Tiny black wings beat in the air, working with a vigor of something possessed - which, in a way, they were.
Tiamat’s brood had never stopped searching.
I could see them on the opposite shoreline, their forms wreathed in shadows, a twisting mass of darkness and equally-twisted flesh. Another host-hive collapsed in on itself as the bad-things within pulled themselves free. A third quickly followed.
The air filled with tiny shadows, each taking wing.
Other sh...
2021-10-06 03:43:32 +0000 UTC
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Veins of gold and blue spread across the floor of the tower-nest, reflecting the light of glow-caps and ore-flesh alike. Tiny thought-hisses pressed against my mind-nest, searching for instruction and meaning. I hissed back.
The multicolored veins relaxed, sinking further into the soil below them.
“Wow,” the-female-who-was-not-Needle said, her voice kept low and reverent. “That was actually...pretty.”
She turned towards me, resting on her shoulder once aga...
2021-10-05 06:09:30 +0000 UTC
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My stomach tried to grumble, which was weird because I didn’t actually need to eat in order to survive. Mana alone was enough. Still, I found myself stretching forward to peer into past the open moving-wall, looking for the source of my stomach’s rumbles.
I didn’t find it; it was too dark in the tower-nest.
“Oh, wow,” I heard The Unrepentant One say, inching forward. His stomach gurgled and grumbled. “That smells really nice. What is that?...
2021-10-03 04:28:15 +0000 UTC
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I huddled within my wall-crack. Nearby, the mists roiled and twisted, seeming almost agitated. Alive.
They parted, spitting something out.
I slithered out of my wall-crack, moving to meet it - her - eagerly.
The Grateful One dropped another defeated Little Puppeteer before me as I neared, presenting her newest offering. She was covered in veins of green and black, having returned from the corrupting mists - and yet, she still presented offerings to the Great Core...
2021-10-01 06:11:31 +0000 UTC
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The Little Guardian shifted in place, readjusting his coiled grasp. It was strange how little awareness she had of that compared to everything else. Even after a few days to get used to the change, Elara still found herself astounded by the sheer breadth of what she could sense - except that it was almost all inward, a sense of the things that formed herself. It wasn’t as if she actually had a hard time noticing the Little Guardian shift about on her shoulder, but ...
2021-09-30 06:10:27 +0000 UTC
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The Grateful One’s spine cracked as she bent backwards and turned, ducking under a furious slash from not-Needle before twisting back around again with an impossible, sinuous grace. Impossible for a Coreless, at least. The sharp crack caused the more experienced disciple to stagger in surprise, her emotions shifting toward [concern]. There was another loud crack immediately afterwards as the offset bones reset themselves when the once-corrupted finished ...
2021-09-29 06:36:19 +0000 UTC
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Man, this took me a while. Dialogue is hard sometimes...
The Grateful One rose, pulling herself to her feet - but something about that thought seemed wrong. It didn’t fit. What should it be called when a body moves so naturally, so perfectly, that it becomes unnatural again?
I wasn’t the only one to notice the change; I caught a flash of [surprise] when I raked my fangs across the-female-who-was-not-Needle’s [Li...
2021-09-28 06:32:12 +0000 UTC
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The Grateful One melted and boiled, enveloping my tongue with the heavy scent-taste of seared flesh. Her skin almost seemed to ripple before my eyes, undulating like a great snake, twisting and writhing. Every so often, it would start to reform, rejuvenated by the healing that the [Little Guardian’s Focus] provided.
It wasn’t enough. She screamed; I heard the sound change when her throat tore - and then healed, only to tear again. She gagge...
2021-09-27 06:31:39 +0000 UTC
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I followed the once-corrupted back to the nest that contained the [Little Guardian’s Focus] - or, rather, I allowed the once-corrupted to carry me there.
There was a sense of movement, a mental tugging similar to what I felt from each [Little Guardian’s Totem], but different enough that I couldn’t mistake one for the other. I could sense the Great Core’s Tangleroot; more specifically, I could sense its location relat...
2021-09-26 05:36:51 +0000 UTC
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I watched as the Tangleroot twitched and writhed, reaching out in an attempt to grab me again. Sticky sap spilled from the gash in its plant-flesh, dripping down at an agonizingly slow pace.
It was a small one; I had found it while slithering about the area that my Coreless had claimed. A section of the many-nest, centered around the protection of the [Little Guardian’s Focus], had been nearly cleared of the Lesser Core’s bad-things entirely. It...
