The daylight in this part of the world was nothing short of controversial. It was as bright as all day light is meant to be. Not too hot and not too cold. It was, in the simplest definition, just right. However, its controversy existed in its myriad of colors. Some say if looked at from the right angle, one could see a color that should not exist.
Perhaps this was a reia phenomenon no one had deciphered. Something unexplainable to the philosophers and scientists of soul magic. Or perhap...
2023-11-27 05:41:53 +0000 UTC
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Winter passed them by in a series of simple events. They were not even cloaks this winter, not allowed the warm company of fur that could’ve easily come from one reia beast or the other. What they were given were slightly wooly cassocks not even thick away to stave off the dying temperature.
So they continued their training at the hands of the Reverends in familiar shivers and sneezes. Justified as they thought it was, the seminary thought otherwise. As it always did.
Emriss had...
2023-11-27 05:40:45 +0000 UTC
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Pain has always proved itself capable of conquering even the greatest of men. It would reach into their minds, demanding of them a submission they never knew themselves capable of. It’s one of the few things men have grown to feel and, no matter how much they experience it, never truly adapt to.
Still, there are men who have grown to accept it, because no matter how much it can make a man, or break him, it speaks to those of them who would listen. Whispering into their very being the ...
2023-11-27 05:38:48 +0000 UTC
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Ezril had felt the club descend even though he didn’t see it. He felt the spray of blood without seeing it. And it weighed down on him. Weighed down so heavily that he dropped to one knee. The pain screamed through his shoulders in a rondo of insanity so desperate he felt it in his bones. So much so that it pried his eyelids open.
Before him stood the monster of a man, bearing down on him. His club caught between his Sunders which, for reasons Ezril couldn’t fathom, were crossed abo...
2023-11-27 05:36:37 +0000 UTC
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“Brother!”
Ezril turned. Salem headed towards him as he mounted his stead. The distance was too far for his brother to reach him in time. So, steering Apparit away, he kicked it into a gallop.
Minutes later Apparit galloped through an ocean of trees. Ezril pushed it harder with each gallop, uncaring of how much the horse could take. He had lost more time than he knew.
He ducked beneath a branch as the horse went by a tree and he cursed. Shade would’ve been a better opt...
2023-11-27 05:29:59 +0000 UTC
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Thoughts and contemplations. They weren’t the most difficult things to do, at least not for Zed. In fact, he’d say he did it a lot and liked it. Now, however, he wasn’t so sure he liked it. For one, his thoughts weren’t so friendly right now.
He stared at Chris. She had a cocky grin on her face, fueled by the assurance that she could not lose. Thinking on everything, he couldn’t hold it against her. She was powerful. Despite her rank in the group when Jason had still been arou...
2023-11-27 05:26:08 +0000 UTC
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Ash backtracked, stumbled over her footing. Ronda was slightly impressed that the girl had yet to fall over since the beginning of the fight. By now her core was supposed to be running dry, becoming nothing more than a pittance. Still, the girl stood her ground.
Ronda ducked left, avoided an improvised spellform. It was a blast of earth and fire. In mages with stronger control it would’ve been a combined spellform that would’ve birthed a lava spell. That it came out as a bar of fire...
2023-11-27 05:17:49 +0000 UTC
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Ash stood in the vast training arena. She wondered how she had ended up here. In truth, it wasn’t a long span between where she was and how she had ended up here. It was merely worrying. Oliver had lost, unarguably. Chris had… drawn? She wasn’t entirely certain how to categorize the outcome of Chris’ match. On the one hand, she hadn’t lost, but on the other, she hadn’t won against someone who had just come out of a fight against Oliver.
She wasn’t sure if it was a testamen...
2023-11-27 05:11:42 +0000 UTC
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Chris moved before the words were done echoing through the training room. She drew no rune in the air, cast no spellforms. Only stepped forward in efficient pacing. Her opponent didn’t seem fazed by this. He didn’t cast a new rune or perform any actions of magical inclination. Like Chris, he moved with the dexterity of a fighter not trained in the art of magic.
Zed watched the split moment decision, quick and unencumbered by doubt. It told him one thing and one thing only: Chris had...
2023-11-20 20:46:08 +0000 UTC
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“I believe that’s enough, Lenny,” Daniel said. His voice echoed in the training hall easily and the Olympian facing Oliver stepped away from a still kneeling Oliver.
As if released by Daniel’s words, Oliver keeled over.
“Don’t you think that was a bit too harsh?” Zed said. “After all, it’s just a sparring match.”
The last person he expected to give an answer was the one that did.
“It’s always like this over here,” Chris said without looking ba...
