Premise: List the first lines of your last 20 or so stories. See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line. Then tag 10 authors!
Thank you lovely @tc-doherty and @forthesanityofstorytellers for the tag! Tbh it’s kinda tradition/pattern to get loads of tags from you Sanity at the end of the year and I’m obsessed with that fact haha. 🤍 Also, I don't have 20 WIPs, but I had 17, which is crazy lol. It was def unexptected.
There are definitely some pattern here, also. Namely:
i like to start with death, blood or simply someone feeling terrified
i like to start with namedropping
i like to start with something punchy
i like to start with more introsprection rather than action
I'm really curious in particular for your answer to this ask since Lonel and IQRUS share a world of what I understand which makes this very interesting...
If you were to write a story in your setting, which would occur at a point in time other than the current time for any of the particular WIPs (or a point in time already covered but within an entirely different region and focusing on entirely separate events), what would it look like? Why would this time/place be interesting to write? If happening before the WIPs current time, would it tell of history known to the current time? If told after, would the events of the current WIP be known history to the characters? Would any characters/objects carry through time?
Hope you enjoy!
~ Circa✨
Love you for this it’s such a fun question, thank you!
Funny thing, I have actually three story planned in the world of IQRUS.
One before Lonel (so far it’s called Sasin but it will change in the future), then Lonel and lastly IQRUS. Sasin will be a story about mafia clans having magical abilities and separated by those, plus a detective who will be deeply connected to them. There, the detective will get a little knowledge about zaphrins in the end of their storyline and stuff in Auris, so they will appear in Lonel later. Because those two are taking place in different countries but slowly get connected by the strange phenomenons like constant raining (which wouldnt be as weird in Auris, Lonel’s country but it is in where Sasin takes place), and the water acting up or not usual. Sasin will have more knowledge of the, lets call it “intergalactical” picture and they want to spread it or get help, assemble force, idk yet. Meanwhile somewhere around where the main Astin Tower will be built, Icharo (IQRUS’ villain) does his thing to flood the planet. That’s what the other countries experience as weird little changes.
However, Lonel and Sasin’s story isn’t widely known to the history of IQRUS, because they are pretty secretive things. But, Adran and the Deep Corps memebers all find many little relics and stuff from the places those stories took place in. That was my first little motivation at the beginning to be honest. To have some Easter Eggs in IQRUS from other stories, like paintings with Selys' name on it that the Deep Corps found in the sunken cities or something like that.
Also, I think what Icharo begins, will mute every supernatural aspect other than his eldritch horrors. So, whatever was with Lonel and Sasin, those powers will be blocked or surpressed almost completely. We’ll see. Because IQRUS revolves around techonolgy that is so advanced it feels like magic. But there is no true magic to where Dane and Adran lives. On another Towers tho… who knows. They might meet Selys at some point.
IQRUS INTRODUCTION.
GENRE: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, Grimdark.
CONTENT: Collegues to Lovers, Science vs Belief, Bittersweet Romance, Brother vs Brother, Cult Activity, Brothers-in-Arms for Life, Otherworldly Terrors, Madness, Underwater Monsters, Bullshit Science.
SETTING: A flooded, doomed planet named Aetherius, where thechnology advanced onto a cyberpunk level and people live in the sky.
STATUS: Outlining / Zero Drafting
SNIPPET MASTERPOST
SYNOPSIS
No-one can remember when did the water devoured the surface entirely. At first, people might have thought it was just a simple tide, a harmless natural phenomenon. Until the expected low tide did not come and the water level rose to heights that human race could no longer control. In order to survive, they began to build towards the sky, while after the first monster attacks, their technological advancements needed to speed up as well.
Generations passed by since and humanity has reached its limits once again. Only this time, there’s no chance to stretch farther anyway.
