tobiasbegley

The Effaced: Chapter Eight

“Hello, dearest sister,” I said, a hint of wry amusement in my voice. “Is locking me in an enchanted box with a thousand and one ways to kill me really the way you wanted to greet me.” 

“It depends,” Jessica said, no humor in her tone at all. I dropped my own quickly. 

“It depends on what?” I asked, frowning. 

“Are the rumors true?” Jessica asked. 

“What rumors? That I killed a senator?” I asked, frowning. She should know me ...

The Effaced: Chapter Seven

On the other side of the portal lay Mist. 

Lay my past. 

Before I was Axel.

But no, that wasn’t quite right. As much as I liked to pretend those days were gone and never coming back, it had taken me a long time to shed off who I was as Mist. This hadn’t been a big, dramatic instance of throwing things away. It had been the gradual putting away of things that I thought I didn’t need, but was too afraid to throw away. 

I was suddenly very glad that I...

The Third Gate: Chapter Eight

Watching the city of Delitone brought several emotions to mind. The first and most basic was nerves. 

If I was caught by the border guards, then I’d be looking at prison time, and who knew what would happen to the eggs? 

Past the nerves, there was some pride. 

I was getting close to the dragon sanctuary, and if the eggs could be securely placed there and given good conditions, they might help to boost the numbers of a species that was critically endangered.<...

Vote o' Vote

The Third Gate: Chapter Seven

I stared into the space where Orykson had been, then sighed and tucked away the contract. I was exhausted, and my emotions were running all over the place. I could check it over in the morning, then with Meadow, and then contemplate signing off on it. Doing it now was just unduly rash. 

I wandered back down to the room that Kene and I had booked, then stepped into Dusk’s realm. I probably could have done it while I was up top, but I didn’t want to risk straining my spirit, espe...

The Third Gate: Chapter Six

“Finally!” Elio roared as Orykson appeared over a battlefield. Orykson resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He did appreciate snark, especially coming from those who didn’t have the power to challenge him, like his young ex-apprentice, but he didn’t like it right now. 

Thinking of Malachi caused a faint twitch at the corner of Orykson’s mouth, a pleased smile. Despite the boy’s sappy words – and probably thoughts, though Orykson could not, nor wanted to, read those –...

The Effaced: Chapter Six

“You’re free to go,” my attorney informed me as we strode down into the lobby of the constable’s station. “Well, relatively free?” 

“Relatively free?” I asked. 

“Until we get an innocent verdict, you’re not entirely free,” the attorney said. “You’re out on bail. You’ll need to check in with this constable station at least once a week. You’re not allowed to leave the city. You’re also much more likely to be treated with suspicion by any con...

The Effaced: Chapter Five

I was slumped into the folding metal chair, the attorney that I’d called sitting next to me. Across from us, Captain Hunt and a constable sat, playing the classical act, where Captain Hunt would come in hard, and the constable would back up and play nice, but the attorney wasn’t buying it. 

For my part, I didn’t have to do anything. The attorney was doing the arguing for me, going on about how much time they’d held me, and at what point it could be considered harassment, wh...

The Effaced: Chapter Four

When lunch came by, I was dry, and a constable brought someone else into my cell, a short, skinny teenager. He gave me a wide-eyed stare, and shuffled to the unoccupied cot. 

“What did you do?” the teen asked, and I sighed. Were the constables really trying to use me to frighten children? That was low. 

Then again, they might be using a spy. I doubted it, but if a senator had really been killed in a method that left Mist as one of the only suspects, they might just s...

The Third Gate: Chapter Five

“It’s not becoming of a gentleman to cry when they ask for help,” a stern, yet gentle voice said from behind me. I turned and wiped at my eyes, looking up to see Orykson standing on the deck, his arms tucked in his pockets. 

I was relieved that he’d come. A part of me had been convinced that he wouldn’t hear, or more likely, that he would hear, but not care. 

“What did you need?” Orykson asked, sounding not quite businesslike, but not quite sympathetic eith...

