#also it takes place after the first great calamity but before the banishment of the sheikah

[sciencelings-writes]

Whumptober Prompt 5: Hypothermia

Part of my Golden Priestesses AU, though all you need to know is that the Zelda here is Gerudo and she doesn’t have any associations with the royal family, and Link goes by they/them pronouns and is half Zonai. 

Warnings: Brief discussions of momentary nudity

wc: 2743

AO3 Link

The journey up Mount Lanayru wasn’t Link’s version of fun. Even with a dozen layers between their skin and the constantly falling snow, the fact that they weren’t allowed to have any heating potions and that they were used to the sweltering humidity and heat of Faron, the hike up the spiraling stairs up a freezing mountain were pretty agonizing. 

Link was still shivering even under three cloaks, one wool, one silk, and one that was mostly just Lynel pelts, it’s golden color made their status obvious. Though it wasn’t out of the ordinary for a Zonai to be covered in cloaks to protect their light sensitive skin, Link found themself uncomfortable with the constant weight on their back and lack of flexibility. They were definitely used to lighter clothes that didn’t cling to their skin.

At least Zelda was by their side, their fellow priestess was used to the frigid temperatures, even then, she still wore a massive cloak lined with white wolves fur. Though she towered above them, she kept her strides nice and short so they wouldn’t be jogging to keep up with her. She could probably take four steps of stone stairs at a time if she wanted to, and Link was very thankful that she didn’t. 

“I’m still willing to carry you, you know.” Zelda said with a playful smirk as Link carefully avoided a patch of ice.

“As I said before, not in front of the attendants. We do not need any more rumors circulating around.” Their cheeks were flushed, but they couldn’t completely blame it on the cold. 

“I think we should encourage rumors, it can get boring up here, it’ll be a service if anything interesting were to happen.” She teased, Link caught themself looking at her smile for a little too long. They whipped their head away, to focus on the road instead. 

“I’m sure they’ll find something to talk about. Maybe I’ll trip into the spring or something. Or another fox will wander in and climb the goddess statue.” They suggested, admiring the pillars of ice and stone rather than looking at their companion. They’d have to crane their neck pretty far up anyway. 

“It may be expected for animals to gather around the statue of Farore but it’s considered disrespectful for my goddess.” She commented, brushing some bright scarlet hair from blowing in her face, she must’ve missed a few pieces when preparing herself that morning. How inconvenient. 

“I’m sure she would think differently if it was an owl.”

“As a matter of fact, she does. There’s a nest of them too high for anyone to get to, some of the lower priestesses believe she speaks through them, so if they happen to hoot while someone is talking, they assume Nayru just wanted to butt in with her opinion.” The image caused Link to snort out a laugh. 

“Oh fair prophet, you cannot understand the words of your goddesses sacred birds, how disappointing. I heard Impa can talk to pigs.” 

“Din’s sacred animal is a boar, not a pig. That’s like calling your dragon a lizard.” The priestess of Nayru raised her eyebrows and motioned towards the currently covered tattoos on Link’s arm, a long dragon spiraled up in shifting greens and teals and gold.

“They belong to the same family. Do you think it would be sacrilege if the Priestess of Din eats pork? Or if the Queen eats poultry?”

“It’s not sacrilege for you to drink potions made with reptiles.” Zelda pointed out. 

“It might be! I haven’t read the rulebook in a while.” Link claimed. 

Their hike up the mountain lasted like that for hours, the priestess of Farore slowly feeling the chill seep through their cloaks. When they got to the top it wouldn’t matter though, so they wouldn’t even think to complain about it. 

Shortly before Links legs threatened to fall off, they reached the Spring of Wisdom. The structure around it contained dozens of stained glass images that showered the marble floors with vibrant colors. Torches and a firepit were prepared, keeping the building a more reasonable heat, but the spring would still be just as mind-numbingly cold. Though that was the point. 

Link was assisted out of their almost comical amount of cloaks, each layer removed sent a new wave of chilly air through their body. It took all their willpower not to shiver visibly. Eventually they were left in their ceremonial garb, an outfit more suited for their own spring in the middle of a tropical jungle. It contained a sash that only fully covered their shadow marks on their untattooed arm. It was the skin all Zonai had that was particularly sensitive to light, it wrapped around their arm like a dainty sleeve with smokey edges that swirled like a whirlwind up to their bicep. 

Most of their skin was bare, there was no protection for their feet or hands, only extra wrappings covering their shadow marks. It wouldn’t help keep them warm though. The cold was a trial, not unlike the monsters hiding in the chambers of the Temple of Courage or the guardians around the Temple of Power. Nayru wanted to test their endurace, their dedication. 

This spring was the most exclusive, while youth were allowed to pray in the others, the Spring of Wisdom was the most dangerous of them all, for Wisdom was the most dangerous weapon to have. Those who wished to take their pilgrimage there had to prove to the priestess that they understood their choice. That they contained the wisdom to not succumb to the allure of knowledge or to the pain of the cold. 

Zelda worried that Link would be too stubborn to give up, to leave when their body hit it’s limit, not because they desired knowledge, but because that was an effect of their own relentless courage. She was afraid that they would die if someone convinced them it would help even a single person. 

The priestess of Farore took a breath of icy air before taking their first step into the spring. They managed to resist flinching back but they knew that now they were wet, it would feel even colder. So step by step, they continued into the center of the spring. Their light skirt floating to the surface and fanning out like frost forming on glass.  

Slowly, they knelt. The water rising up from their hips to their chest, making their lungs spasm and quiver against the stinging chill. Their jaw was stubbornly clenched shut to keep from chattering and their hands were clasped together to start their prayer. They only hoped they would grow used to the temperature, because they definitely had a long way to go. 

After one last shaking breath, Link started their first prayer to Nayru, a song that echoed throughout the silent temple. The acoustics of the structure allowing it to sound like they were harmonizing with themself, carrying a note for several seconds before it was allowed to die out. 

Once the first verse was finished, Link closed their eyes and succumbed to the darkness and the resonating sounds. The ancient language on their tongue was far from foreign, but they were sure a goddess would be able to pick apart their accent. Many of the sounds weren’t natural for them to make, but with years of practice, it got much easier. 

Hours had gone by, their voice wavered and got quieter as time passed. Eventually turning into a melodic hum as ther throat grew tight and rough. As the cold made their skin and bones completely numb, they knelt like a statue, mildly afraid that if they even tried to stand they would immediately stumble and fall. 

Singing turned into humming which turned into no noise at all, only the fact that they were still upright hinted Zelda to the fact that they were still awake and deep in prayer. The moment they first stopped making noise, Zelda had to resist the urge to run in and check if they were okay. They had already lasted far longer than most, even she wasn’t allowed to watch them very long, it was customary that prayer was a private affair between the worshipper and the goddess they prayed to. At least in most springs it was. 

Zelda guarded her friend, looking back and checking on them much more frequently than was likely necessary. Sure, she knew that if they passed out, she would hear the splash of the water, she would hear the water lap against the stone if they moved enough to stand up. She already had several heating potions that gradually increased in strength and several dry blankets soaking up the heat of the fire pit. She knew how to be prepared for a dedicated pilgrim, so many collapsed from the cold long before now. She wondered if Link was just too frozen in place to call for help. 

Her fears were both dispelled and confirmed when she heard a sudden crash of something into the water, the broken silence made her jerk towards the spring, only to see her colleague completely engulfed in ice water. She sprang into action, ignoring the jolt of electricity that passed through her body as she ran into the spring. 

Her heart jolted when she saw the unnatural tone to their skin and their closed eyes. She scooped their freezing body from the water and dreaded how cold and stiff they had gotten. She knew she should’ve intervened sooner… 

Despite how cold they were, Zelda clung to Link, hoping to transfer some of her natural heat to them, but she knew it would be hard when he was wet and in sopping clothes. She would have to remove them. She tried her best to not be enticed by the idea, it was a medical necessity, not an excuse to objectify them. This had never really been a problem before, she’s had to fish so many travelers out, to keep their clothes from freezing them solid, it had never really phased her like it did with Link. 

She managed to unclothe them without staring too much, though she was mortal and she had to shake her head out of it’s momentary stupor a second after removing the garments on their chest. In no time they were swadled in blankets and sitting near the fire, she just had to wait for them to wake up again before giving them the first elixir. 

Zelda had decided that the best way to warm them up would be with her assistance so she carefully sat them pressed against each other, her using her superior size to her advantage and completely enveloping their body with hers, pressing her legs against theirs and biting her tongue a little when their stone cold skin touched hers. She wrapped her arms around them and made sure that their wet hair wasn’t touching their back. Her fur cloak covered them both well enough to keep the heat contained. 

There were minutes where she could only hear her own racing heart beat. Was their condition worse than she thought? Would she have to rush him to the fairy fountain near Karariko? Would she have to find a healer? Would she be fast enough if she began her journey now? She furiously rubbed heat into Links limbs, clasping her warm hands around one of theirs at a time, it was the first time she realized that the skin of their shadow marks felt different than their Hylian colored skin. It was rough and strangely sturdy but still flexible. 

A few terrifying minutes after Zelda had started to warm them up, Link made their first noise in hours. A tiny groan. She might’ve missed it if the temple were less silent. She paused her completely selfless cuddling to grab the weakest heating elixir from it’s place at her side. It warmed the glass like some tea that had been sitting out for a few minutes, warm, but nowhere near scalding. 

“Open up pipsqeak, we have to warm you up from the inside too.” Zelda said softly, tilting their chin back to administer the potion. At this point, their eyes were open and obviously dazed, still, they seemed like they were trying to resist shivering.  

They swallowed the potion without resistance and instantly seemed to be getting better, their cheeks were pink rather than being unnaturally pale and their shivering seemed to come back, at least to the extent of being uncontrollable. Zelda automatically went back to holding them close as soon as the empty glass bottle was placed safely on the ground. 

“Am I… am I naked?” They asked between stuttering breaths. Of course that would be the first thing they were worried about…

“I’m not just going to leave you in wet clothes while you’re suffering from hypothermia Link.” She deadpanned. 

“Did you…” Their weak voice trailed off and Zelda had a feeling that the pink on their cheeks wasn’t just them recovering their body heat. 

“Yes I did. It was medically necessary.” She didn’t want the fact that she had seen their body without their permission be a point of embarrassment, she just had to act professional and detached about it. 

“Consider yourself lucky, not everyone gets the sacred honor to gaze upon-” Link announced deliriously, loud enough that there was no way that some temple attendants could be oblivious to it. 

“You can go back to sleep now.” She interrupted. “I can wake you up when you’re ready for the next elixir.” 

“Maybe next time you see me like that I won’t be almost dying.” Link suggested with a smirk that was less seductive and more silly. 

“I thought you didn’t want any rumors about us.” 

“You were right, it does get a little boring up here.” Link shrugged a little, or as much as they could in Zelda’s tight embrace. 

The next time Link woke up, they were much more coherent and somber. After their second dose of spicy elixir, she got to find out why. The juxtaposition of their waking state this time compared to the first was more than unsettling, it was hard to believe it was the same person in her arms.  

“She showed me something in there.” Their voice was much quieter than before. “I think I saw the future.” This wasn’t too uncommon, many people saw flashes of things that have yet to happen, oftentimes they were inconsequential or confusing and easily forgotten. But Link looked troubled, and She had a feeling that they got more than just a useless image for their hours of prayer. 

“What did you see?” She prompted. 

“The fall of Hyrule. I think I saw myself dying.” They said, unsettlingly vaguely before continuing, “It wasn’t me though… not really. The princess was there, but not the little girl we know… but I still knew who she was. It was… It was those sheikah machines. Something was controlling them. They were taking down Hylian soldiers like they were ants. We were trying to run but we had no choice but to fight them. She begged me to run but I couldn’t leave her alone. She tried to save me, she had the complete triforce. I think it was too late. I think I died there.” 

“That’s certainly troubling, but that doesn’t seem to occur during your lifetime, it could be hundreds or thousands of years away.” Zelda reasoned, “It’s no use to worry about it now, even if it could be changed.”

Link stayed silent, replaying the images in their mind, it had been many generations since the fall of the calamity, there weren’t many that were old enough to have lived through it, but Link knew the tales. It was clear to them now. The calamity would return someday. It could be decades or centuries or millennia, but one thing was certain, this time, they were going to fail. 

They had a feeling that they wouldn’t be able to see Impa’s spider-y army the same way ever again. Especially the single red eye, aiming right at their heart. 

Then again, though they had been looking through the eyes of Link, they had a feeling that it may not of been them. That Link held the master sword, the very sword that their brother was hiding, the heroes sword. Perhaps it wasn’t them who they saw dying, but Ravio. For some reason, that was so much worse. 

[bahbahhh]

begin again

a lot of change happens in between Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. let’s fill in the gaps. zelda pov | zelink | totk spoilers | rated T zelinkweek2023 | @zelinkcommunity [first] [previous]

also on ao3

chapter 6

for the prompt "in another life"

Without the Sheikah Slate, it will take them almost a month to travel all the way to Hateno Village. Zelda promises to write when Riju asks before they depart, and it inspires Zelda to request the same of Tauro when they reconnect with his team passing through Kara Kara Bazaar. He responds enthusiastically and offers to send her copies of all his findings. 

“Where do you port?” Tauro unclicks his notepad from his belt.

“I’m sorry, what?” 

“Oh, my apologies. It’s an expression from home. I do that when I’m excited. The thought of sharing my research justfills my sails! Ha! See, there it is again.” He chuckles, and then takes a slow, calculated breath, rolling his shoulders back into place like he’s resetting something internally. “I mean to ask, where should I send it all? Where is your home?”

She hasn’t been back to Hyrule Castle since they defeated Calamity Ganon. Akkala Citadel stands hollow like a skeleton on a hill. Gerudo Town is familiar and welcoming, but her roots remain detached. She sees flashes of the various cots she’s slept on over the past two years and the familiar lost and lonely feeling begins to pour back into the space newly created with the haircut. 

Zelda tries to fight it, reminding herself she’s lighter and that she deserves to be, and that explorers don’t need homes, even though Tauro’s just told her even he has one, but her voice gets trapped. She just stands there, silently choking, like there is a stone lodged in her throat. 

“Hateno.” Link rescues her from herself. Saves her, again.

Zelda leaves the Gerudo Desert picturing her feet dangling over the end of a too-short cot for eternity. 

—

A Rito messenger finds them just before the Dueling Peaks and delivers an update from Teba. The skies of Rito Village are finally clear. Vah Medoh rests at the bottom of Lake Totori. 

“Interesting,” Zelda says after the messenger takes off back in the direction of Tabantha. Link looks at her and tilts his head. “That they decided to use the lake, you know?” When his expression doesn’t change, she continues. “It’s just, I remember reading that the Rito were once thought to be water dwelling.”

Link raises his eyebrows. 

“Yeah, like the Zora.” Zelda nods. “Maybe the Rito and the Zora are connected? Who knows. The Royal Library contained records mostly to do with the Royal Family. Rito lifetimes are shorter than Hylian’s and their history is almost entirely passed down through oral tradition. I supposed I could ask Kaneli or Kass…” 

“What about us? Hylians? Anything curious about our ancient ancestors?” He signs. 

She feels a tug. He’s asking her for information. Wisdom. Hylia’s outstretched hands. The Zonai owl’s wide eyes. Notebooks carried like a weapon. “Not much survived from the time before the first Calamity. There was a great purging of information by the King who banished the Sheikah Technology, largely because it was all recorded bySheikah Technology. There are some clues, though, beyond what the Royal Family at the time decided to record or destroy.”

“Clues?”

“Sure. In the ancient ruins, what was passed down in secret like the Calamity Ganon tapestry. In other places, too. Like…well, here, show me the sign for ‘Hylian’, again.” Zelda nods eagerly. Link complies, framing either side of his face with his hands. He moves his hands away from his face, pointer finger and thumb gradually coming together to pinch the air several inches beyond his ears. 

“Notice anything?”

Link shakes his head. Zelda repeats the sign for him and then gestures to the space between her ear and the point where her fingers meet. His face is blank. She laughs and drops her arms. So much for being a good teacher. 

“Our ears. They used to be longer.”

—

“As you can see, my experiment was a complete success!” Purah squeals, spinning around twice before she loses her balance and topples over onto her desk. Link lunges forward to help her, but Symin is already there with both hands and a slightly exacerbated look.

“Perhaps you should wait until you’ve adjusted a bit more to wear the high heels, Ms. Director,” Symin pleads. 

“Nonsense!” Purah bats his hands away and sets her glasses back into place on her face. “The fastest way to learn is to do. And besides, you’re just saying that to keep me short and away from your honey candies! I will find them. Mark my words.”

With the heels, Purah is taller than Zelda and almost a full head taller than Link. Any trace of adolescence is gone from her face. Snow white hair curls attractively along her jawline in a way Zelda’s shorter cut has yet to discover. 

Zelda is immediately curious why Purah picked this age specifically, looking a bit older than she remembers her, but she resists the urge to fire off a dozen questions. They all pertain to technology she won’t have access to much longer. Why waste her energy stoking a dying fire? 

“It’s incredible, Purah. Congratulations.” Zelda settles on praise.

“Just in the nick of time, too. SNAP! Oh, hm, I suppose I should ditch the kiddy catchphrase. Speaking of ditching, here’s the Sheikah Slate back, Linky.” Purah tosses the Slate at him. His hands hesitate until the last second before opening to catch it.

If Purah’s chucking the Slate, she must truly be ready to move on from the Sheikah Technology. Zelda glances over her shoulder, blinking furiously to ease the sting in her eyes. In the corner of the room, the Guidance Stone is dark. 

Zelda clears her throat and forces herself to turn back. “Have you thought at all about what you’ll tell everyone?” 

“Growth spurt?” Link grunts.

“Jealous?” Purah sticks her tongue out at Link, He laughs. She hobbles around the side of the desk, wincing every few steps, and then plops into her chair. “I told Impa and Robbie of my intentions to use the Sheikah Slate before I left Kakariko.”

“Really?” Zelda blinks. “So, no asking for forgiveness?”

“I wanted to offer them the opportunity to reverse their aging as well.”

Zelda becomes aware of her heart beating. She pictures Impa, all of twenty-five again, traveling alongside her across Hyrule. “What did they say?”

“Robbie was tempted, but he has a family he loves and he does not wish to outlive them. Impa,” Purah looks at Zelda over the top of her glasses. “said she’s lived long enough and is looking forward to, and I quote, ‘the obscurity of retirement’.” She rolls her eyes and starts sorting through the papers in front of her. Zelda deflates but her disappointment diminishes quickly. She understands the appeal, having wished for the same thing upon her return from stasis. Only she wasn’t afforded the option to resign. 

And how can she forsake a duty literally in her blood?

“Think they’ll change their minds once they see you?” Link asks.

“No. Impa told me to give you the Slate once you returned so you could continue clearing the shrines. You only have Akkala and part of Central Hyrule left, right? I suppose you could stop by Robbie’s while you are up there, Linky, but they both seemed pretty confident in their answers.” Purah stands abruptly, the chair toppling over behind her. She ignores it and starts marching toward the kitchen. “Symin! Write this down: ‘Subject’s appetite remains voracious one week post re-aging.’ I suspect this will dissipate with time, but the nutritional needs following a rapid physical growth are important to document! Come Symin! Teach me how to scramble an egg. No, two eggs! I require protein!” She disappears beyond the wall and Symin follows after, shaking his head. 

Zelda glances at Link. He’s looking down at the Sheikah Slate still in his hands. The map is displayed on the screen. Only a few constellations of blue remain. She half expects him to disappear in shards of light right then, but he looks up at her with those luminous stones, and just waits. 

“Are you going to leave today?" Her mouth is dry. 

He nods and then with his free hand, ‘I’m ready.’

He’ll make quick work of what is left. His body is strong again. She’s seen to this on the journey back, advocating for rest and hot meals, trying to model what he will need to do when she’s gone, all the while recording notes about the terrain she’ll soon cross on her own. Obscurity feels like too much of a stretch in this lifetime, but who knows, with this haircut and some travelers clothes, maybe she could aim for inconspicuousness.   

“I would like to go with you…at least to Hyrule Castle, if that’s alright? To review the surviving historical archives? Please?”

He holds out his hand. The only person who is reaching for her is the one she needs to let go. She flexes her hand at her side. It’s almost time to, like sand through her fingers. And yet–

One last time, she tells herself and then she takes it. 

—

The lone shrine within Hyrule Castle is conveniently located beneath the library. Link clears the shrine and starts in the direction of the passage up to the castle main. Although she wasn’t permitted to walk them herself, she knows the castle is filled with many secret pathways, including an underground one that leads all the way out to Castle Town. They were all built as a means of evacuating members of the Royal Family during a siege, but none considered the possibility the greatest threat to Hyrule could emerge from within the castle itself. 

The air is damp and heavy. It smells – she thinks about Link and the cave shrine – funnier than it should. Musty and mineral and sickly sweet, like something is rotting behind the bedrock. She opens her mouth, a joke about not drinking cave water on her tongue, but parts of the cavern suddenly look too dark for her liking. She’s aware that there are things hidden under Hyrule Castle, her father told her as much a century ago when he was still entertaining her questions. And like most of the castle above, she was forbidden from going anywhere near the tunnels. The only difference was the rule wasn’t unique to her. The entrance to whatever lies beneath the castle was completely sealed off to everyone. Even the King. 

Zelda turns and hurries away from the smell and the dark up into the safety of the library. 

