#chaos goddess fiancee

[mushroomnoodles]

so i was talking w some folks and i ended up making my own au lich simon. the lich is just using simon's body as a vessel. affectionately named lichtrikov. this simon just happened to be the human that the lich possessed when his essence was released in the mushroom war

of course it devolved into "but what if he was pregnant" so we've been talking about GOLBetty getting him pregnant as a sort of punishment for taking simon's body, y'know, forcing him to do the very opposite of his task.. give life. the simon vessel is.. loosely revived? it's capable of supporting a developing fetus and adapting to it.. it's a non multiversal canon au. lichtrikov can still exist though.

cw/tw for sfw and non kink mpreg

#i have a mproblem #cw mpreg #tw mpreg #mpreg #simon petrikov mpreg #sort of? #lichtrikov #toying with the idea of Simon's identity being brought back within the lich and sort of melding with his own #in the non canon au where GOLBetty impregnates him #unintentionally #chaos goddess fiancee

[soundtestmenu]

love that simon is practically invincible. he's literally the First Saint of GOLB. if you went after him you'd have the world's worst string of bad luck because all random factors point straight to his fucking fiancee. you'd be unthinkably fortunate if the inexorable goddess of chaos decided not to turn you into a tetris block today

#ado blogs #at #fionna and cake spoilers

[wearethekat]

May Book Reviews Overview

The Castaway Prince (Isabelle Adler)

Path of Honor (Diana Francis)

The Exile Prince (Isabelle Adler)

The Throne of the Five Winds (SC Emmett)

Path of Blood (Diana Francis)

Sword Dance (AJ Demas)

Uncommon Charm (Emily Bergslien)

Salt Magic, Skin Magic (Lee Welch)

Only Bad Options (Jennifer Estep)

Miss Pym Disposes (Josephine Tey)

Saffron Alley (AJ Demas)

Honey and Pepper (AJ Demas)

Illuminations (T Kingfisher)

Something Spectacular (Alexis Hall)

Kaikeyi (Vaishnavi Patel)

There Before the Chaos (KB Wagers)

The Fiancee Farce (Alexandra Bellefleur)

Strong Wine (AJ Demas)

Six Wakes (Mur Lafferty)

Dragonfall (LR Lam)

Daughter of the Moon Goddess (Sue Lynn Tan)

The Poison Prince (SC Emmett)

#my book reviews #may book reviews #monthly book overview

[6ahaha1amjustaperson9]

Both b-day: 21st August

•Name:Alsiha Mahmoud

•Age:20 y.o. (3020 as she was trapped in a card)

•Personality. Introvert(INFP-A), calm, quiet, open-minded, imaginative, empathetic

•Gender Female (she/her)

•Height: 190cm

•Sexuality: Straight ally

•Likes: horses, nice and long walks, fencing, nighttime

•Dislikes: loud and crowded places, Eaqib (/jk ofc, she loves him)

•Abilities: with the extraordinary powers granted by the ancient Egyptian gods, she can bring hope, prosperity, and well-being to all those she touches

•Name: Eaqib Mahmoud

•Age:20 y.o. (3020 as Alsiha)

•Personality: Extrovert(ESFJ-T), very loyal, confident, too selfless

•Gender Male (he/him)

•Height: 195cm

•Sexuality: Bisexual

•Likes: horses, exercise, fencing, nighttime, teasing people

•Dislikes: extremely loud and crowded places, a$$holes, Alsiha (/jk ofc he loves her deeply too)

•Abilities: with these powers, he has to invoke them responsibly and judiciously, as punishment is a serious matter and should align with a just and balanced system of divine justice and never for revenge.

—————————————————————————

Backstory: Alsiha and Eaqib were ancient priests hailing from a long lineage of revered spiritual figures who possessed the rare ability to communicate with the gods. Their family's ancestral patriarch, a wise and devoted man, had constructed a grand temple dedicated to Sekhmet, the powerful Egyptian goddess of war and healing. Filled with immense faith and devotion, the progenitor and his kin caught the attention of the goddess and the other deities. Impressed by the family's unwavering loyalty and their determination to honor the gods when no one else would, Sekhmet and her divine counterparts made a pact with them. They chose the progenitor and his descendants to serve as their representatives, conduits of divine energy, and guardians of the greater good. To empower their sacred duty, Sekhemt bestowed upon the family a mystical earring, a conduit through which they could channel the gods' energies to aid those in need. However, fate took a treacherous turn for the twins. After the untimely demise of the pharaoh and his fiancee, chaos gripped the kingdom. In the aftermath, the secret court emerged, blaming Alsiha and Eaqib for their failed divination, claiming that their vision had led the pharaoh and his beloved astray. Unjustly accused and condemned to death, the two priests were left with no choice but to flee and seek refuge. Knowing they were on the verge of being discovered, the two twins devised a daring plan to protect themselves from their pursuers. They channeled the remaining energies of the gods through their earrings and performed a powerful ritual, trapping their souls within two enchanted cards/stones. By sacrificing their physical forms, they were able to escape certain capture and imprisonment.Over time, the cards that contained the spirits of Alsiha and Eaqib were separated and fell into the hands of different masters. Unbeknownst to their owners, these cards were not mere game pieces but held the trapped souls of the ancient priests. The twins, in their new existence as Duel Monsters, continued to serve the gods indirectly, awaiting the day when fate would align their paths once again, and they could break free from their ethereal prison to fulfill their divine purpose and seek redemption for their family's tarnished name.

#yugioh #yugioh ocs #yugioh duel monsters #ygo #ygo ocs #ygo dm #digital aritst #digital art #my art style #lesleyartleo

[charlezarrd]

11/30/22 - In the Hall of the Golden Goddess

There it is, folks. The last entry for Novembeat this year. Hope you enjoyed. Let me know which one was your favorite if you want. Keep an eye out for @the-backspin-alchemist's music for my stuff, and I'll probably be making a masterpost for all this tomorrow, if I have time.

See you next year!

Or, yknow. Next week if you're following me here.

Lanter enters Tasimira’s hall, the gilded casino, with rows of gambling tables on each side of him, framed by golden pillars.

At the far end, on a throne of dice, sits the Goddess of Fate and Chance herself, as tall as five men.

“Well, well.” She says. “If it isn’t my delinquent proxy. Did you come to apologize for ignoring me, or did you just miss our face-to-face talks that much?”

“Shut your mouth.” Lanter tells her.

He stands at his full height, ready for a confrontation. He’s only able to make eye contact with her knee.

“Excuse me!?” She blinks, taken aback.

“I’ve met your sons, and I’ve met your daughters. Not all of them, but enough. I see through your facade now. I know you never intended to follow through on the deal we made, did you? It didn’t matter how much money I gathered for you, you never had the power to bring her back.”

“Now. The situation was fairly complicated…” Tasimira frowns.

“No. No, it wasn’t.” Lanter interrupts her. “Shut up and let me finish. You’re a fucking child playing with people’s lives. You had all the guts to stand up and declare yourself queen at the beginning of time, and yet, I have yet to see evidence of you actually wield that title with any level of authority or responsibility.”

“Hold on. To be fair, it wasn’t me that took your fiancee. That was entirely Nera’s doing.” Tasimira holds up a hand to stop him, as if defending herself from his words.

“And now you’re deflecting your responsibility onto the goddess of Pain and Death. If you were really going to act like a queen, you’d keep the rest of your pantheon in line.”

“What are you trying to get at? I’m a very busy goddess, so would you mind getting to the point?” Tasimira sighs.

He’s starting to get under her skin.

Good.

“That you’re either an incompetent fool of a goddess, or you’re outright malicious. Either way, you’re entirely unfit to be a goddess at all, let alone Queen of the Pantheon.” Lanter spits on the floor.

“How dare you. I won’t stand for such acquisitions. Why, I have half a mind to smite you in a thousand different ways this instant!” Tasimira glares at him

“But you won’t.” Lanter smirks. “Because you need me. I’m your agent of chaos, your rogue agent. I’m the wildcard. Without people like me, your ‘story’ falls apart. Whatever you want, you need conflict. It fuels you. You crave drama. And you need me to make that happen.”

Tasimira sighs, and slumps down in her throne sullenly. “Well, then what now? What will the ever observant Lanter Spade do next?”

“Whatever the fuck I want.” Lanter tells her. “Since I know you’re not gonna do jack shit about it. Next time you give me a mission or an order or whatever you call it, I’ll decide if it’s worth my time or not. Because now I see through your facade. And I’m not gonna let you fuck with me anymore. And boy I’m gonna make you regret making me your proxy. Because I’m the only person I know that’s more petty, more selfish, and more malicious than you are.”

With that as his last word, he turns and leaves Tasimira’s hall, flipping her off on the way out. No doubt she’ll be sulking about this one for the next few years, if not a couple hundred.

#novembeat #novembeat 2022 #novembeat collab #my writing #Backspin #14 Souls

[mimicgender]

Time for a roundup of the TTRPG characters I am either playing, or have on deck for an upcoming game:

- 4 foot tall, six armed cat person with neon pink fur. Father is a god of chaos and death and change. Able to control time and timelines with magic. Professional history of being a sex worker before becoming an adventurer.

- 5'10 Cajun goddess. Became a criminal and thief after murdering her abusive ex-fiancee. Discovered a taste for both righteous vengeance and horrible violence. Public face is a Socialite and profound artist. Private face is a slightly deranged thief working for one of the biggest crime families in the games world.

-Nonbinary animated undead. Created from the corpse of a girl, the corpse of her father (a legendary hero), and the heart of a giant golden idol modeled upon said hero. Has been alive for 2 months, is doing their best.

-Young charming man just wants to help people as best he can. Escaped abusive family, discovers he was adopted. Finds out that his parents are actually two very powerful demons. Finds this out when the magic suppressing his nature wears off and his true form is shown. In a city that is ruled by an extremist faction of the church that hunts demons.

-Traumatized nonbinary wizard. Mother's killed, mentor scarred them up trying to do blood magic on them. Currently fighting an evil entity of light that is hellbent on wiping 90% of the city off the map. Exists in a state of purpetual bad luck and exhaustion. Friends with every crow in the city.

