DEFIANCE OF THE FALL
©2021 JF BRINK/THEFIRSTDEFIER
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the authors.
Aethon Books supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
Aethon Books
www.aethonbooks.com
Print and eBook formatting by Steve Beaulieu. Artwork provided by Fernando Granea.
Published by Aethon Books LLC.
Aethon Books is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead is coincidental.
All rights reserved.
Contents
ALSO IN SERIES
Prologue – Welcome to the Multiverse
1. Roll for Survival
2. A New World
3. Battle Tactics
4. Alone
5. Stranded
6. Born for Carnage
7. Outpost
8. Abby the Eye
9. Forced to Fight
10. Preparation
11. Upgrades
12. The Warrior Route
13. On the Hunt
14. Zombie Hound
15. Desperation
16. Choices
17. Eye of Discernment
18. Cosmic Energy
19. Vul
20. Fighting the Herald
21. Hurt
22. Scouts
23. Do You Understand My Words?
24. Class
25. Stronger
26. Demons
27. One Against Many
28. Melee
29. Inscriptions
30. Experimentation
31. Infusion
32. Vanity
33. Infection
34. Conspiracies
35. The Fourth Beast
36. Determination
37. Monstrous Power
38. Insight
39. Guidance
40. Chop
41. Apex Predator
42. Exodus
43. Stone Monkeys
44. Peak
45. Monkey Captain
46. The Hunt for the Herald
47. Collision Course
48. Simian Haranguing
49. Spelunking
50. Crystals
51. Stench
52. Odor
53. Blitz
54. Luck
55. Hey There, Buddy
56. Ill-gotten Gains
57. Dressing Up
58. Quest
59. Now or Never
60. Entering the Fray
61. Pitched Battle
62. Crescendo
63. Purple Haze
64. Taking Stock
65. First Contact
Interlude – My Dinner with Zac
66. My Dinner With Ogras
67. Diplomacy
68. Progenitor’s Advantage
69. Rewards
70. Town Shop
71. First Impressions
72. Thayer Consortium
73. Foundations of a Capital
74. Classes, Cultivation, and Old Hegemons
75. Gaming the System
76. Business Tactics
77. What is the System?
78. The Apostates
79. The Lifebringer
80. Loamwalker
81. Subjects
82. The Hordes
83. Wolves
84. Super Brother-Man
85. Four Fates
86. Ladders
87. Spectral Wolves
88. A Day in the Wolf Horde
89. The Final Four
90. Worsening Conditions
91. Lightning Punishment
92. Fiend Wolf
93. Verun’s Bite
94. Humans
95. Winterleaf Village
96. Terror of the Mountains
97. Freedom
98. Fort Roger
99. Emily
100. Travel Companions
101. First impressions
102. The Day before the Storm
103. The Second Horde
104. The War Council
105. Into the Hive
106. The Descent
107. Assault
108. Fighting the Royals
109. The final push
110. Exploration
111. Wave Whisperer
112. Back to the Scene of the Crime
Thank you for reading Defiance of the Fall, book one.
ALSO IN SERIES
DEFIANCE OF THE FALL
BOOK ONE
BOOK TWO
Prologue – Welcome to the Multiverse
Information is power. It can both be the sword with which you impale your enemy, or the sword you impale yourself upon. That was what was going through Zac’s head as he walked through the woods, a small hatchet in his hand and his face glowing with a sheen of perspiration and irritation.
He was still unsure of how a short mention about spending time in his family’s cabin as a child turned into him being tasked with bringing firewood back to the campsite. He pushed some intrusive shrubbery out of the way as he ventured further into the woods. Maybe his friends were laughing it up as they stayed by the fire in their cozy chairs with a few beers while he was living the age-old scenario of man versus nature.
Swinging his hatchet, he chopped off a small twig, but immediately saw that it would make terrible firewood due to how fresh it was. What the hell did he know about gathering firewood anyhow? It had always been his dad gathering it for their cabin, and Zac was pretty sure that he had actually bought it rather than cutting down trees.
