A Step… Wait, what?
Sloane and Stefan followed the priestess into the temple. Almost immediately guards wearing white gambesons stepped in their path.
“Priestess, you know we cannot have so many armed guests enter at this time,” A voice said from Sloane’s left. She looked over and she heard Stefan lightly gasp as a sun elf woman appeared. The woman wore red plate armor that shined in the fire cast by the oil lamps. She wore a tabard that was white with s...
2023-01-19 17:35:57 +0000 UTC
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Settling In
“Where the fuck is she? How is it that you can literally search door-to-door and still not find her? Don’t you have the man I disabled held prisoner?” Sloane asked.
The telv officer that had come to the campus to update her on the search for Ressa and the rest of the Empire’s Fist fidgeted.
“The prisoner escaped.”
“What?” Gisele’s head snapped in the soldier’s direction, her hand raising as she pointe...
2023-01-17 15:15:47 +0000 UTC
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The Siege of Marketbol
Tiberius landed next to Sloane as she stood on the ramparts of Marketbol’s outer walls. She had worked with the city to have her falcon scout the approaching army, and the assistance had been well received. With the threat near, the city was wary of sending more scouts out, and only had a few remaining teams attempting to gain more knowledge of their enemy. Unfortunately, those scouts could not bring information back quickly enough for whateve...
2023-01-12 17:56:30 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone! As promised, here is the poll to the next side story!
Also, some news. Book 2 was shaping up to be very long. So, in the interest of more manageable books for when the story eventually goes to KU, I am restructuring the books. For you guys, this won't mean too much. You already consume it chapter-to-chapter. Except, it does mean some more content is coming.
What is now Book 2 will now end with Chapter 31, or somewhere in between 120-130k words.
Als...
2023-01-12 08:17:54 +0000 UTC
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Overcoming Obstacles
Gwyn stared at the army arrayed against them with fury. They continued toward them slowly, as if their victory was inevitable. As if the fact that their other force was defeated meant nothing. It reminded her of the arrogance Count Telford had shown. They believed they were superior, and thus they were. No question, just absolute belief. It grated at Gwyn. The whole system was broken.
Gwyn knew it needed to be torn down. Taenya had said she co...
2023-01-09 18:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Pandora
Gerard just knew that they had to act.
The enemy knight had fallen from her mount after that damned magical beast was finally slain. He had been warned about the princess’ fire magic, but she had yet to use it. He hadn't been warned about a knight that could create magical beasts bigger than a carriage. Now, his men were in a poor tactical position. Half of the men were now dismounted, a quarter were injured or dead, and the enemy archers were picking hi...
2023-01-05 08:43:30 +0000 UTC
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Avoiding Delays
"Taenya."
The telv knight stirred in her bed, ignoring the voice calling out to her.
"Taenya. Wake up," the voice hissed. Closer this time.
Taenya opened her eyes and looked at her friend's face which was nearly touching hers. She groaned. "What is it, Sabina?"
"Get up."
Taenya lifted her head enough to look past Sabina at the window, seeing nothing except darkness.
"Why? It's still night, and why are you in m...
2023-01-02 08:19:17 +0000 UTC
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Final Stand
One of the most often used examples of monsterized species is the drakyyd lizard. This is mainly due to the terran reaction to the mutated appearance of the species. According to many of the Displaced, the one variant of the monsterized drakyyd highly resembled what their people called Drakes. A name that spread quickly and started the trend of renaming monsterized creatures. A fact later reinforced by discovering that the monsterization process...
2023-01-01 12:02:20 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone!
It's the end of 2022! Cue Applause I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope next year is successful and full of happiness for each of you.
If you have any fun or interesting New Year resolutions, I'd love to hear em! Toss em in the comments! My big resolution for next year is to have book 1 completely edited and ready for publishing by the time book 2 is finished.
This has been a crazy year for my family and me. First, I re...
2022-12-31 05:07:47 +0000 UTC
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December 2023
Sloane looked at her phone, quickly responding with a thumbs-up emoji to her sister’s text. Her sister, Katie, and her boyfriend were about to pull into the driveway shortly. Gwyn is going to be so excited.
She looked over at her daughter as they sat on the couch together. They were watching another one of those Netflix Christmas movies again that Gwyn loved. One year Netflix even tweeted about people who had watched one of their...
