“You have a brother?” Syri asked, blinking in shock.
“Two, actually,” said Luna. “This big lummox here, and an annoying crybaby little brother back home,” she clarified.
“Ah Lulu. Nice to know you’re every bit as mean as you were when last we met.”
Luna shrugged. “I don’t plan on changing my ways, Geran.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “And don’t call me Lulu.”
“No.”
“Huh...” Kiharu cocked her head to one side. “Guess he doe...
2025-08-14 20:01:51 +0000 UTC View PostLuna was slow to rouse from her slumber. The smell of burning herbs hit her nose first, joined soon after by a faint iron tang of blood and a chemical stink of alchemy reagents. Soft padding embraced her from below, a mattress markedly softer than that of her own bedding at the Citadel.
She rose with care, pain tingling in her muscles, and eventually managed to sit upright in bed. The room was unfamiliar but she could tell by scent alone that she was in an infirmary. She had inhabited a...
2025-08-14 19:59:50 +0000 UTC View PostOpening her eyes, Luna once more found herself in the confines of Thulpa’s office. The place had not changed a bit since she had last been. But Luna knew well enough that that meant little when it came to alien dimensions. It had been many weeks since she had last seen the interior, but for all she knew time flowed differently here.
It could have been no more than five minutes from Tulpa’s point of view.
The strange young woman was floating above her massive desk, an awkward s...
2025-08-08 21:32:35 +0000 UTC View PostThe Goddess Festival, as it turned out, truly was the massive event Velasco had made it out to be. From where he stood, a balcony on the Obelisk that overlooked a swathe of the city, he could see throngs of people filling the streets. Innumerable vendor stalls could be seen from his position, hawking food and floral necklaces to the partygoers, who whooped, and danced, and drank in the streets.
Come the morning all of Sentinel would look filthy, the cobbles caked in petals and vomit. Fo...
2025-08-06 20:56:09 +0000 UTC View PostThe great ringed city of Calmexia stood as a vast and many-spired beacon of civilization. The bow of the Calese ran into a great gate on one side, and emerged on the opposite end. A great source of water in an otherwise arid, sunblasted land.
It had, for centuries, been seen as he greatest of the Galdian city states, with a vast library of arcane knowledge and one of the strongest standing armies in the region. Much of said army was, at present, impaled on a slew great pikes held in the...
2025-08-04 11:31:47 +0000 UTC View PostLuna took to the air, guided again by magically manipulated currents of wind. Old Scratch chose a markedly less elegant form of movement: Leaping across vast stretches of the city in a series of swift bounds. It was a crude method, but Luna could not fault the functionality of it.
Naturally it did not take them long to reach the courtyard where the gargoyle had crashed. Gallow had set up an assortment of glowing barricades on the edges of the nearby rooftops, giving the marksman cover t...
2025-08-04 11:28:39 +0000 UTC View PostCricket stared in stunned silence at the chestful of coins that had been set before her. In the spartan confines of the shabby, rundown room, the coins glittered with an even greater radiance. “You’re... kidding, yeah?”
“I assure you, Lady Cricket, my master is quite serious in this offer,” Domajor said, nodding to the chest. “You are free to use this money for whatever amenities or living improvements the youth of Goddess Street may need. In exchange for your work with his ...
2025-07-30 20:49:23 +0000 UTC View PostLuna flew back swiftly through the air as the gargoyle took chase toward her, heating its massive wings. Each movement was like a clap of thunder, and the beast trailed black fog from its jaws. All three eyes were fixed briefly on Luna, and then steadily shifted to take in the expanse of Vyrham below.
She looked beyond the winged beast, to the distant blip that was Iudex Kabal. Ash swirled around the Iudex in a great grey whirlwind, and in a flash both she and the darkened whirlwind van...
2025-07-28 21:12:19 +0000 UTC View PostLuna took to the air in a sudden rushing whirlwind, ignoring the gasps of shock and alarm from those around her. “L-Luna?!” Syri shouted. “Where are you going?!”
“Hey!” Kiharu roared. “I dunno what’s up there, but it looks dangerous! Get your runt ass back here before you get yourself hurt.”
Luna climbed skyward at an impressive speed, currents of air dancing at her command to hold her aloft. When it came to magic, there were many ways one could give themselves t...
2025-07-28 21:10:18 +0000 UTC View Post“Another smart mimic,” Domajor murmured, stroking his chin with one hand. “I never would have believed it, if I wasn’t seeing her with my own eyes.”
Colony had taken a seat in the drawing room, her hands folded in her lap while the others examined her from a comfortable distance. Coin could tell she was uneasy, sitting as rigid as a statue. She didn’t blink, as was the norm for her. In her unease she had fallen back on her mimic instincts, trying to appear inanimate.
