Temple_GD_

REND - Author's Retrospective (Arc 6) and Rewrite Announcement

And thus, we (abruptly) end REND and prepare for its universe to restart.

I can’t believe it’s been almost five years since I started writing REND on Royal Road on May 20, 2020. Even more surprising that I’m still around writing it, or that I kept going in the first place. I’ve talked about in past Retrospectives how REND struggled to find an audience. It only had around fifty fol...

REND - 6.55 (END)

Deen? I looked around to see a splash of blonde among the forest green. She ran towards us, yelling at the top of her lungs.

What the fuck does she think she was doing? She could see I was surrounded. Whether she knew these assholes were Corebrings or thought they were Adumbrae, she shouldn’t have come here. Her Guardian Angel was surely blaring into her ear to flee. What ...

REND - 6.54

The door opened and out stepped a granny with a cane.

She laboriously hobbled out of the door; her cane was challenging to use on the uneven terrain of the forest. She didn’t have any weird growths or powerful auras or lasers shooting out of her eyes. To the contrary, she seemed overly frail, a bit sickly even as her eyes were cloudy and she was coughing. But the fact that she exited th...

REND - 6.53

The ground exploded behind us as we ran. Rocks flew everywhere. I focused on my steps, maintaining my balance as the earth buckled. This must be the Corebrings doing, for who else could that arm belong to? I picked up a curious scent—burning flesh mixed with something else. Danger. That was what my brain told me. How the fuck was I smelling danger as a concept?

My jaws itched as my fang...

REND - 6.52

“What are you going to do?” I asked, watching as the crystal that immobilized Frizzy Detective slowly dissolved. “Put a slug in him?”

“A demonstration as I’ve said.” Mark waved at one of his assistants, who then brought over a small canister. It hissed as a piece of its metallic surface slid up to reveal a glass cover underneath. The glass allowed a view inside the container...

REND - 6.51

“You’re saying that Corebrings are the enemy?” I questioningly tilted my head, my ears flopping to the side. “And the Adumbrae who retained their human minds are working for the Corebrings, making them enemies too?”

I recalled my meeting with Auntie Dora after I trashed the base of the Tea Party of Vegas and killed them all. Auntie Dora, or Euphonia, as she liked to be called, w...

REND - 6.50

Tracksuit Man’s words were interesting. Something about meeting Mark? Sounded important.

But I couldn’t focus because the predator inside me was raring to attack the gas-spewing rat bastard. The old me would’ve immediately charged, but I was more in control now though there was the bubbling rage and gnawing hunger. I gritted my teeth to calm myself.

I swaggered forward. They a...

ExD - 5.23.18

“You know, I didn’t think it’d be this boring,” I muttered.

We were sitting in front of a slot machine. After our little museum field trip, with restroom shenanigans on the side, Mom told us that something came up and she had to work. We left her at a café with her laptop while Deen and I went to the casino. It was mostly me dragging Deen along. She didn’t have a better suggest...

GH - 239

I opened my eyes to a not-so-busy Kurghal Village. Most players were away for the Great Hunt. Those remaining in the village were low-level ones that have dropped out of the Great Hunt because of its increasing difficulty or stronger players restocking for their parties. There didn’t seem to be anything out of place.

Some faces were familiar. I just waved at them and moved on. No time f...

GH - 238

Bha’amon surged forward out of its tunnel like a frigging bullet train from hell. Rocks falling from the ceiling blocked its path but didn’t entirely close the tunnel. Wouldn’t have mattered either way. The Fangwyrm munched the rocks as if they were popcorn. Our party didn’t have time to flee its gaping maw.

“For Sajilis!” A Hunter-Warrior yelled as he blocked Bha’amon’s w...

REND - 6.49

Purple Banshee woke up screaming for help. I slapped her. She continued blaring. I slapped her a few more times, alternating both hands. I wanted to do a backhanded slap but have never done it before, so I didn’t try it to avoid adding clips to the bloopers reel.

She may have turned into her metallic form, but my hits could dent metal. I knocked out some of her teeth. Dropping to the gr...

REND - 6.48

Huh, I really thought Green-Eyed Hero was the secret Adumbrae. Purple Banshee did a good job melting into the background despite being an obnoxious noisy bitch.

Why did she act like a scaredy cat? She could’ve taken a different role, like being the know-it-all or maybe the dumbass liability of the group. She didn’t have to pick that one part that fit my appearance. I was goin...

ExD - 5.23.17

Deen pressed her lips together, denying my tongue entry. She tried to turn away, but I kept her head facing me. She could resist more but didn’t try. Whether that was because she was scared of making noise or maybe part of her wanted something to happen, I didn’t know. Taking advantage of Deen’s indecisiveness, I dug the heels of my palm into her cheeks and parted her teeth. I ma...

GH - 237

“To the right!” Luvarci swerved right. We all followed him. Our party might win fighting the herd with some kiting—and I really wanted to farm the Kankaratops—but that’d take awhile and we couldn’t tarry in Blighted lands.

Some of the Arcane Blighted Kankaratops spotted us and began to chase. The rest of the herd started to follow. Amusing that I was getting chased by many fan...

GH - 236

The moment I got added to the NPC party—a congregation was probably a more apt term—tons of notifications filled my screens, way more than when Mr. Inuus buffed me. Rows of icons appeared and ended, probably reaching a limit. The buffs made me a god! A low-level god, I must admit, which was why I stayed in the backrow of the formation. An egg coated in metal could still break. I didn’t wa...

