#Lei has a physical form

[allthemurders]

cosy crime show fans, please help me out with research for my college final major project!

i'm currently looking into the codes & conventions and audience expectations for cold opens in cosy crime shows, with particular focus on bbc father brown where possible. so if you've got a few minutes to spare, pls complete the questionnaire linked below ✨✨

if you can, please answer the optional questions too, as this will allow me to go more in-depth in my research write-up. if you’ve seen bbc father brown, answers to those specific questions would be particularly helpful!

(this questionnaire is 100% anonymous unless you choose to answer the contact info question. any info entered there will only be used if i need clarification or more info about any of your answers)

i'm only putting this into a handful of fandom tags bc i don't want to be Annoying, so pls reblog to help get this to as many cosy crime fans as possible! :)

[whumping-all-the-way]

stg this book Did Something to my four-year-old brain

[evilsausageflavouredpretzel]

MY MESSAGES ARE FINALLY WORKING AGAIN!!!!!

i’ve just gone through and opened all the unread ones without replying bc i’m pretty sure they were all from back when i was collecting data for my college final major project??

if you were expecting a response, just send another message and i’ll get back to you!! ✌️😎

[the-mallorca-files]

finally finished my college final major project, so regular posts will be returning next saturday!

[ryin-silverfish]

Nezha's Power Catalog: FSYY

Well, since @journeytothewestresearch has pinged me and @ruibaozha in an ask way back when, we are doing a catalog of Nezha's powers together. I'll be taking the FSYY part.

Google Doc Version

...

Disclaimer: I'm not counting powers from his treasures, such as the Wind-Fire Wheels giving him super speed and allowing him to take flight. 

I'm also excluding the invisibility talisman Taiyi drew on him in Chapter 12, since, unlike his Three-headed Eight-Armed Form, it's not a skill or permanent alteration.

...

Pre-resurrection:

Advanced physical maturity - I don't know what to call “A newborn baby being able to jump and run around right after emerging from a ball of flesh”, but this is probably it. (Chapter 12)

Unusual height - 6ft tall 7 years old kid, though this might just be a result of FSYY's weird sense of scale. (Chapter 12)

Super strength - A 7 years old kid killing Li Gen the Yaksha with a Qiankun Ring to the head likely counts as super strength. In Ao Bing's case, he drags him off the steed with the Huntian Sash first before the bonking. (Chapter 12)

Still, his later beatdown of Ao Guang and being able to draw the Qiankun Bow no one else could lift? Yeah, definitely super strength. (Chapter 13)

Five Elements Travel: Earth - After Ao Guang storms off to make a complaint to JE, Nezha uses Earth Travel to go to Taiyi's abode and ask for help. It's activated by grabbing a handful of dirt and tossing it into the air. (Chapter 12)

Travel to the Celestial Realm - After Taiyi puts an invisibility talisman on him, he goes to wait for Ao Guang under the Celestial Realm's gates. (Chapter 12)

Dream Communication - Talking to Lady Yin in her dream after his suicide. (Chapter 14)

A generic ghost power, as shown by later instances of Wen Zhong and Yin Jiao's souls warning King Zhou in his dreams, before they go into the Terrace of Investiture. (Chapter 52, Chapter 66) 

Efficiency at granting prayers - After Lady Yin builds a temple for him, he is said to be able to fulfill all the wishes of his worshippers, from granting blessings to warding off disasters.  (Chapter 14)

Materialization - After Li Jing's destruction of his temple, Nezha goes to protest to Taiyi, and the narration says that “After receiving incense and worship for half a year, Nezha is able to take a form and voice himself to some extent.” (哪吒受了半年香烟，已觉有些形声)

It is implied here that ghosts can become corporeal again via people's worship, though, from the looks of it, Nezha has only become visible and audible, and doesn't have a physical body yet at the point of the temple's destruction. (Chapter 14)

Post-Resurrection:

Unusual height (Again) - He grows from 6ft to “1 Zhang 6 Chi” after his resurrection, which is about 15-18 ft. (Chapter 14)

Spear arts - Taught by Taiyi. (Chapter 14)

Samadhi Fire - When Wenshu ties him to the Flying Dragon Pillar and orders Jinzha to whip him, he is described as “blowing out Samadhi Fire from his seven orifices” (打的三昧真火七窍齐喷). This may or may not be metaphorical. (Chapter 14)

It must also be noted that FSYY's Samadhi Fire is not the Red Boy-exclusive special attack of JTTW, and multiple Daoists from both Chan and Jie Sects are able to use it.

The best example is when Nezha and his brothers, Lei Zhenzi, Huang Tianhua, and Weihu try to burn Ma Shan with the Samadhi Fire on Jiang Ziya's orders, which doesn't work because he's a lampwick spirit, who proceeds to escape through the flames. (Chapter 63)

Lotus Body: Immunity to soul-based attacks - In Chapter 37, the narration then explains that all beings of flesh and blood possess the Three Souls and Seven Spirits, and Zhang Guifang's spell works by forcefully scattering them. 

Nezha, because of his lotus body, does not have souls, thus granting him immunity to the attack. 

This will become a recurrent thing. Here's a list of all the soul-based treasures and spells that fail against Nezha:

Zhang Guifang's Unhorsing Spell (Chapter 37)

Zheng Lun's nose beams (Chapter 57)

Chijing Zi/Yin Hong's Yin-Yang Mirror (Chapter 60)

Guangcheng Zi/Yin Jiao's Soulfell Bell (Chapter 65)

Qiu Yin's Red Pearl (Chapter 74)

Fa Jie's banner (Chapter 79)

Long Anji's Paralyzing Ring (Chapter 79)

Bian Ji's Spectral White Bone Banner (Chapter 84)

And here's a collection of his sassy responses: 

“Bastard, I'm staying on these wheels and you ain't calling me off them!” (Against Zhang Guifang)

“Dude, are you sick or something, blowing your nose at me like that?” (Against Zheng Lun)

“Idiot, it's just a red orb. What's so special about it, huh?” (When Qiu Yin tells him to take a look at the pearl)

“Your ring sucks, check out mine!” (To Long Anji, right before bonking him with the Qiankun Ring and killing him)

Lotus Body: Resistance to physical attacks - Spells can't knock Nezha off his wheels, but weapons like Yang Sen's Sky-opening Pearl, Wen Zhong and Zhao Gongming's whips, and Guangcheng Zi/Yin Jiao's Heaven-turning Sealstone can. (Chapter 38, Chapter 42, Chapter 47, Chapter 63)

However, he doesn't seem to suffer any lasting injuries afterwards. The only non-magical/poisonous injury that sticks for a while is some bruises, from getting hit in the face by Deng Chanyu's Five Light Stones. (Chapter 53)

Lotus Body: Immunity to diseases - When Lv Yue puts his plague pills into Xi Qi's water supply, the entire city falls victim to the sorcerous plague, save for Nezha and Yang Jian, because of the former's lotus body and the latter's Ninefold Mystic Arts. (Chapter 58)

Later, Yu Hualong's five sons create five bushels of poisonous poxes, which are spilled all over the Zhou camp from the air, giving everyone magical, five-colored smallpox.

