This is just a lil side writing blog for myself! I wanted to post my writing somewhere and I was starting to not like blogger so much, so here I am!
Just a lil guide to help you around my blog:
Pretty much every post will have a tag with what story I'm writing about, and I'll give a brief summery on each story a bit further down. Posts will also be tagged with what characters are in them, since ones like Luenia have characters that are not always all present in each piece.
That being said, here's each story that I primarily write.
Red String:
Red string is a story about reincarnations of the same two people. Calopus and Fengshuang are gods, but due to complications with another god they had to take mortal forms and run away. Throughout their time as mortals, they have no memory of being gods or any of their previous lives. However to make sure they always find each other, the Fengshuang enchanted a string and tied it to each of their fingers.
Masquerade for Two:
A prince and his favourite soldier. Antonio is the prince and leader of a kingdom that's about to go to war with the neighboring one. Leone is a simple thief who was forced to join the military as a form of punishment. They met at a masquerade ball before the war, where Leone met Antonio, who was under the guise of a simple noble man.
The thief, the mage and the soldier:
When the thief is cursed by a forest spirit, he leaves very suddenly to explore the world before the curse claims his life. When he fears he's nearing the end, he returns back to his home town. Reuniting with his childhood best friends the mage and the soldier, he is trying his best to hide the curse from at least one of them.
Luenia:
This story is the hardest for me to write, with a whopping 12 characters being involved. A group of friends visit a popup market, where a vendor offers to give them a trial of his Arcana's craft he was selling. Little did they know that it would suck them into a real life game of dungeons and dragons, where the threats against their lives is very real.
Cult of Voluptas:
3 childhood friends meet once again, however much has changed since they all last seen each other. Zadimus and Leviathan are vespires, vesper (demons) and vampire hybrids, and are rather shunned in society for it. Through sheer whims and desperation for acceptance, they start a cult. It's a rather...non PG cult. Aether, a childhood friend, suddenly meets up with Leviathan one day and he is introduced to their world. Let's just say he can't quite tell if he likes it or not.
Had the sudden urge to write about Maverick's nightmares and Lawrence being devastated in gay.
Lil bit of context, Maverick was in a war that was hundreds of years ago, and he was experimented on by the enemy forces and became an absolute unit of a super weapon that backfired on them. He got put into stasis at one point in his life, and wasn't found until modern day due to his facility going into ruins. Lawrence is a specialized nurse for abnormal anatomy, and was assigned to Maverick's case. Lawrence basically became a live in nurse while Maverick was stabilizing and they grew very close.
Realised mid writing this I might need to add a lil content warning. This piece is gonna include some violence, descriptions of blood, and lightly described major injury involving an organ. As well as alcohol
The dust blew in clouds around him, a bright glow emanating from inside them. The halos of pure power lit up Maverick's form, his uniform replaced with simple clothes from his imprisonment. There were huge gashes in both the fabric and his skin. He was heaving from the energy output from his violent outburst.
The building that once stood was decimated before him, and bodies of those who couldn't flee in time littered the ground and collapsed walls. Bright colours stained the once pristine facility, ranging from deep blues to the bright reds that had filled the veins of his captors.
A faint rustling made Maverick snap to attention, his head swinging to face the noise. He wasted no time walking towards the source, the rubble crunching below his feet. A familiar form lay before him on the ground, and unbridled rage flared from the halos.
Purple eyes fluttered open, staring directly at the tall form that stood above. Maverick could see the terror that filled them. The rubble pinned the purple blood to the ground, and any attempts to push it off proved futile as Maverick crouched down.
"Maverick-" He started speaking, but was caught off by agonizing pain. His mouth agape, eyes making direct contact with Mavericks.
Pure blue energy created claws on Maverick's hand, dried splotches of colour were now covered by a vibrant purple liquid. His hand was buried in his ex lover's chest, gripped around his heart as he yanked it back out. Barely audible sputters were all that he could hear, before it was once again silent.
Maverick finally came back to his senses, and stared at his hand that was drenched in blood. The sight was sickening, his head was spinning. He brought his hands to his head, holding the sides of his face as he stared at the destruction and death he had caused. The blood smeared across his snout and temples, dripping off of his hand.
The terrain around him suddenly changed.
He was back in his cell.
Standing in front of him was his ex lover. Piercing purple eyes glowed in the shadows of the small cell. A hole gouged in his chest where Maverick had torn out his heart, it was pouring with an endless supply of blood onto the concrete floor.
Maverick felt the room closing in on him, the walls becoming smaller and smaller. He crumpled himself onto the ground, appealing to the room at was shrinking around him. The purple blood poured faster, filling the small space until he was drowning in it. His hyperventilating proved problematic as he breathed in the blood, his vision was blinded by the colour.
Maverick gasped awake, the sweat was cold against his fur and skin. His blankets were strewn about, most likely from him thrashing around in his sleep. He brought his knees to his chest, one arm gripped around them while the other was buried in his hair. The dark and silent room now faintly sounded of light sobs.
The door opened and bright orange fur poked through. Maverick didn't move his head from it's spot in his arms as Lawrence entered the room. This was a sight he knew all too well. Another one of Maverick's nightmares.
He briskly walked to the bed, turning on a lamp on the bedside table to provide some light. Lawrence crawled onto the bed, seating himself next to Maverick's side.
"Hey, breathe. You're alright" He gently pulled Maverick's body towards his own, until his head lay on his chest. Lawrence wrapped one arm around his torso, while the other brushed it's fingers through Maverick's hair soothingly. "Which one tonight?"
For a few moments Maverick just silently cried, and he hated it. He felt weak, he shouldn't need to be comforted from a stupid dream. But despite what his thoughts told him, he greatly appreciated this. He leaned his head into Law's hands a little. Taking deep shaky breathes he managed to get control of his breathing again.
Maverick finally gathered himself enough to speak. "...It was when I went haywire. I decimated the whole building" He held back more sobs, forcing them down. He refused to cry more than he already had. "I see him too, his bloodied corpse. I just hurt everybody"
"Because they did horrible things to you that your body wasn't built to handle"
"You weren't in control of your actions, remember? The things they did to you caused you to be in a state where you couldn't control anything"
"Because I was weak."
Maverick couldn't argue, he didn't have the energy to. He resorted to letting out a frustrated sigh and sunk further into Lawrence's embrace.
A part of his brain screamed at him for even letting someone touch him, let alone hold him. The ruthless Maverick, brought to shambles by a simple nightmare and was now being held and comforted by a damn nurse.
But another part wanted to stay here forever. Wanted to be held and soothed. Was terrified of the never ending nightmares that haunted his sleep. Wanted someone to be there for him.
And with that wanting was another deep rooted fear of hurting someone he cared for. As much as he hated to admit it, he cared deeply for Lawrence.
The thought of this brought the image of his ex lover, a bloodied mess with his heart gouged out back into his mind. The thought that at any time he could snap and do that to Lawrence turned his stomach.
He felt a gentle shake on his shoulder.
"Maverick? You want me to make something for you? I can get you tea, or something to eat?" Law moved a hand away preparing to get up, but Maverick grabbed it.
Maverick could hear Lawrence's heartbeat from his spot leaning into his chest. The steady rhythm lulled him as he slowly started to drift back into sleep. Lawrence returned to gently stroking his hair.
"....stay" Maverick still wasn't looking at Lawrence, but he could sense some of his fear still lingering.
"Ok, I'll stay"
In his half asleep state, Maverick shifted his body and wrapped his arms around Lawrence's torso. His head still in it's spot, listening to Law's heart. Finally sleep had reclaimed Maverick, and his breathing slowed.
Lawrence considered getting up from Maverick's bed and heading back to his own room, however he feared reawakening him as he was firmly grasped.
Lawrence smiled, pressing his snout into Maverick's hair for a moment. When he was first given this assignment, he was rather peeved about it. He was the director for his sector, yet he was tasked as a stay in nurse by the higher ups. Though now? He's glad to have had the opportunity. Over the past couple months he had grown closer to Maverick. He felt a bit of pride in the fact that Maverick trusted him enough to tell him about his nightmares, and even hold him like this. Back at the facilities, Maverick barely even spoke to anyone making it more difficult to treat him.
Drowsiness finally caught up to Lawrence, being that he awoke in the middle of the night due to Mavericks thrashing. Maybe the next morning Lawrence could finally bring his feelings up to Maverick. He tightened his grasp on Maverick's sleeping form as he drifted off into his own sleep.
-
His plan of talking to Maverick did not go as he thought however.
"Lawrence-" Maverick could barely even form words to argue his point. "I'm dangerous. I'll hurt you"
"Maverick I don't believe you would hurt me, you haven't even hurt anybody since we first found you" Lawrence was in disbelief at how much one man could seem to hate themselves. He was so believing that he didn't deserve anything good.
"And what if that changes? I'm a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off, you heard the general" Maverick was widely gesturing to himself, he put the table between himself and Lawrence to keep his distance.
"I saw him pinned in the rubble, he couldn't move. He was so fucking terrified of me" Maverick was looking down towards the ground now. "And I looked at him, helpless and injured. Like it was stupid fucking revenge for being backstabbed, I tore his heart out with my bare hands"
"The general is a prick who only think of you as a weapon. You're a living person Maverick, what makes you think that you don't deserve as much as anyone else? You've loved once before, you can do it again"
"Because I killed the one I loved!" Maverick's halos appeared for a moment as he yelled, flaring with magic. They startled Lawrence and Maverick stumbled backwards a little in panic.
Lawrence could only stare, as no words would form from his mouth.
"I am a danger to everyone, and if I ever did something like that to you I-" Maverick cut himself short. Flashes of memories and his nightmares appeared in his head. He didn't even want to begin to think about hurting Lawrence.
"Maverick, I don't care-"
"Get out of the house"
-
Lawrence stared at him, flabbergasted. "What?"
"Leave. If I can't talk sense into you about this, then you need to leave"
Maverick once again found himself stood in the rubble of the facility he was held captive in. The reoccurring dream running it's course. The assorted colours of blood, the bodies, the collapsed walls. Right on cue, he heard a rustling and his head snapped in the direction of the sound.
His feet pulled him to the source. In his daze he's barely coherent enough to tell he's even moving in the first place.
Purple eyes meet him. He's straddled the body that was pinned under the rubble. The struggle and pleas start, and just as quickly they end as Maverick just like the other times plunges his clawed hand into his chest to rip out his heart.
But tonight was different.
Red blood dripped from his hand, pouring out of the wound and onto the ground. A bright red that did not match that of his ex lover's.
Maverick was freed from his daze finally. He stared at the red on his hand in horror. He shakily lifted his gaze to the face of the body under him. Rather than the black fur with bright purple eyes, he was met with a familiar vibrant orange pelt, and blue eyes.
Maverick stared at the body of Lawrence in horror, making the mistake of putting his hands up to his face once again getting the blood all over him.
Maverick awoke shaking. He brought a hand to his mouth, trying and failing to choke back his sobs. He curled up into the corner of his bed, tightly gripping a pillow to his chest.
The bright red blood rose all around him, flooding his vision.
He tried to remember what Lawrence would tell him.
Maverick took a deep breath, shakily exhaling. But his sobs would return and mess up his breathing again. He didn't know how to calm himself down, not when the images of Lawrence dead at his hands kept coming back into his mind.
Breathe
Remember where you are
You're home not out there
He decided to deal with this the only way he knew how to. He slowly made his way to the kitchen, opening a glass cabinet that held a few bottles of assorted alcohols. He grabbed a bottle of whiskey by the neck, gripping it with such strength he almost thought he broke it for a moment. He popped the cap and took a large swig, it burned his throat as it went down.
On his way back to his room, he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. One of Lawrence's long coats was draped over a chair, must've being forgotten there a while ago. He stared at it for a few moments, before scooping it into his arms and finishing his retreat to his room.
He slouched in his pile of blankets and pillows he had haphazardly thrown onto the ground in the very corner of his room. Lawrence's coat draped over his shoulders and he tightly held the now nearly empty bottle of whisky in his hand.
