by Eddie Patin
As he ran, his boots pounding into the gravel, the breeze picking up in his face, Jason felt himself smiling, then he cheered and ran even faster! He suddenly remembered running south in the valley just like this when he was leading the T-Rex—the Dreadwraith—back to the wyvern’s cave. But now, he hurt a lot less, he had a full belly and a good night’s sleep, he was clean and safe, and he was home. His feet picked up faster and faster and Jason felt like screaming to the sky to let the excitement and happiness out—feelings that he didn’t fully understand; something that made him think of destiny.
The man ran until his lungs burned, then he slowed down and completed the walk home. His bad knee didn’t hurt at all—not even the slightest twinge! His raptor cut still hurt, but he knew that the pain would fade and it would heal. He might even have a gnarly scar there to remind him of his ordeal in the Wilderlands.
Eventually, Jason made it back to where he had to break through the trees to get to the slope below his backyard. He warily watched the site of the portal to the Wilderlands—to the wyvern’s cave—as he passed it. Last time he was here, walking like this, a giant spider had popped out of there somehow and his life was changed forever...
Hiking up the hill to his back door, Jason stomped his boots on the step then let himself in. He grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen then walked into his living room, where Riley and Gliath were waiting. Riley was on the couch with his feet up and Gliath was in the form of an actual panther—like Jason would expect to see in a zoo—lying at the man's side. Riley wasn't wearing his duster-jacket anymore, and Jason could see that the armor he wore underneath was some kind of full body-suit with a zipper up the front. It was thin with metallic threads woven through it and looked more than a little science fictiony.
"Oh, wow," Jason said, staring down at the big, black cat. In stark contrast to the deep, raven-black coat of Gliath's big, muscular feline form, Zelda’s little white body was curled up next to him. His little cat looked up as Jason approached. "Gliath can turn into a leopard too?"
Riley looked at Gliath, then back at Jason with a smile. "That’s his natural form, actually. He calls it his 'primal form'. He hangs out like that a lot."
"Interesting."
"Yeah," Riley said, then looked away, pensive. "Jason, I noticed the painting on the wall in the hall of the Tyrannosaur from the Wilderlands. Where’d that come from?"
"I painted it when I was a teenager."
"It looks just like the T-Rex that’s dead in front of that cave. How’d you know what it looked like?"
"A dream I had," Jason replied, leaning against the wall, drinking some water. "When I was a little kid, I dreamed of the creature. I named it the Dreadwraith. You know ... that dream stuck with me forever. I wrote a story about the Dreadwraith once in school and then made that painting a few years later. Now, I’m not so sure it was a dream."
"You think you went through the rift when you were a kid?"
Jason nodded even though the idea felt insane. " I don’t know if I was sleep-walking or what, but I figure—now after having seen the world and the Dreadwraith with my own eyes—that I must have looked through that portal one night when I was really young, and just don’t remember it..."
Riley laughed. Gliath looked up at him without expression then turned away again, staring into space as cats do. "Wow," the soldier said finally. "You know what’s really gonna cook your egg, Jason?"
"What?" Jason replied. "What’s so funny about that?"
"Well think about it, man," Riley said, leaning forward and lowering his feet. "Could you have possibly seen a T-Rex inside that cave?" Jason opened his mouth to respond, but stopped. Riley went on. "Little Jason 934 didn’t just look through a portal to the Wilderlands and see a mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex, only to remember it forever as a crazy dream. You went through that portal—as a little kid—and went through the cave out into the open! That’s where you saw the T-Rex; somewhere outside the cave. There’s no way you would have seen that monster in it. Not with that low tunnel..."
Jason was suddenly smothered in thought. He blanched as his imagination filled in the details of himself as a toddler wandering down to the ravine in the middle of the night. He imagined the portal opening, roaring and bright. Little Jason stepped through the fiery, spinning rift into a pitch-black cave full of sparking and glowing infinity crystals, then made his way up the tunnel on stubby little legs until he was standing at the cave entrance, watching a Tyrannosaurus Rex walk across the valley below...
"Oh my God..." Jason said.
"See?" Riley exclaimed with another laugh. "Crazy, huh?"
Clearing his mind of the wildly reckless vision, Jason looked at Riley evenly. "So where do you guys get these bounties and assignments? How do you make the money?"
Riley grinned and stroked his beard. Jason could see the wheels turning in the man's dark eyes.
"It’s universe 12. The planet is called Churn. It’s a Tabula Rasa—a world that was wiped clean centuries ago and is mostly barren except for a single settlement that everyone called ‘The Market’. Not many folk live there permanently, and those that do are merchants. I have a friend there who's got his own shop. The Market is also where we check a place called 'the Bounty Boards' to get assignments. Planeswalkers from all over the omniverse go there to trade. It’s a cool place."
"What can you sell there?"
