Emerilia Box Set Read online

  Table of Contents

  Emerilia Series Box Set 1-3

  Emerilia

  Chapter 1: The Perfect Life

  Chapter 2: Start

  Chapter 3: Taking in the View

  Chapter 4: An Administrator’s Boredom

  Chapter 5: Laying the First Timber

  Chapter 6: Coming Together

  Chapter 7: Foundation

  Chapter 8: Meeting the Neighbors

  Chapter 9: Oddities

  Chapter 10: Welcome to the Real World

  Chapter 11: Time to Train

  Chapter 12: Bleeder

  Chapter 13: Questions and Answers

  Chapter 14: The Road to Omal

  Chapter 15: Gravity is a Bitch

  Chapter 16: Unexpected Encounter

  Chapter 17: Long Time, No...Training

  Chapter 18: Back to Basics

  Chapter 19: Who You Gonna Call? Trollbusters!

  Reward: 2000XP

  Chapter 20: Dun Dun Duuuu-ungeon!

  Chapter 21: Making Circuits

  Chapter 22: Check Up

  Chapter 23: Dark Machinations

  Chapter 1: Silver

  Chapter 2: Impatience

  Chapter 3: Ruuumble Pantheon Style

  Chapter 4: Patrol

  Chapter 5: Turmoil

  Chapter 6: Fools

  Chapter 7: Teach Me

  Chapter 8: A Mixing of Metals

  Chapter 9: Report

  Chapter 10: Taking a Breath

  Chapter 11: Fighting Pairs

  Chapter 12: Date Night, Emerilia Style

  Chapter 13: Tournie

  Chapter 14: Fight Night

  Chapter 15: Behind Closed Doors

  Chapter 16: Semi-Finals

  Chapter 17: Finals

  Chapter 18: Reception With a God

  Chapter 19: Ain’t Nothing Like a Tailgate Party

  Chapter 20: Malsour and Induca

  Chapter 21: Grit Your Teeth

  Chapter 22: Settling in for the Winter

  Chapter 23: A Teacher’s Pride

  Chapter 24: What Lies Below

  Chapter 25: Experiments

  Chapter 26: Mobilization

  Chapter 27: Feast of Thanks

  Chapter 28: Thinking About the Future

  Chapter 29: Starting Off On the Right Foot

  Chapter 30: Breakthrough

  Chapter 31: War Drum

  Chapter 32: Darkest Night

  Chapter 33: Forward

  Chapter 34: Death Walks in the Shadows of Night

  Chapter 35: Woman of Flames

  Chapter 36: Dragons Return

  Chapter 37: Absolute Darkness

  Chapter 38: Aftermath

  Chapter 39: Reckoning

  In Alphabetical order | Ankol

  Boran-Al

  Alastair Montgoa

  Barry

  Cassie

  Dark Lord

  Dasano

  Akatol Dracul

  Denur Dracul

  Gelimah Dracul

  Fornau Dracul

  Induca Dracul

  Kinal Dracul

  Louna Dracul

  Malsour Dracul

  Quindar Dracul

  Wokui Dracul

  Xednai Dracul

  Gorpal Dunsk

  Earth Lord

  Edmur

  Edwards

  Edwin

  Endur

  Esa

  Lord Esamael

  Ela-Gal

  Ela-Dorn

  Fend

  Geswald

  David Grahslagg

  Josh Giles

  Gimel

  Gorrund

  Goula

  Gurren

  Helick

  Kim Isdola

  Ishox

  Arch-Mage Jekoni

  Jeeves

  Jeremy

  Jesal

  Jules

  Joko

  Anna’Kal

  Lo'kal

  Kino

  Kol

  Lady of Air

  Lady of Fire

  Lady of Light

  Lena

  Lovan

  Lox

  Suzy Markell

  Max

  Meda

  Melanie

  Melhoun

  Mikal

  Oson'Deia

  Penelope

  Pete

  Queen Farun

  Queen Mendari Selhi

  Quino

  Rola

  Sato/Communications officer Sato

  Emperor Talis

  Tounk

  Deceased. | Demon Prince Alkao/Alkao Travezar

  Dwayne Trebault

  Venfik

  Lucy Vernia

  Vrexu

  Water Lord

