“I think that’s everything,” Kur said.
At his feet, there was a tall, sturdy looking and square backpack, in a color blend of dark and lighter browns. It had been a part of the free, basic package that they had received when they had arrived at the quartermaster, and was necessary to ...
2025-02-26 11:30:06 +0000 UTC View PostKur called for their attention as they left the auditorium.
“We’re up,” he told them. “I just got the notification to head to the offices of Leadership. It’s time to know what our dungeon is, and look into getting all the stuff we’ll need.”
“Those consumable things?”...
2025-02-25 11:30:02 +0000 UTC View Post“Why would anyone do something like that?” Cen asked her brother, horror lowering her tone into a hushed whisper.
Mul shrugged. “People suck, and they’re greedy. Haven’t you realized yet what kind of place the Nexus is? It’s all about their precious XP.”
“To kill for i...
2025-02-24 11:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post“Good morning! Good morning!” Professor Thim greeted them as he entered the auditorium from the lower entrance.
Nar had just made it back in time to catch his party as they left their room, and their reunion had been loud and exuberant, though cut short, as Kur ushered them out the door...
2025-02-21 11:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostHe knew he was in sickbay even before he was fully awake. He hadn’t forgotten that overwhelming comfort, that sensation of being hugged and all of his problems just being very, very far away… But he also knew he was not alone.
Nar opened his eyes, and found Kur sitting by his side with ...
2025-02-20 11:30:02 +0000 UTC View PostWhen all was said and done, and his head hit the pillow, the curtains pulled closed, and he lay in the dark with nothing but the gentle hum of the ship and his very thoughts to distract him, everything that the priestess had pried loose inside him came cascading down once more.
The memories...
2025-02-19 11:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostHe raged through the ship in a blindness of raw pain and rampaging memories, his aura roaring within his core, and his heartbeat pounding against his ribcage as though it was some enormous beast seeking to be let loose on the ship.
He had no idea where he was going until he arrived there, h...
2025-02-18 11:30:06 +0000 UTC View Post“Are you okay?” Rel asked as they traversed the yellow lit, hexagonal corridors of the ship. “You’re so quiet.”
“What? Am I?” Nar asked.
Rel looked down at her feet. “I’m sorry. You’re thinking about your training, aren’t you? That was selfish of me to drag you a...
2025-02-17 11:30:03 +0000 UTC View PostNar turned off the alarm in his head with a mental grunt, and took in a deep breath as the dark ceiling above his head came into focus. From around the room, he heard the now familiar sounds of the others waking up as well. Kur, as always, and like a complete freak, got up as soon as he turned of...
2025-02-14 11:30:03 +0000 UTC View PostWhen later that night he returned to his room, with the lessons of his master aching across his body, Nar found that the lights of the common room were still bright despite the late hour, and a hushed conversation reached his ears as the door to his party room sighed open.
“Hello?” he c...
2025-02-13 11:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post“Things turned out a lot more chaotic than expected", the Master of Blades said, earning a slow nod from his apprentice.
The two of them sat cross legged in the center of the master's private tutoring training room, but rather than begin their usual routine, the master had asked Nar to si...
2025-02-12 11:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post“Hey-hey!”
Nar groaned and flipped to the other side.
“Come on, man!” Kur said, shaking him. “Breakfast!”
“Noooo…” Nar moaned hoarsely.
“Your fault for staying up so late!” Kur said. “What were you doing anyway? The COO brought you back at four in t...
2025-02-11 11:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post“Alright, try to move your fingers… Very good. Now, the elbow…”
Nar followed the instructions of the healer.
He’d been surprised to find a zeibar, of all things, as he entered the room, and had been immediately reminded of Tas, the party leader that had betrayed them to the ...
2025-02-10 11:30:03 +0000 UTC View PostNar came slowly to a blurry chaos of darting figures and moans of pain.
“Jul?” he rasped. “Jul!”
“Nar!” someone shouted nearby, and small, warm hands wrapped around his left hand. From his other arm, agony lanced up his shoulder and into his core, yanking him fully i...
2025-02-07 11:30:02 +0000 UTC View Post“I fucking hate these things!” Mul shouted.
His flaming hands propelled him upwards, and Nar reached down to pull him up to the top of the fish they had just killed together.
