Gargos Lair
Author: Drew
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56

His reflection looked… good?

Sora stood, analyzing his entire look in the mirror.

His hair wasn't all in his face anymore. He had spent his free day preparing for tonight and that included giving himself a haircut. His curly hair was cut short on the sides with a tousled top and he kept enough bangs to cover his scar.

With a vest on, he ran his hands over his torso, feeling the muscles he had gained over the weeks of training. His body seemed to fill out in places that had been scrawny and his face structure had changed too. His face seemed more defined and his moles didn't seem experimental anymore. Now, they suited him.

He put his hands through his jacket and pulled the zip up then picked up Z's note again. Her parcel had arrived for him at noon with the most thoughtful note.

"Wear it or you're dead. Literally."

His very own uniform wit

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  • Rise of the Strongest Soul Mage    Awful Smell

    Suddenly a foul smell hit Sora "What's that gods awful smell?""What smell?" Kain asked.Sora looked between Z and Kain. They didn't seem affected by the smell."It's dirty.""Is it blood?"Sora shook his head. "No, this is foul.""Soul eaters…" Z affirmed "…makes sense that you'd smell them. Shadow mages privilege. Be alert.""That means they're here." Kain noted."We're going in." Slowly, Z pushed back on the door and they made their way in. They walked into the lair and didn't walk for too long before a strong grating voice came from within."Welcome to the party, Hunters."Sora assessed the Soul eater as it emerged from the shadows. In appearance, it had a few things in common with the soul eater that had attacked him and Ryo. It had the gaunt skull-like head

  • Rise of the Strongest Soul Mage    A hybrid

    "You took him on a mission without my permission. Why?"Z shrugged, seeming uninterested. "He wanted to go."Z stood across from Tydinn, who sat at his table. Tydinn was stiff. The muscles around his forehead tightened and from the way his office was rearranged, she could tell he was mad. Must have taken him all morning to sort it out, which meant his anger was pent up."What if he wanted to burn down the Academy? Would you help him?""You're exaggerating Tydinn. It was an irrelevant mission.""One you took him on, without my permission." Tydinn's tone was firm.Z could tell he was trying his best to keep up his anger from how he avoided her eyes. "Are we really going to dwell on this? Won't you ask me how I'm doing?""If you didn't return fine from dealing with Gargos, then I would have questioned your status as my daughter."<

  • Rise of the Strongest Soul Mage    It felt good

    His sudden movement startled Z. "What?" she asked completely confused."Were you going to hit me?""I wasn't.""Ohh… sorry." Sora relaxed."Why would you think I would?""No offense but… it's you."Z nodded, "Fair enough… welcome back. Took you long enough, you've been out all morning.""Where am I?""The infirmary… Kain and I brought you here. He sends his regards by the way, he wanted to stay but Tydinn is out to get him so… yeah. You get it?"Sora nodded gently and sighed, and he sat up in bed."Do you remember anything?"Sora was quiet for a while, recollecting events from the night before and then it dawned on him. "I'm a soul eater.""You are a mage." Z countered."But I too

  • Rise of the Strongest Soul Mage    The Council

    Dressed in their uniforms, Sora and Z walked through the Academy's hallway, taking turn after turn before finally arriving at Vorak's door."I will wait here till you're done. You'll be fine." Z reassured him, then made two knocks on the door before opening and giving way to Sora.Sora sighed and walked into the room to find Master Vorak already seated at his table. Vorak looked serious, but calm. He was always meticulous about his appearance, but today he was dressed more officially than the last time they met and not a single grey hair on his head was out of place."Welcome Sora, please take a seat."Sora took the seat across from Vorak."How did your training go?""Great, my teacher was exceptional." Sora replied."And you've progressed quickly, I heard."Was Vorak stalling?"I guess... my teac

