Yasmin Benoit is a British aroace activist and model. She is arguably the biggest aspec activist in the Western world right now. Because she is a Black woman who makes a living modelling, she has faced a lot of sexualization, being told she doesn’t “look asexual.” In response to this, she started the hashtag #thisiswhatasexuallookslike, to prove that asexuality doesn’t have a specific look.
There is a long history of Black people being hypersexualized in media, and many people have the attitude that asexuality is a “white thing.” Within the asexual community, Black aces are very often overlooked, excluded, and erased. As minimal as ace representation is, there is even less Black asexual representation, and what little does exist is often ignored even in the asexual community. Black asexuals deserve to see themselves represented and their identities uplifted, so for @creatingblackcharacters’s Black History Month event, I did some drawings of some of my Black asexual characters; however small my audience may be, I hope that for any Black asexuals who may (now or in the future) be part of it, you can see this part of yourselves reflected in Aros Against Fate.
I wanted to draw *all* the Black asexual characters from Aros Against Fate but I ran out of time, so apologies to Taehogh, Mkera, Yna, Wnahé, Abhaonai, and Kjotar, who were further down on the list and didn’t get drawn in time.
[ID: a drawing of Lí, a dark-skinned Black teenager with curly red hair. They are wearing a dark blue sweater-vest with yellow stars and using forearm crutches. /end ID]
Lí (they/them) is a main character and greyromantic asexual.
[ID: a drawing of Daanah, a Black girl with long locs pulled up in a bun. She has golden-brown skin and glasses. /end ID]
Daanah (she/her) is a main character and alloromantic aegosexual.
[ID: a drawing of Fiitsãn, a Black boy with rosy dark brown skin and a big pink Afro. /end ID]
Fiitsãn (he/him) is a main character and lithsexual.
[ID: a drawing of Līs, a Black teenager with blue braids and golden-brown skin . /end ID]
Līs (he/they/she/xe/fae) is a main character and demisexual.
[ID: a drawing of Maaziariitna, a young woman-man with hairy blue skin and her hair in microbraids. /end ID]
Maaziariitna (she/he) is a main character and lesbian asexual.
[ID: a drawing of Fiyavu Ozast, a young Black woman with dark skin and silver hair. /end ID]
Fiyavu Ozast (she/her) is Rovian and Daanah’s older sister and aromantic greysexual.
[ID: a drawing of Juraji, a Black teenager with long black locs. /end ID]
Juraji (xe/xem) is Halek’s queerplatonic partner and demisexual.
[ID: a drawing of Saafeera, a dark-skinned black woman with a very short Afro. /end ID]
Saafeera is Rovian and Daanah’s mother and recipromantic recipro-demisexual and sex-repulsed.
Honorable mentions:
Taehogh (he/him), Halek, Lí, and Maaziariitna’s grandfather, aroaceflux.
Wnahé (they/she), one of Halek and Lí’s parents, asexual.
Kjotar (he/they), teammate of Kaelía, Līs, and Zhe’ārani, lithromantic and listed in my notes as “probably acespec.”
Abhaonai (he/him), teammate of Kaelía, Līs, and Zhe’ārani, alloromantic aceflux.
Yna (she/her), princess seeking to marry Jue and later Sei, frayromantic asexual.
Mkera (she/her), betrothed to Jue, asexual.
One of my major goals in Aros Against Fate is to celebrate aspec experiences, and Black aspecs are so often left out in conversations around aspec experience. Here I have specifically asexual characters as it was inspired by #thisiswhatasexuallookslike, but (as the title implies) aromanticism is huge in AAF, and Black aros (and aplatonics, and afamilials, and all Black aspecs) of course equally deserve to see themselves recognized and uplifted. I hope that one day we have a vast amount of diverse aspec characters in media much more mainstream than my little unpublished, unfinished, tumblr-and-google-docs story, and that Black aspec stories by Black aspec authors can gain traction within and outside of our community.
content notices: platonic, familial, and undefinedly-close relationships; hair pulling; mild casual body horror; grief; touching; brief referenced transphobia
"Hey," Ausse said. "I just wanted to say goodbye to you before I head out."
"You're leaving?" Daanah said. "Like- For good?"
"This was always going to be a temporary alliance," Ausse said. "We no longer have a common cause."
"Oh."
"Aren't you going home, anyway?" Ausse said.
"For my coming of age," Daanah said. "I… I'd hoped you were coming."
"Well." Ausse leaned against the doorframe. "Do you want me to be there?"
