The small pack Alpha whose name I still didn’t know led us forward towards a small clearing. The entire time, I evaluated the fifteen keelish, and with each step, I was less impressed. They were smaller than any of my swarm had been, even the weakest, least impressive of them. These scrawny, almost petite keelish didn’t d...
2024-10-01 05:02:35 +0000 UTC View PostOther peoples can’t understand our absolute obedience to the Zaaktif. They’ve never felt that same sense of his power, of servility, of belonging. They are fools. Once you have felt the call to serve, the Alqat will be waiting. If you already have the burn to serve, you may attempt to join our ranks. 2024-09-28 04:24:59 +0000 UTC View Post
“She just… told you to gimme this rock?”
“Yeah, and said that, eventually, you’d know what to do with it.”
Ytte shrugged. “Ain’t now. All I know now is that it’s heavier than you’d think lookin at it. Not particularly familiar with what makes a rock a rock, much less a special rock. Ain’t a b...
2024-09-27 04:31:13 +0000 UTC View PostLong chapter today!
Ana carried herself differently than ever before when she presented herself to guide me to the Allmother. In all things she did, Ana was proud or even arrogant. When she was insulting the Veushten, the members of the Veratocracy, she did so from a place of pride and superiority over them. When she a...
2024-09-26 05:01:20 +0000 UTC View PostA slightly shorter chapter than I have been doing. Might come back and add some stuff. Who knows!
The foreign incursions of the so-called divine aren’t something to be heralded as a blessing, and that you think I might have been excited to hear as much says much about your intelligence. Pray tell, have you...
2024-09-25 05:32:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe furry face of the apparently titled “Noonbright” screwed up in loosely controlled anger. His jaws clenched and he began to spit his words.
“Explain why you’ve brought some of the scaled menace into our holy place.” Teikhom audibly ground his teeth and his massive hands twitched towards his hatchets. Ana si...
2024-09-24 05:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post“How should we act in Dunbach? We have never seen a city, but I wouldn’t imagine that keelish are considered the most welcome of guests.” My already present anxiety spiked as I laid eyes on the wooden sturdy walls surrounding what was meant to be the midway point of our journey through the Wilds. With my newly upgraded ...
2024-09-21 06:15:54 +0000 UTC View PostFor nearly two centuries, we have abandoned all proselytism due to previous failures. Instead, the Holy State has allowed itself to focus all possibilities of foreign conversion on warfare. The Veratocracy’s military might is, of course, the greatest on the continent, but if we make an enemy of every nation on E...
2024-09-20 05:27:56 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey all! This is going out to free and paid subscribers. I haven't done anything for the free folks in a while, so here's a little poll to go out to you guys who support me! Before the poll, though, a quick question/announcement for you paid folks, especially the Pack Alpha and Spawnling ($6 and $3) tiers.
There have be...
2024-09-19 16:29:49 +0000 UTC View PostAs the suns set fully beyond the treeline, I listened to the swarm begin to complain themselves to wakefulness around me. As the darkness became more and more complete, a part of me wanted to switch over to my thermal vision, but it didn’t take me long to convince myself to continue in my attempt to upgrade the [Skill]. Aft...
2024-09-19 05:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostI've got a message just for you guys at the bottom. Hope you read it!
I was about to go through all the notifications when I saw something that caught my eye. It took me a surprisingly long time to recognize what it was, but once I realized, I stumbled to the sandy pit and collapsed into it. The suns, still high overhea...
2024-09-18 06:23:56 +0000 UTC View PostI wished I had been in a position to graciously receive the good news, but instead, Bloodpriestess Ana’s impromptu announcement found me splayed on the ground, attempting to recover from the heavy blow she’d dealt my head. My swarm continued to try to push the attack, and I rolled over onto my side as I shouted out, “It...
2024-09-17 04:00:55 +0000 UTC View PostAn even longer chapter, just for you! Have a good weekend!
As long as 175 years ago, the Untameable Wilds have stood before the Holy State of the Veratocracy. When the first Speakers came in contact with the Sunkindred, they were dismissed and insulted, called “warlocks” and “profaners...
2024-09-14 04:01:09 +0000 UTC View PostEarly, long chapter today. Hope you enjoy!
“I begin to understand. I believe that, if you can prove that you contain the power of the desperate, you will be able to prove yourself and your people here fahvalo. That… is not easy nor simple.” The grin spread wide across Bloodspeaker Ana’s face and I was ...
2024-09-12 21:36:39 +0000 UTC View PostI suppose it is fortunate that I was too young to go to war in those days. If I’d been even a little older, a little more reckless, then I am sure that I would have marched as willingly and foolishly as all my siblings. Instead, now I sit as the Nyust’taa over a changed people. I’m sure my ancestors’ spiri...
2024-09-12 05:10:55 +0000 UTC View Post“Ok, so what do I need to do to prove myself fahvalo?” The word was uncomfortable and breathy coming out of my mouth.
