Ma’s main room sat in tense silence as Zalan’s eyes darted across the scene. Oshrad rotated to Ma, looking for instruction. Ma’s fury ebbed away slowly, and her lips gradually turned upward. Glancing down at Captain Buttonwillow, she waved her hand at him dismissively and he was released by...
2025-02-21 17:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostZalan stared up at the clouds as they walked through Oriton. Scanning every entity floating in the sky, Zalan scrutinized to see if anything resembled a city. He knew it was a silly plan to search on his own. If it was easy enough to find, the people of the realm would have pointed it out years a...
2025-02-19 17:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostZalan quickly ran to catch up with Rep who was moving to the guild with his head down. His eyes were glued to the ground, and he was nibbling away at his lower lip anxiously. Zalan tried to think of supportive words to say, but wasn’t sure if he would accidentally offend Rep. He had grown more ...
2025-02-17 17:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostRep and Zalan strode back to the Journey House guild, carrying two small books between them. Zalan looked around Oriton with completely new eyes. The wooden buildings looked more vibrant, and the smell of the sea was a fragrant aroma, like constant perfume. The sun shined brightly down on him and...
2025-02-14 17:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostAnother book, another afterword. 4 books down, one to go! Hey, thanks for being here and reading this far. Really, I appreciate you.
Thanks for reading The Homeseeker Book 4: The Depths of Despair. If I were to describe the feeling surrounding this book, I wo...
2025-02-07 17:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostRep and Zalan took their seats across from Madam Hikma. Rep breathed deeply, seeming nervous to Zalan. Zalan was mostly at ease. He could accept whatever kinds of answers he would get. He just hoped that Rep would be equally amicable to whatever Madam Hikma could have to share. Madam Hikma held b...
2025-02-05 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostZalan watched closely as the Homeseeker deteriorated away in his hand, its fleeting life finally having ended. Rep jumped up from his cot and rushed over to Zalan.
“What do we do?” Rep asked, hovering his hands over what was now mostly ash.
“I don’t know, what are we s...
Zalan stretched himself out luxuriously on the bed. He felt well-rested and alive for the first time in what felt like ages. He opened his eyes and looked around the room. He half expected to be in complete darkness, but saw cracks of sunlight sneaking in through a window that had one of the wood...
2025-01-31 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostFinnegan dragged Zalan with all his might, pulling him to the entrance of the Depths of Despair. Rep was able to limp once helped to his feet, and followed close behind. With a wave of his hand, Rep illuminated the area outside the Depths of Despair with Elemental Flame. The space beyond the mine...
2025-01-29 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostZalan nibbled pensively at his cooked eye-monster tentacle. It tasted like canned tuna that had been warmed up in a microwave. Rep tore at his share of the food ravenously. Whether it was because he enjoyed it or he was that hungry, Zalan couldn’t tell. Finnegan had yet to eat yet, holding his ...
2025-01-27 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post“And then, Zalan told me to throw rocks at the monster spiders!” Finnegan said to Rep, gesticulating wildly. “I thought he had gone mad, but then again I always thought he was somewhat off. So, I followed his instructions while he took on the full force of the Mind of Madness. I hit the clo...
2025-01-24 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostZalan ran his arm under his cheek, wiping away a final tear from his face. Rep helped him to his feet and watched him closely. Finnegan approached, finally feeling like it was appropriate to join the two. Finnegan raised a hand to pat Zalan on the back, then hesitated and put his arm behind himse...
2025-01-22 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostFinnegan fell to the ground and immediately scrambled away from the Mind of Madness on hands and feet. Whimpering as he escaped, he moved to Zalan as fast as possible. For the first time, the Mind of Madness did not remain floating ominously in the air. It wobbled like a top running out of spin. ...
2025-01-20 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View Post“Rep!” Zalan screamed, reaching his arm out for his friend.
On the floor, Rep’s eyes drifted with a glazed-over look. Everything twitching at unexpected intervals, his limbs were wrought with agony, each movement looking more painful than the last. But Rep’s face registered no...
2025-01-17 16:59:02 +0000 UTC View PostZalan rolled backward and crashed into a rock formation behind him, grunting in pain. The flame-web explosion’s resulting blast damaged Zalan in ways he wasn’t lucid enough to understand. Zalan’s senses were in a delirium, refusing to either give him sight or sound while his mind raced. He ...
