Argentorum

Chapter 52: Admissions

Chapter 52: Admissions

Rain tapped a staccato on the windows of her office. It was the quintessential Mage's study, with towering bookshelves, tables replete with scrolls and reagents. Really, it was what I expected to find in a college of magic, but I couldn't help but notice how it did not match the woman in front of me.

She was like something out of the Brothers Grimm. Her too perfect face and surreptitious smiles. Liliana Vess reminded me of a n...

Chapter 51: Application

Chapter 51: Application

I pushed open the rough wooden door of the Nightblood Inn. Raven, all but invisible in her large winter cloak, glanced up from her table on the wall. Across the low fire pit, the only other patron didn't even look away from his mead. That was, according to the innkeep, only to be expected.

Nightgate inn was rustic, to say the least. But it was on the way to Winterhold and it made a good stopping point while I checked back in to the mo...

Chapter 50: Bonds

Chapter 50: Bonds

My head nodded forward as M'gann finished braiding my hair. “There!” She said. “Your hair is so smooth and glossy. It's like it's made of air!”

From where she was sitting on the bed, Raven coughed once. M'gann gave a startled, “Oh!”

I just smiled. In the mirror, it looked tired and weak. I took a moment to make a more genuine one. Raven coughed again. I let my expression collapse under its own weight. “It's fine,” I sa...

Interlude: Savor the Moment

Interlude: Savor the Moment

“How is she.”

Black Canary stiffened at the sound of his voice, before clamping down on the reaction. The Batman very pointedly gave no sign of amusement. It was easier to deal with the League as a whole if they thought him incapable of humor.

“Better,” Canary said with forced nonchalance. “Still emotional and off balance, though; she probably wouldn’t have agreed to a monitor if she felt confident.” A sm...

Chapter 49: Moirai

Chapter 49: Moirai

I was screaming.

At first, that was all I knew. The agony.

Black and Red mana, in a perfectly chaotic imbalance, flowed into me like lava through the unmoving channels of my body, where tt burned and burned and burned.

But it did not balance. Instead, it skewed me in more directions, over, under, around.

I was stretched, like taffy, from one direction, and compressed, like diamond, from the other. I was sto...

Chapter 48: Destiny

Chapter 48: Destiny

Klarion’s face rippled like putty beneath my fist. The bomb erupted in a tight beam, blasting the Lord of Chaos across the room. Inside of me, the Lord of Order screamed.

I was screaming too.

My vision flickered red, then blue. I casted. The mammoths thundered past me, unable to attack. Easy, fucking simple.

It could have been like this from the start.

I felt Fate pounding against my skill like ...

Chapter 47: Bedlam

Chapter 47: Bedlam

“Fly my pretties!” Klarion cackled. “Fly!” The mammoths smashed forward, tusks scything the air. The Witch Boy’s black lightning crackled over their bodies. Fate slipped through the gap. A barrier of translucent gold formed around him as the beasts smashed together. The sudden shift in pressure shot my body forward like a cork from a bottle, slamming shield first into Klarion.

The Witch Boy laughed, cartwheeling away. Befor...

Chapter 46: Discord

Chapter 46: Discord

It took me a moment to gather myself.

Or maybe was only a heartbeat, as my body began sliding through the air on puppet strings, fingers inching upwards and mana singing in my veins. My thoughts raced, like high octane, like jet fuel, even as they came back to a single point.

I pushed aside the vision of a different world and the version of myself that dwelt there, and instead focused once more on my own world. On my ...

Interlude: Crow Storm

Interlude: Crow Storm

Fate led them from the tower without a word. The team could only scramble back into the hastily recalled bioship as Fate ignored their questions and took to the air. 

Raven didn’t ask, staying as far away from Fate as she could at any given moment. She could feel the emptiness lingering inside Taylor’s body. Raven tugged at her hood, watching the golden figure fly in front of the bioship. She couldn’t detect even the sl...

Chapter 45: Providence

  A/N: For those interested in the new schedule, I'm changing days because my schedule wasn't conducive to putting out Friday updates in a timely manner. I want to remove that element of uncertainty and delay which has slowed down my last few updates. Sorry for the wait, everyone. From here on out, new updates will be posted Monday at midnight.

