In the year 2045, an MRI mishap transmits Tabitha Moore's mind back into her body in the past. Now it's 1998, she's thirteen years old, and she has to confront her long, miserable lifetime of failures—and once again being trailer trash—all over again.

...Or, does she?

/// A re-do story, everyone's guilty pleasure. Updates every month.

In the war-torn land of Cyraveil, four heroes strove to overthrow an empire. By cold steel and elemental sorcery, they brought peace to a warring land on the brink of destruction. As the flames died, the realm needed strong leadership, and who better than the champions who had saved the kingdom? But when the people sought out their saviors... they vanished.

Matt, Blake, Jen, and Carl: the four mysterious companions, who together had deposed an insane ruler and saved countless lives, were gone—spirited back in a whirlwind of magic to a sleepy suburb in Mellbridge, Oregon, never to return. The friends found themselves home in the real world, exactly as they'd been the night they were taken, as if no time had passed... except only three came back.

Hi there! This was my entry for National Novel Writing Month, because why only write one series at a time? The more the merrier! (meanwhile, my keyboard bursts into flames...)

I'm also the writer of The Last Science, an ongoing low-fantasy/speculative sci-fi series. If you're familiar with that, you know what to expect here: lots of character-focused drama and dialogue, not a whole lot of traditional action. However, I'm writing a bit differently than usual here, and in a very different structure, so there should be some surprises for returning readers. I hope you enjoy it!

 [Discord] — for those of you who want to hang out and chat.

Cover art (fullsize): Path of Revelation, by taenaron (Tobias Roetsch), modified by Etzoli. Normally I like to do my own cover art from scratch, but I was in a rush for the contest. Might be replaced down the line if I get time.

[winner of the NaNoWriMo Royal Road 2018 challenge—Most Favorites]

This story has not been posted or published anywhere else besides RoyalRoad.com, at this URL: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21374/epilogue

Gwen Song awoke in a world that was not her own, in which everything she was familiar with had been replaced. Instead of airplanes and electricity, this 21st-century Earth is ruled by magic and dragons; humanity survives in a land of magical beasts and otherworldly beings, protected by shielded enclaves and magical constructs.

Follow Gwen across the world as she struggles to rebuild her life in this strange new reality. Behold a tale of adventure, friendship, and (of course), magic! Witness as she grows from a simple grade school student to a fully-fledged Mage, through university and beyond, discovering the secrets of a world made unreal by magic and mysticism.

Satiate yourself while you wait with Metaworld-Meta-fics :

JOIN OUR DISCORD SERVER

VOTE! 

Nightmares and hallucinations have plagued Heather Morell all her life.

Diagnosed with schizophrenia as a child after the loss of her twin – a sister who never really existed – now struggling with her mental health at university, Heather teeters on the verge of giving up on life. A chance meeting ends in a revelation: she is not crazy, her visions are all too real, and probably want to eat her soul.

Embroiled with a crippled, bad-tempered magician and her self-proclaimed ‘bodyguard’, Heather rapidly descends into a world of terrifying magic and otherworldly monsters, in an effort to stay sane, bring back the dead, and maybe, just maybe, make out with cool older girls.

Katalepsis is a Ancient Greek word which means ‘comprehension’, or perhaps more accurately, ‘insight’.Katalepsis is a serial web novel about cosmic horror and human fragility, urban fantasy and lesbian romance, set in a sleepy English university town.

New chapters are currently posted once a week, on Saturdays.

This is a Royal Road mirror of Katalepsis' own website, located here, currently updated at the same time with a new chapter every Saturday.

The gods are real and incorporated. Providence is a profitable global monopoly.

But its chief executive is a corrupt authoritarian, the combined might of the divine powers is ignoring humanity’s problems, and Helpdesk service is, frankly, terrible. In this corporate fantasy, it’s up to history’s most maligned immortals to step up and sort things out.

Everyone wants to believe they are the hero of their own story. But in a world where prophecies are real, what happens if you're not the Chosen One?

A budding arcanist named Caden enrols in the Academy, entering the same cohort as one of the legendary Chosen Ones, and finds himself caught in a tangle of fate that threatens to unravel the entire Empire. 

