was also thinking about fleure + ephrey’s relationship while driving back from the hospital tonight
i was initially going to have fleure’s shifting abilities tied to being undead, but i decided that didn’t fit his magic’s theming of everything to do with the concept of water. water more tends to be associated with life rather than death, which got me thinking of eternal life / the presence of water on planets being measurable for if it is inhabitable -> water is a constant force of living -> what if fleure had figured out immortality as well
fleure was adopted by ephrey to become his apprentice, but it was becoming clear that fleure is a very fast learner and could very easily surpass his mentor, so once he had been taught everything ephrey knew they formed an equal partnership and were very close (platonically). after fleure figured out how to make himself immortal and shapeshift and all that other OP bullshit he was probably on the way to assisting ephrey in figuring out the same for himself
... only the public caught wind of this terrifyingly powerful tyrian mage who could potentially overthrow the empress and destroy society as we know it, causing a literal witch hunt arriving at fleure’s door. he was hunted down and ‘killed’ by an enchanted weapon (though seeing as he is immortal it only put him in a dormant state, and can only be awakened if the weapon is removed but at that point you’ll have an angry sea dragon who lost its humanity hundreds if not thousands of sweeps ago trying to kill you), then unceremoniously tossed into the sea, believed that he would never resurface
this is the point that sends ephrey off the deep end, and the reason why he’s most well-known for his cursed book collection than any of his other achievements. he produced god knows how many of these books, filling them with curses with the same intensity as the rage he felt towards humanity, spreading them out across the region with the intent for them to be discovered by ordinary trolls and utterly destroy the minds of those who dare read them, all as a final fuck you to the society who ripped his dear friend away from him for no reason but their own fear of the unknown. and its this grief-turned-vehement-hatred that makes anyone who has heard of ephrey prelat and fleure ishimi look at linnae and go ‘oh fuck’
