Showing results by author "Luke Chmilenko" in All Categories

Reidon Ward will become a god. He doesn't know it yet, of course. Reidon was born weak, sickly, and small. Afflicted with a painful disease and abandoned by his parents because of it, he has had to fight tooth and nail for every minor advantage life has allowed him. However, his perseverance has not gone unnoticed, and when the most powerful artificial intelligence in human history takes an interest in him, things began to change quickly. 

Once more, and against all odds, Marcus and the rest of Virtus have managed to snatch victory from the jaws of total defeat, capturing not only Carver but also destroying the orc advance completely. Yet there is no peace in store for the exhausted victors, for not only must they pay the price for their desperate triumph, but they must also rise up once more to meet a new terror that has revealed itself.

Maulkin didn't know dying would mean a new eternity of dungeon delving, monster slaying, and glory hunting. If he had, he wouldn't have been so worried about kicking the bucket on a date gone even more wrong than usual. Reborn in the wild world of Amaranth, Maulkin finds himself in a hulking demi-human body with a sword of a size to match. Marked as an Eternal, a fledging immortal of boundless potential, Maulkin soon discovers he's been given a mission by the elder pantheon of this new realm.

Despite his youth, Declan Idrys knows of the evils of the world. He knows of the bastards and brigands who plague the King's lands, of the monsters skulking in the wooded depths of the realm. Together with his companion, Ryn—a beast of rather peculiar talent—he has spent the last decade of his life beneath the bloody banners of a half-dozen mercenary guilds, hunting precisely such festering wickedness within the borders of Viridian.

Diving into a revolutionary new video game, Marcus and his friends escape a stagnant society, entering into a world that defies their wildest imaginations. But from the moment that he logs in, Marcus finds himself separated from his friends and thrown into a remote village under attack by a horde of goblins. Forced into battle, Marcus rallies the beleaguered villagers and, with their help, manages to drive off the invading creatures. With the village in ruins and their supplies spoiled, the villagers turn to Marcus for help in rebuilding the village.

The When Swords Fall Silent anthology showcases the imaginations and talents of more than a dozen of the best modern science-fiction and fantasy authors, with each tale centered around one or more characters burdened with a bloody task they will see to completion no matter the cost. Every story takes you for a vicious ride through a world of shadow and death, each as unique in perspective and execution as the contracts carried out within.

When a fierce aetherstorm unleashes a wave of demonic aetherbeasts on New Albion—capital of the Valestra Kingdom—Callum Stross and his friends Quinn and Marcella answer the call, defending the city with a courage befitting the next generation of Great College archmages.

Betrayed by those they'd taken in and narrowly avoiding a disaster of untold proportions, Lyrian and his friends are once again thrust into a fight for their very survival, this time against Carver and his band of murderous adventurers. But as their newfound war quickly reaches a stalemate, both sides find themselves scrambling for a way to break it, while viciously battling one another for every inch of ground that they can steal in the process.

Torn from his mundane life by a trespassing lust fairy, our hero, Matthew Cross' story begins when he finds himself unceremoniously ripped from earth. That is after said fairy's attempt to eat him goes spectacularly wrong and she is left with no choice but to get rid of him before she is caught...

Absalom Scryne, the greatest wizard of his generation, has been murdered. There's no other explanation for why his consciousness now resides in his well-worn but perfectly pointed hat. Well, he isn't going to take that lying down . . . or hanging from a branch, as the case may be.

Eighteen-year-old Callum Stross never asked to become a hero. Struggling through a brutal harvest alongside his father, he's more concerned with surviving the season than reliving ancient wars. But when a devastating aetherstorm strikes, Callum is forced to seek shelter in a cursed manor, where he discovers a dormant Aethercore tied to the bloodline of the legendary Demonslayer. The core fuses with his soul, awakening latent power and binding him to Fen, a mana-bound fox who claims Callum is the Reborn Heir meant to finish what his ancestor started.

Fresh off their victory over Graves and his followers, Marcus and his friends have managed to enjoy a few weeks of relative calm and peace as they continue to build Aldford, preparing the town for a new wave of settlers coming from Eberia. But as the days wear on with no new arrivals in sight, they begin to fear the worse, eventually setting out to search for their promised reinforcements and soon realizing that they weren’t as alone on the frontier as they thought they were.

The greatest of Sylvas’ nightmares has been conquered, yet even so, he is hollower than ever. How much more will he need to sacrifice to live up to the legacy that the Aion have shackled him with? What could he possibly do to stop the cataclysm that has been set loose? The answer lies in the advancing fleet of the Obsidian Dominion as he and the others race to meet it, hopefully before it tears through what’s left of the core worlds.

Sylvas Vail is a big fish in a small pond, the most powerful mage on his planet. But when the doors to the cosmos come crashing open and all the untold wonders and terrors of the universe come pouring in, he is left with only two options: Ascend or die.

The unimaginable has happened. Sylvas has taken in War, Blood, and Strife and bound it to his heart. A feat that has seen the Empyrean Alliance plucking him from the comforts of the Ardent and pulling back the veil that once masked everything. Now, for the first time ever, Sylvas can see his place in the galaxy, standing between the threats that seek to unmake it.

The Demonslayer's heir comes face-to-face with his ancestor's unfinished work in the explosive conclusion of this epic LitRPG fantasy trilogy. New Albion has fallen, and with the capital occupied by the Geshwine Empire, the Valestra Kingdom is on the brink of collapse. Callum Stross and his...

No matter how Declan Idrys looks at his situation, he comes to the same conclusion every time: He is about to die at the hands of the first dark elf seen in 700 years. Fate, fortunately, is not so cruel, though, and after barely surviving this initial encounter with the er’endehn of Eserysh, Declan and his friends find themselves in a tentative truce with the war-loving elves. They share a common enemy, after all, and their mutual hate for the Endless Queen and her growing legions is enough for the two groups to set aside their mistrust for one another, if only for now.

Barely surviving the collapse of an entire planet, Auric and West have escaped to the only place they could. Unfortunately, that place is a world out of time—or perhaps—frozen in it? A shattered, purgatorial instance where gravity doesn’t make sense, ancient guardians slumber, and the secrets of the inner workings of the System wait to be uncovered. In this place, staying alive is unlikely. Staying sane even less so.

Auric Cain found his chance. He proved himself, took control of his life, and became stronger than he ever thought possible. So why is everything falling apart? Literally. With the help of allies old and new, Auric thwarted Salvo’s plan and narrowly avoided cataclysm. But in the wake of that confrontation, something went very, very wrong. Now everywhere Auric turns he sees that his home, his world, and even the System itself are coming apart at the seams. Entropic gateborn roam the wilds unchecked while rogue storms and freak anomalies spring up seemingly at random.

The Culling is over, and against all odds, Sylvas stands victorious. But even so, his training isn’t over. In fact, it’s barely even begun. Before he can do anything more than catch his breath, he and all the other cadets are whisked off planet for their next trial. Onslaught Citadel. And this time, dying won’t be enough to save them.