-7'6" Half Giant Woman in a fantasy western setting. Goes yeehaw, carries gun.

[izusun]

Bro Hit And Run by LOLO has fem!villain!Izuku x Toga vibes

Catch me simping for morally gray fem!Izuku now hhhhhhh

- Goblin

holy fuck? holy fuck i’m simping for both of them i’m literally gonna SCREAMM

fem!zuku x toga is a ship i never knew i needed fuckk

nO OK BC THIS SONG IS THEIRS

whats togaocha if there’s fem!izu/toga /hj??? genuinely shaking in excitement stopp

dieldkwsk have this goblinnn i hope i did this au justice!! i listened to the song and i read the lyrics and this drabble is what popped up in my head so i rlly hope u like it ;v;

CW: uhhh they make out and idk what rating that is, hero corruption, mentions/references to cheating/infidelity 

there’s a story about persephone that izuku loves dearly. in that version, the goddess isn’t deceived and taken to be corrupted. instead, she leaves her mother’s gardens because she is in love; she eats the pomegranate seeds from her lover’s hand because she wants to stay wherever he would be. in that version she is not a victim, just a woman in love.

- - -

the crackling of flames licking up, up, up sound like sirens to izuku’s ears. the distant screams could never drown the wild orchestra of the fire that have began crawling their way around izuku in glides too sultry. izuku is fascinated, shamrock eyes almost unblinking as they take in the untameable beast she dedicated to izuku.

from behind, she feels the tip of a knife gliding on her hero costume like gentle yet demanding kisses.

izuku is addicted.

“do you like it, izu-chan?” a voice chirps, warm breath tickling izuku’s flushed ears. izuku trembles, skin breaking out in delicious goosebumps.

izuku had not even managed to formulate a reply when wet hands—caked in blood not their own—grip her shoulders, maneuvering her body to face her.

her- she-

she who is bathed in red; pale face contrasting so beautifully with the blood sliding down her cheeks like tears.

she whose golden eyes are locked at izuku’s greens, slanted in a way that is so seductive and salacious.

she who bears a fanged grin at izuku—dangerous, dangerous, dangerous.

izuku inaudibly gasps, bruised lips parting at the sight of her.

she looks at izuku’s lips and izuku flushes at the attention, the temptation to lean in for a kiss so strong it engulfed her being like a raging current.

toga giggles, bright and happy. it isn’t the loudest sound in the area and yet it is all izuku can hear.

“you are so perfect, my beloved hero,” toga croons, eyes narrowing further and smile growing sharper. izuku almost whines, body tensed as toga pulls her closer.

“izu-chan,” toga begins, one hand sliding from izuku’s shoulders down to her waist, kneading in a way that is so titillating, “will you join me?”

izuku knows it is wrong.

she knows that joining toga is joining the very organization that izuku fought hard against ever since she was a stumbling fifteen year old.

izuku knows that agreeing will ruin everything she built—her career, her future, her marriage with kacchan.

and yet-

and yet.

she wants nothing else but to say yes.

toga smiles again, this time warmer as though she already knows izuku’s answer.

and maybe she always knew and that she was just waiting for izuku herself to admit it.

so izuku does.

she pulls toga to her and crashes their lips in a heated kiss. their teeth tug at each other’s lips as though devouring the good that is left in izuku—scraping her until she is a husk of the hero she used to be to give birth to a newer her.

(or maybe chaos was always stored inside her and toga just knew how to unlatch the box. maybe toga knew that she’s been aching to be released so she does; she removes the weight of the world that izuku carries and cloaks her in villainy. 

toga breaks the pomegranate and izuku kisses the seeds from her warm hands. izuku feels free.)

a warm hand grasps at her unruly hair and pulls. izuku gasps, lips parting to welcome toga’s warm tongue. she kisses back as ferociously, gloved hands looping around toga’s neck and pulling her even closer as though to mesh their bodies together.

they kiss amidst the flames and the burning city. they kiss to silence the crying crowd. they kiss to celebrate izuku’s fall.

because now that she’s reached the top—being japan’s number one hero—there is nowhere to go but down.

and down she goes.

- - -

two days later, midoriya izuku, japan’s number one hero and fiancee of japan’s number two hero, bakugou katsuki, goes missing.

five days after the news of deku’s disappearance, a new villain pops up. they call her persephone.

#goblin anon #ask #i hope this gets posted on the actual time i queued it #possibly nsfk #my god this ship is so beautiful #my sister proofread this bc im abt to pass out n she said i wrote toga like shes fem bkg n i think shes right #not in the part i wrote toga as fem bkg but #in the part where she goes that toga /resembles/ fem bkg #i legitimately stopped slow blinking st this realization #i love this ah goblin idkkk i just love sapphic #bnha #midoriya izuku #toga himiko #fem izuku #fem midoriya #long post #izutoga

[dailylogyn]

Sigyn Appreciation Week

Day 5: Your Thoughts on Sigyn and why you are appreciating her

I didn’t come across the existence of Sigyn till about 2015. I honestly hadn’t watched an MCU film by that time except for The Avengers a year before in high school. I instantly connected with Loki’s character in it. That prompted me to finally start reading the Thor Comics (which I was already heavily into other Marvel Comics long before that.) I began my research and I think that’s when I came across Loki, finding out he had a wife not only in the comics, but in Norse Mythology too. I was always big into Mythology and Folklore, so I just started to become invested in the Norse Traditions too.

However, it was sad to find how Sigyn (and Loki) was portrayed in the comics. At that time it honestly made me think that’s how her relationship must be with him in Mythology, which didn’t feel right to me. Of course I did more research and didn’t find much info on Sigyn either in the Myths, which further made me sad for this goddess, but I knew I connected with her and Loki. So, I wanted to bring her to life in someway. Give her a proper story that didn’t survive in the Myths and that Marvel refused to do. Hence, I started working on my huge Sigyn story idea and have been fleshing her out since 2015. Despite being raised as a Christian during that time, I was opening my mind to other religions and asked Sigyn and Loki for help (especially since I was going through MAJOR health problems during that time.)

It wasn’t until 2018 when my fiancee made me sit down and fully watch all the MCU movies that I finally watched the Thor movie and understood why I connected with Loki and why in my research that he and Sigyn spoke to me. I’m an orphan who came from a unstable home life and has been adopted and put through the foster care system over and over again. I’ve had contact with my blood family every now and then who honestly show they don’t care about me. I’m a black sheep of my family. I’m an outcast. I didn’t grow up with the concept of parents...and honestly, Loki and Sigyn feel like that to me. It was then that I found a home in a place I least expected it with the Goddess of Neglected Children and Compassion who gives nothing but constancy and the Trickster who understands my anger at being misunderstood and treated terribly and my desire to be myself. I just started to develop a very understanding relationship with them, and it was something I needed.

It is also why I created my blogs for them to help put an end to the misconceptions about them that have been created by Pop Media and unite others like me who love Loki and Sigyn and hopefully bring light to them. I didn’t mean to go into my whole backstory there, but it is important to explain my thoughts on Sigyn and why I appreciate her. She is such a sweet, caring, and compassionate goddess and yet barely gets any acknowledgement, and if she does it’s usually depicted in a bad way that isn’t true. It honestly hurts me. Sigyn is not a weak doormat who is abused by Loki and I wish Pop Culture Media would stop using this freakin trope. It just sends a bad message all around and isn’t true.

I would honestly just like Sigyn’s story to be re-told someday and given the love and attention she deserves alongside Loki, even if she isn’t a romantic interest of his in Marvel. However, they are both sides of the same coin and a compliment of each other: Constancy & Chaos. You can’t have one without the other. They balance each other. And there is more to Sigyn’s story that we don’t know about, especially the stuff that hasn’t survived to this day. At this point I’m willing to write the Sigyn story for Marvel myself. 

#Admin Marian #sigyn appreciation week #sigyn #loki #I just woke up but here's my somewhat love story to them

[narcoleptic-drag-queen]

the damned - chapter two (2/14 // branjie)

Vanessa is a renowned pirate framed for stealing the Cup of Peace by the goddess of Chaos, Willam, to whom she owes a debt. Princess Yvie, her best friend since childhood, offers to take Vanessa’s place on death row in order to give her a chance to go and retrieve the Cup to prove her innocence.

Vanessa’s plan is to just flee to Fiji and away from her problems, but she soon finds she has a stowaway: Brooke Lynn Hytes, Yvie’s betrothed. She’s here to make sure Vanessa keeps her promise. She’s not here to fall in love with her, but we can’t always get what we want, can we?

last chapter: after a fraught encounter with Yvie’s fiancee, Vanessa has finally managed to sneak away and go after the Cup, the first steps towards ending the deal she’s been caught in for twelve years.

this chapter: Vanessa makes it to the tower. That’s about where things stop going well.

AO3 // playlist // pinterest board

#she's here yall #once again scheduling this so that i am asleep and not anxious :) #the damned #branjie #brooke #brooke lynn hytes #vanjie #vanessa vanjie mateo #rpdr fanfiction #writing

[andthisiswitchcraft]

Hello and welcome to Folk Magic Friday!

Last week I asked you what should I write about next. You choose Marzanna, the goddess of death and also the celebration of begginning of spring 🌺

Marzanna (in other countries called Morana, Morena, Mara or Marana) is a goddess of death, but also of rebirth. She is a fiancee of Jaryło, which is a god of fertility and harvest. They are the opposites of each other. When one is dying, the other one is born. After their marriage Marzanna finnally dies one more time and does not reborn again, but Jaryło does, as a solar god 🌿

Marzanna was imagined as a lady on an empty, green meadow, with geese. Around the meadow there is floating, dark water. It was believed that in the afterlife your soul would change into a bird-type shape, like a goose, and you will be on a green meadow. It is beacuse of birds movement as a seasons change – lots of birds leave our country for winter and come back for spring – like for example stork, which is known as a sign of spring.