Riley looked away and scoffed. "Anything," he replied, lacing his fingers behind his head and kicking his feet up onto the coffee table again. "That’s where we’re gonna bring those wyvern eggs. Somebody’ll probably buy them—my friend, Dave, at least. There are bound to be people out there somewhere in the omniverse that want wyvern eggs, either to have a pet or a wyvern mount or to start a wyvern ranch or whatever. We can also buy all sorts of weapons and gear there depending on what’s for sale any given moment."
Jason sighed. Honestly, the whole damned thing sounded so freaking cool.
"I’m sorry I was so mad at you, Riley. I’m really thankful that you saved my life back there."
"Shet, Jason—I’m sorry too that I put you in danger. It was my fault that you fell through unprepared."
"But you know?" Jason added. "I don’t think I would have joined you guys if I didn’t get my own painful taste of planeswalking..."
Riley grinned, exchanging quick glances with leopard-Gliath.
"So you’ll do it?"
"Sure," Jason replied, smiling. "I’ll join the Reality Rifters. I don’t know if I can lead you like the other Jasons did, but I’ll join you."
Riley leaped up from his chair and rushed over, seizing Jason’s hand in a vigorous handshake. The soldier grinned from ear to ear, beard bristling, truly happy. "That’s great, Jason! Jason Leaper 934, we're Reality Rifters again!" He looked at the black leopard on the couch. "You hear that, good buddy? We’ve got a group again; we’ve got a base again!"
Gliath stared for a moment, then yawned and stretched out on his side, reaching across the couch with his front paws like a huge, lazy housecat.
Jason and Riley laughed for a while and Jason felt like he'd made the right choice beyond the shadow of a doubt. And this wasn’t just endless planning or dreaming and thinking about doing something like his life was before. Now, he would actually do something. He was living life. The change he needed was here.
"So, what happens now?" Jason asked.
"Okay!" Riley said. "Well, I don’t know if you’ve been in the garage, but we’ve got a portable gate set up there. We’ll want to make arrangements to make sure that your house stays running okay in your absence. And before we go anywhere else, you’ll need to spend some time with the OCS learning all about it—you’re gonna do awesome shet with that in the future, just like Jason 113 did. Just wait and see..." Riley grinned again, truly excited.
Jason and Riley started talking about all sorts of things. At first, they were both prone to going down rabbit hole after rabbit hole on tangents and stories about worlds that Riley and Gliath h
ad been to before and what the soldier knew about how Jason 113 had used the OCS. Jason turned the device over and over in his hands, wondering what it was made of and how it was powered. The idea of lots of knowledge being stored inside that device—inputted by other versions of him from different universes over time—made Jason feel a little giddy...
Riley produced a blue, metallic coin and held it out to Jason.
"What’s this?" Jason asked, looking at it. The coin was the size of a quarter but thicker, and had the shape of a dragon carved into each side.
"It’s a focus key to the Market," Riley said with a smirk. "You’re gonna need this. But first, you’re gonna have to practice some. Oh, and I'll need to tell you about the ten dimensions—I reckon you'll need to know that stuff to use the OCS properly..."
Jason looked down at the blue coin and wondered what an interdimensional market full of weird creatures from different multiverses would look like.
Monster hunting for fun and profit.
He liked it. He wanted to learn everything. Oh—what immeasurable sights he could see and what worlds he could experience through rifts that led through infinity...
Jason felt like his life was finally just beginning.
"Okay," he said, lifting the OCS and smiling at its black screen. "Let's get started."
THE END.
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for reading this book! As you can probably tell, the adventure is just beginning for Jason. As this series continues, he'll be learning about his rifting powers and hunting monsters for a living, and he'll visit the Wilderlands quite a few times. Rich and exotic adventure lies ahead!
Don't stop turning the pages yet. Details about the next book, an excerpt from Book 2 (The Minotaurs of Maze World), and Author's Notes are still ahead!
Sincerely,
Eddie Patin
Special Offer - Want a Free Book Related to this Series?
Join my Fiction Mailing List, and I’ll send you a FREE NOVELLA related to the Monster Hunting for Fun and Profit series—something not sold in bookstores and only available to my fans! As a member of my mailing list, you’ll receive occasional updates about upcoming books and you’ll probably get more free goodies from time to time. No spam—I promise.
“A Bond Between Man and Monster”
How did Riley Wyatt the cybernetic gunslinger meet Gliath Voidheart the Deathhand, the Krulax leopardwere?
While on a particularly horrific bounty to assassinate a pair of Night Hag sisters on a lightless, obsidian world, the Reality Rifters--led by Jason Leaper 47 at the time--are beset by disaster! Afterward, back home and trying to figure out what to do about Jason 47's crippled condition, Riley regales the group (upon request) with the story of how he first met Gliath and how their unique relationship was forged...
There was a time when Riley Wyatt was a mercenary in a prestigious outfit called the Ninth Fists. After working with the company for just over a year, Riley was deployed with Third Squad to a strange world full of sentient, shapeshifting animals. Their aim was to forcibly acquire something specific and unique, but Intel was bad, and the squad was thrust into the middle of a chaotic war between the Krulax people and the dreaded shadowstriders. After what was to be his last mission with the Ninth Fists, Riley left Gliath's homeworld as the sole survivor of Third Squad ... but he didn't leave alone...
