#Ashe is Empress | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

dangermousie · 2 years ago

Text

Oh, brother...aka keeping it in the (royal) family

I recently realized that for some reason “multiple brothers one girl” seems to be a popular category in costume dramas. I am not sure why such sharing is necessary in a polygamous society for fancy royals each of whom can get himself a whole harem, but I am not complaining that it appears any remake of the Hollywood classic “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” would clearly be changed into “One Bride for Seven Brothers, and Some of the Brothers Spit Blood and Die” if it were a cdrama. Here are some of the dramas at issue.

Liu Shi Shi appears to be the queen of this subgenre to such an extent that I am vaguely wondering if it’s in her contract. We are gonna start with THREE of her dramas:

Bu Bu Jing Xin - Liu Shi Shi has not one, not two, but THREE hot royal brothers, played by Nicky Wu, Kevin Cheng and Lin Gengxin, pine for her time-traveling self. Since this is an exquisite (no, seriously, it’s amazing) period piece about loss and longing, she ends up with none of them, instead of a hot vagely-’cesty gangbang as one might expect from that set-up.

Lost Love in Times - poor Liu Shi Shi, she’s a sexy witch having to pick between William Chan and his shady brother Joe Xu. To make it even trippier, the two actors look like each other, to really hammer the whole “siblings want her” theme.

The Imperial Doctress - why bust what’s not broken? It’s the true and tried Liu Shi Shi and hot royal brothers formula. She’s a doctor who spends most of her time practicing medicine, escaping barbarians and creating feminism, not noticing that as she pines for one royal brother played by Huang Xuan, another royal brother, played by infinitely hotter Wallace Huo, is pining for her.

Gong/Jade Palace Lock Heart - if Liu Shi Shi is the queen of that set up, Feng Shao Feng is the king, what with this and Military Seal, both of which star Yang Mi. Clearly, there are worse ways to make a career than stealing Yang Mi from a royal brother. Here, Yang Mi is a spunky time traveler in the middle of Kang Xi’s sons’ fight for the throne. She first falls for Four but ends up with Eight. In between, she offers to bang Four to save Eight as one does. Gives a whole new meaning to sharing is caring and “have you brought enough for the entire class?”

Legend of the Military Seal - Yang Mi and FSF strike again. FSF is madly in love with his brother’s wife, and since she’s not afflicted by blindness, she shares his feelings. Surprisingly, but delightfully, happy ending ensues.

Who Rules the World - more like which brother rules awesome Zhao Lusi’s heart. Going by the rule of “hottest brother wins,” Yang Yang gets the girl in a drama that is pretty yum yum.

Colourful Bone - one hot seriously whumped out royal brother and one whiny immature one, oh who should the heroine pick? This drama stands for the proposition that you should protect and save abused people, especially if they are hot men, since they will always turn out to be an emperor in disguise. This drama btw is one giant kinkfest for yours truly.

The Eternal Love - you could make THREE whole seasons out of timetravel and brothers into the same girl, who knew.

Dreaming Back to the Qing Dynasty - if you’ve seen Gong or BBJX, you know the drill. Horde of queued brothers queueing for the heroine.

(Mine and all my brothers’, that is -Ed.)

Princess Jieyou - Yuan Hong narrowly escaped the curse of fancying his brother’s woman in BBJX, being about the only sibling not in love with LSS in that one. But clearly, you can’t fight fate and shortly thereafter he’s got to be a sister-in-law luster in a drama of his very own. He is a barbarian general who falls in love with a woman only to discover she’s to marry his brother. Angst and deliciousness and eventual happy ending (the husband fulfilled the uglier brother’s duty by eventually kicking the bucket.)

The Promise of Chang’an - if you want to watch brothers with the same woman but no happy ending, and have already watched BBJX, I present this recent drama where Cheng Yi gets to, as always, suffer beautifully watching the woman he loves marry his annoying brother. Pretty much everyone dies at the end of this one, going off to a great big threesome in the sky.

Twisted Fate of Love - will Sun Yi pick the delicate Tan Jianci or the sexy as fuck bastard that is Jin Han? Being a smart woman, she picks the latter and my hormones rejoice.

Go Princess Go - this is a drama that parodied every cliche there is, so why not brothers into one woman? Who is actually a man in a woman’s body making it even more delightful!

Ashes of Love - even being divine, with women from three separate realms available will seemingly not prevent love interests being a scarce resource leading to sibling love rivalry. Deng Lun and Luo Yunxi duke it out ostensibly for Yang Zi but in reality for who can suffer more prettily. Deng Lun might get the girl, but LYX wins the suffering crown, so it all more or less evens out.

