#⌜ ic ⌟ ✦ * · ˚ arc : astral express.

[starblazes]

❛   ▌┊𝐑𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑 :   dan heng  ( @tempestial ) .

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃. Where would she go anyway? As far as she knew there was no 'home' to find. No distant planet with a family waiting anxiously for the return of a girl. It unnerved her sometimes, to think about that emptiness in her head where memories should have been but never, or perhaps no longer, existed.

Did March ever feel this way?

The Astral Express was her home now. She couldn't leave, even if she wanted to. Maybe, at the end of the day, the Express was just a runaway train carrying its occupants far away from things they were too afraid to face. And yet she wondered.

❝ Dan Heng... ❞ Stelle's voice is uncommonly soft for once; uncertain as she puts out proverbial feelers for her companion's mood. It was hard to tell with Dan Heng, what he was willing to divulge about his past. ❝ What made you join the Astral Express? ❞

[chiyoso]

“THE MARA'S WILL”

someone as fragile as you shouldn't have to reign the bloodied fields of cloudford, along with raging war against two powerful factions—as well as an internal presence that invaded your mind that started all of this mayhem.

content warnings; oneshot · female reader · honkai impact 3rd inspired · takes place after xianzhou arc · canon universe · manupulation · mentions of depressive tendencies · declining mental health · war · death · traumatic events · mentions of blood · fighting · sensitive descriptions · dead dove: do not eat.

author notes; an open ending is an open ending. i appreciate all your of love for this oneshot, but i won't be making pt2. ty.

The Astral Express.

A widely known faction of celestial mysteriousness that traverses across the galaxy, they dedicate themselves to the ways of trailblaze and adventure, an enormous train conducted by a rumored fluffy creature that travels through vast worlds with its starry residers.

However, you didn't expect to meet the faction like this. The time that you yourself encountered the famous members of the Express— or rather, they bumped into you.

A memorable impression, leading their hearts and minds to waver in complete uneasiness, fear and curiousity.

It was one of those moments. Moments of tranquility, replaced almost immediately with unsightly chaos, and screeching horrors.

And they weren't coming from you.

2:49 PM — CLOUDFORD, XIANZHOU LUOFU

NOW PLAYING ♪ TOT MUSICA

11 minutes until eruption.

ᚷᚨᚺ ᛉᚨᚾ ᛏᚨᚲ ᚷᚨᚺ ᛉᚨᚾ ᛏᚨᛏ ᛏᚨᛏ ᛒᚱᚨᚲ

ᚷᚨᚺ ᛉᚨᚾ ᛏᚨᚲ ᚷᚨᚺ ᛉᚨᚾ ᛏᚨᛏ ᛏᚨᛏ ᛒᚱᚨᚲ

“F- Fu-aahh.... Haah...” You groaned in pain. The sounds of alarms, crumbling and a voice of elegant dread echoed inside your mind, chanting unfamiliar, incomprehensible sounds that you were unable to understand nor fathom its sound waves.

Your flesh continued to crack as gold seeped out from the insides, bright lightning marks all around your form, accompanied with your heavy eyelids, struggling to keep your consciousness as you panted heavily. Your thoughts fogged viciously with memories of all kinds, your mind had felt like a mix between ice and fire. A flaming vortex along with an Icy storm that seethed inside, causing a severe throbbing that had you wailing in pain in heaps of volume consecutively as you grip your head.

“M- Mr. Yang!” A high pitched voice trembled, struggling on her feet while a grey haired female helped her up to stabilize her balance.

“Go. Call for reinforcements. I'll take it from here.” He says, gripping his cane while the other hand hoists his frames up to his nose bridge, returning his gaze towards the sight of you.

Reinforcements?

“H-hhgk—” You coughed up gold. Your face stained with your aureate tears, gasping for air as you clenched the area of your heart, which was beaming light, pulsating with the same color as the liquid that stained your whole being.

What was happening?

You screech, lower limbs suddenly at work, executing swift dodges that your untrained body couldn't handle physically, stretching and tearing your muscles.

Something was fighting for survival, and it wasn't you.

Your actions lowered the morale of determination from the Cloud Knights that had stationed on the sidelines, now replaced with a panic and fear from your ever so visibly increasing strength and agility, etching negative emotions into their wounded states that you have inflicted previously.

The man with the glasses, distance away from you clicked his tongue in frustration, he had summoned a multitude of black holes, raining hellish orbs of gravity towards you in such high speeds and velocity, but you... despite your poor state of self, you've managed to avoid them all.

But,

Even you weren't aware of your own skillful sequences.

ᛗᛁᛖ ᚾᛖᚷ ᛟᚾ ᚷᛁᛖᚲ ᚷᛁᛖᚲ

ᚾᚨᚺ ᛈᚺᚨᛋ ᛏᛖᛉᛉᛖ ᛚᚨᚺ

“P- Please... shut... get out of m—”

Feeble attempts of retribution, cease your resistance.

Play into submission, child of Lan.

You cocked your head to the skies, letting out gutteral sobs to the heavens, screaming and pleading your heart out while your own nails dug into your skin, your eyes weeped in gold, blurring your sense of sight.

Your thoughts were a sea of fragmented memories, bad ones, the negative ones that only fueled your transformation and the thread of your consciousness that you desperately were holding onto, was now being threatened harshly.

The man in glasses gripped his cane, firming his hold while witnessing your overwhelming presence and what was happening infront of him.

You were talking to yourself. You were visibly in pain, you were weeping, and the mara that was supposed to overcome you right now was... being barely resisted. Resisted. Resisted?

That's impossible.

You can't resist the Mara.

Beads of sweat formed trickled down along his jawline, his eyes diluded towards the sight that was all too familiar for him.

Someone- or something was talking to you, and he felt nothing but the sensation of dread swell inside him.

He didn't know what to do. Based on your own visible actions, it was clear—you didn't mean to do any harm, you were struggling more than anyone in this dire situation.

You brought your tainted hands that was darkening onto your face, trying to hold onto what's left of yourself, your consciousness.

“PLEASE! L- LEAVE M—” You choked out.

You were stumbling on your feet, drowning in pain as you sobbed your pleas of desperation.

His face scrunches, biting his bottom lip, frustrated over his hesitancy and lack of determination into going all out against you.

You reminded him of a state that reminded him of his past companions from another world, a state that only led to an upbringing of a powerful force, leading to the destruction of humanity and civilizations, a state that almost destroyed his homeworld.

But he had to remind himself repeatedly, you were just... Mara-strucked. A man-made work from the schemes of Sanctus Medicus, their work, befalling to an unfortunate character before him.

But... why the hell were you talking to yourself? Why were you pleading? Crying? How were you still able to talk? And most importantly, how were you still able to resist your supposed inevitable demise?

You peeked through your digits, your eyes pierce to the man with glasses, before lowering your hands to your sides in idle, continuing to pant heavily in place.

Your stance had your staggering legs slightly bent, your chin upwards—but your stained eyes remained on the figure infront of you.

His eyes diluded upon meeting your sorrowful gaze, his hand tightened around his cane further, seemingly ready to take on any action you will commence, but he wished you didn't engage, he wished for your attacks to cease. He didn't desire to harm you at all—You were in obvious pain, emotionally, physically and mentally, and only his veteran observations can see that.

“M- Miss—”

“Kill me.”

You said breathily with your burning throat, your voice had been accompanied with a second, mixing with your original tone with a now deeper, and sinister chord that showed the fruition of the transformation you were currently experiencing.

Your hands find their way to your throat as you coughed out more gold, along with the taste of iron that mixed with the aureate liquid that had turned into an morbid shade of color from your blood.

Your legs gave in, bringing you to your knees while you continued to choke on your own secretes, sobbing continuously from the sensations you were experiencing.

“BENEFACTOR! SHE HAS FALLEN!”

“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!”

“END HER LIFE BEFOR—” “Gghk-... Nngh...”

“Reinforcements are on their way.”

“I- It hurts.... It HURTS!!!”

“Call for further units! At ONCE!”

“P- Please tell me I'll live...”

“BENEFACTOR ITS YOUR CHANCE!”

“M- Monster!” “M- MY ARMS!”

“KILL HER!” “HER STRENGTH IS ONLY-”

“KILL HER!” “KILL HER!”

“KILL HER!!!!”

“KILL HER!”

The man with glasses was overwhelmed with contradicting emotions, hindering his wavering will to use the opportunity of your vulnerability.

The cries and pleas of desperation from the several Cloud Knights that have fallen from your battle, ring through the bloodied field, along with your genuine—sorrowful filled sobs that only haunted and hesitated him much more.

His own thoughts were only mirroring the mess that you were in, having to be filled with deep memories of a life that was filled with death and torment, reminding him of his sins once again.

The child of the Hunt, hopelessly clings onto the wretched humanity, only to be shunned out and betrayed by your own race.

I feel their sea of desperation, their desires for your lesser existence to perish without a trace in the galaxy.

Give into the sensations of truth, let it embrace your poorly sculpted soul, for I will accept you without fail.

You were already on the floor arched, your hands had continued to hold your head, gripping your hair as you wallowed in your pool of tears, gold and blood that soaked your once beautiful skin.

“Sss-top... Stop... Please...”

You've already hurt your own kind.

“I- I... Hgk— Ahh-Haah...”

You've already inflicted enough despair and chaos to the point where these lowly humans cling onto their life in a feeble attempt of living.

“Th- That's not...”

Savor their pleas and screams of anguish as they call upon your death. You aren't wanted, you aren't needed.

“THAT'S NOT TRUE—”

The floor beneath your shaking body began to crack, the density and force around you had only drastically strengthen, creating a growing crater below you.

You are only inducing fear in your surroundings, and you are more than aware of what you're causing.

Hatred. Anguish. Despair. A need for violent measures. A selfish greed of clinging onto life from their grave wounds you placed upon them. This is all you.

All you.

Mindlessly in pain, your body unwillingly helps itself up despite your own injuries. You took a heavy step forward, only ceasing the noises that surrounded you as they witness your hauntingly beautiful yet bloodied form, but there was no attraction, they were now instilled with a new type of fear.

2:55 PM — CLOUDFORD, XIANZHOU LUOFU

5 minutes until eruption.

You were a golden death. A victim.

A new dreadful existence that was unintentionally yet successfully created by Sanctus Medicus.

The golden liquid had already burned the rest of your outfit. Your body only continued to pour gold from the rifts on your skin, your heart—or your now crystalized core, pulsated with consecutive glows, as if your former heart, and the rest of your biology had changed, in which case, it did.

That's it... Embrace it... Your perfected, honed and better self.

Shut up.

The voice chuckles, continuing to fog and envelope your whole essence.

The unwavering, unbearable pain was now released, replaced with the sensations of your skin, healing slowly. The paleness in your face had become warm once again along with your body.

Your hair only grew longer, luscious and free, your eyes glimmered in high self esteem once more, while previous cracks all over your body had almost disappear as if nothing was there in the first place.

You will never admit it, but you felt more healthy, you felt beautiful, you felt confident, you felt...

New, refreshed and reborn, and you grasped control of yourself once again.

Your newfound vigor and vitality only brought unease and curiousity to the Cloud Knights who loathed your existence being a supposed child of Yaoshi the Abundance now.

The man with glasses couldn't help but be reminded of his weakness from your newfound growth, he had hesitated until now, witnessing your upbringing and his own actions had left a sour feeling on his drying throat, unease had surrounded the man, in fear of what will commence. He doesn't know how much longer he can fight, accompanied with the knowledge of his two fatigued Astral companions seeking out help of any kind, but another question lingered in his thoughts;

What were you?

You weren't a mindless Mara-strucked individual that they've previously continuously dealt with, nor you had the appearance of golden leaves that battered and grew out of you. You were just a woman, at what he assumes to be your very prime, the high peak of your health, appearance, physicality and mental state, and your curiousity and confusion about your own state confirmed his assumptions.

“I-...” Your senses interrupt you as your instincts come into fruition, tilting your head to the right, only to reveal a Cloud-Piercing spear infront of your vision that had thrusted forward from behind. The light, horizontal slit from your left cheek which the Cloud Knight slightly grazed, begun to heal almost quickly, as well as suddenly realizing your hand was already around the unfortunate Cloud Knight's neck, lifting them up in a chokehold as their air supply begins to be cut off.

With widened eyes, you immediately loosened your grasp upon becoming aware of your actions, retorting your hand while guilt pumped into you.

“It- It was... It was instinct I-” Your voice cracked, bringing both of your hands to cover your mouth as your once blurred vision finally had a good look to your surroundings, grasping the situation and your hellish surroundings at bay.

Remember the sight.

Your mind throbbed once again, yet your nerves find ways to soothe the pain, but... even then, it will never be able to heal your aching heart and the damage you inflicted against the soldiers of the Xianzhou Alliance.

Instincts went into play once more, feeling a sudden familiar, pulling force behind moving towards you in a faster, denser velocity, only for you to barely dodge a faster orb of gravity that you had previously, went up against.

“W- Wait! I-” You turn your face quickly towards the man whom attacked you just now, only to be met with a bright, icy blade that moved quickly towards you, but both of your hands had already instinctively raise to your face, piercing both of your palms instead, grasping in the side of the bloodied tip of the cold sword that pierced you.

“FUCK!!! NNGH—!” You whimpered in pain, feeling the sensations of burning that sourced within your palms, along with the skin and nerves that was already healing, your own rejuvenating flesh, pushing out the icy sword as a 'CLANG' follows suit.

