#I had no clue how much that dragon post would resonate | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

matoitech · 4 years

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First things first, I must let you know that you are an absolute star and I love you! I also especially love your explanation for 'Kori Ni Tojikomete' and thank you so much for translating Shiho Ochi's thoughts on the lyrics. I was just curious if by any chance your beautiful mind had any thoughts on 'Nexus'? That is honestly my favorite Promare song and I've been listening to it on repeat, but I've also heard it's Lio singing to Galo?

thank you that’s very sweet!! and that’s true, it’s from lio’s pov! all promare songs with vocals have certain povs they’re written from, many of them sang from galo or lio to each other or as a duet. songs from lio’s pov are ashes, kakusei, and nexus; galo’s are gallant ones and kori ni tojikomete. inferno is a galo and lio duet. we don’t have eramorp’s pov confirmed as far as i know, but i’d guess it’s a duet as well since the pov feels like it alternates or is unfocused on a specific character

anyway, i do have a lot of thoughts on nexus! nexus IS lio pov and he is talking to galo / we’re hearing his feelings abt galo through it, that’s the majority of the lyrics. it brings up a lot of interesting things they don’t really talk about in the movie but we know ARE present through the lyric choices. promare songs are cool like that! a lot of the narrative is communicated THROUGH the music.

so to talk about the word ‘nexus’ first of all- it means a connection linking two or more things. promare is a fan of bringing words from different origins and languages into it, and (google tells me) nexus is of latin origin and means “to bind or tie.” there’s other ways it can be defined, but since the song literally has a part saying “we’re connected you and i” it’s more obvious it’s talking about THIS definition of nexus. the song, then, is really about lio and his connection to galo. lio is relying on that connection for his words to resonate with galo.

some songs in promare have pretty straightforward lyrics, and nexus is one of them i think. with nexus it starts off with gems like “you can’t believe in what you hear” so the rest of the song is basically “don’t believe the propaganda, fight back with me instead.” a lot of the lyrics are also pretty impossible to view as anything but romantic so its also a “be gay with me instead” song lol

since i talk so much about the rest of, i’m not really gonna go into the first verse- lio’s feeling drained and dejected and wondering if fighting for so long for so hard is going to be worth it. there are, however, some lines in it that made me think a little harder, which i talk about in this post here i wrote while thinking abt this ask, but those thoughts are too long to include in this answer lol. they’re relevant to discussing lio and his connection with galo though

the pre-chorus is interesting, because it really is lio talking to galo specifically. everything about nexus is framed like lio trying to tell galo to listen to him. to realize what is going on with the burnish and with the foundation, to understand why lio is fighting so hard. lio wants him to understand that everything he’s doing, he’s doing for a purpose. that’s why lio told him about the burnish and about the foundation in the cave- he wanted to be understood and heard. i don’t think he counted on galo actually taking him seriously and listening. ok, moving on!

“Hate Blinding me, and your love When you're talkin' about him Sound just like a broke' record! There's a reason why”

the pre-chorus, to me, has always come off like lio’s bringing up how kray’s propaganda is basically just brainwashing galo and everyone else in promepolis? ‘he’ typically seems like its referring to kray, while ‘you’ is referring to galo. ‘i’ is lio, of course. ‘you’re repeating the same shit he’s feeding you, you can’t give me a good explanation for what’s going on, and there’s a reason for that. you’ve been told lies all your life and you don’t know what’s really going on.’ the line ‘sound just like a broke’ record’ nailed that one in, since you just repeat the same rhetoric you’ve always heard over and over without truly hearing yourself or comprehending or thinking more critically about what you’re saying.

and then the rest of the pre-chorus talking about what kray’s doing, keeping secrets, profiting off his lies, killing lio’s family. because to lio the burnish are his people, his family.

there’s also the part about being blinded by hatred which is interesting because there’s a bit of a narrative thread promare’s got going on about not becoming consumed by your emotions... hate blinded lio to his moral code as the dragon and galo was the one who stopped him from doing something he’d regret.

‘blinded’ by an emotion is also brought up in a line in the movie, when kray says heris is ‘blinded by her love for her sister’ when heris turns on him. galo was blinded by respect of kray and viewing him as the closest thing he had to family; lio was blinded by hatred. though you can see where both of them are coming from; galo had good reason to not know when kray was manipulating him, and lio had good reason to be fucking pissed about his people being used to power a spaceship. promare likes to bring up certain lines or words or concepts multiple times to clue you in on there being something there to think about.

and then we got that fucking AWESOME chorus.

“So spend some time with me I really like your company We're not so different Flip the coin it doesn't matter And if we don't survive I'd rather die than live a lie”

this one’s also more obvious :) gay people! lio also reminding galo we’re not so different in a lot of different ways. ‘you and i could’ve been the same- we’re similar people, if our roles had been reversed we would still be fighting for people. fundamentally at our cores, we are people with similar goals who are alike in a lot of ways’. lio wants to save people. his character is built around this. so is galo’s! and the “if we don’t survive i’d rather die than live a lie” could refer to lio not wanting to live a life where’s forced to pretend wrt being burnish, maybe saying he’d rather die and expose kray for the monster he is than live while his people suffer, maybe that if him and galo die then at least they died fighting. it can also be read as a double metaphor for being gay. just gonna throw that one out there

then there’s these lines, important though often overlooked:

“I can see your tears inside Hanging on the deepest pain Yeah, we both are bruised He's the reason why Are we gonna let him choose? We're connected you and I”

these are important lines because it implies that lio knows what kray did to galo. even if he doesn’t have specifics he knows how much he hurt him. ‘i’ve been hurt by kray, but so have you, and we both know it. are you going to let him keep controlling your life, manipulating the way you see our world and keeping you from seeing the truth?’ and then ending with the iconic “we’re connected you and i” which is just.. sweet and sad. they’ve both been deeply hurt by foresight, but that’s another thing they have in common. another thing lio is reminding galo about to get him to fight for the burnish. not like galo needs persuading! but lio doesn’t know that yet. anyway, lio’s acknowledging the connection they have. the one that the movie keeps going back to, the one that promare is BUILT on. its because of their connection that they were able to do what they did; able to save the world.

(there’s also the “never see the game” as part of that verse as well, galo never seeing what kray was doing and it being just... a game to kray and not real human lives he’s affecting. ‘never see the thirty years of burnish suffering’ is another way to look at it.)

so to end this answer that got very long, nexus to me is like.. the serious side of the promare experience- effects of propaganda, effects of oppression, gay people, trauma- encapsulated in a damn good song. like promare, nexus is written to bang so fucking hard you forget there’s some deep shit going on there. i hesitate to say beneath the surface because its not like it’s buried, it’s right there in the lyrics, its just dressed up! that’s a unique way to go about a narrative for sure!

#ID PUT THIS UNDER A READMORE BUT I DONT WANT IT TO DISAPPEAR IF MY BLOG GETS DELETED SRY #anyway tysm for asking! this was a lot of fun!#anon #fess replies #long post #promare

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sooosketchy · 5 years

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My Nintendo Switch Screenshots 2017

Backed up most of my screenshots off my Switch and wanted to share a few of my favorite moments I captured during the first year (2017) playing breath of the wild (botw). My 2018 and 2019 collection will go up in a separate post. Botw was the only physical game I owned the first year having the Switch and was completely immersed in the world of Hyrule in a way I had never experienced with any other video game.

Very First Screenshot

Kass

First time encountering Kass was such a memorable moment. You’ll be minding your own business traveling new areas and scoping out the territory, then all of a sudden you hear this distant sound. You think to yourself, “am I just hearing things, did I just pass the source of the sound, am I heading the right direction?” Until the sound gets closer and you head towards the direction faster looking for where the sound is coming from and then you see him, Kass. This big blue bird, holding an accordion, playing a pretty sweet song and placed in spot where you least expect to find him. Finding him is one of the reasons why I loved this character, he’ll be located in spot across Hyrule you just don’t expect, And once you hear a snippet of his song your’re compelled to stop what your doing and find him and solve his puzzles. First time meeting him I spent a few minutes appreciating his catchy tune and made it a goal of mine to find every single spot he was stationed at. I was invested in his story and wanted to learn more about him along my journey. He reveals hidden shrines so its worth putting time aside to find him since it helps complete all the shrines anyways. Getting him home was gonna take some time but I loved bumping into him during my lonely travels and hearing him play. I wanted more background and story out of Kass and luckily we got a bunch more through the Champions Ballad expansion pass. Yay!!!

