jmclarke

IABD 66: The Monk's Account

It was all there, laid out in black ink on yellowed parchment: a testament to a man’s suffering and his accounting of a supernatural grudge. With shaking hands Matthias picked the book up. 

“Some of the language is very old.” he whispered. “And judging from the words, I believe they were written by the monk who cursed Windstone.” 

The otherwise quiet room abruptly came to life as his companions rapidly approached him. 

They crowded around the journal...

IABD 65: The Wailing Path

Searing pain flooded Matthias Stonebreaker’s being. 

Before his horrified eyes, his shadow tendril abruptly bent then twisted, the prismatic light doing the same, bending then collapsing onto itself, rupturing in pops of radiance brighter than the noonday sun.  

The ghoul knight’s anguished scream matched Matthias’, its clawed hand covering its eye symbol. Matthias tried to fight the pain; all the while the ghoul knight’s prismatic light fragmented. Sections...

IABD 64: The Battle on the Stairwell to Darkness

Matthias had no time to dwell on Ellian’s words, as much as their gravity struck him to his core: if this stairway led to the Old Abbey Roads, then going down them would mean descending into some kind of hell. Those stairs would lead to a network of ancient tunnels and ruins, home to potentially thousands upon thousands of undead. 

The miasma rising from the passage was revolting, it made his skin crawl and came close to causing his soul to shudder. 

This was not the t...

IABD 63: The Passage Below

The sound of weeping was as clear as day, soft, as though coming from a distance.

Matthias thought the voice most likely belonged to a man, though the sobs were choked with such grief, it was difficult to tell.

His siblings went quiet; ears cocked in the direction he’d indicated.

“I…hear nothing,” Bregindoure said.

“I don’t hear anything either,” Dagma added.

“Perhaps my hearing’s better from cultivating Divine Breath,” Matthias said in low to...

IABD 62: The Ancient Chapel

“We should enter through the chapel,” Matthias suggested, pointing to the long structure. “It’s the biggest space in the abbey, and probably where the ghouls are most likely to gather. I say we clear them out.”

Bregindoure and Dagma grinned.

“If there are a lot of them, we can have a contest: who can slay the biggest number, the quickest?” Bregindoure raised an eyebrow. “I would wager something, but the only thing around here are ghoul corpses and rocks.”

�...

IABD 61: The Blizzard

The fires of combat faded long before the bonfire did. 

For a time, Matthias and Beggahasta sat by the flames, enjoying their wine and talking. Wine loosened the warrior woman’s lips, and she told her son of battlefields she’d fought on long ago.

She told tales of death, life, blood hunger, victory and loss; tales that stretched from the Frostsea down to the southlands. In her youth, Beggahasta had travelled far and wide, sailing through waters that Matthias could only im...

IABD 60: Blood Hunger

The undead troll loomed above Matthias, long tongue lolling out, arms spreading wide. Beside it shuffled a pack of smaller ghouls, snarling, fangs gnashing. Their claws gleamed in the firelight, wet from snow, resembling fresh blood.

The tendril lashed out, bowling ghouls over as he closed on the troll, blade slashing. The undead giant grabbed for him, but he ducked low, evading its grasp, drawing a gaping wound across its shin. 

Greyish liquid sprayed white snow. 

IABD 59: The Ghoul Trap

Ignite,” Mistress Polla commanded. “And burn long.”

Inside the derelict hermit house, a towering pile of wood hissed, steam rising, abruptly bursting into flame. Flickering firelight and shadow danced across the home’s inner walls, casting light over thick branches—ends wrapped in rags—shoved into the ground like wooden stakes encircling the flame.

Matthias squinted against the heat of the bonfire.

“I will leave you for the night, young Matthias.” Polla turne...

IABD 58: Stonebreaker vs. Stonebreaker vs. Stonebreaker

“Before you face ghouls,” Beggahasta’s voice rang out over the courtyard. “I’d like to get an idea of how you fight while circulating your energy. Facing ghouls without knowing that life energy circulation will not distract you would be foolhardy. Prove yourself today so you can fight the ghouls tonight.”

