Oz yawned, stretching wide. Sunlight beamed in, warming his bed. Sid sat up, stretching twice as luxuriantly as Oz, and crawled into his lap, settling in to purr and be pet. Absentminded, Oz stroked her, yawning occasionally in his daze. Nice cat, nice sunlight, nice cozy bed. Maybe I’ll just stay here all day.
The walls shook. Dust rained down on him. A thunderous rattle rang out, blue-white light flashing as the sunlight fled.
With a mrow, Sid fled, tail high...
2024-01-20 17:00:04 +0000 UTC
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His hair singed at the ends, the ribbon long gone, loose strands blowing around his head in the wild winds, a storm cloud gathering overhead, Oz yet again raised a piece of paper. Letters curling like cursive and living vines, five words burned into the paper, all of them burned almost as deeply as the others. Scraps of paper danced around his heels, the burned, ashen remains of others fluttering high around his waist. On some, dead words peeked out, broken and burned, barely understandable a...
2024-01-19 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Oz tucked his list into his robes and stood. He glanced down the hallway. Is Linnea still in that small realm? Excellent. I’ll quickly lock her there. I don’t want her to know too much about my enchantment, or else she could interfere with the spell. He pressed a few symbols on his control tattoo, locking down the grassy realm.
He strode through the stacks, hurrying toward the rear. Before long, a nondescript door loomed, traced with thin fingers of frost. Oz took a deep br...
2024-01-18 16:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Qi rushed into him, filling him up. He circulated it, desperately sending it into his core, then paused. No. That’s not right. I’m not controlling it. I’m letting it flow with me.
Rather than capturing the qi and holding it in his core, he sent it from one hand to the other, then back into the world. As the qi rushed through him, he imbued the sensation of lightness into it. Dry paper. Fluttering as pages turn. Flying in an airplane. Floating to the ground. Dust motes...
2024-01-17 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Oz sat quietly on the floor, legs crossed, reading a book in his hand and skimming through one in his mind at the same time. He took a deep breath and let it back out slowly, relishing in the scent of old paper. Nothing like reading a real, physical book.
Though on the other hand, there’s nothing like the convenience of a digital book, he added a moment later, glancing at the one in his mind’s eye. The scent of ash mixed with the old-book smell, and he grimaced.
2024-01-16 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Dark, demonic, or fey magic. Which do I pursue?
“Let’s do a quick cost-benefits analysis,” Oz said aloud.
“A what?” Linnea asked.
Ignoring her, Oz continued. “Dark magic. Upside: developed by humans, for humans. Probably pretty descriptive tomes. Downside: it’s taboo for a reason. Likely to face a backlash later, if not immediately. Inherently dangerous.”
Linnea pursed her lips and nodded.
“Demonic magic. Upside: not inherently dangerou...
2024-01-15 17:00:15 +0000 UTC
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Stone rumbled. The chamber trembled.
“At last… someone figured it out! Gods, I thought it was too easy, but the number of idiots who failed such a basic test… even before she made me visible, it was exhausting watching them totally flop such a simple puzzle.”
Oz let out a sigh of relief. “You had me going for a minute, there.”
“Didn’t I? You should probably check on your girlfriend. She’s probably halfway to the second floor by now,” Fenrir chuck...
2024-01-15 16:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Oz pulled the book. The floor panel twisted open, and they descended the narrow staircase into the dank, dark space below the library. Oz glanced around, then dragged his fingertips along the hallway as they walked. His fingertips left trails in the perspiration on the wall, the damp stone cold to the touch. No books here. If they’re hidden in the hall, it’s more than an illusion that hides them.
Blue flames lit ahead of them, lighting the way. The chains clanked. Even befo...
2024-01-14 16:50:29 +0000 UTC
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Oz hurried into the library, delving into the shelves he hadn’t explored yet and the books he hadn’t organized. Compared to magical manuals, there’s relatively few books on the history and events of this world, but the library isn’t empty. It’s true that I won’t find scandals worth chasing in them, since anything published or written down will be so old or well-known as to be boring, but if nothing else, it’ll give me an idea of what’s scandalous in this time period, as we...
2024-01-14 14:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Turning to the control tattoo, Oz brought up the console.
>Fenrir, are you able to change the internal configuration of the library?
>What do you mean?
>Can you connect the front door to the World Door that leads to the plains?
>…
>Is that a no?
>Indoors or outdoors?
>I want to invite someone outside into the plains, so...
2024-01-13 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
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The sword hovered inches from Oz’s nose. Sunlight gleamed off bared steel, inscribed gold patterns glittering brilliantly. An armored hand led to an armored arm, all the way up to a shining steel helm. Dark eyes glared down at him.
