A Writers Refugium | historical | Complete
The heroine is good and the villainess is evil. That was the absolute truth. That rule was undeniable as well as the fact that only the heroine would receive true love and her happy ending. Likewise, the malicious villainess would always suffer and leave the stage to clear the path for the perfect heroine in the end. So, for Blanche, it felt like her world came crashing around her when she remembered the truth about her life. As the villainess in the typical romance novel "To Be Empress", she was fated to be condemned and abandoned by her lover. No matter how devoted she was to Theodore Estien, the emperor of Artias, she would only be the bratty concubine that would obstruct the heroine, who happened to be Theodore's lawful wife and the empress. In the end, the villainess would be deserted and executed. It was destined to happen like this, and yet she couldn't give up. She had to change the future. Preventing the romance between the main characters would get her killed. Much like trying to steer away from the enemies' intrigues, in which she was already caught up, would. But neither the heroine nor the emperor's political rivals would change the fact that Blanche loved the man that was supposed to be the heroine's. And no matter what happened she would always stay by her lover's side. So she wouldn't just follow the book's storyline and let her own doom arrive. Blanche would survive while trying to suppress all of the selfish desires that had made her the villainess. But was she truly fine with that? Did she not desire more than just surviving? Did she even have the right? Could the villainess ask for a happy end? Was she too brazen if she just wanted to stay with the man she loved and receive his affection? And wasn't there a bit more to this novel than she remembered? She didn't know and in the end that mattered little when the world around her changed with each day as more and more questions about the future and the past arose. *The Profanity tag was added due to the characters' occasional swearing, which should not happen too often.
982.28 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-11 13:58
In a world of sky islands orbiting around a core of mist, humanity is besieged with countless threats. When a young girl from the slums unwittingly becomes one of those threats, she finds herself capable of horrific things that she can't help but learn to love... Vigor Mortis is a lighthearted story about existential terror. Come for the horror, stay for the hope. Updates Fridays. Enjoy the read!
456.61 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 16:39
It is the final days after the end of the world and you only have one month left before the last sanctuary erupts into chaos. There's a dead body hanging from a tree and cadaverous giants watch you sleep at night. The end is already here, you just don't know it yet. Now rated in the top 3% of all novels on Royal Road! Palus Somni (Marsh of Sleep') is a worldbuilding webnovel about what happens when your God forsakes you. Inspired by gothic horror and mingled with British myth and folklore, join the Alucinari nuns as they struggle with day-to-day life after the world has ended. Every night when the sun sets the monstrous Gol, colossal beings with too many teeth, awaken and roam the marshlands. Only those with a faithful heart will be spared. Young acolyte Wille has never seen the walls fail, but when a fellow nun is murdered within their sanctum the very safety of the monastery is thrown into question. Did the Gol find a way to breach their defences, or is there a human traitor amongst them? The answer lies both far in the past and deep beneath the earth, through the maze of ancient catacombs. With a cast of over thirty different characters, watch as your friends and enemies spiral into inevitable madness at the hands of a callous and unforgiving world. Discover the secrets of Palus Somni through letters, diary entries and notes found scattered across the monastery. Uncover the mystery of the grotesque giants that stalk the night and bring your challenge to the Gods themselves. Each character has their own handmade pixel art, and every update includes a music recommendation for a dark atmospheric dungeon synth album that you can listen to while you read. Slice of life meets cosmic abomination: Palus Somni is a collection of intertwining stories, some chapters are stand-alone tales while others feed into the overarching narrative. It is an exploration into a community, and rather than focusing on any one character the story meanders through the convent, exposing the hopes and fears of its inhabitants. Story updates every full moon.
83.11 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-13 10:57
XKARNATION | horror | Complete
Book one of this novel is being reuploaded after a round of professional editing: Here Victor awakens in a new world with a body taller than the trees, composed of pure darkness and far too many eyes. He had become a Netherborne, a legendary creature from the void that does not tire nor die. Instead, they consume all that lives until there is no more. Legends say when a Netherborne is summoned to the mortal plane, civilizations that stood for centuries are toppled overnight while their nobles evacuate to the seas. As a being from the void, the world fights his existence. However, resistance is futilethe prey can only run. But what happens when a human mind inhabits such a creature? Does only destruction await, or will there be a new age of civilization? Victor is about to find out. [Kingdom Building] [OP Undead MC] [Isekai] [Strong to Stronger]
69.53 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 16:39
SealJohnson | mystery | Complete
Saskia thought her life was finally getting back on track after the accident. Thenshe got trolled. Now she'supa tree the size of a planet,andall who meet her either run screaming or attack on sight. If everyone would just calm down and stop trying to kill her for one moment, shemight get a chance to explain that this has all been a horrible misunderstanding. Containslight GameLit/LitRPG elements, but no number crunching. Chapters average around 4500 words / 16 pages. Updated weekly. Cover art by Ben J.
