"He is pushing himself too far," Guard said.
Ethan was deep within a Road Not Taken trance. Ahkelios paced around him, clearly anxious, and He-Who-Guards sat with Mari. She radiated with worr...
2024-11-19 13:51:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe first Road.
Tarin and Naru both lie on little nests of twigs and leaves in front of me. Mari stands nearby, her usual confident demeanor marred by an anxious wringing of her wing...
2024-11-16 16:15:55 +0000 UTC View PostWhen we return to the Cliffside Crows, there's a celebration.
It's not that we want a celebration. It's that Tarin and Mari both insist on it, with flailing wings and loud squaw...
2024-11-14 14:21:10 +0000 UTC View PostThere's a sort of unspoken agreement that as soon as we're done with this stage and with Tarin and Naru, we're going to have to sit down and figure out what this means. He-Who-Guards seems a little...
2024-11-12 15:49:15 +0000 UTC View PostAll three of us are ready to fight. I feel it like a charge in the air, and I'm not the only one; the Concept-Bound senses it, too. Phylus stills, and there's suddenly a note in his voice that soun...
2024-11-09 15:09:00 +0000 UTC View PostOnce the pain in my skull fades, I note that I feel a lot better—maybe Zhir was telling the truth. I certainly don't feel like I'm out of Firmament anymore, though it's possible tha...
2024-11-07 13:55:19 +0000 UTC View PostThere's not much time to think about it, because the Concept-Bound is upon us in a moment, and it's only Guard's quick thinking that saves us. He steps in front of me and blazes with a Firmament sh...
2024-11-05 16:01:54 +0000 UTC View PostIt's hard to describe exactly what happens when I activate the skill.
Space warps around my fist. That's one part of the effect. Light bends as it approaches a threshold around my gauntlet an...
2024-11-04 15:10:09 +0000 UTC View PostAuthor's Note: Edit notes! First, uh, I misread my notes and have been spelling Yarun's name as Yorun. Sometimes my eyesight is bad when I'm tired. I've fixed it now--his name is Y...
2024-11-03 14:26:37 +0000 UTC View PostAbstractions, I'm told, are the product of another Talent. It's a counterpart to my ability to Anchor, in a way—an Anchor changes an aspect of reality and grounds it into the world, and an Abstra...
2024-11-01 03:26:11 +0000 UTC View PostIt takes a while, but we settle into a pattern.
It turns out that the Regrets in the second stage only know one skill—Death Fog—and as difficult as it is for me to counter, He-Who-Guards ...
2024-10-29 12:25:32 +0000 UTC View PostThe moment Guard yells it out, I see it. I almost curse myself for not seeing it before—it's not like I didn't see the Firmament flowing between them. But it looked entirely random. I'd assumed t...
2024-10-26 15:58:23 +0000 UTC View Post[Charge the Seed: 32/100]
The fight's advanced enough to become harrowing. Novi knows enough to stay a good distance back, thankfully; the plan for Guard to take the lead doe...
2024-10-25 14:02:36 +0000 UTC View PostOn some level, I feel like I should have expected something like this—I'd sensed the Remnant's presence in the dungeon even before the Ritual moved into its second stage. Why the Re...
2024-10-22 14:10:49 +0000 UTC View PostThe Empty City is no longer empty. It is, in fact, the closest thing to a bustling metropolis I've seen since I was ripped away from Earth—more so than even Isthanok and its busy streets. Without...
2024-10-20 23:29:32 +0000 UTC View PostAlright, I think I'm going to have to call it: I'll drop the next chapter on Sunday, hopefully more than one. I was hoping I'd be able to get them on the flight, but they aren't at a ...
2024-10-17 17:50:46 +0000 UTC View PostIt's a testament to how much my skill with Firmament has grown that I don't need to go searching for some obscure herb in order to help heal Naru, though the parallels obviously aren't perfect. For...
2024-10-14 05:17:39 +0000 UTC View PostMy mind is still whirling, but I don't have the time to dissect exactly what it is I'm looking at—not when it's full of corrupted Temporal Firmament and powerful enough to completely erase any pe...
2024-10-11 07:23:20 +0000 UTC View PostAuthor's Note: I kept editing this chapter and it ended up at 3000 words. Also I hurt my thumb, somehow? Hopefully that won't affect the next chapter, but typing sucks right now, h...
2024-10-09 04:27:29 +0000 UTC View PostThe dagger the mother threw at me clatters to the ground, useless; the barrier I called up dissipates back into raw Firmament. She stares at us, her eyes still burning Firmament, but the more I loo...
2024-10-06 07:01:25 +0000 UTC View PostBack when we were still on the way to the Tear, Ahkelios asked me a question. It rings in my head even now.
"Why do you care?"
It's an interesting question.
—
The actual process of getting our papers done takes only a few minutes, partially because Naru's presence right there makes every one of his guards snap to attention. They get everyth...
2024-10-02 06:03:32 +0000 UTC View PostThe city Naru rules is apparently called Carusath. The name's familiar to me—it's the one Tarin cried out when he was pretending to be working for Naru, back in Isthanok—but what I wasn't expec...
2024-09-29 06:05:15 +0000 UTC View PostBefore I leave, I pay a visit to Virin. I haven't forgotten the way he helped me out with imbuements, and it's because of him that I was able to fix He-Who-Guards. It's because of him that Isthanok...
2024-09-27 04:34:43 +0000 UTC View PostVersa stares at me. She doesn't snatch her wrist out of my hand. Instead, all four of her eyes fixate on me then scan me slowly from head to toe.
It's... uncomfortable. I get the feeling that...
2024-09-25 07:16:46 +0000 UTC View PostAs satisfying as Naru's fear of me is, there's a part of me that recoils from it. It's a well-deserved reversal of our first meeting, but our first meeting was me punching him in the face after he ...
2024-09-23 06:01:55 +0000 UTC View PostSomehow, saying the words makes them feel all the more real. There are enough inconsistencies I've uncovered between the Integrators and the Interface that I'm no longer willing to take everything ...
2024-09-20 06:28:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe Seedmother screeches in response, aborting whatever change it was attempting and instead bucking forward with enough force to fling me away; He-Who-Guards is immediately against my back, suppor...
2024-09-18 04:02:20 +0000 UTC View PostAuthor's Notes: Sorry the chapter's a little late! I tore it down and rewrote it since it needed some fixing; it's also longer than the usual chapter, now. Thanks for waiting, and ...
2024-09-16 04:22:24 +0000 UTC View PostBefore we go in for the second try, I decide it's time to bank some points. We're over the threshold for Durability, and I'd rather not lose to something like spears through my body again. Crystall...
2024-09-13 00:59:46 +0000 UTC View Post