“Hand over the demon. Now.”
Instinctively, Oz put his hands up, then lowered them. He crossed his arms instead, staring down the man. “Make me.”
Are you going to single-handedly break down this barrier that no mage in the ci...
2024-01-12 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Hours passed. Oz sweated over the furnace, brewing antidote after antidote. Rather than sticking to the same recipe, he tried every recipe in the books, modifying them as he went. Black, burned pills piled up beside him on his left, but to his right, the bottle of successful antidotes slowly filled. At last, his stomach grumbled.
Oz pushed away from the table, letting out a huff. “That’s right. I was going to feed Fflyn.”
“You should do that,” Linnea muttered.
“L...
2024-01-11 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Oz lit the fuel beneath the pill cauldron, the motions familiar by now. Lifting Professor Keane’s pill, he chopped it in two with a nearby knife, then dropped half into the cauldron.
“What’s the plan?” Linnea asked, settling beside him.
“Well, according to the books I’ve read, the classic way to investigate pills is to taste them, but I don’t have the years of experience necessary to determine the composition of pills by the taste of the processed herbs. So I plan to...
2024-01-10 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Oz opened his eyes and grunted, frustrated, staring at the dormitory’s ceiling. Why do I keep almost meeting people in these strange realms? Almost, almost, almost. It’s like I’m afraid of acknowledging them, or something.
No, for that matter, why was someone whispering to me in my personal core-realm? Unless it was Ossian. But even then! Ossian should be completely unable to contact me. Is it that person I saw in the sea of knowledge? But… He rubbed his forehe...
2024-01-09 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Pain. Bright light.
Oz squinched his eyes, reluctant to open them. Why does everything hurt? With effort, he peeled his eyes open.
He laid in a field, surrounded by low grass. Confused, Oz sat up and looked around. This… isn’t the library. It isn’t the plains outside the World Door, either.
Three large boulders stood before him, blocking his way forward.
Oz laughed. Pushing himself to his feet, he strode over and slapped a hand on the nearest bo...
2024-01-08 14:00:10 +0000 UTC
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The floor dropped out from under them, and they fell into darkness.
Fira screamed. Fire lit up around her body.
“Hey, calm down, calm down. If you actually fly, you might actually die,” Levi warned her. He hummed, pleased with himself. “Nice! A rhyme.”
She took a deep breath. Using the flames as light, she took in their surroundings.
They stood on the garden box. A narrow rectangular metal chute closed in around them. High overhead, a rectangle of sky remained ...
2024-01-08 02:07:08 +0000 UTC
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Fira tensed. “Edwin’s in trouble.”
“If you’re gonna unalive yourself, do it on your own time. You don’t have the time to worry about others right now. If you stick around, that’s it for you,” Levi said. He half-walked, half-jogged away, leaving her behind without hesitation.
Looking over her shoulder one last time, Fira followed after him, jogging to keep up. “The A-listers?”
“When you think of Alpha’s goon squad, these are the first guys you think of...
2024-01-08 02:06:15 +0000 UTC
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Rainer Drift screamed. A pearlescent rainbow barrier materialized between her and the boy, blocking his advance. She backed away, terrified, her perfectly coiffed chestnut curls and glittering diamond jumpsuit swaying with her fear, bright red lipstick making her shaking jaw all the more obvious. The boy slammed into the barrier, then bounced back. Frustrated, he jumped up and tried again, but the barrier persistently blocked him off.
Behind him, the blue goo dissipated. The bodyguards ...
2024-01-08 02:05:24 +0000 UTC
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Levi fled down the alley. Last thing I want is for Jet Engine to recognize me and start associating me with Fira. Especially if she decides to join up with Them.
A blast of fire lit the alleyway behind him. Fira burst after him, bright as the sun.
“You—stop it! Turn off the fire! Stop!” Levi snapped, frustrated.
Flying on her flames, Fira caught up with him and lowered her legs, then landed. The fire all around her cut off as she ran alongside him. “Where ar...
2024-01-08 02:04:41 +0000 UTC
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So hey. Look. I know I saw them. But you know. I really, really thought that was it.
You know. We look each other in the eyes, acknowledge that their stealth mission has failed, and they try again later, let us have a bite to eat—hell! Maybe they go get a bite to eat themselves. I mean, reasonable, right? Very professional. All of us have a nice, happy dinner, go home, and reschedule our fight for next week.
Yeah. Well.
It’s not my fault. It’s really not my fault. We h...
2024-01-08 02:03:52 +0000 UTC
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Climbing out from the forest, Levi led Fira out onto another quiet backstreet and immediately took off down the road. Fira glanced left and right, then snuck out of the forest, ducking her head a little as she followed him.
