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[mauve-n-arcadia]

The Pining of the Void: Chapter 6 - The Shadow Walk

“Sha-bah! Sha-bah!” Glush shook Shadbak over and over. He shivered as he looked over her body, she was still in one piece, her limbs were unbroken, her clothes were untattered, and yet she was still limp in his arms. “Sha-bah!”

“Move over!” Dul struggled to peel Glush away, tossing the big orc on his ass. 

“No!” Glush jumped back up and grabbed Dul’s arm. He was about to Yank Dul away when his hands began to glow with a soft amber light. “What-”

“Hands off, ya big lug! I’m trying to help her!” Glush frowned and tightened his grip.

“What you doing?” He demanded. Dul winced.

“Ack! Easy! I’m trying to see what’s wrong!” Dul said. Glush looked at Shadbak, who’s eyes were still pitch black, then let go of Dul.

“What wrong?” Glush asked. Dul sighed as he worked, moving his hands up over Shadbak’s eyes.

“Well, it seems like she’s caught between planes… her body is here, but her spirit has been pushed out by shadows.” Dul said. Glush’s heart sank. Dul sat back on his haunches, the light of his magic disappeared. Reflexively, Glush leaned in to feel for Shadbaks pulse.

Her skin was not cold, but somehow the sensation of touching her seemed far away. Her heart was beating like an echo from deep in the caves. How were they going to do this mining operation without Shadbak? How was glush going to move on without her?

He felt Dul put a hand on his shoulder.

“Her spirit is wandering the shadow walk,” he began. “She will survive, at least as long as her body does, and… “ Dul stopped and shook his head, “Well… hopefully she doesn’t meet anyone on the walk…“

Glush kept looking into Shadbak’s eyes hoping she would snap back to them at any moment. He looked at her, feeling like he was looking into a deep pit,listening to the echo of her heart. It beat, and beat, Glush’s ear twitched and he looked off to one of the doors in the room.

He squinted at the doorway that was barely brighter than the void crystals on either side. Her heartbeat was coming from there!

Glush stood with determination. 

“Dul,” He proclaimed, “Take Shadbak to tent, I go.” He turned to walk towards the faint ba-dum he could hear echoing. 

“Wait!” Rudy said, putting an arm out to touch Glush’s shoulder. “You can’t go alone, then we’ll just have two people missing!”

Glush rolled his eyes. “I’m fine.” He said. He brushed Rudy’s hand off his shoulder and made his way towards the darkness. 

As he neared the door, the air around him grew colder. It gave off an odd non-presence. Glush reached for the handle, and his hand passed into nothingness. He couldn’t pull back through, the thick shadowy air compelled him to move forward.

He didn’t take a single step, but he found himself on the other side. The cold was firm. It lightly pressed into him from every direction, over every pore, and slid him through the barrier without any effort on his part. He turned to look. The door was still there. He could still hear Shadbaks heartbeat in the distance, but no inkling of sound from Dul and Rudy reached him. 

Glush looked around himself. He was alone, and in a small room. This change was a bit jarring, seeing as he was just in a wide cave. 

The room seemed darker as well. Glush was good at seeing in the dark, but the darkness in this room was on another level. There were objects in the room, but the darkness conspired to make them amorphous blobs that Glush could barely make out. 

Glush sighed, and listened intently. 

Ba-dum Ba-dum Ba-dum, it was faint, his ears swiveled. It seemed to be coming from the leftmost corner of the room. 

Glush started moving in that direction. His own footsteps took precedence over all the other sounds of his environment. And listening past his own breathing took concentration, but there were a few other sounds of note.

Water was moving somewhere in the distance, as well as an occasional drip. These were sounds Glush was used to from spending time in caves. 

An occasional scratching noise could be heard, like claws. It sounded far off as well. Glush noted it as a sound to pay attention to. 

But overlaying everything, and coming from no direction in particular, was a faint hum. A deep noise. It permeated through the walls, and through his very bones. But it didn’t feel threatening.

Glush took another deep breath and let the hum reverberate through him.

Ba-Dum Ba-Dum, he could hear the beat a little better now. 

He felt his way to a door in the room. It was a regular door this time. He pushed it open, and the old worn hinges screamed into the open air. 

The rusted screeching echoed into the hall beyond. There was a bit more light here. There was hardly more to see, but Glush still drank in his surroundings greedily. It was a place not entirely unlike the top of the cave, with its multifaceted geometric walls, dark growths, and sparse sparkling lighting. What surprised Glush was the sheer size of the room. He was not far enough underground for the cave to be this big at all, and yet it was like the sprawling wilds of the outdoors with a shadowy twist.

He padded over mossy hills, glowing blue and purple, ducking under the void like mushrooms which had grown to monumental heights. There was a skittering in the distance, and Glush froze, trying to listen for the source. With the walls of the cave so far away, the echoes of the cave were faint at best, Glush almost didn’t believe his ears when he could hear footsteps along with the light thumping of Shadback’s far off pulse.

“Ah yes this one is nice and plump, ohh but maybe i should take the dry one instead. Oh where is that damned chicken…”

Glush lost all sense of caution as he hurried towards the voice of his friend. 

His hurried footsteps alerted an addled Shadbak, she whipped around quickly and Glush stopped short at the tip of her blade, millimeters from Glush’s stomach. She bore her fangs at him, her hair was unkempt with little crumbs of something all over. Her clothes were in tatters, as if she had been wearing them a bit too long.

Her hardened stare transformed into the widest smile Glush had ever seen on her face. 

“GLUSH!” She screeched gleefully, storing her knife back into her belt loop. 

“I haven’t seen you here yet! No one ever comes to visit me” Her eyes darted from place to place, almost taking in each piece of Glush as a separate entity. Suddenly, she launched herself at him. 

“Ahh! Shad-shabak!” Glush exclaimed, making a move to catch her. She passed right through and slumped to the ground behind him.

“Awww.” She said picking herself up from the cave floor. “I can’t touch you!” She lay her cheek on the ground dramatically. A mushroom was laying beside her.

“Stupid Glush” Her eyes landed on the mushroom. “Being all ethereal.” She lazily moved her head forward and took a bite out of the mushroom.

Not getting up, she continued to munch on the mushroom. 

“Well if you’re here. I might as well introduce you to everyone else.” She sat up, still chewing a bit. 

She threw her head back and screamed. “MIZZY, MYSTERY, MINNY!”

A slight skittering could be heard in the distance.

“You of course already know Mystery,” Shadbak said, gesturing to a blank space of air. Her eyes narrow conspiratorially, “She can talk now” Shadbak whispered.

“I think Mizzy is….AH yes, today was Mizzy’s turn to dig the latrine. She better not been slacking! Sometimes I swear, she’s lazier than you, Glush!”

Shadbaks head turned, “Ah that’s Min now”

The skittering grew louder, and louder still. Glush hovered his hand over his toolbelt. A large, reptilian foot emerged from behind one of the tall mushrooms, its claws were inky black, its scales were a deep charcoal grey, and when it fully emerged, there was a 4 foot tall creature covered in onyx feathers.

“Chicken?” Glush said, bewildered.

“Minny!” Shadback scrambled over and hugged it. Minny squaked and beat its wings a couple times. “See Glush! Minny lets me touch her. What’s the big deal with you all being so intangible?” she pointed around, accusingly at the air.

Glush tried to form words, but came up short. This was clearly Shadbak’s spirit, and she was also clearly in a bad way. How was one supposed to escort a spirit you can’t touch out of this weird place? Especially one who was acting so strange.

“Sha-bah, you, uh-” He rubbed the back of his neck, wishing he could find a less frank way to ask her this, “you bathe?”

“Bathe? Bathe! Why would I bathe in ink?” She half laughed, and half yelled. Glush shrank back.

“Not ink, water, bathe in water.” Glush stammered.

“There is no water, Glush. It’s all ink down here! Look at my boots!” She gestured with one hand at her boots which were indeed pitch black. “That’s what happens when you step in a puddle!” she laughed and threw her arms back around Minny.

Glush’s eyebrows furrowed.

“You no...drink ink?” He asked, concerned. Shadbak cackled even harder, falling into the giant black chicken, and making it stumble.

“Drink Ink!” She screeched between laughs. “You can’t drink ink!”

Glush’s eyebrow furrowed further. He’d never seen Shadbak like this. Not even drunk.

“You need drinks!” He said, and he produced a water pouch from his belt and held it out to her. She took the pouch from him with no problem. Where her hand would have brushed against his, it went through him instead. 

She unscrewed the top and peered inside. 

“I can see the dark in here!” She exclaimed proudly. Then she up ended it over her head and the water poured over her poofy locks.

Glush whimpered. 

“Uh….we find more water.” Glush said, more to himself this time. He looked around hopelessly for a moment and sighed. “Sha-bak, come” He implored.

Shadbak did not. She stared at him blankly.

“Sha-bak, we go!” Glush tried to grab on to her arm. He passed through her again. 

The chicken, Minny, scratched its large foot on the ground, and seemed to look as thoughtful as a 5 foot tall jet black chicken could look. 

