caerulex

[Severed Divinity] 82. Void Lightning

Isen was lightheaded as he walked down the final twist of corridor. What had the queen been thinking, making her palace like this? Allezin mentioned a magic experiment as the reason, but Isen couldn’t fathom what experiment would take up so much space. The palace must have cut deep into the rock of the basin, extending who knows how far.

[Severed Divinity] 81. No Path Forward

Isen sat down in a dangerously comfortable chair next to the row of pill furnaces. It was a testament to how far ahead Lumina Eldrassin was that nothing there called to him. It was all worthless at his current skill level, probably in part because he was a cultivator and Lumina a mage.

He was tempted to nab one of the pill furnaces anyway,...

[Severed Divinity] 80. The Prototypes

“Allezin, do you know where the prototypes are?” Isen asked.

Both men did a double take. “Don’t you know?” Allezin asked.

Isen shrugged. “I’m just walking.”

“Then keep walking,” the warrior said, his voice incredulous.

“How about you, Welco? Did you scout the way?”

“My scouting efforts are ...

[Severed Divinity] 79. Impossible

Isen stared at Welco’s shadow puppet, which hadn’t noticed them exit the third floor lift. He reflexively activated shadow cloak and hoped that Allezin would trigger his own invisibility.

To his relief, Allezin caught on. Isen saw two tiny blue flares peeking out from within the invisible helmet. Allezin must have activated a technique...

[Severed Divinity] 78. Phantom

Yura Corasin didn’t fully understand the level of control Lumina had over the city. The queen could clearly see things happening by tapping into some grand spell that covered all of Eldrassin. Probably part of the system leveraged by the police.

Lumina had always been a paragon of magic and scholarship, someone who delegate...

[Severed Divinity] 77. The Queen’s Palace

Isen had expected Allezin’s secret entrance to be more mundane, like a servant’s tunnel. The reality defied expectation.

Allezin ran around the palace, stopping before a random tree that Isen couldn’t have distinguished from any other. The palace yards were filled with well-manicured trees, all of them identical in any ...

[Severed Divinity] 76. Accelerated Plans

[ Sorry guys, it's been a month! I have been busy (I'm getting married in less than 2 weeks... ahhh) and I have also been workshopping this next section, rewriting parts of it with my editor's feedback. I'm finally happy with it, and I'm planning on releasing a chapter a day for the next seven days, to avoid evil cliff hangers. Thanks for being ...

[Severed Divinity] 75. Welco’s Lesson

Welco’s teeth flashed in the firelight. “That’s reserved for tier threes.”

“Usually?”

“Usually.” He frowned. “What do you know about aura?”

Isen shrugged. “I’ve seen it a few times from tier threes. Never from a monster, though.”

“That’s because aura intent requires sapinas,” ...

[Severed Divinity] 74. Disciple

Learning that he qualified as a B-rank cultivator only made Isen want to work harder. There were so many places he lagged behind, and there wasn’t enough time in the day to address them all.

After finishing with Jorin and Meridia, he cycled in the cultivation cave. One of his main shortfalls was the strength of his meridians, which he la...

[Severed Divinity] 73. Rankings Update (2)

It was rather beautiful, watching how the ambient energy curled like smoke around his limbs as he moved through the sequences. The most difficult part in the beginning had just been remembering what to do, but he’d flowed through them at least a hundred times at this point. All of fourth clade could probably do the sequences in their sleep, an...

[Severed Divinity] 72. Rankings Update (I)

Tomnas brought Isen to a separate, mostly empty part of the weapons yard dominated by immobile practice dummies. Half elves visibly younger than fourth clade drilled strikes against them. Isen saw the Femera sequences’ influence in their movements, though it was subtle.

The others at the dummies were all adults. Rather than swinging freq...

[Severed Divinity] 71. The Morning After

As he departed Welco’s mansion, Jorin felt like he’d been hit by an Eldrassin subwyrm, even after taking a peak tier two meridian cleansing pill. He left alone since Kelsina needed more time to recover after serving as the primary invoker of shadow call, a technique they could only cast at full strength. She’d overtaxed herself using it af...

[Severed Divinity] 70. Spoils

Isen stood on renewed feet and tugged the cushion to the room’s center, leaving it the way he found it. He returned to the main chamber and his eyes fell over everything, considering where to start.

First, he went back to the pill box. Isen wasn’t completely selfish—he knew the coming storm would turn Eldrassin upside down, and that ...

[Severed Divinity] 69. Safe House

Paling, Isen pulled his boots back on and walked into the open. He left the sword, stolen bow, and unused arrows next to the Aranite woman he’d killed.

He crouched down next to her, just staring at her blood-smeared mask, almost curious enough to lift it. She was probably human, too.

Isen had killed drayavin and monsters, but those...

[Severed Divinity] 68. Cosmovault

Isen only had one blade on him—the Shard of Erasmus.

Not yet, he thought. Not for this.

As he appeared behind the nearest assassin, he used the momentum from the rapid dash to empower a jab, throwing all his weight into the movement. At the same time, he grabbed the arrow nocked to the string and stabbed it i...

