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[Severed Divinity] Chapters 43-46

Chapter 43. Next Steps

Isen was surprised to have his own room.

The “hotel”—which Isen learned was like an inn with more amenities—was even larger than Isen had expected at a glance. The hotel extended into the rock; that’s where most of the cheaper rooms were. According to Talis, rooms with windows were much more desirable.

Isen still had the silver...

[Severed Divinity] Chapters 39-42

[ I've been really bad at posting. Appreciate all of you. Doing my best. 🙏 I am aware you are all here for Menocht and have not deluded myself into thinking otherwise, lol. There's really not much more than like, probably 50-70k words left in Menocht. I really just gotta finish it and stick the landing. It's much eas...

[Severed Divinity] 38. New Suspicions

Isen was the only one to find survivors, but two of the guards arrived at the gate with a cart full of grain. When Allezin addressed them, he didn’t mention who had found the survivors, nor did he mention his suspicions about an Eldrassin mage’s involvement. He simply nodded at the wagon and ordered everyone to return to the larger group.

Isen kept waiting for Allezin to make some sor...

[Severed Divinity] 37. Ominous Shadow

What Isen had told Talis about there being people only he could find was aspirational more than anything concrete. Isen didn’t sense much opportunity at all in the destroyed town and had no reason to believe that survivors in hiding would trigger his sixth sense.

The collapsed building he’d decided to investigate was the first location to evoke anything obvious from the sixth sense, t...

[Severed Divinity] 36. Blood and Cinders

Over the coming days, Isen mostly busied himself with cultivation and learning Eldrassin from Talis and Druinala, and occasionally even Lumina. For now, they focused on teaching him the language orally, though Isen had mentioned several times his interest in learning elven sigils. It was the first language that he’d ever tried to learn, and while he felt impatient at his progress, the elves s...

[The Twining] 35. Exodus

[ I think I will start changing the fiction title in future posts going forward, so 'Severed Divinity' instead of 'The Twining'. ]

They left an hour after dawn.

Allezin was evacuating the town because of the extent of the damage inflicted by the drayavin raid, and because he would be unable to stay within Shevenar to ensure everyone’s safety.

People hadn’t taken well to th...

[The Twining] 34. Unsolicited Advice

[ Double chapter release as an apology for infrequent updates. I'll try to get a Menocht out soon. <3 ]

Shevenar had never been a huge town, though of its original ten thousand or so inhabitants, roughly four thousand congregated by the rear gate. More specifically, in a large crowd beyond the city wall.

Someone—almost certainly Allezin—had cut the serpent in half and moved i...

[The Twining] 33. Enigma

[ Sorry for the lack of updates, been busy and sick. RIP. Trying my best. Thanks to everyone for your patience. Hope my stories deserve it! ]

When they returned to the rear gates of the city, Allezin felt his composure crumbling. He knew this disaster wasn’t his fault. He’d done his best against a force his people had no chance of defeating without outside help.

Eldrassin wasn�...

[The Twining] 32. The Returned Queen

Isen stared numbly at the destruction, not speaking. He dropped from the tier three man’s neck, standing on the wall. “What happened to your spear?”

The warrior shifted, looking down at Isen. “It shrinks down,” he stated, then sighed. “I don’t even know where to start. How did you know the serpent died?”

“I helped kill it.”

“Who actually killed it, though...

Chapter 367. Black Rock Avatar

Watching Ian at work was at once a bit terrifying and engrossing, especially since Maria could see vital energy after becoming a lich. Even if she couldn’t manipulate it herself, she could see how Ian imbued the mannequins with Death energy.

Ian had been a practitioner for over ten years now, from his relative perspective of time. That was a little less than a third of his life. Watchin...

[The Twining] 31. The Tier Threes

[ haven't had much time to write, lots of other deadlines, but I can shed some of my backlog so people have at least something to read today. <3 ]​​

Against his rational judgment, he sprinted toward the powerful juggernauts. When he was close enough that their suppressive presences nearly made his heart beat unsteady, he stole a glance behind him.

The humanoid wolv...

[The Twining] 30. A City Aflame

In the moment of its demise, the pearlescent serpent glared into the eyes of a young girl possessed by a dead queen. The half elf girl was barely dressed, a bloody bed sheet wrapped around her waist, and her hair was in disarray. None of that mattered.

Just as the serpent’s tail lashed the sky, forming a scythe of wind, a beam of molten white gushed from the girl’s hands like a blade,...

Chapter 366. One Week

Ian stepped out of the Cuna for the first time one week later. The inland air was dry, but pleasantly so, and a soft breeze played with his hair. Cold weather usually came early to the northern part of Selejo, reaching its peak when fall transitioned to winter. It was currently late winter, but the weather was temperate, usually hovering around fifty degrees. Today was an unseasonably warm day ...

[The Twining] 29. The Rear Gate

He didn’t think through the implications of the question—he just knew it was a powerful opportunity, one that might shift the balance of the invasion.

He mentally acquiesced, and the fire immediately became docile, like how it had been a minute before.

Suddenly, the girl on Talis’s shoulder gasped. The warrior held her tight as she struggled, clearly disoriented, then set her ...

[The Twining] 28. Their Best Hope

Evacuate… as in, go outside, into the danger? Isen thought, though he knew the guard was dead serious.

Isen has assumed the opportunity he sensed from the caravan was limited to being let through the gates and, possibly, continuing with the caravan to a more ideal destination—not that he really knew what kind of place suited him best in these foreign lands.

But...

[The Twining] 27. Drayavin

Legacy’s words were resonant, insistent.

