As he was stepping out of the taxi for which he had paid an outrageous thirty-seven kso, Ardi found himself in the midst of a veritable storm of sounds, voices and smells. He had the strong ...
2025-09-11 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostFinding Bazhen Eorsky turned out not to be so difficult after all. Ardi didn’t even have to enlist the help of the Black House messengers
Finding Bazhen Eorsky turned out to be simple enoug...
2025-09-08 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostAs soon as the rust-speckled key scraped into the lock, Ardi felt a stationary Star Shield brush against his consciousness. It was so intricate and complex that only a specialist on par with Profes...
2025-09-04 23:01:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe Metropolis greeted the train from Shamtur with the familiar clamor of the platform crowd and the sharp, slicing whistles of the guards d
The Metropolis greeted the train from Shamtur with...
2025-09-01 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostCarriage after carriage, vestibule after vestibule, Ardan followed Mshisty. The man was of an unremarkable height, clad in a black suit that matched Dagdag’s severe patterns, yet the fabric spoke...
2025-08-28 23:01:02 +0000 UTC View Post“Bless you, Ard,” the Governor-General remarked offhandedly. To anyone unfamiliar with the Fae tongue, the curse had probably sounded like a sneeze or a stifled cough. “Young man, perhaps you...
2025-08-25 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostOnce again, Ardan was sitting in a comfortable armchair, reading a newspaper. Not because he had suddenly become deeply interested in politics, the news, fashion, or court gossip (or whatever e...
2025-08-21 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostArdi was sitting in an armchair, watching the flames cavort in the fireplace. The firelight cast daring reflections that scampered through the room’s acrid gloom before beginning their intricate ...
2025-08-18 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostAside from an encounter with one of the Princesses of Winter, the journey to Shamtur proved to be nothing particularly memorable. Even the High Forest didn’t leave much of an impression on Ardi.<...
2025-08-14 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostArdi watched the platform recede into the distance—if you could even call it a platform, since it was little more than a small wooden staircase leading from the station to a similarly wooden land...
2025-08-11 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post“Two tickets, please,” Ardi said, producing two banknotes and a few coins.
Tickets for the cinema cost an astronomical amount of money—one and a half exes for an adult and sixty kso for...
2025-08-07 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostZbig was leading the way, with Percy Kenbish an
2025-08-04 23:01:02 +0000 UTC View Post“I’ll be back by tonight,” Ardi whispered, pulling Tess into a gentle hug.
She was holding a length of fabric she’d bought yesterday at a shop near the Lake Port of Delpas. Shaia had ...
2025-07-31 23:01:02 +0000 UTC View PostArdi was settled in a wicker chair, his back pressed to the cool brick of the house, watching the sun bleed out across the west. There, at the very edge of the horizon, its last light was just catc...
2025-07-28 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe door opened, and a young woman appeared on the threshold—someone Ardi remembered as a little girl. They shared a friendship that had, for a moment, been overwhelmed by a sense of peril still ...
2025-07-24 23:01:04 +0000 UTC View PostArdi watched the chimneys of No. 17 on Stonemasons’ Street draw slowly closer, brick by familiar brick. The last—and, in truth, the first—time he had seen the house was in winter, when it a...
2025-07-21 23:01:02 +0000 UTC View PostThey skirted a broad field and rode out onto the crest of a once-tall hill that had collapsed hundreds of thousands of years ago, forming a rocky bluff that hung like a brooding, furrowed brow a ki...
2025-07-17 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Prologue
The spacious study welcomed the warm summer sun, which briefly visited the normally gray and unwelcoming Metropolis domain. Broad windows spanned from the gleaming, ...
2025-07-13 21:04:30 +0000 UTC View Post“So for almost half a year, you were under the
2025-07-07 23:02:01 +0000 UTC View PostArdan watched the multiton stone slabs grind shut with a ponderous clang, sealing the grotto’s roof above his head. A hulking demon, several Cloaks, the Grand Magister, the half-orc, and the dwin...
2025-07-07 23:01:02 +0000 UTC View PostSome time ago
“And what were you two chatting about so sweetly?”
“Ella invited you and Boris to a party,” Ardan said with a shrug. 2025-07-03 23:01:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Ardan only vaguely recalled what had happened after the dirigible had slammed into the Treasury building, tearing off a portion of its eastern façade before veering toward the Niewa.
He was ...
2025-06-30 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostKeeping his gaze fixed on the gaping breach, Ardan mumbled uncertainly without turning toward the first mate. “What if we disable the engines? Then-”
“It won’t change a thing,” the ...
2025-06-26 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostFor a moment, the main gondola hall fell into silence, broken only by the crunch of shattered glasses beneath the intruders’ heavy boots. The vampire paid no heed to the alarmed and rapidly palin...
2025-06-23 23:01:02 +0000 UTC View PostAlla, despite her rather slight build, hoisted Ardi to his feet with such ease that he might have weighed nothing at all. For an instant, he felt the cool, steely grip of her fingers closing around...
2025-06-19 23:01:02 +0000 UTC View PostArdan moved quietly across the plush carpet. Barefoot, he could feel the path more keenly, even if it wasn’t stone or moss, but only the tickling bristles of wool beneath his heels. Ardi bent his...
2025-06-16 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe initial wave of dizziness and nausea came on as subtly as the fact that the airship — its engines thrumming, puffing exhaust through its nozzles, its colossal propellers spinning — had alre...
2025-06-12 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe driver braked at the very edge of a basin, which hid itself from prying eyes using the protective embrace of the towering hills surrounding it on every side. Those attentive giants had encircle...
2025-06-09 23:01:02 +0000 UTC View Post“It’s ironic, Magister,” Milar, who’d apparently abandoned the idea of quitting smoking, said as he puffed on his third cigarette. At least the spring-summer weather made it so they could r...
2025-06-05 23:01:02 +0000 UTC View Post“Ardi…”
Ardan was gazing out the window. Outside, the clouds were lazily marching across the azure sky that was painted with faintly-shimmering sunlight. There was so little time left u...
2025-06-02 23:01:02 +0000 UTC View Post