“Hmph. You're lucky I didn't throw it with too much force, otherwise you wouldn't be able to survive that!” A voice of a young boy graced the battlefield, turning the red sea into a cold, thundering storm of snow and ice, putting the injured Cloud Knights at ease and discomfort from the coldness that surrounded the environent.

“L-Lieutenant Yanqing!” A Cloud Knight gasped at his arrival, alerting the rest with jarred cheers erupting, while your gaze dilutes back and forth to the man with glasses—and a child who happens to be a lieutenant that had arrived.

“P- Please- I-”

“Save it servant of the Abundance!”

A continuing, cold breeze of snow enveloped the young boy, his aqua colored swords flying towards you once more.

Now equipped with newfound, engraved instincts that you have begun to get use to, your body- that had not tasted the ways of war and battle, danced its way around elegantly and flexibly from the skillful wrath of ice that relentlessly continued to attack you.

Despite your consciousness and having a sense of control once again, you felt another sensation, one that felt like another presence, another soul, tangled with yours, tugging at your essence, and it was most definitely the reason as to why you were moving in such a way, that continued to inflict fear and uneasiness to the Cloud Knights, and the man with the glasses whom continued to witness your dance of agility and grace against the right hand of the Arbiter General.

...

...

Why me...?

Imperfect.

There are many others.

...

The embodiment of failure and success.

Wh- What does that even mea—

A host of purity and defections all in one. All suited for me.

A canvas of the purest, warmest of soul, painted with absolute grief, sadness, regret, pain — yet harboring no anger, rage, hatred. A non-existent need for revenge.

Something a certain diciple of mine lacked, thus her inevitable defeat from the subjects of Akivili.

And you are mine to break and reconstruct. I can finally fathom why the Hunt had their arrows set on you.

The words gnawed your logical, racing thoughts, leaving you in a moment of disarray, visibly seen from your relentless opponent.

The Hunt... The... Reignbow Arbiter? But—

“Hhgk—!”

Tch. So flawed.

You felt another burning sensation to the left side of your waist, looking towards a deep cut that split your flesh into two from the icy blades that hailed like the rain against you, yet once again, it had begun to heal slowly, as sounds of your flesh and cells crickled, halting the young boy in his trained steps for a moment.

“What... What are y—” The young boy gets cut off.

Your gaze suddenly returns to the boy, with your left iris flickering into a golden color, replacing your original shade.

“Your demise.” The voice took over your vocals for a moment.

“N- No! you will NOT HARM ANYONE FURTHER!” You grit your teeth, holding your curled fists into each other, retraining yourself and letting the voice solely focus on avoiding further attacks.

How unpleasant.

Why do you continue to resist, child of Lan?

The sight of you... talking to yourself? No... Your voice had continued to change back and forth, only confusing him further.

Something was amiss, but the young boy and his youth couldn't fanthom the uniqueness of the situation before him, he had only one thing in his determined mind, the solution of exterminating a being that threatened the peace for the Xianzhou Luofu; You.

The boy took his stance, his flying swords once again stationed behind him, but a sudden deep voice emerges from behind him, only startling the whole battlefield in his appearance.

“Yanqing. Well done in keeping the adversary at bay.”

A commanding presence immediately intensified the trickling air of tension, only leaving sounds of sharp breaths and your continuous argument with yourself.

Hush.

Huh?

You fall into silence to its bidding, only to look around to the young boy, who was now accompanied with the famous Arbiter General, holding a glaive that had a threatening presence, along with the General himself.

“I apologies for my tardiness Mr. Yang. I had matters to tend to.” The strong presence spoke, his eyes hovering upon your naked, yet coated state, assessing the situation with an unknown gleam in his eyes.

“Where of Stelle and March?” The man with glasses walked beside him, mirroring his gaze upon the beautiful woman before their sights.

“I sent message to the High Elder Vidyadhra medic to tend to their wounds, not to worry, they will be back.” He said faced to him with a knowing smile, only causing goosebumps to your skin, he was taking in this stage you set lightly, only irritating the voice in your head slightly.

“Now... What of the contexts of this fascinating situation?” The Arbiter General's penetrating gaze returns to you, eyeing your undeniable attracting form. You were oblivious, but the voice wasn't.

Leave the premises, now.

Wha? W- Who are you to tell me what t—

The throbbing had begun once again. Their conversations sealed upon noticing your actions as your hands gripped tightly around your head, whimpering in place.

“S- Stop...”

No. If you perish, I-

...

Leave, woman.

“Is she...?” The Arbiter General looks towards the man with the glasses, his eyebrow raised slightly in speculation.

“She's... She had been at this state for more than a few minutes since earlier...” He frowned, gripping his cane, being reminded of fragments from his life that whispered evily to him.

“Who cares? Let's extinguish her presence already General!” Impatient, the young boy firmed his grasp around the hilt of his sword of ice, pointing the tip of the sharpness towards you, his sky filled eyes sending daggers to your direction with determination.

“Patience little lieutenant. One does not rush in unknown, trifling matters.” The General warns with a faint smile that doesn't reach to his eyes, and without a choice from the tone of command, the young boy's will wavers with a sigh, lowering his blade in defeat.

“P- Please, end me...”

Your words grasped the attention of the trio, while your tears began to flow, taking note of your willingness to submit in defeat.

“See?! Even—” The young boy gets cut off once more, earning a serious glare from the General that hushed him almost immediately.

“Please I-... I'm sorry for causing harm...” You continued to sob quietly, gritting your teeth while your head continued to throb mercilessly with ruthless, familiar pain.

I said leave now, and I'll cease the pain.

The Arbiter General takes a step forward, his left hand holding the body of his glaive, no words left needed to describe that despite his aloof hold around his weapon, he was more than ready for any attempt of violent assault.

NOW.

Mirroring the gesture of his, you took a step back abiding the voice's word, your glistening, heterochromic eyes lock with the readied General, only fascinating him further from your saddened, alluring gaze. Noticing your hesitancy for closeness.

“...My lady, if you escape this very moment, I will make sure that every inch of the Xianzhou Luofu will be well guarded, awaiting your presence in every corner you find yourself in to hide away from our— from my grasp.”

A silence from him ensued for a few long moments, following a faint warning smile from earlier, his gaze unwavering towards you while you weeped, assuming you aren't able to grasp his own chords.

“I- I do not... wish to harm anyo—”

“You're right my lady, I won't allow it.” He came closer, moving towards you with delicacy in his footsteps.

“ ... ”

...

...Stubborn child.

“Don't go, my lady.”

“It- It hurts... My head... General I-”

“Our High Elder Vidyadhra apothecary will assist you.” The General says firmly with undertones of softness, taking another step forward, but you remained still, weeping in silence from the continuous throbbing and regeneration of the nerves that seethed you repeatedly.

He manipulates.

S- Stop the—hhnghk... Please...

His experienced words, eons worth of vocabulary, coming into fruition, laying the power of syllables onto you. Do not—

I DON'T- I CANNOT CARE FROM THE UNBEARABLE PAIN YOU CONTINUE TO MAKE ME SUFFER IN!

A befitting punishment for your unwilling soul.

“I- I didn't mean to... General I- Hnnhk—...” Your form staggers, suffering from the internal turmoil that resumed, collapsing in place—but before you hit the floor, the sensation of warmth arrived behind your lower back and waist.

You found your crystalized golden core, your bare, coated chest pressed up against a man with command, towering and holding your suddenly weakened state that matched a situation one again in prior events.

“Jing Yuan.” He said, lowering his own golden to you, his expression, hidden with enthrall from your weakened state.

You hear the voice click its tongue.

“I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm so—”

“Hush my lady,” He said in his low, husk voice, holding your weakened body, his hand firming against the soft, coated and warming flesh of your waist, stirring a once familiar sensation that rooted in his stomach.

“General Jing Yuan—” The young boy averted his gaze with a slight flush in his cheeks. Jing Yuan had not heard him, lest deciding to tend to the injured Cloud Knights instead, grumbling under his breath.

The man with glasses came closer to the two of you, his gaze feigning ignorance on the display.

“Miss... What—” He gets cut off, both men alarmed from your sudden intense grip around his biceps, your golden, crystalized core beaming, pulsating rapidly along with your quickened breath.

A golden ray of light erupted from you surrounding you vertically in a circle, sending the light up towards the sky endlessly, alerting everyone who bore witness to the intense display.

So be it.

A powerful, echoing screech escaped your mouth, tilting your head up to the direction of the clouds that welcomed your gaze as rubbles of cement from the previous struggles of the battle began to levitate the surroundings.

”ᚷᚨᚺ ᛉᚨᚾ ᛏᚨᚲ ᚷᚨᚺ ᛉᚨᚾ ᛏᚨᛏ ᛏᚨᛏ ᛒᚱᚨᚲ”

I claim your soul, little child of the Hunt.

You will be my host, my pure, imperfection of despair.

Only I shall intertwine with you, body, mind and soul eternally.

And this mortal, blessed with the lightning guardian spirit, shall be your first prey.

3:00 PM — CLOUDFORD, XIANZHOU LUOFU

The eruption commences.

how ironic, this fic being my first successful hsr fic ended up being the reason why i got my ppl pleasing tendencies back pfft. anyways, reblogs help my audience reach, thank you!

[al-zel]

Explaining every H:SR characters name, Part 1-- The Astral Express Crew!

I’ll put a symbol →(!!!) on every section that has a potential spoiler.

Stelle: A shortened version of the French name Estelle, meaning “star”. This name was derived from the Latin word “stella”. As for how it applies to the character, I’m sure it’s meant to show that the trailblazers true place is among the astral express exploring the cosmos. It might also be a reference to the Stellarons appearance.

Caelus: Derived from the Latin word “caelum”, Caelus is a name that means “sky” or “the heavens”. This name also belonged to the Roman god of the sky. It’s a little more convoluted than Stelle’s more straightforward name, but I think it holds the same narrative meaning as Caelus (the god) has heavy ties to the planet Jupiter, fitting the space theme. It's also the most yellow planet aside from Venus, (which is more associated with the color green due to how it appears in the sky anyway).

March 7th, DH, WY, and Himeko under cut!!

(!!!!) March 7th: It is the day March was found, but the specific date can bring some symbolism to mind. The month of march signals the beginning of of spring, a season full of new growth and revival from the stasis that winter brings. This fits into March’s character arc in her companion quest, as the garden of recollection locks away her past, essentially saying that It’s not something March should be remembering or looking for, implying something awful or traumatizing has happened to her. This shows that without those memories, March may have turned from a cold, "icy" character into a warmer, healthier one. 7 is also a lucky number, as it was very lucky that March has survived so long drifting in space and frozen, even if it was in 6 phase ice.

(!!!) Dan Heng: The character 丹 (Dān) simply means red, although it can also be pellet, powder, or cinnabar. I think this is mainly to tie in with Dan Heng’s maple leaf theme. The character 恒 (Heng) means “constant” or “persistent”, a nod to Dan Heng’s collected and steady nature compared to his eccentric companions. It may also be a reference to Dan Heng’s rebirths as a Vidyadhara or the number of years he spent inside of the Shackling Prison as Dan Feng.

Welt Yang: “Welt” is said to be the “name of the world”, but it’s really just the German word for world. “Yang” (杨) is Welt’s mother’s surname, meaning willow, poplar, or aspen, all three of them different trees. I don’t think that either of these names imply anything about Welt’s story, aside from the mantle of "welt" given to him by Welt Joyce, whoch is another post altogether. I think they highlight his responsible, powerful, and thoughtful character, as well as his sentimentality.

(!!!) (Welt Yang) Joachim Nokianvirtanen: Joachim is an abridged or contracted form of the biblical name Jehoiachin or Jehoiakim. They mean "Yaweh will establish" and "raised by Yaweh" respectively. Yaweh is a name of the Hebrew god, with possible roots to the old Semitic root הוה (hawah), meaning "to be" or "to become." This name is a probable reference to Welt inheriting his mentors Herrscher core and becoming the second Herrscher of Reason. His surname, Nokianvirtanen, is not an actual last name, but a mix of two names. The first part, Nokian, is a town in Finland. The second, Virtanen, is a common surname in finland derived from the word "virta", meaning "stream." I don't interpret this surname to have any meaning aside from establishing that Welt is (not confirmed outright, but heavily implied to be) ethnically half Finnish and half Chinese.

(!!!) Himeko Murata (無量塔��子): Her first name is comprised of the characters 姫 (hime), meaning princess, and 子 (ko), meaning child. Put the whole thing together and it means "princess child", though I'm sure I didn't have to tell you that! I think it's less about her personality and story (especially in regards to Honkai Impact 3rd), but I think it represents her parents live for her, particularly her father's, as he's the one we know most about. The characters for her last name are-- 無 (Mu; nothing/nothingness), 量 (Ra(?); measurement, but with two connotations. First, it can mean a measurement, like weight or quantity, or it can mean "to measure" by estimate or actual documentation, or "to consider."), and 塔 (Ta; pagoda, tower, steeple). I think the most important part of her name is that last part-- in both universes, Himeko acts as a rock or mentor figure to many characters, being a motherly/older sister type towards the young trio of the express, and a teacher and squad leader toward Kiana, Mei, and Bronya, going as far as to strap a bomb to Mei's heart to keep her powers in check (with Mei's consent) should she lose control. 

