Path of Dragons - Chapter 5Book 1: : Beyond Repair

A conversation with a handsome stranger leaves Ariane chained in a cellar with a strange affliction. She soon discovers that the darkness of the nineteenth century’s Deep South hides many dangers. Mages, wolf shifters and the humans who hunt them play a risky game where to stumble is to die, all under the amused gaze of the apex predators of the supernatural world: vampires.

It is never healthy to attract the gaze of the aristocracy of the night. It takes much to survive in this merciless world, but Ariane will not let that deter her. The southern belle has a bite, and she is willing to learn and to grow in this hostile new world. She will use whatever means necessary to reclaim her freedom, be it guile, charm, or those intriguing new instincts that make blood so delectable.

This is a story of vampires as I believe they should be, with their strengths and weaknesses, with their remnants of humanity and the beast inside. Updates every Friday. Mind the tags.

Cover by Antti Hakosaari: https://www.artstation.com/haco

Special thanks to Svensonsen for getting me started, as well as Omi Nya, Hesketh, Rhaegar, Yaksher, Selkie and Raven for proofreading my stuff. Thanks to my patrons and you dear readers, for the support. I could not do it without you.

Journey is on Amazon, both in ebooks and audio. here is a link to the first one:

https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B08DK6G8Y8

The story probably exists in your local marketplace as well of I can tempt you.

What is martial arts?Martial Arts has nothing to do with musical instruments, chess, calligraphy, painting, treasures or secret manuals, nor is there so much talk about being the best in the world. Martial Arts is a technique, a method that gives the weak a chance to draw their blades against the strong.What is chivalry (xiá)?Chivalry is not about romantic affairs, traditional culture, or being gentle, respectful, frugal, and compliant. Chivalry is violence, it's the bayonet forged by those driven to Mount Liang to use against tyrants.Cao Mo pledged with a dagger, (Returning to) Lu to invade. Zhuan Zhu entered with grilled meat, (Pacifying) Wu to usurp the throne. Brother Zhang cried in the market, avenging his lord by defiling a lavatory. Suicide by cutting one's own throat to seek justice, acting while concealing his sleeve. The tyrant of Qin seized souls, the coward gained courage.This is a martial artist's story.In the 1930s, a group of like-minded young people came together, striving to change the world.Then, two hundred years later, in a garbage landfill, Xiang Shan, the Progenitor of Cyber Martial Arts who had once rebooted heaven and earth, woke up reciting the name of his enemy, having lost all his memories.“Perhaps it's because I lost back then that the world has become what it is...”“So this time, I won't be defeated again!”This is the story of a person changing the world once more!

“As long as I level up another 10 times, I will be able to activate the Gene Lock. At that time, I will be able to destroy this celestial body!” After transmigrating into the body of a trash in a future where zombies and intellectual beasts existed, Lin Xiu accidentally obtained an upgrade system to transcend human limitations and devour the heavens!

Kael was a “rat”—a lowly stable boy in a frozen, brutal medieval world where Knights ruled with iron and Barbarians crushed skulls with bone clubs. His life was worth less than the manure he shoveled. That changed the night he butchered a Knight with a rusty dagger to pay a debt of blood.Chosen by the God of Slaughter, Kael awakens the Aether System. His cheat? The ability to project his soul into other worlds, live countless lives, and bring their powers back to reality—if he survives.But power is not free. It is bought with pain, time, and sanity.World 1: The Wild West. He spends a lifetime as “El Lobo,” a legendary gunslinger. He returns with the muscle memory of a master marksman and a 12-gauge shotgun. World 2: The Martial Arts Realm. He trains for decades as a Wuxia disciple. He returns with internal energy that can shatter steel.Now, as the Kingdom faces war and monsters surge from the dark, the nobles sneer at the servant boy holding a strange metal tube. They chant spells. They draw enchanted swords. Kael takes a slow breath. He racks the slide. Click-clack. “Parry this.”