Traveling with new people was always illuminating, in my experience. It revealed the distinctions that might arise from personalities, training, and overall goals.
My time with Leon, Sophia, and the others had shown our inexperience, soft upbringings, and almost meandering destination. Only...
2025-09-17 05:11:55 +0000 UTC View PostFlynn waited until the guards straightened again, dismissed by some unspoken command, before he lowered the platform. I expected him to say something, but he walked away the instant his boots touched the grass without so much as a glance in my direction. After a brief pause, I followed.
I c...
2025-09-14 06:10:47 +0000 UTC View PostI didn't move at first. The drake seemed dead, but I had seen it regenerate from grievous wounds already. No sense in assuming anything.
Minutes passed as I waited for any flicker of wood mana or twitch of a muscle. I kept mana flowing through my body, purposefully ignoring my ever-draining...
2025-09-10 06:53:29 +0000 UTC View PostI stabbed my spear into the dirt, then straightened up and turned to examine my surroundings.
The clearing was wide and oval-shaped, with an opening on one side where the trees gave way to grassy fields. I had found it several days earlier and decided it was an ideal place for my battle aga...
2025-09-07 08:05:44 +0000 UTC View PostI allowed myself three days to rest and recover. It strained every ounce of patience I had, but I knew it was the wisest course of action. My mana was too unstable for any precision work, and I was still concerned about some hidden strain or injury to my body.
That didn't mean I was idle, o...
2025-09-04 04:05:46 +0000 UTC View PostFlynn stood near what had once been the bar, leaning against it with both hands tucked into his pockets. He wore a curious expression and seemed casual, but I could see the focus shining in his eyes and the tension in his stance. That, coupled with the mana twisting and shifting under his flesh, ...
2025-08-31 07:32:29 +0000 UTC View PostWhat is magic?
I had read countless treatises and texts on the subject, covering theories and philosophical musings, academic hypotheses, and observations on the variance between one mage to another. Some called magic the soul made manifest. Others claimed it was the world's will as reflect...
2025-08-29 07:02:04 +0000 UTC View PostI took a final look around the half-destroyed inn, which had become my unofficial home since arriving in the border town. It had taken me days to clear out the debris, find an intact spot on the floor, and carefully prepare it for my needs, and days more to finish my work. Finally, I was ready to...
2025-08-26 05:42:03 +0000 UTC View PostI made it back to town after about an hour. There were quicker paths back, but I made sure to take a winding, roundabout route to make sure the drake couldn't follow. No sense in giving it that opportunity. At least, not until I was ready to confront it again.
Flynn and his guards had alrea...
2025-08-26 05:40:47 +0000 UTC View PostIt took us two days to reach the border town. Flynn insisted we travel together despite my best efforts to go ahead and seemed to relish the chance to...well, he called it 'getting to know one another,' but it felt more like prying.
The damned noble would walk beside me, asking all manner o...
2025-08-26 05:39:55 +0000 UTC View PostI bowed my head to Flynn. "Apologies for my late arrival. As you may imagine, traveling halfway across Ferris takes quite some time on foot."
"On foot?" Flynn echoed, feigning shock before shaking his head, "Torturous, I'm sure. But please, don't feel the need to apologize. I typic...
2025-04-21 07:16:13 +0000 UTC View PostI could not say how long I stood there, staring at nothing. A complicated mess of emotions ran through me, most of which I could not name. The strongest of these was...not guilt or regret but something close to that.
These bandits were not good people. They had hurt, likely even killed inno...
2025-04-17 06:33:22 +0000 UTC View PostI picked my way through the dozen or so bodies, trying to find one among the wounded who was lucid enough to answer a few questions. It took me a minute, but I eventually settled on a young man with a slowly spreading bloodstain on his abdomen. He had dirty hands pressed against the wound, his fa...
2025-04-11 07:01:09 +0000 UTC View PostI should just walk away.
The refrain echoed in my mind for what felt like the hundredth time, whispering its tempting offer into my ears. I knew I should listen to that little, selfish voice, but I could not help myself.
I had first noticed the group about a half-hour earlier. They ...
2025-04-09 21:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostI spent several hours painstakingly creating daggers while attempting to bind my "intent" into them. It was a 'test' rather than anything practical, a way to gauge how daunting the task might prove.
In a word? Extraordinarily.
Creating a permanent mana-based construct was already tric...
2025-04-05 07:29:07 +0000 UTC View PostI found Wallace standing in his workshop. It was a small room built into the back of his home, and I opted to remain at the doorway rather than crowd the already cramped space.
