Chapter 7 - Inconvenience
“Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.”
- The Buddha.
For the past two nights, Seraphina had wasted precious time—time she could scarcely afford—waiting for her mysterious guests from the Empire. She had thought herself well-prepared, stationing her knights in conce...
2025-02-06 14:23:52 +0000 UTC View Post
Artists could not quite get it right so I did the initial concept myself. Going to send this to another artist to get cleaned up and do the hands properly. Might make it a bit blockier and less smooth. Think Chaos fantasy warrior with gold trim.
2025-02-05 10:27:51 +0000 UTC View PostBook 2: Chapter 6 - Informants
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Seraphina set aside the latest letter from her friend, Michelié, slipping it into the drawer where she kept unimportant correspondence. The chubby girl had been absolutely bubbling over the newest candies tha...
2025-02-05 06:29:06 +0000 UTC View PostA wise warrior does not burden himself with more blades than his hands can wield, nor does he train beyond the needs of his duty. To hoard weapons without purpose invites paranoia; to practice endlessly without cause wastes one’s strength. The farmer sharpens his plow, not a hundred swords, for his task is to till the earth, not wage war. ...
2025-02-04 06:16:29 +0000 UTC View PostPatience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
- Aristotle
At first, he had been stunned by his own death. He remembered it, the logical fact of it. But still, shock churned into displeasure, and displeasure ignited into anger. Finally, weary acceptance settled over him like a shroud. He, the so-called “Megas,” had truly ...
2025-02-03 08:02:19 +0000 UTC View PostBook 2: Chapter 5 - Brawl
The war started at the behest of the elves when they were still one people. The First Children spoke of the great devourer, the herald of the end that would consume all things and leave this world a shriveled, cold husk of rock. They predicted that Mana, the god-gift which flowed through all t...
2025-02-01 06:36:49 +0000 UTC View Post
Seraphina singing to lure Ibn.
2025-01-31 06:03:41 +0000 UTC View PostBook 2: Chapter 4 - The Quest
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
- Voltaire
The security at other guard posts around the thieves’ hideout proved as laughable as the first. With Serap...
2025-01-30 13:09:09 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 21 - Of Mice & Men
She hated the sun by day—too bright by far. She hated herself even more for the envy she felt toward what she had come to love. Everything came too easily to him, including her own regard, and that knowledge cut like a knife. Had it been a one-sided fancy, she could have let it go—a p...
2025-01-29 16:08:55 +0000 UTC View PostThe Everdark is not merely a labyrinth of shadows beneath the known lands—it is a realm where night itself is born and perpetually thrives. In the endless gloom below, ancient caverns coil like serpents, twisting and turning in labyrinthian confusion.
Within these colossal chambers and winding tunnels, giant fun...
2025-01-28 13:48:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Seraphina meets one of her minions.
2025-01-27 14:47:22 +0000 UTC View Post“I have spent countless hours in tireless study, poring over ancient tomes and conducting experiments beyond number, all to discover why those blessed with sharper wits wield deeper wells of Mana. The answer, in the end, was disarmingly simple and strangely elegant: a portion of the mind must remain ever at work, ceaselessly sorting...
2025-01-27 14:17:01 +0000 UTC View PostI am under a lot of pressure to outright remove a lot of the racist comments from Gilgamesh story. I think it is a very essential part of his character that his modern values are essentially very skin deep and slip as soon as he is under pressure. I think removing this just makes him a bog standard angry dude. What do you guys think? For the lov...
2025-01-27 13:28:59 +0000 UTC View PostBook 2: Chapter 3 - Abattoir
"Tragedy springs from the mortal struggle against the inevitable—sickness, strife, and the certainty of death. Comedy, however, arises from the absurdity of our own pursuits, as we are blinded by love, consumed by greed, ruled by lust, and deceived by the illusion of power."
The maid fighting in the forest.
2025-01-22 23:19:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Seraphina realizes she is in another world.
2025-01-22 23:16:07 +0000 UTC View PostBook 2: Chapter 2 - Beneath the City
Stir not murky waters if you know not the depth or the creatures that dwell within.
- Bryan Davis.
“All right, I’ll ready the men. You’ll need an escort. Knowing you, milady, we’ll be venturing headlong into peril,” Frest declared with a we...
2025-01-22 23:07:41 +0000 UTC View Post“In the manner that the Goddess wields twin blades, we too carry two edges of the mind: the longsword of reason and the short blade of insight. The wise cultivate skill with both, that no challenge may find them unprepared.”
- Attributed to Cardinal Mauros.
A tentative knock on the door interrupted my...
2025-01-21 06:23:08 +0000 UTC View Post
Seraphina fighting zombies in the dungeon before facing the banshee.
2025-01-21 00:34:38 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 1 - New Horizons
"He who yields at every new obstacle soon beholds only his own frailty. Yet the one who endures sows the seeds of true strength and a harvest of self-respect."
- A Quassian Aphorism.
Sipping fragrant tea on the gently rocking gondola—called a serenelle 2025-01-19 03:36:48 +0000 UTC View Post
And the Prophet, peace be upon him, taught to us the greatest of magic that we might smite the enemies of man.
- Imani the Blessed of the Faith.
Larynda worked with her usual precision, helping me into my gear faster than I thought possible. Her fingers moved deftly, tightening straps and adjusting buckles with the confide...
2025-01-17 06:13:52 +0000 UTC View Post
Mirae slapping the policeman back on earth.
2025-01-16 18:31:28 +0000 UTC View PostThere you go! Now I need to go back and do some editing!
Epilogue
For the first week after she “awoke,” she wandered in a dense fog of confusion. She had no idea where she was, who these people around her were, or why her head throbbed with scattered fragments of memories she couldn’t fully piece tog...
Well guys, it was quite a ride! This is the final chapter of Book 1! Thank you all for reading!
Chapter 50 - A Return to Academia
The closing pages of a courtesan’s are that of a withering flower. Beautiful color and fragrance are forever soon lost, with nobody caring to spare the once subtle bloom a second gla...
2025-01-13 08:47:35 +0000 UTC View PostBetween the twin islands of Quas and Qis stretches the Grey Sea—so named not for any hue in the water, but for the valiant Lord Admiral Grey, whose daring voyage first brought the islands to the attention of the Aranthian realm. It is said that Grey, resolute in spirit, navigated treacherous straits where fog and foam birthed endless ambus...
2025-01-11 10:30:04 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 49 - Showdown
Let parents bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence.
- Plato.
Never before in her life had Seraphina felt such dread. She stood before her mother’s boudoir door, shoulders hunched as if trying to make herself small. The moment of we...
2025-01-09 05:48:32 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 48 - Homecoming
“Each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. To experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it.
- Judy Blume.
It was called the Beast Lore ...
2025-01-08 05:51:22 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 47 - The Reward
Jewelry speaks without saying anything. They are more than precious metals or stones. These objects might have a few or thousands of stories. The significance will not always be apparent, especially to those of lower breeding, to those seeing the jewelry but will remain evident to the wearer. 2025-01-07 02:00:26 +0000 UTC View Post