Water around the Marzanna’s meadow is a symbol, border between the living and the dead. Water is also connected to chaos and death, but also new beggining, ressurection and rebirth. This meadown on island is a perfect place for dead souls that can become birds or, in other books, cattle. Death and rebirth. Dead soul became a goose or a cow 🌿

Marzanna is also a doll or a effigy made of straw wrapped in cloth. People add some ribbons to it, some blown eggs, flowers, fresh or made of paper or blotting paper. In my distric Marzanna’s effigy looks like an old lady, but there are also versions of young Marzanna with flower wreath. In some places (like for example Silesia) there is also a male version of Marzanna, Marzaniok. Important part of Marzanna are golden keys to paradise, which are sometimes added to whole effigy 🌿

People usually walk with Marzanna at the edge of a village or town and drown the effigy in the river or any water nearby. It is also a symbol of Marzanna going back to the nether, into the Great Ocean. Drowning the effigy was also a ritual for making spring come earlier and to ensure good harvest in upcoming year. In some districts Marzanna is burned first, then drowned. In some districts there is also a tradition – after drowning an effigy people raced back to the village. Last person should expect death in upcoming year.

Catholic church tried to forbid this tradition, first attempt about it in written documents is from 1336 year, but people do this still today. Fun fact: the church tried to change this tradition into something, of course, more Catholic, so they proposed new tradition – throwing an effigy of Judas from the church tower. Somehow it didn’t work 🌿

With Marzanna goes second tradition, which is gaik. People carry boquets of greens, twigs and branches, sometimes also with ribbons and blown eggs, as a symbol of rebirth. It was a tree of rebirth, carried from house to house for good luck and prosperity. Sometimes it’s attached to Marzanna’s effigy. In some regions people first drown Marzanna out of town, then come back with gaik as a symbol of spring 🌿

That will be all for now. Let me know what do you think about this tradition?

And of course: what’s next? Should we check some mythical creatures or would you like to know more gods from slavic pantheon?

And as previous, I wanna share with you some music by Żywiołak. Music video is beautiful and definetely describes this tradition (some effects may trigger seizures, it's short, but I want to warn you)

Iga

#iga #ihatiw #incredible iga #slavic pantheon #marzanna #spring goddess

[mushroomnoodles]

Does Prismo knows about Simon's pregnancy? If do, what was his reaction to it?

sure does!

cw/tw for sfw and non fetish mpreg. also simon is choking

turns out it wasnt a dream after all.

#i have a mproblem #a #cw mpreg #tw mpreg #mpreg #simon petrikov mpreg #GOLBetty: impregnates ex boyfriend by forcing him to eat a green ball of cosmic energy in the most uncomfortable and eerie way possible #GOLBetty is full of rizz #primbo #chaos goddess fiancee #plainvanilla

[artificialqueens]

The Damned, Chapter 2/14 (Branjie) - Freyja

A/N: hello!!! i’ve finally finished it! it’s here! special thanks to @freykitten for betaing - i love you so so much!!! read on AO3 if you like ;)

fic summary: Vanessa is a renowned pirate framed for stealing the Cup of Peace by the goddess of Chaos, Willam, to whom she owes a debt. Princess Yvie, her best friend since childhood, offers to take Vanessa’s place on death row in order to give her a chance to go and retrieve the Cup to prove her innocence.

Vanessa’s plan is to just flee to Fiji and away from her problems, but she soon finds she has a stowaway: Brooke Lynn Hytes, Yvie’s betrothed. She’s here to make sure Vanessa keeps her promise. She’s not here to fall in love with her, but we can’t always get what we want, can we?

last chapter: after a fraught encounter with Yvie’s fiancee, Vanessa has finally managed to sneak away and go after the Cup, the first steps towards ending the deal she’s been caught in for twelve years.

this chapter: Vanessa makes it to the tower. That’s about where things stop going well.

-

Getting into the tower is almost too easy.

The servant’s passage leads her to a small corridor, the luxury of rich, maroon carpet abandoned in favor of hard cobblestone floors and chandeliers exchanged for torches lining the walls, creating wavering shadows across the ceiling. Vanessa takes a moment to orient herself, peeking her head out to peer to the right, and then to the left. After a few minutes of seeing and hearing nothing, she steps out, careful not to let her boot scuff against the rough floor.

She’s never been in this part of the castle before, deemed too young to be trusted so near the kingdom’s greatest treasure. Yvie used to assure her that it was because they were reluctant to leave her alone with the guards stationed there, but despite Yvie’s naivety, Vanessa had known better. She’d known how little the servants meant, even back then.

She starts moving at a soft, quick pace to the right, sticking close to the wall and keeping a hand on her sword to prevent it from making noise. She can’t help but breathe shallowly, her ears straining to catch any sort of noise. She can’t hear anything but her own clothes shifting with her steps, and it only puts her more on edge.

The hall feels endless, stretching out before her, dim torch after dim torch casting it in a strange stutter. The air is too hot, stuffy from the lack of windows and movement, and Vanessa tries not to cringe at the slow bead of sweat trickling down her back.

She hates this.

Had A'keria or Scarlet been here, had this been any other time, she would have been whispering complaints, careless of the dangers of making noise and much more concerned with making her discomfort known. A'keria would have shushed her and rolled her eyes, and Scarlet would have stifled giggles, and they would have succeeded in giving Vanessa the reassurance she’d really been asking for, soothing the nerves that came with being the leader on a mission that could go wrong at any moment.

But they aren’t here, and this isn’t any other time. It’s better that Vanessa do this solo, no matter how much she craves the company of her crewmates.

She comes across a corner, eventually, more light shining off of the bricks from around the bend. Vanessa immediately pins herself against the wall, heart pounding as she listens for movement. This has to be the entrance to the tower, unless the castle is more prone to winding halls up here than it is on the lower floors, and if this is the entrance, then there has to be at least one guard stationed beside it. They were already fools for not flooding the space with guards, especially on a night with so many strangers in the castle, but they’d have to be catatonic to leave it completely unwatched.

Vanessa cocks her head, straining her ears. She can barely hear anything - was that a slow breath? A soft voice?

She keeps listening, her eyes firmly on the floor. If she holds her breath, she thinks she can hear breathing, rhythmic and deep. She risks a peek around the sharp corner of the wall, so concerned with being seen that she’s really only willing to risk putting one eye past the cover of the stone.

She finds herself staring not five inches away from the shining helmet of a guard.

She jumps, swallowing back a yelp and making a sort of choked gasp instead, scrambling back around the corner and fumbling for her sword. If she can just run it through him in time, he won’t be able to retaliate, or—

She pauses.

Or call for help. The man should have shouted by now, should be hurling himself around at her with a cry.

There hasn’t been so much as a sniffle.

She has to hold back a relieved laugh, the feeling creeping into the tips of her fingers and toes instead, making her feel like she could dance on air. She slides her sword back into its sheath, instead bending to reach into her boot, the ivory handle of her favorite knife a comfort against her palm.

She can’t believe she’s getting a second chance like this.

Coiling her body like the ship’s cat before a kill, she springs around the corner, poised to slit the guard’s throat before he can make a sound. She reaches for him, and—

He’s sleeping.

She stops short, her hand still outreached, to stare at the man slumped against the wall, dead to the world. He’s breathing deeply, long inhales through his nose and short exhales through his mouth, and he doesn’t even flinch when Vanessa stomps her foot experimentally. The guard sleeping across the wall from him doesn’t move, either, and Vanessa daintily steps over the tangle of legs blocking her path, the other guard having completely sunk to the floor in his sleep.

Vanessa stops in front of the entrance, an open doorway leading to stairs going up farther than she can see. She glances back at the two guards, her gut churning as she looks at them. Something is off.

As she looks back up the staircase, every instinct in her starts to scream, begging her to turn away and get as far away from the scene as possible. She thinks about the woman she’d run into before Brooke, the one that had looked like the goddess, and she thinks she can suddenly taste the sharp, metallic tang of magic hovering in the air.

“Shit,” she whispers, as she glances at the men again. If Eris - Willam, she’d told her to call her - has done this, then it has to have been to help her. She was stealing the Cup for Willam, after all, to repay her - maybe Willam had just wanted to speed the process along.

Even if she hadn’t done this, Vanessa can’t turn away now. Not when the key to her freedom is just a staircase away.

She sucks in a deep breath, steeling herself against the anxiety swirling in her gut, and she begins to climb the stairs, trying her best not to think about the way the torches have all been blown out, leaving the tower in complete darkness aside from the moonlight trickling in from the occasional thin window. Her nerves only get worse as she climbs, and by the time she reaches the heavy door waiting at the top, it’s taking all that’s in her not to just sprint back down the stairs and out of this goddamn castle.

She stares at the sliver of moonlight creeping under the door, mustering up enough courage to pull at the handle.

Think of your freedom, she thinks. Think of mom.

She opens the door.

The room behind it is eerily silent, the semicircle of guards lining the curved walls all in various positions of sleep, leaning against the wall and crumpled to the floor, like puppets with their strings cut. A beam of moonlight shines down from the roof, casting the room in a pale blue and lighting up the empty stone pedestal in the center like it was the moon itself. Vanessa stares at it for a moment, uncomprehending.

It’s gone.

The Cup of Peace is gone.

The cold fingers of shock numb her, allowing her to stand and stare, and stare, and stare. She can’t – if it’s not here, then where–?

She has just enough time to feel the beginning blows of disappointment and complete despair when the first guard stirs. It’s the second one that startles her into action.

“Fuck,” she hisses, stepping back out and shutting the door behind her. It slams in her panic, and she jumps again, racing down the stairs two and sometimes three steps at a time. “ Fuck! What the fuck? What in the goddamned hell ?”

She barrels down the stairs, so fast she can feel her hair streaming behind her, and she’s just about to burst out into the corridor when an arm suddenly slams into her gut, knocking her down the remaining five steps. Pain bursts in her elbow when she crashes onto the cobblestone floor, shock and a piercing ache the only things she can really focus on as she groans.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” a man says, and Vanessa manages to roll onto her back to glare at the guard who’d been waiting for her on the stairs, a smug smirk on his face. Vanessa recognizes him as one of the two sleeping guards. “Did that hurt?”

