“What level is it?” Elijah asked.
Helen shook her head. “A little over two-hundred,” she answered. “But I sense that its power stems more from cultivation than from levels.”
Elijah nodded. “I kind of got that impression as well.”
The way the giant troll moved was a warning sign to anyone with any sort of battle experience. It was s...
2025-08-06 15:10:02 +0000 UTC View PostWhile trekking across the Painted Wastes, Elijah was surprised at how far the influence of the dragon Primal Realm had stretched. Its effect spread for more than a thousand miles in every direction, and the wasps ranged even further. After all, he’d run into them in the ash cloud over Rubibi, and he expected that some even flew further out to sea.
But the influence of ...
2025-08-06 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostZeke sat next to the pond, staring across the placid water as the sun set over the mountains. The twilight interplay between light and darkness had always soothed him. There was just something about dusk that reminded him of summer evenings at the ballpark, back before the weight of expectations had changed the meaning of the sport he’d once loved.
Simpler times.
Elijah leaped high into the air, kicking off of Cloud Step and slamming into one of the mosquito-riding trolls. His talons flashed out, infecting the troll with both Ethereal Sepsis and Spreading Plague, but that was only a secondary goal. Rather, his intention was to kill the mosquito.
After all, trolls might be capable of regenerating from just about any damage, but th...
2025-08-05 15:10:02 +0000 UTC View Post“I don’t like it. It’s too risky,” Elijah said, leaning back in his chair. It teetered on the edge of tipping over, but with his dexterity, he managed to keep it balanced. At least until Kurik reached over and pushed him. He kept himself from falling over, but only by grabbing the back of the next chair over.
“Stop doin’ that. It’s annoyin’....
2025-08-05 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostTomorrow's chapter of Death: Genesis will be slightly delayed. I'll try to get it up by afternoon, but it might be Wednesday before I publish it. Thanks for understanding!
2025-08-05 01:37:14 +0000 UTC View PostElijah brought his fists down, pummeling the final troll into submission. And for these creatures, that meant death. There was no quarter expected, nor any given. The only way Elijah could have taken a captive was if he managed to completely subdue one of the things. And given their regenerative capabilities, that just wasn’t in the cards. Not without specialized equip...
2025-08-04 15:10:01 +0000 UTC View PostOne advantage of switching priorities to the Hollow Depths was that Elijah had already made all the preparations necessary. So, he wasted no time before teleporting to the Circle of Webs, where he found something truly surprising. Given his previous experiences, it probably shouldn’t have been, but still – he was a little shocked when something the size of a labrador came shooti...
2025-08-04 15:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostPeople.
Zeke had almost forgotten how much he both loved and hated them. On the one hand, it was gratifying to see that everyone hadn’t been infected with the evils of the Radiant Host. In that respect, the people inside the fortress town were entirely innocent. However, the suspicious glares they threw his way said quite a lot about how they treated strangers.
H...
2025-08-04 13:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post“You know,” Elijah said. “Sometimes, it’s easy to forget just how good we have it here.”
Nerthus, who was busy tending to one of the juvenile pillar trees, didn’t immediately answer. Instead, he focused on his task, sending dense flows of ethereal into the tree’s roots. Elijah tracked the lattice of energy as it traveled up the trunk and extended into the b...
2025-08-03 15:10:02 +0000 UTC View PostIt was all wrong, and in so many subtle ways that it grated on Gunnar’s nerves. As he strode through the compound, his back straight and his eyes forward, he wanted to point out all the small inaccuracies. All the ways the soldiers moved wrong, how they acted wrong, how they looked like a bunch of cosplayers pretending to be soldiers but lacking the knowledge to pull it off. ...
2025-08-03 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostIt was visible from at least a hundred miles away.
The fortress shimmered in the sky, looming over the Painted Wastes like a monolithic sentry surrounded by a rainbow of light. Even from so far away, and under the cloak of darkness, Elijah could see thousands of wasps swarming around the structure.
His instinctive hatred for the insectile humanoids surged to new heights....
2025-08-02 15:10:01 +0000 UTC View PostElijah crouched low, his body only inches from the cracked earth as he stared into the ravine and witnessed the ongoing battle. Tens of thousands of spiders, newly hatched but still deadly, fought against just as many wasp larvae. Some fighters were ripped to pieces by their enemies, but another spider-woman perched above it all, watching as impassively as Elijah did.
The figh...
2025-08-02 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe tinkling sound of a ringing bell filled the silence as Gunnar pushed through the door. The shop – called Twill – was full of secondhand clothes, most of it discarded by the well-off elites of Seattle. A few men and women browsed the racks, looking for something to fit their specific needs.
It was one of many such shops scattered throughout the Undercity. Ge...
2025-08-01 15:10:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe spider felt wrong, and in a way that sent fear and anger coursing up Elijah’s spine. Fear, because the thing was terrifying to behold. With a body nearly fifteen feet long and spear-like legs that made it feel even larger, the thing was sheer arachnophobia given physical form.
But Elijah had never had an issue with spiders – at least the non-fleshy sort. Wh...
2025-08-01 15:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post“You can’t do it!”
