Epsilon Twilight

24. Regeneration

Food, however delicious it may be, couldn't be enjoyed with the same pleasure as always when one ate in front of a sultanzade. In the end, Aloe had to wait for Fatima to finish as she devoured one plate after another.

"You need more meat on your body." The princess let an off-hand comment between plates, refusing to elaborate any further.

If I get more meat on this body, you people may get ideas. The scribe sulked in her thoughts as she waited patiently. That was the only...

Back to Schedule

Hello there,

April's over, meaning I will focus again on Cultivating Saga. Having said that, because I want to continue Project Tycoon, the schedule for releases will go from 4 times a week to 3. This is because I will do a single Project Tycoon chapter per week, and probably I will begin posting them to Patreon once I had a stockpile.

Considering I will not be writing much Project Tycoon (but at the same time is a shorter story), I predict Cultivating Saga and Project Tycoon will...

23. Plates

Fatima unlatched from Aloe with a smile on her face. It was thoroughly unreadable even with acuity, which led the scribe to believe that the princess was using charm.

"You are quite tougher than I initially thought." The imperial mused as she walked back to her seat, her back pointing to Aloe. She sat down with grace worthy of someone of her monarchic title. "But let us begin with these lessons."

Aloe was more focused on that pastry though. Not because dark thoughts had blossomed ...

22. Hatred

No, no, no. NO! Aloe agonized in the confines of her mind. It can’t be. It can’t be. The sultanzade’s words echoed in the scribe’s mind, “vitality to flow free from the body” she had said. No… She almost whimpered. It was hard to hold her mask. This had been a fatal blow. One that Fatima hadn’t even needed to try to land. That’s… Against her will, Aloe’s breathing became rugged...

21. Flowing

“Good girl,” Fatima snickered enthusiastically, supporting her back again on the chair. “Now, you have an idea of what this last stance may be?”

What the ninth stance may be? No amount of pondering could make Aloe come up with an answer. The best choice was to take a diplomatic answer. “Stances are diverse and multifaceted; I cannot hope to imagine what this last one must do.”

The princess rolled her eyes and sighed, “Killj...

20. Hope

It spoke at great lengths how terrifying the charm stance could be if even the sultanzade were cowered by it. Perhaps it was because she had experienced to much, but Aloe wasn’t as intimidated as Fatima made the problem out to be. I can’t deny it’s dangerous.

“Let’s stop talking about charm, one stance remains.” Fatima clapped to gain her attention.

Aloe nodded at her.

Acuity, or the sense stance as the imperials called it, was an impressive stance. Whil...

19. Charm

“Let us continue, then.” The sultanzade’s words snapped Aloe out of her thoughts. “Change into the speed stance.”

“Princess, I fear that stance may not be appropriate for my current predisposition.” The prone girl gave a look at her covered legs.

“You do not require movements to test speed.” Fatima grabbed Aloe’s hand and tapped on her palm. “Yes, the utility of the speed stance mostly relies on the enhanced mobility, but it affects the whole body equally. Wi...

18. Lessons

Fatima stood up from the chair, which got a slight scare out of Aloe. The scribe controlled her body to the best of her extent as she knew that the sultanzade was hosting her sense stance. Her senses should be sharper than mine because she has more vitality. A fact that haunted Aloe. She didn’t have much vitality. Perhaps a lot compared to normal people, but it paled before the sultanzade, let alone the sultanah.

“You already know a lot of stances, to be honest, t...

17. Stances

The sultry silhouette closed on her slowly, with heavy steps marked by the sound of heels. Do not let yourself be fooled or tempted. Aloe focused her psyche, putting pressure on her ‘toughness’. She’s using an infusion to enthrall you, do not let it happen.

Charm was one of the most unique internal infusions Aloe had seen. Even though it looked like no changes occurred to the woman wavering the so-called stance, the scribe felt her body heat up in ...

16. Silence

There was a brief stunned silence between the two women.

“I do not understand your proposal,” Fatima said. “You are more than capable of using Nurture by what I am seeing. Why would you need me to teach you about it?”

“There is a limit to how far a student can go without a teacher,” Aloe admitted. “You are right that I am acquainted with some stances, but not all of them. Even if I were not to be proficient with them, I would like to know all of them.”

