tobiasbegley

The Twin Trials: Chapter Forty-Seven

I appeared in front of a stone building, and glanced around. Neither Araceli nor Mallory had been teleported in with me, so this must be one of the solo challenges.

There were a few things of note – above the doors of the building was the seal of some college I didn’t recognize. A few steps behind me, a large stone monolith stood, carved with spellforms. There was clearly a place to cast a spell into it, but none of my spells actually worked.

With nothing else in sight outside...

I don't know what to put in the titles of these anymore to be honest, but hey, here we go, professionalisim go 'wheeee'

The Twin Trials: Chapter Forty-Six

Mallory’s claws forged around her hand, Araceli’s throat began to glow with light, and I let briars and bones burst from my spirit.

The monsters surged forward, and the eye focused on us, a ray of light bursting from its pupil. As the light fell over me, I felt something pushing against my mind, a fear effect. 

Unlike with the draconic trial, though, this wasn’t overwhelmingly powerful. It was strong, but my mind-shielding ring pushed back, and I threw my will behind it...

The Twin Trials: Chapter Forty-Four

“Primes,” Mallory said, shrugging. “Why not? I was preparing for the third floor when the sky exploded, so I figure there has to be a chance at a growth item.” 

“And it’s not like we can’t pick up a few things on the way,” I said, nodding. “My mana senses are pretty good. I’ll spread them out around us.”

Araceli let out a bark-like noise, wagging her tail and leaping forwards, ready to move.

I did as I’d said as the two of us started heading inwa...

The Archmage: Chapter Nineteen

It didn’t take long for her to be ready to mentor me after that. Tara and Osheen had to leave the room, and with a promise of mutual safety, the wards were lowered. I brought out some blank paper and ink, so she could sketch the spells onto the paper, and then she – still in Oracle’s form – stood across from me, where I sat on the ground.

“The thing you must understand about human magic is that it is the ultimate neutrality,” the Silver Queen said. “What else would it be? ...

The Archmage: Chapter Eighteen

I split my Sunday between spending time with Osheen, and spending time working on a bribe-gift for Oberon. 

Osheen and I made an excellent breakfast, got some exercise in, and complained about work together. It wasn’t much, but it was lovely.

While I was working on a gift for Oberon, however, I was struck with a rather devious idea. 

I’d already committed time to making a pair of powerful artifacts for Awel Meddal, one of wind and one of water. 

But ...

The Archmage: Chapter Seventeen

Since I had six months, give or take two weeks, the following morning, Osheen and I went out to eat for breakfast. I had soft poached eggs on toast with a bit of lemon dressed arugula, while Osheen had a croissant with butter and jam, with eggs and rashers on the side. 

After we got back to our rooms, Osheen fixed me with a serious look. 

“Do you plan to actually investigate your aura now?” he asked. 

“What do you mean?” I asked, shifting uncomfortably...

The Archmage: Chapter Sixteen

Eventually, my office hours came to a close, and I headed up the stairs to the old summoning circle. 

Tara and Osheen were already there, powering up the wards, and I tossed my whispering wind spell into the center of the circle and activated the function to get Awel Meddal’s attention. 

It took her a little while, but eventually she appeared. She looked me over, head to toe, then raised an eyebrow. 

“Coya?” she asked. 

“What?” I said, con...

Behold! The Vote-inator!

The Twin Trials: Chapter Forty-Three

I woke up on sand, and pulled myself to my feet, glancing around. I hadn’t even remembered passing out, but here I was. 

Speaking of here… Where was I? 

There was a beach all around me, stretching out for miles to my left and right, far enough that I couldn’t tell where they ended, and there was an ocean pushing off into the distance dead ahead.

There were human bodies on the beach, but they were all breathing and alive to my senses. A few were even starting ...

The Twin Trials: Chapter Forty-Three

Orykson froze as he felt the planar membrane of the world crack at the very edges of his territory, and Aerde began to accelerate their way through the data as quickly as possible. 

Some, like the Storm King, questioned why Orykson had ‘wasted’ one of his three spellbinder bonds on a simple knowledge elemental that he’d saved in the wastes of Aergarde.

After all, Orykson was a remarkably intelligent man, and his variations of the Raise Dead spell were still in use to th...

The Twin Trials: Chapter Forty-One

I wasn’t out for too long, but when I did awaken, I felt… Amazing. My strength had surged in a way that it never had before. This had to be what it would have been like to take a Fundament Foundation Pill, but thanks to the power of the deep mana, I wasn’t suffering from a week’s worth of mana toxin. 

Many of my spells that had been on the border of ready to advance to the next stage, like Burn Future or Material Echo, had been pushed forwards, and the overall power jump me...

The Twin Trials: Chapter Forty

“We have two, arguably three, plant mages,” I mused. “Green and warm sounds kind of plant-y or jungle-y. 

“I don’t think plant-y is a word,” Kene mused. “But I agree for sure, it makes the most sense, if it is a plant challenge. If it’s not a plant challenge, then… I mean, at that point, we may as well pick any door.” 

Liz and Travis agreed, and we set out to fly across the desert. A few large birds swooped down to attack us, but a combination of aura...

The Archmage: Chapter Fifteen

Throwing myself into teaching for a week after discovering my miracle cure might not have been quite as miraculous as it seemed felt incredibly strange. Still, I did the best I could, going through different languages with the kids, and helping people get their first burners done.

When the noble kids tried to pass off work that was obviously not theirs, but instead something from their families books about making force bolt burners, I was struck with a conundrum.

On one hand, I co...

