Dragons Waking

gusdefrog | fantasy | Complete

Begun on a whim, to be written in fragments... [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge] A mythical take on current events and old legends. When mankind retreats, the earth shifts, and the sleeping dragons awake.

52.43 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 13:15

The Ghost's Girl

Moonweave | adventure | Complete

"I know who I was. I was Aevlin, raised by Callily, wife of Alaric, son of the mad king," she said the words as if they belonged to someone else. Not her name, not her story. "I was a woodcrafter's apprentice, a strict woman's daughter, a selfish girl's sister. But you know that already. And she's dead." the girl's eyes glistened with tears that would not fall. She would not let them. "Does it matter?"The descendants of the last king have lived in hiding since before his death, but through a series of premeditated coincidences, Aevlin Saliz finds herself in her cousin's palace. There she faces the trials of mental labor, the allure of magic, and the stirrings of rebellion, all while doing her best to hide her identity as both royal and mage. But the desire to belong puts her independence to the test when a plot to overthrow the king in her name is uncovered. Aevlin must choose between quiet submission and taking control of her own destiny.[cover photo by Alice Alinari on Unsplash]

52.38 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-26 14:53

Sect Leader

Weavervale | satire | Complete

In the wake of an attack by a divine beast, the world blinked and transported Jessica Kim from Denver and her life as an accountant into the Sect of Coldsteel, replacing the now dead leadership. Can she get the support together to build the school back up and running while providing support to the refugees left by the divine beast? Will she be able to use her knowledge of the scientific method to improve the sects standing with local clans? Sect Leader came out on Mondays and Thursdays.

52.36 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-11 17:28

Crystal Gunslinger - The Obsidian Outlaws

Oliver Laws | mystery | Complete

Now available on Amazon! Now available on Audible! The Warped Scorch is known as the most dangerous area on the continent of Lux for good reason. Ever since a strange meteor hit the land and transformed it into a crystal hellscape, all four bordering nations have been trying to establish a foothold in the extremely dangerous new territory and lay claim to its many treasures. Cyrus is a crystal gunslinger, one of the individuals that face the horrors of the Scorch on a daily basis in order to make a living. With his trusty ruby repeater and plenty of experience, he is prepared to deal with whatever challenges the strange creatures and deadly environment can throw at him. But Cyrus will soon learn that the true horrors of the Scorch are much more human in nature, and no matter how hard he tries, escaping his past will be nearly impossible.

52.22 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 18:02

A FORGEMASTER OF WAYLAND

FAHyatt | adventure | Complete

William Drake, a modern day Illinois blacksmith, is no stranger to unusual orders, but the latest one is odder than most. He has been commissioned to create a sword of bizarre specifications, and the sword isn't the only thing that's strange. His customer, Markham, is definitely not a local, and balks at the bill. The sword is stolen by Markham, and William storms after him, finally retrieving the blade at the top of a rented Scottish tower. During the confrontation, William is transported, artifact in hand, to an alternate world called Wayland.Sly bartering demons, the Aos Si, wish to claim Wayland, as does a rival duke and his mage, Veddick. Meanwhile, a banished dieity, Credine, is seeking return to Wayland by using William as his unwilling avatar. Caught in a web between the three competing powers, William must unravel the mystery of the sword he has forged, stave off the encroaching god Credine and save the residents of Wayland from the god, the usurpation of the rival duke, and the Ao Si.

52.13 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-25 11:26

Whispers In The Wind

Saiph | mystery | Complete

A soft song, spun on the wind, torments an isolated town.A family of witches sailing across the sea, attempt a new route through uncharted waters, when the storms of fate see fit to alter their destination.What secrets haunt this silent corner of the world where no music is allowed? Are they best left as whispers in the wind? A mostly family friendly fantasy adventure mystery, sure to give you duckbumps. Sword fighting is family friendly right? TL;DR Hounds of Baskerville meets the Famous Five, but with dragons. This is written for the Royal Road Community Magazine competition.