P...
2025-07-23 20:14:11 +0000 UTC View PostBit by bit, Luna led the charge through the streets of Vyrham. There seemed no real end to the number of ashen beasts to block their path, but the young Arcanist was undaunted. If anything, the whole experience awoke within her a deep sense of nostalgia.
It reminded her of her mercenary days, those dark and hectic years where she had found herself fighting in blood-drenched gutters all around the world. Sometimes it was as a defender, repelling barbarians and desert tribes. Other times ...
2025-07-21 20:13:37 +0000 UTC View PostWith the ogre distracted, it gave the soldiers enough of an opening to drag their wounded to safety. The guards had done their best, but their lance light had struggled to do anything worse than scarring the exterior of the ogre. And, already, that ridged shell was starting to repair itself.
Luna strode forward, flanked on one side by Syri, while Rema hopped onto a crooked lantern post to act as a makeshift vantage point.
Inwardly, she was debating the best way to proceed. As sati...
2025-07-21 20:10:33 +0000 UTC View PostThe central market had quickly become a warzone, with more and more Ashborn drawn to the sound of fleeing humans. Gnolls and hellcats at first, but soon small scuttling imps and winged sprites joined the fray, bolstering their large kinsmen with their superior numbers.
Yet Luna and the others were able to stand their ground, funnelling the beasts into a kill zone on the main street, reinforced by volleys of halberd fire from the city guards.
Gradually, more and more soldiers filte...
2025-07-18 20:19:10 +0000 UTC View PostCoin flung himself to one side, avoiding a slew of arrows and crossbow bolts. As quick as he was, the bolts came within a hair’s breadth of hitting him. Again he had to marvel at the skill of his foes.
Lightning danced on the tips of his splayed fingers, coalescing into a single sphere that erupted into a bolt. It crossed the fields in an instant, striking the ground before several marksman. One moment they were standing, reloading, and the next they had been flash fried into ash.
... 2025-07-16 21:27:08 +0000 UTC View Post“A monster attack,” Syri murmured in disbelief. “Right here in the capital.”
Luna nodded, her grim and unblinking gaze watching as plumes of smoke and ash began to rise from various points in the city. Being able to bypass capital’s walls and outer defences in an instant, the worst nightmare of any ruler. When her own capital was seized, it was only after weeks of a protracted siege, entailing a myriad of magical assaults and campaigns of subterfuge to undercut the defences sh...
2025-07-11 21:31:07 +0000 UTC View Post“As you can see from the model above, imps and gnolls are known to attack in groups. While all ashborn are allied in their mutual hatred of humanity, these two are the only ones seen to regularly hunt and fight in packs.”
The class watched as Gallow Cade gestured to a great drawing pinned to the board, depicting two varieties of monsters swarming around a group of armoured humans. The imps were bipedal creatures of modest height, jagged spines of rock protruding from their sloping s...
2025-07-11 21:29:49 +0000 UTC View PostOnce they drew near to the coast of Arcadia, Coin made a point to pull in toward an isolated dock just a short distance from the seaside town of Kwart, and only did so under the cover of night. That gave them the privacy for Colony to pull her extra mass up from beneath the waters, forming it into a great wagon laden with trunks and luggage.
She still could not part too far from the rest of her mass, lest it dissolve or calcify in the absence of her brain. Ultimately, Coin had suggested...
2025-07-09 18:47:14 +0000 UTC View PostLuna was rather surprised. Back in her old world, there was no such thing as a form of magic tied exclusively to a bloodline. Nor were their ‘Ways’ that limited the forms of magic a person could use. The power and wisdom of a wizard was tied to the honed strength of their mind and body, and how much knowledge they could actually absorb.
Viisa Hauron had spent the better part of a century scouring the world for every tome of arcane lore he could get his claws on. At the time of his d...
2025-07-04 21:58:05 +0000 UTC View PostAs Luna had expected, Kane was going through a steady kata on one of the training platforms. His weights had been left stacked off to one side, allowing his movements to flow with uncanny swiftness and agility. Calvert was seated a short distance away, reading from a sheaf of paper and occasionally shouting directions at his understudy.
“Cutting windmill claw!”
Kane swung a blow with one hand, his fingers curled like the talons of a swiping beast. A whirlwind flared around his...
2025-07-04 21:57:00 +0000 UTC View Post“It’s an interesting boat,” Colony said, staring at the sunlit frame of the steamboat as the waves gently lapped at it. “I’ve seen a few over the years, but none quite like this.”
They had gathered on one of Colony’s shores in the morning, preparing for what was to be their departure.
“Had a friend specially design it for me. I guess you could say it’s one of a kind, for now at least. I needed something that a person with little training could pilot on their own....
