The hunter waited patiently on a hill overlooking the town.
This must have been the fourth such small settlement that the hunter had investigated over its months-long search, but they were op...
2023-07-30 21:59:20 +0000 UTC View Post“He wants to WHAT?!” Azarus shouted, accidentally slamming his hammer down onto his thumb in surprise. With a shouted curse, he hurled the hammer away from him into the corner of his forge befo...
2023-07-30 21:57:34 +0000 UTC View PostLater that night, Grey and I were relaxing in his room. The sun was setting, and his room was lit by flickering candlelight by now, casting everything in dancing shadow. Azarus had called an early ...
2023-07-30 21:55:33 +0000 UTC View PostTime passed, and before I knew it, two weeks had gone by.
I was busy during that time. Every day was devoted to trying to train my usage of Aetherial Melding. If I wasn’t trying to refine m...
2023-07-30 21:53:57 +0000 UTC View PostInside the back room was the same preparation room I’d seen weeks ago. It didn’t seem to have changed all that much. It was still tiled, with knives and tools scattered across the large wooden ...
2023-07-30 21:51:47 +0000 UTC View Post“Interestin’.” Azarus said idly, cutting into the steak on his plate.
After we had gotten back from our lunchtime break, Grey and I worked on testing my new Profession for the rest of t...
2023-07-30 21:50:17 +0000 UTC View PostI awoke to the sound of rattling drawers and the muttering of Grey. I was laying in his bed again, in a mirror of my first day here. He must have moved me here after I had…passed out? Was that wh...
2023-07-30 21:48:56 +0000 UTC View Post“And, well, my entire Profession pane has changed. Again.” I said to Grey.
It had. Again. For like the third time or something.
Where before it had been a series of seven concentric...
2023-07-30 21:43:49 +0000 UTC View Post“Until this point in time,” Grey said. “AutoVants, the Sculpted, were legally considered to be property. Naturally, they objected to this legal status. Even before the Second Initialization, ...
2023-07-30 21:42:33 +0000 UTC View PostI took a longer bath than usual, taking the time to try and decompress. I must have just lay in the tub for nearly half an hour after cleaning myself, simply trying to clear my mind. I don’t know...
2023-07-30 21:41:09 +0000 UTC View PostI wasn’t able to see the clearing fully from how far back I was, but the sight still gave me a rush of wild hope. Somehow dredging up more energy from my exhausted frame, I accelerated, putting o...
2023-07-30 21:38:25 +0000 UTC View PostThe tree might but holding up fine, but I wasn’t for how long. The repeated assaults of the bear-rabbit had started to splinter the base of the tree. Eventually, I think the monster was going to ...
2023-07-30 21:35:57 +0000 UTC View PostI slowly drifted back to consciousness, laying on my left side facing a tree.
Honestly, this was a surprise to me.
As I gradually became more aware of my surroundings, I tried to move. ...
2023-07-30 21:32:58 +0000 UTC View PostThe silence in the clearing was oppressive.
After Nate and the other slaves had been forced into the forest, Magnus had ordered his guards to go fetch the usual things he needed for a ‘hunt...
2023-07-30 21:31:17 +0000 UTC View PostI tried to move through the thick brush quietly, as I made my way deeper into the forest. It was difficult though, as the forest was much thicker in this part. The trees were closer together, as we...
2023-07-30 21:29:38 +0000 UTC View PostI sprinted through the forest for perhaps five minutes before I started to slow down. Coming to a stop, I hunched over and put my hands on my knees in order to catch my breath. But I was fighting s...
2023-07-30 21:28:33 +0000 UTC View PostAzarus’s whole body tensed. His arm thrown across my shoulders began to feel more like a steel bar. Whatever he was planning on, he didn’t get the chance to act on it.
The guards advanced...
2023-07-30 21:26:04 +0000 UTC View PostMy breath hitched in my chest. Oh…fuck. What the hell was he doing here?
Lord Magnus of House Savoy was much as I remembered him to be. Dark of hair and beard, both were worn long and elabo...
2023-07-30 21:25:14 +0000 UTC View PostAzarus and I traveled in companionable silence for most of the first day. We didn’t even really stop in order to have lunch, we only stopped the cart when the sun went down. Once we did, I helped...
2023-07-30 21:23:37 +0000 UTC View PostIt had been nearly a week since Azarus and I had arrived in Rhoscara at this point, and we were leaving soon. The other day, Azarus had joined Elysael and I for dinner and told us that he had finis...
2023-07-30 21:21:25 +0000 UTC View PostThe fading twilight stretched across the city of Rhoscara, glittering among its crimson and gold spires. Beneath them, the work of the city began to die down, after another frenetic day of creation...
2023-07-30 21:19:33 +0000 UTC View PostFor the next maybe quarter-hour, we ate our breakfasts in awkward silence. Well, awkward for me at least. In a casual setting like this, I didn’t know how to speak to Elysael. What kind of chit-c...
2023-07-30 21:17:48 +0000 UTC View PostAfter the incident in the Prince's office, nobody seemed to be in the mood to talk anymore. Elysael told Azarus and me that we would finish the conversation later, before calling a servant to lead ...
2023-07-30 21:16:17 +0000 UTC View Post“Well,” The Prince began delicately. “That wasn’t quite how I was expecting things to go.”
Once the Prince had ended court for the day, Azarus and I had followed her out of the thro...
2023-07-30 21:13:55 +0000 UTC View PostI didn’t pay much attention to the next couple of people that came to petition the Prince. I was more focused on the implications of Olgar’s petition, instead.
It sounded to me like the h...
2023-07-30 21:08:39 +0000 UTC View PostSo, this was Olgar.
Not gonna lie, he was pretty intimidating.
Azarus hummed noncommittedly in response to his greeting. He turned his gaze away from Olgar for a moment in order to drag...
2023-07-30 21:06:55 +0000 UTC View PostBefore long, Azarus and I had reached the top of the long winding stone stairway that led to the palace district proper. We made the trip in silence, as Azarus seemed anxious about something. Perso...
2023-07-30 21:04:05 +0000 UTC View PostI wasn’t watching this time as the wagon entered the city, but I could feel when we made the transition. The wagon went from rolling smoothly along the hard-packed dirt outside the gates, to trun...
2023-07-30 21:02:41 +0000 UTC View PostAs our wagon slowly trundled its way toward the gates of Rhoscara, the spectacular view of the city slowly faded. It was replaced by the less dazzling view of the walls that surrounded the city. Th...
2023-07-30 21:01:22 +0000 UTC View PostAzarus was right for once when he said the trip to Rhoscara would take about four days. The trip itself wasn’t that bad, however. I’d had certain expectations for the journey,...
2023-07-30 21:00:29 +0000 UTC View Post