All Chapters of Prisoners of the wilds: Chapter 161
- Chapter 170
174 chapters
The Westward Star
"Raise the main sail and cut those dock lines before the council guards block the harbor exit!" Silas roared, his voice carrying across the polished wooden deck of the flagship.Three heavy iron chains snapped tight along the stone pier as a detachment of fifty armored council guards marched double-time down the harbor steps. They wore the fresh silver tabards of the capital's new provisional government, their long pike spears glinting in the morning sun."Halt that vessel!" the chief councilor shouted from the top of the stone stairs, holding up an official parchment scroll stamped with red wax. "By order of the provisional council, all guardian-class ships are impounded for the defense of the capital!"Lyra stood near the helm, her pale hands holding the three dull grey metal fragments. Above her palms, the small floating arrow of pure crystal ice pointed directly out toward the open ocean, glowing with a soft, pale blue light."We do not take orders from your council, magistrate!"
The Sea of Steam
"Get the ice buckets to the lower deck before the hull seams burst wide open!" Silas roared, his heavy boots slamming onto the hot wooden planks.The thick wall of black fog had swallowed the alliance fleet completely, wrapping all twelve ships in a dense, blinding mist. The calm ocean waters were no longer blue and cold. Beneath the hull, the sea was churning into a furious, rolling boil, sending massive clouds of white steam rising through the dark air."The water is scalding!" a panicked sailor shrieked from the lower deck, scrambling up the wooden ladder with steam rising off his leather boots. "The ocean temperature is melting the pitch!""Check the forward seams!" Lyra called out, rushing down the main deck toward the ship's bow with her guardian staff held tight in both hands.The extreme heat radiating from the boiling water was rapidly softening the alchemical caulking packed between the heavy oak hull planks. Small jets of hot, salty steam hissed through the floorboards belo
The Gate of Tears
"Get those heavy iron crowbars onto the lower ledge before the sea swells again!" Silas bellowed, his voice cutting clean through the roaring steam.The massive, hundred-foot mechanical gate stretched two miles across the boiling sea, its rusted black iron bars blocking the alliance fleet entirely. Cascades of hot water drained off the ancient stone pillars, filling the air with bitter sulfur fumes."We cannot shoot our way through two miles of forged guardian plate!" Silas yelled toward the quarterdeck, pointing a thick finger at the waterlogged stone housing at the base of the central pillar. "The manual override housing is sitting right above the waterline! Lower the longboats!""Silas, that stone platform is scalding!" Lyra called out, holding her guardian staff steady as she kept the cooling light active around the flagship's hull. "The mechanism has not moved in hundreds of years!""It will move today!" Silas growled, dropping his heavy coat onto the wooden deck.He reached down
The Fog of Voices
"Launch the auxiliary boat now or I will jump into that boiling sea myself!" Lyra screamed, her golden eyes blazing with pure fury.The flagship was drifting into the open water past the gate, but behind the dropping iron bars, Silas and his six engineers were pinned on the narrow stone ledge. The heavy iron gate had crashed down hard, trapping them on the platform while dozens of pale blind sharks thrashed in the red-stained water below."The gate is almost closed, ma'am!" the chief boatswain yelled back, his hands shaking as he released the heavy iron davit ropes. "The space is too tight for the main ship!""Then we take the steam-launch!" Lyra shouted, swinging her leg over the wooden railing and dropping onto the deck of the small, metal-hulled auxiliary boat.The small vessel was powered by a compact alchemical furnace, its brass boiler hissing with high-pressure steam. Two veteran sailors scrambled aboard after her, throwing the throttle lever fully forward.VROOOM-SSSS.The sma
The Blue Sanctuary
"Pull him out of the water before that shadow beneath his boots swallows him whole!" Lyra shrieked, her hand clinging to the wet rope net.Silas kicked his legs frantically, his thick leather uniform soaked through and dragging him down into the freezing deep. Beneath his boots, the deep ocean water flared with an intense, pulsing blue light. The massive silhouette surged upward with terrifying speed, displacing hundreds of tons of seawater and lifting the entire flagship three feet into the air as its back broke the surface."Hold on to the rigging!" Silas bellowed, grabbing the net with both hands as a massive, moss-covered dome rose out of the waves right beneath his feet.The creature was gigantic, easily twice the length of the flagship. It was a living crystalline turtle native to the deepest uncharted waters of the Wilds. Its immense, rounded shell was not made of simple bone, but constructed from interlocking plates of glowing blue quartz and translucent crystal. Nestled withi
