Realms Of Aethindra 1: A LitRPG/Gamelit Adventure, page 1
Realms Of Aethindra
Book One
Magnus Reid
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Epilogue
About the Author
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Realms Of Aethindra
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BOOK ONE
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COPYRIGHT INFORMATION This book is a work of fiction. All the characters in this book are fictitious and any similarity to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidence. Published By Honey Wagon Books Inc.
Copyright © 2021 by Magnus Reid
Cover by Chris Dapula (Kurizu Artworks)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law
One
“WHAT ARE YOU!?” the drill sergeant was so close to my face that with each word I felt a fresh spray of spit against my sunburned skin.
“Um, a piece of shit or, uh, a maggot?” I said, unsure of which common insult he wanted me to use on myself.
“A PIECE OF SHIT AND A MAGGOT, AND YOU HAD BETTER ADDRESS ME AS SIR, YES SIR!” he said, drenching my face again.
I winced and wiped my face with my sleeve, “Yes sir, I mean, Sir yes sir. Or wait, what was it?”
“DROP AND GIVE ME 100 PUSH-UPS!” he screamed, and I legitimately thought all the blood vessels above his shoulders were going to rupture and then I’d be covered in spit and blood. I hadn’t even been on the island a full three weeks and already I was going to make a grown man’s head explode. I dropped down and only managed about 30 push-ups before I felt like my arms were going to fall off. Luckily by that time the drill sergeant had moved on to another poor newbie, her name was Rebecca and I’d had a bit of a crush on her ever since our orientation. I was jealous of how close the drill sergeant was to her luscious lips and perfect breasts even though he was only interested in yelling obscenities at her and covering her with his disgusting mouth juices. I mean I wanted to do that too, but in a sexy way.
Rebecca looked at him dispassionately the entire time he screamed at her, her wavy chestnut hair rearranging itself in the breeze, her cool blue eyes staring straight through him, her taut toned thighs quickly raising as her knee made contact with his balls.
“FUUUCK!” the drill sergeant screamed as he collapsed like a ton of bricks.
A general ‘Oooooh’ went up through the line of 20 or so cadets and I stared at Rebecca with my mouth gaping open. She winked at me and spun around, nonchalantly sauntering back to the barracks as the drill sergeant writhed in pain on the ground.
Eventually my roommate Samuel, who was never ordered to stop doing push-ups so he kept doing them the whole time, got up and alerted the medical staff and they drove over in a little green golf cart thing called a ‘Gator’. They stretchered the drill sergeant into the back, and drove him to the first aid building. After that incident my feelings for Rebecca went from minor crush to full-blown infatuation. What can I say? I have a thing for bad girls, and it doesn’t get any badder than Rebecca. Even on this island, which is basically a last chance juvenile detention center/military school. There were plenty of criminals here, but I’d never seen anyone take out a drill sergeant like that.
The fact that she was such a badass shouldn’t have surprised me though. While most people were here for petty shit: selling weed, getting into fights, minor theft, and in my case destruction of property. The rumor around the island was that Rebecca had been one of the leaders of a legitimate, criminal enterprise. An auto-theft ring, stealing high-end cars for everyone from the Yakuza to the Russian mafia, and the only reason she’d ended up at this glorified summer camp instead of doing 20 years in a federal prison was because her dad was rich.
A few minutes later Mr. Calgary the president, although he was more like the warden, of the Coral Island Reform School ran over to our group flanked by two Military Police on loan from the nearby Naval base. The MPs were a couple of snot-nosed trainees fresh out of boot camp probably not much older than we were. In fact, as I and most of the delinquents on the island were 19, they might have even been younger.
“I am very, VERY disappointed in you all.” Mr. Calgary said. In contrast to the drill sergeants he spoke like a politician giving a speech at a fundraiser, “You let your commanding officer writhe on the ground in agony for five full minutes before alerting the medical personnel!” a collective fit of stifled laughter went through the crowd, “Oh yes, it’s very funny isn’t it? Well, I’ll have you know that Sergeant Biltmore has been afflicted with testicular torsion and without prompt medical care he could have lost his left testicle, not very funny now is it?”
My knees buckled as I tried to hold in my laughter. The only person who wasn’t laughing was Samuel. In fact, after he came back to the group Samuel got back down and resumed his push-ups. He was listening intently to Mr. Calgary with a straight face while his gigantic arms bent and then straightened over and over again. A small hiss issued from his nose with each effort.
“Well, I hope you’ve had a good laugh because for the next 24 hours I’m going to make your lives as miserable as I possibly can.” one of the MPs whispered in Mr. Calgary’s ear and his expression changed for a moment, he muttered, Oh, that’s right then resumed his speech to us, “Okay, I’ve just been informed that your state mandated group therapy sessions are starting soon, BUT for the next 24 hours after that you’re all going to be cleaning latrines, digging ditches, doing push-ups and marching until you realize just how unfunny testicular torsion really is!” he paused for a beat and then said, “Eh, except for you Samuel, stop doing that.” Samuel got to his feet and stood at attention, “In fact, Samuel’s exemplary conduct in dealing with a wounded comrade should be not only commended but rewarded. Not only will you not be punished with the others, I’m giving you a free roam pass for tonight and tomorrow. What is your last name young man?”