Daanah shrugged listlessly. She really did, but she didn't want to come across as needy, or embarrass herself if Ausse didn't want to come.
"You're from Kulainestainer, right?" Ausse said.
"Yeah." Daanah pulled on one of her locs. "It's later this cycle. The thirty-third of Seshasai."
She had told Miwaanii-Shémelús she expected him to be there. Kéchawaedrii-Orl would probably be there too even though she hadn't asked hir and would honestly, given Miwaanii-Shémelús's recent revelations, rather ze not come. All of her friends and family. Her neighbours. Everyone was going to be there.
Except Fiyavu Ozast.
"Well, you know," said Ausse. "I might happen to be in the area then."
"Okay."
"Can't believe you haven't even been of age this whole time," Ausse said.
Daanah shrugged. "I'm fifteen. My birthday is just a lot earlier. I actually turned fifteen ages ago, but in Kulainestainer we don't have the coming-of-age until almost the end of the year."
"Are there a lot of you this year?"
"About a dozen," Daanah said. "It's never very many. Kulainestainer's not very big."
"You Dalahe tend to have pretty small communities, don't you?" Ausse said. "Not like us." Ausse was Schwany Norve, like most of Sautgurotays.
Daanah nodded.
"Is my Dalac good enough?" Ausse said.
"There are a lot of cognates," said Daanah, who had been mostly speaking Dalac this whole time and had only realized several tensegs into their trip that Kéchawaedrii-Orl and Miwaanii-Shémelús were actually speaking Schwany and not just Dalac with a strong accent and occasional regional slang. She couldn't read Schwany fluently, but apparently she could understand it when spoken pretty well, and it seemed to go the other way too. "You'll be fine. I don't speak much Schwany."
Ausse raised her eyebrows. "Alright, then. I'll see you."
This would be Daanah's first time actually getting her hair cut more than a trim to keep it healthy. Her hair was a different texture than most other Norves, so Saafeera always took her to the Gathiya Na Theenan hair salon in the city. They'd had a consultation the other day about what Daanah wanted.
"It will take a while," Ghiyafee, the hairdresser who always did Daanah's, had said. "You have a lot of hair. I'll be gentle, but the combing will probably hurt your scalp somewhat."
So Daanah had brought the mystery she was reading and a second book in case she finished the first. She wasn't really one for chatting. Saafeera and Ghiyafee always talked while Daanah got her hair done.
"You said you want it short like your mama's?" Ghiyafee said.
Daanah nodded. She had the urge to pull at her hair. Dalahe Norves usually got their long childhood hair cut very short for their comings-of-age. It was symbolic of the transition into a new phase of life.
"How has the picking been lately?" Ghiyafee asked.
Daanah shrugged. "Reyal helps."
"Good, good." Ghiyafee pulled one of Daanah's long locs over her shoulder so she could see it in the mirror and pinched her fingers around it just above the height of her glasses. "I'm going to cut it here to begin with so there will be space to fine-tune the ends once it's all picked out."
Daanah nodded again and reminded herself that this was a good change.
Saafeera smiled at her encouragingly.
"This is my first real haircut," Daanah said quietly. "Like… ever."
"It's her coming-of-age soon," Saafeera said.
"That's certainly exciting," Ghiyafee said.
Daanah swallowed. "Yeah."
"You nervous?"
"…Yeah," she said. "A little."
In the mirror, Ghiyafee nodded. "Well, if I have anything to do with it, your hair will look perfect for it."
Ghiyafee had been right about the tugging hurting her scalp. She gritted her teeth and read as Ghiyafee cut- the change in weight as the locs fell to the ground one by one was disconcerting- and then combed and talked with Saafeera.
She had been right about it taking a while, too. Saafeera left and came back with lunch at one point and they took a break. Daanah nearly finished her book. She did her best not to look up, not wanting to see it until it was done.
She had worried about how expensive all that work would be, but Saafeera had told her that her coming-of-age was one of the most important days of her life and she wasn't going to let Daanah have anything less than what she wanted for it and that it was her aunt Chaariya's gift too.
Ghiyafee was especially careful working in the conditioner afterwards; she knew how sensitive Daanah's scalp always was. "You'll want to be gentle with it for a little while. It's fragile now; don't try to braid anything in. Let it rest."
Daanah made an affirmative noise.
"Alright," Ghiyafee said excitedly. "Take a look."
Daanah cautiously looked up at the mirror. "Oh!"
"Do you like it?"
Daanah touched her short, tight curls, careful not to let herself pull. "I… had forgotten what my hair looks like loose."
