A city made of clouds wanders the earth, walls of frozen tears obscuring it from the people below, an opaque swath of water except for a gate through which the spirits may enter. The city of the ancients is where all spirits go when they die, ascending to the heavenly city by the will of their gods. The world never sees the darkness of night, but it never sees the light of true day. For hidden in the depths of the city is the glory of the sun, bringing light and warmth to t

Defeat The next night, in the dead of night, Rienna spontaneously woke. At first, she didn't know why; she heard nothing, it wasn't too cold, she wasn't hungry. But she was wide awake, so something had to have woken her. Then there was a sound outside. Footsteps on grass. She looked around. Both Luke and Hana were in the cabin with her. Which meant… the fairyeld must have come back. She got out of bed and shook Luke awake. "I heard footsteps," she said quietly. "It was pr

Crystal Magic A few days later, Rienna found herself staring at the bread and cheese meant for her lunch. She was hungry, but she just didn't want to eat it. She slowly picked it up and took another measly bite. She was constantly bored but tense, which was an awful combination. She'd read through three of the books in the room already, just as something to do. In each, Jenni maintained an attitude that she had done no wrong. According to the history book, one year, a hundred

The New Sorcerer They arrived at Albert's manor about fifteen minutes before the meeting. A good portion of the Order was already there, chatting and sipping tea. At the announcement of apple tea, many fellows greedily crowded the teapots and poured themselves cups. They found Albert already talking excitedly with Christia. He saw them and beamed. "Come this way, let's talk before the meeting starts." He led them off to the side and happily thanked them for the tea. "It is

Years ago, Salar de Uyuni was once part of the paleolake Tauca; now it is an example of a spectacular phenomenon. Any pictures you see of Salar de Uyuni look unreal, like another world. For most of the year, Salar de Uyuni exists as a large salt flat, the result of the evaporation of the Tauca paleolake. Most salt flats are formed this way. As climates change, large, salty lakes become subject to arid conditions and subsequently evaporate, leaving large fields of salt. This l

The Alchemist Tuesday arrived in no time. The days leading up to it were a blur of work, relaxation outside The Suppression, cooking, and sleeping. The excitement of meeting the alchemist was all Rienna could think about. They rode into town again on the horses, following the road towards the nobles' district. Instead of continuing into the neighborhoods, they turned and began towards a large building in the distance that was the university. As they got closer, they entered a

Secret Society It had taken time, patience, some pleading, a little bit of magic, an excessive amount of frowning, and three long days, but finally, finally, Rienna broke off a piece of clear crystal the size of a beetle. Without Xia being able to hurl the crystal into other objects with impossible force, it had been a fair amount more difficult than splitting the purple one. With malicious happiness, Rienna placed the crystalline shard in the locket around her neck and cha

Darkest Forest A restless night and gloomy morning later, Rienna found herself standing in front of a tall dark tree and its equally creepy brethren. She thought back to her encounter with the witch and what Måren had said about how she practiced necromancy. She imagined how Trusten must prefer capturing children due to their youthfulness. She swallowed hard as she peered into the darkness. The caravan had disappeared into the woods not half an hour earlier. And while there d

Hammering a stake into the cliff's edge, you clip your harness to a new rope. Shuffling towards the edge, you sit down on the edge as the snow around you slides off the edge and falls. You lower yourself onto the cliff wall and begin sliding down the rope. As you get to your partner's harness, you see that it looks like it was attacked; a large slash cuts the side of the harness in half. There's a trail of red leading to a cave, as you go to take a closer look, I realize it i