#LOOK I DID A THING!!

[ezra-iolite]

One Last Wish- Chapter 1 (A Pirateformers AU Fanfic)

The Immortal Sun finally arrives on the sea border of Joka Ardhi, the homeland of their Dragonkin crewmate, Asya Mutheru. There, all is revealed about her past and why she has returned to the land that exiled her. Gathering a small army, including her polyamorous spouses Captain Elbent and Verglaust, they march across the desert to the capital to face the tyrant emperor of the kingdom, Dragon Lord Jhamal, and stop his crusade to invade the northern kingdoms before it begins… And fulfil the prophecy of the Throne of Crimson Sands.

The Pirateformers AU, Elbent and Verglaust belong to @tigracespace

The brief mention of Solclave belongs to @dimorphodon-x

Blue Heron belongs to @hyraxas

Asya and Apophis/Apo belong to me

Chapter 1: Legacy of the Burning Prince

“So… This is Joka Ardhi, huh? The legendary Kingdom of Crimson Sands… You still haven’t told us why we’re here, Asya. And after six months of you playing my role as the navigator, I think now’s a good time as any to tell us what exactly is going on here.”

“I told you already, Blue. All will be explained in time. For now, we just need to stay on this side of the sea border and begin planning.”

The taller native of the desert kingdom turned her back to Blue Heron to face their destination, its glimmering red sands and many colourful and small sandstone buildings of the port city now within sight on the horizon. His focus, however, remained on the Jokani woman as he spotted her long pointed ears droop ever so slightly, a motion caused by the shiver that spread up her back the moment she spotted her homelands far ahead.

“Wait, I-I’m sorry, I must have misheard you over the strong wind. I thought I heard you say that you didn’t-”

“You heard me, Blue… I know I’m normally the “I’ve got a plan, let’s get going” kind of person, but… I honestly don’t know what to expect the moment we enter Jokani territory. I… I-I mean, come on, Blue! It’s been forty years since I left this place, and I haven’t even dared to sail past the equator until now. I’ve never been able to gather the courage to come back here since my exile, not even when they…”

Asya’s words caught in her throat as another shiver ran up her spine, this time accompanied by an audible whimper as she hugged herself to be rid of the chills of her past. Blue’s anger immediately fell as he approached the Dragonkin and held her shoulder, drawing her teary eyed attention back onto him.

“Asya… You’re here now, and that’s all you need to know that you’re ready to face whatever lies ahead. You faced your fear by asking your wife, our captain, to be the navigator for this mission you told her was vital and would be explained later, and your courage has since brought us all the way here. So whatever happens next… You won’t be alone in facing this challenge. But, Asya… We all need to know what you think we’ll face, once we dock in that city. If this is a dangerous mission you’ve started, we need to know what to expect. So please, Asya… tell us why we’re here.”

Sniffling loudly, Asya quickly dried her eyes on her dress sleeve before she sighed and turned to fully face Blue Heron. “Not here… I need everyone to hear this. Gather the entire crew here, then I’ll tell you everything.”

“I understand. I won’t be long.”

“Take your time… And Heron?”

Blue looked over his shoulder as he neared the door to head below deck. Asya let out a long sigh before she looked back up at him with a half-smile.

“Do you trust me?”

“… With my life, my friend. Or… how do you say it in your tongue? A friend?”

Asya chuckled with a soft blush blooming on her dark ebony cheeks. “It’s rafiki. You’re my rafiki, darling… my friend.”

“Huh…. It’s nice to hear your true accent again, and not your preferred posh Primus one,”

“I- Wait, how do you know about tha-”

“But… To answer your question… I trust you, as my rafiki, with my life. And I hope that you can trust me in turn with whatever you need to do here. We’re a crew, Asya… Nothing will change that.” With a wink, Blue slipped through the door and vanished down the stairs, leaving Asya alone in her shocked realization on the deck.

Letting out another heavy sigh to release the tension within her, Asya reached up to her headband and carefully untied its knot under her dreadlocks, removing her most valuable treasure and holding the thin strip of silk in both hands, before her thumb squeezed out the small hard lump within its folded layers to reveal a large ruby that plopped into her palm. Holding the ruby up between her fingers, Asya gazed at the soft glimmer of orange magic within the crystal, letting out another sigh to steel her nerves as she closed her fist around it.

“If only you knew, Blue. I have no idea what might happen the moment I step off this ship. But I know one thing’s for certain… I’m not running away. Not anymore. Bori… Mama… Kamaria… I’m done hiding the real me. It’s finally time to do this… Right, Apo?”

A golden string of pure magic flickered into reality from her chest, its glimmering soft light revealing itself slowly across the deck and up towards the mast, where a red ball of fire roared into life at the end of the golden string and soon formed the shape of a giant feathered amphiptere dragon, his outline and form made entirely out of red fire that did not burn any of the wood of the Immortal Sun’s exterior. Gripping the mast with a winged claw, he hoisted himself up to the empty crow’s nest and used his fiery serpent tongue to wrap around the chest hidden under the floorboard, pulling it out and clambering down to place it in front of Asya before he stood tall before her and finally spoke.

“The throne awaits, my queen~” Apophis purred, wrapping his coils under himself to perch before his soul-bound ward, the string connecting their very souls turning invisible once more as Asya kicked the chest open and knelt down to rummage inside it, placing the crystal and her beloved headscarf in her dress pocket for the time being.

“Don’t call me that… There’s too much that needs to be done before I can even dare to announce my claim to the crown. And luckily, it’s a three day journey from Wajiri to Oasis. And… I still need to actually consider the consequences of what will happen when I show my face there.”

