nimasprophecy

[nimasprophecy]

Given the recent spread of transphobia in this platform I will no longer post excerpts or art here. My main blog will remain active until further notice but if you still wanna read my stuff here is where to find it:

Pillowfort(art, writing and general blabbery)

Belletristica(writing only)

Artfol(art)

But I gotta be real with you all. Having to do all this link droppng and "technically no good bye messages" every few months here is getting tiresome.

[nimasprophecy]

Níma's Prophecy Excerpt #6

“How about we start with the presentations?” Akunála suggested. “We are going to spend a good time together, better we start getting to know each other soon.”

A thin arm was lifted among the teens and Akunála identified it as belonging to the scrawny boy with lavender hair sitting by a distant table in the room’s corner.

“How about you teacher?”

“Me?”

“Yeah you haven’t told us much about yourself, besides your name and that you will be our teacher. Wasn’t it?” The boy said in an amicable tone.

“Yeah…” Akunála crossed one arm across his chest and fitted his chin between a thumb and index finger. “Seems fair. I will tell you a little more about me then. My name is Akunála, I’m 36 years old. Was born and raised in Maumarúna and originally belonged to the black capes squad, where I served for 15 years. But for now I have been assigned with training you all until your graduation.

I have a younger sister among you, named Afu, but there is no need to worry about her getting any special treatment and…” He tapped an index finger to the lips while thinking for a moment and then planted both hands on his hips. “That’s all that I have to say about myself that is of your all’s business.”

After finishing his speech Akunála was answered with a round of applause, in modest moderation from the acropolitans and highly enthusiastic from the maumarinians with a right to whistles and yells.

“Wow he is really popular here isn’t he?” Still clapping Curuno turned to Níma, but then noticed that her friend was once again with a frown while focusing on the boy from before.

Curuno was about to ask her about who he could be, when Akunála made himself heard again.

“And now” The teacher raised his hands in a plead for silence and pointed to the boy. “You seem like the bold kind of youth. How about you tell us about yourself?”

“Me?” He widened his eyes and exaggeratedly shrunk while pointing at himself.

“We are waiting” Akunála insisted.

“Well…” The boy got up and initially only stared around while scratching behind his head. “My name is Ázu, I’m 15 years old and was born at the Acropolis. Don’t have any big achievements to brag about and…” He suddenly stopped, straightened himself stared Akunála directly on eyes.

“I took the ranger’s test because I always wanted to know why Maumarúna is never attacked by the chimera despite being on solid grounds and also to discover what happens to all the artifacts of the old world that are found by the black capes and then never revealed to the public.”

This time nobody applauded and both maumarinian and acropolitan stared at Ázu awestruck.

Níma, in specific, went livid and covered her mouth for, in a single phrase, Ázu just mentioned all of Maumarúna’s and the black cape’s biggest taboo mysteries as institutions.

“Perhaps you would know anything about these, teacher?” Ázu returned to his initial inoffensive demeanor.

However, Akunála didn’t alter nor his semblance nor his voice when he spoke.

“Well, Ázu, I have to admit that you have quite difficult to answer questions. So lets do this: Study and train a lot. Be accepted by the black cape rangers and then discover the answers by yourself. How that sounds to you?” He crossed his arms once more.

Ázu simply shrugged. “Yeah, guess I agree with this. Deal.” With that said he pulled his chair back and sited.

Noticing that the atmosphere in the room has gone tense, Akunála cleaned his throat.

“Alright. Anybody else would like to give a presentation?”

---------------------------------------------------------

Learn more about Níma's prophecy here.

Leave-me a tip on ko-fi.

[nimasprophecy]

Níma's Prophecy Excerpt #5

Content Warnings: Alcohol abuse, implied alcohol abuse.

Another cold and humid morning had begun on the Acropolis after a night of intense storms but, despite the inviting weather to snuggle even tighter in her covers, Curuno's alarm clock had no mercy.

“Wake up!” the enchanted wooden chick suddenly activated. “Wake up Curuno! Wake up Curuno!” It jumped around with its spring legs on the floor next to its master’s cocoon of covers.

“Wake up! ah-!” It finally stopped when a hand stretched outside and grabbed it.

Curuno crawled to the outside and leaned her back against the wall. The tall and skinny young girl with long and messy crimson hair rubbed an eye and let out a yawn.

“Good morning Daborí” She deposited the now inanimate chick on its place beside her and petted its little head with her index finger.

Now with more awaken eyes she verified the calendar on the wall next to her while scratching her head. The 6th day of the 4th month was marked with a red contour. Curuno smiled and got up.

The day has finally come.

The first thing she did was verify the backpack that she had left ready still in the night prior. Judging that it didn’t hurt to be cautious.

