Uranium Phoenix's Projects

Chapter 107 - Walking In Shadows

Mirian found herself moving down, then up, then spiraling around, then going down again. She passed several rooms with closed doors, trying in vain to place where she was on the map she’d studied, but the cave network of the Grand Sanctum had rapidly disoriented her. 

Soon enough she passed other acolytes and murmured the Ominian’s first prayer to them as they passed. When she saw a priest, she had to say, “Let Their words still echo,” which was the second prayer. For a bis...

Chapter 106 - The Grand Sanctum

Some recent law had made the Great Library remove all the modern maps of ‘secure buildings’ like Parliament and the Grand Sanctum, but Mirian used the trick she’d learned in Torrviol of scouring old, disorganized shelves for outdated editions. Sure enough, no one had bothered pulling every book in the basement stacks, and she was able to find a very boring treatise on historic architecture that had maps to go along with it. The Akanan Embassy was too new to get this treatment, but the G...

Chapter 105 - Palendurio

Palendurio was built on an old karst landscape, so there were stone spires throughout the city that people had encircled with houses anchored into the rock, as well as large hills riddled with caves that had been colonized with structures. Professor Holvatti had gone on about it at some length in one of his lectures, but Mirian could only vaguely recall karst had something to do with limestone’s solubility and cave formations. Palendurio had a long history of holes opening up and swallowing...

Chapter 104 - Moving Along

As the cycles continued, it was those moments of friendship that Mirian held onto, that helped bolster her when she felt bitter and alone. Telling Beatrice about the roses helped her friend find acceptance in the nature of the cycle, and softened the blow when the end came again.

Progress in the Vaults was arduous and sluggish, though it sped up considerably when Mirian had nailed down exactly when and where each attack would be. They opened up three more rooms in the ‘ecology’ wing...

Chapter 103 - Northern Allies

They made it back to the surface two hours later, having fought through a scattering of labyrinthine horrors and a chimera that seemed to have come from an undiscovered eco-node on the first level. Mirian went through the motions of denying that she’d done anything special.

She went on patrol, killing several myrvites. With the split profits from selling their spell organs, she got her own room again in the lodge and rebuilt her workshop, this time adding the tools she’d need to con...

Chapter 102 - The Frostland Vault

The team spread out to take measurements in the room, placing down several divination devices to take readings on ambient mana levels and energy types. As the two arcanists channeled mana into them to activate them, Gomaer went up to one of the walls and started moving stone tiles around. When he was done, there was a heavy sounding clunk and one of the stone pillars in the middle of the room opened up like a flower. Mirian had no idea how something like ‘stone’ was bending ...

Chapter 101 - Return to Frostland’s Gate

The levitation wand made the long trek to Frostland’s Gate much more bearable. Being able to simply fly up the steepest part of the pass saved her a great deal of soreness and an entire day of travel. She was careful not to use it too much, though, lest she get ambushed by myrvites while she was low on mana.

This time, she passed the other traveler an entire obelisk earlier, missing the snowstorm as it hit the pass. The glaciavore was nowhere to be found, which was nice, but it also m...

Chapter 100 - Agent of Chaos

The first thing Mirian thought, looking at the Labyrinth glyph sequences she’d brought back, was that the sequences were impossible. Glyphs had to be in a specific order for mana to flow properly. An ulic glyph could never precede a flen glyph, for example. Yet here was an example of just that.

She discovered how it was possible by grinding away the first layer of glyphs, only to expose a second layer. That led to another impossible sequence. Scribbling dow...

Chapter 99 - Incursion

Mirian ran out the door after Grimald and Beatrice, with Cediri trailing behind her. The evening was darkened by clouds streaming across the sky, but already, Frostland’s Gate was dotted with magical lights floating in the air. Echoing from near the spellward across the drifts of snow, Mirian could already hear the sounds of combat. She had to check herself so she didn’t start shouting out orders.

As they moved to the north of the village, anyone who couldn’t fight was barring the...

Chapter 98 - The Greater Labyrinthine Horror

Turning her back on the greater horror took effort. It was large and vicious, and her mind could picture all sorts of ways it could mutilate her. When she heard its horrible hissing scream, it took a lot of effort not to turn to face it again. She just had to trust that the team would handle it. Professor Viridian had never mentioned them in his class, so she wasn’t at all sure how to go about even fighting one. Beatrice, Grimald and Cediri were the experts; she’d make sure their backs we...

