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metaworld

Dataset card Data Studio Files
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Gwen ran full tilt through the side doors and into the courtyard, expecting to see an inquisitional court assembled for their Gwen hunt, racking her over the coals for the dead koi. Instead, she was greeted by her babulya, seated beside a brewing pot of Maofeng Cha, the tea from Fur Peak. "Gwen, come." Like a shy ...
Hangzhou. Once the Dragon Mage passed the dragon-pine, she began to feel the oppressive resonance of Humanity's Shielding Stones pounding at her chest. Her core hummed unpleasantly, hinting at the violent end that awaited Ayxin should she persist in approaching the city. So this was the infamous Shielding magic em...
"That's the dress she ordered?" Qīn spread the cream-coloured horror across the dining table before regarding it critically. "She'll look like a pink pancake wrapped around a fried dough stick." "Yes, Mistress." Her servant confirmed her scepticism. "Miss Gwen has said that the bridesmaid should never overshadow the...
"Happy wife, happy life, Mr Song! Gānbēi!" Gwen poured the wine distractedly, far more engrossed in seeking out the source of her dreadful premonition. Her surveillance, however, was limited to the table-by-table meet-and-greet where, as is tradition, people were trying to get Hai as drunk as humanly possible. At ...
As an international sport, Mage Duels was begotten in the West, though it had always existed amongst the Chinese Elite in an unofficial capacity since antiquity. Compared to grand displays of power and ego, the Tower's system had brought a code of conduct upheld by adjudicators and participants the moment they stepp...
"A wonderful match." Guo averted his eyes when Gwen turned to glare at him. The girl was uncannily mature but easily caught up in her emotions. For all her talent and her mysterious resistance to Enchantment, a pathos-driven prod in the right direction was all that was necessary to get her blood boiling. In all hon...
"Wonsoo," Secretary Liu called for his great-nephew. "Grand-Uncle," came a reply from the dim interior of a large bed chamber. The low voice issued forth from a face with an unkempt beard blanketing the speaker's mouth and chin. Likewise, although the man was in silk robes, his lounging on the divan and the bedragg...
Gwen watched as her opponent put up his hands, motioning for her to look instead to her elders. Equally weary and wary, Gwen instructed Ariel to keep an eye on her opponent while she turned to Guo and Liu. "Ee-ee!" Ariel flittered through the air, swishing its tail and twirling its prehensile whiskers. Pointing its ...
When enough of his faculty returned, Percy Song found himself near the outskirts of the Lake District encircling the Liu Estate. Taking a moment to gather himself, he surveyed his surroundings. He was in an old, abandoned place of worship, possibly Taoist, maybe Buddhist or Confucian, for the decrepitude of the anc...
By the second minute of the unceasing applause, Gwen's hands were beginning to hurt. The ovation had continued unabated as though they had concluded a concerto and the audience refused to leave without an encore. Miao raised a hand. The Inspector-General's impromptu humility caught Gwen by surprise. While a sudd...
Percy wondered if anything in the world could hurt more than walking with a gash in his gut. But the wound couldn't be helped. It was the first time he had fought anyone to the death. His instructors were right. When the shit came down; one should never underestimate an inferior enemy. That his opponent would ...
Hai rested his face against his wife’s milky abdomen, listening for the heartbeat that may even now be finding its pulse. The room was a mess, but that was fine, the NoM servants would restore it to pristineness tomorrow. “Hai?” Qīn’s fatigue-riddled face turned toward him in the darkness. “Is something wrong?” ...
By the time Petra succeeded in dragging Gwen out of bed, it was almost 10 AM. The family had only gone to sleep around four, having explored what paths Percy could undergo, and what avenues the young digger must avoid at all costs. "The first rule of Per-secrecy is that we do not talk about the N-word or Percy's...
**Sanctioned Schools of Magic** (Sigils by Lampshade) Evocation The most commonly awakened school in modern Spellcraft, Evocation is a school that manipulates energy. Evokers become the mainstay of the citizen-soldiers, wielding spells of Fire, Earth, Water, and more exotic elements such as Lightning or Radianc...
