Cowboy Necromancer 2: Infinite Dark: (A Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG Fantasy), page 47
The ground began to quake, both Sterling and Maron making eye contact in that moment, both aware of what was to come.
There were Godwalkers chasing after them now, Sterling turning to see that one of the medium-sized ones was within thirty seconds of leveling all of them, the craft just about charged up.
He turned back to their destination, ignoring the monolith as they drew closer and closer toward the bottom of the mesa. Not able to jump off the saddle like he did earlier, Sterling simply fell to the side, the Sunflower Kid still in his arms as he simultaneously sent Manchester to his inventory list and began flying in a sideways trajectory.
He came inches away from scraping his body against the hardtop, the cowboy necromancer able to pick up speed as he began to lift higher into the air.
Wooooosh!
The ground began to tear away beneath him as one of the Godwalkers unleashed a terrifyingly powerful laser, Sterling just a few feet above it and feeling the intense heat, the others flying as well including Roxie and the Chronicler, Beep and Maron.
Come on, Zephyr, come on, Paco, he thought, too afraid to look over his shoulder now, not certain what was about to happen as the air began to spark with electricity. He landed on the mesa and stumbled forward. An enormous explosion sending ripples across the high desert, Sterling shielding the Sunflower Kid with his body.
What followed was a blast of wind and a series of smaller explosions the likes of which he’d never experienced before, the ground practically stripped away from the Earth’s core, subsonic booms happening all around him, rattling the landscape and causing rock slides.
Sterling continued to shield his daughter as dust and debris trickled down on them. Even as the others began to stir, he still sought to protect her.
He finally began to let up when someone touched down not far from them, the ground rumbling once again as if a comet had landed.
Sterling looked over to see Zephyr and Paco, the Hopi youth completely passed out, Zephyr with the young man thrown over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry. The aeromancer looked beat to hell, but she was smiling, a wicked grin on her face, her dark hair matted to her forehead as she laid Paco onto the ground.
Zephyr licked her lips and bared her teeth. “Fuck those Godwalkers.”
Maron cheered, as did Roxie, who clapped her hands together and whooped. The Chronicler stood, and stared off into the distance with a bewildered look on his face, his hand nursing his side. “It worked? It… it worked! I can’t believe it worked! I’ll… I’ll take that drink now. Holy hell, it worked!”
“Shee-it…” Sterling slowly lowered the Sunflower Kid onto the ground, and saw that she was squinting at him, a faint smile on her face.
“We did it, didn’t we?” she said in a soft voice.
“We sure did.”
Flowers began to lift out of the soil around her head and her body, almost as if they were embracing her. “Give me a minute.”
“You got it.” Sterling got to his feet and turned to the others, dusting himself off as he did so.
He reached into his front shirt pocket, pulled out the cigarette he had been saving for this very moment, and placed it in his mouth. He lit it, and warily took his first glance at the horizon, which was covered in smoke, yet absent of Godwalkers.
Roxie had summoned a bottle of liquor she had apparently lifted from the distillery back in Monticello and took a swig, the female gunner then handing it off to the Chronicler, who took a big pull as well.
“I can’t believe that worked,” Zephyr said, the aeromancer ecstatic to the point that she was floating. “I can’t believe that worked!”
“We… we did it?” Paco asked as he slowly started to come awake, the red paint he had across his face smeared, blackened marks on his forehead.
“We sure did, son,” Sterling told him. “We did it, goddammit, we did it.”
“Only… Only one problem…” Maron stepped aside and gestured toward Beep. The Godwalker was now resting on the ground, completely lifeless, yet still with a face painted across its front surface, the belt of flowers that had been tied around its waist missing. “She… said this would happen. Said not to tell you.”
Sterling ashed his cigarette, a sad smile cracking across his face as he came to understand in his own way what love was, and how Isabelle had shown it to him.
“It’ll… it’ll be fine. I had this feeling that destroying this Terminal would do something to her, and… I just wish I had said goodbye in a better way.” He turned and looked back at the Sunflower Kid, who had her arms over her chest, eyes shut again as flowers continued to bloom all around her, yellow, blue, pink, red, and white, the biomancer healing her internal injuries.
