(1/2)
//
They stared at the bubbling lava pool.
“So…” said Avery, puffing out a cheek. “Same strat? I bait, you whack?”
“I’ll need some time to set up the Cyclone. Once they're sucked in it should line them up. Then…” He made a slashing gesture.
“Sounds good to me.” Avery squinted at him. “Hm...
2023-12-14 17:30:00 +0000 UTC View Post(1/1)
A/N:
Every day a new chapter will come out at 12:30PM EST, starting tomorrow. Most days for the next month, a bonus chapter may drop later in the evening EST. If it is a bonus chapter day, the first chapter will be marked (1/2)
//
Stroud came at Zane like a demon. He struck to kill. The glaive flash...
2023-12-13 21:48:28 +0000 UTC View PostHe scanned it with Identify.
Volcanic Heart (D)
The Volcanic Heart is forged under millennia of heat and pressure within the magma flows of a volcano. It has witnessed untold eruptions and carries their secrets within. Its fire holds the essence of Eruption. Holding this item grants the user an increased affi...
2023-12-13 04:39:10 +0000 UTC View PostHey everyone, welcome to my Patreon! You'll be getting either 1x or 2x a day--usually 2x--for the next month, until we get to 30 chapters ahead. Then it'll be dailies with occasional bonus chapters. Today is a 2x day.
(1/2)
next chapter likely before midnight EST
//
The farther they went, the more the ground started to cr...
2023-12-12 22:10:07 +0000 UTC View PostShe snapped her fingers, and the floor fell out from the bottom of the world. He felt down a long dark tunnel; the world receded before him, shrank to a circle of light, then nothing.
What the fuck?
He tried grasping, clawing at something, anything to hold onto, even threw a Chain. He hit nothing. There was nothing but the d...
2023-12-11 17:34:15 +0000 UTC View PostZane had been to a hot spring once. Yellowstone, when he was eight. His mom took him along with his brother Paul. He remembered thinking it was pleasant. Until Paul tricked him into leaning too far over the railing, and shoved him into one of the acid pools.
He still enjoyed the trip despite the burns. Even as a child, not a lot could move...
2023-12-11 01:07:47 +0000 UTC View PostZane saw the man at their fore.
Gray-haired, blue-eyed, square-jawed. His hair was buzz cut. He held his massive body ramrod-straight. He strode with purpose, almost at a march. He could’ve been a drill sergeant.
Their eyes met. His were cold and haughty.
Victor Stroud
Essence Level 54<...
2023-12-10 16:14:06 +0000 UTC View PostThree different classes with three different styles.
… and he liked them all. Tough!
He was more drawn to the first two. Wildfire Warden was pretty similar to what he was already doing, only moreso. He’d throw out his Chains like grappling hooks and sink them deep into the enemy's skin. Like whaling ships with harpoons...
2023-12-10 16:13:26 +0000 UTC View PostZane had about four hundred hungry, ill, weak, leaderless, poorly clothed, desperate prisoners on his hands. And no clue what to do with them.
So he went to his tried-and-true trick whenever a complex interpersonal issue came up.
He sic’d Reina on it.
It took her three hours to sort the group out and make a plan. First she po...
2023-12-10 16:12:50 +0000 UTC View PostZane was pretty sure he was fucked.
At least he’d torched the Mad Dogs pretty badly. His people were probably safe. There was hardly anyone left to go after them. He did his job.
Was this how he went out? Hobbling on one leg, wrecked by a rabid gang boss?
Eh. Was it so bad? He was never overly concerned with his own ...
2023-12-10 16:11:40 +0000 UTC View PostThe Chains fell slower than he'd thought. One dark line wiping downward. From a distance it looked like a guillotine descending on a chopping block. He'd expected some kind of sound—a drawn-out shriek, maybe? He heard nothing from where he stood. There were literal crickets chirping.
The Chains were coming closer, and he supposed they di...
2023-12-10 16:11:00 +0000 UTC View PostDerek's fist blazed red. With a shrill cry, he swung for Zane's face.
To Zane, it seemed to come in slow motion. He had enough time to take his Chain, wrap it around his fist, casually lean out of the way, pivot, and unleash a right hook straight through Derek's midsection.
To him, his fist barely felt any heavier. To Derek, it would...
2023-12-10 16:10:33 +0000 UTC View PostThe first thing Zane did when he got back was upgrade the Beacon.
The second thing was to have Reina ramp up the training. From now on, all unused essence stones went to the militia. He dedicated a chestful of stones to setting up stakes, walls, and ditches.
Whoever these Mad Dogs were, he was not taking chances.
A few days lat...
2023-12-10 16:09:40 +0000 UTC View PostIt could only mean one thing: there were other people here. And they were strong.
He turned to Reina. But before he could get out a word, he saw a darkness rising over her shoulder. He whirled around. It was rising all around them—the dead, withered corn stalks, crackling and snapping to life, kicking up plumes of dust.
Something w...
2023-12-10 16:09:11 +0000 UTC View PostAfter, he introduced Reina to the rest, and the rest to Reina. Reina had been warehouse manager, and she had a natural skill for working with people—she was the kind of person people wanted to follow, wanted to listen to. Cale was the kind of person people wanted to like.