In a deep voice it declared “I know where you could find some water”

Glush stared at the Chicken.

After a long pause “… chicken… talk?”

“Minny is a very special boy-o!” Shadbak yelped defensively. Minny cleared his throat with a sort of clucking sound.

“Yes, er, my name is K’thelix, actually, and your friend here has been surviving off of the local fauna since I found her.” He pecked at the flecks in shadbacks hair and she smiled back at him.

“You mean the mushrooms right? Was it the mushrooms I saw you eating? Or was that Mystery…” Shadbak said. Glush felt his stomach churn. The strange plants down here couldn't do any real harm to her. She wasn’t really eating them, right? Then again, how was she even able to eat anything right now? Then it occurred to Glush, Shadbak had only just had her spirit wrenched from her body moments ago, but she looked like she had been out here for days.

“Ah- kah the… kah the… kah…” Glush twisted his tongue around the alien sounding name, but alas could not get the syllables right. “Minny, uh- when you find Sha-bah?” K’thelix may have had fixed eyes, but he made the closest gesture he could to an eyeroll still.

“I’ve been watching after Shadbak for a fortnight. For all the spirits I’ve found wandering these caves, she is by far the strangest. Can’t say I’ve seen your kind down here before, you people are much hardier than the waifish humanoids that wander into the caves every now and then.” K’thelix said. The longer Glush spent talking to these two the less he felt like he understood. He wished he had brought someone who was better at talking, Usually Shadbak would take care of that, but… well… 

Tears began welling up in Glush’s eyes. He was overwhelmed to say the least. 

Even in her sorry state. Shadbak could not abide seeing her friend upset. 

“No, nonononono!” She said hurriedly, rushing to his side. She tried patting at his cheeks. “No sadness. I’ll….give you a mushroom!” She said plucking one from the ground and presenting it to him. Glush didn’t react to the mushroom, and tears welled up in Shadbaks eyes as well. 

“No sadness!” She exclaimed louder as her tears began to flow.

K’Thelix made a sound between clearing his throat and a cluck. Coming over to them, he put a wing around them both. 

“Come on” He said in his throaty rumble “Let’s go refill that water skin” 

*

K’thelix was a bit too large to be a regular chicken, Glush thought. He wondered if there were more pitch black, larger than life creatures that lived down here, surely there wasn't just one lonely chicken feeding on a bunch of mushrooms.

“I’ve taken your friend here, what did you call her? Shabbah?”

“Bak, BAK!” Shadbak corrected, though with the way K’thelix ruffled his feathers, it seems he did not understand.

“I do not cluck, Shabbah, now hush. Anyway, I take her here once a day, so she’s been getting plenty of water.” He stopped right in front of a glowing pond, or rather a large puddle. It was a foot deep, maybe a few around, and surrounded by dark foliage that swallowed its light.

Glush’s heart swelled with gratitude as he knelt by the pond. He dipped his hand into the icy water and cupped a small amount up to his lips. He took a tiny sip. 

It tasted a tiny bit metallic but seemed fine for drinking, so he dipped both hands in and took a few more gulps. 

He wasn’t sure if Shadbak actually needed to drink. But the dryness in his throat made him certain that he did.

Shadbak lowered her head and drank greedily. As she rose the cool droplets spilt down her chin and onto her neck.

Her eyes shot up and made contact with his. She cracked a smile, and for a moment seemed like her old self. Then she pouted.

“We should nap!”

Glush tilted his head. He was very emotionally drained, and could probably use a moment of rest. But K’thelix shook his head.

“Not here.” The giant chicken said vaguely. 

Glush too pouted for a moment. “Why?” He asked.

“This is the only clean watering hole in the caves” K’thelix stated tilting his head. A expression that while, very different from an orc, seemed reminiscent of the same expression Shadbak gave him when he said something stupid. Glush was still not sure why, and just returned the head tilt.

“Ugh, what kind of creatures are you two? This is the ONLY watering hole, all the creatures that live here come here to drink, that includes ones that might find you or I to be a tasty treat!” K’thelix squaked. Glush remembered that there were more dangers than simply other creatures in the caves. Shadbak was on a timer, and no matter how exhausting this all was, he had to get her out now.

The problem was how to get her out. She was being incredibly uncooperative, and Glush had the feeling that even if he were better with words, that they wouldn’t help him here. He dipped his canteen into the pool of water and gazed over at Shadback, hoping she would suddenly snap back to her usual self.

She was plucking mushrooms from the edges of the pool and humming a tune. It was something familiar, an old orcish lullaby. Old enough that it was something every orc learned from their grandparents. Shadbak had a glazed over look in her eyes as she plucked away at the mushrooms, as if in a trance.

“Ah!” Glush swiftly plugged up his canteen and strapped it back to his leg. He reached into his jacket pocket, and produced his flute. This might be a long shot, but it was worth a try. “Sha-bah-” she did not respond. “Sha-bah!” she was still deep in a trance. He made a strained sigh, at least the song made her focus.

He put his flute up to his lips and took a deep breath, placing his fingers over the keys of the first note. Softly at first, he blew the first phrase out in time with Shadbacks humming, they perfectly matched each others pitch. It was a story all Orcs knew, and a tune you would have to be tone deaf to mess up. As Shadback ended the last phrase of the song, and breathed in, ready to loop to the beginning, Glush played just a bit louder than her hum.

As his fingers danced over the notes, playing the tale of a weary traveller, Shadbak’s eyes widened. She looked to him slowly, like his flute was illuminating the cave. 

Slowly he began to edge his way away from the water. She, practically slack-jawed, followed him. A triumphant smirk threatened to mess up his air flow as he gained confidence that she would follow. 

He absent mindedly began retracing his steps. Going back the way he came would surely lead him out and back to Shadbaks body. He had a good enough sense of direction that he could let his feet find the way while his mind focused on the song.

He continued to play. Glush was never great at communicating through words, but music was a different story. The yearning for the family that he had found satisfied in Shadbaks company cried out throughout the song, urging her forward.

The notes echoed from the high cavern walls, reverberating back creating a harmony that enveloped both Glush and Shadbak. 

Glush thought he heard a faint voice calling after him, as his feet and music carried further into the darkness. 

[mauve-n-arcadia]

Apart

By: Mauve

Trigger Warnings: Death, Attempted Suicide  .

.

I was born with the ability to see my death. Deaths are beings that come into creation with our life. They take the form of what we imagine them as.

When I was a small child, I had no concept of death, so my death became an imaginary friend changing shape all the time. My parents would always comment on the fact that I was staring at nothing, playing with no one, and talking to myself.  They figured I’d outgrow it.

I didn’t.

The first time I saw something die, I was able to see it’s death too. It was my class's pet hamster. It’s death took the form of a cat. The cat calmly let the hamster climb upon it’s back, and they walked off, disappearing into nothing. I was confused. I stared back at the lifeless body, I looked to where they disappeared. 

“Where did they go?” I asked my death. My death shook its head.

I knew that that the cat I saw was the same as my friend who had been with me since birth, but the hamster had been able to touch their death.  I had never been able to touch mine. Communicating with anything other than gestures always greatly taxed us both. I reached out to mine, but they recoiled.

Following this event, my teachers and my parents, they had to explain the concept of death to me, and of loss of life. 

“But where does your death take you mummy?” I had asked.

“Why to heaven of course.” She answered. I looked to my death, now in the shape of a cat, they shrugged.

As I grew older, and more aware of the concept of death, I began to be able to see other peoples death. Some took the form of someone they use to know, others took the form of religious icons, others the person's worst fear. Some deaths tried to never catch their persons eyes, always fluttering around, trying to seem unassuming. Others sat on their persons shoulders, and some seemed to try and keep their distance. You could tell alot about a person by looking at their death.

My death and I walked side by side. 

Sometimes my death would protect me.

Two paths in the woods, my death would block the way down one, and make me take the other.

A van pulled up next to me once when I was still an adolescent, I walked to the window. My Death took my hand, I felt dread fill me up from the stomach and tumble out of me into the surrounding air. They pulled me away. Run. They communicated wordlessly. 

My death touched me. I grew fascinated, always reaching out to my death. They never took my hand again. Sometimes my death seemed annoyed that I was constantly trying to touch it, other times, it would seem lonely, and try to reach out as well. Sometimes, we would pass through each other, and other times, there was an invisible force between us.  I read everything I could on the topic of death, scientific literature, philosophical musings, religious dogmas. I volunteered at a hospice as I got a little older.

“You’re so lucky, to be so young and alive,” The patients would say to me. “Your generation will outlive us all!”

Some hospice patients were terrified, others were at peace. But their deaths were always around in whatever form they took, concerned, and reaching out to try and comfort them. 

It was always sad seeing a death touch a person that didn’t want to die. The person would be filled with fear, and the death would be filled with disappointment that they couldn’t comfort their person in their time of need. If only everyone could see their death like me!

When it was time for one of the patients, if given the opportunity, I’d run after them as they walked, hand in hand towards the unknown.

“Where are you going!” I’d yell towards them. And they’d just smile serenely and disappear. 