Vanessa curls her lip at him, and instead of responding, she goes for the sword at her hip, more than willing to fight her way out of this. It’s a stupid move, proof of how scrambled her brain is, because her wrist is suddenly trapped in a strong grip before her fingertips can even graze the hilt.

“Oh, no you don’t,” a deep voice says next to her ear, and she’s suddenly being jerked to her feet, so hard she’s a little afraid her arm might be dislocated.

“Fancy sleep spell of yours,” the first guard says, coming down the stairs too slowly. Too smugly. Vanessa resists the urge to spit at him. “Too bad you didn’t time it quite right.”

“I didn’t—”

“Didn’t know pirates could do magic,” the voice behind her says, and the other guard snorts.

“Women,” he says, and disdain crosses his features, “especially women like her .”

This time, Vanessa does spit at him. It only lands near his feet, but she thinks the message comes across nicely. His face tells her he thinks the same.

“I didn’t cast that spell,” she says, and they both laugh.

“Yeah,” the guard behind her says, “and I’m the bloody queen.”

“Your best friend, right?” the other guard says. He’s close now, just out of reach of a kick. “Wonder how she’s gonna take this one. This is far worse than when you ran with those rubies.”

Vanessa lunges at him, but the guard behind her has her arms twisted behind her too tightly, and she’s the one who ends up whimpering in pain. “I didn’t take anything,” she grits out, looking up to glare at him, meeting his eyes defiantly.

He cocks an eyebrow. “And that’s why everyone up there is clamborin’ down here, eh? To tell us the Cup is still there, safe and sound?”

“It was already gone when I got there, you have to believe me, you have to have seen whoever—”

“I did see,” the guard in front of her says, suddenly cold. The smirk is off his face, replaced with an expression of such anger and hatred that Vanessa’s breath catches. “I saw you .”

…

They take her to the throne room.

Vanessa struggles the whole way, dragging her heels and protesting loudly until the guard not holding her threatens to stuff her mouth with his sock. She quiets, but she still goes as slowly as she can, resentment and fury bubbling up in her chest and begging to be released somehow, some way.

She’s been framed.

It’s the only explanation. Willam, fucking Willam had decided to fuck her over again, this time worse than anything she’s ever done before. It had never been enough to do the goddess’s bidding - no, she’d always had to be entertaining while she did it.

Guess she hadn’t been entertaining enough. Serves her right, making deals with the goddess of chaos at age fucking sixteen.

Ἔρις. Strife. Discord herself.

Vanessa is such an idiot.

She’s been framed, and she’s spent so much time lying and stealing shit that no one’s going to fucking believe her. The idea of freedom is laughable now. She’d thought she’d been trapped before, but at least she’d had the sea. She’ll be lucky if her jail cell has a view, luckier if death doesn’t place her with Sisyphus.

A sudden wave of fear and dread nearly buckles her knees in, and she takes a deep breath. Fuck.

Her friends. Scarlet. A'keria. They’ll get her out.

She has to believe that.

They drag her through the halls, roaming guests and stationed guards that Vanessa had missed going through the secret passage staring with wide or narrowed eyes, fury and shock radiating off of them in waves. Vanessa only has a short amount of time to wonder how they know so soon after she’s been caught before she notices that she’s not the only thing they’re staring at.

Through the wide windows overlooking the sea, dark clouds can be seen twisting over the moon and the stars, plunging the kingdom into inky blackness. They hover far too close to the suddenly violent waves, which foam white with agitation.

Vanessa is very quickly realizing that she’d never given a second thought as to why the Cup is so important, so valued. She’s beginning to think it isn’t because of the jewels rumored to be glittering on it.

Dread sinks into the pit of her stomach, her anger only a flicker of relief from it. What the hell is she about to be accused of?

By the time they reach the throne room, Vanessa’s arms burn from where they’re nearly being pulled out of their sockets, and the only thing lighting the halls are the dim, flickering chandeliers, the moon having been swallowed up by darkness long ago. There’s an eerie hush that leaves Vanessa’s heartbeat too loud in her ears, the creak of the door to the throne room startlingly loud when one of the guards pushes it open.

It reveals the party at a standstill, pale, terrified faces turned towards her in a silent accusation. Vanessa’s fear and anger burn brightly against them, and she digs her heels into the stone when the guards attempt to pull her in.

“No,” she grits out, “I didn’t— I couldn’t have —”

She cuts herself off with a grunt as someone behind her kicks the back of her knee, making her crumple and allowing the guards to drag her through the rest of the way. Her protests echo off the walls as they bring her to the king’s feet, jerking her up, so that she’s standing straight before him. It makes her sneer. The last person she wants to acknowledge is the fucking king of fools, and here she is, forced into it.

Turns out things haven’t changed so much, after all.

She tries to meet Yvie’s gaze from where she’s standing at her father’s right hand, but she keeps her eyes firmly on the ground, expression pained. She thinks Vanessa did this. Betrayal and hurt blossom in Vanessa’s belly at the thought, and the sudden urge to convince Yvie that she didn’t do it is nearly overwhelming.

She may have lost Yvie’s trust twelve years ago, but she can at least prove her innocence on this.

“I didn’t steal it,” she says loudly, looking straight into the king’s eyes and ignoring the way they crackle like lightning. It’s suddenly important that she get the first word in. “I—”

“You tricked me,” a voice hisses, and Vanessa tears her eyes away from the king’s only to meet Brooke’s, her eyes like pieces of flint. Guilt swirls in with the rest of her turmoil. “You got me to trust you, and then you used me to steal the one thing keeping this kingdom alive.”

Vanessa opens her mouth, but any and all protests die on her tongue. She had done that. Normally, she’d find her way around it - pick at the one thing that had been exaggerated and ignore the rest. But Brooke has stated it so frankly that all she has left is, “So? I didn’t steal it.”

Brooke’s lips tighten. “Yes, you did. ”

Vanessa bares her teeth, indignation flaring bright in her chest. How had she ever felt guilty for lying to this bitch? “No, I didn’t. It was already fucking gone when I got there, so maybe you should ask one of your guards why that is, and not me. ”

“They saw you .”

“They were asleep !” Vanessa shouts, and Brooke meets her flame with a cool, hard edge.

“How were they all— ”

“ Enough !”

Vanessa startles as the king slams the butt of his staff into the stone, the sharp rap of it loud enough to ring in her ears. She swallows the words that had already been dancing on her tongue in the wake of Brooke’s, and she watches with some satisfaction as Brooke’s jaw snaps shut, looking sufficiently chastened.

“I will not have bickering and accusations flying around my head when such matters are at hand,” the king snaps, glaring at Vanessa, and then Brooke. “You are famed for your diplomacy, Duchess. Is this what your queen was speaking of so highly?”

“No, Your Majesty,” Brooke mutters, and her eyes drop to the floor. Despite her composure, however, Vanessa can practically see the anger radiating off of her in waves. She wonders if no one else had ever noticed, or if she’s simply the first to get this kind of a rise out of her.

She likes the idea of the latter.

“My apologies,” Brooke offers, and she sounds just sincere enough that the king sinks back into his seat, his expression fading into one that resembles disappointment or heartbreak more than anger.

“Forgiven,” he says, and then he turns his gaze to Vanessa. It takes everything in her not to freeze under his stare.

“Vanessa Mateo,” he says tiredly, “where is the Cup of Peace?”

“I. Don’t. Know,” she says slowly, and his expression darkens at the condescension in her voice. She can’t bring herself to care. She’s taking the fall for this either way.

Fucking Willam.

“My guards claim you are the thief,” the king says, voice raising. “I will believe their word over a pirate’s, one that’s already stolen from me, no less. Now, I will only ask once again, before we start taking fingernails.”

“ Father! ” Yvie snaps, and Vanessa jerks upright at the sound of her defense.

“Words only go so far,” the king says stiffly, but some of the rage immediately leaves his face, leaving him look more haggard than fearsome. “If I can’t get the answers this way, I must resort to other methods.”

“She’ll answer you,” Yvie tells him firmly, and then she turns to meet Vanessa’s eyes for the first time since Vanessa was shoved in front of her. Yvie’s expression is imploring, and Vanessa knows what she’s going to say before she even opens her mouth. “Vanessa, please. Just tell us where you—”

“I didn’t do it,” Vanessa says stubbornly, anger making her voice rough and loud.

Yvie’s mouth flattens. “Then tell me why you left the party. Tell me why you snuck away from my fiancée. And tell me what you were doing up in that tower.”

Vanessa opens her mouth. Closes it again. She scrambles for an even halfway feasible excuse and comes up with nothing. So. The truth it is. No matter how crazy it makes her sound.

“I was…” she trails off, nerves nearly getting the better of her. She pushes past it. She’s not known for her daring for nothing. “I was goin’ after the Cup. No hidin’ that. But it was already gone when I got there, and I… I’m pretty sure I know who took it.”

Yvie’s face is a myriad of emotion, but it’s Brooke’s icy tone that answers her.

“Who.”

Vanessa swallows. She glances at the king, at the transparently skeptical expression on his face, and steels herself. “Eris.”

There’s a beat of silence.

“The goddess of chaos took our Cup,” the king repeats. “The goddess that we specifically warded against.”

Vanessa shrugs, defensive anger building up in her chest and clenching her fists. “Look, I don’t know how she got past your wards! I wasn’t fucking there, was I? All I know is that I didn’t do it, and I can’t fucking help you past that! You have to believe me!”

Anger flashes across Yvie’s face for a split second before queenly restraint covers it again. Good to know Yvie’s temper hasn’t changed. “Believe you ? It’s not hard to believe that the woman who stole what was most precious to me twelve years ago would steal what’s most precious to me now. Believing that you wouldn’t is much, much harder.”

Each word hits Vanessa like a knife, and they all sink into her up to the hilt. It hurts. It’s true.

It pisses her off.

