Character: Terran [Demigod]
Protector of the Rock Leaf Elves
Level: 22
Class: Earthen Mage
Crystal Bard
Subrace: Rock Leaf Elf
HP: 1,130
Mana: 1,050
Stamina: 3,740
Strength: 12
Intelligence: 25
Endurance: 28
Cunning: 11
Agility: 12
Charisma: 25
The notation next to his name made his face tingle. He didn’t know what to make of it, except that something Andelain had done had changed him. Sacrifice. She’d sacrificed herself. Without knowing how, he accessed memories, her memories, of right before he’d accepted. Take my remaining strength and finish what we started so long ago. It was not only Andelain, but those that had sacrificed themselves the first time to make her into a god. Their memories weren’t concrete, but he sensed that they were present, remnants, the shards of souls left behind.
He studied the numbers—his stats, health, mana, and stamina—but the information didn’t make sense to him, especially because he hadn’t placed his points. They’d been set for him, either that or he no longer accumulated them as he leveled? He knew the formulas for how they increased but he’d been bumped up past the normal limits. It had to do with his new title of Demigod. There was also the part about the Protector of the Rock Leaf Elves. That was Andelain’s doing. There was no Mother Tree, not in the sense that it’d been before. Even without closing his eyes, he felt a connection to the trees of his forest. His forest. It was hard to wrap his brain around.
He was pleased to find that his Champion’s Path hadn’t changed. In fact, he had four points to assign as he wished, which made him wonder about the stats. The real surprise came when he got to his spells and abilities.
Sacrifice to the Gods
Accept a willing sacrifice to increase your power and longevity.
Must be performed beneath the boughs of the Mother Tree.
“What the Abyss?”
Even having the ability made him feel awful. Maybe there was no way to impart her godhood without it, or she wanted him to have options, but there was no way he was ever going to use it.
“I can’t be like them. I can’t perpetuate the cycle.”
But her thoughts haunted him. I hope that you do not need, but if you must... Terran shivered.
The last thing he noted was deeper in his list. He almost missed it. Shadow-Touched. When he highlighted it, an icon showed that it was both a buff and a debuff, but it didn’t explain what had happened, or what it did.
“This must be what Chanterelle did to me.” He didn’t feel different, but the fact that it had persisted after his transformation worried him. Now that he was a demigod, what would this Shadow-Touched do to him?
When no answers came, he turned back to his newfound improvements. Without even bothering to gather his gear, he took off running up the valley. He flew like a deer, bouncing between the trees, feeling like he could run through one if he so chose. When he hit the snow, the cold was barely a concern. It crunched underfoot, but barely slowed him. He was a zephyr.
It wasn’t until he reached the crest of the mountains, white breath leaving his lips, that he realized he could see as well as in daylight, even though he’d left his gear, including the Theris Stone, in his backpack on the grass. Shadow-Touched. It must be one of the benefits. Terran stayed on the mountaintop watching the stars march across the sky until his energy waned, and he trotted back to the lake and collected his gear.
There was a real desire to walk back to Gneiss Glen, take his time and explore his new strengths, but he also knew it was a delay in dealing with his new reality. The settlement would be different upon his return. As soon as he neared, the information would update, but instinctually, he knew that it wasn’t going to be as easy to improve, and then he had the business with the Lady of Shadows to deal with, and after that, the Howling Wind. Time was running out. It was time to rebuild the Autumnal Empire.
###
Purchase the fifth book, The Shadow Labyrinth, in Kingmaker Saga Series on Amazon in July.
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Special Thanks
As always, it takes a good raid party to successfully slay all the gremlins hiding in every manuscript. So to all those people that helped make this possible: thank you! People like my editor the Tamara Blaine the fighter who deftly slayed the errors in the manuscript with her mighty pen, the beta readers (Tina Rak, Carole Carpenter, Lana Turner, Melanie Coupland, and Andie Alessandra Cáomhanach) who provided the DPS for the raid, and to the Vanguard (Inger L. Tucker, Phyllis Simpson, and Elaine Stoker) who played crowd control on all the adds. Your time and effort have helped bring to life this moment of joy in readers' lives. Thank you!
The Hundred Halls Universe
THE HUNDRED HALLS
Trials of Magic
Web of Lies
Alchemy of Souls
Gathering of Shadows
City of Sorcery
The Reluctant Assassin
The Sorcerous Spy
The Veiled Diplomat
Agent Unraveled
The Webs That Bind
GAMEMAKERS ONLINE
The Warped Forest
Gladiators of Warsong
Citadel of Broken Dreams
Enter the Daemon Pits
Plane of Twilight
ANIMALIANS HALL
Wild Magic
Bane of the Hunter
Mark of the Phoenix
Arcane Mutations
Untamed Destiny
Also by Thomas K. Carpenter
GAMERS TRILOGY
GAMERS
FRAGS
CODERS
ALEXANDRIAN SAGA
Fires of Alexandria
Heirs of Alexandria
Legacy of Alexandria
Warmachines of Alexandria
Empire of Alexandria
Voyage of Alexandria
Goddess of Alexandria
THE DASHKOVA MEMOIRS
Revolutionary Magic
A Cauldron of Secrets
Birds of Prophecy
The Franklin Deception
Nightfell Games
The Queen of Dreams
Dragons of Siberia
Shadows of an Empire
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Thomas and Rachel reside near St. Louis where they have hosted their bi-monthly D&D group for nearly twenty years. Before that, they were members of top raiding guilds in both Everquest and Worlds of Warcraft. When they aren't writing or playing D&D, they can be found out hiking.
Tom keeps a regular blog at www.thomaskcarpenter.com and you can follow him on twitter @thomaskcarpente. If you want to learn when his next novel will be hitting the shelves and get free stories and occasional other goodies, please sign up for his mailing list by going to: http://tinyurl.com/thomaskcarpenter. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
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