Author's Note: Seems I'm on something of a nine-day cycle. I tried to hold this one for a bit to finish the next chapter, but it's not at a place where I'm satisfied with it yet--probably should have just shared this one when it was done. Trying to get the next one out ASAP, but want to make sure it's g...
2024-06-02 15:16:01 +0000 UTC View PostAs powerful as the wave of Firmament heading toward us is, it's not focused. It breaks against my barriers like a tide of water breaking against a dam. The damage it does is still immense enough to shatter all six folds of the Hexfold Barrier, but it can't quite get through the Crystallized Barrier I've set up behind...
2024-05-24 16:17:30 +0000 UTC View PostVahrkos is in the most danger. Whatever that general does to him in the fight I foresaw, it's enough to damage his Firmament, and it's the kind of damage that sticks across loops. I don't know if subloops created by Once More Into the Fray count in the same way, but I have to assume that they do; the only thing ...
2024-05-24 16:07:07 +0000 UTC View PostAuthor's Note: One longer chapter today.
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Fear, Gheraa had to admit, was an entirely new sensation for him.
He wasn't sure he liked it. It made his Firmament flicker with silver. Silver! It was gaudy at best, really, and it made it very, very difficult for him to properly use...
2024-05-15 15:38:49 +0000 UTC View PostHe-Who-Wanders was not suited for diplomacy.
In all fairness, very few of those he considered to be the core rebels were actually suited for diplomacy. Bimar was more likely to start a fight than not; Thys and Thaht were too excitable and too impatient respectively; Miktik was an utterly terrible liar; Vah...
2024-05-08 13:41:52 +0000 UTC View PostAuthor's Notes: Two this week; 56 and 57. Thanks for waiting! I'm trying out something a little tricky. Excited about pulling these together in 58.
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Tarin struggled. Light-purple bands of Firmament strung themselves around his wings, and every movement caused them to burn through his feathe...
2024-05-08 13:40:57 +0000 UTC View PostEpilogue 1 - Home
"Commune time!" Max cheered. Xothok stared at her, and the Guildmaster just grinned; she stared with pride at the network of homes they'd built. It was better than a traditional branch of the Adventurers' Guild by far. Building, it turned out, was a lot easier when everyone was on the...
A/N: Short chapter. Epilogues coming soon--5 epilogues in total, and maybe more short stories placed in there when I feel like writing them. Thanks to everyone who's stayed for the journey so far! It means a lot to have you all here with me.
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Fortunately, it wasn't long before the Guildmaster s...
2024-05-04 16:20:46 +0000 UTC View Post"It's just something the Interface does," Gheraa says, grimacing. "I don't have a good answer for you there. We think it has something to do with how the Interface draws from past Trialgoers as a template for new features or implementations—in the same way, it probably draws on people connected with it to create Remnants. O...
2024-04-30 16:33:34 +0000 UTC View Post"You've noticed by now that Firmament is layered," Gheraa says. "Imbuement stones are even labeled that way by the Interface—by its 'depth'. The deeper you sink into Firmament, the closer you get to its true nature."
"Mysterious," I say, raising an eyebrow. "This have anything to do with what I sensed earlier?"
...
2024-04-30 16:32:44 +0000 UTC View PostJust wanted you guys to know I've edited chapters 52 and 53 a bunch (they're both 3k+ chapters now). I'll summarize the changes further down in this post if you don't want to reread the chapters. 54 will be coming tomorrow since it's also a longer-than-usual chapter, maybe along with 55 depending on how this toothache decide...
2024-04-29 15:46:23 +0000 UTC View PostClick.
Derivan watched curiously as they were brought to a new place within the Void. There was nothing here, technically—nothing except a small pedestal built into the ground. Not that there was any ground here. A visible gear poked out of a slot on the pedestal, clicking periodically as some s...
2024-04-29 15:33:56 +0000 UTC View PostSev's mind caught on a thought he'd had a moment ago. He struggled to pull it back.
There was no one left to assume the responsibility of connecting to the Grand Anchor. No one but him.
Responsibility.
The Grand Anchor grew warm in his arms. The area around him, so small it had begun to press ...
2024-04-28 14:40:33 +0000 UTC View PostDerivan, Vex, and Misa sat just outside the warehouse Sev was in.
The ground crumbled away in front of them. Their legs dangled off a sheer cliff that dropped down into nothingness, dangerously close to the Void. Vex leaned into Derivan's side, and Derivan wrapped an arm around his boyfriend's shoulders, marveling at th...
2024-04-28 14:35:41 +0000 UTC View PostThere was one hour left, and Sev didn't feel like he was any closer.
