#this was born because lance's dexterity turns me on

[myfckingnameisnuwanda]

The New Knife Game (Klance)

"There is an old tradition, a game we all can play You start by getting liquored up and sharpening your blade You take a shot of whiskey, you grab your knife and pray And spread apart your fingers, and this is what you say"

Keith turns around on a corner, half listening to Lance’s voice in the distance.

"'Oh, I have all my fingers, the knife goes chop, chop, chop If I miss the spaces in between, my fingers will come off And if I hit my fingers, the blood will soon come out But all the same, I play this game 'cause that's what it's all about'"

A rather creepy song, if you asked Keith. He wasn't sure, but he thought he had heard it somewhere before.

"No, you can't use a pencil, you cannot use a pen The only way is with a knife when danger is your friend And some may call it stupid, some may call it dumb But all the same, we play this game because it's so damn fun"

What even was that incessant tactactac sound?

"Oh, I have all my fingers, the knife goes chop, chop, chop If I miss the spaces in between, my fingers will come off And if I hit my fingers, the blood will soon come out But all the same, I play this game 'cause that's what it's all about"

There was Lance, in the sort-of-living-room they used at the Castle. He was doing something in the common table, but Keith couldn't see very well what it was...

"Oh, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, I'm picking up the speed And if I hit my fingers, then my hand will start to bleed"

Was that a fUCking knIFe?!

—

Keith screamed his lungs out, and now Lance has a scar all around the base of his ring finger.

[ludaroace]

zephyr brain rot time qsmp fire emblem 3h au thing because the pla one made me Need to get my thoughts into order and talk about it - not really exactly basing them off of the characters in the game or a specific route just the vibes u gotta trust me . also forgive me stealing some skills and stuff from fates that aren’t in three houses because i want to and i think that fates having pegasus knights not be gender locked was a based decision

i HATE to pull this immediately after saying i'm not basing it off of any characters literally a jeritza mercedes situation. i feel like a similar thing ends up happening, house martritz falls and bagi and cellbit are both born with a minor crest of lamine, which makes them and their mother the only people with that crest alive. because of this, they then attempt to flee to fargus but somehow cellbit gets separated and left behind in adrestia, and ends up meeting bad who ends up explaining the whole rundown of the church and agarthans to him. he's got some feelings about faith magic because its kinda stands for everything that put him in the situation he's in (his crest being based around faith magic, faith magic being directly tied to the church) but he's like secretly REALLY good at it.

bad is a victim of the crest experimentation done by those who slither in the dark (twsitd) but in this au instead of drastically decreasing your lifespan, it does the opposite and they've basically made bad functionally immortal. he was like an ORIGINAL original experimentation, being one of the first people to actually be given crest by serios (he has a major crest of serios) but willingly joined the agarthans and after the creation of the ten elites and defeat of nemesis, he was given a minor crest of blaiddyd against his will which turns him both against the agarthans and the church. he runs into cellbit (who was ..."adopted" into another noble house) and sees someone who is pretty similar to him, and after a while explains the situation (but does not tell him about having two crests)

now bagi is in fargus and is living as a commoner basically, and kinda has a similar story where she knows her brother is out there and wants to find him to bring him to fargus. despite legally being a commoner her status is known to the royal family, and she trains as a non-traditional knight (she uses axes instead of lances) until she ends up at garreg mach where she pivots into some magic training. most people do not know about her crest because she literally will not divulge that information unless she has to. when shit goes down MUCH later on, she more or less immediately defects to adrestia - not because of her brother but because she does Not like the church. she has so many problems with the crest system its crazy, and when told there is an organization against it she doesn’t even hesitate to join even without knowing about crest experimentation. 

also some other stuff:

cellbit

minor crest of lamine

personal skill: survival instinct (+4 Strength, Magic, Dexterity, and Speed for one turn after defeating an enemy when initiating combat.)

boons: lances, reason, brawling

banes: authority, heavy armour, riding

budding talent: faith

bad

major crest of serios, minor crest of blaiddyd

personal skill: confidence (+15 Hit and Avoid if user's HP = 100%.)

boons: lances, riding, authority, heavy armour

banes: faith, reason

budding talent: bows

bagi

minor crest of lamine

personal skill: rallying cry (+2 damage dealt by all allies within a two-tile radius of the user)

boons: flying, axes, faith

banes: authority, bows, heavy armour

budding talent: reason

[artswaps]

I don't ship kallurance but I LOVE being nosy about other people's projects. Whatchu got in the works 👀

