The Conciege

(TPOR) Chapter 95: At Least That Strong

This was Zed’s first fight since becoming a category two. He felt the power of his advancement bubble in the activation of his core, and when he cast his rune, he felt it in the speed of its activation.

· You have cast basic rune [Force].

The familiar sight of the force rune glowed a soft purple, grafted a finger moving too fast as he activated it. The air around him shifted and Zed felt mana draw from his core before the rune exploded in purple rings of force mana growing as t...

(TLO) Chapter 68: Hidden Quest

Seth’s time with Dazda was short lived. In fact, it was so brief it might be called nonexistent. The tale of the Negare was the only true piece of anything he got from the man. Although, there was also the emotion. But that was secondary.

It was not difficult to realize the man had a tight connection to the Javalti tribe—if it existed. There had been too much emotion in the story. However, the man was a bit misplaced from the world. It made Seth’s minds agree the man was no wander...

(THOB) Chapter 70: The Types of Silence

There was one thing Ezril was certain of: his continued dislike of alcohol. In the seminary he had drunk it because his brothers did. Tonight he endured its bitterness for a different reason.

Darvi had him gathering knowledge on a Tainted the seminary claimed was in their vicinity. He had been seated for two hours now, clad in simple clothing that, at most, would identify him as a mercenary. With the absence of his Sunders and his bow, he could easily be mistaken for a simple citizen of...

(TLO) Chapter 67: The Cursed

Seth thought about the question and couldn’t say he was interested. The blizzard was still blowing outside but it wasn’t as heavy anymore. It was slowly running its course and it sent his mind back to the nest that he hoped would still be waiting for him when it was over.

“Sure,” he answered.

He wasn’t doing anything else right now. A story was one way to kill the time. He was also hoping the story would enlighten him a bit more on the man.

“Ever heard of the Jav...

(TPOR) Chapter 94: A Diseased Mare

“You want us to take this route?” Abed asked in disbelief.

Zed nodded. “Yes.”

“Impossible,” Abed scoffed. “It’s not a reasonable decision to make.”

“Why?” Ven asked.

“Because look at him,” Abed gestured at Zed as if displaying a diseased mare. “he’s just a Beta mage, and a child. You can’t possibly tell me we’re going to listen to him.”

“And what does that have to do with anything?”

“He doesn’t have the tactical e...

(THOB) Chapter 69: Rin

Even in the northern lands, near the ice peaked mountains, the sun was hot from its peak in the sky as Urden walked. He had left Dainty tied to a tree in the forest a few miles back; some villages considered the horse an abomination, and the one he was heading for was one of them.

It had been years since he last visited the village, perhaps a decade had gone by. He doubted Arfina would be happy to see him. Fortunately, she wasn’t the reason he was going there. She hadn’t been the re...

FIRST, AN ANNOUNCEMENT

I missed a day, and would like to apologize for the inconvenience it may have caused. As for the reason for the missed day, my place got broken into and robbed. Everything of any importance or use and value of any kind was taken. This chapter update is coming from a colleague's pc. That said, I will do my best to continue with the usual schedule until I can put my house back in order and replace the things I lost while recreating the latest backlogs I was stupid enough to not backup to the be...

(TPOR) Chapter 93: A New Path

Zed’s body moved through the hologram blue until he stood in front of the part of the map that indicated their present location. He counted eighteen blue dots.

Around him everyone continued in their argument. The party was divided, three parts carrying the banner of three different opinions. Some of them wanted to continue forward, some wanted to return home, and some just didn’t have an opinion.

Big Man Desolate sat jovially in the third party, whistling softly, a quiet theme...

(TLO) Chapter 66: A Story

Silence was a welcome distraction in a night that refused Seth sleep. At least the silence that filled the room with the absence of words. The fire still crackled, the wood still burnt, and the blizzard still roiled beyond the shelter. Save all this, he considered it silent.

“What’s a child your age doing out here, by the way?” Dazda asked, as if averse to the silence. “A boy your age should be home.”

Seth held his silence. He hoped the man would rethink his aversion to ...

(THOB) Chapter 68: The Seminary's Request

Ezril sat in the bow hall with Ellenel, knowing he would have to take Shade for one last walk beyond the mist later in the evening. Ellenel loosened arrows at her target, each one hitting its intended mark, but Ezril knew she took no satisfaction from it. Less she didn’t, and more she couldn’t.

“Does it get lonely?” he asked.

Ellenel shrugged. She released another arrow and hit its mark. “You’ll get used to it.”

“Are you used to it?”

She shrugged agai...