Chapter 45: Providence

It was like watching from behind a thick pane of glass, or from deep beneath the sur...

Chapter 44: Fate

With how my schedule has changed, it seems like I'm getting these chapters out later and later on Fridays. I'm gonna give myself another week to get on top of things, and if that doesn't pan out, I'll most likely move the release date to midnight (i.e. Saturday) for consistency.

Until then, thank you for waiting, hope you all enjoy.

Chapter 44: Fate

I stared at the matte black prosthesis that Batman had placed on the table.

The articulated ball joi...

Planar Chaos: Armageddon

Apologies for the late update. I got sick this week and it affected my writing schedule more than I anticipated.

Planar Chaos: Armageddon

I sigh as the golden light washes over me, watching the threads of energy form a phantom replica of my form above me. Half a dozen Asgardian healers manipulate the image, slowly bringing it into sharper focus. The representation of my soul is bright, brighter than any other that I have seen in these examinations.&nbs...

Chapter 43: Rebound

Sorry for the late chapter. I wasn't quite sure about it, so I sat on the last few scenes way longer than I should have. I'm... provisionally happy with how it turned out, though I think reactions will be mixed.

Chapter 43: Rebound

I didn’t truly black out. I doubted that I really could anymore, but I’d been rendered immobile by my own Ankh.

So as the second part of the battle continued around me, the vast majority of my attention turned inwa...

Chapter 42: Stand

After various commentary about respective power levels, I've done my best to keep this chapter true to what I consider to be the canon strength of both Taylor and Klarion. Of course, I'm not perfect, so if there's anything that stands out as odd, just let me know. 

Chapter 42: Stand

The water struck me like a physical force, near blasting the three of us down the corridor. Ahead, a red figure, all hard lines and reflective chrome, appeared in a doorway. The water sh...

Chapter 41: Contra

Chapter 41: Contra

After my ‘debriefing’ with Black Canary, the first day of school couldn’t come fast enough.

For all that the session itself was much…better than I’d expected. Even though I’d been exhausted by the end, I’d found it almost enjoyable. Just not enough to request another.

No, the problem was the Team. I don’t know what Martian told everyone, but they spent the rest of the weekend treating me with kid gloves. Only Raven and Artemis sta...

Ideal

Chapter 40: Ideal

I would have picked Batman, but, wonder of wonders, my choice didn’t matter in the end.

Someone in the League decided to take a softer hand. So I didn’t get a quick, military, debrief from the one person on the plane who might have a better poker face than I do. Instead, I received a two hour appointment with Black Canary, so elongated because of the amount of information I needed to convey, with the understanding that fu...

Chapter 39: Solemnis

I have a brief announcement for all of my patrons. 

As Well Traveled has, with this update, reached and exceeded 100k words, I'll be doing something fun on Space Battles. The next chapter I post there will also contain a Q/A with Taylor (with QA taking a back seat of course). The thread will be able to ask questions, and I'll take the ones that are the best/most popular. I also will guarantee one question from each of my patrons! If you are interested, just message me over the Patreon IM....

Chapter 38: Shadows

This chapter will be posted next week on Spacebattles. Chapter 37 is going up there shortly after this, so make sure you read that one first. From this point on, all Well Traveled chapters will be posted here a week early. 

Chapter 38: Shadows 

At Babette’s smile, Movarth lunged at me again. This time, his attack was uncontrolled. He wanted to pen me in. I gave him a long gash on his neck for the trouble, spinning away.

But no counter attack came.

Interlude: Raven's Crime

Interlude: Raven’s Crime

When Destiny vanished from the mountain, Raven felt the ripples she tore in the fabric of the plane. It spoke of a similarity between their powers, some shared basis or function that as of yet defied explanation. That Destiny might also be a conduit filled Raven with a vague sort of dread, the type that—according to this plane’s internet—one was supposed to brood over endlessly and pen lines of terrible poetry.

Raven ma...

Just a Child--Part 3

Autumn Leaves

“The ‘heiress’ got in the way. Guess we’re sunk, eh boss?”

“Hardly. We simply need a more direct approach.”

“What the idiot isn’t saying is that he blew his cover sky high.”

“What can I say? I enjoy watching them squirm. By the way, think you can get a copy of the camera feed from that gate?”

“You’re such a creep.”

“After appr...