#~looking for space sword in the magical realm~

[sufferingsokkatash]

zuko on vacay in sokka’s landscape painting is not what i was expecting today but here we are.

#zukka #live action zukka #~looking for space sword in the magical realm~ #piandao wishing he had better security around his property #the marketing team need a raise #dallas needs a raise

[aziraphale-is-a-cat]

DPxDC Warlock Batfamily

They're not warlocks in the traditional sense, no fancy spell work or obvious theming. In fact, most anyone less magically attune than John would just assume they were metas like anyone else on the team, but they weren't.

It took a while to notice, just passing off the magical fluctuations around them as the ebb and flow of the natural world, or maybe some residual curse vibes from Gotham (ew). But it was too consistent. When Batman slipped into the shadows it pulsed, and when Oracle seized control of nearby computers it surged. When Nightwing took his inhuman leaps into the air simply trusting that he would reach his lading point it soared and when that nightmare of a Robin brought a room to darkness it rested like a heavy weight on his shoulders.

They weren't individual users, their eclectically cohesive group structure was too uniform for that; but they weren't some family of sorcerers either, being quite obviously unrelated by blood save for a few. The most likely answer was that they were all warlocks in service to some common diety, taking on aspects of its power to enforce it's will upon the mortal world- and John really hoped it was a helpful entity, because they were in deep shit.

Peeling the partially liquefied tentacle off from across his chest, Constantine sat up and brought his hand up to cup his bruised face. He prayed to whatever was least likely to hold a grudge that their little hail Mary there had bought them enough time to perform a summoning.

"Hey Bat, get your patron on the phone, this is getting fucking Eldritch."

"What the hell are you talking about," Hal Jordan pushed himself out of the rubble with a massive green fist construct. "Bats isn't a magic user."

"Hm." Batman grunted as he picked bone shards out of his gauntlets. "I'll need to get something for the ritual."

Everyone present sat up to look at him like he'd grown another head, except Superman and Wonder Woman who seemed a little excited.

"I'm sorry, you're a magician?" The Flash pipes up from behind the ruins of an old altar, only to receive a level glare from his black clad coworker.

"Warlock."

"Oh."

Constantine grabbed onto some chains hanging from the precariously damaged ceiling, rising to his feet. "We don't have much time; that thing's off licking its wounds in space or something, but it'll be back. You go off and collect whatever artefact you have from wherever you hid it and I'll start drawing the circle, where are we pulling your Patron from?"

Batman nodded in agreement. "The Infinite Realms."

"Fucking Hell."

-

The Watch Tower was crowded when Batman returned flanked by two other members for his little hero coven, carrying a small case decorated with constellations and nebulae.

Wonder Woman stepped up to look at the container, obviously curious, but not touching it.

"It will be wonderful to see him again, Batman. After this is dealt with I hope to hear the tales of my sisters from beyond."

"He'll definitely be happy to chat after we're done," Nightwing commented. "I hear he's been training with Pandora."

Red Robin nodded to that, an exasperated look on his face as he likely anticipated a long and drawn out conversation about different kinds of swords. Amazons liked their blades.

John gave that idea some concideration, Amazonian ghosts probably get up to some killer fights without having to worry about, ya know, death. He called out to the Dark Knight, "I've got the circle done, now we just need your call."

The three of them walk over to the summoning circle unceremoniously carved into the watch tower floor, Batman narrowing his eyes at the damaged paneling but saying nothing otherwise. The Dark Knight opens the case in his hands and pulls out what appears to be a small model space station.

The Coven spread themselves evenly around the circumference of the circle and Batman begins the ritual. "Salve patrōnem, egō stellam vocō." He throws the model space station into the circle where it appeared to float as the symbols in the ground lit up.

Slowly, a figure formed in the center, first as hands holding the model and spreading out over its arms and to its body in the shape of a young boy. He seemed to be wearing a black rubber hazmat suit with white accents and green lichtenberg figures crawling up his left arm. White hair appeared and with it piercing green eyes that seemed to be fixed on the toy in his hands. A cape flowed out behind him less like fabric and more like the endless void of space littered with stars and a cold weight settled on the room.

"Damn B, y'all really fucked up the floor this time."

Red Robin snorted, "Nice to see you too, Danny."

#danny phantom #dp x dc #dc x dp #dpxdc #danny fenton #dcxdp #red robin #nightwing #batman #justice league #john constantine #watch tower #summoning #patron god au #writing prompt #dpxdc writing prompt #dcxdp writing prompt

[theaceofskulls]

This upcoming week's preorders for warhammer are the funniest combination they could think of.

For Kill Team, 40k's small scale game where you play as a single squad of dudes, you have the Chaos Space Marine Night Lords vs Druhkari Mandrakes.

To quickly sum that up, you have a terror troop that makes the "normal" space hell-infused supersoldier barbarians look nice. These are the people that skin their victims, broadcast screams to their friends, and generally are the most edgy of the edgy faction in general. You can see them below with all sorts of skin hanging off them, swords made of bone, and a whole ass banner made of a partial dead supersoldier.

Opposing them are the shadow demons of the torture elf faction. These are the guys that lurk in the shadows of Edgy Shadow Murder Elf City that scare even the people who live there. They also skin people and wear them as their clothes too. And they wield edgy dark magics that they throw to burn people alive (and possibly their souls as well).

Then you have the War Cry box, the Age of Sigmar Fantasy skirmish game which has Lumineth vs Nighthaunt.

The Nighthaunt are cursed spirits that the god of the dead personally has constructed ironic punishments for. These ones in particular are eternally burning ghosts that used to be healers, alchemists, and priests who attempted to use sacred fires or potions to burn away death or purify areas of the undead who now spend their afterlives aflame or having to keep the awful flames of Nagash's realm alight upon pain of worse fates.

So that leaves us with the elves who are the exception right? Well they're nicer than the above, being monk/druid/paladins who are trying to save the realms. However, anyone familiar with Lumineth or with the trope of "too good makes an evil paladin" kind of tropes, you can figure out that they're not always the good guys in the stories. Still they're mostly good, but let's hope they don't run out of villains to fight

They're also dropping the dark fantasy human hunters alongside the eternally starving ogres who are mutating teeth and tusks out of their body (they previously were for sale together but they're now splitting the box).

So these opposed and themed boxes are dropping soon alongside... gnomes.

The whiplash between these products feels like being hit with a truck

#Warhammer #warhammer 40k #age of sigmar #blood bowl #cw: body horror #i usually don't put warnings on warhammer stuff but the night lords and the ogors are a little more than i normally post here

[danikamariewrites]

can i please request azriel x reader who is a brilliant inventor, she is groundbreakingly smart and she comes up with solutions quicker than anyone. She is very known and well-respected for her quick mind through all the courts and lords and courts try to recruit her for reader to be in their courts. She invents the best inventions like:

- a magical mirror that allows users to glimpse other courts and realms during the annual Starfall event, providing a unique and enchanting view of the world beyond their own.

- Enchanted gemstones that can regulate temperature and create pleasant, cool microclimates within Summer Court, making the sweltering summer season more bearable.

- Quills imbued with the magic of the Night Court, which write in a language only decipherable by those who have undergone the Night Court’s trials, ensuring secret communication.

- Cloaks made from enchanted materials that can protect wearers from various magical and physical threats in the dangerous world of Prythian.

- Mechanical attachments for Illyrian warriors that temporarily enhance their flying abilities, allowing for greater maneuverability and speed during aerial combat.

she makes personal devices for the ic aswell. like gauntlets to help enhance hand-to-hand combat or magical swords, and so on❤️❤️ i’m a woman in stem so this is just amazing idead fr

Inventor 

Azriel x reader

A/n: omg anon ur brain is insane, like this is such a good idea!

Warnings: none

Walking in the house Azriel heard you humming from work room. He smiled to himself as he framed the door open. You were sat at your desk working on your latest invention.

Azriel loved your brain. It is a vast, endless sea of ideas and knowledge. Each creation a new unique wave flowing from you. You grew up on the continent and attended a school that encouraged creativity. Once you moved to the Night Court you made a name for yourself.

Every court wanted you to solve their problems or help create something for agriculture or to consult on new medical technology. And of course you’d help. You’d never want anyone to suffer. Once you told Azriel that inventing things to help people, big or small, made you unbelievably happy.

Azriel walked up behind you placing a kiss on the back of your head. You turn to face him and Az jumps, not expecting your giant magnified eyes. Removing your goggles you smile up at your mate. “Hi babe, how was your day?”

“It was good. What are you working?” He asks looking down at what you are currently tinkering on. “Oh, it’s a small light for Nesta. It can attach to her book so she can read in bed without bother Cassian.” You said with a giggle. Azriel rolled his eyes at his brothers childish complaints.

“If this one works I’m going to make ones for Gwyn and Em too. This is the third prototype, I can’t seem to get the button right so fingers crossed it works.” You pick up the small light and click the button.

The small, but bright light illuminates your work space. Your lips break out into a wide grin. As you hold up the light Azriel smiles at you. “That’s amazing my love! Excellent job, Nesta is going to love it.”

Turning it off you set the book light down. “I’m going to get a box for this, will you fly me to the House of Wind so I can give it to Nes?” “Of course love. I’ll wait here for you.” You kissed his cheek and hurried out of your work room.

He looked around in awe of everything hanging or on shelves in the room. Azriel always prided himself on knowing what was knew or what you made improvements on. It was a fun game for him.

Your voice broke him from his thoughts as you tugged him out of the room. Your excitement to deliver something so small to your friend infectious.

#acotar #acotar fanfiction #acotar reader fic #acotar reader imagine #acotar imagine #azriel x reader #azriel acotar #azriel shadowsinger #azriel x you #azriel fluff #azriel fic #azriel imagine #azriel fanfic #acotar azriel #azriel

[gaykarstaagforever]

FREE ON YOUTUBE

...YouTube, I feel like your free animated movie recommendations have declined in quality a bit since the halcyon days of Osmosis Jones.

Yes, it is a blatant Kung Fu Panda knockoff, with an American voice cast that is clearly whoever was home at 11 am the week they called.

This is bad. Like, unfinished, I think I'm missing like half the movie, they forgot to resolve the main plot and it just stops, bad. There is a scene where the only character on screen suffers an animation error, and no one fixed it. The framerate of the movie drops every time the action picks up or the camera swings around too fast. Like...you made a computer-animated movie, and you don't have the hardware or time to do...you know...computer animation? The stones on the Chinese producers of this mess.

Not everything has to be Pixar or DreamWorks. CG is hard. I get it. But you gotta work to your strengths. In this case, the computers you are using can't even render the movie properly. Like...I don't know how you get around that. That's kind of a major issue.

Technical incompetence aside, this suffers from the usual bad CG animation problems of every character looking like they come from a different artistic universe, and most of the action is generic mocaping that doesn't take into account how any real bodies shaped like these bodies would move. And there are just things they didn't bother capturing. Like none of these dough monsters ever stands up on screen.

Shot composition is a disaster. Most scenes are a mob of creatures standing in a pack in an empty space, doing exaggerated facial reactions to someone else talking. It's like bad machinima made in the Skylanders games engine, except all of the character designs are way worse.

