Her sudden intrusion on the battlefield rang across the skirmishes, many halting their spells and weapons as they turned their gazes in a mix of shock, fear, awe, and adoration, for the woman's presence warranted such responses. She wore a white-laced shirt that lightly revealed the fair skin under her sleeves and a long black skirt that flutter...
2024-02-02 06:23:42 +0000 UTC View PostThe Trigem Primaere of the Defiants sat on a simple chair made from woven light, his hands clasped on the scepter as he looked over the battlefield. His mask exposed his eyes for all to see, gentle pools of light yellow that shifted over to Demon, engulfing him in a strange sensation as if he were laying on the bed of shallow waters. Demon tense...
2024-02-01 02:24:58 +0000 UTC View PostDemon placed his hand on the floor, sending a sliver of Ein to seep into the hidden crack that led to the core of the airship, a small translucent orb, and gained control of the airship. Like an extension of his body, the airship's reaches and surroundings became known, his eyesight stretching to encompass a bird's eye view of the ship. The situ...
2024-01-31 04:00:33 +0000 UTC View PostAtop the volcano, with the clouds of ash and soot rising behind him, Carcoatl sat on the edge of the mouth, his black robes unmoved by the cold winds of the high sky and the hot exhausts of the earth. In the long history of snail-kin, he only enjoyed this height as he looked over the lands, all under his care, its people going about their daily ...
2024-01-29 20:03:16 +0000 UTC View PostDemon wore a simple white shirt and black pants on his way to see the others gathered on Oldeye Island, his helmet still attached to his neck. The time for hiding behind his armor and helmet was soon to be over, odd after decades of wearing it. The Primaere's protection meant no more cowering, and Oscar's hopeful return meant the end of his mome...
2024-01-27 04:24:14 +0000 UTC View PostDemon arrived at the foot of the largest volcano, one larger than Aeon Peak, with a constant gray cloud spewing from its mouth that gathered into a constantly spiraling vortex of dense ash. Normally, no life should sprout under the choking ashes that blocked the sunlight from gracing the lands, but instead, the ground teemed with small foliage, ...
2024-01-26 03:10:44 +0000 UTC View Post"I am your mother." Avril hoped she didn't stutter her words out of usual excitement. When she first heard about the children that Oscar saved from the fallen city of Orbis, she was gratified to know her husband's kindness had not waned in the slightest. Her initial anxiety of anticipation for meeting the two children was gone. Holding them in h...
2024-01-25 02:30:26 +0000 UTC View PostAvril looked at the woman, and the more displeased she felt. That arrogant face and the high-and-mighty tone reminded her of the devils who accompanied her mistress, foul fiends who deserved no pity. She pushed ahead, ignoring the shouts of the others, a burst of strength surging with each step. The door slammed shut from a forceful swipe of her...
2024-01-24 03:42:41 +0000 UTC View PostAvril's hopes were realized as Serena looked straight at her, eyes widening and ears trembling. Smiling, she inwardly praised Oscar for having the sense to mention her to his friends, certainly a husband's bragging about his wife. However, rather than the welcome she expected, Serena bit her lips and balled her hands into fists, her shoulders qu...
2024-01-23 03:49:58 +0000 UTC View PostTwenty-five years ago, an airship hovered over the ruins of a once beautiful city, the white bricks charred by flames long gone and grayed by the ashes that remained. The toppled statues of intricate details down to the tiny creases in the stone robes lined the ruined streets. Where towers once stood, piles of stone and ash took their places. Av...
2024-01-21 06:09:13 +0000 UTC View PostThe cauldron bubbled and boiled on the hard oak table, stained by various colors, and the lid began to clatter, venting out white smoke between each second. Noting the timing, Avril carefully waited for the hundredth steam and freed the cauldron, allowing its contents to touch the air. For the finishing touch, her scroll anima unfurled to the th...
2024-01-20 06:36:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe more the voice spoke, the heavier it weighed on his ears and head. It had proclaimed itself a Primaere. Fear failed to stir in him, only a slight irritation at how weak he was compared to the masters of the world. Gritting his teeth, Demon drove his sword into the rock and slowly pulled himself up. Struggling against the presence of a Primae...
2024-01-19 03:12:58 +0000 UTC View Post'Will you truly not use me?' Erden asked, squirming under the armor. 'If you went first, I would not have said anything, but you're pitting yourself against their strongest.'
His words fell on Demon like raindrops to an ocean. Indeed, without Erden and the element of metal, he had handicapped himself to a weaker state, a ...
2024-01-18 03:17:43 +0000 UTC View PostLelex raised his fists, now clenched with brass knuckles, and summoned his anima. A blue tiger anima with unusually long claws that crackled lightning prowled near his master and pounced, dissolving into specks of Ein that flowed into the brass knuckles, a roar of thunder and beast merging into a shockwave of intense Ein that spread statics arci...
2024-01-17 01:23:08 +0000 UTC View PostHer very breath escaped her lungs into white mist, faint flakes of ice glimmering in the vapors. Beneath Astrid's feet was a single plank of ice with sunlight glaring off the corner yet it remained frozen, ringing clear to the tapping of her white shoes. When her foot departed, the plank would dissolve, but another plank formed to receive her tr...
