A smile crossed Norman’s face as he looked at the results of his newest spell. The dark liquid sloshing around in the glass vial could easily be mistaken for poison or a very odd potion. It was anything but. It was an active spell, one designed to infect an individual and slowly hide their life force. In every other aspect, the spell left no telltale signs.
He handed off the three vials to the Wraiths.
“A single drop per person will do. But if you can slip it into their food a...
2023-10-13 12:00:05 +0000 UTC
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After thoroughly reading through the paper, Eugene set it down with a sigh.
“I thought you would be happy about this?” Norman asked, his confusion evident on his face.
“Oh, I am. It’s not every day that you meet a woman like the Matron. And it’s even rarer when they like you back.”
“Ok… Then why the sad face?”
“Well, in order to fulfill her request, I’ll need to be alive.”
“Ah. The things we do for love,” Norman chuckled.
The big...
2023-10-11 12:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Norman jerked awake in a cold sweat, his heart hammering in his chest. He swung his feet out of bed and sat up, rubbing his face.
Princess mewled in concern.
“I’m fine,” he spoke softly, rubbing the hellhound's large head. “Just a bad dream.”
She seemed content by this and laid back down. He only wished he could shed this concern as easily as her.
This had been the third night in a row since returning from the jungle that he had had this nightmare. It was alw...
2023-10-09 12:00:06 +0000 UTC
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“What do you mean you aren’t willing to make a new contract? We had a deal!”
“We did, Donovan. But things have changed.”
“What things?” Donovan demanded.
The amorphous face looked away from the communication dish, likely conversing with someone out of view. The morphling nodded and turned back toward the silver pool. “Our end of the bargain has been completed. You have used the dimensional gate twice to escape issues within your own realm. But there are fears...
2023-10-06 12:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Norman stumbled slightly as he appeared from the teleporter. Despite Grobert’s assurances that these devices were perfectly safe, they weren’t nearly as seamless as the ones in Grothlosburg. The subtle wrongness of the teleport seemed to grow the more you passed through, and he had passed through five or six of them to arrive here. There seemed to be a vast difference between the crudely constructed ones Grobert had been able to cobble together versus the ones made with hundreds of years ...
2023-10-04 12:01:00 +0000 UTC
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Norman sipped a cup of coffee as he sat on his balcony overlooking the west side of the city. Yeah, you heard that right, real fucking coffee! It had been a gift from the Admiral after the accords had been completed. And it was delicious.
That stressful time had been months ago, Norman realized. It had all been so hectic after the talks, and then the earthquakes that preceded another collapse. Most of the city had been fine, all except the castle.
A full third of the building had ...
2023-10-02 12:01:01 +0000 UTC
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“Well?” Norman asked as he sat down with the Admiral after the meeting.
The man let out a slight sigh as he leaned back in the chair. “Their demands are completely unreasonable. Not that I expected them to be anything different. They are surprisingly less onerous than I predicted.”
Norman was slightly surprised by the Admiral’s statement. “You can’t seriously be considering any of them, can you?”
“While I appreciate your concern. Any deal between the Common...
2023-09-29 12:01:00 +0000 UTC
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Norman stepped into the building along with his remaining advisors. This included Eugene, Grobert, and Freya as their expertise might be needed for the talks.
As they stepped inside, he could see there wasn’t much in the way of mingling between the groups. The few exceptions seemed to be the Admiral’s group and Custodian Valadin.
The former was introducing Cho Klu’klik to the Matron and some of the gron ministers. Norman almost laughed when he saw the Matron reach out to mim...
2023-09-27 12:01:00 +0000 UTC
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There was something about a crisp formation of soldiers that gave Norman an immense amount of pride.
It was finally the day of the talks, and all of the guards who would be attending to the safety of this event were gathered in the square for a quick parade to help calm the residents.
The older locals were much more at ease with the upcoming event due to their faith in Norman and the guard. But the newer ones were a bit more on edge. He couldn’t blame them, they had all died und...
2023-09-25 12:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Thankfully, Norman didn’t have much to do to prepare for the upcoming talks. It wasn’t that there wasn’t stuff to do, it just wasn’t his job to do it.
Eugene was busy getting yet another fresh batch of recruits trained up. These would replace the ones coming off rotation near the borders.
Although, Eugene was learning just as much from them as they were from him. The reason for this was the fact they were former US Marines.