On Tuesday morn, Gwen set out her schedule while basking in bed like a lounging lizard. She managed to jolt her brain with just enough juice to generate an itinerary: \- Work out a Spell-list with Petra after breakfast. \- Check out her CC balance at the Tower and see what’s for purchase. \- Establish a traini...
The girls’ quiet dinner at home was joined by Richard and Lulan, both taking a few days off from adventuring. Kusu forbade Lulan from ‘being a bother’ to their saviour, but the ex-Clanner couldn’t care less about her brother’s idiosyncratic politeness, coming and going as she pleased. Conversely, Petra had taken ...
“The Tyrant came upon Myăma some two decades ago,” Maymaruya began, his countenance the manner of one delivering a eulogy. “At first, like the fabled Yinglong, it desired only a mountain upon which to nest. As a remote Frontier city in the 1980s, Yangon did not possess a Tower capable of defeating the tyrant witho...
It was 8 PM before Magus Maymaruya left the apartment with a ring chocked full of loose notes and a data-slate pregnant with the future of the House of M’s Centurion Customer Service Division. “Oof- I'm going to sleep.” Mayuree yawned. “I can’t believe the two of you went at it for six hours!” “Well, when you’ve...
Dean Luo unsummoned his Familiar the moment his paperwork began to disintegrate. There was a brief exhilaration in seeing his workload disappear before Luo realised that requesting the faculty to re-submit their proposals was a far bigger hassle. He looked over to see how Fudan’s prized Void Mage was handling Ell...
Gwen quickly explained that not only was everything 'cool', but the matter also had been blessed by the highest echelons of the Party. “You expect me to believe that a girl of eighteen…” “Seventeen, Sir-” Chen glared at Gwen, who bit her tongue. “…seventeen - possessing TWO unique Familiars convoked via a Signatu...
Once they were outside the station, Richard wandered off to locate his truck driver while the rest of the crew stood under the shade of the colossal transit-station. Thanks to Caliban, her party remained unmolested by neither paupers nor guards, not even a single beggar accosted them. “Was it like this the last ...
“DOGGING IT UP!” Gwen announced to the party. “If I screw it up and start barfing all over - nobody laugh.” “Ooo!” Lulan clapped, her eyes full of anticipation. "We won't," Richard promised, his legs casually crossed as he leaned on Kusu's shoulder. “Ariel!” “EEee!!” Ariel presented itself with a flash and a f...
Having gotten a taste of the Water Ghosts' peculiarities, the party proceeded with care as they made for the lair. There were no more ambushes, indicating that the creatures had retreated for the advantage of their subterranean abodes. “Any chance we can just excavate the damned lair?” Gwen noted the intimidating s...
Four Ball-Lightnings erupted in the midst of the screeching swarm, expanding until they compassed the entirety of the chamber’s passageway. “SCREEIII!” “YIP! YIP! EEEIII!” “SCRIIIII!” Insane, baboon-like howls pervaded the cavern, rebounding across every nook and cranny. Even under the robust influence of...
The party assembled outside, restored and refreshed. Gwen packed the Portable Habitat before listening to Richard's proposal. “I took the Quest,” Richard explained to his companions. “Meaning until we’re back or reported missing, no one else can take the Quest for at least two weeks.” “Quest poachers?” Petra hy...
“Good God, put her down,” Petra, who was the team’s acting medic, ordered the poor girl to be carefully positioned. Gwen unwrapped the bedsheets she had used to bundle the girl. "Gwen, give me your Decanter of Everlasting Water." "Here." Petra washed away the blood from the girl's body. “Heal Moderate Wounds!...
“You don’t think you’re asking too much?” Shen's voice lost a measure of good humour. “Are you familiar with the Chinese idiom about the python that choked, trying to swallow an elephant?” Gwen weathered the Patriarch's intimidation like a robust warratah, unyielding against the wind. “Nothing of the sort, Sir. ...
The men each extended a hand. “For our mutual benefit, I shall abide by our agreement and keep our methods confidential,” Gwen began, shaking Patriarch Fung’s hand. The man suppressed a wince when his rough palms enveloped Gwen’s own, her delicate white fingers gripping his old bones like steel rods. “Well said,...