Princess Silver - are siblings in love with the same woman not spicy enough for you? How about TWINS in love with the same woman? One awesome (Aarif Rahman) and one psychotic (Jing Chao) want our heroine and both marry her at one point. Only the awesome one gets to bang her though. (But the psychotic one gets to stick meathooks through his brother in compensation for not being able to stick...ummm...meathook through the heroine, so it’s all OK.)

Secret of the Three Kingdoms - and now we are gonna go REAL PERV! If twins are not enough for you, seekers of strong sensations, how about IDENTICAL twins? Ma Tianyu replaces his dead identical twin brother as the last Han emperor and gets to woo Wan Qian (whose plan it was in the first place.) At least she doesn’t need to get used to a new face?

We are gonna end here and not get into father and son sharing the same woman a la Empress of China.

(Congrats to Aarif Rahman for getting to bang both his brother’s and his father’s wives on screen. That is an interesting niche.)

#cdrama #secret of the three kingdoms #princess silver #empress of china #twisted fate of love #jade palace lock heart #lost love in times #the imperial doctress #bu bu jing xin #ashes of love #princess jieyou #the promise of chang'an #legend of the military seal #colourful bone #dreaming back to the qing dynasty #go princess go #who rules the world #the eternal love

120 notes · View notes

petalouda85 · 11 months ago

Text

Battle

Fandom: Blades of Light and Shadow

Pairing: Tyril Starfury x f!human!MC (Kassandra)

Word count: 3.3k

Concept: A rewrite of the final battle of Blades 2

Tags: @liviusofpella, @megas-choices, @starlight-starfury, @dutifullynuttywitch, @thosehallowedhalls, @choicesficwriterscreations

AO3 link: x

A/N: Honestly, the only reason I didn’t post this one sooner is because I couldn’t think of a title, which I still think is a bit meh. Meh might actually be my general attitude towards this fic. Not bad but still a bit meh. Regardless, enjoy some good angst again.

When Kassandra awoke, all she felt was pain, the slightest twist of her body shooting fire through every nerve and every muscle. The high-pitched ringing in her ears gradually lessened, allowing her to hear the noises of the ongoing battle around her, determination reinvigorating in her. A groan escaped her as she tried to sit up, catching only a glimpse of the source of her pain before it forced her to lie down again.

A massive wound covered her stomach, the blood dripping easily from it. Gritting her teeth, she pressed her hand down on the wound and in a swift movement, rolled onto her stomach. She breathed heavily to quell the pain, but it was quickly replaced by a gasp as she finally saw the carnage around her.

Her friends were strewn around her, bleeding, all still and unmoving, the victims of the Empress’ wrath. With Valax on their side, they had landed blow after blow, making the Empress bleed and her skin crack. When they hit one strike too many, the Empress had burst out her powers in a rage, sending Kassandra and the others flying, the magic shredding at their skin.

Kassandra looked at all the bodies. Everyone was present, Tyril nearest to her.

“Tyril?” She called out to him, her voice barely audible over the wind. The elf didn’t move and worry bit at her heart. “Tyril?” She cried, her worry morphing into fear when he still didn’t move. She reached for him but all she grabbed was dirt and grass. “Tyril!” Tears rolled out of her eyes.

With a pained shout, she forced herself to crawl, finally close enough to grab onto his hand, relief washing over her when she heard him groan in response and ever so slightly tighten his grip on her hand. She wanted to weep loudly when he opened his eyes a crack, blue meeting brown; how she wished she could bask in that moment for an eternity, but she was running out of time. She looked over her shoulder at the Empress, hurling her magic and slaughtering those that dared get too close. Kassandra squeezed her eyes shut, tears escaping despite her best efforts.

She knew what she had to do.

“Kassandra?” He whispered as she pressed a long, hard kiss on his knuckles.

“I love you. So much.” Reluctantly, she pulled away and used all her strength to stand, gritting her teeth as her wound seared with pain. Every step she took, a new stab of agony rushed through her, but she pressed on, eyes trained on her target with fiery determination.

“Hey! Ashy!” Kassandra shouted. The Empress turned around and smirked cockily at the approaching human.

“Ah, the great hero rises.” She mocked. Kassandra took another step and stumbled to the ground, the Empress’ laughter carried by the wind. With a growl, she forced herself to her feet, the blood dripping over her hand.

“You will never conquer the Light Realm. I will protect it with my life.” Kassandra said through gritted teeth.

“Oh, I’m sure you will.” The Empress laughed. She conjured up a ball of Shadow and threw it towards Kassandra. She dodged at the last moment, feeling the tendrils of Shadow brush across her cheek before she fell to the ground once more, letting out a cry of pain.

