Riven Auroren | one_shot | Complete
A Grimm-style inspired fairytale. One twin has it all, the other remains meek, until she no longer can.
1.06 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-26 18:00
Herko Kerghans | one_shot | Complete
Sergeant Gonzal had a very good nose for trouble. But this time, rather than the Cloning vats, the reek of things rotting came from the Mess Hall. *** "Off the Vat" is a complete, very short novel (around 20,000 words across 7 chapters), inspired by the recloning mechanic that Sci Fi MMOs like EVE Online or The Repopulation use to explain why players respawn.
12.46 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 13:47
MichaelJSullivan | one_shot | Complete
TWO ROGUES | FOUR SHORT STORIES | ONE CLASSIC FANTASY OF UNLIKELY HEROES The Riyria novels featuring Royce Melborn (a cynical ex-assassin) and Hadrian Blackwater (an idealistic ex-mercenary) have been enthralling fantasy readers for more than 15 years. Now for the first time four short stories and two full-length novels are available for free on Royal Road. You can read these shorts in any order, but if you haven't read any of my books, I suggest starting with The Thieves. The Thieves:THEY ATTACKED TWO RIDERS. THEY THOUGHT IT WOULD BE EASY. THEY WERE WRONG.A band of thieves set upon two lonely riders in the middle of the night. They had a larger party. They had the element of surprise. There was no reason to be concerned. But they didn't realize who they were dealing with. The Viscount and the Witch: WHO WILL BE SCHOOLED?A desperate woman seeks help to rid her barn of a drunkard. Hadrian agrees to help, and Royce goes along only to teach his idealistic partner that no good deed goes unpunished. What they find isn't what they expected, and maybe it'll be Royce's opinion that will be changed. Professional Integrity: YOU WANT US TO STEAL WHAT?Several years have passed since the war-weary mercenary Hadrian and cynical ex-assassin Royce joined forces to start their thieves-for-hire organization, better known as Riyria. Things have gone well enough for the team as they perform tasks for nobles throughout Elan. Usually, that means stealing something, but when a young heiress asks them to steal her . . . well, that's a first for the pair. The Jester: WHO WILL HAVE THE LAST LAUGH?Stop me if you've heard this one. A thief, a candlemaker, an ex-mercenary, and a pig farmer walk into a trap . . . and what happens is no joke. When Riyria is hired to retrieve a jester's treasure, Royce and Hadrian must match wits with a dwarf who proves to be anything but a fool. Difficult choices will need to be made, and in the end, those who laugh last do so because they are the only ones to survive. If you enjoy these Riyria short stories, you'll be happy to know there are another 10 full-length novels (2 are available for free on Royal Road) featuring these rogues-for-hire and a total of 19 novels in an epic series that spans 3,000 years. The novels are spread across four collections as seen here. The Riyria Revelations:Theft of Swords(containsThe Crown Conspiracy&Avempartha).". Rise of Empire(containsNyphron Rising&The Emerald Storm) "Heir of Novron(containsWintertide&Percepliquis) The Riyria Chronicles:The Crown Tower " The Rose and the Thorn " The Death of Dulgath ". The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter Legends of the First Empire:Age of Myth " Age of Swords " Age of War " Age of Legend " Age of Death " Age of Empyre The Rise and Fall:Nolyn "Farilane " Esrahaddon
22.48 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 17:36
officialleehadan | one_shot | Complete
Daramethe was a hedgewitch until lightning struck her for a second time, and she gained incredible, devastating power. Her husband is a blacksmith who loves his tiny electrical wife, and would like prophets to stop kidnapping him.
6.80 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-13 10:50
AlexaLee | one_shot | Complete
Follow Dasher, the food delivery robot, as he fights to deliver food to hungry people, even though the journey is at times scary and perilous. Plagued with fading memories from his life before, he struggles to hold on to his humanity whilst also making sure he keeps the items entrusted to him safe until he reaches his destination.
19.07 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 17:47
Aster Loka | one_shot | Complete
~First place winner! January 2022 Royal Road Community Magazine Contest~ When all else fails, when all hope is lost, perhaps madness is less important than results. If the world is going to end, save what you can from the ashes. No matter the sacrifice. When came the monsters, So fell the elves; The rising of the Dungeon Queen, And then the sun went out.
8.70 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 18:11
drewhead118 | one_shot | Complete
Dr. Laura Brandie is ready to change the world. She's the lead researcher behind the KSE, a revolutionary cure for paralysis and neurodegenerative conditions. And now, by good fortune, she's found the perfect candidate for her first human trial: a man who suffers from locked-in syndrome. Brett Harmon's paralysis is total: he can't move his arms, legs, torso, neck, or face. To the outside world, he's little more than a statue that breathes... but Dr. Brandie's KSE might be the miracle that allows Brett to run again.
7.96 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 17:38
Aest Belequa | one_shot | Complete
The Highwayman leaves no survivors. He hasn't in over a century of terror on the Old King's Road. His reputation for ruthlessness and immortality is his greatest weapon. When a dying noble begs him to spare his daughter, the Highwayman is faced with a choice; he can protect his reputation, or he can do the right thing. One choice lets his myth live on forever. The other may mean the Highwayman's end. Edit: I'm incredibly honored to have won the January 2024 Community Magazine Contest. Thank you all for reading!