"It looks beautiful," Saafeera said.
"I think so," said Daanah. She mostly felt overwhelmed. It was very different and would take a bit of time for her to get used to, but she was sure she would like it a lot once she did.
The evening before Daanah's coming of age, Ailít tapped her on the shoulder and signed "I have something for you."
She pulled Daanah into her and Fiya's section of the starhouse. Fiya lay asleep in the middle of the bed, the baby monitor next to em paired with the vibrating one Ailít wore on a string around her neck.
Daanah looked at the lack of barriers around em anxiously.
"Ey doesn't roll yet, and your mum says it will be a good while before ey does, so I'm not worried about looking away for a couple minutes," Ailít signed. "I wouldn't do anything that wasn't safe."
Daanah nodded.
Ailít turned away for a moment to open her jewellery box while Daanah watched Fiya's tiny chest rise and fall.
Ailít put a handful of metal revaap pins with little beaded flowers on the ends into Daanah's hands. "These belonged to Fiyavu Ozast," she signed. "I want you to have them. I know Rovian wears her revaap more, but they're not really her style, and I thought you would like them for your coming-of-age."
Daanah burst into tears.
All of Kulainestainer was here- and then some.
"This is exciting for you," said Talí, sounding semi-confident.
Daanah nodded. "Yes." She fiddled with one of the pins Ailít had given her and added, "I wish Fiyavu Ozast were here."
Talí held her hand in an attempt at comfort that Daanah appreciated.
She spotted Miwaanii-Shémelús at the edge of the village square, looking very lost, so she pulled Talí in that direction, away from her cluster of friends and family. "I want to introduce you."
"Miwaanii-Shémelús, this is my best friend Talí," said Daanah. "Talí, Miwaanii-Shémelús."
She didn't try to define her relationship with Miwaanii-Shémelús for other people anymore. She could barely define it for herself. He mattered to her, and that was enough.
Talí's eyes landed on Miwaanii-Shémelús's pair of ribbon-wrapped braids and they started speaking to him in Kelétsowif.
Miwaanii-Shémelús's whole body perked up as (to Daanah's limited understanding) he asked if they were Se-Naskan and they responded in the affirmative.
Ausse found her then, nowhere to be seen one moment and beside her the next, shadowed by Ptoled and Ffeira.
"You made it," Daanah said. She hadn't been sure they would.
"We were in the area."
Kéchawaedrii-Orl was here.
Daanah was not able to stop her displeasure showing on her face.
"I would like to officiate your coming-of-age," ze said.
"No," Daanah said.
Kéchawaedrii-Orl raised hir eyebrows.
"I've known Curain my whole life," Daanah said. Ze was Kulainestainer's senior priest- though Kéchawaedrii-Orl might not know hir name; Daanah's estimation of hir respect for other people had plummeted drastically and she no longer assumed ze would. "I want to do it like everyone else. This is how we do it. If you've ever respected me as a person-" She knew ze hadn't- "and if you want me to keep working with you, you won't interfere."
"You sound very defensive," said Kéchawaedrii-Orl.
"I want Curain to do it," said Daanah flatly.
The thirteen of them were lined up based on birthday order, which meant Daanah was fourth.
A very small stage had been erected in the village square, about a foot off the ground- a ramp, then space for the senior priest and one other person to stand comfortably, then a ramp back down, and that was it. Daanah had been on a lot of stages recently, but this was the one she had always anticipated. This was, in some ways, the most important one.
She winced slightly as she accidentally ripped a hair out of her arm. Reyal was with her family, but maybe Daanah should have kept her with her to help her stay calm. She didn't want to freeze.
"Your turn, Daanah," the girl behind her whispered, and Daanah almost panicked at the realization that she had lost touch with the now.
Butterfly wings on her bare arms, butterfly wings uncomfortable under her clothes.
She stepped forward.
"Child of Maidallis Leykin and Saafeera Riwazee," Curain said. "What is your name now?"
Daanah tried to speak and failed. She swallowed and tried again. "Daanah Chaariya Addeyn Leykin Riwazee."
She heard Saafeera cheer, and blushed with equal parts embarrassment and pride.
"What gender do you want to live as, Daanah Chaariya Addeyn Leykin Riwazee?"
Curain hadn't approved of her initially, but ze had become a strong ally with time, never tolerating anyone being disrespectful. Everyone in Kulainestainer was pretty much used to it by now, even the most traditional of them. No one who came to their village to see the Scribe of the South got very far if they didn't treat her right.
