cathfach | one_shot | Complete 9.82 Ten thousand words | 658 Recommended | 5489 clicks
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.
Latest Updates Epilogue | Updated at 2024-03-29 15:24
cathfach | adventure | Complete 163.65 Ten thousand words | 156 Recommended | 9374 clicks
Oh great hero! The evil Demon Lord has once again arisen to terrorise our lands, and we have summoned you to save our people! No, we don't want you to fight the demon lord! Of course not; we're the good guys! What sort of good guys kidnap people from other worlds and force them to take part in wars that have nothing to do with them? That would just be plain evil! We'd be no better than the demons! Katie, after her summoning by an excessively loud mage suddenly takes an unexpected twist, is sent off on a simple fetch quest, with a promise that she'll be back home in five minutes at most. She doesn't even need to leave the building. Alas, when a goddess' blessing causes her wish for an actual adventure to be taken rather more literally than she expected, she finds herself lost in a dark cave, far away from the sword she was supposed to acquire and far too close to a population of giant bugs. Still, at least she wished her life wasn't in any danger. Among other things. Be careful what you wish for. You might just get it. This is a dark litRPG adventure, both in terms of Katie accidentally wishing all the lights out, and also in that she loses as often as she wins, often with horrific and disturbing consequences. Luckily, Katie isn't the sort of person to let a mere grizzly death or two get her down, and is prepared to try, try and try again to get her hands on the holy sword and finally complete her simple' fetch quest. Or perhapswith a few resistance skills under her nightieshe might even come to enjoy losing. Not that she'd ever consider forgoing revenge, even if she did. I've ticked all the content warning checkboxes for this one. Dark things happen to the MC, and she does dark things right back to everything else. There's no explicit sexual content, but there are more than enough references to justify the warning, including to rape. Profanity happens rarely, but Katie isn't averse to swearing when she gets particularly angry. As for gore/trauma, it doesn't get much worse than the first few chapters, but there will be occasional chapters that have extra content warnings. There will be mind control. Published here, Scribble Hub, patreon and Amazon.
Latest Updates Announcement Chapter: A Chaotic Meetup (Part 1) | Updated at 2024-03-27 18:34
cathfach | mystery | Complete 67.60 Ten thousand words | 614 Recommended | 6712 clicks
Given the hereditary nature of classes, everyone expects Damienthe child of two high-tiered adventurersto be granted a high-tier combat class of his own. Expectations are betrayed, however, when Damien finds himself instead saddled with a crafting class of the lowest possible tier: [Neophyte Tailor]. Left practically crippled compared to those with better classes, Damien wants to avoid becoming a pawn in the machinations of the nobility, desiring only to grind his level in peace while wondering why the usual rules of inheritance were broken. Was it his desire to excel by his own effort, rather than an unearned blessing from a god? Did the Five take offence at his opinions on the unfairness of hereditary classes? Or maybe it was something to do with the alien voice that intruded on his ceremony? A voice that offers great power, and freedom from the tyranny of the Five, but that never names its price. This story is litRPG-lite. While the class someone possesses controls most of their lives, people don't get dinged at for every level they gain, nor can they see their status without undergoing a special ritual. The MC has no romantic interest. Crafting is merely a way to game the system, and doesn't feature heavily in the story, aside from a few descriptions on how they're carrying out the system abuse. There is, on one unfortunate occasion, maths. The pace is quick. Published here, Scribble Hub and patreon. This was a participant in the Spring 2022 writathon. (i.e. it was posted as-written at high speed, with no pre-planning.)
Latest Updates What if Damien turned around? (Final Part) | Updated at 2024-03-27 16:49
cathfach | mystery | Complete 6.62 Ten thousand words | 614 Recommended | 6710 clicks
Few people are purely evil or good. Everyone has their own desires and their own principles guiding what they are prepared to do to achieve those desires. A duke who wants to expand the influence of his house, his wife who is fiercely loyal to her friends, and their child who just wants some comfortable clothes. The queen who wants what's best for the kingdom, the king who wants what's best for his family and a prince with an inferiority complex. Even if everyone acts in a way they deem 'correct', sometimes people can still get hurt. This was the first story I finished writing, although not the first I posted. It's a very short (11k word) story about a 'villainess' who just wants to get away from it all. Only posted on scribblehub and royalroad. Cover image is from the graphics fairy.