This story within a story is a special treat JUST FOR FANS, going into some exciting and bizarre backstory of the Reality Rifters and the cyborg/beast-man duo that rescued Jason Leaper 934 in "The Wyvern in the Wilderlands". This novella is not available in stores—it's a FREE GIFT for anyone who enjoys the "Monster Hunting for Fun and Profit" series and signs up for the Eddie Patin Fiction mailing list. Go to EddiePatin.com/monster-hunter-free-book to download your copy, or click below for a direct link.
Click Here to Download “A Bond Between Man and Monster”
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So What Happens Next?
Continue to the Next Book in the Series!
"The Minotaurs of Maze World"
"Monster Hunting for Fun and Profit" Book 2
Explore other Universes.
Hunt Deadly Monsters.
Make a Profit.
Jason Leaper 934 is back from his survival adventure in the Wilderlands, and is about to go on his first mission with his new friends, Riley the cybernetic soldier, and Gliath the shapeshifting leopardwere.
The new guy's more than a little nervous...
When Jason is introduced to the wild and mind-bending concepts of planeswalking and visits 'the Market' for the first time, he's definitely intimidated by Riley's expectations of him. With little to no direction, he's supposed to figure out his rifting powers in a hurry while on the job to hunt and kill minotaurs on a bizarre maze-like world and harvest their hides. Riley himself is upset about losing the last Jason and essentially starting over--he never wanted to be the leader of the Reality Rifters! As the three of them hunt for bounties on Maze World, Riley's patience is put to the test and Jason tries to forge himself in the fires of determination while wondering whether or not he's cut out for this kind of life.
And when the hunt becomes more complicated as competition with a rival mercenary group turns deadly, Riley and Jason must both face their difficulties with skill and good sense, or all three of the new Reality Rifters might end up dead--either at the hands of the other hunters, or under the horns and hooves of monsters!
The Minotaurs of Maze World is a fast-paced, weird fantasy/science fiction story and is the second book in the "Monster Hunting for Fun and Profit" series about Jason Leaper 934 and his planeswalking Reality Rifters, Monster Hunters for hire. If you love books about guns, survival, vicious and terrible mythical monsters, cosmic horror, time travel, DINOSAURS, and exploring strange new worlds ... read this today!
Click HERE to find Book 2
About Eddie Patin
Eddie writes cosmic horror, grim sci-fi, and dark fantasy. His books are full of adventure, guns, monsters, and weird places. When not writing, Eddie either is playing with firearms, swords and other pointy things, or enjoying craft beer, a good smoke, and maybe some scotch. He might also be fighting zombies, or contemplating other dimensions.
Born in south Louisiana, Eddie Patin has lived in Colorado for most of his life with a short stint in Vegas as a professional poker player--back before it was cool. He's a musician, an artist, and has worked as a marketing consultant and graphic designer. His books are mainly a gritty, fast-paced blend of 60% science fiction and 40% fantasy with a dark, swirling tinge of terror and the bizarre shit that the tiny human mind cannot fully comprehend...
Follow Eddie Patin on:
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More Books from Eddie Patin
Fiction
The “Apocalypse Gate” Series
An 'End of the World' Horror Survival Story with EMP's and monsters
Portal Zero – “Apocalypse Gate” Book 1
Worlds Merge – “Apocalypse Gate” Book 2
Ruin Prevails – “Apocalypse Gate” Book 3
The Sniper and the World Eaters – “Apocalypse Gate” Bonus Feature
The “Apocalypse Gate” Full Trilogy Box Set
MALADY – "Apocalypse Gate" Related
The “Mo
nster Hunting for Fun and Profit” Series
Weird Fantasy / Sci-fi Exploration, Adventure & Action – Guns, gold, and monsters
The Wyvern in the Wildlands – Book 1
The Minotaurs of Maze World – Book 2
The Heart of a Necromancer – Book 3
The Giants of Shattered Swamp – Book 4
A Bond of Man and Monster – Special Bonus Feature
The Helion Depths – Related Short
Goran the Slayer – Related Short
Other Fiction Books
The Halls of the Shadowmancer – From “The Chronicles of Alex Varia”
Dust in Darkness – A Short Story Collection
NonFiction
Curb Painting – Little Books of Extra Cash Volume 1
Declutter Magic – Organized for Life Series Book 1
Declutter Magic 2 – Organized for Life Series Book 2
Children's Books
(Being Updated—Click Here to Check it Out)
MORE COMING SOON!!
Keep up with my Website for New Titles (Click Here!)
Enjoy this Excerpt from BOOK 2!
"The Minotaurs of Maze World"
"Monster Hunting for Fun and Profit"
Book 2
(Read on for the first two chapters!)
Chapter 1
The rift opened with a loud snap, unfurling into a wildly spinning vertical disc surrounded by a brilliant swirl of fiery orange light. Spitting and sputtering sparks cast all around the garage as a vision into another world began to clear...