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unknown-art-room1 · 1 year

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Jamie Shelby, Backstory

I have finally gotten this finished, it has taken me about four days to write and I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I have writing this. Warning, lots of trauma in this story.

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LIVE A GOOD LIFE

A nameless child in a far-off world where the people have come far over the course of their history that they are no longer as brutal as they once were. Many generations have come and gone since then, and those who are alive now are considered royal, that of noble blood. They pride themselves in knowing who they are, and they can do and like scholars will never stop in their endeavours to improve. In the past the people were at arms with one another, split in two factions, referring themselves as the Light and Dark. The two sides fought one another until it felt as if the hope of them ever finding peace with one another was at it’s lowest. For most they either fell into despair or let themselves act as savage dogs in war. That was, until members from each side decided to push against the ideals of those who lead them and formed a new side. An Eclipse of sorts, but rather than fight like their predecessors they went stood against the two sides using their words rather than their actions to put an end to the war. It took much convincing for either side to finally agree and put down their weapons, but once they did that allowed the people to grow into a stronger, more united culture… They became the High Elves… The Elves of the Sun and the Moon.

Nowadays most Elves only know of this from the stories in their history books, but one never got to see the end of such a book. That child had no name, most Elves when of age give themselves one that fits what reflects their soul. They never got to know the end of that book or others, as the universe had different plans for them. Like others, this child grew up proud of who they were and how their people had grown. In fact, you could even say this child had never felt the deal of stress in their life. Yet nothing good can last forever, as during one of the parties of the religious ceremonies for the Moon Elves, the child had wandered away from their parents during the celebrations. With no true threats of others in this world, a child wandering off was of no real concern as they would always come back. This was not the case however, as fate had decided that when this child was walking alone in the night, that the stars and planets would align across the multiple dimensions. That had a strange affect on the magic that each universe had, and portals would open in each place at random staying open only as long as the heavenly bodies were together. The child had the misfortune of being in place of one of these portals when they had opened and had forced them away from all they had known. Taking them from their home leaving them abandoned in a strange new world... Earth...

Dresden 1569, that is where the found themselves, on the streets in this city. It was suddenly day, or maybe they had knocked themselves unconscious during their trip here, but they knew one thing from looking round… The portal that had taken them from their home, was now gone, leaving them abandoned in this new world all alone. Fate had only given them one nice thing and that was that no one had noticed them yet, giving them a chance to collect themselves. At least, that is what the smart thing to do would be, but being an Elven child who is basically twelve in human years who has never known danger that was not a thought that came to mind. So, when the child had finally revealed themselves to the world the disgust on their face was obvious to all who looked upon them. The Elf was not impressed in the slightest, this new world was dirty, and the people here were strange. But if things were to get worse, it was all due to the child at this point. They walked through the streets with pride that borderline arrogance, that either shocked the humans that was around them or made them upset, as they made their way to one of the guards. To the child, the guard looked clean, or at least cleaner than those around them which gave them some hope. But the moment the child started talking, in a brattish manner, the guard reacted harshly and when they responded back the Elf realised, they could not understand the language that was spoke.

Now, they had become stressed at the realization that this not only was this not their world, but they were basically unable to do anything as they couldn’t even communicate. For the Elf fear was not something they had felt before but, in that moment, the Elf felt more than fear… It was utter terror. They did not know what the guard was saying or what they were saying to the other guards around, the Elf only took a couple steps back before they had moved closer towards them, and the Elf did the only thing they felt like they had to… Run… They ran from the guards as fast as they could, pushing through the crowded streets ignoring the screams of those around them as the guards yelled for them to stop, but they did not know what they were saying. They ran and ran until they couldn’t go any further, they had gotten lost on the maze of streets and had trapped themselves down in an alley that was blocked off. Desperately their eyes darted around the cramped space as they tried to scale the walls to escape from the guards. In the end, they only got a few feet up the wall before they had lost their grip and fell backwards onto the floor, practically at the feet of the guards.

The child had only realized the position that they were in and within seconds they had closed their eyes, scrambling away from the guards, pushing themselves against the wall. But nothing bad had happened, in fact, nothing bad had the chance of even starting as a new voice had joined the fray. After a few moments, did they finally open their eyes and look up to see the guards no longer looking at them but instead at someone else at the mouth of the alleyway. At the time they could not see who it was who was talking to them, but listening to the voice they could tell it was a woman, speaking the same strange language as these men did. The woman and the guards talked for a while, exchanging words until they met some form of agreement and the men left, leaving the two there.

Now with a clear view of who had gotten the men to leave, the child was in shock to who they had saw. In this world, filled with beings that look like Elves, but they are not they had found a Sun Elf. Her skin was rich like the earth on a summer’s day, strong like the trees of old that never die in the winter months. While her hair was gold like the finest of jewels, it also had a darker underlayer to it, making it even more eye catching. If that was not enough, then the fact that her hair was not straight like that of other Elves, but it was curly like a spring, though being held back in many braids that kept her hair out of her face. The clothes she wore was simple, being a dress cream with brown and red accents that complimented the charming demeanour she had.

Before the child could even open their mouth to try and speak, the Sun Elf had spoken up changing the language she had went from speaking earlier into the one that the child knew. She was from their home, how glad that made them, perhaps they could help them get back home. Finally finding their courage they started to speak up more, moving towards the lady quickly, holding onto her afraid that they might lose her as they questioned her. In response, the Sun Elf only smiled softly at the younger Elf as they removed the shawl from off her shoulders, wrapping it around them telling them that it would all be okay. Placing one arm around them, she them out of the alley that they were standing in and going to somewhere that she promised would be safe for them, where no one like these humans could hurt them for being different.

During their walk the Sun Elf had revealed that her name was Solgina, a name that in High Elevish that was a mixture between sol and regina, meaning Sun Queen or Queen of the Sun. A name she had given herself when she had found herself in this world, after she had taken in other children off the streets, be they Elf, human or of another race. To her these were children who needed care and love, not what everyone else has given in life so far. This kindness she showed these kids had earned her the nickname of ‘The Mother’, even most of the adults like the guards know who she is because of that and so everyone seems to love her. To the young Elf, they could see no faults with this woman as she was the only one in this new world they could rely on. She had also taught the young Elf that they were different to the other humans here, not just with how they looked but also with how they aged. For every five human years they would age one year in Elven years.

The moment they arrived in what they assumed was her home, hidden out of sight of most buildings the two were greeted by a sudden cheer of joy as Solgina had returned to the many numerous children she had taken in over the years of her being here. The Elven child moved to the side letting the other children swarm around her to give her hugs or to be held by her. Once she gotten them settled down, she spoke to them in the strange language that the Elven child would learn to be German, telling the other children about how they have a new member to their large family. But with them being a Moon Elf, Solgina had to keep them closer than most of the other children since they simply could not speak the same language. Though some of the children could somewhat understand and speak certain words and phrases from overhearing Solgina say them repeatedly over the years. That was not enough for the Elven child to talk to them properly, they would have to be taught how to speak German, as well as to read and write in the language just like the other children had.

Overtime, the child learnt the language to a basic degree that now they could at least talk in basic sentences, while their understanding of the reading and writing was like that of other adults. Allowing them to start socializing with the other children and learn more about this world separate from The Mother. Even with the difficultly of having some issues still when speaking and processing what others around them said, the Elf was able to show that even with such boundaries they could find other ways of communicating with them. That ability to be able to think of ways to get around difficult challenges such as this, showed to many others that they could use them to help them with what they had planned. Which us exactly what happened, with them already being close to The Mother helping her with the other children they had earned the nickname of ‘The Eldest’ as though they were still a child, they were far oldest than the rest by many years

Even as years went by, any hopes of ever returning home had started to be forgotten as they were now in charge of all the children when The Mother was away. But with often she left and for such extended periods of time, the Elf had started to question things. Why did she keep leaving them? At first, they always protested when she left them, terrified they would never see anyone from their homelands again, but she always came back, easing their anxieties. Now though, they wanted to know why she had kept doing this. So, they took it upon themselves to investigate further. Despite still physically being a child, their mind was much older and anyone close to them could see that, it was as clear as glass when the sun shone through it.

As they started to investigate this matter further, they noted how every so often The Mother would send certain young children out with one or two older ones during the day. When they would come back, they would have brought back food, money, clothes, anything that they deemed important. But sometimes, they would bring back adults. They would usually be drunk or in some cases sober, but one thing stayed the same they were rich and generally good-looking. That immediately struck a chord with the Elf as something very odd, as adults that were not The Mother or who she said they could trust was okay, so why did they bring these ones home? Each time this happened, they noted how this happened at least once a week, sometimes more depending on how Solgina was feeling. That was most definitely odd, so rather than ask straight up about this they offered themselves to be a guardian for one of the young children for the day when they did this. At first Solgina protested at this idea, stating that another Elf should not do such a task such as this, but the child protested back saying that they have proven themselves more than capable. Not wanting to argue further, she finally agreed if they promised they stayed out of sight of the guards and ‘Hunters’.

This was the beginning of a new life they had no idea they were getting involved in… Before they went out, they said that they were looking for a specific adult, giving them a description of what they looked like and where they should be. After that they, all they could do was watch and wait as the small child did their job as they practically made a fool of themselves in front of the drunken men. Their laughter cut through the air almost as strongly as the smell of ale and smoke clung to their clothes, as they staggered about the street. Only once did the man they were looking for separate from the group going towards the child, did the young one move away from him leading him away from the others. When they were far enough away doing the child run back to the Elf, leading the man straight to them. Picking them up in their arms, the Elf revealed themselves to the drunken man and told them that The Mother was waiting for him back home. Even with how drunk he was, that seemed to sober the man straight up at the mention of Solgina, making him follow in silence.

When they finally got back home the Elf had given the young one away to one of the older children, knowing the routine of taking them and putting them to bed like they had done many times themselves. With a nod between the two older members, the Elf led the man to Solgina’s quarters where she was waiting for him. The man gulped nervously as he entered, trying to speak sweetly to her as if trying to butter her up like a lover who is trying to fix a mistake in their relationship. But she did not look mad at him, not once, in fact she smiled… No, smirked at him as he got closer. Now standing within a few feet of one another, it was like he was put into a trance of some form as all the tenseness from his body had disappeared. In fact, her just putting a hand on his face made him melt into her touch like hot butter. He was starting to babble away sweet nothings now, as she cooed at him softly ignoring his words. In the next moment, she asked the younger Elf to leave and so they did…

Now that they started to help her with what she was doing, they noticed that more men would be brought here the same way they did before without most others noticing. But it did not end there, these men rarely truly left, they would either stay out of sight away from the children that the young Elf started to see as their siblings or would leave during the night and return later. In fact, it only seemed to get worse now that they were helping her. They still did know her true intent, but at the time they could only keep helping her with what she wanted until their trust grew more. To do that, they would have to do more of these jobs for her and risk the children getting hurt when going out like this. Every time they did this it always broke their heart seeing the ones, they cared about so much being put into such a position, yet thankfully nothing ever got worse.

This went on for weeks, months and now the two Elves were closer than ever and Solgina thought it was time that the Moon Elf finally got to know more about what happens. On the condition that they named themselves and promised to help her with what she was doing. It took them a long time to think about this, did they honestly want to know what was going on or did they want to be oblivious to the truth? In the end, they finally decided on agreeing to her terms as a strong part of them wanted to know the truth. That left one issue though… What were they going to call themselves. Most Elves named themselves that represents who they are… But who were they truly? This was a long and hard decision that bothered them greatly, but it was not an issue that lasted long as the other children saw this struggle they were having and decided to help. Together, they discussed and argued on what their name should be until they finally decided. Knowing that the Moon Elf did not identify with being male or female, they agreed to something that they believed would fit them. Shelby… Jamie Shelby… That was their new name…A name that those who they saw as family felt was right for them and reflected who they were… That was the name they decided they would use…

Though it was not as graceful as what Solgnia was expecting them to choose, that was now the name of the Moon Elf. Shelby, The Eldest of the children and her right hand in her acts of the night. This was basically a promotion for them as they had an immediate change in working position. Though they still looked after the children they were now brought with Solgnia as she left during the day when she ventured outwards. In this position Shelby had come to learn that Solgnia went out to greet some of the adults she had met in the past or those who had caught her eye, making deals with them. They would provide her with whatever she wanted while she promised them information that could prove useful to them. When it came to being collected, they knew how her calling card worked with the children she had at home. While Shelby would stand there, mostly in silence to what was being said and listening in to the conversation and watching what these people would do. Only making their voice known when they had noticed that one of these people were being deceitful in some way or showed ill intent. To the men, that bothered them greatly as now Solgina could put all her focus on what she had in mind while someone else kept focus on everything else.

That was not the only way that she promoted the Moon Elf, with how she trusted them she was now sending them out more to collect more clients more often and would do it alone. That put Shelby at risk, but she had faith in the young Elf as during the six years that they have been here they have learned many things, like fighting and the use of some basic spells. Much to the displeasure of a few clients who tried to get a little handsy with them. As they were physically now only the age of a fourteen-year-old they used that to their advantage of getting the attention of the men in less foolish ways, instead catching their eyes in a different sense. That usually brought more than one man along as they followed Shelby back to meet Solgina. To which, the older children started to show concern with the sudden increase of adults around while the younger ones were completely unaware, and Solgina… The more the merrier in her opinion. But that brought Shelby no closer to finding out why she likes to… Keep these men and let certain ones go.

This was not going to be answered for another few years, as Shelby became more ‘comfortable’ with their role, they were not allowed to wander the streets alone unless they had someone with them unless it was for a job. Yet more things seem to change within the place they called home, the kids who lived there were getting older and now they either must leave on their own or help Solgina with more private matters. Those who chose to stay were happy that they got to keep living there, not needing to leave the place that they called home and have a ‘job’ that would be what they thought was like that of Shelby’s. But it was not, they would get another position in place with Solgina that was never revealed to anyone but her. While others left and tried to take others with them as they started to suspect that something was amiss with the place and wanted to escape and get as far away as possible. There were those who could get away, most of the others ended up being caught by the guards or found dead in the streets.

It broke Jamie’s heart to hear these stories about their family basically being lost from them, those feelings reminding them of how they felt years ago when they came to earth. But these feelings could not be put on show just yet as Solgina had some business in two places at roughly the same time, one being here in Dresden, while the other was up in Berlin. Despite knowing that they were told they could not be left on their own for an extended period without anyone, Shelby offered their services to go to Berlin on their own. While they knew she preferred having them there during her meetings with her clients, she could handle them alone like she did once before, the business here was too important while the one in Berlin was just informing a client, she was expecting him here and that they would have to bring them here. She did not like this idea at all but losing a client was not something she could risk, so with reluctancy she agreed to let them do this.

A little over two weeks it had taken them to travel from the place they called home to Berlin, and now the hunt for the man that Solgina was requesting. That for most was like looking for a needle in a haystack, but not for Shelby as they were already informed of where to find this man and what he looked like. Dark hair like that of the night, an older gentleman in his late teens, earlier twenties, a grizzled but kind face that could make you feel safe, and eyes that were brown like thick, sweet honey that the almost golden when the sun shone through it. A few scars littering their bodies from past fights from those who had wished to cause others harm… This was a truly good man.

If you were to ask Shelby what they were to remember about that moment they could tell you that the inn that they found the client in was older than most in the city, yet it did not feel as if it was due to how well kept it was. They could tell you that the streetlights coming in through the dirty windows gave the patrons who were next to them a strange glow. They could even tell you that it was jam packed full of people that were drunk and causing a scene, like they had just learnt they were of royal blood and that they were celebrating the news. But if you were to ask about this man? Well… You would get told every single detail that Shelby saw of them when they first laid eyes on them. Like how he smiled at his fellow hunters with the sides of his eyes crinkling, or how his laughter being deep and joyous as it rang through the air as he finished his third pint before starting his next. At the time the Elf did not know why they could remember all this, but they would soon learn.

To Jamie, they just started the interaction between the two of them like he did with many other past clients, trying to use their Elven beauty to catch their attention and confuse them. It worked on many of the other patrons in the inn, all but the one they were trying to catch the attention of. With the night progressing many of the others who were drinking had tried their luck with the Elf, but they refused all of their offers for money or… Anything more than that. They might have caught their eyes, but they were not like Solgina and enjoyed the attention of many, especially in that regard. A few more hours had passed, and the night was starting to turn into the early morning of the new day. Having had about enough the young Elf had started to act out of turn of their usual nature, finishing off their drink before slamming down on the bars countertop, making their way over to the client. Looking back at the memory they could not recall if they were drunk or just tired and mad from having made to wait so long, but they do remember the sudden feeling of calm when the client just looked at them with an awkward smiled as they apologized before introducing himself… Sebam Coshar…

It was like they had just forgotten everything in that moment, he responded so calmly to their sudden approach it had taken them off guard. Sebam could see this as clear as day, chuckling softly at their reaction at the ‘younger’ person before him, letting his gaze soften. This moment of sudden … Kindness… Had reminded Jamie so much of when they met Solgina, it was like their breath had gotten caught in their throat as they stared up at the taller human. Never once did they believe would they think they would meet a human who made them feel so… Safe upon a first meeting. With them being practically frozen in shock Sebam was the one to make the first move, but not like how any of the other men or women did. Even when drunk, Coshar showed that he had some form of a level head when drinking as he paid for his drink and even Shelby’s. Leading them out of the main section of the inn before taking them to the rooms upstairs, telling them to sleep as they have both been awake the entire night. Refusing at first, they did not like the idea of being left alone in this room with Sebam as they do not know them, but with how much they drank and how their body was craving sleep they did not refuse for long.

With a groan and a splitting headache, they awoke in the bed that was not their own running both hands over their face and hair, trying to ease the discomfort in their head. After a few minutes of just trying to stop the ache they felt, did they finally remove their hands from their face looking about the room and taking note of all that was there. It was like many other typical rooms of an inn, very minimal in what it had for decoration, mostly everything was made of oak wood, and the fabrics were dirty from the lack of care they have been receiving. The only other thing that was worth noting in Jamie’s mind, was the fact that Sebam was still there in the room with them, fast asleep sitting on a chair on the other side of the room. His head hanging low as he breathed slowly in peace, as they somehow stayed sitting upright.

Taking a breath as they tried to ignore the ever-present feeling in their head, they climbed out of the bed with little grace as the alcohol in their system seemed to still be affecting them somewhat. That alone had soured their mood even further as they made their way over to Coshar, shaking him awake as they told them they had to leave now otherwise they would be late and Solgina would not be happy about that. At the mere mention of her name, that had not only brought him to his senses, but also sobered him up like how it did the others. Standing back as they stood up to their full height, it was a quick agreement for both parties to get going as to be on time. Leaving the inn behind with small rations to kept them fed for the trip ahead. A trip, that changed the young Elf’s perspective of things.

Even before leaving the city of Berlin, Sebam had taken notice at how quiet the Elf was and how reserved they were, talking and acting like an adult which puzzled them greatly. Their first question for the ‘younger’ being was to why they were alone, not why they felt the need to hide that they were an Elf. Thinking about it, Jamie answered honestly as they had nothing to hide from Sebam, they simply came alone as to prove that they can handle such tasks alone and help Solgina increase her range for her ‘work’. After that, they questioned them on why they did not act their age like most other children did. That one… That one was much harder to explain, as how does one say they are from another world where they age at different rates when compared to humans? So, they simply put it down to difference in age due to being a different species as the Elves from this world were the closest example of what they meant. Once they revealed that in human years, they were roughly about seventy years old, despite being physically the age of a fourteen-year-old, that is why they had a more mature mindset than most others their age. For Coshar, that at least explained to them why they were so different than most other children, though that did not answer all the questions that they had. That just made them more curious, and ask more question about them, which after a couple hours of leaving the city behind Jamie finally joined in and asked questions back.

The entire trip was like this, both asking questions back and forth, smiling and sharing a laugh as they walked. In all their years of being here, never have they once found someone like this, someone who not only cared for the strangers around them but was completely honest with what they said and thought. Jamie could not help but smile whenever they looked at this man, and he seemed to notice that. They simply made a joke about them being all love struck like a puppy, not taking any seriousness to their words, while Shelby on the other hand was at a lose for words. In response they looked away from Coshar and went quiet, looking around at everything but him as they thought about what he said. Was that what this was? Love? They have always known the difference between lust and love, as they have seen many a happy couple in love, and those who lust after others like how they are with Solgina. They did not melt or act like a fool around him, this was not lust at least. But what about love? Well, from what they could tell it was not love as they did not believe they would do anything for this man as he was just a stranger to them… Then was this a crush? Many of their siblings have had crushes, each taking a different form of how it presents itself, so that was most likely it. They had a started to develop a crush on this man, who was going to end up being like all the other men Solgina had met.

This alone was enough to dampen their mood, as the worry of someone who was truly good like this being lost to whatever Solgina had going on behind closed doors was not something they ever thought they would feel… Especially for a human… Shelby had never needed to learn how to hide how they felt, especially for such negative feelings like this, so when Sebam saw how worried they were they felt the need to comfort them. And so… In whatever way their mind thought was appropriate to this situation, they thought the best way to help cheer them up was by showing them their personal weapon and teaching them how to use it. They thought to teach someone who was still technically a child how to use a gun. For most, this was a stupid idea, and it most definitely was a bad idea, but with Sebam not thinking about this and Shelby being more mature than they should, this ended very well. With Jamie getting to stand closer to Sebam, as they taught them to hold the pistol correctly, how to aim it, how to lock and load it… For Sebam, it was nice to see that Jamie was starting to cheer up, while Shelby based on the closeness of them both together was finally starting to think that maybe their theory about having a crush was correct.

Completely unaware of how this interaction had affected the young Elf, Sebam acted as if nothing was wrong as they finished their journey from Berlin back to Dresden. Upon entering the city Jamie felt a sense of relief to be back in familiar grounds, Sebam commenting that he will feel the same once he gets back to Berlin. Though the way he said that it felt off, as if there was something he was hiding from him. They tried to ignore the sense that something was not right with that, but to make themselves feel better or to buy more time for them together, Shelby started to show him around the city, talking about all the things that they have learnt over the years. It had taken them most of the day to get around the city before the sun started to dim away into hiding once more as the moon started to slowly wake from its rest. They no longer had time free together and it was time for him to finally meet Solgina, The Mother.

Reluctant as they were to take him back home, it was something they felt like they had to do if they wanted to learn the truth of what Solgina was up to. So, when the moment finally arrived that Jamie had led them through the streets all the way back home, when the moon was at it’s highest and the children were fast asleep in their beds, did they enter the home that they all lived in. A small smile graced the Elf’s lip as they saw their siblings all resting peacefully, or the older ones staying up quietly to talk. The ones who were still awake waved excitedly at them, glad that The Eldest was home with them once more, they wanted them to join them in their talk to hear their stories of Berlin, but they had no time to chat now. All they did was point at where Solgina was, nodding in indication that she was there and waiting for them up in her ‘office’. That was all they needed to know before they started walking towards the ‘office’, but unlike the past times they have had to do this it felt different. For Jamie, they felt nervous… They felt scared for Sebam and they did not know why, every time they saw one of the men leave in the past they were fine, but the rest were still here somewhere, they just didn’t know where or how they were. While Sebam, was not nervous as past clients were, instead being unusually quiet, his gaze focused sharply on the door ahead of them both as if he knew something bad was about to happen.

Entering the room, they were met with an unfamiliar sight, Solgina was there like they expected her to be, but this time they had a friend with them. A man who they have never seen before here, yet the way he held himself with such pride as he looked down his nose at them both as he stood by her side told Jamie that they were close to one another. He did not look normal when compared to other humans, he seemed much paler, and looked as frail as paper that had been aged for many years in the dark. But the youth to his face said he was as young as Coshar or perhaps a little older than he was. At least, that is what they thought at first, as they heard him speak when greeting both Shelby and Sebam, his tone and manner indicated someone much older than what they let on. But that was not what bothered Shelby the most, their focus was on this new man and Solgina, how they stood so close comfortably to one another. Every time a man was in this room with her, she always seems to make them melt when they stood so close to her before she started to hold them close to her gently. Yet neither of the two before them seem to be attracted to one another, they did not touch one another, no sweet words were shared… It was like… This was a meeting… And their opposition, was the man stood next to young Elf.

