More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
I thought it was from coming through the Gate, the first time. It was only when it hit me a few weeks later again that I understood what it meant.”
Oh so his copy 1 died at the gate then but is the other one alive I wonder
WILL, WE WERE TAUGHT OVER and over at the academy, is a gift. Not just in the sense that it is something good and wondrous, but that it is literally a gift: it can only ever be given, never taken. Another of the great lies of the Hierarchy. Possibly their greatest. And yet, perhaps, also their greatest truth. Like any power, it can be coerced. Fought for. Demanded. Requested under false pretences. But in the end, it is always the giving that is the important part. It can be reluctant. It can be because it is expected, pressured. It can even be a last resort against death itself.
“You’re Callidus’s sister. Livia?”
😭😭😭
A lantern on the table in its centre illuminates three strange banners on the wall—one white, one blue, and one red—each embroidered with angular patterns, dense designs that seem almost complementary yet don’t quite fit together.
She would have attended the Academy next cycle, if we were still intending to send our best.”
“It was a mendax animus test.”
“It will return in time, as you learn to look for it. Assuming all remains well in Luceum.” He sighs. “It’s not necessary, but it is an excellent counterpart to an ability you have called Adoption. Adoption allows you to take control of any Will imbued into something, no matter who imbued it.”
Have you seen the way the Aurora Columnae glow so brightly? Time is running out.”
The conversation with the man—I still have no name for him—has
Isn’t this scar man wasn’t his name Marius or something
“My problem is that I don’t trust you. Not even slightly.” “Your brother did.” “And now he’s dead.”
‘Improvement is not a destination,’
WILL CAN BE USED BY the one to whom it is given, and them alone.
“Adoption.” The ability to not only sense other people’s imbued Will, but to take it.
strength of Will to me.
“Last I heard, he was researching tales of the Otherworld. Of Dia Oiche, the dark god who came from there thousands of years ago and supposedly still hides among us.
The whites of Gallchobhar’s eyes flood to black. Vek.
Okay please how does will work in this fucking universe is it mental
I finally wrench my gaze past Duodecim’s hulking form to see a man manacled to a slab that looks uncomfortably like a Sapper.
I again rub absently at my chest, the pain there only seeming to have increased over the past hour.
Interesting so he can feel an echo of his copies
“I’ve come to ask you to relinquish your title of Domitor.”
???
MY TUTOR ONCE ASKED ME who would win in a fight between two men. It was a lesson about Will, funnily enough.
lol
It all comes to me in a strange clarity. Impressions, sensations of what I should say. I don’t understand the words, simply that they need to be said. I could resist, I think. Refuse. But it is important to say them.
Hmmm
“Another gods-damned school?” I mutter to myself.
😂😂
“The draoi proclaimed that the spirit of King Rónán’s fallen Champion had spoken through you, and clearly accused Gallchobhar of his murder.
😦
COMPETITIVENESS, YSABEL ONCE QUOTED PRIMLY as I celebrated beating her at Foundation, is insecurity in action.
“Gods’ graves. Aequa. Are you enjoying this?”
And if I say I want THEM together ?
“I mean it. I’ll contact you,” he murmurs, and I feel the weight of a stylus drop into my pocket. He steps back. “Stronger together, Vis.” “Stronger together.”
“I did what I could, but the others argued that after the injury to Decimus’s son, it would look antagonistic to reward you.
What ???? Are you serious cmon man this the most corrupt fucking world and you’re like nah too mean to a dude that challenged you to a duel to the death basically lol tf
I have to talk to Veridius.
ANTE OMNIA ARMARI
“Before all else, be armed”
“These iunctii appear to be from not long after the Rending,” I mutter suddenly. At my side, Ahmose twitches uneasily. “What?” “I…” I blink. Brow furrowed. “I don’t know. Sorry. Lost in thought.” There was more there, too, for a second. Gone now. A strange phrase to have so absently jumped to mind, though.
Laughing with Callidus and Eidhin?
Omg he doesn’t know he’s DEAD IM CRYING I DIDNT PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER IM CRYING
The Academy taught us that imbued objects are inviolable, immune from another’s Will until the original imbuing Will is removed. But in Obiteum, that is simply untrue. It’s unfortunate that Obiteum’s rules also mean I can’t make a weapon out of it, the way I could back home on Res.
I, WHO REST HERE, WAS named Belli.
“It was meant to be me,” she says suddenly, so quietly that I almost think she’s talking to herself. “Not Belli. Running the Labyrinth, I mean.”
I was lonely. Always tired. So my father decided that the best way to keep me focused was to put me through the Aurora Columnae anyway. Secretly, so that Veridius wouldn’t find out. That way I could have a few people cede to me, and focus for longer. Train harder.”
Damn
I stare for several seconds. Heart lurching. “The boy you…” Breath short. “The boy you tortured. Didn’t he tell you that he wasn’t Catenicus?” “No. Admitted he… was.” Oh, gods. Callidus. Gods-damned, courageous idiot.
“When we first met, after my Transvect got attacked. Ulciscor thought maybe Veridius had you drug me with something.” She gives me an exaggerated smile. Shows too many teeth. “Oh, gods’ graves. Really?”
lol
“I have repurposed them for our fight, warrior. Their processing capability is limited,” I murmur in Vetusian.
I am more than annoyed that Pádraig seems to think it is my spirit, not my injury, that is at fault.
Livia freezes at his hail as if she’s not quite sure she’s heard correctly, then recovers, cheeks flushing as she stops in front of him. They speak for another half minute in low tones. “Is his face turning red?” I murmur to Aequa. “Is he trying to flirt?” she whispers back, eyes wide.
😂😭
Then it seems to pause. Then it’s coming toward us. Fast.
Puppy !
‘In trying to become God, they created Him.’ ”
“He was helping Veridius, last time I was here.” I stare in horror. Try not to focus on the obsidian jutting from his chest.
Tf
“Obiteum is lost. Do not open the gate. Synchronous is death.”
Okay but why who put this message Ka? Why is Synchronous death? Is Obiteum lost bc Ka won or bc the Concurrence won?
“These iunctii appear to be from not long after the Rending, and were once a key component in the gate defences in the Nexus. I have repurposed them for our fight, warrior,”
!!!!
“Their processing capability is limited due to the restrictions of the sanguis imperium, but the addition of a single active mind should be capable of temporarily interceding and allowing for Synchronism to occur. Do you wish to proceed?”
“That you crept off the Academy grounds with Aequa, then returned unconscious while being hauled by a tame alupi? Yes, my friend. Word may have gotten around.”
LOL
Do you think it doesn’t break me inside, Vis? This all started with me losing my two best friends, but I keep on going because I gods-damned have to! Because this is the ONLY WAY!”
Who was the dude that died - unless it was Lani
“Because it’s a way to access the iunctii guarding the Labyrinth. A kind of external control point, designed to temporarily shut them off. At least, that’s what we all believed based on our translations. What I still believe.”
“That entire underground complex was built to circumvent the security around the Labyrinth. To allow someone to get out—like you did. But seven years ago, it was Caeror who went through during the Iudicium.”
