barrel light. Seeing it light up brightly he gave a thumbs up to Steven, the groups amateur technician. When Land first found the weapon, it ran on a conventional lithium-ion battery but Steven had managed to convert it to run on crystal charge. It was somewhat rushed but he had just barely able to finish the retrofit before they departed, albeit in exchange for sleeping. Meeting them in the stairwell were strange and aggressive bats; creatures that could be described as flying black balls of teeth. They were surprised at first but recovered fast enough that no-one was hurt. With the door shut behind them, they made their way up to the first level. While they maintained a serious attitude, Marco, a red variant with a huge battle-axe, couldn¡¯t keep his mouth shut and kept trying to chat up Aika, a dark green sniper. With Land and Aika taking the far back, Steven and Daniel in the middle and Marco and Jess taking the melee, their party was very well balanced. That said, there highest level member was Land, who had recently reached level four. When compared to people outside of the tower system they were like small gods, but to seasoned tower raiders they were still youngsters with much to learn. Suddenly, they could hear a barrage of gunfire from the ground floor. It was hard to tell from where they were, trapped in a space that caught the roar of bullets and echoed through them like punches, but is sounded like the seniors were taking fire as well as shooting. From their training they knew that if they went back down and opened the door behind the seniors, they could get distracted and killed. Instead they knew the best option would be to continue into the first floor room and provide them with covering fire from above. As they hurried to open the door, Daniel heard a grinding, whirring sound, like some kind of moving machine. A half a moment later, Land tried pushing him back as the sound of rapid gunfire echoed once again in that narrow space. That time, it was clearly not from the ground floor. That time, it was accompanied by a tearing pain that filled his body like nothing he had ever felt. That time, he fell heavily to the ground as those around him were torn to shreds by the onslaught of metal. Land¡¯s body pinned him to the floor. He could feel the blood leak out of the exit wound in his back and the wet feeling of Land¡¯s blood dying his skin. From where he lay, he could see through open door, a door that was held open by Jess¡¯s torso, despite Marko¡¯s severed legs trying to shut it. In the room, beyond the gore, was a standard tower controlled turret. They had run those towers several times before and hadn¡¯t ever seen any of those in Annabel. Oddly enough, that turret looked very similar to the turrets that were set around the council¡¯s treasure storage. As he thought that, he could hear footsteps echoing up the stairs. Hope filled him as he expected his seniors to be coming to save them, but was quickly crushed by the appearance of a different familiar person. A couple days prior, he had turned down the instructions of a copper coloured patriarch with a face that would be best described as a permanent snarl. That same person, who filled all of Daniel¡¯s instincts with the word scum, was walking slowly towards them with a sneer and a malicious laugh. That man pulled what looked to be a remote control out of his jacket pocket and with the flash of a small red light, the turret deactivated. Seeing that man, Daniel had remained still and lifeless, but only he had that kind of sense. Aika had somehow also survived, though her left arm was nearly severed, and she called out. ¡°Please, help us¡­ you have to¡­ help¡­¡± Her struggled words were abruptly cut off as the copper coloured bastard shot her. Not ender her quickly, but first in the legs, then her arm and gut. Only once she had fainted from pain and blood loss did his kill her. All the while he was laughing, like it was the funniest thing in the world. Part of Daniel felt that he would be discovered at any moment, that a fate as bad or worse awaited him. As the man turned towards him, his phone rang and his attention was diverted from Daniel. Working phones were rare, and only the resources of a large city or a group of dens could maintain a network. For him to have a working phone confirmed Daniel¡¯s fear; that man was there on the council¡¯s orders. ¡°Yes, they''re dead.¡± He replied to the phone, ¡°I checked all the old ones; our soldiers killed them in the lobby. The idiots lowered their guard when the saw we were from the same den. They put up a little fight but our losses were minimal.¡± After a pause he continued, ¡°Yeah, the younger ones got gutted by the trap. You should see it; I¡¯m almost knee deep in their guts.¡± With another creepy chuckle, the copper bustard started to leave. After he was gone, another group of Draconian retrieved the turret and he was left there with the bodies of his kin. Although their weapons were taken, Land¡¯s F2000 was under his body, beside Daniel. By the time the turret was gone, he had fainted lulled by the embrace of sleep and the comfort of numbness. When he woke up, his Fast Healing skill had done its job and he was mostly recovered. The experience was enough that it had levelled up to level two. Looking around, he was the only thing left in the area. The tower had eaten the bodies of the Selby kinship and all that was left was him and Land¡¯s rifle. Forcing himself numbly to his feet he tried to clear his mind. He couldn¡¯t go back; the leaders, his mother probably included, wanted him dead. Even if he were to go back for Aria, his was a sole survivor, a tail-biter, less respectable than a white variant with crippled legs. However, despite that, he knew that he couldn¡¯t let it rest. His kin would riot in Helheim if he let those bastards get away with it. One day, one day he would return to the Southernmost Den. On that day he would put a bullet through the heart of each and every member of the elder council. With renewed determination, Daniel awoke to find himself resting against Aria in the back seat of their noisy black car. There was a reassuring sound of her soft breathing against his ear and the gentle laughter of Loralei filled him with some joy of his own. She was driving once more, seeming to enjoy herself, as Leah spoke to her with their eggs resting in her lap. Memories left in a Tower - Part 2 Part 2 After had Daniel finished burying his armour, he looked over to the decaying tower and saw Aria and Loralei glaring at each other in a tense standoff. He hurried over to them, hoping to defuse the situation, but found his worries were needless. Before he even got close, Aria dashed forward and embraced Loralei, laughing joyfully and ignoring her confused expression. Suddenly she called out to Daniel, saying ¡°Brother, I approve! She small and huggable but still strong and feisty, just the type of mate I think suits you.¡± Without even waiting for a response, she started to drag the confused Loralei away while saying, ¡°Come with me, Lor, we need to get the car ready so we can leave.¡± An hour later, they were back to driving. They had taken the time to salvage the crystal from the remains of the hovercraft and were 126cc richer. That amount seemed far too much for the council to have provided them with it, so it was probably the pilot¡¯s money. But even that amount wasn¡¯t the best haul for the day. The Armour they had taken from the dead elite was by far the best. The black form-fitting suit of movable plates adjusted itself nicely to fit Daniels body like it was made for him. That was a part of the armour¡¯s magic; amongst the many enchantments was one that adjusted the shape and size to fit the wearer comfortably. Despite the power of the armour, Daniel only used the chest piece and legs. There were a few reasons for that. Firstly, there was comfort. Daniel basically never had time to equip more than just that and as such hadn¡¯t worn a whole set in years. Suddenly doing so would be uncomfortable and more importantly, restrictive. Although the suit was made to conduct mana enough that magic could be cast through it, it would still reduce how dexterously his hands could move. However the most important reason was that he wouldn¡¯t be able to see his scales glisten and shine in the light. As it was, covering his legs and chest was the extent his vanity would allow. It was actually a very common problem for Draconian, vanity was so tied to their species that the idea of completely covering themselves was almost an alien concept. The more powerful the individual, the more they wanted to show off their scales, especially for higher variants. Even the elite, who had undergone training to fight that instinct, still exposed their tails, wings and sometimes heads. Since both Lor and Aria were mages, neither wanted the arm pieces and gloves. Only Leah had any real use for them and she was more than happy to take them. The black armour reshaped itself to fit snugly around her muscular arms and coated her sharp claws with blade like plates. With that in place, she had no worries of her claws breaking if she used them as weapons. No one wanted the helmet so it sat unused in the back of the car. Feeling comfortable in the armour, Daniel passed time as they travelled by taking a rest. When he woke up, he was laying against Aria. While he was comfortable and happy, his circumstances conflicted with what he dreamt and made the moment seem all the more precious. The dream felt altogether too clear I his mind, like he was being hinted at, that there was something he needed to remember just beyond his reach. Sunlight reflected off his scales, which shone far more brightly than before he slept. He noticed a cleaning rag in his sleeping sister¡¯s hand and made the obvious conclusion. Cleaning another Draconian¡¯s scales fell into an odd cultural category. Depending on the den, it was either the most normal thing imaginable, like shaking hands, or it was unimaginably intimate, like sex but more embarrassing. The Southernmost den fell into the first category but from Leah¡¯s blushing expression, the Southwest Den was the latter. While Daniel would never know it, Aria had cleaned his scales knowing full well that it was embarrassing for Leah. While she accepted Leah as Daniel¡¯s mate based on her strength, their personalities simply didn¡¯t mesh well. As far as she was concerned, Daniel was hers and she was letting others borrow him from time to time. While Loralei was almost instinctively willing to share, Leah seemed to have some intention to monopolise or at the least centralise. Monogamy was rare for Draconian, and the person at has the partners was the Centre; hence becoming a Centre was called centralising. Aria just couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that Leah wanted them gone so that she could make a group of her own. By midday, the tall walls of Enoksen could be seen in the distance, the thick white stone looked like a cloud against the red sands of the wasteland. Far more out of place was the tree that formed the centre of the city. That tree was, technically, Enoksen and the buildings around it were called ¡®The city surrounding Enoksen¡¯, but no one outside of a formal situation would ever make that distinction. It was a part of the Elven overly pretentious act that they didn¡¯t name their cities but did name the great trees that formed their hearts. Very few Elves actually cared about the environment and nature, but they all liked to pretend they did. Apparently it gave an earnest impression that added to their beauty. Enoksen, the tree, was at least a couple hundred meters tall and seemed to be some kind of oak tree. Since its trunk was surrounded by visible roots, it had to have grown after the fall. For something that large to have grown in such a short period of time, magic would have had to have been used. Rather than focusing expanding arable land or securing the city¡¯s defences, the Elves used their magic on something as pointless as a giant tree that chewed through resources and did little for the city aside from some shade. A city council member was once quoted as saying, ¡°A few hundred people starving to death is a small price to pay for such a beautiful sight.¡± Or so a rumour said. To the south of the city was a quarry, where they dug through the san to reach a city underneath the sand. The resources unearthed there were what made it possible for those living in Enoksen, the city, to live comfortably. While the quarry was often attacked by creatures that lived in the sand, the standing army and Warmaidens made short work off anything that could affect the prosperity of the city. Since they were at a key city in Celtic territory if they gave themselves away as Norse followers, they would be hunted down by their army in no time at all. Given that, they agreed that it would be best if they waited at an inn while one of them went to inform the city leaders. It was at that point in the discussion that Aria revealed that she had the skills Individual Scry (Lesser) and Individual Scry (Greater), which let her see Daniel through her crystal ball, wherever he went. Although they thought that she used him as an example, she chose him as the target of the skills and they couldn¡¯t be changed. It was a major downside to the skills, but because of that, they didn¡¯t cost much relative to the price of the general versions. With that, they would know if anything happened to him and were willing to wait for him to finish the task. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. As they approached the great iron grates at the closest entrance, they were stopped by a guard. The guard was an Elf wearing a simple metal chest-plate over what looked like an old-world blue police uniform. The sharp contrast between the medieval armour and modern uniform seemed entirely lost on the Elf as they dryly went about their work. ¡°State your business and duration of your visit. If you¡¯re a local, proceed to the east gate.¡± He questioned Loralei, who was the driver, who panicked slightly before answering. ¡°Y-yes, we¡¯re just travellers. We¡¯ll only be in town for one night.¡± The guard shrugged and let them through; probably making the usual mistake of assuming Draconian couldn¡¯t lie. He also gave them directions to a nearby inn with a parking lot and sunbaking space. The Inn was called ¡°Dug-up Traveller¡¯s¡±, and was a building that was removed from the quarry and placed in the town. There were actually a few buildings like that, as it was slightly easier to move an existing building then to make a new one when it came to magic. Their room was a simple one, with wallpapered walls, a sink in the bathroom and two beds that could be pushed together. There wasn¡¯t much to it but for 8cc a night for the four of them, they couldn¡¯t expect much in a city. As they were unpacking, Daniel found the bottle of Whiskey he had been keeping and, when they were done, handed it over to Aria while saying, ¡°As I promised all those years ago, a bottle of old-world.¡± While her face lit up with an amazing smile, there wasn¡¯t any particular surprise. If she hadn¡¯t mentioned her ability to scry he might have wondered about that. Some people found scrying to be uncomfortable, but Daniel found it comforting to know that they had that connection. Since there wasn¡¯t much time left in the work day, they decided to drink it after he got back. The streets of Enoken were cobblestone and about half of the buildings were the same. The other half was either modern buildings or shaped plants. While each building was beautiful, or at the very least charming, the overall look was chaotic and disorganised. Elfish pride would never let anyone else tell them that their concept of beauty was wrong, and the result was a city without consistency. Even if every piece was good, the whole thing together felt wrong. It was a problem that wasn¡¯t helped by the addition of other races. While Elves were the majority, many other races found their way into the city. While no Dwarves, Mongrels or Darklings would be allowed into the city, other races made up at least thirty percent of the population. When he asked a local for directions, he was told that he was in luck, that with his race he could get access to the city council easily. The Council building was located next to the training grounds and there were plenty of Draconian in the army. That gave them priority with regards to giving reports, as it was generally believed that they wouldn¡¯t waste time and usually concerned the cities protection. He was, however, not in luck. The local had made an understandable yet unforgivable mistake. The guards of the council building were not, in fact, Draconian, but were Dragonkin; a very different thing. While they had very similar builds and sizes, Dragonkin were coated from head to toe in scales and had sharp snouts filled with razor sharp teeth. They also were born with fully formed wings and claws, resembling a dragon far more closely than Draconian did. However, the lacked the breath attacks that Draconian were proud of. There was a legend that said the first Draconian and Dragonkin were sisters, born of the same dragon and her human love. While Dragonkin outwardly looked closer to dragons, their lifespans and personality were closer to humans, with very few of them living to be a hundred. The worst part about them as that they wholeheartedly believed that they were a race chosen by the dragons to lead the world, that all their actions were the embodiment of good, and that Draconian were inherently evil people that spread corruption. That attitude meant that they almost always fought when they met. In that regards, pre-fall society was the worst possible place for them, given the likelihood of meeting and inappropriateness of murder. The soldier was red coloured and both sides strained their willpower to fight back their instinct to draw weapons. That was until they had a moment of recognition. A couple years prior, when Daniel had been short on money, he had worked as a mercenary for a territory war between the Celtic and Norse orders. At the time, the red coloured soldier had been commanding a unit. Apparently, after their defeat they were demoted and were now a town guard. With recognition evident in both their eyes a different kind of tense atmosphere developed as each waited for the other to make a move. In the end, Daniel had no choice but to move first, if he waited for more soldiers to pass by, his situation would only get worse. He suddenly faced a dash to the left before running to the right. As he ran, he could hear the Dragonkin yelling ¡°Intruder¡± and ¡°Spy¡± with his full volume. Things weren¡¯t going well, and the smart thing to do would have been to retreat and try another time. Daniel, however, was too annoyed to consider that. Instead he tried running through the blockages to force his way to the leaders, almost completely unaware of how much it made him look like an assassin. Making a sudden jump to the side, he avoided a blast of fire that would have hit him. Turning back he saw the spell array the red guy had used. It was a standard array with a diameter nearly half a meter wide. Daniel didn¡¯t bother hiding his laughter as he mocked the Dragonkin¡¯s incompetence. A spell that simple could be made with a ten to twenty centimetre circle; needing a circle that large to make sure the ratios were right was the peak of incompetence. Sweat even glistened through their red scales, showing that they were exhausted from that small effort. His victory years prior made far more sense when he saw how bad his opponent had been. That distraction was Daniel¡¯s downfall, or one of the contributing reasons, anyway, as he turned to face forward and was immediately struck across the face with the centre of a shield. As he rolled backwards his neck was pinned by two crossed spears. Looking around he saw he was surrounded by heavily armoured women with sturdy round shields, and pistols on their wastes. Each and every one of them was in their peak fitness, and they were filled with a beautiful vitality. From the design of their shields, he knew that he found the right place; they were the Morrigan Order. The woman who hit him had a very recognisable face; almost identical to someone he had met before. ¡°Ms Zeeb, I take it? I have a message for you. Smith Street Village has fallen.