The plot, such as they attempted it, is supposed to be about a small, incompetent warrior who looks like Jackie Chan who gets transported to the mystical realm of Merryland by a magical jade necklace his grandfather gave him. There, he transforms into an anthropomorphic panda, for reasons that are never explained. There is a prophecy that a Panda Warrior is destined to save the realm, and our guy is apparently it, except there is a flashback to like a couple of years ago when the ultimate evil took over, and...there is ANOTHER Panda Warrior who was just there and sort of stopped it? But then didn't? Who the hell was that guy?!

Also the ultimate evil is one of the two sky-whales who guard the Dragon Ball (yes, literally) just turning evil because it absorbed too much power. Why did this happen? How are you going to stop it from happening again? Then that whale turns into a nine-headed snake after an evil mouse from the real world just...is there, and merges with the Whale. After the snake is defeated the mouse just crawls out of it and runs away, and no one says a damn thing.

Our panda warrior and his 7 legendary warrior friends kung fu fight the snake at least 3 different times, and never get close to stopping it. And the panda doesn't do anything special or lead them, he is just there, and then at the very end his necklace glows and that...helps? Somehow? The true hero here is, and I'm not joking, Jimmy Ginseng, a tiny ginseng man with an erhu who shows up whenever the warriors are losing, plays the erhu, the enemy gets soothed by the song, and then Jimmy gets tired and leaves. EVERY BATTLE ends like this, including the final one.

So...?

The panda has that cool green sword in the picture. And he does have it. It is just...a sword, thst someone randomly gives him. I think he ends up dropping it and it never comes up again.

Also all the warriors are animals, except for the one who is a talking tree stump...filled with lava. And he dies at the end by setting himself and the snake on fire. Because his master, a purple fox, told him to do that to save everyone. ...Except the SNAKE SURVIVED IT, and they had to fight it again, lose, and wait for Jimmy to show up.

The bull character also sacrifices himself, TWICE, to save everyone else, and both times that doesn't work, either.

The movie ends with Merryland being restored from the devastation of the snake...BEFORE the snake is defeated. It just...gets better, after they resuce an elf girl princess who does...something...? And then the regrown flowers shoot the snake with missiles of some kind. Which ALSO fails to defeat it.

The panda doesn't go home and become human again and nothing is explained. But during the credits there is a fight scene between the little human warrior and his general, in which they get drunk and wrestle and tons of fight animations repeat in a loop for 3 minutes. Is this part of the movie? Are these outtakes? What does this have to do with anything? If this is what happens after he got home, I don't know why or what it means.

...My guess is that the first panda warrior we see was supposed to be his grandfather, as a panda? That was probably the idea? But no one ever says that. The movie doesn't remember to explain that.

This was translated from Chinese. Perhaps the translation is terrible. Or they did a massive reedit of this for the US release. That could explain some of this. ...But then why didn't they cut out the glitch scene, or some of the shots with the bad framerate? There are literal 10 second sequences in this movie where there is no dialogue or music, just a camera sleeping over a scenery to ambient nature sounds. Who reedits a movie for the foreign market and cuts out vital plot scenes, but leaves in shit like that?

...Unless all those vital plot scenes had even worse technical problems. Jesus. That's a terrifying thought.

One positive here. While nearly all of the voice work is as boring and bored as you'd expect, the immortal Tom Kenny is good, with what very little he is given to do, here. The man is a professional.

And here is the weirdest thing: Rob Schneider is really good here as the panda man and Jimmy Ginseng. Like, shockingly good. Like, this is without exaggeration the best performances of this man's miserable life. He is funny, charming, nuanced, he feels like he is reacting properly during what were probably one-sided conversations recorded on different days in different places. It is shocking how good he is in this awful, stupid movie. My only guess is that he was somehow involved in bringing this over and it was going to serve as an audition piece to get him more voice work. In which case, like, fair enough, dude. You nailed it. He is genuinely very good in this very bad movie.

What an odd artifact from 2012. What a waste of time. Why did YouTube recommend this? What do any of us gain from being shown this? I am just flabbergasted.

You're on time out with these movie suggestions, Google.

Also there is a pig who flies who looks like this:

Those aren't ears, they are just gross misshapen tendrils that bob around as she moves. It's like someone was playing with a stretch tool and then...stopped.

I was gonna end with "Now let's have Jimmy Ginseng play us out," but I can only find this one bad picture of him, and it doesn't show his erhu:

Here is some nice erhu music from someone else. Something redeeming in this godforsaken post:

#the adventures of panda warrior #the adventures of jinbao #kung fu panda ko #2012 #movie review #free on YouTube

[taki-yaki]

What if Tav is a fey from feywild, or part fey? I don't have a particular race in mind, just wanted to see Astarion and fey Tav to be chaotic gremlins together

Love stuff to do with the fey, Tav from the fey wilds would create so much chaos together with Astarion. Although in usual D&D terms, the closest to part fey would most likely be a Hexblood. So I’ll be doing a Hexblood Tav who was mainly raised in the fey wilds for most of their life.

Hexblood Fey Tav Headcanons

You began your life as a creature of the fey before a deal gone south with a hag forced you out of your plane to the realm of Torri.

Of course, you would try to get by in this realm with your usual fey antics, of course not too long after, whilst on the road to your next performance, you get abducted by the nautiloid. 

Making you curse the chaotic whims that fate throws at you.

Upon meeting your new travelling buddies for the first time, you try to keep your distance from them at first, in fear that they might try to offer you something, believing it to be a trap, binding you to them, forced to do their bidding. You even give them a fake name, instead of telling your real name, taking any precautions from being enslaved any further.

However after the third night of attempting to cook for yourself, you eventually cave after the sweet savoury smells of Gale’s cooking plague you, giving in to the temptation and never looking back since.

Most members of the group saw you as too carefree at times, rather choosing to do what you like at random times. It isn’t until you reach the swamp and finally meet Auntie Ethel, that you seemly completely switch, tearing into the hag with a sense of rage, trying to reenact your revenge upon the kind who stripped you of your home.

Most of your companions are initially taken aback, stating how you could have gone about a less brutal way of defeating the hag, but what’s done is done. Astarion though, just watches over the scene with joy, seeing your victory as a sign of strength. power. 

Later that night Astarion approaches you with the offer for a romp in the woods, this makes you hesitate for a second before he says that it’s a fair offer after you gave him some of your blood. At first, you mainly see your relationship as transactional, in fear of being permanently indebted to him, but it isn’t until over time you both start to see your relationship as less transactional. At first, it feels weird to you not to do anything in return for him at times, but you quickly get used to it.

“So I don’t have to sing you a song and dance before receiving a kiss?”

“Well no, but if you want to, then I’m more than happy to watch you flap around like a headless chicken.”

During most of your early travels with Astarion, he would be in awe over how much colour there is during the day, but you state how it seems drab compared to the bright wonders that the fey wild had to offer.

Throughout your travels to Baldur’s Gate, whenever someone approaches you with a request to solve an issue or problem they are having, you’d usually reply with a, “What’s in it for me”, then proceed to go about solving the issue either destructively or chaotically.

A rat infestation? Well, a large fireball in such an enclosed space will make it quick and easy.

Need to clear out the nearby goblin camp? A few powdered keys should do.

Aside from your destructive tendencies, you also love to play tricks on others, whether they deserve it or not, it doesn’t matter. With you and Astation being a tag team duo, while you would create a crowd to distract people with a song or dance, Astarion would sneak around attempting to pickpocket as many people as he could. 

Other antics would include trading for weird items, such as attempting to purchase a sword or magical artefact, you would cast an illusion on some nearby rocks to give them the appearance of gold pieces. Followed by having to run from the now enraged shopkeeper, whilst Astarion is in hysterics.  

Despite most of your fey traits mainly giving other members of the group grief, one condition you hated was your weakness to iron, even if a ring was placed on your finger for a few seconds, it would leave a slight burn mark in its place. 

This came especially apparent one time, during a fight in which you were surrounded by bandits each brandishing an iron dagger or blade, ready to strike at you. 

As soon as the first blade makes contact with your flesh, you let out a loud shriek of pain as the tip of the blade leaves a large burn mark on your skin. Alerted by your cry Astarion rushes to your side, quickly taking out the rest of the bandits, before carrying you to safety.

Back at camp, he’d tend to your wound, and whilst holding you close to him he’d softly chastise you mainly out of concern. 

“Be lucky that this is only a small wound, just next time stay by my side and don’t rush out like that next time.”

After the fall of the netherbrain, realising how much this realm had to offer to you, Astarion suggests going around exploring more of faerun as hunters, maybe even finding the hag that cursed you and enacting your revenge. After all you did free him from his tyrannical ex-master. Over the 6 months the two of you spend travelling all across faerun, you eventually learn to bask in the wonders that this plane has to offer.

One late night, whilst lying in your shared tent, you turn to face Astarion, feeling as if you have a heavy weight to lift from your chest, you speak “I have something to tell you.” He’d look at you with slight surprise, were you going to break up with him after all this time, “It’s about my name” you spoke sheepishly 

“What about it my love, I think it’s a nice name.” 

“Well, I may have given you a fake name, I was worried you would use it as leverage to bind me into a contract of sorts”

He laughs a bit upon hearing this, and you swiftly reply with “Well it may not seem like much to you but it’s a big deal to us fey.”

“Alright, would you do the honours of telling me your name my love?” whilst trying to do a small bow motion while lying down. Leaning closer, you whisper into his ear in your native tongue of Sylvan, your true name, before leaning back waiting for his response. He looks at you for a while before the expression on his face goes soft “Well I think it’s a beautiful name, regardless of what it is, you will always be my darling.”

#astarion x tav #astarion x reader #astarion headcanons #bg3 #bg3 astarion #baldur's gate 3 #had fun writing this one #adding some slight angst and fluff so a bit of both worlds

[delimeful]

failed bounties and fresh bonds (3)

G/T July Day 14: Instrument

warnings: dehumanization, mild blood, threats, captivity, child endangerment, lmk if i missed any

-

Roman was in the midst of perusing the brightly-colored wares at a market stall when he overheard the quiet conversation.

He hadn’t actually planned to stay in town for so long, but the innkeeper had mentioned the weekly market and he’d found himself wondering if maybe there were any toys or other entertaining items being sold there.

He’d be a poor excuse for an uncle if he didn’t even bring back any gifts for his treasured nephew, after all!

(And maybe if he picked the perfect one, he’d make some actual progress on getting in Virgil’s good graces. Or at least having the kid be even a little less terrified of him!)

It was at least worth looking, he decided, even if such a detour was a bit of a distraction from his journey. He would be in and out, easy as that.

Except one stall had pointed out another, which had led to another and so on, and before he knew it, half the morning had gone by. And he still hadn’t picked out a gift!

Before he could commit one way or the other, hurried whispering from the nearby corner caught his ear. He was a knight, which meant all his senses were keenly trained to pick up trouble. And mutterings about a monster? That most certainly sounded like trouble.

“Pardon me,” he started, cutting into the hushed argument with a dazzling smile. “As a knight of the realm, I’d be happy to help you out with your little monster problem! No bounty hunters necessary.”

“It’s not a little problem,” one of the townsfolk grumbled, while the other eyed Roman speculatively.