They spend most of the day there. She wants to lose herself in information, have something of value to offer back to Tauro but as she suspected, the vast majority of the texts are beyond saving. Deprived of proper preservation efforts and exposed to the elements for a century, many disintegrate in her hands. She finds a few history books in her father’s hidden study, which remained sealed and undisturbed until Link discovered it toward the end of his journey. She recognizes her father’s handwriting and surmises he was copying older texts. Perhaps a quiet duty of the King or a hobby he never shared with her? She sits in his study for a long time, reading through recorded history of the Royal Family. Ancient wars and evil Kings and legends of gods descending from massive islands in the sky. Eventually, her brain stops absorbing information and she just traces the slant of her father’s impeccable penmanship. 

Link leaves her be, disappearing into the castle to hunt down and take care of any monsters that wandered back within the walls.

He isn’t back when she finally emerges. Beams of dying sunlight stretch toward her through the gaps in the ceiling. Shadows begin to fill the sanctuary of her library, so she starts chasing the light throughout the castle. She wanders the battered hallways and lets her memory fill in the broken pieces. Her family’s colors are barely distinguishable behind the grime clinging to the rugs and torn banners along the walls. 

She realizes where her grief has been taking her right before she enters the Sanctum.  The main entrance to her chamber collapsed during the initial siege, but there is an additional entryway here, built so the Goddess-blood princess would always have access to the Sanctum for prayer. She follows the staircase up into her room and uses furniture to scale the wall up onto the upper level so she can access the bridge. 

The ceiling to her study has been blown open. Miraculously, her desk is still standing, along with a few glass vials containing remnants of century-old elixirs and dehydrated plant specimens. She drags her finger along the dust on her microscope and pushes around pages of notes. The contents have been claimed by mildew and weather and time. 

Her old diary lies open. There is a phantom pit in her stomach. The bitter aftertaste of mortification. She had been helpless to stop him when he found it in her room and brought it here to flip through it.

It was the only time she heard the Calamity laugh.

She pushes it aside and starts pulling open the drawers. Quills, dried up wells of ink, and charcoal for sketching. She retrieves the handful of ancient screws and gears she hid in the back from her father. Beneath them, her secret journal. Not her private feelings and unfiltered thoughts, but her notes on the Sheikah Technology. Pages upon pages of research, theories, and data. 

Of course, it’s completely intact. 

“Hey,” Link speaks up from behind her. She doesn’t jump. She knew he would appear eventually. “We should make a fire. It’s getting dark. We can leave in the morning, unless you want to–”

“No, I’m good,” Zelda grabs the notebook and a few other loose documents and pushes it all into his hands. “Here. For the fire.”

He frowns at her. She pulls open her adventure pouch, fishes out her Restoration Summit proposal, folds it, and adds that to the pile, too. 

“Just burn it.” She hears her father in the harshness of her tone. There is ink on her fingers. 

—

Her mood continues to sour as they clear the rest of the shrines in Central Hyrule. The guardian team has been busy consolidating all the guardian parts the Gorons don’t want, so when Link returns from clearing the shrines in the Lost Woods and Hyrule Ridge, all he has to do is point and click. She’s quiet and reserved, but no one seems to notice. There is an excitement building, a collective sense of accomplishment as they near the end of the clean up. A group cheers them on when they depart from the main camp. Link leads the horses in the general direction of the road. It will either take them back to Akkala or the Great Plateau. 

They board the horses at the Riverside Stable. The golden horse pushes his nose into Zelda’s shoulder and she smiles, scratching the spot behind his ears he likes. She has yet to name him, but it’s getting hard to imagine herself traveling without him. It would make obscurity impossible, inconspicuousness a challenge, but he’s a strong horse and loyal, following her command over Link’s now.

Link looks southwest. In the distance, she can see the rise of the Great Plateau on the horizon. He reaches for her hand. They are going to fast travel right into the Shrine. Into the maw of the magic that healed his broken body. Trapped his soul.

You don’t have to do this alone.

She can’t go back on her word. Not now.

“Last time,” she promises herself and reaches for his hand.

He must think she’s offering comfort, because he smiles.  

—

They make camp outside the cave when it's all said and done. Tomorrow, they will fast travel to Akkala and part ways. He’ll head north to clear the rest of the shrines and meet up with the guardian team there, and she’ll reconnect with Hudson in Tarrey Town to talk through his formal proposal for the next phase of the reconstruction.  

Link’s cooking one of her favorite dishes: a simple meat and rice bowl. She glares at the cooking pot and watches the water start to boil. He pulls out the ingredients, carefully drops them in, and starts absentmindedly humming a cheerful, light melody as he stirs. She’s noticed he does this whenever he cooks. They are all wordless songs she knows she’s never heard before, and yet somehow, she instantly recognizes them. Could hum along if she would only let herself. 

“What’s the song?” She asks.

He looks up at her through the curtain of his bangs. In the stillness, shadows dance across his skin in the firelight and he briefly wears different versions of the same face. 

Just like the songs she’s never heard, somehow, she recognizes each one.

“The song you are humming,” She fails to keep the edge out of her tone. “What is it called?”

He shrugs, sets down the spoon, and signs, ‘I hear them in my head. Sometimes when I come upon a new place, or in my dreams. I’ve asked Kass and he says he never heard any of them from his teacher.’

Zelda softens a little. She pulls her knees up into her chest and wraps her arms around them. “Kondo. The court poet’s name was Kondo. He was a Sheikah.”

Zelda waits for Link to continue, but he’s fallen silent and still. Likely to allow her a moment with the memory of her former friend. It only makes her anger swell. She hugs her legs tighter, trying to steel herself against his kindness. It will only make it harder to let him go when it’s time to. “Does Kass have any theories? About where these songs come from?”

‘He thinks I was a musician in another life. Who knows, maybe I’ll take up an instrument when this is all done.’ He takes up the spoon and resumes his stirring.

She narrows her eyes and looks up at the clouds forming overhead. Storm clouds. In the distance, a ribbon of gray scales and lightning weaves across the sky toward them. Farosh. Perhaps summoned like the clouds by Link’s innocent humming, or, more likely, completely unaware of them or Hyrule’s restoration, or the passing of time itself. 

Zelda thinks about Link’s final letter. About how seeing a dragon, this dragon, is what gave him the strength to meet his destiny; restored his faith in this land and the people living in it. She wishes the sight of Farosh could do the same for her. Or perhaps the memory of Naydra swirling free over her head on Mount Lanayru, or Dinraal’s fire blazing over the Spring of Power visible from the window of her room in Tarrey Town. 

But the dragons don’t bring her comfort. They don’t inspire her. All she sees are symbols. Misery like lightning. Icy blue loneliness. Fiery rage. 

“You should go,” she blurts. 

Link looks up at her. 

“I can make my way back on my own.” 

He laughs. 

“I’m…I’m serious.” Zelda lowers her legs and curls her fingers into fists at her sides.

He’s not even looking at her. His attention is back on the food. He signs with one hand in her direction. ‘I’m not leaving you.’

“Why not?” Every word stings pouring from her lips, but the pain is liberating. It fuels her determination to keep going. She raises her voice, practically shouting. “You should!”  

Link drops the spoon into the pot and glares at her. Finally. 

“What? What’s the difference? Tomorrow, in a week, in a month? You-your–” Zelda waves her hands, trying to catch the perfect word in the air in front of her, like a firefly in the dark. She growls impatiently and continues, “you are freefrom your appointment.”

‘Appointment?’

She throws her hands up. “I have no intentions of taking the throne once Hyrule is restored, therefore, I am no longer in need of a knight.” 

“I’m not a knight,” he says.

“No. You’re not.” Pain rips at her stomach, threatening to tear her wide open. 

He stares at her. 

“Stop looking at me! Go.”

He doesn’t move.

“Fine. Fine! I’ll go.” She rises to her feet and dusts herself off. He stands with her. Unbearable heat builds in the back of her throat. She lifts her hand to push him away and immediately notices the scar. 

It’s glowing. 

Zelda erupts like molten rock from Death Mountain. Like the Calamity did into the sky that day all those years ago and ten thousand years before that. Something unchecked and vengeful and ugly rises up the darkest parts of her. 

If a dragon is required for him to realize what’s needed of him, then, so be it, she’ll become one.

“The Master Sword is gone. You have not worn the Champion’s tunic since Calamity Ganon’s defeat. You recommended the destruction of the only source of value I had to offer Hyrule.” She aims her finger at him and jabs. “You did that to me.” She heaves the last word at him and takes a few steps back, circling, and then gets right back in his beautiful face. “I will help rebuild Hyrule in penance for my failures, I’ll play Princess again, since it’s a title I am unable to retire from. That I can’t just put back, like a sword.  I-I will commit myself to research and uncover the secrets of the past and record them better so future generations can actually know what is important, instead of wasting time…wasting time…”

Tears stream down her face and collect under her chin. “You’re free, Link. You can let me go, too.” She mimics the gesture he showed her over a year ago. Invisible sand passing through her trembling fingers. “You have to do it. I’m not powerful or courageous. I am cursed with knowing and I know this about myself. It’s the last thing I’ll ever–” Her voice hitches.”I’ll ever ask-ask of you. Please, because if you keep looking at me like this I might—I can’t do it myself. Just let me go.”

Link stands there in the aftermath of her diatribe, like one of the tattered flags in Hyrule Field that somehow survived Calamity Ganon’s attack and the lonely century that followed. He’s wearing a rare expression of shock, probably processing the completeness of his freedom now that she’s violently discharged him. 

He opens his mouth and then closes it. Lifts his hands and drops them. He does this a few more times. She wants to grab him, but she has no right to reach for him now. She starts wiping her face, trying to make herself look less pathetic, less in need of rescue, so he’ll turn and go. 

“I won’t do that,” Link says it out loud, but he’s signing at the same time. His hands shake with urgency as he does. He signs the same words over and over again until she stops wiping her face and counters.  

“W-why not?” 

Link drops his hands. His voice sinks into a whisper. She has to lean forward to catch it. “I want to be with you.”

Without the rain, she can’t tell if she’s manipulating time again. She feels like she’s suspended in the air. Like she’s trapped in stasis again. “You what?” 

“I put the Master Sword back to heal it so I could protect you. I don’t wear the Champion’s Tunic because it is precious to me and I’m afraid I’ll ruin it more than I already have. I recommended we destroy the Sheikah Technology to freeyou from the past. I will not let you go. If I wanted to do that, I would have left after we first got to Kakariko. I chose to stay.” He takes a step toward her. His entire body is trembling. He palms his throat when his voice won’t come any more no matter how hard he tries to summon it. He looks her directly in the eyes, tears swimming in his own, and moves his hands slowly, clearly. ‘I choose you. Do you choose me?’

“Y…you choose me?”

He nods. 

“Why-why did you say anything? Do anything? All this time, I thought–” She shakes her head in disbelief. He reaches out and grabs her hands. His current explodes across her skin until every inch of her is buzzing. He’s Farosh climbing out of the spring, a candle in the dark, the taste of magic on her tongue. 

“Important things take time.” He gave her the answer months ago. “I was waiting until you were ready. Everyone is. Hyrule sees all you’ve sacrificed, all you’ve done. We all see you and we are willing to wait for you.”

Her ears are ringing. Farosh glides across the sky above their heads. She’s never known the beauty of time granted, only the agony of it passing too quickly or the suffocation when it stops completely. All she’s ever known is pressure, so governed by it, she’s created it all herself in the vacuum that was left inside her when it was taken away. 

Hyrule hasn’t been trying to bury her with the Sheikah Technology. It’s been making room for her. All of her.

“Are you ready?” Link asks. 

Zelda looks at him. He waits. The electricity she feels between their hands is visible for a moment across his skin, and his eyes, those luminous stones, they don’t shine. They burn.  

“I am,” she says. 

Link lets out a single, cathartic sob. It’s heavy with breath, like he’s been holding it in for a hundred years. Like he was actually worried she might need even more time.

He releases her hands and starts to sign something, but then stops himself.  He pauses, scanning her face, and then steps into her–impossibly, extraordinarily close. He grabs her face with both hands, fingers sliding insistently into her hair under her braids, and kisses her.

[theodora3022]

Bloody Rose(Sebastian Michaelis x Vampire F!reader)

Request: Sabastian with a female vampire s/o? Can be yandere or not! You choose.

Notes: I made this in headcanons form and I’m typing on mobile during witching hours, so bear with me dear anon-

I decided to go with fluff since I am in a soft mood today~~

Warnings: Fluff, mentions of blood

To others, you were a tailor owning a small haute couture shop, a spinster who make her living by making outfits. But they won’t know you been doing this since the Georgian times.

You move from county to county, around England every decade or so, to avoid suspension. Luckily no vampire hunters has ever been on your tail: you consider yourself as a good subject to the crown despite being a blood drinker. You only consume animal blood, which made you a harmless vegetarian. Being a forever maiden is not unpleasant by any means, apart from being banished from sunlight. You miss being able to run around in the sun freely. When you do go out during a sunny day you cover yourself in fabric as much as possible, resulting you with overly pale skin.

Contrary to common belief, you slept until the afternoon, opening up the store even during the day. You had forced yourself to change your biological routine to fit in the human society. Although your bed resembles a traditional coffin in shape, it is never an actual one. The mirrors in your shop were not backed by silver, so you can still see your reflections.

You happened to be at late Victorian London when a mysterious murderer decides to drain the blood of thier victims like a vampire would, how unfortunate.

You were one of the suspects, so Sabastian and his lord were obligated to pay you a visit. Although they did not put you as priority to begin with: you never done things like this. 

You welcomed them to your store with a polite smile and warm greetings, as any good saleswoman would. 

Ever since transforming, you had not drank a drop of human blood. However, you can still smell the scent of their blood even through skin. It feels like...a natural perfume to you, to describe it at best. Some are sweeter then others, like tempting sweet delights, and you had to make sure you are well fed before going near them. 

That little lord’s blood is sweet and tempting. The butler, however, his blood just...is that even blood? You thought to yourself. It reminds you of the mighnight, danger lurking underneath the peaceful surface.This man is no ordinary human, you can sense that much. You had never delt with a demon before, therefor your knowledge is rather limited, only from books and theaters. 

Vampires are demons are cut from the same cloth, in a way right? Both can only venture in the shadows for eternity, trying to get by without being slain by those self righteous dastards. Sebastian had met some of your kind over the centuries, albiet none of them are as lovely as you are. You still act like a young human woman, if not for your overly pale skin you would be considered as normal. He wonders what made you this way, as all vampires, save a selected few, are humans before something happened. You seem like a kind lady, not one of those blood-hungry lowlifes he had seen before. 

You showed Ciel your collection, took his measurements when he demanded, never flinching away from the young lord’s cold attitude. When you went into the inner chamber to retrive more material choice, Ciel decided you are most likely not the murderer they are looking for, and Sebastian agrees. There is not a single scent of human blood on you or anywhere in sight, as demons can smell such things even one uses the finest soap to cover the traces.  Even though you are a vampire, if you are harmless to others Ciel is not intersted in fighting you(he has a demon for butler, so?).

“But she is a fine tailor, right milord? Maybe you can just make this a normal shopping trip.” What an unsual person you are, thought Sebastian. He might just take a little more time to observe you. It has been forever since he met another immortal being that does not irritates him.

“Very well. This would not be a complete waste of time then. I need a new suit for the social season anyway.” The young man tsked.

When they asks you to deliver the order yourself, you were hesitant about going outside. Your ususal customers send their servents to collect their orders, as you insisted so. You know what sunburns can do to you, but they offered you a down payment you cannot refuse. It is a risk you are willing to take. Even vampires needs gold to survive, if you do not wish to massacre humans for food.

The moment you stepped onto the estate, covered in a long hooded cloak and gloves, you can sense great calamity has occured in this location rather recently. But that is none of your concerns, the customer’s private life is nothing to pry about.

The servents...they are an odd flock, to say the least. They might seem clumsy or even impotent, but you know that butler knows better then to hire three imbeciles.  

After you made your delivery, Sebastian insists on you staying for the afternoon tea. You wanted to decline, since normal food has been tasting like wet paper ever since that awful day, but you find it hard to say keep saying no to such a comely man. He is the most goregous male you ever seen, and you say that as an immortal. The term “devilishly handsome” is like a tailor made suit for him. 

To your surprise, you can faintly taste the refreshement’s fruity flavours. When you were human yourself you have always loved food, missing it much when all you can taste is blood. So you helped yourself to quite a few tarts and biscuits, not knowing the demon had added special ingredients just for your vampire taste buds. You were so focused on your plate that you missed Sebastian’s calculating smile. 

That esclated rather quickly, soon you found yourself promising to tailor more clothes for Earl Phantomhive, therefore being on their premise more. 

Sebastian would always treat you to a plate of mouth-watering refreshments before you depart. Soon you find yourself answering his somewhat intrusive questions, as it is only fair to give him some compensation for those delicious treats.

The questions are surfaces ones at first. What is your favorite color or your preferred weather. Then to more personal territory, such as the reason behind your spinsterhood or what in a man that attracts you the most. You would blush madly, a feeling you have not felt in years fills your empty soul, and tell him your little answers.

How endearing. Compare to werewolves who behaves like canines, vampire leans closer to the feline side. You reminds Sebastian greatly of the black cat he encountered last spring. Your nonchalant and cheerful attitude are identical to the lovely creature. Oh and how he loves petting her soft fur. He wonders how your hair would feel under his hands. He initially might just be curious of how an odd vampire you are, but now the demon had found you to be quite an entertaining presence.

It has been so long since you had any friends, so you opened up to him quickly, disregarding the risks. You even revealed your identity to the man in black after he swears on his heart to not tell a soul. 

“My entire family was slaughtered by venegeful vampires. My father used to work as a vampire hunter for the mad King, therefore he made enemies of many. Ironically I survived, only to found out I turned into this. A creature who can only hide in the shadows forever. I swore I would never be like those blood suckers, I would never kill someone just to saitate my blood lust. Thank you Sabastian, for all those delicious cakes. They made me feel human agian once more. Also thank you for listening to my rambles, it has been so many years I confided in someone.” So you where a noble lady once. That is where your fine but antiquated manners originates from.

What a calamity you had suffered, yet you remain strong and lighthearted nonetheless. Moving from place to place, afraid to be burnt for your youthful appearance.You deserve to be cherished as the treasure you cleary are. No more hiding and running, not if he can help it.

You gladly accepted Lord Phantomhive’s offer to serve as the household’s tailor, the pay is generous and working for one person greatly reduce the risk of being discovered. Plus you get to spend more time with your new friend Sebastian! It is an offer you cannot turn down.

Sebastain is in a contract right now, but Ciel could only live so long. Prior to meeting you, he never thought about the future after his contract is completed. He imagined the two of you traveling across the European contient as friends, or something more, for the rest of your infinate lives. He has always been alone whenever he was not in a contract with humans, but the idea of being with someone forever is rather appealling to the demon. 

Even though he does not let his emotions discract him from his duties, you can still feel how he smiles whenever you enter the room. You would curl up your lips jovially in return, sometimes even teases him for having a charming smile. 

For now, Sebastian would be your good friend, always lend an ear to you for anything, or offer his shoudler should you need it, as long it does not get in the way of his duties to his liege. But who knows what would happen after the contract is completed? The world is yours to explore, with infinate amount of time, with him by your side.

[botwstoriesandsuch]

Master Kohga Age of Calamity Trailer Analysis

I’m a speedy boi time for some thoughts on today’s new trailer

Ok first off THIS SHOT. Very important. Look at the Sheikah Slate filter. Last trailer I was able to write it off as some thematic choice since Robbie and Purah were Ancient Sheikah Scientists, but THIS trailer does not have that same connection. Couple this with this screenshot [credit to @rachelsmusicallife​ thanks for pointing this out to me!]

I’m under the impression that these cutscenes might be part of an overarching theme of reliving memories through the Sheikah Slate. Kinda fleshed out out theory on how this might be related to eggbot here.

“Hehehehe... Look. What. You. Did...”

The camera motion here is handheld (yes I know it’s not literally handheld but it has that feel) with Master Kohga here literally holding the camera. I’m assuming because this scene is from the direct POV of another character, perhaps Link. Which would make sense, since he is apparently accusing us of doing something. The lighting is also super weird, we’re in the Yiga Hideout (the area with the large pit where we fight Kohga in botw) but the sun is just setting with a shroud on the area. Although, I can’t exactly place the time of day because I’ve been through the hideout my fair share and no time of the day really lines up with this scene (because of the snowy Gerudo Highlands in the background, so the glistening of the sun is different) 

This is by the Great Plateau. I’m thinking near the Outpost Ruins considering this isn’t Gatepost Town since they Great Plateau’s entrance is not in view. In fact, I could probably specifically place this right....HERE

Flag poles, juts in the Plateau walls, road directly perpendicular to the Plateau. If my three years of staring at the Botw world is correct, [please Nintendo it’s the only thing I’m good at] then I’d say they’re at the Outpost Ruins. The only thing is that the houses seen here are mainly wood, while the ruins have clear stone walls

Well...I don’t mind.

