Frostfire Legacy - Chapter 35: Against Goblin Party

I am currently re-writing the first chapters of this story. They are quite rough and bounce around a lot and I can do better. At some point, I will replace these with the better chapters.Sometime in 2024 Aethon Books will publish the first volume of this story on Amazon, KU, and audible. This will mean the story will be stubbed. I will notify people far in advance of that.In the dystopian world of the future, life is rough when you live at the bottom. Jobs are non-existent. Far too many people live in poverty, crammed into huge buildings called Habitats. With no jobs in the real world, many people can only find work online in VR worlds as servants to the very rich. And it's getting worse. The old internet is unusable and hacked to pieces. The new system needs AI to run things, but all but one of them were destroyed. The last sentient AI is ordered to create a new game world so the rich can have a playground, and the corporations that rule the world can have a new global market place. Everyone wants a piece of the new game. The guilds are competing to be the first to find the dungeons and kill the biggest monster. The corporations are claiming land and putting in their online market places. Ozzy and his friends just want a paycheck.Four friends sign five year contracts as virtual serfs in a small village, and can't go adventuring at all to gain money. They don't have many choices. They can work as a blacksmith, barmaid and shepherd for all those years....or they can cheat and find ways to take advantage of the system and carve out a section of the game world for themselves, and earn a fortune in the real world.When they give you a mop and not a sword, you have to find the loopholes and change the rules.

Anna Watson’s life was far from easy. A battle with cancer left her frail, defeated, and questioning her life’s meaning. Her final moments were filled with regret for dreams unrealized and paths untaken. But when death embraced her, it wasn’t the end—she awakened in an entirely new world: the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Yet, this wasn’t the familiar era of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. She found herself in the time of the Marauders, a generation before the golden trio.Even more shocking, Anna had a new identity: Petunia Evans, the famously non-magical, bitter sister of Lily Potter. But this Petunia is different. Born as Lily's twin, Anna retains her memories of her past life and discovers she has magic—a shocking divergence from the character she once read about. Her magical abilities open up opportunities and challenges, not only for her but for her relationship with Lily, her new family, and the unfolding story of the wizarding world.As Anna navigates Hogwarts alongside the Marauders, Severus Snape, and her own twin, she realizes that the story she once knew is shifting. Her choices ripple across timelines, altering destinies and alliances. Struggling to reconcile her knowledge of the future with her growing affection for this new life, Anna must decide: should she preserve the world’s fate or carve out a new destiny for herself and those she loves?In this thrilling twist on the Harry Potter universe, the story explores themes of second chances, sibling bonds, and the weight of choice, painting a vivid and detailed picture of what might have been if Petunia Evans had the magic to change it all.

war, blood, and betrayal carved him into something else. A legend. A killer. A mercenary whose name struck fear into both criminals and so-called heroes alike.But now, the world had changed. Lines blurred between right and wrong, between justice and vengeance. Should he step into the light, wear the mask of a hero, and fight for a cause greater than himself? Or should he embrace the darkness that had always been his home, a place where morality was just another illusion?“Don’t box me in with your shallow ideas of good and evil,” he muttered, his voice calm but edged with danger. “I do what I want, when I want.”The air was thick with tension as he moved like a shadow through the dimly lit room. The writer had no time to react—one moment, he was scribbling nonsense about legends and myths; the next, a cold barrel pressed against the back of his head.The figure smirked beneath his mask, eyes gleaming with something between amusement and menace.“You wanna write fiction?” he whispered. “Then let me show you how real legends are made.”A single gunshot shattered the silence.As the writer’s body slumped over the desk, the man holstered his weapon, stepping into the faint glow of a flickering neon light.“It’s that simple,” he said, his voice unwavering. “I’m Deathstroke.”

Octavius, misled by friends, embarks on a quest to clear his father's name, ultimately facing a tragic end with his sister.Their journey results in devastating loss, leaving him powerless and yearning for revenge against those who harmed his family. Spirits offer him a chance to reincarnate, but he refuses, saying;“What’s the point of a new life if I keep running from my problems”The entities are taken aback by his unwavering decision, having never encountered a spirit who refuses to escape their troubled past. They warn him about the evil being that now resides in his old body, but that only motivates him. He believed In the saying - to defeat a monster, you have to be twice as monstrous.Embracing his fate as The Phantom's Gambit, they traverse the shadowy path of retribution, their identities blur, secrets unravel, and the line between savior and monster fades.This is a tale of darkness and redemption, where justice is a blade, and revenge is the only way forward.