Once again, Nezha is immune, and Yang Jian, knowing that the Yu brothers are up to something, gets the hell out of dodge before the pox spell is unleashed. Cue Nezha complaining of them “Pulling a Lv Yue again”. (Chapter 81)

Immunity to the Soul-Killing Banner (戮魂旛) - The treasure in question belongs to Yu Hua: when raised, it unleashes/turns into multiple streams of black smoke that covers the victim and whisks them away. (Chapter 32)

Subsequently, he tries to use it against Nezha, but Nezha just grabs the smokes, seizes the treasure, and stuffs it into his Leopard Skin Sack. This may or may not fall under the umbrella of “Immunity to Soul-based Attacks”. (Chapter 33)

Counterspell: Pearl Attack - Feng Lin can blow a cloud of smoke out of his mouth, which contains a bowl-sized red pearl that functions as a projectile weapon. Nezha just points his finger at the smoke, and it fizzles out. (Chapter 36)

Supernatural endurance: Red Sand Formation - One of the Ten Formations, it contains three bushels of red sand, which can create a giant sandstorm that reduces any humans and immortals who enter the formation to powder. (Chapter 44)

Nezha and Lei Zhenzi are assigned to protect King Wu, the only person who can break the formation…because Fate Says So, but is also Fated to get trapped in there for 100 days. So naturally, Nezha and Lei Zhenzi get stuck in there alongside him. (Chapter 49) 

When Old Man of the South Pole breaks the formation, Nezha and Lei Zhenzi are fine, but King Wu is already dead and has to be resurrected via a magical pill. (Chapter 51)

I'm not putting this under Resistance to Physical Attacks because, unlike the weapons, I'm unsure as to whether the red sand is magical in nature.

Resistance to poison: Blood-melting Knife (化血神刀) - Limited, since Nezha is still severely injured and incapacitated by Yu Hua's new treasure (made by his master Yu Yuan). However, for mortals, a wound from the knife is pretty much an insta-kill. (Chapter 74)

Three-headed, Eight-Armed Form - After Nezha is injured by Yu Hua's knife, he's taken back to Taiyi's abode to recover. When he's ready to leave, Taiyi offers him three cups of wine and three “fire jujubes”, which gives him his iconic multi-headed and armed transformation.

Unlike in JTTW, FSYY's Nezha has 8 arms instead of 6. Presumably, the 2 extra ones are used to wield the Yin-Yang Swords, the pair of weapons Taiyi gives to him alongside the Nine Fire Dragon Bell Cover…which never get used afterwards.

Upon switching to the multi-headed and limbed form, his appearance also changes into a blue-faced, red-haired, fanged monstrosity, which is not too dissimilar to the fierce guardian deities of esoteric Buddhism. (Chapter 76, Chapter 79)

Also, amusing reaction to his new transformation: “Dangit master, how am I supposed to use all these arms? They are like ugly branches on a tree.” (Chapter 76)

Sagehood in Flesh (肉身成圣) - Nezha is said to attain the status post-war, alongside his brothers, Li Jing, Lei Zhenzi, Wei Hu, and Yang Jian. 

Basically, immortality and godhood, but it doesn't require you to die in Ancient China's Bloodiest Bureaucracy Recruitment Program first. (Chapter 100)

[ticenchantedtoc]

crack theory 🤨❓

Okay, how do I explain this...

There are parts of this theory that are rooted in logic and parts that are wild speculation, but I think the overall theory is possible, albeit a little crazy. Then again, a lot of things in this game are crazy.

In short, my theory is that Zetta also has a form of Archetype power just like Melia does. But I don't think it comes from the actual Archetype; I think it's something similar but opposite. Because the Archetype is depicted as a golden triangle, I've been imagining this inverse Archetype as an upside-down silver triangle. Hey wait a minute.

Yeah, my theory is that this "inverse Archetype" is actually the Core. Outside of the visual similarity, we know that the Core is linked to the Interceptors' power, and they can transform just like Melia and Erin. The Core is also connected to the Ley Lines, and in the Karma Files, it mentions that Rifts form whenever a Ley Line is pierced. Zetta is the only character we know of who can directly interact with the Ley Lines to create Rift Pokemon*. Perhaps this is his version of the "superpowers" Melia, Erin, Allen, and Alice have because of the Archetype. If that's the case, then it would make complete sense that his power comes from the Core instead.

(*Quick note, I'm aware that there are other "Rifts" not created by Zetta, but a lot of them aren't Rifts in the lore, just in the gameplay mechanics. Carnivine, Dufaux, and Talon all became "Rifts" through alternate means, and though Ferrothorn and Hippowdon are real Rifts, they were created from rift matter that Bladestar stole from Team Xen (so they likely come from Zetta's power too, in a very roundabout way). The only other Rifts can't be explained this way are Volcanion, which Zetta very well could've made off-screen, and Aelita, which makes sense because Aelita turned into a Rift due to Vivian's curse. And Vivian already had a connection with the Ley Lines, that's how she could sense where people and Pokemon were. Okay back to the theory!)

The description of the Core also mentions that it contains and transports information about all life on Earth. That sounds a lot like something Zygarde, the pokemon responsible for keeping balance, would use, right? We currently don't know anything about the Zygarde host except their age: 25. Oddly enough, this is Zetta's biological age too. I say it's odd because most of the Xen Executives don't have specific canon ages, and if he's a clone of Melia, why make him so much older in the first place? It could be a coincidence, but I find it suspicious. Especially considering that everything with a Z name has been linked to the Core in some way: Zygarde, Zeight, Zorrialyn being where Castle Zygara once was.