This is not Master Kohga. Different voice actor, new character design, new villain! I’m assuming he’s some sort of second in command or captain, given he duel wields Windcleavers. Also not how he doesn’t have a scar on his mask in this scene

Further note, look at that chimney!!! I love that chimney, I haven’t seen that chimney before... it’s in a style that I can only really place in Castle Town, but the location is clearly not there, so best assumption is that this is another prominent Hylian Village. The Hateno style archway at the bottom right seems to support so. The house shingles definitely mean this isn’t an outpost or military ruin...[this weekend I’d love to hope into the game myself and place it exactly] the background cliffs mean this isn’t Gatepost Town either. The rock formations look like a turn by Scout’s Hill, of the western breach by the Outskirts Stable...I wouldn’t put the Rauru Settlements out of the question either. All in all, I’m hesitant to connect this scene with the other scene because one clearly has a dirt path, and the other a stony road. Plus the house shingles are different

Ok I can pretty much place this scene exactly. At least the bottom one, the top one is a separate scene that doesn’t flow into the other one (you can just tell by the framing and continuity) 

You can see the Great Plateau entrance, the line of sight is at an angle, placing this backflipping Yiga man somewhere here. Only inconsistency would be the trees, but perhaps it’s just grown over after a hundred years, you can even see a building in the middle of this forest in center left of the map.

Link is chasing Backflip Benny over here through to the exit of town, (you can see the town entrance/exit archway on the bottom right, similar to the one seen in the chimney pic) AND you can see that Backflip Benny also has a fresh cut on his mask, presumable gained after fighting Link, which is why he teleports away at the end. 

So that places these two shots definitely after whatever conversation happened on the roof. Yay for timelines! 

The stupendous Chief of the Yiga Clan! Master Kohga!

This takes place at some ruins of some sort. The rocks on the top right actually look Edlin or Akkala, but that might just be the lighting. The stony slabs and etches actually remind be of Zonai, but that doesn’t really seem right...I’ve never seen those designs before I don’t think...you can see from the way the stone slabs are angled that they lead to a circular pattern. It could be the circular pit at the Yiga Hideout, but that area is just sand, not stone. The smooth, plain style of these ruins is actually more in line with Gerudo Ruins so that might actually be the case; we know the Yiga have a history of taking Gerudo Ruins as their own (The Yiga Hideout is canonically an old Gerudo architectural dig)

I’ll also note that this scene has the same lighting as the first shot, and the last two shots which we’ll see later. 

*maniacal laughter* Oo? TWO new characters I see???? O????? 

This is definitely the Yiga hideout, you can tell from the wall design, plus the lanterns, and the general comfort of Master Kohga and Backflip Benny in the background. But, elephant in the room...who are YOU dear sir? 

I’ll talk more about them later, but just keep that Calamity glowing thing in their hand in mind for later.

He’s gonna kill you all...to DEATH! 

This is Master Kohga speaking again, if you couldn’t tell from his....very dramatic and in character dialogue. Maybe this game will actually make me like him now alsdfkjsdlk

Obvious is obvious, this is the Yiga Hideout again, similar lighting to the first opening shot, I’m thinking this might be sometimes before it though, considering he has his minions around. Maybe Link fights off the goons, which prompts him to ask “Look what you did” but we can’t know for sure. 

Also there’s grass? So maybe that other shot isn’t the hideout. Also a spotlight???!? Jazz hands?!?!? Leave it to Kohga to defy the fourth wall huh.

Also I haven’t mentioned this yet but NEW MUSIC it’s so good aughghug I can’t wait.

And...we end on another Sheikah Slate fade out on this mysterious new character. Eyeliner says: Avatar Kyoshi

Ok but seriously I have THOUGHTS!! So firstly, they’re obviously working with the Yiga Clan, perhaps they’re the reason why the Yiga are in the Gerudo to begin with considering they have the Gerudo symbol on their cape. [Cause am I the only one that thought it was weird that the disgraced Sheikah people are living in Gerudo, and not like...closer to Kakariko, or their suposedl arch nemesis of the Royal Hylian family?] Also note that this scene most definitly takes place in the Lost Woods. Perhaps they need something with the Master Sword...or are ambushing someone...hmm..

Based on that rock formation in the background I’m thinking somewhere in one of these three general areas but I really need to just pick up my switch sometimes soon and find it exact...so bare with me it’s only from memory but I’m pretty sure of myself when it comes to locations

My money’s on this being the true mastermind and antagonist, notice how their eye circlet is the same of that of the Calamity goop eye 

This person has...yellow? Brown? Hazel eyes? And light hair with a braid? I don’t think they’re Sheikah, but definetly not Gerudo either. So that leaves them to be some Hylian. A Hylian with an evil Ancient Core. 

[It’s definitly some form of Giant Ancient Core. But there’s runes on the side of it that I have yet to translate]

Thinking on their idenity for another second, you’ll notice that they wear a black robe, but their cape with the Gerudo crest is actually torn and tattered. So, perhaps they were disgraced? A runaway? Or perhaps it’s a disguise, perhaps a spy playing both roles on either side of the war? 

There’s an old theory that the fortune teller who initally told King Rhoam of the prophecy was actually part of the Yiga Clan. Seeing as, their actions led the King to dig up the Guardians, and cement the deaths of thousands of people. So, putting points in order here

Evil Magic dude

Works for the Yiga

Has connected to people in power 

Has an evil Ancient Core

Could it be that this mastermind fully knew that the Guardians would eventually be corrupted? Could they be the “fortune teller” that encouraged the King to excavate the Sheikah Technology? Sheikah Technology, that would be an insult to the Yiga Clan considering their people were banished for creating them in the first place? Hmmm....

Final NOTE! Remember that one scene in the other HWAOC trailer with Zelda holding a mysterious object? 

Hmm...Sheikah Scientists, weird egg robot, and now an evil Ancient Core...you may also remember Daruk mentioning in dialogue that something was wrong with Rudania...and cutscenes from Urbosa and Revali might point to the Yiga being close to the Divine Beasts...lots to chew on. I’m thinking the plot of this game will heaviliy revolve on the idea that there was some sort of plan that led to Ganon corrupting the Guardians and Divine Beasts, but we’ll see!

[ainarosewood]

Ruminate

FFXIVWrite2021 Day 7 Prompt Speculate

Raha found himself pacing restlessly across the floor of the Umbilicus, his mind racing. The Miqo’te had found this room to be the best suited as a central focus to work the Towers systems. So far the first part of the plan worked: the Sycrus Tower had successfully crossed the rift and made it to the First. Albeit a hundred years earlier than expected but the Ironworks Engineers had said that their calculations were rough at best given that such a trip had never before been thought of much less achieved.

I may be early but that does afford me some time, he told himself, Time to figure out how in Seven Hells I am going to bring the Warrior of Light here?

He had already determined, thanks to the refugees that had come to him, that the key in banishing the Light was slaying the Light Wardens. He also suspected that their influence was akin to a Primals and therefore the Echo would protect Rhel’a from its corrupting influence. At least he hoped it would. All that remained was figuring out how to pull the Keeper here to the First.

In theory I could use the Tower again to jump to the precise time before the release of the Black Rose he thought but...no that wouldn't work because I cannot guarantee that such a jump could be the exact time giving the variance that has been detected.

“Perhaps I could use the Towers capabilities of travel in some other manner,” he murmured

The question was how? That he could reach Rhel across the rift with the Towers temporal engine he did not doubt but the question was how could he then pull the Miqo’te across the rift at all much less safely.

Raha stopped pacing and flopped down pulling one of the many books he had piled here in the Umbilicus hoping one might give him some spark of inspiration. He felt a pang of grief as he realized that the one he had picked up was one of Rhel’s journals from his travels. Even with this remarkable endeavor leading him to travel well beyond anywhere he had dreamed would be a thing it was still a hard thing to accept that the gentle Keeper was gone.

Shaking his head and shoving down his grief he opened the journal knowing full well that the other Miqo’te’s travels had been vast and maybe just maybe his spark could come from something recorded from them. He began reading one of the passages,

I cannot deny the relief I felt as I saw her appear from that burst of aether. The Seedseer’s and I felt a great sense of triumph that we had managed to have the Elementals recognize her and manage to pull her from the Lifestream. I almost wept with joy as I looked upon Shtola’s prone form. She was alive, she hadn’t given her life to buy me time to escape. Hopefully soon the others could be located as well.

Raha stopped flipping back a few pages to get the full of the information involved with this particular passage,

I can scarcely believe we may have some information on what happened to one of the Scions. It seems that Y’shtola managed to escape from the waterway beneath Ul’dah by means of a spell known as Flow. I had to get Urianger to explain to me exactly what that entailed for I had never heard of it. It was the precursor to the Teleportation spell that is in current use. A far more dangerous one. He seems convinced that she survived its use but is now trapped in the twisting vortex of the Lifestream. But in that there is hope, it seems her aetheric trail led to the Shroud and the Elementals could in theory help us, I hope.

“Flow,” Raha mused, “Hmm, no not it by itself that is too unpredictable. Maybe….portions of it combined with Teleport. But that would require some sort of beacon….”

His ears shot straight up; he had the beacon right here, the Tower itself. The entire thing was a conduit for massive amounts of aether. In theory the Auracite of the Tower could be considered another form of crystal not unlike an Aetheryte.

“But he’d have to attune….wait no he wouldn't.” Excitement began to fill Raha; he may at last be coming up with some form of solution to getting Rhel’a to the First.

The Sycrus Tower had, back in the height of Allag, not only been a beacon that transmitted vast amounts of energy gathered from the sun to the rest of the Empire but also a restricted research facility, one of the most restricted. Therefore anyone entering the Tower would be recorded and documented by the internal systems.

“Not to mention he fought several battles here which means his blood was spilled on parts of the Tower and his aetheric use would have been detected….”

Which meant in theory Rhel’a was already ‘attuned’ to the Tower’s crystal. The internal systems would easily identify and recognize the man’s aetheric and physical signature. Which meant a beacon for the spell to find.

“Now comes the fun part,” the Seeker told himself ruefully, “Forming the spell.”

Setting aside the journal he began digging though the mountain of books he had there in the Umbilicus grateful that he and the Ironworks crew had the forethought to take as many books as could be found on many different subjects. And rejoicing in the fact that thanks to Urangier’s cleverness the wards on the Waking Sands had hidden the place from looters and all of the Scions records and copies from the Sharlyan library had remained there intact. He had of course brought all of those back to the Tower with him and in turn to the First.

He gathered as many books as possible that he had on aetherology and spell work. He had never really been one to use magic much and to be honest had it not been for Krile’s nagging he never really would have tried to get so much as a base knowledge of it.

But, now he was eternally grateful to the Lalafell for her stubbornness and insistence. Had she not been he never would have dared attempting to make much less combine spells for any reason.

Frowning for a moment he also realized that just Teleport and Flow alone may not be enough of a basis to attempt such. He began going through more of the Scion’s old trove of books and realized another piece of the puzzle that might help. The information on how the beastribes summoned their Primals.

“It could be said I am summoning Rhel….” he stated softly, “But in a slightly different manner. I could probably use some of the base structure of a summons with elements of both Flow and Teleport woven in somewhere…”

His voice trailed off as he sat down and began studying all that he had grabbed. This was going to by far be one of the most complex things he had ever attempted. 

 Raha first began brushing up on Aetherology and Magic use in general knowing that his half remembered, cursory knowledge would not be enough to attempt a feat such as this.

“If only you could see me now Krile,” he said sadly, “You would be standing there with that knowing smirk reminding me that you were right all along.”

He regretted not listening more intently to her lectures, it would have made this easier. But he had been a half cocked fool that thought he knew it all and didn't need what would be considered trivial in his opinion.

“And yet I should have known better. After all, all of Allag’s technology was infused with magic in various ways. Hmm I will also have to somehow tie the spell into the workings of the temporal engine….best look at some of the engineering manuals as well….”

He also realized that he would need vast quantities of aether to even attempt this. Which meant he would also have to recalibrate the Tower’s Aetheric Absorption systems. Due to the Lights dominance the aether from the sun would be too feeble to actually call upon.

But, I could reset the Tower to absorb the ambient Light aspected aether that surrounds us in abundance and potentially aid in defending the Tower and the surrounding settlement along with the barriers. If the Light’s influence is weaker it might just help cause trouble for the Eaters and give the Tower ample supplies of energy.

He had a lot of work ahead of him. Attempting to create something he had no way of knowing would even work. But he was not about to let that stop him. He had already known he had an example to look to. One that often made the impossible possible. A man who never gave up no matter how hard the road was.

“And I will save you old friend,” Raha murmured, “Even if it is the last thing I do. For those who sent me here, for those who lamented your loss. For your sake and theirs I will stop the Eight Umbral Calamity.”

[pinkydee10]

Ok I honestly wanted to leave Gomi and Wareta as missing. But I agree with Anonymous, Wareta should come back home! So I made a sequel to the last Dadvali post;

“Now Wareta, it is time for you to travel to Rito Village and request to be enlisted into their troops, understand?”

An now much older Wareta grunted and firmly nodded. An now elderly Gomi smirked before continuing.

“Although the Calamity fell almost a year ago, I am sure they will still be as eager as ever to accept new warriors.”

“Yes sir”

“Now, what do you do if they refuse to let you join?”

“Defeat their captain and make them beg”

“And once you join?”

“Work my way up their ranks and eventually take control”

Gomi chuckled. “Very good, my warrior. Now, do you remember what I told you about them?”

Wareta nodded. “They are nothing but rude, spineless cuccos that care only for themselves”

Gomi grinned. “Yes. Now, go get them, my warrior”

Wareta traveled to Rito Village, alone. The guards didn’t recognized her as Revali’s lost daughter, only seeing her as “a strange, rude female Rito traveler”. But Kaneli did.

“Wareta? Is that really you?”

Wareta blinked in surprise. “You...you know my name?”

Kaneli chuckled. “Of course I do. What kind of uncle would I be if I didn’t?” He then frowned at what he said next. “You wouldn’t remember me though, you had only just broken from your egg before you disappeared.”

Wareta raised an eyebrow at that. “Disappeared? What are you-?”

She was cut off by someone entering the hut. It was Harth.

Harth and Wareta stared at each other in confusion. “Dad, who is this?”

Kaneli chuckled. “Harth, I would like you to meet your older cousin. This is Wareta.”

Harth gaped in surprise. “You’re Wareta?”

“Yes, I am” Wareta answered, fully expecting any reaction other then her wing being grabbed and shook.

“It’s great to finally meet you.” Harth said, releasing Wareta’s wing after a moment. “Dad and Uncle Revali often told us about you. They left out some details out at that moment of course. But either way, it’s great to have you back.”

Wareta blinked in surprise. “Us?”

“Yes, Teba and Kass. Your little brothers” Kaneli told her. He then turned back to Harth. “My son, how about you go fetch them? I’m sure they will be very eager to meet their older sister after all these years.”

Harth nodded and took off. Leaving a very confused Wareta behind with the elder.

As they waited for Harth to return with Teba and Kass, Kaneli explained to Wareta everything she missed. The grief Revali felt after her disapperance, how Teba and Kass were born, and the sacrifices the Revali made before he fell to the Calamity. The only thing Kaneli left out was the true nature of her disappearance, only because he thought she already knew.

Wareta was really surprised. This certainly wasn’t anything like the “rude, spinless cuccos” Gomi had told her about. 

Wareta stared at Teba and Kass, and they stared back. They didn’t now how long they had been like that before Kaneli spoke up.

“Now, as much as I love long reunions, I think it is very rude to just stare.”

“Oh! Right” Teba cleared his throat. “Hello there, my name is Teba. It is nice to finally meet you, Wareta.”

“And my name is Kass” Kass added with a smile. 

Wareta looked between the two Ritos, unsure if she should return the greeting or judge them. Her lessons pointed her towards judging them.

“You are blind” Wareta told Teba flatly before turning to Kass. “And you are not experienced as speaker.”

Teba and Kass looked at each other confused.

“Yes, well, I suppose it is rather obvious.” Kass admitted, laughing nervously. “Teba here has been blind since birth. I myself did not utter my first words till around the age of six. Even so, we work through it.”

Wareta huffed and turned back to Kaneli. “I wish to go train. I will return at sunrise to accept your answer to my request to enlist in your troops.”

“I can take to Flight Range” Teba offered. “It was dad’s training ground, I’m sure it-”

“That won’t be necessary, thank you” Wareta interrupted. “I do not require help”

After Wareta left, Kaneli explained to Teba and Kass that she had grown up under Gomi’s influence so it will take some time for her to come around, but assured them that she will eventually and to not give up on her. 

Wareta returned the next day for the answer she was hoping for. Kaneli told her to go meet with Teba for the answer, considering he was the current leader of their troops. 

Wareta landed at Flight Range and quickly spotted Teba talking with Tulin before the young Rito flew towards the targets. Teba heard her as she got closer and smiled at her. 

“Hello Wareta, I was wondering when you’d show up.” Teba greeted. 

“My answer, do you have it?” Wareta asked flatly.

“Of course. I would love to have my older sister fight along side me.” Teba answered.

Wareta nodded and was about to leave when Tulin called over to his father.

“Hey dad! Watch this!” Tulin called before doing a few loops while still in the air.

“Nice one Tulin! You’re doing great!” Teba encouraged.

Wareta raised an eyebrow. “I thought you couldn’t see?”

Teba nodded. “I can’t” 

“Then how do you know he’s doing good?”

“Because I can hear him as he flies in and out of the wind currents.” Teba explained. “Tulin isn’t exactly quiet either.”

Tulin proved his point by bursting out laughing before flying over to them and landing. His smile dropped when he saw Wareta.

“Dad, whose that?”

Teba crouched down to Tulin’s height and placed a hand on his back. “Tulin, this is your aunt, Wareta. She’s mine and uncle Kass’ sister.”

Wareta was still trying to process the fact that she was a sister, then she found out she was also a aunt. She was also struggling why Gomi would tell her false, negative things about the other Rito.

I imagine when she found that Kass wasn’t a warrior, she would be very confused and upset. Until Kass explains

“What are you doing?”

Kass stopped mid-song and turned to see Wareta standing behind him, confused. “Oh, hello Wareta. I apologize, I didn’t hear you approach.”

“What are you doing?” Wareta repeated. “Why aren’t you training? And what is that thing?”

“Oh this? This is my accordion.” Kass explained, indicated his signature instrument in his hands. “You see, I’m a musician, not a skilled warrior like you and Teba. Though I can assure you, I can still put up a fight if needed.”

Wareta raised an eyebrow. “Not a warrior? Why?”

“Well you see, I honestly tried to become a warrior at first, But my true passion lies with music.” Kass explained.

“Why?” Wareta inquired, her gaze turning into a glare. “Don’t you know that if the offspring of a warrior not does not become a warrior themselves, it is very disrespectful to the entire bloodline?”

Kass physically flinched at that. He cleared his throat to try and keep his composure. “Yes...well that’s what I thought when I started to pursue music. I never told dad in fear of this, never got a chance to before he fell to the calamity.” He took a deep breath and smiled at what he said next. “But, according to Teba, dad knew of my passion of music and encouraged it. He never told me he knew because he wanted to wait until I was ready to tell him. As it turns out, dad was the one who constucted my accordion. With help from my teacher, Ongaku, of course.”

“Dad...knew? And he wasn’t disappointed?” Wareta asked, surprised.

Kass shook his head. “It sure seems like that, at least.”

I can also totally see Amali and Saki bonding with Wareta with absoulute girl power energy. They are sister in laws after all. 

“Neither of you are warriors?”

Amali and Saki both shook their heads. 

“No, I am merely a simple shop keeper.” Amali told her. “While Saki here is a healer.”

“I’m assuming you are a warrior because your father, Gomi, was once a warrior?” Saki inquired.

“I...suppose so.” Wareta admitted. 

“That was to be suspected” Amali said. “I mean considering how lowly Kaneli spoke of him. He said Gomi’s attentions were quite clear when he stole you.”

Wareta blinked in surpise. “Stole me? What are you talking about? Father said he was banished from the village and took me with him out of fear of what they would do to me being his offspring.”

Amali and Saki’s eyes widened in surprise. 

“You don’t know?”

Amali and Saki told Wareta everything they knew about the truth of her disappearance. Wareta went to Kaneli to confirm this who explained everything in more detail. Furious, Wareta left the village to confront her “father”. 

“How could you lie to me?!” Wareta cried. “How could you tell me all those awful things about the Rito, about my family?!”

Gomi growled. “I merely told you the important things. The things you needed to know to become the fine warrior you wanted to be.”

“No, not what I wanted. What YOU wanted!” Wareta yelled. “I cannot believe how many seeds you planted into me to turn me into someone I didn’t want to be! No wonder the Rito hate you! You’re nothing but a spineless cucco, not them!”

“Are you saying you regret my teachings?! You deny all the sacrifices I made for you?!” Gomi yelled.

Wareta grunted, collected her things, and marched out of the cave she couldn’t believe she would ever call home.

Gomi growled and tried to stop her. “Where are you going?!”

“Back to my family. My real family.” Was all Wareta said before flying away.

Wareta returned to Rito Village and never returned to Gomi, that was the last anyone had seen him as the cave was completely empty when others went to look for him. All Wareta wanted was to be able to start over. Teba and Kass knew a good place to start.

“So this...is Vah Medoh?” 

Teba and Kass nodded.

Wareta stared up at the divine beast, unsure of what to do or say. “Can...can he...see us?”

“We like to believe so, yes.” Kass answered, smiling.

“We often come here to talk to him. Though his soul is no longer trapped in Medoh, this is where we feel the most in touch with him.” Teba explained.

Wareta nodded and turned back to Vah Medoh. “Uh...hello dad? It’s um...it’s Wareta. I know it’s been years since you’ve seen me, but...I’m sure you’re happy to know that I have returned.”

Wareta look down and frowned. Kass walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Believe me, dad is so happy to see you after all this time.”

Teba nodded in agreement. “Knowing him, he probably already knew you were coming.”

If the siblings would’ve looked up at Vah Medoh’s head, they would’ve seen Revali, completely abondoning his pride and crying tears of joy. 

