Painful tingles swept over Caen's body as he entered the Odaton-plane Plane.
Ancestors, I hate that name.
There were no lanterns or light sources in here, and the low lighting wasn't enough for him to make out anything. The other members of his Attacker team didn't seem too bothered, however. The passive augmentations from a Gleam affinity granted varying degrees of night v...
2025-08-04 12:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostGuinevere leaned into his personal space to look out the window. “They cleared out most of the buildings? That's too bad.”
“You've been here before?” Caen asked.
“Once or twice, camping with my sister,” Guinevere said. “Nice place, hot as fuck weather though.” She leaned back into her seat and jutted her chin at his window. “They do that sometimes, whenever t...
2025-08-04 12:02:01 +0000 UTC View PostAt half past 3 in the morning, Caen made his way to the city airdock. He'd taken his temperature regulation pills, then donned his breastplate—opting to wear the rest of his armor after the trip. He'd worn his utility belt with his holsters and belt bag, his bandolier fitted with various combat items, and then his coat. He carried his sheathed glaive in one hand.
So dark and early in th...
2025-08-04 12:01:11 +0000 UTC View PostThere was a mirror-room on the top level of the Edict Temple. Unlike the one at home, Caen had never seen the inside of it before. Even now, he and his father, Ergen, waited on the ground floor as Sh’leinu and a pair of priestesses tried contacting Sh’kteiro, Caen's uncle. The mirror-room possessed features that allowed for long-distance communication through some complex workings of Script...
2025-08-04 12:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostBeginning with the two-year-old version of him, every single reflection of his began to conform various parts of their soul structures to some unclear instinct. All around him, infinite replications of various thread clusters shifted and twisted and turned and contorted and reformed. He couldn't keep track of all of them, but each one was Mimicking an affinity.
They inundated him like a m...
2025-08-03 12:04:01 +0000 UTC View PostZeris was seated at the kitchen table, scrawling into her notebook when Caen trudged into the house.
“How did it go?” she asked, glancing up briefly. She seemed really busy… and tired.
“I'll tell you about it tomorrow.” He kicked off his boots. “You?”
“Same old.”
“What’s this I smell? Chey leaves?” he asked.
“Oh. Your folks are smoking on ...
2025-08-03 12:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe Astral Realm was divided into three layers, but right now, the astral projection spell Caen needed pertained to the deepest of these layers.
It didn't take too long to adapt the spell enough for casting. Caen's spirit and mind responded to him like never before. His familiarity with his own spirit, coupled with its currently boosted affinity for Dream-guarding, smoothened the pr...
2025-08-03 12:02:01 +0000 UTC View PostAt midnight, Sh'leinu quietly opened the hatch in her room's ceiling and climbed out onto the roof. She was startled to find her husband, Ergen, already there stargazing under the soft light of the moons.
“I didn't notice when you left,” she said, carefully making her way over to him. “Scoot for me.”
“I was trying not to wake you. I just—” His brow furrowed. “What'...
Dawn met Caen meditating on the roof.
He'd woken up at 2 in the morning and hadn't been able to go back to sleep.
Soul-sense worked just fine.
Caen had cried hot tears of relief. He'd unfurled his existence as easily as breathing. That beautiful tapestry of his soul structure, with its myriad sensations and arcane vibrations, was like music to his ears.
Unable ...
The only reason Caen could come to the seventh floor at all was because Uncle Vai was here; otherwise, it'd be sealed.
The doors opened to reveal a vast aquarium tunnel. Caen stepped onto it with both wonder and trepidation. Beyond the glass tunnel, he could see a variety of sea life swimming through a well-lit body of water. Giant orbs of blue and white light pulsed with intensity ...
2025-08-03 11:59:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe southway market square wasn't as crowded as it usually was. Rows of open stalls and kiosks lined the area, selling all sorts of goods and wares.
Caen braced himself and headed deeper into the portion of the market where farm produce and fresh meat were sold. The smells of fruits and vegetables were greatly overpowered by butchered animal parts. It was a hot day, and flies buzzed...
2025-08-02 12:07:00 +0000 UTC View PostWith Uncle Vai's Astral locus occupying one half of his mind, Caen held complex visualizations in the other half.
He could feel the dream around him breaking apart, but there was no reciprocation from Uncle Vai's domain. He cut off the working quickly.
Usually, Vai maintained enough presence to handle the bulk of Caen's transportation to his domain. But at times, he was comple...
2025-08-02 12:06:00 +0000 UTC View PostCaen recalibrated his pocket watch at the archway as soon as they stepped through the Aperture. It was well past midnight.
His eyes were blindfolded, but he had no problem seeing, all thanks to his speculon—it was proving quite handy. The lampposts of placid reshent surrounding the archway were so bright that they would have undoubtedly worsened his migraine if he'd been keeping his phy...
2025-08-02 12:05:00 +0000 UTC View PostCaen conjured a small orb of flame over his palm. Its orange hue shifted to a startling mix of purple, pink, and red.
Aunt Vensha swept her hand in front of them. “Tahal,” she swore. “It really is as hot as Zeris said. And you're using a… memory to do this?”
“Not really. I feel like it's getting easier somehow. I'm just thinking about how much I want to conjure Passionfi...
2025-08-02 12:04:00 +0000 UTC View PostAt dusk, Caen went down to the southway market square to grab some ridiculously oversized fruits, but the eccentric farmer who sold them hadn't opened shop that day, so he settled for normal-sized fruits.
He and Zeris recovered their equipment from the temple and geared up. Vensha had made a series of tiny perforations into the brow section of his helmet. The holes were arranged in the ba...
