DWinchester

Tenebroum Ch. 213-214

Ch. 213 - Total Eclipse

Leo only had a few seconds to struggle with his rising panic before he heard the familiar voice. “There’s no going back after this, I’m afraid.” Even before Leo whirled around, he knew who it was. 

“Jordan,” he called out, but when he turned around, the familiar mage was not who he saw. 

Some of the details were right, of course. The luminescent spirit had Jordan’s features and his sad eyes. These were clear an...

Death After Death PLUS 205-207

Ch. 205 - Enemies at the Gate

By the time he reached the palace steps, it was worse than he feared. There were almost no defenders left, though, in the swirling scrum of combat, it was hard to say for sure. Everyone was wearing the same uniforms. 

Simon didn’t worry about that yet though. Instead, he looked around for anyone that looked strange. There were certain to be other mages here, and as soon as he made himself a target, he would be a deadman unless ...

Death After Death 195-197

Ch. 195 - Time Flies

The years slipped by in the service to the Alexins faster than he would have thought as Simon lost himself in the pursuits of art, teaching art, and just plain teaching. It was a mixture of experiences, and all of it happened in the beautiful city of Coramin in what felt like the blink of an eye. 

At the start, Simon had spent most of his time with Bertrand, but once the older boy found his rhythm in his practice assignments, Simon spent ...

The Blood-Stained Blade Ch. 06-10

A second batch of chapters for devoted readers

The Blood-Stained Blade Ch. 01-05

I'll be starting a new story sometime next mont

Brewing Bad Ch. 112-113

Ch. 112 - Making Magic

Though he’d taken the challenge to cover up for his own goals, Lucas thought that it would be an easy win to shove in Heisenburgle’s smug face. He was sorely mistaken. Though he made a few batches of Blue that night, that was just because he’d already started preparing reagents. Once that was done, he tore into the texts that the gnome recommended on the subject, and though he would never admit it to Heisenburgle, he had a hard time making h...

Tenebroum PLUS Ch. 221-222

Ch. 221 - The Last Day (part 2)

Leo dove into the pit like a falling star and the foulness that reached for him from the walls burned away to ash long before it touched him. The place was a warren of nightmares, and as he fell down the hole, he saw dozens of intersecting passageways where the shadowed shapes of men and dwarves reached for him along with the tentacles and claws of monstrosities he’d never before dreamed of. It was like an anthill filled with nightmares...

Tenebroum Ch. 211-212

Ch. 211 - A Taste of Light

They were married after the harvest, less than a year after his return. Everyone would have said that was long overdue, of course, but Leo hadn’t noticed. He’d been too busy spending time with Cynara while he worked through his complicated emotions and what he wanted versus what it was he thought he should be doing. Still, no matter what he thought the right thing to do was, his heart won out, and on a bright day, they stood before the ent...

Death After Death PLUS 202-204

Ch. 202 - Brutality

For as long as he was moving quickly, Simon stayed on the trail. After that, he made his way up the slope, sticking to the largest rocks he could. Despite the fact that they’d fired two volleys, and he’d made a big show of being hit once, they still waited an awful long time before they started to fan out and descend down the slope. 

They definitely know they should be afraid of me, he said, repeating his earlier assertion now...

Death After Death 192-194

Ch. 192 - A Reunion of Sorts

“I told the sailors not to untie you lest you…Oh,” she exclaimed in surprise as she turned around and saw him, but even that was muted as she quickly buried it beneath the expression she used for formal occasions and at court. “What’s all this then? If you could have healed yourself at any moment, why not do so after the battle?”

The way she reacted to his miraculous reappearance was not what he’d hoped for. Even anger wo...

Brewing Bad Ch. 110-111

Ch. 110 - The Morning After (Part 2)

“Oh?” the Prince said, raising an eyebrow. “I’ll listen to your request, but I can’t promise you anything. I consider justice in this matter to be quite a gift already.”

A backhanded, self-centered one, certainly, Lucas agreed, mentally. The Prince was doing this because his interests were being threatened, not Lucas had almost lost his life. That was plain to everyone, but backtalk would not help with what...

Tenebroum PLUS Ch. 219-220

Ch. 219 - Free For All

Even though Tenebroum’s mortal enemy was approaching from somewhere over the horizon hours earlier than he normally would, the spirit of darkness felt no fear. Why should it? In a single stroke, it had just shattered the sky, murdered the moon, and snuffed out nearly every star. A few remained as they stood alone against the dark, but they only emphasized the darkness now, with their pathetic light, and it felt no need to move against them right...

Tenebroum Ch. 209-210

Ch. 209 - Primeval (Part 2)

When the Titan emerged from the hole into the depths at the center of Tenebroum’s lair, it was just part of the flood. Shadowy monstrosities raged past it in all directions. In the past, the Lich would have gone to great lengths to avoid letting its enemies encroach on its domain, but sometimes, enemies were best fought at the very heart of one's power, despite the risks. After all, it had been necessary for Siddrim; who was to say it wasn�...