The bodies had been recovered by the Common...
2023-09-22 12:01:00 +0000 UTC
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As Norman and his entourage traveled across Normenia, they came across the path that the Golatian army had made. He had seen a bit of it at the battle, but he had been more concerned with other things at the time.
That many people left an indelible mark on the landscape. A visible scar that would take time to heal.
It wasn’t the sight of the trampled vegetation that made him angry though. It was the loss of life.
Eight guards that had been stationed out in this remote side...
2023-09-20 12:01:01 +0000 UTC
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“I’m telling ya, I fucking saw him fly!” Adam scoffed at the man he had sent to spy on this “coronation”. It was a farce, just like everything with this damn country. While they were living it up in Ashvale, he was forced to live in this sad excuse for a hut that his assistant had built. And it was the worst building in the entire town. If you could call this shitty collection of houses that.
It wasn’t right. He was owed a life of leisure for all of his long days of work to ...
2023-09-18 12:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Third Prince Mushuari Gol of Golat was supremely bored. He had been cast out by the first and second prince as they fought over who would rule the Empire after their father’s passing. It was as much to get him out of the way as it was to keep him from taking either brother’s side in the political conflict.
Not that he would take either side.
He despised his older brothers as they had been lavished with praise and luxury from the day they were born. He on the other hand had to ...
2023-09-15 12:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Norman stood on a stone podium looking out over Independence Square with Princess by his side. The square took up a large space in front of the Ministry building. The large space was full of people, but there was room for many more. It had been designed to accommodate more than thirty thousand. Any more than that and it would be a waste of space. He was glad he had put his foot down on them making it larger.
Even the murmur of just over ten thousand people was deafening. But he endured ...
2023-09-13 12:00:06 +0000 UTC
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The party had kicked off about an hour ago and Norman was busy greeting a line of guests that were slowly filtering in when he spotted Saliu and Nolia stride into the room. He was caught a bit off guard at his Administrator’s choice of clothing but his eyes quickly left the woman and landed on Kalia.
He wasn’t sure if she would attend with how focused on her work she had been. And she looked lovely in the green and gold dress she was wearing. Norman smiled at her and she quickly loo...
2023-09-11 12:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Kalia wiped the sweat from her brow as she stood up to work the soreness from her back. She was startled when the man sitting in front of her spoke. “Are we finished for now?”
She nodded and motioned for the man to leave. With how still the undead could be, she sometimes forgot the armor she was working on was being worn by someone. As the man stood, he quaffed a potion and she sighed in resignation as all of her hard work vanished.
“Better luck with the next attempt,” the...
2023-09-08 12:00:06 +0000 UTC
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The Flaming Skull spell only lasted for about five minutes before it burned itself up with its own flames. Did that mean it was alive? Norman wasn’t sure, but he was sure he could see the flames it had spewed across the cages were still burning. The shadows cast by the cages were noticeably smaller though. And as soon as there were no more shadows, the flames went out.
It was odd watching shadows shrink and then disappear, only for them to reappear the next instant, looking completely...
2023-09-06 12:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Now that hostilities had shifted from Normenia, he was at a loss for what to do. It wasn’t that Norman didn’t have projects to work on, if anything he had too many. He was unfocused. It was easy to focus on a goal when there was a threat. But now that there wasn’t a pressing need, he couldn’t quite decide what should get his immediate attention.
There was also Kalia. While he enjoyed the woman’s company. He didn’t want to jump into a relationship with her without getting to ...
2023-09-01 12:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Norman had thoroughly enjoyed his time working with Kalia. Even the frustration that had started to creep in. But after their short moment of affection, she dashed out of the room yelling about all the things she could now craft. He wasn’t sure how to take that.
Eventually, he just decided that this was okay. If he wanted to take things further with her, he would just have to work at it like everything else. A smile crossed his lips at that thought as he headed to get some rest.
2023-08-28 12:01:01 +0000 UTC
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The next few weeks flew by for Norman as he worked with Kalia to try to find a solution to her issue. Turns out that wasn’t the only issue he tackled during that time.
He learned something had been missing from his life. That something was someone who shared his passion for magical discovery. Sure he had Grobert and Eugene, but they didn’t feel the same way about magic as he did. He couldn’t blame them for their lack of enthusiasm. Eugene had other things he cared about and Grober...
