WarbyPicus

Chapter 95 A Friendly Game

Edited from an earlier version.

Truth and Etenesh went their separate ways back to their rooms to prepare for the day. Etenesh apparently had some very important reading to do for her coursework, and Truth expected to be on standing-around duty once again. They were both derailed by Jember, popping up with new instructions.

“One of my fellow cultists-”

“There absolutely has to be a better way of saying that,” Truth interjected.

“What, “Cultist?” Etenesh a...

Chapter 94 The Price Of Intimacy

The lights were out; the room was dim. Etenesh was lying in bed in rather new-looking pajamas.  Truth suddenly felt very “bedclothes” conscious.  He usually slept in boxers.  He didn’t own any pajamas. But what could he do?

Run away, obviously. Say, “Sorry, not tonight, no pajamas, try me again tomorrow, when I definitely will have acquired some.” Say nothing and just vanish into the world, drifting like the ghost he was. Watching the rest of the world join him ...

Chapter 93 You Know What They Say About Assumptions

They didn’t talk much after that. Truth didn’t know if he said the wrong thing or not. He probably did, but… it was hard to be “Tommy Wells” right now.  It was usually freeing to be “Tommy Wells” in that he wasn’t carrying all the things that “Truth Medici” was carrying, but he didn’t want to have to lie. To make up things about himself.  Part of it was he really liked Etenesh and Jember. Even Merkovah, beardy weirdo that he was, had grown on him. Liking them w...

Chapter 92 A World Without God

“Please, wait a moment, Teacher.”

Merkovah looked inquisitively at Truth, who pointed at the Talisman. The old monster glanced at it, then glared at it. He stroked his beard in irritation as he continued glaring. Truth wracked his brain, trying to remember where he had seen it before.

System?

Before my time, apparently.  Free associate on deeply unnatural shit you saw before submitting to Starbrite.

The Slums generally. Yes, but no. The Gh�...

Chapter 91 Field Testing

Truth had a lot to think about while standing guard in front of the conference room. When he “subtly” pointed out that sticking one guard in front of a room as your security protocol is “less than fully optimal,” he got a scathing look from Merkovah. It seems that all the angels, demons, and spirits flitting through the city weren’t just for show. The security envelope was seven layers deep and extended even into other levels of reality. Tommy Wells, the handsome bodyguard,  wa...

Chapter 90 The intersection of Revelation and Reason

Etenesh held Truth until the shaking stopped, then a little longer. She let him go with a sigh. “Am I a bad person for feeling glad you need me? I don’t like being the one who needs comforting,” she asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so.” Truth tried to smile and managed to twitch his cheek. He sat next to her quietly. He knew, in a dull sort of way, that he should talk about why he was in this state, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. He simply couldn’t sum...

Chapter 89 A Mage and a Gentleman, Part 2

Merkovah informed Truth that there would be extensive meetings in the temple today, and he would be needed for important Standing Around duty on the other side of the door from the meeting. Truth duly dressed in the provided pseudo-military set of clothes, wore his zeph as instructed, belted on his sword, and guarded the door. It was exactly as exciting as he remembered.

The one added wrinkle, an unpleasant grit of annoyance, was that Etenesh and Jember did not seem to understa...

Chapter 88 Xandre

Truth’s first impression of Xandre, the famed capital of Ancient Siphios, the birthplace of art, magic, philosophy, city of supreme culture and sophisticated pleasures, Xandre, Gem of the World, was a half-shuttered huddle of discount clothing stores and brickmakers. It was not a great introduction.

Just inside the exurban shopping belt were the small homes in their teeming thousands. Little flat-roofed boxes laid out side by side, each with a tiny strip of garden out front.  Den...

Side Story #2 Scripted Loss

“Where are we on obtaining specimens for Friday’s test?” Professor Cuinard’s fingers danced between the threads of light, teasing apart the small portion of the limb in front of him. Showing, without breaking, the myriad connections between each layer of skin, then the connections to the fascia, muscle, bone, sinew, veins, nerves, and marrow.

The seemingly infinite interrelations between each portion of a marvelous whole known simply, disparagingly, as a “leg.”

“The ...

Chapter 87 A Debatable God

Etenensh eventually fell quiet, just curling up on herself. Jember sat next to his cousin, hip to hip, and put a comforting arm around her. Truth just sat there, feeling useless. It was Merkovah who managed to pull them out of their solitary silences.

“When I was younger, the land of Siphios was alive. I mean that in a way you youngsters probably don’t understand- I mean that God had imbued every pebble, every blade of grass, every gust of wind, with meaning. With the potential of u...

Chapter 86 The Eldest Son

Truth fell into the sky, a tiny speck gazing in terror at the awesome beings that filled the void between stars. Even the stars were monstrous, glorious things- a chariot pulled by an unspeakable chimera, whipped on by a naked woman with an owl’s head. A being with the head of a hawk, holding a burning sword astride a wolf. A bird, larger than a city, larger than a continent, made entirely of fire and the memory of a mother’s warmth he had never known.

Some instinct pulled his eyes ...

