The soft scratching of quills on parchment filled the classroom, punctuated by the occasional rustle of paper and the quiet clearing of throats. Adom sat behind his desk, chin propped on his hand, watching twenty-three students bent over their runicology exams with varying degrees of confidence.
It had been a week since the assassination a...
2025-10-07 01:53:29 +0000 UTC View PostThe bells above the door chimed a cheerful cascade as Adom stepped inside, still maintaining his grip on the unconscious assassin's arm.
"Welcome to the Weird Stuff Stor—oh, hello there, Mage."
"Good day, Thessarian. How are you doing?"
She looked up from her clipboard, blonde hair falling across one shoulder in a way that pr...
2025-10-04 03:25:11 +0000 UTC View Post"—which brings the total recovered artifacts to forty-seven, with preliminary analysis suggesting six of them retain active enchantments," Magus Keltis concluded, setting down his report with a satisfied air.
The soft click-click-click of knitting needles provided a steady counterpoint to his words. Beth sat in her chair with a ...
2025-10-02 00:19:42 +0000 UTC View PostHey everyone!
Quick heads-up: the chapters will be dropping tomorrow instead of last week-end. I know some of you were expecting them sooner, but there is a bit of a story behind the delay.
I went on a bit of a writing spree. Like, full tilt, hours and hours at a time, because I wanted to give you a big chapter dump ...
2025-10-01 00:24:48 +0000 UTC View PostScrying crystals.
They were relics from an earlier generation of mages, back when people thought remote surveillance was worth bankrupting yourself over. The system worked by placing specific runes around whatever area you wanted to monitor. Those runes would capture what was happening and transmit it through mana waves to a network of sma...
2025-09-26 22:24:09 +0000 UTC View Post"Hah, you wanna play rough? Let's play rough."
Adom chuckled as Ragna decided playtime wasn't over.
The massive puma launched himself forward, trying to bowl Adom over with his considerable bulk. What followed was less a wrestling match and more like watching someone try to tackle a tree.
Behind them, Morgana had moved to a sma...
2025-09-24 00:35:04 +0000 UTC View PostAdom found himself staring directly into a pair of luminous green eyes that belonged to what was quite possibly the largest cat he'd ever seen in his life.
The midnight puma sat on the mahogany conference table like it owned not just the furniture, but the entire room, the island, and probably several neighboring kingdoms. Its black coat a...
2025-09-23 18:25:38 +0000 UTC View Post"Whoa!"
Adom pitched sideways on the narrow deck of the fishing boat, windmilled his arms frantically, and managed to step off the sword before he could fall off it and into the ocean. Which was probably the most dignified way to handle nearly face-planting into saltwater, but still not exactly what he'd been going for.
The sword cla...
2025-09-23 01:30:57 +0000 UTC View PostOberys had been watching the humans for the better part of an hour now, and the calculations in his head were becoming increasingly complex.
The red-haired one—supposedly called Gareth—was studying shipping manifests with the kind of focused attention that suggested genuine familiarity with logistics. Not the sort of knowledge...
2025-09-22 22:24:28 +0000 UTC View PostFate, it must be said, has a rather peculiar sense of timing.
It's not content to let sleeping dogs lie, or to allow good deeds to fade quietly into memory. Instead, it keeps meticulous records, filed away in some cosmic ledger, waiting for the precise moment when those records might prove most... interesting.
Adom's mother had once ...
2025-09-22 05:05:50 +0000 UTC View Post"Where are they?!"
The shout cut through the marketplace's usual din. More voices joined it, urgent and searching, a commotion that made every merchant's hand drift toward their money pouches.
"Search every stall! Check the back rooms!"
"Sundarians! Four of them, traveling together!"
Oberys was moving before the echo fade...
2025-09-22 00:22:35 +0000 UTC View Post"Ah, where are my manners? Please, please, sit," Oberys said, gesturing to the chairs around his table. "Any friends of Kellan's are most welcome here."
He snapped his fingers, and a serving girl appeared as if summoned by magic. Probably was magic, actually.
"Wine for our guests," Oberys said. "The good bottle. Not the swill we serv...
2025-09-18 22:29:17 +0000 UTC View PostThe boys stepped out into the controlled chaos of the Adventurer District, and Adom began murmuring under his breath.
"Left at the fountain with the dragon motif, straight past the weapons quarter, right at the tavern with the blue door..."
"Are you reciting directions?" Sam asked.
"Memorized the layout yesterday," Adom said, n...
2025-09-16 20:12:12 +0000 UTC View PostThe portal spat the boys out onto a platform of white marble that had been polished smooth by thousands of years of arrivals and departures. Adom's boots hit the stone with a solid thunk that echoed off the vaulted ceiling overhead, and for a moment he just stood there, letting his eyes adjust to the light.
Because there was a lot of light...
2025-09-13 01:36:37 +0000 UTC View PostThe boys moved down the stairs without discussion, their new silk robes literally whispering against the wooden steps. The voices below had gotten louder, more irritated, and whatever was happening wasn't improving.
What they found at the bottom made Adom pause on the last step.
Master Lǐ stood behind his counter, hands flat on the ...