(TLO) Chapter 65: The Silence of The Sentient

There was a momentary flame as Seth’s guest set the lit match to the wood before it dwindled to embers. The first embers of light were not enough to see with but they were a start. Unsatisfied, his guest bent at his waist, executing a full bow as he rested on both knees and blew at the embers. With each breath the embers rose, birthing flames. Each growth gave better sight, flaring and dimming with each burst. It gave Seth something to work with and revealed patches and spots of his guest. ...

(THOB) Chapter 67: How Does It Feel To Be A Priest

“Brother Vi Antari.”

Ezril turned at the sound of his name. Father Talod approached him and he offered the man a respectful nod. “Yes, Father.”

“I am no longer a father to you,” Talod told him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You are now a priest of the seminary. We are both fathers to the children of Truth. To each other, we are brothers.”

Ezril was taken aback by the acknowledgement in Talod’s voice. He always felt the Broken would make a comeback before...

(TPOR) Chapter 92: Like Chess

He’d been in the mana surge for five years. Zed wasn’t certain how he felt about it. He still remembered the notifications he’d woken up to in the forest. They had been detailed but not much. Five years was a long time to have so little notifications. Then again, it seemed fair. It had been five years of him doing nothing, after all.

And he doubted the mana surge had grafted him a new body in the blink of an eye. Creating a new human body had to have taken time. To graft him from ...

(TLO) Chapter 64: A Wanderer

Seth’s hand held his sword without wavering. His grip was steady and his poise unshaken. He had a guest now, unplanned and unwanted, but here, regardless.

“Who are you?” he asked the darkness, still unable to see the man.

“Those are very keen eyes you have, child.” The man created a shuffling sound. It was low and mute yet clear enough to be heard. “Tell me. Can you see this, too?”

A priest was the first thought that came to Seth’s mind. The seminary had sent...

(THOB) Chapter 67: Ordination

Father Talod came at the fourth hour with a cassock for Ezril and his brothers. He met them awake, and waiting, fully clothed with Sunders strapped in place.

Only Ezril carried a bow.

“Get to it,” he told them. “Best get you lot out of my hair.”

They left their rooms, their presence clothed in the darkness. The seminary felt smaller as they left, leaving through the west gate. The mist was different, heavier than it always was and with a visible shrug Ezril shirked i...

(TPOR) Chapter 91: A Lot of Years

Festus stared down at his dying script of dream runes. Half of it was already gone, its once soft blue and tainted green now translucent. Whatever he’d attempted to do, he’d only succeeded in powering whatever spellform Zed had apparently used on himself.

Around him he could hear the chaos dying.

He hadn’t wanted to use the influence of his rank to take command but his project had been right in front of him and he’d been far from willing to allow it sabotage itself. People...

(TPOR) Chapter 90: Pocket Memory (Incomplete)

Zed struggled out from under a mountain of rubbles. The night was lit with a multiplying cascade of colors that filled the sky. Cars were abandoned to the sides of the road in a clogged traffic jam, the roads broken and upheaved. Buildings half-crumbled, teetered on their axis on all sides and people ran about in unbridled chaos.

There was a pain in Zed’s leg as he crawled out from the rubble and one of his arms felt numb. He tasted blood where he had cut his lip from being punched in...

(THOB) Chapter 66: Myths And Rumors

The thumping sounds of arrows as they found the target boards brought a sense of satisfaction to Ezril. He found he preferred it to the sound that came with it piercing flesh. The darkness of the bow hall around him was disturbed by the soft glow from the lantern a few paces behind him. Tonight, his brothers walked the night with him. A walk that found them here.

“How do you do that, brother?” Takan asked him.

Salem drew back on his bow string. “I think it best not to ask.�...

(TLO) Chapter 63: To Dread Is To Accept

Later that night sleep came to Seth. It was a welcome slumber in darkened shadows and endless night. His fire had since gone out, and while his shelter smelled of burning meat, it was faint, washed away by the shrill smell of violent snow and angry nature that came from the blizzard that still raged outside.

Slumber, being his friend, cast him into a dream older than his path in search of reia, a path he hadn’t chosen; a path he’d been snatched away and dashed upon by a man too stro...

(TPOR) Chapter 89: A Beauty To Behold

Festus’ focus was waning, keeping such a collection of runes active in a dream-script was taking a toll on him. He could feel his command over the script slipping when he heard the first gunshot boom through the forest.

With so much focus, he didn’t have the time to focus on each individual aura signature around him so he hadn’t sensed the monsters which made him doubt there were truly any monsters present.

When the second gunshot rang out, he was certain there were monsters...

