The Aurium Auction.
In a city of institutions like Arkhos, this auction stood apart.
Everything about sounded expensive.
Held monthly in the Adamant Gallery, the auction stood as the cornerstone of upper-class commerce in Arkhos. Merchant guild leaders occupied the same room as ...
2025-04-23 03:19:59 +0000 UTC View Post"You're sure this is the right way?" Deroq hissed, pulling his hood lower as they navigated the narrow passage. Water dripped from the ceiling, each drop landing with a maddening plop that echoed through the tunnel.
"Yes, sir," Prell whispered back, holding his lantern higher. "Third passag...
2025-04-20 05:00:33 +0000 UTC View Post"You haven't touched your sandwich," Valiant said, gesturing with a small paw toward the untouched plate. "It's quite good, you know."
The young man across the table—Rennik—glanced nervously at the enormous freeman looming in the corner, then back at the sandwich.
"I'm... not hung...
2025-04-20 00:31:23 +0000 UTC View PostAdom had been in the library for four hours already, and the nerd in him still wasn't tired of it. The smell of old books, the quiet rustle of turning pages, the occasional whispered consultation—it felt like home. More home than his actual dorm did, if he was being honest.
He glanced at ...
2025-04-16 22:07:52 +0000 UTC View PostAdom watched Cass's face carefully. No screaming. No gasping. No demands for immediate explanations. Just a calm, measured assessment of the armored golem now standing in her hospital room.
This wasn't how he'd expected this to go. People usually reacted more dramatically when they discover...
2025-04-15 05:26:36 +0000 UTC View PostAdom coughed, his lungs burning. The smoke clogged his nose, his mouth, his thoughts.
For a second, he wasn't in the warehouse anymore. He was back in that research camp at Matheran Ridge, the night the Teshani rebels hit them. In another timeline. The same choking darkness. The same ringin...
2025-04-15 05:24:55 +0000 UTC View Post"How?" Adom stared at the glowing blue bottle in Cass's hand, the question hanging in the air between them.
Cass's lips curved into a satisfied smile, her usual composed demeanor giving way to barely contained excitement. "I went to the Register of Guilds today to check on our application s...
2025-04-12 02:07:39 +0000 UTC View Post"This is him? The Spear you've been raving about?" Coach Viriam squinted across the pitch, voice pitched just low enough that he probably thought it wouldn't carry. "He's barely taller than the Krozball posts."
Hugo shifted uncomfortably, his massive frame making the weathered bench beneath...
2025-04-11 00:14:42 +0000 UTC View PostAdom stared at Naia's outstretched hand. Time seemed to slow as his brain processed what was happening.
Being singled out wasn't unusual for him, but being challenged to a duel by a Tirajin diplomat's daughter on her first day? That was new.
The entire room had gone completely silent....
2025-04-07 16:07:17 +0000 UTC View Post
Crafting magic wasn't dissimilar to cooking, Adom had always thought. It required precision, patience, and a willingness to burn your fingers at least twice before getting it right.
He arranged the components Cass had acquired in a semicircle on his workbench. Each piece had been chosen wit...
2025-04-07 00:43:46 +0000 UTC View PostThe sun had already begun its descent behind the city's western towers by the time Adom reached the meeting point.
The Imperial Bank loomed ahead, all cold marble and rigid columns. Late afternoon light bounced off its pale facade while pigeons squabbled over crumbs on the steps. A bell tow...
2025-04-06 12:34:08 +0000 UTC View Post"Dream walking?" Adom asked, the words feeling strange in his mouth. "What are you talking about?"
Biggins studied him. The playful shopkeeper was gone, replaced by someone sharper, more focused.
"Have you been having unusually vivid dreams lately, my boy? Dreams that feel more real t...
2025-04-03 23:24:16 +0000 UTC View PostAdom stood in line at the post office, tapping the envelope against his palm. It felt heavier than it should have, though it contained just a single sheet of paper. He counted the people ahead of him.
Four.
His eyes drifted to the clock on the wall. 1:17 PM. The place smelled of paper...
2025-04-02 13:17:02 +0000 UTC View Post"Does it hurt?" Valiant asked, dabbing antiseptic on the shallow cuts across Adom's shoulder.
They were back in Valiant's living room. The place looked different now—more alive. Extra lamps had been lit. Papers were spread across the table. A half-eaten celebration pastry sat abandoned on...
2025-04-02 13:15:52 +0000 UTC View Post"–uck!" Valiant's curse hung in the air, cut short as his tiny jaw dropped open.
Adom smiled down at the stunned mouse beastkin. There was something oddly satisfying about watching someone's entire worldview shift in real-time. The way Valiant's whiskers froze mid-twitch, how his eyes wid...
