Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1) by Grayson Sinclair (poetry books to read TXT) 📗

outside, blowing a soft breeze along with morning birdsong. It was warming up outside, but that didn’t quell the chill that had settled into my bones from the cold stone floor I’d used as a bed.

I grabbed the spare bottle I kept under the bed and refilled my decanter, trying to decide if I wanted to keep drinking. It was the only thing that banished my ghosts.

Losing Alistair brought up too many old wounds. I've lost so much, yet I still keep losing the people closest to me. Regardless if he would return to us, I was still angry and guilty as hell. It was my fault he was killed. He walked into the trap on his own, but I was the reason we faced down that dragon.

Was it worth it? I pulled up my character page in my Interface to look at my spoils of war.

 

Character Name: Durandahl

Level: 100

Race: Human

Class: Blade Master

Reputation: Wanted Criminal

Bounty: 300 Gold

Stats (-)

Strength: 100

Strength Sub-Stats: 100

Constitution: 50

Constitution Sub-Stats: 0

Endurance: 50

Endurance Sub-Stats: 100

Agility: 100

Agility Sub-Stats: 300

Wisdom: 25

Wisdom Sub-Stats: 0

Luck: 75

Luck Sub-Stats: 75

Charisma: 25

Charisma Sub-Stats: 0

Sub-Stat List [+]

So much gold and time spent on this. I’d put my wants ahead of the guild’s needs and spent too much hunting that bastard. Was my greed worth the price I forced upon the others? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

"Still, it was one hell of an adventure."

I’m too in my head right now. I need a distraction. My interface flicked to life in my eyes. The clock read nine in the morning. There shouldn’t be anyone in the training room, and I’d developed a sudden need to stab something.

My walk to the training room was uneventful, only interrupted by a handful of maids and guards patrolling. I pushed open the oak door and went inside. Someone was already here, one of the twins. Evelyn. She was currently working her way through her kata on the sparsely padded mats that covered the floor.

“Good morning, Evelyn. Odd to see you here at this hour.”

Her gaze turned my way for a moment, her golden eyes positively glowing. “Ah, hello, dear guild leader. Adam was making too much racket with his toys, so I needed some quiet. You?”

“Felt like punching something.”

She nodded and returned to her practice. My hand-to-hand combat was rusty; there’d been a hint of awkwardness when I fought the pirates. So, I decided to drill the basic techniques to warm up. A few minutes in, Evelyn’s voice startled me.

“Keep your left hand up. Also, your footwork slipped several times.”

Evelyn had stopped training to watch my form. I nodded to her and fixed my deficiencies. “Thanks.”

We slipped back into silence until Evelyn had finished her forms, and I’d warmed myself up nicely.

“Care to spar?” she asked, her full lips rising to smirk at me.

“Sure, getting my ass handed to me sounds like fun.”

It was her turn to laugh. “Well, maybe if you weren’t so big and clumsy, you might be able to hit me.”

Her jibe didn’t faze me. “I’ve hit you before.”

“You’ve never beaten me, though,” she said with a devious glint in her eyes.

“Maybe today’s the day.”

We settled opposite each other. Evelyn tied back her silver hair and cinched the belt tight on her charcoal gi before she settled into her stance.

Evelyn was small and lean, her entire body sharp and deadly like a blade. Her cheekbones were high and tight on her face, not an ounce of unnecessary fat on her frame. She shifted her balance side to side, her movements quick and agile. We nodded to one another, and before I’d finished moving my head, she was on me.

A predictable move for her. She aimed a roundhouse kick at my side, which I countered by lowering my guard, catching her kick on my shoulder. Such a high kick put her off balance, allowing me to grab her. I flung her into the center of the mats and rushed to press my advantage.

She recovered from the throw quickly and already had her hands up as I reached her. I threw a combination of punches, trying to break her guard. She absorbed them easily, but her foot slipped on one of the mats, and Evelyn lowered her guard to balance. Pressing my luck, I landed a solid hook to the side of her face.

She rocked back from the force of the strike, shaking it off. Grinning, she spat blood on the mat and changed her stance, switching styles. Before I could blink, she rushed me with an open palm strike. Air whistled past my ear as I ducked, right into her next attack. She pivoted and brought her leg up. I couldn’t block it.

Agony rippled across my side along with a jarring crack as she broke two ribs. Before she could move, I cinched her leg to my side and lifted her off the ground. Using my other hand to grasp the collar of her gi, I slammed her onto the mats, knocking the breath from her. She gasped as I picked her up again.

Her legs locked around my waist as I picked her up. She arched her back, bending to plant her hands on the mat and used the momentum to throw me. My back slammed to the ground, doing my ribs no favors.

Evelyn slithered across my body to grip my throat, nearly suffocating me.

“I believe I am victorious.” She spoke with absolute confidence, and there was nothing I could do to remove her hand.

I nodded at her, and she lessened the grip on my throat. However, she did not pull away entirely. The second my windpipe opened, I gasped for air. “Damn, you got me good with that kick.”

Evelyn smiled at me, much in