In a world like this, the almost middle-aged Adran strives to serve the people as a veteran member of the Deep Corps, whom duty is submerging into the mutagenetic water and searching for still eatable food stocks in long sunken places. His younger brother, Dane, doesn’t want to serve people, however. He wants to save them, by creating a world free of monsters, mutations and tides.
This contrast in goals cannot ruin the two brother’s strong relationship so easily, but the terrors they find on their separated journeys might be capable of breaking bonds.
LOCATIONS - IMPORTANT ASPECTS
EVEROCEAN ― A mysteriously started phenomenon that resulted in flooding the entire world. People figured out early, if they touch the liquid, a strange mutation begins to change their body and slowly their mind as well. Soon after the first city had sunken, the severity of the situation increased, when grotesque looking monsters showed up in the water in sizes people have never seen before. Modern theories guesses this may be the reason why the first sufferers named the ever-rising water Everocean. Nowdays, many generations after the beginning of the flooding, both the phenomenon and the monsters are common things in aetherian life.
RISING ― The tide that comes slowly and unpredictably.
IONERA ― Main location. Many country took place here before the flooding. Now, they all merged together, so they can fit onto the Astin Tower's platforms and remain safe from the Everocean. These platforms serve as separetad sectors, where people live under various circumstances.
DEEP CORPS ―A special organization which was founded by the Astin Corp. when the non-mutagenetic food supplies began to radically decrease. Most of the food is seafood, so they needed to develop a method to make it eatable and clean again. However, this project still hasn't been finished, therefore The Corp. collects volunteers year by year and train them to face what the Everocean has store for them, while they gather supplies from sunken cities.
They also tasked to take samples and study what is underwater so every unit has at least one proficent scientist among them.
ASTIN CORPORATION AND GOVERNMENT ―The savior of humanity. It's founder, Lero Astin was the first one to act, when the flooding came and with his innovative development in science and technology they could build the Astin Tower to shelter people from the water. He created a new system and helped people to adapt to it. He brought order into chaos. Since then, The Corp. became everything, including the leading facility.
CHARACTERS
ADRAN COHREN. A soldier, a brother, a believer. After their parent's early death, he manages to balance life between raising little Dane alone and finish his training to become the youngest member of the Deep Corps. Many years later, he still doesn't go on a misson without thanking the Almighty for giving him hope and strenght to continue working on a brighter future for the people of Ionera, but most importantly, for his little brother.
pinterest | playlist
DANE COHREN. A researcher, a soon-to-be delegate, a racionalist. While he is very grateful for his brother, he also dismisses his ideals of blind faith. He grew up to be a man of reason and it helps him achieve his goals; even if the most defining event of his life is something that cannot be reasoned.
pinterest | playlist
AUVA KNOX. An eccentric personality who will tasked to be Dane's supervisor and teacher, until he learns how the Caelus Sector and the Divum Council works.
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ERAN KODYN. One of Adran's brother-in-arms. A young member of the Deep Corps and a senior of Dane from university. Eran might not be the best fighter considering his much less training in combat, but he doesn't actually need to be, since he is the brain of their unit. He's close to Adran, and he might be the closest friend to Dane too.
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THADDEUS HOLTZ. Adran's another comrade. He is the muscle of the unit, but that doesn't mean he stays behind on an intellectual level. He's a father of two with a simple desire to live another day and make a better future for his kids. When Adran needs advice, Thaddeus is the one he goes to.
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ZEV. A trashmech who makes prosthetics from junk. While this "profession" is a common thing in the Aquor Sector (considering the high mutation rate), not much people are as good as Zev. He has a close relationship with the brothers since childhood, because he helped to make Dane's prosthetic too.
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ICHARO ASTIN. The direct descendant of Lero Astin. He's the current head of the Divum Council and the man that follows a strange aspect of the Astin family: never shows up in person, only in holographic form. He lives at the top of the Tower.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE | TAGS
This post will be expanded and/or edited as I go because I'm still working on a lot of stuff and I'm big on changing things while writing the first darft heh. Eiher way, here we go finally! Links and tags will be added slowly too!