It was a bit after these experiences, and after growing a bit older, that I decided I didn’t want to die. I’d ignore my death, I didn’t want their opinions, I didn’t want to play our old games. I wanted an answer. I wanted to know where they would take me.

“You know” I said once brattly “I won’t go with you when you try to take me”

My death looked down forlornly. They begin to hide from me soon after that. I think I hurt it’s feelings. But I was fine with it for a while. I was happy to go on and pretend like I had no death. I was angry with them, why wouldn’t they just tell me where they would take me!

But soon I began to miss my old friend. My behavior got more and more reckless. I knew my death was concerned about me and  I could worry my death into coming out. 

One night I was out swimming, the sky was dark, the water seemed like eternity around me. I decided to see how long I could hold my breath. I don’t know how deep I was, I stayed under as long as I could, past my lungs burning, I stubbornly stayed past the panic, and started drifting into calm. My death appeared directly in front of me, livid.

My death slapped me across the face. 

My eyes shot open and drank in the sight of my death, adrenaline coursed through my body, and I desperately wanted to embrace my old friend, but I shot back up towards the surface of the water. My friends dragged me out, got me into an ambulance, afterwards my death stopped hiding, and stayed by my side as a companion.   

And we were companions! I’d chat with my death, have them help pick out my outfits, and joke with them. It turns out my death actually gave great dating advice too! 

My death and I walked side by side happily through time like that for a while, until I met someone else who could see deaths. 

I’d never met another person I could relate to so closely, we became fast friends, but their death never seemed to be around.

“Where is your death?” I asked. “Are they hiding from you?”

My friend smiled and said yes, their death had been hiding for a while. 

“You can probably get them to come out, you just have to embrace them!”

They raised an eyebrow and said they would try it. But I didn’t think they would. I don’t think they were born with the ability to see their death like I was, they must have come across it by some other means. Seeing their death suddenly must have been quite the shock I thought. No wonder their poor death hides from them.

But I didn’t know. My friend was thinking I needed to be saved from myself. I had deluded myself into thinking my death was my friend, when really my death was my enemy!

It took them some time but they took my death from me.

When I first noticed my death was gone, I wasn’t too concerned, but as the absence got longer, I grew more and more concerned. And eventually, heartbroken. 

“Where is my death!” I cried to my friend. “They have abandoned me!”

Seeing my distress, my friend confessed, and tried to explain. “I took your death. It’s not your friend! I’m keeping them somewhere, far away. If our deaths can’t get to us, then we can’t die! You’re the only one like me! You can’t die”

I cried, I begged, I threatened. My friend would not release my death. I tried being reckless again, to coax my death back out. It did not work. I searched and searched and searched. I couldn’t coax it, I couldn’t find it, I couldn’t convince my friend to give it back. I felt empty without my death, who had been with me since birth, by my side. I’d glare enviously at people as they walked by, unknowingly complete with their deaths by their side. 

I went on, and on, and on. I did get to do much more than the average person I’ll admit. But I kept going on, until I got sick. 

I was so sick, past the point of the people I used to watch in the hospice, and I’d cry out for my death to come take me, come comfort me. But they never came. Eventually I did get better. But I never recovered fully.

I tried to kill myself a few times too. But I’d just end up puking my guts out, or laying bored in a pool of my own blood until I stitched back together. 

I would meet up with my friend every now and then, we’d catch up on the last few decades, I’d ask for my death, they’d say no. 

Me and my friend, we watched humanity rise and fall, wars won and lost. We witnessed a lot of deaths. Violent deaths are interesting, their death usually rushes to embrace them, as if to protect them from what befell them, and they fade quickly.

Empires grew and fell, people went to space, colonized planets. I went with them. To see something new. 

It was a normal day when I felt it. I was out on a space walk. I felt something in my heart snap with sudden sensation, and I was filled with both a sense of dread and relief. 

I could feel that my death had escaped.

I immediately went into my shuttle, and set a course towards earth. 

Once I got to earth, I could feel their pull, bringing me exactly to where they were fighting their way back.

There wasn’t much left on earth any more, we met in the remnants of an old city, most of the buildings were piles of material on the ground. 

When my death and I saw each other we rushed towards each other and embraced like old lovers. I could feel their touch on my skin but it didn’t fill me with dread. I was filled with happiness and calm. I smiled up at them and they smiled down at me. 

I closed my eyes, and placed my forehead on theirs, smiled serenely, and we… disappeared. 

[mauve-n-arcadia]

Pining of the Void: Chapter 5 Temporarily Inconvenienced King

By Mauve & Arcadia

Trigger Warning: Child Abuse, Creepy Older Man

It had been a few days since Belladonna ordered the spellstones to be brought to her, and they still were not here.

“BENJY!” She called out loudly at the breakfast table. 

He looked up from the entrance, alarmed. 

“Where are my stones!” She cried “Why aren’t they here yet?”

He blinked a few times.

“It’s been...two days, dearest.” His voice rumbled with sleep and he wiped a bit of left over shaving cream from the side of his jaw.

“Exactly!” She pouted. “Shouldn’t a shipment be arriving already? They have never been this slow!”

“Typically, spell stone shipments come from our own warehouses.” He sighed, sitting down. 

Only Benjamin ever joined her at meal times, so he ended up being the only one of her advisors to truly explain the intricacies of the crown to her.

“We have to wait for our company to arrive on location, and start mining, before we can start experimenting with those stones.” He continued.

“But they are there! Aren’t they? They better not be slacking! Don’t they know they are expendable?” Belladonna said. Benjamin had the look of a man whose exhaustion went far beyond the lack of a single night's good sleep.

“Yes, Darling, however these are our most productive companies, collaborating on this project.” Benjamin leaned over from his deep red cushioned chair in front of an exquisite tea set across from the petite royal. He poured a cup for Belladonna. “We don’t need them, but we do want them. They will yield the best quality spell stones, is that not what you want, Solana?”

The little elf girl squirmed in her seat, and plucked the tea cup from the table impatiently as soon as Benjamin was finished pouring.

“Yes, But we need it fast too. We need to settle the score with the Amanita NOW!” the tea slushed dangerously in the gold rimmed cup, and Benjamin looked on in quiet terror as it threatened to stain Solana’s delicate morning gown.

Benjamin’s brows furrowed for a moment. “Time is indeed of the essence, our stores of stones won’t last forever”

“They need to be punished!” Belladonna’s voice rang shrilly. 

Benjamin reached across the table putting his large hand over her small one. 

“We will punish them, darling.” He said, rubbing his thumb along her wrist.

Her eyes grew wide, and she pulled her hand back to her side.

“They are on our land anyway” She said a bit more demurely. “That’s what mom always said. That anywhere the sun shines belongs to us, and we must take our land back from the dirt-grubs”

“And we will, it just might take a few more days”

He said, pulling his hand back. “I need to visit with the priests, but I’ll see about heading down to- inspire them.” Benjamin stuffed a kerchief in his collar and Solana followed suit. They ate in relative silence, with the only sound coming from the winds tearing across the fort, and the guards changing shifts just outside Belladonna's private dining room. 

Benjamin stood, not having finished much of the scones laid before him. “Now sunshine, I’ll send in your attendant, you’ll be needed for proceedings in the throne room within the hour.” He turned and started for the door. “Oh,” he stopped and looked back at her with a dark grin, “ and I do so love those braids you have been wearing lately. Very flattering on you, Solana.”

As he slipped away, the head of the Belladonna clan sat with eyes wide, hand grasping lightly at her untamed locks. Spell stones and the Northern territories were the furthest thing from her mind at that moment.

*

Respect. This was the bare minimum owed to him, and as he walked through the halls of the Belladonna's fortress, with light foot falls announcing his presence, slaves and aristocrats alike parted the way for Benjamin.

Deference. Due deference was what he demanded, as he passed the unimportant nobels without acknowledging them, they did not pretend they were important enough for his time. When he looked to Belladonna’s personal attendant for the day, she knew what to do, all of the slaves knew what they were for when his gaze fell upon them. They each swiftly and silently got to their duties.

He was to be their king. They all knew he would climb his way up to royalty in any way possible. He had already destroyed those that had scorned him for his half blood ancestry. The previous king’s, Nevarth, friendship had been an exemplary tool in achieving that. Scylla, the queen, on the other hand had been much harder to win over. She had always been the brains of the kingdom. 

He shook this from his mind and approached the cathedral. The two attendants swung open the gilded doors. It was still morning, so the light from the grand fenestella was near to the entrance. He entered the pool of light, and let the warmth bake into his tanned skin. In order to complete the Sun greeting his hands moved up towards his head, and his palms opened to the light.

A priest hurriedly approached him.

“Child of the sun-,” He said, halfway through a bow when Benjamin opened one eye to glare at him, “I mean, Your eminence!” 

Benjamin wanted to snap at him, but even he had to hold his tongue towards members of the Clergy. 

“I will need an escort of Clerics, and Scholars, to be ready to leave tonight.”

“T-tonight?” The priest stuttered. 

His eyes narrowed yet again. “Yes,” he said through gritted teeth, “Tonight, by order of myself and Belladonna.”

