The boys stood around the glowing mushroom cave slightly put off. Despite not wanting to battle, they had prepared quite a bit. Leland even had his blue-fire flare out and ignited.
“I guess that’s that,” he said, canceling the weapon’s magical effect.
Glenny took a few steps toward the cave’s entrance. “I’ll scout ahead a bit. Maybe they are waiting outside.”
Glenny turned invisible and rushed ahead, only small ripples in the reflective pool of water at...
2023-05-08 05:47:00 +0000 UTC
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With the dungeon more or less completed, there really wasn’t much left for the boys to do. They had returned Gelo to her mother, gained plenty of experience, and even some items. Jude and Glenny got the most out of their troubles, each ranking up their Legacy abilities several times, while Jude also received a blessing and great advice. Leland, on the other hand, remained where he was with his progression, Soul Fire still blocking his advancement into rank two.
Soul Fire had been weig...
2023-05-06 21:52:41 +0000 UTC
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Sitting within a wide cave overflowing with trinkets and magical items, Jude and Glenny snacked on some dried meat while Gelo salivated silently in the corner. Everywhere they looked, enchanted weapons, armor, and plenty of shiny jewelry sat haphazardly on podiums of ice or thrown carelessly to the side.
A chain-whip sword made of a long vertebra? It was strung along the ceiling holding up strips of fabric like curtain rods. A golden crown that radiated an icy mist? It was almost fallin...
2023-05-03 21:24:26 +0000 UTC
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Under the guise of a trickster moon, the dungeon transformed into a mystical wonderland. Tall trees stood against the dark night, highlighted from above like performers on a stage. The trees, naturally random as they were, acted as guardian statues protecting the final depths of the boy’s journey.
It was only through an unassuming cellar door behind King Everald’s massive throne that the group entered what could only be described as the next task. First was the ice fields, ...
2023-05-02 21:13:43 +0000 UTC
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“What do you mean ‘three kids killed Banks and Ori!?’” the Huntress heard a voice shout.
She shifted slightly at the volume, shuffling into a tighter form to remain hidden. She couldn’t see the speaker, but from the pure booming power oozing from his annoyed tone, she knew him to be quite the opponent. She’d have to be careful, she never expected a person of such caliber to be in such a seemingly random place.
But maybe that was the point.
Criminal...
2023-04-30 21:23:25 +0000 UTC
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After a round of Leland touching the two combatant’s with a green glowing finger, everyone sat and discussed.
“The ice cools me while my rage heats me up,” Jude explained. “The effects are a nice touch, also.”
“’A nice touch?’” Glenny said incredulously. “Your crescent strike pulled me into you! How is that only ‘a nice touch?’”
Jude simply shrugged. “Maybe it’s a bit more than nice.” He turned to Floe. “Thank you....
2023-04-30 05:45:57 +0000 UTC
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“An… Incarnation?” Jude asked, his throat suddenly raw.
He looked from Gelo to her mother, finding both bears staring at him expectantly. They watched his subtle movements, the younger silently taking in the announcement. The older, however, answered.
“Indeed, a gift worthy of everything so far.”
Now Glenny and Leland stared at Jude. Each gawked at their friend, a blessing. A full-on blessing. They couldn’t believe it. Congratulations were in order, drin...
2023-04-27 20:42:31 +0000 UTC
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Jude’s eyes were the first thing to move. They twitched within their housing, rolling around the insides of their eyelids like they were having a bad dream. They shook and stammered, rotating with horrid vigor until his past traumas fully surfaced.
They came like a wrecking ball, gnawing away all of his security and assurances. He was naked, his clothes nothing more than an ethereal blossom – like a husk or a cocoon. It was cold, like the icy prison Ice Castle’s King put him...
2023-04-26 04:18:02 +0000 UTC
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Black swirls of ink rotated around Leland’s crow tattoo. It moved through his skin like a worm in soil or a dolphin swimming through a swamp. Fit with bramble and thorns, the new tattoo wrapped itself into the crow’s talons like a wreath, giving the bird a proper place to stand. Still it shifted through different designs, some organic, trees and bushes, others abstract like broken slivers of dark iron.
It moved and changed, never resting for more than a few seconds before moving thr...
2023-04-23 21:38:45 +0000 UTC
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Opening the chest, Leland and Glenny were met with a pair of items. The first, and least cool-looking as Jude would put it, was a rolled up piece of parchment bound by a leather bow. The second, and more cool-looking, was a chain-link flail. A dark leather grip wrapped around the base hilt and handle, where thick iron rivets stuck a metal casting in place. Attached to the casting was a chain that ended with a spiked ball.
The ball instantly caught the eye of both Lelan...