Jamie knew something was off with how different all of this was compared to past meetings in this office, the only thing that remained the same was them being asked to leave the room. They expected that despite how different this meeting has started that it would end the same as others have in the past. Only when they turned to leave, they could not as the man who they had brought here had grabbed them by the wrist, telling them to stay right where they were. Confused, they looked between Coshar and Solgina, unsure of what to do as they have never been asked to stay before. This one simple action had annoyed Solgina, she has never once shown anyone this side of her before, all she has ever shown was this kind and sweet woman who always smiles. Now she was looking at the man who still had a hold of the younger Elf, as if warning him that if he kept them here, they would regret it, but he did not let go. Instead, he just glared right back at her as if daring her to try it. Yet neither of them got to test the limits of the other, as the strange man stepped in saying how both needed to calm down before either of them did anything rash.

Taking a breath, the two calmed down to a degree, but neither of them had stopped their glaring. Solgina asked them to let Jamie go so they could leave, but when they refused to do that, they started to question her and the gentleman next to her. Asking why that they had to leave, what did they not want them to know or see. Solgina just rolled her eyes making it clear that they did not need to see or know what would happen next as they have needed to know before and so they do not need to know now. Sebam just looked at Shelby, eyeing them up and down, studying their reaction of her words on them and seeing that it was the truth. They were confused, unsure of what would happen next once they would leave, that was enough for Coshar to return his gaze back to the two opposite them. Now they had started to question why, why they should leave, why they were ignorant to the truth of everything that was really going on… Why they did not know what happened to the men who were brought here or the kids that were never seen again.

Jamie’s eyes widened when they heard him question her about the truth that they wanted to know, would she tell them? No, no she did not as in her place Sebam had started talking about how she a dark secret, an alliance with those in the night that feed upon the living, how the men she slept with either ended up as food or new monsters and the children… The children being used for food, completely drained of their bloods, and left on the streets with no one to care about them as the people walked by not even blinking once. The stories of her crimes had spread from the city that she had called her home, her own personal kingdom where in the day people treat her like she is Goddess, caring for all those who see her, when in truth she is like the night as the secrets of her actions go unnoticed by those around her.

Those words had left the young Elf speechless as they looked at Solgina desperately, it wasn’t true, was it? Did she do this, did she let this happen to all the children over the years she had taken in die once they no longer served her a purpose, and let the men she had taken to bed become monsters like Sebam had claimed? In response, she had said no words or even looked at the Moon Elf, her eyes were trained on Sebam as they glazed over with an emotion they could not recognise. She showed no sign of heart break, sadness or even remorse for the mention of the kids she had raised dying, she was not even angry at the claim of his words… It was true, all that was claimed of her was true and she did not deny it. All she did was curl her lips at Coshar, hissing out as she called him ’Hunter’, like it was a dirty word that left a bad taste in her mouth.

The man next to her only sighed, shaking his head as he took a few steps forward raising his hand towards Solgina telling her to wait a moment. Their words were slow and sounded pleasant on the ear, asking Sebam to let the young Elf go, as they had no need for getting them involved in any of the dirty details of what was really going on behind the scenes. It was only then doing his man finally look at Shelby, the smirk on their face was like a fine wine, delightful in all manners and not too strong in taste. With one hand, they reached out to take Shelby’s wrist into their hand, but Sebam was not letting that happen. Pulling the Elf closer to them, they quickly moved as to put them behind them like a shield, protecting them from the reach of this man and his gaze. The look on his face darkening slightly for a moment before he closed his eyes, giving out one last sigh stating that if they did not comply then they would do this the hard way. When he did not move to give them the young Elf like he requested, he pointed out once more that the only reason why this was going to be hard was from his simple refusal to do as he was told.

In the next moment Sebam had pulled out his pistol and shot at the man before him, then going on to shooting at the room’s only source of light. Both Solgina and Jamie had reacted to the noise of the shots, closing their eyes momentarily as they tried to cover their face to protect themselves based on instinct. Feeling the arm that held their wrist pull them in closer, Shelby let out a noise of surprise as they were startled by the hand briefly letting them go and wrapping around their waist, pulling them up off their feet. As Coshar began to dash out of the room with the Moon Elf in their hold, Shelby opened their mouth to protest wanting to be put down immediately. But when his eyes locked onto Solgina’s they had started to reach out for her, hoping that she would do something to save them. The Sun Elf did nothing to stop them both, she did not say anything, nor did she move. All Jamie could remember of that moment afterwards as they left the doorway of the ‘office’ heading towards the exit, was seeing the strange man take up the view of what was on the other side hidden within the darkness. His body gently illuminated by the glow of the moon that was poking in through the window of the corridor. His eyes… Glowing silver like pools of liquid metal, dancing about and growing as what remained of his human appearance had started to disappear into something more Demonic.

The sight of seeing that man’s features change into that of something from a nightmare that could only be formed by the Devil himself, will forever remain in their memory. It was like his bottom jaw had detached itself from the head, giving his changing body more room as his teeth grew in size and shape. The nails on his hand had also changed, they were like those of a bear, but that was not the worst part of this whole experience. The worst part of the whole experience was seeing the man step towards them slowly, hearing as the bones beneath his skin cracked and popped loudly, as they grew and changed their shape within a matter of seconds. Each step only brought him closer to the window where the light of the moon came from, revealing that he no longer looked the same as he once did. Now he looked more like a wild beast as it stared down it’s prey before it pounced, but he didn’t. One moment he was there, in the next he was gone from sight.

As Sebam ran out of the building, they ignored the sight of the prying eyes of the older children watching who had woken from the sound of the gun going off, seeing him as they carried out The Eldest who was not protesting to being taken from them. To them they had just lost the only one who they could look up to and knew would always come back to them, who always warned them that fully grown humans like him were not to be trusted. The confusion and betrayal they had felt when they had seen this, did not compare to the same feelings that Jamie had as they were still reeling from the truth in shock that Solgina was not to be trusted. In the end she would do the same to the rest of them when they became older and none of them knew the truth, they would all die in the same fate the others had.

Upon realizing this truth Jamie had come out of their shocked state and started to struggle in Sebam’s hold, but by that point it was already too late. The two of them had left the building where the children had hidden from sight of the city’s residents over the years, and Sebam was not stopping his attempts to get away as far as possible before they were found by the beast. Jamie had started to protest, saying that they had to go back to save them, that they couldn’t be left to die, trying to escape from his grasp. Coshar only stopped once they got to the center of the city where it was wide open and anything approaching could be seen. Placing them back on the ground, they did not let Jamie go as to not let them run back off on their own back to the other kids. They told them that the kids would be alright, that they had a plan to stop all this from getting any worse, but to do that they would have to do what they told them to. Right now, all they had to do was stand there with them and wait for the creature to arrive and then they can do something.

As much as they wanted to run back now to get them all to safety, if staying meant they could do something than they would stay. Now standing back-to-back to one another, both were looking out into the inky black of the city as the moon shone down from above looking over them, as the wind carried about the dust from the roads like a child playing their toys. Nothing could be heard around them except the sound of their own heart beating in their chest and their own breathing, like the entire world around them was dead and the Grimm Reaper was coming for them next. Their eyes darted back and forth, reacting to any sound or sight that caught their attention as they searched for the beast that was hunting them down. Nothing, nothing could be found at all, did it leave or was it still in hiding?

Like the creature had heard their thoughts, that is when they had finally saw it on the roof of one of the buildings like a Gargoyle as it stared down at them both. Its eyes were wide like an owl, it’s teeth on show as they chattered excitedly when it realized its prey had spotted it. Crying out into the night like a wounded animal, that sound would make even the bravest fall to their knees as echoed through your mind, paralyzing you in place. It almost sounded like it was laughing at them, knowing they would have no way to stop them from tearing them to shreds were they stood. This human way of thinking would later reveal to them in years to come this thing was an Oni. Leaning closer towards the buildings edge did the monster dig its claws of the roof’s tiles, taking a moment to breath in delight of the fear that was coming off from the two. Within the blink of an eye, did the creature appear right in front of them once more letting out a howl of pure insanity as it raised one of its claw’s limbs up into the air before them to strike down to cut them into ribbons of flesh and blood.

Only the strike never came, it did not touch the two it was aiming to harm when instead the creature was knocked away from them both, sending it crashing into a wall as a blinding light struck it. The wall it hit broke, crumbling down onto the beast’s body as it groaned in pain and anger of being attacked like that. Jamie stared at the beast with wide eyes, not noticing the group of men approaching the two quickly. They laughed in joy and triumph as the attack they had used to save them had worked. These were other Monster Hunters from Berlin, friends of Sebam’s here on a mission to stop The Mother and her ‘friends’ from taking anymore lives. Though Jamie did not know this at the time, all they knew was that Sebam was happy to see these men. They promised that they would take care of the creature, that they would beat it before the sun would arise and that they should go save the children before Solgina got away with them.

Neither of them had to share a word to agree on what their next course of action would be, both Elf and human had run back towards where Jamie had known to be home for many years. But with how long it had taken them to get to the city’s center, the sudden appearance of the monster and the time taken to get back it was too late. They had arrived at a place that was empty and barren of any sign of life, any evidence that people used to be here was the scattered clothes and blankets piled up all over, scraps of food that had gone bad around small fires that had gone out not long ago. As far as Jamie was aware this place only had one entrance and exit, the same one that they had entered from, and they had saw no one around where they just came from. They must have left from an exit that Solgina had never told them about.

The young Elf had started to search around the home with frantic desperation, trying to move any heavy item that could possibly hide another way to get out from. Tears started building up in their eyes as they began to call out to the other kids, hoping that any of them would respond back to them letting them know where they all were. No one responded to their calls, their desperation ever increasing as their fear had started to take over them. The idea that they were all gone was inconceivable to them, they could not have lost another family within moments just like that. Jamie had now begun to cry out for them, still denying that they could be gone. To them it had felt like an eternity stretching out beyond the grasps of time as no hints of where they have gone went.

Their breathing had gotten worse, now they were struggling to even regain control of themselves as their body started to shake more and more violently. They could no longer control their emotional state was no longer something they could stabilize. In response to the sight of seeing in what their mind was still a child become so distraught to the loss of their family, Sebam had rushed over to the Moon Elf wrapping their arms around them in a tight hug. Jamie had told him to stop, to let them go, that they needed to find them now as they pushed against their hold once more. Not once did they let them go, only holding onto them tighter as they tried to tell them it would all be okay and that they would find them. No matter how much they struggled to free themselves they could not, eventually all their struggles had begun to tire them out. Jamie had finally stopped struggling, now going in to return the hug as all their feelings from this moment and the ones they had pushed down many years ago when they arrived in this world… They were scared, yes… But that was not what bothered them the most. It was the feeling of losing those who were close to them and being alone once again… They hated feeling so alone…

With no place to go and no one to take them in Sebam had taken it upon himself to look after the Elf, they were ignorant to the truth and were an innocent to what was truly going on. They were not involved in the plans that truly were going on and now they knew the world of monsters and demons were as real as night and day. Sebam had lied to them, they could have told them the truth of why they were here to meet Solgina, but they didn’tso now they were responsible for the care of the Elf who had lost their family once more. After all, no matter how smart or mature they were, they were still a child. So, when they had started to calm down from their sudden flood of feelings the two of them had left the place Jamie had called home for many years, returning to the group who had saved them earlier. During the time they were away they had slain the monster before sunrise like they said they would and had greeted the two of them excitedly hoping for good news. The only news that they could be told that the kids were alive, though now all missing, but Shelby would be returning home with them as they had no one to take care of them.

1595, twenty years had passed since that day and now Jamie had the body of an eighteen-year-old but was ninety-year-olds in human standards, while Sebam was now in his early fourties. When they had first met, Sebam had only joined the guild and had little experience of slaying monsters and now had bested many monsters. One might think that something like this would make a person become more reserved and angrier after being exposed to so much death and brutality, but that never happened once with him. He stayed as nice and as joyous as he was when they had first met, staying loyal to his personal code of conduct, and helped those when he could. Shelby had almost started to match him in height now as they started to grow into their more adult body. They had cut their hair short, now it no longer resembled that of what would fit their Elven culture, now looking like that of a human hair cut for a gentleman. Finding that easier when out hunting with Coshar as long hair risked the chance of blocking their line of sight when using the pistol.

Living with Sebam Jamie had come to learn more about the world of humans on a more personal level, now they were no longer afraid of them and found their lives fascinating. They no longer felt the need to hide that they were Elven, at least when at the Inns to drink or when at the Hunters Guild. No one in those places judged them for who they were or gave them any grief, they got to hear many stories of the lives that others had and all the adventures they had been on. But if they were to say the most important thing over the years that they had learnt was that their feelings for Sebam were true. They had a crush on the man, they could explain why or pinpoint it down to one reason specifically. Every time they looked at him, talked to him, just anything to do with him always made them smile, as a warmth spread through their chest as they felt what humans referred to as ‘butterflies’. But they knew nothing would ever come of these feelings or attempting a relationship of any kind with the man. Sebam had never shown interest in anyone, so they could not say if the risk of asking was worth it. For another reason… The main reason… They were physically the age of a young adult, while he was reaching the middle of his life. Shelby was not like The Mother who did not care about age when wanting to sleep with someone, they understood the complications of how a relationship like theirs would be. It would look wrong to everyone else it would feel wrong. This was not something they could ever ask Coshar to go through simply because they loved him, they knew a relationship would not be possible for them.

On a lighter note, the two of them together have grown closer than anyone has ever expected. Shelby becoming a form of prodigy to Sebam, as they have learnt to use the weapon even better than the original owner. While Sebam had shown that people don’t have to change who they are when they learn that there is more to the universe than just this one world, accepting that as a fact rather than denying it and becoming hateful to the idea. But even with things seeming to be alright neither of the two had forgotten about what happened that day with the children all those years ago. Both wanted to know where they went and how they got away, but no one could find out how. It would do them no good to dwell on the past, only move forward as to be able to help those indeed. The way they did that now was by taking down the Monsters that would cause others harm and provide comfort to those who were harmed by them.

By helping Sebam with his work like this, Shelby had earned their right within the Guild as a Monster Hunter as well here in Berlin. But that is not where the good news lies, no, it lies within the fact that they were able to use the knowledge that they have learnt over the years to understand the how’s’, whys’, who done it and where they went. That allowed the Guild to understand the Monsters intent better and how they can deal with such matters in future. Jamie had wished to use these skills to find their missing family, but they never had the chance, so they got to use these skills to help others. Doing that at least provided them with some comfort knowing the fact that the ones that the people they helped did not get to be split from their families.

Each day that went by things only seemed to get better, with the Monsters on the decrease Shelby and Sebam had some free time with one another, sharing stories of their pasts. So, on one of these nights of these two sharing a drink together they started to talk about how they wished their lives could have been different to the ones they have now. Jamie, wishing that they were never taken from their home due to dumb luck. While Sebam wished that they had never been dragged into the world of hunting Monsters for a living, but if they had not then they would have never had met their closest friend. Jamie simply rolled their eyes and laughed softly to themselves, taking another sip from their glass as they looked down at the counter before them. In their moment of distraction, they failed to notice a small splash of the alcohol touch the clothes they wore, but that did not go unnoticed by Sebam. Coshar simply joked about how despite him being older than he was, he acted like a child with how careful he was when he drank. Jamie did not even get a moment to question what he meant by that as they were left frozen as Coshar had pulled a napkin out of his pocket and started to clean up the little stain on their shirt. Still mumbling away to themselves as they failed to notice the Elf’s face suddenly a glow with colour of blue as they stared down at them in silence.

Shelby just looked away from him, quietly thanking him for what he did causing Sebam to laugh, still unaware of the affect he had on them. The two just continued drinking until it was time for them to retire for the night, paying their tab to the Tavern Keeper and taking their leave. Walking through the streets under the glow of the stars, they had continued to talk about their latest job on dealing with a group of Goblins who had banded together to create a betting ring of the fights of wild rats. It was not something that either of them had expected to be dealing with, but it was something that made them laugh at how absurd it was. To the notice of them both they did not know that they were being watched by the eyes of someone that neither of them had met before, but one of them would never forget.

Matching the breeze of the air that had touched their skin like a mother soothing her child, the person who was watching them was now behind them. Staying silent as the two failed to notice them it was almost too perfect. Their pale face was like that fresh snow when winter finally arrives, having a tint of blue from the coolness of the night letting them shine. As the line on their face that was meant to be their mouth curved into a smile that revealed two enlarged fangs that were much larger than what should be considered normal. Deep and echoing this person’s chest rumbled as they laughed at two Hunters in front of them. He knew that they had no chance at surviving this encounter and was going to take pleasure in ending them here and now.

In the moment they both quickly turned to face the person who to them just suddenly appeared behind them, Coshar had put their hand on their pistol ready to aim and take fire. What stopped them from going through with this action was the sight of their teammate standing before them with a Vampire behind them, one arm around their body and the other hand gently pressing into their neck. It was like they were taunting him to try and shoot them and if they tried then they would watch as the blood poured from their neck and onto the streets like a river bursting through the dam that had held it back. Leaving them froze from what they saw, if this Vampire had wanted to drink their blood or kill them, they already have. No, they wanted to make them suffer, they wanted to have fun torturing them before they decided enough was enough and that they could kill them.

All Sebam could do was watch as their friend was being held by this Monster who at any moment could kill them. Jamie’s head was forced to look upwards at the sky above wanting to get away from their touch as their eyes peered over their own face, trying to see what was happening. As the claws of their hands dug into their neck leaving small divots in the skin, they whimpered softly in protest wanting them to stop. This had only made the Vampire laugh in satisfaction at the sight of the Elf’s discomfort to the situation that they were in. Sebam had told him to stop, to let them go, they did not need to be hurt for whatever reason the Vampire had felt was worth taunting like this. Yet that had only made things worse as the creature of the night had started to hold onto them tighter, making a show of themselves as they had started to dance about the street humming a melodic tune. They had closed their eyes in full confidence knowing full well that Sebam would not dare try to attack when their friend was in harms way like this. Laughing out once more as they dared him to join them in the fun.

Sebam wanted to just grab them and take them away from this Monster, killing them as to be sure that no one would get hurt. But if they even moved in anyway that they deemed wrong they would possibly kill them in front of him… To make matters worse they did not look at the Vampire who was being so cruel to them both or how their friend was being held, but instead they could not stop staring at the eyes of sapphires that stared right back at them pleading in silent help. As the Vampire continued to dance about the barren streets, lowering his face towards the side of the face of the Elf, starting to talk sweet nothings into ear, asking if they liked that like the whore of the Sun Elf they knew so well. At the mere mention of Solgina, their eyes had started to water at the memory of losing their trust in someone they thought could trust. Though that was not the end of their thoughts for them and for Sebam either. With the Vampire comparing Shelby to Solgina, they had basically admitted to knowing who she was, revealing that this was not just a random attack… This was all planned out.

Having just about enough of this, Sebam finally dared to move towards the two of them as fast as he could and placed his hand on the Vampire’s, removing it from Shelby’s neck before he could dare to try and hurt them. That had put an end to the dance and the Vampire phained a response of being upset, pouting with a sigh as they asked why they had to do such a thing with a tilt of the head. Now at least Jamie was no longer at risk of being killed in the manner that they had threatened, but they were still being held against them and it did not look like he would let go. That provided them with enough reason to demand that they would let them go or at this range that they would not be able to move fast enough to dodge or shield themselves from a blast from their pistol.

Taking that as a challenge the vampire dared them to try, dared him to fire the weapon at them. With their free hand in their grip, the other around their friend, they took the chance and risked it, Sebam had pulled out their weapon and fired, the bang echoing against the walls of buildings around them. You would think that with such a fast reaction that the Vampire would have been hurt by the bullet, but they were faster than the shot and had leaned backwards and away from Sebam. The Elf still being held against them as they gave the Hunter a smirk before flinging them at him. The two fumbling together as they grabbed onto one another, stabilising themselves so they would not fall. They had smiled, glad that they were alright only to get back into action of the fight, turning to face the Vampire once again. Only he had disappeared, now lurking somewhere from around them.

Now on high alert they were in a bit of a panicked state as they knew they had to find where he was as he obviously had some link to Solgina and the Vampires she worked with. He was most likely sent to kill them both as they knew better than everyone else her secrets and what she was up too. This was most likely their attempt to keep their secrets from being revealed to the wrong people. Why after so many years that had passed already, they did not know, but it was too late to question why now. As in the next moment did the first attack of many to come, the Vampire struck once, then backed away, going in and out with each attack like a flurry of flakes of sand in the storm of a desert. With each strike they were able to counter or dodge the onslaught of claws that had came their way. It was a blur to the eye, all movement of the two Hunters was solely based on instinct and reaction. They could not land one hit on this guy, but the same was said for him.

It felt as if no progress was being made and they were at a standstill, but in one moment of letting down their guard, Shelby had moved into a position where their back was exposed for a moment too long. That was all the Vampire needed, that one opened second of a window to attack and land their finishing blow. Out the corner of their eye they had saw the Vampire approached at high speeds, Shelby did not have the time to set up a shield with magic to stop him. Their arms flinging out in front of themselves to block the attack, they closed their eyes as they stumbled backwards onto the ground… They expected pain but they felt nothing, was their death so fast that they did not have time to process the feeling of pain.

Drip… Drip… Drip…

Drip…

Drop…

Drop… Drop…

What was that? Why did it sound like water was dripping and from where? Wait… The sound of the liquid sounded too heavy to be just water… Slowly opening their eyes Shelby’s eyes widened in horror at the sight before them… What they saw was the hand of the Vampire who had attacked them, covered in blood of the crimson liquid coated from the tips of their claws to the upper most of their forearm. In their hand was something was soft and squishy; it almost matched the colour of what was dripping into the puddle that was forming between the Elf’s feet. Their whole body shook as they could not remove their focus from the sight before them, their ears ringing and blocking out all sounds around them. The light of the moon above could not touch the young adult, as a shadow was covering their entire form. It was not the Vampire that had blocked the two from one another… It was Sebam… Whose body was standing in front of the Elf protectively, the arm of the Vampire going through their chest as they held their still beating heart.

Pulling their arm back with force, they watched as Sebam wobbled on his feet as his hands went to where his heart should have been. Looking between the Vampire and the Elf they then stared at the organ that should have been inside of them, they fell onto the floor as blood started to be coughed up. The Vampire raised a brow at him, before staring at his organs with a self-satisfied smile, having the worst of the two dead. Commenting at how it was ironic that the one with the most heart should die by having the thing that made them be taken from them. Now they could take care of the one who was the least of their worries, chucking the piece of meat away so they had both hands free to do this. Raising a hand to strike them where they were on the ground, they halted for a moment as they looked off into the distance. Eyes darkening as a scowl formed onto their face, they watched at the sight of other Hunters started to make their way onto the scene. Side eyeing the Moon Elf, they said nothing, but the look they gave said a thousand words… They would come back to finish the job…

Looking back once again at the sight of the Hunters that were arriving to the area, they had left within the blink of an eye, the Hunters going after in what they assumed was the right direction. None of them taking the time to help Jamie and Sebam, leaving them alone in the street under faint glow of the sky as it started to turn into day. Shelby had snapped out of their shock, moving towards Coshar as they knelt on the ground before them, holding his upper body to their chest in a tight embrace. Their eyes could not stop staring at the wound in front on them, even with the right spell this was not something that magic could heal. All they could do was watch as the one they loved became weaker and weaker as they bled out onto them. This could not be happening, they could not loose another person that they cared about, not like this.

Tears were starting to prick at the side of their eyes, they could do nothing to help him, they wanted to deny this truth, the idea that this was real. Forcing them from the thoughts of their own mind, the Elf had felt a shaking and gentle touch of a hand upon their face. Taking in a breath they looked down at Sebam’s face, seeing how he still smiled despite all the pain they were in, gently pulling them closer until their foreheads were touching. “Hey…”, they started. “You have no reason to be upset my friend… You are so strong… I know you shall make this world a better place, even when it has not been kind to you... So, I know I can give you this… And you will use it well…”, the hand that was still holding onto the pistol had raised up with great strain as he pushed it into their chest. “I guess… This is goodbye my friend… But please… Do me a favour… Live a good life…”, his voice quietened. Still in denial Shelby shook their head as they cried out to him, shaking their head. “No! No! No! Please don’t leave me Sebam! I can’t lose you! I… I love you!”, but the words never earned a response as even before they had confessed their feelings, Sebam had died in their arms, still smiling at them like when they had first laid eyes on them.

