the judge of the saints

lesser key of st. byleth.

[saintbyleth]

This blog is a collection of original, short writing and other personal projects. I like fantasy.

Feel free to use any works tagged "writing prompt" as, well, a writing prompt! No need go credit, but I'd love to see your works.

Main blog is @capriciousvisage. Itch is saintbyleth.

[siberian-nymphae]

Rome, Italy 2025

[cloth-fabric]

Ujoh - fw26

[velvetcloak]

robert wun | fall 2026

[abramovicinstitute]

Dead End (2015) by Sjoerd Martens

[texaschainsawmascara]

Fallen Angels with Bound Wings, Litvinova Julia (2016)

[dionysian-mystery]

Wikipedia / Image from pinterest / Machiavelli / George Santayana / Thucydides / Image from pinterest / Abba - Waterloo / J. M. Barrie - Peter Pan / Fibonacci spiral / Catherynne M. Valente

[design-is-fine]

Glas Hanging lamp, 1930s. Astor Galleries, USA.

[wxmatija]

[requiem-on-water]

All the things I sleepwalk past, I now witness by Female Pentimento (Nathaniel)

[mirkokosmos]

[saintbyleth]

A Brief History of Divine Instruments, Vol. 1

Prior to his desertion, Lieutenant Colonel Anre Diehs had been known as a genius strategist and cutthroat leader with few allies, even within his own regiment. When he was twenty-three, Diehs became a Captain, making him eligible for the Naming ritual and subsequently for obtaining his first Divine Instrument. Unfortunately, for an undisclosed reason, this ritual failed. Diehs seemingly did not attempt the ritual again until he became a Lieutenant Colonel. This one, however, succeeded, and Diehs bonded with Divine Instrument 1a059, which he would give the name “Halcyon.”

Almost exactly forty-five days after bonding with 1a059, Diehs disappeared during a harsh winter. The disappearance was officially ruled as desertion.

A Brief History of Divine Instruments, Vol. 1 is a short piece of interactive fiction written for the Single Choice Jam 2024. Though I had all month, I somehow only worked on it in two days after finally deciding what to do.

There is one choice. Please choose wisely, and don't look.

Approximately 6000 words. Please see game page for a list of credits and content warnings.

Play on Itch.io here!

[saintbyleth]

Unearthed Notes, Part 1

The general populace of Mithral erroneously believed that the Divine Instruments were once human. They hailed the Instruments as heroes just as much as they did those who wielded them. “They gave their lives in service for us,” they would say, “so we should honor them and thank them.”

Of course, anyone with even the slightest inkling of being privy to the internal workings of the Heavenly Army would say that was a falsehood—the Divine Instruments were made of metal and magic. They were forged, built, otherwise created to serve, entirely from scratch. Beginning as simple weapons imbued with a certain spell, they were not even given their public, human forms (named “Vessels”) until they were Named by their Host. This “Vessel” was given as a matter of convenience; in a sense, however, they doubled as the Army's greatest morale boost.

The Naming ritual had been described by others in the field as “intense” and “rigorous”. Every green man in the Army laughed off the warnings, refusing to heed them, until they achieved the necessary rank and went through it themselves. Cyclical, they then warned the ones next in line, though this warning was often, as expected, disregarded.

Once an active member of the Army was promoted to Captain, they were allowed to go through the ritual. “Allowed” may be a bit of a misnomer—though the option to decline receiving a Divine Instrument was there, there was not one person who refused. Everyone wanted a Divine Instrument. Many people who volunteered for enlistment would cite “obtaining a Divine Instrument of my own” as a leading reason for their choice. As one achieved further Full Ranks, they were granted additional Divine Instruments, each with a Naming ritual of their own, with the maximum seemingly five. The God-General—the highest rank of the Heavenly Army and leader of Mithral—had an average of eleven at any given point in time, though they are often cited as an exception to the rule.

Those of lower rank, before one had attained the minimum of Captain, were given mass-produced weapons similar to Divine Instruments but of lesser power—more expendable, saved resources. These “Conceptual Instruments” were easy to make in larger quantities; they were Named by the Forgemaster (though their “names” were, more often than not, simple serials) and their human vessels all looked alike, rather than being tailored to an individual Host. Perhaps the most important difference, however, was this: Because the Conceptual Instruments were not bonded to their human wielder through the Naming ritual, they lacked what many described as a “soul”.

The details of the ritual itself were not made public.

