azaleaellis

AMA (Ask Me Anything) #2 Early Access Open

Hey guys!

As mentioned, during this hiatus I'm doing an AMA to tide you guys over and give back to my lovely community of readers.

I will answer questions next Thursday, May 1, from 12:00 to 3:00pm UTC-6. To give more people a chance to be involved, I'm allowing everyone to post ONE question in advance. Those who are there live may get to ask additional questions if I can answer the pre-loaded ones fast enough. Only questions posted on the Alcove will be answered.

Chapter 254 - A Crown of Madness

Siobhan 

Month 9, Day 23, Thursday 3:00 p.m.

It took a couple days of preparation before Siobhan felt safe enough to attempt the crown of madness. Most of that time was spent waiting for Oliver’s contacts to give them some portable and very specific wards based on some of the more unusual containment spells she had read about in the restricted archives. Siobhan wasn’t good enough with artificery or warding to even fully understand them, let alone create the wards her...

Chapter 253 - No Way Out

Siobhan 

Month 9, Day 20, Monday 11:00 p.m.

After Analyst Hite let her go and the rain stopped, Siobhan did not go back to Liza’s. Instead, she turned around and headed for one of the few dozen places across the city that she knew was safe to stop and change forms in. 

She mulled over her latest problem along the way, too overwhelmed to be truly panicked. There was only so much stress that a human body could take before it became numb. She had three months to pro...

Chapter 252 - Red Guard Pressure

Siobhan 

Month 9, Day 20, Monday 10:40 p.m.

‘Is that even Liza with the light on in her apartment, or was it one of them, waiting for me?’ Siobhan wondered. She closed her eyes and listened to the crashing noise of the rain for a moment. It was exhausting to be so wary all the time, and there were so many dangers to juggle. Too many. ‘If I make it past tonight, something has to change. I cannot go on like this.’ 

Siobhan didn’t run....

Chapter 251 - Sudden Showers

Sebastien

Month 9, Day 16, Friday 2:00 p.m.

The next day, Sebastien left the Order’s headquarters. Damien and Deidre had argued with increasing passion about who she should stay with until she put her foot down and picked Damien. In part, this was just to keep him from becoming even more suspicious of their strange behavior and suspecting a possible connection between Sebastien and the Order. She had no reasonable excuse to want to stay with these people, and she was still far f...

Chapter 250 - A Pig Teammate

Oliver

Month 9, Day 17, Friday 6:00 p.m.

Oliver slowed his horse to a walk as he approached Gilbratha’s north-western entrance tunnel. The line was long, and as the tunnel itself was fairly narrow, moving slowly. But it was still easier than trying to take a horse—even an Erythrean—through the northern lake access, which required getting onto and off of a barge. His eyes kept being drawn up to the white cliffs, like most of the people entering the city. When one had been liv...

Chapter 249 - Eunoia

Sebastien

Month 9, Day 12, Sunday

The process of sewing her mind back together was painful, precarious, and exhausting. Once Sebastien had started, the smooth edges of the memetic surgery wound in her mind were left frayed. They would further unravel and cause more damage if not tended to immediately, so she couldn’t stop. She wasn’t sure how long it took. 

The other half of her Will had retained a ghostly version of her original memories, but they were damaged and...

Chapter 248 - The Key to an Unknown Lock

Damien

Month 9, Day 12, Sunday 9:00 a.m.

Damien worked with Ana to shove Sebastien’s somewhat larger frame into the stranger’s carriage, and all three of them climbed in after him. “It is Will-strain,” he admitted, his heart aching with every too-fast, panicked beat. “But you’re not in danger unless Sebastien tries to cast something.” 

“‘M not that stupid,” Sebastien slurred. 

“We need a mind healer, then?” the middle-aged woman asked....

Chapter 247 - Bifurcation

Siobhan

Month 9, Day 12, Sunday 7:00 a.m.

Siobhan woke to a mind—a self—tearing itself in two. 

Most of her remembered coming to wait for Thaddeus, hoping to discuss the situation with the emergency shelters that had become obvious to her the day before, and then ending up waiting a very long time indeed. But a piece of her Will, more separate from the rest than any part of her had ever been, remembered differently. 

This other version of events was dream...

Chapter 246 - Perfidious

Thaddeus

Month 9, Day 12, Sunday 4:00 a.m.

Thaddeus panicked for a moment when Siobhan seemingly threw herself to her death. Despite knowing that she was a powerful thaumaturge, some instincts were hard to break. 

Soon after she began to fall, she had taken out that strange pseudo-tome that Sebastien developed and sprouted ephemeral wings of condensed air. They were cast weakly, but were enough to slow her. 