[Severed Divinity] 67. The Aranites

She was unmistakably a drayavin—and given her calm, deadly demeanor and obvious intelligence, Isen guessed she was a tier three.

Isen couldn’t hear from so far away. He hesitated for a moment, then proceeded closer. He considered invoking shadow cloak, but wasn’t sure if it would actually shield him. Maybe the monster woman could per...

[Severed Divinity] 66. Shadowed Agents

Isen stayed for hours, long after Julra left. Most of the practice was dedicated to his breathing and instilling the muscle memory of shooting. The time for dinner came and went, but Isen felt no desire to go.

He didn’t want to see Freyan and Arthum. He didn’t want to be around other people at all—he wanted to keep pushing himself. A...

[Severed Divinity] 65. Steady Gains

Classes remained engaging, though sometimes Isen found his attention drifting to more important matters than his well-rounded, elven education.

Freyan and Arthum had walked on metaphorical eggshells around him the entire day. When they all walked over to the cultivation lesson, Isen decided to apologize. “I’m sorry if I worried you bot...

[Severed Divinity] 64. Alchemical Hunger

By the time Isen left the Welco’s mansion late in the evening, he felt exhausted but fulfilled. His main objective had been to attract the patriarch’s interest, and there was no doubt that he’d succeeded.

Isen was most happy about the pointers Welco had given him on his shadow cloak. Before, he’d been tired after a few seconds of c...

[Severed Divinity] 63. Fate Has No Master

Isen finished with Julra at half past seventh bell, as promised.

He was exhausted. His arms and shoulder ached the worst, though his neck and core also protested as he returned to the path with his bow and quiver strapped to his back, his hand resting lightly on the Shard of Erasmus’s hilt.

His tempered body didn’t ...

[Severed Divinity] 62. Archery

Isen couldn’t find Freyan and Arthum when he left the cultivation cave after fifth evening bell, so he entered the dining area alone. He noticed the others in fourth clade gathering around a table. They must have arrived only a minute or two earlier.

He approached the group hesitantly, unsure what to say. Two facing his direction noticed...

[Severed Divinity] 61. Sudden Summons

Isen tried to keep his breathing steady.

“—perfectly normal to feel lightheaded. Keep breathing. You picked the skill up very quickly, Isen. Your master prepared you well.”

“Thank you, Jorin,” Isen ground out. “I think I need… to rest.”

Jorin’s expression was impossible to read. “I’ll walk yo...

[Severed Divinity] 60. Shadow Aspect

Isen sat down on the white sediment and closed his eyes. He drew in the energy of the world and focused on how it flowed through his rings and into the meridians in his shoulders. The technique wasn’t actually very complicated. It seemed like all he needed to do was expel the energy with a sort of... spin on it, so it would wrap ...

[Severed Divinity] 59. First Technique

Jorin handed the glass slate over, his eyes fixed on Isen the entire time.

“Don’t you need to see it first?” Isen asked.

“It’s for your eyes only, unless you choose to share it with me.”

Isen ran his thumb over the edge and inspected the tablet. The elven sigils were carved into the glass with neat strokes. More mag...

[Severed Divinity] 57-58

Chapter 57. Not Behind in Everything

The last time Isen had seen something so… mystical was in the Compass of Legacy, when he’d seen the story of the Sentinel of the Abyss and Legacy. Even after Teacher Conrin’s manifestation ended, he stared transfixed at the spot it had occupied.

He wondered wha...

[Severed Divinity] 56. Nascent Soul

The class schedule had simply stated that they met an hour after first bell. Isen was up well before then. He washed up, dressed, and polished the Shard of Erasmus. Isen held his fingers up to the shiny, pearlescent surface. Side by side, he more clearly saw the sheen over his nails that made them sharp. Tempered.

He walked to the mirror i...

[Severed Divinity] 55. Kelsina Femera

Isen let the world fall away. He let everything fall away. In his mind, he was back in the depths, back with Ros. The two of them were cycling together, reaching ever closer to eternity.

Then, suddenly, it was gone. He was falling. His body twisted and he caught himself on his hands, pushing himself to his feet ...

[Severed Divinity] 54. Cultivation Cave

“On three,” Arthum announced. “One, two… three!”

Isen didn’t move. Neither did his opponent.

“Since you’re new, you get the first move,” Freyan said. “Let’s see what you got!”

Isen stalked forward, unsure what would work on an opponent with superior speed and on-par reflexes. He figured using external en...

[Severed Divinity] 51-53

Chapter 51. New Recruit

[ Jorin. Even middle aged half elves look hot. Combo of elven genes and tier 2. ]

At the early hour, the streets were relatively clear, though some elves milled about. The lack of congestion allowed the hor...

[Severed Divinity] Chapters 47-50

Chapter 47. Welco the Haunt

Allezin moved with sure steps through the crowd. His pin was missing or at least hidden—an intentional decision. Isen didn’t know how long the tier three could go without exposing the pin before some alarm sounded. Probably not long.

It was also possible Lumina Eldrassin had tampered w...