“Tupuola, sir!” he barked, in his baritone growl.
“I will personally leave your name with the guards. After group therapy feel free to enjoy the beach or walk to the general store and buy a soda pop. You’ve earned it young man. Just make sure you’re still observing lights out by 10pm.” Mr. Calgary said with a satisfied smile as he stared admiringly at the tall, tank of a man.
“Yes sir!” Samuel barked again.
“Uh, at ease?” Mr. Calgary said, and Samuel instantly took a more relaxed posture, “Now, all of you report to group therapy!”
We all fell into a line as we were taught and the MPs marched us up the hill at the center of the island to the top where the long red building with chipped paint and dirty windows sat. The roof was sagging and when it rained water dripped through the white ceiling tiles and buzzing fluorescent lights. Twenty or so plastic cafeteria chairs were arranged in a circle on the black and white linoleum floor. We went inside and took our places. The therapist, an old sweater-vested hippie with horn rimmed glasses and his long hair pulled into a gray ponytail, sat at the front of the room with his fingers tented waiting for us to take our seats and smiling his condescending smile. His name was Dr. Levi.
“Hello everyone.” Dr. Levi said in a soft voice, barely above a whisper, “I hope you’ve all had a very healing week. I’d like to share a personal breakthrough that I made. I figured out that my father didn’t hate me, he hated the idea of me. Anyway, let’s go around the room and continue sharing our stories. We can sometimes learn about ourselves through our very own stories. Last week Jessica, Randle, and Jose shared their stories, this week I would like Samuel, Titus, and Rebecca to share theirs. Samuel why don’t you go first, what mistakes led you here?”
Samuel stood up and cleared his throat, “On my island three bad men were harassing my older sister. For days they wouldn’t leave her alone. When they came to our house I came out to greet them and after a brief exchange of words they tried to attack me with bats and chains. I put all those men in the hospital. One of them was the son of the local sheriff and he had me arrested for assault. The judge who heard the case is cousins with one of the investors in this school and I think he is probably receiving some kind of kickback or something like that. That is my story.” Samuel said all of this with no emotion whatsoever and then sat back down in his chair and folded his huge arms.
The therapist was obviously very uncomfortable with the allegation of corruption so he quickly moved on, “Uh, thank you Samuel. Titus? Titus Crow?”
“Well, I’m here because of an accident.” I said.
“An accident?” Dr. Levi repeated, leaning back and tapping his pen against the side of his face, “What kind of accident?”
“A construction accident. I was messing around on a piece of construction equipment and it ran into a building and yeah, that’s about it.” I said.
Dr. Levi opened a manila folder and read what was obviously some sort of court document about me, “It says here that you stole a hydraulic crane from a construction site at 2am, you drove the crane three blocks before jumping out as it picked up speed, the crane then demolished a warehouse, and when the police breathalyzed you your blood alcohol content was .27. Is that a pretty concise summary of the incident?”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t really my fault. And honestly it wasn’t a big deal.” I said.
“We often trivialize our own misdeeds to protect our ego.” Dr. Levi said, “I think what you need to do is take some responsibility.”
I nodded my head but on the inside I still felt the same. It really wasn’t my fault! And even if it was my fault it really wasn’t a big deal. The building I demolished was slated to be knocked down in a few days anyway. The crane with the big wrecking ball was sitting right next to it ready to be deployed. The way I look at it I just did everyone a favor. Unfortunately that wasn’t the way the cops looked at it and it wasn’t the way the judge looked at it. But I suppose I should go back to the beginning.
I was hanging out with James my trusted companion and Gamestop coworker after our shift, and we were hucking beer bottles at passing trains from the roof of an abandoned building. There wasn’t a lot to do in our town. Half the buildings were empty and every year more people moved away or died than settled there or were born. The whole town was terminally ill and the end was approaching fast.
We were pretty drunk by the time we ran out of bottles so we turned our attention to less wholesome activities. We saw one of those cherry pickers that city workers use to go up and check out the power lines and it was just sitting there on the side of the road next to a bunch of orange barrels and plastic netting and traffic cones. As we got closer we realized it was just sitting there with the keys still inside!
Of course I dared James to get in and drive it, he dared me, I called him a pussy, he called me a pussy, I said I wasn’t a pussy and then I got in and turned the key. Pretty soon I was careening down the road. The thing moved surprisingly fast and I had no earthly idea how to stop it. I managed to bail out without hurting myself too badly just before the cherry picker went flying down the hill, smashed into the side of a building, and put a gigantic hole in the north wall. As luck would have it a cop just happened to be driving through the nearest intersection and before I could say ‘I didn’t do it’ I was sitting in handcuffs in the back of his cruiser.
