puddles4263

Chapter 672

Randidly nodded to Ulaat's question.

With a small, cocky grin on his face, Ulaat spread his hands wide. Then he brought his hands together with a loud clap. When Ulaat pulled his hands apart, a portal opened between them. It was a small thing at first, but as Ulaat continued to spread his hands it widened until it was large enough for a person to walk through. With extreme delicacy, Ulaat placed the portal onto the ground.

“The third secret… is this. But it is also the m...

Chapter 671

It had been awhile since Randidly had dreamed. And he knew it was a dream because he was sitting in his high school principal's office with his mother and the Creature. But even though it was clear to him that this was a dream, Randidly was rather ambivalent about the whole thing. He simply accepted it and looked back and forth between the two of them.

“I wonder if you are alive…” Randidly whispered, looking at his mother. She favored him with one of her beaming smiles that ...

Chapter 670

Luckily, the Progenitor’s Influence had bought him the time. Unfortunately, that strength was clearly spent, and the Ashen Image was releasing a keening wail filled with vicious intent. There were grief and madness in the sound, but more than that…

...it was loneliness…?

Even if I was hated… that was still my source…!

Randidly blinked. Was the Ashen Image speaking…? Did it realize that the Patron of Ash was no more...? If so, Randidly had once agai...

Chapter 669

Thinking about how if I was rude, I would go to a brief side story after 670's cliff. But I always grow frustrated by that, so probably not.

Probably ;)

The first planting offered Randidly a sickle. Poison of the Fickle Aether. If something is in your way, destroy it. Crush its form and seize the remnants of its power. You are a greater being than this. Do not let it stop you. Sculpt yourself as you will so that you might ascend your true Path an...

Chapter 668

I expect I'll go back and smooth these three chapters out, but I figured I would post the first draft and not leave you hanging.

In a second, Randidly was back to himself. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the pain hit him with even more vicious vigor, shaking his consciousness. A snapshot of the world around him appeared in his mind.

A raised obsidian platform had risen out of the molten lava of the volcano, upon which Randidly stood. And he stood on the...

Sidenote

Just had some strange thoughts yesterday and thought I would share. I considered doing a joke chapter for 666, but decided against it. Mostly due to time. Better spent elsewhere.

However, the inspiration was I've been reading a lot of Korea returnee novels lately, so I spent quite a lot of time thinking of what would happen in a returnee type novel in Rand's world.

Obviously Rand wouldn't be the one to return 10 years or whatever and get a do-over, but what side character do you think wo...

Chapter 667

“They would call me firebringer, for that night. Almost the entire village burned down.” The Patron of Ash narrated with a dispassionate voice, as he watched in real time the house, and then the tree, and then the whole village go up in flames. “My people worshipped plants, so they prepared certain magicks to combat fire. But fire grows strong quickly. And with our best and brightest fighting on the frontlines… none who had the strength to quell the fire were in the village. My ...

Chapter 666

These two were actually really hard to write. Plus I spent a lot of yesterday outlining for the contest winner stories. Woooooo, let's push through.

As the Patron of Ash continued to speak, Randidly looked behind at the portal. Strange skittering bug creatures were exploding outwards, expanding in all directions. Strangely, Randidly felt his perspective lift up and shoot up into the sky. From just the field of grain, Randidly could now see the edges where the f...

Chapter 665

I have the fourth chapter done with this release, but I think I should go over it again when I am more awake. This information will be important down the line, and I want to get it right.

With nothing else to do, Randidly began to walk. The direction was random. And likely, variable, as he couldn’t very well track anything in the darkness. There was just himself, and the feeling of his body, hanging in the deep abyss around him.

Honestly, the feeling of...

Chapter 664

Exhausted from the day, Randidly could say nothing as Skarch insisted that they hire a cart to allow Randidly to rest. At first, he staunchly refused, it was slow them down immensely. But the headache was back with a vengeance and Randidly felt some strange instability from his inner world that had him worried.

He couldn’t pinpoint the source, but he figured there would be no problems with taking some time to relax.

It wouldn’t change the course of the war, but the defen...

Chapter 663

 Laptop slowed me down, but I managed to come it at about my usual speed. Time to start speeding up.

Captain Platton sat on top of a tall stone tower, looking towards the South side of the Hallat River. The screen of trees made it difficult to tell exactly what was going on, but it seemed clear that the Wights were moving.

Construction, his instincts told him. This time Hell Maw’s for sure. With that cover, the Wights would push them back from the Hallat River,...

Chapter 662

This is a chapter that I don't think I would have written a year ago. For a lot of reasons. 

Randidly stuck the shovel into the ground and pulled out another fist-sized rock. With a grunt, he expertly flipped it off to the side and then continued to dig.

With an expression of glum resignation, Azriel watched him dig. “Is this really how you want to spend your last day here?”

