PreCursive

Chapter 211 - What Remains

I accepted the glass of water from Renauld from my place sitting back on the cot. Said Gnoll sat next to me on it, flopping onto the thin sheets with a sigh. We sat in silence for a moment, and after I had finished guzzling the liquid, I broke it. “So, how did you make it?”

Renauld cut his eyes my way, deep bags visible underneath them...

Chapter 210 - Survival

“YOU DIDN’T EVEN HAVE A STATUS, YOU ASSHOLE!” I screamed into the air of Elderwyck, trying to yank my glowing spear out of Rhazal’s skull before I stole a ‘Skill’ from him. If that was even what I was stealing.

But I wasn’t quick enough.

I braced myself as best as I could for what was coming…but nothing could prepare ...

Chapter 209 - Moonlit Guide

When the last wisp of Rhazal’s vanishing soul dissipated into its component Aether, I doubled over in sudden weakness. I clutched desperately at Tlazo’s staff to keep me standing.

All of the strength and power that had been given to me by the Great Spirits was suddenly flowing out of me. It was like there was a spigot on my soul that h...

Chapter 208 - Blade of the System

I blinked at the Godbound’s resounding words as the Great Spirits lay silent. After a moment, I felt the attention of the four of them that weren’t shielding me fall upon my form. I shivered at the force of it, grateful that Anima was protecting me. Still, even her mist had stilled over my form, stopping the flow.

Tarus was th...

Chapter 207 - Beacon in the Dark

I stood alone in the darkened shadow of my home that Rhazal had conjured into being, with Tlazo’s staff as my only companion. Creeping in from out of the corner of my eye, a dense fog of thick black smoke was rolling along the empty hills beyond the copy of my neighborhood that Rhazal had created. Within that murk, I saw countless familiar for...

Chapter 206 - A Deal From the Devil

This was…

Well, it was laughable. Was this really what this creature had brought me here for, into this replica of my childhood neighborhood? To try and recruit me?

I…really?

I could feel my facial expression twist slightly as I tried to hold in a hysterical laugh at the thought, but the copy of G...

Chapter 205 - Facsimile

I…in my heart, I knew that this couldn’t really be Earth. Only moments ago, I had been standing in a smoky void, speaking to a disembodied skeleton man. And before that, I had been in the middle of a city under siege by a colossal monster. There was no feasible way, after everything I had learned about Precursors, that I had suddenl...

Chapter 204 - Monstrous Parley

My steps echoed oddly loud as I stepped into the ruined courtyard where Tlazo and Nerexxa had stood, only moments ago. It was silent in this section of the city, with the scouring of all of the Revenants by their very own source. I deliberately approached the smooth, nearly mirror-polished section of stone where Tlazo had floated, because I saw ...

Chapter 203 - Judgement of the Dead

AN: The Rhazal speak is supposed to be centered, but guess what! Patreon has abysmal text editing, and you can't even do that.

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Liora and I hadn’t dared to venture out into the courtyard before the ruins of Fort Duality. There were dozens and dozens of Revenants infesting t...

Chapter 202 - The Grace of Shadows

I hit the water of the canal with a clumsy splash, followed shortly thereafter by Liora. In contrast to her smooth dive into the artificial stream, I was much less elegant. We were lucky that none of the Revenants were paying attention then, as they were preoccupied with Baldric’s…sacrifice.

Because I made a ton of noise.

Chapter 201 - The Peace of Sacrifice

It was difficult to even describe the thing that rested in the ruins of Fort Duality as a monster. For the very first time since I had learned about the existence of Calamity’s back on the Thorny Reef, I understood the cultural fear that the Veredenese had about them.

This was more than monster.

It was more akin to an anci...

Chapter 200 - Beware the Murk

AN: Here we are at the big 2 0 0. Funny enough, the timing is almost perfect, as the anniversary of my first launching Sins on RR will be on Wednesday the 3rd.

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Before I left Sylvia behind and marched to my likely death, I took a moment to examine my Statu...

Chapter 199 - The Eve of Calamity

From one moment to the next, I was awake.

This wasn’t the gentle awakening of regular rest or even the abrupt rousing I sometimes experienced from my nightmares.

No, it felt like I had been shocked out of a coma.

My back arced off of the stone slab I felt like I was resting, my eyes flying open in an instant. I sucked in a st...

Chapter 198 - Sacrifice

I…I wasn’t sure if Sylvia was still alive.

In the few freeze frames I’d been able to perceive before Nerexxa had taken me out, I thought I’d seen the Vampire tear a massive rent into the Mithril chassis of Sylvia’s abdomen. The gravity of that hadn’t dawned on me until now, when I was fully coherent and not being talked down to...

Chapter 197 - Somewhere, Somewhen

The darkness that surrounded me was thick enough that I nearly wasn’t able to breath. The very air was tainted with it, and the Aether that around me felt…wrong. It felt like it was suffused with an ancient malaise.

That was lifting, though. Something had woken from a slumber that had lasted for generation upon generation, and an alien...

Chapter 196 - Almost

I found an ill-fitting suit of light armor on the racks and threw that on quickly, while I snatched up a nearby spear and pair of fighting daggers. It was all trash compared to my Order armor, and especially my hand-crafted Oninite blades.

But it would have to do.

When I was ready, I met up with the others at the door, similarly kitt...

Chapter 195 - Hidden, Hiding, Hid

I couldn’t stop myself from staring blankly at the way Crook was breaking us out of the I couldn’t stop myself from staring blankly at the way Crook was breaking us out of the overpowered chains that held Dusk, Thirty-Two, and I together.

With her bare hands.

The masked woman, who I had last seen retreating with the injured form ...

Interlude 11 - Bloom of the Raven

Baldric of House Florens, third son of a first son, was no fool.

Although his body was locked in furious combat with an actual fool, senses captured by a relic of the past and raging about, at his core he kept cool. Like the countless, impossibly deep roots of a flower, his mind stretched into winding fibers beyond number. 2024-06-17 17:00:16 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 194 - Blood of the Innocent

The two Solstice classers guarding Dusk, Thirty-Two, and I abandoned us to charge Hook. Accompanying them were well over a dozen different Loyalist guards who had been waiting out in the hall, all trying to furiously cram their way through the double doors leading to the balcony.

They weren’t really succeeding.

As tied up as I was,...

Chapter 193 - Farce

“Quentin, be a dear and get started, will you?” Rhiannon said casually to the man standing on the balcony with us. She didn’t turn to face him, though.

The man, now positively identified as Duke Quentin Olsen, inclined his balding head to the disguised Vampire. “As you will, my love,” He said, surprisingly accommodating for such ...

Chapter 192 - Under the Skin

Over Rhiannon’s shoulder, I saw Dusk do something I’d never seen from the Gnoll woman.

A long slow sigh of realized fear. Resignation painted her furred face, and her cheeks dropped as her apparent suspicions about the noblewoman were confirmed.

I, meanwhile, was trying to wrap my head around the concept as well.

What even ...

Chapter 191 - Sanguine Reunion

I woke up.

This was a surprise to me. I had honestly thought it was all over.

Wherever I was, it was cold, dark, and damp. I couldn’t tell where it was, as I was trying not to react to waking up at all. I hadn’t moved an inch in the moments since I’d jerked away, and my eyes were still closed. This was hard, as I was profou...