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jazaesis · 2 months
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“Pride of the Rebublic, soldier of the Jedi Order”
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perpetualexistence · 2 months
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Noah and the Beanstalk AU
New AU hot off the press! This one's what I'd call a one-shot AU since this is the main thought without really any other ideas to go along with it. I would still love to answer any questions about it, though!
Look under the read more for an Alenoaheather g/t au! It won't be the last, though it is currently the only one that ends in a villain thruple.
Fantasy AU where giants are a known thing to exist in the clouds. Jack did his thing with the beanstalk and became famous since he's wealthy a la golden goose. This has just encouraged more humans to try to go up and steal from giants, occasionally even killing one. At this point stealing from giants is a profession in itself. An incredibly dangerous one with a very high mortality rate.
With that context out of the way, now onto Noah. He's the youngest of 9, and his life's doing pretty okay up until his mom catches an incurable illness. Being a nerd, he throws himself into research to find some kind of magic that can save her.
Good news! There's a chalice that cures the most pressing of ailments the next town over! The bad news? That town just got razed to the ground and pillaged by a pair of giants. Giants normally don't bother coming down and prefer to stay up to hoard and guard their treasures. These two are particularly greedy though because they go out of their way to come down and take things for themselves. The treasure's their priority but if anyone gets in the way of that? They're going to lose their lives trying to protect what's theirs. Giant thieves have gone up to try to reclaim the wealth and seek revenge. Though some even theorize that these two are only doing this out of desperation and can potentially be reasoned with. People from neither side of this argument have come back down.
There's also another problem in trying to go after these two. A more human one. You see, when everyone started going after giants, the earlier ones had the advantage of stealing from unsuspecting giants with no idea this was going to be an epidemic of stealing. They got power real fast, and started doing what they could to keep that power to themselves. Certain giant thieves went as far as hiring guards to stop other giant thieves from going up and getting rich without at least some hefty fee. The particular beanstalk that Noah's got to get to has royal guards.
Noah's only got a timeline of a couple of months since that's how long the doctors predicted. So he uses that to the fullest extend he dares. Most giant thieves get killed because they think they can just sneak in without a plan and get what they want the first time they get up there.
Noah's plans to do this smart thing called reconnaissance. He's going to make a few trips up before he tries actually stealing the chalice. He needs to know a few things before he's even going to think about touching that treasure:
Where these two keep their treasure
How they guard it
If they know how valuable the chalice is, and subsequently
If they'll notice that the chalice goes missing
Can they track him down if they do notice
He somehow manages to get his way up the beanstalk whether it's through bribing guards or distracting them so he can sneak up. Though he does manage to catch the attention through Justin, the prince or else some kind of royal who wants to make a name for himself but is also too cowardly to try stealing from a giant. Justin can't prove anything, so he just watches and waits as Noah keeps up with his frequent trips.
Through Noah's reconnaissance, he learns a couple of things. The two giants are named Alejandro and Heather. They're both around his age, and they really do only care about the treasure so they can gloat to others about how wealthy they are. They're also clearly in the honeymoon phase of their relationship. It's just incredibly unfortunate that they define a romantic outing as stealing and killing together.
Noah also learns that they have no idea they've got a magic chalice on their hands, which is good. What's not so good is they have a giant dog that guards their treasure room when they're not around. (Is the giant dog a stand in for anyone in particular? Maybe! Part of me wants to say Tyler for some reason. Still trying to figure that out.) However, he does learn that the dog has been trained at least a bit through whistles. This leads to the start of a brilliant plan.
Rather than steal the chalice himself, he trains the dog to steal the chalice FOR him. The dog goes in and out of the treasure room so he won't set off any alarms. Noah already knows some tricks for doing so thanks to training his own dog. It takes a while to make sure the dog becomes familiar with and loves him as a person with treats rather than a person who is a treat. Even longer to go through the training of teaching him how to fetch the chalice through creating a replica so the dog knows what to look for. But eventually it pays off.
He books it with the chalice. He doesn't dare to get greedy because he knows these two will notice if too much goes missing. And he's seen enough of them to know they'll be incredibly vindictive against anyone who injures their pride by stealing. He actually plans to return the chalice after using it on his mother. He'd rather have them never realize it was gone rather than live with the ticking time bomb of waiting to see if they notice.
Before he goes too far with it, he tests it on himself first. It would be a waste to steal it only for it to be for nothing. He cuts the palm of his hand, then pours some water into the chalice and drinks. He was not prepared for the intensity. It feels like he's swallowed liquid fire and he nearly coughs it out, but he forces himself to swallow. As to be expected, his whole body feels like it's on fire. This was a horrible mistake. Fortunately for him, the pain subsides. And look, that cut has been healed! Finally, life is looking up for once!
Noah's biggest mistake was thinking this because the moment he gets off the beanstalk, Justin shows up. He reveals that he's been watching Noah and let him keep going up, which is why it's been so easy for Noah to make repeated trips. Justin rips the chalice out of Noah's hands to claim it for himself so he can have the prestige of being a giant thief without ever putting himself in any danger. Noah gets to live because Justin can't be bothered to kill him, and doesn't see him as a threat. Noah's only saving grace is Justin has no idea what the chalice can do, and Noah sure as hell isn't going to tell him.
Noah's forced to go home empty-handed. He starts trying to plan how to steal the chalice back, and if he even has enough time to do that. Infiltrating a castle with plenty of guards is much different than infiltrating a giant home with only three occupants.
He only gets about a week or two before two rather pissed off giants and their dog come crashing down to reclaim their stolen treasure. Noah's in town doing reconnaissance on the castle so he's close enough to see the dog bounding into the castle to reclaim the chalice and the person who's currently claiming he took the chalice: Justin.
Heather and Alejandro are busy trying to interrogate Justin into telling them how he stole from them. Neither of them are paying attention to their dog, who smells Noah, and comes bounding towards him with the chalice as he's been trained. Noah can't believe his luck.
Literally, he can't. Because if Heather or Alejandro catch sight of this they're going to figure out who the real thief is in an instant. But also this is his one chance of curing his mom while the two are distracted. He just has to pray he's faster than they are. At least he has a giant dog that serves as a great mode of transportation if you're willing to cling for your life and pray to anyone that'll listen to not fall off.
He does manage to make it home and cure his mother, thankfully without her looking too pained by drinking from the chalice. Bad news is this is around the time he hears two incredibly loud, incredibly frustrated screams and he knows they've realized the chalice is gone again.
He tries to order the dog to return the chalice to Alejandro and Heather. Which is pretty difficult considering this isn't a command he's taught the dog. The dog also hears itself being called back by its giant owners, so it comes up with the perfect solution. It lightly bites down onto both the chalice AND Noah and begins bounding back. Cue Noah screaming and trying to give the 'drop it'.
Which works! Partially. It gets the dog to drop the chalice. Down a hill. Rolling off a cliff. To the ocean below. Where it's immediately swept away. Never to be seen again.
His only hope is that Alejandro and Heather will make his death quick.
When he does get brought back to the two, he's immediately snatched up by Heather who demands to know who he thinks he is, and where the chalice is when she realizes it's gone. Noah tries to lie that their dog picked him up on complete accident, but they're not buying it. Alejandro does notice that their dog is acting particularly strange towards this one human, and convinces Heather to drop Noah into the dog's mouth.
Noah does land into his mouth, though out of sheer desperation gives the 'drop it' order. This saves him, but it also reveals himself as the original thief.
They're both at least slightly impressed that Noah managed to scheme his way into the chalice, but they've still got their images to maintain. Plus, he lost the chalice.
So, Alejandro crushes him under his heel. It's quick, although incredibly painful. The two walk off to see if they can recover the chalice, and that's the end of the story.
...Or it would be, if Noah wasn't screaming in confused pain and panic not even a minute after being crushed, perfectly healthy.
Remember when he drank from the chalice to test it out? Well, it only really has one setting: turbo-charged. So with his mother with a terminal illness, it worked exactly as intended. But when he drank from it with only a cut on his hand, it decided to go after a deeper, underlying issue.
This pesky little thing called mortality.
Alejandro and Heather also scream because what?? the fuck?? Heather kicks him into a tree on instinct and Noah goes flying. And not long after, his body rebuilds himself and he's back. The process of killing Noah and him reviving repeats for a few times before they all stop and try to figure out where the fuck to go from here.