¡± Memories left in a Tower - Part 3 Part 3 Anna Zeeb¡¯s earliest memory was of running through the sand at night, running with her sister Louise and their parents. In the distance behind them, the tree Ekesme lit up as the guards noticed they were missing. Ekesme was a tree of despair, a place where Humans and Half-Elves were locked up for the sake of breeding. It overlooked a massive chasm, so deep that with the sun directly overhead, only darkness could be seen within. Any born with undesirable traits would be thrown down the hole, never to see the light of day. It was said that the survivors of that place, and places like it, were the progenitors of the Darklings. At the time, Anna was too young to understand why they were running. Ekesme had been their home all their life, and it was her first time seeing the outside. Not knowing anything else, she simply held her younger sister¡¯s hand and ran after her parents. The night was cold and they were falling behind, unable to keep up with their parent¡¯s experienced strides. As she tried to catch her breath, she was picked up by her father¡¯s strong arms, with Louise also, and they were wrapped up in his thick coat. The coat was large enough to fit both of their small bodies with ease, as they were carried into the night. In the distance they could hear an eagle¡¯s cry, and their mother¡¯s face seemed worried. The memory wasn¡¯t clear enough for Anna to know what was said, but the adult Anna recognised that her mother, Chloe Zeeb, had been concerned about the Sky-Elf Knights, soldiers that mounted giant birds, following them. Had they been caught out in the open, they wouldn¡¯t have had any chance of escape. Their father, Lucas Zeeb, was an experienced Glass Tower raider, and was well aware of that danger. Without missing a beat, he ran them towards a distant structure. The Angles Street tower was daunting to look at. It was a circular building and in the dark night it gave the impression of being a towering spear, ready to strike down any that approached. In the many years since Ekesme¡¯s founding, none had ever conquered the nearby tower. The best anyone could do was holding off the monsters that escaped it or surviving the first few levels. Despite that, or rather, because of that, they wouldn¡¯t be followed once they entered. Their father was fully equipped with a set of Elven plate armour, enchanted to be light and strong, with a sword on his belt and a rifle on his back. Their mother wasn¡¯t in the best of conditions, having been kept in Ekesme for a few years, but prior to that, she was a distinguished raider whose fame and beauty, despite being a Human, caught the attention of her Elfish detainers. After years apart, she once again held her beloved revolver and gun belt. With a weapon in her hands, Anna¡¯s mother seemed more alive, saner even, than she had ever seen. It was at that moment, seeing the power in her mother¡¯s eyes, that Anna first realised that there was something not right with Ekesme. They entered the tower through a broken window and greeted by the stench of rotting flesh. The room was filled with bloated bodies that had long turned black with decay. Though the bodies of the dead would normally be consumed by towers it wasn¡¯t the only outcome. The reason people would normally wait to see their party members get eaten was because that was still the better option. When they entered the tower, the bodies began to get pulled to their feet by thin web like wires. Controlled like puppets, the bodies would continue to attack until the wires were cut and the bodies were hacked to pieces. If the bodies remained intact then the wires would simply reattach and they would attack once more. Not only was that more dangerous but the reason it was considered a fate far worse than death was because the Glass Tower System trapped their souls in their bodies while it happened. While most of the time, the souls could only be heard if a necromancy type anima spell was cast, occasionally the tower would give the bodies voice, just so the raiders could hear the bodies cry out in pain from the wire hooks, the bodies rotting, and the raider¡¯s attacks. As could be expected for a tower so close to Ekesme, the Angles Street tower was one such sadistic place. As the dead screamed and wailed around them, their father pushed them into a wall and covered them with the coat, hoping to spare them even the slightest amount of horror. In that moment, deprived of sight, Anna¡¯s Half-Elf hearing, sharper than a Human¡¯s but more dull than an Elf¡¯s, could hear a squelching tearing sound through the ever increasing screams. Their father¡¯s blade acted like a mirror and reflected light under the coat, tracing his movements as he danced throughout the room. Heavy sounds of falling bodies, pungent smells of rotten blood; those were the sharpest things that filled the memories. Like an infection, those sounds, those smells, infected other memories. As much as she wished to remember the moments spent curled up in her mother¡¯s lap as she read to her, those moments were instead filled also with that haunting smell, those haunting sounds. It was at that time where Anna first found the smell of gunpowder to be comforting. It was something that she would carry with her for the rest of her life, but the sound and smell of a freshly fired gun, filled her with a sense of security; like she was being watched over by her mother. The metallic sound of spent rounds hitting the ground and the warmth of that metal in the cold were an odd kind of precious to her; she knew it wasn¡¯t a normal desire, but it was at that point that she knew that a life spent around weapons would be the only path that could calm her. As the room grew quiet, her father told her not to take the coat off and to absolutely not let Louise take the coat off. His voice stressed the importance of it, but it was evident that Louise was too young to catch it. From her perspective, it might have been the reason she looked; she was told not to and it made her all the more curious about what was being hidden. Before Anna could stop her, Louise had taken a peek under the coat and her face turned ash like white with shock. Her sight was blocked off but it couldn¡¯t be unseen. The room was filled with simply too much of what her young mind could only call bad for her to handle, and she seemed to shut down in that moment. She could hear her mother whispering, over and over, ¡°We just need to hold out till dawn, we just need to hold out till dawn¡± like it was some kind of wish. Their father however seemed far more composed, saying ¡°Arawn take these spirits as the move forward. May what comes next be more pleasant than what they¡¯ve been through.¡± It was at that moment that an endless scurrying could be heard from below, as the spiral staircase that was at the centre of the room spilled over with a sea of rats. Their intended captors were outside, but dared not to enter, but the building was becoming more dangerous by the moment. They couldn¡¯t escape from the rats without be captured by the Elves. While the Elves wanted them alive, their mother had an expression that said she would rather face death. While their mother used their father¡¯s sword to hold back what rats she could, he drew a magic array, unlike any she had seen in her short life. It seemed more like a painting, a piece of art, than an array and it depicted a bird surrounded by a sea of flames, all contained in a double circle. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Many years later, after researching for nearly a full week without rest, she worked out that it was a form of magic casting called a beast array, where those willing to form a connection with one of the great magical beasts could send them life energy in exchange for some of that creature''s mana. The young her had no way of knowing, but her father had sacrificed nearly a decade of his life in order to gain the mana he needed for that spell. For short lived races like Orcs and Humans, it was an untouchable spell that would kill its user, but for an Elf a decade or two was next to nothing. With the array finished, he called out, and their mother, ducked out of the way as two burning, snake-like wings stretched out and embraced the sea of rats. After half a minute, there was only ash left. However, the spell had been more mana than his body could handle, and he collapsed on the spot. To make matters worse, fleshless bodies started to descend from the floors above. Though they were coming down one at a time, and their mother was making short work of them with her gun, whenever she reloaded, they got closer. In the moment when she realised there were no bullets left on her belt, the skeletons were already within arm¡¯s reach. She rolled to the side while holstering her gun and took up a position with the sword. But then, her face contorted with dread as they ignored her and instead went for their downed father. In panic, their mother rushed forward and tried to kill through the waves of dead, but by the time she reached him, he had had his chest pierced by a bony hand. Tears ran down her face as she embraced him, not noticing the continued arrival of skeletons. At that moment, Anna rushed forward and seized the sword, unwilling to lose another parent. To her young body, the weapon that her father had held with a single hand was like a great sword, a weapon of legend, and with it in her hands she would be like the warriors she had loved to hear about. The stories of Cu Chulainn filled her head, as did Conn of the Hundred Battles; with grand inspiration she couldn¡¯t see any outcome but her heroic victory. However, she proved to be just as short sighted as her mother, and while she fought a scream rang out behind her. Clearing back a foe, she turned to see her mother being crushed by her father¡¯s embrace, his body controlled by wires. That was the turning point of the night, no more was she attacking, but wholeheartedly devoted herself to defence. Even when a perfect opportunity to attack was given, Anna only acted to protect herself and Louise. It went that way for an hour, surviving attacks not only from fleshless monsters, but monsters with her parents flesh. After that hour passed, the first light of dawn struck the top of the tower, and its light filled the whole building through a feature of its design. At that moment, she remembered her mother¡¯s words, that they only needed to hold out till dawn, but also at that moment, her strength was entirely spent. She collapsed to the ground, waiting for the death-blow to come; waiting for a strike that never came. She looked around to see a warrior wearing some of the finest armour she had ever seen; plate with intricate leaf-like etchings, a round metal shield that moved like an extension of her arm and a spear that seemed to dance like a branch in the wind. But her most noticeable, most memorable, feature was her eyes. Her eyes were a rich maple-amber colour that seemed to burn with confidence and power. She was like the hero Anna thought she could be. With only a few minutes, the mysterious saviour had cleared the room. ¡°My name is Kat Anaon, Second Shield-bearer for the Order of Morrigan.¡± She introduced herself with a voice that almost seemed divine, ¡°Your father wanted me to take you to Enoksen. Seeing how well you survived, however, I¡¯m inclined to recommend you to the order.¡± With that, they travelled to a small city around a tree called Enoksen. Unlike Ekesme, Enoksen was a young tree, filled with life that seemed to inspire those around it with the need to protect it. In that city Anna and Louise started to learn the ways of the Order of Morrigan, the heroic order that Anna aspired to. They spent every day, running, shooting, learning and otherwise training. It was like that for several years until they had established themselves as true Shield-bearers. However, things weren¡¯t going well for Louise. It was Anna¡¯s greatest regret that she hadn¡¯t noticed her sister¡¯s pain until it was far too late. Anna was the pride of the training group, the best and most promising member, and like the other top recruits, had already been augmented by the Glass Tower system. Louise however, was simply scraping by trying to keep up with them, and those around them could only see her as holding Anna back. It was especially the case by the time they became Fourth Shield-bearers. Though Louise would return home with bruises and injuries, Anna simply assumed they were caused by accidents during training, and was completely unable to see the malice that filled their unit. It wasn¡¯t till a General from Smith Street Village, a border town and trade partner with good relations with Enoksen, saved Louise from being beaten to an inch of her life, that Anna discovered just how bad things had been for her. General Ethan Clark, however, didn¡¯t stop there. He had been amazed with Louise. She had kept pace in advancement with that group despite the rest having the tower system to support them. If the management hadn¡¯t been so preoccupied with Anna, they might have notice that Louise had far, far more potential. Furthermore, despite the everyday cruelty she faced, Louise didn¡¯t only stay there because of Anna, but because she still believed in the order. General Clark didn¡¯t let the opportunity slip, and immediately put in a transfer order, an order that was passed by management without so much as a second glance; they finally were free of their problem. When Louise left, she smiled happily to Anna. It was the first time she had gotten promoted before her, and even got the promotion on direct recommendation from a general. She left that day wearing their father¡¯s heavy synthetic cotton coat, still far too big for either of them, with their mother¡¯s revolver in her pocket. The gun belt Anna kept, despite not having much need for it, as they felt it connected the two of them together and to their parents. With word spreading that dangers would be approaching the city soon, Anna was actually a little relieved that Louise wouldn¡¯t be there to face that. Louise left saying simply, ¡°I¡¯ll be back soon, so stay safe while I¡¯m gone.