“No,” I said. “I don’t trust you.”
“Trust,” Mooni tapped her beak. “Trust can be bought and sold, traded and earned. Trust can be won. Trust like friendship, like any relationship archetype, is transactional. What do you want to know? What do you wish me to tell you for the ...
2024-08-12 01:14:30 +0000 UTC View PostI swallowed nervously.
“Thought so,” Moonalia’s eyes suddenly filled with sparks of tears. “I did tell that dummy not to chase after a stupid dream of a rugged barbarian, to just buy her own champion in Iridium from a respectable Drallus shop. Blargh."
“Why do you think that...
2024-08-11 22:26:28 +0000 UTC View Post“WHAT?!” I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. "No? What do you mean, no? There has to be a way!"
Stormy just stared at me, offering no further explanation, no elaboration, no solution to the pressing issue at hand.
"Why?" I snarled, losing patience with the kitten. "Why does T...
2024-08-11 19:54:25 +0000 UTC View PostWe arrived at the North Sea delta of river Glinka just as the sun began to dip below the horizon, painting the sky in hues of orange and purple. The makeshift boat, crafted from hexacite-infused wood, had served us well on our journey down the river. But as we approached the vast expanse of the s...
2024-08-11 12:29:14 +0000 UTC View PostI hung suspended in the void above an ocean of violet stars - the myriads of human souls I had folded into my vast body woven from roots and bogwater. All of them waited to be unfolded back into existence when the time was right… when the world would be f...
2024-08-10 21:21:44 +0000 UTC View PostStormy led me through the treacherous bog with an uncanny sense of direction.
Her meows and gestures, though sometimes cryptic, guided me past hidden traps, barely visible ghostly webs and dangerous plants. We navigated the dead and rotting forest until we reached a putrid swamp that ...
2024-08-09 00:29:23 +0000 UTC View Post-=[Stormy]=-
“Intercept the flying sick!” I loudly meowed an order to the river dog just seconds before the sky-flying cat-servant sent his pointy blood-stick flying our way.
Ta-Mya's doggery paw swung up just in time as the stick flew, intercepting the pointy end...
2024-08-08 01:25:57 +0000 UTC View PostTeya turned her head my way, clearly unsure how to respond to Ingvar's unexpected praise and invitation. I decided to take control of the situation before it spiraled any further. Perhaps there was no need to murder this hero as he didn’t seem to be fully in on the Gygr’s dark plot as Bobliss...
2024-08-07 23:05:53 +0000 UTC View PostThe last rays of the sun vanished behind thick clouds, plunging Svalbard into an eerie twilight. Silver tendrils of fog began creeping across the land, slithering between the dismantled ruins. Stormy growled from her perch on my shoulder, her fur bristling.
"I know, girl," I murmured, rushi...
2024-08-07 21:01:26 +0000 UTC View PostThe following days and nights flew by crafting Teya's new form - a massive, dog-like body that stood as tall as a Jotun. The frame was made of sturdy wood, covered in thick leather to make it watertight. I fitted it with another large seat to house her human form, ensuring she could maintain cont...
2024-08-07 01:10:40 +0000 UTC View PostAs Teya collected a bucket of Chronacist crystals for me, I set up my microscope to examine them more closely.
The crystals were fascinating - according to what Galateya revealed, they seemed to have been produced by blood magic, but unlike Cali's blood-magic artifacts, there were no negati...
2024-08-04 22:03:54 +0000 UTC View PostI carefully bagged the remaining shard of Glinka's megalith shard and carried it into Svalbard's ruins.
As I carefully handled the stone covered in fish and wave-shaped hand-carved runes, I felt a faint tingle of magic, like spikes of electrical current dancing across my skin.
"Alrigh...
2024-08-04 20:26:06 +0000 UTC View PostI stared at Stormy's paws, still resting on both 'Yes' and 'No' in response to my question about whether I was alive.
"Well, well," I muttered, "looks like I'm Schrödinger's witch. Both dead and alive until someone opens the box... or in this case, rips out my heart and eats it."
Th...
2024-08-02 17:32:59 +0000 UTC View Post“Teya,” I repeated, watching as the river spirit’s Avatar rearranged itself ever so slightly, a resemblance of a smile. It looked like tears formed on her face made from a thousand minute waves folding into each other.
Stormy tapped the word ‘yes’.
I wondered why the river s...
2024-08-02 15:29:40 +0000 UTC View Post"Long, long ago, we were masters of all. The land, the sea, even the endless sky," my grandfather spoke, his voice gravelly with age, "and our people lived on a world called Werth.”
I sat on the lush carpet of furs, warm and content as the fire crackled before us. Grandfather's wrinkled f...