“Damn it.” She muttered under her breath as she sat up on her hands and knees, looking at her hand, it now entirely red, the Empress’ mocking laughter ringing in her ears. “Damn it.” She gritted her teeth as she continued to stare at her wound.

She could never face the Empress in this state. She could try the healing spell Nia taught her, but she realized quickly that that likely wouldn’t work; she barely had the strength to stand, and Nia had told her the difficulties of using such a spell on oneself. Another idea struck her. With a deep breath, she called on the Light and produced a flame in her hand. Not giving herself the opportunity to talk herself out of it, she pressed the flame to her injury. It took all her willpower to not scream, the pain worse than the injury had been but when she pulled her hand back, she smiled.

It had worked. She wasn’t bleeding anymore.

She rose to her feet, her stomach sore and throbbing, and faced down the Empress, who, for the briefest of moments, seemed impressed before her face twisted back into that familiar cruel and cocky smile.

“Your determination is amusing.” She quipped. Kassandra stopped some distance from the Empress, meeting her gaze.

“It’s time for you to go, your Highness. You don’t belong here. You never have. All you bring to this world is death and destruction. It’s time to give it back to people who actually make something of it.” Kassandra unhooked her whip from her belt, the end falling unceremoniously to the ground. The Empress looked at the weapon and laughed heartily.

“And who’s going to make me go? You? With your bit of string in your hand?” Kassandra’s stomach sank for a moment before she steeled herself.

“Probably not. But let’s just give this one last go.” With a flick of her wrist, the whip burst into flame. “Shall we?”

Kassandra threw the whip, angry when the Empress managed to dodge the hit. Determined, she aimed and threw again, sending the Shadow creature in the other direction. She dodged another Shadow Orb that was thrown her way, after which she lashed the whip a third time, causing the Empress to stumble to avoid the hit. As she regained her footing, Kassandra threw the whip once more, the flaming end slashing the Empress on her cheek, a black crack forming. The Empress hollered and grasped at her cheek, flaming hateful eyes trained on the human that caused it.

“You little weed!” She seethed. Kassandra stared back with equal fire, hand ready to cut again. The metallic taste of blood flooded her tongue and she spat it out, her gaze never leaving her opponent.

“Yes, I am just a little dandelion. No matter how many times you pull at my roots, no matter how many times you try to destroy me, I will always find a crack in your foundation and grow!” Shouting the last word, she threw her weapon, hurling the whip as hard as she could. The end missed but as it snapped, the flames burst out in an explosion, the shockwave causing the Empress to stumble. Kassandra screamed and aimed again, the whip exploding once more. She threw it over and over, the flames growing more ferocious with each crack, a trail of fire left behind with every movement until she was surrounded by rings of the orange light, her movement elegant and graceful despite the exhaustion and the heat and the ever-present pain. A twirling dance of metal and fire.

“ENOUGH!” The Empress hollered and a shockwave of Shadow pushed out of her, too fast to dodge. Kassandra went flying, skidding, and tumbling across the ground, groaning when her head contacted something hard. Her head churned and twisted, her vision blurred and distorted. She blinked rapidly, seeing a dark figure coming to stand over her, a Shadow scythe in her hand. The Empress lifted the weapon with a gleeful smile.

“I’m going to kill you, Realm-Walker. I’m going to gut you and use your guts to strangle your little elf. I am the Ash Empress, the Mother of Grey. I am Death. You’re just a human being.”

The scythe swung down, a killing blow to her chest. Kassandra rolled out of the way, feeling the rush of air as the weapon plunged into the earth next to her. The Empress yanked the weapon out as Kassandra jumped to her feet, grabbing onto the Empress’ wrists. The Empress pushed back but Kassandra refused to budge, her arms trembling under the sheer strength of her opponent. With a shout, she pushed back, jumping out of the way to dodge another swing of the scythe.

An Orb of Light appeared in her hand, and she threw it at her adversary, it exploding in a ferocious blinding light. As the Empress howled in pain, Kassandra abandoned the whip and pulled forth a dagger, concentrating on the blade, it beginning to glow with potent Light. As the light from the orb faded, the Empress turned to face her, but it was too late as Kassandra plunged the Light-infused weapon into the center of her chest. The Empress looked down at the weapon in shock before turning her hateful gaze back to the human in front of her.