¡± ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- Author¡¯s Note: Having two flashbacks in one chapter felt cheap, so this chapter is a four part-er. Memories left in a Tower - Part 4 Part 4 Sitting comfortably on the edge of a hotel bed, staring into the clear crystal ball in her hands, Aria suddenly started to laugh. Lor and Leah could only give her a look questioning look as she started to fall over and clutch at her side in tears. As she struggled for air between bouts of laughter, the words ¡°sixty centimetres for a spell like that¡± could be heard. Without the context of what she was seeing, they could only conclude that whatever Aria had seen, wasn¡¯t nearly as funny as she was making it out to be. The laughing fit distracted Aria and the scrying was cancelled. For that reason, she didn¡¯t notice it when Daniel was beaten and pinned to the ground. That said, Daniel also was still laughing about that spell in the back of his mind, even as the Morrigan Order started to beat and kick him. He couldn¡¯t tell if they thought he was responsible or were just blaming the messenger, but either way he was kicked around and dragged to a holding cell. Thankfully he had left his equipment at the inn, since it would have hurt him to lose that armour so soon after getting it. The only weapons he brought with him, the broken and intact knives, were taken by the presumable Zeeb woman. The holding cell was a solid stone room, made with magic out of a single large stone. After the room was made, thick runes were carved deeply into the walls to nullify any magic that came in contact with the building. Just being in the room was sickening, as the cold stone drew the heat from his body and the lack of prana in that space confused his senses, like a room completely without sound. A thin blanket was his only insulation against the stone, and he felt that if any Draconian were to spend a night there they wouldn¡¯t come out of it healthily. The cold sensation reminded him that Dragonkin were as warm-blooded as a human and would never know their fear. Fuck them. When he got out of that cell, he would cut that bastard¡¯s hands off so he could never embarrass mages everywhere with his incompetence again. He hadn¡¯t seethed in the cell for very long when the Half-Elf member of the Morrigan Order came to see him. As the stone door rolled clear her face was could be seen, showing a near expressionless face that thinly veiled a look of pure hatred. In her hands was the broken knife that had been taken from him. He realised, then, just how bad that was. He remembered why that knife was important to him. He remembered that its previous owner was the reason he was there. ¡°As you seem to know,¡± Zeeb began to say, with a voice like ice, ¡°my name is Anna Zeeb, Second Shield-bearer for the Order of Morrigan. And you, you lizard shit, are going to tell me why you have my sister¡¯s knife and where she is. If I don¡¯t like your answer, I¡¯ll start cutting you to pieces and shoving ice cubes into the wounds.¡± There was no humour about her; she seemed to mean every word of that threat. Hell, she might even do it anyway even if she likes his answer. ¡°Err, Ms Zeeb, I met Louise in a tower in the Celtic-Norse Disputed Zone.¡± Daniel tried his best to sound diplomatic. While he was reasonably confident that he could escape with just his mana, he would still prefer to fulfil his promise to Louise. While he had said the words, and it could be argued that he was done, he still felt that the intent wasn¡¯t finished until there was some kind of understanding. ¡°It¡¯s probably not what you want to hear but that knife is what¡¯s left of her. I¡¯m sorry; she didn¡¯t make it through that tower.¡± Sorrow and anguish filled her beautiful, fair face for a passing moment before it took a rapid shift towards rage. Her piercing, sky blue eyes fixed on him and she moved smoothly towards him. Without the slightest amount of hesitation, she punched him clean in the side of the head, dropping him to the ground. The hard scales on Daniels cheeks cut her hands, but she showed no signs of even noticing. The pale red colour was characteristic of Half-Elves, neither the deep red of Humans nor the bright gold of Elves. In that way, her blood was similar to his scales. That was what he thought as she once again kicked him. ¡°That can¡¯t be. THAT CAN¡¯T BE!¡± It seemed that she was denying everything, unwilling to believe her loved one had passed, ¡°Louise was terrified of towers; she wouldn¡¯t go near them. You must have done something. You must be lying.¡± Daniel didn¡¯t have the slightest clue how to deal with a hysteric woman, so just tried calling out to the nearby guards, ¡°Oy, you two. Since she won¡¯t listen, deliver a message to the council for me. Tell them that Ares¡¯ Spear attacked Smith Street Village and it¡¯s fallen. Tell them that the armies of Olympus are going to make a push from two sides.¡± As he got that message out, other kick made contact with his side and rolled him back a few meters. He could hear Anna make an angry humph, and leave the room. He could only hope that one of them would deliver the message. Under the influence of his Fast Healing ability, he could feel his cracked ribs knit back together. His greatest regret about that situation; there was boot shaped dirt on his scales and he didn¡¯t have anything to clean with. He survived the night in that cold stone by slightly blocking the sill-less, barred window with the blanket and filling the room with steam. Under that condition, the room became very comfortable to live in, let alone rest for a night. Unexpectedly, the next morning the cave door rolled open and he was greeted by an unknown person. She seemed like a pure Elf, but she had the strange trait of having amber like eyes. He didn¡¯t know much at all about Elves, but he was fairly sure that not having blue eyes was grounds for death amongst them. Not to say that they weren¡¯t beautiful, they seemed powerful, mystical even; they might even be more beautiful than normal Elven eyes. Furthermore, from the way she held herself, it seemed like she was a warrior. While Daniel didn¡¯t have even the slightest idea how to go about guessing an Elf¡¯s age, he would guess that she had lived through the fall, simply because her confident aura was too much for it to be otherwise. Were she Draconian, he might have been filled with uncontrollable desire, even as it was she was incredibly arousing. The bloody smell of death that followed her was so thick, it make Leah, a Death Bringer, seem like a saint by comparison. He couldn¡¯t imagine what she could have done to cultivate such power, but he knew that she could easily kill him without breaking a sweat. As a part of their selective breeding, Elves had made it hard for them to maintain deathly auras, if the same aura were applied to a Human, even races without the natural ability to sense deathly auras would notice. Deathly aura was, simply put, small fragments of the souls from people and creatures killed. There was a rumour he once heard that the Glass Tower System used that to measure experience gained. Since he could only barely detect his own aura at level eight, if that rumour was true, he couldn¡¯t even think what her level would be. While he was dazed, she started to speak, ¡°Firstly I¡¯d like to apologise. Anna and Louise were very close and she¡¯s never handled bad news well. Secondly I¡¯d like to thank you for the warning. Ares¡¯ Spear was planning on attacking last night and without the warning, we would have fallen by now. As things stand, it¡¯ll be a prolonged battle. As such, when I walk away, I¡¯ll probably forget to close the door; I¡¯m forgetful like that, you know. If you were to somehow get out, you¡¯d do well to use the battle to sneak out.¡± She chuckled to herself, apparently finding the situation funny. When the laughter ended, a tired expression could be seen on her face, like all of her strength simply existed for the sake of holding herself together through untold sorrow. ¡°Also, thank you for being with Louise in the end; she was a sweet child, too much human in her blood.¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. With those words, spoken barely audibly, she left the cell with the door wide open. Even if she had given him an opportunity to speak, he still wouldn¡¯t have known what to say. He instead could only follow what she said, thankful that the friend he made in that tower had such strong people caring for her. As the sun¡¯s morning rays warmed his body, he climbed a nearby wall and looked over it. To the east and to the north, both directions were covered with black and silver. Two of Olympus¡¯s armies stood in the distance, and nothing could save Enoksen. He had forgotten to ask the amber eyed woman her name, but he hoped she somehow survived what was coming. It wouldn¡¯t even be a joke if she had survived through the fall just to die to some unlucky bullet. With a sigh, he yelled out. ¡°Aria, you¡¯re watching right? If you can hear me, get the car ready and wait for me to the north-west of the city.¡± Obviously, he got no reply. It felt fairly stupid to be yelling into the air like that, and he could only hope that she heard it. Furthermore, he could only hope no one saw him talking to himself like a madman. With the message hopefully passed, Daniel left the wall and ducked down a backstreet, making his way slowly towards the gate. In the distant North he could hear the sounds of the battle starting, with the first blood going to an Olympian sniper. The extreme long distance fighting wouldn¡¯t last long, as sniper bullets were rare and expensive and mana costs for long ranged spells were far from efficient. He could hear the Enoksen army march forward; it seemed that they were meeting the enemy out in the wastes to prevent damage to the wall. He didn¡¯t know enough about strategy to comment on it, but it was a lucky break for him. With the army out of town, it would be easier for him to move about. Looking at arms and armour stores, it seemed that the local militia had bought out their stocks, so he wouldn¡¯t be able to resupply before leaving. He thought about Tyr¡¯s warning, but knew there was no way for him to stop the battle. The best he could do was to continue moving, maybe reaching a neutral territory and trying to get them to negotiate a truce. When he reached the gate, he found it reinforced with soldiers, militia, and members of various orders. There didn¡¯t seem to be any real cohesion; more like each individual group was told to be there so they all were. That in itself was an opportunity. He quickly cast an invisibility spell on himself, but made it work worse than it normally would, giving the impression of heat haze or a shadow. With a crafty smile on his hidden face he approached the first group, the militia. ¡°Stand aside civilians,¡± he said in his best imperialistic and snobbish voice, ¡°impeding the duties of a scout for the Nuada Order is grounds for imprisonment.¡± Honestly, Daniel didn¡¯t even know if that order even had scouts, but he knew townsfolk wouldn¡¯t risk offending someone from a warrior order, let alone one that sounded like a noble. As the let him through, he made his way to the next group; the standing army. ¡°Sorry to bother you, sir,¡± Daniel said, with a somewhat uneasy sounding voice, ¡°I¡¯m from the militia scouting division, and they told me to work with either the army or the orders. Where am I needed?¡± Without even considering it, the stressed looking officer simply said, ¡°Work for the orders¡± and returned to his work. That wasn¡¯t surprising, amateur help would just endanger him men and he would have to make changes to his plans if he started adding more units in. It was far easier to just throw Daniel to the orders and let them deal with him. Daniel then made his way to the final group, the orders. ¡°Scout for the Enoksen City Standing army, requesting permission to pass through¡± Daniel said with a salute. His posture was held straight like any soldier and the order guard barely paid any attention to him; they were there to stop people getting in not going out, and he would have had to get through two other checkpoints before reaching the orders¡¯. Taking the opportunity, Daniel slipped out. Once outside the city, and out of the sight of the soldiers, he cancelled the spell and took a look at the armies. Both sides¡¯ short range fighters were engaged in a melee and spells and bullets filled the area. He could hear the same coming from the east, so Ares¡¯ Spear had apparently made their move. Not wanting to stick around, he made his move towards where he told Aria to meet up. As he moved, he noticed a group of Olympian soldiers broke through the Celtic army and were headed straight for a group of officers. They were dressed as normal Olympian fighter, with bronze ring-mail and bronzed leather, all etched with hardening runes. It didn¡¯t really concern him at all, until he noticed that that the leader of the officer¡¯s security was Anna. While she had struck out at him, she was still an important person of someone important to him, and leaving her to die wouldn¡¯t sit well with him. As Anna fought the invaders back, she revelled in their blood. She blocked attacks with her shield and shot her attackers with a pistol. Her spear broke at the start of the encounter so she instead let the smell of gunpowder sooth her into bloodlust. As she was letting herself go, she failed to notice that the people she was supposed to be protecting had already been killed. By the time she noticed, she was already alone, with three opponents surrounding her. As the charged forward, she confidently shot one in the head, and turned to shoot another, only to hear a dull click. As swords approached, she realised her gun was empty. As an emergency measure, she let a blade sink deeply into her shield, locking it in place, while she used the pistol to block the other attack. The gun fell from her hand as she saw the blade rise up for another swing. It was swing that never came, as a strange force suddenly pinned the attacker to the ground, burying him in the sand. She turned to see the Draconian that had her sister¡¯s knife; he used some kind of breath attack to same her. Not letting the opportunity go to waste, she grabbed the fallen sword and killed the soldier who was trying to get his weapon from her shield. As she turned back around, she found that the Draconian was gone. --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s note: Hey, do you remember those huge tables from the first chapter? Well I only just noticed that I haven''t mentioned it on this site yet, but I found them annoying to work with I''ve really limited their use. I started just uploading them to their own page at the end of each chapter on my wordpress site. If you actually want to see numbers and things, you can at: https://senjiqcreations.wordpress.com/sandstorm-story/ Easter Special 2016 – The Tower of Phoenix Part 1 Years before Anna and Louise were even born, Chloe Zeeb stretched out her long, slender arms, letting out the stiffness that built up in their long drive. To celebrate their recent marriage, she and her new husband, Lucas, decided to attempt the Tower of the Phoenix; home of the legendary bird of fire. Unlike other towers, the Tower of the Phoenix was built on top of a hill and was able to escape being buried beneath the sand. It also lacked any kind of glass along its exterior, giving it a look that like of an old castle but built with twenty floors. The dark stone bricks, however, were held together with a mortar that was constantly burning with a purple-green flame. It was an eerie look that was ill suited for a honeymoon. For experienced raiders, however, what could be more suited then taking time away from raiding for money and security, and instead doing it for personal power and having their marriage blessed by a divine beast. Surprisingly, entering that tower, and other towers like it, was actually a popular honeymoon activity amongst powerful raiders. For Chloe, a Gunslinger whose beauty made her often mistaken for an Elf, and Lucas, an All-Rounder Elf that was born with a neurological disorder that allowed him to display empathy towards others, the idea of having the approval of the closest creatures to the gods was the perfect way to spend their time off. Lucas was lucky; the medical technology that could have found his condition was destroyed during the fall, saving him from the fate of those born with visible disfigurements. When his disorder was diagnosed, he had already made a name for himself so it was too wasteful to simply kill him off. Instead, it was ruled that he wasn¡¯t permitted to ever breed with an Elf. That just made Chloe even more precious to him, he might be disfigured in the eyes of his people, but while he had her, he felt whole. The front door to the tower was a pair heavy wooden doors, braced with a dark metal, that despite their weight opened effortlessly. The first floor was a clear space with a large basin-like fountain that was filled with cool, sweet tasting water. It had been reported that the phoenix only granted a pact to those who cleaned themselves with that water before attempting the tower. Under the heat of the burning tower, it almost seemed like glazing a cake with sugary water. As they climbed up the stairs to the first floor, they found the room was filled with a flock of raven like birds. The birds attacked, not giving them time to react and their beautiful skin was quickly covered in scratches. Recovering from the surprise, they quickly killed the birds with their guns, knives and sword. The birds were barley more than animals, rather than monsters, and weren¡¯t able to put up much of a fight. It was said that The Phoenix Tower was a place that the Glass Tower System didn¡¯t function, where they wouldn¡¯t gain any levels regardless of however much they killed. As such, they were placing far more emprises on their knife and sword skills, not wanting to spend expensive bullets on targets they wouldn¡¯t even get experience from. Altogether, they had two knives, a pistol, a revolver, a short sword and a rifle; more than enough weapons to deal with simple birds. After spending a little mana to heal the cuts and insure there wouldn¡¯t be any scars, they went to the next floor. Knowing what to expect, from the second floor onward, they had no problems. Each floor was filled with enemies of gradually increasing difficulty. The enemies were all birdlike, on fire or both. With that narrow pool of options the increase in difficulty was often just more health or more enemies. The actual hardest part wasn¡¯t really the enemies, but instead the building itself. With each floor they rose, the hotter the room became. It was gradual at first, to the point that they hadn¡¯t noticed till the fifth floor, but the difference became really noticeable beyond the tenth floor. By the eighteenth level, the rooms were too hot to wear armour or use metal weapons. It was starting to reach a level where they were starting to worry about the guns going off from the heat. Because of that, they had to use some of their precious little remaining mana to cool themselves off. Hot and tired, the trip was starting to feel far less enjoyable than they had imagined. By that point, what was dragging them forward was their pride as expert tower raiders. When they reached the top floor, they found themselves on the roof. A cold night breeze touched their skin and the sensation filled them with the comfort of water in a desert. In the centre of the roof, a huge bird, about 2 meter tall, roosted. Its feet seemed connected to the building itself as the purple-green flames that held the tower together were apparently the substance that made up its body. The phoenix let out a cry, a sound that their minds somehow understood. ¡°Greetings, O beings whom underwent this sacred trial, this lowly servant of fire greets you. This one would ask, is your goal to have your union recognised by the gods, or to gain the gift of fire? This one can only grant one boon.