Six Days Earlier
Into The Swamp of Death
(novel excerpt)



Sample Chapter from:
Quaraun and the Vampire, Into the Swamp of Death
Volume 8 of
The Adventures of Quaraun the Insane

Unicorn opened his eyes and looked around. He was confused. He remembered dying. He remembered the agonising pain of being ripped out of his body as Massimara's Orc guards plunged the axe through the centre of his body. He remembered the horror on Quaraun's face, as he watched Unicorn fall to the ground, his life slipping away. Unicorn had died, and he knew he had died, and yet here he was awake and staring up at the stone ceiling above him. 

And he could see it. Unicorn had been blind for decades. His world had gone black. But now he could see. He could see the stone ceiling above him. He could see. He could see everything. It had been years since he last saw anything clearly and now he could see as well as he had when he was young. He could see the dark stone walls of the crypt around him. He could see the stone slab on the sarcophagus on top of which he was lain. He could see Quaraun, dressed all in black, standing beside him, looking down at him. He could see the Elf's hands covered in blood. He could see the look on Quaraun's face: cold, empty, blank, distant, and numb.

"I can see ya. Quaraun! I can see! Oh that's wonderful! Why can I see?"

Unicorn sat up. His hand slipped on the blood and entrails laid out around him on the slab. 

"Un I can sees blood. A lot of it. Un it'sn't mine. Oh my. What is this place? Quaraun answer me?"

Quaraun said nothing. Nor did he move.

Unicorn stared at Quaraun and then at the blood. So much blood. And it wasn't his. He could see that. His own wounds were healed. The scars from his old wounds were gone. His body was fully repaired, fully restored to it's former youth. The old blind Phooka was gone, replaced with a young healthy Phooka instead. With a blue glow to his skin.

"I is glowing. Quaraun why am I glowing like a Lich? I is Lich. I remember. Ya betrayed me. Ya married that whore un I turned myself into a Lich. I is Gwalmaiic, King of Pepper Valley. I is Elf Eater of Pepper Valley. I is leader of the Lich Lords un ya killed me dead three times. Chocolate covered apricots. I is BoomFuzzy. I died. An Orc cut me in half. I is healed. I has died five times now. Un I can see. I is na blind anymore. I is na old any more. Un I is Lich with a corporeal body. Quaraun what have done to me, eh?" 

Unicorn stared at Quaraun and then back down at the blood on the altar. It was more then just blood. Organs, intestines, two hearts, and bones. Bloody bones, tendons still clinging to the them, fresh blood still oozing from the veins. Two severed heads. Two horribly familiar severed heads.

"Oh ya poor Gnome. Quaraun? What have ya done to our friends?" 







Volume 8: Into The Swamp Of Death

Quaraun wakes up in The Mournful Lamb Inn, with no memory of who he is or how he got there. Every one tells him he arrived covered in blood and collapsed, but no one can answer any other questions, save a gargoyle-like beast of a vampire, who tells Quaraun he is dead by suicide and wanders through the Swamp of Death, the holding ground between life and death, heaven and hell. The holding grounds for people too good for hell but too evil for heaven, as well as the place where lost souls wander until they can be set free: The Mournful Lamb being the resting place for murder victims and suicide victims.

Confused and alone, Quaraun tries to leave the inn, only to discover a vast barrier around it prevents any one inside from getting out.

The vampire tells him the only way out is to look into his own memories and seek out the truth: seek for the three friends, who never travelled with you, answer the question: why do always travel alone.

Unlocking his past reveal a horrifying truth: BeaLuna the Gnome, Bullgaar the Dwarf, and BoomFuzzy the Unicorn were never there - figments of his warped imagination or ghosts of the past, he can't tell which, but in all this time no one but Quaraun has ever seen any of them, for they are all ghosts who now haunt their murderer.

TRIGGER WARNING

This novel is about a murder-suicide, in which the suicide victim is found still alive. 

This novel contains references to and graphic depictions of cutting, intentional drug overdose, suicide attempts, dismemberment, murder, and beheadings.

Some of these scenes are included in the free-to-read-online sample chapters.

Reader discretion is advised.

Possibly NSFW

BDSM YAOI

TORTURE PORN

BARBED KNOTTING WARNING

This novel contains one of the most graphically detailed and brutally violent CBT barbed-knotting torture/sex/rape scenes of the entire series. No part of this scene is available free-to-read online.

Reader discretion is strongly advised.

NSFW


The sample chapters listed below equal about 1/10th of the novel. No additional chapters will be made available free to read online.


The Mournful Lamb Inn



Everyone Is Dead?



Where Are Your Friends?



The Valley of the Katopas (Part 1)



The Valley of the Katopas (Part 2)



The Beginning of the End



The Witch Massimara Of Mount Yenka



Psychotic Dead Things



Six Days Earlier



There is no Mournful Lamb Inn



The Swamp of Death





TYPE: Long Novella/Short Novel

WORD COUNT: 61,449 words

PAGE COUNT: 164 printed paperback pages

POINT OF VIEW: third person; Quaraun’s point of view usually; a few times from Unicorn’s

HAPPY EVER AFTER? no, this volume does NOT have a happy ending; character death ending

CLIFFHANGER ENDING: Yes. Sort of. Almost. This volumes ends with a sort of “To Be Continued...” that doesn’t actually continue

CONTINUING SERIAL? Yes; this is volume 8 of 130

INTERRACIAL COUPLES? Yes; a white skinned cross-dressing male Elf and his black skinned male Phooka lover.

Genre: Dark Fantasy > Sword & Sorcery > Bizzarro > Literary

LITERARY FICTION WARNING: This entire series is Slice of Life Vignette Literary Fiction, meaning there’s a lot of dialogue, a lot of talking, a lot of thinking, a lot of monologue, and a lot of emotional introspective, but not much action going on in this heavily character driven series. Each story is a narrow focused look at a single event (often a single day or hour) in Quaraun's life.



















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