*

[mauve-n-arcadia]

The Pining of the Void: Chapter 4 Brilliant Darkness

By Mauve & Arcadia

Warnings: Mild Violence 

Moonlight dancing on the surface of the water. He was looking out on the river, and watching the silvery ripples on the surface.

Glush liked the dark, it felt like a blanket over his senses, the starry sky like a painted dome just slightly out of reach. He knew he could not touch it but he reached anyway.

He set his fingers on the slick surface of shimmering crystals, running over them and looking again to the water pooled before him. It was still, and the silver light of the spell stone 

betrayed only the slightest vibrations on the surface.

He stepped forward, wanting to sink his feet into the cool water, reaching out with his bare toe, and...

---

“Up and attem!” was all glush heard before he was unceremoniously yanked out of his cot.

“Huh-?” Shadback was grasping him by the elbow, pulling him along through the tent. “What you doing?” he asked as he tried to get his bearings.

“We are going to scope out the cave,” Shadbak said, a firm smile on her face, “and I need you to be dressed and ready an hour ago.” She practically tossed him at the changing rooms.

Glush grumbled as he changed. He was still groggy, and intrigued by his dream. If he could just close his eyes….

“GLUSH!” Shadbak roared at him. “How in the hell are you falling asleep standing up?”

Glush colored and finished tugging his shirt on. “Why go?” He asked.

She looked at him incredulously “Well, for one, I’m sure you’d spend all day in bed if I hadn’t come and gotten you, and two, this is a new cave system, who knows what it connects too, I need you to watch my back”

Glush preened a little and straightened up nodding. She was always overly cautious when exploring new mining areas, Glush on the other hand, never found a cave he didn’t like. 

---

There was a great plain that narrowed into the small mouth of the cave, only two Orcs would be able to pass at a time, maybe three dwarves. Glush could feel Mystery’s trunk sniffing around his back as she and Shadback followed closely behind him. Upon entering Glush was thrust into almost complete darkness right away. 

Slowly, his eyes adjusted and he was able to gaze around, the stone of the cave seemed to glitter and reflect the meager light that the entrance cast. The darkness sparkled. He bounded forward leaving Shadbak a few steps behind. Old worn down steps seemed to draw him deeper. 

Though Glush was not in love with his career, one of the perks of mining spell stone was that every cave he visited for work had its own distinct and beautiful features, carved out from the native magics. This cave was unlike any Glush had seen before. The stone was almost entirely geometric in shape, organic curves only hinted at in tight collections of hard angles, and gradually spiraling cuts. Set inside the groves of the caves, leaping up from the bottom corners were mushrooms so dark that they looked more like voids than toadstools. 

Glush set his hand on the shimmering stone. It was practically polished, and yet a stubborn moss of some sort clung desperately to the deep cut angles that  supported the towering black mushrooms.

A distinct sucking sound, a sort of sustained slurp made Glush reflexively turn on his feet to see mystery behind him, sucking the life out of one of the larger mushrooms.

Its tall and pointed form withered and somehow brightened, no longer absorbing as much light as before, and a few surrounding fungi wilted till Mystery seemed satisfied, and left a cracked corpse of a fungus behind.

“Hey!” Shadbak cried out “No sampling until we look around” 

Mystery wilted, but her little tail swooshed back and forth at a record pace behind her in excitement. 

Meanwhile, during Glush’s wide eyed wonder, and Mystery’s hungered excitement. Dul calmly walked along the perimeter of the cave, one hand lightly trailing on the wall, eyes shut blissfully. 

He wandered far enough to barely be seen, but thankfully all members of the crew had dark vision. 

The air was reverberating with a deep hum from Dul. “This is a holy place” he muttered to himself.

“We cannot disturb this place” 

Duls eyes widened and he was filled with a manic energy that tickled him from the center of his stomach, exploding out into the darkness.

“Out!” He shouted passionately.

“This is no place for sky huggers”

“What? Shadbak yelled back. “You agreed to work with our mining outfit.”

“We mustn’t mine here!” He insisted.

Rudy wandered over from where he was still slack jawed at the caves entrance. 

“Dul,” He commanded, “Speak with me outside”

Dul’s jaw set stubbornly. “No” he pouted “Not while they can defile this temple”

Glush puffed up. I no defile  he thought.

Shadbak caught his subtle movement out of the corner of her eye, she lay her hand on his arm. “Come on Glush, let’s just step out for a moment.” She said congeniality, while shooting a sharp look over at Rudy and Dul.

 Glush simply grunted and followed her out of the cave.

Defile… he thought. I do what I’m told… I do not defile. He crossed his arms and looked down at the ground as he walked. Mysteries Trunk waved into his view, sniffing and patting his chest, and up to his face. 

He tried to fight the laugh off but failed as Mystery persisted. He shoved her trunk away and gave her his best scowl, which was more like a crooked smile. Mystery huffed and sidled closer to Glush, dropping her head and prompting him to pet her.

At the mouth of the cave, Shadback leaned up against the smooth rocks, mingled with veins of the caves’ geometric stone. Rudy and Dul walked off in the opposite direction, in a tornado of harsh whispers.

“What was that all about?” She asked.

Glush shrugged. “I not defile” He pouted and continued to rub Mysteries Trunk.

Shadbak laughed loudly. “Of course that’s what you’re upset about.” Glush bristled again. “Don’t listen to Dul, he’s from the northern territory, bunch a’ dirt worshipers they are. He probably does this alot with his own company.”

Dirt worshiper or not, the words still stung Glush. Even if Dul was a little fanatical, and the cave was not a temple, Glush knew very well there was something so alive about spell stone rich caves.

“We only take what need.” He said, still trying to convince himself. Shadback looked at him for a long while.

“Yeah,” She said a bit quietly “Only what we need” But her mind floated off through the woods and across the fields, into a fort, where a tiny blonde brat sat upon a marble throne. 

Rudy and Dul appeared from whatever dark corner they went to whisper furiously in. Dul looked quite frustrated. But Rudy smiled widely.

“Let’s keep exploring shall we?” he said with his arms open.

They all quietly walked back to the cave.

---

Glush had been trailing Dul and Rudy by about 10 feet, They were leading the group. Rudy was about jogging to keep pace with Dul, even though he was only a little taller, but generally seemed in good spirits. All his huffs and grunts as they traversed the deeper caves were filled with the same cheer as his explosive voice while he marveled at the exotic flora. Dul matched his energy, but only in intensity. Glush could tell with his hunched posture, and heavy foot falls, the tusky Dwarf was angry. 

He followed closer than Shadback and mystery, who hung about 5 meters away from him. They were happy to follow Rudy’s echo, rather than deal with the brunt of the sheer volume at the source. Glush needed to see the two of them though. He needed to understand why Dul had accused them. It seemed plainly obvious to him that Dul still felt like they shouldn’t be in here.

And then Rudy yelped, slipping on the uneven ground. “Fucking hell!” Glush picked at his ear trying to ease the sting from Rudy’s volume. Dul, was already down in the crevice he fell into, picking Rudy off his ass.

“You should open your eyes once in a while, bush fire.” Dul said.

“I thought I told you not to call me tha- Holy...” Rudy cut himself off and looked into a dark spot in the wall.

“Indeed.” Dul said, looking in the same spot. Glush picked up speed, curious to see what they were looking at, and careful to step down where they stood. As he turned to look, the edges of the dark spot on the wall seemed to dissolve into a deeper darkness, one that sparkled all the same, but the room beyond the hole was gigantic, and decorated with spiraling columns. The light from the Miners glow stones refracted off of alien looking structures, but in the walls of the cave where the rock was untreated, large chunks of space were simply empty. There was nothing there, and it seemed, nothing beyond it.

Enchanted, Glush walked ahead, watching at the void blots shifted in shape. They were some sort of stone, a stone blacker than the night sky. Glush felt like maybe if he tried, He could dive right though the gaps they made, falling into space. 

His boot splashed into a shallow puddle, and he looked down into a perfectly circular silvery pool, rippling inside a greyish stone platform. 

Glush looked into his own eyes rippling in the silver pool.

“Step back!” Glush was ripped out of his thoughts by Dul’s commanding voice. Glush spun around to see Shadback and Mystery sauntering into the cave behind the Dwarves.

“Easy, Dul!” Rudy punched Dul in the arm, who flinched and scowled back. “Remember our agreement. Now tell us what this place is, and you better keep that earth worship to yourself! Ya hear?”

Dul screwed his eyes shut for a moment, then through gritted teeth he began to speak. “This is one of the main nodes of spell stone veins in this… cave.”

Shadbak looked at the expanse of spell stone before her and took out a chisel. 

“Well boys, we might as well sample what we got here, see what’s got Belladonna so excited”

She made just one tiny hit towards the stone, and a tiny negligible piece of the inky blackness came off. She wasn’t expecting to be so smooth of a process, and the piece that came off was so small that it wasn’t worth her time, so she let it fall to the floor. 

It hit with a tiny ting that echoed across the hall.

A split second was filled with the tinny sound.

Then it exploded.

With a surprising amount of force Shadbak was sent flying across the cave. Glush had to brace himself against the force in order to stay standing.