“You’ll get rid of it without charging us?” she asked bluntly, earning a glare from her companion.

Roman nodded, used to the question. “Such is the responsibility of a knight of these lands.”

“It’s not something we need to get rid of!” the first stranger interrupted with a scowl. “It’s powerful, it could be devastating on a battlefield. Your king should be buying it from us.”

“Oh, shut it,” the woman snapped. “You can’t get that beast to do anything but growl and hide away, and I want it out of here before the town becomes its next casualty!”

The man wheeled around to face her, his face purpling, but before they could start bickering again, Roman stepped forward.

“Why don’t you take me to where the monster is, first?” he said, patting the hilt of his sword reassuringly. “I won’t be able to decide anything without seeing it.”

The pair subsided with matching grumbles, and before long, they were walking down a small, overgrown path outside of the town, one that slowly curved into the rockier forest area that surrounded it.

It was interesting that he couldn’t find a trace of fear on either of his guides, even as they grew closer to where the alleged beast was. Wariness and irritation, sure, but none of the true terror that so often came with seeing one of the monsters of this land.

Roman didn’t think it was an ambush or trap, either. Perhaps they’d simply caught a particularly large wolfdog and gotten overexcited?

“Here we are,” the man said, his vexed expression fading away in favor of excitement, like a child showing off a new toy.

They’d reached the wide mouth of a cave, one that was squat and shallow, but still deep enough to house something large. There was nothing in sight.

“Are we supposed to venture inside…?” Roman hazarded, not too keen on the idea. His dislike of dark spaces aside, cramped quarters were the worst place for his favored style of combat.

The woman snorted. “Not unless you want to be bitten in half. Just wake it up already.”

The latter sentence was directed at the man, who scowled darkly at her before pulling an engraved bit of metal from his pocket. From a single glance at the intricate symbols and embedded stones, Roman assumed it was an enchanted magical instrument of some kind.

The woman shot him an assessing glance, as though to see if he had any negative response to the item, but he only met her gaze evenly, unperturbed.

His brother had wrangled the magic of his curse into its own kind of witchcraft at ten years old. Roman would be a hypocrite to believe that all forms of enchantment were designed to harm.

He had something of a bad feeling in his gut, though, and it only worsened as he watched the man press a thumb down against the sharp edge of the tool, pricking his finger to activate the device with his blood.

There was a pause as the man waited expectantly, and then frowned, before tightening his grip on the tool and yanking it through the air, as though pulling at an invisible cord.

With a muffled cry, something huge tumbled out of the cave into the light. Roman took a step back, feeling the color drain from his face.

That was not a wolfdog.

His attention caught on the identifying details first— the horns, the scales, the horizontal pupils, the wings— and he knew that this was a dragon, shifted into a more humanoid form (if admittedly one that was still dragon-sized).

In the next moment, Roman’s eyes settled onto the face beneath the mythical features, and his heart dropped like a stone. That was a child’s face, round-cheeked and crumpled up in distress.

Sure, it was a child big enough to grind his bones to a paste in one swat, but that didn’t change the fact that he was seeing a kid in tears. A kid that happened to be awfully similar to his recently acquired nephew.

They were alike in more ways than one, he realized as his gaze dropped down to the thick metal cuffs that were wrapped around all four of the child’s limbs. They had no chains binding them together— or rather, no visible chains. The engravings visible on the metal were telling enough as to just what that enchanted instrument was connected to.

“Where did you get that tool?” he asked, dizzy with the shock of such a scene.

The man preened, mistaking Roman’s alarm for interest. “Impressive, isn’t it? Some idiot sold it to me for cheap.”

The only ones skilled enough to get cuffs like these on a dragon shifter were mercenaries, who were known for being demanding barterers. More likely than not, that ‘idiot’ had been pawning off a stolen good, hoping to pass on the consequences of crossing a mercenary guild to an unlucky buyer.

Roman remembered the faded scars on Virgil, and felt a boiling hot fury bubbling up in him. He took a step forward, expression dark, and the kid flinched away and huddled down. The motion was enough to send a shock of horror down his spine, dousing the worst of his impulsive anger.

Right. Get the kid out safe first, deal with scumbags later.

“This is certainly a dangerous creature,” he lied through grit teeth, and then held out a hand. “You were right to take me up on my services. I can take it from here.”

The man recoiled, holding the tool tighter. “I know something valuable when I see it, and clearly, so do you. It would be stupid of me to part with it without getting something for my time.”

Roman turned to look at the child again, trying to repress the hot anger bubbling in his chest. The kid wasn’t even watching them discuss their fate, eyes scrunched up tightly and hands twitching like they would have covered their ears, too, if their wrists weren’t still locked in place.

He had left to avoid inflicting more distress on a traumatized child, and yet here he stood, doing exactly that yet again. Roman grimaced, and then asked himself a question that almost never led him anywhere good: What would Remus do?

Turning slowly, he met the man’s eyes, set a hand on the pommel of his sword, and grinned.

“It would be stupider,” he said, slow and menacing, “to demand anything from me when I’m the one fixing your little problem in the first place.”

The man lost some of his confidence, wavering.

“If you’d prefer to lose a hand along with it, by all means keep hanging on,” Roman added, almost conversationally. “I’m sure even the bite of my blade would feel like tender mercy compared to the wrath that will fall upon you if the mercenaries that caught this beast find out you’re the one who stole that key.”

“Give it to him,” the woman snapped, expression hard and hunted.

Knowing what terror she’d sat by and abided, Roman couldn’t find it in himself to feel bad.

“Fine!” the man spat, throwing the tool at his feet. “Take it and go!”

The woman, keener on the uptake, grabbed him by the crook of his arm the moment the key hit the dirt, and yanked him back down the path from where they’d come.

Roman obviously wasn’t actually going to use the tool to make the kid attack them, for a very large range of reasons, but he wasn’t going to correct the misconception if it got them away from him and the kid quicker.

He leaned down to scoop the key up, grimacing at the glint of blood still visible on it, and then turned to look at the kid.

They quickly shuttered the eye they’d been peeking out of back closed, immediately curling in tighter and bracing themself.

“Dear child,” Roman said, sorrow heavy in his heart. “Can you look at me for a moment?”

There was a pause, the kid twitching in surprise, and then a slow reappearance of those big blue eyes.

“Hello there,” he greeted, keeping his voice soft. “I don’t know you, but I have a nephew that you remind me very much of. I’m sorry for speaking so harshly before, but I’d like to help you, if you’ll let me.”

“Help me?” the kid echoed in a large whisper, and then winced as though waiting for a strike to land.

“Yes,” Roman replied, once he was confident that he’d ironed the last traces of the fury he felt out of his voice. “Do you know how I could remove these cuffs from you?”

The kid’s eyes went impossibly wider. “Really?” they whispered.

Roman nodded firmly. “Really, truly.”

Their bottom lip wobbled, and Roman felt a sense of despair at what was turning out to be a month that proved him extremely inept with children, only for them to blink back the tears and keep speaking in that hushed voice.

“I don’t know how to remove ‘em, but I— I know if you get all the blood off, I can move my hands around normal again," they offered, watching him with an unsettling intensity, eyes lit with the tentative hope of a starved dog.

Roman pulled his canteen from his hip immediately, untwisting the lid with his teeth and promptly dumping the contents over the metal’s surface. The worst of the blood was washed away, and he dragged out a part of his undershirt to wipe off the remaining stain.

He couldn't deny a bit of apprehension, but rather than try and attack him or otherwise lash out, the kid only pulled their hands to their chest and curled over them protectively, the mingled stress and relief so visible on their face that Roman felt his own chest ache in sympathy.

“May I know your name, dear child?” he asked, pushing away his automatic nervousness as they shifted to sit up to their full height.

“Oh!” the child gasped, seemingly shocked that they’d only just recalled their manners despite the situation. “M’name is Patton, nice to meet you!”

“Well, Patton Nicetomeetyou,” Roman responded in jest, relief sweeping over him when the kid smiled, “You may call me Roman.”

He swept into a dramatic bow, adding the silliest flourishes in his repertoire, and Patton laughed, a soft, watery chuckle. The longer they spoke without being punished, the more they uncurled, slowly, like a flower blooming.

“If I may?” Roman asked, reaching a hand out.

He thought for a moment that the child would refuse— Virgil certainly refused any and all direct contact with him— but Patton only hesitated for a moment before slowly reaching out, hovering their considerably larger hand in front of him.

“For you,” he vowed, and set the instrument on Patton’s fingertips. “Until we find a way to get those accursed cuffs off, you should be the only one to possess that device.”

Patton’s fingers drew back the moment they recognized the tool, inhaling sharply as they curled their fist around it. They sniffled slightly, but they were smiling again, as though they couldn’t help the surprised delight, so Roman didn’t feel entirely useless.

“My brother, Remus, knows much more about magecraft than I do. I would be honored if you would accompany me to his home. He may be strange,” Roman paused, and then emphasized, “very, very strange, but he’ll do what he can to help.”

Patton was nodding almost before he’d finished speaking, eyes still red-rimmed. “I can’t go home until I know nobody can make me hurt anyone,” they said firmly. “I wanna meet your weird brother, please.”

Now there was a sentence he almost never heard. With any luck, Remus would know what to do, or even Virgil, though Roman would be loath to ask anything that reminded his nephew of whatever horrors lurked in his past.

“Then meet him you shall! I’ll retrieve my horse from town, and we can be off!” Roman replied heartily, his own spirits lifted by Patton’s determination.

He wouldn’t have time to pick up a gift for Virgil, but that was alright. Roman got the feeling that his current endeavor was something his nephew would have valued more, anyhow.

#sanders sides fic #sanders sides g/t #ts roman #ts patton #writing #my writing #fbafb #failed bounties and fresh bonds #update schedule is forked sorry gang. the seasonal depression got me

[chernabogs]

Stasis

Inc: Lilia, Malleus (egg), Maleficia WC: 2k Warnings: C7 spoilers (heavy), discussions of death/rot Summary: To wrap that child in his magic, to lull him into a gentle rest until the time is right and he can come into a world where he knows no death—is that not the greatest act of kindness? The greatest act of love? (i wrote this then went a lil goofy)

There is a glorification of dying in battle that is so deeply ingrained in their culture, that one would think it was woven in with the clay and the magic that was used to create them. It’s as though the gods, when their hands were forming mouths to scream and eyes to weep, asked those very first Fae;

so, how shall you decay? how shall you crumble to these foundations, of which I build you on so gently?

And when the Fae did not speak—for voices had not yet been given—those very same creators deemed that only through sword and through arrow could a noble death be found. Perhaps that is why they failed to grant immunity to those who were expunged from the Otherworld—discarded to the realms of man like naked, starving wraiths, scrambling in the shadows to build up the foundations of life in a mockery of their own creation. 

The descendants of that first generation feast off the bounty of those struggles with a never satiated hunger. Lilia knows; he bore witness to it first-hand in youth. Tattered memories remain in the scarce edges of his mind of who the two that raised him were before the collapse. There are moments by the ocean, where baby-blue waves kiss pale feet and sand dots raven hair, and there are moments in the night, where a large hand holds his own as he looks up to the stars that represent the Fae long passed. 