To be clear, do I think Zetta being connected to the Core means he's an Interceptor? Absolutely not. Do I think there are three other Core-hosts like with the Archetype? Probably not. But I can't look past the fact that just after we get this lore dump about the Core, Crescent gives Zetta's pokeball to Melia. And in this teaser screenshot for v14, there's a new icon in the top left with Zetta's face and what appears to be the Interceptor's Wish. I'm not going to speculate about this screenshot because I have no idea what it means really, but at this point it's impossible to deny that Zetta is going to be important in Chapter 16.

Some last bonus points in this theory, aka the part where I start wildly speculating: When you combine the Archetype triangle and the proposed inverse Archetype triangle (whether it's actually the Core or a different thing), it would make the alchemical symbol for aether.

In alchemy, aether represents the space that isn't filled by any of the natural elements. It was thought to be the breath of gods, and harnessing the power of aether could connect the physical world to the spiritual one. Since Rejuvenation is a pokemon game, most players are already familiar with the word aether because of the Aether Foundation. The Aether Foundation created Type:Null, which was intended to be a manmade Arceus but failed, and they had to put on the helmet to contain its power. Rejuvenation acknowledges this backstory, calling it an "inconsistency" that two more Type:Null can be found in Aevium. Zepto is an obvious metaphor for Zetta's backstory as a clone, but I'd like to think the aether connection could mean something.

Speaking of inconsistencies, when you play chess against Zetta in the Nightmare Realm, all of the pieces depict characters in the game, and they all have a quote related to the character. For example, Neved's piece says "Your family before all else." All of the Xen executives are depicted as chess pieces here except for Zetta. This might just be because he's literally sitting across the board from you, but Risa (the Risa from the Nightmare Realm, not Clear pretending to be Risa) is also a piece on the board. Her piece is broken though, and it's not the only one. Eden's piece is broken too, and their quote ends in "Defiled." One other chess piece ends this way, one that seems to be missing a head. The full quote is, "To perpetuate consistency through inconsistency. The descendant of Zed. Defiled." There's the letter Z again. In an absence of other characters this could refer to, I'm assuming this piece is meant to be Zetta, which would mean that inconsistencies and being a "descendant" are more important to his character than we've been lead to believe. Could this be a hint that he's connected to the unknown Zygarde host?

Again, this last part is just wild speculation! The core (pun not intended) of this theory is that Zetta has his own version of the Archetype powers and maybe even his own transformation. I think it's likely that those powers would come from the Core, considering the lore we get in the Karma Files, but I'm not entirely sure. Whether I'm right or not, I'm just really excited for my favorite solosis to get more screen time.

[transgenderer]

As humans spontaneously decay from body into soul in a process known as necrosis (vulgar: death), their consciousness is displaced into a lower frequency Ley Line (in the physical realm this attraction is felt as “gravity”). Groups of souls tend to cluster together to create stable spiritual structures know as a cthonopolis (vulgar: underworld) via the unconscious act of remembering (a process theorized to be a lower frequency form of creation/emanation). Explorations within these structures have for centuries revealed subterranean realms of eerie half-remembered buildings and vegetation. It is believed organic bits of this material have evolved to become the native fauna known as demons. 

At even deeper frequencies spiritual fission occurs (discovered by the Judean physicist Isaiah Baramoz in 1878). A sector of this region known as Gehenna was first claimed by the 1st Judean Republic in 1884, followed by its annexation a year later by the Roman Province of Pluto due to an inherited claim of the Kingdom of Hades (absorbed into the Roman Empire in 1834) over a suspected lower frequency zone. 

The Roman government relied upon Demonic aid during the annexation, resulting in the spread of Satanism (named after the Shaytan, an Infernal word for a social class of soul owner within the Demonic economy) into the physical world. 

This would lead to the Easter Uprising of 1916 as the spirit of Yeshua Bardavid conquered Gehenna (renamed Tartarus by the Romans), Sheol, and large chucks of Ashphodel for the Kingdom of the Father (a powerful hegemony directed from a 1st level tripartite God-association) after his torture and execution by the Roman Empire. A bloody civil war followed, resulting in the Roman Empire becoming the Universal Saint’s Sacred Republic (U.S.S.R.) and its ban of Satanism. 

The first physical human within a fission Ley Line frequency was Roman cosmonaut Dante Alighieri in 1961 during the Virgil missions, although a popular conspiracy theory has spread claiming it was faked by the Vatican to win the Realm Race against Aesir-occupied Midgard. 

really good!

[edosianorchids901]

Injurious Distance

@flashfictionfridayofficial prompt - "soaring above"

A vague unease spread through Crawley. He froze in place with his drink raised halfway to his lips.

He glanced around, but there was absolutely nothing going on in the courtyard. Unless you counted the ducks wandering through. They looked pretty peaceful, though.

Frowning, he put down the beer and stood. Brilliant light reflected off every surface, the Egyptian sun almost overwhelming. Maybe he was just getting a headache from that?

But no, this was something totally different. He was decently sure that it had nothing to do with anxiety, either. It felt new.

Closing his eyes, Crawley touched his fingers to his temples and cast his awareness out. He searched the metaphysical landscape, seeking the source of the malaise.

He found it out in the desert. The sense of wrongness increased as he focused. Something was definitely wrong, and although it was dim, he recognized the presence even at a great distance.

It was Aziraphale. Something was wrong with Aziraphale.

“Shitshitshit.” Crawley opened his eyes again, marched to the wall, and peered out. But no, of course Aziraphale couldn’t be close enough to see. He must be way, way out there. Too far to reach on foot in time to stop whatever bad thing must be happening.

And Crawley was on the wrong side of the Nile, anyway. A river and half a desert between him and Aziraphale.

Only one option, then.

Crawley pulled his wings into the physical plane and gasped at the deep, throbbing aches. He drew a few deep breaths as he leaned on the wall, bracing himself. This would be bloody miserable, but Aziraphale needed him apparently.

Jaw clenched, Crawley launched himself into the air. The first flap of his wings made his vision dim, which was honestly not so bad considering how damn bright it was.

