Kia Leep

Loose Kanin: Chapter 15 - Monster in a Bottle

Zyneth walks stiffly beside me, as taut as a compressed spring. The moment we finally step outside the library and back into the sunlight, I turn to check on him.

He beats me to the punch. “Are you alright?” he hisses under his breath. “The predator—the void—what’s going on?”

“I am okay,” I tell him. “It only seems like a small part of the predator. Its mind is not as powerful as my own. I think I will be able to Attune it once I save up enough mana, and then i...

Loose Kanin: Chapter 14 - I’m the Ocean Now

No, this can’t be happening here, not with so many people around. I thought it was over, I thought it was gone, but I can feel the predator’s hunger creeping into my mind.

Panicked, desperate, I clutch my hand around the pouch, as if that could stem the flow of void dripping into the world.

Surprisingly, it seems to work. The drops of black squeezing out between my fingers have slowed, and instead of a giant crack forming in reality, the void that’s pooled in the air above m...

Loose Kanin: Chapter 13 - Some Duel of Fates Shit

I ragdoll through the air for one horrifying moment. Paradoxically, I have a perfectly steady view of my body falling to its inevitable doom as the orb I’m using to see through floats peacefully nearby. It’s absurd. I want to laugh—or maybe that’s the panic. The ground floor is rushing up to me alarmingly fast, and I don’t have time to think about it.

I seize my glass. All of it. As much as I can hold in my mind, as complex as I can imagine it. Float, damn you, float, float, f...

Loose Kanin: Chapter 12 - Masterful Design

Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck. What was I thinking? Zyneth warned me. He told me not to go too high or wander off on my own. And I blew him off like he was babying me.

Okay, calm down. I can figure this out. First I need to know what I’m dealing with.

[Name: Raz]

[Species: Human]

[Class: Flame Artificer]

[Level: 46]

[HP: 100/100]

[Mana: 1051/1055]

Fuuuuuuck.

Raz, the highest level I’ve seen in this world, strolls toward me with his ...

Loose Kanin: Chapter 11 - Magical Compass

After a night spent Attuning the glass and using it to patch up various chips and reinforce my book side satchel, we head back to the Athenaeum in the morning. The easiest way I could solve my predicament is if I could summon my body to me—if such a thing is even possible. As Zyneth heads off to other floors in investigation of Gillow’s job, I decide to spend the day focusing on summoning magic instead.

The spiderwebs lead me to a lot of books about forging telepads, which, I suppos...

Loose Kanin: Chapter 10 - Hot and Cold

Taking Zyneth’s advice—and keeping in mind the earlier warning about dangerous folk maybe hanging around the top floors—I only head up another couple levels before I start poking around the stacks. Already there are significantly less people around. The crowds had begun to thin once we’d made it past floor ten, and they’d gone down to a trickle by floor twenty. Up at my current vantage point, I only notice a dozen other people around, all already sitting at tables, buried in their b...

Loose Kanin: Chapter 9 - Vague Instructions

“I am starting to understand why Noli dislikes translators,” I say. It’s still so strange. So alien. They’re my words, but it’s not my voice.

“Somehow, I don’t think it’s the lack of swearing she objects to,” Zyneth says with a chuckle.

“That is part of it,” I grumble. I vaguely recall something she’d said about the translators before: how they don’t capture the nuance of her words. “I hate being censored.”

Zyneth gives my shoulder a reassuring ...

Loose Kanin: Chapter 8 - Careless with Swords

“Translator first,” Zyneth decides before I can ask him what the hell all that was about. Rival gangs? Gillow’s creepy obsession with Zyneth’s mom? I know he’s tied up in some shady shit, but this is just weird.

“Ideally we can find you something suitable before we visit the library,” he continues. “Being able to speak for yourself instead of using me as your proxy would make interactions significantly easier.”

“Is it dangerous?” I ask. “Revealing I can spe...

Loose Kanin: Chapter 7 - Super Mysterious Operation

I spend the night sitting on the chair, pushed over against the door and as far away from Zyneth’s bed as I can manage. Watching Zyneth sleep would be creepy (ignoring the fact I did that while in ink-bottle form the first night we met, but ink-bottle Kanin was wary and gets a pass), so I spend the time practicing writing and playing with the small handful of spells I have at my disposal.

Now that I don’t have the Void stat to worry about—still sitting at 100%, as usual—I can ex...

Loose Kanin: Chapter 6 - On Sleeping Arrangements

It feels great to be walking through a town while being, you know, person-sized. And also just walking on two legs in general. Regaining a sliver of my humanity is nice. It’s not totally the same, though. My bare feet clink against the road, which had been mildly annoying while walking through the forest and dirt roads that led to Bluevine, but now that I’m on cobblestone, I feel like I’m walking on eggshells.