The warrior woman wore her red armour, standing tall like a crimson tower rising from the snow. She carried the air of an ancient war god presiding over a bloody trial...

IABD 57: An Idea for a Trap

Snow crunched in the courtyard, jolting Matthias from the Realm in Dream.

Moving silently, he sprang from his bedroll, peering through the window—behind him the room was unnaturally bright, reflecting the moonstruck snow outside.

Grey ghouls were prowling across the snowy ground.

By now, he had grown accustomed to their nighttime prowling, but tonight there more than usual. For a moment, he considered waking his sleeping siblings, but quickly dismissed the idea, since waki...

IABD 56: Sprinting Ahead

Matthias Stonebreaker shielded his eyes as crimson light flared across his brother’s back, momentarily blinding everyone in the garden. Bregindoure’s roar thundered through the sky.

Every ghoul prowling Windstone likely heard it, whether deep underground or lurking near upper windows.

“Breg!” Dagma was screaming. “Bregindoure!”

She stood, ready to rush to him, but Matthias reached out, gripping her shoulder.

“Stay back!” he shouted. “We need to give h...

IABD 55: A Test of Affinity

Matthias silently climbed from his bed roll, tiptoeing through the dark hermit house, passing his sleeping sister. Bregindoure’s bed roll was empty, and the young greatfolk could hear his mother in the kitchen, preparing breakfast.

The scent of porridge was mixing with the miasma of Windstone.

Not long ago, the combination of odours would have disgusted him, but now, the miasma was weak in the background of his mind. The strongest odours he was smelling were the sweet aromas of ...

IABD 54: Training

The ghouls hadn’t tried testing the wards with force of numbers again, but they hadn’t given up on trying to get to their prey either. After that failed headlong charge, they had changed tactics, using guile and low cunning instead of numbers.

Every few nights, a small number of ghouls would leave the abbey under cover of darkness to circle the homes of their quarry. Some would silently probe the area, testing for weaknesses in the magical barriers. A few would try slipping over the...

IABD 53: Beginning Training at Windstone

For three days, Matthias practised Life Energy Circulation.

For three nights, Matthias practised Life Energy Circulation.

The days were trying; the miasma constantly hung over the abbey, clinging to every scrap of clothing, wafting through their home. Even the glass windows, crafted by Polla using the Gift, did little to purge the stench.

Matthias had to tolerate the foul odour as he and his family fell into the routine of cleaning and sanitizing their new home in the mornin...

IABD 52: Enduring and New Life

“It’s eerily quiet.” Bregindoure gripped his shield and mace, moving cautiously through the woods, eyes glancing frequently at the surrounding trees.

Reds, yellows and browns had begun to bleed into the green canopy—autumn was near—his immense boots crunched on the occasional fallen leaf. The sound was jarring in the dead silence of the Windwood.

 “I don’t think I’ve ever been in a forest this quiet before…not that I’ve been in many forests,” Bregindoure...

IABD 51: Setting Up Camp

As Matthias gingerly picked up a ghoul’s corpse in the living room of their hermit house, it struck him that no essence had risen from the thing and entered his shadow after it had died.

It was later in the morning, the Stonebreaker family was now hard at work clearing their new home of hundreds of years of filth, debris, scattered bones and other rubbish created by the ghoulish horde that lived around the abbey.

Some of it was dry and desiccated, but most was wet and crusted in...

IABD 50: A Horde of Grey

‘It spoke,’ Matthias thought. ‘The thing can speak! It speaks our tongue!’

The ghoul knight’s eye-symbol was fixed on Matthias as though he was its oldest enemy. A long tongue slipped from between needle-like fangs, running across cracked lips. 

“Feeeaaaast!” it hissed again, and the horde redoubled its speed, their hungry cries echoed into the skies.

Grey bodies skittered over fallen boulders, ghouls crawled over each other, their teeth gnashing.

Be...