But the subsequent flaps hurt too, and a hiss slipped though his gritted teeth. He ignored the pain and just flew anyway. He was used to pain. He’d been in pain ever since he Fell.

This wasn’t the type of pain he felt most often, though, and he wasn’t as well practiced at ignoring it. His wings only hurt when he manifested them, and he didn’t manifest them often.

He also hadn’t flown at any point in the past thousand years or so. He was definitely out of practice.

Still, the landscape passed swiftly underneath him. He soared above the Nile, across the sandy desert, over the shade of oases. Still no sign of Aziraphale.

The brilliant light of the midday sun was even more miserable from here. Crawley flicked a hand and miracled a pair of dark glasses, then crammed them on his face. That dropped the light level some, and he sighed in relief. At least that was one thing that hurt less.

His wings were not hurting less. The deep ache has graduated to a full burning now, a searing agony that might have dropped him out of the sky if he hadn’t been so intent on his goal. He had to find Aziraphale.

Finally, he spotted a figure sprawled in the sand below. Not moving.

Breathless, Crawley dove. He hit the ground hard enough to send shooting pain through his legs, too, and he yelped as he stumbled to a halt beside the limp form.

Aziraphale turned, looking up at him with glassy eyes. “Craw…ley?”

“Hi, yep. What’s wrong with you?” Trembling with pain, Crawley crouched down beside the angel and prodded his arm. “Are you hurt?”

“Not very much.” Aziraphale just laid there. “I got a trifle robbed by bandits, and they hit me rather a lot. My tummy hurts.”

Crawley hovered a hand over Aziraphale’s belly, focusing his attention on the injuries, and inhaled sharply. “Oh, Satan.”

Aziraphale looked around again. “Oh no, where?”

“Er.” Crawley awkwardly patted Aziraphale’s arm. “Not here, s’ okay. I just meant that you’re really hurt. Bleeding internally.”

“Well, why didn’t you… say so?” Aziraphale replied, cross.

“I just did.” After a deep breath, bracing again, Crawley swept one wing up to shield Aziraphale from the sun. Last thing Aziraphale needed was heat stroke. “How do you feel aside from your… tummy?”

“Sore.” Aziraphale screwed his eyes shut. “And rather warm.”

“Nh, yeah. S’ a hot day.” At least Crawley had gotten here quickly, despite the distance. “Listen, I’m gonna heal you. Just lie still.”

He swallowed hard, then channeled a careful healing miracle into the area. Aziraphale moaned as he repaired the damage, and Crawley murmured an apology. But discomfort was better than Aziraphale discorporating from internal bleeding.

After the miracle, Aziraphale opened his eyes again. He blinked a few times, then gave Crawley a tiny smile. “Oh. That feels much, much better. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.” Exhausted, muscles trembling, Crawley collapsed into a seated position. He kept his wing up despite the pain. “You’re not hurt anywhere else?”

“I suspect I’m a touch banged up all over, but that was the only serious thing. I think.” Sniffling, Aziraphale blinked a few times and glanced around. “Goodness, I’m awfully far out in the desert. How did you find me?”

Oh shit, Crawley did not want to try to explain that. Especially when he wasn’t really sure himself. But he tried not to lie to Aziraphale, in general. “Er. I felt that you were in danger.”

“You what?”

“I felt that you were in danger.” Crawley’s wings ached even more as he got more stressed, and he glared. “I dunno how it works, I just felt it. Came looking for you.”

Aziraphale smiled, reaching to squeeze his hand. “Well. However it works, I do appreciate it.”

Embarrassed, Crawley grumbled vaguely and looked away. It really was undemonic to rush to the aid of an angel, but Aziraphale was his friend. Helping him was worth both embarrassment and pain.

[w0efulboopsoul]

VᚣᚳᏒᚣᚾᛨᛊᛢ ᛠꖾᛊ 𝓯Ꮢᛜᛢᛠ𝓯ᚣᚺᎶ ᚳᛊVᛨᚣᛠꖾᚣᚺ

Species and Origin

Valraxies is a Frostfang Leviathan, a rare and ancient lineage of wild dragons native to the planet Eryndara. She reigns over the icy, treacherous expanse of Howa'ah's Glacial Abyss, embodying the untamed strength and ferocity of Eryndara’s dragons. As a fire-breathing behemoth adapted to frozen landscapes, Valraxies is a symbol of enduring power, her existence intertwined with the natural world and the memory of her fallen rider.

The Fyrak of Valraxies:

The color of Valraxies’s Fyrak, glacial blue and white, has been added to the Abilities section under "Fire Breath (Fyrak)," where it enhances the description of her unique fire-breathing ability. This vivid detail reflects her adaptation to the icy environment of Howa'ah’s Glacial Abyss and aligns with her silver-white scales and crystalline blue eyes, reinforcing her identity as a Frostfang Leviathan. A brief mention in the Behavior and Ecology section also ties this color to her emotional state, emphasizing its role in her grief-driven outbursts. This addition enriches her profile while maintaining its narrative flow and thematic consistency.

Physical Characteristics

Appearance: Valraxies cuts a striking figure with shimmering silver and pristine white scales that gleam like ice under the pale light of Howa'ah. Her thick, reflective scales offer robust protection, lending her an ethereal, ghostly glow in the Glacial Abyss.

Eyes: Her crystalline blue eyes burn with feral intensity, reflecting the harsh beauty of her icy domain and hinting at her sharp intelligence and untamed spirit.

Build and Structure: She possesses a muscular, serpentine body, standing 20 feet high at the shoulder, stretching 50 feet from snout to tail, and boasting a 100-foot wingspan. Her build emphasizes raw power over speed.

Fins and Spines: Delicate white fins grace her neck and back, their pale surfaces catching the light and adding to her regal silhouette. Sharp, jagged spines trail along her spine and elongated tail, serving as both a defensive weapon and a display of ferocity.

Head and Horns: Her elegantly sculpted head is crowned with straight horns that jut backward, forming near-conical spikes that taper to sharp points, their silver-white sheen adding an air of ancient nobility. These formidable horns are both defensive tools and weapons, capable of goring opponents or deflecting attacks. Complementing her horns, Valraxies’s jaw is blunt, elegant, and angular, suggesting extreme bite force and lethal precision when striking. Her teeth, like those of all dragons, are needle-sharp and serrated, designed for gripping, tearing, and maximum efficiency in combat.