“Well, forty mortal years is a long time for anyone to remember such a detail as your exile. And who knows? Maybe there are those who hate the Tyrant too that will happily choose you over him?” Apo crossed his winged arms over his chest as he coiled his serpentine body under himself to perch before Asya.

Asya glared over the lid of the chest at Apo. “Really? You actually think they’ll side with me? The unwanted runt who was nearly killed for simply coming out as a woman, who then had the entire Lord’s Hand hunt me down the day I left, and killed those who helped me? Really, Apo?! Tell me something, then… If they truly did support me after all this time, then tell me right now that there isn’t a decomposed body being hung on display on the outskirts of that same city my entire first family were slaughtered in. Tell me that they finally buried the only mortal man who ever made me feel loved and helped me escape this hellish kingdom…. Only then will I finally believe you, that the people of this kingdom have truly changed and will willingly betray the crown for me.”

Apo dared to only look briefly to the horizon, before he muttered a soft, “I don’t know… I cannot smell him.”

“Exactly… Only his bones are surely still there. The rest of the Dunefarers were at least burned at the pyre for aiding in my escape. They were given mercy, Apo… He gave them mercy for daring to aid the runt of a child he wanted dead. And I still remember the laughter of the Lord’s Hand members, those damned humans who swore such eager loyalty to him and only him… I remember them laughing as they hunted Bori down… And I could only watch from the drifting ship as he was gutted alive and… Apo, I can’t. I can’t face him again, after what he did to Bori… To the one man I felt safe enough to consider being my Dad, when…. My own blood father killed him, Apo!! Just for helping me and giving me the family I yearned for in that accursed desert!!,”

A hiccup caught in her throat as Asya gripped the sides of the chest with one hand, the other tightly holding onto the red cloth parcel she was looking for, shakily pulling it out to reveal the blood splatters of that day still staining the fabric. Sobbing into the parcel, Apo leaned down to nuzzle his snout against Asya’s shoulder.

“And you’re telling me… I have to see him again, after what he did to me and the Dunefarers? To Bori?”

“Someone has to stand up to him, before he begins his crusade to the north,” Apo whispered as he wrapped his wings around his ward, swaddling her in feathers of harmless fire. “Kamaria would never have sent that letter if her vision wasn’t true. That same vision is surely how the old Seer figured out where to send it in order for it to reach us on time. How else could she have known when none from our old home knows our whereabouts?”

“That… That’s Kamaria for you. Always the first to know what to do in any situation. She’s the Elder Seer for a reason, after all.” Asya sniffled, her grip on the parcel finally loosened to allow her to unwrap it and reveal the gold and leather armour within.

“So then, if you don’t believe me or that Heron fellow that you are ready to do this, then will you at least believe in old ‘Maria? She’s seen an empire rise and fall before, remember? She was there when your forefather, my grandson, took the throne and emerged in fire as her new Dragon Lord. She was there to serve his heir as the first Seer and formed the Mwonaji Council of other Dragonkin Seers. That old hag is the strongest ally we have, and who is luckily hidden on the inside. She knows what you’re capable of… And what your father will do if you don’t stop him.”

“… And what if I have to kill him?” Asya’s thumb brushed over the old bloodstain on her aged armour as Apo’s fiery form shrunk down to the size of a large dog to meet her gaze.

“Then you’ll have an army. Not just on this ship… but along the path to the capital. You are not the first nor only noble of Alunnui’s bloodline to have been born in the wrong body. Your great grandmother was born a male too. And yet she was more than able to carry and deliver your grandfather and his brother. Just as how you delivered Sira. That alone is proof that your father is an idiot for thinking that only a man deserves the crown.”

“But others follow his sexist logic, Apo… Others will try to stop me from doing this.  What if they outnumber those who wish to see my father step down? What if no one wants me in his place?”

“Tell the crew your story… They will be your voice to convince the people of why he must be stopped.”

“But what if they-”

“They have known you for twenty of their mortal years. And while you may hide it, Asya… The closer we’ve gotten to the border, the stronger you’ve become. Your connection to our homeland’s magic is growing stronger, and your once stunted appearance has finally changed. You’re not the same person you were when you left these lands, or when you first stepped onto this ship… These people got to know you as you grew, in both power and through gaining a family. One look at the real you and upon hearing your story of why you left… It will be enough. If you cannot trust in yourself to convince them… Trust me. They deserve to hear the full story.”

“About my ancestor… or about you?” Asya chuckled softly as she dried her eyes and closed the chest, allowing Apo to use his tail to wrap around it and carry it behind him as he slithered over to the mast.

“Why not the both of us? Not many know the tale of the Burning Prince… or why I am bound to your soul. So… why not tell them everything? And show them why you need their help to stop running from what you fear most. After all… You said it yourself. You’re done running… Aren’t you?”

“I am. And I’m tired of hiding it all. I came out once before… It couldn’t hurt to do it again, right?,” Pulling the ruby out of her pocket, Asya looked at it within her palm before looking back up at Apo. “…I’m done hiding from him and from everyone. It ends now.”

Closing her eyes with a heavy sigh, Asya hugged the wrapped armour close to her chest, and with one more look to her fist, she crushed the gem into tiny shards, each one that fell from her opened hand vanishing as they turned into red sand that blew away in the wind before they could hit the wooden floor. The orange glittery magic swirled like a sandstorm around her, rising up from the soles of her boots to the top of her head before it too blew away with the wind, towards the sun high above. As Apo’s form returned to its full size to allow him to hide the chest within the crow’s nest once again, he looked down from above her with a proud smile.

“And there she is… A blessing of the sun itself. Orange suits you, my dear~ So… What’s the plan?”

“I’m not sure yet, but… I think I might change before they arrive. These heels are killing me.”

