The public comment segment of the meeting passed by relatively quickly, at least compared with what Mina had expected. James’s committee heads all introduced themselves and what they were responsible for, and then the body took questions and comments—almost entirely questions.
“Um, si...
2024-05-14 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostAdon turned his head and saw dozens of Red Slayer Spider Wasps falling from the sky all around him.
The ones closest to him seemed to be the worst affected. Those that had gripped his limbs released their holds, and their bodies began to tumble limply through the air, lifeless. Adon did not...
2024-05-14 17:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostRosslyn and Carolien entered the embassy and immediately made a beeline for Lord Baranack’s receiving chamber, the largest room in the embassy.
They needed to get ahold of him and either restrain or kill the treacherous ambassador before they proceeded with their escape plan.
But th...
2024-05-13 15:16:22 +0000 UTC View PostRotter and Luntz each took a knob in hand, and they pulled the heavy doors of the Community Center open.
Apparently quite a few people had been waiting for the meeting to be opened to the public. Members of the community began to stream in, moving in a slow, orderly fashion and filing caref...
2024-05-12 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostMina waited for James to go into his plan, curious to know what he was thinking.
He had been so reticent about his encounter with the dream-attacking creature last night that she had no sense of what his ideas for dealing with the enemy might be. Clearly, he thought the monster was formidab...
2024-05-11 06:05:25 +0000 UTC View Post“Lord Baranack is a traitor,” Rosslyn finished.
She continued to speak in a low whisper. She hoped the sound of the river would drown her words out for anyone who might happen to pass by, though the street was nearly empty as she spoke.
Carolien’s eyes were teary. “I trusted h...
2024-05-10 13:05:24 +0000 UTC View PostAdon remained silent for a few seconds while he processed everything the Queen had said and tried to come up with the best strategy possible to talk his way out of this situation.
Do I actually try to give her advice on how she could make friends with the Princess? No, that’s probably...
2024-05-08 20:41:43 +0000 UTC View Post“Every few nights, the Count emerges from the catacombs beneath the castle and wanders the countryside. He chooses a victim and drinks from their throat.” Cassia—who Count Aleph thought of as the tour guide to his castle—paused dramatically, and one of the party of intruders asked a quest...
2024-05-08 18:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostAdon felt every nerve in his body stand on end as the unfamiliar voice rang through his mind.
Who are you? he thought.
There was silence for a moment. Then the strangely melodic female voice continued, as though Adon had said nothing.
Adon, do you know how long...
2024-05-08 15:27:26 +0000 UTC View PostAuthor's Note: This follows from the rewritten chapter 65, "The Red Slayers Part 1"
Adon danced backward and tried to pull out of reach of the wasps as they hurled themselves at him.
He didn’t get far. His back slammed into the back end of the tunnel, and he found h...
2024-05-08 02:31:29 +0000 UTC View PostAdon was still staring at the sunlit sky, almost paralyzed as he waited for the creature to poke its head back in, when he heard movement from his other side.
He turned his head, and he saw that the two adult voles had risen from where they stood guarding their children. They approached Ado...
2024-05-08 02:30:13 +0000 UTC View PostMina ran a gentle hand over his hair as she waited for him to tell her more.
“I need more information,” he said, his body shaking slightly as he spoke. “I don’t know how much I can say reliably. I—”
“That’s all right,” she said soothingly. “You don’t have to talk...
2024-05-07 04:09:02 +0000 UTC View PostLord Baranack shook his head.
“Please, Your—I mean, my lady, please try to enjoy the city a bit. I could show you another side of it. Some places you may not have seen with your, ah, colleague.”
The Queen frowned. “I appreciate your effort, but I cannot imagine a side of the c...
2024-05-05 20:12:25 +0000 UTC View PostSoon James’s desperate prayer gave way to an ugly reality.
A mass of people entered the city from several directions, all brandishing weapons and moving with a sense of urgency. Heading toward Mina and the little girl she had with her.
The interlopers’ faces were covered in a gray...
2024-05-03 18:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostOn their second day, Rosslyn and Carolien attempted to get out and explore a bit once more. They at least wanted to find a souvenir for Rosslyn’s father. But their hearts were not invested in sightseeing, and they soon found themselves trudging back to the embassy.
Lord Baranack tried to ...
