#[I have one so somnus has to suffer with me] | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

secret-engima · 4 years ago

Note

In your LC Birbs verse, what would have happened if Ardyn had found Ozpin before Ramuh had intervened?

hgfgf forgive how long I’ve been perching on this ask but it’s just- has many possible answers and so I was hoarding it a little. Also I shall proceed to meet timeline for the sake of Prompto’s existence, just be aware XD.

-If Ardyn had found Ozpin before Ramuh had, he would have likely been in denial at first. He would have likely just been skulking around during a bout of restlessness, since as the Accursed sleep isn’t really an option very often, and found this isolated clone tank. Because the clone in that tank is dark skinned, at first he wouldn’t even have suspected the child was his. But then Ozpin, dimly sensing magic outside his tank and desperate to be free of this constant sedated haze, reaches out and Ardyn.

-Freezes.

-He knows that magic.

-He presses close to the tank, hands rising up to shakily touch the cold glass as the little one inside (probably only about half a year old in this AU? If that) stirs faintly. Gold eyes fight open to half-lidded cracks, and little fingers struggle through the haze of sedation to reach for Ardyn on an almost subconscious need-help-please-please. Ardyn feels his breath stutter as he looks at those gold, gold eyes and feels magic that burns slightly at his Scourge in a mix of LC-Oracle-Ardyn-Aera and feels the pieces collide.

-He yanks himself away from the tank and stalks away. It can’t be. It can’t be. The Scourge is toying with his mind again, making him see things, feel things.

-He mentally slaps at the magic that desperately reaches for him, and tells himself he feels no regret when it turns from hopeful-pleading to terrified and shrinks away.

-Ardyn tells himself he was imagining things for a month. Maybe two. Maybe far more than that, time is so hard for him to grasp. He tries to forget. But he can’t. He obsesses. The sight of the child in the tank haunts him whenever his eyelids shut, burns at him whenever he visits the lab after and catches a flicker of magic before it vanishes again.

-Finally, the need to know is too great. He returns and breaks into Besithia’s private office. He sorts through the papers about the MT project with growing frustration, yanks open locked drawers with raw strength of the desperate and paws through files of words that make little sense until he finds it.

-Project: Remnant stares back at him, a collection of photos of the tank child, of reports of various infant experiments that he cannot fully understand but sound like they would hurt (for doesn’t even the mildest strike of electricity hurt no matter how ultimately harmless it is?) and ... his origins. A project to clone the Accursed (to clone ARDYN) and while he doesn’t understand all the fancy words and self boasting littered in the reports, he understands the gist. That the initial clones all failed, daemonified within days. That Besithia had to eventually combine two extra strands of DNA in order to stabilize the child now in the tank. One of those strands was just a placeholder, a sample he had on hand that is at fault for the subject’s dark skin. The other strand-

-Tombs of the Oracles. The First Oracle.

-Aera.

-Aera-Aera-her-child-his-child-AERA’SCHILD

-Things get hazy. He remembers standing in Besithia’s quarters while the man writhed and screamed and paid for daring to desecrate Aera’s grave. He remembers setting ... a lot of things on fire, his armiger tearing open the walls as he raged.

-He remembers the crash of glass and black blood pouring from his arms before they healed as he pulled Aera’s drugged child free of the tank. The little one was so small, so alone, and somewhere with that thought in his head he thinks he snatched up another child on the way even though it was of Besithia’s blood, because there’s a screaming in his head that isn’t human but isn’t entirely the insanity of daemons insisting that hatchlings need playmates to grow up properly.

-He comes back to himself far away from the ruins of the laboratory, trekking through the wilderness with not one, but two children in his arms, one of them an infant barely a few months old. The other is his- is Aera’s- is their son. The infant is shivering and he takes a moment to securely wrap it in a spare coat (he didn’t intend to steal one of Besithia’s little MTs but he did and so this child is HIS now) before inspecting his blood child. The little boy is still drugged into sleep, unresponsive to Ardyn’s careful prodding, and Ardyn feels something inside him crack in pain as he inspects and realizes that the boy is no longer an infant, but a toddler. Perhaps two years old, bordering on three even.

-How long had he spent running away in denial while Aera’s child floated in that tank at Besithia’s mercy? Too long. Unforgivably long.

-“Oh my little one,” he breathes hoarsely, “Oh Aera. I abandoned our son. I would strike myself down were he not in need of me.”

-He carts both children through the wilds, slinking into the nearest town only to steal as many supplies as he can before flitting away again. The blond infant he’s stolen is not drugged and so wake up periodically. Ardyn had no real intention of getting attached, but his own son has reawakened things inside him, and the realization that this tiny infant is already well trained to not cry even when hungry or in discomfort makes his stomach churn and his armiger flicker briefly into being. He tries to distract himself from his worries over his sleeping son by fussing over the infant, making silly faces and cooing as he tends the infant who will be his own child’s playmate and little foster sibling. The little one needs a name.

-He will decide later. He must name Aera’s child first.

-He must ensure Aera’s child is alright first.

-The toddler finally wakes up on the second day of their travels, sluggish and confused. Ardyn feels precious, precious magic unfurl sleepily, tentatively little fingers of energy trying to pinpoint his new surroundings. Ardyn reaches back, eagerly, instinctively.

-The flinch from his son as gold eyes snap awake in fear, the way too-young magic all but recoils from him, hurts worse than Somnus’s blade through his heart all those centuries ago. The toddler in his arms gasps faintly, looking around, wide awake and confused-afraid. Ardyn shakes free of his shock and tries to hum a soothing note, but all it gets him is his child clumsily trying to raise his arms over his head like he expects a blow.

-Ardyn remembers that first meeting, that first sighting in the tank, the way magic had reached for him half asleep and needy and so vulnerable.

-He remembers how he had lashed out and slapped it away.

-It’s painfully, achingly, burningly clear that his son remembers it too, even though he shouldn’t, even though he should be too young to recall that horrible mistake, and Ardyn has to fight to breathe past the guilt screaming in his skull even louder than the Scourge. He can’t lose his mind, not yet, not again. He can’t lose his mind or run away or try fruitlessly to execute himself for the crime of hurting Aera’s child, because the little one (little ones, he hasn’t forgotten the burbling infant) need a caretaker and Ardyn is the only one (the only one who knows, who can be trusted, a magic child will suffer if given to non magical parents and he wouldn’t trust Somnus’s bloodline as far as he could throw Ifrit).

-He talks soothingly, mindlessly, trying to get the toddler in his arms to uncurl. He does eventually, looking around in fear-confusion, but his magic stays coiled tight inside him, and Ardyn’s tentative poke at it is met with another flinch and a wild-eyed gasp of terror.

...

-Ozpin wakes up and doesn’t know what’s going on or where he is. At first he reaches out, but the moment he brushes up against another, larger, magic, memories of Salem and half-formed impressions of this same magic striking him in anger that might be a dream or might be truth make him retreat and curl in on himself. He feels small, helpless, there is an eerie silence in his head where only faded memories lie instead of a new voice and a new host and he doesn’t understand.

-Talking draws him out of the haze of half-panic, but when large, dangerous magic pokes at his core again he recoils, expecting it to turn into fangs and the burning agony Salem was so very good at unleashing. It’s been so, so long since he felt any other magic than Salem’s or his own that he cannot stop himself from assuming pain will follow. That all magic not his own is intended for pain.

-The man holding him falters in his speech, like he’s in physical pain, and Ozpin uncurls again to peer at him. Is he injured? Who even is he?

-Ardyn, Ozpin learns as they travel. The man’s name is Ardyn, and Ozpin is in a toddler’s body that seems to belong to no one but him, there is another child, a blond infant who doesn’t look like he’s related to Ardyn or Ozpin but is with them anyway, who gurgles too-quiet in the way abused children do. Ozpin thinks, hazily, that this man might have rescued the pair of them from somewhere horrible. Or he might be at fault for that horrible place.

-Ardyn names the infant Prompto, and calls Ozpin “Zagreus” and Ozpin is too wary to tell him he already has a name. They’re traveling through the wilderness, one that Ozpin doesn’t know, and the moon above their heads is strange and unbroken.

-Ardyn has magic. Ozpin is too wary still to do more than flinch and hold painfully, obediently still whenever the man cautiously brushes it against Ozpin’s senses, even though he knows it hurts Ardyn to be rejected so, even though he knows he should be brave and reach out in return, because he doesn’t think this man has ever hurt him. Not yet at least. Not intentionally. The man is terrible at self care, so Ozpin thinks those repeated stretches of forgetting to feet him and Prompto are unintentional. Ozpin works up the nerve to keep track of time himself and repeatedly (hesitantly) tug on Ardyn’s coat when he thinks it’s time to feed Prompto and himself.

-Ardyn calls Ozpin his son. Ozpin has yet to figure out if that’s true or not. If he mingled magic, he’d be able to tell he thinks, because there is a strange new magic woven into his core, bolstering and healing his long-faded green and mingling into it with strands of blue and gold he can see behind his eyelids, but- he can’t.

-Every time he thinks of trying, all he can think of is Salem. And all the ways she killed him. All the times she forced their magics to mingle so he could feel her rage and hate and possessive, poisonous love as she carved him open and ended yet another lifetime.

-It doesn't help that Ardyn is ill. It’s not Grimm Darkness, he thinks after the first three panic attacks that trigger when he glimpses the man’s sickness. But it is very similar. Too similar. A part of Ozpin, his gold magic, itches to reach out and fix it, but after seen Ardyn look more Grimm than man when tearing apart the strange night monsters that sometimes hunt them, it’s all the self control he has not to grab Prompto and run into the wilderness. To let Ardyn pick them up and continue on their way. They will die without Ardyn, he knows that.

-It doesn’t make him any less afraid.

-It takes a long, long time to be able to fight down that fear even a little, to not stiffen in preparation for a strike when shaking hands pet his hair, to not duck his head and breath slow when Ardyn looks at him and speaks to him, trying to coax out a response that remains frozen silent on Ozpin’s tongue. He knows he’s acting poorly. But despite his infection, despite being so very hauntingly like Salem in some ways, Ardyn never loses his temper at either of them. He never turns violent or raises a hand against them, or withholds food or clothes or stuffed toys when Prompto misbehaves or Ozpin once again recoils from the touch of Ardyn’s magic.

-They’re wandering another continent entirely, and Prompto has already started babbling his first choppy words (Ze and Dyn respectively), by the time Ozpin works up the nerve to let his magic out into the air again. To probe at the air around them while Ardyn goes desperately, fragilely still and watches him without daring to reach out for fear of scaring Ozpin. It takes a lot of nerve, but he manages to brush his magic against Ardyn’s in gratitude-trust before retreating again, exhausted from pushing past so many lifetimes of Salem’s pain to do even that. He’ll try actually speaking aloud another day. Maybe.

-A few days later though, Ozpin hears two birds cawing hoarsely in the air and feels something familiar, and suddenly he’s racing away from Ardyn as fast as his tiny legs can carry him, chasing those birds in the sky and reaching for them with magic and need because that feels like-

-The birds plummet from the sky, and a moment later, two scraggly, wild eyed children with black hair and bright red eyes burst out of the underbrush to tackle him with gleeful cries.

-He’s found Raven and Qrow.

#SE asks #shiki-inori asks #Secret Engima Rambles #LC Birds verse #Shadowed Wings verse #oh look spin off au #Hmmmm #Ardynson verse

81 notes · View notes

spectraldragon2024 · 4 years ago

Text

Finding Peace Q/A

Questions and Answers: (WARNING: Many of these questions and answers have spoilers for Finding Peace.)

Q: How did Whiteout find out about the Realm Between and the Dream World? I thought only Adder and his close contacts knew.

A: A personal headcanon of mine is that the NightWings were one of the few tribes in Darkstalker’s era that focused on advanced theories in the same way scientists today have theories about Darkmatter. In Finding Peace: One of these theories was about the concept of there being worlds that existed parallel to the world dragons inhabited. Even when the NightWings relocated to the volcanic island, NightWing philosophers did not abandon these theories overnight since it’s implied the volcano did not become active until centuries later. In her twilight years, she would learn about this theory (which came from a NightWing philosopher’s circle that was formed by the students of the Seer Omniscience, a controversial Seer in NightWing history.) While Whiteout was not a Somnus, not knowing the full nature of these worlds, she eventually gained access to the Realm Between. How she exactly gained access to this realm is something I plan to explore in later stories. However, I can explain how she managed to communicate with her brother across the centuries. In the Realm Between: Time is a concept, not a law. This means those who enter the Realm, whether physically or mentally, can communicate with individuals from across time. But to do so requires two individuals to be in the same location of the realm. By sacrificing her foresight, Whiteout was able to use the Realm Between to communicate with Peacemaker through various times. The final time Whiteout speaks to Peacemaker is a month before her passing.

Q: Are we going to see Moon have that important conversation with Qibli? It was left open-ended in the final Winglet.

A: Yes, I can say with absolute certainty that we will see this conversation. However, what will happen after this conversation will be up in the air. Going into the Winglet: I wanted to show that even though characters like Moon and Qibli have their “Happy Ending”, that does not necessarily mean all trials are done when a relationship begins. In Darkness of Dragons, I felt that there were some unresolved points of concern in Moon and Qibli’s personalities that I imagine would cause their newfound relationship to suffer if those concerns aren’t addressed. Ms. Sutherland once said that because both Moon and Qibli are young dragons, anything can happen between the end of Darkness of Dragons and fifty years later. Some core issues that have caused Moon and Qibli to hit a bump in their relationship stems from differing priorities. Moon is a representative and the only active Seer in the world. Her word is valued by not just the Queens of Phyrria, but Pantala as well. But she knows this isn’t just going to be her future, that there is more on the horizon. She wants the perfect ending with Qibli...but she focuses too much on that ending and tries to take steps to make it perfect.

On the other talon, you have Qibli. Despite his love and loyalty to Moon and his friends, Thorn remains the big centerpiece of his world. After all, Thorn was his mother figure who brought him out of an unstable life. He owes everything to her. That means he will be what Thorn needs him to be: An advisor, a soldier...he will be any of those. Unfortunately, this means he puts a lot of other things on the back burner, his relationship with Moon in particular. This causes a lot of distance between the two. Into the Darkness and Our Sanctuary will not show this much-needed conversation, as these stories will follow Turtle, Kinkajou, and Winter’s storylines respectively. But as I write Braving the Tempest, I do hope to write a story that runs parallel to it that shows Winter, Qibli, and Moon...and how their subplot resolves.