Apo chuckled as he lowered his tail to her, allowing Asya to sit down on it and lift her up into the crow’s nest, a flash of orange scales appearing under her dress as a tail wrapped around Apo’s own.

~*~

“Seventy-seven… Seventy-eight… Has anyone seen Solclave? I thought he came up here with Elbent?”

“He’s coming up in a sec, Blue! He’s just busy with something,” Elbent called out, as she waved Verglaust over to join her side. “Over here, hun! Is Kevin and Bryn’ with you? Did either of them find Asya yet?”

“Kevin’s fetching the kids right now, and Bryn’ is helping him with that. They’ll be here soon,” Verglaust assured, peering over the massive crowd now gathered on the deck. “But no, they’ve been too busy to look for Asya. But I doubt we need to, since she’s the one who asked Blue to bring us here. He said she had something to tell everyone, about why we’re in Joka Ardhi.”

“Oh, good. As long as she’s… Wait, you don’t think this is about… that, do you?” Elbent gripped onto Verglaust’s arm as she looked up at him.

“We’ll have to wait and see what she says. But I have a bad feeling it might be that.”

As Verglaust turned his attention back on the crowd, he spotted the two half-giants, Brynjolf and Solclave, coming through the door, with Kevin and five children in tow. But just as he waved them over to reunite the family amongst the hoard of crewmembers, a flash of red zipped down the mast from the crow’s nest and landed on the quarter deck above the crowd.

Standing before the entire crew of the Immortal Sun was a warrior wrapped in red fabric that hid her face in a hood, which continued as a drape that wrapped from over her right shoulder and around her chest under a golden half plate of armour shaped as an under-bust corset, leaving her ebony shoulders exposed. From her elbows to her hands, bright orange scales formed a natural armour for her exposed arms, armed with lethal claws for hands that rested upon her pleated skirt of dark brown leather strips, woven with leather string on top of the underskirt of more red fabric that peeked out under the leather to reach her knees, all held together by a belt of cheetah skin and braided red fabric, on top of a tan coloured strip of leather that formed the large belt around the entirety of her stomach and waist. As she made her way to the stairs towards the deck, her bare digitigrade legs were finally revealed to also have orange scales below the knee, leading down to talon bearing paws for feet that made no sound whatsoever as she stepped onto the usually creaking wood of the stairs and stopped halfway to stay in everyone’s line of sight, a long tail of orange scales and black fur covering the tip revealing itself as it curled around her leg.

“Thank you for coming, everyone. I know you all have questions, and they will be answered soon,” The warrior spoke, revealing herself by voice alone to be the Dragonkin.

Pulling down her hood, Asya looked down at the crowd with bright aquamarine, draconic slit eyes, her pointed ears now long enough to reach past her head behind her, and long, curved horns of charcoal black peeked through her tied back dreadlocks and grew above her head slightly before they swooped towards the back into sharp, curved tips, the rings along the horns glimmering like polished crystals that glowed in the colours and red veins akin to volcanic magma. Stopping at the middle step along the short flight of stairs, Asya spoke once more to the entire crew.

“In order to answer at least some of them, I wish to tell you about this kingdom we’re in… About the history of Joka Ardhi. Apo… Would you mind starting us off?”

Closing her eyes, Asya’s head suddenly twitched to the side with a soft crack of her neck, but instead of her blue gaze greeting the crowd, golden eyes that glowed with power and pride narrowed with mischief, as a grin formed to flash sharp fangs in a playful smile and a masculine voice purred from Asya’s lips, as Apo spoke to the crowd.

“Certainly, my dear~”

With a snap of his fingers, Apo brought the lanterns around the entire deck to life with red flames that casted long dark shadows over the deck, startling many of the crewmates as they huddled to one side of the deck, as the fires sputtered and grew brighter within their glass lantern prisons. The midday sun seemed to nearly dull as darkness covered the deck like a tent roof, and from the shadows rose silhouettes outlined by the fires… Silhouettes of dragons soaring through the air.

“Three thousand years ago, dragons ruled the world. They were, however, found to be the most plentiful in the south, where no humans or mortals lived due to the harsh sun and the shifting sands. So, the south gained its name from the main inhabitants of the land… For to this day, it is still known as the Dragon Lands, merely called so in a different tongue. You know it to today… as Joka Ardhi.”

The shadows changed as Apo stepped onto the deck, the light swirling behind him to reveal his true shadow, that of a giant serpentine dragon. As he turned to face the crowd, his eyes in the shadow glowed gold behind him, but around his neck shone the reflections of ruby shards in the shape of a crescent. Beside his shadow were two wyverns, both bearing blue eyes just like Asya’s.

“Three thousand years ago… I ruled the Dragon Lands as their Lord. My reign was supreme in every continent for no dragon could best me in battle, but my seat of power was here in the south. I ruled with my Alpha and wife, Jua… and our many children, including my eldest daughter, Princess Citrine. She was to be my heir, to become Dragon Queen of the skies, the seas and the lands across the world. Then, one day… The first humans arrived.”

His shadow changed as Apo paced to the left, now revealing him sitting like a regal sphinx facing a group of humans that bowed on one knee to him, a large fleet of ships behind them.

“They came from the far north, even farther than the shores of Primus or Unicron. They told me that day that they came to my domain in search of a home, for a place they could begin a new life and to build a culture of their own. I granted them the right of shelter and aided in building their first settlement, and for a time… there was peace. They respected our laws and culture, and in turn we learned about the beauty of humanity, our ability to shapeshift in order to appear like them and walk in their shoes for a time, and the advancements one generation could craft in such a short lifespan. By the time my daughter was in her adult years, the settlement had become a vast village and they were already spreading out to create more for their ever growing numbers. But with such rapid growth and pride in one’s growing strength… came humanity’s true form of hubris.”

