Amdirlain’s PoV - Southeast Himalayas
While Amdirlain worked on her army, Bai Hu and Zhūquè bound hundreds of demons, and the Vermillion Bird stripped Sarah and Klipyl of the relic’s effects. Sarah hadn’t bothered to revert, instead flying around to strafe the gathered demons and teased Jinfeng about being slow to take her share down.
W...
2025-03-04 12:19:59 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Southeast Himalayas
The heat from her flames disrupted the valley’s winds.
Sarah was on the far side of the mountain, herding hundreds of demons back towards the squad, while Kadaklan and Klipyl had already deployed a medical station. Those among the judges’ squad who had taken the most significant injuries were already ...
2025-02-28 06:32:23 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Bali
The following morning, Amdirlain wasn’t far from where she’d watched Klipyl deal with the Sahuagin. Sarah had deployed the house just over the high tide mark. So when dawn arrived, she knelt on the veranda’s edge, and listened to it focus on the various creatures feeding in the depths. Their aggression made it wary, but its cannons remained ...
2025-02-24 21:59:21 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - South Wind’s Court
On the morning of their departure, Amdirlain had drawn the location from Kadaklan’s mind and teleported. The sunrise illuminated the crystal clear waters beyond gently rolling surf, reflected off the white sands that stretched towards a town on the west side of the bay. Directly to the north on Bali was the truncated peak of a vo...
2025-02-21 06:38:19 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - East Shrine
By the time Sarah returned from the Enchanter’s Pavilion, Amdirlain had sprawled out on the bed.
Sarah slipped her boots off and sat beside her. “I heard you had a dramatic day.”
“Completely peaceful, even met the Jade Emperor. I didn’t ‘see’ him properly, but he gave himself away with a name that pinged too many m...
2025-02-18 02:59:56 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Demi-Plane
When Amdirlain finished reviewing all the dead-end powers and skills she’d let fall by the wayside with Cyrus, she sat up and brushed her fingers across her hair to smooth it out.
“Death Strike, Dominion, Flight, Greater Teleport, Planar Beacon, Rebuke, Seed Doubts, Silent Kill, Spirit Bridge, Stimulation, Tongues, True Sight, and ...
2025-02-14 04:06:52 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Demi-Plane
Amdirlain lifted her hands as the others started to argue with Klipyl. “Please stop. I’d planned to address it later, but I can sense the same tension as Klipyl caught. Her understanding of emotions is better than mine, so I trust her judgement.”
They stopped to listen too readily, their compliance set Amdirlain’s nerves on edg...
2025-02-10 23:23:07 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Demi-Plane
After Theinas disappeared, Amdirlain ran some quick mental calculations to see where some Class options would put her. “So I need to optimise a mix of Intelligence and Willpower.”
“It’s just as well you have your cheat code for levelling,” Sarah looped her arm through Amdirlain’s and started towards the house. “You mentio...
2025-02-06 19:48:26 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Demi-Plane
Theinas’ shadow fell across Sarah as she checked Amdirlain for lingering wounds.
“I see your risk-taking hasn’t changed from the Maze,” noted Theinas. “How close to the edge did you cut things?”
“There were other options I could have drawn on, but I pushed a few key abilities, perhaps harder than was wise,” ...
2025-02-04 01:17:19 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Demi-Plane
The conversation with Gideon and the rawness from her Soul healing incited her nerves and paranoia to churn. The comforting blue glow she picked for the Demi-Plane shifted from feeling like a cloudless sky to being buried in ice. Amdirlain eliminated the glow, and the darkness enfolded her.
‘Sarah, I need to talk to Lethe about l...
2025-01-31 06:36:31 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Demi-Plane
The Enyalië flowed through the Gate and flooded the Demi-Plane with their intense excitement and bright tones. It was such an infectious, upbeat tempo that Amdirlain hummed along to their theme.
Irini laughed with delight. “You’re singing our song, mum.”
Amdirlain energised notes to the same beat and a wash of light illumi...
2025-01-28 11:25:44 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - East Wind’s Court
A fit of amusement had sent Klipyl scampering from the house but, focused on Atonement's expansion, Amdirlain hadn't thought any more of it. When she stopped creating crystals and enchantments, the experience tally jumped her seventy levels. Though it felt like she'd barely made a speck among the vast empty buildings, Amdirlain clos...
2025-01-24 00:47:29 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - East Wind’s Court
The night proceeded with more lifetime explorations, and the flames of her sigil intensified with each layer of strands connecting nodes. As another memory faded, Amdirlain blinked to find Klipyl kneeling across from her. A Message globe hovered by Amdirlain’s shoulder; she parsed the details and dismissed the Spell even as she sm...
2025-01-20 09:11:57 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - East Wind’s Court
The Enchanter’s Pavilion was a sprawling complex on the western side of the dome; it had a sweeping roof with a dramatic crest and decorative edges; within it, Amdirlain could sense distinct sections occupied by the artificers and Tao enchanters, but the protections throughout the complex used a combination of the professions. Whe...
2025-01-17 07:01:29 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Soulscape
The arena walls echoed with the clamour of the traps that had erupted into deadly life. The guardian’s every step triggered a reaction from more traps and obstacles. Following on her heels would have left Amdirlain running through or blasted by energy, so her chase parallelled the fleeing figure. Her usual strength was absent and it left he...
