Uranium Phoenix's Projects

Chapter 79 - Reconnaissance

The next cycle, Mirian rushed to the site of the airship. It was empty. She set alarm wards down in the area, but by the end of that loop, they’d never triggered. Militia scouts didn’t encounter it there, or in any other part of the forest near Torrviol they investigated.

“Maybe they land somewhere random each time, based on a whim. Maybe even small changes in how the spies are captured or how we word the letter to your uncle shifts things. Damn! How do I recreate the circumstance...

Chapter 78 - The Room of Secrets

The next cycle, when the Torrviol guard went to raid the spy’s headquarters, Mirian and Jei accompanied them. By now, Mirian knew far too many details about the guards for them to be able to dismiss her, and like with Luspire, she’d had practice navigating the conversations with them. She did the verbal equivalent of strong-arming them into accepting her presence, then helped carefully direct the raid.

“There,” she said after they were past the first trapdoor and the second glyp...

Chapter 77 - Breakthrough

Mirian returned to her work in Torrviol.

By now, she had a foundation in the celestial runes, and Respected Jei had moved her focus from raw magic exercises to channeling exercises, while continuing to bring her up to speed on her knowledge of the latest magical research. The more Jei taught her, the more she began to agree with Xipuatl; current arcane theory had a lot of math that accurately described energy transformations, but had no explanation for where missing energy was going. Th...

Chapter 76 - Broken

She left her family’s apartment in a daze, heart still hammering. She knew there were things she could do, people she could ask. Hells, she could ask anyone, it was Arriroba, she knew half the town. But in that moment, she couldn’t find any words, just that thought repeating over and over: where are they? Where are they? She sat on the wooden steps leading up to her apartment and looked at the ground.

It was Grandpa Irabi who approached her. That’s what everyone call...

Chapter 75 - The Road Home

The second day on the road was as uneventful as the first. Thankfully, the next rest station’s obelisk was in better shape, and the travelers there thanked her for charging it. It had a minor mana leak, but was functional without repairs. The third day, she saw several traders pointing out to sea as she neared them. When she turned, she saw the thin spines of a leviathan cutting through the waters, dark body the size of a ship just visible on the surface.

That was strange. Leviathans ...

Chapter 74 - Break

Three cycles later, Mirian woke to Lily shaking her. “Mirian. Mirian! Don’t you have class or something?”

Groggily, Mirian opened her eyes.

“What is… what just hit me? Is that water? Wait, is that a hole in the ceiling?”

Mirian closed her eyes again. She could hear Jei scolding her about pushing herself too hard. Whether or not she wanted to overcome her exhaustion, it seemed her body had other ideas. If the water hadn’t been splashing her on the ...

Chapter 73 - Repetition

Five loops later, Mirian had grown frustrated with the start of the cycle. It seemed no matter what she did, the spy’s headquarters caught on fire. Idras was still forthcoming if his life was saved from assassination, but only to an extent. He seemed conveniently forgetful from time to time, and claimed to have no knowledge of how the security measures in the Akanan headquarters actually worked.

Mirian was sure there had to be some sort of glyph-phrase the spies carried on them that d...

Chapter 72 - Steering the Ship

When she killed the first spy for the third time, Mirian felt like a puppeteer, controlling her own body, but separate from it. She pulled her own strings, yanking on panic here and fear there, then made herself feel dejected to fit the part. She didn’t need to fake it much. She really did feel terrible killing the man. Playing the deceitful role made her feel like she had a layer of grime about her.

In the gardens, when she had a chance to rest, she medita...

Chapter 71 - The Second Battle of Torrviol

The morning before the battle, Mirian visited Mayor Ethwarn in his office. He hadn’t been meeting there lately, and when she arrived, she could see why. He’d had all of the nice wooden facade torn off, and two artisans and an arcanist were busy putting it back up.

“What happened with the walls?” Mirian asked.

Magistrate Ada paused glancing through her papers and said, “The previous assistant had a magical listening device. It was linked to a bunch of hidden glyphs in the...

Chapter 70 - Limits

When Mirian woke, it took her a moment to overcome her disorientation. It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. The wand of levitation was still lying in a patch of dirt where it had rolled. She could tell she’d have a nice handful of bruises. When she stood, her vision briefly narrowed, and the nausea hit her again. She stumbled forward and braced herself against a nearby tree, the tactile sensation of the rough and cold bark grounding her. 

She pocketed the wand, then s...