“ Fuck you,” Vanessa snarls. “You think this is some sort of vendetta against you? I haven’t thought about you in years, though it’s nice to know that I’ve clearly been on your mind anyway.” Yvie’s expression flickers with hurt. Too bad she can’t tell when Vanessa’s lying anymore. “I took only what I needed. This isn’t any fucking different, except I got screwed over this time. I’m just as fucked as you until that shit gets found.”

“Screwed over suggests you were in on this plan,” Brooke points out, before Yvie can hurl some other insult back at Vanessa. Vanessa can’t help but be grateful. She honestly can’t tell how much more of this she can take until she starts crying. “And that someone else decided that you weren’t.”

“I was supposed to steal it for Will- I mean Eris,” Vanessa says. She glances at Yvie, memories she’d rather forget bubbling up to the surface. She softens her voice, attempting to scale herself down to ‘close to civilized’ rather than ‘completely unhinged’. It makes her realize just how sore her throat is getting from yelling. “Clearly, she had other plans. I was set up. All arrestin’ me will get you is more time for Eris to get away.”

“So what do you suggest we do?” Brooke asks, and it doesn’t escape Vanessa’s notice that she’s doing all of the negotiating, and not the king. She doesn’t know what to make of it. “Let you go and go off on a wild goose chase? Unlikely.”

“Of course not,” Vanessa snaps, her mind racing. She needs to get out of this, and it’s game over if she gets put into a max security cell - and considering the crime, it will be a max security cell. What can she say to—

Wait.

“Of course not,” she repeats, a batshit crazy idea writing itself in her mind almost as it’s leaving her tongue, “because I’m gonna be the one chasin’ the goose.”

Three identical frowns. “What?”

“Send me to get it,” Vanessa says, trying to sound confident instead of desperate. “I know where she lives - believe me, you don’t want to lose men by sendin’ them to the edge of the world. I’m the one you can afford to lose, and I’m the one who’s got somethin’ to prove. I’ll get it, and bring it back to you, good as new.”

The king curls his lip. “You’re forgetting that you aren’t trustworthy,” he says. “Promises mean nothing to pirates. You’re just as likely to go to Fiji than stay true to your word.”

Fiji. That sounds nice. Maybe she’ll go there, after all of this.

Vanessa clenches her jaw, plastering offense over the apathy she feels towards his accusation. “If there’s one thing people know about me, it’s that I always keep my word,” she tells him, hoping to appeal to Yvie’s secretly soft heart. “Yvie can attest to that.”

Yvie had been ready to throw her in a cell over false accusations not five minutes ago. If she believes this, then she’s nothing but a fool.

Fury catches onto the king’s expression like flame to spilled oil. “You have broken my daughter’s trust far too many times to—”

Yvie puts a hand on his shoulder, cutting him off. Her eyes linger on Vanessa, expression unreadable, before she whispers something into her father’s ear. His eyes widen, a scowl coming across his face almost immediately.

“ No, ” he very near shouts, and Vanessa and the rest of the onlookers jump at the sudden volume. Brooke turns to face them fully, expression full of confusion and curiosity. “I will not —”

“Father,” Yvie says. “Please.”

He stares at her for a moment, and he must see what Vanessa sees in her expression - Yvie’s not giving up on whatever it is without a fight - because he sighs, exhaustion written plainly across his features. “We will need to discuss this alone .”

Hope is a welcome warmth in the sea of emotion already churning within her, and it makes it easy to ignore the guilt that comes with it. Tricking Yvie has always been just a little too easy.

“Discuss what?” Vanessa asks, burning with the need to know, but she regrets it almost immediately when the king suddenly turns towards her, his expression alight with resentment and hatred.

“Guards?” he says, voice ringing with power.

The guards snap to attention.

“Take her to the dungeon.”

…

Vanessa gets visitors four and a half hours after she’s thrown into what has to be the castle’s nastiest, mustiest cell.

Not that she’s been counting.

In that time, she has tried seducing the guard into giving her the keys, luring the guard close enough to grab the keys from him, wiggle the bars of her window loose, and kick the uncooperative guard in the knee hard enough for him to teach her a new curse word.

She has also had four and a half hours to work herself into a broiling anger at Yvie, which is why she spits at her the minute she and her fiancée step into the cell.

It lands on Yvie’s petticoat, right in the center of one of the swirling gold patterns that line the bottom seam.

It’s not her finest moment, but god does it feel good.

“Fuck you,” Vanessa snarls, to add to the anger and hurt she can see flashing behind Yvie’s eyes. She expects Yvie to snarl back, to act on the disbelieving fury she’s wearing so plainly on her face, but Brooke steps in front of her before she can even open her mouth, forcing Vanessa to glare at her instead.

The sight of her nearly stops Vanessa’s heart.

Sometime in the four and a half hours between the throne room and her arrival at Vanessa’s cell, Brooke had changed out of her dress, exchanging her silvery gown for a dark captain’s uniform, complete with gold epaulets and a sword swinging at her hip. She radiates such command and power that for a moment, Vanessa can’t think much of anything except that Brooke’s pants are far too tight to be in proper regulation.

“Back to the wall,” Brooke says, and Vanessa obeys without thinking, taking several steps backwards until her soul finally comes back into her body and stops her before she can humiliate herself further.

“Why the hell should I listen to you?” she snaps, ignoring the flush crawling across her cheeks. She keeps her eyes firmly on Brooke’s. “I’m dead anyway.”

“Who said?” Yvie asks, and Brooke makes a sound somewhere between a growl and a groan.

“Really?” she asks, as Yvie walks around her to approach Vanessa. “You still want to do this? After that display?”

“What?” Vanessa asks, backing away from Yvie. Yvie gives her a hurt look - the anger from earlier having faded somewhat. It only makes Vanessa more confused. “What the fuck are you talkin’ about?”

Yvie ignores her, instead reaching out for her again. Vanessa takes another step back, jumping a little when her shoulder hits cool stone.

Well. She ended up against the wall anyway.

“Vanjie,” Yvie says, and the nickname makes Vanessa pause.

God, she’s too fucking soft.

Yvie reaches out again, and this time, Vanessa lets her take her cuffed wrist in her hand. She only has a split second to wonder what the hell is happening before Yvie pulls a key out of her corset, the sight of it making Vanessa’s breath catch.

No way.

“What are you doing?” she asks, as Yvie inserts the key into her cuffs.

“Being an idiot,” Brooke says, and Yvie’s mouth twists in the way that means she’s pissed, but trying to hide it. She wiggles the key even harder, the old lock touchy.

“You don’t have to be here,” she says, voice hard.

“Doing this alone was out of the question,” Brooke shoots back, and Vanessa rolls her eyes, rubbing her wrist when the cuff finally pops open. She opens her mouth to ask what the hell ‘this’ was, but Yvie starts talking before she can actually say anything.

“She’s not going to attack me,” Yvie says, moving on to the other cuff.

“She just spit on you.”

Yvie pauses for a moment. “She’s not going to hurt me,” she amends, and Vanessa’s stomach twists sourly. The other cuff pops open, and Yvie steps away while Vanessa rubs her other wrist, sore from when she’d attempted wriggling out of her bonds.

“You don’t know that,” Brooke says, and Yvie presses her lips together, giving Vanessa an appraising look.

She doesn’t argue the point.

Vanessa pretends the hurt she feels is anger, and she scowls, taking a menacing step towards Yvie. She doesn’t move, instead watching Vanessa with an unimpressed, flat expression. Vanessa pretends she doesn’t feel a maelstrom of emotion at the behavior and instead continues like Yvie had scrambled backwards in fear.

“She’s right,” she snarls, and she reaches for the knife stuffed in her boot, “you don’t know that. So unless you wanna find out, you’re gonna tell me what the fuck is going on. ”

Brooke takes a sudden step forward when Vanessa slips the knife into plain sight, but Yvie holds up a hand to stop her. The arrogance of the move makes irritation twinge in Vanessa’s gut - what the hell is she thinking?

“Are you stupid? ” Vanessa snaps. “I could have this knife in your neck in less that a fuckin’ second .”

“But you won’t,” Yvie says smugly, and Vanessa has half a mind to raise the knife to the hollow of Yvie’s throat, just to teach her stupid, self-sacrificing friend a goddamn lesson.

Instead, she drops her arm to the side, and gives Yvie a sharp look instead.

Again: soft.

“One day, you’re gonna get yourself killed,” she sniffs, and in almost an instant, Yvie’s entire demeanor changes, the queen melting to reveal her friend once again.

“As long as I’m doing what’s right, I don’t care,” Yvie says, and it’s such an Yvie thing to say that Vanessa feels her own hard exterior crack a little.

“So what’s this then?” Vanessa asks, and Yvie smiles at the way her tone has softened. Vanessa once again feels a pang for what once was, longing briefly tightening her throat and catching in her chest.

“We’re here to offer you a deal,” Brooke says, and the moment shatters. Vanessa snaps her gaze away from Yvie to look at Brooke, hardening her face against the sudden hope that blooms in her chest.

“You don’t look too happy about it,” she observes, and Brooke defies the impossible by looking even more displeased.

“I’m not,” she staunchly agrees, and Vanessa snorts a laugh. She may be in a guard’s regalia, but it does nothing to hide the stiff politician beneath.

“Must be good, then,” she says, and she allows herself a smug grin. “At least for me.”

Brooke’s lip curls. Yvie rolls her eyes.

“It is,” she says plainly. “And you’re gonna fucking owe me.”

Yeah, and she’s going to pay back everything she’s stolen, too.

She can’t help the laugh she lets out, incredulity beating out common sense, which is screaming at her to just agree and do what she wants later. “Am I?”

“See?” Brooke asks, before Yvie can act on the insult that has spread across her face. She doesn’t look at Vanessa. “We can’t trust her. This is a stupid —”

“I’m still in the room, you know,” Vanessa interrupts, more than a little annoyed. She would just like to know the damn deal.

“I know,” Brooke says dryly, and Vanessa is nearly overcome with the urge to slap her.

“Are you sure? Becau—”

“Shut up !”

Vanessa slams her jaw shut at Yvie’s sharp tone, shock more than anything striking obedience into her. She notices Brooke straighten as well, and she smirks. It’s nice to see the ice crack, even for just a moment.

