tobiasbegley

The Restored: Chapter Forty-Five

“Oh, Archangels above and Thrones below, you’re alive,” I said, rushing over to them. I slipped my arm under Hadiya’s other side, helping lift her up with Rhys’ help. We pulled her over to where a large, collapsed piece of rubble was flat enough to let her rest on it. With her situated, I pulled Rhys into a hug, squeezing him tightly, and he did the same. I leaned down and hugged Hadiya as well. 

She was already drawing a spell in the dirt with one finger, leaning forward...

The Restored: Chapter Forty-Four

As the crystal splintered up into the sky, I saw Archmage Davalier stagger back, and I raised my gun. I still had one bullet left. The strange northern man glanced around, then raised his hand. 

“My deal done. Helped stop Thrones. Politics… You sort out on own.” 

Blue light rushed from his fingers, and an instant later, a shimmering portal of light opened into an area that I thought looked to be the Fae Sovereignties, though I wasn’t entirely sure. The scent of c...

The Future and a Five Chapter Teaser

Hello everyone! Thank you for your patience with me, in this... Rather unique and interesting time. Some time ago, I posted this teaser image about an upcoming project. I've also been somewhat more open about it on my Discord, in case you're curious!

Essentially, after the ending of The Restored, I am going to begin working on a project with Tapas, in order to produce a BL (Boys Love, or male/male love) trilogy called Primal Soul, Tamer's Heart.

I expect to begin working on this s...

The Third Step: Chapter Eighteen

“Is that all?” Kene asked, and Dusk she made a sound like the wind in the trees as she agreed it was. It had been mainly targeting shipments due to them having food, and in her realm she could get her hands on plenty of it. Not to mention, there weren’t that many land based predators in her realm, so it would actually be good to get a few in order to help balance the population of winter heart deer and other prey creatures, so they didn’t over-breed and eat her realm apart. 

The Empire of Death: Part One

This story is set over a thousand years before Mana Mirror, in the Empire of Death that Orykson crushed. It was intended to be a one shot, but given that I only got to the inciting incident, and was already at 2,500 words, it seems likely that this is going to be a trio of short stories?

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Ignatius Pedonson took a slow breath, trying to calm himself. 

It had taken his full fifteen years of serfdom ordained labor,  the better part ...

The Third Step: Chapter Seventeen

The bridge was old brick, weathered by years of use and river rising. The once vibrant red color had turned to a soft brown, and ivy clung to the sides of the bridge, emanating a soft glow of lunar magic, a minor source of lunar mana. The river beneath the bridge was a large one, stretching several hundred feet across, and on the other side we could see where houses had been built off the road. Behind the houses were the forms of a thick orchard, laden with the heavy stone fruits that bloomed...

The Third Step: Chapter Sixteen

I plucked the Misphere up and sent it into Dusk’s vault, then turned and spoke to Sarah’s mother. We spoke a few moments longer, as I allowed her to reminisce over the memories of times years past, many before I had even been born. Eventually, however, she let me go, and I left to meet up with Kene and Meadow at the public city record hall. 

Even with directions, getting to the hall was annoyingly difficult. I was forced to float up through the trees, bouncing from spot to spot...

The Restored: Chapter Forty-Three

While having a general plan was great, the actual crafting of the magic was going to be far more complex, and far more uncertain. Though the ritual for banishment was pretty simple, as the modifications needed were ultimately nothing more than expanding the range and number of targets, and powering those with a commensurately large amount of aura. 

The spell to sever Alyphize’s connection to the fallen void was a bit harder, and if they’d been forced to build it completely from...

The Restored: Chapter Forty-Two

Hadiya backed up, stepping out into the hallway, grabbing Rhys by the arm. 

“What are you doing?” he hissed. 

“Helping,” she snapped back. “We can’t exactly set up a ritual circle in there, not with her blinking around so fast I can’t even see her movements, despite all the punishment she’s taken.”

Rhys licked his lips uncertainly, then nodded. They paced back, shutting and locking the door, and Hadiya closed her eyes, thinking.

She needed t...

Likely delay forewarning

My car's battery acid leaked and corroded through the battery wiring! I've spent the last two hours trying to get this fixed, but there's still no sign of being done.

As such, there is a good chance that tomorow's chapter of The Restored will have to come out on Saturday, or perhaps get a double chapter on Friday. I do promise to get it to you all, there just may be a delay.

Vote of the Week

The Third Step: Chapter Fifteen

After seeing the look on all of our faces, Meadow sighed and led us through the winding, mushroom-lined streets and to a cafe called Toxic Heart and Noxius Halo. Despite the name, the roof of the business was dappled with moss that gave off slight swirls of mental energy, and the entire thing emanated a soothing feeling, and the inside was painted in shades of a soothing gray, with 

We were all served cups of a hot, spiced apple drink that seemed to release waves of cold mist, rath...

The Third Step: Chapter Fourteen

The Third Step: Chapter Thirteen

I spun my mind through all my options. Foxstep was the most obvious pick, but it also barely counted as a non-combat spell. Sure, it was arguably a utility spell, but I used it so much in battle that it felt like trying to select it would be lying to myself, or trying to hoodwink Fortune. That same line of logic instantly removed my plant spells, as well as most of my time spells – even if Enhance Plant Life or Lesser Image Recall were arguably utility, they were used in combat enough that ...

The Restored: Chapter Forty-One

Despite the chaos and difficulty of getting everyone into the Wandering Path, herding everyone out of it was surprisingly simple. Several of the people were able to recognize that Devi was a druid in the employ of the Chairman, and nearly everyone could feel the weight that being in another realm provided. Just because the drain was small enough that the mages could shrug it off didn’t mean that the non-mages could. 

The strange thing was the whisperings about Nexus. Kelly had ex...

The Restored: Chapter Forty

Memories exploded throughout the Malapert as Kelly projected them into the minds of everyone in range. 

Memories, not images. 

Pulling things out of memories was a different skill than constructing images from imagination. Imagination, for one, tended to be more perfect than memories. Memories were limited – the memory of a walk would blur the buildings together, would lose the details of passerby, and would blank out text that a person didn’t stop to memorize, let a...

Third Third Third THIRD THIRD THIRD T H I R D!

The Third Step: Chapter Twelve

On that somber note, we left the hidden basement level of the tower behind, this time stepping through a hidden trapdoor that went through the stone of the tower’s insides, and out through the front door. 

With Ikki already summoned and ready to train me, Kene peeled off to get a feel for the new alchemy lab, while Dusk and Dawn went to look through the more minor tweaks that Dusk had made to the world, of the sort that went entirely over my head – apparently, she’d altered t...

Highmist Range Tales

Content warning for horror, mentions of suicide, and other adult topics.

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The following text is extracted from a recording crystal, found in a pile of clothes within the Highmist Range, six hundred miles north of the Ferret Sisters Mountains, and eight hundred miles north of Murk Mountain. It begins with the hiker, whose name has been redacted in order to give their family privacy, calling out to someone. A dry, old, masculine voice calls out, and the hiker is invited to ...