sovereign_of_wrath

Chapter 128: Friends & Family

Not ten steps into running out of the graveyard, I stopped suddenly. “There’s one more grave I need to see.”

Seyari pulled up beside me and took my hand, her expression conflicted.

“Abby?” Joisse asked, standing close.

I nodded. “Yeah. Tania can wait a few more minutes. We’re looking for Abigail Hunter.”

Finding her didn’t take long; her grave was next to her parents and her nan. Her whole family was there: all in a line, all dead in the ground. I too...

Scales & Shadows I1: A Typhoon Forming

A/N: I've also attached the Prologue-Ch7 PDF to this post. I'll move it around to the Patron Demons' next chapter, and then leave it on Ch7. I didn't think it was worth a ping over on its own.

Tyaniis let Dyni swim the aazh back into the city, leaving the small boat as soon as possible to take the streets back to her waiting ship. Thankfully, Ssiina had wanted to go with Phaeliisthia as well, which saved Tyaniis from trying to convince her ...

Chapter 127: A View From A Grave

A/N: A SoW post on a Thursday? It'll be *multiple* posts today. I'll post a message when it's all complete, but the reorganization I've talked about is happening now. As I've mentioned, the advanced chapters for Scales & Shadows will be going away (but posting publicly on RR & SH very quickly), and in turn all advanced SoW chapters are coming to this tier. One at a time. As I manually put them in. Don't worry, there will only be an alert for this one because no one w...

2023-04-19 01:23:26 +0000 UTC View Post

Scales & Shadows Ch18: Expectations

Phaeliisthia’s words hit me hard, and they made me think. I’ll have a role in “this,” she said. A role to play in the struggle for power between the strongest players in Jii’Kalaga and the external forces that draw ever closer.

I glanced at my sire, Hssen Tyaniis Ssyri’Jiilits. Royalty. A surname meaning “Holy” Jiilits. These were mine now. Perhaps not quite, in a sense, but I no longer doubted my sire’s intention.

Hssen Issa Ssyri’Jiilits. Kelaniel. R...

Interlude: A Journey Begins

Somewhere in the Central Sea

Salvador leaned against the ship’s railing, feeling the warmth of the old wood against his arms. The winter sun warmed the deck enough to be comfortable, and the atmosphere was lax; a calm ocean ahead and the cries of birds above a nearby shoal were background against the silent lapping of water on wood.

“You’re worried about both of them, aren’t you?” a familiar voice asked, footsteps coming up beside him.

“...

Scales & Shadows Ch17: Guardian of Uzh

Guardian of Uzh? I didn’t know what to make of Phaeliisthia’s words.

More importantly… she was going to be our new tutor. Already we were drawing eyes, and this outlandish woman had a sort of presence beyond even my sire.

Kyrae elbowed me, and bowed low. “I am Kyrae. How should I address you, Honored Guradian Phaeliisthia?”

I jolted and stopped staring. Thankfully, Phaeliisthia deigned to respond first, placing her hand above her sternum and drawi...

Chapter 126: Miss Goody-Four-Arms

A/N: Me in March: time to up my writing volume to 4 chapters a week at 2.5-3k words a chapter! Also me: Wow I like 4k word chapters, aren't they fun? The answer is yes, by the way. I get to write more in-depth scenes and you lovely folks get bigger updates. But wow is the editing time going up. The next few SoW chapters are shorter... mostly.

“Good,” Vivian stated, looking at the three unconscious people I was carrying. “But let’s not talk here.” 2023-04-12 03:07:21 +0000 UTC View Post

Scales & Shadows Ch16: Flowers of Uzh

A/N: Sorry for this chapter running a little late. Power decided it was taking the day off for most of the afternoon, and this wasn't a quick chapter to edit.

I expected a grand ship. Something that would make the aazh’kaa Kyrae and I had arrived to Ess’Sylantziis on look like just an aazh, a simple boat propelled by either one’s tail or paddles.

Instead, what I saw was a simple, sleek ship of a smaller size than the merchant sh...

Chapter 125: Stones of the Past pt. 2

I hesitated. Like I always did, I hesitated. I didn’t know if the demon I had pinned was bluffing or not and rather than commit to a course of action, I let my mind wander.

This time, it was only for a moment; a fraction of a fraction of a second. But for the greater demon under me, that was all the time she needed.

Her three tails, whiplike lengths ending in half-meter long blades, struck out at me. I pulled, hearing tendons tearing on her arms, but her blades struck m...

Scales & Shadows Ch15: Cloaked Royalty

My sleep was restful until just before I awoke. I felt myself slipping into the cold, waking nightmare of the void. Then, warmth and light flooded in: black nothingness replaced by black stone.

Though, I could still feel the shadows. Ever watching. Ever waiting. Ever ready.

