The Conciege

(TLO) Chapter 86: Flight Reia

For the six months that followed, Seth and his brothers surrendered their free Sunday to the teachings of Ivan. Not only did he teach them about cores, he taught them of reia and its different kinds. One conception Seth found he’d been entirely wrong about was in the affinity the soul fragments gave its bearers.

According to Ivan, it did not give them an affinity for the elements. He taught them that everything had reia in them. The elements Seth thought soul fragments gave affinities...

(THOB) Chapter 88: The Scholar

Ezril woke with a start. His hands finding the hilt of the Sunder beneath his pillow with easy accuracy, he drew it. He stopped, Sunder halfway free of its scabbard as his gaze focused on what had instigated his action.

A soft curse escaped his lips.

He clenched his teeth, holding back his annoyance. “Did you forget how to knock, brother?”

A grinning Takan gave a simple shrug. His gaze shifted from Ezril to Lenaria’s place atop his bed and back. His mythical grin slipp...

(THOB) Chapter 87: Religious?

Ezril rested uncomfortably beneath the tent fashioned for him by the soldiers. His wounds beneath their bandages ached in severe discomfort. He had been patched up by a healer whose name he neither remembered nor was bothered to attempt reminiscence of. The man having done a great job of stitching him up and bandaging him properly had moved on to other men.

He turned to observe his Sunders embedded in the grass. The lost twin had been found by Salem.

“It is too aesthetic a piece...

(TPOR) Chapter 114: The Truth

Festus rubbed his forehead slowly, easing away the crease of his frown. His worries just kept getting bigger and bigger. It was almost as if the world had decided to stand against him and achieving his dream.

Zed had been an attribute mage, and whatever attribute he had kept a secret from them—because there was no way he hadn’t—had helped in his connection to runes. In barely a week, Festus had fought against the worry that his rune mage would for unknown reasons, suddenly become ...

(TPOR) Chapter 113: A Bit Kooky But Nice

Daniel’s armored head turned to Ronda. The movement was slow and simple. While there was no expression on a featureless face, Ronda could already picture the half-scowl her interim captain was most definitely spotting.

“Comms,” Daniel said. The word was slow and purposeful.

Ronda winced at the sound of it.

She took a moment to look behind them and found everyone staring at them. She’d drawn a crowd by challenging his authority in front of the others. Such an act betw...

(THOB) Chapter 86: Madness

Bodies burned black.

The flames continued their feast.

The sun was beginning its journey to the other end of Vayla when a soldier came running in a panicked haze. At first he seemed maddened, crazed from the heat of the sun, or perhaps some over-indulgence in some form of the soldiers’ alcohol, a crime to deserve a good flogging.

However, he began garnering attention as the other soldiers he passed seemed to contract whatever frenzy he carried. They ran after him, panicked...

(TLO) Chapter 85: The Authority Of Iron

The classroom was not a classroom, at least not by right. At the top of the tower was an empty space walled off by balustrades, pillars that held the roof perhaps twelve feet above, each interspaced evenly enough for four men to stand side by side. The floor was black as the pillars around it and the wall they had climbed, adorned with intricate grooves that in a wider view could’ve possibly proven a work of art. Unfortunately, Seth and his brothers did not have a wider view, they had their...

(TPOR) Chapter 112: Override

Ash stared in confused shock, unable to move. It was not that her injuries had somehow disabled her but that her mind couldn’t wrap itself around what had just happened. On the opposite side of her, resting against one of the trees in the forest, Chris was a mirror of shock.

Ash was glad to see that she wasn’t the only one.

For the first time in months, Ash was terrified of a mage that was weaker than her.

She stared as Zed’s unconscious form lying on the ground where ...

(TPOR) Chapter 111: Dark, Colorful Smoke

Abed watched in confusion as Zed looked around for him. The tear in the man’s shoulder he’d inflicted with his sword was literally stitching itself back together.

Mages healed quickly but not this quickly.

So he continued to watch as Zed approached with a twisted scowl and a bleeding face where Abed had smashed it in with an armored fist.