And that's the Astral Express crew! I'm going by groups of characters divided into: Stellaron Hunters, Herta's Space Station, Belobog, The Xianzhou Loufu, and Penacony! (Characters are ordered by introduction. Characters will be put where they were first shown, despite their relevance in other places. Dr. Ratio, for example, will be put with the HSS characters instead of the Penacony category.)

[butteronpancakes]

Tbh I think it's a bit weird when people are so certain that Blade and Dan Heng are never going to reconcile? Ignoring that the bracer lore explicitly states, "The long years of grudges and hatred between them should be savored, like ice-cold aged liquor, one slow sip after another until the bottle of resentment is finally empty."

DH and Blade are established to be narrative foils in the sense that DH needs to acknowledge his past and Blade needs to let go of it for both of them to finally move on. Like idk I would have my doubts if Blade was a XZ exclusive but that fact that he's a Stellaron Hunter, a group the Astral Express is definitely going to be forming alliance with down the line, means he's going to have to be working with DH in one way or another.

Imagine how awkward that would be if you have them perpetually holding grudges. Not only is that a poor writing choice but it makes lines such as DH telling Blade, "I will accompany you until the end" feel out of place? Why bother even putting down that option.

I'm not saying they must automatically be close like YX and DF again but they need to least make peace with their shared past to complete their character arcs.

[iodrawsandtalks]

anyway some actual talking, anyone who play hsr/hi3 notice this too?

so i see a lot of lore tier list/powerscaling etc that puts Welt Yang at the top because he’s the herrscher of reason who can create any human construct. But I don’t think he possesses that authority in the HSR universe..

okay ik this line completely deconstructs it, but every single attack we’ve seen him do either involved the cane or creation of a black hole. And while the game says it remains unknown whether he still possesses his strength (authority) I personally believe he cannot access it.

First off, the ability of the Herrscher of Reason is to manifest human concepts. Thing is, I don’t think anyone we’ve seen in the HSR universe can be classified as human. A lot of normal looking characters have weird abilities, like Kafka(hypnosis), March 7th(her ice), and Silver Wolf(aether editing). Even a suspected normal like Himeko cannot be excluded from this line of thought considering she fixed the astral express. That thing is HUGE.

Anyway, adding onto this, during the moon arc, kiana, bronya, and mei were forcibly dragged to a bubble universe where they lost their authorities.

If Welt Yang’s authority is manifesting understood human constructs in a world where “humans” may not even exist then it’s possible he straight up doesn’t have his authority in HSR. Now of course, technically he still is the herrscher of reason in title, but his core may be useless.

I’d also been thinking about how occasionally it looked like herrschers had to recharge or something upon reaching a limit, probably through honkai energy. There is NO honkai in hsr so far to begin with. He also can’t access loopholes like bronya did since he was never the herrscher of truth.

(Im a lore madman and bronya’s truth authority screwed my mind. One thing she does is pause project STIGMA for 6 secs so mei can become the herrscher of origin. Couldn’t she have paused for MUCH longer given she could act on the impossible???)

[pinkprimrose05]

DAN HENG.FOR THE CHARACTER ASK GAME!!

Cold Dragon Young!

General opinion/How much I care about them: Man, Dan Heng is such a fun guy. You see this quiet dude and you think he's probably all plain and straight-laced, but then he, in no particular order: gets into a an underground fight club tournament (and wins??), breaks a military fleet's banishment sentence to save his pals, and gets a whole cutscene wherethe idiot almost kisses the mc (there's no way that was a proper CPR attempt. He was 100% bullshitting his way there).

[Spoiler warning for the Luofu main quest incoming!!]

The way they handled his background and character arc makes me very sad tho. I wish the writers took their time with playing out his backstory; it could've been so much better if they waited long enough to let us get to know him and everyone else involved a little better, to see his struggle with the very interesting ship of theseus theme he has going on in light of Dan Feng's history, and deliver on all that in a way that's actually impactful in emotion and story relevance, instead of rushing it in favor of getting to the bossfight of the quest. Alas, it is what it is.

At least he got out of it with something! I mean, who can say no to 1 more little sister :D

A ship I love: *rummaging noises* huh, I wonder where I dropped that. Oh well. No ships for you, boy. Rip.

A non-romantic relationship that I love: THE ASTRAL EXPRESS. Sometimes a family is a retired Herrscher, the creator of The Dreaded Coffee™, a lonely dragon with autism, a calendar day in an ice cube, a funky ticking time bomb, and the bunny carrying the whole train on their back.

They are everything to me. Their groupchat is literally called The Astral Express Family. I love them your honor I hope they all live happy and peaceful and prosperous lives and hopefully don't get their 3rd stabbed member in a row when we head to the next planet. The Astral Express checks offs all the right boxes of wholesome and sweet for the found family enjoyer that is yours truly, which is just- mwah. I love them so so so much.

(Bonus shoutout to Bailu AKA the new little sister I mentioned a bit above. I NEED to see more of her and Dan Heng together, they're just adorable.)

The NOTP: Danmarch, Danstelle and Dancae. I just. don't see it. They're so sibling-coded to me, it feels off to see them in a romantic context.

My biggest headcanon about them: I think all Vidyadhara are cold-blooded by virtue of being dragons, so Dan Heng prefers to sleep on the floor of the archives because, given the amount of devices running in such a small space, it's always the warmest place on the Express. Or so he thinks until March drags him and Stelle for a sleepover in her room and builds a pillow fort. Turns out their newest member is actually a portable heater, and the pillows and blankets are also very warm and comfy too and- wait, what's that sweet feeling?

...Oh no.

Now he wants to try this again.

An idea for a fanfiction I would like to write/read about them: 5 times people smile at Dan Heng + the one time he smiles at them. Featuring me-typical express fam appearances, a sprinkle of Bailu and a dash of Jing Yuan, and maaaybe a hint of that one ghost from the past.

Now if only I can find something along those lines or figure out how to write it myself... hmm...

Something that makes me think of them: withered leaves, lotus blooms, small water ponds, zither music (idk), and, uh, Kaedehara Kazuha. Maple leaf windboy solidarity lmao

[kipsels]

I really hope we get a IL!Dan Heng companion quest

Samee! I try to stay away from story/content leaks so I can't say if it's planned or not but having a companion quest to tie off the Xianzhou arc would be the icing on the cake.

If there is a IL DH companion quest I hope it answers all my burning questions around timelines, Dan Feng's crimes, that bit about dragon transmutation inheritance... There's so much I need to know more!!!

But also like it would be cute if Dan Heng could just chill in the Astral Expresses parlour in his vidiyadhara form afterwards pls 👉👈

[doomedandstoned]

Prog-Doom Trio APE VERMIN Blast New EP, 'Arctic Noise’

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Album Art by Steven Yoyada

One of the most impressive release years on record was 2018, when all the big dogs of doom dropped new albums. It was a tough year for a fledgling band to make its big splash, but somehow APE VERMIN made us all turn around and take notice, birthing a massive full-length debut 'Sonic Monolith' (2018) -- still a favorite among doomers. Now, we herald the return of the North Carolina heavyweights with an extended play record, 'Arctic Noise' (2021).

Having already crossed the 2-3 year threshold that seems to either make or break many a promising band, Ape Vermin seem here to stay as they near a half-decade together. Originating in 2017, Brett Lee (guitar, vox), William Deal (bass), and Charlie Burleson (drums) dub their style progressive doom. Through firmly grounded to the storied tradition of deep, reverberating doom, these guys are explorers who like ancient man simply are searching for new horizons.

“Our records are stepping stones for us,” frontman Brett Lee states. “We put our heart and soul into them and where Sonic Monolith had a very drone-type feel with an avalanche of groove, this new EP is a little more over the edge, and more melodic at times. We wanted this EP to represent the celebration of echo, death, and rebirth.”

Based in the small town of Valdese with barely 5,000 souls to speak of and nestled near the Catawba River 'neath the looming mountains, Ape Vermin have developed a club weilding style that's also surprisingly spiritual. Their bio depicts their artful style as comp[ose of "juddering riffs, thundering drums and otherworldly concepts that underpin the sheer mania of their music, along with hypnotic riffs and nimble fretwork" which gives"genuine virtuosity to the sonic vistas they create." That, my beloved Doomers & Stoners, I can firmly endorse.

And now to the record before us. We first encounter on Arctic Noise a song called "Megaliths Of Echo." Warping pedal effects and feedback are interrupted by a declamatory guitar lead accented by bass and drums, establishing our main theme. If you listen carefully, a story is being told in the music alone. Chugging riffage erupts with a stampede of rhythm bringing us caveman-like grunting, "Arctic Drone! Asteroid Explode! Shadow! Behold! Echo! Unfold! Astral Fate, Colossus Awake!"

Something momentus has happened, and suddenly the mood shifts down to a Cathedralesque riff that reminds me of that chilling moment on "Tower of Silence" when Lee Dorian announced, "The circle of time has stopped...sun no longer shines." And we're but five minutes into this gigantic near 17 minute slab of ice core.

Fire in the arctic! To celebrate this guilt. We've been surrounded, By the ice! We've killed the martyr, to set free this realm. We've been surrounded, By the ice!

Fire in the arctic! We've been surrounded! We've killed the martyr! The stone has fallen!

It's clear that someone's doom has come. For a moment, you can see it in your mind's eye, perhaps a churning in the gut, as the Neanderthal DNA still abiding inside has a sudden flashback to this momentous day in prehistory. What is happening? No one knows. Confusion abounds. All one can do is stand, watch in awe, and contemplate their fate.

We fade in the end, You've been holding the earth, We've been mining the sun, You will fade in the end.

I talked last night to frontman Brett Lee, who shared: "These songs were written during an intense emotional period." You can see the lyrics both describing some long ago fantastic calamity and also doubling as a metaphor for the bewilderment that comes with change and uncertainty, which all of us know far too well in recent days due to pandemic pandemonium.

Open the door, To find reason to kill, Locked up inside, For 10,000 years.

Something is encased in ice, and thawing. An ancient spirit lies within with the raw instinct for survival. It grabs us in our weakest moments and shouts, "Live, god damn, you, live!" The emotion laden writhing of the axeman seems to stir up such sentiment as I listen. Then a reminder of my own mortality.

We fade in the end, We echo.

We have such a short time to live. Our time is now. Let's attack it with the same uncouth gusto of our forebears, who struggled to survive in the ice and snow. The words of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" comes to mind in these closing minutes:

We come from the land of the ice and snow From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow The hammer of the gods Will drive our ships to new lands To fight the horde, sing and cry Valhalla, I am coming

Ancient Ruin takes the stage next, with a Near Eastern sounding motif with an attractive hook accompanied by tribal beat and voices singing in Forming The Void like harmony, "Orion." Following this is a vicious drum dominant slog and once again, we hear from our gruff caveman, who exclaims:

Fading out, Cosmic temple Riding out of this hell fear thy brother, meet thy maker Feel the darkness in my soul.

It's clear a religious ritual of some sort is underway, perhaps in response to the inexplicable disaster of the opening number.

We finish our adventure with the namesake track, Arctic Noise, which could very well serve as a Part B to the previous song. The riffage here seems more curious and wandering. A tale is told 'round a cave sheltered camp fire as cold, vicious winds blow about.

Arctic samurai, Astral vision May the arc of life BURN! Ancient avalanche echo All hail noise

I am the wretch I am the fiend Out of the void and in the machine I am the failure I am the one Out of the rapture and into the sun.

A searing solo breaks through that reminded me of one we'd hear on the first High on Fire record, only it begins feeling kind of wobbly and wounded, as if in pain. It quickly becomes seized by adrenaline and expresses itself in a confident, warm-blooded tone. I haven't said enough good things about the drumming so far, but it really shines in the second half of this song, and of course William Deal's basswork is as hearty as ever. The song ends on a cliffhanger, as if to say: "To be continued."

"I leave a lot of imagination in the lyrics," Brett told me, but dispels any notion that this is thematically linked to their debut LP, 'Sonic Monolith' (2021). He ended our conversation with an intriguing footnote: "Although deep in the lyrics in the debut album and also this E.P may you unlock what is to come next!"

Next did you say? That's something to look forward to, for damn sure! What better time than now to become a fan of Ape Vermin and revel in their dirty, gritty doom and fuzz-loaded stoner vibe!

I would be remiss were I to compliment the extraordinary album art by Steven Yoyada (who also penned the remarkable cover for our recent Doomed & Stoned in Denver compilation). Gaze upon this moment frozen in fantasy and you'll discover that it, too, has captured something of the record's soul.

Arctic Noise by Ape Vermin will be officially see the light of day on May 7th via Koloss Records (pre-order here). Fans of Conan, High on Fire, and Mastodon are you listening? Good, because Doomed & Stoned is rocking this mother in its entirety today.

Give ear...

Arctic Noise by APE VERMIN

Follow The Band

Get Their Music

[anistarrose]

Chapter Summary: Why has Kravitz gone unresponsive on all channels? What have Barry and Noelle been planning? Who, if anyone, is left on Taako’s list of people to be trusted? Find out the answers to all these questions and more, right now on Fear The Reaper A Lot, Actually!

