sunslammers posts
Posts: 171
Files: 2
1.138
The Young GriffonViolence told a story. This I’d known for my entire life. My time outside the Rosy Dawn had challenged countless other preconceptions, but this one it had only reinforced. It was only in the heat of our most violent moments that we bared our hearts to one another in full. Not because we desired it, necessarily, but because we had no other choice. Every day of my life had hammered that point deeper home. Even this day. Especially this day.We exchanged discourse with our broken Heroes while the Sanctuary City fell, and that vio...
1.137 [Scythas]
Scythas, Hero of the Scything SquallThere’s still time, but less and less.You have the stronger heart.He isn’t what you thought he was. You can bring him down.You can defeat him.You must defeat him.This is your only chance.My dear hero, you have to move.You have to fight!You have to do it now-!The spear plunged straight through his heart, yet it hardly hurt at all. The Scarlet Oracle’s eyes burned scarlet, glaring into his, and the world spun around him. Scythas was flung, fell, and skipped across marble like a stone over still water. The...
1.136 [The Tyrant Riot]
The time has come and so have I.Book 2 of Virtuous Sons,The Tyrant Riot, is now available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.Same drill as before - paperback and hardcover editions (with unique hardcover art) will be available as soon as Amazon clears them for print, hopefully within the week. Book 2willbe receiving an audio book adaptation in the same style as the first, but it'll take a bit longer this time around. I'll keep you all posted as that one develops.As always, a review is worth its weight in gold. A few words to let the Kindle ...
The Tyrant Riot [PDF/EPUB]
It's nearly that time again - once book two is live on Kindle Unlimited, I'll be taking down all of the chapters covered on Royal Road, SpaceBattles, QuestionableQuesting, and Patreon. For those of you seeing this before the launch, help yourselves to one of the press copies attached below.If you're reading this after April 6th 2023 and there are no press copies attached, swing by the discord (https://discord.gg/virtuoussons) and we'll get you sorted out.Two days to go. See ya boys then.
1.135
When the Despoiled Queen of the Amazons let fly her blind arrow, starry night seeped through the skies above the City of Olympia and beyond it. For those unfortunate enough to still be in the city, it was an instantaneous shift. For those that had taken the Raging Heaven Cult’s earlier unrest for the warning that it was, fleeing the city with their most valuable possessions bundled up in carts and carried on their backs, the sunset lights were ripped away like a tablecloth to reveal the dark heavens behind it. Further beyond that, on the Ioni...
1.134 [Son of Scarlet Sin]
I watched the dawn break over scarlet waves. The sinful tang of sacred wine coated my tongue.Four years old. I was so small that holding my cup with both hands was a necessity as much as it was an act of reverence, the wide-rimmed skyphos comically large compared to me. While the rest of the hopeful initiates and senior mystikos waded out several stades into the Ionian, I stood just deep enough for the ebbing sea to wet my feet. When the gentle waves came in, they crested at my waist.The kykeon burned, branding my throat and searing my insides ...
1.133 [Note: This is an edited repost]
As the title says, this is the second part of the 10k chapter that I posted earlier last week. I've since decided to split 1.132 into two chapters for future release, and this is the second half of it. Apologies for the false alarm, but this is a more carefully edited version of the chapter you read before. The first half of it, 1.132, has similarly been updated to reflect various grammar and syntax changes. Should be a much smoother read now.Hoping to have chapter 1.134 published either tomorrow or the day after. As always, thank you for y...
1.132
The Son of RomeThe first instant nearly killed us.Polyzalus was the Rein-Holder, and he had proven that epithet well-earned when Dymas confronted him. Unspoken, yet plainly implied, was the fact that a charioteer only needed one hand to hold his reins. The other hand carried his whip.Stripped of half his dominion and challenged in his own throne of power, the Tyrant still moved faster than any of his peers. I didn’t need to look back to feel the dread heat of his rising hatred. I could feel it on my back and in my tripartite soul, a burning b...
1.131 [Ethos]
A small eternity after the Son of Rome and the Young Griffon come charging out of the immortal storm crown that hangs above Kaukoso Mons, six Heroic souls come tumbling out after them. Four Heroes and two Heroines, each of them marked by the raven’s hand.All six of them are brimming with vitality and joyous defiance. Through the efforts of one, all six have been given the once in a lifetime opportunity to drink from divinity’s cup. Each of them has suffered terrible injuries, but only one of them has the wounds to show for it. The rest of t...
1.130 [An Unkindness]
“One was more than enough.”An UnkindnessThe Scarlet City falls fully into chaos by the time the Rosy Dawn’s pillars emerge from their closed doors cultivation.The people of the valley are crude souls by and large. Citizens enjoy places of prominence in the city’s bureaucracy, such is their supremacy, and whenever a philosopher’s sets foot in the city’s humble agora it is nearly a certainty that they will be a scholar of the city’s greater mystery cults. In Alikos, as is the case in most every city state aside from the Coast, the p...
