Vale’s mind swam with questions after the Highlady’s explanation. She watched idly as Caledon left to find his sister, and Shiver, her family. She felt a hollow ache blossom within her at the sight of their departure, returning to find their loved ones.
She shook her head, and focused on the slew of questions the Highlady had prompted....
2025-06-01 01:38:01 +0000 UTC View Post1.21
Shiver stood before Marta and Pov in the very same room she had abandoned them.
The decision she made on the day she had reunited with them in the Dreadwood. Leaving them in the night while they slept, to descend through Trepidation.
Shiver’s neck craned downwards, and her gaze drilled into her feet, avoiding their eyes....
2025-05-30 02:42:55 +0000 UTC View PostDreadwalk: I strode in the shade of the twilight woods
The room around them was enveloped in darkness. Blaze, who was standing right beside her, disappeared. For a moment, Shiver comprehended what it was like to bear a Fear of shadows. The dread that it imposed. The threat of falling into an oblivion of s...
2025-05-28 15:23:18 +0000 UTC View PostShiver walked under the midday sun in the late afternoon, closing her eyes and relishing in the flavour of the shaved ice that still lingered on her tongue.
Shiver’s thoughts centred around the spoonful of the dessert that chef Spicefury had conjured for her. She had abandoned the rest of it to prove her point, but she internally cursed ...
2025-05-24 11:04:39 +0000 UTC View PostShiver – after Flora’s revelations
There was a single question on Shiver’s mind.
Well… it was more accurate to say that there were two of them. Shiver had pushed the other to the furthest recesses of her consciousness.
Her first, most crucial thought was - where did one go to find popsicles, in the Arch...
2025-05-23 03:17:14 +0000 UTC View Post“You honour him. You always have, you know?”
Silas flinched in momentary surprise as Caledon Brimstone strode out of the shadows of the workshop. He had been so engrossed in his work that the arrival of his friend and lord had gone unnoticed.
For a moment, Silas felt tempted to stand at attention at his arrival. In the span of tw...
2025-05-20 23:58:07 +0000 UTC View PostCaledon strode through the Archcity of Life with Viveria in tow, in search of their butler.
More than that, his brother and friend, Silas.
The Dreadwood, in its entirety, was often referred to as the Archcity of Life. An accurate description, for the host of flora and fauna it contained. It did cause some confusion however, when ther...
2025-05-19 08:51:07 +0000 UTC View PostHighlady Solastra Flora, the Kindly Gardener, was one of the most powerful elves that walked Elucidor. The Dreadwood was the garden that she tended to, a vast and immutable beast.
For her to make a heartfelt plea to a trio of Fearshapers in Trepidation…
Shiver did not know what to make of it.
Why… why is she as...
2025-05-16 06:23:46 +0000 UTC View Post“Shiver! Thank Avalkin you’re safe!”
Vale rushed forward, wrapping Shiver in a tight hug as she stepped through the tear in reality directly into Solastra’s court.
Caledon approached with a grin, giving her a wave. He swallowed when he saw Virgil trailing after her with his guide. The man looked like he had been beaten into...
The fox hesitated.
Many creatures of frost had deigned to challenge it. All had failed, ever since it had partaken in the succour of the forest. In the very moment it had, its horizons had widened. Its understanding of the world, deepened.
It had reveled in the helplessness of the creatures that sought its newfound power....
2025-05-12 04:08:09 +0000 UTC View Post“To see a Fearshaper of Trepidation in such dire straights… what have you done to yourself? Where is your guide?”
‘I’m perfectly fine! Haven’t the clue what you mean.’
Shiver leant against the wall of the fox’s burrow with manufactured nonchalance. Her muscles protested, burning with fatigue.
With a fli...
2025-05-08 03:22:26 +0000 UTC View PostThe night Shvier left Viridian – after speaking with Solastra
Shiver strode forwards, into a field of flowers.
Each and every one of them, the same as what she had glimpsed in the town of Eleric. Flowers with delicate petals, that seemed to be formed from elegant lattices of ice, the tiniest of gems held aloft by sliver...
2025-05-06 10:55:08 +0000 UTC View PostCaledon sat on the outskirts of the Emberwood, his head in his hands. His Phobia was planted in the ground before him, offering him a degree of warmth and light as night fell. He held his head in his hands.
He had gained his first invocation from the Dreadwood.
[Authority of the wyvern]
He wished he could rip it from his Fearco...
2025-05-03 04:47:43 +0000 UTC View PostCaledon couldn’t help but admit, that even with Zel’s prickly personality on display, his guide come through for him at every critical moment.
When he had first been absorbed into the sprawling web of corruption that had encircled his grandfather.
Next, when he had been about to put his Phobia through Vale’s skull.
Finall...
2025-05-02 05:58:25 +0000 UTC View PostThe day after their entry into the Dreadwood – when Caledon abandons Vale
Caledon Brimstone stood in the midst of darkness and silence. With every ragged breath, he could feel the beat of his heart thundering in his ears, accompanied by the rush of his blood.
Even as he yelled out, the forest effortlessly consumed ...
2025-04-30 01:25:52 +0000 UTC View PostVale rose groggily, groaning as she sat up, awakening from her nightmare. Her gaze, wandered perhaps instinctually, to Triol’s skeleton, who stood before her.
