Hardmagic Stories

In the fractured realm of Bastion, the sun never sets on one horizon and the night never fades on the other. It is a world of harsh extremes, shared by industrial Dynamen, ancient Elves, and blood-bound Vampires. Deep beneath the surface lies Underhaven, a subterranean sanctuary where light and shadow converge. Born into this land of rigid law and iron discipline, Equirel, a young Templar, must navigate a landscape of magic and monsters. In a world defined by its borders, Equirel's journey will lead him through ancient secrets and a world-shattering truth that sparks a desperate quest for revenge.

*Original Story* *Strategy shōnen with seinen stakes* "Four rookies. One brutal Seeker Exam. A hard magic system that judges actions. What does it take to seek truth in a world built on lies? The gods wrote the laws. The Arcwheel turns, binding every soul to an endless cycle - live, die, repeat. But the wheel is cracking, and something ancient stirs beneath the waves. Kai Xander was meant to be a footnote in history - another nameless orphan swallowed by the ruins of a dead age. But Kai doesn't know how to stop, armed with a flame that heals instead of destroys, hunted by monsters, fanatics, and false gods, he sets out across a shattered world to find the truth buried at its heart. In a realm where knowledge is power and faith is weaponized, one stubborn Seeker will defy fate, question divinity, and light a fire that even the abyss can't swallow. Slow-burn character and system build until the Trial by Mercy-then Ryōiki(domain) duels and war arcs kick off. Seeker's Codex: Beyond the Abyssal Line Copyright © Hazzybae (HennessyTheAuthor), 2025. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form without prior written permission. You do not have permission to scrape, text-mine, or use this work to train or improve any AI system or dataset. This is a work of fiction; any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental. Official channels: Royal Road, Wattpad, WebNovel, and Scribble Hub. DMCA/Permissions: [earland12@gmail.com]

Felis thought his life was not normal. From his humble beginnings in the coal mines to the equally humble existence he lead in Corton, hardship has never been foreign to him. Though by no stretch of the imagination could he have foreseen the world he was about to be thrust into against his will. A fierce battlefield lurks in the blind spots of society. Unnatural powers, secret lands, unexplored potential hiding just out of sight. What magic lies in the mystery of the unknown? This is my first work. Feedback is greatly appreciated :D

A thousand years ago and a thousand years more, a prophecy was made. A prophecy that set off a series of events that might probably lead to the end of the world when truths becomes lies and lies becomes truths. With the fate of the world hanging on a loose thread......

Starrhys and Kersona are blacksmith apprentices who live in a land unready for the cataclysm beneath their feet. After generations of dormancy, the wild arcane stirs with the swelling of ungodly, celestial things; things that think and speak as one, whisper of fulfilling the desires of all mortal hearts, take the place of your friends and taint your dreams. The nexus is twisted, choked off and... changed. Magic is not the same and will only grow worse. The wild arcane has slipped through to give the apprentices the gift of unbound ability, but it is too late. Every day the pair struggles to understand and control their newfound abilities, their list of friends grows shorter. No one can be trusted and every moment is borrowed as the one-mind strangles the bonds that hold the planes apart. What is the twisted black whose fingers curl around the heart of the arcane, and how did the wild magic remain untouched? The apprentices must face the gods themselves to help save their home before the entire arcane succumbs to the darkness.

In a world of ash, power is measured by what you've burned. Veyra Thornhollow doesn't remember her mother's face. She traded it years ago for the ability to calculate survival odds without flinching. In the Ember Cities, where the Concordat harvests the souls of the unregistered and the Veil Covenant chases apotheosis through self-annihilation, Veyra is something worse than a criminal. She is efficient. Tier-3. Self-taught. A monster who killed her teacher the moment the lessons ran out. Now she's set her sights on Solis Vane, a Tier-4 deserter controlling an army of Hollows in the poisoned marshlands. She doesn't want to kill him for justice. She wants to harvest his Hearth, extract his crystallized power, and use it to reach heights no wild Ashwright has achieved. The cost doesn't matter. Veyra burned the capacity for regret alongside her fear. But Solis has leverage of his own. A daughter. A hidden weakness. And the Hollow Marches don't forgive mistakes. Ashen Hollow is a progression fantasy for readers who like their protagonists cold, their magic systems brutal, and their victories pyrrhic. No redemption arcs. No found family. Just the endless calculation of survival in a world that consumes everything eventually.