Just as she had begun to show a hint of gliding rat...

Chapter 243 - Delaying Tactics (NEW)

Author Note 2/27/25: You may notice the chapter numbering has changed. I originally wanted to put an Interlude at this point in the story, but then decided there wasn’t enough content for a full chapter, since I wanted the contents of “The Dark Descent” to be from Siobhan’s POV.

But I decided to go ahead and add it after some more time to think. I have also added well over a thousand words combined to chapters 241, 242, and the newly re-numbered chapter 244. This has helped to a...

Chapter 245 - The Womb and the Grave

Siobhan

Month 9, Day 12, Sunday 3:50 a.m.

On the other side of the strange cloak-window to elsewhere, Siobhan climbed to her feet. Everything was deeply, existentially wrong, and she had opened her mouth to scream out in pain and fear when the thing at her side reached out and took her hand. 

And suddenly, she wasn’t so sure what had been wrong. Somewhat embarrassed, she closed her open mouth and turned her mind to observation. 

Here, the thing was no longe...

Chapter 244 - The Dark Descent

Siobhan

Month 9, Day 12, Sunday 3:45 a.m.

Siobhan raised her right hand with the palm outward as shadow coated the appendage like a liquid. While Thaddeus’s attention was drawn to this seeming attack, her other hand reached into her boot and pulled out the thin knife sheathed inside. In one smooth motion, she drew it and stabbed it at the side of his knee.

His automatic shield spell popped out again, stopping her thrust as if the knife in her hand were the wrong side of a ...

Chapter 242 - Icarus Burning

Siobhan

Month 9, Day 12, Sunday 3:25 a.m.

Siobhan turned to run, and Thaddeus sprinted after her. As she had guessed before, he was quicker. His legs were longer, and each step propelled him forward with more strength. She managed to get the second fleetfoot potion up to her lips and drink it without choking, but that only let her slightly exceed his speed. 

“Titans damn you, Siobhan,” he cursed in a low voice between gasps for air.

For a moment, she considere...

Chapter 241 - A Desperate Escape

Siobhan

Month 9, Day 12, Sunday 3:15 a.m.

‘The question I asked is not allowed,’ Siobhan thought as she raced into the darkness. She fumbled the light coaster out and used it to shine the way, confident that Thaddeus couldn’t see it through the shadow-familiar billowing out to fill the space left behind. ‘The Red Guard has decided that those who know must die.’ She would leave trying to figure out why, exactly, for a less critical moment. Thadd...

Chapter 240 - Violation

Siobhan

Month 9, Day 12, Sunday 3:00 a.m.

For some reason, Siobhan couldn’t force her mouth to form the words of the question she really wanted to ask. Instead, she said, “Thaddeus, you are a special agent, correct? I am unsure of the exact nature of and responsibilities carried by that title within the Red Guard. Why were you involved with this Aberrant incident? You are not on an emergency response team; you have a position at the University. Was t...

Delay Notice

Hey guys,

I have been extremely ill, and even now barely have the energy to sit here typing this note. There won't be a chapter this Thursday, and probably not next Thursday, either. I'm just too sick to write.

This setback comes at a rather unfortunate and critical time, as this book should be finished and published soon. It means I am going to have to delay the release date, too, if I want to have time for proper proofreading. I'll update you guys with more details when I have t...

Chapter 239 - A Shroud of Lace

Siobhan

Month 9, Day 12, Sunday 1:00 a.m.

Siobhan stopped on the wide street in front of the canal entrance through the northern white cliffs and looked around for anyone out late enough to notice her. 

Pain prickled up through Siobhan’s shoulders, into her neck and the base of her skull. With a wince, she rolled her neck and rubbed at her muscles, trying to relieve some of the tightness. Her eyes were dry and faintly gritty, but neither blinking nor yawn...

Chapter 238 - Beneath Walls of Stone

Damien

Month 9, Day 11, Saturday 11:15 a.m.

Damien picked up a paper from a scruffy-looking boy hawking at the corner, but refused the follow up attempt to cell him “high quality” foreign cigars. Damien didn’t consider himself an athlete or a prospective professional duelist, but he still didn’t fancy having his lung capacity reduced or having to take a lung-clearing potion to strip away tar buildup. 

He frowned at the headline as he flagged a carri...

Chapter 237 - Harrow Hill Archives

Author Note 12/26: As I somewhat anticipated and mentioned the chapter before last, holiday gatherings have taken the place of my writing time this week. I still managed to write most of the chapter but it needs an ending and some edits. It should be up by tomorrow afternoon instead of today.

Damien

Month 9, Day 11, Saturday 11:00 a.m.

