eligos

91. Sanctum XVI (First Draft)

I could feel the dynamic of the battle shifting. It was a close fight before, but other than going into it without knowing what elements we were up against, things were simple. Cut them down, injure and demoralize them to the point that further pursuit was impossible, then build distance before Thoth’s man could recalculate and strategize fur...

2021-04-13 03:13:13 +0000 UTC View Post

90. Sanctum XV (First Draft)

My breath was ragged, desperate. There was no way to avoid the engagement—as Maya had stated, the best we could hope for was choosing an ideal field of battle. The last thing we wanted was to engage the incoming infernals and have the cowled man come at us from behind. We needed more distance, more speed. Every minute Saladius bought us was a...

2021-04-10 00:54:32 +0000 UTC View Post

89. Sanctum XIV (First Draft)

It was halfway through the year of my self-imposed exile from Maya’s household that Kilvius finally broke the standstill. His tenacity surprised me. I’d assumed that once Nethtari told him the truth of what happened within the Twilight Chambers that the contrived, semi-transparent attempts to bring me into the fold would stop, the dinner in...

2021-04-06 01:37:23 +0000 UTC View Post

88. Sanctum XIII (First Draft)

The arrow like projectile curved upward a split-second before it hit me. It was like taking an uppercut to the sternum. It lifted me off my feet and toppled me, sand biting into my elbow where I fell. The air left me and I fell to the sand with a pained grunt. If I hadn’t seen Saladius with the others, I might have come away with the impressi...

2021-04-03 03:11:39 +0000 UTC View Post

87. Sanctum XII (First Draft)

Elder Saladius picked up a handful of the marbles idly, mouth firm, expression far away. I noted the painful looking calluses at the balls of his feet, the general roughness of his face. What had made him decide to live like this? There were so many beautiful places within the sanctum. Places much more appropriate for twilight years, for retire...

2021-03-31 16:48:08 +0000 UTC View Post

86. Sanctum XI (First Draft)

My mind went back to when I’d asked Bellarex about it on a particularly slow day. Jorra hadn’t been able to make it, so we’d settled for simple sparring instead. She had, per usual, given me a solid beating. I poked at one of my ribs as I drank from my water-skin and winced.

“I think you cracked one.” I took a deep pull. The wa...

85. Sanctum X (First Draft)

“There are people following us.” I trailed Elder Saladius around the low-ceiling, poorly constructed room that made up his kitchen. 

“Color me shocked. Shocked and amazed,” Saladius muttered, stoking the fire of the small stove. He cracked open several gray, speckled eggs several times too large to be a chicken’s, that impre...

84. Sanctum IX (First draft)

I stood quietly, drawing my sword from its sheath. My head pounded from the hangover, and I cursed myself for the previous night’s foolishness. Across from us, Bell was rousing Jorra. He was muttering something unintelligible and swatted at her sleepily.

Bell, having clearly run out of ideas, clamped a hand over his mouth, pulled back ...

83. Sanctum VIII (First Draft)

Moving within the bounds of the sanctum didn’t feel like any other traveling I had done. Traversing the Everwood was fraught with tension at first, but that tension was eventually diffused, overpowered by feelings of tedium or soreness. The sanctum never settled into that sensation of blandness. Having just made it through a small segment tha...

2021-03-17 19:51:01 +0000 UTC View Post

82. Sanctum VII (First Draft)

Despite the scales, the creature looked more rat than lizard. It leapt at me, striking out with a wooden spear that stabbed multiple times in a split-second. The upside, was that was all it really seemed to have. The downside, was there were about a hundred more, crowding around below us, climbing the oversized fungus, which was already swaying...

2021-03-15 22:19:41 +0000 UTC View Post

81. Sanctum VI (First Draft)

81. Sanctum VI

I limped back to camp. Jorra had wanted to quietly sneak back in with Bell, gather our things, and leave without me showing my face, but this felt important somehow. They needed to know that I was with them. That I was on their side. There was no doubt that some of them would come after me. Likely sooner than later. But ru...

80. Sanctum V (First Draft)

The barracks themselves were highly spartan. Hundreds of cots covered in a thin, off-white sheets and simple beige blankets lined either side, extending out in a massively long row. They separated us by age group, so most of the infernals around us were young and scared, whispering to each other in muted tones.

Bellarex had selected the ...

79. Sanctum IV (First Draft)

“To me,” I said, loud enough that both Bell and Jorra could hear it. There was a flare of fear. But it was just that, a temporary uprising of emotion that was brutally crushed under layer after layer of psychological conditioning that the previous year’s events had put me through. Losing focus now was pointless and helped no one.

I...

78. Sanctum III (First Draft)

I committed their faces to memory. You never knew who was going to be important. A lesson that was not so much learned as it was etched, permanently emblazoned onto my mind in bold, underlined print. And there was nothing better to begin forging the bond between random strangers than food. Jorra returned with a basket of freshly baked bread and...

2021-03-06 00:54:11 +0000 UTC View Post

77. Sanctum II (First Draft)

“I did.” After that, I was at a loss for words.