"I'm a woman," Daanah said. The butterfly wings split into a different shape, belying her anxiety. She reassured herself that even if some people had probably expected her to just grow out of it, no one here would disrupt the ceremony over it.
Curain informed her of her rights and responsibilities as a Dalahe Norve adult.
"When you are next upon the ground," ze said, "you will be an adult of our community."
[ID: A (mostly) pencil crayon drawing of a teenage girl with light/medium brown skin and very long black locs. Her locs are fanned out behind her and are almost floor-length, with spiralling golden jewellery on them. She has golden eyes on her arms and brown eyes in the usual place. She is wearing a gold headpiece, glasses, nail polish, lipstick, and bracelets. She is wearing long yellow and white sleeveless robes and is surrounded by a golden halo. /end ID]
Artist's notes:
The little symbols on the yellow part of her robes is "Alteyr's Quill," one of Hir widely-recognized symbols.
This is. Extremely yellow. I love yellow and even I think this is a lot of it.
I wanted to give her some big awesome sceptre of some sort but I forgot about it until it was all outlined and mostly coloured in... Alas. Imagine it for me. In our hearts she can have a big awesome sceptre.
Stared at this for ages trying to figure out what's up with her mouth/chin (?) and I think it's that I forgot to outline the separation between her upper and lower lip so there's a weird blob-like quality there, combined with the lines of her slight double chin bleeding into the edges of her mouth a little and making it look like her chin might be her lower lip and her whole mouth might be her upper lip, since the gold is not as noticeably distinct from the brown as a more natural colour might be.
Her hair is supposed to be sort of floating behind her in a mystical ethereal kind of way but idk if that comes across.
I drew this for @creatingblackcharacters's Black Girl Magic May, since Daanah is quite literally very magical.
Used wax crayon for her hair to give it some texture, pen/fine-tipped marker for the outlining and her eyes, and pencil crayon (or coloured pencil, for those of you who aren't Canadian) for everything else.
Yes, the bracelets are irritating on the transient magic eyes. At least they're loose. She really doesn't like tight bracelets and she's not going to wear them.
(Trying something new with this "Artist's notes" section. Seems more coherent than dumping all my scrambled commentary in the tags.)
("Sky what the fuck happened to the end of this chapter and also the beginning of this chapter" it is what it is okay)
content notices: broken trust, body horror, romance mention, extortion
Daanah was sitting on the that had been assigned to her here with her locs loose and spread out around her, letting her hair dry and struggling to focus on her book, when Miwaanii-Shémelús approached and dropped to his knees.
Daanah frowned. "What are you doing? You know how many people's feet have probably been on that carpet?"
He leaned his head against the mattress. "I have to confess something," he said. "In case we don't both make it tomorrow. I need you to know."
She put her book down. "…Okay."
Don't say you're in love with me, she thought. I don't want to have to reject you.
"I lied."
"Oh. About what?"
"Everything," Miwaanii-Shémelús said in a rush of breath. "From the beginning. Everything. The Vessel of Corysecli wanted an in with another Divine Scribe so ei-nai had me make the arch collapse and pushed you out of the way. The Balance wanted to know about you when you weren't around hir so ze had me get close to you. The Vessel wanted you even more when you turned out to be so powerful. They both want to use you and they've been using me as the route to help them do it."
Daanah found there was nothing she could say.
Miwaanii-Shémelús meant a lot to her.
She had trusted him.
"I'm sorry," said Miwaanii-Shémelús. "You're amazing. All I want is to be good like you and I can't be. I've felt with you like I haven't felt with anyone since… in a very long time. I was honest about all I could be but I lied to you. You're perfect. You deserve so much better than me."
The longer she sat with what he was saying, the less angry she was with Miwaanii-Shémelús and the angrier she was with everyone else.
"Because of the contract," she said.
"Because of the contract," he whispered. "Ei-nai could break my family apart again just as easily as ei-nai gave it back. If I break the contract I will die and they will be split up again."
"And Kéchawaedrii-Orl?" She hadn't expected that of hir.
"Helping me with the Temple," Miwaanii-Shémelús said. He hiccupped, and she knew he was crying. "Pays me extra. Helps them."
"I see."
Miwaanii-Shémelús seemed so… pathetic. So desperate. She hated the way some people- the Vessel of Corysecli, apparently Kéchawaedrii-Orl too- took advantage of desperation.
"Do you want to use me?" she said. "Do you want to hurt me?"
"Never."
Daanah reached down and touched his face like a blessing.
She heard his breath hitch.
"Comrades," she said. She had promised to save him and she would.