Their pride won't allow Heather or Alejandro to simply let Noah live. And Noah plans to do everything in his power to not go through that whole die/revive process again. Alejandro comes up with the idea to just take Noah if they can't have the original chalice. Raze the town so they can still prove a point, and be on their way.
Noah has many problems with this plan, but neither cares about his opinion. Up until he points out that he'll always be looking for a way to escape. With his newfound immortality, he'll get there eventually. (He's completely bluffing about whether or not his lifespan will be extended to and this isn't just regeneration, but they don't have to know that.)
If they agree NOT to destroy the town he grew up in, then he'll promise never to try to escape. And he will want proof that they stick to their end. He doesn't want them to just lie about his town being fine while they destroyed it days ago.
They reluctantly agree to these terms. Justin, who the two had dumped earlier, tries to take claim when they start to head out with their new prize. Leading Noah to just share at the sheer audacity of him before speaking again.
"...You know how I said you couldn't touch a single person in this town? I don't consider Justin to be a part of this town, so you can do whatever you want with him."
"Oh thank god he was getting SO annoying."
"Want to bat him through the air like a human racquetball until one of us inevitably drops him mi cariño?"
"Yes, but you are so the one who's dropping him first."
Eventually Heather realizes they can use Noah to steal from other giants. So he becomes their own pet giant thief, and he eventually gets pampered since they do legitimately enjoy his schemes and sarcastic wit.
All of this because I basically wanted a g/t au where Alejandro and Heather are a bond villain couple with a small Noah as the little bastard cat they stroke on their lap. He 100% pokes fights with human royalty or other giants to watch Alejandro and Heather take them down. Alejandro and Heather know this, and they love this about him. Plus it just gives them more of an excuse to have fun dates involving ruining people's lives.
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laurellerual · 2 years
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Arya’s list?
I have a genuine question for people who believe that the next big thing Arya will do once she gets back to Westeros is finish her list. Do you remember which of those people are still alive? Let's recap quickly. 
Killed not by Arya: Joff, the Mountain, the Hound (approx.), Amory Lorch, Polliver 
Killed for Arya: Chiswyck, Weese 
Killed by Arya: the Tickler, (SPOILER) Raff 
Who remains? 
Ilyn Payne: located in a war zone in dangerous proximity to Nymeria 
The Queen: on which hangs a prophecy of death that does not seem to speak about Arya
Meryn Trant: royal guard who is with the queen in a capital that will be razed to the ground by the Golden Company in a few months 
Dunsen: The only name on the list that has a solid chance of surviving until Arya arrives. And this is only because he is such an unimportant character that he is not mentioned by at least two books. 
My question is: do you really think the climax of the storyline of one of the protagonists will be killing a character that many readers don't even remember?
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deluxewhump · 2 years
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The Blackmuir Reign: Therrin Blackmuir and Saxon Osier- As You Always Have
CW: implied violence and kidnapping
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Therrin Blackmuir had grown distant in Saxon’s mind these months apart— more of a Therrin-shaped figure in a crown than the boy he’d grown up beside. Now that he was in the same room with him, Therrin looked just like he always had. Except he had ashes from the fire down in the bailey in his wavy pale hair. His eyes were somber and bore dark circles, and he did not wear his customary smile,
“I wish I could tell you being King looked good on you,” Saxon said, sitting on the bench and pulling off his boot.
Therrin looked at him in open disbelief. “Are you joking, right now?”
Saxon shrugged. “It wasn’t a very good joke.”
Therrin opened his mouth to speak twice before he could decide on words. “I— I know how this looks, Saxon. But he was here. Matteo was here, with me.”
Saxon pulled off his other boot, brushing dirt from the road from his sock.
He hadn’t heard his little brother's name from Therrin’s mouth in years. It felt strange now, Therrin speaking of him alive. It felt strange to be in the Muirkeep. It felt strange to look at Therrin and know he was King. A deep ache had lived in his chest ever since he’d heard of his brother’s alleged death. It echoed every time it heard his name, like rocks thrown down a chasm.
He set his boot next to the other. He hadn’t taken them off in three days, and his legs felt light and strange now without them. The table they sat at was smooth from years of oil and elbows. The room was typical of this grim northerly castle, dark and decorated only in faded tapestry. The narrow windows let in a bleak grey dawnlight, so unlike the golden-orange sunrises of home.
“I don’t doubt you,” he said.
Therrin glanced at him, guarded. “…You don’t?”
“Of course not, Your Grace.”
“Please,” Therrin muttered, putting his head in his hands like it hurt him. “Not you, too. I feel like I’m in a dream and I can’t wake. Call me as you always have.”
Saxon stood, rounding the table to sit backwards on the bench where Therrin sat, their thighs nearly touching. He almost laid a hand on Therrin’s knee, under the table. He laid it on his own thigh instead. Something was not the same, between them. He didn’t feel the sting of betrayal so freshly or so personally as when he’d first learned of Therrin’s coup, but there was a barrier where once there had been none. They were unsure of each other.
Yet he couldn’t look at Therrin without thinking about how he had not known how to swim when he’d come south as their ward, until Saxon taught him. How they’d waded out deeper and deeper until their feet didn’t touch and Therrin grabbed at Saxons elbows, laughing nervously. He thought of the twin dips on Therrin’s lower back, the ones he’d ghosted his fingers over every time he’d inexpertly treated raised pink welts from the canings.
And now that your whipping boy has become King, his father had said in one of his rare lucid moments, You are talking of going to him? To meet him on his terms, in his own land?
Yes.
“I believe you, Therrin. Stop this.”
Therrin laughed bitterly, dragging his hands away from his face. “I’ve thought of nothing else for a week. I wanted to see your face when you saw him.”
The ache of grief thrummed inside him like a plucked string. “I still want that. We can’t sit here in inaction too long. We have to go after him.”
“Do you think Lord Burns is bold enough to take Matteo to his own keep?” Therrin asked, suddenly Kinglike and indignant. “He knows I’ll raze it to the fucking ground as soon as look at it.”
Therrin’s fierceness caught him off guard. Fierceness for Matteo.
“I don’t know. I don’t know these people.”
Therrin huffed. “Neither do I, I’m finding.”
Saxon wondered who the big, red-bearded brute of a Knight was that had given him such a dirty look earlier, but that would come later. He was in a strange land full of strangers. Everyone knew the King.
“We can’t sit idle,” Saxon said, trying to keep the entreaty out of his voice. Therrin was King, they would do whatever Therrin wanted. He had all the resources. The men. The power. “We have to find out where they took Mattie. What they want. How to get him back.”
Therrin’s eyes were far away, fixed on a dark corner of the room. He blinked, dragged them back to Saxon’s. “We need Lord Burns himself.”
“And we don’t need to raze an entire keep to get him,” Saxon said softly. “In fact it might be best to keep it low profile. Find him. Bring him here. Question him. Find my brother.”
Therrin nodded slowly. “How many men should we take? How many horses?”
Saxon couldn’t help but smile. Though his eyes stayed weary, Therrin gave him a tentative half smile back.
Then a shadow crossed Saxon’s mind, one that had haunted him on the long ride north. “Thank you,” he said, keeping his voice low, as if someone were listening at the solar door.
Therrin’s brow creased. “For what?”
“For taking care of him. A lesser man would have delighted in revenge.”
Therrin tilted his head, gave him a reproachful look. “Don’t say that to me,” he muttered.
“No. It’s true. I’m in your debt.”
Therrin looked at his hands, rubbing a gray smear of ash from his knuckles.
“We’re in each other’s, then,” he said with a barely-there shrug. “We always have been.”
-
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creepy-crowleys · 8 months
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The quiet in the aftermath of the monster’s attack didn’t last long. Crowley jammed on the lighthouse’s fog siren, startling the stunned soldiers on the shore into action just as creature hurled its incredible bulk onto their tiny island.
The small chunk of rock stolen from some distant coast shifted noticeably beneath the weight of a creature almost too large to fit on it.
A brave machine gunner opened fire on the immense beast, anima-lit rounds scoring tiny golden grooves against the monster’s plate-like scales. Vent-like sores along its body puffed fresh clouds of fog into the air as it turned its massive seaweed-crowned head in the soldier’s direction. Scuttling parasites crawling along its hide disembarked in pursuit of fresher, softer meat as a low rumble from its throat rattled the island.