It had only been a week since his death and the Guild that he worked for had dealt with his death in a private manner. Each Hunter in the Guild when joining had to state and explain how they wanted their funeral to be if they were killed on the job, as the truth of what they did was kept secret from the public. Some enjoyed a simple burial, others wanted to be cremated and have their ashes spread in a place that was important to them while others got to be taken home. For Sebam he wanted to be buried in the city that he fought so hard to protect over the course of his life. The funeral at the start being simple in terms of decorations and music, everyone hanging their heads low in respect to him when it was time for him to be buried. The current Head of the Guild with their Right Hand, taking charge of reading the eulogy, talking about how brave he was, how many people he had saved, making them happy and how he had stopped people from losing those he had loved.

At the end of all this everyone was told to spread out and head to the Inns and Taverns he liked to frequently visit. No one that is not from the Guild must know that they are there to drink, as they celebrate the memory of their fallen comrade. Most of those who went out to drink had spilt into their teams, finding it easier to comfort one another with the company of those closest to them. Others decided to stay back, as they were told to stay behind in case of emergency, or they simply did not one to join in the celebrations. But they did not dare speak ill of Sebam, instead talking about how such a man could stay so kind over the years, that it was tragic he never got the chance to settle down and start a family of his own.

Though none of these words had provided the Elf with any comfort, in fact now they had felt more alone than ever. Losing Sebam, the one they love, the only one in this strange world that felt like the one constant they could rely on was gone. Even when the other Hunters tried to talk to them, it did nothing to fill the empty space inside the chest they had. It was like when that Vampire had taken Sebam’s heart, it was like they had also taken theirs with it. So why did they have to be the one to live when they had nothing to live for? One reason, because they were told ‘live a good life’. No matter how hard that felt to do that is something that they do… For him…

The Guild Leader thought it best as to hold the celebrations during the night, as having a large gathering of Hunters together in a nearby area would deter any Monsters from trying anything. It also meant that they had more people to look out for the Moon Elf as even they had suspicions that the Vampire who attacked might try again, this time with friends. In theory that is a plan with little flaws, but one flaw they forgot was that most of the Hunters would become drunk, becoming easily distracted from the task of watching over Shelby. So as the sun started to once more wake from its slumber, lighting the city of Berlin in it’s golden embrace, all the Hunters started to spread out returning to their homes or going back to work. While Shelby did neither of these things, instead they stood alone over the grave of the one they lost in silence. They did not know the Prayers of this world when it came to respecting the dead, and even though many years have passed since they have been home, they recited one of the Prayers for him in its place.

A bead of rolled down each of their cheeks once more as the Prayer came to a finish. Afterwards they had pulled out the pistol that they have been given, letting it rest in their hands as they recalled how they were first introduced to this weapon. Sebam had used it to help cheer them up, teaching them how to use it. To others a moment like this would mean nothing, but to them… It meant everything. Closing their eyes, they forced what looked to be a smile on their face as they put it away. Looking down at the grave once more they doubted that Sebam could hear them, but they told them to take it easy wherever they were, that they can in peace now. Coming here had hurt them, but it hurt them even more when they had to leave as they knew the citizens did not need to know where he was buried.

1658, sixty-three had passed since the day Sebam had passed from this world, and every year on this day Jamie never missed the anniversary to pay their dues. They had grown to be quite an attractive Elf, having fine features that reflected the nature of the person that they had become, dressing like a gentleman that anyone could talk to. Over the years they had become better at doing their job though the knowledge that they have gained over the years. Surprising most as they looked so young, physically being around twenty-nine to thirty, but that was just Elven genetics. They had also learnt that the lose of Sebam had affected them so much, that now they no longer felt fear when looking Monsters in the eye as they have already faced their greatest fear of losing the one closet to them.

Today though when they had come to visit, they were fiddling with the gun talking to them about how they had heard rumours that the latest Guild Leader had planned to put them in a team. No past Leader has ever dared to try that, seeing how they always preferred to be alone as they still grieved. They did not want to risk losing anyone else, but by the looks of things they would have no choice. Laughing softly, they told the grave Sebam was in that this was not something that they had wanted, but it has been many years since they lost him. They should at least try to move on from the loss, even if they still hurt inside. This was going to be tough; it would be much easier to deal with if he was there to help but he was not. Perhaps this would be good for them… With a sigh, they waved their friend a goodbye not knowing that from this point onwards… Their life was never going to be the same…

#dnd #dnd oc #dnd backstory #Jamie #Shelby #Jamie Shelby #elf

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eldritchmochi · 9 months

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Word prompt for the letters! SWORD TIME

mina pls that is so many letters lmao

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

okay, if it is not obvious, i have thought SO MUCH about disability in exandria, so heres a general worldbuilding headcannon vs character based hc but it's shown that disability isn't overly impactful in exandria. basically everything we've seen ranging from pcs like shakaste to big npcs like dancer and also smaller one off pcs like the moorbounder dealer in the city of beasts, whatever the name is, they're fully functional within society despite major physical disabilities and theres functionally not a whole lot of ableism at a surface level when it comes to worldbuilding (thanks matt).

however..... its not hard (for me) to extrapolate how the dynasty in particular would have a not great view on disability (thank u cherry for putting it into words as i was charlie day-ing over coping skills early on). it's not something that i talk about explicitly in coping skills (and may not since it would be really info dumpy and not vibe with the way i write or characterize the wizards lmao) but it's something ive spent a great deal of time thinking thru for the dang fic and my in-head notes are basically a) in a modern setting like coping skills, the healthcare situation moves at a glacial pace partly because elves live forever so what is a several year wait for a non emergent specialist issue and b) major disabilities, things that impact daily living to a significant degree that cannot be "fixed" with magic, are at best really only tolerated until anamnesis or consecution so the body can be reset into a more perfect form

i could wax poetic about the nitty gritty as it relates to coping skills specifically, but that is like, the base premise of 90% of the fic lmao

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

okay so, heres the thing: with the exception of a few squicks, if something is well written with some fukken *heart* i will eat up just about anything. theres some tropes i don't really get myself and haven't found anything with it that's interested me, like hanahaki, but i have fav fics involving things i notoriously avoid, like kid fic and hs aus. like legitimately, my absolute fav fic is a non explicit hs au, which considering i basically dont read non explicit fics OR hs aus is fucking wild

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

lets see, i did one here for an ashrym fic, and one here for general shadowgast so lets go with a single character, and a delightfully weird song for her

obviously imogen, again, because its funny. do not ask me why spotify recommended this german edm country album to me a bit ago but i listened to the whole thing and it fucking slapped, and this song immediately went on my hells playlist

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

I AM ONLY DOING ONE BECAUSE I DONT TRUST YOU MINA (ilu but also damn many letters lmao)

but callowmoore is just chefs kiss. i don't see anything necessarily romantic between them but i love the idea of the two of them bonding over being absolute gremlins. ashton definitely needs a charismatic wingman and fearne definitely needs someone who has (some level of) smarts re Doing Crimes, so the two of them playing off each other is just delightful and i love how soft they are with each other in cannon and in turn all the fanart (especially the forehead kiss???? im still not normal about that)

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

hmmmmmmmmmmm okay i guess maybe reylo? the rots kiss was absolute garbage rey deserves better BUT i am in theory into her domming the shit out of him but reylo shippers as a whole soured me on the ship and now i just hhhh no thank you, even from authors i trust to write it in a way i'd enjoy :C

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending?

T answered here! (basically no lmao)

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

homestuck :I like part of it was definitely the Fandom Cycle of falling out if interest with something, especially once there stopped being new cannon i could access but a bigger part of it was seeing all my fav artists and writers in the fandoms, particularly the ones 30+, PARTICULARLY Black artist, being absolutely shat on by kids for the crime of... being adults in fandom spaces basically, or otherwise creating fanworks that featured non-white, non-thin depictions of the characters. i live vicariously thru @/roundandtalented when they spam share hs art because i still love those characters but yeesh ye olde tumblr hs fandom got VERY toxic

M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.

answered once here with ashton and here with astarion so i guess i gotta keep the train going with "a" name characters

hmmmmmmmmmm

okay lets say abby from ncis (i have watched Many crime procedurals lmao). i imagine she and i would be GREAT fashion buddies, especially when i'm bubblegum pop kawaii to her scary goth. we could swap tips on breaking in big stompy boots and all the best places for cute clothes, and i think we're fairly close in size too so could even SWAP gasp The Dream

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?

god i do not know if fandom as a whole has picked up on any of the various things i've built in my fics but tbh i think its absolutely hilarious how i inevitably write a porn/camming au for like every fandom i write multiple fics for. it happens, every single time. EVERY TIME. in fact, mine and cherry's sg camming au started with me lampshading this trend i have, laughing about how FINALLY here was a fandom where i couldn't write camming and make it work, except whoops i thought too hard on it and made it work. this occurred over the course of like..... a single evening. i had the basic outline sketched out within twenty minutes of me being like "theres no way i could write camming into critical role, NO WAY" i am not even exaggerating

so i guess maybe my hilarious contribution to critical role is the contemporary magical setting proof-of-concept???? cherry did say there werent really that many at the time i asked because i lov me some modern aus

there are maybe some letters left idk at this point lmao but here is the meme for those of u who made it thru all that

#mochi rambles #mochi asks #haveievermentioned

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weaselle · 1 year

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in this essay i will hobbits

here is something about Hobbits i’m not sure everyone gets

hobbits are cockroaches

i mean that in such a loving way, but they truly are the cockroaches of the LOTR races. Maybe that’s a bit much -- but they are super sneaky and super hard to kill.

Let me sum up. No, is too good. Let me explain

First of all, they are the sneakiest sneakers.

Hobbits are just naturally nearly invisible most of the time except when they are in their other natural state, Being Noticed.

They are small, they are barefoot, they live in little burrows, they are THE SNEAKIEST SNEAKERS.

The books (and therefore movies) are low-key from the point of view of the Hobbits themselves (we are actually meant to be reading the book(s) written by Bilbo and Frodo, you know, that leather bound thing with the actual book titles on it that we see handed over to Sam at the end). It’s all a hobbit POV, and since hobbits find the sneakiness of other hobbits to just be normal, it isn’t explicitly focussed on.

Think about it though. They are small, they have large padded feet and never wear shoes, they are very quiet and hard to notice -- except when they are Being Noticed.

In fact, Being Noticed is a part of how they are so sneaky, because everyone who knows hobbits knows they love to sing, and dance, and mess about with everything, and have loud opinions, so of course you always know where the hobbit is... until suddenly you don’t.

Usually you see them chucking rocks at stuff, or shoving their friend, or hear them singing a song, or complaining about literally everything in that almost cheerful conversational way they have of complaining, or asking endless inane questions ...

But that’s how you always and easily know right where the hobbit is, you never get around to listening for footfalls or other signs of their presence. You never even have to really look for one. For the last hour they’ve been slightly behind you on your left side, idly wondering out loud how many bad puns about dogs they could make. But suddenly you notice you haven’t actually heard them make any noise for five minutes and you now have zero idea where the hobbit is.

What do their footfalls and breathing sound like? what do they smell like? They, well, hell, they smell like food, don’t they. That’s what you always smell when you’re around a hobbit. They are so good at Being Noticed that you don’t actually have to notice anything about them. So when they stop Being Noticed, they go entirely unnoticed.

But even if you’ve never noticed a hobbit before, if they don’t want to be seen, you probably don’t see them.

I mean, it takes forever, but the Fellowship’s plan was basically: give The Ring to one of these ghosty little shadow steppers, and let them walk it right through the middle of the enemy’s home base.

Yeah, for sure, the enemy is personified as a literal giant Eye that Sees All, and yeah, he is obsessively looking specifically for this thing (which, by the way, is calling out to him) but don’t worry, this fine fellow and his gardener are going to walk it right under his actual eyeball without him noticing.

And it works!

The reason this works is because Hobbits are the sneakiest sneakers to ever sneak around Middle Earth.

consider this

Elrond, a ruler of elves, thousands of years old, no stranger to secrecy and hidden things, calls a high-level secret meeting among vassals from the highest powers left in the land. A meeting held in the center of his own controlled realm. And not one but three! uninvited hobbits find out about it, show up to it, = and secretly observe the entire thing unbeknownst to kings, wizards and elves. Not even mentioning what I assume must have been SOME kind of guards or security force appointed by Elrond.

I love the angry startled look Movie-Elrond gives Merry and Pippin when they run into the meeting to join their kin. Like, he was very gracious about Sam, played it super cool, but then this ruler of elves sees two more!? hobbits jog right into the middle of his very private meeting and he’s clearly all “how the fuck?!”

And yo, it must have been embarrassing to have his most secret of meetings be so entirely spied on. And not spied on by magic or espionage professionals, no. His fate-of-the-world secret military meeting was just sort of invisibly and casually attended by, though i say it affectionately, a sort of average kind-hearted chap and a couple of idiots.

But nobody throws shade at Elrond over it, nobody even makes a comment, no sarcastic “if your vaults are as well guarded as your secret meetings my Lord Elrond, I am afraid you may find yourself without coin” Instead everyone just seems to be like “yep, hobbits stepping out of nowhere, that’s hobbits for you”

Or think how, in The Hobbit (book or movie[s]) Those dwarves were like “how the hell are we going to sneak past a dragon, a DRAGON of all things, ultimate predator created by dark forces, how can we sneak in right under his actual nose?” and Gandalf immediately thinks “A Hobbit could do that. Any hobbit at all could do that, actually -- the real trick would be getting some hobbit to agree to travel more than three days from his hole...”

And then in nearly every encounter, this gentle-hobbit, who is missing his fine linen hankie, manages to sneak off and not be noticed by whatever enemy they face. Near the end of the book Bilbo comes and goes between the various armed forces like he’s going for a morning stroll, just leaving guarded fortresses and showing up at king’s tents like it’s nothing. Sure he’s got the ring, but i am certain this is only augmenting his stealthing habits, not creating them.

Early in the fellowship one of the Nazgul stands directly over the four hobbits while actively searching for hobbit-shaped prey AND feeling the homing energy of the ring, and all four hobbits still stay unnoticed.

I’m convinced the elven cloak works so well to hide them at the gates of Mordor because natural hobbit abilities to stay hidden and the simple elvish cloaking magic crank each other up to 11. Like, that same cloak would not have hidden Gimli the same way in that situation, i’m sure. It would have helped, maybe enough to work at a distance, but not at the enemy’s very feet like that. But a hobbit could almost pull that off even without an elvish cloak, so it’s no problem to do so while wearing one.

Faramir only finds them because a distracted Frodo literally bounces off him while walking through the bushes.

All the time, the hobbits hide and sneak. Frodo and Sam even sneak out of the middle of a group of orcs that are focused on them when they get inspected while disguised as orcs in Mordor. Like the Head Inspector, looks right at them and demands to Inspect Specifically Them, and they, so done in they are barely able to march, still manage to just, y’know, start a distraction and vanish.

Hobbits are, just, unbelievably stealthy

Now think on this. If I asked someone who the sneakiest character from LOTR is, you know who they would say. The sneakiest, stealthiest character in the lord of the rings universe? You all know exactly who everyone would say.

And that’s exactly who is the only one to be able to consistently and accurately locate and sneak up on hobbits. Gollum, that sneakiest of creatures, who spent five hundred years perfecting the art of slinking unnoticed through the tunnels of the Mountain Goblins, skulking around and actually preying on the goblins and never getting caught. Only Gollum manages to find the hobbits again and again, ambushing them several times. And likewise hobbits are quicker than most to notice when Gollum is sneaking around, even catching him unaware a time or two. Two stealth builds playing chess.

Now onto Hardy as in Hard to Poison

I wholeheartedly agree with another post i saw proposing hobbits are naturally poison resistant. The post pointed to their almost reckless lust for shoving mushrooms into their mouths as an implication of both the reason for an evolved immunity, and the example of it working. The same post notes Boromir’s description of Mordor as being a deadly environment “the very air you breathe is a poisonous fume” supported by there being no birds or fish or i think animals of any kind in the surrounding marshes... and yet the hobbits live relatively well there, merely inconvenienced instead of dying.

There are many instances of hobbits being particularly resilient.

Frodo is resistant to being stabbed by the morgul blade on Weathertop, which by rights should have either killed him or transformed him into a wraith. The wound is so virulent in corruptive magic that it never heals, and Frodo is like “you know? sometimes it bothers me a bit” Merry survives a similar cursed wound after stabbing the Witch King in battle and recovers completely. On the twisted magic paths of Mirkwood, only Bilbo was able to keep his head and break free of the spell, refusing to become fully hypnotized, correctly assessing the source of the enspellment (noxious fumes) and climbing up a tree to fresh air. Even Pippin is startlingly resilient to Sauron himself when he handles the Palantir, giving away no information and refusing to answer questions even having his will bent by the Dark Lord himself. And then afterward recovers completely without any desire to seek the seeing stone again, which is nearly as seductive an artifact as a ring of power.

The hobbits are noted by many of the important knowledgeable characters as being very hardy - Aragorn remarks upon it. Elrond and Gandalf both notice the one ring’s soul-poisoning curse seems to have a much weaker effect on true hobbits

(sidebar: smeagol’s character was only “hobbit-like” for example being “river-folk” instead of what we could call burrow-folk, and were probably quite different form hobbits in some ways) True hobbits all fare better with the ring than Smeagol and Deagol did that fateful day.

Bilbo handles it quite well, all things considered, for a significant time. Frodo even tries to give the ring away several times, which is probably impossible for most. Sam struggles only for a few seconds with it, when he returns it to Frodo in the orc tower after Shelob’s lair; as I recall more curious about than overcome by the feeling of the ring’s attempted possession of him, if i remember the books correctly.

And Speaking of Shelob! I know i know, “if hobbits are so poison resistant why could Shelob so easily poison Frodo?”

Well first of all, Shelob is an actual demon of rather royal evil lineage, so jot that down.

She is stated to have multiple poisons, and while that orc had every right to assume she was playing with her food as usual, he didn’t see Frodo make a real threat of himself by attacking Shelob with elvish magic. There is every reason to believe she was intent on killing Frodo actually. And then, spider-wise, simply was not going to waste a meal. I’m saying there’s a good chance she dosed Frodo with something much more deadly than sleepytime juice, and he recovered fine anyway.

But even if that’s not the case, Shelob is a literal demon older than Sauron, and i’m sure if she wanted to paralyze a hobbit she could. Even, as not the book but the movies do seem to imply, through mithril mail. Shelob’s mother partnered with Sauron’s old boss to basically end the first world, and later survived a battle against an entire army of balrogs when he drove her off. Shelob herself is a demon at least equal to a Balrog, I’m certain if she wanted, her sting could pierce a dragon’s hide or any metal of equal strength.

And not just Frodo, but Sam also survives a bit of an encounter with her venom.

In the books she half smothers Samwise in a puddle of her various poisons that spill from her slashed abdomen. It nearly makes him lose consciousness and i’m positive being half drowned in a literal puddle of demon venom would have killed most things, and he just shakes it entirely off with the help of a minor blessing from Galadriel (which, by the way, is a get-what-you-give kind of magic, the book explicitly says Galadriel’s Phial acted strongly for Sam because of his own inner strength: “As if his indomitable spirit had set its potency in motion, the glass blazed suddenly like a white torch in his hand”)

In the book it goes

“[Shelob] yielded to the stroke, and then heaved up the great bag of her belly high above Sam's head. Poison frothed and bubbled from the wound. Now splaying her legs she drove her huge bulk down on him again ... as Sam was crushed slowly to the ground.”

I presume a puddle of some sort resulted because the book describes her after being wounded as dribbling venom from her mouth and dragging a trail of green slime behind her when she retreats.

So she spews poison from an abdomen wound over his head (and possibly throws up some poison too) and then uses that poison covered belly to push him into the resulting puddle. Sam is effected thusly

“Sam had fallen to his knees by Frodo's head, his senses reeling in the foul stench, his two hands still gripping the hilt of the sword. Through the mist before his eyes he was aware dimly of Frodo's face and stubbornly he fought to master himself and to drag himself out of the swoon that was upon him”

Then moments later, after a jolt from Galadriel’s Phial “And with that he staggered to his feet and was Samwise the hobbit, Hamfast's son, again.” And he charges back into the fight

This demon gives him a damn poison swirly and he’s all, “Wow! that was bracing!” smacks, like, an epipen in his leg, and comes back swinging

Anyway, I could go on and on but what i’m saying is hobbits are clearly the stealthiest beings on Middle Earth, and are also nearly immune to all toxins, be they physical or magical. They are the perfect rogue... except they don’t want any excitement and largely refuse to go adventuring.

unless it’s the literal fate of the world at stake. Or maybe, maaaybe, if you send a company of hungry dwarves to eat ALL the hobbit’s food stores uninvited, and then offer to pay them back for what was basically a small warehouse of food (plus compensation for the severe emotional damage involved of course) but only if the hobbit promises to come along and help secure the funds to be used in payment of said debt. Maybe. It’s that or the end of the world.

Otherwise it’s help yourself to another ale (and bring me another too) on your way out the door, no hey, i’m over here now, what do you mean stop sneaking around

#tolkien #lotr #why did i just write so many words about this

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leiflitter · 8 months

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Time for some Els Lore because I have been filling out her backstory a little. It's about time because she's been around forever, but I'm gonna put in a page break because Paragraphs.

She's from the island of Alaron in the Moonshaes- more specifically, the North-Western part of the Dernall forest. She was raised by her father, Bill Woodsley.

Her mother was- when Els was born- called Syllin. Her family were in the Moonshaes for an extended period to visit friends in Sarifal. About five years in to their stay, Syllin was getting rather bored and basically decided to take herself off and have a little adventure. Then she met Bill, and was having quite a nice time having what she considered a little 'holiday fling' when Els made herself known.

Syllin's family weren't worried - she'd often send them letters, although she left out that she was pregnant, and as far as they were concerned she was just on the Elf equivalent of a gap year.

Bill, for his part, thought that they were going to be a happy little family, even though Syllin seemed a little distant he put it down to the pregnancy, her adjusting to a humbler lifestyle and probably just some sort of Elf thing.

Syllin left when Els was just about a year old, having received word from her parents that they were going to be heading home. Bill came back from work to find his daughter asleep on the floor and a note that he couldn't even read on the table. When he finally reached the nearest village with someone literate, he had expected maybe a ransom note or an apology.

Instead it simply read, "had a lovely time, must go- you can keep the baby. -S"

Syllin went on to take her adult name of Seluriel once she was home in Neverwinter, and is now (unbeknownst to Els) Lady Seluriel Gathergarden, married to Lord Æthol Gathergarden and a well-regarded Socialite.

Bill, on the other hand, was left to raise Els alone. He did his best, but a one year old takes a lot of care, and he couldn't work as fast with a baby slung on his back. Most of the time they barely had enough to eat- which is probably why Els is, overall, on the short and scrawny side.

Bill's family are Northlanders- until he met Syllin, he would journey into Gnarhelm most winters to spend them with his family once he'd been paid for the summer's work. He started this tradition again the year Syllin left- Syllin had some money, so they'd been able to weather the cold season, but with her gone and his usual wages far reduced there was no way he and Els would survive. Of course, rocking up after three years with a baby on your back- especially a baby who wasn't entirely human- was very out of character for Bill. His family weren't especially fond of Els- their perception of Elves wasn't great, and the whole Syllin debacle didn't help. Although most treated her with polite indifference, as she grew older she was generally considered the black sheep of the family. Her father stuck up for her, but between "be bullied by assorted cousins" or "die of hunger or cold" Els would always have picked the former.

Her bardic talents manifested from a young age. One of the few relatives who actually liked Els was Toothless Vio, an ancient man who called himself a Skald. Most of the others ignored him, but Els found a sanctuary in his company, and he had a captive audience. He taught her to play the lute, and told her as many stories as he could remember- and muttered the secrets of using music and speech to bend the world to your will.

Of course, once she'd learned the secret of vicious mockery, the rag-tag group of cousins found it far less fun to bully her.

She left home at eighteen, for three very good reasons.

1. It's hard to make any money as a bard when you live alone with your da in the woods.

2. Because she couldn't earn money, her da had to work twice as hard to keep them fed- and the physical labour was taking a toll on his health.

