TMarkos

Updates!

Hello! It's been a while since I've put something up here, so I thought I'd take a few moments to talk about my schedule for the next couple of months.

In a nutshell, I've been enjoying m...

Ok, now what?

Phew!  That took a minute to write.  

Now that it's had a day to settle out, I wanted to sketch out more or less what the next few months are going to look like for my schedule, so ...

Chapter 132 - Neverending

Men see division and union act in opposition and name the two opponents, or ascribe some imagined animosity to their meeting.  This is not so.  The acts of men differ greatly fro...

2023-10-31 14:24:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Status Report

I'm alive!  I'm writing!  I've been plugging away at the chapter through a mild head cold this week and have about a standard chapter's worth of content on the page.  This is not a s...

Chapter 131 - Until the Morning Light

The raven flew over the land and saw that a fence had been laid between the forest and field.  Nearby, the black hound was pacing along its perimeter.  The raven flew down and stood on th...

130 - Truth

Men are largely insignificant.  This is not to say they are unimportant, but rather that the impact that any one man may have on events is minimal.  This is because it takes only one man ...

Chapter 129 - What Was, And Is, And May Yet Be

I have had to endure yet another endless paean from the Batzar lauding my contributions to the security of Mendian, despite this having been a particularly sedate year; perhaps their effusive prais...

Chapter 128 - Suntsitzaile

These words may survive where I will not, so I continue to write them - but, who am I writing to if there shall be none left to read?  I wish you had been better, Michael.  I wish I was w...

Chapter 127 - Here and Now

The mockingbird and the raven met one day and talked of wisdom.

“Wisdom is broad,” stated the raven.  “To be wise is to survey the vast landscape, and see all possible answers from...

Chapter 126 - A Cruel Man

Listen, and you will hear a truth: each of us holds a world within, and no two are alike.  So different are these worlds that none could tell what truth has made itself known, yet even so we m...

Chapter 125 - Pieces of Reality

It is held that souls are greater than man, for obvious reasons.  Their power is beyond that of a man, and the wisdom gained from them is more than a lifetime of study could hope to achieve. &...

Chapter 124 - Turnabout

I live inside a glass cage.  I’ve always known that this would be the case, were I to receive the soul of the Star, but the reality of my confinement is beginning to make itself felt upon me...

Schedule Updates

Where did August go?  We're almost done with the month, and despite my summer plans being mostly over with I'm busier than ever.  I don't anticipate any real delays in posting but some po...

Chapter 123 - Dust and Ashes

The white wolf approached the black hound at the edge of the wood.  The hound told the wolf to go back to the wood, for he had been charged with safeguarding all of the animals that men kept t...

Chapter 122 - Tests

The Seer spoke of his dream, telling the people that he had seen a mighty forest grow up from the land.  It was strong and bountiful, and its trees grew tall.  But the largest among these...

Chapter 121 - The Cracked Pillar

The divine lies at the core of our existence, yet seldom do we pause to reflect upon what that means.  Our thoughts are petty, and gather around the benefit that souls may bring to us in our l...

Chapter 120 - Quod Sequitur Lux

I’m not sure who I’m writing to anymore, if not you.  There was a peace to knowing that you would be waiting at the end, and a balance.  The man who started this odd new chapter of my...

Friday post!

I know, I know, of all the chapters to make you wait another few days...  but it's precisely because it's a significant chapter that I need to make sure I'm getting everything down correctly. ...

Chapter 119 - Its Hour Come Round At Last

You wield the price like a goad, but I have lost my fear of injury.  The country is the body of the emperor, and mine already bears most grievous wounds; what more fear shall you inspire? &nbs...

Chapter 118 - Ghar's Blood

Rivers flow to the sea, and carry with them a portion of the land.  In time the land wears away under their touch, and diminishes, as the water collects in the sea.

But the rain cleaves ...

Chapter 117 - The Sword and the Scalpel

I received my soul as a young man, barely more than a boy.  Only one of the Eight was among our forces at the time - Zahra Alsaif, the Great Sword.  She was a formidable woman, and appear...

Chapter 116 - Perfection from Fullness

The tortoise was at the pond for a drink one day when he noticed the man staring down into the water.  The man did not move while the tortoise came and went, and he thought it so strange that ...

Chapter 115 - Perfection From Emptiness

Of these four, Life stood apart.  Truth is eternal once stated, while Form and Light do not endure.  Only Life falls between them, as befits its nature.  Yet there is no mooring in t...

Chapter 114 - Intervention

For powerful men, the dilemma of leadership presents itself thus: without a strong hand, events proceed in undesirable directions; with too strong a hand, delegation becomes impossible.  The u...

Chapter 113 - Taking Shape

Who shall walk with me through fire?
Who shall send me on?
Who shall guide to my desire
Through darkness unto dawn?

Though Sword may clear the path ahead,
And Shield ward me from ...

Chapter 112 - The Shield

The raven and the mockingbird sat on a branch, watching the boar root through the underbrush below them.  The raven boasted that he could see all the boar was looking for from his lofty vantag...

Chapter 111 - The Caller

“I have never killed a man,” the merchant protested.  “You should not accuse me of such.”

The Speaker laughed and spoke to the crowd.  “Of course you have killed,” she s...

Chapter 110 - Old Habits

Our Gharic cousins give much attention to the field of civic law.  It is not inaccurate to say that societies of men require laws to function, but the laws must change to suit the society. &nb...

Chapter 109 - Shifting Perspectives

I am increasingly irritated at my illustrious predecessors for handing me the problem of Ghar.  The worst of the blame must fall on the Tenth Star, of course, for precipitating the entire mess...

Skip Week Bonus Art

I finally made the art piñata cough up something Michael-shaped - my take on some of Mike's shenanigans last chapter.  See you next week!