Despite the fact that there were hours of daylight left, they searched the city no further that day. Instead, every effort went into finding the young man, but there was no luck there. There were moments when Simon smelled a whiff ...
2026-02-09 14:59:01 +0000 UTC View PostIn the days that followed, Simon’s new situation stabilized and quickly became normal, and every interaction reinforced what he’d already suspected: that his initiation had been anything but normal. He saw it in the way that other kn...
2026-02-02 14:59:01 +0000 UTC View PostFor four more days, Simon was treated to some version of these events. He was healed and bled, he was fed and drugged, but always, he was questioned and spied on. The focus of the questions changed each time, but they were always waiting fo...
2026-01-26 14:59:01 +0000 UTC View PostNormally this is the sort of post readers see right before their favorite story goes on haitus. Life happens, delays pile up, and backlogs run out. Then suddenly, your weekly jolt of escapism vanishes.
Fortunately, that is not happening. I'm not slowing down my posting at all, actually. Whi...
2026-01-22 15:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostIt was dark well before they reached the little hamlet of Elem Field, and they smelled the smoke of recently torched homes and fields long before it came into view. As they got closer, Simon smelled the scents of roasted meat too, an...
2026-01-19 14:59:01 +0000 UTC View PostAfter the challenge was delivered, there was very little delay. Sir Derinholt put a few things on his horse, then came out of the stables with his sword drawn. While he didn’t quite have a murderous glare, his expression was certainly closer ...
2026-01-12 14:59:02 +0000 UTC View PostAfter a couple of days, Simon spent very little time meditating or trying to understand what they needed to do next. The reason for that was very simple. Meditating didn’t burn many calories, and he knew what he needed to do now. He needed to get...
2026-01-05 14:59:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe group’s trip back to the coast, and the trade city that sat on it, was slowed by Aranna’s mother, Lorinda, more than it was by Simon’s wounds. While he was definitely moving slower than he was used to, she was moving slower still. He use...
2025-12-29 14:59:11 +0000 UTC View PostMerry Christmas everyone!
What a year 2025 was. Mine was pretty hectic, but I hope everyone had a great day and a good year.
While I already handed out my presents to you in the form of bonus chapters, as we wrap up, I would like to thank all of you for reading, and for your support...
2025-12-25 15:00:18 +0000 UTC View PostMerry Christmas, Have a bonus chapter!
The leap from seeing nothing to seeing the auras around him was not a subtle thing. For a few months, Simon could only see them if he pushed himself to the limits of his endurance. After that, if he m...
2025-12-22 14:59:00 +0000 UTC View PostSimon relayed the men’s order to his cook, then took the backstairs up to his room to retrieve a few things. If they’re going to track her, then I need to mark her and give them an alternate target, he reasoned. In this cas...
2025-12-15 14:59:02 +0000 UTC View PostSimon went down the coast, stopping in a number of fishing villages on his way to Abresse, but he didn’t quite make it there before he turned around. It wasn’t the condition of the roads, or even the weather, that turned him away, either; it...
2025-12-08 14:59:01 +0000 UTC View PostSimon didn’t get married in the year that followed, but he wasn’t quite driven out of Rivenwood either by the efforts of women who were trying to change that. What he did do was start making preparations to leave. Rather than adopt another ...
2025-12-01 14:59:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe first clue that Simon was waking up in Rivenwood and not his cabin was the pain. It was worst in his head, but as soon as he shifted slightly, the pain that came from his arm consumed all of that and more, making the breath catch in his throat...
2025-11-24 14:59:01 +0000 UTC View PostAfter a short lifetime of training, Simon still didn’t feel ready, but he still opened up the trapdoor and threw himself into the fray anyway. That wasn’t because he was sure he’d be successful, but because he knew he had to sink or swim. Wait...
2025-11-17 14:59:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe mirror burned with the complicated magic his twin wrote there. For a moment, it was jut those lines of power, but as the spell took hold and the inscribed runes faded, and the mirror burst to vibrant life, Simon’s vision was wiped away ...
2025-11-10 14:59:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe journey to return the corpses and lay them to rest took only a couple of weeks, but Simon didn’t come back until the end of summer, after the harvest, when the weather had started to turn stormy and tempestuous. Instead, after he gave his c...
2025-11-03 14:59:02 +0000 UTC View PostDuring Simon’s third year in Charia, the first of the mines he’d argued for and sold the rights to began serious operations, increasing the wealth at his disposal dramatically. Most of this went to pay for the papermill he was constructin...
2025-10-27 13:59:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe sunken city that had been this demon prince’s seat of power for who knew how long had stood untouched in its timeless way, but now it was completely devastated. It took the blade some time to figure out what had happened, let alone why or h...
2025-10-20 14:00:30 +0000 UTC View PostSimon cast a hundred spells that month, before he returned to Adonan and saw Eddek’s serious face again. It might have been more than that; he didn’t exactly keep track after the first few clanholds; he was too distracted by how much hidden evil...
2025-10-20 13:59:01 +0000 UTC View PostHello everyone, at long last, I returned home this past weekend. I spent a few days in bed recovering from the jet lag, but now things are pretty much back to normal. While I was in America I overindulged in Mexican food, saw some family and friends, did a lot of packing, shipped a 1,000...
2025-10-17 19:19:16 +0000 UTC View PostOne hundred Life Force was a lot of power. It was the value of the average human soul, or the vitality of a strong man. A hero could have double that, or even more, and orcs often had several times that amount for it to drain, but it was still...
2025-10-13 14:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostWhen the time came, he invited a delegate from every clan that might have a claim, but only half of them came. He supposed he didn’t blame them. Though he’d gotten clan Aldor to back his play, his vague wording about proposals of mutual intere...
2025-10-13 13:59:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe blade’s wielder tightened its grip on its hilt at that word. Serve. It was an insult nearly as bad as coward or traitor. Still, it didn’t know exactly what had happened. It couldn’t miss; such a result defied credulity.
... 2025-10-06 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostA few weeks after his trial by combat, the snows started in earnest. Up until now, every day had been getting drearier and grayer as the temperatures fell, but soon, the scattered flurries were replaced with sustained storms that would often fill u...
2025-10-06 13:59:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe Ebon Blade had been slightly concerned that it would have to walk across the bottom of some vast lake until it reached the island it sought. That proved not to be the case. Like everything else in this circle, the water was filthy and s...
2025-09-29 14:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe shouting and acrimony vanished almost as soon as the drinking started, which amused Simon greatly. If these people could just get this level of unity when fighting monsters and other kingdoms, they’d have it made, he decided as hostilit...
2025-09-29 13:59:01 +0000 UTC View PostSo, as most of you know, I'm an American who lives abroad because I made the unfortunate mistake of marrying a wonderful German woman a couple of years back, which means my old life is in North America, and my new one is in Europe. While I love my wife very much, there are many complications rela...
2025-09-23 14:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostWhile the Iron City wasn’t quite a burning crater when the blade left, it was a close thing. The demonic denizens of the place were apparently as fearful of leaving it as they were of it, and it torched the place until there were no hiding plac...
2025-09-22 14:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostIn that moment, all Lucas wanted was to find somewhere quiet so that he could be alone with his new wife, but he wasn’t given that option. They managed to hold hands for a little while, but after only a few waves of well-wishers, they were...
2025-09-22 13:59:01 +0000 UTC View Post