¡± Having to choose wasn¡¯t unexpected; others who made the trip were also given the choice. They had heard that the gift of fire granted a powerful Fire Manipulation ability, even to races that wouldn¡¯t normally be able to use that power. It was said that if a marriage was recognised by the gods it would be impossible to ever get a divorce. It was hard to believe anyone would pass on the power to control fire for something that was little more than a romantic gesture. None the less, that was the goal those two came there for, and thus their decision was made. The phoenix seemed to laugh when hearing their choice. ¡°Your choice is a respectable one, O beings whom passed the true trial, and this one will grant unto you the pact of the phoenix. When you desire power beyond your life and means, use this array and this one shall burn time from your life to grant your desire.¡± A magical array floated in the back of their minds. Whenever they thought about the pact, the array once again came clearly to mind. Under that condition, it would be almost impossible to make a mistake when drawing the array. After thanking the Bird of Fire, they started to leave. As they approached the door, it spoke once more. ¡°A final warning before you leave; this one¡¯s power is one that goes against nature. When burning life; your fate is burnt along with it. Know that it is a cursed life that lives without fate. This one wholeheartedly recommends to never use the power this one granted.¡± It was a strange warning from Lucas¡¯s perspective. He had never been one to believe in fate. If anything, the idea of shortening his life could be seen as a blessing. It was always in the back of his mind that Chloe would die far, far younger than him and he would have to go on living without her. For that reason, he never hesitated to call on the phoenix, despite Chloe telling him to stop. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Part 2 The Demon Isi was in a lot of trouble. Most of her body had been completely crushed, eaten by a large, lizard like creature in the sands of the wasteland. In fact, the only part of her left was her horn; witch was lucky, since that was all a Demon needed to survive. Well, calling it lucky was less then truthful; she had left that body behind deliberately to make sure she survived. What was unfortunate was that a sandstorm kicked up not long afterwards, and the strong wind lifted her up and sent her spiralling through the sky. As a species, Demons were called ¡®the creatures closest to mana¡¯ since most of their bodies were incorporeal, aside from a curved horn. They latched themselves to dead bodies and controlled them, often replacing undesirable parts with parts from other bodies. Depending on the individual, the parts chosen could be selected with different purposes in mind. Some Demons might hunt powerful monsters while others might seek out beautiful people. There was one legend that said the first Elf to start breeding for beauty was inspired to do so after seeing a Demon who chose only the most beautiful parts of every race. Demons could modify the parts to some extent, mostly to ensure a consistent colour scheme and rough size, and kept the parts in a state that was neither living nor dead. Even more curious was the abilities of their horns. If their horn were broke they would die, but while it was intact it held special properties. The most amazing of which was without a doubt part storage; the ability to store spare body parts within a magically created space inside the horn. The amount of mass it could store was proportional to the Demon¡¯s age, as was the length of the horn. Some small thing, like clothes, could also be stored within the space, but the efficacy was far worse than with body parts. The horn also displayed sexual dimorphism in that a feminine horn had a spiral, almost drill-like, shape along its curved body, while a masculine horn was completely smooth. Isi was a young Demon, having broken off the tip of her mother¡¯s horn only five years prior. As such, her mental age was something similar to a human in their late teens or early twenties. Normally, she should have stayed with a group of Demons around her own age until they each had bodies they were comfortable with, but Isi wanted explore around trying out as many body types until she found one she liked. Taking a whole body could be a risky thing if it wasn¡¯t timed well, too soon and its soul could still be attached, too late and the memories it contained could break down. Missing out on the memories wasn¡¯t such a bad thing, but it was how their species grew. Demons grew at a rough rate of a millimetre a year, once they finished their growth period. For every year of unique memory information they drained from a body, they grew an extra millimetre. In order for a new Demon to be born, the top five centimetres of a female Demon¡¯s horn would break off. As that represented fifty years of natural growth, it was normal for them to supplement their own time with the memories of those around them. Male Demons in particular were targets for draining, since their length could be directly absorbed. Since an adult Demon, age four, was at least ten centimetres, consuming a male Demon ensured enough length of at least two children. There was once a time when Demons were hunted in order to make magical bags, and as such they tended to shy away from contacting other races, especially without powerful bodies. Though, if a body was maintained well, it was possible for a Demon to have offspring with that body. However, if that body contained any body parts aside from the original, even if it was as little as a replaced hand, then the offspring born turned out as a race called a Mongrel. Mongrels were a race that resembled a human with assorted animalistic or monstrous features. Their always retained features from their non-Demon parent and had a tiny two centimetre horn on their forehead, but otherwise their bodies were a mix of animal parts with no consistent reason or logic. From an Elf¡¯s perspective, they were so hideous that it wasn¡¯t uncommon for an Elf to faint on seeing one. After being dragged about by the wind for a while, she eventually stuck against a Glass Tower, and fell to the soft sand beneath. Relived to be in contact with the earth once again, she rolled herself through a broken window and onto an office desk within. Inside she found herself staring at a half-dressed red Draconian pointing a gun at an elf pinned underneath the dead body of a haze. It was her lucky day after all; when they eventually left they left the haze¡¯s body behind. While it had been dead too long for her to salvage memories, she was happy just to have a body again. She had inserted her horn onto the base of its neck in an attempt to make herself harder to notice; while it was unlikely she would find another demon, it would be embarrassing to be seen in such a weak body. After hearing the sound of combat, she used the body¡¯s ability to cloak itself and moved carefully up the stairs. When she was the Elf get killed she knew it was her opportunity. When that Draconian shot her body she dumped all of it aside from the strange organ that generated the cloaking effect and rolled towards the Elf. The Draconian was busy with the other nearby hazes, and his apparent grief, and didn¡¯t notice her taking the body. While she managed to store all of the body, she only had enough space left for its clothes and had to leave the heavy coat and weapons behind. Although it was sad to leave good items behind, having such a good body was worth it. With the body stored, she rolled herself into a shadowy corner and let the haze cloak do its job. While she waited for the Draconian to leave, she started to assimilate the body¡¯s memories. That was where things started to go wrong for her; she had acted too soon. The body still had a soul attached and it reacted aggressively to her attempts to assimilate it. What was worse, the soul had been augmented by the Glass Tower System, and Isa could feel her power loosing against the strength of the soul. After a few minutes of struggling, Isi had lost. The soul had taken control of her body instead of the other way around. With control lost, the soul started to assimilate her memories. After a few hours more there was no Isi. Isi had been completely absorbed by the soul and instead a new Demon controlled the body; a Demon named Louise. Chapter 6 - Through a glass wall, god looks on Part 1 Daniel ran forward, towards the car in the distance. Behind him were several Olympian soldiers that noticed his intervention and felt that he should have stayed out of it. Without any weapons, it was likely that if he tried to attack them, they wouldn''t let him finish making a spell. To his relief, a familiar explosion sounded in the distance and one of the soldiers died with his body blown to pieces. Atop the distant car was Loralei with a bright smile spread across her face and the large M77 in her hands. Several bolts of ice then struck into the remaining chasers as Aria stood nearby striking a pose and making a ¡®v¡¯ sign. Daniel hadn''t noticed it before, but it seemed that Aria was actually bad at magic. While she was certainly had an unmatchable supply of mana and prana, and could create arrays faster than anyone he had met, but those things weren''t skilful. All of the magic she used was either large or a barrage of small attacks; there wasn''t any precision or control involved. With the number of spells she had cast, and the number of misses, Loralei using the M77 was more cost effective than Aria''s spells. While wasting power wasn''t much of an issue for someone with her quantity of power, it revealed a problem that he hadn''t thought about; Aria had very little actual training or experience. While he didn''t know what she had gone through while they were apart, she hadn''t been apart of any kinship when he left, so it was unlikely that she had much in the way of formal training. If her spells were self-taught, then her lack of precision was completely understandable. Furthermore, when she started to use more powerful spells, the difference in skill would really become apparent. When they had time, he would have to give her some real lessons. As thought that, he arrived at the car and they immediately started to drive away from the battlefield. They didn¡¯t really have a plan, they just didn¡¯t want to get shot while thinking of one. The lack of plan was actually the first thing they discussed, with a sense of urgency forming from the nearby war. Daniel hadn¡¯t noticed it at first but his original plan, going to neutral territory had a problem with it; he would have to give up on his revenge. As much as he hated it, the Southernmost Den was one of the most powerful groups within the Norse pantheon territories, and it was unlikely that any group would form an allegiance without their support or recognition. That meant that they had three key options, giving up on revenge, following Tyr¡¯s instructions and forming a treaty between the Norse, Olympians and Celtics; fight for the Celtics and force and agreement with the Olympians or turning against them and side with the Olympians, or even the Hindu or Shinto Pantheons, to use their power to take his revenge. While that would be the fastest, and easiest way to get what he wanted, the long lived perspective of a Draconian helped him realise that it was far from the best method. Even if he succeeded, it wouldn¡¯t mean anything since his allies would then turn against him. It also wouldn¡¯t be particularly viable, since the primary race of the Shinto Pantheon was Dragonkin. While religious orders governed territories, not races, there was a tendency of particular races to prefer certain pantheon. The primary race of a religion was simply the race that the particular religion had the most of, and didn¡¯t have any official meaning. However, since relations between some races could get a little tense, there did tend to be definite pantheons that some races avoided. The clearest examples would be the Egyptian pantheon and the Shinto Pantheon. For some reason, the Egyptian pantheon was attractive to both Darklings and Mongrels, ensuring that the majority of people living in that territory were of those races. Given the traits of Elves, it was therefore unlikely to see Elves that followed those orders. It was similar for the Shinto pantheon, they had a lot of Dragonkin, and therefore waged a lot of wars with Draconian. The primary race of the Celtic orders was, unsurprisingly, Elves; which made negotiations with Egypt somewhat difficult. Even if the gods of each side declaring neutrality, the followers of each side still had their biases. For the Norse Pantheon, which had no primary race, it was a lot easier for the to remain neutral or form alliances. Since siding with the enemies wasn¡¯t an option, he had to decide whether it was worth it to give up on his vengeance. Daniel realised, though, that the choice wasn¡¯t only his to make. If his mates didn¡¯t like an option then that option was off the table. As such, he asked them for their opinions after telling them about his thoughts on each option, only to be surprised by their responses. Leah didn¡¯t really care; the Southwest Den might have been within the Norse territories, but it was an atheistic group so she had no quarms with turning against them. Furthermore, she mostly just wanted to fight and that would happen regardless of which one was chosen. If anything she was in favour of supporting either the Olympic or Celtic orders, simply because they were already there and she could start fighting sooner. Loralei had a similar conclusion, but for different reasons. While she wasn¡¯t particularly attached to any religion, if Olympus won the battle, then Broken Tower would be in danger. While she wasn¡¯t especially attached to the place, particularly since they wanted her and her mate dead, she didn¡¯t like the idea of her mother getting killed. That said, that was a preference and she could take it or leave it. Ultimately, she supported Daniel¡¯s choice, but had a slight preference towards helping Enoksen. Aria on the other hand was very clear about one thing, she wanted to see the Southernmost Den burn. It took Daniel completely by surprise, but Aria¡¯s sense of vengeance was even stronger than his. Needless to say, it was a very attractive feature in a Draconian woman. That said, she also wanted to see the Golden Den in ruins also, though wouldn¡¯t say why. Since the Golden Den was an atheistic neutral territory, destroying it wouldn¡¯t affect any other side, though with its power, it was far beyond what they could manage. With their opinions in mind, they only really had one option left; helping Enoksen to drive back Ares¡¯s Spear, and make a deal with Olympus. With that settled, they drove to a nearby sanddune overlooking the battle. Ideally, the way they fight should drive back the enemy, but still leave them intact enough to be useful when they work together. That was actually fairly doable for Daniel; his force breath could simply crush people into the ground until the pass out. If he didn¡¯t put too much power into it or use it on a hard surface, then the sand would disable the army without killing them. While he was doing that, Aria and Loralei would be transferring their mana into him so that he didn¡¯t run out. While they were disabling people, Leah would protect them and kill anyone that wasn¡¯t affected by the breath. With that plan in place, they moved into the battle. In the city surrounding Enoksen, trouble was starting to brew at the main gate. Word had gotten out that a prisoner that was scheduled to be executed had escaped, and each of the three groups blamed one another. With the tension already high from the nearby battle, the groups quickly turned on each other. With distrust and discontent, the groups became extremely inefficient, failing to even notice a group of hidden figures slipping through the gates. The group was Hades''s Flames, one of the smallest Orders within the Olympic Pantheon. They were a group devoted solely to death, and practiced assassination and murder like it was the very essence of their religion, like it was an object of worship. The group of eight were each dressed in shadowy black clothes that clung loosely to their bodies, tight enough to not impede their movements but loose enough to make their silhouette less human. With the chaos throughout the city, a few extra shadows moving about went completely unnoticed. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. They moved with no wasted motions, heading directly towards the city council. With the town under their control, the soldiers would have no safe haven or supplies and could be easily crushed. With just their small force, large enemies could be brought down. It was just like how they fought, no matter the size death took all equally. The council hall was a longhouse, constructed on one of the lowest branches of Enoksen. To get to it, they would have to clime the stone stairs at the end of the Combined Orders Training Grounds. The stone building, with its football field sized grounds, was being used as a staging area for soldiers on reserve. If the eight were discovered, they would have to fight through that group to reach their target. They didn¡¯t feel any kind of dread from that; if they died then they would simply be going to meet the god they serve. Death wasn¡¯t something they could fear, it was what they worshiped, it was what they desired. Should Hades benefit from it, they would take their own lives without a moment¡¯s hesitation. With that in mind, they moved throughout the grounds, snaking between soldiers with only a slight breeze signifying their passing. Having made it through, standing at the roots of Enoksen, they smirked to themselves feeling superior to the idiotic soldiers that couldn¡¯t even notice them. The stone stairs stood solemnly, like a path straight to their destination and victory. Their rose coloured, marble-like bricks caught the morning light and funneled it dramatically along its railings. It seemed to give the impression that the destination was a divine place, filled with radiant light. They traveled upward, the council hall building more than fifty meters above the ground. From the lowest branch of Enoksen, They could see across the whole town and out into the battlefield. From where they stood, the eight could see a third party had entered the battle and were cutting a line through their allies. It wouldn¡¯t be long until the interveners reached the leaders and made it possible for the Celtic army to make a counterattack. With the recent failure by Aegis, they couldn¡¯t afford to get driven back here. With that determination, they continued forward even faster, intending to end it before their allies started to suffer. When they reached the door to the council, they peered through a nearby window. The members of the council were all extremely old. They probably not only survived after the fall, but were probably born before the fall even started. Elves were almost unaffected by time, but the leaders of Enoksen city looked more like residents of a retirement village than powerful champions. It was hard for the eight to believe that they would be even slightly troubled by the leaders. What the eight didn¡¯t realise was that the elderly were a difficult thing for elves to deal with. While they needed their wisdom and power, their lack of physical beauty was painful for those still young. If it were anyone else in an Elven community, they would have been killed, but since they were a necessary resource, the elderly were instead locked in the council like a quarantine. Meals were delivered, they could look out over the city and they had the power to govern the city, but they couldn¡¯t leave the building and questions were asked to them through the door. Hades¡¯s Flames, filled with confidence, burst through the door and immediately placed weapons against the city leaders. With a cruel arrogance, they demanded that they order their soldiers to surrender. A few of the old Elves chuckled, knowing that they didn¡¯t have the power to do so even if they wished to. Before the eight could even react, their weapons melted and dripped to the floor. Pain from the heat caused them to drop the broken weapons and they jumped back, realising their mistake. Each of the decrepit Elves had centuries to practice their magic, and were born in the age when the Glass Tower System was made. Even if their bodies were too frail to move their might was still far more than the eight of them could handle. They backed out of the room as fast as they could avoiding the spells that seemed to form from any angle around them. Though the attacks were done completely halfheartedly, they were still enough to critically wound three of the eight. With them in that state, it wouldn¡¯t be possible for them to escape. Without any hesitation the three injured people were killed. After taking a moment to calm themselves, they looked over to the battle. The third party were in the middle of fighting the leaders. While it wasn¡¯t going as smoothly as when they entered the battle, it was clear that the leaders wouldn¡¯t survive, as two of the attackers, both mages, held back the regular soldiers while the other two went for the leaders. As what was left of Hades¡¯s Flames knew they couldn¡¯t take the city council by themselves, the only thing they could do was to return to the battle and attack the leaders on the battlefield. When they went to do so, they suddenly heard a voice from behind them. ¡°And where do you think you¡¯re going?¡± The voice asked with an audible sneer, ¡°You walked on the holy tree, Enoksen, so don¡¯t think you can just leave.¡± When they turned to see the voice they found its owner flying just above the ground. It was a woman with bronze tanned skin, glossy, shoulder length black hair, calming blue eyes and slightly pointed ears. She was beautiful, not in the manufactured way an Elf was, but in a way that seemed natural and balanced. However, that appearance was contrasted with, or perhaps accentuated by, the appearance of a twisted horn on her forehead and monstrous wing on her back. After she landed gracefully on the branch, the wings disappeared, as if they were never there. If there had been any doubt before, it was gone at that moment; she was a Demon. Before they could react, a shotgun appeared in her hands, taken out of her Demonic storage, and it shot one of them in the chest. The shot was clearly not normal, as the fragments burrowed themselves through their armour and started to burn their flesh from within. Although they were startled by the sudden attack, the others jumped away before more could come. If they acted together, a single Demon wasn¡¯t a threat to them. However, if she delayed them, the elders would have time to leave the room; at which time they would die. Knowing that all she had to do was stall, the remaining four wouldn¡¯t stand a chance. If they were to have any impact on the battle, there only choice was to retreat. Thus they ran. They jumped straight off the side and used magic to stop soften their landing. With what little time they had before hitting the ground, they couldn¡¯t displace all of the impact, but were at least able to run after hitting the ground. By the time they got outside the city, they noticed that the Demon hadn¡¯t given chase. It was only then that they realised that they hadn¡¯t destroyed their companion¡¯s brain. Given the traits of a Demon, the memories of the dead bodies would be read and all of their order¡¯s secrets would be known. At that point their only options were to ensure the Demon died before it could tell anyone, or a fast runner returned to the capital city to ensure changes were made. It was natural that the four didn¡¯t want their embarrassing failure known, but they had no choice as the Demon had been too close to the city leaders and too much time had passed. Their only choice was to run back to the capital and hope they weren¡¯t too late. Chapter 6.2 - Through a glass wall, god looks on Part 2 Part 2 A bullet missed Daniel¡¯s head by only a few centimetres and a cold sweat began to break out. The sounds of battle, with metal colliding with metal and flesh, with fire and ice and lightning spreading out, with guns firing in a cacophony of thunder, all spread deafeningly around them. His throat started hurting from constraint use of his force breath as of several minutes ago, but he could do nothing about it and continued to carefully send soldiers into the sand. His head started to feel faint, as he had used most of his own mana and was drawing out Aria¡¯s and Loralei¡¯s. The fatigue that overuse of mana caused hit him far harder than the exertion of moving throughout the fight, but he did his best to remain focused knowing that if he lost control, his targets could be crushed to death, or one of the attacks could hit him. Not that he had been entirely that lucky in the fight so far; several bullets had stuck against him, only to bounce harmlessly off his armour. He also found that the scales on his arms had hardened substantially through his leveling. While they couldn¡¯t outright stop a bullet or a blade, they could resist and redirect attacks that were off-centre. While he had a few dints, scratches and scrapes, there wasn¡¯t anything that wouldn¡¯t heal after a few moments through his skills. Most of his fortune, in that regard, was thanks to Leah. While he focused on keeping the enemies alive and useful, she caused death and destruction to try and get them to retreat. It was thanks to her rampaging through the enemy¡¯s ranks that the focus was mostly on her and not them. Through the monotonous battle, Daniel once again had an opportunity to think. Specifically, he thought about the warning Tyr gave him. His actions were basically a direct attack against what Tyr had said. He was supposed to get the three pantheons to work together, but was instead willing to give up that land without any remorse or hesitation. It wasn¡¯t like losing that land would be the end of the Norse pantheon, they still had other territories on the continent, and even more on the other continents. He had heard a trader say that a large part of Europe was Norse territories, so one tiny speck of land was hardly a loss if that were true. Another part of why he didn¡¯t feel much remorse about going against Tyr, had to do with how little faith he had. Faith was more than just believing in a god. The gods had long since revealed themselves, so believing that they existed was like believing that the air through your moving hands was real. It could be felt, even if it couldn¡¯t be seen so simply thinking it was real wasn¡¯t what faith meant. True faith, faith in the Age of the Returned Gods, was something different. To have faith in a pantheon or a god meant giving that god control over a portion of your soul, giving them the ability to kill at any moment. The amount of trust it took to give a notoriously fickly being the ability to kill at any moment was rewarded with a power called ¡®divine techniques¡¯. Divine techniques varied depending on the particular god followed, but usually involved boosting a particular ability, lowering an opponent''s abilities or a unique type of attack. While divine techniques were powered by the gods, and as such didn¡¯t have any cost to the user, the overuse of them, or simply using them at a time that was inconvenient to the god involved, often annoyed the god enough to kill the user. It was simply an inherent risk involved with the power. For those in direct contact with their gods, that risk was somewhat reduced, though only a fool would think that they were completely safe. An example of divine techniques was the divine strengthening technique that Louise had used to fight the metal skeleton. The divine energy causes the user to glow, and in the case of Morrigan followers, the have their strength increased. While the effect wasn¡¯t particularly interesting or complicated, it was enough to tip the balance in an otherwise equal fight. It actually seemed strange to Daniel when he heard that people once lived without knowing about the gods, that before the divine beasts woke the gods whether the gods were real was one of life¡¯s big questions. That kind of uncertainty was simply too alien; he couldn¡¯t even begin to imagine what a world without gods would be like. It was to the point that the best he could think of was a world where the gods didn¡¯t bother people. Pushing that distraction from his mind, he became resolute. The opposite of faith, atheism, was an active resistance to intervention by the gods. By taking the portion of the soul that would normally be given to a god, and instead condensing it into a wall, atheists could prevent gods from communicating with them, or even from being able to see them. While most people, Daniel included, fell into a middle category or neither faith nor atheism, atheism was an active move against being manipulated by the gods. Daniel knew that the fights ahead of him, against the Hindu and Shinto, would be akin to fighting gods, not just their followers. To give himself the best chance, he made a final move and condensed his soul. From the city, a large fire suddenly broke out on Enoksen. The spreading fire caused the battle to hesitate for a moment, though as the fire was doused a moment later, the fight resumed. The fire seemed to have be caused by some kind of powerful attacking spell, though only those with the best site could have seen a figure escaping from the massive tree. Whatever it had been, it served only as a moment''s distraction from the fight. As expected, the leaders were the hardest to pin down. While Leah held back the Olympic army, and the bulk of the army was busy with Enoksen, Daniel, Loralei and Aria did their best to take them out. The commanders were each equipped with armour that negated the breath attack, meaning they had to be brought down in a more conventional way. There were three leaders, each large humans with plenty of battle experience. They each had solid spears, draped in runes and made from pre-fall, alchemic materials. Alchemy was a branch of materialisation magic that specialised in impossible chemistry. A meteorological example would be creating synthetic elements, that would normally only exist for a few seconds or less, and preventing them from disappearing while they are made stable within an alloy. While the applications differed with different areas of chemistry, the general method was basically just creating things next to things they wouldn¡¯t normally be able to. The results were the discovery of lighter and stronger alloys, more effective medicines and more powerful explosives. Daniel could tell just by looking at them that the spears could pass through his armour like he wasn¡¯t even wearing any. His old gear would have broken even from a near miss. With that in mind they had to fight them with a focus on defence. Aria created thick magical barriers that held off their attacks, allowing Daniel and Loralei to shoot from safety, but cracks could be seen on the barrier¡¯s surface. The large humans were far more nimble than their frames would suggest and remained one step ahead of their attacker¡¯s bullets. Whenever one of them reloaded, they would make attacks against the shield, using their numbers to confuse whoever was still shooting. The damage to the shield was piling up and it didn¡¯t look like it would last much longer when Daniel noticed something fortuitous. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Some of the nearby Olympic soldiers was a Draconian. Moreover, they were red Draconian. Taking the opportunity, Daniel channeled a sizable chunk of mana to his voice and called out. ¡°I, Daniel Selby, command you. By virtue of my ruby scales; attack these people.¡± The leaders hadn¡¯t expected it, but their soldiers turned against them. With pained expressions from loss of control, the opened fire on their leaders. With the increased number of targets to avoid, they could no longer avoid of them and were quickly shot dead by Daniel, Loralei and their allied soldiers. The compulsion was due to the ability Daniel gained when he became a higher variant, ¡°Draconic Command (Ruby)¡±. As much as they wanted to resist, the level difference between them and Daniel was simply too great, and as a result killed their own leader. Those around them, didn¡¯t understand what happened, and simply assumed that they had become traitors. Before Daniel could knock them out, other members of the Olympic army had killed them. Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, the second Enoksen army was facing a far worse situation. Their ranks had broken not long ago and and they were being completely outclassed. Not only was the average Olympian soldier more powerful, but they were also more organised and more plentiful. The confusion and mistrust at the gate had carried over, and the communication lines had broken down. While the elites of Enoksen were far stronger than the Olympic elites, they could only draw the battle out, not win it. Eventually, even the strongest of people would tire when surrounded. Both Kat Anaon¡¯s shield and spear had broken and her pistol was long since out of bullets. While she had started using weapons she found on the battlefield, they too started to beak. While she commanded the Morrigan Order on that side of the wall, she was the only member of that order still standing. Simply to survive, she had used the divine strengthening technique two times already, and felt that if she were to use it again she would be risking her life. Towards the end of the fall, there were many similar fight, and she remembered how she cultivated her fighting experience in each such battle. Kat knew that she would have to use one of her least favourite techniques, but she was starting to become desperate, as the Glass Tower System started to display a red low health warning. The Aura of Death; the soul energy of all those she had killed condensed into air around her body, distorting her in the eye¡¯s of those around her. Anyone that saw her, who hadn¡¯t reached at least level six, would freeze up, seeing her as a monstrous abomination that was synonymous with death. Their fearful gazes hurt her to see, knowing that to them, she was the most disgusting thing to ever walk the planet. The second calamity, the Grey Wraith, was the creature that taught her how to use that ability, and she knew from experience how powerless it felt to be around that. She watched as that cloud of grey mist spread out and dissolved everything. People, buildings, cars and weapons, nothing could stop that creature from dissolving everything she cared about. It simply moved, and everything in its path was reduced to dust. With the Queen Leech, there was at least a theoretical way to kill it, but the Grey Wraith only grew more powerful with every attempt to kill it. It simply existed to bring about the end. When she was left alive by it, she felt like it was solely so she would live on with its horrendous image burned into her mind. Knowing full well how it felt, she shaped her aura like that beast. While those around her were stunned, she started to cut them down like wheat, dying with a face filled with the purest kind of fear. However, her aura wasn¡¯t something that affected her enemies alone, and the strongest Olympian soldiers took the opportunity to kill off the Enoksen soldiers that froze up. After only few minutes, both armies were destroyed and only Kat and five enemies remained standing there in the red soaked sand. While others had been unaffected by her aura, when those that were died off the soldiers targeted them. Having killed so many, Kat was completely exhausted. She was barely able to remain on her feet, but her enemies started to get closer. Sweat dripped into her amber eyes, but even through her blurry vision, she could see that her attackers were also tired. With the five approaching her, she knew she had to move, but simply didn¡¯t have the energy to do so. As a spear came lazily towards her, it took most of her effort to simply duck out of its way. Not that it help much, as another followed after it and took her in her side. Falling her her knees, it felt almost like a vacation, like she wouldn¡¯t even regret it if she didn¡¯t wake up. There was no part of her that wasn¡¯t tired, and death embrace seemed to welcome her. However, as she closed her eyes she realised; she didn¡¯t want to die. She wanted to live more. She remembered the sweet smile of her favorite students, the joy she had in training the Half-Elf sister, and knew she didn¡¯t want to die. Moreover, it was scary. She couldn¡¯t even begin to express just how much she feared death. What would await her, a monster that could inspire fear like the Grey Wraith. How could the afterlife be a good place if it welcomed creatures like her. That fear filled her with more will to live than any desire could. But will couldn¡¯t change anything. The spear had struck deep and she was laying face first in the blood soaked sand. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author Note: Just giving heads up that from 2016.04.26, for up to 4 weeks, I might not post any chapter. I may still, but don''t be surprised if I don''t Chapter 6.3 - Through a glass wall, god looks on Part 3 Part 3 With the Olympian leaders dead and the Enoksen army, plus Daniel¡¯s group, surrounding them, the Olympian army had no choice but to surrender. No word had come from the other front, but from what they had heard, that side of the battle had been a complete bloodbath for both side. In contrast, more than eighty percent of the fighting force that faced the four Draconian remained alive. Given their numbers, it was definitely still possible to fight on, but the recent defeat of the Aegis was still fresh in their minds, and their moral was crushed by continued defeat. There was still some soldiers in high spirits, though they were a small group, and they tried to rally their comrades into fighting on. However, with these around them laying down arms, and no clear command structure left they too soon either gave up or were put down. With the last remaining fires put out the field was cleared for medical staff from both sides to start sorting through the bodies. When the highest ranking soldier was eventually sorted out and made acting commander, the leaders of both armies met to sort out arrangements for formalising the surrender. Since the agreement would be important for the mission going forward, Daniel inserted himself and Leah into the conversation. While the leaders were meeting, Arian and Loralei joined the medical staff in treating the wounded. Even if Daniel had been using a non-lethal attack, everyone else in the battle wasn¡¯t. As such, the number of dead and hurt was still substantial, even if the army was mostly intact. It was the first time both Aria and Loralei had seen a battle and their responses were somewhat different. For Loralei, who was raised in a town that was predominantly Human, her Draconian instincts had been dulled slightly and she found the battle to be a terrible waste of life. For Aria, who was raised by a battle hardened Draconian matriarch, the battle was incredibly arousing. When she saw Daniel force enemy soldiers into becoming traitors then shooting the distracted leaders, she had wanted to push him down then and there. When those he controlled were killed by their allies, only Leah¡¯s hand firmly squeezing her shoulder stopped her from following her instincts. While halfheartedly throwing healing spells at the wounded, and thinking about the battle, Aria noticed that she gained a level during the fight. When she went to boast about it to her cute little-sister-in-law Loralei told her that she had gained two levels. It was a crushing blow for Aria; not only had Loralei gained more out of the battle than her, with that, they were the same level. Having both reached level five, Aria felt her credibility as an older sister start to slip. With that she was determined to gain more experience from treating the wounded. If she could get another level through that, then all would be right for her. If she had thought about it though, the difference between their power was far more than simply levels. Even if they were both level five, the Storm Mage Loralei had 720 mana units and a fifty percent prana efficiency while the Sage Aria had a capacity of 1,820 and an efficiency of eighty-five percent. Realistically, comparing the two was entirely unfair. Even though they were both pure mage type classes, Loralei was an entirely normal class while Aria was one of the rarest and most sought after. Even if the difference was pronounced, when the time came from them to take an advanced class, the difference would likely exaggerate further. Unlike Aria, Loralei was entirely aware of the difference between them. She knew that not only was she a worse class, she was also a worse variant. Even if she was half silver, she was still half white. As much as Aria was starting to grow on her, as the reliable older sister she had always wanted, the sunlight was too bright and she had spent too much of her life hiding from it. As the wounded were being treated, Daniel was argueing with a self-righteous Elf and a too nervous to be helpful Human. The Elf was the acting representative of Enoksen and the human was a soldier from Ares¡¯s Spear who had suddenly jumped up four ranks and lacked the experience required for the job. As such, the discussion wasn¡¯t making any real progress, with the Elf taking the time to talk himself up, to no one in particular, and the Human simply listening. Both Daniel and Leah were nearing the last of their patience when Anna, still dressed in blood soaked armour, entered the tent. Her expression was that of someone trying to work to avoid thinking about something, but she quickly took control of the meeting. The Elf seemed to question her authority, but it seemed that there was some kind of battlefield appointment, and she was representing someone else. She seemed far more reasonable than when they last met, though there was still a glint of hate in her eyes. It seemed she still suspected that Daniel killed her sister, but was at least thankful enough for saving her that she wouldn¡¯t let it interfere with her work. With her, slightly, more calm disposition, she allowed Daniel to fully explain his meeting with Tyr and what happened at Springhill and Locke. By the end, the hate in her eye had calmed down considerably. While she still seemed a little sceptical, Anna seemed at least willing to act like she believe him. Though she would certainly have a plan for if he were lying. Having grasped the situation, Anna left to organise a report to the Celtic capital city. Much like Vatican city, each pantheon had its own Theocratic city state somewhere in the world. What¡¯s more, Each one had been protected against the falling sand, and remained mostly unburied. Despite that, the Theocracies were places where the Glass Tower system didn¡¯t function and the power of the particular pantheon that was worshiped there was at its strongest. Usually, the location of the theocratic cities was tied strongly to the pantheon that resided there. For example, despite the Norse pantheon having control over a lot of europe, the Olympic Pantheon governed a small city, or large town, on top of Mt. Olympus in Greece. While Daniel didn¡¯t know exactly where the Celtic Theocracy was, he knew that it was somewhere in the vicinity of Britain. From what Daniel gathered, Anna would somehow send a report to the capital where someone with a direct line of communication would try and ask the gods about it. When they got a response, they would send orders back to Enoksen. Depending on the communication methods available to Enoksen, reporting could take anywhere between minutes and weeks. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. The Olympic soldier also organised a report, though the fastest communications method was a long distance runner. The runner was a member of the Order of Hermes, whose blessing boosted a runner''s speed, and the individual had trained almost exclusively on spells that increased speed. He even had a rare class, Postman, whose class skills further increase speed while delivering items or messages. It was embarrassing to the other orders, but her devotion to her order had landed her several promotions without ever having picked up a weapon. With such a person running, it was possible to reach the nearest Olympic city, where the message could be transmitted with magic or technology, in less than a day. Even the Southernmost Den¡¯s, now broken, hovercraft couldn¡¯t boast that. While the situation was being reported, the Olympic soldiers were tasked with sorting their dead for burial or transport. If they were still waiting beyond that, they were to work the quarry in exchange for food. It was a better offer they they would have given the losing side, so they couldn¡¯t complain, and they were willing to go along with that as a short term solution. Daniel¡¯s group was asked to simply stay within radio range of the city, but otherwise didn¡¯t have any constraints placed on them. After Anna was saved by Daniel, near the start of the battle, she noticed that her side was starting to gain the upper hand. With that in mind, she handed field command over to another order, and preceded to check on the condition of the other front. By the time she got there, she was faced with a terrible sight. Nearly the entirety of both sides had been wiped out and only six people were still alive. Her adoptive mother, Kat Anaon, was surrounded and completely fatigued. The other soldiers were in as bad a shape as she was, but they still had numbers. She knew that Kat was a very high level soldier, but something said came to mind. ¡°The tower system is a little strange, and it can only do so much to bring out your talents. Once you hit a certain amount of power, you stop getting as much out of each level.¡± Even though she had nearly double the level of anyone else on the field, Kat¡¯s class was a Soldier, one of the most common classes there were. With a class like that, she hit the upper limit very early in her career, and leveling beyond that netted her next to nothing. For Anna, she hadn¡¯t ever understood how that could be. Kat seemed like the most powerful person in the world to her, someone who took down the strongest monsters without taking a scratch. But the scene before her eye¡¯s brought with it a definite realisation. One near dead soldier within a sea of dead soldiers. That was all that she was. The only difference between her and the bodies strewn around her was that she was still standing. That didn¡¯t last long, however, as a spear entered through her side, cracking the armour she had always worn with pride. With Kat¡¯s body fallen, Anna finally arrived within shooting range, and quickly shot the tired soldiers. As she tried to tend to Kat¡¯s wounds, she could hear the distant cries. It seemed their side had won. Not wanting to waste any time, Anna started to pull Kat¡¯s body, slowing only to push aside bodies that slowed her struggles. With her arms looped around Kat¡¯s, Anna had a clear view of the many scars that covered her body. Over the years, when Kat returned from battle, it wasn¡¯t that she returned unharmed, but that she didn¡¯t let them see her hurt. When they were young, having lost their parents, seeing Kat hurt would have been too upsetting for them. As they grew older, she¡¯d become something they¡¯d aspired to be, and Kat wanted them to aspire to return home safely. By the time they reached a medical tent, Kat was looking beyond pale. Her skin was clammy, her body cold, but she was still somehow alive. The medical staff didn¡¯t think that she had particularly long to live, but would do what they could. Leaving them to do their job, Anna could only wait and see. The leader she had put in charge noticed her return, and immediately insisted that she take control of a surrender negotiation that was taking place. Apparently, a particularly proud noble had insisted upon being the negotiator and the unknown third party that had saved them was starting to loose their patience. In order to ensure the powerful fighters didn¡¯t turn on them, Anna was temporarily given Kat¡¯s authority. To her surprise, the third party was Daniel, whom she had assumed had fled. Taking into account his impact on the battle, and that he saved her, she decided to at least put aside her feelings and hear him out. After hearing his full story, or at least all of what he was willing to say, she got the feeling that he was leaving something out. With her position in mind, she knew that she had no choice but to compile a report and wait for orders from the capital. It wasn¡¯t unheard of for reports to not get responded to for at least three days, or even unnoticed by the capital for a month, so she made plans to keep the Olympians busy. Furthermore, she knew she really couldn¡¯t control Daniel¡¯s group so she simply asked that if they leave the city, that they remain within radio communication range. Only once everything was sorted could she let herself collapse. As she lay on her bed, tired but unable to sleep, she started to dread hearing the sound of her radio. Each time it went off, she was worried it would be the medics looking for her. She worried that they would tell her she was too slow. She worried that they would tell her the worst news. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s note: In last week''s note there was a typo, 26 not 16... it''s been corrected. Chapter 7 - Golden Blood Part 1 Two weeks had past since they the battle against the Olympic army and in that time Daniel¡¯s group had well and truly restocked. Even though the price of bullets was high following the battle, with hunting on a near daily basis, they were able to purchase what they needed without making a loss. It wasn¡¯t as if they were busy every day; every few days they¡¯d spend some time relaxing throughout the town. In addition, Loralei had spent a lot of that time working at a local clinic as a temporary worker, both for the money and the experience. With her work then and after the battle, it wasn¡¯t surprising that she had accumulated a number of fans throughout the city. Leah also developed a number of fans, though with a very different group. She had spent a lot of her time off training with the local orders and militia groups, and from there became popular with old warriors and young women. Her training with the militia mostly involved beating down large groups of people then telling them what they did wrong, but fights against soldiers from the orders weren¡¯t always so lopsided. While lower level order members could be thrashed almost effortlessly, the elite amongst them were far more of a challenge. Against the leaders of the combat oriented orders, she was the one to get thrashed. While the two enjoyed the limelight, Daniel mostly tried to remain hidden. While the city officially thanked him for helping to end the battle, there were a number of people that blamed him. With the heavy losses amongst the soldiers that fought beside Kat Anaon, there were a lot of people that blamed his escape; saying that the confusion added to the number of dead. They weren¡¯t exactly wrong, but others could understand that it would have been stupid to wait around and be executed because someone wasn¡¯t handling grief well. As such, he spent a lot of time outside of the city, hunting with Aria even on days when they were supposed to be taking a break. Despite the sheer volume of creatures killed in that time, they were all too low level and no one''s level managed to rise in that time. Surprisingly, the first they heard about the city¡¯s plan didn¡¯t come from the council, but instead from one of Loralei¡¯s fans. They were a soldier that she treated after the battle and who felt like they had their life saved by her, and as such when they were stationed outside the council room and overheard the plans, they reported them to her. As it turned out, the reason a response was taking so long wasn¡¯t because of difficulty in sending a message, but because the capitals were handling the negotiations themselves. That made a lot of sense, agreements made at the highest level could be made far more quickly and the organizations¡¯ leaders had far better access to communication methods. Unfortunately for Daniel¡¯s group however, those closest to the divine tended to follow their words fairly closely, and as such formed an alliance between the three pantheons, on the basis of a common threat. With the forces joined, it would be much harder to destroy the Southernmost Den, given that it was a powerhouse of potential Draconian soldiers. To make matters worse, the Celtic capital ruled that Daniel¡¯s group was an unstable element with the potential to cause harm to the treaty. They weren¡¯t wrong, though; Daniel had every intention of killing the Southernmost Den¡¯s leaders, which would be very destabilizing in the local area. After they received that warning, they only had a couple hours to leave Enoksen before word reached the guards that they were labeled as enemies of the state, and were to be hunted. Surprisingly, the Morrigan Order was placed in control of the hunt. The Morrigan Order was usually in charge of defence, so having them actively hunting would normally have been out of place. In that particular case, however, the reasoning was fairly obvious. After the battle, it was the combat order with the least number of casualties. Furthermore, the current acting leader, Anna Zeeb, had demonstrated active hostility towards their group. With Leah¡¯s recent popularity amongst the orders, it made sense to use a commander whose hostility would prevent their judgment from being clouded. Anna herself hadn¡¯t been seen much during the time they were in town. There was rumours about town that she was busy with the temporary command position, that she lost someone in the battle and couldn¡¯t focus, that she had a secret lover that she snuck out to meet. Whichever was correct didn¡¯t matter much to Daniel, he was just glad that it meant that she hadn¡¯t caused trouble for him while he wanted to lay low. He was even more thankful that it meant she wasn¡¯t there to stop them from leaving town and escaping. Because then spent most of the two weeks making trips out and making preparations, it didn¡¯t take them long to pack, and they were able to leave with more than an hour¡¯s head start. With the power behind their car, and because they traveled alone, it was unlikely that any large force would be able to catch them. On to of that, it was unlikely that the town¡¯s most powerful members could be diverted to deal with them, as they would be key to the upcoming war. The difficulty was that Enoksen could easily communicate with their now partners, the Norse and Olympic Pantheons, and have them attacked in any towns they entered. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Idealy, they could head to a neutral territory while they waited for the war to weaken the Southernmost Den enough to be dealt with by their small group. However, as Draconian that solution didn¡¯t sit entirely well with them. It would hardly be the glorious blood soaked revenge Daniel craved if the den was half-empty, with the best fighters deployed elsewhere. With a battle going on, only the really young, the critically injured and the youngest council member would be left in the den. The notion of a battle that could escalate into an all out world war was entirely too enticing for their battle hungry race. With the way the world¡¯s population was still declining, it was entirely unlikely that there would be another chance to gauge themselves like that. From a global population perspective, the area they were in was something of an anomaly. Multiple settlements within a couple days travel, all with growing populations, wasn¡¯t something that appeared in many spots. Captured towers, dens and capitals were the foundations of towns, and they were each rare things. People powerful enough to capture towns didn¡¯t usually have the patience to start a town. Dens were for Draconian only and would sooner destroy a whole mountain then see it taken by anyone else. Furthermore, there were a limited number of gods. There were anomalies to those rules, such as Dwarves setting up a vineyard in the middle of nowhere, but those were rare to the point of being nearly unheard of. What was worse was that the number of gods wasn¡¯t even a guaranteed thing. When the gods first returned, the Roman Pantheon and the Christian God both tried to take set their capital in some place called Rome. That caused a war with each other and resulted in the destruction of both sides. From what Daniel had heard, while the Christian God had many more followers, each individual follower seemed to have a different, unfocused, understanding of their god and didn¡¯t even know the name of the god they followed. As such, most of their energy was wasted with very little of their worship making it to their god. On the other hand, the few followers of the Roman Pantheon knew exactly who they worshiped, and as the war went on, the number of followers grew. When both sides destroyed each other, and the city became a crater, followers of the dead gods migrated their faith to the surviving religions. The same instinct that prevented Draconian from missing what was probably the last ever world war, was the same instinct that prevented Daniel from accomplishing his goal to an empty building. Even if after the den itself was destroyed, and the then den-less Draconian being obligated to kill themselves, it wouldn¡¯t feel satisfying to end the grudge in such a cheap way. At the same time, Daniel knew that he still held some obligation towards Fallen Tower. While neither he nor Loralei would shed a tear if it was destroyed, there was still some vague feeling that it was probably better if his mate¡¯s hometown wasn¡¯t destroyed. As such, their ideal strategy was one where the Southernmost Den was crushed by them in battle but, overall, the Olympic-Celtic-Norse Alliance still won. The easiest way to do that would be to destroy them while they were traveling between battles. If they were injured and tired they could be beaten. If they were still far from the next battle, then the alliance could still send someone else. The problem with that was that it would require Daniel¡¯s group to be well informed about their movements, and be able to travel to intercept faster than they could currently. With their current status as fugitives, it would be hard for them to get both of those things and their options were very limited. Thankfully, there was a place that would definitely be kept up to date on the movements of every single Draconian on both sides; a place that wouldn¡¯t take sides or help anyone out. It was a place that wouldn¡¯t hesitate to sell them what they wanted to know and was curtain to stock vehicles fast enough to suit their needs. On top of that, he could personally guarantee their entrance, After all, with his current body it would be like returning home. With that decided, they began to head north. Their destination; the Golden Den. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: I''m back once again. Thank you for your patience while I was gone. Chapter 7.2 - Golden Blood Part 2 Part 2 For nearly a full week that traveled through the wastes, making there way towards the Golden Den to begin their plan. The trip was mostly uneventful, with time being passed with hunting for food, fuel and experience; all of which would come running towards them. There were a few occasions where the local monsters could resist the power of the gem rifle, but they weren¡¯t much of a threat since they could always continue driving, leaving the danger behind them. If there were soldiers following them, then those forces would be the ones to deal with the angry monsters. The Golden Den managed to maintain its neutrality, not only through the power of the people that dwelled there, but also through its location. Technically, there were Golden Dens on every continent though each one was treated as if they were the same place, and the location of each one had a common trait; no other village or tower within two day¡¯s travel via a fast car. Any attempt to build within that area would be crushed by the full force of the den. That stipulation would normally be limiting to growth and survival, but the Golden Den instead thrived. The vacant space ensured they always had ample warning of attacks, and didn¡¯t cause inconvenience for them, due to their own amassment of pre-fall vehicles. With their hovercrafts and aircrafts, plus the abundance of flight capable Draconian, a little distance was no problem for any of the Golden Dens. Further increasing the power of their organisation, before the fall, each den was used to house a data centre, either for a large international business or for military organisations, and the information in those centres enabled them to retain pre-fall levels of communication and power. Each den was given the valuable security contracts due to their proven performance and the vagaries of the then laws surrounding Draconian bloodlust. The people understood that battle, death and killing were innate to their physiology, and court decisions over whether they could be held accountable or not varied. It was especially troublesome when it came to cases with Dragonkin, as it had been proven that they were violent towards each other, even at a subconscious level. As it was, they were mostly let off the hook for violent crime when it was related to their occupation, or targeted another dragon race, which naturally meant that most of their race moved into occupations where they could express their inner violence. One of the closest things to a working internet was then ¡®interden¡¯; the wireless information network between Golden Dens and, due to their technical abilities being needed, selected Orc villages. While many had attempted to force access to the Draconian global network, doing so was the fastest way to provoke the den into action. Even non-higher Draconian were willing to defend the network, since doing so could carry favour and not doing so would just result in being controlled. It was still early in the morning when Daniel saw the rounded yellow peak of the Golden Den in the distance and it would be midday by the time they reached there. As a show of opulent wealth, the outer layers of the mountain had been transmuted to include high levels of real gold, giving the mountain a yellowed colour. Without knowing that, it just seemed like a nice looking mountain with few trees and yellow soil, but knowing how much mana and effort what spent on it changed its image. As they pulled up in front of the main entrance they started to notice something was wrong. They couldn¡¯t feel any prana and the radio was filled with static. While the lack of prana was highly limiting to them, if they increased their mana usage it wouldn¡¯t stop them from using magic. What was really bad about the lack of prana was the danger it posed to their eggs. The eggs had entered into what was known as the first growth phase, when the amount of prana required started to increase. It was the period when the unborn Draconian hearts started to form and was commonly believed to affect their eventual prana efficiency. With no access to prana, the eggs would start consuming nutrients without being able to replace it, effectively starving. Realising that through instinct, Leah started to convert and channel her mana supply to feed them. While she was busy with that, a figure burst from under the sand. As the red dust spread and cleared what was left was a human woman crouching with a hand on the ground and an arm in the air. Her dark green hair blew softly in the wind and her piercing green eyes locked onto their group like a predator to its prey. She wore a stylish black jumpsuit that fit her busty figure tightly and in the upraised hand was a small black throwing knife. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. In short; she was an idiot. Her eyes were tearing up from the dust and the breathing kit she used to hide under the sand with was still half covered. Blond regrowth could be seen at the start of her long hair and one of her contact lenses was misaligned, revealing her brown eyes beneath. Her crouching position seemed hard to maintain, as the arm braced against the sand seemed to wobble unsteadily. No matter how dramatic her first impression was, it fell apart with even the slightest bit of analysis. With a steady effort, she managed to stand to her feat. While blinking dust from her eyes and acting like nothing was wrong she let out a proud, fake, laugh. As if to give them a chance to catch up with what was happening, she started to speak, though in a voice that was clearly an attempt at copying a villain only she knew. ¡°Hohoho, dearest prey, you have the esteemed pleasure of being captured by the legendary Machinist Katherine.¡± When she spoke it seemed to all make sense; she was a machinist, after all. While not all people with the machinist class were like that, an unfortunate majority were. Spending time thinking about tools, gadgets and how to make them seemed, from Daniel¡¯s perspective, to be hazardous to human mental health. From what he had read, the class was based around having in depth knowledge of how machines work and the imagination to make new ones, but the reality he had experienced was much different. They tended to be obsessed with the construction and realisation of fictitious concepts and with the appearance of those items, often to the point that they would forgo functionality for the appearance of functionality. Also, unlike other manufacturing classes, they tended to not let others use their tech and refused to incorporate magical elements. ¡°Feel honoured, for the bounty on your head will pay for several new tools I have been working on. In fact; feel so honoured that you put away your weapons and hand over your cc. I know you Draconian basicly breath prana and my anti-prana field generator will stop anything you try to do.¡± With another mouthy laugh, she boasted about her device. The entire thing only irritate Daniel, though she was right that the lack of prana made his scales feel stuffy. Saying a quiet ¡®fuck it¡¯ to himself, he hoisted his f2000 and let out a burst of metal. The sudden gunfire surrounding Katherine shook her and she fell back out of fear, covering her face with her arms. It was actually a normal reaction towards potential violent and painful death, but when compared with her former domineering attitude, it just seemed pathetic. With a sigh, they grabbed their things and walked towards the main door. As they went, Daniel shot the obvious rake stone, that was completely the wrong colour when compared with the den, and prana started to fill the area once more. The main door was several meters tall and wide, similar to an airport hanger, and the silvered metal was etched with an elaborate mural to the birth of their race. The depictions showed the human mother of the Draconian and Dragonkin daughters as she was in the legends; a powerful warrior who subdued the dragon and let it live if it served her. In the story, the mother was as blond as the dragon was gold and that idea was why the story was etched into the doors of every Golden Den. They were the first born. They were the closest to the warrior that could subdue a dragon. Even if it served as a reminder of their common history with the Dragonkin, it was still a story that the Golden Den promoted. In order to get the doors to open, a Draconic Command type skill had to be used on a crystal microphone in the centre of the door. If a group didn¡¯t have anyone that could use that, they would have to wait until morning, when some people might leave the cave to sunbake. Even trade negotiations would still have to wait outside. After all, there were few thing the golden den even needed to trade for. ¡°Open¡± yelled Daniel, with his most commanding voice, to which the door complied. Inside, however, wasn¡¯t as welcoming as he had hoped. Instead they found themselves facing a dozen heavily armed guards. Halloween Special 2016 Halloween Special 2016 Eighty years prior to the fall of Smith Street Station, and the real beginning of Daniel¡¯s journey, Elizabeth Selby had just finished her rite and was an adult under Draconian tradition. As the first child born after the great calamities began within the den, first to successfully reach adulthood, El demanded the oldest known rite, rather than the rite that came about after contact with human society. While many of the Draconian traditions were lost to time and the arrival on Terra, the true rite of kin selection was one that was remembered, but still not followed, out of necessity. The modern rite was once considered the cowards way out, an option that was equatable to a vow of celibacy, yet still resulted in the death of many that attempted it. Knowing that, it became apparent just how much worse the old rite was, that Draconian were willing to accept shame to allow their numbers to even slightly grow once they arrived in the new world. But El was too proud, too strong; her blood was too Draconian to even think about taking the easy path, and entered the old rite without the slightest concern for her life. Before the great calamities, the den¡¯s elders would have stopped her attempt, but after the fall, they had given up on the world. Many of the council had lived on the old world, a place where blood and valor were always honoured, and when they found themselves awakened on Terra, they could only see a world that lost its way. To see two worlds fall was more then the elders could take, and