Gwen requested an extra-spacious inspection room at the Fudan Tower to house the ill-gotten gains they had acquired in Nantong. Dubiously, she recalled that back in Sydney, their student-device could be used to log kills. If so, why was a tier 1 city using such primitive methods? While they waited for the clerk, Pet...
Gwen never thought there'd be a day she'd yearn for MS Office. For the fourth time, she threw the data slate onto the bed, then picked it back up with a sigh. The bloody things were useful only in the sense that they were better than paper. Other than that, they possessed no inter-connectivity outside of some ar...
Two days after Gwen began refining her Minor Image with Tao, Mina joined the duo for supper. “Babulya misses you.” Gwen's cousin began with a relentless warning. More than once, their babulya had asked about Gwen. “Arrgh! You're right!” Gwen slapped herself. With so much going on at once, she had completely negl...
Gwen informed Dai about Professor Ma’s agreement to sit on an independent supervisory board, then left the Fung heir to schedule a meeting with the other members of their foursome. She then returned home to rest, finally able to relax now that a significant buffer was in place to spurn the jaw-clenching reflex of ...
“Misty Step!” “Dimension Door!” “Sweep!” “Caliban!” ‘CLANG!’ Gila-ban caught Lulan’s blade with its torso, its scythe-sized claws missing Lulan’s thighs by an inch. “Lightning Bolt!” Lulan intercepted Gwen’s bolt with a hovering slab of iron, redirecting the current to the ground. “Sweep!” “Dimension Door!” ...
December descended upon the pearl of Asia, accompanied by the coming of first-snow. From the East China Sea, Shanghai resembled a giant snow-globe. Thanks to the city's Super-Massive Resonance Barrier, downy flakes of ice crystal became trapped within the dome, swirling and drifting, carried by invisible currents...
Magus Maymaruya visited Gwen’s office with the necklace she had uncovered from the Water Ghost’s den. “An unusual curio.” The Magus presented the identified device. “The central Core distributes the creature’s mana to the lesser Cores, reducing the stress of operation.” “So, can a Mage use it?” Gwen asked the quint...
After what was surely her third plate of dumplings, Gwen was sure she could summon all seven of her hounds in the yet to be attempted Void variant. There was ample vitality in the meat, though the cooked flesh couldn't compare to her consumption of creatures via Caliban. The real culprit was the rice-wine ginseng co...
“As I am the Senior, you may have first-strike,” Tei Bai offered, recognising the mistake of asking his junior to duel while she wore casual clothing. At their tier of magic, it wasn’t uncommon for wayward spells to result in minor wardrobe malfunctions. His Dust element, furthermore, had a habit of destroying del...
Gwen returned to the duelling arena, on foot this time, cowed and bowed in apology. By now, a line around the block had formed, waiting to greet a legendary Kirin for good luck. A few kind words were exchanged, then Gwen was told to sit down and not to obstruct the audience's view. Finding a seat by the side, all G...
“WOCAO!” “What in Mao’s name…” “Eee!!” “Gwen!” "SHAA! SHAA!" “LUYI! Come back!” “GWEN! Stop that at once!” Caliban expanded to twice its usual size, bloating with Void-matter as it answered its master’s submerged psyche. Likewise, Ariel assumed its oppressive draconic-mien, fluffed with rage and vengea...
"You've got my support, whatever you choose." Petra paired her assurance with a maternal peck to Gwen's forehead. "Cheers." Gwen massaged her puffy eye bags. "Thanks, Pats. I'll sleep on it for now." When a minute-long hug from Petra in the morning failed to dispel the vitriol churning in her chest, she knew she...
“It’s called creative-art therapy.” Dr Siobhan Monroe ignored her client's laughter, bearing her ridicule with the patience of a saint. Her client, as usual, wasn’t taking her disorder seriously. “I am not making fun of you, Gwen, give it a go.” “Fingerpainting? Really?” Siobhan pointed at the overlarge canvas. ...
“A whole month! I was beginning to worry if you would ever make it," Walken's reprimand snapped like a cane, his tone equally accusatory and paternal. "You mustn't let the pride control you. There's no shame in asking for aid." A month? Gwen averted her gaze. Just as she suspected, the old man had grown paranoi...
