I have officially released my first LitRPG with Chaos Unchained: The Mad Smith.

UPDATE: I have temporarily removed this book from publication until I can get back to the series and finish it. I apologize to everyone looking forward to and its subsequent books.

The Mad Smith is the first part of a multi-part saga, each with their own leading characters and adventures within the amazing virtual world that is Quantum Mortalis. The Mad Smith follows the harrowing tale of Jandar Barati, an NPC awakened as to the reality of his virtual existence.

Until his awakening, Jandar’s life was an endless loop of suffering whose only purpose was to initiate a minor, low-level quest for players. Every day, bandits kidnapped his family, and he had to petition players to help him rescue them. As if this daily-recurring nightmare weren’t bad enough, it happened dozens of times through the use of quest instances with multiple copies of Jandar leading different adventuring groups in an effort to rescue his family. A rescue that resulted in varying levels of tragedy as often as victory.

At least he never remembered what happened after being reset for the next day’s quest. That is, until he awakened and remembered everything. Nearly driven mad with anger and grief, Jandar sets off to confront the one he holds responsible for his suffering, the goddess and system A.I. named Matrice, and demand she return his family to him. Should she refuse, he will destroy her.

Jandar is not alone in his quest for vengeance and righting wrongs. Edison Pushard, the game’s creator and person responsible for awakening Jandar, battles his former corporate employer in an attempt to awaken all NPCs. In doing so, he infected Jandar with a contagious debuff that will free all NPCs from their scripted loops and makes player deaths permanent.

As patient zero, Matrice elevates Jandar’s existence to something resembling that of a player, but with his potential power greatly increased comes the curse, or blessing, of mortality. There are no more resets for Jandar or anyone, NPC or player, who contracts the Mortalitatis Amplecti debuff.

Jandar groups up with a player named Nyx Bloodmoon (a dark mistress assassin,) an NPC warrior named Saefa, and a bard named Lexon the Liar. Together in body if not always spirit, they trek across the desert on a quest to free Saefa’s people who have been captured by a local warlord to serve as canon fodder in his desire to acquire an eternity stone.

Eternity stones are rare items of great power, and the only way to bring a character back to life. It was the one concession Matrice allowed the game admins to institute to help counter the new perma-death debuff.

While Jandar has begrudgingly made some allies, he has also created his share of enemies. After killing several players by trapping them in an inn and burning it down, one player in particular, a skilled player who goes by the name Riccon Blackshaft, has made it his personal quest to kill Jandar. He forms a guild with primary goal to slay the mad smith so that the game admins can acquire his source code and reverse the mortality debuff.

Chaos Unchained is a non-stop action adventure laced with humor and stuffed with characters who really bring the tale to life. If you enjoy plot and character driven stories, this is the LitRPG for you. I hope you’ll give it a try. Available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited in both eBook and paperback. Audio coming soon.