Q: In the Winglet that focuses on Tempest's POV: You have her meet Clearsight. During the conversation, it looks like Tempest blames Clearsight for what happened to Darkstalker. I was wondering if you believe this and if you think Darkstalker did nothing wrong?

A: Do I hate Clearsight? No, absolutely not. I thought she was a very intelligent dragon with a good heart. She loved Darkstalker and tried to turn him from the dark path he was on. I do not blame her for Darkstalker's descent into madness. Darkstalker's actions were his own, he had every opportunity to turn back and be happy. He was the only obstacle to his happiness (as Peacemaker pointed out.) That being said, while Darkstalker is the cause of his madness and sadness, I do believe Clearsight could have helped convince him to abandon his ambitions and to just be happy. The scene in question was not meant to be a sign of hatred, but rather a critique of Clearsight's decisions leading up to Darkstalker's descent. When I originally wrote the scene, I wrote it with something in mind that Tui herself once said in a Q/A Biohazardia was in and posted on their Deviant Art page. The Question asked was along the lines of what could have Clearsight have done to turn Darkstalker away from his path. Tui answered that she believed that Clearsight did love Darkstalker, but deep down she did not trust him. That was the point of the earring she had Darkstalker give her in order to keep him from reading her mind. Tui thought that, if Clearsight had shown the visions she was afraid of, then Darkstalker could have chosen a better path. I admit while Darkstalker was to blame for his actions (nobody else made him kill Arctic, that was his decision, and his alone.) I do think things could have been different as Tui said. But I like to think Clearsight knew that if she had trusted him enough to share her visions, then maybe Darkstalker could have changed. Instead of focusing so much on the future Darkstalker (good or bad) and focused on the dragon, she loved in the present, then maybe things could have been different. When Tempest and Clearsight did meet in Tempest's limbo state, Clearsight used the personality she had while she knew Darkstalker as a way to test to see how far Tempest would go for Peacemaker. The reason she tested Tempest, was because the SeaWing had a personality Clearsight wished she had when she knew Darkstalker: And that was to focus on the present. That was the basis of Clearsight's personality after she arrived on Pantala. She urged her descendants to live their lives, day by day. The future was theirs to write. With Tempest, she needed to make sure that she held firm in her beliefs, that she could save Peacemaker even if the future was dark. So while I believe Clearsight could have done things differently, I want to make it clear that I do not consider her responsible for Darkstalker's own actions

Q: Will you explore quantum mechanics in future stories? (i.e. Time Travel.)

A: While I think time travel would be an interesting concept in Wings of Fire, unfortunately, it's not one I will be exploring in The Darkest Eclipse AU. My thoughts on time travel as a plot device are that it is a can of worms, one if not handled correctly can leave the readers confused (I know I have left many unanswered questions in Finding Peace, but that was simply because the answers to those questions I felt would be better explored outside of Peacemaker's POV). While there are ways for individuals from the past to communicate with someone in the future (such as Whiteout reaching out to Peacemaker throughout the story) there is no way for individuals from the future to physically travel to the past. The Darkest Eclipse prophecy focuses more on the Paranormal and how it relates to established magic and laws of physics in Wings of Fire canon (like how Somnus magic interacts with Animus magic.) That being said, if I were to explore Time Travel: I would follow the theory that time is a closed loop (as in the past cannot be changed, it has already been decided, and that any changes done to the timeline must occur in the future). This, I feel, can be properly explained and leave little confusion for the reader.

Q: TempestMaker or PeaceCliff?

A: Wait, there are ship names?

Jokes aside, I will say that at the end of Finding Peace: Peacemaker does not view Cliff or Tempest in a romantic light. He does love them as much as he loves his mother and Moon, they are important dragons to him and he cannot imagine his life without them. But he does not love them romantically. Will this change in the future? Likely. But for now, Peacemaker is not in the right space mentally to have a romantic relationship. He needs to discover what he wants with his life now that he is free to make it, discover what he wants to do with his future. Once all of the uncertainty in his life is cleared up, that could change.

Q: Apple Juice or Orange Juice? Also: Any tips for keeping a decent writing schedule?

A: I like both, but I lean heavily towards apple juice (always nice to start and end the day with something sweet to drink, but nothing too unhealthy.)

When it comes to writing schedules: What I did with Finding Peace was setting up deadlines for myself. I have always worked well under the knowledge that I have a deadline that I need to meet. Now, that being said, my preferred deadlines may not be for everyone. One of my best friends and colleagues, DONOVAN94, is able to get chapters for her stories out in a single week when she has everything planned out and ready! But that is because she has chapters outlined, and afterward all she needs to do is write in critical info. This works for her, but I always focused on posting one chapter a month. Now I explored posting multiple chapters in a month during the tail end of Finding Peace. While it worked out okay, it left me exhausted...and honestly, I am still tired after doing it.

All in all: My biggest advice to writers (whether fanfiction or writers who want to become published) is to work at your own pace. Set deadlines for yourself that you think you can meet, and never hesitate to experiment.

Q: Who is Omniscience? He is only mentioned at the end of the story when you posted The Darkest Eclipse Prophecy.

A: Omniscience was a NightWing seer who lived during the founding of the NightWing tribe, many centuries before Darkstalker’s era. During Darkstalker and Clearsight’s generation: Omniscience is regarded as one of the wisest seers in NightWing history, as well as the most controversial. Omniscience was born on a night when all three moons were full, but entered a “Thrice Lunar Eclipse'', with each moon eclipsing the other. Instead of receiving both mindreading and foresight NightWing abilities, Omniscience received only the power of foresight. However, because all three moons were technically full that night: The eclipse basically “overcharged” Omniscience’s foresight. This allowed him to see multiple millennia into the future with clarity even Clearsight did not have. However, despite this great power: Omniscience suffered from severe psychosis, causing him great difficulty in his early life to tell the difference between his visions, tricks of the mind, and reality. It’s because of his friends and family’s support did Omniscience learn to embrace his entire self, and became one of the wisest seers in NightWing history. He was controversial because of his philosophy that a wise Seer is not one who tries to map out the future for other dragons, but those who embrace the unknown of the future. In his prophecies he did not address large audiences, but instead, his prophecies addressed dragons in the future, offering them wisdom in difficult times he saw them face. The Darkest Eclipse Prophecy is one of his two final prophecies, alongside another prophecy. These two prophecies have long since been stored in a secret archive, somewhere in Phyrria.

Q: Which character was difficult for you to write in Finding Peace?

A: This might come off as strange, but the one character that was difficult to write throughout Finding Peace was actually Peacemaker himself. The reason this is the case centers around the circumstances of his “birth.” While, in canon, he is not the first year-old dragonet we have seen: But he is the first that was born out of Animus magic and his personality was made from that magic. While we have witnessed the perspective of those influenced by Animus enchantments (when Winter very briefly became Pyrite), Peacemaker is different as he will be living his life following an enchantment. Throughout Finding Peace, I had to balance the enchantment’s dictations and, yet, try to write Peacemaker so he was not simply someone being dictated by magic. In the end: I settled for the enchantment is in place in certain areas of his personality, while making Peacemaker strong-willed enough to actually have a choice of what he likes (as seen when he starts to show interest in food outside of strawberries or standing his ground when his friends were harassed.)

Q: Which is strongest: Animus or Somnus Magic?

A: At their core: Animus and Somnus magic are equal and capable of the same things. However, because of the rules around magic in the AU: It is too dangerous to use Animus magic in the Dream World, or Somnus Magic in the Waking World. As shown in Finding Peace: If you use them in worlds where they are not meant to exist, those worlds will seek to eliminate the magic and its user. The only place both magics can coexist safely in is The Realm Between, where it’s believed both magic originated from. In Finding Peace’s climax this happens, and from there: The power of the magic all depends on the skill of the user. So, long story short, neither magic is stronger than the other. While both magics have advantages and disadvantages depending on the realm of existence the user is currently located in when they are on the same playing field both magics would be left at a standstill.

Q: Most Peacemaker centric fics have Peacemaker be best friends with both Prince Cliff and Princess Auklet, why wasn’t Auklet in the story?

A: Truth is, Auklet was originally going to be one of Peacemaker’s friends in the Quartz Winglet. In my original outline: The main trio would have been Peacemaker, Cliff, and Auklet. Tempest was going to be The Jade Mountain Academy’s counselor, in which she used her Somnus magic to see what bothered the minds of the students. However, the more I thought about it, the more I felt Tempest would have a better role as a Clawmate of Peacemaker and Cliff.

Q: Are Tempest and Cliff reincarnations of Clearsight and Fathom?

A: Yes, Tempest and Cliff are both spiritual reincarnations. While they do not physically resemble Clearsight and Fathom, their spirits are connected to the two dragons. When I drafted Tempest and Cliff’s interactions with the spirits of the two dragons who had such a significant impact on Darkstalker’s life, I drew inspiration from the belief that reincarnation is spiritual, rather than physical (like pouring water from one cup into another cup.) Now, it’s important to note that while they are reincarnations of Clearsight and Fathom, this does not mean Tempest and Cliff are actually those two dragons. Rather, it just means their souls are similar. This allowed Tempest to speak with Clearsight, and Cliff speaks with Fathom when they were in a state of limbo.

Q: Where were Turtle, Kinkajou, and Peril during Finding Peace?

A: Peril is currently living in the Sky Kingdom. While she and Clay live together in the Academy, for the last few months Peril has been staying in the Sky Kingdom...waiting for an important day to occur. Once this day happens, she will be returning to her home in Jade Mountain.

As for Turtle and Kinkajou: Their whereabouts during Finding Peace will be addressed in Into the Darkness. But I will say that what is happening by the climax of Finding Peace is not good for Turtle or Kinkajou.

Q: Why did you include Somnus magic in Finding Peace?

A: When writing Finding Peace, I took into consideration how I could allow bits of Darkstalker’s memories and personality could bleed into Peacemaker. Given the nature of the enchantment, it would not be as simple as putting on a copy of Qibli’s enchanted earrings (Tui confirmed that Peacemaker would die if he put on the earrings.) So I needed to come up with a way that could allow Peacemaker’s slow rediscovery of his past life: And that was with the inclusion of Somnus magic and Adder, while also implying Peacemaker’s strong will allowed only part of the enchantment to take effect (it’s been shown that dragons with strong wills can overcome Animus enchantments.) With Adder tormenting Peacemaker’s dreams by pushing memories of Darkstalker into his mind via dreams, Peacemaker would still be Peacemaker, but the Somnus magic allowed that anguish and confusion in his mind to occur. Needless to say, I was nervous about the introduction of Somnus magic, as I felt readers might think I was “Jumping the shark.” In order to make Somnus magic make sense, I focused on the rules and limitations of this magic and how it interacted with Animus magic. This way Somnus magic is not instantly more powerful than magic from canon.

Q: Why did the group of bandits refer to Lynx and Bobcat as “Cursed ones” in the Winglets for Finding Peace? Why is there a group dedicated to killing them?

A: In the Darkest Eclipse AU there exist multiple secret societies that are aware of the paranormal of the world (such as The Dream World and Realm Between, though they are typically named differently depending on the organization.) As for this particular group, the Bandits that raid the border between the Sand and Ice Kingdoms hunt for the paranormal while seeking to make a profit off of them. As for why this organization targetted Lynx, in particular, has less to do with who she was as a dragon, but everything to do with her ancestry. As Qibli and Hailstorm discovered: Lynx is descended from the Somnus bloodline, making her a very distant cousin of Surf’s family. When she traveled from the Ice Kingdom to Sanctuary, the bandits targetted and killed her because of this bloodline...and the fact that she was married to Winter, who has ancestors from a line of animus dragons. As for why the bandits would want to kill Bobcat: in essence, he is a dragonet of the Somnus and Animus bloodlines. While Lynx does not have an active Somnus Gene, and Winter does not have an active Animus Gene, the bandits viewed this union as cursed, as no dragon has ever seen an Animus or Somnus descendant have a dragonet. Fearing what they do not understand, the bandits killed Lynx to prevent the hatching of a dragonet of the Somnus and Animus bloodlines. Ultimately the bandits failed in the objective of killing Bobcat before he hatched: As the last act Lynx did before succumbing to her wounds, was hiding her son’s egg in a place Qibli would find when he, Hailstorm, Winter, and guards of the boarder arrived.

As for if Bobcat’s existence will remain secret to the bandits and other groups like them: That remains to be seen.

Q: Are there any more stories planned for The Quartz Winglet? Will we see Peacemaker’s life in the Sky Kingdom with Cliff, or the Quartz Winglet reuniting during the Winter Solstice festival in the Sky Kingdom?

A: Yes, to all.

Sometime before the summer: I plan to do a short story that takes place two weeks after the end of Finding Peace, in which we see a day in Peacemaker’s life in the Sky Kingdom and how he is faring. I feel this short is important as it will show one last POV dedicated to Peacemaker and how he is starting to rebuild his life.

We will definitely continue to follow The Quartz Winglet in future stories. Braving the Tempest will follow Tempest’s point of view and show the Quartz Winglet reuniting in the Sky Kingdom during the winter solstice festival. The relationships between these young dragons will continue to progress in the sequel to Finding Peace, named Braving the Tempest, and I look forward to showing you all what new adventures they will have in the future.

#Wings of Fire #Fanfiction #Finding Peace #The Darkest Eclipse Prophecy AU #Question and Answer

9 notes · View notes

dramaticviolincrescendo · 4 years ago

Text

I was tagged by @whaticameherefor - thank you!

Author Name: The_Asset6

Fandoms You Write For:

[Currently] Shameless (US)

[Previously] Final Fantasy XV, Marvel Cinematic Universe/Captain America, Fullmetal Alchemist

[Occasional] Kingdom Hearts, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Where You Post:

[Currently] AO3

[Formerly] All stories from fandoms I wrote for before Shameless are on FFNet under TheAsset6.

Most Popular Multichapter Story:

[Current Fandom] The Seven Soulmate Commandments - Retelling Ian and Mickey’s story if soulmates existed and only Mickey knew that Ian was his

[By Views and Kudos] Somnus Ultima (FFXV)

Favorite Story You Wrote:

It’s my current work in progress, but In Pieces is already my favorite. I have felt very strongly about various characters over the years, but I think Ian Gallagher has to be one of the few who I’ve felt a certain kinship with. To see that there were no stories in the fandom that really handled this period of his life was disappointing, and I have put a lot of work into attempting to tell his story in a way that is authentic to his canon characterization, the writing of the show, and people with bipolar disorder. To do so, I’ve read multiple autobiographies by people who suffer from bipolar disorder, consulted those who would know better than me how to represent it, researched the army’s basic training programs step by step (including training documents), and cross-referenced timelines and dialogue in the show throughout multiple seasons. It’s a difficult story to tell and an even more difficult mindset to put myself in to write it, but as much as I’ve loved writing other stories in the past, I think this one is by far the most rewarding.