Contract?

The Third Gate: Chapter Four

As we boarded the boat that was headed to Delitone, I was struck with how different it was, while also being similar. The one that had taken us to the Idyll-Flume was a pure passenger ship, with some standards for luxury. Less than a full, prince-of-the-ocean style cruiser, but it was still able to carry thousands of people in comfort.

This was about the same size, but while it had small cabins for people, it was also partly a trade ship. I could see boxes filled with, presumably, all s...

The Third Gate: Chapter Three

It took us much longer to reach the port town where we could take a ship to Delitone than it had taken for us to travel to Puinen, since we couldn’t speed our flight along with mana. Dusk suggested that she could use her dominion to forcibly move me with them, but Kene was quick to ban that – while that had been part of what Dusk got out of our bond, there was much less certainty in that being harmless to me. 

I could have just hidden in her realm, of course, but while we were ...

The Effaced: Chapter Three

“What?” I asked, then mentally slapped myself. Speaking while you were wrongfully under arrest wasn’t the right thing to do, but it had just slipped out. 

“We’re going to walk you back to the station,” the constable who had cuffed me said, then spun me around and started marching me to the lift. I followed, still numb, and we took the ride down to the city street, where they loaded me into an automobile. The chunky, loud machines weren’t allowed on the sky bridges, bu...

Fishing for Swords

This is something as a follow-up story to Fish Boi. It isn't needed to understand this story, but it can explain things a bit.
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When it comes to the study of ancient or powerful trees, there are many choices for a group of budding arborists to gossip about: 

The Restorsap Tree of the floating islands of Elohi is said to be close to a thousand years old and be able to cure any disease or injury if it gives its sap to you, while cursing those who take its s...

The Effaced: Chapter Two

I wiped my brow as I released my concentration on the precision metal-warping spell I was holding, and the last rune on the support beam started sparking to life with the same minty color of the crystal core for the airship. 

I pulled out my pocket watch, then turned to the captain. 

“It’s half an hour past fifth bell,” I told him. “I’ll be taking my leave now, but I should be able to finish the repairs within the next two days.” 

The captain, who ...

The Effaced: Chapter One

“… best in Airship Core Technology, brought to you by Elucidate Labs. Power, Performance, Perfection. Accept no substitutes.”

My hand slapped onto my alarm clock, and I sat up with a groan. My back was twinging slightly, my fingers, knees, and ankles were all stiff and inflamed, 

I rolled, flexed, and stretched as I got out of bed. It had been a long time since I’d pratciced many of my more serious stretching routines, but over the past year, the aches had gotten wors...

The Third Gate: Chapter Two

Under a mountain, at the edge of the Beastgate Trial Trail, I met with a massive tortoise. 

“It is good to see you back on your feet,” Edgar said. “Your partner charged the array?” 

Dusk made a wet leaf patter, saying that she’d done some of it herself, and Edgar simply nodded. 

“Edgar,” I said seriously. “Can I trust you to keep a secret? You’re a beastmage, and there aren’t many of us, but… I think I’m going to have to leave soon. Bef...

Audiobook is out now! Sale on book one!

Hello everyone! Mana Mirror book one is now out on audible, and book one is on sale on Amazon. Thanks!

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If you can, please leave a rating or review. Even if there's no text, having the stars is super critical to the all-powerful algorithm. 

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/Mana-Mirror-First-Tobias-Begley-ebook/dp/B0CYHQG7L4

Audiobook Link: 2024-07-30 14:03:39 +0000 UTC View Post

The Third Gate: Chapter One

Two weeks after I’d awoken in the guest bedroom at the edge of the Beastgate Trial Trail, Kene and I stood back in Puinen, where I was chopping firewood for Agnes, the old alchemist who was using Kene as hired help. 

There was still a long way to go before I’d be able to even think about tapping into my spirit or mana-garden – six more weeks, at the very least – but my physical strength had partially recovered. My full-gate spells operated continuously, even with me refusin...