Well. Glass.

Trying not to think about how one wrong step might c...

Loose Kanin: Chapter 5 - Not Exactly Pants

It turns out a glass body is not particularly designed for people clothes. Noli lends me a pair of her slacks first, but since my body is held together with a series of Chain spells instead of muscles and ball-and-socket joints, there isn’t really a waist to cinch the belt around. Zyneth also offers me a shirt, but it hangs loose about my thin glass limbs, making me look like some kind of emaciated crane—and that’s when it’s not trying to slide right off my body. Turns out lack of fri...

Loose Kanin: Chapter 4 - Shadow and Glass

I insist on staying outside that night. Sitting around and watching them all eat delicious food—which probably smells and tastes fantastic—when I can’t do any of that just rubs salt in the wound. I’d rather be out here with my own thoughts. Not to mention, magic.

Rezira was on the right track when she suggested adding something elastic to my glass limbs to simulate tendons. I’m not convinced leather is the answer, though. I won’t be able to sense them until they’re pulled ...

Loose Kanin: Chapter 3 - Not Exactly Licit

It takes three days to fix everything. Luckily the cloth sack prevented any of the shards from spearing through my vial, but it’s a terrible mess to clean up. I’m still finding bits of broken glass swept between cracks in the floorboards when they pass within my range.

It took me about a month to build the body the first time, but that was mostly due to all the time spent collecting and then Attuning enough glass to make up the body. Now that it’s all Attuned already, I’m only l...

Loose Kanin: Chapter 2 - Ankles

Rezira refills Zyneth’s cup of tea as he sits back in his chair, eyebrows raised, blinking repeatedly after I finish my story. Finally, he takes a sip of the tea, then sets the mug down.

“Well all that certainly explains your financial illiteracy,” he says.

Not exactly the response to ‘I’m a dead alien from another planet’ I was expecting. And what does he mean, illiterate? “I know how to use money.”

As usual, Rezira translates for Zyneth any time Noli or I s...

Loose Kanin: Chapter 1 - Or Maybe Bob Ross

Call me Michaelangelo.

I’m a right Frida Kahlo. A fucking Leonardo da Vinci—and let’s just throw the rest of the Ninja Turtles in while we’re at it, because no one in the history of art has seen anything like this. Not on Earth, anyway.

I finish Sculpting a piece of glass, breaking the rod into three sections in the air before me. Like puppets on invisible strings, the glass levitates at my beck and call. I line them up with the rest of the construct: Good. They’re all t...

Loose Kanin starts on Friday!

In the mean time, here's some random non-spoilery teasers from my artist (so you know they're going to be better than anything I could do)

Hmmmm this appears to be books or something. God forbid Kanin learn anything

Magic spider webs! What could it mean?

2024-02-28 13:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post

Loose Kanin: Book 2, starts this Friday, March 1st

Sorry, friends, no update for you today. The first chapter of Loose Kanin will drop on Friday. Please accept this picture of Boba as an apology. 

Noli Short Story

The following short story takes place about 10 years before the events of Glass Kanin. I hope you enjoy!

* * * 

Patty skidded around the corner, catching the doorframe to swing to a stop. “Rezira, come quick! We need you in the trauma ward.”

Rezira paused, bandage mid-way tied around her patient’s arm. “Now?”

“It’s the trauma ward.” Patty’s ears went flat, her cat-like tail flicking agitatedly from side to side. “Yes, now!...

Glass Kanin Doodles

Hey guys! While I'm on break between books, I thought it would be fun to upload some doodles I've done over the last year as I worked on this series. Nothing here will be spoilers for book 2, all book 1 characters and art. 

FAIR WARNING: I am not an artist, so you can expect the quality of art to reflect that lol. Who knows, maybe next book I'll have commissioned some prettier character art for you all, haha. 

In the mean time, enjoy!

2024-02-21 13:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post

Glass Kanin: The End!

Kia, here (not Kanin.)

THANK YOU all for joining me on this journey! I hope you had as much fun reading that book as I had writing it. Loose Kanin, Book 2, is written, NEARLY done being edited, and on the way! 

I will be taking the next week off to give myself more time to finish the edits (and recover) before resuming with 3 chapters of Book 2 per week on March 1st. 

However, never fear! I have some surprise supplemental material coming y...

Glass Kanin: Chapter 45 - My Turn

“Are you ready?”

A breeze lazily stirs leaves through the yard, sun warm on my glass, as I pick my way around the circle traced into the dirt. I mean, I’m no pro, but it looks solid to me.

