Contents
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Foreword
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Book End
Author's Note
Also by Blaise Corvin
Recommendations
Cole Blooded
Cole Blooded, Book One
By
Blaise Corvin
And
Outspan Foster
Cole Blooded
Copyright ©2019 by Adom Publishing
All rights reserved.
No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
For Ryan, who has played more online battle royale games with me than anyone else, bar none.
Foreword
From Blaise Corvin:
Hello readers! This book is /not/ LitRPG, or RPG GameLit. Cole Blooded is classified as GameLit…barely.
You might be curious what GameLit actually is. GameLit, a larger genre umbrella, is any fiction with game mechanics or that takes place in a game. RPG GameLit is a subgenre where stories include some sort of linear progression for characters that is significant to the plot of the story. These types of stories have been extremely popular in Russia and other countries where they are called “LitRPG.” They’re just now making an impact in the West!
RPG GameLit is usually a funky mix of Fantasy and Sci Fi. The settings can vary, but what most GameLit novels have in common is a world that most gamers can immediately relate to.
***
So let’s get something out of the way right now, and repeat something from the section above: This story is not LitRPG. In fact, again, I’d suggest that this story is barely GameLit. However, the story will move to more solid GameLit, and even LitRPG ground in future books.
If you’re reading this and wondering why it was necessary to include this bit of info in the foreword, just assume you’re not one of the people I’m talking to right now. :) For some readers, genre classification is very important.
***
Like many of my books, Cole Blooded was a happy accident. A while back, I decided that I was going to field short stories for a Delvers LLC anthology, to be written by fans and author friends. As I mulled this over, Outspan Foster (someone I talk to pretty much all the time) decided he was excited about the opportunity, and took off on his own (with no prompting or payment from me) to start writing a short story. I liked his concept and what he was writing, so I started contributing, and before we knew it, the short story had turned into a book.
We both envisioned this thing working as an experiment of sorts. If Cole Blooded did well, Outspan might write the next three books of the series on his own. However, now I believe in this story, and I think we’re going to move forward with this plan regardless of how this book sells. Since the Cole Blooded series will be set in my universe, I’ll be giving input on the next three books, but Outspan will do most of the heavy lifting on them.
On the subject of this book, Cole Blooded, the story has some obvious religious undertones that Outspan and I really worked on with a delicate touch. It was actually Outspan’s idea to include so many of them, mainly because he really wanted to explore what it would be like to be regular people confronted with a reality like Dolos.
I like how it turned out. From past experiences, I know that some folks may get offended or read more into the prose than was intended. Neither Outspan nor I were trying to “say” anything with this book, just tell a fun story with interesting characters.
This story was also a new foray for the two of us into a grey area of writing that is right between adult-aimed science fiction, and young adult, or YA. Cole Blooded is most definitely not intended to be YA, but I know I would definitely have enjoyed this book in my teens.
Anyway, I could probably babble all day about craft, my career history, and my writer friends…but I don’t want to bore you. In full disclosure, I also only have a few hours to finish this foreword and upload this book or the Powers That Be are going to be very upset with me.
Since I don’t want to wind up in my own version of a death game on a tropical island, I will end this note here and wish you lots of fun while spending time with Cole!
-BC
***
From Outspan Foster:
I want to give a shoutout to all my gamer buddies. :)
-Outspan
Chapter 1
The tsunami had come out of nowhere and Cole knew he was going to die. As it turned out, he was a lot less freaked out, or at least less scared than he would have predicted, staring at his oncoming death. The reality left him feeling much different than he would have imagined.
His girlfriend, Holly, was wrapped tightly in his arms, sobbing silently in her final moments. Kiddy, his best friend, had dropped the regular, dispassionate gaze and gave Cole a nod. It wasn't forgiveness but something like respect, or appreciation. Cole regretted that he had allowed his friend to grow so distant. He should have done more.
Nadia prayed something in her native Creole while rubbing her lucky rabbit's foot. Gary-Wayne lectured his pre-teen daughter to repent for all her sins in the face of God's judgement. His voice rose and fell in pitch with the wind.
Sheriff Satin held his confused wife's hands, his lips pressed to her graying hair.
All the people nearby dealt with their incoming mortality in different ways. Death was no longer the distant light in a narrow tunnel, it was here and now--an undeniable fact. Mother Nature was about to sweep them away into nothing but a memory.
Cole just couldn't accept it.
The product of a lonely childhood and an overactive imagination, he had imagined himself at death's door a thousand times. He’d thought a rush of calm would course through him before his light winked out, maybe his life would flash before his eyes and he’d know peace. Instead, all he could feel was rage.
There had to be another way, an escape. He didn't care about how a human body would be decimated by the physics of a twenty-story wave. There was always another way. Always.