“In what way do you believe yourself able to serve as a whetstone for the blade that is the Moonchildren?”
“I would assume that I don’t have much in the way of direct combat that would ...
2024-09-11 04:43:43 +0000 UTC View PostWhere we gather and where we learn,
We must blacken, and we must burn, else
The Tower’s witnesses bring
The Tower’s illnesses
To those within.
We struggle to uncover the buried,
To return the world to the varied, from
The Tower’s tyranny and
The Tower’s...
[Tariel POV]
The blood witch’s words continued to echo around Tariel’s mind as their little group of four clambered back onto Dantlar’s back. The steady Earthspeaker didn’t say anything, and Tariel was grateful to him for it. With her sooth-sight, Tariel’s mind, already exhausted from his constant windwords an...
2024-09-07 07:24:20 +0000 UTC View PostMy expectations soared. I didn’t know what a blood-debt was, but that it was serious enough to give pause to this group of elite High Speakers was enough to set my mind to racing. As the humans seemed to contemplate how to answer the Bloodpriestess’s question, I motioned for the rest of the swarm to follow my lead and beg...
2024-09-06 05:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThis chapter is a little shorter than usual. BTW: final chapter of Book two should be 210. There won't be a hiatus here, but once the free chapters reach 210, I'll take one week off.
“You have very little time to answer before our response. You have already trespassed the Samutelia, and we would love ...
2024-09-05 04:19:04 +0000 UTC View PostI forced myself not to look back as the hiss of water turned to steam was washed out by keelish screams of agony. Histy had never said anything about how she could use magic, and I realized how little attention I had paid the most senior members of the swarm. I hadn’t learned many of their names, I didn’t know ho...
2024-09-03 22:11:34 +0000 UTC View Post[Rulac POV]
“OLDER MEMBERS OF THE SWARM, WITH ME! WE’LL GUT THESE HUMANS LIKE THE SCALELESS WEAKLINGS THEY ARE! I’M NOT GONNA LET THESE WHELPS STILL WET FROM THE EGG DIE BEFORE ME, ARE YOU!”
“FORGED IN WAR AND TEMPERED IN BLOOD, I FOLLOW!” Wisterl replied, and Rulac continued giving command to th...
2024-09-03 05:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostI didn’t care to try to understand what outraged words the High Speakers were screaming, instead shouting commands of my own.
“It’s time to move, you fangless worms! If you hesitate, you’re dead! Move, move, move!”
Most of the swarm immediately followed my command, and faces still stained with the blood ...
2024-09-01 06:31:08 +0000 UTC View PostI wanted to slow down, to plan, to think, to do anything other than to charge blindly in, but if the people in front of us were anywhere near as powerful as those chasing us, there would be no possibility of survival. Behind us, I could feel the rumblings of a massive beast approaching with my [Tremorsense], and it going fast...
2024-08-31 06:29:15 +0000 UTC View PostSorry for the delay. Was just figuring out end of book stuff! Just as an fyi, if you want to be apprised of if I'm going to miss a day, I always announce it in the discord, so if you're wanting that, join in!
[High Lord Leialt Alniyh POV]
“What false god blessed these worthless beasts with this strength? They sh...
2024-08-30 19:33:55 +0000 UTC View PostMuch the same, just the last paragraph or three with edits. New stuff begins at the paragraph with the bolded Shemira.
With renewed vigor and focus, three hundred and thirty two keelish sprinted onward into unknown lands, guided by nothing more than the assurances of an unseen god. Since there were seve...
2024-08-30 02:56:30 +0000 UTC View PostThe ending of this chapter is no longer canon. The revised version is the true ending.
With renewed vigor and focus, three hundred and thirty two keelish sprinted onward into unknown lands, guided by nothing more than the assurances of an unseen god. Since there were seven of us with overlapping auras, ...
2024-08-28 05:39:24 +0000 UTC View PostIt was a sobering, difficult meal, and not just for me. Twenty three keelish sacrificed themselves to the swarm, their spent strength adding to those still able to fight, to flee, to survive. The desperation that had only begun to seep into the swarm solidified into a hardened resolve, a willingness to do whatever it took to ...
2024-08-27 04:43:40 +0000 UTC View Post“Vefir, push to the left and back two more steps! Rulac, you go another three steps after Vefir approaches! Sybil, Foire, and Took, spread yourselves out more, but make sure not to stray! We’re going to continue pushing onward at this same pace!”
Even though we were running at a near sprint, I didn’t tire at all...
2024-08-24 06:12:37 +0000 UTC View PostIt wasn’t too long another pack tried to prove their bravery and were summarily killed to the last. That immediately put an end to the foolhardy “defenders of keelish pride”. In fact, there were no keelish willing to go out on the hunt, since any keelish that got more than a mile away from the main body of the swarm was...
2024-08-23 05:23:28 +0000 UTC View Post