Wareta lived the rest of her days in Rito Village, opting to spend more time with her family. Though she never completely abandoned being a warrior, she actually became a teacher. Her nieces and nephew helped her understand how to take care of children. The only regret that Wareta has is not returning home sooner. 

Bonus;

Wareta: So, you’re the Hylian dad fell for after Gomi left him?

Link: Yep!

Wareta: Well he did fall for Gomi at one point, so it was to be expected he had low standards. 

Link: Hey!

[magic-and-moonlit-wings]

Backstory timeline for ‘Becoming The Mask’

Since I’m Not Using The One From Wizards

Notes: not every Trollhunter will be listed

Eight million years ago: First trollish writing appears. Trolls have culture and oral history prior to this point, but this was when literacy became a thing; or at least, the earliest written documents that survive to the present day date back to this time.

Mentions of ‘Trollhunters’ appear in these early writings. ‘Troll’ can be used to mean ‘a member of the species’ but it can also be used to mean ‘a member of a particular tribe’. 

Hunter Trolls are nomadic and travel alone or in small bands between various tribes, fighting monsters like Nyarlagroths. 

Being a Hunter is a self-appointed job. There can, therefore, be more than one Trollhunter at a time, but there can also be periods without any active Trollhunters. 

The Trollhunters are mostly young adventurers who want to see the world and fight things. 

Some Trollhunters are trolls who were banished from their home tribes, and are taking the only job that allows them to continue interacting with other trolls. 

Some are basically running protection rackets. (“Nice cave you have here. Be a shame if it got infested with monsters.”) These Hunters usually get taken down at some point by another Trollhunter who isn’t running a protection racket and takes offense at the Hunter reputation being besmirched. 

Because Trollhunters travel between different tribes, sometimes they get commissioned to escort other travelers, or go to dangerous places and retrieve magical/medical ingredients. 

Trollhunters begin to be called upon to mediate inter-tribal disputes; if there is a Trollhunter who has saved both tribes involved in said dispute, they are therefore a neutral party that both sides are willing to trust.

Six million years ago: Mediating inter-tribal disputes becomes an expected part of the Trollhunter job, even if they’ve never dealt with either tribe before.

It becomes a faux pas for a Trollhunter to try and refuse a request for aid.

Because most of these jobs are dangerous, a member of one Trollhunter band invents a grit-shaka, a talisman that takes away fear. The resulting recklessness proves fatal for almost every wearer. 

This is the origin of both “Trollhunting Rule Number One, always be afraid”, and the expression “the fearless are the first to die”.

That band of Trollhunters decides to start calling themselves Ga-Huels (“adventurers” in archaic trollish) instead of Trollhunters, so other trolls will stop asking them favours when the band passes through their territory.

Four million years ago: The Ga-Huels expand enough to become a tribe in their own right. They continue to be nomadic rather than permanently settling somewhere. 

Their typical pattern is to move into another tribe’s territory, conquer the locals, demand tribute while there, and then move on to the next place. 

The Decimaar Blade is invented and magically bound to the Ga-Huel leader. (Decimaar means “authority” in archaic trollish.) 

It can be wielded by any member of the tribe, and only by members of the tribe, but only summoned or dissipated by the leader. The link will be passed down to anyone who manages to kill the leader using the Decimaar Blade. If the leader dies another way, the sword chooses its own successor. 

The sword also gives its wielder the ability to look into people’s minds, intended to give the wielder a heads-up to sneak attacks. The “mind control” feature came about as an accidental overload of this power. 

One million years ago: The Ga-Huels officially start referring to their leader as a Warlord.

500-300 thousand years ago, by current estimate based on fossil evidence: Homo sapiens diverges from other hominids.

Six thousand years ago/circa 4000 BCE: Trolls discover that there is a surface, rather than the whole universe being rocks and caves and magma. 

Quag, of the Wumpa tribe, meets and befriends Merlin and Morgana. They study magic from each other. Morgana starts doing research into how to allow trolls to withstand sunlight, on the theory that this could also enhance her Shadow Magic, which is weakened at certain times of day.

Some of the Wumpa tribe form a settlement on the surface, under the leadership of Quag (now their king), and rename themselves the Quagawumps.

More trolls begin visiting the surface after discovering how tasty the animals are. Most trolls do not yet distinguish between humans and any other surface animal.

The Ga-Huels begin actively displacing trolls with territories near the surface, in the interests of claiming the best bases of operation for hunting parties. They start to be referred to as Gumm-Gumms.

“The fearless are the first to die” starts to be used as a taunt instead of strategic advice, becoming “the brave are often first to die”.

Gunmar is born and quickly becomes known as a powerful and dangerous wizard. He kills King Quag when the Ga-Huel attempt to conquer the swamp.

Merlin learns (or remembers, from conversations with Quag) that a Trollhunter cannot refuse a call for help. He approaches the only active Trollhunter of the time, Gorgus the Great, to ask her to protect humans from Gumm-Gumms.

Merlin builds the Amulet of Daylight. Designing and assembling it takes a few decades. 

Because he doesn’t have Shadow Magic, which is necessary to allow trolls to touch sunlight, he cuts off Morgana’s hand and forearm to melt down and infuse into the metal. 

Tethering the artifact to one person at a time and letting it choose a ‘worthy successor’ is based on the enchantment structure of the Decimaar Blade. 

Merlin adds a few safety features, such as the amulet not choosing whoever killed its last bearer as the new bearer; no one being able to wield the sword except for the summoner; and it being possible to steal the Amulet entirely (in case he ever had to take it back from the Trollhunter). 

He also adds a language translation enchantment, so the troll who carries the Amulet can talk to humans. 

Gorgus accepts the weapon and armour, but continues referring to herself as a ‘Trollhunter’ rather than ‘the Champion of Daylight’.

Morgana’s research into how trolls work allows her to create an animate stone prosthesis for herself. She swears revenge on Merlin.

Five thousand years ago/circa 3000 BCE: Spar the Spiteful is the called as the second Champion of Daylight. He wasn’t a Trollhunter before that and does not want the job, but is magically stuck with it. 

Gorgus is annoyed at Merlin for not telling her that her soul would be trapped in the Amulet to watch over and occasionally advise her successor. It is unclear if Merlin knew this would happen but she suspects he did. 

Spar meets an Akiridion, on Earth for reasons unspecified. He helps jump-start her spaceship by pushing it off a cliff after the local humans throw a spear through the Daxial Array. (Scene from the Trollhunters spin-off comic, The Felled.)

The Gumm-Gumms begin to use the Darklands as a permanent base of operations, with Killahead Bridge giving them rapid access to the surface. Killahead is one of the earliest examples of trolls using bridges as portals. 

Morgana experiments with transmuting stone to flesh and back again. She invents Creeper’s Sun toxin and its antidote during these experiments. 

2000 BCE: In the course of her experiments, Morgana finds a way to 'pause’ the development flesh or living stone, and to restart the process later. 

(This is eventually used to keep the Familiars from aging in the Darklands, and the Changelings from aging until they get Familiars.) 

She uses this to give herself eternal youth on top of her wizardly longevity.

Humans begin launching counter-attacks at the less dangerous troll communities on the surface, intended as retaliation against the Gumm-Gumm raids. 

Even though trolls can now tell humans are capable of more complex reasoning than most other surface animals, these attacks encourage anti-human sentiments, so eating humans remains common even among troll tribes that don’t actively hunt them.

1000 BCE: Morgana begins to consider the merits of an Eternal Night, which would allow her to access her full level of power at any time rather than the fluctuations in power that the day-night cycle brings. 

0 BCE/CE: Maddrux the Many becomes the Trollhunter. There have been a few others between Spar and Maddrux. By this point it is more-or-less forgotten that ‘Trollhunter’ was once a job title that had nothing to do with the Amulet of Daylight.

300 CE: Orlagk the Oppressor becomes the Gumm-Gumm Warlord and names the wizard Gunmar the Skullcrusher as his top general.

400 CE: Maddrux the Many dies and is succeeded as Trollhunter by Araknak the Agile.

Late 400s-early 500s, the time period to which Arthurian legend dates back: Rise and fall of Camelot.

500 CE: Morgana proposes an alliance to the Gumm-Gumms, giving them magical items and cutting them in on her ‘Eternal Night’ plan, in exchange for them giving her trolls to experiment on.

530 CE: Deya is born. 

600 CE: A plague ravages Deya’s village. Her newly-hatched brother is one of the dead. The villagers are weak when humans attack, and most of the surviving trolls are killed. 

Deya survives the plague and the raid. Since she is small and ‘harmless’ at the time, she is taken by the humans, who rename her ‘Callista’ and raise her as an exotic pet. 

She picks up their language, but her ability to speak is seen as a charming quirk rather than a sign of intelligence. 

800 CE: ‘Callista’ runs away and tries to find more trolls. 

Vendel is born.

900 CE: ‘Callista’ finally meets other trolls for the first time since she was in her eighties (the trollish equivalent of a human 5-year-old). Her clumsiness with social niceties gets her the nickname ‘Calamity’. 

A series of negative coincidences happen in various places she tries to stay, and she gets a reputation among other trolls for being bad luck. The nickname ‘Calamity’ gradually becomes a more deliberate insult.

Mid to late 1100s: Usurna and Gunmar secretly make an alliance.

Merlin meets a young con artist named Hisirdoux Casperan, realizes the boy has actual magic as well as slight-of-hand, and takes him on as an apprentice.

Although eating humans is still not something most trolls think is morally a big deal, it’s also starting to be more trouble than it’s worth, so avoiding humans becomes more typical. 

Early 1200s: Usurna becomes Queen of the Krubera.

A troll scholar named Bodus attempts to study the Gumm-Gumms, creating The Book Of Ga-Huel. He learns some old Ga-Huel magic during his work to make his book self-update as their tribe’s history progresses. Due to overall troll sentiments about Gumm-Gumms, Bodus himself becomes feared and distrusted.

1200-1300: AAARRRGGHH and Stricklander are born (exact dates undecided) and taken by the Gumm-Gumms. AAARRRGGHH is raised as a soldier and Stricklander becomes one of the first successful Changelings. 

Mid 1200s: The Trollhunter, Tellad-Urr the Triumphant, cracks under the never-ending demands placed on Trollhunters to resolve every petty little problem, and starts working with the Gumm-Gumms, becoming known as Tellad-Urr the Terrible.

1297: Angor Rot asks Morgana for help in protecting his village from the Gumm-Gumms. Morgana responds by taking Angor’s soul and magically enslaving him. She also magically pauses his aging, so he’ll perpetually be in his prime while hunting down the Trollhunters. 

1350s: Angor Rot kills Tellad-Urr the Terrible and absorbs his soul. 

1360s: Gogun the Gentle, the Trollhunter after Tellad-Urr, dies peacefully in his sleep. Gogun is the first Champion Of Daylight not to die in combat.

1380s: Angor Rot kills his second Trollhunter.

Deya learns her birth name when she is called by the Amulet. Trolls are still not particularly welcoming of her, but they stop actively driving her away. 

Early 1400s: Blinky is born. (Exact date undecided, but he is in his 600s in the present day.) 

Skarlagk, daughter of Orlagk, is also born. 

Enough Changelings exist that the Janus Order is formed. 

Mid 1400s: Testing the limits of how mutable she can make living stone, Morgana creates the first Polymorphs; Changelings who do not need a Familiar to take on human form. Because this is more difficult and has a higher death rate than making ‘standard’ Changelings, she only makes a few of them. 

Late 1400s: Deya goes on her quest to punch Merlin in the face for being chronically cryptic. (Scene from the Trollhunters spin-off comic, The Felled.)

Non-Gumm-Gumm trolls learn that Changelings exist. Gaggletacks are discovered. 

Trolls start making more active efforts to conceal their existence from humans, partly to avoid encounters with Changelings and partly because human weaponry continues to improve.

Early 1500s: Gunmar kills Orlagk and becomes the new Gumm-Gumm Warlord. 

Gunmar loses his eye in the fight. Merlin has a vision of the Triumbric Stones being the key to defeating Gunmar, so he gathers them and hides them in places he thinks will be safe until he figures out how exactly that will work. 

AAARRRGGHH internally questions how safe it is to remain on Gunmar’s side, since AAARRRGGHH is now at the same rank Gunmar was before overthrowing Orlagk and therefore Gunmar might start viewing AAARRRGGHH with suspicion. 

Mid 1500s: Skarlagk the Scorned begins recruiting Gumm-Gumms for a coup, intending to kill and replace Gunmar to avenge her father.

Jim, Nomura, and Not Enrique are born, kidnapped, and made into Changelings.(Nomura is older than the boys, but only by about twenty years, which isn’t much for trolls.) 

Bular is also born. 

The Dishonourable Bodus learns of the Triumbric Stones and records that there is a way to defeat Gunmar. Stories about the hypothetical ‘Eclipse Sword’ begin to spread. Gunmar has Bodus and his students tracked down and killed, and all found copies of his work destroyed.

After burning Bodus’ Final Testament, Stricklander reads and memorizes the riddle about where to find the “three forces elemental” which make up “a shadow’s bane”.

Deya hears that Merlin found a potential way to defeat Gunmar and is annoyed that he hasn’t told her about it, but right now she doesn’t have time to track the wizard down and punch him again.

1582: The Gregorian calendar is established. 

Late 1500s: AAARRRGGHH deserts the Gumm-Gumms. To prove himself trustworthy to Deya, he gives her crucial information about the location and function of Killahead Bridge, the Darklands’ main access point to the surface.

Anticipating an attack after AAARRRGGHH’s desertion, Gunmar leaves Bular in the care of the Janus Order.

Deya seals the Gumm-Gumms in the Darklands.

Merlin seals Morgana in the Heartstone and decides to take a nap for the next few centuries.

Early 1600s: Morgana figures out how to siphon Merlin’s magic.

Skarlagk openly turns against Gunmar. Many Gumm-Gumms resent being trapped in the Darklands, which makes recruitment easier for her. 

Gunmar begins mind-controlling more and more of his soldiers. This increases the rate of desertion among those not being mind-controlled. 

The Janus Order beings trying to gather and rebuild Killahead Bridge.

1620: The Mayflower sets sail, with trolls stowing away ... somehow.

1630s: The trolls find the Heartstone and settle under what will become Arcadia Oaks. 

Birthstones which were carried along during the migration begin to hatch. Draal is one of the first trolls born in Heartstone Trollmarket.

AAARRRGGHH makes contact with the Krubera for the first time since his infancy.

Dictatious, who was too close to the bridge and pulled into the Darklands by accident, is found by Gunmar’s forces. He swears loyalty to Gunmar to avoid being mind-controlled or killed. 

Gunmar decides that, if Dictatious was able to survive the Darklands alone for as long as he did, he must have potential and be worth keeping around. 

At the age of 1100, Deya the Deliverer is killed by Bular. 

Unkar the Unfortunate is called as the Trollhunter and killed by Angor Rot before Bular even knows who the new Trollhunter is. 

Late 1600s: Unkar’s successor is also killed by Angor Rot, but successfully traps him before dying. 

Their successor is killed by Bular, who assumes the Trollhunter he just killed was Deya’s successor. 

On Gunmar’s orders, as conveyed through a Fetch, Usurna makes contact with a few Changelings, who begin spying on trolls instead of humans and reporting to her instead of Bular. 

Gunmar’s eye is passed from Usurna to the Changelings to the Janus Order.

The head of the Janus Order is aware that there’s at least one non-Changeling troll besides Bular who still serves Gunmar but isn’t in the Darklands. The head does not know Usurna’s name and has never met her in person.

Bular does know Usurna’s identity, but has never had the opportunity to meet her in person.

Through Usurna, who got the information from AAARRRRGGHH when he told the Krubera about how he left the Gumm-Gumms, the Janus Order learns that Killahead Bridge is now ‘locked’ by the Amulet of Daylight, and the Amulet will be necessary to reopen it. 

Stricklander begins building a fake Amulet on the hypothesis it can work as a ‘lock pick’.

1700s: A branch of the Janus Order located in New Jersey discovers a Heartstone. Rather than turning it over to Gunmar, they desert as a whole, making it look like humans discovered them and the Changelings gutted the base to destroy any evidence of what they were doing before getting wiped out. 

The Changeling deserters rename their group the Jersey Devils, after the local legend.

1850: California becomes a state.

Kanjigar becomes the Trollhunter. 

Stricklander becomes the leader of the Janus Order.

1859: Nomura is assigned to a Familiar. She will later resent that she “just missed” the Renaissance. 

1875: El Rancho Arcadia, the town that will become Arcadia Oaks, is founded. (Year and original town name seen on a sign on the final page of the spin-off comic The Secret History Of Trollkind.)

1876: Nomura, with her Familiar’s family, attends the first ever performance of Peer Gynt.

1877: Phonographs are invented. Stricklander buys one for personal use and Morgana communicates with him through it. All Janus Order bases are equipped with phonographs as soon as possible. 

1900: Nomura and Draal meet and attempt to date. 

1903: The Janus Order finds out Nomura has an ‘in’ with the Trollhunter’s son and she is instructed to try and steal the Amulet. Strickler gives Nomura the fake Amulet in case she can swap it for the real one. 

Nancy not-Domzalski-yet is born.

1909: Carla Fontaine, leader of the Jersey Devils, accidentally encounters her ex-lover Tiffany Archenn, who is still in the Janus Order and thought Carla was dead. Luckily their relationship ended on good terms, so Tiffany is willing to keep Carla’s survival a secret and Carla is willing to accept her promise. 

1914-1918: International warfare erupts, which will come to be known as ‘World War One’ after humans have a second one; at the time it is called ‘The Great War’ and ‘The War To End All Wars’. 

Teenage Nancy probably-not-Domzalski-yet acts as a spy near the end of this war, taking advantage of her youth to avoid suspicion while running information.

1920s: Draal figures out Nomura is a Changeling but doesn’t let her know he’s figured it out. He starts “sneakily” trying to convince her to change sides, which gives away that he knows.

Nomura gives Draal a grit-shaka, expecting him to do something stupid under its influence that can be used to lure Kanjigar into a trap.

Things end badly, but surprisingly no one actually dies in the fallout. Draal sees Nomura escape, but does not correct his father when Kanjigar assumes she’s dead. 

Trollmarket knows there was a Changeling trying to get in, but are under the impression Nomura was on her own, and that therefore they don’t need to worry about more Changelings. 

Early 1950s: Dr Bernie Sturges begins working at Area 49-B, keeping an eye on what the humans are up to there on behalf of the Janus Order. 

Nancy Domzalski has a surprise pregnancy. She and her husband Horace name their son Ralph. 

1970s: Barbara is born. (Exact date undecided, but she’s in her mid-to-late twenties when she has her son.)

Early to mid 1990s: Barbara meets James Lake at college. They marry shortly after graduation. 

Late 1990s: Bernie Sturges is discharged from Area 49-B for questioning policy decisions one too many times. They remain under surveillance because they know so much classified information, and are suspected of being involved in Stuart of Durio’s escape. (Bernie was not involved in that escape but did regularly object to the base’s treatment of prisoners.) 

After several years of working as a painter, Barbara decides to go back to school to become a doctor. 

James decides to get Barbara pregnant, expecting her to change her mind about going back to school once they have a baby, with the reasoning that “this whole ‘doctor’ thing is just because she wants someone to look after,” and “if I ask her not to go back to school, then I’m the asshole, so she needs to feel like it was her own idea.”

2000: James Lake Junior is born. Three months later, he is swapped for a Changeling who comes to be known as ‘Jim’.

2001: Mary Wang’s parents, Thomas and Laurel (names inspired by the character’s voice actress, Lauren Tom), get divorced because they have incompatible money-management techniques.

Laurel is very cautious with spending and meticulous about saving, believing in putting money aside for a rainy day; Thomas expected her to "be less of a penny-pincher" after they got married and pooled their resources.

Thomas is very relaxed about money, believing if you have it then you might as well enjoy it; Laurel expected him to "be less of a spendthrift" once they got married and had a fiscal responsibility to each other as well as themselves.

Once their finances are untangled, they get along much better, and the divorce is a friendly one.

2002: Ralph Domzalski and his wife win the state lottery. They put most of the money into savings but also decide to go on a cruise around the world, leaving their two-year-old son Tobias in the care of Ralph’s mother. They are lost at sea during a storm. 

2003: Nancy Domzalski turns 100 years old.

2004: Darci Scott tells her parents she feels more like a girl than a boy. They do some talking with her and some research on their own, and help her to transition. 

2005: Nancy and Tobias Domzalski move into the house across the street from the Lakes. Jim befriends Toby mostly because it draws attention from concerned adults if a child appears to have no friends. 

James Lake Senior abandons his wife and son. 

Several months later, Jim brings the unassembled bike kit James gave him to the Janus Order base and throws the pieces through the Fetch.

Nancy sets Toby up with regular therapy appointments with Dr Tiffany Archenn, because Nancy believes in preventative maintenance as part of mental health.

Mary Wang’s mother remarries. Premarital counselling happens this time around to make sure they’re on the same page about things like money. She and her wife, Jennifer Smith, each leave their names unchanged. 

Jennifer Smith, a Changeling, puts heavy-duty protection spells on every building where her wife and stepdaughter spend a significant amount of time and any items they frequently have with them. The spells are applied in such a way that you have to be checking for protection spells (or set them off) in order to notice them.

2006: Jim realizes he genuinely cares about Toby, and gives him a spot on Jim’s mental list of “humans to try keeping alive”.

Barbara starts learning krav maga. In these classes, she meets and befriends Zelda Nomura. 

2008: Bernie has been away from Area 49-B long enough that the surveillance is beginning to slack off.

