“… so these are the places we have to check,” Leon said, marking down half a dozen spots on the map of the Prota Forest that he’d identified.
With Nestor’s help, he’d used an ad-hoc enchantment to project his magic senses and used his paltry command of earth magic to pull a rock out of the ground to use as a guide. Even with the enchantment, he couldn’t penetrate that far i...
Leon sat on the roof of his portable villa, his magic senses projected as he scanned the Prota Forest in as fine of detail as he could. He was initially on the lookout for anything that might’ve spoke of the presence of his Clan’s research facility, but he couldn’t see so much as a single broken brick let alone anything that resembled a large, highly advanced Thunderbird Clan installation...
2022-03-21 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe Prota Forest. Leon could see it from the Neilos River with his magic senses. Even from a distance of less than two hundred miles, he could see it was deep, dark, and wild. He couldn’t see any goat men or plant giants, but what he could see spoke of little human habitation.
He couldn’t wait to get there. The Scorched Fields were a good distraction, but with the wyverns demanding h...
Leon stood opposite Cassandra, his training sword brandished, his golden eyes narrow with focus. Cassandra looked quite similar with her ruby eyes trained on him, her own sword in a guard position, her aura roiling with power.
They were the only ones in the training room this time, Valeria having decided not to interrupt their duel despite wanting a rematch with Cassandra after their inc...
“Mind if I cut in here?” Cassandra asked, Leon and Valeria stuck in her ravenous, ruby gaze.
Leon could almost feel Valeria’s antipathy. They had been having a wonderful time sparring, as they were wont to do, and he knew that his silver-haired lover didn’t appreciate being interrupted, let alone by a Princess she didn’t think too fondly of.
“I would, actually,” Leon r...
2022-03-14 15:01:03 +0000 UTC View Post“Your Highness!” Elise exclaimed as Cassandra walked into the yacht’s primary lounge. “It’s such a surprise to see you!”
Leon smiled at her as he led Cassandra inside. He’d sent everyone else on the ship a message with his darkness magic that Cassandra was here—assuming they hadn’t noticed the Princess’ yacht idling in the harbor blocking them from leaving.
“A ...
2022-03-11 16:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostCassandra’s heart raced with fury, and she could barely hear herself think over the roar of blood rushing through her head. She couldn’t believe the meeting she’d just witnessed between Leon and her grandmother…
… Although, it was becoming more and more believable the longer that those revelations turned about in her head.
She and the Grand Druid still sat in the private...
The Grand Druid’s entrance befitted her position; the trumpets sounded, the criers announced her, and from the rainbow trees behind the throne she emerged, followed by enough other people to double at least the crowd in the courtyard. The stream separating the throne from the courtyard again swirled into the air, allowing the Grand Druid and her entourage to pass without wetting their feet.
The Golden Grove. When Leon heard those words, he’d initially assumed that it would be something akin to the Heartwood Grove back in the Forest of Black and White; some kind of relatively insulated part of the city where huge golden trees—possibly even Heartwoods—had been set aside for the use of the Imperial family. Given what he already knew of the Sacred Golden Empire’s architecture,...
2022-03-04 16:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostDeep in the palace of Ilion, within his private chambers, Anastasios sat, staring at the painted idols on the altar before him. Such had been his wont for more than a century now, as time deepened his aches and took his friends.
The Ilian pantheon was vast, with a deity for just about every concept in their world. But on Anastasios’ altar, there were only seven.
In the center st...
Leon could hardly believe what he was seeing. Eleven suits of armor were in front of him, each one tailored specifically to a member of his retinue. And only a little over a month had passed since he’d convinced Sid to help him with their forging.
“So,” Sid asked as Leon stood there, staring in bewilderment, “what do you think?”
Leon slowly blinked as his mind processed wh...
2022-02-28 16:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostLeon stood just outside his front door, Elise at his side, just about his entire household with him, ready to welcome their guests into their home.
They were throwing a party. A small party, to be sure, but given their statuses, and the statuses of those who’d been invited, they had to pull out all the stops. Emilie was coming, as was Sid. Leon had sent Penelope an invitation despite t...
Leon was quite subdued when he arrived at Emilie’s residence at the top of her tower, just below the magical spire that helped to hold the Hexagon in the air. After some thinking done on the flight over, he decided that losing Kassia wasn’t quite the blow that he’d originally thought, as she was probably not that connected to the vampires that were chasing him since her contracted demon w...
2022-02-23 16:01:02 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Leon levitated out of his transformation enchantment’s pit, he found the Thunderbird waiting for him, perched on a nearby cliff. He slowly hovered toward her, then set down at her side and waited for her to speak first.
He stared out at his soul realm for a long time as he waited, enjoying how the omnipresent light that emanated from the Mists of Chaos so far away softly illuminat...
Leon stared at his retinue assembled around him.
“… and so that’s where we stand,” he finished, having just caught them all up on the events of the past couple of days and where they now stood in regard to the Director: still technically a part of Heaven’s Eye, but in a relatively precarious position and liable to leave in only a matter of months.