Chapter 97 - Into the Labyrinth

After Mirian finished putting up basic wards in her quarters, she started working on an eavesdropping device she could deploy, then an all-purpose divination device. Already, she was annoyed that she didn’t have access to a focus. What she really wanted to do was scan the town’s populace for the kinds of soul marks Specter liked to put on her agents or for other abnormalities. Arenthia had said that such marks weren’t common practice, but that was during her tenure years ago. A focus wo...

$10 tier change

Over the next few days, I'm going to be moving the $10 tier of support to be a total of 25 chapters ahead. That release will start today. Once that's done, I don't plan on making any other tier changes. Also, after that's done, I'll have a small backlog of chapters in my strategic reserves so that the story releases consistently even with life stuff comes up. Any extra progress I make on the story beyond that small backlog will then go out as bonus chapters to everyone, so hopefully everyone...

Chapter 96 - Frostland’s Gate

She slept for at least ten hours, then woke feeling refreshed. The room she’d paid extra for in the Kivinotsuur had its own hearth, and the warmth from the little spell engine kept the room warm despite the raging winds that blew down from the Endelice. Fur rugs and the stone construction retained that heat, while two glyph lamps’ comforting glow was a nice contrast to the streets outside; out there, the world was tinged blue by the heavy clouds filtering the light.

The work room wa...

Chapter 95 - The Road to Frostland’s Gate

The glaciavore let out a blood-curdling roar. Mirian led with an incineration beam. It would have been powerful enough to lance a bog lion, but the ice armor on the huge myrvite only steamed. No heat attacks she thought as she circled behind the trunk of a tree so that the glaciavore couldn’t charge her, then peeked out around as her hands flipped through her spellbook. She always organized her spellbook the same way, a habit she’d picked up preparing for the Battle...

Map of the World of Enteria (Draft - In Progress)

Hi all! When I started this story, I sketched out a map of where things were so I could keep track of it all. As Mirian starts to expand her journey to other lands, I figured you all might want to see that map so it's easier to keep track of where things are. However, instead of making people trying to decipher my chickenscratch as they squint at a blurry photo of a piece of stained printer paper, I worked to make a map on the Inkarnate website, which is extremely cool.

This map is a dr...

Chapter 94 - Taking a Hike

Going north instead of south would mean that Mirian wouldn’t have a chance to deploy her seeds of chaos design, since it required the train system for dispersal, and there were no trains that got anywhere near Frostland’s Gate.

Still, she didn’t want to give Sulvorath an easy time, so after two days of scribing spells (she was getting quite sick of that part of the cycle by now) and preparing provisions, she decided to change what kind of letters she was sending via the Royal Cour...

Chapter 93 - Next Steps

As the latest cycle progressed, Mirian released more seeds of chaos and continued to monitor the newspapers, while Lecne used his contacts in the black markets to keep an ear out. Sulvorath had stopped getting his contacts to deploy ‘wanted’ posters and was keeping his search more subtle, but he was clearly still searching. Lecne was able to learn that a description that matched her normal appearance was being circulated among certain criminal elements, along with a promise for a reward. ...

Chapter 92 - Distant Memories

As soon as the doors to the temple closed and Mirian dropped the illusion spell on Arenthia, the entire room of waiting priests burst into cheers, and the high priestess could hardly move as every man and woman of the cult rushed to hug her and welcome her home. As they did, a pang of sorrow flashed through Mirian. Everyone gathered had only known her a day; to them, she was a miracle, but a stranger. The deep connections these priests of a heretical God felt for each other—would she ever b...

Chapter 91 - The Uncorpsing of Arenthia

Three hours after waking up, she chanced to pass Lily as she headed to her next class and her roommate didn’t even turn her head. The disguise had certainly worked. Mirian crafted the replacement part for the train and scribed the fine manipulation spell she’d need to pick Mayor Wolden’s locks, then moved to start dismantling the wards by levitating small quantities of magichemicals that would alter the glyphs she targeted. Most configurations were designed t...

Chapter 90 - Preparing the Heist

It took some convincing to get Nurea to cough up her contact in the Syndicate, but with Nicolus’s cajoling, she finally did. Afterward, she gave Nicolus fair warning that someone might be coming after them. Likely, Nurea would have them both out of the Torrviol shortly after Mirian. Hopefully, that would keep Sulvorath even busier.

Mirian spent a few more hours in Torrviol spreading rumors and taking out a loan so she could purchase artifice materials. Based on the travel times of the...