Korok

Till this day I’m still trying to track down each Korok. And getting to the Great Deku tree was still one of the toughest puzzles to figure out. But its worth the trouble. Gazing up at the night time sky underneath the Great Deku’s branches make for some really pretty shots.

Meeting Sidon

Mipha was the first champion I meet along with her family and the Zora people. I realized how complex and tedious it was going to be to actually look through every nook and crevice in each town/village. I spent two days exploring the Zora domain and all the surrounding area to complete the Zora outfit.

Dragon

First time seeing a dragon was from the edge of Lake Hylia and after that I had no clue of what they did, how to get close to one and how many more there were. Atop Mount Lanayru was where I met my first dragon.I spotted it from afar while climbing up the mountain and thought it was some kind of glow in the dark octopus but it wasn’t. Awaking it and bringing it back to its former self was fun to do and seeing it fly away happy and not sick with the ganon flu was nice. Wonder why the remaining two dragons didn't have a side quest where each one was unlocked? Does anyone find it wrong that in order to collect scales, horns, nails or whatever other drops the dragons leave behind, you have to shoot an arrow at it? Ouch!

Outfits

My favorite outfit is the Dark Tunic. The whole set gives you night time speed when you walk. And it scares the pants off of anyone who lays eyes on you. You get some interesting reactions from different NPCs and enemies.

Picasso... I mean Pikango

Always took the time to see how his paintings looked whenever I’d find him at a stable. I want to recreate a few of his paintings and put my own spin on it.

Gerudo Town

Eeeeeeeeee! Yup, my reaction was the same as Villa’s. I still see Link in the traditional Gerudo outfit on my timeline and I can’t lie, Link looks pretty cute in it. It was funny seeing him all shy in it and was a nice change of mood from the usual fight evil, save Zelda, tough knight vibe. Gerudo town was quicker to explore and interact with all it had to offer since it was in the middle of a huge sandbox. There was still a lot of ground I had left to cover outside of Gerudo town that I have yet to go back and explore. Its that big! Meeting Riju and seeing her hidden softer side was a great addition to her character and left me wanting to know more about her. So I had a bit of a sleep over at her place and got to see her act her age for once and read through her journal as well. I have an entire collection of shots following her around but that will be up on another separate post. There is so much you can learn from a character by just following them and seeing what they do on a daily basis. You see certain sides of them that you won’t normally see if they’re in specific areas or in front of other figures. Its amazing how they incorporated so much of their personality into the game by simply showing small mundane things they do around town, at their homes, or out in the open. Shes my favorite next gen champion and I resonated with her story more than any other character.

Bolson

This man made me my dream home. I wish I had this home in real life. And hes always out in the front of the house rocking his sick threads. If you complete his requests he’ll furnish the home with all the things a home owner should ever need. Terry used to work for him in the beginning but hes a whole other side quest that’s worth checking out too. I keep all my rare gear safe and sound hanging on my walls including a few of the champions gear. I come visit the house from time to time to either switch gear or change an outfits color.

Lynels

I don’t go anywhere near them unless I absolutely have to. It is not a fun time. There’s different shades of Lynel; blue, gold, silver and drop powerful gear like arrows, swords and ingredients too.

Shrine Monks

These guys look so creepy! Are they dead, mummified, or just dehydrated and decrepit. One interesting detail that I didn't realize until a couple shrines later was they all have different poses and props they use. Makes me wonder how powerful and knowledgeable the Sheikah were many years ago. They must have ruled back then because of all the advanced technology they created. Now the Sheikah tribe comprise of just a few members in a small quite village. Some have even gone rouge and become part of a new tribe called the Yiga clan. I can see why Purah stays the way she is cause Sheikah don’t age to well. Poor Impa.

Death Mountain

The center city where you’ll find most of the Gorons is small and didn’t take a whole lot of time to see everything, but outside of it takes time. There a few side quests peppered beyond the hardened volcanic border,in the pools of lava, as well as around the town heading up to the volcano. I advise you to bring your flame resistant outfit; you can get from Goron city, and max it out with the help of the fairies.

Scenery

This game is SO BEAUTIFUL. Sometimes I’ll be in the middle of a puzzle or walking down a hill and all of a sudden ill get a glimpse of the surrounding, then I end up staring at it and zooming in with the camera. Truly breath taking.

What was I suppose to be doing again..... oh yea, Zelda.

Memories

These were so tricky to figure out but finding one was so satisfying. I saved most of them till the very end, right before entering Hyrule castle. I would start by looking at an image and pinpointing areas in the background and guessing how far the picture was taken by looking at the foreground. 10/10 would do it all over again.

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mewhaku · 6 years

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So I’m thinking about Gedo Senki (Tales from Earthsea) from Goro Miyazaki again. And honestly, it still upsets me that Goro worked on it and not his father. I am not the biggest fan of Ponyo... and I feel like this was the last shot at Le Guin ever allowing someone to adapt any of the Earthsea stories.

This is gonna be a short essay not gonna lie.

But, at the same time- reading the Director Blog entries from Goro, I can’t help but feel a bit of wistfulness at what he tried to make. He DID read the books, and even identified with them as per his blog entries... but a lot of this film also involved his conflicted relationship with his father, Hayao Miyazaki. But Goro still did want to express the “heart” of the books. (I’m actually a huge fan of this track from the film by the by...)

Hayao Miyazaki of course was also hugely inspired by Le Guin’s novels... which speaks to how a lot of the relationships between characters and their battles develop in his films. As in, the original trilogy of Le Guin novels at least.

For more musing on specific entries, feel free to hit read more.

Everything I quote here is from Goro’s entries, by the by.

1st entry: “When considering current fantasies, something like: "A story of gaining magical powers and adventuring in a fantasy world" is the first image that bobs up. But is that really the true nature of fantasy? This is the question in my mind.For instance, even a plain, everyday, question such as: "Why are sunsets so beautiful?" contains the mystery of existence and that is what I think fantasy is.”

I really honestly think that’s a great way to talk about some of the mystery of the Earthsea series.

He starts to talk about some of his thoughts regarding Hayao, his father, here. The idea of “a life of doing” vs “a life of being”-- the fact that he never tried to animate because of his father’s status, essentially.

“"A life of doing" is a life with a goal that one tries to achieve. The impetus may be all kinds of things, ranging from winning riches and/or fame to moving people.By contrast, "a life of being" is, whether for ones own sake, or that of others, not living with some great ambition, but living content with the activity of ones daily life.“

Speaking on Therru’s (song linked to her name) voice actor. I remember listening to that song on the first trailer for the film and being struck by the beauty of it- I hadn’t read any Earthsea books at this point, and I still think the song and its lyrics speak to something... meaningful. To say the least.

Early on, Le Guin’s son Theo also saw some of the film too:

“I wrote this before, but the reason I'm here directing this animated film, is because of the attraction of original "Earthsea" series. That is why I'm careful to preserve the important things that Ms. Le Guin tried to depict in the Earthsea series. If I treat those carelessly I wind up with nothing.But obviously the mediums of print and film are different, so I can't just turn the books straight into a movie. If I made a film that exactly followed the text of the books, I wouldn't be able to depict the real heart of the Earthsea stories. How do I go about turning the important parts of the original Earthsea works into images? That is the problem that has been in my head all the time from the moment I started making this movie until now.This was the first time I had seen Theo in a long while. It made me resolve afresh to make something that would not bring shame to the name of Earthsea.“

He talks a bit more about his father again upon hearing comments like, “this really looks like a Miyazaki anime”.

You know I never knew Goro’s mother and Hayao’s wife was an animator. There’s something strikingly sad at how Goro wrote that entry, honestly. Apparently his mother commonly said “don’t be an animator”. Goro wanted to learn about his father through the films his father made.

In any case- back to the reasoning of the film... I’ve read Shuna’s Journey actually, and quite enjoyed it. “A boy leaves his country on a journey, he meets a great mage, and a girl, through which he is changed. This plot was the basis for the current story.”

But there was no other girl than Therru, of course... I think this is where things get changed. Shuna’s Journey has a similar-esque line of thinking, and also provides a general concept for Princess Mononoke/Nausicaa ideas.

Again here tumult internally at being compared to his father’s works.

Fast forward- film is done, and he worries about being asked to explain why he changed the story.

His father says the ‘film was made honestly’. And so it was good.

Le Guin sees the film and says:

“She answered briefly. "It is not my book. It is your film. It is a good film."I think that there were really a lot more things she wanted to say, but even so, she said these words to me with a smile.I thought, I want to accept these short words with simple heartfelt gratitude.To Ms LeGuin and to Theo, who has acted as our intermediary this whole time, I really want to say thank you very much.“

Now her response on her own site...