  Austin Zane

  Wis'Zel

  Book 2

  Emerilia

  In Alphabetical order | Ankol

  Boran-Al

  Cassie

  Dark Lord

  Dasano

  Akatol Dracul

  Denur Dracul

  Gelimah Dracul

  Fornau Dracul

  Induca Dracul

  Kinal Dracul

  Louna Dracul

  Malsour Dracul

  Quindar Dracul

  Wokui Dracul

  Xednai Dracul

  Gorpal Dunsk

  Earth Lord

  Edmur

  Endur

  Esa

  Fend

  David Grahslagg

  Josh Giles

  Gorrund

  Gurren

  Helick

  Kim Isdola

  Arch-Mage Jekoni

  Jesal

  Jules

  Joko

  Anna’Kal

  Lo'kal

  Kol

  Lady of Air

  Lady of Fire

  Lady of Light

  Lovan

  Lox

  Suzy Markell

  Max

  Melhoun

  Mikal

  Oson'Deia

  Quino

  Tounk

  Deceased. | Demon Prince Alkao/Alkao Travezar

  Dwayne Trebault

  Lucy Vernia

  Water Lord

  Austin Zane

  Wis'Zel

  Book 3

  Emerilia

  In Alphabetical order | Ankol

  Boran-Al

  Cassie

  Dark Lord

  Dasano

  Akatol Dracul

  Denur Dracul

  Gelimah Dracul

  Fornau Dracul

  Induca Dracul

  Kinal Dracul

  Louna Dracul

  Malsour Dracul

  Quindar Dracul

  Wokui Dracul

  Xednai Dracul

  Gorpal Dunsk

  Earth Lord

  Edmur

  Endur

  Esa

  Fend

  David Grahslagg

  Josh Giles

  Gorrund

  Gurren

  Helick

  Kim Isdola

  Arch-Mage Jekoni

  Jesal

  Jules

  Joko

  Anna’Kal

  Lo’kal

  Kol

  Lady of Air

  Lady of Fire

  Lady of Light

  Lovan

  Lox

  Suzy Markell

  Max

  Melhoun

  Mikal

  Oson’Deia

  Quino

  Tounk

  Deceased. | Demon Prince Alkao/Alkao Travezar

  Dwayne Trebault

  Lucy Vernia

  Water Lord

  Austin Zane

  Wis’Zel

&
nbsp; Want a bigger map of Emerilia and the continents? Check out http://theeternalwriter.deviantart.com/

  Character Sheet is located in the back of the book for reference.

  Emerilia

  The Trapped Mind Project

  Unshackled

  Prologue

  Ja’sheem looked to Lo’kal. They were both Jukal, the ruling sentients of the Empire. To a Human Jukal looked like large bipedal frogs with fur along their stomachs and the back of their head down to their legs. The Empire was the largest known organization of sentient creatures working together.

  For the most part, other sentients welcomed working with them to further the Empire and their own systems. However, there were other civilizations that preferred to fight instead of working together.

  They were called aggressive species, creatures that lived for violence. Despite the danger of aggressive species, the true threat to the Empire was from fractured species.

  Until the Empire had discovered Humans, they had only been a theoretical possibility.

  There was no one unifying item or direction for the race; they fought one another and other sentients over the smallest items. One group would accept the Empire’s terms. Another would raid their merchants.

  The Emperor had put down an edict. Humanity was to be given a purpose or be destroyed.

  It had taken twenty years for the Jukal Empire to push humanity back to their home system.

  Instead of clearing the system of the race, the Jukal Empire had been forced to destroy the entire system, sacrificing two habitable worlds.

