2022-10-14 13:05:16Although he had already traveled the route earlier that day, Arran's return to the inn still took him some time. Navigating the city's many narrow streets proved even harder at night than it was during the day, and once more, he had to rely on directions from passersby to find his way.
When he finally arrived at the Golden Pig, it was already past midnight, and inside, he found the common room filled with a lively crowd of people in various stages of inebriation. Although it wasn't quite as rowdy as a common inn or tavern would be, it seemed even the respectable merchants at the Golden Pig weren't above enjoying a drink or three in the evening.
At once, his eyes searched for Darkfire, and he found his friend in a corner of the common room, sitting behind a table with a large mug of ale and an annoyed expression.
When Arran approached him, he looked up, a wronged look on his face.
"They threw me out a
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Forbidden Sphere Chapter 84
The guard looked at Arran and Darkfire suspiciously. "You were invited by the Governor?" he asked, some doubt in his voice."We were," Darkfire said. "So are you going to let us in?"The guard didn't answer, instead whispering something to one of the other guards, who quickly entered the gate.Some moments passed in silence as Arran and Darkfire waited. Finally, a man emerged from the gate. Dressed in a blue silk robe and with his black hair elegantly coiffed, he looked like a high-ranking official or noble."Darkfire and Ghostblade?" he asked, a practiced smile on his face."That's us," Arran said curtly, slightly annoyed at the wait."Excellent," the man replied with a nod. "I'm the Governor's steward. Please follow me inside."He stepped inside the gate, Arran and Darkfire following close behind him.Within the wal
Forbidden Sphere Chapter 85
"Is something funny?" the young woman next to Arran asked, giving him a questioning look.Arran coughed several times, only partly succeeding in stifling his laughter. "My friend may have done something stupid," he said, his attention focused on the Governor's daughter as she entered the dining hall.Now that he got a better look at her, he saw that she was really quite beautiful — her flowing brown hair framed a well-proportioned face, and her dark eyes were large and alert.When she noticed Darkfire, her eyes lit up, and she immediately approached him, seemingly unconcerned with what the others in the hall would think.As she reached Darkfire, she cast a glance at the man who was sitting next to him — a wealthy merchant, judging from his elegant robe and slightly pudgy physique."Move!" she said in an unexpectedly firm tone that caused some looks of surprise among t
Forbidden Sphere Chapter 86
In the days following his meal with the Governor, Arran saw little of Darkfire. The steward had given Arran a room in the guest quarters that stunned him both with its luxury and with its decorations, but after that, the man hadn't shown himself again, leaving Arran to his own devices. While he understood that he had only been invited as a courtesy to Darkfire, Arran was still taken aback by how little his presence mattered here. He had a room and was allowed to attend the Governor's meals, but other than that, nobody even seemed to notice he was there. The first few days, he dutifully attended all the meals, hoping that he would unearth more information about what was happening beyond the border. Yet Amaya did not make a second appearance, and the other guests proved far less talkative. After two days, he decided to skip both the meals and the company that came with it, instead using his tim
Forbidden Sphere Chapter 87
Just getting out of the city took Arran frustratingly long, with the crowded and narrow streets making it slow and difficult to find his way.Yet after a time, the streets got less busy and the houses grew sparser, and finally, he found himself outside the city.Here, the roads were much quieter than the streets had been, though there was still a good bit of traffic, with farmers and merchants bringing goods to and from the city.As Arran made his way north, he relaxed a bit, enjoying the sunny countryside while thinking about the weeks that lay ahead.From what he had heard these past few days, he now understood that the situation in the Sixth Valley was far more complicated than he had expected. With several factions fighting for power, choosing the wrong novice to join could be disastrous — deadly even.Yet so far, Arran had only seen a handful of Shadowflame novices in
Forbidden Sphere Chapter 88
"Wait in line until it's your turn," the mercenary said. "They'll give you a badge once you're sorted." Without waiting for an answer he left, seeming glad to be rid of Arran.Arran looked at the man as he walked off, then shifted his attention to the line in front of him. From what he could tell, there were at least a hundred people ahead of him, waiting before a tent the size of a small house.Briefly, he considered leaving right then. Yet although he now knew that Stoneheart's army was real, he had only gotten a short look at the camp, and he hadn't learned even a single thing about Stoneheart himself.He sighed in annoyance, then got in line. Perhaps the recruiters would be willing to tell him more about the army and its leader.As he waited, he studied the people who were waiting with him. Most seemed to be farmers and villagers, much like the people he had grown up with in Riverbend. Just from
Forbidden Sphere Chapter 89