Updates Mondays and Thursdays, 10:30 PM (GMT+8).

Join the Discord community here.
Support me on Patreon here.

Cover art by Fuyu Dust.

30/7/2020
A number of people have asked about how they can support me, so I've started a Patreon page for those who would like to make a financial contribution.

"Just a Bystander" is a work of love and I intend to keep posting it for free on RoyalRoad for everyone to enjoy. As someone who has been blessed with a full-time job that has remained stable even in the midst of a global pandemic, I would like to stress that I am able to continue writing with or without financial support and that you should not feel compelled to put dollars into this. 

I've chosen not to offer early chapters because I'd like my readers to keep apace with each other, and there are time constraints that come with my situation. The best I can offer for now is the promise of special Discord privileges once I get the opportunity to get them up and running in the future.

Thank you for reading my work. I hope you continue to enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. =)

Brian attends AnimeCon with a special charm that has a mysterious effect on the girls it touches.

A terminally bored IT guy finds a sub-dimension in the back stairwell of his office building.  It escalates from there.

Book 1 is now complete. Book 2 being posted.

Frank is on his way to his D&D game when he gets caught up in a meth head's convenience store robbery. 

While trying to escape he is shot in the back at close range and everything goes black. When he wakes up he's not in a hospital or the afterlife—he's in a different city entirely, one called San Tadeo.

Things are different in San Tadeo. Frank has a status sheet, and he can see people's names and jobs just by looking at them (unless they're walking in Shadow). Even more than in the real world, Cash Rules Everything.

With his real life behind him and his only friend a high-school weed dealer, Frank has the freedom to make new choices and set new goals. What does he want? He wants it all.

If you've always wanted a Gamelit set in a GTA-style world, here you go.

Schedule: Back to releasing new chapters. Not a lot extra banked, but going to try to do 3/week. We'll see how it goes.

A story about a young woman who meets a new student at school and has her life turned upside down.

[participant in the Royal Road Writathon Challenge]

WARNING:  This story includes descriptions of sexuality between two young women.  If this isn't something you want to read, or is illegal where you live, please enjoy one of the thousands of other stories here on Royal Road.

Everything in life can be measured, and everything in life is measured. Each person who has ever lived has five Numbers on their arm, defining the five primary attributes of that person. Throughout someone's life, these will increase with time and effort, and all of society revolves around these Numbers.

What happens when this natural system of Numbers, the basis of all of society for all of history...changes? 

My first fiction, so I appreciate all reviews and feedback!

A young man who's lived his everyday life with bitter pessimism suddenly gets his world turned upside down by what he calls, """"The world's most untimely apocalypse"""". Despite all the new dangers that came with this unexpected situation, he has so far managed to avoid death, ruin and whatever else the world decided to throw at him. Unexpected development after unexpected development, danger after danger, situation after situation, will he survive this **game** of life and death? 

I will be posting a chapter a week. (No chapter this week 2/11/17)

A story of two people in their early twenties, an always expressionless(?) Aya, and cool(?) Tyson. Loves, friendships, and the small moments pile up in this odd(?) love story.

Tyson, suffering from long-lasting unrequited love, meets Aya, an odd, expressionless girl from his classes. As the curiosity about each other draws them together, it slowly sparks a friendship founded on honesty with which the two deal with one another. It is a story about two ordinary college students with their own, small circumstances, and love which blossoms between the two of them. 

Check out 1 page comics titled Ay's and Ty's Daily Lives for some funny moments between the two: http://fav.me/dc4q2wf

COMPLETED

Power always comes with a price.

Seventeen years ago, obsidian towers thousands of feet tall erupted from the earth near the world’s population centers. Strange magic accompanied their appearance—powerful and inexplicable abilities granted to lucky humans, called Embers for the burning in their eyes.

Lyle isn’t lucky, though. When the recently-unemployed college dropout finally manages to get his hands on a Cinder, he is utterly disappointed to find that he will never be an Ember like his father or brother. Before he even has time to process his failure, a strange Ember shoves him through a tear in reality and into the cave of a dragon, where the titanic beast claims to be an ancient goddess of myth and legend. She has a gift for him, but it comes with a warning. 

War is coming.

---

Posting Thursdays and Sundays at 8am Central.

