I didn’t get to see much of Elia and Elis after we returned, which I probably should have expected. Ceion was true to his word and went to talk to them. After that, from what I gathered, he sought out solitude, too.
I was too busy to really worry about it, even if I had been so inclined. But I did take note when, a day later, I saw Elia and Elis in a sitting room that had become somethi...
2021-12-20 20:45:01 +0000 UTC View PostUnfortunately, finding Ceion and Mior wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped. I didn’t really know where they’d gone, and my father was apparently too busy to give me directions. But I didn’t let that stop me and set out from the city as quickly as I reasonably could.
Aston accompanied me, of course, along with some guards. This time, I didn’t take any of my companions with me. They all ...
2021-12-16 20:45:01 +0000 UTC View PostI thought it was downright unfair how of all the places I’d been in the last year, Saria had the nicest view of the sunrise. Even so far south in winter, where the sun would only be visible for a short time, it managed to dye the streets and buildings of the city in warm colors and made the decorations and different materials used in building the city stand out. Light sparkled off a river in ...
2021-12-13 20:45:00 +0000 UTC View PostThis might be the last time I went into a recently conquered city. At least in the foreseeable future. But it certainly wasn’t the first, and I’d come to have certain expectations for these situations.
Saria didn’t live up to them very well. Of course, what had happened here was far from typical. I still found it remarkable that I sensed a lot of people in the city. They weren’t c...
2021-12-09 21:05:53 +0000 UTC View PostEven after the Greater Spirits had disappeared, I spent a long moment just floating in the air, staring at nothing in particular. Only Mior’s careful poke roused me.
I beat the wings I had regrown and let myself drift slowly downwards. Mior was still linked to me, though they currently maintained their own form, and I could feel the extra power I’d drawn on during the fight slowly see...
2021-12-07 20:45:01 +0000 UTC View PostI saw something that shouldn’t exist in this world. A winding labyrinth, equal parts ancient mazes and postmodern cityscape, stretched out and interconnected to parts of itself. It looked like someone had taken optical illusions and surrealist paintings, made them physical and interlaced them with towering walls, bunkers, drops into an eternal void, and higher-dimensional mathematical fields....
2021-12-02 21:15:06 +0000 UTC View Post‘Is he gone?’ I asked.
Mior didn’t answer for a moment, presumably focusing on their senses in order to answer the question. Finally, the spirit nodded. ‘As far as I can tell, yes. It’s possible he could deceive me, with a bit of luck, but it wouldn’t work against Rijoko. And I doubt Isuro would do it, anyway.’
I breathed out deeply, then rolled my sh...
2021-11-29 21:45:01 +0000 UTC View PostI jerked backwards, jumping back several meters before I realized what I was doing. Then I glanced at Mior, who still stood in front of me. Despite that, I could feel their qi far more closely than before.
‘What did you do?’ I said. I had intended to just say it, but it had come out in mental speech somehow. Or projected to the spirit?
‘Don’t worry. This isn’t...
2021-11-25 21:45:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe sound of drums echoed across the landscape like rolling waves of war and coming bloodshed. I listened quietly for a few moments. The sound wasn’t unfamiliar, after my campaigns here in the south, though I hadn’t heard it often. It felt fitting that the drums should sound now, as we marched on the enemy’s stronghold.
The Imperial army was still some distance from the city. An opp...
2021-11-22 20:45:00 +0000 UTC View PostVisibility increased as we got further from the epicenter of the battle, but not by much. The air was still smoky, the hilly plain dark around us, lit by occasional flashes of light from techniques used behind us. Every so often, a crash or boom would ring out, and the ground under our feet would shake. Mud sucked at our boots, and icy droplets splattered against my face with the full force of ...
2021-11-22 20:45:00 +0000 UTC View PostElis collapsed onto his armchair like someone had used a gravity increasing technique on him, sprawling into it in a graceless heap. Not that I had any room to judge, since that was exactly what I’d done a minute ago.
“What did I miss?” he asked, raising his head enough to actually look at us. He’d stopped by the Basement’s offices briefly while most of us had gone on ahead once...
2021-11-15 20:59:03 +0000 UTC View PostFor a moment, I just stood there, staring after the Pioneer and letting the adrenaline fade. I never wanted to do that again. It was worse than nerve-wracking.
Then I turned and glanced around quickly before I started walking.
“Nari, that was …” Tenira shook her head.
“We need to go,” I interrupted her. “Come on. Hurry.”
Suiting actions to words, I took off...
2021-11-11 20:56:18 +0000 UTC View PostWith Elis’ and my senses, we managed to avoid the people in the building quite well as we hurried through it. I knew we wouldn’t be able to fool everyone, and I preferred speed over complete stealth, anyway, given the circumstances. But we should be gone before any of the Zarian inside thought to check what was going on.
Unless we were stopped, at least.
It was obvious that Elis...
2021-11-08 20:46:00 +0000 UTC View PostWe didn’t have to wait long. Soon, I felt the approach of someone in a middle stage of cultivation, probably the late fourth stage. He entered the office from the other side, and then we were asked to come in. It turned out to look just like any other forgettable office anywhere, with a desk, a few chairs, file drawers, and a window looking out into an alleyway. The man looked just as forgett...
2021-11-04 20:45:01 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Sorry for the delay! This was supposed to be posted the usual time on Monday, and I didn't notice that I missed it until just now. Well, there'll be two posts this evening instead.
I didn’t typically get nervous in crowds. But today, the undulating waves of humanity pressing through the space around me stressed me out. It felt like every eye was on me, possibly ...
