“My mom would always say that no one is evil. That all the pain and heartbreak in this world was because a few unfortunate people were never able to get the help they needed. She believed, deep down within, that there was good in everyone: even the vilest of scum could changet. And sometimes, all it took was a little kindness to set them d...
2024-09-25 14:03:17 +0000 UTC View Post“Do not mourn me, my beloved. I… for so long I had been broken: drifting without purpose in this cold, miserable expanse. I suffered endlessly, beset with a gnawing emptiness that saw no escape, but then I met you. And this accursed gift called Creation no longer seemed so terrible.
“That is why I do not regret my fate. ...
2024-09-22 19:39:14 +0000 UTC View Post“I had always wondered how my life would come to an end. Would it be sudden - my time finally run its course - or would it be a slow, drawn out death in an experiment gone wrong? I have never been much of a fighter, yet here I am: struck down and moments away from oblivion. My life, my work, everything… all for naught. To think I struggl...
2024-09-21 00:43:23 +0000 UTC View Post“I am becoming too fond of Ascalon. Ever since that moonlit night together, I find myself shying away from his gaze. It is gentle and warm and… confusing. I once thought him to be just like that lonesome Star, but now I am not so sure. They are certainly similar in regards to tendency: impulsive, naive, and ever so self-sacrificing. They...
2024-09-18 03:29:29 +0000 UTC View Post“You might find this odd, Lorelai, but… I have always felt somewhat passive. I suppose it is more accurate to say that I do not really have any interest in leisure. I do not care for gold or wealth; I have neither hobby nor passion that I enjoy. Every day, I hone my swordsmanship, and I busy myself with administration—all to become a b...
2024-09-15 00:57:11 +0000 UTC View Post“It was upon the following year of my coronation that I began to wonder… what does ‘invulnerability’ truly mean? There were very little records of Kings and Queens in the past ever requiring the full invocation of the Monarch’s Wings. Whenever there came a threat pounding on the capital gates, the current ruler would protect the ci...
2024-09-13 07:58:00 +0000 UTC View Post“The study of Creation is endless, and while I am a staunch advocate for the teaching of all knowledge - even the more… shall we say controversial subjects - there are some pursuits far too heinous to risk being spread throughout this world. After a strict evaluation by the academic council many centuries ago, they divided these loathful...
2024-09-10 06:08:20 +0000 UTC View Post“To think I would be forced to expel my stockpile of vapor… curse that Sarathiel. My tankard runs dry. It will not be long until it is fully empty, and then time will rewind. Back to that day. Back to the fate I so desperately cheated.
“How interesting. I thought death to be a terrifying thing, but now I am not so sure. ...
2024-09-08 16:47:51 +0000 UTC View Post“All children are born equal: That is the motto of the Moral Educational Reform of Institutionalized Tutelage, or the Merit Act for short. It is by far the most sophisticated and influential change writ by the Grand General, for the Merit Act’s purpose is to restructure the entirety of the Nox Caelum academic system from the ground up. W...
2024-09-04 05:01:35 +0000 UTC View Post“Humans are social creatures; this has not changed since the very beginning of our existence, and it is why we so often seek solace in the companionship of another. We congregate around those of similar beliefs, forge trusting relationships, and we toil the land as to bring future prosperity onto our descendants. Through this process, a mo...
2024-08-30 22:05:11 +0000 UTC View Post“In truth, I do not understand myself why I dislike Sarathiel. Unlike Dismas, I suffered no familial losses save for some far-removed cousins. I had never interacted with him before all too often either, for he was a direct descendant. And whilst my own position in the lineage was of admirable prestige, there was a certain distance between...
2024-08-27 07:11:57 +0000 UTC View Post“There is one truth that all scholars of Cosmos herald as certain: Creation is alive. Though we may not see its form, the divinity is always with us. It reacts to our impulses: feels joy when one is happy and sorrow when one is sad.
“Emotions are what spur its growth, but there are moments when it simply becomes too ...
2024-08-24 06:36:42 +0000 UTC View Post“Ever since their antiquity, the Powers had been the most prideful and haughty of the Seven Orders. Sir Kay was a boisterous man, one whose ardent passion surpassed even the other Round Table Knights, and it was this very nature that spread prominently amongst his descendants. Against the kingdom’s enemies, they proved to be an ally like...
