In a galaxy nearly conquered by Reptuuls, one boy will
change everything,

not by destroying them, but by befriending them instead.

“Beginning warm up training,” the drone said.

Orren spent a few minutes practicing with the drone. It floated around the boy, shooting a laser blast here and there. Orren dodged them easily, and managed to land a few hits with his sword. He was still a novice, but a close friend gave him three simple steps to an easy victory:

   First, breathe. You can’t focus if  you lose your temper.

   Second, observe. There is  always a w eakness to  exploit.

   Third, stand. Stand tall and strong, and never let your foe use your fear against you.

These tips he took to heart, and he had learned a lot about proper sword training in a relatively short time.

Eventually, the warm up ended, and Orren felt invigorated. “Now comes the real test,” the drone said, “Skill level set to one.”

“Level one? Who set it there?” Orren said. His partner must have done that. It annoyed him when he was treated with kid gloves. “No, give me level five.”

“Level five is too difficult for young humans,” the drone said, “Are you sure you want to continue? This is your final warning.” The drone projected a “yes” and a “no” box in front of  him.

“Yes, I’m sure!” Orren said, hastily pressing the “yes” option. “Now hurry up! I don’t have much time.”

“Affirmative,” the drone said, “let us begin.” It projected a humanoid hologram the size of  Orren. It was armed with its own holographic blade to protect its owner.

“Alright, let’s do this!” Orren said, holding his sword firmly in both hands. “I won’t let you beat me this time.” Orren adjusted his sleeve, prepping a Reptuulian dagger he secretly took from his bag. This would be his key to victory.

Orren and the hologram circled around each other, Orren laser-focused on his prey. The hologram was just a distraction. His real target was the drone. The hologram lunged first. Orren sidestepped it, and lunged at the drone, striking a blow to the machine, making the hologram fizzle a bit. “Ha! Gotcha!” Orren exclaimed.

The image recovered, and quickly drifted to the side to avoid the drone as it shot three stinger blasts from its central eye. Orren dodged one, blocked another, but the last grazed his arm, giving him a sharp sting. “Ow! No fair, you’re too fast!”

“You chose this level, not me,” the drone retorted, its central eye light dimming in a mocking manner. “You get what you ask for.”

Orren lunged again, but the drone dodged. He swung to his right, but the hologram jumped in his way and blocked with its own blade. He clashed with the image again and again, hoping to find an opening, but he couldn’t find one. The longer this went on, the more frustrated he became, failing the first rule.

Orren backed off  slightly, and crouched down, focusing his energy on his feet. As he did, he came up with a plan. First, he would throw the dagger, then he would boost forward with his energy stored up, and slash through the drone before it recovered. He hadn’t used this technique before, and he hoped he could pull it off.

But just as he was about to throw the dagger, he noticed something hovering in the air outside the barrier, out of  the corner of  his eye. He noticed it right as the dagger left his fingers, allowing for the hologram to deflect it easily. Orren was in shock, and he lost focus of  his energy, making him stumble. His plan was ruined! He knew he shouldn’t have set the drone to level five.

But what was the floating thing? It looked like another drone. He turned to look, and the drone fired a concussion blast at his chest the moment he took his eyes off  it, knocking him to the ground, his pendant falling off  without him noticing.

“Hey! You cheated!” Orren complained.

“I only took advantage of  your lack of  focus,” the drone said, “You forget the most important rule of  sword fighting–”

“Never take your eyes off  your opponent, yeah, I know,” Orren said frustratedly.

Interview

Q: Can you, for those who don’t know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?

 A: My name is Michael Small, I turned 32 last September, and I am the author of the Kuro-Sil series (so far, only one book published, but I’m working on the next book). I am a ten year courtesy clerk at a Fred Meyer’s (a Kroger grocery store chain in the PNW). I never planned on being a writer. I went to college to learn how to be a video game programmer, and never formally studied writing in school. But I hated computer programming, and wanted to be more of an artist. Though I had no skills in art or music, I wanted to create my own world, but I didn’t want to just hire people to do all the work for me. So I opened up a Microsoft Word document and started writing down all the scattered ideas I had in my head at the time to see if I could create a world. Thankfully, the more I experimented, I found I had created enough for a story which would eventually go on to be called Kuro-Sil, so I dropped out of school in January of 2016, and have been crafting the world of Kuro-Sil ever since.

 Q: Where were you born/grew up at?

 A: I was born in Gig Harbor, Washington State in 1993, and have lived there my whole life up to this point.

 Q: What are you passionate about these days?