The sight of him confirmed the suspicion that lingered with her, as her eyes passed across his shoulders. She sighed, leaning against the building she had taken shelter in. She rem...
2025-04-27 03:19:59 +0000 UTC View PostA week ago – on the road to the Dreadwood
Caledon sat with the reigns in his hands. He stared out into the darkness of the evening, staring up at Idriel and Valafor as the twin moons shone down upon Elucidor. With a gentle nudge of the reigns, he guided the horses along the cobblestone path, as they carved their...
2025-04-27 03:18:53 +0000 UTC View PostVale’s eyes shone as she walked beneath the lanterntrees. Quietus had instructed her to use her [soulsight of the witness] to seek out creatures that she could hunt.
They had stumbled across something strange in their search. While avoiding the griefwalkers and their hordes, they had chanced upon a paved road. It was in disrepair, and Va...
2025-04-27 03:18:13 +0000 UTC View PostVale had awoken to find that Caledon had left her. She was all alone in the Dreadwood, abandoned.
For a moment, she had been stunned to silence. Casting stray glances in her periphery.
Perhaps… he went to ward off a threat? No, he would have woken me. Does he really despise me that much?
Then, her thoughts were inter...
2025-04-27 02:34:52 +0000 UTC View PostShiver stared up towards the roof of her room. Marta’s snoring punctuated the silence, at regular intervals, and she was reminded of the life that she had been on the brink of living, before her world came crashing down on her.
She reflected on the dinner, when they had braved the wrath of Richard the soldiercrab, to make it up ...
2025-04-24 07:46:05 +0000 UTC View PostCaledon shuddered awake, realising that he had fallen asleep on his watch. He had intended to establish a rotating watch, to ensure that they wouldn’t be caught off-guard for monstrosities which threatened to creep up on them.
He quickly cast a cursory glance at his surroundings. He breathed a soft sigh of relief at the lack of errant gr...
2025-04-22 15:50:45 +0000 UTC View PostVale Revenant stared out into the darkness of the Dreadwoods, her limbs burning with fatigue.
They had combed over the woods, and hadn’t found any sign of Shiver or their guide, Virgil.
Her thoughts still lingered on the grey hand that had emerged from what looked like the recesses of the night sky, to effortlessly encircle their g...
2025-04-19 02:44:22 +0000 UTC View Post“You’re a Fearshaper… I can hardly believe it.”
Pov’s eyes were wide. They widened even further when Shiver drew her Phobia into reality. Blaze was entranced by the blade, her hands slowly extending towards it. Shiver smirked. The little firefly had taste. Thankfully, it seemed like her thieving days had come to an end, for young...
2025-04-17 09:20:44 +0000 UTC View PostFor all of her talk of getting strangled by an errant vine…
Shiver hadn’t anticipated that it would actually happen.
Which was why she had barely been able to ready her Phobia as vines shot out from beneath the undergrowth, wrapping around her neck and drawing her into the void before she could make a sound.
For a moment, S...
2025-04-15 09:44:50 +0000 UTC View PostShiver sat in the midst of a nightmare of ice.
She listened to the wind around her, straining her hearing over the roar of the blizzard. She stared out into the frozen darkness, searching for a hint, a sign.
She recalled the words that had appeared before her, as the strange voice had resonated with her Fearcore. Reaching her, on the...
2025-04-12 12:33:28 +0000 UTC View Post“Father, aren’t you curious about what lies in the skies above?”
Berevan laughed, his booming laughter filling the courtyard.
“Cal, what have I got to be curious about. I can fly! The skies hold no mysteries from me.”
‘That’s not what I mean! Haven’t you wondered about what lies on...
2025-04-10 13:40:19 +0000 UTC View Post“Welcome to our humble town. Enjoying the sight of the Dreadwood? You must be our guests from Brimstone, I presume?”
The mayor of the Village of Eleric, accompanied by two of his attendants, joined them on the cliff edge. Vale quickly rose to her feet, receiving the Mayor with a practiced smile. Caledon joined her, as Shiver remained s...
2025-04-08 12:35:29 +0000 UTC View PostHi all!
To any of you that have already read B2 Chapter 4: Corrupting Flame - my apologies for the mistake! I got the ordering wrong. It should have been preceded with the chapter now uploaded (B2 Chapter 3: Nostalgia).
Sorry for the mistake! That should clear up any confusion.
I hope you're enjoying the story so far :) 2025-04-05 12:39:04 +0000 UTC View Post
“I’ve been thinking long and hard.”
“I never thought you had it in you, Shiver.”
“I still don’t understand how you trigger a Fear of plants. Insects? Sure. The sun? Terrifying. Have you ever tried looking straight into it, princess? I bet you have. Even crabs… ol’ Pince had every reason to Fear Princess Pen...
2025-04-05 02:18:28 +0000 UTC View PostVale cleared her throat as they ventured down the tunnel.
“Caledon, you were surprisingly accurate with your assumption. That attendant didn’t suspect a thing. How did you know it would work?”
“It was something… that my father taught me actually.”
Shiver and Vale exchanged a glance.
“Highlord Berevan Brimsto...
2025-04-03 10:31:16 +0000 UTC View Post