He ran over to her in a tizzy. “Sha-ba! You kay?” He knelt by her, and turned her on her back, and with eyes as blank as the deep, dark spell stone, she looked back at him.

[mauve-n-arcadia]

The Pining of the Void: Chapter 3 The Journey to Northern Pass

By Mauve & Arcadia

Content Warning: Thirst, Sexism, Girl Boss

At High noon, an hour which no dusk loving Orc should be subjected to, a herd of sweaty miners and yaks was the most unpleasant smell Shadbak had to deal with in her career. Her face was stuck in a disgusted crinkle as the company’s stench wafted over the plains they were walking.

The reigns in her left hand tightened, and she looked back to see the only animal here without an aura of musk about it, their prized dis-enchanter, who was hanging her head and looking about as pleased with their situation as Shadback was. She made a sympathetic smile at the lanky beast.

“Come on Mystery, We’ll be under tree cover within the hour.”

Mystery raised her trunk and trumpeted halfheartedly, hanging her head and letting her little ears droop as if it was enough effort to make her pass out.

“Aw, come on girl. You’ve made longer walks in worse weather.” Shadbak said. Mystery only huffed in response. Shadback then fell back to run her broad hand through Mysteries periwinkle fur.

Shadback could feel Mystery’s trunk prod her sides, searching for any shard of spell-stone left in her pockets. She Rolled her eyes at the beast and giggled as Mysteries trunk made its way up to her face.

“Fine, fine!” Shadback ruffled the fluff on Mystery’s cheek and produced a small blue spherical spell-stone from her pockets. “But don’t go thinkin’ you get treat’s just because you’re cute now!” Mystery immediately plucked the little stone with her trunk, and the glow from it gradually faded as she drained its magic.Mystery tossed the stone off to the side and it erupted into a dull grey dust.

Shadbak brought her focus back to the front. They were pretty far north of The Belladonna’s territory, and there was not claimed land for many days travel in every direction save south. About an hour or so out before them, she could see a steep hill covered in dense forests. They were due to meet their new mining partners there. Shadback pulled a map scroll out of her pocket, and slapped Mysteries trunk away when she reached for it.

“Bad girl, you know better than that.” She scolded, but remained focused on the map. The northern lands were marked by plain drawings of borders, plots where plains were, the forest before them, and other geographical features. A glowing blue dot sat in the planes, moving ever so slightly northward, and another, red dot, lay still just inside the forest.

As they got closer the red spot became more and more focused, and Shadbak had a much clearer Idea of where they were going to be setting up camp for the night to come.

She looked back and cupped her hand to the side of her mouth.“Let’s pick up the pace, people! I don’t wanna be in the sun for a second longer than we have to!”

The remainder of their sun damned trek came quickly and thankfully to a close at the foot of the hill, and as the Shadows cool touch caressed her skin, Shadback sighed in relief. Finally in the comfort of shade, she looked back to see steam rolling off the backs of  the mining company settling down for the night.

“Ahp -ahp! Not yet! Just up the hill there is a small clearing where we will be meeting the other company! You’ll have plenty of time to rest soon!” She mounted Mystery, who only complained a little, then circled around the back of the group to keep pressing them up the hill. There was a supply cart that was lagging behind the pack for a couple hours now, and though she figured that the old Yak was just tired today, she found out he was dragging along some unplanned luggage.

Cradled in between magical bags, with a hat over his face, Glush had apparently been napping for the bulk of their trip. Shadbak’s face reddened, and she seriously considered yelling at him for loafing around.

“Mystery, dear,” She said, and Mystery’s ears flicked towards her. “Give our sleepy friend a shove, would you?” Mystery leaned her neck down and pushed Glush with her trunk. He awoke with a start and then flopped off the cart, landing in front of Mysteries hoofs.

“Sh-Sha-bac!” Glush frantically got to his feet.

“Get going! And you're on build duty as soon as we get to the camp site!” she said tiercely.

“Wuh- aw dang…” Glush turned around and followed after the rest of the company.

---

Through the dense forest, Shadback could see a fairly large clearing, big enough for their purposes at least, It was mostly flat, with the ground raising and lowering at the edges into a sort of lopsided plateau. Near the far side of the clearing, nestled up against the steep incline was the tent of the mining crew they were supposed to meet. At least, She hoped it was.

Though she worked with magic for most of her life, the more intricate magic items did not inspire a ton of trust, especially with how many magical mis-haps she had seen. But if the map were to be trusted, this was the other mining company.

As Her and mystery came into the clearing, new smells, that were not the stench of her crew or the smell of the forest met her nose. There was a floral odor hanging in the air, and a hint something else, it smelled like the labor of her crew, but the tang was different, the musk hitting different earthy notes than the orcs and yaks among them.

“Glush, get that tent ready.” She heard him grunt and pad off, he wasn’t one to disobey orders so she turned her attention to the tent again, dismounting Mystery and signaling her to stay behind.

Shadback readied her tongue for the formal greeting of her lands, “May the sun shine down on you, friends.” No matter how familiar it felt to say, she would never feel comfortable saying it, especially after the cursed star burned her and her entire company for the last couple of hours. 

Still, the greeting did it's job, and the curtains of the tent were pulled back by a pair of hands at about Shadbaks waist level. A Stocky, red bearded man poked his head out and slowly looked up to Shadbaks face with barely disguised intrigue.

“Well would you look at that! They got orc gals! Say, where’s yer foreman, lady?” The Dwarf, clothed in naught but his work singlet, with the top half tied around his waist stepped out into the clearing. The work of the day still oiled his stout muscled torso in the form of a few drops of sweat navigating the way through the verdant field of hair on his chest.

Shadbak guffawed dismissively and put her hands on her hips. Not only did men often underestimate her, they overestimated their attractiveness in her eyes. She was going to enjoy this.

“I am Shadback, the foreman of this company, may I see the Foreman of your company?” she said. The Dwarf blustered and began to pull the singlet over and wear it properly over his torso.

“

AH-m My apologies si-MA’AM, ma’am. I am the Foreman of this company…” He said, and Shadback raised an eyebrow. 

“Ah- Rudy, pleased to meet you.” He stuck out a hand. Shadbak took his entire hand in hers and gave it a shake, reveling in the gulp and look of terror in Rudy’s face. She never tired of intimidating annoying men.

She turned back to her crew and signaled with her hand that they were safe to start settling down.

“Well, Rudy, I think since we will be working together for the foreseeable future, We had ought to get our companies acquainted. I half expected a shared camping area to be prepared, but I guess it would only be hospitable to involve us in building a shared space?”

“Yes! Yes of course, hospitality!” Rudy pulled back the tent flap again to yell inside “Men! Get out here!”

Shadbak turned her back to the small man, and sauntered over to the supply crate. If this first impression held up, Rudy and his crew would be easy to work with. She could cement herself as the authority here, and make sure neither company steps on each other's toes, But there were at least two dozen other men in that tent, and she would have to learn all of their quirks too if things were to go smoothly. 

---

As the forest began to darken, the mining crews finished setting up their shared camp. With a combined crew of nearly a hundred, they made quick work of it. To Shadbaks glee, each company had a variety of talents between them, constructing a truly comfortable living space. There were 3 long wood benches, curved around a fire pit constructed of magically shaped stone. There were various smaller stones and wooden seating areas, decorated with vines and impeccable metal work.

Even though it had been a long day for her crew, she was happy to see them ready to make this a space they could be proud of, even earth shaping stone just for a neat finish. She was particularly impressed by the metal working of the Dwarven foreman, who despite his lack of grace, seemed to have a delicate hand in his craft.

Most of the Dwarfs in fact shared this trait in some capacity, making a neat contrast to her crews general "fuck it" attitude toward decor.

It was also clear that she would have no trouble commanding the other miners, though there were a couple edge cases. There was glush, oh there was always glush. He followed orders well enough, but he wasn't the best at cooperating with new folks, and though she had tried, Shadbak had given up on trying to get him to work with the Dwarven mining crew. The poor Dwarf's were too frustrated with his aversion to speaking, and nothing would happen without her oversight, so as per usual, she would keep glush nearby to work with her. There was also a… Dwarf? An orc? Dul was his name, and he was about the size of a regular human, but with markedly Dwarvish features. He was broad, with thick and plentiful body hair, but his ears also came to a point, his skin had a slight green undertone, and small tusks poked out from his mouth. 

Shadbak could tell Dul was not well liked by his crew, and as a result, kept to himself unless he was ordered to do something. The Dwarves made jokes at his expense, calling him odd names, but as far as she could tell, it had nothing to do with his Orcishness. The dwarven crew also gave none of this attitude to her exclusively orcish mining crew, so it wasn't some kind of bigotry.

Dul was apparently the odd duck of the bunch, and it wasn't just his physical traits, he was magically gifted, spontaneously growing vines from the earth to hang over their camp. Right now, it looked like he was performing some sort of ritual.

"What's he doing?" Shadbak asked Rudy.