2025-09-09 01:47:43 +0000 UTC View Post"LAND HO!"
The shout cut through Adom's sleep like a blade through silk.
He stirred in his hammock, the familiar sway of the ship beneath him giving way to something different—a subtle change in the rhythm that his body registered before his mind caught up.
The air had changed too. Where before it had carried nothing but salt...
2025-09-08 11:21:08 +0000 UTC View Post"Take me with you!" Bennu announced before Adom had even finished with his left shoe.
Adom paused, lace halfway through the eyelet. "No."
"But I could be very helpful," Bennu pressed, perched on the windowsill with his tail feathers spread for maximum dramatic effect. "I can fly, I'm fireproof, and I have excellent eyesight."
"...
2025-09-08 05:20:17 +0000 UTC View PostThe first spell erupted from Nox's fingertips before the echo of Beth's words had fully faded—a compressed lance of force aimed dead center at the boy's chest. Forty-three years of combat experience distilled into a single, perfect opening strike.
Teodorus Nox had killed his first man at seventeen with that exact spell.
The boy shi...
2025-09-08 05:17:37 +0000 UTC View PostForty-five minutes.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
The grandfather clock in the corner of the chamber had been marking time with the same methodical precision since before Adom was born. Maybe since before his grandfather was born. The thing was old enough that it probably remembered when this room had been built.
Adom could ...
2025-09-06 03:37:40 +0000 UTC View PostMagus.
The title was less about magical prowess and more about political positioning within the labyrinthine structure of the Imperial Magisterium.
While the rank certainly required demonstrated competence—specifically achieving master-level proficiency in at least one of the seven fundamental schools of magic—the real qualificat...
2025-09-03 11:25:45 +0000 UTC View PostThum. Thum. Thum.
The hammering echoed down Craftsman's Row before Adom even rounded the corner. Three hammers working, each with its own rhythm. The sound had gotten considerably louder since his last visit six months ago.
Thum-thum. Thum. Thum-thum.
He stopped in front of the new storefront. The sign hanging above read "Kern ...
2025-09-02 03:55:24 +0000 UTC View PostThe cave swallowed sound.
Not metaphorically. Literally. Whatever was going on at the entrance filtered out the world beyond until even the wind became a memory. The only sounds were the crackle of their small fire, the gentle bubble of snow melting in Marcus's battered tin pot, and the soft scrape of Max's knife against wood as he worked ...
2025-08-30 04:16:15 +0000 UTC View PostThe mission was given. The die was cast. Now, the game needed players.
Adom sat behind his desk in his office, a stack of student progress reports spread before him alongside his appointment schedule. Parent conferences. Every three months, before the break periods, titular professors met with student families to discuss progress and addre...
2025-08-30 04:13:06 +0000 UTC View Post"We need to kill the emperor."
Both Adom and the Archmage were looking at Professor Kim, eyes wide, shock evident on their faces.
Kim stared back at them, completely unfazed. "What? It's true. You both know it's true."
The silence that followed was heavy. Adom's pulse picked up slightly. He glanced at the Archmage, who looked b...
2025-08-28 02:04:57 +0000 UTC View PostAdom was tired. Bone-deep, soul-crushing tired in the way that only came from having your entire day derailed by other people's poor life choices.
This morning he'd woken up in a decent mood. He'd been looking forward to his first lecture as a professor, had prepared some genuinely interesting material, and had been planning to spend the e...
2025-08-26 07:58:36 +0000 UTC View PostThe path wound through pine stands that grew denser with each mile, their branches heavy with snow that occasionally dumped itself on the travelers below with wet, vindictive thuds.
Max and his temporary companions had settled into the rhythm of travel, boots crunching through the packed snow, breath forming small clouds that dissipated qu...
2025-08-26 03:11:40 +0000 UTC View PostMidnight.
The evening guards made their way toward the portal platform in the loose, unhurried formation that characterized the end of a shift. They'd been on duty since sunset, and while nothing particularly exciting had happened, eight hours of standing around in armor still left its mark. A few stretched their shoulders as they walked. ...
2025-08-26 03:09:21 +0000 UTC View PostThe hermit system was, when you really thought about it, a remarkably practical solution to an age-old problem. What do you do with people w
The hermit system was, when you really thought about it, a remarkably practical solution to an age-old problem.
What do you do with people who are too dangerous to keep around but too valuable t...
2025-08-23 19:14:34 +0000 UTC View PostCock-a-doodle-doo! The bastard rooster was at it again. Worse, he was early today. Max's eyes snapped open in the pre-dawn darkness of his m
Cock-a-doodle-doo!
The bastard rooster was at it again. Worse, he was early today.
Max's eyes snapped open in the pre-dawn darkness of his modest chambers. He lay still fo...
2025-08-23 19:13:04 +0000 UTC View Post"Fascinating." Adom leaned back in his chair, studying the unconscious changeling tied to the opposite seat. They'd moved to one of Valiant'
"Fascinating."
Adom leaned back in his chair, studying the unconscious changeling tied to the opposite seat. They'd moved to one of Valiant's safe houses—a nondescript building in the artisan ...
2025-08-23 19:06:44 +0000 UTC View Post