Story You Were Nervous to Post:

That would be Living a Lie. For one thing, I spent a very short amount of time on it, and anyone who knows me is aware that unless I spend endless hours editing, I don’t feel comfortable with my final product. For another, there seems to be a great deal of polarization regarding how Ian handled the situation at the Alibi in 4x11, so I was nervous to address the way I interpreted it. Ultimately, I’m very glad I did. It was wonderful to draw a connection that others could also appreciate and consider.

How Do You Pick Your Titles:

I do this thematically. As I am very attached to music and feel the mood of a scene based on the soundtrack or lack thereof, many of my titles are directly or indirectly related to the song playing in a related scene. (For example, Give it a Name explores how Ian’s departure would have looked to Mickey if he’d followed him, so I chose the name because of how I felt listening to “Give Her a Name” [instrumental] while Ian was preparing to run away.) With other stories, I usually use a play on words for the overall theme. For In Pieces, it has multiple contexts: Ian feeling shattered and as though he’s leaving pieces of himself at home, his sanity gradually shattering into pieces as the symptoms of his disorder take a firmer hold over time, and his original dreams falling to pieces while he isn’t in a mental state to realize or care about it.

Do You Outline:

Excessively, yes. I make spreadsheets with tabs for relevant information: plotlines, timelines, original character profiles (if applicable), research (by topic), and character mental and perspective development throughout the story. It’s...a lot.

How Many of Your Stories Are Complete:

Of my 36 posted stories, 35 are complete and one is a work in progress.

In-Progress:

In Pieces - Ian’s story from 3x12 through 4x08

Rewind [Status: Outlined] - a one-shot exploring what might have happened if Ian hadn’t gone to the baptism or the Alibi in 4x11

Coming Soon:

Part 1.6 of In Pieces [Planned Update: Saturday, 12/4 or Sunday, 12/5]

Do You Accept Prompts:

Certainly! Please note that I do not write any explicit sexual content or out of character material. Characterizations will be as close to canon as possible.

Upcoming Story You’re the Most Excited For:

“Rewind” is my only upcoming new story at present, but I’m extremely excited to update In Pieces this weekend.

Tag Five Fanfic Authors to Answer the Questions:

@mickeys-upset, @glon-morski, @sickness-health-all-that-shit, @mick-mikhailo, @dreamylyfe-x

#fanfiction #my fics #writing

11 notes · View notes

siren-dragon · 4 years ago

Text

1,001 Lucian Nights -- Somnus x F!reader fanfiction (Ch.5)

Oh my gosh, it’s a chapter update! I know it’s been over a year since I posted, but I kinda lost a bit of interest in the FFXV (the alternate ending makes me confused and isn’t my favorite). Anyway, I decided to finish this story thanks to @LuminaReal on AO3 convincing me to continue. So here is chapter 5! Also, if anyone would like me to do art for this just let me know.

WARNING: there is a mature curse in this chapter

Tagging: @maty-yami

AO3 - story link

Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Chapter 1

The first thing you were able to register was the warmth that caressed your skin as you were slowly pulled from unconsciousness and rejoined the land of the living. Squinting at the brief assault the sunlight brought upon your senses, you sat upright from your simple bed and glanced outside the small window that resided to your right as you mentally reviewed the previous night’s events. You recalled Gilgamesh escorting you back to the Oracle’s chambers where your mistress lay resting upon the chaise; having attempted to wait for your return. Once you and the King’s Shield had awoken Lady Selene and managed to calm her unease, both of you decided to retire for a long-awaited rest. The exhaustion you felt not only from the evening’s harrowing experience but the previous night as well was so great, you barely registered Gilgamesh taking his leave as sleep overcame you mere moments after your head fell upon the plush pillow.

Yet now you sat awake with a far more refreshed mind-set after the small reprieve. The idea that Somnus was more or less robbed of such a simple yet principal pleasure made you marvel at how the black-haired king had managed so far. Truth be told, he has not. You thought ruefully, gently rubbing your wrist which was now bound by a fresh cloth; masking the dark purple hand-print bruise and subsequent sprain you gained from Somnus’… displeasure. While you did extend a bit of sympathy toward the young Lucis Caelum’s ailment, you could not help the brief vexation and fear that rippled within your mind at his actions. Of course, there was no denying the sliver of gratitude you felt, after all; it could have been your neck bearing the bruise instead….

“I should not hold my breathe on that account, if I cannot continue my stories, I may find myself receiving such a mark.” You spoke aloud softly, moving quickly to dress for the day.

As you exited your small bedchamber and entered the Oracle’s personal sitting rooms, you were surprised to find not the Speaker for the Gods herself, but rather the young servant girl Ceres instead. The adolescent girl jumped in surprise at your sudden appearance, bowing respectfully to you, “L-Lady (f/n), you should be resting! Her Ladyship the Oracle said to-“

“It is quite alright Ceres, and there is no need for titles; I am merely a handmaiden, not a noble of the court.” You corrected kindly, glancing around the sitting room in search of the Oracle, “Lady Selene is not here, is she?”

“No, my La- I mean, (f/n). She left to perform blessings and asked that you not be bothered so you may rest; she said you had a rather harrowing night.”

“I see… Ceres, would you mind doing me a small favor? I need you to deliver a note to someone within the bazaar; a Master Sidolfus.”

“The storyteller?” Ceres exclaimed in giddy delight, her enthusiastic reaction making you chuckle. It seemed the master storyteller’s fame continued to grow with each passing day.

“The very same. Please ensure that he receives this letter,” you replied, quickly scrawling out a short message upon a spare piece of parchment.

“You can count on me (f/n)!”

=============================================================

There were few pastimes that Somnus ever took part in, but falconry was the one he held most dear. It was the sole avocations he and his mother had shared before her death- the late Lady Rhea Lucis Caelum having been a great admirer of animals, birds especially. He remembered once as a child trying to lift the falcon his mother had held so effortlessly upon her slender arm, only to shake and tremble under the fowl’s heavy weight while it crowed angrily at him for being an unsteady perch. Now he barely took notice of the bird’s presence upon his hand, having grown accustom to the falcons residing upon his hand or shoulder.

“I thought you would be here.” A voice spoke, accompanied by the sounds of moving fabric and the clink of metal upon stone.

“May I ask what brings you here, your Ladyship? I doubt it is to observe the crafting of a falcon hood.” Somnus asked, showcasing the small, half-finished leather hood he was currently sewing.

A rather sheepish expression briefly flittered across the blonde’s face. “Forgive me, your Majesty, I did not think myself to be so transparent. But you are correct, my motive for being here is more than mere socialization between friends.”

“I take it this is in regard to your handmaiden, (f/n).” Somnus shot back before turning to face the blonde Oracle.

Clad in full regalia with trident in hand, the blonde priestess looked as if she were a divine being herself; descending upon the mortal realm to invoke her will, though she possessed a polite smile rather than the cold indifference often seen upon the Messengers of the Astrals. Somnus knew many of the nobles believed Selene to be a little naïve and gullible due to the kindness she displayed to any who sought blessings from the Oracle but that could not be further from the truth. Beneath her sweet disposition was an intelligent and fearless leader ready to fulfill her calling despite being a second choice. And Somnus knew more than anyone that the Oracle was an individual not to be trifled with.

“Indeed,” Selene answered, resting the bottom of her trident upon the marble floor. “Your Majesty…. regardless of what you choose to believe, you are my friend and I do care greatly about your safety, as does Gilgamesh. That would be why I was supportive of (f/n)’s assistance regarding your insomnia and night-terrors. However, that young woman is not only my handmaiden, but my dear friend as well. Which is why I am curious as to how she received a bruise upon her wrist in the shape of a man’s hand last night.”

The Lucian sovereign flinched briefly at the sharpening of Selene’s tone as if struck, “It was… a lapse of judgement Selene.”

“A lapse of judgement? You attacked a woman, Somnus. I know that you’ve been having a difficult time of late and I sympathize, but this is an action I cannot condone.”

“Then you should have your hand-maiden watch her tongue when speaking of matters she does not understand- “

“Somnus Lucis Caelum!” Selene snapped, crystal-blue eyes colder than the Ghorovas Rift, “I will not have you debase a woman who has been trying to help you out of nothing but the kindness in her heart, only to suffer physical harm! Now you will control your temper and act like the king you are, or I swear to Shiva you will be the first to face my skills with this trident!”

A tense silence fell between the two that seemed to stretch on for an eternity before Somnus nodded in understanding. “…. Forgive me, Selene. I- I have over-stepped my bounds.”

“I am not the one who needs to hear those words, Somnus.”

Without another word, Selene exited the aviary, leaving the thoroughly disciplined king to his thoughts. Selene’s anger slowly flooded her mind as she proceeded to return to the East Wing while a sliver of guilt began to take its place. Perhaps she was a bit too harsh on Somnus, not to mention immature for having lost her own temper so easily when trying to teach her friend to reign in his own. Regardless, Selene only hoped that (f/n) was willing to continue with her meetings and that Somnus’ mental health did not deteriorate too far…

“Ah, Lady Selene! You look positively radiant this day, your ladyship. I wondered, perhaps, if I could discuss a rather growing concern with you?”

The young Oracle bit her lip and said a silent prayer for strength to the Astrals before turning to face the individual who had addressed her, polite smile on her lips. “Thank you, Lord Aldercapt, you are too kind. How can I assist you this day? Is something wrong?”

=============================================================

You were glad to see that Ceres was successful in her task as Sidolfus arrived not long after you yourself at the small but private eatery not too far from the Citadel. And much like your previous encounter, the elderly man was more than happy to have accepted the invitation for a meeting; likely knowing you were eager for advice. “Greetings Lady (f/n), it is wonderful to see you once more.”

“Likewise, Master Sidolfus, I am glad you were able to come.”

The older storyteller chuckled, “well, your messenger was quite insistent that I accept your invitation. A rather spit-fire of a girl you have there.”

“Oh dear, I do hope Ceres wasn’t too… erm, passionate about my request.” You frowned, the slight embarrassment you felt tinting your face pink with blush.

“Not at all! If anything, that girl gave me some inspiration for another story of mine. And speaking of stories, I assume you asked me here for assistance with your own fables. Tell me Lady (f/n), how have your tales been received by your nobleman patron?”

“Far better than I had hoped, but he is not as enraptured as I would have wished. I managed to finish my current story and spoke of beginning another the previous night, but I am not quite sure how to hold his focus…until I recalled your own tale.”

“Ah, you are speaking of my encounter with Death,” Sidolfus replied knowingly, gently blowing the steam from his cup of tea before taking a tentative sip.

You nodded, “yes, you mentioned you had meet him once before.”

“I did not meet him, I passed him on the streets of Altissia- but only for a moment. I had told a close friend what had happened, and he said… that he too had seen Death too and that Death had given him a horrible look. He was so frightened that he was leaving for Caem that very night.” Sidolfus answered, his eyes bearing an intense focus as he recounted his tale to you, as if he were speaking of an event that had occurred merely hours ago.

“…And?” you questioned, eager to learn more of the storyteller’s fable.

It was then that Sidolfus allowed a small smirk to twist at his lips, knowing full well that his tall-tale had already claimed your attention. “Another time perhaps. You must learn how to keep your audience in suspense Lady (f/n). But you must ensure that he does not know what is to happen next.”

“Truth be told, even I am not aware of what will happen next,” you admitted honestly, not quite sure if you were referring to your story or the continuation of your meetings with the king.

You spent the remainder of the time speaking a bit more with Sidolfus before taking your leave, knowing full well that Lady Selene would likely send out a squadron of glaives to locate you. Quickly you hurried back toward the East Wing to continue with your chores but was surprised when the doors opened to reveal not only Lady Selene, but a nobleman accompanying her as well. “Please, will you not consider my proposal, Lady Oracle. We only wish to secure the continuation of this kingdom.”

“Lord Aldercapt,” Lady Selene answered with polite grace despite the irritation that reflected within her ice-blue eyes. “I understand your concerns and I am ever grateful for you placing the needs of the people above all else. But from what I have seen, I do not believe his Majesty to be incapable of performing what duties he has been charged with by divine providence.”

“The council is fully aware of His Majesty’s prowess and skill, my Lady- he has done admirably despite the heavy burden placed upon him. But one cannot help the concern felt as to whether or not the king can continue his duty as sovereign with his current health. Should his Majesty’s constitution continue to decline…. we will be forced to act; regardless of divine providence.”

“Those are treasonous words you speak,” you quietly interrupted, unable to mask your outrage at the old man’s cruel murmurs and causing both Selene and the old man to face you.

The old nobleman swiftly turned his gaze to you; his dark blue, nearly black eyes reminded you eerily of a deep abyss glaring coldly at you in cold fury at your sudden appearance. He took in your simplistic attire and stared down at you with a withered sneer as if you were nothing more than a mere insect beneath his boot. “And who are you to interrupt private conversations? I believe servants are taught to hold their tongue, are they not.”

You flushed briefly in shock and anger at the man’s cruel words but was halted from retaliating with an aggressive response when Selene came to your aid. “Lord Aldercapt, I would kindly ask you to please refrain from insulting members of my staff.”

“Your… staff?” The ivory-haired man looked at you with an expression of surprise until it morphed into an oily smile that barely hid the displeasure in the nobleman’s eyes. The falsified expression sent a cold chill of unease down your spine as if the Glacian herself had frozen your very bones. You did your best to keep your expression neutral; though the nobleman’s twisted smile made the task nearly impossible. “Forgive me, your Ladyship; I was not aware this…girl served our dear and beloved Oracle. Tell me, who might you be?”

“Permit me to introduce my handmaiden and dear friend: (f/n).”

“At your service, sir.” You replied stiffly, your bow of greeting barely low enough to be considered polite.

Whether or not Lord Aldercapt took notice of your lack of courtesy, he did not care to comment and instead turned his gaze back to Selene. “Please consider my words, your Ladyship, for the good of all.” He bowed graciously to the Oracle and tossed you another venomous but subtle glare before disappearing back down the empty corridor and out of the East Wing of the Citadel. Once Lord Aldercapt had proceeded out of sight and earshot Selene released a heavy sigh of relief while you continued glaring down the corridor at where the aristocrat once stood.

