As brief as his time in Torlak had been, Lyse felt a small part of him sad to leave. As someone who had always been interested in something he did not know. Something such as Torlakian magic presented possibly the largest challenge to him. Something even outside the challenges he has already faced with aura yet still related somehow. He saw so much to learn, so much to discover. Despite his vow never to step foot in their land without the permission of the Grandmaster and Six Arms, he walked a bit slow behind Makyra looking around at the city. Its architecture and its customs. The people seemed relatively happy and spry. Busy, but with a step that determined a sense of aptitude of where they are. He still couldn't get the idea of those floating towers and islands slowly drifting around the cities. He could gawk at them for hours. They were a marvel to look at, a lump of rock and dirt suspended in the air and somehow guided around like guardians. He felt the urge to learn, to k

It was scary, for Amond, to continue the research he does under the eyes of that witch. His first encounter with her had not been a good one. In fact, he rather not think at all of the trauma she unleashed upon him. Looking back on it, he admits that his actions were foolish, emotional, and not at all rational. Unbecoming of someone who served under the ruthless and bloodthirsty regime known as Talin for so long. It seemed a waste to him, to do such a thing to his creation, his friend. Maybe that is why Makhai was ressureted. They never felt emotions, so they make the perfect killing machines. No need of fruitless humanity to slow down whatever goals this witch requires of them all. Whatever that was, he still does not know. It has been a month since he began his assignment, and now he feels as if disturbed by what he was doing. He was creating monsters, no way around it. He was a necromancer. The practice itself was something looked down upon in his teachings. Not forbidden, bu

Lyse remembers back to an incident that occurred a few years back. He was still just a squire at the time, but even squires are often given duties to prepare them for taking assignments in the field and under their captains or officers. Some bandits were making trouble a few miles outside the town and needed to be apprehended. They rarely see bandits this close to the capital; most of them stay far into the plains to pick off wagon trains and lone travelers. They were also either former soldiers or guards, deserters who were now wanted men and needed some way to earn what they call a living. His mother was at the height of her apprehensive nature and was very near to forbidding him to go after these criminals along with the rest of the squires. It took his father to convince her that he should be safe; Gabbes and his partner would be riding with them. To say the least, it was nowhere as dangerous as Lyse had been warned. They sent a decoy out to a strip of hilly plains where they spec

I am a god.The words turned these large chasms that much larger, it seems. And everything seemed to slow to a crawl at what had just occurred. The guards seemed nailed to their positions as Garath raised the goblet up. Realization became slow. The golden liquid oil fell into his mouth too quickly. A spear was lifted but was never used. And Garath's face, an expression of triumph, conquer. A wish and a promise being fulfilled in an instant, as the last of it disappeared in his mouth, some only dribbling off the side of his cheek next to his scar. And as that last drop seemed to hang in the air, things began to move once more.The braziers, casting a dull blue light upon them, suddenly burst to life as if fed with an extraordinary fuel, turning as bright orange as forge flames and licking the ceiling vigorously. It was haunting. Gareth's face, for a moment, embraced in a maddened smile, looked perplexed, as if not expecting the outcome that had occurred. The scar on his cheek slowly fa

Lyse looked out towards the horizon to his west. The lapping oceans of the Valen Sea that separates Umani and the clans, one of the largest oceans in the world, in fact. The gentle mist that clung to the waters obscured the sun that rose from it. Streams of light and warm colors blanketed this early morning, the waves calm and steady, rocking the boat in a gentle lullaby. He wouldn't have thought that just a week ago, he was in mortal danger, tearing his way through a mountain to fight a god in the end. How chaotic those moments had been, to be met with this serene setting. And although Lyse had taken the time to warm up a nice cup of tea, sitting on the crow's nest to enjoy as much of the view as he could, he just couldn't relax his mind.The agitating thoughts that ran around his mind, shouting in every corridor to echo memories, didn't allow him to relax fully. He thought about what may occur very soon between sips. The spray of colors in the sky reminded him of the burst gouts of