Rickard was in rapturous bliss. Bathed in the light of Lux’s radiant glow.
She was harsh, and had punished him severely for his failings – shunning him to a corner of The Sun. But now…now she was willing to reward him for his efforts. Despite his failing.
She was a gracious Goddess, after all.
He knelt in front of her, his new, heavenly body his gift for service. Angelic. Divine.
“You tried your best,” Lux said, turning to him with a frown. “But it wasn’t...
2024-03-14 14:00:08 +0000 UTC
View Post
The forest was abuzz with activity. Loggers went to and fro, cutting down and preparing timber for its trip down the nearby river. As always, they gave prayers to the various Gods as they chopped down this section of the forest near the river. Primarily to Caeli, the oldest God of Heimfold that held sway over the forest; but also, to a handful of other Gods who shared her domain.
On this day, many of the loggers were hung over from the Fantasia celebration the night before. As such, the...
2024-03-13 14:05:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
Echo smiled and stood up, shakily being supported by Fumi, "I hope we'll get compensated for this surprise performance."
Pomentar nodded and escorted the two away from the pedestal as Slate passed by them.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the final event…I, Professor Slate, bring you the fireworks of Fantasia!" He raised his hand and all the flames that were hovering above coalesced into his grasp before changing to various colors and shooting up into the sky; burning pinpricks that event...
2024-03-13 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
Echo and Fumi filled her in on the fight with Rickard, giving Rose the play by play of what happened, and reenacting with a mock combat as they both relived the thrilling, life and death situation.
Rose sat calmly and unnaturally still, the only motion moving her eyes between Echo and Fumi depending on who was providing the details.
"We all need to get stronger then. If a single cleric of Lux was able to almost kill the three of us…" Rose let the thought trail off.
“But ...
2024-03-12 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
View Post
“You know why I’m here,” Isaac crossed his arms and stared at the Artificial Goddess of Light.
Lux walked over to her throne and took a seat, staring at him. “Well, that would be your monster of the guild, I imagine. Took offense to my little Rickard trying to kill him?” She snapped her fingers and a small yellow orb floated to her hand from a chamber. She held it up and Isaac saw a face within, trapped, seemingly begging. “Your monster inflicted grievous harm.”
2024-03-11 14:00:14 +0000 UTC
View Post
Echo felt his stomach roil with rage. He glared at Rickard with unbridled wrath. An anger he hadn't felt since he saw Malvir in the arena. He burned on the inside, desiring nothing more than the death of this man.
You'll pay for that!
When the beam vanished, he leaped to where Rose’s body once was and scooped her rings and scepter - the only surviving parts of her - into his pocket dimension.
Fumi leaped toward Rickard who - quite surprisingly - parried her blow a...
2024-03-10 14:00:11 +0000 UTC
View Post
All these pieces were commissioned from the lovely Caneera. Go check her out (https://vgen.co/caneera)!
2024-03-10 03:44:15 +0000 UTC
View Post
"Hold still you stupid bitch!" Rose's voice echoed down the stairs and Echo cautiously ascended the tight spiral, emerging from a hidden entrance behind a bookcase which was pushed aside.
In front of him, Rose was trying to hold down a chained-up Axan whose scales were the entire spectrum of colors that existed.
That's why she's called resplendent.
A small shaft of light broke through a window and glinted off the scales; a refracted prism spreading across the wall s...
2024-03-09 15:00:17 +0000 UTC
View Post
Echo’s tears dried up and he held Fumi close to him, finding solace in her presence alone. Rose walked up behind the two on the bench and set a hand on his shoulder.
“You did a good thing,” Rose said quietly, her voice warm and gentle – motherly.
Echo nodded and stood up. The trio began to make their way to the Queen’s Castle.
“Hey! Wait! Are you Mr. Echo?!” A voice cried out from behind them.
Echo turned and felt the blood drain from his face.
...
2024-03-09 00:02:49 +0000 UTC
View Post
Echo reached into his pocket dimension and crafted a set of three rings for their group using Transmute Substance. He handed a plain band to Rose, designed a slightly ornate one for himself, and a truly elaborate one for Fumi. He gently placed it on her finger.
“Echo proposed. I accept."
Echo chuckled, while Rose just rolled her eyes and mouthed the word ‘kids’.
Brighsteel was unparalleled at being able to store Quintessence for retrieval and use at another time. Their...
2024-03-09 00:02:40 +0000 UTC
View Post
Echo turned to Fumi and tried to wake her. “Damnit! Come on! I need you!”
But she passed out from the massive expenditure of Quintessence.
Echo turned around as the undulating form approached the ship.