He reached up and grabbed her hand against his cheek. "Comrades," he repeated quietly.
Half of Daanah's skin was eyes now. Her head throbbed from what it was doing to her vision.
She wished she was prone to something else. Ausse grew feathers, and Daanah was sure that was painful, but at least it wasn't eyes. They made her so nauseous and her clothes against them was so distracting.
She laid her head down for a minute and tried to close all her eyes to give her brain a break from trying to manage the fractured sight.
"I can feel your magic surging," Miwaanii-Shémelús said from behind her.
Daanah flinched and regretted it. Maybe she had dozed off or maybe she had just been too miserable to notice his approach.
"I'm going to die of this," Daanah said. It was true, although it probably wouldn't be right now.
"Go to bed," Miwaanii-Shémelús said. "I'll finish the charms for you."
"They need my power."
"No, they don't," said Miwaanii-Shémelús. "I'm a Divine Scribe too. They don't need your extra. I've made lots of charms. Save your magic for if you need it tomorrow."
Begrudgingly, she had to admit he was right, and she did really want to go to bed.
"How can I trust you?" she said. "You just admitted to spending the length of our relationship lying to me."
"You can't," he said finally. "I don't expect you to. I'm all you've got. I can give you my word to do it right if it means anything to you."
"Fine," she muttered, because she felt like she'd been run over by a line of trucks.
Kéchawaedrii-Orl could not be trusted. She didn't tell hir that she knew what ze'd done when she and Ausse met up with hir the next morning.
Ausse gnawed on the end of one of his short pair of braids. It was the first thing Daanah had ever seen him do that might indicate anxiety. Purple feathers weeping blood were all over his body, so Daanah assumed they had him to thank for the favourable weather. Ffeira lingered close to his side, with Ptoled protectively watching their backs.
Kéchawaedrii-Orl addressed the soldiers who had defected to their side, and then Daanah spoke too- which she thought she was getting pretty good at- and then Ausse did, and then one of Elyd's representatives. Miwaanii-Shémelús coordinated handing out the charms he'd helped Daanah finish.
Empires Always Fall Chapter Forty-three: Daanah: Warriors
content notices: mention of ableism, hair-pulling/skin-picking, violence, body horror, mention of religious discrimination
Daanah didn't feel at all like talking to people today, but according to Kéchawaedrii-Orl it was important for people to feel like she was one of them. ("But not too much," ze'd added. "You are divine.")
She was at the point of overwhelm where she would be ripping bits of her hair out if her hands weren't occupied greeting people, and she was well sick of taking people's hands. This had better be over soon or Daanah was going to snap and lose all pretense of being grown-up and composed.
She wished she had Reil with her. Foolishly, she hadn't pushed back on Kéchawaedrii-Orl's decision to leave her at the hotel with one of hir employees.
This next hand was strong and calloused. Daanah looked up, and up some more- nothing made her feel short more than meeting very tall people- to a rough, tattooed, terra-cotta face.
"I am Mightiest Sheffad." Her voice was gruff.
"I have a poster of you on my wall," Daanah blurted. She just barely managed not to add "with a lot less clothes and a lot more sweat."
Mightiest Sheffad was an arena fighter, one of the only Norves in the big leagues and Daanah's absolute favourite athlete of any sport.
Thankfully, Mightiest Sheffad just smiled, her eyes crinkling kindly. "I find that I am especially popular with teenage girls."
"You're so cool," Daanah breathed.
"You are the Favoured of Alteyr." Mightiest Sheffad brought her lips to Daanah's knuckles. Daanah's stomach fluttered as she tried not to hyperventilate. "I would be honoured to fight in your name in the upcoming Zioshue tournament."
Daanah tried to suppress a squeal. "Yes!" she said. "Yes! Yes, please!" She was supposed to run this sort of thing by Kéchawaedrii-Orl first, but she couldn't help herself.
The next person to approach her shoved a microphone in her face, which on its own made Daanah want to leap over the barrier and bludgeon them with it. "How do we know you're reliable? Your sister is a deserter."
Fiyavu Ozast.
Daanah made a sound low in her throat. Dozens of extra teeth pushed their way painfully through her gums.
Miwaanii-Shémelús stepped between them and smoothly took the microphone. "She will not be taking any more questions at this time. Any urgent requests can come to me; I am not Alteyr's Favoured but I am also a Divine Scribe. Any other questions or requests can go in this box and will be answered in due time. Thank you!" He smiled brightly and shooed Daanah away.
Instead of going to find Kéchawaedrii-Orl or going back to the hotel, she went for a walk to clear her head. Slowly, the teeth receded and her breathing evened back out.