Confused about the rewrite? See my letter to previous readers here.

[This story is on a temporary hiatus due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. I work in healthcare and unfortunately no longer have the freetime to continue posting on a regular basis. As soon as our workload decreases, I will return. Thanks for reading! 💙]

No one ever knows the whole story. 

Nestled deep in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, something is emerging. Kept in absolute secrecy, it seeps into a fading town, quietly shared from person to person. For Alden Bensen, a directionless high school graduate, this discovery could mean an escape from his empty existence. To Rachel DuValle, perpetually underestimated and dismissed by the world, magic represents a chance to become something much greater than herself.

In the face of an unsuspecting world, their decisions shape the growth of a budding society discovering untold power. This potent force offers anyone the power to change humanity forever—or send it cascading into swift and total annihilation.

Want this story in smaller bites? Click here!

The Last Science is an ongoing science-fiction / low-fantasy web novel series, focused on the modern world with a twist. New societies bud and grow, but the people who make them up are imperfect and flawed. The story includes elements of mystery, action, crime, interpersonal drama, relationships, philosophy, sociology, politics, and much more, all centered on the perspective characters driving the tale. Each chapter is pretty long (average ~8000 words), so find somewhere comfy to read.

Content Warning (by request): This series delves into some topics and situations which may be upsetting for some readers. In American rating parlance, the narrative would be rated PG-13 (except for language), but some have noted the story can get pretty dark on occasion. Please use your best judgment, and don't be afraid to take breaks and come back later. I'll still be here!

This story will also be published weekly at my website (https://etzo.li). There will be no differences in content, but slight differences in formatting. Feel free to read at whichever site or app you prefer. If you're enjoying the story, consider dropping me a vote over on Top Web Fiction, or come say hi on Discord. Thanks!

Need more to read? Check out my other story, Epilogue — a post-fantasy psychodrama. Now complete!

This story is a participant in the Write til the End pledge. It will be completed, no matter the cost.

[SE has the same content as the original story, split into smaller chunks for easier reading. This story is on a temporary hiatus due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. I work in healthcare and unfortunately no longer have the freetime to continue posting on a regular basis. As soon as our workload decreases, I will return. Thanks for reading! 💙]

No one ever knows the whole story. 

Deep in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, the fading town of Rallsburg stumbles upon an amazing discovery—magic itself. Faced with potentially world-shattering power, the people of Rallsburg keep the secret for themselves. Led by Rachel DuValle, a perpetually underestimated college student with grand ambitions, they seek to found a new society.

The world beyond suspects nothing, but magic cannot stay hidden forever. A train arrives in Rallsburg carrying Alden Bensen, a directionless high school graduate. To him, magic could represent meaning for his life, an explanation for his empty existence. This potent force offers anyone the power to change humanity forever—or send it cascading into swift and total annihilation.

The Last Science is an ongoing science-fiction / low-fantasy web novel series, focused on the modern world with a twist. New societies bud and grow, but the people who make them up are imperfect and flawed. The story includes elements of mystery, action, crime, interpersonal drama, relationships, philosophy, sociology, politics, and much more, all centered on the perspective characters driving the tale. 

This is the "Scraps Edition" of the story, where the chapters have been split up into bite-size chunks (roughly 1500-3000 words), for your convenience. The prose has been edited from its original form, with some improvements, but there are no content differences from the original. New chapters will be posted throughout each week starting on Friday and appearing on multiple days thereafter, depending on the length of the chapter. 

Content Warning (by request): This series delves into some topics and situations which may be upsetting for some readers. In American rating parlance, the narrative would be rated PG-13 (except for language), but some have noted the story can get pretty dark on occasion. Please use your best judgment, and don't be afraid to take breaks and come back later. I'll still be here!

[Discord] - come hang out and chat!

[Patreon] - writing blog, epub copies, advance chapters and other goodies

Need more to read? Check out my finished novel, Epilogue — a post-fantasy psychodrama.

Humanity enters the galaxy and makes First Contact, only to begin to realize that not everything is at it seems. It appears that the galactic alien community has forgotten to invent some rather important economic concepts that human civilization has taken for granted.

This is a look at a hypothetical galactic scale barter economy, how that would work, or how as one of our main characters Sarah realizes... it doesn't.