He could hear the scolding from Lawrence in his head from the first time he saw him do this. Rambling on about some medical stuff and how this was terrible for his body.
He felt a twinge of regret and guilt for kicking Lawrence out. But he'd rather Law be safe and away from him. So he'll sit here, alone, wallowing.
-
Lawrence for the past few weeks has been burying himself in work to stay distracted. While he never explicitly said anything, his coworkers could tell something had happened between him and Maverick. They had never seen the cheerful shiba so down.
Law was only drawn out of his work flow by the sound of a small commotion. Looking up from his documents, he spotted the guards hassling with an unbothered Maverick. He just kept walking as they tried to stop him. He couldn't help but let out a chuckle at the sight.
"Hey! He's with me guys let him through" Law called out to the very confused security guards, who finally gave up upon hearing the order. Maverick almost looked surprised that Lawrence had called them off, he wondered if he thought he'd tell him to leave.
When Maverick came up close, Lawrence could see just how wrecked he looked. His eyes showed his lack of sleep, and his hair was messy and unkempt.
"Are you alright? What's wrong?" Lawrence knows he should be mad at him for kicking him out, but he just couldn't bring himself to be.
Maverick glanced around the room, noticing lots of eyes on them. Instead of responding he simply wrapped his hand around one of Lawrence's wrists and pulled him off with him to find a private area. Catching onto what Maverick was wanting, Lawrence took the lead and took them to one of the on call rooms.
Lawence sat himself on the bed, and patted the spot next to him. Maverick hesitantly sat himself down, and after a few more moments pushed his muzzle into Law's chest. Lawrence smiled and laughed lightly before wrapping his arms around Maverick.
"Wanna tell me what happened?" Lawrence made circle motions on Maverick's back.
Maverick stayed silent, he was listening for Lawrence's heartbeat. The sound of it being relieving to hear. He was alive and well, right in front of him.
"I'll take that as a no, that's ok" Lawrence gently placed his head on top of Maverick's, his hair lightly tickling his nose. "Take as much time as you need, I'm right here"
Apparently I never posted this???? I swear that I did omfg
Once again, I wrote this for class. This was the shortest I could condense this giant story to without losing important plot that fit the style of the assignment LMAO
I actually wrote this one in one sitting, and pulled an all nighter doing it cause I forgot to write it until the night before.
I was originally going to edit this to have the character's actual names cause as of putting together this post, I finally named them like 30 minutes ago. However I decided it better fits the vibe to keep it the way it is.
Though for the sake of tags since their names are in there, I'll list out their actual names.
Elian - Thief
Edith - Mage
Cylix - Soldier
-
Once upon a time, there was a thief. The thief had been out at sea for many years, he just took what he needed to survive, and never from those who needed it more than him. Despite his klepto tendencies being rather mild, he was still labelled a pirate by the public. Because he stole, and he travelled in a ship, of course he was a pirate. Who knew the bar was so low to become a pirate these days.
Thinking back to his outfit, it could be understandable why most would think he’s a pirate. He is in fact, wearing a large coat, puffy white sleeves, and leather boots. On top of it being an almost entirely black outfit, and it was doubtful his rather shaggy dark hair helped his case. But at least he didn’t have the hat, that would just be too much.
The thief, just before he started travelling, was cursed by a forest spirit. All he did was take fruit, which enraged the spirit who had claimed that all of it was hers. The thief had apologised profusely, but it wasn’t enough and she placed a lethal curse on him. The curse was a painful one, and would eventually kill him. He decided that if he was going to die someday soon, he wanted to make the most out of his remaining lifetime. He took the small stock of supplies he had, and stole a whole ship from the bay, throwing himself right into the jaws of adventure. The first thing he did? He created a huge bucket list of all the things he was determined to experience.
This curse of his manifested as a growing taint on his body. The skin would turn black, the colour reaching up his arm in frightening vein shapes further and further as time passed. Every time the taint grew, it was excruciating. The curse felt like a hot iron as it moved upwards a few centimetres, followed by a terrible headache that would last up to hours.
But it was ok.
If death chasing his tail was what got him to finally go out and truly live, then it was for the best. While he may die in a few months, at least he could say that he lived without regret.
Regret. Out of all the things he had listed, the one he absolutely could not bear to regret, was never returning home. So he vowed to return home when he was nearing the end of his journey. The thief’s working theory about the curse is that it’ll finally claim his life when the taint reaches his heart. Now that it has reached just over his shoulders, he decided that now was the time to go back.
His bordering ramshackle and poor excuse of a ship pulled into the docs of his home town. Well, town was an understatement. It was a rather large city, one of the largest in the country in fact. The first thing he noticed was the tall spire of a wizard's tower. It was much different than when he had left all those years ago, and he wondered if his old good friend the mage still resided there. His suspicions were soon shown to be truthful when the secret code to unlock the door was the same as he remembered.
Upon entering the room at the summit of the spire, the thief was met with the familiar sight of his best friend through his childhood. His auburn hair still styled messily in a bun just like he saw him last. The only thing he didn’t recognize was his new outfit, a rather simple combination of pants and a long sleeved shirt. The part of his outfit that stood out was the intricate cloak he wore, a gorgeous shade of green with golden patterning. He smiled wide, lightly knocking his knuckles against the door frame to get his attention.
“Knock knock”
The thief watched in amusement as the mage whipped around frantically, his round glasses threatening to fly off his face, startled by the sudden presence of another person.
“Wh- How did you get in here-!” The mage stopped short, freezing when he saw who the voice belonged to. “It’s…you”
The mage nearly started bawling right then and there, he bolted towards the thief and grappled him into a tight hug.
“oOF-” The thief nearly fell over from the mage’s sudden embrace, but took no time in returning the gesture. “It’s me. I’m home” He held the mage’s head into his chest.
When the mage pulled away, he was surprised to see a rather angry face.
“You disappeared! What the hell is wrong with you, you had us worried sick! We thought you died!” He weakly hit the thief’s arm, he was staring straight into the thief’s eyes.
He didn’t know how to break it to his friend what had happened. “It’s… It’s a long story…”
“Well then you better get to explaining!”
The thief sighed, and told him everything. The forest spirit, the curse, the adventures, all the amazing things he’s seen. At the end of his tales, the mage stood up and marched over to his desk. He was rapidly flipping through papers, picking up and identifying objects, back and forth between the different parts of the room.
“What-” He jumped out of the way of the mage when he flipped a 180 to go to yet another stack of books. “What are you doing?”
“Looking for a cure, what else?”
“What? No it’s fine, I’m fine”
“No you’re not! You’re dying, what do you mean you're fine??” The mage was beyond furious at these words.
“So what? I’m gonna die eventually anyway, that’s just how life is”
“You are NOT dying NOW” The mage was much shorter than the thief, so to look him in the eyes he yanked down on the collar of his coat. “You aren’t going to die on me you- you absolute idiot. What, you’re just going to show up one day after disappearing for months and then tell me that when I finally have you back you’re going to die? I’m calling him up, maybe he can talk some damn sense into you”
The thief knew exactly who the mage was referring to, and that made him panic.
“No no no- We can NOT tell him!” The thief would do anything to avoid telling the soldier about his situation. “If we told him, you know what he’ll do. I can’t have him risking his life just because my death has been rescheduled for sooner rather than later. He’ll get himself killed, please”
The pained look in the mage’s eyes was almost too much to bear, but he knew that he understood.
“...Fine. We won’t tell him” The mage leaned his back against the desk in defeat. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to help you. I will find a way to reverse this curse”
The thief opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the mage.
“No. If you won’t tell him, then I’m going to continue searching myself. Understood?”
The thief knew it was useless to argue any further, once the mage had made up his mind there was no way it was going to be changed. He was headstrong like that sometimes.
“...Understood-” The thief couldn’t finish his sentence, and doubled down in pain. The taint moved up again. His head was pounding, only clearing up slightly when the taint had finished its spreading. He hadn’t screamed from the pain in a long while, but it always left him heaving for a few moments as he recovered.
There was a horrified look on the mage’s face.
“It’s…” The thief’s voice was shaky. “It’s alright, I’m ok”
“This is the exact OPPOSITE of ok” The mage couldn’t decide whether or not he should even approach him, not wanting to put him in further pain. When the thief had fully stood up, the mage gently guided him to the bed in the far corner of the room and forced him to lay down.
“Hey there’s no need I’m fin-”
“If you say you’re fine one more time I’m going to give you a reason to finally say you’re not” The mage scowled at him, not understanding how he could think any of this was ok. “You are staying right here, you are going to let me take care of you. Tomorrow we can go see him, but for now you will rest…I don’t like seeing you in pain” That last part was almost too soft to hear.
The thief couldn’t find it in himself to argue, and relaxed in the bed he had been confined to. “I’m sorry for worrying you…”
The mage gently put his arms around the thief, who was now laying down. “I missed you so much, never do that again”
The two of them dozed off.
When the next morning had come, the mage had now dragged the thief to the soldier’s current place of residence. The thief may have casually gone up to the mage, but the soldier he was beyond anxious about reuniting with. He had been just as close to him as the mage, but he always felt nervous around him for a reason he could never pinpoint. The mage knocked on the door, rather harshly at that, and the thief felt his shoulders tense slightly when the door opened.
The thief took in the sight of his other childhood friend. Unlike the mage, he had changed a lot since he last saw him. His blonde hair was much longer now, neatly tied back in a loose low ponytail. Just under the long bangs, he could just make out a rather large scar around his eye. It was a pretty nasty looking injury, but it didn’t seem to have caused any vision loss to his knowledge. The thief was used to seeing him in his guards uniform, so it was strange to see him in such domestic clothing.
The soldier could only stare, for a moment he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Just like the mage, his first instinct was to pull him into a death grip of a hug. He almost didn’t want to let go in fear he would disappear again. The soldier pulled away slightly, and his hands moved to cusp the thief’s face.
“You’ve barely changed a day heh” He traced his thumb over a scar. “Oh come on now, what did I say about fights?” He teased the thief, luckily the scar didn’t look like it was that bad of an injury. Suddenly aware of how close he was holding him, the soldier let go and stepped back a bit. Recovering smoothly, he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow playfully.
“You know I can’t stay outta trouble” The thief laughed it off, though he’d be lying if he said the encounter didn’t leave him flustered.
The three of them were throwing jokes around left and right as they receded into the soldier’s home, and settled on the couches in the living room.
The thief recovered from his fit of laughter at the last joke and looked over to the soldier. “So, prized soldier, how’s the job going?”
“Ah well, I can tell you it isn’t nearly as exhilarating anymore. You might as well just say I’m retired, all they ever do anymore is dress me up in ceremonials and parade me around” The soldier made a comical pout, nearly sending the other two into another raging fit of laughter. “Now come on, tell me where you’ve been. You disappeared for 5 years, we honestly thought you had died on us”
“Ah, well” The thief had pre prepared a lie, he couldn’t let him know about the curse. “I kinda got whisked away, for the past few years I’ve been out at sea. Thought while I was making my way back home, I might as well see what the world has to offer!”
It wasn’t entirely a lie, some of it was true, he just left out some of the more concerning details. If the soldier had any suspicion, he couldn’t see it.
“Well it sure took you long enough!” The soldier gently punched him in the shoulder. “You’ve missed so much, so many things around here have changed”
“Well then maybe a stroll through the city is in order! Show me around the new stuff~” The thief wiggled his eyebrows at the soldier and the mage, who both laughed at the site.
“Maybe it is, haha!” The mage stood up, hands on his hips and fully ready to have an outing with his most cherished people in his life.
For the next few weeks, the three were constantly going out. The thief only recognised about half of the city as how it used to be, he was a little astonished at how much could change in 5 years. During these outings, the thief had many close calls regarding his curse and the soldier finding out. But he was just barely able to conceal it, he could tell the soldier was worried for him even if he didn’t know what was going on. During the night, the thief would stay with the mage in his spire.
The mage grimaced, the thief’s curse had once again started spreading. It pained him to see him suffering.