I remembered that when I originally read Goro’s entries I found a lot of the earlier postings interesting- he was musing a lot on what was going on between Ged and Ogion in the first novel. But I am sad knowing that he didn’t choose to focus on that work... I’ll be the first to say that The Farthest Shore is my favorite Earthsea novel. I just wonder why he, having been so inspired and impacted by A Wizard of Earthsea, that the plan changed so radically.

I know, a heroine- but we didn’t get Tenar in her Tombs of Atuan. We get Therru, aged up, with a burned face and mysterious connection to dragons. Arren is young too, and looks up to Ged like he does in the books, but is also fighting his demons more internally- and looks to Therru for hope, rather than the scene between Ged and Arren in TFS. Is it still a similar scene...? Yes, but it has a much different feel. Cob is not the threat he is in TFS. There is no real dry land.

But again, it seems Goro was trying to grasp at themes he resonated with. Feelings of fighting against oneself, finding a way to go outside of oneself, and look towards others with acceptance. He worried about what might make others happy a bit too much... sometimes.

To speak on Le Guin’s response:

“Much of it was exciting. The excitement was maintained by violence, to a degree that I find deeply untrue to the spirit of the books.

Much of it was, I thought, incoherent. This may be because I kept trying to find and follow the story of my books while watching an entirely different story, confusingly enacted by people with the same names as in my story, but with entirely different temperaments, histories, and destinies.”

Which I would agree with, by the by. Violence does not need to be the main drive, and honestly Hayao’s films don’t usually use violence in that way either.

“The moral sense of the books becomes confused in the film. For example: Arren's murder of his father in the film is unmotivated, arbitrary: the explanation of it as committed by a dark shadow or alter-ego comes late, and is not convincing. Why is the boy split in two? We have no clue. The idea is taken from A Wizard of Earthsea, but in that book we know how Ged came to have a shadow following him, and we know why, and in the end, we know who that shadow is. The darkness within us can't be done away with by swinging a magic sword.“

Again, almost a mash of things Goro struggled to express coming across as muddled. He tried to express clear themes, but came out as half-truths.

With her closing statements:

“Though I think the dragons of my Earthsea are more beautiful, I admire the noble way Goro's dragons fold their wings. The animals of his imagination are seen with much tenderness — I liked the horse-llama's expressive ears. I very much liked the scenes of plowing, drawing water, stabling the animals, and so on, which give the film an earthy and practical calmness — a wise change of pace from constant conflict and "action". In them, at least, I recognised my Earthsea.“

I would also agree with that. I watch the film again for those pieces of animation.

There is a response from the other side- a fan’s side here on Le Guin’s website, or at least a correspondent from a Japanese fan-base of the Earthsea series as a whole.

It is an interesting divide. Considering I saw the film first, I have some tender feelings for it, but occasionally I get very upset at knowing there won’t be a ‘better’ adaptation.

I try to remind myself of Goro’s introspections, the feelings surrounding this film, the color-- the landscapes, animals, and music. It puts me more at ease. For whatever reason. It isn’t good to respond with hostility to a different opinion, at least.

#earthsea #gedo senki #tales from earthsea #studio ghibli #goro miyazaki #hayao miyazaki #feelings

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aceyugiohdreamer · 7 years

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Thorns of Hate

Ok, I did it! I actually managed to write a birthday fic for @yugirl-with-dragons that I can post ON THE ACTUAL DAY. Why are patience and self-control so hard??? Well, I don’t actually mind since I love writing so much, haha, so that works out. Anyway, HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Now suffer and enjoy <3

“What are you doing back here?”

It was a reasonable question. Black Rose Dragon had certainly been clear when she had sent the lot of them away, practically pushing them out of her territory with a fierce gust.

But there was too much at stake to just leave it at that—they needed Black Rose’s help, or so Sherry had said. And Aki felt she had to be the first to reach out and try again. She had no real plan, but she needed to do something—to contribute to the mission.

And, well, there was something about Black Rose that resonated with her: the home buried deep inside a forest, the distrust of strangers, the solitude. It all felt familiar.

Perhaps it was of no consequence, but it gave Aki hope that maybe there was something that could bridge the enormous gap between them.

“Do you have to ask?”

Aki had cuts from where the thorns jutting from the ancient trees had nicked her, despite her careful maneuvering through the tortuous spaces. She ignored them for the sake of meeting the golden eyes of the beautiful woman before her. Even in her human form, she radiated a terrible aura full of malice and the threat of transforming at any moment into her destructive natural self.

Black Rose lifted her chin haughtily.

“You think I’ll change my mind?”

“I won’t know unless I try.”

Black Rose humphed and crossed her arms.

“You get no awards for bravery from me.”

“It’s not awards I’m after.”

“No, you just want me to help you, just give you whatever information you ask for.” Her nose wrinkled with repugnance.

“We wouldn’t be bothering you if we had anywhere else to turn.”

“And why should I care about your situation?”

Aki didn’t have a good answer. She knew going in that that would be a critical key to turning the situation around: figuring out why this should matter to a dragon who had voluntarily withdrawn from the world—and with every intention of keeping it back. Unfortunately, Aki had not come up with a reason during the time it took to wriggle and contort among the wall of trees back to Black Rose’s garden.

“It’s hard for me to answer that without knowing much about you,” Aki admitted.

Black Rose eyed her suspiciously.

“So, what, you’re here to get to know me? You wanna have a deep heart-to-heart chat over tea? Stay up all night telling our life stories?”

Aki didn’t blame her for the sarcasm. She knew she must seem quite arrogant to come intruding into her home requesting information not only practical, but personal as well.

“Nothing so dramatic,” she replied as neutrally as possible. The castle-tall and fortress-thick barrier separating her from the rest of the forest was a pretty unambiguous clue as to how open she was. “Frankly, I was thinking it would be a success just to get this far.”

“Oh really? Then you can leave now. You’re a winner.”

“I’d rather stay.”

Black Rose scowled.

“Are you trying to provoke me?”

Aki could imagine the petals of her dragon body ruffling like the quills of an incensed porcupine.

“No, but I’m guessing with your attitude, just about anything can do that. So I might as well just say what I think and not waste time equivocating.”

Black Rose tossed her head and set her hands hard on her hips.

“All right. Go on,” she challenged. “Show me what profound truths you have learned in your few inconsequential years alive that, spoken from your mouth here and now, will completely revolutionize the way I think—despite the fact that I’ve been alive for hundreds of years and have seen your race’s civilization cycle through several different eras. Go on and open my eyes to why you of all people I should give a single damn about.”

Aki resisted the urge to rub her temples.

“You must really think I have a high opinion of myself.”

Black Rose threw her hands up.

“What else am I supposed to think when you come into my home, uninvited? Twice?”

“That I’m desperate.”

Black Rose scowled again.

“Desperation makes people do stupid things. That’s not much better than arrogance.”

“Maybe not,” Aki conceded. “But arrogant people have everything to lose, they just act like they won’t. I’m desperate because I don’t have much to lose, and I know that if I do nothing, I’ll lose even what I have. I’m not just here for my own sake—everyone else is under threat too.”

“Well that’s the problem, isn’t it? I don’t care about everyone. You humans,” she waved her hand dismissively, “whatever’s going on, if it turns your lives into a living hell, I’m all for it. You can all just drop dead for all I care.”

Aki didn’t know what to say to that. The sentiment was inconvenient to her mission, but she couldn’t deny how close it felt to her own heart—something she had felt for herself not too long ago.

“Well, maybe that would be ideal in the end,” she sighed. “But, you really shouldn’t consider the one we’re fighting any friend of yours. He’s attacking dragons just as freely as he’s attacking humans, controlling their minds to do his bidding and stealing their magic when he can.”

Black Rose paused briefly before asking, “You mean like that pitiful Stardust creature?”

“Yes.” It hurt Aki’s heart to hear him described in such a way when she knew how he shined when in his full glory. But it only propelled her all the more. “He’s the most recent victim, but there may have been others, and there will likely be more unless we can stop him.”

She narrowed her eyes and looked Aki up and down.

“Oh? And what exactly makes you all the ones who can stop a human who’s out there controlling dragons and stealing magic? What can you do?”

Another fair question.

“Everything we can. Right now, we’re the only ones even trying to stop him. We’re the only ones who know of his threat.”

“That doesn’t inspire confidence.”

“Well maybe with your help, we’d stand a better chance.”

“Of course you would,” she scoffed, tucking her glossy locks behind her ear before setting her hand on her hip. “But what good would you do for me? Why don’t I just find the human myself and bite his head off? That would be the end of it, and I wouldn’t have to bother with giving you roaches anything.”