TAGS. snippets | worldbuilding | moodboards | character dynamics | nymar | tunes | Dava ship
Thank you so much for stopping by and checking it out! ♡
TAG LIST: @bloodlessheirbyjacques, @jess-p-edits, @circa-specturgia, @moonscribbler, @blind-the-winds, @odysseywritings, @the-void-writes, @dyrewrites
@aschlindartroom here's another one from the lovely prompts! Even though it's not really going between frenemies or anything like that, becaues the character I could imagine the line is just straight out good friends with the other. But still. Fair warning: this one got veeery long lmao.
Also huge thanks to my love @bloodlessheirbyjacques for beta reading for me! ❤️
Previous snippet to this ask | Prompts from this list
YOU BROUGHT ME ALONG BECAUSE I CAN DO THINGS YOU CAN'T HANDLE. SO JUST LET ME DO MY PART THEN, YEAH? | ADRAN COHREN | THADDEUS HOLTZ | EERIE UNDERWATER MISSION | WC: 2,475
Adran’s Deep Sight suddenly shut off, leaving him with nothing, but his own eyes to navigate in the Everocean’s endless depths.
“Thad, the… “
“Yes, I know. No Sight, no Vision. Even Zynx doesn’t answer, something might be blocking her signals.” Thaddeus needed to be close, because Adran could slightly feel the swaying of the water through his suit. “I don’t like the look of this, Captain.”
Adran couldn’t help but agree with his comrade’s crackling voice through the microphone. Somehow, even the sounds got confused, making the other’s voice feel distant and machine-like. They’ve met nymars that could perplex their devices for a little while, but the one they’ve escaped from wasn’t that kind. Which meant the only thing that could mess with them was their objective – that lonely, lightless cave that’s circular, yawning entrance reminded Adran of a black hole that Dane showed him in a picture a long time ago.
“Me neither, but that’s why we’re here. It turned into a Blind Mission then, that’s all. If we stick together we should be fine, as always,” he said, while his hand found his pendant under his suit. He needed to trust the Almighty’s guidance on this mission. They were no more than any man this time.
Buzzing and whirring made Adran grimace; he could best interpret the noise as a scoff, before a big hand grabbed his forearm. The faint light of their swimming suits shone bright enough to reveal Thaddeus’ slowly wrinkling face.
Their closeness made the sounds even worse for both of them.
That meant one thing.
“Communication off.” The words rolled off of Adran’s tongue heavily. All the connection broke in a blink of an eye, making place for that sightless, deafening silence the soldiers were trained for in the practice chamber. Sunken in a weighting liquid, trapped in a too open space. Feeling, hearing and seeing nothing, but their own projection of things they’ve expected to find.
There was no practice chamber, however. The threat was real around them somewhere, which if they wouldn’t want to bring upon themselves, they couldn’t use any more light then the suits’.
Thaddeus slowly blinked, signaling his agreement on Adran’s decision, then looked at the direction in the dark where they’ve seen the cave’s entrance the last time. It was unmistakable; a restless, unsettling pull emitted from it which might have felt insignificant if they would just swim by it.
But not this close, not this time.
Adran knew Thaddeus felt it too, he needed to. There was nothing like that feeling. And that was why he needed to know what’s inside that cave. Everything he’d done so far, those terrible things he was suspected with – all of it led to this place.
After setting a rope on his and his comrade’s belt, they began to swim towards the objective.
Without the sight of any rock, seaplant or sea life, Adran’s focus never wandered, so he could notice the difference when they finally were inside. The sensation of the pull became stronger, while the darkness somehow turned even darker. He experienced a completely blind state before, but not this thick, oily blackness that not only surrounded them; it swallowed them whole.
Guide me. He saw the cave outside, it was deep, but straight. There was no other sign, only that and only there. He needed to go forward, no matter what.