The Lord of the Deep Ones reared back on its muscular tail, left half-trailing into the sea - too long and thick to fit on the tiny island - and on shrunken rear limbs no longer able to fully support its weight. Boiling sea water foamed at the edges of its maw as its chest expanded in preparation to raze the few guards that stood to challenge it.
The attack never came.
The beast tossed its head suddenly, a brilliant spotlight searing its eye, scorching the seaweed cloaking it and blistering its scales. It dropped back onto its belly, attack on the minor inconvenience posed by the guards forgotten in favor of twisting its giant maw towards the greater offense posed by the lighthouse.
Crowley bristled right back at the beast, braced against the lighthouse’s lamp, the lamp shining more brilliantly than ever with the force of her magic.
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legokisser · 9 months
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imagine if you were like a relatively normal rabbit guy living in like cartoon animals delaware or something and one day you receive a vision in your sleep from an unfathomable ancient God of chaos and destruction and rage and hes like Hey whats up. sooo im trying to choose someone to be basically my avatar in the mortal world and spread devastation and fire and death across the world and well you're the lucky guy. so like just agree and i'll basically channel my fucked up dragon energy into your puny physical form and make you a horrible unstoppable beast and you can basically fuck shit up everywhere forever. it'll be a blast i promise ive looked into youre dreams i know youre the kind of spite filled bastard who would be into that.
and youre like hmmm that sounds a little Problematic but also you have no friends and hate your job and hate your life and the world so basically why should you care. so you take the deal and for a few hundred years you run around with your cool new lizard satan power sowing distrust in the masses with your trickery and burning down buildings and eating farm animals whole while nobody's looking. and the more you destroy the more the hatred and fear you kick up amplifies your connection with your god powers, widening the scale of your rampage until there are no more cities left to raze, no more kings left to devour, any remnants of civilization are few and far between, and they all know to fear you.
so your god rolls up again like Heyyy you're doing a great job man im giving you a gift. take the power of my claws and tear through reality. go find other universes full of worthless squishy mortals to terrorize.
so youre like Okay cool sure sounds like the reasonable next step here. so you do that, ripping massive holes through reality and destroying everything that dares to exist within your reach. and you do this for what starts to feel like an eternity, endless violence spread across countless worlds, it all starts to blur together.
it gets fucking BORING so you kinda start slacking off, changing your form to enjoy the simple pleasures of mortal life without the stress of actually being one of them, but then homeboy dragon god comes back and is like Hey dude hold on. you can't do that we had a deal. i grant you my power. and you fuck shit up for all eternity right? you cant be doing this pussy shit with my power that's not what it's for.
and youre like well im sick of the destruction and the fire and the screaming it's all the same. it never surprises me anymore. can't i have a break every once in a while? and he's like FUCK no absolutely not. i made a mistake granting my power to you I'm cutting you off. you can keep what you already have but im not giving you any more and you can't have the boon of my dimension-rending claws anymore either. have fun with your smelly little mortals IDIOT! and he disappears.
and for a while you can kinda do whatever, fuck that guy, what does he know? as long as you keep causing mayhem every once in a while you can maintain your power. but eventually your antics get you in hot water with a particularly powerful empire, and they have particularly powerful mages, and they devise a magical trap to contain your power and seal you away for a thousand years. so you end up bound to a pair of enchanted golden bands locked in a chest in an ancient temple for like, wayyy too fucking long. not fun. not cool. big fucking bummer honestly.
once you're finally released, the first thing you see is this weird really tall ripped bird guy with sunglasses. and you naturally expect him to cower or whatever but he doesn't seem to know who you are at all, and he's confused why a bunny man with horns and claws and a tail came out of these weird bands he found while exploring the forest but he's, like, really nice to you and introduces himself as the bodyguard of the unikingdom.
you don't know what the fuck a unikingdom is but you're hesitant to tell a royal guard about your past, especially in your current weakened state, so you kinda just skirt around the issue and say you don't remember anything. so he offers to show you around and shit and you're learning about all the new things that have been invented in the past millennium and it's pretty cool you guess but that little lie sits like a pit in your stomach. it is your nature, your destiny to destroy it all, but hes so nice. no one has ever been this nice to you in your life.
and he introduces you to his friends and they're all really nice too and it just makes you feel even worse because you're getting attached now, but it's only a matter of time until you're forced to face the truth. the truth of who you are, who you have always been for as long as you can recall, a monster. why couldn't some jerk have freed you so you could just backstab them and regain your power? why did it have to be this guy? why is he so pretty what who said that
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i-love-you-all · 2 years
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Tangled in Red Ch. 12
AO3 Link Here | Prev Chapter | Next Chapter
Breach learns somethings and goes in because Sova just can't stop getting hurt, hm?
~200 word excerpt
“Breach, my office, ten minutes!” Brimstone called from across the room, just as Breach stood up to refill his coffee.
“Yessir,” he drawled with a mock salute.
What did he want this time? He was already in a piss poor mood because he, against his better judgement, missed the stupid golden boy, and was stressing over his wellbeing. A meeting with captain dickhead was just what he wanted to turn his day around. Fun. Raze saddled up next to him and nudged him with her elbow as a reminder of what she always asked of him: to try and to give everyone a chance. He had given Brimstone a million chances to be civil, it felt like, but everything ended in a fight. When he finally dragged his feet over to Brimstone’s office he was a little late, and though Brimstone wanted to chew him out – Breach could see it on his face – he didn’t. Strange.
“What do you need?” Breach said with a sigh, sinking down into the chair and relaxing a little since it surely wouldn’t last long. “There’s been no news on what you asked me for if that’s the question.”
“What are you doing to Sova?”
The question caught him off guard. Because, well, how was he supposed to know?
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sanctuary-fm · 1 month
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WELCOME, YOON MINHAE
records show that YOON, MINHAE is a 26 year old CELESTIAL SORCERER who has lived in yeonghae for ABOUT A MONTH. they are currently a PERFORMER at BUTTERFLY THEATER, but other parts of their reputation must precede them — their faint aura of RADIANT GOLD, or how they remind others of HEAVENLY FIRE, BRIGHT AND UNENDURABLE, and SHRINES TO GODS LONG FORGOTTEN, KEPT ALIVE ONLY BY THE WHISPERS OF THEIR LAST FAITHFULS.— (jung wooyoung, he/him + xe/xeir/xem, DAWNRISE in TOUCH-ME-NOT). penned by DUHA.
FREEFORM.
tw. references to child abuse
say GOD.
he is an unbearable column of light that pours in from the dark ceilings of your kingdom. say his name.
when no one is looking, you sneak up the rocks to put your little hand under his light. you soak in his warmth, his love. he only comes in measured intervals, when he has time to peer down from his high seat from above. this is why no one is allowed to take all of the light for themselves; it must be allowed to stream in and disperse as much as possible, to bless the crops and the roofs of their houses. but you have always been so cold, and you have always been so greedy, and a light is a fire is a beacon.
you always return it tenfold, anyhow. you follow all of your parents’ rituals dutifully: you stand with your bare feet on hot coals and you put your hands in fires until eventually anything that is human and feeling in them die and you don’t feel the pain anymore, because one day, you will bear the light, and the endurance of a human will not be enough.
and perhaps that’s what you’re asking when you put your hand in his light. say GOD. say IS THIS ENOUGH? but, once he runs out of time for you – and he always does – he simply moves away, to someplace beyond the crack in the stone-sky that you cannot see.
say WE ARE BLESSED TO CARRY FORTH YOUR NAME.
that is where the exiles go, beyond the moon. the moon is the great stone that protects your kingdom from the rot and corruption from above. unlike the sun, it never leaves, a great, big eye that sees all in the wall.
in order to remain pure, you must avert your eyes every time the guards roll the moon away to push the outcast through. out there, you know there is shadow, but you know there is also light. your parents say that once an exile comes under the sun, they are instantly razed away as punishment.
so you begin to dream frightening dreams of light. you are a chalice and it fills you each night, bright and suffocating in the every crevice of your dreams.
and when you finally overflow one night, it is pain, and terror, and light.
your light scorches the temple in the dark, from its heart where you had lain. from that day forward, your irises danced with molten gold.
say FAITH.
a century ago, your people travelled north to escape the cataclysm, brought upon by heretics who sought the shroud the world in shadow.
your parents tell you often of the golden murals that used to decorate the walls of your family palace, forewarning what punishment the sun-god would bring if one were to disobey. they say that the seekers’ insolence was foretold centuries and centuries ago.
