"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 worry about her husband—and her son, although to a lesser extent—and Guard was trying to lend her wh...
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 wings—she knows what this means. Knows what we're risking. There's a decent chance that if I give Naru...
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 squawks. I think the thing that turns me around on the whole idea is the fact that they've clearly been p...
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 put out, probably because he's now the only one in our little party that doesn't have an Interface ...
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 sounds a lot like concern.
"Something is different," he says, half-musing the words. Talking to hi...
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 that has more to do with... whatever it is about Inspirations that causes time to freeze around me. I'v...
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 shield strong enough that a shot I didn't notice just ricochets off, slamming into the tunnel walls an...
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 and creates a distinctly odd visual effect, complete with a flickering halo created by stray escaping ...
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 Yarun, as per the first book.
Also, a small addition to the end of the last chapter:
-- 2024-11-03 14:26:37 +0000 UTC View Post
Abstractions, 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 Abstraction takes an aspect of reality and rips it out, giving it life and shape and presence beyond what ...
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 and his Breath of Life keeps us perfectly safe while the skill is running. It helps that the Regrets...
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 they were automatic exchanges of Firmament that occured because the ghosts were too close to one anot...
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 doesn't quite work as well against these Regrets. If they get close enough to him, they can just phase ...
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 Remnant is in the dungeon is another question entirely, but whatever transformation the Empty City wen...
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 all the decay eating away at the city, I can see how many of these buildings are in fact skyscraper...
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 quality I'm satisfied with and I'm also operating on something like four hours of sleep across two d...
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 one thing, the Interface isn't trying to actively destroy Naru's core—that factor was a big part ...
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 person it kills. Best as I can tell, it's a literal manifestation of the Tear, a collection of all the...
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, haha.
Hope you enjoy! This was an interesting one to write.
--
Naru was sure he was...
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 look at them the more I see them for what they really are.
Cracks.
Cracks that run from her...
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.
—
"Because I have to, I think," I answer. It's not a perfect reply, but it's the best one I can give....
2024-10-04 04:24:23 +0000 UTC View PostThe 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 everything approved and signed in record time—in large part because Naru is there to immediately sign the...
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 expecting is how hot the place is. We're not even in the city itself and I can feel the hea...
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's casualties weren't... well, significantly worse. The research he wants me to help with is a small...
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 she's assessing me—deciding whether or not I'm a threat. Unlike Naru and Whisper, she doesn't imm...
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 was particularly crass about Tarin being in a coma; there's a difference between that ...
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 it says at face value. It doesn't help that I know for a fact that not even the Integrators fully un...
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, supporting me and keeping me within range. A flash of what looks like a Reflex skill on the beetle's back ...
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 hope you enjoy! Next chapter is much closer to being ready because of the rewrite, so it might land ...
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. Crystallized Barrier and Verdant Armor alone are powerful defensive skills, but as far as I could determine,...
2024-09-13 00:59:46 +0000 UTC View Post