Arran read the letter in his hands, then tossed it aside. It held an invitation from a novice named Zehava, but it contained no time or other details, just mentioning the name and an address.Although Arran thought he could probably afford to ignore it, there was little point in offending a novice he didn't yet know. He would pay the novice a visit the next morning, he decided.After he got into bed, it took him some time to fall asleep, and as he lay awake, he thought about his forbidden Realm. Well over two years had passed since Master Zhao had sealed it, and still, the seal remained in place.Partly, this was a testament to Master Zhao's extraordinary skill. Although the lesser seals on Arran's Wind and Fire Realms had been torn away when Arran took ten Realm Opening Pills at once, the seal on Arran's forbidden Realm remained as strong as the day it was created.Yet the greater part of the story
Forbidden Sphere Chapter 90
"The three most influential novices in the city?"Arran understood that Darkfire was talking about Amaya, Stoneheart, and Zehava, although he was surprised to hear that Zehava was included in the list — from what he had seen, she lacked both Stoneheart's power and Amaya's cunning."You know about the conflict in the Sixth Valley, right?" Darkfire asked."I have," Arran said. "It's about the successor to the Patriarch, isn't it?"Darkfire shook his head. "It isn't. Or… it is, but it isn't.""You've lost me," Arran said. "Is it or isn't it?"Darkfire let out a frustrated sigh. "It's complicated," he began. "As Liane tells it—""Who's Liane?" Arran interrupted him.Darkfire raised an eyebrow. "Liane Tirrand. The Governor's daughter. The girl I've been… I didn't tell you her name?"<
Forbidden Sphere Chapter 91
Darkfire's DecisionArran looked at Darkfire in shock. There were many things he had feared could happen in Hillfort, but Darkfire changing his mind about joining the Shadowflame Society was something he hadn't expected."You're staying here? In Hillfort?" he asked again.Liane stood up. "I'll let the two of you talk in private," she said in a muted voice. She gave Darkfire a meaningful look, then left the room.For some moments, neither Arran nor Darkfire spoke, Arran still processing the news and Darkfire seeming almost fearful to say the words.Finally, Darkfire let out a deep breath. "I'm staying here," he confirmed. "At least for now.""Because of her?""Because of her.""You only just met her," Arran said. "And you spent years trying to be recruited.""You're right," Darkfire replied, an unc
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Chapter 156
True to Snowcloud's word, she had them leave the castle at dawn.Stoneheart and Tuya saw them off as they departed, offering them wishes of good fortune on their travels, along with several small gifts.Tuya gave Arran fifty Essence Crystals, which she said was a token of gratitude for his help in disposing of the army. Arran accepted it gracefully, not bothering to point out that she'd taken twice as much for the armor he'd used. Tuya, he suspected, would have been able to easily handle the matter herself had she wanted to.Stoneheart, on the other hand, had little to offer but his gratitude. The tall novice had last his own void bag in battle months earlier, and it appeared that Elder Naran had confiscated all the belongings of the novices they'd defeated in battle.The giant Elder himself, finally, did not appear. From what Snowcloud said, he'd locked himself away weeks earlier, and it seemed that
Chapter 155
"You idiot!" Snowcloud looked at Arran with tear-filled eyes. "I thought you had died!"Arran didn't respond. She had repeated variations on the same words at least a dozen times in just the past half hour, and by now, he understood there was nothing he could say that would make a difference.When he returned to the castle, he had expected her to be angry, even furious. What he had not expected was for her to hug him while nearly crying her eyes out.In Arran's view, this was considerably worse than anything he'd been prepared for. Her anger, he could weather. But this, he had no idea how to handle. It was clear his absence had hurt her, and that she had spent the weeks he was gone in worry, fretting that he had died or been captured.He had apologized, of course, but it seemed an apology wasn't what she wanted. As for what she did want, Arran had no idea.Part of him blamed Ston
Chapter 154
"Our town is called Riverbend," the woman said, her voice anxious. "I am the mayor."Arran spent some moments in thought. While the village — it was far too small to be called a town — shared a name with his old hometown, the two places were thousands of miles apart, and other than being next to a river, they seemed to have little in common.Still, the name reminded him of the life he had left behind. Even if he did not regret his decision to become a mage, he wondered what things would have been like had he stayed in the real Riverbend. Calmer, probably, and certainly less bloody.Arran shook himself from his thoughts. He had more important matters to handle."What about them," he said, gesturing at the soldiers. "What are they doing here?"Before the woman could respond, one of the soldiers stepped forward, a stocky, middle-aged man with dark skin and several old scars on his face."You gonna kill us?" Although the man's expression was cautious, there was no fear in his eyes. It see
Chapter 153
