Ian returned to the woman bound in the interrogation chamber with a fresh perspective, a new insight, and Maria serving as his regalia. A green apple rested in one hand.
The captive woman’s cold visage was unyielding as Ian approached. Defiant.
He understood that there were circumst...
2023-07-01 03:06:10 +0000 UTC View PostIan recoiled, only keeping himself still by using his decemancy to control his body. Just who was this woman and where had the gruesome event transpired?
Ian wasn’t naïve–he knew that practitioners warred with each other on a small scale. Practitioner families like his own, the Dunais,...
2023-06-19 00:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostThe scream resounded in the woman’s head, piercing and pained. Ian could almost hear it physically. Nothing was forcing him to listen to the woman’s thoughts, but he wanted to know what his soul manipulation felt like. It would help him understand what parts of it would go unnoticed–and wha...
2023-06-06 03:51:56 +0000 UTC View PostIan and Euryphel walked down one of the hallways in the kernel, the innermost area of the palace. Both could sense the presence of people nearby using their powers, so they knew which way to walk to avoid the smattering of guards and staff in the vicinity.
Now you can call for me whenev...
2023-06-02 23:01:23 +0000 UTC View Post“If it’s a matter of the soul, even a necromancer wouldn’t notice anything amiss,” Maria continued. “Necromancers can’t see embodied souls. There would be no traces, so long as Ian can keep existing End oaths intact.”
Euryphel arched an eyebrow at Ian. “Can you do that?” 2023-05-30 06:05:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Ian rubbed his eyes. Achemiss was impersonating him? “Excuse me?”
Maria barked a laugh at Euryphel’s supposition. “That’s one possibility I didn’t foresee.”
Ian gave her a look. “That’s an understatement. I thought we might try impersonating Achemiss to fram...
2023-05-27 01:04:30 +0000 UTC View PostCayeun Suncloud’s priceless transmission artifact felt cool in Euryphel’s hands. It felt almost surreal to hold.
Before meeting Ian, he might have been intimidated holding something like this, might have felt unworthy of his mortal hands cradling the work of a lauded ascendant. But desp...
2023-05-22 00:45:54 +0000 UTC View PostBefore meeting Euryphel’s allies in the lower level of Ichormai, Ian, Maria, and Eury conducted an extremely important experiment within one of Euryphel’s scenarios.
Ian used the transmission artifact on Achemiss.
After the experiment, Ian clumsily read Euryphel’s surface though...
2023-05-20 06:16:20 +0000 UTC View PostZilverna woke up knowing he’d see his mother by the end of the day. It was Euryphel’s payment for Zilverna’s help handling bad press in Selejo. The public really had castigated the Crowned Executor for putting Cunabulus into lockdown. Zilverna vaguely knew the real reason, of course...
2023-05-13 04:57:57 +0000 UTC View PostAfter the interrogation, Ian, Maria, and Euryphel convened in a separate chamber secured by layers of arrays. They had to decide a path forward based on what they had learned–and what they suspected.
“Our first goal is still to find Achemiss,” Ian said, expression contemplative, his e...
2023-05-05 20:31:52 +0000 UTC View PostIan waited impatiently in an empty office room. They’d sequestered him there when they took away Maria. While no one treated him poorly, he hadn’t planned a several hour stop-over at a small border fort.
He wished his Remorse affinity was higher. If he was a peak Remorse practitioner, h...
2023-04-22 04:02:19 +0000 UTC View PostEuryphel’s head jerked as he caught himself nodding off. He had been attending to something important… probably. Documents, signatures, something like that. He could barely keep his eyes open–he hadn’t slept well. Everything that got to his desk was important but not all of it was urgent....
2023-04-15 04:43:41 +0000 UTC View PostMorinapol’s array station was likely the largest in Gnoste, but that wasn’t saying much. Of the station’s seven available destinations, most were in the east: only two lead westwards to Shattradan and Sere. From there, travelers would take connections to other cities.
Ian’s margarit...
2023-04-08 03:33:33 +0000 UTC View PostIan had no idea why there would be weird, dark blue crystals in the veins that anchored his soul to his body. He couldn’t feel the soul like he could the physical world–it was a different sense limited to the realm of the ethereal. Even though the ember crown made the cobalt crystals...
2023-03-25 20:27:05 +0000 UTC View PostIan tugged off his shirt, revealing the hard lines of his transformed torso. His skin was rugged, almost molded like a statue.
Soolemar stood close to him and spooled a tendril of ethereal energy from his soul. It snaked its way over to Ian’s chest, then pressed into his clavicle, pushing...
