﻿Before They Came (Magical Apocalypse)https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/syndication/22819Latest updates of (Before They Came (Magical Apocalypse))en-USRoyal RoadBefore They Came (Magical Apocalypse) - Chapter 92 - Striking a Dealhttps://www.royalroad.com/fiction/chapter/446424<p><span style="font-weight: 400">As it turns out, magic may not have been better. While riding on Spot further east, my conversation with Johnny showed me that his fucking wish was beyond over-powered. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">“When that weird ass high hit, like a few months ago and told me to make a wish, I did! I was like balls deep in some hottie after a couple weed brownies and I screamed at the heavens, ‘I wanna cultivate some power!’ right at the end there. And dude, man, I’mma’ live forever!” he said. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">When I snorted back a small laugh, he got defensive making his voice go up hilariously in pitch. “Yo! It’s awesome! Trust me, this shit is beyond real!” Johnny crowed as Spot leisurely walked alongside the river. I mean, I know it’s fucking real, mainly because I couldn’t get Johnny to shut up about it. He wished to be like theAccording to him, a cultivator is something that internalizes power, some ethereal external power, and uses it to empower itself. He went on to describe going up in power over time, staving off old age by banging hot asian chicks while simultaneously doing some hippie-one-with-the-earth shit. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">Hearing it was fucking funny, but my magical senses showed me that a veritable storm of power rested inside of that kid. Most of it was some kind of diffuse cloud, but at the very center there was a tiny pea-sized dots of super condensed power that seemed to have its own gravity. Maybe this was the dude Merlin wanted me to get. I mean, probably. He’s annoying, incredibly powerful, long-lived if he isn’t dumb, and very durable, uhg.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">“Right, I gotchu’,” I said, “But how does it work. I mean, I use mana, which is the stuff magic is made of. My soul produces some, I can see that you make some, the earth has rivers of it, the sky has currents, living things produce (...)</span></p>446424Thu, 16 Jan 2020 17:49:58 GMTBefore They Came (Magical Apocalypse) - Chapter 91 - Re-tool and Re-meethttps://www.royalroad.com/fiction/chapter/442682<p><span style="font-weight: 400">  Heating up a couple cans of chicken noodle soup constituted making breakfast nowadays, but eating with Reeanth wasn’t the restful activity one would hope for. Mulling over what the various immortals said in their carelessness over the past day was hopeless as the Centauri soldier (now sorceress) glared at me. Her vision now literally was painful, her eyes emitting beams of light that saw more than they should while scouring off the top layer of flesh.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  “I said I was sorry!” The glare didn’t stop.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  “Seriously, turn that shit off woman.” The circumference of light pouring from her eyes lessened but the intensity picked up, as if a sick kid were burning ants through a microscope. My natural regeneration via flesh sorcery was more than enough to keep the damage to a minimum, but my temper was starting to pick up.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  “I’m going to give you to the count of three,” I growled, picturing myself talking to a child as my flesh steamed and regrew. For a split second, the light intensified then shut off. The hand holding the spoonful of soup trembled as I contemplated burying her way down deep in the earth, or making Spot learn what human tasted like. Sometimes, imagining random thoughts of violence helped keep me sane, like thinking about running people over in horrible highway traffic.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  “That’s better. How was I supposed to know there were weird boundaries about messing with someone’s magic? For all I knew, you knew nothing and fucked the whole thing up.” Her silence was a sharp riposte to my ignorance.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  Looking down at my bowl and taking another bite, I murmured through the food, “Guess I should;ve let you be fucked up. Then at least I wouldn’t have to deal with some psycho (...)</span></p>442682Mon, 06 Jan 2020 21:40:57 GMTBefore They Came (Magical Apocalypse) - Chapter 90 - Personal Growthhttps://www.royalroad.com/fiction/chapter/442199<p><span style="font-weight: 400">  I heard that. I freaking heard a woof. My body flew on its own, around the stone table, threw the runed tunnel door, down the softly lit tunnel itself, toenail scratching sounds speeding my steps as I reached the door to the under-river bolt hole hurling it open. “SPOT!!!” I screamed with sheer joy as I saw my gigantic mutt for the first time in what felt like years. I couldn’t stop my eyeballs from leaking as I jumped on his head that was easily big enough to fit three of me. But, he wasn’t comfy. I slid off his head to give him a good look. “Back up and sit,” I commanded as I pulled out a runed lightstone from my pocket. “Fucking hell dog, you trying to commit copyright infringement?” I muttered to myself. “You look like Clifford the big red dog had a threesome with Skeletor and a dragon!”