The world is in ruins. 

Extreme sub-zero temperatures suffocate the surface, making even simple survival an ordeal. Frozen derelicts of bygone eras span across massive ice wastes. And the elite few hoard any technology rediscovered within.

The only escape from the deadly climate is beneath the surface. But it’s another disaster underground. Monstrous machines lurk in the depths. Unhinged demigods war against them, dying over and over, treating it all like a game. The land itself shifts over time, more contraption than rock. And an ominous prophecy states that the key to everything waits at the last level - but nobody’s ever reached that far. 

When an expedition into the far uncharted north goes terribly wrong,  Keith Winterscar and his father get trapped together in a desperate fight for survival. Stumbling upon an ancient power struggle of titanic scale; the two will need to set their differences aside while they struggle against Gods, legends, and the grand secrets of the realm that lies below.

Updating Monday and Thursdays.

Discord can be found here (This is a shared discord server with other books.)
WARNING: This series is ridiculously filled with spoilers, every book has multiple reveals. Discord was made for up-to-date readers since there's no way to really police spoilers.
Don't join until you're current!!

I do not consent, nor give permission for any website to repost this work. If you find this work on any other website not posted by my username (Vera Anne Wolf) please send the link my way. This is an abuse of my rights as the author and creator and I will be reporting all such websites via Google’s DCMA. Including this notice for those websites that think “it's okay to post, but we’ll take it down if the author asks us to”. IT IS NOT OKAY.

**WARNING: The following story contains DARK, TRAUMATIZING elements that may not be appropriate for young viewers or those who struggle from traumatizing events. If you're not good with mature content, regardless of your age, this story is not for you. You have been warned. It's nowhere near as bad as GOT but it has dark shit. Again, you have been WARNED. Plenty of other less dark webnovels to safely read. **

**Additional Warning: A minimal amount of LGBT content is included in this story. There is no TAG for this so I'm including it here. If that makes you uncomfortable, go ahead and give it a pass. **

Previously titled: A Maiden's Frozen Heart.

An Isekai, Fantasy Regency, Thriller with Witches, Gods, and plenty of Drama and Betrayal.

{Book 1: A Den of Wolves} 

What if you knew the future? But what if that future was not yours?

After a gruesome death, Carina was reborn in Lafeara as Lady Maura, the unwanted “half-blood” of an impoverished noble family. The previous Lady Maura was publicly executed as part of a conspiracy to conceal the murder of Queen Eleanora.

With Maura’s memories to guide her, Carina prepares to follow her predecessor’s path into the palace as part of the Selection to become Crown Princess Eleanora’s lady-in-waiting. Her meticulous years of planning and preparation to ensure her survival, fulfill Maura’s revenge, and avert the oncoming Calamity will require every ounce of courage, cunning, and intellect she can muster.

Because Carina has more than one secret which she can not reveal—her true identity among them—but even more treacherous is her frozen heart and the ice magic that comes with it.

After all, they still burn witches in Lafeara.

{Book 2: A Coven of Crows} 

The problem with changing the past is that the future changes with it.

Although Carina survived the Selection and earned a place in the palace beside the Crown Princess, her battle to change the future and protect Lady Hana, the future Queen’s favored lady-in-waiting, is far from over.

As Carina becomes further entwined in the hidden witch covens of Lafeara, their history and magic unravel a dangerous secret long forgotten by most. It is not just Maura’s memories that threaten to shift the balance of Carina’s carefully laid plains but her own forgotten past as well.

And the more mysteries Carina uncovers, the fewer allies she finds standing on her side. Everyone wants something, but the most dangerous players in this game of mortals and witches are the gods themselves, who have their own sordid plans for Carina’s frozen heart.

{Book 3: A Plague of Witches} 

As the annual Royal Hunt approaches, so too does the first signs of the devastating plague Carina foresaw in Maura’s memories. The once lady-in-waiting to the Crown Princess now finds herself in a far better position to steer Lafeara’s future. As allies become enemies and old enemies form alliances for survival, Carina finds herself pulled into the shifting political struggle between Lafeara’s powerful nobles and secret witch covens.