52.07 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-25 10:43

Ambitious Soul

SingleCell | action | Complete

Karolina Grant is desperately unhappy living in a world that she can't change. When she is transported to a new world, one governed by a mysterious System, she will do her best to gain enough power to finally be able to make a difference. However, this new world is violent and dangerous, and Karolina isn't alone. Will she merely survive in this new world, or will she find a way to thrive? Ambitious Soul updates every Monday and Thursday.

51.96 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-25 10:01

A Demon Between Worlds

Tismon | romance | Complete

Mark Bastion, formally the Demon Barbas, has been living a pretty good life ever since his escape from Hell a few hundred years back. He's now running a shady exorcism business with his spunky assistant, making a good living scamming the common folk. But life's never that easy, especially after a fake exorcism gone wrong, leading Mark stuck a job that he cannot decline. Now, with both Heaven and Hell after him, he has to use the powers that he has neglected just to say alive. That, and with a lot of help from friends both old and new.

51.90 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-22 14:55

The Long and Exciting Life of Kreet the Kobold (Life 2)

Blue Draggy | romance | Complete

Kreet was originally a D&D character. Life 1 was essentially her backstory. Life 2 picks up just after the events of the D&D campaign in the Underdark. At first you won't recognize the characters, but bear with it for a couple chapters and the few important points will be revealed. Also I stole a player's character (with his permission!) in the form of Sigmundurr. Also, unlike Life 1, I'll be posting this slowly over time. Right now I'm writing around chapter 20 and I suspect I'm only halfway. Tone may be a little different. ( Cover art by KuroNeko I'm pretty sure!)

51.48 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 18:16

Post Human

J P Koenig | action | Complete

What do you do when you find yourself the sole survivor of the complete destruction of Earth? Nikola winds up in that position, disembodied in a half-built asteroid outpost, the last remnant and only hope of the human race. Nikola exists now only in digital form, controlling drones and cameras to interact with the world. ButNikola's memories are fractured, and there are endless obstacles between awakening as a glorified computer program and saving the species. Is Nikola even human anymore? Is it even possible to resurrect humanity?

51.43 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-20 18:12

Blood for Wages

Joe Coates | drama | Complete

Fia McCrae looked past the ancient oak with its brace of blood-stained bodies spinning peacefully in the slight easterly breeze. The light was seeping out of the evening sky, leeching the colour from the yellow gorse that covered the southern hills in such profusion. "Where's the ruddy comfort in dyin'?" the slumped man bleated miserably at her feet. "Well," Fia said over her shoulder as she walked away, "you've a fine evening for it." Exiled and grieving, Fia McCrae has spent the past eleven years wandering the island nation of Fallaros, with its numerous seperate tribelands, trying to atone for a mistake that has come to define her life. Raised in privilege. Fallen into disgrace. She rides the lands trying to redress those small wrongs that she can, using her innate ability to find that which is lost. Torsten Gunn is the most infamous outlaw to ride the roads, valleys and hills of Fallaros. Unencumbered by the notion of law, and accompanied by his loyal crew of bloodthirsty longriders, he has made it his merciless mission to make the lives of any Counts and Countesses that ride the roads of Fallaros a living hell. Chafing impatiently as he waits for his mother, who sits the High Seat of Fallaros, to die, Redmond Marr plots on how he will be the first man to subjugate all five tribelands. It is a feat that has never been attempted before, but to accomplish it the ambitious Marr has made a deal with an unknown power from across the sea. A power who has more than the dominion of a single island nation in mind. As Fallaros falls into chaos, witches are burned in the streets, longriders roam the roads, and dissent amongst the peasantry begins to boil over. As the threat of war from across the seas draws nearer, an unwilling Fia soon finds herself coerced back into a life she'd thought she'd left behind. What starts as a simple hunt for a wanted man quickly escalates as hidden truths start to emerge. Before long, Fia is confronted by a revelation that might bring her to her knees, even as the people of Fallaros need her to stand and fight. "You can't try do good without rubbin' someone up the wrong way," Fia said. "Folk'll do some truely disgustin' things for pride. Only thing they'll do worse things for is pay."

