Aster Brooks Books

Ch. 6: Eyes

Cass helped Salos clean up in the little tub Telis had brought for him. He put up with the scrubbing admirably, though he glowered through the entire ordeal. He was quick to hop out and shake himself dry when Cass was done. Acceptably dry, he sat ...

Ch. 5: Eaves Dropping

Cass jerked awake, disoriented and alone. Water splashed as she flailed. 

She stood at the bottom of a deep crevasse. Water poured silently down the sides from above, pooling up to her knees, cold but clean. Above, a crack of white ligh...

Ch. 4: A Quiet Bath

Telis led Cass through the house to one of the back rooms. It was tiled from floor to ceiling. A basin was built into one wall, already filled with gently steaming water. Beside it hung an orb of blue glass.

“Are you familiar with shower o...

Ch. 3: Future Plans

Cass followed Telis and Alyx through town and into a small townhouse.  

Alyx flopped into the armchair in the main room with an exhausted sigh of relief. Marco took his place behind and to the left of Alyx’s chair, his hand resti...

Ch. 2: The Town of Hervet

As the sky brightened with the amber glow of dawn, a landmass appeared ahead of the ship. The stars faded, yet the sun was nowhere in sight. Off the right side of the boat, the crescent moon hung low in the skies. Above, the silver moon faded into...

Book 2 Begins!

Hello! We are back with Stormborn Sorceress Book 2: Unhallowed Catacombs!

To celebrate the start of book 2, and to get ahead of Royal Road again, look forward to a chapter every day for the first six chapters!

Thank you once again for...

Ch. 1: An Unusual Voyage

Cass stared at the starry sky above her as the dark clouds parted around the boat. A warm certainty settled over her. For the first time since her arrival, she felt like maybe she had a handle on her circumstances. Salos and Alyx would guide her. ...

Ch. 88: The Boat

 The boat was waiting on the far side, just as they’d said. It was both bigger and smaller than she’d expected. She had expected a sweeping passenger liner, tall metal sides and sleek angles, with plenty of space to walk the deck and perh...

Ch. 87: After Effects

Cass woke up with the worst headache of her life. She pinched the bridge of her nose and blinked up at the ceiling. It was all grey stone cut into regular bricks. 

What had happened? 

An idle thought ran through her mind. A s...

Announcement!

Hello!

I'm excited to announce that we are nearing the end of book one of Stormborn Sorceress! The last two chapters will be posted at our normal schedule, the last chapter going up this Saturday (June 8th).

It's been an ...

Ch. 86: Death

Cass stared. Levina couldn’t actually be dead, could she? Hadn’t she done the shadow dissolve thing? Had she really run out of uses? Why hadn’t she retreated before that? 

She couldn’t actually be dead.

But, that had been ...

Ch. 85: Boss Fight

Cass Sprinted with everything that she had. The boar charged behind her. 

Her heart pounded in her chest. 

All of its considerable Strength propelled it forward faster than a truck. Its head thrashed in wild madness, its tusk...

Ch. 84: Baiting the Boar

The boar was even bigger up close. It was a hulking thing, its shoulder two or three heads taller than Cass. Its body was covered in steel grey bristles. They had a metallic sheen, that promised they were tougher than hair had any right to be. Its...

Ch. 83: Pinned

Suddenly, Cass couldn’t sense the assassin’s breathing behind her. She was simply gone to her Atmospheric Sense. If escape had been all she cared about, Cass would have just kept running. 

But the goal wasn’t escape. She needed Le...

Ch. 82: The Assassin

The time for planning ended as the assassin hissed in surprise. 

Cass turned to see Salos phasing out of existence and settling back in his necklace. 

A deep gash spurted blood from the back of the assassin’s ankle, her boo...

Ch. 81: The Pyramid

They arrived at the pyramid without any trouble, despite Trap Detection screaming in Cass’s head. She was tempted to dismiss it, but that wouldn’t actually make her any less anxious about it. At least this way, there was a chance she’d disco...

Ch. 80: Descent

The three descended the path on the far side of the ridge. This side was no less steep than the way up had been. Cass leaned heavily on her staff, stabilizing every slipping, sliding step as the gravelly path shifted under her. Pebbles rolled down...

Ch. 79: Treasure of the Pass

They found the epherwing’s nest a little after midday. Cass wasn’t sure when she’d realized she could sense the position of the sun through Atmospheric Sense, but she wasn’t complaining. 

The nest—a narrow, oblong bowl worn in...

Ch. 78: Upgrades

It was the next morning that Cass finally opened the notifications from the previous night’s fight. She could barely believe what she saw. 

Herald of the Pass has been slain. 

[You have defeated the Her...

Ch. 77: Dark Night

Everything hurt. 

Pain radiated from her chest. Blood pooled in the wound even with the bundle of fleece she’d torn from her shirt sleeve and shoved into the wound. Breathing was a sputtering, drowning hell. 

They had made ...

Ch. 76: Salos - The Epherwing

Salos whipped around at the sound of Cass’s scream. His heart pounded in his ears. He could see her thanks to his Dark Vision. Her wide eyes were filled with shock. Why were they shocked? What had been her plan? 

How did he fix this?&...

Ch. 75: The Epherwing

They reached the crest of the ridge as the sun was setting behind them barely visible above the mountain line through the thick cloud cover and Cass was given a panoramic view of the Valley. It ran like a long twisting gash from east to west, high...

Ch. 74: The Climb

They hiked for two days, stopping only to sleep. Alyx did not loiter to let Cass forage interesting plants, pushing them relentlessly forward. She barely spoke to Cass either, caught up in her own thoughts. Instead, Cass spent most of that chattin...

Ch. 73: About Concepts

The next day was another long day of hiking, interrupted occasionally by attacks by monsters. Alyx dealt with all of them quickly and efficiently with her new sword before Cass or Salos could offer much assistance, the ability of the magic blade e...

Ch. 72: Hidden Agendas

They continued on their way without further fanfare. It was a quiet hike. Cass spent most of the walk chewing on the pain-killing root she found and scooping up other interesting plants with Foraging. She found a handful of herbs that were suppose...

Ch. 71: Regroup

Her new Bag adjusted over her shoulder, it was time to regroup with Alyx and Salos. 

Cass struggled to stand, her wounds complaining loudly with the effort. She fell back to the ground with a whimper. Her abdomen was still badly injured...

Ch. 70: Orb of Resonance

Defeated Herald of the Forest. Touch Orb of Resonance to Manifest Treasure.

Only when she saw the system notification did she breathe a sigh of relief. She’d done it. She’d escaped. 

She slumped to her kne...

Ch. 69: Lightning-phased Lion

Cass glanced up. The lion was looking her directly in the eyes.

“Cass, run!” Salos and Alyx yelled simultaneously. 

The lion inhaled. The lightning gathered with the growing wind. The air buzzed. Her hair stood on end.  2024-04-24 22:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post

Ch. 68: Herald of the Forest

The lion was enormous, twice the size Cass had imagined them to be. Its fur was pitch black. Electricity sparked off its fur and streaked down its flanks in brilliant flashes of blue. The air around it smelled of burning metal and buzzed with ener...

Ch. 67: Alyx - On Cass

Alyx woke unreasonably fresh and rested for having slept on the ground without a bedroll or even a travel cloak. Just another oddity she was going to chalk up to the strange woman sitting with a cat in her lap beside the fire. 

It must ...