Rylan stared at the rectangular opening leading into the ancient, overgrown building, his mind racing.
Before, he’d kind of assumed that he could simply sense where the tingles were coming from, but now, he was starting to suspect whatever was sending them was actually supplying him with a sense of direction.
The question was, why was the mysterious being suddenly indicating he should head somewhere new, away from the bubble of fog-free air? Also, is...
2024-09-06 08:01:13 +0000 UTC
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“You see,” Isai said as he put his bowl down on a cluttered workbench, wiping his hands ‘clean’ on the legs of his tan britches. “The major problem with the Shepherd right now is that one of its two floaters was shredded beyond our ability to repair. The other one, thankfully, came out with only some minor tears, which we were able to fix.”
Next to Rylan, Tamina was still testing her arm, having moved on to flexing and unflexing individual digits. With some effort, he manage...
2024-08-30 14:16:51 +0000 UTC
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Rylan cleared his throat, wiping his sweaty palms on his britches as he faced the group gathered around the stove he’d been slaving over for the past hour or so. Relax, he told himself. They’re not food-critics just... former pirates. “If I-if I could have everyone’s attention please?”
Unfortunately, Soren’s excited voice from where he was chatting to Halloth, and Yuel’s laughter on the other side from some remark Tamina had made, pretty much drowned...
2024-08-23 12:37:02 +0000 UTC
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Walking alongside Tamina, Rylan glanced at her scrunched eyebrows and flaring nostrils. Yuel had taken one look at her face, and wisely decided to scout ahead.
“You want to talk about it?” Rylan finally ventured.
“Talk about what?” she growled.
“All right, I’ll take that as a no...”
They walked in silence for a few seconds more, before she sighed, her shoulders slumping. “Sorry. I shouldn’t take my frustration out on you.”
“Yeah... ...
2024-08-19 09:25:04 +0000 UTC
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With a grunt, Nazyr yanked open a bamboo door on the side of The Soggy Shepherd, revealing a slanted hallway leading into the wreckage.
“Pantry’s still pretty intact, so we never moved the food out,” he explained, briefly glancing back at Rylan with his good eye before he lumbered inside.
Rylan followed him in, his eyes trailing around the insides with fascination. He was on an actual pirate ship! It was a wrecked, former pirate ship, but it still counted. Moreover, it was T...
2024-08-09 09:48:36 +0000 UTC
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Soren could hear Tamina and Rylan whispering behind him, but he didn’t pay too much attention, shocked as he was at the woman in front of them.
Apparently, Yuel was listening to what they were saying, as he suddenly whirled around, his hands raised in innocence. “Actually, she’s the captain of the Black Sheep mercenary crew,” he stated loudly, his face tense. “We’re reformed pirates. Pardoned and everything, I swear!”
Fog!
2024-08-08 07:37:46 +0000 UTC
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Sorry about that. :p
I really did have a great time selling books at Castlefest though!
It might not have been the wisest decision to make my first experience with live selling a three-day event that I'd never been to as a guest, but thankfully, I had my lovely girlfriend to help me, and with the guidance of some awesome neighbours at the festival, we managed to do all right.
That is to say, we sold 138 books! ^^
Anyway, I'm going to give the chapter I meant to post la...
2024-08-08 06:30:08 +0000 UTC
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Rylan squinted, following the direction of Tamina’s finger. It took a moment, but then he noticed something sticking out over the tall grass and various bushes. A tail. And after he’d spotted the first one, it was easy enough to make out a few more, some bigger than others.
The three of them shared glances, then quietly began to move closer whilst drawing their weapons.
Rylan was glad he’d practised Jumping over Soren earlier, as he reckoned he could probably clear a chargin...
2024-07-26 08:24:36 +0000 UTC
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As the stallion galloped down a slope with actual grass, quickly catching up to its herd, Rylan glanced over his shoulder, half-expecting the shark to come bursting out of the dome of fog. Instead, he saw its massive silhouette moving off to the right, circling the impossible bubble at the bottom of the cloudsea.
That’s why the kelpies ran here! They knew they’d be safe!
Which meant they probably hadn’t been called by the mysterious being send...
2024-07-19 08:54:52 +0000 UTC
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The first deep thump was shortly followed by another, then another, each one louder than the last, until the very sand they stood on began to shake.
It was hard to interpret their direction, so Rylan remained frozen to the spot as he glanced around, looking for the source. Unfortunately, his eyes were equally useless this deep in the kelp forest.
At least, until a chill running up his spine told him which way to look.
A massive, hoofed foot stamped down behind them, the thum...