2024-08-01 01:40:11 +0000 UTC View PostHypothesis:
Nature Spirits can’t see or hear male witches unless the witch spills his blood in the water to make a deal. Nature Spirits can however see and hear Champions, Sorceresses and kittens.
I extracted the chewed-up remnant of Glinka's megalith ...
2024-07-31 16:51:18 +0000 UTC View PostThere was something wrong with my head.
The hexagrammic, fractal tattoo on the Jarl’s chest pulsated with radiant, ever-folding darkness not allowing me to think straight. I had something… something that could help me stop this monster. What was it? I couldn’t recall. 2024-07-30 03:22:21 +0000 UTC View Post
“What?” Cali hissed back to me. “How is he still alive… Why didn’t the Word unmake him? Explode him again, Ioan! Before he finds out where we are…”
“Clever, clever,” Jarl Bobliss shook his head, his voice calm but somehow carrying itself across all of Svalbard as if every ...
2024-07-30 02:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostI expected the fairly basic black gunpowder barrel to explode and to maybe expand the cavern a bit while making a whole bunch of noise to impress Cali with, but the resulting detonation went way above what would have happened back on Earth, behaving almost like dynamite.
Seeing Cali’s utt...
2024-07-29 23:49:37 +0000 UTC View Post=[Callista Liesl]=-
I watched nervously as Ioan continued to chop down trees, his movements methodical and purposeful.
Why was the Emissary of Heaven chopping down trees?
Maybe he was judging what it was like to be a woodcutter? M...
2024-07-29 20:16:47 +0000 UTC View Post"I'm not judging, Cali,” I sighed. “I'm just... concerned."
"Concerned?" Cali's ears twitched. "About what?"
"I'm worried about how much your kin are going to be an ever-escalating problem in my butt, getting in the way of my research,” I said. “Plus the future of humanity on ...
2024-07-29 16:38:57 +0000 UTC View PostI couldn't hold it in any longer. The sight of Cali prostrating herself in front of Stormy, proclaiming her the "Divine Wyrm Beast above Goldara herself," was simply too much.
As I snickered, part of me wondered if this Stormy-worshiping version of Cali was an improvement over the friendshi...
2024-07-29 13:32:42 +0000 UTC View PostI thought myself the only survivor of Flying Death’s mayhem, was quite certain that I would reach my favourite warm step and perish, but it turns out that even a professional hunter of know-sense such as myself can encounter something entirely unexpe...
2024-07-28 23:30:31 +0000 UTC View Post-=[Callista Liesl]=-
I awoke with a start, my heart pounding in my chest. The remnants of my nightmare clung to me like silver cobwebs, the image of the Gygr’s piercing yellow eyes burning into my soul.
I shuddered, trying to shake off the terror that had gri...
2024-07-28 18:52:43 +0000 UTC View PostI directed the horses into the icy water, aiming for the small, uneven island formed by the fact that glinka moved about ten meters into the village.
Fortunately, the six animals became entirely docile after receiving daily doses of witch-grass and obeyed my commands, whinnying as they ente...
2024-07-27 22:58:05 +0000 UTC View Post"I came here for advice, not to be imprisoned,” I growled. “Don’t think that Stormy won’t have your crow for breakfast!”
“Wrrrrrrrrrwrrr,” Stormy growled from my shoulder, staring at the empty air to my right side, her paw bravely razed, tiny claws out.
"I am trying to h...
2024-07-27 21:30:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe Yaga seemed at a momentary loss for words.
"Well?" I asked. "What should I do about Amari? Any suggestions, my wise and powerful Master of the Wood?"
I watched as Yaga's expression shifted from concern to contemplation. She took a long sip of her tea before responding and then sli...
2024-07-27 17:33:06 +0000 UTC View PostWe followed Yaga into her home, which turned out to be the hollowed-out base of the largest sequoia I'd ever seen. The entrance was hidden behind a curtain of hanging moss, and as we stepped inside, I couldn't help but let out a low whistle of appreciation.
I looking around at the interior ...
2024-07-26 02:14:32 +0000 UTC View PostTime slowed to a crawl as I watched Cali’s hand reach for the runestone, trying to turn off the invisi-cloak.
The dragonglass blade was already in my right hand, free of its sheath.
I moved it forward, blocking Cali’s fingers from reaching the magic pearl. Cali’s fingernai...
2024-07-26 00:44:13 +0000 UTC View PostI split the best of Zemy's banners capes between myself and Cali.
"Why do I need to wear these gaudy things?" She asked as she pulled several banner-capes over herself.
"They're a shield against cursed things like Jotuns," I explained.
"Why didn't you put them on me earlier?" Sh...
2024-07-25 20:51:33 +0000 UTC View Post