tobiasbegley

What Do?

The Third Step: Chapter Twenty-Seven

The Ephemeral Rebirth flared to life within my mana-garden, and my soul lifted out of my body. It was strange, looking down on the ruined wreck of a body that I’d been born in, and even though I knew that the spellbound would produce a new one, I still felt something of a sense of loss. It had ...

The Third Step: Chapter Twenty-Six

The barking came again, louder this time, and a second dog joined it, and then a third. I focused on the thought of the barking, and of the fact that Dawn was missing. Then another thought joined those two: my Ephemeral Rebirth. If I really was bleeding out, dying on the cold ground in the mud, t...

The Empire of Death, Part Three

Ignatius studied the scroll closely, the small light burning in the oil lamp flickering softly on the box above him. 

Spending the night in a warehouse wasn’t the safest place in the world, but the shops on the ground floor were long closed, so as long as none of the Enforcers made a...

The Third Step: Chapter Twenty-Five

We raced along the ground, following the path of the hounds, tracing the location of the asomatous through tracking magic that the strongest Arcanist of the pack was using. 

At least, Kene, Siobhan, and I raced. Dusk’s powers of flight had grown to the point where she would have easi...

The Third Step: Chapter Twenty-Four

Since you all got a short story on Wednesday, here's the chapter to make up for it! I'm gonna go make that short story public. There will still be three chapters Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday this upcoming week as normal.

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“On one hand, the Flock is bou...

Orykson's Duties

One of the timers that was normally hidden in Aerde’s spirit appeared in the Layered Visual Output spell that Aerde and Orykson shared. It hit zero, and an alarm blared within the display for a moment before ticking over to another, much shorter counter, this one only measuring a few weeks.&nbs...

What Does Malachi Do?

The Third Step: Chapter Twenty-Three

The golden light slammed into the form of the Flock, and the ancient asomatous let out a ear-rending scream. It thrust its hand down, and birds dove in, intercepting the wave of light as it ripped through the air and pounded down on the spirit. The Flock flared its wings out, curling them in arou...

The Third Step: Chapter Twenty-Two

I nodded to Siobhan and snapped the portal to Dusk’s realm shut. The enfield spread her wings and leapt off the tree branch, turning the dive into a glide, and I followed – not through the air, I just teleported to the ground. Even as the Flock screamed behind me and more birds across the for...

The Restored: Chapter Fifty

Twenty years later…

Maryam Johnson took a deep breath and adjusted her robes one last time in the mirror. She didn’t even know why Bronzelight University bothered with the silly ancient mage robes tradition for all its graduates – she wasn’t even a mage, no...

The Restored: Chapter Forty-Nine

One month later…

Chiyo didn’t really understand exactly what had happened the last several days. She didn’t know why her mom had shoved them both into the closet, and why they’d had to be very, very quiet. She didn’t know why the city was wrecked, why all...

The Restored: Chapter Forty-Eight

Despite the excitement of Hadiya’s news, and the fact that I was certain that she’d have continued working herself to death on them in the mere hopes she could get her plans in working order, the efforts of the city didn’t end there and then. I forced her to go take a break and have her foo...

The Restored Question

I've wrapped up the last few chapters of The Restored. Would you all rather have them tomorrow or have them distributed next Thursday and Friday

The Restored: Chapter Forty-Seven

I cut the power to my spell, and lowered the piece of metal to the ground. Rhys gave me an approving nod, and I smiled at him. 

“For a first political speech, it wasn’t bad,” Rhys said. “It was a bit short, but I think that’s what the country needed right now.”

“Sir...

The Restored: Chapter Forty-Six

Telling my story didn’t take me nearly as long as I had expected. Though the fight had been long, tough, and brutal, it had been fairly short. All said and done, the invasion had lasted less than an hour, despite feeling like it had lasted for days. 

“Interesting. So you were final...

Do What?

The Third Step: Chapter Twenty-One

The sensory boosting potion that we had made had a duration of around a minute and a half. We could have made it last longer, but we’d have needed to sacrifice the degree to which the range was boosted, or reduce the overall number of potions we were creating so drastically that it would have l...

The Third Step: Chapter Twenty

Just as Kene had said, by the morning, the liquid in the cauldron had condensed into a thick, maple-syrup looking mixture. It even smelled oddly like maple syrup, which was especially strange to me, as honey had been used in the creation process, not maple syrup. 

We bottled it up, for...

The Third Step: Chapter Nineteen

After quickly healing up and washing my clothes, then setting them in the pile of battle damaged clothes that I needed to learn how to repair, I met up with Kene and Meadow, who were sitting out front of the house. The moment I stepped through the door, Kene squinted at me. 

“What di...

The Empire of Death: Part Two

The skull flashed red, and the mana tester dropped the quill he’d been holding. A blade flashed into his hand from nowhere, and he swung for Ignatius’ neck. 

“What happened?!” Ignatius asked, his breath coming quick and shallow. 

Rather than answer, the man whipped a...