You hate everything, Nar thought to himself, quickly letting go of Mul’s fiery hand before it d...
2025-02-06 11:30:02 +0000 UTC View Post“Get ready to jump!” Mynap shouted, over the sound of the storm and the impacts. “Melee! We’re going down! Stay away from the heads!”
Stay away from what heads? Nar thought, leaving Tuk behind in Kur’s care, and running towards the outer handrail. He leaped for it,...
2025-02-05 11:30:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe wind roared against his body, and for a split moment, Nar wondered if he was going to be blown back up into the promenade, but then, he was through the wind resistance, plummeting towards the snarling raimel and the screaming apprentice stuck in its deadly, green hold.
Out of the corner...
2025-02-04 11:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post“You fucking idiots should’ve woken me up!” Kur yelled at them.
It was the next morning, after the klaxon had sounded even earlier than anticipated, and it was a very sorry looking motley of a half party that had assembled before the party leader. Dark bags were carved deep underneath...
2025-02-03 11:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostGoing up slowly proved to be a lot easier than just dashing up, of course. However, Mynap challenged the melee apprentices to try and go as fast as they could safely go.
That resulted in a few more injuries across the board, but for Nar, he eventually discovered that with a little help from...
2025-01-31 11:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe wind blew wistfully past Nar’s shocked expression, and below him, blocked by a single, skinny looking handrail, the ship's hull curved down and out of sight. Beyond that, the clouds and vastness of the Labyrinth tunnel stretched endlessly, with the massive cubes that made its walls just vag...
2025-01-30 11:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post“Time’s up. Please turn off your devices,” Professor Vissur’s translator said.
Nar groaned and turned off his touch screen, stashing away the little metal cylinder in his ring.
“How did it go?” Gad asked him.
“Okay, I think…” he said. “Ugh. I don’t like stu...
2025-01-29 11:35:28 +0000 UTC View Post“The lengos first. What's your name?” Jarl asked.
“Mul,” the brawler said. “And that’s Jul and Nar.”
“A’ight! I’ll try to remember, but no promises! You ex-Climbers and your three letter names… Come on, let's see if we can all squeeze in!” Jarl said, continuing...
2025-01-28 11:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post“No! I mean… I…” Tuk stammered.
“Because that’s… Hilarious!” and the man boomed with a throaty, wheezy laughter.
“Fuck’s sake, Jarl…” Tuk breathed. “My heart nearly stopped, man!”
Around them, Nar heard the sound of spreading laughter, and when he sea...
2025-01-27 11:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostSweat dripped down his face, his neck. The sword’s grip was slick in his hands, but Nar held it firm.
His heart raced, and despite the burning begging from his lungs, Nar fought back to preserve the rhythmic breathing that instructor Koh had taught them for stamina preservation and condit...
2025-01-24 11:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostViy stared into the vast, silken twilight outside. In the quiet of the night, with the snack machines humming at the back of the leisure room, she eyed the void with blank emptiness upon her features, blind to the glimmering trails of aetherships flying alongside the Scimitar.
She saw thing...
2025-01-23 12:55:07 +0000 UTC View PostStrangled shouts and constrained grunting made Gad look up from her weight lifting routine. She already knew what she was going to see, but was still unable to not put down her weights and walk over to the handrail to look down, to the training grounds of the Tanks Hall.
“Put your backs i...
2025-01-22 12:04:10 +0000 UTC View Post“Good morning, apprentice!” the Master of Shadows beamed at her, as Jul entered the master’s private training room. “Do you feel well rested? Fully healed?”
Jul smiled at the Master of Shadows. Her chaotic hair gave her a constant look of having just gotten out of bed, or not havi...
2025-01-21 11:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostIn the early hours of the day after their den fight, Kur finally gave up trying to go back to sleep, and instead, got up, and slipped out of their room, coming to sit at the table in their party’s common area.
With a sigh, he clasped his hands together, and brought up his list of skills a...
2025-01-20 11:30:04 +0000 UTC View Post“Mul!”
Cen sat up straight, her left hand reaching out for her brother, who was about to disappear under a pile of beasts. Pain tore through her, and she dropped back onto the mattress with a strangled cry, her toes curling against the agony that raged through her, and tears welled up b...
2025-01-17 11:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post