Chapter 89 - Conceiving the Plan

The Temple of the Four stretched across the top of Cairnmouth’s second great hill. Four colossal statues of the Gods looked out across the city from each corner, and behind them lay the monumental architecture of the temple complex itself. The temple resembled a fortress as much as the Cairnmouth Castle did on the other hill; huge walls stretched between each statue, and several towers surrounded the domed keep in the center. Unlike the small temples in towns, this one was the seat of an ar...

Chapter 88 - Seeds of Chaos

Mirian and Lecne worked to plan her return for the next cycle. She studied maps of Cairnmouth, and Lecne recalled the schedule he followed on the first three days of the month as best he could. More, they planned how to save High Priestess Arenthia.

“I probably won’t succeed the first time,” Mirian said apologetically. “I have to stay hidden in the shadows.”

Lecne nodded. “Too much is at stake. I understand. That’s why you’ll appreciate what I’m about to teach yo...

Chapter 87 - Hiding

The Cult of Zomalator was a small bunch, but what they lacked in size they made up for in eccentricities. They spoke in both the ritualistic language of the Order and the unceremonious slang of the Cairnmouth streets. With Priestess Arenthia dead, the tacit assumption was that Lecne would lead them. Lecne seemed to still be in denial that he was the most senior priest of the sect, and corrected anyone’s attempt to give him a new title.

She met Pelnu when she helped out in the kitchens...

Chapter 86 - The Heretic

Mirian followed Lecne through various twisting alleyways. If he was trying to disorient her, he needn’t have bothered; after the second turn down an angled alley, she’d lost all sense of direction. The tall brick buildings in this part of the city and the narrow, winding streets made it impossible to keep her bearings. She’d thought the eastern part of the city was claustrophobic, but clearly she’d had no idea.

Lecne could see Mirian’s energy waning as her pace slowed. “Almo...

Chapter 85 - Escape

She woke in agony again. Physical, from the curse, and mental, from the horror of having just blown apart her own head, starting with the jaw. The lingering feeling of that squirmed through her whole body. She turned her head and vomited.

“Oh shit!” Lily said. “Oh no. You can’t be sick, it’s exams! Is it food poisoning? What did you eat last night? Should I get the cleric? Wait, is food poisoning one of the non-intervenable phenomena, or is it—oh gross, it got all over my sa...

Chapter 84 - Cursed

The second curse killed her, but unlike previous deaths, it wasn’t just the memory of the pain that followed her—the agony lingered. As it slowly faded, she felt tired, like she did when she’d been directing the Battle of Torrviol and had gone two days without sleeping.

Lily was saying something to her, but it took her a moment to comprehend the words she was saying. Mirian’s mind felt sluggish.

“—talk to me, Mirian. What happened? Are you hurt? Mirian? Mirian!” Her ...

Chapter 83 - Specter

The next morning, there was a stir across campus. Students huddling to talk in hushed voices, then disbanding. Paranoid glances cast out. A tension in the air. It was mostly sixth years gathering, but the talk was spreading to the lower classes.

“…heard they found him dead,” she heard one person say.

“In his home?”

“Yeah. And all the neighbors all heard the screaming. But by the time the guard got there, whoever did it was gone.”

It didn’t take a genius...

Chapter 82 - Hunted

Mirian tried to figure out what in the Gods’ names had just happened. She’d won. She’d finally fucking won. The Divir moon had stayed in the sky another day and then—

Then Nicolus had shot her.

Only, it hadn’t been Nicolus. But then, who in the five hells had it been?

“Mirian? You okay?” came Lily’s voice.

“No,” Mirian said with a sigh. Dying was always something of a shock. When she woke up at the beginning of the cycle, she ...

Chapter 81 - Fate of the Apocalypse

The plan was that they all surround the bridge together, but Archmage Luspire had other ideas. He rushed ahead of the group, hovering above the deck with the levitation wand. As soon as he encountered a group of Akanan crewmen, bumbling out of one of the cabins in the superstructure, he seemed to forget that they were all disguised. Immediately Luspire let loose with an incineration ray that he swung around the deck, setting at least one structure on fire.

2024-06-10 04:01:40 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 80 - Retaliation

On the 10th of Solem, on the 48th cycle, Mirian began to assemble her assault team. She sat down with Professor Torres and showed her the schematics she’d been working on. The blueprint of the airship was covered in notes and shorthand for glyph sequences.

Professor Torres sat there, stunned. “This is incredible,” she said.

“You helped me put it together.”

“But you did this from memory.”

“Yeah,” Mirian said. “Tell me about it. If I never map Rodgier...