It was a sweltering day in May, with high humidity, even though not a cloud was in sight, probably from yesterday’s drizzle. This, along with it being spring, made Zac seriously doubt whether any of these trees made for a decent fire if chopped down. The humidity and moisture in the wood would turn the campsite into an inferno of tear-inducing smoke at the first lick of fire. If it was even possible to light the fire at all.
Besides, this whole area was part of a nature reserve, and he was not really sure if there were legal ramifications to cutting anything down. Still, he trudged on, brushing his now sticky hair out of his face as he surveyed the surroundings.
For exactly what, Zac still didn’t know. He was still half-hoping to run into a neatly stacked pile of firewood secured under a tarp, left behind by some more adroit forester. Zac had been walking around aimlessly now for fifteen minutes, and he wasn’t really cut out for this, so he could really use the backup.
&nbs
p; Which was sort of ironic, as his appearance would usually indicate someone who has a good command of the great outdoors. Standing at five feet eleven with a set of broad shoulders, sporting a flannel shirt with the arms rolled up to his elbows, he at least somewhat looked the part. But the slightly too even beard, the pudge at his belly, and the lack of wiry muscles coming from manual labor were signs of a far more sedentary lifestyle.
He was actually just a marketing consultant who jumped onto the bandwagon and got the slightly grizzly look, as it seemed pretty popular at the moment. And it did actually pay dividends. This trip was arranged with his new girlfriend, Hannah, and three of her friends.
Truth be told, had it not been for the heat and the humidity, he wouldn’t really have minded this solo trip into the woods. It is always a weird situation, being a new addition to a group that has years of history together. To figure out the dynamics and personalities of everyone while keeping up with conversations where half the content is inside jokes and stories from before you were in the picture.
Of course, Hannah’s friends mostly seemed like decent people. David was open and cheerful, and the trip would likely have lost much of its energy had he not been there. Unfortunately, David’s interests diverged with Zac’s, him being into soccer and hockey, and Zac into video games and art. This made it a bit harder to find things to talk about during the long trip up into the woods.
But he was still a guy Zac wouldn’t mind having a beer with.
David’s girlfriend, Izzie, was a harder pill to swallow, with her unceasing grandstanding about whatever issue she could insert into the conversation, be it veganism, environmental conservation, or social issues. Of course, Zac generally agreed with her points of view, but it did get tiring to be constantly preached to.
It’s ironic, he thought. It’s often the kids of the elite who get like this.
He had heard from Hannah that Izzie’s father was some sort of manager at a hedge fund, and her mother was a partner at a high-end law firm. Apparently, a complete lack of supervision and unlimited funds leaves one with a surplus of energy that needs to be directed somewhere. And in her case, it was usually a crusade against “the Man” and the corporate machine. Still, it was hard to stay annoyed forever with her, as her bubbling energy was somewhat infectious.
Which left Tyler. Or the Snake, as Zac renamed him in his head. He seemed like a charismatic enough guy and had those annoyingly clean-cut good looks. Had he been in a movie, he’d be cast as the good-looking jerk the heroine was dating before she found her true love, which was somewhat his situation here. Not that Tyler and Hannah had ever been a couple, but most people had probably expected them to sooner or later get together considering how often they hung out with David and Izzie in some sort of faux-double-date-fashion. Zac was not overly surprised with the hidden hostility he’d gotten from Tyler since the day they first met two months back.
Tyler probably felt that I sabotaged the grand plan of the universe when I came along and inserted myself into Hannah’s, and by extension his, life, Zac thought with a snicker.
“Maybe I should get back after all…” he mumbled, a slight unease at the situation lingering, adding to his general irritation of being stuck in the woods, waving around a hatchet like an idiot. He wasn’t really a jealous guy, but also not a huge fan of leaving his girlfriend with a vulture circling around. And it wasn’t like he would magically produce some firewood by walking around in this forest any longer. He adjusted his grip on the axe and once again readjusted his bangs, which by now were a walnut mess of wax and sweat, and started veering back towards camp.