She had enjoyed meeting Mightiest Sheffad, but it hadn't exactly helped her feel less overwhelmed, and how dare anyone mention Fiyavu Ozast in such a way- even remembering it was enough to get her almost boiling over again.
It was good Miwaanii-Shémelús had taken over and let her get away when he had. Even before that fucking reporter she had been pretty close to a proper meltdown.
"Move!" Someone pulled her roughly into a doorway, and from the shock all of those teeth came back.
Daanah screamed.
"Shh. Look." A gloved hand pointed up to the roof of a nearby building.
Daanah squinted, light glaring off her glasses lenses. "What?"
"Closer." The voice was muffled, a bit, like right after Fiyavu Ozast had had her wisdom teeth removed.
"I don't- oh." There was someone laying almost flat against the edge of the roof. The light glaring off her glasses was reflecting originally off the long barrel of a gun.
"There are others, too, following you. Laying in wait."
"Oh," said Daanah again, shaken. "Who- Who are you?"
Daanah's savior came properly into her field of vision. Probably Rāmiq, a girl not much older than Daanah. She was supported on one side by a crutch, and the veins of nearly half her face were blackened like nothing Daanah had ever seen before. "Kitty."
"That's your name?" Some people were named after animals, of course, but she'd never heard of a human called that before. She'd heard of cats called Kitty before, of course, and always thought it was rather uncreative.
"A nickname."
"Do you like cats?" Daanah asked. "I have two cats. I can show you pictures-"
"Not right now," Kitty said, peering out of their alcove. "I can bring you inside a few blocks from here, if we can get there… How come you're out here all alone?"
"Oh." Daanah's face warmed with embarrassment. "I… I needed some air. Urgently. I wasn't really thinking about…" About people maybe trying to assassinate her.
Why would she have been thinking about people trying to assassinate her? This- all of this, being Alteyr's Favoured and traveling the empire and meeting Mightiest Sheffad and apparently being targeted for assassination- was the most ridiculous, unexpected, unreal thing that had ever happened to her, like something she would make up to entertain herself on the verge of falling asleep.
"Okay," said Kitty. "Well, we can't stay here forever. She's not going to just get up and leave anytime soon."
"Okay," said Daanah. "Wait, she?"
"Slip of the tongue," said Kitty. "I meant to say… ai-ziu? I'm pretty sure you're being targetted by the Temple of Corysecli. Just guessing with the age though, but let's go with ai-ziu. Youngish adult seems a decent estimate. I caught a closer glimpse earlier." She stuck her head out again and looked around, then pulled it back in. "Okay, well, there's more people on the street now. It's as good a time as any." Kitty looked her up and down. "Are you wearing anything under those robes?"
"Um, just stockings," said Daanah, blushing again. "And, you know, a bra and underpants… The robes are pretty warm so I didn't really need…"
"I didn't think so," said Kitty. She draped her coat over Daanah's shoulders. "Try and fit those sleeves into the coat's. Take off some of the jewelry- the gold in your hair-"
Kitty's hair was short and thin, nothing like Daanah's. "I can't take the clasps off right now," Daanah said. "I'd have to take down all my hair, and then take them all out one at a time, and then put it all back up, and it's not at all quick."
"Just pull the hood up, then," said Kitty, pulling her own hat low and her scarf high. "As far over your face as you can. Our best chance is blending in with the other pedestrians."
Daanah tugged the hood over her hair. It wasn't really big enough to shadow her face with all the space her bun took up.
"Okay." Kitty took her hand and Daanah almost pulled away, but they needed to stick together. "Casually."
She stepped back onto the sidewalk, pulling Daanah with her.
Daanah's heart raced. It felt like everyone who passed them or glanced at her was after her. Any corner or rooftop could hold her killer and she wouldn't know until it was too late.
She glanced over her shoulder. She was sure they were being followed.
"Casually," Kitty reminded her under her breath.
I am casual! Daanah wanted to snap. She wished again for Reil. She wasn't at all aggressive, but a big dog tended to warn people off a bit.
She kept walking and tugged at the roots of her hair, casually.
"Excuse me." Someone tugged on Daanah's sleeve.
She turned automatically, before she had time to think or to register the widenning of Kitty's eyes.
Then she was grabbed from behind, an arm around her neck and a hand clamped tightly over her mouth.
Daanah's extra teeth had not receded, and as spurs of bone shot from her spine, she bit. Clamped on hard and sank all those extra divine teeth into flesh. The familiar iron tang of blood spilled into her mouth. No one could deny that she was a screamer, but she was good for more than just screaming.