51.37 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-25 14:32

Unique Delivery System

Camrad RIP | comedy | Complete

The cruel conditions of the bet put him on edge! Can the smart, energetic and fat hero find the right path to the customer? Where will the great and almighty Delivery System lead him? Translation of the original work by Michael Dulepa. The original is here.

51.29 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-25 10:12

Dungeon Needs a Dad - Cozy Dungeon Progression / Found Family Adventure!

noct | satire | Complete

When a dungeon starts behaving strangely, aspiring Dungeon Keeper Aster steps in to unwind its troubles. After fighting his way through deadly monsters, he finds a young girl at the dungeon's heart--a young girl with a dungeon core. Stella has just lost her mother, and on top of that, only now discovered that she, in fact, is the one who should rightfully control the dungeon. Overwhelmed and grieving, she shuts out humans... but one human still breaks through. Together, Stella and Aster will find a compromise between human and dungeon, between the dark, monster-infested world beneath the earth and the bright, human-contaminated world above it. But first... "Hey, will you be my dad?" Spy X Family meets Dungeon Core! [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]

51.12 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 17:07

Sixguns and Spellfire

Fresh_Pursuit | contemporary | Complete

Completed Story. Texas Lawman Cash Renshaw gets pulled into a world of magic and mysticism that he never knew existed but finds himself uniquely suited to handle. Alhambra Sheriff's Office Detective Cash Renshaw is about to wake up. He learns that there is another world out there where all the creatures of nightmare and magic are real. Not only that but he finds that he is a special type of person called an "Archetype" that derives powers from the collective power of human imagination. Now he will join his new partner in the Agency for Metanatural Investigation to investigate a strange new type of Runic Tattooing that allows normal humans to tap into magic powers, at the cost of their lives. Cash will learn that his new reality is as deadly as it is mysterious, and his first case might be his last.

51.07 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-20 14:16

Re:Ocean

Greydragon | comedy | Complete

A random young man, caught in a freak event is eventually killed only to reincarnate in one of the most powerless forms possible... and thrive. Mostly inspired by Re:Monster. Status: Series complete. Wild, random humor and erotic content in later chapters... Rated R 18+ for Excessive sex scenes involving a squid, violence and coarse language (in places).

50.98 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 16:41

The New Magnolia: Red Fungus, White Spore

Hokage of Literature | psychological | Complete

The art for this cover was drawn by StarsColdNight whose account you can find on DeviantArt and BookCoversRealm for some great and splendid artwork at fair prices. Rillia flees from the Red Mountain Ant Colony and her country of Wassergras, hoping to find and explore the Primeval World, a legendary and untamed world she has only read about. However, after a surprise storm nearly drowns her, she is saved by Jason, a shrunken human with little memory of his past life. He is the first in a series of new allies she meets along with Melsil, the mushroom swordsman and Vesha the crawfish. A storm is brewing in Wassergras of political intrigue, prejudice and schemes within schemes that threaten to tear apart their world. Rillia must put her traveling plans on hold as she and her newly made friends work to defeat this threatone that has been waging since the dawn of the world between the forces that created it.