I’m really mad cos I tried writing a long-ass response to this twice already!!! But my browser crashed the first time and then windows hit me with a surprise update the second lol. I had torewrite it so I’m sorry for the late reply :(

Kinda long so I put it under a cut:

Here’s an old summary for the superhero au fic (Title is almost definitely gonna change):

tbh I’m not greatat writing romance and I don’t find it particularly fun to write?? So more like kallurance-leaning slightly-shippy gen but w/ever not important OKAY SO first the backstory and oh boy it’s very convoluted and doesn’t make much sense right now so strap in: 

I was thinking the story would be set in acyperpunk-style AU, wherein Voltron is a team of underground heroes trying totake down the Galra- a sinister corporation who have essentially taken oppressive controlof the city through widespread use of their technology.  

Back when the GalraCorporation were just coming into power, team Voltron was first employed byAltea Industries- Galra’s rival company- as a heroic task-force charged withprotecting the citizens of the city. Before the story begins an “accident”happens  at Altea Industries (obviously a deliberate attack organised byGalra) that left the founder of the company dead and his daughter Allura, heirto Altea industries and member of the Voltron force, in a coma she’s yet towake up from. This is two years before the story begins.

For a short time afterthe incident, the four remaining members of Voltron (Keith, Lance, Pidge and Hunk) tried to keep the teamtogether and continue their work as vigilante heroes. They officially split upafter Keith leaves the group to look for his best-friend-slash-psuedo-brother Shiro, who went missing and isbelieved to have been taken by the Galra. Keith’s decision to leave caused anargument between him and Lance, which led to a rift in the team and the othermembers drifting away for their own reasons.

Keith was captured by theGalra in his attempts to find Shiro, and has spent a year imprisoned and subjectedto the torture of having his powers being experimented on. It’s revealed at somepoint that Keith let himself be captured deliberately so he could look forShiro on the inside- while he was there he discovered that Shiro has beenbrainwashed by the Galra and is working as one of their law enforcers. He doesn’t recognise Keith at all, and Keith realises that without Shiro’s help he’s stuck as the Galra’s prisoner. 

After the other three split, Lance is left as the soleactive member of Voltron, and has spent the two years prior to the start of thestory working to undermine the Galra and protect the city as much as he’s able,turning himself into a wanted fugitive in the process and living isolated inhiding. He’s the only one still in contact with Coran, who is protecting Allura while she’s in a coma, and they both spend the years watching over her and never losing hope that she’ll wake up.

I had some complicated plot stuff planned where Altea, before it was attacked, was in the middle of producing a piece of super-tech that would allow them to take down the Galra and restore freedom to the city. The tech shared the name “Voltron” with their team of heroes, and worked as a power-augmentation device that would allow the team to mentally connect with one another and boost their powers. The attack on Altea industries doubled as an attempt by the Galra to steal it, but somehow when she was caught in the firefight Allura used her astral projection ability to merge her consciousness with the Voltron device. The real reason she won’t wake up in present-day is that she’s still mentally connected to Voltron, which is locked away deep in a Galra facility, miles away. 

So that’s where everyone’s at! The story revolves around Lance trying to resurrect team Voltron- finding and reconnecting with his old teammates and convincing them to take another shot at the Galra- while also dealing with everyone’s separate trauma and the fact that poor Shiro is still mind-controlled and basically acting as the main villain for the entire first act. 

The story begins withPidge contacting Lance for the first time since Voltron’s disbandment, claimingthat she’s been sent information from an anonymous source containing Keith’swhereabouts, and instructions on how to break him out. 

Pidge and Hunk reluctantly agree to team up once again for the sake of rescuing Keith, and they break into the Galra research facility he’s being held in.

During his time as a prisoner Keith learnt that Voltron is being kept in the same facility as him and the Galra are running tests on in. Mid break-out he convinces the others to find and retrieve it.

They rescue Keith, and when they reconvene at Coran’s hideout and bring the device within her range, Allura manages to separate her consciousness from it and finally wakes up. Yay! Everyone is confused and horrified by this revelation!! Allura, you’ve been a brain-ghost infused with a piece of stolen technology this whole time?? And the Galra have been messing with Voltron without realising you were hitching a ride?? That’s gotta have consequences, right??

