David Martinez
Stories
11
Chapters
3,348
Words
937.5 K
Comments
0
Reading
3 d, 6 h
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“How did you do that?” Nern inquired as the stone door opened completely, the slab rumbling to a stop with a crunch that reverberated through the floor. “I’m not sure.” Leif said as he walked forward, clothing billowing as the sea breeze buffeted him. With every step the lines carved into the stone, each filled with salty water began to emit a soft amber glow. There was a gentle incline of stone steps leading up to the base of the tree, with the grooves running from equidistant, shallow bowls…
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“W-what on earth?” Marcus gasped, picking himself up off the dusty stone floor where Leif had shoved him. A golden shield rippled around him, warding off remnant waves of heat that washed over the room. “That thing almost turned me to ash.” The jagged remnants of crystal fell from Leif’s fingers as he crushed the gemstone in his fist, the automaton going inert beneath him. Blue flames still danced along the ceiling, charring ancient rock and filling the chamber with smoke. “That was a…
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Nikolas stood with his hands behind his back, looking over the balcony railings of the Ahle-ho palace, wondering if he could have done more to prevent the tragedy that had unfolded. Conflict between the guilds wasn’t unheard of, though violence between the prime guilds rarely happened out in the open. The Ahle-ho guilds usually competed with one another via proxies or official competition, and open warfare was rare. But the worst had come to pass, and now large swaths of the city lay in ruins. Things…
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“There’s definitely an internal reservoir of power.” Marcus was saying as they stepped through the portal connecting the island of Dimid to Lutum. He was looking down at a sheet of paper he had rubbed a pattern into from where a large gash in the temple's structure had revealed aged and decayed arcane wiring. “Obviously there’s nothing left, no power I mean, it’s empty, only residual energy is left.” Leif walked a step behind the human, only half paying attention to the constant deluge of…
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After a handful of late arrivals trickled into the muster point and were loudly scolded by professor Goodwil and summarily shunted into different teams, the excavation expedition departed. One of the faculty who was accompanying them activated a skill that occasionally rippled invisibly across the teams, pulling their attention towards their destination and relaying information about the upcoming terrain. It was a somewhat disconcerting experience the first few times it happened, the sensation of foreign…
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As Leif exited the greenhouse and entered the living room he spotted Hera lying on a couch, her long blond hair cascading over the back of the expensive furniture as she leaned with her face tilted upwards, a wet cloth covering her eyes. “Long night?” He asked, holding the door as Lucia scooted into the residence after him. Hera’s response was a mix between a grunt of affirmation, and a groan of agony. She shifted in place, the cloth slightly falling off of her face as she turned slightly towards…
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Two daggers of sharpened wood cut through the air, their shape was partially shadowed, just like their wielder. Motes of golden lift drifted lazily through the greenhouse, each softly illuminating their surroundings, casting soft, slowly moving shadows throughout the large enclosed space. Leif brought up an arm to block, a short blade of amber having emerged from his closed fist. It was the simplest construct could create, and it was how Leif had first used the skill back when it had just been , a year…
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Under the misty veil of the greenhouse Lucia talked, and Leif listened. She told him of her life before the fall of Pherin, what it was like watching her little brother slowly grow up alongside her. Lucia had to stop at several points in her story, and Leif only interrupted to ask guiding questions when she stalled. Leif could sense the emotions bubbling up within her, but he also sensed the burden that she carried slowly lift off her shoulders. And while there was progress, it all came crashing down…
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The cries of an infant leaked through the heavy set door and out into the dark, candle lit hallway. There were voices within the maternity ward, Lucia could make out proud and confident tones of her father, the weary congratulations of the nurses, and the exhausted, but overjoyed laughter of her step mother. She shifted on the stone bench, kicking her feet and staring blankly at the stone wall opposite her. She wasn’t old enough to really understand the significance of being a sister, an older sister,…
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The uproar of the arena crowd made continuing the quadriad for the day an unlikely prospect. A hundred voices all yelled questions or stood to run off and find somebody who may have an answer. An ageing couple two rows above where Leif and the others were sitting were spewing panic into the air, their flaring fear and confusion a constant tapping on Leif’s awareness. Things got worse when the announcer, his voice barely audible over the sounds of the raucous crowd, announced that the bout had ended.…
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