</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  My big dog was red, and not just red, but the scaly kind of red. Every bit of fur that a dog usually has was replaced with large red scales, his eyebrows had bulges of bone armor that seemed to form a smooth helmet specifically made for ramming or headbutts. His fluffy tail was now a thick whip of scale-covered muscle, ridges of bone curved down his back and adorned his knees. This armored pseudo dragon of a dog with more raw mana packed into his frame than a freaking bomb sat in front of me like a proud puppy, his tongue lolling out and bits of drool hitting the floor and sizzling. </span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  A soft whine escaped his humongous jaw and I caught a glimpse of teeth that were way too big to fit in there comfortably. “Shit dog,” I said in wonder as I examined his teeth. Looking down, normal toenails were now ebony-esque claws that cracked the solid stone floor. A fermented smell wafted up to my nose, drawing my attention over to the corner of the cavern. Besides the old broken open cocoon, a large pile of brown material lay there steaming. (...)</span></p>442199Sun, 05 Jan 2020 15:25:20 GMTBefore They Came (Magical Apocalypse) - Chapter 89 - Good Newshttps://www.royalroad.com/fiction/chapter/441470<p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-weight: 400">*******</span></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em><span style="font-weight: 400">Present Day</span></em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  Coffee addiction must be a real thing, but more than that, it must be a super real thing, because the first thing I did after finding out that my long-lost magical ancestor was the baseline for the stories of Zeus’ rutting habits was to go make some damn coffee. That drink might just be the bedrock of my sanity. I mean, I know there was a whole pitcher of it on the table in the main room, but I just had to go through the motions of making some more. Conjuring water to fill a stone pot, heating water in the pot by touching the rune for ‘heat’ with a finger full of mana, pouring it into the big french press I saved before everything went to hell, carefully pouring a large helping of Baileys into the bottom of my mug and smelling the lovely combination of heavenly flavors as I strained the coffee to make the most comforting drink ever invented. And there I stood at my granite counter, slowly sipping the first bit of alcohol that I’ve had in weeks, and Holy fuckin Moly did it taste good!</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  I could see Merlin through the doorway still sitting at the table with Reeanth gushing over his every word, fangirling hard as he laughed and drank just had a jolly ole time. Dude, I know shit. Maybe I can play the family card and get some info for once that is actually useful. Gathering my wits steadied by a liberal amount of the good stuff, I made another Irish coffee for Merlin, collected my butt and sat it back down at the table with authority. </span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  “So what’s really going,” I asked as I slid the mug over to him. “You shagged a bunch of people way back when, and now you’re here?” I didn’t let his sheepish face keep me from a bit of a rant, although (...)</span></p>441470Fri, 03 Jan 2020 17:40:38 GMTBefore They Came (Magical Apocalypse) - Chapter 88 - Unexpected Freedomhttps://www.royalroad.com/fiction/chapter/426065<p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-weight: 400">******</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400">  Right after the first Ripple . . .</span></em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  There are days where sane people consider ending everything, usually after a horrific divorce or losing a job when the banks are breathing down their necks, or when their health takes a turn so drastically wrong that the pain simply isn’t worth it. That was my life. Every day. My entire life, I have been trapped in my own body, and all I wanted to do was have it end. But I couldn’t. I literally, physically, could not if I wanted to. Couldn’t wipe my own ass. Couldn’t feed myself. Couldn’t brush my teeth, shit, I couldn’t even walk to the bathroom to get the whole damn process started. MS was its name, multiple </span><span style="font-weight: 400">sclerosis for the uneducated, and fucking over my entire life was its game. I had, in the words of my doctor, ‘the autoimmune disease equivalent of a quadrapalegic’. But mine was worse than that because I couldn’t even move my mouth to communicate how much I wanted to have this cosmic irony that is my life over with. That is, until I had the weirdest dream. </span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  Usually, waking up is kind of a dreadful affair. My dreams generally consist of me flying around like Superman, or wrecking a taco eating contest, or just straight up owning the Olympics in every event, and leaving said dream is a rude awakening back to my normal hell. The small-ish television in the corner of the small hospital room blaring whatever channel the nurses decide to put on. The best time of my life was when some lady obsessed with learning only had the Discovery channel on, and I got to watch all kinds of survivor shows. Then some fat lady took over and all we ever watched was Telemundo. Thankfully, I had eventually learned to read years ago through matching the spoken word to subtitles, (...)