Probably. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

AND NOW THE SUPERPOWERS:because that’s the most fun part of superhero aus obviously

I wanted to try and be abit more creative with the powers and stay away fromelemental/bending type ones lol. The only one I’m pretty set on is Allura, the others’ powers are things I’m still working out and would love some help with if anyone has any cool ideas! I’m totally okay with everyone having more than one superpower. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

Allura: 

One of the world’s most powerfultelepaths/psychics. Can communicate telepathically, “astral project” herconsciousness to other locations within a certain perimeter, and read minds. 

Perhaps has some of her VLD-canon Altean powers eg. can communicate withanimals. 

She can also manipulate other people’s thoughts and perceptions to createillusions. Can’t physically shapeshift but can create the illusion that she looks different. 

As well as abilitiesof the mind, she has a strong connection with spirit/essence; eg. can senseother’s whereabouts or tell when they’re being influenced by an externalsource. Cannot heal physical injuries but has some sway over ailments of thespirit and mind. 

Power augmentation through a conduit: Being connected to Voltron for so long merged her essence with it, so now she can wield it as a conduit to boost people’s power, or like,,, direct and control Voltron’s innate power-boosting abilities at will via her telepathy (tbh I’m bullshitting a bit here while I throw ideas around lol)

Keith: 

If anyone in this AU is gonna have element-based powers it’sgonna be Keith- either he has fire affinity (can create and control fire +heat) or I could ramp up the angst and have him go full-on Jean Grey Phoenixmode ehehehe. 

The other main idea I had was power negation- upon physical contact he can cancel other people’spowers out. This would be interesting if it’s something he doesn’t havefull control over, and I reckon it’s something the Galra would take a lot ofinterest in using to their own advantage- would also be an interesting oppositeto Allura’s power augmentation ability. 

The other things I had listed aspossibilities for Keith are all endurance/enhancement-based powers eg. Enhancedspeed, dexterity and agility, night vision, regenerative/accelerated healingetc. All of these could be innate or they could be powers given to him by theGalra in an attempt to turn him into a weapon like they did Shiro.

Lance: 

Also not settledon anything for Lance but I did want him in part to have more compulsion andcharisma-based powers that fit his more sociable personality. He hascharmspeaking, a hypnotic ability that lets him influence the thoughts and actionsof the person he’s talking to. Even when he’s not using the ability he has away with persuasion. 

I also like the idea of him having omniligualism (thepower to speak all languages) or a similar variant that allows him to be easilyunderstood by and communicate with anyone despite language barriers.

I had an earlier ideathat everyone’s powers, where applicable, would be based on their original lion’spowers in vld canon? I’ve mostly scrapped that at this point but I do stilllike the idea of Lance having a sort of echolocation type of thing- maybe morelike he can feel the vibrations of structures around him and instantly puttogether a mental-map of the area. If he knocks against the outside wall of abuilding then he can feel out the layout of the interior, along those lines.Think Toph Beifong.

I also wanna give him low-level telekinesis because I think he’d had fun with that lol.

Shiro: 

I actually likethe idea of Shiro not having any powers originally; the Galra imbued him withsome abilities through his prosthetic arm that he wasn’t born with. The worst one isthe power to manipulate and deconstruct organic matter; the Galra intended forhim to use it to destroy and kill, but I had a thought I liked a lot where Shiro takesownership of it after they save him from the brainwashing, and he eventuallylearns to use it to heal and becomes the team’s go-to doctor.

I might scrap the idea ofhim not originally having any powers, depends if I can come up with anything.Maybe I can go back to my they-have-their-og-lion’s-powers idea and give himteleportation, and he eventually learns how to do it mentally and can astralproject.

Okay actually NightCrawler is my favourite superhero and I’m gonna fuckin let Shiro nightcrawl,fight me.

Pidge: 

Technopathy,obviously!!! She can do pretty much anything with technology, and I wasthinking that similar to VLD canon where Pidge adds her own modifications to herlion to give it new powers, in this AU she makes a lot of devices of her ownthrough her technopathy that give her access to a lot of manufactured superpowers eg. Invisibility/cloaking,electricity manipulation, some other cool stuff idk yet.

She also has eideticmemory and low-level telekinesis which she mostly just uses to help herretrieve objects in her lab when she’s hyperfocused and doesn’t wanna get up. 

Hunk: 

Hunk is an empath, which makes him goodat intelligence gathering because he can detect when people are lying throughtheir emotions. 