“Go out clothes, pajamas, socks…” While rummaging its interior she briefly glanced over her desk and gasped. Her letter of approval, with its seal already broken, lied forgotten right beside her. “How dangerous!” She picked it and opened just to admire once more the text in golden ink and the shield emblem with the tower and the pterosaur. Ms. Curuno you successfully passed! Show this letter to the guard at doc number 5 on the 6/04 and get on board. We await you in Maumarúna. She pressed the letter against her chest and hummed a note of emotion before folding it again and stuffing it into the backpack.

Curuno eyed her shelf where her stuffed animals with skins made of old patchwork and button eyes rested, stretched her arm and picked the biggest one. A gray colored specimen with a long neck and little ears.

“We are going to meet soon, Miss Paraceratherium” She gave it a hug and stuffed it on the backpack. “I’m sorry” she addressed with sadness the remaining ones: A mammoth, a saber tooth tiger and a sloth. “There is space for only one”.

Then Curuno headed to the window and pulled her curtains, finally letting the light in the room, and leaned over the sill to admire the Acropolis, a labyrinth of grimy limestone monoliths interconnected by steel pipes covered in moss.

“I wonder if I will ever gonna miss this view”

* * * * * Curuno slowly opened her door and peered outside, already dressed in her white sweater with the paca head drawing on the chest and light brown cargo pants tucked in brown leather lace boots.

She noticed that the living room was still in darkness, sign that the windows haven’t been opened, and detected the contours of her mother’s figure sitting by the table in the kitchen with a liquor bottle by her side.

Curuno sighed and went back inside. A little later she appeared again with her backpack and a shoulder bag full of books.

Mrs. Muruni, who in the moment occupied herself in observing an ant wandering inside her empty cup, didn’t even budge when her daughter passed by.

“So it is today?” Her voice came hoarse and draggy.

Curuno froze when she already had her hand on the door knob. Then used a moment to take a deep breath. “Yes” She said without turning, with the most neutral and controlled voice she could muster.

“And this bag?”

Curuno licked her lips.

“They are books, I will take them back to the library on the way.”

For some heavy seconds there was only silence between the two until Muruni got up dragging the chair on the floor.

“Right. Go do that.” She left the room accompanied by her bottle.

Closing her eyes tightly and biting her lower lip Curuno yanked the door open and left at once, letting the door slam behind her.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Learn more about Níma's Prophecy here.

Read two excerpts ahead here.

Read previous excerpts here.

[nimasprophecy]

Níma's Prophecy Excerpt #4

“The Black Capes!” Yelled the little girl running on bare feet despite the cold weather. She was coming through the road that cut the village into two and led up straight to the warehouse.

“They are here!” She yelled at the top of her lungs getting the attention of teamsters who would stop their macrauchenia, housewives who would stop sweeping their house fronts and store owners who stretched their necks out their establishments to see what all that yelling was about.

“The…!” Panting the girl stopped in the middle of the way, almost losing her balance when supporting herself on her knees. While she tried to catch her breath, intrigued men and women surrounded her. “Who girl?!” Asked a woman drying her hands on her apron. “Spit it out!”

“The Black Capes!” The little girl screamed once more.

Immediately they all turned to the direction she was coming from down the road. It was hard to see if the gates were open from there, but they were still able to identify a blurry mass of apparent individuals marching in their direction.

An old gentleman among the citizens walked to their front, took off his glasses to clean them with a tissue and, upon putting them back on, was finally able to identify the integrants of the blur as fortress rangers riding on their giant paca and wearing black cloaks that flowed in the wind.

“It really is them!” He turned to the others. “They are the Black Capes!”

“Well look at that.” The leader who rode in front of the others and had half of his face covered by the cloak’s hood smiled. “It seems we have already been spotted.”

“They are gonna start all that uproar again won’t them?” Sighed another ranger of large shoulders and strong body, who pulled off his hood freeing his long and rebellious grayish hair tied in a ponytail.

“Aw come on Akunála!” The skinny one who rode by his side also took off his, revealing a head of red hair shaved on the sides and a face decorated by piercings on his nose, shin and brows. “You gonna say you don’t like a big party as soon as you arrive?”

“Maybe I just don’t like to be the center of their attention all the damn time, Guroku.”

“In this case Akunála.” The leader turned to him. “I think you would like to know that we have a meeting with the director scheduled for as soon as we arrive.”

“With all of us?” Akunála sounded surprised. “Nope. Just for you and me.” The leader turned his attention back to the road.

“And what is this meeting about?” Akunála narrowed his sharp eyes.

“You will know when we get there. Now if you all excuse-me…” He pulled on the reins of his paca and changed direction. “I will take a shortcut to avoid the crowd. Take care of them for me please.”

