In a terrified, panicking haze, Jarne searched the entire house, from top to bottom. He found hidden silverware, wedding jewelry, clothes, fabrics, things worth stealing, things worth eating, things worth burning, all in their proper places, untouched, unbothered. But no bodies. Only the black, dried puddles of molten viscera remained, in the very center of the living room, right where the bodies had been. Where they weren’t anymore.
He left the house. His face flashed le...
2024-07-13 17:20:29 +0000 UTC
View Post
“...In summary, only one of the houses—house Dagrun—had direct contact to key aggressors in the riot. However, two other houses had close contact with them during this time. Going by the scent profiles on page eleven, we have good reason to believe that house Fysh and house Feynix sent funds to them, portions of which were later confiscated during the arrests of key aggressors, the full list being on page twelve and thirteen.”
Mole eyed through the lists Jarne h...
2024-07-13 17:18:13 +0000 UTC
View Post
They went down a street. The shutters of all the houses were drawn, the stern gazes of their guard companions keeping people from doing much of anything.
“Five inhabitants, two infected,” Kitty said, pointing to a house. Dipping his brush in blue dye, Jarne smeared two vertical lines atop the doorpost. They moved onto the next house. “Three inhabitants, three infected.” Jarne dipped the brush and painted one large stripe horizontally across the post. They contin...
2024-07-12 15:59:37 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Execution? Mole, you can’t seriously—”
“It’s the only logical decision, Rat,” Mole said, not even looking up from his work. Not even standing up to face Jarne. After a few seconds, since Jarne wasn’t replying, Mole signed and turned to look up at him. His eyes were deeply-set. He looked about as tired as Jarne felt. Or would have felt, if he hadn’t spent half the day knocked out. “Is there anything else you wanted to discuss?”
“No...
2024-07-12 15:57:48 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Hey guys!” Mole said, smiling brightly, a transparent crystal clutched tightly in his hand. “Thanks for saving me! Kitty told me everything. Apparently, it was a really close one. But you made the right choice! I’m sure Plus would be proud.”
Every single hair on Jarne’s body stood straight up. A greeting died on his tongue. A million excuses faced the same grisly fate. “Mole?” he said, but it felt like greeting a doppelganger. “Mole, is that… are you…?...
2024-07-12 15:54:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
They entered, and within minutes, they had Mole on one bed, and Plus in the next.
“Well?” Jazz asked. “Didn’t you say you had an ability to save anyone?”
“I do,” Benevil said. “However—”
“So use it then!” Jarne snapped. “They could be breathing their last breath while you’re talking about details and shit! Just do it!”
Benevil gave him a disappointed look that took the wind clean out of ...
2024-07-09 22:08:17 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Hoeksak!” one shouted through a mouthful of raw grains and jam.
“Derecho!” another shouted.
“Kill it! Kill it!” a third barked.
Without spending even a fraction of a second to hesitate, Jarne rushed back up the stairs, cursing his own stupidity. ‘Of course they were going for the pantry,’ he thought bitterly, ‘why else would they be here?’ The kitchen soon rear...
2024-07-09 22:06:29 +0000 UTC
View Post
“I’m sorry. He’s really far gone. I think… unless someone were to donate, then…” Jazz bit her lip. “But he’d never agree to that! If he found out that you died to save him, he’d never forgive you!”
“I don’t mind that,” Kitty said.
“He’d never forgive himself, either,” Plus noted.
Kitty drew back slightly, giving a rare expression of shame. “I… I value his life more than I do that.”
&n...
2024-07-09 22:04:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
It was fair to say that everything was going to shit. It had been for a while, but this was definitely the shit-cherry on top of the shit-cake.
“Where is he going? What the fuck is happening?” Jarne said, far from surprised to notice that literally no one was paying attention to him. Well, alright, that wasn’t exactly the case. The mayor’s six kids were all looking up at him, no doubt wondering what he just said. Trying to recall how to translate ‘fuck...
2024-07-09 22:02:08 +0000 UTC
View Post
During the rest of the day, Emil went from manor to manor, speaking with the judges and judgesses, begging a thousand million pardons for not being able to tell the news last night. Each time, he was met with condolences and surface-level forgiveness that poorly hid their real opinion of him. At the very least, none of them attacked him on sight, and he could justify to himself that Kitty’s plan on how to handle them was preemptive at best.
This would work out fine. T...