here, your father says with his hand on a stone carving of a darkspawn, is the grave price that we paid for a few’s follies. your great grandparents dedicated their lives to teaching others of the sun-god’s gospel, but some people cannot be saved. some people, in all of their wretchedness, do not want to be. and yet it is them that you must save the most. 
say MERCY.
in a temple by the sea, the sun shone so brightly on silver waves that one couldn’t tell between sun-filled air and land at all, your ancestors taught its followers all they needed to know to please the sun. the sun, all-encompassing god and mother and creator, kept them safe from famine, disease, and evil as long as they bore pure hearts and souls; as long as they carried forth its light and draped it in the darkest corners of the earth.
before the cataclysm, this was the way of things. your parents tell you of a sun diadem that your family once passed down to each generation, worn by the eldest, who would become the new shepherd for the flock.
crowned by the sun, they stood at the head of the temple, a conduit for the light. it would flow through their eyes and mouths and fingers, spurred on by song, and it would heal the deepest of hurts and illuminate the darkest of hearts. 
though they carried on the tradition in hiding, a temple in the dark was a shameful offering for a god so bright.
your parents yearn to return above, to that resplendent temple by the sea, where there are no shadows to obscure you from your loving god’s sights.
say DELIVER US.
you are the eldest. you are the only heir. you, when you were born, caused the sun to shy away for more than one full week, the longest it had ever gone without pouring through the hole in the sky. if you had not manifested your light, you would have been condemned as a child of darkness.
you still see this accusation in your people’s eyes. you stand before them shivering and let them pour fire on you and you endure, and it is still not enough to sway their cold eyes. your parents raise you to be a child of light, but sometimes even their eyes are cautious towards you — if not fearful.
say LET ME REMAIN TRUE, FOR I DO NOT KNOW WHAT ELSE I CAN BE. 
they always said that by the time you are grown, it will have been a century since the cataclysm, since the day your people were driven into the dark. they said that when that day came, you needed to be ready; you will be the one to go to the surface and find the sun, to garner his favor once more, so that you may bring back his light to your people and save them.
say BEAR ME IN MIND. say PLEASE.
your betrothed lives in that land by the silver sea, you are told. you wanted to know how you can serve us, your mother says. this is how. 
you don the golden mantle and thank your people for their graces on your way to the moon-door. you pretend you do not see the relief in their eyes. the guards push aside the moon, and for the first time in your life, you do not turn away.
you walk. you do not look over your shoulder. say HONOR and say DUTY. eyes forward, ever forward, to the rising sun. you are afraid of what would happen otherwise, and yes, you should be.
say TIGHTROPE. say DESTINY.
if you falter now, you will fall; if you look back, you will be lost.
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observeroflaplace · 5 months
Text
Grail War AU 2
Clash
Standing atop a many-headed beast, a stocky figure clad head to toe in armour, save for bare her left leg, peers down at her foe. Her monstrous steed, clearly not of this world, beats its wings to remain airborn despite its size and clear ferocity.
Her foe glares up at her. She is a tall woman with short, braided hair and golden regalia reminiscent of the Roman imperial armour, accented by a bright red cape. Cavalry sabre and shield in hand, the surface of the water ripples beneath her despite supporting her weight.
“Interesting.” The warrior mounting the demonic beast mused; 15 snarling faces of her steed glaring at her foe as a predator sizing up its prey.
“You are blessed by water it seems. A trait not unheard of, but a rarity nonetheless. Perhaps you have shown your hand, Saber.”
‘Saber’ scoffs.
“You are no closer to comprehending my greatness for it.”
“And you, no closer to reaching me. Without your trump card, what hope does a servant summoned to the Saber class have of reaching me in the heavens?”
With haughty irritation, Saber points her blade towards her foe. With the distinctly resounding bang of a ship’s cannon, a burst of golden light bursts forth from her blade towards the offending beast’s wings, in order to ground its rider.
Though supernaturally nimble, not least due to the inhuman skill of its rider, the great beast is unable to evade entirely; though rather than tear through its wing, the armoured woman guides the winged monster such that its hide is grazed and not struck head on.
Saber’s assault continues; an onslaught of magical radiant blasts, suppressing the movements of even the supernaturally swift monster and rider. Still, though three of the 15 faces of the monstrous mount are seared away by burning radiance, several heads lunge with gnashing fangs and stretching necks, akin to great serpents, the hydra, or even dragons.
Saber is caught momentarily off-guard, barely fending off the many vicious maws seeking to tear her apart with her blade and hoplite. As the beast begins to reach her armour however, Saber shines a brief but intense flicker of red, and she smiles.
“Very well, master.”
Golden light erupts from the taller woman’s body, enveloping her in a blinding pillar. Such was the intensity and sheer force that the monster’s heads were forced away and burned to ash and mana. Still, the monster possessed awareness through faces on its scorched wings, and took flight for what appeared to be the rider’s desperate attempt to retreat and counterattack.
The scope of this attack, capable of razing a fortress and the forces within would not allow such an easy escape.
[Victoria Brittanica - Embodiment of Promised Victory]
Saber gathers the flowing magical energies freely surging from within her through her blade, holding it high. With a great one-handed swing, she brings it down in a vertical arc; wherein the concentrated mana explodes outwards, parting the lake for a time and engulfing the fleeing rider and beast.
With a bright flash and the gradual flow of displaced waters finally returning to place, Saber slumps in momentary exhaustion, catching her breath. The attack, though certainly fatal, not only exposed her true identity, but also greatly taxed her and her master’s reserves of magical energy.
Yet, to her horror, her foe stood before her, in what little remained of the parted lake’s bed that had not yet been reclaimed. The woman’s armour had changed, with a burned greave depicting wings and a few small mask motifs now on her formerly bare leg, and her helm briefly floating above her, as the grotesque face of a beheaded demon.
“It appears you win this round, Saber. However, know that an empire of recent history is nothing before a king of the age of gods.”
Taking advantage of Saber’s evident exhaustion, the other woman and her leering companion vanish into glittering particles of mana, and the water displaced by the final blow swallows their former foothold.
In the distance, gazing at the scene through binoculars, a tall and lean man with dark hair scowls. He grips his fist in frustration, revealing the faded red brand; one of three command seals wasted.
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brookstonalmanac · 2 years
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Events 4.15
769 – The Lateran Council condemns the Council of Hieria and anathematizes its iconoclastic rulings. 1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscard. 1395 – Timur defeats Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde at the Battle of the Terek River. The Golden Horde capital city, Sarai, is razed to the ground and Timur installs a puppet ruler on the throne. 1450 – Battle of Formigny: Toward the end of the Hundred Years' War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English forces, ending English domination in Northern France. 1632 – Battle of Rain: Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War. 1642 – Irish Confederate Wars: A Confederate Irish militia is routed in the Battle of Kilrush when it attempts to halt the progress of a Royalist Army. 1715 – The Pocotaligo Massacre triggers the start of the Yamasee War in colonial South Carolina. 1736 – Foundation of the Kingdom of Corsica. 1738 – Serse, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, receives its premiere performance in London, England. 1755 – Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language is published in London. 1817 – Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc found the American School for the Deaf, the first American school for deaf students, in Hartford, Connecticut. 1861 – President Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 Volunteers to quell the insurrection that soon became the American Civil War. 1865 – President Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous evening by actor John Wilkes Booth. Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes President upon Lincoln's death. 1892 – The General Electric Company is formed. 1896 – Closing ceremony of the Games of the I Olympiad in Athens, Greece. 1900 – Philippine–American War: Filipino guerrillas launch a surprise attack on U.S. infantry and begin a four-day siege of Catubig, Philippines. 1912 – The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg. Only 710 of 2,224 passengers and crew on board survive. 1920 – Two security guards are murdered during a robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti would be convicted of and executed for the crime, amid much controversy. 1922 – U.S. Senator John B. Kendrick of Wyoming introduces a resolution calling for an investigation of a secret land deal, which leads to the discovery of the Teapot Dome scandal. 1923 – Insulin becomes generally available for use by people with diabetes. 1936 – First day of the Arab revolt in Mandatory Palestine. 1941 – In the Belfast Blitz, two hundred bombers of the German Luftwaffe attack Belfast, killing around one thousand people. 1942 – The George Cross is awarded "to the island fortress of Malta" by King George VI. 1945 – Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated. 1947 – Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball's color line. 1952 – First flight of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. 1955 – McDonald's restaurant dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois. 1960 – At Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, Ella Baker leads a conference that results in the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, one of the principal organizations of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. 1969 – The EC-121 shootdown incident: North Korea shoots down a United States Navy aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 on board. 1970 – During the Cambodian Civil War, massacre of the Vietnamese minority results in 800 bodies flowing down the Mekong river into South Vietnam. 1986 – The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon, its bombing raids against Libyan targets in response to a discotheque bombing in West Germany that killed two U.S. servicemen. 1989 – Hillsborough disaster: A human crush occurs at Hillsborough Stadium, home of Sheffield Wednesday, in the FA Cup Semi-final, resulting in the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans. 1989 – Upon Hu Yaobang's death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in China. 1994 – Marrakesh Agreement relating to foundation of World Trade Organization is adopted. 2002 – Air China Flight 129 crashes on approach to Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea, killing 129 people. 2013 – Two bombs explode near the finish line at the Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts, killing three people and injuring 264 others. 2013 – A wave of bombings across Iraq kills at least 75 people. 2014 – In the worst massacre of the South Sudanese Civil War, at least 200 civilians are gunned down after seeking refuge in houses of worship as well as hospitals. 2019 – The cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris in France is seriously damaged by a large fire.
