Valhalla Online 4: Hel Hath No Fury: A Ragnarok Saga LitRPG Story
Page 17
“Not long, Great One. A few minutes or so,” Gurgle said.
Which meant the time elapsed while she was out there aligned pretty neatly with the passage of time inside Valhalla. That was good to know. Given that this was a computer simulated world, there was no reason the two had to be in synch.
“We’ve got a job to do,” Sam said.
“We do?” Gurgle asked.
“Yeah. And there’s only one place we can go to do it,” Sam said.
At least until she could figure out how to use the dagger to open a path outside Valhalla, there was only one way to reach the outside world. Sam had been trying to get there since the very beginning of her stay in the online afterlife. She’d given up on the idea. Reaching out to family and friends made so much less sense once she knew the real-life her was still out there, breathing.
But now she needed to get in touch with people. Sam could present the evidence Samantha would need to clear her name. She was maybe the only person who could help her ‘sister’. There was only one place where a Valhalla Online resident could reach out to the rest of the world, though.
“We’re going to Valhalla, Gurgle,” Sam said. The last realm. The final and hardest to reach region in the entire game. Ordinarily it could have taken months or even years to win her way there. But Heid’s gift to Gurgle was the key she needed.
Sam climbed into the saddle on Gurgle’s back. She glanced back at Harald, but he still wasn’t moving. Her other friends were scattered, and there wasn’t time to waste. “Let’s go. Open us a path between the realms. We’re going to go save my sister, and anyone who gets in our way is going to have a very, very bad day!”
Author’s Notes
This was supposed to be the last Valhalla Online book.
Well, as you can see, there’s going to be another one! When it came to tying up loose ends, I felt like I could probably have managed with another chapter or so, but it felt flat. There’s more to tell.
We’re going to see one more book about Samantha while she’s still in Valhalla. Of course, if you’ve been following the story ahead, you know she goes on from there. The novels “Ghost Wing” and “Ghost Squadron” continue her adventures. There will be a third in that series coming later this year (“Ghost Fleet”), which will wrap up the initial cycle merging Valhalla into the Ragnarok universe. But don’t worry. Many of the characters you know and love from this series will be back again in the future as well.
Many thanks to everyone who’s cheered for Gurgle all the way through these books! We’ve gotten to see him rise from a simple kobold NPC into something far more than that. I deliberately gave him his own chapter in this book in recognition of how far he’d come. Every other chapter in the series has been from Sam’s viewpoint (either the in-game Sam or her real-world counterpart). Only Gurgle has had the chutzpa to demand his own chapter, so he got one. I hope you enjoyed reading that part - it was a ton of fun to write!
I’m working hard on Book Five right now, and I’ll get it into your hands just as quickly as I can. Until then, thank you SO much for reading!
Kevin McLaughlin
Other Books by Kevin McLaughlin
The Ragnarok Saga (Military SF)
Accord of Fire - Free prequel short story, available only to email list fans!
Book 1 - Accord of Honor
Book 2 - Accord of Mars
Book 3 - Accord of Valor
Book 4 - Ghost Wing
Book 5 - Ghost Squadron
Book 6 - Ghost Fleet (2019)
Valhalla Online Series (A Ragnarok Saga Story)
Book 1 - Valhalla Online
Book 2 - Raiding Jotunheim
Book 3 - Vengeance Over Vanaheim
Book 4 - Hel Hath No Fury
Lost Planet Warriors (Military SF with light romance)
Book 1 - Desperate Times
Book 2 - Desperate Measures
Dire Straits - Free short story for email list fans!
Adventures of the Starship Satori (Space Opera blended with military SF)
Finding Satori - prequel short story, available only to email list fans!
Book 1 - Ad Astra: Book 2 - Stellar Legacy
Book 3 - Deep Waters
Book 4 - No Plan Survives Contact
Book 5 - Liberty
Book 6 - Satori’s Destiny
Book 7 - Ashes of War
Book 8 - Embers of War
Book 9 - Dust and Iron (May 2018)
Blackwell Magic Series (Urban Fantasy)
Book 1 - By Darkness Revealed
Book 2 - Ashes Ascendant
Book 3 - Dead In Winter
Book 4 - Claws That Catch
Book 5 - Darkness Awakes
Book 6 - Spellbinding Entanglements
By A Whisker (short story)
The Raven and the Rose - Free novelette for email list fans!
Dead Brittania Series:
Dead Brittania (short prequel story)
Book 1 - King of the Dead
Book 2 - Queen of Demons
Raven’s Heart Series (Urban Fantasy)
Book 1 - Stolen Light
Book 2 - Webs in the Dark
Book 3 - Shades of Moonlight
Other Titles:
Over the Moon (SF romance)
Midnight Visitors (Steampunk Cat short story)
Demon Ex Machina (Steampunk Cat short story)
The Coffee Break Novelist (help for writers!)
You Must Write (Heinlein’s rules for writers)
Exclusive free story for fans of Kevin McLaughlin’s science fiction!
Find out how the Accord story started… When Captain Nicholas Stein set out to stop one enemy ship, and set in motion events which shaped the course of human history for decades to come.
http://kevinomclaughlin.com/accordoffire/
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Kevin McLaughlin has written more than three dozen science fiction and fantasy novels, along with more short stories than he can easily count. Kevin can be found most days in downtown Boston, working on the next novel. His bestselling Blackwell Magic fantasy series, Accord science fiction series, Valhalla Online LitRPG series, and the fan-favorite Starship Satori series are ongoing.
I love hearing from readers!
www.kevinomclaughlin.com
kevins.studio@gmail.com