"Oh don't mind him, he's just a little eccentric." He waved his hand, then took a seat next to Shadback and Glush on the bench. "So, Shadbak, how'd you get yourself into the mining business?" He undid the top 3 buttons on his singlet, letting loose his bright chest hair again. Shadbak clicked her tongue in annoyance. This man was gonna keep trying to woo her, she guessed.

"I was looking for a job, then i found one. So your healer," she quickly changed the subject, "how long has he been with your crew?"

Rudy breathed in, "oh~ must have been around for the last 3 years, we picked him up before the fall of northern pass. His family crossed the border from the Nightcap's territory into Belladonna's."

"Really?" Shadbak turned her full attention to Rudy. "He was a Nightcap?"As she asked this, Dul produced a spade from a bag and began to dance around with it

"Still is, in spirit! You won't ever hear him give thanks to the sun for it's gifts of life, rather he covers himself in dirt and goes on and on about its energy and such." As if on cue, Dul took the spade he was holding and dug up the dirt at his feet, pouring it over himself and begging to chant something in an unrecognizable language.

Shadback heard Glush get up and saw him walking up towards Dul. He stopped a couple feet away and watched for a moment before pulling out his piccolo. She watched as Dul continued to chant and dance in the dirt, as if in a trance, and then Glush began to lightly accompany him with a song. Dul opened his eyes to look at Glush, and without skipping a beat, scooped another spade full of dirt, and daintily poured it over Glush's shoulders.

"Huh." She figured it was only right that the two odd ducks would be the ones to get along. She could see glush fighting a smile off so he could keep playing, and it made her want to smile too.

 "So, Dul, he is only half dwarf, yes?" She asked 

"Ahh, yes, his mother was an Orc." He sighed and looked off into the fire. "You know, even though he's a bit of a nutter, you have to admit, Orcs and Dwarf's make handsome children!" He smiled and raised an eyebrow.

Her smile was wiped away immediately, and without another word, Shadbak stood up and walked to her crew's tent.

---

This new assignment was pretty nice so far, Glush thought. They were pretty far from any of Belladonna's Fortresses, so all there was to see was untamed nature. Also, he got to nap for most of their trek out into the northern wilds, so he was full of energy to enjoy their new home base. The forest they were staying in was peaceful and quiet aside from the bird song, and the wind pushing through the canopy, and the sun had finally passed over the horizon.

Glush looked up to see a crescent moon peeking down from behind the leaves. Some dirt fell off his brow and into his eyes, making him sputter and rush to rub it out. He had fun dancing and playing along with his new friend, the tusky dwarf from the other crew… doo was his name? He couldn't remember. Anyway, he had fun but the man was way too enthusiastic about dirt. Glush was just happy it was dry, it would be easier to wash off.

He looked to doo, or tool? No that's not right. He didn't want to ask and accidentally start a conversation, especially since he looked so relaxed right now. While Glush sat on a shaped stone near the edge of the camp, the tusky dwarf was splayed out on the ground, still covered in dirt, his sweaty skin glistening in the moonlight.

Glush couldn't help but appreciate his broad, strong body, draped with light cloth that left little to the imagination. The tusky dwarf was definitely not purely dwarven, he was simply too big, and he didn't have a thick pelt of hair like the rest of the dwarfs on the other crew did.

There was a buzz of some sort off in the forest, and Glush looked to see what it was. There wasn't anything, but a bright spot in his vision that quickly faded, maybe from looking right at the moon a moment ago. He was about to look away when the bright spot spurred back to life with a buzz.

Glush got up and walked closer, wondering if maybe he was just seeing things. He stepped up to where the first trees were at the edge of the clearing, and he could feel a tingling on the front of his body as he got closer. Knowing there was some kind of invisible force just before him, he reached out his hand.

"Don't" a hand touched the back of his shoulder and he jumped. Looking back he could see the deep command came from the Tusky Dwarf. "The shield will hurt."  Glush looked dumbly at him, still feeling the tingle from the shield that he was warned about.

Glush turned around and felt he would probably have to say something to the man, since he was still looking at him with a kind of scolding look that wouldn't look out of place on his boss.

"Uh- sorry." He said. The Tusky Dwarf seemed pleased with that and went back to laying in the dirt. Looking back into the camp, Glush could see most everyone had cleared out, even though he knew his crew all preferred the night hours, they had been traveling all day. Only a couple folks were still out, and he figured it might be time to turn in for the night.

He looked back to the tusky Dwarf, who was contentedly laying on the ground as if he hadn't just got up a moment before, and wondered if he was going to sleep there. Glush didn't like that idea. He was already covered in dirt, and if he stayed out he might get rained on, or catch a cold, he'd be eaten up by bugs no doubt.

"Um, you sleep out here?" He asked. The Tusky Dwarf opened one eye to look at him and shut it again.

"Yes." He said.

"Oh." Glush thought for a moment, "do you have bed in tent?" He asked. The dwarf sighed.

"No, I do not have ‘bed intent’." He said.

"Oh!" Glush was surprised, and suddenly angry that this poor man was being made to sleep outside. "That bad! They have to give you bed!" The dwarf raised an eyebrow, but didn't answer, Glush huffed. "You take my bed tonight."

That made the tusky Dwarf open his eyes again and smile.

"That's a little forward, in't it?" He said in a coy tone. Glush suddenly realized what it sounded like he was saying and blushed. This is why he hated talking.

"I- that- no! I-" glush blustered, unable to find the words to correct himself. The tusky Dwarf closed his eyes again.

"I think I'm comfortable here for tonight." He sighed deeply. Glush couldn't find a way to salvage his lost pride, and decided he'd better leave before he made a bigger fool of himself.

"Sleep good." He said and shuffled off quickly to his crew's tent.

---

Glush discarded his dirty clothes in the wash pile, and carefully picked each charm out of his braid before letting his hair out. He set his charms on his bed and padded to the washroom in the nude. Most everyone was sleeping, but honestly, living in close quarters made being in the nude around the crew very mundane.

He pulled aside a set of curtains to reveal a large space that by all regular spatial logic, should not fit. There was steam hanging in the air from one of the showers being used, and the washrooms fabric walls had a shimmering finish with droplets of water beaded up against them.

"Ah, done playing with your new friend, glush?" He heard Shadbak's voice, knew she was in the corner stall with water cascading over her skin, and absolutely did not even peek at her. As mundane as nudity was to Glush and everyone else in the crew, something about the showers changed the mundanity of it for him, at least for certain people.

"Ugh-" he grunted and took a stall near Shadbak, knowing she would want to talk, and admittedly wanting to be near her. He did not look at how the water rippled over her strong arms, rather, he looked at the azure spell stone embedded in a pipe structure before him. He did not look at the way her hair parted beneath the stream, and instead reveled in the water as it wetted his own hair.

"Aw, come on, you got to have more to say than that! What do you think of him?" Shadbak asked. Glush could hear her cheeky smile, and almost chanced a brief glance at her, but kept his eyes trained on his feet.

He thought for a moment about the tusky dwarf sleeping underneath the moonlight outside, thinking about his glistening, grey green skin, thinking about embarrassing himself before he left.

"...I like." He let himself smile and grabbed a scrubber. Water cascaded off of Shadbak, splashing on the ground and reminding Glush of all the places on her body where water pooled as she washed. He frowned and blushed.

"Well that much is obvious." Shadbak said. "It took me months to finally get you to sing for me, and you're serenading this guy about as soon as you meet him." That made Glush laugh, remembering how guarded he used to be around Shadbak.

"He danced  funny." He said. Shadbak laughed along with him and he honestly couldn't help himself but look at her when she did.

"He really did! What was that all about?" She asked. Glush looked away from the way her wet hair clung to her cheeks, and did his best to put his mind 100% towards her question.

"I don't know. He does magic? Make shield. It goes buzz" he made a little exploding gesture with his fingers.

"Is that so? I suppose we could use a shield this far north." Glush could here a serious tone begin to creep into Shadbak's voice. He didn't know what she meant, but he didn't want to press, especially since she had just been in such good spirits.

For once, Glush was compelled to speak of his own accord, hoping to hear that smile come back to her voice. Thinking about the events of the day, he remembered The Dwarven Foreman she had been bossing around.

"How about you? You have new friend too?" He asked. Shadbak laughed sharply this time.

"I wouldn't say friend, I don't like him, but I do like to put men like him in their place." He could hear a smile in her voice, but it was tinted with disdain. Not exactly what Glush was looking for, but he felt good about it anyway.

The stream of water next to him came to an abrupt stop, and Glush heard Shadback pad over to the dryer stalls. "This new assignment is shaping up to go pretty smoothly, all things considered. We should be able to suss out these crystals Belladonna wants, and keep a low profile too thanks to the Dwarf's  magician." Hot air blew from all directions in the stall, vaporising the leftover water on her body as she continued to speak. "Everyone seems to get along, and even you've made a new friend."

Glush made an affirmative grunt as he scrubbed off the dirt his new friend had christened him with. The air stopped and Glush could hear Shadbak's footsteps heading out of the washroom.

"Hope you're ready to see a lot more of him. Get some good rest too, I don't want to catch you napping again!" Shadbak said, and Glush chuckled in response as the tent curtains flopped, marking her exit, and thought about what a lot more of... dool would be like.

