A short time later, as she sat in the window, smoking Arrha and looking out over the docks, she found that she couldn’t call Barzai out. Looking to its system readout, the spirit’s status had g...
2023-07-25 17:49:46 +0000 UTC View Post“It's 'cause of these. Got special access to their section of the library,” she gestured to the coffee table, over which all four of Barzai’s scrolls were rolled out. “There was another tex...
2023-07-25 05:54:38 +0000 UTC View Post
Cover version SoonTM
A/N: Partial rewrite for improved flow
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“Attempting to regain control of the two regions has been difficult wor...
Later that week…
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Zefaris had reached a point of being able to use the Philosopher’s Eye for hours at a time...
2023-07-22 23:51:33 +0000 UTC View PostThere, in the depths, she found them. Atop a vast, blackened spire, something that her mind interpreted as a volcanic funnel, surrounded by fathomless astral depths, she found a gnarled tree of cor...
2023-07-22 18:31:39 +0000 UTC View PostA few minutes later, in a warded private meeting room, the two sat across from one another. Though Zelsys had offered him several different kinds of liquor, even a medicinal meal straight from Ozmi...
2023-07-21 00:26:41 +0000 UTC View PostOne morning, Halxian came to Zelsys with a message from his father, asking her to visit him to discuss “an interesting affair”. This was code-speak for a truly severe and urgent problem, one th...
2023-07-19 23:54:47 +0000 UTC View PostBit by bit, she found grains of info on the influx of strange, yellow-paper talismans of abnormally high quality. It wasn’t long before she bought herself a corkboard and started working things o...
2023-07-19 15:36:18 +0000 UTC View Post"You..." he hissed. A dejected sigh. The gun went down. He waved her into his flat, and she followed. As he closed the door behind her, he continued muttering: "Of course you'd show up. It was only...
2023-07-19 05:12:33 +0000 UTC View PostThe Dream-quest Scrolls were as bulky as they were strange. Though their construction was that of wood or bamboo-slip scrolls, they were made of dark chitin and bound by ligaments. She took them wi...
2023-07-18 00:41:53 +0000 UTC View PostThe Fog Ogre looked about ready to fall apart by the time Halxian was done mere seconds later, and then, the explosions came. In rapid sequence, the congealed pseudo-matter of the glorified target ...
2023-07-17 03:52:24 +0000 UTC View PostThey moved into the Phantasmagoria Ring, the machinery whirring to life as the setting they had entered beforehand took form. A great ring of metal and tubes rose up to enclose the whole arena, spi...
2023-07-16 02:17:30 +0000 UTC View Post“...It appears that the Artat Sect Elder wishes to dispel any possibility of hostility and establish friendly relations,” Ozmir explained, himself still reading the letter. He looked up, seeing...
2023-07-15 00:19:36 +0000 UTC View PostLater in the day, she went to the Temple of Records. They let her in without asking any questions, with the librarian stating: “The High Grafter has made arrangements in your stead. You have acce...
2023-07-14 20:08:41 +0000 UTC View Post“Your turn, tell me your boons,” Krahe prompted. “Just the effects, no need to list the names.”
“Surely, you have more than one boon.”
“Of course, but I suspect you have a...
2023-07-13 19:13:49 +0000 UTC View PostShe stayed for some time after, to keep up appearances, and when she left, she took a swig straight from the poison gourd just to really drive it in… And because the sap was starting to feel a gr...
2023-07-13 19:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostWhile his second-in-command contacted the Root Branch, Archibald penned a polite letter of first contact, folded it up, and sent the paper bird on its way to the old city of Willowdale. Hopefully t...
2023-07-12 18:17:52 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Minor edit to the end of the chapter.
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It was as she read the book, the Xaugeth Encyclopedia Vol. 1, Ed...
“Well, I don’t know what you plan to do from here on out, but once I wake up I’ll probably get breakfast at a market and try to do some investigative work, see if I can dig up something on Ha...
2023-07-11 22:52:11 +0000 UTC View Post“For these,” Firminus held up the yellow painkillers, “Swallow one pill every eight hours. For acute pain, chew two pills instead. They strain the liver somewhat, though you needn’t worry u...
2023-07-10 19:30:14 +0000 UTC View PostThe Flying Needle Sword flew into the courtyard, and striking one of the sect building’s decorative pillars, exploded with a directed blast of lightning. The pillar broke, as did the Flying Needl...
2023-07-09 19:13:29 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: If you haven't already, go back to 263. I rewrote the final 1/3 of the chapter.
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Eisengeist’s blood ...
She was here, now, at this place and time, anchored in reality, and yet, she wasn’t. The world revolving. Spiraling. The breath of existence collapsing and expanding like a beating heart. Aeons f...
2023-07-07 20:50:55 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Made an edit to the final 1/3 of this chapter for better pacing.
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As the woman sat across from Gide...
Makhus’s manic explanation was interrupted by One-arm’s choice: “I suppose I shall take the middle one. It feels as though it will conduct my flame the best of these three.”
He turned...
2023-07-06 22:49:50 +0000 UTC View PostThis was a first; the Boon’s readout was long and complex enough that it was split into sections and even pages. Nonetheless, Krahe made sense of it, and blinking a few times to clear her sight, ...
2023-07-06 20:09:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe resources of the Krishorn Clan, the Iron Riders, and the Kargarians at large could not be understated, either. The ink of Halxian’s chest and back tattoos was fundamentally different from tha...
2023-07-05 15:25:49 +0000 UTC View PostOnly a small opening on the back of Krahe’s neck remained, Fidelia’s tendrils entering through it as she performed the final connections and quadruple-checked that everything was as it should b...
2023-07-05 15:14:21 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: My backlog is fucked. Gonna take a couple days to rebuild it. Normal posting resumes on Wednesday.
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Zelsys burned...