"The Loyatan army is a few hours from here," Aaliyah-al-Ydaz stated as a matter of fact.
This surprised many of the sultanzade as they expected to have more time. Personally, I did not know what to expect any longer. I only knew that the Sultanah ordered us to march out at that moment and we obeyed.
The sun had come out already, but ...
2025-04-07 11:24:29 +0000 UTC View PostThe maid knocked on the office's door and after Naila bid her to come in, the door opened to reveal a moving cart and a pretty woman. The maid was of Loyatan lineage with her pale skin, her golden hair, and her sky-blue eyes. She moved wordlessly through the room as she set up the many plates of pastries and multiple teapots. Wordless maybe, but...
2025-04-06 11:53:53 +0000 UTC View PostI must start with a disclaimer. I am not the best storyteller, and I do not intend to be one.
With that stated, we must go back two centuries ago to start this story. It had been a handful of months since you fled and we received the message that you were an assassin. Whether that claim was real or not, it matters not for this story.
Hi there,
For those that strictly follow Patreon updates only and have not heard the news, I am participating in Royal Road's Writathon, which basically means I will be posting daily this month.
This is not a promise, just a maybe, but I will try to complete the Writathon regardless.
-Epsilon Twilight
2025-04-04 11:25:17 +0000 UTC View PostDescribing the silence that Naila-al-Ydaz and Aloe Ayad shared as they walked across the palace of Asina was complex. There was a desire to talk, but there was also a desire to not exist with an undertone of hostility. It was even more complex to classify what Ayad was doing. Her eyes seemed to gorge on the beauty of the palace, but she didn't b...
2025-04-04 11:23:16 +0000 UTC View PostThe sun shone fiercely golden on Asina, yet a more powerful star outshone it.
Aloe Ayad, a woman of bygone times, knelt in the middle of the throne room, tens of soldiers surrounding her. Against such odds, one would expect the former scribe to show some hesitation, some modicum of doubt for having barged this brazenly into the palace of A...
2025-04-03 11:30:18 +0000 UTC View PostHello there,
I forgot to mention this, but because you all have decided that this should be the ending for Infusing Ideals, I will take my normal post book weekly rest. Which just means I will be building backlog because I have NONE.
Anyhow, see you all in a week,
-Epsilon Twilight
2025-03-27 12:10:23 +0000 UTC View PostThere's not much left to be said about the power systems of Khaffat. Three of them there were, plus a pseudo one. Still, there are some aspects of these ancient magics that should be elaborated.
Nurture has become somewhat the default concept when people think of Life and its derivative power systems, and even though ...
2025-03-26 12:35:43 +0000 UTC View PostHello there,
I have commented this myself, but I'm not quite sure where to end the fifth book of Cultivating Plants. Today I have released the "End" chapter, which is a sudden type of ending. But I know some people may not like that type of endings, so there the chance of going for a handful of more chapters and ending on a more calmed not...
2025-03-24 12:19:17 +0000 UTC View PostAs promised, Aloe bought Xochipilli some sweets, and after that, they searched for a place to spend the night. She was aching to complete her mission, to put an end to all of this, to her djinns, to her torment, to her inner screams… but she couldn't leave Xochipilli alone. Not today. She had hurt him, and he needed her.
Tomorrow. Th...
2025-03-24 12:12:55 +0000 UTC View PostPeople eagerly waited at the airship's entrance as the vessel slowly ground to a halt and was secured at the airport. It took but a minute, though it felt way longer. Aloe had guided Xochipilli back to the corridors, but she couldn't bring herself to observe Asina as they descended, so they just waited with everyone else.
A whistle announc...
2025-03-22 12:19:58 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello there,
Here's art about the last chapters published. The Northern Wind airship and Asina, the city of desire and world's desire. Both are drawn by NovusArt (https://bsky.app/profile/novusart.bsky.social).
Reminder that I post most drawings i...
2025-03-20 12:16:46 +0000 UTC View PostThe heavens graced them at the same time they grazed them. Aloe had experienced 'flight' before, and especially high heights, but there was a marvel in real flight that couldn't be put into words.
"So small!" Her disciple shouted with all his might and, even then, his voice was a grain compared to the desert of the roar of the winds.
It was hard to concentrate on the beauty of the Northern Wind airship when tens of workers hurriedly walked around the place. To be fair, most of those workers were loading cargo from the completely opposite side of the aircraft, but her senses still caught their footsteps as if they were next to her and wood echoed far more than stone. It was a...
2025-03-19 12:07:35 +0000 UTC View PostThe Mother of Plants let the young druid sleep for a while more as he didn't have much sleep the day before, even with his nap. But between the promise she had made and the fact that time was fleeting, Aloe begrudgingly left the room and asked about those structures soaring through the air.
Called airships, they shared an equally originall...
2025-03-17 13:00:21 +0000 UTC View PostXochipilli woke up an hour later. Her heart ached to see him jump away from her embrace when he just looked so cute and comfortable in her arms…
The boy was rather down after seeing that only six people without counting his uncle had joined their convoy. Those eyes screamed "I expected more people."