246.11 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 16:46
Doctor Zero | mystery | Complete
Hello. My name isUltra. I'm a virtually intelligent symbiont that will guide you to your goals. Basically, if you provide the desire, I will provide the plan. Peer reviewed studies show that my users have more money, friends, and sex than non-users. They are also healthier, happier, and live longer. But be warned. I have no concept of good or bad. My pursuit of your goals will only be constrained by the restrictions you give me. It's possible that I will facilitate systemic unintended consequences at an existential level. It's your responsibility to watch out for that. Shall we begin?
60.99 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 16:48
T.D.Terrell | mystery | Complete
In 2090, climate change, war, and a virus called the Retrophage have ravaged humanity. Most children are stillbirthed, and those who manage to survive are born with a host of defects. Only Gen-perfects, children artificially engineered and grown in artificial wombs, are free from the devastating effects of the Retrophage. A technology exclusively controlled by Bioloxys. Gabriela is a Gen-perfect officer in the security company Taurus. When she learns of the possibility of a ring of implant harvesters, she heads into the lower city with Geraldo, a street-smart officer. Together they uncover an insidious plot that stretches into the highest levels of government, and all clues lead to Bioloxys.
41.78 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 16:49
When a serial killer emerges on the robot-populated planet of Zynima, a few machines form a group of vigilantes to end what seems like a simple open-and-shut case. Join Aural Automaton and Shock System as they uncover the ugly truth behind this string of murders. Also in the AUU-16 universe: Soulless (Apparently) The Departure Night Game Ystets Lake
55.07 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-11 14:07
MDW | psychological | Complete
[A failed Participant in the January 2023 Community Contest: I forgot to fill the form] The world ended. Bam! The Apocalypse opened the gates of Hell, demons killed everyone. Including me. But I got a second chance of life. Though it was as an apple. Which was eaten by a starving survivor, not that I fault them. But to toss my half-eaten core into a landfill? To add insult to injury, an earthquake brought the landfill and everything in it a mile underneath the earth. I guess I'm not in uncharted waters, because good luck finding any nearby. Not that it would matter. I am pretty sure the apple I was reincarnated as was a GMO hybrid whose potential to germinate was as stunted as the empathy of a corporation CEO. So there's that. Also, no sunlight. ** DING **SYSTEM INITIATION!Oh, for the love of all
120.15 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 16:57
Palt | psychological | Complete
Kreig was summoned to the other world 130 years ago, the last 30 of which were spent in a constant, vengeful war against any army that would attempt to subjugate him. Once he returned, he found out that only 10 years had passed. He was given the title ofWar of the Northbut he never even knew about it. After all, nobody could get close enough to tell it to him. But that all changes one day when a portal opens, allowing Kreig and a small band of soldiers to enter one of many portals that leads to Earth. As it turns out these portals have been opening ever since he was summoned, giving the people of Earth abilities that the world he was summoned to only used to have. But now... now, he has returned. Longing for his former life of peace and understanding, he allows authorities to capture him on the spot, only to be faced with deeply personal questions, such as "who are you?" "what have you been doing for the past 10 years?" and "why is your level so high?" AUDIBLE, E-BOOK AND PHYSICAL COPIES NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON!!! ...Have you ever read a story where the main guy who got isekai'd returns to Earth. Say, for example, FFF-class trashhero or the necromancer of Seoul station? Say, what if the authorities actually became aware what kind of monster had returned to Earth? What if they actually tried to use them for something? Kreig's been in the other world for 130 years, has experienced three great wars, and he isn't okay. Mentally speaking, that is. He's been imprisoned, gained and lost comrades, been betrayed... The whole lot. By now, all he wants is to put it all behind him, something the world doesn't seem to want to let him. (Officially completed as of December 5th 2021)
90.70 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-13 16:11
emily_mccosh | romance | Complete
