Two days later, Kaz, Li, Lianhua, Yingtao, Chi Yincang, Raff, Kyla, and Mei snuck out of Cliffcross under cover of darkness. Somehow, the journey to the mountain had become an event to which almost everyone had been invited. The soonest they were talking about leaving was in a week.
About half of Raff’s family, a good...
2024-11-05 02:54:36 +0000 UTC View PostWhile the best items in Gacha Love were found in dungeons - which were unlocked as you progressed through the game - there were usually books or smaller items to be found in most event locations. There were three such locations in Clara’s house, and while this was three years too early for the events, it was p...
2024-11-04 19:16:40 +0000 UTC View Post“You sure this is the right street, Blue?” Raff asked. The two of them were peering around a corner as if they were hunters stalking a binyi. No one wanted to confront one of the ice-lizards, especially not in their den, but they couldn’t be allowed to breed unchecked, or they could render an entire level unliv...
2024-11-02 02:47:11 +0000 UTC View PostKaz wasn’t sure how much time passed before he became aware that he was lying on the ground, face up and arms spread wide. Li was stretched out beside him, her breath tickling his ear and the tip of her tail wrapped around one of his paws. When he opened his eyes, so did she, and they stared at each other.
<I knew ...
2024-11-01 20:54:04 +0000 UTC View PostI hate making excuses, but I had a heck of a day, and then had to (got to) take the kiddo trick or treating. It's after midnight, and I only have 1500 words done on today's chapter. I will finish it, and get another one done for tomorrow (aka today), but I've got to get some sleep. Just letting you know I haven'...
2024-11-01 05:21:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe next day, Snen and Intong carried Kaz outside of the city, with Li following close behind. Kaz then tried to remove the runes from the dantians of the twelve dragons, with mixed success. The ‘silence’ rune slipped away easily enough for all but the oldest dragon. ‘Insensate’ was next, and the one Kaz was most conc...
2024-10-31 03:23:27 +0000 UTC View PostHumans were strange. Some of those strangenesses were pleasant, such as cheese and bread, but others most certainly weren’t. The clothes Jinn had given Kyla, retrieved from the room of one of the puppies - puppies! - were among the unpleasant strangenesses. She had liked Lianhua’s robes, which were really on...
2024-10-30 04:07:30 +0000 UTC View PostRaff’s family hut was larger than many kobold dens. In fact, it sprawled across what would have been several streets in every other part of the city Kaz had seen. From above, he could tell that some other enormous buildings were nearby, also surrounded by high walls, but Raff’s was the largest, other than the palace itsel...
2024-10-29 00:21:26 +0000 UTC View PostThe next few days fell into an easy rhythm that seemed to help Thaniel calm down. Rather than following Lian around, fretting about Pandy, and sitting quietly with a book and worried eyes, he actually began to show signs of his usual adventurous, even mischievous self.
Every morning a maid woke the boys at eight for bre...
2024-10-28 18:42:06 +0000 UTC View PostAt last - at very, very long last - Heishe felt hope. When the Elder left this world, Heishe and her siblings had promised him that they would maintain the balance, and so they had. For millennia, they watched, only occasionally having to step in. The mere knowledge of their existence was usually enough to preve...
2024-10-18 22:59:26 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Lianhua tells us aaaaalllll about dragons, (or at least a cut-off bit about dragons) what is the collective noun? I was going to go with flight, but thunder has also been suggested. What do you think?
2024-10-18 18:57:21 +0000 UTC View PostTo Kaz’s mind, the greatest benefit of knowing all the runes was the ability to remove them one at a time. It was possible that Intong would panic at some point during the process, and Kaz wanted to make sure that he couldn’t do much damage if he attacked rather than fleeing.
With that in mind, Kaz urged everyone el...
2024-10-17 21:37:22 +0000 UTC View PostThe idea that humans might travel through the Gate wasn’t a new one to Kaz, not entirely. Lianhua had mentioned that some humans cultivated in order to become strong enough to try passing through, seeking the source of the monsters who appeared on the night of no moon.
Was Snen saying that they really could do that, a...
2024-10-17 00:39:20 +0000 UTC View PostSnen looked up as Kaz and Li approached, his yellow eyes bright. Bowing deeply, he said, “Thank you again, friend Kaz. Intong and I have finally been able to speak, and it isss-” His voice trailed off into a hiss and he simply shook his head, unable to finish.
<Intong!> Li said, stretching out her claws to lan...
2024-10-16 02:50:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe humans were not happy. When he arrived, Reina’s brother actually drew a mana-stick from a cylindrical sheath at his belt and cast some kind of spell at Mei. Kaz wiped it away with a flick of his fingers as his cousin dashed in, scooping up fuergar and the remnants of the crown. A moment later, the crown st...
2024-10-14 20:24:15 +0000 UTC View PostOkay, actually only one more vacation. This year. Hopefully there will be more next year, because the other option doesn't bode well for me.
