I charged the burning golem, Knut veering off for the other, when Eryn's voice called out clear and strong from behind me.
“I love you too! Don't do anything stupid!”
A heat fully different than the one I got in combat rushed throu...
2025-02-27 22:33:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe flames warmed my skin as I stood next to the burning golem carcass. Its massive form was fully engulfed like a bonfire. I pulled my cloak forward, running my fingers over the rough fabric that had just saved my life. There were no visible scor...
2025-02-26 22:24:54 +0000 UTC View PostMy heart thundered in my ears as I crouched behind a massive bone rib that thrust up from the ground like an ancient monument. Two hundred feet away, the Ironroot Golems stood motionless, unaware of our presence. With me in place, Knut slowly walk...
2025-02-26 22:24:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe wooden bridge creaked under our feet as we approached the rift. A group was already waiting to cross the other way with a steelhusk log. The workers below were putting the finishing touches on the defensive ditch. In just the few days we'd spe...
2025-02-25 20:56:11 +0000 UTC View PostI could barely see in the darkness as I bounced out of bed. Sleep had come late and left early, but I couldn't bring myself to care. Not today. There was way too much to do.
Water sloshed from the barrel as I dumped a ladleful over my head, ...
2025-02-25 20:55:28 +0000 UTC View Post“By all the Kingdom's forges,” Pa said, his voice dangerously soft as he ran his fingers along the workbench's scarred surface. “What did you do to my smithy, son? Have you been wrestling monsters in here?”
My mouth went dry. We'd sp...
2025-02-24 18:52:39 +0000 UTC View Post“And this one?” Ma asked, turning over one of the platemaw pieces in her hands, the armor gleaming in the shop's morning light. None of us could still believe how it all turned out, and even Pa was visibly impressed, constantly mumbling someth...
2025-02-24 18:51:57 +0000 UTC View Post“Come on,” Eryn said, tugging at my arm and pulling me away from the street where I'd been pacing back and forth for the last hour or so. “Wearing a path in the dust won't make time pass any faster.”
She was right, but the waiting gn...
2025-02-23 21:54:45 +0000 UTC View PostI rolled the first mind gem between my fingers, watching the patterns swirl deep inside the crystal. An almost hypnotically blue-white light danced within, moving as if caught within a vortex.
“Five whole mind gems,” Eryn said, touching ...
2025-02-23 21:54:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe striker exploded into a storm of deadly shards after I smashed Roq through its torso. I ducked, fragments pinging off the Scuttler plates reinforcing my shield.
“Two more from the left!” Eryn called out, already loosing another arrow...
2025-02-22 13:48:13 +0000 UTC View Post“Nothing. Not a single gem in either of them.” Roq's disappointment rang through my skull. “We should press deeper into the chasm. That's where the real treasures lie. The powerful ones. The ones worthy of our...
2025-02-22 13:47:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe gates of Sentinel Station creaked open, revealing the killing fields. Two short rings of the bell announced our departure to everyone within earnshot. We'd secured another simple scouting mission to look for monster signs.
Eryn adjusted ...
2025-02-21 22:34:53 +0000 UTC View PostDarkness had settled over Dawnwatch when Eryn kissed me on the cheek.
“Good luck,” she said, shooting me a wink before making her way down the keep's scaffolding. “Don't give him any slack!”
“Thanks. I won't.”
A...
2025-02-21 22:33:59 +0000 UTC View PostThe walk back was slow and blessedly free of monsters. Each step sent twinges through my hip while Roq worked hard on mending it. Hopefully, he wouldn't consume any of the corpses with gems inside.
Eryn matched my pace, bow and arrow in one ...
2025-02-20 20:11:55 +0000 UTC View PostPain lanced through my shield arm as I skidded across the ravine floor. My head spun, vision blurring from the impact. Small rocks dug into my back through the damaged leather armor, some cutting into my neck, drawing blood.
Shit! What t...
2025-02-20 20:11:02 +0000 UTC View PostI settled into position below Eryn's perch, my shield ready. Above me, she made a soft clicking sound with her tongue, which was our signal for a target spotted. I clicked in return.