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bananasofthorns · 2 years
Text
on gods and mortal perceptions
@hira-a asked me about the mortals in my god AU and...I don’t have much, but I do have this. I wrote these ages ago but I never actually posted them to tumblr, so here: the various godly emperors and how their citizens see them. (also disclaimer a few people are missing but that’s because I don’t watch their POVs to know enough about them)
Lizzie, god of power and the ocean, patron god of sailors and sea dwellers
Sailors pray to the Ocean Queen for safe passage through her lands. She is often kind to them, but the ocean’s temper is fierce and unpredictable. The beings in her kingdom are not human. She would stop the ocean’s tide to save the ones she cares about, but that power works in the opposite direction as well, and she could raze cities to the ground if she wished.
The citizens of the Ocean Empire know their queen is a goddess, and they respect and even revere her. She keeps them safe from the worst of the ocean's wrath, after all. They don't want to draw her ire.
Joel, god of death, chaos, solitude, and the mesa, known as the Mad King
No one lives in the god of death’s empire. Some say he killed his people and trapped their souls in his terracotta automatons; others say there were never any citizens to begin with. His empire is larger than life, sprawling with color, and it is empty. Some call him the Mad King of Mezalea. Most don’t dare speak his name in fear that his sword will come for them next.
Joel.....part of me wants to say that, once, at the very beginning, Mezalea had living citizens. Once, the god of death dared to have life populate his empire.
There are no longer any Mezalean citizens that aren't automatons.
Part of me wants to say that he trapped the souls of those early Mezalean citizens in his automatons and put empty masks of his own face upon their heads, damning them to an afterlife of servitude. Part of me says that is too cruel; another part asks if I really think it is beyond the god of death and chaos. 
The rest of me says he killed his citizens when the crawling feeling of life got too strong, and then he escorted them across the Ocean Empire to the god of life's empire, where they can freely enter the afterlife. Only those that wish to remain are placed into automatons, and any time they wish, he will release them to whatever comes after death.
Jimmy, god of cod, naivete, and the swamp, known as the Codfather
No one has ever seen the Codfather’s face, but the swamp is bright with the sound of his laughter. It is not the nicest place to live, and its people live in constant wariness of a war on the horizon, but they would go to the ends of the earth for their king. They are comforted by the thought that he would do the same for them.
Scott, god of isolation, winter, and the mountains
The elven king of Rivendell guards his mountains with icy protectiveness. His people pray to a deer statue and golden antlers; they do not know of the matching pair he keeps hidden away. He does not want to be worshipped. They say he has been here for eternity. He will be here for an eternity more, or at least until this world comes to an end.
Scott never outright says he's a god, nor does he ever do anything truly divine in front of his people (usually), but unlike Sausage, he also never tries to convince his people there's ever been more than one Rivendell king. He always is and always will be. Most Rivendell citizens are elves, anyway, so they're used to long lifespans; if the emperor seems to age slowly, or not at all, even for an elf? What does it matter?
Pixl, prophet, god of life, prosperity, and the desert
The god of life’s kingdom thrives in the desert. His people see him as a great man and nothing more, though some whisper of his preternatural ability to track and honor the deaths of his fellow rulers at his Vigil. He leaves them, one day. The conduit eyes of their kingdom keep watch over his people. He is not there, but the desert is still kind.
They welcome him home with warm, open arms.
There has always been something holy about Pixandria. It is an unspoken thing that their leader is more than mortal, but he is so human that it barely matters. The vigil needs a keeper, after all, and there is no one better for the job.
fWhip, the admin and creator of the world, god of destruction, corruption, and the plains
The Grimlands know their ruler loves them, and they know he is not mortal. The deepslate redstone corruption feels exactly like the warmth of his smile and the explosiveness of his weaponry. He could send this world and everything on it back into the fabric of the Universe. He would do anything to keep his people safe.
fWhip doesn't care, and all the Grimlands citizens know their ruler is a god. They know he's kind, usually, and that he cares about them.
Pearl, god of growth, strength, and forests, patron god of farmers
Farmers pray to the god of the Smallholding for healthy crops and bountiful harvest. On summer days, when the sunrises are golden, they hold festivals in her honor. Her symbol is a golden crescent moon with two folded wings; it can often be seen on necklaces worn by her citizens.
Gem, god of crystals, magic, and cliffs, patron god of wizards and scholars
Everybody knows the Wizard is not human. Her kingdom hums with magic; each of her citizens are learned in the arcane arts. A near-invisible wall of crystalline purple surrounds her lands in hopes that she can keep her people safe. There is a dragon egg beside her tower. No mortal is strong enough to protect that power.
Sausage, god of blood, ambition, and dark oak forests
The people of Mythland speak in secrets and rumors. Nobody knows their ruler’s true nature, but the city always smells of blood. Wolves and iron golems protect their gates, but they can do nothing about whatever odd magic saturates the land. 
The god of blood would never purposefully hurt his people, but sometimes he forgets that not everyone on this world sees it as a game.
Sausage doesn't try incredibly hard to hide the fact that he's a god, but he never says it. Don't ask, don't tell, and Mythlanders know the value of secrets. No one ever comments on the fact that all their emperors look the same and never age, but once or twice every century Sausage will fake his death and return as the "reincarnation" of the previous ruler. He's not good at secrets but again: Mythlanders know what isn't to be spoken aloud. Mythland and its king were here before them, and they will be here after them.
In the time between rulers, between Sausage's return, the blood sheep - with fragments of his own blessing within them - protect the empire.
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jazaesis · 2 years
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Tumblr media
“In the name of the Jedi Order, stand down” ~wip~
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ineffably-human · 2 years
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She's a young woman, but there's a way she looks at him that feels older. Nandor has razed and pillaged many places, taken many women he found pleasing to him, and he thinks he has seen every face a person can make. But she's already watching him approach, when he rides up on his horse (not beloved as his Jahan was, but still a talented beast, a steady one), and her eyes are searching as they meet his. She has an unreadable smile at the corner of her mouth that surprises him, when these days so little does. He opens his mouth to speak, but she is already mounting his horse behind him, arms around his waist without hesitation.
He thinks perhaps she's eager to escape. She is a lush, vibrant thing and her home is so unimportant, a footnote in his latest sweeping campaign. To be taken by a great warlord, it must be like touching the heavens. But he has wives and concubines who pay such respects. They squabble and bicker for his scraps of affection, or to be the first to perform some task, eager for the rewards that come with such devotion. There are others who only come when he raises his voice, whose anger and scorn does not fade with the passing of the years.
This one, she's patient. She waits not for when he calls, but when he needs. She anticipates his moods, his more fanciful whims. She is not the prettiest or the most talented, but she's clever, and she is not afraid of him. (He tries to make her afraid sometimes, back straight and voice booming with all his authority. She merely lifts her brows like a shrug of her shoulders.)
He asks, once, why she was so ready to depart with him to an unknown world. "You looked lonely," she says, and he's not sure if she even speaks the truth, but the answer stays with him. Perhaps they both were.