The Archmage: Chapter Fourteen

Tara, Osheen, Oracle, Bridgette, and I sat at a table that held a large sheet of butcher’s paper and a plate of metal. 

“There are two problems,” Tara said. “Power and functions. Both take up way too much space to fit here.” 

“Fill me in,” Osheen said. “I’m not a ritualist, and while I’ve learned a lot, this is complicated.” 

“Right,” I said, pulling the paper over to me. “So basically there are three parts of the spell. Let’s sta...

The Bloodsoul's Rebirth

CW for SA, abuse, and suicidal thoughts.

-

They say that life out in the free towns is hard. Those hard times create strong people. Strong people create good times. Good times create soft people, then those soft people create hard times. 

In Kiran's experience, that was utter bullshit.

Kiran stared out at the ocean, watching the tides roll in. Hard times didn’t create strong people. They just made people miserable. They created ...

The Archmage: Chapter Thirteen

I let out a long, tired sigh as I picked at the barley and mushroom soup that I’d picked up for lunch. My general witchcraft courses had gone well enough, I thought. It was still far too early to tell who would end up actually trying hard and succeeding, who would coast through, and who would flunk out, but I was determined to make sure that anyone who was willing to try would make it far. 

But I was now heading into a more delicate class – introductory enchanting. 

...

The Archmage: Chapter Twelve

With the meetings finished, Osheen and I spent a few days drafting our lesson plans for our classes. 

I had two main classes I’d be teaching this year, novice witchcraft and novice enchanting, with two periods for each. 

What were the basic skills needed for a witch? What about an enchanter? I wanted to give them each skills that would be broad enough to apply in multiple fields, especially since I’d personally seen just how effective the blending of disciplines coul...

The Twin Trials: Chapter Forty

“You didn’t think that all of the challenges would be illusions, did you?” the asomatous possessing Travis’ body asked, a dark chuckle burbling out of his lips. “Oh no. The sage was wise. He knew that he needed to test your skills, both in simulations, and for real.” 

Dusk leapt down from my shoulder and slapped her palm on the ground, spinning her mana into a strange bird skull – the spirit trap that Kene’s grandmother had given her. The power surged up, trying to ...

Votey McVote Face

The Twin Trials: Chapter Thirty-Nine

There was a slow drumming noise as the gate opening, which began to rapidly increase in tempo, until it was cut by a loud trumpet sound. 

A lion emerged from the gate, tempest mana swirling around it. Travis raised his hands and started sketching out another one of his spells, and Liz nodded, as if that meant something. 

Not sure entirely what she meant, I decided that locking it down was the best course of action, and overcharged my mana to cast a triple-layer Fungal Lo...

The Twin Trials: Chapter Thirty-Eight

“Why not?” Kene said with a shrug. “It would give us three effective skips. That should let us get through most of the more time consuming challenges.” 

We spent the evening roasting some hot dogs over a campfire, before Kene and I ‘left’, hiding our portal in Liz’s tent in order to get into our room. It probably made a few of our competitors draw the wrong conclusion, but I wasn’t too horribly worried about that. 

The following morning, Kene absorbed the...

The Archmage: Chapter Eleven

As much as I’d enjoyed my summer with Aldvarri and Osheen, it was also quite nice to get back to living within the confines of Yesgol. It was beginning to feel almost like a second home, though I was now facing a new challenge the likes of which I’d never had to before: new-teacher onboarding. 

That onboarding was why I now found myself sitting next to Osheen along a long table, filled with people. 

There were the teachers I knew, of course, like Tara, Travis, Seth, ...

The Archmage: Chapter Ten

After managing to kill a near-archmage who’d been keeping me prisoner, ascending to become an archmage myself, and discovering a star that even the Ligature said they only thought might – might – have a similar variation in the far southern parts of the continent in Coya, I thought I might have had to dive into another harrowing encounter that would force me to fight for my life. 

Instead… Osheen and I were able to spend the rest of the summer with Aldvarri. 

The...

The Archmage: Chapter Nine

Might…

Might.

Might! 

I wouldn’t accept dying on a might. I couldn’t accept dying a failure. I wouldn’t die so close to being able to accomplish my goals. 

Not only wouldn’t, couldn’t. 

I couldn’t push away the faerie side, though, so what could I do? 

If the fusion arch-star was about binding yourself to the magic of another realm through your connections, could I do the opposite?

I drove a wedge between my two auras...

Release Alert!

Book three of the Journals of Evan Tailor is out now! It's a queer sword and sorcery progression fantasy story, with a slightly darker world and tone.

This is the novel's description:

Evan Tailor needs to kill an Archmage.

If he can survive a party first.

With the Silver Queen calling in her debt, Archmage Roark's oaths binding him into assistance and silence, and new classes pulling at Evan from all sides, this year is not turning out to be the peaceful and prosperous...

The Archmage: Intermission (Osheen)

Osheen paced up and down the classroom in front of Tara, shaking his head. 

“We have to go after him.” 

“I agree,” Tara said. “But they’ve been leaving either Edward or his wife on the premises at all times, alongside a full contingent of guards.” 

“That doesn’t ma–” he started to say before being cut off by Tara. 

“It does matter,” she said. “The Elides have already made official inquiries about someone with the realm-re...

The Twin Trials: Chapter Thirty-Seven

For those of you who don't know, my third book for Evan's series comes out tommorow! You can get it here: https://www.amazon.com/Abjurer-Journals-Evander-Tailor-ebook/dp/B0CTYQ5RT6

If you buy it or use kindle unlimited, please leave a rating or review. Even if it's just a rating (when you select the number of stars, but don't write a full review), i...