Aki worried that that might actually be the plan formulating in Black Rose’s mind.

“Look, I don’t want to offend,” she began calmly. “I know you’re very powerful, but Divine has Stardust’s magic—and mine too—and another dragon he’s controlling. If you go looking for him alone, you could end up like Stardust, or worse. The only reason Stardust is still alive is because Yusei interrupted whatever Divine was doing to steal the magic. If you don’t have anyone to back you up . . .”

Black Rose gave her a sour look.

“Don’t say it like that, as if you actually care about me.”

“I do care,” Aki countered. “I don’t know you, but I don’t want any more people hurt by Divine. He’s caused too much damage already.”

“Uh-huh. But see, when you fail at this mission of yours, I’ll still be the one left to face him, alone, except by then maybe he’ll have even more magic, making it even more risky for me. Oh yes, I like this plan so much.”

“It’s only because you’re determined not to help us. If you would—”

“NO!”

A sudden gust sent Aki sliding backward on her toes until her back smacked into one of the trees of the wall. Fortunately there were none of the giant thorns to spear into her.

“I told you! I’m not interested in doing anything for you! You damn, stupid human, don’t you get it? I don’t want anything to do with you, and I’ll go find this ‘Divine’ guy myself first before I ever team up with you for anything! So just give it up already!”

“I told you I can’t!”

“Right,” Black Rose snarled, her face contorted in mockery. “Because you’re so desperate.”

“I am! I have to do something, anything! I can’t leave it to Yusei to handle everything. He’s a hero, but that’s too much burden on one person.”

“So,” Black Rose sneered, “you think if you want it and wish for it hard enough, your little hope to be useful will come true?”

Aki pushed herself from the tree, standing as tall as she could.

“I have to find out what I’m good for. I’m not just sitting around wishing and hoping, I’m here because I need to act.”

“Well try again somewhere else and leave me out of your little personal quest for value. You’re just a human. You all have such short lives, and yet you still manage to ruin everything. It’s incredible! And now here you are trying to infect my one sanctuary still untouched by your poison. You have no worth, not to me and not to the world. You’re worse than worthless! Don’t come crawling to me just because you can’t accept that!”

Black Rose’s insults were shallower than papercuts. Even if she believed Black Rose was right in her assessment, it was so impersonal that Aki knew she would say the same thing to anyone. They didn’t know each other enough to make serious judgments of character. All Aki could see was the surface, the outermost layer of the wall surrounding her heart.

And she had already slipped through the cracks in one wall . . .

“And just how valuable will you be when you’re drained dry of your magic, left scrawny and weak, unable to bring out your true form anymore? And that’s if you’re left alive. You hate humans? How will you be able to accept yourself if you become one of them?”

Black Rose bared her teeth.

“I don’t worry about you, so don’t bother worrying about me!”

“I’m going to worry about you! Divine is dangerous, and if you do actually face him and get hurt, we’re all going to care and do what we can to help you recover.”

Aki couldn’t tell if it was just her eyes playing tricks on her, but Black Rose’s teeth seemed to grow sharp and fitted together in a razor zigzag.

“You all stay away from me! I don’t need you! I don’t need any disgusting, filthy humans getting near me!”

At this point, Aki could tell her rejection was just a reflex, nothing based on reason but a purely kneejerk spite. She’d have to confront her with the same approach, otherwise she’d give the impression of patronizing from the moral high ground. She needed to join her in the dirty, emotional pit.

“Who else do you have?” she countered with a creeping, nasty edge.

“Leave me alone!”

“Oh? Is that it? Are you all alone?”

“It’s because of you!”

Black Rose’s gold eyes were practically glowing with rage.

“Oh yeah? You think that makes you special or something?” Aki snarled. “You think you’re the only one who’s ever been alone?”

“Fuck you! You don’t know! It’s all because of you fucking humans!”

“And you think I’m arrogant? You’ve been alive for ‘hundreds of years’ and all you’ve got to say is how horrible humans are? Oh, you are so wise, great Black Rose Dragon!”

Her nostrils flared.

“How dare you mock me?!”

“You make it so easy! You act like you’re such an anomaly, like you’re the only one who’s ever been hurt by humans. I’ve got news for you: saying humans are poison is the easiest thing in the world! It’s the most obvious thing! Here I was thinking you would say something profound, but all you’ve got is your own personal grudge. How disappointing!”

Black Rose was seething.

“I don’t need to justify myself to you!”

“No, you don’t, but don’t pretend like you’re any different from the rest of us if the only thing driving you is your own selfish feelings!”

“I am different from you! Humans were the ones who struck first! Everything I’ve done is justified—everything humans have done is evil!”

“I know!” Aki screamed, flinging her arms out in exasperation. “I said it, didn’t I? Humans are horrible! I’m not here because I love all humans, I’m here because I want to protect the few people I do love! I want to protect their future! If I have to save everyone else too along the way, then I guess that’s what’ll happen. But don’t you for one second dare think that you’re the only one who hates humans, or who has ever been wronged by them!”

Black Rose scoffed loudly, giving her head another toss.

“I know! There are a lot of us. That’s why most of us went into hiding long ago!”

“It’s the same for me and my kind!”

Black Rose narrowed her eyes. “Why do you keep talking as if you’re not one of them?” she demanded savagely.

Aki pointed to her own chest. “Because they don’t see me as one of them. Normal people hate witches. They’re terrified of us and if they could, they’d wipe us out completely. I’m not human to them, I’m just a witch.”

Black Rose paused, frowning. But then she shook her head.

“Witches, non-witches. Magic, no magic. You’re all still the same, you’re all still just humans to me. Everything would be better without you—all of you.”

Aki felt the bitterness in Black Rose’s aura as clearly as she used to feel any magic aura. She wanted to show her understanding through compassion, but Black Rose didn’t seem in the mood for that. What good was a mere human’s compassion to a mighty dragon like her? Right now she was too full of resentment and hatred—she would only recognize something bold, something that matched her own intensity.

“Fine,” Aki conceded in a low voice. “Maybe you’re right about that. Maybe humans as a whole are better off dead. But you’ve got some nerve looking me in the eye and saying I deserve to die when I never did anything wrong!”

Black Rose frowned harder, feeling her temper spike in reaction to the anger in Aki’s face. But before she could counter, Aki continued.

“I’ve hated humans for as long as I can remember! I’ve hated them for hating me first! I’ve hated them for making me feel alone! Humans never did anything for me! Nothing but try to hurt and kill me! But you’re going to lump me in with them? You’re going to lump Yusei in with them? You’re so selfish! You think everyone owes you! You’re going to hold everyone responsible for crimes they didn’t commit! You’re just being lazy! You don’t want to bother learning anything about how things really are, you just want to live in hate because that’s what’s easy!”

“Shut up! You don’t know anything!”

“Yes I fucking do! I know humans have been hunting dragons for a long time and taking their magic for selfish reasons and treating every living thing in this world as a resource they can just use until it’s sucked dry! I know that!”

“It’s more than that!” Black Rose insisted, her voice shrill with the intense need to correct an insufferable misconception. “Humans are the worst living thing in this world, but that’s just a fact. I hate them because of what they did to me!”

Black Rose’s eyes shone with tears, and she was shaking, her teeth clenched and bared as she glared at Aki. “What they did . . . !”

Aki met that blazing glare, feeling her heart burn.

“Tell me!” she said. “Tell me what they did!” Let me hate them with you!

Black Rose growled, her fists shaking in the air as she clenched them tight. Aki couldn’t tell which was stronger: her fury, or her pain. Black Rose’s face was breaking with both.

“They . . . they killed her . . .”

The tears were gushing—down a face turned pink from heat and strain.

“They tied her up, put her on her knees, and they—” She choked, then snarled, “They cut off her head!” Aki’s heart pounded. Black Rose looked on the verge of cutting of someone’s head herself—anyone’s head. Whoever happened to be available. But Aki wouldn’t back down even with such a risk. She stayed firm, even while her heart hammered with shock and her blood boiled with empathic rage.

“She loved you humans!” Black Rose continued. “She loved you so much that she lived with you! Acted like one of you! Even though she was a creature of such glory . . .” Black Rose clutched at her chest, the tears rolling harder and faster, dripping down to the earth from her chin. “When she spread her wings, she cast diamonds into the air. When she appeared, she was bright as the sun. Her form was so graceful—she was delicate, but that was only the surface. She carried in her such sublime power. When she let it show, she could shake the earth and make all hearts within a mile quiver in awe. And yet, she gave that up, because she loved you humans so much, and she wanted to be among you. She willingly—gladly traded her true form for her human one, and for that reason, they didn’t know just how magnificent and superior she was to all of them! They believed she really was like them! And so then, when she rejected some pompous asshole of a noble who demanded she come with him, he took advantage of his position and ordered her execution! A damn human thought himself worthy of her! And too good for her to refuse! He had her killed for the sake of his own damn pride!”