ExD - 5.23.16

“So… I’ll take off my shirt.” I held the hem of my shirt and slowly rolled it up. “And stay in this stall…”

Even though it sounded like a trap, and it really was one, I still agreed to it. Not sure why. It wasn’t like I’d die if I had a ketchup on my shirt or if the stain would remain there forever. Maybe I just wanted to have some fun.

“And I’ll wash ...

REND - 6.47

Annoying bitch. I was prepared with my backstory and Purple Banshee interrupted this crucial part of the movie. Sharing backgrounds was essential because someone had to break out a sob story for their later death to have an emotional impact. Also, one or two characters would lie and get found out later—that could be me. Purple Banshee here just had to be a diva and deviate from the s...

REND - 6.46

A ghoulish creature with many-segmented limbs, a decaying humanoid insect, perched on the roof as it surveyed us with several reddish eyes. Purple Nerd screamed. The monster opened its mouth and shot out its tendril of a tongue, catching the person nearest the building.

“Help!” cried the portly man I hadn’t given a nickname yet. “Please help—urgk!” Fodder Guy got stabbed in th...

REND - 6.45

I picked up a rock and hurled it at the literally wooden man growing out of the walking tree. The rock smashed him into matchsticks. Druidon—this had to be him—grew out another part of the tree. If his power was to regenerate out of wood, this was going to be an annoying as fuck fight. The forest was full of trees! Or jungle? Jungles also had trees, right?

“That wasn’t nice of you...

GH - 235

Murmurs swirled around the tent as the hulking Mardukryons talked in hushed tones. I wondered if I should’ve kept my silence. Did I sound suspicious? A random Mardukryon from a supposedly lost tribe suddenly appeared to say he knew what this evil plague was about. Some of them thought I was part of it—I could hear snippets of their conversations.

It was fortunate that Methuselah was i...

GH - 234

“My bros! My dudes!” I called out while laughing. I was ecstatic. Never in my wildest imagination did I consider that I, Herald Stone, would find the other Mardukryon tribes when I woke up this morning, which was wrong. Greatness should always be expected of my truly great self.

Some of the Mardukryons slowed down. They shone light my way, though the smoldering forest provided plenty ...

ExD - 5.23.15

“This is my first time here,” I said. “I like animals, and we’ve lived in Vegas for some years, so I’m kind of surprised at myself not visiting this place.”

“You were just being your introverted self, dear,” Mom said, patting my head. She and Deen were nearly the same height, while I was the tiny one between them. It appeared that Mom and Deen were family while I was the t...

ExD - 5.23.14

After shopping at the records store, we toured the rest of Fremont Street. Most establishments were now open. Thankfully, a wide cloud passed overhead, hiding us from the sun for several minutes. When the clouds left, blown away by the wind, the sun greeted us with a vengeance. Well, it wasn’t really that hot. Like, I wasn’t feeling temperatures in the same way when I was still human. But i...

REND - 6.44

I opened Deen’s bag and rummaged through the waterproof packet, looking for a specific paper—the map of the island. Islands, plural, it turned out. The other papers had notes written by Big Marcy and addressed to me. I left those inside the packet. After showing Jubjub the map, she’d suspect I was communicating with Big Marcy. But I didn’t want it to be too obvious. I also want...

REND - 6.43

Before the last word of Deen’s sentence entered my ear, I had already broken out of Jubjub’s shadow blanket. I charged Romulus with no hesitation. In the corner of my eye, I caught a dash of darkness keeping up parallel with me. Jubjub was joining in. 

Deen was on Romulus's back, pinning him to the ground. Or trying to do so. Their size difference was too big. She was also too li...

GH - 233

My last view of the Kankaratops herd was that they rearranged their defensive circle to welcome their injured member. The Saurian Hoplites tried to finish their prey, but the horns of the other Kankaratops turned them away. Coupled with the barriers of the herd, the Hoplites had to accept defeat. They followed the Saurian Hunters in exacting revenge on the handsome jerk who ruined their hu...

GH - 232

Awkwardly clambering over boulders, I emerged out of the earth. Cold breeze bringing snow washed over me; the snow melted and sizzled meeting my [Greater Pyro Shell]. The sun was starting to go down, bright orange peeking from the next peak over. The shadow of the neighboring mountain fell my way. Darkness was fast approaching. With the remaining meager light, I examined my surroundings.

...

ExD - 5.23.13

I want to commit genocide, I grumpily thought as people wearing Tech Fair shirts piled into the already cramped carriage. Must be some big event slated this morning they were going to attend. If I remembered the order of the stations correctly, we’d alight two stops before the Greaves Convention Center. I’d have to endure this hell for five stations, which was around fifteen minute...

ExD - 5.23.12

Deen placed her hand over her heart. “I promise I’m going to behave today while we tour the city. I’ll leave the ‘shenanigans,’ as you put it, for tonight, when we’re in the privacy of our room.”

“Our room?” I got irritated that Deen was claiming my sanctuary. She was merely a guest. And this was my room. “You’re already planning nasty things. I mea...

REND - 6.42

This piece of hairy shit! It fucking hurt!

The impact spread through my body, momentarily stunning me. I forcefully gathered my consciousness and grabbed onto anything after Romulus released me. As he raised his hand, I remained clinging to his fur. He dumbly stared at me, wide-eyed in surprise. I stabbed my right arm into his palm and clasped a bone or something.

“Get of...