The next night passes in a surreal blur of heat and the rhythmic drumming of Poppy’s footfalls as we race across the desert. The loose sand begins to become more firm, gradually giving way to cracked, dry clay. I spend the hours riding working on Attuning more of my blood. Surprisingly, it only...
2024-12-20 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
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As the sun rises and we get ready for bed, I notice a problem. There are five of us and only two tents.
“The others were destroyed by the reapers,” Quell says, apologetically. “But they’re each big enough for two people, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem...
2024-12-18 13:00:08 +0000 UTC
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I gradually wake to a pounding headache and the sound of hushed voices. A fire is crackling nearby and warming my face. I risk squinting an eye open. It’s dark out.
My mind swirls with disorientation. How did I get here? Why am I at a campfire? Who are these people? What happened?
2024-12-16 13:00:13 +0000 UTC
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We arrive at Peakshadow the following evening, an hour or so before the sun will slip beneath the surrounding hills. The town is murmuring with quiet, everyday life.
I don’t recognize any of it.
I’m not sure what I’d been expecting. Maybe flashbacks to when the predator first po...
2024-12-15 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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[Crimson Aegis removed from Inventory.]
The wyvern’s jaws smash into the shield, crushing me into the ground.
The Aegis’s conscience bursts into my mind at the same moment, briefly looking about in confusion. We’ve moved again! Where are—Oh! That’s a lot of teeth. Is it time...
2024-12-13 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Quell had been busy while I was asleep. After waiting for the guard rotation to pass us by—a schedule Quell had apparently spent some time deducing—we leave camp and make for a cluster of rocks a hundred yards away. Behind that is a star drake, already loaded up and waiting for us.
“A...
2024-12-11 13:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Hello, Patrons! I wanted to thank you for your support over the last year. I can't express how much I appreciate you all!
Can you believe it's been 12 months since I started posting my stories? A lot has happened since then! I never thought Podium would want to make an audiobook of my weird...
2024-12-09 21:50:38 +0000 UTC
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Despite Quell’s clear interest in the report on his sister, Captain Darian leaves with her guard to go examine the evidence of the Moonfall’s trail. Quell’s face falls as she leaves, and he and I are left alone.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” I say, awkwardly attempting to comfort...
2024-12-09 13:00:13 +0000 UTC
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Each afternoon, Caecius tells me to come back the next morning to work on a new piece with her, so I do. It’s not exactly how I intended to learn about glass magic, but I suspect I’m getting a better education here than I would have in some formal educational setting. I have to get Zyneth to ...
2024-12-08 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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“Well, come on,” Quell says, heading for the front of the tent and holding the flap open for me.
Outside the sky has turned purple, pink clouds swallowing up the stars. The sun is still hidden behind a dune, but I doubt it will be for much longer. Guards fall into step behind Quell and ...
2024-12-06 13:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Hello all! If you're reading this, then the first book of Friendly Fyre is complete on Patreon! Thank you all SO MUCH for reading, and for all of your support!
There will be more Friendly Fyre books to come.
I admit, I did not expect this book to be as popular as it has become. I nev...
2024-12-05 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Pink and yellow sunlight spills over the palace as we drift silently over the arctic. All the guards, all the harpies, all the Fyrethians, from the original and lost colony alike, step outside to squint against the sun. For many of them, it’s the first time they’ve ever seen it.
Ollie i...
2024-12-05 13:00:10 +0000 UTC
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The shield appears in the air before me, immediately lashing itself to my arm like a handsy kid afraid of being dropped.
Oh! We’re in a tent now? How did we get inside? Is it time to fight something?
“Gods’ grace,” Constance murmurs. He draws his sword as well, and magic...
2024-12-04 13:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Using the throne’s spell network, I don’t need the Dungeon Core’s interface in order to “see” across my kingdom. I can intuit the exact inflections of my rudders. I know how much lift the cloudstone is providing. I can tell the precise heading, pitch, and altitude of the Fortress at any...
2024-12-03 13:00:07 +0000 UTC
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The arachnoid guard Xamireb holds the flap of the tent open for us. I roll my shoulder and crack my neck, the aches of the battle finally starting to catch up to me, then duck inside after Quell.
The tent is the size of a large room, and several rugs and pillows cover the ground. No chairs,...