Hell, Cole had spent his entire life fighting ultimatums from his foster parents, teachers, coaches. Everyone. Whenever he’d been presented with two narrow paths, he'd find a third, even if that meant cutting through the metaphorical jungle and making his own way. This was who he was.
Unfortunately, death wasn't an ultimatum. It was an inevitability, and his eyes practically bulged with rage now that he had to stare at it, literally.
Just before the tsunami collided into their small hiking group, his oldest friend, Jin "Kiddy Whale" Yamamoto, cast him a faint grin and said, "Game over, bud."
Cole replied with his final words. "There's always another way."
There was a flash of light, and the blackness swallowed them.
***
Cole blinked.
The tsunami was gone. Holly, Nadia, Kiddy, Gary-Wayne, and his daughter were all still there. They all stood in the same positions as before.
Of course, Kiddy was the second to recover from the shock after Cole. They had both always kept a cool head in new situations. Kiddy pointed upward wordlessly.
Cole looked up. The sky was
gone. It wasn't blue, didn’t have small traces of clouds or a sun. Even the darkness of the sudden storm was gone. Instead, a bright-orange dome covered the sky and what looked to be the entire island, shifting the color of the flora from a lively verdant to a sickly green.
"My pack," whispered Holly, patting her shoulder where the strap had been. Cole's hand went to his own shoulder, and he discovered that the backpack he'd been wearing was gone now too. In fact, almost the entire group had been wearing a pack of some kind on the hike, but now it looked like they only had the clothes on their backs and what they'd been wearing on their belts, if anything.
Nadia whispered something in Creole. Gary-Wayne muttered, "By the Lord Almighty."
Suddenly, the air above them all twisted as if someone had pinched the very fabric of reality. A bald figure in garish, multi-colored clothing winked into existence. He was twice the height of any of the pro basketball players Cole had seen on television. The giant man seemed impatient, as if being there was a waste of his time...and he was floating.
Gary-Wayne collapsed to his knees, his tight grip on his young daughter pulling her down as well. Holly, still in Cole's embrace, screamed so loud, Cole thought his eardrums would burst. Nadia froze like a deer in the headlights. Sheriff Satin's lined face went grim and he took a defensive stance between the floating giant and his wife. Kiddy tilted his head to the side, curious.
"Again, talking to these creatures. If I would have known this would be how I would spend even a fraction of the last few centuries, I might have just hibernated instead. And does anyone appreciate my many, many sacrifices? Of course not.”
The giant fixed Cole’s group with a steely gaze. “Filthy Terrans, pay attention. Try your very hardest to understand what I have to say. You probably still won't be able to grasp it all since your minds are so feeble." The man's mouth opened when he spoke, but Cole could hear his words inside his mind as much as with his ears. From the startled reactions of everyone else, he was sure they could too. "You may call me Great God Dolos!" announced the floating man.
Cole didn’t know how to react. He felt like a rabbit, frozen in the face of whiplashing emotions. Just a moment ago, he’d been sure he was going to die. Now he was staring up at a giant, floating man wearing all the colors of the rainbow. Since he was looking more closely, mouth open, Cole noticed that the huge man was wearing a stone crown and stone sandals.
The giant’s gaze swept over them, pausing over Pastor Gary-Wayne and his daughter. He sighed and rolled his eyes to the sky, saying, "My presence can be too much for mere mortals. Hopefully these ones will still be acceptable test subjects."
"What's happening?" Holly stammered, pushing away from Cole.
Dolos gave Holly the same condescending look all of Cole's teachers had given him in the past whenever he’d been confused. From that look alone, Cole knew he didn't like this floating man. Dolos said, "I don't have time to explain the mathematics of time and energy conversion. Even if I did, primitive...things’ minds would explode from the pressure, I’m sure."
He rubbed his face, then continued. "You were all supposed to die on your ugly, brutal Terran planet. But I, the merciful god Dolos, have whisked all of you away before the tsunami could take your miserable little lives."
"Oh Lord, we do not deserve your mercy," said the prostrating Pastor Gary-Wayne.
"No Terrans do not," agreed Dolos. “But this is an acceptable way to greet me. I approve.”
Mr. Satin frowned at Gary-Wayne before cautiously asking in his southern drawl, "And what can we do for you...sir?"
Cole thought the sheriff was acting awfully calm in the situation. Meanwhile, Cole’s heart raced while his mind tried to catch up to make sense of everything.
Dolos said, "This group is being given another chance to live. Even more important, you are being presented with the grand opportunity to provide data for me. This island is no longer a part of your Terran planet, and to explain this in small words using the way you measure time, will no longer exist at all in a few hours."
"You mean, we'll die?" Nadia asked.
The floating man pointed to the orange dome above. "The dome will become smaller every hour. Anything outside the dome will be burned alive."
"Oh, like a game," Kiddy said. An element of hope had entered his voice, probably because he’d been able to frame some part of their bizarre situation in a familiar way.