As much as the strange feeling felt as a pulling, Adran never met water this heavy, this… resistant. It almost seemed as if they tried to swim against a current.
Forward.
His helmet’s weak inner glow let him see his reflection on the translucent part of his gear. The face he saw had deep wrinkles on the forehead, lips forcefully pressed together, eyes desperately trying to find something to look at. He couldn’t see the ears, but he could feel and hear the pumping of the blood in his eardrums. That look on the reflected face and the sound of his own throbbing blood flow reminded Adran of someone who was afraid.
He almost stopped from the realization. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt fright in the water. No, of course not. This was his job, his domain. He knew the Everocean as someone knew his own home. He's been on Blind Missions a million times now, and however unusual this sensation felt, there was nothing he couldn’t handle. He needed to remember his training.
If you can’t see, you listen.
And so he listened. The murmurs of his and Thaddeus’ gear almost sounded calming despite their distant echoing. Echoing. There was no such thing like that underwater.
Shiver ran through Adran’s spine when the temperature dropped. There was no transition, one second to another, he just found himself inside an ice cold darkness with no room for the heating layer of his suit. A thousand ants scuttled around on his skin, their hurried steps hurting more and more as the cold bit into every inch of his body. Then, it was as if something had brushed past his arm.
Adran tried to turn on his Frost-Vision by squeezing his eyes, while his hand automatically pushed the water farther from himself.
He did not get back his sight, nor he encountered anything in the water. Nothing attacked him.
But he couldn’t be sure.
Adran panted in his helmet, blood loudly drumming in his ear, while the cold tried to trick his mind again. Or something was brushing past his body every second.
He needed to remember his training. He's done similar things hundreds of times now. He couldn’t fail now.
Adran pulled on his rope twice, not slowing, nor stopping to let his helmet clear from his breath. The rope almost immediately moved twice again with a little force to pull him backwards.
Thaddeus was still here and okay.
The captain closed his eyes, as he always did in the chamber too. He needed to feel. He felt the brushing on every part of his body, an attempt to scare him, make him change direction. He felt it. It wanted to… guide him.
All the constant crawling on his skin wanted him to let his resistance go. This thought made Adran very aware of the pendant pushing into his chest. He squeezed his eyes even more together, holding onto the holy symbol, and then, he let everything go.
Guide me.
The sensation embedded into the strange pulling. They made Adran feel dizzy, his stomach hurled back into the pit of his core and twisted so tight, he could sense bile rising up in his throat. It lasted for seconds or minutes, he couldn’t tell. Ghostly pulling sensation swayed him left, then right, to every direction it wanted to. His throat began to dry out from the freezing cold, he was gagging, choking as if every air would have left the suit.
Then, the coolness started to melt away with a faint, dim light that hit his closed eyes.
He did not open them, so long as he finally felt the pull release his bones, scamper out from under his skin and let him reach the surface.
Adran emerged from the water so quickly, he almost fully leaped out from it. His eyes shot open as his helmet pulled back into his suit, and he hurriedly gulped down air like he’s tasting it for the first time in his life. He did not look around so long he could hear the throbbing in his ears and feel the bits on his skin.
A short time later the rope loosened on his belt and Thaddeus arose from the water beside him.
He reacted the same way, jumping out as if something was chasing him. So he felt it too.
Adran couldn’t deny the relief of not being the only one, while he scrambled towards his comrade, grabbed him by the neck of the suit and with a powerful yank, he helped him get out of the water before he followed him.The movement came to him instinctively, not caring what they crawled up onto.
Both of them breathed heavily, laying on the ground, trying to collect themselves.
Thaddeus looked up at Adran, leaning on his hand beside him.
“This is no simple Blind Mission, Cap. That path was worse than those grosslings’ inside. Are you sure you want to proceed?” His face seemed to be made from shadows under the strange, blue-orange light that lit the space. Adran gave this a little thought, but he already knew his answer. He nodded eventually. “Fine. Don’t waste any more time then.”
