Wizardly Dude

[TEA] (155) 3.54. Sorry I Missed You

Asher realized his first problem a few moments after Samantha had run off.

He had absolutely no idea where the greater demon actually was.

Presumably, the greater demon would be the one to find him, sooner or later. That was the entire point in having Samantha run off on her own in the first place, so that she wouldn’t be around when it finally did. That said, Asher knew better than anyone how much joy demons got out of slaughtering innocent people, and the greater demon was no ...

[EOE] (286) 4.65. They’re Alright, I Guess

Despite the newspaper issue already having been resolved, the council’s decision did little to repair the damage that had already been done. Vin didn’t mind the occasional person calling out to him and informing him they were glad he was out of the hospital as he walked by. In fact, he rather enjoyed the fact that Earthers he’d never met before were treating him like an actual, regular human being rather than some magical force of nature. No, it was the darting eyes many of those people...

[EOE] (285) 4.64. What if We Just Stab Him?

Following Abby’s suggestion, Vin ran back to his apartment, grabbing a quick bite to eat and getting changed before returning to the town hall for the council meeting. While home, he checked in on his friends, curious if any of them had anything to say about the newspaper.

Shia had thought it was an interesting idea, saying the elves didn’t really have anything similar in the Sacred Forest. Apparently, if news of something needed to be spread around, the Dryads handled it far faster...

[TEA] (154) 3.53. It’s Not You, It’s Me

When the caravan finally rolled into Abingdon for the night, Asher couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. He’d been a bit distracted during all his research, half expecting to sense Samantha stabbing herself in the arm at any moment in order to alert him that they were under attack by demons. While Abingdon was only a large town and not some incredibly well-defended city, the fact that the royal guard academy was situated just outside of town was reassuring. From what he understood, ...

[EOE] (284) 4.53. Not So Secret Workshop

“The newspapers began yesterday, around this same time,” Abby explained as the two of them walked up to the Crafter’s Guild. Seeing as it was also located in the center of town, they didn’t have to go very far. “Public opinion on them has been rather divisive. On the one hand, people are starved for news and methods of entertaining themselves. Currently, word of mouth or the occasional bulletin from the council is about all they have. On the other hand, the newspaper has already tak...

[TEA] (153) 3.52. The Six Major Realms

For Asher, the two days it took the caravan to travel between Poltar and Abingdon were spent a few hundred miles away in Whikoga’s library. He even went so far as to enlist Wilna’s aid and use his own librarian class to try and collect as much information on greater demons and demons as a whole as he possibly could. 

The results… were a tad lackluster.

Unsurprisingly, there was far less information on other realms than there was on just about any other subject. Studying...

[TEA] (152) 3.51. Leave the Fish Behind

The rest of their time in Poltar went by in a flash. Asher spent the majority of the two days they had left hunting for more serpents, but with each one that finally showed up, drawn by the smell of his blood from miles away and the blood of the serpents he’d already taken care of, it seemed to take twice as long for the next one to come attack him. The wait was great for giving him time to replenish his energy and lick his wounds, but not so great for farming shards. His final tally ended ...

[EOE] (283) 4.62. Read All About It!

There were plenty of things Vin wouldn’t have been surprised to find after leaving the hospital. An angry mob chasing after Tiffany and demanding the merider be set on fire. Theodore trapped in a set of stockades in the town square and having fresh vatos thrown at him, courtesy of the new farm being put together with Sakis’ help. Even Landon returning unexpectedly with an undead army at his beck and call, demanding that Spur hand over the key to the town.

What he hadn’t been expec...

[TEA] (151) 3.50. Gone Fishing

With no Assassin’s Guild to go after, and no truthseekers to worry about, Asher didn’t really know what he should do to kill two days’ worth of time before the caravan continued on to Abingdon. Samantha and Brian had decided to continue their swimming lessons and Water element practice with Mags, but Asher’s sparring partner was nowhere to be found. From what Mags had told them, rather than return to the city, Sefta had headed straight for the capital after flying off.

Mags thou...

[EOE] (282) 4.61. What’s a Good Title?

Even with his remarkable endurance and super-human vigor, Vin needed another full day of recovery before he was feeling up to moving about again. His friends wanted to sit with him and keep him company, but Frank threatened to fight them there and then, insisting what he really needed was some good old-fashioned bedrest. It had taken him and Vin working together to convince the others to leave, but in the end, Vin found himself alone and without anything to do as he stared at the boring wall ...

