#traders records

[traderotales]

Last Line Tag

Tagged by @leahnardo-da-veggie! Their post is here

I just finished up figuring out/writing up Reaper's backstory... so you get the last line of its first half >:)

Reaper walked towards the amassing clouds as the wind picked up, then started running as the rain started to fall.

Tagging: @aalinaaaaaa @an0neemouse @write-with-will @moltenwrites @autism-purgatory + open tag!

[traderotales]

[Prompt from @flashfictionfridayofficial.]

TITLE: Masks of Glass

Story: Call of the Void (read more of it (in plot order this time) here!)

Synopsis: Freshly awake from recurring nightmares of Strife's torture and the actions of their new unseen enemy, Sam asks The Blade of Tides why it chose her, instead of anyone else more deserving.

Warnings: Slight body horror/gore, mentions of death, mentions of torture

Words: 1,082

Curse my writing a lot and need for setup—BUT it's not much over the word limit!!

Sam, for a moment, was back in that horrible dark cell. Chains dug into her outstretched wrists, their pervading energy running through her, shutting off her powers. No healing from the water dripping from above, slowly soaking her through.

No chance of escape.

The hurt came in flashes—the eletrical rod, knives percisely slicing her skin, revealing the glowing turqouise blood underneath—all backed by Strife's chilling, calm laughter. Her words that had blurred together in Sam's mind, which had dissociated for most of it to try and get away from the pain. Words that she only vaguely remembered, words that gloated and mocked her.

Words that claimed that the Flame of Strife was the only reason Sam was as she was now. That she'd created her.

Then, it all morphed. The cell faded away, into a burning building. The same one that had been attacked recently by whatever new subordinate Strife had hired now. Screams echoed around her, but Sam's dream moved her past them, forcing her down the hall as if she had no care in the world.

Faces of her friends emerged from the flames, melting as their screams warped with their flesh. Sam flinched away as Valerie's face came into view, and the gruesome visage of her girlfriend reached towards her.

"Why?" she hissed, before collapsing. She vanished a moment later, and Sam was suddenly outside of the building, while it was still burning, instead of how she and CLASSIFIED had found it destroyed the next morning. People watched in horror while firefighters rushed onto the scene, but—instinctively—Sam knew they wouldn't be saving anyone in there.

"Mmm… a shame, isn't it?" Sam stiffened as Strife's voice spoke in her left ear. She tried to turn, to duck away as she felt hands grasp her shoulders, but she was frozen in place. "If only you'd been there to help, little hero. Maybe they wouldn't have died. All those poor people…dead, by your hand."

Sam gasped and shot up in bed, and her hand shot out. The Blade of Tides transformed from its watch form with a roar of power and an echoing RING! as it sharpened in her hand. Sam gripped the sword, shaking and breathing heavily, her and the room cast in its bright blue glow.

The same color her blood was. The image of Strife's hands stained with it flashed behind her eyes, and Sam flinched.

Chosen One? a voice echoed within her mind, making her jump. But it was only Spirit, the being who inhabited the Blade of Tides. You are frightened and alert.

"Nightmare," was all she could whisper. With a mental command, the Blade of Tides melted back into blue energy, wrapping back around her left wrist into its watch form. Its face still glowed, dimmer now, and Sam sighed and leaned her face into her palms, nails scraping on her scalp.

This has become an issue yet again, Spirit said, though its tone was gentle. Sam glanced to her right, seeing Valerie asleep beside her, covered only by the blanket. Sam breathed deeply, then shifted out of bed, her footfalls soft against the cold hardwood floor.

Worthy One? Where are you going?

Spirit's question went unanswered, as she slipped from their bedroom, then down the hall into the apartment living room, the half kitchen to her left. It was a high-rise apartment, so the right wall, behind the living room, was entirely glass with floor-to-ceiling windows.

Sam stopped in the middle of the hall, staring at those windows. The curtains were open, letting in the night lights of the heart of Meridian City, Westar. Buildings were still half-bright, even this late, and car head and taillights blurred past far below. Even after a decade of visiting and living here, the sheer contrast to her quiet farm childhood was still stark.

The floorboards creaked underneath her as she walked to the windows, and simply… stared. At the lights, knowing there were millions of people behind them. She couldn't sense them, not from so far away. But she knew they were there, all counting on her, even if they didn't know it.