2012: Since James Lake Senior has been “missing” for seven years, Jim is able to have him declared legally dead.

Barbara graduates medical school and becomes an emergency room trauma surgeon.

Summer 2015: Since Mary is about to start high school, her parents finally agree to let her have a cellphone. Jennifer adds yet another protection spell to the device; it’s a good anchor since Mary will presumably have it with her at all times. 

Claire and Jim both attend a fundraiser for Arcadia's hospital. Claire sees Jim dancing with Barbara and is charmed and intrigued at the sight of a boy her age who is unembarrassed to dance with his mother in public. (Idea taken from the first spin-off novel, The Adventure Begins.)

September 2015 - June 2016: Toby develops a friendly acquaintanceship with Eli Pepperjack. 

Jim is polite, in the interests of not driving Toby away by preventing him from having other friends, but wary because of Eli’s conviction there is something supernatural in Arcadia and his determination to uncover it. 

Eli picks up that he is more ‘tolerated’ by Jim than ‘liked’, which makes Eli feel awkward and suspect Toby feels the same way and is just better at hiding it. Toby and Eli never progress past “friendly acquaintances” into “friends”.

Jim and Claire are partnered in several school projects. Like Toby and Eli, they become friendly acquaintances. Jim makes a note of how often and how fondly Claire speaks of her little brother once Enrique is born.

August 2016: Bernie Sturges fakes the death of their current human identity and temporarily moves into the Janus Order base while setting up a new one. (Sometimes Changelings have overlaps or gaps between identities, to muddy the trail if someone tries to track them.)

September 2016: Kanjigar dies. Jim is called as the Trollhunter. Fanfic begins at this point.

[mrdemarlowe]

"The 333" Prologue: Betrayals

At the height of humanity’s ignorance, a war was waged.

The night sky morphed into a sea of darkness, as legions of Angels swarmed towards Earth’s land. The Angel’s invisible form only made visible by the trails of fire they left behind on route towards the highest populated areas on the planet.

This event would have multiple consequences for humankind.

To start, almost ninety percent of Earth’s land was destroyed and submerged into the oceans, leaving the remaining ten percent of land poisoned or too small to inhabit. In order to deal with this calamity, the survivors of humanity took to massive sea craft, hastily outfitted for long voyages, and began their long and difficult way through the world’s now dominant oceans. Where they would sail for close to twenty years before finally finding a home on land.

A second consequence of the “Rapture” (as some would take to calling it), was a mysterious mutation that occurred within living creatures and caused grotesque deformation and dampened physical ability within the afflicted. In time however, the survivors began to notice that the once prominent and disfiguring mutations were evolving to less visible, more enhancing mutations.

This would be the rough explanation for the creation of the Loma, a new race of humankind that had adapted with abilities.

The third and final consequence of our war had much to do with the first and second, this would make way for the subspecies of monster races to emerge from mutated manifestations of human consciousness. Of course, not many scientists were counted among the survivors of humanity, so even though not many knew the true origins of these races, this was the generally agreed upon explanation. All they knew, or needed to know, was the danger these races would bring for humans in the future.

The Carrier City, home to our race’s remaining people, would steadily drift closer to an unknown fate, and towards a place with divine implications, but demonic foundations.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the world from humankind, a different race emerged. This race had been created through the evil that man had poured into the land, through years and years of blood soaked battles.

Appearing in various corrupted forms, with demonic ambitions and enhanced abilities, the Demazo Race began it’s task to create a new continent in order to lure in any surviving humans for subjugation.

Thus, after almost twenty years at sea, humanity came across a massive land mass they had never seen before.

The scholars on board Carrier City boldly claimed this error on the navigation teams and captain of the vessel, Domillus Sysa. There were accusations of concealing land, or deliberate avoidance in order to sustain control over humanity.

In the end, a small faction of rebels would depart to make their own journeys on the new land, as Sysa’s group would settle in the northernmost territory of their new home. This territory was named Bernum, and was the first land to be discovered and claimed by humankind in years.

The continent humanity had landed on was named Lynn, after the late wife of Domillus, who had risked her own health in order to develop a treatment for some unknown disease that had plagued Carrier City early on in its voyage.

None disagreed, and a new kingdom arose from the ashes of a war not yet forgotten.

In the years to come, a new history began to unfold created from the actions of King Sysa and his bloodline, leading humanity down a new path of existence within the land of Lynn.

This is where we’ll start our story.

Bernum consisted of three distinct geographic features. It’s mystic forest of Demal Dora, which guarded the entrance from southern invaders, to it’s vast mountain-scape, which created a perfect foundation for Bernum’s eventual Kingdom with natural defenses, and its beaches down on the north side of Bernum’s border, which provided a great area for ports and fishing.

It’s within the first geographic feature, where a small campfire can be seen. Sitting around this fire, sheltered from a raging wind, were four men of varying age.

The first man Jacoby Simms, a grizzly man with silver hair and beard equivalent to the moon, who’s short stature warred constantly with his fiercely overbearing presence, sat idly stoking the flames. His hair and beard, both braided heavily with an assortment of gleaming metallic objects, glistened as it rubbed against his silver armor. His heart and mind were heavy this night, and no amount of drink or song was helping to appease his stress.

But it mattered little, his stress would not be transferred to his subordinates, he loosed a short soft sigh, and fixed himself upright.

“Anyone up for a Sysan Story?” He asked in his gruff but heavily accented voice. “I know one that’ll go great with a moonlit night like we have here.”

The smile on his face was clearly forced, but he had small hope that his crew had not noticed as he stood to begin.

“I’d rather you tell us what was said in Bella and Cyllym.”

This response came from Cassius Grau, a young man of twenty one years, who’s youth often went unnoticed under his wise and questioning eyes. But with his messy hair, and growing stubble, his questions and air of authority quickly vanished under the uncertainty of his power.

To his left sat the youngest of the four, a young man of nineteen, with short dirty blond hair, and a constant look of paranoia in his eyes named Elliott Alba.

Elliott scoffed quietly, before continuing his scan of the dark surrounding forest. “We aren’t high enough in the chain of command to understand these things.”

This was said almost in complete unison with the words of the last man who sat directly across from Cassius. Tristan Zuna, who had started with “You” instead of “We”, and was quite irritated at the mocking done by his pupil, finished his statement with a word of chastisement. His jet black pencil tip mustache and hair, which he kept in the slicked back style of old world Spaniards represented his refined and suave personality and his slick black armor complemented him to a T as well.

“I suggest you stop with the interruptions, and listen to your elders.” Tristan finished eyeing both pupils.

“Don’t be so rough on the boys,” Jacoby laughed, “they’re just nervous of war, and rightly so. But we can talk about that tomorrow when we report to the King. For now let’s recount the tale of Demarlowe Sysa, the fourth King of Lynn, and the wielder of the *Holy Roar*.”

“In those days, demons still ran the majority of Lynn’s southern half, and war between the races had been an ongoing struggle for the past Sysa King’s. But King Demarlowe was young, he knew that he had the strength his father had lacked in his old age. He knew he had the power to subdue the Demon race for good.”

Jacoby paused for effect, before continuing.

“It was on a night like this, with the moon in full view, that the King led his forces to retake Bristol and Fallpin. He discovered his Holy Roar, and with it he banished the Demon Prince to the deepest pit of hell.”

“I doubt things were that simple.” Cassius interjected. “The rest of the Kingdom’s territories were still united in it’s support of the King.”

“And they still are…” Tristan began to argue, but Jacoby stopped him with a wave of his hand.

“This world is ever changing, things come and go, and sometimes we humans crave things we can no longer have, or will never be able to have. This can make us do evil things.” Jacoby looked the boys each in the eyes. “If war becomes an outcome that we are to expect, it is our own fault as a race for our desires and flaws. We just need to trust in those who have a higher sense of divine purpose.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Cassius replied, a sinister smile forming at the corners of his mouth. “We should trust in someone with a higher purpose than just taxes, and technology. We need power and knowledge, with a system designed to cater to those who’ve obtained both. We need a new way.”

“Don’t you ever speak such treasonous words in our prese…” Tristan began to yell, but was cut short by Elliott’s calm whisper.

“Null.”

With this, the two older men found themselves unable to use their Lomatic abilities, and as the cold chill of fear rose deep in their chests they turned to see Cassius Grau rise from his spot with the sinister smile fully visible on his face.

“Lunaius et Espanza” he began in a strange foreign language, before switching back. “Kill each other, make it look like an enemy ambush, and die knowing you’re both failures as teachers. Your own students overpowered you.”

With an evil bout of laughter, the boys watched as their former mentors ripped each other apart while the reflections of the campfire danced inside pools of blood.

The first betrayal was finished.

The Next Day:

As the midday sun reached its place above Bernum’s cityscape, two tattered and frantic riders were seen approaching the Kingdom’s gates. Standing Guard today was Rose Petallis and Sylvia Lennox, two of the most promising Royal Guard recruits in their generation.

Rose, a sweet and logical girl, almost twenty years in age, with warm auburn hair and soft amber eyes, was the first to notice Bernum’s crest on the riders cloaks. This was also when she realized the identity of the men, as Cassius Grau and Elliott Alba reached the entrance.

Sylvia, who was much more aggressive in nature, brushed back her golden blonde hair from her light green eyes and shouted to the men below.

“Identify yourselves or submit to apprehension and interrogation.” She finished, still eyeing them suspiciously.

The pair waited a couple moments for any response before calling down again. This time, the question came from Rose.

“Cassius? Elliott? Where are Sir Jacoby and Tristan?” She asked each question in fast succession, worry clear in her voice. “What’s going on guys?”

“Stop talking!” Sylvia scolded, “Until we’ve confirmed their identity, we mustn’t reveal any important information.”

With seemingly no words coming from below, the two girls decided to head down for a closer look. When they reached the bottom they noticed something off about the two men.

They were bloody, with pieces of clothing ripped off in various places. The frantic energy had faded, and the two men now lay slumped over on their mounts. The scene looked slightly staged but the girls immediately recognized their comrades outside the gate.

“That’s the boys,” Sylvia observed, turning to lift the gate. “ Something must have happened down in Demal Dora. We must inform the King.”

As she finished lifting the gates, Sylvia noticed a brief glimmer of metal before a slice appeared across her jaw and cutting down the length of her chest. As she fell to the ground, life fading from her eyes, the form of Elliott Alba appeared in front of her.

“You really were so beautiful…” He sighed softly. “Such a shame.”

Then he plunged his sword deep into her gut, pulled it out and walked away, as Cassius finished off a struggling Rose with a swift snap of the neck.

Sylvia’s eyes filled with darkness as her vision faded, the last image seen replaying in her head. Cassius and Elliott, with putrid smiles on their faces, walking towards the castle. Their second betrayal complete.

Meanwhile, at the castle:

In the highest observation tower, a frightened and confused Darla Brand has just witnessed the betrayal of her comrades at the gate.

Her dark brown hair, usually worn down, had been tied back to prevent obstructing her view of the seasonal migration of the local birds, but what she had seen by the gates was a simple mistake of curiosity.

The fear and confusion changed to anger and a determination to inform her guardsmen of the incoming danger, but as she reached for the door handle she found it already turning. Once it opened, she was relieved to see her fiancé, Prince Damian Sysa, who had just arrived to surprise her with lunch.

“Cassius and Elliott are back,” she started, “but something is wrong, they attacked Sylvia and Rose. I just saw the entire thing from the observation scope, and they’re on their way here. I think something is going on.”

As she finished, she noticed the doubt in her betrothed ones eyes flicker slowly before switching over to trust when he noticed her gaze. She gave him a moment to grasp the situation before prompting him to action.

“I need you to trust me, go inform your father.” She begged. “I need to go and help the girls at the gate, but when you escape with the King, come and meet me there.”

With this, she raced off leaving Prince Damian to warn his father of the coming attack.

In a quick moment of thinking, Damian decided to utilize his ability.

A quietness filled the room as his eyes closed to this world into another.

The Luullo Void was a dimension built entirely on silence. Only those born with Luullo type abilities can access the void, but even among them few can freely roam inside it’s realm with consciousness.

Prince Damian searched quickly for any aura inside the void, knowing only one person who could help at a time like this. But to no avail, Damian could only reach out in hope.

Finally, after a few seconds, Damian reached the consciousness of his mentor, the only other man to have made conscious contact inside the void. Adamantis Black, his father’s right hand and the commander of Bernum’s Royal Guard.

In the throne room, located on the opposite side of the Castle:

Adamantis Black, a man of few words with dark black hair and a trimmed and kept beard to match stands across from King Darius Sysa, Bernum’s current ruler.

As he finished his report, he feels a pinprick of anxiety coming from the Luullo Void. Without hesitation he establishes connection, and as a first instinct scolds his pupil.

“If you can’t free your mind of anxiety, everyone will feel your presence here my young student.” He chastised lovingly. “We’ve discussed this issue before.”

He felt a mischievous smirk form on his face before remembering his current location. The king eyed him, clearing questioning the smirk.

“Your son has entered the void,” he answered without orders. “he is getting stronger, but as of yet has much to lear…”

He was cut off by a desperate Prince Damian.

“My Father… danger. Cass and El… attack. Protect the King.” His last sentence was short enough to come in clear and was the only one to catch Adamantis off guard.

Without hesitation the King’s commander charged for the door to secure the room, but was too late.

The door handle turned, and in walked a young man with jet black hair and a look of pure delight clear across his face.

“Hello father.” He addressed Adamantis, before spotting the King. With a quick bow he finished, “Your Highness.”

“What’s wrong Sebastian,” Adamantis asked, noticing that something wasn’t quite right with his son. “Do you know what’s going on with Cass and Elliott?”

“Indeed I do father,” Sebastian replied coldly. “In fact, I told them to do it. I made all of this fun happen today.”

At a point of almost hysterical laughter, Sebastian slowly begins to calm down as King Darius rises from his throne.

“Explain yourself now boy, or so help me, I’ll make you slap yourself into a coma.” The King started, an air of intense anger beginning to permeate from his every word.

“Empty threats at this point my King,” Sebastian turned his gaze more intently displaying his pleasure at his achievements. “Everything is as I’ve planned. The envoy from Cyllym to Bella claiming war, the spies in our capitol, even the assassinations in Aurora that closed the trade agreements with Bernum.”

Without another word needed, The King began to incite his ability the King’s Command, which allowed him to speak orders into fruition, however it would not activate, much to the King’s surprise and dismay.

As both Adamantis and King Sysa stared in horror, the walls began to fade away to a dark pitch black nothingness. Leaving behind only, the three men.

“Welcome to my Noir.” Sebastian spoke smoothly, as two more figures emerged behind him. “Glad you boys made it in time to enjoy the fun.”

As the figures began to materialize, the King noticed the faces of both Cassius Grau and Elliott Alba, grinning as if they had just spent the night with a commune of women. Each covered in blood without a hint of injury the King could discern.

“I take it you boys are going along with this then?” He asked, already knowing the answer. A sadness had already began to sit in his eyes and words carried heaviness at the thought of this treachery. “Why?”

“Simple Old man, it’s time for a new line of Kings.” Sebastian, who had now made his way closer to his father, began slowly. “Let’s not waste any more of it.”

Before he could react, Adamantis Black found himself deep within the Luullo Void once more. Yet this time felt different, almost permanent in a way. He saw far more clearly within the void than he had ever seen before. And in his final moments of life, he discovered the experience of being reborn into another.

As Sebastian Black’s blade finished it’s downward slice, Adamantis Black took his last breath, and his body hit the ground with a heavy thud.

The King could do nothing but kneel at his best friends side and watch as life faded from his corpse. An anger again beginning to form deep within his gut. With no hesitation, he began to curse Sebastian Black.

“You are evil incarnate, you shape yourself in ways to mix with innocence but you are corruption to your core. You will hurt those closest to you with no remorse, and trade power for bits of your soul. Yet your evil will be your undoing. It will consume you and erase your existence forever.”

As the King finished his fierce last command all three boys lunged forward. Each one plunging their swords deep into the King’s chest. And watched as his body landed uncomfortably on the ground.

“It’s a new Era boys, let’s make sure it remembers who we are.” Sebastian mutters proudly.

The blackness faded away leaving no trace of the incident that had just occurred, just a cruel smiling Sebastian sitting on the King’s throne. With his third and final betrayal finished, he commenced with his last objective.

“Inform the council of elders knows of the Prince’s treason, and make sure you capture them before they escape.”

With Sebastian’s orders, the two men disappeared to capture the prince, as Sebastian peered happily through his new throne room’s window.

A few moments earlier:

Prince Damian had felt the disconnection from his mentor before anything else, and once he had realized what that meant, began making his way towards the throne room. However he was stopped by a reestablished connection to Adamantis Black who spoke briefly through the Void.

“I am dead, your father is surrounded, nothing you can do, run, take Darla and the baby, live.”

As tears filled his eyes, Damian understood his mentors words, and he raced to find Darla and escape the castle grounds. He would never return to his home territory, and he rode away from it’s borders with tears in his eyes and hatred in his heart. He turned to give one last glance to his old life, then turned back and headed towards his new one.

In the years that followed, Damian and Darla would settle cautiously within the territory of Alorica where they would have their daughter Donna, and would stay hidden for years until sickness took hold of Darla and eventually, Prince Damian as well.

[jaybear1701]

It was supposed to be a simple spell.

At least, that’s what Tally had said. One sprig of mistletoe and an easy-as-pie incantation:

Love is precious Banish your woe Love is found ‘Neath the mistletoe

It had sounded fake, if Raelle was being honest. But she had no reason to doubt her fellow Gryffindor and was willing to take the chance. But, like with many things in Raelle’s Collar’s 16 years on earth, nothing was ever that simple.

Perhaps she had said the words wrong or emphasized the wrong syllables. Or perhaps the intensity of Raelle’s emotions had given her magic a little too much oomph. Or maybe she didn’t use the right mistletoe. “It had to be picked on the night of a waning gibbous moon,” Tally had exclaimed only after everything went to hell. Whatever it was, it backfired. Spectacularly.

Instead of the enchanted mistletoe appearing above the archway leading to the greenhouses—where the object of Raelle’s affections would go every morning to help Professor Sprout with all the magical plants (the mushrooms, especially, were her favorite)--it now appeared above every archway, in random locations and times, catching students and professors and even ghosts unaware. 

What made it even worse: the nefarious mistletoe trapped unexpected couples underneath it until they kissed. (Raelle didn’t think she’d ever be able to purge from memory the sight of Headmistress Alder locking lips with Peeves the poltergeist.) Anyone who dared to defy its mandate were forced to have their deepest crush announced to every corner of the castle by multiple Howlers--which is how everyone now knew that Libba Swythe, a Slytherin, had a thing for a Gryffindor. And not just any Gryffindor. Her sworn nemesis: Abigail Bellweather.

At lunch, the Great Hall was decorated like it always was during the winter holidays. A massive Christmas tree with all the trimmings sparkled at the front of the hall. Giant wreaths adorned the walls, and a flurry of snowflakes floated above their heads. The air smelled of pine and sugar cookies, and Raelle would have enjoyed it if not for the calamity she had brought down on Hogwarts and all its residents.

Sitting at Gryffindor’s table, Abigail’s scowl was dark and furious. She stabbed at her meal with more force than necessary, glaring at Raelle as she vigorously chewed.

“This is all your fault,” Abigail said, very much heated.

“Keep your voice down, will you?” Raelle lowered her head, glancing to the left and right. The last thing she needed was for Professor Quartermaine to find out that she caused everything. “Besides, it was Tally’s spell.”

“Um, excuse you, it was not my spell.” Tally looked offended. “No one forced you to use it, Rae.”

“She’s right,” Abigail grumbled. “And now everything’s the worst.”

“For what it’s worth, I think it’s the best,” Tally sing-songed, high on a dreamy cloud after sharing multiple kisses with Gerit Buttonwood all over the castle. “As do a lot of people. Nothing wrong with a kiss here and there.”

Abigail rolled her eyes. “None of this would have happened if you just told Ramshorn the truth,” she said. “And what's worse is that you haven't even tried to catch her under one of those vile weeds."

"I'm working on it," Raelle said.

"You are the most cowardly Gryffindor in the history of Gryffindors,” Abigail stressed. 

“Look, it’s not that easy, okay?” Raelle stole a glance over at the Ravenclaw table, where Scylla looked as effortlessly gorgeous as ever, head buried in a thick tome, as usual. She was probably crafting all sorts of new spells and potions in that brilliant mind of hers. Uncertainty washed over Raelle. Even if she managed to kiss Scylla under some mistletoe... how would she go about telling one of her best friends that she's in love with her? What if Scylla didn’t feel the same way? Would Raelle ruin their friendship? She couldn’t imagine life without the bright, witty, and rebellious Ravenclaw. 

"It’s not like you’re running to Libba even though she loves you too for some reason," Raelle deflected. 

The blush on Abigail’s face was brighter than the red on her robes. “This isn’t about me.”

Raelle watched as Scylla stood from her table and made her way out of the Great Hall. At the Hufflepuff table, Porter Tippett also stood. He only had eyes for Scylla, as well. Oh hell no. On instinct, Raelle shot to her feet. The last thing she needed was for Porter to try to rekindle anything with Scylla because Raelle’s spell had gone awry.

“Where are you going?” Tally asked, eyebrows raised. 

“I don’t know,” Raelle said. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Abigail shook her head.

Raelle ignored them both to follow Scylla, who had some free time before her next class--not that Raelle had memorized her schedule or anything. Perhaps she was going back to Ravenclaw Tower. She had to find Scylla before Porter did.

