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“You want to leave here, right?” Serenity figured he’d better ask. He was pretty sure what the answer was, but sometimes he was wrong.
Helen nodded slightly, shivering. “Yes.”
“Then stay with me.” He was about to head out of the room when a nasty thought occurred to him. “You haven’t given any vows or signed a contract, have you?”
Helen shook her head. “They have a big ceremony for that. I don’t qualify. You have to be...
2022-11-10 23:56:24 +0000 UTC
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Helen missed the whole “being a slave” experience.
It wasn’t that she wanted it back; no, she’d literally slept through the whole thing. She remembered going to bed at the end of the Phase; she wasn’t about to stay up for it when everyone said there was no reason to. She couldn’t stay up that late. She’d never been able to, even as a teen. It got her laughed at, but on the other hand she didn’t have any problems with being at work before...
2022-11-09 23:56:57 +0000 UTC
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“Finally figured out how to use a phone, even though you couldn’t while you were still on Earth?” Tek’s voice was familiar to Serenity even though it had been quite a while since they last spoke.
“I need help,” Serenity admitted. “I’m not sure I would have called otherwise.”
“I was expecting that,” Tek admitted. “I’d hoped that you’d decided otherwise, but when you didn’t call even after you chose a technology-based Path...
2022-11-09 00:10:59 +0000 UTC
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It was more than a few days before High Priestess Karin was able to arrange for Serenity to talk to any of the people who’d been kidnapped from Earth. During that time, Rissa and Serenity toured a different part of Lyka each day. They toured Abiding 17, which Serenity would have categorized as a working class area, then Abiding 8, which seemed to be a commercial area, similar to Abiding 4 but less fancy and busier.
If Serenity understood it correctly, ea...
2022-11-08 00:02:24 +0000 UTC
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Serenity stopped in the doorway to stare at his fiancee. It was so good to see her. Did she have a glow or was he projecting his joy?
Either way, Rissa was clearly pregnant now; she had a noticeable baby bump in her otherwise lean form.
She looked up when the door opened. For a moment, she looked puzzled, but then it was like a light went off. Her face lit with joy and she charged Serenity.
He caught her as she launched herself in the air and wr...
2022-11-07 00:03:59 +0000 UTC
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This was late due to ... the next book being difficult to kickstart. I was concentrating hard on getting Serenity off Zon so my brain is still stuck there instead of Lyka!
Naturally, my attempt to get the post together was then interrupted by a cat rescue ... good news (?): I now have an injured, seriously underweight but hopefully no longer hungry (she ate a lot!) very very friendly cat in my sunroom. It's a good thing I have cat supplies on hand ... my own cat is not very happy right ...
2022-11-06 00:17:14 +0000 UTC
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[Challenge Resolved]
[Serenity has ascended to the Rule of Mornmot]
[You may alter your Rule type at the City Node]
Serenity picked himself up from the remains of his meal, the remains of his enemy. He wasn’t certain what to think right now. He hadn’t been thinking; he’d simply been angry and he’d completely lost control.
His actions felt completely justified and vile at the same t...
2022-11-04 23:07:44 +0000 UTC
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The route was not nearly as confusing as it sounded, but Serenity could understand why the demon had a hard time describing it; there were no street signs or even straight streets. Instead, they were headed in a fairly consistent direction: towards the center of the city.
It was the direction he’d have guessed if he hadn’t gotten a guide and had to try to find the main City Node. Most cities started from a Settlement Crystal; more than that, the actual...
2022-11-03 23:07:26 +0000 UTC
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The injured demon was blessedly silent for a moment, but it didn’t last. “No. No, definitely maybe? What is a demon like me? Not many have my focus, my dedication, my obsession!”
Obsession? The word sounded all too plausible right now. Serenity glanced at the demon. “Are you an obsession demon who studies other demons?”
The winged demon jumped in what looked like joy but was clearly in pain when it landed. “Yes! No one cares about demon t...
2022-11-02 23:11:05 +0000 UTC
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Serenity was ready to head out now except for one thing. He had the same problem with his second form as he’d had when he was the Demon Thorn. What was he to do with it?
He couldn’t carry it as a crystal hilt as he’d done that time and he definitely couldn’t float along beside himself. Even ignoring the speed difference, the badger-demons could clearly see his Sovereign form and wouldn’t leave it alone.