2022-12-25 20:03:30 +0000 UTC
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Just a reminder that I will be taking an admin week from 26 - 30 Dec! So there will be no posts next week. I will be using it to do editing, and to extend the backlog slightly since the number of advance chapter grew. Then I am going to start writing part 4 of the Adaega side story! I've been thinking about what I want to do for the next one, and I have a few good ideas. We'll see!
I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday season and I will see you guys all in 2023!
If you guys not...
2022-12-22 18:37:04 +0000 UTC
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Saying Farewell
“And remember, there will be those who seek to use their higher status as a snub against you in the capital. Or against the princess for having such low-status ladies-in-waiting, you are to be the voice and hand of royalty. The princess has no siblings, which means she is a Crown Princess, even if her nation does not place such titles on an heir. Do not forget.
When the Crown Prince eventually calls to meet her, your liege will be joining him as ...
2022-12-22 18:36:26 +0000 UTC
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Not a Goodbye
Gwyn slowly walked out of the temple, her magic keeping her emotions down. Taenya walked in her gleaming silver armor on her right, looking as ceremonial as possible, while the paladin Amari had joined her and was to her left. Sabina and Theran were around, but they were ensuring that her people were safe.
The church had provided a private setting for the ceremony and Siveril had made sure that every family member of those that had died, and any memb...
2022-12-19 18:01:00 +0000 UTC
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**This takes place after the two week time skip in chapter 15**
Moments of Bonding
Adaega took a deep calming breath as she sat down at her desk. She had just left the meeting where Lady Reinhart had spoken with the city’s general, and Adaega was nervous. Marketbol was supposed to be safe and now they had been told that the city would not be receiving any help for some time.
Not to mention the attack two weeks ago on the Kn...
2022-12-18 19:14:17 +0000 UTC
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Securing Advantages
Sloane cried out in pain as Gisele removed the arrow from her shoulder. Maud immediately poured her healing into it. Sloane whimpered as she felt her flesh stitch itself back together, and her shoulder seemed to almost writhe inside as everything reformed into place. With a final burst of green mana, the redhead nodded and then moved to heal Sloane’s jaw. Sloane continued her pained whimper as her injury itched as if som...
2022-12-15 18:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Explosive Introduction
Sloane followed Cristole into the tavern with Maud right behind her. She was struck by the noise of people talking and yelling even in the early evening hour and the large diversity of people within. There were many telv but she also saw orkun, raithe, and even a few dwarves.
The remaining two knights were sitting at a table next to the side wall of the large room with a hallway leading to the back of the building behind them. Gisele sat w...
2022-12-12 18:00:06 +0000 UTC
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**This takes place shortly after the first part and during Chapter 14**
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Establishing Direction
“And here is the key,” Elodie said as she held out one large iron skeleton key that had strange cross-shaped bits to it attached to an entire ring filled with more, smaller keys. Right. No standardization. The large double gate was open and ...
2022-12-11 21:06:41 +0000 UTC
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**This takes place immediately after chapter 13.**
_________________________________________________
A New Home
Adaega knocked on the door to Ernald’s room. She had just come from her lunch meeting with Elodie and Lady Reinhart, feeling positive about where things were going. Checking on the knight who had helped her so much thus far just felt righ...
2022-12-08 18:01:02 +0000 UTC
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Open House
“Thank you for seeing us on such short notice, Ser…”
“Ser Luven, milady. It is quite fortuitous that your retainer contacted our House when she did. I was just on my way here to inspect the property.” Ha! Too bad he’s missing the ‘Mc’.
Sloane smiled. “Fortuitous, indeed. What can you tell me about it?” she asked before glancing at the three women that accompanied her. Elodie and Adaega had joined since she valued the...
2022-12-08 18:01:00 +0000 UTC
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Expanding Operations
“Welcome, Lady Reinhart. Please, right this way. We have reserved the lift for your use,” a high-elven woman greeted as she arrived at the Banking Guild headquarters.
Sloane looked up, the headquarters was at the top of a three-hundred-and-fifty-meter high butte. A large lift was the only expedient way to reach it. There was a spiraling staircase that reached the top… You won’t catch my ass walking up there. That’s a n...