Raelle walked quickly down the hallways, shoes clacking against stone. She bounded up the moving staircases, two sometimes three steps at a time, drawing warnings from several of the portraits to be careful. She hoped she was taking the right path to Ravenclaw Tower. No matter how often Scylla told her the way, Raelle found it confusing, as if it was an ever shifting puzzle that only the Ravenclaws could figure out. Thankfully, Porter apparently found it just as mystifying because Raelle lost him somewhere between the third and fourth floors.

Skidding around a corner, Raelle’s heart lodged firmly in her throat when she saw Scylla underneath an archway, alone thankfully, staring up at a bundle of leaves and white berries. Raelle willed herself to be calm and approached slowly, not wanting to startle Scylla.

“Looks like you could use some help,” Raelle called out. Nerves made the tips of her fingers number and she rubbed her hands together.

Scylla’s head snapped toward the sound of her voice, shoulders visibly relaxing when she saw it was Raelle. “Thank the goddess it’s you,” she breathed out.

“I guess you could do worse,” Raelle said as she joined Scylla, pulse ticking ever upward.

“Not by much,” Scylla teased.

“Ouch,” Raelle said. 

Scylla’s gaze returned to the mistletoe. “I can’t believe some idiot botched this spell. I mean, a first-year could do it. Whoever it was probably picked the mistletoe during a waxing gibbous moon.”

“R-right.” Raelle rubbed the back of her neck. “What an idiot.”

Silence stretched between them, awkward and thick. 

“Well, I guess we should get this over with.” Scylla looked at her expectantly, but Raelle found she couldn’t move. She was frozen in place, as if someone had hit her with an Immobulus charm. 

“Are you okay?” Scylla’s brows furrowed. 

“Yeah, I just…” It was hard to speak with the way her mouth suddenly dried out.

“It’s just a kiss.” Scylla moved closer and touched Raelle’s elbow. “No big deal.”

Raelle’s stomach dropped. Because of course . It wasn’t a big deal to Scylla because she didn’t feel the same as Raelle. And in that moment, Raelle knew she had messed up. Royally. Why had she thought some mistletoe would miraculously lead to Scylla returning her unrequited love. She should have never cast that spell.

She was so stupid .

But she had a chance to fix it now. To bury her feelings and give Scylla a quick peck and be done with it. But...

“I can’t,” Raelle whispered, tired of hiding. 

Scylla’s face fell and that made Raelle’s heart crack. “Would kissing me be that terrible?”

“What? No!” Raelle covered her face with her hands. This was a disaster. “That’s not…”

“Rae,” Scylla gently pulled down Raelle’s hands, blue eyes as clear as the shimmering waters of the Great Lake on a cloudless day. “It’s okay. You don’t have to kiss me, if you don’t want to.” 

“That’s the thing.” Raelle’s chest throbbed. “I do want to. More than you know. But not like this.”

“Like what?” Scylla asked, baffled. 

“Like it doesn’t mean anything.” Raelle took a deep breath. It was now or never. She’d prove she wasn’t the most cowardly Gryffindor in the history of Gryffindors. “Because, Scyl, it’d mean everything to me. Because you mean everything .”

Scylla licked her lips. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, I love you. I’m in love with you. Have been for as long as I can remember. But I understand if you don’t feel the same.”

Closing her eyes, Scylla ducked her head down, shoulders beginning to shake. Raelle couldn’t tell if she was laughing or crying.

“Scyl? Say something. Please.”

When Scylla finally looked up, Raelle for sure thought her heart stopped. Tears shone in her eyes, and her mouth curved up in a trembling smile.

“You know what Muggles say about assumptions, right?” Scylla said.

Raelle watched dumbfounded as Scylla stepped away and out past the perimeter of the mistletoe’s reach. Howlers appeared out of thin air, and their screech was deafening. They flapped to all corners of the castle. Even with her hands clapped around her ears, Raelle could hear the message clearly:

Scylla Ramshorn, Seventh Year, Ravenclaw, is in love with Raelle Collar, Sixth Year, Gryffindor.

Scylla Ramshorn, Seventh Year, Ravenclaw, is in love with Raelle Collar, Sixth Year, Gryffindor.

Scylla Ramshorn, Seventh Year, Ravenclaw, is in love with Raelle Collar, Sixth Year, Gryffindor.

The message repeated for what seemed like eternity before it finally ceased, leaving Raelle in stunned silence, facing burning.

Scylla shrugged helplessly.

In less than a fraction of a second, Raelle erased the gap between them and kissed Scylla, cupping her jaw and burying her fingers in soft, auburn hair. Scylla wrapped her arms around Raelle and brought them even closer. Raelle melted into the softness of Scylla’s lips, warmth spreading throughout her entire body as her heart expanded to the point of bursting. 

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Scylla whispered when they broke apart, foreheads resting against each other.

“Why didn’t you?” Raelle countered, smiling so widely her cheeks were beginning to hurt.

“I guess we’re both idiots.”

“Guess so.”

Scylla nuzzled the tip of Raelle’s nose. “Speaking of idiots, I’ll have to thank the one who bungled the mistletoe spell after all.” Her gaze traveled up to the archway. The mistletoe had already disappeared to claim its next victim. 

“Lucky for you, you don’t have to search very far,” Raelle confessed.

Scylla’s eyes widened. “It was you?”

Raelle nodded sheepishly, and Scylla could only laugh, pulling her in for another kiss. 

[sunevial]

A Personal Meg Experiment

So, I know some of you guys have been wondering about my ‘original works’ since I’m mostly known for writing the Followers. If you’ve talked to me at any length, you’ll know that I personally hate talking about my characters or plans for my original works because of how my brain is wired.

Now all this being said, I want to try something different. Because while I’m going to finish the Followers before I do any real work on my original projects, I also want to show you guys some of the stuff happening behind the scenes in my head.

Because whooooooo boy.

There’s a lot.

So, here’s what the experiment is gonna be. I’m going to list all of the various original story ideas I currently have with a small blurb about the story and the major characters. If you’re curious about literally anything, send me an ask and I’ll share what I can.

Now without further ado...

Important Note: Technically speaking, all of these stories take place within a connected universe, most of them at different points in time. I’ll try and keep these relatively in chronological order. These are all working titles.

Dalkin and the Exiles

Less of a story and more an epic, Dalkin and the Exiles contains some of the most important worldbuilding (universe building?) I have in this intricate web of stories. While this story alone has about four or five distinct plot threads, it primarily follows Dalkin Eventide, Demon Princess of Shiel, and all the work she has done to overthrow her tyrant father. 

Important characters (note: there’s a CRAP TON of characters in this one, these are just the ones I can connect everyone else to): Dalkin, Koron, Rashara, Camille, Adaran, Leore

The Jeweled Misfits

Their names are whispered in corner streets, their deeds legendary and remembered across the lands. Six individuals, brought together by circumstance and who would rise to be the greatest heroes of Ayorth. Or at least...that’s what everyone remembers. As read in Throsi’s surviving journals, their story is far more complex than anyone remembers.

Important characters: Throsi, Ezel, Anakis, Ander, Shui, Orlan

The Eleven

Ayorth has fallen, and the gods with it. A new one has risen in their steed, a tyrant to match no other. But even in the ruins of calamity, something new can arise. Hope can spring free. This is Anabel’s story.

Important characters: Anabel, the remaining Ten

Sins and Virtues

The children of angels and demons, trusted neither by heaven nor hell, exploited by both. Their safe haven is Order of the Silver Keys, committed to protecting humanity from the endless struggle between the two great powers. A tale of espionage, friendship, familial bonds, and the ghosts of the past that continue to haunt the present.  

Important characters: Polana, Desriel, Renisha, Geverlen, Kezeal, Magrenol, Taleyie, Seresam

Spectrum Warriors

For years, Caia has gone to a strange world at night, meeting up with friends in an alien world of incredible colors and biotechnology. However, that period of peace has ended; someone attacked the palace, and now she is cut off from her second home. Joining forces with her friends, the six of them finally meeting on Earth for the first time, they vow to find a way to fix this mess.

Important characters: Aliyah, Bridget, Caia, Dalia, Elowen, Fang, Hideaki, Princess Rainbow

The Oracle’s Heir 

Set in the hidden world of Eto, this three part story follows two young woman, Vylet and Echo. One of the last oracles left in existence, Vylet embarks on a quest to restore her family’s good name and uncover the long history of her world. A banisher in training, Echo knows she has one of two fates in this world: defeat the Undead Queen Vashren, who has been systematically killing oracles over the past one thousand years, or die trying. 

Important characters: Vylet, Echo, Vashren, Sera, Husky, the Nine, the Children

Two Together Are Always Going Somewhere

Unlike some of these other stories, this one is incredibly sweet. Three worlds: one of magic, one of science fiction, and one like our own. There are no sinister plots, no rebellions, no need for heroes to save the world. This is simply the story of two girls falling in love. 

Important characters: Venny, Sol, Clarissa, Michalis, Copper, Ginger

Coda and the Astral Compass

This is a story that takes place amongst the stars, in galaxies far from our own. Upon a great traveling city, a race of aliens travels between planets, visiting all manner of planets. Join Coda and his friends as they go on all matter of adventures amongst the great cosmos.

Important characters: Coda, Alel, Reyo, Esil

Changeling Children

Arista knows she doesn’t belong in her family. She is a changeling, after all; at a very young age, she was switched out for a human child, placed in her family’s care while the two faeries made off with the human baby. Arista knows this. And she’s determined to find that lost child and bring her back home.

Important characters: Arista, Tyra, Peach, Aislin, Lolima

[scotianostra]

On December 28th 1879 the Tay Bridge disaster occurred.

The first Tay Rail Bridge collapsed while a train was passing over it from Wormit to Dundee, killing all aboard.

The fall of the Tay Bridge was a terrible blow to the self-confidence of Scottish engineering. Calculations for the bridge had failed to take into account the fierce wind speeds which could be reached in the Firth of Tay. sub-standard materials had also been used in key parts of the construction.

On the night of 28 December 1879, the bridge came down in a storm. All on board the Dundee-bound train on the bridge at the time were killed - a total of 75 persons, not 300, which was the erroneous total telegraphed out of Dundee in the first hours of the disaster. One of the first with the news in Edinburgh was the Courant. Its information came down the wire from Dundee via Perth. This is what they published.....

We have this morning to record one of the most dreadful disasters that have ever occurred in this country, through the falling of part of the Tay Bridge, and the sweeping away of a passenger train, involving great loss of life. The first intimation of the catastrophe which reached Edinburgh was a telegram received at the Waverley Station about eleven o'clock last night, stating that some of the high girders of the Tay Bridge had been blown down, and expressing a fear that they had carried with them the 4.15 p.m. passenger train from Edinburgh, due at Dundee at 7.10.

A special train was at once prepared, and it started about half-past twelve for the scene of the disaster, with Mr Walker, the manager; Mr McLaren, passenger superintendent; Sir Thomas Bouch, C.E. [the engineer who built the bridge]; and Mr Bell, engineer. Owing to the bad state of the telegraph wired, little or no information regarding the disaster was received till a late hour this morning.

Our Dundee correspondent telegraphs this morning:-

Yesterday afternoon Dundee was visited by one of the most fearful hurricanes which has ever been experienced, and has been accompanied with unparalleled destruction of property, the large centre portion of the Tay Bridge having been blown down during a fearful blast, and it is also feared that the passenger train from the south, which was seen entering on the bridge at the Newport side a few minutes before the accident, and which has not since been heard of, has, with its passengers, been carried away with the fallen girders, and with these now lies in the bed of the river. From the time the gale began it continued to increase in fury until it became a perfect hurricane from the south-south-west. The property in the western suburbs and the Tay Bridge were exposed to the full fury of the blast. The streets, especially in the West End, were literally covered with debris of chimney-cans and slates which had been blown from the roofs of houses. Every moment the slates might have been seen flying off the roofs, whirling in the air and then falling in the street below in pieces. The danger to foot-passengers was exceedingly great, and many persons narrowly escaped from being struck by the toppling masses of masonry which formed the chimneys, or by the falling slates and chimney-cans. Palings and walls in a great many places have been demolished. Trees have been uprooted, and the shrubbery in gardens terribly destroyed. Indeed, so dreadful was the gale about seven o'clock that very few people were to be seen on the streets, and those who were then seen, and who had to walk against the wind, found it almost impossible to make headway. Each one appeared to be in terror of being injured by the missiles carried about in the air by the gale from the roofs of the houses, and appeared only anxious about getting home. About half-past seven the rumour spread that a large part of the Tay Bridge had been blown down, and that a passenger train crossing at the time had fallen into the river with the structure. As this rumour passed from mouth to mouth, it was thought so incredible that very few believed it. The bridge, since its completion, has withstood many a terrific blast, and remarks were made to the effect that it could hardly be possible that such a structure, in whose stability against both tide and wind its engineers and constructors had always had the most decided confidence, could have been demolished. The news conveyed by rumour, however, was so appalling and so startling that although it was generally received with reservation, everyone who heard it made off at once, almost with bated breath to the Magdalen Yard Point, and to the Tay Bridge Station, with the view of ascertaining what foundation there was for it. In the course of a very short time the persons in quest of information could be counted by hundreds. At the Tay Bridge Station, however, the officials were unable to give any information, beyond the fact that since a few minutes after seven o'clock communication between the signal cabins at each end of the bridge had been cut off. From the station enquiries proceeded by the Perth Road and the Esplanade to the Magdalen Yard Point, where the signal cabin is situated, in order to pick up whatever particle of information could be obtained. A good many persons entered the cabin box and enquired at the signalman as to the extent of the supposed calamity, but he could throw no further light on what was a very painful mystery. The railway officials, who had naturally become alarmed, especially since they were aware that there was no communication with the south end of the bridge, resolved to satisfy themselves whether the superstructure was safe or not. Accordingly Mr Roberts, superintendent of the locomotive department, determined to go along the bridge. This he did at considerable risk, for the force of the hurricane was such that at times he was almost completely lifted off his feet, and was in great danger of being blown into the river; but urged by the anxiety within his breast to learn in what condition the bridge was, fear for the time being comparatively banished, and he with considerable courage and daring continued the prosecution of his dangerous task. Having walked along the bridge as far as he could, he then crawled on his hands and knees as far as the point where the high girders begin. Here his course was arrested; horror stricken, he found that the rumour in circulation was too true, the whole of the thirteen girders, each 245 feet in width and 250 tons in weight, and which, as it were, had formed a tunnel in the middle of the bridge, were gone and nothing remained but the bare iron piers which had supported them. Mr Smith, the stationmaster, also made a similar journey along the bridge from the other end, and found that what Mr Roberts reported as to the destruction of the middle of the bridge was absolutely true.

Four o'clock a.m.

A message just received estimates the number of passengers in the fated train at not less than 200. The man in the signal cabin at the north end of the bridge states that at about ten minutes past seven the Edinburgh train was signalled as having entered on the bridge at the south end, and that, in signalling a reply a moment or two afterwards, no communication with the south end was found to exist.

About an hour after the catastrophe had happened, several gentlemen, who reside at the West End of Dundee, and others who had been walking along the Perth Road at points commanding a view of the bridge, proceeded to the Tay Bridge station, and reported to Mr Smith the stationmaster, what they had seen of the calamity. Their testimony concurred us to the time at which the fearful accident had occurred. The evening was very clear, a full moon shedding bright light over all the town, and clearly revealing the outline of the Tay Bridge.

4.30 a.m.

Mr Walker, manager of the North British Railway, telegraphing from Leuchars, at four o'clock this morning, has communicated the following to the newspapers: - 'From reports made to us here of the terrible calamity at the Tay Bridge, it appears that several of the large girders of the bridge, along with the last train from Edinburgh, were precipitated into the river about half-past seven last night. There were, I deeply deplore to say, nearly 300 passengers, besides company's servants in the train, all of whom are believed to have perished. The cause of the accident has not yet been ascertained.'

The train was timed to arrive at the bridge at 7.08 p.m., and was signalled at 7.14, only six minutes behind time. Accounts are contradictory as to whether the bridge had given way before the arrival of the train, or whether it had succumbed under the combined pressure of the engine and carriages and the hurricane. There can be no doubt, however, as to the fate of the train and its human freight, however many or few were in it.

The centre portion of the bridge was constructed on piers of greater strength than those which supported the parts of the bridge nearer the land on either side. Here it was necessary to provide stronger columns to support the weight of the superincumbent girders, which at the navigable portion of the river have a span of 245 feet, and weigh 190 tons each. The cylinders employed for the bridge were made round, and on them were deposited great masses of brickwork up to high-water mark. From this point each pier was composed of six iron columns, constructed in 10 feet lengths, and of a proportionate thickness. Thirteen pieces of this kind carried the bridge over the navigable channel of the river, which on an average is about 45 feet in depth.

During a violent gale in February 1877, while the bridge was in process of construction, two of the largest girders, which had been raised to the top of the piers prepared for them, but had not been put in their places, were blown down from the hanging gear. About the same part the bridge has now given way under the strain of the elements, and led to a disaster the terrible magnitude of which it is impossible at the present moment to estimate.

As we have said, the water in the centre is over forty feet deep, the height of the bridge is eighty-eight feet above, and nothing is conceivable but that the train and its passengers must be lying in the bed of the Tay.

As the news did not reach Edinburgh till very late, there was of course little excitement in the city. Some of those who did hear the news would not credit it, and seeing that only private messages were received, conviction was not then forced upon any save those who were known to have friends in the train. These, by enquiries at the Waverley Station, learned that two railway officials at the Dundee station, anxious about the train, attempted to cross over the bridge, but they were driven back by a deluge of water which was escaping from the pipes employed to convey the water supply of Newport across the bridge.

Edinburgh Courant, 29 December 1879.

Of course some of the details have been proven to be incorrect since that first report, and an inquiry held that the fall of the bridge was occasioned by the insufficiency of the cross-bracings and fastenings to sustain the force of the gale on the night. If found there must have been weak points in the structure, this is true and although the designer the noted railway engineer Thomas Bouch was initially held responsible in the years that have fallen since the disaster he has been exonerated, to an extent, the main reason that contributed to the collapse has been put down to bad quality steel, the company making it cut corners to save money, having said that neither Bouch nor the contractor appeared to have regularly visited the on-site foundry where iron from the previous half-built bridge was recycled. The bridge failed because of defects in its manufacture. This meant it did not reach the standards of wind resistance intended by the designer.

[autumnstwilight]

Rebirthday

Rating: G Words: 2000+ Tags: Zelink, selectively mute Link, mild angst, but mostly fluff, also cake Summary: One year after Link's awakening in the Shrine of Resurrection, and more than half a year after the fall of Calamity Ganon, a traveling princess and her knight return to the ruins of Hyrule Castle.

(Happy first anniversary to my favorite game ever!)

Read on AO3

A light rain fell on the ruins of Hyrule Castle, the sunlight glinting off the water as it dripped from gutters and ran down the walls. Since the banishing of the Great Calamity, the ruins had stood through late-summer storms, autumn sleet, winter snowfalls, and now the gentle warmth of spring had returned.

Once again, Link made his way through the rubble, down battered paths and over crumbling walls to the Sanctum. His scars still ached, as he pulled himself onto a rampart, feet scrabbling on wet stone, but he had almost entirely regained his strength. At the highest reaches of the castle, the Sanctum lay bare and empty before him. The skies above were patched with blue and white, the wind and rain had washed away the grime of a century of Malice from the grey stone. There were no signs of what had caused people to abandon this place. A naive observer might think they had simply left.

The breeze was fresh and cool on his face, and he looked out over the vastness of Hyrule, Death Mountain glowing red in the north, the great shadow of Mount Lanayru to the west, the pillar of stone that marked the Rito hometown in the east, and to the south of that, the ridge of the Gerudo Highlands. Each corner of the land held memories and connections for him, formed in his wanderings, and a peace passed through him. Everything was imperfect and bittersweet, and that was why it was beautiful. The kingdom seemed to breathe with him, the silent thrill of being alive.

He pulled a small loaf of bread out of his pouch, along with a hunk of salted meat, and began to eat, legs dangling over the edge of the gaping hole in the floor. Perhaps it was a strange choice of location for his simple meal. If so, then let it be. As he ate, he remembered the swirling darkness last time he had been here, the pulsing, throbbing rot of the Malice clinging to the walls, forming a sick cradle in which to nurture its master.

“You put up a good fight,” he said, and then started a little at the sound of his own voice, rarely heard as it was.

Despite the suffering the creature known as Ganon had caused to him and everyone else he had met, hatred was difficult. Link had once encountered a wild boar in the forest, blood and pus leaking from where the broken spearhead pierced its ribs. He had seen the fury in its eyes as it charged and he put it down with a blow from his sword. He couldn’t help but feel, if the Calamity truly once had been a man, that it was much the same thing. He saw the flayed and rotting skull in feverish dreams, heard the unearthly roar, and wondered if there was anything a single person could do that deserved ten thousand years of imprisonment. But the question of what was deserved was long past. Sword in hand, Link had done what he could.

He finished his food, and rose to his feet. For a moment, he bowed his head in remembrance of the souls lost here. With a last glance, he prepared to head back down into the lower floors of the castle.

The princess had not followed him to the Sanctum. He could hardly blame her, aside from the difficulty of traversing the ruins, one hundred years was quite enough for anyone to spend there in one lifetime. In the months since, she had spoken little of her semi-voluntary imprisonment in the castle. He hadn’t attempted to pry it out of her.

