Home > Work > Sufficiently Advanced Magic (Arcane Ascension, #1)
21 " It felt something like a legendary dragon’s hoard, only the dragon was either very misguided or extremely eccentric. "
― Andrew Rowe , Sufficiently Advanced Magic (Arcane Ascension, #1)
22 " Derek frowned, looking down. “That’s fine... I’ll just, uh, stand here. And protect you. Yes. That is definitely what I will be doing. "
23 " Thousands of keys. We had to step onto a pile of keys just to get inside. It felt something like a legendary dragon’s hoard, only the dragon was either very misguided or extremely eccentric. Or maybe it just wanted to start a new, key-centric economy. Who knew? "
24 " Sincerely, Mysterious Book Entity Aww, it still liked that name. "
25 " I heard about that. I don’t approve of Orden’s antics, but she is funny, at least. That’s better than I can say for most of our staff. "
26 " Vanniv laughed. “Goddess, you love to hear yourself talk, don’t you? I mean, I respect that — my voice is amazing — but you’re coming on a little strong with the megalomania. "
27 " He accepted it, walked over to the monster, and stabbed it a dozen times. “Dead,” he pronounced, and walked back over. "
28 " I briefly contemplated how difficult it would be to safely remove my hand. "
29 " I felt my hands quiver at the unexpected contact. I... wasn’t used to being touched in a way that didn’t involve violence, at least not in the last few years. It helped that it was Sera. I pictured when we’d held hands as children. It had been perfectly normal, even comforting, when we were little. I hadn’t associated touching with pain back then. "
30 " That was my father’s philosophy, and we’d both been trained to believe it completely. I didn’t start to have my doubts until after Tristan was gone. I was grateful that Sera had never been raised with those values. "
31 " Oh, she meant my team members. I hadn’t really processed most of them as friends yet, other than Patrick. I still wasn’t sure I could call Marissa a friend; I barely knew her. Jin was closer, but he was more of a business associate. Probably. "
32 " I didn’t like my hand exploding. "
33 " Spike traps are not my friends. Spike traps are the enemy. I will avoid them at all costs. "
34 " Apparently, just adding mobility by itself would add force to my motions without any stability, so I’d basically be blasting myself forward with each step. Hilarious, but impractical. "
35 " Father probably expected me to fight back, to compete, to try to prove myself... and for Sera to have to try harder to measure up to that. He’d never understood. His approval had stopped being important to me the moment he’d written his elder son off as dead. "
36 " I’d always thought “die” would have more symmetry in the last line, but when I’d brought it up to my parents, they’d accused me of being needlessly fatalistic. "
37 " I wasn’t going to compete with her for Father’s approval, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t find a way to make this into entertainment of my own. "
38 " Right, right. You know, you really look quite unwell. You probably should see a healer or something. You humans are so fond of those.” The karvensi took to the air, flying high above the writhing wyvern. “You really are quite a disappointment, wyvern. I expected better from one of the serpent’s children. But alas, few can match my own splendor. "
39 " Tashday, the first day of classes. I hadn’t been murdered in the middle of the night. Success! I didn’t feel that successful, though. I felt exhausted, cranky, and a little bit numb. "
40 " Somehow I’d forgotten about the six-foot tall stone man with wings and impressively chiseled — possibly literally chiseled — abs. Vanniv put a hand over his chest. “Ooh, yes. I love secrets! Tell me all your secrets. "