Also had animation/”life spark” down as a possibility, which isthe ability to bring inanimate objects temporarily to life; his creationsfollow his directions but their sentience levels are very low and they have noemotional intelligence. E.g he could hypothetically create an army out ofshopping mall dummies to fight for him, which probably wouldn’t do much physical damagebut would work as a good distraction while he hightails it outta there. Alsowould be a very good intimidation tactic cos that would be a terrifying sightahaha

Idk I don’t have a lot ofother good ideas for Hunk someone help me

Coran:

Enhanced memory, though not photographic or near-infalliable like Pidge’s is, and he’s kinda useless with it (mostly just usesit to subject people to long-winded anecdotes about his crazy life)

Omnilingualism. Thinks this makes him a gooddiplomat but historically it’s just gotten him into trouble with more people.

He’s spent the entire time since Voltron’sdisbandment guarding Allura while she’s asleep, protecting her from assassinationattempts, so it’d be cool if he had some other kind of power that allowed himto do this easily? Not anything flashy, an ability that a lot of people wouldunderestimate or dismiss as harmless, but something that’s let him keep themboth safe while she’s so vulnerable.  

AND THAT’S ALL I’VE GOT FOR NOW I hope it sounds interesting??? It’s kinda a complicated mess atm but I have fun thinking about this AU and I’d like to do something with it soon.

It’d be a mess of cheesy sci-fi drama and angst and found family so like,,, all good things. Thank you for asking about it I love to rant about my projects lmao

[wreathedinscales]

ONE of the Legends(current and past) gets a pet dragon. Which one would it be, and what would it look like? Secondly, if EVERY Legend (current and past) got a pet dragon, (like, smol dragons, no bigger than.. a fox, so it fits on the waverider) what would each look like? How would each pet dragon interact/react to the OTHER Legends?

I am WAY too biased to Mick Rory to answer the first question with any sort of impartiality, especially when I am Bitter about how they’ve been treating him. But I mean, he likes to hoard treasure, he loves fire—kinda a dragon’s MO, amirite?

As for the rest…

Rip: probably a dragon born during Savage’s dictatorship. A rebel, like himself, and scarred heavily by the fighting. Probably a Time Master experiment gone rogue (ayyy) so like, their hide and nictitating membrane are thick enough to withstand flight in the timestream. Probably have a bit of Oculus in their blood, so literally blueblooded, probably translucent greens and yellows and smooth, hornless body.

Kendra: I mean, I think her dragon would look more like a griffin. Sharp, layered scales that look like metallic feathers along with actual feathers, so you can’t tell which is which. Aquiline face, pointed snout like a beak. And talons. Really, really sharp talons. But, surprisingly, very good at making coffee with the barista companion.

While I understand Carter’s motivations, I don’t like him, and he wasn’t on the team often enough for me to consider him on this list. Also, again, too biased.

Mick: a spitfire, no doubt. Bulkier than the rest, like a muscly ball of growls and brute force. I’d say probably knee-height for Mick, so he has to carry them around over his shoulder like a big baby. Horns like a bull’s, with sharp canines made for tearing raw flesh. However, they are dexterous and, like Mick, observe far more than they let on. Muscle is not all they are. (I am so Bitter)

Len: Scarred from sharing in Len’s abusive childhood. Slow to trust, but loyal to a fault once that trust is earned. Smaller than most, but twice as fierce. They know how to use their size for both combat and underestimation. A kaleidoscope of blues that changes depending on lighting—for example, in darkness they turn into a dark navy—with talons of ebony. Their fire is the blue part of the flame. It’s so hot that at first, your nerves don’t register it, as if it were cold. Then the real heat sets in, before you even know what’s happening. Maleficent-esque horns, same color as talons, and wing membranes with a texture that looks like glaciers.

Sorry, Len’s my fave character, so I went real detailed. ANYWAY

Jax & Stein: They used to have separate pet dragons, but after Firestorm happened, they got affected by the particle accelerator explosion. So after they merged, their dragons became a two-headed whole. Their colors blended together, oily browns and blacks (a nod to Jax’s mechanical skills) with noble purples and modern grays. Stein’s dragon has a fur ruff instead of horns, where Jax’s looks almost like a viper in dragon form with little horns that are way sharper than they look. They had to stumble around a bit, but they’ve gotten used to sharing.

Nate: Nate’s dragon is covered with ink. No joke. Pretty sure if Nicolas Cage wanted to steal another Declaration of Independence, he could just steal Nate’s dragon because there are so many spots of historical research on them. They’re the color of pristine parchment, and all their tattoos are bold black ink. Even their paper white horns and talons have text on them. Definitely a nerd like Nate, which is why they wanted the ink in the first place. Keen whiskey brown eyes and meticulously kept mane that runs down their neck, with little neck spikes peeking through. The top of the mane is styled like Nate’s. (Mick calls them Mullet)

Amaya: definitely a warrior dragon. Also inked, this one with symbols of the Zambesi in beautiful colors. Underneath, they share the color scheme of Amaya’s Vixen uniform. They have tusks and a rhino’s horn, with wings that look like blades. Their paws have socks of fur.