2023-04-23 05:31:54 +0000 UTC
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The cut on Leland’s arm healed before the frostbite did. Like a race, his skin reverted from black, blue, and lacerated to simply pale and smooth. It was a sight to see, one that Leland gawked at like a newborn playing with a new toy. Glenny, from a few steps away, held the same expression.
Most healing spells, or at least those of the Lord of Healing, were instant and potent. A cut like Leland’s would be healed in a matter of heartbeats, not over the span of about a minute. Seeing ...
2023-04-21 20:24:16 +0000 UTC
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Leland arrived in a veiled overgrowth of plants, trees, and shrubbery. A world of dense shadows and denser foliage greeted him, all of which was covered by the sounds of birds, the chirping of tree frogs, and the cries of small primates. Life was everywhere and anywhere, a scene untapped by man, monster, or time.
A place with only the governing law of strength, a law set above all and at the same time, no one. There were no thoughts of philosophy, no great ideas, or imaginative dreams. ...
2023-04-20 04:21:39 +0000 UTC
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Leland didn’t notice the being until it was upon him.
A sea of furry ice was all he was able to take in before the surrounding silent monsters reacted. Each roared, growled, cackled, or whirled through the stands charging the new threat like their nests were being razed. There was no order, no evidence that the monsters within Ice Castle were abiding by some hidden rule book. They simply rushed to the sandy floor, unabashed by the presence of their dead King.
<...
2023-04-17 20:30:19 +0000 UTC
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It started with a single crack, a single breath, a single twitch. It rolled through the arena like a lengthy tide, like a cascading wave, like an unstoppable force.
It absorbed the rage of the battlefield like a dry sponge submerged in a tank of water. It breathed, it raged, it sang. It was, and always will be, a part of a Legacy. A singular chaotic Legacy, one built off the backs of those long ago who died in a blaze of glory or fury of unrelenting protection.
Those who knew ...
2023-04-16 05:40:44 +0000 UTC
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Glenny, still invisible, kicked the floor, spraying the wraith in a sandy attack. The sand passed right through the monster. His eyes turned to slits with a deep growl, taking on the appearance of the Chameleon Lord. Thrust after thrust he battled the wraith with his conjured weapons, moving around at a rapid pace and never leaving himself open for counterattack.
“Never allow your enemy to retaliate,” he could hear his dad say in a gruff voice. It echoed through his head, t...
2023-04-13 20:48:09 +0000 UTC
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Following Glenny’s plan, the boys and Gelo huddled-up. They muttered between themselves, making sure to occasionally look down the stands and into the area. They would lock eyes with the King one at a time, each time for slightly longer than the last, and smirk.
This enraged the King. All four of his long hooved legs stomped into the sandy floor, each splintering into thick shards of ice as the humidity around him froze over. He didn’t try to hide his ange...
2023-04-11 18:25:42 +0000 UTC
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“Uncle?”
The question hung in the air like a confused hawk. The boys tore their gazes from the monster king to Gelo, who then flinched under their scrutiny.
“Err,” she meeked, stepping forward like a squire presenting a House. “These three humans wish to challenge you…”
Ice Castle’s king pushed to the landing above the grand staircase, his long neck and branching antlers nearly colliding with the hall's chandelier. The monster was four legged and husky, like ...
2023-04-11 18:21:19 +0000 UTC
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The Ice Castle’s gates towered over the boys and Gelo but didn’t so much as reach half the height of most of the ice pillars. In a way, all of the snow fields were a moat to the castle. An infinite, worm infested, white void instead of a simple circular trench of water. The perspective shift, while not important, gave the boys a new understanding of how dungeons worked.
Even back in the savanna dungeon, the final boss was surrounded by hazards and plenty of monster...
2023-04-09 21:03:38 +0000 UTC
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Name: Glenny Red
Legacy: Chameleon Archetype:
Novice of the Chameleon Lord
Overall Rank: 2
Initiate of the Chameleon Lord: Learning combat oriented techniques comes easier to you.
Hidden Passive: Ailment Adaptation.
Novice of the Chameleon Lord: Your fighting style changes slightly to the encounter.
Chameleon's Tongue:
Type: Ability
Rank: 11
Adopt the Chameleon's greatest weapon. Your tongue becomes a new appendage, growing in size a...
2023-04-07 20:39:17 +0000 UTC
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Without disorienting pain, Glenny woke up not long after he adapted to his concussion. Gone was the Lord of Chameleons, gone was the ever present Sightless King, gone was the foreboding grogginess of not having a proper thought or idea. Now, it was only Glenny in healed mind, along with his thoughts as it should be.
He woke to the smell of grilling meat and hushed conversation. A small fire was set up on what looked to be worm scales, so as to not melt the ice below, and a hunk...