Kill…
Consume…
Evolve…
He retrieved his weapon but not his shield. He knew that it would be useless. This thing could swallow him whole, crack their ship in half. He looke...
2024-03-09 00:02:33 +0000 UTC
View Post
They made camp in the cave. Rose elected to keep watch, just stating in a matter-of-fact method, "I don't need sleep."
Echo and Fumi slept peacefully and a few hours later had breakfast.
Rose didn't partake, stating, "I don't need to eat."
The two monsters began to jog as had been their routine over these days of travel, but Rose couldn't keep up. Instead, they moved at a leisurely pace, getting used to the vertigo of being sideways and upside down, and sparring along the ro...
2024-03-09 00:02:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
Rose ran through the idyllic meadow alongside her sisters. They were ecstatic – a new shipment from another world was supposed to arrive. And they always brought new, wonderful foods, drinks, clothes, and toys.
“Come on!” Rose shouted – the eldest of the three. She led the path down the well-trodden dirt road and towards the great city in Lestosk. A titanic, singular metallic construction – imported by their Arch God, Caelum, from another world.
“Wait up!” Her sister...
2024-03-09 00:01:44 +0000 UTC
View Post
The bridge over the cavern seemed to go on endlessly. Echo lost track of time as they continued into the darkness. Hours must have passed before they arrived at a large metal door.
"If Deathvine is one of your main trade goods, why did you grow it so far away?" Echo asked.
"It is addictive." The raw plant was akin to a drug that dulled the senses. She pulled a large key out of a satchel on her waist that blended with her attire, fitting it into the lock and turning it. "There is a...
2024-03-09 00:01:15 +0000 UTC
View Post
The woman on the frozen throne gripped a chalice from a nearby pedestal, sipping a dark, black liquid.
"My Queen, I have brought the two from the surface. Travelers, I present White Rose, the Lich Queen of Kaad." Cristoff floated to the side as Echo strode forward, Fumi at his side.
The two stopped when The Queen held up a hand. At this closer distance, Echo could make out a white scepter sitting on the throne next to her, an intricately carved stone spell tool that looked ancient...
2024-03-09 00:00:47 +0000 UTC
View Post
The two advanced at a sprint as the undead finally noticed them. Hordes of skeletons and zombies; thousands, if not tens of thousands, came out to greet the pair of monsters. Their steps caused the ground to quake and rumble as they charged, mindlessly seeking the death of the living.
Millions, if not tens of millions. All gathered in one location.
Fumi ran ahead of Echo and unleashed her Spatial Sever, carving through thousands with a single swing as they collapsed in halves - st...
2024-03-09 00:00:13 +0000 UTC
View Post
Echo and Fumi ascended further using the Pillar spell until they broke through the clouds above and reached the mountain peaks. What faced them was a bleak sight as they clung to the snow-crusted mountain top gazing northward.
Far North, due to their height and Far Sight Ability, they could see The Holy Wall. To the East, the crystal-clear waters of Moonsorrow Bay.
The Dead Scar filled the gap between the Duskfall Range and the wall that marked The Holy Empire's borders. A desolat...
2024-03-08 15:00:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
Tiberius had finally exited the enormous battlefield and begun his ascent into the mountains. Along the way, he ducked aside and chose to hide himself in the scant shadows under scattered trees, instead of fighting the various patrols.
There’s no point in wasting the material.
He knew that the more he left alive, the more he would have to shape into monsters once he arrived.
Looking up, far off into the distance, he saw the spires of his destination.
The Gre...
2024-03-07 15:00:04 +0000 UTC
View Post
The Ability took effect as the sword cut across the air, and space distorted and tore in front of them as whatever was in the trees roared in pain. The trunks crashed to the ground and the two monsters took up a ready stance as the creature in the forest bounded out towards them in a headlong charge.
“Bulwark,” Echo muttered quickly, covering Fumi with the defensive Ability.
A bipedal monstrosity raged across the expanse. There was a cut across its torso that oozed a yellow st...
2024-03-06 15:00:08 +0000 UTC
View Post
Did I hear that right?
Echo wasn’t sure, so he looked over to Fumi. “Say again?”
She turned to face him. “I love you.”
Echo stood, stunned.
Fumi giggled, “You’re supposed to say it back.”
I’ve never…
Echo had a few relationships in the past, but never to the point where they were saying that. It caught him off guard. But he felt a pull. An inexorable connection. The golden flash flickered across his vis...
2024-03-05 15:00:07 +0000 UTC
View Post
That fucker!
