"Yesterday is but a dream, fleeting as the morning mist; tomorrow, a vision, as distant as the stars. Yet today is the ground where both take root—the moment where dreams are woven into deeds, and visions shaped by the strength of your hand and the clarity of your heart. To neglect t...
2024-12-05 02:27:10 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 33 - The Dowry
“As long as she is wise and good, a girl has sufficient dowry.”
- Plautus.
The warm, rose-scented water swirled around Seraphina as she sank deeper into the marble bath. Soft late afternoon light trickled down ...
2024-12-04 07:02:43 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 32 - The Engagement
“Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon... must inevitably come to pass!”
- Paul J. Meyer.
The Crown Prince's face was etched with worry as he...
2024-12-04 06:59:36 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 31 - The Prince
“Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.”
- The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli.
What foll...
2024-12-04 06:57:48 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 30 - The Man in Black
“Timing and arrogance are decisive factors in the successful use of talent.”
- Marya Mannes.
More experience for her then, Seraphina thought ruefully, closing the carriage door behind her. The chaos ...
2024-12-04 06:55:31 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 29 - The Rescue
The age of chivalry is not yet dead, merely forgotten.
- by Unknown.
Riding her father's warhorse, one gloved hand gripping a halberd resting in a lance cup, was an entirely different experience. Unlike the smooth...
2024-12-04 06:53:28 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 28 - The Ill-made Knight
Don't bend; don't water it down; don't try to make it logical; don't edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.
- Franz Kafka.
He was in the thro...
2024-12-04 06:50:08 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 27 - Plotting, Cookies, & Banditry
"Diversity has never been the strength of the Empire; it is tolerance. For how else could we govern a realm, nay realms, of disparate peoples? In the Empire, all are citizens, all are equal and bound by the same laws that g...
2024-12-04 06:49:01 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 26 - Paintings & Cookies
To be a good man is to live with virtue and integrity on the hardest of roads.
- A Quassian aphorism.
A few more days swiftly passed. Now that Kellan's lessons were not quite as draining as before,...
Chapter 25 - Correction
A good education can change anyone. A good teacher can change everything.
- Unknown.
The evening meal was a veritable feast as the castle prepared for some impromptu celebrations. Local craftsmen had been invited ...
2024-12-04 06:44:00 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 24 - The Fighting Duke
A man who exhibits unkindness toward the creatures beneath his care will inevitably cultivate a hardened spirit toward his fellow humans. Thus, by observing a person's treatment of animals, we can discern the true nature and virtue of his ...
2024-12-04 06:43:00 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 23 - The Hunt
The berry of the Galebush is sweet and nutritious, attracting fauna and adventurers alike. However, unless thoroughly cooked, the seed will sprout within a few hours spontaneously, causing an almost certain and gruesome death. This is likely a mech...
2024-12-04 06:41:04 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 22 - Matters of the Heart
Nothing makes a woman more spiteful than unrequited love.
- Miranda Devine.
Seraphina finally had a moment to herself—a rare luxury these days. Seated by a grand window overlooking the sprawling gardens and swaying wisterias,...
2024-12-04 06:39:44 +0000 UTC View PostThe Once and Future Queen by Tobascoasa
2024-12-04 05:45:43 +0000 UTC View PostSorry guys for the delay! I am a bit busy with my Rising Stars run on Royal Road. I need to milk that as much as possible. The ironic thing is, is the fact that I made the story to get more eyes on Gilgamesh! Sorry about that but bear with me!
Still, I have been told that offering an entire...
2024-11-30 23:35:06 +0000 UTC View Post
The Goddess wielding the blades of Judgment and Mercy.
2024-11-21 03:22:53 +0000 UTC View PostThere are balances in this world that must never be disturbed. Sins that must never be committed. The greatest sin birthed by Al-Lazar is the Abomination—a Sleeper, cursed against all odds, tainted by the forbidden Song of Mana.
- The Warnings of Al’Jabbadi the Duwat...
2024-11-14 15:01:20 +0000 UTC View Post“Those who walk the path of the warrior must make a friend of death the unwanted companion.”
- Unknown.
With Canis leading, we strode into empty streets of the city and storm. The Adventurer’s Guild’s two Anemancers, identical twins with dul...
2024-11-11 15:25:51 +0000 UTC View PostThe weak must pretend to be strong, and the strong must pretend to be weak.
- The Book of Wise Tellings from the Land of Streams.
The doors opened with a low satisfying creak as Farzan’s men, clad in armor that glinted like polished silver under t...
2024-11-06 13:55:44 +0000 UTC View PostWow, many things are happening! Now that book 4 is finished I am spending a lot of time going over the chapters and working with my editor to get them up to quality. Unfortunately, this will mean that chapter output might suffer from a bit of a delay.
At this point in Book 5 I need to go o...
2024-11-05 11:16:45 +0000 UTC View PostIn the name of the Goddess, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
They seized Her Herald and Prophet, peace be upon him, and bound him in chains of iron, condemning him to harvest the fruits of stone in the depths of the earth. Humbly he toiled in darkness and solitude, ...
2024-11-02 06:21:52 +0000 UTC View PostIn the name of the Goddess, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
And the heavens wept, and in their sorrow was found the means to sweep away the den of perfidy that was Ansan. So the rains of the holy deluge descended without cease, washing away the sinners, cleansing t...
2024-10-30 14:19:55 +0000 UTC View PostA bard’s true calling lies not in truth, but in weaving beauty from threads of imagination. Even if that means to twist truth to create beauty. The world’s ugliness, its harsh realities, are weights enough without adding more to a man’s heart. Let your tales and songs be a respit...
2024-10-27 02:04:42 +0000 UTC View PostIn the name of the Goddess, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Blessed be upon Her Heraldn and Prophet, who journeyed to the lands of the people of the Tides. They heard his words, yet they did not believe. They witnessed his divinity, but their eyes deceived them. Th...
2024-10-25 01:50:57 +0000 UTC View PostThe Giants, or Gnomes outside the city of Al-Lazar, are renowned for two things: their pervasive insularity and their unparalleled artisanry. They craft objects of arcane potency, ingenious devices, and armor so exquisite it can withstand a dragon's flame. To those not of their kind, w...
2024-10-21 09:59:15 +0000 UTC View Post
tidied it up. still need to work on the hands someday
2024-10-21 00:56:51 +0000 UTC View PostTo behold the towering mountains is to know one's own smallness. To level them is to believe is proof of one’ own might.
- Unknown.
The heat clung to Al-Lazar like a second skin, oppressive and unyielding, even though the sun had drowned stained i...
2024-10-18 01:14:57 +0000 UTC View PostSuffering, her oldest of companions, was as constant as the wheeze of her breath when the Dust was thick in the air. The girl who had once been Melis knew it intimately. Born frail and sickly, pain had shadowed her every step, a relentless reminder of her own fragility. Yet, it was not the...
2024-10-15 06:12:55 +0000 UTC View PostThe advice of the ancestor spirits is like the wind. Abstract, yet they shape the mountains. Their wisdom may seem to be clouded, but their purpose is always clear.
- The Book of Wise Tellings from the Land of Streams.
As always with the rich and po...
2024-10-14 06:55:58 +0000 UTC View Post![Younger Larynda [sketch]](https://img5.doujinstars.com/storage/5/hz/jc/a4542c-019e8b76-ed2f-72ca-8ce8-83d9bdb47a6f.jpg)