Being bitten and presumably lightly impaled by Daanah's spines made her attacker shove her away with a shout. Some of Daanah's extra teeth left with the hand, which was a relief of pressure for Daanah and probably super freaky for her attacker.
Daanah spun to face her attacker just as a sharp pain knifed through her.
She looked down.
Kitty's coat was slashed through. Red-tinged gold seeped through the fabric.
Gold, she realized, that was her own blood. Far golder than she'd ever seen it.
Had she been stabbed?
She looked back up, feeling the way the gold-crusted wound was already closing. Kitty had jumped in to protect her, but she wasn't doing well. Daanah had watched a lot of fights, though, and from the way she was moving, Kitty would be a good fighter if not for her left side's apparent partial paralysis.
Well. Daanah was not letting Kitty, this kind stranger, die for her.
She let out a battle cry and jumped into the fray, giving her divine body permission to do whatever it would to protect them.
And then there were bones, and gold, and teeth, and she felt more power coursing through her than she ever had but she also felt like Daanah had been shoved down and overwritten by the power.
Kitty fell backwards, her hat tipping up and her scarf falling down, and their attacker froze, eyes widening and jaw dropping slightly.
The magic took the brief opening and she pounced, spikes of bone slicked with gold drawing ever closer to the vital parts of the attacker.
Daanah didn't want to kill them. Another scream as she pulled the spikes back, back, back into her body, and it hurt, it hurt, but she wouldn't give so much control to the unthinking, amoral divinity of her body that it made her kill.
Their attacker was just staring, not at Kitty now but at whatever writhing horror Daanah was.
Suddenly someone hit them on the back of the head and they went down. Daanah didn't have it in her to focus on what was happening around her. Maybe it had been Kitty.
Distantly, as the magic still fought her but nonetheless receded into her body, she heard another voice.
"Wh… What should we do with her now?"
"Call…" Kitty's voice. "Not an ambulance. Call someone to drive us back to the safehouse. We need a big back seat. Then… Ugh. I guess we'll have to call the Balance to have someone come get her when she recovers."
"And.."
"Different car, and she saw my face…"
Her body finally under control, Daanah slipped away.
She woke up laying on a worn couch in a softly-lit room. Kitty sat in a chair across from her, a sketchbook in her lap.
"Was I asleep for long?" Daanah asked.
"A quarter of an hour, maybe half an hour," Kitty said, tilting her hand back and forth. "Not long. Someone's on the way to pick you up."
Daanah recalled the stranger, and Kitty's mention of a safehouse. "Who are you people?"
"We're a Telēso organization," said Kitty cautiously, which explained the gloves. Daanah understood her trepidation- many Senki were hostile towards the Telēso, calling them necromancers for their death-focused religion and rituals. Daanah, of course, was not; she may only believe in Fusion Norvic Senki theology herself, but she found all theologies equally fascinating and worthy of respect.
"We're called Elyd," Kitty added.
"Oh." Daanah stiffened and sat up. "Then why did you save me?"
Kitty eyed her critically, then offered a wry half-smile. "You're doing a damn good job getting under the empire's skin if the Temple of Corysecli is after you."
Empires Always Fall (Aros Against Fate book 1) intro!
Thousands of years ago, the Annals of Prophecy were delivered by the gods. They have never been wrong. They state that a Divine Era is coming.
Jue is the Younger Emperor of Rāmia. Hir uncle and guardian the Elder Emperor Raiqiongshē has proclaimed the support of the goddess of conquest, Corysecli; the empire's expansion will therefore bring the Divine Era. The empire is now at war and Jue can no longer put off betrothal. Ze would rather die than get married. Ze must escape betrothal, even if that means abandoning everything ze has ever known.
Daanah is a Divine Scribe, able to manipulate the world with her words- at the eventual cost of her life. When she uses magic far more powerful than should be possible, it sparks the interest of several parties, including the empire, the Temple of Corysecli, and a powerful religious leader with an alternate interpretation of the Annals of Prophecy, and becomes embroiled in a conflict between religious factions that has enormous political ramifications.
Halek is a revolutionary. When the empire declares divine support and goes to war, things get a lot more urgent, and two of Halek’s comrades kidnap Jue, which Halek is not at all prepared to deal with. Things get complicated fast, with the revolution kicking into high gear, and Halek has to balance the world’s freedom with his family’s safety. They can’t get involved in this- but the empire must fall, and it must fall now.
