Pillars of the Light is back? Awesome.
4 Likes
24/01/25
Another friday, another preview day 
If things keep going well, the next week is when the first draft for this part of the chapter will be done, and I’ll move on to editing/coding/filling out choices.
Enjoy!
Warm welcome
“Yes, this one is with us. No need to fret, her presence was approved by the high priestess herself,” the priest said. A scroll with the Temple seal exchanged hands… and a small pouch hidden inside it.
Unsurprisingly, the guard barely looked over the scroll before returning it.
“You’re clear,” he said, but didn’t move out of the way; in fact, with how he straightened his back and crossed his arms over his chest, it seemed he was trying to be even more intimidating. “A warning, travelers. There’s trouble in the city. Do what you must and get out, lest you be carried out and laid to rest.”
I’m So Popular It’s A Curse
“I’m fine,” you repeated, yet another time. “Besides having to answer the same question over and over.”
She actually snorted at that. “Yes, being so interesting must be very difficult.”
After a pause she spoke again, her voice back to serious. “Interest might be a good thing, or it might be not.” That was not ominous at all. “Take care of whom you trust with information.”
And you thought it’d be easy?
“How bad is it this time?” the priest asked.
“I’m expecting them to set the damn city on fire by the end of the week if something isn’t done.” She rubbed her temples. “It’s like everyone got dosed up on demonic arts and gone collectively mad. They basically stormed the gates, and now they’re forcing everyone into their homes as if these people had anything to do with the murders.”
“To be fair, any one of them could have something to do with the murders. If I were an assassin, I wouldn’t have been out there screaming “I’m an assassin” either.” He paused. “Well, not unless I had a death wish.”
“Very funny.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s your task that just got harder, not mine.”
29/01/25
I am actually done with the first draft for the next part of the chapter. Currently, it’s sitting at 21,2k words (not bad for less than a month), but I still need to go back and fill out some choices (mostly in dialogues), minor variations, and, of course, edit and actually code it.
I’m going to take a bit of a break from writing so I can do it all with clear eyes. In the meantime, I want to take a look at the stats, Codex, and relationship screen.
This will be the last preview until the update because the work left is more technical in nature
Enjoy!
Hand-holding, how scandalous
“Give me your hand,” you said. It was going to be faster that way, and besides, watching her struggle to walk straight was… not a particularly pleasant sight.
“What?” she asked, her head jerking upwards.
“Give me your hand,” you repeated. “You’re going to get us noticed.”
After a moment’s hesitation, she silently reached her hand out, and you grabbed it, pulling her along.
MC and a disguise
One steps, two. The tiles underneath your feet burned even through your footwear. Five. The guards had noticed you the moment you stepped out of the shadows, and were watching you back. Ten. The scent of smoke was on the air. Your smile was starting to strain your face.
Ten steps from the entrance. A guard extended a hand, and sparks fell off his fingers.
“Not a step further, priest,” he growled. “The city is on lockdown; return to your temple.”
16/02/25
I’ve gone down with a fever :") Still, update ~1/3 done. I’m rewriting most of the first draft as I go, and I like the result quite a bit better.
18 Likes
Hope you get better.
3 Likes
Get well soon, and rest a lot, we can wait, your health is more important now 
4 Likes
problem with cave line 1731: Non-existent command ‘end’
It’s where the old demo ends 
I have technically uploaded 2 out of 3 update scene files, but atm they’re inaccessible until I finish the last one.
Thank you for reporting anyway, I’ll have to fix it eventually.
@Christopher_Bull As I said, that’s just where the demo ends for now as I still have a scene file to go through TT
2 Likes
Can’t wait to read more 
1 Like
My mistake then. I didn’t know about that.
1 Like
18/08/2025
Insert the ‘it’s alive’ meme here.
Added the first part of ch2. +32k words or so. I hope there are no bugs, but there probably are.
What isn’t done yet: stat screen/Codex update, any edits to previous chapters.
Hope you enjoy 
@Queen_Zelda Thank you!
@Dreamer44 Thank you, I’m glad you liked it 
20 Likes
The update was amazing, I loved it 
1 Like
It was a good update, I’m always glad to see more of this.
