Chapter 99
I supposed I could have gone to Redael to ask for advice, but I couldn’t imagine that any results that came from asking the Swarm Alpha for help like that would end well for me. In fact, I couldn’t imagine what his response would be if I asked him for help at all, other than generally negative. Instead, I returned to my den and found Sybil. She and Shemira ...
2024-04-04 03:04:16 +0000 UTC View PostHello! I know that you all are here for Ashlani's Reincarnation. Don't worry, this poll will, in no way, impact the rate of release for AR. However, I enjoy writing, and when this two-a-day upload schedule ends on Sunday, I'll find myself with much more time. Thus, to decompress and destress from writing AR, I think I'll write a LITTLE of a different story. I know, you old hands will almost cer...
2024-04-03 22:37:26 +0000 UTC View PostEven though I’d never seen a keelish mate, it didn’t take any time for me to realize what I had stumbled into. Immediately, I turned and began walking out of the den. It didn’t take long before Rulac walked out, looking a little miffed, but mostly pleased with himself. I’d wondered what exactly to say while waiting, and all I had come up with was, “Um. Sorry for interrupting.”
Oops, sorry. Accidentally reposted 96. Here's the real chapter!
Among those who have heard the New Empire speak and declare that they are restraining themselves, that they have become less aggressive, less destructive, and more considerate after the Great Ascension, there are many that cannot bring themselves to believe. After all, the Empire prides itself on ...
2024-04-03 02:53:42 +0000 UTC View PostEverything should be updated to the tiers they should be at. Spawnlings, to chapter 71, Pack Alphas to chapter 81. I realized today that I actually had the Alphas to only 10 chapters ahead, not 15. MY BAD! If you come across any problems like that, please say something so I can fix it quickly. Thank you! Also, Spawnlings and Pack Alphas, if you didn't get a notification that your access had bee...
2024-04-02 03:50:59 +0000 UTC View PostI turned to Sybil and forced my tone to be civil and understanding. “Hello, Beta. How are you doing?”
She cocked her head as she sized me up, and I found myself unconsciously adjusting my stance to be as magnificent as possible. What exactly that meant, I wasn’t sure, but I did look her solidly in the face, and after taking another moment to look me up and down, Sybil bowed her head...
2024-04-02 03:35:32 +0000 UTC View PostWhen I awoke, more than ever before, I felt wholly different. Changed. For the first time, I looked at my bed and was, at least a little, disappointed. Someone like me, laying in the dirt like an outcast or vagrant? Why had I never kept one of the hides from a wolfstag, and made a bed? Or even brought in some boughs from a bush or tree for my bed? Regardless, some things were necessary, and my ...
2024-04-02 03:29:45 +0000 UTC View PostAs my mind faded from consciousness to the strange inbetween of evolution, I allowed myself to indulge in the comfort of the void. I didn’t feel anything, almost as if floating in water. Given my history as a Wavespeaker, that was once the most comfortable thing in the world to me. Now, however, as I floated and relaxed, I realized I didn’t feel quite so comfortable in “water” as I once...
2024-03-31 16:40:08 +0000 UTC View PostI brought my mind to bear on the prodigious task laid before me–understanding the words that were being displayed in the notification from the [System]. After a moment to push through the exhaustion and fatigue, I could finally focus on the words before me.
[Previous Skill: Improved Bloodlust; when the Skill user deems it necessary, they will find themselves enveloped by a cooler, more ...
2024-03-31 16:16:16 +0000 UTC View PostMy enemy circled around me. I knew it was about to feint. It was faster than me, but in the rare moment I could meet it directly, I learned that I was just as strong as it was. It was slippery though, so I needed to hit it hard, fast, and before it could react. Even if the first attack wasn’t fatal, I would need to slow it enough to finish it. If only I could slow it down, then I might be abl...
2024-03-31 16:15:28 +0000 UTC View PostI spit the blood from my mouth, my own mind betraying me, driving me to push in harder, stronger, more aggressively. It had only been a couple of hours on this attempt, and I needed to cull a bit of the impatience, or I would never succeed.
When I had initially approached Wisterl, she immediately settled into a comfortable stance, but regardless of her apparent comfort, I saw that no matt...
2024-03-31 16:14:11 +0000 UTC View Post“Sybil, what do you need from me for the next four days?”
She cocked her head at me, confused. “What do you mean?”
I sighed and stretched, trying to loosen my mind up as well as my body. It didn’t work. “I’m not going to be here for at least three, maybe as long as five or six days. In that time, what will you need from me?”
“Are you going to be in danger? Wh...
2024-03-31 16:13:24 +0000 UTC View PostHis eyes, they burn as unquenchable flames,
The flames of total purification.
His arms, stretched forth protecting his people alway,
The walls of universal protection.
His breast, bared and presented before the rest,
The home to which the true may return.
His soul, clean from any stain,
The refuge in which there is no pain.
-Psalm...
2024-03-31 16:12:36 +0000 UTC View PostWithout thinking about it, I allowed my sonilphon to continue to evolve, and once the burning warmth within my chest began to fade, I looked at the [System] notification.
[Previous Organ: Sonilphon: a rare magic manipulating organ which passively gathers and converts ambient magical power into the sonic attribute. The sonic attribute is typically used to dampen or enhance sound, tho...
2024-03-31 16:11:33 +0000 UTC View PostI dodged under the next two strikes and then came the overhead blow. Only once had I allowed a hammer-blow like that to land, and I’d immediately come to regret it. Never again would I allow that to land, so instead of over-committing to a dodge, though, I stepped even closer to Redael and grabbed his wrist with my left hand and knifed my right towards his exposed armpit. He stopped his desce...
