Michael Adams

Not a Chapter (Quick Update)

Hey everybody, so, real quick, I've been sick as all get out for the past like 5 days. I don't know what it was, but I was basically sleeping most of the time. I'm finally out of it, but now I have to work a little extra to fill in for the time lost. That said, there won't be a post this week. That's very dissapointing for me as well, because I haven't had that happen in a very long time, but i...

Cheep!? 172

Sunlight glinted off of the snow in a scintillating display as the Wyldwalkers traveled through it. They’d passed through this winterscape on their first ascent to Riizen, but Niko still couldn’t help but marvel at the oddness of the varying environments here. The fact that the mountain itself was larger than it should have been still sat in his subconscious, but that wasn’t as...

Cheep!? 171

Niko and the rest of the Wyldwalkers stopped eating when Crowe and Camille walked in, Niko greeted them with a trilling note. Both looked, for lack of a better word, weary in their steps, though he could hardly blame them. They’d been the go-between for Riizen and Greenleaf for weeks now, and as a result had made many repeat trips back and forth. It wasn’t as if there weren’t o...

Cheep!? 170

The city of Riizen bustled to repair the damages of the siege after so much had been destroyed between the Dawr assault upon the walls, and Sliver Peak’s Mountain King, Keranthun’s, breath attack. Beasts of all kinds strove to pile the debris in specific locations, where yet more of their kin further sorted the materials into piles that could be recycled by those with the appropr...

Cheep!? 169

The warm air radiated off of the vivid reddish and beige walls and floor with their intricate, sweeping curving patterns that were set in the tiles and brickwork. In the middle of the courtyard a large, ten meter tall fountain burbled softly, with five statues of near-white granite of different creatures pouring out water. The first that faced the wide open double gates of grey wood ...

Cheep!? 168

It was a slow and rhythmic noise that stirred Niko from his deep slumber, as if coaxing him to wakefulness. He recognized the sound as flowing water, babbling and trickling as if from a stream, and couldn’t help but settle in just a little bit deeper. It’d been such a long time since he’d last relaxed and enjoyed a morning, and his home in the Evergreen was devoid of many troub...

Cheep!? 167

The Dawr Warlord, Ak’tash Bloodchild, held his hand tight to the still bloody, tender wound on his chest. That he’d even sustained it shocked him to his core, the fact that the bloody tier three bird had managed to injure him so severely was nothing short of a miracle.

Or a curse, given the creature had been capable of using The Bloody Father’s gift against them....

Cheep!? 166

In the center of Riizen, another fight was raging. The Dawr Invasion had been expected and none of the defenders were surprised to find that they were persistent, but they did not fear any possibility of defeat. They were proud, but they were also aware of the differences in their power. The Dawr possessed only so many tier fives, and while Riizen had their own high tiers in...

Cheep!? 165

“My clucking tailfeathers!” Niko cried out shrilly as he felt a slice cut through a portion of his thick, gorgeous tail-feather fan. With an unsteady wobble, no less assisted by the emotional damage just done to the Az-Phorus, Niko managed just barely to bank hard enough to slap his talons against a building side to correct. The action shattered the wall and blasted it i...

Cheep!? 164

Trying to hold onto Sasha’s back was a tall order at the best of times for Dachna, but he was doing a great job of it. He supposed that having ridden with Niko previously gave him at least some kind of leg up for the job over most of the others.

That was probably the only reason that he was able to hold on at all as Sasha’s body slid sideways across the gr...

Cheep!? 163

Niko bounded down the walls, momentum and flared wings keeping his descent controlled and swift. He felt his heart pump, blood energy rush alongside essence, and the roar of combat as it overwhelmed his senses. The closer to the ground he and the rest of the Wyldwalkers got, the less they could pick out the individual strikes. Clashing blades and the slap and slice of flesh mingled w...

Cheep!? 162

Floor by floor the Wyldwalkers cleared the siege tower, progress speeding up every time they did so. Outside of the tower, Prince Nivere of the Greenscale clan rallied those freed up from their own defensive positions by the combined efforts of the two groups, allowing them to speed up.

Niko let out a long, heavy breath as he stepped out of the top of the Dawr siege tower, stre...

Cheep!? 161

Breaking the solidified mixture that kept the ramp into the siege tower closed was the work of a less than a minute for Mithel. The innards were large enough to house even Thokk, and held something akin to a stairwell in the back right and left corners of the tower. The space was significantly larger than what would strictly be necessary for mere Dawr, leaving Niko wondering what the...

Cheep!? 160

Niko tensed as three siege towers trundled towards them, the two towards the back of the line were in far greater condition than the closest one. The first siege tower was scorched black as charcoal, thoroughly battered, and let out shrill squeals from its brutally punished gears and pulleys that worked within its internals to keep it moving.

But move it did, in spite of all of...

Cheep!? 159

As Niko flew over the wall that tapered to an almost sharp ridge at the top, he could see the war preparations in their fullest extent. While the various mines, barriers, and other obstacles were intended to slow down the enemies outside of the wall, within Riizen proper combatants marshaled together awaiting the order to move through the gates, and while their organization wasn’t ...

