azazele

Arc 9-15

“It’s too dangerous.”

Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. Alana has come a long way when it comes to her home, but the north still ensnares her sensibilities in a way I can’t understand. Not even my all-consuming hatred of the Grimoires can compare to the obsession of the James family with their war, sustained by their traditions.

I spoke with her father. He claimed that hi...

Arc 9-14

My lovers welcome Little Water to our dining table, from Talia’s calculated hospitality to Kierra’s lazy wave.

But their eyes ask questions as they meet my own when the lizard girl isn’t looking. Kierra raises a brow when our gest chugs down her first glass of wine. Alana directs a frown in my direction when Little Water ducks her head to focus on what I’d wager is her first homec...

Arc 9-13

“Wait. Take me to the beginning. Why were you watching the Grand Summoners in the first place?”

Little Water pauses in her explanation, the end of her tail standing up and remaining still. I don’t know if her blue skin can show a blush, especially in a way I’d recognize, but there is hesitation about her that suggests embarrassment for getting ahead of herself. The way she launche...

Arc 9-12

With each day, fewer problems plague the city and on a smaller scale. Better, the people put in place to take care of them become more competent, surer of themselves and the power they wield. I have no illusions about who I am. About what I’ve done. The people of New Quest will never love me. It’d be a stretch to hope they’d respect me. Saints know I have mixed feelings for my citizens, s...

Arc 9-11

“Thank you for seeing us, Lady Tome.”

“You didn’t give me much choice,” I say, trying to keep the aggravation from my voice. I think I have every right to be annoyed at being disturbed first thing in the morning; aside from my unexpected visitors pulling me from a warm bed and warmer bodies, they’ve screwed my schedule for the day. But, expressing to them how little I apprecia...

Arc 9-10

“Ow.”

“It wouldn’t get in your eye if you sat still,” I chide as I work the soap through Alana’s hair. She huffs, but doesn’t argue, leaning back against my legs. My eyes flick over her, mapping the faint outline of bruises across her lightly tanned skin. Stubborn. After three bouts, she insisted on fighting me alone. Then Kierra. She was getting ready to challenge Bell agai...

Arc 9-09

“This isn’t where I thought you were going with this.”

I reluctantly stand on the scorched and churned earth Alana has been using as a practice ground. Standing across from me is my lovely savage, Kierra’s narrowed eyes, the fading light bringing out the gold in them, softened by her playful smile. Alana stands beside her, stretching, refreshed after her short break. She drops her...

Arc 9-08

Here I am, returning home with the setting sun in the sky, ready to fall into the arms of a loved one after a long day’s work. A life I used to look down. A life I longed for. Now? A life I’m desperately trying to escape. It’s incredible how much can change in few years.

There was a time I used to look at homes like the Teppin estate, or the Tome estate now I suppose, and burn with ...

Arc 9-07

I can’t say I don’t understand my naysayers’ exaggerations when they claimed that the Golden Family owned a whole district. Standing in front of the skeleton of the beast that will one day be the New Quest’s branch of the Guiness Company, it’s easy to imagine it goes on forever. The towering building can fit two of my schools inside with room to spare, without mentioning the three att...

Arc 9-06

During my first inspection of the school, I spent the entire day telling Rigorson what he was doing wrong. Not exactly wrong; Rigorson is a competent man or he wouldn’t have the job. I mean things I wanted to change, either because someone in the clan had a better way or I simply didn’t like it.

Now? One problem. Big improvement, though the issue is a new level of annoying.

Like...

Arc 9-05

Ask the common Harvest peasant and they’ll have all kinds of opinions about what separates nobles from commoners. I’d bet the number one answer would be money. After that, magic. Maybe a few more traditional minds would say blood.

Truthfully? It’s knowledge. Why? Magic is more about what you know than what you are born with.  Magic is power. Power is what separates the haves fr...

Arc 9-04

In a perfect world, Talia and I would be curled up in a soft bed while a cool breeze washes over us. I don’t live in a perfect world, though some days it feels damn close. Today, there’s more work to be done. My flower is left at home lest she wilt from the constant work. That leaves my succubus to accompany me as we ride into the city to handle the next item on the agenda.

The ride d...

Arc 9-03

There is nothing quite like the mix of mind-numbing boredom and burning frustration that comes with listening to other people’s problems all day. A month ago, these people were living in squalor under the threat of death. I would think they’d be happy to have a roof over their heads but, amazingly, my citizens find something new to complain about every day. It’s almost as if they don’t ...

Arc 9-02

My goal for New Quest is a city that governs itself.

One day, the best men and women of the city, filtered through trials and vigorous testing, will guide the people of my territory to a better future, fueled by the hunger of ambition and the hope of building a better life. That day is years down the line. In the present, the city is filled with undereducated, biased, angry people I can�...

Arc 9-01

“Is it too much?”

I don’t turn, my attention firmly held by my reflection. It’s been seven weeks since an agent of the crown delivered a royal writ declaring me the new governing noble of Quest and its surrounding territories. Nearly a month since I began my efforts to rebuild the city I shattered.

With my clan’s overwhelming competence supporting a multitude of talented p...

