Anneliese gazed into eternity as it watched her, passing judgment in terms that she couldn’t comprehend or codify. Eternity, unlike its appearance, was rather similar to how Argrave described the suns. Anneliese could tell that it was alive, but it didn’t quite fit into the category. It was a fundamental being, an essence of the universe—or perhaps many universes. In this unusual, out-of-body state, she could perceive and interact with it.
By now, she figured things out. ...
2024-09-16 06:55:24 +0000 UTC
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I intend to rewrite the end of last chapter. The head only bit was a bit stupid on reflection for a myriad of factors (cruel, impractical, Argrave isn't sustained by necromancy like Garm, Anne wouldn't show Sophia such a thing), and I think the uncertainty could be played up better while still resolving in the same chapter so as not to drag things out.
The plan for the rewrite is this: Argrave 'dies,' they help the lunar dragons, they arrive on the shore of Blackgard, and then they recons...
2024-09-15 06:54:20 +0000 UTC
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Argrave dismounted from the white wolf, and without a moment of reservation the creature raced on without him. He’d discussed his plans with Anneliese and the others, and though there were loud and vocal protests from all, the unstoppable advance of the Hopeful proved an undeniable fact.
That terrifying smiling face moved through the opposing armies of Shadowlanders, the clash between Law and Gerechtigkeit serving as background. The god of justice was proving a far stauncher opponent ...
2024-09-13 06:53:18 +0000 UTC
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The bolt of blood magic shot forth with enough speed that all onlookers saw was what had been left in its wake. Its tightly compressed power leaked out in jagged black-red sparks that tainted the land, leaving a tremendous field of coursing maroon power in the line it had travelled. An entire forest had become ash in half a second, and the hue marking the land only barely began to fade.
Argrave stared ahead with steady eyes, recovering from the tremendous burden that spell had put on hi...
2024-09-09 07:01:13 +0000 UTC
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At some point, Argrave stopped thinking about what was happening and what he was doing to stop it. It was as though he retreated within himself, going from an actor in a movie to someone watching it. He saw the spells being cast, saw his body rot away again and again to fight against this corruption encroaching upon the world, but he couldn’t say that he was the one doing it.
That was the only way he managed to stay sane.
It was impossible to distinguish between the wounds he ca...
2024-09-06 07:01:12 +0000 UTC
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Lorena had become the diligent watchdog of the world, and she relished that task. To employ the omniscience the Heralds had so abused in her time toward thwarting them; no revenge could be sweeter, no role more satisfying. The fight had been a little dodgy at first, but the arrival of unexpected allies had turned the tide and she’d been pleased to see Jaray’s efforts unravel.
Lorena had neglected to consider, however, that the god of politics would play all sides.
The...
2024-09-04 06:50:38 +0000 UTC
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Argrave began to piece together his foe’s plans all at once only after he saw the fruit of his labor. Jaray hadn’t been betting on being able to rely on the Shadowlanders or any deities of the world. From the beginning, he hadn’t even intended to live their encounter if Argrave had indeed brought Sophia. He’d predicted his own death—and presumably, part of his deal with Gerechtigkeit was being resurrected by the power of Sophia’s creation. He went to his grave with total confidenc...
2024-09-02 06:53:22 +0000 UTC
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Elenore had never been more on edge than upon Argrave’s declaration that he would leave Blackgard with Sophia in tow. Her number one concern was that he was falling for a manipulation of some kind from the god of politics—one that made him act against his best interests. But both Anneliese and Raven had seen the man, and claimed that he possessed no such power. But perhaps he’d manipulated them, too.
The only thing that gave her comfort was the logical assertion that if he truly d...
2024-08-30 06:40:36 +0000 UTC
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Title of last chapter changed to 'Diplomatic Immunity.' Kicking myself I didn't think of that at the time...
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Argrave turned his head back to Fellhorn’s assault. There, he witnessed three converging forces assail the retreating god of water and those he’d brought as auxiliary forces. Durran and his patron, Stout Heart Swan, valiantly battled the exposed deity. From behind, the god of space Raccomen brought in a wave of soldiers that marched across the mountains—Justiciars, fr...
2024-08-28 06:46:42 +0000 UTC
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Though Argrave searched very hard for a clever solution to the god of time’s influence, he could find nothing. Neither the records of the past contained in Erlebnis’ wiki nor the happenings of the present gave any indication about how they might cripple the power of time. In the end, Argrave turned to Margrave Reinhardt’s force for aid. He requested the margrave punch a hole large enough in their forces to allow Argrave to strike at the god of time without risk of dying himself. Reinhar...
