azazele

Miniarc-Meet the Parents-12 (Remmings)

Remmings was putting the final touches on his gift, as one didn’t show up to a stranger’s home empty-handed for dinner if they wanted to leave a good impression, when the hotel’s messenger boy rapped on his door. He slipped the waifish thing a few coppers as he handed over the medium-sized box and the well-trained worker fell in step behind him as he stepped briskly down the stairs.

Miniarc-Meet the Parents-11 (Remmings)

Baron Ethan Remmings stared at his reflection in the tall, ornate mirror with a critical eye. As one who worked with the mind, he understood more than most the power of appearance. Clothing could be a potent tool, if wielded correctly. The right impression could safeguard a kingdom or doom it to the Abyss. For that reason, every piece of his outfit was chosen with intention.

Black trouser...

Miniarc-Meet the Parents-10

It’s easy to forget but the Hall isn’t just a school. It’s a gathering place of the talented, in all fields. The best and the innovative. While most of the floating rock is dedicated to casters, the Grand Market houses geniuses of every kind. It’s also where visitors with business that takes more than a day have to set up.

I’ve never stayed here before, but they have a lot of un...

Miniarc-Meet the Parents-09

“My lady. The acolytes wish to search the carriage.”

I raise my head from between Talia’s chest and still my hand. Beneath me, the normally expressionless flower is flushed, breathing labored as she drags in harsh breaths, her hands pressed against the wall opposite of the door. I grin at the sight of the quivering woman. Something about shrugging off my prime form is relaxing in a ...

Miniarc-Meet the Parents-08

Being a noble comes with certain expectations. Power and wealth are the big ones, both inheriting it and pursuing it. Responsibility is a distant third, for most. There are the odd counts and barons that are the comically pure-hearted leaders that treat their citizens like extended families. Maybe I’m a cynic, but good intentions like those just aren’t maintainable when governing a territor...

Miniarc-Meet the Parents-07

I don’t know much about elven culture.

Not that I’m not curious. I’ve dabbled in the language, though I’m far from fluent. I’ve embraced the elven aesthetic when decorating. Kierra tells me stories about her childhood and the other provinces, mostly warnings. A lot of warnings. Saints, a disturbing number of warnings. It’s the main reason I’m fighting the idea of fleeing to ...

Miniarc-Meet the Parents-06

Like the rest of the house, the bedroom has signs of Talia’s meddling. Notably, the change in covers on the bed. White and blue silk sheets that are just a touch cooler than Talia’s skin. Spring still has a long jaunt till summer, not that my body notices the temperature much, but it’s refreshing. Easy to follow her lead as she urges me to lie back.

“Get a little more comfortable,...

Miniarc-Meet the Parents-05

While the people of Quest might find it hard to believe, I’m not invincible.

Since the day of my divine transformation, I’ve discovered a few limitations to my new body. Firstly, while I can recover from any injury with a simple transformation, each transformation consumes my ooze. The bigger the change, the more ooze it takes.

Secondly, while my oozey base form is impervious to...

Miniarc-Meet the Parents-04

In the wake of the nasty business in the city, everyone in my little clan has found ways to keep busy. Earl and Anna maintain the estate, keeping the floors polished and the windows clear. In the afternoons, they have their lessons, usually with Talia. I encourage them to do something for themselves in the evenings.

For Anna, that means playing with her flocketts, running amok or training...

Miniarc-Meet the Parents-03

It doesn’t take much to swallow my disgust with the marquis. Who knows what who knows? All I have are assumptions. Even if they’re true, it’s no surprise. People selfishly pursuing their desires, regardless of the cost to others, is normal. Expected. Saints, I’m no different, am I? My little bouts of mercy and leaky, bleeding heart are meant to make me feel better. Easy to throw away th...

Miniarc-Meet the Parents-02

“Lady Lou.”

I stop at the adorable call, a ghost of a smile gracing my lips as I watch Anna run at me full speed, four balls of fluff trailing her. In one hand is a stack of paper. In the other, a letter opener. If it were any other kid running with an uncovered blade, I’d be worried but she’s fine. Bet she could spill a man’s guts with that thing if I know Geneva. Wouldn’t ev...

Miniarc-Meet the Parents-01

It’s interesting that there are no opposites to the saints.

I don’t question the kingdom’s religion often. Don’t care enough to. Though as a child, I used to question the definition of what made a saint a saint.

It’s a bit confusing. Some people think a saint has to have a powerful light affinity. Some think it’s anyone who does far-reaching good deeds. Some think it’s...

ARC 7-Cursed Fates-157-Orum

“This land is intolerable.”

“Stop grouching. It makes a long journey longer.”

Orum suppressed the urge to growl. He was not happy when Morgene invited herself along when he announced he was going to seek out their daughter, but he couldn’t refuse her. He wasn’t afraid, like many in Dusk. He was more than capable of standing against her temper, mostly because he was a ver...

ARC 7-Cursed Fates-156-Dunwayne

When he was an earnest boy named Dunn, the Harvest Hero wanted to grow up, both in body and spirit. A child couldn’t stand up to the bullies in the slums where he grew up. A child couldn’t earn crowns to support his family. All he wanted was to do honest work and live an honest life.

When he was a naïve young man, confidence buoyed by the attentions of his master, he wanted to prove ...

ARC 7-Cursed Fates-155-Marcella

The Guiness family was without question the wealthiest family in the kingdom. The marquis was the pillar that held up Harvest’s economy. He could bend and twist the market at will. He had moved beyond making money. It truly was nothing to the man besides a tool.

Much more important was influence. Wealth was a powerful tool, but it could be beaten by might and authority. Gold couldn’t ...

