I batted Aurier’s hands away. Then I fended off Sreketh. This was a difficult battle.
“Your cape isn’t fully straight,” Aurier said, ignoring my recalcitrance and straightening the flapping fabric on my back.
I jerked away. “It’s fine.”
“I think your belt can be tighter too,” Sreketh said.
She was trying to reach forward and strangle my waistline, but thankfully, her arms were too short. I was holding her off with a hand on her head.
Sw...
2025-10-27 13:20:41 +0000 UTC
View Post
One of the fears I had of being a leader of sorts was that I would suddenly be a lot busier. There were so many little things that Escinca had handled as the Elder of the Cult of the Sun, many of which went unseen by me and the rest of the cultists.
For instance, sending reports to the Council on exactly how funds had been allocated? Who knew that was even a thing?
Well, Elder Escinca apparently had that in hand but hadn’t bothered explaining it to any of us. I supposed there wa...
2025-10-26 14:04:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
I paced. Tomorrow, two days after the big trial on Ring One that had decided the fate of House Kalnislaw, we were supposed to have the remembrance ceremony for Elder Escinca.
Tomorrow, I would be doing my first, new Ritual.
Or at least, I wanted to do so. The rest of the day after the trial had passed in a bit of a funk, where despite my intentions, I never actually managed make myself feel like being productive. Not that I had whiled away the whole time doing nothing. I ...
2025-10-25 14:57:31 +0000 UTC
View Post
I swallowed a little as the Councillor started introducing me. It felt a bit odd, if I was being honest. My skin felt tight, almost a little cold, as the attention of nearly everyone in the courtroom swivelled towards me again.
“As you are aware,” the Se-Targa Councillor said. “Cultist Ross Moreland is the man who killed Glonek Ilverang, the Scarseeker hired as an accountant at House Kalnislaw to ostensibly run their business, but who merely used it as a cover to carry out his ill...
2025-10-24 14:25:44 +0000 UTC
View Post
Ring One was a lot more practical-minded than I had been expecting. It was obviously rich. The lights shone brighter than even on Ring Two, and there were many statues lining the thoroughfares or adorning the corners.
But where Ring Two had mansions with far too much space in between, here the buildings were closer together, almost like a downtown area for the city of Zairgon.
There weren’t many people there, and the few I saw had the same style of uniform as the Scalekin office...
2025-10-23 14:13:38 +0000 UTC
View Post
Unlike the fancy evolution of my Path of the Newborn Star, which was now Path of Burning Starlight, my Acolyte Path didn’t undergo anything as extravagant. No world turning into space, no distant stars blinking at me from the walls and ceilings.
Instead, I just got the eerie sensation that I was being watched by a ton of eyes from somewhere I could never even hope to reach.
The sensation lasted for most of the rest of the day up until I went to bed. There were a lot of things I ...
2025-10-22 14:18:18 +0000 UTC
View Post
The rest of the day passed in a strange blur. There were so many things to figure out. Whenever I felt like I had dealt with something, yet another little issue popped up that I needed to find a solution to.
For instance, the very first thing was how to deal with the problem of the Scarthralls. Specifically, the case that some of them were clearly innocent, and some quite the opposite, yet they were all saying they deserved mercy and kindness and all that. A headache for certain, and on...
2025-10-21 13:48:14 +0000 UTC
View Post
Some of the rewards I saw were a little surprising.
[ Rank Up!
Your Vitality and Spirit Attributes have risen by two Ranks.
Your Power and Agility Attributes have risen by one Rank.
Your Sacrifice and Illumination Aspects have risen by two Ranks.
Your Gravity and Flare Aspects have risen by one Rank.
Your Path of Burning Starlight has risen by one Rank.
Vitality
2025-10-20 13:51:12 +0000 UTC
View Post
That was only Glonek’s first convert. In the weeks that followed, he found more converts. More people who were willing to become Scarthralls. More people entranced by the Woven Way.
Willing was perhaps stretching. But he wasn’t lying. Not really.
All they needed was a little convincing that their lives were indeed shit, and the main reason for that was their inherent weakness as humans. But the pathetic state they were born with didn’t have to mean that they were fo...
2025-10-19 14:53:13 +0000 UTC
View Post
Two new Aspects. Not one. Two.
That was what evolving my Path had granted me. It made me feel a little crazy, and a little blessed, to realize that I had gained two entirely new evolved Aspects just from evolving one Path into Silver. I had a feeling it wasn’t normal. After all, my Path was Unique.
But that euphoria of growth could wait. Could simmer and grow, built up by the real accomplishment waiting under me.
“You will not kill me,” Glone...
2025-10-18 14:29:04 +0000 UTC
View Post
White-hot mana channelled through my body, rushing through my arms to alight with burning threads on the heart I held in my grasp.