“That man makes me uncomfortable.” You spoke, at last relaxing once more with the return of privacy.

Selene frowned, “I did not think Lord Aldercapt would speak so directly regarding Somnus' ailments. This is rather unsettling….”

“Would he and the other lords really try to contend with the Will of the Gods regarding his Majesty’s throne?”

“Not all of the council heed Aldercapt's honeyed words, but I would be lying if I said he had no sway over the other nobles. I do not believe they would be foolish enough to contend against Somnus and myself directly… but the hearts of men are often blinded by material vices.” The Oracle sighed before turning a questioning gaze onto you, “but it seems that issue is not the only concern I have.”

“Oh? What might the others be?”

“For starters, would you care to explain why you arrived back with a bruise upon your wrist so severe it caused a sprain.” Selene questioned with narrowed eyes.

You swiftly turned your gaze downward and bit your lip in thought, knowing there was truly no use lying to your friend. “It was merely an accident, my Lady, nothing more.”

“And I suppose the man whose hand it bares the shape of meant no offense.” Selene added sharply, her words causing you to flinch ever so slightly. “(F/n)… perhaps it would be best if you stopped meeting with Somnus.”

“I will not try to fool you Lady Selene and say His Majesty is merely a misunderstood and tragic man. He is cold, rude, stubborn, possesses' a foul temper, and carries a well of secrets greater than any sinner; but he is a good man. One that needs more help than he realizes.”

Selene frowned, “as Oracle and the mistress you have chosen to serve, you have my deepest gratitude for choosing to continue with this task (f/n). But as your friend… I am concerned that you or Somnus may get hurt from this endeavor. However, you asked for my trust in this matter and so I shall continue to give it. I will not interfere….for now.”

You smiled brightly and bowed respectfully toward Selene, “I am at a loss for words my Lady but, thank you.”

The blonde answered your show of gratefulness with a matching smile before continuing down the corridor of the West Wing with you fast on her heels. “Now then, I must speak with Gilgamesh in regards to Lord Aldercapt and the rest of the Council, I sense there may be more than mere nightmares working against the King. I shall leave His Majesty’s health to you; I trust you’ve a tale in mind for your next meeting?”

It was then that a look of amusement flittered across your face, though the determination in your (e/c) eyes burned brightly. “Yes… I believe I do.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As day turned to night, and the brilliance of the sun was replaced by the illumination of flame from every candle and brazier, you found yourself being escorted once more by Lord Gilgamesh toward the King’s chambers. Similarly, to the previous evenings, the tall warrior beside you remained silent; but for once you were glad for the quiet as it allowed you to collect your thoughts as you sub-consciously rubbed the bandage about your wrist and hand. “My lady, we have arrived,” Gilgamesh gently placing a hand upon your shoulder; causing you to jump as you returned to the present.

“Y-Yes, thank you Lord Gilgamesh.”

“Lady (f/n), while I admire your courage in continuing with this task; there is no shame in feeling fear.”

That caused you to pause as you turned to face the aged warrior, “… you do not think me foolish for fearing my own sovereign? Or cowardly wondering if this may end with my neck upon the headsman’s block.”

“No, my lady. Fear is an important aspect to possess as well as overcome. In battle, one may discover what their enemy fears most by the means he uses to frighten you. Such knowledge is crucial if one wishes survive against their combatant.”

“You believe I should treat the king as my enemy?” you asked, curious and surprised at his words.

“Is your life not in danger from this endeavor?” Gilgamesh replied, a brief teasing smile tugging at his lips at your disbelief. “You have seen Somnus through all manner of emotions over the course of the past few nights that only a handful of individuals have and that knowledge can aid you. What I am saying Lady (f/n)… is that it may not be you who is the one that is truly afraid.”

You pondered the swordsman’s words as he moved to knock heavily upon the door and opening it when the king’s familiar voice muttered a muffled, “enter.” Nodding your head in thanks to Gilgamesh, you entered the expansive quarters while the door closed behind you like the bars of a prison cell. Across the room the king stood waiting for you as you approached. “Good evening, your Majesty,” you greeted as you bowed politely.

“Yes… good evening Lady (f/n).”

Those words certainly caught you off guard, the kind greeting causing you to immediately look toward the ebony-haired man. For once the harsh lines around Somnus’ face seemed to have softened with the lack of the usual sour expression that seemed to have permanent residence upon his face, making him look far younger. His arms were crossed as his dark-blue eyes seemed to avoid your own as his left foot seemed to shuffle back and forth in the slightest of movements as if he wanted to race away; giving the king the appearance of a young boy who had been caught stealing sweets and forced to confront the shop-keep. After what felt like an eternity he let his eyes shift briefly toward you, glancing at the bandage wrapped about your wrist and hand; causing a micro-expression of regret to flitter across his face so quickly, you would have believed you imaged it were it not for Somnus’ next words.

“I do hope you are well enough to continue your tales, Lady (f/n).”

You stared at him with a look of pure confusion, one that he noticed and caused him to immediately growl in anger and turn sharply away. Did he… Did he just inquire about my health? Is this about my injury?

“Y-Yes sire, I am well; thank you for your inquires.” You responded awkwardly, unused to the strange pleasantries the two of you were exchanging.

“Good. I do hope the… the fool who has caused such an offense has asked your forgiveness. Though none would fault you if you choose to withhold such a privilege due to this man’s actions toward you; as they were nothing short of cruelty.”

If this wasn’t a serious apology from the King of Lucis himself, you may have laughed at the look of nervousness and embarrassment on Somnus’ face. His face had contorted due to his expression of anger, but it was less cold and severe than you had previously witnessed; which caused it to appear pouty and brooding. You tried to fight down the giggles that threatened to spill from your mouth by biting your lip and smiling brightly at the proud king who seemed to have been chastised by another to give this rather humiliating and unusual apology. You briefly wondered if this was what Gilgamesh meant by the king experiencing fear; perhaps beneath it all he was just as frightened as you were. Well, you supposed it was time to overcome your fear and give the poor man a chance… but only a chance.

“I believe he has earned my forgiveness… for the time being. But one can not be too careful, another incident may leave him with a proper scolding.”

His eyes quickly shot up to meet your own, surprised at your acceptance of his apology and playful teasing of his behavior. There was no need for outright proclamations or tearful confessions of ‘I’m sorry’, he was too stubborn for that and you wished not to have a bold statement spoken in false tones if he did say those words. But you both understood what one was trying to convey and knew that such words have returned you both to even playing fields. He smirked as midnight blue eyes sparked with mischief as the golden-orange glow of the braziers danced across his pale face. “Oh? And I suppose you will inflict this scolding yourself? And just what might such an action entail… Lady (f/n).”

You prayed to every Astral there was Somnus did not see the rose shade of blush that suddenly crept up your face at his less-than innocent innuendo. Though judging by the growth of the smirk on his lips, you were not so fortunate. “Perhaps that will be a story for another time, your Majesty.”

“I look forward to it.” He spoke as he settled upon the plush pillows and soft rug within the sitting area, the small table already laden with refreshments and the dim glow of candlelight. “Now… I trust you will continue your unfinished tale.”

“Yes sire, I shall continue.” You answered, settling across from him against the lush furnishings.

============================================================

‘As the crowd was leaving the courtroom, the most famous magician in Galahd, Glauca, passed by on his way to Tenebrae. He was a rather intimidating yet charismatic man with piercing blue eyes and a gravelly voice that could command anyone into performing his bidding. When he came into a room, the Sabertusks jumped on chairs…. But he is not the hero of this story.

‘And who is that?’ Somnus asked.

‘Um… Erebus- no.’ You muttered, trying to think of a name as images of your character flashed through your mind. Young, old, tall, short, male, female, blonde, redhead, and brunette all swirled about within your head until the image began to emerge and become clear.

‘Nyx… Nyx Ulric.’

“NO!” a brunette man with dark-blue eyes and unshaven face cried out in despair as the chocobo’s raced down the track, with a particularly vibrant orange one claiming victory and with it, his money. Cheers or shouts of outrage that echoed all across the pavilion of the races from what seemed to be every gambler within the vicinity. It was clear to see by the worn and dirty tunic he wore that his social status was not one of wealth, though not uncommon in the sprawling coastal city of Pagla; Tenebrae’s famed trading hub. The young man groaned as he jumped off the pile of crates, he had claimed to watch the outcome of his bet, only for another man- this one a bit more rotund than Nyx, to heave a heavy sigh as well.

“Ugh, that race was fixed Libertus!” Nyx exclaimed in outrage, while a few of those in the crowd they tried to move through agreed whole-heartedly.

Libertus laughed, “that’s no question; anyone could have seen that Nyx. It just goes to show that honesty doesn’t pay.”

“They could have been a bit more subtle about it. Tch, who picks orange anyway?” Nyx sighed before tossing a grin to his friend. “Guess it looks like we’ll have to get back to work, huh?”

“Looks that way, let’s go.”

Swiftly moving through the crowd, Nyx glanced about the sea of faces until he finally found the perfect target. A middle-aged man dressed in fine, silk with expensive accessories draped upon his hands and neck; strutting like a proud peacock amid the poverty of Pagla. Ensuring there were no royal guards patrolling the streets as one really didn’t want to be a guest within the dungeons, Nyx took action. He quickly bumped into the man, who stumbled and glared at him while haughtily turning away, not even noticing as Nyx quickly slipped his purse away from his belt with skill and ease. “Sorry, excuse me…” he muttered half-heartedly before claiming his prize and racing away.

“What? My purse- I’ve been robbed!”

“Hey, are you alright sir? Someone robbed you?” Libertus asked, immediately drawing the noble’s attention away from Nyx.

“Th-That rogue who bumped into me, he stole my money!”

“Umm, I think I saw where he went- this way, quickly!”

Unknown to both parties, a pair of cold blue eyes- like twin pieces of ice, watched the scene before him with intrigue. As the thief quickly raced away with his prize, the man couldn’t help but smirk, believing himself quite fortunate to have found just the person he needed….

When Nyx and Libertus met once more, after having found a safe place away from guards or their mark, they began to split their earnings. Both were far more pleased to find that the man carried a decent amount of money that would tide them over for a time. As the last gil was finally split, a loud shout of angry voices and squabbling of chocobos began to fill the air as people stampeded away from a small battalion of guards escorting what looked to be an elegant carriage; a rare sight in the less-refined region of the city and likely the result of poor directions.

“Who’s in a coach that needs that large of an escort?” Libertus scoffed, unimpressed by the obvious display of wealth.

Nyx shrugged but curiosity got the better of him as he grinned to his friend, “no idea; but let’s find out.”

“And deal with all those guards? Hell no.”

“Come on, we’ll take the rooftops to leave. Besides, you love messing with guards.”

Libertus groaned, knowing there was no use arguing with Nyx once his mind was made up. “Fine, let’s do this before they leave. And if we end up spending a week in the dungeon, I’m blaming you.”

Together the two men hurried closer to the carriage, careful to avoid the eyes of the guards until they were crouching behind an abandoned wagon filled with Cartanica Melons. Keeping an eye on the carriage and waiting till it was closer, Nyx and Libertus heaved the wagon upward, causing the fruit within to sprawl across the dirt street and startle the chocobos while halting the carriage. The guard escort soon realized their charge was now stranded while the two thieves quickly moved to leave the scene. Yet as Nyx was moving to climb onto the rooftop, the small window of the carriage slowly opened and he felt himself freeze as his eyes met the those of the passenger.

Inside the carriage was a young woman, her skin pale and fair while her lips were a pale pink and a bit wide; but it only complimented her heart-shaped face. Though she appeared to be wearing a small headdress; Nyx could see dark blue flowers and shinning pearls twisted into her blonde hair- which only showcased that whoever she was she was certainly wealthy. But what caused Nyx to pause as the rest of the world faded away from his mind was her eyes- a shade of bright blue that caused the color of the sky to appear dull and lifeless by comparison; eyes that were currently locked upon his own showing only curiosity and kindness dancing in their depths.

“Who is that?” He asked softly, lost as if in a trance.

Libertus frowned, looking briefly at the person who had stolen Nyx’s attention, “oh, it’s Princess Lunafreya; she’s Queen Sylva’s daughter. I heard she’s quite kind-hearted, but apparently it’s nothing compared to her beauty- guess the rumors were true there.”

Nyx could barely hear Libertus talking as he continued to hold the princess’ gaze, who offered him a small smile that caused Nyx to only grin. She’s beautiful….

“Nyx… Nyx… Nyx! We’ve got to go!” Libertus called, pulling his love-struck friend up toward the roof as the guards began to give chase.

After being harshly returned to the reality of their situation, Nyx reluctantly turned away from the divine beauty of the young woman and quickly followed Libertus away from the guards as they raced across the rooftops. Within the carriage, Lunafreya watched the scene in awe and with a small laugh as the guards attempted to give chase. “My Lady, are you alright?” her attendant asked.

“Yes, I am fine. I was just… saying hello to a friend.” She smiled, wondering if she’d ever meet the young man again as the carriage continued onward.

Nyx quickly vaulted over a stone railing onto an abandoned rooftop, having split from Libertus to avoid tails before meeting again, only to see he was not alone. Standing across from him with his arms crossed and a smug, knowing look upon his face was a man a fair bit older than himself clad in well-worn traveling clothes. “What the- where the hell did you come from?” He asked guardedly, surprised that the man had seemed to appear from out of nowhere; an action that placed Nyx on high-alert.

“From the other side of the world: Galahd.” The man replied dryly, moving his hand in an half-hearted movement to mockingly convey wonder into his words. “and stay calm Nyx Ulric, do I look like one of the royal guards?”

“I am calm, and how do you know my name.”

“I was a friend of your late father, my name is Glauca.”

Nyx raised a skeptic eyebrow at the proclamation, “I didn’t know he had any…”

“Very few: just me.” Glauca laughed, “your father, he was so crooked he could hide in the shadow of a corked screw.”

The two remained silent, as if sizing each other up before Nyx grinned widely; “you did know him. So, why are you here looking for me and not him?”

“I wish to discuss business with you that requires your unique skillset in the art of thievery.”

“I assume this business you’re offering of the shady variety?”

Glauca nodded, “shady, shifty, and shadowy business. But… very profitable.”

Though he wished it took him longer to ask to show his trepidation with the offer; the word ‘profitable’ had immediately caught Nyx’s attention as he spoke. “What do I have to do then?”