  • Rise of the Strongest Soul Mage    A vote to keep

    Vorak nodded to Anaise beside him, and he took over."It has come to our attention that you are quite an unusual mage. We have questions and we would appreciate honest and very precise answers. Is that okay?"Sora nodded;"Please use your words, young mage, for the sake of clarity."Sora cleared his throat. "Yes, it is okay.""Before a month ago, how would you describe your life as a mage?""Ordinary, useless and painful.""And why was that?""I couldn't harness energy and I was useless to everyone and myself.""Any particular reason why you couldn't harness your energy?""I have no idea. No one had an idea, not even the best mages knew why."His comment made the mages a bit uneasy and he could tell from the way their eyes shifted between each other.<

  • Rise of the Strongest Soul Mage    Insignificant Dirt

    "Do you see anything?" Z whispered as low as possible from behind."I can't see anything from this angle," Sora replied in the same low tone.Crouched behind the trees, with Z behind him. Sora scanned through the building across from them. The fog made it difficult for him to see as clearly as he would normally, so he tried relying on his sense of smell, but that didn't work either. It wouldn't be easy this far away and the fog made it worse.His senses had gotten stronger in the last month since they started going on these missions—always with Tydinn's permission. On missions, Z was to be his guardian, as decided by the Academy, to watch him, make sure he stays in line, and make sure to kill him if he ever breached their agreement.But he hadn't tried to take any more souls, not even soul eaters', and every encounter they had had with soul eaters nearly drove him to the edge. After taking Garg

  • Rise of the Strongest Soul Mage    Not for long

    The coven leader charged at them too, sending his own charges at them. Sora's blue energy against the Coven leader's red filled the room as the fights continued.The number of soul eaters reduced but the coven leader remained strong. Swinging its claws in all directions, Sora was unable to find a direct opening to hit the coven leader."Distract him," Sora yelled to no one in particular.Z was still busy slicing through the soul eaters and definitely couldn't hear a word Sora said but Kain ran towards the coven leader fully charged and swung his weapon at it from a close range, his blow landed but not before it could slash its claws at Kain's neck. He scratched Kain's neck, but it gave Sora enough time to hit the Soul eater with a full blast in the chest and it immediately burst into flames.With the soul eaters dead, they walked around the coven, entering each compartment for traces of the usual evidence they had

  • Rise of the Strongest Soul Mage    What Frenzies feel like

    Deki sighed and began, "They came to our home at night yesterday. We thought they wanted to take our souls when they came and we were ready to die, but they didn't. They took us i-instead and brought us here. There were humans with the-the soul eat-ters, they were the ones that ca-captured us.""Humans and Soul eaters? Is that even possible?" Kain asked, looking between Sora and Z."That's outrageous." Z retorted;"It would make sense how they were captured. Soul eaters can't touch humans without killing them or taking their souls. The humans probably captured them to ensure they didn't get hurt." Kain replied.Sora was bothered by Deki's words. "Do you know what this even means? An alliance of that sort.""This is probably bigger than we imagined. If humans are working with soul eaters and vice versa, then there's a motive." Z replied"But what could be the

Latest Chapter

  • Rise of the Strongest Soul Mage    

    Not that one

    The stren baritone voice Sora had heard the last time he was in Warrick’s house was a complete contrast to the person before him. He had expected an equally stern man with an intimidating build and sharp exterior but Warrick was a plum and short man with a hairline that began to recede ages ago and a huge mustache he obviously was in denial about...All qualities he knew he had seen somewhere before.“Who are you?” Warrick demanded as he moved even closer to them.“Messengers—Visitors ” Sora and Aridah replied respectively.They exchanged questioning looks and looked back at Warrick with awkward smiles“Visitors—Messengers” Once again their eyes met.Warrick raised his gun an inch higher and closer to their faces. “I will not ask again, who are you?”This time Sora looked to Aridah as if to give her the floor. “Please tell him who we are.”Aridah cleared her throat and stepped forward from behind Sora, but not close enough to be in Warrick’s line of sight. “We are messengers who are vi

