Crossing Serpent's Way, page 1
part #1 of Trials of the Endless Planes Series
Crossing Serpent's Way
Trials of the Endless Planes Book 1
RJ Shoke
RJ Shoke, Author, LLC
Copyright © 2023 RJ Shoke, Author, LLC
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 9781234567890
ISBN-10: 1477123456
Cover design by: RJ Shoke
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309
Printed in the United States of America
This book is dedicated to my wife and love along with my mother. Without either of them, none of this would be possible.
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
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
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Final Character Sheet
About the author
Books By This Author
Acknowledgement
Chapter 1
Yellow sunlight reflected off of crystal clear waves as they gently lapped against the pilings of an old concrete pier. Kaito hung his legs over the edge like he used to do as a teenager, though the railing that used to protect people from falling in had been destroyed long ago. Ocean spray soaked his pant legs, but he didn’t care. This was the last time he’d ever see this sight again. And while this wasn’t the most glamorous place he could’ve looked out over the ocean, his old house was only a few miles inland from here.
It was as nostalgic as he would allow himself this close to the end.
Unfortunately, the sound of shuffling feet at the far end of the pier stole away his last peaceful moment on Earth. He shook his head and sighed, glancing at his personal screen to check the countdown.
Earth’s Crucible will end in 8 minutes. Any survivors will be teleported to the Endless Planes.
These screens simply appeared in a scintillating flash of blue nearly four years ago. In that time, Kaito had stopped questioning where they came from and how they worked. All of his focus had gone into his survival. And with that, the years passed by in a blur of fire and bloodshed.
The faint whispers of regulated breathing reached his highly sensitive hearing, bringing him back to the task at hand. He had hoped that Karen and Kyle would have let sleeping dogs lie, but they were always so stubborn. It could only be them. The rest of his enemies had long since learned their lessons fighting him. He was so tired of these two, always nipping at his heels just to annoy him.
Oh they were strong in their own right with Boons that were only slightly less powerful than his own, but the gap between his Boons and theirs was too much for them to bridge. With his Boon ability — [Senses of the Winged Scorpionshark (Un)] — he felt the subtle disturbances in the air currents created by their every step. He could even read their energy signatures, not in detail, but enough to know how many there were.
His old enemies had brought some friends it seemed. Taking one last lingering glance at the Atlantic Ocean, Kaito reluctantly turned to face his four would-be attackers.
Karen and Kyle were siblings with the same green eyes and dusty blonde hair. They even wore matching leather cuirasses with some sort of hide pants.
Meanwhile, their two friends were complete opposites. One was a woman from Southeast Asia, wearing classic flowing battle robes reinforced by leather shoulder pads and vambraces. The other one was a dark-skinned man — who was at least two shades darker than even Kaito — with long salt and pepper dreads hanging down his back. He wore chainmail with what looked to be tortoise shell plates held in place by leather straps.
Kaito nodded at them, profound weariness evident in his voice, “Do we have to do this? Do you really want to throw your lives away now? So close to the end of this damned thing?”
Kyle edged forward, glowering at him, “You’re not making it into the Endless Planes, Kaito. None of us are gonna let you get away with your crimes!”
Kaito scoffed, “My crimes? We’ve all committed atrocities in the last few years. Neither of you have any right to judge me for what I’ve had to do to survive. I’ve left you all alone for more than a year, hidden behind your walls, ignoring what was happening out in the world, but you keep looking for me. Even now, right at the end, you’re here. And I’m so damned tired of it.”
“How dare you?! You’re the monster here, not us!” bellowed Karen, a manic anger sparkling in her eyes. “You spurned our laws, taking resources that were not yours to take! We live in a society, Kaito!”
“No, Karen,” Kaito said, shaking his head as if he were talking to a simpleton, “There is no society anymore. The mana changed that. I don’t know what’s waiting for us in the Endless Planes, but you all should’ve been worried more about yourselves than with me.”
“Enough!” interrupted the tortoise-armored man, “We don’t have time for this, you idiots. Take him — now!”
Karen and Kyle both growled, snapping into action. Kaito didn’t miss the fact that it was the dark-skinned man giving the orders and not his old enemies. Interesting…he thought to himself as Karen’s figure shimmered like a mirage. He’d seen it before, it was one of her active Boon abilities — [Warp Lizard’s Charge (Un)]. Kyle wasted no time either, following immediately after with the same movement ability.
Dark-skin charged down the pier, his feet pounding on the concrete. Meanwhile, Asian-lady conjured a javelin made of living flames — another active Boon.
Kaito tsked, reaching into himself for his own abilities.