But there is still a chance that Carina and Hana might just make it through the oncoming calamity—that is, if the future doesn’t shift too far from the previous timeline. As the Duchess of Winter dons her armor and prepares for the Crown Prince’s coronation, another attempted assassination, a witch-born plague, and the approaching forces of Pope Jericho and his Witch Hunters, only one thing is certain.

The gods themselves are pulling the strings of fate to force the future Carina has fought so hard to change back towards its inevitable conclusion. Now Carina, like Maura, must face the chains of her own mortality—or completely break free.

Even for a half-blood blessed/cursed with the immortal heart of a god, power comes at a cost.

Milo lives in a steel cave within a man-made mountain of steel and concrete. He spends his days repairing the machinery that keeps the habitat livable and tinkering with the prosthetics that help his twisted body move about through the small tunnels and air shafts that are his world. He's as much a piece of discarded machinery as the equipment he keeps running. 

Given a chance at being someone different will he become a hero and live in the sunlight? The light beckons, but there are secrets buried in the ground. Ancient mysteries left by races that delved deep and stayed below. Maybe only a tunnel rat culd find them?

And thanks to the artist of that handsome rat for inspiration. Find more of her work here: https://www.deviantart.com/watch/memymine/deviations

A new, darker age is dawning. The greed of kings has ignited a seemingly endless war. As men fight, the monsters of the untamed wilds are devouring the frontier. Villages are abandoned as fields go fallow. Murderous bandits roam the desolation. 

None of that matters to a nameless goblin slave. He just wants to eat as much food as he can shove into his mouth when no one is looking, but fate runs a twisted course, so instead he is whisked away to the far off Iron Teeth Mountains. To stay alive, he will have to evolve into something more than a simple goblin, and carve a bloody path through the forests of the North. 

However, first he has to get over his crippling fear of trees, and survive in a place where everything considers him to be the perfect size for a quick snack...

Expanded and edited books are availible at Amazon.

A puzzling encounter leaves Dimitry a beggar with a strange emblem on his wrist. Around him, people suffer as ruthless organizations, opportunistic nobles, and an overly pious church vie for power in a medieval land under constant siege by stone monstrosities rampaging from the coasts.

Can a kindhearted surgeon aid this ailing world with modern knowledge, resourcefulness, and magic? Or will rival powers crush Dimitry first?

A fiction that starts brutally grim and eventually transitions into technology uplift with a focus on science, magitech, and town building.

Warning: Technical terms abound.

Cover art by AbsolutePower.

What do you do when you find yourself the sole survivor of the complete destruction of Earth?  Nikola winds up in that position, disembodied in a half-built asteroid outpost, the last remnant and only hope of the human race.  Nikola exists now only in digital form, controlling drones and cameras to interact with the world.  But Nikola's memories are fractured, and there are endless obstacles between awakening as a glorified computer program and saving the species.  Is Nikola even human anymore?  Is it even possible to resurrect humanity?

Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 1 is now on Amazon! 
mybook.to/dungeoncrawlercarl

Book 2 is also now available! 
mybook.to/dungeoncrawlercarl2

Royal Road and Patreon is where to get the newest chapters and releases. 

The apocalypse will be televised!

A man. His ex-girlfriend's cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible.

In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth—from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds—collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground.

The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe.

Only a few dare venture inside. But once you're in, you can't get out. And what's worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it's game over. In this game, it's not about your strength or your dexterity. It's about your followers, your views. Your clout. It's about building an audience and killing those goblins with style.

You can't just survive here. You gotta survive big.

You gotta fight with vigor, with excitement. You gotta make them stand up and cheer. And if you do have that "it" factor, you may just find yourself with a following. That's the only way to truly survive in this game—with the help of the loot boxes dropped upon you by the generous benefactors watching from across the galaxy.

They call it Dungeon Crawler World. But for Carl, it's anything but a game.

DCC Discord! 

10/01/20

The first several chapters of DCC are now off of Royal Road because the book is on Amazon. I want to thank all of you for 9 months of amazing support. This is and Patreon will always be the place for the newest chapters and content, but to comply with Amazon's Kindle Unlimited policy, I can't have more than 10% of the story up here. 

This is a work in progress. Major editing will be done after the book is complete, so there will be egregious typos and parts that make no sense whatsoever. Please, please feel free to point any and all of these things out. Chapters WILL get edited, and that editing might break earlier chapters. I will attempt to keep readers apprised of all changes. Updates one-two days a week. 