Characters: Kravitz, Taako, Barry Bluejeans, Angus McDonald, Magnus Burnsides, Merle Highchurch, Noelle | No-3113, The Raven Queen, The Director | Lucretia, misc. BoB cameos, Julia Burnsides, Garyl

Relationships: Taakitz, Angus McDonald & Taako, Barry Bluejeans & Kravitz, Kravitz & Angus McDonald

(chanting) ghost fight ghost fight ghost fight

***

Kravitz landed ankle-deep in an underground lake, scarcely twenty feet away from the red-robed figure on the shore. Barry’s head was turned, and he gave no sign of noticing Kravitz’s arrival, but it was clear where his focus was directed — a small mob of six freshly animated undead, occupying the full spectrum between zombie and skeleton.

Wasting no time, Kravitz threw himself at the lich, scythe blazing to life with a silent radiance.

Barry had really snapped, if he was out here raising the dead without any wards to hide himself. Even without the summons, this stunt could’ve appeared as a beacon on Kravitz’s radar at any moment, and that wasn’t at all like the Barry he’d known —

Heeding to his nagging suspicions, Kravitz slowed his pace — but Barry still didn’t move, and Kravitz felt his reluctant scythe slice through illusory red cloth, then tangible rotting flesh and brittle bone.

Fuck.

Leaping back from the disguised zombie, he decorporealized as fast as he could — just in time to withstand a light that felt blinding even to his undead senses, burning even to his formless soul. When the sunbursts faded and he returned to his reaper form, dazed, he barely glimpsed a robotic silhouette duck behind a rock formation on the other side of the lake, revealed only by her still-glowing cannon arm.

“Noelle, you backstabber!” Waves of magical force whipped off Kravitz’s scythe, hurtling across the cave and towards her hiding place. “I was rooting for you —”

Jagged spires of ice burst out from the lake, intact for less than a second before intercepting the force wave, and the two spells neutralized each other with an explosion of roaring wind and frozen shrapnel. Before Kravitz could attack again, a skeleton’s clawlike fingers dug deep into his right shoulder, and he launched himself into the air with a flick of his cloak to shake the attacker loose.

But before he could reach his intended altitude, a few yards short of the stalactite-dotted ceiling, something pulled him to a stop — not a bony hand at his shoulder this time, but a fuzzy constricting sensation around his scythe-bearing arm. When he looked down, he saw a web of tangled red threads, impossibly thin yet ensnaring him from wrist to mid-biceps — and every single one of them led back to Barry Bluejeans.

When Kravitz saw the real Barry, floating a few feet above the undead horde on the lake’s near shore, he couldn’t believe he’d fallen for the disguised zombie. This Barry was glowing with power, with desperation, with determination — but his form remained as composed and his expression as unreadable as ever. The only exception was his own right arm, around which his robe had unravelled up to the elbow — not just exposing smoke-black bones, but freeing the threads of that sleeve to go on the offensive, humming with an intensity that made Kravitz’s own bones shake as he tried, unsuccessfully, to decorporealize and escape.

He’d never seen anything like it before — but then again, he’d also never seen Barry come after him, instead of the inverse, and wasn’t that an equally urgent and terrifying mystery to unravel?

“Why, Barry?!” Kravitz shouted. “Why now?!”

Barry narrowed his eyes, and with a flick of a spectral hand, hurtled Kravitz down towards the rocky shore. Channeling another force blast through his free limbs, Kravitz flung himself to the right, but his downward momentum stayed with him, and he plunged into the lake with enough momentum that he hit the bottom with a sickening crunch.

You can give up any time. Barry’s voice echoed inside his head as electricity coursed through the threads, sending both Kravitz’s mind and body reeling. But I never will.

I’m sure you’re right that you won’t give up, Kravitz thought back with all the determination he could muster, still submerged in the lake, but like it or not, that’s one thing we’ve got in common.

Fighting through what must’ve been a potent paralysis spell, he summoned his scythe into his unrestricted hand and swung it at the threads, expecting to slice cleanly through most of them — but his blade was met with a fierce resistance, and though sparks of red and blue magic exploded from the point of contact, he didn’t feel a single thread snap.

He did feel Barry recoil, letting out a psychic scream that would’ve haunted a mortal for months, and drawing the threads back into his robe to let Kravitz free — which would be cause for celebration, if only it wasn’t supposed to be impossible. No part of a lich’s essence should withstand a reaper’s most sacred weapon — it was simply the way the world worked, the way the world was supposed to work.

Barry was stunned and convulsing, true — but the undead that Kravitz knew didn’t go through death throes, either, and Kravitz could only assume that the being he once would’ve called a lich was on the verge of recollecting himself.

What is Barry made of? What is he, and what happens if I try to reap a whole robe’s worth of those threads? Can I even reap him? Do I have any chance of winning this fight?

“Mister Bluejeans!” Noelle shouted from behind some stalagmite, but she was rapidly descending on the list of Kravitz’s top concerns.

As he burst to the surface, seeing Barry regain his composure, Kravitz began to chant as quickly as he could, offering a prayer to the Raven Queen and infusing the water of the lake with her power. When Barry’s eyes — gleaming white within a faint halo of blue — fixated on him again, Kravitz was ready, and he tore open a rift from the bottom of the lake to a point just above Barry’s head.

The ensuing deluge passed straight through Barry’s lich form with the telltale hiss of celestial magic burning away at an undead soul, and Kravitz allowed himself a relieved grin as Barry vanished into the waterfall. No matter how resistant Barry was to his scythe, there were always at least a few tricks that could hurt any lich under Faerun’s sun —

Then the crimson silhouette within the waterfall raised a hand, and the sapphire-blue edges of Kravitz’s portal turned an ashen gray as the rift shriveled and closed with a pop. Barry emerged from the water with hardly a shudder, wisps of magical steam rising off a red robe that was otherwise no worse for wear.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” said Barry, sounding genuinely apologetic, “but I spent the last few cycles building up an immunity to holy water.”

He extended his hands, firing a bolt of necrotic energy from each of his ten fingertips, but Kravitz twirled his scythe with a flick of his hand, reforming it as a shield emblazoned with swooping raven wings. Each bolt ricocheted off it in a different direction, and Barry clenched his hands into fists, channeling the spell’s residual energy into two spheres of consolidated dark magic. He hurled them in mirror-image arcs, both circling back towards Kravitz from behind —

With another flick of Kravitz’s wrist, his shield became two identical lightweight scythes, each intercepting a different sphere before the whirlwind of blades propelled Kravitz towards the ceiling, equal with Barry’s altitude. Expecting Barry to flee, but not about to risk an opening going to waste, Kravitz charged — but Barry snapped his fingers, and two discarded femurs from the bottom of the lake flew to his side, transforming into a pair of crimson scimitars and crossing to catch the blade of Kravitz’s first scythe.

The blow from the second scythe was more precise, and sent the scimitars hurtling across the cave, but Barry clapped his hands together, and they flew back to his defense, exchanging a flurry of increasingly rapid blows with Kravitz. One of them grazed the cuff of his jacket, and as he dove out of the way, he deliberately bashed his sapphire blades together, releasing a sunburst of blue light — and more importantly, a wave of thunderous force to fracture the scimitars, which Kravitz shattered with one final swing of his scythe.

He returned his focus to Barry himself, and realized — too late — that a single red thread of his sleeve had once again unraveled. Kravitz preemptively turned skeletal, surrounding himself with ghostly flames he hoped would make Barry think twice about trying to restrain him — but instead, Barry swung the stray thread towards the ceiling, where it cleaved through stalactites like a red-hot wire through butter, and a barrage of newly-freed spears rained down on Kravitz.

Only one struck him — barely bruising his shoulder in the fraction of a second before he decorporealized, and his soul-light possessed the stalactite itself. Barry summoned two more elongated bones to his side, but before he could transform them into scimitars, Kravitz hurtled his new form at them with such force that they crashed into the damp cave wall, shattering both the bones and stalactite while releasing Kravitz’s soul.

“It’s time to explain yourself!” Kravitz shouted, rematerializing and conjuring a dual-bladed scythe. Explain your lichdom, the Grand Relics, Taako’s unexplained deaths and missing memories —

With both hands, he spun the scythe like a baton, generating a vortex of blue lightning drawn from the essence of the Astral Plane itself. “This ends NOW!”

Undaunted, Barry shrugged. “Y’know, I did try to warn you the apocalypse was imminent,” he said nonchalantly, and melted into the shadows cast upon the wall.

The lightning pulverized stalactites across the cave, rendering even its darkest corners in brilliant blue light, but Barry had retreated too far into the earth for the magic to touch him — and in a way, it was almost reassuring, if only because the rest of this encounter had felt so alien.

This was the Barry that Kravitz knew, the Barry that would casually say something ominous before disengaging and vanishing off the map for the next three to eight months — but the moment of reassurance didn’t last long, because Barry reappeared on the lakeshore with his undead minions a moment later, and no, Kravitz was not falling for that again.

His scythe transformed into a longbow, a sapphire arrow already nocked. When he let it fly, it pierced the illusory red robe without a sound, and Barry’s deception vanished with a puff of smoke.

Where did you really go, Bluejeans?

He glimpsed some kind of shadow at the bottom of the lake, but before he could identify it, the surface froze over — and then, with a mighty creak, it rose, first as rapid-fire spears that Kravitz dodged with ease, but then as staggered subsections that formed a staircase — or as the terrestrial skeletons and zombies saw it, a perfect opportunity to charge at Kravitz.

The three who lead the assault fell in a volley of just as many arrows, but before the rest could arrive, Kravitz swung his bow around himself in an arc, transforming it back into a scythe just in time to strike the staircase with maximum force and shatter the ice. The remaining undead plummeted into the lake of still-blessed water, dissolving in a flash of light and a plume of steam.

“Not as resilient as your creator, eh?” Kravitz quipped, but not quite loud enough to miss the crackle of electricity behind him, and he somersaulted in midair to evade a crimson lightning bolt. Undeterred, Barry fired again, then a third time with two bolts at once, but Kravitz had no trouble dodging — though he realized, not a moment too soon, that Barry’s otherwise ineffective spells were driving him backwards and down, towards the rocky shore where Barry had raised the dead.

Not so fast, Kravitz thought, and plunged his scythe into the wall. Halfway across the cave, a massive blue crystal burst out from among the stalactites, missing Barry by a hair — but as he absconded, more sapphires tore through the cave ceiling, cutting him off at every angle until he was trapped in a cage of jagged crystalline fangs. Kravitz trembled from the exertion, bones rattling beneath his skin, but he didn’t have to maintain the spell for long — because through the translucent sapphires, he saw Barry’s silhouette clap two lightning-wreathed hands together, and an explosion of thunder pulverized every crystal in the cave. Kravitz morphed his scythe into a shield just in time to deflect the brunt of it, but the sheer force sent him flying backwards, and he landed on his feet on the lakeshore, exhausted but alert.

“I really am sorry, Kravitz. You seem like a decent guy.” Barry’s words echoed across the cave, making it impossible to tell if the slight distortion was coming from his own voice or simply the acoustics. “I’d always hoped that — that somehow, it wouldn’t turn out like this —”

“Oh, that’s real rich coming from you, Barry J. ‘created the Animus Bell and picked a fight with the Grim Reaper’ Bluejeans,” Kravitz retorted, switching his shield back into a scythe with none of the usual dramatic flourish. “You’re talking like my fate is sealed, but you haven’t won yet —”

Kravitz paused — because for the first time in twelve years of hunting Barry Bluejeans and ten years of knowing him, he could perfectly read the expression on Barry’s cowled semblance of a face. It was triumph, clear as day, and colored mainly by relief…

But not without an edge to it, a telltale hint of smugness.

“No, I think I have won,” Barry said. “Remember — you’re still outnumbered.”

A bolt of scorching light lanced down from above, rupturing the ground before Kravitz’s feet with all the red-hot fury of a meteor impact. He flung himself backwards, trying to escape the brunt of the attack — but the explosion hurtled him to the very back of the cave, where his spine met the cold limestone wall at high velocity, and he toppled to the ground before he could get his bearings.

“No,” he whispered. “No, I’m not outnumbered.” His ears rang, and lights danced across all but the most peripheral corners of his vision, but he still pulled himself to his feet, bracing himself against the wall. “I am the Raven Queen’s champion, and she will not let you escape me again —”

He extended an arm, to summon back the scythe he’d lost his grip on…

But for the first ever time, after more than eight centuries in the Queen’s undead flock, his scythe didn’t heed his call.

He could see it on the ground, barely ten feet away and undamaged as far as he could tell. But it didn’t move an inch, much less spring back into his hand — and only then, for the first time since arriving in the cave, did Kravitz notice the dark gray runes carved all around him, separating him from his weapon.

A trap, which had been Barry’s endgame all along. A trap, which Kravitz had flung himself right into.

Noelle floated to ground-level, hovering next to Barry and exchanging a few words that Kravitz’s ears still rang too much to hear. Making the most of their distraction, Kravitz lunged for his scythe with nothing to lose — but a shimmering, opalescent barrier sprung up from the runes, and he bounced off of it, shoulder first.

Barry glanced at him, and just sighed — which manifested, for a breathless entity made up of pure magic, as something more like a low electric crackle. “This was how I didn’t want it turn out, Kravitz.”

Kravitz ignored him, closing his eyes and raising his fingers to his temples. My Queen, I’m outmatched. I beseech you —

He ceased his prayer, his eyes flying open. It was wrong, all wrong, the terrifying gut-churning kind of wrong — and worst of all, he knew exactly why.