"Are these all the survivors?" H...
2025-03-15 16:27:52 +0000 UTC View PostAloe had completely expected the news that came from the mouth of Xochipilli's uncle. The vitality she had felt was similar to Xochipilli alright, but not fully. It lacked a half. Whether that half was that of his mother or his father, she couldn't tell. And because she couldn't find better matches, she had guessed something had gone wrong. Her ...
2025-03-13 11:59:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe jungles of Tecolata had never been a calm place. Death was everywhere. In the canopies, in the bushes, in the ground… but they knew how to overcome it. If you knew what could lurk in the darkness, you needed not to fear it, only prepare against it.
But that changed. Well, that had changed well before he was born.
Elders would r...
2025-03-12 12:20:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe disparity between her ageless patience and her enhanced body became more apparent every time she looked at Xochipilli walking around. Without haste on, the child was agonizingly slow compared to her, but at the same time, she was in no haste of her own. In a way, she wished that those liminal moments were eternal.
They marched early in...
2025-03-10 12:16:51 +0000 UTC View PostAloe didn't give time for the dryads to bid her farewell. She grabbed a still drowsy Xochipilli in her arms and darted into the Evergreen. She couldn't remain here with her daughters. Not yet. Otherwise, she may lose herself forever.
The sudden movements did jolt the child awake, but it wasn't before they had put quite the distance between...
2025-03-08 12:40:20 +0000 UTC View Post"Pilgrims of Mutations alright," Aloe mused to herself before the ninefold coiled tree. "I'm getting the feeling that the names and sobriquets of each evolved beings hide more information than their very descriptions."
"What do you mean by that, oh mother?" Aleahilhahiba joined her.
The Mother of Plants turned to face her, her vine h...
2025-03-06 12:42:05 +0000 UTC View PostIs symbiosis the state nature strives for?
That was the question that Aloe kept asking herself as she looked at her apparently eldest daughter and the tree that enveloped them. Both entities were born out of symbiosis between many species and resulted in a new, greater one. The World Tree was a unique specimen, but the same couldn't be sai...
2025-03-05 12:22:18 +0000 UTC View Post"So that's why you were surprised when you saw me grow an Aloe Veritas, eh?" Aloe mused to her daughter.
"Affirmative," Aleahilhahiba knelt next to her in front of the veritas. In a kneeling position, she wasn't as toweringly tall as most of her body was legs, now putting her at a height similar to her mother's.
"Is this the only Alo...
2025-03-03 12:27:25 +0000 UTC View PostFinding out that the World Tree was a mixture of different beings was no surprise to Aloe at all. She had had more gut-wrenching and visceral surprises this day already anyhow.
Maybe it was because of her prolonged time in the chasm, but Aloe had the imperious need to draw the colossal living being in front of her. She already had a verita...
2025-03-01 12:58:17 +0000 UTC View PostIn a twisted manner, the presence of her daughters was comforting. Aloe was no longer as perturbed as before once she stopped thinking about the dryads as children she might have given birth to, but something else. Some people took care of their pets like their own children, so she assimilated a similar perspective. The dryads have spawned from ...
2025-02-27 12:52:49 +0000 UTC View PostThey were close to the World Tree. She didn't know it from the growing darkness or the increasing number of fungi. No. Not at all. It was the vitality that was telling her that. Obviously, a living being as colossal as the World Tree possessed massive amounts of vitality proportional to its size, Aloe had known that since she started infusing se...
2025-02-26 12:25:50 +0000 UTC View PostAfter having granted Kadashayka a name, the three of them continued their journey toward the World Tree. However, Xochipilli pouted and whispered under his breath how he hadn't been given one. Aloe didn't know if he thought he was being stealthy or if he was actually making a petition, so she just ignored the boy with a smile.
The closer t...
2025-02-24 11:59:58 +0000 UTC View PostAloe felt at complete peace. An utter and unbreakable serenity. She was one with nature and nothing could faze her. She was strong. She was indomitable. She wouldn't be defeated.
She wouldn't be defeated.
She wouldn't be defeated.
She wouldn't be defeated.
Her thoughts were a sluggish mess, and her head hurt like...
2025-02-22 11:38:04 +0000 UTC View PostEverything moved too fast for eyes. He was already aware of his limited capabilities compared to his master, but before Xochipilli could notice, Aloe had dashed to his side and was hiding him behind her body. What's happening?
"Is it you?" A soft female voice asked.
"Who are you?" His master inquired back and Xochipilli trie...
2025-02-21 12:15:12 +0000 UTC View PostTreading through the Evergreen was surprisingly more difficult than the desert. Yes, there weren't as many up and downs as there were no dunes complicating the passage, nor the ground actively drained your strength as the sand sucked you in, nor there was a violent sun thrashing at your back all the time… but at the same time, humidity, overgr...
2025-02-19 12:20:22 +0000 UTC View Post