I commented on this on Royal Road and Scribble Hub, but I'll now publish 5 chapters per week instead of 7. I have no definitive schedule in mind, but today I'll take a day off as I have been posting for a month nonstop!
See you tomorrow!
-Epsilon Twilight
2023-08-16 15:45:09 +0000 UTC View PostEven though Aloe had watered the plants just a few hours ago, the soil was already dry. Such was the relentless sun of the desert. The plants didn’t seem affected by it, though. They had their water before it evaporated.
“Which is which?” Aloe stood before the farmland where she had planted all the medicinal herb seeds. “I don’t remember.”
She had planted the four types ...
2023-08-15 11:14:21 +0000 UTC View Post“Bean test begins... now!” Aloe poured her vitality into the single bean on her hand.
She kept very close to her heart the Evolution mantra. There weren’t any specific words in her head, but as Karaim had said: intent was what mattered. Instead of mindless pouring like she did when she had infused all the crops and medicinal plants, her whole being revolved around the idea of evolvi...
2023-08-14 10:51:28 +0000 UTC View PostProgress had been severely limited. Aloe had managed to infuse something, but she wasn’t sure if she had managed to infuse a different type of infusion besides the default accelerated growth.
Attempts at removing the vitality from the seeds or rewriting the established vitality also proved fruitless endeavors. She took her grandfather’s words to heart and decided to let the matter res...
2023-08-13 12:00:30 +0000 UTC View PostDisclaimer: My beta readers have said that in this chapter I may have crossed the line. Please comment if you too think so. I rather not publish controversial things on public sites. Thanks.
***
Being summoned twice in such a short window of time was unheard of. The sultanah was a volatile person, everyone knew that, but being summoned in a matter of days of difference was mindboggl...
2023-08-12 13:54:07 +0000 UTC View Post“Okay, if I’m thinking this right, there are only two options on how Karaim reinfused the same plant and changed its type of infusion.” Aloe pushed her hair backward to refresh herself after considerable seconds of silent ponderation. “Either: one, he has changed the properties of the vitality inside of the plant – somehow – or; two, he has taken the vitality out of the plant and in...
2023-08-11 10:36:44 +0000 UTC View PostTruth was, Aloe sucked at cooking. She was better off having dates and coconuts than eating meals prepared by herself. Having postponed her ink tests for the moment, she dedicated the rest of the day to watering every plant in the oasis and greenhouse, plus also infusing the beans.
As she woke up for her sixth day in the greenhouse, she was grateful for the foresight of routine. She had g...
2023-08-10 10:55:45 +0000 UTC View Post“Oh, Fikali. I would kiss you if your face wasn’t made such a mess!”
“Huo?” The dweller added with characteristic confusion.
“Doesn’t matter,” Aloe explained. “What I need to do now is do some tests with this ink. I can’t get ahead of myself just yet.” She straightened her hair. “If dealing with the Cure Grass and vitality has taught me anything is t...
2023-08-09 11:19:44 +0000 UTC View Post“Breath in, breath out,” Aloe told herself to calm her shaking hands. “Karaim was being melodramatic with Infusion almost killing him, right?” She added with a wry smile. “Besides, he tried the ter’nar, which is a tree and needs more vitality. And he was old. And I am young. And I am full of vitality. And I am... I... I am delaying it, aren’t I?”
Aloe hid her visage with h...
2023-08-08 10:58:26 +0000 UTC View Post“Ugh...” Aloe groaned as she woke up. Every fiber of her body screamed in pain and exhaustion. “My crotch hurts so baaadly...” The girl rolled back and forth on the bed.
Fikali hadn’t been gentle with her yesterday. Even if in the end they had only ridden for a for minutes, that was enough to make her body sore beyond a night’s rest.
“Never riding again without a s...
2023-08-07 11:25:36 +0000 UTC View PostAloe started her afternoon by infusing the remaining pistachios seeds. She didn’t know how atrocious Karaim’s vitality regeneration was, but after having a nap and lunch, she was topped up again.
“The old man didn’t lie when he said vitality and stamina aren’t the same.” Aloe wiped the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve. “I’m out of vitality, but I’m not truly tired....
2023-08-06 11:22:42 +0000 UTC View PostToday was a hot day in Sadina, they always were, but especially so today. That didn’t mean that the activity in the court was going to stop by a little heat.
Shahrazad wrote and filed some documents on her desk. Whilst she wasn’t basked in riches or power, she had a fully equipped office that granted her every necessity. She technically possessed servants but never used them. Though s...
2023-08-05 11:39:57 +0000 UTC View Post“I really have to hate myself if I’m eating this crap,” Aloe said as she ate stew. “And also hate myself for torturing myself this much by living here. I said myself too many times. Myself.”
Aloe had taken a nap before having lunch, but she still felt tired.
“It’s this food the root of my problems, fuck this.” She left the bowl on the desk and took a sip from her gla...
2023-08-04 11:26:01 +0000 UTC View Post“Good morning, world!” Aloe got out of bed with a jump, her mood soaring. “How glorious is it to have a good night’s rest!”
Even after going to sleep with a beaten body, the long sleep had helped her greatly. Not only was she full of energy, but her calves weren’t killing her! That was a win in her book.
“Hmm, today’s too pretty to start with a glass of water, I thin...
2023-08-03 11:21:36 +0000 UTC View PostAs she needed to wait for the sap to settle, Aloe continued with her many tasks. She decided to first water the plants, but without forgetting about another type of water, she poured the boiling water from the cauldron at the oasis and readied another batch.
“Yeah, one more and this amphora is done.” What she now noticed is how she was going to carry the water. Because water was heavy...