The fires dimmed as the shadows changed once more, revealing a cave where Apo and the two wyverns slept around a nest of eggs. Apo’s fist clenched at his side as he spoke with a growl to his voice.

“I…. Rrrrgghhh…. I was nearing the day where I would give my mantle of Dragon Lord to my daughter, for she had already started a family and had asked me to be their guardian in my retirement. I was happy… so happy… to settle down and see my family grow. One night, my den was invaded by humans… seeking something they once swore loyalty to, but now sought to have for themselves.”

The fires suddenly rose into a bright blaze to reveal the humans wielding spears and swords at the mouth of the cave, many of whom had already plunged them into the two wyverns, while others stormed through the nest, breaking the eggs and spilling their precious yolks. The humans that surrounded Apo’s shadow plunged their spears into his neck, ripping off the collar of rubies he wore and frantically started pulling them off the collar.

“They called themselves the Founders, for they deemed their half of humanity as the true inhabitants of the kingdom, and none should dare oppose their right to rule their own kind. So… they took my mantle and crown and killed my family before my very eyes. And with my dying breath, I swore to them that the kingdom of mankind would fall, for the sands have always been home to the dragons, and we do not die that easily. I remember only their laughter at my words… before a spear was plunged between my eyes.”

Darkness then fell over the entire ship, as the wind blew harshly over them all, bringing a chill to their spines as somewhere within the breeze… distant war cries echoed, the clashing of swords and the roar of dragons boomed far off into the distance.

“And so began the Founder’s War… A battle for the right to own the kingdom of the sands… But for my people, it was a battle for survival of the species. A war against humanity’s desire for our extermination. We were once called Titans by them… but now they deemed us pests, monsters… mere beasts. However… during the twelve-year conflict, a miracle happened.”

Out from beside Apo, a new shadow dragon rose, glowing red with blue eyes just like Jua and Citrine’s, with a single ruby shard upon his neck. Beside him… a female human that held his raised claw and looked up at him with awe and adoration.

“My youngest son, Prince Rhodon, led my kind against the human Founders in the war, making him the last true Dragon Lord for a time. However, during the war… He fell in love. With a human of all things, but the human was a leader too. Her name… was Seraphina, and she led a resistance of other humans that saw the dragons as equals, and as such did everything they could to persuade their own species to stop the crusade. In fact, because of their secret union, many other dragons fell for humans too and just like my son and his forbidden bride, they hid their love from the world and used it as motivation to stop the war for good. But… the humans had lived on our lands long enough to learn magic, especially our kind of magic… Fire. And while we used fire as both our weapon and lifeforce, we also used it as our leverage to keep our numbers alive… We had Soulfire. White flames made from the very essence of our souls, we could use it to bring someone from within death’s grip back to life, in exchange for a piece of our soul. A life for a life, something we rarely did only when absolutely necessary. And somehow… Humans learned about our secret and managed to find a way to create its exact opposite. By human hand alone, they made the most forbidden form of magic to this day… Grimfire or, what my people called it back then… Blackfire.”

The shadow of a battlefield soon appeared across the deck, with dragon roars and clashing swords growing louder all around the crew as dragons and human warriors clashed claw and weapon over and over again. From beside Apo, three humans adorned with mage robes towered over the battlefield like spires, the one in the middle holding his hands cupped together and a sinister grin grew under his hood. The flames from within two of the lanterns suddenly jumped out of their glass prisons and into the hands of the mage, the fire gathering into a wild and angry blaze that darkened in colour, until it became black with a purple core and outline and brought an unnatural chill to the crew who stood near it. All three human mages laughed as they released the purple flames… only to join in the chorus of blood-curdling screams and screeches alike as both the mages, the dragons and every single shadow on the battlefield was engulfed by the black fire, the deadly flames spreading over their flesh and turning them instantly into skeletons. One such shadow from the battlefield, a large wyvern, jumped out of the flat shadow world and became a solid 3D figure of green flames that flew around the ship and screeched in fear as the black flames gained tendrils and lashed out at the green life-sized dragon. The black fire leapt out and caught the dragon’s tail, turning its green fire into yellow bone shaped flames as the black flames devoured its flesh like burning paper, causing the green wyvern to screech and roar in agony as it crashed next to the ship but it did not touch the surface of the water. More roars suddenly accompanied it as more and more coloured fire-formed dragons began to appear and drop from the sky onto the sea, right where the rocks were all around the ship.

Apo raised his arms and slowly with his movement, the flames dwindled down to take back the darkness and allow the midday sun to shine through his veil of theatrical darkness… Revealing the giant rocks and small islands all around to be covered in weathered bones of dragons, the closest one being a wyvern skeleton with its lower half missing, its head and wings spread across a rock as it struggled in its final moments to climb onto it, its claws dug into the rock to escape its demise with its maw open wide from its final screech. As Apo raised the veil of shadows once more, hushed gasps and murmurs came over the crew, with Elbent looking towards Apo with eyes full of worry and sorrow. Giving her a simple solemn nod, he continued his tale of the past.

“The Blackfire wiped out every single dragon and human Founder across the battlefield, and then upon every fleeing dragon. After twelve years, the humans won as they became the sole survivors of the Blackfire Siege. In turn… the corpses of my kind that fell in battle and died from the Blackfire on land became the reason why the sands turned red and remain so to this day. But… not everything died by the Blackfire in that final battlefield.”

The red flames brought back the shadows of the battlefield, now littered with skeletons and fallen weapons across the sand. Through the field of bones, two humans made their way into the battlefield, as though searching for something. Through the heavy silence came a whisper of a sound, a sound even the shadowed humans could hear as they looked around in a panic. Through the breeze and the chill of death…. Came the cry of a baby.