He returns from campaign one day with deep shadows beneath his eyes, a wound that still throbs when it should have closed. She washes the sweat from him and helps him turn in his bed, as the golden tones leech from his skin and turn to a deathly pallor. She feeds him meat, berries, broth, then holds the hair from his face when he's sick. She is far from the only woman to come and attend him, the guards muttering disapproval, the physicians giving their increasingly nervous council. But he sleeps many hours, still as death, and when he wakes again she's there waiting. She helps him from his bed, to stand on legs that are stronger than ever but shaky like a newborn's.
Nandor hisses at the light of the sun when it so much as peeks through the drapes. He refuses food, snarls his orders, hands trembling like he is fighting some inner thirst he once reserved only for war. He returns from battle in the dead of night, hands and mouth stained crimson, eyes black like an animal's. There are rumors his heart has ceased to beat in his chest. He knows, he knows the tales have reached his wives and lovers. His complaints to the ones who wash him clean have an ugly bite, a kind of self-conscious snarl. He gives orders with a finger extended, jabbing the air, like the moods of a child. The piercing stabs of a dagger.
Like the change, it doesn't happen all at once. There are fewer servants, and then there are fewer concubines. He has not harmed them, not really, not like he could. But one day he realizes there are horses missing from the stable, and as he counts he sees they've simply gone. His wives are next, the ones with young children first, and then the others in turn. It's a deep, angry ache when some of his favorites are missing. It was foolish, perhaps, thinking he'd meant something to them.
But they haven't all left, not yet. There is still a young woman there to take his hand in the morning. She is a lush and vibrant thing, with large, gentle eyes. Her hands are steady as they comb through the tangles of his hair. They only shake a little when he wraps a hand around her wrist, whispers 'please' with an urgency he can't name.
He fucks her fast and rough, relishing her cries of pleasure, the way she clings to the coolness of his body. He smells the perfume at the nape of her neck, and imagines she's craned it towards him. She never pulls away from him. Her fingers stay laced in his, squeezing tightly. It helps to keep the blood flowing.
There are only a few servants left to bury her, and the next day they're gone too.
Nandor will always say that he had thirty-seven wives, and loved thirty-five of them. He won't call what he did to her 'love.' He cannot.
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dangermousie · 3 years
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Hello !
I was wondering whether you could rate and tell us of your top 5 favourite webnovels/cnovels of all time ?! (Sorry if this has already been answered lol😅)
Thank you, stay safe and have a nice day🖤
Awww, thank you and that is such a lovely ask!!!
From n1 to n5, here they are (they happen to be all danmei.)
1. The Husky and His White Cat Shizun (2ha) - my n1 forever and ever.
Taxian Jun, the horrific cultivation emperor of the world who razed cities and destroyed sects, is surrounded on his mountain. The righteous sects are terrified to confront him but tired of living, Taxian Jun consumes poison and dies by suicide at the age of 32. And opens his eyes as 16 year old Mo Ran, Mo Ran long before he became Taxian Jun, Mo Ran who is excited at a chance to save the one person he loved and lost. Oh, and to deal with his loathed shizun, the unapproachable and strict Chu Wanning, his past life’s biggest enemy.
I have no idea if it’s objectively the best on this list but it hits every trope I love, its bleak worldview (the world will change only incrementally but that’s enough, average person will not appreciate the sacrifice but it’s still worthwhile, and love is worth everything) mirrors mine, and the sheer complexity of the plot and cascade of plot twists each of which is insane and yet completely logical, is amazing (this is a rare novel where it’s even more fun to reread than read for the first time because you keep seeing all the hints and trail crumbs laid out that you did not see the first time.)
And the characters!!! I mean, this novel has multiple universes/timelines, a side trip to the Underworld AND the demon realm, a plot more twisted than a store’s worth of pretzels and yet the thing that hits me the most are the characters. Mo Ran is my favorite web novel character of all time and I love Chu Wanning so. All the secondary characters are wonderfully written (and some of them made me bawl) and they are all complex. My opinion of all of them changed many times over; the novel doesn’t make it easy to love some of them but then you do and it’s so worthwhile! That slow change is one of the delights of the novel - I started out disliking the unpleasant, superior Chu Wanning and cruel, callow Mo Ran and then I loved them so so hard and cried for them so so hard and was in awe of their heroism and sacrifice and selflessness and capacity to love.
Oh, and the fact that this novel does something almost impossible - it has its protagonist start out as so clearly irredeemable and then slowly and painfully and thoroughly redeems him (without ever letting the reader forget what it is he needs redemption for.)
Also, for a novel that made me cry so hard I felt ill, this book is just so damn funny with the most sarcastic sense of humor imaginable (the serious angst doesn’t even kick in until 90+ chapters!)
Anyway I should stop or I will write a dissertation. But this is the one web novel that I would put in my top 5 not just web novels but any novels in any shape or form. The plentiful trigger warnings are there for a reason so stay away if they are an issue, but if not, if anyone hasn’t read it yet, what are you doing with your life?!
2. Stains of Filth (Yuwu) - another novel by the author of 2ha. Clearly she just pushes all my buttons every time. This one is much shorter and has a plot that is twisty but less twisty than 2ha. Still, all that means is that intensity and the pain are more concentrated.
Aristocratic Mo Xi and former slave Gu Mang were both legendary generals of the empire and lovers. But Gu Mang betrayed the country and switched to the enemy. Now he is back as a peace offering by that country and Mo Xi has to deal with the fact that his feelings are as strong as ever.
This novel!!! So much pain and intensity!!! So many amazing plot twists and supporting characters. The same bleak world view, the same unjust society, the same protagonists doing right things despite the cost. Mo Xi’s intensity and inability to let go (he’s imprinted on Gu Mang and that’s it) is romantic, bone-shakingly intense, and tragic all at once. And oh Gu Mang! So many times I just wanted to reach into the book physically to protect him. The novel deals with unjust societies, memory versus personality, what it’s like to be good in a bad universe etc. And it both made me sob and giggle, repeatedly, and sold me on literally death-defying (but not honor-defying!) love.
Oh, and special shout out to the fact that like 2ha, you may start out hating some characters and end up a rabid fangirl (cough Murong Lian!)
3. Qiang Jin Jiu - a dense political tome that takes a while to get going but then it’s a runaway train.
In a fictional dynasty, Shen Zechuan, the only remaining son of a disgraced aristocratic family and Xiao Chiye, the younger son of a family of generals guarding the border join forces (and then something else) to get power and pull down the dysfunctional system.
This is so elegant and smart (a rare web novel I’d recommend to anyone who just loves solid period fiction) and you probably need a notebook to keep track of the politics and military strategy. These characters are very very smart not just because the author says so.
As to the characters, there is a large cast and I love many of them, but for me the novel is made by Shen Zechuan and Xiao Chiye. SZC is gorgeous and delicate and icy and can kill you before you have time to blink. Saddled with the sins of the family he had no pleasant interaction with, he claws his way out of hell (seeing the sinkhole he was trapped in, literally as well) to take down those who wronged him but also to amass power so all the tragedy and corruption won’t happen again and the whole rotten system comes crashing down. XCY is a military genius who is trapped as a hostage in the capital because the court doesn’t trust his family. He longs to return to the plains of home and to take his rightful place. The two men start out as bitter enemies, then reluctant and sniping allies, then as friends and eventually as one of the most gorgeous, tender, swoony OTPs.
Anyway this is one is a bona fide masterpiece, equal parts smart and emotionally intense.
4. Wu Chang Jie - are you an emotional vampire? I am and this novel is a banquet.
In a highly fantastical setting, we meet our protagonists - the sunny Xie Bian and the intense and surly Fan Wushe. Xie Bian is a human who assists his master in conveying souls to the underworld and making sure no mishaps happen. Bian is concentrated sunshine in human form and to meet him is to love him. When the novel opens, his drunk master brings back another human to be his shidi and assist with duties - said human is uncommunicative, intense and surly Wushe. Bian is excited to have a shidi but little does he know that a story dealing with the horrors of past lifetime is about to start.
Anyway, why WCJ? So many reasons. It has such a dark bleak worldview - this world is a horrifying system where powerful cannibalize each other’s cores for an impossible chance to ascend, where gods have sealed off their realm and all that’s left is neverending human misery and hell (the only way you’d see a deity is if they’d been sent down to suffer over and over and over), where even reincarnation doesn’t fix things and bad acts are often unpunished. And the novel then asks - is it worth being a good person in such a world? More, is it worth being a good person in such a world when nothing good has ever happened to you and you have been repeatedly betrayed due to your goodness? And the answer, on Bian’s part, is an uncompromising yes.