She was screaming—so loud and fast. Her face was red. Her eyes too. And wet. Aki couldn’t move.

“I was there! I was in that crowd! And people were cheering! They were there for the entertainment! YOU DON’T KNOW! YOU CAN’T POSSIBLY KNOW HOW IT FELT! I WAS THERE, WATCHING, HEARING THOSE FUCKING HUMANS CHEER AS MY PRECIOUS FRIEND WALKED UP TO A STUMP WITH HER HANDS TIED BEHIND HER BACK AND GOT SHOVED TO HER KNEES! YOU DON’T KNOW HOW IT FELT! I WOULD HAVE BURNED THEM ALL RIGHT THEN! I WOULD HAVE TRANSFORMED RIGHT THERE AMONG THEM AND SEVERED ALL THEIR HEADS AND THRASHED THEIR BODIES WITH MY THORNS AND EATEN THAT NOBLE MYSELF, ARMS AND LEGS FIRST SO I COULD HEAR HIM SCREAM AND CRUSH HIS LUNGS BENEATH MY CLAW AND BITE HIS FUCKING HEAD OFF—I WANTED TO! I WOULD HAVE DONE IT! BUT DO YOU KNOW WHAT SHE DID? DO YOU KNOW WHAT SHE DID?”

Aki jumped, because Black Rose suddenly grabbed her shoulders and shook, violently daring her to even try imagining what came next.

“SHE LOOKED RIGHT AT ME! SHE LOOKED ME RIGHT IN THE EYE, AND SHE SHOOK HER HEAD!”

Black Rose looked close to mental collapse. Her hands were strong, crushing Aki’s shoulders in their grip, but she was trembling wildly. She even paused her story to cry, her body jerking hard with each bursting sob. Black Rose’s mouth hung open wide and she bowed her head, wailing toward the ground, and Aki had to stand there and bear the weight, because she was the only support Black Rose had to keep her on her feet. She considered reaching out and taking hold of her shoulders too, but decided against it. Black Rose didn’t want her comfort. No one could comfort her. The grief was too devastating.

“She wouldn’t let me,” she said, her voice creaking. She shook her head, her long black hair moving in waves. “She knew what I wanted to do, but she wouldn’t let me save her. She didn’t want me to hurt the humans.”

Her nails dug into Aki’s skin, enough that she thought there could be blood, but she kept still, bearing it by grinding her teeth.

“I had to . . . just stand there . . . I couldn’t leave her . . . I couldn’t leave her alone . . . so I had to stay . . . and watch . . .”

Her voice broke into agony, and Aki thought she could hear in it the roar of her dragon soul, as if the human form alone was not enough to convey the true depth of her pain.

“I should have done it,” she groaned. “I should have just done it, saved her and killed them all—even if she hated me for it, I should have done it! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”

Black Rose lifted her head. Strands of her hair stuck messily to her wet face, and her eyes were wide under her fiercely furrowed brow. She shook Aki again, violently enough to almost knock her off her feet.

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND AT ALL? EVERY HUMAN REMINDS ME OF THAT DAY! IT’S ALL I SEE! I SEE MY FRIEND’S HEAD FALL FROM A BLOODY WOOD STUMP ON A STAGE AND I HEAR THE CROWD GOING WILD AND I SEE THAT NOBLE’S SMUG SMILE AND I FEEL SO MUCH HATE THAT I COULD BURN THE WHOLE WORLD TO ASH AND I FEEL—” She halted abruptly, staring at Aki with the horror of realizing she was on the edge of saying too much, saying something she couldn’t bear to reveal, to admit out loud.

But Aki understood. Black Rose was pulsating with feeling, and her aura was so brilliant that even drained of almost all her magic, Aki could feel it spilling into her heart.

So she said it out loud for her.

“You feel guilty.”

Black Rose’s eyes went wider. She seemed to try to speak, but the words got caught somewhere in her throat or behind her bared teeth.

“You don’t just hate humans, you’re angry at yourself.”

Black Rose’s growl didn’t sound human. She was definitely reverting to her natural biology.

“If it was just a matter of getting revenge on the humans who killed your friend, that would be a relatively simply thing to do. But you feel at fault too. You feel responsible. And no amount of killing humans will take that feeling away. Ever.”

Black Rose screeched, her jaw expanding to an extent that didn’t seem quite right, and she shoved Aki away with such force she fell onto her back.

“SHUT UP!” she screamed, looming over her, and Aki felt some of her tears splash against her face. “SHUT UP! I KNOW THAT! I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW!!!”

And then it was too much. Without Aki to lean on, her wobbly knees weren’t enough to hold her up. Black Rose folded to the ground, catching herself with hands on either side of Aki’s head so that they were nearly face to face, her long hair reaching the ground like a curtain around them. Black Rose’s eyes were shut, but even so, the tears kept coming, dripping straight from the lashes to Aki’s skin. Her whole body jerked as she cried, causing her hair to shake. Aki ignored the way it tickled, too distracted by Black Rose’s grief.

“I know it,” she cried, her voice strained. “It’s because of me. I should have . . .”

She was having trouble breathing, the pain compressed her body so much.

“I was so stupid. They were just stupid, damn humans. I should have . . . If I had . . .”

She ground her teeth, groaning as regret tortured her from the inside.

“I hate them all. Every one of them. I hate them so much.”

Aki’s heart shared in the pain, and she added softly, “And you hate yourself, too.”

Black Rose groaned in wordless agreement.

“At least if there were no more humans, if I could kill them all, at least . . . maybe . . .”

“It wouldn’t matter,” Aki said solemnly. “She would still be gone, and you’d still feel the same regret. And then, you wouldn’t have anyone left to hate but yourself.”

Black Rose opened her eyes, glaring down at Aki, ignoring the tears that kept welling up and spilling down on her. But she couldn’t form words—the emotion was too strong.

So Aki kept going.

“You’ve put yourself at a standstill. You don’t know what to do because you’re trapped in hate and guilt, so you’ve just been hiding away from everything.”

Black Rose flinched, and suddenly her hand was squeezing Aki’s throat.

“Don’t you dare look down on me! Don’t you dare—!”

“I’m not!”

Rather than fight the attack, Aki cupped Black Rose’s face in her hands and looked earnestly into those eyes, a mix of fire and water.

“What you’re feeling makes perfect sense. How could I look down on you?”

Black Rose fumbled, her grip on Aki’s throat slack and uncertain.

“Tell me what happened next,” she said softly. “When you were in the crowd and you saw what they did, what happened next? What did you do?”

Black Rose fell away, her mind flying back into the past.

What came next . . .

She remembered. She remembered feeling thrust into a dream—disconnected from reality, from her own body, floating in space, upside down, no sense of direction. Numb.

She remembered.

The feeling of her heart pounding in her head.

And then the feeling of her mind flooding back into the moment, reconnecting to her body, and then suddenly exploding out of the artificial form that had kept her safely anonymous among the other tiny creatures of such fragile flesh. The scream erupting from her throat transformed into a dragon’s screech as her skin burst open and her muscles expanded and her bones grew and the winds began their tempestuous rampage, knocking everyone to the ground as they shrieked in terror.

Yes, be afraid! she demanded, heaving her wings wide open and standing tall on her hind legs, her tears falling from her eyes to water the petals on her body.

No one could move, the winds were too strong to fight against. They could only lie flat against the ground, pinned in place and trying not to be blown away.

It made them easy prey.

She released her whip-like vines and scourged them all, mercilessly ripping open their backs, tearing out their lungs with her thorns and pulling out their intestines to unravel on the dirt. She was so ferocious that bones cracked, joints broke, blood splattered everywhere—the red was hardly distinguishable from that of her floral plumage.

It only took seconds for her to beat the entire audience into pulpy mulch for the soil, and then she turned her eyes to the stage. The noble was knocked down, staring at her with a terror she would have found satisfying—if it wasn’t for the headless body of her friend lying limp on its side.

She extended her neck and roared right into his face, surely rendering him deaf, before wrapping one of her vines around his body and lifting him into the air. The thorns grew so long by her will that they pierced straight through one side of his body and out the other. He screamed, blood filling his mouth from his punctured lungs and organs, but it wasn’t enough. She squeezed tighter, wrapped the vine more and more until the only parts of him visible were his head and feet.