“Both of you,” Yvie continues, after a brief beat of stunned silence, “shut up and let me speak.” She’s clearly forcing calm into her voice, and Vanessa finds the fact that her temper clearly hasn’t changed comforting.

Brooke nods stiffly when Yvie looks at her. Vanessa only shrugs when her gaze turns to her.

“ I’m not the one protestin’ anything.”

Yvie clenches her jaw for a moment before she relaxes, letting out a breath far too forced to be born of actual calm. “Vanjie,” she says, locking eyes with Vanessa. Vanessa meets her gaze unflinchingly, shoving the grief and resentment she feels at the nickname behind steel walls. “I’m going to take your place.”

Silence stretches, the faint dripping of water on stone the only thing disturbing it for far too long.

“What?” Vanessa asks finally, her heart thudding in her ears. That’s not possible. It can’t be possible.

Is it?

“My father has agreed to let me stand in your place,” Yvie says, and her voice only shakes a little. She’s always been braver than Vanessa. “It’s the only way you can go and retrieve the Cup.”

The rising hope in Vanessa’s chest suddenly flattens. “The Cup?”

“Yes, the Cup,” Brooke snaps. “Keep up.”

“He’s giving you two weeks to retrieve the Cup and prove your innocence while I act as an insurance for the people,” Yvie continues, like Brooke hadn’t spoken. “If you can do that, we all go free and nobody dies.”

Vanessa feels a little like she’s floating. This is all so fucking absurd. “And if I can’t find it?”

“You come back anyway,” Yvie says, with far too much confidence, “and take back your place.”

Vanessa stares at her old friend, gratitude and hope and amusement swirling through her chest. Yvie thinks that she’ll come back for death?

Unlikely.

“Why?” she asks instead, and Yvie’s face softens. She’s so fucking naive. Vanessa’s heart hurts just looking at her.

“Because you’re my friend,” Yvie says. Vanessa’s chest twists. “I trust you.”

“Some would call you a fool for that,” Vanessa says, aiming for a light tone and instead falling flat.

“I don’t care.” Yvie sucks in a breath, looking into Vanessa’s eyes with intensity. Vanessa has to remind herself that Yvie can’t actually see into her soul. “You’re a good person, Vanj. I love you. And I trust you won’t leave me here to die.”

“But if I came back without anything, you would leave me ?” Vanessa asks, before she can stop herself. She needs to hear Yvie say no. She needs to hear her say I would never.

“We’ll figure it out,” she says instead, and she grabs Vanessa’s wrist. It hurts. “Listen, we don’t have a lot of time. My father—”

“I’ll do it,” Vanessa says, like Yvie hasn’t just crushed her heart between her fingers. Of course Yvie would leave her. She’s only a pirate, after all. A servant. Besides, Brooke looks five seconds away from changing the king’s mind herself. If that happens - and Vanessa doesn’t think it’ll take much - Vanessa’s two weeks will turn into two seconds. “You have a deal.”

“Swear it,” Yvie demands, like it means anything.

“I swear it.”

Yvie takes a deep breath.

“Let’s do this.”

…

Brooke ends up escorting her out of the castle.

They have to squint their eyes against the oppressive darkness of the night, the moon dull and just barely peeking out around the black, still-swirling clouds that had covered the kingdom like a thick blanket. The air is frigid, and Vanessa shivers against it, her breath coming out in small puffs of white steam.

She recalls a lyric from an old folk song, singing about how the Cup provides crops and sunlight and all things good. She thinks that maybe it wasn’t as much of an exaggeration as she’d thought.

Brooke seems unaffected by the cold, her face severe as she leads Vanessa to the gates, motioning for the guards to pull it open. The silence she’s treating Vanessa to is nearly colder than the air around them, displeasure practically poking out of her like icicles.

Vanessa’s never been great about silence.

She’s always been irked by it, finding it oppressive and boring, like it makes time stretch by infinitely. As she eyes Brooke curiously, most of her anger having been released the moment she’d stepped out of that cell, she realizes that this silence is no different.

“So, now what?” she asks, and her voice is loud in the stillness of the night. “You gonna kill me now that Yvie isn’t here to stop you?”

“No,” Brooke says, incredulous. They step through the gates. “I don’t just kill people. I’m not like you. ”

“Sure,” Vanessa mutters, eyeing the other woman. She certainly looks nothing short of murderous. “That’s why you were so interested in The Damned , right? ‘Cause you’re not like me?”

“I– we are not having this conversation,” Brooke says stiffly, and Vanessa laughs.

“Can’t hide from the truth,” she sing-songs, and it makes Brooke whirl around suddenly, her eyes aflame.

“ Listen ,” she hisses, “I am nothing like you and I never will be. I have duty and honor, you have greed and - and filth. ”

Vanessa raises her eyebrows at the outburst. So, she has a temper. “She who denies—”

“You’re insufferable,” Brooke snaps, and she whirls back around, showing Vanessa her back as she marches down the hill towards the docks.

“I could say the same to you,” Vanessa retorts, and Brooke doesn’t respond. Irritation twinges in her gut at the silence. Fuck me for trying to get along with the upper-crust, I guess.

“Besides,” she says, after a long stretch of nothing from Brooke, “I’ve got duty.”

Brooke snorts. “Of course you do,” she says condescendingly, and it succeeds in raising Vanessa’s temper.

“I have my crew to look after,” she snaps at the back of Brooke’s head. “I have a ship to clean. I have deals to uphold—”

“Like the one you just made with Yvie?” Brooke interrupts, voice sharp. “Planning on upholding that?”

Vanessa tries not to let her surprise show. “ Yes ,” she hisses, like she’s shocked Brooke would even suggest such a thing, instead of how close Brooke had actually gotten to the truth. “That one most of all.”

“Funny,” Brooke says. “I don’t believe you.”

Vanessa scowls. “You’re gonna have to.”

“I don’t have to do anything.”

“That’s right, you’re a duchess. You don’t answer to nobody. ‘Cept your fiance, of course.”

“You’re doing a great job at convincing me you care,” Brooke says drily, and Vanessa resists the petty urge to kick at her ankles.

“I don’t need to prove anything to you,” she sneers, and Brooke suddenly comes to a halt.

Vanessa stops herself just in time to avoid smacking right into the other woman, tearing her eyes away from her to see that they’ve reached the docks, The Damned ’s deep red hull gleaming before them.

“That’s the thing,” Brooke says, turning to look at Vanessa once again. Her expression is cold. “You need to prove everything to me.”

Vanessa just stares at her, unsure of how to respond.

Just get on the boat, and you’re home free, she thinks to herself. This will all be over soon. Fiji’s just around the corner.

“Whatever,” she says, because she’s never claimed to be the greatest wit of the seven seas. Brooke’s mouth flattens. Vanessa winks at her, grabbing the rope ladder she’d left hanging six hours ago, the rough fibers familiar under her hands.

“See you never, Miss Brooke,” she says, and she scrambles up the side of the boat, leaving Brooke standing stiffly and coldly on the rotting pier.

Fiji, she thinks, as A'keria and Scarlet rush over to her with questions burning in their eyes. And then this will all be over.

She ignores the feeling in her gut that tells her she couldn’t be more wrong, and she tells A'keria to set a course for Fiji.

She does have duty. Her duty to herself just takes precedence.

#rpdr fanfiction #the damned #branjie #freyja #pirate au #lesbian au #brooke lynn hytes #vanessa vanjie mateo #yvie oddly #mentions of past murder/violence

[darkpetal16]

Manga Recommendations

Hello my dear followers who likely share the same interests as me. 

I present to you my ongoing collection of Shoujo Isekai Manga (Or Girl is Reincarnated Into Another World Genre). All titles are linked. 

Some of these summaries don’t sound swell, but I enjoyed reading them so on the off chance you all do, here you go! 

Literal Reverse Harem Manga 

Goddess Making System - Fantasy / Adventure / Reverse Harem. Sly girl is reborn in a world with game elemetns where she has to trick pretty boys into falling in love with her or else death awaits her. Good read if you want a morally gray protagonist outwit capture targets and opponents! 

Otome Game Villain (Girl is reborn as the villain in an otome game)

I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess with Only Destruction Flags -  Humor / Romance / Friendship. Sweet girl reborn into an otome game where all her set choices result in her untimely demise. Tries to give everyone a happy ending to avoid her ill fate and in the process makes some wonderful friends. 

Fiancee’s Observation Log of the Self-proclaimed Villainess - Humor / Romance / Friendship. Story is told through the fiance of the otome game villain. The villain is a reincarnated soul and is actively seeking out her destructive end, but fails miserably. 

Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter - Fantasy / Romance. Girl awakens her past life memories after she has already met her destructive end. Now she focuses on rebuilding her world and putting her life back together. 

It Seems I’ve Been Reincarnated Into a Yandere Otome Game - Horror / Romance. Title is self-explanatory, really. 

The Villainess Wants to Marry a Commoner - Fwuff / Romance. MC dies and is reborn early on into the villain’s childhood, and instantly pursues a romance with a character she’s had a crush on from the game. 

Time Traveling / Rebirth 

Lady Baby - Family / Romance. MC’s entire family is murdered. She is thrown back into time when she was only a baby and now it’s up to her to prepare her family and uncover the mystery of their demise. 

Doctor Elise - Drama / Romance. MC was an evil queen killed in a rebellion, was reborn in our world and became a doctor to atone, then killed off again to be reborn back into her original world with all her memories now set on saving her country. 

This Girl is a Little Wild - Humor / Romance. MC was a bad ass powerful knight about to kill the demon king when her sword broke and the demon king swapped her with a heavily abused poor noble girl. MC still a bad ass. 

Just Good Ol’ Fashion Shoujo

Why Are You Doing This, Duke? - Humor / Romance. MC was about to murdered by Male Lead when she accidentally triggered some McGuffin Magic that made him fall madly in love with her instead. Over a year later they are happily married, but the magic is starting to wear off. Chaos ensues. 

