Leif awaited the inevitable arrival of his enemy in the clearing of swords, sensing the uncomfortable prickling against his aura as it grew closer and closer. A family of birds roosting in a nearby tree panicked as the overbearing scent of blood washed through the forest, only to fall to the ground, dead seconds after taking flight. Even the grass seemed to shudder, the tiny creatures living am...
2024-09-05 08:29:00 +0000 UTC View PostChapter Prescript:
Sorry for the delay. I ended up revising both this chapter and the end of book 2 quite substantially. We're almost at the end, final stretch.
Enjoy!
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There were several ways one might react to having the connection to their family threatened. Shock was expected, anger understandable, fear reasonable. Since his rebirth, Le...
2024-08-30 07:55:59 +0000 UTC View PostKurt held the canal grate open as the last of their skulking party ducked through, exiting the city without alerting the authorities. They had lost little time in gathering the few members of Luriem’s seedy underbelly that both met the power threshold, and owed him favours or debts.
An hour after the meeting with Fracture they had gathered, the three red robed guilders ...
2024-08-26 08:20:11 +0000 UTC View PostNorman had been having a bad month. The quadriad and the many preparations that needed to be completed prior to its commencement were a pain, though necessary. While Fracture boasted several powerful members and branches all across the vast territories of Merkys, they were far from the only power. For one of their own to hold the position of Spire Head at the Academy was a massive boon for thei...
2024-08-21 08:46:32 +0000 UTC View Post“What's wrong with us?” Maline said with a glint in her eyes. “Oh darling, if you knew how much money was being thrown around you wouldn’t ask that question. Besides, the boy was living on borrowed time, he had a handful of weeks remaining as best before his body gaze out and my toxins finished him off. If anything, it was a mercy to give his life value one last time.”
Chapter Prescript:
Sorry for the break. Busy week, all good now. Let the story commence!
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The streets leading up to the western canal were silent, absent of all life except for the occasional scurrying rodent or half-drunk vagrant lying in shadowed alleys. Leif could sense the life within the homesteads they ran past, family units sharing spac...
2024-08-14 08:41:41 +0000 UTC View PostThe streets emptied the further Lucia fled from the mercantile district. Those that remained on the darkening roads gave her a wide berth or otherwise ignored her completely. She darted into side alleys, backtracking and obfuscating her path as best she could. The longer the shadows grew the more effective [Fade] became, and Lucia flitted between buildings and cover, all but invisible du...
2024-08-07 08:08:11 +0000 UTC View PostThe air warped as a haymaker from a fist the size of Leif’s torso ripped over his head. The giant, rust-red furred ape screeched as it followed up with its other fist, only for the blow to be deflected as Leif raised two golden forearms to guide the strike aside. The ape, expecting to have connected with the second blow, stumbled forward, off balance for just a moment. In the opening granted ...
2024-08-03 07:42:18 +0000 UTC View PostLucia waited until none of the sell-swords were around the campfire before she stepped into line, an empty bowl in one hand and the other resting against the hilt of her wooden sword. It took a handful of minutes to reach the two men who were cooking and serving the refugees.
“Ah, you must be the girl travelling with the masked adventurer.” One of them said, a ladle d...
2024-07-31 08:30:31 +0000 UTC View PostThe increasingly crimson light of season’s cracked face bathed the old stone fortress in an ominous ambiance, the mostly crumbled fortifications were still blanketed with the evening's rainfall, and the old and abandoned structure shimmered as if soaked in the blood of an ancient battle. An owl watched Leif from the peak of a half destroyed tower, occasionally flying away on silent wings, onl...
2024-07-28 08:39:42 +0000 UTC View PostMelton fought down the urge to cough as dust and ash fell from the roof, the scent of smoke like the twisting of a knife into his lungs. One of his eyes was matted shut with blood, and the foot long splinter sticking out of his right shin made walking impossible. The barn he was taking refuge within shook, and the frightened barn animals cowering in the far corner bleated in alarm.
...
2024-07-25 08:01:49 +0000 UTC View PostAuthor Note:
I wasn't happy with chapter 181, so I more or less rewrote it. The contents of the chapter aren't too different from what was there before, but the overall quality of the chapter is much higher.
Anyway, enjoy 182!
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“You should pick the eye power. I think someone fighting in the quadriad had something similar, she could lo...
2024-07-21 08:44:48 +0000 UTC View PostThe ascent leading up to the palace in Varan city was Flavia’s favourite place in the entire lakeside settlement. It was lined with beautiful arrays of multicoloured flowers, artfully sculpted statues painted in lavash golds and silvers, and the multitude of endlessly flowing fountains added a bubbling ambiance to the walk that threatened to transport her to another world. It reminded her of ...
2024-07-17 07:32:47 +0000 UTC View Post“Should you have killed him?” Lucia asked, glancing over her shoulder as she and Leif walked between the sandy hills and arid shrublands that lined the western coast. “He might have been lying.”
“He wasn’t. I could tell.” Leif replied, stabbing a driftwood staff into the side of the dune as he scaled it. “Also, I’m concerned you would ask me that. I don’t th...
2024-07-15 08:08:30 +0000 UTC View PostBam trotted through the field of fully grown grain and considered that it was unfair that she wasn’t allowed to eat all of it. It grew so quickly, and nobody would notice if she nibbled on a couple, or several hundred juicy heads. It was truly outrageous, one of life’s great injustices. She walked along the dirt path towards the farmhouse in the distance. There were lots of buildings now, i...