“We should ask him for help”
The thief didn’t respond immediately, still shakily taking deep breaths. “No, we aren’t going to tell him. Even if he wasn’t self destructive, I can’t ask him for this. Not after he’s done so much for me in the past already”
“You say that like he doesn’t want to help, I’m sure if you just-”
“That’s enough, I’m not telling him. That is final” The thief was still hunched over, but he lifted his head up enough to stare into the mage’s eyes to make sure he understood.
Unfortunately, the very next day when the three were lounging in the mage’s spire, the thief’s worst case scenario happened.
He was hit with a pain worse than others he’s had before. He inhaled sharply, trying not to let out a cry. His eyes were watering, a few tears falling down his cheeks. He clutched at his chest, gripping the fabric of his shirt tightly. The soldier had rushed to his side and caught him as he started to fall to the ground.
“Hey! What’s going on? Are you alright-” The soldier was in a panic, sure he had his worries about the thief but he didn’t think it was this bad. He caught a glimpse of the taint beneath the thief’s shirt. The soldier reached to move the shirt so he could see it, but his hand was caught by one of the thief's.
“N-no, please don’t” His eyes were squeezed shut from the pain, and he was muttering pleas softly.
“I’m sorry but I need to see what’s wrong. Let me look” His voice was gentle but firm.
“You can’t hide this anymore, let him help” The mage had knelt next to the other two, and was trying to help calm the thief down by running his hands through his hair.
The thief’s pleas stopped, and his grip on the soldier’s hand loosened allowing him to continue. He unbuttoned the top of the thief’s shirt, revealing the taint, only a few inches away from his heart. It was a dreadful sight. Eyes still squeezed shut, the thief was gently sobbing. The mage was still playing with his hair, and his unoccupied hand was being gripped tightly by the thief.
“What did this to you” His voice was rough, and almost sounded like a growl. The soldier was beyond angry. How long had the thief been suffering from this? And why didn’t he tell him? He was only answered with a pained whimper.
“A forest spirit. He took something not knowing it was hers” The mage answered for the thief, now that the cat was out of the bag he deemed it ok to tell the soldier. He looked at the thief with worry and added in a grumble. “He refused to ask you for help, stubborn idiot. Going on about how you’ve already done enough for him”
He looked down at the man in his arms and sighed. “There is never too much help one can receive, you don’t need to be afraid to ask for it. You can’t shoulder everything on your own, you must realise when it is time to ask for help”
The soldier glanced around the room, spotting the bed in the corner. He as softly as he could picked up the bordering unconscious man into his arms, and set him on the bed.
“Where”
The mage knew this tone all too well. This was the tone of voice the soldier used when he was about to do something out of pure rage. “Don’t. You are going to get yourself killed” Or, the mage worried silently. It’ll worsen the thief’s condition.
“Tell. Me. Where” The soldier was already halfway out the door, pausing and turning just his head back as he demanded a response.
“If you’re going then I’m going with you”
“Absolutely not. You’re staying here and watching over him”
“And you just expect me to let you go alone to a forest spirit that could kill you?”
“And you expect me to just sit around and do NOTHING about…this?!?!” The soldier gestured wildly towards the thief, who had finally faded into sleep. “You are staying by his side and that’s final. Now tell me where”
The mage groaned in disbelief. “Both of you are so damn STUBBORN” He furrowed his eyebrows before he finally broke. “She’s in the back part of the forest of…of the place we used to live as kids. You happy?”
The soldier didn’t reply, just simply turned around and started down the spire.
“You better not die, you hear me! I’ll-.. I’ll find a way to bring you back to life just to kill you again!” The mage’s hollow threat didn’t reach the soldier’s ears, the unbridled rage drowning out the sounds around him.
The soldier only detoured from his beeline to the forest spirit to visit his home, picking up his old armour and weapons. He hadn’t used any of this equipment in many years, and he was planning on breaking that streak today by slaying the creature that had cause the thief such agonising pain.
The forest spirit was irritated at the presence of someone in her territory, but she wasn’t truly angry until the soldier had started yelling obscenities into the vast forest around him. He was demanding for her to show herself so he could face her.
“A foolish mortal, challenging a forest spirit? How cute”
The soldier stood in the center of a large clearing, whipping around to face any noises he heard. His sword was drawn, he gripped it tight in his hands as he searched around him.
The forest spirit was toying with him, circling the clearing in the shadows. “Do you wish to die? Why do you invade my territory”
“The only one dying around here is you foul creature!”
With a roar the forest spirit appeared before him, taking a swipe at him with its vines that extended from her arms. The soldier rolled to the side to dodge, cutting a few away with his sword in the process.
Being so far deep in the forest, no one was even close to being able to hear the cries of battle between the soldier and the forest spirit. After what had felt like ages, the soldier, heavily wounded and exhausted, had finally pinned down the spirit. He raised his sword up high, readying a forceful plunge of his sword directly into the heart of the spirit. Before he could lay the final blow, there was a yell and the pain of something ramming into his side.
When the soldier had finally come back to his senses, he realised that the thing that rammed into his side and had yelled, was the thief. Then, to his horror, the second thing he realised was that his skin was growing cold.
“What are you doing here?!” The soldier shifted both of their bodies, and he was now cradling the thief in his arms. Tears threatened to fall, his voice starting to crack. “You idiot, why did you do that”
“Someone has to stop you from pulling stupid stunts” He joked weakly.
The sound of rapid approaching footsteps cued them both to the arrival of the mage. He kneeled to the ground, sliding into place on the other side of the thief.
“Well-” The thief let out a few violent coughs, one of them leaving blood dribbling on his lips. “It seems this is the end of the road for me”
“Shut up, don’t say that” The mage was in denial about his curse as per usual, in a way the thief found it endearing. The mage was once again running his hands through his hair, it seemed more like a way to calm himself than the thief though.
“Let me talk, com'on, hear a man's dying words?” He chuckled, what a time to make jokes.
He only continued when both of them acknowledged his request.
“Listen, I know I disappeared. I got cursed and decided that, if I was going to die sooner than I thought, I needed to go out and live so I wouldn’t have regrets” He reached both of his arms up, placing one on the backs of each of the other two. “And to keep that promise to myself, the last thing I needed to cross off my list was to tell you both that I loved you. To finally reconnect for my last days I walked this plane, I wanted my last memories to be of you two”
The mage was leaning over his body slightly, failing to hold back the tears that had been forming. The soldier had grabbed the thief’s arm and was holding it, moving it from its previous position on his back.
Neither of them could even try to say a word.
“Both of you mean the world to me. These past 5 years I thought of you everyday.”
He turned his head to look at the mage.
“You are so smart, your intelligence is sharper than any sword. Please never give up on your aspirations, you are enough. And please never change your style, while it may look “strange” to some it is downright beautiful”
He then faced the soldier.
“You don’t have to have a purpose to keep going, and you’re gorgeous in that ceremonial armour. You should take your own advice too, don’t be afraid to ask for help. You don’t have to shoulder everything on your own”
He closed his eyes, sensing the end was close.
“I love you both so so much”
The thief waited for his consciousness to fade out, but to his confusion, it never came. In fact, he felt a little different if anything.
“Hm, kinda expected to die right there. Well this kinda ruins my whole dramatic exit” He jokingly pouted, which got disapproving looks from both the mage and the soldier.
“Wait…look!” The mage pulled the thief’s shirt down a little. They all watched as the taint slowly receded, moving away from his heart and back down his arms.
“What-But how? That curse was supposed to kill me”
“...I retracted your curse” The forest spirit spoke up, startling the three of them.
“Aww, did my love confession move you?” The thief sat up, giving her a goofy smile.
` “Absolutely not, that was sappy and gross. What a terrible way to confess. No, I retracted your curse because for some reason you stopped your lover from killing me. I don’t like owing people, so I retracted your curse” The spirit was no longer angry, but was still definitely irritated.
“O-oh” The thief had forgotten about that part. “T-thank you!”
“Now get out of my forest. If I see any of you three ever again I won’t hesitate to kill you on the spot” The forest spirit then disappeared into the trees, leaving the three alone.
The three sat there dumbfounded for a few moments, before the thief pulled them all into a tight group hug. “Guess I’m not going anywhere after all”
If this is where finally asking for help brought him, the only thing he wished was letting it happen sooner. He happily lay in the embrace of the two he loved most in the world.
We doin some late night writing, as of now the time I opened tumblr to write this, it is 1 am. Wanted something to write and spent like, 20 minutes staring at prompts until I figured out what I wanted to write LMAO.
Callum lightly brushed his hand against the feathers below him, their softness enticing him to pet them more. His body was bunched up, legs intertwined with those of the larger man next to him.
The Huanglong family was once again staying at the castle, the prince's looked for any excuse they could to bring their families together so they could spend time with one another. Callum was grateful that the next big event called for a few kingdoms to visit and stay in their castle, as it allowed Alois the perfect opportunity to sneak by.
Alois had once again used their neighboring balconies to sneak into Callum's room, unable to resist the call of their nightly cuddles. He was partially sat up in Callum's bed, if it weren't for the soft bedding below him he was sure his slouched position would be killing his back. Callum had his head rested on the side of his chest, one arm pressed to his own body and the other wrapped around Alois' waist.
Alois had one hand draped lazily over the arm around his waist, while his other hand was gently playing with the smaller elf's hair. Alois didn't know what he did to it, but his hair was unreasonably soft. The more he massaged the mess of auburn hair, the more Callum nuzzled into his side.
Alois craned his neck down to give his lover a soft kiss on the forehead. "You're adorable when I play with your hair" He hummed.
His playful words were met with an embarrassed whine, followed by Callum's head being pressed further into his chest as if to hide. Alois chuckled to himself.
"Aww, your ears are all red again" Alois brought his hand to touch the tip of one of Callum's ears. "Will you look at me my love?"
Callum slowly brought up his head, his face was flushed the same as his ears. His eyes to the side, resisting the urge to cover his face with his hands. Alois' hands gently held either side of Callum's face, pointing it towards himself.
"Your freckles are so much clearer when you blush" Alois' expression was soft as he smiled.
Callum's hands traveled up to hold onto the arms that lead to his face, he blushed harder as he nuzzled into one of the hands that held him. Successfully only hiding half of his very flushed face.
Alois' hands traveled downwards, resting on the other's lower back. He gently pulled up, moving Callum's position so he was more at level with his own head. He turned himself onto his side so they faced one another. Alois only stared into his lover's eyes for a moment before he couldn't resist the urge to kiss him anymore.
He closed the gap between them, using one of his arms to pull Callum's waist towards his. His other hand moved back up to his hair, his fingers intertwining with the strands just beneath the horns. He felt as Callum melted into the kiss, and the movement of his arms wrapping around his neck. When they pulled away, Alois rested their foreheads together leaving just a few centimeters between their lips.
".....Alois?" Callum's quiet but sweet voice spoke up for the first time in the last 20 minutes they had been together.
"Yes my love?"
"What are we going to do....I mean, we can't just keep finding excuses to be together. Eventually someone is going to catch on and...and.." Callum couldn't bring the next sentence out of his mouth, his voice was starting to crack as he resisted the urge to cry.
"Oh love" Alois brought his hands up to once again hold Callum's face. "Don't worry. We'll figure it out."
Callum was silent for a few moments, eyes squeezed shut still attempting to fight back his tears. "...I don't want to lose you"
"And you won't. I promise I'll be there with you, all the way up to the very end" Alois leaned in for another kiss, relieved when he felt Callum relax in his arms.
Alois then remembered the presence of what he had brought with him tonight.
He pulled away from the kiss, catching his breath while he gently sat them both up. Reaching into his pocket, he faced Callum and held his left hand in his own.
"Callum Courtenay, I know this isn't the most proper way I could be doing this, and hell, this is even a bit of a strange place to do this. But you are the only one on my mind, you've got a string attached to my heart and I could never resist it's pull."
Alois pulled his other hand from his pocket, revealing a set of simple matching golden rings.