3. The previous winter one of her very distant cousins had taken an interest in her, and she knew if she spent another winter there everyone would be trying to persuade her to marry him. That simply would not ever happen, because she had never ever wanted to be either a butcher's wife nor someone who kissed their cousins, but better to simply avoid it all together.

So she left and headed to the mainland. She hasn't seen her father in the decade since, but they send each other little gifts regularly. She's mostly bounced around, doing various odd jobs and playing in any tavern that'd want a bard, and had just about saved enough coin to go home for a visit when... Nautiloid.

#leiflitter ocs #els woodsley #els lore #oc lore

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dhampiravidi · 11 months

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D&D OC - Oraia

template from here:

BASIC DESCRIPTION

Full Name: Oraia Age: ~142 years old by Baldur's Gate III (born c. 1350 DR) Species: Quasi-deity (Titan; weakened) Gender: Genderfluid (female-leaning) Sexuality: Pansexual

APPEARANCE (FC is Hannah John-Kamen)

Oraia's natural form is that of a 5'5" (1.65 m) human with tanned light brown skin and the toned physique of an average female in their thirties. Her hair is an extremely dark brown, which looks naturally tousled with its bouncy, tight waves. She wears it in a long braid, though messy strands escape to frame her face. Her eyes are a bright sea green, the only thing that serves as a visual clue to her inhuman nature. She wears* a brown leather cuirass with matching vambraces, knee-high boots, and a simple (waterproof-charmed) utility belt. All of this is worn over grey trousers and a white undershirt, which go under a short-sleeved blue dress that stops just above her knees.

PERSONALITY

Chaotic Good; although her parents are both considered to be extremely Chaotic in nature, Oraia's time living in the city has made her a bit more likely to think before she acts, and to obey the laws of the authorities in the region. However, she is fiercely independent, and if she sees something wrong with the way a creature is being treated, she will step in to help no matter what. Overall, Oraia is a compassionate, loyal, and positive person. Close friends are her family. When she isn't adventuring, she's being hedonistic, enjoying sex, socializing, and sunbathing. Somewhat characteristic of her parents, when Oraia is on a mission to execute a creature, she tends to do so violently, as opposed to in a less painful/more merciful fashion.

BACKSTORY

She was born when her parents, Poseidon and Nephthys, coupled in the form of their avatars. They raised her while traveling East Faerûn, until the Avatar Crisis/Time of Troubles (1358 DR). When it began, they rushed her to Sarshel in Impiltur, where they entrusted her with a middle-class family, the Damaran Stursks, Zoze (F; 1324 DR to 1391 DR) and Lon (M; 1320 DR to 1393 DR). While there, Oraia learned good values and developed a fondness for humans, especially sailors. The clerics who worshipped Poseidon and served Lord Rilaunyr were to check on her routinely. When the Spellplague (1385 DR) happened, Nephthys's avatar left the mortal plane along with the rest of the Mulhorandi pantheon. Demons appeared in the countryside, and Oraia chose to fight them, rather than go with Poseidon to his divine realm for safety. When Sarshel was abandoned after succumbing to decline from lack of trade and a rise in chaos, she turned to the seas. While attempting to protect a ship from what seemed to be a kraken, Oraia found herself under attack by the avatar of Panzuriel, the evil sea god who had been banished by Deep Sashelas and Poseidon. Panzuriel used a variety of corruption spells which resulted in Oraia becoming mentally and physically ill. He left her to die, and aquatic elves helped her recuperate. By the Second Sundering (1484 DR), New Sarshel was a thriving port city that she often visited. The same year, the Mulhorandi pantheon returned to help the Mulani overthrow the Imaskari by 1487 DR. Oraia initially joined her mother's people, feeling for the Mulani and wanting to bond with her family, but she abandoned the cause once she saw how the non-elite Imaskari were suffering. Now she travels, offering her services to any who need them.

ABILITIES

Originally, Oraia was like most quasi-deities, possessing the following abilities: immortality, superhuman speed, high immunity to mind tampering/vitality sapping/forced shapeshifting, omnilingualism, and unlimited greater teleport. She could never grant spells, but she had a good handle on magic relating to her parents' Tempest, Water, Death, and Chaos domains. However, after her encounter with Panzuriel's avatar, she was forever weakened, due to the shock and because her parents ensured that her existence was (mostly) a secret; this resulted in her having almost no followers for her to draw power from. Now, Oraia's only powers relating to the Death domain consist of summoning and banishing spirits and the undead. She also is no longer immune to psychic attacks and she is no longer able to shapeshift. Uniquely though, she has always had the ability to cast water walk nonverbally and with little effort.

FIGHTING STYLE

She often allows people to think she's a sorcerer tied to older gods. It's not too far from the truth. Most of the time she's a very offensive spell caster. Though she typically sticks to using spells from the Water and Tempest domains, Oraia's favorite spell is the word of chaos, which has often aided her in battle. She also has a dagger, prominently displayed at her waist.

SKILLS

Animal Handling - mostly horses & Celestial animals Arcana - what she can't do, she's at least learned about Persuasion - she's always had decent manners & she has high Charisma

*art is "Mauve" by Camila Vielmond on ArtStation.

#oraia: headcanon #D&D OC

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tornscale · 1 year

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I would like to talk about my muses again, cause it’s been a long time since I’ve mentioned their backgrounds, stories, and the world they live on. So i’ll start off by giving a basic rundown of the world they live in.

Etune: Font of Fragmented Magick

Etune is a terrestrial planet orbited by three moons, one of which is partially fragmented due to an incident involving extraterrestrial impact some millenia ago. It is home to many lifeforms, including those that would be considered mythological or fantastical. Examples of these include elves, dwarves, goblins, manticores, unicorns, fae, and dragons not least of all. According to the dragons, they were created by The Sun Lord, husband to Queen Terra, and given the task of watching over the world and its inhabitants to keep the peace and promote harmony among them all. This task was first given to their founding father Tung, who in turn would create the eponymous Order of Tung.

During these ages magick was one primordial force, where once could draw upon the same omnipresent source around them and use it to perform many magical feats. This is partially what gave the dragons incredible powers in their “golden age”, for by being created by the Sun Lord they were blessed with the gift to control magick at will, with no need for incantations or spells or components.

But after an incident involving the ancient kingdom of Falngoth, who attempted to utilize their Black Tower to increase their control over magic across the world and even the moons, the entire kingdom vanished nearly overnight, and left the magic of this world fragmented and divided into separate castes and specializations rather than one unified force. Which is why now, when you go to academic circles like Jaspertaine, they have specializations in specific fields rather than a whole unified branch.

The dragons still hold strong control over the magic, for they are beings of magic themselves and are almost directly connected to it. But it is easy to say that they haven’t been “complete” ever since Falngoth’s tampering. Who knows if this will ever reverse itself, or if this is the nature of the world forever more now?

#OOC #Lore Dump #My Writing

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wakemanportfolio · 1 year

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The Heritors of History

The final major project for my University course. I combined high fantasy, contemporary fantasy and dark fantasy togethe into a story. The context of it’s presentation is supposed to be snippets of the story as a whole with sections inbetween to fill out the gaps. It was greatly inspired by various myths and stories from around the world.

Chapter 1: Record of Eld

Many years ago the death of Fionn in Glean Claidheamh, the realm of the Dwarves, sparked the killing of old beings known as the Giants. It was said the Giants had shaped the very land itself and the people worshipped them, and yet many were so quick to turn against them. I pose this question, why?

This world we live in was born from the consequences of man’s own hands, and it is something we shall have to live with forever. Men and their lack of understanding of the world they live in destroyed so much of it. And when the consequences hung over their heads, they turned against each other in blame.

A Hoppit woman had dealt the finishing blow to the Giant known as Fionn. Hoppits were once rabbit people who dwelt deep inside a forest to the far east of Kouri in the Foloi woods. And once all the Giants had been killed, the lands themselves buckled and shook. And in search of something to place all their blame upon, humanity took it upon themselves to commit genocide against the Hoppits.

Before this, however, the Giants were held in high regard by many countries. Their own societies would even revolve around them. Fionn was a Giant made of stone and magma that had built cliffs and dug out volcanoes that created the land. Asclepius in Kouri was a snake Giant; every time he shed his skin he was reborn and was often associated with medicine as its poison and skin were said to be able to cure any ailment or bring life to the land. Maat in Aaru was an eagle Giant, who brought order and stability to the new land for their feathers were used to decide if someone was innocent or not. And Ymir was a dragon Giant, who brought power and magic that was worshipped and revered in Nifilhiem.

No mortals could truly comprehend how they worked, or how they lived. Over the years they would refer to them with different names or pronouns depending on where you lived. Some were more common than others, Asclepius was seen as a father of medicine and land while Ymir was seen as a mother to the Elves.

In a sense, their murder could be something akin to parricide as it was the Giants that had given them life and home after all. Arguments can be made that humanity wished to move on just as a child may do. But, many Giants had already left humanity to their own devices. Fionn was only considered an issue as they incidentally created earthquakes due to their nature as a rock titan, but outside of that could be considered completely harmless.

In order to truly try to understand these events in history, there needs to be a basic understanding of what each country was like back then. We know what purpose the Giants served to their children, but what were the children and their homes like?

Glean Calidheamh, as I mentioned earlier, is and was the realm of the Dwarves. For a while after Fionn’s death, it became uninhabited for years. The country itself is a dangerous place filled with active volcanos, jagged peaks and pools of magma. Not to mention the horrible stifling heat that is to be expected from such a place. However, the materials produced by such a place are invaluable: metals and gems were abundant and the Dwarves were no slouches. The best metalworkers in the world are Dwarves and for a good reason, for they have been doing it for hundreds of years generation through generation. Such work is stressful, however, and their best method to dealing with this was drink and lots of it. Some of the earliest records of peoples first encountering them referred to them as ‘tiny drunkards’, which continues to hold today.

Aaru is considered the biggest country, but the vast majority of it consists of deserts, likely caused by the volcanic activity of its neighbour. While humans do make up quite a large portion of the population, Aaru is well known for having a diverse population of other species usually only found in small villages in the wilderness. Early records show species such as Lizardfolk, Kobolds and Orcs have been known to live there. As to how it manages to keep the peace amongst so many people, Aaru is also famous for having the earliest justice system in the whole continent, with the help of their Giant. Maat’s feathers would be placed on a scale with the belongings of the accused and if their belongings weighed the same as the feather they were innocent.

Kouri is split into three smaller countries: the Foloi Woods, Kaisarioni and Steni. They split as a result of conflict between the three races living there the humans, Wood Elves and the Hoppits. Foloi consisted of deep woodlands that were the bane of any traveller due to their maze-like appearance. Despite their surprisingly short lifespan of only twenty years, the Hoppits were said to know each tree and carved out their own roads in the woods that they could understand. Although not aggressive to outsiders, they mostly wanted to keep to themselves and did not want to get involved with the business of the outside world.

Steni was mountainous and deep, with old pine trees that grew even in the high peaks where there was a rare chance of snow. This was the home of the Wood Elves, as well as the home of Aclepius’ cave. They were never fond of outsiders, acting much more aggressively than the Hoppits did. Atop their mountain ranges, however, were beautiful cities and castles that reached the heavens but sadly these have been lost over time.

Kaisarioni consists largely of plains lands. Many farms and plantations began there due to the amount of space available to them and the fertile land. Humans were the main race of Kaisarioni and lived very simple lives in the countryside. The capital, however, was nothing like that. Consisting of complex buildings and structures for the research of magic and the construction of magical artefacts, as humans had a deep curiosity about the existence and use of magic.

Niflheim was an isolated island to the north, cloaked in eternal snow. This is where the distant cousins of the Wood Elves lived, Snow Elves under the protection of Yimr the dragon Giant. Of every country, they perhaps treated their Giant with the most respect as a religious figure, but they were constantly at war amongst themselves. Revolutions that killed the royal family, economic disparity, Vikings and their unfriendliness towards outsiders resulted in them being hit the hardest once Yimr was slain.

But, there is one more place, a place that mortals dare not venture into. Beyond the Foloi woods are Swamplands that are fought over by the Demons and Fae that inhabit it, and they are dangerous creatures. The Fae have a penchant for trickery and confusing unwilling victims often until their untimely demise. Demons are much more forward in their aggression like wild beasts, but a Demon that can learn how to trick is more dangerous than a Fae. So unless you're looking for a painful way to die it’s highly recommended you do not set foot near their land. Even during the purge of magical beings none could get close to harming them unless they left their land in which they could be struck down with steel.

There has never been a fully agreed name for the continent. We know not what else lies outside the world outside of our neighbours as ships that sailed towards the sun never returned again. However, there is an old term that other scholars still use to refer to the continent as a whole. It was once referred to as Babylon before everyone split into their own countries and eventual races.

So the Giants' deaths could be considered the second fall of Babylon, as magic was lost to many of the races. The few that still controlled it were either also hunted down and killed or taken away for research. My own family and ancestors referred to this time as the years of melting ice. In my research, I discovered a poem written by a woman who was still living in Nifilhiem during these struggles. Such texts are a powerful insight into the psychology of people in the past, however translating them is often quite a struggle but it is as follows:

Sons of Ymir,

Heed my plea,

Our castles fall

And our walls melt,

Cease this charade,

And let us cross the forbidden seas

During the years of melting ice it was not uncommon for Snow Elves with the ability to control ice to be burned at the stake. Unfortunately, it was not an uncommon practice even before the Giants' deaths. The number of fires begun in this intense witch hunt is speculated to have melted much of the architecture they prided themselves in having created. Castles and buildings built from ice became heritage lost to the vapour.

Ice was not the only thing free from fires. In the Foloi woods, during an attempt to drag the Hoppits out of their home much of the woods were set on fire as it would be too difficult to send soldiers or hunters in there. Those Hoppits that were unaware of what had transpired outside of the woods fled, and those who they believed might have been their sanctuary pulled out their blades.

Earthquakes and various tremors also became a lot more commonplace, damaging many structures and forming cracks in the land. It was felt much worse by the Dwarves as it triggered a lot of volcanic activity to a point that they could no longer live there. Many were forced to abandon all of their belongings as they had no time to get them before the floors started collapsing underneath them. As such a few of them began to resort to thievery down in Aaru where they already had enough trouble on their hands.

While Aaru was still quite independent of its Giant, having begun to develop a justice system of its own. It was still in its infancy, and the increased population of Dwarves and many others who had lost everything was overwhelming. Aaru had become rife with crime and many of its old tombs and sites were robbed in these years.

Humans and Wood Elves were also resuming old territorial conflicts and struggles, often over the now-ruined Foloi woods. But now the two had reached a breaking point and fights began to break out along their borders, not only that but a wave of plague swept through the land infecting plants and those who consumed them ill. Such disastrous plagues were often taken care of by Asclepius, who would consume the miasma or bugs that caused them. It would be a while until the two would come to an agreement, dubbed the snake pact, that both sides would work together to work on and develop a cure for the plague.

These events marked the beginning of the modern era, with many races that had not previously interacted being forced together due to unfortunate situations. It was both a beautiful display of humanity's ability to work together and past a worldwide tragedy, but also a display of human ignorance and greed. Neither wanted to work together without some sort of reward. And their downfall was their own doing by murdering those who kept the world in balance because they could. Many believed the Giants were immortal, and it would be a display of power to kill one. But when the dust passed and they were left with nothing in return a much uglier side of reality reared its head.

So much of that era has been lost to time. Many tried to scrub out the past but its effects on the present were too strong to not ignore. This is where scholars such as myself come into play, we who wish to keep records of the far past as a warning to generations in the future not to make the same mistakes again.

Chapter 2: Story of Eld

High in the mountains of Glenn Claidheamh, the group had begun scaling one of its many mountains. The burning hot air wasn’t helping their climbing, and they weren’t even sure if they were heading in the right direction. Fionn was rather notorious for being hard to track down, and they were likely to find more trouble on their way there. If the rumbling in the cracked ground was any indication, perhaps the stones beginning to form together might be a sign.

Olive drew her bow, and her arrow plunged through the soft rock, which began to wiggle about. With her sensitive ears, she could hear the sounds of rocks gathering together and digging out of the ground all around them.

“Are these the babies or something?” she yelled back at the group.

“I’m not sure…It makes them easy targets though,” Fressia grinned. The Harlequin Hoppit raised her axe and chopped one cleanly in half. Olive watched her slice lovestruck until another one slammed itself into her back, kicking it in response it rolled over to Crow.

The ratty man picked it up and it curled like a bug.“Hmm, think it’s scared of me?” he asked as he held it by a smaller rock by the centre, something akin to an arm.

“I wouldn’t blame it,” Olive commented as she drew her bow again.

The man backed away. “Now now, there’s plenty more to shoot other than this one.” His words were cut off by a flash of ice striking at the one in his hand.

“You weren’t exactly planning on keeping it alive now were you?” Wren huffed as he shook a few specs of ice left on his hand.

“Ah, how rude. I would have thought we were closer now Elf.” Crow shrugged, his hand frozen solid.

“Stop being a shit-head and just get rid of these things, I’m sure you’ve got something up your arse,” the Elf huffed.

Before he could pull out his sword, Wren felt an aggressive tug at the end of his long white plait.

“Haul up 'ere! Those wee bastards are good luck, don't just crack em open,” Nessia yelled, the dwarf woman tugged at his hair.

He turned around and pulled her beard in response. “You didn't think to tell us this earlier? Or were you too damned ale sodded to realise?” he bit back in response.

The two of them continued to bicker, leaving the rest to kick away the remaining crowd of baby stones.

“Are these Fionn’s maybe?” Olive asked.

Nessia peered over to her for a moment. "Thon bitch is too long in the tooth to have more kids. Themins did have some rock titans though that could be 'ere,” she shrugged.

“So we are killing children?” Crow added, sounding oddly pleased with himself.

“You don’t have to word it like that. Honestly, they’re just rock titans.” Fressia sighed, and kicked the remains of another one down the hill they climbed.

"Just ye wait til the ma find out. Unless ye wanna join the ancestors - the ma will have good ore in 'em That's why the babies are lucky - practice for them big bitches," Nessia explained, still dangling from her beard.

“How is that good luck, exactly?” Wren asked.

“Well, ye hold one for ransom and then keep it once the ma bites the dust. Endless ore production, with a few casualties.” She shrugged and Wren dropped her. Nessia murmured a few swears in his direction before they realised the babies had vanished and the ground began to tremble.

A boulder that had been lodged in the ground none of them had taken a moment to look at began to shiver. As it rolled out of the ground other bits of rock began to gather around it, creating what looked like arms and legs before it finally roared.

"Oh, that’s one is pissed off, ma," Nessia commented gleefully.

"Well then, we've got a volunteer to help us practise against Fionn," Olive said as she pulled back another arrow and fired it into its chest, but the arrow bounced off.

Nessia laughed at her. "It ain't gonna be a soft sack of shit like the babies. You gotta crack that shell first like this!" she yelled as she ran at it with her hammer held high, only to be bashed out of the way by its arm.

The dwarf woman was sent rolling down the hill they had climbed, and various shouts and swears could be heard as she continued to tumble down. Fressia looked delighted, however. "Oh is it my turn to do it?" She jumped in excitement with her axe out. "Nessia always gets the first heavy-hitting moves.”

"Go ahead, sweetheart!" Olive cheered from behind her. Largely due to not being weighed down by a drunken mind, the small Hoppit woman was able to leap away from the rock titan’s swing and slice her axe into its front, leaving a large cut in the stone that began to crack.

Wren gasped. "I can sense its core behind that crack. If you destroy it the titan should die," he explained.

Steadying his hand he focused on the crack. Some ice would make it much easier to crack open the rest of the stone. All they needed was a good shot of it. The titan noticed the cold air beginning to form and hurled a stone at him. It was quickly destroyed, however, by the black feathers Crow pulled from his strange coat.

"What the shit were those?" Wren commented.

"Not even a thanks? I won't save you next time then," the human replied with a wink.

“Hvað þú ert mikið rassgat,” Wren cursed under his breath in a foreign tongue. "Okay fine then. Thanks," the Elf bit back with a huff.

Meanwhile, Olive was preparing a special arrow of hers. Usually, she preferred her arrows to fly fast and far and were rather light as such. But in closer quarters she had developed an arrow with a thicker, heavier tip that could pierce through metal armour and like stone.

A titan’s core was like a tough crystal. They had even been shown one in the odd shop back in Aaru that created heat. If this one was anything like the shops she had seen, the shards left behind would catch quite a nice penny. As if he was reading her thoughts, Crow suddenly popped up behind her.

“Distracted there bunny? Wouldn’t want to keep your girlfriend too long now would you?” He side-eyed the other woman who was beginning to run out of breath dodging the titan.

Thankfully she was allowed a moment's reprise once Wren’s ice snuck through the titan’s cracks and began to cool down its core. It shivered and stood still, but only for so long. Allowing Fressia to take another swing at it giving Olive a full view of its core now encased in ice.

“Phew, that’s really tuckered me out,” Fressia puffed as she laid her large axe down for a moment.

“Olive, take your shot, I can sense the core starting up again,” Wren ordered the Hoppit, and her floppy ears perked up.

“Just watch me! It’ll only take one of these babies.” She pumped her fist on her chest and drew her bow, the new weight of the heavier tip making it a bit harder to aim.

With her arm pulled back taut she let the arrow fly and it sunk deep into the glassy core creating cracks around it as the titan began to flail around in pain.

“Did that not finish it off?” Wren shouted and Olive pulled another arrow, again and again turning the core into a pincushion of arrows.

Finally, it trembled as its rocky limbs collapsed into dust and the chest cracked open like a geode. What was left of the glassy core was scattered inside were spikey orange and pink shards of crystal that looked sharp to the touch. Wren dipped his hand inside and hummed “These crystals contain fire and earth-aspected energies, not a surprise considering our location I suppose. You could potentially cut these into arrowheads, but I doubt they would be much help again Fionn.”

“...How much are they worth then?” Olive asked.

“Of course, you’d ask that,” he huffed.

Picking up a stray shard he continued “This, is probably worth more to those in Kouri and Niflheim than anything as the Dwarves and Aaru have plenty of access to fires. If a Dwarf found these they’d be a bit pissed as its worth as much as the magma here which isn’t much,” he explained. But in the centre, he picked up what remained of the core.

“These, however, if they’re in good condition can be worth tons as you saw back in the odd shop. They produce a lot of energy, the uses of which are yet to be figured out though there are some Elves who have been studying these.”

About half of it remained intact, the rest of it had been reduced to shards that could be ground up but still weren’t worth as much as a main piece of core. The cogs in their heads had begun spinning however and Crow pricked up “Ah, think of how much worth Fionn’s core could be. Try and keep that one intact this time bunny,” he slapped Olive’s back.

Chapter 3: Record of Steam

With the death of magic, the world plunged into chaos and people's lives fell apart. That was at least until the first industrial revolution brought about by the Dwarves and Elves. Although this sort of friendship is not out of the ordinary now, back in those days Dwarves and Elves did not get along. Be it differences in size or attitude, the rare chance they ever had to meet would be fraught with quarrels.

Yet when the world became displaced these two races found a kinship with each other. Dwarves are experts in metalworking and various pieces of machinery while Elves with their long lifespans held years of wisdom and knowledge with them. Together they would design and create the first train powered with titan cores, although it would not be a permanent solution until coal was discovered it got the job done. This beneficial relationship has since persisted through the years, most engineering companies are usually started up by an Elf and Dwarf.

However, it should be noted that these were specifically Wood Elves, as Snow Elves would find their place elsewhere amongst the flames of a new world. Many Snow Elves were actually Vikings, and as such they had experiences sailing and trade being the few that would openly interact outside Niflheim. Roads were destroyed in the earthquakes caused by Fionn’s death, meaning that trade by sea became the next valuable option until the trains were built.

Humans were quick to develop too, making use of the large plains lands of their home they mostly only used for farming. A plan was made to build more cities or expand the ones they already had as a way to house the new workforce developing. Much of their previous research into magic had gone to waste, however, but that did not stop a group from continuing with their research as much as possible. Wharf became the centre of researching magical phenomena to try and discover why it is that it vanished, and why the parts that remain can do so. Simple human curiosity really in the end.

With all this, the industrial era had gone into full effect with factories being built to begin large-scale production. Many of those who had been displaced by the chaos of the previous years often found themselves trapped in these factories. It was the only open workplace many people could get hired into. The ethics behind it are still widely questioned and compared to the current era where similar types of workforces have also been employed.