When the captain left the front Akunála got a better view of the crowd that had gathered at the villager’s entrance and among the many people waving and calling he recognized four teenagers holding together a welcome poster. One of them was a girl very similar to him in her eyes and hair and who waved with more enthusiasm than anyone.

“Dammit.” He ran his black leather gloved hand through his face pulling the skin down. “Afu and her friends are there. They are gonna keep a hold on me for sure…”

It was when he felt a touch and turned back to find another much shorter and skinnier ranger with a wild petroleum blue mane with matching mustache and goatee.

“What is it, Ahaku?”

The man let go of his reins and proceeded to signal with his hands. “Leave your little sister with me and Nôruna. We can keep her and her friends entertained while you are busy.”

“Oh thank you!” Akunála relaxed for a moment until Ahaku poked him again.

“You are going to owe us that, of course.” He gesticulated and gave him a sordid grin.

“As expected…” Akunála sighed.

-----------------------------------------

Learn more about Níma's Prophecy here.

Read two excerpts ahead here.

Read previous excerpts here.

[nimasprophecy]

Níma's Prophecy Excerpt #3

Content Warnings: Blood, Severe Injury, implied violence, prisons, physical abuse.

The Dungeons were a maze of hallways and galleries illuminated by mana lacrims, more solid versions of the mana bubbles, encrusted on the walls between each over-crowded cell.

While following the group, Níma couldn’t avoid spying on them every now and then, coming across skinny faces and deep eyes observing her back from the shadows. The sound of pulsating now was even louder and uninterrupted and she was about to ask about it again when a whine high and deep erupted and she jolted.

The other acolytes turned to her, some with a disapproving look.

“Are there any frightened newcomers here?” Ahalú turned with a smirk. “Don’t be worried. That was just the cry of a condemned. Sign that we are doing our job appropriately.”

Níma, feeling her cheeks heating up, lowered her face and pulled her hood to better hide it.

Cries accompanied them for a few more meters until being drowned out by the distance and the pulse.

After a certain point the cells ended and the concrete walls and floor gained white tiles and a strong scent of antiseptic that made Níma scrunch her nose and cover her mouth.

“We are here” Ahalú stopped in front of two steel gates with grilled windows from where an intense light came out. Two of his men took the lead and opened it making the light flood out onto the acolytes.

“Your patients await here” The director gave the acolytes passage.

The infirmary ale of the dungeons lacked any appropriate medical equipment to take care of the sick and wounded that crowded the floor on scattered mats.

The comitive of acolytes entered and each pair immediately looked for a patient to attend.

This time Níma couldn’t avoid hiding herself behind Ulára and hold on to her robe while the priestess verified each case.

There were women and men with deep burns, purple bruises, swollen members and others with a few missing. Níma also noticed some covered from head to toe with thin dirty sheets, completely still in their mats and also noticed that none of the other pairs paid them attention.

But then she noticed one whose face had been completely printed on the sheet by blood stains and immediately the memory of the director cleaning his hands with a red stained tissue returned.

“Come.” The pull on her arm awakened her from the stupor  and Níma turned to her grandma with lips trembling.

“We have to proceed, they need our help.”

“Granny” Níma’s voice came almost soundless.

“Don’t call me that here.”

“I-I can’t do it.”

Ulára finally noticed that her granddaughter's hand was ice cold, wet and its color was fading with each passing second. She sighed.

“Come.”

Ulára excused them when passing by a guard and guided Níma to the lavatories.

After washing her face with cold water Níma sat in a cabin to try to calm down while her grandma rubbed her back.

“There, there. Everything is gonna be alright.”

“Gran-I mean…” She sniffed and dried her tears. “What was that? Why are that people like that?”

“The dungeon’s guards are cruel. that’s why.”

“But!” She sobbed. “That was horrible! Not even our teachers do that to us and-!” She started whimpering.

Ulára Knelt down and hugged Níma. Then lifted her wet face to look into her eyes.

“Listen, this is the duty of a wind acolyte. We can’t just tend to the sanctuary and pray. We also have to take care of those victimized by our system. Especially the people down here.”

Níma sniffed and remained quiet.

“Listen, I don’t know what made you change your mind about your dream, but each path in this life has unpredictable challenges awaiting you. What you have to do is to decide which will be worth it despite it all.”

“And how will I know which one will be?”

“That’s a decision only you can make.” Ulára said softly.

“It is a decision too heavy to be made at fifteen years old.” Níma stared at her hands on her lap.

“I know” Ulára pulled her to another hug. “I too wished you had more time.” She said releasing Níma and stood up. “Come” she took her hand. “Let's return to the sanctuary earlier.”

Níma avoided looking to the sides when they went looking for Ahalú and the director opened a very satisfied smile upon hearing that the new girl wasn’t feeling well and needed to return.