2024-08-26 06:58:04 +0000 UTC
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Argrave had been wise in his instinct to be wary of this coming confrontation.
Argrave had joined Margrave Reinhardt’s force from on high. When he did, he could feel the distortion of time—the enemies all grew faster, while Argrave felt as though every movement was like trying to swim up the river. It had been easily remedied, fortunately. Any blood magic he cast would eat away at the divinity. He searched Erlebnis’ wiki to find a suitable spell, and found one created by a spellca...
2024-08-23 07:02:36 +0000 UTC
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When Argrave arrived atop one of the tall towers at Jast, he’d expected many things—foremost among them being that the tower he’d stored his echo on had fallen, and he’d be in freefall. Surprisingly, the large black tower hadn’t fallen. Quick glances around showed that none had fallen… and rather, they’d expanded to an alarming degree.
Each of the towers had taken heavy damage—enough to break their enchantments and make them topple. Instead, new structures had b...
2024-08-21 06:48:12 +0000 UTC
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I've attached a map of Vasquer to this post, which may come in handy as a reference for coming chapters.
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Argrave was certainly no expert on warfare. There was one thing that he understood very well, though, having once watched an entire one (1) video on Napoleon’s misadventures with the coalitions when he’d been bored. Speed and maneuverability were incredibly important factors in any battle. Being able to reach a position, providing either timely reinforcement or carrying out...
2024-08-19 07:00:51 +0000 UTC
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Durran stared out across the vast emptiness of the Burnt Desert. As he did, the words of the woman he loved echoed in his head.
I don’t want you to fight, Elenore had said. I want you to stay in Blackgard, with me.
As he saw the countless people of his homeland running away, he’d felt the words that he’d said after rang all the truer.
This is bigger than you or me alone, Durran had said. Not many people are willing to do what has to be do...
2024-08-16 06:49:08 +0000 UTC
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“This isn’t the time to be hesitant anymore, Hause,” Argrave said plainly, leaning forth on the stone chair provided to him. “We’re going to be facing something that’s far beyond our imagination. This, quite possibly, could be the last time that you have the opportunity to use your divine powers. Let it be in service of something good.”
Argrave, alongside Anneliese and Raven, sat in the heart of Hause’s temple in Blackgard. The underground cathedral had been carved out o...
2024-08-14 06:56:00 +0000 UTC
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“Argrave has to die.”
Following that declaration, Jaray blew a puff of smoke from his mouth. He looked between countless gods arrayed here, who’d come either in-person or through emissaries. Following the tremendous display with the suns, doubts about the amiability of the newly-elected leader of the Blackgard Union had come into fruition in the form of this secret meeting. If Argrave would do something like that without consulting them, what more would he do? It was clear he didn...
2024-08-12 06:56:34 +0000 UTC
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Argrave saw Lorena’s return long in advance. She had fled—perhaps prudently—because of what the suns had been doing. She returned as she’d left, like a comet soaring through the sky. Argrave flinched as she appeared in a burst of speed and light, again bearing witness to her draconic form moments before she seamlessly transformed back into something more human.
“What did you do?” she asked him. Her voice wasn’t angry, but it was certainly stiff.
Argrave took a moment...
2024-08-09 07:00:50 +0000 UTC
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Argrave expected much of the meeting with the suns. Would they be fiery twins, perhaps? Would they be warm, life-giving, generous? In the end, all of these assumptions were based on the idea that they were anything like a human being. That had been an entirely incorrect conclusion, to put it mildly.
Argrave had sought Lorena for some advice, seeing as she had conversed with the moon. She had claimed rather bizarrely that it was like swimming for the first time. That sensation of being s...
2024-08-07 06:45:40 +0000 UTC
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After the conversation with Griffin, which had given him so much to think about it felt as though his mind might never rest again, the pointless words exchanged with the Herald had brought him back down to the ground. He hypothesized they had deliberately sent someone who made no attempts to hide his disdain. They weren’t fools—they had seen Argrave’s behavior, seen what decisions he’d made, and come to the conclusion that he couldn’t be bargained with. By sending some undiplomatic,...
2024-08-05 06:48:37 +0000 UTC
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Argrave arrived at the top of the tree. He had been expecting some sort of vast field of golden leaves at the top, but instead, he found himself crawling through an open manhole. He rose up out of the sewer, looking around at the room he found himself in. In a few moments, he realized it was something like a museum. There were exhibits all around, many of which were directly related to his time here on Berendar and the world beyond it.
Argrave climbed up, coming to stand as he looked ar...