Classism was an obvious point of contention, despite being the main driving and working force, to find a wealthy dwarf was rarer than a snow elf with good mental health; even rarer still being a dwarf allowed to keep their natural beard. A large percentage of the wealth went to humans and wood elves for supposedly being the brains of operations. These sorts of issues would become the main source of conflict between the different races all crammed together. In the past one could escape city life quite easily by running off into the woods, but a majority of the woodland in Kouri had been burned down. Not everyone had the strength to start such a life either, the prospect of somehow reaching the top of the metaphorical food chain was too tantalizing to them.

And no place was this more prevalent than in Kaisariani and it's capital city Athens. What was once the birthplace of many discoveries in magic was now the birthplace of technology and mire. Poverty was widespread and people flooded the streets like rats at the rise of every morning for work to sites that once held priceless artefacts that now only knew smog. There are countless stories and cases from the perspective of these people from the lucky that knew how to write. I myself would have loved the opportunity to compare these stories of sewer-soaked streets to their real-life counterparts. But alas Athens is closed tight nowadays and to enter it would be welcoming death.

The only other bastion of civilisation was Aaru during these times which was more behind on the advancements of technology. Due to its nature as a desert country, the installation of railways was a much more difficult feat and easy transportation was not available for a long time. So while Kouri was experiencing an industrial revolution, Aaru was forced to lick its wounds and slowly recover from the world-shaking events that had transpired the years prior without help from their neighbour.

Glenn and Nifilhiem were abandoned, ghosts of countries that once were as they were so badly damaged by the deaths of the Giants that they were uninhabitable. No one ever set foot there again for years, the last records of Glenn around this point in history were various witness stories about sporadic volcanic eruptions. Many towns and cities were commonly located underground or inside mountains and inactive volcanos, as such it became too dangerous to live there.

Niflheim had already experienced a severe rebellion with their long-running royal family, the chaos of such an event alongside the death of Ymir created a political power struggle. Alongside the melting ice and snow, the people were distraught and unsure of where to go. The Snow Elves of then are still a point of argument amongst other scholars. Some argue they were overjoyed the snow melted. however, they could not live in such a political climate. While others argued the cold is in their nature and were unable to cope without it.

Being half Snow Elf myself, I find such arguments an annoyance for they often look to me as if I’d hold every answer for those long dead. As someone who has never seen the snow fall once I have no answer for them, and I likely never shall.

Chapter 4: Story of Steam

The train whistle blared, startling Olive awake from her seat as she heard the low chuckles in the carriage. Grumbling she rubbed her eyes and readjusted her pigtails that had tangled together from the friction against the seat. Peering around she noticed that they were one person short. Her girlfriend was sitting next to her and Nessia, Wren was somehow still fast asleep on the other side. But the weird man was gone.

“Hey, where did that strange man go? Whatever his name was again,” she murmured.

“He said he was off to find food, I did not know they served food on a train,” Nessia responded delightedly.

“I suppose we’ve never been on one before, pretty expensive for people like us,” Olive replied. Perhaps someday she’d be able to work someplace else where her coworkers didn’t fall into factory machinery.

Not long after she woke, the door to their cabin was clumsily kicked open. The strange man with black hair and a black coat entered with paper bags in hand. Kicking the door shut behind him he looked around at the group. “I hope you like lamb, it was the only damn thing they had.” Nessia and Fressia’s faces soured, but they didn’t say much else. He dropped the bags to the side on an empty seat and wandered over to the seats opposite the girls.

Wren was fast asleep still with his familiar lying on his chest, watching him quite intently. “C’mon now sleeping beauty wake up,” he shook the Elf’s shoulder only for Drífa to swiftly bite one of his fingers. He jolted back as a small dribble of red ran down the white rabbit’s cheek. “Fucking bunny…” he hissed as he shook his hand.

“What… Oh I’m so sorr- Oh never mind it’s you,” Wren rubbed his eyes. Promptly a bag of lamb was chucked at his face in response.

Both of them squabbled in the corner, as she watched, a memory resurfaced back to Olive. “Ah, I remember, your name is Crow.”

They were squabbling like birds. Only a few moments later though she was weighed with how it was a very peculiar name.

“Hey, Fressia? Are you sure we can trust him? His name is really weird,” Olive whispered over to her girlfriend.

“I understand how you feel, but he’s the only one with papers to let us reach Niflheim,” she explained and Olive pouted.

The lamb was rather bland, despite its seasoning. There was an abundance of sheep in Kaisarioni, they were impossible to avoid and she was sick of it. Looking at her companions though, she noticed something interesting. Nessia and Wren the two only non-humans in the carriage did not seem bothered by the taste of the lamb “Do you two actually like this?” she asked, Crow’s head whipping around at the comment.

“Ain’t that bad, could do with a tad more taste in it,” Nessia commented.

“More? I think it's been seasoned enough,” Wren disagreed.

“It tastes like wet hay to me…” Fressia mumbled as she quietly slipped her piece of lamb back into the bag.

“Hmm…I suppose it makes a lot of sense food more catered to Dwarves and Eves would be served here. They are the main workers on the train lines,” Crow pointed out.

A unified hum of interest rang out in the carriage before the group returned to silence, the rustling of paper bags and the methodical thumps of the train could only be heard. After their fill, Wren began to rummage around his suitcase chock full of papers and books. Olive watched him unpack a few papers, not much else to watch as his familiar bunny began to chew at the edges.

With a tug, he ripped it out of her mouth without a second look. “Does she do that a lot?” Olive commented, and he gave a deflated nod.

“Ahem so, I believe another discussion is on order. Before we entered the train I looked through some archives of a nearby university and copied down a few papers.”

The crumpled papers were soaked in inky words Olive could not even begin to comprehend. “Now, can you remind me where you found the strange stone?” he asked snapping her out of her staring.

“Well, I was on a walk outside the city. When I then tripped over a round stone. Now I didn’t think much of it at the moment, but then I noticed it was a bit too perfect you see. So I dug it up and it was shaped like an egg, where is it by the way?” she asked.

“It’s currently in luggage inside a crate. I registered it as a geological artefact so we don’t arouse any suspicions. The hardest part of this, however, will be our entry into Nifilhiem-” Nessia’s arm shot up.

“Why are we going there?” she asked, confusion visible on her face.

“Were you listening to our plans before we got onto the train?”

“...Nah honestly I wasn’t! Just let the smart people do the talking, and I just carry their shit,” she explained with a grin.

Wren looked around at the others, eyes begging that they had also been listening to him earlier. He was only met with averted eyes from all of them but Fressia, so with a sigh, he recited himself.

“We are currently travelling to the ruins of Nifilhiem in order to confirm the origins of the strange stone you discovered Olive. Said stone is believed to be the final dragon's egg, hardened in stone by Ymir to protect her young from the dark future she saw. Said future eventually came to be, but how the egg ended up in Kouri instead of at the top of Élivágar is a mystery.”

Rummaging through his case again, Wren pulled out various sketches splotched in inky lettering impossible to read to anyone other than its author. “I expected ya to have better handwritin than that boy,” Nessia commented.

“I would take that for an insult if you were not illiterate.”

Wren hardly gave the Dwarf time to respond before he continued. “As part of Wharf it’s my duty to study magical phenomenon. When Ymir fell, people were quick to search her nest for her child, only to discover it had been left cold. Without a doubt I believe that egg to be hers, I suppose as a descendant of Niflheim I feel it in my gut.”

He briefly stopped for a moment, eyes deep in contemplation before Olive broke him out of it. “Uhm, can I ask. What exactly is going to happen to the egg if it’s all true?” she asked.

Wren only frowned. “I think you know what’ll happen to it. They’ll either dissect the egg or keep the baby in study. As someone with a high ice aptitude, I’ll likely be roped into whatever they plan on doing with it.”

“And you're okay with this?” Olive asked, a hint of concern laced in her voice.

He only hummed lowly. “I don’t have much choice. But if it’ll be for a better future I’ll be fine with it,” his words didn’t match his eyes but Olive didn’t speak up again.

“Getting into Nifilhiem will be a pain in the ass, which is where shit-head over there comes into play,” he pointed towards Crow’s general direction without looking at him.

“He can get us a boat over to the island. Why we need to bring the egg to Nifilhiem is to gauge its reaction to the land of its birth. The ground still holds ancient magic that it’ll likely resonate to, perhaps even enough to hatch.”

“Ohhh, that sounds so exciting,” Fressia smiled.

“Excitin? The damn thing sounds bloody terrifyin. What if it tries to kill us?” Nessia argued.

“I wasn’t aware babies could be so dangerous. Maybe you’d like to stay on the boat once we’re there,” Crow teased her.

The Dwarf woman threw herself off her seat “And who’dya think you’re talkin to, I’ll bet ya you’ll be pissin in your breeches it’s a goddamned dragon we’re talkin about here!”

Crow looked at her with amusement. “A baby dragon, it’ll be small only the same size as you.”

Olive resumed staring out of the window as to avoid eye contact with the bloodshed occurring in the carriage, Fressia continued to watch, however. “Mmm, do you think we’ll be kicked out over their fighting?” she asked Olive

“It probably happens all the time so I highly doubt it,” Olive replied.

Chapter 5: Story of Blood

She wanted to go home, waves of regret washed over Olive now as they were trapped in their tight predicament. No matter how much she had longed for an adventure this was finally a step too far as soldiers from Wharf circled like vultures around the large hollow log they were hiding in.

And of all the luck, she got separated with it was Wren. Rubbing her face anxiously she looked over at the Half-Elf who was also tightly curled up in hiding, a thin layer of ice growing on the tips of his fingers.

“We are so fucked,” she rasped. “Why did I come with you all, even if we do get to that swamp won’t fairies like…Turn us inside out or some shit.”

Wren didn’t reply, a thin layer of ice beginning to crystalise at the tips of his grey hair.

“Hey, hey if you keep freaking out like that you’ll get us both caught!” she tried to whisper.

The man snapped out of his stupor, an intense fear laced onto the face of the usually self-assured man. He knew what a dire position he was in without any words. “Do you know…Where the others went?” he asked between heavy breaths. Olive only shook her head and Wren pulled at his face with a groan.

“You found any of ‘em yet?” The two froze, hearing one of the soldiers nearby, too close for comfort.

“No, I think they’re somewhere nearby though. It’s rather chilly,” another soldier spoke. Olive shot a glare at Wren from that statement. He was biting at his nails, the ice growing further down his fingers now like a ticking time bomb.

A creak could be heard above them as a heavy boot pressed down on the hollow log. The entire thing creaked and echoed as the two tried to stay quiet. Her own heartbeat was roaring in her ear, it was hard to make out anything else. A choked silence weighed over them until one of the soldiers spoke up again.

“It’s hollow, look inside.”

Her heart dropped.

She could hear heavy shuffling to the other side of the tree now and needed to think fast. Grabbing Wren’s shoulder she tugged the man over to begin crawling out of the trunk, the uneven surface and old sharp branches dug into her skin as they quietly squeezed their way out.

It was still dark outside, even the moon was hidden away by the clouds and she could barely see her hands as they pressed against the wet grass. Once up she stood up and looked over to the other side of the large log where she could see the soldiers peering through the other side. As soon as Wren managed to crawl out she grabbed his wrist and sprinted, practically dragging him across the field as she heard various shouts behind them.

A bullet whizzed past her ear and she nearly tripped over from the shock it sent down her spine. They both rushed into the nearby woodlands as various other soldiers followed. “Ugh they’re really stubborn! Got any ideas on how to stop em?”

Wren nodded with a bit of hesitance, stopping himself in his tracks and ripping his wrist out of Olive’s grip. She stumbled a bit and turned to look at him, more ice had gathered now into his arm and much of his body. With a deep breath, it travelled and gathered into the palm of his hand where he then threw it all towards the direction of the soldiers, creating a wall of ice.

“It should distract them for a bit,” he breathed out, collapsing to his knees from the shock of the event. Olive stared at the icy wall in shock, she had never seen magic before in her life. As she stared at the wall mouth agape a set of footsteps could be heard behind them.

Whipping around in a panic she turned to see not soldiers but the rest of their group. "Fressia!" she ran towards her partner, her worries melting away for a brief moment.

Crow and Nessia went to Wren's side and tried to help him up. "You’re cold as hell! How much were you freaking out there?" She pulled her hands away from his freezing body before putting a blanket over his body.

"A blanket?" Crow looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, he struggles with his ice if he gets stressed out. So I carry a blanket around to warm him up again." She gave him a rough pat on the back as he curled himself up in the warm fabric.

"We need to get a move on. The soldiers won't wait for much longer. It's only a matter of time until they break through the wall," Fressia explained as she looked back at the rest of the forest.

“Got it,” Olive nodded as she began to jog into the deep forest. Peering over her shoulder she could see Crow pull Wren over his shoulder to help carry him over.

The man in black looked at him in surprise. “She’s right, you’ll probably freeze my whole arm off just lying on it,” he commented.

Wren let out a raspy laugh “Aha yeah…It’s been that way for a while now.” Quite a bit of frost had gathered around his hair almost turning it pure white. Crystals gathered between dips in his plait, soon to melt away and return to the slate grey it once was before.

Yet while his hair was white Crow was staring at it, a bit too much for Wren’s liking.

“Is something up?” He raised an eyebrow at the man.

The man coughed. “No, it’s just… Never mind me you just reminded me of someone.” He left it at that, leaving the two in silence for the rest of their journey through the forest.

Chapter 6: Record of Blood

Finally, we have reached modern history in these reports of mine. The land and its people have gone through so much in the last couple of centuries, that it would be too much to ask one historian to write about it all. And it’s highly embarrassing for me to admit that I myself have become involved in history through recent events. Though it is unlikely anyone but myself will ever recount such a tale.

To better explain more recent events it would be best if I introduced myself, as late as it may be. My name is Olan, however, due to personal reasons I often go by Wren. I was born Half Snow Elf, so I had to grow up in Aaru as it’s one of the few places left safe for us. I suppose due to these circumstances I’ve always been interested in history and magic, how things turned out the way they did.

In current history, the United Nation of Kouri has been on its over one-hundred-year purge of magic and various races. What was once fruitful relationships between Wood Elves and Dwarves have rotted and shattered due to this and many Dwarves decided to return to their ancestral home. A few of them stayed behind now living in Aaru, in this time they developed a new friendship with the Wood Elves' cousins. My own best friend growing up was a Dwarf by the name of Nessia who continues to be my close confidant.

Nessia claims Snow Elves are less stuck up than Wood Elves, not that she’s ever met one before it’s simply a feeling in her bones. Snow Elves are a rare sight nowadays though, usually, they’re half like I am. All of this is due to an unfortunate event that kickstarted Kouri’s purge, the revival of a dragon at the hands of a Snow Elf.

Snow Elves were deemed too unstable after that event, much like the incident back with the Hoppits. This version of history, however, is incorrect and I have seen how with my own two eyes.

For all their strengths there was one place Kouri dared to not tread, the swamplands. And it was there that I and my companions learnt various truths kept hidden away by an unsuspecting individual. A nameless demon once made a contract with a fae. The fae wanted to live amongst humans, however, it would be a danger to them all and to itself.

Despite a hatred since the start of time, it approached a demon with the power to grant its wishes in the hope of tricking it out of them. But the demon pulled its trick first, and although the fae was granted human form, it was cursed with eternal life within that form. And if it was ever to try and return to the previous form, it had twisted into something monstrous and bird-like.

As such, a battle between the two persisted, for the fae believed he could have his curse undone if he were to kill the demon. But the demon was a better trickster than he was, and soon found itself in the arms of a Snow Elf posing as its familiar Drífa, a small white rabbit. It tormented the fae, whispering into the ear of the Elf it had attached itself to while weaving a wicked curse.

Those the fae was close to would be forcefully reborn as another way of tormenting him, which is how I came to be. I am a reincarnation of one of his friends. Meeting him hit me with a strange wave of nostalgia despite never meeting him before in my life. He was going by the name Crow at the time, a name he claims to have gone by many times in the past due to his cursed form. It covered him in dark feathers, but crows are mischievous creatures ready to start trouble at a moment’s notice. Such a description fits him annoyingly enough.

I cannot stand the man he’s as egotistical as they come, nor is he as smart as he gives himself credit for. But, he has suffered long enough being taunted by such a vicious demon and watching the world he admired collapse. On the day that I met him alongside two other women Olive and Fressia, he told us about the swamplands. Those lands were mired in mystery for years to the point many even forgot that fae and demons lived there. Until more recently when Kouri discovered them again and was making plans to destroy them.

He gave us this long spiel about protecting the swamplands alongside a rather tempting offer of hidden treasures there. At the time, I did not understand why if he was concerned about treasure why he was so worried about protecting the lands. Now I see even after exile he still feared and loved the land he was born in, much like the other short-lived mortals he had watched over.

Our journey across Kouri was a dangerous one, if either of us got caught there would be no body to send back. It was the most terrified I ever felt in my life and I was the highest at risk due to being a half Snow Elf learning magic. Olive complained a lot that my ice kept getting everywhere out of anxiety and Drífa was more bitey than usual, likely trying to get us caught. Inevitably once we arrived at the border it ripped itself out of its skin and made an attempt to attack us.

We escaped into the swamps and with some help from Crow, managed to seal the demon away in ice where Olive would take a final blow and shatter it. Crow lost his human form shortly afterwards, but he had a new idea now. To fly beyond the ocean, where no other boat had touched before. And as such, we would become explorers of a new world.

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accio-depression · 2 years

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HARRY POTTER RANTS

is it wrong i think ron is just as prejudiced as draco like just with different things… canonally he has degraded house elves & other magical creatures. he’s really mean to hermione in the beginning & not bc she’s a muggle born but bc she’s a “know it all” he just finds different ways to be prejudiced i think he was a lot of help and a good friend to harry but all his other interactions make me think he was just like draco but born from a family on the right side. ron also was very mean and rude to harry when he would offer the get stuff for him, i understand it was out of embarrassment but he’s your friend ron he seen a lot of embarrassing things from your family & he does not care. draco could have been given a redemption arc if ronald weasley can end up with hermione granger.

honestly don’t get me started on JKR writing of hermione, JKR is the type of girl to hate other girls i firmly believe this. she wrote hermione as a annoying know it all but also made her the reason harry knew anything??? she was literally just made for harry to know everything without being the smart one. i know we took the world she created and ran with it but god i started to love hermione in POA when she kept that secret from harry and ron all year basically. she knows she doesn’t need ron and harry she’s only around bc they treat her with more kindness than anyone else, also think the hat considered putting her in slytherin but her being muggle-born ruined that one so he considered ravenclaw bc she values knowledge and wisdom but her sheer loyalness and determination to fit in made the hat ultimately pick gryfindor which makes me think she was aware of the situation with harry & ron but not care enough she wanted friends & thought that’s how friends were. she loves ron and harry & i think ron realized he was in love with her bc he realized she wasn’t gonna be around forever unless he or harry married her. they need her they wouldn’t have passed a single class without her let alone save the wizarding world.

NOW for my draco input

first things first if you read the books with “harry potter is the ONLY pov we have” in mind, you can really see where he is very blinded by the glitz and glamor of the wizarding world & can’t see things that are quite literally right in front of him.

He hates draco bc he’s told he should hate draco bc of his family and harry’s family and ron’s family & just a bunch of stuff that an impressionable 11 would think makes him the enemy. even when he met draco in the robe fitting shop & he didn’t know who he was harry thought he was different but he didn’t hate him. he just thought oh wow this is what its like if you grow up in this world. he wasn’t until he met ron where he seen even in the wizarding world there were poor people & prejudiced. he felt bad for ron! harry wasn’t broke but he seen draco ragging on ron for being poor & he’s been the poor kid he knows how it is.

now with that in mind i reread all the books & redid my assessment on draco.

draco has been emotionally if not physically abused by his father his entire life. maybe not intentionally but lucious was a horrible man & he had no guts.

draco is a spoiled rich kid who got all the shit for following what he was taught from a very young age.

PS-POA

now the teasing and name calling and bulling he did, we know that the bully always has a bully themselves & we never see draco’s “bully” bc it’s his family structure. now you could call him weak bc sirius seen it and left his family BUT sirius was not an only child he left behind a family that he knew would continue if he left he wasn’t even the only BOY. the black name would live on. draco didn’t have any siblings he also didn’t know how he was living was abusive the friends he chose were family friends who have known him and his parents for a long time of course he wouldn’t see anything different in their homes than his so he wouldn’t think anything of it. so he’s mean & cruel bc it’s all he knows. also he’s a teenager they can be little shits sometimes.

GOF

he is starting to realize his family dynamic is not the only one to exist, he goes to the quidditch world cup the same boy we last saw in prisoner of azkaban but he leaves the confused boy we came to love. i like to believe before the attacks he was told to watch & learn & right after they start he sees the kids in the air and he looses it he runs off to the woods with the others but remember he’s a slytherin, he realizes he won’t ever be the one being put into the air like that when he realizes that he stops, leans against the tree, and watches as he slowly starts to question if he and his family are the bad guys. we start to see this internal battle when hermione exposes her harry and ron in the woods next to draco (using magic illegally might i add) & draco proceeds to belittle her but effectively telling them to get her out of there without calling her a slur. this is MONUMENTAL bc at this time harry and hermione are under the impression they were only attacking muggles. i believe ron knew who and what they were doing just didn’t want to “scare them”. draco knew harry and hermione wouldn’t know those people hate muggleborns too & in his own little way wanted to warm them. we also see this internal battle when he talks about going to drumstrang it sounds as though he is bragging but i think he’s really relieved he wasn’t sent so far away & surrounded by all that darkness. why would he need to brag to his friends when his friends know what the school is & was probably considered to go themselves…

OOTP-HBP

I firmly believe that this is where draco is going thru the biggest part of his internal battle. at the beginning of OOTP we see from harrys pov that dumbledore is straight up ignoring harry & that he is willing to lie (lie being a loose word bc it was the truth but mrs. figg did not witness it) to a court full of ministry workers for harry so he won’t be kicked out of school & so on. that establishes that harry’s POV is skewed towards the wizarding world bc he knows from her description of the dementors that she did not actually see one but he doesn’t question it. he is only focused on dumbledore ignoring him almost all book long that’s the main focus for the entire book. but we see in OOTP that draco is getting less expressive with his hatefulness but more vengeful of his peers he is coming to terms that life has changed & him and his family are a big part of what’s coming next. in HBP harry is way more aware of draco & most of this comes from hate for his father for essentially killing sirius (harry knows bellatrix did the killing but LUCIOUS was the leader & also the only one he knows knows) Harry starts to notice that draco isn’t just not being a bully anymore he’s downright different. Draco stops with the PETTY meanness and starts actually saying some crude things out of anger and resentment of his current situation i like to believe draco was given his task the moment after his dad came back from the DoM even before lucious being placed in azkaban. he was alone all summer long & as soon as he gets back to school all he can think about is having to kill his headmaster. in the bathroom scene where harry uses snapes spell he sees draco physically upset & obviously going thru something but bc it’s in harry POV we believe everything is how it actually happened. i think draco was just about to switch over to the good side until harry used that horrible spell on him. he still struggles internally after this but he learns to hide it a lot more due to the fight with harry. we see in the tower that he doesn’t WANT to kill dumbledore he just wants to save himself and his family from torture or death. draco begins to see the good and bad in EVERYONE.

we don’t get to see much of draco in this one but when we do he is always on the edge of “who should i be helping right now” the manor with identifying harry, him not wanting to give up hermione or ron but knowing he can get away with not identifying harry if he identifies them he does what he has too. him LITERALLY THROWING HARRY HIS WAND. & we learn alot about draco’s mother in this book and HBP she is a FEARLESS women who defied Voldemort multiple times! how tf could JKR give her a redemption & not her son?! draco only came to that side when his mother called for him not his father his mom. draco is the main character in my book he goes thru way more for the wizarding world than anyone else he has to relearn EVERYTHING he was taught & he does it all before voldemort dies.

at the end of the day Draco Malfoy is worth more than some dead pure blood wife & a life as an auror. he was a skilled occulemist & potioneer, top of his class right behind hermione & just as good on a broom as harry. he’s loyal to his heart & has bigger ambitions than being a cop for the rest of his life. i picture him with hermione & a job as a top potion inventor who likes to ask harry about his day at work & agrees with ron about the house elves when hermione isn’t around he’s a good person who deserves more than he was given canonally.

