Epic Fantasy
The Shadow | A Crystal Empire Short
And before you ask ‘why’, it’s because you have kept us weak Danen. Starved us. If you won’t take care of us, I must.
Set hundreds of years before the events of The Crystal Empire, witness a dark truth buried under a millenium of secrets.
The full version of The Shadow is available on Patreon
Danen opened his eyes to a splitting pain in his head and blinked blearily through tears in the bright morning sun. That was a bad sign for how his day was going to go. Rolling himself up out of the puddle of sewage and rainwater he’d made laying his tired, emaciated bones down to rest last night, he realized he recognized the alley, and even remembered choosing it last night because he could stop at Rose’s for a drink when he woke. Silver linings there.
Imperial Heart
Mal, exile, wanderer sage, godkiller, was being strapped inside a canvas body bag in the back of a stolen ambulance, his life pouring from his lips while he held the last words of a dead man in his hands.
Five years ago, Malcon the Warrior was betrayed, blamed for the God Emperor’s death, and forced to flee into exile beyond the Empire’s great crystalline Wall and the protection it offers from the yearly Turnings which wreck the world outside. Now, with the help of unexpected allies from beyond the Wall, Mal has returned to put an end to the heinous scheme that seeks to sieze power from the God Emperors and corrupt the very purpose of the Empire.
The Exile
Introduction
Genre: High Fantasy Word Count: 3700 Words
Banished and betrayed by his homeland, the Exile searches for redemption in the wreckage of a world he failed to save.
The Exile was first published in December 2024. This story is set in the world of Crystal Empire.
The Exile
Turquoise, Reign of the Second 994th God Emperor
The gentle rocking of the little wooden rowboat in the lake along with the soft splashing of oars in the water that evening was almost relaxing. It had been two months since escaping the Labyrinth, and tonight was normally the night of the Turning. Nobody was quite sure what to expect this evening, and Mal was just as ignorant as everyone else on this side of the Wall. He rested in between the boat’s first two benches, back against the hull, watching the stars and listening to the lapping of the water. Once, he would have gleefully dozed off in a boat like this, but sleep did not come easy lately.
The Crystal Empire Preview: Chapter 1
Introduction
Genre: High Fantasy Word Count: 4000 Words
For your reading pleasure is an early look into an early chapter of The Crystal Empire, my upcoming epic fantasy project. It is a rought draft, and things will likely change between this and the published version.
This chapter is the first from the perspective of our heroine, Demara, and serves as an introduction to world beyond the Wall, a wild edge of the world known as the Fringe.
The Crystal Empire Preview: Prologue
Introduction
Genre: High Fantasy Word Count: 2100 Words
For your reading pleasure is an early look into an early chapter of The Crystal Empire, my upcoming epic fantasy project. It is a rought draft, and things will likely change between this and the published version.
This chapter server as the prologue, and centers around Tulian, God Emperor of all creation as he dies before he is supposed to.
To Chase Light
God is dead, but somebody still has to do the job.
For almost a thousand years the people of the Crystal Empire elect one of their own to be their God, to assume the mantle of authority and power over all creation, and to burn away in doing so. It is through this succession that the Crystal Empire has maintained its peace and stability for so long. Yet beyond the great crystalline walls that serve as the empire’s borders, each new god brings a change. Where once there was a forest may be a desert, where there were mountains may now be a sea. Temperate lands may freeze, or be washed away by constant deluge. It is from this rough, unpredictable fringe of the world that our unlikely heroine comes. Demara, a young woman from an insignificant tribe scratching out a living at the edge of the world, is the last person anyone would expect to set the world right again, yet through her determination, cleverness, and with some help from her friends, that’s just what she is going to do.