1.129
The Son of RomeThe Oracle’s blade was adamant-wrought. It plunged through her throat without any resistance, parting flesh and cartilage as if it wasn’t there at all. Calliope’s breath hitched as she weakly twisted the knife-I caught her wrist and pressed my thumb against the flat face of the dagger’s hilt, locking it in place. The Oracle choked on a sob and jerked her head sideways, seeking to tear the knife out sideways one way or another. I palmed the golden crown of her head and held her fast. Her eyes quivered as she stared up at m...
1.128 [Selene]
SeleneHer father wasn’t a monster.He wasn’t a good man either, and oh, that had stung the first time she acknowledged it. But Selene wasn’t naïve. She had seen too much of him reflected in the hearts of those that sought her counsel. Some said it was impossible for a cultivator to enter the fourth realm without being tainted by its trappings, and eventually Selene had been forced to admit her father was no exception to that rule.That wasn’t all there was to him, though. The man known to some as the First Son to Burn, the kyrios to othe...
1.127
The Son of Rome“You’ve done well,” the Hero said. Both Griffon and I stared at the towering cultivator, utterly thrown, and he laughed. “Not what you expected?”“Not quite,” I said warily.“We haven’t made many friends here,” Griffon added.The Hero chuckled, eyes crinkling in fond recollection. “No, you’ve made a beautiful mess of this place. It’s to be expected that the bees won’t be happy when you kick their hive. If you ask me, though, the schemers deserve every gray hair you’ve given them.”Griffon relaxed ever ...
1.127
The Son of RomeThe melee grew more chaotic the further down the mountain we went. The junior estates for the youngest and least of the Raging Heaven’s mystikos came and went, and soon enough I saw that it was more than just my own shaky coalition at war on this mountain. I had hoped otherwise, but deep in my gut I’d known. The initiates of the Howling Wind, Broken Tide, Waning Wax, and Scattered Foam had made it furthest up the mountain, but they were not alone.I sprinted through the fork that joined our winding path to the primary steps, t...
1.126 (part 1?)
The Son of Rome“GO!” the Titan roared, as the phoenix of the caucuses savaged him with its talons-“SEEK SAFER SHORES,” the Titan commanded, as the legions of Rome fell screaming up into the sky.We raced down the mountain without a moment’s pause for the Storm That Never Ceased. Our steps were bounding, our energy overflowing. The tribulation hounds that pursued us in our descent were met with Griffon’s lightning limbs and the tip of my celestial spear. Our momentum was unstoppable, as much within as it was without. The Titan Flame...
1.125 [Nikolas Aetos]
The Stark Blade, Nikolas AetosSomehow, even now, the image that appeared when Niko called to mind his cousins was a single night from years ago. The night they’d carved their refuge out of the eastern mountain range had been a warm one, the full moon and its chorus of stars burning bright over their heads.It was Niko that did the bulk of the work, though Lio carved out more than his fair share and the rest of them chipped away as much as they could. When all was said and done they had a cavern of their own making, just large enough to fit the...
VS 1.123+4 [Libertas]
Hero of the Scything Squall, ScythasHe raised the pewter cup to his lips-And paused before it could touch them. He stared down at his golden reflection in the nectar.“Hero?” Urania’s remnant statue whispered, puzzled.The roads ahead of you are long. Drink of my drink, young Scythas, and be strong.Spiraling beyond the Muse’s stone cage, five starlight paths still shimmered in his mind’s eye. Some parallel, others below - none higher than his own place on the mountain.“May I borrow this cup?”Urania’s stone lips curled.—Though yo...
1.122
—Then, in the morning, once again the sun will melt the frost.—The Young GriffonOn the day of my first Thargelia, when I was still young enough to fear the kiss of a burning flame, my father had broken with the Rosy Dawn’s traditions and allowed me to sit on his lap and watch the proceedings of the festival with him. I hadn’t understood why this was such a scandalous act at the time, but in retrospect it was obvious.On this holiday above all others, the kyrios was both judge and jury. He was justice. Allowing a child to sit that throne ...
1.121
Bigs thanks to all of you that went out and picked up a copy of the ebook/paperback/hardcover/audiobook. Truly blessed by the response, and can only hope this story continues to deliver for you boys.NaNoWriMo begins today, and though I didn't manage to wrap this sequence up in a single 10-12k monster chapter like I'd originally planned, I figured I've made you wait long enough. It's never going to be perfect so it might as well be done. Did my best with it anyway. Hope ya enjoy it.---The Young GriffonA Titan is to an Olympian as...
1.120 [KINDLE RELEASE IS LIVE]
MY FELLOW DEGENERATES.VIRTUOUS SONS IS NOW AVAILABLE ON KINDLE.We made it, boys. Book one of Virtuous Sons has officially launched on Amazon and is available in ebook (for outright purchase or Kindle Unlimited) as well as paperback (pending Amazon's approval). In a couple weeks it will also be available in hardcover and audiobook, which is going to be exceptional.I can’t thank you all enough for sticking with the story through all its myriad trials and tribulations, and I’m doubly thankful to all my patrons that have made it possible to...