2021-11-04 20:10:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe city of Saria was older than the City of a Thousand Lights by at least a millennium, and it wore its age well. The honor of being the Dominion’s capital changed back and forth between some Zarian cities regularly, but Saria had been at it this time for half a century, and that showed. I hadn’t seen more grand spires in any other city on this world. Its inhabitants had brightened the cit...
2021-10-28 19:45:00 +0000 UTC View PostI didn’t think anyone got much sleep that night. Which was probably just as well. My army was composed of cultivators who were all at least in the third stage, so it didn’t pose much of a problem. But with the aftereffects of the battle for the city, the continuing headache of what to do with it, and then the excitement about our possibly breached defenses, the whole area was swarming like ...
2021-10-25 19:45:59 +0000 UTC View PostDespite all odds, we’d managed to keep the city relatively intact.
As I stood looking out over the spread of the buildings, what felt like half of them damaged or scorched, I recognized that that was something of an accomplishment. Jideia’s presence had not done the area around the temple any favors, especially when he charged out to chase us. Not to mention the storm.
Winter ha...
2021-10-21 19:45:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe hug didn’t last long, considering how intense it was. After a few moments, we both broke off as if we suddenly realized what we were doing. It had settled me down a bit, but I still felt badly off balance, and in a way, this only made that worse. It wasn’t like I was used to hugs with my Mother even when she was still around.
I glanced around at our surroundings so I didn’t have...
2021-10-18 19:46:00 +0000 UTC View PostBy the time we neared the temple, we’d fought almost a dozen other spirits. Most of them, we’d killed, although some had apparently been smart enough to realize when they were outmatched and fled. I hadn’t personally killed any of the others, who weren’t as strong, anyway. That was probably a good thing.
The spirit’s qi roiled inside of me, integrating into my own and giving me ...
2021-10-14 20:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostIn the time we’d taken to deliberate and prepare, things had gotten worse in the city. I’d expected that, although the extent of it took me aback. From close up, I could see the damage the city had taken more closely.
It was arguably not that much for a city in the middle of a war. But this one hadn’t come under siege, and it was even worse than many of the cities we had actually co...
2021-10-11 19:45:01 +0000 UTC View PostOf all the things I would have expected to find once we drew close enough to the Zarian city, seeing it burning wasn’t one of them.
It took me a moment to realize that it probably looked worse than it was. The whole city wasn’t on fire, there were just a few very intense fires giving off a lot of smoke. Perhaps something in whatever materials had fallen prey to the flames. Even so, an...
2021-10-07 19:45:01 +0000 UTC View PostThere was time, but it didn’t work right.
Of all the things she’d had in her mortal existence, Acura had never thought much about her sense of the passage of time. She’d had a good sense of it, usually known how long she’d been out meditating or what time of day it was when she’d been on a trip underground, even that time she’d explored the caves on the coast for three days st...
2021-10-04 19:52:45 +0000 UTC View PostThe sunset painted the land in front of us in warm colors, giving it a beauty that would ordinarily be hidden. In the distance, high peaks speared the sky, but closer up, winding streams, hilly fields and the occasional cluster of trees spread out like tiles in a mosaic. There were a few villages dotted about them, but even with my cultivator senses, I couldn’t make out much human activity. 2021-09-30 19:45:01 +0000 UTC View Post
I looked out into the sunset, which was currently dying the hills to the east in soft tones, and sighed. Clouds were gathering again for a storm, though it looked like this one was going to be a normal weather phenomenon, at least.
“I wish you didn’t have to go,” I said.
Kiyanu smiled wryly. “I need to, though. Someone needs to be back in the capital to talk with ambassadors...
2021-09-27 19:46:00 +0000 UTC View PostYarani put a hand on my shoulder. “Inaris. There’s no point in focusing too much on this and letting it drag you this far down.”
I raised my head, blinked, then shook my head. “I’m not getting depressed, Yarani. I’m just trying to take stock. Spirits, you know how many of our elites we lost?”
She sighed and glanced around. We stood in a conference chamber that currentl...
2021-09-23 19:45:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe battle hadn’t raged long, but it was already one of the most devastating ones I’d ever seen. I could only make out parts of it, the rest blocked out by the haze of fires, shimmering air, sudden plant growth and dust as thick as any sandstorm. The foothills around the two clashing armies were torn up and tossed about, and many soldiers didn’t fare any better.
Tenira clenched me h...
2021-09-20 19:45:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe Whitecap mountain range of the Storm Continent reminded me unpleasantly of the Central Mountains. I could only barely make them out from here, and only with the help of light qi and my spyglass, not to mention being pretty high up. But the fact that I could see them drove home just how far we had already come into the Dominion. The craggy peaks and white caps could have been just a view of ...
2021-09-16 19:46:00 +0000 UTC View PostWe’d only hosted him for a day, and already I was fondly thinking of the pleasant days I’d have when my ancestor was away again.
It wasn’t even mainly because of his attitude. Sure, he acted just as grumpy as the last time I’d met him, but he at least seemed to make an effort to be polite. He’d congratulated me on my consorts instead of being put out over the untraditional situa...
2021-09-13 19:46:00 +0000 UTC View PostI plopped down on the sofa, pulling my outer robe off and throwing it haphazardly over the back of a chair. The hems dragged on the floor, but those were probably cleaned every day, so it didn’t matter. I leaned back and allowed myself a sigh.
Yarani followed me and Kajare in, closing he door behind her quietly. She then stayed standing and leaned against it, while he threw himself into...
2021-09-09 19:46:00 +0000 UTC View Post