“This is for my family.” Kassandra twisted the knife, the Empress grunting as cracks of Light began to form on her skin. “This is for me.” Another twist. “And this is for Tyril. You will never touch him again!” And she plunged the knife deeper, more cracks of Light forming on the gray skin, permeating all through her body and turning the skin hard and brittle, little chunks of ash blowing away with the wind until there was nothing left of the Empress, the knife falling to the grass as Kassandra fell to her knees, exhausted and dizzy, her head pounding. Moments later, she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Valax, heavily injured but alive. She looked sadly at the small remaining pile of ash before them.

“My mother…”

“She’s gone.” Kassandra answered as she rose to her feet, stumbling as she did. Valax’s sad expression continued for a moment longer before her face became serious once more.

“We still have a problem on our hands.” She said sternly, looking out towards the portal. Kassandra nodded and straightened herself, gritting her teeth to lessen the pain.

“Let’s do this.” And the two ran in the direction of the portal, dodging Ashen soldiers and monsters along the way. Soon, they were at the portal, the buzzing causing the pain in her head to increase. She ignored it as best she could as she raised her hand, ready to shut the portal when her hand faltered.

“If we seal it, it’ll be the death of magic. The elves, the goblins, they’ll die.” Lowering her hand, Kassandra looked out over the field once more, watching the elves fight against the invaders, throwing Orbs of Light and magical flames. She glanced over in the direction of the final resting place of the Empress, thinking of Nia and Tyril, how their lives were intertwined with magic.

“And if we keep it open, Shadow will corrupt, and Light will drain people’s life force.” Valax responded. “The world would stay as it is. Unbalanced and unfair.”

Neither option was appealing. Kassandra pondered and pondered when a thought struck her.

“What if we broke the barrier?”

“What?”

“The Realms were one once. Maybe they should be one once more. Bring it all back the way it was.” Valax looked hesitant.

“Worlds would collide if we broke the barrier. Buildings, trees, rivers, it’ll all collide, and we don’t where anything will land. People will die.” Valax reasoned. Kassandra looked over the battlefield, black spots clouding her eyes.

“More than they are now?” Valax followed her gaze and fell silent.

“I trust you, Kassandra. And I trust you to make the right choice.” Kassandra looked to the portal and then back to the open field, watching the bloodshed unfold further. Light against Shadow, a division started many millennia ago. How many had suffered and died due to the greed of a handful of people?

A choice was made.

“The Ascendants split the world to keep their power and they died anyway. So many suffered for it. It’s time to bring it back to the way it was.” Kassandra lifted her hand to the portal, channeling her realm-walker abilities and willing the portal to grow larger, sensing the cracks in the barrier growing every second. She sensed a surge of magic as Valax joined her, tearing more and more at the barrier.

Kassandra’s hand began to falter as she pushed her powers further than she ever had before. Her head spun, her insides felt as though they were being torn apart. But she pushed more and more, screaming as she pressed on, feeling the barrier break more by the second, the pressure building.

Suddenly, the pressure snapped, and the barrier collapsed in a blinding light. The ground shook but somehow, she remained standing until the earth stopped moving.

Her arms fell and she collapsed onto her knees, breathing heavily as she looked around her, seeing a new, chaotic, and strange world. Shadow trees twisted and rooted in the once open fields, Imtura’s ships now on land due to changed shorelines and the mountains placed differently. She felt a surge of magic in her and she quickly recognized it as being true magic. She smiled weakly, but quickly succumbed to a coughing fit, blood pooling out of her mouth. Her coughing soon stopped but the blood continued to drip out of her mouth. She felt dizzier than before, it worsening by the second, her vision fading, her insides numb.

“Kassandra!” Someone screamed as the world faded to black.

---

It was warm.

Kassandra tried to move but her arms and hands were too heavy, something heavy lying on top of her making it difficult to move anything else. She managed to shuffle ever so slightly to make herself more comfortable on the surprisingly soft surface she was lying on.

“If this is death, it’s not too bad.” She thought, as she slowly opened her heavy lids. Her vision was blurry and unfocused, dizziness immediately swimming in her head. She closed her eyes for a moment before trying again. This time it was easier to bear though her vision was still fuzzy. She could make out colors: soft cream and bronze. She blinked a few times, her vision getting clearer every time, and she frowned when she recognized the ceiling. It was the ceiling of the room she’d had in Whitetower.

She turned her head and let out a light gasp when she spotted Nia in a chair next to her bed, head slumped down in rest.

She was not dead.

“Nia?” Kassandra said, her voice weak and cracked. Nia didn’t move. “Nia?” She tried louder. The priestess shook out of her sleep and lifted her head, her eyes widening immediately.

“Kassandra!” Nia whispered, jumping out of the chair, and coming to sit on the edge of the bed. “Thank the Gods, you’re finally awake!”