Latest Updates Oneshot | Updated at 2024-03-27 16:39
cathfach | mystery | Complete 36.47 Ten thousand words | 614 Recommended | 6715 clicks
When a new dungeon is born, it wants nothing more than to have the most vicious monsters, the most cunning traps and the most shiny of loot. There is only one problem, but it's a rather big one; it finished its first floor years ago, but it still hasn't been visited by any adventurers! In order to find someone or something to explore its floors, or perhaps just to find someone to talk to, this dungeon will have to go way off script. But it soon discovers that going off script brings problems of its own, and that adventurers are not the only thing this world is missing. A shortish story about a dungeon's journey of exploration and self-discovery in a devastated world. Cover made (poorly) with POV-Ray. Prequel to An Unbound Soul Published here, scribblehub and amazon.
Latest Updates Side Story 4: A Global Dungeon | Updated at 2024-03-27 16:37
cathfach | adventure | Complete 126.41 Ten thousand words | 634 Recommended | 6946 clicks
This is the tale of an epic battle between the embryo of a hero and the egg of a demon lord. Okay, so perhaps 'epic' is overselling it a bit, given that there are serious mobility issues on both sides of the conflict, but they're trying their best, bless them. Then perhaps it is the tale of a reincarnated magical girl lover, excited about finally living out her dreams of slaying evil with the powers of love and friendship? But again, the way a truck-wielding goddess interpreted her request to return her memories immediately after reincarnation rather too literally means that it'll be a long time before the frilly dress fits, and the demons don't seem to want to wait. Then it's the tale of a pair of new parents growing progressively more confused at the weird happenings around them, particularly when people start receiving involuntary flower-based makeovers? Of an unborn hero speedrunning the plot so efficiently that it'll all be over before she even gets around to being born? Yes, that one's more accurate. Also, some numbers go up, with accompanying dings. And one (highly important) number goes way down. This story was born as a complete joke on discord, out of someone complaining about womb arcs and how utterly ridiculous they were. I responded by threatening to write a story that was entirely womb arc. And then, because I'm a bit silly sometimes, I did. It's not pure skill grinding, though; I was nice enough to let her have some interaction with the real world. Nevertheless, at time of writing, I seem to be averaging two dings per chapter. Published here, Scribble Hub and patreon.
Latest Updates After Story 1: Another Ball | Updated at 2024-03-27 16:00
cathfach | comedy | Complete 17.99 Ten thousand words | 634 Recommended | 6915 clicks
When a Creature of the Void fails to find friendship among her own kind, she instead sets her sights upon another, human-filled world. Unfortunately, humans turn out to be rather small and squishy things, resulting in a mostly accidental trail of death, destruction and madness as she embarks on her journey to finally make some friends. This is a 25k word inane short story, and makes no attempt at being serious or realistic. It's my first attempt at trying a more comedic writing style. No relation to my other stories, aside from a brief cameo. Cover bodged together with Charat Genesis. Not quite the design I had in mind, but reasonably close. Doesn't contain explicit smut, but does contain references to stuff happening off-screen. May contain traces of gore. Also eels, in varying states of distress. Posted here and scribblehub.
Latest Updates Side Story: A Serious Incident | Updated at 2024-03-27 15:09
cathfach | horror | Complete 34.37 Ten thousand words | 654 Recommended | 6725 clicks
In the city of Kholakel, the highlight of the year for the upper classes is the annual monster pacification of the misty woods. Ostensibly it's a culling of the monster population to prevent them encroaching on urban areas, but it's an open secret that it's actually treated as more of a blood sport, the participants competing to score the most kills. After all, why else would the politicians and elites of the city bother to attend personally? Given the intense competition and high-tech weapons and gear in use, one might wonder how the forest has not yet been completely depopulated. As this year's culling approaches, a group of unfortunate children are about to discover the answer first-hand, but thanks to an unexpected twist of fate, one of them will score the chance to play the role of the hunter instead of the prey. This was an attempt at writing something darker than my usual fare. The story I actually ended up with isn't as mean to the MC as I'd originally planned out, to the point that I'm not sure the story deserves the horror/grimdark tags anymore, but this is still an unfair world with unambiguously evil antagonists. Chapters are short to start with, but get longer once the first act is over. Published here and Scribble Hub.
Latest Updates Bonus Story 2: School Life | Updated at 2024-03-11 16:03