Death After Death PLUS 199-201

Ch. 199 - A New Beginning

Later that evening, Simon was finally allowed to meet his son. Before that, though, he was given a tour of the palace he already knew reasonably well and shown the apartments he’d be living in until such time as Seyom was grown or the Queen grew dissatisfied with his performance. While he certainly didn’t expect the latter to apply, he did note that she’d given him a room at the top of the tower, furthest from her own bedchambers, which w...

Death After Death 189-191

Ch. 189 - Shifting Paths

Simon woke up in bed, in a dark room. At first, he feared he’d returned to the cabin, but when he didn’t feel the familiar lumps in that straw mattress, he calmed down. Well, woke was perhaps not the right word. His dreams tore at him violently, and he would have sworn that he’d woken up and fallen asleep for a week's worth of nights, but when he asked the gray-robed priestess about it, she said he was brought back only a few hours ago. 2025-01-13 14:56:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Brewing Bad Ch. 108-109

Ch. 108 - Alone with the Dragoness

“Actually, before we go back to your room for a drink, I need to stop by the Prince’s study,” Lucas said, grasping at straws. 

“A drink?” she laughed. “My dear boy, we’ll be doing a lot more than drinking…” 

She might have protested in a way that almost made him blush, but she didn’t actually stop him. Instead of going back to her chambers immediately, they stopped by the corner where the Princ...

Tenebroum PLUS Ch. 217-218

Ch. 217 - Something Missing

Something terrible was happening, but Jordan did not know what. He could barely even point to something specific, but that didn’t matter. What mattered were the things he couldn’t see or had glimpsed only briefly. 

“But the prophecy was fulfilled, and Malkezeen is no more,” he sighed, rubbing his eyes. “So what is this feeling?”

With a sun back in the sky for half the day, his job had become much easier. He no lon...

Tenebroum Ch. 207-208

Ch. 207 - Quenching the Forge

When all was in readiness, Tenebroum opened the floodgates and sent dozens of cubic yards a second cascading into the darkness below. In time, the river might run dry, but if that happened, thanks to its efforts to salt the river and weaken her further, the canal would not run dry until the oceans did. 

None of the spirits that swirled within the Lich had any idea how much water it would take to quench the fires of creation or wh...

Death After Death PLUS 196-198

Ch. 196 - Making A Mess

The first thing they did that morning was sweep with the straw brooms that had been brought for just this purpose. Bertrand had balked at that, but Simon had insisted it was a vital part of the process. It wasn’t, truthfully, but it would make what was coming next easier. 

Next, they went back up to the clifftop, and in the full light of day, Simon bid his student study the dark canyon floor below. “Tell me, Bertrand, do you see th...

Death After Death 186-188

Ch. 186 - Lay of the Land

Simon was gone before Ennis emerged from the tower, but he preferred it that way. He’d done a good deed, but there was no knowing how it would all play out from this point forward. The best of intentions could still have horrible effects, and Simon didn’t need all of those on his conscience. 

His only regret in all this was not finding out if the Viscount would have paid him or not. Simon would have bet not, but now he would neve...

Brewing Bad Ch. 106-107

Ch. 106 - A Gala Event

Even after Lucas walked Mr. Twee out and watched his carriage depart the fortress that afternoon, the adrenaline flowed through him. It was only when that was gone, and his heart rate had come back down to normal that he decided the gambit had been worth it. 

He was satisfied that the voice of that Goddess wasn’t just nonsense in his head now, and Lucas’s mind whirled with the possibilities of that insight. Sadly, there wasn’t tim...

Tenebroum PLUS Ch. 215-216

Ch. 215 - Among the Ashes

Krulm’venor was only slightly harder to find than the Shadow Drake had been. This was because his partial goblin nature blended in so much better with the green skins that infested the area, and his flames were so low that they weren’t much stronger than the bonfires that dotted the region. 

Both of these factors were complicated by the fact that the godling was broken into five different versions of itself. None of these were pa...

Tenebroum Ch. 205-206

Ch. 205 - A Chance Encounter

Leo planned on returning to his friends. He really did. He just had no interest in taking the direct way back to Wayward. That was both because he felt guilt for lingering so long away and fear that they might have already moved on.

He could face a horde of zombies now without blinking. He could fight abominations that would freeze most men twice his age in place with fear. What he had trouble with was the idea that he might go back on...

Death After Death PLUS 193-195

Ch. 193 - A Little Longer

“Eight years,” he sighed as he lay in his old bed, which Niko had so graciously lent to him after he’d come back. “I waited for five years only to be told to wait for another eight. Who does that?”

Part of him wanted to say fuck it and just leave, but he knew he couldn’t abandon his own child like that. Son, he corrected himself; Elthena seemed to be pretty certain she was going to have a son. She must have s...