She remembered how she squeezed so hard his eyes began to bulge from their sockets.

Even when the blood began to ooze like tears it still wasn’t enough, her fury could not be contained.

If only she could kill him a hundred times, and a hundred more!

But it still wouldn’t be enough. Nothing would ever be enough.

Nothing would be enough to bring her friend back and undo what she had allowed to happen.

She remembered thinking that, oh, she should have done this sooner, if she was going to do it anyway! At least then, she would still be alive!

With one more screech that reached a range of miles, she exerted another tightening pull on her vine and squeezed the body within until it crackled and gushed. She let it drop, the lifeless eyes pushed halfway out by the pressure, and cleared the blood from her vine with a quick flick.

She needed more. She needed more blood!

Her heart burned with the need!

She turned to the executioner, who lay flat on the stage, clutching his giant axe as if it was heavy enough to anchor him down.

An axe still dripping with blood.

She remembered how everything seemed to flash red and her head throbbed. She remembered snatching him up in her vine—some of the thorns with tattered skin tacked on—and in near hysterics screeched in his face while vengefully sinking her thorns deeper and deeper into him, tightening and tightening the grip until his ribs shattered. And then she hurled him away, sent him flying in an upward arc without care of where he landed. The others left on the stage—those of the higher class, no doubt—she beat with her vines, thrashing the stage to splinters and soaking them in the blood that flowed from the torn bodies. Even when everyone was dead she kept going, still screeching, stilling whipping everything in range—still crying.

She remembered how deflated she felt after some time, when there was nothing left to kill, no one left to punish for this crime. Her petals fell away like leaves in autumn, scattering over the bloodsoaked earth, and her body slowly shrank, morphing from her enormous storm-summoning form into the body that reflected just how small and weak and powerless she felt.

Shaking and painted in blood, she maneuvered clumsily through the mess, stumbling a few times because the tears blurred all the obstacles at her feet—and she was in no mind to avoid them anyway.

When she found it, she couldn’t think. She couldn’t. She just couldn’t.

She could only fall to her knees and pull it out of the debris and into her lap.

The head.

Eyes closed and damp. Long teal hair pulled back in a bun—to clear the way to her neck.

Black Rose couldn’t think.

What was there to think?

This was her friend.

A friend she had failed.

Ancient Fairy Dragon.

Because of her, she now cradled a friend’s head in her arms—a head severed from its body.

What could she possibly think?

Except . . .

My fault.

She began stroking her friend’s brow, a repetitive motion that gave her body something to do in its daze. She untied the band around the knot to let her hair flow free and began combing it out with her fingers.

“I’m getting blood in your hair,” she murmured, her voice wavering. She could remember the jarring clash of the red against the pale, bright teal. “I’m sorry.”

Her hair was so soft. It felt just like it had when she was alive. She couldn’t really be dead, then, right? Her hair was exactly the same . . . Her face looked the same . . . She was just sleeping . . .

But the warmth of the blood still draining from the gaping wound at the bottom of Ancient Fairy’s neck onto her legs reminded her of the truth.

Black Rose felt her heart break anew, and with teeth clenched she pulled the head up into a tight embrace against her chest and pressed her cheek into that soft hair.

There were no more words. No more thoughts.

She only bent forward, wrapping the head in her curled body, and wept.

Black Rose remembered.

She remembered it so well.

She remembered how it had all meant nothing—because she had acted too late.

“I killed them,” she said softly, her eyes focusing back in the present on the brown eyes beneath her. Eyes shaped like almonds, with an amber shine. “I gave them the privilege of seeing my true self, and in the next second, I ripped them all apart and bathed the earth in their blood.”

Aki didn’t flinch. She could worry about pitying them later—if she felt like it. For now, all she wanted was to understand the dragon’s heart, and she could understand very clearly that every human in that moment deserved the death they received. A horror for them was simply justice, payment for their sins.

Nothing to flinch at.

“And then, when I destroyed everything in sight, I found my friend’s head—and her body—and I brought them to a place . . . a beautiful place . . .” She pulled her lips inward and bit down, fighting against the strain in her throat. “I buried my friend . . . in a place where she could see every sunrise, forever. Because I knew she would like that. I knew she would . . .”

Black Rose curled her hands into fists, then lowered herself further, setting her elbows on the ground as well, and bowed her head into Aki’s chest. Her body spasmed against Aki’s with each sob and each uneven shuddering breath she sucked in.

Aki wasn’t certain what she should do. She was still just a human, however outcast, and not even a full witch anymore. There was nothing she could do. Even with her powers, she couldn’t heal physical scars, let alone scars on the heart and mind and soul. She couldn’t even offer an apology—she hadn’t been involved herself, and she couldn’t speak for the entirety of the human race.

And yet, she wanted to do something.

Her heart was aching, and her own eyes were full of tears that spilled down her temples into her hair.

She followed the will of that ache in her heart and reached up . . . and slowly wrapped her arms around Black Rose’s back, resting against the soft swirled locks spread over it.

She took it as a good sign that the dragon didn’t snarl in rejection.

Instead she kept crying.

“I killed them all,” she repeated, “but it wasn’t enough. It’s not enough. She’s still gone . . .”

Aki rubbed her back gently.

“I hate them still, so much . . . I hate them . . . I hate . . .”

“I know.” Aki swallowed. She knew what hate felt like. Oh, did she know. “I would have done the same thing.”

She would do it now, if she could. If she had the power to completely destroy the object of her hate, she doubted she would even hesitate.

“It doesn’t matter that it doesn’t fix anything, you can’t stop that kind of rage.”

Not on your own, she thought.

Black Rose lifted her head and looked at Aki’s eyes again.

“I don’t think what you did was wrong,” she declared. Because she didn’t. In her heart, she even cheered that Black Rose took whatever small satisfaction she could. “And I don’t think your anger is wrong—but . . . I do think you’re hurting only yourself. You’re so wrapped up in guilt and hate that you’ve become isolated, and you decide everything now based on feelings you’ve let grow beyond rationality. You can’t fix what happened by wishing all humans dead—and it won’t fix your heart, either. But maybe if you open up to the possibility of good people coming into your life, maybe the pain won’t hurt so much.”

Black Rose kept to herself her first reaction, the first scream in her head, Why should the pain stop? I deserve it! This is what I get for failing my friend!

Instead she countered snidely, defensively, “Oh? And you think you are the ‘good people’ I should open up to?”

Aki shrugged, respectfully lowering her arms now that the moment had passed.

“I can’t decide that for you. I just know that Yusei gave me hope. Because of him, I thought that maybe not all humans are demons in disguise, and that maybe I’m not as alone as I thought.” She wiped the tears from her eyes, not because she was ashamed of them, but to make her sight clearer. “Even if you still reject us, I want to think that someday, you’ll find someone who makes you feel like you’re not alone, either.”

Black Rose stared. They both held their positions like statues, so focused on each other they barely felt the skittering feet of insects passing over their hands.

Finally Black Rose pushed herself up to her knees, then her feet . . . and simply walked away. Aki sat up on her elbows, watching the woman walk—even weighed down in such an unbearable state—with elegance and grace. Aki didn’t know where she was going, but if she knew the forest as intimately as Sherry had said, maybe she was headed to some familiar place where she could clear her head.

Aki kept watching, heart sunk from the burden of powerlessness. That dragon was so broken inside—another reminder of how wrong so much in the world was. How absurd it felt now—to think anything could really change, no matter what she or their small band accomplished.

In the midst of her brooding, she heard footsteps approaching from the other side and turned her head.

Yusei was already standing there, holding out a hand.

“You all right?” he asked. She couldn’t guess how long he had been close by, but his fresh scratches had at least had enough time to stop bleeding.

Aki took his hand and let him pull her to her feet.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “There’s just so much pain, and then there’s still always even more.”

Yusei nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

“And so much of it . . . even if we managed to set everything right from this point on, that pain would still be there. Always.”

Yusei hadn’t let go of her hand, and he squeezed it now.

“Yeah.”

“No matter what, there are always limits to what we can do.” Her shoulders sagged, exhausted by impossibility. “I don’t know how to deal with that.”

Yusei spoke with an air of wisdom. “None of us do. But we do the best we can, and try to keep moving forward.”

His determination, even knowing there would be no ultimate victory, continued to astound her. Not that she had looked, but she was convinced there was no one else like him in all the world. If only he had the magic to accomplish the beautiful vision he strived for . . .

Aki glanced in the direction where Black Rose had disappeared.

“I guess it’s hard to move forward without someone to push you.”

Yusei nodded.

“It’s even harder without someone to go with you all the way.”