So he made them both co-leaders of his little settlement, and had ...
2023-12-10 16:08:41 +0000 UTC View PostWalking into Marcus's lab felt like entering a strange art museum. She could only guess what half of these instruments did. They were glass and curvy and bubbling, but she had never seen anything close to them in the textbooks at home. Ruyi and Claudia set up their own little workstations there and stuck to what they knew: the simple cauldron an...
2023-11-24 20:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostIn the weeks that passed, Marcus asked nothing of her, so Ruyi did nothing. She sculpted with Aelia, played card games with Darius, and explored the palace. Her favorite part was the library—not the one in Marcus' study, but the big one that took up a whole floor and sank deep into the mountain. It was like a maze, with bookshelves as walls, l...
2023-11-23 20:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: last rough chapter, sorry
//
The dungeons were nothing like the ones in which she was held; they seemed like any other wing of the palace, only lower down with no windows. But they were still clean, and little jars and potted plants ran down the lengths of the hall, up to the holding cells.
As R...
2023-11-22 20:30:02 +0000 UTC View PostShe still wasn't sure how she felt about Marcus. On the one hand, he tried to kill Jin, and she hated him for it. She still did, but he didn't seem like an awful person. If he hadn't come, they would have all died, and he'd personally saved Darius too. So, she kind of loved him for it. It bothered her that she'd never been very good at feeling h...
2023-11-21 20:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostSilence held the battlefield. Marcus took in the men with somber eyes: the ragged lines of black and red, the bleeding clumps of Frigus, and sighed.
"That is enough," he said.
"Marcus!" screamed Octavius. He said it like a curse. His face was flushed, eyes bloodshot, and each word left a shower of spittle. "You would deny me this? St...
2023-11-20 17:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostTo the right, stretching to the horizon, was a line of red and yellow, a wildfire held in place. To the left, storm clouds were rolling over their horizon, black, smoky, and unknowable.
Two demons came out in front. The first could only be Octavius. He was shorter than Ruyi expected, a tiny, mean-looking little man. The second came in demo...
2023-11-19 17:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostThey went out the same way they came in, so the path was uneventful. No new monsters waited for them. They hummed their marching songs, told ghost stories, and ; it was as though they had already left. Everyone knew the worst was over.
Ruyi spent most of the trek in her happy place: on Dow’s back. She tried a lot of positions, but her fa...
2023-11-18 17:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostA/N:
after some thought I’ve decided to stick to a 6-7x/week schedule — I think 2x/day can be a little overwhelming for readers
will spend extra time brainstorming, backlogging, and visiting indie bookstores or something. Take care all
//
By the end of the second day, Ruyi wasn't sure how she'd ever b...
2023-11-17 17:30:02 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: hey all! quick update: 2x/day is a lot to read, so I’m probably going to do dailies and bank extra for a rainy day stash
mental heath wise doing a lot better! I’ve decided to take a year off postgrad and just write , meaning there’s a lot less pressure to job hunt
//
It was hard to tell how much the ...
2023-11-16 17:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post(2/2)
The warriors and scouts went first. A few lesser warriors stayed to guard the tribe; the bulk of them went on ahead. The light of the caverns cast an eerie bruised purple glow over the ground, constantly shifting, which Ruyi found quite spooky. It made her feel like she was deep underwater, staring at sunlight playing on the ocean fl...
2023-11-15 17:30:02 +0000 UTC View PostNote: pls let me know if y’all notice any deficiencies in these chapters due to the transcription process! last chapter a few typo words slipped by me — will get better abt this.
getting a new mic + refining my transcription technology + process … this should get smoother as we go and I get more practice. thank you a...
2023-11-15 17:30:02 +0000 UTC View PostRuyi let the sweet sound of their silence wash over her. She loved silences like this in crowds. She liked having everyone in a crowd looking at her regardless, but this was special. When folk talking over each other, you couldn’t always be sure what everyone felt. But here it was obvious.
“You broke your bottleneck?” said Sabina. 2023-11-14 17:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post
A/N: wrote 4400 words (lil over 2 long chapters) yesterday w/ dictation! I think they came out pretty well after editing. So today y’all get two chapters
(1/2)
One of the first things Ruyi learned at the Frigus Tribe was how to hurt people. She felt bad doing it, but hurting people here wasn't like hurting people t...
2023-11-14 17:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe sun beamed. The snow twinkled. Morning painted the skies ice blue and the cold crispness air made Sabina smile; each little breath shocked her awake. It was a lovely day—it was always a lovely day, but today particularly agreed with her.
Then there was Ruyi! Every time Sabina saw her, she wanted to ruffle her hair and pinch her cheek...
2023-11-13 17:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post“It is said that ten thousand years ago, there were no Demon Springs. The mortal and immortal realms lay distant,” said Sabina. “But the Lord of Demons Ignatius was not satisfied. He sought the powers of gods and devils. So he gathered the tribes as one, and dug. For centuries he dug, making vast tunnels, seeking to touch the entrance of H...
2023-11-11 17:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post