(THOB) Chapter 65: The Price They Pay

The boys tracked through the night, Ezril and Olufemi directing the hunt. They moved at a slower pace, but there was always a trail to follow. When morning came, Olufemi took over, increasing the speed of the hunt.

As evening drew nearer, Olufemi slowed their pace considerably.

“Did you see how the man was begging our brother?” Takan said as they moved, all tension of last night seeming lost.

Darvi nodded. “He obviously hadn’t heard of him.”

“Or he didn’t...

(TLO) Chapter 62: Another Way To Go

Not long after, Seth’s fingers began tingling where they touched the core. It was a soft sensation, the soft prickling of a million tiny needles too small to even be felt. It reminded him of the first time he’d touched electricity, when Jonathan had manifested it somehow for the briefest of moments during one of his many projects. The sensation drew his attention from his writing and he looked at the core.

Then he waited, curious for what would happen next.

The sensation sprea...

(TLO) Chapter 61: Peace And Silence

You sure this is the right choice?

Seth ignored his minds’ bickering as he rested against the tree. It had been three days since he’d been lured into the nest and survived. Three days since he’d been outsmarted by a snow hare. He’d been hunting ever since, gathering what measly portions he could get his hands on. He made meals of pheasants and snakes, rodents and the occasional pests. He’d eaten a handful of crickets he’d found nested at the root of a tree once. Tod...

(THOB) Chapter 64: The Hunt

The test of the hunt came in the early days of the month of Setemis. They were required to carry their Sunders, hunting knives, bow and quiver, water canteens, and flints, along with their cloaks. They left the seminary by the west gate where Father Talod found them a carriage in the city. It took them out of the city and, after a three-hour journey, it came to a stop.

Talod brought them to the head of the Vaznik forest. Not much was known about it to them. Still, it would be accurate t...

(TPOR) Chapter 88: The Aura of A Monster

Festus stared down at Zed’s unconscious body, a deep frown on his face. He could feel the dream mana gathering to his head as well as the ones leaving.

Most people called it mind mana, but while they were correct, Mind mana was too broad a concept. Just as gravity magic was a specialization within force magic, Dream mana was a specialization within Mind mana. And judging by how much of it was going on around Zed’s head, it was safe to assume Zed was developing an affinity for Dream ...

(THOB) Chapter 63: A Brother Deadlier Than Darvi

Ezril held back his ire at the sound of whistling. It was an odd strategy as far as strategies went, and only served to reveal the whistler’s location. Obviously, that was the intent.

The time of day was difficult to discern considering the Umunna forest was always dark. But the seminary had released them sometime towards dusk, so it was safe to assume night was drawing nigh. Ezril held back a sigh. A month ago the seminary had started them on a new training, a mock test of sorts. It ...

(TPOR) Chapter 87: I Think We've Got A Problem

Zed stared at his glass with a touch of consideration as its color garnered a hue of pink then red then green from the club’s flashing lights. Around him his friends watched and waited.

· You have consumed [Blue night slumber (Alcohol)].

· Drink the blue liquor 3/4.

“Last shot,” Anthony shouted beside him.

He nodded absently, not really paying attention to the boy. He knew it was his last shot, but he was more concerned with why everything was so wobbly. He pla...

(TLO) Chapter 60: Where's The Hare?

The first difference in Seth’s torture came into his third week. How he knew it was a Tuesday was not truly a mystery, his minds had embodied an unnatural habit of keeping track of time at all times. He could wake suddenly and his mind would know how long he had been asleep.

It was a Tuesday afternoon. The sun was likely high in the sky, though he could not see it through the canopy of leaves above him. The entire forest was cast in white so grand it almost put the color itself to sha...

(TLO) Chapter 59: Struggle In Futility

Tracking late into the evening didn’t gain Seth anything of real worth. He caught two rodents of meager size and was lucky to stumble upon a snake on his return through the night’s chill. In truth, he didn’t so much stumble across a snake as he was attacked by one. The encounter had been without consequence for him. For the snake, it had died quickly.

In the fashioning of a makeshift bow for himself, his minds had been as right as he was short. He had expended more sticks than he�...

(TPOR) Chapter 87: A Cup of Blue

In the darkness of Zed’s unconscious, a notification came alive.

· You have unraveled [Pocket memory(incomplete)] (who am I?) 1/3.

· [Pocket memory(incomplete)] (who am I?) remaining 2/2

· Duration to next unraveling: 00:00:05.

Not enough time, Zed groaned, remembering Shanine and the fact that she needed him right now. He wasn’t attached to the girl by any stretch of the word, at least he liked to think he wasn’t, but she had insinuated something sim...