While we lay sprawled across the couch, resting from the awful day, Al shifted and glanced over at Mahya. “What did you learn?”
Mahya sat up straighter, her braid slipping over her shoulder as she leaned forward. “Quite a lot of interesting things,” she said. “First, this isn't an...
2025-03-24 22:34:51 +0000 UTC View PostThank the Spirits, the next Gate was relatively close. It took us only four days to reach it, and we even had clearings to land every evening. You don’t appreciate something until it’s gone. After three days of needing to pee and being unable to land anywhere, I developed a whole new level of...
2025-03-23 22:39:59 +0000 UTC View PostIn the morning, we headed to the Gate.
Travelers gate #66562852
Destination: Sahunu
Status: Integrated
Mana Level: 47
Threat Level: Moderate
“Finally,” Mahya sai...
2025-03-22 14:12:55 +0000 UTC View PostThe trip to the next Gate took nearly a month, and it wasn’t without its challenges. The Map made it clear that the continent we were on was huge, but only crossing it drove the point home. Even with the wind boosting our speed, a balloon wasn’t a plane. The slow pace was frustrating. If the ...
2025-03-20 17:11:14 +0000 UTC View PostThey went to clear dungeons while I headed to the city for something else. I needed to advance my earth element and had an idea just before falling asleep. Before improving your influence over something, you have to understand it, to really know it. And here I was, in an abandoned city built from...
2025-03-19 13:53:15 +0000 UTC View PostWe flew over the ruined city in the morning to get an idea of what we had to work with. Surprisingly, there was only one type of monster, and not that many of them. Every few streets, we spotted another one lumbering along. From the air, they looked ursine, with broad bodies, but each had a long,...
2025-03-18 19:12:28 +0000 UTC View PostMorning sunlight streamed through the kitchen window as I flipped a cheesy omelet in the pan, the scent of sizzling butter and melted cheese filling the air. The rhythmic scrape of the spatula was the only sound until Mahya and Al slunk down the stairs, looking like a pair of kicked puppies.
<... 2025-03-17 11:15:26 +0000 UTC View PostThe next set of Gates was relatively far. Unlike clusters where multiple Gates were close together, potentially leading to the same world, these were more or less aligned along the same latitude, stretching from one end of the continent to the other. There were seven Gates in total that we planne...
2025-03-16 16:14:04 +0000 UTC View PostMalith Drex Var was frantic, pacing in tight circles as his mind scrambled for a solution. He didn’t know what to do. Banging his head on the counter hadn’t helped, though it had made a satisfying thunk. Drinking quork ferment hadn’t helped either. Well, technically, it had, since ...
2025-03-15 17:16:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe balloon drifted upward, the morning air crisp against my face as New Sanctuary shrank below us. Buildings turned to toy-like structures, roads to faint lines, until the city became a patchwork of colors against the landscape. The four of us leaned over the edge of the basket, taking in a last...
2025-03-12 17:21:33 +0000 UTC View PostMahya and Al set out to clear the three dungeons in the ruined city near the original Sanctuary, hunting for crystals. I still needed them to craft the larger ones for the balloon gizmos. Mahya had already built two, but with New Sanctuary now operating five balloons and planning three more, the ...
2025-03-12 09:08:22 +0000 UTC View PostI sat on the keep’s roof, watching the movement below. From up here, the people scurrying through the streets looked like ants, each carrying out a task, each moving with purpose. Houses rose at a dizzying pace, beams locking into place, walls climbing higher with every passing day. In the fiel...
2025-03-11 13:35:12 +0000 UTC View PostMy flight to Zarad was miserable. I’d left under clear skies, but an hour in, the rain caught up with me. Further south, it turned to hail—not the murderous kind, just small, stinging pellets, but enough to make the trip thoroughly unpleasant. By the time I reached the city, I was battered, b...
2025-03-11 12:36:03 +0000 UTC View PostFinally, there were signs of spring. The torrential rain, which sometimes poured for days without a break, remained an annoyance, but the explosion of new flowers everywhere made up for it. More importantly, it meant that soon, the south would be free of those damned hail balls. We were ready to ...
2025-03-11 10:21:59 +0000 UTC View PostWhen I arrived at the clinic in the morning, a burly man stood near the entrance, his arms crossed over his broad chest. Rima sat at one table, fidgeting and keeping a wary eye on him.
Remembering that Mahya had given her a Telepathy scroll, I reached out mentally. “Why ...
2025-03-06 14:41:14 +0000 UTC View PostAuthor's Note
Another chapter to make up for yesterday—thanks for understanding! My son had a great time on his fun day.