Dolos rolled his eyes. "Jin Yamamoto, age twenty-one, whom other Terrans call Kiddy Whale. If you must use terminology from your profession as a video game streamer to help you understand the grand plan of the Great God Dolos, then yes. Call it what you will."
Cole's mind raced, but he managed to ask a follow-up question to Kiddy's. "What are the rules?"
Dolos looked even more impatient than before. After facing certain death, Cole found himself not caring very much, though. Sure, this was a floating magical god who could probably kill them with the snap of his fingers, but he should be dead already, right? Dolos looked into the distance like he was reading something only he could see. "Ah, yes. One of the other Terran 'gamers.' Efrem White, known to most as Cole, short for Coleslaw.” He paused, making a long, drawn-out, theatrical sigh before continuing. “Unlike Jin Yamamoto who plays video games for fun and to make dirty Terran money, you are a game tester, looking for ways the game itself is broken."
"How did you--" Cole began.
Gary-Wayne lifted his head and snarled at Cole. "Be quiet! Bow your head and repent for your sins! This is judgement!"
Dolos ignored the older man and said, "The goal is to reach the center of the island before the dome burns you alive. I have implanted all the mortals of this island, including this group, with a new experiment of mine, something like an orb, but not quite near as potent. I call them power seeds. A power seed will give each mortal an ability based on your nature. You have the honor of being the first group to experience a real-world test with the power seeds! The next few hours will decide whether I move forward with the idea or not.”
He paused, rubbing his chin, seeming to talk to himself more than the people on the ground. "Of course, since there are no Dhu involved, your weak life forces will provide energy for the power seeds. You might already feel the seeds drawing on your vitality in the form of increased hunger. That hunger will only get stronger as time progresses, and even more so the more you use your new abilities." Dolos spoke as if he just assumed that the complete nonsense coming out of his mouth made sense to everyone else. "Luckily for you, I, the Great God Dolos, am wise and kind. After each ring closes, a supply of food and water will appear in these locations."
Cole's mind was suddenly filled with a blur of images, and just like that, he instantly knew the general layout of the island and where the food supplies would be. The sensation was bizarre, and felt weird but didn’t hurt. It was sort of like remembering something from a long time ago, but in perfect clarity.
Sheriff Satin shot a worried look at his confused, outwardly distressed wife and asked, "So all I have to do to get my Annie out of here is reach the center of the island before the dome burns us alive?"
Dolos smiled, and it wasn't warm, more like baring his teeth while his eyes were cold and full of calculation. "In a way, yes."
Cole’s mind raced. Kiddy had been right, this entire set-up was like a video game. He didn't like Dolos' expression, though. He had seen that same, neutral look before in cats playing with their food. At first he’d been hoping they’d been saved, but this situation felt like a scam. "What's at the center of the island?"
"A portal out of this location," Dolos answered. "All the mortals on this island were transported away from the tsunami that was going to kill you on Terra."
Cole realized what this meant. When his group of college friends had come to the island, they had split up into two different groups, each to hike a different trail in the jungle. They’d planned to meet up later at the motorboat they had arrived on from the mainland. Gary-Wayne Lucas and his daughte
r weren't a part of their group, and neither was Mr. and Mrs. Satin. This meant Kenan, Ray, Warren, Mohammad, Jarrett, and the two tour guides were still probably alive...somewhere.
He asked, "Does the other group know what's happening?"
"Yes," Dolos answered. He was beginning to sound bored.
Holly stepped forward. "By mortals, do you mean life forms? Did you plant these power seeds in the animals, too?"
Dolos nodded. "Yes, Holly Hawkins, age twenty-one. You study biology in college and have been fascinated with evolution ever since you were a child, all of which made your question entirely predictable. All the lesser creatures here--the apes, the bees, snakes-- all of them have been implanted with a power seed. Some will manifest their power, some won’t. Others may simply destroy themselves. I look forward to the data this will provide."
A mix of fear and fascination crossed Holly's face. Even after facing certain death with the tsunami and meeting with an actual living god, the girl still thought like a scientist. Cole frowned, realizing Dolos had danced around some of their inquiries. His training as a game tester narrowed all of his questions down to one, and when he realized what it was, he was filled with a terrible premonition. He cleared his dry throat and asked, "What happens when we reach the center?"
"So many useless questions. Of course, they are Terrans." Dolos adjusted his crown and said impatiently, "When you reach the center, you can use the portal away from this island to avoid being burned alive by the dome."
Cole's heart raced at how Dolos had phrased that sentence. He asked, "How many people are allowed to take the portal?"
"One person," Dolos said.
Cole looked at his former best friend, Kiddy. The thin young man with glasses and matte-black hair nodded back to him and reflected what Cole feared. "It's not a simple race. It's a battle royale."
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