Fatima...

15. Breathless

“I know everything, princess Fatima.”

Fatima Asina flinched as the no-name scribe spoke. There was something uncanny about the woman, many things, in fact. Not only did the aura around her feel totally different around her than a few days ago, but the was also an inherent… presence to her.

Not unlike her mother.

Something is wrong… The sultanzade recomposed, flowing vitality across her body and shifting her stance to sense from charm. That stance had pr...

Update

Hi there,

I forgot to tell it here, but this month I will posting less chapters as I am a bit burn out. This week I will only post 3 chapters (today being the last) and the coming weeks only 2. I will not stop writing, as a matter of fact, I started a new story in RR and SH, I just need a bit of a breather as I have writing around 1200 pages so far of the same story.

That will be all. New chapter in a bit.

-Epsilon Twilight

14. Everything

Aloe recomposed herself before talking again. Not only her posture wasn’t the best, but her body was starting to ache again as she wasn’t donning ‘toughness’. Nor could she afford to change her current internal infusion. 

“Princess Fatima, as much as I would like to talk about business, you may have noticed my physical incapabilities.” To begin with, she prodded the sultanzade.

The scribe was the most conscious person in the gardens about her own physical conditio...

13. Freedom

Days had passed since Aloe had examined the Aloe Veritas leaf with the sultanah’s description. She had tried her best to recreate the woman’s internal infusion – for it was impossible to apply to herself the external infusion – but no matter how much she tried, Aloe hadn’t managed to activate the ‘charm’ infusion.

I’ve seen it used by two people, maybe even more. It was difficult to identify who and when they were using that infusion. Most infusions in fact...

12. External

The scribe focused on the burning watchtower on the horizon, the scout of this metaphor alerted her with their shouts. Internal Infusion. External Infusion. She reread the words on the bleeding leaf to herself. She would not trust this information beyond the confines of her mind. Two infusions. The sheer possibilities were endless. If one infusion is already strong, how would two be? Unfortunately – or fortunately considering who that...

11. Senses

Whether it was because her exhaustion was apparent in her visage or the soldiers got smart, the soldiers took Aloe back to her bedchamber after her encounter with the sultanzade twins. She honestly thanked them for their foresight. She may have not done any physically demanding activities in the short outing, but she doubted she had ever felt as tired as she felt back then.

The sultanzade had drained a lot of her energies with that short meeting.

Whilst they hadn’t spoken much a...

10. Twins

Aloe would have loved to say that she cowered in fear, but her body didn’t even allow her that modesty. Instead, she remained impassive, which was a response that came naturally to her after being inactive for so long.

“Greetings, princess Khalida.” The scribe welcomed the sultanzade with the faintest nod of her head. “I would be more forward and enthusiastic with my salutation, but unfortunately, my body does not allow me so.”

“No problem, Rani’s scribe,” Khalida ...

9. Walk

Aloe’s eyes initially shone at the prospect of leaving her room, though they inevitably darkened once she was presented with the method to do so.

“I… why is there a palanquin here?” The scribe’s voice trembled, her body still prone in bed and her head barely raised from the pillow. “And one with a bed at that?”

“To carry you, of course.” Zeeshan with his hands clasped.

“Is there not a better method?” Aloe reacted negatively to the raised seat and the pe...

8. Acuity

Well into her second week as a patient, Aloe grew impatient. She could fare with being still for hours without end, but as of late, her body had grown pains from the stillness. Not only her extremities but also her torso were developing aches from the increasing numbness. Whilst she could exercise her arms easily, the same couldn't be said for her legs. Sure, she could move them slightly to keep the blood flowing, but beyond that, her pelvis would scream in protest.

“Could I get a cha...

7. Spite

It had been a while since Rani had departed to Sadina. Aloe looked at the ceiling with dead eyes, only a slow and tired blink once in a while interrupted the process. As the days passed, everything became harder. The more she had to stay in this cursed bed, the worse everything was. The less human she felt every time she had to do her business. It was demoralizing to soil herself every single day and then have someone clean it up.

That was no manner to live a life.

With the days, ...

