Adon had created his semi-humanoid form without a particular human model in mind.
He had allowed his imagination to run away with him a bit, made himself conventionally attractive, but kept some inhuman traits. He had given himself pointed ears, for instance, because he thought that was appropriate for a nonhuman in a fantastical world.
And he had the option of having or not having ...
2025-03-13 15:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostAs Adon stared out into the burnt orange gloom of the third level, he took in all the details he could and continued formulating his game plan.
He could see a small oval of the space around the entrance, which appeared to come out at ground level on the new floor. At least Adon could not see any sudden drop in elevation, only a wall roughly ten feet away and the ceiling and floor in betwe...
2025-03-12 19:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post“I am a passionate person,” William continued. “I have no doubt you can understand that, having spent some time around me—witnessed my high spirits in the brief period of our acquaintanceship thus far. So, yes. Yes, I am s-sor-ry.” The last word came out stuttered and broken up into more syllables than felt natural, as if William was dabbling in a foreign language that he was not flue...
2025-03-12 02:50:29 +0000 UTC View Post“Same butterfly you’ve been talking to,” Adon replied, grinning, completely unperturbed by Frederick’s aggressive stance.
I can’t believe that came out so confidently!
In his own mind, he pumped his fist—though his body remained still aside from some slight trembling under the strain of holding everything together and perfectly controlling every cell.
“R...
2025-03-11 03:34:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe shadows partially shielded the approaching figure’s face from view, but Adon was familiar enough with his gait to recognize exactly who was walking toward them without even needing to look directly at his head.
Frederick, Adon sent. Good to see you.
It was for lack of anything else to say. He had no idea why the young lord was approaching them. Frederick’s ...
2025-03-09 05:20:44 +0000 UTC View PostAdon watched as the female knights carried Rosslyn further down into the tunnel.
Then he, the other arthropods, the young lords, and the rest of the knights followed after. He took one last, long look into level two, but the dust cloud that had been kicked up had still not quite settled. Nothing had moved through the air and disturbed the cloud, either. The griffins had apparently fallen ...
2025-03-08 05:50:26 +0000 UTC View PostAfter giving Luna her pep talk, James used his Fisher King powers.
His physical body was boring, so why not leave it behind for a little while? His spirit floated above the Kingdom, watching all that was done on his lands and in his name.
After a time, James was able to reflect on what he saw and decide that it was good.
The Mages under the direction of the construction head, ...
2025-03-06 02:14:00 +0000 UTC View PostLuna blinked awake.
“Did I sleep?” she asked groggily.
Her eyes focused on the two figures who stood over her, Dave and one of the Healers.
“You did,” the Healer replied. “But only for a little while.”
“You resisted completely until the battle was over,” Dave added.
Luna quickly lifted her left and right heads and swiveled them to scan the environme...
2025-03-03 11:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe morning light that fell across James and Mina’s bare skin woke him.
He could feel his body absorbing solar energy and using that to boost his recovery speed, even if ever so slightly.
Experimentally, he sent an order to his lower extremities.
Wiggle, big toe… Come on…
After a second, he perceived a twitch. Then a slightly stronger one. The movements we...
2025-03-02 09:58:02 +0000 UTC View PostLuna closed the gap almost instantaneously, but she had time to send a telepathic message to her pack.
Do not engage unless attacked by the enemy army, she sent. Remember that we are here for a stalling operation.
What are you doing, then? questioned one of the young wolves.
This is different, Luna thought but did not send. This is ...
2025-02-28 15:00:20 +0000 UTC View PostPart of the plan was that only the wolves would enter the Ruler’s territory at first.
This would force the Ruler to consider the situation carefully while conserving resources. If the hydra focused too much on trying to kill off the wolfpack, she might deplete too much power that would be needed to defeat the larger army on her border.
Sure enough, although Luna raced forward with...
2025-02-28 02:24:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe healing process for Romulus took hours.
The Healers tried healing magic and Purification at first, but his body seemed resistant to healing. They slowed down after half an hour of that seemed to have produced little change in his condition. An examination showed that some of his flesh was simply dead, and his heartbeat remained ragged and weak, his body unable to properly recover with...
2025-02-27 02:46:40 +0000 UTC View PostThrough the blinding light, Adon could see nothing.
There was a cataclysmic sound accompanying the ray, however, and that told him more. The sound was one of stone crumbling and falling.
Adon reached out with Telepathy and inhabited the visual frame of the closest person to him—Rosslyn. After so much experience using Telepathy, the effort to gather more information from another’...
2025-02-26 15:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostLuna raced.
Her body was flooded with adrenaline, and every nerve vibrated with tension. This was what she was made for. Running through the open ground, her pack at her back, her mate beside her.
One of Luna’s heads turned to look at Romulus—and caught him doing the same back to her in turn. They exchanged toothy grins, then both turned to face forward once more. Despite runnin...
2025-02-25 19:59:39 +0000 UTC View PostAfter the knights had healed their most pressing wounds—including one older knight very appreciative of having been graced by the mystic butterfly—they climbed down the cliffside. The pace was not leisurely—everyone was far too aware of the absent monsters and the danger of flooding for that—but it was more relaxed than it would have been if they were being harassed by monsters the whol...
2025-02-25 08:22:19 +0000 UTC View PostThose things are quick, Adon thought as the strix skated by Rosslyn, slashing at her with its claws.