"Why me, Spirit?"

The question left her without her realizing. But had sat there for so long, in the back of her mind, for years. A weight in her chest, that only got heavier when she said the words.

You ask why you were chosen for the duty of Ambassadorism to your father.

The Flame of Water. One of the more powerful Flames. And one she had only met once, when she'd needed him…and when he benefited from her.

"I'm asking why you chose me. You're the Spirit of the Blade. You said that you choose who's worthy…and who's not."

You killed all who weren't. Natural disasters had been caused by the Blade of Tides to ward off any who weren't worthy, some of which were evil. Some who weren't.

Her demiflame half-siblings still mourned one of their own, because of that.

Sam stared at her reflection in the windows, seeing a worn, tired, ragged woman stare back. "Why was I, a twelve-year-old, so new to this part of myself, worthier than Levi? Five years older and had trained nigh his entire life to find you?"

Why me instead of him, when he deserved it so much more?

…You were balanced, Sam, in a way that Levi, unfortunately, was not. Spirit's words were heavy, nearly regretful.

Your initial attempt, and Levi's, were similar, yet opposites. He sought me largely for your father's approval. The want to keep The Blade from the unworthy was small in comparison.

You hated yourself, when your first attempt to bond failed, and the resulting disaster killed that town. Yet you grew from it. You did not succumb to your loathing, and instead realized the path forward.

You balanced your hatred with the need to keep it from the unworthy evils, such as Strife. The love to protect those you knew and those you did not, against the hatred of yourself. It was not total balance, but it told me of your capacity to balance yourself. And that is why I chose you, Sam Allen, as that is largely my—our—duty. To bring balance to ourselves, and the world.

Sam's reflection stared back at her. Weary, tired. A shell of who she felt she was, and a mask of who she felt she needed to be.

"Right…" she whispered, and didn't believe it.

[traderotales]

Wip Folder Tag!

Got tagged by @pluppsauthor a bit ago lol

Make a new post with all the art/writing files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive/ridiculous, then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

People can send an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then you post a snippet or tell them something about it!

You guys are making WIP folders?

Anyway! Writing/art/animation/general project stuff, sorted by the main projects per usual. The big titles are the main projects, and you can ask about those too lol. Also I'm just describing them atp bc I don't really title them 😭😭

As I went thru this I realize JUST how many I have so uhhhh yeah!! More under the cut!!!

↪ Souls of Black

↪ Worldbuilding for the new materials I've decided are on Dridon

↪ The beginnings of how cuprite works

↪ Alarik and K9's meeting (tis an idea as of now but I WILL write it!!!)

↪ Chapter 6 of SoB!!

↪ Novis reference sheet

↪ Goldengemflower (Reaper x Phoebe x Galisa) fancy art

↪ 'Lifespan' comic with Phoebe suffering

↪ Takedown comic with Coder

↪ Wolf hype drawing with a gold axe

↪ Hashi hairstyle sketches

↪ Snow Golem worldbuilding page

↪ INCREDIBLY old but thorough storyboard for Stomp Me Out by Bryce Fox, with Reaper

↪ Bite Marks storyboards for a SoB animated trailer

↪ Animation of Reaper to a Jinx (Arcane) fansong about her time in prison :D

↪ Wu Zetian part in Rustage's World Leaders rap, with Reaper as its focus

↪ SoB animation practice

↪ Alarik Crow to Marino's Devil In Disguise (wayyy before I had a design for him LOL)

↪ Reaper animatic to Snakes from Arcane (I'll prolly throw in the storyboard sketches)

↪ Call of the Void/Legends of the Cosmos

↪ Call of the Void

↪ My crack at writing what would be the beginning of CoV

↪ All Agents AU (NSFW) (but there's also actual lore dw)

↪ Rewrite of a scene where Ruby and her friends try to stop Eris' robots in their heist of Gunther Industries--and meet Riot

↪ Sam and Valerie dialogue after Sam's rescue from Eris torturing her to make Riot

↪ "I Know You're Bleeding Under There" a Envoy and Riot oneshot (i can still see this one in my drafts)

↪ Ruby and Ryan redraw

↪ Valerie Knight redesign sheet

↪ Ryan aurafarming with Fate's Blade

↪ Spirit of The Blade of Tides design

↪ The Blades of Tides' spirit meeting with Sam

↪ Chaos sketches

↪ CoV cast expression collage

↪ 'Sort the OCs' meme with the CoV cast (feral/homophobic/war criminal-hates the irish/fucks to survive/evades taxes)

↪ Ruby and Ryan doodles based on Klance

↪ Storyboards

↪ CoV storyboard(s) for 'episode 1' (animation plus sketches)

↪ Storyboard for Ruby and Ryan trying to find Valerie when Ruby's sick n dyin

↪ Riot storyboards with Circus by Britney Spears(?)