2024-07-06 14:50:19 +0000 UTC
View Post
“You have your notes? And your staff? And your—”
“Yeah, yeah, I have it,” Emil said, bravely pushing through his hangover by casting a detox spell on himself over and over again. The effect was diminished, but it was better than nothing. How could he have forgotten to detox last night? He felt like such an idiot, and the handwritten notes pressed into his hand didn’t help. They’d written the speech half an hour ago. He’d woken up an hour ago. They had not rehe...
2024-07-06 14:47:53 +0000 UTC
View Post
Without wasting any more time, they headed inside, met with Fr. Blueroot who had graciously accepted to hold the funeral, and took a seat, all four next to each other on the bench closest to the altar.
And after that… Emil wasn’t too sure. He felt dazed and lost. His clothes were stuffy and sweaty and way too tight on him. It had only been a week since he got them. Had he put on weight? Was he getting fat? Nowadays, he ate fancy stuff for almost every single meal. He ha...
2024-07-05 19:30:23 +0000 UTC
View Post
A week passed. Emil still hadn’t cried.
“Yes, the first of March works with me,” Emil said, taking a sip of his clarea of water. The spiced honey used for this pot was borrowed from the mayor’s pantry, though it wasn’t the best he’d had.
Still, it was high enough in quality to make the fact that Rat hadn’t touched it a bit of a shame. The slim man was currently sitting opposite Emil’s mayoral desk, tapping his foot and glancing between the...
2024-07-05 19:28:10 +0000 UTC
View Post
When Emil woke up, there was a tingle in his right hand’s fingers. The room was cold and his chest ached in three different ways. Groggily, he lifted his head from his pillow and peered out into the darkness. The window was open. That explained the cold.
A shadow sat at his desk, reading something in the inky darkness. Kitty turned to him, and Emil felt a relieved smile rise to his face. That explained the window.
“What time is it…?” Emil asked, h...
2024-07-05 19:24:04 +0000 UTC
View Post
FINALLY DONE DRAWING NOW I CAN FINALLY REST YIPPIEEEEEE
2024-06-29 22:24:52 +0000 UTC
View Post
Overall, I’m fairly happy. The style shifted a lot from the last book to this one, partially to express Fennrick’s development, mainly for artistic convenience. I got a stricter deadline this time, so I can’t afford to muck around.
Anyhow, I’ve got a few more pieces to draw before I can send them all off, so there’s probably be another post like this in a week or so. I’ll try to also get some writing done, especially since the semester is over so I have lots of time...
2024-06-25 07:46:44 +0000 UTC
View Post
Currently working on the art for book 2… going well! I’m super excited to see all this stuff on page once the first and second novels come out. Very exciting. Now, I just have to draw the actual floor headers, alongside some art for the fifteenth floor… Gonna be fun!
2024-06-16 21:17:02 +0000 UTC
View Post
Heyo!!! In short: THE FIRST BOOK OF THIS SERIES, CHAPTERS 3-76, WILL BE REMOVED IN APPROX. THREE HOURS AS PART OF THE PREPARATION FOR FULL RELEASE. NEW CHAPTERS WILL CONTINUE BEING PUBLISHED.
In long:
Hello!! I wanted to have more time to prepare everyone, but Podium gave me the wrong date for stubbing, so... yeah. Anyhow! For those who haven't heard, this story is getting published!!! The first book will be going live on the sixteenth of July, with preorders already up! So, if yo...
2024-06-12 16:40:49 +0000 UTC
View Post
Surprisingly, in line with his promise, Kitty succeeded in finishing the hazmat suits before she died. Though, by that time, she wished she’d been dead.
“You’re excited, right? I sure am!” Kitty said as he gently brought another spoonful of some unknown food to her slacked-open lips. By routine instinct, not even looking, he used the spoon to remove some of the stuff that had dribbled down her chin, putting it in her mouth, where it slid down into her gullet. She di...
2024-05-28 10:31:08 +0000 UTC
View Post
“...So, you’ve been taken off the donor list, but Moleman still feels confident that he can figure out some kind of vaccine to cure all of this. Of course, I’m still fairly sceptical about all of this, but he seems to like working on it just for its own sake, so I can’t be too negative. Oh, but he’s doing very well as mayor! Someone did try to attack him yesterday when he was holding a speech, shouting something about a human plague or whatnot, but it’s not like ...