2025-01-15 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe Mind of Madness filled the immediate area with a foreboding sensation of death, dread, and despair. The monster’s form was uncanny enough on its own to send shivers down Zalan’s spine. Floating, gray, a head without a mouth, eyes sunken and wide in its skull. Zalan felt at a total disadva...
2025-01-13 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post“We are going to die here,” Finnegan whispered, looking upon the growing number of Arachulas before them.
“Definitely not,” Zalan said firmly. “I have to get home.”
Without much time to think, he grabbed Rep and Finnegan and pulled them into a run. The spiders chased...
2025-01-10 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View Post“Dear Lord,” Rep said, staring upward in shock and horror.
“Get me down! Get me down!” Finnegan panicked, kicking frantically as he slid upward toward the hungry monster.
The Giant Arachula was smooth like the others and had eight red eyes that looked in several directio...
2025-01-08 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostRep, Zalan, and Finnegan ran until they could no longer see the Obsidian Earthenbeast in the light that emitted from Zalan’s hands. They took a short break, catching their breath for a moment. A thud echoed in the distance, and Zalan assumed that the obsidian creature managed to escape. They lo...
2025-01-06 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostRep, Finnegan, and Zalan all searched the immediate area for signs of an Emerald Earthenbeast. Zalan watched for green gashes in the rock, or anything that looked like an Earthenbeast sleeping within the walls. Finnegan suddenly rushed over, holding a sword overhead. Zalan blinked, once again hav...
2025-01-03 17:03:30 +0000 UTC View PostWith a deep inhale, Zalan decreased the brightness of his Elemental Light until it was just the power of a flashlight in the darkness. He had used a lot of energy in the attack against the Gloomstalker and didn’t want to exhaust himself when he still had the chance to find the Homeseeker and es...
2025-01-01 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View Post“No,” Zalan whispered, looking at the disfigured form of his own mother.
“It took you so long to visit, I decided to come myself, Zalan,” the Gloomstalker spoke.
The monster looked like an anemic approximation of Zalan’s mom. It had deep bags under her eyes and a...
2024-12-30 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe giant spiders backed away in shock and fear as the Bright Elemental filled the mines with its light. The Depths of Despair’s darkness had no effect on the light like it did with Rep’s flames, and the shine lit up the entire corridor in the cavern. The Bright Elemental had raised its shini...
2024-12-27 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostZalan listened intently as he tried to get a grip over his rapid breath. He was almost certain he heard a voice. But he believed it was too implausible to hear something familiar like a human this deep into the Depths of Despair. He had truly lost his mind. He must have been hearing voices. Or it...
2024-12-25 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostZalan ran for his life, but was constantly obstructed by the mine’s terrain or walls appearing seemingly out of nowhere in front of him. He was completely sightless, hardly able to tell one direction from another. He came to a halt, catching his breath and leaning against something rocklike. He...
2024-12-23 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostRep and Zalan spun in place, Rep’s dim flame illuminating the ghastly monsters looming over them. The light danced to a terrifying tune as each Earthenbeast closed in. Rep began rummaging in his pocket as Zalan waved his sword ahead of them to try and intimidate the creatures. They didn’t rea...
2024-12-20 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostRep and Zalan’s feet were heavy as they walked. The floor was scattered with more globs of webbing, increasing the deeper they went within. They had a putrid smell, often being entangled with the remains of creatures of various shapes and sizes. Zalan grimaced as he stepped over grotesque shape...
2024-12-18 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostRep held a small flame in front of him as they proceeded further into the mines. No matter what size Rep increased the flame to, the amount of light and warmth always remained the same. The Depths of Despair wouldn’t allow anything more than a few feet of light, barely enough to see where their...
2024-12-16 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostGray Zalan sprinted forward, charging at Rep. Zalan ran in to protect his friend. He slashed his sword horizontal, trying to cut his darker version in half. Gray read his moves like they were his own and deftly bent to one side. Rep blasted fire around him, but Gray dove to the side, easily avoid...
2024-12-13 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe further away from Nightfall Rep and Zalan walked, the more Zalan felt like he was being watched. It was an eerie, but somehow familiar feeling. Like a nightmare he was experiencing déjà vu over. He kept looking over his shoulder, trying to find the source of the sensation. It only grew the ...
2024-12-11 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post