↪ Envoy storyboards for an edit animatic to Mad Tsai's Boys Beware

↪ CoV animated opening to the Chainsaw Man theme

↪ Ruby edit animatic to RAHH by alt!

↪ Riot and Katie scene (its... admittedly not a wip i finished it a bit ago BUT I LIKE IT A LOT SO IM PUTTING IT HERE)

↪ Blade of Tides magical girl esc transformation sequence

↪ Ruby voice lines practice with Transformers Prime Arcee voice lines

↪ Blood Sweat and Tears - A Sam Allen animatic

↪ Legends of the Cosmos

↪ Storyteller sketch w his magic

↪ Storyteller Darkside animation

↪ The Traveler and the Flame of Secrets Ozymandias animation

↪ Wild West Death

↪ Death sketches

↪ Apocryphal SMP

(a minecraft SMP with a future version of Reaper after the events of SoB)

↪ Reaper animation to Welcome Home by Caleb Hyles!! Evil meta god called the Game Master is horrible to her (SoB Reaper has a cameo :3)

↪ Comic of Reaper and The Origin (another evil god who possessed her ex bf) have a horrible chat. It drives her towards murder :( (of said ex bf. AGAIN.)

↪ Netherite Armor (previous) design doodles with Reaper

↪ Reaper and The Trader of Tales to No Longer You from EPIC

↪ Miscellaneous

↪ We Were Here Forever doodles

↪ Netherite Armor Redesign

↪ Recreance logo (for my partner's steampunk story)

Tagging everyone I THINK is an art moot or writer moot or like, both??? If i tag you by accident uh feel free to ignire Im so tired T~T

@thunder-dexy @wat7 @moltenwrites @aalinaaaaaa @projectkarya @itsgirlcraft @autism-purgatory @merryweathermakes @write-with-will @savvyminnow @mymomsaysbobcipher @ryns-ramblings @leahnardo-da-veggie @orphanheirs @the-next-miss-american-trash @soulfire-of-void and OPEN TAG! Just, make your own post and tag me in it tho, pls don't make a reblog chain outta this one its long enough as is.

[traderotales]

Wrong Room

[Prompt from @flashfictionfridayofficial.]

Story: Call of the Void (more oneshots ordered here)

Synopsis: Looking for the demiflame of Deals in a grand opening ball, Sapphire runs into someone much worse.

Words: 724

Sapphire's nerves felt like they were going to burn her disguuse right through, and reveal who she really was to everybody around her.

She ducked through the crowds of people at the grand opening ball of the new museum—transformed into one from a super old mansion. One that belonged to the person she was frantically looking for again: the demiflame of Deals.

Sarah was her name, and she was an up-and-coming business owner after signing off, for some reason, with Strife and her business, Ichor Tech. Tall blonde, green eyes, really fancy and pretty suit—

Focus! she told herself. Finally, finally, she caught a glimpse of blond adorned with gold jewelry, and scampered to follow. Sapphire herself wasn't blond any longer; she had on a brunette wig with a bun at the back, in a blue and gold dress of her own. That, and a new voice she'd picked up from one of the secretaries that worked at Gunther Industries. One a bit higher than her own. With all of it, she'd made a disguise of a intern looking for an assistant job with Sarah.

Too bad she hadn't be able to do that before she'd signed off with Strife. But now, she just had to find Sarah and convince her of the half-lie they'd found on Strife, to hopefully deter her from working with her further.

Somehow, anyway.

Sapphire bumped into people as she weaved through the crowds, and saw that sleek suit turn into one of the many open rooms. Sapphire yelped and followed, grabbing at her arm and glancing behind her—just in case Strife's forces were here already in her stead.

"Sarah! Hi, I know this may be….uhm…" Sapphire turned back to her, only to see that this woman was not blond. Instead, her spiraled, ponytailed hair was black, with only a blond streak, and blond curled bangs.