Ever since mana came, seeping in and polluting every inch of the Earth’s surface, it had mutated every living plant, animal and human on the planet. Plants and animals now grew mana cores with special traits and abilities, while humans gained access to the screens, attributes, Feats, Titles and Boons.
All humans now had 10 available Boon slots open for mana cores that granted passive and active abilities. Eight of his were taken up by passive traits, which left only two that he could use actively.
[Roc’s Rebuke (Un)]
A chill ran down Kaito’s spine as an invisible wave of wind blasted outward from his center, pushing everything away all at once. The flaming javelin from the Asian-lady instantly ricocheted out of the air and over the pier’s railing to fizzle in the waters below. Karen and Kyle suddenly materialized out of thin air, their bodies flying back and smacking into the same railing. Meanwhile, Dark-skin slid back a few steps, huddling behind a giant great shield made of tortoise shell that he’d conjured from one of his Boons.
In their moment of surprise, Kaito moved, his bare foot cracking the pier’s cement walkway through the sheer physical force of his high power attribute. Before Dark-skin could do anything, Kaito activated [Lycan’s Crux (Un)], which showed him the major flaws in each of his opponents. Clenching his fist, his skin suddenly hardened into iron-like scales and he punched the lower right hand corner of Dark-skin’s shield. His attack sounded like he’d struck a gong as the tortoise shield caved in, sending Dark-skin flying back.
Karen came in fast on his left, slicing her sword downward in a vicious slash. At the same time, Kyle charged in, swiping low with his own sword at Kaito’s legs. Moving faster than the two could account for, Kaito’s arms blurred, catching both swords with his newly reinforced, scaled hands. With a pair of firm clangs, he snapped the weapons in half, then swiftly kicked Karen in the stomach, while backhanding Kyle in the face.
Karen folded in half, eyes bulging as the force of his kick nearly turned her guts into mush. At the same time, Kyle lay sprawled on the floor, knocked to near senselessness, his limbs convulsing as he tried to force his body to move.
Before Kaito could finish either of them off, a flaming javelin rocketed towards his chest. He simply stopped the attack w
Without any hesitation, Kaito easily reached through the torrent of wind, grabbing the lance’s tip and spinning to the side with the motion. His momentum dragged Dark-skin along and tossed the man away from him, all the way to the far end of the pier. The armored man skidded right off the edge, landing in a loud splash in the waters below.
Preternaturally leaning back, another fiery javelin streaked past Kaito’s chest, cutting it so close he could feel the heat nearly tracing a line on his skin. Fortunately, one of his Boons gave him heat resistance. He then instantly pivoted and sprang forward, cracking the cement, one bounding step after another.
The Asian-lady screamed in rage, “You monster!” as she wreathed herself in flames like a living bonfire. It was a defensive Boon he’d seen a number of times before, though hers was only red-orange, meaning it wasn’t as hot as it could be, marking it as a common ability.
Kaito barreled through her puny flames and snatched her up. She screeched, pulling her arm back and summoning another fiery javelin, but he gripped his forearms around her and squeezed. Ribs shattered like dry twigs as blood fountained out of her mouth and nose, her flames sputtering like a candle in the wind.
She wasn’t wrong. He was a monster.
But it took a monster to survive the hellscape that the Earth had become. If these four had gone to the lengths that he had, then maybe he’d be the one hanging limply in their grasp.
Checking his countdown…there was just a little over four minutes left. More than enough time, he thought briefly.
The hair on his skin suddenly raised for barely a fraction of a second and he hastily spun in a blur, dropping the dead woman just in time to catch Kyle’s chopping wrist. The man’s eyes were bloodshot as he snarled in Kaito’s face, “I’ll kill you, you goddamned animal…” Spit flew with the effort of every word.
Kaito didn’t appreciate that. His knee immediately came up into Kyle’s groin in a sickening crunch. The man squealed in a soprano as his manhood shattered against his own fractured pelvis.
Then, Kaito swept the man’s legs — hard — snapping Kyle’s femur as if he were chopping down a tree. However, he was abruptly interrupted by an explosion of cement and water erupting from the middle of the pier. Amidst the spray, Dark-skin landed sopping wet and radiating rage.
Kaito glanced over dispassionately at the darker man, meeting his eyes with a bland look as he stomped onto Kyle’s neck to silence the sharp screaming. Dark-skin’s eyes widened in abject fury. Then he roared like a berserker, a tortoise shell great shield appearing in his left hand as a cyclone covered lance appeared in his right. He immediately charged Kaito, cracking the cement even further with his lumbering run.
We’re under three minutes now…Kaito reminded himself. He was tired of playing with these fools.
Darting forward to meet Dark-skin, his feet barely made a sound, moving as light and nimble as a breeze. But, before he reached his opponent, Karen suddenly warped into his path, slashing a new sword upward, ready to bisect him from groin to chin.