“There were survivors found that day that weren’t human… But neither were they dragons. And the first of their kind is the reason why I know all this. For I saw the end through his eyes.”

The scene zoomed in on the humans as they reached the bones of a massive amphiptere dragon, just like Apo, and within his wings was the skeleton of a human. And there, within the shelter of the wings and the huddled embrace of the human… was a baby bawling at the top of his lungs, bearing a black burn scar over the side of his entire face and left arm. A baby with tiny nubby horns, red scales that shone like crystals over his healthy arm and legs, with tiny claws for feet.

“Rhodon and Seraphina had a son… And during the final battle, they attempted to flee to save their family so that they could fight another day. When the Blackfire came… they did as any parent would and protected their son with all their love and sacrificed themselves to save him. Rhodon’s last breath… was a breath of Soulfire for his son. That was the day I awoke and saw the world through the eyes of my grandson… trapped and weak within his soul. All I could do was watch as the allies of Seraphina came and rescued the child. A child they knew the name of from their leader’s loving speeches on how she would cherish the child for a better future.”

He paused to sigh as the shadows swirled and the fires brightened to cast one long shadow onto the deck… before it came forth as an illusion of a man, a Dragonkin with long horns, clawed digitigrade feet and an air of royalty on his rugged and determined face… A face and overall appearance that was just like Asya in every way. The same horns, hair, height, face… Identical in every way but gendered appearance, golden eyes like his grandfather Apo, and the scar across his face and over his entire left arm.

“A child she and my son named… Alunnui. He grew up in the care of the human rebels, as they rescued other hybrids like him and hid them in the underground caves my kind once called our home. His kind, the first of the Dragonkin, all grew up together in hiding, for the humans grew confident and in their pride they built the first cities that still stand to this day in the kingdom before you all. And in his years of living in secrecy, Alunnui was told tales of my reign, of how his father and kindred fell to the humans, and how he and his own secret kindred were the last to bear dragon blood. The stories became inspiration… then motivation, as he reached adulthood. Thus, he began to plan… To build… To prepare.”

Behind the shadow of Alunnui, an army of Dragonkin bowed to him, with one handing him a spear covered in colourful beads, feathers and dragon scales.

“With the Prince’s Spear in hand, Alunnui and the Dragonkin marched to the capital and for the first time since the Founder’s War ended, they exposed themselves to the human world and began their attack. I still remember his words that day, when he stood before the gates and spoke to the king that bore my crown…”

The shadows warped behind Alunnui as he faced towering stone gates, the army of Dragonkin behind him on the deck floor. With a powerful slam of his spear, Apo spoke as Alunnui moved his lips to his words to speak to the shadow of a human in a crown on the walkway above the gate.

“Mortal king of the sands, I speak only to you! Your father and his people have slaughtered my kind, and you now stand on a kingdom forever stained in the blood of my ancestors. Hear me, false king, for I stand before you now as the survivor of my people’s royal bloodline, and so I speak as one royal to another… Give back the land that belonged to the Dragons, to whom you once called your neighbour and friend, or my kindred and I will take your cities and reclaim what is ours by birthright! Deny us our right to our own lands and crown, and your kingdom shall fall and burn with you in it! What say you, thief?”

The shadow of the human king laughed soundlessly, before Apo responded for him.

“You ghastly beasts have fallen once before by human hand! If you truly believe I owe you anything, then I shall happily remind you of how your father and his kind fell.”

With a soundless yell accompanied by the roar of flames from his body, Alunnui charged through the gates and lay siege onto the kingdom of shadows, as Apo continued his narration.

“The Dragonkin attacked the capital city of Oasis in a wave of fire and bloodshed… For when night fell, the palace erupted into a tower of flames, where the king fell and the crownless prince emerged before his people, of both human and Dragonkin alike… Where he donned the moniker of the Burning Prince and the first Dragon Lord of his kind. This night became the historical event known to both humans and Dragonkin… as the Night of Crowning Fire.”

The shadows formed a door that suddenly burst into red and orange flames that did not burn the ship, and with a gust of hot air the doors flew open to reveal Alunnui walking through the fire that did him no harm as the humans behind him fell to their death by the scorching flames. The crowd of shadow Dragonkin and humans all watched in awe and horror as Alunnui stepped out of the palace doors and raised a blood covered crown that burned with flames from his arm, a motion that sent every shadow witness to their knees as they bowed to their Dragon Lord.

The shadowy veil then vanished, and the flames from the lanterns went out, giving back the light of day across the ship as Apo stood before the crowd of crewmates and bowed his head. Upon rising back up, blue eyes met the crowd as Asya gained her voice and body back and spoke with her arms behind her back.

“On that day, a new monarchy took hold as old grudges and fears were whittled out, in respect for the history our people shared. Humans and Dragonkin became one civilization… the Jokani. In turn, the Jokani prospered under the rule of the new emperor, Dragon Lord Alunnui, who then sired an heir and began the Ruby Bloodline.”

Summoning orange fire in her palm, Asya created a new illusion in front of her, with each name she called out revealing a Dragonkin, each bearing a crown like the one Alunnui held.

“Dragon Lord Bakari, son of the Burning Prince and Queen Consort Noxolo…

Dragon Lord Mzuri, son of Lord Bakari the Kind and his King Consorts Amri and Shani…

Dragon Queen Citrine the Second, daughter of Lord Mzuri and Priestess Zahara, founder of the Nyotan religion and the Evenstar Church…

Dragon Lord Alhaadi, eldest son of Citrine the Second and King Consort Lauzel…

Dragon Lord heir apparent Amani, eldest son of Alhaadi the Wise and Queen Consort Lulana, who died before he could take the crown and was succeeded by the second eldest of the three children…

Dragon Lord Jhamal and Queen Consort Gasira Mutheru…”

Stepping through the fiery illusion to make it disappear, Asya stood before the entire crew as she raised her head high and spoke louder than before, only this time tears began to form as she struggled to hold back her sobs.