Thaddeus was clearly deeply concerned, which Adran understood completely. He had a lot to lose if something turned out to be dangerous. He, unfortunately, was also the only one who the Captain could fully trust to make this mission through with him. Adran debated a lot to include him, but he also knew if Thaddeus wouldn’t be here, then he could never find out the truth about all the confusing things recently – and about himself as well.
They both gave themselves an extra moment, before they got up and took a good look at where they were exactly.
The place seemed to be a round cavern, water pooling inside where they came in. The water’s crystal blue texture let Adran see the glowing of some kind of organism close to the surface, which apparently also brightened the whole place. It stuck to the rock formations… or it was part of them. There was no way to tell.
It shone in a faint blue-orange colour and unfolded a tunnel before the soldier’s eyes, as Adran realized little patches of the organism were trapped and attached to the walls in glass bulbs.
The walls also had a very unusual appearance. Adran thought what surrounded them was a stone he hadn't seen yet. But he soon realized, he saw no stone; not even close to any kind of rock.
What he faced was metal.
“What the hell is this place?” Thaddeus’ rumbling, deep voice echoed through the tunnel, while he frowned at the other side of the place, keeping a fair distance from it.
“I don’t know, but it’s sure far from natural.”
The two exchanged glances. Adran reached for his laser blade on his back, at the same time Thaddues grabbed a grip from his belt and let the massive Blastergun build up piece by piece, then fall into both of his hands.
Whatever layed far inside this place, better to be prepared.
The captain signaled with his free hand, what his comrade acknowledged with a nod before he began to creep forward. Adran mirrored him sticking close to his side of the wall, while he also brought up his arm to glance at the popped up holo screen. All the emergency bombs were intact on his suit, and the oxygen level in his tank barely dropped down. Which meant whatever he experienced in the water wasn’t caused by lack of air.
A familiar, sickening sensation pulled on his bones.
Adran jerked towards Thaddeus and he could see the big man tensing up everywhere. Something was wrong.
As they prowled inside carefully, this feeling only deepened. The cave – or more like a hallway appeared to be endless and empty. Yet, the pulling made it feel…full. Full of… something.
Little rocks rubbed against their feet, quietly crackling underneath. Adran stepped on a small pile of them one time, causing a slightly louder noise, when movement coughed his eye on his right.
Hand gripping his blade, he glared at the metal wall beside him. It beared the colour of bronze and gold, but the blueness of the glowing organism hasn't shown on it. In fact, when Adran inched closer, it seemed as if the orange part of the brightness was coming from the wall. But, what dried his throat out was the surface of the metal… which was waving.
Like water.
Adran felt sick. His mind tickled as if a finger just tenderly would have caressed it. The longer he looked at the wall, the stronger the pulling in his bones grew. There was something deeply unnerving staring at it. The colour, the material, the structure. The hue. Sinister, black hues gathered around where the light hit the metal.
Wrong. This place felt nothing, but utterly wrong.
“Captain.” Adran spun on his heels, striking down on the one who called after him. Thaddeus immediately leaned back and grunted while he caught the captain’s hand in mid-air, iron grip closing over the arm. There were mere inches between his face and the buzzing blade. “What are you doing?”
If he hadn’t been a much bigger and equally trained soldier, Thaddeus would be only half a man already. The hardening concern on his features, the shock and warning in his voice snapped Adran out of his state. Confused, he stopped resisting and let his comrade forcefully bring his hand down from before his face.
“It’s just… I don’t know. I got surprised by you. I was inspecting that wall and…”
For the Almighty’s holiest name, why did he do that? Was it instinct or a reflex because he called for him too suddenly? He couldn’t remember, nor could he feel anything else beside the shiver running back and forth on his spine and the wild rhythm of his heartbeat. Or that profound unease in his mind.
