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attacked-by-visuals-since-071813 · 5 years

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Bully Problems and Dark Arts Part 1 (BTS Hogwarts AU)

193. “If you walk out that door, you’re no longer one of us. You’ll be one of them and that means I’ll treat you like one of them.”

Warnings: Hard Angst (Eventually), Smut (Eventually), Dark, Violence, Dark Aftermath of the War

Word Count: 2,636

“Let’s see....bravery....so much more cunning.....and loyalty...but above all that is your intelligence and craving for knowledge... let it be Ravenclaw!”

10 years after the fall of the Dark Lord Voldemort, the Wizarding World has since begun the process to rebuild and become more inclusive to the parts of its community that had been neglected due to the last 20 years. Now there is more magic. The light won the war against the dark, but in doing so, gave way for greater magic. More natural and powerful and overall grey. But all things can turn dark and all light can dim. The war left more than the British Ministry in shambles, several branches of government around the world collapsed as Dark Lord Voldemort had recruited and killed leaders mercilessly. Nearly a million children born just before Dark Lord Voldemorts rebirth, during the war, and just before the final battle were displaced and orphaned.

The first thing I noticed about Hogwarts was the grandness of the castle. I could feel its magic miles away on the Hogwarts express. After the fall of the Dark Lord that was Voldemort, magic tried to balance again and failed due to the blinding light that won the war. So, she blessed the recent and future born witches and wizards with ancient magic that had either died out or been dying out. There have been 3 Dark Lords within the past 200 years and the lull of the dark turned the eyes of most of the Wizarding community from other forms of magic and practices. Ministries labeled Grey magic and practices as Dark out of fear. There has been a surplus of magical born from the muggle world and the wizarding community. A big BOOM you could say. Several years after the Battle at Hogwarts, Minister Shaklebolt along with Hermione Granger found evidence that muggle-born witches and wizards were all descendants of Purebloods and that Squids indeed carry an affinity for magic but cannot possess it, so their children are born with magic.

There were so many orphans from the war that the Ministry had trouble placing children and babies with the next closest of kin. I am an orphan of war. Born in 1998, my parents took me to hide in the muggle world but were killed when we were found. Like many others, they refused to join the Dark Lord and became one of the many parents and young couples made an example of. With so many children displaced, finding family was a long effort and the Ministry was in shambles at the time. They grouped us, orphans, together until any family came forward or they could perform an identification spell. With all of the unconfirmed casualties and missing witches and wizards, many orphans were left in our makeshift communities. Since it was hard to find my next of kin, I stayed in one of these communities. My name is Y/N and I am a Ravenclaw.

My first year started out fine. All of us first years were nervous. Dubbed the new generation to officially mark the 11th anniversary since the fall of one the most notorious Dark Lords, we were given much-unwanted attention. Much like the children of the Golden Trio. Rose and Tulip Granger-Krum, Hermione Granger and Viktor Krum’s twin daughters. Hugo Weasley, Ron Weasley and Romilda Vane’s son. Lily Luna Potter, Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood’s daughter. Our magic is more raw and different from those who fought the war. The wizarding community had to add classes and curriculum for arts and practices not taught to students in centuries. Thankfully, the studies were actually accurate given that these arts were well documented, just not practiced without a real affinity for it. Outside of the basic Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Arithmancy:

Healing Magic and Incantations

Natural Magic or Elemental Magic

Illusion Magic

Psychic Magic and Dream Magic

Necromancy

Runes and Blood Magic or Conjuring

Obscured Magic or Emotion Magic

Chemical Magic or Potions

Dark Arts or Alchemy and Matter

Rituals and Dance Rituals

Hymns

Everyone wanted to meet the descendants of the Golden Trio. The train ride was full of students trying to get inside the compartment the children shared. Thankfully, they had me and my dear friends Jungkook and Taehyung already inside when they burst into our compartment to wave goodbye to their parents. The three of us simply sitting and watching the joy and fear on their faces at leaving their parents for several months. When we cleared out of Platform 12 3/4, they finally saw that they had entered an already occupied compartment.

“Hello,” Jungkook, Taehyung, and I said.

We were greeted with nods and they introduced themselves to us, the twins first,

“Hello, we are Rose and Tulip Granger-Krum.”

“Hi...I’m Hugo Weasley....”

“Lovely meeting you all, I’m Lily, Lily Luna Potter,“ a nearly serene smile on her face.

“Nice to make your acquaintance. This is Jungkook, Taehyung, and I am Y/N.”

