I didn't have much in the way of clothing or possessions, but mother still fussed something awful when morning came. She wrapped food up for me and checked it again and again, before sitting down and giving me words of wisdom.
"Elian, if you want to come home, I want you to let me know when Elaya brings you to visit. I don't c...
2023-01-14 12:57:08 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: A couple of you, quite rightly, told me that the last chapter was a poor way to end a book. While this mini-chapter will still leave us hanging a bit, it should clear up a few things.
I opened my eyes, looking wearily around the cell. The sedation had been kept up for, if I had to guess, we...
2023-01-12 06:57:44 +0000 UTC View PostOver the next few days Selene was... more distant than usual. She said nothing about our conversation, but looked up harshly at me every now and then. I was glad for that much, as there was more than enough to do.
The place Linden had elected to set up the portal was a small fortress about half an hour outside of their walls. ...
2023-01-10 17:32:56 +0000 UTC View PostA fair time before the time agreed upon I made my way to the location. I needed to make a good impression and tardiness would certainly do me no favors. So I made found myself in a room of simple, if extremely well made furniture. Selene had joined me a moment ago and found a nice seat herself.
The orders frowned upon displays...
2023-01-08 04:45:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe walls of the city of Linden were magnificent. Most of the places we'd passed through, almost all of them as a matter of fact, had been unimpressive. This however was a very welcome change. I could practically feel the weight and power of ages as we approached, defenses that had been built and built over who knew how many years.
<...
2023-01-05 05:25:22 +0000 UTC View PostElaya was using fire, which was good, but I was thinking of something a bit more... energetic. In my hand I visualized the spell I'd thought of, pulling the thoughts together cohesively faster than I'd ever thought possible. Force pooled in my hand. It was odd, so very odd to feel pure kinetic energy warp and mold in ways that really shouldn't b...
2023-01-04 02:00:18 +0000 UTC View PostOn the outer edges of Westwood territory
The camp sat upon the edge of an open field, standard protocol. Circled around a cooking fire with a few guards spread out watching the various approaches. It had been easy to follow them here, they'd not even tried to hide the marks of their passage along the road, or towards this litt...
2023-01-01 03:28:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe approaching cavalry were still well off, but would be here in no more than a few minutes. The knights perked up and readied, but none moved to attack, instead falling back into one of many standard defensive formations. Because o the angle of approach I'd only the slightest of ideas as to their size.
One of the knights, an...
2022-12-28 04:22:08 +0000 UTC View PostAfter a couple of days setting up in the capital it was time to go once more. Dras would, for the time, be staying with the gate there to monitor whilst Selene and I were off. First we had to head back to the portal hub to pick up the other end of the portal then on towards our destination, the city of Linden.
"So... you know ...
2022-12-23 00:54:59 +0000 UTC View PostEvery day with the boys was different, or at least interesting. There were a number of games and the like to do, all of which were led by Ninden. He was the oldest, and while he wasn't the most skilled at all of them it seemed part of his position as the eldest boy was to make sure that all the other boys were taught what they needed...
2022-12-20 22:55:29 +0000 UTC View PostThe tavern was strikingly quiet. Sure there were a few conversations, and someone playing music in the background, but it was not the ruckus and wild place that most of the taverns I knew tended towards. It might have had the same level of noise as a very high end one, but the decor clients didn't match that either, everyone was just...
2022-12-17 05:32:21 +0000 UTC View PostThe trip to the capital was in effect, short. I still thought of my own home city of Lithere as the capital in a lot of regards, but within the Empire of Shadows, that simply wasn't the case. Instead it was the old Ermathi capital in the city of Ermath, wholly unimaginative, but things were like that sometimes.
The...
2022-12-15 03:09:46 +0000 UTC View PostThe request to make a gate that could be taken through another was a bit of a challenge, but not one that was insurmountable. There needed to be a way to keep the item as one, while still being able to take it apart or down, so we had to think of ways to go about that. We spent several days bouncing ideas back and forth against each other, to li...
2022-12-09 23:25:05 +0000 UTC View PostI sat before a small table in my room, looking at the poor dead mouse. It had worked, sort of, I had managed to kill it with a spell. Sadly, it had not been an easy death on the poor little creature, which had struggled and fought until it's body gave out.
It wasn't the first, there were a few now. My idea to make a spell that...
2022-12-06 19:31:34 +0000 UTC View PostGetting time to practice magic was a real problem. Sure, I'd figured out one small thing, but I was still bad at it and had no time to try it out, because I was always being watched. Regardless of how the days and weeks passed I was just never left alone. That was pretty good policy for a baby in this level of civilization, but...