Cairn is a prince who is already tired of ruling. Faced with an imminent coronation and an overbearing father, he wants nothing more than to drown his responsibilities in cheap liquor and poor decisions. With the help of his sister, he hatches a plan to escape the clutches of the throne once and for all. It all goes terribly wrong, and Cairn finds his priorities shifting in the face of unimaginable tragedy. The change of heart comes too late, however, and Cairn dies. He reawakens to find himself transported ten years in the past. He immediately begins to plan for the future, only to discover his killer has somehow followed him. To succeed, Cairn must unite the kingdom and discover the motivation of his killer, using as many tries as it takes. 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I exhausted pretty much every time loop story ever written and decided to write my own. You'll see a few similarities here between this story and some existing stories, at least initially. There's a lot of inspiration drawn from both MoL and Re:Zero, though in terms of pathos and darkness, this story leans more towards the latter. Be warned, it is something of a slow burn. The main character will grow and become powerful, but a theme of this story is that power comes slowly and often at great cost. 

Book One: Kindle Edition and Audiobook 

Developmental Editing by the all seeing Irock4691

Not everyone gets a soul.  The rise of industry and mechanization has sent the world's population booming upward, striving relentlessly for the fixed handful of souls that level armies and steer the fate of nations.  The remnants of a crumbled empire fight in a grinding, bloody war against their ancient enemy.

Not everyone gets a soul, but Michael must - for he is the scion of a lord, and the soulless cannot hold such a title.  For five years he has tried to tempt one of the souls freed by its vessel's death.  Five years of pain and failure, earning only his father's contempt.  At last, one more opportunity to earn his soul has come.

But not everyone gets a soul quite like his.

Updates weekly on Wednesdays.

Cover art by Harry Rowland.

Charles Snippy finds himself lost and alone at the end of the world. He makes a wish for a friend and meets Zee Captain, an eccentric lunatic luminary, who drags him on an adventure through the eldritch, deadly, questionable and limitless post-apocalyptic world of tomorrow, a place where Goodness makes the rules and everything has purpose and passion.

~A post-apocalyptic, dark comedy webcomic that I've been working on since 2005 by myself at first and then with friends from all around the world.

Discord: https://discord.gg/ngawayz

This is a 100% reader-interactive, game-like book, based on my novel Technomagica. It is written in collaboration with the readers - every comment drives it forward. Once there are enough interesting or fun comments on each chapter, various paths forward begin to manifest that you can [choose] to follow. 

Summary: Soviet bio-weapons designer Vladislav Kerenski died in 1992. Upon meeting "god" he rejects a continuation of his narrative. It's up to you to help him survive the darkness of the Astral Ocean.

This is the only book on Royal Road where your choice can make the MC become a villain or a hero, to die horribly and quickly, or slowly and painfully, to live out an interesting life, to become god, or to be trapped in a nightmarish loop without an end!

The Earth of the future is united under a single government, but not all things are well. The shape of the playing field may be changed, but the powerful still rule the weak.
And those who do not conform with the rest of society are exiled to another world. A world that not even the technology of the future managed to tame.
It should have been humanity's New World but ended up as nothing more than a penal colony. A place where the exiled are sent to die.

Motivated by revenge, Magnus sets out on a quest to bring his own justice to his enemies. For that purpose, he is willing to go further than most others.
But then he learns that if he truly wishes to change things, he can only find his answers beyond the gate.

Having lived most of her life as an exile, Astra is a woman of few interests aside from survival and climbing the ranks of her clan.
To achieve those goals, she certainly won't be squeamish when a chance literally falls into her lap, or will she?

———————————————————————————————

I am trying to go with a survival/medieval setting in this one. People from a technologically advanced society are thrown into a world where they can't maintain their tech. They are forced to rely on medieval technology where they have to make do with the limited resources they have and what little of their old technology is still working. Their gene manipulation allows them to have something akin to superpowers, but that doesn't help much against the monsters of their new world. Not sure yet whether sufficiently advanced technology will be discovered later on to count as magic.