2024-07-12 09:22:47 +0000 UTC
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Early the next morning, during his shift guarding the mouth of the little cave they’d found in the opposite wall of the now-confirmed ravine, Rylan went over his Status Window.
Status
Mana
Pool: 9.7/13
Shell: 3/3
Attributes
Strength 2
Dexterity 3
Endurance 2
Mind 3
Perception 3
Charisma -1
Skills
Knife-Throwing, Rank 2
Jum...
2024-07-05 10:08:16 +0000 UTC
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Jumping? Fog, I’ll take it!
It may not have been the Skill he’d been trying to get, but it would definitely be useful. He could already imagine himself leaping over a foe and raining down death from above.
“Yes please!” he said out loud.
Tamina ignored him, remaining limp on her back next to him on their somewhat precarious perch over the raging water.
《Initiating Skill conversion.》
“Nice work, Ryles!” Soren called over, rig...
2024-06-28 09:48:22 +0000 UTC
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Sitting cross-legged on his perch, Rylan frowned, keeping his eyes closed as he tried to sense the tingles.
They’d covered quite some distance over the week since he’d had his dream-vision, but their forward progress had been impeded when they’d come across a sheer downward cliff.
They were all understandably weary of that particular geological feature.
Still, they’d found an oversized mushroom nearby that grew a decent distance from the edge, and spent the night hid...
2024-06-21 14:51:06 +0000 UTC
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Rylan and Tamina shared a glance, then rushed forward, already drawing their weapons.
They found Soren with his rapier out, standing in front of some sort of overgrown lizard. The creature was easily ten feet long, covered in tiny scales, and its tail swept angrily as its slitted, yellow eyes glared at the young noble.
And right between them, lay the fat fogfish Rylan had taken down.
“That carrion lizard is trying to take our lunch!” Tamina hissed, brandishing her sword ...
2024-06-14 09:56:48 +0000 UTC
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Eventually, Rylan somehow fell back asleep. When Soren gently shook him awake for his watch, he got up bleary-eyed, and climbed out of the soggy-yet-warm bedroll to sit at the entrance to the shell.
Then a tingle went up his spine, and he instinctively turned his head to stare into the fog.
The events of the night, his strange dream, came back to him, and his eyes widened as his heartbeat accelerated.
He pinched the skin on the back of his hand. It hurt.
Fog. Is th...
2024-06-07 08:50:59 +0000 UTC
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A big smile broke out on Rylan’s face as a by-now-familiar warm breeze came flying at him from a distant place.
He closed his eyes and lowered his knife, unbothered by the mana inside it fizzling out while he tried to sense what exactly Ethereon was doing. However, the only interesting thing he managed to note before the breeze tapered off was that it seemed to head straight for the part of his spirit that housed his Skill.
《Augmentation successful. Knife-Throwing has reached ...
2024-05-31 08:41:13 +0000 UTC
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They were all pretty on edge when they left the next morning, but they didn’t spot any more monstrous Malequint. In fact, the reef seemed calmer than ever.
It still took them another three days to reach the edge of the massive maze, where the corals started to become smaller again, small enough that they could just hop over them.
They still kept going until they were well clear of the reef. Unfortunately, the sandy cloudbed they found themselves on sloped down.
...
2024-05-24 10:21:24 +0000 UTC
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“Watch out!” Rylan cried.
Soren reacted immediately, already moving out of the way before he even finished speaking. At the same time, Tamina’s head snapped around, her eyes widening a fraction at the sight of the massive blue crustacean limb approaching her.
Rylan’s heart skipped a beat as the threat drew closer to her. She’s not going to make it!
Then light flashed beneath her feet and she sidestepped in a way that seemed impossibly fast in the floaty fo...
2024-05-17 09:50:58 +0000 UTC
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“So,” Tamina said, drawing her legs up to sit cross-legged, “first things first. Soren, you’re lacking offence. I reckon you’ve been trying to get the Fencing Skill?”
He nodded.
“Good, I’m working on an offensive Skill myself, so we’re probably going to spend most of our time sparring.”
“Yes ma’am,” Soren said, jokingly giving her a Quinthar salute.
She didn’t return it, instead turning to Rylan. “That means you’ll be by yourself, but I...
2024-05-10 10:16:00 +0000 UTC
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The hairs at the back of Rylan’s stood on end as he stared at the perfectly rectangular opening into a dark space for a long moment. As he tried to comprehend what he was looking at, Tamina suddenly stuck her face around the corner.
He almost threw what was left of the crab at her in reflex, but managed to contain himself.
Tamina shot him a mystified look. “It’s clear, you can come on in.”
Soren cleared his throat. “Right. Is this... a house?”
She shrugged ...
