Daniel Thompson
Stories
13
Chapters
4,688
Words
1.4 M
Comments
0
Reading
4 d, 20 h
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The courtyard is a wide spot, walls along opposite sides, and then two rows of buildings closing off the other two sides. There’s a big fountain in the middle, and a few waist-high hedges around statues of Héroe posing with a sword by his side and a foot on the head of a stone monster. There are flowers too; obviously someone takes very good care of this place. The far end of the yard is a wide expanse of packed sand where I think students train. The paths through and around the area are all carefully…-
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“This kinda sucks,” I say. Lily huffs from the other side of the table. “Yeah. You still haven’t gone down.” I grin. She’s got a way with words, I guess. I don’t usually want to hurt people, but I’m considering it with Lily here. She’s a pain in the butt. I can’t help but feel like I recognize her. It’s not her magic, I don’t think, that’s foreign and strange--not that I have all that many magics to compare it to. It’s something else, something that I can’t put my finger…
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98 •
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“Luna?” I repeat. I shouldn’t be focusing on the name. This girl just blew my cover; I should be more worried about her running back and telling the others at the academy that we’re here. But there’s something about the name... The girl is striking. I didn’t get to see her all that well earlier. She’s taller than I am by half a head, with pretty but sharp features and hair that’s cropped short. Not boyishly so, but still not very long. She’s also a lot more developed than I or any of my…
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98 •
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I was studying in the library, looking over an older book with some Dark magic spells in it. It was tricky learning a spell from a book. I loved reading, of course, and I didn’t have a hard time understanding what was written, but there was more to actually casting a spell than just understanding the explanation some old cultivator had written down. It didn’t help that they often spoke about weird esoteric stuff that didn’t have anything to do with actual magic. I was lucky though. If I tried and…
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98 •
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Aida lounged back in her lounge chair, enjoying the softness of cushions filled with the down plumage of swans and wrapped in the finest silk. She had a drink by her side, the crystal cup covered in a layer of condensation and clinking merrily whenever the ice within shifted. That ice required that they keep a Terror mage working in their kitchens, but it was entirely worth it to beat back the oppressive Iarian warmth. This, she concluded as she peered across a room lavishly decorated in silks and finery,…
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“That’s the building,” Esme says. She’s pointing to a big building across the last stretch of the courtyard. It reminds me of one of those judicial buildings for some reason, all tall and stately at the front, but plain and boring on the sides. “There should be some way to get in from the sides.” “Let’s try not to run into any more templars,” I say as I walk over. I explained to my friends already how walking as if we’re supposed to be here is less suspicious than being sneaky, but…
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“That’ll do, I think,” I say as I look at the templar. He glares back at me, but it’s not nearly as scary when he’s pantsless, gagged with a sock, and currently stuffed in a broom closet with one of my little friends on his chest. “Just stay there and don’t move, and I promise my little friend won’t burrow into your skin and lay eggs inside you.” His glare turns into a look of confused terror a moment before I shut the door. “Did you really need to take off his pants?” Esme…
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“Ah,” I say as I slowly turn around. There’s a man behind us. He’s not very tall, and he’s not very big. He doesn’t even look all that scary. And yet he’s somehow really freaking intimidating. Maybe it’s the glare, maybe it’s the persistent feeling that I’m being watched... Yeah, it’s definitely that. The man’s a Vigilance mage; there’s no doubt about it. His magic is wrapped around him like a layer of eyes, watchful and wary. I’m beginning to think sneaking into the academy…
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“I’ll be leaving this afternoon,” Mom said. I blinked, then whipped my head around so fast my glasses almost flew off my face. “You’ll be what?” I asked. We were both in the dining room, the smaller one a floor above the library. It was a cozier place to have something to eat than the bigger dining room below with the huge table. This one had one wall that was made entirely of floor-to-ceiling windows that faced south and gave us a nice view of the rocky blasted landscape. None of that…
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I tug at my robes. It’s a good thing I’m not curvy because they’d probably be even more uncomfortable then. “I think we’re about as ready as we can be.” “Yep,” Esme agrees. She glances to the doorway, then nods. “Right, this passageway leads into the servant’s quarters and the kitchens. Most of this building is made to take care of stuff like that.” “Where’s the place with the books then?” I ask. “It can be in two places. There’s a library two buildings over. It's in the…
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