IABD 49: The Hermits' Houses

The stench hit Matthias first; stinking worse than the smell of several privies, a rotting wound and decay, clinging to his nostrils, making his nose and eyes water. Yet, the assault to his senses did not end there; it went deeper—through his flesh—reaching down to his soul.

Even his spirit gagged at the foul odour.

“Ugh, that smell!” Bregindoure grumbled, holding his nose. “It smells like filth and bile had a child together.”

“Smells like a dead animal boiled ...

IABD 48: The Anatomy of an Abbey

The rain began falling, pounding on the carriage just as it reached the outer edges of the Windwood.

One moment they were flying in comfortable silence, and the next they were caught in a deafening drumming. The downpour battered the roof, sounding like it would break it apart as moonlight was swallowed by heavy clouds, plunging the entire mountain range into darkness.

As the nightlight dimmed, colour faded from the murals on the carriage walls—turning them to shades of black an...

IABD 47: The Curse of Windstone

“But it’s only a coin,” Dagma pointed out. “Coins are just meant to be spent.”

“I know of several collectors who would spit blood if they heard such a statement, but more importantly, it is not a coin: that, my friends is a shield. When wielded, its magic can shrink it down to the size of a coin, grow it to the size of a large shield or even let it become big enough to cover one’s entire body and those of several companions. The shield itself is nearly impenetrable and can...

IABD 46: Coin, Cultivation and Negotiation

Ecaris’ revelation rolled over Matthias, transfixing his thoughts to silence.

He’d never really given any thought to what meeting another Divine Breath cultivator would be like, or if he’d ever meet another one, but randomly stumbling upon one on a seedy side street in a market far from home would not have been his first guess.

Judging by the stunned silence of his family members, it would not have been their first guesses either.

Ecaris’ grin widened, and the mercha...

IABD 45: The Hidden Merchant

“What do you mean ‘make proper use of them’?” Matthias asked. “Are you an alchemist?”

“Among other things. Many other things, but let’s stay on topic. The body parts of the demonic beast—claws, bones, some of its organs, and its soul-core—are also valuable,” the merchant’s gaze was a little frantic. “You didn’t throw them away, did you?”

Matthias’ eyebrows rose. Those were the exact parts of the demonic beast his mother had said were valuable; it so...

Mark of the Fool Announcement: Light Novels Delayed to Due Paper Shortage

Hello everybody!

Just wanted to give you a quick update on the light novels. I've been informed by my publisher that due to a paper shortage, the printer won't be able to get them done until later. They're currently scheduled for release on May 5th.

I just found out, sorry about the extra wait! And I'll inform y'all if any other delays crop up.

IABD 44: A Situation

Matthias whirled to see a man trying to rob his sister.

Dressed in plain clothing, the stranger was unremarkable except for the pair of daggers at his hip; his stubbled face scowled as he tried pulling the young girl’s coin purse from her hands, grunting in surprise at the ten-year-old’s strength. “Let go, you wretched little devil; it ain’t worth it!”

“No!” Dagma snarled. “Get away, you dirty crook!”

Matthias’s world turned red.

His older brother s...

IABD 43: Dagger Rock

“Good, there is enough mist about to let us land in secret.” Polla watched the mural change before her. “Better that we land unseen. Dagger Rock is a place where you don’t want the wrong kind of attention.”

Matthias kept his eyes on the murals; grey mist swirled in all of them, as thick as soup. He couldn’t see an inch around the carriage, yet he was not concerned.

Something about the fog reminded him of The Realm in Dream. In many ways, he felt at home, though some of...

IABD 42: A Trusted Friend

Jan Eklund shivered like a mouse caught between a cave-lion’s front paws. “G-give me a moment, I will get dressed and—”

“That will not be necessary,” came a voice so deep, it seemed to rise from the netherworld itself.

Jan Eklund knew it well…and could not deny the order.

 “Y-yes, archlord!” he stammered. “Open the door!” he hissed to his servant.

The terrified servant scurried to the bedroom door, unlocked it and flung it wide.

Hot lig...