2025-08-02 12:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostCaen overslept again. It was a little worrying, but he’d started to note that his Mimicking ability strained body, mind, and spirit. So this felt to him like a given. Also, doing physical training with a boosted affinity yesterday had taken a lot out of him.
With bright sunlight pouring in from his window, Caen sat at the center of his room and began cleansing his spirit. It was so much...
2025-08-02 12:02:00 +0000 UTC View PostThey walked towards the workout area as Caen explained an idea he'd been nursing since his spar with Malo last night. He’d talked it over with Uncle Vai in the Astral—once the man had calmed down—and felt fairly confident about it. A few resources in Vai’s library confirmed that the soul was essentially the body, mind, and spirit taken together as one unit. And since Mimicry allowed him...
2025-08-02 12:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Caen woke up, his room was brighter than it should have been. He immediately sat up in bed, swearing under his breath.
I woke up late again, he thought, reaching for the pocket watch by his bedside table.
Then he opened his eyes, and the room went dark. Wait, what?
Caen could make out just a hint of light coming through his window. It was the early...
2025-08-02 12:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostMoments after gaining lucidity in his dream, the world around Caen broke away all at once, revealing a deep purple void.
Caen fell through that void with the force of a hypnic jerk, and the next moment, found himself standing on a perfectly grown, square patch of purple winter berries. It was snowing lightly all around him. Before him loomed the giant double doors of Vai’s mansion...
2025-08-01 15:25:19 +0000 UTC View PostAfter determining which thread clusters on Zeris's soul structure correlated with her potential for Fire magic, Caen spent some time trying to cast Fire spells while observing his own soul structure. The endeavor was incredibly complex and strained his attention to no end, but a long while later, he managed it.
He was then able to properly isolate the thread cluster in Zeris's soul struct...
2025-08-01 15:18:47 +0000 UTC View Post“Ow,” Caen mumbled, rubbing his smarting forehead and squinting at the light of day streaming through his window. Vai hadn't flicked his actual forehead, but it hurt all the same.
His pocket watch told him the time. 8 in the morning. It was still four hours later than when he usually woke up, but Caen was resolute on returning to routine.
“Alright, let's get to it,” he...
2025-08-01 15:15:17 +0000 UTC View PostUncle Vai was dressed in an orange, wide-collared shirt with paisley designs on it. He was a stout man with a bowl cut, and the sides of his hair shaved. He had a magnificent mustache, the same black as his hair. His skin was as pale as Caen’s father’s. He sat in an unacceptably luxurious rocking chair made out of gold. It looked like a throne, except that it rocked back and forth, even whe...
2025-08-01 15:11:47 +0000 UTC View PostCaen and Zeris chatted excitedly on the train ride back to Beslin while he worked on his dexterity. They'd learned so much tonight that it was all they could talk about till they disembarked at the train stop.
“It makes me wonder, though,” Caen said as they made their way up the stone steps leading into the commune. He kicked a pebble aside, hands in his pockets. “How do you think A...
2025-08-01 15:09:47 +0000 UTC View PostTwo and a half hours later, the number of people in the hall had shrunk to less than a third of their initial size. Magister Fermien had kept calling for breaks every thirty minutes, and those who scrambled out of their seats never actually came back. In Caen's opinion, this was very considerate of him, as they must have been scared to leave while the magister was still speaking.
After th...
2025-08-01 15:06:49 +0000 UTC View PostZeris bought herself and Caen some roasted meat at the train stop since he'd wasted his money yesterday on crappy bicycles that they'd ended up abandoning somewhere around Redshadow. She also paid for his train fare.
At this time of day, there weren't a lot of people looking to head into Drenlin, so the stop was mostly empty. The train, however, was stuffed full of people.
The...
2025-08-01 15:04:37 +0000 UTC View PostCaen leaned back in his chair. “I was somehow able to improve my affinity for Spirit-healing the first time I used Soul-sense.”
Zeris scrunched up her nose at the word ‘Soul-sense’.
“What? It's a fine name.”
“Meh. Could be better.”
“Well, if you think of something, this esteemed committee will be willing to hear it. Anyway, it felt like something… cha...
2025-08-01 14:59:42 +0000 UTC View PostCaen woke up, blissful. The beautiful rays of sunshine caressed his face. It—
Rays of sunshine?
He jerked upright, squinting at the bright light pouring in from his window. He was sitting on the floor of his room, and the events of the previous day flooded his recollection.
That had really happened.
Caen moved aside the damp dishrag and rummaged through his cl...
2025-08-01 14:54:38 +0000 UTC View PostThe Peilker Scale rated affinities from 0 to 12, and to the fourth decimal of each value. Passive augmentations were a magical phenomenon that only applied to individuals with ratings of 1 and above. The overwhelming majority of children didn't have any ratings below 1 and thus enjoyed a slew of passive augmentations.
Blood-healing, for instance, presented as vigor, faster regeneration fr...
2025-08-01 14:52:49 +0000 UTC View PostThe first shot hit Binam in his shoulder; the second missed him. He staggered away, clutching his shoulder and screaming.
Caen grabbed the sacks of monster parts and flung them away. He took out his revolver.
Dari conjured a curved barrier of wind and diverted two thick arcs of lightning before the barrier collapsed.
Ellu turned her attention to Affen, slamming him with ...
2025-08-01 14:44:18 +0000 UTC View PostThe group walked another mile, Caen and Zeris harvesting kromroots while Affen and Hez fought off the odd one-tail. No packs had assaulted them since they'd slain the first.
Caen wore his backpack behind him and Ellu's basket in front of him while dragging two heavy sacks of shadeling corpses.
Zeris herself was struggling with two sacks of fentils and kromroots. “Regretting this y...
2025-08-01 14:40:11 +0000 UTC View Post