Monster Duchess and Contract Princess - Drama / Family. MC is heavily abused and her family attempts to burn her alive as a sacrifice, but she is rescued by her magical powers. She realizes that in order to survive she must make a deal with the “Monster Duchess” and be adopted by her. 

I Belong to House Castiello - Drama / Family. MC sold by mother to Father after being heavily abused for years. She is welcomed into a new and warm family who help her heal. 

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts - Drama / Romance / Family. MC was made to be a sacrifice from the human world to the King of Beasts, but ends up befriending him and becoming his bride. I don’t want to spoil too much, but it’s a loving story about equality and acceptance. 

There’s certainly a lot more on my list, but these are my favorites, so I wanted to share.

Wishing you all the best and love! 

#Shoujo #Josei #Manga #Recommendations #Reverse Harem #Otome

[dancingbaek]

EXO Fic Recs

(a) = angst, (f) = fluff, (m) = mature/smut, (s) = series bolded = my favorite! Italicized = taken straight from the author 

If we’re being honest most of this is going to be smut, keep in mind every recommendation will only be memberxOC/You

Minseok 

Good Luck, With Liquor, For Love: You could have sworn you’d seen this particular handsome stranger before, there was just something about him that seemed familiar. Eventually, you’d figure it out. (a)(f)(m) By @3kpop2jagi1

2AM: You have been continuing a secret friends-with-benefits relationship with your best friends older brother Minseok, who is idol group EXO’s Xiumin, for two years now, while secretly concealing the very real growing feelings you’ve always had for him. A sudden blind date for you and for him suddenly forces you to face those feelings or end the relationship entirely. (AAA)(m)(s) This is just pure perfection, made me cry multiple times. By soobadnoonecanstopher

Junmyeon

Into It: Suho is the mysterious new kid on campus. No one knows much about him, except that he seems to have a certain attraction to you. (a)(m)(s) By @kpopfanfictrash

Higher: Your ex boyfriend needs you to pretend to be his girlfriend to get out of marrying another woman. (a)(f)(m)(s) By 3kpop2jagi1

A World, Coloured by You: At first you thought it began with a pact, to marry one another if you hadn’t discovered your soulmates by the time Sehun had his first kid. But as you uncovered more, you realized that it had begun – and would end – with Junmyeon. (f) By j-pping

Yixing

Sovereign: Two kingdoms are at war with another, and being the illegitimate warrior, wildcard princess, you’re appointed to the war council - along with the youngest prince of your allied country, Prince Yixing. He’s too liberal, too idealistic, believes he knows best no matter what - but you’re exactly the same. (a)(f)(s) By yeolology

The Boxer: You make your way into a local boxing gym, looking for someone who is willing to teach you self defense. The quiet man who runs the gym is unwilling to take you on as a student and you are forced to prove yourself worthy of his instruction. (a)(f)(m)(s) By soobadnoonecanstopher

Broken: This takes place a few months after the last chapter of Strangers. All Yixing here guys, with occasional Broken One and Baekhyun. Pretending to be content with his love for Broken One, it slowly destroys him until he meets you. (a)(s) By looking-for-my-seoulmate

Baekhyun

All’s Fair: Your panties lying in the living room starts an accidently war between you and Baekhyun. (a)(f)(m)(s) By 3kpop2jagi1

I Give Up: so Baekhyun comes into your parents dry cleaning shop. You were just trying to live. But Baekhyun is Baekhyun. (a)(f)(m)(s) By soobadnoonecanstopher

Strangers: For the past two years, you and Baekhyun have been dating. But for the past six months, he’s treated you like a stranger. Tight schedules and different careers drive the two of you apart from each other. What happens when you decide you’re no longer happy and enough is enough? (a)(s) By @looking-for-my-seoulmate

Before We Hit the Bottom: You graduate and run from your abusive home, only to come to a town to that offers a lot more than you bargained for. (a)(f)(s) By @fullbyuntale

Loyal: A year ago, you landed your dream job and made your move to the city. Not knowing anyone, you moved into the spare room of coworker’s beautiful apartment, and quickly became close friends. Her loyal social circle quickly adopted you as one of their own, giving you some of the best friends you’ve ever known. You have it all. There’s only one problem: Byun Baekhyun. Not only your friend via your roommate, but her longtime crush. Completely off-limits to you, as she’s made it very clear. But when love interferes with the life you worked so hard to build, who do you stay loyal to? (a)(s)(m)(f) by @charmedbaek

The Butterfly Effect: You don’t know when you started fantasizing about your math tutor a little too much. You just suddenly desired him in more than ways than one. So when you tumble down a forbidden, dangerous path, you don’t realize that in the midst of all this, there was chaos. Perfect, sweet, chaos in the form of Byun Baekhyun. (a)(s)(m) by @blackberrykai

Of Firewhiskey and Exams: Somewhere in all the years I spent avoiding him, I started to admire him. I thought he was just everything I’m not and everything I don’t understand, but maybe he’s everything I’ve always needed. (f)(a) By @hkynm

Jongdae

Caffeine: You meet Jongdae in the cafe you work at after you and your boyfriend break up. (a)(f)(m)(s) By 3kpop2jagi1

I Hate You: Here’s a sweet hate turned love one- shot for Jongdae. You two just can’t get along. He teases and criticizes you too much. You tease him back. Sometimes you’re downright mean to him. But he holds a secret behind his actions and one night when he unintentionally makes you cry he can’t keep it a secret any longer. (a)(m) By soobadnoonecanstopher

A Decade of Midnights: Broken by the loss of his fiancee, Inspector Kim Jongdae of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency starts hunting down justice in increasingly rule-breaking ways. Ten years later, when a lead on a case threatens to unravel ghosts from the past, he is assigned a new partner to supervise his methods: you. (a)(m)(f)(s) By j-ppng

Chanyeol

Chanyeol in a Cafe: A girl has a rotten run of luck which all seems to stem from her chance encounter with a mysterious guy in her cafe. (m)(f) By kpopfanfictrash

Make Me Feel It: You have a voice lesson with Chanyeol to help with your confidence. One thing leads to another… (m) By soobadnoonecanstopher

Just Give In: Years of working in SM’s production strategy department made you immune to handsome faces – but not to beautiful souls. A week long company offsite tells all. (f) By @j-pping

Kyungsoo

Roommates: You’re sick of the tenants of your apartment coming and doing what they want with the place and disregarding you - the ghost who also lives there. So far, driving them out’s been easy. Until Kyungsoo moves in. (a)(f)(s) By @yeolology

All His: You are hired as an interpreter for a tour in Europe where you join forces with EXO and soon grow closer to one member in particular, Do Kyungsoo. (f)(m)(s) By @soobadnoonecanstopher

By Heart: Getting over him was the most impossible thing in the world because part of you couldn’t believe it was really finished. (a)(f)(s) By @peachykaix

Dittany: broken bones and a tedious detention - can I still say that this is the best christmas i’ve ever had? it’s because I found magic in him - the big eyed, dark haired, hufflepuff boy. funny I say that as a witch! but sadly, good things don’t last forever. (f)(a) by @soos-goddess

Jongin

Addewid: You’ve always known you were different. You’re able to see them, after all, able to see the Others. You’ve also always ignored them. Until the day comes where you’re forced to make a choice - one that throws your world into chaos. And sends you down a path you might never return from. (a)(m?)(s) By kpopfanfictrash

99 and Marlowe: Soulmate AU. (a) By kpopfanfictrash

The Magic Inside You: In between subtle glances, potion-making, and journal pages, I realized I found a home in a certain Gryffindor boy with starry brown eyes and little crescent smiles. (f)(s) by @blackberrykai

Sehun

Painted Hearts:  A chance meeting between two lonely hearts sends sparks flying. But can love be enough when greater forces loom over you and threaten the new happiness in your life? (a)(f)(m)(s) By @pebble-xo

Pink: You run into your attractive neighbor in an unexpected place. (f)(m) By soobadnoonecanstopher

Scars: Everyone is born with a soul mark somewhere on their body. Their soulmate has the same mark. New technology has been developed that can remove the mark, but at great cost. (a) By @forexcapism

Wands, Wings, and Wizengamot: Some distractions are absolutely necessary. (f)(a) By @j-pping

Multiple Members

Guardian: (Jongdae/Reader/Baekhyun) You keep seeing the same guy everywhere you go. In the coffee shop, on the streets, in your philosophy class. It’s getting to the point where you think he’s stalking you - only to realize that maybe there’s something much more mysterious at play. (m)(s) By kpopfanfictrash

Ascension: continuation of Guardian. The weight of humanity rests on Y/N’s shoulders. In Ascension, enemies must come together, lines must be drawn and the question of good and evil itself must be raised. As Y/N’s power strengthens and more players reveal themselves, the only thing obvious is that nothing in this world is black and white. (a)(m)(s) By kpopfanfictrash

Exordia Academy:  It’s 1980′s middle-of-nowhere, and Exordia Academy is full of its most talented class of students yet. Whether you’re looking for a place to hone your skills, develop or just fit in – there’s something for everyone within our hallowed halls. Class is in session. (a)(f)(m)(s) Okay, read every fic listed here because they’re all fucking amazing. It’s a collaboration between kpopfanfictrash and knockknocksoosthere

Heist Society: You only told yourself it wasn’t easy to make yourself feel better about it all, but no matter what you said to yourself while his mouth pressed hot kisses against your skin, you felt guilty. You felt guilty because you felt good. His lips felt good, his hands felt good, he felt good- He wasn’t supposed to feel this good. (a)(m)(s) By 3kpop2jagi1

Exodus Mall: The Kingdome still stands and Ken Griffey Jr. knocks out home runs night after night. Bill Clinton enters his second term as President. Pop music is edging out the grunge scene. The technology boom is taking over. And for the employees of the Exodus Mall, it’s a year of romance, longing, and misconceptions in the Emerald City. (a)(f)(m)(s) This is pure art. By @yehet-me-up

Three: Threesome between you, Sehun, and Jongin. (m) By soobadnoonecanstopher

sEX tOy: (all members) An alternative universe where big idols can secretly hire so called ‘’sex toys’’ for their personal pleasure. (pure smut)(s) By @heart-karisoo

Half Love: (Kai/Reader/Sehun)  You lived a seemingly normal life, growing up with only your father and attending school. However, you had a secret, something you had tried to suppress ever since your mother died. It was something you avoided so you could continue living as a normal human being. Then he turned up and showed you a different side to your life. But were you willing to accept it? (f)(a) By forexcapism

Updated 6/17/20, let me know if anything is fucked up

#exo #exo angst #exo smut #exo fluff #exo fanfiction #exo fanfic rec

[yasaoi]

The dude wasn't nice to her though. They didn't talked. She was on his arm as he talked to groups/other people and she laughed. They weren't friendly. It's implied she'd never even seen his eyes, so I have no pity because he was not actin how he should as a fiancee.

