Alex wiped away the sweat from his brow and slipped the messenger construct into its big, wooden box. Completing it had gone down to the wire which meant he’d finished up late the night before, but it had been worth it. Since he’d finished so late, he’d only had time for a short practice wi...
2021-11-18 22:51:31 +0000 UTC View Post“Does…anyone know about this?” Alex asked, dispelling Force Armour and Orb of Air as he checked out Kybas’ underground garden.
“Just you now,” Kybas said with a little cough. “Well you and Harmless! …but Harmless only talks to me so that’s okay. …you won’t tell anyone ...
2021-11-18 00:08:15 +0000 UTC View Post“Okay, so there’s a spooky hole in the ground in there,” Alex said. “Like the kind you’d expect a ghost or gob-” he paused. “Er, beast-goblin to crawl out of. I took a look around and I think I saw tracks…but I’m no Theresa. She’s the expert on tracks….”
“That does...
2021-11-16 22:45:54 +0000 UTC View PostThink. Adapt.
Think. Adapt.
Think. Ada-
It was no use.
Alex had stopped thinking.
“Selina.” Mr. Lu smiled sweetly at the little girl. “Why don’t you tell us aaaaaall about it.”
The young girl looked up, then saw the expressi...
2021-11-13 20:04:51 +0000 UTC View PostAlex recalled how Prince Khalik had described ‘dragonfear’ as a power he’d experienced when he’d come upon a dragon near his kingdom once.
“Dragons have an aura around them of supernatural fear, and the older they get, the stronger it grows. The fear penetrate...
2021-11-12 23:19:11 +0000 UTC View Post“What was that?” Mr. Lu asked, with a twinkle in his eyes. “Some wizard thing?”
All around the dock, a wave of tension swept through the crowd. People clotted together in muttering groups, some pointing in the direction of where the sound of the blast and flash of light had come fro...
2021-11-11 22:48:41 +0000 UTC View PostBy the end of the information session and the sign-up that followed, Alex’s group had registered for several events, some individually, and some as a team.
Fortunately, Kybas could participate too since he’d taken and passed first year battle magic. He’d entered Harmless in the Duel b...
2021-11-10 23:32:22 +0000 UTC View PostTucked in his room in the early morning, Alex guided his way through the spell array one final time, checking the last notation in his notebook.
Force Armour: 98%
The spell was pretty challenging, so he was applying a lot of what he’d learned in force magic to help him get ...
2021-11-10 00:19:31 +0000 UTC View Post“I suppose it was left somewhat vague as to how we came upon such a sample,” Baelin said. “Letters being letters, and our communication before now being so…impersonal.”
He watched the king, and the elderly advisors carefully; his senses took in the guards around him, making note o...
2021-11-06 20:31:11 +0000 UTC View PostAt times, life could be frustrating.
Especially when life lasted long enough.
In ages past, it would have been normal to simply take a resource when it was discovered. The stone-flint blade, the bronze speartip, and the iron axe-head would claim what words or inheritance coul...
2021-11-05 21:22:42 +0000 UTC View PostAlex’s jaw dropped as he stepped into the room.
“Really?”
The doors quietly closed behind him.
“Indeed!” Baelin gestured to the mountains of paperwork. “The gods of parchment and fruitless bureaucracy are appeased, diplomatic envoys have shaken each other’...
2021-11-04 22:02:35 +0000 UTC View PostThere was something both beautiful and hideous about the creature.
Its wings flashed in the night, shimmering like diamonds as they buzzed through the air. And that’s where all beauty ended. The monster attached to those wings was almost humanoid, with four arms and two l...
2021-11-03 21:40:29 +0000 UTC View PostBaelin often said that a wizard’s greatest enemy was another wizard.
They came with a number of abilities that one would prefer an enemy not have.
Not only would they attack other wizards…well, way more than they should, but in combat, much of what gave a wizard the advantage didn...
2021-11-02 22:56:55 +0000 UTC View Post“Are you serious?” Alex asked quietly, “What’re people doing in here? Don’t they know there’s a wasp-death-monster around, and didn’t the steward say it was forbidden to come in here? Who in their right mind would come in here on their own…”
He frowned, looking down at the...
2021-10-30 22:26:16 +0000 UTC View Post“Hmmm, I expected someone a little…older,” the steward of the nobildonna said somewhat sceptically. His eyes swept between them. “You are truly Alexander Roth and Theresa Lu, slayers of the mana vampire and allies of Patrizia DePaolo on that unfortunate evening?”
“Well, I feel o...