“Meet me tomorrow outside the city gates at dawn. And here, consider it a token of my faith in you, do not keep me waiting.” Glauca then retrieved a small, but heavy purse from within his robe and tossed it to Nyx; who caught it deftly and opened to revel in the plentiful amount of gil within. He then looked up to thank Glauca, only to find the man gone.

============================================================

Despite his unsavory career choice as a thief, Nyx was never one to be obscenely greedy. He grew up with practically nothing, only to gradually lose everything as his parents and sister died one by one; which is why he strived to share his ill-gotten loot with those in similar circumstances. That often caused many to call him the rogue with ‘a heart of gold’ but Nyx preferred to see it as just simple kindness; after all, he could take care of himself and get by fine- not everyone had that luxury.

Making his way toward the humble and decaying building that was his home, he waved hello to Crowe. Unlike Libertus and Nyx, Crowe was not necessary a thief but a fence for their ill-gotten goods and friend who roomed with them. The brown-haired and brown-eyed girl held such a simple appearance that it often caused no one to glance her way, if Libertus’ overprotective nature didn’t stop them first. Indeed, Crowe’s true skill laid in being unseen and the connections she carried; a true gift for a thief. “Looks like the Hero Thief has returned. So, how’d work go today Nyx? Libertus just got back.”

“See for yourself; and make sure to spend it all and give the food to the others, okay.”

Crowe gasped when she saw the amount of money inside, “By Ramuh’s balls Nyx, where the hell did you get this?! There’s got to be at least 1000 gil in here.”

“1200, actually. It’s a down-payment for a job I’m doing tomorrow.”

“1200 gil to start?” Libertus spluttered, biting one of the coins to ensure its authenticity and causing Nyx to roll his eyes. “That’s the first thing I did, you idiots.”

Libertus snorted, “hey, it doesn’t hurt to get a second opinion. So, who is the man that hired you for the job; 1200 gil is a ridiculous amount to pay? Hell, he could have had 3 men killed for that kind of money.”

“His name’s Glauca and he said he knew my dad. As for the job, I don’t know what it is yet but I doubt it’s anything like murder. And if it is, I’ll just back out.”

“And did you believe him about knowing your old man?” Crowe asked.

“No, but I did believe his money.”

“If he’s willing to pay the same amount or even more, I’d do whatever he says- the man is clearly loaded with coin.”

Crowe frowned, “just be careful alright? This job seems shady at best and I don’t think this Glauca man is the most trust-worthy of employers.”

“Trust me, everything will be fine- and profitable.”

Those words only caused Libertus and Crowe to laugh, “famous last words.”

‘And so, the following morning, Nyx and Glauca left the City of Pagla behind. He didn’t trust Glauca in the slightest, but when there was money involved… Nyx was prepared to take a few risks.’ You explained to your captive audience while Somnus only smirked as you continued.

Leaving the still sleeping city of Pagla, the two men traveled upon Glauca’s chocobo south-east and further inland toward the mountains before allowing the bird to rest. As they continued on foot, Glauca finally began to explain the actual task of what the job entailed. “I don’t want to boast, but I’ve not met another who can match me in combat; magic to magic.”

Nyx had to withhold a snort of derision at the magician’s arrogant tone, “so why ask for my help if you’re so powerful.”

“All power has its limits, Nyx Ulric, which is why you are here. What I want is for you to retrieve a certain object that I cannot collect myself for reasons… too complicated to explain. It is due to the rules of magic; they are often tiresome, but must be obeyed without question.”

“So why did you choose me?”

Glauca laughed as he turned to face Nyx, “you did not believe I was a friend of your father?”

“Not for a moment, and stop avoiding the question.” Nyx shot back with a smirk.

“I choose you because you have larceny in your soul. Now, the task I wish you to undertake is this: I want you to go into a tomb, retrieve an old amulet, and bring it back to me.”

“A tomb? What tomb?”

“Right here,” Glauca spoke, waving his hand at the site before them.

Nyx watched in as they came to a halt beside the base of river where a magnificent waterfall cascaded down the mountain side. Crystal, clear water danced across the rocky shoreline while on the other side of the river a herd of wild chocobos were drinking or resting in the shade of the sparse trees that dotted the area. The small batch of wilderness looked far too picturesque to hold something as morbid as a tomb. However, when Glauca waved his hands the shoreline soon began to split as earth and stone rumbled and groaned to reveal a dark enclosure beneath their feet. “How much are you paying me to do this?” Nyx asked, suddenly very weary of whatever was down in that dark abyss.

“2000 gil,” Glauca replied a bit smugly.

“Please, don’t insult me! And don’t ask me to trust you, thieves trust no one… 5000 gil or no deal.” Nyx countered.

Glauca frowned at the rogue’s attempt to haggle, but shrugged and relented nonetheless. “Done, here’s half.”

Nyx stared a gapped at amount of money Glauca easily parted with as he hurried after him. “Wait! You gave me this too easily, no one would ever do something like that- you’re not telling me everything!”

“I gave you the money, now do your job rogue. And here, take this with you.” Glauca added, taking Nyx’s hand and slamming looked to be a small, wooden charm bearing the shape a fox, which was painted in a pale blue that beheld a soft glow in the sunlight. The simplistic design nearly made Nyx believe a child had made crafted the charm were it not for the small horn on the fox’s forehead that appeared to be an actual ruby. “Consider this a small precaution, simply rub the charm if any trouble or complications should arise.”

“Trouble? What sort of trouble, 5000 gil is not enough if there is going to be problems!”

“A deal is a deal, so off you go. And do not try to betray me or I swear by Garuda’s feathers, you will never see your wedding day.” Glauca snapped, gesturing to the chocobo they had ridden here on.

Nyx frowned and looked at the bag of money and fox charm in his hand before tying the charm about his wrist and pocketing the money as he moved to the edge of the cavern entrance. He took a deep breath and soon jumped, landing skillfully upon the start of a stone staircase descending further down into the tomb. Looking back up to see Glauca nodding for him to continue with less than encouraging words of, “go on now,” Nyx slowly began to climb further and further into the cavern.

‘Nyx didn’t know the extent of trouble he was getting himself into, if he had he wouldn’t have taken the 5000…’ You spoke before you gave a soft laugh, “On the other hand, he probably would have.’

The deeper Nyx climbed into the cavern, the colder the air became. It was not long after his descent that he was able to see his breath appear as heavy, white clouds before his face while his flesh soon began to shudder from the frigid cold. As he moved to take another step, his foot soon slipped which caused a foul curse to slip through his lips as he slid down the last three rungs of the ancient stairwell until he fell into a heap upon the cavern floor. “Damn it, what the hell was that- wait… is that ice?” Nyx spoke aloud, staring in bewilderment at the sight that lay before him.

The cavern certainly was large, expanding at least fifteen feet above his head before continuing on into naught but darkness. Before the young thief laid an elaborate and elegant stone antechamber, leading up a small carved staircase surrounded by empty braziers and statues of monstrous beasts’ Nyx had never seen before all frozen in mid strike as if they were to descend upon him at any moment. Against the far wall that lay before him was an expansive corridor that continued further into the cavern; yet the strangest aspect of all was the fact that the entire tomb seemed to be encased in ice. The clear, blue crystal seemed to wrap around every surface like twisted claws trying to consume everything it touched in the cold bite of winter.

“What in the hell is this place?” He muttered, shivering slightly as he slowly approached the entrance as he observed the ice that was currently wrapped about a particularly life-like statue of what bore similar resemblance to a Skarnbulette. “The sooner I find that amulet, the sooner I can leave. Looks like I’ll have to head further inside.”

Rifling through the brazier, which was comprised of nearly fossilized wood, Nyx quickly took a stone and drew one of his daggers and moved the rock across the blade’s edge. When the sparks finally caught and smoke began to emerge, he quickly cultivated the embers until at long last a flame emerged providing much welcomed warmth and light. Taking hold of the torch, Nyx continued onward through the antechamber and down into the open corridor; the unease he felt causing his grip upon his dagger to tighten until his knuckles turned white. More statues stood as silent guardians in their prisons of ice as he walked further before the corridor expanded into a large, circular room with a timeworn sarcophagus resting on a raised dais in the center of the room; surround by four empty braziers. However, Nyx was more than surprised to see that the ice seemed to only begin where the dais ended; leaving the sarcophagus completely untouched.

“5000 was definitely not enough,” he sighed heavily as he quickly moved toward the coffin, moving around a looked to be a frozen coeurl. “There it is, thank Bahamut.”

Atop the lid of the sarcophagus looked to be a damaged and worn carving of a feminine figure, though clasped within the statue’s outstretched hands laid a small ebony amulet with a dull, golden interior and small, dull glass snowflake set within the center hanging from a thin leather strap. Nyx frowned upon the obviously mediocre piece of jewelry and immediately moved to claim his objective for his bout of tomb-robbing.

“This is it? You’d at least think there’d be a real diamond with a tomb this size. Alright, time to get the hell out of here and get the rest of the money-“

CRACK!

Nyx halted in his examination of the simplistic amulet, blood draining from his face as he slowly turned to the source of the sound that still echoed gently throughout the still chamber. The coeurl statue he had walked past previously had remained still as before… but the ice encompassing the figure held a large and vicious crack within the crystalline surface. With torch in hand and his dagger within the other, the skilled rogue expertly approached the disturbed statue as tense as a bow string. Raising the torch higher to observe the statue, Nyx could see firelight illuminating the smaller cracks appearing within the icy surface surrounding the beasts head until they suddenly stopped.

“What is going on? Alright Nyx, you’re just being paranoid- it’s best time to leave.” He chuckled softly to himself, though he refused to loosen his grip upon his weapon.

And then the statue’s eye opened, reveling a slit pupil amid a green iris.

“Fuck!” Nyx shouted, quickly jumping back as the sound of ice cracking filled the entire chamber. A loud roar could be heard from the now animated coeurl statue as the ice binding it in place began to shatter and crumble.

Scrambling to his feet in panic Nyx quickly raced out of the chamber and down the corridor as glacial stalactites dropped from the darkness above. All around him the statues within the chamber began to shudder and quake, more than desiring to chase the thief in their midst. Heavy footsteps soon approached as Nyx quickly glanced back to see the stone coeurl giving chase after its escaping prey. Swiftly Nyx evaded a swipe of rock claws from his adversary, the beast managing to tear part of his tunic but leave him unscathed. He blocked another strike with his dagger and slammed the torch into the beast’s face before racing away- the fire doing little to damage the monster.

“Come on, quickly!” Nyx berated himself as he managed to step back upon the staircase toward the entrance, only to feel the stone sliding beneath his feet as it began to pull back into cavern’s wall. “What- oh come on!”

Doubling his speed and climbing the steps as quickly as he could, Nyx rushed up toward the exit and with it- safety. His fingers hurriedly grabbed onto the last step that remained intact, causing him to haul himself up on the platform as he panted heavily from exertion. He was safe… for the moment.

“Nyx! Do you have it? Do you have the amulet?” Glauca called from above, elation coloring his tone.

The brunette thief sighed heavily before reaching into his pocket and showcasing the amulet from its leather tie held tightly within his fist. Glauca grinned in triumph as he reached down with his hand extended, “hand it up to me; it will make it easier for you to get out.”

“It’s no trouble, I can get out myself.” Nyx snapped, jamming the jewelry back into his pocket.

Glauca smiled, “pass it up to me, there’s a good lad.”

“Ha! I’m not a good lad.” Nyx called back angrily, “Do you truly believe I’m stupid enough fall for that old trick? You running off with your prize without paying me what I’m owed!”

“Give it to me now, or you’ll feel my wrath!” Glauca snarled.

“I’m angry already! After the monsters you sent me to deal with, you think I’d give you anything? If you want this necklace, you’ll get it AFTER you’ve held up your end of the deal.”

“You really think I’d ride off?

Nyx glared at the older man, “yes! You have shifty eyes!”

If Glauca was not angry before, he certainly was now- his face turning a vivid shade of plum as he growled angrily at his hired help. “You cheap, street FILTH!”

“I am not cheap!” Nyx protested irritably.

“I was going to raise you up and reward you; now you shall suffer for your transgressions! You wish for the amulet? Then keep it!” Waving his hands across the stone, the entrance soon began to diminish as the opening started to close, sealing Nyx within the cavern.

It only took a few moments afterward for Glauca to realize the foolishness of his actions as he groaned and slammed a fist against river’s rocky shore, startling his chocobo companion. “Damn it! Glauca, why must you always lose your temper? Why?!” He sighed heavily, his rage having left and leaving the sorcerer deflated. “At least that thief will suffer for his betrayal. Come Garuda, it’s time to go.”

Now sealed within the cavern with no means of escape, Nyx’s alarm at his current situation had increased ten-fold. Below him he could hear the roars of the tomb’s now animated statues, each one desiring to tear his flesh to shreds as they clawed at the bottom of the platform. Yet luck seemed not to favor the thief as a loud boom echoed throughout the chamber, causing the staircase to shake and begin to sink and lower slowly to the demanding beasts below. Nyx attempted to think of some method out of the danger he had thrown himself into when he unconsciously began to rub the small fox charm wrapped around his wrist.

‘This was a crisis, a true catastrophe for Nyx Ulric,’ you related calmly, eyes glowing with barely concealed mirth as Somnus seemed to be on the edge of his seat as you continued your story.

‘So, what happened? How could a thief escape such machinations?’ He demanded; his curiosity dancing in the depths of his eyes despite his expression of disinterest.

You gave the Lucian King a knowing smile, ‘it is during such a crisis where all seems lost that powers beyond our own are required. In such despair… there is nothing more effective than magic, your Majesty.’

‘Magic…’ Somnus echoed quietly as his brow furrowed in confusion.

‘Yes, magic.’

The small charm soon began to admit a bright light that illuminated the cave, blinding Nyx as he moved to shield his eyes before it vanished, allowing him see once more. Sitting before him on the stone platform was a small fox- though it resembled none that Nyx had ever seen in the wilderness or in the streets of Pagla. For one, this beast’s fur was a vibrant pale-blue shade that seemed to literally glow in the darkness of the cavern. Its fur was quite lush and silky in appearance, making the already large ears upon its head far greater in size while a small horn that seemed to be luminescent, crimson ruby protruded like a horn from the beast’s forehead. Nyx stared at the animal that yawned widely as he kneeled down to observe the creature in greater detail, though keeping his blade aloft incase it attacked. “W-Where did you come from?”