  Humanity’s home system ceased to exist, wiped out from the universe. Still humanity had survived in hidden developments and other planets they’d colonized. Clearing humanity from the stars had taken the work of multiple Jukal fleets.

  The toll had been heavy for the Jukal Empire.

  Humanity might have only had a few solar systems but they had been vicious and effective fighters.

  When all of humanity’s planets and outposts had been destroyed, the Jukal Empire found themselves beset on all sides by aggressive species that wished to bring about their destruction. Their fleets, weak after fighting a protracted war with humanity was cut in half and would need years before they could reach their pre-war strength.

  Ja’sheem was Regent Admiral in the Emperor’s stead, overseeing the removal of any and all aggressive species that threatened the Empire. If he didn’t come up with a plan to deal with the aggressive species then the different species would wear at what remained of his forces until there were no fleets left.

  Ja’sheem once again studied Lo’kal, a brilliant scientist who had worked with humanity before the war had broken out. He was also the only person offering a legitimate way to push back the aggressive species. Even if his plan sounded like insanity itself.

  Ja’sheem sat back in his hovering chair, mist fell over him, wetting his fur.

  “So your plan is to get a bunch of humans, grow them into different demi-human groups. Then make them fight the Aggressive species?”

  “Essentially, though there will be more controls in place so that we can watch over the population,” Lo’kal said.

  “Okay, just how in the seven stars are we going to control them?” Ja’sheem asked.

  “We get them to play a game.” Lo’kal’s eyes flickered in amusement, his frog-like mouth unable to show emotions.

  Purple mist sprayed down on their bodies as Ja’sheem stared at the other Jukal.

  “How?” In for a krAes, in for a GoA, Ja’sheem thought.

  “Humans love to play games. Before the war, they were playing massive multiplayer immersive virtual reality games,” Lo’kal said.

  “The same simulators that allowed them to prepare for battle when they weren’t even in combat?” Ja’sheem’s eyes thinned in anger.

  “Exactly!” Lo’kal seemed too excited to care for Ja’sheem’s anger. “They would play these games in an entirely fictional place, for entertainment. They’d get things called quests, to kill or find items. There were even special events that garnered massive attention, like the addition of new enemies or regions to explore.”

  “And?”

  “Well, it’s the answer!” Lo’kal said.

  “What is?” Ja’sheem sighed, feeling the need to hit the supposedly brilliant scientist in front of him.

  “We make a game, the biggest one ever, and we let the Humans play.” Lo’kal said it as though it was obvious.

  “So we put them on a planet and get them to play games? I don’t see how that helps us with the aggressive species?” Ja’sheemasked.

  “No, no. Okay, so Humans want to escape boredom—we make a game that makes them bored, a simulation of Earth. They interact, going through their lives, going to work, coming home from work, having kids, retirement, and dying.”

  “Does not sound like an interesting simulation,” Ja’sheem said.

  Lo’kal glared at Ja’sheem for the interruption.

  “Exactly. It’s not fun, so they play games—they go to a fantasy world filled with other Humans and creatures that have been born and raised there. We open a portal and the Humans go to fight the new aggressive species.” Lo’kal looked to Ja’sheem, who was now thoroughly confused.

  “Huh?”

  “We grow them, hook them up to a simulation of Earth, have behavioral AI that change the environment around them to make them more likely to play videogames. When they ‘play’ the video game, they’re exiting the simulation and entering reality. To them they will have a gaming interface and using nanites we can turn them into creatures able to kill the other aggressive species through ‘leveling up’. With quests and events we can guide them into attacking the aggressive species. In a game humans let most of their inhibitors go, they will kill without care and they will kill a lot,” Lo’kal said.

  “So the game is real, and their reality on Earth is a simulation?” Ja’sheem said.

  Its going to take a lot of damn work, but if it works then we could have a planet of humans ready to kill for us.

  “Exactly! The Humans can level up their abilities and bodies through our technology. We use scouts and reports to make new events for aggressive species. Then we can create portals to other planets where the other aggressive species are and the Humans will do our work for us,” Lo’kal said.