Probably helps that I got someone with hands to draw it.

“Ready,” I sign. I step into the circle, carefully picking my way over the lines to make sure I don’t disrupt anything. I call my Attuned void over, layering it on top of the circle’s pattern.

Noli and Rezira watc...

Glass Kanin: Chapter 44 - Over

It’s… over?

I can’t believe it. It can’t be that easy, can it?

Echo, Void Check.

[Void: 100%] Echo says.

I bristle. Is it still here? Is it still summoned?

But I don’t feel anything else in my mind. Its presence is gone. And the lingering effects of my Bond Trace spell are still in effect. I can see a thin black thread tied to my soul, vanishing into nothing as it leads away.

Inventory Check.

[Inventory Space: DIV/0. Conten...

Glass Kanin: Chapter 43 - Pocketses

It’s different from before. When I renewed our spells, magic channeled along the threads that sewed our souls to our bodies, strengthening the bond. But the moment I activate the Core Bond spell with Noli, the threads in her body seem to come to life.

Strands of light reach up for Noli’s soul, connecting with a thrum of magic that pulses through her like a network of nerves. Her soul sinks down into her chest, and the threads twist and whirl like an aurora. This doesn’t look anyth...

Glass Kanin: Chapter 42 - Justice

I can’t dodge. I can’t flee. I can feel the predator’s mind sweeping around the clearing, picking out all the delicious souls waiting here for its arrival—and noticing me.

Hate thrums through our bond.

Mana Stowage! I cry.

Everyone acts at once. Rezira crashes into Saru as her bow twangs—the arrow goes high, puncturing a hole through the predator’s ink instead of my glass. The predator screams, its unearthly cries resonating aloud as well as in ...

Glass Kanin: Chapter 41 - Noli

Gingerly, Rezira sets Noli down on her wife’s body. It’s surreal to try to make sense of what I’m seeing. Noli—the Noli I know—is sitting on the stomach of an elf woman, who is breathing slowly and quietly even as I watch.

But it’s unmistakable who that body belongs to. She’s dressed in a whimsical green gown, sprinkled with a design of little yellow birds and tree branches. Her braided hair is as white as clouds, her skin a warm brown, and even like this, a gentle smile p...

Glass Kanin: Chapter 40 - Faster Travel

Blink and you miss it. Zyneth drops his hand, and like a magic trick everything around us has changed. The buildings are shorter, the stonework tan instead of red, even the direction and length of the shadows has changed.

And I didn’t catch any glimpse of Between. I guess that’s how it’s supposed to work, when no senile wizards are meddling with extra-dimensional magic.

Rezira lets out a breath as she steps off the platform. “There. See? It was fine.” I can’t tell if s...

Glass Kanin: Chapter 39 - Time Crunch

Rezira blinks. “Who the fuck is this guy?”

Well, at least now I know the aversion to swearing only extends to one half of the relationship.

“In milder terms, I could express the same sentiment to you,” Zyneth replies. He gestures past her at me. “Last I left this place, Kanin was the only known resident.”

“He’s a friend,” I hurriedly sign, counting on Noli or Rezira to pass the message along. “Helped me get here. Got this room.”

“Zyneth,” he s...

Glass Kanin: Chapter 38 - Rezira

I shrink back, hurriedly dismissing the Attuned void into my inventory. Did she see? Has she seen me? Shit, I can’t deal with Tetara now, not when we’re just getting close to figuring all this out—

The orc’s gaze sweeps the room, landing on us within moments. Eyes wild, she lurches forward—

And falls to her knees before us. “Noli!” she cries, her hands a flurry of motion as she speaks. “Gods above. Is that really you?”

It’s... not Tetara. Baffled, I give ...

Glass Kanin: Chapter 37 - Refresh

“I’ll go first,” I say, gathering my glass and getting ready for another trek down the table. Best to test it on myself before I do anything that might result in another Trenevalt-level failure.

“No,” Noli snaps. “We’re in this together. We’ll do it at the same time.”

I don’t like that idea. It’s risky. Maybe dangerous. Is the circle even designed to refresh two spells at once? I guess we were both summoned by a single spell, so it’s plausible, but there’...

Glass Kanin: Chapter 36 - Substitution

I feel cold. Fifteen hours, max. We’re fucked. We’re really really fucked.

“What’s the matter?” Noli asks. She pokes at my math scribbles. “What is it?”

“Time limit,” I tell her. “Ends tomorrow.”

She freezes. “When?”

“Day,” I sign, wracking my mind for the right words. “Early sun.”

“Morning?” she guesses.

“Yes.”

Noli remains silent for a moment. “Well, I suppose there’s nothing for it. We’ll just have to...