hcmills

Chapter 41: Discovery

 Rylan stared at the rectangular opening leading into the ancient, overgrown building, his mind racing.

Before, he’d kind of assumed that he could simply sense where the tingles were c...

Chapter 40: Science

“You see,” Isai said as he put his bowl down on a cluttered workbench, wiping his hands ‘clean’ on the legs of his tan britches. “The major problem with the Shepherd right now is that one...

Chapter 39: A peek inside

Rylan cleared his throat, wiping his sweaty palms on his britches as he faced the group gathered around the stove he’d been slaving over for the past hour or so. Relax, he told hims...

Chapter 38: Fogfishing

Walking alongside Tamina, Rylan glanced at her scrunched eyebrows and flaring nostrils. Yuel had taken one look at her face, and wisely decided to scout ahead.

“You want to talk about it?�...

Chapter 37: Aboard

With a grunt, Nazyr yanked open a bamboo door on the side of The Soggy Shepherd, revealing a slanted hallway leading into the wreckage.

“Pantry’s still pretty intact, so we never moved th...

Chapter 36: Telling tales

Soren could hear Tamina and Rylan whispering behind him, but he didn’t pay too much attention, shocked as he was at the woman in front of them.

Apparently, Yuel was listening ...

Castlefest was so great, I forgot to post a chapter... ^^''

Sorry about that. :p

I really did have a great time selling books at Castlefest though!

It might not have been the wisest decision to make my first experience with live selling a three-...

Chapter 35: Falling

Rylan squinted, following the direction of Tamina’s finger. It took a moment, but then he noticed something sticking out over the tall grass and various bushes. A tail. And after he’d spotted t...

Chapter 34: A city in ruins

As the stallion galloped down a slope with actual grass, quickly catching up to its herd, Rylan glanced over his shoulder, half-expecting the shark to come bursting out of the dome of fog....

Chapter 33: Familiar

The first deep thump was shortly followed by another, then another, each one louder than the last, until the very sand they stood on began to shake.

It was hard to interpret their direction, ...

Chapter 32: Climbing

 Early the next morning, during his shift guarding the mouth of the little cave they’d found in the opposite wall of the now-confirmed ravine, Rylan went over his Status Window.

 ...

Chapter 31: Family

Jumping? Fog, I’ll take it!

It may not have been the Skill he’d been trying to get, but it would definitely be useful. He could already imagine himself leaping over...

Chapter 30: Rumbling

Sitting cross-legged on his perch, Rylan frowned, keeping his eyes closed as he tried to sense the tingles.

They’d covered quite some distance over the week since he’d had his dream-visio...

Chapter 29: Hangry

Rylan and Tamina shared a glance, then rushed forward, already drawing their weapons.

They found Soren with his rapier out, standing in front of some sort of overgrown lizard. The creature wa...

Chapter 28: Direction

Eventually, Rylan somehow fell back asleep. When Soren gently shook him awake for his watch, he got up bleary-eyed, and climbed out of the soggy-yet-warm bedroll to sit at the entrance to the shell...

Chapter 27: Ranked up

A big smile broke out on Rylan’s face as a by-now-familiar warm breeze came flying at him from a distant place.

He closed his eyes and lowered his knife, unbothered by the mana inside it fi...

Chapter 26: Hunted

They were all pretty on edge when they left the next morning, but they didn’t spot any more monstrous Malequint. In fact, the reef seemed calmer than ever.

It still took them another three ...

Chapter 25: Ruby

“Watch out!” Rylan cried.

Soren reacted immediately, already moving out of the way before he even finished speaking. At the same time, Tamina’s head snapped around, her eyes widening a ...

Chapter 24: Finding flaws

“So,” Tamina said, drawing her legs up to sit cross-legged, “first things first. Soren, you’re lacking offence. I reckon you’ve been trying to get the Fencing Skill?”

He nodded. 2024-05-10 10:16:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 23: Dinner

The hairs at the back of Rylan’s stood on end as he stared at the perfectly rectangular opening into a dark space for a long moment. As he tried to comprehend what he was looking at, Tamina sudde...

Chapter 22: Lunch

Soren cleared his throat, reminding Rylan that he was still physically covering the older boy. He quickly rolled off onto his backpack and sprang to his feet.

Meanwhile, Tamina placed her shi...

Chapter 21: Knives

Soren’s right, Rylan thought reluctantly as they ran, turning the corner around a towering, tree-like, bright-red coral, with the dull thumps of the chasing armadon behind them. This...