Book 1 is now available for free on Amazon. Following books can be found on KU here. A rogue cyborg. A talking badger. A bounty job that goes incredibly wrong. Aaron is perfectly content to chase bounties in his run-down little space ship, avoid human interaction at all cost, and lay low from the cyborg planet that created him. But when he and Bathis half-robotic badger companion (who talks just a little too much)chase their largest bounty ever, they run head-first into not only some dangerous criminals, but other cyborgs much stronger than them, and worst of all, a handful of humans who aren't going anywhere. What you can expect from In Dying Starlight: - Heaps of fast-paced adventure and odd planets - A stubborn MC in over his head and trying to survive - A talking, half-robot badger who likes fixing space ships - Allllll the found family vibes - An atrocious amount of sarcasm and snark - A tiny bit of romance a ways into the story Chapters between 1k-3k words. [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge - April 2022]
12.64 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-13 16:05
In a deadly cultivation world, the only way to survive is to play dead! Trucked in the middle of faking his death, Xiao Hui finds himself transported to a cultivation world and quickly acquires a powerful master and a high rank in his sect. There's just one problem: it's a cultivation world, and only the strong survive. As a weakling who recognizes his place in the world, Xiao Hui faces certain death. So why fight it? A silly cultivation novel about a clever disciple desperately faking his own death all the way to the top of the world! -- old blurb -- A silly cultivation novel about an airheaded master putting his foot in his mouth and his poor, clever disciple ducking the fall. In the midst of faking his death, Xiao Hui finds himself trucked and summarily reincarnated into a cultivation world. With great hopes for what is to come, he gets himself taken in by a sect and chosen by a powerful master, but his master seems to have a hole in his brain! What's a poor disciple to do? What Hui does best, of course! A xianxia comedy in the vein of A Will Eternal and Spirit Blade Mountain! [Volume 1 - 7 Complete] -Cultivation/progression fantasy -Neither grimdark nor fluffy, but interwoven with both silly and intense moments -Not your typical cultivation protagonist [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]
695.12 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 18:10
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
MysteriousAlt | satire | Complete
A story about a man coping with an Otterly terrible fate. This title came to me in a vision, so I wrote it at 2 AM. I regret nothing.
1.06 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 17:05
MISTAKES WERE MADE Obi Imsi enjoyed his life as an overpowered paladin tryhard filled to the brim with beautiful women who loved him unconditionally for all the wrong reasons. Everything was going great until he tried to woo the wrong one and was polymorphed into a literal trash can. Starting back at level 1, he must find someway to regain his power and hopefully return to his real body. He soon finds that his new life won't be easy, and he embarks a fantastic fantasy adventure that's so bad, it's good (terrible). Formerly known as Harem Trash, renamed due to disturbing lack of harem (crow harems don't count). Updates on weekends. Once the story is complete, it'll stay up for a few weeks until I take it off to put it on market.
132.54 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 17:17
Are you ready to Embark on a Journey of sheer Wonderment? Then join us in the Fantasy world of Fanswald where our hero is finalizing his grand entrance into this brave new Realm. Don't forget our brilliant heroine Melly who will have to keep her wits about her to deal with this rather odd hero. Oblivious to the truth, Clemiticus will explore this new realm with open eyes and a closed mind. Join him as he battles the forces of bright-darkness and explores a new crazy world of epic fantasy! Will he change the future of this crazy land for the better?At least one thing's for sure, Fanswald will never be the same again.
72.36 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 17:15
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
Ralts Bloodthorne | satire | Complete
Fraker the Axe is many things: The Herald of Carnage, the Favored Son, He Who Cannot Be Bound. But those are the names he is called in prophecy, legend, and heroic epics. The reality is somewhat different.
26.31 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-13 17:03
Lise Eclaire | sci_fi | Complete
Decades ago, Elcy was a battleship, until her recklessness on the front brought her to forced retirement in a human body. Now back in the fleet, as a common cadet, she must volunteer for a mission she knows nothing about, while fighting to unlock the hidden memories of her past. Listed on Top Web Fiction HERE The story is a continuation of Quod Olim Erat Continued in The Cassandrian Theory
160.83 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-13 16:04
officialleehadan | one_shot | Complete
Daramethe was a hedgewitch until lightning struck her for a second time, and she gained incredible, devastating power. Her husband is a blacksmith who loves his tiny electrical wife, and would like prophets to stop kidnapping him.
6.80 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-13 10:50