2021-10-29 20:39:31 +0000 UTC View PostAlex and Theresa strolled through the quiet beauty of the university campus. They weren’t in any particular hurry: it was too early for their reservation, and the grounds were beautiful. It had been a long time since they’d just walked through campus to simply enjoy the sights without having ...
2021-10-28 20:09:47 +0000 UTC View PostThings had started off well.
The dessert he’d planned to make was called a ‘spit cake’, which sounded disgusting, but wasn’t actually made of spit. People only got the disgusting kind of spit cake if they really made their baker mad.
No, the kind of spit cake he’d b...
2021-10-27 21:51:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe City Hall of Generasi—seat of the ruling council of wizards and their vast bureaucracy—was enormous. It was an absolute monument to the power and advanced level of the ‘City at the Center of Creation’.
Rising hundreds of feet in the air, its main dome—carved from a single slab...
2021-10-26 21:10:40 +0000 UTC View PostMessenger constructs were relatively simple compared to golems; they didn’t require a constant connection to a master or an ability to process mental commands.
Instead, they only needed simple enchantments that allowed them to recognize a destination, and then the ability to navigate to i...
2021-10-23 18:17:50 +0000 UTC View PostAlex jotted down his thoughts.
Maybe The Traveller’s name was written somewhere, maybe it wasn’t. He doubted—that if it was—it would be in the university’s library. Baelin had looked there for histories about The Traveller and had only found information that was commonly ava...
2021-10-22 22:45:44 +0000 UTC View PostOne by one, members of the summoning class raised their hands to suggest rules for the seminar. It took a bit of encouragement for Professor Mangal to get someone to speak up at first, but once that first person did, others soon followed.
By the end, the long sheet of parchment was covered ...
2021-10-21 21:19:30 +0000 UTC View PostAlex stepped closer to Claygon.
A creeping feeling slithered along his skin; the kind of feeling he got when something was watching him. Though he couldn’t see anything in the circle, a presence filled it, making the hair on the back of his neck creep up and cold sweat b...
2021-10-20 21:12:38 +0000 UTC View PostAlex had been paying attention to Professor Jules, but hearing her mention the empire where the hunter was spotted so many years before—and her grim tone—gave him a twinge of shock.
“It must be pretty bad.” Alex said. “Binding isn’t usually too friendly a word, especially when i...
2021-10-19 14:42:11 +0000 UTC View PostAlex watched Claygon for a while longer, but he gave no other signs of coming to life, or showing intelligence, or turning evil and going on a killing rampage. He pulled out one of the notebooks from the basket attached to his forceball and wrote down the observation.
There was no doubt tha...
2021-10-16 21:45:42 +0000 UTC View Post“Oh yes,” Khalik said emphatically. “The games are run by The Watchers, but they are sponsored by the city. A number of the events have different prizes: usually fine items for one to display—laurels of platinum, dragon-bone flutes, clasps of gold—while some of the competitions provide ...
2021-10-16 00:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe Ursa-Lupine Brotherhood was immediately recognizable by their green shirts adorned with the silver symbol of a two-headed beast. The young men walked with the swagger of one trying to actively appear as big and impressive as possible.
Alex raised an eyebrow.
He’d seen that walk ...
2021-10-14 22:36:14 +0000 UTC View PostBlood magic had a complicated history.
According to his Magic Lore class, it was largely considered to be one of the most dangerous sorts of wizardry in existence. The spell arrays of blood magic were somewhat similar to body enhancement: magic that directly enhanced—or hindered—the phy...
2021-10-13 22:03:37 +0000 UTC View Post“It’s an army, Alex!” Selina proudly showed her newest clay sculptures to him. “An army of cool wizards and fighters and good monsters to get rid of evil monsters!”
“Well, well, and what an army it is,” he said appreciatively. “Wow, you keep getting better and better at this...
2021-10-12 22:30:47 +0000 UTC View Post“Well, look at that, none of us flunked out.” Alex grinned as he looked up at the board. That was an understatement.
For Magic Lore II, Art of the Wizard in Combat II, and The Alchemy of Potions II, Alex’s name was emblazoned in glittering gold letters at the top of the lists of the t...
2021-10-09 19:13:29 +0000 UTC View Post“Congratulations, to each and every one of you.” Baelin clapped his large hands together. “You have all passed the final exam and thus passed The Art of the Wizard in Combat II. And so thus ends your first year in my course. But, this is not truly an ending. This.” He pointed to ...
2021-10-08 22:46:24 +0000 UTC View Post