  • Rise of the Strongest Soul Mage    

    I’m sure

    “Are you sure about this?” Aridah asked Farah whilst rubbing the little boy’s head gently. “There might be nothing there.”“I’m sure. There’s nothing else for us to do here, at least there’s something to look forward to now.”“You can come with us, you know. We’re not sure where we’re going yet but at least we’d be together.”“Ari, I’m sure. We will go to the Capital to find my brother.” “And there’s no way to change your mind?”Farah moved closer to Aridah placing a reassuring arm on hers. “I know you’re worried about our safety but we’ll be fine. We will travel by day and hide by night, we’ll be fine.”Aridah sighed, accepting defeat. “Alright, but you don’t have to leave yet, you can stay here till you’re ready. ”“We’ll leave in two days. I want Niko well rested before we begin the journey.” “How are you even going to get there? You can’t possibly walk all the way.”“We’ll need a carriage, or at least something that moves but I have no idea how to get one.”Aridah “There should be

  • Rise of the Strongest Soul Mage    

    Outnumbered

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    Endless

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    I saw you run

    Sweat dripped down Sora’s body as he made his way from the woods into Kresha. Running to Kresha late at night and in the middle of training hadn’t been in his plans for the night but he felt a sudden urge to find Warrick again and possibly the Hunters division too. The urge had been too strong to ignore so he dropped everything and ran without second guessing himself.As he ran, he felt the cold hit his face but in spite of the cold, his insides kept burning. It burned so much and his head ached as well, he felt the floor rise up to his face and back down as nausea hit him but most of all, his craving for souls drove him insane, however he didn’t stop running. Although he craved for souls, he felt stronger than before, his training was working but it also made his frenzy come quicker and for some reason, this felt stronger than any frenzy he had ever had. He knew it was only a matter of time before he lost complete control and gave in to his frenzy, finally becoming the beast he alway

  • Rise of the Strongest Soul Mage    

    If patterns work

    Aridah walked quietly in front of Sora as they weaved through the streets and Sora waited patiently for a response but nothing came.He finally broke the silence. “You can’t avoid this forever.”Aridah faced him with her tongue stuck out. “I can try, can’t I?”“Aridah, why are you stalling?”“There’s a lot of people around, can we at least get home first?”Sora knew it was another excuse to get out of talking and she probably would find another reason when they got to the house but he wasn’t going to push. He would have to wait and see how things played out when they got to the ho

  • Rise of the Strongest Soul Mage    

    Tell me what you know

    “Err…where are you going?” Aridah called out to Sora.He stopped in his tracks and faced her. “Home.”The word was out his mouth before he realized he had just described her house as his home but he didn’t take it back either.“We’re not going home yet.”“Why not?” Quite frankly, he had had enough of Kresha for one day and was ready to get out.“Because I’m going to work.”“Work?”“Yes, work. What people do to earn a living.”

  • Rise of the Strongest Soul Mage    

    Warrick

    Kresha was a mess! A total mess, and Sora’s eyes went wide with shock as he took in Kresha. The streets were filled with people moving in different directions, never stopping for the human obstacles that bumped into them occasionally, but swirling around them. Sora had never been claustrophobic before, but from where they stood, the view of the almighty swell of people made panic rise in his chest but he did his best to remain calm.He could smell them too, the people and the thick fowl air, a jumble of fresh herbs and spices from the stand next to them, body odor from passersby and fermented alcohol. That was when the heat hit him and he suddenly didn’t seem to mind replacing his shirt with a more revealing one not minding the ramifications.It was as though his senses had been amplified to the highest frequency and everything sucked.

  • Rise of the Strongest Soul Mage    

    Madness

    It had been three days since he regained consciousness, since he woke up on Aridah’s floor and two days of trying relentlessly to get words out of her about Varnek, but every single time he asked, she avoided his questions by changing the topic. Her constant efforts to dismiss him only confirmed that she knew more than she was letting on which made him persist even though he was growing impatient.He grew frustrated when he tried training the next morning and realized how weak he had become. He was completely drained and could hardly lift a pin, but it got even worse when he realized he couldn’t jump either. Jumping was the only way he knew to move long distance which would make returning back to the Academy a little more difficult for him.When he asked Aridah how she moved to places, she told him she walked everyw