*Lucas Jaeger*

  Fuck, fuck, fuck… Lucas’s heart was beating out of his chest and he was trying to breath deeply and calm himself but it was hard when it felt like fucking bugs under his skin and the fucking world is flowing! Lucas was trying to relax his muscles, but as soon as he focused on one group another would tense. This was clearly a chemical like meth though, because Lucas’s thoughts were not completely screwed- so long as he kept his focus.

  If he let go for a second- the stimulant euphoria would overwhelm him, and he would be more likely to lose control have a heart attack. If he was not from the modern era, and someone who had taken concerta for most of his life on top of that, he would undoubtedly died already. Lucas was just lucky, but the problem was that the rocks on the plain were alive- no! That is object activation, fuck he must be starting to exhibit psychosis. Which explains why the shadows they had escaped from were following them and as people.

  Fuck. Psychosis includes delusions and hallucinations, Lucas at this point realized he had no way to tell what was real and what was not. Well if this was like other stimulants he could probably trust his logic to a degree, though how far logic will get him in a world of magic- and fuck, he was losing focus again!

  Blade- well, Lucas was fairly sure it was Blade- was moving him and talking to someone. He would be able to hear them clearly if the shadows were not so loud, but the shadows did not exist so he could not tell them to be quiet! Where the hell was he even? It had only been a few minutes, the sun should not have changed position- unless that was a hallucination, or his sense of time was distorted. Lucas so thirsty and his pants felt wet- oh for fucks sake, this was embarrassing. At least most of the people around him did not actually exist. Blade- or probably Blade- was giving him water, had he asked for it? But his hands were shaking to bad to grasp it and he had to scratch the fucking bugs that would just not leave his skin alone what the fuck!

  Why were his thoughts disorganized? Was more than a stimulant maybe, possibly a hallucinogen in there as well? No- this could all just be stimulant induced psychosis, maybe. Lucas felt like there were multiple types of psychosis or was that visual distortion? Both?

  Lucas was unsure how long he had been in that state- but as he regained control of his thoughts and, to some extent, his body he realized that was only the start.

  “Fucking hell…” Lucas breathed out, feeling all of his muscles aching. Why had he been brought to this world? Was it just to torment him, he might as well just kill himself- no, he’d just end up stuck in that orb with those other assholes. Fuck this shit- he must have moved into the offset. Depression and irritability, check. With a little bit of suicidal ideation on the side, fucking wonderful.

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  And the fucking shadow people were still there! Maybe they would kill Lucas… He would not mind so much, but he wished they would get on with it. Wait, was psychosis also an offset affect? Thinking was so hard now Lucas just could not be bothered to do it when nothing really mattered.

  Again, time was hard for him to discern, but Lucas eventually fell asleep and woke up with an absolutely pounding headache. As he groaned and sat up, he heard shouting around him- he was back at camp?

  “Well, at least I am not dead.” Lucas muttered to himself as he heard people rushing towards his room. He was surprised when Terrasin just about tackled him and was bawling at the top of her lungs- how did he end up comforting a girl after he had been kidnapped and drugged and almost died?

  “We thought you were dead!” She said- probably, drugs or no drugs, Terrasin was hard to understand in this state.

  “How did you survive that?” One of the generals asked Lucas anxiously, “High Spider venom kills at half the amount you were given?

  “I am glad you are alive,” Versi spoke up from the group. “I guess I have to be grateful to Blade after all.”

  “I mean, I got pissed on for this.” Blade grumbled, much to Lucas’s dismay.

  “All of you, please shut up.” Lucas raised a hand to his head, even though he knew the action was useless against the headache. “And if someone could get me some water, actually, make that a lot of water. My head feels like its about to split…”

  Lucas groaned, trying to figure out how long he would be feeling the after effects but giving up before long. He knew more on these subjects than most laymen- or rather, laymen that were not recreational drug users- but he was not a pharmacologist, and for that matter one of the after effects of stimulants involved a mental slowdown…

  “You should be more grateful Lucas,” Terrasin admonished, but she did not really put much heat into it.

  “I am grateful,” Lucas replied. “But this is not over yet, probably. I will have to go through the after effects for some time before my system clears. For that matter, why are you even here Blade? Ack- sorry, that sounded rude especially since you rescued me. So long as it is in my system, it will hard for me even to be my normal self. I bet none of you would have ever thought you would be calling my usual self the polite version of me, huh?”

  After a drink of water, Lucas did answer the generals question, however. He would wait to get an accounting of just what the hell had been going on after the drugs had run their course.

  “I survived because compounds similar to what was injected into me can be used for medicines in my world.” Lucas simplified his explanation a lot, cross tolerance was an oddly hard subject for some people to grasp even in his own world. “Like my vaccines, because I was exposed to the substance before I was more resistant to it now.”

  Technically true, but realistically a complete lie. Tolerance was very little like vaccination, but better to give vaccination some publicity now and have to deal with less shit later, Lucas thought.

  “I used that medicine for decades, and combined with my height and weight, the dose they put in me was just barely below what was needed to kill me.”

  And Lucas did mean ‘just barely below,’ a little more and he would not have been able to keep himself focused on relaxing his heart and breathing- and Lucas felt he would have died.

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  “Mystic Ink” Releases: Thursday and Sunday

  A grimdark fantasy adventure following Cass, a homeless orphan abducted off the streets of Tyine and subjected to magical experiments. Join her in a journey through blood and magic in a treacherous world that strives to warp her very mind! In my opinion, this is my most well written story, and it is certainly my highest rated!

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  Set in a province of Imperial Rome, Pathos is our world and yet not. Emotions leak out from people to affect the very air itself creating an Emotional Atmosphere. This atmosphere can range from prosperous to destructive, and some powerful individuals can use the strength within it to produce magical abilities and miracles. Marius, the son of the Governor of Germania Inferior, is taking over for his father while he is away in Rome. However, internal strife, trouble across the border, and hurricanes of emotions will make his easy life far harder than he ever imagined!

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  Thomas Savery invented the steam engine, and in this alternate history world, he did not stop there! A steampunk slice-of-life story set in the London of the late 1700’s where steampunk automations are a common sight and have even begun to push people out of jobs! Follow Mary and Alan as they live life in this constantly changing world and try to make their own way through!

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  Set in the near future, Kevin Sterling, a billionaire owner of a giant tech company can no longer stand to watch the governments of the world destroy it. Environmental disasters, violence both domestically and internationally, economic struggles… All caused by bumbling fools at the top who care nothing but for keeping their fat asses in their seats. Sterling has had enough, and so have his friends and colleagues. The movers and shakers of the world, business leaders from every industry and sector, artists and scientists, all gather together to form The Illuminati! And they will work to save the world from the destruction corrupt and inept governments have brought down on it. They may not be the heroes we want, but they are the only ones we are going to get! A slice-of-life, overpowered protagonist (overpowered pocketbook that is), comedy focusing on Sterling’s work to start a New World Order!

  “A Dungeon Core”

  Releases: Tuesday

  The main character dies and is resurrected as a dungeon core. So far, so normal. But he has no intention of staying as a crystal for eternity. Join this Core on his path to regain his body and his life while building up his defenses against people who would plunder and kill him!

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