Cheep!? 158

(Sorry for the delay! I'd thought I'd done the post this morning, but was mistaken. Here it is now!)

Niko raced through the air, one of several aerial combatants fighting over the Dawr lines, chased incessantly by arrows, spells, and projected blade attacks that whistled on their way to him. Most of the time, he could avoid them, but there were several occasions – as de...

Cheep!? 157

Niko awoke to the shrill sound of a ringing bell, he then banished any fatigue he felt with a wave of essence that jump started his body. Instantly, he and the others stirred, and it took Niko a considerable amount of self control not to accidentally throw anyone off of his body as he startled into action.

Yet, even with that, he took the moment to think on his ‘dream’ last...

Cheep!? 156

Niko knew that he shouldn’t be nearly as calm as he was. He knew that there were two godlike beings sitting in a room that he had a feeling was as much a part of himself as his own flesh and blood. He was also  aware that he couldn’t even comprehend the exact power gap between himself and them, let alone how they rated to one another.

And yet, for all that, Ni...

Cheep!? 155

Through Riizen’s gates wandered in the exhausted – and of mixed pride – team responsible for having run guerrilla strike tactics on the Dawr coming in from the East. Theirs was far from the only group attacking the found forces, however they were arguably one of the more successful groups. Only four other Dawr forces had been found with time enough to do any preliminary attacks...

Cheep!? 154

This time, the meeting didn’t take long, as it was decided up front that they couldn’t stop attacking just because of the warlord’s interference. When the rest of the teams eyed them hopefully, Niko almost felt guilty when Mithel informed them that Hyper Beam wasn’t going to be ready anytime soon. Still, that just meant that they were going to keep the Wyldwalkers rotating ar...

Cheep!? 153

The strike teams raced away from the Dawr, being certain to route through the trapped locations prepared beforehand. Given the explosions and distant screeches of pain and surprise, Niko judged that they were doing their jobs abundantly well. Luckily, it seemed that the warlord and his champions weren’t pursuing, though Niko looked over his shoulder more than once to be certain of ...

Cheep!? 152

The attack force moved through the titanwoods with purpose, fed supplementary information as they went from forward scouts that were dedicated to the task.

Niko was eyeing the forest in general when the lead squad moved next to theirs, even at the brisk pace the teams were moving. In spite of being on the same side, Niko felt a pang of wariness come over him at their approach.<...

Cheep!? 151

With Niko’s patterns having unclogged, he wondered what exactly he was capable of. Beyond that, he suspected that Alterra’s blessing was responsible for the dramatic expansion he’d experienced. It would make sense, in a way, that the manifest will of the world would want him to be as powerful as possible. Perhaps each of the Titans grew in this way, becoming exponentially more ...

Cheep!? 150

Niko flew through the air, relishing the feeling of the wind blowing through his feathers, and the sheer freedom he had at every moment. Just a day ago, Niko had thought that gliding was close enough to flight, that he knew what it would feel like.

Now he knew he’d been delusional, deceiving himself for something he didn’t know if he’d ever be able to experience. It was l...

Cheep!? 149

The specific hall that the Wyldwalkers were led to was massive, though calling it the main hall was something of a misnomer. There were a few halls, and while the ‘main’ hall wasn’t the largest, it was the one most commonly used for large announcements. According to Sasha, they very rarely used any other one.

With how stuffed to the brim the main hall was at the ...

Cheep!? 148

As the itching began to subside, Niko finally took Dachna up on his offer to look in the mirror. For several long seconds, he stared, incomprehensive of what he was seeing looking back at him.

“I… Wow. This is different.” Niko uttered softly amidst the silence in the room. The other Wyldwalkers might have been looking on in interest, but through his mental connec...

Cheep!? 147

Niko, belly full of a mushroom feast extravaganza now sat atop a large, comfortable but firm mat that had been placed around a large, copper bowl filled with a variety of dried plants and powders. Sigaldry marked the inside and outside of the bowl, and from the floor beneath the bowl, Niko could plainly see inked lines that glowed faintly with an orange light. The essence in the room...

Cheep!? 146

The next day saw the Wyldwalkers awake later than usual, the events of the night before having taken much out of them. Niko and Skye staggered out of their rooms, moving into the meal hall in hopes that food was present, or lacking that, could be made so shortly.

Anya and Sasha were already present, and Niko’s tired mind forced itself to at least a modest fraction of wakefuln...

Cheep!? 145

(Sorry about the delay on this one! Ended up rewriting it because my wife and I didn't like how it had ended up when I'd finished. Enjoy!)

Niko luxuriated in the feeling of suds against his feathers while he sat next to a rinsing station. Given that it would be rude to everyone else for him to put soap directly in the normal bathing water, he planned on rinsing off beneath the ...

Cheep!? 144

What was initially supposed to be a briefing with Anya had become more in short order. Food had been placed before them in the midst of a much more official room, which hosted the heads of other clans as well. They were, to Niko’s eyes, not nearly as unapproachable as he’d expected.

“This is troublesome news,” Karrak, the Stone Kobold head gnawed on a bone as h...