"I wanted to give you a promise of my love, my promise to you to always be your side. We may not know what we're going to do about our families, but whatever we decide we have each other. Nothing they say can sway me. I want to marry you, I want to spend everyday waking up next to you, I want to be able to see your adorable face every single morning, evening and night. I want you to be mine"
Before Alois could finish his speech, Callum already had tears running down his face. Words could never describe how much he loved this man, he couldn't bring words to form. He simply vigorously nodded, throwing himself into Alois' arms.
"You're my everything starlight" Alois whispered as he held Callum tightly.
Alois slowly pulled away from the embrace, he once again took hold of Callum's hand. He held up one of the golden bands, this one had a small engraving of a diamond shaped star on the outside. He slid it onto his finger, and for a moment he swore he saw something else red tied to it. He handed his lover the other ring, another golden band that had a different engraving of fire on it. Callum took it into his hand, inspecting for a quick moment before sliding it onto Alois' finger.
Callum had a wide smile on his face as he messily tried to wipe away his still falling tears, laughing lightly to himself. "I never imagined I'd be proposed to in my own room, but it's you so you get a pass"
"Well I'll just have to make it up to you by throwing the grandest wedding any kingdom has seen" Now that they were sitting up in the bed, kneeling in front of one another, Alois' wings were free to wrap themselves around Callum. At the same time, he wrapped his arms around his lower back once again and pulled him against his chest. He paused centimeters from Callum's face, earning a pout from the elf. Frustrated, and in Alois' eyes adorably, he put his hands behind Alois' head and pulled them into a kiss. Alois chuckled into the other's lips, pulling him even closer than he already had.
Alois used his superior weight and strength to fall backwards and flop both of them onto the bed, with Callum on top of him. The sudden action getting a surprised yelp from him.
Alois hummed in amusement. "I love you so much starlight"
"I love you too"
Callum no longer cared about sending his now fiancé back to his room before morning came, eventually dozing off in his arms. Alois held his sleeping lover in his arms, never wanting to let go of him again. He closed his eyes, now knowing when he woke up he'll get his wish to see his love when he wakes up granted.
If Luenia was an actual book, this is probably how I'd start it. You don't get to learn about certain things that are mentioned now until much further in the story when you meet Xirastol and his knight. This was for my creative writing final last year.
The biggest thing I struggled with in this was introducing and explaining 10 characters without it sounding weird.
I think there's not much descriptors on species other than mentioning them by name so I'll do some brief explanations of them.
The Vespers and Avelus are the equivalent to demons and angels. If someone is referred to as an Avelus descent, they are the product of Avelus and mortal relationships. A scorched is a Vesper that was banished from Zizamund, the home of Vespers, much like a Fallen is an Avelus banned from Arrotria, home of most gods. There's multiple classes of dragons, but the dragon present in this story is a silver one. Silver dragons are known for their temperaments. Lastly we have 2 different kinds of mer people. Merfolk and Merelves are similar but still have a few differences. While both have scaled legs, with splotches of scales here and there on their body, only Merfolk can transform their legs into a tail. Another main difference is Merelves have the usual elf pointed ears, while Merfolk have fin ears.
That should be all!
A young man stands in his bedroom. It’s a lifeless room, few decorations cover the walls. It was quiet too, there was only the sound of household servants and guards footsteps almost silently passing by. He went to step towards the bed, but as he did, a faint knock on the door could be heard.
He let out a sigh. “.....Yes?”
“Your majesty, your girlfriend is here to see you” The door was still shut, but the guard’s voice could be heard clearly.
“Let her in” At least one thing could go right today.
As soon as the words left his mouth, there was a loud burst of sound as the door swung open and a much smaller girl with short black hair came running in. Immediately she scooped him up into a hug.
“Drakor! How have you been? You’ve been so busy these past few days I couldn’t see you” She squeezed her arms around his waist, almost whining the last words.
Drakor wheezed a bit at the sudden tight hug, borderline winded. He wrapped his arms around her back and head and cradled her for a moment, before remembering the guard still at the door.
“You’re dismissed, please close the door behind you.” Drakor made a gesture to the guard as he spoke, and they left quietly. He turned his attention back to the small girl. “Ok- Culora please you’re going to suffocate me-”
“Oh oops!” She quickly let go, but not before taking her hands and ruffling up his hair. The black hair that was once lightly smoothed back was now a mess, a few small curls forming in at the ends.
“HEY!” Drakor dipped backwards, but his smile only grew. He started running his hands through his hair to smooth it down, though the little amount of gel that was there to begin with wasn’t holding it down anymore. “You gremlin look what you’ve done, it won’t stay down now”
“That was the point idiot” She went to flop on his bed. “You look way better with your hair down anyway. How are you supposed to hit on guys looking like that”
Drakor giving up on fighting his hair, joined Culora on the bed. There was a faint jingle as he sat down, as all the metal on his uniform clanged together. “First off, rude, my hair is fine. Second, as far as everyone else in this kingdom is aware, I’m straight and you’re my girlfriend”
That’s the one thing Drakor always struggled with, keeping up appearances. Culora in actuality is more like a little sister to him. However, both of their families have appearances to keep up. Culora is the only crystalmage in this kingdom, and Drakor was the youngest of the royal family, and a hostmage. Essentially, the living crystal bank, and a mage who can do literally all magic types.
“Ugh I hate this kingdom sometimes” Culora groaned. “Why are all the aquatic cities so homophobic? As soon as I can move out I’m moving to the mainlands, I heard The Fashion District is amazing”
“At least we live in the one aquatic kingdom that isn’t submerged. As much as I love swimming, as all merfolk do, I like being able to style my hair. Plus! You’re just saying that cause your little crush Utrula lives there.”
Culora had a clearly faked expression of shock. “Oh my, is Mr. Royalty accusing me? Of being a raging homosexual? How scandalous!” She gave him a soft shove on the arm.
“Speaking of Utrula, this is a new outfit. She make it?” Drakor picked up a small piece of fabric that hung off her waist. It was normal for Culora to suddenly appear with new outfits. Though he’s noticed they’re consistently off the shoulder crop tops and something with chiffon wrapped around the waist, whether they’re above the shorts or a part of a skirt.
“Yep! I told her I wanted to try pink and blue for the lace this time, think it suits me?” She put her hands up to her face, making a cutesy expression.
“That’s chiffon, not lace. But, yes, it looks cute”
“Close enough. What about you huh? This uniform has not changed in like, 6 years what is your family on? White is not your colour, no offense” Culora lightly yanked at one of the many chains that hung around the collar of his uniform.
“Public appearances Culora, I can hardly leave the castle without at least one nice thing on. Literally, I tried going out wearing something you’d see on the common folk and my mother nearly threw a tantrum” He threw his hands in the air to emphasize, before letting them flop back down.
“Not even a hoodie?”
“Nice coats only”
Culora made a disgusted face. “She is cynical”
“That’s mother for you”
".......Anyway. How's your sister?" Culora flipped over to lay on her stomach, arms propping up her head.
"Culora. You need to be more specific. You know I have 3"
"Fine, your brother"
"And you know I have 4 of those!"
"I know I know, I'm just teasing" Culora giggled. "I meant the eldest one. Veilannai”
“I mean, I assume she’s fine. I don’t see her much since mom and dad drag her from lesson to lesson. Prized child, remember?”
“Ah that’s right” Culora nodded. “I mean, at least it’s not you”
“Yeah…...Well enough about my family. What brings you here, surely you didn’t come all the way up here just to chat about my siblings and my uniform?”
Culora jolted upright, now sitting instead of laying down. “Oh right! We got the whole group together! Even Veryan and Porter took time away from their projects to come hang out! And you are coming with, even if I have to sneak you out of this castle myself”
“Oh? Everyone? Even Vridak?” Drakor raised an eyebrow.
“Of course Vridak will be there, he’d never pass up an opportunity to see everyone”
“Let’s get out of here, we’ll use the servant's passage. I don’t want to be dragging a body guard around, and you know if mother sees me leaving she’ll make one come with” Drakor stood up from the bed. “But I do need to change first, I am not wearing this out”
-
Drakor stepped out onto the mainland, a soft breeze hitting his hair. He had missed this. Between all the repetitive lessons and training, he hadn’t been able to visit the mainland in a few weeks. He took a moment to take it in. The environment was much different from the kingdom. While the kingdom wasn’t submerged like the rest of the aquatic kingdoms, it still didn’t have the natural charm. There were so many trees, and you could hear birds chirping. The kingdom was nothing like this. It was pretty sure, but only through architecture. There were close to no natural areas outside of the royal courtyard.
“How mad do you think our parents would be if we just suddenly moved?” Drakor was facing the forest still. “If we just, took our stuff and left”
“I mean, my parents would freak. And your parents? I can’t even begin to imagine” Culora scoffed at the question, though she’d be lying if she said she didn’t want the same.
“I mean, we’re not teenagers anymore. We’re both 20. They shouldn’t get to dictate our lives anymore” Drakor turned to face the ocean behind them. “It’s not like I’m going to get to rule one day, I have 7 siblings, 6 of which are older than me”
“...Hey, where’s this coming from? You were all excited to be out here and now you’re getting all existential on me” Culora had a look of concern on her face.
“I don’t know. I haven’t been up here in a while, I guess finally getting out of there is reminding me of how much I hate it there…….and I’ve been thinking about Areina again…”
“That wasn’t your fault Drakor” Culora put a hand on his shoulder. “There wasn’t anything you could’ve done”
“That’s not what Tyreena thinks” Drakor sighed, he closed his eyes for a moment before turning back to Culora. “Let’s get going. They’re probably waiting on us now”
Culora was still worried for him, but let the subject drop.
“Yea, let’s go” Culora grabbed his hand and started dragging him away from the shoreline and further into the forest. “This way! The nearest town is just a few minutes away and we can transport to our meeting place from there”
-
The cityscape was bustling as it usually is. People walked the streets, while many cars sped by. The city of Eventrus was one of the many big cities on the east side of the mainland, as well as one of Drakor’s favourite to visit. The tall buildings reflected brightly under the midday sun, perfect weather for a group outing.
The Eventrus town square was one of the busiest parts of the city. The large open space was full of passersby and a few pop up vendors that made a small market. The wide staircase that stretched around the town square had many groups of people sitting on them, including a particular group of 8. Who of which were causing quite a ruckus, thought it was pretty normal for others to see here.
“HOLD ON, HOLD ON” A loud screech erupted from a horned man, his spaded tail flicking in agitation. A few people gave him awkward glances, as Scorched were not often seen in public.
“Vridak oh my god are we doing this again-” A girl of similar height was facepalming, she had a soft appearance that contrasted with her sharp snake eyes. Anyone who looked at her could tell she was from The Fashion District, she had that somewhat strange but elegant look to her. The trail of her skirt was draped across the steps below her, borderline getting stepped on because of the length.
“YES THIS AGAIN UTRULA” Vridak pointed his finger at the girl accusingly, before shifting to point at the Fae in the group. “CRAYTON LISTEN, HER SISTER WAS A WITCH RIGHT?”
While Vridak was yelling, the Fae, come to be known as Crayton, was absolutely losing it. He was hunched over, laughing too hard to give a proper response to Vridak. Along with Vridak, Crayton also received some weird looks. One, because he was also a part of the loud ruckus, but two, he was a rare hybrid between cyber and nature Faes. Not a common occurrence, even in modern times. The giveaway factor was the standard hologram accessories for Cyber Faes, mixed with the very obvious Nature Fae wings.
“AND WHAT WAS HER SISTER? A PRINCESS. THE WICKED WITCH OF THE EAST” Vridak continued on with his rant, not caring about all the people who were now glaring.
“Someone please stop him, I don’t want to get kicked out of the square again…” A small Nymph softly spoke. She was practically glued to the arm of an Aviad sitting next to her, who towered over her even when sitting.
“Oh come on Dalira, they’re just having fun. Plus Vridak doesn’ have long tangents, he’ll stop yelling soon” The Aviad gave Dalira a soft pat on the head.
Next to them a Wood Elf spoke up. “I don’t know Porter, this one sounds long” She was tinkering with something in her lap, not looking up when speaking. She paused for a moment to retighten her ponytail, a mess of black curls swinging back, before picking up the object again.