2023-11-20 20:43:37 +0000 UTC
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A frown creased Festus’ lips.
“All your men are attribute mages, correct?” he asked Daniel.
Beside him Daniel remained quiet for the time it took his teammate facing off against Oliver to cast the rune he’d conjured before he answered.
“Yes,” he said.
“And what is that man’s attribute?” Festus asked.
“Iron skin and burning blood.”
Festus took his eyes away from the training ground. “Burning blood?” he asked.
“Yes. At least ...
2023-11-20 20:40:25 +0000 UTC
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High noon found Ezril in his room, having given their reports of their findings to the captain over an hour ago. The tent was without personal effects, as was the case with his brothers’, save the sack bundled in the corner housing three cassocks and two other war cloaks. Next to it laid another sack, this one held the war garments popular to priestesses.
Since their return to the encampment Lenaria had been spending more time in his tent than ever. It did much to make his nights conf...
2023-11-20 20:35:32 +0000 UTC
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Ezril snapped to his feet. Bow in hand, arrow nocked, he took aim. He paused, not knowing what exactly he was aiming at. The people within the walls were too far for even his arrows to reach.
“What is it?” Salem asked, sharing in his alarm but not rising.
Fully drawn from his memory, it took Ezril a moment to realize what had so garnered his attention. “Fire,” he said. “Someone’s lit a torch.”
“Someone’s done what?”
“They know he’s there.”
...
2023-11-20 20:27:57 +0000 UTC
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Olufemi moved with the grace of a predator in the wild. His descent down the wall was immediate, and oddly faster than their ascent had been.
“You should’ve sent me,” Ezril muttered when Olufemi hit the ground. His eyes never left him. “This is a task most suited to me.”
The orders had been made, and carried out. His argument was futile. And yet, he felt determined to speak his mind. A part of him felt he deserved an explanation from his brother.
Darvi’s gaze, li...
2023-11-20 20:25:11 +0000 UTC
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Seth watched in confusion as his brother wrestled a Silver rank reia beast. Domitia had taught them a variety of unarmed combat techniques but there was no lesson in the seminary that advised them on how to tackle a reia beast of any kind in unarmed combat. It was always attack from a distance or use a weapon. The only form of unarmed combat against a reia beast was the use of skills.
Watching Timi duck and weave, grapple and toss a reia beast taller than a man, wider that three placed ...
2023-11-20 20:08:28 +0000 UTC
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Another shot rang out when the boar resumed its charge on Forlorn and Emriss watched Seth reload his rifle. His first shot had missed but not woefully. In fact, he’d shown he was paying attention. An attention highly uncanny for an Iron mage by aiming for the beast’s leg. Either he’d noticed Barnabas’ bullet hit its leg when it stumbled or he was simply aiming for its leg. The latter was impressive, the former was terrifying. That an Iron mage had enough awareness to see such a shot w...
2023-11-20 20:06:52 +0000 UTC
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The boar turned its head to the side. There was a contemplation in its one good eye as it wavered, unsure. It was a beast weighing its anger and need for vengeance against a challenge of its authority.
Seth stood, still as the dead. He was uncertain, bothered. If he moved, it might draw the beast’s ire. If he didn’t, it could very well charge Timi.
You think? one of his minds scowled. Look over there. Timi’s already charging it.
He spared the briefest...
2023-11-20 20:04:55 +0000 UTC
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The boar bent its head into the shot and took the brunt of it. The bullet struck and bounced off its hide.
Missed, again, his mind thought, bored.
“Come and try it,” he scoffed, charging through the woods, constantly on the move. “See if it’s so easy.”
Who do you think keeps steadying your shaky arms?
Seth’s steps faltered. Their cadence altered. Rather than stop, he darted to the side, took on a new path. It was easy to forget now that it...
2023-11-16 00:08:44 +0000 UTC
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A good sniper knows when to move.
“Shut it!” Seth scolded his thought.
Just saying, another objected. That thing’s coming really fast. Do you see all that dust it’s raising?
Seth forced himself to calm his mind as he reloaded his rifle once more. The action was louder than it had any right to be. His hands trembled, surprising him. It was just one reia beast. He’d fought more on his evolution to Iron. He’d fought in more harrowing situa...
2023-11-16 00:07:38 +0000 UTC
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Seth stared at the notification. It blazed in front of him in morbid mockery.
New Event: [Igor’s Interest]
You have garnered the attention of the Reverend Igor. Keep it and excel. Take the path laid out before you and show him what it means to intrude on the domain of another.
Objective Failed: [Strike Igor 0/1]
He’d really thought he could do it this time. It had all seemed possible. Then he activated [Ech...
