A/N: Bous two-parter today. 1 of 2.
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Ali groaned, rolling over sluggishly, her confused mind struggling to grapple with the pain that dogged her relentlessly. Her ribs ground against a protruding rock, and the sudden sharpness of new pain told her addled min...
2025-08-05 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Bonus chapter today. 2 of 2
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Malika landed lightly in the forest beside Mato and Calen and immediately pulsed her healing magic through all of them at the throbbing palpable weight of the aura of despair that flooded the air and seeped in through ...
2025-08-04 14:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Bonus chapter today. 1 of 2
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Ali stumbled on the polished marble of the Novaspark Academy of Magic teleportation locus, her nerves still jangling and her body trembling from the aftereffects of the Blind Lich’s debilitating fear. How am I stil...
2025-08-04 14:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostCalen teleported, switching places with one of his motes, and launched a continuous stream of glowing arrows down into the crawling creep spores, his magic detonating in powerful explosions of fire and light.
All across the blighted creep, the battle raged. Ali circled the gia...
2025-08-03 14:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post“Going,” Mato said. He twisted his body back into his denser, much bulkier form, and stepped into the misty rotting jungle. He could already smell the Mana Eater from the entrance of the chamber, a strange, faintly pungent odor like ozone that mingled in between the assault of pu...
2025-08-02 14:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostMato waded through the rotting Fungal Creep, ruing his enhanced senses as the stench pressed in on him from everywhere like a sticky blanket. His Dire Bear Form was heavy enough that he couldn’t walk along the creep without sinking in like the others, meaning his fur from his shoul...
2025-08-01 14:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post“Thanks, Aliandra,” Vivian said as they both emerged from the quiet meeting room and into the bustling chaos of the guild hall. People were chatting loudly about half a dozen different subjects, sitting in the lounge or the bar, or clustered up around the jobs board. Even the...
2025-07-31 14:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostMieriel stared openly at Vivian across the table, her brain suddenly glitching to a screeching halt. Vivian’s mouth carried on moving but Mieriel didn’t register anything further.
“Wait… how many?” she stammered.
“How many what?” Vivian asked, surprised b...
2025-07-30 14:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostGiddy adjusted the jewel carefully in the clamp and reached back to press on a knot that was forming in her shoulder muscles, but the protective gloves she had forgotten she was wearing scratched her skin. Again.
Argh. How long have I been going at this? 2025-07-29 14:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Ali didn’t have time to even think. Dimly, she heard shouts of alarm, but her focus was locked on the pulsing shrine. Desperate to beat the incoming spell, she did the only thing she could: she teleported, trading places with her stricken kobold. The instant she arrived, she th...
2025-07-28 14:00:16 +0000 UTC View Post“Mato, help!”
He already knew she needed help; Survival Instinct had made it abundantly clear that Malika would have died if that last attack hit. The great weeping wounds on his trunk bore testament to the deadliness of the Bone Avatar’s strikes.
Malika was enormou...
2025-07-27 14:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post“Get out of the fucking fire! Idiot!”
- Anonymous raid healer.
Ali went all out the instant the mana shield dropped. She summoned her Winter’s Desolate Celerity wand and emptied it on all the highest-damage casters – two of which were her own evolved Ma...
2025-07-26 14:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostThe area fear formation flickered within the Ghoul, but the only people in range were already under the protection of Malika’s Touch of Clarity, so Ali didn’t call it, choosing instead to eviscerate a Mass Summoning spell with her Disruption. Then, she turned her focus on try...
2025-07-25 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostAli sat on a small barrier disk, floating a safe distance above the ruined logging town and the skeletons and zombies bogged down in Mato’s vast field of grasping roots, vines, and consecration. Two dozen smaller barrier disks circled her, periodically zipping back and forth to...
2025-07-24 14:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostMato charged down the hillside, reveling in the power of his Dire Bear Form, but for once, he was not the person in front. That honor belonged to Malika, this time.
“This is the stupidest plan ever,” Malika muttered under her breath, glancing back at him as they sprinted do...
