With the extra weight on her, Alani saw fit to activate the extra Feather Fall Scroll as they went down. Splash! They landed in the water. Alani, Moonlight and Flare surfaced in rapid succession, gasping for air and paddling in the open sea. Alani looked around for land, but couldn’t see any islands nearby. “Oh, scrap…” Alani gasped, suddenly seeing an immense flaw in her weekend plan. “Yip!” Moonlight called her. [Over here!] Alani turned around. “What?” “Yi!” [This way!] Alani swam over easily, almost at home in the water as she was on land, feeling the ebb and flow of the waves deeply familiar. “What is it?” Suddenly, her foot felt something. Something solid. Alani stood up, and then stumbled as the waters somehow seemed to recede, leaving her standing on… “A rock? A reef?” Alani stood there in a daze, feeling heavy after leaving the water so suddenly. “Wait, what just happened? Why is the water receding…? Is it… a t

Alani was making fast friends with the winged horses in the Neutral Zone. “Ponies!” the little girl was thrilled. “With wings!” “Uh…” the dignified Lord of the Wilds representing the Pegasus King found himself abruptly hugged by a giggling child and fawned over despite his best efforts. She immediately tried to decorate him with a crown of flowers, and then while he was seriously discussing matters of state and territory with the Emperor, she painted his hooves pink. [Where did that nail polish even come from?!] spluttered Summer Rain, Prince of the Pegasi, second son of the Storm Pegasus King, and Lord over the southern region of the Neutral Zone. It was NOT dignified! But what could he do? Standing before the Deep Emperor on behalf of his father, Summer Rain could only bemoan his poor timing and having gained the unfortunate attentions of the Emperor’s new Comrade. [One last thing.] The floating little avatar of the Deep Emperor inst

In Sorrel II, the world Remian was from, Silhouettes were typically formed from a mix of Psionic energy, Magic, and Qi. In many ways, they were customized to fit each person and were frequently unstable, requiring a constant rebalancing and adjusting if any of those three powers were to shift the original balance and essence of their forms. Otherwise, their Silhouettes might fall apart or explode or otherwise not even take form any more. This, predictably, caused no end of troubles for those Temple Knights who used Silhouettes while mana in the world was drying out. They had to adjust their Silhouettes practically every morning before they could use it reliably for that day. But the Conglomerate’s Psionic Training pack taught how to form a Silhouette out of pure Psionic energy. These had a way of shrinking or growing in accordance to the user’s mindset and development, but generally maintain their form and function without breaking apart. On top of that, a skilled Ps

Ashdale had dark clouds hanging over it. Not stormclouds, though. It was smoke. When Alani and her friends arrived, every city on the great isles was hard at work putting up factories and coal power plants. Entire convoys of the black stuff were being carted around from port to port, supplying every major metropolis with the fuel. The Pegasi escorting Alani and company were particulary irked to see so many horses put to the cart and the whip for the sake of the wagons filled with black. Even as they went looking for their contact, some Deutero officer named Charlie, Alani fell into fits of coughing. “We need to get those face masks the locals use. I’m not sure we’ll survive the trip otherwise.” It had been odd seeing people walking around with cloths tied over their faces and nobody screaming for the police to catch robbers, but with all the smog over the city, it wasn’t hard to figure out why. But while face masks in the smog made sense, the existenc

“Yip.” Alani groaned, slowly becoming aware of sunlight and a furry paw nudging her in the shoulder. “Is it morning already?” Not just morning. Based on the heat and she brightness of the sun, Alani realized she’d overslept, but that everyone had simply let her sleep in today. After all, yesterday had a long, hard day. “I’m up.” Alani groggily sat up and patted the wolfcat at her side. This time it was Flare who had woken her. Two weeks had passed since they first landed on this island in the Midlands Sea. True to his word, Darian had put them through a mix of Psionics, martial arts, and weapons training. Juni and Jamie even trained with armor. Despite their earlier expectations, however, they had little part in constructing anything or evacuating any refugees. The Order of Light did that, and they did so in growing numbers. Two hundred knights at the beginning had swelled to more than twice as many by now, with more still on the way. Them, and Alani. Unlike the others, Alani’s tr