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    287 Results with the "vacant throne" tag


    • Thinking with… Cover
      by Tower Curator Waking up in her own bed should have been a familiar comfort. It wasn’t. She had figured it out. What had been bothering her. The lack of familiarity wasn’t just because she had a hellhound curled up at the foot of her bed. Kasita sitting in the chair, playing a game on Clark’s old computer wasn’t the problem either. They were certainly differences to what she remembered, but they weren’t the real problem. Maybe contributors. But, in some strange way, they were actually the most familiar…
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      Sporting Goods

      Sporting Goods Cover
      by Tower Curator It was a good thing that Alyssa’s home was relatively large. Brakkt and Irulon each had their own rooms, with Brakkt staying in Clark’s old room and Irulon in the basement guest room. Tess had to sleep on the couch downstairs, but she seemed happy enough with the situation. Compared to using the tents during the trip down to Teneville, a couch in a climate controlled environment was enough to get her to stop making odd glares out of the corner of her eye whenever Alyssa was around. So that was…
    • Home Away from Home Cover
      by Tower Curator Alyssa sat on the living room couch. The cushioned leather seats were a stark contrast compared to everything that existed outside her transplanted house. Padding just wasn’t much of a real thing in Lyria. They tried. The people of this world definitely tried. And they even tried in different ways. Some inns or homes used straw stuffed into burlap-like sacks. Yzhemal’s inn, perhaps because of the many sheep that the village tended to, filled their beds with wool. Alyssa wasn’t sure how the palace…
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      Monumental

      Monumental Cover
      by Tower Curator Alyssa stood in front of the temple ruins. It… was a lot bigger than a table. And that was the understatement of the century. She could have stepped over the remains of the destroyed table. This thing would take five minutes to walk from one end to the other. The height before it collapsed hadn’t been anything to scoff at either. While it wasn’t a palace or one of the towers around Lyria, it would probably be the next highest building if put up on a chart of the tallest structures in this…
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      Carpentry

      Carpentry Cover
      by Tower Curator “So. You think you’re some kind of prophet now?” Alyssa grimaced at the tone of her mother’s voice. Their relationship had been strained ever since she had arrived. This certainly wasn’t going to help matters. But… “I had to do something.” “And that something was to pretend to be a messenger from these people’s god?” “Yes.” Lisa snapped her head over to Alyssa, directly looking at her for perhaps the first time since the little speech out in front of the villagers. For…
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      Fiat Lux

      Fiat Lux Cover
      by Tower Curator Self-preservation was an interesting instinct. Not the fact that it existed—that was perfectly understandable—simply the way that the brain went about its task of keeping itself alive. For instance, Alyssa had to wonder exactly what was going through some poor villager’s head when they opened the door to leave their home for the day but saw a parade of frightening characters walking past. One gigantic dinosaur, one Darth Vader, one hellhound with literal fire pouring from her eyes, and three girls…
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      Field of Glass

      Field of Glass Cover
      by Tower Curator Teneville was a peaceful town. They didn’t have guards. If they had a militia, it probably wasn’t trained or capable of defending from much of anything. The way their peninsula had formed, such things really weren’t necessary. They had no real threats around them. The one route from the rest of the land to their town required going through a fairly narrow mountain pass. Large forces wouldn’t be able to traverse it easily. And they had Lyria watching from above. They were defenseless. And if an…
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      Guillem

      Guillem Cover
      by Tower Curator “You see? That is why the flywheel is important. It stores energy for use between the piston pumping. If the vehicle only moved when the piston moved, it would be the jerkiest ride ever. The flywheel smooths things out. And it lets us shift the belt off the drive shaft in case we want to stop completely without shutting down the engine.” Guillem nodded slowly, looking over the small model they had whipped up over the past few days. Well, the model she had whipped up. Jason hadn’t helped much at…
    • Peaceful Journeys Cover
      by Tower Curator Leaving Lyria was an irritating affair. They had to wait until after nightfall, long after the crowd of angry protesters had dispersed for the evening. There were still some people, but the majority seemed to head in for the evenings. Still, a dozen draken rushing through the streets was hardly a subtle affair. If the whole city wasn’t talking about the draken exodus by midday, Alyssa would eat her sunglasses. If it was only leaving at night, Alyssa wouldn’t have minded so much. But it wasn’t.…
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      Bright Eyes

      Bright Eyes Cover
      by Tower Curator “Your eyes are glowing.” “I know, mom.” “It’s been three days and they haven’t stopped glowing.” Alyssa sighed, pulling off her sunglasses. Apparently, people found glowing eyes to be somewhat off-putting. Even though sunglasses were essentially unheard of around Lyria, especially fancy modern ones, they were far less strange than bright white eyes. A quick search on her phone revealed that sunglasses, eyewear designed to block ultraviolet light from the sun, had really only been…
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