Chapter 69 - The Archmage

Mirian met with the newly elected Mayor Ethwarn on Fourthday again. She had wondered if the election would turn out the same way. After all, the process was a messy thing involving most of the town, and she’d changed a lot of variables this cycle. She’d thought that with so many hundreds of people vying for the office and different interest groups making and breaking their hourly alliances that even small changes would lead to a different result. Instead, it seemed his prominence in town,...

Chapter 68 - Setup

The start of this loop had been a whirlwind. Mirian was relieved when the next few days were more subdued. Sure, there was still the chaos of the plebiscite, and people still stared at her wherever she went, or asked her if she could tell their fortune, but there wasn’t the constant feeling of being rushed. She met with the magistrate a few more times, and both Nicolus and Valen twice more. She was still busy, but relative to what she’d just gone through, it was nearly relaxing.

The...

Chapter 67 - Allies

The next day, while Respected Jei worked on getting an appointment with Archmage Luspire, Mirian went to see if she could reclaim an old new friendship. She headed over to the lakeview district to an apartment surprisingly close to Xipuatl’s place, and knocked on the door of Nicolus Sacristar.

Naturally, it was Sire Nurea who answered, left hand still lingering on the door knob, right hand casually close to her belt.

Mirian gave the honorary bow to her and said, “Hi. Do you kn...

Chapter 66 - Interrogation

When the dust had settled, Magistrate Ada approached Mirian. She still looked properly regal in her red coat of office, but the sleepless nights were apparent in her eyes. “The prisoner says he’ll talk to you,” Ada said. She paused, then added, “How did you know?”

Mirian looked past her, to the interrogation room where Idras was sitting, body still hunched. “I’ve seen other possible futures. They don’t end well.”

Already, her knowledge seemed to be otherwise inex...

Chapter 65 - Time Traveler’s Antidote

The day after the fire was the 6th of Solen, the day the spies would be killed. Exams were still going forward for students, so everyone except Professor Jei was busy. Despite the stir Mirian had caused, it would still be at least a few days before the illusion of ‘normal’ would be shattered for most people. She was beginning to think of it as the ‘denial’ phase.

Mirian and Jei headed over to the town jail.

She hadn’t been there since the second cycle, and had made it a ...

Chapter 64 - Spying With Deals

At last, Professor Seneca and Professor Torres finally arrived with Jei. Seneca looked at Mirian standing over Agent Idras with the arming sword and said, “So you did kill that man on purpose.”

“Unfortunately. It changes the path the timeline takes dramatically. Respected Jei, how much did you tell them?”

Jei looked at Torres, then back to Mirian. “That the man tried to kill me. That I believe you. Not much.”

“Where did you find Seneca and Torres? So you can fi...

Chapter 63 - Dealing with Spies

When she awoke, Mirian lay in bed, letting the water drip down from the ceiling. It was nice and peaceful. Annoying, yes, but no one was dying, nothing was exploding, and she was anonymous again. Just some girl that no one would look at.

Eventually, she sighed and got up, and went about her morning routine. As she did, she checked her auric mana. Despite it being stripped by the magical cataclysm at the end of the cycle, it was all there. That was interesting.

For all the death sh...

Chapter 62 - The Battle for Torrviol

At noon on the last day of Solen, the Baracueli scouts reported the advance of the Akana Praediar army through the old growth forest to the northwest. General Hanaran had gone back and forth about the best tactics for delaying the army, but in the end, decided an ambush was best. With bog lions and other nasty myrvites roaming the woods, sending regiments out to skirmish and retreat was too risky. The Akanan army was also better mechanized, whereas the Baracuel force had few wagons. A harassi...

Chapter 61 - The Duel 

The Stygalta Arena was almost entirely deserted. The sky was darkening, and when classes had been canceled, so had all the other activities. Mirian was still being followed—by the mayor’s new assistant and someone from the militia—which she took some comfort in. From what she could tell, the militia member was a sort of rotating body-guard of sorts, but also to make sure she didn’t suddenly run for the hills. At the very least, it meant someone would be able to help her if another mob...

Chapter 60 - Battle Plans

Morning of Seventhday, the train pulled into the station to wild cheering and celebrating. The people of Torrviol shouted and danced in the streets. Some wept, some fell to their knees and prayed. Mirian watched with mixed emotions. The hope was inspiring, and it brought a smile to her face. Inside, though, she knew how it would end. For her, the joy had that weight of foreknowledge dragging it down.

