Epsilon Twilight

4. Naming

"Aughh…" Aloe groaned in pain and drowsiness by equal parts. "Augh, I feel like manure."

The petite woman stood up from the rock, stretching all her extremities, and cracking some others. Waking up was the worst thing she had done, a part of her still wished to be sleeping. Forever if possible.

"I'm alive, so that's something." She...

3. Haste

Growing used to the neck-breaking speeds brought by the haste internal infusion was hard. The beginning had been the worst part of them all. Aloe had trained with the stoic Naila Asina on how to make her mind used to the acceleration of the speed stance, but the practice was a whole other world compared to the real deal.

If it weren't beca...

2. Wasting

Life was exhausting. Life was bland. Life was painful.

Those were the thoughts that kept assaulting the former scribe as she strode across the dunes. Her body hurt, not just her legs, but her entire being. Especially her lungs. After performing hours of anaerobic exercise, each load of air they held hurt like the nine hells. Her body screa...

1. Shadow

The air in the lair smelled of invigorating sweetness, pungent death, and acrid stagnation. If it hadn't been for the changes he had personally incorporated, the place would have rotten and collapsed a long time ago.

"Master Tareek." A voice materialized behind him. From the very shadows, a person covered in black crawled, not unlike how s...

Astrotemporal Alignment

(This is the aztec-inspire story. Also, a litRPG-ish.)

Chapter 1: Gathering of Empyreans

Stars poured into his eyes.

The texture of parchment in his fingertips, the cold touch of the stone on his back, the frigid breeze of the mountain midnight, it all disappeared as his whole being was overtaken by the astral ent...

Agatha & Christie

(This is the stone-based story.)

Prologue: Examination

Agatha’s agate trembled in a mixture of excitement and dread. No matter how much she tried to calm her magic, her solidified essence shook violently. Her breath was erratic, her heartbeat out of this world, and the queue was becoming shorter by the minute.

â...

Other Stories

Hi there,

Brief announcement, I will be shortly publishing the prologues of two different stories. They are rough and not the final product, but they will most likely be stories that I will write in the future.

One is about celestial alignments, stars, aztec and information magic, and time loops.

The other is about a sapphic ma...

Addendums

Enlightenment

What can I say about Enlightenment that isn’t already obvious? As much secrecy as the art is clouded in, it is as simple as it sounds. Enlightenment, in a few words, is a power system that allows conjurers intoxicated by foreign substances to manifest a myriad of peculiar abilities.

Those abilities can be compl...

Enlightening Reality Ending

Hello there,

For those that are not aware, book 3 of the Cultivating Saga, Enlightening Reality, has finished - addendums notwithstanding. Only one chapter remains, that being said addendums.

As always, I will take a week long rest before renewing publishing here with the fourth book. The name for the third installment will be Evolvi...

73. Broken

Rani pouted when Aloe told her she wanted to go to her greenhouse for a short vacation, but she didn't shoot her petition down. All the constant abuse had seemed to make the emir more… helpful. At least she wasn't on her or Lulu's throat now, that was all that mattered to Aloe.

As her liege granted her a full week of holidays, Aloe dispo...

72. Assassin

Fret not, Fatima's letter continued, I am aware you would not be so foolish to delay your delivery. I have sent for a trusty knight to investigate the missing package, and after failing to find any evidence of the location of either the package or the courier, I have determined that this must be the work of the assassins.

71. Light

Sunlight scorched the sands. Their bodies too.

Malik awaited underneath the sands like his comrades, as ill-advised as it was. Not only did the heat boil one's body, but heavens knew what awaited beneath the dunes. Their only saving grace was that it wasn't night.

Is this the place? Zayyan questioned him in his mind.

<...

70. Bedding

Sunlight awoke the scribe of commoners. She was not mentalized to wake up whilst tangled between silk mantles and bronze extremities. Rani's uncovered chest softly heaved up and down still trapped in a deep sleep. Only now the memories and weight of her actions last night did flow into her.

"Oh…" Aloe sighed; her face pallid in shame. "I...

69. Gift

The palace of Sadina became quite a different place for the eve of the new year. Not only was the day's audience canceled – which Aloe thanked immensely – but every inhabitant of the palace was prohibited from working and instead was to attend the princesses' party.

This, of course, didn't include the servants.

But ever-so-carefu...

68. Eve

Nurture practice wasn't limited to the speed stance. During the following days, Naila probed Aloe with the rest of the stances. Some were more successful, others not so much.

Starting with defense, there were some archaic ways to boost the defenses of one's body, but Naila herself considered them too barbaric and obfuscated that she only m...

