Plum Parrot

M17

Morgan pulled some animal skins out of his pouch and sat down on them. As he choked down some of the dry bread with generous amounts of water, he looked at Issa. She was sitting cross-legged in fro...

B9

Bronwyn spent the next few days alternating between exhausted, amazed, and feeling anxiety-ridden. She was exhausted because she worked hard every day from pitch-dark-morning until late in the even...

B8

Needless to say, the forge’s construction, or rather unearthing, caused quite a stir and drew a large crowd. Bronwyn and Arthur were the first to enter, though they didn’t try to stop the curio...

M16

“Did your scroll give you an upgrade to your class selection?” Morgan asked Issa after he’d waved the notification away.

“It did! I’m only level eight, but I’m very excited. All t...

M15

“I said this felt like a trap, dammit!” Morgan growled, adjusting his stance and holding his spear in a way that he just “knew” was a ready stance. Issa readied her rapier and looked around...

M14

It turned out, Issa had explored quite a few of the nearby tunnels while looking for the Yovashi’s lair. It had taken her the better part of a day to find her way, having to stop, pull the cloak ...

B7

Bronwyn stretched her neck, feeling it crack and smiling at the release of tension. The conversation with the crowd that had gathered while the Colony Stone established itself went better than she ...

B6

When Bronwyn stepped away from the monolithic Colony Stone, she saw Arthur Ballard and two others walking up the hill from the gathered crowd. They were obviously coming to talk to her; she had kno...

M13

Golden motes began to coalesce on the corpse of the Yovashi. Morgan could see that they were larger than the motes on other creatures he’d killed and more numerous. They swirled around, forming t...

M12

Morgan lay, staring into the darkness for a long time. Once, he stirred, doubting he had ever heard a voice, and it came again, just a soft breath saying, “Shhhh.” He couldn’t be sure, but he...

M11

The stairs seemed interminable. Morgan and Issa had to stop and rest after climbing for a couple of hours. There were no lanterns, and the stone steps and wall seemed the same, no matter how high t...

B5

Arthur Ballard was not a difficult man to find. Bronwyn asked around to a few colonists and found him delegating tasks not far from where the attack had been on the eastern side of the camp. As Bro...

B4

The Yeksa were not difficult to follow; they made no attempts to cover their tracks. Bronwyn found she could easily spot the winding path ahead of her, as it glowed red with their residual energy. ...

M10

At the base of the iron brazier, nearly obscured by the shadows cast by the flickering red flames above it, sat a small, dark, metal chest. Morgan whistled and walked over to it. “That rat bastar...

M9

The first thing Morgan checked was whether any of the dead Urghat in the room had a dimensional bag similar to the one he was wearing. He struck out on the first two, but the third guy, the one tha...

M8

Morgan led the way through the doorway, which opened into a wide, stone hallway. Rather than the carved stone of the level below, this tunnel was made from tight-fitting stone blocks. Just a few fe...

B3

Adrenaline and pain jerked Bronwyn out of a deep sleep as she was physically pulled out of her tent by her ankle. In the dim morning light, she could see a large, orange-furred, wolf-like creature....

B2

After about five minutes, Bronwyn had the leather armor equipped. It wasn’t anything too fancy, just a leather vest, pants, and boots. The leather was a dark brown, and the buckles were made of a...

M7

The stonework around the spiral stone stairway was different from that in the tunnels or even the area where Morgan first came into the Crucible. The blocks were uniform and fit together closely, w...

M6

“It’s not really a big deal, Issa. I don’t know what kind of a person could leave someone to be eaten alive by some cannibalistic freaks.” Morgan smiled as he stood up, the red gemstone han...

M5

It dawned on Morgan that he had more points available than some of his total abilities. He should probably allocate those soon, but he wasn’t sure he knew the best way to do so. He was thinking a...

B1

The straw dummy burst into flame from Bronwyn’s spell. “Bleh, this is the shittiest tutorial I’ve ever had to do,” she grumbled to no one but herself. If it weren’t for the fact that this...

M4

The woman’s large, amber eyes widened in fear as Morgan pulled the cloth away, and she struggled to writhe away from him. He held his hands out and, keeping his voice low and calm, said, “Easy,...

M3

“What the fuck?” Morgan groaned as an unseen lock on the door clicked, and it silently swung open. There was evidently more light outside the room than in because Morgan could see a flickering ...

M2

Morgan felt like he’d been on a week-long bender. His head was throbbing, and his stomach groaned like an angry abyss. Blearily, he pried open his dry, crusty eyelids and looked around. For a few...

M1

The massive ship shuddered from another blast of the Bussard drive as it steadily decelerated on its approach into the Tau Ceti system. Sifting through the long-range sensor array data, Noah-9 dedi...