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celeste-clearwater-06 · 3 years

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Hello! I was wondering if you could please write something about how the Fellowship (+ Thorin?) Would help a s/o who's Disabled and Chronically ill. Like she has a lot of symptoms like chronic pain, chronic fatigue, difficulty sleeping, difficulty breathing at times, difficulty walking at times, higher sensitivity to the cold, difficulty talking at times, and anxiety, depression and executive dysfunction?

I've been really struggling with my chronic illnesses lately, namely my Autism, Anxiety, Sleep Apnea, a really bad Overbite, Raynaud's Syndrome, Asthma, etc, so I'd really appreciate an Imagine like this. I have a really weird disorder where one of my legs is longer than the other, and it's been causing me a lot of pain and difficulty walking lately, and people have been bullying me for it a lot too, so I could really use a Comfort Imagine right now. Thanks so much hun!!

It's no problem! I'm glad I can provide some comfort!! For each character, I'll use a specific struggling area, to make it a bit easier!! I hope I got these accurate enough, and of there are any mistakes, feel free to point them out!! You are strong, beautiful and so, so amazing!! Keep being you!! ❤❤

Help (The Fellowship// Thorin x Fem!Reader)

Aragorn (Autism)

Aragorn has known you for a long time, so helping with your autism is not new for him

He's particularly experienced in reading your emotions and meeting your needs, whether it's helping you out of stressful situations or calming you down, he's there 🥺

If there are large and boisterous gatherings in Rivendell, its almost guaranteed that you can become over-stimulated quickly, and Aragorn immediately senses this (spidey senses õoõ)

He's fast to find your hand and give it a gentle squeeze of reassurance

If that doesn't seem to help, he'll instantly stop what he's doing and take you out of the room

If you're someone who prefers lots of space and little physical contact, he is 100% respectful of this and asks if you'll let him touch or hug you (very much gentleman 😌)

If ever you're confronted by someone of importance, Aragorn is right by your side to ease some of the tension

Sometimes there are things you find difficult to say or get out of your system

The king seems to know exactly what it is and will help you out by saying it or asking you simple questions that you can easily answer

And he always reminds you, no matter WHAT

YOU ARE NOT STUPID 😤😡

You may struggle with some parts of your life, but every day, he's constantly telling you that you're very intelligent and kind

His patience is unending and he'll never let you think down on yourself

Overall, Aragorn is always someone and reminding you that it's all going to be okay ❤❤

Legolas (Anxiety)

Most nights, Legolas keeps watch (since elves don't require much sleep) and notices that you jolt awake out of the random

Now, most of the Fellowship notices that you're usually awake and ready to go before anyone else

But Legolas is really the one to address you first

You were a bit nervous to explain, since you didn't want to worry him or the great of the fellowship, amount the other disadvantages you have

He gently encouraged you, and finally, you explained to him your sleep apnea

Yeah, he was very concerned

I mean, his blue eyes widened with terror when you told him that you could basically die in your sleep if you weren't attentive enough 🙃

Legolas, from now on, sleeps directly next to you, or keeps extra careful watch over you at night

Because he could NEVER see his precious mortal friend become injured... Or worse 🥺🥺❤

The other members had noticed a change in his behaviors towards you as well...

Gimli teased him whenever he caught Legolas giving you some extra lembas bread or offered to carry you 👉👈

You really tried to assure Legolas that it wasn't a big deal when you were awake, since you're aware of your breathing situation

But still 😤

Legolas will always bring you comfort and take great care of you, and that will NEVER CHANGE

Because he loves you very much ❤🦋

Frodo (Anxiety)

Frodo is familiar with the feeling of great anxiety, seeing he had a stress-free life while living in the Shire and suddenly was forced to carry a piece of jewelry all the way to giant ass volcano

It's easy for you two to comfort each other and seek refuge in thoughts and feelings ❤

He's not super comfortable with the thought of you having a panic attack though...

Only because he's never had one

It starts to give him a panic attack whenever you have one around him the first time 😳-

Any time you begin to breathe heavy or hyperventilate, halfling boy is hot at your heels, rubbing your back and reminding you to breathe gently

(So many hugs, if you're up for it)

After you calm down, he's constantly checking on you, asking if you need anything etc.

Really, he just wants to know if he can help 🥺

And even with the weight and stress of carrying the ring, Frodo manages to cheer you up somehow

Samwise (Asthma)

Sam has never had to deal with asthma once in his life

He's very nervous when the subject is brought, afraid it might trigger something inside of you 🥺👉👈

But you just chuckle, assure him that it's alright, and you have ways of keeping it under control

And now, he wants to know everything about it, just to have the awareness in case something happens

Sam just wants to protect you forever, and this was a great way for him to start

He constantly reminds Aragorn that you'll need breathing breaks and will convince Gandalf to let you ride on his horse

He'll scold Pip and Merry if they are trying to drag you around and be silly, because as he says

"You'll rouse him/her/them up! We can't have Y/N gettin injured!" 🤨😠

Sam is MOM

As always, he's very kind and always makes sure your needs are met ❤🥺

Pippin and Merry (Raynaud's Syndrome)

Very confused halfings 🤔

Also extremely concerned!

You were eating one of the lesser pleasurable nights

It was cold and rainy, and a fire couldn't be started, not to mention the quiet arguments of Aragorn and Gandalf in the nearby woods

And Pip's eyes widened when he saw the tips of your petite fingers begin to pale upon hearing Aragorn mention Orcs

"What's wrong with your hands?!" He squeaked, pointing towards your now white-colored fingertips

You hadn't even noticed, nor felt, considering they were numb anyways

Merry looked over his cousin's shoulder and his eyes also widened, not with fright, but wonder

They were both fascinated with your condition, convinced that you were casting some spell Gandalf showed you

Although you reassured them it was just an extremely frustrating inconvenience that you had, among other things

So from then on, the disastrobus duo did their best to keep you out of the cold (and stressful situations!!)

As a distraction, the pair will tell you great stories of the shire, doing little dances and skits that always cheer you up 🥴

Sometimes, they can be a little rambunctious though...

Merry will pick up on this fact quickly, and nudge Pippin to get him to calm down

Even though it may not feel the best

They find your syndrome absolutely fascinating!! 🤔🤔

All in all, these two are always up for keeping your beautiful smile on your face and your spirits high!! ❤🌺

Boromir (Depression)

Throughout the journey, Boromir has always found an easy way to make you smile

After all, he himself has a fascinating way of brightening anyone's spirits

Yours included ❤

Boromir may not have great stories from The Shire, like Pip and Merry, but he sure has a lot of positive things to say

He'll often suggest sparring with the two troublemaking halflings, just so you can see him goof up and get knocked over 🥺

If the nights become cold and weary, he'll give you a warm hug or a nudge on the shoulder

And a few words of helpful encouragement along the lines of;

"Don't fret Y/N. You have more strength than you'll ever know."

"Let our spirits never dampen! We've come this far!" 😊

He's also an incredible listener

Boromir wants to hear what you have to say if you ever need to rant or get something off of your chest

And don't think for a second that he would ever judge you 😤

Son of Gondor sees past all of your insecurities and knows you for your beautiful, amazing self ❤❤

Gimli (Walking disadvantages)

As you travel across great plains and mountains, your limp doesn't go unnoticed by Gimli

It may take him a while to open up about it, since he's afraid he might offend you in some way

And once he asks you, you inform him that it's a difficulty that unfortunately cannot be changed any time soon

And where you come from, lots of people tease and bully you about it

He did NOT handle it well 😳

"wHAT BLUBBERING DULL-MINDED PIGNUTS-" 🤬

Although this Dwarf is short and a bit slow at times

He's fascinatingly strong 😳

And so, he makes it his duty to be your designated carrier 🥺

At first, your a tad skeptical...

I mean, he's only around 4 feet tall...

BUT HAVE YOU SEEN HIM THROW THAT HUGE AX AROUND?!

Gimli will happily carry you great distances when you need a break, and even longer

(Sometimes it's just to show off around the others-)

"Gimli, are you sure you don't want a break?"

"Aye lass! The strength of Dwarves is unending!" 😌

*struggling to breathe*

11/10, fantastic dwarf, will never let you down!!

Thorin (Executive Dysfunction)

Another Dwarf??

Absolutely

Thorin himself has trouble keeping composure with his time management (and sense of direction 🙄)

This means that he'll have an undying amount of patience for you and you only

There's just something about you that he fond of, and it fills in that little sassy, brooding place in his heart

Can also relate to you whenever you grow frustrated at the setback of your journey or lack of sleep

Is 100% willing to help you find your lost belongings (and once again, ONLY YOU)

Thorin will literally make the whole traveling party stop so that you can put something in your bag and make sure that you put it somewhere you'll remember

Always happy to give you extra gentle reminders of keeping your pack closed

The company is utterly SHOCKED with how he treats you

I mean, this man has always been extremely stubborn and hard headed

But when you show up, it's another person he can easily relate and share frustrations with

Also a master at organization?!? 🤔

The one thing he could do successfully was organizing the damn journey and traveling company, so ofc he's gonna be good at that 😂

Yeah, Thorin definitely has a soft spot for you

King under the mountain will never run out of patience and kindness for you 😌💙

Sorry these took so long!! I hope you like them!! ❤❤

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joisbishmyoga · 3 years

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Ok, to go with my headcanon about the Hogwarts Founders (to wit: based on etymology, they can't be contemporous), I have headcanons about Hogwarts castle itself.

Number one! It, like the Founders, was ALSO not all contemporous. (And my apologies that I still can't find the goddamn keep-reading option.)

Helga never-actually-Hufflepuff's Hogwarts, c. 990-1090:

The original and oldest part of the school is the tower that now houses the famous moving staircases and the Headmaster's Office. (It wasn't alone, though: it had a number of outbuildings, stables and smithies and such, that have long since vanished.)

The tower was not, at the time, a hollow column full of moving staircases. It was a defensive watchtower akin to Threave Castle in Scotland, though somewhat taller and a little bit larger. It was also not round at the time, which can still be seen in the fact that the interior is square; later generations simply added walls to make it round. There are almost certainly late medieval and Renaissance defenses, as well as secret passages, built into the space between the original tower and the rounding walls.

The tower's long-since-removed floors:

Cellars (wine and cold storage).

Ground floor (entrance, reception, kitchens).

2nd floor, in the American style of count (dining, Helga's room). 3rd floor (classrooms)

4th floor (dorms: divided by gender and class rather than age)

5th floor (servants and defense).

The cellars expanded regularly over the centuries, a new room or corridor or floor built every time the castle's population (or political demands, see below) needed more cold storage.

The conical roof and the modern Headmaster's suite were added at a much later date.

Rowena Hraefenclew's Hogwarts, c. 1050-1150:

The first expansion of the castle was the modern-day Great Hall, though it lacked the enchanted ceiling attributed later to Ravenclaw. The recieving of guests was transferred to this space from the original tower, and the grand entertainments of medieval feasts and banquets were added to school life -- a requirement of any social networking, as Rowena steered the school through the political mess of the era without getting entangled in any of it.

(The enchanted ceiling was a Renaissance creation, adding light to what had been a very dim space. The original enchantment wasn't of the sky, though, and the modern ceiling would appall the people of the 1400s: what is so grand or impressive or artistic about just making the roof invisible?

(Not having a masterpiece of Christian religious art looming over the heads of hundreds -- thousands -- of magicals who'd just lived through zealous persecution, is what. The people who charmed it all invisible considered the frescoes to be quite gauche and impolitic.))

Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor's Hogwarts, c. 1150-1250:

The High Middle Ages brought a massive amount of upheaval to England (and France: half of the modern nation was ruled by England at the start of this period), as well as the rest of Europe. This is the era later connected to Robin Hood, the age of the Magna Carta and Richard the Lionheart and Prince (King) John... and that is where we begin, with Richard faffing off to join the (many, many, MANY) Crusades, and King John losing the entirety of the French regions of his rule. Loss of land = loss of wealth --> spikes in taxes and fees on nobles --> furious nobles --> Magna Carta + King John's reputation forever in the toilet + the absentee and therefore not interfering with nobles' power and money King Richard getting lauded as the best king ever (spoiler: he v much was NOT).

Richard's career included internecine rebellions, uprisings, cruelty in what provinces he bothered to rule (in France), and widespread Jewish persecution. (Things that are pretty much always in Europe: Jewish persecution. The Crusades were mostly massive disasters that did very little to Islamic rule and population in the Holy Land, but exterminated some 90% of Jewish Europe on the way. HSST.)

All of this is to say that Salazar and Godric's Hogwarts expanded to accomodate thousands of Jewish, wandering-poor, and magical refugees from the Continent: Hogwarts was still the only formal, centralized school of magic in all of Europe, and would be for several more decades.

The school still didn't reach the modern extent by the end of this building period, but got up to about 50 percent, adding almost everything on one side of the ravine that cuts through the bluff. Except for the clock tower, the Great Hall's half of the school was complete.

This is also when Hogsmeade changed from being a House-Elf farming settlement to a human town, and for the same reason: Continental refugees, largely from the Childrens' Crusade -- thousands of people of all ages, later thought to all be children due to a misunderstanding in language. (The word for "child" was co-opted to mean "the working/wandering poor": basically, "the (socially) powerless".)

The post-Founders' Hogwarts, c. 1250-1900:

The second half of the school, the conical tower rooftops (and rooms inside them), the internal plumbing for baths (but not toilets), and all the bridges -- both the stone ones across the ravine and the wooden one to Hogsmeade -- were all built in a hurry in the late 1500 and early 1600s, this time to handle refugees during the last few decades before the Statute of Secrecy. The modern Headmaster's Office was also built at this time, as high as possible to cover all approaches to Hogwarts.

Unlike the stone bridges of the ravine, the bridge to Hogsmeade has always been made of wood, in order to be easily destroyed should the castle come under attack. (And in fact it actually has been destroyed several times, most recently in the 1970s as a pre-emptive measure against Voldemort. It was then rebuilt in 1982 with more nostalgia than construction skill.)

As mentioned before, this -- the early 1600s -- is when the Great Hall's enchanted fresco ceiling was rendered invisible.

The T-shaped clock wing on the Great Hall's side, being a six-story pendulum-type clock, was built in the early 1800s, and improved in the late 1800s for accuracy and not whacking students around like golf balls. (The restrooms were also added and improved at these times.)

The greenhouses were built around 1900: Dumbledore might well have had Herbology classes before they were put in.

Now then. That is all headcanon #1. Construction headcanon #2:

Hogwarts is in TERRIBLE condition.

The famous enchanted ceiling is perhaps the most obvious damaged spot. Or it would be if it hadn't been charmed invisible. While it had Owl Post holes in it. (For the record, the easiest way to bring down, say, a barn? Chop a 3x3 ft. hole in the roof and wait ten years.) For the last four or five centuries, every time someone on staff noticed they were getting dripped on, they just threw an Impervious Charm up at the ceiling and considered the leak magically fixed. There's literally nothing left but the Impervious charms and a few scraps of gold leaf.

The stairs are another trouble spot. Centuries of people walking on them should have them worn down in the middle to look like you cut a bowl in half vertically. Would have, but the House Elves have been pulling the stone up flat again for centuries, and eventually started using magic to color-match and add enough support to the remaining stone to take people's weight. Some of the well-known trick stairs that like to disappear? That's not the magic being playful. That's the magic of late House Elves fritzing out to show there's no step left. (The moving stairs have also ground down their joints to nothing.)

It's the same across the entire castle. Centuries of manipulating the materials and covering wear with illusions and throwing Impervious Charms at drafts and drips means a lot of Hogwarts is nothing but swiss cheese and fading spells cast by long-deceased magicals anymore.

(Or it was, until the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998 disrupted enough of the remaining spells to drop them. Voldemort's forces were powerful, but not THAT powerful.)

(A large percentage of the two generations following Harry's were saved by the Battle of Hogwarts. Slytherin House was a misaimed hex away from flooding, and most of the towers were going to collapse with a few more winters of ice picking away at the mortar. Of course if the previous several centuries of magicals had just bothered to check...)

#harry potter #hogwarts #headcanon #how i wish i could quit you #tl;dr #history is more interesting and complex and gives you a lot more material than standard fantasy tropes do

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unknown-art-room1 · 7 months

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Live A Good Life

A nameless child in a far-off world where the people have come, far over the course of their history that they are no longer as brutal as they once were. Many generations have come and gone, and those who live now are considered royal, that of noble blood. Priding themselves in knowing who they are, what they can do and like scholars will never stop in their endeavours to improve. In the past the people were at arms with one another, split in two factions, referring themselves as the Light and the Dark. The two sides fought one another until it felt as if the hope of ever finding peace with one another was at it’s lowest. For most they fell into despair or let themselves act as savage dogs in war. That was, until members from each side, decided to push against the ideals of those who lead them and formed a new side. An Eclipse of sorts, instead of fighting like their predecessors, they stood against the two sides, using words over actions, to end the war. It took much convincing for either side to finally agree and lower their weapons, but once they did, it allowed the everybody to grow into a stronger, more united, and civilised culture… They became the High Elves… The Elves of the Sun and the Moon.

Nowadays most Elves only know of this from stories in their history books, but one never got to see the end of such a book. That child had no name, most Elves when of age give themselves one that fits what reflects their soul. They never got to know the end of that book or others, as the universe had different plans for them. Like others, this child grew up proud of who they were and how their people had grown. In fact, you could even say this child had never felt the deal of stress in their life. Yet nothing good can last forever, as during one of the parties of the religious ceremonies for the Moon Elves, the child had wandered away from their parents during the celebrations. With no true threats of others in this world, a child wandering off was of no real concern as they would always come back. This was not the case however, as fate had decided that when this child walked alone in the night, the stars and planets would align across multiple dimensions. This had a strange effect on the magic that each universe had, portals would open in each place at random, staying open only as long as the heavenly bodies were aligned. The child had the misfortune of being in place of one such portal when it opened and dragged them away from all they had known. Taking them from their home leaving them abandoned in a strange new world... Earth...

1854, New Jersey… The portal closed, leaving them abandoned in this new world. Fate had only given them one nice thing when they had awoken, and that was that no one had noticed them yet, giving them a chance to collect themselves. At least, that is what the smart thing to do would be, but being an Elven child who is basically twelve in human years who has never known danger, that was not a thought that came to mind. Finding themselves in the back streets of somewhere entirely new. A place that was not safe for someone like them, as to the those who lived here would not understand what they were, but the things they could do to them if they did find them would not be a pleasant experience. But the child did not know this and so the idea of finding themselves on what they assumed was another island back in their world, they felt no need to stress or worry over the consequences of looking around for others. If this was just another island, they had somehow found themselves on then why did this place look so different to home? The Elves after the war had come together had shared the knowledge, they had gathered with each other so everyone could live a more civilised life. Yet this was a stark contrast of where they were hours ago was like night and day, quite literally. What was once night was now day, and the lush long grasses that swayed in the winds was replaced with dulled boring shades of browns and greys of buildings and pathways of mediocre construction. A contradiction of the shining clean walls, built with the highest of care that one might think the homes and churches were made of packed crystal.

Confusion washed over them as they turned their head about in search for the for the portal that had brought them there, but it had long since disappeared, trapping them here. What was that thing that had brought them here? Where were they? What was this place? Why was it so depressing and different from their home? Many thoughts like this raced and darted through their mind, but the young Elf was strangely calm and had already picked themselves up off the ground to wander about, taking in everything that they saw. On all sides surrounding them the buildings that hid them away from the world towered over them like corpses of rock giants. That was at least how they thought of the buildings, as they lacked any colour or sign that true care was put into creating them. They started to search all around with great curiosity, wanting to know more about this mysterious land until they heard people? Civilisation! Oh! By the Goddess they were saved, maybe now they could finally get answers of where they were. Without hesitation they rushed towards the sound of life only to come skidding to a halt. The sounds of life had not disappointed, but what they had found was not what they expected… The ‘people’ that they had found looked different to them, most were pale while others reminded them of Sun Elves, but the biggest difference was that their ears were not long and pointed. These were not Elves, but something that looked similar enough, but that small difference was enough for them to realise that this world was not their own had finally come to light.

Standing there in shock, the Elf tried to comprehend what was going on, their mind racing faster and faster than before? Though the sudden appearance of this blue skinned being just standing there had not gone unnoticed by those around. Everyone in the area had stopped what they were doing to stare, with gasps of shock and awe, some in already formed groups began to mutter in between themselves whispering back and forth like schoolgirls. This was not home; home had no tales of a land like this one with people who looked so similar yet different all at once. To make matters worse some of the people got closer to them, surrounding them at the entrance of the gap between the buildings they had emerged from. Snapping out of their train of thought the Elf looked back at the crowd, in response they cried out in confusion trying to ask these strangers each, and every thought that crossed their mind, wanting answers to everything that has happened. But them opening their mouth to speak had only caused issues, as the crowd around them once again gasp in surprise, only this time they responded back communicating to each other about the Elf’s words with ones that they did not understand. Neither side could understand what the other was saying and that was about to unleash a tidal wave of chaos.

Suddenly, an entirely new sensation began to build within their core, the feeling of… Fear… The increase of stress felt so foreign, and so wrong that the way they acted out response to the feeling caused the crowd to panic as well. However, one of the members of the crowd acted differently than the rest in that moment, reaching out to grab the Elf by the arm speaking out loudly to the rest of the group saying something that caught the interest of most within a second. Those who were interested looked towards the Elf with a strange glint in their eyes they could not recognise. While the rest of the men looked towards them with uncertainty, as if they were looking at a strange new animal that they felt could attack them at any moment. That look in the eyes of those around had only made the feeling of anxiety spike, so when the person who tried to grab attempted to grab them again, the Elf pulled away telling them to stop. But that small act of defiance had riled the crowd of men up even more, and those who had that look of interest slowly started moving closer to them. Their hands reaching out towards them like tendrils as they spoke in that strange language once more. But they were not speaking to one another, instead to the Elf, trying to coax the child closer to them as is they were a cat.

In one swift movement a few members of the crowd had jumped towards them eagerly their hands trying to grab a hold of them to bring them closer to them. Feeling like if they did not grab them now, they would lose them as if they were a balloon a child had let go, but that had only scared the young Elf more than they already were. Pulling away from them faster, they had already started to retreat into the alley trying to tell them to stop once more, forgetting that these beings could not understand the words being spoken to them. Instead, the rest of the crowd who were uncertain started to show interest had begun to join in trying to get closer to grab at them like the first few. With the men getting closer the Elf started to back up quicker, looking back behind themselves repeatedly. Those small glances behind themselves were all it took for the approaching men to realise what they were about to do. All at once they all leapt forward to them at once like a large tidal wave, causing the child to scream in terror as they started to run away from the strangers. Who in response to their act had started to chase after like a pack of wild dogs, yelling out in barks in their strange tongue as the child cried out again and again for them to stop.

Each step that the Elf took against the cobbled path of the back streets should have echoed against the walls of the buildings that towered above, but the sounds of the stampede of feet and yells from behind had drowned them out. It felt as if the buildings around them were growing, and each turn they made lead to a much longer pathway in a maze of many. How long had they been running for now? Ten? Fifteen minutes? Normally a child would have started to tire after being forced to run like this, so being from a world where they were raised up to be healthy with the added boost of adrenaline was enough to keep them far enough away from their aggressors. It was only a matter of time before they would start to tire, or they found themselves in a dead end. One could only hope that maybe the people behind would tire out before they would. But from the quick glances the Elf would steal from over their shoulder they would see that they were calling out to others, and when one would tire and stop running someone else would take their place. It was obvious they were communicating with one another, but what was being said that had made these new people join and become so interested could not be made out. Though from what the Elf could gather, they acted like the bullies they had seen and met back home… Only this time, they were full grown and probably more dangerous.