67. Training

A few days had passed since Aloe's 'meeting' with Rani. Even when the scribe of commoners hadn't uttered a single word of it – not even to Lulu, who had obviously clued in what had unfolded on the emir's bedchamber – the palace knew of the events the next day.

The details the snake-tongues muttered were scamp, but they were juicy enoug...

66. Pleasure

DISCLAIMER: This chapter has an actual NSFW scene, not just innuendos. And considering the consent of such scent is dubious, I have marked the start and end of the most serious aspects of the scenes for those who would prefer to not read it.

The chapter is somewhat long, but at the same time, this marked section is half the length of the c...

65. Substitute

Rani-al-Sadina was a very public figure, making appearances all over her city, and certain parts of the whole emirate. Yet when she was in her palace, the one place one would find her was in her bedchamber.

The scribe of commoners stood in front of sturdy wood doors with her heart on her fist. The last time she had been in that room it had...

64. Step

Fatima's departure was felt around the palace. Not because her lack of presence left a vacuum in the palace, but rather because she made sure everyone heard the trumpets and drums as she left.

The following days, though, ended up being most of the same.

Working as a scribe was as exciting as any office job could be, and for once, the...

63. Forced

"Hmm…" The sultanzade hummed deep in thought. "Your vitality has diminished, so you have done something. But at the same time, I have not seen anything. Flowing effects tend to be rather noticeable."

Aloe bit the walls of her mouth as she meditated her next step. I've… succeeded. I don't know how, but I've done it. There ...

62. Flowing

Fatima leaned on the chair and asked Aloe over her shoulder. "Do you recall what I told you about the flowing stance?"

"I have not been told much," Aloe muttered valueless filling as she gathered her thoughts, "but if I remember correctly, the flowing stance is the only that focuses on guiding vitality outward instead of inward. Am I wrong...

61. Uncharted

Fatima had been true to her word; the pain had subsided after a while. But the materialization of the agility stance wasn't without more prolonged consequences. It was minimal – just a whisper – but Aloe felt the healing on her pelvic area had regressed. In a single instant, she had lost days of healing, if not weeks.

As much as she wa...

60. Agility

Stealth was as she had predicted, a stance where every movement was hard-fought. Not because she was slow and heavy – which was any stance that wasn't speed already induced that – but because her body procured that her movements were never detected. She was moving on top of quicksand, not only without sinking but also without displacing a si...

59. Stealth

"However it may be," Fatima started, "a single bottle is not enough for me. Tell me, how many bottles do you have at your disposal."

"Currently, counting the one in your hands, ten of them," Aloe responded.

The sultanzade's eyes opened like plates, though instead of bewilderment, they shone in greed. And lust.

"Oh, those are go...

58. Cattle

Embarrassment dictated Aloe's following hours. Nesrine and Lulu noticed the urine on her dress and wheelchair, but both of them refrained from commenting on how she had wet herself.

Instead, Nesrine shared the whispers carried by the snake-tongues. In a matter of minutes, the whole palace knew how the three princesses cowled the scribe of ...

57. Web

Even though it was well within her capabilities, Aloe didn't flinch at the blade's movements. Through its course left her bewildered.

Naila's tulwar danced in front of her face, the edge dangerously close to her eyes, but the tip directed back at the sultanzade. In a blink, the dual blades were sheathed.

"This pathetic woman poses no...

56. Satisfied

In the blink of an eye, the meeting had turned overtly hostile to the petite scribe. Rani was grabbing the armrest of her chair, losing her cool for a blink, but composed back equally as fast. What scared Aloe was Naila's reaction as the young girl stealthily reached for her blades. Aloe didn't doubt a second to switch to toughness. Fatima, unbe...

55. Cultivators

"So you are back," Rani commented as she lazily sat on her throne.

"I arrived yesterday at night," Aloe affirmed. She had just entered the audience hall and was pushing her wheelchair forward.

The scribe kept Lulu away from her to protect her from the emir, but the truth was that for once in a good while, she felt good enough to push...

Poll

Hello there,

For those unaware, I have put a poll in the previous chapter back at Royal Road to change the title of the Cultivating Saga as there have been a handful of people that have had issues finding it again. You can go vote there if you want either to go back to the original title or stay with Cultivating Saga but without the subtit...

54. Choice

Her vacations ended as soon as they started. Aloe awoke at first light, already defeated by the idea of the day-long trek that still awaited her. Finally, having run out of options, the cultivator filled her many waterskins with the aphrodisiac amphora. The contents of the ceramic were enough to fill six waterskins, which quite literally now hel...