2025-03-29 06:13:53 +0000 UTC View Post"Are you okay?" Adom asked, watching Cass's face in the dim light of the cave.
"Shh," she replied, not taking her eyes off the mountain of gold before them.
The only sound was Zuni chirping softly as he hopped around the edge of the treasure pile, occasionally pawing at a shiny coin b...
2025-03-27 19:43:46 +0000 UTC View PostAdom stifled a yawn, blinking in the afternoon sunlight filtering through the brand new park's canopy of elm trees. Westgrove Park was one of Arkhos' newest additions, built in the elven style with winding paths and trees arranged in seemingly random patterns that somehow felt perfectly natural.<...
2025-03-26 15:26:13 +0000 UTC View PostDanner stumbled over a fallen log, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Blood soaked his left trouser leg, turning the fabric a sticky, rust-colored brown.
"Run faster!" Lissa shouted from ahead, twin daggers still clutched in white-knuckled hands as she ran through the dense undergrowth. Her...
2025-03-23 03:17:33 +0000 UTC View Post"Shit. Shit. Shit."
Adom muttered the curse with each pounding step as he retreated from the ridgeline, moving with all the stealth of someone trying very hard not to become a four-armed ape's dinner. Zuni clung to his shoulder, tiny claws digging in to avoid being dislodged by Adom's frant...
2025-03-22 03:03:52 +0000 UTC View Post"Mother-loving, son of a—" Adom ducked as fangs snapped shut where his throat had been a heartbeat earlier. "—dung beetle!"
For someone who had lived a couple lifetimes, his curse vocabulary remained... disappointingly tame at times. Something to work on, perhaps, though it was currentl...
2025-03-21 01:54:34 +0000 UTC View Post"LAST CALL FOR MISTY VALE! Final entry before permanent closure! LAST CALL!"
The guild officer's voice boomed across the small clearing by the old mill where a shimmering portal stood within a stone archway. Blue lanterns dotted the path, their flames cutting through the morning mist. Not m...
2025-03-20 12:35:23 +0000 UTC View PostPower.
In this world, it came in countless forms. Some subtle as a whispered secret, others as obvious as a thunderclap. Magic that bended reality, wealth that moved nations, knowledge that outlasted empires.
Yet there was something primal about physical power that resonated across ti...
2025-03-19 23:39:14 +0000 UTC View PostThe warm, rich aroma of fresh pastries and roasted coffee beans enveloped Adom as he settled into a corner table at the Crimson Leaf Teahouse. The establishment was relatively new, having opened just two months ago, and Adom had been curious about it ever since hearing fellow students rave about ...
2025-03-18 11:55:08 +0000 UTC View Post"It bit me! That thing just bit me!"
A shrill voice echoed through the sunlit classroom as a gangly third-year student backpedaled frantically, nearly tripping over his own feet. His right index finger was clutched dramatically in his left hand, though there wasn't a visible mark on it.
... 2025-03-18 02:42:04 +0000 UTC View PostHey everyone,
Sorry for the lack of chapter today. I was quite sick and just got home. Feeling much better now though! I've been able to edit the chapters I wrote while recovering and will be uploading three of them today (or tomorrow, depending on your time zone).
I'll also be more f...
2025-03-17 03:02:14 +0000 UTC View Post"And for your fifth elective..." Crowley checked his notes, "Advanced Combat Applications. Bold choice."
Adom nodded.
"And I'd like to add two extracurricular electives as well," he said. "Advanced Alchemy from Professor Mirwen's department and Basic Bonding from the Druidic departmen...
2025-03-15 07:59:32 +0000 UTC View PostAdom's third yawn in five minutes earned him an elbow in the ribs from Sam.
"You look like death warmed over," Sam whispered. "Did you sleep at all last night?"
"Not really," Adom admitted, rubbing his eyes.
The Grand Amphitheater buzzed with the voices of hundreds of third-year...
2025-03-15 01:57:22 +0000 UTC View PostHey everyone!
I wanted to give you all a quick update on the revision process. I kind of underestimated the amount of time it would take to properly edit the chapters one by one, but I'm almost done! I thought I'd share with you what I've already changed with the upcoming revision.
On...
2025-03-12 22:12:02 +0000 UTC View Post"I'm innocent! You can't do this to me!"
Kev's voice cracked as he strained against the guards holding him. His face had gone from defiant to desperate in the two hours since they'd arrived at the checkpoint.
"We were just trying to survive the exam! These kids are lying!"
The p...
2025-03-12 22:08:09 +0000 UTC View PostShit.
Dain Kattis had made a lot of bad decisions in his thirty-two years of life, but getting caught by a team of mages had to be near the top of the list. What had he been thinking? All that talk about easy pickings in the dungeon, all those rumors about rich academy kids carrying premium...
2025-03-11 07:23:10 +0000 UTC View Post