Tag: character-driven
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Earthborn — Chapter 1: Ghost of Astochia
Principality of Astochia The peninsular state of Sechvennat of Win’Tarra The sea battered the cliffs beneath the white palace like a blue-gray breath of the ocean. Eirran carried that pulse in his bones. Six years on these bluffs, listening to waves tell stories he’d never cared to hear. A mere fragment of his long life;…
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Welcome to Earthborn – Start Here & Discussion Hub
In a realm where the winged Ilari reign divine, a prince’s greatest sin is not rebellion or murder, but a half-human daughter. Lily is a living heresy, her existence a crime against theology and state. Denied her father’s wings, she possesses a different inheritance altogether – one that could unravel the very fabric of their…
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Earthborn – Chapter 51: Epilogue
The fog in Tretina was not like Astochia’s fleeting mist. There, it rose and sank like the tide, breathing in long, slow pulses. Here, it stuck to the earth. Heavy. Unmoving. Thick. Swallowing air and smothering sounds. Pines rose like dark spears through its pale shroud, their needles whispering in the damp air with a…
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Earthborn – Chapter 50: The Price of Life
The morning of Fariah’s departure was cold and grey. Stone and earth were wet from the rain that had fallen through the night. Fariah walked through the palace halls with her head high. Her fur cloak trailed behind her like a fading shadow. Her servants followed in silence, eyes fixed, mouths shut. The corridors were…
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Earthborn – Chapter 49: The Rise of Light
The great chamber where the Council of the Eight Towers held its sessions had no windows. It was a block of polished white marble crowned by a great crystal dome that broke the incoming light, scattering it across the stone in all the colors of the rainbow. Intricately wrought golden candelabras hugged the walls, their…
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Earthborn – Chapter 48: Echo After the Storm
The massive cloud of wings vanished beyond the eastern cliffs. The air they left behind felt scraped clean of sound. Silence spread like oil on water. The city watched with the stillness of a fawn. Below, on the solid stone streets, nobody moved. Astochia lay beneath the cold blue sky like a canvas of white…
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Earthborn – Chapter 47: The Day the Sky Has Spoken
The sky over Astochia was spotless on that day. The sun’s golden splendor shimmered across the tight web of ripples on the sea surface, spilled across the white bridges and terraces, and broke against clear and stained glass windows. Its shine brought no warmth. It was swallowed by the sharp rolling wind that brought bite…
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Earthborn – Chapter 46: Eye of the Storm
Fariah sat on a bench beneath the window of her chamber, watching the city crouched beneath a grey sky. The stone walls were cold. She had refused fire in the hearth last night. The cold bit into her shoulders, clearing the mind. Outside the balcony stood two Eirran guards, one on each side, silent and…
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Earthborn – Chapter 45: Who Holds the Sky
The light was draining from the pouring sky, rain hitting the glass windows of Gioden’s study at the top of the Fifth Tower. Alina set the scroll sealed with twin burning arrows on the desk in front of him. Gioden lifted his gaze to meet hers. “Your brother has sent you a letter.” He didn’t…
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Earthborn: Chapter 44: The Toll of Bells
Mirna didn’t remember how she got back to the palace. Her mind was too busy replaying Sela’s words and people’s wary looks to keep track of the exact path she took. It didn’t matter. Her cheeks were flushed, her breath short. She was just about to head for the eastern wing when she spotted Keth…