These are marred by the aftermath of greed. Rather than sand dotting raven hair, it becomes bone fragments, with red waves now kissing pale feet instead. A large hand is stiff and cold in his own as he looks at a slack-jawed face with half-hooded eyes that are as blue now and as bright as the stars he once admired. He cannot recall how long he sat there—perhaps until the pungent smell of rot finally drove him to leave. 

They did not have a noble death. They went like a cacophony, screaming and begging until those sounds were silenced by a singular fracture to a fragile bone. 

There is a glorification of dying in battle. 

Perhaps this is why she decides it will be the way she goes. She has always burned so brilliantly, her light engulfing every space she enters and drawing the masses to her. But those who burn so bright are blind to the way that brilliance consumes their flesh as well, and he knows it’s this mindset that drives her to the end—although he will never admit it aloud. 

But it’s the silence after the end that’s the worst. The family is granted the right to see the body first—now that the body has been retrieved, of course—and he’s blessed that Maleficia considers him family enough. The grand chamber of Black Scale Palace is uncannily silent and therefore makes the steps he takes sound like thunder rumbling across the stone. He spies the egg in her arms, cradled close to her chest as her hand runs a slow, soothing motion over its mottled shell. It shouldn’t be mottled—but he wagers that the trauma of the past few days has done a degree of damage, even if small. 

“They did their best.” Maleficia’s voice is quiet as he stops a few feet back. It isn’t out of courtesy—he’s invaded her space many times before—but more out of fear. He does not want to see the body he knows is lying in the stone tomb just ahead. “There was not much to salvage, though.” 

“They left her there for days.” Lilia’s voice sounds foreign to himself as he clasps his hands tightly behind his back. It had been a hard-fought battle (were they not all hard fought?) to retrieve those remains. They had been rotting on the bridge in the meantime—Heinrich’s additional snub to the royal family. He pauses for a moment before tentatively asking, “To what extent was the damage?” 

Maleficia is silent for a moment longer as her hand slowly strokes the eggshell. Lilia considers that she’s doing it more to comfort herself than the child within. “They took her horns, in addition to a few other parts.” 

The statement turns over in Lilia’s mind as he finally takes those last few steps closer. He draws to a stop next to Maleficia, glancing up at her towering form for only a scarce moment, before forcing his gaze down to the body before them. 

They had wrapped her in a shroud. The white fabric sits oddly on her, and he can see truth in the Queen’s words—there are no horns to be covered. Instead, the crown she would have worn upon ascending is resting upon her brow, and the torc around her neck holds the shroud fast in position. He cannot smell rot due to the excess of roses put in the tomb as well, and yet the sickly sweet scent still makes his stomach turn, still makes him draw back. 

The last time he had seen her she had been lively, throwing her egg to him and laughing as she prepared to dispatch those who dared defy her. Now there is an eerie stillness about her that is unbecoming of who Meleanor Draconia is. His gaze draws down the length of her body, at the plain white robe they dressed her in, and the hands that are folded over her abdomen. Her skin is gray, and he can see where the funerary workers attempted to conceal the spots of decay already taking place. 

People often believe that, when a Fae dies, they return to the clay and the magic that had crafted them. Lilia remembers the two who raised him telling him tall tales such as that, until their bodies had begun to turn to sludge and he realized that there was no clay, or magic, or grand departure at all. The Fae are no better than humans when it comes to death—all rot and gas and empty spaces in the hearts of the living. 

“We cannot permit this to continue. We cannot lose anyone else.” Maleficia’s voice draws his attention once more as he looks up to her. Despite the stoic expression on her face, he can see exhaustion in her bloodshot gaze. She looks to be both a queen and a woman who has gone through hell in the past few weeks. To have lost a daughter, a son, and to be holding your entire world in your arms with no reassurance of its survival…

He feels his throat tighten. No.He has shed his tears already in the darkness of the barracks, the burning sting of alcohol and a frigid metal mug as his only companions. He cannot fall before her because he cannot allow her to see all that she has left crumble. He digs his nails into his palms and ignores the way this may draw blood as he looks back to the body. 

Quiet. So quiet. 

And then… an idea. Perhaps outrageous, perhaps suicidal, but perhaps also the most efficient idea they have. The mottled egg in the queen's arms retains its faint, magical glow—the dimming powers of its parent’s love—and Lilia feels a pull to preserve that for as long as he can. He did not care for children, but he did care—does care—for Meleanor and Levan. 

So, he speaks. 

“We cannot let it hatch.” His voice is blunt and dry as he looks at the egg. It quivers, as though hearing the weight behind his words, as Maleficia’s hold on it tightens. She doesn’t immediately object. Instead, she frowns.

“Speak.” She commands, and he does. 

“Raising an heir in these conditions would be nothing short of damnation. We know not of how long this will drag on for, nor what the end will be. If we can keep the heir—keep Malleus—in his egg, preserve him until it is safe enough for him to be raised...” Lilia’s voice trails off as Maleficia continues to observe him dispassionately. Her hand does still in consideration, however.

“Like a sleep.” She hums softly, the motion then resuming. “A peaceful sleep, full of lullabies and warmth, until it is safe enough for him to greet the world. Much akin to what the Thorn Witch did, no?”

Lilia nods at her words. “Precisely. A stasis position until we are sure nothing will befall him... nor will he be dragged into conflict. I speak for us both when I say we are tired of witnessing our loved ones in conflict.”

Maleficia does not reply immediately as she continues to stare at her daughter’s body. The empty tomb next to her full one, meant to resemble the husband who is presumed to have been lost as well, speaks loud in the absence of sound.

“It will require a tremendous amount of power.” She finally adds. “Power I cannot give just yet. There is too much happening right now for me to split myself in such a manner.”

Lilia knew she would say as much before the words even left her lips. She is now the sole royal remaining in Briar Valley; even with the support of other Fae, all is on her shoulders at this moment. The well-being of the nocturnal Fae, the preservation of their lands, the concerns of the colonizing happening on the shores. She is drawn so thin that she is fraying at the very seams.

“Is it not fortunate,” he muses quietly, hands still clasped behind his back, nails still digging in his palms. He can feel warm liquid smearing his skin. “That you have me?”

Green eyes snap towards him with an expression of both outrage and shock, the most emotive he has seen her for a while. It then smooths over to composed indifference once more as she takes a levelled breath. “You do not owe that.”

“It was by my absence she fell.” He replies tersely, knowing this is a lie. He had fought tooth and nail to try and stay with Meleanor, but she had driven him back with lightning and taunts, forcing him to swear to protect her son. He is protecting her son by doing this. To wrap that child in his magic, to lull him into a gentle rest until the time is right and he can come into a world where he knows no death—is that not the greatest act of kindness? The greatest act of love?

So, he fibs, if not just a little. “Permit me to do this. For her, and for him.”

There’s a vagueness in who he means by him. Maleficia looks upon him for a long moment as he lowers his gaze to the onyx floors beneath their feet. For a moment he fears that she will strike him down as her daughter had done so often, until he hears shifting, and she extends the egg she’s been cradling so possessively towards him.

“Take the... take Malleus, to the lower chambers. Do as you must, as I will not burden you with the consequences—for I presume you have thought on this quite extensively already.”

He looks up to her. The face he had seen many times now since she pulled him off the streets and into her home is fracturing, with traces of sorrow beginning to show. She has always been vulnerable to him, to her daughter, and he knows it to be a rare privilege. He extends his hands and takes the egg, his bloody palms soaking its black surface.

“I swear to you—” he begins, but she cuts him off as she turns away.

“You have given enough to me. More than I have the right to take.” Her voice is cold and formal again as he nods, giving her a low bow before beginning to leave. As he does, she speaks up once more, her tone quieter now than before. “She went a noble death. They both did.”

Lilia pauses as the words play in his mind and his grip tightens around the egg. He can feel its warmth, as though he can feel her love through it, before he leaves that sickly-sweet smelling chamber without a backwards glance.

#lilia vanrouge #twst lilia #twst #twst spoilers #twst fanfiction #im just super ill abt all of this #malleus draconia #maleficia draconia #anyway stan maleficia we love a grandma

[alice-angel12x]

Life + Death is a Balance

Death Au + Origin Au

In the beginning, there was only Time and Space. Space created a realm for them to exist in, but Time was not satisfied with just that. Time asked Space for Something to Happen, but she was content with simply existing and sleeping. Time was tired of the unchanging darkness, so gathered some of his power and poured it into a small being.

The antlered being opened his eyes, revealing emerald pools.

"W-what am I?" the new creation asked Time.

"I shall call you... Life. And you will fill this void with anything and everything. Whatever your little brain can imagine," Time said simply.

Life looked around and saw nothing about empty darkness. So letting their magic flow for the first time, Life focused all his power in one spot. When suddenly it exploded and created a Big Bang!

And light filled the void for the first time. Space awoke to the sudden brightness, and questioned Time what he had done.

"You would not entertain me, so I made my own entertainment. I promise not to bother you anymore. As long as Life is around and all that he creates," Time bargained with a smirk.

For a while, Space didn't see anything wrong with this arrangement. However, as things went on the Void started to fill with all of Life's creation, and Space complained to Time about the tight space.

"Well I can't stop him, I guess you're just gonna have to make more Room," Time said simply.

"Can't you control your own creation?!" Space growled.

"Well, I wouldn't have had to make him if you did more with your energy. So do what you were meant to do and Expand," Time said coldly.

So she did just that and made more room, but Time made no attempt to retrain Life. So the young begin kept creating, forcing Space to create more room. Soon Space had to make dimensions and an alternate universe to contain everything.

Space eventually had enough and decided to do something to something to get back at Time. So she two made something. Something stronger than Life.

"Who am I? And what is the purpose of my creation?" The new being asked.

"You are Death, and You are going to destroy all Life," Space ordered. "Destroy everything."

"Of course," Death bowed.

And thus the long war between life and Death. Death would senselessly destroy all life World by world. At such a rate that Life couldn't keep up. So much room was reclaimed, finally giving Space time to rest.

Life had enough and laid a trap for Death. When Life finally got Death where he wanted them, he sealed away a large portion of Death's power. Death could no longer destroy the world in one blow like they used to.

With Death's power weakened, they had to become smarter. So they created the pledge, Monsters, and disasters. But to really spit in Life's face, Death twisted Life's creations. Animals began to eat one another, and humans and other intelligent beings turned on each other.

Life had enough of Death and planned to finish this war once and for all. The two fought, destroying things around them in their battle. Sadly a small elf caravan was unfortunate enough to be in the line of sight of the beings.

Death saw them in the distance, and Space's words echoed in their ear. Death with all their might shoved Life to the ground and pinned them with their sword.

Life noticed what Death was about to do, and cried out for the Elves to run. He begged For Death to leave them out of their fight, but they slaughtered them all without an ounce of pity.

Life watched with pure horror as Death ripped through the mortals. "Your A Monster!" Life cried out in sorrow and rage.

Death Just stared down at Life and ran off to cause more Havoic. But Life would not just let this go, so he cursed Death to be feared and hated by all things that live. So to spite Life, they created the underworld. To hold all the souls they collect and take from Life.