[ Sacrifice
You have Sacrificed 1 [Moderate] Heart of a Gold-ranked Cultist [1] / 1 [Major] Remnant of a Beloved Relation [2]. Windfall bonus activated.
Reward [1]: Inherent Aspected Potency of a Gold-ranked Culti...
2025-10-17 13:29:12 +0000 UTC
View Post
Glonek, unsurprisingly, recovered fast. He had lost a lot of his composure, his face twisted in a scowl as he reached for me again, shrieking out a curse.
A futile effort, because a chunk of the ceiling even bigger than the vampire slammed into his back.
I had thrown myself backwards just in time so that both the Scarseeker and the oversized broken masonry sailed over my body. Another heavy crash resounded through the hall, which was growing dimmer thanks to the crimson fires from...
2025-10-16 14:50:53 +0000 UTC
View Post
I had been so focused on taking down Glonek himself that I had failed realize that Tural was already here. And unlike Escinca, who seemed to be strong enough to resist Glonek’s control, Tural obviously wasn’t.
Rolling after the collision, I managed to somehow prevent the mindless Scarthrall from biting my face off, my forearm pushing back against his neck. “Snap out of it, Tural!”
The only thing he snapped were his fangs trying to rip the tip of my nose off. His eyes were ...
2025-10-15 13:20:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
The power of a Gold nearing Opal. I really needed to stop staring at such displays of strength. It wasn’t that I was just impressed. There was some of that, sure.
But what I really felt was eagerness to get to the same point.
“I understand,” I said. I did. Revayne was more or less telling me that while Ring Four might be my priority, it wasn’t hers. She had other things to take care of first. I didn’t want to feel miffed at that, though there was a small part of...
2025-10-14 14:33:12 +0000 UTC
View Post
I stared for a bit. No, I was not open to criticism for my actions. This was the kind of magic someone at Gold—someone nearing Opal—was capable of. Of course, I stared.
Still, my real priorities asserted their position before long. We had six Thralls immobilized at the moment. But that wasn’t all of them. Several more were waiting behind the first wave to engage us. Now that they had seen their comrades were down, they all charged in.
“How many of them can you hold at once...
2025-10-13 13:34:10 +0000 UTC
View Post
Revayne was probably the last person I was expecting to meet on my way back to the temple. But honestly? I was glad that I had. Because otherwise, I would never have remembered that tonight was the night that the Guards of Zairgon were going to storm the Thralls’ hideout in Seethescale dungeon.
“It’s tonight?” I cursed to myself. “I can’t believe I forgot.”
Revayne had gone back to looking into her book like the secrets of the universe were written on it. “I mean, ...
2025-10-12 12:58:14 +0000 UTC
View Post
I wasn’t in the mood to entertain people who didn’t mean well, and everything about the guy screamed that he definitely wasn’t coming at me with good intentions.
“Hoi there, fake-Gold,” he said, twirling a short stick that made me think of a wand. Considering I hadn’t seen anyone use wands or staves for casting their Aspects, I had a suspicion that was something else. “How are things?”
Despite my disinclination to interact with him, I plastered on a smile that didn...
2025-10-11 15:56:23 +0000 UTC
View Post
An Oath was far from a necessity. In fact, the look I got from Guille was an obvious giveaway. But it wasn’t really a lie. Oaths were a part of the induction process, just one that Escinca tended to disregard. In this case however, I wasn’t taking any chances.
Regardless of Guille’s reaction, Glonek couldn’t go against it either. It was a heady feeling to realize that I was the one in charge of things here, even if I didn’t hold any official rank above Aurier or the others. Th...
2025-10-10 16:22:59 +0000 UTC
View Post
Glonek looked uncomfortable, and I wasn’t going to lie, that made me feel good. It was petty, especially considering that Zoltan had been the real asshole here, but I remembered how much of a jerk he had been at Kalnislaw Estate too. In fact, this whole meeting wouldn’t have happened if Lord Kalnislaw hadn’t been willing to make some sort of compromise.
This guy was just here to take advantage of that.
“Ah, you’re rather bold, aren’t you…Cultist Moreland?” he said....
2025-10-09 14:46:39 +0000 UTC
View Post
It wasn’t exactly a formal feast. We weren’t sitting at one large table forced into a single position where we had to keep to our seats. That wouldn’t have been appropriate, according to Escinca. After all, our oh-so-vaunted guests were nobles now. One of the Great Houses of Zairgon.
That was why Escinca had called it a reception. A more informal thing where people could move about freely as they saw fit.
And it appeared, Lady Kalnislaw saw fit to interrogate me.
“Yo...