2022-12-05 10:02:28 +0000 UTC View PostDays passed and while I still had a few things to do it was nearly a vacation. I worked on my spells in the afternoon, and spent time with my family where possible. I even managed to borrow a maid from my mother to help me get ready the morning of my meeting with Ulanion.
I rose slowly as the girl woke me. There were no alarm ...
2022-12-03 19:10:40 +0000 UTC View PostMother wanted to spend an afternoon together before I got up to anything else, and seeing as most of what I needed to do right now was resetting up a workshop I really had no reason to refuse her. There was work to be done back at the lab, but we'd proven the concept and the safety checks were ongoing. I got a brief note from Dras, who had staye...
2022-11-30 06:11:38 +0000 UTC View PostI stumbled up to my room, closing the door behind me. The battle had been long an hard, the aggression, passive. Oh the lessons I'd learned, and how I knew that I'd missed many, from my mother this night on telling someone you were pissed without telling them you were pissed. The repeated constantly, and in oh so many varying ways, how I'd faile...
2022-11-26 04:00:42 +0000 UTC View PostI took a few more weeks to sit back and get back to the main task at hand, language. As my mouth developed and things came into their proper place I found that I was having an easier and easier time talking. I was struggling though, because while I wanted to start going for full sentences and questions that I desperately sought the a...
2022-11-25 01:40:49 +0000 UTC View PostAs a matter of fact, people did have food, even hot food, waiting for us. Our arrival wasn't too scheduled, as nothing in this era could be too specific if any traveling was involved, but we were expected. The gates were quickly opened as we arrived, and we were quickly pointed off to a lovely little location near the kitchens where we could get...
2022-11-23 11:16:21 +0000 UTC View PostAs I sat soaking in the blissfully warm water I began to think. This was an optimal place for such things, particularly after weeks spent in the cold and ice. Regardless of how rushed they may have been I had to hand it to Dras and Selene, their construction had been pretty functional. It was simple, sure, but for something made as a side projec...
2022-11-18 22:29:15 +0000 UTC View PostDing!
[Achievement: Pottery]
Well, at least that's what I'd been hoping for, sadly, this was not some game world. No, in this world there was no 'ding', and there were no achievements that magically made you understand what to do. Unfortunately, you had to just go ahead and do it.
I spent six months wa...
2022-11-16 10:01:16 +0000 UTC View PostIt took only a few seconds for the beast to show itself. From the ice poured forth a dozens of purple tentacles. Each one reached up and around to the maximum of their length, trying to grab at anything they could find. Thankfully that reach was only a few meters, well away from most of our company.
Even thos...
2022-11-15 19:58:18 +0000 UTC View PostThere was a slight flash of light as the portal came online. I was glad there was no explosion, or apocalyptic ripping of space and time as the magic settled into place. Those weren't really expected options, but it's hard to not imagine the worst case scenario when you're working with new and dangerous technology.
"It's up," ...
2022-11-11 19:46:07 +0000 UTC View PostI expected my auntie to be mad, but she was not mad. No, no she was furious, she screamed and raged so loudly that my mother even looked up.
"WHO!?" I heard her exclaim before a series of words I didn't know.
"What in the world is she screaming about?" Father asked, moving to the front of the hut.
&nbs...
2022-11-11 06:51:17 +0000 UTC View PostSnow blew across the frozen plain, screaming, howling, leaving nothing but hard tundra for dozens of miles. The icy wind raged and raged against the world, trying to strip leaves, to freeze the flesh of any weak creature that might intrude upon the cold waste. For intruders did indeed mark this place, bustling about like ants.
I had been waiting, watching. I hadn't had a particular need to engage in magic before so I'd let my experiments fall on the back-burner while I figured out language and tried to milk those around me for information. The actions of my aunt and her little clay filled basket though now gave me a goal.
My backburnering of magic h...
2022-11-07 19:29:16 +0000 UTC View PostI was... really quite stressed. While he hadn't said it, it was clear that Emperor Durin was pissed. If he knew half of the secrets I was still keeping... that would be bad. For now I needed to keep my nose clean. Moreover I needed to show results, and quickly.
The next day was when things changed. When I woke up I was greeted...
2022-11-05 21:29:24 +0000 UTC View PostNearly a dozen feet clacked down the hall, the rustling of robes and slight clank of well-oiled armor flowing behind. Try as I might I couldn't help but be bothered as I returned to my current residence. Other than my personal guards and a number of very trusted servants few were allowed in this most protected of spaces.
...
2022-11-01 17:08:21 +0000 UTC View PostAs I realized what my parents were doing when they utilized their magic I began my own experimentation. It was slow going, painfully slow going. First I had absolutely no clue what I was doing, if I'd spoken more of the language I could have asked, but I was grasping blind here. Then there there the twin problems of never being left alone and di...
2022-10-29 05:35:58 +0000 UTC View Post