Beyond the rune-carved, and gold-chased rim of the Envy’s forward crew hatch, the ship’s matrix deconstruction field shimmered blue-green where it reconciled the seething fractal chaos beyond with the relatively simple and consistent environment it encompassed…
Kadon drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair as he contemplated the character of sorcery. The greater magics were, quite clearly, not natural – even from a perspective which acknowledged the primordial source of the concept of nature itself…
The nothingness – black beyond black, silent beyond silent – blossomed before him, and in the back of his mind Kharum howled in despair and terror. In the foreground of his thoughts, Kadon’s mind raced, analyzing options…
He was driven to create. In his mortal life, Kadon had been driven to learn, and in exaltation that had blossomed. His past laid before him, now he yearned to know what others never had. To learn secrets never before suspected…
Kadon intoned an invocation to the Great Maker as he completed the thirty-third and final figure, a pentagramatic ward Elsewhere prominent – the lines symbolically connecting the polls of creation broken by a sweep of perpendiculars…
Kadon closed his eyes, but the essence of what he had wrought remained before him, clearly visible through his own flesh. In the near distance, he could see the flows of radiance washing through the architecture of the restored capital…
Kadon had tried to sleep in a dozen different spots already, but rest would not come. An irony, considering he had crafted the place from his own mind. Elder Seychelles, it seemed, had no such problems…
Seychelles led Kadon into the Wyld, forging a path through the dense foliage that seemed ubiquitous beyond the eastern edge of creation. The noise and industry of the factory cathedral, and the village surrounding it, had been left behind some days ago…
The following note, written in a flowing, practiced hand, was found by Kadon on his work bench in the factory cathedral at the Eastern Grove. It was written in fluent old realm. A second note, this one in Kadon’s neat, even technical hand, is written on the back of the same page…
Zuko paced about the desolate arena in the basement of the Hidden Manse, frustrated and bored. Kadon was busy learning a spell to handle the basement’s traps and fill in that Unconquered Sun-forsaken place…
Zuko searched for a nearby place to write in relative peace. He couldn’t stray far, however, there was no telling how long this connection with Aly would last…
Scarlet crouched low to the ground, bracing herself with one hand while the other held aloft Quicksilver Finger of Death, her eyes darted about the bushes and branches of the surrounding forest seeking out her prey…
“You have surely accomplished much here, Zuko.” Galek commented as he looked out from his canopy home over the hustle of activity in the factory cathedral below. “Discipline and order are a bit lax, but given your own interests in such matters I am hardly surprised…”
“Always attack from the angle your opponent least suspects! Only a fool attacks their foe head-on.” barked Galek as he watched the new recruit train his spear forms…
As the first rays of sunlight began to fill the room, Zuko awoke alongside Scarlet in their treetop flat. He silently slid out of bed and wandered outside. It had been three days since they left Mnemia with her people and returned to the Workshop for some much needed R&R…
We managed to find Amarel and return her to her beloved with little loss of life and even avoided the outright conflict I almost caused, and to what end? All we have discovered is that more and more foes seek to keep us from our loved ones…
“I want to learn necromancy.” Mnemia said quietly, staring up at the ceiling from the posh bed, a thin sheet covering her, but leaving nothing to the imagination….
The central pavilion of the Ruby Court would have appeared extravagant even in the wealthiest of communities. But here, the city a veritable oasis within a raging inferno, it seemed an unrepentant display of power…
Much like the rest of Deheleshen, this place was both familiar and alien. Those denied reincarnation sought ways to return to their old lives by recreating them in the Underworld. But recreating a factory cathedral was more complicated than just building a structure that looked like one…
It was a sight that those that bore witness would likely never see again. Zis, the Ziggurat of Infinite Suffering, an abyssal whose power had grown ten fold in only a few years, cradled a form in her arms like one would a sick child…
“The legend is a simple one.” Celeste said as she slowly walked across the soft sand, her footprints being washed away moments after she left them, the ocean rising up to claim them…
Having left the Fair Isle in search of the Tearing Gale, the collection of Exalts and mortals riding the winds within Mercury’s Envy had crossed what remained of the White Sea and were now cruising over an endless wintry expanse on the way to Diamond Hearth…
Walking through the front doors of the factory cathedral was like walking into a different world. On one side Creation was idyllic and serene; soft earth underfoot, shifting rays of sunlight and the gentle sounds of a land at peace…
As quickly as the snow had come it was vanishing, turning the battlefield into a muddy mess far quicker than was natural. And if Mnemia didn’t think Aboshi was behind it, covering the tracks of an army walking through the white drifts on the other side of the lake, she’d have been concerned…
For most of the passengers, Harbinger was turning out to be a less than ideal mode of transit. After relocating the interns back to the hidden fortress (most of them were too disoriented to stand after the fact) Kadon had put together a harness of sorts to try to minimize the damage…
