slifer274

13.2: The Royal Ball II

The past couple of days had been fairly uneventful after the initial confrontation that we’d had on the first outing. Sure, there was the occasional spell tossed our way and there were a number of shadowy figures that had appeared on rooftops, throwing knife or pistol in hand, but none of them had done much more than give the nobles a fright. Green had had the opportunity early on to demonstrate his power when he threw up a shield to block a hidden sniper’s bullet—he claimed to have som...

13.1: The Royal Ball

“You came all the way to Dakheng?” Jasmine asked. “Why?”

It had been a whirlwind of activity after we’d gotten back to the manor. The Alzaq patriarch had, rather predictably, been furious to have an adventuring party interrupting his meeting with House Rayes, but the arrival of the four nobles with a prisoner in hand had calmed him down. The visiting delegation from House Rayes—Jasmine, her mother and father, and two men a little older than us that I didn’t recognize—had...

12.5: Trouble in Dakheng V

“You identified yourself as Strike Team Leader Faye,” Orchid said. “What’s your unit number?”

The woman in question had been extricated from her armor, forced to shed the mass of oathmade steel at swordpoint. She was still tall without it, looming a full head higher than me, but she wasn’t nearly as monstrously tall as she had appeared earlier. More important than her physical appearance, however, was the gambeson she wore.

It was white, made less so by the grime and s...

12.4: Trouble in Dakheng IV

The jester had told us that we were under attack by multiple enemies, and it was quickly becoming clear that he had been correct.

Another impact resonated through my shield, and this time it was different from the sudden shock of the projectile before. The closest sensation I could compare it to was Alex’s magic missile from our spar last week. Whoever had been launched at my shield at bullet-level speeds had barely been fazed by the impact, and they were already back on their feet an...

12.3: Trouble in Dakheng III

Five of us had signed up for the job, none of us in a full party. We were a motley crew, the styles of our armor clashing with each other, and we did not look like a group in any sense, except for a brown-skinned man and woman who wore matching coats. One of the other adventurers wasn’t even wearing armor, electing instead for a jester’s uniform complete with a hat with bells and a fat red clown nose.

The noble that had apparently been in charge of briefing us had yet to arrive, and...

12.2: Trouble in Dakheng II

The nobles were gone, and I was alone in Jasmine’s house.

It was, to be fair, probably the best place to be alone in the entire city. The house was massive on a scale that I had almost forgotten was suitable for residences. I was sure that even if I slept in a new bedroom every day, I could make it a month without repeating a room. That was just the bedrooms, too—the estate was truly incredible in size, especially for a building in Yaguan of all places.

It was a restless night...

12.1: Trouble in Dakheng

“That is all for class. You are excused.”

It had only been two days since we had come back from the primordial fight, tired and bloody, and already Lasi had fully returned to the same gruff teacher persona that he was infamous for at this school. At least he’d shown some sign of the fight affecting him—he’d been recovering, and as such had not mandated us to spar today.

I’d only spent a day or two with him as of this class, but near-death situations had a habi...

11.6: Containment VI [END OF BOOK 1]

I came back to a village that was more destroyed than it’d been when I’d left, and I was’t sure who to blame for it.

Whatever the other oathholder had done—Nishi, he’d called himself—had amplified my power, enough that I hadn’t been able to properly control it, but it hadn’t been nearly enough to totally nullify the primordial’s blast.

The plants in a small radius around me had withered and died, affected by the blast of Inome’s power, but just past that radius...

11.5: Containment V

The primordial had noticed me, and somehow my oath had resonated with some part of it.

“It’s going to attack!” I announced.

I might as well have said water was wet. The primordial’s presence was palpable, an oppressive pressure sucking the sound out of the air.

“Run.” Lasi took his own advice immediately, sprinting off in a direction perpendicular to the primordial, trying to get out of the oncoming attack.

“Come on, Lily!” Jasmine shouted, beginning to...

11.P: Containment (Primordial)

Christopher Kuan’s parents were dying.

Two weeks ago, they and half the other grown-ups in Disya had been rescued from a cave-in at the mine. His parents had assured him again and again that yes, it had been scary, but it was over now and they were safe.

They had lied through their teeth, and Christopher could see it so clearly that he had to wonder why they had even tried. They could barely make it through a sentence before their weakened voices strained for air and they starte...

11.4: Containment IV

Lukas was barely able to stand on his own. I wrapped a hand around his waist, stabilizing him, and his skin was cool to the touch. He placed his usable arm around my shoulders, leaning on me for support. His arm was cool as well, and it shook as I helped him take a step forward.

I sorted through near-forgotten medical training that the Church had offered a few years back, trying to remember what Lukas was undergoing. Shock, I recollected. He’d gone into shock.

Alright. That wasn...

11.3: Containment III

The blades of grass were moving with a mind of their own, expanding and stretching far beyond what a meadow should ever be capable of naturally. The green grass we’d ben striding across had been a little more than ankle height to begin with, tickling our shins but not being much of a nuisance besides.

The grass around us was at our knees now, and it was still increasing in size. Even as I built my sphere of power, I could feel them at the fabric of my pants, slashing through it and la...

11.2: Containment II

“We’re going back now,” Lasi announced.

“Understood,” Jasmine said. “Shields up!”

I acquiesced, Soren and Sunsbridge being a little slower to do so. I watched as their spells went up. Soren was a Sanyin oath, and it showed in her spell, a dozen smaller shields interlinking to connect a single full Ceretian shield. Sunsbridge, on the other hand, was an Aedi oath, and his spell was assisted by a glowing bracer at his wrist, perfectly circular and smooth.

They wer...

11.1: Containment

“Fuck!” Sunsbridge shouted, physically recoiling as we watched the clock tower slowly crumble under the pressure of a thousand different vines. “What in the gods’ names is that?”

“The primordial,” Jasmine said grimly. “Or, at least, one of its powers.”

More cracks were beginning to open, now, radiating out from the center at the clock tower. They spiderwebbed out with little rhyme or reason, catching anything and everything in their way. We were almost as far as ...