Eastern

Chapter 36

A rock slipped out from under my foot, skittering off the ledge with a sharp crack. My stomach fluttered as I watched it bounce once, twice, before vanishing into the trees far below. It took a ful...

Chapter 35

I walked out of the clinic, my sabre by my side and my dagger on my hip. Master Kai had given me a couple of outfits and a side duffle bag that I strapped over my shoulder. Inside, I had some dried...

Chapter 34

I opened my eyes, still seated in the middle of the ruined rice fields. Golden strands of Qi drifted lazily through the air around me, like sunlight caught in slow motion. I breathed in, and the en...

Chapter 33

I woke to the sound of birds chirping. Sunlight streamed through the window and I could hear people moving about in the street outside. I pulled myself up out of bed, still groggy from my sleepless...

Chapter 32

I wiped the rain from my face and adjusted my grip on the sabre, now hanging loose in my hand. The sky was a dull wash of grey-orange, the last edge of the sun slipping beyond the mountains. The dr...

Chapter 31

The Spirit Beast dropped to all fours and began barreling toward us, its muscles rippling beneath thick black fur. It didn’t weave or dodge, it didn’t need to. Every lesser beast in its path wa...

Chapter 30

I looked down at the Duskcreeper, it limped in slow, defiant steps, one leg lifted uselessly off the ground. My dagger was still embedded in its shoulder, buried to the hilt. Still it limped forwar...

Chapter 29

Fi Yan knew what she was doing was wrong.

She knew, and she did it anyway.

She had to see what was going on.

So she slipped out of the sect building and away from her mother’s d...

Chapter 28

Wei Lin woke to the smell of smoke and herbs.

For a long moment, he simply lay there, blinking up at the unfamiliar wooden ceiling.

The weight of a blanket pressed against his chest, an...

Chapter 27

I made my way back across the gravel road toward the healer’s clinic, the pill still clutched tightly in my hand.

My body felt stiff, sore in all the usual places, but the pain was dulled n...

Chapter 26

All the village folk were gathered around his cart, pressing in like moths to a flame.

Jin Tao dropped the sides down with a theatrical flourish, revealing what looked like a trove of goods p...

Chapter 25

My head jolted off the wall where I’d been leaning, snapping me awake.

I blinked, disoriented for a moment, before remembering where I was. Still sitting in the chair beside Wei Lin’s bed...

Chapter 24

One of the elders stepped forward.

He was younger than most of the others—maybe late forties—with a thick brown beard and a long scar cutting down his right cheek, breaking the beard into...

Chapter 23

The world returned in pieces.

First, there was a deep and throbbing ache, pulsing at the back of my neck and side.
Then the scents—smoke, herbs, and blood—heavy in the air.

I bli...

Chapter 22

The middle wolf crouched low, its head dipped, violet eyes locked on me. A guttural growl rumbled from deep in its chest.

The other two began to circle.

One to the left. One to the righ...

Chapter 21

I didn’t move for a while.

The golden flecks had long since faded, pulled into my body or back into the earth. That deep calm—that strange quiet that had opened something in me—was alre...

Chapter 20

I woke up groggy, something pressed against my face. I pushed it off with a grunt, and a mumbled protest followed.

Wei Lin.

We were both sprawled out on the floor of his home. At some p...

Chapter 19

We were back in Fallen Mist.

Wei Lin had once again bartered away our kill—apparently, the beast was called an Armour Boar. Fitting, if a little on the nose. There must’ve been some trans...

Chapter 18

I crouched beside the hedgebeast’s corpse, catching my breath. My hands still trembled a little, though whether from the fight or the Qi, I couldn’t say.

Wei Lin stepped around the body a...

Chapter 17

The mud felt different under my boots.

Not because the fields had changed—but because I had.

A week ago, walking between the rows of rice stalks had been unfamiliar and awkward. Now i...

Chapter 16

The quiet didn’t last.

Somewhere in the underbrush, something moved. A branch snapped. Leaves rustled. The sound was soft, cautious—but it was there.

I tensed, one hand sliding towa...

Chapter 15

A few more days passed, most of them quiet. I kept to myself. Wei Lin tried to make small talk now and then, but I wasn’t in the mood. Too much on my mind.

Back on Earth, I’d seen things ...