Ah yes, the other reason to love this novel - the protagonists and their fucked up fucked up relationship. Bian (who was Prince Ziheng in the past life) is so genuinely good. But he is that rare thing - good but not saintly, noble but not cloying. So much of the novel is his getting taken apart over and over and barely able to put himself back together every time but his soul is still as amazing as ever.
And then there is Wushe (who was Prince Zixiao in past life, Ziheng’s not-bio-related brother.) Wushe is not a good person. He is a monster. And he loves Bian/Ziheng more than his life and his soul and the entire world but he’s also the one who hurt him more than anyone else ever could and did it over and over. His love survived a literal century of torture in the worst kind of hell and refused the usual memory loss of new life. But it also humiliated and broke Ziheng down to his constituent parts.
One of the things that is so fascinating to me about this novel is the question of what can be forgiven/what should be forgiven/what kind of expiation is enough/can you ever love someone who you loved so much and then he hurt you so badly and is now repentant? And it never sweeps trauma under the rug or hand waves it away but deals with it head on.
If you want healthy relationships, you should stay far away from this novel but if intense insane ones with a feral barely human one capable of destroying the world leashed by love and guilt to the sane deeply good one is your bag, come right in.
There is also the world building and the fact that yes, the big fall out between Ziheng x Zixiao is based on not knowing all the facts but it’s not “why can’t you talk?! This is dumb!” But is totally in keeping with both events and their characters. It’s reasonable for Ziheng to do what he does and for Zixiao to misunderstand and decide Ziheng is now his biggest enemy (but still one he’s fixated on) and for Ziheng to never be able to clarify.
Anyway, once again this is trigger warning central so please heed those, but if they are no issue, this one is wonderful.
5. OK, this is hard and switches between Sha Po Lang, Heaven Official’s Blessing and The Golden Stage depending on my mood. So what the hell, I am gonna write about all of them.
Sha Po Lang - so smart and so much clever world building. There is enough politicking to satisfy a Qiang Jin Jiu fan, it’s steampunk, and our two protagonists - Gu Yun, the empire’s most powerful general, who’s loyal to the empire despite being badly wronged by it, and Chang Geng, a cursed prince with barbarian blood and horrifying childhood - are wonderful separately and together. This is a huge slow burn but it’s totally worth it! They fall in love with each other’s hearts and brains and ability as much as anything. (Yes, this is the one with the yifu thing. Gu Yun is made Chang Geng’s foster father when he rescues him and brings him back to the capital as a way to keep CG safe in imperial strife. They are 12 and 19 at the time so clearly it’s never a parental relationship.)
Heaven Official’s Blessing (TCGF) - I love it’s sprawling narrative and cast, I love its inventive setting and picaresque story. It’s hilarious and can make me cry. But the novel’s place on this list is due to Xie Lian who is part Kenshin part drama WWX part pure goodness wrapped in heartbreak and trauma wrapped in sunshine.
The Golden Stage - two smart and principled (yes, they both have principles different though they may be) men navigate their arranged marriage, their past friendship and their past break up, become a super couple (one of the healthiest danmei couples I’ve ever read and proves healthy doesn’t have to be boring), save the country and bring down the emperor or two and just generally this is my rainy day book.
I guess I didn’t write as much for the three n5 candidates as I did for 1-4 but my brain is beginning to curdle so...
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flautistsandpeonies · 3 years
Text
Resentment
Read my Prompt [Here]
Word Length: 1,843
Tags: Not for JC Stans, JC Canon Characteristics, Sentient Burial Mounds, Almost Everyone Dies
It started on the anniversary of Yiling Laozu’s defeat.
The cultivation world was aloft in Koi Tower, dining on delicacies and gratifying one another with tales of triumph. They all cheered and danced once again to the destruction of the scourge of the cultivation world. The skies were bright with nary a cloud in the sky; the heavens seemed to shine down upon the righteous cultivators as they indulged themselves in their victory.
Yiling was not so fortunate.
Ever since the siege ended, the people of the death-ridden region noticed the change immediately. When the Yiling Patriarch first arrived four years ago, he enthralled most of the dead from the Burial Mound and used them to guard the perimeter of the mountain he claimed as his domain. The number of deaths had rapidly decreased with his presence. The people of Yiling had become complacent with the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation in their lives, even willingly offering what little payment they could to two black robed men who often traveled down looking for night-hunts.
But now Wei WuXian was dead, and the bodies were piling up once more.
On the day of the anniversary, the skies around Yiling turned as black as the darkest night. The ground turned to bone and ash, and a deep fog spread throughout region.
The sudden omens plaguing their homes sent the people of Yiling straight into their homes, locking themselves inside in fear of sure death.
Soon, the sounds of the ever-present dead echoed throughout the empty streets. Hearts dropped as the civilians though to be torn to pieces by the remnants of the undead army as they once did their master.
Then, the Burial Mounds itself seemed to cry out. The ground rumbled and shook as lightening lit up the sky around the mountain of the deceased.
The hordes of corpses seemed to gather all around the town. The groans of the ringing through the village, chilling everyone to the bone. Children clung to their mothers and mothers to their husbands; everyone wanted to be together as they died.
However, the dead did not raze down their doors and devour them whole. The sounds did not come close to their homes at all.
The sounds of the dead terrified them. But the people of Yiling couldn’t help but peer out their windows.
A man stood in front of the hoard, black and red wisps of energy swirled around ankles and wrists, gliding up arms and legs. Five women danced around them, one as pale as ashes, dressed in robes the color of blood, the same liquid pouring out of her mouth. Four others, each with a different horrific wound signifying their cause of death pressed upon their bodies raised their arms high, too big smiles gigging as they twirled in circles around the being, robes billowing with the same dark energy.
The man’s black robes flowed as he suddenly marched down the roads of Yiling. The dead followed.
His hair was long, falling down to his ankles, bangs tied back with a blood red ribbon trailing behind him. Pale skin, long limbs, broad and sharp features, a striking site indeed to the unremarkable people of Yiling. The other worldly man was death personified.
‘Could it be? ’they thought
‘Yiling Laozu has returned!’
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Koi Tower burned. Green flames licked up the walls of the golden palace as servants and retainers screamed, rushing along the halls as everything was collapsing around them.
Cultivator after cultivator was struck down by vengeful spirits, golden robes soaked through with blood, faces trapped in perpetual screams.
Madam Jin grit her teeth as her grandson wailed in her arms, running along the main corridors of the sect. Reaching the outdoors, Koi Tower was surrounded from all corners by seething, snarling undead. Brandishing her sword, she quickly took flight, not noticing the corpses paying her no mind.
“Ahh!, “a scream of terror rang from the throne room
“Get away from me!, “Jin GuangShan screamed while slashing away at the ravenous corpses surrounding him
The dead hissed at the golden clad man, inching forward with dirty claws. Rotting bodies clamored in from the halls as smoke rose throughout the entire room.
“Away!, “he growled while cutting down another body
“Don’t kill him too quickly, now, “the man hummed at the corpses
“No, no!, “Clawed hands wrapped around their pray, twisting his body and wrenching pained screams from his mouth
“Nooo!”
Starting with his arms and legs, the dead slowly nipped away flesh and bones piece by piece. Jin GuangShan’s golden core tried to heal the wounds, only for the flesh to be ripped away once more. As another small bite was taken out of the man, spirits licked the man’s life essence up off the once opulent floors.
With the Jin Sect Leader’s screams filling their ears, the man huffed before turning it’s head from the frenzy downward to the gasping body on the floor.
Jin GuangYao gripped his shredded waist and glared at the man. Golden eyes seemed to dim as he spat up a mouthful of tainted blood
“St-stop....please, “Jin GuangYao croaked, voice coming out soft and pleading
Stepping around the blood-soaked Jin, the man hummed at him, as if considering his words. They circled him a couple of times, watching as blood coated his fingers and the man cough from the smoke filled room. The came to a stop in front of him. They laughed.
“Pathetic, “they sneered and kicked Jin GuangYao right in the face
“Hhng, “a crack sounded as his nose was broken and he flew onto his back
“You fool, “the man taunted and stomped down on Jin GuangYao, “Begging for your life?”