Wings: Her vast wings feature silver-white membranes with faint blue veins, dominating the sky when spread. On land, they aid her bird-like gait, adapted for navigating rugged terrain.

Movement: With powerful hind limbs and wing-assisted locomotion, Valraxies move with an avian grace on the ground and fly at a steady 50 miles per hour, prioritizing endurance over agility.

Abilities

Physical Combat: Her claws, needle-sharp and serrated teeth, and spined tail make her a formidable close-range fighter, capable of overwhelming foes with brute force and precision.

Aerial Maneuverability: While she prefers ground combat, her wings allow her to soar with authority, creating disruptive downdrafts or gliding over the Glacial Abyss.

Size Manipulation

Valraxies possesses a unique ability to shrink her size to that of a parrot or cat, small enough to perch on shoulders or hang onto people’s backs.

Description: This ability is tied to the ley lines of Eryndara, allowing her to tap into the planet’s magical energy to alter her physical form. When shrunk, her shimmering silver and white scales and fins remain, and her crystalline blue eyes retain their feral intensity, reflecting her sharp intelligence and untamed spirit.

Uses: Enables navigation of tight spaces, escape from danger, or less intimidating interactions with humans.

Limitations: She can only maintain this form for a limited time before needing to rest and recharge her energy.

Significance: This ability adds versatility, contrasting her imposing natural form with a subtle, strategic alternative.

Frost Fire

Frost Fire is Valraxies’s primary offensive breath weapon, a rare and paradoxical ability that combines the appearance of fire with the chilling power of ice.

Description: Frost Fire appears as an enchanting vortex of vibrant blue flames, dancing in mesmerizing patterns. Though they exude an intense light that resembles the heat of a blazing inferno, these flames are deceivingly frigid, capable of encasing everything in their path in a thick layer of ice. As they swirl and flicker, they create an otherworldly spectacle, combining the beauty of fire with the chilling touch of frost, leaving a trail of freezing stillness in their wake.

Effects:

Causes freeze burns, chilling enemies to their core.

Shatters frozen objects or brittle defenses with its frigid force.

Spreads across a wide area, making it a devastating area-of-effect attack.

Visuals and Sound: It manifests as captivating blue flames that dance and flicker with an ethereal glow, accompanied by a deafening roar reminiscent of a wild inferno. Yet, beneath this enchanting facade lies a chilling truth: its touch delivers an icy grip of death, cold and relentless.

Significance: This ability underscores Valraxies’s unique nature as a Frostfang Leviathan, blending fire and ice into a weapon feared for its destructive reach.

Frost Veil

Frost Veil is a versatile breath weapon that Valraxies can wield for both defense and offense, adapting to the needs of the moment.

Defensive Use:

Description: As the breath is released in a sweeping motion, Frost Veil unfurls like an ethereal blanket, casting a dazzling shimmer of frost that dances across the battlefield. The mist glistens in the light, transforming the air into a crystalline landscape where each breath seems to crystallize, enveloping all within its mystical embrace.

Effects:

Obscures vision, confuses enemies, and conceals movements.

Spreads a protective layer over a wide area, enhancing battlefield control.

Visuals and Sound: A delicate, whispering mist dances gracefully in the air, its subtle shimmer catching the light like a thousand tiny diamonds. Gradually, this ethereal haze transforms, swelling in intensity until it erupts into a blustering, howling blizzard, where fierce winds whip through the landscape and snowflakes swirl with frenetic energy, shrouding everything in a thick, swirling white blanket.

Frost Veil in a Concentrated Breath

Offensive Use:

Description: When focused into a tight stream, Frost Veil becomes a concentrated torrent of icy wind.

Effects:

Freezes opponents solid in an instant, encasing them in thick ice.

Targets specific foes with precision, acting as a surgical strike.

Visuals and Sound: A sharp, crackling beam or gust of freezing wind, howling like a gale.

Significance: Frost Veil highlights Valraxies’s adaptability, allowing her to shift seamlessly between protecting her allies and eliminating threats.

Metallic Roar: Her haunting roar pierces the air with a metallic shrillness, echoing like the mournful wail of a glacier grieving its slow, inevitable descent, each note reminiscent of ancient ice cracking under the weight of time. This roar reverberates through the Glacial Abyss, intimidating intruders and disorienting those who dare approach. It is both a territorial warning and a manifestation of her deep, unresolved grief and abandonment.

Behavior and Ecology

Territorial Guardian: Valraxies fiercely defends her domain in the Glacial Abyss, guarding the tomb of her fallen rider, Kira, and expanding her territory with fiery assaults. Her metallic roar serves as a chilling deterrent, its mournful echoes warning all who enter her realm.

Grief-Driven Volatility: Since Kira’s death to the crimson death, Valraxies’s sorrow fuels her rage, expressed through unpredictable outbursts of her glacial blue and white Fyrak and her haunting, metallic roar. The sound carries her pain across the icy expanse, blending accusation with unbearable loss.

Trial of Redemption: A new rider, ideally of Kira’s bloodline, must survive a Trial of Redemption—three battles over three days—to earn her trust and the right to ride her. Her roar, heavy with the weight of her grief, will test the rider’s resolve as much as her flames.

Location

Valraxies reigns over Howa'ah's Glacial Abyss, a frozen labyrinth of cliffs, rivers, and crevasses on Eryndara. Here, she has built a “bed of glory” for Kira’s tomb with gold, silver, jewels, and silks, her roars and flames echoing through the icy expanse as both a lament and a warning. Mentionings with Valraxies:

Once, the skies of Howa’ah thrummed with their presence. Each year, dragons ushered in summer with their Fyrak—their Breath of Fire—melting away Thrym’s frost in a timeless cycle. To us, they were living spirit gods, embodiments of warmth and vitality. Then, without warning, they vanished. For 300 years, Thrym’s frost spread unchecked across Howa’ah, locking the land in ice while he slumbered. I was the one who woke him, stirring him from his frozen dreams with memories of my own—harsh echoes of his mortal past that cut too close, it seems. He awoke in a fury, bewildered and grieving, bewildered and confused over the dragons’ disappearance.