“You were the one to summon me, I thought you would already know that,” the fox replied in a high-pitched voice as its tail swished back and forth in a similar fashion to a temperamental cat. “Or perhaps you’re not that bright of a summoner.”

Nyx could only stare with shock at the fox that had replied to his question, mouth opening and closing in a manner rather similar to that of a fish. “I… You- You just talked.”

“Well, I am educated, so of course I talk.” The fox chortled, as if his verbal response was the most natural occurrence in the world. “Don’t tell me you summoned me from my sleep without intending to actually do anything. If so then I’ll be leaving now-“

��W-Wait! Don’t leave, please. I don’t even know who, or what the hell you are.”

“There is no need for your cursing. And as to who I am; I am the summon of that charm you have coiled about your wrist. Carbuncle, at your service; purveyor of my summoner’s desires. Now what do you wish for?” Its head tilted upward as the fox proudly puffed its small, furry chest out.

Before Nyx could even reply with another question as to what a Carbuncle even was, a loud roar and the crack of stone as the pillar they were standing upon began to slowly descend. Beneath them upon the frozen ground, the previously crystalized beast statues were clawing at the stone pillar eager to devour their trapped prey. Nyx released a torrent of curses while Carbuncle squeaked in alarm, it’s tail doubling in size as its fur stood on end.

“Sweet Bahamut, we’re going to die!” the fox squealed in distress as the bestial roars below grew louder at their gradual approach. Quickly, the fox Carbuncle scurried up Nyx’s leg and nestled atop his shoulders as the thief tried to balance his new passenger.

“Get off of me! And what do you mean purveyor, what are you- a genie or something?”

“Please, don’t insult me. I am far more powerful than some meager djinn.” Carbuncle grumbled, still attempting to hide from the monsters within the cavern as he moved from Nyx’s shoulders to his head. “Now, what is it you want. Hurry up human; I cannot do anything until you ask for it now what do you want!”

“What do you think I want?! I want to get the hell out of here!” Nyx exclaimed. And while he doubted the fox’s words about its supposed ‘wish-granting’, he was willing to try anything if he could escape alive and intact.

The fox bit his ear in warning, causing Nyx to yelp in surprise before jumping back onto the stone platform. “I, I, I, I, I! And what of me?! You cannot just summon me here and abandon me, you humans are ridiculous. ‘Get me out of here.’ ‘Take me home.’ ‘Please put me out, I’m on fire!’,” Carbuncle snapped back with its mocking words and turned away in a huff. “Just because you are my summoner doesn’t mean you can be rude and treat me as some slave. Have some curtesy.”

Nyx took one deep breath in an attempt to prevent himself from doing something rash to the fox before replying. “Fine, I’m sorry. Now will you PLEASE get us the hell out of here!”

By now, the platform had already reached the cavern floor and a pair of stone coeurls that had nearly claimed Nyx early snarled and raised their claws to swipe at their now vulnerable prey. Nyx immediately raised his dagger aloft in a vain attempt to block the attack while Carbuncle merely shook its fur out before the ruby on its forehead began to glow and bathe the pair in a bright glow. Within the next second the icy tomb was replaced by the beautiful waterfall that resided outside the tomb- with Nyx and Carbuncle both standing safely above the sealed entrance. The rogue stared about in a daze, adrenaline still racing in his veins while the blue-furred creature beside him yawned and tipped its head to him.

“And there you have it- safe at last and out of that dreadful tomb. Now if you’ll excuse me, I will take my leave. Farewell, Nyx Ulric.” And in another flash of bright light, the fox was gone within its wooden charm. Nyx stared down at the charm in his hand and breathed a sigh of relief before pocketing both it and the stolen amulet back into his tunic.

“Now how am I to get back to Pagla?”

==========================================================

“I don’t get it though,” Libertus spoke, looking at the amulet resting on the table between the three friends. “Why would Glauca ask you to get that piece of junk? It’s a little insulting for the best rogue in Tenebrae.”

After Nyx managed to beg for a ride back to the city by a passing shepherd, Libertus and Crowe were pleased to see he was safe until the rogue told his tale. After a lecture from Crowe about the dangers of taking random jobs from shifty strangers and Libertus ranting about pummeling Glauca if he ever saw him again, they all wondered why he would pay so much for something so plain. There were no jewels, embellishments, or anything of value decorating the simple trinket; if fact if Libertus and Crowe didn’t trust Nyx they’d have believed he nicked it from some 2-gil market stand.

Crowe frowned, “well it has to have some value or he wouldn’t go through the trouble. Plus, all that magic in the tomb that was protecting it makes me a little nervous. Spells like that aren’t exactly easy to perform and usually are only in place to guard against something dangerous.”

“He was rather angry when I didn’t give it to him,” Nyx replied, picking up the amulet to observe any details that would give the trio a clue to its purpose. “I think something written here but I can’t read it, hang on a moment….”

Wiping the smidge of dirt away the amulet began to give off a faint glow and an immediate chill filled the air that reminded Nyx horribly of the frozen tomb. Immediately he tossed the amulet away to the corner of their small hovel as fog and ice began appear around the discarded piece of jewelry. Libertus and Crowed quickly scrambled behind Nyx who had drew his dagger in defense as the temperature dropped and frost encompassed parts of their home. Through the growing fog a figure began to take shape, though it was much taller than the Carbuncle that Nyx had summoned in the cavern- in fact it looked to be taking on a far more humanoid shape. And as immediately as it had appeared, the fog and ice vanished to reveal what was perhaps one of the most beautiful women Nyx had ever seen. Her long ebony hair was darker than the night sky and clashed sharply yet beautifully with her pale skin and vivid crimson lips. Clad in black, gold, and ivory fabric woven into a robe-like dress Nyx had once seen from travelers of distant country in the marketplace, she had rather regal appearance. Her feet were bare of any shoes, but an elaborate anklet with bells gave soft chimes that sent an uneasy chill down Nyx’s back. The woman’s eyes remained closed but she turned to face them as if she and sent a piercing gaze toward the three with her sightless eyes.

‘Were you the one to bring me here, summoner.’ The woman spoke, her soft tone oddly gentle but hiding a rather sinister undertone. It reminded Nyx of a winter’s snowfall- lovely yet wrought with danger.

“Nyx… s-say something.” Libertus muttered, shoving his friend forward a little.

The younger rogue spluttered, “what? Why me?”

“You’re the one that stole that stupid amulet, so talk to her!” Crowe hissed, though staring fearfully at the other woman.

Giving a polite bow, as his experiences with Carbuncle taught Nyx to at least be respectful to any magic-wielding entity, he cleared his throat and spoke. “Good evening… ma’am.”

‘Fear not Nyx Ulric, I shall not harm you and your companions while you hold the title as my summoner. You may be at ease.’ The woman replied, settling onto a chair that seemed to conjure itself out of thin air.

Nyx blinked in surprise at the woman’s reassuring words. “I see… um, may I ask who you are?”

The woman raised a curious eyebrow at his question, ‘you summoned me yet know not who I am? They call me the Glacian, the Frostbearer, and Empress of Ice. But you… you may call me Gentiana, summoner. Now, what is it thou desire’s?’

“Desire? Are you going to grant his wishes or something?” Libertus asked, both he and Crowe a bit more relaxed now that the woman would cause them no harm.

‘Yes, I am.’

“Are you like that other summon Nyx mentioned? The Carbuncle?” Crowed added.

At the mention of the fox’s name, Gentiana’s smile dipped ever so slightly. ‘I see thou art acquainted with that… fox. While his powers are strong, they are nothing compared to my own.’ As she spoke, frost seemed to spread from where her foot tapped against the floor of the thieves’ home- as if the mention of the smaller summon irritated her.

“….Are you two related?”

‘No!... perhaps, I am not sure the tests were inconclusive,’ Gentiana sighed heavily.

“You mentioned you wanted to know my desires. What can you do?

It was here that Gentiana opened her eyes and let them fall upon Nyx. They were a dark shade of olive green but looked far colder than even the iced waters of the Ghorovas Rift. A small smile fell upon her lips as she settled her hands delicately in her lap and meet the trio with a knowing gaze and answered with one simple word.

‘Anything.’

===========================================================

“And that, was where it all began,” you spoke, giving a small yet sleepy smile. “Nyx Ulric, a rogue, son of a rogue, from a family of rogues found he could have anything his heart desired. All he had to do… was ask.”

Somnus remained silent as he let your words wash over him before shifting his gaze to you, eyes sparkling with excitement. “So? So! So, what did he ask for?” He asked, eagerly wishing to know more.

You had to resist the urge to chuckle at his oddly childish behavior and it caused a brief feeling of sorrow in your heart knowing you would have to cease your story lest you fell asleep mid-sentence. “We can safe that for tomorrow night, your Majesty.”

Delight quickly vanished as brief flash of anger took its place though disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Somnus immediately rose from his place among the various cushions and paced about the large bed chamber, rubbing a hand down his exhausted face. “But I wish to know now, not tomorrow night! You make your stories sound so wonderous with your wit, and charm, and beauty-“

“What does my beauty have to do with storytelling?” You asked, surprised by the sovereign’s choice of words.

It appeared not even Somnus himself realized he had said that, for he quickly halted his movements and turned to face you. “It is because if I lose interest for even a mere moment I must face those accursed nightmares yet when I turn to see your face, Lady (f/n)… and I find myself at ease from them.” His intense gaze causing a slight dust of blush to appear upon your cheeks. “Please, continue your tale.”

“Lord Somnus… I shall continue it tomorrow night.”

“I order you!” He snapped, frustrated with your refusal.

You frowned, “it would not be the same story if I was ordered to tell it.”

It seemed even the king noticed your growing anger, knowing he had pushed you too far. Somnus stared miserably at you and realized that despite his earlier apology, he had repeated his mistake that earned your ire; and that caused him more pain than the blasted nightmares ever did. “(f/n)… please continue your story. Please.”

You sighed, gently taking hold of his hand much to his shock, and guiding him toward his bed. Silently he complied with your wishes and eased into the soft blankets as sleep soon began to cloud his mind. “I am sorry (f/n), I truly am.”

“I know, sire.” You replied kindly, your earlier anger at his outburst gone.

“No, I meant… for everything.”

You remained silent for a brief moment as Somnus’ body relaxed and his breathing evened out- signifying his escape from the waking world. “I know what you meant, your Majesty.” You whispered softly, pushing back blue-black bangs from his eyes before rising from the edge of the bed. “Just wait till tomorrow night. Sweet dreams, Lord Somnus.” Blowing out the remaining candles you exited the room and found yourself being escorted once again by Gilgamesh toward Lady Selene’s chambers to rest.

#ffxv #final fantasy xv #fanfiction #my writing #somnus lucis caelum #somnus lucis caelum x reader #somnus x reader #gilgamesh ffxv #ffxv oc's #arabian nights au #1001 lucian nights ch.5

16 notes · View notes

icharchivist · 4 years ago

Text

Okay so done with Ardyn and Ignis’s dlcs, meaning i am done with the game for good! what a ride! what a blast! i had so much fun with everything, i don’t have anything i’m disappointed about so DLKJFDF a good ride for me.

Starting with Ignis, i really liked his DLC.

The first part, which mostly just talks about how he got his eyes injury, was very fun to play through. Compared to how much i struggled with Gladio and Prompto that was a blast to play through ahah. I liked the gameplay and i liked being back in Altissia.

It was nice also to see Ravus’s actual turn around in game, since his whole part in the main game was... all over the place. So it was nice to see his actual motivations being laid out, and his teaming up with Ignis was pretty neat, they worked out well with one another, both as Guardians, and working as parallel to one another, with Ignis wanting (originally) for Noctis to see his goal through while Ravus wanted his sister to be freed, and in the end after Luna’s death, Ignis joining Ravus in not wanting to lose Noctis just to “his duty and fate”

The way Ignis got blind had me yelling. Putting on the ring of Lucii to try to protect Noctis, a ring that famously burn off anyone who tries to use it and isn’t of royal blood. Lowkey wondering if it works in a “truth from FMA” way where the people who ended up burnt by the ring all lost part of themselves that were important to them. Nyx wanted to live as a hero and he had to die as one. Ravus was the arm of revenge for his family and he lost his arm to it. Ignis was the analyser, the one who looked after Noctis and looked for his future, and his eyes were burnt. Like a way to prevent them all from even fighting destiny again.

Anyway the whole canon complient part was so fucking sad and the goodbyes with Ignis and Noctis had me cry so hard i couldn’t look at the screen anymore. It was so sad and intense to me my heart is still broken.

So jumping on the fixit future just afterward, well, to me was kind of healing lmao. The whole thing, how Ignis even manage to win protecting Noctis, doesn’t really make any sense but it doesn’t have to, it’s just a happy ending that was sorely needed after all this mess, for me at least.

It also made me cry to see Noctis’s resolve being that he would not let himself be separated from his friends. Makes me wonder if it has to do with the fact the alternative timeline pretty much therefore prevents the train incident from happening, meaning Noctis didn’t hurt Prompto, and didn’t have to play Ardyn’s mindgames about Prompto back then. Regis and Luna’s death were symbols of stuff Noctis couldn’t have protected. But hurting Prompto was Noctis ealizing that he would be harming his friends if he tried to end Ardyn. With the way Ignis’s ep goes, Ignis is another “stuff Noctis couldn’t have protected” so instead of fearing hurting his friends he’s more dedicated than ever to not let them go this time. Kinda liking this.

The alternative ending wasn’t as detailled as i expected (i swEAR i thought i’ve seen something about Luna surviving which?? i didn’t see at all so??) so i’m kinda happy with it? The gist of it is just “even if Noctis spent ten years into the Crystals his friends stayed together (which they didn’t in the ten years in canon) and once they were reunited they never let go of one another again”. I’m fine with that!! v good with that!! and i’m just happy Ignis can feel like he protected Noctis to the end, like he was meant to do. He’s so happy at the end i am tearing up just thinking about it.

so i really liked episode Ignis personally. The alternative ending is just that, an alternative ending if we want to indulge in it and i’m happy with it, meanwhile the rest of the episode was pretty good to me.

my only problem with the DLCs (and that is all of them) is also kinda just, the reason they had to exist, is that well. Honestly i’m not against dlcs and all but those were really scenes that would have benefited from being clearer in game. Not knowing how Ignis’s injuried himself really didn’t sit right with me, not knowing where Gladio was gone to was bothering me. Prompto’s ep itself wasn’t something i expected, wasn’t a gap i thought needed to be filled, but they filled it with more clarification about the magiteks in a way that i think is sooo much more impactful than just the game.