Confusion clouded the twins' eyes for a moment before they realized why I did not include any last names.

“Oh....”

Taehyung spoke up at their sudden mood drop,

“No need to be sad. We’re all friends. yes, we are among the majority of the orphans attending Hogwarts this year and making friends would be nice.”

Jungkook piped up then,

“Yeah, most of us on the train already know each other. We are mostly from the same community, so we usually don’t have to make many introductions to new people.”

The four descendants smiled at us and sat adjacent to us. After the compartment being bombarded three times after they were sighted by passing students, I locked the door and drew the blinds wandlessly. Not giving any thought that these four probably haven’t had many interactions with the more powerful of our generation until I saw the slightly shocked looks on their faces. Taehyung and Jungkook were already used to it.

“Sorry, I forgot that....”

Hugo shook his head,

“No, it’s fine, honestly. Our parents explained to us that-”

“That many of the students that would be attending and are attending Hogwarts were more powerful and gifted than any of the past 6 generations.”

Lily Luna Potter interrupted her friend and gave him a pointed gazed that made Hugo look down in embarrassment. She then continued,

“Hugo has a way with words. A way of accidentally insulting others.”

I smiled at her explanation,

“Some of the other kids in our community are like that. Except, they have a way of being socially inappropriate. One guy, he talks in innuendos accidentally because his affinity is for Hymns and Song Magic.”

The rest of the ride was peaceful and the sorting had the Granger-Krum twins and Potter join me at Ravenclaw. All us orphans were sorted first. It was awfully awkward when several students would step towards the stool when their first names were called. Thankfully, I was the only Y/N.

It was my second year at Hogwarts that things changed and I only had my friends, Lily, Rose, and Tulip. It was my friends from my community that changed. Most of us having not been claimed and growing up together, we were family. But then...after being sorted and passing through our first year with Exceeding Expectations and Outstandings....families started coming forward. Apparently now ready to claim their lost child, sibling, grandchild, cousin, niece, or nephew. Our big community was shattered into pieces. These pieces contained small groups now, of 3 or 4 students. But there were a few that remained larger. Several groups contained 5 or more. Despite being in different houses, they remained close. The groups were gendered and everyone was now within only 1 to 4 years within the age of each other. Funny enough, no one separated based on powers or blood status, we remained mixed in that notion. It was a nightmare however, pranks started and the pranks turned into prank wars. I don’t know how it could have happened. Everyone who was one so close refused to acknowledge each other in halls. Referring to each other by last names now that they officially knew what they were.

Not everyone was at each other's throats though. But they all still pranked nonetheless. Bangtan Boys are the prime example of that. Sometimes intermingling with EXO or GOT7, but a majority of the time, they kept to their own close group. Kim Seokjin- Ravenclaw.... is the oldest, kept their pranks from starting all-out wars with Healing Magic. Min Yoongi- Slytherin..... is the second oldest and the calmest looking, but he has a tendency towards darkness with Runes, Blood Magic, and Incantations. Jung Hoseok- Hufflepuff..... next being the brightest of the group, has an affinity for Natural Magic. Kim Namjoon- Ravenclaw..... is by far the most level headed, the balance of light and dark with Incantations and Conjuring. Park Jimin- Hufflepuff....flirts and likes to dance with the darkness but is light, with Dream Magic and Illusion Magic. Kim Taehyung- Slytherin.... is the lightest grey of magic I have ever seen, with Elemental Magic, Healing Magic, and Obscured Magic. Lastly, there is Jeon Jungkook- Gryffindor, he was my best friend and my big brother, he has Natural Magic, Incantations, and Potions. All were from my community but we might as well be strangers now.

It was also this year that many of the non-orphaned students began to display their affinities. Lily’s was Dance Rituals and Incantations. Tulip began displaying an affinity for Dance Rituals, Healings, and Chemical Magic. Rose showed signs of Matter Magic and Potions, but she had a clear affinity for Dance Rituals.

My third year at Hogwarts started with an awkward confrontation on the Hogwarts Express while Lily, Tulip, and Rose were visiting other compartments to find Hugo. I was on my own in the compartment when a group of four girls came into and huddled around me.

“Listen Y/N. You are one of the few from a community in our year that hasn’t chosen a group yet. We can’t accept this. We are offering you a chance to join us. I know we weren’t the closest in the community but we were always nice to each other then.”

“She’s right Y/N. We are stronger in numbers. Loners get picked on easily and you don’t want a target on your back.”