many felt that the destruction of life would be somehow better. In those early days of the fall, the elders had ordered many wars. With just her sharp claws as her weapons, with just her red scales as her armour, El walked into the heart of the den, a nest located far below the water that filled the centre of the mountain. Those dark tunnels were chilled by the water and untouched by the sun, making the air icey and unpleasant. With pure instinct, El walked those dark tunnels, knowing full well that every moment down there was a step closer to her blood going thick from the cold. Monstrous bats and insects tried to block her path, but that meant nothing to that determined Draconian. With her fire filled breath, anything that stood in her way just became a torch to reminder where she had already been. Several times she had walked past the skeletal remains of ancient Draconian who had attempted the same rite as her, their bodies telling her what it meant to be weak. El had never allowed herself even the slightest bit of weakness, and that drive was what drove her to attempt the old method. While the cowards way allowed a Draconian to join the kinship of their strongest parent, the old way allowed the successful to choose any that they liked. Having been born from one of the lesser kinships, and having to watch them scramble in cowardice after the fall, El worked herself to make it into the Selby kinship, to make her way into the elite guard, and eventually as a matriarch, lead the council as she pleased. While her red scales marked her as an upper-class variant, it was still amongst the lowest therein. Knowing that, El couldn¡¯t allow anyone to be stronger than her if she wanted to reach her goals. Every day she trained her body, lungs and mana to enture that that was always the case. As she walked further through the darkness, she encountered a body that was more intact than the ones she had encountered before. It wasn¡¯t any newer, in fact it was likely much older, but instead had something that the other didn¡¯t. Along the neck was a Tower interface, a kind of technology that allowed for the energies of the Towers to enter bodies, before they started to generate nanites to do that. Seeing that disgusted El to her core. To cheat on the rite was an immensely lowly thing to do, especially considering there being another option. Out of rage, she slammed her foot into the still flesh covered skull and reduced it to paste. At the end of that tunnel, there was a large chamber. In the middle was an elaborate and sprawling magic array, complete with a pedestal with a dish in the centre. It was the final aspect of the rite. The array would drain whatever mana she had, and she would have to fight whatever monster was summoned using her mana. Cold, naked and unarmed, she would have to bring back the head of a beast that used all of her mana to bring into the world. Naturally, the more fearsome the creature she brought back, the more honour she would earn herself, as well as the greater the reward the array would grant her. It was said that the materials used in the elite armour were gained through the rite. With the cost and performance of those armours, it wouldn¡¯t be surprising if that was the case. After all, the den only had four of them, and each of them was made before the fall. El could imagine how proud she would feel while holding some treasure of unimaginable worth while looking down on the pathetic people that took the coward¡¯s way out. As she fantasized about her definite victory, she cut her hand and let blood pool in the bowl. As the liquid reached a waterline, El could feel her mana drop to a level near zero. At that level, it wouldn¡¯t be strange if she fainted, but the array seemed for forcefully keep her awake. As the array glowed with an otherworldly blue light, a grey mass started to form directly in front of her. Before her eyes it formed into the silhouette of a creature, twice her size, nearing the cavern¡¯s ceiling, and covered with blade like spikes as fur would be on another creature.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. As the grey turned to colour, it the creature seemed to be mole-like, though its breath was steaming in the cold, like ghosts framing its dark red eyes. Each and every strand of its long fur was like a sharp cutting blade and even getting close to it seemed like a deadly prospect. With its dangerous size and appearance, a burning flame was lit deep in El¡¯s mind. Even if she wasn¡¯t in a rite, she would still have felt the need, the all consuming desire, to challenge that creature. Without a care in the world, she ran towards the towering creature as its blade like claws swept out to parry her own. Rolling backwards to ward off the unmatchable force of the impact, El regained her footing and charged forward again. Unlike the first attempt, this time she managed to avoid the first strike and get batted away by the second claw. The third attempt saw her avoid the second claw, and even get an attack of her own in, landing her sharp hand against its body. The damage dealt by that was negligible, and in return its bladed fur cut clean through her palm. Where others would have realised it was impossible, that the fight was unwinnable, for El, that challenge just drew her to it all the more. Avoiding two more claw, El tensed her hand and forced her natural healing to take care of it. The healing reaction was slowed by the cold and that wound, that would normally have been nothing to her, had become an actual danger. As such, an idea sprang to her mind. She waited until her mana had restored slightly, while avoiding the creatures onslaught, and built up a prana/mana mix in her throat. When the moment was right, she let out a burst of fire breath that lit a patch of the creature hair alight. While it was shaken for the sudden fire, she pressed her bleeding hand against the burning fur to let the fire seal the wound shut. The pain filled her completely in the absence of other sensation, a condition caused by the cold, and she could feel herself get wet from the excitement of it all. As it opened it sharp toothed mouth to let out a raging cry, as the fire reached the roots of the fur and scorched its skin, El made another daring move. Dashing forward and jumping on to of the creature¡¯s claws, uncaringly letting the creature¡¯s fur cut against the scales on her legs, she pushed off of those limbs and dashed through the air, towards the open mouth. Its cry was cut short as El sliced its tongue from its mouth, letting the long sensory organ flop moistly against the ground, spasming as though life remained in it. Regaining distance and avoiding its careless and rage filled attacks, El watched warm blood stream from its mouth. Just as the heat stolen from El¡¯s body was a danger to her, the blood loss was a danger to it. With each passing moment, its movements grew duller and its attacks slowed. As the ease with which El avoided grew, she became more confident and launched further attacks, amining for the patch of scorched skin that had its fur burnt away. As the cold started to dull El¡¯s movement just as much as the creatures, she took a more radical motion. Ducking under a sweeping charge, she rolled through a puddle of fresh blood, letting the creature¡¯s body warms permeate her skin. A minute later, she was coated from head to toe in the creature¡¯s blood, and it was dead. Her satisfaction over that fight was so great, that she let out a gushing orgasm and dropped into the flooding red pool beneath her. As she regained balance to her legs, El ripped out the creature¡¯s eyes for a meal, and singed the fur from its neck so she could decapitate it. In the bowl on top of the pedestal was a black object that hadn¡¯t been there before the fight ended. It was the reward the fight earned her. Picking it up and feeling its weight in her hand, knowing that its grip was the perfect fit for only her hand, she admired the sleek workmanship of the weapon. It was a black revolver, with a barrel that showed that it was a weapon beyond what a human¡¯s strength could handle. The cylinder didn¡¯t have any space for bullets, however, and was instead a large, red gem that matched both her scales and the blood that coated her. She had heard of such weapons before, mana guns that made their own bullets. It felt just right for her, a powerful weapon that would only grow more useful as she got stronger. Rather than a reward that was immediately useful and eventually became pointless, that kind of prize suited her more. Dragging the creature''s head and wielding the gun, Elizabeth made her way back out into the light and warmth of day. Even though she was moments away from the cold death that all Draconian hated, she left that tunnel and let out a roar that could be heard in every corner of the den. Holding the severed head above her own, she sneered at all of those around her, letting them know that they were cowards, inferior creatures that stained the name Draconian with their actions. The old rite was doable and their acceptance of the new way was only shame. She walked naked up to the leader of the Selby kinship and placed the head at her feet. ¡°Elizabeth, child of the Southernment Den, having completed the Old rite of ages, demands the name Selby.¡± Her hand was clenched on her weapon and her voice sounded every bit as dangerous as the gun. Other Draconian, born on Terra, were shocked that El dared to make a demand like that, but the older ones amongst them knew that it was her right. As someone that had completed the old rite, the only ones who had the right and courage to compel her were the elders of the council. If El had wanted the senior position in the Selby kinship, she had the right to take it. That she didn¡¯t could be seen as some sense of modesty. New Years Special 2017 - The Grey Wraith New Years Special 2017 In the first few years after the Elven trees grew on Earth, and the Elves emerged along with them, they were greeted with a strange mix of hostility and acceptance. Their races inherent beauty went a long way towards smoothing relations but the best reason for their acceptance was necessity. With other less open peace races also appearing around the same time, humanity simply had to take every friend they could get. The opinion of the first Elves, however, was somewhat different. It was said that the first words ever spoken by an Elf on Earth were, ¡°How truly ugly.¡± That sentiment lead the Elves that arrived there to live in a state of depression that lasted for nearly fifty years. Even before the great calamities their population was slow to rise because of that. In fact, it took thirty years for the first generation of Elves born on Earth to come around. Many humans at that time had reached adulthood with the assumption that Elves never had children. Amongst that first generation, Kat Anaon was Born. The previous generation was too lethargic to raise children at that time, so that whole group of children were able to be born with visible defects, and were raised in human society. That was why Kat developed an understanding of the world that was as close to human as an Elven mind could grasp. She didn''t see the world as ugly, she lived in a luscious green hillside farming community where the wind danced through the grassy planes. Even when the dust started to rain from the sky, like golden snowflakes, the area only seemed to shine more radiant it the light. The community Kat lived in was remote and isolated, distant racial wars and descending gods had less impact than a neighbour¡¯s prized bull being available in spring and the latest technologies were slow to make their way there. With magic to make their crops flourish and solid trading partners, they didn''t feel like there was a need for the security that the Glass Towers provided in the city. Kat had considered going in once, just to get the injection on the off chance that she needed it, but harvest seasons came around and planting seasons followed. The falling sand was rich with prana and crops grew rapidly in that quality soil. Animals that ate from those crops also grew faster. Since no one knew how long it would take for the Earth to pass through the dust cloud, though it was unlikely to take very long, farmers and breeders were taking advantage of it while it lasted. Kat''s foster parents, the Anaons, knew that Kat had wanted to see a city at least once. They also knew that Kat was worried about them and wouldn''t leave them to work alone during that bumper harvest. They were getting old while Kat was just starting to understand just how different the lengths of their lives were. That was why, they forced her to go that year. It was a Christmas present to her, a bus ticket to the nearest city and a booking at a pharmacy to have the inoculation. Since they paid in advance there was no way she could turn it down. She had made it her New Year''s resolution ever since she first heard about the benefits that the Glass Tower System had to offer, but never got around to it. To start the year off fresh, and prevent Kat from finding an excuse out of it, she was scheduled in on the first of January. Seeing the city for the first time, Kat couldn''t help but be completely shocked. She had never seen so many people in a place with so little prana. She could see the rain-like falling dust being drained of its energy before it got anywhere near the ground. Looking at the towering structures that filled the streets with her trained prana sight, they appeared black and imposing as they drained the magic from the air and converted it into more readily usable forms. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.Every car on the road, every house in the city, it was all powered by the magical electricity generated by the towers. Catching a bus, Kat made her way down a major street, heading towards her destination; Smith Street Mall. As the bus turned a corner, Kat looked out the window down the street that the mall was named after. A heat haze like fog seemed to fill an intersection as cars drove through it as if it was unnoticed. As the bus was about to clear that street, now outside of Kat''s vision, a thunderous crackle could be heard. That sound, that sounded like the air itself was breaking, was accompanied by a wave of force that shattered glass and tipped the bus onto its side. When Kat regained conciousness, she could hear distant screaming. Heavy smoke filled the bus and pain shot through her left leg. A large shard of glass had gone cleanly through her leg, through both bone and flesh like butter. Worse still, the strange shape of the glass acted like a pin, holding tight to both the ground and her leg. Looking around, Kat could see chaos. Buildings were toppled, cars were crashed and bodies were lying tattered and dismembered. Holes filled everything, as if eaten by a giant. It was at that moment when she first saw it. Like solid fog. Like death given form. The Grey Wraith devoured everything and everyone around it. It was a cloud of grey mist, too think to see through, that dissolved anything that came in contact with it. Only the falling dust seemed immune to its effects. The streets were eaten by the gas, leaving only sand behind. Even the Glass Towers, the greatest power humanity had, were eaten by the fog. The Grey Wraith suddenly stopped moving. Moments later, it seemed to shrink; it crushed itself down to a two meter sphere. It then burst out in a pulse like wave, like a blade that cut down everything. If Kat''s leg hadn''t been trapped, her instincts would have made her stand and run. But she hadn''t stood. She hadn''t run. That was how she lived. The plus travelled just centimetres above her, she could feel even her breath dissolve, but her life was saved. There were thousands of people in the buildings that creature ate. Hundreds on the street. She completely froze up on seeing that monstrous abomination, that was synonymous with death. Her fearful gaze matched the dead faces of the bodies around her and they hurt her to see. She knew that thing, she knew it was the most disgusting thing to ever walk the planet. And walk it did. The only trace it left behind were a set of human footprints in the sand. As it left, leaving her alone but alive, she felt no relief. The existence of such a creature was etched deeply into her very soul. As she fainted once more, she made a grim realisation; the Grey Wraith was travelling towards her hometown. An unknowable amount of time passed and she woke up once more. She had been freed from the glass and moved to a hospital. However, the hospital seemed to have been attacked by something, it was broken with scorch marks and bullet holes. With no one living around, Kat ran off in a panic. Whatever caused the damage was apparently no longer around, but thankfully it happened after Kat''s leg was healed. The area around the hospital was much the same, destroyed and burnt. The streets were littered with debris and bodies. The cleaning devices that was keeping the dust away was also broken, as the sand now reached ankle deep. Having never seen such destruction, so much death, Kat couldn''t cope with it. She shut it from her mind and started to run. She didn''t know where she was, or even if she was even in the same city, but she picked a road she though would lead her home and started running. She ran and ran. Shutting her mind off she ran. With her mind shut, she might have gotten a lift along the way, or even stolen a car, but either way she made it home. But it wasn''t her home that she found there. The crops, the houses, even some hills, they were gone. The people she knew and loved all were gone. All that was left was golden sand, sand that fell like a heavy downpour. Even in her numbness, that sand turned to mud as it made contact with her face.