Zeke ignored the drone, just as he had been for the past couple of days. The thing had found him the second he’d set foot into the Ways, and it had been following him ever since. Somehow, it had discovered Zeke’s intention to descend into the Mortal Realm, and it very much disapproved of the notion.
Not surprising.
From the outside, it ...
2025-08-01 13:00:20 +0000 UTC View PostThe Painted Wastes were disorienting, and not just because of the shimmering rainbow of colors. That wasn’t pleasant, but as Elijah trekked through the desert, he found himself affected by the oddly flavored ethera. Part of it came from the sheer density, which had long since exceeded the levels he associated with Chimera Island, but there was something else in there. Someth...
2025-07-31 15:10:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe Painted Wastes.
When Elijah had first heard that name, he’d questioned whether it was figurative or literal. As he stood atop the enormous cliff overlooking the region, he knew the answer. A vast expanse of cracked desert stretched toward the horizon. In some ways, it looked much like the Badwater Basin in California’s Death Valley. Vast stretches of land f...
2025-07-31 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostZeke did not want to move.
As he sat on the balcony, his eyes closed, he didn’t allow himself to study the threads. Still, they beckoned him forward, promising to reveal all the answers to questions he’d never even considered asking. Aside from the Creator, he likely knew more about those strings of power than anyone else alive. Perhaps more than anyone else who’d ...
2025-07-31 13:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostThe troll vaulted over the rampart and sailed toward Sadie. Most of its fur was gone, sacrificed at the altar of Kurik’s traps, and its torso bore the marks of a hundred fast-healing wounds. Sadie met its flight with Final Verdict. The blade bit deep into the creature’s exposed stomach, stopping only when it hit the troll’s rigid spine. She ripped the weapon free, ...
2025-07-30 15:10:02 +0000 UTC View PostIt was not a waste of time or effort.
It would actually save time in the long run.
It just made sense.
As Elijah neglected his true mission to find the dragon Primal Realm, he kept telling himself that what he was doing was a good use of his time. And he believed it. But his recent resolution to focus on the necessities still contributed to a subtle feeling o...
2025-07-30 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostManual labor could be a cathartic experience. Sometimes, it felt like hypnosis by repetition. In this case, the job was incredibly gruesome, and to the point where he needed that hypnotic effect.
After a few hours, he barely even noticed that he was carrying bodies. He just did the work. Day after day, he made the trek from the enormous pyre he’d built and ...
2025-07-29 15:10:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe soft echo of footsteps followed Elijah up the stairs as stifling heat threatened to suffocate him. The building had not been built with airflow in mind, and without active air conditioning, it would’ve been sweltering even before Honolulu had been set down in the center of a desert. Now? It was like an oven. Sweat poured down Elijah’s face, soaking his clothes be...
2025-07-29 15:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post“So, she’s still around?” Zeke asked, standing at the head of the table. Present at the meeting were Talia’s top lieutenants, each one a powerful lesser god in their own right. Talia, of course, was there as well, though she’d remained silent throughout. Instead of speaking, she’d let one of her people – a ghost-like woman with a chilling voice – explain the is...
2025-07-29 13:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostAccidentally scheduled this Death: Genesis chapter for 8PM instead of 8AM and just realized. Sorry about that!
“I hate being like this,” Zeke said, mostly to himself, though Talia was close enough to hear him. After she’d given him a short tour of the city, they’d fallen into old habits – and her bed. Though she’d made it ...
2025-07-28 15:42:35 +0000 UTC View PostElijah chose not to approach in one of his bestial forms. Doing so would have felt somehow disrespectful, but of whom, he wasn’t certain. Honolulu was obviously deserted and half buried in the sand. Few of the city’s streets were even visible, and many of the traffic lights and signs were only partially exposed.
But the city was instantly recognizable, especial...
2025-07-28 15:10:01 +0000 UTC View Post“You’re Elijah Hart,” said a man of middling height. His shoulders bore a couple of chevrons, which Elijah interpreted as being a sign of his rank within Seattle’s military. He didn’t know what rank they indicated, but he was clearly the group’s leader, as evidenced by the fact that he’d stepped forward.
The others didn’t seem certain what they were suppo...
2025-07-28 15:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostEventually, Elijah internalized his own reprimand. Nearly dying had a tendency to prompt self-growth. And even if Elijah was so hardheaded that it took multiple such instances to hammer it home, he could learn lessons. So, as he moved forward, he did so carefully.
The area past the mountain range – and the Ring of Fire – was a desert. From a geographical standp...
2025-07-27 15:10:02 +0000 UTC View PostI saw some complaints about not explaining Rosabella's class. And I'll be perfectly honest - I thought I'd included it in one of the recent chapters. It was in my outline and everything, but I guess I skipped over it. So, I added it onto the end of chapter twenty-three.
Elijah awoke to the pervasive smell of sulfur. He shot upright, blin...
2025-07-27 15:00:24 +0000 UTC View Post“So,” Zeke said as they strode through the Ways. It felt like every single eye followed them with each step. Zeke barely noticed his surroundings, just that the city upon the platform felt even more crowded than ever before. “How have you been?”
She didn’t answer, leaving Zeke to follow along in silence. As he did, he finally allowed himself to see the st...
2025-07-27 13:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post