He’d been told that the mage was a rune mage in training under a Knight rank mage. Then he’d been told he might be a mind mage. Wh...

(THOB) Chapter 85: Try As We May

A while later Ezril and his brothers were gathered, awaiting Noem’s words.

“Reinforcements will be coming once news reaches Lord Bilvion,” he told them. “I have already sent a man with word.”

“And the captives?” Darvi asked.

“They will be questioned when the scholar arrives.”

“Scholar?”

“Yes, Father Tenshaw. Scholar.” Noem regarded Darvi a moment. “I see you weren’t told of this.”

Darvi’s brows furrowed in mild annoyance. S...

(TLO) Chapter 84: Sarcasm or Comedy

True to Igor’s words a new class was created for them within the next month. This class, unlike all the others, was held in an actual classroom with walls and a ceiling. Unfortunately, there were no desks, and they had to manage with the discomfort of the concrete floors.

Within the month Barnabas was returned to them, his right hand securely and uncomfortably wrapped in a white cast. His sword hand, decommissioned for now, he was forced to start from the basics. Luckily, Reverend Igo...

(TLO) Chapter 83: Ask Your Questions Then

The room was tense with a cloud of silence. There was no light by which to illuminate it in the darkness of the aging night. Its black walls did nothing to help with this, seeming to emphasize the darkness like mirrors reflecting light, a characteristic no one had been able to decipher since arriving at the seminary. Still, it is to be noted that in the discomfort of the silence, the darkness seemed the good force.

“You should not have allowed him,” Fin said from where he lay on his...

(TLO) Chapter 82: It's All Done

“That was madness.”

Perhaps, a piece of Seth’s mind agreed with Barnabas, though Seth disagreed with it. If anything, Emriss had been kind to Forlorn. The stories he’d heard of Barons growing up were worse. That she had put a bullet in his leg for his disrespect instead of his head was a mercy Barons were not known for.

Apparently, Fin agreed with him. “Madness?” he asked, perplexed. “When Forlorn pulled the trigger, was that madness?”

Barnabas’ re...

(THOB) Chapter 84: At The Hand Of An Ally

Corpses riddled the ground as far as the eye could see. They had lost as much as the Merdendi, maybe more. But that was a worry for another man. For the first time since he set eyes on her in the battle Ezril ventured towards Lenaria, closing the distance that had once served as a forbidden zone of sorts. How could he not when she stood in place rooted to Vayla for all she was worth. Her swords dangled from her grip on both sides. Her face was turned to the sun. He would have thought her entr...

(THOB) Chapter 83: A Force of War

The fight raged on below them. With no signal, it seemed to go on forever. Ezril found himself being reminded of Father Talod’s trainings on the days of the blade during his early years in the seminary. For a moment he forgot the battle before him and flexed his left hand. All of them had been required to learn the use of both hands, and they had learned it well enough. He looked at his brothers. There had been a time when he hadn’t been ambidextrous. The things I’ve learned. 2023-10-13 08:03:11 +0000 UTC View Post

(TPOR) Chapter 110: A Monster

At the sound of Big Man Desolate’s voice, the feline monster turned to look at him. It was now lying on its side, succumbing to the cold touch of death and it snarled angrily at the sight of what he held in his hand.

Big Man Desolate hushed it.

“Shush, I’m giving a speech over here,” he said, unbothered. “I’ll come finish you off in a minute.”

Festus cocked his head to the side in worry. As much as the crystal in Big Man Desolate’s hands held his attention, h...

(TPOR) Chapter 109: Big Man Desolate

Abed’s eyes widened as Zed’s rune exploded into a flood of fire. Normally, a blast of its magnitude would not scare him while his spell Titan of Wrath was active, but the spell was spent, dwindling away from overuse.

So fear touched him even if for a moment.

He raised his leg and stomped the ground, releasing the last trickle of his mana into the earth before him. A spell morphed into being in his mind as he conjured a wall of earth to shield him.

The wave of fire hit th...

(THOB) Chapter 82: Perturbed

Olufemi stopped, hesitant.