6. Deviant

Rani woke up with almost no memory of the recent events. Amusingly enough, what made her remember the last day was nothing more than the moonlight coming from the window.

“Night, huh.” The princess blinked slowly. “I know I have gone to sleep in the noon, but it is never comfortable to wake up in the middle of the night.”

She sighed and straightened her back. Her hair was a mess and what she wanted more than anything right now was a bath.

“It has been two days at t...

5. Business

Aloe wasn’t left alone in the room for long, but when the physician came back, he unfortunately came empty-handed as Rani was sleeping. Apparently, she and the Sultanah had a heated discussion that lasted for hours and halted today’s audiences. Aloe didn’t know how to feel about that. She couldn’t be grateful to Rani for confronting the Sultanah because if she hadn’t hired her nothing of this would have happened in the first place, but at the same time, she appreciated the thought.<...

4. Reaping

All the water Aloe had painfully recovered escaped through her eyes. The physician calmed her several times stating that it was only a chance, but that wasn’t enough to calm her. How had she gone from becoming rich in an instant to a deflowered and disabled mess in less than a day? Aloe didn’t know if to cry or laugh at that sick joke. The sick joke of life.

She did both.

Her clacking was broken, like the birdsong of a crow with a clipped wing. A simile that hit too close to h...

3. Disconnect

Author note: I feel like a warning is required for this chapter. If you made it this far, you should be more than aware, but I'll put it nonetheless. Read at your own discretion.

********

Nothingness endured.

Aloe couldn’t help but feel drowned in herself. Her body ail even if it remained in stasis. The inhalation and exhalations were slow and arhythmical. Her legs jolted and her arms numbed. But above all else, her throat burned. She knew she couldn’t keep herself like ...

2. Overwhelmed

Everything was dark. The pale light that tried to dissipate the darkness utterly failed. There was no light strong enough to purify the void overwhelming the world. Dunes of darkness, seas of desolation, roads of despair.

A musky stench assaulted her nostrils, the mixture of a sweet aroma and a putrid one.

She opened her eyelids to notice the light wasn’t that of the sun but fading candles that needed to be changed. Her thoughts were sluggish, but even more so her body. A numbne...

1. Enlightenment

The sun hid for the day and darkness shimmered around in its place. Today was a special day, a day to remember, a day to mourn. An end to an era, a time of change.

“Oh, come on don’t sulk around that way.” The old man protested, not without coughing a few times along the way, his heavy steps being ignored by what should have been the powerful echo of the stone corridors.

“I mean, you are dying.” The young man added impassively.

“I may be dying, but I’m not dead...

Epilogue & Addendums

Epilogue

For a colder country, Loyata was unbelievably hot. Ydaz was surely hotter, but the presence of humidity made the lower temperatures more appalling than the scorching desert. At least horses were faster than camels.

“Ah, it would seem your missive was not a lie. You can color me surprised.” A voice whispered from the shadows of the trees.

“Hiding won’t do you any good when I know your exact position.” The man dismounted the horse calmly, the ambush did no...

95. Broken

Rani did the best she could to hold off her sigh, but it was getting unbearably difficult. She was no stranger to meetings, especially those with sultanzade. As one who had been marked early for a diplomatic life, Rani excelled in the battlefield of words, where every word was just a rope ready to close around your neck. This wasn’t just because of her charm, albeit that helped greatly, but her appreciation for words rather than bloodshed. Aaliyah was the most diplomatic sultan to ever exis...

Cultivating Saga Book 2 Conclusion

Hello there,

Book 2 of the Cultivating Saga, Nurturing Forturne, will finish this week. Only one chapter remains after the one I published today plus and epilogue/addendum.

As always, I will take a week long rest before renewing publishing here with the third book. The name for the third installment will be Enlightening Reality and here you have the cover!

See you later,

-Epsilon Twilight

94. Caught

Many thoughts sifted in Aloe’s mind. Hours had passed, glasses were emptied, and yet she couldn’t make her thoughts straight. Aaliyah-al-Ydaz just kept talking for hours without letting her interject. Nor that she would even dare.

The information was too much for her to handle. She got many answers to many questions, even though she ended up with more questions than before. Karaim did not only learn Evolution and Infusion from the imperials as Aloe had suspected from the beginning, ...