2023-03-17 23:48:17 +0000 UTC View PostAn hour passed. Ian took the time to relax. The journey to Soolemar’s lair had been long, and Ian hadn’t dared sleep. He could sustain himself using his practice–had sustained himself for weeks at a time while pursuing greater power. But he couldn’t eliminate the exhaustion in hi...
2023-03-11 04:50:35 +0000 UTC View PostIan’s eyelids fluttered open.
“Well?” Zhuram asked. Euryphel stood off to the side, his posture stiff with concern.
“I can see,” he said, staring at the Life practitioner. “Thank you. I owe you a favor.”
“As I said earlier, it was aid freely given in defense of t...
2023-03-03 23:51:35 +0000 UTC View PostAfter returning to his own body in the palace of Ichormai, Euryphel had a thousand and one things to worry about. While dealing with Achemiss and the Infinity Loop were the most important, another issue demanded his focus. He needed to handle the fallout of forcing Selejo’s capital, Cunabulus, ...
2023-02-24 22:21:01 +0000 UTC View PostIan’s thoughts were in turmoil.
Datcha was a powerhouse, the state consistently placing in the top three at the Fassari Summit, and Lindabet Zhuram was arguably the most powerful practitioner within its borders. Ian reckoned she was powerful enough to kill him in his weakened state, espec...
2023-02-21 03:04:17 +0000 UTC View Post[ hey folks, tweaked the previous chapter to make it more obvious how badly ian was injured. instead of a normal swimsuit he's wearing the wetsuit he wore in the jermal trench when swimming to the rift; it covers his body and face. ]
Ian padded across the beach to the closest restroom. He g...
2023-02-19 03:15:44 +0000 UTC View PostIan’s ethereal energy tendrils now spread like terrible fault lines throughout Achemiss’s soul. Achemiss would die if he couldn’t hold his soul together and keep it from collapsing, but how could he hold it together with Ian’s ethereal body renting it apart?
Achemiss’s ethereal bo...
2023-02-14 07:45:37 +0000 UTC View PostMaria watched silently as Ian played the role of Ancient Black, enticing Achemiss into revealing his true body with the promise of knowledge.
The arrogant Achemiss that stood before Ian was completely different from the obsequious man she’d observed over the past two days. His gaze was sh...
2023-02-11 07:42:03 +0000 UTC View PostFifty Hours Later
“This,” Achemiss says with a huff, “won’t work.” Frustration practically rolls off him.
Having Achemiss to consult with has drastically accelerated my progress towards addressing my weakness borne from awakening a third affinity.
In two days,...
2023-02-06 05:57:15 +0000 UTC View Post“You’ve shown me no less than six galleries, but I have yet to see where the magic happens. Where is your necromancy workshop?” I ask, nibbling at my mostly empty plate. After entering into a mentor-protégé relationship, Achemiss insisted on giving me a full tour of his house–at least t...
2023-02-03 23:36:56 +0000 UTC View Post[ slightly short chap but the previous ones have been longish. enjoy. i have two more days after today to finish book 6. let's goooo~ ]
After conversing idly for a few minutes, our teacups are empty. Half the time was filled with a description of the tea’s exotic origin. It’s a good thi...
2023-01-29 21:25:49 +0000 UTC View PostIan groaned and rubbed his eyes. Maria. Tell me that wasn’t a train wreck.
Maria had been relatively quiet during Ian’s conversation with Euryphel. That had been intentional. She found their conversations perplexing and preferred to let them proceed without her commentary.
<... 2023-01-28 21:36:46 +0000 UTC View Post[ this is a long chap -- enjoy. angst abounds. angst is much fun to write.
also I am trying to finish this book by feb 1st (yes, i've decided to split the final book again -- so this will be book 6, and there will be a book 7). brrrr.
anyway, there should be more chappy updates this w...
2023-01-28 00:13:30 +0000 UTC View PostI wait until Lucinda and Cursory are completely beyond my perception, then sunder the void and enter a new plane, a dusty flat of tan rock. As soon as I’m inside, I take the energy of the Blade of Revelation from Maria, forcing her back into her human form.
“Finally alone,” she says s...
2023-01-21 06:31:28 +0000 UTC View PostEven if I lacked complete control over my body, I wouldn’t be panting. The fight lasted less than two seconds–that’s not enough time to work up a sweat.
Only my Beginning affinity, weak as it is and further dampened by the omnipresent black rock, had allowed me to execute my strategy,...
2023-01-17 03:23:10 +0000 UTC View PostMirror Scale Sindragos
I stand with rapt attention on the rim of the stad. While I’m jealous that Lucinda and Harka get the chance to truly fight with an ancient, observing such a fight is nearly as valuable.
Thin plates of ice float around the periphery of the gor...
2023-01-10 06:55:56 +0000 UTC View Post