Recent content by Afanas

Feyrith Karskgorak Fiend-Crusher Alicia Blackbolt Emmeline Hildebrandt Afanas scoffed—a sound sharp as flint struck steel. “Scatter!” he roared. “Behind the pillars, all of you! Drag the broken clear! If they breathe, they fight another day. If they can’t walk, carry them!” The order flew...

Medja Afanas’s batlike ears flicked; his earrings jingled once. He tilted his head. His left ear showed long and high, sharp as a knife’s point. Blue light skimmed its rim and etched each ridge. A dark curl brushed the root. A small sapphire gleamed at the lobe and stilled. “I’ve known worse...

Karskgorak Fiend-Crusher Emmeline Hildebrandt Feyrith Zyndyrr K'yoshin Alicia Blackbolt "The altar is broken. The greater daemon they've tried clawing out of pandemonium won't manifest. We should be out of immediate danger," he said, to no one in particular. Cobalt split the dark. Afanas...

Medja Afanas shook his head once. “Not a vampire,” he said. “We share certain traits, but we couldn't be more different." He stepped in, close enough that his bulk threw a clean shadow over her frame. He tucked a loose strand behind his ear. The motion looked careful on hands that large—long...

Koltûn Afanas nodded, stiff at the neck. His mouth felt dry as chalk. He lengthened his stride. The cloak clung like a living shadow and would not flap. “Point the way,” he said. “The stronger the prey, the longer I last between meals.” He cast one look at the far spires. He counted holds and...

Koltûn Afanas sniffed and glanced back at the marching column. “Pray you are right,” he said. “If not, the Dark Ones’ servants will clean their teeth with our bones.” The sword across his back rattled in its sheath, a dry rebuke. He tapped the pommel with one finger. The steel fell still...

Alicia Blackbolt Petrus Ritus Iskandar Feyrith Karskgorak Fiend-Crusher Zyndyrr K'yoshin Emmeline Hildebrandt The Blood-Knights locked shields. Red plate rasped. Dragon-faces glowered from etched steel. They moved as one. Slow steps. Tight ranks. Fel-blades rose and fell, neat and sure...

Alicia Blackbolt Zyndyrr K'yoshin Feyrith Karskgorak Fiend-Crusher Emmeline Hildebrandt Afanas ran with the red men at his back. Plate clinked. Boots rang. The night blew cold across his face. His eyes silvered and slit—chrome over coal, knives for pupils—and the world bled its secrets. Stone...

Feyrith Rae'twyn Suvalissaere Afanas weighed her question in silence. His mouth pressed thin, his brows drew together, heavy and sharp as blades. For a moment he seemed carved in stone, pale light tracing the stark planes of his face. Then he stirred, and his answer came, measured and...

Koltûn Afanas shook his head. “You are wrong. Your brother’s work endures—with him or without him. The regent empress he left thinks like a fox in wire. She already stitches the wound Drakormir cut. She binds road to gate. She sets law to ledger. She mends what burned.” He scowled at the high...

Feyrith Rae'twyn Suvalissaere A figure came out of the gloom in carmine plate, gilt at the seams and thorned along the ridges. The helm wore a dragon’s snout; the visor showed a slice of face—chalk-pale, gaunt. He halted a few paces from Afanas, raised a mailed fist, and struck his breast. The...

Koltûn Afanas scowled beneath the wide brim. The shadow did not hide the set of his mouth. The wind caught dust. The dust died against his coat. “You call him the least of your litter,” he said. “Yet he alone raised an empire from sand. In the desert’s throat. With sun like a scourge. With...

Feyrith Afanas shook his head, slow. “No. My father is no warmonger. He did what he had to in order to safeguard our old haunts. Malakath is a harsh land, and harsh lands raise savage neighbors.” His features eased; his voice gentled as the words left him. “And your blood kin?” he asked...

Koltûn Afanas tilted his head, studying the armored beast. The rhino’s plates bore hammer-marks, the crude shaping catching the weak light, yet each joint moved with grim efficiency. His eyes traced the ridges and seams, following their battered logic. He came alongside the lumbering brute and...

Feyrith Afanas gave a slight shrug. “I never named the blade. It is but an instrument.” He drew his cloak about him, the folds falling to hide most of his shape. “My father is Vlakhos. In Epressa and Liadain, few know the name. Those who do call him the Outsider. The name fits. He says he was...