The explosion rocked the forest with a concussion that stunned both flora and fauna. Nearby trees bent from the force, shedding leaves like rain. Any monster near the windmill was thrown backward, tumbling through the air with Alex’s air elementals. The summons flew end over end, pushed by the inferno’s power until they righted themselves an...
2022-06-14 23:02:37 +0000 UTC View PostAlex’s thoughts raced.
The clawed monster had spoken to him. It had said something about a master? Who was this master, and how had he wronged them? How did he become its enemy when he didn’t even know who they were?
The monster roared, then fixed him with an odd gaze. Its lips parted. A word was forming.
Alex focused...
2022-06-12 00:24:27 +0000 UTC View PostThe scene was a sea of chaos.
Ravener-spawn became puppets and the potion mist their master, tossing them into tree trunks, sky, or ground, it didn’t matter which. The result was the same.
The crich-tulaghs and beast-goblins had no need for air; murteidheann vines had long removed the goblins’ need to breathe. So, unaffected, the...
2022-06-11 00:57:07 +0000 UTC View PostA familiar form writhed through the moonlight, chilling Alex to the bone.
“By the Traveller,” he whispered.
“What was that?” Gwyllain screamed, his head darting back and forth. The wind whipped by as he and the young wizard soared through the night air. “What hap—Oh by the fae lords, what is that?”
Alex h...
2022-06-10 00:40:03 +0000 UTC View Post“Stop,” Alex called as his summoned army reached the forest’s edge.
The aeld tree shed a green-golden light in a clearing ahead. It was alone, unguarded, and an old windmill rose behind it. Gwyllain had been right. Something was wrong with the sapling. Alex had done some reading on aeld trees after the asrai had offered to bring him ...
2022-06-09 00:27:00 +0000 UTC View PostSilence-spiders scrambled through the treetops, gangly monsters lurched through the underbrush.
But, Alex was ready.
“Go!” he barked, sendings Wizard’s Hands among the horde of spiders.
Crunch!
Wooooosh!
Sleeping gas spread in a dense cloud, enveloping Ravener-spawn, stealing...
2022-06-07 23:41:55 +0000 UTC View PostSummon Small Water Elemental.
Summon Small Fire Elemental.
Summon Small Earth Elemental.
Summon Small Air Elemental.
Summon Small Ice Elemental.
Summon Elemental Beetle Swarm.
Summon Aervespertillo.
Summon Viper-Devil.
Summon Taranea.
Summon Hellhound.
Using the strange power that reach...
2022-06-05 00:21:43 +0000 UTC View Post“Gwyllai—” Alex cut the word off, realising the little fae was being stealthy because he was trying to avoid attention.
“You surprised me,” the wizard whispered. “I was just thinking about you this mor—Wait, did you say you found an aeld sapling?”
The asrai nodded as vigorously as a happy child proudly confirming she ...
2022-06-03 23:50:32 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Alex Roth awoke, he had no idea he was on the cusp of one of the greatest battles of his life. He wasn’t alone in this though, most folk tended not to see what was coming until it was staring them square in the face, so, many spent their last hours worrying about mundane things like life’s daily troubles.
As for Alex, from the mom...
2022-06-03 00:10:28 +0000 UTC View PostThird Apostle Izas’ face did not twitch.
Only a light nod acknowledged what he had just heard, but when he turned toward Rioran, the young man’s heart thundered.
“What is this, Rioran?” the ancient priest asked. “The Chosen saw you? Confess what has happened, child.”
For a wild moment, an urge to lie surfac...
2022-06-01 23:31:37 +0000 UTC View Post“Oh quiet, you silly birds!” Catherine shouted at the crows in the canopy.
But they paid her no mind and cawed, flapped, and cavorted like there was an autumn festival in the treetops.
“Ah, leave them alone, Catherine,” Stanwic said. “Maybe the tree’s got ‘em happy. They say that every part of an aeld tree is good for f...
2022-05-31 22:02:37 +0000 UTC View PostIt was like someone had taken a curtain off the world.
He could see better: colours were brighter, things detailed and objects easier to make out in the distance. He could also hear better: the musicality in a person’s laughter, the song of the wind, the thunder of someone’s heartbeat. His sense of smell was better, he could perceive s...
2022-05-29 02:43:54 +0000 UTC View Post“King Athelstan will be most pleased with what you’ve done here, Professor Jules,” Reginald said, bowing his head to the professor from the back of his horse. Around him, the entire Thameish delegation looked on, mounted and ready to depart under the morning sun.
“Court Wizard Errol will also be pleased,” a representative of the ...
2022-05-27 23:45:56 +0000 UTC View Post“Before we begin—” Professor Jules said to the Thameish representatives.
“Wait, I have a question!” a man with thick, white mutton chops raised his hand. “Is this er…quite safe?”
The professor paused, looking at their surroundings. They—the representatives, Heroes and researchers—had all crammed into the bunker at...
2022-05-27 00:40:36 +0000 UTC View PostRioran was pushed deeper into the shadows, his captor gripped his shoulders so tightly, he dared not move. The eyes that were fixed on him held his; eyes that had seen the death of countless, both man and beast.
“Just what in all bloody hells do ya think yer doin’, creepin’ about in the dark like some kinda thief?” A man’s ...