I guess what i mean is that, they are filling holes that were in the games that bothered me, and on one hand i’m thrilled to have complete stories that specifically addresses them, on the other, i just kinda wish i didn’t have to wait until the end of the game to have those answers.

Ardyn’s dlc has a huge lore dump at first which, imo, should have been clearer in the game too, but as it is i like how it’s done in the Ardyn’s dlc. In the end it just really gives the feelings the dlcs are course correcting DLKFJDLKJFD

ANYWAY Ardyn’s DLC. It was a blast to play through, the whole game itself was pretty fun. I really wanted to explore Insomnia (i also really want to explore the royal palace but well that won’t be...), so even if it was by fucking around and finding out, it was hella fun.

Plotwise i am glad it makes Ardyn’s motivations very clear and in the end well, Ardyn is a really tragic figure and i’m really sad for him even if i remain angry at everything he has done. It’s just, what other choices did he have when he was doomed from the start?

It was sad to see how nice of a guy he was, how he just wanted to heal and help people, only for the gods and his brother to betray him. Somnus is such an ass bc of that lol. Originally i wondered if the recalling at the begining was Ardyn being an unreliable narrator but the final fight with Somnus confirm that Somnus did betray Ardyn because he was jealous of him, and even if he grew as a leader to see the horror of the daemons, he still fucked his brother’s life up for all of this man.

As for the Gods... wow major, major fuck you. The starscrouges is a Gods’s thing and they had a family line try to “fix it” and they made Ardyn the hero to fix it..... and then the moment he did, they made him the bad guy, refused him salvation, just so in the future the Lucii line will be able to end properly once the Chosen King will clean Ardyn. The Gods really set both Ardyn and the Lucii to fail to start with. The Gods wanted more for the “Chosen King” to have a painful sacrifice than they wanted to clean Ardyn’s up and Ardyn was just a tool in all of that, not allowed to fight his fate. No wonder he ended up embracing it and did the worst he could with what he was given.

That does bring home how much technically Ardyn won, he got all he wanted. He destroyed the world that forsaken him, he spited the Gods ‘till the end, he ended the Lucis family line, and he finally was allowed to die. The Gods also got what they wanted since they WANTED Ardyn to spread darkness onto the world to set up their champion. That fucking blows. The Gods are the real bad guys there. Noctis deserved better so i welcome Ignis’s dlc even more.

so yeah i’m leaving Ardyn’s dlc extremely bitter against the Gods and how they didn’t leave neither Ardyn nor Noctis a choice in all of this. They had their plan from the start and just expected them to play their parts.

fucking tragic.

but with all of that i’m done with FF15 and i loved it. I had a blast. It was fun to play through, the gameplay was so fun and fantastic, i love the four guys with so much love that just thinking about them makes me want to cry. I like the original ending, in a “i love to suffer” way, and i love the alternative ending in a “now some healing” way. I liked what all the dlcs brought to the story, and i’m glad i played through all of this.

I think it’ll take me some time to think about replaying the game and if i do i’ll probably try to ignore chap 8 and onward lmao. But i’m really glad i gave it a chance in the end.

eff u Peten for making it happen though it’s all your fault.

so yeah, i had tons of fun that’s for sure!

#ichablogging ffxvg

2 notes · View notes

a-world-in-grey · 5 years ago

Text

King’s Speech in Eos

Prompted by and ask from @ends-of-the-wayward-storm that spiraled out of control. Tagging @secret-engima because she’s always down for my rambles.

If anything doesn’t make sense or you notice any grievous errors, let me know!

I’m gonna cover the broad history of King’s Speech, including origin, evolution, and its spread throughout Eos, along with some hcs on the varying concurrent historical events that would influence the language. It’ll be somewhat vague, because we don’t have hard dates for... a lot of events.

Origin

Gonna start with a bit of set up for what Eos might have looked like around Somnus’ time.

Going way back, we’ve got Solheim. We know it existed in at least Cleigne and Duscae, given we’ve found ruins there. I also theorize that the rest of the Solheim Empire stretched further north of Cleigne and maybe even up to the three islands off the north-western coast of the Cleigne region. It’s possible the Solheim empire stretched into Western continent - most likely Tenebrae and Succarpe and Eusciello - but I don’t have enough information to make a solid assumption one way or the other.

As the ruling power of the time, Solheimian would have been the dominant language within their territory (think Roman empire and Latin), and it would have persisted amongst the survivors after Solheim fell.

On the Eastern continent, that would have been the Cleigne and Duscae regions. On the Western continent, Pitzala, where they did find very ancient remains of humans that I think were theorized to be from that time period?

So Ancient Solheim would have influenced the languages in Cleigne, Duscae, and part of Tenebrae.

Now we get to Somnus’ time. Somnus, who founded Lucis, whose tomb is in Duscae. It is very, very likely that Duscae is Somnus’s birthplace, and the birthplace of the Lucian Kingdom. And early King’s Speech.

So, we’ve got at the moment, the various regions/kingdoms: On the Eastern continent - Cleigne, the newly formed Lucis in Duscae, Leide, Cavaugh, and Galahd. Accordo is in the middle of the ocean to the south. And on the Western continent - Tenebrae (the mountainous Ulwaat region and the coast Pitzala region) and Niflheim (the regions of Succarpe, Eusciello, Vogliupe, and Ueltham).

At this point, the Old Lucian language will have the most in common with the language of the Cleigne region (they might even be different dialects of the same language) and Tenebrae, as Aera and Ardyn are shown to have no issues communicating. (Admittedly, the historical world building in the game is not what I would call extensive, so it’s likely the game developers and writers never actually considered this when making the game.)

Leide will have its own language, as will Cavaugh and Galahd. Accordo has its own language, one likely to be vastly different from any of the others on the continents. As far as Niflheim, the Ueltham region will have a separate language, perhaps similar to the Vogliupe region, and the Succarpe and Eusciello regions might have similarities but will be separate from the Tenebrae and inland languages.

So there’s Old Lucian (Duscae and Cleigne dialects), Old Tenebraen (which is separate but mutually intelligible to Old Lucian), Old Leidan, Old Cavaugh, Old Galahdian, Old Accordan, Old Niflheimian (Ueltham and Vogliupe dialects), and Old Succarpe/Eusciello.

Someone please write a fic of that era where the characters have to deal with language barriers. Please. Think of the sheer opportunity for miscommunication! The drama! The comedy!

Old Lucian to Middle Lucian: Birth of Continental Lucian

Also known as the Lucian Kings get Conquest Happy.

Rome falls, Latin lingers but ultimately falls out of global use, and Late West Saxon is the predominant language in England.

And then 1066 rolls around and the Normans invade, bringing both French and Latin with them. The West Saxon language of the common locals eventually picks up the Norman and Old Norse from the ruling upper class, and the Latin from the Church, becoming Anglo-Norman, better known as Middle English.

Congratulations, this is exactly what happens when Lucis conquers Leide and Cavaugh. Just replace West Saxon with Old Leidan and Old Cavaugh, and French-Latin with Old Lucian-Tenebraen.

Mix well, and bam, we’ve now got what Lucian historians will call Continental Lucian.

Galahd is still minding its own business, and no sane Lucian wants to go to the jungle, so while Old Galahdian isn’t the same as was during Somnus’ era, vocab falling in and out of use, it hasn’t changed all that much.

Old Niflheimian has changed however. Ueltham is somewhat isolated from the rest of the continent, so their language changes less, but the Vogluipe region has evolved to the point they are no longer a different dialect of Old Niflheimian but their own separate language as they pick up bits and pieces from Tenebrae and Eusciello. Old Tenebraen will develop two different dialects by this point - High and Low Tenebraen. Low Tenebraen will shift closer to Vogliupe, Eusciello, and Succarpe influences and is the common language in Tenebrae. High Tenebraen is the language of religion and used by the Oracles, priests, and upper classes. It’s the language used for higher education on the Western continent.

Accordo, unlike Galahd, has become the trading hub of the world, and picks up influences from Leide, Lucis, Succarpe, and Tenebrae, which shifts them from Old Accordan to Middle Accordan.

Global Conquest: Rise of the King’s Speech

Or, in other words, The Warrior.

Loses his wife, wages global war in his grief. Only one of the Kings of Yore to have his tomb outside the Lucian continent. (Which I also have hcs on but that is a completely separate post.)

Now, the writers do not tell us just how far the Warrior or the kingdom of Lucis managed to conquer. The Warrior is buried in Tenebrae, so we know he made it at least that far.

Which, I’m going to quibble on in just bit.

Given how the King’s Speech is global, even in Niflheim (presumably, we don’t ever see your run of the mill Niflheimian commoners/working class), it’s highly likely that Lucis once controlled both continents. And Accordo.

And here’s where we get into some, well, very not nice parts of history.

King’s Speech is the language of Eos. The only other language we ever see is that of the Astrals (and maybe Ancient Solheim? That wasn’t in the cutscenes so I’m a bit iffy), which means either the majority of Eos are bilingual, or King’s Speech is the only language.

How do you make half a dozen other languages disappear?

Genocide.

Not necessarily full on Holocaust round them up and exterminate them. But by forbidding them to speak or write in their language. Ever. By taking their children and raising them in a different culture, until there’s no one left who remembers how to speak their language at all.

It’s horrible, I know, and I doubt anyone wants to go that dark when writing their fics, but that’s what history tells us. The Indigenous tribes of North America, forced onto reservations and sent to ‘cultural’ schools to raise them as ‘white men.’ Britain, making it illegal to speak Welsh, Irish, and Scottish. Those are the examples I’m most familiar with, but I don’t doubt there’s a lot more.

A language is a representation of its people. Of its culture. It changes with its people.

And dies with them.

So for at least a couple generations - probably closer to five or six - Lucis occupied most of the world. But not all of it.

Tenebrae.

Tenebrae, the longstanding allies of Lucis. Tenebrae, ruled by the only other family with Bahamut’s Blessing. It would not be surprising at all if Tenebrae served as a foothold for Lucian forces to strike into Niflheim territory, to conquer the continent.

It can be so very easy to go from, we are blessed, to we deserve this, to we deserve more. When a Blessing becomes a Birthright, where does it stop?

When your Empire crumbles.

We don’t have a date for the rise of the Aldercapt dynasty. Only that they became the rulers of Niflheim, and they later decided to conquer the world, using magitek advances uncovered from Solheim ruins.

Which, if you are the ones to lead the faction that frees your home from the occupying forces, you might just get put in charge. And then if you need a way to defend your people in case the magic wielding enemies come back, you might just turn to the ancient civilization rumored to have fought the Astrals.

Yeah. Can’t really argue with that.

So King’s Speech becomes the global language. Ueltham, Vogliupe, Euscellio, and Succarpe disappear. Low Tenebraen likely disappears as well. Accordo may suffer its own occupation during this time, in which Accordan disappears, or it gets so heavily colonized by Lucians that the two languages merge, producing the Accordan dialect of King’s Speech.

Modern King’s Speech

With the entire world - with a couple exceptions - now speaking the same language and Lucian forces pushed back to their own continent, we’re going to start seeing different dialects emerge again.

Niflheim will develop their own dialect, different accents in Ueltham, Vogliupe, Eusciello, and Succarpe, but the same dialect depending on how rapid Niflheim’s technological advancement is.

Tenebraen King’s Speech will be closest to Old Tenebraen and Old Lucian, and therefore known as High King’s Speech, favored by the upper classes around the world, but especially in Tenebrae, Niflheim, and Insomnia.

Accordan King’s Speech will be the dialect most different from Standard King’s Speech, due to lingering Accordan influences but also due to Accordo being a major trade center and being influenced by the other dialects.

Lucian King’s Speech will become known as Standard King’s Speech. There will be a couple notable dialects, the Leidan and Insomnian dialects though the Leidan dialect will be the most noticeable.

At some point, Galahd is also conquered, but while they submit and King’s Speech becomes part of Galahd, they remain insular enough that they keep their native language alive. Though there is enough influence from the mainland through King’s Speech on Old Galahdian that it firmly shifts into the Modern Galahdian language.

#Shadow of Heaven's Light #ffxv #worldbuilding #language #King's Speech #language reflects history #and history is not always kind

59 notes · View notes

miqojak · 3 years ago

Text

What Came Before

The ceiling creaks, where her weight hangs on the edge of collapsed board, and plaster - but it only has to hold her lithe form a moment, before she's hoisted herself to the second level of the dilapidated little building, pausing to dust off her leathers.

The stairs were long gone even when she and her twin had lived there - but it had been theirs. Jak hadn't planned on coming back here, when she got into Ul'dah, but...

She'd cooked them breakfast, against the wall there - and here, he'd slept...on the other side of a screen from where she'd slept, both of them with little more than rags for bedding. And here, where a light step carries her to the half-boarded over window, was where she'd light up a smoke, when hunger gnawed at her belly; when she worried about the next meal, and mostly for her brother's sake - even now, just standing in this spot...the fur along her tail stood on end, and her stomach tightened. She was a jackal gnawing on an old bone, though - he'd left her. Betrayed her. Nothing to worry about, now.

Too broken, too sharp for the one person in the world who should understand me best.

She'd stood here, wide awake despite her exhaustion, calculating how to scrape together their next few coins...alternately, planning her next getaway route for when her thieving got spotted. Safe hideaways throughout the city were essential...what would happen to him if she were caught? What if she were caged again?

"I hate him for leaving me," she grumbles softly into the warm night air.

"Yet here we are. Painting after-images of him in the last place we were close. The last time he relied on you."

The many-eyed sliver of shadow along the wall had cut to the quick - yes, over there, the pair of jackals she'd drawn on the wall in charcoal still lingered...half-lost to time, already, themselves. It was the way of things - they fall apart.

Tribe above all, that's how they'd been raised, but...he'd changed. Not that she hadn't, but...

She shouldn't have come here. The more it upset her - the more she simultaneously missed and hated her twin brother - the more she lost where she and the Beast diverged.

"We're here to say goodbye. You told him he wasn't family, anymore...this is a grave."

She was right, that Voice. Jak would have moved the heavens and the earth for the last of her kin; part and parcel to her soul; the one she'd shared a womb with. He'd squandered that.

Why can't he love what's left of me?

How am I - or anyone else - supposed to?

The little Miqo'te lit a moko cigarette - this time, without somnus lacing it - and perched on the windowsill, tucked behind the wooden boards...her stomach tied in a knot. Even if she'd cut him out, her twin was still a piece of her...and the loss of as much would always hurt.