Whatever was the reason behind this, it just didn’t make sense. And it was dangerous.
Thaddeus’ frown deepened, yet he let him go.
“Right. Look, it’s okay, I believe you, but you’re clearly not well. I should probably carry the blade for you,” before you start a rampage again. The words hung in the air like lethally sharp spikes over one’s head.
“Those weren’t me. It’s just this place… something is not right here. If we stumble upon anything dangerous with me being unarmed…”
“Then I’ll pass the blade back to you, or deal with it myself. It’s not like you couldn’t fight without a weapon, either way, you brought me along because I can do things you can’t handle alone. So just let me do my part then, yeah?” Thaddeus said, then extended his free hand.
For all the resistance in his body, Adran knew his comrade was right. He knew how his recent doings looked and even though Thaddeus believed him not killing innocents for no reason, caution was the best he could offer. Reason. It was hard to grasp for Adran what that word meant at the moment.
“Here.”
He handed his weapon to Thaddeus anyway, who kept it safe on his back in the same way Adran would do it. Then, the big man put a massive hand on his shoulder, squeezed it reassuringly and nodded to their left with his head.
Happy WBW! Tell 👏🏻 me 👏🏻 about 👏🏻 Everocean 👏🏻 . The bit you posted last week really piqued my interest. What sort of monsters are in there? What are the most recent theories about the "Rising"? Tell meeeee!
I'M ALWAYS LATE, BUT THANK YOU AHA <3
I try to leave spoilers out, but we’ll see how I can manage that in practice. Plus, fair warning; I'll link pictures of the monsters below which can be disturbing for some (probably most) of people. Keep that in mind, please.
So, as much as it might makes you think otherwise, the Everocean isn’t still water. The aquorian would confirm this fact, because they experience it everyday. I forgot to mention before, but in the Aquor Sector, the platform is always half-underwater, specially now when there's no higher to transfer. People travel between blocks, buildings on boats or the futuristic equivalent of it, just like in Venice. Most of their streets are flooded. Where they don’t need boat though, the water is still coats the ground. So they cannot go anywhere without safety boots if they still have their own legs and not a mechanic one etc.
Anyway, the water acts there like it would on a beach. It moves, slightly waves, but most of the time, that’s it. That’s the part of the Everocean where people can find/ fish some — mutant — but still eatable animals. Farther away from the platform, however, is where the monsters lurk.
We refer to them as monsters, but not every kind attacks people. Some of them just very strange. Also, there are three major types of them. Further info below.
This type lurks the closest to the surface. They live above the Sunborder, which is the point where sunlight still reaches down and the soldiers doesn't need their Deep Sight to see. Most of these creatures won't attack, they just float around, creepily still. Their appearance is strangely humanoid sometimes, but scientists couldn't confirm if they are very advanced mutated people or not. They also called in a million names by the Deep Corps' members, but the most common is Surfreak (bad wordplay because they're closest to the surface), or Frightlings. This last one refers to the fact that if someone bothers these creatures, they'll rush off inumanly quickly. There are also a lot of variations of them. D-rated Surfreaks can possess some aggressive traits and attempt to bit you for example. But they are still not that harmful and can easily be dealt with by the trained soldiers. People also has not too much knowledge about them, because they usually too quick to catch, so there was very little chance to thoroughly study them. However, Corps' memebers reported that they feel funny around these creatures, a little lightheaded and unsually cheerful.
Dreadspawns – as the Corps' members call them, are more dangerous though. You can find them below the Sunborder only. They're brutally distorted creatures and very rarely not predators. Scientists could study them still, because they can be killed (even if it's difficult) by their better fighters, so they have some interesting knowledge of them. Their body temprature is low, close to 0, but it never reaches it. The surface of their bodies are so durable, they can be only cut by laser. Their scales or skins also has a quiet odd texture, it reminded some of the scientists of some kind of metal. These studies were denied and banned, of course, because it's just ludicrous. Which is why, the official files does not contain this humbug. Either way, Dreadspawn are less humanoid-like, and they also attracted to bright light, the same way as nymars. Deep Corps' members' reports also say that their head feels weird around these creatures, their skin slightly itches and they have a common unease.