And her eyes weren't green. Instead, they were a striking gold.

Sapphire gaped at the Flame of Strife, now limping holding the woman's wrist. The Flame glanced down at her hand, then met her eyes again as she simply raised an eyebrow.

"Hello," she said, her voice smooth, deeper, and silky. A smile played on her lips. "I believe you've meant to meet my new business partner?"

"I—uh—yeah! Yes, sorry!" Sapphire snatched her hand away, nodding quickly in nervousness that was truly real. Strife's smile widened, amused in a malicious way. Her eyes seemed to drill into Sapphire, studying her outfit, her hair, her. Sapphire wanted to melt right then and there, or run back to Ruby—but she couldn't do that without making Strife or the people around them suspicious.

For now, she prayed to a random list of related Flames, hoping her disguise would be enough.

"You seem… familiar," Strife said finally. Sapphire laughed nervously.

"Oh, really? No, no I—"

Strife leaned down and closer, making Sapphire squeak and shut up. She hummed thoughtfully, before she smiled in a way that seem more geniune.

"Ah!" She stood again. "You're that assistant Sarah was telling me about!"

"I—what?" Sapphire asked. Strife turned, waving her hand with a chuckle.

"Yes, yes…she was talking about the decision of hiring you. She's desperately in need of someone to keep her steered the right way!" The woman laughed, manicured nails glittering golden as she covered her mouth with her open hand. She had a drink in the other, Sapphire now realized, but if she'd always had it she wasn't sure.

"What was your name again, dear?" Strife's eyes fell on her again, pinning her in place.

"Uh—Avery!" she said. The same name she'd used during her interview with Sarah. Where was she? Sapphire couldn't comm the others now, that'd be too obvious.

"Avery…" Strife said the name slowly, as if tasting it. Sapphire resisted the urge to cringe. "Do you mind if we chat awhile? I'd like to know what dragged you to Sarah in the first place. You were described as…rather eager."

"Uhhh…" Sapphire started, but Strife already looped an arm through hers and was walking through the room. The people moved for her instantly, letting her drag Sapphire wherever she wanted, and leaving Sapphire with no other options. No help, no comming her friends.

Oh boy, Sapphire thought, and let herself be towed along with their worst enemy.

[traderotales]

WIP Wednesday Thursday

I think this counts for both art WIPs and writing ones?

Tagged by @aalinaaaaaa whose post is here!

I'm currently working my way through the first part of the previous Chapter 2 of Souls of Black, trying to cut up and reorganize the story I have so far. I'm tracking my progress on my blog with #writeblr75hard right now :) (though I missed yesterday, which is why I've been doing lots today lol)

The first thing she sensed within it was more ration pouches, its words of pouch-ration-beef echoing through her mind as she focused on it. Only there were thirty of them, clumped together in a single slot of the chest’s first tier, which sat closest to her. Reaper paused, taking her hand from the chest’s mist and causing its reserve to disappear from her mind. What in The Black? Reaper frowned, then reached back into the chest. From what she could tell, the chest’s reserve was organized, as opposed to things sporadically missing, having been stolen by previous raiders. That was how it usually was with any raided and abandoned bases across any Biome. Sporadic, random. Never organized. She skimmed through the chest's first tier, sensing more pouches of food. But they had different meats in them: pork, and chicken. She hadn't seen any boars since being in the Plains, and…chickens were bird-like creatures, weren't they? She didn't know, she'd never seen one before. But she'd never seen their meat in a ration pouch. More pressing was the fact that there were a decent amount of all of them, though the beef pouches had the largest amount. The only way Reaper knew of getting ration pouches was supply chests. That, or buying them… A pooling dread made her stomach tighten, but she continued her search, transferring a few of each of the types of meat pouches to her own reserve. She put some in her quick-tier, feeling a chill pass through her, gaining five total beef pouches, and the same number for the pork and chicken. Each type of meat clumped into a single slot with its brethren. She continued her search through the chest's tiers, but its reserve was mostly empty. When she brushed over the second tier, however, another word registered in her mind: wheat stalk. There were fifty of them. Stunned and confused, Reaper transfered the item to her quick-tier and summoned it, taking her hand out of the chest's black mist. Misty wisps fluttered into existence, then merged together, forming long tendrils above her outstretched palm, before bursting apart. What fell in her hand was what looked like a bundle of blades of tall grass, only it was a golden yellow, tied together with a red cloth. At each of the stalk's end was a cluster of braided little seeds. Reaper frowned, turning it over in her hand. It obviously wasn't any type of meat. A type of crop, then? It didn't look like any she'd seen before. But if it was a crop…then how did this chest have so many? Her heart started to race in her chest with the increasing dread in her stomach. Reaper dropped the wheat back into the chest, and it melted into the black mist as she dropped the lid closed. She snatched up her cutlass from the floor, climbing to her feet as her eyes fell on the door next to the chests. Part of her was already piecing together the answer. The rest of her was hoping she was wrong, and dreading that she was right.

