The months that followed had Ezril and the brothers of the seminary supervised but not taught. The priests stayed their hands, keeping their reactions to any mistakes made to a frown or a twitch of the jaw. Father Talod watched them as they sparre...
2023-09-03 23:18:01 +0000 UTC View PostThere was a dreary nature in the cold of winter. Even in the afternoon, bright as it was supposed to be, the canopy of trees and the ever falling snow gave it an odd feeling. Perhaps if it was the woods, and the canopy had not been as dense, the a...
2023-08-31 23:19:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe walk to Cabavi was filled with random chatter and a dissemination of pointless information. The latter was more the work of Peter, unsurprisingly.
“Do you know one of the janitors has a crush on instructor Torent?” Peter asked conver...
2023-08-31 23:19:00 +0000 UTC View Post“In the next six months,” Monsignor Crowl told them, “you will be prepared for the test of the hunt.”
It was late in the month of Martis and the snow from the winter had thawed, giving way for the green grass and the warm way. They s...
2023-08-31 23:18:00 +0000 UTC View PostAbed ground his teeth in annoyance. His annoyance wasn’t just at everybody’s objection to him, it was mainly at the deep smirk on Big Man Desolate’s face.
When he’d walked into the meeting point and seen the love of his life alive an...
2023-08-30 23:18:00 +0000 UTC View PostBy their fourth month Ezril and his brothers had learned what Father Munidu sought to teach them. Even Ezril showed a mastery of the technique, seeming capable of putting the dog to silence without having to look at it. Learning it before his rema...
2023-08-30 23:18:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe swaying carriage had often caused motion sickness in a few of the children to ever mount it, but the children in it today seemed unbothered by it. While this was not an achievement, it showed favorable signs.
Somto watched the children a...
2023-08-30 23:18:00 +0000 UTC View PostApparit looked more like Ezril’s memory of Dainty. But where Dainty had borne an indifference in its eyes he had seen pain and chaos in Apparit’s. Ezril and his brothers had been required to spend the entirety of the day caring for them, as th...
2023-08-29 23:29:23 +0000 UTC View PostIgor led the children through one of the seminary’s gates they had never used before. It weaved a straight path through the forest they had since come to understand surrounded the Seminary. Unlike the other parts of the forest, though, there was...
2023-08-29 23:18:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe feel of the seminary was a welcomed one. Ezril and his brothers had given up their cloaks for white cassocks. Unlike those of the official cassocks of the priests, theirs was without capes. Another change was that they resided in a tower situa...
2023-08-29 23:15:23 +0000 UTC View PostThe next morning, they came for Jazabil, blades drawn as they stood guard. Today Commander Olann was not among them. The soldiers of the King’s guard pulled her by the chain that held her to the wall, dragging her out of the church, Father Kezar...
2023-08-29 22:44:47 +0000 UTC View PostDarkness threatened to engulf Ezril as his fears welled up from within him. He knew it very well. It was a companion he took solace in, and a companion he had grown to fear. Soon the eyes watched, and the hilts beckoned, and he dreamed in the day....
2023-08-29 22:39:28 +0000 UTC View PostEzril walked the compound grounds of the parish house. The ground was muddied. The signs of the rainfall from the previous night could be noticed from the puddles of water around the compound. The noon air was cold. And though the sun was out, its...
2023-08-29 22:34:58 +0000 UTC View Post“Next,” he whispered, and Takeshi followed.
“We’re really sorry.”
Zed turned to Anthony and gave the boy an assuring smile. “It’s cool.”
The boy nodded, then sniffled. “It’s just, Peter thought you’d feel ba...
2023-08-29 22:19:36 +0000 UTC View PostClint found Seth and Timi sometime in the morning perhaps three hours before noon.
When he found them, Seth came awake from his slumber—woken by his minds—in the uncomfortable crook of a particularly large tree covered in brown moss. He ...