Levi glanced back. “Don’t do that.”
“Don’t do what?” Fira asked.
He nodded at her. “Act like you’re hiding. The first rule of hiding is to pretend like you aren’t hiding. If you walk around acting like you’re hiding, people will take n...
2024-01-08 02:02:58 +0000 UTC
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“Of course I’m serious. Have I been un-serious once since you came with me?” Levi crossed his arms.
“That’s a public toilet.”
“Incorrect. It’s my private toilet. And home sweet home.”
“You live here?”
Levi grinned. “Since I got evicted permanently for missing rent too many times, it sure is. RIP to all the stuff I left at home.”
Fira blinked. “You got evicted?”
“Did you miss the part where I was having a very bad day...
2024-01-08 02:02:09 +0000 UTC
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Welcome to Central City! Come for the enormous statue of Alpha with its concerningly exaggerated bulge, stay for the back-alley doctors hacking you to pieces for your organs! No trip to Central City is complete without losing at least one organ. Ten out of ten recommend losing an organ on your trip to Central City!
There’s a reason I’m not paid to write travel guides.
Oof. Big oof.
Yeah. That little ordeal was uh, you know. Not very fun. But remember, kids. Ther...
2024-01-08 02:01:17 +0000 UTC
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Levi knocked on the door of the run-down apartment. The wind whooshed by, spraying him with the damp from the rain pouring down just on the other side of the apartment’s outdoor walkway. He shivered and knocked again.
Seconds before his hand landed, the door was yanked out from under him. An angry, overweight woman scowled at him, looking him up and down in disgust.
“What are you thinking? Two hours late? Two hourslate! I already canceled the delivery and re-...
2024-01-08 02:00:02 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Hello, readers! Apologies for a bit of spam. The last few days, I've been working on something a little experimental. It might be a one-off, it might die shortly, but right now, I'm very excited about it. If you don't like it, let me know, and i'll remove it from the shared book tiers.
In Central City, there’s only one hard rule: everyone dies.
Everything else? Soft, soft rules. Nothing hard about them. Flying? Sure, why not. We’ve got fliers left, right, and center...
2024-01-08 01:58:58 +0000 UTC
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Sudden paper flapping caught Oz’s ear. He turned to find a paper human fluttering out from Aisling’s pocket. She caught it, unfolding the paper, then frowned. Reluctantly, she looked between Oz and Linnea.
“What?” Oz asked. Another talisman? A note from her Master, maybe?
“Master Sachairi is calling me. I have to go,” Aisling said. She gave Linnea and Oz another reluctant glance, her eyes lingering on Oz’s. “You’ll be safe, right? She won’t hurt you?...
2024-01-07 14:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Aisling emerged from the room frazzled, her nostrils flared, glaring off into the distance. Behind her, the assassin boy laughed defiantly. “Go on. Get out of here!”
“No joy?” Oz asked.
“I’m not very good at people,” Aisling bit, her lip twitching.
Fair enough, from the martial mage. I wasn’t expecting her to succeed. She was our only remaining member who hadn’t been part of team bad cop.
Who else do I have, though? Roan? Haaa… yeah, no...
2024-01-06 14:00:03 +0000 UTC
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The assassin lifted his lip in disgust. He strained against the spider silk that still held him. When it held strong, he gave Oz a defiant look instead. “Talk to you? Never! The Black Blades—”
“You aren’t confident in that, though, are you? The idea of torture terrifies you,” Oz said, looking him in the eye. He arched his hands and smiled.
“I’m a proud assassin. I’ll die before I—”
“Oh, you’ll die, yes. Because death is less frightening than what I ...
2024-01-05 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
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I don’t necessarily want to use the same herbs I did first time. That antidote I made involved too many ingredients, and it took too long to make. This time, I want to keep it simple. Create something quick and dirty that does a good enough job to revive our friend over there for questioning. It’s a bit callous, but I don’t need him to stay alive. I just need him to wake up and talk.
Of course, I’d prefer to keep him alive, but at the end of the day, he’s an assas...
2024-01-04 15:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Oz pulled the fake book. The round panel, embossed with a black begonia blooming from an open book, lifted out of the floor and spun open to reveal a boy, about the same ten as the other children, struggling on the top steps. He paused in rubbing the spider silk against the rough edge of the stair and stared at them, frozen in place.
“Hey there. You wanna tell us who sent you?” Oz grinned.
The boy made a strange motion with his jaw.
Linnea’s eyes widened. She lunged. ...
2024-01-04 14:00:08 +0000 UTC
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