@moltenwrites @autism-purgatory @merryweathermakes @voidedparts @callme-marco + open tag! Pst! If you do this, please make your own post, but feel free to tag me in it so I can see! Thanks :)

[traderotales]

Some more scriot writing for the CoV pilot, since I finished the first major scene in it! I'm really proud of the dialogue here, I feel it shows Ruby and Saph's relationship, plus Ruby's motivations, (and the fact they're a system) really well :))

CoV Taglist:

@itsgirlcraft @autism-purgatory @projectkarya @enchanted-lightning-aes @moltenwrites @mymomsaysbobcipher @savvyminnow @ultimatewildcard

[traderotales]

Flash Fiction Friday - 11/21/25

[Prompt from @flashfictionfridayofficial.]

[Logo design by me]

TITLE: When Push Comes To Shove

PROMPT: Hunter's Moon STORY: Call of the Void (more oneshots for this story (including for FFF) here!) SYNOPSIS: Sam Allen takes a nightly stroll to try to clear her head and come to terms with the Agents of Chaos' return. Unfortunately, something, or someone, seems to have joined her. WARNINGS: None WORDS: 1,082

Sam Allen had been through a lot in her life. Half a decade of quests to save the world from an organization hellbent on eradicating humanity, each one more life threatening than the last. Sometimes, she was still surprised they'd taken only her hearing, and not her life as a whole—at least, not permanently.

But eventually, peace had come around. For the past five years, there was no threats; no Agents of Chaos crashing her school days and fighting her in the halls, no few minutes of normalcy taken by the magic of the world trying to kill her. She'd finally told her mother and step-dad about her true nature as a demiflame of Water, after years of their wondering why she always came home with more baggage than any teenager should. She'd settled down with Valerie, the love of her life. Sure, the occasional monster came around looking for Sam as a snack, but she always made quick work of them. But she'd been happy.

And now, the Agents had returned, for reasons she didn't quite understand, but loathed all the same.

Sam sighed softly, looking up at the bright lights of Westar, Meridian City. The skyscrapers of Meridian City's heart towered above her, and even this late a good amount of people glided past her on the sidewalk. Cars blared as they drove past, but the sounds were muffled—Sam had turned down her hearing aids. She wanted background noise to her musings, not more to add to the lingering anxiety that had set itself back in her chest after five years.

As she walked the streets of Westar, she felt herself feeling as she had during her questing times; anxious, ready to transform Daluyong—the watch on her left wrist—into her sword at any moment. Even her passive sense of all the water around her brought little solace. Nowadays she could even sense the water within people's bodies, and they registered faintly in her mind as just another possible threat. She'd learned any normal looking person could be one of Eris' robots in disguise, trained and programmed to fight Sam at a moment's notice.

She grimaced, then sighed, forcing her sense of the people to dim. That wasn't helping. She chuckled weakly. "Quit it, you sound nearly as paranoid as Ruby, now," she told herself.

I do not blame you. Years of having voices in her head had her simply glance towards its source—Daluyong, The Blade of Tides. A weapon created by her father, the Flame of Water, and a weapon she'd bonded to at the young age of twelve. The ancient and powerful voice came from the spirit and guardian of the Blade, trapped within it.

Sam smiled softly. "Hi, Spirit," she said, and continued down the sidewalk, tucking her thumbs into her jean pockets.

You seem troubled, Worthy One, Spirit said. Its words planted in her mind gave a whiff of concern. Sam sighed; might as well talk about it with someone. Even if that someone was a guardian spirit of one of the most powerful weapons in the world.

"The Agents of Chaos are back, Spirit. Somehow."