They had traveled far and wide, just the two of them, like an echo of the past. At each village and settlement, they stopped as Princess Zelda introduced herself, and consulted with the local authorities on what they needed, what their concerns were, and how they saw Hyrule going forward. She had not taken the role of Queen yet, hoping that she could foster greater cooperation and stability between the scattered pockets of civilization before reviving the kingdom. Everything would go more smoothly if people naturally came to see themselves as part of a whole.

She was frightened, she had confessed to him, frightened that she wouldn’t do well enough. After a century of isolation, human contact was strange to her, being the center of attention almost unbearable. Despite that, he thought, she was lovely, and endeared herself to people wherever she went. He was sure that she would make a great queen, when she was ready. But he did not push the matter.

The sunlight streamed through the broken wall of Princess Zelda’s study, but it was silent and empty. A selection of books had been taken, a fallen scrap of paper suggesting a hurried retreat. Her bedroom was in a similar condition. Neither was she in the library, though some effort had been made to move books away from the broken wall that exposed them to the elements. The gatehouses were abandoned. Strangely, the dust in the Royal Guard’s chambers had been recently disturbed, although there was no sign of her there either. He furrowed his brow, beginning to worry a little. He had been sure that he had eliminated all the monsters here the first time around, certainly, he had seen no sign of them today. And yet, the chance that he was wrong sent adrenaline rushing through his veins.

The Observation Room yielded no sign of the princess either, even when he looked out the windows to check that she was not waiting for him by the entrance. He swore quietly, more of a hiss than a properly enunciated word. He hoped that she was somewhere safe and staying put. Otherwise they could both wander the inside of the castle for days and not cross paths.

The creak of timber made him look up, but it was merely a crow taking flight from a broken ceiling beam. Its distorted shadow flickered across the floor. He hurried back into the hall, wondering where to look next. It seemed unlikely that the princess would venture down into the lockup, that winding corridor of prison cells in the depths of the castle. Perhaps she had tried to enter the underground Sheikah laboratory, but as far as he knew that was inaccessible, unless one was unfortunate enough to fall through the hole in the Sanctum.

A familiar and sweet scent wafted to him, one that he couldn’t quite place. It was not quite that of baking bread, but carried a hint of fruit… He paused, his mind caught in almost-remembrance, another corridor, another meal being prepared. Then he shook off the past and moved forward.

On top of the sweetness and the scent of baking came a faintly bitter note, that of something charred. His nose had located it now, and he pushed open the heavy door at the far end of the dining room. Sure enough, the princess was there, crouched over the cooking pot with a look of concentration, muttering some indistinct but certainly irritable words. Wrapping the remains of a curtain around her hands, she took a smaller, lidded pot from the heavy cast iron pan, and tipped the contents onto a waiting plate. A cake, topped with apple wedges, slid inelegantly out of the pot. The princess gave the pot an impatient thump and several more slices of apple slopped onto the cake, giving off a hint of cinnamon. Despite the appearance, the scent was quite appealing. Taking a knife, the princess inexpertly trimmed off part of the edge that had begun to burn, and nudged the apple wedges back into a roughly circular arrangement. She did not notice him approaching.

“Link!” she yelped, and the knife clattered onto the table, spattering syrupy fruit juice across the table cloth. He took a step back, hands raised in what he hoped was a disarming gesture. The princess took a deep breath, as though she were trying to calm herself, and reached for the knife she had dropped.

“Goodness, you scared me…”

He gave her a stern look, one that might have communicated that she had frightened him by wandering all the way across the castle without a word, but he wasn’t very good at stern looks and his expression softened after only a moment. His gaze drifted to the fresh cake, once again noticing that it did smell very good.

“I was in the Royal Guard’s chambers,” she spoke after a moment, still prodding at the cake, scooping up an apple slice that was sliding off the edge. “I looked for your military records, but… whole sections of the archives have been destroyed, mildewed, used by the monsters as kindling… I wasn’t able to find any information about you back then.” Her eyes met his. “I’m sorry.”

Link looked back at her in surprise. Certainly, he’d never asked her to do this. He’d accepted it, as much as he could, that everything that happened before was a past life, one of which only glimpses remained. He was a different person now, and not entirely sure that he wanted his old self back, if it meant changing the him that had existed for the past year. He was real, whoever he was.

“Anyway…” She paused to suck on her finger for a moment where it had gotten covered with sticky fruit syrup, and began cutting into the cake. “Today is… It’s been one year, exactly, since I woke you. I remember. The third day of spring. And… since I couldn’t find… since I don’t know… when your birthday is. I…”

She slid the flat of the knife under a slice of cake, and held it out. He picked it up carefully between two fingers, cupping one hand underneath to prevent it from crumbling, blowing on it where there was still steam rising from the top.

“Happy Birthday, Link.”

Words didn't come to him easily, but he spoke them anyway. Taking a breath, he steadied his gaze to meet her eyes.

"...Thank you. Zelda."

Then she smiled and it really was like the sun. He looked down at the cake in his hand before shoving the entire slice into his mouth, a habit of eating on the run he’d never quite broken. For what was presumably a first attempt at a cake, it was quite well done, the fruit simmered to a soft sweetness, the batter light and fluffy all the way through. His hand hovered over the remainder of the cake, fingers wriggling as if asking for permission. The princess laughed.

“Yes, go on. It’s for you, after all.”

He needed no further encouragement. The princess took a seat at the great dining table, and he took the place next to her, and another bite of cake. Cautiously, she reached for a slice of her own.

“It’s certainly fortunate that the cookery section of the library did not meet the same fate as the archives.”

Mouth full, he nodded his wholehearted agreement.

“You know… I was nervous about returning here, but… I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Of course, I remember how this place was… I always will. But today, I can’t stop thinking about how we can rebuild it all. What I’m going to add. What I’m going to do differently. How grand it will be when we can call this place the center of our kingdom once more.”

His fingers entwined with hers under the table.

“You’ll stay with me, won’t you?” He squeezed her hand in response, and she blushed before continuing hurriedly and in a somewhat higher pitch, “I think we should head north first, secure a supply of stone from the quarries in Eldin. Of course, it will take them a while to accelerate production, perhaps a season or two. In the meantime, we need to find workers. Perhaps some of the smaller settlements can be persuaded to relocate to the old Castle Town…”

She was absorbed in her planning now, her sharp mind working on the details and intricacies that she handled best. Link settled back into his chair and took another slice of cake as she spoke. This was his reason. The present spread out around him, a sweet and comforting moment that filled the hall, and he could not wish for anything else.

[carterhaughs]

Tragic Backstory, only lvl 4 friends can unlock this

pt. 2 of Elsmere Aloryn’s personal history (bc as I research the Darklands and drow society her backstory becomes more and more detailed and refined which is so much fun to see taking shape. I don’t expect it to be openly confronted often in gameplay but it informs how I’ll play her)!!! this is all based on Pathfinder lore so the placenames and socioeconomic structures I mention here I did not make up - I’m situating her backstory very firmly in extant Pathfinder lore and then we can go wild in our campaign with whatever the DM throws at us in her own entirely self-constructed settings.

She’s a servant (albeit a secret one) of House Parastric of the Moaning Vault (cheery place name lol), the only drow noble house located outside of Zirnakaynin where most drow noble houses are situated. It is instead situated outside of Cocyrdavarin, the residence of the merchants and other bourgeoisie of drow society who make up the majority of the population. 

"It is also the only part of the city that non-drow are allowed access to, although outsiders should expect only contempt from the drow. Visitors of other races are seen as below even slaves in social standing, an attitude that the matriarchs of the various noble houses wish to change, as foreign trade brings great wealth to the drow capital. Even though the city is ostensibly governed by the twelve noble houses, the matriarchs only enforce the laws which benefit them personally, leaving Zirnakaynin in a state of de facto anarchy most of the time. This lack of laws means that open conflict and riots are a common sight in the city streets."

With all that in mind, it’s a wonder that Elsmere and her brother managed to survive at all - they did so through a combination of luck, skill, and the love of their mother and father. Prior to her self-exile, Elsmere and her brother - both of them half-drow - lived in the “undercity of slaves and industry” - the third cavern in the massive three-cavern (mostly) drow realm of Sekamina, Rygirnan. 

Her brother still dwells in their father's old house there. Their human father was a prince of thieves sort, at least prior to getting on the wrong side of some drow fleshwarping merchants (the stock in trade of House Parastric) and enslaved as the plaything of a cruel and powerful drow matron of House Parastric. He began a dangerous affair with their mother, a lowly vassal alchemist considered unfit for the practice of fleshwarping (who in reality was quite skilled but came from a long line of vassals morally opposed to the horrific practice). They were found out by one of Parastric’s male clerics whose infatuation with their mother was their family’s only protection from annihilation. Eventually, the matron tired of their father’s unbreakable spirit and had him executed. The cleric threatened to maliciously expose their father’s half-blooded progeny should their mother not service him sexually, and so the two of them remained hidden up until their mother’s death. Elsmere made it clear that the cleric would go down with them if he ever exposed them to the matron, so he kept their existence quiet and continued to train Elsmere in sorcery, in addition to the basic alchemical training her mother had started her on prior to her death from filth fever.

Half-drow, like all half-elves, age more slowly than humans but markedly quicker than elves, so it was paramount that the two of them stay hidden until they reached adolescence, at which their true age could be obfuscated, at least for a few decades. Elsmere could never hope to pass for a full-blooded drow given the green eyes and short statute she inherited from her father, and the telltale greyish pallor of a half-drow, similar to that of a Fetchling. Her brother, however, had the bluish cast and white eyes devoid of pupils of their mother, as well as her tall, willowy frame. Apart from his more rapid maturation, you would never guess he was part human. So Elsmere hid him away in the slave district in their father’s old hut as she continued her studies and grew ever more entangled in the benign and not so benign elements of the criminal network to which her father once belonged. His name went a long ways, but it could never grant them absolute protection or even passing certainty of safety, and they lived on a knife’s edge. Elsmere’s sense of compassion was compromised long before she was an adult in the interest of protecting what family she had left, and she has rarely looked back since.  

Since her banishment, her brother has taken up residence in House Parastric in preparation for a career in the military, supported by her work in Sekamina’s criminal underworld, primarily her gambling winnings. The only real glory for most male drow, it is also a job that would wear down elf and half-elf alike, making the eventuality of his aging more quickly than his fellows in later years far less noticeable. Against her advice, he has taken up with a female drow cleric of another noble house, a doubly dangerous act because of the deadly and constant quarrels between the houses and the possible calamity if his true heritage becomes known. Nevertheless, she supports him as best she can while on the surface, and is the only thing protecting his secret and supporting his livelihood. 

Elsmere grew up thinking her father’s blood legacy to her was not in her favor, but unbeknownst to him, and for many years, to Elsmere herself, he was the descendant of the blue chromatic dragons of the desert lands. Such dragons are wont to take human shapes and mingle with the criminal contacts of which they are so fond, and it is little wonder then that her father had such a talent for social manipulation and such a charisma about him. The silver tongues of blue dragons are well-known across Golarion. Her father lived longer than most humans without specialized training can endure in the Darklands because of the hardiness of his draconic ancestry but it never manifested so openly as it did in his daughter. Elsmere’s sorcerous inclinations were evident from an early age, but she and her family had always assumed her magic drew on her mother’s side of the family. While her mother was no witch, she had enough of the arcane in her, alongside her intellect, to work as a skilled alchemist limited primarily by her life of servitude. But after the deaths of her parents, Elsmere awoke her first bloodline power in defense of her brother when the Parastric cleric threatened to expose them. Claws sharp and bright as silver extended from her fingers and having read of such marks of draconic heritage in books of sorcery, she could little doubt what she was. She has studied draconic sorcery ever since and clung to the memory of something older and stronger than all the demon lords of the Underdark, hoping against hope that whatever bloodline powers she awakens in future will be enough to protect and sustain her brother, far from her side though he may be, perhaps forever.

[seiten-taisei]

Saiyuki Thoughts; Shared Tragedies

After the recent chapter, I had begun to reflect about how tragic the lives of our main guys are. Well, really, almost all characters have some form of tragedy in their life that has helped to mold who they are and their ambitions.

But in my thinking, I made an interesting connection between the events that Sanzo, Gojyo, and Hakkai had to endure in the current time that may be linked into the painful events of Goku’s life in heaven. I may be over thinking as usual, but I have a strong feeling that Karma may have distributed his most traumatic memories to his 3 companions as a way to punish them after they were reborn, and possibly help shoulder the weight of those memories. 

This is a pretty long post, longer than I anticipated, so I’ll put it behind a read more. There shouldn’t be any major spoilers, though there is a small bit of info at the end regarding events in Saiyuki Reload Blast but it’s not thoroughly discussed.

Case 1: Death of a father figure

Goku, like the others, is an orphan. Technically he is never shown to have a physical mother or father. It wasn’t until he was discovered and brought to heaven that he was forced onto Konzen who slowly warmed up to him to the point he was overly protective. Tenpou and Kenren soon became paternal figures as well, seen somewhat as either father figures or like uncles. In any case, these three men protected Goku and the young boy loved them unconditionally. 

A baby Sanzo, Kouryuu, was found floating in the river, discovered by Koumyou who claims he heard a voice. While Sanzo was usually shown as being exasperated with the eccentricities of his late master, he was incredibly attached and often follows his teachings. Much of Sanzo’s attitude and personality currently is due to the effects of his master’s untimely demise.

 Like Sanzo, Goku lost all his father figures. While he did not see Kenren and Tenpou die, it was revealed to him that they were slain, much to his dismay. But the breaking point was watching the agonizing death of Konzen. The God who had done little living up until the heretic’s arrival sacrificed himself so Goku could live on. And more than likely, Koumyou sacrificed himself so that Kouryuu could survive.

  Case 2: A loved one attempting to kill them

 Goku cared deeply for Nataku. They only got to meet a few times because of their circumstances, but Goku adored the war god. Unfortunately, it was certainly doomed from the start. Tenpou had realized early on that Goku’s place in heaven would surely be complicated as he is a heretical being and could become a War God, putting Li Touten in the mindset that the boy needed to die so he could preserve his political status. Despite the orders from his father, Nataku retaliated and attempted to take his own life, bathing Goku in blood during his sacrifice.

 Gojyo had a depressing childhood. His biological parents committed suicide together and left him with a step mother who loathed the half demon. Despite his attempts to win her over, she was mentally unstable and often abused him. The only person who protected him was his older brother, Dokugakuji, known as Jien at the time. One night, unable to hold back any longer, she made an attempt to kill the terrified half demon who had to be saved by Jien who murdered their mother before Gojyo’s eyes.

 In both cases Goku and Gojyo watched someone they cared about die before them, soaked in their blood. For Gojyo this had major psychological effects and paved the way for a hard life as a delinquent until he later discovers Hakkai and then meets up with Sanzo and Goku.

  Case 3: Going berserk after losing a loved one

 Nataku’s suicide attempt completely broke Goku. He had finally been able to tell the war god his name and watched as Nataku attempted to kill himself. Watching him supposedly die and hearing Li Touten’s vile words of being able to ‘use’ Nataku caused Goku to lose it, the diadem breaking for the first time. This is the first instance in his life, that we know of, where Seiten Taisei was released and shown as being a murderous killing machine. Goku also went berserk after Konzen’s death, but Seiten Taisei was shown as being deeply distraught by his and the death of Kenren and Tenpou. He was enraged and attempted to take out his sorrows Kanzeon when she asked if he was throwing their hopes and dreams for Goku’s freedom away.

 Hakkai grew up in an orphanage and had a personality that scared most of the other children. However, he found a true companion and someone to love; Kanan. They moved in together and were very much in love. Tragically, Kanan was abducted and Hakkai, who was Cho Gonou at the time, went on a crazed murder spree, slaughtering nearly 1,000 demons to save her. Ultimately, he was forced to watch her commit suicide after discovering she was carrying the child of a demon who sexually abused her. After being confronted with Chin Yisou, Gonou’s youkai side was released.

 In both cases, the murder sprees had devastating effects on both characters. Goku’s rampage is what caused heaven to want to dispose of him and Hakkai’s murder spree gave him a fearsome villain in the form of a vengeful Chin Yisou. Also, both cases revealed their incredibly powerful demonic sides. Not much is known about Seiten Taisei before the days of heaven but now it’s clear he’s very unstable when he’s freed.

 Taruchie, the oracle half demon, often speaks about how they are trapped in a cycle. It’s sad to think the guys are being punished for something they had not meant to directly cause. Goku was brought to heaven by meddling gods and given to Konzen by his aunt, Kanzeon, who thought it would be interesting to see how this runt would change his life. Later she showed a deep regret in doing so because the little heretic lost his loved ones and caused a calamity in heaven that ultimately resigned his fate and banishment.

 Goku’s appearance in the heavenly realm indirectly revealed Li Touten’s nefarious plotting, however at great expense to the lives of those he loved. But because of this a lot of gods were killed, and not just by Seiten Taisei. Kenren and Tenpou had their hands stained in blood as they executed fellow gods in an attempt to provide Goku with sanctuary in the lower world.

 Konzen almost got away without directly killing someone, but he did greatly injure Li Touten. His resolve to get Goku to earth made it so he was the most determined and was a driving factor in the savage attacks. He could have surrendered Goku over and there would have been less bloodshed, but he was too close to the young boy at this point and would make any sacrifices to protect him.

Interesting that Konzen is seen as both the one he killed the least, and yet indirectly caused the most deaths. It’s rather ironic that he would be reborn and live the life of a monk, one trained to value life and not kill, and instead is one of the deadliest character among the 4 main guys.

It definitely makes me think that the three men share the weight of Goku’s memories, Karma inflicting the tragedies on them as Goku wasn’t reborn, but the deeds were too great to not evenly distribute them among those closest to him. Maybe too many harsh memories could eventually break the seal that keeps them from resurfacing. And Taruchie has mentioned that they are trapped in the cycle.

On top of that, Goku was trapped for 500 years in a cave which is pretty traumatizing on its own. It would have been even more soul crushing had he kept his memories.

I could very well be reaching and over analyzing. There’s no telling if Minekura planned for it to be this way as she probably would have needed to plan out the events of Saiyuki and Gaiden at the same time for this connection to be made. But there are old concept images so it’s very likely she was plotting this side story along with the main manga. Plus, Minekura is known for her parallels so I tend to think she knew exactly what she was doing.

Also I’m not well versed in how the Wheel of Karma works, so please take this with a grain of salt. I’m trying to learn more about it, so the idea that Karma can be divided among people is probably very inaccurate. I’d love to hear any responses, especially ones that can offer me insight on Karma.

[letters-from-paradise]

Appendix 2. The Christian Flight to Pella

Appendix to Letters from Paradise Special Episode 64b concerning the miraculous opportunities by which the Christian’s were able to escape Jerusalem just prior to it’s complete destruction by the Romans in 70AD.

Background Links

https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-places/pella-a-window-on-survival/

https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-sites/excavating-ancient-pella-jordan/

Jesus in his Olivet Discourse: Luke 21:20-22 "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies.. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it; for these are days of vengeance, to fulfil all that is written."RSV

Eusebius (Greek historian 260-340 AD): "The members of the Jerusalem church by means of an oracle, given by revelation to acceptable persons there, were ordered to leave the city before the war began and settle in a town in Peraea called Pella." Book III, 5:4

AD 66-70 Flights from Jerusalem


Recorded by Josephus (Written in AD75)

[c. November 66]  After this calamity had befallen Cestius, many of the most eminent of the Jews swam away from the city...   Jewish War 2:20:1

[A.D. 75] (Opportunity Arises to Flee) "It then happened that Cestius was not conscious either how the besieged despaired of success, nor how courageous the people were for him; and so he recalled his soldiers from the place, and by despairing of any expectation of taking it, without having received any disgrace, he retired from the city, without any reason in the world." (Wars, II, XIX, 6,7)


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Early Church Commentaries

Clement (2/3rd century)

"Subsequently also an evident proof of this great mystery is supplied in the fact, that every one who, believing in this Prophet who had been foretold by Moses, is baptized in His name, shall be kept unhurt from the destruction of war which impends over the unbelieving nation, and the place itself; but that those who do not believe shall be made exiles from their place and kingdom, that even against their will they may understand and obey the will of God." (Recognitions 1:39:3)

Eusebius (325)


"But the people of the church in Jerusalem had been commanded by a revelation, vouchsafed to approved men there before the war, to leave the city and to dwell in a certain town of Perea called Pella. " (History of the Church 3:5:3)

"The whole body, however, of the church at Jerusalem, having been commanded by a divine revelation, given to men of approved piety there before the war, removed from the city, and dwelt at a certain town beyond the Jordan, called Pella. Here those that believed in Christ, having removed from Jerusalem, as if holy men had entirely abandoned the royal city itself, and the whole land of Judea; the divine justice, for their crimes against Christ and his apostles finally overtook them, totally destroying the whole generation of these evildoers form the earth. (Eusebius, 3:5.)

"After all those who believed in Christ had generally come to live in Perea, in a city called Pella of the Decapolis of which it is written in the Gospel andwhich is situated in the neighbourhood of the region of Batanaea and Basanitis, Ebion's preaching originated here after they had moved to this place and had lived there." (Panarion 30:2)

"For when the city was about to be captured and sacked by the Romans, all the disciples were warned beforehand by an angel to remove from the city, doomed as it was to utter destruction. On migrating from it they settled at Pella, the town already indicated, across the Jordan. It is said to belong to Decapolis (de Mens. et Pond., 15).

Epiphanius (375)

"For when the city was about to be captured and sacked by the Romans, all the disciples were warned beforehand by an angel to remove from the city, doomed as it was to utter destruction. On migrating from it they settled at Pella, the town already indicated, across the Jordan. It is said to belong to Decapolis " (On Weights and Measures 15)

Historical Commentaries

Albert Barnes (1832)

"It is said that there is reason to believe that not one Christian perished in the destruction of that city, God having in various ways secured their escape, so that they fled to Pella, where they dwelt when the city was destroyed." (in loc.)