In the days after the battle, Arran hunted the escaped soldiers with grim determination. Deadly though the battle had been, many survivors had managed to flee, and thousands of them now filled the woods surrounding the camp.After just three days, he had already killed more soldiers in his hunt than he had killed during the battle, and even if most of the temporary strength of the Blood magic dissipated quickly, he could feel that there were permanent benefits, as well.Perhaps he wouldn't be able to shrug off major wounds the way he had right after the battle, but any small wounds he sustained healed easily, and his strength had more than doubled.Several times, groups of soldiers tried to ambush him. They did not live to regret the mistake. Arran's Shadowsight allowed him to see through their ambushes easily, and even if most of the strength of the initial battle had dissipated, Arran was strong enough to crush them effortlessly.More troublesome were the ones who neither fought nor
Chapter 152
Stoneheart braced himself for Arran's Battering Force attack, throwing up what seemed to be a shield of Wind Essence.Before the attack could hit him, however, it smashed into its actual target — the Shadowcloaked mage who was heading toward Stoneheart with a raised sword in his hands.The attack hit the mage squarely in the back, sending the man flying into Stoneheart's shield. Stoneheart staggering back from the force of the impact, while the mage crashed heavily to the ground.The force of the attack proved enough to break the mage's concentration, causing his Shadowcloak to fail. With a brief flicker of light in the air, the short, fat man suddenly became visible to the eye.Despite taking a direct hit that should have incapacitated him, the mage got to his feet immediately, and without even a second's hesitation, he turned to Arran and shot a stream of white, lightning-like fire from his hands. It hit Arran in the leg, burning straight through his armor and leaving a fist-sized h
Chapter 151
The mage's thunderous words immediately set the entire camp in motion, and within moments, Arran's Shadowsight told him that hundreds of soldiers were beginning to move into the woods, with many more following behind them.It was exactly what he had hoped would happen, and he could not help but feel excited at seeing his enemies fall into the trap so easily. While he had prepared for the possibility that they would see through the ruse — it was hardly subtle, after all — it looked like everything would go according to plan.His spirits rose further when he realized that his enemies' advance was chaotic, lacking any sort of organization. Rather than progressing in tight ranks, as he imagined a real army would, they moved forward in a disorderly mass.Their sloppy advance allowed Arran to continue attacking in much the same way as he had before, striking quickly and furiously, then disappearing into the woods again before they could respond.Several of the soldiers had the presence of m
Chapter 150
Arran put on the armor as quickly as he could, but it still took him more time than he would have liked. Between his coat, the helmet, the gauntlets, the gorget, the greaves, the cuisses, and all the other parts, suiting up was a slow affair, and that was hardly the only downside of wearing full armor.The quality of the armor was impressive, all the more so because Tuya had managed to find in just a few hours during the dead of night. All of it was enchanted, and it fit him better than he had any right to expect.Even so, wearing it made him slower and affected his balance, and when he put on the helmet, it immediately restricted his vision. To any other mage, the sacrifice would be far too large for a little added protection.But Arran wasn't like other mages. The control he had gained from the Tempering easily compensated for the bulk and weight of the armor, and in the dark of night, his Shadowsight would be far more useful than his eyes.When he finished suiting up, whatever part
Chapter 149
"I think we're getting close," Stoneheart said, looking at the six dead men on the ground in front of them.They had already spent the better part of two weeks in search of the army, and although they had come across several scouting parties, there was little sign of the main force.The region was hilly and densely forested, and the terrain made it far harder to find the army than they had anticipated. In such an environment, they could have easily passed within a mile of their enemies without ever noticing.Initially, they had thought they could simply capture a few scouts and wring information from those, but the scouts fought with an almost religious fervor, choosing death over capture. And when they finally caught one alive, the man bit off his tongue before they could make him speak.After that, they had stopped trying to capture their enemies alive.Still, even if the scouts they found would not talk, they knew they were getting closer. Just in the past two days, they had encoun
Chapter 148
"What did he say, exactly?" Snowcloud looked at Arran intently as she asked the question.They were sitting in her quarters, which Arran could not help but notice were far nicer than his own. While he had a single room with just a bed and a desk, Snowcloud had three full rooms to herself, including a bedroom, a small library, and the well-furnished sitting room they were currently using. Not that he was jealous, of course — although a bit more space would be nice.Arran quickly told Snowcloud about his meeting with Elder Naran and Stoneheart, and the offer Elder Naran had made them.When he finished speaking, Snowcloud frowned, seeming taken aback by the idea. "He wants the two of you to face an entire army together?""I assume he wants me to defeat the army, and Stoneheart to defeat their leader," Arran explained. "With the Blood magic, the soldiers' numbers won't make much of a difference to me.""But it's an entire army," Snowcloud objected. "With thousands of soldiers."Arran shoo