2024-08-02 06:32:07 +0000 UTC
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Argrave had long been imagining what might actually happen when he came to fight Gerechtigkeit. The last thing that he’d expected to be would be a simple man, dressed to impress. He did look very much like the family that he was a part of—he could see traces of both Sophia and Norman on his features. And staring upon him, Argrave could conjure no half-hearted echoes from his distant past. He was only Argrave, in this moment—an S-rank spellcaster, one who had consumed the Fruit of Being,...
2024-07-31 07:01:29 +0000 UTC
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Not long after Argrave had agreed to accept Lorena’s help—and received it, in much the same way that he had the dialogue from Hause’s followers—Raven returned. Argrave had expected to deal with a long conversation before they got back into things, but instead, Raven wordlessly initiated the procedure once again. Argrave briefly contemplated if this was a plot to see him dead by consuming his soul, but reasoned that Raven could’ve done that long ago had he wanted to.
Once his s...
2024-07-29 07:03:18 +0000 UTC
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“I think that the answer should be obvious.” Elenore stared Argrave down. “When you’re fighting an opponent, there’s only two ways to gain advantage. Strengthen your own side, or weaken theirs.”
Argrave narrowed his eyes at her suggestion. “Weakening him kind of defeats the purpose of this being a test, doesn’t it? If you turn down the difficulty when you get beaten into the dust, you don’t learn how to overcome the challenge. It’s… cheating, basically.”
El...
2024-07-26 07:01:40 +0000 UTC
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“You should know, beforehand…” Raven began to caution Argrave. “I’m intimately familiar with this process.”
“A battle of souls?” Argrave stared up at him as he laid down on the table, waiting for the stamp to land on his passport and send him to the dream world.
“Indeed.” Raven looked at the implement in his hand. “When I was the Smiling Raven, every time I subsumed a living thing, I had a battle.” He turned his inhuman gray eyes toward Argrave. “And stil...
2024-07-24 06:57:26 +0000 UTC
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Anneliese watched the rise and fall of Argrave’s chest to remind herself that he still breathed. She could see with her [Truesight] a stunning lack of presence—and elsewhere in the obsidian chamber, saw Argrave’s golden soul brimming with vitality far removed from where it should be. She could not fully describe the implement that Raven had used, but she was near certain that he had once used the same thing to clash together Garm’s and Durran’s souls.
“What will he actually ...
2024-07-22 06:57:34 +0000 UTC
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“It always surprised me that you never picked up on what the Gilderwatchers truly were,” Lorena said as she looked out across Blackgard from atop the mountain ranges encircling it. They were waiting for someone’s arrival. “You had been to the Great Chu. You had seen their depictions of dragons—even seen some of the creatures yourselves. I suppose your preconception of the idea of them as ‘feathered serpents’ warped your sensibilities.”
Argrave listened to her words, and ...
2024-07-19 06:49:15 +0000 UTC
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“I’m pleased that we were able to walk away from this peaceably,” Lorena said to them. She had resumed laying on her bed made of her ridiculously-long tail.
Jaray had long ago left, but Argrave didn’t think for a moment that the god of politics wasn’t capable of hearing them. The Heralds had shown to have a sort of omniscience over the world of such intensity that they were able to convey to Dario what Durran was saying through Elenore’s blessing of connection. The only thin...
2024-07-17 06:55:31 +0000 UTC
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“I could start with pleasantries. It’s clear you have a great deal of questions you’d like to bombard me with, Anneliese, but I’m not sure how we’ll all walk away from this, and I don’t want to start liking you before I’m sure I can afford it.” Lorena began. “How is Sophia, these days?”
“These days?” Argrave repeated.
“Jaray’s been flirting with it for a very long time, but I won’t be as subtle as he is.” Lorena’s bright eyes darkened, expressing ...
2024-07-16 06:50:10 +0000 UTC
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Though Argrave had been all but told that he might be expected to return the favor later down the line, for now, he wasn’t opposed to accepting the convenience of Jaray’s free help. Getting something for nothing had always been his preferred way of doing things. And help Jaray was—he helped Argrave mitigate any tension with Law, mostly by being a convenient cushion to the truth of the matter.
“Argrave was understandably terrified by the prospect of the White Planes collapsing,...
2024-07-15 06:55:30 +0000 UTC
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Argrave, exhausted after a long session, went to explain the exchange that he’d had with Jaray to those that had come with him. Anneliese and all others listened with rapt attention, taking the matter as seriously as it likely was.
“This Jaray would forego the certainty, the impartial justice, of this place?” Galamon questioned suspiciously. “A trap.”
Argrave nodded in agreement. “Could be. But I was thinking it had to do something with our incorporeal friends that nee...
2024-07-12 07:00:45 +0000 UTC
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