———————————————————————————————

Author's Comment:

I was asked about reading my work on other sites. The answer is simple: Currently, I am not active in any other networks than royalroadl.com. Only here, I correct mistakes and errors. If you read it anywhere else and have to pay for it or have to deal with an annoying amount of advertisement, You Are Being Betrayed. You would do good if you make other people in that network aware of it. This is a free project of mine for the purpose of having fun. And if people try to make money with it you shouldn't bother visiting their website. The only one whom I actually allowed to have my work on his website is Armaell who invested the time to compile them into pdf. (http://armaell-library.net/author/andur) 

A man has been brought back to life for a fell purpose. He inhabits the body of a ghoul: a lesser undead being. He must kill and eat, both to accrue power for himself and to serve the purposes of the mysterious woman who summoned him.

WARNING: This novel is not suitable for underage or otherwise susceptible readers. Take the tags seriously.

In the deepest reaches of the Bone Pits, a canine seemingly like any other woke up in the ruined remains of a wooden box.

With knowledge it shouldn't have, fleeting memories it couldn't reach, and the icy grasp of death crawling up its spine with every labored breath, it simply wished to live another day.

Yet, in the bowels of a city built on metal corpses, nothing was ever simple.

Gangs, religious groups, loose collectives, Dungeon Barons, highborn and cultists alike all battle for supremacy in the industrial underbelly of Carmera, blind to what prowls below.

For in the writhing clouds of smog none peer into, in the murky, frothing depths of the sumps that none approach, in the deepest reaches of the Dungeon that none but the mentally deranged dare challenge, the last wolf rakes its claws through steel and howls to a distant sky.

Are you tired of fun monster evolution stories where the monster becomes increasingly less monstrous, and eventually they're just a more spicy version of a human and it stops being a monster evolution story?

Well, i am.

So- insert thanos meme where he says "fine, i'll do it myself"

PS: Pacing is a bit slow, and speed-reading will just confuse you in certain points. 

(The art in the book cover was made by me editing an extremely talented artist's render and adding things to it. The artist is named Chloe Bt, and she allowed me permission to use her render as the main ingredient to my book cover, because she's fucking awesome. Many thanks, and check her stuff out, she's really talented.) 

Book 1 is now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited and Audible.

A Dungeons and Dragons inspired adventure with a realism-focused spin on gamelit.

Hump grew up believing his master was nothing but an ordinary hedge wizard. However when the old man unexpectedly dies, his book of spells binds to Hump’s soul. Now without a master, Hump sets off to find his place in the world, to discover the secrets of magic, and to understand the Book of Infinite Pages.

Book 1 and 2 are now complete.

Updates Tuesday and Saturday.

Discord: https://discord.gg/RNJWmVJVwx

 Derrick is no ones hero.  He is barely dealing with his mundane life when all of humanity is forced to confront the extraordinary. Overnight, all across the world, mysterious machines appear. They offer people the chance to purchase almost anything they can think of. Weapons, medicine and even super human abilities are offered, seemingly for free.

But following these machines, come the Scourges. The most dangerous creatures, diseases and machines that infest the universe. Ever growing and battling, these empires of horror and hunger will overhelm and devour the Earth and its inhabitants. Unless Derrick and humanity can stand against all the horrors that battle between the stars.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

My first Story, an attempt to turn the standard fantasy litrpg apocalypse into a Sci Fi. Trying for a slower build to power for the MC, so don't expect him to have cheat powers. I delight in helpful crticism so no holding back plz.

For millennia the demon lords known as the Goetia enslaved the human race, until a group of mortals known as the Archons received divine blessings of power and overthrew them. Under their dominion mankind flourished, though the war in the shadows never ended. A thousand years later, sixteen-year-old Leones' family is executed for the crime of heresy. Burned to death for questioning whether the Archon of Flames is a divine being, and whether any of the Archons truly are. 

After manifesting the power to control time, Leones survives and embarks on an uncertain journey for power and revenge. But if he is to overcome a god, he may need some help. Along the way he will discover the truth behind the demon lords, time, and reality itself, as he walks along the razor path. 

Artwork is used with permission from the creator, @chinfongart.

Updated on Tuesdays and Saturdays

What you can expect:

 The year is 1329, and the Horns of the Apocalypse are about to sound.