2023-08-02 11:25:15 +0000 UTC View PostAloe wasn’t an herbalist nor an apothecary, her only saving grace being that she had done well in school and that her father had a sizeable collection of books she had read since her childhood as there was nothing else to do.
“Mortar, mortar.” Aloe sang to herself as she looked for the mortar and pestle.
Some would classify her work as some sort of alchemy or witchcraft, and i...
2023-08-01 11:25:45 +0000 UTC View Post“Ah!” Aloe jolted out of her resting spot as something rubbed her chest. “What’s going... Oh, it’s just you, Fikali.”
“Hwo.” The sand dweller pledged guilty.
“Can you not scare like that whilst I’m sle-resting?” The human dusted her clothes off. There wasn’t much sand on the oasis, but there was dirt. And most than not, it was worse for cloth.
...
2023-07-31 11:15:09 +0000 UTC View PostHassan woke up greeted by the golden rays of the sun and the breeze of the women fanning him. They were two women of his age, but their skin was far darker than his. As far as skin tones went in Ydaz, his was of the fairest. And their clothing was far skimmer than his, even if he was in very loose night clothes. Yet he couldn’t think of their attires as anything sexual.
I guess that...
2023-07-30 11:13:08 +0000 UTC View PostMorning hadn’t been pleasurable to Aloe. Night had been gorgeous, she had slept soundly, not too cold yet not too hot. But as she woke up, she felt her body weigh down on her.
Not only her thighs were killing her from sitting on the sand for hours, or her back aching from her nap on the living room’s floor, but also her stomach. Oh, how much it hurt. It wasn’t anything her body had ...
2023-07-29 10:57:27 +0000 UTC View PostAloe put on her clothes, her sorry state and dirty body be damned. Tomorrow she would bathe, but today she was too tired to even think about it. What she was not tired to do was investigate a bit more.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but let’s munch some grass.” Aloe walked to the oasis, now having footwear to protect her feet.
As the sun was beginning to set, the oasis ...
2023-07-28 10:56:56 +0000 UTC View Post
Yup #1, there will be more, but not until more actual plants appear in the story. I maybe got too carried away.
I put this on public so y'all subscribe so I can commission more art!
Art done by @kissfortheelves on Twitter!
2023-07-27 19:24:31 +0000 UTC View PostSpecies: Cure Grass
Sobriquet: Munchers
Description: An evolved member of the Poaceae family, a species known for its ability to grow virtually anywhere and restore vitality upon consumption.
Alignment: Life
The ink spots on the Aloe Veritas rearranged to form the same description that Aloe saw before wi...
2023-07-27 11:25:03 +0000 UTC View PostAloe’s body was in a rough state. Not even five minutes in and her back was already on fire. The only positive point she could take was that the ground was no longer burning her glutes as all the temperature had transferred to her body. The sand was still coarse to the touch, though. And her skin didn’t like that.
She truly tried to sense something in the seed, but it felt impossible....
2023-07-26 13:09:12 +0000 UTC View PostThe bath had been refreshing and Aloe felt alive anew. Though that the water made her aware of her hunger. Now that she actually had towels, Aloe dried herself and went to the kitchen. There she grabbed a cauldron, dived into the oasis (a spot far away from where she had bathed), and lit up the hearth.
She didn’t intend to make a fancy meal, far from that. Her intention was to drop some...
2023-07-25 15:42:35 +0000 UTC View PostAloe was abruptly woken up by the rising temperatures, but luckily enough, she woke up before she had dirtied her nightgown with sweat. Not that it mattered because it was going to go straight to the washing board either way.
“Yeah, it’s hotter in the middle of the desert than in Sadina, who would have thought?” With a yawn and a stretch of her arms, Aloe jumped out of bed.
Sh...
2023-07-25 10:25:37 +0000 UTC View Post“We are finally home!” Aloe raised her hands to the air as the grass blades of the oasis caressed her boots. It was incredible that they had actually managed to arrive at the greenhouse even before twilight, let alone sunset.
The dweller, on the other hand, was more interested in the plentiful food around her rather than their arrival.
“Stop Fikali, let’s first get to the ho...
2023-07-24 10:39:38 +0000 UTC View PostWhilst Fikali didn’t make for the best talk companion, the old dweller provided a bit of entertainment. Just leading her with the rope provided Aloe with a constant trickle of infinitesimal amusement.
“How can guiding an animal with a lead be fun?” Aloe muttered to herself.
“Hroooow!” And surprisingly, the monster responded.
“You know, I’m beginning to t...
2023-07-23 18:02:54 +0000 UTC View Post“Is everything ready?” Shahrazad asked Aloe as her daughter juggled between multiple bags.
“Yes, Mom,” Aloe responded, her face a stone wall. “This is the fourth time you asked.”
“Things could have gone wrong between each question!” She added with motherly worry.
Aloe groaned. “I’m fine really.”
“You do not look fine.” Shahrazad pointed at the c...
2023-07-22 11:10:24 +0000 UTC View PostHassan always felt nervous when he was in the imperial palace. Even if it was his birthplace, the majestic building was but a hostile environment. Maids and guards avoided looking at HIM, but he knew they were scheming and/or feeding intelligence to his siblings.
He kept his posture straight and regal. Showing fear was showing weakness, and he wasn’t the same kid as before. He was now a...
2023-07-21 12:47:53 +0000 UTC View PostShahrazad woke up to the groans of her daughter. Even if the walls of her house were thick and the windows were closed, she could still perfectly hear Aloe. Peering into the slit of the wooden window doors, Shahrazad saw a glimpse of dim morning sunlight.
Considering she wouldn’t be able to sleep anymore with her daughter’s groans and that was almost time to wake up, Shahrazad got up ...
2023-07-20 11:23:25 +0000 UTC View Post