tobiasbegley

The Second Gate: Chapter Fifty-Four

“Sure?” Kene asked, and I glanced at them. They didn’t seem to be nearly as shaken as I was.

Was their power so much more developed than mine?

Or was something else going on?

“Sure,” I said shakily. “I guess.”

Even as the power faded, the bone deep understanding of what exactly was going on faded.

“If you all want to look around more, feel free,” Ivy said. “I’ve got to drop off my homework anyhow.”

He headed behind the counter and th...

The Second Gate: Chapter Fifty-Three

“Weird question,” I asked Kene the following morning. “Do you know of an enchanter’s shop called the emerald… scale? Emerald enchanters? Emerald egg? Something like that.”

Kene bit their lower lip as they held up a skirt and a pair of pants, deciding which to wear.

“It sounds vaguely familiar,” they said. “But there are a lot of enchanters in Teffordshire. You should be able to find them in a Lightwatch directory or with a communication mirror, though.”

�...

Tom and the Moon

This story is set one week after the end of The First Gate.

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Tom – or if you insisted on using Titles, The Fortress – strode down the hall, his heavy footsteps creating resounding thumps.

As he walked, he checked the wards he’d personally inscribed over the entire complex.

In theory, they should be the next best thing to unpassable and unbreakable. In practice, the Knowledge King was slippery, and if they personally decided to i...

The Abjurer: Chapter 13-14

The way I saw it, I had twelve spells I needed to make, and I only had a bit more than two months left to make them.

The following week, I didn’t go to any class except Tara’s.

Nor the week after that, nor the week after.

I spent three weeks in a full enchanting fugue, breaking for only two reasons.

I slapped down a folder in front of Jerimiah Heenling.

“This contains a modular ward schematic that you may find useful. In addition, it contains considerable d...

The Second Gate: Chapter Fifty-Two

I let out a sigh of relief and disconnected from the Spirit Gourd. Kene and Dusk both also released spells that they’d been holding, and Rebecca’s mana-garden seemed to relax.

“Grandmother,” Rebecca said, inclining her head to the old witch. I did the same, and around the table, I could see everyone else inclining their heads as well.

“Oh great, it’s you,” the father said. I glanced over to see him groan and rise to his feet, actually putting her beer aside. “What ...

The Second Gate: Chapter Fifty-One

Elizabeth Davis – known to her friends as Liz – was facing a rather annoying conundrum.

As the grandchild of the guild-leader, she’d been given access to their guild’s single Idyll-Flume pass.

Not that her grandfather had just handed it over to her for free, of course. He’d set up a series of trials, as well as requiring a contribution of over a thousand guild points.

Liz had just managed to get through all of them. Ever since she’d completed the full-gate spell ...

Who does Liz bring?

The Abjurer: Chapter 11-12

“It’s called the realm reaching arch-star,” I told Tara that evening. “House Elide has access to it, but the biggest problem is that it requires access to three different realms to form it.”

“I see,” Tara said. “Do you have a plan for that?”

“We do, actually,” I said.

“And I can take care of one,” Osheen said. “Or rather, Kelsie can. It’s going to be expensive, but she can open a portal for us. It’s lucky there are so many ley lines around her...

The Second Gate: Chapter Fifty

Kene had cleaned up quite nicely themself, though they didn’t wear a suit. Instead, they wore nice gray pants with a button down white shirt. They took me in and smiled slightly, then canted their head to one side.

“You used to have more suits, what happened?”

“Oh, I sold them,” I said. “I got my defensive aura pin, and Dusk’s earthen armor spell.”

“Ah, I see,” Kene said, nodding. As he nodded, though, he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “...

The Abjurer: Chapters 9-10

That Sunday, I was ready to create a staff that would hopefully level the playing field between me and an archmage. Tara had said it back in my very first year. Arch-stars weren’t as useful for witches as they were for other styles of casting, because a witch with a good ritual could

The center of the room held the staff. I’d stained the staff with the conductivity potion and carved in runes to form the actual power storage on the staff itself.

There were said thirteen sheets ...

The Second Gate: Chapter Forty-Nine

Dusk peeped up, jokingly saying that she should get both of them, since she was the one who actually had to hold onto the Blademoss.

That actually helped solidify the choice in my mind.

“I’ll take the regeneration necklace,” I said. A part of me didn’t like that it was a necklace, but it was just too useful to ignore – especially since I could flow my mana to Dusk, and let her regain power faster as well.

On top of that, I had two full-gate spells. Those absorbed a...

A Year in Review

MINOR SPOILERS FOR MANA MIRROR AHEAD 

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It may be 2024 where you are, or, if you're like me, it's fast approaching. Either way, happy new year or soon to be new year, to all of you! 