 A: Aside from writing, I’ve always loved video games. I’m mostly a Nintendo guy, but I do play on my Playstation 4 a lot, and a little on my PC. I also love Legos, and might splurge on a big set here and there. I recently got into Japanese manga back in 2021, and it’s one of my new hobbies. I love One Piece most of all, and am eager to see how it ends, but I’ve also read tons of other great series, including Naruto, Bleach, My Hero Academia, Jujutsu Kaisen, Demon Slayer, Berserk, Assassination Classroom, Sakamoto Days, Dr. Stone, Chainsaw Man, Black Clover, and tons more. I do try to work out from time to time, and I also love going on walks or drives. (I need to do more working out, though. I’m not too diligent with it).

 Q: If you knew you’d die tomorrow, how would you spend your last day?

 A: If I had enough time, and die before finishing my series, I would love to write out an outline and find someone to take up the mantle to tell my full story.

 Q: Who is your hero and why?

 A: In terms of my faith, probably Paul the Apostle. I wish I could be as devout a preacher as he is, though I don’t think I’m cut out for proselytizing. Hopefully my work can carry my legacy. In terms of writing, I adore Eiichiro Oda of One Piece fame. He is a once in a lifetime talent, and I pray he can finish his masterpiece of a manga. It is one of the most entertaining stories I’ve ever read.

 Q: How to find time to write?

 A: I’m currently single and childless as I write this, so I don’t have to worry about that right now. But I will answer like this: I just try to make time to write whenever I can. When at work, I try to write on my laptop while on my dinner break. It’s also hard whenever you’re second guessing your skills, but I try to my best push through my doubts, though I often fail at it.

 Q: Describe yourself in 5 words or less!

 A: Christian, writer, gamer, courtesy clerk.

 Q: When did you first consider yourself a writer?

 A: To be honest, I kind of stumbled into it back in 2015. I had dabbled in writing a handful of times throughout my life. The first time I ever tried my hand at creative writing was (I believe) 2008, when I tried to write a novelization of the video game The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, in hopes of turning that and further Zelda games into movies. I tried to write it twice, and both times, I stopped at the same time five chapters in, due to my displeasure of my writing (I was fourteen to fifteen at that time, so I wasn’t particularly skilled back then). I had tried other fanfiction writing since then. For example, I wrote an idea of a Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog crossover story (and not those dumb Olympics themed games), as well as stories for the highly underrated TV show Trollhunters. But I only wrote outlines, and nothing else ever came of them (though I regret that, as I feel if I wrote full stories, it could have helped me in the future). I would have preferred to get into TV or video games to make my stories there, because I don’t think books are very popular these days, but since I don’t have the money for either, I chose to write my own ideas as books, since there’s no price to writing on a Word document.

 Q: Do you have a favorite movie?

 A: Easy: The Lord of the Rings movies. I could cheat and say all of them, but if I had to pick just one, it would be The Return of the King. Such an incredible conclusion to three wonderful films, though all three films are such immaculate creations. I feel a little spoiled, as they came out when I was eight, and were a huge part of my childhood. I have been hoping for other movies to capture the same majesty as those movies, but nothing ever came close in the years since. Also, as an aside, I have plenty of Lord of the Rings references in my book, both the books and movies, so I bet readers will find that enjoyable.

 Q: Which of your novels can you imagine made into a movie?

 A: My Kuro-Sil books. These books are going to be my life’s work, and I can’t think of any other books I can write after them, if I continue writing after these. Though I will prefer them to be adapted into a TV show, as that would be the best medium for it.

 Q: What literary pilgrimages have you gone on?

 A: I don’t know how to answer this, but here’s what I will say. I first attempted writing an outline for my series back in 2014 as a possibility, then started the outline in seriousness in December 2015, spent three years writing that, and started the series in full early 2019. Then I gave up after a year of trying and wrote the side story in late 2020, finishing it in summer 2024, restarting my old project in November that same year. My pilgrimage, if you can call it that, was me doubting my abilities, giving up multiple times, and starting other projects for the better part of the last decade trying to get something out there. It took a lot of courage to actually share my work with someone, family, friends, or other people online, and once I got there, well, I won’t say I’ve fully overcome my self consciousness, but I have gotten better at sharing my work and stop worrying about everything. Though with me being in the editing phase of my current project, those doubts have come back, though hopefully won’t be as long lasting as they were in the past.

 Q: As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?

 A: Maybe a dragon? I don’t really think of these things, so I can’t say for certain. But dragons and all reptiles are cool, so that’s what I would go for.