Chapter 31. Closing In
That dawn they packed the bulk of their belongings into two trunks—which they then stashed into Dorian’s new interspatial ring.
“Thank Heavens!” said Kaya, laughing as she dragged out...
2021-10-25 06:38:41 +0000 UTC View Post
Ad Astra posts
30. Moving Fast
Smoke puffed up from the sands, wreathing the kneeling Chosen. To the side Tuketu watched with a knowing smirk. Nobody moved. Dorian kept his hand held out, angling his palm to the light; sunlight ...
2021-10-22 20:45:51 +0000 UTC View Post29. Stick & Carrot
“You’re right.”
Confusion. Anger. Suspicion. Silence.
Dorian spread his hands, swallowing, and threw on a wide-eyed look. “What can I say? Most all of you worked really hard. Mo...
2021-10-21 04:09:35 +0000 UTC View Post28. Loose Tongues
Dorian greeted the rising sun with a Kata. He spilled through the Daybreak Kata like fresh sunlight, light, fast, melting from one form to the next. His body hummed in tune with the universe; he br...
2021-10-19 07:58:09 +0000 UTC View Post27. Interlude I
The sun was sinking below the horizon, red as a drop of fresh blood. Tuketu tracked its progress expectantly, his hands clasped behind his back, his back straight as a board. For the best part of h...
2021-10-18 09:37:37 +0000 UTC View Post26. Pill Bonanza
When Dorian arrived, he was greeted by an island of calm amid Hu’s usual dumpster of a shop. At the back left corner, past rows of shelves stocked full of potions, pills, and random trinkets, was...
2021-10-16 06:51:46 +0000 UTC View Post25. Sinkholes
It felt like he was stepping on invisible mid-air trampolines. Up and up he went, buoyed by qi, until he was ten, twenty, forty feet off the ground. He took a second to stabilize himself a...
2021-10-13 23:46:40 +0000 UTC View Post24. Fight & Flight
It was like Kaya was a kid again and the world was her sandbox. A very big, hilly, bone-studded sandbox.
She leapt around, catapulting and whooping. “Look!” She yelled as she bent down, c...
2021-10-12 06:35:49 +0000 UTC View Post23. Death & Rebirth
It took him half an hour to extricate himself.
At first Hu was ready to chain him down to a chair, slap a ladle in his hand, and force him to brew until he’d finished squeezing every last L...
2021-10-10 21:04:02 +0000 UTC View Post22. Buying It
Dorian took a breath. A deep breath, the sort he could feel all the way through his chest, up to his head, up to his spirit, even. Anger and annoyance surged in him. He felt it as a ball of twined ...
2021-10-09 03:45:41 +0000 UTC View Post21. Housekeeping
What bloodline was it? Dorian couldn’t tell by cursory inspection. Frowning, he leaned in and felt for the energy signatures. Then he tried channeling his qi in, feeling for a response; he got ba...
2021-10-07 03:24:54 +0000 UTC View Post20. Lucky Loot
Tuketu said nothing. His face gave away nothing. He looked at Dorian with a puzzled frown.
After a pause that was verging on uncomfortable, he broke out into a sudden smile.
“Of cours...
2021-10-05 04:10:48 +0000 UTC View Post19. The Chosen & The Spurned (V)
The shards hissed and crackled into being in a small sphere around Hento—a spawning zone. Hento whipped out the embroidered sleeves of his silk robes in a flourish.
The shards shot out, arc...
2021-10-05 04:09:59 +0000 UTC View Post18. The Chosen & The Spurned (IV)
Tuketu raised his hand and all the other Chosen fell back. All around Dorian and Hento, a circle of runes rippled to life, hemming them in: a makeshift arena.
But before Tuketu could finish, ...
2021-10-05 04:08:50 +0000 UTC View Post17. The Chosen & The Spurned (III)
Despite its fussiness, the first Kata was a neat technique. It was the first status-type move he’d seen in this world: it buffed the body and cleansed the spirit. There were echoes of the essence...
2021-10-02 03:56:36 +0000 UTC View Post16. The Chosen & The Spurned (II)
It was a pill, and it was literally lightning in a bottle.
The pill’s insides fizzed and jolted about, like it was trying to break free of the casing.
Dorian looked at it sid...
2021-10-01 14:34:01 +0000 UTC View Post15. The Chosen & The Spurned (I)
Dorian jerked awake, one side of his face burning. He knew instantly he’d been slapped.
The slapper in question stood above him, grinning with all her teeth.
“Morning!” said Kaya....
2021-10-01 14:33:25 +0000 UTC View Post