The Loyalist Last Stand
"Throw the grappling iron hooks and brace for the wave before that ironclad pulls the beast under!" Silas bellowed, his voice cutting through the deafening roar of the ocean.A hundred-foot wall of white foam crashed over the bow of the alliance flagship as the giant blue turtle throngs its flippers in agony. The massive creature rolled hard to its side, the steel harpoon still driven deep into its primary eye. The colossal tidal wave slammed both fleets together, sending wooden planks snapping like dry twigs as the lead loyalist ironclad crashed directly into the flagship's starboard hull."Board them!" Lyra shouted, swinging her golden staff around her head as the two ships locked iron railings. "We have to cut that harpoon line before the wire rips the turtle's eye out!""Blackwood infantry, follow me!" Silas roared, vaulting over the wooden rail and landing heavily on the slippery iron deck of the loyalist warship.A dozen Blackwood soldiers leaped across behind him, their cutlass
The Liquid Essence
"Cover your eyes, Lyra, before that shadow tears the sight straight out of your skull!" Silas roared, shielding his face with a heavy leather-wrapped forearm.The towering thirty-foot geyser of liquid shadow roared like an angry ocean, shooting high into the damp air from the shattered remains of the turtle's primary shell crystal. Dark ink swirled through the sky, blotting out the pale sunlight and coating the wooden decks of the alliance flagship in a freezing, midnight frost.Then, the roaring dark waterfall stopped moving.The massive plume of liquid shadow froze mid-air, contracting violently into a single, dense point of light. A blinding flash of pale blue frost and deep midnight darkness erupted outward, illuminating the ocean for miles in every direction.Standing in the center of the shattered crystal stood Marcus Vance.He was no longer the wounded, fading warrior who had vanished into the spatial tear. His physical form was completely stable, glowing with a brilliant fusio
The Crested Legion
"Form the shield wall on the black sand and do not let those silver constructs push us into the surf!" Marcus shouted, his double-layered voice booming over the crashing waves.Five thousand eight-foot mechanical soldiers marched down the rocky incline from the crashed space-vessel, their polished silver steel plates reflecting the pale sunlight. The black sand beaches of the new continent trembled under the weight of their synchronized iron boots."Riflemen, aim for their knee joints!" Silas yelled, racking the lever of his repeating gun as he stood at the front line beside three hundred Blackwood veterans. "Fire at will!"A heavy volley of lead bullets slammed into the marching front line of the legion. The lead shot bounced uselessly off the thick ironwood chest plates bearing the Vance family dragon crest, leaving only shallow grey scratches on the polished metal."Our lead is not biting into their armor, Silas!" a Blackwood captain screamed, reloading his weapon with trembling ha
The Mother in Stasis
"Do not open that main exhaust valve or the pressure spike will kill her where she lies!" Marcus roared, his double-layered voice shaking the metal bridge walls.The master bridge of the crashed space-vessel was turning into a furnace. Glowing red lines crept along the curved steel floorboards, and thick white steam hissed out from every copper seam. In the center of the room, the crystal-clear stasis-pod stood illuminated by a steady blue light. Inside the thick glass, Clara Vance remained frozen in deep sleep, her dark hair floating gently in the surrounding fluid.Marcus rushed toward the master control pedestal, his dual elemental eyes scanning the flickering brass dials. His hands hovered over the primary power levers, but a sharp, mechanical alarm screeched from the ceiling speakers.BEEP-BEEP-WARNING."Security firewall active," a cold, automated voice echoed through the bridge. "Primary engine core linked to bio-life support unit. Manual shutdown of core will result in immedia
The Evacuation Chaos
"Catch her before she hits the steel floor!" Marcus yelled, diving through the thick clouds of escaping blue vapor.The heavy glass cylinder slid into the ceiling with a screech of grinding metal, dumping cold stasis fluid across the hot floor. Clara Vance gasped, her eyes flying open as she fell forward. Marcus caught her in his arms, his frozen ironwood left side providing a sturdy frame while his liquid shadow right side kept her warm against the freezing liquid.She blinked against the bright lights of the bridge, her breathing shallow and ragged. She looked up at Marcus, her pale face free from any trace of shadow corruption or dark madness."Marcus?" she whispered, her voice weak and hoarse from thirty years of deep sleep. "Is that really you, my sweet boy? You grew up so tall.""It is me, Mother," Marcus said, tears of blue ice forming at the corners of his eyes and melting down his cheek. "I have you. You are safe now.""I am so weak," Clara murmured, her hands trembling as sh