“Yes,” Randidly said simply, continuing to dig. It was quick work, consider...

Chapter 661

Just two, but long ones. Sorta felt like this was the halfway point in the Shal world arc, but that might just be outline wise.

In the darkness of her private room, Ophelia Vade, the leader of the Heart School, tapped her finger against the cold obsidian of her small buckler shield. It was something obtained only accidentally from a Danger Zone, hundreds of years ago. It almost made her nostalgic to think of the way the world used to be.

Her memories of b...

Status

Jeez, what a week. So the laptop charger is not where I thought it would be. That's fine, I'll move today's chapters to tomorrow. Least it gave me some time to outline.

Back on track tomorrow. Goal is 10 chapters this week.

Chapter 660

Little unsure of how this ended up, I'll think on it.

“Many thanks for arriving so promptly,” Drake said cheerily, even as he stood on his tiptoes to maintain his position in the trap shaft. “I had resigned myself to another long, long time alone with my own darkness, but fortune has smiled upon me! Truly, it is providence that a previous ally has stumbled upon me. Although we are current enemies, we are both driven by the treasure of this place, are we n...

Chapter 659

Although he was exhausted to the point he was out of Stamina, Drake felt much better after crushing the monster's body to nothing but mush. He also realized two things.

His own stubborn obliviousness had gotten Drake into this situation. He, as a rule, refused to ask for clarification on an assignment. He had no wish to be an ass kisser, and Drake knew that Sydney wouldn’t appreciate it. But when he then began to get furious at her for failing to give him the proper guidance on ...

Chapter 658

Probs three tonight, three tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be the harder one to pull off.

One week after he had arrived at the World Crater, Drake stood before the large grey protuberance that formed its center. Although he had initially assumed the thing was a giant boulder, it clearly wasn’t; in fact, the thing looked more like a strange geometric approximation of a dome. It was a little much to think that this was a naturally formed bit of terrain, especial...

Status

No chapters tonight, and this one is all on me. Left my laptop charger at a friends, only noticed when I sat down to write >.<.

In other news, I will be upping my chapter count per week in preparation for nanowrimo in November. So I’ll push up towards 12 through October.

Hopefully I’ll be able to work on an amusing side project too. I will exhaust myself in November, Kukuk.

Expect a brief break at the beginning of December xD

Chapter 657

Randidly crashed to the ground, his head throbbing in something near agony. The Crown of Upheaval and Silence hung heavy above him. Although the Mana potions he had would restore his Mana, it didn’t restore something intangible. And as Randidly abused his body more and more by pumping it full of Mana Potions, he knew that he was nearing a dead end of a health outcome.

But it was difficult to value those possible future problems when the constant threat of death was hanging over ...

Chapter 656

When Azriel sprinted across the field and eviscerated a group of four Wights that were tearing off chunks of flesh from a spear user, Azriel glanced across the bloody road and met Skarch’s eyes. The other woman didn’t flinch at all, despite the fact that Skarch had purposefully fled away from assistance. Azriel declined to consider the why’s of that action.

Instead, she smiled primly at Skarch. ‘Didn’t expect me to account for you making that decision, did you?’

...

Chapter 655

Might be a few more mistakes than normal. Think my editing program is broken. Apologies.

“Shit.” Skarch muttered. Her support squad shifted around her uncomfortably with their eyes on the ground. She could feel the tension in their shoulders, and see how the tips of their spears quivered as they gripped the shafts too tightly. “This is a trap.”

Immediately, Skarch brought up the Party chat with her three allies. Although Silo hadn’t responded si...

Chapter 654

Just a quick dalliance. I don't want to dwell too long on the details of the battle lines. 

Tarik Claw tightly held his spear as he crouched with his partner next to the tall stone. They had been told to wait here, and it had been almost ten minutes. Tarik was fresh to this group, which they were beginning to Platton’s Pounders. In the crazy few weeks after the wave of Wights landed upon the shores of the Central Domain, this was the group that was ...

Chapter 653

Jeez, only two. This week has been so rough.

Shal was frustrated. Lying beside him was Razland, who was already asleep. His snores were so noisy that Shal almost believed that the Wights would leave their fortifications and launch an attack in the middle of the night in order to get Razland to cease with his incessant noise.

After Shal had drawn the two Witch Kings into a fight and killed them both with Razland and Verynica’s help. That had largely brok...

Chapter 652

Bah, Only one tonight. But tonight's second chapter is half finished, so expect three tomorrow. 

When the Wight attack came for Southpoint Beach, even Randidly was stunned by its scope. Mere 6 hours after they had landed at the harbor, they were forced to retreat as hundreds of thousands of Wights rushed in their tiny boats to assault the shore. There were so many that it was almost impossible to see the water for all the boats cruising forward towards the...