John Gill (1809)


"...it is remarked by several interpreters, and which Josephus takes notice of with surprise, that Cestius Gallus having advanced with his army to Jerusalem, and besieged it, on a sudden without any cause, raised the siege, and withdrew his army, when the city might have been easily taken; by which means a signal was made, and an opportunity given to the Christians, to make their escape: which they accordingly did, and went over to Jordan, as Eusebius says, to a place called Pella; so that when Titus came a few months after, there was not a Christian in the city . . " (John Gill, on Matthew 24:16).

George Peter Holford


"And it is with reason supposed, that on this occasion many of the Christians, or converted Jews, who dwelt there, recollecting the warnings or their divine Master, retired to Pella, a place beyond Jordan, situated in a mountainous country, whither (according to Eusebius, who resided near the spot) they came from Jerusalem, and settled, before the war (under Vespasian) began. Other providential opportunities for escaping afterwards occurred, of which, it is probable, those who were now left behind availed themselves ; for it is a striking act, and such as cannot be contemplated by the pious mind without sentiments of devout admiration, that history does not record that even one CHRISTIAN perished in the siege of Jerusalem." (The Destruction of Jerusalem)

C.H. Spurgeon


"The Christians in Jerusalem and the surrounding towns and villages, "in Judea ", availed themselves of the first opportunity for eluding the Roman armies, and fled to the mountain city of Pella, in Perea, where they were preserved from the general destruction which overthrew the Jews. There was no time to spare before the final investment of the guilty city; the man "on the house-top" could "not come down to take anything out of his house", and the man "in the field" could not "return back, to take his clothes." They must flee to the mountains in the greatest haste the moment that they saw "Jerusalem compassed with armies "(Luke 21:20)."

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Modern Commentaries

Adam Clarke (1837)

"Verse 16. Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains— This counsel was remembered and wisely followed by the Christians afterwards. Eusebius and Epiphanius say, that at this juncture, after Cestius Gallus had raised the siege, and Vespasian was approaching with his army, all who believed in Christ left Jerusalem and fled to Pella, and other places beyond the river Jordan; and so they all marvellously escaped the general shipwreck of their country: not one of them perished. See on Matthew 24:13." (Adam Clarke's Commentary On Matthew 24)

Henry Hammond (1659)

"How exactly the several passages of story in Josephus agree with these predictions will easily be discerned by comparing them, particularly that which belongs to this place of their flying to the mountains, &c. For when Gallus besieged Jerusalem, and without any visible cause, on a sudden raised the siege, what an act of God's special providence was this, thus to order it, that the believers of Christian Jews being warned by this siege, and let loose (set at liberty again) might fly to the mountains, that is, get out of Judea to some other place! Which that they did accordingly appears by this, that when Titus came some months after and besieged the city, there was not one Christian remaining in it" (H. Hammond, vol. 3, p. 160).

John Lightfoot (1889)


"Jerusalem was taken in the autumn of 70 A.D. Before its fall the Christians had left the doomed city. While the greater part retired beyond the Jordan and founded Christian colonies at Pella and the neighbourhood, the principle leaders of the church -- the surviving apostles and other personal disciples of the Lord -- sought a new home in proconsular Asia. Henceforward we find the headquarters of Christendom no more at Jerusalem, nor even at Antioch but, (for the time at least) in Ephesus. Here John fixed his abode after his temporary banishment in Patmos." (Lightfoot, J.B.; Translated and edited; Apostolic Fathers: Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp;first published 1889; Pub. Hendrickson; Vol. 1, pg. 438.)

Foy Wallace (1966)

"It is a remarkable but historical fact that Cestius Gallus, the Roman general, for some unknown reason, retired when they first marched against the city, suspended the siege, ceased the attack and withdrew his armies for an interval of time after the Romans had occupied the temple, thus giving every believing Jew the opportunity to obey the Lord's instruction to flee the city. Josephus the eyewitness, himself an unbeliever, chronicles this fact, and admitted his inability to account for the cessation of the fighting at this time, after a siege had begun. (The Book of Revelation, p. 352).

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[thetakenpokemon]

The Visions of Sorrow [Aftermath]

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[PoV: Zen’Ro]

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At first...I thought the story was over...for the visions stopped coming to me.

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But then it continued again...

The feeling to them is different however...

The tone...is different.

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Ever since his sisters left him, Oryx focused all of his energy into either studying the Deep or searching for Taox.

He no longer pursued the Traveler, for it was Crota’s duty. Ever since he returned from the Vex Worlds victorious, Oryx told Crota to hunt down the remaining worlds touched by the Traveler before ultimately destroying the Traveler itself.

So he did. He exterminated many worlds in the name of his father, his king.

One such world belonged to a race known as the Elinski, who had been granted vast technology and prospered under the Traveler’s light. But when Crota invaded, the Traveler fled and thus left them to their fate. Shattered due to the overwhelming might of the Hive, the Elinski scattered.

Having lost everything, the Elinski were forced to become scavengers and pirates in order to survive. With their prosperous age gone and most of their records destroyed, they were given a new name to represent what they were.

Fallen.

Many of the Fallen Houses vowed to seek out the ‘Great Machine’ that had abandoned them to the great calamity known as the ‘Whirlwind’, to bring themselves back to their prosperous age.

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Eventually...the Traveler found what was known as the Sol System, within it were inhabitants with a name.

Humans.

The Humans first discovered the Traveler on Mars, upon their first martian landing they witnessed the great machine terraforming the rust planet, granting it a sustainable atmosphere and oxygen to thrive in.

And so after this discovery, the Human’s Golden Age began.

The average Human life-span tripled, their technology advanced far greater than one would ever had anticipated, living life with quality that was no longer a luxury, and their reach extended past their system and into the stars afar.

Venus was terraformed into a jungle planet, Mercury became a vast garden world, and many other planets and moons were touched by the Traveler’s gift to become habitable.

All was well.

Until it wasn’t.

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There was a name for it.

The Great Collapse.

No one knew how it happened, but some dark force came and swept through the Human civilization and ended their Golden Age with a swift vengeance.

Whether if it was Crota that caused the Collapse or not...is difficult to tell, for I can’t make out the details.

No one could.

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The Traveler would’ve fled the Darkness that had arrived to hunt it down, but something prevented it from doing so.

It was Rasputin, an A.I. Warmind who controlled a network of weapons and defenses to protect the Human race. It calculated the Traveler fleeing, so it targeted its weapons on the great machine and fire upon it, thus crippled it.

And so left with little options, the Traveler became dormant and unleashed the Ghosts.

The Ghosts were tiny machines who sought out those within the Sol system who had an affinity with the Light, whether alive or dead. They would then connect to these individuals, resurrecting them if dead and outfitting them with the ways of the Light.

These individuals were soon known as Guardians, the protectors of Humanity.

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Left with nothing, Humans and Guardians gathered around the base of the dormant Traveler, taking refuge and finding comfort in what was once their great gift-giver, and thus began to rebuild their civilization piece by ever small piece.

Eventually they built a city.

The Last City.

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During the Collapse the Hive arrived, and so they began to seed themselves into the Earth’s Moon. They dug their claws deep into the satellite, turning it into a vast fortress filled with labyrinths and catacombs

Then the Fallen arrived, for they had chased the Traveler to this system. The scavengers took advantage of Humanity’s weakness and secured themselves on the various worlds, scavenging for Golden Age technology in order to arm themselves and guarantee their survival.

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But then it became worse.

The Hive began an invasion of Earth, in which the Guardians swiftly retaliated. Reigning victorious, the Guardians counter-attacked by taking the battle to the Moon.

What happened next...was known as the Great Disaster.

Crota was waiting for the Guardians, within the dark depths of the Moon.

With the power of Sword-Logic the Hive and the Prince slew the Guardians by the hundreds, the thousands. They took their Light, eating it and growing stronger. The Ghosts would revive the Guardians when they fell, but then the Hive would crush the Ghosts and drain its Light...thus forcing the Guardians to die a permanent death.

A single swing from his sword, Crota’s blade would crack the surface of the Moon. The battle ultimately ended in the Eater of Hope’s victory, forcing the remaining invading Guardians to flee back to Earth.

Yet before he could take his conquest to Earth, Oryx called Crota back to his Throne.

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Why did he call him back...?

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With Crota’s presence temporarily gone from the material world, the Hive reinforced themselves on the Moon. Despite the victory over the Guardians, they were at a disadvantage against the users of the Light without their Prince...so they prepared a ritual for Crota’s return when he was ready.

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During Crota’s absence, a Fireteam of Guardians was made.

The leader was Eriana-3, she witnessed her closest friend personally slain by Crota. Consumed with revenge, she desired to take advantage of Crota’s absence and prevent the Ascendant Hive from entering the material plane again.

So she made a Fireteam.

Their names were Vel Tarlowe, Omar Agah, Sai Mota, and Eris Morn.

Yet this was not enough, for they lacked the knowledge on how to properly combat the Hive. So they recruited the exiled Guardian Warlock known as Toland, the Shattered.

Together they arrived to the Moon. Although the first five were fueled with the desire for vengeance, Toland had other agendas. He desired to use this opportunity to fully learn about the Hive, to understand their complicated logics fascinated him so.

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But they were not ready.

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Six went into the pit.

Only one crawled out.

Five died a painful death.

Only Eris Morn survived.

With her Light taken and her Ghost destroyed, Eris was left no choice but to hide herself within the Darkness of the Hive. She blended in, adopting their ways in order to keep herself alive.

When the opportunity presented itself, she fled the Moon and returned back to Earth. During her stay among the Hive, she learned many dark things of their ways. She learned that Crota’s soul was preserved in a giant crystal, to be summoned again from his Throne World when he desired to bring his conquest to the material plane once more.

Yet the Darkness had twisted Eris Morn, perverting her appearance and making her look similar to the Hive. Many people mistrusted Eris and refused to listen to her warnings, for she was a Guardian no longer...with Darkness instead of Light.

None listened, except for one Guardian.

This Guardian had accomplished many things, having fought numerous dark forces that threatened the Last City. They listened to Eris, of the threat that Crota and his Disciples and how he would soon return to finish his work.

So they began their own attack. With a strength beyond that of other Guardians, that one Guardian personally took on Crota’s disciples that had begun to seed themselves into Earth.

They slew Sardon, Fist of Crota. He was the general of Crota’s spawn.

Then they targeted the lesser Disciples.

They slew his Eyes, his Might, his Heart, and his Hand. With his forces weakened, the Guardian then took the fight to the Moon.

Storming the ritual sight in which that held the Crystal that contained his Soul, the Guardian used their power to destroy it after a great fight. With the destruction of the Crystal, Crota was effectively banished from the material plane and thus left to recover in his Throne World.

But the Guardian didn’t stop there.

He hunted down Omnigul, the Will of Crota. She was the mother of his Spawn, the one who would breed his armies. With her destruction the Guardian permanently crippled the Spawn of Crota.

But there was one last thing for them to do.

To take the fight to Crota’s Throne World.

With Eris Morn advising them the Guardian assembled a Fireteam of six, the strongest of Guardians they could find.

With their power they went into the depths of the Moon, towards a place where Crota bled his Throne into the material space of the satellite. They fought through Hive and Disciples, slaying all that stood in their way.

They did this until they found the Hope Eater himself.

Being an Ascendant Hive, the Guardians could do little to Crota. His strength was almighty, his wards unbreakable, they couldn’t leave a wound that would falter the Hive.

All hope seemed lost...

...Until they managed to take an Ascendant Blade from one of his Disciples, a Sword Bearer.

Using his own Sword against him they struck down Crota, delivering a blow that shattered him fully.

Together they accomplished something that thousands of Guardians had failed, that Eris Morn and her team had failed.

They slew Crota in his own domain, his Throne.

And so Crota, Eater of Hope, died a true death.

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Oryx felt it.

Through the stars, across the cosmos in his very domain.

Oryx felt it.

Not only did he felt the chain of tribute cutting off, but also as if a void had been opened into his being.

Crota, Eater of Hope, his Son, had fallen.

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Rage.

All he felt was rage.

With a loud roar he halted his search for Taox, and thus turned his eyes to Earth.

They had killed his son.

He will have vengeance.

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When Oryx entered the outskirts of the Sol System, his fleet was strong. His Dreadnaught was accompanied by many ships, the entire force capable of leveling planets.

But when they reached the rings of Saturn, they didn’t expect an opposing force to confront them.

Waiting for him was the Fleet of the Awoken.

After the Collapse, Humans tried to flee to the outskirts of space to evade the Darkness. Yet something happened at the edge of Human-Controlled space, changing them forever.

Despite these changes, many returned back to the Sol System. Some came back to Earth, while others made their own kingdom within Asteroid Belt called ‘The Reef’.

Ruling these Awoken was Queen Mara Sov, despite having her own agendas she foresaw Oryx’s arrival and the threat he posed, so she used all of her powers and forces to organize a frontal-attack. They used the power of the ‘Harbingers’ - an ageless weapon with great power - to cause collateral damage to Oryx’s fleet. Within seconds many of his ships were destroyed, yet they never dented the Dreadnaught.

In response Oryx unleashed the Dreadnaught’s weapon, the power of pushing his Throne World into the surrounding space with the rage of a ‘dead star’. The blast devestated the entire Awoken fleet, wiping them out instantly.

Mara Sov’s body was never found in the wreckage of her ship, some presumed that she’s dead...while others believed otherwise.

But with his fleet crippled, Oryx’s army was effectively cut in half. But this mattered little to Oryx, for he had no need for ships to destroy.

And so...the Taken War had begun.

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...

It all started with the Cabal, a militarized alien race who’s goal is galactic domination. The massive scouting force bunkered themselves on Mars, to learn of the Guardians and the Traveler for their own purposes. The Guardians detected a distress signal from one of their bases on Mars’ moon, Phobos.

Despite the Cabal being their enemy, the Guardian who was responsible for the Fireteam that slew Crota was sent to investigate to see what was the reason for this signal.

Upon arriving, the base was completely decimated and overrun with Taken Cabal. Oryx had targeted them first.

Despite killing as many as they could, the Guardian was forced to flee due to the overwhelming armies of the Taken. Yet it didn’t stop there, for every world in the Sol System were being invaded.

Fallen, Cabal, and even Vex that had managed to dig themselves into Mercury and Venus were Taken and let loose onto the worlds. What took the Fallen months to get a foothold on Earth’s Old Russia instead took the Taken only hours, it seemed that there was no hope against this seemingly infinite and unstoppable armies that could appear anywhere at anytime.

The Vanguard, the main faction of Guardians who was charged with fighting the Darkness, desired to board the Dreadnaught and kill Oryx. But they couldn’t even approach it due to its powerful weapon.

While they were bickering, one member of the Vanguard hatched an idea of their own.

His name was Cayde-6, the Hunter Mentor and one of the three leaders of the Vanguard.

He approached the Crota-Slayer alone and told him of his plan, to steal Eris Morn’s Hive-Ship and use modified Golden-Age Stealth Tech to sneak into the the Dreadnaught.

The Guardian agreed without hesitation, even if the plan was suicidal.

Behind the Vanguard’s and Eris Morn’s backs the Guardian took the ship and flew it to the Dreadnaught with the modifications, at first it seemed to work for they were invisible due to the Stealth Tech...but then it malfunctioned.

Detecting them, the Dreadnaught powered its weapon to destroy them. But before it unleashed its power, the Guardian managed to bail the ship and land on the Dreadnaught before the ship was destroyed.

Marooned in hostile territory, the Guardian stealthily delved deeper into the titanic warship and sought out the conduits of the weapon. By destroying them, it prevented Oryx’s power from properly channel and thus made the weapon useless.

They succeeded.

With its great power crippled, the Guardian then sought out to create an outpost within the ship. Yet they then found an opening within, caused by a Cabal Warship having been intentionally crashed into the Dreadnaught in order to form a beachhead.

With the Hive distracted with the Cabal invaders, the Guardian set an outpost and confirmed to Cayde-6 that they had been successful.

When Commander Zavala and Ikora Rey, the two other Guardian Mentors and leaders of the Vanguard discovered of Cayde’s and the Guardian’s doings, they were not pleased.

But it was successful nonetheless, so they didn’t punish either of them.

Yet when Eris Morn was informed that her ship was destroyed, she was also not pleased.

She was not pleased at all.

...

With the outpost formed, they created a plan to kill Oryx and stop the Taken.

Oryx was currently within the outskirts of the Ascendant Realm, although not his Throne...it was unreachable to the Guardian to a gate that only allowed access to Ascendant Hive. So Eris Morn told the Guardian that he must become ‘Ascendant’ in order to use the gate to reach Oryx.

To do this, the Guardian went back to the Crystal in which they banished Crota, and they took a shard from its remains.

They then delved deep into the pits of the Moon to reach Crota’s Throne World. Upon arriving they witnessed a Hive Death Ceremony for Crota held by Ir Anûk and Ir Halak, to prepare him for the ‘next realm’.

While having avoided the detection of the Hive the Guardian used the crystal to take what meager remains that were left of the Hope Eater’s soul, thus deeming them to be Ascendant in the eyes of the Sword Realm.

With their stolen soul, the Guardian returned to the Dreadnaught and passed through the gate, to face Oryx.

The two fought, Darkness against Light. Despite Oryx’s great strength, his power was limited within the material plane. He was not at his Throne, so his power was weaker. This weakness proved to be his undoing, and with a final blow the Guardian banished Oryx back to his Throne World

But that was only the beginning.

With Oryx rebuked, the Guardian and Vanguard turned their eyes to the Taken War that raged among their system.

The source of the Taken within each world was responsible by an Echo of Oryx, extensions of his Will manifested to become reality by the powers of the Darkness. On each planet they destroyed the Echo, effectively halting the growing Blight of the Taken on those worlds.

Once they’ve crippled the enemy forces, the Guardians turned their focus back to Oryx.

His Throne.

If they slew Oryx within the place he’s at his strongest, then the war would be over.

So again the Guardian prepared a Fireteam of six, chosing the best members in order to take the fight directly to his Throne.

Once their forces were prepared, they begun their assault.

Upon first arriving, they fought the strongest of Oryx’s High War. The Warpriest. In the laws of Sword Logic they cut him down, thus proved to the Deep that they were stronger.

They then fought Golgoroth, a massive war beast created by Oryx. Golgoroth was grown with the power of the Tablets of Ruin, yet despite its immense strength the Guardians slaughtered it. In the eyes of the Deep, they proved they were stronger.

With two foes down that were deeply connected to Oryx, they then targeted to Weaver and Unraveler, Ir Anûk and Ir Halak. Even with the sister’s Deathsongs and Oversouls, the Guardians used their Light to resist its strength and combat it. Eventually the battle was over, and they slew both sisters in the eyes of the Deep.

...

All that was left was Oryx.

His Court is gone.

His children slain.

His forces decimated.

His tribute shattered.

All that was left was him.

And him alone.

...

Using all of his power that he had collected, Oryx struck at the Guardians. Despite the thousands of worlds he exterminated, the trillions of lives that were slaughtered, he could not destroy them.

The power of the Light, granted by the Traveler itself, resisted.

The battle shook reality, six powerful wielders of the Light against the Champion of the Deep. Eventually the Guardians discovered a weapon to fully destroy Oryx.

His food.

His tribute.

Many blights of darkness were located among his Throne, each a physical manifestation of Oryx’s tribute who’s purpose was to be offered to his worm. But the Guardians took them and infused it with their Light, thus turning them into volatile bombs.

They exploded these blights on Oryx, inflicting great damage upon his body.

Upon detonating the last Blight, Oryx’s body broke.

In the eyes of the Deep, in the ways of Sword Logic, Oryx was unworthy.

And thus his worm consumed him.

...

...

With the Taken King dead, the Taken’s seemingly infinite numbers became finite. The Vanguard created hunting parties to seek out and strike down the last of the Taken, to kill them till there were none left to kill.

Without one to control them, the Taken were aimless. Despite their great power, this made them weak.

Yet there is more.

When the Guardians slew Oryx, in the ways of Sword Logic they should have inherited his mantle and become the next Taken Kings.

But they didn’t.

They simply returned to Earth, and left it empty.

...

They followed the ways of the Sword Logic, having killed each individual and proved to the Deep that they were stronger. Yet after they slew the strongest of all, they turned their backs on it.

With the throne of the Taken King empty, it left the remaining forces of the Taken to fight among each other in order to rise, to become the next Taken King. This added more chaos to their already shattered forces, thus weakening them further.

With their King dead, the surviving Hive were forced to fend off against the Cabal and Guardians. Despite the Dreadnaught being vast, it’s only a matter of time till all of them lay dead.

...

At first I questioned it.

Why didn’t Oryx Take the Guardians and turn them against themselves?

Then I found the answer.

...

It was their Light.

Unlike the races Oryx exterminated in the past who thrived from the Light, the Guardians were directly imbued with it.

With their Light they resisted his power to Take, they weaponized it to inflict damage that no other race could’ve dreamed of doing.

The Light and their Ghosts, to purge the Darkness and rise from the dead.

These traits were what granted them victory, for they were something Oryx had never fought before.

Oryx never foresaw his end, for it came unexpectedly and swiftly.

His reign was long.

But his end was instant.

...

That is how Oryx fell.

Oryx.

Carver of Tablets, King of Shapes, Cartographer of the Stars...

...The Taken King.

His reign was long.

But his end...was instant.