Time to keep being a resentful person that just yearns for freedom and the chance to meet their family again.
3 Likes
How can I play the update? Is there a Patreon for it because it doesn’t work for me when I press the link?
Hello, it should be working now.
Such beautiful art you did amazing!
1 Like
@Queen_Zelda Thank you!
Also reposting the three background snippets. These are ideas on what’s going on in the background of the current chapter; themes were history, secrets, and lies respectively. Mild spoilers, tw for death.
Summary
In the night, they usually met each other.
It was a secret, though with the way things were going, she suspected it wouldn’t have stayed this way for much longer. Still, foolish and naive, she thought they had more time. More time before someone found out, more time before… Before…
Before [i]this[/i].
The floor is cold, and gravel pushed in by the wind bites painfully into her knees. A fucking storeroom, albeit empty. That’s where the body of her beloved rested now, covered with a rug too fancy for these bare walls. It was almost funny, really. They put him in a fucking [i]storeroom[/i].
Her nails bit into her palms, rising anger making it difficult to breathe. It propelled her to get up, do something, [i]break[/i] something - except the room was empty, and the only thing she could break was… herself. Nails digging deeper, drawing blood. They pretended that they had put him there for the safety of the body, but she knew better. The bastards simply wanted to disgrace him even in death, all for daring to–
Daring to love her.
She threw her head back, eyes closed. Deep breath, then another. A trembling hand reached out for the rug. The moment she touched it, she froze. She had to see, she had to know if what they said was true. But as long as the rug was in place, she could still pretend. Pretend like it was all a nightmare, a horrible joke, that it was someone else’s body lying there–
She jerked the thing off.
She forced herself to look before her eyes could close.
In the half-darkness, he would have looked almost alive if not for the gash across his chest. The more she looked upon it, the black line that cut through his life, the more her surroundings blurred with the shadows, until the wound was the only thing she could see. A simple cut, so clean, across his throat. No marks were left behind at all to tell who might have done it. Of course they blamed her clan; after all that happened, still they continued to take. From them. From her. These shitty sneers on their shitty faces as they accused others of their own wrongdoings.
But they did it themselves, she knew. Was sure of it. Got rid of a dishonor, an inconvenience, and gained a reason to denounce them. Win-win, right, fuckers? Her lips pulled up in a smile, too wide, showing too much teeth.
As if she would have let them win.
Summary
The moon shone brightly that night, but his heart felt heavy. The space next to him was empty - cold. Where was she?
If she were there with him… If he just closed his eyes, he could see it - her tilting her head up to the night sky, stars mirrored in her dark eyes, lips curled into a small smile. She never smiled that way with anyone else. It was all just for him. He would’ve been staring at her, like a fool, and she would’ve pretended that she didn’t notice, and then she would’ve broken into a quiet laugh and turned to face him.
The ghost of her breath touched his lips, but there was no one next to him in the dark room. He was staring at the low table in front of him, listening to his heart go thud-thud-thud within his chest. The lamp remained unlit; a gust of cool air blew in from the skylight above, ruffling his hair. He shivered. What was taking her so long?
Perhaps-- No. No, he told himself, but a flash of panic drove him up. He was pacing, thoughts he couldn’t control drowning his mind. What if something had happened to her? What if they were found out? What if–
creak
The sound made him whip around. His heart thudded painfully; the air he breathed was too much and yet not enough. Heat spread through his hands, and sparks fell, extinguishing before they could reach the ground, but the figure half-hidden in the darkness only cocked its head to the side.
White robes… A priest?
He breathed out, his hand flying to his chest. Cursing, he jerked it aside a moment later. A few sparks had eaten through his tunic, jolting him. The priest didn’t move, didn’t react, simply watching him.
A cloud came over the moon, dimming its light, and the wind picked up.
“Who are you? Why are you here?” He didn’t care about being loud. Fear was squeezing his chest like a vice, constricting his throat, but it also gave him strength. He stepped forward, trying to make sense of the figure in front of him. In the dimmed light, it looked like a ghost.
And then it laughed quietly.