Life tried to create other godlike beings to aid in the fight with Death, but it did little to help. Other than serving as eyes for Life, they mostly liked ruling over the mortals of their surviving worlds. Some even ally themselves with Death, some by choice and a few for other reasons.

With some helping hands, Death was able to spread destruction at a faster rate. So in one final attack Life, managed to trap Death and impression them deep and a lifeless planet. Of course, this also greatly weaken Life too, as he retreated to his home to recover.

Time didn't want his fun to end, so after a while, he weakened the barrier just enough. As he did so, he whispered promises in the underworld gods' ears, that they could become the strongest if they could take Death's power. Only one Underworld god did not buy into those words, and that was Hades.

But when the others freed Death, the god immediately attacked the weakened Death. Luckily, Death managed to escape but was left badly hurt and vulnerable.

________________________________________

After managing to escape to another world, Death sat down in a lone forest and winced in pain. But Death knew they were not alone. Though they knew they can't be killed, they were so weakened a mere human could overpower them in this state.

So they sat and glared as the bushes began to shake and rustle, only to stare in confusion as a human child stepped out. What Made Death even more confused was that the child wasn't frightened by them.

They were scared of something behind them, as the little girl ran and hide behind Death. Before Death could even possess what was happening, two vicious wolves appeared from the bush. The leading one jumped and bit down on Death's arm. Death glared and grabbed the wolf by the throat and used it as a club on the second wolf.

With a pained cry from the wolves the two beasts quickly ran, tails between their legs. the Little stared in awe as Death turned to look at this strange child.

"Your... So... COOL!!" The girl awed as she hugged them.

(Death.Exe has stopped working)

Death didn't know what to do, think, or say at that moment. The warm feeling in their chest was something foreign to them.

"Ah, your hurt! Don't go anywhere, I'll ask mommy for healing potions. I'll be back as soon as I can," The Little girl promised as she dashed off the way she came.

Death still hadn't said anything as they just watched in confusion.

"What...was that?" Death asked themselves as they placed a hand over their chest. the source of the warm feeling came from.

And as the girl promised she returned with some healing potions. Sadly before Death could even turn down the offer, the little girl shoved a bottle into Death's mouth. The girl smiled proudly as she believed she was saving someone, but Death eventually spat the bottle and the potion.

"Wha! No, You have to drink your medicine!" The little 9-year-old scolded.

"No," Death smirked as the little one huffed in frustration.

"I don't want you to die! Please take the medicine?!" The girl began to cry.

With a sigh, Death decided to be nice for once and pretend to consume the potion. The little girl smiled as sat next to them and began to talk about everything and anything.

"Oh, what's your name? Sorry I forget to ask sometimes," The girl smiled.

"I don't have one, call me whatever you like," Death said simply.

"Okay! Hmmm, I'll call you Y/n," The girl hugged.

And long after Death got better, the little girl continued to seek them out. Death watched as the little grow, and as her friend she showed everything the world had to offer.

For the first time ever, Death would down and smell the roses. And when the little girl would leave for the night, death would continue to explore and observe everything.

One day, the girl didn't come. So Death snuck to the edge of the village to see what was happening. As they got close they could feel a wave of sadness throughout the village. With little power, they recovered and transformed into a Nightingale. From the wall, they could see a parade of injured warriors.

The little girl later would explain how there was a bigger town nearby, trying to "Bully" them into giving them all their food. Sadly things got bad and now they were fighting. Her father went out to fight and died.

A heavy and cold feeling tightened inside their chest. Later that night the girl and Death walked along the hollowed grounds of the burial. Many know widowed wives were still at the graves, crying over the soil of their loved ones.

Death soon saw the little girl do the same. With a new pair of eyes, for the first time saw the consequences of what they brought. The wails and cries of the mournful filled Death's ears.

'Am... Am I ... Am I Evil?' Death silently asked themselves. 'My master said that this was necessary. She said to destroy everything.'

"What's wrong Y/n? Is your dad buried here too? Or other loved ones?" The little girl asked.

"Loved...ones?" Death asked. "No, I have no such thing. And... I don't deserve to be loved."

"Well!" The little one jumped up and hugged Y/n. "You have one know. And Mommy says everyone should have at least one."

Death slowly and hesitantly patted the girl's head, but the girl had to let go eventually. Cause Death had no body warmth whatsoever.

As the "little" Girl grew older, she would share her dreams and wishes with Death. Y/n smiled slightly as they watched her grow older, found a loving husband, and eventually formed the family she always dreamed of.

As Death wandered the forests, the once little girl called out to them. She had her newborn daughter with her. She said she wanted to Y/n to meet the new member of Y/n's loved ones. Death stared down at the new mortal, and the baby stared back.

Daughter-like mother, the baby laughed and reached out to death, wanting to be held. Death cringed a bit as they stepped back a step, but the girl handed the baby to Y/n. Death held the baby and was stiff as the baby reached up to them.

They were internally panicked when they felt a pair of tiny hands on their cheeks. Death looked down to see the baby smiling as examining them. As they stared suddenly their vision started to blur as something fell from their eyes.

"W-what is this," Death panicked as they handed the baby back to its mother.

"Oh my, I don't think I've ever seen you cry before," The woman gasped as she tried to wipe Death's tears.

"I don't understand what's happening?" Death gasped as they tried to get rid of their tears.

The woman just smiled and pulled Y/n(death) into a warm hug. This time Death was quick to reciprocate, but they did have one question.

"Why aren't you terrified of me?! I was cursed to scare everyone away?" Death sobbed.

"I'm not sure. It's probably My unique magic, which protects me from curses," the woman answered with a shrug. "And you could have hurt me all these years, but you didn't."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Sadly Time had other plans. While Death was roaming the world, taking in the beauty of it all. When they suddenly felt a sudden large amount of flaming life being snuffed out.

Death tried to get back to the town, but a lesser being of the underworld blocked their path. Yet, Death made quick work of it and ran towards the town. As they got onto the familiar path toward the town.

"Y/N!" the woman cried as she ran, covered in soot and blood.

She was running with her child in her arms, fear in her eyes. But upon the sight of Y/n coming to her aid, she smiled as she reached out for them. When an arrow to the heart snuffed out her candle flame of life.

Death reached out and caught her and the baby before they could hit the ground. Death looked down in horror as the woman lay lifeless and her baby cried out for her. The soldiers that were hunting the two froze in their tracks at the sight of the stranger, a wave of terror washed over them as Death slowly looked up at them.

Yet before they could even scream, Death had finished them off. Sadly this was not enough to quell their blazing fires of wrath. They hunted down the enemy soldiers and went on to the village itself. When Death's wrath finally went out, nothing of the enemy village remained.

As Y/n returned to the woman's village, they saw the great damage to this once-peaceful town. The only survivors were the children of this town, whom the enemy was planning to enslave.

Y/n knew that they couldn't help with their curse as strong, and Life was never going to lift it. So they had no choice but to plead and beg to Time and Space.

Space simply chastised her creation for suddenly deciding to slow down on their purpose. She tells them because of this, the void is starting to fill again. So Y/n turned to Time and pleaded for his help.

Time uncharacteristically of him decided to help Y/n this once. So he made a pendant that would repress the curse for about 3 decades. Though once time is up, the pendant will need to restore itself for at least a century or two.

So with this tiny aid, Y/n quickly returned to the village and rounded up all the children. They helped them mourn by burying the dead and staying for the day.

But Y/n knew what would happen if they stay for too long. After some convincing Y/n managed to get the children to follow, and far away from the enemy and their allies.

And they found this place, which will later in the future be called Harveston. Y/n would stay with the children and raise them as best they could. Teaching them, raising them, Playing with them, and even giving the children each individual attention.

As the children and town grew, and Y/n's time was about to end, the woman's daughter, now 29. Meet with Y/n at the edge of the apple orchard.

"Y/n, you've been distant lately? What's wrong?" The girl asked.

"I'm dying?" Y/n lied.

"W-what! No, you can't die. We all still need you, I need you," The girl teared up. "Is that why you made Pierre mayor?"

"He is a kind heart boy, with a good head on his shoulders. I know he will do whatever it takes to protect you all," Y/n explained.

"We all lost our parents. And You show up, give a chance at life, and being a parent to us all," The said, getting choked up.

"I wish your mother was here. She was a good friend and dreamed of having a family, an amazing daughter," Y/n reminisce.

"What was her name?" The girl asked.

"Her name... Was Reine Felmier. So your full name is Marie Felmier," Y/n smiled.

"W-would I be everything she hoped if she were here?" Marie asked..

"You would surpass what she could have ever hoped for," Y/n said gently.

A week later Y/n "Died". Leaving the town's people devastated, but when the dust cleared Y/n quickly left the town. With 30 years of new experience, Y/n new things had to change. So the first thing they did was erase the underworlds, and either let souls wander their world, or turn them into stars to light up the night sky.

Life noticed the sudden lights in the vast darkness of the void, and could only stare in wonder. As he stared out into the void.

"Look Out! It's Death!" The Jerrys cried out for their boss.

Life gasped as he got into a fighting stance, but Death just stood, not even raising their blades. The Jerrys gathered the souls and ran away from the scene

"Sir Life, I have not come to fight. Simply to apologize and discuss some things," Death said, but Life quickly tackled them and pinned them down to the ground.

Sadly Life was not too keen on listening, not after the many time Death had tried to trick them in the past. He quickly began to press the end of his staff at Death's neck.

"Don't you dare attempt to fool me again!" Life growled. "And Even if this was genuine, I would never accept it. Not after all the terrible things you've done."

"I know. I corrupt your creations, I create things to make them suffer, and for I time I took without thinking. And I understand that you will never forgive, and I am truly sorry. I simply wish to discuss an important matter with you," Death tried to reason, but Life teleported Death far from his home.

Saddened but not surprised, Y/n was left with no choice but to continue on. And to attempt equilibrium, to sadly kill off to make room for new life. Yet this was difficult since Life just kept making more and more without restraint.

Space hated that her creation was becoming docile and soft. So she called to the remaining once underworld gods and granted them powers on pare with Life and Death. She commanded them to pick up the slack.

So the 6 gods turned their sight on the tree of Origin, at Life. So, like a hurricane, they stormed the home of Souls and Life.

---------------------

(200 years later

Life hung by his wrists as sharp chains of obsidian bound him to the ceiling. The gods of chaos stormed the tree, destroying the little souls that had yet to live. Captured life and dragged him to a long-dead world, deep in its cold core.

The Obsidian chains dug into his tan olive skin as ichor ran down his arms. The cruel beings tortured the god of life. They whipped and ripped at his skin, hammered off his antlers, and forcibly possessed his body. Forcing him to create an abomination of destruction, and releasing them on worlds.

Life could hear the horrified screams of the mortals as they are snuffed out. He tried to call for help from Time, but he never answered. Life hung his head as he tried to think of another way out, but the enchanted chains blocked his powers. The other gods turned their back on their creator. Wanted some sort of selfish gain out of his death.

His aids at home didn't have the strength to compete with beings like his captors. As he hung there a terrible and sad thought came to his mind.