2022-12-05 18:01:00 +0000 UTC
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Bearer of Bad News
Returning to the inn and retrieving those that wished to attend had gone quicker than suspected. Ernald had made more inroads toward his decision to stay when he spoke to Sloane and stated that he would guard the other members of her House to allow Stefan to join. Elodie had taken advantage of that and planned a sightseeing trip with all of the House members. She said they would take time to scout out several locations for the Center so that it woul...
2022-12-02 18:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone! I'm 1 day behind on posting this. Boo! Chapter 11 will post in about 11.5 hrs.
Another month is down and we're fully in the holiday season, with luck we shall all survive with our sanity and wallets intact. Anyone have any plans? My family and I have a couple concerts that we are going to, but other than those, we're staying home and keeping it simple.
We are full speed into book 2 and I hope you guys are enjoying it so far! I don't have too much news to spread...
2022-12-02 06:26:09 +0000 UTC
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** We are officially 10 chapters ahead! **
The Sovereign Cities
The caravan had traveled slowly, making sure to settle for each night in defensible locations in case of attacks–even if that meant stopping earlier. In the end, it hadn’t been necessary, yet Sloane was still glad they’d done it. She wasn’t quite sure what it was, but the Valeni had really caused her to rethink many things. How dangerous is mana to us? What other changes are ...
2022-11-30 08:28:36 +0000 UTC
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Posts in Descending Order
This is only for Books 3 and 4 currently, and I’ll eventually go back and update for books 1 and 2. Side Stories will be annotated as (Artificer) to denote it is for that tier and above, but they will be added to show where they fit chronologically.
As a reminder, the most current version of each chapter can be found on RoyalRoad. These may or may not have edits and updates after the initial posting.
· Chapter ...
2022-11-28 06:49:16 +0000 UTC
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How Innocence Dies
Gwyn was just standing back up, with everything sounding muffled, when she saw her. Emma lay there on the ground where she had knocked Gwyn away. A bolt lodged in her side. No… She felt empty as she took in the sight. Emma wasn’t moving, and her chest didn’t rise and fall as it should. Her handmaiden’s body was still, and blood pooled around her from the wound on her side. We were just talking. Everything was fine.
<...
2022-11-28 06:32:36 +0000 UTC
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Strength Comes in Many Forms
“Have you heard from Friedrich?” Gwyn asked Sabina.
The elf shook her head. “Not since last time. I know they arrived in Drakensburg safely. Niles purchased some more supplies and they should have left soon after.”
Gwyn nodded. “Hopefully we hear something else soon. What do we have to do today?”
“You have nothing on your agenda today, Your Highness,” Emma said from behind her.
Sabina shrugged. “Sive...
2022-11-25 18:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Happy Thanksgiving! Early chapter and another tomorrow at the usual time!
___________________________________________________________
Incidentally Intimidating
Ilyana walked next to Ser Taenya as they made their way to Onas Fenren’s business. She had been tasked with acting as the knight’s assistant as they prepared to leave for the capital. It was frustrating that she was unable to be there to assist the princess but saw ...
2022-11-24 21:46:46 +0000 UTC
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Preparations
Gwyn took a deep breath as she put down the scribe next to her notebook. She smiled and looked up at Mr. Branigan who nodded his head and walked to her. The old sun elf picked up the notebook and examined her work. The man nodding along as his eyes scanned over the essay.
“This is well done, Ms. Gwyn. However, I would suggest you read Stanza’s Treatise on Political Relations. It would give you more insight into inter-House politics." She nodded ...
2022-11-23 06:28:10 +0000 UTC
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The Val Forests
In the earliest days after The Flash, mana caused minimal changes to the various fauna. Like all beings, the wildlife of Eona gained a core and access to mana. However, as was later discovered, mana was not spread over the world equally. It pooled in places, and these ‘wells’ caused numerous mutations within beings local to the areas. This, luckily, predominantly occurred far from civilization as those effects were even more disastrous...
2022-11-21 14:58:31 +0000 UTC
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Your Grievances Are Of No Concern
”Relax and breathe. You’re tense, now. You were much calmer when you were distracted by your thoughts.”
Sloane glared at Ismeld. “I am not tense. I am… nervous. There is a difference.”
The woman shrugged. “If we have to go bursting out of the wagon to fight off people, you want to do so as relaxed and less wound up as possible. Breathe. Can you hear what they’re saying?”
Sloane put her head closer t...
2022-11-18 18:00:08 +0000 UTC
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