2021-09-25 06:02:43 +0000 UTC
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“Fire, please,” the-female-who-was-not-Needle hissed quietly, resonating a resigned [sadness]. I understood. I answered.
A column of blue fire spewed out from between my open jaws, wiping away a section of my mana core’s reserves.
She asked again, and I answered again.
It was a familiar process by now. An important one.
The flames of [Mana Fire] danced, casting shining reflections over the surface of ...
2021-09-24 05:51:27 +0000 UTC
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Her head twitched. Bones popped. She groaned. It was raspy. Painful.
None of that really mattered. She wasn’t in control. Not anymore. Probably not ever again. She tried not to think about that.
It didn’t work. She thought about it. Again.
Muscles twitched and Elara walked, feet dragging against the ground. Part of her - most of her, really - was hoping that she’d trip. It wouldn’t do much, and would really only be hurting herself, but it might be satisfyi...
2021-09-23 05:21:07 +0000 UTC
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The once-corrupted Coreless wouldn’t stop staring at me. It must have been unimaginable to him, being rescued from a Lesser Core’s enslavement and placed into the service of the Great Core. I stared back, giving him a little hiss of acknowledgement. As the Great Core’s Champion, it was important to make a good first impression.
I regretted that.
A horrible scent-taste pressed against my outstretched tongue, remnant bits of filth and more clinging to the still-heal...
2021-09-22 02:02:36 +0000 UTC
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2nd chapter today, don't skip previous one
Erik stepped past the threshold, walking into the mist. It twisted and curled around him with every new movement, brushed to and fro by the slight wind of his passage.
It was cold. Wet, even.
The dead spores that coated the floor muffled Erik’s footfalls, and the live ones that drifted through the air would have done the same to his breaths - if only he had been willing to breathe.
He wasn’t. Not unless he...
2021-09-21 04:34:54 +0000 UTC
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I'm not very happy with this chapter, but it's been far too long so we're just gonna go with it. Better to put it out then to keep staring at it forever. Working on a second chapter to upload later tonight.
Splintered darkwood clattered against the ground, the sound muffled by the heavy coating of dead spore-flesh, now reduced to little more than ash-gray dust in death. Bits and pieces bounced across the few open places where the dust-like spore-flesh hadn’t yet settl...
2021-09-20 23:45:14 +0000 UTC
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The thought-light flickered as we left the second [Little Guardian’s Focus] behind, pushing past the moving-wall and into the many-nest outside.
Lesser Core Skill: [Little Guardian’s Focus VII] Increased.
[Little Guardian’s Focus VIII] Acquired.
I hissed with satisfaction at the sight, letting my tongue flick out to catch the scent-taste of the air. It was stale and dusty, with tin...
2021-09-04 06:43:33 +0000 UTC
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I hissed, baring my fangs at the abominable thing before me. I had seen many disgusting sights in my travels through the World Dungeon’s tunnels; few of them could compare to...this.
“Oh, I think he likes this one!” Needle cried out.
“I really don’t think that he does, Kala. It’s another bust.” another voice replied, the muttered words lying at the very edge of my hearing.
“Yeah, but he didn’t try to bite this one - and he definitely...
2021-09-03 02:22:44 +0000 UTC
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I hissed in satisfaction as the remainder of the plant-flesh bad-thing’s corpse withered away into ash, mixing into the soil that had once allowed it to grow. Tendrils of [Mana Fire] continued to warm my scales, licking at the air around me; I pushed through the wall of blue, enjoying the sensation caused by my invulnerability to my own flames.
Across the room, my Coreless came out from behind the safety of the pillar, Will placing his mobile wall ...
2021-08-26 05:51:15 +0000 UTC
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The light of [Mana Fire] twisted and contorted, casting shadows across the dimly lit area that I could only see in the few brief moments that Will’s wall of ore-flesh shifted to the side. Acidic spittle sizzled against the stone floor below, each pop and sputter of the dangerous liquid forcing the Coreless that I clung on to flinch in remembered agony.
“The pillars! Get behind the pillars!” The Unrepentant One cried out.
My Coreless moved in a clump...
2021-08-25 05:22:50 +0000 UTC
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I could feel the-female-who-was-not-Needle’s [excitement] grow as we came ever closer to the large nest my Coreless had pointed out earlier. The others were more subdued, tinges of [worry] pinning down any [excitement] that they may have had.
The nest itself was holding up well compared to many of the others. Whereas many of the nearby nests had been damaged or broken by roots and debris, this one...