After running for what felt like forever, the Elf saw, what looked like an exit to this maze of stone to what they could tell was a dirt road and on the other side looked like an entire field, full of trees, full of twists and turns and many good hiding spots. If they could get into the trees, they could perhaps loose the mob of men in there and then be safe. That was enough reason for them to pick up the pace, creating the largest distance between themselves and those behind so far. Only the moment they ran out of the alley, they had risked looking behind themselves once more to taunt the men in a sudden burst of pride had they had run into someone, making them both cry out in surprise as they fell to the ground. Immediately the Elf started to apologise to this person as they began to pick themselves up, so they could run again but the person they had knocked down instead held them firmly by the arm startling them greatly. They tried to pull away asking them to let go in panic, but the sounds of the men chasing them starting to leave the alley they just came from left them frozen where they stood. These people were about to get them… Did the Goddess Angharradh not care for them? Did they somehow upset her or the Three? As they stood there shaking, their mind racing with questions, the fear within building in their core more and more silencing them completely. The men that had followed them slowed in their approach, their voices becoming much more hushed as they looked at each other as the person the Elf ran into started to stand.

It was a woman… Glaring at the men in an unimpressed silence, like she was a mother mentally scolding them for their bad behaviour. Her skin was rich like the earth on a summer’s day, yet strong like the trees of old that stood strong in the winter months. While her hair was a shining gold like the finest of jewels, with a darker underlayer to it. If that was not enough, then the fact that her hair was not straight like that of those the Elf had seen, it was curly like a spring, though being held back in many braids that kept her hair out of her face. The clothes she wore was simple, being a dress cream with brown and red accents that complimented her nicely. Despite how she was given these men such a stern look, she had an aura about her like that of a parent, who you could trust her with your life. For the young Elf, it did feel like their life was in their hands at this point as she still held onto their arm.

She did not look towards the Elf, instead keeping her gaze solely focused on the men in front of her. The moment one tried to speak, she raised her free hand shushing him and the rest of them all at once. Now they had done it, the lady had started to talk to them in a way that even the child could understand. This woman was telling them off for how they were acting and anytime one of them tried to defend themselves they were shushed up against once more making her even more upset than before. It did not take long for her men to reduce these men to basically becoming little boys again, looking down at their shoes awkwardly as they muttered out what was presumed was an apology. Pointing out back towards the main part of the town, she said something to them to at which they did not respond to at first, but once she repeated herself again in a much more agitated tone that caused them to quickly leave, stumbling over each other to get away as to not upset her more. However, once they had left the agitation that she had felt melted away in seconds, and the nasty glare she had was replaced with a soft smile as she tuned to face the Elf. Giving them a knowing look, the woman chuckled softly asking them what sort of trouble they had been getting into to cause such a ruckus. As they were about to respond to their question, they shut themselves up in surprise. Did she just speak Elvish?

Seeing the look of shock, confusion and every emotion cross the child’s face in such a short amount of time she chuckled once more, moving some of the hair at the side of her face away revealing that she had pointed ears like they did… She was a Sun Elf. She was from their home, how glad that made them, perhaps they could help them get back home. Finally finding their courage they started to speak up, moving towards the lady quickly, holding onto like she did them, afraid that they might lose her as they questioned her. In response, the Sun Elf only smiled softly at the younger Elf as they removed the shawl from off her shoulders, wrapping it around them telling them that it would all be okay. Placing one arm around them, she led them from the path they were on, away from the town they just came from. As they walked, she promised that all would be safe now, where no one like these humans could hurt them for being different and tried to answer whatever question they had. They would go to a place that she had created for beings like them and anyone else left alone could come for refuge.

During their walk the Sun Elf had revealed that her name was Solgina, a name that in High Elevish was a mixture between Sol and Regina, meaning Sun Queen or Queen of the Sun. A name she had given herself when she had found herself in this world, after she had taken in other children off the streets, be they Elf, human or of another race. To her these were children who needed care and love, not what everyone else has given in life so far. This kindness she showed these kids had earned her the nickname of ‘The Mother’, even most of the adults knew who she is because of that and so everyone seems to love her like a mother. To the young Elf, they could see no faults with this woman as she was the only one in this new world they could rely on. She had also taught the young Elf that they were different to the other humans here, not just with how they looked but also with how they aged. For every seven and a half years here, they would age one year in Elven years.

The moment they arrived in what they assumed was her home- a large building far from the others of the town-the two were greeted by a sudden cheer of joy as Solgina had returned to the many numerous children she had taken in over the years of her being here. The Elven child moved to the side letting the other children swarm around her to give her hugs or to be held by her, trying for attention. Once she gotten them settled down, she spoke to them in the strange language that the Elven child would learn to be English, telling the other children about how they have a new member to their large family. But with them being a Moon Elf, Solgina had to keep them closer than most of the other children since they simply could not speak the same language. Though some of the children could somewhat understand and speak certain words and phrases from overhearing Solgina say them repeatedly over the years. That was not enough for the Elven child to talk to them properly, they would have to be taught how to speak English, as well as to read and write in the language just like the other children had.

Overtime, the child learnt the language to a basic degree that now they could at least talk in basic sentences, while their understanding of the reading and writing was like that of an adult. Allowing them to start socializing with the other children and learn more about this world separate from The Mother. Even with the difficultly of having some issues still when speaking and processing what others around them said, the Elf was able to show that even with such boundaries they could find other ways of communicating with them via writing. That ability to be able to think of ways to get around difficult challenges such as this, showed to many others that they could use them to help them with what they had planned, be that a small prank or sneaky plan. With them already being close to The Mother helping her with the other children they had earned the nickname of ‘The Eldest’, and with such a title they had come to learn many things. Like the home that they all shared was not owned by Solgina, but of a man who is rarely seen by the children, and those who seemed to terrify the Townsfolk.

Even as years went by, any hopes of ever returning home had started to be forgotten as they were now in charge of all the children when The Mother was away. To which often she left and for such extended periods of time, the Elf had started to question things. Why did she keep leaving them? At first, they always protested when she left them, terrified they would never see anyone from their homelands again, but she always came back, easing their anxieties. Now though, they wanted to know why she had kept doing this and why she brought certain people home with her. So, they took it upon themselves to investigate the matter. Despite still physically being a child, their mind was much older and anyone close to them could see that, it was as clear as glass when the sun shone through it.

As they started to investigate this matter, they noted how every so often The Mother would send certain young children out with one or two older ones during the day with money. When they would come back, they would have brought back food, money, clothes, anything that they deemed important. But sometimes, they would bring back adults. They would usually be drunk or in some rare cases sober, but one thing stayed the same they were rich and generally good-looking. That immediately struck a chord with the Elf as something very odd, as adults that were not The Mother or anyone who she said they could trust was okay, so why did they bring these ones home? Each time this happened, they noted how this happened at least once a week, sometimes more depending on how Solgina was feeling. That was most definitely odd, so rather than ask straight up about this they offered themselves to be a guardian for one of the young children for the day when they did this. At first Solgina protested at this idea, stating that another Elf should not do such a task such as this, but the child protested back saying that they have proven themselves more than capable not wanting her to baby them. Not wanting to argue further, she finally agreed if they promised they stayed out of sight of the human adults and only went out during the nights.

This was the beginning of a new world they had no idea they were getting involved in… Before they went out, they were told that they were looking for a specific adult, giving them a description of what they looked like, where they should be and to always keep a hood on. After all that they went out in search of the place to find this man, and once they were found all they could do was watch and wait as the small child did their job as they practically made a fool of themselves in front of the drunken men. Their laughter cut through the air almost as strongly as the smell of ale and smoke clung to their clothes, as they staggered about the street from drinking so late into the night. Only once did the man they were looking for separate from the group going towards the child, did the young one move away from him leading him away from the others. When they were far enough away doing the child run back to the Elf, leading the man straight to them. Picking them up in their arms, the Elf revealed themselves from where they hid to the drunken man and told them that The Mother was waiting for him back home. Even with how drunk he was, that seemed to sober the man straight up at the mention of Solgina, making him follow in silence.

When they finally got back home the Elf had given the young one away to one of the older children, knowing the routine of taking them and putting them to bed like they had done many times themselves. With a nod between the two older members, the Elf led the man to Solgina’s quarters where she was waiting for him. The man gulped nervously as he entered, trying to speak sweetly to her as if trying to butter her up like a lover who is trying to fix a mistake in their relationship. But she did not look mad at him, not once, in fact she smiled… No, smirked at him as he got closer. Now standing within a few feet of one another, it was like he was put into a trance of some form as all the tenseness from his body had disappeared. In fact, her just putting a hand on his face made him melt into her touch like butter. He was starting to babble away sweet nothings now, as she cooed at him softly ignoring his words. In the next moment, she asked the younger Elf to leave and so they did…

Though it was not as graceful as what Solgnia was expecting them to choose, though that was now the name of the Moon Elf. Shelby, The Eldest of the children and her right hand in her acts of the night. This was basically a promotion for them as they had an immediate change in working position. Though they still looked after the children they were now brought with Solgnia as she left during the day when she ventured outwards. In this position Shelby had come to learn that Solgnia went out to greet some of the adults she had met in the past or those who had caught her eye, making deals with them. They would provide her with whatever she wanted while she promised them information that could prove useful to them. When it came to being collected, they knew how her calling card worked with the children she had at home. While Shelby would stand there, mostly in silence to what was being said and listening in to the conversation and watching what these people would do. Only making their voice known when they had noticed that one of these people were being deceitful in some way or showed ill intent. To the men, that bothered them greatly as now Solgina could put all her focus on what she had in mind while someone else kept focus on everything else.

That was not the only way that she promoted the Moon Elf, with how she trusted them she was now sending them out more to collect more clients more often and would do it alone. That put Shelby at risk, but she had faith in the young Elf as during the years that they have been here they have learned many things, like fighting and how to sense for danger around them. Much to the displeasure of a few clients who tried to get a little handsy with them. As they were physically now only the age of a fourteen-year-old they used that to their advantage of getting the attention of the men in less foolish ways, instead catching their eyes in a different sense. That usually brought more than one man along as they followed Shelby back to meet Solgina. To which, the older children started to show concern with the sudden increase of adults around while the younger ones were completely unaware, and Solgina… The more the merrier in her opinion. But that brought Shelby no closer to finding out why she likes to… Keep these men and let certain ones go.

Jamies heart broke to hear these stories about their family basically being lost from them, those feelings reminding them of how they felt years ago when they came to earth. But these feelings could not be put on show just yet as Solgina had some business in two places at roughly the same time, one being here in Jersey, while the other was up in New York. Despite knowing that they were told they could not be left on their own for an extended period without anyone, Shelby offered their services to go to New York on their own. While they knew she preferred having them there during her meetings with her clients, she could handle them alone like she did once before, the business here was too important while the one in Berlin was just informing a client, she was expecting him here and that they would have to bring them here. She did not like this idea at all but losing a client was not something she could risk, so with reluctancy she agreed to let them do this.

1891. A little over two weeks it had taken them to travel in secret from the place they called home to New York, and now the hunt for the man that Solgina was requesting. That for most was like looking for a needle in a haystack, but not for Shelby as they were already informed of where to find this man and what he looked like. Dark hair like that of the night, in his late teens, seventeen perhaps, physically the same as Jamie in age they guessed. A dirtied but kind face that could make you feel safe, and eyes that were brown like thick, sweet honey that the almost golden when the sun shone through it. A few scars littering their bodies from past fights from those who had wished to cause others harm… This was a truly good man.

If you were to ask Shelby what they were to remember about that moment they could tell you that the bar that they found the client in was older than most in the city, yet it did not feel as if it was due to how well kept it was. They could tell you that the streetlights coming in through the dirty windows gave the patrons who were next to them a strange glow through the windows. They could even tell you that it was jam packed full of people that were drunk and causing a scene, like they had just learnt they were of royal blood and that they were celebrating the news. But if you were to ask about this man? Well… You would get told every single detail that Shelby saw of them when they first laid eyes on them. Like how he smiled at those around him with the sides of his eyes crinkling, or how his laughter being deep and joyous as it rang through the air as he finished his third pint before starting his next. At the time the Elf did not know why they could remember all this, but they would soon learn.

To Jamie, they just started the interaction between the two of them like he did with many other past clients, pulling up close to them with their hood up trying to use the Elven beauty that was on show to catch their attention and confuse them. It worked on many of the other patrons in the pub, all but the one they were trying to catch the attention of. With the night progressing many of the others who were drinking had tried their luck with the Elf, but they refused all of their offers for money or… Anything more than that. They might have caught their eyes, but they were not like Solgina and did not enjoy the attention of many, especially in that regard. A few more hours had passed, and the night was starting to turn into the early morning of the new day. Having had about enough the young Elf had started to act out of turn of their usual nature, finishing off their drink before slamming down on the bar’s countertop. Looking back at the memory they could not recall if they were drunk or just tired and mad from having made to wait so long, but they do remember the sudden feeling of calm when the client just looked at them with an awkward smiled as they apologized for not saying hi sooner before introducing himself… Sebam Coshar…

It was like they had just forgotten everything in that moment, he responded so calmly to their sudden approach it had taken them off guard. Sebam could see this as clear as day, chuckling softly at their reaction at the ‘younger’ person before him, letting his gaze soften. This moment of sudden … Kindness… Had reminded Jamie so much of when they met Solgina but so much more, it was like their breath had gotten caught in their throat as they stared up at the taller human. Never once did they believe would they think they would meet a human who made them feel so… Safe upon a first meeting. With them being practically frozen in shock Sebam was the one to make the first move, but not like how any of the other men or women did. Even when drunk, Coshar showed that he had some form of a level head when drinking as he paid for his drink and even Shelby’s. Leading them out of the main section of the pub before taking them to the rooms upstairs, telling them to sleep as they have both been awake the entire night. Refusing at first, they did not like the idea of being left alone in this room with Sebam as they do not know them, but with how much they drank and how their body was craving sleep they did not refuse for long.

With a groan and a splitting headache, they awoke in the bed that was not their own running both hands over their face and hair, trying to ease the discomfort in their head. After a few minutes of just trying to stop the ache they felt, did they finally remove their hands from their face looking about the room and taking note of all that was there. It was like many other typical rooms of a pub, very minimal in what it had for decoration, mostly everything was made of oak wood, and the fabrics were dirty from the lack of care they have been receiving. The only other thing that was worth noting in Jamie’s mind, was the fact that Sebam was still there in the room with them, fast asleep sitting on a chair on the other side of the room. His head hanging low as he breathed slowly in peace, as they somehow stayed sitting upright.

Taking a breath as they tried to ignore the ever-present feeling in their head, they climbed out of the bed with little grace as the alcohol in their system seemed to still be affecting them somewhat. That alone had soured their mood even further as they made their way over to Coshar, shaking him awake as they told them they had to leave now otherwise they would be late and Solgina would not be happy about that. At the mere mention of her name, that had not only brought him to his senses, but also sobered him up like how it did the others. Standing back as they stood up to their full height, it was a quick agreement for both parties to get going as to be on time. Leaving the pub behind with small rations to kept them fed for the trip ahead. A trip, that changed the young Elf’s perspective of things.

Even before leaving the city, Sebam had taken notice at how quiet the Elf was and how reserved they were, talking and acting like an adult which puzzled them greatly. Their first question for the ‘younger’ being was to why they were alone, not why they felt the need to hide that who they were. Thinking about it- though they found it weird how he was so calm about meeting an Elf- Jamie answered honestly as they had nothing to hide from Sebam, they simply came alone as to prove that they can handle such tasks alone and help Solgina increase her range for her ‘work’. After that, they questioned them on why they did not act their age like most others their age did. That one… That one was much harder to explain, as how does one say they are from another world where they age at different rates when compared to humans? So, they simply put it down to difference in age due to being a different species as the Elves from this world they heard of were the closest example of what they meant. Once they revealed that in human years, they were roughly about one hundred and twenty-seven… And a half… Ish… Despite being physically the same age, that is why they had a more mature mindset than most others their age. For Coshar, that at least explained to them why they were so different than most other children, though that did not answer all the questions that they had. That just made them more curious, and ask more question about them, which after a couple hours of leaving the city behind Jamie finally joined in and asked questions back.

The entire trip was like this, both asking questions back and forth, smiling and sharing a laugh as they walked. In all their years of being here, never have they once found someone like this, someone who not only cared for the strangers around them but was completely honest with what they said and thought. Jamie could not help but smile whenever they looked at him, and he seemed to notice that. They simply made a joke about them being all love struck like a puppy, not taking any seriousness to their words, while Shelby on the other hand was at a loss for words. In response they looked away from Coshar and went quiet, looking around at everything but him as they thought about what he said. Was that what this was? Love? They have always known the difference between lust and love, as they have seen many a happy couple in love, and those who lust after others like how they are with Solgina. They did not melt or act like a fool around him, this was not lust at least. But what about love? Well, from what they could tell it was not love as they did not believe they would do anything for this man as he was just a stranger to them… Then was this a crush? Many of their siblings have had crushes, each taking a different form of how it presents itself, so that was most likely it. They had a started to develop a crush on this man, who was going to end up being like all the other men Solgina had met.

This alone was enough to dampen their mood, as the worry of someone who was truly good like this being lost to whatever Solgina had going on behind closed doors was not something they ever thought they would feel… Especially for a human… Shelby had never needed to learn how to hide how they felt, especially for such negative feelings like this, so when Sebam saw how worried they were they felt the need to comfort them. And so… In whatever way their mind thought was appropriate to this situation, they thought the best way to help cheer them up was by showing them their personal weapon and teaching them how to use it. For most, this was a stupid idea, and it most definitely was a bad idea, but with Sebam not thinking about this and Shelby being more mature than they should, this ended very well. With Jamie getting to stand closer to Sebam, as they taught them to hold the pistol correctly, how to aim it, how to lock and load it… For Sebam, it was nice to see that Jamie was starting to cheer up, while Shelby based on the closeness of them both together was finally starting to think that maybe their theory about having a crush was correct.

Completely unaware of how this interaction had affected the young Elf, Sebam acted as if nothing was wrong as they finished their journey from New York back to Jersey. Upon entering the city Jamie felt a sense of relief to be back in familiar grounds, Sebam commenting that he will feel the same once he gets back to New York. Though the way he said that it felt off, as if there was something he was hiding from him. They tried to ignore the sense that something was not right with that, but to make themselves feel better or to buy more time for them together, Shelby started to show him around the city, talking about all the things that they have learnt over the years. It had taken them most of the day to get around the city before the sun started to dim away into hiding once more as the moon started to slowly wake from its rest. They no longer had time free together and it was time for him to finally meet Solgina, The Mother.

Reluctant as they were to take him back home, it was something they felt like they had to do if they wanted to learn the truth of what Solgina was up to. So, when the moment finally arrived that Jamie had led them through the streets all the way back home, when the moon was at its highest and the children were fast asleep in their beds, did they enter the home that they all lived in. A small smile graced the Elf’s lip as they saw their siblings all resting peacefully, or the older ones staying up quietly to talk. The ones who were still awake waved excitedly at them, glad that The Eldest was home with them once more, they wanted them to join them in their talk to hear their stories of New York, but they had no time to chat now. All they did was point at where Solgina was, nodding in indication that she was there and waiting for them up in her ‘office’. That was all they needed to know before they started walking towards the ‘office’, but unlike the past times they have had to do this it felt different. For Jamie, they felt nervous… They felt scared for Sebam and they did not know why, every time they saw one of the men leave in the past they were fine, but the rest were still here somewhere, they just didn’t know where or how they were. While Sebam, was not nervous as past clients were, instead being unusually quiet, his gaze focused sharply on the door ahead of them both as if he knew something bad was about to happen.

Entering the room, they were met with an unfamiliar sight, Solgina was there like they expected her to be, but this time they had a friend with them. A man who they have never seen before here, yet the way he held himself with such pride as he looked down his nose at them both as he stood by her side told Jamie that they were close to one another. He did not look normal when compared to other humans, he seemed much paler, and looked as frail as paper that had been aged for many years in the dark. But the youth to his face said he was at least in his early fourties. At least, that is what they thought at first, as they heard him speak when greeting both Shelby and Sebam, his tone and manner indicated someone much, much older than what they let on. But that was not what bothered Shelby the most, their focus was on this new man and Solgina, how they stood so close comfortably to one another. Every time a man was in this room with her, she always seems to make them melt when they stood so close to her before she started to hold them close to her gently. Yet neither of the two before them seem to be attracted to one another, they did not touch one another, no sweet words were shared… It was like… This was a meeting… And their opposition, was the man stood next to young Elf.

Jamie knew something was off with how different all of this was compared to past meetings in this office, the only thing that remained the same was them being asked to leave the room. They expected that despite how different this meeting has started that it would end the same as others have in the past. Only when they turned to leave, they could not as the man who they had brought here had grabbed them by the wrist, telling them to stay right where they were. Confused, they looked between Coshar and Solgina, unsure of what to do as they have never been asked to stay before. This one simple action had annoyed Solgina, she has never once shown this side of her before when in this building, all she has ever shown was this kind and sweet woman who always smiles. Now she was looking at the man who still had a hold of the younger Elf, as if warning him that if he kept them here, they would regret it, but he did not let go. Instead, he just glared right back at her as if daring her to try it. Yet neither of them got to test the limits of the other, as the strange man stepped in saying how both needed to calm down before either of them did anything rash.

As Sebam stared down at the man in front of the two, Shelby finally realised who this man was. Just by looking at him, they recalled all the times the children told stories of the mysterious man they kept seeing around the manor. How a tall well-built man, in clothes that they described as being just as fine or even finer than the Royals they have seen in the papers. It was obvious that they were exaggerating from what they saw, but it was close enough to the point. What they actually saw was a man who had darkened hair like that of the night, thick but slicked back with a strange shine to it. The clothes they wore were not bright and colourful, adorned in jewels, but instead a crisp and clean suit of steel grey. His eyes shining like darkened emeralds, but his expression made those eyes feel like pools of venom that could paralyse you where you stood. Though the question that bore deep in the mind of the Elf when they looked up at this man was why was he here? What kind of involvement did he have with Solgina?... Did… Did he have something to do with the kids dying as well?...

In the next moment Sebam had pulled out his pistol and shot at the man before him, then going on to shooting at the room’s only source of light. Both Solgina and Jamie had reacted to the noise of the shots, closing their eyes momentarily as they tried to cover their face to protect themselves based on instinct. Feeling the arm that held their wrist pull them in closer, Shelby let out a noise of surprise as they were startled by the hand briefly letting them go and wrapping around their waist, pulling them up off their feet. As Coshar began to dash out of the room with the Moon Elf in their hold, Shelby opened their mouth to protest wanting to be put down immediately. But when his eyes locked onto Solgina’s they had started to reach out for her, hoping that she would do something to save them. The Sun Elf did nothing to stop them both, she did not say anything, nor did she move. All Jamie could remember of that moment afterwards as they left the doorway of the ‘office’ heading towards the exit of the manor, was seeing the strange man take up the view of what was on the other side hidden within the darkness. His body gently illuminated by the glow of the moon that was poking in through the window of the corridor. His eyes… Now glowing silver like pools of liquid metal, dancing about and growing as what remained of his human appearance had started to disappear into something more Demonic.

The sight of seeing that man’s features change into that of something from a nightmare that could only be formed by the Devil himself, will forever remain in their memory. It was like his bottom jaw had detached itself from the head, giving his changing body more room as his teeth grew in size and shape. The nails on his hand changed, they were like those of a bear, but that was not the worst part of this whole experience. The worst part of the whole experience was seeing the man step towards them slowly, hearing as the bones beneath his skin cracked and popped loudly, as they grew and changed their shape within a matter of seconds. Each step only brought him closer to the window where the light of the moon came from, revealing that he no longer looked the same as he once did. His skin was now the colour of old pale blue paint, faded and looking ready to peel away to reveal underneath. No longer looking shiny and slick, their hair had turned a ghostly white, hanging down over their head like bunched up straw while two horns protruded out in jagged directions. Now he looked more like a wild beast as it stared down its prey before it pounced, but he didn’t. One moment he was there, in the next he was gone from sight.

Like the creature had heard their thoughts, that is when they had finally saw it on the roof of one of the buildings like a Gargoyle as it stared down at them both. Its eyes were wide like an owl, it’s teeth on show as they chattered excitedly when it realized its prey had spotted it. Crying out into the night like a wounded animal, a sound would make even the bravest fall to their knees as it echoed through your mind, paralyzing you in place. It almost sounded like it was laughing at them, knowing they would have no way to stop them from tearing them to shreds were they stood. This human way of thinking would later reveal to them in years to come this thing was an Oni. Leaning closer towards the buildings edge did the monster dig its claws of the roof’s tiles, taking a moment to breath in delight of the fear that was coming off from the two. Within the blink of an eye, did the creature appear right in front of them once more letting out a howl of pure insanity as it raised one of its claw’s limbs up into the air before them to strike down to cut them into ribbons of flesh and blood.