Derivan, Vex, and Misa had all left the building to try to help calm people's nerves, and to see if there was anything they could do to make this bit of reality last longer. Vex and Misa were trying to channel their Grand Anchors into something 2024-04-27 15:37:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Twenty-one hours had passed.
Sev and the rest of his party members were housed in a small building in Anderstahl—formerly a small industrial workshop, now converted into a temporary residence. It had originally been for the refugees, but Sev and several others had insisted on taking it and giving the refugees their be...
2024-04-27 15:37:05 +0000 UTC View PostSev raced back toward the train, pocketing the stone. He'd think about it later. "We need to hurry," he said, pulling a startled Ixoryn and Tinsel with him. "Not much time left."
"Were you not repairing it for the express purpose of having time?" A perplexed Ixoryn asked.
"We had hours left when I repaired it. The...
2024-04-25 16:16:25 +0000 UTC View PostThe Void felt cold around Sev.
It wasn't really cold, of course. The Void wasn't really anything. It was an emptiness that ate away at everything of substance within it—the result of the natural decay of the fabric of reality itself.
But it felt cold. That was the nature of the Void. In the absence...
2024-04-23 15:54:14 +0000 UTC View Post"First," Gheraa says. "You have to understand what the Interface is."
There's a pause. Gheraa stares at me expectantly, and after a moment passes, I open one eye to look at him. "What is it?" I ask, because Gheraa is clearly waiting for me to prompt him. He rolls his shoulders once, then takes a deep breath, like he's p...
2024-04-22 16:10:17 +0000 UTC View PostI haven't looped. I think.
The I think is kind of a weird qualifier, I know. I'm pretty sure I'm not dead, but I'm also not entirely convinced I'm still alive. Best guess is that I'm in some kind of coma, or otherwise in some sort of transitional state, like when I managed my first Phase-Shift or when I'm picki...
2024-04-22 16:07:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe core of a dungeon wasn't a place that was normally accessible to delvers. They existed as a kind of grounding point for reality anchors—a storm of unstable reality and crumbling debris, often both able and willing to defend itself from delvers. And that was if they could be found. They were hidden in obscu...
2024-04-21 16:03:57 +0000 UTC View PostTo say that Xelil was worried after hearing Exvhar's story was an understatement. Vex wondered if she simply hadn't processed everything they'd told her properly until she heard it from her brother's own mouth. One thing he'd almost forgotten was that Exvhar had kept his memories of the Void. He knew on some level wh...
2024-04-20 14:21:22 +0000 UTC View PostEven without being specifically tuned to divine energies the way Sev was, Vex could feel how much influence the gods had here. It was in the air, in the ground, in everything around them. It was... almost uncomfortable for him, even, though that was mostly because Vex couldn't quite shake the feeling of being wa...
2024-04-19 15:29:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe hum of the train's engine was the only sound in the room. Sev was lost in thought. Ixoryn seemed too busy absorbing everything he'd been told—he'd barely said a word after Sev explained the situation to him. Instead, he sank into himself, and spoke only to ask where they were going.
Tinsel—who had also heard the...
2024-04-18 14:58:05 +0000 UTC View PostIt took longer than Vex would've liked for him to recover, but he wasn't about to complain. Just the fact that he'd essentially been handed a miracle cure for his condition was pushing the limits of what Vex considered to be his luck for quite possibly the next seven years.
Eventually, though, he did recov...
2024-04-18 14:54:09 +0000 UTC View PostDerivan wasn't sure how much time had passed. He was trying not to think too hard about it. He found that he was all too aware of every second and minute, and distracting himself from the passage of time seemed the most prudent course of action; it was, for now, the only thing that kept him functional.
He didn't like fe...
2024-04-17 15:33:04 +0000 UTC View PostIxoryn was dead.
Or as close to dead as he was going to get, anyway. He was dimly aware that he was bleeding and that there was nothing he could do about it—who would've thought mortals would ever be able to do this much damage to him?
But that was the worst part of it, wasn't it? That it was mortals that had do...
2024-04-16 15:46:27 +0000 UTC View PostAuthor's Notes: Been badly sick. Back to uploads!
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"This station is everything I expected it would be and I hate it," Sev groaned.
"Why?" Tinsel asked. "I think it's pretty!"
"Tinsel, you don't have a mouth. Or a nose." Sev glanced at the giant waterfall of... well, ichor. As best as...
2024-04-15 16:09:35 +0000 UTC View PostAuthor's note: One chapter this week; got pretty badly sick along the lines of "was probably internally bleeding for a bit". So uh... yeah. Hope you enjoy the chapter though!
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I try to get Bimar to tell me more about this Trialgoer, but she's shaken enough from the mere mention of Teluwat ...
2024-04-15 16:08:07 +0000 UTC View Post
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