Now considerably calmer, Gwen and Walken agreed that they would reconvene the next day to continue her lessons, each desiring space and time to digest their new partnership. Once outside, the two parted with an appearance of amiability, drawing mixed glances from the training hall's administration staff. Since ar...
Xiangming Municipal High School had been famous since the yesteryears of Shanghai's founding as a Britannic Mageocracy Concession. Now, eighty years later, its towering multi-storey structure and generous, blue-lawn campus sat in the Goldilocks zone of Shanghai’s burgeoning centre, in the heart of the Jing-An Dist...
“He’s going to be healthier than ever.” Gwen’s babulya patted her on the shoulder. “Give it a week, and Percy can return to school.” Beside his hand-wringing sister, Percy was suspended above a levitation module designed to prevent pressure-sores while he recovered. “Hey, sis…” her brother moaned. "I am... fine!" ...
Eric Walken took a sip from his bone china cup, closed his eyes to savour the taste, then gingerly rested it against the porcelain saucer with a crisp clink. “Did you manage to keep your head?” “Mmm,” Gwen murmured over sips of Royal Earl Grey. “You lie better when you're angry.” Ignoring her opponent's smug s...
It took another week for Percy to return to school. Meanwhile, the public news was that Alain Yang had taken seriously ill and that the boy would be taking the rest of the term off to recuperate. Naturally, rumours were cultivated, then flew circles around the campus. Some said that Alain’s condition was a resul...
"Try adding a spin," Gwen instructed her companion. Lulan grimaced with concentration, then let loose her projectile. "Thrust!" A slab of iron 'wooshed' through the air, spinning and swirling until it made a terrific 'CLANG!' against the Force Barrier. "No, not like that- here." Gwen closed her eyes and concen...
It took only six more days for the fated '/' Gwen had marked off on her calendar to become an 'X'. As it was a Wednesday, she cleared her schedule of both classes and work, practised a few mock-interviews with Walken, filled herself up to her throat with Magus Kumiko’s summons, then joined the others for her afte...
Gwen could hardly believe the first round of the Selection had come and gone like a sunshower. The announcement for the twenty-two candidates was posted by Saturday on the bulletin board just outside Guanghua Towers. Atop the list, perhaps at the Dean’s behest, was her name, below which Richard and Lulan’s names w...
April passed without Gwen catching Kitty even once, not even when she commanded Ariel to camp at the entrance of the penthouse, terrifying the cleaners who came every Monday night. The whole ordeal had left a sour taste in her mouth, for if they were to be on the same side for the IIUC, what did their current rel...
“Of course, Patriarch. I’d love to attend.” Gwen tore herself from her note laden table. Her workspace was starting to resemble Petra's in more ways than one. Herself, Dai and Ken had been invited to attend the Tonglv Canal's first major milestone. Just the thought of it quickened her blood. A single transmuted...
Spring erupted, emerald and wet as a whistle as Gwen’s second summer in Shanghai cast the domed city into a heat haze, wilting the greenery. Cloistered by the university’s shaded lanes, youths in the May of their lives, lithe-limbed and slick with sweat, came and went, the gossamer fabrics of their shirts and dres...
From her make-shift den, the Worm Handler of Fudan emerged. Though paler for the effort, her indoor incarceration throughout the smothering summer was overall for the better, touching on many of her milestones. First and foremost, 'Link Sight', A.K.A Ariel Vision, was now complete. When activated, she could see t...
“That’s true.” The Dean acknowledged her proposal in a way that Gwen felt bordered on insult. “Thanks to that display, I’d almost forgot your exotic mental predicament. We wouldn't want that flaring up in the middle of a match now. Still, promise me you won't just do as you please.” “I will listen to Senior Bai to t...
“Once again, toast!” Celebratory dinner 2.0 at M by the Bund proceeded happily. Though the team had initially grown cynical over Karie’s departure, the news that a bona fide bloodline Diviner would replace Karie had come as a welcoming boon. Additionally, when Gwen announced that the first match would take place...