In a world where the sun is scarce and darkness is a death sentence, the nobles squander the glow of rare crystals in opulent balls, while the working class suffocates under the night. In this world, the dark brings no rest-only stasis: a solid vacuum that immobilizes the body and halts the lungs. Kona is an intelligent miner, condemned to a life of servitude, until a single glance from a noblewoman named Aurora awakens something in him more dangerous than rebellion: hope. Thrown into a damp cell to die in absolute shadows, Kona faces the terror of the air solidifying around him. But at the threshold between his last breath and eternal silence, he discovers that his grandmother's legends were true. There is a light that the elite cannot bottle, and a flame that the vacuum cannot quench. The Ancient Sun has awakened. And now, the darkness that served as Kona's prison will become his greatest weapon.

The Republic of Mei has always been the greatest nation in all of Austeria, but the peace brought by its unwavering devotion to the pursuit of art and knowledge is faltering. There is a new era on the horizon, and it does not look as bright. Legend tells, however, of a man who can save Mei from war and famine, a man whose power can rival that even of a star. The Man of a Thousand Suns Deep in the mountainous heart of Mei lies the proud and arcane city of Savo, the core of which is the ancient mage guild of the Jade Dragon. Few seem to be noticing the growing political tension on the continent save for a handful of mages at the guild, two of which are Rajkumar Baracharya and Chandra Nimnimwye. As they struggle to master their power and to find their places in the world, the guildmaster sends them away on a quest, one that he says will bring balance to world. But a few days after Raj and Chandra leave, disaster strikes the world, and both of the young mages know that their world will never be the same again.

The Alters are a generation of kids dropped into a training camp to prepare for a war which may never happen. After sixteen years, Devon Pierce begins to grow suspicious of the cause she'd trained her entire life for. Determined for answers, she began looking into the Aldainian records only to uncover a secret which was meant to be buried for all eternity: the Alters weren't normal kids, they had the power to control the elements. With the help of her best friend Alea, Devon bands together a group of five kids with the task of knocking Queen Amryn and King Bhaltair from the pedestal that protected them for far too long. They include: Devon, an Alter of water; Alea, an Alter of air; Mei, an Alter of earth; Griffin, an Alter of fire; and Theo, an Alter of mind. Together they escape the society that had been confining them, but are quickly directed towards a bigger and more dangerous evil than ever before. Will they prevail victorious or die trying? *Feel free to leave your critiques, I would love to improve my work in every way that I can!* (this is only the first draft so certain details are undoubtably going to change)

Dweller spirits live beneath the surface and offer their power for a cost. Some people take that deal looking to rule the weak, gain riches, or destroy anything their hearts desire. A Contractor, however, is a person who strikes a similarly binding deal with the Dweller Spirits to gain supernatural powers to protect the weak and restore the balance between man and spirits. Levolt Corvo is one such Contractor on a mission for justice and vengeance. Hot on the trail of a potential lead to his missing partner's whereabouts, Levolt struggles to find his target uninterrupted.

A time before the continents tore apart, 200 million years ago-a single, colossal landmass called Aurithia, embraced by the boundless ocean Thalassa. This was more than mere geography-it was an ancient manuscript, written in blood, steel, and sorcery. Pangea. Here, no celestial hand molds destiny. No prayers ascend to be heard from thrones of light. Only motion exists-wild, ungoverned-of dozens of races, hundreds of creatures, and kingdoms rooted deep as primeval forests. Beneath the same starlight that falls on spells older than time, machines pulse and breathe. Scattered across the world lie hundreds of artifacts, like shards from a once-whole cosmic mirror. Dimensions stack like layers of dream, each bleeding into the next until the borders between reality and myth dissolve, like mist over a volcanic lake. From this chaos, four names rise-torches flaring against the storm. Each cuts its own path into the bedrock of Pangea's history, yet all are destined to converge, like mighty rivers racing toward the same sea. Freiya, the Doombringer-leader of The Bloody Cruce, a rogue host that leaves kingdoms in ashes. Her past is bound to the great dimensional rift, and every step she takes carries the shadow of the abyss she once stared into. Her tale, told in Dark Legion: Rise of the Abyss, is both a map to Pangea's splendor and a record of its decay, woven through the intrigues of countless races.