[TEA] (150) 3.49. Change of Plans

Once Asher had finished his conversation with the High Prince, Donvath asked him to hand the sending stone back to Bordan and wait a moment before heading out. The truthseeker spent a brief minute listening to Donvath without saying a word, before thanking him for his time and finally putting the artifact away.

“The High Prince asked me to inform you that as of now, you are being given the status of ‘national asset,’” Bordan explained, crossing his arms and looking none too plea...

[EOE] (281) 4.60. This is Becoming a Habit, Huh?

There was only a single thought going through Vin’s head as he slowly woke up, groaning at the light overhead as he held a hand over his eyes and squinted.

This mattress sucks.

Before he could wonder why he was sleeping on anything other than his shimmerwing mattress, a sudden squeak sent a fresh wave of pain through his head, and he glanced down to see Reginald jumping up and down on his chest, frantically squeaking.

“Calm down, Reginald, I’m alright,” he s...

[EOE] (280) 4.59. Stop Running into the Corners of Metaphysical Tables, Damn It

Two things were immediately noticeable to Vin when he finally woke up. First, was that the world was no longer struggling to decide whether to exist in physical form or runic form.

Second, was that it didn’t exist in either.

Looking around, Vin was surprised to find himself standing once more within that black void that he’d first found himself within when the Gods had originally yanked everyone over to Edregon. That wasn’t the only time he’d ever been here, however.

[TEA] (149) 3.48. New Sending Stone, Who’s This?

Even as Bordan held out the glowing sending stone for him to take, Asher hesitated for a moment. Up until now, first with his letter and then with his unexpected call, Donvath had managed to surprise him both times he wanted to convey information. This was the first time he was the one reaching out to the High Prince.

The man in charge of an entire kingdom filled with hundreds of thousands of citizens, if not more.

Steeling his nerves, Asher nodded as he took the sending ...

[TEA] (148) 3.47. Question for Question

The truthseeker apprentice merely stared at him in surprise, clearly not expected to open their door only to find the one that got away standing on the other side. Asher didn’t know what Bordan had told her, but the last time he’d seen Clare had been when he’d used Complete Resilience’s second tier ability to escape her chains before vanishing into the astral. While he’d had a couple of conversations with Bordan since then, he hadn’t spoken to Clare even once since his great escap...

[EOE] (279) 4.58. Runes?

The rest of the evening was spent away from town practicing with Fireball. Despite both being ranged projectiles, the spell was vastly different from Stone Shot in terms of how fast it travelled, how wind effected it, and how much damage it could do. It had already proved itself to be immensely effective against swarms of monsters, such as those birds back in the sky fragment. But before he started hurling it around more regularly, he wanted to ensure he knew...

[TEA] (147) 3.46. Back to Basics

Once he’d appeared in their tavern room, Asher stumbled over to his and Samantha’s bed, collapsing onto it and putting his head in his hands. That had been far too close to going horribly wrong. Even with High Prince Donvath’s warning, they’d barely gotten out of there alive, and Audrey had almost certainly given her life for theirs. He’d forgotten about how the demon could somehow teleport around like that, but it certainly explained the future Donvath saw where all of the...

[EOE] (278) 4.57. Still in One Piece

Thankfully, the town was free of flames, and Vin and Lumel were able to walk out of the dungeon and join the people heading in and out of Terra on their many duties. With Lumel at his side, and having recently gone through a rather rough time with the capillans, he was even more aware than normal of the many different eyes following his every move, but he tried not to let it bother him. Seeing as Lumel hadn’t already warped directly to their apartment, she seemed okay at the moment.  2025-10-28 16:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post

[TEA] (146) 3.45. Is Your Refrigerator Running?

Asher stared at the immobilized demon as Donvath’s words echoed through his head. Even as he tried to digest them, the High Prince continued to hurriedly speak.

“The four of you didn’t manage to get all the lesser demons, two of them escaped and ran directly for the greater demon overseeing the attacks. It’s already on its way, and should be upon you any moment now. I called because rather than run, you decide to try and fight it. You do end up taking it down with all four of yo...

[EOE] (277) 4.56. A Delicate Conversation

In typical fashion, Vin had spent all day working on his latest spell and had completely lost track of time. While Lumel made her desires known, she hadn’t ended up coming back until late into the night, and thus she silently agreed to wait until morning to make sure they didn’t risk running into another one of those massive bear monsters while trying to move through the fragment in the dark.

Despite his best efforts, Lumel refused to talk about whatever had happened during her day ...

[EOE] (276) 4.55. Fire Bad

Once they came to a better understanding of just how much sway the Trusted Ones of the capillans had, Vin experienced a startling realization. 