  Ja’sheem leaned forward in his chair as more mist sprayed.

  “That would be a large project.” Could it succeed? And if it did? His mind reeled with the possibility to use the Humans’ own tenacity against the other aggressive species.

  They would never know, dumb and ignorant of the truth surrounding their existence.

  “Yes, it would be,” Lo’kal agreed. “Though the possibilities are endless. The Humans might even augment our own abilities with their knowledge and meddling. They would be able to fight for generations. If they could respawn...”

  “You want to give them the ability to respawn?” Ja’sheem yelled. The technology was advanced, allowing a person to respawn time and time again with their new knowledge and abilities uploaded into their body at its peak condition.

  “They’d be able to fight an enemy again and again, knowing more each time. We wouldn’t just be making this world for one time. If we ever have another aggressive species, we activate a new batch of Humans. They wake up, fight the aggressive species; then we cull them. This could solve our issues with aggressive species forever.”

  Ja’sheem looked at the roof of his Imperial carrier. If Lo’kal’s plan worked, then the men and women who fought under him would be saved, replacing their lives with the lives of the Humans.

  Respawning after a combat experience usually turned people into useless vegetables, the trauma too great.

  If the Humans could get past that, then they could come back again and again, better prepared to face their enemy every time.

  “When Humans are in the game, they let their inhibitions fall away. They allow themselves to act on their impulses. Often tha
t means going out and destroying something. In reality, humans didn’t like killing things. In games, they’re fine with killing entire civilizations if they get a reward,” Lo’kal added to his argument.

  Ja’sheem stroked the fur on his bloated chest with his webbed hands.

  “Fine, we will test it. What do you want to call it?” Ja’sheem said, either it would work, or they’d just kill all the humans they’d grown.

  “Emerilia,” Lo’kal said.

  Trapped Mind. A cold look passed through Ja’sheem’s eyes.

  ***

  Lo’kal looked down at the planet that was already taking shape.

  It had taken eight years but finally the first seeders which would turn the simple planet below into Emerilia were breaking atmosphere.

  A fleet of merchant ships and the 3rd Jukal Fleet watched as dozens of seeders were launched from the merchant ships, hitting the planet’s atmosphere and creating streaks of light across its skies.

  Lo’kal looked at the planet that he would essentially create and maintain. The responsibility of the whole thing would be on his shoulders.

  As he’d worked on his project, he’d come to know the Humans’ history in detail.

  He’d never been that interested in history, rather looking for innovations. The Humans’ ability to create and invent was what drove him to make Emerilia.

  It was a way to keep their smarts alive and their innovations flowing.

  Killing the Humans was one option and one that many were still pressing for. After all, there were still human fleets out there, hitting the Empire’s planets and their merchant shipping. The Jukal Empire had dealt with bandits and aggressors in their infancy. As they had grown more powerful, bandits learned that no one went up against a Jukal warship and survived—that was, until the Humans came along.

  Their ships weren’t the fastest, but their weapons were the best. Where the Jukal adapted their science into weapons, the Humans took weapons and turned them into a science. They fought with nukes that could cause planets to burn and rail cannons that could puncture a Jukal Destroyer’s armor with a few dozen hits.

  The Jukal had similar weapons but they’d never needed to invest in things like anti-missile defense or modular ships. A single breach could be the end of a ship and they had little to no way to defend against the missile spread of a human ship. Each of their small nukes was as strong as the Jukal’s biggest.

  At first, the Jukal hunted down the bandits who had attacked their merchant shipping and raided their planets. The problem was that the Humans were good at hiding and when the Jukal Empire demanded certain people from some groups of the Humans, they flat out refused them and allowed bandits to hide behind their nations.

  The Humans weren’t killing people; they were just stealing their tech to come to understand it more. It wasn’t just simple pirates, but human worlds were funding them to gain a greater understanding of the Jukal Empire’s power and their technology.