Vir startled awake, drenched in something cold. Shivering, he looked around to regain his bearings. Neel licked his face, staring at him with those big beady eyes of his.
What happened? He thought, pushing the bandy back. Panic swelled within him. Badrak’s Balls! The duel!
Vir sat up, katar in hand, ready to defend against Riyan’s impending attack.
Instead, he found Maiya, ...
2023-02-02 04:19:59 +0000 UTC View PostVir struggled and strained. For the first time since the Godshollow, he feared he wouldn’t survive. Perhaps… perhaps he had finally met his match.
Scrubbing away for hours on the kitchen countertop, mopping its floors, and polishing the myriad of glasses within. Vir was no stranger to chores, but Maiya? Less so. Her baleful stares ...
2023-02-02 04:15:09 +0000 UTC View PostVir sat cross-legged under the leafless tree that had quickly become his and Maiya’s ‘spot’. His friend was off doing who-knew-what, leaving him alone under the searing heat of the midday sun with his trusty four legged companion. The bare tree did little to protect either of them. Beads of sweat dribbled down Vir’s forehead.
L...
2023-02-02 01:30:14 +0000 UTC View Post“Wait here,” Riyan commanded, leaving Vir and Maiya in the hallway as he disappeared into his bedroom. Neither of them had seen the inside of his room.
“What do you think he hides in there?” Maiya asked.
“Why do you think he’s hiding something?” Vir held plenty of suspicion for the man, but the contents of Riyan’s...
2023-02-02 01:27:55 +0000 UTC View PostVir and Maiya fell silent on the ride home after Riyan’s combat demonstration. Maiya brooded over magic, while Vir couldn’t keep his mind off of the Talents Riyan had shown him. Was this his path to power? Or would he find he lacked aptitude for Talents as well? He wasn’t overly optimistic, given his prior luck.
“We wi...
2023-02-02 00:16:18 +0000 UTC View Post
“Vir? Vir, wake up!” Maiya said, shaking her friend.
He awoke with a jolt, drenched in sweat.
“You were sleep talking…” Maiya murmured. “Sounded like a nightmare.”
Morning light filtered in through the skylight. The burns on his back still throbbed, but they hurt slightly less than the day before. Riyan’s salves and healing orbs were working, albeit slowly.
“It’s alright now. You’re ...
2023-02-02 00:14:12 +0000 UTC View Post
“You are still here,” Riyan said, walking up to the two friends sitting at the front door of his abode. He was tall, and built like an Ash’va, with no trace of excess fat anywhere. “I commend you for not running off. Of course, you couldn’t have, even if you had tried.”
“So you were going to stop us,” Maiya said.
The broad-shouldered man shook his head. “No. You would hav...
2023-02-02 00:12:35 +0000 UTC View Post
Vir awoke to dark and earthen surroundings. The only light in the room filtered in through small openings high above, with the Godshollow nowhere in sight.
He shifted and realized he was on a small bed inside what looked like a dome of clay. He sat up, but immediately regretted it.
“Ugh…” Pain shot through his body, and the slightest movement aggravated it.
But pain he could deal with. What was wor...
2023-02-02 00:10:08 +0000 UTC View Post
Terror fueled Vir’s breaths. Blood surged through his legs.
Together with Maiya, he tore through the Godshollow faster than he ever had. Gone were any thoughts of exhaustion. What remained was a deep-seated desire to live. To survive.
Barking, Neel leaped to intercept the bandy that had pounced upon his master. Vir didn’t even have the luxury to turn around and stop. He just ran. Vir &n...
2023-02-02 00:08:47 +0000 UTC View Post
The day started with a rustle and a chill.
After having spent much of the night on guard duty, Rudvik entered the tent as quietly as he could manage—which was to say, not quietly at all—to cook up some breakfast.
Neither Vir nor Maiya had gotten much sleep, so they were already up when he handed them bowls of hot soup through the tent’s door. Vir had so many thoughts on his mind that fal...
2023-02-02 00:08:13 +0000 UTC View Post
Vir’s reply caught in his throat. Worse, tears started to roll down his face. “I didn’t know,” he managed.
He was named after Rudvik’s stillborn child. Had Rudvik pinned the same hopes on him as he had his stillborn son? What kind of torture had Rudvik been through following the death of his wife and child?
“Ye, well, not ta kind of story that oughta be told. That oughta ever be told,” he...
2023-02-02 00:06:24 +0000 UTC View Post
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Vir had spent so many cycles in the Godshollow that he could almost navigate it blindfolded… during the day. At night? That was a whole different story.
As he plodded through the inky darkness, boots crunching twigs and leaves underfoot, Vir felt like he was in completely foreign surroundings. Majestic trees that should’ve signposted his way stood sinister and foreb...
2023-02-02 00:04:29 +0000 UTC View Post
Vir never knew that three hours could feel like such an eternity. After agonizing alone in silence, Rudvik had finally shown up with Apramor and Maiya. Now they all huddled over the dining table.
“Well? Why’re all these knights really here? I don’t buy this ‘routine inspection’ grakkery they’re spouting,” Rudvik said.
“Hmm, why indeed…” Apramor paused, giving Vir a worried glance. ...
2023-02-02 00:02:16 +0000 UTC View Post
The villagers of Brij always enjoyed a spectacle, and for good reason. Drama was usually limited to gossip about this year’s crop yield, or at the very worst, someone’s husband looking the wrong way at someone else’s wife. But that was a rare event.
Something like the arrival of mounted soldiers? Now that was gossip material for years to come. Vir was sure many Brijers were looking fo...
2023-02-02 00:01:43 +0000 UTC View Post
“You sure you wanna be here?” Vir asked as he walked through the ancient Godshollow with Maiya and Neel.
Their boots crunched on the dry leaves that blanketed the forest floor. Thousand-year-old trees the width of Vir’s home towered over them, disappearing into the sky. He breathed it all in—the crisp scent of pine, the smell of ancient bark, and the sweet morning dew. The forest never failed to f...
2023-02-01 23:59:13 +0000 UTC View Post
Aliscia grasped Vir’s shoulders and stared at him with her hazel eyes. “Even if you are prana scorned, what of it? I don’t have any affinities myself and I manage just fine, don’t I? Vir, there are many paths through life, even for those who aren’t good at magic,” she said with the warm smile of a mother.
“Well sure, but magic makes things easier.” Magic gets you respect. “...
2023-02-01 23:54:01 +0000 UTC View Post
The Ashen Realm. Year 3744 of the Age of Realms.
Primordial Ekanai would live again.
They called him the Reaper, but as he crossed the gate between realms, Ekanai feared it was his own life that would be reaped in this world of volcanoes and ash. Not in the warmth of his home, surrounded by family and fellow warriors, but alone, in a rocky wasteland of jagged peaks and barren plains...
2023-02-01 23:46:43 +0000 UTC View Post
