“Mortem is one of the scarlet gods,” Freya explained.
“He is the Blood Sovereign. It is Mortem who blesses the blood of the unborn with the gift of magic,” Ulin added.
“Is that right…?” Stryg replied dryly. The Sylvan said something very similar about Lunae and goblin-kind.
“So what colors did Mortem see ...
2025-11-13 06:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostStryg wondered how much longer it would take until Gale and the others were in position. Closing his eyes, he tried to focus on the sound of the river outside, searching for Gale’s voice or any of the others’.
“So how did such a scarlet beauty as yourself end up working on a Goldelm ship?” asked Ulin.
The dock master...
2025-11-10 06:47:09 +0000 UTC View PostThe Dragon’s Hoard floated half a league from a town on the coast and more importantly, the mouth of a river that would lead them into the heart of the Silent Marshes. The river was too small for a ship as large as the Dragon’s Hoard, and so the ship had thrown its anchor, and the crew had prepared a rowboat to meet with the dock mast...
2025-11-07 07:07:17 +0000 UTC View PostAfter leaving the Dire River and entering the wide expanse of the Ebon Sea, the crew of the Dragon’s Hoard had hoped to break free from the conjured ice storm, but to no avail. It moved with their ship, almost as if following them. Belle suspected that the storm was linked to Lunae and rather, it followed the goddess’ power, never str...
2025-11-04 04:19:13 +0000 UTC View PostStryg roared at the storm. It was not the voice of a goblin, nor the defiant scream of a godling. It was primal. And it cut through the winds and crashing waves like the howl of a wolf. The frost-mist answered in return, swirling to life around him, pulsating with newfound power.
The frost-mist called to him, all at once familiar an...
2025-11-01 04:25:28 +0000 UTC View PostThe storm continued and grew worse the further the Dragon’s Hoard and her crew sailed into the magical mist. Stryg closed his eyes and tried to focus on a feeling, anything that might help.
“Ah, I can’t see shit!” Freya screamed, their shared sense of sight going dark.
“Sorry!” Stryg snapped his eyes open.
Th...
2025-10-29 02:53:38 +0000 UTC View PostStryg snapped his eyes open and sat up in bed. He was back in the cabin of the Dragon’s Hoard. Tauri was at his side, slapping his cheek lightly. “Oh, thank the gods, he’s awake.”
“Get him up!” Gale said.
“What’s going on?” he asked blearily. He felt disoriented as if dropping into another of his ancestor’s...
2025-10-26 03:26:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe world had shifted in a blur and fallen into darkness, leaving Stryg with nothing but a floating orb of light. The strange sensation was disorientating but Stryg was beginning to get used to the book’s magic.
Seeing his father recall his childhood in a world that had been destroyed and left in nothing but ruin had made Stryg un...
2025-10-23 02:30:03 +0000 UTC View PostStryga Veres held the pressed blue flower close and walked with a spring to her step as she made her way through the campsite that had become the home of Captain Nalindor’s company over the last two years.
Many refugees had come to Vulture Woods after escaping Lunis and its surrounding lands over that time. Some found shelter with...
2025-10-20 03:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostA scream broke the silence of the forest. Drale and Nalindor glanced at each other, a silent exchange of words. Leaping out of their hiding place among the bushes, they dashed towards the sound of the screams. They slung their bows on their backs and pushed their legs as fast as they could take them.
Where, for a moment, there had b...
2025-10-17 07:48:59 +0000 UTC View Post“May I enter?” asked Lily with a knock on the doorway.
Holo glanced up from her desk and waved her in. “Ah, Lilandria, come in. How is Loh?”
Lily walked into the study and closed the door behind her before answering. “She’ll recover, but her wounds are extensive. She needs rest.”
“Yes, I can only imagine....
2025-10-14 03:30:08 +0000 UTC View Post“Boat approaching off port side!” called out a sailor.
Stryg leaned over the edge of the Dragon’s Hoard to get a better look. It was dark, but his eyes easily caught Belle standing atop the bow of a small rowboat. She was channeling Blue and making the water propel the rowboat forward.
“Am I late?” Belle grinned up a...
2025-10-11 03:39:39 +0000 UTC View PostFreya Goldelm leaned back in the chair, propped her feet on the desk, and steepled her fingers, and stared at her guests sitting across from her. “So, you want my Dragon’s Hoard?”
Gale and Evelyn Katag glanced at each other. “Um, we want a ship…?” Gale hazarded.
“We require the fastest seafaring vessel not frozen...
2025-10-08 02:06:53 +0000 UTC View PostStryg rummaged under his bed and pulled out a couple of cloaks.
“Is that what I think those are?” Tauri said, eyes wide.
Stryg nodded. “I had Gale go back and retrieve them from the assassins we killed.”
“What are you planning to do with them?” Tauri asked suspiciously.
“I’m not letting you go to Mu...
2025-10-05 05:12:06 +0000 UTC View PostUna knocked on the door with a soft rasp. When there was no response, she slowly pushed the door open just a tad. “Lily, the meeting is about to start.”
Lily sat next to Loh’s bed. The latter was thankfully unconscious. Kaitlin, the lead white mage of the Singing Willow Troupe, had administered a sedative elixir to spare Loh t...