“Of course I do not think less of you for having slept only rarely in beds! I think that’s a terrible tragedy, sister,” Ssiina’s somewhat shrill voice was the first I heard as I opened my eyes, stirring...

Chapter 124: Stones of the Past pt. 1

We settled in for the night at a campsite far enough from the road we wouldn’t be seen. Camping like this served two purposes: one was that we wouldn’t be visible from the road in case anyone wanted to try their hand at a little opportunistic nighttime thievery, and the other was that I could stretch out all my arms without risking an incident.

We were only a day and out of town, but already we’d climbed into forested foothills dressed in snow and smelling of cold pine. It all fel...

Scales & Shadows Ch14: Plotting

“I’ll admit I am surprised you thought to turn to Phael, Hssen Tyaniis. Or that you think she will listen to either of us.” Ussyri Noksi said slyly, coiling tighter in the depression she was resting in. “I thought you would wish for a tighter leash on your reunited family.”

“Will she help us or not, Ussyri?” Tyaniis hissed, her eyes narrowing.

Seated with Kyrae, my sister and I watched with wide eyes as two powerful people casually discussed our future. The glance Ty...

Chapter 123: Demon Over Wrath

“So you haven’t been able to find Vivian?” I asked Guard Captain Kerra.

She nodded tiredly. “We haven’t.”

I sighed and rubbed my temples. “I don’t want her thrown in prison or anything—I just want to talk to her. Do you really think she’s skipped town?”

“Either that or she’s holed up somewhere in a part of town where we’ll have no luck finding her,” Kerra admitted.

“Shit,” I murmured. “I guess we can move on to what happened last nig...

Scales & Shadows Ch13: Sister, Daughter, Sire

The room went quiet at Hssen Tyaniis’s words. She didn’t quite meet my eyes and I didn’t meet hers. What do I do? Is… is she really my sire?

Until now, I’d never really considered parents, or… one parent. I was an orphan. Simple. If Tyaniis was my sire and Ssiina my sister, how didn’t they find me?

From behind, Kyrae shoved me lightly, whispering, “Go to her!”

“What?”

“Issa! She wants to be near you, but she can’t.�...

Chapter 122: Speaking Candidly

A/N: This was one of my absolute favorite chapters to write. In fact, I wrote it around when I was writing 117/118. It just didn't fit the timeline or pacing really.

Ardath, Empire of Ordia

“Paladin Miller, have a seat.” High Priest Yevon Styon gestured for Kartania Miller to sit down.

She did so despite still being armored.

The High Priest’s Office was a tornado of scrolls and books and notes. Half-empty she...

Scales & Shadows Ch12: Emerald Eyes

The shadow moved around the garden sundial noticeably before I found my words again. “I—wha… hssssss.”

Or not.

Ssiina laughed at my state, though she did push herself up higher to look over my head at the fallen ssyri’zh. “Will she be alright, sister?”

“I… uh… maybe?”

“Maybe?” Ssiina cocked her head to one side. “Shall we fetch someone from the temple then?”

I shook my head rapidly. Next to me, Kyrae also shook her head—ma...

Chapter 121: Contracted

No amount of assurances would get us back into the inn without a conflict. Carrying an unconscious wrath demon was too much.

The Gelles Company, however, proved slightly more accommodating. They didn’t have any rooms in the small office officially, but an angry, tired greater wrath demon helped grease the axle, so to speak. We ended up in a room I had to guess was a part-time office and part-time place for higher ups who might be traveling through. There was a bed to...

Scales & Shadows Ch11: Big Sister

A/N: Where I remember to capitalize familial terms used as names edition. Oh, and a PDF for the first arc chapters will out out at the end of the month.

Dried, fluffed, and dressed in clothes that smelled oddly like nothing at all, Onussa led Kyrae and me back almost toward where we’d bought our clothes. This time, however, the ssyri’zh turned off onto a busy street filled with shops much like Ynna’s.

I felt a pang of guilt when I remembered my old boss. 2023-03-24 00:34:50 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 120: Talk Second

Reports of a “mage duel” in the old church on the city’s south end made their way to Guard Captain Kerra before sunset. By the time the sun had dipped under the horizon, she was on horseback tearing through the streets toward the church, half a guard contingent behind her. Given that, even abandoned, the church had become a battleground, at least one priest would be on the way as well.

Could this be a false alarm? Maybe, but Kerra wasn’t going to let this go. Not after the massa...

Scales & Shadows Ch10: Bright Sunny Day

Kyrae and I followed Onussa out of the temple. My sister returned a small smile I gave, but neither of us spoke.

The empty hall soon turned into a decidedly busier one—carvings of Jaezotl lined the walls and symbols of a white fang over an emerald scale hung above the doors. Others in Temple garb milled about us, some giving looks, but most just going about their business.