“We can still use her, or, the Godwalker. But it won’t be her,” Maron offered, the technomancer now crouched next to the tiny monolith. “At least not in the sense of who she once was. Still, she gave me her blessing…”
“Yep. Sounds like Isabelle to me.” Sterling brought his hand to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. He turned back in the direction of Monument Valley, the famous buttes pressing through the smoke, Deseret slowly shifting back to its natural state. “Let’s wait for the dust to clear, and then see what’s left of the Terminal. After that, we head south. It’s time to go home.”
The end.
.Back of the Book.
Hi, I’m Harmon Cooper. Before we get into the making of Cowboy Necromancer Two, please take a moment to review this book. The Cowboy Necromancer series exists because of your readership and reviews. Right now, I’m planning for it to be a trilogy, but I love these characters and I’d like for it to go longer.
But all of that is dependent on how it is received, so if you’ve made it this far, take a moment to review both the first and second book. Your review can be super short, and regarding the next book, I plan to release it in May of 2022.
Review Cowboy Necromancer 1 (This is where everyone starts, very important to review!)
Review Cowboy Necromancer 2 (This is where everyone looks once they see the first book to see if the reviews stack up…)
The Cowboy Necromancer story is chiseled into the southwest, and I've been a bit worried about really pulling it off because there's just so much research necessary to get things right.
A lot of the times, it seems as if I have made something up, but if you know my style by now, you might have seen that I generally draw on actual historical documents that I then add a fantasy take to.
With Cowboy Necromancer, I not only wanted to go to some of the places, I wanted to utilize as much native mythology and names and settings of the region to create the world itself as a character.
There have been some books recently that have really helped me, and you can find them all on Amazon. Here are the ones I’ve used to craft the Cowboy Necromancer world:
Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides
Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
Wild Bill by Tom Clavin
Dreams of El Dorado by H.W. Brands
Some of these are absolutely amazing, especially Blood and Thunder and Dreams of El Dorado for a view of the southwest history as a whole. Edward Abbey's book has helped me with landscape descriptions, plus his voice is something I'll channel for a project in the future. (He is literally a disgruntled park ranger writing a memoir while living at one of the national parks. It's snarky and funny).
But House of Rain by Craig Childs... this is the one I was looking for, how I crafted the petroglyph tie-in to the Cowboy Necromancer lore. House of Rain follows the writer, an explorer, as he navigates rough terrain in the Southwest and touches on archeoastronomy.
Read these books, and check out my Patreon .
Yours in sanity,
Harmon Cooper
Writer.harmoncooper@gmail.com
Here are some Facebook pages you should join:
My Facebook Group
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Here are some other ways to support my books:
Join the Proxima Galaxy on Facebook where I look for ARC (advanced Review Copy) readers and give away audiobooks and other cool stuff.
Review my books, which generates more interest from other readers, which makes me write faster because (carrot dangling from the stick!) – I want to please you all!
Join the Harmon Cooper mailing list.
Join my Patreon where you can read exclusive content (from cover design to future release ideas and chapters)
To learn more about LitRPG, talk to authors including myself, and just have an awesome time, please join the LitRPG Group.
Other Books by Harmon Cooper
I have written over sixty books (whew). Here are some of the highlights!
Witcher meets John Wick meets The Witcher in my bestselling series.
https://geni.us/PILGRIM
Introducing War Priest: Mask of the Fallen
Check out my newest and expect a much deeper cultivation system, some of the best combat I’ve written after a year of research into samurai and ninja (shinobi) techniques, yokai, and a coming-of-age dark fantasy story about a healer who is forced to become a warrior.
Check out War Priest!
A man becomes the grim reaper and introduces game mechanics to the role. DO NOT miss this book.
https://geni.us/DeathsMantle
What if Ready Player One was a multi-part epic? Gritty LitRPG action, gamer humor, fantastic fantasy worlds, and a killer MC.
https://geni.us/TheLoop
.About the Author.
Harmon Cooper is the author of over sixty science fantasy books. Originally from Austin, Texas, he spent five years honing his writing skills in Asia before ultimately relocating to New England. More information can be found on his website www.harmoncooper.com
Harmon Cooper, Cowboy Necromancer 2: Infinite Dark: (A Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG Fantasy)