No electric blue buzz had reached him when he’d prayed to his goddess. It would be one thing if the Raven Queen hadn’t replied, but Kravitz hadn’t even been able to open a channel of communication in the first place.

And his scythe, he now realized, was not damaged nor unresponsive. He simply no longer had the ability to summon it — because The Raven Queen, and all the powers she’d graced him with, were completely cut off by Barry’s spell.

For the first time in countless lifetimes, Kravitz was alone.

***

Taako jumped when he heard the second knock of the day, expecting a barrage of accusations from the Director to follow — but it was Angus’s voice, not Lucretia’s, that called out to him a moment later.

“Sir? Do you mind if I come in? There’s something I need to talk to you about!”

Taako pressed his ear to the door. He couldn’t hear anyone else in the hallway, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. “Talk about what, Agnes?”

“Oh, uh… I’d rather not say while I’m standing out here. It’s kinda personal…” Angus lowered his voice. “And you know the drill, prying eyes and ears.”

Taako’s heart skipped a beat — because Angus McDonald, light of his life and the closest thing to a son he could imagine ever having, knowing information too dangerous to speak out loud — was scarier than any apocalyptic nightmares or even malfunctioning arrows.

Pointing his Umbra Staff at the door and tapping his forehead, Taako extended his sense of sight outside, verifying that the hallway was deserted — aside, of course, from one innocent-looking boy detective. With that information confirmed, he cracked the door open and grabbed Angus by the vest, yanking him inside before Angus could even get a protest in edgewise.

“You bring your Stone of Farspeech?” Taako asked, fidgeting with locks both magical and arcane. “Power it down, right now.”

“But — but I’m waiting for a text back from —”

Taako snapped his fingers, silencing the Stone in Angus’s pocket. “Well, suck it up and wait a little longer, kid, because the Director’s listened in on me through those things before and I’m sure she’ll do it again — so how’s that for prying ears? I’m about to be in enough trouble as is, I can’t let you get implicated too —”

Angus glanced around the room, gaze lingering on the ruins of the coffee table and the ashen footprints tread across the rug. “Sir, are you… okay? You’re acting like Caleb Cleveland whenever a case-changing discovery sends him spiraling into paranoia —”

“I — okay, look. The day got off to a rough start, but — but you worry way too much about me, kid.” How had Taako already fucked up this badly, confirming there was a conspiracy afoot and getting the kid invested? He should’ve just begged Angus to stay quiet, to stay away from him.

“I — I just can’t tell you what’s happening, Angus, for your own good! I shouldn’t have even let you in here in the first place, when I don’t know what’s going on or how to protect —”

With a hug, Angus knocked the wind out of Taako’s lungs and the wizard hat off of his head. “Sir, I found something big too! I didn’t know how to face it alone, but I couldn’t find Noelle, and Kravitz hasn’t texted me back —”

He smiled. “And I came to you, because I’m sure we can figure this out together. You just have to trust —”

“I trust you implicitly, Ango. You know this,” Taako blurted out. “I trust you with my life.

“I suspected as much, though it’s nice to hear you say it.” Angus met his eyes. “But I meant that you have to trust yourself with mine.”

Taako closed his eyes, and saw Glamour Springs. Forty people, fatally poisoned.

“I need to know what you know, sir. It might put me in danger — but there’s no one else I’d rather have watching my back. I’ll be okay, I really will — I believe in us!”

Phandalin. Eight-hundred and fifty people, all incinerated.

“And if it helps, sir… I trust you. Both implicitly and rationally.”

The return to Wave Echo Cave in search of liches. Angus imperiled, but alive.

Taako wasn’t sure when he’d first started hugging Angus back, but he hugged a little tighter, just for good measure. “I just don’t want to put any more pressure on you than I already have, little guy. Your job’s hard work, and I keep making it harder —”

“I know my limits better now. Kravitz helped me with that,” Angus assured him. “I’ll tell you if it ever gets to be too much, I promise.”

“Yeah, you better.” Taako took a deep breath, then another, coming a little closer to spilling the truth with each inhale. “So, I guess… I’d better tell you about the second Voidfish.”

“I knew it!” Angus exclaimed, but lowered his voice as he went on, seeing Taako flinch. “I knew the Bureau wasn’t telling us everything! How did you figure it out?”

“Garyl helped — he’s immune, apparently,” Taako whispered. “He was making me paranoid, so I unsummoned him — but earlier today, he said I lost a bunch of my memories twelve years ago, and it might’ve all been Lucretia’s master plan —”

“Twelve years?” Angus echoed. “Kravitz said your bounties showed up twelve years ago, at the same time as Barry and Lup — and believe it or not, also the Director and Davenport, of all people!”

Taako collapsed onto the couch, for what felt like the tenth time that morning. “I don’t think my brain can physically unpack all of this, so I’m just gonna ask — when did Kravitz say this? Have you talked to him recently?”

“This was just earlier this morning! He was the person I was expecting to text me back, actually — but did something happen?”

Taako stomach dropped. “Did — did he tell you anything that showed up as static?”

“He did! Something about your bounties and the relics that I just couldn’t grasp! That was how I figured out there was another —”

“Shit,” Taako muttered. “I hate to break it to you, Angus, but our little rogue detective bureau’s first order of business might be figuring out what the hell happened to Kravitz.”

Angus gasped. “You think some necromancers captured him? Or — or the Director?”

“I don’t know! Maybe both — maybe Lucretia is the evil necromancer behind all of this! Or maybe it’s Davenport, or it’s Barry after all, or whoever the hell Lup is —”

His umbrella unfurled in his lap, its handle swinging up to hit him in the chin before it tumbled to the ground. “Hey, learn to read the room! You think I have time to deal with you causing problems on purpose right now?!”

Angus pursed his lips. “Where did you get that Umbra Staff anyway? Seems like it’s more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Oh, you don’t know the half of the trouble this thing has given me, Ango. I found it on the original Wave Echo Cave trip — kinda near the Relic, actually. Former owner was just a skeleton in a… oh shit, that’s right. A skeleton in a fucking red robe.”

Angus just stared at him, dumbfounded, for ten full seconds before he pulled out his notebook and jotted the information down. “You and the other Reclaimers are terrible at passing on relevant information, you know that?”

“In my defense, I have severe undiagnosed memory loss!” Taako shot back. “And it’s been, like, eight months? Ten? See, I can’t even remember how long it’s been!”

“Wait. Hang on.” Angus sat down his notepad and closed his eyes. “If the Red Robes made the Grand Relics… you told me that Barry has mentioned Lup by name, correct?”

Taako nodded, then upon realizing Angus’s eyes were still closed, he spoke up. “Yeah.”

“So we can reasonably assume Lup’s a Red Robe, too. She’s been missing for ten years, last seen in Wave Echo Cave — and I would hazard a guess, specifically in the part of the cave that housed the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet. The part of the cave where you found your Umbra Staff.”

“And the worst times the umbrella has ever malfunctioned,” Taako realized aloud, heart pounding, “were when either Kravitz or I was about to hurt Barry.”

“Your staff doesn’t just absorb arcane foci, does it?” Angus gasped. “It absorbed an entire lich. We thought we’d never find Lup — but she’s been under our noses all along.”

***

“Barry, how? How did you do this?”

Noelle was still looking at Kravitz, but Barry had turned away, seemingly with no purpose in mind besides cultivating a sullen appearance.

“Took some inspiration from an entity I already knew could cut off planes from each other, and gods from their emissaries,” he muttered after a few seconds. “Not too proud of it, but you forced my hand.”

There was the confirmation Kravitz had been looking for, yet dreading — because Kravitz needed a font of magic, needed the Raven Queen, not just to fight but to exist in any capacity. His soul would burn out, drained by the exertion of maintaining physical form, without a direct line to either her or her dominion of the Astral Plane — gods, his soul should’ve burnt out already, within seconds of being sealed in.

“No, I mean — how am I still here, Barry?” How am I still half-alive?

“Arcane core buried a few feet beneath you.” Barry’s voice was practically monotone, and the concerned frown on Noelle’s display didn’t escape Kravitz’s notice. “Should fuel your soul at least until the end of the world. Maybe longer.”

He shuddered, though he kept it together — and unlikely as he was to admit it, even Kravitz was starting to feel a little worried for the lich who’d just spared his not-quite-life.

“You could’ve killed me like this at any point,” he pointed out. “During any of those ten years. Why didn’t you, if I’ve been such an impediment to your master plan —”

Barry whirled around, teleporting to a spot right outside the barrier with a clap of thunder and a spray of sparks. “You think this was a type of magic I wanted to mess with? You think I did this for my own sake?! I only did this so you wouldn’t kill my family!”

He and Kravitz stood face to face-shaped void — and there was something unsteady about that void and the lights inside, something telling Kravitz that if Barry had a true face at the moment, his expression would’ve just crumpled.

“Your family,” Kravitz echoed. “The other Red Robes. Magnus, Merle, and… Taako.”

“I’d do this all again to protect them,” Barry rasped. “No matter how convinced you are that you’re in the right, I can’t let you reap them —”

“I’m not going to reap them!” Kravitz blurted out, and the threads of Barry’s robe froze in place.

“What?!”

Kravitz raised his hand. “I swear I won’t! On my oath to the Raven Queen!”

Barry went not just perfectly still, but utterly silent, until Noelle spoke up. “Why not?!”

“We worked out a deal! I assumed you heard —” Before Kravitz knew it, he was laughing, even well aware that it made the lich in the room look like the sane one by comparison. “Gods, Barry. I really thought you were some kind of omniscient memory-wiping mastermind, leading a massive conspiracy with informants everywhere — but you didn’t even know I was letting the Reclaimers go! You’re just a family man who happens to be undead and a colossal pain in my ass! I can’t believe this!”

“What — what do you know about the memory wiping?” Barry finally spoke up, softer than Kravitz had ever heard him. “About the Voidfish?”

“Apparently not enough,” Kravitz admitted, lowering himself onto the floor of the cave and crossing his legs. “But… do you think could you tell me about it?”

Barry just stared at him for a few seconds, eventually glancing at Noelle, as if to check that she was just as dumfounded as he was. Then he turned back to Kravitz, and with a shrug, replied: “…I guess?”

Kravitz drummed his fingers on the ground — absorbing and channeling a trace of the arcane core’s aura, all while hoping Barry interpreted it as an absentminded tic, not one of deep and deliberate concentration. “If it’s not too much of a tangent, then literally any information on the apocalypse besides ‘it’s imminent’ would be nice.”

“Well, then,” Barry said slowly, “I guess I should start at the beginning. I wasn’t always a lich — I guess that was obvious, ‘cause that’s just how liches work — but I also wasn’t always a necromancer. I was totally fascinated with death, don’t get me wrong, and sometimes I dabbled in true necromancy against my better judgement, but it was… about as discouraged in my homeworld as it was here. So instead, I dedicated my life to studying interplanar travel.”

“Your homeworld,” Kravitz repeated, “which is… different from the Raven Queen’s domain? Different from this planar system?!”

“Probably shoulda led with that, huh?” Barry muttered. “Yeah, I’m technically an alien, and for a long time, I worked for an alien space agency. We searched for signs of life, or even mere existence, outside our own planar system, but we kept hitting dead ends — until a light we almost mistook for a meteor fell from the sky, and changed everything. We called it the Light of Creation, and it…”

He sighed. “You could say it enthralled us. It illuminated these underlying mechanisms of not just magic, but broadly speaking, interactions — between things, between worlds, between people. We called them bonds, and with the way we were studying them so single-mindedly, it didn’t even take us a year to build a spaceship that could run on the things. Seven of us flew that ship off the material plane on her maiden voyage, and — well, you can read all our names straight from your book of bounties. Our captain was Davenport, and Lucretia was our chronicler, while Merle was the biologist, and Magnus — oh, Magnus was the best security system that a team of five wizards and a cleric could wish for. I was chief science officer, of course, and… Taako and Lup, the twins, were the arcanists.”

“Oh my gods,” Kravitz whispered. “Taako — I had Taako hunting Lup. He thought his life depended on —”

“He didn’t know.” Barry shuddered, red smoke escaping from his mouth as he spoke. “Neither of you did.”

Faced with any other lich, Kravitz would’ve braced himself for a breakdown and ensuing fallout, but today, he stayed seated to watch as calmly as he could — and sure enough, the smoke faded to a few harmless wisps as Barry went on.

“Sorry, I — I’m getting ahead of myself. The mission, the Starblaster mission, it was only supposed to last two months. But in our obsession with the Light, with the spaceship it made possible, we missed… warning signs leading up to our departure. Storm clouds hanging overhead, colors losing their luster, hell, even eyes in the sky and in the Ethereal Plane. When the seven of us took flight, we thought we were explorers — but in the blink of an eye, we became refugees, because right after we took flight, the Hunger descended on our world and devoured it whole.”

He must’ve noticed a shell-shocked expression on Kravitz’s face, because he went on: “Yeah, it’s a lot, even when you’ve had decades to process it. We fled to another planar system, and the Light of Creation followed us there — but so did the Hunger, and a year after arriving, it consumed yet another world without mercy. Magnus died fighting it, but I’m sure you see where this is going — when we materialized in the next planar system, he was as good as new, and the cycle repeated. We figured out that as long as one of us escaped the Hunger on the ship, anyone who died that year would return to life, and that if we could escape with the Light, the Hunger would only damage the plane instead of consuming it — but recovering the Light was about as consistent as rolling a pair of dice you hadn’t rigged, and the Hunger kept gaining on us.”

