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The Vanguard Institute – Part 1
The second bell rang and the sun was halfway to noon warming the grounds below. I stood in the shadows of the Training Center waiting for Nyx. It was a big day. We were about to embark on our final test to join the Vanguard. Something Nyx and I have…
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 2
I was so late. Sasha was going to kill me. Saleh might too. It was an important day and I’d seen Glak. She’d been trying to learn the sling shot. I only stopped to give her a pointer or two. But I got distracted. Thankfully she reminded me and I…
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 3
Things were always interesting around Nyx. Today was no different. Normally the horses loved him. Normally even the most skittish one would calm down. Rhesus must have pissed Willow off and she retaliated against everyone.
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 4
Sasha caught up and tried to talk to me. I was still lost in that vision. The world felt different seeing things from that vision. It was colder now, even though the weather was still a nice spring day. I felt a connection to things I didn’t really understand. And…
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 5
There was a moment where I watched Nyx lick his lips and stare at me with longing. The moment was broken by hollering. Rhesus always had bad timing.
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 6
I was lost in my head most of the day. I had always known Sasha’s sexuality was fluid. When you can be anyone you want to be it makes sense. But he kept his flings away from me — out of protection or something else maybe, I didn’t know, but…
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 7
Giant fucking wasps! And here I am deathly allergic to them and I still stood up and fucking fought them. Needless to say I wasn’t surprised we beat it. Nor that Rhesus was the first to fucking go down, he was always careless.
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 8
Sasha made breakfast from a portion of our rations. It was not his usual fare but you made do with what you had. It was hot and filling and that was all that mattered.
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 9
As we passed by the pile of dead bodies, or what we thought were dead, the larger goblin reaches up and tries to grab Nyx’s ankle. It groaned its last words, “go’sht yeyish kasalligi.” It’s hand fell from Nyx’s ankle, eyes wide and the words hanging in the air.
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 10
Rhesus stared at me the whole time. He would open his mouth and then close it. Kis wandered a round the perimeter of the clearing the farmhouse stood in. He stomped out small fires as the embers drifted away from the fire.
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 11
Nyx was down. I felt it in the air but no one else seemed to notice as we followed Austin towards the goblin barricade. We had a water sprite to save — and save ourselves. But I worried about Nyx.
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 12
I was riding the high of getting the water sprite. But she was whining as I got away from the goblin barricade. “Let me out!” the water sprite squawked weakly from her iron cage. “Let’s just get away from here, find a clearing or just away. I promise I’ll let…
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 13
Nyx didn’t stomp away. He didn’t so much as make a sound. While these weren’t the woods we grew up in exactly, they were woods none the same. Rhesus glared after him and Seralina pouted in her urn. “He’ll be okay.” I reassured her. Though she hadn’t seemed overly concerned…
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 14
“I hate you!” Sasha yelled. My eyes popped open and I found myself still sitting in a hollowed out tree where I’d taken shelter to come down from my embarrassment. The sun was still down, the glow of the forest was ominous and I felt lost and alone, even though…
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 15
I slept in fits. The ground was uncomfortable I was cold and my mind wouldn’t shut off. I thought about going after Nyx, but figured he was already asleep and he wouldn’t wander far. He never did.
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 16
The plains were empty for as far as the eye could see. Stopping might as well be anytime. I found a flat spot and cleared the grass from the area so not to start a fire. Though that was always a possiblity with me around.
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 17
The messages from Nyx were nice. I still needed to follow him, to go after him. But I might worry less, I knew where he was. I could talk to him, which was absolutely amazing. Whatever spell he did, he should do on a journal and then we can always…
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 18
The might was fitful, the dreams were the same. I was a sacrifice to Ardere, the Great Phoenix. The same Phoenix that I’d been in the vision in the fire. The glowing lines on my body were cut into my skin, healed by the power of the phoenix and what…
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 19
We stopped for the night in the middle of an open plain. It looked like it might have had other camps, the grass was flattened, and the pile of embers hadn’t been overgrown. Maybe it was Nyx’s camping spot.
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 20
The room was a hole in the wall, about the size of the door itself, barely any walking room, but it had a bed and a basin to wash up in. Not that I really needed that, between my magic and Seralina, water was pretty common place for us. A…
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 21
Morning drew the sun above the horizon and sleep was had. Bellies were full and we were off onto our next leg of travel.
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The Vanguard Institute – Part 22
The wind is cold as we approach the town as the sun sets. There is little action going on. The village looks deserted, or at least tucked in for the night. Nary a light in a window, but small fires burn in hearths as smoke drifts up in the darkness.
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The Vanguard Institute — Part 23
I sat and watched as the lady had instructed but I was distracted by my thoughts. I missed Nyx. I glanced at the map but his dot was steady for the night and no new notes exchanged meant he was asleep.
The Mind of Nox 