“We want to look out for you. Especially since the Bangtan Boys have nothing to do with any girls since they formed.”

“You were just a pet to them Y/N. But it’s girl versus guys now. You don’t want to be one of the few girls getting snagged and dropped like the rumors we’ve heard.”

I could only laugh as I looked at these weak girls. Two Healing Magic, a Dream Magic, and an Incantation. They may mince their words and play at being the hero they feel I need. But they know better.....They know much better...

“You think you can help me? That I need your help?”

The room was suddenly icy, but it did not bother me. They all turned from warm and falsely pleasant to growling annoyance.

“Y/N you need to choose us. Who else is going to take you?”

“Bangtan Boys? Oh please, they are boys. What use would you be to them except for another toy?”

“The way I hear it, Karen, all her other friends who left her were their toys too.”

“No-no Rebecca, they only wanted to get close to the guys for their powers. Those boys are among the strongest of us.”

“All of you shush. As if Y/N wouldn’t accept our offer. No one has made one to you before right? We are the firsts and the only ones interested in your barely existing ass. So, why don’t you show some respect and say thank you for letting you join us?”

The icy cold became very bitter and the girls were suddenly shivering. My emotions got the better of my mind. I let them seep out to give a warning through the temperature in the room. Would harming these selfish bullies be worth it? Would it be worth the questioning?

I arouse from my thoughts to the sensation of a stinging on my face. Karen was it, had taken advantage of my momentary lapse in thought and actually slapped me. Fucking Karen. Abruptly I stood and they jumped slightly but tried to maintain their illusion of dominance over me.

“And just what are you going to do?”

“You’re a weakling.”

“You excel in classes but you perform each spell and incantation so basically.“

“Is there anything special about you at all?”

“I doubt it, Cameron. Look at her. Thick, round face and eyes. Doey-eyed. Innocent little orphan baby with no relatives to claim her.”

“More like, no one would want to come forward to claim her. The only people who would ever want her are already de-”

Physically, my magic threw Cameron into the window of the train. A small crack and indention in the glass from where her body hit it. Instantly, Karen went to her side and pulled her up. Through this distraction, I began to make my way to my compartment door when Shelly screamed at me,

“If you walk out that door, you’re no longer one of us. You’ll be one of them and that means I’ll treat you like one of them.”

A switch flipped and looking directly out of my compartment window I could see his worried eyes. Those eyes that refused to look my way since last year and all I could do is smile in that way that always scared him when we were growing up in the community. Sending a wink his way, I flicked two fingers and the shades to the compartment were drawn. Turning, I faced the girls with this smile and all illusions of grandeur were gone from their faces and eyes. My magic: Obscured, Natural/Elemental, Conjuring, Chemical, and Dream. I am a dark gray that borders dark and sometimes, the dark likes to snuff out the little grey there is in me. As Rebecca, Shelly, Cameron, and fucking Karen were about to learn. Yes, it is worth it.

At the sorting feast of my third year, I felt seven pairs of eyes on me. He told Bangtan. Of course, he did and now they’ll be watching me again. But it’s not like they care. It’s because of their fear. Kim Seokjin was sitting only several seats away from me. Observing. Min Yoongi was watching me from his seat at the Slytherin table, waiting to strike if needed it seemed. The others were merely glancing at me throughout the meal.

It was the following morning that I became the talk of the Great Hall. Three black Ravens, carrying several house sigils, approached the Ravenclaw table and landed in front of me. Lily looked at me with sorrow and Rose and Tulip with curiosity. The three sigils in front of me were from The Most Ancient and Noble House of Ravenclaw, The Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, and The Most Ancient House of Lestrange.

#bts imagines #bts hogwarts au #bts imagine #bts angst #bts jungkook #bts taehyung #bts jimin #bts jhope #bts suga #bts rm #bts jin

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jefferyryanlong · 5 years

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Fresh Listen - The Squids, The Squids (Bankshots Music, Inc. and Oto-Songs, Inc., 1981) and Duganopacalypse Now (A Fan Compilation, circa 1981)

(Some pieces of recorded music operate more like organisms than records. They live, they breathe, they reproduce. Fresh Listen is a periodic review of recently and not-so-recently released albums that crawl among us like radioactive spiders, gifting us with superpowers from their stingers.)