2025-07-23 14:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostThe pitiful remains of Lyton lay sprawled out like a handful of rubble carelessly cast into the valley below. A large raven circled lazily above, descending slowly till it settled on a jutting pile of stone that had once been the mill. It made no cry, perched there with uncanny still...
2025-07-22 14:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostWhile Calen went to fetch Vivian and the guild raid groups, Ali busied herself by unleashing an army of Moss Creepers, Floral Menaces, and Spore Spreaders on the ruined Temple of Blood and the surrounding verdant overgrowth of the jungle. She inhaled the spreading floral and leaf...
2025-07-21 14:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostAs the Fetish-Painted Assassin collapsed and the chimes rang out in her mind, the death mana of the Lyton Ruins domain receded, abruptly retreating to the forest below and taking the ever-present miasma with it.
Did he move the domain? Ali thought, staring at the s...
2025-07-20 14:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostChilling pressure caused a ripple of prickling goosebumps to pass over her skin as Malika dove through the veil, chasing the assassin back into the mortal realm like a trainee leaping through the waterfall at Rezan’s favorite meditation spot high in the icy mountains above Kezda....
2025-07-20 14:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post“Help,” Ali croaked. Behind her, the ominous shadows and glinting blade surged through her remaining minions, reaping lives like wheat. Impossibly, her own domain billowed out of the Gate, pouring into the Temple of Blood and colliding with the death domain in a blaze of mutu...
2025-07-19 14:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post“I think I’m ready,” Ali announced. She was fussing unnecessarily, but she was as ready as she would ever be. She glanced at her friends, who were waiting patiently nearby in the darkness of the ruined second level of Dal’mohra, lit only by the soft greenish glow of the r...
2025-07-18 14:00:10 +0000 UTC View Post“Ilantha, dear? Would you mind setting a fire? These old bones are feeling the chill tonight,” Teharissa said, clutching the shawl closer about her shoulders. Their living space was far more comfortable now that they had the money to afford some of the essentials, b...
2025-07-17 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostAli opened the squeaky door and entered the tiny, cramped store. It stank of flux and solder, and a haze of fine dust hung in the air, sparkling in the sunbeams. Wooden floorboards creaked beneath her feet as she picked her way around stacked boxes of supplies and a few workstati...
2025-07-16 14:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostAt once, Calen identified the huge, surging shadow.
Shadow Dragon – Dragon, Shade – level 109 (Shadow).
“Second tier,” he announced. A bowstring twanged from right beside him as Coria beat him to the draw, her arrow shooting unerringly t...
2025-07-15 14:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostCalen stared out over the mind-bending expanse of the Infinite Maze. White islands of stone floated in the sky connected by all manner of stairways, walkways, floating stepping stones, and bridges of golden magic that twisted in every possible direction and a few more besides. Magic...
2025-07-14 14:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostAli found a spot near the back of the crowded guild hall and perched on the edge of her barrier, levitating herself high enough that she was about level with Mato’s eyeline. He nodded briefly to her as if to say, ‘I’ve got your back.’ She nodded back. Appreciated. Tha...
2025-07-13 14:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostVivian nodded to Donella and took her seat at the council table. It was to be a private session this morning with just the council members in session, and the air inside the mostly empty town hall still held the remnants of the night’s chill. An almost imperceptibly tiny pul...
2025-07-12 14:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostCalen’s vision tunneled in, highlighting the ghastly crimson spray of his mother’s blood through the expanding cloud of shattered golden barrier shards. The world around him faded to a muted roar as his mother’s body hit the ground like a limp mannequin.
“Mom!” someo...
2025-07-11 14:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostKieran stalked the streets, his blood boiling in his veins. Ever since he had been assigned to Myrin’s Keep, his job had remained the same – operating from the shadows to keep powerful figures like Bastian and Jax in check, and the population pliable and controlled. Keep t...
2025-07-10 14:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostA scorching, dry breeze poured from the Emberforge Mines, but it was still nothing like it had been when the fire dungeon had lurked in the depths. Ali examined her notifications.
Subterranean Brood Queen – Rock Beetle – level 81 (Earth)
Your reserved...