Zhe’ārani is an Initiate at the Temple of Corysecli. She doesn’t remember her past, but does remember that this isn’t really her religion, and she is serving the temple out of a life debt. The other Initiates have become her family, but she has never really felt comfortable with the violence of it all. As the Temple gets ever more involved in imperial politics, she must decide what’s most important- stability and repaying her debt, or following her conscience and doing the right thing?
With the empire teetering on a knife's edge, will it rise, or will it fall? And what will that mean for Jue, Halek, Daanah, and Zhe’ārani?
weird ask but pls sell me on empires always fall one of my moots really likes it and id like to know whats going on
:>
hello mystery mutual-in-law (via Sami I assume? My one extremely dedicated fan). I will do my best to sell it to you funstyle and also here is the detailed logically-progressing explanation :)
ok so imagine this place that is heavily religiously built on a set of prophecies. A good 80% or more of people across the empire believe they're true. Coming up soon is basically the end of the world, but in a good way because it means everyone will stop reincarnating and be in their true soul forms in the realm of the gods (until the next world-cycle of course). But for that to happen the world has to first 'be united,' which is up to interpretation as all prophecies are. The empire's like "oh well obviously we'll expand across the world and in a couple generations the world will be united and everyone will ascend! Sounds great." This interpretation is heavily supported by the powerful Temple of the goddess of strength (mostly the aspect of conquest is emphasized right now). This interpretation is NOT supported by various political and religious rebels.
The empire is a diarchy, so it has two rulers at any given time. Jue, on of the main characters, is technically one of them- however, ze is underage and has intellectual disability, so hir grandmother is currently serving as hir regent and a significant faction think hir throne should be under a regency forever because ze is not mentally fit. Jue's grandmother and hir uncle- who is the other ruler- are very much aligned in the conquest thing and Jue of course has no say. The main issue Jue is currently facing is that hir grandmother and uncle are arranging marriages for hir and ze soooooo does not want to get married (ever, to anyone) and will do just about anything to get out of it (including but not limited to running away from home with no plan and no world experience outside of the palace). Hir guardians have also tried very hard to isolate hir from outside influence, but they have not entirely succeeded and Jue has at first reformist and later straight-up revolutionary leanings.
Another main character, Daanah, is an established user of divine magic but turns out to be way more powerful than she thought when she semi-accidentally resurrects her colleague (with whom she then develops a fairly obsessive relationship, though it won't get quite to the *most* obvious and destructive point until book 2). This is very exciting for her religious leader, who has a different interpretation of 'uniting the world' that leans more on a united faith than a united government and wants to use Daanah to help promote it. Daanah is happy to avoid the empire conquering more of the world and is dazzled by being Special and wants to explore her power and bond with the resurrected colleague more, so she gladly goes along with this, despite it putting a target on her back. In the next draft there's gonna be more sciencey stuff about figuring out her power (let's run Experiments on blorbo!) but there's not so much in this one, alas.
Halek is very chill and normal, trust me, he has no anxieties or conflicts or struggles with identity and relationships or panic attacks about leading a double life as a rebel. He's fine. It's fine when the empire decides that their religion is a great reason to try and expand more. It's fine that he has to come home from school. He's even fine when his comrades jump the gun and kidnap Jue when they see hir unguarded in their city and the revolution is in no way prepared to deal with that. Everything is fine and he is managing it all wonderfully. This entire paragraph is a lie.
Zhe'ārani is kind of committing heresy all the time because she believes in a different denomination of this religion but is an Initiate at the Temple of the goddess of strength, because she owes them a life debt. She doesn't remember anything before them anyway, which is not suspicious at all even though she was fifteen by then, because she almost died and trauma can do weird things to the mind right. There's a lot about the Temple she doesn't like, like all the violence, but they saved her life and anyway she's become really close with the other Initiates and they're all the family she has now; she can't really remember who she had before and is pretty sure they all died in the fire anyway. Oh no now they're asking her to kill someone.
Next draft I will also get to centre Rovian, who is Halek's best friend and Daanah's older sister (and! Zhe'ārani's half sister, though they haven't met yet) and will suddenly be thrust into a leadership role she is so not ready for when her mentor, the primary union organizer of her factory, dies. The employees are all either kids, disabled, and/or non-citizen immigrants (Rovian is two of these and her mother is the third), since they don't have the same protections, and Rovian's closeness with her late mentor and previous organizing experience (assisting said mentor) and social associations and five-year tenure there lead to everyone looking to her.
The empire has, just maybe, finally pushed its residents too far.