Aki smirked wryly. “That’s a big commitment.”

“It’s worth making for some people.”

She looked back at him.

He was already looking at her.

She felt her eyes sting, because this feeling . . . She wished this feeling for Black Rose with all her heart.

Companionship. Trust. Safety.

Healing.

The feeling of a broken heart reaching up to the light as it beckoned, welcoming and warm . . .

She wiped her eyes with the heel of her palm, then squeezed his hand.

“Lucky people,” she laughed softly.

#writing by Ky #HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!#Medieval AU #hopefully this one can actually fit into the scheme of things as you imagine them ^^;;#I love these two together #I hope you have an awesome day and an awesome start to your new year of life!! <333

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Fantastic, High Quality Multipurpose Business Themes with WooCommerce | Templified

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Fantastic, High Quality Multipurpose Business Themes with WooCommerce

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So fresh and so clean! Flat is beautiful!

If you want to impress potential customers with a joyous and radiant WordPress theme, this Famita theme could be the right choice for you. It’s a stroke of genius, the design of this theme and fortunately for everyone, it’s not too pricey. This purely responsive WooCommerce and e-commerce ready theme is adventurous and bold, painstakingly crafted and hypnotic to look at. If it’s your desire to create one of the best looking e-commerce themes you possibly can then it should be more than just an Impulse to purchase this tasty and aspiring WordPress template.

WooCommerce is the engine that drives your online shop. There’s absolutely nothing that you can’t accomplish with WooCommerce and it’s as if the developer of WooCommerce has as much respect for their plugin as they do for the people who use it. It’s very simple to establish a great-looking website, whether you’re selling trousers or mittens, crowns or sheep collars. I’m not sure who actually buy a sheep color, but if you’re into the distribution of stuff like that, this template could be a great choice. Uline there’s nothing fragile or unsightly about this template, it’s pristine and clean and it’s got all the features necessary to run a very successful web shop.

If this theme isn’t quite what you had in mind, we’ve built a massive amount of WordPress themes in to our collection of e-commerce and WooCommerce ready shopping website templates. Each of these themes is receptive to adjustments and I think we Powers is the correct plugin to use for establishing any great looking online shop. These themes are well-crafted, elegant and perfect for men, women, girls and boys alike. You can create a store selling just about anything you want and there’s nothing defective about any of that.

I just went back and looked at Famita to see how it’s done in it’s first year on the market. Over 200 sales and a solid rating of 4.71, so I’m still going to recommend this theme to anybody that needs a clean, flat eCommerce theme in their life.

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Flone, Fashion Shop WordPress Theme

Flone is a very nice looking fashion shop WordPress theme, it’s clean, simple and it was just released in late 2019, making this theme one that hasn’t been overused. I think that can be a good thing, you don’t want your website looking like everybody else’s and that’s definitely going to help you craft a site that looks great and has a unique style to it. Also, the fact that it’s brand new means it’s got all the features of the most modern of websites. Clean, contemporary code that’s fast loading and responsive. That’s the starting point.

There are ten premade home pages, several header variants and footer variants. There’s mega menus with image support, several WooCommerce addons. Product tab views, product grid views, the whole nine yards.

Flone, I really have no clue what that name is supposed to mean, but I guess that doesn’t matter in the end. What’s in a name?

So, if you want to hear what the developer says about Flone, this is it.

Flone – Minimal WooCommerce WordPress Theme is a super-smooth and creative Website design. We create the top-notch demo websites because we analyze the market and anticipate the coming trend of this industry. We have successfully inserted all the best quality features and user-friendly attributes to Flone WordPress theme.

So, there you go. Now, the front page.

Looking for a free theme that does pretty much everything that Flone can do? Check out Oregon. It’s a free theme that’s WooCommerce ready, easy to install and easy to customize. Here’s the demo page.

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Siemon & Salazar, Clean, Minimalist WooCommerce Theme

Meet Siemon and Salazar. A couple of nice fellows who want to help you build an amazing online shop. One of the best things about WooCommerce is the number of different themes out there that can work hand-in-hand with WordPress to help you build an online store. This theme is a great example of that, it’s easy to use either for beginners and the packs tons of features in a very attractive package. With this thing, you get a user-friendly environment to build any type of store that you could imagine. It is quick to set up and quick to customize, this flexible and dynamic theme works wonders for building any type of online shop.

There are several different pre-built home styles to give your front page unattractive and stylish look, no matter what it is that you are selling. If you are new to WordPress, setting up WooCommerce is very easy. There are just a few steps to get your shop up and online, all of the pages are dynamically created especially for your site. Selling products with WooCommerce couldn’t possibly be easier.

If you’d like to hear from the developers themselves, rather than hear me blather on and on, here is what they say about this attractive, well-built and modern WooCommerce theme.

Siemon & Salazar is suitable for e-commerce websites. We have included multiple layouts for home page, product page to give you best selections in customization. Siemon & Salazar is not just a WooCommerce theme, we had a plan in order to develop Siemon & Salazar for any kinds of websites: Business, Creative, News, Corporate, …

Siemon & Salazar is a professional WordPress theme. It comes with a lot of features and variations: Responsive Layout, Mega Menu, Page Builder, Awesome Slider Revolution, Product Quick View, Easy One Click To Install, … and so much more.

Easy to use, awesome and powerful. These are the words that we talk about Siemon & Salazar. You will be able to build your website in a snap without coding knowledge. Are you ready to get it for now?

While this theme is really nice, it may not be the best for your needs. We’ll introduce you to a whole lot more themes in our collection. Get ready! Check out the list of the top eCommerce themes and let us know what you think.

If you’re looking for a theme that will really resonate with your readers, a theme that is attractive and dynamic, modern and fascinating, you’re certainly going to want to take a look at that collection that I just linked to. Weave found that it is painstaking to select the right theme, it can be a bumpy road come up but it doesn’t have to be. That collection is fertile ground for business building, allowing you to select a flawless theme that won’t waste your time. Love people are bewildered by how many different choices there are, but finding an agreeable looking theme that has all the features you need, one that is thick with options and has a mighty user interface for customizations, that is easily achieved with one of the themes in our collection. Hopefully, you can find plenty of different themes that will work for your online shop.

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Wummo, Fashion Centered eCommerce WordPress Theme

With plenty of widgets, simple demo import and SEO optimization coming out the ears, Wummo may have a silly name, but it’s ready for just about anything when it comes to your content. Wummo has multiple page styles, social sharing features as good as any theme around, it’s flexible in terms of design and colors and it’s got a live customizer that allows you to see the changes you make to your site before you commit to them.

Wummo is responsive, it’s WooCommerce ready and it has support for all the most popular page builders, which is another nice touch.

Here’s a peek at the front page. Not a bad way to greet visitors.

For those of you who want a little bit cheaper theme, I recommend you take a look at Oregon. It’s a free personal blog and eCommerce theme that I just released. Hopefully it can be useful for some of you. Anyway, it’s worth a look. Here’s the demo page.

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Sentinal, WooCommerce Ready Fashion Modern Shop

Sentinal is the name of this theme.

Sentinal is a modern WordPress fashion shop theme. It’s got a dragon drop page builder, a header and footer designs that are completely custom come up multi menu style and a whole lot of other awesome features. This theme fully supports WooCommerce, meaning that you’ll be able to set up an online shop you should want to. I suppose that is a prerequisite for fashion shop templates. Considering that is what this theme is describing itself as, they better support WooCommerce. Anyway, let’s have a look at the front page of this template to see what you’re getting if you should happen to purchase it.

If I’m being honest, I’m not entirely sure that this seemed is worth $69. That’s quite a steep price and for a relatively simple and straightforward template, that might be a bit more than you want to spend. But, read on, I’ve got some good news.

Well, if you’ve made it this far, to this dark and forgotten corner of the internet, evidently you are looking for a WordPress theme. If this seems a little too expensive for you or doesn’t really fit into your plans, we’ve got another option. It’s our first free theme and it’s called Oregon. You can take a look at it right here.

Maybe this theme can come in handy for some folks, I really don’t know. Take a look at the demo page to see how Oregon looks in action or head straight over to the download page to grab yourself a free copy. It’s really easy to set up so it really doesn’t cost anything to give it a shot to see if it works for your website. Anyway, here are download and more information links for the theme that got you here.