Onussa’s presence seemed to have some weight to it as she slithered confidently through tunnels,...

Chapter 119: Shoot First

I tore into the nave, claws clacking against the floor. Ahead of me, another wrath demon—for that’s all they could be—was standing up from a pile of gore they’d been tearing into.

They stood, surprisingly, taller than I did. Or, they would have had they the posture to stand up straight. Their shoulders and back rose up, immense and covered in short, fat black spikes. Their arms were unnaturally long and thick, each finger tipped with claws as long as kitchen knives. Their powerf...

Scales & Shadows Ch9: Do Not Separate

Two lamias entered: one man and one woman from what I could tell. The woman was lania’el and the man ke’lania, although his build was slimmer than I would have expected from someone who’d certainly not wanted for food. She had dark greenish-brown hair and scales to match, with a skin tone lighter I’d have expected given her scale color. In contrast, the man’s skin nearly matched his off-brown scales, though lines of ruddy orange snaked across his lower body.

The pair filed in ...

Chapter 118: Forlorn Isolation

“How do you plan to find the culprit?” I asked Vivian as she walked forward, scanning the jumble of buildings.

“Have you been through here, demon?” she asked, now apparently comfortable enough with our surroundings to call me a demon openly.

The question caught me off guard. “I haven’t been through this exact area, no. Why would that matter?”

“Hmph.”

“You’re using nightsbane, aren’t you?” Seyari asked confidently.

“I am. We’ll see wh...

Scales & Shadows Ch8: A Curse Delayed

Issa’s arms slowly slackened around Kyrae as her breathing slowed. When the young elf realized her sister was losing consciousness, she jolted, but a firm hand on her shoulder stopped her from trying to shake her sister awake.

“Shhhh,” Ssyri’zh Onussa said in a soft voice. “The ussyri said she’ll need rest, remember?”

Kyrae sniffled and stuttered. “B-but what if she—”

Onussa smiled gently and gestured to the sleeping Issa. “See for yourself. It’s fine...

Chapter 117: Small Answers

I ate ravenously, listening to the others talk tactics over breakfast. Seyari and I hadn’t exactly taken time to get food the previous night, preoccupied as we were with… other things. Before we slept, she’d shared some of what she’d heard in her own investigation and her anger had taken the edge off my hunger.

Emotions, however, were no substitute for real food. I guess in a technical sense they were, but what my body considered adequate was far different than what my mind need...

Scales & Shadows Ch7: Not Yet the End

One Night Ago, Ess’Sylantziis

I shivered in the humid evening air. Dampness clung to my scales like an open sore, and I tried to sink into the mud of our current hideaway, deep since the last rain.

Kyrae would get us food—I just…couldn’t. Not since that night we lost our home. My power—my curse—was a wild thing, and it didn’t like being ignored.

I feared what I would do, and I knew Kyrae did too, even if she didn’t say it. T...

Chapter 116: Big Questions

I found myself pinning Vivian the mercenary down into the hard, icy snow outside the clandestine meeting spot of a group of murderous ex-soldiers. Her crossbow lay in the snow next to us, and the painful hole where an enchanted bolt had fire into me leaked blood that bubbled and melted the snow beside her head.

Vivian’s expression told me all I needed to know: I’d succeeded for now. Honestly, draining her anger slowly had been a chore. She had resistances much, much higher than I’...

Scales & Shadows Ch6: Collapse

One month ago, Ess’Sylantziis

“Issa!” Ynna, my boss, shouted.

I jolted. “Ma’am!” I pulled my hands from the nearly clear water and started to pour it off the rice. I tried to focus, but found my attention slipping away immediately.

“Issa.” Ynna slithered over to me. She guided the pot, and my arms with it, to the table. “What’s wrong, dear?”

“Nothing,” lied. My tired body, however, betrayed me, and a huge yawn forced ...

Chapter 115: Dark Earth

If I were human, what I was doing would’ve terrified me. Alone, I followed Richter and his group of potentially-murderous acquaintances to the edge of Gedon. Here, small farms began to break up the sprawl, resulting in clusters of old, squat buildings. Many of them were stone and some of them probably predated Ordian rule.

As the city crumbled into countryside, I took a last, longing look at the star-studded horizon over fallow fields, and followed the group down into a basement. Inst...

Chapter 114: Pale Ale

Content Warning: homophobia (didn't think that'd come up in this story, and it is brief)

When Jenz knocked on the door, I let him in. He walked with a notable limp and sat heavily down in the room’s single chair, leaving the end of the bed for me.

“You waited,” he said.

I waited some more, expecting him to continue. He didn’t.

“What do you know about the murders?” I asked as polit...