He had trekked in somewhat of a semicircle and should return back to the vicinity of the camp, or at least the road they took to get here, if he just kept veering right. After walking along for another five minutes, battling the constant threat of shrubbery and mosquitoes, Zac came up to a small clearing.
Insidious shrubbery and intrusive twigs gave way to rustling grass and patches of bloodroot and cardinals. Somehow it felt like an oasis, with a noticeable lack of things to scratch him, and the sounds of wildlife felt somewhat subdued.
Not a bad place for a camp should we decide to move it a bit further into the woods, he mused as he walked into the center of the glade, taking a last look around before turning toward the direction of his camp.
But as he prepared to leave, all sounds suddenly stopped without notice, turning to an almost deafening form of silence he hadn’t really ever felt before. Just a breath later, the world was darkness.
[Initiating System…]
[Welcome to the Multiverse.]
…
1
Roll for Survival
[Initiating System…]
[Welcome to the Multiverse.]
A cold, detached voice echoed in Zac’s ears. Or in my head? he thought while looking around, confused. Nothing in his life had prepared him for his current circumstances, and for a second, he thought there was an extreme solar eclipse happening. All that greeted his eyes was complete and utter darkness. The only thing visible was himself, as if there was an invisible source of light shining just on him, leaving the rest of the world in black.
“Heatstroke?” he muttered hesitantly even though this didn’t feel like some heat-induced delirium. But before he could further analyze these baffling events, the monotone voice interrupted his train of thought.
[Planet Earth scanning complete. Low F-grade mass, ungraded energy.]
[Adjusting…]
[Due to insufficient energy and size, planet Earth will be merged with additional planets drafted for initiation. New values: Low D-grade mass, low D-grade energy. Topography readjusted. Spawn points randomized based by cohorts. Wildlife upgraded due to insufficient challenge. Link to the Multiverse System activated.]
“What? Hello?” he shouted, or at least he thought he did, as the utter blackness seemed like a natural dampener, squelching all sound. But the voice seemed unaware or uncaring of his calls.
This was starting to feel less like some extremely elaborate practical joke or heatstroke, as everything felt just too real. Zac pinched himself, and the sting told him he hadn’t passed out either.
Trying to glean any meaning from the ramblings from the odd voice only made him more confused. It spoke about Earth, but also used some terms that felt like they came out of a sci-fi movie or a video game. However, the voice gave Zac no opportunity to figure the situation out as it heedlessly droned on.
[Initiating Incursions. Spawning Heral–]
[ERROR! Herald occupying same space as you! Adjusting…]
A more blaring version of the same mechanical voice interrupted itself.
The ominous voice and the message quickly accelerated Zac’s heartbeat, and he got a sinking feeling. This was all too real in its craziness, and if this was real, he was in deep shit. He was told he occupied the same space as some herald, and no matter how he looked at it, it couldn’t be anything good.
Erring on the side of caution, he jumped to the side to avoid whatever would happen, but it was as though he were in space. He made the motions of movement but remained exactly where he was.
[Merge unfeasible. Protocol SL-34572 initiated.]
“Phew.” At least he wouldn’t be turned into a half human, half herald, whatever that was. But the fact that the voice seemed to be ready to mash him together with another being was extremely unsettling, and his unease was quickly turning into panic.
Zac mentally tried to force himself to awaken, and when that didn’t work, he even slapped himself hard in the face. But nothing worked, and he was still stuck in the darkness.
[Roll for survival. Due to the massive power gap between Herald Ur’Khaz and you, odds heavily in his favor.]
“SHIT!” Zac screamed, or rather squeaked. The panic was now full-blown, and adrenaline coursed through his veins. “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?”
But again, the only thing greeting his inquiries was utter silence until there was a break in the da
rkness. Seemingly from nowhere, a screen popped up in front of him, hovering silently.
The window looked like something taken out of an old video game, blue with white edges and text. The surreal situation made him blank out for a few seconds before registering what the screen actually said.
Ur’Khaz | 1–100,000 | ROLL
Defiance of the Fall: A LitRPG Adventure Page 1