In happier times, they roused Thrym with playful bursts of fire and soaring displays, a mischievous dance of flame and sky. My awakening was far heavier, steeped in sorrow. Even Thrym doesn’t know why the dragons abandoned us to this icy fate. But not all are lost. One endures—Valraxies, a Frostfang Leviathan, towering twenty feet high with a fifty-foot body and a wingspan stretching a hundred feet. She’s my guarded secret. Valraxies once belonged to Kira, my sister-in-arms, and now she stands sentinel over her tomb—her “bed of glory.”

Bonding with a dragon takes one of two paths: hatching an egg or seeking a wild dragon and proving yourself through a Trial of Respect. To win over a dragon like Valraxies, a rider must step into her domain and withstand her tests—roaring flames, thunderous wingbeats, and even clashes of strength. Victory forges a bond of mutual trust. The rider learns to interpret her subtle signals—a tilt of the head, a flick of the tail—while the dragon accepts them as an equal. These partnerships can last centuries, sustained by a dragon’s vast lifespan.

But when a rider falls, as Kira did to the crimson death, the dragon’s grief can shatter everything. They experience loss as betrayal, as if the rider chose to abandon them. This volatile blend of sorrow and rage often drives them to re-wild, reverting to primal instincts and rejecting humanity. For Valraxies, this manifests in fire-laced outbursts and haunting shrieks—cries that blend accusation with unbearable pain. They may be gods of fire, but they cannot fathom that we mortals don’t always choose to leave. When Kira died, Valraxies carried her body to the Glacial Abyss, a sprawling, icy labyrinth.

There, she crafted a bed of glory—piles of gold, silver, jewels, and silks, a tribute woven from reverence. But her mourning turned to wrath. She expanded her territory, her Fyrak driving out even the prey animals, her metallic roars echoing through the chasm—a sound of both grief and menace. Approaching a grieving dragon is forbidden; their rage is too wild, too lethal. Isolation is their refuge, protecting us as much as themselves.

For a wild dragon like Valraxies, who has bonded and lost, only one path remains to a new rider: they’ll accept someone of the original rider’s bloodline, but only after a Trial of Redemption. Harsher than the Trial of Respect, it demands three battles over three days, with just three chances to prove your worth. Fail, and the dragon’s Fyrak consumes you—a blazing release of unresolved grief and contempt. Succeed, and the dragon bows, lowering its head for you to mount. Hesitate for even a heartbeat, and it will end you. I will find Valraxies. I will find them all.

Valraxies insulted me! She scooped me up in her massive jaws and then spat me out like I was the most tasteless thing she’d ever encountered. I went flying across the valley, landing in a heap. Then, to add insult to injury, she kicked dirt all over me—burying me right there in the muck! She didn’t even bother to show off or gloat; she just gave me one cold, unimpressed glance before snatching me up again. I was drenched in slobber and caked in dirt—it was utterly humiliating! My pride was in tatters. That rude, insufferable dragon!

[asryakino]

The Spider God is a Sadist

Notes from the author - If you are interested in reading "The Monkey God is a Skater" without spoilers to MAJOR plot points, then do NOT read further.

That said, I could literally not sleep soundly until I wrote this out and like with the first arc [which is posted here on docs and here on tumblr (with an AO3 version coming eventually) ] I am stupidly proud of it.

Tags will follow, but this entire arc is not really for the feint of heart. It has a lot of emotions (I hope) and a lot of substance (I hope) but it's not pretty. There's manipulation, violence, physical and emotional abuse, death, and a lot of things that can potentially trigger some uncomfortable emotions. If you feel secure about it, read on. But this will absolutely change how you view certain characters of the story from earlier.

Patcher leaned against the cool stone wall next to the gate that separated him from the listless woman within. "I'm sorry it came to this, you know. I didn't want this to happen." His raspy voice was even, casual.

Maize sat within the stone cell, cross-legged near the wall, looking at her hands listlessly. The smallest of acknowledgement sound left her throat.

"You don't have to believe it. But it's true. I would have preferred this to have all gone much smoother. I made a mistake letting you go with the Monkey King on your own." He squatted down, turning to look past the metal grate at the girl, sparing only a glance at the massive ley-beast around her before focusing his grey eyes on her. "We can still do this the easy way, you know." He offered, shifting a hand out as if offering it.

Maize's voice felt broken in her throat, her eyes remained unfocused as she turned in the direction of the still-familiar voice of someone she thought she knew. He was there, in the shape and face of Patcher. The monster in front of her had his eyes, and his hair, his face… even his voice. For a moment she focused on him, trailing a look to the extended hand and flinching sharply as if the sight of it burned.

She drew her hands back up to her chest with a weak squeak of startled fear.

Elliot's eyes narrowed briefly and he retracted his hand with a mildly annoyed 'tch'. "I shouldn't be surprised, I suppose." He reached up, rubbing a kink from the side of his neck as he contemplated for a moment. "I would have liked to have kept Bobby around to keep you in check. But he forced my hand."

She cringed back, pressing her shoulders against the stone. "You… you ripped his arm off…" She murmured, her hands gripping her elbows in a vain attempt to sooth her shattered nerves. Flashes of red and gold haunting her mind still as images of the gruesome act replayed behind her eyes. "His…. His arm…" She hiccupped, holding back frightened tears and the fresh wave of nausea. She looked down at her hands, as if expecting them to still be covered with her best friend's blood.

Patcher's voice dropped to a terrifyingly cold and unemotional tone. "I couldn't let him take you to them. I've put far too much effort into you to risk losing that investment now. Not when the end goal is in sight. I won't lose you to anyone."

Maize cringed again, drawing herself small against the wall, as if it would help her to hide from the monster on the other side of the cell gate. "Is that all I am? A weapon in your fight?" Her voice was quiet, barely audible to herself, so she didn't expect an answer.

Cold, unfeeling silence met the tiny question. In the corner of her eye she watched the Crane stand fully up, his shadow stretching across the cell to stop near her feet. Instinctively she drew her feet away from the shade, twinging as fresh intimidation rolled down her spine.

He observed her winging, frightened form for a long minute, eyes narrowed.

"You were never meant to be anything more."

He pulled his chin up proudly. "Call for me when you're ready to follow instructions. I'll have one of the others bring your meals and medication."

As the crane god left, the soft sound of quiet crying trailed out of the cave behind him.

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

Posa had been right.