2024-07-12 07:37:55 +0000 UTC View PostLucia’s world spun, and that was in part because Zane had dropped her onto the lilting deck of the bisected ship he had leapt onto with her slung over his shoulder. All around her were the crashes, screams and emanations of battle, the activation of skills lighting up the night, their endlessly different aspects reflecting off the void that was the pitch black sea. All of those were reasons s...
2024-07-10 07:50:08 +0000 UTC View PostHera drew a final arrow, pulled back the string on her bow, then loosed. The projectile made of hard light flashed through the trees. Twisting between trunks as it hunted the figure with smokey wings. She felt it when the arrow landed, then she triggered one of her core skills, vanishing in a flash of white light, and appearing above the man. His body was pinned to the ground, his limbs twitchi...
2024-07-08 07:56:12 +0000 UTC View PostThe crowd parted as Leif delicately used his aura, his presence, to gently direct the milling students around him. His aura washed over those within the portal hub and its connecting hallways and chambers, suppressing those within slightly, nudging them towards calm. His honest disposition, and genuine intention to help where he could, prevented a panic or outbreak of violence as he worked his ...
2024-07-05 08:17:17 +0000 UTC View PostLevel up! Class [Adept of Self Restoration] is now level 12!
From healing your body from damage sustained in battle, while in battle, and coming out on top you have gained a level!
+1 to [Might] +1 to [Willpower] +1 free point!
New class skills available! [Extract Ailment] or [Delay the...
2024-07-03 08:05:31 +0000 UTC View PostThe sudden, instantaneous feeling of having several hostile intentions lance into his awareness almost cost Leif the fight. Him hesitating to retaliate, unsure as to the identity of his assailants almost got him killed.
Almost.
As a spear of crackling lightning punched through his chest, he didn’t feel pain, but the strike staggered him back a ste...
2024-06-29 07:20:43 +0000 UTC View PostLucia watched the team battle taking place in the arena with keen interest. She didn’t know any of the combatants, but one of the girls from the Pellus team was obviously a [Rogue], the way she moved and fought, darting in for quick, intense strikes with her shortsword, only to rapidly retreat, was indicative of the class.
One of the [Rogue]’s teammates was throwing a...
2024-06-26 09:06:53 +0000 UTC View Post“Well, child. It seems you have come to me with a most interesting discovery.” Vevosis said, the Spire Head lounging back in his chair, the thin line of his mouth curved into a slight smile. Or was it a sneer?
Johan suddenly found his mouth dry and his heart rate accelerating. It was the effect of being in the direct presence of someone over twice his level, he knew that, b...
2024-06-24 07:13:20 +0000 UTC View Post“How did you do that?” Nern inquired as the stone door opened completely, the slab rumbling to a stop with a crunch that reverberated through the floor.
“I’m not sure.” Leif said as he walked forward, clothing billowing as the sea breeze buffeted him. With every step the lines carved into the stone, each filled with salty water began to emit a soft amber glow. There w...
2024-06-21 08:17:38 +0000 UTC View Post“W-what on earth?” Marcus gasped, picking himself up off the dusty stone floor where Leif had shoved him. A golden shield rippled around him, warding off remnant waves of heat that washed over the room. “That thing almost turned me to ash.”
The jagged remnants of crystal fell from Leif’s fingers as he crushed the gemstone in his fist, the automaton going inert beneath...
2024-06-19 07:38:22 +0000 UTC View PostNikolas stood with his hands behind his back, looking over the balcony railings of the Ahle-ho palace, wondering if he could have done more to prevent the tragedy that had unfolded. Conflict between the guilds wasn’t unheard of, though violence between the prime guilds rarely happened out in the open. The Ahle-ho guilds usually competed with one another via proxies or official competition, an...
2024-06-16 07:35:03 +0000 UTC View Post“There’s definitely an internal reservoir of power.” Marcus was saying as they stepped through the portal connecting the island of Dimid to Lutum. He was looking down at a sheet of paper he had rubbed a pattern into from where a large gash in the temple's structure had revealed aged and decayed arcane wiring. “Obviously there’s nothing left, no power I mean, it’s empty, only ...
2024-06-14 08:41:52 +0000 UTC View PostAfter a handful of late arrivals trickled into the muster point and were loudly scolded by professor Goodwil and summarily shunted into different teams, the excavation expedition departed. One of the faculty who was accompanying them activated a skill that occasionally rippled invisibly across the teams, pulling their attention towards their destination and relaying information about the upcomi...
2024-06-12 10:07:25 +0000 UTC View PostAs Leif exited the greenhouse and entered the living room he spotted Hera lying on a couch, her long blond hair cascading over the back of the expensive furniture as she leaned with her face tilted upwards, a wet cloth covering her eyes.
“Long night?” He asked, holding the door as Lucia scooted into the residence after him.
Hera’s response was...
2024-06-09 07:26:19 +0000 UTC View PostChapter Prescript:
There was no chapter on Wednesday? Why?
The answer is that there was a gas leak in my house and I needed to sort it out.
Am I safe and healthy?
Yup, its all good. Enjoy the chapter!
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Two daggers of sharpened wood cut through the air, their shape was partially shadowed, just like their wielder. Motes of gol...
2024-06-07 06:51:21 +0000 UTC View PostUnder the misty veil of the greenhouse Lucia talked, and Leif listened. She told him of her life before the fall of Pherin, what it was like watching her little brother slowly grow up alongside her. Lucia had to stop at several points in her story, and Leif only interrupted to ask guiding questions when she stalled.
Leif could sense the emotions bubbling up within her, bu...
2024-06-02 08:20:31 +0000 UTC View Post