David White
Stories
4
Chapters
1,771
Words
1.0 K
Comments
0
Reading
5 m
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A small eternity after the Son of Rome and the Young Griffon come charging out of the immortal storm crown that hangs above Kaukoso Mons, six Heroic souls come tumbling out after them. Four Heroes and two Heroines, each of them marked by the raven’s hand. All six of them are brimming with vitality and joyous defiance. Through the efforts of one, all six have been given the once in a lifetime opportunity to drink from divinity’s cup. Each of them has suffered terrible injuries, but only one of them has…-
92 •
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The Scarlet City falls fully into chaos by the time the Rosy Dawn’s pillars emerge from their closed doors cultivation. The people of the valley are crude souls by and large. Citizens enjoy places of prominence in the city’s bureaucracy, such is their supremacy, and whenever a philosopher’s sets foot in the city’s humble agora it is nearly a certainty that they will be a scholar of the city’s greater mystery cults. In Alikos, as is the case in most every city state aside from the Coast, the…
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92 •
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The Oracle’s blade was adamant-wrought. It plunged through her throat without any resistance, parting flesh and cartilage as if it wasn’t there at all. Calliope’s breath hitched as she weakly twisted the knife- I caught her wrist and pressed my thumb against the flat face of the dagger’s hilt, locking it in place. The Oracle choked on a sob and jerked her head sideways, seeking to tear the knife out sideways one way or another. I palmed the golden crown of her head and held her fast. Her eyes…
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92 •
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Her father wasn’t a monster. He wasn’t a That wasn’t all there was to him, though. The man known to some as the First Son to Burn, the kyrios to others, and Old ‘Zalus to others still, was first and foremost her father. He was all of his titles, and he was none of them in their entirety. He had done monstrous things, some she knew of and almost certainly others that she didn’t, but he wasn’t a monster. The man that had raised her, the portion of Polyzalus that was her father, was someone…
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92 •
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“You’ve done well,” the Hero said. Both Griffon and I stared at the towering cultivator, utterly thrown, and he laughed. “Not what you expected?” “Not quite,” I said warily. “We haven’t made many friends here,” Griffon added. The Hero chuckled, eyes crinkling in fond recollection. “No, you’ve made a beautiful mess of this place. It’s to be expected that the bees won’t be happy when you kick their hive. If you ask me, though, the schemers deserve every gray hair you’ve…
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92 •
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The melee grew more chaotic the further down the mountain we went. The junior estates for the youngest and least of the Raging Heaven’s mystikos came and went, and soon enough I saw that it was more than just my own shaky coalition at war on this mountain. I had hoped otherwise, but deep in my gut I’d known. The initiates of the Howling Wind, Broken Tide, Waning Wax, and Scattered Foam had made it furthest up the mountain, but they were not alone. I sprinted through the fork that joined our winding…
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92 •
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We raced down the mountain without a moment’s pause for the Storm That Never Ceased. Our steps were bounding, our energy overflowing. The tribulation hounds that pursued us in our descent were met with Griffon’s lightning limbs and the tip of my celestial spear. Our momentum was unstoppable, as much within as it was without. The Titan Flame’s golden ichor burned in my stomach, warming me to the tips of my fingers and toes and growing warmer every second. My every step crushed the loose stones on…
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92 •
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Somehow, even now, the image that appeared when Niko called to mind his cousins was a single night from years ago. The night they’d carved their refuge out of the eastern mountain range had been a warm one, the full moon and its chorus of stars burning bright over their heads. It was Niko that did the bulk of the work, though Lio carved out more than his fair share and the rest of them chipped away as much as they could. When all was said and done they had a cavern of their own making, just large enough…
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92 •
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He raised the pewter cup to his lips- And paused before it could touch them. He stared down at his golden reflection in the nectar. Spiraling beyond the Muse’s stone cage, five starlight paths still shimmered in his mind’s eye. Some parallel, others below - none higher than his own place on the mountain. “May I borrow this cup?” Urania’s stone lips curled. — — Where did I stand? It felt like an eternity that I had been waiting. Waiting for someone to ask me that question and for them…
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92 •
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— — On the day of my first On this holiday above all others, the kyrios was both judge and jury. He was The Thargelia was a celebration of life and of beginnings, positioned as it was at the start of summer and the very first harvest of the year. It was a holiday held dear in every Alikon heart, though the unawoken didn’t know exactly We honored him with the Thargelia, and we sacrificed in his forgotten name as we did for all the pantheon. In this particular case, we sacrificed…
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