Damien left Harrow Hill’s old archive room, leaving behind the two administrative interns that he’d commandeered for...

Chapter 236 - Conceptual Beings

Siobhan

Month 9, Day 11, Saturday 1:00 a.m.

Siobhan returned to her forbidden research on shamanry, where she was systematically working her way through all the texts she could find that dealt with the subject. She still felt that the practice was unpleasantly wishy-washy and poorly documented by its practitioners, but was nevertheless becoming something of a theoretical expert in the craft. As she finished one book, she picked up the next in her quickly dwindling lis...

Chapter 235 - Dream Messages

Siobhan

Month 9, Day 8, Wednesday 9:00 p.m.

Siobhan—disguised as yet another alternate version of her female form—took a rather nice carriage from Liza’s to the Undreaming Order headquarters. It cost a couple of extra silvers, but she was tired of walking back and forth across what felt like the entire city over and over. She was, technically, rich now, and could afford to pamper her weary feet. Even if the idea of paying for unnecessary things like suspension s...

Chapter 234 - Spite

Siobhan

Month 9, Day 6, Monday 3:00 a.m.

Siobhan looked back to the tasteful nude of her other form drawn in Myrddin’s journal. “It does look a little like him,” she admitted, trying to keep her voice from cracking with nerves. She must have succeeded, because Thaddeus flicked a glance to Grandmaster Kiernan and then helped her turn to the next section of pages. 

The older man had stationed himself on the other side of Thaddeus despite the dist...

Chapter 233 - A Sexy Statue

Sebastien

Month 9, Day 5, Sunday 10:00 a.m.

Sebastien wasted no time sitting down to review the modifications Liza had made to the sleep-proxy spell. She closed her eyes and ran through the whole solo casting process in her head to make sure she had a firm grasp on it. Visualization wasn’t as useful as actual practice, but it was a good secondary method when one needed to minimize the chances of screwing up.

Then, she heaved a deep sigh, let out a few childish...

Chapter 232 - The River of Oblivion

Siobhan

Month 9, Day 4, Saturday 2:00 a.m.

After their end-of-term celebratory dinner, Sebastien herded and packed her drunk companions into carriages headed for their respective homes, then took a couple of hours to safely switch to her other body. As Siobhan, she returned to the University in the dead of night. 

She stopped at the base of the cliffs and tested to see if the fake version of Archmage Zard’s token would work to activate the transport tubes...

Chapter 231 - Round Table

Gera

Month 9, Day 4, Saturday 8:00 a.m.

Gera’s constantly running divination took in the others sitting at the round table they had set up in the center of the Undreaming Order’s second floor. Deidre, Anders with his dog lying by the foot of his chair, Jackal, Martha, Sharon, Enforcer Turner, the artificer Liza, and Healer Nidson were all in attendance.

Most, like Gera, were there representing the most dedicated members of the Undreaming Order, though the la...

Chapter 230 - A Lesson in Violence

Author Note: I added a few hundred words of duel preparation to the previous chapter when a reader comment reminded me I'd forgotten to mention some important things. I hope you won't mind too much that this happens as you guys are reading my first-ish drafts right now rather than my second or third drafts.

Sebastien

Month 9, Day 3, Friday 3:35 p.m.

Pendragon hadn’t gained a point on Sebastien, so waiting for her to regain her footing was not a require...

Chapter 229 - Dueling the High Crown's Heir

Sebastien

Month 9, Day 3, Friday 2:15 p.m.

Sebastien felt like the world was spinning around her. She wanted to rest her head on her knees while things settled, but instead looked desperately between Professor Lacer and the High Crown, as if one of them could free her.

The High Crown and her mentor were staring, unblinking, at each other. Professor Lacer wore a small smile and an unusually friendly expression. The High Crown looked constipated, if anything.

Chapter 228 - Vendetta

Sebastien

Month 9, Day 3, Friday 1:40 p.m.

Sebastien and her friends arrived at their reserved seats in the temporary amphitheatre, a grand structure of white stone drawn up from the ground for the huge crowds that came to watch the Defense exhibitions. The air buzzed with excitement as spectators filed in, their chatter filling the space. Massive mirrors, sympathetically connected to those within the test area, dominated the center of the amphitheatre. For the moment...

Chapter 227 - Demonstrations of Skill and Power

Sebastien

Month 9, Day 1, Wednesday 2:00 p.m.

Wednesday afternoon, while she and her friends were hanging about, Sebastien was asked to fill in for a third exhibition, this time for Natural Science. This time, they gave her a couple hours of advance notice. Several of her friends were intrigued and decided to follow her.

“This isn’t fair,” Damien complained. “Why are they scheduling exhibitions when they know the students are going to be in exams?” Som...