2022-05-26 03:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post“Caw! Caw!” A crow called from its perch, watching a cloaked figure moving silently from shadow to shadow.
“Shhhh,” Rioran hissed, crouched in the crevice between two tents. “Quiet, bird. Crows should sleep at ni—”
His words died on his lips. Was that bird one of the wizards’ familiars? Had they already caugh...
2022-05-25 01:03:50 +0000 UTC View PostUp ahead, Alex spied his friends gathered around a campfire.
“Look what I found!” he called.
Theresa, Thundar, Khalik and Isolde looked up. They’d been taking turns feeding Brutus bits of meat; a pair of the cerberus’ drooling heads swivelled between them while the third turned to Alex and the Heroes, his eyes flashing in the...
2022-05-21 21:57:25 +0000 UTC View PostRioran was a spy.
Or at least, that was what he’d be sent to do.
He’d had the training—every layperson in the Uldar’s Vale did—but he never thought he’d be one of those chosen to leave the holiest of his god’s places and travel out into the world.
When the messenger had come down from the escarpment, entered the c...
2022-05-21 00:51:34 +0000 UTC View PostIsolde and Alex exchanged a look as Professor Jules chose the two teams. All around, whispers and murmuring buzzed through the air like a swarm of bees. It wasn’t everyday that royal representatives came calling.
But Alex had few thoughts to spare for his land’s king.
After all, most of his life King Athelstan was just a face he...
2022-05-20 01:13:27 +0000 UTC View PostAlex’s physique transformed.
By day two of his gruelling training, blood magic, and mana manipulation regime, his strength had shot past Khalik’s, much to the prince’s horror.
“This is it…” Khalik sat on the floor of the gymnasium with his head cupped in both hands. Alex had just pressed four hundred and fifteen pou...
2022-05-18 23:58:18 +0000 UTC View Post"You're doing what?" Khalik raised both eyebrows.
"It’s very simple!” Alex’s excited voice rang with a touch of mania as he quickly slid steel plates onto a heavy bar. “I'm turning myself into a giant mana generator so I can tear my muscle fibres down and rebuild them stronger, faster and better than ever. In other words, ...
2022-05-17 23:18:47 +0000 UTC View PostThe idea had come from meat, which was a bit strange.
Meat wasn’t exactly inspirational, unless someone was looking to create a new dish, or an artistic taxidermy object for their library. Alex, however, hadn’t been inspired to make a new culinary breakthrough, and he didn’t have a library.
The idea for a new physical ...
2022-05-14 23:37:25 +0000 UTC View PostA massive demon burst into the world through a column of fire and brimstone.
The flames crackled with an evil intelligence, clawing at the invisible walls of the summoning circle and hissing their rage when they couldn’t break free. Within the inferno, a shadowy form materialised. Arms the size of tree trunks. Legs as thick as temple col...
2022-05-14 00:33:38 +0000 UTC View PostA current of power exploded through Alex’s mana pool, threatening to flood the entrance pathways. The muscle in his jaw clenched hard while he fought the mana tide flooding in. It had to be controlled, slowed, if it wasn’t, the deluge would tear his fibres to shreds and burst his mana pool like soap bubbles. That wouldn’t be a good t...
2022-05-13 00:11:35 +0000 UTC View PostThe pair must have made for a strange sight in Greymoor’s early evening light.
The sun drifted lazily toward shadowed hills on the horizon, signalling day’s end for circling birds dotting the sky. Of course, there would be others replacing them soon enough.
Some birds loved the sun. Some loved the moon. But no matter the time of ...
2022-05-11 22:28:36 +0000 UTC View PostThmp. Thmp. Thmp.
Alex knocked on the office door.
“Come in,” Toraka Shale’s voice called from within.
Straightening his clothes and hair, the young wizard stepped into the office of his boss’ boss.
The room was much as he remembered: a large, well-ventilated office with older sturdy-looking chairs and a ...
2022-05-11 00:57:52 +0000 UTC View PostThe campfire blazed, drawing Alex’s eyes to the flame.
He was alone—or close to alone—warming himself and idly turning Ito’s Spiral in his hands. The explosion had dampened the mood in the encampment, casting a shadow over everyone. Much of the research team had returned to Generasi, wanting some distance from Greymoor for the day....
2022-05-07 22:38:43 +0000 UTC View PostBurning grass steamed as water fell in waves from above. Smoke trailed into the sky, and the coolness of the autumn day burned away until it felt like the hottest summer day in Generasi.
“The last thing we need is a grass fire,” Professor Jules said grimly, watching flames hissing and dying along the slopes. Watchers flew above, drowni...
2022-05-06 20:15:55 +0000 UTC View PostAlex lay on the ground flinching as a noise like turbulent water coursing through a waterway throbbed in his ears. He grabbed the sides of his head and tried to make sense of what had just happened. All around, the world was raining dust. ‘Why? What hap-...the experiment. The chaos essence and core remains had exploded!’
... 2022-05-05 21:42:52 +0000 UTC View PostDust.
The word ash stayed with Alex, even during his next trip to Thameland.
Time’s passage ground people to nothing more than dust, as Baelin had said.
How many Heroes, knights and soldiers of Thameland had been killed in the wilderness somewhere? The Heroes would at least be laid to rest in tombs within the capital. History...
2022-05-05 00:22:29 +0000 UTC View Post