Labored breaths pouring out, Jin GuangYao raised his head and faced the man. It’s eyes were bright red, a devilish smirk upon its familiar face.
“Wei WuXian taught us many things, “it began,”He taught us hatred, terror, love, despair, hope, all those little emotions that make up you humans. It is simply your own misfortune....that he didn’t teach us mercy!”
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Lotus Pier crumbled. It’s wooden gates toppled to the ground as hordes of undead bodies filtered through, groaning and clawing their way into the inner channels of the sect. Resentment rose from the grounds, summoning spirits of the dead to join the battle.
Disciples raised their sword in defense and charged into the fray; however, the corpses did not falter and pushed onward, overwhelming them. Water ghouls jumped from the surrounding water and dragged unsuspecting disciples to their deaths.
“All glitter and shine with no heart, he would have hated this place, “the being stepped into the training grounds, an agitated look upon its face
The purple-clad bodies of disciples littered the grounds, their blood soaked into the earth. Lotus petals wilted against burning ash and flames while the fish quickly died from the resentment poisoning the waters.
The being stood amongst the bodies, observing each one.
“Are these the people he once wished to return to?, “it questioned, “or are these all new?’
“Wei WuXian!”
Turning it’s head, the being was was faced with a man in ostentatious black, violet, and silver robes. His face was set in a sneer, his eyes burned bright with anger and hatred.
It remembered him.
“You hurt him, “it said and a dark shadow crossed over its eyes, “You hurt him so many times.”
Jiang WanYin snarled, “You’ve come to destroy YunmengJiang once again!”
It said nothing, but started to move towards the man. Shadows twirled about their hands as an ever darkening glare pierced through the man before it.
Jiang WanYin lifted Zidian, preparing to strike the “man” in front of him. Lashing out, the spiritual weapon trained in on the being crackling with electricity.
The being did nothing as the whip approached.
Inches from its face, the whip all of sudden bounced back!
“What?, “Jiang WanYin gritted his teeth in shock and anger
“Pathetic, “the being huffed and waved its hand in WanYin’s direction
Surging with resentment, a wave of dark energy came down upon the sect grounds. Overwhelmed by the sudden force, Jiang WanYin’s spiritual energy could not fight back.
With a single move, Jiang WanYin had been brought to his knees.
"You-!”
Striding over, the being bent down and gripped Jiang WanYin by the throat; the man grunted as he was lifted higher by an iron tight grip, hands flying up to try and force themselves loose.
“You truly are a pitiful human being, “a cruel smirk formed on their face as a fearsome glare was directed at them, “No, not pitiful....just utterly vile!“
Thrusting a hand forward, Jiang WanYin’s abdomen was pierced through. His golden core burned brightly in the blood soaked hand of the being.
“Gah!,” Jiang WanYin screamed, blood erupted from his mouth and covered the being’s face
As quickly as taking a breath, Jiang WanYin died, his body falling limp in the being’s grip. Throwing away his useless body, the being held the bright core in their hands. Caressing it, they smiled.
“So powerful...sooo much energy”
Raising the core high above, the spiritual energy slowly darkened as it flowed into the being and nourished its ever growing dark core.
“This...is the least that you could give him.”
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The destruction of the Jin and Jiang Sects left many full of dread. However, they would get no reprieve.
In the days that followed, murders of crows covered the skies and armies of the undead littered the grounds. Demon, Yao, and other evil creatures stalked the roads of villages. Anyone and everyone, who set foot on the burial mounds the day of the the siege were relentlessly bombarded with attacks.
The Nie and Lan Sects put all their spiritual power into their barriers. Cultivators who participated in the siege dressed themselves in their robes with the most protective stitching, and held themselves up in the deepest recesses of their sects covered in purification and banishment talismans. But who knew how long that would last.
The minor sects were left to defend themselves against the hordes. There was no need to speak of their fates.
The civilians were frightened, but ultimately, were not harmed. Waiting for the day that the onslaught would end, they could only pray to the heavens that good fortune would come after all this spelt blood.
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“We are so close now.”
Standing in the center of the demon slaughtering cave, the being diligently set about cleaning the entire cave. Sweeping and washing away everything until it was spotless, they set down a space for a bedroom and a study and library not far from it. In another spot, it set about creating a kitchen area, a living area, and a washroom.
“Close, so so very close”
Satisfied for now with the state of the living place, the being placed a hand on its chest. Reaching into itself, the corrupted core within them swirled and rumbled with power.
The being sighed.
“Come back to us, will you?, “it muttered
Taking a blade in hand, the being stood over a bucket and quickly slashed their wrist. Blood flowed and quickly filled the receptacle. Resentment rose, and just as quickly as it was injured, the wound healed.
“Come back to them.”
Taking the bucket and a large brush, the being set itself in the center of the cave once more. It set about creating an array, delicate designs against the rough stone of the Demon Subdue Palace.
Turning its head toward the blood pool, it couldn’t help but smile.
“They are waiting for you...Wei Ying.”
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Author’s Note:
-My first short fic ever lol
-The “ghastly maidens’ are the Red Lady that torn up Wen Chao and the gals WWX was drinking with.
Read my Other Prompts and WIPs [Here]
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walks-the-ages · 2 years
Text
Now imagine if the reveal about ~The Timeless Child~ had been *dun dun dunnnnn*
The Master is the ~Timeless Child~, and he destroyed Gallifrey because
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[ID start: a gif of a grocery store, with a Black man looking at the camera wearing a retail suit uniform with a dark blue apron on top. He snaps his fingers and raises his eyebrows as he emphatically says "Why? 'Cause fuck 'em, that's why!" In text that appears on the screen in large yellow caption as he speaks. END ID ]
something something something, The Master has always resented the Time Lord's for many reasons, least of all them ruining his lives for their own gain in The End of Time, and this is just him finding out he's existed merely as a tool for the Time Lords to use and throw away For longer than he even remembers, and this is his revenge against their society for how they have wronged him again. (Oh, and he also finds out Neverland and the other hidden horrors of the Time Lord crimes against life)
On an unrelated note. If they wanted us to care AT ALL that the Master ~destroying Gallifrey~..... Then they should have shown us that.
Seriously.
Please. Imagine for me. We see an unknown, "younger" incarnation of The Master finding out about the Timeless Child. From the offhand comments of the other Time Lords before they know anything is wrong, we learn that this Master is the next incarnation after """"Missy"""""" who is still determined to be a force for good in the universe, or whatever.
(That all changes when they find out about what the Time Lords did to them. Here's a handy dandy explanation for turning the Master into an antagonist again. Right here. On a silver platter that is infinitely more interesting and handily explains all of the Masters more uhh..... Odd abilities in the offshoot media (Specifically, snake and weird eyed Master in 8s beloved hilarious movie), much more interesting than The Doctor being the ~Timeless child~)
This new Master finds out they're the Timeless Child after breaking into the Matrix.
They calmly stroll out of the room, and music starts to play, faintly at first as they stroll through the halls, slowly growing in volume as a festering anger slowly forms on their face.
The song is something pop, something fun, brash, and wholly juxtaposed to the violence about to start.
As the first line of the song starts (personal favorite would be "Supernova" by Within Temptation which would be absolutely PERFECT irony), the Master reaches out, grabs the nearest Time Lord guard and snaps their neck.
Another guard immediately shoots at the Master as he advances on them with the first guard's weapon. The Master doesn't even blink as he twists around the energy bolt and kills the next guard, shooting them enough with the energy weapon that they can't regenerate.
The Master slowly, relentlessly, unstoppable-force makes his way through the Citadel as Supernova plays over the scene, cutting down all the Time Lords in his path, not even batting an eye as he himself regenerates *multiple times* during the endless battle as he now knows his lives are infinite, and each regeneration just makes him colder and angrier as he realizes anew each time just how much the Time Lords used him as a resource to be used up and tossed aside at their convenience as he moved more and more past the set "13 regenerations limit".
We watch as the Master goes around killing all of the Time Lords (some of them multiple times as they regenerate), trashing the Citadel in more golden explosions, and razing the entire city to the ground.
The Dhawan!Master, dozens of regenerations later as Supernova finally draws to a close, stands what should have been triumphantly, watching the golden city burn.
Instead, he falls to his knees and stares silently at the destroyed city, the rage slowly fading to leave just the cold horror of his life behind. The song fades away as the scene fades to black.
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