Book 2, Chapter 1
There were fourteen stone pillars growing out of the ground, all arranged in a circle and ea...
2024-01-02 13:59:52 +0000 UTC View Post
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Chapter 75
Chapter 75
I’d been digging through Noctra’s books for about three hours before Karad finally caught up with me. He barged into the room, a deep scowl on his face and anger in every jerky...
2024-01-01 14:13:30 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 74
I sat in my home-turned-prison and watched another ‘secret’ meeting between the four adults who ran the town in my scrying mirror. Shel made no effort to hide why she was leaving the arbor any ...
2023-12-31 13:55:58 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 73
There were four people guarding the cell, but Karad was not among them. That was understandable, in light of everything that had happened yesterday. Other than the one scorched field, the village h...
2023-12-30 15:00:48 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 72
Other than examining the prisoners to confirm that their mana cores were dormant and empty, I spent the night recovering and going over the various pieces of enchanted or inscribed gear the party h...
2023-12-29 13:36:29 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 71
I was not an expert swordsman, nor was my body conditioned for combat. I was wielding a rock I’d shaped into the shape of a sharp stick. It was an awkward, unbalanced weapon that I was only able ...
2023-12-28 13:13:48 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 70
There was no way I was going to stop that thread of divination-driven mana from touching me. If I’d had more time and set up some wards around the area, I could have deflected it without the mage...
2023-12-27 14:04:28 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 69
I’d picked this particular hill for two reasons. First, I was making an educated guess about what path the hunting party would take on its arrival, assuming they moved in a relatively straight li...
2023-12-26 14:06:54 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 68
Karad and Shel were both waiting for me, the former looking upset and the latter looking ill. “What was that?” Karad demanded as soon as I walked through the door, one of his fingers jabbed in ...
2023-12-25 14:09:12 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 67
I knew the force bolt was a mistake the instant I let it fly. It wasn’t that the enemy mage had spotted me or that his reflexes were so great that he was going to twist out of the way. No, it was...
2023-12-24 13:13:10 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 66
“I think we can safely presume hostile intent at this point,” Karad said. “Just look at all those weapons.”
“They would need them just to cross the wastelands. They could be for mon...
2023-12-23 13:10:38 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 65
Shel and Karad sat on either side of me and watched my new scrying mirror as it followed after the black-barred hawk. For the last hour, it had flown in a rough circle around the arbor, stopping fr...
2023-12-22 12:42:33 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 64
After I got back, I had tonight’s door guard help me test my new shield ward by throwing things at me. Maintaining something like a mana shield at all times was far too expensive, but wards had t...
2023-12-21 12:39:18 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 63
Enchantment and inscription were two disciplines that accomplished similar purposes through radically different methods. Enchantment was great in that it was much easier to practice since it didn...
2023-12-20 12:41:31 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 62
Author's Note: Keiran is currently number 1 on Rising Stars! I don't know how long I'll hold it, but we're celebrating while we can. Bonus chapter...
2023-12-20 01:01:24 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 61
I sat in a chair I’d made using stone shape on a big rock I’d relocated to my new home and watched my four apprentices play a game of catch. Instead of a ball, they were using an unrefined sphe...
2023-12-19 12:40:21 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 60
Council meetings were, unsurprisingly, boring. Karad had reports from the field overseers—food was still growing at the same rate it always did—and Solidaire had reports on movement sights out ...
2023-12-18 12:35:23 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 59
Learning how to modify a mana core was a key part of being a mage. The ignition itself was only the first step, and that didn’t really do anything but wake up the core so that the entire thing st...
2023-12-17 13:39:34 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 58
“We’re going to end today’s lesson a bit early,” I said as I noticed Karad approaching us through the trees. “Vhan, keep practicing gauging individual mana levels. Tomorrow I’m going to...
2023-12-16 13:32:04 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 57
Walking with Karad to do the nightly charging for the ward stone was annoying mostly because my legs were much, much shorter than his. I had to practically jog to keep up with him, which looked ent...
2023-12-15 12:40:16 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 56
Over the next week, I settled into a routine. I’d start the morning with Nermet, and periodically throughout the day, I’d come back to check on his recovery before I moved onto the next step. T...
2023-12-14 12:50:43 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 55
I was up before dawn and working on Nermet’s condition. I wanted to get that fixed as soon as possible to relieve the burden on Father’s mana core, and because I thought it would go a long way ...
2023-12-13 21:12:56 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 54
It turned out the Arborists didn’t live much better than the rest of us. Their homes were made from the same mud-and-clay bricks, had the same thatch roofs, and were about the same size. Their ho...
2023-12-13 12:32:16 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 53
Fixing the ward stone was just about as easy as I’d expected it to be. Someone got me a bucket of dirt to use as raw materials, which I quickly poured into the cracks and transmuted into new ston...
2023-12-12 12:33:28 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 52
I’d half expected someone to be waiting to jump on me as I walked through the door, but they must have thought better of it. They were sitting in the same formation they’d been when I’d made ...
2023-12-12 01:52:28 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 51
Solidaire advanced forward to grab me, but stopped at Karad’s outraised hand.
“Sellis’s boy?” Karad asked. “How’d you get in here?”
“Magic,” I said dryly.
“Don...
2023-12-11 12:26:02 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 50
My sole concession while I regenerated mana was a single telepathic message to my parents that said nothing more than, I’m working on a way to get you out of there. One way or another, you’...
2023-12-10 12:34:54 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 49
Cherok peered at the storage crystals intently. “Yes, I recognize these,” he said. “These are crystallized mana, which means…”
Karad snorted impatiently. “I’m not one of your st...
2023-12-09 12:54:33 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 48
One thing I’d learned over the years was that the more moving parts a plan had, the more attention I had to give it to make sure that those parts were going in the direction I wanted, at the time...
2023-12-09 12:52:53 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 47
The good news was that nobody was hurt. The bad news was that I recognized two of the people standing outside the cell as Collectors. It wasn’t much of a stretch to connect the night we all disap...
2023-12-08 12:32:18 +0000 UTC View Post