The bell chimed.
Rielle finished grandstanding and turned to face him. She rolled her shoulders, her silver engraved spear catching the sunlight. A smile curved her lips, devoid of warmth.
"Don't lose too quickly." Her voice carried across the platform, pitched for the crowd. "I want to enjoy this."
Laughter...
2025-11-14 12:25:01 +0000 UTC View PostAUTHOR'S NOTE:
Thanks everyone for the great feedback and discussion on the previous chapter. I've taken some notes for potential future edits. Y'all are great. Thanks for reading.
Jon
Specialist Spinova's boot...
2025-11-13 12:25:01 +0000 UTC View PostAUTHOR'S NOTE:
Not going to lie... I'm a little proud of this one. Of what it took to get here. Of how it turned out. I know the story isn't perfect, and that it still needs a lot of work. But this a big moment for me. I hope you enjoy it too. Thanks for reading.
Jon
Caleb leaned against the earthen wall in the prep room, watching the other trainees go through their morning rituals. Some sharpened weapons that needed no sharpening. Others stretched muscles already loose. All of them avoided looking at the scrying mirror that would soon display their fates.
Corinne sat on a wooden be...
2025-11-11 12:25:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe stew sat between them, going cold.
Caleb watched the steam fade from the platter, the rich aroma of Gareth's cooking doing little to stir his appetite. His spoon pushed a chunk of meat through the broth, creating small eddies. Around them, the Hearthsong's common room bustled with celebration. A fiddle cut through t...
2025-11-10 12:25:02 +0000 UTC View PostAUTHOR'S NOTE:
A few revisions to remark on:
Thanks to Ihor's persistence getting through my thick skull, I did modify the prose in chapter 43 to more accurately reflect the tournament structure. Just simplified it. It'll be 10 fights a day for four days.
Thanks everyone for your feedback on...
2025-11-07 12:25:01 +0000 UTC View PostAUTHOR'S NOTE:
This is a spoiler warning. Don't open the .PDF attachment of the tournament bracket if you want to avoid any spoilers about what fights might be upcoming.
Based on Ihor's comment last chapter I'm uploading the tournament bracket to give those who want it a better idea of how this th...
2025-11-06 12:25:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe final bell rang, a single bronze chime cutting across the arena. The sound echoed once before dying into absolute silence. Caleb stood motionless, his spear tip hovering a hair's breadth from Finn's wide, terrified eye. The boy's mouth hung open, a scream trapped on his lips. The glittering silver motes of the shattered <...
2025-11-05 12:25:02 +0000 UTC View PostAUTHOR'S NOTE:
I'm genuinely stoked for you all to read this chapter. Thanks for being here!
Leo stumbled through the doorway like a man walking on clouds, his face ghostly pale, eyes distant with shock. His spear dr...
2025-11-04 12:25:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe prep room door swung open with a weary creak, breaking Caleb's contemplations. Captain Hatch held it, his expression impassive as he ushered the two combatants inside. Corinne entered first. Her face was flushed with exertion and her training leathers were scuffed, but her eyes blazed with a triumphant light that seemed t...
2025-11-03 12:25:02 +0000 UTC View PostCaleb pressed forward through the throng of nervous trainees, his boots thumping against the hard packed dirt floor of the prep room. The air was ripe with anticipation, and the earthy scent of leather oil mixed with fear-sweat. A scrying mirror dominated the far wall—a shimmering pane of polished silver offering a full, so...
2025-10-31 11:25:02 +0000 UTC View PostAUTHOR'S NOTE:
Thanks for all of the feedback I've been getting. Some good discussion in the comments, and the story is stronger for it (or in some cases will be stronger for it... when I have a chance to work on some of the bigger revisions).
Today's chapter will be the second installment of milestone 3's additio...
2025-10-30 11:25:02 +0000 UTC View PostJakob's Magnificent Market commanded the corner where two streets intersected, its brightly painted storefront impossible to miss. From his displays came the smells of oiled leather and polishing wax, a distinct island in the sea of festival aromas. The merchant himself stood outside his establishment like a carnival barker, ...
2025-10-29 11:25:01 +0000 UTC View PostAUTHOR'S NOTE:
This be the first installment of milestone 3's additional chapters. Next one on Thursday. Thanks for reading and supporting!
Jon
The blue interface materialized in the air before Caleb, filling h...
2025-10-28 11:25:01 +0000 UTC View PostAUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hey folks! Thank you all so very much for your support, and for reading this story. For those of you that might have missed it... The Sovereign's Toll reached the #1 spot on Rising Stars sometime my Saturday morning! Insane! Y'all are amazing!
And without further ado, I've got a few things to share ...
2025-10-27 11:25:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe stables were quiet, the air thick with the scent of hay and animals settling in for the evening. Rune lights carved into the central beam kept the space lit with a gentle glow. The main aisle was clear, its length occupied only by the soft sounds of horses shifting in their stalls. He found Corinne and Leo already waiting...