One guard was ordered to guide them on the way back and while Níma walked holding on her grandma’s hands the rhythmic sound of something pulsating filled her ears.

----------------------------

Discover what Níma's Prophecy is here.

Suport my work on ko-fi.

[nimasprophecy]

Níma's prophecy Excerpt #2

Content Warnings: can't think of any in specific but this one is a tad bit scary in general. Ask me to tag anything.

She walked without a destination, searching for any sign of life or civilization when she heard the sound of running water. Could it be a river? Níma has never seen a real one besides the city’s irrigation channels.

Curious, she followed the sound’s direction.

Níma had to climb several rocks and tree roots and got all covered in mud and dirt, but the louder the sound would get and the wetter the smell of the air became, more motivated she felt.

When she finally arrived at the sound’s source, she found it to be a little waterfall that ended in a shallow but turbulent little river.

Níma gasped. None of the descriptions of nature contained in the school’s and City’s library books compared to that vision.

She approached it and crouched near its tumultuous water, wetting the tips of her fingers before sinking her whole hand and starting to splash the water. At this point she had already forgotten she was in a dream and jumped in the shallow river.

She played by diving and splashing and inspecting the round and smooth stones she would find at the deep.

She was so distracted in her fun that she hadn’t noticed when the sound of the waterfall went mute and only realized that the once turbulent water had quieted down when she saw her own reflection on its surface.

This was when she noticed it, there in front of her own, the reflection of a huge being crouching and staring at her. Her fright was such that she slipped and fell backwards in the water and when she opened her eyes she came across the real creature on the other margin surrounded by darkness.

It seemed to be at least 9.8 feet tall, had long pointy ears, long arms with sharp claws and was covered in grayish fur. But its most striking detail was its eyes: huge, round and shining in a bluish green hue that seemed fixed on hers.

Níma wanted to scream and run as fast as she could, but her body wouldn’t obey and instead stayed there, still and staring back at the monster. Seconds went by like that, leading Níma to consider if that being wasn’t actually a statue.

It was then that the creature raised one of its claws and gesticulated slowly for Níma to come to it.

“No… ”

The creature motioned again.

“No.” Níma shook her head.

“No!” She sat up on her bed and found herself amidst the darkness and silence of her room.

Níma remained alert for one more minute until her heart calmed down and until she was sure of her safety. For some reason she had the necessity to feel under her pillow where she found the chain of the pendant. She decided to take it away from there but also didn’t leave it too far away.

It would be troublesome if she couldn’t find it in the morning.

Going back to bed she pulled the sheets all the way to her head.

---------------------------------------

Learn More about Níma's Prophecy

Support my work on ko-fi.

[nimasprophecy]

Níma's Prophecy Excerpt # 1

Content Warnings: Blood and Needles.

Níma carefully handled the needle in her possession, holding its thin metal rod between the index and the thumb.

“Pay attention to what I will teach you now Níma.” 

The little girl with the dark skin and long straight petroleum blue hair lifted her head to stare at her grandma. The two of them were sitting on the floor across from each other inside an empty pantry. The only place in the house away from the windows. A little mana bubble white and shiny floated above their heads providing light.

Mrs. Ulára, the grandma, showed her the needle she also had in hand and without breaking her calm smile stuck it into her thumb.

Níma shuddered.

“Doesn’t it hurt Granny?”

“Just a little bit.” Slowly the needle was pulled from her wrinkled skin and a bead of blood bloomed.

Níma twisted the corner of her mouth feeling irked and apprehensive while Mrs. Ulára put the needle aside and squeezed her thumb making more blood come out. ”Now pay attention to the spell I will teach.” Then she closed her hand leaving the wounded thump upward and Níma focused on it because, despite everything, her curiosity couldn’t be contained.

Mrs. Ulára then uttered the same mysterious words Níma had heard she use several times in the past when nobody besides them was around, and with a dropped jaw witnessed the blood that covered her thumb start to shine in a bluish green color.

“The blood… ” She approached more. “It turned into mana!”

Mrs. Ulára smiled and uttered one more spell that caused the wound to close up without leaving a scar nor blood drop behind.

“It is gone!”

“This last one was a common healing spell. Besides the spell to transform blood into mana, this is the second most important spell you should learn.” She extended her open hand to Níma who hurried to grab and investigate it.

“But… ” The nine year old widened her grayish eyes after a realization “Only doctors are allowed to use healing spells. What if they find out?”

“This is what makes blood magic special Níma. The mana made from our blood is different from the mana distributed in the city and because of that it cannot be tracked by the king.” Ulára took advantage that Níma had let go of her hand to caress her hair. ”But this is exactly why it is forbidden and you should never be caught using it.” She caressed her hair behind the ear and withdrew her hand.

* * * * *

Discover what Níma's Prophecy is about

Support my work on Ko-fi.