[mauve-n-arcadia]

The Pining of the Void: Chapter 2 Belladonna’s Fortress

By Mauve & Arcadia

Content WARNING: Creepy Older Man. Mild Violence 

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A small elvin girl opened her crystalline blue eyes. Her light gold spun hair was splayed across pillows of fresh pure white linens. She was surrounded by the fluffiest of white blankets. A large open window that looked upon flowering fields let a sweet smelling breeze in to ruffle her curtains.

The girl stretched letting out a small squeak as she did so. Her eyes turned towards the sound that woke her. There was a light rapping on her bedroom door. 

“Miss Belladonna” A polite voice said from the other side “You’re needed in the ante chamber”

Miss Belladonna suppressed a groan. “I’m coming!” She said in a light bird song voice. “Get my gowns ready!” 

Steps retreated from her door and she sat up. The opulence in the room was immense. White was the main palette, adorned with golden accents. Belladonna stepped into her bedroom slippers and made her way to a golden vanity. As she sat she brushed the morning from her golden locks. 

She didn’t bother to admire her looks as she sat before the vanity. She was young, but she knew she was beautiful, her mother used to tell her every day. And despite her youth, from the protectiveness of some of her human caretakers, she knew she was already catching the eye of some of her advisors. 

The steps approached the door again and her current caretaker cautiously opened it carrying a mass of fabric in her hands. 

Belladonna stood and held her hands up in the air. The woman placed the fabric down, approached and disrobed the young girl who stood impatient and naked near the vanity. The woman gathered the fabric back up as the girl let out a small huff. The woman tensed, and quickly began to wrap the girl in layers of light colored silks.

Belladonna sat back down in front of the vanity, her eyes slid towards the caretaker. “I was thinking braids today”  She said after pausing for a tense moment. The woman wordlessly moved behind her and began working on her hair. 

As the woman worked on her hair Bella thought of what could be so urgent that they needed to wake her. The production of spell crystals was staying steady, the front lines were being ran by Tathalan, and her studies had absolutely no need of urgency.  But her thoughts were rudely interrupted by a sharp pain on her scalp. 

“Ow!” She screamed, turning sharply towards the caretaker who looked at her with wide terrified eyes.

“What are you doing!” Belladonna continued. “Are you so incompantent that you can’t even perform a simple braid!” Her eyes narrowed “Or did you try to take my hair?” She rushed forward, her small body posing a bigger threat than any armed soldier. She grabbed the woman's arms and clawed her nails down them, leaving large gouges, and slapped at her hands. 

“No-I-I’m sorry! I didn’t” The woman stammered. 

The doors to Belladonna slammed open as two large guards bursted in 

Belladonna pushed the woman towards them. “Take her to the dungeons!” She screamed shrilly “She tried to kill me!” 

One guard started to drag her away. The young girl sat down dramatically and picked the skin out from underneath her nails. “And send someone else in to finish my hair” She trilled much more calmly.. 

The second woman was thankfully an elf. With a lithe and tender dexterity she was able to finish Belladonna’s hair and get her quickly into the ante chamber without incident. 

She walked in and saw everyone already gathered. She gave them all a large smile and flopped into the chair at the head of the table. They must have been waiting awhile for her, but it didn't matter. She turned and looked up at her second in command Benjamin, her large eyes portraying false innocence. And he looked down at her warmly. 

“Are you okay, dear?” He asked in a deep rumble. “I heard you had a bit of scare this morning” 

Belladonna waved her hand dismissively. “It’s okay. I’ll have her executed for treason later today.” 

Benjamin's warm smile didn’t waver. “Of course we will,” He said rubbing her shoulder. 

Benjamin was Bella’s favorite.  Even if he wasn’t a full elf like everyone else around the table. He’d been around as long as she could remember,  he had been her father’s best friend, and when her parents died at the fall of the northern pass  he’d been right beside her to help her escape. Benjamin helped her take back the reins of the true kingdom. Or queendom as she liked to think of it. That had been two years ago, and now at the much more knowledgeable age of twelve she had a better handle on ruling her queendom.

“So. Why am I here” She asked Benjamin, ignoring the others at the table. 

Tathalan cleared his throat from across the table. Belladonna's eyes fell upon him, giving him permission to speak.

“As you know, we have been sending scouts back into the northern reaches in order to re-secure the region” He stated with a voice that only held a hint of base, but a lot of gravel.

Belladonna slowly blinked. She knew this of course, and the fact that she knew it didn’t deserve a spoken response.

“We have found bands of those dirt-eaters lurking about, but they haven’t been able to get past the protections left on the fort.” He continued. So far this news was not new and Bella felt the beginnings of rage start to stir in the pit of her stomach. 

“But” he quickly added on, seeing the flash in her eyes “We have stumbled upon a new type of spell crystal” He pulled a small dark crystal out of his pocket. “This rather small crystal is attuned to Destruction, Abyssal, and maybe shadow realm magics”

“We’re still doing studies” Another advisor chimed in.

“But it isn’t found in any of our southern lands.” Tathalan stated.

This caught Belladonna’s interest, and destruction magic caught Belladonna’s interest as well. There had been a shortage of crystals that helped the cause in recent years, even before her rule. They had multiple mining companies out scraping every last rock they could from the earth. Even so, they still had to get creative with wringing out destruction from some of the more mundane crystals. 

“If you’d turn your attention towards the window I have prepared a demonstration.” Tathalan got up and made an inviting gesture to Belladonna. Benjamin got up and pulled her seat back, then she hopped off and walked to the window. “Platform!” She demanded, and a half elf caretaker who had previously been nearly invisible rushed to the window with a little, velvet stepped stool, and placed it beneath the center of the window. Belladonna  nearly bounced up to the window, with Benjamin following close behind. Tathalan walked to the window and waved a small red flag. Far, far out in the distance a shining armored figure, no doubt an elf general, waved a flag of his own  in response. The elves flanking the general sprang into action, fiddling with some slapped together magic apparatus. Belladonna’s impish smile broadened into pure delight, as though she couldn’t tell what the apparatus was specifically, it did look an awful lot like a cannon, and she loved cannons.  The Elf general made a motion with his arm, and then, a giant explosion that could be physically felt by Belladonna back in the castle went off, almost instantaneously, far off in the horizon. 

Her eyes grew wide and her heart sped up. 

“We need these.” She stated breathlessly. “Send all of the mining companies up north.”

The treasurer blanched. “We still need household crystals to maintain our lands, not to mention the cost of sending soldiers up there with the miners.” He whimpered.

Belladonna’s eyes narrowed at him. “Then ration the food and crystals,” She lit up again. “Or...just send the mining companies anyway, just tell them we secured the region, and send soldiers to collect the crystals instead of letting the companies deliver it.”

Tathalan frowned “That opens us to ambush.”

Belladonna sighed and turned to Benjamin.

“We’ll I’m sure everyone will figure it out. I want those crystals, play chess later?” She smiled coyly up at him and then left the room with a skip in her step. 

Benjamin cracked his knuckles and turned back to the table. “Let the sun shine down us, we do need to make sure WE have the crystals and that Amanita clan doesn’t”

[mauve-n-arcadia]

The Pining of the Void: Chapter 1 The Crystal mines

By Mauve & Arcadia

Deep in a Cave was not Where Glush preferred to be. It was damp and muddy, and he really didn’t care for how much washing it took to get the sweat and dirt out of his jumpsuit after a long day in the mine. He placed a chisel in between the rock and the crystal jutting out of it. The crystal shone a yellow light over his tools, thankfully making it very clear where Glush should strike, and he brought his hammer down on the chisel.

The rock was shunted down a bit and then sloughed off the crystal, letting more yellow light pour into the cave. Glush took off his left glove and wiped the sweat off his brow as he stood up and appraised his work. A good chunk of crystal about the size of his thigh was jutting out of the wall, and it looked like if he wiggled it a little he might be able to pull it free.

“How are you doing over here, Glush?” Glush looked over his shoulder to see the white light of a miner's helmet peeking out from behind him, then foreman Shadbak emerged from the depths of the cave.

Glush made a sound of annoyance, he was immersed in his repetitive motion and beat of his work. He gestured towards the rock as if saying, ‘it was going well till you interrupted’.

Shadbak gleaned the meaning behind the gestures and grunts.

“If you use your axe as a pivot from the bottom that should pop right out.”

Glush stared at the crystal appraisingly, he didn’t mind bashing it till the rock came out, but he wasn’t opposed to making his work easier. 

He placed his chisel towards the bottom of the crystal, and it did indeed pop out with minimal effort.

Glush smiled at Shabak and then tossed the Crystal at her. Without missing a beat, she took a large bag off her hip and pulled it open. The Crystal disappeared into the bag with a swish.

“Good work, Think it’s about time we call it a night. We've tapped most of the big veins of spell crystal here, and we ought to give it a chance to regenerate.”

Glush smiled broadly and sighed in relief.

“You look like you could use the fresh air too!” Shadback added as the two of them started their way out of the cave. Glush thought that he could also use a nice long wash, and a cold drink. 