2023 has been an interesting year for me, in that my life has radically changed on multiple levels. I won't dive into the personal stuff, but pretty much every aspect of my life either is different, or is about to be different for me. Work, relationships, family, heck, ev...

The Spiritcaller's Mission

Across the northeastern continent of Ddeaer, there is one holiday that is celebrated from Aergarde to Vinopae, from Delitone to Mossford, from Dragontooth to the Obsidian Forests – the Unlit Candle Feast.

Unlike the Carnival of Colors, which honors old myths, or the feasting during Spirits-Walk, which serve the placate the dead, the Unlit Candle Feast celebrates many things.

It was born from a need to push off the cold of winter, before interior heating and cooling enchantments ...

Per a request

I was asked to post what powers Malachi has currently by someone!

The Second Gate: Chapter Forty-Eight

Just as a reminder, next week I won't be posting chapters, since I'll be with family.

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I awoke to find Dusk, Kene, and Meadow leaning over me. Dusk was channeling her mana directly into me, letting it break down into energy to help pay off the physical debt of Burn Future, and Kene was tending to my legs.

They were in bad condition, but it was nothing compared to the ache in my spirit.

“What… happened?” I asked.

“I heard...

Vote Time

The Abjurer: Chapters 7-8

The next morning, I rose early to head to the potions club.

“Good morning, Evan!” Wisteria greeted brightly as I entered her lab. I smiled and nodded to her, then glanced around the room.

She’d set up several cauldrons and other apparatuses throughout the room, many of which were already occupied. I recognized a few of the people at them – mainly people who I’d seen in her class last year, or who I’d seen around the school.

There was one person who I actually kne...

The Second Gate: Chapter Forty-Seven

Dusk’s mana swirled out around Kene and me, slowing our descent. The Peacepyre floated over our heads, and I gently pulled Dusk from my pocket, examining her. I fed mana into her, trying to pass everything I could, and I could sense her drawing on the power of the plants within her, then the small folk.

It was enough, just barely. We landed onto hard, cold stone, but Dusk’s spell made our landing soft enough that it didn’t hurt.

I slowly rose to my feet, and then opened a po...

The Abjurer: Chapters 5-6

“What happened?” Osheen asked when he saw me.

“Just frustrated,” I said. “I’m running into a power problem.”

“Evan, do you remember when you got mad at me in our first year, because I kept urging you to relax, but you needed to catch up?” Osheen asked.

“Yes?” I said, confused.

“Well, you weren’t able to fire your flame orb spell many times back then. How many times could you fire it now?”

“Probably one or two times more?” I guessed...

The Second Gate: Chapter Forty-Six

“I’ll do it,” I agreed, and Alice let out a small breath of relief.

“Thank you,” she said.

“First, I need to go talk to Kene and Meadow,” I told her. “Meadow’s a powerful… mage… and he’s a healer, so I can use them as backup.”

I had paused because I’d almost called Meadow a witch, but I wasn’t actually sure if she’d appreciate the term, or even consider it accurate.

“Of course, just let me know when you’re ready,” Alice said.

The Second Gate: Chapter Forty-Five

“I can’t believe you made a stink potion,” I told Dusk, who was laughing like she’d made the greatest joke in the history of Ddeaer.

“It’s actually not a bad idea,” Kene said. “Demonstrating it was through.”

He glared at her, and she laughed harder.

“I agree,” Meadow said. “With the Blueshade you picked up while looking for blink foxes, you can produce a variety of scents. Overwhelming stink is not a fun thing to deal with. Even if they have a counter...

What do?

The Abjurer: Chapters 3-4

When I got to my rooms, I was surprised to see Wisteria leaving my door, headed towards the stairwell.

“Good evening, professor,” I said, “I must admit, I wasn’t expecting to see you.”

“Remember at the end of last year, when you said that you’d like to take a potions class, but didn’t have room in your schedule, and I said that I’d see what I could do?” she asked, smiling excitedly.

I bit my lip, then slowly nodded. I hadn’t thought much of it at the ti...

The Second Gate: Chapter Forty-Four

Kene woke up about forty minutes after Kene’s grandmother left, and I’d moved them to their bed. I was a bit miffed that she’d left, but she said that she had nothing else she could do to help.

I’d found Kene’s communication mirror and sent nonstop requests to the bakery until my father finally answered, and I explained what had happened. I didn’t explain the hag stuff – that was Kene’s secret to tell, not mine – but just made it sound like an illness. I’d asked him ...

The Abjurer: Chapters 1-2

So, looking over the poll, I'm going to post the chapters here. Sorry for the inconvience, I know a few people didn't want that, but there's no perfect solution, so I just went with the most popular. 

I'll be posting two chapters Tuesday, and two on Thursday for as long as I've got reasonable backlog, then will just be posting one each day. 

I'd also like to remind everyone that this is rough draft - it may not resemble the final...