My parents were mortified, my grandparents were mortified, my great grand parents were dead so they didn’t feel any specific type of way about it. At least not that I knew of. But anyway, the next thing I knew I was on a plane to the freaking South Pacific to attend some nutty military reform school. The judge took it easy on me because even though I was an adult, I was close to juvenile age and I didn’t have a record. Although after 20 grueling days of waking up at 4am, getting screamed at and forced to workout and march in all kinds of conditions, and sharing a room with Samuel the super soldier; I was starting to wonder if this was actually any easier than three months in the county jail.
Samuel was a decent guy but being roommates with him was no fun at all. Me and the other cadets were all on the same page. We didn’t want to be here or follow their stupid rules so we were going to try to break them. The others were constantly sneaking around, hooking up with their fellow cadets, Jose and Randle were even making wine in the walls of their barracks with stuff they bought at the general store. All Samuel ever wanted to do was workout and read the bible. Every morning he would get up at 3:30am and do a workout before drills, then AFTER we were dismissed by the drill sergeant that evening he would go to the weight room and workout again. I went with him once in a futile attempt to bond, but instead I just gawped at him the entire time. He bench pressed 400 pounds like it was nothing and there literally weren’t enough weights in the gym to give him a decent squat workout. After we finished lifting weights we raced across the athletic field and he beat me even with a 200 pound sled attached to his waist.
It wasn’t even like I was in bad shape. I’m 6 feet tall and I weigh about 180 pounds. I do my sit-ups and push-ups in the morning and even jog sometimes when I’m not too hungover. My stomach is flat and there’s even the faintest outline of ab muscles poking through. I’m not the fastest guy in the world but not exactly a fat couch potato either, so for Samuel to humiliate me in a race while dragging 200 pounds behind him says more about what a freak of nature he is.
After giving me a little speech about accountability Dr. Levi moved on to Rebecca, “Ms. Chambers, why don’t you tell us how you came to be here.”
“I didn’t do anything.” she said, without even deigning to look at the man.
He opened her file and scanned it, “You were charged with 17 felonies: auto-theft, fleeing from the police, resisting arrest…”
“Talk to my lawyer.” she said.
Dr. Levi was obviously flustered but he just shook his head and said, “Okay, moving on.”
The therapy session lasted for another interminable hour before we were remanded into the custody of Sergeant Johnson. I didn’t know which one was worse. Johnson was a shitkicker from Oklahoma or somewhere, he was Biltmore’s best friend, and an absolute psycho. If there was anyone on the island with the skills to make our lives a living hell it was him. I didn’t even want to imagine what kind of demented shit he had in store for us. In a sudden flash of either insanity or self-presevervation I knew that I had to figure out a way to get out of it.
We formed into a line and Johnson stood in front of us smiling a mirthless smile with his arms behind his back, “Are you ready to have fun?” I stared straight ahead at the wide beautiful ocean that stretched across the whole horizon as Johnson walked up and down the line getting within an inch of our faces, “Go to your barracks and get your toothbrushes. We’re going to clean the whole mess hall until it sparkles! Then we’re going to really get the party started, but I don’t want to spoil anything. Let’s just say I have a few surprises lined up. Meet me at the flag pole in 15 minutes. Go!”
We hurried down the hill and went to our barracks. This island had been some kind of budget resort at one time so we each shared little cabins. They were ten foot by ten foot rooms with 2 cots and not a lot else.
Rebecca came up next to me and whispered, “This is lame. I’m gonna bail. You in?”
I looked at her with absolute bewilderment, “Bail? What do you mean? Is that an option?”
“Why not?” she shrugged.
“Well, this is basically jail. You can’t just leave jail.” I said.
“I have a plan. If you want in on the plan come with me. If you want to be subjected to any more of this asinine bullshit then be my guest.”
“Does you plan involve, not getting in trouble? I think if we escape from this jail we just have to go to a different jail. I mean, that’s how it works right?” I wanted more than anything to go with her, but what plan could she possibly have? Even if she somehow made it off the island wouldn’t we be fugitives for life?
She smiled, “Alright, suit yourself.” then she jogged off toward her cabin.
I went into my cabin and got my toothbrush then noticed Samuel grabbing his bible. I’d almost forgotten the lucky bastard didn’t have to suffer with the rest of us.
“Where are you going” I asked him.
“To Stonefish Beach. I will run, swim, and then read the Psalms.” he said with a contented smile, “Uh, by the way, take something to plug your nose. I overheard Johnson talking to another sergeant and he said you’re all going to have to do something called the ‘Shawshank Redemption’. Basically, they’re going to make you crawl through a 200 meter sewage drainage ditch.”