2025-10-08 15:13:32 +0000 UTC
View Post
Escinca further detailed that the vampires of Kalnislaw wanted a more public meeting with us all. Something almost like the fete we had performed, which had turned rather disastrous due to the Scarthrall attacks.
“Why are they insisting on a more public meeting?” Aurier asked. He didn’t look very sure about it.
“They want to reassure the people of Ring Four that they have nothing to do with the Scarthralls,” Escinca said. “They want to make sure everyone is well aware ...
2025-10-07 12:55:04 +0000 UTC
View Post
Unsurprisingly, Augmentations for Vitality were almost all related to things like defence, health, and stamina. Though, in Ugnash’s case, he had a separate Attribute for energy and stamina management called Endurance, which I had heard of before, so his stamina-related Augmentations went under that.
Also unsurprisingly, neither Ugnash nor Khagnio had any good ideas about what sort of Augmentations would benefit a mage like me. I wanted to cry. Where was Cerea when I needed her?
...
2025-10-06 13:04:50 +0000 UTC
View Post
I wasn’t expecting to get hit so quickly. No, it wasn’t stupid of me to not expect that, even if I had seen just how easily violent almost everyone in the Adventurer’s Guild could be. I was literally talking with and standing very close to the Guildmaster. The balls to attack me when she could have been hit too was insane.
But it did happen. I was struck hard, my body sent flying backwards as the front of my robes vaporized, along with a good chunk of my skin, searing my flesh and...
2025-10-05 08:16:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
Naturally, after Ugnash had been so kind to come personally inform me that things were underway for my main reward, I went with him all the way to the Adventurer’s Guild at Ring Two. When asked why we had to go to Ring Two instead of the Ring Three Guildhall, he said that was where the Guildmaster was.
I didn’t know why I needed to go see the Guildmaster in person, but Ugnash said it would be helpful. That wasn’t exactly very revealing, but I supposed I was going to find out soon ...
2025-10-04 11:26:44 +0000 UTC
View Post
The next day, I woke early. If I was going to lead the prayers, might as well start it early on.
Sreketh, Santoire, and Guille, were ready. They looked eager, which wasn’t helping my nerves. I wasn’t even sure where my nervousness was coming from. I had already helped them become actual cult members, hadn’t I? This couldn’t be that different.
If I inspected my feelings, it was because I realized I was invested in it. I didn’t want to come off as fake, like I didn’t kno...
2025-10-03 16:27:43 +0000 UTC
View Post
I took some time basking in the afterglow of having finally achieved my Augmentation. There wasn’t any descriptive text stating exactly what I had accomplished. Typical of the Weave. But in any case, I knew what I was doing. I knew what I had gained.
Of course, my mind soon reminded me that I had four other Attributes who would need the same kind of attention and effort. That didn’t dampen the feeling of triumph, though.
“You going to explain what you just did?” Gutran ask...
2025-10-02 16:00:07 +0000 UTC
View Post
I wanted to focus on getting my actual job here done before I focused on getting my Augmentation. In part, that was because there was a weird sense of integrity about it that I felt kind of sort of obligated to follow. As in, I was here to do a job in return for payment. That was my official goal. Prioritizing my personal gains over completing my task felt dishonest.
For another, I wanted room to think and grow. I trusted Linak and the academists to not just bail on me after the job was...
2025-10-01 16:26:41 +0000 UTC
View Post
I kept the information about Xokrist and the fact that I had to pick up another Sacrifice job soon on the side. The first thing I did was look through the list of Augmentations for Power that Kostis had suggested.
It wasn’t that illuminating on its own. The names were fancy, but Kostis had also added helpful descriptions after each of them to help me identify them.
Some I was already familiar with. Mana Drain was as it said on the tin. When using aggressive moves that utilized P...
2025-10-01 01:54:46 +0000 UTC
View Post
The new vampire was even worse than Lady Kalnislaw. It was like being in the presence of a living lightning bolt, where the air was charged so much that one wrong move would get me electrocuted.
He even looked similar too, though that might have just been the vampiric features. His hair and beard were the same shining moonlight silver as his wife, though neatly trimmed. The glow of his skin, the rich embroidery of his suit, the shining ruby cast off his eyes, it was all the same. Just...
2025-09-29 15:18:18 +0000 UTC
View Post
While I was ready to head out with Hamsik—and Sreketh, who had gleefully accepted the invitation to House Kalnislaw—I hadn’t been expecting that to happen at the crack of dawn before the next day even started properly.
“Are they even going to be awake?” I asked.
Hamsik took his sweet time answering, only to end up saying, “You’ll find out, won’t you?”
This guy had to have a doctorate in being an absolute prick.
I put two and two together on why we wer...
2025-09-28 15:21:19 +0000 UTC
View Post