Ray: another Nerd Bro. Definitely has their own Atom suit. Their body is focused more on length than berth. (Imagine them wrapping around Ray and assisting with experiments that way.) Their color scheme inspired the colors of the Atom suit.

Sara: It depends on when you want her to get a dragon. In League of Assassins, she would get a whole different kind of beast that would break out with her. But I’m gonna go to before that time, which I think would really help with her inner-conflict of regaining a sense of humanity. Bright colors, then, happy pastels like a Rococo painting with yellow-gold membranes on the wings. White, untarnished talons that are manicured often until after League of Assassins Sara returns and they let ‘em grow into weapons. That’s what’s great about this dragon: they are as resilient as Sara, and they will follow her no matter how much blood she’s spilled, because they know her and her heart. They are the result of Laurel and Quentin Lance’s love for Sara, the kind that always bounces back and never gives up.

Pretty sure that’s everybody. I know it’s long, but hey, when you ask me about dragons, you have to give me some leeway with the word count ;) 

[ruubbiiee]

Excerpt From A Novel

With their souls weighing heavy on his shoulders, he slung his bow across his back. He put two ice-cold fingers in his mouth and whistled. They tasted frozen and foreign, feelingless, like the hand of someone else.

There were no sounds at first, and then eventually, distant, he heard the sound of hooves crunching rapidly on the fresh powder. The night was quiet aside from that, save for the occasional dropping of piled up snow from branches, or a bird calling from high above the treetops.

Eventually, the animal nimbly dodged between the trees, and slowed to a halt before the young man: a large markhor, grey short-hair on its rump with a mighty, matted coat of black fur on its neck and shoulders, laced with slashes of snow-white. Its horns twisted violently upwards for three and a half feet before ending with a razor tip. It stamped idly in the snow and snorted heavy fog.

“Come on, Edgar.” The young man asked. “Did you find something to eat?” The animal grunted at his question. The man scratched the markhor behind the ears. “Yeah, me neither. Come on.”

Together, they pushed on as a cold wind blew, the kind of chill that finds its way underneath your clothes, latches on and doesn’t let go. The forest eventually parted, seemingly right in the middle of it, to show a small, snow-masked field surrounded by tall pines. A chipmunk idly hopped through, the snow too tall for it, but it froze upon seeing the man and his markhor, and darted beneath the banks.

Then, he heard a sound like a twig snapping. He grabbed Edgar by the reins and bid him to kneel, and they both crouched in the snow. Through the trees, he could see something rustling. He watched with steady eyes. Whatever it was, it was big.

After a time that felt like forever, the great beast emerged. It was an elk, mighty and brown, with five points on its antlers that were still slightly covered in velvet. It called out, a sound that sounded like a squeaky door opening. Its ears twitched and it stood, taking in the field with quiet eyes. The man could see something else, too; it was saddled, an archaic saddle made of hide, along with two satchels on either side. Whose elk is that? He wondered. Maybe that big guy has some supplies on him…

The wind either changed, or the elk had an excellent nose on him, because he caught the scent of Edgar and the young man and took off running.

“Damn it!” Swore the young man. “Edgar, you stink! Come on!”

The man hopped on his markhor as it was still kneeling and the animal squatted up without a problem. The man could feel the strength of the beast as it did so, and the dexterity with which it took off after the elk, not letting it make any great distance away from them even though it got a head start.

This had been their life for a long time, the man and his markhor, always hunting for that one thing but never quite finding it.

They darted through trees after the elk, pine needles and branches catching his clothes and cutting at what scant bare skin there was to cut. The young man took his longbow that was slung across his back, and his quiver that was latched onto the markhor at his side. He grabbed an arrow, nocked it, and brought it up level with the elk. You're mine, he thought. But right as he let if fly, in that perfect moment, the elk darted to the left and the arrow buried itself into a pine, vibrating violently in place.

“Damn! Keep going Edgar, you’re doing great!” He shouted aloud.

The elk came up to a chasm and leapt over the great abyss, elegantly and silently, and Edgar did the same, though his back hoof slipped on the other side and in a tense moment, powder drifted into that dark canyon, but they carried on. The young man looked down for a split second at his quiver to grab an arrow, and when his gaze returned… the elk was gone.