The Twin Trials: Chapter Eighty-Five

I stared up into the sky and screamed. The power was crushing me, but I wouldn’t fall. 

But I could feel doubt creeping in. 

I had done it, but it wasn’t enough. The pressure was too much, my soul and body were shaking. I hadn’t cracked like a dam yet, but I could feel that it was just a matter of time. There was simply too much pressure, more than my body or soul could handle. Energy and mana were rushing into me, and I knew that the moment I let this form fade, m...

The Twin Trials: Chapter Eighty-Four

“You have decided to detonate the stone, then,” Edgar said, watching the three of us as we strode into his lab. 

“I have,” I agreed. “It’s a risk, but I need to be strong.” 

In the end, Ed’s talk about the assassin had been what had convinced me. I needed strength if I was going to face her. Up to this point, my clashes had only been won through circumstance. In a head to head, as I was now, I would lose. This would hopefully be a small step towards fixin...

The Twin Trials: Chapter Eighty-Three

The Unlit Candle Feast was an old tradition, older than the founding of Mossford itself. I didn’t know where it originated, nor did anyone as far as I was aware, but I had always heard it was born from a need to push off the cold of winter, in the days where fire was the main method used to heat the home, instead of spells, in the days before every city had a graveyard with wards that stopped the dead from haunting the streets, the days where a monster could slip out of the darkness and swa...

The Twin Trials: Chapter Eighty-Two

Surprise! I wrote so much that you all are going to get a chapter today, sat, sun, mon, tues, and wed!

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I didn’t pick my answer right away, instead turning to the wall of beast spells. 

“Do you mind?” I asked, gesturing. 

“By all means,” Edgar rumbled. “None of what I have collected there is exceedingly rare, and you would have been able to pick through it for the beastmark anyhow.” 

I strolled over ...

Update / Opinion Poll

Hello! I am now done with the planning phase of The Effaced, which is a book set in Elderglass in the same world as Evan's. It's going to be a duology murder mystery with some elements of OPMC and progression fantasy. I will be posting chapters here starting in August, but I'll likely not push the same frenetic pace I had for completing Evan's story - I have a few other things going on, if nothing else.

This brings me to my next point: I'm going to be posting at least two, hopefully t...

The Twin Trials: Chapter Eighty-One

Edgar’s lab, as it turned out, was located underneath one of the mountains, through a wall that he used some complex spell to unlock. I glanced around, interested to see what he’d have. Meadow’s small hut in Mossford just had a cauldron over the fire, but Orykson’s… wherever he brought me… seemed to have endless rooms, and I had no doubt there was a lab tucked away in there. The glimpses of the Craftsman’s lab that I’d seen had been a chaotic mess.

Edgar’s lab, as was ...

¿od tahW

The Twin Trials: Chapter Eighty

It was so late by the time I arrived that Edgar wasn’t there to greet me, but an older man that worked for Edgar picked me out of the snow. He was wearing thick, round spectacles and led me to one of the spare bedrooms in the house. It was warm, and the wood they were burning that gave off the colorful place gave off a heady, herbal scent that was almost like a mix of rosemary, clove, and pine. 

Accepting the hospitality of a random man who just said he knew Edgar was monumentall...

The Twin Trials: Chapter Seventy-Nine

For a moment, I considered simply cutting through the wilderness to save time.

If I’d been fresh and healthy, I would have given it serious thought, but… One of my arms was almost completely useless, and I wasn’t confident that using my Foxstep and Immovable Lock to navigate my way through the sheer cliffs wouldn’t count against me.

And all that was ignoring the fact that away from the trails, there would be far more powerful beasts, ones that had learned to avoid where th...

Ming's Final Exam

Fun fact about Ming: For those who don’t know, I did martial arts for about 12 or 13 years, and got fairly serious with it. Ming is named after a student who came to study under my teacher at the time. She was 5th dan, and she knocked me around in every sparring match with ease. 

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Ming ran her hands along her student identification card, studying her point totals. Eighteen hundred and thirty practitioner-level points, but those didn’t ma...