Pyre of Lumina Eldrassin’s Severed Divinity. A kindling spark overstepped and was devoured by a blistering inferno. Disembodied, she watches in agony as the flames come for everything she loved. Her spirit will dissipate only after the ashes cool.

Isen stared at the pyre in shocked confusion. So far, only a few items had ...

[The Twining] 26. One Does Not Simply Sell Tier Three Items

“Isen?” Druinala said, interrupting his thoughts. She pointed to the counter where a man Isen thought must be a half elf stood, his hands spread on the wooden counter.

The shopkeeper was tall, with a slight gut, his middle-aged face amused. Isen wondered how aging worked when cultivation was concerned—did people simply age slower, or did they remain young for decades until close to ...

[The Twining] 25. Shevenar

One of the merchant wagons had a small partition dedicated for cleanliness—specifically, a small tub that went up to Isen’s knees and a pail of water. A block of soap and a sponge lay on a stone plate with a thick rim.

“It won’t run dry,” Talis insisted. “At least, it’ll refill itself in a few hours.” The guard perched on the back of the wagon, his head poking through draw...

[The Twining] 24. Talis

The guard’s grasp on the common language was much better than the scout’s, nearing native fluency. After Isen introduced himself, the man gestured for Isen to follow him ahead of the procession. He waved the leather-clad woman off and she disappeared into the trees.

Isen watched as the merchants directed their only beasts of burden, two horses, to continue walking. The horses were hug...

[The Twining] 23. The Caravan

Isen leapt up and formed a ball of energy in his left hand, holding off from bearing the dagger. He still didn’t see the adversary, but that didn’t mean anything. There were many places a person could hide among the trees. In the tunnels of the depths, Isen was more than familiar with detecting and hunting monsters, but in a forest environment? Not so much.

Why were they attacking him...

Chapter 365. His First Teacher

Ian and Euryphel stood within the rib cage of the bone wyrm. Euryphel’s elementalism kept the wind still in the chamber, ensuring that their hair and clothes remained unruffled.

“Much easier this time around,” Ian murmured, staring blankly at the approaching coastline. Euryphel had the foresight to get both their vital signatures whitelisted to the defenses.

Euryphel glanced h...

[The Twining] 22. The Settlement

After coming upon a small river, Isen had followed it upstream to a rockier ground that steadily sloped up into an imposing chain of mountains covered in a mix of evergreen firs and the same trees that dominated the forest.

The first sign of human activity he encountered was an unguarded mountain pass that cut through a steep valley, leveling it off for easier passage. It was narrow, an o...

[The Twining] 21. Through the Forest

Isen knew he wasn’t on the Twining. Where he’d emerged was a dense forest, the first he’d ever seen. It was so different from the scrub and brush. The polished sapphire of the sky stretched endlessly. No gray clouds, no tornados. More significantly, reality was stable, unlike around the Twining’s scar, where merely walking might tear the air and welcome monstrous invaders.

[The Twining] 20. The Spire’s End

[ ty for the love morcant & lilith :3 double chap for you! ]

Isen shuddered and curled in on himself. He felt so cold. The depths weren’t warm, but his tempered body could withstand the ambient temperatures well enough. It must be his mind rebelling against him again. But as he lay on the ground, momentarily despondent, he wondered if maybe… it actually was chillier than usual. 2024-01-21 04:15:36 +0000 UTC View Post

[The Twining] 19. An Endless Climb

Isen stood back on the roof of the dark fortress, his gaze fixed on the column of dark stone that jutted far up into the lightless murk. It was unlike any structure he had ever seen, like someone had taken a long metal pole, cored it, and segmented it into sixteen vertical pieces, then pulled them slightly apart. The result was a hollow tower that was filled by a streaks of slow-moving violet r...

Chapter 364. Unidentified Object

“You’re not worried about Maria at all, even now?” Euryphel asked, his hands clasped behind his back. Before Ian’s return, even that much would have caused him pain. Now... He was more certain than ever that his preternatural recovery must be Ian’s intervention.

Ian didn’t bother to avert his gaze from the vibrant rose bushes. Zukal’iss was blessed with mild weather year-rou...

[The Twining] 18. Legacy’s Burden

When the walls converged, Isen wasn’t crushed. Instead, he felt something filling him from the inside, seeping into his core and racing through his meridians, then saturating his flesh. He was powerless against it, but the sensation left as soon as it had come.

When he woke, he was on the roof of the temple—no, the Compass of Legacy. The upper reach of the structure was a flat expanse...

[The Twining] 17. The Sentinel

[ Currently leaning towards Severed Divinity as the title... but still very open to suggestions. ]

Isen awoke in a room filled with brilliant light. He was stunned to realize he could see at all. He sipped a tormented breath of air. It felt like swallowing a hot poker. He nearly blacked out again from the pain.

Forcing another breath through his gritted teeth, he looked down. He was...

[The Twining] 16. The Statue

The shadowy danger still lurked outside of the statue, but the opportunity Isen sensed was undiminished. He mulled over the words of the mural: You are a light in the darkness. Dramatic but earnest in an almost accusatory way. You are a light in the darkness? Almost as though challenging the viewer to prove it.

Isen didn’t feel like any kind of light to anyone. If this...

[The Twining] 15. The Mural

Hey guys, you might recall that The Twining is just a working title. Two others I was brainstorming are "Severed Divinity" and "Remnants of Ascension". This is an example of a cover with one of the potential titles.

Please let me know what you think about the title ideas / feel free to suggest ti...