He paused but didn’t release the captain. He remained in place; his knee against the man’s back, a hand in his hair, and another cocked back above his head. His gaze flickered to Ezril. Ezril shhok his head and there was a tense moment before he finally rose, getting off the man.

Darvi walked up to Captain Noem as he rose to his feet. Ezril had been certain Olufemi would be unable to evade the captain’s blow. His brother had surpassed his expectati...

(THOB) Chapter 81: Dangerous But Not Yet Deadly

Skirmishes. This was all it was. A few hundred men engaged in battle, drawing blood from flesh. Ezril frowned. Salem was right about one thing; the war was yet to come.

Ezril sat on the grassy hill with his brothers. The morning was young; a few hours past midnight. The crescent moon could still be seen in the sky. It proved their only source of light. There had been no fire the whole night as they’d made camp. A hundred men in all, Lord Bilvion had assigned them to move with Captain ...

(TLO) Chapter 81: Did They Hurt You?

The debacle of the test of winter ended easily. However, there was nothing quick about it. After surviving his pain, he remained in his confinement a while longer, a few weeks, perhaps two. It was time he spent healing. Kyle, he’d come to learn was the name of the healer of the seminary, stopped in to check on him a few times.

Now that he was souled, or partially so, Kyle could heal him with the soul arts. That the priest was capable of it said a lot of things. After all, healers were...

(TLO) Chapter 80: It Is Earned

On no instruction other than the guidance of instinct, or perhaps it was a sense of expectation, Seth closed his eyes and willed his minds to focus. If there was ever a time he needed [Fractured Mind] to take effect, it was now.

It did not.

So he focused as all boys do and willed himself into silence of voice and mind.

Slowly, like the dawning of spring after winter, his senses dulled. They deemed from all over him. First he lost the sense of touch. The plat...

(TPOR) Chapter 108: Pending Quest

In front of Zed Chris swung her club in a downward strike and Abed turned to meet her with a strike of his own. His sword tore the ground as it moved to meet her in an upward swing. It hit Chris’ club violently, sending her back. Ash stepped away from the chaos, not fool enough to think she could help in the melee.

Abed spared her the barest glance before stomping a single foot into the ground. A spike of earth shot from the ground and Ash saved herself from being impaled with a conju...

(TPOR) Chapter 107: What Happened If There Were Still Monsters?

Zed stared down at his new notification, his vision tinted in a haze of red.

· You have defeated [Woven viper (Beta, category 3)].

· You have gained +41 [Exp].

· Exp to category 3: 3340/3400.

He was so close. The end of this battle would bring him to category three the moment he used [Conqueror’s touch].

Zed paled as blood splattered across his already blood stained face.

“Don’t look so gloom,” Chris said, cleaning the face of a dead monster from...

(TLO) Chapter 79: A Feat Deserving of These

Igor came for Seth a day after, finding him in the confines of his shelter. He’d since told Timi to find a new hiding spot or move Bartholomew’s body. As for the pieces of reia beast meat, he’d done away with what was in his shelter long before Igor’s arrival.

Peace came to his mind and he was happy to be done with the test. However, rather than take him to his brothers after the long ride back, Igor took him to a familiar room and left him there.

It wasn’t long before J...

(THOB) Chapter 80: A Promise That Cannot Be Made

Lord Bilvion was a difficult man to please. Apart from the men he brought with him from whatever part of the realm he came from, no one at the fort liked him. Every soldier regarded him with a moderate level of disdain however much concealed. Even his men often showed a hint of dislike. It was obvious the man had either proven his mettle to them in some way or he’d simply grown on them.

Bilvion stood at the head of the table, barely having spared the map on it so much as a glance. Des...

(TPOR) Chapter 106: Won or Lost

Daniel, Kid and Ronda knew their suits were low on battery. Activating the suits at the beginning of the battle had been designed to give them a fighting chance, but that plan had failed. Now, the death of their commander was the only thing that had given them the fighting chance they’d sought. That and the mages switching into Overdrive.

“Frags out!” Daniel commanded, swiftly taking up the role of commander.

Ronda’s gun clicked empty from behind her shield and she discard...