2023-08-29 04:54:58 +0000 UTC View PostEvening in the institute was like evening in any boarding school. At least Zed tried to believe it was. The slow crawl to lights out was usually untasked where they were left to their vices... or virtues, as instructor Ivanovic their one Russian m...
2023-08-28 19:42:39 +0000 UTC View PostThe parish house stood behind the church. It was a massive building fashioned from brick, and designed in varying colors. It gave the building an extravagant beauty. Ezril always wondered how the kingdom lived in buildings of brick with a certain ...
2023-08-28 18:06:00 +0000 UTC View PostEzril sat uncomfortably in his seat. The cushion was plush, a very delicate touch to his butt. It was greatly unlike what the seminary was prone to offering. Its size was massive enough to accommodate a second person. It was decorated with embroid...
2023-08-28 17:17:19 +0000 UTC View PostUrden sat in front of the flame, warming his hands, though he needed none of the warmth. He’d never needed help staying warm in the cold, not in a very long time.
Helva sat on the other side of the flame. She was a woman of considerable ag...
2023-08-28 16:40:04 +0000 UTC View PostWhoever was falling hit the side of the mountain, his head striking it at an odd angle. It flipped him in the air, realigning the fall’s trajectory. Up became down, left became right, and a fall became a tumble.
Every part of Ezril’s pla...
2023-08-28 05:04:18 +0000 UTC View PostThe test of climbing was different from the ones Ezril and his brothers knew, different from the ones they had. The older boys were not present for it, having left the seminary on a task of sorts. Their spiritual work, the priests called it. It wa...
2023-08-28 04:34:45 +0000 UTC View Post“He’s awake.”
Yes., I am.
Ezril was pulled back to consciousness by something. Perhaps the voice. Maybe it was something else. But he was awake now. He would begrudge whoever it was later, if the grudge was still there t...
2023-08-28 04:03:10 +0000 UTC View PostFather Fravis’ words came with a different understanding now. Something about the import of the moment gave a new feeling to the words. Ezril raised his foot… Take it as strides compressed into one compact step. Like connecting multiple bl...
2023-08-27 23:47:58 +0000 UTC View PostThe night was cold and Ezril ran through it on an open clearing. He stopped at one of the buildings around. There, he bided his time.
Why does it have to be tonight? he thought. Especially now that he’s angry.
His m...
2023-08-27 23:38:05 +0000 UTC View PostEzril’s surrounding squeezed. His steps compressed beneath him. His calves hurt, reminding him of his early trainings of unarmed combat when Fravis required them to hit as many times as possible in a limited time.
One compact step! 2023-08-27 23:23:54 +0000 UTC View Post
Zed woke up with a searing headache. It was as if someone had poked his brain with a needle, treading a path through his eye.
His head lay helplessly on the grass and there was a commotion ensuing around him. Loud voices filled the air and a...
2023-08-27 23:05:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe brothers rarely discussed the training of the Hallowed step in Ezril’s presence. They did so from a sense of empathy, he noted. In time even the priests favored him with looks of pity. Priestess Ellenel not so subtly reduced the force with w...
2023-08-27 22:45:35 +0000 UTC View PostEzril and his brothers found themselves under the command of Father Fravis the next day. The hall he led them to was different from the one they had practiced in their years in the seminary. This hall was grand and open with more air than they tho...
2023-08-27 22:17:56 +0000 UTC View PostThe streets, although not as choked as it would be on festivals, were swarmed with people trampling whatever was left of the snow scattered across the stone floor. It was Ezril’s worse part of the days of outing. A test of the crowd. 2023-08-27 21:58:18 +0000 UTC View Post
It was early into his sixth year in the seminary in the month of Janus, first of its year, when Ezril first saw a face from the underbelly.
The snow covered the dirt and the brothers walked the compound clad in their fur cloaks of wolf skin....
2023-08-27 21:40:47 +0000 UTC View Post