“You know Veryan, for being a mechanic you sure do have rather hazardous clothing. I don’t think flared long sleeves are ideal for machine work” Porter poked at the sleeves of her turtleneck.
The bickering of the group continued, yelling and jabs being thrown around. There was a huge shadow that covered the group, and upon looking up they saw 2 winged figures damn near plummeting towards them.
Scales of silver reflected the sunlight from the first winged figure, while the other figure had bright blue and white feathers. At the very last second both figures suddenly outstretched their wings, bringing them to a softer landing rather than a huge crash in the pavement.
“Hah! In your face Tyreena!” The feathered man out stretched his arm to point at the silver haired woman. As he moved his arm, the feathers retracted turning his wings into a normal pair of arms.
Tyreena put her hand to her chest, feigning shock. “No way, I totally landed before you Demitrius” She smacked his arm away with one of her wings. Unlike him, her arms and wings were separate. “Everyone knows dragons are faster than measly angel descents”
“Yeah, maybe in your full form! But you’re totally slower than me in your half form!” Demitrius was borderline screaming, while Tyreena simply brushed him off and untangled her hair from her horns.
“Dear SiLENNIA YOU TWO SCARED US” Crayton was on his back, propping himself up with his elbows to look up at the 2 that quite literally crashed in.
Crayton’s complaint was drowned out by more bickering from the 2, as well as a few sudden yells from other group members.
“Hey look! Sea Dwellers 5 O’Clock!” Vridak called out, frantically pointing in the direction of the approaching Culora and Drakor. Upon spotting them, Drakor broke into a run towards the group. Or more of, a bee line straight to Vridak.
He practically tackled Vridak, ruffling up his hair. “How have you been dude? You never visit!”
Vridak ducked out of Drakors arms and quickly wrapped his arm around his torso and fell backwards, dragging them both to the floor. The roughhousing boys wrestled for a couple more moments before they were laughing too hard to keep going.
“I’ve missed you, you need to come up from that damn castle more often”
Culora quickly stepped around the boys and immediately ran up to Utrula, who was waiting ready with her arms open. Culora grabbed her from the waist and lifted her into the air, almost with ease. The girls were practically squealing with delight, spinning around a couple times.
While the 4 of them were greeting their best friends, the rest of the group welcomed Tyreena and Demitrius to the party. After everyone had settled down again, Veryan spoke up.
“Now that everyone’s here, we should head into the market. I wanna see what vendors are here today” She had stood up from her spot on the staircase, trinket now in her side satchel.
There were murmurs and nods of agreement, and the whole group stood up and started to make their way over to the market in the centermost area of the town square. Pop up tents of varying colours were lined up, with even more varying types of merchandise. Many of the vendors were people sharing their crafts, jewelry, food, and other trinkets.
“Oooo look!” Tyreena was hopping up and down in place, pointing excitedly at a small booth towards the back. The tent was mostly enclosed, with just the entrance being illuminated. The part that caught Tyreena’s eye was the dragon symbol on the front, as well as the numerous, probably fake, jewels hanging around.
The group weaved through the crowd to the booth, a few peeked their heads into the dimly lit tent. Shuffling in, they realized the space was much bigger than it had appeared on the outside.
“Mmm, someone knows their magic it seems” Drakor gave the tent a glance around. “Not many people know this advance of magic, making a space bigger on the inside”
Lining the many shelves was a mix of magic trinkets, the legal kind that is, as well as what appeared to be board game pieces. Crystal balls and glass figures reflected the fairy lights strung around the tent. The group spread out around the area, each looking at their own thing.
“Why hello there!” A voice suddenly invaded the quiet scene, startling some. An older man dressed in simple, almost wizard-like robes emerged from seemingly nowhere. “Welcome to Dragon’s Keep! My name is Iviar. I’ve got many little knick knacks here, please do not be afraid to ask questions”
“Oh! Uh, thank you Iviar” Utrula was slightly off-put by his sudden appearance. She grabbed a small mirror off the shelf, looking it over. “Is this enchanted?”
Iviar clasped his hands together, making his way to her side. “Ah yes! This mirror is indeed enchanted. Simply look into it, state a colour and voila! Changes your hair colour in the blink of an eye!”
“Ah” Utrula gently placed the mirror back down on the shelf. “I think I’m ok with my current hair colour” She gave a small laugh.
“What about this?” Tyreena had also pulled something off the shelf to admire.
“Ah well that my dear friend-...”
The voices faded out as Culora went further into the tent, something in the back catching her eye. A long table, large enough to seat 15, was secluded. Sprawled across the table were loose papers, plastic figurines and many dice. The face of the table appeared to be a map. Culora reached her hand out to touch the surface, only to be met with the landscape present to change. Curious, she poked her hand to the table again, this time making a swiping motion. The map on the table moved with her motion.
‘Huh, cool’ She thought.
“I see you’ve found the table!” Iviar had once again suddenly appeared, no signs of him walking up. Culora nearly jumped out of her skin. Faintly hearing them from the back, the rest of the group one by one showed up to see what was happening.
“Is this...a game? I see a lot of dice. Oh, and the table’s neat. Makes me think of a giant GPS” Culora stepped to the other side of the table to admire some of the figures and dice.
“Why yes! This is quite the rare find too, the table was crafted by Hierophant himself! The table is set to this one map, but there’s many areas to it” Iviar made a pinching motion on the table, and the map zoomed out to show the entire continent and its islands.
“Hierophant? You managed to get your hands on an arcana craft?” Veryan was absolutely starstruck by the contraption. “What is this used for?”
“Hierophant crafted this for his friends to play a game with him, I believe he has since made a new one and this one was gifted away. The game nowadays is referred to as Dungeons and Dragons!”
“The….the roleplaying game?” Porter stared at the items around the table. “That explains the dice and figurines”
“This doesn’t look like Lepliora, or even Zarithya. Is this map a fake location?” Porter was giving the map a once over, not recognizing any of the landmarks.
“This is Luenia! Luenia may not be a part of our planet, however it is real” Iviar made his way to the head of the table, where a painted cardboard wall was set. He took a seat behind the wall, only his head visible over the top of it. “Would you like to try? Think of it as a free trial in case you’d like to purchase”
“I mean, it doesn’t hurt to try” Veryan sat down at one of the seats, clearly still excited about the table more than anything.
“I’m ok. I don’t even know how to play” Utrula was stepping backwards away.
“Nonsense dear! You’ll pick it up fast I assure you, plus I’m sure the others would prefer to have everyone here, yes?” Iviar made a motion for everyone to sit.
There were a few unsure looks glanced at one another, but ultimately everyone sat down. Iviar waved his hand, levitating some papers from a shelf behind him to his hands. He put a small stack on the center of the table.
“Choose a character sheet, make sure to look through and choose wisely. This will determine your skills and magics you can use in the game”
There were a few minutes of shuffling papers around, everyone reading through descriptions until they settled on one. Iviar floated the remaining excess papers back to their place on the shelf. Tapping on the table a few times, he made another motion causing the landscape of the map to shift. It zoomed in on a kingdom and its town, before becoming three dimensional. The height of the castle stretched a little over their heads, the terrain popping up and out of the table’s surface.
“Welcome to the kingdom of Vaivern”
Suddenly, the map started to surround the room in a purple smoke. A few members of the group went into a coughing fit, others standing up in a panic. The room was fully encased in the thick smoke, no one could even see their hand in front of them.
“Enjoy your stay~” Iviar’s voice faded out, the smoke finally dissipating.
After a moment the smoke cleared out completely. The back area of the tent being replaced by a vast field, the clear blue sky overhead and the sun beating down on them.
“What the-” Drakor coughed up the last of the smoke left in his system, exhaling a small purple puff. “Where the hell are we”
The pacing in this one is a little funky, as I wrote it with a deadline. This was my final for my creative writing class, and the teacher made the mistake of letting us write whatever we wanted :3
Liiiil bit of pre context for this one is species stuff for phrases that are specific to my home world.
Leone - Avelus descent, wingless variant. Avelus are this world’s equivalent to angels, and Avelus descent are far descendants of them as the name suggests. They are not actually truly wingless in the wingless variant. Rather than having a set of wings on their back, their arms shift into giant wings that allow them to fly. He’s a windmage, meaning he can somewhat control the wind/air around him.
Antonio - Elf, sky variant. Pretty standard elf, but with the added feature of wings, feathers, and star/constellation markings on their body. Antonio is unable to fly, as he has a wing that has been damaged beyond repair even by magic.
That's all let's get into it hehe.
The cries of pain and aggression echoed around the battlefield. Metal clashed and spells thrown about. The animalistic growls of shifters could be heard as they tore through the crowds of soldiers, tearing into their targets.
War was a bloodbath and Leon was grateful he was desensitized to it years ago. He was sure this would’ve made him sick if it weren’t. Leone was thankful that the training was so rigorous, if it weren’t he’d have never known how strong of a mage he actually was. He never knew his wings could be used to his advantage on the battlefield, always thinking that their size was a hindrance.
Leone swung an arm to the side, feathers rapidly stretched from seemingly beneath the skin forming a massive wing. The sheer size of the wing, and the speed of his swing created a massive impact between his feathers and a few enemy soldiers. Just as quickly as his arm formed into the wing, it retracted back into a regular appendage. Spinning on his heel he took a swing with his mace at the soldiers he had knocked over.
His back meets the familiar feeling of feathers. Turning his head slightly confirms his suspicions.
“Havin’ fun princy?” Leone called out, barely being heard over the cries of war.
“Only you would have the audacity to ask that Leone” Antonio let out a light snort.
“And that’s why I’m the only fun one, no one else can even talk to you without being so formal. -Grab my arm” Antonio immediately obeyed, grabbing onto Leone’s arm. He was swung inwards towards Leone’s chest, and his left arm moved in front of the prince. Antonio’s view of the battle field was blocked, becoming overshadowed by a wall of feathers. Antonio could hear the hiss of pain from Leone as something clearly hit the wing. He owed him one for sure.
Where the tips of the feathers met the ground, Antonio saw a flash of something black shoot out. Antonio hadn’t seen Leone use his magic this way before. Was this what he had been sneaking away to do? The black matter encompassed the radius around them. It was…a little scary how strong the magic was.
“You’re not that helpless little boy the judge kicked our way anymore huh” Antonio mumbled to himself.
The feathers retracted, restoring Antonio's view of the landscape. A shroud of black covered Leone’s left arm, his mace at the ready in the other. His face was partially obscured by his hair, his damned smile threatening to widen. He was heaving, clearly winded a little from the use of magic. Antonio would be downright terrified of this man if he wasn’t on the same team, and found it kinda hot.
They continued their battle against the enemy soldiers, moving around each other as if in a dance.
“Feels like the masquerade all over again” Leone laughed.
“But with much less of you stepping on my toes” Antonio recalled.
“I still think you disguising yourself as not the prince is funnier than my lack of dance abilities” Leone bumped into Antonio as he blocked an attack, knocking him to the ground. “Watch out lil ol “Feliciano”, you’ll get hit at this rate”
“You’re never going to let me live that down huh, I panicked I didn’t think of a name before hand”
“And Feliciano was the best you could come up with”
A soft flashing caught the corner of Antonio’s eye. The mark on his wrist was glowing blue.
‘Sector 3’ Leone recalled the meanings of each colour in his mind.
“Leone! I’m needed in one of the other sectors. Coming with?” Antonio half scrambled from his spot on the ground near him, getting his bearings.
“I’ll cover you, go ahead. I’ll find you later” Leone gave him a soft nudge with the butt of his mace.
Antonio smiled, ever so heroic that stupid man. He found his opening and bolted, taking one last glance at the soldier. He’s grown a lot since they first met, and he was a damn good fighter.
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The war grounds no longer echoed of metal striking, the battle had concluded. They had held their ground and driven off the enemy forces, for now. Antonio smiled, overseeing that the injured were turned to the medical tents. Taking a pause from helping, he surveyed the grounds.
But could not find the familiar sight of raven hair and feathers.