2021-08-24 03:48:38 +0000 UTC
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The green mist swirled in my vision. From this close, I could make out the tiny spores that formed its mass, floating idly in the air for a short while before they died out and fell to the ground. Even as they fell, the green spores began to shift into a slight greenish-gray, crumbling away into tiny flakes. There, the dying spores formed a thick, moss-like mass, one that found itself kicked upwards again with each and every disturbance in the air. A Coreless, emaciated and covered...
2021-08-23 02:18:12 +0000 UTC
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Her throat burned, ripping and shredding with each additional retch and spew. There was nothing left, but Valera’s body seemed to have forgotten that - or maybe it just didn’t care.
Her blood pounded, beating against her ears like a drum, drowning out the world.
Her cheeks tickled, the tears that slipped between her tight-shut lids halted in little flicks and dabs of a forked tongue.
Any other time, that might have been enough to pull Valera away from her misery; the she...
2021-08-21 04:25:31 +0000 UTC
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3rd chapter today, make sure you didn't skip the other ones.
I recoiled at the sight, horrified. The green-black veins, small though they were, formed a tangled mass at the nape of my Coreless’ neck, centered around a light scratch on the surface of her skin-flesh. A deep crimson held fast to the edges of those disgusting veins, as if my Coreless’ very body was trying its hardest to hold back the colors of the Great Core’s enemies. It was an admirable effort, one ...
2021-08-19 05:11:02 +0000 UTC
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2nd chapter today, don't skip previous chapter.
...we weren’t getting any closer to the Core. It wasn’t hard to notice, even without the scent-taste of the Lesser Core on my tongue; after all, we had found ourselves at the edge of the black-water again. Not the same edge that we had started at, but it was still an edge. More importantly, it was still far from where we needed to go.
I wasn’t the only one that noticed that, of course. Judging by the r...
2021-08-18 22:11:06 +0000 UTC
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I'm back, and we'll likely be going for a breakneck upload pace for the remainder of the month. First chapter today, going for at least three (already have two done).
The female-who-was-not-Needle listlessly cut the-root-that-attacks-from-below into pieces with distracted, stuttered motions, gently feeding the slices into my open mouth. Her hand went up and down, up and down as it continued with its methodical task, slicing at our once-ambusher and bringing the bits tha...
2021-08-18 22:10:00 +0000 UTC
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Valera’s breath caught within her throat. It lodged itself there, holding fast, while her eyes roved over Verdant Grove.
More accurately, while they roved over what it had become.
Though she had never visited it herself, the refugees that had arrived at Orken had painted a vivid picture within her mind. It was one of soaring crop-towers, filled to the brim with plants that could hardly be found outside the influence of a Nature Core’s aspected field, with supporting...
2021-08-10 03:49:45 +0000 UTC
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The scent-taste of darkwood and glow-caps, intermingling with a variety of other scent-tastes that I had never encountered, only grew stronger as we grew closer to the Lesser Core. Yet, unlike the tantalizing scent-taste of the Core itself, which was more the flavor of its mana than anything actually physical, worming its way into my mind and constantly pushing at my thoughts, these new scent-tastes were quite real.
My Coreless seemed to notice it as well. Will, who had taken...
2021-08-06 04:15:51 +0000 UTC
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` My Coreless did not sleep comfortably that night; they shifted around in fits and spurts, a certain degree of [restlessness] in each nearby [Little Guardian’s Totem]. In a way, that was good. It meant that they understood the threat that Tiamat presented - or so I hoped. It was sometimes difficult to tell; for all I really knew, the [restlessness] that caused them to roll and roil in their sleep was j...
2021-07-31 05:17:25 +0000 UTC
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Recreating Tiamat was just as difficult as I had expected, which was part of the reason that I hadn’t tried to do so in the past. I hadn’t wanted to risk the Coreless dismissing the threat that she posed, especially when there was so much that I couldn’t explain through [Illusion Spark] - and knowing that she was so far away, somewhere deep within the World Dungeon, I might have even ignored some of that threat myself.
I hissed and strained, st...
2021-07-30 02:25:56 +0000 UTC
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Valera felt her brow furrow as she watched Orken’s Little Guardian. The tiny snake was acting strange; normally, he seemed extremely eager to devour anything and everything that he could fit down his tiny throat. But right now, instead of consuming the massive pile of insectoid monsters, it simply set them aflame.
Had it tasted that horrible? He had eaten one of them, after all, and only after that decided to put the mound of corpses to the flame. She wasn’t entirely sure...
2021-07-29 00:58:56 +0000 UTC
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