hcmills

Chapter 22: Progress

The next day, Rylan splurged on some fresh sheep’s cheese at the market, and brought it to his family’s home. Leahna showed up shortly after he did, and together they started on some cheesy gar...

Chapter 21: A Den of Traitors

While Rylan was a little more distracted during his shift than usual, he managed to keep most of his attention on the food he was preparing. He’d written his letter and had asked one of the busbo...

Chapter 20: Bonding

Rylan was having a little trouble wrapping his mind around his father’s excited explanation. Apparently, in order to properly create the waveform, he would have to find the right rhythm to excite...

Chapter 19: A Path Forward

Telling the story of what had happened to him was trickier than Rylan had anticipated, due to how many things he needed to leave out.

He told his father and sister about his daring escape, ab...

Chapter 18: Revelations

Hearing his father’s words, for a moment, Rylan closed his eyes. He’d actually done it. He’d found his birth family. Or part of it, at least.

He still had many questions to ask of cours...

Chapter 17: House Call

Rylan waited in the hallway just outside the little backroom—the same one Sloan had once carried him into after he’d fainted—and peered in through the thin slits in the bamboo door.

He ...

Chapter 16: Visitor

Gaping in wonder, Rylan reached out towards the glass, his fingers pressing up against the pane, with the little yellow spirit hanging just on the other side.

“Hi,” he breathed softly, ca...

Chapter 15: Chef Ironbeard

With the back of his hand, Rylan absentmindedly wiped some sweat off his brow as he stirred the shellfish pilav he was heating.

Noticing that the rice was starting to stick to the bottom of h...

Chapter 14: Reunions

Soren’s mother looked a little gaunt, like she’d lost weight in his absence, but the strength with which she clung to him as she cried her eyes out belied her age.

As Soren had been a lat...

Chapter 13: Home Sweet Home

From the prow of the Breezy Bargain, Soren basked in the sight of his family’s estate. The morning sunlight bathed the white plaster on the outer wall in shades of orange, made the lacquered blac...

Chapter 12: Negotiations

Burtrand’s eyes widened. “Wait, you’re a—”

Rylan held up a finger to his lips, glancing nervously at the various entrances to the room.

Burtrand blinked, hesitated, then seeme...

Chapter 11: Profession

Rylan swayed on this stool for a moment, grabbing onto the edge of the bar for support. Art hadn’t frequented the Knackered Hag since around the time Rylan had received his letter. That seemed li...

Chapter 10: The Knackered Hag

Arphin’s white, pulsing runes lit up the red liquid coating his surface, spreading a grotesque pink light. The tip of the sharp yellow blade trembled, and it took Rylan a moment to realise his sh...

Chapter 9: Bountiful

The alley exited onto a small, bustling plaza. People milled about dressed in bright textiles, and bamboo stalls covered in woven kelp in brilliant shades of blue and purple hawked a variety of war...

Chapter 8: The Right Height

Breathing very slowly and steadily, Rylan pressed himself against the stone, his eyes fixed on the brightening orange glow in the distance.

About half a minute later, the source of the light ...

Chapter 7: Gloamstep

Tendrils of fog curled down from the newly unveiled hole in the side of the cliff, past the rungs of the bamboo ladder, to the woven mistweed mats covering the floor of Kher’s shack.

Howeve...

Chapter 6: An Old Friend

Yuel and Nazyr brought Rylan to a shack that was built up against the bottom of the city’s cliffs itself.

The shacks around here were a little sturdier and bigger, with larger gardens that ...

Chapter 5: The Rear Exit

Pre-Chapter note:

In case you missed the announcement: Stan has been renamed to Arphin. If you want to know why, read the post I made about it. ^^

2025-04-28 12:07:53 +0000 UTC View Post

Retcon: Stan has a new name!

Yes, I know, it can be a little uncomfortable when you've gotten used to a certain name and it gets swapped out, but that happens when you're reading ahead on an unfinished story sometimes. ^^

Chapter 4: Fare Thee Well

Rylan’s first stop was naturally Soren. He found his friend still snoring away in his hammock, and gently but firmly shook him awake.

“Huh, whazzah?” Soren blurted out, blinking his eye...

Chapter 3: Orders are Orders

It was still dark when Soren came back and shook Rylan awake for his shift.

Yawning, Rylan made his way up to the deck, where he was surprised to find Ezra behind the steering wheel.

Se...

Chapter 2: The Letter

Rylan didn’t pull the letter out just yet. There was still a question that he hoped his friend, despite all odds, might know something about. “Soren, have you ever heard of someone having a, eh...

Recap + Book 2, Chapter 1: A Game of Sharks

Book 1 Recap

On the anniversary of the day he was found on the Thistlethorn estate’s doorstep, Rylan Cloudgift’s greatest wish came true: he unlocked his first Skill, thus becoming an E...

Additional chapters!

All right, I've made a decision.

It's high time I got off my lazy butt and started treating you guys the way you deserve. ^^

By which I mean, I'm going to start posting more chapters! :...

Being a writer is weird

Yesterday, I hit a bit of a snag on a chapter. I took a little stroll to think more clearly, and while I found some answers, I still wasn't quite sure how to continue the chapter.

Then, this ...

Read this if you're on an Apple device!

So, Apple recently ruled that Patreon subscriptions purchased through the app store are subject to the 30% cut that Apple takes on all purchases. In practice, that means if you subscribed ...

Chapter 72: Sunrise + Epilogue

Rylan leaned over the prow railing, staring down at Dreadmaw in disbelief as it dazedly started to swim off, the captain secure in its maw. A stiff swish of its tail sent it slowly floating off to ...

Chapter 71: Hanging by a Thread

Rylan frantically scanned the fog below, but couldn’t find the captain’s blue-glowing spirit.

[Boss, look over there!] Stan called out, sending along a sense of location that was belo...