Patreon Exclusive Side Story Drops Tomorrow

Just FYI. Putting the first of the Patreon Exclusives up tomorrow afternoon. I don't know why, but it's been an absolute bastard to write. So Part One of the story goes up tomorrow, and Part Two goes up when I have it in some kind of shape. Right now, I disavow all knowledge and certainly responsibility for any alleged part two. I do not know how that file got on my computer. Presumably gremlins. They will be dealt with firmly. 

Chapter 85 Dipped in the Bowl of the Sky

Truth woke in darkness. He knew it was dark, but his eyes could see perfectly well with the dim light through the window. Ever since he crawled out of the well, the shadows held no terrors for him. He was holding the angelic sword- why?

Rapid banging on the door. Truth silently rolled out of bed and walked over to the door, raising the sword chest high. Ready to lunge, stabbing through the door and into whoever was outside.

“Mr. Wells, quickly! We must be up and moving!” Merko...

Chapter 84 Honing the Edge

The next three days passed slowly in the library and quickly outside of it. Truth’s knowledge of possession was now alarmingly broad, and while his knowledge of baptisms was less so, he had come to some curious conclusions about them. A lot of magical rituals were, to his slight surprise, indistinguishable from religious rituals. They were, in fact, the same thing, just done for often quite different reasons. The tragic story of Magus Lorenz was a good example.

Under almost any other ...

Chapter 83 A Lingering Smell of Smoke

Truth awoke to the screams of the System and the faintest smell of cigarettes.

Dad was a heavy smoker. You never forgot the smell of stale cigarette butts or how the smoke ground its way into your clothes.  How the smell seemed to creep into every part of your life, making you go scent blind to it until it jolted out at you again. Choking you like ash from a toxic fire.

This wasn’t Red Bats, though. It didn’t have that heady, sickly sweet trace of opium. This was rough st...

Chapter 82 In Every Drop of Water, An Ocean

The Shotibl were not lovely birds. Tall, covered in rough gray feathers, and with a face dominated by a wide hooked beak as long as a forearm. They had a deathly glare to them. And yet, they were quite docile, according to Jember. These Shotibl decided there was no future for the meek. They were thirsty. They would drink that strange water from another dimension. Truth and the others would die for standing in their way.

Truth had a magic sword. It was a really, really good magic sword. ...

Chapter 81 Darkness At The Station

“What exactly is “Station Six,” and what exactly are we doing here?” Truth asked. Quite calmly, in his opinion.

“Station Six is shorthand for ‘National Agroforestry Research Station, South-West Region, #6.’ Originally it was set up to research ways to combine sustainable forestry management with the needs of agriculture.” Merkovah apparently saw nothing wrong with his tone.

Truth nodded, not seeing the connection to “little kinks in reality.”

“One day, ...

Chapter 80 Glimmerings of the Path

Body Development Sheet *Now With Helpful Notes!*

Stellar Ray Attunement- 90%* [Still unnatural.]

Bone Density- 5.7* [Because they were always right when they called you “thick.”]

Strength- 4.4* [Yaay. You can lift marginally more. Yaaaaaay.]

Speed- 4.55* [This is pathetic. Barely beyond what you had when you broke through. Get off your damn two-wheeler and run, bitch.]

Proprioception- 7.7* [Continues to be unnatural. Freak.]

Reflexes- 7.9* ...

2023-05-10 16:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 79 Learning By Doing

Truth had questions. Many questions. Unanswered questions, as Merkovah ended the veil and pressed his finger to his lips. Truth left in an odd mood.  He figured that he could put a couple of hours in at the library, work out, then maybe back to the library. Light workout. It had been a trying day.

Etenesh was camped at a table with two notebooks, several academic journals, and a stack of books. She seemed to be reading seven things at once while trying to take notes with three hand...

Sorry for the multiple notifications

Got a little confused about what needed unlocking. We should be set now.

Chapter 78 As Others See Us, As We See Ourselves

Truth escaped with his clothes, if not his dignity. The outraged shopkeeper, a fellow member of the round hat club, was still scolding Jember. Jember didn’t seem very remorseful. It was all in good fun. Apparently.

Truth made his way back towards the university in something of a welter of emotion.  He kept going around and around in circles.  Etenesh touching him, worrying over him.  Jember’s honest, if overly direct, appreciation. When he got right down to it, it was...

Chapter 77 A Hole In The Heart

“Would you be interested in trying? Fighting a much more powerful being than yourself? There are few opportunities to train against such an opponent in any degree of safety. But we could summon a level four demon for you to test yourself against.” Merkovah offered. “I would be able to restrain and banish them if necessary.”

Truth thought about it for a moment. That… was an awesome offer, actually. It would be smart to understand what higher-level combat was like.

“Yes,...

Chapter 76 Time On Tools

Truth started to cast the universal spell, then hesitated. Hey System. First of all, we will have a real good talk about my self-esteem issues soon.  A real, real good talk.  Second, what do you actually call your Universal Spell?

You grew up in a shit heap, eating shit, drinking shit, surrounded by shit people, and learning shit things from your shit school. Not my fault you came out thicker than a cement milkshake. And “Tool” will do fine. It’s a spell for...