The arguments against his armor-form...
2022-11-01 23:12:50 +0000 UTC
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Channeling anger meant knowing where to use it and where not to use it.
What deserved his anger right now? Of those, what could he do something about, and what could he work towards?
The man who tried to kill Rissa was … huh. He was missing, not dead, wasn’t he? Serenity wondered what happened to Macho. He was worthy of anger, but anger was pointless until Serenity was back on Earth.
The Sterath had once been the target of Vengeance’s ange...
2022-10-31 23:06:08 +0000 UTC
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Serenity wasn’t about to try entering a city of demon termites in his chimera form. That seemed remarkably foolish; if they welcomed other demons, he’d see something other than termites.
He could try taking the form of one of the worker termites, but after the experience in the first city he didn’t really want to try that again. Termites were a social species and that meant he’d be walking himself into a whole set of expectations he didn’t know a...
2022-10-30 23:02:11 +0000 UTC
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The towering multihued yellow Demon Thorn of Pain never even seemed to realize it was in trouble.
It fired more Minute Thorns at Serenity, but after about a minute it seemed convinced it had shot him enough times and came closer to Serenity. It stuck out one of its leaves again, but this time it wrapped it around Serenity, picking him up.
Serenity flailed, trying to get free. He knew the demon was dying, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be picked ...
2022-10-29 22:50:09 +0000 UTC
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Moving as a Demon Thorn of Pain was weird.
Serenity could move the top half of his body almost normally; he was more than a little stiff, but the motion itself was still normal other than his arms. They could move far more flexibly. He was going to have to practice; they were literally boneless and could bend in any direction at any point, but they were limited in how sharply they could bend. It was completely different.
The lower half of his body, ho...
2022-10-28 23:09:54 +0000 UTC
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Gigantic tower-thorn demons were the only things Serenity could make out at this distance, but they didn’t really tell him much. It wasn’t that he couldn’t think of what they might be; instead, the problem was that he could think of half a dozen different things that might form individual thorns and be called “demons”. The word demon was nearly as generic as “monster”, after all. The only thing it really told him was that there might be other thorn...
2022-10-27 23:02:41 +0000 UTC
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It wasn’t all that long after Serenity left the flame wolf behind when he started seeing distorted areas out of the corners of his eyes. They wouldn’t resolve into anything more concrete even with Aide’s help so Serenity continued onwards.
It was a bit over an hour after the first distortion when Serenity decided that the blurs were common enough to try to get back to his own time.
He tried walking up to one of the distortions; Aide could ev...
2022-10-26 23:24:32 +0000 UTC
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So, I was writing tomorrow's chapter and lost track of time.
It's a little ironic since what I was writing includes Time manipulation...
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Ansera woke up.
She hadn’t really expected to. She knew saktiin’s progression better than most and she was well into the stage where any day, any moment, could be her last.
She’d nursed more than half the village through it, after all. The survivors were crippled but alive; she wasn’t certain if t...
2022-10-25 23:25:39 +0000 UTC
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Serenity shifted to his normal human form. There wasn’t any reason to go to the effort of his disguise, but at the same time he didn’t want to scare anyone and be mistaken for a monster. Zon seemed effectively completely human-settled.
The houses were sturdy, well built and well maintained, but that was really all Serenity could compliment them for. They were clearly built to be sturdy rather than interesting; they were even all painted the same shad...
2022-10-24 23:11:06 +0000 UTC
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It wasn’t really a question of safety. Serenity doubted that there was much that “Lost Regrets” could or would do that could harm him.
Instead, it was only a question of which would waste more time. Traveling through the middle of a Time-warped area could well cost far more time than the shortcut gained. On the other hand, it might also do the opposite and let him travel through the area in no time at all or even push backwards in Time. He’d be hap...
2022-10-23 23:07:42 +0000 UTC
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More than anything, they looked like mutated monkeys. The group of six monkeys had long hair, enough that they almost looked more like a mobile mop than an animal, but most of it was silky. It was obvious that they groomed regularly. Serenity wasn’t certain how they managed that, because the first difference between them and normal monkeys should have made grooming each other difficult: they had bone spurs for claws instead of hands. They were cruel looking a...