“Prince… A-Andres, son… o-of Lord Jhamal and Queen Consort Gasira. B-But I do not go by that name anymore! Not since I was exiled by my father for coming out as a woman. For I… I am Princess Asya Zahara O-Murchadha-Mutheru of Joka Ardhi, bearer of the Ruby Bloodline, descendant of the Burning Prince, and the next in line to the Throne of Crimson Sands. And I… I brought us here so that I could ask for your help. My father, Jhamal, intends to invade the north and claim Primus, Unicron and every kingdom beyond here as his domain. But I… I cannot allow that to happen. For my father is also known by many as Jhamal the Tyrant, and he earned that name through his cruelty, for neglecting his queen and letting her die alone with their only child f-from a… a mere, curable fever, for draining this land of its once peaceful and prosperous wealth and wellbeing, and for slaughtering the innocent for merely helping me escape his cruelty many years ago. He has been nothing but a heartless and bloodthirsty monster my whole life, and now he is set on claiming the rest of the world as his plaything. I… I can’t let him do this,”

Quickly turning away to dry her eyes, Asya spoke much more softly as her voice struggled to come out between her sobs and hiccups.

“I… I cannot stay hidden any longer and allow this to happen. And so… I come to you all to ask you only one thing… For should you agree, I cannot guarantee your safety the moment we cross into Jokani territory. And should we succeed in my plan… I might not come back here, onto this ship, ever again. For my plan is simply this… I must go back to my homeland, to the palace in the capital city of Oasis, and face my father in battle for the right to reclaim the throne. Should I succeed and overthrow him, I will become the new Dragon Queen and empress of Joka Ardhi. So, I will need everyone’s help in ensuring the safety of the Jokani people, to keep them away from the battle between me and my father, but should I fail… I will need every one of you to try and kill him in my stead.

“So… Now that you know what lies ahead, I fully understand if any of you do not wish to do this, and why I will allow you this one chance to step away and be safe here on the ship. But for those of you who wish to help me save my home and to fight with me to take down my father…,”

Putting out her hand, Asya offered it with tears now rolling down her cheeks towards the crowd as she weakly smiled and looked around to the crew of the Immortal Sun. “… Will you fight beside me and help me reclaim the Throne of Crimson Sands, for the freedom of this and all kingdoms across the world?”

[goldensunset]

advice i think we should tell children is that when adults say stuff like ‘now that i’m an adult i get really excited about stuff like coffee tables and bathrooms and rugs etc’ they don’t mean ‘and now i don’t care about blorbo and squimbus from my childhood tv shows anymore’ bc your average adult still loves all the same pop culture stuff they always did; they just have a greater appreciation for the mundane as well. growing up just means you can enjoy life twice as much now. you can get really excited about a new stuffed animal AND about a new kitchen sponge. peace and love

[hinamie]

10 years later

[moncuries]

guess what i watched on new years (a redraw kind of)

[artkaninchenbau]

A h-heartfelt reunion..?

Bonus

[goatsandgangsters]

how to find literally any post on a blog in seconds (on desktop)

there are so many posts about ~tumblr is so broken, you can’t find any post on your own blog, it’s impossible, bluhrblub~

I am here to tell you otherwise! it is in fact INCREDIBLY easy to find a post on a blog if you’re on desktop/browser and you know what you’re doing:

url.tumblr.com/tagged/croissant will bring up EVERY post on the blog tagged with the specific and exact phrase #croissant. every single post, every single time. in chronological order starting with the most recent post. note: it will not find #croissants or that time you made the typo #croidnssants. for a tag with multiple words, it’s just /tagged/my-croissant and it will show you everything with the exact phrase #my croissant

url.tumblr.com/tagged/croissant/chrono will bring up EVERY post on the blog tagged with the exact phrase #croissant, but it will show them in reverse order with the oldest first 

url.tumblr.com/search/croissant isn’t as perfect at finding everything, but it’s generally loads better than the search on mobile. it will find a good array of posts that have the word croissant in them somewhere. could be in the body of the post (op captioned it “look at my croissant”) or in the tags (#man I want a croissant). it won’t necessarily find EVERYTHING like /tagged/ does, but I find it’s still more reliable than search on mobile. you can sometimes even find posts by a specific user by searching their url. also, unlike whatever random assortment tumblr mobile pulls up, it will still show them in a more logically chronological order

url.tumblr.com/day/2020/11/05 will show you every post on the blog from november 5th, 2020, in case you’re taking a break from croissants to look for destiel election memes 

url.tumblr.com/archive/ is search paradise. easily go to a particular month and see all posts as thumbnails! search by post type! search by tags but as thumbnails now

url.tumblr.com/archive/filter-by/audio will show you every audio post on your blog (you can also filter by other post types). sometimes a little imperfect if you’re looking for a video when the op embedded the video in a text post instead of posting as a video post, etc

url.tumblr.com/archive/tagged/croissant will show you EVERY post on the blog tagged with the specific and exact phrase #croissant, but it will show you them in the archive thumbnail view divided by months. very useful if you’re looking for a specific picture of a croissant that was reblogged 6 months ago and want to be able to scan for it quickly 

url.tumblr.com/archive/filter-by/audio/tagged/croissant will show you every audio post tagged with the specific phrase #croissant (you can also filter by photo or text instead, because I don’t know why you have audio posts tagged croissant) 

the tag system on desktop tumblr is GENUINELY amazing for searching within a specific blog! 