2024-12-02 13:00:12 +0000 UTC
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I'm approaching the end of the first draft of the Kanin Fodder (Book 3 of the Kanin series). Based on the first poll results, I will be giving a name to the predator. I've narrowed it down to a handful of options. I'm curious to see which you would prefer. If you have other suggestions, please fe...
2024-12-02 04:14:44 +0000 UTC
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There’s no time to fight off the predator and the thugs at once, so I pick my battle. If I can’t convince the predator from the outside, maybe I can direct it from within.
We sidestep the dryad as they rush toward us. Void snakes out from the bottom of our coat and grabs their leg as th...
2024-12-01 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
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As the remnant’s influence spread through the fortress, following the instructions of its organic companion, memories tickled at its mind. It had once been interfaced with the fortress in such a way before. Some time in the past. It didn’t know how long ago, because it didn’t have any conce...
2024-11-30 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
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I let my head fall back on the sand and exhale my relief. I can feel my heartbeat pulsing through my entire body, adrenaline still pumping through my veins, exhaustion and soreness aching through my muscles. Kind of missing that refresh that comes with a level-up.
If another cactus shows up...
2024-11-29 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Mirzayael stabs forward as I step back, diving into the Dungeon Core’s interface to access the throne room’s spell circuit. It takes me three seconds to find what I need.
I grab the spell lines powering the crystal lights in this chamber, and I snuff them out.
The room plunges int...
2024-11-28 13:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Despite all evidence to the contrary, Prince Quell displays he does, in fact, have some common sense in him as he skids to a stop just short of the nearest cactus limb. I catch up to him half a second later, lunging around him and slamming my shield into the ground as the cactus turns and jabs in...
2024-11-27 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
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I duck down beneath Ollie’s spine ridges as a spray of ice and stone showers us. My legs are squeezed tight around his neck, and my hands have a death-grip on his scales—even my wings are wrapped around more of his spines in a desperate bid for extra purchase. My veins are full of adrenaline,...
2024-11-26 17:53:51 +0000 UTC
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I run across the desert, swearing at every little inconvenience that has become my life. Sand is in my boots, making every step annoying and uncomfortable.
“Stupid sand,” I growl, squinting when a breeze blows a gust up into my face as if in retaliation. I cough up the grains and ...
2024-11-25 13:00:13 +0000 UTC
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In the telepad square, I find a job board, which is probably where I should have started. The wall has several messages pinned to its surface, some of them magically affixed, some of them mundane. A lot of them are asks for package deliveries or miscellaneous repairs.
It’s not all dedicat...
2024-11-24 14:00:04 +0000 UTC
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As Dizzi begins organizing the harpies and laying out our plan, I turn to Fyreneth’s throne. I should be able to finish the remaining stone conversions from here. Connecting to the spell network in the throne now might even help me jumpstart the process once everything is complete.
Ar...
2024-11-23 13:00:04 +0000 UTC
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“On your feet.” The arachnoid soldier prods me as I still lay there, mind whirring a mile a minute.
Someone out there—gods, or demigods, or whatever—knows why people like Hans and I are here. Or at least, they know we are here, and they’re looking for us. Until...
2024-11-22 17:00:08 +0000 UTC
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The Jorrian troops send vibrations through the ice as thousands of armored boots stomp against the ground in time. Through the Dungeon Core, I count them by the number of footfalls. I determine they’ve come with direwolves and larger beasts by their gait. I feel the wheels rolling over the ice ...
2024-11-21 13:00:09 +0000 UTC
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I groan, managing not to fall forward onto the sword.
“Throw down your weapons immediately,” the woman orders, still keeping the sword level at my throat.
My vision is starting to swim back into focus. I hope I don’t have a concussion. “That might be difficult if I’m n...
2024-11-20 13:00:08 +0000 UTC
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My mind moves through the stone, buoyed along by the Dungeon Core. The Core is delighted by all the work I’ve been giving it of late. We zip through veins of rock like electrons on a circuit, flashing through the network of spells strung together throughout the fortress by threads of mana-condu...
2024-11-19 13:00:10 +0000 UTC
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[Sanity Level: 100%]
Eyes wide, the prince opens and shuts his mouth. Then he opens it again. “Are you, um, quite sure you’re not here to kill me?”
His voice is quakey and ridiculously posh. I laugh, but the sound that comes out of my mouth is foreign, with a sligh...
2024-11-18 13:00:12 +0000 UTC
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