Antonio turned to a nearby soldier. “Have you seen Leone?”
“Leone? The street kid? Last I saw him he was all the way over in sector 1”
Antonio nodded, trying his best not to just break into a sprint to find him.
‘There’s no way…right? Of course there isn’t he’s a strong soldier, his magic on the field was amazing. He knows when he’s beat he would’ve come back to me immediately’
“Leone?” He called out into the crowd.
A few soldiers looked up in confusion, most just brushing it off and going back to what they were doing. Antonio had a visible look of panic, his pace becoming more frantic.
“Your highness?” A solemn looking man approached.
Antonio whipped around to face him, a little faster than he meant to. “I- oh-...Yes?”
“Leone, that’s the avelus descent right? Darkmage?”
“Yes, that’s him. Do you know where he is?” He took a step closer.
“There were…too many. They surrounded us and…he…” The soldier took a pause to breathe. “He pushed us out of the way”
Antonio’s face fell. “No…he, is he-?”
“It was right at the end of the fight. They closed in. They took him”
On one hand, Antonio was relieved that he was still alive. But being captured by the enemy kingdom was almost worse.
“I-I see” He looked down to the ground. “You should visit the medical tent, get your arm looked at”
Without waiting for a reply, Antonio started to make his way back towards the military camp.
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Leone awoke to a pain in his head. As he gained more consciousness he realised it was more than just his head. His wrists hurt, his legs were sore, hell, his whole body was in agony. He tried his best to sit up, but could only manage to prop himself up a little on his elbows. The room was dark, and there were definitely more people. He wanted to question those around him, but the pain made him too exhausted to try.
“Finally awake there ey Leone?”
He squinted into the darkness, vaguely recognising the voice.
“S’okay. Don’t gotta speak. They roughed you up pretty bad. Not to be mean, but I’m kinda surprised it took this long for them to catch you”
Leone let out a noise somewhere between a growl and a groan of pain. Whatever it was, it was clearly a sound of disapproval.
“Beaten almost to a pulp and you still got fight in ya. A true soldier indeed”
Leone grumbled, trying his best to sit upright once again. This time succeeding. A few strained coughs escaped his throat.
His voice came back to him, though raspy and pained. “Where are we”
“Where d’ya think boy? Enemy imprisonment”
Leone shifted his position, he stared at his surroundings. “Only a few guards? Surely we could take em”
“Son I don’t think you’ve realized yet” The man let out a hoarse laugh. “Kid we can’t use our magic here, they’ve warded off the prisons.”
Leone tried to reach for his magic, and just like he had said, nothing. He grunted in annoyance. He stood up, nearly falling, and stumbled over to the back edge of the cell they were crowded into. Slumping back onto the floor. He honestly felt like crying, but he’d never let himself in front of others let alone in the enemy cells. He instead opted for using his wings as a shield, so at least if he did he’d be hidden.
“I should’ve stayed with Antonio…”
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Antonio paced in his tent. He had to get him back. Leone was too important to him.
He wished he could go back to the night of the masquerade, dance with him forever. Make fun of his little homemade mask, as he refused to wear the same ones all the soldiers were wearing. Hold him close.
“I’ll have to go rescue him. I-I can make a team” He started thinking out loud. “We’ll sneak in, and break out all the prisoners. Maybe even take out some of their supplies on the way”
This was his only plan, and it’d have to work.
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Finding willing candidates for this plan however, was proving difficult.
Most were rightfully suspicious of why he chose now to do this operation. While he wanted to help everyone, he really was only doing this originally for his own desires. He’s only managed to find a few people, but realistically thinking a smaller group would be easier to stay undercover as.
Oreana, the wolf shifter from squadron 3. She was not much of a talker but he could see her strength. There was also Avron, the red dragon and Dominic, the moon elf. Both were from squadron 5. The last person was Silvia, a Fae, squadron 1.
It was quite the oddball team, but he had faith.
After the briefing, which was…rather brief, they headed on their way. The plan was simple. Sneak in, find and free the prisoners, set some good ol explosives on the way and get the fuck out of there.
Getting into the camp proved, weirdly undifficult. The guards stationed on the outside were not paying much attention. They easily slid into the complex. The truly hard part was going to be finding where everyone was held.
“I definitely do not think that we should split up at all, so we need to move fast so we can cover as much ground as possible. Thinking logically, where would prisoners be held”
“Well, your highness” Dominic spoke up first. “I think the smartest layout would be to have them far into the base, but away from where any weapons would be”
“I think I saw their barracks near where we entered.” Silvia pointed behind her with her thumb.
“So we should try to make our way towards the center, and stay on the east side of their base.” Antontio concluded. “Ah, Oreana sorry if this is awkward to ask but, seeing as-”
“Yea yea I got it” Oreana moved from her spot leaning against the wall, tilting her head towards the sky. “I’ve got a scent, let’s move”
And just like that they were immediately off, following Oreana. However her pace was less than easy to keep up with. Antonio tried his best to keep up, and noticed a few of the others were starting to lag behind a little.
“Hey Orea-” Antonio was cut off by Dominic pulling him down into cover.
“Dominic! Wha-”
“Shhh!” Dominic shushed him, pulling him down further into cover.
Before he could ask what was happening, he heard yelling. More specifically the yelling of Avron. Peeking up, Antonio could see a glimpse of a thrashing Avron. He was fighting off guards that had spotted him.
“Shit shit shit” Antonio could only watch as they dragged him off, not being able to risk getting caught.
“You guys go try to catch up with Oreana, I’ll try to see where they take him. If they take him straight to the cells, it’ll lead me to where everyone else is. If they do, I’ll free everyone and I’ll send a signal to get the hell out of here” Silvia didn’t wait for a response before running off after where the guards had taken Avron.
“Does no one here wait for responses???” Antonio was dumbstruck.
“We need to get moving my prince, Oreana probably didn’t stop moving” Dominic pulled him up, and the two quickly made their way through the halls.
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“God where is she” Antonio was starting to become worried, they had been trying to find her for a while now.
“Chances are she’s been caught too, we may be on our own right now” Dominic sighed, obviously a little annoyed that the group had been picked off so quickly.
“Wait…Do you hear that” Antonio stopped mid step, Dominic tried to strain to listen. “I think that’s-!”
Antonio without thinking bolted towards the sound he heard.
Dominic starred in absolute disdain. “And you were complaining about the others leaving before getting a response” He grumbled to himself, running to catch up with the prince.
Antonio burst into a room, granted not the smartest option he could have made. Guards were immediately alerted by his sudden intrusion, and of course rang an alarm. Dominic charged one of the guards, knocking him into the wall effectively rendering him unconscious. Antonio quickly shifted his attention to the other one and attempted to conjure his magic.
“Highness magic doesn’t work in this room!” A voice called out.
“Well fuck ok, hard way it is” He reached to his side where his dagger lay, ramming the butt of it into the guards head before kicking him into the bars.
“Got the keys” Dominic unlocked one of the cells by him before tossing them to Antonio, who almost fumbled them. Unlocking the only other gate he immediately scanned the crowd of soldiers that were in them. They started to funnel out, arming themselves with what was around and taking the previously conscious enemy guard’s weapons.
His eyes lay on a huddle of feathers in the back, and just at the sight he wanted to burst into tears. He ran up, throwing himself on the floor in front of him.
“Leone” He pulled away at the wings to show his face, he could clearly tell the avelus descent had been crying previously. “Oh Leone I found you”
“Antonio, what- how” Leone retracted his wings back into his arms, questioning if he was real for a moment before throwing his arms around him. “Jesus fuck took you long enough”
Leone had his head buried in Antonio’s neck, after a moment he pulled away to look at Antonio. And without thinking, threw his lips onto his. It took Antonio a moment to realise what was happening, and boy had he not realised how much he wanted this. Leone pulled away quickly after he came back to his senses.
“O-Oh, oh god ok um. I didn’t mean to-” Leone stumbled over his words trying to put together his thoughts. Antonio could only stare into his eyes.
The 2 only snapped out of their moment when they heard the voice of Oreana, who was exiting the other cell. Guess she had been captured.
“Sir the guards are coming, we need to get everyone out now.”
“We’ll talk about this later, um, I brought this for you” Antonio reached to his back, presenting Leone with a mace.
“Perfect for bashing in the guards heads in” Leone took it gladly, standing up straight and leading them both out of the cell.
The man Leone had been speaking to before spoke up. “Once we’re out, our magic will be viable again”
“Focus on getting out of here as soon as you all can, do not dilly dally, we’ve got explosives rigged.” Antonio called out to the soldiers in the room around him.
I wrote this a while ago for class, and I ended up not being able to finish it so it ends rather abruptly.
Li'aros is a god from my home world, and for a very long time he was not remembered by almost anyone.
Being a god, you’d expect to have anything you needed. People who look up to you, worship you even. Your own temple, dedicated to the good deeds you do. Though, this was not the case for Li’aros. Being born a god is one thing, but being born the god of music and nature during the war times. That’s a different story.
Li’aros had always been envious of the other gods, they all had so much power and people who supported their every move. Being shunned by every god in Arrotria only made things all the worse. Besides, who needs music and the power of nature when all there is is war. He was cast aside as unneeded.
On the verge of death from neglect and violence from the mortals, Silennia did the only thing she could think of to save Lepliora’s rotting forests and killed him. His temple was left to crumble, turning into the ruins that stand today.
Varin kneeled in front of the statue that stood in the abandoned sanctuary, staring up at the young god’s likeness.
“So much was taken from you….”
Varin was one of the only few who have ever been able to withstand the temple's curse, or that even knew of its existence. When he first discovered it, he found that the sanctuary and all its plant life were still intact and alive despite the state of everything else. His curiosity was piqued to say the least. Information on the Temple of Li’aros was scarce, it was like someone deliberately erased all knowledge about it and its god. Luckily however, he managed to dig up a decent portion of information, as well as make a new friend.
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Varin approached the….building? What even was this place? It’s in so much ruin that he can barely make out the letters on this fallen stone in front of him.
“Te-p-- -f L-'-r-s” Varin read the few letters he could make out aloud, there were so many missing letters he couldn’t make out what the last word or name was. Looking back up at, what he thinks is an entrance, Varin was able to conclude that the Te and p of the first word meant that this was a temple.
“A temple?” Temples are very important places, it makes it very odd that he never heard of this one, let alone the fact that it’s been completely destroyed.
Varin peered around the area, searching for a way in. Though, despite the fact that it was clearly abandoned and destroyed, the inside seems to be completely sealed off still. Finding a clearing without tree coverage, Varin lunged into the air and took flight. His wings brushing against the nearby leaves as he spread them out. While Varin had 2 sets of wings, the smaller of the 2 seemed fairly useless as they were much smaller and lower on his back. He guessed they were just cosmetic over useful.
Hovering above the building, he searched for another way in. He spotted four towers in each corner of the building, however upon inspection of each one they all had shown to be sealed off as well. Sighing in defeat, he flew back to the entrance of the temple and sat on the ground staring at it. When he heard the rustling in the shrubbery, he swooped his wings around his body which covered his bright markings. His wings providing convenient camouflage in the moss covered stone environment around him.
The rustling came to a halt, and a small creature emerged. Varin parted his wings slightly to get a better view. It was a white….orb? A white orb with wings, bird like feet and a halo? Was this a celestial being? Strange. He had definitively never seen one of these before, not even in books. Staying as still as possible, he watched the small creature approach the door of the temple. It stood in front of a rounded stone with white paint, which he hadn’t noticed in his first search around the area.
The creature emitted a soft sound, almost like a flute of some sort. It was a short, 7 note tune. The white paint glowed softly, and there was a loud rumbling as the door opened. Varin jumped up, forgetting why he was hiding in the first place. The sudden emergence of a large humanoid startled the creature, who dashed into the now open entrance. The doors rumbled again, as they started to close again. Realizing his mistake, he made a break for the door.
Inside the temple was just as bad as the outside. Pillars were collapsed, doorways caved in on themselves, it was in very bad shape.
I wrote this when I was still planning out parts of the story, and I still am rewriting this section of their story a lot as I can't seem to settle on something I like.