Echo’s mind was lost to rage. But this – this was amplified by all the pain he had suffered. All the pain he knew she had suffered. All because this deity couldn’t keep his disciple in check. Malvir is the one who let Tiberius out of whatever hole he crawled from.
The New God walked out of a nearby tunnel, waving his pseudopods. He looked like one of the pocket slimes but was the size of a teenager. His body was a gelatinous mass in the...
2024-03-04 15:00:08 +0000 UTC
View Post
Echo had just begun cooking when Narya popped into existence next to him, making him jump. "Hey Narya, can you teleport?" he asked.
"No. What made you think that?"
"You didn't come in the door."
"Hmph! You're stupid. Pixies can return home in an instant, no matter where we are."
"...So you can do what Echo said," Fumi said as she walked into the room holding her katana and a whetstone, sitting at the table and sharpening the blade.
"Listen, you h...
2024-03-03 15:00:08 +0000 UTC
View Post
Echo stalked towards him. “Hey! Rickard! Remember me?” He could feel rage boiling up inside of him. The man who had fled, abandoning his allies. The one who stole his gear. The one who left them all to die.
The cleric turned to him before running off down the street.
“You bastard! Get back here!” Echo sprinted after the man, Fumi on his heels.
The two were barely able to keep up, exhausted as they were from their training bout. But Echo pushed onwards, determined to ...
2024-03-03 08:00:04 +0000 UTC
View Post
Narya eventually woke Echo up with a dull whack to his leg. He knocked on the bedroom door and told Fumi it was time for breakfast; at which point she opened the door with a dour expression.
Echo reached into his pocket-dimension and pulled out a bunch of sets of clothes he had stocked up for a variety of occasions.
They spoke in Gori/Japanese as they dressed; they had already taken to speaking exclusively Gori/Japanese to each other when it was just them present.
“Sleep w...
2024-03-03 07:00:04 +0000 UTC
View Post
Fumi woke bright and early as the caravans were still rousing. She spotted Echo, waved him down from the gate, and they continued their travel routine, astonishing and startling those they passed upon the trade road.
They arrived at Drekhold a little after noon had passed; the guards halted them at the city gates as Echo came to a stop.
"What's your business in Drekhold?"
Echo held up the letter and his identification, "Post 3. Commander Margrave. For Guildmaster Grovesward....
2024-03-03 06:00:03 +0000 UTC
View Post
The two escapees began to approach the Imperial soldiers on the wall - who manned a variety of siege equipment stationed atop the edifice. They raised crossbows at the two.
"Halt! Identify yourselves!" one of them yelled out in Common.
Echo stopped and came to the Empire’s version of attention, "I'm an adventurer. I need to speak to Commander Margrave in Post 3."
The soldier looked confused and there was some chatter as another uniformed man with an emblem on his shoulder ...
2024-03-03 05:00:04 +0000 UTC
View Post
"Run, damn it! She's gaining on us!" The Imperial Legionnaire sprinted at full speed, shedding his armor as he went, trying to escape the certain death following him. He pushed through the soldiers in front of him.
The first wave of the assault had been crushed and if not for the inexorable tide of soldiers continuing to pour into the Xulatar Forest, the Legion would have been routed. The entire frontline had been decimated by a handful of warriors.
The dreaded Soju tribe rarely l...
2024-03-03 04:05:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
The hunger returned. As it did every day – or whatever counted as day down in the darkness of the labyrinthine tunnels.
Every time he looked at Fumi, the instinctual urge to consume coursed through him.
And every time that happened, they would venture out into the caverns once more. Nimbly dodging the sensors that blanketed the halls, they found several chambers where horrific amalgamation-monstrosities were trapped in cages. Failed experiments of their captor...
2024-03-03 04:00:04 +0000 UTC
View Post
Fumi contemplated her long solitude and tried to figure out how much time had passed.
Who was this strange man that had somehow survived…something akin to what she went through?
He must have some Ability to heal.
She recalled vividly the horrific experiments wrought upon her. The strange man in the coat…dying over and over only to come back to life hours later. The cold, metallic cube on her chest before she felt indescribable pain.
Over, and over, and ove...
2024-03-03 03:00:03 +0000 UTC
View Post
He tried to vomit – but nothing came up – and held his head as he hyperventilated.
I just ate her?! Oh, God! What the hell!
He had seen the woman shifted before. He knew, deep down, that this…thing…was Ingrid.
A scream of rage and frustration echoed down the tunnels and Echo froze for a moment.
He must have come back.
Echo picked up his sword and sprinted, choking down the nausea at devouring his former ally. The walls passed in a blur.<...
2024-03-03 02:00:03 +0000 UTC
View Post