2025-10-02 02:14:42 +0000 UTC View PostThe window exploded in a burst of golden flames as Belle grabbed one of the assailants by the arm and tumbled down. For once, the man opened his mouth, only to scream as he plummeted to his death. Belle held him tight, her body covered in flames as she landed on top of him. His body splattered with a wet crunch into the hard cobblestone o...
2025-09-29 03:10:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe sun had set and the last rays of light bathed the sky in a deep orange as Atlas made his way through the Commoner District. The farther he walked, the worse his surroundings became. This close to the wall, the damage the Valley Tribes had dealt was evident. Ruined homes were all Atlas saw, if they could even be considered homes anymor...
2025-09-26 03:44:50 +0000 UTC View PostPeople screamed and ran as arrows shot out from the rooftops of the trade street. Some were merchants, a few even nobles. Their guards raised shields to protect their charges. A few arrows slipped past and sank into their limbs or chest. The guards cried out in pain as the arrow sizzled in their flesh. Their bodies seized up and they coll...
2025-09-23 01:50:11 +0000 UTC View PostBrown mana surged through Unalla’s fist as she punched one of her assailants, or at least she tried. Her fist went right through the rippling cloak, only hitting darkness. She leaped back just in time to evade the slash of a sword, though the blade managed to nick her sleeve.
She glanced at the sleeve and saw the blue fabric turn ...
2025-09-20 02:13:42 +0000 UTC View PostLoh ran through the burning halls of the Noir manor. Except, it wasn’t her in control, but Lily. Loh could still feel her legs as they kicked off the ground in a sprint and the wind passing through her hair, but she couldn’t control any of it. She was paralyzed and yet moving all the same, the sensation was disorientating.
How are ...
2025-09-17 04:42:14 +0000 UTC View PostThe scent of smoke filled the air. The windows were shattered by the explosion and a sharp ringing resounded in her ears.
“—ohnoir… El… oir… Elohnoir!”
Loh groaned and opened her blue eyes.
“Oh, thank gods, she’s awake,” Ismene sighed in relief.
Loh blinked repeatedly, her vision was blurred...
2025-09-14 02:49:08 +0000 UTC View Post“Dad? What’s wrong?” Unalla asked, raising her head, but refusing to sit up from the sofa. The two had been resting in the solar room next to the fireplace when her father had suddenly stiffened in his chair and frowned.
“Something’s wrong with my mother,” Atlas said, his expression darkening.
“Grandma? Is ...
2025-09-11 01:51:36 +0000 UTC View Post“Here, have some,” Stryg offered Tauri a whole roasted chicken on a spit. The stall in front of them would roast a dozen chickens at a time until they were nice and juicy. Then he’d sell pieces of them to customers walking by. This was one of the few instances Stryg was happy to have money to spend. He could buy as many whole chicke...
2025-09-08 00:51:38 +0000 UTC View Post“Our souls are connected to Mortem…?” Lysaila asked. The lamia’s and Rhian’s expressions had grown darker with every word Stryg had spoken to them. He really didn’t want to say anything more, but he owed it to them.
“Technically, you don’t have a soul.” Stryg winced. “Only the World Soul is capable of creating so...
2025-09-05 03:23:24 +0000 UTC View PostA week had passed since the Lunar Elects met with the Seven Ruling Houses in the High Chamber. The Sylvan armies had gathered their belongings and once again mobilized for war. Lord Katag Krall had ordered a retinue of soldiers to be stationed throughout the entire path, from the Commoner District to the city gates, in order to prevent an...
2025-09-02 04:01:38 +0000 UTC View PostThe air was cold enough that Holo could see her own breath as white whisps. The temperature had to be almost freezing down in the underground chamber to prevent the bodies from decaying. Her assistants couldn’t stand to be down here for too long before heading back up to the manor Holo had built as a headquarters for the Singing Willow ...
2025-08-30 04:05:07 +0000 UTC View PostGian followed close behind Aurelia as she strode into the room, each step purposeful, her gaze strong, unbothered. The scarlet laurel wreath she usually wore sat atop her brow, but where once it signified a First mother, now it seemed more like a crown upon the head of the realm’s most powerful arch mage.
“Mom?” Stryg mumbled,...
2025-08-27 03:58:40 +0000 UTC View PostThe Central District was home to the High Chamber of Hollow Shade, where the Ebon Lords of old gathered and ruled over the city. A long, rectangular table made of black stone sat at the center of the circular chamber. Ashen wood chairs lined the table, one for each of the great Ebon Lords.
Yet in time, the Ebon Lords began to fall, ...
2025-08-24 06:25:13 +0000 UTC View PostA servant of House Azol quietly entered the parlor and placed a tray of hot tea on the table, bowed to Nora, and left. Nora grabbed a cup and handed it to Kithina, “Here, I guarantee you’ll like it.”
Kithina sipped the cup with a tentative expression. “...It’s good.”
Nora smiled. “I knew you’d like it.”
“Meet Gale VIII, my Shadow, and the person I trust the most in this world. She also doesn’t trust you, don’t take it personally,” said Stryg.
“Ah, the legendary Shield of Veres. I should have guessed,” Beatrix said flatly.
“Alright, now tell me about your father.”
“I still have more questions.”
...
2025-08-18 02:53:21 +0000 UTC View Post