As an Orange Zone, Yancheng formed the largest prefecture in the Jiangsu Frontier, bordering Lianyungang to the north and Nantong to the south, with the Yellow Sea marking most of its coastal waters. Like most of China’s coastal cities, the region had existed since antiquity. It's etymology - consisting of ‘salt’...
“This whole ordeal sounds dodgy,” Gwen said drily, forewarned by Mayuree to be wary of prophecies. “Yet, stranger things have happened to the both of us,” Jun observed his niece, likewise unsure of what to make of his draconic partner’s ambiguous foreshadowing. “I suppose. Let’s recap.” Gwen had been taking note...
The team's modest hotel overlooked Chengdu’s CBD, its well-lit laneways a mishmash of dynastic and modern architecture. Unlike Shanghai, a young city rich with colonial facades, Chengdu had existed as a tamed Frontier since the Spring and Autumn epoch, earning the moniker of “The Country of Heaven”. Most famously,...
Shuttle buses outside the great stupa took the contestants to their next port of call - the old colonial administration - now ironically once again the headquarters of the government-in-exile, a building stoically named the Secretariat. The exit from Shwedagon Zedi Daw proved just as mystical as the Rite of Unfet...
“The three of us?” Sung Lee’s surprise was enough to misplace his building anger. “Against you?” “Against me— and Eunae.” Gwen reached behind her and took her Cleric by the hand. “If you’re not sure, I’ll let you add one more member.” “Gwen!” Eunae squeezed Gwen’s hand back, her dainty little palms sweating buckets...
_Cla-Clang!_ _Clung!_ _Clang!_ Lulan exchanged swings with the girls from Emei, inspired by Gwen to go for a two-on-one. "Plum-blossom Strike!" Risking a shallow wound to trade blow for blow, she allowed one of the Hsu sisters, Vicky, to gash her thigh with a mana-charged thrust, thereby overextending her rea...
For their layover, the team had the choice of exploring Yangon on a motorised rickshaw with a young monk as a guide or join Mayuree's coach group. Though the city had no restrictions on flying, the local populace frowned upon Mages gliding over the golden stupas that dotted the city, and so magical locomotion most...
After her trip in Singapore, Gwen knew that traversing through a sub-tropical jungle wasn't going to happen without permanent protection. There were bugs- and there were bugs, then there were parasitical carnivorous plants, barbed roots, spiked fruits, flesh-eating flowers and predatory fauna. But torrential rain...
Before they left, the village alderman sent away the young man to fetch a token for the village's saviours. "Please take this, Lord Bhaiṣajyaguru." The two prostrated. "Should the others turn against you, show them this and our kin will know that you have saved our lives in this time of need." Gwen observed the jad...
By the twentieth Dimension Door, Gwen's vision started to see stars. A forceful circulation of Almudj's Essence brought her rebellious innards into obedience; then she flew for the next minute before activating another five instances of her short-range teleportation. "Mayuree!" her voice roared across the Divine...
That Ichiro alone accompanied Gwen while Yuki and the others stayed behind hinted to her that perhaps, Dororo-kun's maintenance wasn't so easily sustainable. Juxtaposing the Imperial Metric System, Kyoto's native sorcery was an eye-opening integration of Western spellcraft into a system of magic that operated on a...
The party was up just before dawn on the fourth day of their Kachin expedition. The local women made a rice noodle broth from the wild game Gwen's hounds had brought back to the village, eliciting much happiness in a rural Frontier where meat was a rare luxury. By now, the villagers had warmed up to the contestan...
Golos nullified the Quicksilver Fuda he had stolen from Ryxi once he was a safe distance away from the commotion, feeling a heady rush course through his demi-divine body. Snatching the "Calamity" from certain doom without endangering his own life had been something he’d mulled about nightly, and now he had done ...
Within Bogyoke Park, Yangon, sat Kandawgyi Lake, the largest man-made lagoon in the city. The opalescent body of water was first commissioned by King Thibaw, criticised by the British for his love of material excess and ceaseless warmongering, though during the occupation, it became a favourite hangout for expats. U...
From day one in Mandalay, it was self-evident that there was insufficient food, medicine, machinery and materials for all four universities to attain a balanced ration of CCs. When inevitably, fights broke out, leading to impromptu duels all over the city, the teams convened to work out a formal system of splittin...