'If I were to die, Time could simply make another... Another being of Life, so why waste his efforts. I knew Time only saw me as a tool for his own amusement. Space hated me, and never told me why when I asked her. Instead, she just created someone to destroy me. I'm valued by no one,'

As he was about to give up, the scream of bloody murder caught his attention. A god of chaos lay dead at... Death's feet. Death slowly approached Life, as he quickly shut his eyes waiting for the worst.

When suddenly with a crack, he felt his body fall. Only to suddenly feel a pair of cold arms catch him before he could hit the ground. Life looked up to his enemy, but black spots filled his vision as he eventually passed out.

____________________________________________________

Pt. 1 ends here

to be continued. Part 2 here

#Falling Pegasus answers #twisted wonderland #Death Au #Origin Au #Twisted wonderland x reader #death!reader #twst yuu #death au #origin au #twisted wonderland x reader #disney twisted wonderland #Life oc #Life x death

[tabsters]

As someone obsessed with cool swords, please tell me more about Godhunter :O With a name like that, it certainly has an air of importance to it! What does it look like? I remember the fic mentioning that it has glowing glyphs on it too, what kind are they? What kind of magic power(s) does it have?

AHSKJHAKJSHAKJSHAKJ HIII!!! SWORD TIME!!!

TW for anyone: death is mentioned in the middle part

What does it look like?

Rough depiction of Godhunter, done on my crappy chromebook:

It should be noted that i ran out of space for the runes spelling out 'godhunter', but i think the idea is there.

What kind of magic power(s) does it have?

I'll answer this question first, as it contains information needed to understand the second question.

The triangle runes on the sword's blade correspond with the powers of the elements: fire, earth, air, and water, respectively. These runes imbue the sword with elemental energy, and allows Ciara to control these elements with her sword.

Runes are a finicky form of magic, and when Zodiac Experiment takes place, there are currently only two people (Eclipse and Chamaeleon) who are able to perform runic magic, so either one of them must be present in order to make a runic weapon. Weapons using elemental runes also need specific conditions in order to work:

The weapon must be in ideal temperature to receive the runes; ie, absolutely scalding hot, so that the runes are able to be properly carved into the weapon. This will properly ensure that the magic being channeled through the runes will be able to function later.

Immediately after having the runes carved in, the weapon needs to be glazed with a potion made up of the body parts of demons (see post about demons here), which will give the weapon its elemental magic capability.

When you are carving four elemental runes into a weapon, there is a chance the entire thing will just blow up due to the magical overload. So be careful with that. This is why most runic weapons don't use elemental magic, and the ones that do only have one elemental rune.

What kind is the sword?

Godhunter was originally an ordinary sword found in Pisces' armory. It's modeled after an Edo Period katana, and it was actually not Ciara's first choice for a weapon (she wanted a spear, but was told it was too tall for her.)

The runes depicting 'Godhunter' are written in norse runes, as that is the closest equivalent to the language Eclipse writes in. It is considered tradition to grant weapons a name after its most memorable use, and the name will typically correlate to the act the weapon was used in (Sagittarius' bow is named 'Flamedancer', for example, as a reference to how he shot an flaming arrow into a target fifty feet away.)

It is also customary to use weaker weapons before being gifted with the actual weapon; Ciara primarily worked with lower quality swords while training, then was gifted Godhunter by Pisces before her quest. This is a testament to how in this Astral Realm, weapons are prized possessions and must be earned.

This sword is also the reason why Ciara embarks on her quest in TZE, Eclipse sent her on a quest to slay a bunch a demon in every Zodiac kingdom, collect parts of their body, and return with them to Eclipse. Eclipse did not fully explain the reason for slaying these demons, but Ciara didn't question it, as at this point, she's still a kid in a fantasy land. Of course she'd be delighted to slay some demons and become the hero of this world.

Eventually, the truth comes out: Eclipse brings Ciara to her tower and enchants the sword herself, carving the runes and glazing it with the potions. Ciara is at first, really excited about this: she was getting a cool magic sword upgrade! She's finished her journey!

Nope. Wrong. Eclipse then directs Ciara through a big door and instructs her to kill the monsters behind it. Because this sword is now imbued with four elemental runes (as well as a spell that keeps the sword's edge continually sharp), it is now capable of harming the most powerful creatures in the Astral Plane. Including Eclipse.

How did this sword earn the name Godhunter? Well, at the end of the aforementioned quest, Ciara was in a tense stand-off against Eclipse. By a stroke of luck, she managed to cut Eclipse's arm clean off, which no ordinary sword would be able to do, because of the aforementioned ludicrously strong runes. It has become one of the only weapons that is able to wound Eclipse (besides her own scythe), and that is where it gets its name, Godhunter.

whew, this took a while! apologies if there's any gaps in my info, please let me know, i was writing this while also working on various school assignments. :DD

#asks #zodiac lore

[nazrigar]

Smaugust 2022 - Monsters of Mythology, Science Fantasy Edition

So! For this Smaugust, I basically revisit my Pantheons setting, and decided to do some Science Fantasy interpretations of mythologies beasties. Pantheons is essentially a what-if scenario in the future, where gods and mortals walk alongside one another, and by extension, mythology’s monsters.

Batch 1: Chaoskampf-Level Giants

- Gonggong/Kanghui: An insane dragon representing the Devonian Mass Extinction, not satisfied being a giant water elemental, wants to learn the secrets of human-god magic.

- Behemoth: A Cosmic T.rex Guardian of a titanic planet where many of the major monsters of the Galaxy originates from. As a representation of the K-Pg extinction event, his fists are usually all that’s needed to obliterate anything, but a energy laser is always convenient!

- Niddhogg: A snarky, short tempered cosmic Spinosaurus that can tear through the fabric of space, entering in-and-out of Yggdrasil, snapping up planets in his maw. He less represents ONE extinction, and more how extinction can come in anytime.

- Orochi: Once a mighty Yokai that represented the Anthropocene Extinction Event, he’s now reduced to a ghost trapped in Amaterasu’s sword, Kusanagi.

Batch 2: “True” Dragons

- The Red Dragon of Wales: A guardian of the realm of the Arthurian realm called Avalon, beloved by all. (Avalon is a mix between The British Isles, France and Iberia, aka the areas where

- The Cuelebre: The Golden Dragon, who found out that you can get more treasure by selling booze rather trying to raid and hoard gold.

- Illuyaka: A Great Electric Eel, who USED to be a big shot, but his confidence was absolutely crushed after losing to Tarhunz, the Hittite Storm God (well... one of them. They have a lot).

- Zmeya Gorynishche: An evil slaving dragon who haunts mortals after having lost her pups, and now leads a band of monstrous pirates.

Batch 3: Great Shapeshifters

- Kukulcan/Quetzalcoatl: A Grand Beast that’s also the head of multiple pantheons, he’s actually pretty pleasant. Doesn’t like Tezcatlipoca much though.

- Fafnir: A mobster dwarf AND a dragon. Don’t make him mad, lest he feels peckish, so be sure to be on time to pay back those loans...

- Nammu/Tiamat: Both a queen and a literal monster, she revels in being both the highest authority in the Mesopotamian Pantheon AND a giant monster feared by all. She loves picking on Marduk.

- Rahab/Sandalphon: A Cherubim who was once a mighty dragon-looking angel, feared by many, until she interacted more and more with the galaxy, and decided, in her heart, she’d feel more comfortable having a more humanoid form. She can still shapeshift to the dragon form however, when it’s convenient.

#smaugust #smaugust 2022 #dragons #kaiju #mythology #creature design #character design #world building #spinosaurus #tyrannosaurus #pantheons #science fantasy #quetzalcoatl #behemoth #welsh dragon #my art #nazrigart

[ghosts-and-blue-sweaters]

ghostbur and limbobur interaction, no interaction, whatever. just mmmm the parallels and then coexisting in different realms is enough. you can see I am very normal about my bois yes.

They take up 90% of my brain space

VERY GOOD IDEA YES YES!!! I’ve actually been wanting to write about Ghostbur and Wilbur, specifically set in Limbo, so this was a good motivator to actually write that :D

~~~

I seem to be inside a train station, Ghostbur thought, taking in the worn signs and maps posted to the walls and the flickering schedule fixed to the ceiling, pixelated words reading: do you remember what the sun feels like?

As Ghostbur stared, pondering this strange question—of course he remembered what the sun felt like! He felt it on his skin everyday, and he loved to sit and watch it move lazily across the sky, and he quite enjoyed the feeling of warmth on his closed eyelids—a voice broke his thoughts, scattering them like smoke. 

“What are you?”

Ghostbur blinked, turning around.

Across the train tracks, on a platform identical to Ghostbur’s own, stood a man wearing a long brown coat. His eyes were wide, and they were brown.

Brown…

Ghostbur wanted to say hello, and wave, and perhaps talk about the sun, but he did not. 

Instead, he was quiet. 

Strangely, he felt very afraid. 

He felt very afraid. 

“What are you?” The man repeated, voice quivering like leaves in autumn that just barely clung to their branches, always being blown away in the end. He took a step—though forward or backward, Ghostbur couldn’t tell. “Are you a mirage? A vision?”

There was a pause.

“Like a- like an illusion? Like a magic trick?” The man snapped his fingers. “Is a bloody rabbit going to jump out of your hat?”

“I’m not wearing a hat,” Ghostbur murmured, before he could remember that he wanted to stay quiet. 

The man shut his mouth with a snap. 

It seemed as if a chasm greater than train tracks was settled between them. 

Ghostbur still felt very afraid, but he didn’t run. 

“You look- you sound like me. Why do you sound like me?” The man sounded panicked, eyes growing wider and exposing more of the whites inside them. “Why do you look like me? Why do you have my face? Why do you have my freaking face?”

Ghostbur took a small step backwards. 

The man stared at him. His stare was very sharp, almost piercing. Like a sword, or the tip of a knife. 

A thought drifted into Ghostbur’s mind, quiet and heavy and instantaneously right. “Are you Alivebur?”

“What… what’s an Alivebur?”

Ghostbur gazed at the man, tilting his head to the side. 

Wilbur gazed back, swallowing. His forehead was growing shiny with sweat. 

“Is this where you live now?” Ghostbur asked, taking another look around. “In a train station?”

Wilbur paused. “I- yes, in a… train station.”

“Is this what death looks like?” Ghostbur stopped looking around, turning his attention back to Wilbur. Wilbur, the dead man, who died on November sixteenth, which was two and a half weeks ago. 

Wilbur blinked. “You didn’t answer my bloody question.”

“Oh.” Then it was Ghostbur who blinked. “What was-“

“What are you? Are you me? Are you my doppelgänger, my clone? A trick?” Wilbur began to pace, back and forth across his platform. Ghostbur watched him. 

Wilbur’s shoes made very loud clicks against the floor. 

“I think I’m your ghost!” Ghostbur supplied. 

Wilbur’s gait faltered. “My ghost?”

“Yes!” Ghostbur nodded, trying to be excited even though he felt mostly scared. “I’m like you except I don’t do bad things or blow up nations! I don’t start fires!”

Wilbur continued pacing, wringing his hands together. “You don’t start fires?”

“No! I don’t start fires that I can’t put out.” He paused. “I think you did that a lot.”

Wilbur chuckled, though it sounded much more like a choke. “Brilliant. Just brilliant.”

“What is?”

Wilbur stopped walking so suddenly that his coat rushed forward and his hair flopped. He glared at Ghostbur with eyes that were far more dangerous than lightning. “You. Me, this.”

He gestured at the train station, and his sharp hands struck Ghostbur as if he’d been physically hit. Ghostbur flinched.