Maize felt every part of her body tense up and her stomach fall before she ever even heard the man's footsteps echo in the cave outside her cell. Her insides felt twisted, and the heat of her own ley pouring over her like a shield was suffocating. She tried to will it back, and nothing she did would push it away.

Her skin felt as if it would char from the heat of her own ley, then the disturbing feeling of wave after wave of the hairs all over her body raising with every echoed step.

Some part of her human mind realized that the steps were so normal it was ridiculous to be so terrified. They weren't particularly heavy or intimidating. Yet every part of her body screamed at her to flee to wherever she could, to be prepared to fight for her very existence. The beast-her voice of her divine core was bristled, hackles raised, and teeth bared.

She knew, without actually seeing it, that her ley-form was trying desperately to protect her from the approaching threat.

With her chest tight enough to make it hard to breathe, and her skin feeling as if it would sizzle off of her body she forced herself to step to the middle of the cell, her hands clenched together before her, the bangles at her wrists pressed against the bone as her nails threatened to open fissures in her palms.

The man that stepped into the light looked so normal it was jarring. He wore kahki cargo pants and a pair of average lace up boots. It was easy to tell he was fit without being overly muscular, even through the plain black tee-shirt and biking jacket. He sported short cropped hair, wire-framed glasses, and a friendly smile.

Nothing about the figure before her would ever have lived up to the terror her very core felt or the horrible fear she recalled Posa trying to hide. He just looked like a guy; unremarkable in nearly every way.

Mari shifted her hands, feeling the tiny streaks of blood in her palms. Her pnuema was demanding she get away, but her logical mind reminded her there was nowhere to go. The beast-her snarled in a guarded way and her guts continued to churn in primally understood fear.

This was a predator. Whatever else this man was, he was a predator.

The man regarded her, a small smirk touching his thin lips. "Honestly, I'm surprised." He casually leaned forward, resting his hands on the bars of her cell as he eyed her from behind the rim of his glasses. Like everything else his voice was just… normal. He sounded so casual that it was off-putting.

 "Nearly everyone else with even a little ley just collapses or passes out. Yet here you are, little Monkey King, still standing. Even facing me." He smiled, a motion that was nothing pleasant.

"I'm genuinely impressed."

He licked his lips as his eyes traveled up and over the shape of her ley beast as it wrapped around her defensively. "I wonder how long that bravado will actually last."

Mari's stomach clenched, her muscles burned from the tension in her limbs. Her breath, she realized, was coming in short, tense, gasps, rolling down her chest as if she could hide the fact she was breathing and if she could, that the monster standing in front of her wouldn't see her.

The man shifted his hand, fingers curling upward. She saw only a quick flash of gold, before a hot burning line stretched over her right arm, shoulder, and neck. It felt as if someone had laid a live hot wire across her torso. In her mind, she heard the ley-beast roar in pain. 

Maize gasped at the hot blaze of burn, twisting and jumping back, as if she could escape whatever had touched her. The reactive movement was a mistake, a similar line bore against her back, as if she'd backed into the same hot line. Again, the ley-beast surrounding her roared in hot pain.

Maize hissed, refusing to scream out. She dropped down to one knee as she clung to her stinging arm, and rolled her shoulder toward the pain across her back, shivering from the shock of the sudden agony. Now, she shivered from shock rather than fear.

Her tongue felt heavy in her jaw, and her eyes burned from the tears she was refusing to let fall, but through the shaking she managed to quietly speak up. "Corpse Keeper." Her lungs burned from the effort and her watery eyes struggled to focus on the man.

"My reputation precedes me." He responded casually, smirking once again. "Pleasure to meet you, Little Monkey King." He raised two fingers, as if tipping an invisible hat. "Since we're going to be spending some… quality… time together; you can call me Seth."

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

It felt like hours passed before Maize could even begin to force her heart to slow and the sound to quiet in her ears. She knew it had to be only a few minutes of uneasy silence to have passed. Her body was still trembling, the ley-beast was still defensive and her skin still felt as if it would begin burning off. She was positive she could feel welts raising up on her arm and back where whatever ley he'd used had touched her.

Still she stayed crouched on the floor, her mind a whirl of thoughts and emotions, struggling to catch a single one. She needed to focus on what she could do; what she could control.

Still yourself. She snapped at the beast in her mind. Calm. Down. She lifted her inner tone, quieting herself. You're feeding him our fear and I'd rather he starve.

Slowly, agonizingly, the beast's flaring quelled. In her mind, it took on less monstrous features and became more of the animal-like reflection she knew. It was still on edge but as it gained each inch of composure, the burning sensation all along her skin retreated.

Her limbs refused to obey just yet, small quakes of overwhelm racing along her body. As the scalding retracted, she felt parts of herself relax and immediately began to feel the leaden result of exhaustion.

Stubbornness and pride took over where fear had been, with a slow rolling anger. Her body was coming back under her control- one way or another. But she would not allow this asshole…

Her eyes snapped to the gate. He hadn't moved, leaning on his elbows against the gate with his hands outstretched casually into the cell, fingers extended.

He was simply watching her, the only movement she caught was the faintest inclination of his head and the barest hint of a smile touching his expression.

For the hair's breadth she met his eyes an icy chill pulsed down her spine. She turned away, glaring at his shoulder instead. Nothing good lay beyond the surface and she didn't want to see what ghosts lurked there.

Despite how much she wanted to force her throat to break the silence, he was the first to speak up again. "For just a moment, I felt that you might try to kill me." He smirked, a bit more openly.

"Instead you did all that just to stay silent and stoic?" His tone mocked. "You could at least be polite enough to introduce yourself if you're going to refuse to faint. Not to say that little show was boring, mind you. It was quite impressive, actually."

Maize took a slow breath, using the technique Patcher had… a sting of his betrayal arced through her, quelled sharply. She inhaled slowly, quieting her heart, settling her breathing with a long, slow, exhale.

In the cave's chill she could see the fine whisps of steam escaping her breath. The bangles at her wrists felt heavy, but her skin felt cool. Her body ached from the tension, and the lashes of ley burn stung, but her body was her own. All of the soreness and her breath; it was her's.

Even with every muscle fighting her, she pushed herself back up to stand, eyes closed as she focused her own will. The quivers of emotion stilled as she pulled her shoulders square and dropped her hands to her sides. She answered as she lifted her chin defiantly.

"My name is Marigold Marklan-Leeds."