2025-01-13 13:32:55 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - East Wind’s Court
Their accommodation gained a collection of paintings over the following nine weeks of research. Kadaklan’s and Klipyl’s cooperative efforts created each, giving the place a feeling of home. The lady’s arm against the backdrop of flowers turned into a stylised picture of Lady Omiyanome-no-Okami; those that followed were depicti...
2025-01-10 05:49:19 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - East Wind’s Court
While Sarah slept beside her, Amdirlain invested a point into True Song Architecture. The insights that rushed in were more profound than the ones that had caused her to spend days in frantic composition, yet several factors made the jump manageable. The impact of her Songbird Class smoothed the flow of the new information, selectiv...
2025-01-06 07:34:30 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain's PoV - East Wind's Court
Amdirlain had already memorised the library and its contents before she appeared on its doorstep. Though each level of the building spiralled through a dimensional Mobius strip, on the outside its appearance was that of a simple pagoda. Its outer azure walls bore jade green roofs around each level, making the bright red hinoki wood trim...
2025-01-03 22:49:02 +0000 UTC View PostKlipyl’s PoV - East Wind’s Court
The others had gone their own way after the audience and hadn’t returned to the townhouse with her. With her guide’s arrival rapidly approaching, Klipyl tapped on Kadaklan’s door. “Please, Kadaklan, I need a hand.”
The door slid open a short time later, and Kadaklan blinked at Klipyl, dressed only in the inner layer of ...
2024-12-30 00:52:57 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - East Wind’s Court
The courier arrived while Klipyl was out at her meeting with Oracle Hashiguchi Amaya, and Jinfeng handled the protocols of greeting him. Her immediately handing over a reply caused the courier’s eyebrows to climb. With an enigmatic smile, Jinfeng bowed and closed the door.
Amdirlain waited for her tap on the door before slid...
2024-12-27 07:52:27 +0000 UTC View PostKlipyl's PoV - East Wind’s Court
When Klipyl returned to the others, her attention lingered on the mannequins. The kimonos adorning them ranged from a brilliant riot of blue and pink flowers to liquid black silk with large golden flowers. Amdirlain was fussing with the seams of one, the cloth shifting under her touch. The flower pattern across the shoulders smoothly tra...
2024-12-23 11:29:39 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - East Wind’s Court
Amdirlain tossing out the name of a Class drew a grunt from Klipyl. She took her attention from admiring the schools of fish and slid back from the porch railing. “What’s Psionic Dreadnought?”
A glowing panel covered with the details of the Class appeared in the air before Amdirlain but was readable from all directions. ...
2024-12-19 10:27:40 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Enoshima shrine
The Dragon that had formed from the sea water drew back, his long body sinking into the cove until his topaz eyes were level with the top of the shrine. A calm stillness settled over the place, a sea hawk swooped down and perched on the Dragon’s crest. The wind off the bay eased, and the emas stopped clattering against their rack.
... 2024-12-15 20:04:18 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Wudang Mountain - Eight months later
The dawn’s rays were touching the mountain’s eastern face as a cascade of sparrow-sized phoenixes burst from Amdirlain. The months of training let them dart along twisting paths between the stone obstacles to ravage the various constructs about the slope. As they darted from cover to cover, Amdirlain blazed betw...
2024-12-10 21:06:03 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Shiyan - Zhōngguó
As Sadka rang a chime outside the compound of ‘The Silk Clouds’, Amdirlain considered its interior. Layers of wards with increasing complexity beneath its paved courtyards prompted her to investigate downwards. There, she found thousands of chambers and extra-dimensional spaces, preserved scrolls filling each chamber on topics r...
2024-12-06 06:25:26 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Northeast from Wudang Mountain
The gate guards wore a combination of thick leather armour with riveted metal plates to protect their torso and upper limbs, with symbols at their collars showing their rank. The leather contained a residual energy that provided a specialised protective effect that opposed the power of Di Yu.
Amdirlain stretch...
2024-12-02 20:44:59 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Wudang Mountain
Master Cyrus showed up just after dawn dressed in identical robes to those he wore the night before, but Amdirlain could hear the repairs in their fabric. As Sarah let him into the room, Jinfeng hurriedly returned her cup to the table and stood. His gaze lingered with amusement on the tea set arrayed before a seated Amdirlain refreshing...
2024-11-28 21:37:03 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Wudang Mountain
The speed of his motions meant the music provided no warning, but its seamless flow inspired her reactions. Since even a deflection contained bone-crushing force, Amdirlain shifted and slipped ahead of his blows. She re-enabled Muse’s Embrace and sank into the theme, catching the sharp notes of traps among the flurry of attacks. As he...
2024-11-25 15:28:31 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Beneath Wudang Mountain
As time passed and Rustam’s fortitude strengthened dramatically, Amdirlain dipped lightly into the emotions within Ori’s memories. She turned the crushing loneliness and heart-sickened disappointment into a whetstone for him to hone himself against. She caught glimpses of his time as the protector of elephant herds and a gra...
2024-11-22 23:00:57 +0000 UTC View PostI've been running behind this week, so the 2nd chapter for this week will be late. Over the last months, my lead has whittled to nothing, so I must regain a stockpile of advanced chapters to post regularly.
Part of that is work and bouts of flu, but I've also been progressing with Book 2 and hope to have it with an editor in Q1 (2025). I'm on the third rewrite, as a few things didn't sit ...
2024-11-21 20:45:16 +0000 UTC View Post