Alright????? She was on his arm??? Yeah. They married because their parents told them to. She didn’t know anything about him. They didn’t talk. They both didn’t act like fiancée as all. Then why is only he is to blame???

I said that I’m happy that she’s with the goddess now. But you don’t feel anything as all about a guy who has to marry a stranger because of his parents, then has to endure the storm to come to his wedding, then to find it empty???

Think of it as a role reversal, then it will be a guy left a girl at a wedding aisle to run away with another god because the girl doesn’t look at him the right way. Oh the chaos it will bring to Tumblr

[swipestream]

New Release Roundup, 19 January 2019: Fantasy and Adventure

This week’s roundup of the newest releases in fantasy and adventure features a raygun past that should have been, a privateer out to rescue his fiancee, monstergirl madness, and the escape of a rogue superhero.

Accidental Assassin (Sellswords #2) – T. L. Branson

A light shines in the darkness.

The earnings from their last heist have dried up. Now, Ocken and Riley are once again in need of a job.

Ocken doesn’t dare work for the mysterious Viper again, but Riley wants to use the stranger to take down the crime lord, Edward Ziken. Except Viper is nowhere to be found.

But Viper isn’t the only one looking for hired hands. Soon, Ocken and Riley find themselves as pawns in yet another plot for power.

The job seems simple enough, but there’s more at stake than they could possibly know.

Bert Henderson Double Adventure – Spencer Hart

DEATH RAYS & DAMES are all in a day’s work for company troubleshooter Bert Henderson.

Bert’s boss runs Phillips’ Atomics, builder of atomic-powered planes, spaceships, and industrial tools. These high-tech inventions are revolutionizing the world of 1949. So when Mr. Phillips’ interests are threatened, Bert can find himself traveling anywhere on Earth – or beyond.

Criminals and foreign agents are in for more than they bargained for, when Henderson is on the case.

And if there’s a gorgeous dame involved along the way, that can bring its own sort of trouble…”

Contains Bert Henderson’s first and second adventures:

DEATH ON THE MOON: The first ever murder on the Moon brings Bert to Roosevelt Base to find the killer. Mr. Phillips is financing an observatory on the Moon, and construction is halted while the murderer is loose. Can Bert find the killer and prevent more death on the Moon?

FIRE IN THE ANDES: One of Mr. Phillips top engineers has gone missing in Argentina, and Bert is sent to find him. But the investigation leads to the discovery of a greater threat. Complications ensue from encountering a lovely senorita. Can Bert deal with both the case and the dame?

Breaker (Monster Tamer #1) – Isaac Hooke

Three women. 

One man. 

A whole lot of monsters.

Malem is a Breaker. He breaks the minds of beasts, exerting the steel vise of his will over their own, bending them to his wishes.

His ability is severely limited in terms of the types of creatures he can control, and how many. Most monsters have always been beyond him.

And then one day he accidentally breaks a monster girl. Doors begin to open for him faster than he thought possible…

Also available: Conqueror

Heroes Fall (Heroes Unleashed: Serenity City #1) – Morgon Newquist

He wanted to be a good man. Instead he became a hero.

Twenty years ago, Serenity City’s great Triumvirate of heroes – Achilles, the Banshee, and Pendragon – maintained a golden age of peace and prosperity. Then, in an instant, it all went wrong. The city’s mightiest champion, Achilles, lost his mind during a showdown with the enigmatic supervillain Thanatos and went on a rampage across the city, leaving the Banshee dead and a swath of destruction in his wake before Pendragon could stop him.

Today, as Achilles rots in solitary confinement, Victoria Westerdale investigates a new mystery. Why are young and forgotten heroes disappearing off the streets? Why doesn’t anybody else care? And how is it tied in to those infamous events that brought the city’s greatest heroes to ruin?

And what’s going to happen to them all after Achilles escapes?

Infinite Dendrogram #8 – Sakon Kaidou

In the year 2043, Infinite Dendrogram, the world’s first successful full-dive VRMMO was released. In addition to its ability to perfectly simulate the five senses, along with its many other amazing features, the game promised to offer players a world full of infinite possibilities

Having maxed out his Paladin rank, Ray considers what job to take and level next. As he does so, he hears of a job that was newly excavated alongside an ancient ruin in Altar’s Quartierlatin County — an area bordering the Dryfe Imperium.

As it happens, Ray already meets the conditions for the job, and it suits him well, so he wastes no time going out to make the switch. But of course things are never quite so simple…

Along the way, he encounters Azurite — a mysterious masked swordswoman. There was simply no way Ray could’ve known the far-reaching political implications of his venture to the ruins…

The Starry Sky Chessboard (Starchild Escapes Arranged Marriage #6) – Fat Bread

The vast sky contains thousands of God’s domains.

Yun Xi was born in the Sword Domain, more specifically, the White Lotus Sword Domain. He has a female childhood friend who tends to become jealous very easily, while running an ordinary bakery for a living. At the age of eighteen, he was to marry his arranged bride, with the wish of living his days normally and peacefully.

But on his sixteenth birthday, the shined down on him with three different choices for him to make. These three choices came in the form of three fairies which suddenly appeared in front of him. The boy then learned a terrible truth, that his life was at stake. A bad ending, which was supposed to happen to him, was coming soon.

In order to survive, the youth had to set foot on the battlefields of many deaths trails, all while learning how to love as well as struggling to become stronger.

The Steel Hounds (The Artar Chronicles #1) – Vladimir Vasilenko

Stan, also known as Mongoose, is an extreme traceur and a freerunner, whose real-life talents attracted the attention of The Steel Hounds, the most notorious and private clan of the virtual world of Artar, famous for serving the grey cardinal. While the political landscape for this new world is yet to form, intrigues, conspiracy, daring raids, and sabotage are the main weapons of the Hounds, and his evaluation has just begun.

To complete it successfully and become a full-fledged member of the clan, Stan will have to adapt to working side-by-side with the most unique people with shady backgrounds — even if he is not a team player by nature and has already failed at the very beginning by choosing the least suitable class for teamwork: Battle Monk.

Stan is rebellious, free-spirited, and daring. He risks his life every day just to avoid getting bored of the daily grind. Normally, an expelled student has no hope of entering the virtual world of Artar, an expensive online VR project, but when a suspicious organization offers to pay all expenses to let Stan in for a special purpose, Mongoose gets his chance to become one of the select few. However, to successfully complete his trial, Stan will have to face his main enemy — himself, while finding peace and mastering all five styles of the Battle Monks of Artar.

Voyage of the Lanternfish – C. S. Boyack

An honorable man is mistaken for his disreputable father. Now he’s pushed into a political scheme to start a war that will spread across multiple kingdoms. James Cuttler’s fiancé is being held captive to ensure he goes through with the plan.

He soon decides his skills are at sea and procures a ship to wage war upon those who disrupted his simple life. He can’t do it alone, so he recruits a band of cutthroats to help him. But first, they need guns and munitions to outfit the ship properly. Deception and trickery will only get them so far. Eventually, they’re going to have to engage the enemy.

James’ goals aren’t necessarily the same as his crew. It’s a delicate balancing act to collect enough loot to keep his crew happy, while guiding them back to rescue the girl.

Warhammer Chronicles: Warriors of the Chaos Wastes – C. L. Werner

Many horrors stalk the blasted wastes at the top of the world. Mortals and daemons alike wage war – and in this volume are three tales of such monstrous, god-touched warriors.

The Chaos Wastes are an unspeakable region of magic and madness. In this hellish tundra, the Dark Gods wrestle for supremacy and champions war in their name. Death comes for any who traverse these plains in swift and savage form. Yet there are those who dare brave the wastelands, burdened by their own dark purposes. Wulfrik the Wanderer, cursed by the Ruinous Powers, seeks a prize to appease the forces of Chaos; the Skulltaker, champion of Khorne, hungers for fresh blood; and the last warrior of a Norse tribe sets out to steal the treasure of a god. But in this monstrous arena, there are no winners. Dark forces plot, daemons feed, and even the landscape itself takes sides. This omnibus contains three novels by one of Black Library’s popular authors.

READ IT BECAUSE: These three classic novels exploring the nature of Chaos are from the master of dark fantasy, C L Werner – if you’ve not experienced them, you owe it to yourself.

Will of Fire (Buried Goddess Saga #3) – Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle

A Kingdom held hostage. A thief lost in time. The battle to seal Elsewhere has begun.

The villainous Drad Redstar has won the favor of king and country after leading a decisive victory over the rebels at Winde Port. Now with a seat on the royal council, he condemns Torsten to a lifetime in the dungeon and invites his militant people to take up residence in the capital. But not all light has been squelched. There is one disgraced King’s Shieldsman left who remains loyal to Torsten, and only he can help free the Glass Kingdom from Redstar and his dark desires to revive the Buried Goddess.

Across the known world, Sora deals with the loss of her one and only friend. She seeks out a Mystic of the Panping; someone who can help her figure out what really happened to Whitney in a journey that illuminates her past and present. With the true nature of magic revealed to her, she finds that Whitney is lost in Elsewhere, the world between worlds, and she’ll stop at nothing to bring him back.

As magic and war collide in Will of Fire, the third installment in the Buried Goddess Saga, the fate of the entire world will change.

New Release Roundup, 19 January 2019: Fantasy and Adventure published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames