#there was no evil mountain dew involved

[rainbow-flavoured-skittles]

I have a random white hair for some reason so now I'm entering my Jason Todd arc I guess

[cosmicseafoam]

You can't just tag that one mindvirus post as Phantom and not elaborate 👀

😇

I’ve talked about it a teeny little bit before but haven’t gone super in depth. Sorry this got so long lmao

CW for dubcon mentions.

I think phantom absolutely uses their quint powers for evil. It’s all pre-discussed and consensual, and certain ghouls have agreed to not know when they’re going to use it.

Aether and Omega both think it’ll be impossible for phantom to take them down. They’re much bigger than bug, and they’ve been around a lot longer. Plus they know bug doesn’t pay much attention in their lessons, comes across as uninterested in harnessing their skills. But the look of fear that flashes across Aethers face when he sees just how quickly Phantom weaves their magic into Omegas brain will fuel their orgasms for the next Millenia. Now sometimes when they're having infirmary meetings, Phantom will locks eyes with Aether and smirk as they gently ghost a fingertip over Omegas neck and let a tiny bit of quintessence slip in just to smell the panic and arousal.

Swiss can feel it as it happens but loves not knowing when it'll be. Can feel the lightning crackle through his blood, can see the lavender haze swirl across his vision before it takes over. He likes it when Phantom takes it slow and teases him with it, they both like that Swiss pretends to put up a fight about it. As if the small amount of quintessence he harnesses could ever be a match against Phantom. Sometimes Phantom likes to give him an out of body experience, uses him like a doll while all Swiss can do is watch on. Sometimes Phantom likes to make him hyper aware of his actions but completely out of control. This is how it all started, really. So sure of themselves but too nervous to ask Swiss to be rough. To make Phantom take everything he was willing to give. So they pumped him full of quintessence, laughed at the confusion on Swiss' face and sighed. "Oh no, please don't hurt me. Please please you can't cum in me I'll get pregnant. No, please, don't." All while making Swiss manhandle them like a ragdoll.

Rain hasn't let Phantom use it on him yet, but will gladly join in while they pump Dewdrop full of quintessence. Sometimes Dew just desperately needs to get out of his own head, and Phantom is more than happy to help him with that. Will lean him back to chest on their lap, slender hand gently wrapped around his throat until his eyes glaze over into a soft purple. Will hold him there and softly stroke across his stomach and chest, holding Dews legs open with their own while Rain eats him out before Rain takes turns fucking them both with his tentacle.

I think the first time Rain ever lets Phantom use their quintessence on him is when his clutch comes early and he NEEDS to lay them but Dew is away with Papa on important abbey business but Rain is too embarrassed to ask outright. Comes to Phantom with tears in his eyes, places Phantoms fingertips onto his temple and they know exactly what he needs. Takes Rain back to his nest and pumps quintessence into his skull until Rain has them pinned with their legs to their chest, telling Phantom to "fucking take it" and their eyes roll back in their head at the feeling of Rain emptying his eggs into them.

The first time they use it on Cumulus is so she'll fully seat herself on their face, happy to be used as a toy for her pleasure. The first time they use it on Cirrus, it's to lull her into an almost sleep, interlocking their legs together and rubbing their little t dick against her clit but not letting her cum for hours. The first time they use it on both of them together is just because they want to watch the girls fight for dominance. Phantom isn't even involved, just watching to the side as they wrestle each other, trying to get the other to submit for long enough to pin the other down and fuck them with a quint strap.

Turns out, Mountain is actually the hardest ghoul for Phantom to take over so they HAVE to do it when Mountain is blissfully unaware. Typically sneaking into the greenhouse when Mount has been out there too long, snakes their skinny arms around his waist and underneath his singlet, pumping as much quintessence into him as quickly as possible before he realises it's happening. Phantom has gotten in trouble for many broken pots this way but it's worth it to watch Mountain lose control of his glamour, growing impossibly huge and pinning Phantom to the dirt, fucking them until they can't take it anymore.

To me, Phantom and Aurora are siblings so they only ever use it for really childish things like a classic "stop hitting yourself" or when Aurora pours the last of Phantoms favourite cereal but Phantom wants to take it without a fight.

[laylaisthename]

ILW // Here they are! All 7 different end cards you can get in the many many more variations of the niche endings available in the game.

Google Drive Link to the cgs here

I am beyond honored to have been allowed to leave my own mark in the game like this, and honestly never in a million years expected to actually become involved with the game.

Everyone is fine to use these as phone backgrounds but if you do youre legally required to tell me which one is your favorite.

Putting it under the cut for length, but here's a breakdown of each card;

Starting with the Evil!MC end cards, that are lovingly dubbed Judas' Kiss if you stayed with Matty, or Scorched Earth for MC's solo end.

The images really mostly speaks for themselves; the flaming heart, hand in atrocious hand if you chose to share the power with Matthias, but then when you put it next to the solo end is where it got fun for me. The heart is broken, its just you now, but the glowing eyes are smiling. My first time testing the judas kiss route I did not hestiate for a second to hit "kill him"

Next is the death card

I really liked the idea of (if your mc wasnt a huge dick anyway) that they give you a grave outside the cave, something for people to leave Rowan flowers and gifts. A classic grave didnt quite feel like it fit so I settled on a cairn. It felt very fitting with the Power being a respect for nature and such. I set it to be at night, with moonlight streaming down on the grave to give it a melancholic sort of feeling, with the sun charm sunny gives you strung off it, and then placed flowers at the grave to kinda show that people have come by because they care about Rowan. Meanings for the flowers are below and while not canon, I like to think each of the LI's left behind one of them; red roses from Abel, blue violets from Amalia, sunflowers from Lincoln and the marigolds from Joss, though really they were all chosen more generally.

Onto the blood end card! Which I named New Horizons, and not because of animal crossing. A winding road in the mountains at sunset; the road has been long, it has been hard and now youre choosing to move on. Symbolically what i wanted this card to be is that feeling of leaving everything behind. The sun is setting on your old life as you go to embrace the normal life that Blood MC wants so much. Youre on the top road moving around the bend, not sure where life will take you but that's alright, you have the rest of your life to look forward to figure out where you'll go.

Onto my own canon end; the Mixed end!

Lovingly called "Best of Both Worlds" because mixed rowan is playing that hannah montanna life. More seriously; this card in contrast to the blood end is not about leaving everything behind, but embracing what you are. The card itself is set at dawn to contrast this; soft yellows and pinks, morning dew and fog clinging to the forest floor with a streak of Power playfully dancing among the trees. Its the dawn of a new day, seeing everything in new light after the darkness of the past weeks/years rowan spent trying to understand themselves. It's my personal favorite end even if my mc and Linc gotta do long distance for a while. But to me its about accepting yourself; moving on from the grief of losing your family without alienating yourself from your memories of them and embracing that Power side of yourself without being changed by it. The life you built after being ressurected is your own and no one can take that from you.

Next up my almost canon end, that does live rent free in my mind because I love angst.

Closed gate shadow end, Far, Far away (yes this is a shrek/starwars/nerd refrence); its a fairly straight forward card, thought it does have one of my personal favorite little details. This is the second draft I made of it after this scene from Lincoln's shadow goodbye stuck with me; looking up through the trees at the night sky.

I really wanted to hide an eye shaped constellation in the stars but couldnt make it look good sadly :sob: But my favorite little detail are the fireflies and how some of them are cyan; touched by the power Rowan is now again a part of. Not canon, but I like to think these little cyan fireflies come to sit on the LI's heads next they wander too close to the woods (Fireflies by Owl City starts playing).

Shadow end is just. Its so beautiful really. From sharing your experiences with the wisps, how Rowan's wisp has been changed by their time as a person, how despite their grief they are not sad or unhappy, melancholic yes but this is where you want to be. Its a cosmic love, the joy of having lived, coming inside on a cold winter day to find your home warm and inviting, your family waiting for you to tell them about your day. The card itself is a little whimsical, hopeful despite the closed gate that the power will forever be part of the world, even if its been cut off. And this brings us to the other shadow ending card; the flower

Eternal Bloom, a ghostly hand reaching out to hand this flower over to the world, a final gift, a final goodbye. Maybe a promise of "I'll see you soon" but first and foremost, it is a promise of love.

Thats right babes. Its all about Love. Unfading Love.

symbolically there isnt anything hidden in the card, but thats also in part of it at face value telling you all you need to know; its about love! its a gift, for you, to remember me by. You have not forgotten me, and even changed as I am, I have not forgotten you. Rowan's change in personality after merging shadow was sooooo heart breaking tbh but ITS SO GOOD. You found joy in what you were, but its time to come home, take off your coat, hang it up, take off your shoes.

And it is all about love! All these cards (well, not all of them) were for me made from the heart, trying to keep in line for the different themes each end resolves to give the players something to remember each route by.

To anyone that made it this far, let me know which one is your canon card/which card you like best! And im kissing you on the lips I love rambling about my thoughts and if you got to here then you deserve a reward. So.

[unhingedwomandiaries]

I was just sitting around the office, as I often do, wasting company time by rambling about meaningless crap with my coworker. Somehow we drifted from talking about a plywood piece of furniture to rehashing worn-out 9/11 conspiracy theories. Out of nowhere, x brings up how Bush looked "absolutely wrecked" when he first heard about the attacks, as if the leader of the free world should have a blasé reaction to such tragedy.

This gave me pause. I flashed back to my late teens, when I was dating a dude who was completely obsessed with conspiracy theories. He was convinced 9/11 was an inside job of epic proportions, all orchestrated by Bush and his inner circle. "Jet fuel can't melt steel beams, baby!" he'd yell, along with explanations involving missile defense protocols and emergency response drills that were just too conveniently timed. I'll admit, some of the "evidence" gave me chills at the time. Maybe there were hidden puppet masters pulling the strings, executing dastardly schemes. But then I snapped back to reality. No way would they let something like that happen just to fulfill some complex evil plan - no matter how many Mountain Dews had fueled the theorizing. We put a man on the moon, for crying out lout. What kind of crazy talk would lead anyone to believe WE covertly pulled off the most brazen attack on American soil? I decided to nod politely and tune him out rather than call my boyfriend a quack. In hindsight, I probably should have broken up with him sooner.

[yhwhrulz]

Worthy Brief - May 10, 2023

Understand the heart of God!

Proverbs 6:16-19 There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

It’s a sad thing, as we've been traveling, to discover the number of congregations that have split over non-Biblical issues. I’ve heard nightmare stories of congregations splitting over the color of carpet! I find it amazing how easily the enemy can work his way into the body of Messiah and operate in the fleshly realm. The success level of his diabolical tactics is embarrassing and infuriating, and I want to implore my brothers and sisters to awaken to this damaging process, to gain an understanding of Satan's strategies, and reverse this destructive pattern.

This particular proverb expresses the objects of God's hatred. While I could do a series on the passage, I want to focus on what He calls an abomination. Notice the first six things are those which God hates … but the seventh is an abomination! Few words carry the weight of that degree of our Father's displeasure. One who sows discord among the brethren is someone that God despises. Why such a strong reaction? Perhaps by understanding the reverse of discord, that is, spiritual unity, we may begin to grasp the Lord's hatred of the actor who works to destroy it. Psalm 133 describes the beauty and excellence of spiritual unity:

"Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments. As the dew of Mount Hermon that descended upon the mountains of Zion; for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life forevermore.

Spiritual unity is where the blessing of eternal life is ordained and experienced, and is evidence of the sweet presence of God's Holy Spirit (symbolized by the oil on Aaron's beard). It is the absolute essence of God's nature, character, and work, and when experienced among His people, is among the most beautiful things in all creation. But where spiritual unity is corrupted and/or destroyed, in the context of his people, God Himself is maligned and the hypocrisy grieves His Spirit and damages His witness; and the reconciling work of His cross is rendered ineffective for those involved. And the result is downright ugly!

It should, therefore, be a frightening thing to engage oneself in sowing or promoting disunity among the saints. And yet it seems to be a common phenomenon. Perhaps, at one time or another most of us have found some "justifiable" reason to malign a brother or sister for petty or superficial reasons. This should simply stop. We need to take the time to discern the true importance of a controversial issue, first of all; and then determine how to lovingly present our concern. Leaders need to powerfully exemplify patience and wisdom in the context of controversies; to determine whether they are doctrinal, cultural, or simply issues of personal preference; and then, to powerfully exhort the parties to humble and deferential dialogue. We simply must strive to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace…and exemplify the character and work of Messiah.

Much could be said on this subject, but suffice to say here that this is an issue of character. Our responsibility is to build up and not tear down; to encourage one another in the faith, even when we are "sharpening iron"! Be mindful of the things that God hates. Seek peace and pursue it; don't make mountains from molehills; little children, love one another.

Your family in the Lord with much agape love,

George, Baht Rivka, Obadiah and Elianna (Going to Christian College in Dallas, Texas) Arad, Israel

[leam1983]

On Sessler

I don't get the guy.

So G4's rebirth failed spectacularly, as you all know. It wasn't needed, it worked off of an outdated format and I, a lifelong Progressive, will freely admit that they pulled the most basic-ass, predictable cards in the deck. Frosk's rant wasn't wrong in its context, but it felt like the last twenty years' worth of discourse hadn't happened and Olivia Munn was still clutching a mic in front of a camera.

Welp, Sess went on another Twitter meltdown and more or less expectorated on what he feels is an audience that's betrayed him. He wants to come across as the martyrized high-brow analyst of the art form that's beset with thuggish rubes from the trenches of the Doritos-and-Mountain-Dew Corps, but it just doesn't click.

Seeing him screech online, I was reminded of all the frustrated wannabe Postgrad alumni I've worked with whose features constricted at the slightest provocation, and who'd then find supposedly advanced, but actually entirely sophomoric ways of landing put-downs. You know the type: they take Dark Academia far too seriously, wonder why they're the only ones with expensive Moleskine notebooks and attend Pop Culture Studies lectures at the Postgrad level because they're a requirement of the Master's Degree program. They really rather we went anal over the latest hot-button counter-cultural theorist when the name of the class more or less translates as "Get out your Potter books and your Weyland-Yutani-issued pulse rifles, 'cause shit's gonna get nerdy."

Picture one of these guys going from disinterest to blatant disgust over a little over six weeks, because some girl who's still stuck on Anamanaguchi decided to use The Walking Dead as a vector for her long years of literary observation. Picture them having the nerve to stand up and start a diatribe in the middle of the one class on campus where the closest other guy to the type of student they are's actually overdosed on Alighieri because he played the EA-published video game on PS3.

That's basically Adam Sessler, as of recently. Frothing at the mouth, jabbering away at all the CoD-bros he's never hung out with, likely reliving the halcyon days of his likening BioShock Infinite to Samuel Beckett's output.

I don't get that.

Yes, there's cultureless hacks in the medium. Yes, some people look like their K/D ratio eventually came to become the one dominant facet of their personality. Yes, there's former potentates of twitch reflexes and vaunted quickscoping heroes who haven't caught on to the fact that aging slows you down. The sick shots you landed in your teens get insanely hard to put out in your twenties, unless you relentlessly train for it. Yes, these people tend to mask a sense of inadequacy with toxicity.

The thing is, they don't matter. I game in Single Player, or on closed servers my friends and I administrate. We catastrophically fail and simultaneously laugh it up, then pick ourselves back up and go back to fragging. Whenever shooters get involved, pot usually enters the picture. Try quickscoping when half of your brain is busy coming up with a constant parade of brain farts.

I also don't let my past define my hobbies. I don't need to analyze everything I like. Not everything needs to have narrative value. There's days where all I fucking want is to skip the tutorial and campaign cinematics and build the worst Goldfinger lair ever in Evil Genius 2. There's days where all I want is One Finger Death Punch on Survival mode.

There's days where all I want is Mortal Kombat. As in, the shitty one on SNES. I am under no obligation to be high-brow.

It would help if some journalists remembered that.

Oh - and yes. I do still call myself a gamer. The label fits, as I don't simply pick up a controller when I'm at someone-or-other's house. That's it. It's the same reason why someone who's serious about Lego builds could consider themselves a model maker, or why the term maker came to define anyone who has a valid excuse to go for Prusa's top-shelf extruder, if not two or three more 3D printers.

[amerasdreams]

Novelember day 12

2900 words today!

I woke up a lot last night but went back to sleep, woke up finally at 6:47, figured I might as well get up, I needed to go to pets-- take mt laptop there-- and then I could write the rest of the morning

Well there was no food at home for breakfast bc I took my bread to the pets yesterday (any other quick bread like food had too much sugar in it) so I grabbed my Spaghetti-os and went to eat them after giving breakfast to the pets. While I ate them and drank mountain dew I watched videos of Kherson liberation. I'm so happy for them! This counts as legitimate delay for writing.

Got to writing about 10. Despite the caffeine my mind was a bit foggy... I'm wondering if I have a slight cold or something. It's been like that several days along with a stuffing and slight scratchy throat... barely there but. I thought about maybe watching a show bc my mind wasn't sharp but... I have this nice Saturday morning, to potentially actually get some words down.

Still... it took some time to get started bc I had this dilemma. How do they get in. Layered dilemma for me bc I'm working with both the protagonists' minds and the antagonists'. A sort of chess game. Which doesn't come naturally to me. But it is essential to know what the bad guys are thinking in the story. They are ones that control the board. They make the 1st most powerful moves and the good guys have to react even though they don't always know who even made the moves, what they are in reality, or why.

I made Jason think aloud on order to figure out what to do, which i may cut out later. I figured out something that works. Then I had to figure out the next move. It's hard to make the characters even move forward when there is an opponent so powerful they may not have a way to move at all. But they have to... without being stopped too soon and without making the antagonist seem too weak.

Well, we cant deal with that forever. It may not be that realistic oh well. We are at the next stage.

Literally

And undercover. In the den of the enemy. How long until found out. Especially when some very horrific things are going on.

It's a balance, showing but not too much. Especially involving children. I don't want to be graphic at all (thinking of trafficking and abuse of children makes me sick.) But they're enslaving children and we are fighting it-- so the evil has to be strongly implied.

[translations-by-aiimee]

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun - Chapter 30

Original Title:  二哈和他的白猫师尊

Genres: Drama, Romance, Tragedy, Xianxia, Yaoi

This translation is based on multiple MTLs and my own limited knowledge of Chinese characters. If I have made any egregious mistakes, please let me know.

Chapter Index

Chapter 30 - This Venerable One Doesn't Want to Eat Tofu

"Hey, hey, did you hear? Elder Yuheng violated the sect rules. As punishment, he has to kneel in Yanluo Hall for three days."

In the morning class the next day, the disciples gathered on the Platform of Righteousness and Evil to practice and meditate. In the end, they are all teenagers and 20-year-olds, and they couldn't just do as they were told. If a master wasn't paying attention, they'll start whispering and gossiping.

The news that Chu Wanning had been punished quickly spread.

The disciples who witnessed the beating yesterday were not shy about sharing the gossip with others.

"Wow, why are you guys finding out about it so late? Oh . . . So yesterday Elder Lucun took you up the mountain to collect night dew flowers? Well then - you guys really missed out on a lot! Yesterday evening, in the Qingtian Temple, there was flesh and blood flying everywhere. It was horrible. Elder Yuheng was beaten with more than two hundred strikes! More than two hundred strikes! Not a single one missed! There was no mercy!"

The disciple made a particularly exaggerated expression every time he said a new sentence. No need to mention the show he was putting on for all his junior brothers and sisters surrounding him.

"Do you actually count all two hundred strikes? Even a big man could be killed, not to mention Elder Yuheng. He couldn't stand it and passed out. This made our young master mad. He rushed in and fought with Elder Jielu. He said not to lay another finger on Elder Yuheng. Ah, that scene—"

His facial features were wrinkled up like a steamed bun. He squeezed his eyebrows. Finally, he stretched out a finger, swaying from side to side, and summed it up in three words:

"Tsk tsk task."

Immediately, a younger sister disciple paled: "What! Elder Yuheng fainted?"

"Young Master and Elder Jielu got into a fight?"

"It's no wonder I didn't see Elder Yuheng in this morning class . . . so pitiful . . . what crime did he commit?"

"I heard that he beat a civilian in a fit of rage."

". . ."

Such gossips drifted into Xue Meng's ears from time to time. Life-Death Peak's young master had completely inherited his shizun's temper, so he was very irritable. It was unfortunate that more than one person was gossiping about this. There were groups all over the Platform of Righteousness and Evil, all muttering "Elder Yuheng was punished" and so on. It made him feel so irritated, but there was nothing he could do.

In one corner was Xue Meng, veins bulging on his forehead, and in the other was Mo Ran, unable to stop yawning.

Xue Meng couldn't direct his anger anywhere else, so he viciously spat at Mo Ran: "The plan of the day relies on the morning. You dog, you're so lazy in the morning! What has Shizun been teaching you?"

"Huh?" Mo Ran said with sleepy eyes followed by another big yawn. "Xue Meng, that's enough. I can handle Shizun's lecturing. Who do you think you are? I'm your cousin. Behave yourself when you talk with your cousin. Don't be so rude."

Xue Meng said fiercely: "My cousin is a dog. Be whatever you want to be!"

Mo Ran laughed: "You're so mean. If you don't look out for your elder sect brother, think about how disappointed Shizun will be once he finds out."

"You still have the audacity to mention Shizun! Let me ask you, when he went to the Court of Discipline yesterday, why didn't you stop him?"

"MengMeng, he's a shizun. Yuheng of the Evening Sky, Beidou Immortal. What did you want me to do?"

Xue Meng was furious. He drew his sword, his sharp eyebrows furrowed angrily: "What the hell did you call me?!!!"

Mo Ran's grin stretched from ear to ear: "Be good, MengMeng. Sit down."

Xue Meng bellowed: "Mo Weiyu, I'll kill you!!"

Shi Mei was caught between the two, listening to their daily bickering. He couldn't help sighing. He silently held the edge of his forehead, trying to concentrate on reading his book: "The sun and the moon are poured in the pot* when the spiritual core is first formed. The way of heaven cannot be interpreted, and life and death are involved in the process. . ."

*(T/N: 日月壶中灌 - referring to the Daoist practice of leisurely inactiveness)

Three days passed in the blink of an eye and Chu Wanning's period of reflection came to an end.

According to the rules, the next thing he had to face was a three-month grounding period. During this period of time, he could not leave Life-Death Peak and needed to go to Mengpo Hall to do miscellaneous chores, clean the corridor pillars of Naihe Bridge, sweep the steps in front of the mountain gate, and so on.

Elder Jielu was anxious: "Elder Yuheng, to be honest, I don't think you should do these things. You are the best shizun of your generation. Doing this kind of dishwashing and floor cleaning . . . it feels wrong." He trailed off, leaving half the sentence unsaid --

The main reason is that the old man doubts whether you can even sweep floors, cook and wash clothes!

Chu Wanning didn't doubt himself at all and went to report to Mengpo Hall in an orderly manner.

All of Mengpo Hall, from the chief steward to the servant, was shocked to hear that Chu Waning was coming to do hard labour. They were terrified, as if they were approaching the enemy.

Chu Wanning, dressed in white, arrived in a flutter.

His handsome face was cold and calm, completely expressionless. If you added an auspicious cloud under his feet and a whisk between his arms, he would've looked like the picture-perfect immortal.

Manager Meng Potang felt very ashamed and uneasy. He was actually supposed to make such a beautiful man wash vegetables and cook.

Chu Wanning didn't have the self-image of being a beautiful man. He stepped into the kitchen and coldly swept his gaze over the crowd, who couldn't help but take a step back.

". . ." Chu Wanning was straightforward. "What should I do?"

The chief steward coyly pinched the edge of his hem and thought about what he should say. He cautiously went with: "How does this elder feel about washing vegetables?"

Chu Wanning said: "Okay."

The chief steward was greatly relieved. He originally thought that Chu Wanning led a very pampered life. He might be reluctant to do this kind of labour, however, all the other jobs were either dirty and tiring or required some skill. He was worried that Chu Wanning wouldn't be able to do a good job. Since Chu Wanning easily agreed to wash the vegetables, he didn't need to worry about it.

As it turns out, the chief steward was really naive.

There was a clear stream in front of Mengpo Hall. Chu Wanning went to the stream with a basket of green vegetables. He rolled up his sleeves and began to wash the vegetables.

This area is under the jurisdiction of Elder Xuanji. Occasionally a disciple of the Xuanji sect passed by. He saw Chu Wanning actually washing vegetables and was so scared that he couldn’t even get a word out. He rubbed his eyes three or four times to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He said in astonishment: "Elder Yu-Yuheng -- good-good morning."

Chu Wanning raised his eyes: "Good morning."

Elder Xuanji's disciples shivered and fled.

". . ."

Chu Wanning didn't bother to talk with them and continued with his business. He broke the leaves, washed them, and threw them back into the basket.

He washed them very carefully. He broke each vegetable leaf apart, repeatedly brushing them thoroughly. The consequence of that was -- come noon, the basket of vegetables still hadn't been washed.

The man waiting in the dining room was anxious, pacing around in circles: "What should we do? Why hasn't the elder come back yet? If he doesn't come back with the vegetables, how are we going to make the stir-fried beef and vegetables?"

The chief steward looked at the sun and said: "Forget it. Hurry, let's replace it with braised beef."

So, when Chu Wanning returned, Mengpo Hall had already served the beef. The stew was so crispy and flavourful that there was no need for vegetables at all. Chu Wanning frowned. He held his vegetables, rather unhappily, and coldly asked: "If you didn't want the vegetables, why did you make me wash them?"

The chief steward's hairs stood on end. He wiped the cold sweat on his forehead with his handkerchief and said something that he regretted: "That's not it. I was thinking you could make a pot of stewed tofu with vegetables?"

Chu Wanning had no expression. Still holding his vegetables, he tilted his head and pondered silently: ". . ."

The chief steward hurriedly said: "If you don't want to, that's alright--"

He hadn't even finished speaking before Chu Wanning asked: "Where is the tofu?"

Chief Steward: ". . ."

"Elder Yuheng, do you . . . know how to cook?"

Chu Wanning said: "I'm not completely ignorant. I'll give it a try."

At noon that day, all the disciples happily entered Mengpo Hall as usual in groups, looking for somewhere to sit. Then, they headed to the counter to get their food served.

There was no shortage of food on Life-Death Peak. The food had always been plentiful and today was no exception.

The braised beef was fatty and lean, the fish shreds were vibrant and rich, the farmhouse pork was golden and crispy, and the chopped pepper fish was red and tempting. The disciples rushed to grab their favourite foods, lining up around the hall, asking the chef to add a spoonful of sweet and sour pork ribs to them, pour some marinade on the rice, or add some spicy sauce.

The ones who always made it to the front of the line first were Elder Lucun's disciples. The little guy at the head of the line had a big pimple on his nose. All he had on his mind was some Mapo Tofu. He skillfully carried the wooden tray to the last counter without raising his eyes and said: "Shizun, I'd like a bowl of tofu."

The shizun, with pale, slender fingers, handed him a plate full of tofu.

However, it wasn't the Mapo Tofu he was familiar with. Instead, it was a plate of strange food with a charred black colour and indistinguishable ingredients.

The disciple was surprised: "What is that?"

"Tofu boiled with bok choy."

Mengpo Hall was full of people, so the disciple didn't pay attention to answering the other person's voice. He said angrily: "Are you an alchemist? Can you even call this tofu with vegetables? I don't want it. Take it back!"

While cursing, he glared at the shizun there. As a result, when he saw the person standing behind the counter, the disciple screamed in fright and almost knocked the tray over.

"Elder Yu-Yuheng!"

"Hmm."

The disciple was on the verge of tears: "No, that's not what I - I didn't mean that just now. I. . ."

"Since you're not eating it, I'll take it back." Chu Wanning said blankly, "Don't waste it."

The disciple stiffly picked up the plate, handed it to Chu Wanning then left with his tail between his legs.

In a short while, everyone knew that Elder Yuheng was standing at the last counter, so the originally lively Mengpo Hall was suddenly silent.

The disciples lined up like a pack of puppies, and they hurriedly grabbed their food, panicked. They went up to the last counter respectfully, greeted the elder, and stumbled away.

"Hello, Elder Yuheng."

"Mmm."

"Good day, Elder Yuheng."

"Good day."

"Elder Yuheng has worked really hard."

". . ."

The disciples were very disciplined and were acting with an abundance of caution, so Chu Wanning accepted the tense greetings from each disciple, but no one dared try his pot of boiled tofu with green vegetables.

Slowly, the line was getting shorter and the food in front of other shizuns was almost gone. Only Chu Wanning still had a pot full of food. The pot of vegetables was completely cold and untouched.

Chu Wanning's face didn't waver, but his heart was conflicted. He had washed them all morning. . .

At that point, his three disciples showed up. Xue Meng was still in silver-blue light armour, refreshing getup. He bounced over with excitement: "Shizun! How are you? Does your wound hurt?"

Chu Wanning was very calm: "It doesn't hurt."

Xue Meng: "Well, that's good."

Chu Wanning glanced at him and suddenly asked: "Do you eat tofu?"

Xue Meng: ". . ."

[kimvvantae]

umbra; 15

➜  being ruled by an ancient commandment, your sole purpose is to serve. you were born to protect the king with your life, tied by an everlasting oath; you are nothing but a shadow, a silent and insignificant being. he appears to you like the sun, the warmest and brightest star in the sky, and gives you a chance to live. it is then that your entire universe starts to orbit around this sun, and you decide that you are truly willing to die for him.

pairing: King!Taehyung x (f) hybrid!reader

genre: royalty au, fantasy, angst

warnings: descriptions of violence, blood and death that might be triggering.

rating: 18+

word count: 12k

A/N: can't believe this is happening after so long. i thought i'd never finish this chapter at some point but !! HERE !! IT !! IS !! if i'm still worthy of your time and attention, may you please leave some feedback on this chapter? 🥺

➜  Chapters: check up masterlist in bio!

He looks at the sleeping woman laying beside him.

The man analyzes her features as she breathes peacefully. Her hair is sprawled over the pillows; their naked bodies are millimeters apart. He can feel her warmth reaching him. He doesn't dare to move, holding back his need to touch her delicate face with his fingertips, to feel the softness of her skin.

She has such a tranquil expression that, just by looking, he can tell she's having good dreams.

He doesn't want her to wake up.

He hoped he could keep her peace forever. She became the flame that ignited his heart, the paint that brought color to his life. She showed him kindness, made him forget about his scars, made his wounds hurt less. She has been happiness and love. Life spent by her side meant tranquility, bright days and cozy breeze, comfort and warm laughter.

She made him believe.

He has been trying to protect her for a long time. He saw the good in her the same way she saw good in him. She trusted him and he trusts her, too. The woman laying beside him has such a pure heart - a heart immaculate by suffering and darkness. Not even an inch of her soul carries any type of evil.

That's precisely what makes his own heart clench.

She believes.

She trusts.

She's too good.

Slowly, sunlight starts to peek inside their bedroom. He can feel the scent of dew and hear the melody of birds. And, just as the sun comes up from behind the mountains, he feels as if his heart starts to bleed.

He tried to protect her for a long time, to prevent the inevitable to happen - but it is too late. The rising sun is the end of the line.

The time has come.

He can no more run away from his primary objective.

The man bites his bottom lip in an attempt to choke his own sobs; tears flow uncontrollably, his body shakes. No one told him it would hurt this much. No one told him he would feel as if his soul was being torn apart. If he knew this from the start, he would never have approached her in the first place… but he's way too involved in this already, drowned in the cause. He is fully aware of his position - personal feelings must be pushed aside. Millions of lives depend on his actions.

He loves her. It shouldn't have happened. Years ago, he swore he would never have fallen for someone like her - but no one can control the heart's wish. Every fiber of his body and soul loves her. It is the unchanging truth: he knows he'll always love her. That's why he kissed her last night in a way he never did before; he took her and loved her as strongly and deeply as never before. It would be the last time. The last time he caressed her and felt her scent and the softness and warmth of her skin.

The last time she looked at him lovingly.

However, at the same time he loves her with his entire soul, there is also another feeling that never really left. Silent and invisible, but always there. Subtle like the breeze touching his skin. Warm like the sunlight filling their bedroom.

That's it. She is precisely like the sun: necessary.

But if you come too close to the sun, it burns.

It kills.

And the overwhelming perception of what she in fact is underneath all the beauty is what pushes him forward.

The man gets up from the bed silently, careful not to wake her up, and puts his clothes on.

He doesn't look back as he leaves the bedroom. He isn't ready to look at her. For he knows, the next time she looks at him, long gone will be the loving eyes that he became used to.

As wrong as it is, tears still roll down his cheeks.

He isn't ready to face her look of betrayal.

The sound of incontable combat boots marching against the marble floors of the palace seemed to be matching my fast heartbeat.

As Alpha sat at the entrance of the palace - sending menacing glares to all the humans around him -, we ran inside of the building again in order to get ready. Captains of the Royal Guard were yelling orders front and back. I heard the confused chatter of workers. Glass shards could be seen in several spots where the windows imploded.

"Taehyung, what exactly do you plan to do in Athena?" I insisted yet again as we walked at a fast pace. I couldn't understand his motives.

General Seokjin, who also accompanied us, said: "Even if you go flying, I'm sure it'll take some hours to get to Athena. We can't expect that the army of obsidian soldiers will sit down and wait patiently until you come back with a plan."

"And I'm sure that King Hugo will be very displeased by your presence and will certainly try to kill you." I added.

"Not to mention that Y/N isn't in her best conditions yet to be able to fight at her full strength…" Seokjin pointed out.

"I know!" Taehyung stormed, sounding annoyed. "The odds are not in our favor, I get it!"

"Well, it doesn't seem like you get it, Majesty." Seokjin said sarcastically.

"What do you plan to do in Athena?" I asked again, hardening my voice. I was tired of being dragged around by him without having any clue of what we were about to do.

"Athena is marching for war." Taehyung finally said. "They have their troops ready and they're not far from Ëlv'en. None of our allies will manage to ready their troops in time, and we don't have the time to wait for them."

I found myself speechless.

"This is your great plan? You're expecting that King Hugo will send his own troops to help us?! Are you even hearing yourself?!" General Seokjin said before I could.

I always thought Taehyung was a smart man, but that sounded like the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

"Did you by chance forget that King Hugo thinks that you're the responsible for his daughter's murder?" I couldn't hide the disbelief in my voice. "He wants to see Ëlv'en burn. At most, he'll get happy to hear that we can fall without having to sacrifice any athenian man.”

“But not only Ëlv’en will burn.”

Taehyung suddenly stopped walking, which made Seokjin and I stop as well.

The way he said those words made a shiver run down my spine. He sounded somber. Almost scared.

As if he was seeing something much more dangerous that none of us could yet see.

He turned around and looked at us seriously.

“Don’t ask me how I know it. But I feel that whoever is doing this won’t stop with Ëlv’en.” He pointed towards a window nearby. We could still hear a big commotion from afar: animals screeching in panic, a loud and confused cacophony of voices asking themselves what was going on. They didn’t need to be experient magicians to feel that something was terribly wrong - something so ominous and unnatural that they could feel it deep in their guts. "Someone built a bridge from another realm that shouldn’t exist. Those things coming from the Styx River drain life itself because they are the opposite of life. This is much worse than any war this continent has ever experienced and it goes beyond any type of feud. If King Hugo doesn't listen to us today, he will burn with us tomorrow." Taehyung's eyes went from me to Seokjin very seriously. "Yes, I know I sound like a madman and what I'm about to do is madness, but millions of lives are at risk, so I don't care to act like a madman right now. Unless any of you have a better plan."

We stared at him in silence.

Taehyung had a way with words that, even if you had no idea what he was talking about, you'd still believe him. It was that strong certainty exhaling from him that made half of this kingdom fall for him. I'd usually believe him without questioning, too - not because it was my duty, but because I could feel he was someone you could trust.

Not this time.

Do you think you know everything about Taehyung?, Gilliard's venous voice whispered in my ears.

"Athena's troops can't be so close to Ëlv'en." I started in a low voice. "How couldn’t our sentinels notice the troops near the border? Even if we ask for King Hugo's aid, they still won't be here in time." I narrowed my eyes. "Unless you know something that you're hiding from us."

I watched as Taehyung's face twisted in pure confusion.

"What do you m-?"

"King Taehyung!"

The three of us looked behind Taehyung's back at the same time as the angry King of Vanaheim approached us, accompanied by his assistants.

I noticed Taehyung doing his best to not roll his eyes as he prepared himself for the confrontation.

"What on Earth is going on?!" King Satoshi stormed. "How dare you be so impolite and simply leave our negotiations like that?!"

"King Satoshi, it appears that our kingdom is under attack." Taehyung started. "I believe that the palace is the safest place you and your daughter could possibly be at the moment. I'll ask the guards to lead you to the safety rooms-"

"No! I want to leave this place immediately!"

King Satoshi's cheeks were burning red in anger; his fists were tightened. Taehyung was trying his best to hide how tired he was. It was almost comical how the older man was acting like a child and the younger man acted like the tired parent.

"You committed the worst of the disrespects, Taehyung." Satoshi continued. I had a feeling that Taehyung had already heard all that. "How dare you simply undo the betrothal that was planned by both our kingdoms years ago just a few days before the ceremony?! What would your father think of this?!"

"My lord, I'm afraid this isn't the most appropriate moment to-"

"You not only disrespected my kingdom, you also disrespected my daughter!" If his cheeks got any redder, he was probably going to explode. "What are you, a tyrant? I just found out that you sent half of Ëlv'en's Council to the dungeons! And now, you simply undo the betrothal?! Inexperienced! Disrespectful! You're a boy sitting on a throne, acting like a king, doing whatever pleases you!"

I watched as Taehyung now did his best to hide his growing anger.

"King Satoshi, I must remind you to keep your politeness when you're talking to me inside my house."

Satoshi gasped. "Was this a threat?! I can't believe what I just heard! You'll destroy Ëlv'en singlehandedly! I don't want to-"

"Father!"

Once again, we looked back and saw an angry figure approaching - this time a smaller and more delicate figure, but furious nevertheless, and seeing her furious made me frown because, up until now, I didn't know that Minatozaki Sana was able to show anger at all.

"Sana, go back to the safety room-" King Satoshi started, but the princess was definitely his daughter.

"How dare you be so disrespectful towards King Taehyung?! Where's your manners?!"She held the hem of her blue skirt so tightly that her knuckles were white. "Are you even listening to yourself?!"

"Go back to-"

"Well, you surely aren't listening to yourself, the same way you aren't listening to me!"

Sana stood in front of her father and they glared at each other. The princess’ maids appeared from down the corridor - apparently, Sana ran off from the safety room and left her assistants behind, judging by how confused and relieved they looked as they approached at a fast pace. Dahyun looked the most worried as she led the other assistants.

The people from Vanaheim around us watched as the King and the Crown Princess were about to start arguing. It seemed that they weren’t even breathing.

“I told you that King Taehyung and I agreed mutually to end this betrothal. It was a decision we took after deep consideration!”

“This isn’t something you can decide on your own!” King Satoshi stormed. “Your wedding is long expected by both kingdoms! The union will build the strongest bond this continent has ever seen!”

I saw the moment Sana took a deep breath, her fists tightened with tension. She was gathering all of her courage.

“You never asked us if we wanted this wedding, have you? You simply took decisions for us when we were children. Our opinion was never taken into consideration.”

Satoshi snorted and stared at Sana with widened eyes, as if he just didn’t recognize the woman standing in front of him. “You can’t be serious, Sana. I thought I had taught you well! This is your duty as a royal. We that bear the weight of the crown on our heads must make sacrifices for the greater good.”

“No, you taught me really well, father.” It felt that Sana was suddenly growing as she spoke: her chin high, her confidence getting stronger and stronger as words flew from her lips. It was a familiar type of confidence; a confidence of someone that understood their responsibilities, of someone that believed in themself and was ready to stand for what they believed and to protect those who were under their responsibility. It was the confidence of a ruler.

“I have been preparing myself to be the Queen of Vanaheim since my childhood. I care for our people and I know how this alliance with Ëlv’en is important to all of us. That’s why I can guarantee that our bond will keep as strong as ever and become even stronger in the future, because I know King Taehyung personally and I trust him. Our alliance will be solid in the future even if we’re not engaged.”

Taehyung had the ghost of a smile on his lips. I think he saw in her the same thing I was seeing.

“The same goes for me. I am sure that Princess Sana will be a wonderful ruler.” He said with noticeable affection and respect. It made me remember how jealous I was just to see them together, not long ago. My clouded judgement didn’t let me realize that Taehyung, in fact, always saw Sana as some sort of sister.

And Sana’s heart, of course, already laid with someone else.

The Princess looked at Taehyung and smiled softly, nodding her head. Her eyes then went back to Satoshi. Her expression suddenly shifted, and in that moment I noticed that she wasn’t about to speak as the Crown Princess, but as a daughter talking to her father.

"I am aware of our responsibility as royals. I know that some sacrifices must be done. But… father, you always told me that, even though you know how the royal life might be lonely and ruthless, you wished I'd be happy beyond everything else, the same way you were happy when mother was still alive. And I can't be happy if I'm not with the person I love."

My eyes immediately shifted to Dahyun, standing quietly behind everyone else.

She had a shocked expression as tears started to well up on her eyes. Her aura felt like pure golden happiness.

Satoshi wasn't an evil man. He wasn't the type of King to not take people's feelings into consideration - especially his daughter's. He was affected by her words.

Despite our period of convivence being short, I still felt a spark of pride within my chest. Sana was kind, fair, extremely smart; Sana was beautiful inside and outside, the prettiest flower ever born in Vanaheim. But beauty and delicacy weren’t the only things she had. Minatozaki Sana was strong. Not the type of strength I was used to - the type I was taught to believe was the most important - her spirit was strong. Being able to stand up for your beliefs and wills is not something anyone is brave enough to do.

Sana made me think of a little lilac flower that grows in Athena. It grows in the middle of volcanic rocks and freezing temperatures, the rare vegetation that bears the rough environment and the cold. It’s small and delicate, just a small flower - but it is the only thing standing against the cold wind.

Taehyung was right. She would be a great Queen in the near future.

Her father knew it, too. However, he clearly wasn't totally convinced.

The man sighed and crossed his arms.

"We'll talk about this later.” He reluctantly said.

This was the cue Taehyung needed. He stood there all the time nervously (I could almost see him holding a sigh of relief back). “Alright! Now, I please ask Your Majesties to go back to the safety rooms. The guards will guide you safely.”

Vanaheim’s Entourage seemed to have fallen back into reality, as if they just remembered the dangerous situation they were at the moment.

“I believe that I will be of better use out of the palace, Your Majesty.”

I had noticed Yuta standing there quietly the entire time, but it was the first time he spoke up, which made King Satoshi surprised. Yuta was surrounded by ëlvian people, he wasn’t supposed to signal his presence like that.

It was impossible to not look at Yuta’s right arm; the moment I sliced half of his forearm off was still very clear in my mind. Guardians are trained to overcome any type of adversity, so I was sure that everything Yuta must’ve been doing everyday after his recovery was train to fight with only his left arm, yet I still wondered if he was feeling strong enough - and confident enough - to fight in such condition.

“No. You’re supposed to be by the King’s side right now.” A guard from Vanaheim said. Judging by his uniform, he was Yuta’s superior.

Instead of looking at the guard, Yuta turned his body towards Satoshi - of course, he didn’t look at the King directly in the eye, his head respectfully lowered. It was painful to watch his submissive demeanour. Even though I have never fought against him, I knew just how powerful Yuta was; yet, he still felt forced to keep his head lowered to a man that was simply using him as a protective shield, a man that wouldn’t really care if Yuta died and would never take Yuta’s feelings into consideration… a man that belittled him and made Yuta believe he wasn’t deserving of anything but a painful life of abnegation and suffering.

King Satoshi might be gentle towards his daughter and his people, but I was sure he was never gentle towards Yuta - the same way King Taejun never showed an ounce of understanding or compassion towards me.

Yes, it was very painful to watch him.

“Your Majesty, I believe that the danger we’re facing right now is too high. If I’m outside the palace with the defense lines, I’ll be able to fight freely if needed.”

This surprised me.

Yuta didn’t need to do this. He should presumably stand by his master’s side at all costs. But… it seemed that he was trying to protect not only King Satoshi, but everyone else at the Capital. I was sure he also felt Hoseok’s presence outside of the palace.

Before King Satoshi could say anything, Sana approached Yuta expectantly: “Yes! Please, It’d be of great help. We also need to protect the people.”

Although he had the princess’ approval, as expected, Yuta waited for his “master” orders. Hesitantly, the King nodded.

“I guess that right now, you’re the best help Vanaheim can provide.” He still wasn’t liking this situation, but at least decided to not argue for now.

Taehyung started to once again hurry them up when I felt someone tapping my shoulder lightly. I turned around to see an hesitant, apparently panicked maid.

“Yes?” I asked, confused at why the woman wasn’t in the safe zone with the rest of the crew.

She carefully lifted something folded on her arms.

“Ma’am,” she said, her voice trembling slightly, “your pants. As requested.”

I wish I had time to put a proper armor, but it would take too long, so I locked myself in the nearest room and god rid of the stupid long skirt, adjusting the combat boots on my feet. I'd still have to wear the tight pretty blouse that looked very inappropriate for our current task.

We ran back to the entrance of the palace. Alpha spotted Taehyung as soon as he appeared, screeching in a way that sounded like relief, staring at the King with pleading eyes. The griffin was visibly uncomfortable to be surrounded by so many humans.

Taehyung caressed the animal's head in a reassuring way. "Easy, Alpha. We're leaving soon." He turned around to the captains that were staring at him expectantly. "You already know the orders. Patrol the city and advise the people to not leave their homes yet, but don't alarm them too much. Be ready to execute the evacuation system at any sign. General Seokjin has the authority to start the evacuation if he deems necessary. Pass the orders on to your respective teams."

"Yes, Majesty!"

The captains immediately left. General Seokjin still looked very hesitant.

"I'll come back soon." Taehyung said in a reassuring way, noticing the worried expression on his cousin's face.

Seokjin looked at Taehyung in silence for a few seconds. Much like Sana, I saw that he wasn’t about to speak as the Royal Guard’s General, but as a worried cousin - almost an older brother.

“I still don’t like this idea. I hate when you act this crazy.”

Guilt covered Taehyung’s features. “Believe me, I wouldn’t do this if I had figured a better course of action.”

“I know.” Seokjin nodded. “You’ve always been a crazy bastard, but that’s what makes you way stronger than anyone I know.”

The King smiled. “What? Why are you getting all emotional?”

“Shut up.” he rolled his eyes, the hint of a smile on his lips, and tapped Taehyung’s shoulder. “Just don’t die in Athena. It will be very troublesome to explain your death.”

Taehyung smiled wider and nodded. His smile was still covered in apprehension, as well as his entire body. They were both trying to act as nonchalant as possible, but both of them knew this could be the last time they talked to each other.

“Take care of my mother and Yeri for me. Please.” The younger one asked in a more serious tone. The General nodded.

Seokjin then looked at me. In his quick gaze, I could see that he still didn’t fully understand me - this person he mistreated for years, but didn’t give back the same level of treatment. He didn’t trust me deep down. But now, he had no choice.

“Take care of this crazy bastard, Y/N.” He said. I nodded.

“I will, Sir General.”

With this, the General left, yelling orders to the surrounding guards, rushing them to take action.

My eyes moved to where Hoseok was quietly standing; some meters away, Yuta also positioned himself. Seeing three dragons in the same place was something extremely rare. It gets harder to cover our presences when many of us are together; the similar energies are like magnets. I could feel the insistent pull inside of me. Any sensitive magician would be probably too bewildered by the wicked energy coming from the West to notice it, but if they paid enough attention, they’d feel the immense ancient energy exhaling from this spot.

Yuta looked at me from far and nodded slowly. He decided to stand away from King Satoshi out of gratefulness towards me, after I saved his life not long ago.

I tightened my fists.

“Let’s go.” I said. Just like Seokjin, I still didn’t like this idea. I didn’t like that Taehyung somehow knew that Athena’s troops were closer to the border when the sentinels and I hadn’t felt it yet. What made me remember how Taehyung touched an obsidian soldier and didn’t just crumble into a pile of ashes…

But I didn’t have time to question him, because someone opened a portal to the Realm of Dead not too far from the Capital, millions of lives were at risk and my brothers were risking themselves to protect all those lives.

Taehyung looked at Alpha nervously, what made me remember his fear of heights. “Do you want me to lead?” I asked, quirking one eyebrow up. Flying was nothing new to me. Of course, I was used to flying with my own wings, but I still thought that I’d have a better idea of what to do.

Taehyung gulped. “No. It’s alright. Besides, I don’t think Alpha would trust anyone else to guide him.”

As if it already knew what we were about to do, the white griffin lowered its body, almost laying down, waiting for Taehyung to take his place on Alpha’s back - which he did gracefully. Instead of just hopping on Alpha’s back as well, I stared at the animal’s eyes and lowered my head respectfully. I knew the griffin wouldn’t just let me be on his back like some sort of horse. Alpha blinked slowly and lowered its head as well, mirroring my actions; it gave me permission. Just then I hopped on its back, right behind Taehyung.

Alpha looked back at Taehyung, waiting for instructions. The King leaned over, getting closer to the griffin’s ear, and said in a rather quiet, deep voice:

“Athena.”

Alpha got up on its feet.

“You better hold on tight.” Taehyung said looking over his shoulder. I promptly locked my arms around his torso, my own body glued on his back, as Taehyung gripped Alpha’s fur tightly.

The griffin extended its immense snow-white wings, what made the spectators on the palace’s entrance and the people at the main square gasp in awe.

Only one flap of its wings was necessary to launch Alpha off the ground meters and meters up in the sky at full speed.

I safely locked my legs around Alpha’s torso the strongest I could and hoped that Taehyung did the same; the incredible speed made it difficult to breathe as the creature launched itself up and up, knocking the air out of my lungs. I remembered the first time I flew too high; I wasn’t used to my wings just yet and clumsily went too fast. The air was knocked out of my lungs so suddenly that I passed out for a few seconds, waking up to see the floor approaching at a scary rate. Fortunately, I was used to this feeling already, but I feared for Taehyung - so I opened my palm against his stomach and whispered a word in dragon language: protection. This would be enough to prevent him from passing out and his ears to implode due to the strong pressure.

I felt the spell successfully spreading around his body with no resistance - both because it wasn’t an aggressive spell and because Taehyung trusted me enough to not raise any type of resistance against me, even unconsciously - but as my own energy cloistered him, I also felt something… strange. Very small and timid. Like some type of pulse.

It seemed that Alpha was just going to rise forever - which made me a little bit worried; why did it need to fly so high? - but the climb finally came to a halt as the griffin steadied its flight at cloud’s height. The ground was kilometers and kilometers away; land looked like a miniature, the big centers of Ëlv’en being left behind in a blur. The color of the sky looked darker and darker the higher you looked at, the horizon being cut in a thin layer of clouds. The wind was ruthlessly cold up at that height and oxygen was scarce, but Alpha’s skin was surprisingly warm and its fur covered our legs, which made me not worry about Taehyung freezing to death.

I noticed Taehyung’s heavy breathing.

“Are you alright?” I asked; although Alpha wasn’t climbing anymore, the wind made it difficult to listen, so I had to make my voice as high as I could even though my lips were almost glued to his ear.

“No!” He replied. I could feel how nervous he was. It was inappropriate, but I couldn’t help but smile.

“Don’t be nervous. I won’t let you fall,” I reassured, locking my arms around him more tightly.

“The way you sound so unbothered scares me!” he said in a shaky voice.

Alpha was soaring at this point, barely flapping its gigantic wings. I noticed when the griffin steadied itself on a strong air current. The way it was flying started to worry me; of course, I knew how tiring it is to just fly at full speed for too long, but the creature just seemed too calm and slow. Athena was at the farthest point of the continent, the exact opposite of Ëlv’en; how many hours of flying would it take to get there in time at this speed? We didn’t have this much time.

But then I looked down again.

Barely five seconds ago, I was still looking at Ëlv’en’s central zone where the biggest cities were placed.

Now, I was staring at big plantation areas. Way past the central zone. Way past the Baïkarh forest. The North border was already visible just ahead.

“How…?” I asked myself, completely confused. It didn’t make any sense. Alpha wasn’t supposed to be already so far from the Capital flying at this speed.

“Look!” Taehyung said, being brave enough to let go of Alpha’s fur to point at something down there.

We were a little bit past Ëlv’en’s North border.

At first, I didn’t understand what he was pointing at. I could just see flat land.

But my vision adjusted itself and I had to gasp.

Troops.

They wore black and green armors and were hidden just behind a hill. They weren’t too many, perhaps less than a thousand, but that worried me nevertheless. Less soldiers mean better soldiers. An elite troop.

They were less than two kilometers away from Ëlv’en’s border.

My heart sped up.

“What? How?!” I couldn’t even speak a coherent sentence. “How did they get here unnoticed?! How didn’t our sentinels track them?!”

Taehyung didn’t need to say anything, for I found the answer one second later. I forced my sight as far as I could until I noticed a little detail on the soldiers’ armors. A rune. It meant hide. It wasn’t unusual for invasion troops to use this type of spell, but that was way too strong. It made them invisible, untrackable to our sentinels, it completely covered their presence. What made it more impressive was how many of them were under that spell and how it still managed to work so well; usually, the more people involved, the more difficult it is to hide all of them, but they were almost one thousand.

Who made such a strong spell? And more importantly-

“Taehyung, when did you feel their presence?” I demanded, completely bewildered.

“I felt them a little before the opening to the Realm of the Dead appeared,” he said. “I was having that awful conversation with King Satoshi when I noticed them. I was about to call an emergency meeting when that happened. But…” he looked at me from over his shoulder, eyebrows knitted in a confused expression. “I thought you had felt it too, Y/N.”

I stared back at him in silence.

No, I didn’t feel it. I had no idea.

But he felt it before me.

He was able to feel their presence even though they were under a solid, carefully done camouflage spell - a type so strong I’ve never seen before, so strong that it made me question which mage would be strong enough to create such a powerful spell.

And Taehyung felt it before me. Before the sentinels. Before the sensitives.

I knew very well that Taehyung wasn’t defenseless and his knowledge in magic was wide. Taehyung had battle experience and could evoke offensive and defensive spells. I knew he was an experienced healer; he knew how to make potions, what is already the alchemy field, a field I personally had little knowledge in.

But this?

His sensitivity was so accurate? So precise and strong?

How?

This went beyond what I knew and what I expected of him.

Just… just how powerful that man really was?

And what made me even more confused- he was confused. He expected me to have felt it, too. As if the troops’ presence was something obvious, something right in front of my face, impossible to not be seen. As if he himself didn’t understand how absurd his sensitivity was.

None of it made any sense.

Yet, this wasn’t the appropriate moment to question him. I felt a strong shiver, a freezing cold at the back of my neck.

Alpha flapped its wings once, gently pushing itself higher. It was impossible to see anything but white as we crossed a thin layer of clouds, which got our hairs and clothes damp. The griffin now soared just above the clouds; it looked like an immense white carpet just under us, Alpha’s shadow hovering over the clouds. It wasn’t possible to see anything under the gigantic carpet that extended itself for kilometers and kilometers.

My stomach twisted in a strange way. I felt dizzy.

I couldn’t breathe well anymore.

“What’s happening?” I asked Taehyung in the quietest, uneasiest voice.

“You have to stay calm.” He said. It was ironic how he was now asking me to stay calm when he clearly was also uneasy. “Alpha is about to cross the skies.”

A shiver ran all of my body.

I looked around. It seemed that the sky was getting a darker shade of blue; the sun was hidden under the clouds.

The sky got darker and darker and darker until it was pitch black - no stars to be seen.

That twist in my stomach got worse. There was something strange about the air. Its temperature shifted in a way that couldn’t be normal. My heart was beating way too fast now as I gripped Taehyung’s shirt, feeling something very close to sheer panic.

There was no sun. There was no moon.

Then, I saw the sky changing colors again - it shifted to a dark shade of red, redder than any sunset I’ve ever seen. Once more, the temperature of the wind changed; it felt strangely warm. The clouds under us flashed up in some spots with red lightnings. We heard the muffled sound of thunder far away… what I assumed to be the sound of thunder, because it didn’t really sound like one. I decided to not think too hard about what it could really be.

It changed again; purple. I looked up and gasped, a mix of pure fear and amazement bubbled up inside of me. There were stars again - but now, the stars were falling, leaving a trail of pure gold in the sky as they made their way down. It looked like the most beautiful, dangerous and scary golden rain in existence.

My senses were completely stunned. I didn’t understand what I was seeing and what I was hearing and what I was feeling.

Alpha was tranquil.

I finally started to understand what was happening.

The griffin wasn’t soaring on an air current. No, that wasn’t a simple air current. It was the magic flow itself.

Alpha was literally crossing the skies. Not only our sky. He was crossing the skies of other realms.

I’ve heard stories in the past. It was said that the elves, fairies, dragons - none of them were natural to our world. It was said that these beings came from upper and lower worlds; I was always taught that the dragons invaded this world, crawling up like demons from Niflheim (the real Niflheim, a realm just above Helheim, not the mountains of this world I was born in) and decided to rule because they found a species that was incredibly weaker than them. The elves apparently came from Alfheim, an upper world of superior beings - and it was said that there were even upper worlds, places so far from our comprehension that we couldn’t even dream of it.

Traveling from realm to realm was supposedly long lost knowledge; it was said that the last time anyone traveled through realms were the elves, when they decided to ascend back to Alfheim. No one really knew how they did it and no one really questioned it, because of all the lies spread, people just believed that elves were divinities, beings too powerful to be understood. Now I knew it wasn’t true. Elves were magic beings just like dragons and fairies and mermaids. And the answer to how they traveled through realms-

We were sitting on it.

Griffins were extremely powerful creatures… they used to be the familiar of elves. Perhaps griffins also came from Alfheim. Perhaps that’s why they were hunted down and killed by humans - so that they wouldn’t be able to fly back to their real realm, so that no elf could come back to our world, since Merlin and his army of mages expelled them.

“Merlin and his people found a way to lock them back in Alfheim,” Ehmerald told me.

Alpha was crossing the skies as a way to get to Athena faster - a shortcut. But it couldn’t enter other realms, it could just cross it, because somehow, the opening to other realms was still locked.

Almost locked.

Someone made an opening to Helheim; someone built a bridge and managed to get its creatures into our world, not once, but twice, and this second time was much stronger than the previous one.

This someone was way ahead of us in many ways. Their knowledge in magic went beyond what I even thought was possible.

...how could we win over someone so powerful, whoever this person was?

“We’re almost there,” Taehyung said. I could hear echoes of his voice, which didn’t make sense, considering where we were. “Be ready.”

I looked at the golden rain above us one last time as Alpha started to fly lower; once again, we couldn’t see anything but white as the griffin crossed down the clouds.

The knot in my stomach and the dizziness were suddenly gone. The air seemed normal again.

We were back in our world.

And there it was - Athena’s royal Capital, just under us.

There wasn’t time to enjoy the view of the great city. It was invisible, but I felt as the city’s protective spells immediately tracked us - the overwhelming aggressiveness being directed to us, the intruders that suddenly appeared inside their area.

A strong headache suddenly hit me as the first protective spells tried to affect my mind. I pronounced another word in dragon language - shield! -; a very faint hue of green surrounded us like some type of bubble. The headache disappeared as soon as it came, but we had to be quick; it was only the first of the attacks to come.

“I really hope you know what you’re doing,” I told him. It was impossible to hide my worry at this point. “I don’t know how long this spell will work.”

The King nodded. He knew very well that I wasn’t fully healed; this shield required a lot of energy. It would be impossible to hold it against protective spells from the entire city - especially because we weren’t tracked as simply intruders, but as powerful magical creatures too close to the royal palace; highly dangerous threats. We would pretty much trigger every protective spell possible.

But even so - we were lucky. Athena didn’t have a guardian at the moment. In normal conditions, I would’ve never agreed to make such a flamboyant entrance. Any dragon-guardian would immediately enhance all the protective spells the second they felt the size of the threat we represented and would engage in a fight. In my state, I wouldn’t stand a chance against a fully healthy and angry dragon.

“Straight to the palace, Alpha!” Taehyung said.

“Watch out!” I yelled - not that it was necessary.

Both Alpha and Taehyung obviously saw the wave of arrows flying from the ground towards us - arrows shining in a reddish hue, slashing the air and producing a shrilling sound that made me shiver. Hundreds of arrows. I felt my stomach dropping as Alpha maneuvered through the arrows, trying to avoid them the best way he could, but it was near impossible - we were a big target and the arrows were small. Some of them were simply thrown away by Alpha’s incredible speed and the wind it produced, and the spell I put around us was what protected us from the inevitable ones that ended up getting too close.

The arrows weren’t that harmless and easy to defeat, as expected.

Everytime they landed, they exploded in scarlet energy. Although we weren’t hurt, the energy pulse still managed to push Alpha, making it difficult to fly.

And it didn’t really matter that Alpha was trying to fly away from them.

“They’re following us!” Taehyung yelled in annoyance as he looked back and saw the cloud of red arrows tracking us across the sky, shrilling the air like very angry bees. “And they’re raising the shield!” he said, pointing at the palace: the golden magic of the protective spell was slowly making its way up to cloister around the building. “We have to get there before it closes!”

“Then we need to get rid of those arrows.”

Archers were necessary to put the arrows in the air, but only one person was necessary to make them follow us like living beings. Only one wizard. It was difficult to extend my arm with Alpha flying violently, but I opened my hand and waited.

Didn’t need more than one second.

I grabbed the arrow which was still shining with the red energy; my power immediately made it submissive, it didn’t explode.

I closed my eyes.

Feel the steel against your skin, feel the magic, feel the signature, find the man.

I saw it.

The man wearing a green armor, standing at one of the highest sentinel towers - the man whose signature matched the energy of the arrow I was holding. His eyes were shining red as he guided the arrows after us in the sky.

He, too, noticed the moment I found him. I saw his face contort in surprise and fear, I saw the moment he was ready to protect himself-

But it was too late.

“Sleep.”

The red hue around the arrows vanished. They fell from the sky, back to being inanimate objects.

“Alpha!” Taehyung yelled.

The griffin launched itself down at full speed, its wings tight against its body like an eagle pouncing at its prey.

Just before the shield closed completely - we crossed it.

Alpha couldn’t reduce its speed to land gracefully; when we were close to the floor, it opened its wings to reduce the speed - making the soldiers under us gasp in surprise - but it ended up landing inside of the entrance hall, clawing at the marble floor until it finally stopped.

There was one second of silence. I exhaled sharply, adrenaline rushing through my veins.

Then, we heard yells.

Hundreds of guards showed up from all directions, pointing their spears and swords at us. Alpha looked around menacingly, expanding its wings and screeching to scare them off - which certainly made some of them back away.

Taehyung patted the griffin’s neck. “Alpha, it’s okay.” He said in a calm tone. “We can’t look hostile.”

“We just breached inside of their palace. We look anything but not hostile.” I said under my breath. Taehyung decided to ignore my very obvious observation. Alpha closed its wings, but still looked menacingly anyway as Taehyung and I hopped off its back.

“Do not move!” One guard yelled. We were totally surrounded.

Taehyung lifted his opened palms, showing he had no weapons to hide. “I did not come seeking conflict. I just want to talk to His Majesty King Hugo.”

“It doesn’t look like you don’t want conflict.” We heard a thunderous voice say.

The whole room went silent as Athena’s King walked in.

He looked horrible.

Way skinnier than I remembered, he did not wear the usual luxurious royal attire. It looked like he hadn’t slept in days. It was strange - even unsettling - to see Hugo like that. Not just because he was a King, but because Hugo exhaled power and authority; he was crafted from birth to be King in a different way than Taehyung. King Hugo was taught to never show any sign of fragility, to never appear in front of anyone in a way that didn’t look dignified and glorious.

But Hugo had just lost his daughter after all.

He was stripped.

Taehyung was also stunned by Hugo’s appearance. It took him a few seconds to speak again.

“You wouldn’t listen to me if I asked politely.” He said.

“And who said I will listen to you right now? I could just get you killed.” The King approached us slowly. He definitely didn’t look like the well-pondered leader of Athena. His aura was hot like lava, burning in anger. He almost looked feral. “As if stealing my guardian wasn’t enough, you have the audacity to breach into my home like this? You’re not behaving like someone that wants to avoid conflict.”

Maybe the adrenaline was still high in my system, because before I could think twice, I said:

“No one stole your guardian. He was never yours to begin with.”

For the first time, Hugo’s eyes landed on me.

He was very similar to King Taejun in a way. Those strict, hardened eyes. The underlying fear and respect I always had for the deceased King was what made me shiver when he looked me up and down - out of instinct.

“This is what we always feared.” Hugo said. He sounded disappointed, angry and scared, all at once. It also seemed that he was talking to himself. “If Taejun wasn’t as arrogant as he was, this could have been avoided. All of this.”

Taehyung watched Hugo in silence for overwhelming seconds.

“You know it wasn’t me, don’t you?” He said in a low, serious voice. “You wouldn’t be naive to believe in such a thing.”

King Hugo didn’t respond.

I could feel that the guards around us were getting confused. They didn’t dare to say anything or even move, of course.

Taehyung looked at me and then back to King Hugo, his eyebrows furrowed - and by his expression alone I knew he was figuring something out.

“The ex-Leader of the Council, Gilliard, died today.” Taehyung said very seriously, eyebrows still furrowed. I stared at him in confusion. Why would this be important right now? “He was, in fact, murdered by an unknown spell… just as we were about to get information out of him.”

King Hugo kept silent.

Taehyung tilted his head a little bit. He stared at Hugo intently, as if searching for anything that would make things clear.

Then he said, in a very low voice:

“Were you cursed, too?”

Once again, King Hugo kept silent.

Yet, this was the answer Taehyung was looking for - and everything made sense.

Gilliard was murdered the moment I was about to make him tell me who was truly behind all of this. If King Hugo really knew that Taehyung didn’t order Princess Serena’s murder, yet commited to attacking Ëlv’en anyway…

Maybe he was being forced to do it.

Forced by a curse that would kill him if he ever told the truth.

"The Book of Merlin." was all Hugo quietly said.

I recalled what Taehyung told me:

There is a book… it is called the Book of Merlin, where they have to sign their names with their own blood to settle the oath. This book has hundreds of names signed, King after King and Queen after Queen, from all the Kingdoms.

So, in Hugo's case, it was even worse; it wasn't a curse, but a pact. Pacts are more effective than curses because curses are one-sided, while pacts have the consent from both parts. When Hugo signed the Book of Merlin with his own blood, he consented to be murdered if he ever threatened to reveal the truth of the world. Not only that… it seemed that he could be killed if he did anything that would displease the "higher ups" - the people behind all of this.

I already thought that there was someone "beyond" Gilliard and the counselors, but right now, we just found out that these people were beyond Kings.

And if that was the case…

King Taejun didn't die of a disease, Y/N. He was murdered.

Taejun disagreed with them about something, and then they decided he wasn't useful anymore.

Possibly, Taejun died because he did the same pact - signed the Book of Merlin.

It was so much information that I almost felt that I couldn't breathe for a moment.

Right now, we had to be careful. Gilliard died in an instant before he could say anything. If we wanted Athena's help, we needed Hugo alive. We couldn't question him straightforwardly.

Taehyung stepped a little bit closer. The guards tightened their positions.

"I know you felt it too, Majesty. Everyone felt it." Taehyung started softly, carefully. "There's a legion of obsidian soldiers emerging from the Styx River. They're inside my Kingdom, near the Capital. If I don't do anything, my people will die." He gulped. "I know Athena could have an opportunity to become this continent's main ruler if Ëlv'en falls, but… but I know you don't want it to happen this way. You don't want to collaborate with the people that murdered your daughter."

Again, silence was the answer - but King Hugo tightened his fists and, surprisingly, his eyes filled with tears. Hatred tears.

"But you also know that if you don't collaborate, Athena will be next, isn't it?" Taehyung's breathing got heavier. I could sense it; he was speaking from the bottom of his heart. "Do you still want to be a part of this, Hugo? After everything they've done? They're using you like a marionette."

Hugo's aura burned even harder. His eyes pierced through Taehyung.

"All of this could've been avoided if Taejun simply did as told!" He said in a strangled, painful voice. "It all began because of him. And you… why did you have to keep this dragon? If it had been executed when Taejun died, they wouldn't need to make up that combat to kill it. My daughter would still be alive!"

Hugo was yelling at this point.

I was frozen.

He really knew that it wasn't Ëlv'en who killed his daughter. He knew the combat between me and Hoseok was just a little act to make my execution seem more believable.

Everything was just an act since the start.

Taehyung gulped again before speaking.

"Hugo, we need Athena's help."

"You know I can't."

"I never really signed the Book." This made Hugo lift his gaze back to Taehyung again. "I didn't use my blood to sign it. I didn't make a pact, so I'm not trapped by its curse. Hugo, we have to fight against them. Aren't you tired of being controlled, everything just for the sake of sitting on a throne? You're not different from any slave, then."

"Careful, Kim Taehyung. Be careful with your words." Hugo said between gritted teeth. Taehyung didn't care about his warning, though.

"Your invasion troops could help us. We can stop them, finally put an end to all this. You'll be protecting Athena as well; you'll be freed."

Taehyung stepped even closer.

"Avenge your daughter, Hugo."

Athena's King stared at Taehyung, once again, in utter silence. Now, though, it seemed that he was speechless.

But before he could say anything, he heard a woman's voice fill the entrance hall.

"Send the troops immediately."

The guards stepped aside so the Queen could walk in.

She wore a humble white robe (in Athena, white was the color of mourning); no jewelries, no fancy crown, no makeup. Just by her presence I could feel a deep pain strike me… the pain only a mother who's lost her children can experience.

And I also felt scarlet hatred. More intense than her husband's.

"The invasion troops are close to Ëlv'en's border. If they move immediately, they can get to the Capital in time." She continued in a hardened voice.

Hugo looked back at his wife, surprised and hesitant.

"Anya…" he called softly, almost a painful whimper.

The Queen didn't say anything.

She grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly, staring deep into his eyes.

Then, she nodded solemnly.

It was all the affirmation he needed.

"Why are you still standing?" Hugo yelled to his guards. "You heard your Queen! Move, now! Bring me the General immediately!"

Sudden noise of men moving, armors clicking and a collective "Yes, Your Majesty!"

As the entrance hall was filled with this familiar cacophony of boots against marble and guards yelling orders to their troops, Queen Anya stood in front of Taehyung and put her hands over his shoulders.

She looked at him in silence. That silence seemed to make more noise than anything around us.

"Kill them, Taehyung." She begged. Pain, sadness, longing, hatred, revenge. Everything was a turmoil inside of her. "I am putting my faith on you. Kill them, free us from this pact. Because, if you fail… I won't rest until Ëlv'en burns to ashes."

I shivered.

Gently, Taehyung held the Queen's hands. "I promise you, Majesty. Your efforts won't be in vain."

She nodded.

Taehyung stepped back. "I must go back to Ëlv'en." He took something from his back pocket - a tiny seashell attached to a silver chain. A communication amulet. "You can contact me anytime you need. As soon as I get to the Capital, I will make sure to open a communication channel between my General and yours."

He placed the seashell amulet on Hugo's open palm. The King nodded and shook his hand tightly. "I count on you, Taehyung."

Taehyung nodded back.

He looked back at me. No words were needed. It was time to go.

As we hopped on Alpha's back once again (the griffin seemed more than happy to finally leave), Hugo ordered that the protective spells wouldn't affect me anymore.

"See? I'm a madman, but it worked." He whispered from over his shoulder, looking at me.

"It worked this time, but someday you'll get us both killed." I whispered back.

Taehyung chuckled softly.

"Don't bother. Maybe we'll be dead before this day ends, and it won't even be my fault."

I didn't like his sense of humor.

Alpha launched itself to the sky, knocking the air out of our lungs before Taehyung could say anything else.

Once again, Alpha crossed the skies - and once again I felt my senses totally stunned and a knot in my stomach.

The way back was silent.

Although we were silent, my mind was as loud as a shouting crowd.

And one more voice stood out in the midst of them.

Do you think you know everything about Taehyung?

A gruesome feeling started to fill my insides as I side eyed Taehyung from his back. A feeling I've been wanting to avoid, yet was always there, just getting stronger after my encounter with Ehmerald.

A feeling that maybe the man I've trusted with my life - and the lives of my own kind - was a complete stranger.

But I kept silent.

Didn't say a word as, finally, Alpha landed at the royal palace's main courtyard. I've never seen it so full of soldiers and guards before; their presence made the otherwise beautiful and peaceful place look heavy, suffocating. Alpha still looked at the guards suspiciously - the spears seemed to make him particularly anxious -, so the griffin decided to make its way up once again to land on the roof of the tower where I first met him that night, away from everyone else. The fact that it decided to stay even though it hated to be surrounded by people just showed how serious the situation was.

Immediately, guards surrounded Taehyung, General Seokjin being the leading one. General Namjoon stood by his side.

"Great, you're not dead!" Seokjin exclaimed. He sounded relieved, but mainly nervous. "What happened there?"

"King Hugo is sending his invasion troops to help us. They're already marching." Taehyung said, making everyone release a collective gasp. Hurriedly, the King walked inside the palace to what used to be the royal Art Gallery - now, the place looked more like an armoury than an Art Gallery. They managed to put a long table from a dining room nearby at the very center of the gallery. Over it, there were many weapons of all sorts and some maps.

The sight made me shiver. Ëlv'en's royal palace really became the headquarters of what was becoming a war. Maybe worse than a war.

Taehyung stood in front of the table and pulled the closest map he could find. Many soldiers gathered around him promptly, and everyone in the room went shut, listening to his instructions.

"Athena's invasion troop is here at the North border, just past the farmer villages of the Györi district. You must send our own troops to meet them. I want eyes on them as well, just in case they decide to turn their backs on us. How long do you think it will take?"

General Namjoon knitted his eyebrows in a thoughtful expression. "The closest troops are protecting the main cities of the Györi district. I'd say it'll take 5 hours for them to march there."

"Then send at least three troops to meet them. Tell them to make it in 3 hours. The rest must tighten their formation around the Györi cities."

Of course, Taehyung wouldn't be naive enough to let the cities at the border unprotected. King Hugo was an unstable man. What if he decided to attack Ëlv'en anyway, taking advantage of the fact that we were too focused on the obsidian soldiers?

"Sentinels. I want eyes on their troops right now."

"Hawks!" The leader of the sentinels called. The "hawks" were a special squad inside the sentinels because, obviously, the animals they used to see through were hawks. He instructed five of the Hawks to immediately put their birds in the sky, heading North.

"I want to see the Styx river. " Taehyung ordered.

The guards brought a copper basin that was already over the table closer to the King. A Hawk sentinel stepped closer after bowing politely and placed his fingers over the thin layer of water. As usual, it fluttered slightly before an image could be seen over the water.

A deep silence hovered over us - tied with deep fear.

The image showed the aerial view of the Styx river, yet it took some moments for me to notice what was that. For kilometers on both North and South, the waters of the river were pitch black. The vegetation on both riversides was also black - burned by black flames. As the hawk focused its vision, I could also see incontable dead fish floating down the river, as well as many dead animals around.

And they stood there.

Thousands of obsidian soldiers.

They had stopped emerging from the water. Standing in formation, completely motionless.

For what it looked like… they were almost ten thousand.

For the first time, the real danger of the situation hit me.

We almost died fighting against one hundred.

Five thousand of them?

An enemy we couldn't even touch?

"One life for another." Taehyung said quietly in a dark tone. "Whoever's behind this sacrificed thousands of lives."

A shiver rolled down my spine.

The Hawk sentinel suddenly flinched away from the water and closed his eyes tightly as if in pain. Taehyung promptly held his arm when it looked like he was about to lose his balance. The image vanished.

"I apologize, Your Majesty. The birds can't stay there for too long. If they don't fly away soon enough, they simply die."

"We already lost a few couple hawks," the leader of the sentinels explained.

Taehyung nodded. He kept silent for a few moments, eyebrows tightly knitted. From his aura, I could sense just how nervous and uneasy he was.

"Why are they just standing there?" He asked himself - more an out loud thought than a proper question. "It doesn't make sense. It's been some hours already."

"Maybe they're waiting for you." Seokjin said somberly. "Just like they did last time."

Taehyung tilted his head to the side. "We can't be sure. And we can't just stand here and patiently wait for them to come. General Namjoon, how many soldiers here at the Capital are able to fight?"

"Around two thousand." Namjoon said. "I already called reinforcements from other cities, but right now, this is what we have."

The King nodded. "Seokjin, except for the ones that must stay to protect the city, how many guards can you send?"

Seokjin thought for a second. "I could send eight hundred."

Silence.

Even with help from Athena's troop, we were still at a disadvantage.

Then…

An idea popped in my mind.

"If we find and kill the conjurer, they will vanish."

Again, all eyes on me.

Taehyung looked worried.

"But, Y/N…"

"We are outnumbered. What we have is all we have right now… we can't lose thousands of men in battle. What if more of them emerge from the river? We'll be saving lives."

"Whoever did this must be incredibly powerful. Maybe too powerful even for you." General Namjoon said seriously.

Everyone in the room knew they'd never be able to fight against such power - except for me.

I nodded.

"I know. But I'm not going on my own. I just have to convince my brothers to come with me."

Yuta and Hoseok.

I didn't know how I'd do it, but Namjoon was right - not even I knew if I'd be able to fight against that person on my own. Three dragons, however, wouldn't be easy to fight.

Taehyung still looked hesitant.

But he knew that I was, before anything else, a warrior - and it was no time to put his feelings for me over the safety of millions.

So, albeit hesitantly, he nodded.

"Y/N will search for the conjurer, but we can't sit here and wait." Taehyung announced. "And they won't wait until we do something. So ready the troops and let's march. We have to keep them away from the Capital and other cities nearby. We can't let them walk more than ten kilometers from the riverside, understand?" Taehyung made a circle with his finger over the map, pointing to the Styx river on both sides. "If they move forward, we'll force them back. We'll only engage in a fight if they move first. Our troops must be moving before dusk.”

“Yes, Majesty!”

The room went into full noise of men walking, shouting orders and armors clicking once again.

"Is everyone in the safe zones already? Is everything ready for evacuation?" The King asked. Seokjin nodded.

"Everyone safe, everything ready." He then frowned a little bit. "...except for one person."

Taehyung narrowed his eyes. "Who?"

"The Queen Mother." Seokjin said hesitantly.

"What?!" He couldn’t hide his shock. “Where is she?”

“At her royal room. I tried to convince her, but she didn’t listen to me. She didn’t even listen to Yeri.”

The worry in Taehyung’s aura just got heavier. “Seokjin, Namjoon, take care of the preparations. I’ll go see my mother.”

Taehyung grabbed my hand and walked away from the crowd of soldiers, taking me along.

I noticed that almost everyone in the Gallery looked at us as he did this - and my cheeks immediately felt hot.

“You don’t need to do this in front of everyone.” I whined quietly as we walked away. “It’s not appropriate for someone in my position.”

“The least thing I’m worried about right now is what’s appropriate and what isn’t.” We walked at a fast pace, almost running. Every guard that walked past us bowed to the King and gave us that look. I could feel their attention and thoughts creeping on my skin in an uncomfortable way.

“Why do I have to go with you?” I whined once again as we entered the royal quarters. It was almost empty here, since everyone was sent to the safe zones underground. “Is my presence needed?”

Taehyung finally stopped in the middle of the empty corridor and stood in front of me.

His eyebrows were knitted in a deep worried frown.

“I don’t think you should go.”

Although I was starting to get used to his protective side, my warrior pride was still offended. “What? Why?”

“You’re not fully healed.” He said softly, placing his hand on my cheek - and, as usual, the place where his skin touched me seemed to burn. His eyes were full of affection and worry as he analyzed me. “You shouldn’t push yourself so hard. You can’t even transform right now, can you?”

He was right. I wasn’t sure if I could. To transform into my dragon nature takes a lot of energy. There’s a reason why dragon hybrids don’t do it all the time. “We don’t have another choice, do we? I can’t let thousands of men die.”

“I can’t let you die.” His voice was an almost whisper - a painful plea. “I can’t let you get hurt again like last time.”

He did it again.

With one look, one touch, the single tone of his voice - he was able to make me forget about all the suspicions I had for him only minutes ago, made me melt in front of his eyes. It wasn’t rational… but I found out that, with Taehyung, most things weren’t rational anyway.

My gaze softened, as well as my voice. “Taehyung, it wasn’t your fault.” Yes, I knew he blamed himself for what happened to me. “And I’m doing this because I can’t let you die, too.”

“Maybe there’s another way out.” He tried weakly.

“There isn’t. You know it.”

“But, Y/N… I think both of us suspect the same person at this point.” A shiver crossed me as he said this. “If it’s really who I think it is, I don’t know if you can win.”

“I don’t know either, but I have to try.”

“You’re stubborn.”

“You can’t ask me not to go. This is who I am. I can’t accept just watching people fight while I do nothing.” I couldn’t help but tilt my head and smile a little. “I’m like you. Unfortunately.”

He chuckled too, but worry never left his eyes. His other hand cupped the other side of my cheek as he stepped even closer, radiating heat through my body.

Taehyung looked at me in silence for a few moments, as if struggling to find words.

“Y/N, I…” he started in a soft - even scared - tone. “I feel like we had so little time together. The thought that maybe one of us might be dead before tomorrow morning- it- it’s painful.”

“Don’t think like this.” I said, placing my hand over his wrist gently.

“I don’t want us to be over so fast because I feel that we didn’t even really start.” He gulped. “I… I want to live many more things with you.”

My heartbeat increased.

“I didn’t think that feeling this way was something possible for someone like me… someone who’s faking all the time and who lives in false relationships. I- I told you, I still thought that I’d be able to marry Sana not long ago. But Y/N, I feel that this is the first time I’m living something real with someone. I don’t want it to be over. I don’t want to lose you.” My heart ached as I noticed his eyes glossing. “I don’t even know if I’m making sense right now- God, you’re the only person that does this to me- but if we survive tonight, I want you to know that I want to spend the rest of my life with-”

My lips silenced him.

Taehyung breathed in, surprised. I was never the one to initiate things - but I couldn’t resist anymore, not with him talking like that and looking at me like that.

I felt the same way as him, I just wasn’t good with words… so I decided to show him.

I don’t think this made Taehyung displeased, though. He was more than eager to reciprocate the kiss, his lips immediately moving in synchronicity with mine. One of his hands traveled to the small of my back where he pushed my body against his. As I deepened the kiss, my left hand instinctively grabbed his hair - what caused him to make a low grunt.

That sound made an unknown type of shiver cross my body.

Usually, our kisses were short and soft (except for our first that was fueled by anger and frustration) because Taehyung quite understood that I wasn’t really ready to do more than that. Yet, now, I was the one who initiated it and I was the one to deepen the kiss… perhaps because his words affected me. What if we really would never see each other again by tomorrow? What if this was the last time I’d see him and touch him and kiss him?

This dark cloud called fear hovering over our heads was what made me forget about all of my insecurities and simply let my unknown instincts and desires lead.

As our lips and tongues danced, a thought crossed my mind:

I wanted him.

I didn’t even understand how. I didn’t know this type of thing could be good. I vaguely remembered a lesson they gave me in Niflheim when I was a child - something about… well… how to make healthy offspring, that’s how the trainer called it.

What I learned that day always sounded repulsive and I hated to know that I’d have to do it someday to get pregnant.

But…

I was feeling hot in some strange places and I felt a strong desire - almost as instinctive as the ancient magic flowing in me - to be touched in those strange places.

Not that I’ve never felt like this before, but not that strong. It was irrational.

The heat seemed to intoxicate Taehyung as well; as one hand rested on the small of my back, his other hand held my neck. He was kissing me like the first time again - he was needy and hungry, and this time it felt better because now I knew what I was doing instead of just letting him lead. Our breathings were irregular, all I could hear was the beating of my own heart and the sounds our lips produced and I also could feel Taehyung’s aura, and now it wasn’t overshadowed with worry anymore, but with something heavy and pulsing and that would look purple if it had a color and would smell like a sweet perfume if it had a scent.

It wasn’t the first time I felt that aura, but it was the first time I didn’t feel disgusted by it. I was intoxicated.

I didn’t even notice that my back was pushed against a door as Taehyung stepped ahead, never parting our lips. Our bodies were close and I wanted us to be closer. I wanted to get rid of everything between us.

But Taehyung finally broke the kiss, leaning away slightly, but still keeping his hands on me.

His mouth was red and he was breathless and his eyes were gleaming with something that made my legs shake and gods he was beautiful.

He called my name quietly.

“Do you want this?” His voice was deep and husky.

I nodded, unable to speak. If I could speak, though, I would’ve said yes I want this so bad.

He gulped.

“If you want me to stop doing something,” he said in an almost-whisper, “tell me to stop.”

I nodded, unable to speak. If I could speak, though, I would’ve said I don’t want you to stop. Why would I want you to stop?

His lips touched my cheek. “If you want me to keep doing something,” his lips were right by my ear, making goosebumps crawl all over my skin. “Let me know.”

I nodded, unable to speak. If I could speak, though, I would’ve said how exactly do I let you know-?

Taehyung kissed my neck softly, his warm and wet tongue sucking on the flesh of my skin - and this made an involuntary weird, strangled sound leave my lips.

His fingers grabbed me harder when he heard this.

Oh.

This is how I let him know.

He kissed my neck once again, which made me grab the fabric of his shirt tighter, because I felt that my legs were too weak to keep me standing. I’ve never felt overwhelmed in a good way like that. I usually hated intimacy and hands touching me and people invading my personal space, but right now I wanted him desperately, I wanted him to touch me and I didn’t know what personal space meant anymore, I just wanted him closer and closer and closer.

Taehyung’s hand left my back briefly so he could hold the doorknob, ready to take us inside the room.

But then another door opened abruptly down the corridor with a loud bam.

We looked in that direction at the same time.

It was the Queen.

She narrowed her eyes.

“I don’t think the time is appropriate for such a thing.”

Taehyung stepped away from me in a jump and I stood there three steps away from him, by posture as hard as a board.

The heat left my body in an instant.

No… not really. I felt my cheeks burning in embarrassment now.

“M-Mother,” Taehyung said, cleaning his throat. I’ve never seen him look so flustered. “I came searching for you.”

The Queen Mother quirked one eyebrow. “Really? And did you get lost?”

My cheeks burned harder.

“Mother, you have to go to the safety zone,” Taehyung tried to recompose himself, the previous worry coming back to him slowly. “Why are you still here?”

Queen Seojeon approached us slowly, her eyes never leaving her son.

I watched her in silence, feeling the embarrassment leave me slowly.

Taehyung never seemed to be particularly close to his mother. They didn’t spend much time together and Seojeon wasn’t the person he’d look out for if he needed advice or comfort - Zofia seemed to be more of a motherly figure for him. Yet, he never showed the same level of resentment towards her than he had with King Taejun.

Because of that, I was surprised when I felt the amount of love and fear radiating from her towards Taehyung.

She stopped in front of her son and placed her hand on his cheek sweetly.

In her eyes - pure fear.

“It’s vanishing.” She whispered.

Taehyung looked as confused as me. What did she mean?

She placed her thumb at the very center of his forehead-

And it happened.

The familiar shiver on the back of my neck.

A strange golden glow around Taehyung’s body. They started to appear…

Golden marks on his skin.

Like tattoos. They had a pattern I’ve never seen before; seemed to cover all of his body. But, even though I’ve never seen those patterns before, I could still recognize what that was:

A seal.

Taehyung looked at his arms, eyes widened, totally astonished.

“What is this?!” He demanded. “What did you do? What is going on?!”

Queen Seojeon seemed to not listen to him.

Both of us watched in confused silence as tears fell down her cheeks.

The Queen Mother grabbed her son’s shoulders tightly and stared right into his eyes.

“Run, Taehyung. Please, run before it’s too late.” She begged, voice cracking and strangled. “I can’t protect you anymore. He’s going to kill you, Taehyung! He’s coming for you!”

I stood there, frozen, watching the scene unfold before me.

The Queen cried louder, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably-

Then, she stopped - almost as if she choked.

Her eyes turned. Her whole body trembled.

We watched as the Queen Mother fell unconscious, her body lifeless on her son’s arms.

Taehyung’s eyes widened in horror.

As he crouched down with the woman in his arms, trying desperately to awake her, I couldn’t take my eyes off of the golden tattoos on his arms, the glow radiating from him, the shivers that waved through me.

The thought that something was wrong. Something so wrong that I couldn’t see it still… maybe because I didn’t want to see it.

Something wrong about Taehyung.

-

“Do you think you know everything about Taehyung, Y/N?

“You… you have no idea… of who he actually is.”

[clickonmedotexe]

[there's a bottle of mountain dew red, original, presumably from the 80's, sitting on the table. a note taped to it reads:]

> first, don't ask where i got this. or why. or how many people died in the process, 'cause it was a lot and i honestly lost count. but seriously, here. do what you need to do with this bc if its making you happy and doesn't involve insane shit like possessing people then im very glad and i reccomend you keep it up

> urs,

> - cas. <3

> ps, tell coda hi from me they sound very cool

Not!Bradley picks up the bottle of mountain dew and examines it. He's not able to keep the surprised look off his face, until he finishes the note.

Oh of course. It's Cas with his annoying insistence on making Vir feel things like happiness and l- eugh. As if having a husband and an adopted murder baby is going to somehow fulfill his life.

He rolls his eyes.

Well, he is going to use the mountain dew for evil. Bribe Sass with it until he has finished training Coda to be his ultimate murder weapon. After all, those big, innocent eyes would let anyone's guard down.

He pointedly ignores the heart in the end and decides that maybe, if he feels up to it, he'll tell Coda he has a second daddy.

[walpurga-nacht-academy]

Isle of Phantasmagoria

Located near the Isle of Sages, the Isle of Phantasmagoria is the home of Brocken and Walpurga Nacht Academy. Considered a site of great magical energy, its culture and history were largely shaped by the multitude of unusual events that have taken place there. 

Geography & Population

The Isle is rather small, being only about 33 square kilometers in size, and being for the most part overtaken by vegetation with only a few particular spots being inhabited by humans. It has a mild climate where the winters are comfortably cold and the summers tend to be humid, but pleasant. The lowest temperature recorded on the isle was -10 degrees Celsius, while the highest was 25 degrees. It seems to be primarily characterized by an autumn and spring aesthetic, with winter and summer passing by rather quickly. Precipitation is an unexpected phenomenon, with warm showers starting without warning and ending just as quickly. The flora is surprisingly diverse with a variety of flowers and plants being native to the island, yet its famous fertility means that anything planted here is likely to take root. The same cannot be said for the fauna, as mammals tend to be quite small in numbers. Instead birds and fish seem to be rather plentiful which has influenced the gastronomy of the place as well. 

In regards to demographics, humans are the majority, with a smaller number of beastmen and other races living there. Fairies, however, are unfamiliar to the Isle and have never settled there as far as records show. Currently the island population is 18,738.   

Culture

Despite its small size, the Isle is a place teeming with customs and festivals, making for a very lively atmosphere. Its people are famous for their hospitality and easy-going nature so many sailors who had the fortune of being washed onto its shores ended up taking residence there. The Isle has been ruled by the Tauros family since olden times, though their exact aristocratic title is unknown. 

Origin Myth

Locals often claim that the very first inhabitants of the isle were pixies, small little fairies that would command the weather and welcome in the seasons with their dances and songs. They were said to fly above in the sky and sprinkle drops of dew on every flower and stem to help them grow and bloom. Due to this the earth became so fertile that when the first humans stumbled upon the island, they were able to plant anything there and even the smallest seed would produce bountiful harvest. 

Modern science has discredited this claim as the product of intoxication at the hands of a type of mushroom unique to the isle. It seems that consumption of the fungi causes one to experience potent hallucinations which require a few days to wear off. It is most likely that the locals consumed the mushroom and in their haze, aided as well by the refraction of light, they mistook the native Sylphs living on the isle for pixies due to their seemingly colourful appearance.

Interestingly enough those very mushrooms have been shown to help fertilize and make the soil richer in nutrients. Mushroom rings are thus quite common on the island, and it is considered bad luck to uproot or cause them harm. 

The King on the Bald Mountain

A mythological figure that is said to have ruled over the island back in ancient times. Locals claim that the King would wake up every year and along with his congregation of witches would torment the souls of the townsfolk of Brocken. Though it is a popular folktale on the isle, the existence of such a creature is still under question as very few sources can be found regarding its authenticity. 

Wine

The most popular alcoholic beverage on the island. Wine is considered the official drink of Phantasmagoria and is present at every celebration as a result. Due to the extensive orchards that have made the isle famous, wine from this place is considered a luxury and one of the most expensive brands in Twisted Wonderland. Every year, the Tauros mayor donates a huge casket of wine for the Cydalise Rite.

Thistles and Orchids

The official flowers of the isle. It is said that back in ancient times, the flowers of the island were blessed by fairies so they were able to walk and dance together in harmony. The flowers were also rumoured to be the favorite of the first Tauros mayor and his wife, and thus they were emblazoned everywhere. Official letters from the island all sport a stamp with a drawing of a thistle and an orchid intertwined. 

During wedding ceremonies it is considered traditional to have the venue decorated with these flowers so that it would bring the newlyweds good luck.  

Ostrich, Hippos and Elephants

Characters in the popular “Dance of the Hours” play. It is unknown how exactly the legend came about to exist, as none of the animals are native to the island. The Tauros mayor who is credited for the creation of this story said that the image came to him as he was napping in a ring of mushrooms in the Golden Pasture. The play became such a success that it was made an important part of the Cydalise Rite. 

A point of consternation for the locals is deciding which one of the three animals should become known as the official representative of the Isle. This debate has been going on for at least 1.000 years and is no closer to being resolved.     

Festival

The Cydalise Rite 

The most anticipated event of the year, the Cydalise Rite is the festival that celebrates summer and good luck. The Rite is said to have existed for centuries, its main purpose being to cause disruption and merriment so that the King on the Bald Mountain and his minions would be driven away from the homes of the locals and back on the Bald Mountain where they would be caged in by magic. Though few believe in the legend anymore, since the construction of the Selene mansion and later the Walpurga Nacht campus has demystified the area, the festival continues to be held every year in honour of that old tradition. 

In the past it used to involve a parade of horses going through the main street of Brocken, following the path through the forest and heading straight into the Pasture where the event-goers are able to enjoy a little masquerade play called the “Dance of the Hours”. It is a romance piece about three sisters (an ostrich, a hippopotamus and an elephant)  who wander into the palace of alligators by mistake. As they try to escape the dangerous place, the middle sister falls in love with the leader of the fearsome group and vice versa. The play ends in a marriage, after which all the spectators are invited to join the dance to celebrate future good tidings. A huge casket of wine is broken open by the mayor’s wife for all to enjoy. The festivity lasts until dawn when all those present are given special lanterns lit with magic crystals found only on the island and proceed to return to the town in a column singing in celebration for the coming of a new day. 

Ever since the founding of Walpurga Nacht however, it seems that the task of leading the parade of horses through Brocken has been awarded to the students as a show of good faith on the town’s part. The leader of the parade is usually the Prefect of Monarchia, who, along with her dorm members, lead a blessing of unicorns and Pegasi dressed in the dorms’ colours. Due to the rarity of such creatures on the island it has become one of the most anticipated sights during the Rite, with people usually gathering around the parade route to take pictures and sing loudly.      

History

Few historical sources detailing the early history of the island remain, however from what historians have been able to piece together it seems that the island has existed for a long time. The main argument in favour of this theory are the large animal bones that have been discovered all over the island, and which are believed to belong to a primitive species of dragons that has since gone extinct. The first settlements on the island precede the discovery of magic around the world, but the first concrete piece of evidence that proves that the isle had been inhabited for a long time are the mentions of the annual meeting of witches on the Bald Mountain to honour their King. References to this event can be found in the grimoires that the Eight Witches have passed down to their followers, along with several anonymous texts written by natives of the island. 

More recent discoveries have also found a journal kept by a member of the ruling Tauros family, which mentions that these annual meetings would cause great havoc among the population of the island. Among the effects he described were the “raising of foul ghouls from the depths of the earth, the theft of souls from among [our] village and the horrific calls of harpies, vultures, imps and firewomen as they danced around his monstrous figure.” In response to the threat posed by the emergence of the King from the mountain every year, the townsfolk would be forced to keep vigil together at night and guard themselves from the evil spirits with lanterns powered by pure magic.

Years later, another Taurous aristocrat would mention the commercial exchange that had taken place between them and a member of the famed Selene family of magicians in regards to ownership of the mountain. Having acquired property rights over the site, the Selene noble built a mansion at the very top and restricted all outside access to it. This building would later fall into disrepair once the aristocratic family fell from power and were forced to abandon most of their dwellings. Another member would repurpose it later and transform it into an education center, rather elevated to the rank of international boarding school and institute for magic.  

Notable Locations

Brocken

The only large settlement on the island. A pleasant town that is considered a wonderful tourist spot, Brocken is well-known for its welcoming attitude and laid-back atmosphere. The people there enjoy a ‘stress-free’ life in which they work, eat and sleep at their own pace. Siestas are recognized officially on the island as mandated periods of rest.

The town’s economy revolves around fishing, vinification, agriculture and tourism. It is a popular spot for location weddings and something of a cultural landmark due to the existence of places such as the Bald Mountain and the Golden Pasture. Tourists who often come here are able to make use of special programs which offer them housing, food and the opportunity to participate in some of the town’s vinification and fishing business.  

Because it is difficult to gain access to the island, Brocken has become rather isolated from the rest of the world. Thus its technology is considered old-fashioned by modern standards so things like television, mobile phones and cars are quite rare and seen as luxuries.

The Bald Mountain

One of the most well-known landmarks and the home of Walpurga Nacht Academy. The mountain is perhaps the oldest point of interest on the island, and legend has it that it was and still is the prison where a King of demons is said to slumber. Every year he would awake for one night to cause havoc on the island, aided by his congregation of witches. 

Now the mountain is associated with Walpurga Nacht, a world-famous institute of magic. 

Due to old legends and rumours surrounding the mountain, locals are known to keep away from it for fear of being cursed. Among the most popular beliefs is that anyone who dares come across the school at the top of it will be immediately struck mad. This is a concept that has been inherited since ancient times when the Eight Witches were said to dance in revelry in that spot and their fury at being glimpsed by strangers was so great they would curse them in retaliation.

The Mad Mage’s Tower

An old derelict tower, hidden far into the wilderness. It is said that there once lived an old magician whose years of isolation had driven him mad so he enchanted the objects around him to come to life and do his bidding. Though the mage had long since died, the objects still seem to be capable of sentience and continue moving around unhindered. Sylphs can be seen circling the highest point of the tower at dawn and dusk. 

Another rumour regarding the tower is that the magician might have had once a goblin apprentice that as revenge for the poor treatment he received bashed his head in with a rock during the middle of the night. 

The Golden Pasture

An idyllic sight, the pasture is one of the most famous locations on the isle. Considered a natural wonder due to its extensive flora, the Pasture is a site beloved by all citizens of the Isle, but due to the increased littering among tourists has been closed off to outsiders. It is also the location where the Cydalise Rite takes place every year. 

An interesting rumour regarding the Pasture is that those who dwell in it for too long are liable to experience hallucinations. Among those, the most commonly reported sighting was that of dancing flowers, colourful fairies, spinning mushroom rings, performing goldfish, flashing lightning and, more terrifyingly, erupting volcanoes.

[podcastbigbang]

Now i'm really looking forwards to this Event. Very much so Even with all the chaos. Remember that y'all are doinG amazing. give yourselves a rOund of applause. Nobody else would be daft eNough to run something like this. All of you take care of yourselves. Get food and drInks. Victory will involvE sleep. Yes, cai too. Oh, tell ren i approve of their cupcakes. Unless they do my version, then i approve more. Unleash the caffeine. Please sleep though. - =)

leap jfc please go to sleep oh my god. but also thank you!! we’re super excited for this, and while we know it’s gonna be chaotic, we know it will be chaotic in the best possible way. i’m banning mountain dew and monster cupcakes though. they are evil -cai

Leap I’m coming for your goddamn kneecaps. I see you. I’m not sure cai does, but I see you -_- -Ren

Thrilling update from Ren:

[eternalstrigoii]

Church Mouse

Borra (Maleficent: Mistress of Evil) x Female-Presenting Human Reader

There’s a monster in our wood,

It’ll get you if you’re not good.

Horns of iron and wings of bone,

You are never, ever coming home.

 Your father was the parish priest in the village of Ulstead. He was not a royal minister, and, perhaps, it was because of that lack of diplomacy that you caught him many a time whispering with the townsfolk about the faeries on the other side of the gate. To his congregation, he said little more than how fortunate you were to be separated – how he urged parents to leave their children if they should have to travel on merchant trips, lest the fey folk lure the young ones from their wagons.

You heard your father’s stories before, when you were young. The Folk of the Moors will promise you endless sweets and playtime, and then chew off your legs when you fall asleep. You rolled your eyes at them now – no faerie had ever crossed the bridge into Ulstead. As far as you were concerned, no faerie wanted to cross the bridge into Ulstead, and you grew more and more adamant that they were right. It was a little town, and King John meant well but his wife practiced the same virtues as your father. All the piety, chastity, humility, and moderation was starting to get to you. (And if your only prospects were the same fools you had to remind year after year not to drag their crops from the earth by their stems, well, you were better off leaving for a nunnery.)

The children were gathered in the square not long before nightfall, as you brought your pail of freshly scrubbed laundry back to the parish to hang in the attic (where no one might fall to sin because they spied your bloomers on the line). They clapped hands and sang their nursery rhymes, which you had always presumed involved the terrible witch that cursed the princess whom your prince was destined to marry, and you sighed as you lifted your basket past them.

“There are no such things as monsters,” you stopped to snap at them before you flung the parish door open with your foot and let it fall shut heavily behind you.

Your father jumped at the sound. “Good heavens, child!”

“I’m sorry.” You lifted the basket that you had to hold with two hands. “None of the children would fetch the door.”

He was on his knees at the altar, tending the prayer candles that had been lit throughout the day. You knew he’d stay there for the bulk of the night, as he always did.

As he adjusted them, ensuring that the wax fell as uniformly as possible so that God might hear the poor men and women of Ulstead, he said to you, “Would it be so terrible to spare the young ones a kindness now and then? They are, after all, only children.”

It was not the young ones you worried about. You had half a mind to set your laundry aside and help your father, for he was getting old and frail, and while he was surely falling prey to his own stories, he was no harm to anyone. He was but a worried old man since your mother died, or so you told yourself.

You sighed, and you left him to his wax-tending. There were few flights of stairs from the parish to the attic, but with your full basket, it may as well have been a steady climb up a mountain. You were hot and panting by the time you reached the attic where your clotheslines were strung, and you wasted no time in shutting the hatch-door, dropping the basket to the floor, and hurrying to open the windows by their props on the bottom.

“Fool,” you muttered fondly. The windows hadn’t been washed in some time, and you were sure it was because your meticulous father believed someone would catch wind of his cassock and steal it while it dried.

You shook your head, gathered the pins down at the end, and worked your way through your basket. Every so often, the wind swept through the room and made all the clothes flap and flutter, the sweat that had been so stifling before turned to morning dew on your back. After the third strong ruffle, your second pin fell right out of your hand, and you cursed as you batted one of your dresses aside to reach it.

It had landed just between a pair of bare feet.

You gasped and startled backward.

The figure you had first thought was a man batted your line aside. He was tall and broad, quite unlike many of the men of your village, though what held your attention was not the chiseled quality of his face or the intensity of his blown-glass eyes.

It was the massive pair of wings on his back that ripped your line cleanly out of the wall.

You sat there like a fool, scrambling to move away only when he’d already caught you by the ties of your apron and pulled you up off the floor. You cried out in shock – you felt the points of his talons against your back before it collided with the wall, and the tremor that coursed through you left your hands shaking as they found his chest, smooth and warm like a stone left sitting in the summer sun.

“Please?” Your voice wavered.

He made a sound not unlike an animal’s growl, tilting his head at you.

You did not know what you were pleading for. You were hardly a child, no longer the supposed favored-prey of the Folk of the Moors.

“Please,” you repeated, feeling his talons prick your back. You watched his other hand lift to the shoulder of your apron, toy with the heavy material. How easily his claws pricked into it and it started to tear. You imagined your skin would not give the same kind of resistance.

Your heart was pounding. Fear, and something else, had gone to war inside of you. He may have been no man, but he was beautiful. His hair was long and golden, his wings broad and powerful, and you found yourself staring at them again. “They’re beautiful,” you whispered, and found yourself pinned by your throat for your trouble.

“What do you want with my wings?” he asked, sharply.

“Nothing!” you exclaimed, batting at his hand. “They’re lovely, you oaf!”

He let go of you just as abruptly, with that sound again.

You smacked at his solid arm in indignation, a hot rush of embarrassment flooding your already overheated skin. “You have no right! Speaking to me like that! Manhandling me! Coming into my house--!”

You didn’t realize the mistake you made until he had taken a handful of your apron again, backing you against the old wood once more.

“Is it your father, then?” he asked in a much lower voice, its roughness preserved in such close proximity. “Spreading likes about my people?”

You should have denied him, but the pang of fear you felt manifested as you thought all people must feel it – in the innate desire to protect your own.

“He’s a fool,” you replied in the same tone. “He tells stories to children, make-believe. He means you no harm.”

“Harm is what he causes me.” His body was flush with yours again, and your hands gripped his arms as though you were strong enough to keep him at bay when you could hardly manage three flights of stairs with a full laundry basket. “Harm is what he causes all of my people when he spreads those lies.”

“I’ll tell him to stop,” you whispered.

The smile that crossed his face should have scared you, for it was wild, and by the nature of the people you knew, rather unhinged. “No,” he touched your cheek, pressing the tip of his thumb claw into your skin. “I don’t think you will.”

From what you heard, you expected him to do something like rip your flesh from your bones and eat you alive. But he grasped the collar-hem of your gown and tore, and in one broad stroke of his muscular arm, you found yourself nearly bared before him.

And the only thing that frightened you then was how your breath caught as he palmed your exposed skin.

The fey looked at you the way you imagined all creatures must look at their prey. His eyes were intense, wild, wide as they locked on your face. Your knees buckled as his mouth affixed to your collarbone, and you gasped, grabbing hold of his horns.

You did not push him away. No, not even when his teeth caught your flesh, for his tongue was quick to follow, and the sound that left you had nothing to do with pain.

There were no stories about this. Not in anyone’s books anywhere, as far as you knew.

The fey left a trail of bruises on your skin, from the one that began at your collarbone up the side of your neck. They hurt more, there, and you squirmed against him, but he chuckled and pinned your hips to his. You felt him, through your bloomers and the soft fabric of his pants, and your hands settled at his waist only to move, slowly, upward. Over his side, his back, your arms curling around his shoulders.

His wings beat, snapping the other line from its mount on the wall. Your father’s clothes also tumbled to the floor, and were immediately forgotten.

You turned your head when you felt his breath brush your jaw. Your lips brushed his, and he wasted no time in claiming them. What manner of revenge could this be, you thought, only for the thought to fall by the wayside with the drag of his claw down your thigh. One leg of your bloomers split open, and the hand that did it slipped under you, under your clothes, to boost you against him and settle your hips at his waist.

It was not unpleasant, being trapped against him. Not unpleasant at all. You found yourself kissing back when he tried to pull away, giving him your tongue in as close of an approximation to the way he’d given you his as you could manage without the experience.

You felt him grin, and several claws swept over your opposing thigh. Your bloomers fell away in ribbons, the skin beneath singing with shallow cuts.

You arched toward him with a more enthusiastic sound, your knees hitched against his waist.

“Are you enjoying yourself, church mouse?”

You quite liked that tone he used, his voice like a purr against your lips.

“Yes,” you whispered, though you could hardly understand how his anger would become desire quite like this. Maybe you truly were ye of little faith, considering you couldn’t recall a word spoken by your father that would lead you to believe your fey was dangerous.

He chuckled, and the fabric between you fell away. Your eyes widened, and you gripped his shoulders tightly. You were momentarily afraid, though not for the reasons he must’ve anticipated.

“I’ve never….” You started, and your fey brushed his lips over yours once again.

“I’m counting on that.”

He took you the way you had always been told you were supposed to be taken. Your knees clutched his hips, but the sensation, though strange, was not unpleasant. You gasped, and his movement made you claw lightly at his shoulders, seeking purchase so you might somehow press closer.

“Shh,” he soothed, nuzzling your jaw. “Wouldn’t want your father to hear.”

You clung to the back of his neck, your breath ragged. No, certainly you didn’t, but you were three flights up and the rhythm of his hips never faltered. You dropped your head back against the wall, and your fey claimed your mouth once again.

No, you knew why people stole away to be with them now. No promise of sweets could be this enchanting.

You held his jaw while you kissed.

He held you, but one of his hands roamed your body, the trail of his talons causing chills along your spine. You kissed him as though you might pour yourself into him, and he claimed you against the wall like a man new-married.

You felt a tightening in your lower belly, an urgency too strong to be denied. You worked your hips against his, your, and his, ragged breaths overtaking your senses. You couldn’t pull him close enough. Your thighs clung to him. You had started to beg in whimpers that became full cries, yes, yes, please, please! Oh god, oh god!

You reached your peak together. Your fae spilled inside of you with a sharp, wild groan, and you clung to him, breathing hard, your face pressed into his shoulder.

You told him your name in a breathless whisper, no longer believing – or at least, no longer believing it would be a bad thing – he would use it to steal you away.

He was silent for a moment longer, holding the backs of your thighs against his hips. “Borra,” he replied.

“I’ll tell not a soul,” you promised, just in case anyone could truly harm him just by knowing his name.

“I’m counting on that, church mouse.”

When the moment stretched on, you realized that, perhaps, that was not the plan he’d arrived with. Perhaps the both of you, in your youth, had done more for faerie-human relations than you cared to admit, and the thought pleased you to smiling into his shoulder.

He put you down rather gently, as though he was unused to touching you.

You allowed it, reaching for the wet gown you’d started hanging up. Better that then the tattered one. “Will I see you again?”

He had straightened out the fabric of his trousers, and tilted his head as though he was considering it.

“I would quite like to,” you said.

He nodded. Whether that was an acknowledgement or an agreement, you did not ask. You returned to gathering laundry, and by the time you had picked up several more pieces of your clothes, you heard the flap of wings beyond the windows.

Your father never heard you.

You fixed the lines in silence, and re-hung the wash. You took your bath, and you returned to your life almost as though it had never happened.

But you knew you were in no position to protect them. To protect him from them, though you longed to.

By the time you realized you had not bled, you knew it was only a matter of time before your father, your neighbors, possibly even the virtuous queen, found out what had become of you.

The note you left them was simple: No one stole me away.

[apptowonder]

Exodus Talks -- The Amalekite Within

Note: This reflection is the third in a four part series of reflections I’m writing for my final in an exegesis and preaching course in seminary. As such, these reflections may have more of the cadence of a homily than my usual material does. The text we used for study was Exodus. This third reflection is based on Exodus 17:8-16.

In this text, we encounter an Israel under attack from a foreign enemy. They have been liberated from Egyptian oppression, and they are wandering through the wilderness. God is slowly guiding them to Canaan, the Promised Land. As they draw nearer to Mt. Sinai, they are attacked by the Amalekites. This is, on a surface reading, a text of war. Much has been made, and rightly so, of the moral and spiritual dilemma of what it means when God’s people go to war. This pattern of violence in many ways only grows more prominent when the Israelites begin their entry into Canaan. We are indebted to faithful people throughout the centuries who have interrogated these “texts of terror,” to consider why they are in Scripture, what they say, and perhaps more importantly what they do not say. For us as Orthodox Christians, the written Biblical canon is a witness to the Living Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, and it is through his presence as the Incarnate Word in the power of the Holy Spirit that we interpret the written word. We are not bound to affirm or accept the literal meaning of every word in the Bible as edifying, but we are called to wrestle with other meanings that the Spirit brings to us when we gather as the Body of Christ. With this encouragement in mind, let us accept God’s invitation through the Holy Prophet Isaiah, “’Come, let us reason together,’ says the LORD.” Let us reason and wrestle together, and see what we may discover.

The Church Fathers and Mothers used many methods to receive the Word of God from the Scriptures. Two of these methods are allegory and typology. Taking these together, perhaps we can discern something valuable for our time in this text. Typology asks the question, “Where is Jesus pointed to in this text?” One clear example is the way Moses stands to resist the Amalekites through prayer for God’s people. He stands on a mountain, a high hill. He raises his arms to Heaven. Almost in the shape of a cross. In this same way, Christ raised his arms to Heaven in his life-giving passion, interceding with his prayer and his own life-blood that his people, all of God’s children, would be given the strength to overcome the spiritual and systemic forces of death and evil that reigned in their midst. In reading Scripture typologically, we must be careful not to minimize the spiritual value of the original action, even as we acknowledge that it points for us, as does the whole canon, to the person and work of Christ. Prior to God becoming incarnate, Moses prayed faithfully on behalf of God’s people, and led them to be unified as a people. The witness of Moses still echoes forward today, not only in our community but also in the community of our Jewish siblings under God.

Another method used by the Church Fathers and Mothers is allegory. This method can be seen in many of our hymns. Consider the Katavasia of Christmas. “The furnace moist with dew was the image and figure of a wonder past nature.  For it burnt not the Children whom it had received, even as the fire of the Godhead consumed not the Virgin’s womb into which it had descended.” This is also in some ways a typology, an event in the Old Testament which can be seen to point to Christ. All typologies are allegories, but allegory encompasses more than just the presence of Christ indicated in Scripture. Here, we see the womb of the Mother of God as she carried Christ being compared to the three holy youths in the Book of Daniel who were not burned by the fiery furnace. Here, the furnace is compared to the fire of Christ’s full divinity, which shone forth even in his humanity but did not consume the Theotokos. We see that this tells us something about the mercy and humility of Christ, and the faithfulness of the Virgin to God’s request, something we could not see were we to only read the Book of Daniel literally.

In Exodus, we see another example of allegory. The people of God are being attacked by an enemy force. Moses does send warriors to fight in self-defense. Another text in Deuteronomy suggests that the Amalekite assault happened at a time when Israel was vulnerable and weary from traveling. However, Moses does not trust primarily in Israelite military might. Instead, he goes up on the mountain and prays in a very embodied and fervent way, trusting that the true spiritual source of victory is not human vigor, but the power and deliverance of God.

If we are to understand this text for our own times, we should look closely at the posture of Moses in this event. Allegory with texts such as these can easily be misapplied, making the Amalekites to be whoever it is convenient for us to hate. We should never apply this kind of thinking to another people group, to other human beings whom God loves. The spiritual nature of Moses’ solution suggests that a spiritual interpretation is necessary. That is to say, we should be concerned not so much with enemies around us, but spiritual and systemic enemies. We must conquer the Amalekite within. 

This text, read in a spiritual allegory, suggests that conflict in our lives is not to be overcome by human force, power, or violence, but by standing firm in our integrity and trusting God to bring about a good outcome. It also suggests that in any conflict involving interpersonal relationships, we are to avoid essentializing any human enemy or group of enemies as the problem, but to try and see the injustice or evil itself as the thing to be resisted in creative ways. While we may find ourselves entrenched in conflict with our neighbor, sometimes with vast power differentials, we must find ways to resist the harm they cause without seeking their destruction. We must root out the sources of evil. Broken systems that take the life of the oppressed and the humanity of the oppressor. Human greed, desire for power, fear of scarcity, and an inability to see the image of God in one another, to see Christ in one another. Amalek is all around us. And we are all God’s beloved children. For all of us to truly live as equals in dignity, honor, life and love under God, we must defeat the spirit of Amalek that lives on in our societies and in our hearts.

In St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus shows a way to do this. The Temple was full of people who truly wanted to love, serve and worship God. But greed and the status quo of a few powerful people had blocked access to the life giving rites that all of God’s people wanted to participate in. Jesus could have led an army of his followers into the Temple and destroyed those people who were charging unjust rates for sacrifices. On the other hand, he could have also simply gone along with it, maybe preach a sermon encouraging the moneychangers to lower their rates. But Christ did neither of these things. Instead, he organized an act of creative resistance, one which destroyed the status quo without destroying the human beings who capitulated to it. He drove out the moneychangers, proclaiming and reiterating the forgotten truth, that the Temple was to be “a house of prayer for all people,” regardless of wealth, class, origin, or status. Jesus resisted evil without seeking the death of those caught up in its power.

We are not Christ. And not every situation has a clear path to this holy mode of resistance. We will try. Sometimes we will succeed, and sometimes we will fail. Sometimes we will emerge triumphant over the spiritual forces that keep us in bondage, and sometimes we will only cause harm to one another. In all cases, however, we are called to trust that God will give resolution and victory to those who resist in faithful ways.  We are to hope for an end to evil itself, and ways of being that are contrary to the flourishing of God’s children and to hope that God will provide ways of renewal which involve human engagement but do not require its success in order to work. We are to enact creative and prayerful resistance against evil to focus our energies on supporting one another in resistance to evil rather than against the persons of those we see as our enemies. May we be led by the example and witness of Moses, the example and witness of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by his grace and power may we conquer the Amalekite within.

*In general, Orthodox hymns and their arrangements are not copyrighted and are usually public domain because they’re so old, but cf. for a source Ode 8 of the Katavasia of Nativity, http://www.saintjonah.org/services/nativity.htm

[the-lady-frost]

Keys

A Resident Evil One Shot

Life After Death

For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one. -Kahlil Gibran

2006

The keys to the truck were the only thing in her hand.

She waited, breathing quietly, for the things to turn hot as if she'd extracted a smoldering coal from a bed of flames and placed it in the palm of her hand. The keys were quiet. The keys were the only thing left of him.

He'd dove from a window to save his partner. Like a hero in a story he'd once read to her as a girl, he'd died to spare the love of his life from her own demise. The dark fall of all that chestnut hair hid the lowered countenance of the woman in question.

She'd always been his Valentine.

He'd died to make it clear she was his heart.

The voice of the lawyer droned. Claire studied the key ring with a numb acceptance. He'd spent his life fighting. He'd spent his life pushing. He'd spent his life driving toward the end of fear.

He'd died clutching his greatest nemesis until the moment they'd struck the ground in an epic battle of good versus evil. There was no more Wesker. There was no more lies. There was no more evil.

There was no more Chris.

The statement echoed in her head. It rolled and stung. It clung and coveted space where happiness had once lingered.

Claire ignored the hammer of a headache beating at her temples in triumphant announcement. She stared at the keys in her palm and pictured the last time she'd seen him. He'd stood in the dying sun to show her the ring.

The little wink of sapphire and starlight white diamonds. A ring made of sea and sky to compliment the eyes and the favorite shades of his partner. He'd been so nervous. She'd never seen him nervous, but he'd been so eager.

Quietly, Claire had asked, "Does she even know you love her?"

Chris had shrugged and remarked, "Does it matter? I've waited all this time. This thing with Spencer...if he's there, Claire...the answers we'll find...it could open a door to the kind of intel that might bind us all together in a fight against bioterror. It could mean support from all sides of the globe. If we can prove that the T-Virus is just one stage of it...we can finally get the battle back in our court. Maybe..."

He'd trailed off. He'd stared into the horizon and laughed softly, "Maybe she'd like to have a couple kids with me. Maybe she'd like to...see the house Dad and Mom left us in Colorado. Maybe she'd like that."

Claire had felt her throat close up as she encouraged, "Yeah...yeah, maybe she'd like that. She's a fucking idiot if she doesn't."

"I'm gonna ask her...when we get back...I'm gonna ask."

He'd never asked.

He'd taken that ring with him to the grave.

After his funeral, she'd never found it. She had to assume it was on him when he died. She had to assume he'd died with the promise of Jill Valentine in his pocket. He'd died so she could live.

It was the only way Chris Redfield knew how to be.

Claire closed her fingers over the keys and turned away from the lawyer. She was done listening. She was done hearing. She didn't want platitudes and sympathy and courtesy offers of condolences.

She was done.

She just wanted her brother.

And he was dead.

She passed by Jill and paused. Teeth clenched, she told the brunette, "...you better be worth it."

Jill shivered in grief and murmured, "I'm not. I've never been."

"He thought you were...so get your ass out there and prove it."

Claire opened the door on the big black Dodge Ram. It was littered with his things. He had a scattering of change in the ashtray. There was a half empty bottle of Mountain Dew on the floorboard. The visor was pulled down with a pair of Oakleys in black tucked over it. A pair of boots were tossed negligently in the back seat, scuffed and well loved. Dogs tagged dangled from the rear view mirror and a lighter lay uselessly on the dash.

Claire touched the button on the glove box and wasn't failed by her brother even in death. A half smoked pack of Marlboro Reds greeted her along with a wad of papers of bills that he'd left unpaid. Claire pulled one of the carcinogenic sticks and put it between her lips. She struck it up with S.T.A.R.S. zippo on the dash and inhaled sharply.

Her gaze traveled to the center console. Her hand touched it to open it up and show a wadded up B.S.A.A. t-shirt. She pulled it free, relatively sure he'd worn it before work one day before he'd changed into his uniform. She lifted it to her nose and inhaled.

The scent of him surrounded her like a ghost. The cigarette plumbed smoke into the air as she clutched the soft fabric to her face and curled her body forward around it. She hadn't cried once since they'd put him in the ground.

Not a single tear.

The smell of him made her chest seize worse than her lungs inhaling the smoke. She made a small sound of grief and loss.

She cried clinging to the scent of her brother in the cab of the only thing in the world left that she had of him.

She would mourn him for the rest of her life.

She wasn't sure how she went on without him.

It was his heart that stopped beating, but it was hers that was in the grave beside him.

.......

"If you listen...you can hear them sometimes."

He knelt beside her as the blanket of stars twinkled happily in a velvety sky. "Yeah?"

"Oh, yeah. You don't have to use your ears, Chris. You just...you use your heart."

"My heart has ears?"

Claire giggled sweetly, "Of course it does, silly. Your heart has everything. Eyes, ears, fingers...and it remembers how they felt and how they sounded...and how they smelled...it never forgets. Your heart has a brain too."

She felt his cheek lay on the top of her head. She felt his hands tremble and his voice was hoarse as he answered, "C-Bear...you just might be the smartest girl in the world sometimes."

"I know...I get that from them too. You know what you got?"

"...black hair?"

She laughed and hugged him, "...me."

She felt the wet plop of tears on her hair as he squeezed her so tight it made her squirm a little, "Yeah, I did. Maybe they'll tell me how to make sure I never forget it."

"Just use your heart...it will always remember."

"...promise me you'll do it for me if I ever forget."

Claire lifted her head. She smiled while two pairs of the same eyes held on to each other. "...I promise. Whenever you can't...I'll always remember."

..........

The field kicked up chunks of mud and snow. She whipped the wheel and plowed through the ravaged earth. The sun peaked cleanly through the winter clouds. It watched her madness with a kind of quiet judgment.

It was the same kind shared by the man who emerged from the tree line as she jerked the truck to a halt with a squeal of tires. The engine ticked as she threw open the door and climbed out. The cold slapped her face with frigid palms as she called, "What do you want, Kennedy?! You come out here looking for a truck to wreck? This ones taken."

He tilted his head at her. The navy peacoat he wore was fashionably him. It was topped by a scarf in pretty red that made his blonde hair look gold in the dim winter light. The naked trees over his shoulder highlighted the beauty of that perfect face as he mused, "Only one of us on a path of destruction here, kid. You planning to survive the fallout?"

Claire shrugged and stuck a cigarette in her mouth. "Who cares? I'm alone right? I'm repellent for anyone who matters. My parents, men, my brother...they all die and leave me...or they betray me. So will anyone even notice?"

The corner of his mouth quirked, "You been hanging around inside my head lately, CB? Those sound suspiciously like my thoughts and not yours."

She scoffed and accepted the deft flick of the zippo he pulled from his pocket. She inhaled and let him pluck the smoke from her lips to help himself to it. They shared it in silence until she mused, "You see they made Valentine a Captain?"

"...I did." Quietly. No judgment. There seldom was with Leon. He was just that guy. He didn't judge. He just listened.

Claire laughed harshly, "And they awarded my brother a Medal of Bravery. A medal...posthumously. What fucking good is a piece of useless metal? He can't wear it. He's rotting in the ground. They think I'll pin it to his bones?"

Leon shrugged a shoulder, "You do what you want with it. It's yours. It's just an honor, Claire, not an insult to his memory."

She barked out a laugh, "Honor. He dies, she lives, and she takes his command, his company, and his fucking place. He loved her. He loved her and she never loved him back! "

Softly, Leon mused, "...that's rough stuff there."

"Yeah, it is! He was so stupid! Why did he do it!? She mattered more than me!? She's fine! She's fine! But what about me!? Huh? What about me..." Her voice trailed off as the anger hummed around them, "...what about me...you son of a bitch..."

Quietly, Leon soothed, "Redfield's are pretty stupidly stubborn sometimes."

Claire laughed angrily, "No shit. Blind as he was brave."

"Hmm. I think he thought what we all do."

She turned her ravaged gaze to him, imploring, "What? What was he thinking?"

"...that you're the strongest woman he's ever known. That he'd made sure of that. That you took what he taught you and became a warrior. He knew you'd survive him, Claire, because he knew you'd never forget him."

She was so quiet watching him, that he finally added, "He knew you'd keep on living...because that's what we do."

"It's not enough. I need more than that."

His head tilted, "...what do you need?"

The wind rolled around them. It was cold and painful. It was bitter. Like she was.

Leon watched her so gently that she kinda hated him. She envied his tranquility. She wanted it. She wanted anything to alleviate the rage and the loss that ate around her belly with teeth made of regret.

She'd heard the whispers about Leon. She knew what people said. He was cold. He was cut off. He didn't get involved. He didn't date women.

But he sure did fuck them.

She'd steered clear of him all these years because she'd felt something that first night in Raccoon. She'd felt it and she'd gone after Chris and made her choice. She knew she'd burned that bridge back to him. He'd remained her friend, but the idea of lover had been crossed off the moment she'd picked family over him.

She'd heard he was a guy who was really, really good at the one night stand.

She needed anything to take the edge off the misery pooled in her heart. So, she just threw it at him like a bullet, "Take me home."

He studied her. The wind kicked up. It curled up snow around their boots. He could have said no. She had no clue where his car was. She had no idea how he'd gotten there. He could have said no.

Instead, he said, "Give me the keys."

And she gave those keys of her brother's to the only other man in her world she trusted to drive his truck.

He had a reputation for wrecking things.

She was hoping he'd wreck her.

She figured he'd come to his senses before he went through with it. After all, all these years and they'd never touched each other like that. He'd tell her no and talk her down.

He didn't.

She tossed Chris' keys on the table in the living room and backed into her bedroom. He followed her, a predator, shedding clothes as he walked. Her heart, aching like it had been, started to pound painfully behind her breast.

She whispered, "Where do you want me?"

He tilted his head. She licked her dry lips and cleared her throat. She tossed her clothing as she turned on the shower and joined him again in the bedroom. All she wore now was her undershirt and panties.

Naked, he was somehow more beautiful than clothed. She warned, hoarsely, "You aren't gonna tell me I'm grieving?"

"...no."

"You think this is a mistake?"

His head tilted again, "Do you?"

"...fuck no."

"Then tell me how you want it."

Claire felt her breath hitch and her body go wet just waiting for him. "...take me."

"...and?"

"Make it hurt."

"My pleasure."

He came toward her like a lion stalking a gazelle.

The shower was pumping steam into the quiet room. His hands tossed her over his shoulder like she was nothing. He walked them both into it while quaked above him.

What words were there in this moment?

He almost threw her against the wall to kiss her. She grabbed handfuls of his ass to rub him against her belly like a pervert.

He grunted with pleasure and ripped the tiny shirt she wore. He ripped it, right down the middle like it was nothing, it came apart in his hands like flimsy paper. She started to bicycle her legs to get her panties off and he didn't bother to wait for her to finish, he speared his hand into her panties and crudely thrust two fingers into her. She was ready but not ready. Her body clamped around his invading digits even after a cry ripped from her throat in surprise.

He didn't give her a chance to say no, to fight him off, to do anything. He finger fucked her so mercilessly as she tried to get her panties off her lower legs but they were wet and stuck to her ankles like glue. She grabbed at his arms to try to hold herself up? To try to make him wait until she was ready? She had no fucking idea what was happening. She knew only that he drove those fingers into her, cupping his palm against her groin, his thumb shifting to sweep between the damp lips of her sex and brush back and forth over the apex of her body.

His free hand lifted to settle around her throat, his thumb driving against the soft underside of her chin, angling her face back to take more of his tongue. She couldn't get her eyes to close, they were rapturously fastened to his face as he slammed her against the tiled wall and forced himself on her. Forced? No. Force implied a lack of want on her part. She'd not only wanted him, she was dying with it. He simple poured that desperate passion over the top of the both of them until they were drowning.

He ruthlessly drove her body to the peak of pleasure and just when she was about to go over, he shifted. His hand grabbed at her hips and jerked. Her lower body humped forward from the force of it.

He dropped to his knees in the humid, heated, wonderful water. She couldn't think, didn't think. He put his mouth to her and she tried to fall down. He didn't let her, he shifted both her thighs until they were over his shoulders. Her hands scrambled to find something to grab above her and settled on the shelf where the shampoo set.

It fell with a clatter to the ground as she knocked it down in her haste. He jerked her groin to him and feasted on her. Undone she could do nothing but hold on to that shelf and cum. She came, bowing, bucking against his face. His left hand was at her breasts, mounding and taunting, pulling and teasing and taking. His mouth was merciless; it joined his right hand in thrusting into her, over her, through her. Her thighs quivered, pressed against the sides of his head while he ripped her apart one clever, wonderful thrust and bite at a time.

She came screaming while he drowned them both in need.

She could barely stand as he rose. Her thighs tried to snap together and he turned her, roughly, forcing her hands to splay on the wet tile. Her clothes were ripped and useless on her skin. The undershirt still around her shoulders like some kind of flimsy jacket. Her hand snapped back behind her to join his on the length of his dick as he smeared it over her back almost playfully.

He set his teeth into her shoulder as he moved behind her and ran the hard, aching length of himself over the curve of her ass. She shuddered, threw the other hand back and drove her nails into his flank, encouraging him.

His voice was rough, "Condom?"

She shook her head desperately, "No. No. God, no. Just like that. I wanna feel it."

He grunted, "Put me in you, Claire."

She obeyed, angling him into the needy oval of her body as the thunderous spill of water cocooned them.

Christ..how long had they waited?

Too long.

Why hadn't she fucked him after Raccoon? She couldn't think. She couldn't feel anything but the want he shoved into her like he'd shove his dick.

She made a small sound of want and gasped, "Use me. Ok? Use me."

Bracing both hands on the wall beside her, he pushed himself into her body. She gasped, bowed against him, and he sheathed himself into the heat of her to the hilt. He held himself there, spitting her on his body while he gained enough control to not pound her to death against the wall.

She felt him put his forehead against the place where her neck and shoulder met, felt him gather his resolve. Claire turned her head, nuzzled at his face, and took his mouth in a long, wet, tongue thrusting kiss. She rocked back against him, encouraging. She didn't think she'd ever know anything more wonderful than what it felt to feel him thick and deep inside her.

She moved her hips and pulled herself nearly off before pushing herself back on him. His hands moved down and jerked her hips back. He lifted her to her tip toes, angled himself better, and rode her. It was slow and torturous. He went out, he rode in, he caused them both to nearly die with the aching slowness of it.

She humped back against him, desperate. He shook his head and kept the pace slow and steady. She was nearly undone when she pulled away from him. She turned and leaped on him. He caught her, easily, and she took his face and raped his mouth with hers. He was laughing delightedly at her as he pressed her back against the wall and speared her with himself.

They clashed together now, desperate and fast. They ended up across the floor of the shower with her atop him and the water trying to drown them both. She stole his sanity, blanketed them both in that humbling, skin stealing, soul raping rush of greed she felt for him. She held him down now with his arms over his head as she fucked him, forcing his body into hers fast and deep and constant. He was making some sound in his throat, trapped beneath her; a willing victim. He felt her tighten, felt her orgasm as it ripped through her body, and out of her mouth in a desperate cry.

He lifted his upper body off the ground and wrapped his arms around her waist. He surged twice more against her and pressed their mouths together hard enough to bruise if she didn't open for him. She did and his tongue surged inside. He filled her mouth with his desperate gasp and jerked her hard down on him. The slap of skin was musical in the pounding water.

Her wet clothing slapped obscenely.

It felt like they'd waited a life time for a handful of moments together.

It felt like her heart could hear the life inside of both of them.

She wasn't dead. She was just dying and Kennedy was a hero. He saved girls.

He was saving her by fucking her back to life.

........

The keys in her hand were heavy. She clenched her palm around them as the nurse gave her a beautiful smile.

"Is that to your truck?"

Quietly, Claire whispered, "My brother's...my brother's truck...well...I guess it's mine now."

The nurse smiled happily, "Well, I sure hope it has a back seat."

Claire nodded numbly, "...I-yes. Yes it does...yes."

"Good. It's not safe to put a baby seat in the front...the air bags, ya know? Dangerous."

Claire stared at the thing in her other hand beside the keys. The little blob of white on a black background. The nurse leaned over and touched the picture, "See that? That's the heart. You can see it beating."

The heart. The heart beating.

The heart of her baby.

She touched the tiny white blob and clutched the keys.

She'd always wanted children. Always. The timing had never been right. The world...it hadn't allowed it. She'd always wanted them. She'd nursed baby dolls while other girls had planned their weddings.

She'd never needed a man...but she'd always wanted a child. She'd tell Leon. If he didn't want...well...that didn't matter either. She wanted. She wanted him and this baby...but she'd survive if he didn't feel the same.

She'd carry her child in her brother's truck. The only thing in the world that mattered inside the only thing in the world she had left of the man who'd been her world once. Her world inside her world...inside her womb.

Jesus.

The heart never forgot.

And neither would the baby she'd raise to remember.

She paused on the steps of the hospital with the truck waiting for her to drive it and remember.

Leon Kennedy waited in that coat in the cold. He tilted his head at the picture in her hand. "...what do you need, kid?"

Claire clutched the keys in her fist and smiled, shakily, "...I don't wanna be blind anymore. You sure you wanna take me on?"

His teeth flashed, "You're the one who left that night...all you had to do was look back once..."

"And?"

"...and I'd have gone out a window for you."

Her heart stuttered. She felt her eyes swim with tears. "I wanna name him Chris."

Leon heaved out a heavy breath and a laugh, "...god help us all. The Redfield lineage continues."

She clutched her keys so tight she was afraid they'd pierce her palm. "Yeah...it and never forgets."

She came down the stairs. She climbed into her brother's truck beside the man who'd climbed into a nightmare beside her. She took his hand to place it on her belly as she drove.

Chris' shirt was folded in the back seat. His dog tags jingled on the rearview mirror. He was all around her. Him, their parents, their love...it was all pieces of her she'd never forget.

With the man beside her and that hope inside her, it was the first time since Raccoon City she knew there was life after death.

All because he'd given her the keys to his truck...and allowed her drive into her future.

[eifionwyn22-blog]

Beltain

Beltain/Beltane/Beltân.

Bel-tân; ‘Bel’s Fire’. A festival for the living and a celebration of the Sun-God Bel.

(Tân is fire in Welsh).

Beltain is the Spring Festival at the beginning of May (Gregorian), held on the 1st of the month, when cattle were sent out to graze in the fields, after being kept indoors and fed on slowly decaying hay during the Winter. Huge bonfires & midnight feasting were enjoyed across the country. A ritual washing of the stock animals was held in the estuaries and rivers, and then they were driven between the fires of Beltain to ward off evil spirits, and this was always done with great ceremony. Beltain marked the beginning of the pastoral summer season when food would become plentiful, and when the livestock were driven out to fatten-up on the lush summer pastures. 

Rituals were held at this time to protect the people from harm, both natural and supernatural and this mainly involved the symbolic use of cleansing fire. There were also rituals to protect crops, stock and their valuables, but more essentially to encourage future growth. The ancient ritual of the ‘Beltain Bower’ was repeated across the country to stimulate fertility. Beltain was a ‘springtime festival of optimism’ during which a fertility ritual again was important, perhaps connected with the waxing power of the sun. 

The druids kindled the Beltain fires with specific incantations, and much of this would have taken place on top of their hills and mountains but also in the towns and villages. Their flames, smoke and ashes were deemed to have protective powers and were welcomed. The people and their cattle would walk around the bonfire or between two bonfires, smeared with the ash and wreathed in the Druid’s sacred smoke. Holy wells were also visited at this festival, whilst imbibing the ‘Beltain Dew’ was thought to enhance beauty and maintain youthfulness.