Only the strike never came, it did not touch the two it was aiming to harm when instead the creature was knocked away from them both, sending it crashing into a wall as a blinding light struck it. The wall it hit broke, crumbling down onto the beast’s body as it groaned in pain and anger of being attacked like that. Jamie stared at the beast with wide eyes, not noticing the group of men approaching the two quickly. They laughed in joy and triumph as the attack they had used to save them had worked. These were other Monster Hunters from New York, friends of Sebam’s here on a mission to stop The Mother and her ‘friends’ from taking any more lives. Though Jamie did not know this at the time, all they knew was that Sebam was happy to see these men. They promised that they would take care of the creature, that they would beat it before the sun would arise and that they should go save the children before Solgina got away with them.

Neither of them had to share a word to agree on what their next course of action would be, both Elf and human had run back towards where Jamie had known to be home for many years. But with how long it had taken them to get to the city’s center, the sudden appearance of the monster and the time taken to get back it was too late. They had arrived at a place that was empty and barren of any sign of life, any evidence that people used to be here was the scattered clothes and blankets piled up all over, scraps of food that were dropped in a sudden rush to leave. As far as Jamie was aware this place only had one entrance and exit, the same one that they had entered from, and they had saw no one around where they just came from. They must have left from an exit that Solgina had never told them about.

Now they were struggling to regain control of themselves as their body started to shake more and more violently. They could no longer control their emotional state, it was no longer something they could stabilize. In response to the sight of someone they became so close to so distraught to the loss of their family, Sebam had rushed over to the Moon Elf wrapping their arms around them in a tight hug. Jamie had told him to stop, to let them go, that they needed to find them now as they pushed against their hold once more. Not once did they let them go, only holding onto them tighter as they tried to tell them it would all be okay and that they would find them. No matter how much they struggled to free themselves they could not, eventually all their struggles had begun to tire them out. Sebam had gently used their thumb to rub at the elf’s face trying to soothe them, as Jamie had finally stopped struggling, now going in to return the hug as all their feelings from this moment and the ones they had pushed down many years ago when they arrived in this world finally were released… They were scared, yes… But that was not what bothered them the most. It was the feeling of losing those who were close to them and being alone once again… They hated feeling so alone…

With no place to go and no one to take them in Sebam had taken it upon himself to look after the Elf, they were ignorant to the truth and were an innocent to what was truly going on. They were not involved in the plans that truly were going on and now they knew the world of monsters and demons were as real as night and day. Sebam had lied to them, they could have told them the truth of why they were here to meet Solgina, but they didn’t so now they were responsible for the care of the Elf who had lost their family once more. After all, no matter how smart or mature they were, they were still a child like they were. So, when they had started to calm down from their sudden flood of feelings the two of them had left the place Jamie had called home for many years, returning to the group who had saved them earlier. During the time they were away they had attempted to slay the monster before sunrise like they said they would, but the Oni was stronger than they expected and so they had overpowered them, getting away so they hoped for good news. The only news that they could be told that the kids were alive, though now all missing, but Shelby would be returning home with them as they had no one to take care of them.

1913, twenty-two-ish years had passed since that day and now Jamie had the body of a twenty-year-old but was one-hundred and fifty-year-olds in human standards, while Sebam was now thirty-nine. When they had first met, Sebam had only joined a Guild of Hunters who fought to keep non-humans safe and humans safe from the non-humans. That explained why Sebam was not shocked when he met Jamie for the first time, probably having met others stranger than what they were, but had little experience of slaying monsters and now had bested many monsters. One might think that something like this would make a person become more reserved and angrier after being exposed to so much death and brutality, but that never happened once with him. He stayed as nice and as joyous as he was when they had first met, staying loyal to his personal code of conduct, and helped those when he could. Shelby had almost started to match him in height now as they started to grow into their more adult body. They had cut their hair short, now it no longer resembled that of what would fit their Elven culture, now looking more like that of a human hair cut for a gentleman. Finding that easier when out hunting with Coshar as long hair risked the chance of blocking their line of sight when using the pistol Sebam had let them use.

Living with Sebam Jamie had come to learn more about the world of humans on a more personal level, now they were no longer afraid of them as they once were and found their lives fascinating. They no longer felt the need to hide that they were Elven, at least around Sebam. He never judged them for who they were or gave them any grief, they got to hear many stories of the lives that other Hunters had and all the adventures they had been on from Coshar. But if they were to say the most important thing over the years that they had learnt was that their feelings for Sebam were true. They had a crush on the man, they could explain why or pinpoint it down to one reason specifically. Every time they looked at him, talked to him, just anything to do with him always made them smile, as a warmth spread through their chest as they felt what humans referred to as ‘butterflies’. But they knew nothing would ever come of these feelings or attempting a relationship of any kind with the man. Sebam had never shown interest in anyone, so they could not say if the risk of asking was worth it. For another reason… The main reason… They were physically the age of a young adult, while he was reaching the middle of his life. Shelby was not like The Mother who did not care about age when wanting to sleep with someone, they understood the complications of how a relationship like theirs would be. It would look wrong to everyone else if they found out, it would feel wrong. This was not something they could ever ask Coshar to go through simply because they loved him, they knew a relationship would not be possible for them.

By helping Sebam with his work like this, Shelby had learnt more about the Guild of Monster Hunters. Learning about how they listen to rumours of the strange and unknown, trying to piece together what is fact and what is fiction before they make a move on dealing with the situation. But that is not where the good news lies, no, it lies within the fact that they were able to use the knowledge that they have learnt over the years to understand the how’s’, whys’, who done it and where they went. That allowed the Guild to understand the Monsters intent better and how they can deal with such matters in future. Jamie had wished to use these skills to find their missing family, but they never had the chance, so they got to use these skills to help others. Doing that at least provided them with some comfort knowing the fact that the ones that the people they helped did not get to be split from their families.

Though during their adventures together of fighting and protecting the people who called this world home, they had found themselves becoming apart of something much grander than either could expect. As the world started to go into it’s First World War, they had found themselves befriending and assisting some Hunters of the Guild that had been tasked with looking into a supposed new Occult. As a team they had barley found out any information on this Occult, the only thing that they could confirm to be true was that when they used sacrifices of innocents, they never did the ritual in the same town as were they were taken from.

Though as each day that went by with the Monsters on the decrease Shelby and Sebam had some free time with one another, sharing stories of their pasts. So, on one of these nights of these two sharing a drink together they started to talk about how they wished their lives could have been different to the ones they have now. Jamie, wishing that they were never taken from their home due to dumb luck. While Sebam wished that they had never been dragged into the world of hunting Monsters for a living, but if they had not then they would have never had met their closest friend. Jamie simply rolled their eyes and laughed softly to themselves, taking another sip from their glass as they looked down at the counter before them. In their moment of distraction, they failed to notice a small splash of the alcohol touch the clothes they wore, but that did not go unnoticed by Sebam. Coshar simply joked about how despite him being older than he was, he acted like a child with how careful he was when he drank. Jamie did not even get a moment to question what he meant by that as they were left frozen as Coshar had pulled a napkin out of his pocket and started to clean up the little stain on their shirt. Still mumbling away to themselves as they failed to notice the Elf’s face suddenly a glow with colour of blue as they stared down at them in silence.

Shelby just looked away from him, quietly thanking him for what he did causing Sebam to laugh, still unaware of the affect he had on them. Currently, as the two of them were drinking in the private building that the Hunters Guild had rented in Washington, Sebam had paused his drink saying he had a question to ask Shelby. That had caught the Elf’s interest, as to what could be so important that Sebam had to pause their drinking to bend over to pick something out of their bag. Only what was so important would have to wait, as they had both over-heard some of the men talking about how they had heard about a strange, beautiful women, with enough kids to populate an entire town was heading to the next state over. Sharing a look between themselves they both knew what the other was thinking. Without another word, the two quickly packed up their things bidding the man at the bar farewell before rushing of towards the railways. If they were to hurry, they would be able to sneak aboard the next train on time if they were not spotted. Perhaps this was their chance to finally catch up to Solgina and save the kids from the fate that awaited them. Yet as they got closer to the train station, to the notice of them both they did not know that they were being watched by the eyes of someone that neither of them had met before, but one of them would never forget.

Matching the breeze of the air that had touched their skin like a mother soothing her child, the person who was watching them was now behind them. Staying silent as the two failed to notice them it was almost too perfect. Their pale face was like that fresh snow when winter finally arrives, having a tint of blue from the coolness of the night letting them shine. As the line on their face that was meant to be their mouth curved into a smile that revealed two enlarged fangs that were much larger than what should be considered normal. Deep and echoing this person’s chest rumbled as they laughed at two ‘Hunters’ in front of them, catching the attention of one of them. He knew that they had no chance at surviving this encounter and was going to take pleasure in what they were about to do.

Just as they were to round the corner to the station Sebam called out to Shelby in a hushed tone that the coast was clear, stopping in his tracks when he no longer heard his friend walking. When he had turned to ask what was wrong, that was when the Hunter finally noticed why his friend was no longer moving. There, right in front of him a person they have never met was on the scene holding tightly onto Jamie. This… New ‘person’ shall we put it, was dressed in what looked like a surprisingly well taken care of French army uniform… It was almost too fancy for a typical uniform of just a regular soldier, instead the blue was much darker like the dark sea, ornamented with accents of ruby and ivory tassels. A General perhaps. Their hair a pale delicate gold pulled back into a loose ponytail, cascading halfway down their back, and held together by a ribbon of scarlet. The holster for the weapon that they carried barren and bare. The boots they wore riding high up the thighs as the leathers shone, showing off the pride taken into keeping them clean.

All Sebam could do was watch as their friend was being held by this Monster who at any moment could kill them. Jamie’s head was forced to look upwards at the sky above wanting to get away from their touch as their eyes peered over their own face, trying to see what was happening. As the claws of their hands dug into their neck leaving small divots in the skin, they whimpered softly in protest wanting them to stop. This had only made the Vampire laugh in satisfaction at the sight of the Elf’s discomfort to the situation that they were in. Sebam had told him to stop, to let them go, they did not need to be hurt for whatever reason the Vampire had felt was worth taunting them like this. Yet that had only made things worse as the creature of the night had started to hold onto them tighter, making a show of themselves as they had started to dance about the street humming a melodic tune. They had closed their eyes in full confidence knowing full well that Sebam would not dare try to attack when their friend was in harm’s way like this. Laughing out once more as they dared him to join them in the fun.

Sebam wanted to just grab them and take them away from this Monster, killing them as to be sure that no one would get hurt. But if they even moved in any way that the Vampire deemed wrong they would possibly kill Jamie in front of him… To make matters worse they did not look at the Vampire who was being so cruel to them both or how their friend was being held, but instead they could not stop staring at the eyes of sapphires that stared right back at them pleading in silent help. As the Vampire continued to dance about the barren streets, lowering his face towards the side of the face of the Elf, starting to talk sweet nothings into ear, asking if they liked that like the whore of the Sun Elf they knew so well. At the mere mention of Solgina, their eyes had started to water at the memory of losing their trust in someone they thought cared for them. Though that was not the end of their thoughts for them and for Sebam either. With the Vampire comparing Shelby to Solgina, they had basically admitted to knowing who she was, revealing that this was not just a random attack… This was all planned out.

Having just about enough of this, Sebam finally dared to move towards the two of them as fast as he could and placed his hand on the Vampire’s, removing it from Shelby’s neck before he could dare to try and hurt them. That had put an end to the dance and the Vampire feigned a response of being upset, pouting with a sigh as they asked why they had to do such a thing with a tilt of the head. Now at least Jamie was no longer at risk of being killed in the manner that they had threatened, but they were still being held against them and it did not look like he would let go. That provided them with enough reason to demand that they would let them go or at this range that they would not be able to move fast enough to dodge or shield themselves from a blast from their pistol.

Taking that as a challenge the vampire dared them to try, dared him to fire the weapon at them. With their free hand in their grip, the other around their friend, they took the chance and risked it, Sebam had pulled out their weapon and fired, the bang echoing against the walls of buildings around them. You would think that with such a fast reaction that the Vampire would have been hurt by the bullet, but they were faster than the shot and had leaned backwards and away from Sebam. The Elf still being held against them as they gave the Hunter a smirk before flinging them at him. The two fumbling together as they grabbed onto one another, stabilising themselves so they would not fall. They had smiled, glad that they were alright only to get back into action of the fight, turning to face the Vampire once more. Only he had disappeared, now lurking somewhere from around them.

Now on high alert they were in a bit of a panicked state as they knew they had to find where he was- both thinking back to the time they ran from the Oni- only now, both knew how to fight. He was most likely sent to kill them both as they both knew better than everyone else the secrets Solgina kept and what she was up too. This was most likely their attempt to keep their secrets from being revealed to the wrong people. But why now after so many years that had passed already? They did not know, but it was too late to question why. As in the next moment did the first attack of many to come landed, the Vampire struck once, then backed away, going in and out with each attack like a flurry of flakes of sand in the storm of a desert. With each strike they were able to counter or dodge the onslaught of claws that had come their way. It was a blur to the eye, all movement of the two Hunters was solely based on instinct and reaction. They could not land one hit on this guy, but the same was said for him.

With each second that passed it felt as if both parties were at a standstill. But as the duo blocked once more against the claws and teeth of the vampire before he retreated to avoid their attacks, the sound of the train whistle blowing indicating it was about to leave on its journey. That sound alone had made the Elf panic, if they didn’t hurry then they might not be able to catch the train in time. Jamie looked between the vampire and Sebam as they thought about what to do, conflicted about the decision, the sound of the metal wheels started to clack against the rails made the decision for them. Rushing away from the battle as Sebam called out to them in concerned confusion, telling them to come back but it was like the elf could not hear him. This in their mind was their only chance to save the kids from Solgina, they didn’t want to lose it to some Vamperic pest.

Getting closer and closer to the train, it was getting harder to keep up with it as it was picking up in speed faster than they could run. Their hands tried to grasp onto the lower half of the door of one of the carriages to pull themselves up, so they could climb aboard. But the door instead slid open with a thud when they were able to hold on, the Elf’s hands slipping and loosing grip momentarily. Cursing out in frustration as they had to catch up once more, forcing them to move faster than their body was comfortable in going to keep up with the train. Once more they tried reaching out towards the train, and once more they were able to grab a hold of the door. Giving them a chance to pull themselves up, about halfway in their feet was no longer on the floor but on the metal framework that held the wheels in place as they kept trying to climb in.

Success! Just as they were about to clamber in the rest of the way into the carriage with a laugh Jamie stopped what they were doing as they had heard Sebam calling out to them in desperation as he chased after. Looking towards their friend they saw how the Hunter was rushing towards them, pointing behind them with a fearful look. In that one moment it felt like time had begun to slow, the sound of Sebam’s footsteps becoming one with the sound of Jamie’s own heartbeat, the elf turned to look in the direction that Coshar was pointing in. The sight of the creature of the night approaching them with pointed claws aimed at them like spears had left them frozen with fear. The beating of their heart grew louder and louder as the blonde got closer and closer, in that one moment it was like nothing else registered in their brain but the impending doom. Seeing the claws inch closer and shine in the dim lighting of the early morning, it was in that moment the elf knew that death was coming. All they could do was shut their eyes like a terrified child and ready themselves for the Reaper to come and take their soul.

Plgfftt!!!

… That was the sound of a hand piercing through flesh, the muscles squishing and squelching, as bones broke through and cracked like sticks underfoot. An explosion of crimson burst out like a firework in the sky making a patchwork of splatter on the wood of the carriage floor. Only to be followed by the sound of that same heavy liquid pouring down with a pained gasp that was bordering on a scream, drowning out the little pitter patter of splats that followed. Breathes of agony becoming the loudest thing that could be heard… But it the strangest thing that had been felt…

When the sound had made itself known Jamie had thought that this would be the most painful experience they would ever experience, but they felt nothing. Did they already die and that is why they felt no pain? They could still hear the sound of laboured breathing coming strangely from behind them, so they were not dead afterall. Instead, they could still feel someone pressed up against them from behind. As Jamie opened their eyes, to look behind themselves they turned their head to look, after turning their head slightly to the left they saw the clawed hand of the monster who had attacked them covered in the liquid that gave him eternal life. Yet the sight of what laid resting in his hand looked… Squishy, and it was moving of its own accord. Eyes stuck on the convulsing flesh that beat rhythmically, the grasp of a familiar touch had grabbed them by the waist with one hand pushing them inside the carriage with strained effort… A clang of metal hitting the wood below…

No longer hanging out of the train like a cat to a branch, Jamie now could fully see what happened in that moment. The Vampire didn’t kill them… He didn’t even lay a scratch on them… No, what the Elf was looking at was a still beating heart in the hand of a monster whose arm had broken through the chest of Sebam. Coshar had rushed in between the two and jumped in the way of the blow at the last second, using his own body as a shield. Eyes still stuck on his heart, with it no longer being where it should have been they watched as the beating of the rhythmic contractions of muscles slow to a stop. Yet the sound of the Elf’s own heart continued to beat loudly in their ears like it was trying to mimic the same beat it saw, as if it was trying to keep the beat going. They did not hear the words of the Vampire as he spoke of the irony of a human with so much care and ‘heart’ that this is how he would die, by giving up his heart for someone else. But it was clear that those words meant nothing to the two as they were both focused on one another.

Plgfftt!!!

Again, that same sound from earlier came again but this time in reverse. The blonde had pulled his arm out the chest of Sebam, the muscles once again squelching sickeningly together as the remnants of bone once again cracked. But this time they did not crack; they were forced together, rubbing against one another in a way that sounded worse than stones grating against stones. With the hole in his chest no longer being plugged up more blood started to pour onto wood below, pooling at the Elf’s feet, seeping through the holes. Both Sebam and Shelby screamed; one in pain and the other in fear. Satisfied with the effect he has had on the two in that singular moment, the vampire swung away from the two hanging on the side of the train carriage door away from the two with a smirk. Allowing him to look at the lump of flesh he held, before tossing it to the dirt below like he was dropping trash he did not care for. Breathing the air of the early morning in satisfaction he gave out a hearty laugh as now he only had one last pest to deal with.

During the time it took him to revel in his glory of having sorted out the more dangerous of the two, he did not see as Sebam almost collapsed out of the pain he felt. If it was not for Jamie, then Sebam would have fallen out of the carriage, saving him from potentially being crushed by the wheels of the train below becoming a mangled state of flesh and blood. Shelby moved towards Coshar in swift panic, not caring if they knelt in the puddle of blood that had formed below, grabbing a hold of him to pull him inside to safety only to feel a hand touch their face in that familiar way they had grown to love. Now the two were looking at each other in the eyes, not a word being spoken as Sebam just rubbed his thumb against the Elf’s blue cheek as he smiled softly at them. It was as if the fact he was dying had not registered in his brain at all, and all he was doing was comforting his friend like he normally would.

Confused to why he was so eerily calm about this all Jamie opened their mouth to speak only to be shushed gently, being told that it would all be okay. A wave of pain had struck the hunter, making him grunt loudly hissing through his teeth as he forced himself to focus on what he was about to do next… Putting on that same forced smile as before, it was clear as crystal that it was forced, but the meaning behind it was true. “J-Jamie… I know how… How long you’ve wanted to save these kids… B-but you’re going to have to continue without me… I’ll buy you some time… But I need you to promise me… That… That you’ll live a good life…”. Leaning his forehead against the Elf’s Sebam closed his eyes to savour this sweet moment before he pushed away from them and towards the Vampire in a sudden burst of strength.

Both Vampire and Elf were taken by surprise by this sudden act of the Hunter, as he latched himself onto the arm of the Vampire that anchored them to train as he used his weight and sudden act to pull them both down and away of the ongoing train. The dirt had risen around the two in a cloud of dust when they hit the deck, as they rolled away from the tracks grunting and growling at each other like dogs. Shelby moved towards the door hanging onto it to watch as the two got further and further away from the train. When the Vampire began stand, Sebam held onto him as tight as he could to hold him in place trying to pick himself up in the process.

Watching as the two got back to their feet, pushing, and shoving at each other; to get one away from one and to make sure the other stayed away from the train. They could see their mouths moving but could not make out what was being said but the moment Sebam was pushed away first they into a pile of debris from the side of the track, Shalby had almost jumped out of the train to go and help Coshar. But the second they even thought about that, the Vampire had turned towards the train looking straight at them with a scowl, that look freezing them into place… Just as the Vampire was about to step towards the train, they turned to look behind them in reaction to a noise from behind only to be smacked in the face by a rusted iron pipe sending them off their feet. Somehow there stood Sebam, pipe in hand as they look towards the Vampire, watching as he picked himself up clasping a hand over his face, covering a wound as blood poured out down over his porcelain features.

Bearing his fangs in frustration it looked like the Vampire was about tear Sebam limb from limb right there for daring to strike at his face. How this human was able to stay standing for so long despite the gaping hole in their chest was a mystery. But light of the sun finally started to peak out from over the horizon cutting this fight short, that frustrated the blonde but looking at Sebam and how his body shook as it was now paling faster and faster than it did before. That was enough to bring out a low chuckle as the Vampire quickly got up from where they on the ground before running towards the shadows, hissing like a snake as the early morning sun burned at their skin. Looking towards the two one last time with such hatred it was obvious he would return to finish the job. His face already healing over in a bile like green around the wound, almost seeming to age a couple decades in seconds as they finally retreated to the safety of the darkness.

That was it, the fight was over, but the pain did not end. Shelby watched as the one that they loved turn towards them one last time, waving weakly in goodbye as the golden light of the early morning shone down upon Sebam surrounding him in a Heavenly golden glow. He had dropped the pipe he was holding to the ground below; with one last breath the Hunter fell onto his knees before dropping completely onto the ground below. Jamie could do nothing but only watch as they stretched one hand out towards Coshar as they yelled out into the morning air “I love you!” at the top of their voice, desperate for him to know their feelings and respond. But it was of no use, he was not coming back from this, and once more they were alone again…

Tears pricked at the corners of their eyes as the reality that they had to keep going on without him to stop Solgina had started to sink in. Moving away from the carriage door, their leg had hit something next to them in the puddle of blood they still knelt in… A gun… A Luger pistol… That was the gun belonged to Sebam, why was it there? As that thought came to mind, Jamie had picked it up with such caution like it was made of the finest of China, realising that this was the sound of metal clinking against the floor they heard earlier. Sebam had dropped their gun when he had helped them inside of the train. Hands now began to shake as they held the weapon in hand, it was one of the latest models that Cosher had been so excited to get, talking about how they were so fascinated by machinery like this, how it was crafted for something so simple, yet so deadly, it was perfect the job when working for the Guild. As they stared down at the gun, Jamie had begun to weep loudly to themselves, like they did when they had lost their family here on Earth for the first time, the train kept chugging along without a care for the Elf and their feelings.

There they stayed hidden away in the train’s carriage, staying out of sight hugging the weapon to their chest for hours until they had reached their destination. When the train had come to a stop, they knew that the humans would not understand what they saw if they looked at them and understand less if they saw them covered in blood while carrying the gun. The time they had alone gave them time to think of how they should move forward, as now they no longer had a human companion who could help them blend in. Before they had left the carriage, they found a box covered in a loose tarp, using that to cover themselves like a cloak. That was enough to let them hide in plain sight allowing them to search for a place to hide until nightfall to search for the Sun Elf. Though in the end, they did not find her or the children anywhere in the city. The only thing that it brought was years full of chasing rumours, and a feeling of disappointment and frustration.

I wish I could say that was end of the story for the poor Moon Elf, but this was only the beginning as they had to move from state to state following the rumours of a ‘beautiful woman’ and lots of ‘strange random children’ showing up and dissapearing. This had continued for many years until it had become 1981 and Shelby was now physically that of a human twenty-eight-year-old. They had heard a rumour about a book pop up that made mention of an experience they had shared with Sebam… And so, the Elf had decided to break away from their main quest to get that book for more selfish reasons. That gave them enough reason to sneak into the building of a police office, finding themselves in the office of a police officer only to be caught by a Priest and the face of someone familiar… This was the beginning of the next chapter in their journey…

#dnd backstory #dnd oc #blood gore #Shelby #Jamie #Jamie Shelby #high elf #moon elf #Solgina #sun elf #oni #french vampire #vampire

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