2024-01-15 18:12:20 +0000 UTC View PostDrums thundered in the vastness of the blue sky, giving the illusion that a storm approached, their beats and thumps happening in two quick succession followed by a loud, emphatic strike. Then silence arrived for a second before the drums resumed, two then one, two then one. This rhythmic beating could only be paired with the faint rumbling from...
2024-01-13 19:38:36 +0000 UTC View PostHis artificial arm clicked and latched onto his shoulder, a connection forming between him and the arm. Cracking his new joints, Demon stretched the arm, finding no faults in Hector's improvements, the plating thicker yet not a single pound heavier. His thoughts were cut off. A bag was tossed and landed in front of him, the familiar clinking of ...
2024-01-12 23:04:35 +0000 UTC View PostIn the darkness, Demon felt a pulsating distortion washing over him like a wave in the ocean, a magnetic force that crawled along his skin and churned his blood. Metal Ein dove into his pores and seeped inside, wriggling down his veins and reaching his core that spun endlessly in joyful absorption. A reservoir of metal Ein hovered above the core...
2024-01-11 03:15:56 +0000 UTC View PostThe wall behind him was converted into a mound of ashes as Erden drove his sword into it, mimicking the ferocious charge of his beastly form. Demon ducked and swerved around, kicking off the ground with magnetic repulsion to gain some distance away. Stamping his hand on the floor, he invoked another spell, and platinum swords shot out from the g...
2024-01-09 23:59:31 +0000 UTC View PostIgnyres crackled out laughter, swatting away several guards, their spells burning into ashes like dry weeds, a few embers catching fire on their clothes, but their bodies unharmed. The Ancient of Fire seemed quite pleased as the endless cackling rang in Demon's head, a single swipe of his hand creating a molten divide in the wall. Lava poured in...
2024-01-09 03:13:23 +0000 UTC View PostThe next day was quite quiet. Unwilling to show more of himself, Demon stayed inside his room, devouring the few Lower Marshal Exalt cores Erden had collected earlier. As the Ein surged through his veins and into his core, his body trembled, a few of his joints cracking from the weight of the power. It was lacking, very lacking. Compared to the ...
2024-01-07 23:45:55 +0000 UTC View PostThe Defiants. Demon crossed his arms. He had never heard of this organization, but Avila's declaration of overthrowing the Primal Council puzzled even him. The Primal Council ruled the whole of Vallen, the unshattered half of Talos, and had existed since the savage eras, which he placed at a time after the war between the Ancient and the Caerulu...
2024-01-07 00:04:11 +0000 UTC View PostMinutes later, the last of the sentries and guards departed from the warehouse, but Demon clung to the ledge, unwilling to depart yet. He watched in great caution. As the hours swept by, his suspicions turned out to be true. A soft click of a mechanism rotating reached him, and an ordinary tile on the floor creaked open. A few cloaked figures em...
2024-01-05 18:44:39 +0000 UTC View Post"It's not her." Erden dismissed the thought immediately, sounding very certain. As Demon quietly floated and followed after her, Erden peeked his tiny head out of the sleeve, sighing wordlessly in their shared thoughts. "Even fully clothed, she resembles Avril but is not her. Unlike me, it's natural to be duped since you never cared for her." He...
2024-01-04 05:15:37 +0000 UTC View PostPeople shouted over each other, clamoring for the next customer to look at their wares. From fine seashells of beauty to the fillets of fish resting on ice, the goods of the markets were akin to unveiling the ocean to the land, letting many glimpse the splendor of the depths. Rather than taking a boat, Demon ventured on foot. A boat didn't give ...
2024-01-02 18:27:20 +0000 UTC View PostDemon fastened his sword to his waist. Ever since the end of the war, he ventured out solely to destroy and kill. This time was a rarity in his life of endless destruction. He had killed many during the war and many more in his path for revenge. But now, he was going to spend a trip in peace and spend money like an ordinary person. Memories resu...
2024-01-01 06:05:55 +0000 UTC View PostAs the floor shook and the walls trembled, clattering the shingles on the roof in an unsettling tune that foretold a preeminent collapse, Hector rubbed his scruffy beard and reached down to touch the floor, his Ein flowing from his palm to coat the torn walls, the even floor, and the unsteady ceiling, bringing them all to a halted silence. Hecto...
2023-12-30 21:19:15 +0000 UTC View PostSanten preferred quietness and peace. His creed ever since he was imprisoned and experimented on by the New Dawn was to excel at being calm. However, right now, his usual calm was compromised. Clasping his trembling hands together, he breathed in and out in a hypnotic rhythm, his chest heaving up and down, matching the ebbs and flows of the ocea...
2023-12-30 06:17:15 +0000 UTC View Post"Bah! Those kids worry too much. If they knew half the things you've gone through, they wouldn't be so worried over one arm. It's enough to be alive." Hector worked by the anvil and held a pair of long tongs, keeping a long plate of heated metal in place. He swung his hammer on the hot teal metal, which flared brighter on each strike, hot flakes...
2023-12-29 03:47:47 +0000 UTC View PostThe two Ancients said nothing more. The hollow mountain turned silent. Demon sat on the stone platform, unmoving like a statue and meeting the gazes of flame and earth, eagerness flaring from the fires but indiscernible thoughts gleaming from the gems. Anyone would leap at the chance for this great reward, but he was reminded of the Thread Saul ...
2023-12-28 03:38:37 +0000 UTC View Post