2023-11-16 00:04:20 +0000 UTC
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Takan paused, scratched his head, looking between his brothers.
“Do they even have Tainted within their ranks?” he asked.
Ezril nodded. “I’ve fought one or two.”
“And I took my axe off a man who could use it without touching it,” Salem added.
Their attentions snapped to Salem. Clearly, they wondered how he could’ve fought such a man and won. It explained why the weapon was now his first choice. It’s a trophy, Ezril realized.A reward for h...
2023-11-16 00:00:08 +0000 UTC
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“I reckon I should’ve chosen the class of Polymath.”
Salem let out a quiet laugh at Takan’s words. “Scared of the dark, Brother?” he asked, ducking beneath a branch.
It was over two hours since they’d left the camp. Darvi led the way, the brothers following quickly behind. The map of this part of the forest was not one that had ever been in the history of the realm. The acknowledgement that it was the first of its kind, and something no one else had verified, gave it...
2023-11-15 23:56:51 +0000 UTC
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It wasn’t long before Ezril and Lenaria were leisurely walking the encampment grounds surrounded by soldiers on every side engaging in the day’s work. Save the opportunity to keep an eye on Lenaria, Ezril was thankful for his freedom from his duty of tutoring the young Foln. Although, he did find himself wondering on occasion if anyone else had taken up the task.
“You do know you have nothing to worry about.”
Ezril turned to Lenaria. “I’d be lying if I say I know what ...
2023-11-15 23:51:59 +0000 UTC
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Zed sat quietly on a seat. It was comfortable enough. Nothing was expected of it other than the purpose of having another person rest their butts on it. It had no arm rests, merely a back rest with no padding. He had stepped out of the training room a few minutes ago. Exchanging places with him was Oliver, who currently stood at the centre of the training room. On the other side, separated by nothing but a wide glass Oliver stretched casually, preparing himself for the spar he was about to en...
2023-11-15 23:47:25 +0000 UTC
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“Alright! Time out!” Zed announced, hands raised above his head in a gesture that indicated exactly what he was saying.
Andre paused in his tracks, hands halfway up in preparation for combat. He looked from side to side before finally settling on the glass where Daniel and the others stood behind. He looked unsure of if he was supposed to stop or not.
“I like your zest, Mr. Smith,” Zed told him. “But let’s just keep it in the fridge for a moment.”
He returned h...
2023-11-15 23:40:39 +0000 UTC
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Section D was a part of the air craft Daniel frequented a lot. He did so with Ven most of the time and that was no surprise to the rest of the team. The entire section was given over to three massive rooms. If anyone was being honest, these three rooms were the major reason the aircraft was as massive as it was.
Daniel stood on one side of the largest of the three rooms, separated from it by nothing but a thick glass. The glass was nothing like other glasses. It was not just thick; it w...
2023-11-15 23:37:22 +0000 UTC
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Igor hated having to do this again. That the Monsignor had not allowed him oversee the evolution of his own class was angering enough. Now the man wanted to make him go through their convergent skills once more simply because one of them who should not be allowed back into the seminary had returned.
Fin’s convergent skill was interesting enough. The quake of the ground was impressive, considering it was seminary grounds. In it was a touch of force reia he was certain the boy was yet t...
2023-11-11 13:55:21 +0000 UTC
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Seth’s return to his room was heralded in morning’s silence. He found his brothers groggy and awake. They were the same as they were every morning, their readiness for the day tainted by a reluctance to engage it.
When he walked in, Forlorn was the only one not fully dressed. He wore a trouser, and an undershirt dangled from his shoulders, half worn, paused between being put on and being taken off. He wore no shoes and his cassock of grey was nowhere in sight.
Standing at the ...
2023-11-11 13:52:30 +0000 UTC
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A distance past the camp blacksmith Ezril caught sight of Lenaria. Beside her walked a young soldier doing his best to make conversation with her. It was the third soldier to make an attempt since their return.
The third Ezril had seen.
Lenaria wasn’t quick to note him so he slowed his pace and observed them both. Although a young soldier Ezril had no doubt the man was at least a summer older than he was. He had thought the man young not in his years but in his years as a soldie...
2023-11-11 13:47:37 +0000 UTC
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Ezril walked the camp grounds. The trimmed blades of grass covering the dirt barely rose higher than his feet, a high contrast to the ones he and his brothers had had the company of last night.
Leviln seemed in more of a hurry than he thought, however, Ezril kept his pace steady, refusing to match that of the scholar’s. The encampment had grown significantly wider than when it had been established, now it spanned as wide as the fort grounds, perhaps wider. He wondered whether they had...
2023-11-11 13:36:31 +0000 UTC
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