Kaito didn’t think, he just reacted, spinning on a dime to narrowly avoid the attack. Then, in one swift motion, he grabbed hold of Karen’s wrist, twisted her arm behind her back and bodily lifted her up and in the way of the charging lancer.
It was too late for Dark-skin to stop.
And to his horror, his drill-like wind attack impaled Karen through the chest, tearing through her sternum like tissue paper and shredding her heart and lungs in a gory spray of blood and viscera. Ducking down, Kaito used Karen’s back to shelter himself from the grisly rain, leaving Dark-skin to bathe in his own teammate’s bloody mess.
The man stood stockstill, horrified by what he’d done. He could only stare, slack-jawed, at Karen’s still-warm corpse as it hung limply at the end of his own lance.
Kaito may as well have vanished as far as the armored man was concerned. It didn’t help that Kaito actually did vanish, exploiting his superior dexterity to appear suddenly behind Dark-skin. Without hesitating, he reached up and twisted the fool’s neck with a sharp snap that sounded like he just broke a wishbone.
With the last of his enemies wheezing uselessly on the cement pier, Kaito didn’t linger, promptly forgetting all about the fight as he swiftly moved away from the carnage.
Back towards the end of the dock.
Back towards the sunlight reflecting on the waves.
The sun had barely moved in the sky for all the fighting he’d done, which granted him another last look at his world’s waters. He soaked in the sights and sounds the best he could, while in his mind’s eye, the countdown continued unabated…
Three.
Two.
One…
Closing his eyes, he made sure to burn the image of a clear blue ocean into his memories.
* * *
A raging phosphorescent pillar of vibrant azure flooded out of the depths of the hollow, central shaft of the Mana Pits of Bakunawa. As wide across as a dozen city blocks, the pits extended downward into a yawning abyss and were made up of innumerable levels. Unlike a mineshaft made of earth and stone, the Mana Pits of Bakunawa were lined with bones so large they formed a network of bridges connecting one level to the next.
In ages past, Bakunawa was a mighty, serpentine earth dragon responsible for causing earthquakes and floods as it burrowed through the countless regions of the Endless Planes. But now, all that was left of the dragon was its buried, titanic carcass which housed an entire city filled with hundreds of thousands of people eking out a life amidst the dragon’s ancient bones and timeworn scales.
The energy rampaging through the long dead sinuous corpse of Bakunawa was pure, unadulterated celestial energy. It wasn’t just mana, it was archmana — the only energy in all of the Endless Planes that was capable of bestowing a Class to a person. And the Mana Pits of Bakunawa were just one of many places that were capable of channeling that level of archmana spread across the first and lowest circle of the Endless Planes known as Serpent’s Way.
It was only in this plane that new arrivals appeared.
Anyone and everyone who would climb to the higher regions of the Endless Planes had to pass through Serpent’s Way. Here, they were given the opportunity to earn the tools they would need to thrive in the higher planes. Either they overcame the challenges of Serpent’s Way and ascended to the next plane or they languished in the bottommost rung of the realm.
Once upon a time, Serpent’s Way was nothing more than a waystation for sentient beings to pass through on their way to the higher planes, but throughout the ages, the dross left behind who couldn’t climb any higher accumulated.
Now, a plane that once only consisted of smaller settlements of craven or elderly beings too weak-willed to climb the rungs of the Endless Planes had grown into massive populations, where ants made kingdoms out of molehills.
Where once the various Mana Pits of Serpent’s Way were activated only when enough ambient mana had been collected by their timeless arrays, now they were controlled by paper kings and queens who could only rule over the weak and feeble.
They chose when to activate the Mana Pits. They chose what worlds to put through the Crucible so that more sentient beings could be brought into the fold of the Endless Planes.
And so, refracted blue light filtered into a smartly furnished office through tinted windows made for just such an occasion. The room was located in one of the thousands of colossal dragon bones that made up the very infrastructure of the Mana Pits of Bakunawa.
“Who did they choose this time, Jun-ko?” asked Rhaddok, a svelte muscular male hoborc who wore glasses with a fitted white button down shirt and a pair of black slacks. As a race, hoborcs were like walking statues made of gray flesh with bone plated jaws that had several protruding tusks.
“Some mortal world called…Earth?” answered Jun-ko, the towering onikai. Standing nearly seven feet tall, the hulking, red-skinned brute had a single horn protruding from his forehead, while his gray-white hair hung in a long ponytail down his back, draping over his thickly padded silken robes the color of lilac. “Ugh…it’s just more humans…whose bright idea was it to bring more of those little roaches into the Endless Planes?”