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Minimalist WordPress Themes

Personal Blog WordPress Themes

Typography WordPress Themes

#Business #Multipurpose #WooCommerce

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lovelyparanormalbooks · 7 years

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Book Blitz: Trials and Tribulations (Interview + Excerpt)

This is my stop during the book blitz for Trials and Tribulations, these are two anthologies set in Faith Hunter’s Rogue Mage universe. This book blitz is organized by Lola's Blog Tours. The book blitz runs from 20 February till 5 March. You can view the tour schedule here. Trials (Rogue Mage Anthology #1) By Faith Hunter, Diana Francis, Misty Massey, Lou J Berger, Ken Schrader, Spike Y Jones, Christina Stiles, Tamsin Silver and Melissa McArthur Genre: Anthology/ Urban Fantasy Age category: Adult Release Date: November 28, 2016 Blurb: 21 Vignettes and Short Stories set in Faith Hunter’s World of Thorn St. Croix.

The Rogue Mage world began long ago, when the epic battle between the High Host and the Darkness was won and lost. TRIALS takes fans of Thorn St. Croix into the past, before the opening pages of BLOODRING. These stories, set in Faith Hunter's Rogue Mage world, are adventures with new characters and old, facing dangers unimaginable. And they must save the world all over again.

If you ever wondered what happened between seraphs, kylen, second-unforeseen, mages, seraph-touched, spawn, humans, dragons, and their creatures before the series, now is your chance to delve deeper and wider. TRIALS features new short stories from nine authors—including Faith Hunter—and vignettes from the Rogue Mage role playing game. You can find Trials on Goodreads

You can buy Trials here: - Amazon - Barnes & Noble Interview: Lucienne Diver 1. What was it like to play in the Rogue Mage world? At first it was incredibly intimidating. Faith is such an amazing writer, and the world she’s created is so rich and textured that it was a challenge to jump in and feel that I was doing it justice. But because the world is so well-realized, it really lives and breathes, and once I got a handle on the approach I wanted to take, it was a lot of fun. Who doesn’t want to write a kylen? Or the woman with a dangerous secret she’s afraid he’s come to expose? Who doesn’t want to fight the good fight in a post-apocalyptic world? 2. Was it hard to develop your character within the confines of the Rogue Mage world? Not at all. Aoife (pronounced ee-fa), my heroine, is an itinerant storyteller and something a little more. She’ll carry packages and messages for the right price. Not smuggling per se, but not necessarily things that are approved by the Administration of the ArchSeraphs. She’s such a product of her upbringing. Aoife grew up in an Enclave where her parents were in service, so she’s got a healthy distain for neomages who treated her and her family as though they were lesser because they were only human. As soon as she was of age, she left to make her own way in the world, but with some specialized knowledge, like bataireacht, the Irish stick-fighting taught to her by her father, which is very handy in the dangerous Post-Ap world Faith has created. Put Aoife in the same mule train with a second or third generation kylen (the product of a union between a seraph and a mage or human) and you have instant tension. Add to that the mysterious parcel she carries and dangers stalking their caravan, bring things to a head, and Aoife discovers where she really stands in the grand scheme of things. 3. Tell us about your character. What species, etc. I jumped the gun on this question above, but the short version: Aoife describes herself as “standard-issue human” and is proud of it. 4. When your story was finished, how did you feel about your character and story? I really love Aoife. I know we’re not supposed to put too much of ourselves into our characters, but I identify with her in so many ways, from the skepticism and continuing evaluation of beliefs to not being a joiner. I love that I was able to use my time in Ireland and the nature of the place and people themselves to inform her development, and I’m very pleased with the way she turned out. I hope my story will resonate with others the way it resonates with me. 5. Tell us about your other projects. My latest novel, Faultlines, is a young adult thriller dealing with some serious issues that are close to my heart. In short, six months ago, Vanessa's best friend Lisa changed, pushing everyone away, Vanessa included. Now she's committed suicide. As Vanessa struggles to come to terms with Lisa’s death and to reconstruct the last months of her life, someone begins taking revenge against those he or she perceives drove Lisa to suicide. Everyone thinks it's Vanessa, the former best friend and some begin their retaliation. As vengeance, counterattacks and clues mount, it becomes a race to the truth…and hopefully not to the death. In addition to Faultlines, I’ve written the Latter-Day Olympians urban fantasy series featuring a heroine who can, quite literally, stop men in their tracks, and the Vamped young adult series featuring a heroine who goes from chic to eek when she becomes one of the undead (think Clueless meets Buffy). My short stories and essays that have appeared in the Strip-Mauled and Fangs for the Mammaries anthologies edited by Esther Friesner (Baen Books), in Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories (HarperTeen) and the anthology Kicking It edited by Faith Hunter and Kalayna Price (Roc Books). The Trials Authors: Faith Hunter Diana Francis Misty Massey Lou J Berger Ken Schrader Spike Y Jones Christina Stiles Tamsin Silver Melissa McArthur Excerpt: Kicking the snow from his boots, Zadok took a calming breath and faced the small house, trying to project the confidence of a seasoned healer, rather than the fear of an acolyte on his first solo cure. His smile was stiff on his frozen face, the air so cold and still that his flesh felt brittle, as if it would crack and fall from his bones should he move wrong. The short trip had been brutal, his contingent of six guides and fighters more accustomed to the vicious cold and hard pace than a mage who had lived his entire life in the comfort and ease of the Seattle Enclave. He’d gained an appreciation for the humans who lived in the frozen wastes, losing his snide sense of superiority, which had been based solely on his mage abilities. He never would have survived the short trip without the assistance of the others. He glanced at the human woman, Sarai. She’d saved his life when he’d stepped off the track and crashed through the snow into the creek beneath. The driving snow had already drained Zadok's mage energies dangerously low, forcing him to draw constantly on his prime amulet to fight it, and he'd lost precious body heat to the icy water. Not even his amulets could fight off hypothermia. While Howard, a mule, started a fire, Sarai had activated all of his Healing amulets, stripping him down and crawling into a sleeping bag with him… naked… sharing her body warmth with him… offering him her life energies. He’d accepted the gift of her life, stealing the energies of a human in ways no Earth mage was permitted. Now she smiled at him, encouragement in her glance, seemingly hinting that some bond still lingered between them. Zadok nodded once at her and opened the door of the fortified building. Stepping inside the thick stone walls, he took in the dwelling with a sweeping glance. Perhaps twenty humans were gathered around a huge fireplace in the large room. Except for a table before the fire, the furniture had been shoved against the plastered walls. On the table was a blanket-covered form, a body racked by shivers. The gathered humans looked up, fear and stress grooving their faces. Zadok took a second calming breath and the stench of rotting flesh, old urine, and feces met him. Fear threaded through him, knotting his muscles, causing him to pant. Am I too late? He gulped, frozen on the threshold. Gently, Sarai pushed him into the room and closed the door behind them, leaving the others to set up perimeters. As if she were his servant, she took the satchel from his numb fingers and whispered, “You can do this. I have faith in you.” Louder, she said, “The healer Zadok has arrived from Seattle Enclave to work an incantation of healing on your kirk elder, Judith. He requires a surface for his implements, a cup of warming chai, and space to work.” Within moments, the humans had helped him from his winter gear, brought him hot chai laced with brandy, placed a table before him for his mage amulets, and eased the body from the tabletop to the floor, creating a space wide enough for him to work a healing circle.

Tribulations (Rogue Mage Anthology #2) By Faith Hunter, Lucienne Diver, Spike Y Jones, Jean Rabe and Christina Stiles Genre: Anthology/ Urban Fantasy Age category: Adult Release Date: December 30, 2016 Blurb: 17 Vignettes and Short Stories set in Faith Hunter’s World of Thorn St. Croix The Rogue Mage story began with the post-apocalyptic novels BLOODRING, SERAPHS, and HOST, when epic battles between Thorn St. Croix and the forces of Darkness were fought. TRIBULATIONS (Rogue Mage Anthology Vol. II) takes place during and after the series timeline. These stories and vignettes, set in Faith Hunter's Rogue Mage world, are adventures with new characters and old, facing Darkness and an uncertain future. The relationships between seraphs, kylen, second-unforeseen, mages, seraph-touched, spawn, humans grow deeper, and the battles with dragons and their creatures grow more dangerous. TRIBULATIONS features new short stories from five authors—including Faith Hunter—and vignettes from the Rogue Mage role playing game. TRIALS and TRIBULATIONS will soon be followed by TRIUMPHANT—the paperback omnibus (both Anthology Volumes I and II in a bound format). TRIBULATIONS Authors: Faith Hunter, Jean Rabe, Spike Y Jones, Christina Stiles, Lucienne Diver. You can find Tribulations on Goodreads You can buy Tribulations here: - Amazon - Barnes & Noble The Tribulations Authors: Faith Hunter Lucienne Diver Spike Y Jones Jean Rabe Christina Stiles

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