I'll be gone from October 19-25, so there won't be any chapters posted on those days. BUT, unlike last time, I'll have my laptop, and there will certainly be some downtime. Best of...
2024-10-13 14:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostThaniel looked uncertain for a moment, but Lian managed something that actually looked like a smile, and Thaniel brightened before hurrying away. As soon as the door clicked shut behind the little boy, Lian lifted Pandy so he could stare into her eyes.
“What are you?” he mumbled, turning her so he could look at her ...
2024-10-13 05:17:12 +0000 UTC View PostLi was all but dancing in place. <Do the rest!>
Kaz shook his head, watching the way Intong was stretching out his wings, looking at them in surprise, almost as if he’d never seen them before. That rune might have prevented him from speaking, but it also seemed to play a role in limiting his intelligence. The dr...
2024-10-12 00:08:45 +0000 UTC View PostOverhead, the one-sided battle continued for a few more minutes, before Fengji flew away with his prize clutched in his claws. During that time and for several more minutes thereafter, none of the remaining humans moved, though they stared at Kaz through the rain of Jianying’s blood. The xiyi, all but Snen, were as...
2024-10-10 20:46:13 +0000 UTC View PostThe ankle was all Li could reach from her hiding place, pressed down as she was by Jianying’s roar. She and Kaz were joined, but not the same, and while the other dragon couldn’t suppress her completely, she also couldn’t leap or fly.
It was enough. Ganring yelped, turning his focus from Kaz to Li, just for a mome...
2024-10-09 21:35:15 +0000 UTC View PostRaising his hands, Kaz pictured a shield covering him, Snen, and the dragon on the ground. A barrage of attacks, physical, as well as both mana and ki-based, assaulted them from all sides, and he felt his ki drain away precipitously. Was this what it felt like when Bella tried to remain standing while the roar pressed her dow...
2024-10-08 22:50:04 +0000 UTC View PostDragons flew overhead, each with a xiyi mounted on its back. They flew down, using claws, teeth, and occasional bursts of fiery breath to drive back the humans who were assaulting the few remaining xiyi on the ground.
The black-scaled xiyi was back on his feet, and he was no lon...
2024-10-07 21:43:04 +0000 UTC View PostPandy hopped backwards, but not fast enough. The kitten’s needle-like claws sank into her haunches as she turned to run.
-3 LF
-2 LF
-3 LF
Ouch! Those claws were sharper than she’d thought, and while she could kick Miss Cupcake away using her powerful back legs, she was afraid it would injure the c...
2024-10-06 02:29:49 +0000 UTC View PostHis eyes snapped open, but he wasn’t back. Not yet. He was close. Much closer than he had been when Heishe appeared. She was gone, now, but he knew what he had to do.
Reaching out, Kaz took hold of the ki surrounding him. He no longer feared drowning in it. It was him and he was it. But he wasn’t yet ready for this ...
2024-10-04 20:54:13 +0000 UTC View PostThe dark space was hot, and Kaz rolled. He spun around the smooth curve, chased by a golden ball, then a black one. Their paths crossed, and the spheres merged with him, tugging at his very essence before separating again, spinning, spinning through the red dust that coated everything.
The bowl tilted, and Kaz poured do...
2024-10-04 01:54:01 +0000 UTC View PostKyla pressed her back against the wall as she slipped around the inside of the stadium. This building was a cavern in and of itself. It would be huge even in the city of the Deep, but if she understood its purpose, no one even lived here. It was a building that only existed for entertainment, which was so strange. How did the...
2024-10-03 02:03:39 +0000 UTC View PostThe passage was dark, steps folding back around themselves over and over as they rose. There were doors on every fourth landing, along with some evidence that the females they’d met weren’t the first humans to flee this way. Bloody handprints marked the wall near the first door, and the second door buckled inward, as if s...
2024-10-02 03:28:54 +0000 UTC View PostHeishe didn’t slither through the city. Instead, she opened another of those water-filled tunnels through the earth and dove into it. Oddly, though Kaz and Li felt the pressure of fluid moving around them, they could breathe without difficulty. A glance at Kyla and Mei showed that while the young kobold and her fuergar<...
2024-10-01 00:54:17 +0000 UTC View PostThe inside of the house was as lovely as Pandy had expected, and she drank in the sight of the broad foyer, with three doors opening off of it, and a staircase sweeping up to the second level. The carpet beneath Thaniel’s feet was beginning to show wear, but it was meticulously clean and perfectly centered on the tiled floo...
2024-09-30 06:12:08 +0000 UTC View PostKaz stared after them, barely aware of several dozen people nearby, doing the same thing. Then Jinn broke the paralysis by falling on her brother, crying loudly. The big male patted her on the back as she sobbed, but Kaz could see by the look on his face that he was in pain.
Quickly, Kaz crossed over to help, but found ...
2024-09-28 04:05:46 +0000 UTC View Post
