Alpha Series by Arthur Stone

I should not exist.All children like me are stillborn, or die in infancy. Those who cannot grow stronger, die. No empty child has ever reached a year of age, yet I am now thirteen.It has been a long and miserable thirteen years, where the best I can manage to do is walk with difficulty. Sometimes, I cannot even manage that.My clan has paid dearly for every minute of my life. And money is not so easy to obtain, here at the edge of civilization... moreI should not exist.All children like me are stillborn, or die in infancy. Those who cannot grow stronger, die. No empty child has ever reached a year of age, yet I am now thirteen.It has been a long and miserable thirteen years, where the best I can manage to do is walk with difficulty. Sometimes, I cannot even manage that.My clan has paid dearly for every minute of my life. And money is not so easy to obtain, here at the edge of civilization.Perhaps I might have lived in this state for many years. A cripple, strong in mind but feeble in body. But when some unexpected guests came to our estate, everything changed. I would die at last – or, I would learn to survive on my own. less

Some say these lands are the most dangerous in the entire North.The Grove is a perilous wound on the face of the planet, home to the most fearsome creatures in all of Rock. Death himself has trod these paths, leaving in his wake freakish mutants who still bear within themselves a piece of his morbid nature.The only thing more difficult than reaching the Grove is leaving it alive. If you came unwillingly in the first place, escape is impossible – unless, of course, you are a great hero... moreSome say these lands are the most dangerous in the entire North.The Grove is a perilous wound on the face of the planet, home to the most fearsome creatures in all of Rock. Death himself has trod these paths, leaving in his wake freakish mutants who still bear within themselves a piece of his morbid nature.The only thing more difficult than reaching the Grove is leaving it alive. If you came unwillingly in the first place, escape is impossible – unless, of course, you are a great hero.I’m no great hero. Just a level zero, whose last life ended in frailty, failure, and flame.But I’ve never let the fact that something is “impossible” stop me before. Bring it on. less

I had a plan. A good one that I thought through really well. But itonly took a single cunning dwarf accompanied by two goons to force meinto acting earlier than I’d planned to and before I could completeall my preparations. So all my plans needed revision in face of abunch of unpleasant surprises.Instead of using an army of silent helpers to eradicate the scourge,I’d have to act on my own. The town that might conceal something I’dbeen searching for so long turned out to be under siege... moreI had a plan. A good one that I thought through really well. But itonly took a single cunning dwarf accompanied by two goons to force meinto acting earlier than I’d planned to and before I could completeall my preparations. So all my plans needed revision in face of abunch of unpleasant surprises.Instead of using an army of silent helpers to eradicate the scourge,I’d have to act on my own. The town that might conceal something I’dbeen searching for so long turned out to be under siege.Apart from that, I got mistaken for a spy and a bloodthirsty maniacoffered me a walk to a place most often mentioned to scare children.The plan might have not been that great to begin with, after all… less