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 coming from, but now, he was starting to suspect whatever was sending them was actually supp...
2024-09-06 08:01:13 +0000 UTC View Post“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 of its two floaters was shredded beyond our ability to repair. The other one, thankfully, came out ...
2024-08-30 14:16:51 +0000 UTC View PostRylan 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 himself. They’re not food-critics just... former pirates. “If I-if I could have everyone’...
2024-08-23 12:37:02 +0000 UTC View PostWalking 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?” Rylan finally ventured.
“Talk about what?” she growled.
“All right, I...
2024-08-19 09:25:04 +0000 UTC View PostWith 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 the food out,” he explained, briefly glancing back at Rylan with his good eye before he lumbered ins...
2024-08-09 09:48:36 +0000 UTC View PostSoren 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 to what they were saying, as he suddenly whirled around, his hands raised in innocence. “Actually,...
2024-08-08 07:37:46 +0000 UTC View PostSorry 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-day event that I'd never been to as a guest, but thankfully, I had my lovely girlfriend to help me, ...
2024-08-08 06:30:08 +0000 UTC View PostRylan 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 the first one, it was easy enough to make out a few more, some bigger than others.
The three of...
2024-07-26 08:24:36 +0000 UTC View PostAs 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. Instead, he saw its massive silhouette moving off to the right, circling the impossible bubble at t...
2024-07-19 08:54:52 +0000 UTC View PostThe 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, so Rylan remained frozen to the spot as he glanced around, looking for the source. Unfortunately, hi...
2024-07-12 09:22:47 +0000 UTC View PostEarly 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.
Status
Mana
Pool: 9.7/13
Shell: 3/3
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 a foe and raining down death from above.
“Yes please!” he said out loud.
Tamina ign...
2024-06-28 09:48:22 +0000 UTC View PostSitting 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-vision, but their forward progress had been impeded when they’d come across a sheer downward cliff.
... 2024-06-21 14:51:06 +0000 UTC View PostRylan 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 was easily ten feet long, covered in tiny scales, and its tail swept angrily as its slitted, yellow ey...
2024-06-14 09:56:48 +0000 UTC View PostEventually, 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.
Then a tingle went up his spine, and he instinctively turned his head to stare into the fog....
2024-06-07 08:50:59 +0000 UTC View PostA 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 fizzling out while he tried to sense what exactly Ethereon was doing. However, the only interesting th...
2024-05-31 08:41:13 +0000 UTC View PostThey 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 days to reach the edge of the massive maze, where the corals started to become smaller again, small ...
2024-05-24 10:21:24 +0000 UTC View Post“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 fraction at the sight of the massive blue crustacean limb approaching her.
Rylan’s heart ski...
2024-05-17 09:50:58 +0000 UTC View Post“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.
“Good, I’m working on an offensive Skill myself, so we’re probably going to spend most of...
2024-05-10 10:16:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe 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 suddenly stuck her face around the corner.
He almost threw what was left of the crab at her in refl...
2024-05-03 10:10:17 +0000 UTC View PostSoren 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 shield on her back and yanked her sword from the armadon’s still lightly smouldering mouth. Producing...
2024-04-26 09:28:17 +0000 UTC View PostSoren’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 won’t end until either it’s dead... or we are.
Tamina seemed to have come to the sam...
2024-04-19 09:23:35 +0000 UTC View PostIt had happened on Soren’s tenth birthday.
Soren remembered being so excited for the day, too. Chef Zelim was going to make him an actual apple pie; a rare treat, as their island lacked an orchard. They had his mother’s greenhouse to grow stuff in, but it was too small for full-siz...
2024-04-12 10:01:51 +0000 UTC View PostRylan wanted nothing more than to immediately start trying to overcharge his Skill, but he decided to temper his excitement and see what Ethereon had to say about his Mana Shell first.
“Ethereon,” he whispered, careful not to wake his sleeping companions. “Please show me my Status Win...
2024-04-05 09:18:03 +0000 UTC View PostPre-chapter author's note:
I received some feedback from my writer's group this week, and decided on a little retcon. Specifically, I realised I'd made my magic system needlessly complicated with the idea that Skills provide their own mana, so that's been recti...
2024-03-29 16:59:48 +0000 UTC View PostRylan saw only the barest flash of blue before a shield was suddenly interposed between him and the beast hanging off the ledge in front of him.
Blue flames bathed the walls of the gorge on either side in an eerie glow, playing off Tamina’s gritted teeth and green eyes as she stood over h...
2024-03-22 12:07:11 +0000 UTC View PostSeeing the burning armadon emerge behind his triumphant former friend, Ryan’s eyes went wide. “SOREN, RUN!”
Soren didn’t run. He glanced back, froze momentarily, then started moving towards them sideways in a pattern Rylan vaguely recognised as a quickstep, which seemed somehow fast...
2024-03-15 10:49:34 +0000 UTC View Post“Careful, Thar Tamina!” Rylan yelled at the whale’s flank as he unsheathed his dagger—which had thankfully not gotten lost during his brief flight. “I’m going to cut you out!”
“Oh fog, she’s still inside?” Soren asked as Rylan dug his blade into the rubbery skin. “Hang...
2024-03-08 09:50:09 +0000 UTC View PostRylan was abruptly cut off by the wall of flesh that slammed into him mid-sentence. Once again it stretched and stretched, then tore. A white light flashed in front of his eyes as his head smashed into something, and then he was spinning through the fog.
Dazed as he was, he barely registere...
2024-03-01 13:04:02 +0000 UTC View PostRylan’s hopes that it would perhaps just be a short drop were quickly shattered as the fog started streaming past him faster and faster.
Arms and hands clutched onto him in a confusing tangle of limbs, and it took him a moment to realise his own grip on Soren was just as tight. A black br...
2024-02-23 11:09:16 +0000 UTC View Post