James Osiris Baldwin

I Am Legion: Ch 32

The Maroons’ treehouse was shabby but warm. It had an actual hearth with a small cooking fire, a bed and handwoven rugs, blankets, and a thatch-stuffed pillow for Angel. There was even a vanity, with a bowl for washing up in. No mirror, though. Glass was almost as rare as iron in Malae.

Angel didn’t say much while we got settled down. She sat on the bed and ran her hands out over the ...

I Am Legion: Cover Reveal and Pre-Order on Amazon~

As of Ch 31, we are halfway through the Patreon release of I Am Legion! The book will continue to be published here for all paid members, but feast your eyes on the cover and the pre-order page using these links:

USA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CW19F4LC

UK: 2024-03-16 17:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post

I Am Legion: Ch 31

Merc's cob house was half war-room, half cozy cottage. Three rooms. The central room housed a big table covered in notes, maps, carved wooden figurines, flags and empty cups. There were a couple of wooden armchairs chairs, a fireplace, and an actual rug. I took up about half the remaining floor, but was able to lay down and stretch out on said rug, which felt pretty nice - though not as nice as...

I Am Legion: Ch 30

There were some definite cons to being a man trapped in the body of a beast. For one thing, sitting was awkward. I either lay down like a dog, crouched like a sphinx, or sat on my haunches like a cat. No sofas to sprawl over. No comfy beds. Hell… I couldn’t even fit through most normal sized doors. But there were also advantages, like the fact that because the Maroons looked at me and saw a...

I Am Legion: Ch 29

It got real obvious that we’d kicked the hornets’ nest as we closed in on Camp Goldrush. The place was swarming with soldiers clutching spears, shields, and crossbows. Other more heavily armored units stood outside the gates, holding dogs and corpoi on chains. The junk turrets swiveled overhead.

"Damn," Angel signed. "That's a lot of guys. Three quarters of the fort is outside the wal...

I Am Legion: Ch 28

Vade didn’t see me coming. I hurtled into his stocky, squishy little human body, driving him onto his face and smashing it into the ground. Then, before anyone had any idea what was going on, I plunged all four tentacle claws into his body and ripped him apart. I’d hit him from stealth. He died within seconds.

“What the-?“ One of the Centurions turned as the next ebony spike pierc...

I Am Legion: Ch 27

Angel’s Schema allowed her to make everything from clothes to weapons to entire houses. Me and Lulu helped her gather materials, then watched as she rapidly constructed a small treehouse from wood, rope, and palm thatch. It was oddly hypnotic. She had to construct the pieces manually using a kinetic mini-game, but once they were done, she could magically lift and place the pre-fabricated piec...

I Am Legion: Ch 26

There were no enemies on the supply road. Dinosaurs and Legions both kept their distance from clear-cut areas with human habitation. That was great for the Centurions supply chain. Not so great for people wanting to get into fights and score EXP. Still, it meant we made the seemingly long trip in record time. By alternating walking and sprinting, I got us to within spitting distance of Camp Gol...

I Am Legion: Ch 25

Fort Hope at least offered the illusion of safety. To make it a little more real for Angel, I parked my giant black booty in the doorway of her tent to make sure she and Lulu weren’t disturbed.

Sleep came quickly, and with it, dreams: fractured, hyper-fast flickers of memory and sensation from the life I’d left behind. It was like trying to watch a movie that had been hacked to pieces...

I Am Legion: Ch 24

We followed Targent and his Legions back to his tent, tense for signs of hostility. The Captain's back was stiff, but when he turned to face us and took his seat, he looked calmer. Composed. Maybe even pleased.

"Well, Vigiles, I sorely underestimated you," he remarked. His slave wasn't in attendance, so he took an iron carafe of wine and poured two cups himself. "Count me impressed, and p...

I Am Legion: Ch 23

Angel, the eternal overachiever, hated being late. But when I explained why we needed to rock up to the PvP arena a cruisy fifteen or so minutes after our duel was supposed to start, she sat down on the forest floor and laughed her ass off for a while.

Once we’d made camp outside of Fort Hope, I lay in the dark and wound my memory back and forth like a recording, picking over every deta...

I Am Legion: Ch 22

"Angel! Shoot the damn wolf!" I reeled in a circle as my HP dropped.

The humans had wisened up. They'd backed out of range, taking cover in the brush to hide from Angel. They fired from a distance while the Tulevolk tried to gnaw my head off. I roared and bucked, but it locked its jaws and held on. Then I remembered – I had other attacks. I concentrated, then emitted a sonar pu...

I Am Legion: Chapter 21

We left the cavern system in a daze. On the way out, we'd battled a pair of giant cave salamanders that gave us 25 EXP a piece, plus [Smoked Lizard Meat]. Lulu was now Level 15, but I still hadn’t leveled up again. EXP gain was slowing down, because we were higher-leveled than most of the animals in the area. I was just over a hundred points off Level 18.

We made a rough camp to eat and...

I Am Legion - Ch. 20

We dodged just in time. Angel dove and rolled into the tunnel she’d trapped, while I ducked and flattened to the ground. The spinning ball of magma streaked by in a blinding blaze of heat, pure white in my thermal vision, and exploded against the wall behind me.

“Well, Noods, you wanted a fire-type legion,” I thought to myself, tensing up into a crouch as the Legion lumbere...

I Am Legion - Ch 19

Happy Leap Day!

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The Malhela Lava Fields were a scene straight out of Hawaii: an undulating plain of black magma rumbling its way toward the ocean from the giant volcano at the center of the island. According to Angel, the lava traveled about a hundred miles underground, erupting from smaller shields close to the shore. The ground was solid, but re...

I Am Legion - Ch 18

Prima Falks lounged in a chair in front of her tent, using a small paring blade to shape a palm-sized figurine of a horse from a piece of bone. She was one of the few other Legion-owning gladiators in the camp. Her team rested to either side of her. Her Brute, a [Seerlak], was a strange hulking Body/Earth/Metal-type monster made of iridescent bismuth. Her Cute was something called an Irizado, a...

I Am Legion - Ch 17

Angel kept her poker face clapped on after leaving the Praetorium. The cracks in her blank, pleasant mask only began to show once we arrived at our assigned sub-camp, Block C. It was the cellblock - excuse me, 'barracks encampment' - closest to the camp's dog and dino kennels. The air was full of barking and giant parrot screeching, and not-so-lightly perfumed by the stench of urine and raptor ...

I Am Legion - Ch 16

Because of my injury, the second half of our journey to Fort Hope was much slower than the first. I could get around on my tentacles well enough, but they were made for swinging and striking, not running. Even so, it was faster than Angel could walk.

By the time sunset rolled around, I began to spot trails. The wildlife was thinning out, too, and the smells of human settlement gusted towa...

I Am Legion - Ch 15

"Angel. FUCK!" I turned around, skidding on the mud in my urgency, and broke into a mad sprint.

The screams of injured men echoed through the trees, carried on the wind alongside the stench of gunpowder and blood. Scared as she felt, Lulu formed to my chest, head and forelimbs like a suit of armor, determination thrumming through the collar link.

"I sure hope you can so...