“And this,” Kravitz assumed, “was when you started practicing necromancy?”

“Yeah. I guess I could play it off as, I dunno, something I studied to understand how we kept getting revived every year, but… I’m not gonna lie to you. I was calling myself a necromancer by the third cycle because it was dangerous, and we needed dangerous magic to stand a chance against the Hunger.” A fondness crept into Barry’s voice, and Kravitz watched a small tear in his robe sew itself back together. “Lup and I didn’t become liches until decades later — just like we took our time with most things, I guess — and that was for power, too. But there weren’t any blood sacrifices, or any of that traditional ‘store your soul in an artifact of dark magic’ stuff — we powered our lich forms with bonds, the same things that powered our spaceship. We did it with the help of our family, to protect our family, and I’d do it all again. And Lup… I know she’d feel the same, if she were here.”

“Were you close? You and Lup, I mean?”

The lights of Barry’s not-quite-face blinked. “Gotta say, bud, after everything I just told you, that is not the question I thought you’d have for me. But… yeah, you could say that. We were in love for the better part of a century, and if you’ve ever seen me… not fall apart when I should have, it was because I was thinking of her. Reminding myself that if I gave up, then everything we’d worked for would be the next to come undone, and even worse, I’d — I’d never have a chance to see her again.”

“You don’t know where she is either,” Kravitz realized, and only noticed he’d spoken out loud when he saw Barry shrink backwards and wrap his arms around his chest, his robe folding in on itself like red light drawn towards a spluttering black hole.

“Wow, Kravitz,” Noelle spoke up, digitized voice dripping with sarcasm as she glared at him. “Way to not ask sensitive questions to the guy you just learned was powered by emotions —”

“I’m sorry!” Kravitz exclaimed, and he honestly meant it. “I wasn’t thinking —”

“No, I’ll be alright,” Barry insisted, with a confidence that suggested he’d survived worse breakdowns. No longer radiating lightning nor anguish, he floated right up to the opalescent barrier, even resting a hand on it. “You know, the Hunger’s kinda like this spell I used to trap you, ‘cept on steroids. It cuts off all the planes in a system before devouring them, but always goes for the Celestial Plane first, rendering the bonds between god and emissary unusable — and it’s done that so many times, Kravitz, it’s consumed so many deities and added them to its number. It’s impossible to defeat that kind of army, that never-ending march of fallen gods from fallen worlds older than memory — but Lup and I, we came up with a new plan. We knew the Hunger needed the Light to persist — so we hid that Light, splitting it in seven, to try and starve the Hunger out.”

He sighed. “And that’s how the refugees of my homeworld nearly destroyed yours with the Grand Relics.”

Though Barry had only confirmed his suspicions, Kravitz’s jaw still dropped. I was right. And Taako still has no idea. I need to tell him —

“We were enthralled, all of us, with the idea of finally stopping the Hunger,” Barry continued, drifting back from the barrier. “Not all of us in the same way — Lucretia had an idea that was different altogether, equally bad as it was — and when we descended from the sky to introduce the Relics, like demigods about to be undone by our hubris, we enthralled your world with conflict and bloodshed. Because the Light of Creation, at least in the form of the Relics we made from it, is a poison disguised as an antidote. It will always be… hungered for.”

He chuckled bitterly. “And here I am, confessing my family’s crimes to the one person in this universe who knows the cost of our actions better than anyone. Kravitz, on behalf of all of us — I’m so sorry that you and your world bore the consequences of our mess. I’m sure your job was an awful lot simpler before we showed up —”

“It was,” Kravitz agreed, “but maybe not for the reason you think. You know, before the Relic Wars, souls almost always retired to the Astral Plane without resistance… but victims of the Relics never rested quietly. I’m no stranger to ghosts with unfinished business, of course, but so many of them were still enthralled, as you put it — and before the wars dwindled out, there were constant rebellions and escape attempts that plunged the Astral Plane into chaos.” He paused. “Speaking of which. I always wondered why the Relic Wars ended when they did.”

“Good question.” Barry sighed. “Out of seven explorers, you know how many had the foresight to realize how dangerous the Grand Relics were? It was just one — Lucretia, the youngest, who knew before anyone else that we were about to poison this world. She had an alternate plan to defeat the Hunger, and though its side effects were just as unacceptable, she was in denial of those effects just like I was in denial about the Relics’ consequences. I — I hate talking about her like this, she’s family to me just like the rest of them, but — she needed the Light in one piece for her plan, so not long after Lup went missing trying to bring an end to the Relic Wars, Lucretia went and — she fed our mission archives to the Voidfish. A being that consumes information, and makes it incomprehensible unless you’ve been specifically inoculated… or, unless you’re undead.”

“So your family, and the world, both forgot the Grand Relics,” Kravitz finished. “Except you and me.”

“Exactly. But Lucretia still needed to collect all seven, and… well, there were only seven people in the world who could resist their thrall, and that was because they’d spent a century building up an immunity. And Fischer, that’s what Magnus named the Voidfish, eventually had a kid — or so I assume, because I don’t know where else Lucretia would get a baby alien jellyfish whose home plane was destroyed. Point is, Luce fed the baby certain things she needed kept secret, then inoculated Magnus, Merle, and Taako from the parent, so she could set them up as Reclaimers in her Bureau of Balance —”

“Wait, you mean that — that Lucretia from my list of bounties, and the Director I keep hearing about from Taako, are the same person?!”

“Yeah.” Barry nodded. “Do you know if Davenport’s also with the Bureau, by any chance? I haven’t seen him in — in a really long time.”

“If I’d known where he was, I would’ve arrested him for dying eleven times,” Kravitz replied without thinking, regretting it instantly when Barry glowered at him. “I mean, I would have before having this conversation, but not now! I swear!”

“You’re not bound to your oath while you’re cut off from your goddess,” Barry pointed out. “And I dunno why I just told you that, though I guess you seem like the kinda guy who’d stick to your word anyway —”

“Let’s backtrack to Lucretia,” Kravitz cut in. “What was her plan to stop the Hunger? Why was it so unacceptable, and… and why does she need the Light?”

Barry looked away, answering in a slowly fading voice.“She wanted to starve the Hunger out too, just like Lup and I were thinking. But she wanted to use the Light to create a shield around this planar system — and I know that sounds great in practice, but any barrier strong enough to keep out the Hunger would sever all this world’s extraplanar bonds. It would keep the Hunger out, but everything inside would be reduced to ash, and Lucretia… never wanted to believe that. I have to assume she still doesn’t believe it, and will go ahead with her shield as soon as she reclaims the last two Relics. The Temporal Chalice, and the Animus Bell.”

“Well, shit,” Kravitz muttered, earning a grunt of agreement from Barry. “So our options — our only three options are being turned to ash, fighting a losing battle with an eldritch abomination, and continuing to let the Relics tear this world apart?”

“It’s… a little too late for that last one, actually.” Barry shook his head. “The Hunger’s got a lock on our planar system now — Noelle told me she saw stars disappearing, and that means we’re down to a matter of months.”

“Oh gods, that’s why there’s fewer stars? I thought I was going crazy!” Kravitz gasped, turning to Noelle. “Barry told you all this as well?”

Noelle bobbed up and down slightly, presumably to indicate a nod. “He filled me in on the highlights. Then a bit more detail ‘bout the Hunger, when I asked him just a couple hours ago if he knew why the constellations looked off.”

“I can’t believe this,” Kravitz sighed. “I should’ve just asked you to explain yourself years ago! You could’ve cleared up so much —”

“I should’ve tried to tell you more,” Barry admitted, “but the truth sounds so insane that I didn’t think you’d believe the whole unfiltered thing. Hell, I’m amazed you believe me right now —”

“Uh, actually, about that…” Kravitz smiled sheepishly, instinctively crossing his arms behind his back to hide his soon-to-be-implicated spellcasting hands. “I appreciate you leaving me some magic when you cut me off from the Raven Queen, but in the interest of… honesty, you should know that before I joined the Queen’s retinue, I was a bard. My powers are limited right now, since I don’t have an instrument on me, and even with one I wouldn’t have expected this to work — but a couple minutes ago, I cast Zone of Truth on you.” He shrugged. “Being a last-ditch effort as it was, I kind of assumed you’d notice it —”

Barry threw his head back with a guffaw of laughter, and his hood fell to his shoulders, unveiling a mass of dark smoke that resembled a mullet. “Oh, Merle would be so proud!”

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?” Noelle wisecracked, and then all of them were laughing at poor Merle’s expense, just like three old friends who’d never, ever tried to kill or imprison or backstab each other.

“Yes, it is a compliment,” Barry chuckled, “but don’t you dare tell him I got got by a Zone of Truth, or I’ll never hear the end of it!”

“I, uh, I’ve got one more backstory question, if you don’t mind,” Kravitz began as his laughter died down, and Barry’s attention immediately returned to him. The lich was easier to read with his cowl down, revealing cues like the quizzical, attentive tilt of his head.

“Yeah? Shoot.”

“I saved this one for last because I’m asking in… well, mostly my own self-interest…” Kravitz took a breath. “But does Taako have any, um, still-relevant love interests he lost his memories of?”

“Oh my gods, Kravitz…”

“I like him a lot, even though it’s still early — but I’d feel awful replacing a partner he was ripped away from, especially under these circumstances —”

“A truce with the Grim Reaper is one thing!” Barry shouted to no one in particular. “But being the Grim Reaper’s brother-in-law? Being Taako’s best man when he and the Grim Reaper get married?!”

Kravitz beamed. “Okay, I’ll take that as a no!”

Still chuckling, Barry silently snapped his fingers. A dozen runes flashed before going dark forever, and a moment later, the opalescent barrier faded away.

“I tell you what, bud,” he said. “You help me save all of reality, and I won’t even give you the shovel talk.”

[onwesterlywinds]

Lying in Wait

Thirty years ago...

"Hands behind your head!" the Garlean private barked.

The tip of his gunblade found Hrjt's exposed collar and pressed close enough to barely scrape against her skin, likely more as an accident than through any real skill. The desert sun had been particularly unkind throughout the morning - for her in her furs, and especially for the Garleans clad all in their black synthetic fibers. The boy standing over her was having a particularly rough go of it; his every breath in the arid heat rasped with thirst, and his arm wavered in time with the heaving of his chest.

"On the ground! Now!"

An order at gunpoint was not one to be ignored, no matter how poorly timed, but at least it would save her throat from the boy's unsteady aim. Hrjt's ears pricked as she knelt upon Rabanastre's flagstones, counting each set of footsteps that passed all around her: eight, all of them belonging to imperials. Before she could pull her staff just a bit closer, the private kicked it away, sending her mother's glass orb scraping and skidding across the hard marble. She gritted her teeth but had sense enough not to push her luck.

They would all have far greater matters to worry over before long.

"Well, well," drawled the officer. "Three unauthorized entries in a year."

"That you know of," she added helpfully.

"The legatus will be pleased to see you again, witch."

Hrjt chanced a glance up at the officer's smug - if sunburnt - mien and cast him her most winsome smile, though the expression was likely somewhat dampened by the private's blade still pointed at her face and a general lack of practice on her part. "If that's so, I should hope he's learned to pronounce my name."

"You were forbidden three moons ago from setting foot in this city again."

"And soon there may not be a city to set foot in, if you do not give me back my staff."

"Your-"

She gestured toward her staff, lying several fulms away. "If I do not have my staff by the time the voidsent comes, the consequences will be dire."

The officer motioned with his hand, and the private stepped closer with his gunblade. Rather than continue to menace her with the weapon, however, he handed it off to his superior, who had its edge level with her throat in a heartbeat. "I don't like your threats," he whispered. "You have one more chance to speak plain. One more. Or else it's off to the oubliettes of Nalbina for you."

One advantage to that plan was that a stint in the dungeons would get her out of the infernal sun. Perhaps she had grown too soft on her clouded strip of shore, too unused to the elements: each passing moment compounded a headache that was making her head throb, and her vision spin, and-

No. Not the sun.

It was the voidsent.

For all that she had endured the symptoms of aether sickness before, they never became easier to bear. That was the nature of the void, and all its incompatibility with living things. Her own sensitivities to dark magicks made the presence of a voidsent that much more difficult to ignore.

The world thrummed around her, the pressure building behind her eyes and ears as though she were about to vomit. Vaguely she wondered how the Garleans could not feel it too, immense as this voidsent doubtless was - but then again, she had always been the only one to foresee the warning signs.

Breathe in. Find the cracks. Find what is broken.

"I'M WARNING YOU!"

Breathe out. Water into the fissure.

Something was happening beyond her closed eyes: the other Garlean soldiers began to murmur and ready their weapons.

Breathe in. Crystallize. Freeze.

And then there came the telltale roar.

Breathe out. Push. Shatter.

Her limbs tingled with cold, with the umbral. She stood, brushed the diamond dust of frost from her fur mantle, opened her eyes-

"Oh, lovely."

The portal had begun to close behind its occupant: an archaeodemon of a size she'd never seen before, with horns long enough to complete a full curl around its head. Its yellow eyes surveyed the courtyard with evident intelligence, and from there it set to swiping at the nearest Garleans, tearing open a soldier's chest in a spray of gore.