2024-03-31 16:10:51 +0000 UTC View PostThe second and third time I tried to use the magic in my hands, I felt more and more successful. I still didn’t acquire a new [Skill], but that wasn’t too surprising to me since I was pretty sure I still wouldn’t be able to use this in combat yet. Maybe a bit more focus on how to use the magic itself, as well as getting it to be a smoother stream of magic through me would enable it to be ...
2024-03-31 16:09:53 +0000 UTC View Post[Quest completed. Growth achieved. Quest board updated. Status updated.]
I hadn’t received any surprising notifications, and so I turned to look at my [Status].
[Status:
Name: Ashlani
Race: Young Sonic Magicblood Brood Alpha Keelish
Titles: Chosen of Nievtala
Current quests:
-Hunt 3 new species. Reward will vary depending ...
2024-03-31 16:08:19 +0000 UTC View PostI never expected to have to walk back my words so quickly, but with so few of the pack needing to do things here in the den, I quickly dismissed the majority of them to go off and practice or do what I’d suggested. Before long, the den was quiet and mostly empty of keelish. I could go out and try to find new prey to hunt, but I suspected that would do less for me than staying here, prac...
2024-03-31 16:07:38 +0000 UTC View PostMy hopes of an all-magical pack were swiftly dashed as I cycled through every member of my brood. Other than the early discovery of Solia as one who, as far as I could tell, would evolve when next she rested, there were precious few new magical keelish. Etra and Cree both needed only a couple of easy hints to finally evolve to acquire their magic, which seemed to be a more limited and generally...
2024-03-31 16:05:45 +0000 UTC View PostWe permitted their passage. After all, it is our right to dictate who passes through our land. Though you are the Inkulu, you are not in control of the Republic. You must worry only for your own askari, and we will worry for our own. Next time you have some complaint about what the Yegolide do within our pastures, bring it to me, not to a child. You know as well as I that the Indlov...
2024-03-31 16:04:52 +0000 UTC View PostI had brought my fellow keelish’s bodies back to the den more from a sense of stubbornness than because I’d had some sort of plan of what to do with them. But now there were five bodies laid out in the middle of the communal area, and I had no idea of what I’d ever thought of doing with them. We hadn’t buried any of the bodies before, and once we’d grown a little we no longer ate the ...
2024-03-31 16:03:55 +0000 UTC View PostI hadn’t thought about it, but I was completely covered in filth. I’d been coated in blood and gore after the fight with the wolfstags, then dragged the bodies through the jungle without taking the time to clean myself, and finally been thrown into and rolled on the ground, with dirt covering any part of my blood-painted body that wasn’t already stuck with leaves or fur. With so much cove...
2024-03-31 16:03:06 +0000 UTC View PostI stood stock still, confused and taken aback as the [System] notified me that the [Skill Absolute Dominance] was being exerted upon me. Before too much time passed in this confused silence, though, Sybil was next to me.
“Is there anything you would like me to prepare for yourself or these two guests?” As always, she carried herself with grace and absolute poise, but I could rea...
2024-03-31 16:02:28 +0000 UTC View PostRedael showed no mercy, understanding, or patience upon my arrival. Whenever I’d arrived in the days before, he had been in his den and then had exited eventually, never leaving me to wait more than a quarter of an hour. This time, whether because he knew I was coming, or because he was waiting, Redael was stood outside of his den when I arrived. I was about to apologize or explain myself whe...
2024-03-31 16:01:40 +0000 UTC View PostThe walls of Nievtra initially stood as a bastion against the empire’s subjugated peoples. Now, they stand as the shield behind which the innocent cower in fear. May long they stand, and may their defenders always be victorious.
-from the transcript of a speech delivered by a Moonchild refugee.
Dragging the bodies back to the den...
2024-03-31 16:00:56 +0000 UTC View PostVefir finished his investigation and attempts at healing, and then we knew that five of the pack had died, none of whose names I knew except Traak, a hunter from Tieran’s pack. The pack, in total, now numbered 50, after the casualties from the ambush on Took’s smaller pack and this time. Even with the dead bodies of my subordinates laid out in front of me, I didn’t mind the price paid. We...
2024-03-31 16:00:18 +0000 UTC View PostWith seven more wolfstags than we’d planned, we needed to pray that Percral and his team arrived quickly. Regardless, we were in a disadvantageous position, being matched basically one for one, and we had several of the least combat ready of the pack with us. We needed to thin the pack as quickly as possible, and I couldn’t completely concern myself with the rest of the pack’s safety. Aft...
2024-03-31 15:59:24 +0000 UTC View PostThe pack pressed on, ever forward. Once we exited the den, I switched my vision and noted the skies beginning to burn with the colors of the sunset. Remembering my recent frustration, I kept my eyes peeled and didn’t change my perception back to the wider thermal vision.
“Brutus!”
He stepped forward, immediately answering my summons. “Where?” I couldn’t bring myself to u...
2024-03-31 15:58:44 +0000 UTC View Post“VEFIR!” I hadn’t finished shouting his name before he was already there and healing Took to the best of his abilities. For the first time, I was able to watch as his magic began to flow into Took’s open wounds, and I saw as her flesh began to knit together beneath his hands. The healing was different from what I had seen and done as a Wavespeaker. Wavespeaking accelerated the body’s ...
2024-03-31 15:57:52 +0000 UTC View PostAhnah,
I know you have been planning a return to the west. You must know: beware the leviathans–they’ve become quite active and moody of late on this side of the continent. The salt witches think it has something to do with the massive storms the Veratocracy has been sending against their southern border with the Wilds. You might not have heard of...
2024-03-31 15:57:03 +0000 UTC View Post