~~~

There’s actually quite a bit more that I’ve written for this :0 But this was the section that made the most sense, I felt like. Still working on the rest!

This has become a full on fic alsgaksgkafsjs and I’m not too sure when I’ll finish it, so I wanted to go ahead and share at least a bit of what I have :D

#EXCITINGGGGG #I could ramble so much about this but I need to get off tumblr and go to a pizza restaurant lol #BUT I MIGHT RAMBLE LATER HAHA #thank you so much for this prompt!! I hope you like :) #my stories #ask #story snippet #ghostbur #c!wilbur #wilbur soot #DSMP Wilbur #Wilbur DSMP #DSMP ghostbur #ghostbur dsmp

[keyblade-knights-blog]

A Peculiar Dream

......... It's the same dream night after night.

That same ominous figure in the dark. Those same yellow piercing eyes. That strange staff. A sense of timeless horror, the dreamer powerless to do anything about the creature's presence or anything about what it might be doing. And what does it do?

Why... It takes hearts of course.

From various corners untold in a great space, through it's eyes and it's presence, the viewer see's many different and strange places. From the highest mountain tops where great magical beings reside, to the lowest latitudes where murky swamps can be found... But that's not all this creature has seen. It has seen all kinds of strange lands as it's gone about it's many duties; swamplands inhabited by strange anthropomorphic amphibious creatures, immense woodlands filled with secrets and weirdness alike, a peculiar civilization perched upon the remains of a long since dead and decayed giant, an ancient kingdom straight out of history books depicting ancient Mesopotamia, an immense ocean and more. But where-ever it went, the story was always the same. In these worlds, it would find the hearts of fallen warriors. Warriors that gave it their all against unknown forces of great power and unknown origin, teetering between the realm of the living and the Final World of the deceased. And as their bodies, now invisible to the world around them, float between the physical and astral planes, it comes into the scene, gently taking the hearts from the warriors. This causes the bodies to disappear and for normalcy to continue to be held within the world without accidentally coming across the fallen warrior. And this is what the strange monster did. Traveling from world to world, sometimes from town to town; sometimes it would find hearts to collect, sometimes those hearts would be kept from it by figures unknown, more powerful then itself. Yes, indeed. It was a task that it started as far back as the Keyblade War (Whatever that meant), and continued on even to this day... ... And it likely would STILL be continuing on this task had it not been for that boy... ------------------------------------ The day began like any other. That strange, ominous figure was drawn to a great mountain where a warrior had been sent flying after a mighty battle. The warrior was not unlike everyone else it had come across, yet another poor, foolhardy young man, taken well before his time. Ah, but it wasn't for the figure to judge. Just to do it's job- "RIKU!!!" And that was when the trouble started. As it takes the heart, the figure looked down from where the warrior floated.

Down on the ground level? Another young warrior, one's eyes still brimmed with an unmistakable light and life, and curiously, one with eyes wide open... Eyes wide awake. Strange to be sure, but the figure paid the young man no heed, it just did it's job and then quickly left... But no. "HEY WAIT!" "HOLD STILL!" "ENOUGH!!" "STOP THAT!" "HEY!" "HEY STOP!!" Seven times does that boy give chase. Seven times does he cross his sword with the figure's ominous staff. Seven times does their magical skill clash against each other... And each time the two clashed, the figure would lose the heart it was attempting to take, due to the boy soundly defeating it despite it's every effort to escape. When the seventh clash comes and goes... It's finally just too much. The mysterious figure vanishes into the aether, it's body having taken too much punishment and unable to continue on. And when that figure disappears? The Dreamer feels it again. Hope. Optimism... Opportunity. So the dreamer travels. It travels and travels and travels and travels... Well away from the places he/she/they once knew...

Until, one day, they finally find- "Gabe! Gabriel wake up! Gaaaaabe!" -? Huh-? ------------------------------------------------- Light. Illumination. Blinding... Awakening... "May your Heart be your Guiding Key, my stubborn little student~."

#a new beginning #Kingdom Hearts #Treasure Planet #The Lich #Heartless #Post!KH3

[telemna-hyelle]

Since it is WIP Wednesday I think I'll post a little bit of one of my current projects.

So some of you may have heard of The Saga of Hilda, aka my lorulian history focusing on the lorulian counterparts to the Chain?

This is about them! It's showing why Ravio was in Legend's house in Hoarder of Legend, and what was going on behind the scenes.

Explanation for the AU here X X

“Did… anyone hear a door close?”

It was Realm who said it. Not surprisingly, as in his world he had to always be on guard, listening for the sound of Miharu tech spying on him.

They all froze.

Sol scowled, orange eyes narrowing sharply. “Of course we have to be here on the one day that some idiot decides to break into the hero’s house.”

Magic cleared his throat, lifting one finger. “Technically,” he said, drawing out the word, “aren’t we breaking into the Hero’s House?”

“Of course not!” Myth said, perhaps a bit more breezily than he had the right to. “I have partial rights over this house.”

Ages turned to glance at Myth, carefully arching an eyebrow. “You tricked him into signing something, didn’t you.”

Myth’s gaze shifted to one side. “…Why are we standing around here when Mr. Hero’s house is being invaded?”

“Windows, everybody,” Sea said, picking up the Sovereign Blade from where he had leaned it against the wall. Swords was already moving in that direction, anticipating Sea’s order, and a moment later he let out a gasp.

“…Link?”

Myth changed directions from the original window he was headed towards, running over to where Swords stood. “Are you sure? You’ve never met—” He looked out the window, and a gusty sigh of relief whooshed out. “That’s not Link, that’s some other guy.”

“So it is a burglar?” Flame asked with a faint quaver in his voice.

Ages leaned forward to look, smiling and setting a firm hand on Flame’s shoulder as he did. “Even if it is, we have surprise, skill, and numbers. We can handle it.”

He then looked out the window, blinked, and frowned. “…doesn’t he look like you, Swords?”

“That’s what I was trying to say!” Swords’ voice was somewhat strangled with surprise. “He’s my Link. From the war!”

“Wait, really?” Sol leaned forward, once again taking advantage of the fact that he was the tallest. “…you’re kidding me, it is him.”

“What’s he doing here?” Myth yelped, his Sheerow leaping in surprise. “This is nowhere near his timeline!”

“Do you think this could be from the war?” Sea asked, eyebrows furrowing.

“…Maybe.” Swords said slowly. “But he looks… a little different than I remember. Almost… older?”

“Hey,” Lorule said quietly, “The little guy next to him looks a lot like One.”

Everyone’s gaze swung down to stare at their smallest member.

Their stomachs dropped when they saw the near-painful lack of a smirk on his face.

“That’s him.” One said quietly, glancing away to one side. “That’s the Hero of Four.”

Myth’s gaze bounced from Swords, to the Hero of Warriors, to the Hero of Four, and back to One.

Then he threw his hands into the air. “Just what in the love of silver rupees is going on here?”

Sea leaned on the Sovereign Blade, eyes sharp. “Maybe… if we’re going on an adventure across time and space… who’s to say our counterparts aren’t, either?”

There were a few brief moments of silence as the Ravios soaked this in. Some of them were awestruck, their eyes glittering with excitement at the thought of getting the chance to met their counterparts. A couple (Sea and Magic) were looking at One in concern. Ages and Swords, on the other hand, were giving Sol very careful looks.

Sol grinned, though the expression was sharp and not very pleasant at all. “So would you say the hero of Twilight is here?”

#the saga of hilda #linked universe #linked universe au #lu ravio #tellie writes stuff #my fanfics #wip wednesday

[liminalpebble]

The Refugee: Chapter 42

Series Masterlist 

As her slap stung his cheek, Loki snapped back into action, nodding his understanding. 

He summoned her armor and swords. She magicked them onto her body as Loki stormed out to raise the alarm for all the protectorate armies to be summoned to the front lines. Lea followed him, nearly running into him as he abruptly grabbed her wrists tightly.

“Loki! What are you doing? Let me go.”

He said to her, breathlessly, “That's exactly what I'm doing, darling,” as the runes around her wrists glowed into visibility and then fizzled away.

“What...Loki?”

He held her face in his hands, watching her with mournful eyes. “Lenora, I've just released you from the terms of the Ancient Contest, and every other spell I've placed to keep you as my prisoner. You're free, Lenora. You're no longer my captive. I release you. I'm going to send you somewhere safe and I won't let you come back, just as I did with Magnus.”

“Don't you dare, Loki! Don't you dare! I have to defend this town. You need me to win this war,” she nearly screamed.

“I need you to be safe!” he growled out. “ I need my darkness to never touch you again, even if it means losing you forever.” “That is NOT your choice to make! I've had enough of you making everyone else's choices for them, all because you think you know better. Loki, this is madness!”

He growled out, screaming now, “ I do know better! I did know better, Lea. I've been ten steps ahead when no one else would listen...and then it was too late. I failed Frigga. I failed Magnus. I failed Asgard. I WILL NOT fail you too.”

“You do not know better than me, Loki Laufeyson!” she rebuked evenly and firmly, then held his chin gently and made him meet her eyes. “You had the advantage in this war because I am every bit as smart as you. Don't pretend you don't need me!”

He shook his head.  “Of course I need you. You have no idea how deeply I need you, but I can't condemn you to stay with me.” His face contorted into a look of terrible pain, as he suddenly held her tight in his arms, kissing her deeply and desperately. Tears were streaming from his sea glass eyes as he said, “Goodbye, my little empress. I love you...always.”

“Wait! Loki!” she screamed as, with unbelievable speed, he opened a portal behind her and shoved her into it. The breath was squeezed violently from her lungs as she tumbled backwards through the gleaming rabbit hole of space, finally smacking into soft soil and grass.

---

She righted herself, head throbbing. She immediately tried to open a portal and slammed into it over and over again, trying to go back, but to no avail. Eventually, she laid prone on her back in the grass trying force her jostled brain to think of what else needed to be done, pushing the feelings away as hard as she could.

The timeline! she suddenly thought with panic, and used what was left of her magic energy to check it. Lenora breathed a heavy sight of relief. Her temporal protections were in place, and time would flow here (wherever “here” was) as it did in her own realm. Loki must not have had the time to do to her what he'd done to Magnus. Still laying down, she tried to summon the last of her magic for one last attempt, but only found a faint fizzle of purple dying out across her fingertips. She closed her eyes and smacked her head back in her helmet and against ground. As she punched the earth with her angry fist, she hissed bitterly, “Dramatic mewling quwim,” then added in a gentle whisper, “I love you, too”.

“Lea?”

She heard her name through her daze. It was a familiar bright lilting voice she would recognize anywhere. “Magnus!” She gasped in disbelief, trying to get to her feet and feeling immediately dizzy.

“NO no no. Stay there. Stay there,” he said, seeing she was clearly disoriented, running across his back garden to tumble to his knees and embrace her. “Lea. Oh god. I've missed you. Are you okay? What happened?”