2022-10-22 23:04:06 +0000 UTC
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Message from Rissa Latimer to Serenity
Serenity,
High Priestess Karin - you know, Ekari’s mother - has been looking into the missing people who ended up on Lyka. She’s found some, but apparently they are in seclusion following their acceptance of Lykandeon and cannot meet anyone outside the Faith for several months. I’ve asked her to keep looking; the early arrivals should be outside the timeframe she’s given me....
2022-10-21 23:12:01 +0000 UTC
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Alanok watched as Maerite flopped onto the sofa in the richly furnished room Innat had set aside for the effort to recover the kidnapped enslaved Earthlings. She didn’t even glance at Alanok, even though he was the only other person in the room and was already on the same sofa. “Forty-seven.”
“That’s it?” Alanok shook his head. Unlike Maerite, his eyes were fixed on his companion. As far as he was concerned, she was simply being childish again b...
2022-10-20 22:56:25 +0000 UTC
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The only changes I have found so far, other than the format change, are located in your eyes and your hands. Your visual sensors now natively observe a far larger portion of the electromagnetic spectrum and there appear to be secondary sensory modes that I do not yet understand. The alteration to your hands appears to be significant, as there are many strands connecting to it, but its purpose is unknown.
Serenity looked down at his arms. ...
2022-10-19 23:05:32 +0000 UTC
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Tell me about Lacuna, please.
It was the last one on Serenity’s short list, so it was a good thing to check out next. So far, nothing he’d found was needed and several of the more obvious options were terrible. If this continued, he was going to choose the one he wanted instead of trying to pick the most useful evolution.
[A lacuna is a gap or missing place, something that evidence says should be there but is not present. The Lac...
2022-10-18 23:04:39 +0000 UTC
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Had a long power outage (~10 hours) on Saturday. (There were storms; everything's fine here, other than the power cut). This put me behind on writing, so yesterday's chapter was finished the morning of and I just finished today's chapter instead of finishing it yesterday. I'm actually really happy to be getting this out more or less on time; I was worried I'd have to announce a delay.
Apologies for any typos or missing words; I haven't had time for an edit pass. I figured you'd rather h...
2022-10-17 23:13:37 +0000 UTC
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This doesn't immediately affect anyone here, but if you leave my Patreon and return it might: I've moved to what Patreon calls "subscription billing". This means that Patreon will bill you on the monthly anniversary of your previous payment instead of always on the 1st.
For everyone already subbed, since you signed up under 1st of the month billing, you will still be billed on the 1st - that's your monthly anniversary.
Enjoy!
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Getting permission to u...
2022-10-16 23:12:55 +0000 UTC
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There was absolutely no way Serenity was waiting a year and a day to see Rissa, even if a month of that time had already passed. Not only did he simply want to see her, he wanted to be there when their child was born, plus as much of the pregnancy as possible. Rissa hadn’t mentioned how her pregnancy was going, but it was hard to know if that was because it was still extremely slow or she simply didn’t want to hurry him.
Kalo Lichbane’s advice was cl...
2022-10-15 23:07:52 +0000 UTC
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Duke Lowpeak was surprisingly accepting of Serenity’s Death magic, at least as long as he promised not to do anything to harm Lowpeak. It was enough to make Serenity wonder if the Duke had known another Death mage in the past, although it was also entirely possible that he simply respected the distinction between hostile monsters and friendly Pathed people. Many people didn’t, especially when the person in question was different.
It took hours for Anda...
2022-10-14 23:12:54 +0000 UTC
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Andarit and Serenity were led to a holding area that looked more like a small cottage than anything else. It was a little ways up the actual road from the river, but the river was still visible in the distance. From the outside it looked well maintained.
“This is the quarantine cabin. Stay here and wait; we’ll provide food or anything you need. Leaving before the Duke arrives will get you in trouble. If you need something, just step outside; we’ll ...
2022-10-13 23:10:05 +0000 UTC
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Travel over the brushland between the swamp and the planted fields was more pleasant than the trip through the swamp, especially for Andarit. During the time in the swamp, she was inundated by various insects, mostly mosquitos, that simply couldn’t penetrate Serenity’s armor’s scales. He had a couple of bites on the back of his hands, but she was covered by mosquito bites.
Serenity wasn’t certain they were actually mosquitos, technically, but “sma...
2022-10-12 23:04:32 +0000 UTC
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