2024-08-20 21:50:48 +0000 UTC View Post“Sarathiel confided in me his trauma, desperately hoping for some manner of salvation or reprieve. And I wished so dearly to give it to him, but… I failed. There were no words I could say: no manner of comfort that could mask the horror writ across my face. The man before me was once my precious junior, but I could no longer view him the...
2024-08-16 08:53:59 +0000 UTC View Post“The Powers were a prideful bunch, and I was no exception. Since birth, I had been hailed for my large stature and strength—raised to become a knight with no equal. I was a pure, unsullied noble-born, a man of the direct lineage, and so every day I was taught to behave as a noble should: be arrogant, be confident, and let none trample on...
2024-08-13 05:04:17 +0000 UTC View Post“They carved out my eyes. They tore every last one of my fingernails. And when I could scream no more, beg no more for mercy, they stuffed my butchered body into a sack and then tossed me out with the rest of the garbage. There I laid, a few pitiful sputters away from my final rest, when I began to think to myself… if only there was a wa...
2024-08-06 23:17:28 +0000 UTC View Post“Heh, gettin’ tired are ya, Sarathiel? Don’t tell me a big oaf like you can’t handle o’ bit of heat! Though, I guess the desert is a little… hot. Very hot. Ah, well, all the more reason we should ‘urry up and gut this Caelum snake already! Come on, Velcroz ain’t gonna wait all day. Let’s finish this and git a drink at Mary...
2024-08-02 07:10:29 +0000 UTC View Post“Curiously, despite how Polus legends allude it so, the Celestial Zweihander Mattatron does not grant its wielder invulnerability. I had the fortune one fine day to have a ‘heart-to-heart’ talk with the late King, Dainsleif, and he was ever so kind as to answer my inquiries in depth - though I suppose my incessant pestering likely had ...
2024-07-29 20:34:46 +0000 UTC View Post“To serve as amongst the Grand General’s inner retinue requires one to be ever on guard, for there are no shortages of those who wish to sow chaos in our fair empire. I cannot fault them; it is simply the nature of filthy, scum-sucking reprobates to corrupt all that is good. They were mere heathens before Caelum gave their kind new purpo...
2024-07-26 04:46:34 +0000 UTC View Post“Nokron… that man was not always so mad. Far from it, his passionate love for the science of transmutation was once a time respectable. Such was the reason I granted him the position of Alchemist Regent, and that title was not his sole responsibility. He served as head Ambassador as well: departing for foreign lands under my command, for...
2024-07-24 02:20:39 +0000 UTC View Post“Once upon a time, in a far away forest, there lived a great and mighty Boar. The Boar was a proud, confident beast, for they had a snout that could sniff out any predator, powerful stumpy legs to deliver a devastating kick, and a thick skin that could deter even the sharpest of fangs. Indeed, the Boar had everything to live a comfortable ...
2024-07-19 06:20:47 +0000 UTC View Post“I’ve never understood why Xeros chooses such insane people to be his commanders. Gravitas is a crude battle-junky: Velcroz is a twisted deviant; Libevich is completely, utterly, terrifying… but Nokron? Even out of them all, he’s a disturbing one. ‘The Alchemist Regent’ or so his title is. You’d think someone like that would be...
2024-07-16 09:31:15 +0000 UTC View Post“Years ago, when Sarathiel was still Templar of the Powers, he was sent to the desert region under orders to intercept the then acting Caelum Commander: Rosengarten Velcroz. We had but only two Thrones at the time—Lorelai and Annalay, both of whom were already occupied with the Grand General’s advancement. And though it was a most peri...
2024-07-11 04:54:35 +0000 UTC View Post“Xeros, just how far must you go? It pains me to see you like this, so filled with hatred, when I know a glimmer of that righteous young man of the past still dwells within you. Your dream is something wonderful, but this is not the answer. Look around you! Is this world of yours truly worth the anguish and torment it has wrought?”<...
2024-07-11 04:53:46 +0000 UTC View Post“Hate. Every damned second I spend awake in the presence of that despicable, vile man fills me with such unceasing hate. It is all I think about, all I feel, all I must carve deep into my wretched beating heart, for I can never forget this rage inside me—the reason why I still force myself to be his little pawn. It is why I smile and bow...
2024-07-08 06:20:28 +0000 UTC View Post