“Magnus! I've been trying to make a portal and get back. The Jotun are invading but Loki pushed me through and sent me here and...and I need to...”

He interrupted her. “Lea,” he held her hand, in what felt like a bedside manner; giving a patient bad news. “Lea. Listen to me. It's no use...believe me. I tried. And your power is gone, anyway. You need to rest now. Come inside.”

She looked around wide-eyed to take in her alien surroundings, and discovered she was in a quaint fenced-in backyard behind a white house with a thatched roof. She sat in the epicenter of a trampled dormant vegetable patch, which she assumed was her doing.

“Fuck. I'm sorry, Magnus.”

“For what, Lea? The tomatoes?” he laughed hard. “It's fine, they're out of season anyway.”

Despite the distress, they both began to laugh hysterically at the absurd scene Loki had put them in; Magnus in his grass-stained, bunny-print pajamas, and Lea still in her armor, streaked with mud.

When she could breath she said, between hysterical peals of laughter, “I'm so happy to see you...and I'm so fucking confused.”

“Come inside. It's cold out here, and still the wee hours. I wouldn't want to explain this to the neighbors.”

When they entered the doorway, limping forward with Magnus as a crutch, Lea was met by coats and boots and mud-mats. When she looked up, she saw a stunning blonde woman in a bathrobe holding a baby. She thought for a moment how strange it was for anyone to look so perfect after being jolted awake in the middle of the night.

“Astrid...This is Lea! Loki...um...well...he sent her here.”

“Lea!” Astrid gasped, “Oh my god, I'm so glad to meet you!” she said with a huge dimpled smile, but still looked clearly baffled by the surreal sight before her. Still in armor and covered in mud, Lea fumbled to magic it away, remembering with embarrassment that she was out of magical energy.

Surprisingly, taking it all in stride, Astrid said casually, “Wait here. I'll find you some clothes and you can take a shower.” In a moment she was back with a neat pile of clothing and towels. “The bathroom is just that way.”

“Thank you, Astrid. I'm very glad to meet you too...and uh...I'm so sorry about...whatever the hell this is” she said, awkwardly.

“It's no trouble!” she said brightly as if this wasn't breathtakingly odd. “I was up feeding the baby anyway.”

A little later, they had settled around the kitchen table in the darkness of early morning, sipping tea and eating toast. Lea was silent for a long while, stunned by the foreignness of her surroundings and the unfamiliar sensation of Midgardian clothes on her still trembling body.

Astrid reached out and held her hand, “I know. It's a lot to take in. It was for Magnus and I as well.”

Magnus nodded in confirmation. “I was a mess. But as you can see Astrid handles a bizarre crisis well...and I was certainly a bizarre crisis.” He smiled, messy-haired and drowsy, which gave Lea's heart an aching little thump of mournful memory and affection.

“As elated as I am to see you...all of you. I have to get back. I have to...”

“Lea.” Magnus held her other hand. “You can't. Not unless he lets you. His enchantments are strong. Stronger than both Astrid's and my own. And you've had magic for a lot less time than we have. He's the best at making and locking hidden pathways between realms which only he can navigate.”

Lea shook her head. “I can't just give up.”

Astrid looked to her kindly, seriously. “We'll think of something together. We'll find a solution.”

As Lea smiled to the gorgeous woman, taking her in more fully, she was finally able to turn her attention to the strawberry blonde head of the baby peaking above Astrid's arms. Lea stared with adoration and awe, saying breathlessly, looking to both of them. “Your...your child?”

Magnus beamed with pride. “Yes, Lea,” he said, and added warmly, “her name is Nora”.

Lea smiled, and gasped, dark eyes misting over. “She's beautiful.”

Astrid excused herself to get some more sleep, graciously giving Magnus and Lea time to talk privately, knowing they would have much to discuss.

Magnus finally broke the silence between them, inquiring, “So, is...my situation...a shock to you?” gesturing upstairs to where Astrid and Nora had returned to sleep.

Lea gathered her thoughts a moment.  “Your family?Ah...no. No, Loki showed me. I was in recuperative sleep for three months and then he...made a show of it when I woke up.”

Magnus exhaled slowly. “God, Lea. I'm so so sorry. I'm sure that was awful for you...monstrous of him to... I so sorry...I tried. I really did. But after several years...”

“No...no. Magnus. Don't you dare apologize. I'm so proud of you for doing as we promised.”

The relief spreading across Magnus' face was palpable.

“I've just missed my best friend.” She said, almost childlike, tears welling in the corners of her eyes.

“I've missed mine as well.” Magnus said, crying openly and hugging her tightly.

Before her tears could begin to fall she inhaled a fortifying breath and released him, suddenly standing and purposefully finding tasks to do. Now that her magic had recovered, she cleaned her armor and swords with it and magicked them safely away to her pocket universe. Magnus watched her, knowing her well enough to simply let her distract herself as she needed to until her threatening panic subsided. It brought a small smile to his lips, knowing that she was very much the same person in all her idiosyncratic ways he'd come to love.

When she finished her tasks, Lea began staring blankly around the house and pacing, Magnus reached his hand out to her as she passed in another lap. “Lea, come sit down.” he said gently.

She sat carefully, then suddenly began to weep in great gasping sobs as Magnus came closer to hug her and pat her back. “It's okay, lovie. Let it all out,” he said quietly. She met his eyes and they gave each other wan sad smiles, but then Magnus' face suddenly contorted into a look of abject fear as storm clouds of dark blue smoke billowed around her, enveloping her as she screamed his name.

“Lea!” he screamed, panicked, reaching out to her just as her hand vanished in a flash: her body withdrawn with the portal and leaving no trace.

----

The icy eyes of the Heksejotun melted back to their glowing vermilion as they lowered their heads once again within their ragged cowls. Their search concluded as the small Morhari woman collapsed on the icy flagstones of Laufey's throne room.

The gigantic king stepped slowly from his mountainous throne, feet thundering against each step of the staircase. Lenora felt her heart beat with the same level of percussive force, as she scrambled a little further away from the throne. Laufey stilled before the gathered Heksejotun, addressing them, “Very well done, my most loyal ones. The reach and power of your sight never fails to impress me. You will be richly rewarded for this bounty. Dismissed.”

Even in the midst of her daze, she chillingly realized that despite the enormous gritty rumble of his baritone voice, it sounded very much like his son's. He addressed her saying, “Stand, Lenora of the Morhari. Meet my eyes. I've been very eager to meet you. We've been watching you for some time.”

She shivered uncontrollably; the biting cold and the fear pulsing through her body as she had never felt before. Laufey's form began to shrink as he shape-shifted himself to a stature more comparable to her own, though he was still twice her height, and clearly strong enough to snap her in half if he chose to. He set one enormous finger under her chin to force her to meet his eyes as he lowered his face closer to hers; those glowing crimson lamps boring into her as she trembled.  

“Hmm. So I have you to thank for foiling my ambush of the Vanir. That was frustrating, certainly, but I have to admit, you earned my admiration that day. My discarded bastard has certainly chosen a lovely and intelligent creature for himself, though Morhari are such fragile little beings, weaker even than Asgardians.” He watched her shiver and smiled the same sadistic, menacing smile his son had inherited. “I've heard the Morhari homeland was a warm place, and Morhari bodies do not easily bear the touch of cold.” He stroked her cheek, and she winced, proving his point. “A shame really. I can't abide damaging you after I've worked so hard to find you. You're much too valuable.”

He began to circle her like prey before gusting an icy whisper straight into her ear. “Tell me, Lenora, how did you ever bear his cold touch as his concubine?”

She glared up at him, meeting his eyes and giving nothing away. “Your Majesty, I was his prisoner not his concubine. Were I his concubine I imagine my abuse would have been less.

Unfazed by her response, he summoned a warm cloak from thin air and wrapped it around her. “Call it what you will. In any case, you are his weakness and you will be the key to my victory.”

She found the strength to speak again, choosing her words carefully. “I wouldn't count on that. If you've been watching, you should know. I'm his captive. I've been nothing but a toy for his sadism, lust, and cruelty, and a resource for his war. We've nearly murdered each other. The only reason I still breathe is because the monster likes to play with his food, apparently, and because I am useful. If you think he loves me...would walk into a trap for me...you are sorely mistaken. The only thing Loki truly loves is power.”

Laufey grimaced, the leathery blue ridges in his skin expanding and contracting as his sharp face moved with thought. He looked skeptical, but not altogether unconvinced. “Hmm. We'll see. Won't we, little Morhari?”At a wave of his hand, the grating of the floor beneath her opened, plummeting her into a large, dark pit. She crashed into a thick layer of snow which broke her fall. The only light came from above where Laufey crouched down, to peer through the grating. He was in silhouette, red eyes piercing the darkness like flames, before he walked out of her line of sight.

As her eyes adjusted, Lea saw the outline of a latticed metal grate recessed into one wall. Behind it, a growl echoed through the cavern, shivering her bones with dread as two gigantic red eyes opened to glare at her through the bars. As she tried to summon her magic, the white heat of a hex burned through her hands, letting her know with certainty that she had no power here...no power of any kind for that matter. She was doomed to do nothing but wait for the gears of Laufey's sinister plans to revolved around her, bide her time, and make plans of her own.

@gigglingtigger @goblingirlsarah @sweetsigyn @unlucky-number-13 @peaches1958 @lokisgoodgirl @thenerdyoldersister @thedistractedagglomeration

#loki fanfic

[catreginae]

Hey hey!

What’s the state of Modern Hyrule? Like is it like our world and has no magic? Are there hospital built around fairy fountains? Are there still Zora, Gorons and Ritos?

Also does Warriors ever meet the other Chain members’ reincarnate? Like someone that looks similar to Sky or Wind?

It's complicated.

A lot of magical beings moved to their own realm, created by the power of the Triforce at some point because they were concerned about technological advances and wanted their own space. The magic realm is still connected to Hyrule because they still feed of each other. Energy has to move between both realms. One can go from Hyrule to the magic realm and back again, so long as you happen to know where a portal is (they're well hidden and can be closed).

Everyone in Hyrule, and the other countries, are all aware the magic is a thing, they just can't really use it. They know there's magic because vampires are still a thing and know there was magic, but also because there was a lot of magical artifacts that were recovered. These are all sitting in a museum! The Master Sword is there actually, and the museum is built around it.

The job Warriors had to travel to the future is actually keeping the peace and balance between Hyrule and the other realm. Not all magical creatures there are benevolent and will sometimes try to drag people into the magic realm or otherwise cause some sort of chaos. Additionally, if one of the realms fails, the other will be soon to follow.

The other races would still be there! They would probably look a bit different but they are there!

And finally, the others do reincarnate but they haven't all been there at the same time. Warriors usually leaves them be, unless he somehow ended up in their life on accident (like when Warriors ended up teaching Time in high school). They don't remember him anyway. By the time of the AU though, the rest of the chain is there and they all know each other! Warriors takes this as A Sign and begins to worm his way into their lives (mostly through his half-vampire protege).

He hopes that introducing the chain to magic again, especially if he introduces them to some important items from their past lives, they might actually remember a time where they used to be friends, brothers, and heroes.

#ask #anon #catreginae: thou shalt not die #linked universe #linkeduniverse