2024-05-03 10:31:15 +0000 UTC View PostJames watched with grim stoicism as the severed head reattached itself to the monster’s body.
“I guess that wasn’t the right method to destroy you with,” James said evenly. He began gathering Soul Mana, but then he immediately stopped. He could feel the Mana was concentrating in his...
2024-05-02 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostJames bolted upright in bed.
The sound of screaming echoed in his ears, and he knew in an instant that this wasn’t something he had simply dreamed up. He half-turned from lying on his stomach to lie on his side. He was in that half-wakeful state when one wonders if it might be possible to...
2024-05-02 04:41:33 +0000 UTC View PostAdon was still staring at the sunlit sky, almost paralyzed as he waited for the creature to poke its head back in, when he heard movement from his other side.
He turned his head, and he saw that the two adult voles had risen from where they stood guarding their children. They approached Ado...
2024-05-01 16:24:54 +0000 UTC View PostAdon managed to recover his presence of mind even as the situation intensified.
The snake’s coils were wrapped around him so tightly now that he couldn’t even see sunlight. But as his mind raced through options, he realized the tight positioning of the coils gave him his best chance to ...
2024-04-29 15:42:43 +0000 UTC View PostAfter James’s arm had fully regenerated, he returned to the Fisher Kingdom.
It’s nice to be back, he thought, though this time he’d only been gone a matter of hours.
He saw his apartment and sighed. Before he continued home, he had another task to accomplish. He went ar...
2024-04-26 16:58:23 +0000 UTC View Post“You’ll heal from that eventually, won’t you?” Samuel asked, breathing heavily. There was an unmistakable air of triumph about him, though he was clearly tiring while James maintained a high level of both Stamina and Mana.
If the struggle continued, it was clear James’s aura would...
2024-04-25 20:18:34 +0000 UTC View PostCarolien moved first.
She stepped to the left side, walking like a crab, trying to get the horseman at an angle. But he circled with her in response, putting his side to the carriages and keeping Carolien at his front. Whatever his attitude might have been before the spar, he at least seeme...
2024-04-23 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostRosslyn’s eyes took in every detail of the Deformed Forest as they entered that blighted and unnatural place.
The trees were even more grotesque than they had been from a distance. They grew in tangled and twisted structures, more so than any plant she had ever seen before. One plant grow...
2024-04-22 18:41:23 +0000 UTC View PostA snake is the perfect final enemy for my time as a caterpillar, Adon thought. I remember when I was still in the egg, and I wondered if I might be a worm or a snake or something. No one’s likely to miss a snake—though he supposed that wasn’t really true.
Considering...
2024-04-22 16:14:24 +0000 UTC View PostJames and the giant alligator arrived at the edge of the woods where James had gone hunting with the others days ago. The area that remained unclaimed by any Ruler’s aura.
Once they had crossed over into that no man’s land, they and their respective entourages spent a quarter of an hour...
2024-04-20 17:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostCara Dahlhaus twisted her cold, hard lips into a vicious smile as she set eyes upon the frosty track.
The bitter winds that beat down on the frozen plains left her gray-blue skin unharmed, but the increasing chill did not go unnoticed. It was one of the signs that Cara was following.
...
2024-04-20 00:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostAfter James was gone, Mina wiped away her tears and waited for Yulia to return.
She planned for her next steps. Soon, the baby would wake again, hungry, and she would be there to feed him. Then Yulia would be back.
After that, Mina thought she could go train. She knew where.
She...
2024-04-19 15:41:33 +0000 UTC View PostAdon spent several hours after his failure with Red on another journey into the darkness of the void.
He still wanted to acquire the elusive power of illusion magic, and then to proceed to more potentially offensive forms of mystical power.
In his state of frustration, he moved far mo...
2024-04-18 16:47:33 +0000 UTC View PostDays passed, and the trio remained stationary in and around the web.
Adon was unwilling to leave for any reason while Goldie and her eggs remained vulnerable.
They continued to eat well, surviving easily on the crow Adon had killed.
Goldie’s body slowly recovered and filled in...
2024-04-15 16:44:42 +0000 UTC View PostRosslyn and her party set out in the new day, using a large hill as their heading.
Beyond that hill is the last settlement in our country. Beyond that, only the Deformed Forest separates us from Stalenton. The settlement was more of a fortified base than a city, and its main p...
2024-04-15 16:29:36 +0000 UTC View Post