>>>>>>>>>
It took me a couple of days to get back to normal—or as normal as I could manage after such a strange negotiation/arg...
2025-03-05 13:44:38 +0000 UTC View PostFeeding the castle to my core took four days. The initial heaps of rubble were quickly removed, but when the structure collapsed, the lower walls stubbornly remained intact, along with the foundations. Still, it was much faster than the last time, though I had hoped for a better result. There had...
2025-03-05 09:43:03 +0000 UTC View PostA thin carpet of snow greeted me as I stepped outside that morning, and I stopped short. Right—my wanderlust had kicked in, but it hadn’t taken into account the approaching winter. Not that it mattered with everything on my to-do list.
Hm. The hail, though—that might be a pro...
2025-03-03 19:39:23 +0000 UTC View PostPerched at the highest point of the keep, I watched the hive of activity below, a constant flow of movement like an anthill in overdrive. Over the past week, Mahya had been making four to five runs a day, ferrying people across, and the first two hot air balloons crafted in New Sanctuary had join...
2025-03-02 16:14:45 +0000 UTC View PostMorning light cast long shadows over the keep—no, New Sanctuary. The new name still felt unfamiliar, but I had to get used to it.
Descending in a quiet courtyard, I turned visible hidden by a stone archway. The place bustled with movement, workers reinforcing walls and couriers hurrying b...
2025-02-27 19:25:41 +0000 UTC View PostI could feel the core in the keep and guessed Mahya was the “carrier" since I felt her in the same area. Al was there too, but further away from her. However, before meeting with them, I wanted to see Sanctuary and learn about what had happened there.
It had changed.
The two outer r...
2025-02-26 15:50:12 +0000 UTC View PostI stepped through the Gate back to Zindor and lasted three seconds before hurling myself back to Lumis, unleashing a string of curses a minute long.
Maybe I’m spending too much time around Mahya.
In those three measly seconds, two ice boulders—because calling them hailsto...
2025-02-25 18:10:54 +0000 UTC View PostI dropped everything I’d taken from the palace at the distribution warehouse and scattered the overflow around it—it wasn’t nearly big enough to hold everything. After that, I transferred all the food from my Storage into Mahya’s and Al’s to free up space, while the items we wanted to k...
2025-02-24 08:41:34 +0000 UTC View PostOnce my core started absorbing the loose stones, I wished I had demolished the palace sooner. Nibbling at the walls before had been a slow and tedious process—pressing the core against each stone, waiting for it to be absorbed enough to be released from the mortar joints before moving on to the...
2025-02-23 09:52:32 +0000 UTC View PostSix weeks into my castle-munching, the place was mostly gone—just an empty shell with only the outer walls still standing. A few guards were still posted around, but their numbers had dwindled. On the first nights after the ruler vacated the palace, at least thirty stood watch around the perime...
2025-02-20 11:57:25 +0000 UTC View PostThe morning after the rescue, two familiar idiots stomped in, faces red and puffed up with righteous anger.
One of them jabbed a finger at me. “You drugged us!” he shouted. “What gives you the right—”
“Eight hours! Eight cursed hours!” the other one barked, voice crackin...
2025-02-19 15:22:05 +0000 UTC View PostA crowd waited for me when I returned to my clinic after my day off. Well, not exactly a crowd—only four people—but they felt like a crowd. Roda stood stiffly, arms crossed, her gaze sharp as ever. Lady Myrtus clutched the folds of her dress, lips pressed into a thin line. The t...
2025-02-18 16:20:22 +0000 UTC View PostAdjusting the IV bag, I checked the slow drip, injected a healing potion into the bag, and watched the liquid snake down the tube into the patient’s arm. The room smelled of sweat and sickness that clung to the air like a damp cloth.
Al strode over. “Please open the house; I need equipm...
2025-02-17 10:01:42 +0000 UTC View PostMahya counted the cores, her fingers moving with reverence as she tallied each one. She gave the box one last loving stroke with a satisfied nod, sighing like a mother parting with a beloved child. Then, she stored it away in one fluid motion, sprang to her feet, and grabbed me in a sudden twirl....
2025-02-16 13:30:50 +0000 UTC View PostWhen I finally reached our building, the gang was waiting outside. Mahya tapped her foot against the ground, impatience radiating off her like heat from a forge. Al leaned back on his elbows, watching the street. Meanwhile, Rue had turned the delay into an opportunity, shoving his m...
2025-02-13 16:37:50 +0000 UTC View Post