I fought so hard, for so long, to get back to him.

But he didn't want me around.

I was just a necessity until I wasn't.

I suffered for nothing.

Wood cracked in her grip, fingers threaded through with telltale darkness. But she'd been on her way to, in a sense, proclaim precisely who was part of her 'tribe', now - and maybe her Beast was right, this was just an interlude; a farewell to who - and what - came before.

#miqo'te #ffxiv rp #I was writing about something else #then she wanted a moment to be sad about her brother #so here we are #she lived for her family #and then she had none #it still gnaws at her #talking about it recently bummed her out

32 notes · View notes

archonssun · 4 years ago

Text

Gods of Lucis

So, here’s another multi-chapter fic. But! This will also be written across multiple books!

The first book’s first chapter won’t be out for about another month, unfortunately. But (hopefully) by the time it comes out, I should have most if not all of the chapters done for Book One.

---

Book One: Origins

Book Two: Fate

Book Three: Glass

Book Four: Protectors

---

Prompto Argentum: God of Origins

Protector and Keeper of Origins; he recently took up the post as the God of Origins. He can determine when and where life will begin, but has no control over life itself.

Noctis Lucis Caelum: God of Fate (Lesser)

Pretty self-explanatory; Noctis can change the fate of mortals. His father, Regis (God of Fate (Greater)), can change the fates of both mortals and gods.

Ignis Scientia: God of Glass

He can create anything out of glass. He can also change the properties of his creations, making them harder and stronger than their metal counterparts.

Gladiolus Amicitia: Patron God of Protectors

Gladiolus is the patron deity of protectors. From soldiers to fathers, those who protect others pray to him for the strength to shield others.

Regis Lucis Caelum: God of Fate (Greater)

Regis can change the fates of both mortals and gods.

Iris Amicitia: Goddess of Medicine/Healing (Lesser)

Iris can cure minor diseases and injuries. Her mother can cure all diseases and injuries; however, she (Iris’s mother) is deceased.

Medella Amicitia: Goddess of Healing (Greater)

Medella can cure all diseases and injuries; mother to Gladiolus and Iris,deceased.

Ardyn Lucis Caelum: God of Darkness/Night

Okay, while the name may seem bad, he isn’t a bad guy. He’s just the bringer of night, that’s it. (He’s not the villain in this story)

Somnus Lucis Caelum: God of Light/Day

Ardyn’s counterpart; basically just god of the sun. Brings daytime, essentially (side note: rarely depicted w/out his armor)

Verstael Besithia: God of Creation (Deceased)

God that created Prompto, as well as Prompto’s position as god of origins. Suffered from a disease which ultimately killed him when Prompto was young. (also not the villain of the (Prompto’s) story)

-----

Let me know if you wanna be added to the tag list!

Tag List: @katerleegrand, @blossattic, @orgawnas, @kirahhhh, @kenkopanda, @naisitaable

#gods of lucis #yxxxxxy #prompto argentum x reader #noctis lucis caelum x reader #ignis scientia x reader #gladiolus amicitia x reader #astral! prompto argentum #astral! noctis lucis caelum #astral! ignis scientia #astral! gladiolus amicitia

17 notes · View notes

aroseyetbloomedwrites · 5 years ago

Text

Theme: Somnus [A Francel/Haurchefant Fanfiction]

Will be cross posted later to: PhoenixUnknown. I am Tired

Rating: [M] Lemon on the citrus scale.

Category: M/M

Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV

Pairing: Francel de Haillenarte/Haurchefant Greystone

Summary: Exploration of the kink borne of Somnophilia between two secret but not so secret lovers. They never fooled anyone, but everyone will play along for the sake of propriety. Or something.

A one word prompt given me by my FC. Which I have honestly never, ever done before because it so rarely compels me which is why I never post one word prompts. But, well--here we are.

Sneak peek:

It was something they had spoken of only briefly, merely in passing as their passion grew and simmered beneath their skin. A festering love grown from childhood, to Knight and Lord of their respective camps, their near-and-yet-far dwellings. Where only furtive kisses beneath lamplight and a moon missing in the sky was safest. When, with but a touch of hands brought them to a heavily closed oaken door room, locked, barred, and a bed could finally be proffered. For, Francel deserved not the cold wall, nor stone ground, deserved not even the idea someone might turn a corner, find them in some filthy closet amongst Francel’s carefully inventoried provisions. Hidden between table legs, buried to the hilt and suffocating this beauty with a too large hand so not a heavenly sound may escape. Never this, but only a soft fur rug beneath exquisite toes to be swept off feet, cushioned upon a bed, warm and downy soft. To be kissed with reverence, and for silken fingers to dance up the muscles of his arms, into star-kissed tresses, held close and beloved.

When the fancy strikes, when the chance arrives, their once in a blue moon to play. Safe. Not too extreme. To fit the delicate sensibilities of his more shy and inexperienced, dearest friend, most precious of lovers. His Rose.

Somnophilia.

Francel had taken their discussion to heart, to head. Though knowing it had been intended for himself, felt his courage compounded the longer he thought, daydreamed, fantasized.

Corentiaux does not hardly bat an eyelash when Francel carries himself into Camp Dragonhead, hat off when through the doors. Highlighted by the fire still burning, and Haurchefant’s right hand man standing at attention for him. He’d been bowed over the map table, pouring over something or another. Francel gives him an easy smile which sets the man at ease, but certainly does nothing for the fluttering in his breast. Cavalier pressed to his sternum, as if that would hide the way his heart strove to choke him.

“My lord has taken his rest at last.” Corentiaux tells him, it is terribly late in the night and Francel can only nod solemnly.

“I suppose he has, and without sup as well I suspect.” And holds up a parcel neatly tied in one large knot with all four corners at its top. Corentiaux chuckles knowingly, and is none the wiser of its contents. “I think he can suffer an awakening tonight if it spares him a sugar crash in the morn.” Francel continues.

“Of course, my lord! Shall I show you the way?”

“Nay, I know it well. Thank you, kindly.”

A sweet smile betrayed his intentions most wicked.

Just as Corentiaux had said, Haurchefant lay in bed, the blankets around him pulled to his chest and his head was turned into the downy of a pillow. Truly he must have been exhausted, for under most circumstances Francel knew the man would have started awake. Not a word of complaint from he as he crept forward, and suspects, perhaps because it was himself Haurchefant kept his ease. Somehow, someway--is able to sense the love of his aether, abundantly warm and wanting of him. The cloth of his parcel falls away at his worrying fingers, nothing but a securely wrapped bottle of oil left in his trembling fingers, and a trail of large kerchiefs on the floor from the locked door to the foot of Haurchefant’s bed.

The fireplace dwindled low, and glowed a warm orange, warmth still radiated; and yet Francel knows better than to pull down the weighted blankets, and instead crawls beneath from the foot. Trails the tip of his tongue against an exposed ankle before settling atop Haurchefant’s knees with care. Tongue in cheek, breath barely kept in check as his mouth finds the heady bulge in Haurchefant’s front. The weight of it against his questing mouth makes his heart leap and his own prick twinge with want.

So, sneaking fingers find the hem of sleeping trousers and pull, pull, slide… until Haurchefant is free, swelling slowly beneath his nose. The fabric lost in the sea of their blankets. Francel bites his lip, peeks up from the covers cradling his head, to the hard stomach and gently moving, chiseled chest before him-sleep still deep, and quietus snores muted through the feather blanket. With Haurchefant so unfettered, slides eagerly his tongue over the hefty length lain heavy against Haurchefant’s hip. Drinks deep that heady taste as his tongue remaps contours he’s tasted before. Draws gently his firming glans into his wanting mouth, peach and wet, suckling at him with care, a gentle roll of his tongue over the tip, around, and around. Every draw upon the cock head soft, and sweet, quiet and loving. As are the hands which slide up Haurchefant’s legs, pressing them apart to slide more easily betwixt rather than rest upon. Fingers first find themself past the rubber stopper of the bottle and now newly shining with oil, transferred slick between Haurchefant’s legs. A wet finger finds the subtle part between his Knight and presses carefully within. Slow and gently working circles to ease him open, and to accept more of him in without tension. Testing forward in askance, and forcefully taking nothing.

Above him, Haurchefant groans but does not awaken. For wet dreams are nothing new to he, and rarely do they waken him but for the end when discomfort takes him. While blissfully more intense than normal, his aching body is too weary to let him up. So this man lays in brow furrowed ecstasy, the heat rising so that he has to push the covers from his chest in his sleep as sweat begins to bead and shine.

Francel can feel the length as it hardens and swells against his tongue. Sucking more of him in before he becomes too great to contain, relishing the weight of him on his jaw, the growing strain which aches and makes him harder yet to contain. Saliva wet on peach lips bruising, gleaming on a shaft which slides in and out from such noble tiers. His throat a distant ache for the exaltion of feeling his love down his throat until he is too, too engorged to do so. It comes too soon for Francel, when Haurchefant’s cock forms too rigid, and his throat reflexively closes around the glans of it where it tries to slide, he croons wistfully around the mouthful which stretches thin his weary lips. One day, one day he wishes to deep throat Haurchefant at his fullest, feel him bulge in his throat--for now, contents himself with the mouthful he manages, a comforting half length his tongue can twist around, just as his finger does to the knuckle. Haurchefant has begun to tremble.

With Haurchefant stuffed within his mouth thus, tongue a clever race up and down the shaft, another finger parts Haurchefant. The oil slick and helps him slide home, and, with the spread of those two digits within, Haurchefant’s back arches off the bed in a fine curve. Cock pressed against Francel’s throat a near thing to choking, but Menphina--since it’s his, he’ll do anything for him that he might feel so good. As he nears the end, the subtle upwards thrust into his throat becomes steady repetition, the breath ragged from his nose on every upwards drag before the next effort to swallow him whole - there are hands in his hair, curled tightly, pushing him away, but not letting him go far. And, when Francel looks up, the blankets thrown away, Haurchefant is peering down, bleary eyed and breathless. Two fingers are still buried in a suddenly much tighter ass, clever thumb stroking a heavy sack. Haurchefant moans then, sweat sticking sleep mused hair to his temples and cheeks. The flush of heat in his ears, and creeps steadily down his neck. One hand releases Francel to put knuckles to his teeth, cut upon. Eyes on him, and him alone.

That Look…

Dodging forward, Francel put powerful thighs over his slim hips, whets his mouth at the brush of his prick where once slender fingers had been. Thirst nigh unquenchable. And Haurchefant is so, so ready--eager even in how he writhes on the bed, the roll of powerful muscles beneath taut pale skin. Francel quivers to see it, that mouth open and left wanting. He bows over Haurchefant, beating breast a whisper caress against Haurchefant chest as he takes those lips. Hips hitch higher, and the press of a wet glans an easy slide within, then. Haurchefant sighs in bliss to take him, puts weakened arms around trembling shoulders to cradle the smaller ever closer. Francel is left breathless, needing only press forward to fill himself within and is met with no difficulty. Haurchefant smiles against Francel’s mouth, sleepy and droll, a slow and lazy kiss with the barest roll of tongues set to tease and test. Francel was easy, and comforting to take, there was no test of it, no challenge leaving him striving and heaving, wincing and waning. Just as he fit easily all within his mouth, soft, snug, the perfect mouthful, so too did he within here as well. And Haurchefant loved him so completely, unadulterated, for all of him. From the soft press of unchapped lips against his own, near flaxen hair a brush against his forehead, to the clutch of soft thighs against his arse where Francel rocked with care against him. A soft grind which made him hum and awe with approval, and with his mounting gratification. He kept Francel close with legs locking around his middle, head set to swimming when Francel managed to sit up again and grind into him. Slender fingers drift along the plains of his chest, run across every scar with unhidden adoration, press into every divot of roving muscle, slide against the musculature along the sides of his ribs, which bring a smile and draw forth a breathless laugh from Haurchefant, the ticklishness erotic in itself. Those hands pressing upon his hips, thumbs stroking over prominent hip bones.

And oh, how he thrusts, inexperienced, but eager, listening to every sound Haurchefant murmurs, moans, keens so that he may know how Haurchefant wants it, how he likes it. Tries his damndest to give him everything he asks for. How the sensation drowns Francel, has eager fingers plucking hungrily at Haurchefant’s hefty cock. Fingers usually strung upon the piano run just as deftly the length of his shaft. The firmness of his grip, its surety there near as natural as it were along the neck of cello; and Haurchefant felt so satisfactorily played. Notes just as clear were wrung from his throat as they were from Francel’s instruments. And, he knows how naturally Francel cannot last under such duress. Pinned thus between his love and his legs, long fingers twined ‘round his shaft to thumb his cock head, and stroke his length to the sharp jut of his hips. Like a snow halo fanned out upon his downy pillow, his head is thrown back, lips a moving prayer as Francel brings him closer. How furiously hot fingers work at him, and the slide of Francel’s prick in, out, and in, brings their joining to white hot focus. But, Francel cannot last him, and eagerly sighs his ecstatic bliss when sweet release finds him. His hips a static stutter as climax takes him and his seed spreads warmth within his wanting knight. Francel though heavy with lethargy nearly taking his weary limbs, still moves. The slip of his small, softened prick without, that he can untangle from Haurchefant therein, lean t’ween his legs instead, bowed over the swollen length and ease him once more into his wet mouth. Vulgarly assaulted by the clench of a too eager throat, and the hot press of a soaking wet tongue… Finds that there is a clenching knot in Haurchefant’s stomach, it ravels tighter, slides with sticky warmth within his belly until with a sigh escalating into a blissful outcry; he too is met with his release at every insistent bob of Francel’s flaxen head. How admirably, with loud gulps that his Lordling swallows him up, the clumsy lave of a tongue around those sensitive ridges of his glans until every over-sensitive drop is wrung free and slides down Francel’s gullet.

Together they eagerly clasp together, Haurchefant bringing sleep, and now sex weary limbs around Francel to cage him in, rolls so that they are chest to chest on their sides. His broad shoulders block the Lord from the doorway, though securely locked, felt his protectiveness swell. Their legs a tangle in twisting sheets that Haurchefant and he struggle to bring up to their necks. Sharing in the glowing warmth of their room, their nearness of body mirrored the nearness of their hearts.

#rated M #my writing #i am phoenixunknown #top!Francel #bottom!Haurchefant #Final Fantasy XIV #fanfiction #somnophilia #Please note ahead of time the ratings at the top #lemon #no beta we die like men #not accepting constructive criticism #consensual somnophilia

18 notes · View notes