“Woah, woah…” the young man said. Edgar slowed down to a trot, and then finally a halt. He was panting, long, steady inhalations. The man rubbed his neck. “Looks like we lost him. Shit. I guess we shouldn’t be hunting a domesticated animal, anyways.” He shouldered his bow once again, and rubbed his arms with both hands. “I definitely would’ve eaten that guy, though.”

Edgar snorted, his regular breathing regained. He twisted his head to one side to eyeball the young man.

“You’re hungry, I know. Here… a post-workout snack.” He reached into a satchel of his own and pulled out a dried apple. “But we really, really don’t have much of this left. So make it last, okay?”

He laid it in his palm in front of Edgar, who happily grabbed it with the tip of his teeth and gobbled it down with a high-pitched yip. As Edgar was eating, the young man looked past him and saw tracks.  When the markhor was done eating, he bid the animal to go in the direction of them, hope welling in his heart once again. They followed them for a while.

He kept his mouth open and Edgar at barely a trot to better listen to the trees around him. The hooves of the great beast made their own tracks, the snow below not being packed enough to make much of a crunch. The moon broke through some clouds above and cast merciful rays of moonlight down among their path, making the prints easier to spot. They began to decrease in length from one another, as if the beast were slowing down.

And then, they disappeared.

The man and his mount stopped before the tracks did. He was dumbfounded, his mind refusing to register what his eyes were reporting. He slowly panned the entirety of the forest, the moonlight getting caught in the heavy, snow-capped trees and leaving too much darkness between them. At first, he felt as if he had the scent. Now, he felt as if they were truly alone.

A moment passed that felt like forever, as the man tried to come up with some sort of logic to this situation. It couldn’t just… vanish. Maybe I should look for it, he thought.

But before he could start searching, the elk had shown itself.

A splash of blood fell from above and coated the man’s shoulder. Almost idly, he turned his head upward and got another drop on his cheek. This was courtesy of the elk, whose body had been impaled on a branch fifteen feet above; or rather, half of it. From chest to head, the elk had been wrapped around the branch like a spit, most of its gore catching the branch and running down the trunk. Just now was it starting to pool at the base of the tree in the snow, despite how much their was. That meant that it had just happened.

The man almost fell off his beast at the sight, but managed to regain balance and urged Edgar out of the splash zone. He was shocked, repulsed, terrified… yet elated. Because he knew exactly what had done this.

He vaulted off the beast and landed in the snow, stepping through blood in the snow to echo his challenge through the whole forest.

“You bastard! Come out! Come out here and show yourself! You God damn monster!” He yelled until his throat was raw, his anger making the forest’s silent answer all the more enraging to him. It was probably already long gone, enjoying its sticky crimson bounty. Wherever it was, it had left no trail. No prints, nor blood. Just like always, it was the perfect predator.

Which made it even more upsetting, for the young man was trying to turn it into prey.

He turned back to his animal, and offered only a look of dismay. The markhor strode up to the man, and nuzzled his maw against his neck in condolence, taking special care not to lance him in the process.

“Always a bridesmaid, never a bride,” he uttered, a joke made only to one who could not understand it. “I’m unsure if that applies.”

They stood there for a moment, growing colder as they did, but he did not know where to go next. They had been travelling this road for so long, and right when he thought they were getting closer, it felt as if they had never been farther off. Snow began to fall, large light flakes that landed with a whisper.

At that moment, he heard a sound in the trees, not of a small creature, but maybe of something that did not know they were there and was surprised to see them, to lose focus in that perfect instant and brush against a tree, or to step on a twig. The young man spun on his heels in the snow, and landed in a wide-legged stance, ready. Always ready for when it did happen. His hand found its way to the hilt of his sword in a split moment, through sheer muscle memory.

Then, he heard something else. A rhythmic, hushed breathing. It came from the darkness.

There, he waited. Whatever it was, it did the same. If it were an archer, chances are he would either be felled already, or have to take his chances at hacking flown arrows in the dark. Eventually, a figure emerged. It came through the trees as if born from them, or from the night itself.

It was a person, that much he could tell. They already were armed, though with what exactly, he could not see. It was a staff of some kind, maybe a spear or a halberd, around eight feet long. It absolutely dwarfed the person, who looked no larger than a little over five and a half feet tall. But they seemed competent in its handling.

If they were armed, he was glad he was as well. “Didn’t expect to see anyone out here,” he said.