2025-10-24 11:27:02 +0000 UTC View PostCaleb pushed open the plain pine door, stepping out of the archive’s cramped, dusty air into the cool, orderly space of the main storeroom. The clean scent of the sterile storeroom was a pleasant change from the smell of old paper that had filled his nose. The hours of intense study left his muscles stiff while his mind buz...
2025-10-24 11:26:01 +0000 UTC View PostHis eyes followed along a line of dense, academic text as he murmured the words aloud. "The territorial range of a mature mosshide bear is directly proportional to the ambient spiritual energy of its chosen denning site." He leaned back in the rickety chair, which creaked ominously underneath him.
Kill me, this read...
2025-10-24 11:25:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe air in the garrison yard was different. Before, Caleb had been a ghost, an anonymous trainee lost in the ranks. Now, he was a landmark. As he moved through the pre-dawn air, a space cleared around him, a bubble of respect and fear that followed him like a shadow. Other trainees, their breath pluming before them, fell sile...
2025-10-22 11:25:02 +0000 UTC View Post"That sword," Caleb began as they walked away from Yorrin's Forge, his new spear balanced across his shoulder. "Flamewright. How did you do that?"
The image wouldn't leave him. One moment, empty air. The next, a legendary weapon materializing like it had stepped through an invisible doorway into reality. His brain fired...
2025-10-20 11:27:00 +0000 UTC View PostAs they left the forest, Selara glanced from the functional but unremarkable loaner spear in Caleb’s hand to the scuffed cuirass on his torso. “You look like you tried to hug a mosshide bear and it hugged back. My usual suppliers don't deal in... beginner's kits. I know a place.”
They walked back toward the villag...
2025-10-20 11:26:01 +0000 UTC View PostCaleb's legs trembled as he lowered his practice spear, muscles screaming from the morning's drills. The garrison yard felt different after Captain Hatch's dismissal—quieter, heavy with the lingering ache of pushed limits. His breath misted in the dawn air as he rolled his shoulders, trying to work out the knots.
"I d...
2025-10-20 11:25:02 +0000 UTC View PostBlood had dried on Caleb's shirt in rusty patches. Mud caked his boots, and the acrid smell of goblin fluids clung to his clothes. He stepped through Deadfall's gates, his stride even and measured, ignoring the curious stares from evening merchants packing their stalls.
The broken spear in his hand drew every eye. Where...
2025-10-19 11:25:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe scraping grew closer. Three distinct sets of claws against stone, spreading out to flank him. Caleb's perception faltered, the beam flickering like a dying candle. His shattered right arm hung useless. Blood seeped steadily from the gouges in his side, each breath a knife between his ribs.
Move. Fight. Something...
2025-10-18 11:25:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe roar tore through the cavern again, closer, vibrating through the stone beneath Caleb's feet. Dust cascaded from invisible heights. Whatever made that sound was massive, and it was moving. Fast.
Run!
He spun on his heel, his only thought to flee back through the tunnel he’d come from, back toward th...
2025-10-17 11:25:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe world vanished.
One moment, the blinding glare of two suns baking the quarry stone; the next, a suffocating blanket of absolute black. The sudden plunge from overwhelming light into a void left phantom lights dancing behind his eyes. The air grew still and frigid, thick with the smell of wet rock and rotting meat. 2025-10-16 11:25:01 +0000 UTC View Post
The scarred goblin's claw remained pointed at Caleb, steady as an executioner's blade. Another guttural bark. The pack moved.
The walls were too steep to scale quickly, and they'd already surrounded him before appearing. He was trapped.
The goblins poured nimbly down the sheer wall. The bulk of them, maybe eight o...
2025-10-15 11:25:01 +0000 UTC View PostHe committed. Pouring stamina from his body into his legs, Caleb executed a [Dash]. The ten feet of gravel separating them vanished in a blur of motion. The world compressed into a tunnel, his spear point aimed directly at the goblin’s heart.
But in that fraction of a second before impact, its pale ey...
2025-10-14 11:25:01 +0000 UTC View PostThis is it.
The thought rang through Caleb's mind as he stood before Deadfall's main gates. Morning mist still clung to the ground, giving the world beyond the walls an ethereal quality. His breath formed small clouds in the cool air.
The guards on duty barely glanced his way. They leaned on their spears ...
2025-10-13 11:25:01 +0000 UTC View Post"Look what the mist dragged in. Come to beg for more handouts, dull-ear?"
Branson's voice cut through the noise of the Adventurer's Hall like a rusty blade. The drunk adventurer sprawled at the bar, his bloodshot eyes tracking Caleb's entrance with the intense malice of a predator spotting wounded prey.
Caleb didn...
2025-10-12 11:25:01 +0000 UTC View Post