In a small Scottish town, a young boy begins a journey from a carpenter's apprentice to one of the most powerful forces in the Host of the Heavens.

His Journey: A path of adversity lies before him, spanning from the Scottish Borders to the Spanish Reconquista, the Holy Land, and Realms beyond. 

His Ascension: An unceasing trial, where one misstep may condemn his soul. Our hero must discover a path of progress and conquest over mythical beasts, hordes of demons, and the other fell beings created by the System for the Tribulation of Mankind. 

His Tribulation: Will he live by the Words of God, be guided by his own intent, or will other forces claim him for their own ends?

His Fate: ...

Is yet to be determined.

Discover the wonder of the Tribulation Apocalypse in Chapter one of the Echoes of the Tribulation: an Historical Apocalypse LitRPG Series.

Current Schedule : On Hiatus.

Updates expected to begin again around October.

Thanks for reading!

Ian Dunai is trapped in the only maze an arch-decemancer can't escape.

Time.

Only 1% of the population is blessed with magic affinity at birth. Fewer still have high enough affinities to rule. Ian’s decemancy eclipses all, granting him ultimate control over Death. He conquers cities with a thought and turns them into ruins with a gesture. But overwhelming power isn’t enough to escape the time loop or reveal its purpose.

When Ian discovers a critical clue that he missed years ago, escape is finally at his fingertips.

Little does he know, it's only the first realm.

Release schedule: 2 chapters/week (Mon/Fri at 11:30 AM EST).

Book 1, The Menocht Loop, is complete at ~100k words (~370 pages; chapters 1-41).

Book 2, The False Ascendant, is complete at ~110k words (chapters 42-83)

After being on Royal Road for nearly 20 months, Book 1 came down from Royal Road on Nov 17th, 2021, and Book 2 came down on Feb 8th 2022. Please consider buying the books on Amazon. The first 10% of book 1 and book 2, respectively, are still available to read on Royal Road so you can try before you buy. DM me if you want to read the books but do not have the financial means to purchase them.

Book 3, The Eldemari's Wrath, is complete at ~145k words (chapters 84-143)

Book 4, The Samsara Crucible, is complete at ~165k words (chapters 144-211).

Book 5, The Seed of Chaos, is ongoing (chapters 212 and on).

Constructive criticism welcome.

Join the discord.

Vote on Top Web Fiction!

View the wiki.

Cover art by the very talented Jeff Brown. (Higher res version here; 3840 x 2400 ultra high res wallpaper version here)

Once a powerful and lauded witch, Ba'an salu-Ba'an now lives alone in a cave in the desert, waiting to die. When she rescues an outlander from certain death she becomes embroiled in a deadly game of politics and empire, of heart and soul, but worst of all--of hope and love and a chance at a peaceful future. 

Can a disgraced witch find a reason to live her life again--and if so, what price must she pay? 

The Stormcrow Cycle is a trilogy comprising of The Exile, The Lion, and Abomination. Tags or genres for each book: 

The Exile: romance, slice-of-life

The Lion: romance, slice-of-life, politics

Abomination: tragedy, high/epic fantasy (aka "Everything is on fire!")

Updates once a week whenever I have time. Cross-posted on Wattpad and Scribble Hub. The CBMokedi cover will return! 

Excerpt: 

She looked down at him again. Young. Healthy, from what she could see, except for the wound that was killing him. He was handsome in a way that suggested a life of wealth and plenty. She did not think he had ever starved.

Someone important.

Her shadow fell across him, and he frowned. Blearily, he opened his eyes. They were amber and bright, even as he lay dying in the dirt. She could feel his soul, blazing inside of him like a fire refusing to die even as his body began to fail.

He met her gaze, eyes widening in what she guessed was surprise—or shock. But he never looked away, staring up at her as though transfixed.

Ba’an made her decision. She raised her hand and covered his eyes.

In another moment, a murder of crows cawed as they took wing. The man and woman were gone from the road, leaving only the dead staring up into the sky.

Note: This is a high-fantasy set in a low-magic world. The first book is largely character-driven and we really only hit the real plot in Book II, so if you're not fond of long epic yarns you ought to skip this one. I also don't include trigger warnings, but mind the "traumatizing content" tag--all societies minus one practice slavery and the world is indeed, rather grim!