She couldn’t help but smile and tried to sit up, only for her stomach to blaze with pain. Kassandra hissed as she lay back down. There was a hum of magic and the pain immediately lessened.

“Don’t push yourself.” Nia said, moving her hand over Kassandra’ abdomen. “You still aren’t fully healed, and your stomach will no doubt be tender for some time, even with magic.” Nia frowned, a motherly expression of disappointment and concern on her face. “That was quite reckless, burning your stomach like that; yes, it stopped the bleeding externally but internally... “ The priestess trailed off for a moment. “I understand why you did it but…” The priestess trailed off again and Kassandra felt a pit of regret in her stomach.

“How long was I asleep?” Kassandra asked after a time, her voice coming out scratchy and hoarse.

“You were unconscious for about two weeks. We were scared you weren’t going to make it. How do you feel?” Kassandra moved her head and pain immediately shot through her skull, more aches passing through her body just as fast.

“Like I’ve been hit by a thousand bricks and my limbs are lead.” Nia let out a light chuckle.

“You did push yourself a lot at the end. Do you need anything?”

“Some water would be nice.” Nia nodded and grabbed the pitcher that stood on the side table and filled a glass. She gently placed her hand under Kassandra’s head and lifted her up, helping her slowly drink from the cup. Once it was empty, she helped her lay down again.

“Better?”

“Much. Thank you. Are the others here?” Nia nodded and looked over her shoulder. Kassandra tried to follow her gaze but was unable to lift her head much.

“They’re here. They’re asleep. I’ll wake them; they’ll be so relieved to see you awake.” Before Kassandra could protest, Nia stood from the bed and moved out of sight. “Imtura! Wake up!” She heard her whisper loudly. She heard movement behind the foot of the bed, a thud and then, a man groaning.

“No, she’s my pillow!” Mal whined.

“Kassandra’s awake.” She heard shuffling and the orc and scoundrel appeared in her sight, both looking disheveled, while Nia moved into another corner of the room, Kade soon appearing in her vision as well. As Nia disappeared from sight and the door opened and closed, her brother leapt for the bed, gathering her in an embrace as Mal and Imtura approached. The embrace shot pain up her whole body.

“Kade, you’re hurting me.” Kassandra said and immediately, Kade let go and helped her down onto the bed.

“Sorry. I’m just so happy to see you awake.” He said, tears of joy in his eyes. Kassandra smirked.

“Can’t get rid of me that easy.” She looked at the other two figures standing by her bed. “Hi guys.” Mal moved closer and sat down on the bed. He was silent for a time, seemingly trying to find the right words amid a whirlwind of emotion.

“Good to have you back, kit.” He said, struggling to keep his tone even. Slowly and with effort, Kassandra reached out and took his hand, trying to exude as much comfort into her touch as she could. Mal finally looked at her and she offered him a gentle smile.

“It’s good to be back.” The door slammed open, causing all heads to turn. Panting in the door stood Tyril, Nia appearing only moments later. The elf immediately looked to the bed and Kassandra heard his breath catch when their eyes met. Silence permeated the space.

“Let’s… give them some privacy.” Kade said gently. Surprisingly, the others offered little protest. They shuffled out of her sight and soon, the door clicked shut, leaving the room in silence again. For a time, neither of them moved, Tyril now not looking at her. Slowly, he moved closer and sat down on the bed, taking hold of her hand, and bringing it up to place a few gentle kisses on the knuckles. He took in a shaking breath and Kassandra noticed a red, wet tinge to his eyes.

“Tyril, please don’t cry.” She said softly. He let out a wet chuckle, shaking his head slightly as a tear ran down his cheek.

“I’m not crying.” He finally looked at her, his expression walking a line between worry and relief as another tear rolled out of his eye. With what little strength she had, she moved her hand out of his grasp and cupped his cheek. Quickly, her hand faltered but the elf reached up and kept it in place.

“I’m going to be okay.” Tyril nodded, more tears rolling from his eyes. He took her hand from his cheek and held on to it before he leaned down and placed a tender kiss on her lips. She returned the gesture as best she could, a tear rolling out of her eye now too. When he pulled away, he remained close, resting his forehead against hers, the grip on her hand tightening.

“Please don’t ever scare me like that again.” He whispered. In a burst of strength, she embraced the elf, ignoring the lingering aches in her body. He quickly embraced her back.

“Considering we have a tendency to end up in dangerous situations, I don’t think that that’s something I can promise.” She felt and heard him chuckle a little. “But I’ll try my best.”

#tyril starfury #tyril x mc #Tyril x Kassandra #ash empress #Valax #blades of light and shadow #bolas 2 #my writing #playchoices

14 notes · View notes