This is meant to be the masquerade ball where Leone and Antonio meet, and when I realized that the character I had written to be Antonio just didn't act like him, I completely made it into a new character. I'm still unsure if I will leave Luciano in the story.
This piece ends right as Antonio is introduced, but the person towards the end that isn't named is him under the guise of a normal noble man.
"Where did his majesty go?" A woman was leaning into her friend, searching the ballroom. She was decorated in many large and sparkly jewels, to compliment her rather extravagant dress.
"The guards say he retired to his room for the night" The other woman replied. She was holding a fan over her mouth, but could be clearly heard regardless.
Leone leaning against one of the many archways of the ballroom, partially covered in the shadows. He wasn't used to social gatherings, let alone a royal one. He watched the masked figures dance and socialize. Part of him was glad that this was a masquerade, no one could see who he was.
The ball was a gift to the soldiers, practically a goodbye party before the King moves all of them to the next region to continue the fight. It sickened Leone. How screwed up do you have to be to throw a party to celebrate sending your soldiers to their deaths.
A small group of girls were standing on the other side of the archway, he could tell they were talking about him. One finally was shoved away, they all giggled while she shyly approached. Before she could reach him, he pushed away from the wall and left.
"Third time tonight, why do people keep trying to dance with me" He grumbled to himself. His arms crossed and his shoulders up to his ears. He was too busy complaining to himself to pay attention to what was around him. He slammed into the back of someone. Before he could fall flat on his ass, he was caught.
An arm was now wrapped around his waist, and the other hand around his wrist. He was still leaning towards the floor. "Woah there, you alright?"
Leone quickly stood himself up. "Sorry" He mumbled. The hand slid off his waist as he distanced himself, but still clung to his arm.
"It is no worries, to whom do I owe the pleasure?" The man who caught him gave a small, but sweet smile. It didn't reach his eyes, and Leone could tell. You can't fake a smile to someone who's done it all their life.
"....Leone. And who do I owe the thanks?" He eyed the hand that was still holding onto his wrist, before looking back to see his face. He donned a large ornate mast, with features that of an owl.
"Leone, a beautiful name. I am Luciano. It is wonderful to make your acquaintance. You must be one of the soldiers, based on your uniform I mean"
Leone looked down at his outfit, same boring overcomplicated outfit as over half the ballroom. Blue, white undershirt, dumb fancy lapels, the works. "I am yes"
'What is he up to...'
"Care to dance?" Luciano bowed slightly, raising an eyebrow playfully.
"I don't know what you're playing at, but...I'm intrigued" Leone tentatively drew closer again.
Luciano smirked and moved his hand from Leone's wrist to hold his hand, returning his other arm to it's previous place around his waist. "I'll lead"
The two took to the dance floor. Leone couldn't help but notice the amount of eyes on him, or more of, the eyes on his dance partner. He took a moment to study Luciano's attire, cursing himself for accepting the invitation without even taking a look at who he was talking to before.
His eyes lay across the white suit, adorned with many golden pins and lapels. The white coat's long hem lifted up as they spun across the floor, revealing a pouch and the gemstones that hung around it. No, they were arcane focuses. Based on what he could see, Luciano was someone of high status, as well as a mage.
The music faded out as the song ended, Leone and Luciano bowed as the dancing ceased.
"Mind if I cut in?" There was a voice of another man, Leone felt a hand meet his which pulled him off in another direction.
"Hey-" Leone whipped his head around, still being dragged by the arm.
"Sh, just follow my lead"
The stranger assumed the position that Luciano was in previously, hand in hand, with an arm around his waist.
After moving out of Luciano's line of sight, he spoke up. "My deepest apologies, but I needed to steal you away from him"
"Who are you? And why?" Leone was quite annoyed, purposely stepping on the new man's toes a few times as a warning.
"Who I am doesn't matter, but Luciano...You need to stay away from him. He's dangerous, he's been trying to get buddy buddy with all the soldiers all evening"
Some quick context for some terms that may pop up in the writing.
Callum is the deity Calopus, and Alois is the deity Fengshuang. This is the first reincarnation they have as mortals after leaving Arrotria, the home of the gods. I don't think I ever chose a species for Callum, but Alois is an Avelus descent. The Avelus in my headworld are basically the equivalent to angels, and the descent are the product of Avelus and mortal couples. In Alois' case, he is a winged variant so he has wings on his back. There might be a little variance when I refer to family names, as I decided after I had written a few pieces that the Calopus belongs to the Courtenay family.
This piece takes place when Callum and Alois first meet, about a couple months before Star Gazing if you've read that piece.
"This is humiliating mother" Callum stared into the sea of people, and looked down at his ridiculous attire.
"Nonsense dear, you look dashing" The Queen put her hands on his shoulders giving him a light pat. "Now go say hi, I'm sure there's at least someone you can get along with here"
Callum nervously stepped down the stairway and onto the ballroom floor. Scanning around the room. More looking for a sneaky escape than to socialize with anybody.
'If I can escape and at least change into something less silly looking I'll be fine'
Callum checked around, eyeing his mother drowned in a conversation with the duke. He took this perfect opportunity and sped his way to the corridor. Swiftly closing the door behind him, he let out a sigh of relief.
"....what-" Callum spied something red in the corner of his eye, but when he turned to look; nothing was there. He blinked a few times.
'Must be my lack of sleep'Looking back up, he noticed a young boy standing down the hall. Before he could react, the boy saw him.
"Oh hello, I was just taking a break from the party" He gave a smile to Callum.
"H-Hi" Callum died a little inside, he wasn't ready to talk to people yet.
"I'm Alois. I assume you're Prince Callum? Just based on your attire" His tone was flat, but his eyes gave away his amusement. Callum barely noticed the crown that was hung from Alois' waist, this was the neighboring kingdoms prince. He immediately turned red in embarrassment, realizing his first run in with him was in this very stupid looking outfit.
"Yes, that's me-" Callum went to extend his hand, but paused. An image flashed in his mind. It looked like a memory, but Callum had no recollection of the event it would've come from. He saw Alois, but it wasn't quite him. His features were more matured, and his hair was longer. Just as soon as he saw the image, it left his mind. Leaving him wondering what just happened.
"Have we...have we met before?" Callum gave a quizzical glance.
"I don't think so, no. But you do seem familiar" Alois gave a small bow. "Maybe we've passed each other somewhere and didn't realize it"
Callum couldn't brush the weird flash that appeared in his mind. "Maybe...."
There was a short silence between the two, before Callum spoke up again.
"So, you're a prince too, right? Which family do you hail from? I don't see your crest"
"Ah- one second" Alois swiftly turned on his heels. "Ta-da" He extended his arms out to either side, and showed off the large family crest of a bird with dragon like features on his back.
"Fenghuang! I...I thought my family hated yours" Callum had surprised plastered all over his face. "N-not that I hate you! I just- I mean-" He tripped over his words trying to back pedal hard.
Alois turned on his heels again to face Callum, giving a small laugh. "You're fine, I understand. The Fenghuang and Calopus families - at least our parents, don't seem to get along very well. But did you not know what party this is? Every family regardless of relations attends these, it's an unbroken tradition"
"Oh, that's right. I suppose I should have expected to see you here" Callum looked to the ground embarrassed, he really needed to start memorizing these kinds of things better.
"On the topic of the party, what are you doing out here? Your family is the host of the event, shouldn't you be out there socializing?"
"I...wanted to change" Callum made a gesture to point to his clothes. "And in general I'm...not good with people"
"You're talking to me now aren't you? You must be at least a little good with talking"
"That's true I guess" Callum stared at his feet. "I still wish to change though...Would you like to accompany me? I'd love to keep talking"
"That's a bold invitation there, plan on courting me Prince Callum?" Alois' smile turned to a smirk, raising his eyebrows.
Callum's eyes widened, his face turning a bright shade of red.
"I- That's not-" He started fumbling over his words again. "I didn't mean it like that I-"
Alois laughed and put his hand up, queuing Callum to stop talking.
"I'm kidding I'm kidding. I would love to keep talking, I'll follow you" Alois gave a polite smile, offering his arm out for him to take.
Callum tentatively put his arm on Alois', pausing for a moment before leading him down the halls.
When I went to kumoricon last year, I heard a song during the AMV contest. I was absolutely obsessed with the song, and eventually had developed a story based on it. I'll have the song linked down at the end.
Calopus and Fengshuang have come to terms that it is no longer safe for them, and they must run away to the mortal plane to hide.
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Story that I'm currently writing based on this song. This will come in multiple parts with the tag "red string"
"See this string?" The Dragon Fenghuang wrapped it around the Calopus' ring finger. "This will help us find each other again, it's our promise to each other"
The Fenghuang wrapped the other end of the string around his own finger.
"What if it doesn't work? What if...what if I can't find you" The Calopus' eyes were brimming with tears that threatened to fall.
"My starlight, I know it will work. We're gods after all" The Fenghuang gave him a smile, holding his face while wiping the tears away with his thumb.
"I don't want to go" The Calopus' voice was wavering. "Why does the universe hate us? Why can't we stay here"
"Shh" The Fenghuang pulled him close, wrapping his arms around and holding tight. "We'll go together ok? I'll hold you"
The Calopus could only nod, tears had started to fall from his eyes. The Fenghuang tilted his lovers head up to his, pulling into a kiss. When they finally pulled away from their final kiss, the Calopus buried his head into the other's chest, tightly holding his eyes shut.
Quick warning on this one, nothing actually happens but it is quite suggestive.
Aether goes for a walk around the facility and gets caught off guard when the cult members take a bit of interest in him.
Aether reached his hand up to his neck, grazing the collar that was now locked around him. He wasn’t gonna lie, he looked damn good in it, but the reasoning for it was a topic to debate. He noticed that a charm hung inside of the loop, it was the same bleeding heart charm that hung from Zadimus’ horns.
‘The cult’s symbol? I see, he’s branded me. Smug bastard.’
Aether looked around the room he was brought to. It was...surprisingly comfy looking. He was half expecting to be thrown into some dungeon, knowing the shit Zadimus was into. Aether thought back to what Zadimus had said.
“You’re free to roam the facility. You will only leave when you’re with me.”
At least he wasn’t confined to the room, he’d probably go crazy if he was. Taking a deep breath, he stepped out into the hallway.
The corridor outside the room was empty, though he could hear faint voices from way down the halls. He assumed this was where Zadimus’ room was too. Aether peeked into the room next to his. The room was rather large, and housed lavish furniture. Definitely Zadimus’ room. Aether closed the door, and eyed the one that was adjacent to his own. Upon trying the handle, he was met with the rattling of a locked door.
‘Hm, weird’
Continuing down the halls, Aether came closer and closer to the source of the voices. God he hoped he wasn’t going to walk in on something. He ducked through the hanging drapes on the doorway, entering a large room. It seemed to be a lounge of sorts for members to mingle. At first people gave him no mind, a few people gave him winks. He was surprised at first but then remembered, he’s a lightly buff man wearing a sleeveless turtleneck. He was bound to attract some people.
After a few moments, some of the members looked confused. Mutters filled the room.
“He has the charm, is he a new superior?”
“But I’ve never seen him before, how could someone we’ve never met ascend the ranks”
“Did he steal it? No one has seen him in a while”
“He couldn’t have, Zadimus would’ve done something. Wasn’t he walking with him earlier? He must be someone he trusts”
Aether could just barely hear the gossip. Choosing to just try to ignore it, he continued walking.
‘Hmm, that one person was asking if I was a new superior. So this charm is a status indicator? They implied he had one, so he must’ve been a superior too’ Aether was lost in thought as he continued to traverse the facility. Not paying attention, he accidentally slammed into a few people.
“Oh shit- I’m so sorry” Aether had caught one of them from falling, and helped the others that had hit the ground. “I wasn’t watching where I was walking, I’m sorry”
At first they looked annoyed and disheveled, but once they actually saw who they had run into their faces lit up almost instantly. Aether gave a confused gaze, trying to comprehend what the sudden mood change came from.