The first band I ever loved was the Beatles, and John Lennon was dead years before I had any idea of who they were. It wasn’t until Kurt Cobain died that I had any interest in Nirvana--I recall an eighth grade classmate looking at mw with contempt after I told them I was unfamiliar with their music, when “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was already an MTV hit. The chemical composition of my brain was dissolved and reconstituted over the course of two weeks when, at twelve years old, I watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Cool Hand Luke on late-night television, but both films were about twenty years old by then. I just heard of Herbie Hancock’s V.S.O.P. album, featuring Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams, about two weeks ago. I’m 42 years old now and I’ve only just come to realize how cutting and prescient Claude McKay’s novel Banjo is.

All this to say that I wish I’d been around when Honolulu’s The Squids were playing around town. (Much thanks to Roger and Leimomi from Aloha Got Soul for pointing me in the right direction.) The Squids were so odd and varied, a New Wave outfit with the muscularity and venom of the truest punk rock, able to invoke the B-52′s in the same gig as Talking Heads or the Ventures or the Specials, all with the same veracity, but much weirder and crueler. They married a sunny, breezy synth sound with an aesthetic that I can only describe as joyously psychopathic, spraying smart-ass malice on the unfortunate subjects of their songs.

Though the band only officially released a 7-inch EP in 1981 (currently unavailable on Amazon) Comrade Motopu, the mysterious archivist who, through digitized vinyl and cassette tapes, as well as donated photos, scanned liner notes, flyers and news releases, has painstakingly agglomerated Hawai‘i rock music and associated miscellany on a magnificent pre-Y2K looking website, has not only shared the Squids’ EP (featuring “Tourist Riot,” “‘Love Theme’ From Surfer Boy,” “In,” and “Rio”), but what is also listed as Duganopacalypse, a fan compilation with even more twisted tunes: “Medicine,” “Sexy,” “Head in the Sand,” the ska-soaked “New Girl in Town,” their partially awful, mostly spectacular “Cool Clear Water,” and “Pretty Vacant (with Dugan),” the Never Mind the Bullocks classic with a seemingly hated fan on the inarticulate vocals. I only pray that Comrade Motopu continues documenting this underhand era of Pacific rock music of the late Seventies to early Nineties--the site is a treasure, and more words about the bands highlighted on comrademotopu.com (the Vacuum and Yahweh’s Mistake, for instance) will be coming soon.

The Squids began as a concept by guitarist Beano Shots in 1979, later to take shape as a full-fledged human/cephalopod music group with members Kit and Gerry Ebersbach, Dave Trubitt, and Frank Orall. Those of us who sweatily flailed our way through a booze-and-drug bender on the strobe-lit (at least, as it appeared then) dance floor of the Wave Waikiki between the hours of 2 AM and 4 AM when all the other bars closed down would be surprised to learn that the now-demolished former nightclub, a hub for the scraped-out, after-hours husks operated by the residual combustion of chemicals in their blacked-out reptilian brains, once hosted the edgy Squids as the house band, presumably when the going-out crowd still had an affinity for fun, strong music, and did not simply seek to propel themselves upon the the mechanized beats and soulless zombie tracks initiated by a faceless button masher, in hopes that they would be manipulated, by the end of the night, into some loveless fuck with a nobody.

Of the Squids’ stage show, we have but one recorded example of the band live in concert: a faithful interpretation of the Sex Pistols’ “Pretty Vacant,” in which the players serve as back-up band for a loyal heckler known only as “Dugan.” Having taken (jokingly) enough shit from Dugan, the band harasses him into sing-shouting the song. The performance captures the “fuck you” sentiment of “Pretty Vacant” with a primitive abandon that almost makes the original seem like a Monkees’ tune. It also portrays a punk rock scene less enlightened to the diverse lifestyles it later engendered, when “dick sucking” was applied exclusively as a pejorative.

The same pissed-off adrenalin leads off the the 1981 EP in “Tourist Riot,” an apocalyptic narrative of that species of traveler compelled to hammer a new experience into a predetermined mold that will establish an appropriate backdrop to their social media posts. The tourists here burn hotels and smash out windows when their expectations aren’t suitably met--a bad vacation in which they are pushed around and mistreated leads the tourists to murder and mayhem.

“Tourist Riot” lays out the Squids’ music aspirations right away, especially in the interplay between Beano Shots’s electric guitar and Kit Ebersbach’s keyboards, which morph from forbidding electronic warning tones to psychedelic ghost notes to the replicated sirens of a city on fire, collateral damage in a war between locals and tourists. Following a surprisingly effective bridge that concludes with a shouted “Fuck it, I’m going to New York City!” is an atonal guitar solo reminiscent of Nels Cline asleep at the wheel, redeemed by a more fluid keyboard exploration.