None of the capillans actually wanted them to be there. The only reason they were being put up with at all was because Forpurt had declared they were friends. During their walk back to the igloo Forpurt had lent them, the village folk had given them nods from afar, but not a single one had come up to talk to them. In fact, it was r...

[TEA] (145) 3.44. The Hammer of Guilt

Asher had been slightly worried about finding Audrey and Sefta again within the thick forest after they’d all scattered and ran in different directions chasing down demons. But in the end, he needn’t have worried.

All they needed to do was follow the sound of sobbing.

When they finally found them, Asher could only stare at the insane sight before his eyes. One of the lesser demons was frozen from the ground up in a large chunk of ice that left nothing but its head and neck exp...

[EOE] (275) 4.54. The Cold Shoulder. Two of Them.

Scule and Reginald weren’t in any rush to go back out into the frigid tundra, so despite the foul stench from the burning hair, Vin and Lumel decided to stay indoors with them. Lumel dove right back into some insane spell she was working on based on the mana he could see winding around in her core, but Vin was hesitant about how to best spend his own time. He knew he needed to start working Dimensional Shift sooner or later. Only…

He really didn’t want to...

[TEA] (144) 3.43. Goodbye Forever

With Audrey at their backs, the three of them flew a good bit slower than they had on their way over here. Sefta didn’t want to risk losing the trail now that she had them, so they stayed lower to the ground, only a few hundred feet up.

A height that Asher just might be able to survive falling from with his skills.

Despite her reassurance that she wasn’t going to attack them just yet, that didn’t mean he wasn’t keeping an eye on the aggravated truthseeker. Asher m...

[TEA] (143) 3.42. Guilty as Charged

Asher and Samantha both froze, and he cursed as the realization of what Audrey’s origin element truly meant hit him. Guilt was such a strange concept for an element, he’d never stopped to consider just what her skills might be like. Of course the two of them felt guilty. This entire attack was almost certainly because The Council of Death was after him.

“Chill out, Audrey, he probably feels guilty because he’s a demon hunter and wasn’t here to help out,” Sefta snapped, glari...

[EOE] (274) 4.53. Burning the Candle at All Ends

Vin couldn’t see the expression on the capillan’s face through all the hair, but he was able to make out the confused look in the being’s eyes as they stared back at him. After a few seconds, the capillan finally spoke.

“Hello friends… I’m Rickten,” he spoke, his eyes growing wide as they dropped down to Scule and Reginald’s heads poking out of Vin’s pocket. “What, uh… what are you people?”

“What do you mean?” Scule asked as he pretended to start crying...

[TEA] (142) 3.41. Fear of Heights

The three of them all stared at the glowing sending stone as Audrey’s words echoed around their table. It seemed that despite the fairly straightforward message, none of them could quite comprehend what was happening.

“Audrey? What do you mean?” Sefta asked, growing serious for once as she sat up and gave her sending stone her full attention. “What happened?”

“I don’t know for certain, that’s why I need your help!” Audrey snapped, clearly annoyed at having to exp...

[EOE] (273) 4.52. Cold as Ice

“Come on!” he said, immediately rushing in the direction of the scream. In this open tundra dotted only by occasional hills of snow or stubby trees, there was no telling how far away the scream had originated from. Unfortunately, Vin came to a sudden realization as he tried to run toward the source of the noise.

While convenient, snow shoes were not fast.

Struggling to pick up one foot after another with an unusual gait, Vin nearly fell face-first into the snow as he ...

[TEA] (141) 3.40. Should You Answer That?

While Sefta and Mags moved to the other side of the tavern to have a quiet but heated discussion, Asher joined a curious Samantha and tired Brian at their table.

“How was swim practice?” he asked, giving her a quick kiss and taking the seat beside her. He half expected her to taste like salt, before remembering they weren’t actually out on the ocean but a giant lake instead.

“It was fantastic!” Samantha said, her face glowing like she’d just gotten out of a spa. “We ...

[EOE] (272) 4.51. Snow Much Snow

In typical fashion, Vin and his team soon found themselves standing immediately before the border separating fragments as they stared at what was to come. The tall grasses and occasional massive elderwood tree of Alka’s fragment were immediately replaced with a white tundra stretching as far as the eye could see. Forpurt’s fragment was filled with short, squat trees stretched thinly here and there, and snow.

A hell of a lot of snow.

“How is anyone supposed to even go 2025-10-20 16:00:16 +0000 UTC View Post