“…long story short, he’s cutting a very persuasive figure on the stage.” A man quietly pinched small flakes of green leaves into a pipe, compressing it down with his thumb.
“You can’t worm any doubt in?” asked a female’s voice from nowhere in particular.
“I could try,” responded the man, brushing off a few flakes ...
2024-07-11 06:57:09 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave had learned throughout his life that words could be twisted in very exceptional ways to make the horrible seem almost noble. Robin Hood, for example—objectively, this supposedly skilled archer was a dirty criminal, likely guilty of enough theft to cost him his head. Yet he was the hero of the tale, stealing from the tyrannical rich to ...
2024-07-10 07:03:37 +0000 UTC View Post“Argrave, some reports,” Elenore’s voice cut into Argrave’s ear the moment he was free of Raven’s lab.
“More?” He asked with surprise—she’d already delivered some on his journey back, something about riots.
“A claimant to the throne has risen in Dirracha. In the Archduchy of the North, edicts are spreading around ...
2024-07-09 07:01:06 +0000 UTC View PostFor book-related stuff only, read bold.
To start, I'll say I'm really glad I took that break.
I've been able to keep writing through multiple surgeries, but when it came to this, I absolutely needed the time to stop blocking out my thoughts with work and games and just let my brain think itself to exhaustion. Per ...
People that have been on here for a while probably know I try to keep things pretty seamless. Five chapters a weak, not much babble. Nonetheless, I've been having some problems these past weeks-- making edits, changes, lagging behind, et cetera.
Truth is, some people close to me are dealing with a pretty major death in the family-- their ...
Though Argrave had said not long ago that he trusted his brother, now that his intentions were clear and they’d all agreed to help Orion on his search, he did consult two encyclopedias for answers. The first was his own head—not to toot his own horn, of course. He’d be tooting Erlebnis’, anyhow, considering the god had gathered the knowl...
2024-06-27 06:57:32 +0000 UTC View PostFollowing Orion’s presentation of his findings, Argrave gathered together all of his closest counsel to consult about the path that they needed to pursue. It came alongside reports of growing unrest—for the first time, there was what could be called a riot in one of the cities. Dirracha, underneath the yoke of Hegazar and Vera, had a brief r...
2024-06-26 06:57:16 +0000 UTC View Post“I suspect the man’s head burst into gore due to the pressure of containing Gerechtigkeit, not out of any deliberate act,” Raven said as he studied the corpse.
Anneliese looked at him as he turned the body over in his hands. “I might concur—that force, that pressure… it strained against the vessel until it could deform...
2024-06-25 06:58:59 +0000 UTC View PostAs mentioned in the 'changes and news' post, I'm rearranging things. This is where volume 12 will start. Consider the previous chapter a false start, to be repurposed later in the story with different context.
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“The end is nigh, ladies and gentlemen!”
Stain tried his best to push through the crowd to get a better look at thi...
2024-06-24 06:58:51 +0000 UTC View PostWillem had almost been expecting the worst when Anne Claire practically marched into the meeting with Petronella, a scowl on her face. A couple hours later, she returned markedly more cheerful than she’d left.
“Petronella will do as our liaison with the church,” the countless said. “I was ready to tear her apart starting with those...
2024-06-23 07:34:58 +0000 UTC View PostI'm going to be relocating what is currently chapter 660 to further in the story (and recontextualizing it accordingly). I don't think it's fitting to jump right into the action. A bunch of people dying because of 'mental attack' is just a number on a page unless you have wider context. For example, a thousand people probably died while I wrote ...
2024-06-22 07:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post“Just from initial reports, I can tell you as many as one thousand people killed themselves yesterday.”
King Argrave of Vasquer hung his head upon hearing that news, and his black hair briefly concealed his gray eyes. He lifted his head up again with determination, then looked to another person of many in the room for guidance. His wif...
2024-06-21 06:47:46 +0000 UTC View PostTraugott gave them one last hex from beyond the grave—specifically, a headache. That was truly the only thing they gained from this interrogation. Anneliese had already cracked the code, so to speak, on his bid to use Sophia’s power contained within the shell of Good King Norman. Any information about the Heralds was precisely as they posses...
2024-06-20 06:45:18 +0000 UTC View PostDrinking alcohol was really just drinking scummy water for Argrave—his black blood, coupled with all the other myriad ways that his body had changed since using the Fruit of Being, made both water and rubbing alcohol equally intoxicating. Which is to say… not at all. As time went on, it became clear both Anneliese and Durran were much the sa...
2024-06-19 06:54:53 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Argrave went to find Sophia, preparing himself for what he thought could be a serious and heart-wrenching conversation, he saw something that made him pause and watch. Orion was giving her a piggyback ride, and running around the courtyard very quickly as she screamed and laughed with pure joy. It was the closest thing to a rollercoaster th...