We parted, and Maya stepped back. She had changed much in the year away. Her dark hair had grown out to shoulder-length and was allowed to hang freely, accented by a simple loop that tied the edges back to the middle in a knot. She was taller. There was a small sliver sized scar at her ch...

76. Sanctum I (First Draft)

I dashed through the overgrown ruins, stale air rushing past my ears. A black-clawed hand swiped at my head and I ducked. If I’d been any slower it would have clotheslined me. Red eyes leered from behind a pillar and I launched an air projectile as a parting shot. Six months ago, when the month of hell ended and I finally left the enclave loo...

2021-03-01 21:23:33 +0000 UTC View Post

Enclave Post Mortem and Thoughts Going Forward

Well. That was a trip. 

First of all, if you stuck around, thank you for letting me tell a thriller/whodunnit in the middle of what has been mostly a progression fantasy story. It was a lot of fun. Still, I’ve learned some lessons:

— Arcs this long aren’t the greatest for web-serial format

— Self-contained mysterie...

Enclave - Interlude (Thoth) (First Draft)

“True enough,” Cairn said.

Thoth stared into the pool of red, through the stars that were not stars, and slammed her hand through it, shattering the image. The madness coursed through her and magic rippled through her skin, clawing at her pores, begging for release.

It was not that Cairn had won, that rankled. She had ...

74. Enclave XLIV (First Draft)

I stalked through the halls of the castle towards my destination. Hands balled into fists. The images of the slaughter of Inharion village still hung crisp and vivid in my mind, and once the shock had worn off, there was only anger, only a rage as deep-seated and unfathomable as the question that vibrated within me. A question I knew could not ...

2021-02-22 18:37:20 +0000 UTC View Post

73. Enclave XLIII (First Draft)

The slaughter was quick and efficient. The cavern was overcome with a thick red mist that shrouded the screams and shrieks of the dying. I cringed, every time a guard was struck down. They were the most loyal sort, to stay with their master despite an obvious shift towards sedition.

This was what misplaced loyalty wrought.

I watche...

Schedule Hiccups

Hi folks, 

In case you missed the author note on the RR chapters, just wanted to let you all know where I've been. I live in Texas and have had recurring power issues over the last few days due to the snowstorm our infrastructure was not prepared for, which has made it difficult to write. But the snow is finally melting and it's been ...

72. Enclave XLII (Second Draft)

I sat back on the throne and watched the proceedings. The begging and crying gave me no satisfaction. Not even the secret, twisted kind that the heroes of stories feel when they watch ruin settle upon their enemies.

Of course, now negotiations were on the table. The amount of bribery and amends she was willing to make was almost staggering...

71. Enclave XLI (First Draft)

It was a simple party. A small get together in Ralakos’s almost comically oversized hall. But there was wine, and music, and friends, and that was all I needed. Ralakos had scrounged up a local bard, who sang upbeat ballads and strummed along easily, the long dulled nails of his right hand serving as precise picks.

Kilvius and Nethtari...

70. Enclave XL

It was such a simple solution. Basic. The sort of simplicity my mother would appreciate and my father would grudgingly praise. It was elegant. Creative. The sort of idea that ripples into eternity.

I grabbed wads of my clothes and stuffed them into my rucksack, as well as the small box of gold I had left over

Just leave. 2021-02-13 18:18:27 +0000 UTC View Post

69. Enclave XXXIX (First Draft)

My father’s voice was uncharacteristically unsteady. “This does not have to come to bloodshed, Thane Granmire. Your folk are up against heavy infantry and calvary.”

The dwarf, clad in silver-black armor, swung his sword at my father’s head. It came nowhere close, missing by a good five feet. My horse huffed nervously beneath me and...

68. Enclave XXXVIII (First Draft)

I stopped at a bench near the chasm lift that led down to the Sanctum. In this world, this time, it had been a little more than two weeks. But it felt like eons. Far longer than the months I’d spent.

I had it all figured out.

Gods.

How long had it been since I could say that?

There were a few inconsistencies left, a f...

Email Notifications (Poll)

Hi folks,

I’ve been getting some conflicting feedback on the topic of email notifications, so hopefully we can solve this with a poll.

A few weeks ago I got some feedback asking me to start sending out updates to each tier when the tiers were unlocked for chapters as each chapter is posted, as this allows blue and red patrons to re...

67. Enclave XXXVII (First Draft)

The room Ralakos selected for the interview reminded me a little too vividly of the cell I’d been confined in, all those months ago. The actual span of time was difficult to ascertain because of the resets, feeling much further back than it actually was.

In light of the recently revealed situation, I had asked Ralakos a number of quest...

66. Enclave XXXVI (First Draft)

What the hells was Persephone doing? Shear was her man. The one person going into Mifral’s estate that knew what was actually happening. Not to mention, I hadn’t even met her, this time around. Had someone contracted her to have me killed?

I had precious little time to think on that, staring down at Shear’s body, as my vision began...

65. Enclave XXXV (First Draft)

Erdos gave me some breathing exercises. He also mentioned the idea of using a memory orb to view some of the trauma I’d experienced from a more distant perspective, citing the fact that he’d known several soldiers that had worked for.

I wanted one the moment he mentioned it and peppered him with questions. I’d never heard of them b...