caveat: this assumes a person HAS a desktop theme (or “custom theme”) enabled. a “custom theme” is url.tumblr.com, as opposed to tumblr.com/url. I’ve heard you have to opt-into the former now, when it used to be the default, so not everyone HAS a custom theme where you can use all those neat url tricks. 

if the person doesn’t have a “custom theme” enabled, you’re beholden to the search bar. still, I’ve found the search bar on tumblr.com/url is WAY more reliable than search on mobile. for starters, it tends to bring posts up in a sensible order, instead of dredging up random posts from 2013 before anything else

if you’re on mobile, I’m sorry. godspeed and good luck finding anything. (my one tip is that if you’re able to click ON a tag rather than go through the search bar, you’ll have better luck. if your mutual has recently reblogged a post tagged #croissant, you can click #croissant and it’ll bring up everything tagged #croissant just like /tagged/croissant. but if there’s no readily available tag to click on, you have to rely on the mobile search bar and its weird bizarre whims) 

[spitblaze]

I guess Chilchuck has brought us right back to 'adults who are short are child-coded and if you like them you're a pedophile' discourse huh

[musubiki]

my favorite fields of mistria boys 🥰

[keets-writing-corner]

Thinking a LOT about Lucifer in the latest Hazbin episode. Idk what I was expecting but not this??

As I was watching my immediate thought was just "huh... Lucifer is kinda of weird..." but as the episode went on I realized the issue

the dude is off the chain depressed, like he says it as a joke but holy cow it is SO BAD

He's manically just creating rubber ducks cuz his daughter really like it that one time but it's empty, it's never good enough but he keeps doing it, maybe cuz he doesn't know how to pass the time otherwise.

like I get the feeling he HAS better things he SHOULD be doing than making rubber duck after rubber duck. At first I was like, "Bruh why isn't the king of hell doing anything?" aaaaand then it became clear...

The dude is disassociating so bad he can barely hold a conversation let alone remember information. He clearly WANTS to, he wants to be involved with his daughter so bad, he wants to care about the things she's doing so bad, but his depression keeps interfering. It's like he can only hear every other word and he grasps onto the ones he does hear semi-out of context. Like you can see every time he catches something that he hadn't before and he just "well shit I didn't catch that part"

and that's why he reacts so weird when people talk to him. He is struggling so bad to engage with the conversation he's only getting 50% of it

does that look like the face of a man who knows what the hell the conversation is even about??? he is STRUGGLING

like Charlie spent so long telling him about the hotel, and he STILL didn't understand what she wanted. Yeah it comes off as ditzy but literally I've been in that position where your brain just "nope, not doing this right now" and nerfs your conversation comprehension. So as someone who's BEEN in that position, to me it feels exactly like what he's dealing with. He's sorta engaged with the conversation, but only as much as his brain will allow

For example, when I'm dealing with this, this is what someone talking to me feels like this where the crossed out parts are what I missed and bold is what I catch, "Hey! You know I was thinking for dinner we could either make some chicken with rice? But if you don't feel like cooking, pasta is super easy and you love that right? What do you want to do?" you can kinda get that someone is trying to talk to you about dinner, and towards the end you get the impression that they asked something that needs your input so you can decently put 2 and 2 together and try and pass off, but crucial bits were left out, I would have no idea that either chicken or pasta is in the conversation only having heard "rice". When someone is just talking at me, I can decently pass off as being engaged but the second I'm required to participate in the conversation I'm screwed. Seem familiar? At which point I have 2 options, try to give a bullshit answer, or admit that I missed what they were saying and ask them to repeat

Lucifer, unfortunately, is trying so damn hard to hide that he's dealing with like 24/7 dissociation, so he can't admit that he's missing entire chunks of the conversation, hence his really weird replies. He does eventually get the full picture and then he and Charlie start having the real conversation

Also, the Alastor/Lucifer rivalry was hilarious but also really indicative of more of what Lucifer is dealing with

Alastor is, unfortunately, really good at picking up people's insecurities, and thanks to Charlie's description earlier and watching Lucifer clearly trying to overcompensate, he immediately picks up on the fact that Lucifer KNOWS he struggles to be a good dad (we know cuz it's cuz of the depression, hard to be engaged when your brain keeps turning off) and decides to rub salt in the wound by pretending he's been acting as a surrogate father to Charlie. Now why Alastor decided to pick a fight with the king of hell is beyond me, I do not understand Alastor (and I LIKE IT) (maybe it's cuz Alastor thinks he's hot shit and was expecting Lucifer to at least have heard of him but Lucifer just treats him like a nobody? who knows)(why would Lucifer listen to radio anyways when he can't even pay attention to a conversation it'd just be white noise)

But yeah I just was expecting someone who oozed either charisma or presence and instead I got a depressed dad who's dissociating so bad he can barely function and be present in his life. The only thing it seems he CAN do is make rubber ducks cuz his daughter really liked it that one time

Idk Lucifer is tragic to me. Whatever the full details of what heavan did to him absolutely broke him and he can't deal with it. He's aware of it, and he doesn't know how to fix it, so he tries to over compensate and sorta makes an ass out of himself but no one says or does anything cuz this guy is supposed to be THE king of hell

Suddenly it's making a lot more sense why he just rolls over and lets heaven do what it wants and even told Charlie to go in his place the start of the show. He's not in any headspace to hold a basic conversation let alone negotiate! He didn't even know who Alastor was, he's been so out of touch

idk I like him, he seems sweet, I hope Charlie brings some light back into his life. He really needs to get out of that rubber duck room

[herd-reject-arts]

So I'm leaving work and something darts in front of me, maybe 10ft away, too fast for me to see what it is. Peek around the tree blocking my path and I see this

Just like... a whole ass hawk. Dude's gotta be about 1.5ft tall. Massive fucking bird. And it's just staring me straight in my soul like this, even as I try to move ahead. It didn't budge. And there's only this path back to my car unless I want to walk on a busy highway. So I have the option of Death By Raptor or Death By Truck.