Fortunatus padded up beside me, and I sensed his curiosity through our bond. That and something else. His aura fel...
2025-03-31 07:07:44 +0000 UTC View PostWe descended the staircase in silence, which was not unwelcome. After all, it allowed me to extend my senses in all directions as I worked to parse out the magic that lay around us.
I could sense mind-boggling quantities of mana flowing underneath us. It felt like a chaotic miasma of varyin...
2025-03-27 06:08:02 +0000 UTC View PostMy blood froze. I could feel Keeper Yorish's eyes spearing me in place and wondered if he would strike me down. Could I gather enough mana to mount a defense in time? His mana signature felt unchanged, but that meant nothing. If I could hide my spellcasting thanks to Wallace's looping technique, ...
2025-03-24 01:27:35 +0000 UTC View PostThe room was silent. I expected more of a reaction, but the Speakers and Keeper kept their emotions mostly hidden. However, a few let hints slip past their masks of apathy.
One, a woman with graying hair and dark skin, leaned forward in her seat with a faint smile on her lips. Another, a ma...
2025-03-20 05:50:12 +0000 UTC View PostMy idea was not wholly unique. I had read about it once, but it was a rare talent most regarded as pointless to learn. What's more, mastering it to the point where I could use it in a demonstration seemed like something that would take months.
I had three weeks.
Despite that daunting ...
2025-03-17 06:24:03 +0000 UTC View PostMana slid through my channels in smooth, flowing currents. I focused, adjusting their movements just a hair. Strengthening magic did not work equally well on every part of the body, and learning those intricacies would only improve efficiency. Every little bit mattered, as I had come to understan...
2025-03-13 06:16:27 +0000 UTC View PostI had my arms behind my back, dressed in the thick robes of an Initiate. The Speakers of the Order sat before me, all half-turned to face the Keeper. I knew what he would say, but poor manners would do little to help.
"I'm sorry, young man, but we cannot grant you the rank of Disciple," the...
2025-03-10 06:51:03 +0000 UTC View PostI did not like to toot my metaphorical horn, but I was abnormally skilled in self-augmentation. My core and channels were large and durable enough to support those spells far longer than most. Hours of practice had made my Arcane Body spell near-instinctive, and a combination of Wallace's looping...
2025-03-06 07:27:51 +0000 UTC View PostVidarr stood at the top of the hill, overlooking the rest of the 'town' or whatever one might call it. As we approached, he turned to face us.
"Tell me, do either of you begrudge a hard day's work?"
"No," I said, and Wallace echoed my sentiment after a second's pause.
"Excellent...
2025-03-03 07:18:10 +0000 UTC View PostThe last few months were a failure in almost every regard. I had lost my notes and, with it, months of research and preparation. My schematics and long-term plans were gone. All of that hard work had gone up in smoke. The waste of it rankled me, though it was not a catastrophic setback. I had com...
2025-02-27 07:46:57 +0000 UTC View PostWe did not stop running until dawn. Wallace had wanted to rest earlier, as did I, but we both understood it was too great a risk. The more distance we put between us and Aranth, the better.
As the sun crept over the horizon, we found a hollow in the grassy plains where we could sit and avoi...
2025-02-23 08:16:48 +0000 UTC View PostI had to grant one thing to the four would-be assassins. They were exceptionally quiet, so much so that I would have missed them if I did not have a partner as a watchdog. Or rather, a watch cat.
That phrase did not roll off the tongue quite as well, but I suspected Fortunatus would ...
2025-02-19 06:40:21 +0000 UTC View PostI reached the city outskirts just after sunset. The guards standing watch near the gates spared me a glance but did not seem overly concerned with a late arrival. Then again, I was a slim, superficially unarmed teenager wearing simple traveler's clothes and carrying only a backpack. If I...
2025-02-16 05:57:28 +0000 UTC View PostI tilted my new spear this way and that, catching the candle's light along the edge. Johann had done good work, remounting the dagger's blade at the end of a crossguard and blending the two until they were indistinguishable. The haft was blackened wood with a few strips of leather wrapped around ...
2025-02-12 06:37:53 +0000 UTC View PostHours vanished as I threw my full attention into repairing my injury. Past healings had done the lion's share of the work, but I could still sense lingering damage beneath the surface. I had to be careful, as my body was still far too low on nutrients to cope with a protracted session, but there ...
2025-02-09 06:08:25 +0000 UTC View Post