2024-05-03 10:10:17 +0000 UTC
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Soren cleared his throat, reminding Rylan that he was still physically covering the older boy. He quickly rolled off onto his backpack and sprang to his feet.
Meanwhile, Tamina placed her shield on her back and yanked her sword from the armadon’s still lightly smouldering mouth. Producing a rag from somewhere, she started cleaning her blade.
“Thanks for the save, Thar Tamina,” Rylan said earnestly, only in part to fill the awkward silence.
Soren and he had just been fi...
2024-04-26 09:28:17 +0000 UTC
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Soren’s right, Rylan thought reluctantly as they ran, turning the corner around a towering, tree-like, bright-red coral, with the dull thumps of the chasing armadon behind them. This won’t end until either it’s dead... or we are.
Tamina seemed to have come to the same conclusion, as she suddenly dug her heels in the sand and came to a halt, turning around in the same motion. “If we’re going on the offensive we better do it now, before it builds up more of tha...
2024-04-19 09:23:35 +0000 UTC
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It had happened on Soren’s tenth birthday.
Soren remembered being so excited for the day, too. Chef Zelim was going to make him an actual apple pie; a rare treat, as their island lacked an orchard. They had his mother’s greenhouse to grow stuff in, but it was too small for full-sized fruit trees, so she only grew things like berries, grapes, and vegetables.
Now, he barely remembered the pie. The memory of its taste had been tainted by the bitterness that had followed it.<...
2024-04-12 10:01:51 +0000 UTC
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Rylan wanted nothing more than to immediately start trying to overcharge his Skill, but he decided to temper his excitement and see what Ethereon had to say about his Mana Shell first.
“Ethereon,” he whispered, careful not to wake his sleeping companions. “Please show me my Status Window.”
Status
Mana
Pool: 10.3/11
Shell: 0.9/1
Attributes
Strength 2
Dexterity 3
Endurance 2
2024-04-05 09:18:03 +0000 UTC
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Pre-chapter author's note:
I received some feedback from my writer's group this week, and decided on a little retcon. Specifically, I realised I'd made my magic system needlessly complicated with the idea that Skills provide their own mana, so that's been rectified. To this end, I've made some changes to the last chapter, which you can check out if you like.
Enjoy! ^^
...
2024-03-29 16:59:48 +0000 UTC
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Rylan saw only the barest flash of blue before a shield was suddenly interposed between him and the beast hanging off the ledge in front of him.
Blue flames bathed the walls of the gorge on either side in an eerie glow, playing off Tamina’s gritted teeth and green eyes as she stood over him, white light emanating from the front of her shield and extending beyond its edges, preventing the stream of blue fire from spilling past.
Rylan could do little but gape as she took the attac...
2024-03-22 12:07:11 +0000 UTC
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Seeing the burning armadon emerge behind his triumphant former friend, Ryan’s eyes went wide. “SOREN, RUN!”
Soren didn’t run. He glanced back, froze momentarily, then started moving towards them sideways in a pattern Rylan vaguely recognised as a quickstep, which seemed somehow faster.
More importantly, he was heading straight for them.
The massive armadon behind him snorted out twin jets of yellowish vapour, one of which caught fire from the flames clinging...
2024-03-15 10:49:34 +0000 UTC
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“Careful, Thar Tamina!” Rylan yelled at the whale’s flank as he unsheathed his dagger—which had thankfully not gotten lost during his brief flight. “I’m going to cut you out!”
“Oh fog, she’s still inside?” Soren asked as Rylan dug his blade into the rubbery skin. “Hang in there; we’re coming!”
Soren first reached for the hilt of his rapier, but quickly seemed to think better of it, and grabbed the dagger off his own belt. Stepping up next to Rylan, he sta...
2024-03-08 09:50:09 +0000 UTC
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Rylan was abruptly cut off by the wall of flesh that slammed into him mid-sentence. Once again it stretched and stretched, then tore. A white light flashed in front of his eyes as his head smashed into something, and then he was spinning through the fog.
Dazed as he was, he barely registered when he landed bonelessly on a sandy incline, tumbling head over heels a few times before he slid to a stop.
His head was pounding, his ears were ringing, and for a few seconds he just lay the...
2024-03-01 13:04:02 +0000 UTC
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Rylan’s hopes that it would perhaps just be a short drop were quickly shattered as the fog started streaming past him faster and faster.
Arms and hands clutched onto him in a confusing tangle of limbs, and it took him a moment to realise his own grip on Soren was just as tight. A black braid smacked him in the face, insult upon injury, but Rylan had no breath to do anything but scream as they fell.
A keening call from a nearby fogwhale was the only answer.
The realisation ...
2024-02-23 11:09:16 +0000 UTC
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