But it did not stop to lap up the veritable feast of aether before it. Archaeodemons were creatures of wrath rather than gluttony; for curious reasons known only to their creators, they cared more for spilling blood than drinking it.

And unless it were stopped, it would not halt its course until every soul in Rabanastre was slain.

"What have you done?!"

The soldier tore off his helmet, drawing himself up to his full height as he pointed his gunblade not at the voidsent but at her. She dove for her staff, hitting the flagstones hard; the soldier fired, and a bullet lodged itself in the marble somewhere beside her ear. As her fingers closed over the sun-warmed metal of her staff, she transposed the aether within and around her - and a bolt of lightning arced toward the soldier to keep him prone for the moment.

The archaeodemon fixed its gaze upon her, but already she was focusing to conjure a ball of flame to distract it from its destructive course. The fire loosed from her hand with a roar to rival even the creature's; when she breathed in deep, the better to steady herself amid the dueling currents of aether, she tasted singed fur and rotting leather at the roof of her mouth. But the demon quickened its charge and readied its claws, and she had neither the time nor the aether to summon a stronger blast.

The words left her purely by instinct.

"I call upon thee, Mateus-"

With her left hand, she traced all around her the markings she had used to bind the Lucavi beneath these very stones not so very long ago.

"-to halt the workings of your lady's servant, and expel him from this plane!"

The archaeodemon snarled but halted mid-stride, as though frozen into place. With wrenching, agonizing slowness, a shard of ice crystallized far above its head, until it stretched yalms wide. There came the whisper of the deity's thrall, a dancing figment in the chilled air; then the shard fell, entrapping the demon within.

Just as Mateus himself began to materialize - he pulled upon her energies, upon her consciousness with all the force of a void prince - Hrjt released a jet of astral fire, shattering the prison and the creature within it.

The Lucavi screamed. With his existence not fully evoked, the seal upon his form not yet dispelled, he faded from sight amid the heat of her spell.

And at last, the aether was still.

She straightened again, heaving another breath of hot, dry desert air-

-only to find bodies strewn across the courtyard, and the tip of the Garlean private's gunblade at her neck once more.

But the boy was not watching her. Instead he craned his head over his shoulder to survey his unconscious superior. His diverted attentions did nothing to improve his already troublesome aim. Before Hrjt could fully raise her hands in surrender, the boy muttered, "Go on. Get out of here. Before he wakes up - and before van Gabranth gets here."

It was the greatest wisdom she'd heard all day. With only one final glance back at the bloodied flagstones to ensure that Mateus would not break free of his seal just yet, she summoned the last of her energy and whisked herself back through the aether to Valnain.

[carriedon-awolfsback]

GOD I didn’t even mention my meet ‘n’ greet yet! I'll put it under here because it's just burbly, and because I'll throw in my photo which I got back yesterday afternoon and honestly that kind of content should be warned for

SO the RAH queue situation was a bit messy, but I expected that. I mostly found my zen; I was getting a little nervy and impatient once we were inside the building but it really wasn't too much of an ordeal. As I got the top of the line and was about to be ushered in through the Mysterious Curtain to do this thing, the attendant got a radio call and... dropped said curtain and just wandered off?? So I wasn’t sure if I should just go in or if that was a ‘wait here a sec’ sign. I waited for a moment and I guess they had no idea where the attendant went, because the photographer ended up pulling the curtain back to hunt for the next person and I was confronted by his confused expression and a momentary Tobit/Copia hybrid leaning heavily just past the curtain, presumably curious and also trying to look for me and/or the attendant but also looking shit the bed terrifying due to being, you know, about 80% uncanny valley senior agent of Satan in that moment.

So I skitter in and ya boi snaps back to full character and I’m hastily gurgling some generic bullshit about how it’s nice to meet you and thank you for putting these VIP moments on on top of the show, which must be tiring, trying not to think about how much pornographic material I’ve consumed and indeed manufactured about this man, and I go in for a Sensible Handshake because what the fuck even is a social interaction and I just? Never got my hand back?? So my tiny fool hand is sandwiched between both of his and the leather is what I can only repeatedly describe as butter-soft and we’re still virtually in the doorway from where he came to find me, and he’s assuring me he’s doing well and it’s a great way to start a show while staring so deep into my fucking soul he can probably see every mistake I’ve made since 1997. And THEN this poor son of a bitch has to physically pull me over to the photo spot by the hand because I can’t talk AND move AND fend off my intrusive thoughts about shoving his hand in my mouth at the same time, what kind of fucking prodigy does he think I am

So I get to the photo spot which is like a foot away but feels like the length of the Sahara (because it seems large and I’m thirsty) and I’m still a fucking incompetent so not only does he have to drag me over, he has to wiggle into my side and make a little gruff noise to prompt me to put my arm around his waist, and honestly I was so far into the astral plane of WHAT DO I DO by this time I didn’t even REMEMBER til I got the photo where his other arm went- because, yknow, the other hand was STILL holding mine in front of us like we’re gonna fucking waltz or something and I was trying to control my facial expression through the vigorous internal battle between all my different emotional complexes. ALSO I was wearing almost as much leather as he was and it was WARM in there. I get approximately 0.2 seconds to choose a human form and stick with it before the photographer gives me three snaps. Third time's the charm, or possibly the curse, evidently.

AND LO AND BEHOLD A DAY LATER:

YEAH I DESATURATED IT A LITTLE BECAUSE MY FACE WAS PINK. I SAID I WAS WARM. I'M VERY PALE ALRIGHT I GO PINK WHEN I'M WARM. In hindsight I should've brought a mirror to fix my hair and requested the guy take it with a little more high angle or frankly just slipped him a fifty to outright photoshop me one (1) coherent chin, but what are ya gonna do! That's what I get for not taking a bag and doing my pre-gaming at the pancake house!

ANYWAY I at least had the wherewithal to comprehend the photographer being like ‘nice! Off you go’ and say thanks nicely to both of them despite receiving a final handsqueeze and another stare with the parting "I hope you enjoy the show", this particular piercing look presumably just stealing my credit card PIN from my memory since he'd obviously already seen everything of note in the worst excess of my soul mere moments before. I said "I know I will! I hope it goes well for you too!" and I may actually have done a finger gun. They should have taken the photo then, because if there's one freeze-frame image that sums up my life, it's that of me with a rictus fear grin doing fucking finger guns because an interesting man gave me brief positive attention.

This all happened, I tell you, in the space of like... 60 seconds. Probably more like 40, actually. I went through the entire gamut of human emotion. I went through an entire six-series character development arc in two thirds of a hot minute. Would I do it again? Hrmm... it WAS very quick and very pricy. But, I'd certainly consider it if more UK dates come up in 2019. Especially since I feel like I know how the system works now, and the ice is broken, and I would possibly be slightly less comatose and feel comfier suggesting a more fun (and FACIALLY FLATTERING argh) pose if I had another go-round.

Besides... my VIP baggie? Had a fucking 1000-piece jigsaw in it. WORTH THE MONEY. You're damn right I'm gonna start that after work tonight and take progress photos.

[starblazes]

tag dump two.

⌜ ic ⌟ ✦ * ·  ˚ interaction. ⌜ ic ⌟ ✦ * ·  ˚ reply. ⌜ ic ⌟ ✦ * ·  ˚ answered ask. ⌜ ic ⌟ ✦ * ·  ˚ arc : astral express. ⌜ stelle ⌟ ✦ * ·  ˚ aesthetic. ⌜ stelle ⌟ ✦ * ·  ˚ study. ⌜ stelle ⌟ ✦ * ·  ˚ introspection. ⌜ stelle ⌟ ✦ * ·  ˚ wardrobe. ⌜ stelle ⌟ ✦ * ·  ˚ desires.

⌜ dyn ⌟ ✦ * ·  ˚ stelle & march 7th. ⌜ dyn ⌟ ✦ * ·  ˚ stelle & dan heng. ⌜ ship ⌟ ✦ * ·  ˚ something here / url.

[isuzukuretsuki]

I finally fucking did it.

I’m finally done Saeran’s route completely, bad ends and everything.

But at what cost my sanity

Anyway I already shared my some of my thoughts on Saeran’s route here and here but I really want to put a more cohesive post about Saeran’s route because I loved this route to hell and back and no words are ever going to completely express this but I want to try anyway. Rest is under cut. 

I’m gonna say it right now but Saeran is like the Jieun of Mystic Messenger. Basically his route is so high up there and is so superior to the other routes (in my opinion only!!!!) that he (and Seven) practically carry Mystic Messenger. This boy makes this game. He’s the damn star of this game. Mystic Messenger would be nowhere near as good of a game without his character and his story; and I would be nowhere near as invested as I am without him. Hell, if it weren’t for Saeran, this game wouldn’t even be memorable to me. If you were to ask me to do a “pros and cons” for Mystic Messenger as a game, the first pro I’d put down would actually be “Saeran”.

Saeran’s route is just..... I can’t even begin to talk about it? It’s absolutely amazing. It’s one of the very few routes that are both very emotional driven and also very well written in terms of plot and pacing. I feel like a lot of otome games usually sacrifice one for the other but Saeran’s route isn’t like that at all. It made me feel tense, anxious, genuinely heart broken, thrilled, satisfied and over-the-moon happy all at the same time. This is literally one of the first times that I actually cried tears of happiness from playing a game. But for all the emotional roller coaster that it is, it’s also very well written and it didn’t feel like any of the plot points were dragged on for too long though the Zen and Yoosung chats were completely unnecessary and could have been completely cut out. Rika and her dumbass cult subplot is also skirting on thin ice but it didn’t get too bad. Though Rika was an insufferable little bitch but this post isn’t about her.

While Rika sort of became a joke of a villain and became less threatening and more annoying, her annoying presence combined with the Prime Minister plot still made the conflict feel very tense and you could feel how high the stakes were. This is a big step up compared to the original story where the stakes were so low that they had to use cliche cardboard cut out drama queens like Echo Girl, and the Choi sisters just to make petty, stupid, lackluster drama because Cheritz doesn’t know How to Pace their overarching storyline.

But anyway!! I didn’t think I’d be able to love Saeran’s character more prior his route but his route definitely blew me away to the point that my love for Saeran is so high that it’s probably on a whole other astral plane.

Like. His character development is incredible. His character is incredible. Out of all the Mystic Messenger characters, he definitely has by far the best and most well written arc out of everyone. While I’m still kind of iffy about his implied DID / multiple personalities mumbo jumbo... it could have been worse *glares at how they handled Rika’s mental illness in the SEs*. I’m kind of cheesed how they left it vague in the end but a part of me also feels like if Cheritz tried to elaborate on it more they’d just end up digging a hole for themselves because their ability to properly write mental illness isn’t... the best. Despite the rocky bumps, I still do think that they did Saeran justice though, so I’m satisfied enough.

Watching Saeran overcome his demons and grow as a person was just so, so fulfilling... like he’s come so far and no words can even begin to describe just how proud I am of him. I remember I said before prior to Saeran’s route release that Saeran’s happy ending isn’t really in the secret ends because his defection from Mint Eye/recovery is all forced and dictated by those around him (literally just like how all his actions in Mint Eye was forced by Rika) but it doesn’t have to be forced. And this route has proven that point beautifully: unlike in the SEs, in Saeran’s route, nothing is forced on Saeran. You see Saeran rise up, take charge, and make his own decisions for himself and it’s far more fulfilling than any bullshit “”happy ending”” he got in the secret ends. It’s less of MC saving Saeran and more of MC encouraging Saeran to save himself and I love it.

There’s literally no other character that has wormed their way into my heart the same way Saeran has. Saeran isn’t fully recovered by the end of his route but I just have so much hope for him. He was given literally one, slim shot at freedom and happiness and he took the leap of faith despite all odds being against him like a trooper, so how can I not be so proud and happy and hopeful for him.

The flower language surrounding his character was absolutely beautiful. Unlike in V’s route where all the metaphorical talk about the sun just got annoying and outright insufferable, the flower language surrounding Saeran gave his character so much more depth, especially considering how passionate he is about flowers. 

Speaking of V’s route... V’s route doesn’t even hold a candle against Saeran’s route and I’m not just saying this because I’m Saeran bias. V’s route felt like a god damn rough draft for Saeran’s route for fuck’s sake. This is literally like the Chojiro-Gekkamaru issue all over again. You can obviously tell that the writers put a lot more thought and care into curating Saeran’s storyline compared to V and on one hand it kinda sucks how much V got the short end of the stick, but on the other hand, I’m so glad Saeran’s route wasn’t the same chaotic disaster as V’s. Sorry V fans, V’s route did not do it for me.

Also!!!! The ost? INCREDIBLE. This also extends to V’s route. I’m still kind of annoyed that the beautiful ost that played in Another Story’s prologue which was universally acknowledged as Ray’s theme turned out to be Rika’s theme (I feel duped) 

Literally.... the ost just keeps getting better and better. Every new ost piece in Another Story is absolutely phenomenal. Saeran’s theme in particular, from “Endless Struggle” to “I am the Strongest” just SCREAMS his character so much like his theme songs Embody his character. The composer deserves a freaking medal because I don’t think there will be another otome game with ost topping Another Story anytime soon.

Speaking of medals, his god damn voice actor deserves a medal too. Like I thought Saeran’s va’s performance was top notch in the secret ends but Saeran’s route really showcases just how talented this man is at voice acting. Sujin Kang Did Not Disappoint. He’s by far the strongest va in the mm cast imho.