She scraped a nail against her bow, twice.
Two t...
2025-02-19 18:35:24 +0000 UTC View PostI scanned the ravine's metallic terrain. Loose shards of stone littered natural ledges. Perfect ambush spots. But also perfect for what we had set out to do.
“It should come up through there,” I said, keeping my voice low and pointed to ...
2025-02-19 18:34:22 +0000 UTC View PostA hazy mist washed over us as we stepped out of the rift's portal into Sentinel Station.
Teams of loggers trudged toward the east gate, heavy axes leaned on shoulders. Above us, guards exchanged quiet words as the watch changed, their boots ...
2025-02-18 19:35:01 +0000 UTC View PostPa had laid out our Scuttler parts in neat rows on the workbenches. The smithy’s double doors were closed tight, and my belly was warm and full after a hearty breakfast. Ma had been showing off, knowing Eryn would be joining us for the meal at d...
2025-02-18 19:34:23 +0000 UTC View PostThe forge blazed with its usual warmth as Pa stood at the butchering station, running a whetstone along his favorite dissection blade. The metal sang with each stroke. I kept my arm wrapped around Eryn's waist while she leaned against me, both of ...
2025-02-16 21:00:21 +0000 UTC View PostI halted a bit down the road from home, and Eryn stopped to look at me.
“Changed your mind?” she asked.
“Not at all. Just, you've seen Ma, right?”
She nodded, setting her bloody blonde hair moving.
“She can be a b...
2025-02-16 20:59:52 +0000 UTC View PostEryn and I walked across the courtyard to the medical station, positioned close to the rift for rapid response. The tan canvas stretched across a temporary structure, and stood out against the steelhusk-clad purplish palisades. It wasn't the only ...
2025-02-16 20:59:18 +0000 UTC View PostThe walk back to Sentinel Station was blessedly uneventful, with Edwin carrying Knut easily, his strength making the mercenary seem light as a child. Eryn stayed close to my side as we recounted with Johan what had happened with Benedict's group.<...
2025-02-16 20:58:47 +0000 UTC View PostScuttler legs kept pushing through the gaps. I crushed them one after another, but all the monster goo mixed with my own blood as their attacks found me time and time again. A pincer caught my thigh, another my side. None of the attacks were fatal...
2025-02-16 20:58:17 +0000 UTC View PostI stared at the Scuttler's crushed shell and the monster goo that was splashed across the ground, my arm tingling from the impact.
“Roq? How can such a light hammer deliver such a powerful blow?”
“CRRRRITICAL HIT...
2025-02-16 20:57:43 +0000 UTC View PostA hint of light caught in the metallic shavings beneath my feet, each tiny flake trembling like leaves in a storm, except they were too heavy for the wind to move. The massive silver tree at the heart of the Metal Grove loomed ahead, in the grove'...
2025-02-16 20:57:20 +0000 UTC View PostThe soul chart hovered in my vision like a thick tendril of smoke that wouldn't dissipate. I tried to withdraw from it mentally, but the damn thing just stayed there as if mocking me.
Come on, come on!
My tattoo itched worse, ...
2025-02-16 20:56:53 +0000 UTC View PostPa's strong hands helped me to my feet, though my legs still shook.
“Easy there, son. You don't look so good. Sit for a while.”
The workshop door burst open. Ma rushed in, her face pale and she even had a piece of steel in her hand...
2025-02-16 20:56:24 +0000 UTC View PostPa always said that a weapon told its story to whoever bothered listening close enough. As I stood in the smithy's doorway, watching him arrange steel with great care, I wondered what story the soul weapon would tell.
The sun lit the room th...
2025-02-16 20:55:54 +0000 UTC View PostThe shadows lengthened as I walked the circular path that led toward the town keep. It had risen so fast that the outer walls already stood three stories high, steelhusk planks fitted together in overlapping patterns like dragon scales. What would...
2025-02-16 20:55:29 +0000 UTC View Post