LOGINShare
7 Vital Essence
publish date:
2026-08-22 09:52:11
Latest chapter
Foundling 7 Vital Essence
That took some getting used, but before long he was able to impel himself through the water and Kim had to step back a little more briskly.They both laughed and beamed at his accomplishment until Kim abruptly relinquished his hands. Hunter floundered, smacking and clawing at the water. As his head dipped below the surface, he went to plant his feet where normally would been lake bottom . . . and nothing. Panicking, gulping air and then water, he felt Kim’s hands close on his wrists like a vice. Pulling him headfirst, she yanked him from the water. “Relax,” she soothingly said. “You can still stand up.” She demonstrated by tapping her instep to the bottom of his foot which followed hers to the lake bottom.He had not noticed where the water had been waist high, it was now chest high.“It’s when you fight it that it takes you under,” she said when he calmed. “Don’t fight it. Use your own motion to ride the water’s surface.”She took to sliding him, curving him into spins, creating sha
Foundling 6 Swimming Lessons
Not having been presaged by any scent or sound, rounding a bend in the corridor Hunter was little prepared for the vista presented stepping from the cave’s antechamber onto a plateau which sloped away to a lake, steam rising from its surface, and a valley beyond dense with trees. A breeze rushed up the slope, bringing scents from the green valley, the rising steam. Meeting the towering cliff face, the wind swirled before continue its climb up and over.A pang of longing seized Hunter, a doubt which he quickly suppressed. Once unconstrained by any beast or manner, he was now bound by shackles real and hidden and, he was coming to realize, some he had no inkling of.The silence that had ensued upon their arrival was broken by the scampering of feet and whoops of excitement. A trail of clothes was left behind in the dash to be the first to the lake.Hunter did not run with them, measuring his stride beside reminiscences of absent Tete. To share this with his brother . . . would be a th
Foundling 5 Leslie and Marcus Discourse on the Utility of a Sword
"In the hands of a skilled individual, a blade does not have to kill," Marcus said. "Using a tool meant to kill, as one to disable, limits the purpose of its function and in so doing makes the wielder vulnerable," “Why do you always take up cause against me,” Marcus said.“No one else agrees with me?” Leslie asked, sweeping the others with her gaze, with a notable pause as she passed Kim’s eye. Kim looked at Hunter sympathetically as they stepped into the crowd. “Fun has been robbed from us.” “That’s unjust,” usually quiet Tick, enjoined. “This is no fun. Let merriment enjoin. Put aside this tiresome discoursing.” “Yes, put it aside. It’s tiresome,” Tick said. “This is something with which I can agree.”"The merit of a tool is in what it was designed for,” Leslie continued, not relinquishing the point. “A blade is a weapon of war: designed to kill.”“There is no dispute in that,” Marcus conceded.“Some
Foundling Simmering Regard
By their reckoning it had been over a fortnight since his arrival, and Hunter was still gripped with fascination for everything around him. There was so much he needed to learn, to understand. At times, he felt overwhelmed, anxious—emotions new to him.He sat in the hall with Giesel and the others finishing their meal. There were still the gazes that studied and those that turned away. It was not hard to know what many of them were thinking. It was in their regard, their manner. Others were less easy to know. They masked well their true feelings, and since he could not keene he could not know true. Even now he could feel eyes upon him: something new, something different. Hunter rose with Giesel and his other with which he shared a room. Kim and another girl were making their way toward them. "How are things?” She asked Hunter. He did not know how to respond because he did not know. “It takes some time to absorb.”
Foundling 3 Lessons
“Ki informs and permeates all. It is the Source from which all things arise and all thins return. Magi, manipulate ki with their own vital essence,” Master Lilly was a stern, gray-haired woman, a matron and mother to seven. She had outlived three of her children and two husbands. The third she was working on.“Through ki we are able to manipulate adamant and ephemera, substance and aether. There is also body, but here we do not concern ourselves in this class with disciplining unruly flesh. Here we will learn the employment of aether and substance—adamant and ephemera.“Can any tell what is meant when I speak of ephemera?”“That which is pliable, subject not to mass or shape, but volume and density,” said a small golden-haired girl in a soft, high-pitched voice.“Give me examples.”“Water and air.”“Do you know of anyone who can shape air, Michelle?”There was no response and Master Lilly’s lips stretched into a thin smile.“Can anyone else give me an answer?”Tick ventured a reply.
Foundling 1 Time at the School Before Escape (Follow up from Chap 26)
While the girls dried themselves they cast sidewise glances in Hunter’s direction. Their conversation was muted and Hunter could hear little of what they said, and soon they left leaving a trail of mocking laughter and one last lingering look from Kim.“It can be quite intimidating,” Tick said his eyes following the girls’ departing backs.“How they approach you,” said Marcus.“Giesle doesn’t complain too much. His ‘coy looks’ and ‘winsome regard’ gets him enough welcome attention.” Though it was said as an indictment, envy was evident in Tick’s voice.“Was something unusual in their manner?” Hunter asked. The transparency of feelings that passed so easily between he and Tete were conveyed between people by words, twists of lips and shadings of face to convey emotion and intent. It was a new language, marvelously inventive. A language he was slow to learn.His question brought the other three up short. They exchanged condescending glances as Hunter put on his robes and they followed a
Foundling 24 Leave Taking (2)
A blush of anticipation imbued his flesh, and eagerness quickened his blood. No, he would not retreat. They split up, so as not to be one target, and, because, Hunter could move faster on foot than he could riding Tete. Hunter moved up over the ridge, leeward of any current that could carry his s
Foundling 24 Leave Taking (1)
Hunter and Tete sat on a sparse patch of grass speckled with pebbles and red dirt. The freshness of unspoiled air and the heat from the sun soothed his bruised body, and the wide-open spaces, the measure of earth, and the honking geese flying in formation livened his spirit. Strewn beside a tawny-h
Foundling 22 Town (1)
Bottom End began as a simple way station for the constant flow of settlers having scrimped and saved whatever they could to make the journey to the New Land. Over the succeeding years and decades, with the extension and expansion of the road to the emerging settlements and farms and ranches, had com
Foundling 21 While Poe Slept (2)
“The only decree is that no one within the circle can step outside the circle,” the Shaman said. “That includes you too, Mage. If you interfere, you forfeit your life, and if either of the combatants move outside the circle, they forfeit theirs.”Hunter stepped into the intervening space between he
You may also like
A Chance Encounter
Nathan Frost26.4K viewsRise of the Phoenix
Eve Peters63.4K viewsA DRAGON TALE
goddessdebbie30536.3K viewsHidden By The Gods (Book #2 of Silver Moon Series)
Saphyre_Dragyn25.5K viewsHEART OF AVALON: BOUND TO THE RUTHLESS LYCAN KING
Raven Sterling498 viewsQueen of the Eternal Nile
Yui Ismutomo923 viewsRejected Luna: Rise of an Omega Queen
Maryann Ejike233 viewsThe Girl with the Violet Eyes
Brittany dawn 6.1K views
