awmaher

Chapter 90 - Second Rank Wizard

This is now the full chapter. The new section begins at the *** 

“Are you sure about this?” Bud asked.

They were around the back of the lighthouse, standing atop the small bluff that overlooked the lake.

Chapter 89 - Truth of Fishers Lake

“You knew this temple was out there and told us nothing?” Bud snapped. “Why would you keep that from us?”

Impatience flashed in Vivienne’s eyes as she cast a glance around the square. “Not here. We’ll talk once we’re back in ...

Chapter 88 - Gateways

Dylan revealed nothing on the way to Hestia’s Temple, no matter how hard Hump pressed. Instead, he asked them to wait until after their business with Priestess Elowen was complete to discuss the essence stones with Vivienne. It was frustrating, ...

Chapter 87 - Essence of Another Realm

Hump gasped a deep breath, becoming suddenly awake. His heart shuddered with the flow of essence. Warmth pulsed through him, radiating from the essence stone in his hands all the way to his core. No, it was more than that. The power stormed throug...

Chapter 86 - A Wizard Worth Their Staff

The three of them were in Hump’s room. Celaine seated in a chair by the desk, and Bud by the door, while Hump sat on his bed. They’d returned late, their training running into the evening so that they’d missed the last call for ...

Chapter 85 - Predator's Intent

Mayor Arnold and Captain Winfrey had already arrived when Hump returned to the sanctuary with Vivienne and Madeleine. They spent a long time discussing the logistics of locking up a High Priest. Nobody was happy about it, but Vivienne eventually b...

Chapter 84 - No Good Reasons

Hump stared at Albry’s unmoving body; the image of those black eyes fixed in his mind. Essence had filled them, just as he had seen it in the cave.

“Gods above, Skander, you’ve assaulted a High Priest. Are you insane?” Randall burst ...

Chapter 83 - Suppression

Albry stood before the altar, illuminated by essence. It rose off his body in streams of blue and silver, filling the sanctuary with light and cloaking him in power.

Something was wrong. He was too strong to be a first circle Chosen. The pre...

Chapter 82 - Hestia's Star

The temple loomed before them, grey stone against a grey sky. A pathway led down the side, away from the town square and to a garden around the back where Hump could see Fishers Lake.

“Are you sure about this?” Bud asked. “Albry has ma...

Chapter 81 - Skander

“So how did you spot me?” Skander asked.

“You were hardly camouflaged,” Celaine said.

The man sighed. “Perception ability, eh? Guessed you’d have one from the look of you but I didn’t expect you back so soon. Albry told u...

Chapter 80 - Ceremony of the Dead

The villagers held the ceremony in the morning. It was unlike anything that Hump had seen, but beautiful in its own way. They laid the bodies out on a single, long raft that they’d constructed overnight and early in the morning. The bodies were ...

Chapter 79 - The Power of Blood

Essence exploded from Celaine in a burst of green fire. Instinct propelled Hump back as a wave of pressure that swept through the cavern. It felt like needles against his skin. Like a sword at his throat. Yet he didn’t look away—couldn’t loo...

Chapter 78 - A Different Kind of Bait

There was one thing left to deal with before entering the cave.

Bud chanted a prayer of purification under his breath, the blue radiance of Heart of Frostfire manifesting around him. It enshrouded him in frosted air, flickering up i...

Chapter 77 - Silver Amid Bones

Blood rose from the pack leader’s wounds and mouth, forming sharp streaks of red in the air. Its power built, an assault on Hump’s soul. He slammed his staff into the ground and leant heavily against it, gritting his teeth as his essence was t...

Chapter 76 - Almost to Plan

Wizard that he was, Hump decided his time would be better spent preparing a formation rather than gathering firewood for the trap. In hindsight, he hadn’t considered that would leave him only a few dozen paces away from a den full of man-eating ...

Chapter 75 - Bloody Trail

“You’re safe now,” Celaine whispered. “It’s alright. Nobody’s going to hurt you. Is there anyone else down there with you?”

“No,” the girl said back. “Where’s papa?”

Celaine’s face twinged but she forced a smi...

Chapter 74 - The Darker Side of Adventuring

Hump tasted copper; it clung to the back of his throat, coating it like oil. The sensation—the stench—was nauseating. He couldn’t turn away from the girl’s bloodied flesh. The red wound around her neck where her head had been torn from her...

Chapter 73 - Monsters of Lakewood

Hump was surprised when the guard led them down to the docks rather than Mayor Arnold’s office. They found him down by the lake alongside Captain Winfrey, and a middle-aged man that Hump he didn’t recognise. There was no sign of Albry or Randa...

Chapter 72 - Warlock

Hump’s mind raced as he searched for any excuse that would come. All he drew was a blank. His mouth fell open, he fumbled for words—any words—but they did not find him. “Erm…”

Failing his own words, he glanced at Celaine for help...

Chapter 71 - A ‘Gentleman’s’ Challenge

The outer church went silent as all eyes stared at Randall. The young lord’s wand glimmered faintly with cold blue light, held with all the arrogance that Hump had come to expect from most nobles. The echoes of his challenge still rang through H...

Chapter 70 - An Unexpected Encounter

“There must be more to it than that,” Hump insisted. “He couldn’t simply leave and say nothing. Besides, you travelled with us more than once since then. You’ve had time to press him for answers.”

Something on Vivienne’s face m...

Chapter 69 - Truth

Vivienne’s approach to spellcraft was vastly different from Master Sethril’s. Where the old man would demonstrate a technique and leave Hump to flounder about trying to replicate it for weeks, Vivienne taught him the intricacies of the spell b...

Chapter 68 - Direction of Training

They gathered in Vivienne’s study after lunch. A cozy room on the second floor with just enough space to fit them all in. A rounded bookshelf covered the back wall, shaped to fit the building’s curvature, filled with an impressive collection o...

Chapter 67 - What An Academy Wizard Can Do

Vivienne wielded a wand—a duellist’s weapon, designed with ease of carry and style in mind more so than practicality. Its small size meant that it required more specialist components and enchantments to compete with a staff, and of course, tha...

Chapter 66 - Battling a Druid

“Have you got a plan?” Bud asked. He and Celaine were sat on the grass of a shallow slope down near the path that led back to the town.

Hump handed his bag containing the dragon egg, potions, and other equipment to Celaine, then placed h...

Chapter 65 - Spirits and Sparring

“The lake is the key,” Vivienne said. “I’m convinced of it. We’ve attempted to follow the spirits back to wherever it is they come for, and at the very least it’s deep within the lake. Either underwater or on one of the many islands sp...

Chapter 64 - Differing Brilliance

Celaine refused to let her discomfort show as Vivienne’s aura bore down on her. A hunter could not show fear in the face of a predator, and this wizard was far from the greatest predator she had met. She came from a land of dragons, and if a dra...

Chapter 63 - Mysteries of the Soul

Hump had experience with shaping exercises. His master had taken him through them almost every morning, and ever since leaving Bledsbury Dungeon, Hump had carried on the practice.

What Vivienne wanted was something more.

“We’ll beg...

Chapter 62 - Test of the Four Wizarding Attributes

“Seth was far from an orthodox wizard,” Vivienne said as she searched through a large wooden box, jumbled full of what Hump could only describe as expensive looking random junk. “The purpose of these tests is for me to understand what you ar...

Chapter 61 - No Free Lunch

Hump woke to banging on his door. “What is it?”

“Sergeant Fredricks is here,” Bud said. “You should come down.”

Hump groaned. “Okay, I’ll be right out.”

Sitting up, Hump rubbed his eyes, his head pounding. After...