When Jimi Hendrix claimed that “you’ll never hear surf music again” in 1967, he was, through the example of his own transcendent playing on “Third Stone from the Sun,” burying the corpse of that elementary, improvisationally unimaginative rock instrumental with the axe with which he had slew it. To that end, after hearing Jimi Hendrix and all the musical manifestations that took shape from his cosmic residue, it is sometimes hard to take surf music seriously. “‘ Love Theme’ from Surf Boy” comes across as the Squids’ winking parody of the genre, with its reverb, its whammy, its overall melancholy, and its simplicity. That said, there is some sophistication in the song’s structure, as if the wordless tune was more an exercise in technique, an attempt to take stock creatively before reaching out to a farther and stranger place.

On “In,” the guitars and keyboards snarl rabidly toward the same explosive destination, barely kept in check by the talents of the players. Lyrically minimalist, the song’s non-sequiturs slice through the instruments like assembled cut-up style by William S. Burroughs. “Are you losing sense of humor, could be Jesus was only kidding” followed by “are you losing sense of humor, could be Jesus was just a salesman.” These pieces of thoughts unfinished resonate in my head like something close to catchy--to what end, I don’t know. Where the keyboards overmatched the guitars on “Tourist Riot,” on “In” the guitar is locked in and dirty, climaxing in repetitive harmony between the instruments to close out the song.

When I first read the track listing to the 1981 EP, I thought the final song “Rio” would be a rough rendering of the hit video single by near-contemporaries Duran Duran (whose synth-guitar arrangements, though undoubtedly smoother, find relation in the Squids’ overall aesthetic). Instead, “Rio” is an acid commentary on the American Capitalist, represented as a white suit soaked in sweat, and his compulsion to foster vice and iniquity to exotic locales.

I’m not sure whether the fan compilation Duganopacalypse, also available for listening through the Comrade Motopu website, was recorded before, after, or during the sessions of the 1981 EP. A few tracks lead me to believe that the songwriting and arrangements are from a wiser, more sophisticated band, while other songs seem so apelike in their imitations as to come through as pointless satires, or maybe the explorations of a band trying to find its identity.

In “Medicine,” for instance, the Squids operate under an overpowering B-52′s filter that washes out their uniqueness. Whereas on previous tracks this influence existed only at the fringes of their sound, the singer on “Medicine” channels Fred Schneider on the verse and switches to David Bowie during the bridge. The role-play, though, doesn’t kill the the more interesting aspects of “Medicine”--its guitar lick is inventive and so wormy as to be slightly irritating, and the song’s themes, that one must willingly imbibe “the medicine” to accept the hypocrisies of this “downer world,” resound strongly to anyone who casts their eyes around a crowded room.

Where the B-52′s references go deep in “Medicine,” Talking Heads emerge in “Sexy,” from David Byrne’s vocal tics to the subtle and swampy “Take Me to the River” vibe. It goes beyond straight homage to cover band territory, but it does emphasize the band’s technical ability to lock into a groove. “New Girl in Town” is a heaping serving of not-completely-warmed-up ska leftovers, a bit misogynist (of its time, but still). “Head in the Sand,” regrettably, could have been the Squids’ crossover pop hit. I say “regrettably” because, even though the song has a point--that the ability of humans to maintain a semblance of happiness is to carefully cultivate the warm fuzz of obliviousness, sacrificing will to fate in the belief that nothing we could do to change anything would matter anyway--the effort seems more calculated than organic, a plastic approximation of the closest this band, given their specific set of skills, could get to a pop crossover hit. The work put into it seems to drain away at some of the dirty magic. It‘s self-conscious in a way that the other songs aren’t.

Finally we have “Cool Clear Water,” what would have been the band’s masterpiece if they’d spent a little more time recording a decent take (the version on the Duganopacalypse almost sounds live, though it could have been laid down in a rehearsal space). This is not the country classic performed by Marty Robbins and Johnny Cash. The Squids’ “Cool Clear Water” is the frightening confession of a soldier recently returned from the war in Vietnam, directed by an angel spirit to mass murder with a shotgun from a tower in town. When the killer is set to be executed, the angel spirit comforts him, tells him his spirit will be redeemed in heaven for “setting the people free.” The unnerving subject matter of “Cool Clear Water” is given sinister shape by the relentless horror-notes of Kit Ebersbach’s organ, the guitar holding down the song’s march toward inevitable nothingness because the bass (normally played with elan by Gerry Ebersbach) is a complete mess (I’m not sure if she hadn't learned the song or if she just showed up at the gig drunk).