</span></p>426065Thu, 21 Nov 2019 14:45:09 GMTBefore They Came (Magical Apocalypse) - Chapter 87 - Family Problemshttps://www.royalroad.com/fiction/chapter/425016<p><span style="font-weight: 400">  As soon as the words left her mouth, something ripped us both out of the ground, not gently. It was as if the earth had suddenly gained a mind of its own and spit us out. I landed on my shoulder, my armor softening the impact as I attempted to roll with it while gingerly curling my body around the blood jars. The ringing in my ears from the ejection was making concentration impossible. “My good lad! You’re back!” The old man’s excitement would have put any two year old’s birthday jubilations to shame. “Oh hush now Granidorth, here’s a snack. Do me a favor and restrain them   both, gently!”</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  Not so gentle hands made of constantly moving earth and rock hoisted me up, then hugged me to a wide body of even less comfortable dirt and sand. In the two seconds I had to make my eyes focus, I saw that my captor was a golem, or some kind of earth elemental. Its pale yellow crystal eyes communicated no emotion as it forcefully sank me inside of its body, only leaving my head exposed facing forward. Out of the corner of my eye, Reeanth struggled with the outstretched arm of the golem, its fist wrapped around her waist. Her kicks and punches were useless, and even the bursts of magic bleeding from the weaponized runes on her suit did nothing.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  [Yup, she’s screwed. Nothing we can do to save her. But our asses on the other hand . . . ].</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  [What the fuck? Gungnir, where the fuck are you?]</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  [Hmmm, guess that hit to the head musta’ been harder than I thought. I’m stuck to the backside of your shoulder. Forget about me, your flesh sorcery will fix your head in a minute. I’m working on this hunk of rock right now. Distract the old fart.]</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  Lucky for me, it turns out I didn’t have to. (...)</span></p>425016Mon, 18 Nov 2019 17:51:30 GMTBefore They Came (Magical Apocalypse) - Chapter 86 - The Overwhelming Tidehttps://www.royalroad.com/fiction/chapter/419987<p><strong><em>  “THE CYCLE RENEWS, FALLS THE GREAT TREE.”</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  It’s one thing to see it, and know that it’s there. It’s a whole ‘nother ball game to see it coming right at you. The tsunami of change, of raw potential, pure random, writhing entropy, barreling down from beyond the sky like the implacable uncaring tidal wave of power that it was. It was beautiful, and terrible. As it crashed into the soft flesh of our world, a flicker shot across space, making the night sky taking over for justit look like nighttime for half-second. And in that half-second, I saw other worlds as if they were plane ride away, teeming with life and scenes that Hollywood couldn’t match in their wildest dreams. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>  “LIMITS UNBOUND, POTENTIAL REALIZED.”</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  I had felt it before, lived through its effects, and survived its toll, but I had never actually </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400">seen</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400"> the Ripple in all its reality-altering glory. Watching it casually flick through our dimension without a care in the world was awe inspiring, and demeaning at the same time. I never really knew, or inherently grasped how infinitesimally small I really was until that moment. I was an ant, edging towards the biting lip of a cliff, trying to see a pod of whales in the distance, uncaring in their size, relaxed in their power, yet, so much </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400">bigger</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400"> than me that they would never even know about me. I, was, small.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>  “THE GATES RETURN, THE BALANCE IS FREE.” </em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  Cracks opened up in space, some cleanly cut across the sky and others jaggedly broke up the earth. Through several gates in the sky, islands floated out, chunks of land with their own ecosystems (...)</span></p>419987Mon, 04 Nov 2019 17:55:29 GMTBefore They Came (Magical Apocalypse) - Chapter 85 - The Last Ripplehttps://www.royalroad.com/fiction/chapter/417406<p><em><span style="font-weight: 400">Some time later</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400"> . . . </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  Brainworms. I finally remembered what it was called. That stupid song that gets stuck in your head for days on end, like when ‘Golddigger’ was my best friend seven months in at college and nothing would get it out. Still remember whistling the “She gives me money!” part as I walked down the main avenue just rocking out in my own head. Right now, my current brain worm was a sing-songy old favorite of my hippy fiance when she would get home from work and complain about her horrible boss, “Fuck you, fuck you very very muuuuuch!”. I couldn’t even stop myself from singing it under my breath as I followed the stupid tracking orb I had made to find Reeanth. Pain in my ass and all I could think about was tearing that bitch a new one. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  Describing what I am feeling is rather hard at this moment, because it’s so much more than just </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400">tension</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400">. Just think about being at the zoo checking out the tigers, and everything is great, and then you look over and you realize that the door is unlocked, that the door KEEPING THE TIGER AWAY is UNLOCKED. Now that bodily reaction, that oh shit split second of a freeze, take it and stretch that out. Stretch that tension out until you begin to voluntarily let it inside of you, where it can nest and feast on your peace. This nice little nature walk to go find Reeanth before the big bad Ripple comes is turning into some kind of sick mind game that reality is playing with my head. Nothing is out right now and I am a badass sorcerer but I feel that the door to the freakin tigers is open and they are going to jump out at any second. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  [What if, and hear me out, what if, it’s not weak?]</span></p> <p> </p> (...)417406Mon, 28 Oct 2019 16:57:38 GMTBefore They Came (Magical Apocalypse) - Chapter 84 - The Calm Before the Stormhttps://www.royalroad.com/fiction/chapter/415758<p><span style="font-weight: 400">  “Devious! Very cunning use of magic my lord!” Reeanth’s smile was almost predatory. I saw her strange hunger out of the corner of my eye as we walked back into the main room of the bolt-hole.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  “No no, stop. I’m not going to actually track them down. This was kind of a test on several fronts. One, to see if they would attack me with those weapons, two, to test out a proximity based tracking rune I designed, and three, to see if the weapons work long-term.” Pouring myself another cup of coffee, I continued on, “But that last one will take time to see the results.”</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  “I don’t understand,” Reeanth said, plopping down in the chair across from me, “We’re not tracking them down?”</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  “No. The rune is loosely designed off that old Egyptian glyph, the Eye of Anubis. I don’t know enough to make a tracking rune work, but the ones I put in their weapons will simply let me know if they’re near, kind of like that kid’s game where you yell ‘hot’ or ‘warm’ if you’re getting closer, and cold if you move further away.” Tossing a small stone disk in front of Reeanth, she rubbed at the four rubies on it arranged in the cardinal directions. </span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  Bringing it real close to her face, she examined the insignias I had inscribed into the rubies with my magic. “And these represent the four being tracked?” she asked?</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  “Yup, the tankard for Billy, the chameleon/lizard for Sally, the flexed arm for Jimmy, and the car for Tommy. By the way, I’m rather proud of myself for making it look so real. Couldn’t draw for shit before the Ripple, and now my magic does it for me. And the disc, the corresponding ruby will vibrate a little and light up if that person comes near.”</span></p> (...)415758Wed, 23 Oct 2019 15:10:30 GMTBefore They Came (Magical Apocalypse) - Chapter 83 - Master Planhttps://www.royalroad.com/fiction/chapter/414435<p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-weight: 400">*******</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  The next morning brought its own set of worries. The last Ripple was just two or three days away and something wasn’t sitting right with me. Each Ripple has been getting weaker as the Dimensional Seal keeping Earth locked away is opening more and more, but something just wasn’t sitting right with me. Murphy’s Law is what rules my life, and it definitely carries a grudge. Lying in my bed, I was playing with a ball of rock, using my earth sorcery to mold it and shape it like a child would with play-doh. A whim of will could turn solid granite to dust in my hand, and it never ceased to amaze me that </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400">magic is real!</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400"> </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  My flesh sorcery allowed me to pack the necessary amount of REM sleep into just a few hours, and I spent that extra time playing around with runes. So far, I had been using runes that I had made up, some arbitrary caveman-ish drawings actually worked and functioned roughly the way I wanted it to because sorcery and enchantment works off of intent. This did not mean that it was the most efficient way. The first sorcery I had gained was related to runes and enchantments, but I hadn’t fully explored that. I had the distinct feeling after examining Reeanth’s battlesuit, which is covered in many runes, that my made-up runes were like a musket compared to a modern sniper rifle that she was packing. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">  And now, playing with my baseball sized piece of granite and forming it into different shapes, I noticed that magic flowed differently through it. What made it worse is that I couldn’t be specific in how or why the magic treated shapes differently, but it did. This is one of the areas that my lack of knowledge was really holding me back. The only thing I had going (...)</span></p>414435Fri, 18 Oct 2019 20:54:06 GMT