Honestly if you thought I couldn’t gush more at how much I love Saeran’s route, his ending movie was stunningly gorgeous. “Four Seasons” is definitely my favourite song out of all the Cheritz songs. The melody is beautiful, the singing is beautiful and the lyrics fit Saeran so much. Watching the ending movie at the end of the roller coaster was just such a satisfying way to end it.

Actually... what was more satisfying was being allowed to vote for a charity group for Cheritz to donate their profits to. After playing through Saeran’s route, and watching the horrific child abuse that Saeran had to go through, voting for “Happiness for all Children” just felt so... fulfilling? Wholesome? I know a single vote isn’t actually going to do much in the long run but just the thought of being able to make even a tiny difference in the real world made me feel happy. I don’t have a soft spot for children, but when presented with the option to vote for a charity group immediately after Saeran’s route, a part of me was just screaming “vote for Happiness for all Children because absolutely no child should ever go through what Saeran went through in real life”. I know Saeran is a fictional character and MM is a fictional story but some of the shit just felt... so real. It made me fear that a child in real life might be going through something similar and Saeran’s route made me realize that I really don’t want that at all.

TLDR; SAERAN’S ROUTE IS ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE AND AMAZING. Not only was it really well written and really emotional, it seriously moved me in a way no other game has ever. I love it to the depth of my bones and I’m glad that they gave Saeran such a phenomenal route because his character is amazing and he really deserves the love he got.

[lynbaccha]

SORE THROATH – PAST!ARDYN X OC

@ardynyesconweek  Day 3, Healer!Ardyn, happier times

Warnings: None

Summary: Cold wind in spring usually equals sore throath. Which is what Ardyn notices while he travels all around the Eos, healing people from the Scourge. However, young healer gets help to his problem soon enough…

Authors note; Little of something I had lying in my folder for a while. It's not my best fic, since it has been HELLA WHILE when I actually have been writing at all. So, I apologize for that. I just thought this would fit todays prompt in.

Plus, I'm not native English speaker, so… This will probably be a mess… I apologize for that as well…

”Kweh?”

Ardnyn snapped into reality by his chocobo's worried noise. The black bird turned its head to its master, much to his surprise. Did he really look that absent and tired, that his dear travel companion was concerned?

”I'm alright,” healer smiled and pet chocobo's head. ”Don't worry.”

To be honest… Ardyn wasn't sure about that. He felt like he was about to catch cold. His throath ache and his head felt a bit light and hot. Last day had been chill and windy – nothing unsual in spring, the weather was chancing dramatically, even in course of hours – and he had traveled in harsh wind before without problems. But, this time, it had got tole on him. Either that or children in near by village had infected him with… something. (Those children were polite and cute, thought, Ardyn couldn't be angry at them.) Besides, aching wasn't that bad yet, nothing healer wouldn't handle…

Well, in the other hand, he knew it would get worse. Eventually... And, in all honesty, how lovely would that be? For someone like him, a healer, to travel around looking like a dead person? How people infected from scourge would ever find courage to get near him if he himself fell sick? Six! ...Okay, that is overthinking, it isn't that bad deal. Even thought it might not feel nice to him.

To his misfortune, cold harsh wind reached him and his chocobo again soon. Ardyn felt frustration and tiredness rise like fire against the dark night. How fed up he was with that damn wind... While he wasn't really founded into curses, he actually hated them, but he shamelessly rose his head and let out few strong words against the cloudy sky. What NEXT? Rain? Snow? A meteorite? All of them?!

Look on his chocobo's face made Ardyn thank Gods that they were alone. He knew, he wouldn't see that puzzled and concerned look in anyones eyes never again… How shameful from him it was to talk vulgary like that…?

- - -

Ardyn was now absolutely sure that if wind continued to blow on, he wouldn't be alright. He felt himself shivering as that Shiva's breath blow his magenta hair and his clothes. Even those thick, WARM clothes didn't help a damn thing…! Wind was just too cold and harsh, man even had to squeeze his eyes because of that.

His ride was handeling it much better, which was actually enlighting to healer himself. Ardyn would rather take a chocobo, which stopped ruffling her feathers here and there, than if his precious beauty felt cold as much he did. It would have been such a disaster.

”This isn't very comfortable, don't you think?” magenta-haired healer asked from his bird, which in response, she kweeh'd back to him. Ardyn calmly took it as ”yes”.

It took traveling compation sometime to find human residence again. Hours, to be exact. Ardyn looked at wooden houses and village's people that were doing their daily tasked on that early evening. Pale spring sun was slowly setting below the horizon, finally breaking cloudy blanked on the sky. Wind had settled a little, much to every travelers relief…

It didn't help Ardyn anymore, though. He shivered, sniffled and coughed silently as he observed his surroundings. Mans throath felt dry and tender, like he'd swallowed sand. He didn't expect to speak normally at that point. Heale knew his voice would most likely sound very raspy, and it maybe would even hurt to speak. And the icing on the cake was, he felt pounding headache creeping in Well, Ardyn had been through worse days. At least village itself offered some protection from that damn wind. Unlike open large fields. Besides, at least he was still alive...

Healer looked around, between and over the houses as he and his chocobo wandered deeper into the village. It was located in grassy area, with tall trees and he could see large arc in the distance. It looked familiar – and for a moment of observation, it was. Duscae. Ardyn and his loyal chocobo were near home. Young man couldn't help but smile at that fact.

Traveler had took notice on how people were looking at him. Most of them had soft expressions, and few gentlemen even tilted their hats to him. Ardyn just did the same and smiled back. His heart grew warmer. How lovely people seemed to be in that village…

Healer covered his mouth as he couched. Not much, though. But even that felt uncomfortable in his sore throat.

”Are you alright?” one man stopped him to ask that question. Ardyn didn't knwo what to say at first. Did he look and sounded that bad?

”Yes, thank you…,” young healer nodded. ”Just little bit of cold…”

”You should take better care of youself,” woman next to man, most likely his wife, said with naggish tone. ”This Astral awful wind tips over even the strongest of men.”

Ardyn couldn't agree more, actually. ”Is there an inn, or something?” Like damn he would sleep outside that night, in that Six cursed wind, no matter how much it would cost. He knew his chocobo would be fine, he had proofed it many times during their travels. Well, chocobo's have been born and raised in wild, in challenging enviroment...

”Oh, yes, there actually is,” older woman said, much to Ardyn's dely and pointed the way. ”It's a bit further away from other houses… But you can't certairly miss it.”

”Thank you very much,” Ardyn awnsered and headed towards the way woman had pointed to him. He was genuily happy and surprise how heplful these people seemed to be. Healers mind was actually warmer when he headed to directions woman pointed to him. Such a nice people indeed.

- - -

”What a pretty chocobo you have...”

Ardyn was a bit surprised to hear a voice behind him. He had been sure that he and his chocobo were alone, in front of the Inn they were guided to. Well, at least judging by how few people seemed to move around that house around that time.

Ardyn looked at the same direction as his chocobo did. His amber eyes met a new face, a woman's… Or girls…? He wasn't sure. She seemed young and she was very short, compared to most of villages women. Her head barely reached healers chest. Her long, hay-colored hair and her upper body were covered by orange, expensive looking scarf. Lady's other clothes and her bag seemed to be made from much cheaper and ticker materials. Maybe scarf was a gift…?

”She is,” Ardyn agreeded to her words. His chocobo was, indeed, pretty thing to look at. He didn't stop when short stranger pet his companions peek kindly. Small lady seemed to be taken a little by a surprise as her tension wore off. Taming chocobo's was fairly knew thing at that time, so she probably was expecting Ardyn's bird to try and bite her fingers. But black large bird stood still and even enjoyed petting. Small laugh escaped from strangers lips as Ardyn's chocobo rubbed it's head against her. And he himself couldn't help but smile as he watched situation unfold itself.

”She is kind bird,” healer smiled. As soon as he had opened his mouth, woman's smile wore off and she looked at young healer. Her eyes were serious while she examinated him.

”I think you need my services, sir...”

”How so?” he asked silently, trying to avoid new throath ache. Unfamiliar woman simply nodded and then tilted her head. Puzzled, yet smiling look rose on her face. ”Well, I'm actually a medicine seller, it's windy today, and you sound obviously sick…”

”Yes, I am aware of that,” Ardyn managed to couch out, trying not to sound annoyed and rude towards her. Judging by lady's now concerned face, he sounded really bad. Great…  

”Oh dear,” she said silently and stepped in front of tired traveler, leaving chocobo wondering. He found it cute when lady rose on her tiptoes in order to reach his forehead, which she barely managed to do. Ardyn had to admid – her cool hand felt like a heaven to him.

”Your fever is not bad,” he head her say as she put her hand down. ”That's good...”

”That's great to hear, indeed…,” Ardyn smiled little.

”I actually have something for that. I can give it to you.”

”I don't see anything bad at that. How much?”

”Hmm,” small lady though for a moment before shaking her head. ”Nah, this one is on me. So, full zero.”

”You are… very friendly.” Ardyn said, bit dumb founded about her offer of help. Even more than that, it was for free. Kind of rare from medicine seller, at least from Ardyn's point of view. Yes, he had seem seller who offer their services for free, but not as much as someone would think.

”Blame you puppy eyes, puppy,” she awnsered, quorky smile on her face. Ardyn snapped out of his though and stared at her. His eyes blink couple of times in slight confusion.

”Yes, you're just like a puppy, I almost want to scratch you behind you ear,” woman continued with wide smile on her face, as if she was seeing what magenta-haired man was thinking. Well, she wasn't wrong, few others had said something like that to Ardyn as well.

”This puppy's name is Ardyn,” young healer said, jumping into the joke. ”And, what is your name, miss?”

”Villagers call me Medicine Lady, but, I guess you can call me Serafi.” Serafi sadi, just before sighed silently. ”I never liked it, really.”

”Why so?” Ardyn asked. He was little confused since to him, that name sounded interesting and pretty at the same time. Serafi sighted again to man's question. Ardyn could hear slight frustration from her voice ”You know it's a masculine name, right? Do I look like a man to you?”

”Well, you don't, you have point there. Actually, you look more like a…”Ardyn went silent for a moment. Healer didn't want to sound rude. But he couldn't help what he saw and though. Serafi looked like a child, teenager at best. Because of her height, mostly. She might have heard it many times before, at least judging by her awnser; ”A child, I know, I know… I'm short. Which is actually good thing, sometimes. I can search for medicine even from the smallest cracks…”

Ardyn smiled and chuckled a little, even though his sore throath reminded from itself again.  Expression on Serafi's face turned serious again and her hand reached inside of her bag. I really sound that bad, Ardyn though for himself, while watching what his new friend was doing. She started furiously to search something from the bottom of her bag and, eventually, dumped it's insides in front of Ardyn. He stared at Serafi with slightly widen eyes, as she threw herself on her knees and tried to find something amongst small leather bags.

”Do you need help?” Ardyn tried to offer. However, Serafi didn't seem to notice his offering at all, she just serached for something like a inpatient child.

”Where the f – There you are!” medine seller exlaimed in high voice and handed one of the smaller bags to Ardyn. He really didn't know what to do – aside from to expect the offer from Serafi and he put that small bag in his posket. Healer was astonished by the sight. Serafi's deep brown eyes sparkeled a little, like she had found something that had been lost for ages, before she noticed the mess she has made. That alone made mecidece seller's expression drop a little.

”Oh shit…,” woman murmured to herself and started to gather small bags, as fast as she ever could. ”I swear to Astrals, I need more pockets to this thing…! Everything mounts to the buttom…!”

Ardyn couldn't help, but smile and held back his laugh. That frustration was pure and unshapened, like Serafi had never felt those feelings before. He shooked his head a little, all while helping Serafi to gather her belongings. To healers surprise, she didn't seem to accept his help, even saying that Ardyn should go. ”I do this all the time, no big deal! Besides, you're sick,” she explained and smiled at the healer. Behind that, Ardyn could see annoyance of some degree.

”I help people all the time. Besides, I owe you this much,” Ardyn argumented. He swore he could see Serafi opening her mouth a little, but she, for some reason, remained silent. Faint, embrassed blush appeared on medicine lady's face. Not towards him, but towards herself. That was kind of odd…

”Here,” Ardyn handed Serafi her many little bags. He could see that behind those brown eyes, she was somewhat pissed at herself. That moment of silent between them was interrupted with Ardyn's chocobo, tilting it's head and ”kweh”ing, as usual.

”Thank you,” Serafi finally said. She took her belongings from him and hid them in her bag. Sigh escaped from medicine seller's lips, just before she rose up on her feet. ”Mix one spoon of that medicine with hot water and drink it right away. Like with tea, you know. At morning and at evening. You should fine in three days.”

”My humble thanks,” Ardyn said. Serafi nodded and spinned around, before she started to made her away from healer.

”Oh, one more thing,” Serafi started in middle of her walking and turned her face back to Ardyn. Corner of her mouths rose up to a small smile. ”If you need me again while you stay here, you'll find me at the market place, 'til the noon. Otherwise, I'm at my house.”

”And where is your house, dear Serafi?” Ardyn smiled to medice seller. While he didn't seem need to use her services again, you may never know. Besides, maybe a guide on you side wasn't a bad thing to have, in unfamiliar village.

Serafi chuckled at him and looked at her new friends with slightly narrow eyes ”You won't miss it, dear Ardyn...” END