“Hello there~” One of the people stepped forwards, giving him a once over. They reached their hand up and grazed his cheek, before moving to pull on his collar loop. They pulled gently but swiftly, pulling him to eye level. “I’ve never seen you here before"
“I’m uh, new here” Aether wasn’t completely sure how to react, frozen in place.
Another started running their hands through his hair. “Ohhh! Soft!” They had one of his braids in between their fingers, sliding their hand down until they came to the hair tie holding it in place. “Your braids are silly” They snickered to themselves before taking out the hair tie and unraveling his hair.
‘What in the fresh hell is happening’
Aether was starting to feel overwhelmed, unsure of how to react to the sudden unprompted attention. The strain from leaning down was starting to make him lose his balance, combined with the hands that were making him less stable. Not wanting to fall, he opted to kneel instead. Albeit he did kind of fall into the kneel due to his fleeting balance.
"Hands off" A voice from behind him boomed, the glowing eyes loomed in the dimly lit room.
Immediately the 3 jumped away, holding their heads down and mumbling apologies. After a few moments they awkwardly hurried away, still averting their gazes.
Aether let out a sigh of relief, moving from his kneeled position to fully sitting on the floor. Arms extended to the floor to support his body, and resting from the strain. "That was...so unexpected..."
"You forget what we are Aether. Why were you wandering alone in the public areas when you knew the people would be...interested" Zadimus stepped around Aether to stand in front of him, before kneeling down. He tilted Aether's chin up with a finger. "Be more careful darling, will you"
Aether glanced at Zadimus, not wanting to meet his stare. While he was seemingly talking down to him, Aether noticed a tinge of worry in his eyes.
"A-Alright"
"Good" Zadimus stood back up, extending his hand. Aether reluctantly accepted, and was pulled up from his spot on the ground. Zadimus let go of his hand, and started to walk off. Before meeting the corner, he turned on his heel.
"Oh, and when you're done wandering, come meet me in my office. I have some...things,I'd like to discuss"
Zadimus disappeared behind the corner, his footsteps fading into the distance.
I believe this was for an assignment where I had to write a horror story with exactly 150 words.
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Staring down the dark corridor, the man could see a dark silhouette. It was walking, ever so slow towards him. He had backed himself into a corner, falling to his knees trying to cower away. The silhouette split into 2, as he faced the realization that he hadn't been chased by one person. A giggle rang through the corridor, accompanied by feminine voice.
"He thinks he can run sis, isn't that adorable?"
"How naïve." A smoother, monotone voice followed.
In the low light and the hand of the taller of the two, a metal object glinted along with a flash of crimson dripping off. The shorter, more feminine figure that previously leaned on a blunt object, stepped forwards.
"It's nothing personal sweetie, but we can't have you interfering~." The silhouette was more visible now that she was up close. Her hand brushed his face, before the world went black.
I've queued up a bunch of my older pieces, in order of when I wrote them, however I just couldn't resist posting my most recent writing first.
This is, probably my absolute favourite thing I've written in a while. It's also the first actual just pure fluff I've written I think? I usually write so much angst.
I never decided on what species Callum was going to be, but it would be a species that is reminiscent of a Calopus. Alois is a winged variant of the Avelus descent. He's basically like if an angel and a human had a kid, he's got wings on his back and a couple small halos. Though I forgot to write in his halos LMAO
Oh it would also be good to mention what the sanctuary specifically is. This is the sanctuary of the Evanesce Lovers. When word got out that Calopus and Fengshuang were "dead", a sanctuary was put up in memorial of them. In the sanctuary, there is a huge statue of the two gods, standing at 2300 and 2500 cm tall. (75 and 80 ft)
Callum could never place why, but he felt drawn to the sanctuary for the Evanesce Lovers. He often found himself draped across the horns of the Calopus, staring at the magic particles that slowly fell around him.
Whenever he can't sleep, he comes to this spot. The particles helped lull him to sleep. Something about them was comforting. The priests of the sanctuary eventually had gotten used to finding the Courtenay prince fast asleep, 75 feet above the ground in the horns of the Calopus. They'd gently wake him up, and he'd stay for a little while before the sun fully rose signaling it was time to return home.
This night was no different. Callum had dance stepped his way up to the top of the statue, and settled in his usual spot. The white particles gently fell into his hair before dissipating. He closed his eyes and smiled.
While it was nice to finally be open with the neighboring kingdom, at least partially, the constant upkeep of his "image" around them was exhausting. His mother was insistent that they look and act perfect around them.
"One sign of weakness is all it takes" She said.
It was very clear to him that she didn't believe the two families could get along.
He thought back to the Huanglong prince, he met him on the night of the ball. Callum couldn't image a man like him trying to harm their family. He was noble, and sweet. Their time together that night was short lived, but it felt like an eternity in his memory that they let loose and were truly themselves on that balcony illuminated by moonlight.
He wished he could dance with him forever.
Callum heard a faint swoosh. He opened his eyes and sat up, looking around him. In front of him was a winged figure, only illuminated by the soft glow of the magic particles and the faint tinted moonlight through the mural.
"Alois?" Callum could just make out his features. He tilted his head. "What are you doing here?"
Alois smiled at him. "I saw you leave the castle, I was curious where you were off to"
Callum's face was flushed, and he was thankful for the poor lighting hiding his features. Callum had just been thinking of him, and like it was fated Alois had appeared.
He swore for a moment he could see something red faintly, that traveled from him to the dragon shifter that sat just a couple feet away.
"I...I come here when I can't sleep. I can't really explain why, I just feel....feel drawn to it" Callum felt embarrassed to admit it.
"Would you mind if I joined you? Maybe I could finally get some shut eye as well" Alois let out a soft chuckle.
"N-not at all! Feel free" Callum scooted to the side a little to make room for them to both lay down.
Alois must've noticed the small amount of space where they were to lay.
"Here, lay on my wing. We'll save room this way"
Callum was hesitant at first, not wanting to hurt him. He slowly and gently laid himself on top of the wing. Through the small areas of skin that was exposed from his outfit touching the feathers, he could feel how soft they were. He resisted the urge to snuggle into them, that would be far too weird. He settled lower down on the wing, he head at the same level as Alois' chest.
"You can lean closer if you want, you're pretty close to the edge. Can't have you falling off the side" Alois's arm reached above where his head lay, and his hand lightly tugged on Callum's shoulder.
After a moment, Callum slowly moved in closer. His body was only inches away from Alois' now, and his head more at level with his own. Alois gave him a soft smile when he had finished shifting.
Alois gazed up at the particles that were falling from above them.
"These fall in constellations" Alois lifted his hand closer to the enchantment. "Like....This one here! This is Cassiopeia"
Callum watched as Alois pointed out the "stars" that formed the constellation.
"I never noticed, I don't have a lot of knowledge on the stars" He admitted, despite how much he loved them he never learned the specifics.
There was a small pause where they both stared up in silence, caught in awe of the magic. Alois turned, one hand moving and stopping just short of Callum's face. After a moment, he closed the rest of the distance.
"You know, you..." Alois lifted a little at Callum's face. "You have a constellation on your face too. I noticed it the other night"
Callum's breath hitched in his throat at the physical touch, face going red. He could feel his blush reaching his ears. They had been close these last few weeks, but not this close. Alois' other hand reached up and started to point.
"Right here, you have Lyra in your freckles. These star shaped freckles match up, and this one here, the biggest star is...Vega..." Alois' hand stopped mid reach for the largest star freckle. Instead of a finger, Callum's cheeks were met with Alois' lips. He planted a small kiss right where he was about to point.
Callum could only stare, he didn't think his face could get any redder. Instinctively, he scrunched up trying to hide his face. His head pressing into Alois' chest, his mind racing. Alois couldn't help but find the reaction adorable.
"Is this ok?" Alois tentatively put an arm around Callum, but didn't put pressure down so he could move away if he wanted.
No response came from Callum, but after a moment he slowly looked up and nodded. His face was insanely flushed from his shyness. Alois smiled at the approval, letting his arm lay slack around the smaller boy.
Before he could psych himself out of it, Callum reached up and kissed Alois. It was his turn to be caught off guard now, but let himself melt into it. He pulled Callum in closer to his body, his wings curling around the both of them as the kiss deepened. Upon pulling away after what felt like ages, Callum promptly shoved his face into Alois' chest again to avoid eye contact, and the Avelus descent chuckled at the sight.
"Callum you are by far the most adorable person I've ever met" Alois' teasing words were met with a small whine of embarrassment, only making him smile wider.
Still holding each other, they slowly drifted to sleep. Both of them would be lying if they said it wasn't the best nights rest they've had in a long while.
"Alois, the suns going to come up soon..." Callum's voice, along with his light prodding, stirred Alois from his sleep.
"Aww, are you worried about being caught?"
Callum nodded, averting his gaze. "I'm not actually supposed to leave the castle at night, the priests usually wake me up when they get here so I go home before people notice..."
Alois pulled Callum in close to him, giving him a kiss on the same star freckle he had kissed the night before. "A few more minutes?" Something in Alois made him hesitant to let Callum go, like he had to hold onto him for as long as he could. No matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't figure out why.
Callum couldn't resist such a request. He wrapped his arms around Alois' waist, setting his head on his chest. The warm embrace of the much taller boy soothed his anxieties, and he caught himself almost falling asleep again in his arms.
Callum finally propped himself up, much to the disappointment of Alois. He placed one of his hands on Alois' chest.
"Could the big strong Avelus descent fly me back to my room?" Callum knew what he said was absolutely stupid, and tried his best not to cringe at his own words. To his relief, Alois didn't tease him for it. Only giving him a sweet smile and a nod before picking him up bridal style.
Alois flew them high in the sky, high enough to where anyone who happened to look couldn't recognize them. They arrived at the castle soon after, the sanctuary not being far. He descended down to the balcony of Callum's room, setting him down on his feet after landing. When Callum turned to face him, Alois wrapped his arms around his lower back. Now that they were standing, Callum was at a height disadvantage. Pouting, he threw his arms around Alois' neck, and pulled himself upwards so he could reach his lips. Alois chuckled at his attempt, and opted to help him out a little by lifting him up slightly with his preestablished hold on his waist.
Before he was lifted up, Callum was just barely grazing Alois' lips. Now he was at the perfect height to kiss him, and took advantage of it immediately. They occasionally clashed teeth, startling Callum to pull away slightly, but Alois would pull him right back into the kiss every time. When they finally pulled away, slightly out of breath, Callum buried his head into Alois' chest one last time. He slipped out of the embrace, and quietly retreated back into his room. He gave him one last endearing look before laying himself into his bed to fake having been there the whole night. Alois hopped to the next balcony over, settling into his temporary room. Smiling to himself as he fell asleep once more.
Wrote this for a quick write in my creative writing class, the prompt was as titled above.
A bit of pre context, Zadimus is a cult leader and Aether is a childhood friend that he "reconnected with" after many years. Leviathan, another childhood friend between the two of them, has left Zadimus for the time being.
This one isn't too long so I won't put it under a read more this time uvu
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“You can’t keep doing this you know”
Zadimus didn’t look up from his work, but was scowling in response. Aether briskly walked to the desk.
“Zadimus” Aether slammed his hands on the desk, trying to get the Vespire’s attention.
Zadimus swiftly stretched out his hand, hooking 2 of his fingers in the loop of Aether’s collar. In one swift motion, the loop was forcefully dragged downwards, bringing Aether’s head almost flat against the desk. He grimaced, but didn’t fight to pull his head up.
“You will not address me in such a tone” Zadimus sneered at him, pulling him closer to his face before releasing his grasp on the loop.
Aether pushed his body back up with his arms on the desk, reaching one up to massage the skin under the collar that had been yanked. At least he had his attention now.
“Zadimus-” Aether pondered his next words carefully. He wasn’t exactly at liberty to speak rudely to him, he wasn’t really keen on accepting those consequences at the current moment. “You’re hurting yourself by shutting everyone out like this. They’re wondering where you are, and since he left they’re looking to you more than before for direction... If you’re going to continue with this, you need to start leading more.”