They were not proven to be fully defeated, Worthy One, Spirit told her. Sam sighed angrily, and a person's cup of water nearby bubbled as she passed.

"But they left," she said. "They were gone, for five years. They left us alone for half a decade, why couldn't they have just..."

Stayed gone, her mind finished, but even as she voiced her complaints, part of her saw how naive they were. Spirit was right: the Agents hadn't been defeated moreso than they'd mysteriously disappeared after one of their biggest losses.

But couldn't they have stayed away? Let her live in peace for just a bit longer, even if she knew it wouldn't have lasted?

Couldn't they have let her be happy?

Sam sighed, shaking her head as she slumped. "I understand that maybe it was always going to be temporary," she whispered. "But am I really selfish for wanting to not have my life threatened every year of my life? To not want to save the world constantly?"

Spirit was quiet for a moment, musing. Then: I do not believe you are, Worthy One. You embody much the same as I: the tides, the push and pull of concepts, of balance. This is yet another push of the waves. It is natural of you.

Sam sighed softly, but nodded. "Thanks, Spirit," she said. "I—"

She froze, a chill shooting down her spine.

She was being watched.

Sam spun around, her hand going to the face of her watch, her eyes searching the shadows and alleyways. But it was higher up—on top of one of the lower buildings was a figure crouched, who stood suddenly as she saw them. Underlit by the lights of Westar was Envoy, the Agent of Chaos working with Eris, the gold on his jackal mask glittering.

Sam's eyes merely widened before she ran towards him, and Envoy turned and jumped into an alley below, rushing out onto the sidewalk and away from her. What was he doing here? Had he been watching her the whole time? Sam cursed repeatedly as she gave chase, cursing at how she couldn't summon Daluyong, not with this many innocents around.

Maybe he knows that, too, part of her worriedly thought, but she grit her teeth and ran on anyway.

Envoy burst into an open intersection, and cars honked and squealed as they rushed to stop before hitting him. Envoy didn't care; he simply vaulted over the hood of a car, before leaping and grabbing the smoke stack of a passing semi, swinging around to give Sam a two-fingered salute as it drove past.

Sam growled, but threw caution to the wind, her steps thunking on a car chasing the semi as she jumped onto the back of it, then climbed onto the roof. The cab driver yelled something from inside, but she didn't hear it well. Envoy looked surprised, and Sam crouched as the cab drew closer. She tapped Daluyong's face once, then twice, power thrumming through her veins as the watch face glowed a bright turquoise.

Sam spun the outer edge of the watch, blue sparks flying from it as it glowed brighter. The swirl tattoo on the left side of her neck glowed alongside it, and the watch face melted into bright energy, morphing into a handle and hilt, before the band slithered off of her wrist, morphing into an attached blade and sharpening itself with an echoing RING! Sam gripped The Blade of Tides, now a kampilan sword, and glared at Envoy. She wouldn't let him, or any of the Agents of Chaos, get away again.

She yelled out as she ran and leaped towards him, her sword raised above her head, its glow joining the sea of lights above their heads. Orange Egyptian hieroglyphs blazed to life in front of him, and she collided with him in the same moment, sending them both tumbling back down into the street below.

[traderotales]

The Writer Vault Heist Tag Game!

A new tag game by the very own @your-reluctant-optimist !

Oh, no! Someone snuck into your folder of drafts and old pieces/notebook collection/typewriter/biscuit tin and stole the prize of your collection!

Which piece that you wrote did they steal? If you'd care to write a 'Lost Cat Story' poster with a snippet, go for it! I'd love to see them.

Basically: what did you write that you consider some of your best work? Could be recent, could be vintage; a scene or an entire story. Describe what you liked about it, share a snippet, do your thing!

Getting tags out of the way: @leahnardo-da-veggie @merryweathermakes @pluppsauthor @moltenwrites @write-with-will @autism-purgatory @orphanheirs @aalinaaaaaa and open tag!

CoV tag list: @itsgirlcraft @autism-purgatory @projectkarya @enchanted-lightning-aes @moltenwrites @mymomsaysbobcipher @savvyminnow @ultimatewildcard

Okay, there's three (that right now) I consider my best that are past writings. All for my story Call of the Void: Hidden Scars, it's sequel Rescue, and Fated Rivalry. Today I'll talk about the last. [Edit: I've now got the full oneshot up on my blog here!]