2024-06-18 06:59:24 +0000 UTC View PostAfter sleeping on it, I'm retconning the choice to have the Shadowlanders suck out the brains of the ancient heroes. A), 27 people would definitely not all agree to such a thing, B), it's something of an unflattering end, and C), I don't want every Shadowlander to have such precise control over the hounds of hunger as to absorb memories flawles...
2024-06-17 06:58:35 +0000 UTC View Post“Are all of you really sure that you want to do this?” Argrave asked, looking between the dead heroes of old.
“I can speak for myself alone, but I know that my time is running out,” Felipe I confirmed with a stoic nod of his head. “Garm could allot us only so much time. It’s bound to run out eventually. At least in this manner,...
2024-06-16 07:00:51 +0000 UTC View PostArgrave stood proudly beside Anneliese as they walked toward the white-haired woman, taking their sweet time. There was a tacit understanding between berserker and non-berserker that they were to meet, amply far from Traugott, to negotiate on the fate of their burgeoning alliance. That ‘alliance’ bit wasn’t tacit—indeed, this might be mi...
2024-06-15 06:58:48 +0000 UTC View PostAfter Anneliese declared her intent, she began the rigorous process of transforming Traugott. Ghislain concealed her utterly with his illusions, and the other casters all guarded her diligently as she worked. Nothing escaped—least of all Traugott, or the screams he made as she endeavored to erase him.
Though he pleaded, begged, and cried...
2024-06-14 07:00:36 +0000 UTC View PostTraugott assessed the situation objectively, plugging in a new variable to the equation to adjust its answer. From the outset, he’d thought a few dozen S-rank spellcasters to eliminate him was a dire miscalculation on Argrave’s side. It made more sense upon the reveal that there was a relatively high-ranking Shadowlander here—moreover, a S...
2024-06-13 06:49:37 +0000 UTC View PostAnneliese had always felt a particularly strong loathing toward Traugott.
It was difficult for her to pinpoint why, exactly, which troubled her—she liked to consider herself as someone calm, objective, and rational. She found hate largely unproductive. Though Traugott had been behind the death of Castro, a man who she had deep respect fo...
2024-06-10 06:54:53 +0000 UTC View PostFor this chapter to make sense, read the changelog if you haven't.
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“You are Willem van Brugh, are you not?” Petronella asked him, smiling as sweetly as a priestess in white garb ought to.
She had taken a great deal of care in selecting...
2024-06-09 07:02:06 +0000 UTC View PostI'm dealing with some obnoxious issues around the house, so I've decided to take this day off from writing and just relax. I have, however, been doing a great deal of editing and mulling and pulling. Rather than repost every change I made, have some update notes.
Chapter for DFAC tomorrow will assume you've read these changes. Till then....
From birth, Traugott had always felt like his life was tied to the abyss. It consumed all he felt endlessly. There was little that inspired anything inside of him. Though he felt emotions like rage, sorrow, happiness, and all others, it was as though they existed outside of him, pouring into a hole that never ended. Nothing that affected others ...
2024-06-07 06:55:19 +0000 UTC View Post“I won’t let you.”
Orion blinked open his eyes. The pain that he’d been feeling moments before had all gone, replaced only with the pleasant and familiar sensation of wind gracing his cheek across windy plains. Remembering what he was doing, he sat up and looked around. Rather than a battlefield ravaged by his powerful foe, he saw ...
2024-06-06 06:52:50 +0000 UTC View PostThe casualties from the assault of the silver knight were staggering. Elenore reviewed the figures as she sat.
A great deal of the most prominent spellcasters in the world had been in Blackgard, and many went in its defense. As it turned out, their being clustered together so tightly was a hindrance rather than a boon. Great Chu and visiti...
2024-06-05 06:56:11 +0000 UTC View PostOrion’s blade plunged between the gap in the silver armor’s knee. Unlike the indomitability he’d felt colliding with his foe’s shield, what he stabbed… he was certain it was flesh and bone, not metal and power. He was certain it was not skin—rather, it felt ominously like scales beneath that carapace of metal. Orion had no t...
2024-06-04 06:45:36 +0000 UTC View PostElenore entered into Hause’s temple, escorting Sophia urgently yet gently. After Argrave’s fight with the Castellan of the Empty, this place had been rebuilt to be one of the strongest fortifications within Blackgard, acting as something of a bunker within the city. She felt a little terrified, but she held strong with Sophia to steel her re...
2024-06-03 06:56:24 +0000 UTC View PostA pale, red-haired woman stared at a wooden house just outside the noble quarter in the dead of night, peering out like she could see through the night as easily as a cat. Then, she slunk away into an alley. Her steps were quiet enough she could listen to all else that came anywhere nearby. At a certain point, she paused, looking all around. The...
2024-06-02 06:53:48 +0000 UTC View PostA week had passed since Willem’s introduction to the aloof and impartial Countess Anne Claire van der Duyt. She had suggested that he base himself out of the count’s estate—undoubtedly to save him some starting costs for his business, and for no other reason—but Willem knew that he had to have a home in the city to see from the eyes of a...
2024-06-01 07:13:41 +0000 UTC View Post