"Tei! What the hell's happening?" Gwen burst through the portal, followed shortly by Lulan, Mayuree, and Eunae. Where Indaw had been a lakeside township a few hours prior, it was now a setting for Rambo II. "Jesus, are we in a war zone?" "Mia!" Kitty Blinked in from thin air, embracing her companion with a fierce...
"Eunie, Resistance, Bless and Fortify! Annie, Mage Armour, Haste and Expeditious Retreat—" Gwen barked at their defender, all pretence of politeness driven from the usual mildness of her mannerism. "Come on, chop-chop! Every second wasted is an opportunity lost." Anita obliged, moving her lips even as Captain Bai...
Sagol Kangba, Chief of the Salai Leishangthem, Vairagi and Grandmaster of the Shadowmen of Manipur, watched his men and women as they carried out their meticulous work. His Shadowmen numbered only a hundred, but Sagol's confidence was absolute. Since the fall of the Imperialists, it was the Shadowmen who had defe...
Wincing, Gwen injected herself with a second Healing Potion while simultaneously drinking an Elixir of Restoration, burning past her alchemical limit for the day. With an unbearable itch, her wounds healed and her arm popped back into place, though as for full mobility, that would take dedicated physiotherapy. "Golo...
"I fear there's no trace of her,” Ruxin explained with great patience. At her behest, Ruxin returned the trio back to the spot where he and the Tyrant had concluded their titanic struggle. Where previously a primal landscape thick with Banyan, moss and tendrils of tropical creepers existed, now she bore witness to a...
"Very well." Magister Lutz von Schlabrendorff signed off on the tablet in front of him. "287 CCs for Jiantong." "Poor sods." A second Magister winced. "In-fighting's the worst." "It's an old story," another voice joined in around the table. "Comes with the territory if you're a tribal caster. Strong soloists, horr...
"Left or Right?" The casualness of Gwen's voice betrayed the rarity of Ruxin's leftovers. "The left one," Lulan replied, halfway between a dream-come-true and a waking nightmare. "Gwen, this is a higher-tier Spirit!" "Good." Gwen retrieved the Core as one might a packaged sirloin from the supermarket, then tossed i...
Though her nerves remained a wreck from the affirmation of Kitty's demise, Gwen knew there was a time for self-loathing, and a time to put on a happy face. In her old corporate world, an ambitious woman must always keep up outward appearances, and so by the time she and Petra had arrived at the auditorium's backst...
Richard was of two minds. A few days after the press had stripped every shred of credible information from Fudan's infamous sorceress, he received his long-awaited CCs. As an unexpected boon for acquiring Mandalay, Dean Luo generously informed the contestants that the PLA furthermore contributed an additional 169 CC...
"Eat up! Eat up!" Gwen peeled another Crystal-Shell Scampi for her brother, reserving the creamy prawn head for herself to suckle. After the match and feeling mightily hungry due to her workout, she had decided to shout the family a Wildland feast at Sails, a restaurant owned by the House of M. Not wanting to waste t...
In the car, Alesia de Botton informed Alan Ma that her goal at Fudan was to meet with Gwen Song. The familiar name gave Alan a start, for he had been hearing about the girl from his uncle for months now. "A walking lump of vanity and pride, a dragon in a woman's body, possessing a crystal-hoard to match," James Ma h...
The underwhelming headlined, "Hellish Training at Fudan: Gwen Song Injured!" made the fourth page of the People's Telegraph, accompanied by an apology from Alesia de Botton, Heroine of the Coral Sea Conflict, and a hefty fine in CCs and HDMs for illicit use of magic. A day later, a second statement from Magister G...
Mid-October was the best time of year to visit Shanghai, for the superstructural Tower's hazy barrier kept the city cosy as its deciduous flora turned to fire. At Guoding B1, above the autumn trees, Alesia and Gwen endlessly teased Gunther's iron-willed patience. After a while, Alesia grew thirsty; when she returned...