And as the galaxy falls apart at the seams, it's up to the best and brightest in humanity to put things back together.

Story contains a lot about markets, logistics, development, and the best and worst of human history. Not so much Space Marines nuking aliens.

If you enjoyed the trade negotiations and Senate politics in the Star Wars prequels, and wished that there was an entire standalone story consisting solely of those parts, this might be for you!

Galactic Economics is also posted on reddit here.

Earth is a fairly small place, but it's all Bath has. It's the only home he's ever known for all of his 500-or-so-million years of life. One day, Bath realized his treasured Earth was being drawn into the next mass extinction ahead of schedule. So, fascinated by the humans and their quick rise to power (after all, setting off a mass extinction is a pretty sizable achievement), what's a nearly all-powerful, somewhat bored, morally ambiguous, savagely violent, shapeshifting alien entity to do other than assume the form of a human and do some front-line investigating?

Little did Bath know he would soon stumble upon a mysterious human organization with a gate leading to planets eons away. And that's just the beginning...

A story with aliens, intergalactic space travel, mind powers, and an abundance of adventure!

Author's note:

ON HIATUS!

Hello and thank you for reading! Constructive criticism and grammar-policing are both appreciated.

Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are complete at 1271 pages! Part 7 is in progress!

If you've ever read any other web serials, you might've noticed that authors get better with time (that is, their art or writing improves). Wutosama of Metaworld Chronicles noted that the first 20 chaps are always a mess.

This is also the case with Apex Predator. The first two parts (ranging just under 30 chapters, or 161 pages) are absolutely subpar. While I have edited them as of 7-10-18, they require a rewrite, which is currently in the works but not complete.

For a sample that gives insight into what the latter ~80% of the story's writing style is like, check out chapter 56.

Vote for Apex Predator on Top Web Fiction!

The Apex Predator Discord is here.

Cover: original work done by me, the author, caerulex.

Following what many people described as the 'Whispering of the Sirens', the entire world shifted ever so slightly. A dozen or so individuals through the world awakened unimaginable powers, beginning what would later be known as the 'Metahuman Revolution'.

Lilith, a woman who'd always thought of herself as a normal, down-to-earth kind of person, suddenly found herself caught up in all of the drama and changes. With the military wishing to pick her up and force her into becoming a supersoldier, the media obsessing over her, and the scientists salivating to get their hands on her, she really could use any help she could get.

Thankfully, while the world still didn't make much sense, at least she gained some sweet powers that could help her survive, if nothing else.

-= New chapter every Wednesday! =-

What would you do if you found an ancient spaceship?

Michael Freeman is a disabled veteran who had just been fired from his mind-numbing cubicle job, which allowed his opportunistic girlfriend to dump him. Now, he only wants to spend some time in his grandfather's mountain cabin to unwind away from the drudgery of daily life with a cold beer in his hands.

Standing in his way is an ancient spaceship with an emotional AI, nanites that have invaded his body, an international crime syndicate, a suicidal FBI agent on a vigilante mission, terrorists... and this is just the beginning.

What can one man do when faced with insurmountable odds? Call it quits? Or… call some of his old army buddies and blow those obstacles to smithereens.

Can he become more than he had ever dreamed, reaching further than any man before? Staying under the radar of the powers that be while righting a few wrongs of the modern world.

He is sure of three things:

1. He really doesn’t want to follow the rules anymore... aside from his own.

2. Space is the ultimate frontier, and he had been given a turnkey technology to reach it—if they let him.

3. Those that want to hurt him and the people he cares about will rue the day they were born.

You do not always get what you wish for… sometimes, you get one hell of a lot more.

---

“Really entertaining, and a promising future.” - RR Reviewer

“Good old sci-fi novel” - RR Reviewer

“Sci-fi with a realistic MC” - RR Reviewer

“Wow, seriously... just wow” - RR Reviewer

“I'm hooked!” - RR Reviewer

“A well crafted story.” - RR Reviewer

“A Sci-fi Novel I can appreciate” - RR Reviewer

“This is f....ing good.” - RR Reviewer

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Advance chapters available on Patreon

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The original art for the cover picture was made by N. Dasco