⸻

There were three known default forms that Divine Instruments were known to have when utilized as weapons. These defaults were formally classified as “Casts” and they defined what abilities a Divine Instrument could have. Though all abilities were not guaranteed across all Instruments within a singular Cast, the abilities themselves were of a similar nature. For instance, those of the “Projected Cast” were generally known to have abilities that involved, as the name suggests, projectiles such as bullets, arrows, and the like.

The word “Cast” is said to have originated from an archaic forging process, where materials were often “casted” into molds, cooled, then removed to create different things, such as weapons. Since the default forms of Divine Instruments—these Casts—only describe the potential abilities one may expect, many agree it is a relatively apt word.

Before a Divine Instrument was given a Name, their Cast influenced their appearance. All of one Cast appeared in the same form; it was only after the Naming ritual that they took on individualized countenances, influenced by their Host's wishes as well as the Name chosen.

The four Casts are as follows:

Projected Cast: Those of this Cast possessed abilities related to projectiles, including, but not limited to, bullets, arrows, and bombs.

Bladed Cast: Those of this Cast were typically bladed, though the length of the blade seemed to differ between Instruments, ranging from swords to spears.

Shielded Cast: Those of this Cast excelled in defensive abilities and most often took the appearance of various shields and walls.

Activated Cast: By far the Cast with the most differences among Instruments, though they are all magical catalysts, such as staves.

The fourth and final Cast, Activated, had been created when people began to favor using magic and magic-adjacent abilities over physical ones, in order to expand on the usage of magic. For instance, a Projected Cast may be able to shoot arrows made of fire, which were not physical entities, but an Activated Cast with similar abilities may be able to shoot orbs made of fire or create a barrier of flame to trap others in. As such, Activated Casts may still share many qualities of the other Casts, though the other three Casts may overlap with one another, even minimally. Because of this overlap, it is believed that Casts were not hard and fast classifications but rather insight into a specific Divine Instrument's specialization.

Conceptual Instruments lacked such specialization, and many colloquially referred to them as “Prototype Casts”. This was never an official term, and it may have been used in a derogatory manner.

⸻

FILE: 1a059 NAME: Halcyon CAST: [LEFT BLANK—WAS THIS INTENTIONAL?] FORM: Typically, a sword made of light; has been know[LOST]

PARAMETERS:

Strength: B Agility: EX Endurance: A Mana: EX

HOST: Colonel A. Diehs ASSIMILATION: 97.3% (The high rate of Assimilation is approaching a dangerous threshold… Please keep an eye out for any fluctuations and administer Ethers as necessary. Ideally, we want this to be under 89%. If this passes 98%, immediately administer [LOST]

NOTE: Instrument 1a059 is highly dangerous. Please exe[LOST] NOTE: It has gone on record before that Instrument 1a059 has claimed he is [LOST]

The rest of the document has been too damaged to read.

⸻

DESIGNATION: 5227 ORIGIN: Seston STATION: Unknown, currently MIA; last seen at [LOST]

NAME: Anre Diehs RANK: Colonel AGE: 34 GENDER: Male

INSTRUMENT: 1a059, “Halcyon” ASSIMILATION: 97.3% (DO NOT ALLOW FURTHER ASSIMILATION. MONITOR HEAVILY FOR CHANGES AND FLUCTUATIONS.) — No other known Instruments.

ACCOLADES: [LOST]

NOTE: The Instrument of (1a059) [LOST] NOTE: Whereabouts unknown since last winter. He may already be [LOST]

The rest of the document has been too damaged to read.

[saintbyleth]

"Eternally ephemeral" was what the gate outside this tower had read. I'd been told not to cross the threshold, but that was centuries ago...but it may have also been just yesterday.

[saintbyleth]

The wolves howl every night, at precisely ten in the evening. Their songs had brought me comfort during the frequent blizzards when I first moved out here, but recently they've started to sound more desperate.

[saintbyleth]

I had dozed on the train, being made to get off at the end of the line—an unfamiliar station in such disrepair it was astonishing it even still stood. A single magpie in the distance, having watched me disembark, seemed to beckon me into the forest of trees I didn’t recognize.

[saintbyleth]

Miracles were expensive when you chose to go the legal route of requesting one. You could buy them cheaper underground, and the risk of them being fake was something many people took.

[saintbyleth]

Unable to grow a garden of my dreams after moving into the city, I contented myself with visiting the conservatory as often as possible. There was always one plant—one no one could remember the name of—whose petals always seemed to curl towards me whenever I entered the room.