These creatures are the biggest predators on Aestherius. People has no exact numbers, because no-one could ever fully measure the size of any of the Grosslings. One report said that a soldier wasn't even as big as this kind of beast's pupil. They also the only kind of monster that has no effect on the Corps' members that could indicate their closeness. Their devices even get perplexed only when they're inside the creature. Which happens rather often, if the members meet a Grosslings. They usually need to escape from there.
The beast's body temprature, however is known in a sense, that it's way below the freezing point. That's why the Corps' got the Frost-Vision which can sometimes help members to spot the creature before it swallows them sneakily. Grosslings' cannot be killed by humans, though, because their skin doesn't get cut by laser, neither harmed by any other weapon humanity possesses at the moment. They also has very strange body structure, because the members say that they usually can't decide whether they escaped through it's mouth, backside or any other body part. Grosslings' insanely attracted to light.
Personal files say that the members call them Grosslings and joke with them a lot as a cooping mechanism, because they couldn't deal with their existence and experiences anyway.
PHEW! And now the about the Rising.
Most recent scientific theories are veguely about that humanity fucked up the ecosystem and everything melted away, then every toxic stuff mixed with it and made it mutagenetic. But, this one failed when everything that could melt, melted away and the water still rose higher. So, now, the most popular theory is that humanity sinned so badly that God released all Hell and the water comes from there. There are also supporters of a movement that wants to focus on finding out how they can kill Nymars, because they believe those monsters behind the Rising.
This one is still a little wacky, because I need to work on it more, but yeah. Kinda this is how things are right now.
Thank you for the tag @aninkwellofnectar, @bloodlessheirbyjacques and @the-void-writes! I do not have a title for Project Metalsea, not a single one, even for the first book lmao. So we'll work with what we have. <3
This Website allows you to input your name, the title of your WIP, an image, and additional details, and it’ll make a cover for you in the style of the Penguin Classics covers!
Tagging: @jess-p-edits, @jessica-writes22, @moonscribbler, @circa-specturgia, @aalinaaaaaa, @approximately20blorbos, @friendlyneighborhood-writer, @cherrybombfangirlwrites, @writingonesdreams (if any of you guys already did it, then feel free to tag someone in your place)
Thank you so much for the numbers! 💙 Well, it was a lovely combination of two IQRUS song, Goodbye by Ramyes (from Arcane) and Doom by Imagine Music. So, since I already planned to write this scene in the near future, I've lived with the opportunity now.
Context: The cult experimented on making a specimen of the mix of a human and a zaphrin (angel/lesser god-like creatures) that can erase other zaphrins. Adran happened to be the best candidate to this role, so they made him insane and turned him into an eldritch monster, then went to the Everocean to destroy Auva and kill Dane. It's almost the end of the book.
Adran’s jaw – that nauseating, deformed piece of his face where his sharp, shark-like teeth slumbered – clenched together with an ear-shattering crunch. His Evolved hand closed over Dane’s neck with ease. It seemed so tiny compared to his clawed arms that Dane tried to draw blood from with his weak fingers. To no avail, however. The scales that grew over Adran’s translucent, slithery skin could stop lasers from slicing them through. A mere scratch of a human being was not near to harming him.
Adran’s neck twitched as he saw his brother’s tears escaping from the side of his face.
“Ad…ran…” he forced out the letters with the air that rushed out from his lungs but couldn’t get back anymore. His face slowly turned into the purple of the sunset behind him. “Fight… it…”
ɪᴛ ɪs ᴛɪᴍᴇ, ɪɴsᴇᴄᴛ.