Looking around, he coul...
Leon stared at Penelope sitting across the table from him. Elise, Maia, and Valeria were with him, though only Elise sat next to him—Valeria leaned against the wall behind them while Maia had lain down on a lounge pushed up against the wall. They wanted to hear this conversation too, but made it clear enough from their postures that they weren’t that interested in actively participating.
Penelope’s blood roared in her ears, and she could feel her heart beating like a hammer within her chest. She glanced over at her father, feeling no small amount of anxiety and even a small amount of fear at where she was being taken.
After the revelations that Leon shared, Penelope had started to wonder if her father was more actively involved with the vampires and their demonic overl...
Leon stared at the Director, having just finished his report on the past couple of days, waiting for the shadowy figure to respond.
After a moment, the Director simply said, “Well done, Leon. You’ve eliminated a dire threat to this city and the guild, and saved your retainers.”
Leon blinked, unsure how exactly to respond. However, as anger rose from within, he asked, “Is t...
Things calmed in Occulara after the raid on the vampire’s warehouse. Leon knew that Kassia was being interrogated and that he’d eventually get a report on what she’d said, but for the next couple of days, he spent his time moving his retinue into his villa and exhaustively overhauling the security wards in their homes. He was still angry about how his people had been abducted, but now tha...
2022-02-09 16:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostFor Marcus, unconsciousness was a sweet release from the past few days of torture. When his mind gave out, he could no longer feel the pain of the magical torments inflicted upon him, he couldn’t feel the vampires periodically draining him of his mana, and he couldn’t feel the plainer, more mundane beatings that he was given. In some ways, he was glad when Kassia beat him into unconsciousne...
2022-02-07 16:01:02 +0000 UTC View Post“I think we have something,” one of the investigators informed Leon about an hour after he and his retinue arrived at the central archives.
“What is it?” Leon asked without hesitation, his heartrate already rising in anticipation of finally finding his missing retainers.
The investigator gestured toward a nearby map of Occulara.
“Here, here, and here,” he said, ...
Demon magic… It was faint, but Leon could sense it.
[Xaphan…] Leon whispered into his soul realm. [Do you sense this, too?]
He felt his demonic partner’s magic senses pulse out from his body, and a moment later, Xaphan replied, [Yes. It’s faint, but an adherent of a demon has been here.]
[Can you tell which demon? Was it Amon?]
[I can’t tell with that kind ...
“Ahh, it’s good to be home,” Marcus said, only a hint of a drunken slur in his voice despite having been drinking with Alcander for hours.
Leon had released them that afternoon after they returned to Occulara, and the two had immediately gone out instead of returning home. After more than a month away from real civilization, they needed to get out and party for a little while befor...
When Leon left the Director’s office, he spared only one quick polite nod of his head to Penelope before leaving. He met his family back in the atrium, and with them, departed for home. He didn’t speak much, and he figured his mood must have been obvious, for none of his lovers spoke too much, either.
Once they reached home, however, Elise took only one quick moment to order their es...
By the time Leon, Elise, and Talal returned to Leon’s portable villa, it had begun to rain. In some ways, it caused the already depressed mood to worsen, and the short journey was made in silence.
But Leon relished the smell of rain on the wind, the sound of drops hitting the grass, the howl of wind through the distant branches of the huge local trees, and most of all, the flash and boo...
2022-01-26 16:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostIt was about all Leon could possibly do to stop from grinning like an idiot as Cassandra handed him the mask that she’d wagered. The thing was supposed to help its wearer concentrate on their tasks, and he was looking forward to testing it out, but the main reason for his attitude was the simple fact that he and his retinue had won the wager. Both Penelope and Cassandra had killed more wyvern...
2022-01-24 16:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostWhen the hoard was finally all accounted for, there wasn’t that much to divide amongst their three parties. Since most of the goods were marked with some kind of sigil or other identifying emblem, those were off-limits. There was always the possibility that these weren’tstolen goods, of course, but they were still going to be returned, anyway, for that possibility was small.
The black wyvern was dead, the battle was over. The brown wyvern was dead, too, and the remaining two wyverns that had remained loyal to Black were allowed to flee. Cassandra had argued against that, but Red, Blue, and Gold didn’t stop the two from flying away once the black veil obscuring the canyon floor dissipated entirely. The two wyverns flew away, hopefully to never be seen again.
Leon, Red, Maia, Cassandra, and Penelope stood on the edge of the cliffs overlooking the gorge, all dressed in their respective armor and ready for battle. It wasn’t much longer that they were met by two more women, each one looking quite similar to Red, though the scales that surrounded their eyes were Blue and Gold, respectively, showing better than any introduction who they were.
“...
2022-01-17 16:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post“Have to admit,” Leon said as Red was shown into his portable villa’s small sitting room, “I wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon. Figured you’d only show back up tomorrow morning.”
He gestured toward a nearby lounge for her to use as he took one himself, but Red simply stood just inside the doorway, slowly looking around the room with a thoughtful look on her face.
... 2022-01-14 16:01:04 +0000 UTC View Post