5.10 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 18:13
cathfach | one_shot | Complete
All living things have needs that must be met if they desire their life to continue. Such needs range from the universal requirement for sustenance, to the more specific, such as the requirement of all higher life to sleep, or even the esoteric, such as the requirement of a pain demon to inflict suffering. The ability to exploit those needs is what separates, to pick a random example, a successful summoner from the shrivelled (but very happy) corpse that had, a few minutes earlier, conjured up a succubus with no plan of how to control her. The Cruithia Kingdom is well known by its neighbours (or at least, by the subset of them that aren't carbonised silhouettes) for exploiting such needs to bring a shining example of the world's apex predator under their control. For the past hundred years, anyone daring to encroach on the kingdom's territory has found themselves faced, very briefly, by a dragon. But perhaps 'control' isn't quite the right word, and it's that very dragon that the kingdom's betrayed crown princess is going to need to convince to aid her if she ever wants her position back. A creature of selfishness and pride, evil by any human standard, and yet occasionally steerable by those who know the correct levers. Not that convincing the dragon to help her take back her kingdom is her primary concern. That accolade goes to the need to convince the dragon not to eat her. Again. This is a short story (8 chapters/17k words) about a betrayed princess and an evil dragon. Neither has a particularly great time. Published here and scribble hub. If you see this anywhere else, it's stolen.
9.82 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 15:24
A side story for The Heart Grows, in which romance and intimacy within the dungeon is explored. The main story is to be considered required reading to follow this. When Ludmiller gets outplayed by a dungeon and becomes one of its minions, she thinks the man she loved is lost to her forever. Now living as a kobold within the dungeon, she tries to reconcile her feelingsand she's not alone. Others living within the dark chambers underground find emotional holes in their lives. This is a short side story for The Heart Grows starting around chapter 25 and ending around chapter 60. All my works come with a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. This means you are free to download, publish, and even make derivative works of my writing so long as you include this license, attribution, and don't sell the works. Keep it free!
5.59 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 15:25
wercwercwerc | one_shot | Complete
Inspired bythe following writing prompt: Your car changes slightly to accommodate your day, the day it snows, it magically has snow tires, the day it floods, it becomes a four by four. Today you walked out the door, and it's a tank. (Complete)
3.22 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 15:26
Soldier. Survivor. Killer. Hunter. Legend. Hero. In truth, Jhena Cuuhl was but a drifter, wandering her way across the stars, plying her skills to the highest bidder. Little more than a weapon without a wielder, cutting her way through an uncaring galaxy. And then everything changed. A strange message crossing her eyes. The boundary between worlds collapsing. Death and destruction raining from above the skies, deadly creatures spilling out from beneath the ground. A catastrophe engulfing the entire universe. And so the galaxy turns to her, and places its fate in her hands. One last mission. One last chance. Can one woman save the universe? A System invades novel set in a Sci-fi universe. SciFi vs. Fantasy! Technically LitRPG but we won't see the MC's status much for story reasons. My entry for the June 2022 Royal Road Community Magazine Contest. Now complete at 15,653 words!
9.24 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 15:28
DarenGillingham | one_shot | Complete
Demons, Dragons, ghouls, and gheists. The monsters of Terra are many. I, Nicholas Wolfram shall tell you all about them in the hopes you may avoid the fate of some of my students. Read on, lest a lack of knowledge be your undoing. These monsters are based on those found in The Alchemist Series.
20.83 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 18:22
Wulfrann | one_shot | Complete
The best thing ever invented, you tell me one morning, is sliced bread. "Really?" "Yeah," you say, waving your buttered slice around for emphasis. Your fingers will be smeared with butter, and I know that later, you will complain about it. For now, though, this is a necessary part of your explanation. "I mean, it's obvious, isn't it?" Spoiler: Story Warnings Obsessive-compulsive behavior & Nonverbal shut-down
0.76 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 18:19
Majorian | one_shot | Complete
Cadet Commissar Karl Waino wanted to be a war hero. After years of schooling, he finally got his chance on the planet Banshee, attached to an Imperial Guard regiment to prove he had what it took to lead men into battle. What started as a simple reconnaissance mission becomes the ultimate fight for survival as Karl Waino learns just how horrible war is in the 41st millennium.
15.43 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 18:20
Epsilon Twilight | one_shot | Complete
My chimera, my Alta. You were born for greatness. Alta has been trapped for all their life in darkness, a jail warded by demons and other creatures. But as they manage to escape the outside world with a hint of their true lineage, they understand that the outside was far bigger than their prison cell had been. After rescuing a fairy, they shapeshift into one and joins the fairy village, looking to find themselves, rather than their family. Author's synopsis: Gender-fluid, shapeshifting bloodthirsty creature wants to be happy and discover the world. Also fairies. A lot of fairies. WE HAVE ART! [Winner in the Royal Road Writathon challenge April 2023!]
33.36 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 18:23
Everyone has superpowers, and mine wasn't anything special... until I got recruited out of prison. [June 2023 RR Magazine Contest] This short story is a study of a background character in a collaborative project I've been working on with a fellow RR author, Arlen K. Our collab is projected to start posting in 2024, so if you are enjoying Codename: Ghost and would like to see more of this world that he lives in, smash that "Follow Author" button to be alerted to new releases. If you would like more of this world now, check out Portal to Regret. Maybe you'll recognize the MC. = As always, comments, follows, favorites, ratings and reviews are appreciated, especially as there is a lot more planned for this world. Codename: Ghosthas been exclusively published on RoyalRoad. All other sites have stolen the story. If you find this title anywhere else, please PM me on RoyalRoad or email me at [email protected]. Thank you!
8.64 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 18:22
TealiciousTea | one_shot | Complete
A jellyfish in space. Also, cats, tea, AI with blue boxes, mech-bunny suit, giant duck, ape space pirates and more. I promise two of these things are true: melodrama, self-insert protagonist and a complete three-part story.
4.86 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 18:22
Official page for the [Royal Road Community Magazine] Contest. This page includes the first chapters of all entries submitted before January 10th, 2024. Check out the first chapter for more details.
205.02 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-22 09:56