He watched Dane struggle, desperation and terror pooling into his ocean-blue eyes. No. ʏᴇs. His brother let out a gutwrenching cry as Adran’s claws tightened, his neck bruising visibly. No! NO!
ʏᴇs, ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ᴍɪɴᴇ. ɪᴛ ɪs ᴛɪᴍᴇ.
Electric shockwaves ran down across his skin, right into his bones, the little sparkles popping up here and there in the ooze that dripped from his whole body. His mind had been out of his reach, thick fog and froth washing Adran farther away from himself. Numbness sunken him deeper and deeper locking him into a dark corner of his existence. He’d seen his grotesque, eight feet tall self lifting Dane higher through an old screen, not his eyes. He was lost. He was doing what was best.
It was the best for Her. And so it could be the best for the world as well.
Adran saw what he was doing. Through a screen. Through… he saw his arms and a scar on the sensitive skin between two lines of scales.
A scar.
ɴᴏɴsᴇɴsɪᴄᴀʟ.
His scar.
ᴀsɪɴɪɴᴇ.
The scar he got when he saved Dane. From falling. From dying. He stirred in his numbness. Adran looked down at Dane’s remnant of his mechanic leg. He ripped it out of their fitting. He trashed in the shadows of his mind, trashed for air and freedom.
He was choking Dane. The one he saved and has scarred himself for. Dane lost his leg that day, the day he got his scar. When they were kids. He saved him. From falling. From dying. His Dane.
Adran looked at his gagging, deepening red face.
At his little brother.
NO!
Adran’s mind buzzed and whirled, it melted and bled as he screamed his throat raw when he finally forcefully took the control back over his body. He immediately let Dane go, then with his eyes jumping everywhere at an insane speed, he turned around to look at the source of this bone-crushing unease, this madness.
At Icharo Astin, The Golden Prophet.
He couldn’t describe the guttural loathing that his form presented under the golden robe, and he didn’t try to. With the thin thread he could grab of his sanity, Adran charged towards The Golden. The vessel’s floor thumped under his large, oily feet, the air around him resonating and tearing apart. The Golden did not move as if he was sculpted from stone-cold confidence. He stood there as the grand statue of lunatics. He was indestructible. Death couldn’t lay a hand on him.
Adran, however, was worse than death.
And so he broke through the invisible, yet crushing resistance that this man’s, this monster’s cosmic protection had lifted before him. There was a slight hint of surprise in The Golden’s unreadable, faceless expression when Adran soundlessly roared at him and began to rip him out of existence. He surprised a God, after all. ᴅᴇsᴛʀᴜᴄᴛɪᴏɴ. ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ɢᴏɴɴᴀ ᴅᴇsᴛʀᴏʏ. ʏᴏᴜʀsᴇʟꜰ. Adran felt an endless shock of pain in his core, in his bones, in his mind. He started bleeding from everywhere as he sucked the skin, the bone, the life out of The Golden before him.
What he was consuming, was a part of him already. And he couldn’t bear it. It was too much for his body.
Jarring gurgling exploded from The Golden’s mouth. Deafening agony resonated in the air, as both he and Adran shrieked.
Vibrant red and sparkling gold blood bled onto the floor, pooling under them.
Yet, Adran had only one thing stuck in his mind. One thing he was holding onto; that last thread of sanity. Golden-red blood oozed from his face as tears, when he looked at the terrified Dane from the corner of his eyes.
“Save them,” he… forced his mouth to form the words.
Then, with the thought of his little brother, Adran howled in sync with The Golden one last time, before he tore every part of him out of the worlds and destroyed himself in the process.
Thank you for the tag @approximately20blorbos! Took me a little while, but here we are.
Rules: Find 3 photos/images (they can be anything at all, memes, vintage photographs, quotes, anything) that you feel describe your wip. If you want, you can tell a little bit your story, too. You can do it with or without the context.
IQRUS
Project Metalsea
I'm very curious what do you guys think about them based on these lol.
