"Through soaring joy and desire, Doru has the fuzziest thought that while Soris is like lantern oil making his flame glow hotter, brighter, Ismark is the very log itself. There is no fire without him. But with both in his life, maybe he can keep burning for all eternity?"
Read Into Unmapped Darkness Here!
INTO UNMAPPED DARKNESS is a story about trauma healing and the nature of monstrosity, but it's first and foremost about love in all of its forms, which @annirisi captured so exquisitely here. I'm truly obsessed with this piece. 🥹♥
𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: The mists choking off Barovia have lifted and sunlight is streaming into the valley once more, but for the devil’s remaining spawn, all is not well.
A Post-Canon, Hurt/ Comfort, Found Family story in which Doru, a traumatized rebel-turned-vampire; Ismark, a bleeding heart who needs a nap; and a sunshiny grave cleric attempt to turn Castle Ravenloft into a rehab center for the undead.
𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐒: Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/ Comfort, Biting, Blood Drinking, Eventual Smut, Fluff and Angst, Childhood Friends to Lovers, Slow-burn, Found Family, Healing, Idiots-in-Love, Vampire Turning, Comes Back Wrong.
As the song crescendos, Soris breaks away, heart fluttering.
She curtsies once more to the boys. Doru and Ismark bow in return, and then… they bow to each other.
Murmurs ripple through the ballroom as Doru and Ismark embrace. Their dance is one of magic—an enchantment whispered on the barest sliver of space between Doru’s lips and Ismark’s ear, a protective spell woven against storm that’s coming for them. They move in harmony. Ismark’s steadiness and Doru’s fervor achieving perfect equilibrium.
For the first time in Soris’s life, she thinks she understands why some people crave this sort of connection—it is a safe harbor, a shared dream. It’s not that Doru and Ismark belong to one another, it’s that they choose each another, again and again. And they have been choosing each other since they were small, in the face of life and death, and in a world that had so little love to yield.
It’s one of the most beautiful things Soris has ever seen.
She senses tension starting to escalate before she picks up on the din of footsteps and clanking of metal rumbling toward them...