When she spun and kicked the bird before Adon could ready his mana ball to fire, he decided that he needed to get off of her and take advantage of being airborne. This fight was happening on his turf, in a sense. He had wings, just like the monsters. And he needed to use them to t...
2025-02-25 08:21:07 +0000 UTC View Post“Well done, Adon,” Rosslyn said.
In her mind, she added, I should have known you were busy conducting interspecies diplomacy again.
He had been gone so long in the second level that William had broached the idea the butterfly might have been killed or captured—an idea that Rosslyn had rejected, naturally.
“If it works,” William added, frowning and raising an...
2025-02-22 04:35:56 +0000 UTC View PostAfter the presence of the King had dissipated, the war between the Royal Fisher Army and the reptiles began in earnest.
“All humans into spear formation!” Dave ordered. “Goblins and scouts, hang back behind the tip of the spear. Wolf pack, protect the flanks!”
No one argued with him. Despite the fact that they had all seen the freakish reptiles that they would be fighting, t...
2025-02-16 02:08:43 +0000 UTC View PostAdon recalled his own experiences as a monster in a previous incarnation.
He had been concerned with survival things, too, though he’d had no young, since that was another forever alone incarnation. But he had not had any particular enmity for humans or other sentient races. He had eaten other monsters to survive—just like these griffins and even the rather crueler strix...
2025-02-13 03:48:48 +0000 UTC View PostAs water gushed forth from the waterfall, Adon looked, fascinated, back and forth between the source of the flow, at ceiling height, and the ground level, where the overflow was flooding the canyon.
There were so many questions running through his mind at this sudden turn of events.
Is this something that happens periodically in level two, or is it something that the dungeon tri...
2025-02-13 00:20:48 +0000 UTC View PostAdon felt an instinctive sense of pressure at the presence of the flying beast a thousand feet below him.
Even floating far above, even invisible, he sensed that this was a superior species that could kill him and consume him—would naturally kill him and consume him, assuming that he had no tricks up his sleeve that could upset the natural pecking order.
This was the...
2025-02-12 05:02:49 +0000 UTC View PostHow would I behave right now if I didn’t care what the people around me thought? Adon repeated silently to himself. Assuming that I still care about clearing the dungeon and protecting the Kingdom and all that.
Adon would still care about those things, he was fairly certain, even if he suddenly stopped caring what the Princess and her family thought ...
2025-02-11 06:22:05 +0000 UTC View PostWith a flick of mental effort, James returned the council to “The Last Supper.”
Now that everyone was embodied once again, he took in their facial expressions. Mouths gaped. Brows furrowed. At least two people appeared to be bowing their heads and clasping their hands in prayer. The head of the Education Committee had tears in her eyes.
There was no question about it, after seei...
2025-02-09 15:16:56 +0000 UTC View Post“Skapi, skapi…”
A distant, gentle voice caressed James’s ears.
This is nice.
“Skapi…” The voice became more insistent and slightly higher pitched, and it was now accompanied by a gentle shaking sensation. Then a pair of lips softly caressed James’s own. Just a quick peck, then back to “Skapi” and shaking him.
This pattern continued for almost...
2025-02-09 03:55:06 +0000 UTC View Post[Monstrous Instincts: A monster is not like a human. Similar to an animal, it is born knowing how to fight and survive. Grants the owner of the Skill instinctive knowledge in these areas. Non-transferable Skill.]
[Monstrous Senses: A created monster does not require all of the sensory organs of a naturally born beast. Grants the owner of the Skill the ability to u...
2025-02-07 04:00:20 +0000 UTC View Post“Well, that was interesting,” James said to himself.
He composed a quick announcement, which he then transmitted to the members of his council using his Fisher King powers.
[Greetings, members of my council. It’s been a while, and I’m sure some of you have been worried about my rather long silence recently. Have no fear, I have been having a rest. Through circumstanc...
2025-02-06 04:36:11 +0000 UTC View PostAs Luna watched, Dave managed to jerk his arm up quickly enough to keep the rattlesnake from injecting her venom directly into his throat.
Still, even the thin layer of armor on his arm could not stop the creature’s fangs from plunging into his wrist—and presumably injecting a great quantity of poison there.
“Aaargh!” Dave’s voice broke the stillness that had settled over ...
2025-02-04 14:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostAdon thought that the descent into darkness was worse this time than on the previous occasion.
The one positive about this tunnel was that, like the tunnel and caverns they had previously passed through, it was quite spacious—though Adon supposed it had to be, if there were larger and more ferocious monsters at the lower level that the dungeon was meant to unleash on the outside world.<...
2025-02-04 05:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post“There was one thing I wanted to tell you before I forget,” Rosslyn said, watching as Adon pulled his proboscis from the neck of the dead—and now very drained—kobold.
Go on, Adon sent.
“I saw you used magic to reinforce your wings when we were fighting the monsters, and then you slashed at them with the edges of your body.” She lowered her voice me...
2025-02-04 04:15:26 +0000 UTC View PostMina knocked on the bedroom door.
It was a funny thing, bothering to knock on the door to her own bedroom, but considering that Zora had emerged not long before, she thought it was possible that James might have recovered from his condition—might be changing clothes at the moment that she reached the door.
“Come in,” she heard him say.
So, he’s not up, then, s...
2025-02-03 04:04:54 +0000 UTC View Post