2023-08-25 12:01:01 +0000 UTC
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The attack was nothing less than a resounding success. All of the targets had been eliminated and the Death Knights had quickly outpaced their pursuers to escape. And even the gift he had prepared for Donovan and the Council had been delivered without issue. So why was there a knot of worry in Norman’s gut?
He thought he knew why, it had to do with escalating the conflict. But there wasn’t anything he could do about that. He only had two options, attack or roll over and take it. And...
2023-08-21 12:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Night fell and the first steps to the attack began.
The Wraiths moved to kill off any guards along the route the Death Knights would be traveling. There were only a few patrolling groups and all were dispatched before they could alert the garrison or the palace of the impending attack.
Norman, Eugene, and Grobert would not be participating in the mission. Norman was busy back in Ashvale and Eugene needed to be around to run the guard. As for Grobert, he was only in the enemy city ...
2023-08-18 12:00:09 +0000 UTC
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The next month was extremely busy for Norman. After his success with Scar, the squad that was sent into the jungle to grab more samples returned not long after. The second mount went to Eugene, and it was the other one Norman had done testing on.
Turns out it didn’t make a difference what spells were used on the creatures before, so long as a significant amount of deaths and rebirths occurred. This actually helped Norman understand something he had been wondering about for a while. Ma...
2023-08-14 12:00:08 +0000 UTC
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After quickly introducing Kalia to Saliu and the others, she was immediately focused on them, completely forgetting about her condition and him. He stood there awkwardly for a bit while they discussed magical theory way beyond him. He may be good at magic, but he had a long way to go. And unfortunately, most of the stuff he had figured out, wasn’t relevant to what the enchanters were doing. That didn’t mean it was all worthless. His Transfer spell was a huge hit back when he first showed ...
2023-08-11 12:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Norman continued his grisly work with Gail and then J-son. Sharina avoided his ire, mainly because she hadn’t actively participated in the attack. That didn’t mean she got off scot-free. She got thoroughly questioned over the next week and was kept in lockup.
Why only a week?
Norman was sick of looking at the woman after that amount of time. She showed zero remorse for what her ‘associates’ did. And kept demanding to be released. She would be released, but Norman doubted s...
2023-08-07 12:00:08 +0000 UTC
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“We’ve arrested Councilor Sharina,” Eugene stated as he stormed into the castle.
“I assume by your angry demeanor that you were not able to find Donovan?” Princess growled next to his seat at the mention of the missing Councilor’s name and Norman rubbed her head to settle her.
Princess was another one that was angry but probably because she hadn’t been by Norman’s side during the battle.
“No, it seems he well and truly fled back to California.”
Norm...
2023-08-04 12:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Gail cursed those rat-tailed fucks from the Gorfan principality. They had one fucking job, wait until she gave the signal to attack, and they somehow managed to fuck up even that simple order. Oh, how she wished she could have just controlled them all and been done with it. But that would tip her hand.
Their screw-up had cost her the opportunity to bend Donovan to her will, the slippery fuck had fled at the first sign of trouble replacing himself with one of his morphling clones. And Sh...
2023-07-31 12:00:08 +0000 UTC
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I forgot to mention a few chapters ago that I changed Commander Sanchez to Commander Alvarez. I did this because Pedro's last name is Sanchez and I didn't want any confusion. Anyway, enjoy the chapter.
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“Pedro! It’s great to see you again,” Norman exclaimed, holding the man at arm's length after embracing him in a tight hug. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“…Um. Good to see ...
2023-07-28 12:00:10 +0000 UTC
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Donovan tsked, he felt the connection to one of his summoned morphlings vanish as he was exiting the meeting. It had always been a slim chance that his spies would remain undetected within this city. Too many things were unknown or surprising.
Some of this city’s magical defenses rivaled or even surpassed the Councils. The city gate alone was so layered in magic that Donovan wasn’t sure if he could breach it with his magic. Then there was that building outside the wall. He wasn’t ...
2023-07-24 12:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Both sides clamored to speak at the same time but Norman simply held his hand up. He didn’t actually expect them to stop talking but both sides went quiet almost immediately. That told Norman they both wanted something from him.
He turned toward the Admiral. “You may speak first.”
It felt weird to give someone so high up in the military permission to speak, but Norman needed to act like everything here was under his control. Letting these people direct this meeting would lea...
2023-07-21 12:01:00 +0000 UTC
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