Arc 9-00 (Orphelia)

“It’s really coming along,” Orphelia Yemen remarked, her tongue still tingling from the fruity liquor she’d spent the past hour consuming, a drizzle remaining in her glass and half the bottle sitting at her feet. She was seated at the edge of the Grand Market, close enough to the platform lift that she could hear the stones grinding against each other with every scheduled landing. The p...

Arc 8-132 (Little Water)

Little Water tired of the human kingdom, particularly the Myriad Zone.
For someone who had grown up surrounded by the same drab sights day after day, the constantly changing environment was a strain on her mind as well as her senses. Unfortunately, the strange neighborhood was also the best place for the estrazi to hide. At night, when the residents were good and intoxicated...

Arc 8-131

“Saints save me, you’re huge.”

“Shuba.”

What feels like a lifetime ago, after I learned of the king’s vendetta against summoners, fearing for the future of my family’s traditional art and our lives, I summoned the shuba shuba, an incorporeal elemental that feeds on the negative emotions of others. My plan was the time-honored tactic of the carrot and t...

Arc 8-130

“There he is.”

“I have only seen livestock so round. Do the humans in Rosentheim practice, hm… how do I say… eating each other? Has he been fattened for a feast?”

“Play nice,” I hiss to the sarcastic elf at my side. “We need something from him.”

Though I have to agree with Kierra. Wendell Grainger is a large man, in every proportion. It’s beyond the point...

Arc 8-129

“You look good.”

Stampede That Shakes the Mountain, or Shake to those who don’t want to refer to the woman with an entire sentence, brushes her large hands down the forest-green jacket pulled tight over her broad shoulders. Combined with the brown pants and her dark coloring, she can easily disappear into a copse of trees. Impractical city clothing in most cases, but New Quest will ...

Arc 8-128

It doesn’t take long for the not-foreman to get comfortable ordering me about. He’s a practical man, too practical to let ceremony and a healthy dose of fear get in the way of getting things done. There are a dozen of us equipped with shovels. Alana and I easily outpace the other ten—so much so that the foreman has the others retire their shovels.

By the time the sun reaches its zen...

Arc 8-127

It’s a beautiful day to build a city.
Though even my clan’s awe-inspiring abilities can’t rebuild New Quest in a day. It will take time, but our help can drastically reduce the timeline. More importantly, it’ll be good for the people. There’s no fixing my reputation, at least not anytime soon. My concern is giving the people a sense of safety. It’s one thing to say they have noth...

Arc 8-126

For the first time in a while—since the day I blew up at him—Orum joins me for a morning walk. The city is a much less depressing sight these days, with most of the rubble cleaned up, only a few lonely pillars standing not so tall amid scoured earth. We walk between their shadows, saying nothing. I can’t say I enjoy the moment, but I don’t hate it. The two of us are very different, but ...

Arc 8-125

“Leena!”

The worried mother reaches for the arm of her suddenly outspoken daughter only to have her hand shrugged off. The meek girl holds her ground as she stares at her parent.

“Be reasonable, mother! Do you really think we can disappear in some no-name village for the rest of our lives? What will we do with ourselves? Are you going to run a farm? Mend dresses? Teach childre...

Arc 8-124

Magic is a strange dichotomy of will and reason.

At its heart, magic is bending the world to one’s will. A spell comes into being because a caster tells the world to create, modify, or destroy. Summoning is pure intention, a plea cast into whatever exists between realms and the being that presides over that space.

However, that will has to be expressed through reason. Ideas are br...

Arc 8-123 (Robert)

“You look…terrible.”

Robert wanted to return the sentiment, but the petulant lie wouldn’t benefit him. Far from it. If anything, it would put his life in danger, as the woman looked for opportunities to inflict suffering. He knew it, but he couldn’t bring himself to truly care. Lou tried his patience in ways he’d never experienced before.

“Isn’t this post supposed to...

Arc 8-122 (Robert)

Thunder roared without an accompanying storm, the sudden explosion of sound garnering the attention of those too distracted to look up. The knight standing in front of the stage hit the butt of his spear on the ground, making sure all recognized its presence and the meaning behind it, before raising his voice.

“Attention! You are being addressed by the second prince, Prince Sebastian ko...

Arc 8-121 (Robert)

The sky reflected the people working hard beneath it, growing brighter as it shrugged off the gloom of winter and embraced a fresh spring. Like the green shoots pushing through the earth, the people of Quest were full of energy and determination. With each day, more found ways to contribute to the city’s renewal and with each milestone they reached, they became more focused. Only the saints k...

Arc 8-120 (Grayskin)

If Grayskin was a scholarly man, the following discussion would have been quite satisfying; Arthur was exhaustive in his explanations. He glossed over the laws themselves, as they weren’t so different from what pervaded most of the kingdom, choosing to focus on the official positions, their powers, and what it would take to be selected. What he lacked in personality, he made up for threefold ...

Arc 8-119 (Grayskin)

There was a time that each of the guilds stood for something.
The Torchbearers, before they were elitist arsonists, were a pious group. Their name wasn’t a nod to the fire affinity of their members, but their desire to follow in the footsteps of humanity’s guiding lights, the saints themselves. They used to travel all over the kingdom, putting down dangerous manabeasts first and consider...