As they crawled through bottlenecks and hoisted themselves up steep walls, Glush noticed that the rest of the miners were nowhere to be seen. He did have a habit for being the one to wander furthest into any given mine, weather he was directed to or not. It just seemed like all the best spell stones were in the deepest caves.

Glush wasn’t sure how he ever ended up with such odd talents, but it was just a fact of life for him.

Finally, at the mouth of the cave, Glush Stretched his arms as far above him as he could, and took in the sunset as it dipped below the horizon far to his other side. The yellow and orange hues were only interrupted by a light smear of clouds and Tall grass that went on as far as he could see.

It was a treat to see the untamed wild these days. It almost seemed like all of the land was taken up by some warlord or other. Though he knew that just behind him, atop the plateau stood Belladonna's west fortress, thakfully it was comfortably out of sight.

---

The next day Glush woke up sluggishly. He rolled out of his cot and hit the ground with a loud thud. He made his way through a small labyrinth of cots to get to the outside of the tent and approached the breakfast pot. 

Today’s breakfast was a rather grey gruel, but Glush ate it all the same. The excuse for the poor breakfasts was that they hadn’t been meeting the quota, so the company couldn’t afford the proper meals. Glush knew it was more of a punishment.

Shabak of course, was already seated and eating. She was an early riser. Glush made his way to the pot, and ladled out some grey for himself in order to join her. 

They ate in companionable silence. Every time Shabak opened her mouth to make small talk, Glush would spoon more gruel into his own mouth to avoid answering. She still found occasion to prattle on.

“Your numbers up yesterday, but everyone else's were down….we may need to move on from this location soon, or dig new tunnels.”

Glush fought a glob of slop down his throat, and cleared it to speak. His first attempt came out as a crackling squeak, then he tried again. 

“Dig more and  fort fall down into land.” Glush jammed another spoonful of the muddy grey in his mouth so he had an excuse to stop speaking again.

“Hah! I’d love to see the warlords fort sink into the earth as much as anyone, afraid that even though there are a considerable amount of tunnels in the plateau, it is nowhere near collapsing, which even if it’s good for Belladonna, it’s also good for us!”

Glush grunted, unconvinced. He was at least half sure that his deathbed would be under a ton of rocks, and probably one of the warlord’s shoddy fortresses one of these days. There wasn’t much he could do about it except hope it didn’t happen though. Spell crystal mining was about the only job that he could get.

Well, it was the only job that best fit him, He was qualified for it, it made him enough money to get by and buy the odd instrument here and there, and he didn’t have to talk to anyone. It was pretty absurd how many jobs required you to speak. That was never something Glush was very good at though.

In fact, Shadbak was probably the only person Glush had spoken more than a brief introduction to in years, and that was only because she would talk to him all the time.

He didn’t mind it much. Shadbak knew better than to expect a verbal response for the most part, but after they had been working together for about a year, she was too curious to not ask questions.

Speaking of which, she had that glint in her eye that meant she was probably about to ask him something. Glush put his spoon down and braced himself. 

“So why the piccolo? You’ve been saving up for a nice instrument as long as I known you and you buy that tiny thing? It’s not even made for Orc hands.” she held up her own hands showing her broad palms, regular sized for an orc lady, but absolutely monstrous compared to human hands that such delicate instruments were made for.

Glush huffed. Questions about why he does what he does were the worst, because they were hard to answer, and when he did, Shadbak was rarely ever satisfied with his response. 

Glush didn’t know how to articulate the answer she wanted. The piccolo just felt right, and sounded nice.

“Pick - low, not that small…” Glush struggled to find the words, “Sound nice. Like… hmm.” Shadbak was still giving him an expectant look, and he couldn’t think of any better words, So Glush fished the tiny instrument out from the inner pocket of his dust covered vest and began to play.

His large fingertips did not falter on the tiny machinations of the piccolo and for the brief moments he played he felt free. The notes danced in the air and flew from his lungs like a flock of birds out of a tree. 

When he finished he stored the piccolo back carefully and looked at Shadbak, her eyes looked a little glazed over.

“Okay, I guess that’s a good enough reason.” She said. “You know with talent like that, you could easily make it as a minstrel. Nobles would pay fine for your little song twig.” Glush chortled and stuffed his mouth, making it clear he was not going to say anything else.

Shadbak looked thoughtfuly at Glush. “I guess it might be difficult since the nobles don’t care much for Orcs.” 

Glush nodded, giving her a look like ‘duh.’

She got up and gathered her dishes, patting glush on the back as she walked by. “Their loss, we get to have the best flutist this side of Yshvid, and we’re just humble miners!”

Glush shortly followed her and got ready to start his day in the mines.

---

As he began to fall underneath the shadows of the plateau his ears perked to the sound of hoofbeats approaching rapidly. 

An armoured figure appeared atop a grey warhorse. 

They pointed menacingly. “You there” they snarled. “Where is the foreman”

Glush blinked a few times at the regalia of the knight and their steed. They were covered in checkered purple and green, and the hanging fabrics were decorated with purple bells. The whole display was a little ridiculous, as was the usual sensibilities of nobility.

Glush though, then he shrugged at the knight's question. He really didn’t know where she went after breakfast. She could be in her tent, in the mine, wherever she damn well pleased really.

Glush couldn’t see the Knight lips curl underneath their helmet, but he could certainly hear the acid tone in their voice.

“Well perhaps you should find him” and they tapped the insignia on their shield, a purple flower.

Glush turned without acknowledging their request and walked into the mines. He didn’t feel like dealing with nobility right now, and though the caves were never comfortable, their silence and isolation was welcome.

Well, relative isolation. The other miners kept to themselves, simply nodding and smiling at glush as he passed by. That wasn’t bad though, as long as nobody tried to talk to him, he actually enjoyed company.

He saw Shadbak sizing up a fresh outcropping of spell crystal. The vein was too small yesterday to really do anything about, with crystals smaller than a fist, but overnight it had grown drastically to the size of the crystal he had finished with yesterday.

She looked over her shoulder to see who was shuffling up behind her and smiled at Glush.

“Got a real good one right here, Not sure if we should take it though. Spell stone that grows this fast may be part of a node.” She felt her hand along the shining surface of the spell crystal. Glush didn’t understand much about the mechanics of magic, but he knew that if this vein was part of a ‘node’ it would be better left alone.

“Hmm. well, don’t really have enough time to figure it out, you and I gotta pick up the slack for the rest of the team, I’m tired of gruel for every meal!” She motioned for Glush to follow, and they both descended deeper into the cavern.

---

Glush and Shadbak fell into a familiar rhythm, She would guide him to the best spell crystals, tell him the most efficient way to pry it from the walls, He would make a few deft whacks, and toss the Rough gemstones into Shadbak’s bag. Time passed easily this way, and Glush had almost completely forgotten there was a knight waiting outside for the forman.

He held the spell crystal he just mined and paused, breaking their rhythm.

“What is it?” Shadbak asked. 

“Knight, outside.”Glush said.

“Huh?” Shadbak’s face quickly went from one of confusion, to one of sudden and urgent realization. “You left a KNIGHT waiting outside this whole time?”

Glush shrugged.

“UGH, you are just awful sometimes.” She didn’t really sound serious, but it was clear she was annoyed.

Shadbak rushed out without another word. So Glush just...kept working. Without Shadbak guiding him, he found himself venturing deeper and deeper into the system. But there wasn’t much to be gleaned. Glush recognized all these tunnels from the many days spent in them before. 

He was working on a rather stubborn crystal. Losing himself in the rhythmic clunk, clunk, clunk, of his axe, when he barely was able to make out the gathering bells at the front of the mine.

He gave the crystal a few last hurried clunks before it popped out, then gathered his meager findings in his arms to be deposited, and meandered topside. 

Shadbak was already giving the others the news. 

“We will be moving west, we’ll need to be packed up first thing in the morning” She announced.

Glush left his pile with the others for Shadbak to collect. 

“But I don’t want to get farther away from my family's village!” One of the Orcs protested. Glush couldn’t remember his name.

“Then don’t come!” Shadbak exclaimed. It looked like she was getting frustrated with the pushback. They all knew we’d have to move on from this mine eventually.

“We’ll be meeting up with another mining company, so there will be plenty of workers to go around. AND, they are paying us 15% more per crystal at this location!”

The crowd murmured at that. Goodbye gruel, hello stew.

“I need everyone up and packing by 7am.�� And that was the last of the speech. She found Glush at the edge of the group and locked eyes with him. The harshness in her face eased into more of a scolding look. Glush figured that maybe he was actually supposed to follow Shadbak out, and he pulled nervously at his collar as she approached.

“You hear all that?” Glush shrugged and nodded yes at the same time. He only heard the tail end of her announcement, but he got the important bit. Shadbak sighed. “Look, next time Belladonna sends a knight to our camp, don’t just blow him off. We’re lucky this was just about a job she needs us for.”

Glush shrugged again and smiled.

“Don’t pull that innocent bullshit on me, Glush! Now get your green ass in gear and get ready to go!”

---