Malcolm Tent

A Novel Approach chapter 75

Wish upon the Stars chapter 839

The next morning, after I stored my wishes, we got ready to descend. Callie, who had been distracted all night, called everyone to a stop before we did. “Everyone needs to be careful. The void is a place without real space, and space and time are connected. Temporal anomalies are common in Void Shallows. In fact, the rules or reality themselves can be extremely malleable here. If this challow has a master, we might run into some strange laws we have to follow.”

“Did my grandmother...

Secret Ending chapter 22

mild nsfw at the end mind the tags

Wish upon the Stars chapter 838

I was kind of freaking out. The Starpluck Bangle was an S-rank artifact my grandmother had given to Callie. It was SUPPOSED to be basically infallible. Using it would bring you anywhere you had a mark, and Callie had left one on the Acheron. We SHOULD have been safely aboard the ship now. Instead we were sitting on a rocky outcropping overlooking some kind of ancient looking stone city.

“Where the fuck ARE we?” I demanded. “This isn’t the ship, but it doesn’t look like we’re...

Secret Ending chapter 21

Wish upon the Stars chapter 837

My reaction to Rulka’s attack was slow and deliberate. I sunk down in my stance, triggered Mornax and Belial, and faced her head on. Mentally, I told Callie to take the others and get out. If she could get outside to Dez she would be safe. In the meantime, Rulka was already halfway to me, and my staff whirled out to meet the claws that sprouted as she shifted into a werewolf.

Dantalion flickered out to give me an idea of what was going on, and with that information, I began to deflect...

A Novel Approach chapter 74

Wish upon the Stars chapter 836

“Man, this place is kind of a dump,” said Bethy as we stared off into the distance at Shadowcrack. “It had such a cool name, but now I’m just disappointed.” She clicked her tongue at the jagged rocks barely peeking out over the surface of the terrain distastefully.

I turned to Dezcarta. “So…not to be that guy, but that place is made of black rocks and mostly underground, your city is made of metal and it’s really tall. Who named these towns? Because whoever it was didn�...

Secret Ending chapter 20

Wish upon the Stars chapter 835

Descarta lived in a castle. This was absolutely zero surprise to literally any of us. As the city lord, she had plenty of access to the best resources, and I wasn’t sure why anyone would choose NOT to have a castle if given the choice.

We were led to the entrance hall and left to wait, and I waited with bated breath, my armor and mask back in place. I’d tried to use Dantalion to scan the place, but the castle was made of C-ranked materials, and I couldn’t get a decent read. I igno...

A Novel Approach chapter 73

Wish upon the Stars chapter 834

I followed Father Abraham into town, and as we left, I reached out to Callie to have her tip off Caladwen about what was coming. I hadn’t been out in Ironreach much since coming here, though I wasn’t expecting to see much that differentiated it from Highhaven. Sure enough, the city layouts were very similar, though obviously not identical.

The streets were cobbled, sort of, but rather than being uneven and rough like most cobblestone roads I’d heard of, the stones were smoothed ou...

Secret Ending chapter 19

Wish upon the Stars chapter 833

Father Abraham’s speech was surprisingly persuasive, even with my mist resistance. He called us all together into an informal huddle in the middle of the room, dragging tables together, and sat up on one of them smiling benevolently at everyone. “Friends, you know me, you know my mission. I seek only peace between land and sea.”

Some of the parishioners nodded, but a few, who must have been new, looked bewildered. One of them, a lean girl with wild eyes and braided hair scoffed. �...

Secret Ending chapter 18

Wish upon the Stars chapter 832

The rest of the security team was quick to open up about Simon. Apparently, he was a bully and a rat, and never hesitated to throw them under the bus for his own benefit. Even when he kept things to himself it was just to get leverage over the others. Everyone in the ministry hated him, but the father kept him around because he was loyal.

Of course, that was their opinion, but I wasn’t so sure. Something about this place was…off. The air around us was heavy with misery and unease. I...

A Novel Approach chapter 72

Wish upon the Stars chapter 831

I had to borrow some clothes. Removing my mask made me stand out less, but being a baby faced six four behemoth in a thick suit of pitch black plate mail was still really attention grabbing. I snagged a set of…well, kind of old fashioned clothes from Caladwen before leaving, stowing my armor in my ring, and then set out toward the ministry.

Arriving at the ministry, I queued up for entry, but when I reached the door, I didn’t follow the greeter in to be given a meal or a bed. “Hel...

Secret Ending chapter 17

Wish upon the Stars chapter 830

Unlike the last city, the gate guards at Ironreach didn’t make things hard for us. The Citizen was clearly well known here, and when he brought us to the gate, they let us right through. Once we entered though, I noticed things were different than expected. 

Based on his descriptions and his general demeanor, I assumed Ironreach would be lively and bustling. It WAS pretty packed with people, but it wasn’t loud or energetic. Everyone walked quickly and silently, eyes trained on ...

A Novel Approach chapter 71

Wish upon the Stars chapter 829

We took the trip to Ironreach slow. I was concerned about being noticed now, not just by the godchildren, but possibly by the Void Child too. I had faith in the candles (because realistically what could I do if they didn’t work?) but I decided to be cautious. Slowing down meant more time to process each area with Murmur, which meant better stealth.

While we walked, I left Callie to her own devices and hung back to talk to someone else I’d been worried about…my apprentice. Bella lo...

Secret Ending chapter 16

Wish upon the Stars chapter 828

“That was fucking crazy,” Abel gasped as he thumped down next to us. “What WAS that? It was so FAST.” I couldn’t tell if he was terrified or excited (though knowing Abel I was betting on the latter). Bethy was right behind him, and the as of yet unnamed elf hunter trailed behind her silently, face stoic and no sign of her former distress.

My vampire friend was scanning the waterline, clearly on the lookout for followup attacks, which I completely understood. I was still pissed...

Secret Ending chapter 15

Wish upon the Stars chapter 827

Below the waves, it was cold and dark. Even with my Leviathan domain, warmed by the fire of life and shielded by the Promethean Fire, I was still frozen, lost and afraid. I could sense the creatures in the water around me, watching, waiting. Beneath me, I felt Callie being dragged down, and I pushed forward, exploding through the depths in bursts of black fire.

My Perception stretched out into the surrounding water, I’d shut Murmur down before diving in, but I could still sense what w...

A Novel Approach chapter 70

Wish upon the Stars chapter 826

Bethy’s bat swarm flowed across the surface of the island like a tide of living darkness. The eyes of every bat gleamed red as blood, and the only sound they made was the silent flap of dreadful wings as they eclipsed the sky, boiling down to whirl around the elf.

The elf’s own eyes were glowing a brighter red, more ruby than blood, and her hand blurred as she plucked and fired arrow after arrow, aiming for the bats.

Within the swarm, I saw Bethy partially materialize, the edg...

Secret Ending chapter 14

Wish upon the Stars chapter 825

Once I finished my talk with my family, we left. Murmur included Dantalion, which meant I was deeply aware of exactly what was happening within the domain. Murmur not only allowed me to hide traces in increasingly detailed ways, it also allowed me to divine when someone was LOOKING for those traces.

A few people had swept the area we were in with different detection methods, but they failed, of course, and after the sweeps stopped I informed everyone else it was time to go.

We wer...