50.93 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 10:40

Tome of the Mind

C_P_Tuck | mystery | Complete

SPOILER WARNING: This is a sequel to Tome of the Body. If you have not read it, please do before reading this story, otherwise, a lot of things will not make sense. It can be found here. ~SYNOPSIS~ Every great story needs an author. Samuel Bragg, now the chosen champion of Arcana, has returned to the world of Ahya after one hundred years of being presumed dead. He awakes in his old home village, tended to by his last living friend, now an old woman. He spends some time enjoying the peace he finds but finds that his time away from the world has weakened him. Struggling with his new purpose in life and the returned boredom of village life, Samuel sets out on a nostalgic trip back to the capital city of Milagre. He is surprised to see that much of the world remains unchanged in the past hundred years, with a few exceptions. Accepted back at the Mage's College with high honors, Samuel is offered the chance to teach his own class and educate future mages, but declines, deciding he needs more experience. Desperate to learn more about the mysteries of magic, he takes an apprentice and travels to the distant land of Zaban, where it is rumored that mages skilled in unique magic live. He is given a new title and permission to travel from the Royal Family of Gorteau and sets out for the natural nation of Zaban. On his journey, he learns new skills and discovers his talent for teaching. Powered by Arcana and guided by his influence, Samuel returns to the capital city Milagre, to find those small parts of his life that were lost. He encounters his old friends Shigeru and Grimr, each now well-known for their services to the world. But upon connecting with the world as he knows it, he also learns of a terrible war brewing beneath the surface, filling everyone with unease. With a god behind him and a new ally at his side, Samuel steps once more into the unknown. Can he continue to grow as a mage and find triumph again? Read Tome of the Mind, the second book in the Tomes of Ahya series, to witness the truly thrilling tale of a growing legend and the challenges he will face. This story is also available on Scribblehub.

50.78 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 18:04

Halcyon Nightmares [A Magical Girls LitRPG]

Aest Belequa | sci_fi | Complete

Alice grew up idolizing Magical Girls. Now, she's one of them! When murderous machines attack Alice's graduation, she's asked to don the skirt and blazer. Now, she'll need to learn how to use her powers and work with a team of other Girls to protect her city from disaster - all while trying to get herself un-grounded! This was my first story on Royal Road. I'm currently re-writing it as a system apocalypse story, taking it in a completely different direction after the first chapter and a half or so, and tightening up as many of the plot holes as I can. I'm moving a lot slower on this project than my other, Magical Girl Undergrad. Expect The Halcyon System to be available to read in May 2024.

50.63 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 15:27

Harem Protagonist's Sidekick

LonMair399 | contemporary | Complete

Finally! I was finally free of all the drama surrounding Ethan and his harem from last year. Now, I just wanted to enjoy my new high schoolLakewood Academyand avoid the shenanigans of Ethan and his new group of infatuated girls. This proved difficult, however, when one of the girls approached me with a request that I was forced to accept. Damn my best friend and his meddling. Anyway, such a simple request somehow ended up with me being suckered into helping all of them grow closer to Ethan. It seemed like no matter what I did, I was destined to remain his sidekick. I guess my life was going to be a lot livelier than I imagined. Or annoying. Definitely one of the two.

50.55 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 16:59

On Foreign Soils We Die

saithorthepyro | tragedy | Complete

Story is completed The Travelers. People from earth reincarnated in the country of Aetheria, powerful and skilled users of the System who have arrived in this early modern world just in time to aid Aetheria against the many foes and threats facing them. They can and will transcend all powers of this world in order to make their adoptive home country safe. This is not their story. This is the story of the Scaverians, a people at war with the expansionist power of Aetheria and the otherworldly people known as the Travelers, their grand superweapon. Ever since they refused to stop supplying the Aethereans with weapons and tools for their conquest, the Aethereans have been dedicated to driving them underground. Their deities and elder dragons are dead. Their last great fortress line has fallen. The only thing protecting them now is the gargantuan Malden river, and that they are considered an unimportant front by the Aethereians. Now, they have one final plan. A concerted blow with the remaining nations still fighting, targeting the one advantage the Aethereans have. For one scrapped-together regiment of Scaverians, their target is five Travelers, relatively weak, inexperienced, and on leave in the rural town of Halice. It is an operation few are expected to return from. Releasing Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 9 AM MST

50.45 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 18:06