ARC 7-Cursed Fates-154-Lane

Lane stumbled through the camp, fighting to keep his drooping eyes open. It had been a long day in a series of long days. He was proud that the Hall had intervened to help the refugees of the city, but he couldn’t deny his regret for getting involved. He didn’t know what he was getting into while blindly following Alyssa. He barely had time to talk to his crush between his duties. He was ha...

ARC 7-Cursed Fates-153

“You…want me to change?”

I don’t think my confusion is out of place. I know very well that my lovers, well, love my body. Which is precisely the point of it. I crafted my form to be irresistible. But it seems it’s being resisted. I have no idea what she’s thinking. Wait! Don’t tell me this crazy elf is falling back on bad habits?

A poke to my forehead interrup...

ARC 7-Cursed Fates-152

So, that’s it.

The March is as good as done. As soon as Geneva finishes tracking down the last of this Authority, we will divvy up the treasure and send Victory’s due north. That’s bound to be interesting. I don’t know what the duke expected when he sent Alana, and by extension me, to collect the debt but I doubt it was the decimation of Quest. Which no one is going to believe, of...

ARC 7-Cursed Fates-151-Alana

Under the watchful gaze of a full moon, Alana swung her sword. She was drenched in sweat, her clothes clinging to her hot skin. After they returned from the camp, which Yulia had made a nuisance of herself in for hours, shadowing Alyssa and asking her dozens of questions, she’d grabbed her sword and stepped outside to train. Endless repetitions of the same simple swings until her heart hammer...

ARC 7-Cursed Fates-150

“You!”

We don’t take three steps into what Miss Alyssa calls the field hospital, which is the biggest tent in the camp by far, before someone accosts us. A harried looking man who looks like he doesn’t eat or sleep enough, given his twig-thin limbs and deep bags under his eyes, wearing a dirty green robe.

He ignores us, going straight for Alyssa and getting uncomfortably clo...

ARC 7-Cursed Fates-149

There’s the perception that people soften in their sleep, reveal their true selves, but that’s an old wives’ tale. There’s some basis of truth to it, as it usually is with these things. Alana holds true to expectation, my stern hero becoming as soft as freshly baked bread while in the clutches of a comfortable bed.

Kierra, however, is the opposite. A sleeping predator is less of a...

ARC 7-Cursed Fates-148

“…this place is a dump,” I remark as I stand outside the camp created by the Hall. And it is. Craning my neck back and forth outside of the entrance, I see congestion. Too many people moving in too little space. Or not moving.

There are plenty of bodies sitting, slouching, and lying outside their cramped shelters, doing nothing but making life harder for the robed acolytes trying to...

ARC 7-Cursed Fates-147

I expected something wild, and maybe a bit sexual, when Talia fetched me to come to bed in the early afternoon. Knowing my wife, it’d be weird to expect anything else. But it was something else. Namely, cuddles.

I think I’ve been underestimating how much of an effect all of this is having on the family. First, Alana clings to me with the strength of a little girl clutching her favorit...

ARC 7-Cursed Fates-146 (Geneva)

It was incredibly simple to stop a mental caster from divining one’s secrets. Even one as powerful as Geneva.

Despite her well-developed core, the expenditures that came with spellcasting could see her quickly drained if she wasn’t careful. Distance was the greatest threat. Trying to use the mental affinity from any distance at all would rapidly increase the mana cost of a spell. Sust...

ARC 7-Cursed Fates-145 (Geneva)

Rarely were Geneva’s tasks as amusing as a literal treasure hunt.

Once again, she lamented her lack of resources within the city. It was a bit of a blunder, though not one she faulted herself for too heavily. Her time was taken up catering to Lou, leaving her little for the cultivation of assets. She’d taken the few opportunities that presented themselves, but she didn’t have much c...

ARC 7-Cursed Fates-144

The Teppin daughters do not take the news of their parents’ new duties well.

I didn’t expect them to. Aside from the fact that they’re family, and family is incredibly precious in times of crisis, I bet there is still a childish voice inside them that hopes mommy and daddy can save them from the nasty woman that stole their house. The younger sister has only managed so far because o...

ARC 7-Cursed Fates-143

“What do you know about any secret stashes of the guilds?”

After an enjoyable meal, Geneva and I take the lord to his office. Or more accurately, my office. I’m the one seated in the big chair while the lord stands before me, face drawn and shoulders slumped. On the desk is the black dagger Kierra looted from one of her opponents and perhaps the key to this whole mess.

“As f...

ARC 7-Cursed Fates-142

The night before my assault on the city, I tasked Geneva with tracking down the Teppin family. They aren’t too important in the grand scheme of things. They certainly aren’t a threat. I doubt they’d disappear quietly into the night if I left to them to their own devices, Lord Teppin strikes me as the vengeful type, but there isn’t much they can do. The reason I kept the estate originall...

ARC 7-Cursed Fates-141

Whimsy is a terrible motivation for becoming a guardian. However, I don’t think being whimsical makes me a bad person. That day, on the King’s Road, I did a good thing when I offered those bandits the chance to redeem themselves through serving me. I did a good thing when I brought back the orphaned siblings.

Were there better options? I’d bet there are. It might be arrogant to thin...

ARC 7-Cursed Fates-140 (Alyssa)

“Ancestors…”

Alyssa knew death. She knew destruction on a grand scale. There wasn’t much to destroy beyond the Peaks, but she’d seen a titan’s magic take out chunks of the mountains, throw up enough snow to swallow an army, and shatter the ground. She’d seen hundreds die, had helped carry their bodies home. She’d attended so many Rites she couldn’t look at a bonfire with...