2023-04-07 18:43:47 +0000 UTC
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It took an entire hour of nonstop spell casting to drain the worm’s soul. After the first fifteen minutes, Leland thought himself to be doing something wrong, but information pouring in from his Legacy told him otherwise. In the end, enough green mist poured out into the circle of purple fire to kill the great beast.
Usually when a soul was taken, the spell would fade and a soul of the Damned would present the newly acquired soul to Leland. This, however, did not happen. The green mis...
2023-04-07 18:41:27 +0000 UTC
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The group ran through the ice spires, the remnants of Gelo’s mother’s battle. Staying some distance away from each other, except for Jude pulling Glenny along, they threw caution to the wind and simply ran.
Rushing through the ground-ice like it was nothing more than fog or mist, the worm traced the group’s echoing footsteps. It dug deeper and deeper before shifting its trajectory straight up. Only the shake of the ground signaled the imminent attack, a localized earthqua...
2023-04-05 18:58:45 +0000 UTC
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“So where do we go, Gelo?” Jude asked the next morning.
Technically, the sun had never set in the dungeon. It hung high in the sky, never moving yet always shining. Which, while annoying while trying to sleep, was ideal for progressing forward into unknown territory. Sure, although there were situations in which the cover of night would be preferable, generally the lack of light would nearly always be a detriment. Only Glenny could see in the dark...
2023-04-03 21:26:57 +0000 UTC
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Leland’s breath hitched as he viewed pearly white. He didn’t let himself stare, in fact he spun on his heel the moment his mind finally caught up. Before him was the exit to the dungeon, along with it the green glow of a one minute timer. He glanced to his left, finding Jude and the cub, weapon and claws out and ready. He glanced to his right, finding Glenny doing his best to look serious.
The rogue’s head was bobbing in an odd fashion, one that mimicked the shaking blink...
2023-04-02 19:28:10 +0000 UTC
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Glenny fell, landing with a visible splash. He groaned, his wobbly form for all to see. With the effort of a tired lion, he forced himself to roll onto his back. The shallow pool of water was deep enough for water to tickle his ears, but frankly he didn’t care. He was bleeding too badly for that.
Removing his ring of regeneration, Leland let out his held breath. He trudged over to Glenny and dropped to his knee. A few seconds later, the ring was on the injured rogue and the arrow woun...
2023-03-31 20:31:09 +0000 UTC
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Leland cursed as he reached for Jude. He tried to stop him. He tried to interfere. He tried to crush the rage before it consumed his friend. There was no time to talk about things. There was no time to hear out both sides. There was no time to argue whether to fight or not. There only was. And it was now.
Purple light clashed with blue as Leland’s hand twisted away from Jude and slammed into the open page of his grimoire. Instantly magic and lifeforce took to reality, swirling up thro...
2023-03-29 21:45:33 +0000 UTC
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Banks glared at Ori through magically enhanced eyes, bypassing the thick hazard of the swirling blizzard. Wisps of yellow and orange invaded his sight, highlighting edges and shadows in contrasting warmth. It wasn’t perfect vision, but it was enough for simply walking through rough weather. Ori, however, was a different story.
She worked entirely off taste. With her eyes closed, her Legacy thrived. Tongue out and panting like the Lord of the Canine, she blazed through the sno...
2023-03-29 03:28:38 +0000 UTC
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A vein in the Huntress’ temple throbbed like no other. She took her eyes off the boys for less than a week and they’d already gotten themselves into trouble. First a murderous Witch, then a city invaded by cultists. Now a weather mage of some kind on a remote island? She honestly couldn’t believe it. They were magnets for trouble, more so than any other children she knew.
She had been watching the storm grow over the last few hours, and the pure white hell it produced. Th...
2023-03-26 03:44:42 +0000 UTC
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The first fleck of this season’s snow fell just past noon on the opening day of the herbalism competition. The boys were wandering around the island, completely oblivious to the single snowflake. It fell silently, drifting through the slight breeze like a dandelion’s seed finding a new location to grow. It landed on the leaf of some bizarre red plant, where the magically heated flower melted it instantly.
It was nearly six minutes later that the boys found the plant. But by then, do...
2023-03-26 03:42:09 +0000 UTC
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The competitors were led out of the town and towards the cliff face and ocean. They traveled as a single unit, as Ms. Lavender wouldn’t allow anyone to find their own route onto the island. So, they traversed a descending ramp, one that carved through the cliff and down toward the shore. It was then Ms. Lavender explained some background about the island.
“It's said that there is a dungeon hidden in the foliage. There used to be a Summoning Stone, but our town’s founders destroyed...
2023-03-24 21:23:17 +0000 UTC
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