Tokla is a young noble boy on a journey to become a mage, but does he have what it takes to become like the figures from his legends? In a world where words are magic and magic is pain, men will be forged anew. A work in progress fantasy story with a hard magic system. This story is published on Royal Road

Adda has grown up as the heir to a small-time pack of Bélas living on an isolated island. But she's tired of the endless scheming and politicking of her mother, Yuur, the pack's chief. Yuur is obsessed with something she won't reveal, and will stop at nothing to get it, even if it means betraying her own daughter. Determined to break free and find her own path, Adda hatches a daring plan to escape the island and seek a new life abroad. But with Yuur's spies and assassins hot on her trail, Adda must rely on her Blood-Sworn guardians Sivar and Mikis to keep her safe and help her navigate the dangers of the wider world. As Adda and her companions journey across treacherous seas and encounter strange new cultures, they uncover dark secrets and hidden agendas that threaten to destroy everything they hold dear. With Yuur closing in and time running out, Adda must confront her mother and uncover the truth about her obsession, even if it means sacrificing everything she's ever known. "The Black Shawl" is the thrilling first book in a new fantasy series, perfect for fans of Robin Hobb and Joe Abercrombie.

The Legend of the Spearless narrates one of the many divergent tales of this eminent hero. In this tale, you will read one of Myrin's many versions of his journey as he seeks to survive the War for Land and Sea. But beware: what you witness may not have happened. thousands of years have passed since the War for Land and Sea, and the tale of the Spearless may not be as reliable as many might think.

Magic exists to keep the world from ending. Kael is the reason it won't. Born with an impossible power that collapses conflicts instead of controlling them, Kael is hunted by an Empire that depends on endless tension to survive. As he uncovers the lie at the heart of the Empire, he realizes magic was never a gift. It was a cage. Every time he acts, something ancient shifts-and something imprisoned begins to notice. Because the god they worship is not their ruler. It is their prisoner. And it is waking up. As borders fall, memories unravel, and gods whisper through familiar faces, Kael must decide: Is the world worth saving... or is peace worth everything?

Sela, a beast elf abandoned by her parents in the human capital, has a once-in-a-lifetime chance to discover her ancestry, but her benefactor requires a price that may be risky. Gemma, a sprout elf without magic, finally gets the opportunity of her dreams, but it comes at a high price... she thinks. Rai... well, he's never what he seems to be.

Serafina has a strange dream. She doesn't want to be a Paladin, Bard or Swashbuckler. Her sights are set on... Astronaut. One problem? The profession doesn't exist yet. She'll have to hack the magic system and craft solutions to unforeseeable problems in order to realize her vision, and she won't be able to do it alone.

It had been four years since the vampire Nox had started serving the throne of the elegy kingdom under their second contract as a demon. Now that contract, the one they were supposed to protect, was traveling to learn magic. This vacation from the palace grounds was not one Nox had ever asked for, now having to associate with students by day, while dealing with cultists and assassins by night.

A collection of short stories from a world where magic demands memory as its price. Some tales follow rebels and Wyrds - those born with strange gifts - while others linger on mages, their apprentices, and the cost of survival. Each story stands on its own, but together they weave the larger mythos of a continent divided by fear, rebellion, and the mysterious Pale.

It was never known when it began. But every 120 years, the Kamir soars throughout the lands to cause the pandemic known as the Plague of Crowns. It is the only known creature the Isakahns have failed to slay. Neither have the beastmasters of Qarth tracked down its abode. Nor have the Diameer scholars found a cure for its Plague. And with hope flickering in desperation, the leaders of the warring nations acceded to the Covenant of Swornroot and united the three races against the nemesis. Though the subsequent attempts to prevail against the infamous monster did not succeed, the realms of the covenant are ever more resolute to muster their forces for the year 1347--when the Kamir will yet again devastate the inhabitants of Oma'j. But in the year 1266, an unexpected roar is heard from the skies.