2025-07-03 06:48:48 +0000 UTC View PostThe two walked together along the rolling grassy hills and groves of trees that dotted the surface of Colony’s mass, talking as they went. Coin would give credit where it was due, the illusion was shockingly convincing.
Each blade of grass, each leaf on the branches, they all moved and rustled in the wind as they would in any normal woodland. Even the scent in the air was convincing.
Part of him wondered how many clueless sailors had been drawn to Colony’s shores, believing it...
2025-07-03 06:47:41 +0000 UTC View PostThe sun was starting to dip by the time the Hawks made it back to the Citadel. Luna had not bought anything more than her books and scrolls, but she had still taken the time to join the others for a meal. It seemed the socially acceptable thing to do, and the girls weren’t bad as far as comrades went.
When the time came to overthrow the monarchy of Elthreme, she’d rather them as allies than adversaries.
To Luna’s mild surprise the Citadel’s postmaster had left a letter in ...
2025-06-29 22:28:49 +0000 UTC View PostIn the days that followed, life returned to relative normalcy around the Citadel. The students resumed their daily lessons and drills, The Hawks were, however, regarded with greater respect than what they had previously been used to.
People wouldn’t say as much aloud, but they were not a joke in the eyes of most.
But Luna could sense something among the faculty a time bore on. A tension that went unspoken among the faculty, not to the students at leat. Luna had used her magic to...
2025-06-29 22:27:26 +0000 UTC View PostYifang’s office was a large oblong chamber with stark white walls and spotlessly clean hard wood floors. The furnishings consisted mainly of a large desk, and rounded bookshelves which covered the walls. Luna had glanced at them in passing, seeing if there were any titles that looked particularly unique.
Hanging on one wall was a rather large and ornate wooden clock with a sculpture of a dragon on top. As the gears turned, and the hands ticked, the wings of the dragon moved back and f...
2025-06-24 06:40:36 +0000 UTC View PostThe prince’s screams echoed around the arena, and he staggered away from Luna with his arm dangling limp at his side. It was a clean dislocation, the Clerics could easily mend it. But it would hurt something fierce.
Luna sighed, settling her hands on his hips. “I gave you an easy out. You chose this path,” she said, a dull look on her face. The placid expression, mixed with the dried blood flaking off around her mouth, made her look like some storybook monster. “Now. The other a...
2025-06-16 21:50:53 +0000 UTC View PostIf the bout between Kiharu and Gravide had excited the cadets then he brawl between Luna and Aryn had been enough to send waves of rapture racing through the crowd.
The two duelled back and forth across the arena, the prince’s tides of steel being repeatedly encountered by an assortment of spells dancing at the tips of Luna’s fingers. Anyone looking at the Citadel from afar, beyond the boundaries of the high wall, would perhaps image the kaleidoscope of flashing lights being from so...
2025-06-13 22:34:32 +0000 UTC View PostWhen the time came for Syri’s bout, it fast became clear that she would win without much issue. Having seen Luna and Kiharu in action earlier, here was much to be said for how people saw the Red Hawks now. Her opponent was nervous, shaky, and only managed a few glancing blows before Syri knocked him out in a flurry of swift attacks.
Thus the Hawks finished their first day with four points, a strong start to the tournament. It grated Luna, more than she cared to admit, to not have an e...
2025-06-13 22:33:19 +0000 UTC View Post“You’re a bastard,” Luna noted.
Kane sucked a breath in through his teeth. “Not... my preferred term, but yes.”
With this information in mind, she could tell that Kane was being sincere. His skin was darker in tone than Aryn, and his nose was pointier, but the similarities in their jawlines and eye shape were too distinct to overlook.
“No claim to the throne?” Luna asked, deciding whether or not he needed to be put on a kill list for later.
He shrugged. ...
2025-06-06 21:39:28 +0000 UTC View PostThe infirmary was just a short distance from the training arena. A pragmatic choice, given how easily a training session could lead to some kind of violent accident. It was led by a contingent of veteran Clerics on rotating shifts, using their considerable mysticism to mend any injuries brought their way. But each shift was further reinforced by a small gathering of unpowered medical assistants, adept at alchemy and tending injuries.
The woman tending to Kiharu was a stooping beastkin c...
2025-06-06 21:38:46 +0000 UTC View PostKiharu and Gravide came at each other with relentless ferocity, their punches and kicks shattering chunks of the arena and sending great tremors racing through the arena. With her weights removed, Kiharu’s strength and speed and risen to the point where even Gravide’s precognition was struggling to tag her movements in advance.
Even so, after taking a myriad of powerful blows from the beastkin, Gravide showed no signs of slowing or stopping.
By now, both girls had a few swelli...
2025-05-30 21:53:00 +0000 UTC View Post