Fated Rivalry was my take on the ending of Call of the Void--essentially, the badguys, the Agents of Chaos, were extremely close to winning. Ruby Darkshine, the main character of CoV, had since been made known of her true purpose for existing: as the host and Champion for Chaos' secret boss: Oblivion, who's a psuedo Flame. Essentially the embodiment of everything harmful, ever.

In Fated Rivalry, Ruby has since been possessed by Oblivion in the last days before it, and the Agents of Chaos, plan to exterminate all of humanity. Shades, shadow creatures made by Chaos that feed off of suffering, have been set loose to roam the world. Lots of humanity is already dead, buildings ruined. Apocalypse en-route, basically.

In this oneshot, I got to play with the characterization Ruby would have being possessed--essentially the opposite to her usual blunt and resistance to being controlled and told what to do. Also got to mess with body-horror, annnd Ryan's feelings about Ruby, as it's told from his POV. It actually starts because he wants to find her, after he feels he failed her in not stopping her getting possessed.

A snippet below; I might honestly post the full thing (and the others I mentioned plus another) soon!

Warnings for gore

Chaos Energy shifted as he walked forward, before he froze as another thud sounded, much clearer than the others. Something rolled towards his foot, and he instinctively stepped away. The object, bigger than his foot, rolled to a stop. The severed head of a brunette woman stared back at him, her mouth open slightly. One of her eyes was gone, leaving behind a bloody socket against her skin. What looked like bite marks dug into the sides of the stump of her neck, and the skin of it looked slick with something else. Blood still dripped from the neck and trailed, leading towards where the head had rolled from.

Ryan snapped back to attention as he heard something shift on his left. He spun, raising his dagger, trying not to let his breathing get erratic. He squinted into the further parts of the room, but the shadows were too dark to make out anything. Though, he couldn’t see any silhouetted bodies on the floor. 

Suddenly, the door slammed shut, and a voice made Ryan spin towards it.

“Ryan Gunther.”

Ryan stilled as he saw a shadowed figure standing beside the door to the stairs, holding it closed. Two purple irises burned in the dark, staring into his soul.

“Ruby.” Her name came as a whisper from his lips. She knew his name– that could be a good sign.

Or, the more rational part of him argued, it’s Oblivion using her.

But she was talking. She hadn’t done that the last time they’d encountered each other.

“You’re awfully persistent.” Ruby seemed to tilt her head. Ruby’s voice had a faint echo, similar to when Fate or any of the other Primordials were speaking through him. It was an echo of power, signifying just what was behind the voice.

But for some reason, her echo seemed fainter.

Ruby’s form slunk through the shadows, towards the side of the room now on his left. Ryan turned to follow her movements, keeping his dagger raised. The smoke around him shifted as he did, wisps of it curling around him. “I came to get you back,” he said. “I said I wasn’t going to leave you, remember?”

If Ruby had any indication of remembering that, she didn’t show it. Her shadow perched on a cubicle wall, her eyes locked onto him. But he noticed she wasn’t moving as fluid as a literal shadow, meaning this wasn’t a projection of any sort. Ruby was really here.

But the next question in his head was why?

The rational part of him was left to tackle that as Ryan stared back at her. “I know you’re still in there, Ruby,” he said slowly. “I mean, you care enough to talk to me, right?”

Ryan tried for a laugh, but it came out shaky. Ruby leaned forward slightly, tilting her head slightly further to the side, almost a ninety degree angle from her head being upright. Ryan still couldn’t see her form well through the smoke.

“Why did you come here, Ryan?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” The rational part of his brain finally clicked into having a say. Ruby leaned away slightly, her irises shrinking slightly as if her pupils had dilated. Surprise? But then her eyes returned to normal, and Ruby seemed to have a smile to her tone.

“Testing myself.”

She slunk across the room again, and Ryan once again turned to follow her with his eyes. Her form had dipped down, almost cat-like, before she rose and stood across the room from him again. Oddly, her form didn’t seem to have the spider legs it had last time he’d seen her. Ryan half considered lighting a flame, but that would only antagonize Ruby. He knew that Shades didn’t like light too much, even if it wasn’t directly harmful. He couldn’t risk that. He didn’t know if he would ever find her again.

What you don’t know if she even is a Shade, his rationale hissed. He didn’t seem to hear it.