2024-05-28 10:28:24 +0000 UTC
View Post
Midday, late January, a day like any other. Or, it would’ve been.
“You want to learn what?”
“But you’re busy, so you really don’t have to, like, unless you want to? But you really don’t have to.” He shuffled slightly closer to the door. “I thought that… The last time I showed you my stitching, you said it looked bad, and you seem pretty good at it, so I thought you might… But you should be resting.”
“T...
2024-05-28 10:26:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
Whenever she had the strength to, be it daytime or nighttime, Myriam would sit by the window. It was hardly a large window, with the pane only barely sizeable enough to let in enough light to not require daytime illumination. Not to mention that since it sat facing the courtyard, and this was only the fourth floor of seven, it meant that she only really had direct sunlight during midday, when the sun was at its peak.
But that’s not why she sat there. And it certainly wasn...
2024-05-28 10:23:43 +0000 UTC
View Post
Maybe it was a good thing that her unfortunate illness had been discovered so soon. It certainly gave her plenty of time to goof off before it developed too much to allow for even that.
And still, to Myriam, it was far from a good thing. Because of this, she now had to spend her days isolated, with her only visitor being the person she hated most, bar maybe Adolf Hitler, Mussolini and James Cordon. Yes, the person who had discovered her affliction was also the one who...
2024-05-28 10:19:43 +0000 UTC
View Post
She ended up in the hospital that very day, fully quarantined. There was no end to the ex-mayor’s complaints once he heard that she fully had her own room, not that he was in any place to do anything about it. After all, unlike him, there was a fairly good chance that her illness could infect not only goblins—but also humans.
Humans such as Moleman. Oh, and also his party, I guess.
But not me. Lucky, huh?
“This is the worst,...
2024-05-22 12:54:07 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Shame about that poor stablemaster. And on your birthday, too. You must have felt dreadful all evening, Mole.”
“Not at all. It happened late at night, mayor, so there was no way for me to…” Again, like usual, Moleman doesn’t seem too keen on lying. At least, not with a straight face. After all, if the party had been like the mayor wanted—a posh affair with aristocrats galore and plenty of fantasy-champagne-equivalent—then there’s no chance in heck that Mo...
2024-05-22 12:51:05 +0000 UTC
View Post
Do you want a signed physical copy? Do you have five minutes over to fill in a form?? Then this form is for you!! For the low-low price of 34$ (a mere 8$ increase compared to buying it retail--that's how little my name is worth!) you can receive a fresh-off-the-grill signed copy sent right to your doorstep! Or post office. Also, with this little form, you can furthermore buy some very cool limited-edition merch!! We've got prints, stickers, and a hand-pressed linocut boo...
2024-05-17 10:28:48 +0000 UTC
View Post
By the time I finish making Moleman’s birthday gift, it’s five minutes to his birthday and he has knocked on the door several times asking to be let inside. But perfection is hard-won, and I can say with certainty that I am now a victor. Of all the leathers I’ve tanned, this is the best. Of all the items I’ve crafted, this is the best. In short, this single leather glove, crafted using dragonhide I can’t even recall snatching, which I’ve tanned and softened myself, is perfect. I...
2024-05-16 14:36:51 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Has anyone told you that you could’ve been a drakekeep, doctor? Even Charm’s like wax in your hands!” Lent comments as he accepts the reins from Moleman, smiling broadly. His eyes briefly move to my own hands, before returning to Moleman’s. He hums. “Those are hands, yes?”
“Oh, yes,” Moleman says, his voice a little high, like it usually is when he’s lost in his own thoughts. “Hands. That’s what we have.”
Lent paus...
2024-05-16 14:34:21 +0000 UTC
View Post
Sometimes, Moleman really does confuse me. Nothing against him, of course, it’s just that this whole ordeal with the mayor, and with how the hospital works, and then all that about points and whatnot… It’s enough to make me more than happy I don’t have to deal with any of it. No, my role has become a fairly straightforward one, and not much dissimilar to what I did the weeks before Moleman confronted me in the alley.
I shadow him. At a close distance, sure, bu...
2024-05-16 14:31:27 +0000 UTC
View Post
I don’t fully know why considering I’ve been looking forward to this part for like a year straight but I am out here fighting for my life to make stuff happen… at least my pen still moves! Art is arting, occasionally. I also moved recently, which did predictably mess with my writing schedules, but it’s no reason. I must… write…!
2024-05-06 15:23:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