1.119 [An Unkindness]
BIG thanks to Pineapple_Hugs and Lungs for helping edit this one after writing it fried my brain. Enjoy.“A raven carries tribulation in its talons. It has ever been so, since the last of the bright birds brought the sun god word of his lover’s infidelity and were scorched black by his grief.“One midnight messenger is tragedy enough. Any more than that is nothing but a curse. After a certain point, a pile of tragedies becomes its own cruel comedy.“A gathering of ravens is nothing less than-”An UnkindnessThe city of Olympia, known to so...
1.118
The Son of Rome“There are four stages to this synthesis. Four that I’ve observed, at any rate - four phases that the kyrios could compress into a single pour. We’ll have to use a furnace.”Socrates hadn’t wasted a moment. As soon as I’d surrendered the golden cup of wine to him, he’d pulled a squat stone furnace from a fold within his rags and heaved it down over an open flame.“Greater men than you and I have tried and failed to make reason of this drink. The kyrios shared it only sparingly, and those he shared it with could hard...
1.117 [The Young Miss-tocrat]
The Young Miss-tocratTime passed, but slower every day.Niko had promised them, promised her, that he would find a way to get them a ship and their uncle’s permission to sail it east towards Olympia. He had promised to prepare them for the journey ahead, and in that regard he had tried. But the journey was what mattered most, and every day that passed it seemed just a bit further away.Lydia knew she had to be patient. She knew that her chances of bringing Griffon home were far greater with Niko and his crew there to support her. More than that...
1.116
The Young GriffonThree Heroes came to me in the aftermath of Alazon’s shameful defeat, and all three produced a letter written by a Roman’s heavy hand.Sol had given each of them a destination to search when he first reached out to them through Sorea. All three of them had rejected our grand mission in the aftermath of Chilon’s story, but Sol had given them the information anyway. He’d given them the option, as well as time to consider it. As it turned out, that had been enough for Alyssa and Kyno to change their minds.It didn’t amount...
1.115 [Caesar's Edict]
“A young maiden is foraging in the woods one blind night. She’s about your age, and, oh, about your size. With eyes and mind as pure as moonlight. She is too kind to hunt, you see, but her hunger won’t be sated by kindness. While she scraps and scuffles for whatever fruits the earth has left behind for her, she finds herself a wolf.“Or, perhaps more likely, the wolf finds itself a maiden.“It is a massive beast with cruel fangs and claws the length of knives. But those fangs are stained by wolf blood, and those claws are chipped and br...
1.114 [The Caustic Queen] (Pt.3)
The Caustic Queen“Who are you, really?”The Young Griffon asked the question without suspicion or any particular heat, and his pneuma did not stir from its work - but neither did he take the small clay jar from her outstretched hand. She leaned closer with it, waving the cloth-covered top under his nose so he could smell the sweet gold therein. He ignored it. Humming, she pulled back and knelt across from him.Between them, a cultivator lay wheezing in the cool sands of the Olympic Stadium’s arena pit. The man appeared young enough, in his ...
1.114 [The Caustic Queen] (Pt.2)
The Caustic QueenThe Roman’s name was Solus. She had never seen him before the kyrios’ funeral because he’d never stepped foot in the Half-Step City before that day. He’d brought a student with him, a young Philosopher just as young as him that called himself Griffon. They both wore the scarlet cult attire of the Rosy Dawn Cult.There was no place in the city of Olympia for an agent of Damon Aetos, to say nothing of a Roman. Few would notice their passing, and none would mourn it. If anything, the Burning Dusk would thank her for her eff...
1.114 [The Caustic Queen] (Pt.1)
[PATREON NOTE: This chapter was released to everyone because of the egregious hiatus since the last, but subsequent chapters will be released ahead of time on here. I can’t apologize enough for these last two months, and I can’t thank you all enough either for continuing to support me in spite of that. I appreciate you all, and hope to drown you in words going forward.]§The world is iron. It has been aeons since the Patriarch sequestered himself behind closed doors in the pursuit of greater insight. First the seasons passed, and then the ...
June Schedule Announcement
Figured it would be a good idea to make this a separate post.I mentioned it in the public forums, but here's the lowdown for you boys: I'm going to be spending the month of June and hopefully no longer than that filling out the backlog here and otherwise posting public chapters once a week as opposed to the usual three.I've been struggling with productivity recently, and while I've had my theories on the ultimate root cause, I'm beginning to suspect a large part of it is this looming specter of THE BACKLOG which I've bee...
1.113
The Young GriffonViolence told a story.The Young Aristocrat of the Raging Heaven Cult stepped into my octagon of swords and immediately moved to end the fight. He didn’t bother shedding his twice-bronzed silks - naturally, he didn’t need a naked fighter’s mobility to beat me. He didn’t wait for my word or the word of a third party to start the match - of course, I’d forfeited all courtesies when I treated him as my lesser. And most importantly, he didn’t present his wrists to be clapped in iron chains, as was the standard for Heroes...