The first cars to unload did so with some ceremony; Baracuel army officers marched out,...

Chapter 59 - Confrontation

Anger bubbled up in Mirian as she looked at Priest Krier. Torrviol is threatened by attack, and this is how you spend your time? The acolytes with him stepped forward, torches still burning with white fire.

Mirian took a step back. “I’m not a heretic,” she said, trying to suppress her anger. “I’m just trying to save as many lives as I can.”

“You claim to be a new Prophet, but do not follow the—”

“No I don’t,” Mirian said, interr...

Chapter 58 - Tests

There were arcane devices and spell engines all around the Divine Monument. Some were clearly for taking mana flow measurements, and others measuring various types of energy. Still others, Mirian had no idea. They had  glass bulbs with strange colored fluids, twisted brass pipes snaking all over, and metallic protrusions. The glyph sequences were unfamiliar, and the devices looked hideously complex. 

High Wizard Ferrandus directed Mirian to a simple chair that had been set up ...

General Update

Thanks again to all of you for supporting the story! I appreciate you all. Going into April, work is picking up so I expect to have less time to write, so updates may slow down a bit. I still have a personal goal of trying to get 4 chapters a week out, but I'm certainly not always going to reach it. My release schedule is still "as fast as I can write it," and I expect to be able to average 3 chapters a week. More if I can. Once again, thanks for reading, and all the likes, fun comments, and ...

Chapter 57 - Behind the Doors

 As Mirian and Jei approached the plaza, a delegation of arcanists just outside Torrian Tower approached them. There were five of them, each wearing their formal Academy coats. Mirian recognized Professor Torres standing in the back, with High Wizard Ferrandus leading them. Mirian had seen Ferrandus quite a bit. He was always by Archmage Luspire’s side during official ceremonies. He often stopped by to observe lectures as part of his duties. He kept his gray beard braided, four silver ...

Chapter 56 - The Sting of Truth

There was always someone watching Mirian now. As soon as she started to look for it, it was obvious. As she walked into her dorm, she caught sight of one of the people Nurea had pointed out. Oh well. Not much to be done about it. She needed to wait and see if the new mayor or Nurea would believe her.

Until then, what could she do to prepare? She had to stop bumbling about. She had plans, but they were all loose and unstructured. She needed to get ahead of what came next.

...

Chapter 55 - Restless Knights

Mirian figured the hidden grove would be perfect for testing out the wand. She re-checked the wand’s core, then cemented the handle back to the shaft and headed out. The nice thing about the light snow on the ground was that it was easy to see that no one had been here except herself. Still, she looked around to make sure she wasn’t being watched, then held the wand so it was pointed at the ground. Visualizing the glyph pattern, she channeled—

—and found herself flat on her ass ...

Chapter 54 - The Mystery Wand

The plebiscite was in full swing that evening, with various councils of interest groups that had formed overnight speaking to the importance of their issues and proposing their elected candidate as mayor. In between shouting and speeches, groups would spread out and talk to each other, forming ad hoc alliances and pacts, then they’d gather up in combined councils and the speeches and shouting would begin again.

It all seemed overly complicated and messy to Mirian, who was used to her ...

Chapter 53 - Apprentice

That evening, over mediocre chicken marsala, Mirian told Lily and Valen about the loops. Most things that happened, at least; she left out the details about the leyline explosions and the moon falling down. She breezed over how gruesome the deaths were. No need to spread the existential dread around. Unfortunately, as she talked, other students kept interrupting her story to ask her if she really killed a bog lion, so the tale was incoherent at best. It didn’t help that the events often blu...

Chapter 52 - New Developments

To her credit, they only got lost once on the way out, and not for that long. The bog lion barely fit through the narrower parts of the catacombs. It had to weigh several hundred pounds, but Cassius didn’t appear to be straining at all, unlike his apprentice, who was trembling with the effort of his lift object spell. Come to think of it, the spell resistance probably made it harder to carry the first apprentice.

“I could just carry him over my shoulder,” Mirian ...

Chapter 51 - The Corpse In The Catacombs

“Let’s go,” Cassius said.

Professor Torres cleared her throat.

“Right,” he said, clenching his jaw. He made a gesture, and the apprentices stood to the side like soldiers lined up for parade. Each wore the thin bronze chain of apprenticeship that went from their shoulder to a loop on their coats, dangling down across their right breasts like they were carrying a conspicuous pocket watch. They all looked identical, with the same short light brown hair and light brown eyes...