"HOLY HELL, WHAT IN CHRIST'S NAME IS THAT?" Walken knew he was in no danger, but put up a cursory barrier anyway. Something was coming through the uppermost quadrant of the Summoning circle, slithering into being via a tiny corner of corroded air, growing larger by the second. "It's a Void Being!" Wen commanded ...
The United States of America. Though the match was set in Cuzco, it was the elephant in the room that Gwen wished to address. In this world where Russia was principally Black Zones, and China trafficked in dragons, could the US remain a global hegemon? To find answers, she decided to trawl the bookshops, hoping to...
Cuzco. The founders had named it Qusqu, from "quasqu wanka". In the tongue of the Amara who came before the Inca, it meant the rock of the owl. In Quechua, it stood for the navel of the world. After the Beast Tide, it stood fast as the centre of the Empire, Tawantinsuyu, made manifest on earth by the grace o...
The bold font of the FDX logo shrunk in size as the freight-carrier FDX Carolina churned the bean-green Pacific a milky blue. Not content with leaving Waikiki without so much as a dip in the water, Gwen stood by the rails in her halter top, watching the golden beach retreat into the distance. "Kālua Pork! I'll b...
Stepping from the FDX Carolina after seven days of swaying at sea, the ground beneath the student's feet turned as they ambled onto the freight dock. From the deck, they were soon joined by the proctors. Exchanging a few polite words, the group then crossed customs before travelling coach into Lima's cultural centre...
Following the ceremony and the announcement, the teams took an hour to change their attires, re-emerging at noon into a converted courtyard. Ever the suspicious cynic, Walken subtly patrolled the perimeter, studying the site for anything of interest that may befoul the team. By the time the party was in full swin...
To the sound of musical fanfare, cheering crowds, and the ear-piercing screeches of Inti's fans, the student Mages took to the air. From above, the terracotta vista of Cuzco revealed itself as an earthen puma, resembling a filled-in Nazca figure. "Alright, partner," Gwen affected a northern accent. "Where to?" "To...
"Dowsing!" Both parties waited while Mayuree triangulated their path through the understory. By now, the contestants were traversing through a network of intertwining branches, vines, and fungal growth so prolific as to form a subterranean likeness. Occasionally, every hundred or so meters, a clearing would appear, ...
Gwen had good reasons for conjuring Golos. Firstly, the Wyvern was no regular Planar Ally, but a true-to-life corporeal being with a Core, capable of sustaining himself indefinitely. Secondly, Golos was bound by his oath to Ruxin and just as beholden to Ayxin, so she had significant leverage over the unruly creat...
Gwen now possessed such anticipation for the Amazon that her excitement was enough to displace the reek of excrement. It had all begun the morning after Golos' foray into the jungle. Taking her morning jog, she came across what could only be the largest, foulest pile of draconic expulsion she had ever seen. The real...
As a noble, Phelara was born blessed. By the grace of the Sky Father, she possessed the multi-coloured plumage unique to her lineage, promising beauty, magic and intelligence. Last night, when the Sun Father had kissed the Tree Mother, she and her sisters had awoken to a great roaring conflagration, whipping the fl...
From Condor’s Rise, the IIUC proctors and the local garrison watched with ambivalent expressions as Fudan's menagerie entered the viridian expanse of Amazonia. As pay back for Inti's detour, Fudan had volunteered the thankless task of first-contact. It was a risky move, though the proctors did not doubt for a mom...
Hardin Smith had thought he would die serving the United States Marine Corps. It was only fair, for he was a post-Tide orphan, one who had reaped the benefits of a booming decade, receiving the best education a world at war could offer. From ward to conscript, from NCO to cadet, his early life had embodied the Am...
"Inti's no slouch," Gwen remarked as she surveyed the aftermath of the alpha-strikes. A movie quote came to mind, but she refrained from her Gwenisms. "Look at that." On the western slope, Fudan had done a bang-up job of erasing Trollic occupation. As for the eastern side, Inti's solar flare had eradicated all si...
Gwen told Golos to remain in a holding pattern until he was needed once more. A brute without magical finesse, her Wyvern was little more than a resistant meat shield when indoors, one with at most three shots of Lightning Breath. "I'll be around," Golos grunted, flashing a Storage Ring where the head of the 'Des...
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