As Marc Maron frequently says on his podcast, “there’s no late to the party” anymore, given the the amount of content available to all of us via the digital consciousness that we are now more plugged into than not. But I’ve waited all my life to lose myself in something vital, of the moment, with my eyes and ears and heart present while the thing is taking shape, at its most temporal. I feel that way listening to the Squids. I wish I could have seen them at one of their Wave gigs. I wish I could have had a beer with them afterward, and gushed in the embarrassing way I do about things I love.

#freshlisten #thesquids #honolulu #1981ep

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ladybuvelle · 5 years

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Ora: Good or Evil?

Ora is arguably the Odyssey universe’s greatest resource. In a way it’s a lot like mana/magic in the regular League of Legends mainverse; it’s present in most all living things (but in different quantities and qualities) and can have various effects on Runeterra’s environment depending on how plentiful, corrupt, or absent it is. Some people have even found ways to manufacture ways to use mana (or magic) through hexcores/crystals, and these can be used to power things or enhance people’s abilities. Ora is very similar in that way.

What differs in Odyssey though is what seems to be the distribution and collecting of ora. Ora is a presented in a physical form as a liquid blob of glowing gold. It’s not some nebulous abstract invisible concept, but something that can be seen and touched and - of course - absorbed into one’s body or collected in a tank like oil. It can crystallize (which is what miners look for), though what causes that is unknown. Pressure, perhaps?

The other thing that’s unique to ora is it’s implied spiritual quality. Ora, being something you can physically touch, gather, and make part of yourself, may also have its own collective consciousness - but this is also unclear. I suspect it may act similarly to the Lifestream from Final Fantasy 7; which oddly enough shares many themes with ora (ex. ‘mako eyes’, as people who absorb large quantities of ora have golden eyes, being used as a power source but may also be negatively effecting the environment, can be used to modify people’s bodies, etc). Ora, mainly coming from living things, could possibly be - to put it crudely - “soul juice”. It could very well be the soup from which all life springs up, and all life eventually returns to it. Liquid stardust.

That said, it could be possible that some memories remain in the soup from many billions, trillions of lives that have birthed from it and returned to it. Or failing that it has a collective consciousness and god-like omniscience but no autonomy of its own.

I mention this mainly because I think it’s fair to assume ora has no moral alignment of its own, but could possibly be effected by whomever absorbs it.

Sona is said to have terrible visions shown to her through her special empathy with ora. She saw the coming of Rhaast and tried to intercept the alien weapon, but Rhaast’s influence reached too far too quickly and only stopped once Kayn claimed him. Sona’s interactions with ora are, overall, seemingly benevolent in that it warned her about the sudden invasion of something alien to their universe.

But on the other hand, Kayn is also gathering ora and sharing its power with Rhaast. It certainly doesn’t reject him or the alien entity in any way and he has free control of it. But that’s not too surprising. What does come off as a little surprising is Zed. Zed absorbed a massive amount of ora after killing the megafauna he was supposed to protect (so that the Demaxians couldn’t get it), and afterward “ascended” into a demi-god like being that refers to himself as “we”.

This contributes to my theory that ora may be a collective consciousness, but I also suspect its energy may be heavily influenced by the true nature of its wielder. Zed, even though he grew and trained as a Templar and was extremely dedicated to passing the most difficult of their trials, in the end made a selfish decision to take power for himself rather than let anyone else have it.

Or it’s not as complicated as all that at all and ora is just ora. The person using it is left to decide what to do with its power, and what they make of it is what they make of it. Some may take deeper meaning, or some may not. It’s hard to say. Zed’s personal god complex may just be his own crazed euphoria after having absorbed more ora than a person should be able to hold, and after feeling such a rush maybe he feels the Templar way was a lie all along (or trying to deny him this “rightful power”).

Sona’s own affinity for ora is said to be unique. She can communicate with it in a fashion and it shows her visions. She’s also apparently able to manipulate the ora in other creatures - which is somehow connected to their moods/attitudes (she’s able to calm down rampaging space squids). That makes sense as a parallel to what she can do in mainverse with her music, so it’s still neither a good nor evil thing on its own.

#worldbuilding #odyssey au #headcanon #this post is more theory-crafting #based on what we know about ora and how it works

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