“Zis!” Mnemia screamed as her lover jumped into the living painting gone black. A moment before the abyssal could barely stand, Mnemia keeping her on her feet while trying to pretend not to. Now she was moving with a speed that surprised the solar…
Standing in the transport compartment of Mercury’s Envy Mnemia felt a wave of nausea, a sign that the ship had breached the borders of a shadowland. Not for the first time she wondered if she would ever get used to the feeling of passing over from the world of the living to the world of the dead…
Her feet together, her hands relaxed at her sides, Mnemia began to call out to Harbinger, drawing the warstrider out of Elsewhere. Though she stood perfectly still, there was no way an observer would be fooled into thinking the woman was inactive…
With Zuko focused on training while Kadon and Scarlet were sequestered away working on their secret project Mnemia decided to take the opportunity to return home for a few days, Zis accompanying her. The visit would be mostly pleasure…
Though hardly the great general Raxin was, Mnemia never the less had certain… instincts when it came to going to war. One of which was to survey the forces at her command before leading them into battle…
For two years the circle had laid low, honing their own skills and waiting to see how Nexus fared and whether or not the Realm would respond. During that time Zis had taken Mnemia to a number of different shadowlands and to the Underworld beyond…
As far as the eye could see in all directions Creation was blue. Above the air was clear, not a cloud in the sky. The only variation in the uniform color was the sun just passing through its zenith. Below the gently rolling sea provided more definition, more detail, but was still an endless azure…
Setting her right foot just behind her, Mnemia dropped into a low, balanced stance. It was a stance born from years of repelling boarders and boarding ships herself. If she could center her weight on a rocking ship she could center her weight here…
Even with almost nothing here, foot traffic around the Yellow River dam was surprisingly heavy. The Council wanted little reason for people to linger outside of the city proper, heavily taxing anything within 30 miles to drive the people in closer to Nexus where they could be kept controlled…
Mnemia stood at the tiller of a small cutter, the ship sliding through the water as the sun was starting to set in the west. The thin clouds snaking through the sky were starting to light up with color as the day ended…
We are returning to Lord Fakharu, Amarel safely in our possession. But it is a trip of a few days and there’s little to do other than spend time with one’s thoughts. Amongst the circle there is little to say to one another that hasn’t been spoken, and Amarel seems to prefer Kadon’s company…
This is an odd sort of homecoming for me. Though I know what my father is, I’ve never seen his kind or what he might call home. I don’t even know his name (mother insisted it was best for both of us). And now, for the first time, I am walking a path that leads directly into his world…
This… is not something I’m good at. I have no gift with words and paper is hardly the most durable material on the waves. And still, time and time again we have gained insight from the recorded thoughts of our past lives…
Ioni’s Woodland Adventure in Down-time or Socially Stupid Cure Inoculation One
The Eastern Grove was fabulous in Ioni’s eyes. Lush green forest, filled with wildlife, especially after being on board boat after boat. It looked like heaven. Ioni barely remembered their arrival the night before. She was bone tired from tracking Mnemias ghost spawn, leaving her with the new mantra:
It’s not that Ioni never wanted to return home. The Fair Isle just did not feel like home. Even now it was strange. Like an overlay of an illusion ontop of something real. Faces barely familiar, routines all too familiar. And now she was here, witnessing the gathering around the Exploration Ship…
Ioni bit her lip, looking around the room that Zuko had shown her as they boarded his ship. She was not looking to take in the sights, just to organize her thoughts. She was worried, very worried. The Bull of the North was seeking to invade the Haslanti League…
Nearly two years before meeting the party Waters lashed at her feet as Ioni stood on the quay, looking over the waters to where in the distance, the Fair Isle lurked. Over the White Sea, beyond the rippling waves lay the Fair Isle…
When your father was young, he had the typical roving tendencies. Oh don’t look at me like that, boys. I know you and I know what you have a tendency for. Sweet talking young maidens, smiling, giving flowers, and all for a little of their time and comfort…
I was sitting on a cliff side. Geeze, I don’t know why I’m even sharing this, but I might as well. Anyway, there I was, just sitting at the top of the cliff. It was an amazing view. Roiling ocean beneath, crashing waves sounding like the earth’s heartbeat…
He knew it was a dream. After all, she had been the one that tried to teach him lucid dreaming. Her efforts in this matter never took root until after he had exalted, and only then on those times when she would appear in them. And only then did he know it to be a dream, he couldn’t control them…
Though sealed away within what seemed to be a hollowed out dwelling tower within the dragon king city of Shakanzer, Valysan did not need to see the sky to know that the Sun was finally overhead. The chamber he sat within was inert and unadorned, but if his information was correct…
Zuko’s arm snapped forward, driving the head of his Twin Dragons Chain deep into the makeshift earth of this strange place he found himself. The portrait had led Kadon and Zuko into a facsimile featuring the front of the Invisible Manse, where a party seemed to be underway.