“You have not changed at all,” it told him softly. A veil was hiding his features, but the man could feel the weight of the priest’s gaze upon him. He made a step forward, and the man stumbled backwards; his calves hit the low table and he stopped, as did the stranger. Standing. Watching.
“Who are you?” The man repeated. He shouldn’t have come here, didn’t he? But then she told him to come. She… She..?
He staggered. His legs gave out, and he sank to his knees; his elbow hit the table, but he didn’t react, his wide eyes fixed on the white-clad figure.
“Where is she?” The words left his mouth in a whisper. But the person behind the veil remained silent, and, no matter how much his eyes searched, the blank surface of the fabric provided him no answer.
“I don’t know,” the priest - was he one? - finally said.
A flicker of hope. “Then why are you here?”
The white-clad figure stepped forward. Silently, he glided over the floor, closer closer closer, finally lowering himself to the floor next to the man. “I came to say hello.”
“What..?” He wanted to laugh, but his body felt frozen, too tense, too scared to move even a finger in the stranger’s proximity. Nothing made sense; maybe it was but a dream, and he never made the decision to leave his home that night. Or was his family right, and he was going insane?
The priest raised his hand. “And I also want to say hello to our family.”
The sleeve of his robe slid down, and the man blinked. The words barely registered in his mind, attention fixed on the stranger’s arm: so many cuts, big and small, and… spirits, were those burns? A shiver ran up his spine as he stared, mouth half-open in a question he would never ask.
Then, with a single pull, the veil came down.
The man’s gaze slid upwards, slowly. Their eyes met in silence, faces bared by the stark light of the moon. He raised his head even higher, to the sky, and he laughed, for he indeed must have gone mad; or, perhaps, a ghost of his family’s past came to haunt him, to punish him for his transgression. A smile curled his lips in defiance of the spirits’ judgement. He regretted nothing.
He didn’t move, even as darkness around the phantom’s hand shifted. A blade formed, black against white. He didn’t make a sound when his throat was cut, white stained with red.
And the person who was but a ghost to the world of the living disappeared, his name a secret his victim took to the land beyond.
Summary
Lying always came easily to him, even as a child.
It is not lying if it is simply keeping quiet, right? That’s what he used to tell himself. It would be worse if I talk. Someone might get hurt. He hid himself behind the excuse of duty, and now…
“I am here to help you.” A lie. He hands the satchel with the medicine to the woman - a servant - who smiles at him. Grateful. He’d have rather she just took the medicine and left. “I hope your sister will feel better.” Another lie. He can’t find it in himself to care about others anymore.
Just another reason he’s looking forward to the end of this farce.
“May the Goddess bless you for your kindness, brother.” He is glad he’s wearing a veil, even if his face has long since lost its expressiveness. He’s empty inside, and of course it would show - as it should. People would keep clear of him if they knew, but he needs the mask still. Of being kind. Of being humane - human.
If he wasn’t a corpse walking, he would have laughed at the phrase. The Goddess would have never blessed him; cursed him, most likely. But there are other people whom he wants to take with himself to the underworld. And so, the mask stays on, and in a pleasant voice, he lies again.
“Of course. I will come by later, see if you need more of it.” If everything goes according to plan, he would never see this woman again. Not he, and definitely not the person he pretends to be - who had been dead for a while, the only remnant of him this garb that he wears to deceive others.
Soon.
But for the moment, the lie has to continue.
5 Likes
The snippets are amazing and make me want to know more about the man behind/under the veil.
I’m looking forward to more
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More previews from tumblr. First draft at around 30k so far (not done).
@Queen_Zelda Thank you, but it’s not done yet 
I still have to finish the first draft, then go back to edit and add choices and fluff. It will be a bigger update than the last one.
9 Likes
Woah, 30k is quite a lot, congratulations 
[quote=“lliiraanna, post:108, topic:137450”] Thank you, but it’s not done yet I still have to finish the first draft, then go back to edit and add choices and fluff. It will be a bigger update than the last one. [/quote]
Then I wish you the best for editing and adding more content, I know you can do it 
I’m looking forward to it
2 Likes