So I walk in the poison ivy filled patch off the sidewalk. Guy still isn't moving. Still staring me directly in the eyes. And I do this thing when animals are behaving strangely where I'll talk to them, so I'm just like, "Hey, man. I don't know you. You don't know me. This feels really threatening. I'm just trying to get to my car, dude. Can I get some space please? You're a big fucking bird. I see those claws. You could kill me right now, but I'd appreciate if you didn't, ok?"

It didn't move until I was about 2ft away. Again: I'm as far from it as I can be without walking into the street. It clearly wasn't going to budge. I walk past, thing flies up (silent, btw. Scary) and lands on a brick wall a little further ahead

Anyway. Weird guy. Nearly shit my pants when I noticed a bird big enough to carry off a fully grown cat was just... there, staring me in the face, unwilling to move away from me, a human, something it should see as a threat. I watched behind me the whole rest of the way to my car, just in case this bird decided to help me shed this mortal coil. 10/10 experience. Super cool guy.

[razzafrazzle]

literally my favorite aspect of sock opera is bill calmly but repeatedly failing to buckle his seatbelt. like its funny enough that Bill Cipher of all people is putting on a seatbelt but its so funny that he keeps fucking it up. but he's still just smiling like a dumbass the entire time

[inkskinned]

the thing is that they're so fascinated by sex, they love sex, they can't imagine a world without sex - they need sex to sell things, they need sex to be part of their personality, they need sex to prove their power - but they hate sex. they are disgusted by it.

sex is the only thing that holds their attention, and it is also the thing that can never be discussed directly.

you can't tell a child the normal names for parts of their body, that's sexual in nature, because the body isn't a body, it's a vessel of sex. it doesn't matter that it's been proven in studies (over and over) that kids need to know the names of their genitals; that they internalize sexual shame at a very young age and know it's 'dirty' to have a body; that it overwhelmingly protects children for them to have the correct words to communicate with. what matters is that they're sexual organs. what matters is that it freaks them out to think about kids having body parts - which only exist in the context of sex.

it's gross to talk about a period or how to check for cancer in a testicle or breast. that is nasty, illicit. there will be no pain meds for harsh medical procedures, just because they feature a cervix.

but they will put out an ad of you scantily-clad. you will sell their cars for them, because you have abs, a body. you will drip sex. you will ooze it, like a goo. like you were put on this planet to secrete wealth into their open palms.

they will hit you with that same palm. it will be disgusting that you like leather or leashes, but they will put their movie characters in leather and latex. it will be wrong of you to want sexual freedom, but they will mark their success in the number of people they bed.

they will crow that it's inappropriate for children so there will be no lessons on how to properly apply a condom, even to teens. it's teaching them the wrong things. no lessons on the diversity of sexual organ growth, none on how to obtain consent properly, none on how to recognize when you feel unsafe in your body. if you are a teenager, you have probably already been sexualized at some point in your life. you will have seen someone also-your-age who is splashed across a tv screen or a magazine or married to someone three times your age. you will watch people pull their hair into pigtails so they look like you. so that they can be sexy because of youth. one of the most common pornography searches involves newly-18 young women. girls. the words "barely legal," a hiss of glass sand over your skin.

barely legal. there are bills in place that will not allow people to feel safe in their own bodies. there are people working so hard to punish any person for having sex in a way that isn't god-fearing and submissive. heteronormative. the sex has to be at their feet, on your knees, your eyes wet. when was the first time you saw another person crying in pornography and thought - okay but for real. she looks super unhappy. later, when you are unhappy, you will close your eyes and ignore the feeling and act the role you have been taught to keep playing. they will punish the sex workers, remove the places they can practice their trade safely. they will then make casual jokes about how they sexually harass their nanny.

and they love sex but they hate that you're having sex. you need to have their ornamental, perfunctory, dispassionate sex. so you can't kiss your girlfriend in the bible belt because it is gross to have sex with someone of the same gender. so you can't get your tubes tied in new england because you might change your mind. so you can't admit you were sexually assaulted because real men don't get hurt, you should be grateful. you cannot handle your own body, you cannot handle the risks involved, let other people decide that for you. you aren't ready yet.

but they need you to have sex because you need to have kids. at 15, you are old enough to parent. you are not old enough to hear the word fuck too many times on television.

they are horrified by sex and they never stop talking about it, thinking about it, making everything unnecessarily preverted. the saying - a thief thinks everyone steals. they stand up at their podiums and they look out at the crowd and they sign a bill into place that makes sexwork even more unsafe and they stand up and smile and sign a bill that makes gender-affirming care illegal and they get up and they shrug their shoulders and write don't say gay and they get up, and they make the world about sex, but this horrible, plastic vision of it that they have. this wretched, emotionless thing that holds so much weight it's staggering. they put their whole spine behind it and they push and they say it's normal!

this horrible world they live in. disgusted and also obsessed.

[ninjasmudge]

(warning, may be loud 🔊)

x2 the torment!

[hinamie]

I don't want to regret the way I lived

[liimonadas]

a part of me goes out to all the monsterfuckers who are surely missing the old design. a bigger part of me is gay

[hoosbandewan]

EWAN MITCHELL as AEMOND TARGARYEN House of the Dragon S2E4 - "The Red Dragon and the Gold"