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

She had stopped quivering in her declaration. With self-assuredness broiling down her spine, reinforcing her mettle. If the only thing to give her strength in the moment was the spiteful pride she held toward her own name, then so be it.

Seth nodded, as if acknowledging what it took for her to say such a simple thing. Then he twitched his fingers. A sharp flash of gold flew in front of Maize's eyes, making her flinch expectantly, but she heard the heavy lock on the metal gate twist.

When she focused on the man casually standing at the gate, he was smiling genuinely. "I look forward to working with you, Miss Marklan-Leeds." He stepped back, pulling the gate open as he did and untangling his arms from the gap to hold the open door.

"I hope this means you can walk." With his free hand he swept it out toward the cave's deeper recesses. "Though I don't mind carrying you, should your legs give out." He added, the smile turning briefly predatory once again.

Maize's knees threatened to falter when the heavy metal gate opened. She focused on the man's chest, refusing to acknowledge his face.

One foot at a time. She just needed to focus on moving herself because whatever was awaiting her she knew in every bit of her body, mind, and soul, was going to be bad enough and she would be damned if she didn't walk into that den under her own power.

"Good girl." He said lowly as she stepped past him. A hot flare of indignation raced along her spine toward her neck and she bit her tongue, refusing to respond. She could feel his eyes burning into the back of her neck and she paused a few feet ahead of him, closing her eyes briefly to concentrate on getting her ley under control once more.

The door slamming behind them made her jump as the grating metal sound echoed down the cave and briefly through her chest.

"The monkey's pride? I wonder…" His voice mused from behind her left shoulder. She stubbornly refused to turn toward him, looking down into the cave. She didn't need to see the disgusting smile on his face to hear it in his words. "Ahead and to the right." He directed calmly.

The cave around them pulsated with ley. Maize could feel it growing stronger the deeper they went. Seth gave crisp, short directions, and she followed them into the dim depths.

 She moved with the determination that whatever happened, happened. Seth smirked behind her, she could feel the smug arrogance of a man who never lost in challenges of wills. Her own spite at the idea of him 'winning' whatever this was made her back tight.

Everyone he's encountered must have broken under all of this pressure. She thought bitterly. I won't break.

If we kill him now, we won't suffer. The beast-her stood, resigned, before her in her mind. I might still have enough power to kill him. He took some of it from me… but I might have enough.

Maize tinged, recalling the pained shrieking roar in her mind when the strands of ley had touched her. All she had was fear. Fear wouldn't be enough to destroy him. She needed more.

Maize shook her head.

"I wasn't making a polite request, Miss Marklan-Leeds." Seth's voice, icy, hissed over her shoulder. "Inside."

She jolted, stumbling forward in a moment of panic and frightened motion. Her feet tangled on each other and she grabbed the doorway to catch herself. After the length of dim and dark in the rest of the cave, the room before her was starkly comfortable looking. Disturbing only in that it was so out of place.

Like the man behind her indirectly blocking escape.

Ley permeated the room, as if the stone itself were made of it. The shining gold flowed in patterns around the walls, however, dancing in a swirling masquerade around them. Low tables dotted the room, decorated with censers of incense trailing thin golden trails into the air. The heady smell was all-too-familiar. In the center of the room was a table, similar to a massage table though it felt off. It had a flat doughnut headrest and a simple backed chair just a few feet away.

Maize realized the set-up was too familiar too. It dawned on her that the censers were placed the same as Patch's recovery room. A stab of chilling hurt wrenched in her guts. A too-fresh reminder of the betrayal haunting her. The flash of BD's arm and blood followed, unbidden and uncontrolled across her mind.

Don’t! Beast-her shouted. Now isn't the time. She seemed to be growing some strength from the free ley in the room.

Maize's shoulders twinged as she felt Seth's presence sweep behind her, a cold pinch of dread following as she heard the door behind them shut. The air turned immediately cold and oppressive.

"That's the first time anyone has walked here." He said coolly. "You're already so full of firsts. I wonder how many more you have in you." Seth walked to the table, he patted it in silent direction as he passed, removing the motorcycle jacket from his shoulders in a smooth motion that carried it to drape across the back of the chair.

Maize had been right, the jacket didn't hide the fact he had a fit, agile frame. She caught his look from over the rim of his glasses, his eyes were darkened with expectation.

The dread in her gut did nothing to assuage the feeling of being led to a sacrificial alter. Though her feet carried her to the table's side nevertheless.

"I admit. I've never had to repeat myself as often as I have had to do today. Makes me appreciate my own patience and restraint." Seth cracked his neck, as if working some long-held stiffness out of it before leveling his bespectacled gaze at her again.

"Your shirt."

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

Maize didn't move, processing the implied command. She couldn't see any real reason to strip her shirt off. Seth merely observed her, eyes taking in first the quivering shell, then the beast of barely restrained ley.

"Any concern for your body is unfounded." He said with a frightening sort of ease. "Don't forget, Miss Marklan-Leeds. I am as inhuman as they come and I have no desires on something so base and low as the fragile vessel of a divinity. My interests are in the soul you carry, not your body." Chilled detachment laced every word. He wasn't even looking at Maize anymore, staring with a disturbing hunger beyond her, around her, at the aura of shifting ley.

"Then why…?" Her leaden tongue finally lifted to let her speak. The thought couldn't finish the words before the intense gaze turned to her, partly shielded by the glass between his eyes and her.

His lips twisted into a frighteningly amused expression, something like a smug smile, or simply a predator sizing up how much patience to wield before ripping his prey to pieces.

"What is about to happen to you is going to be excruciatingly painful. You will feel every action to the very cells of your person. And it is highly likely those cells will break before I am finished." The way he spoke reminded her of Posa. But Seth's words were slow and methodical, he allowed every bit of information to sink in.

"Human bodies tend to break so easily during these procedures. And your's is especially fragile already." He locked the dark look on her face, trapping her attention. "If I am to preserve this useless shell the Crane insists on keeping; then I must monitor your core points for damage."

Maize hadn't consciously realized he had crossed the small amount of space until his hand reached out, pinching her chin and forcing her to look up at him. Initially she startled, then a heated well of spite and anger rolled down her back at the audacity of the action. Her heart thudded heavily in her chest as the heat welled around her ribs and toward her throat.

She started to speak, when a sharp flash of molten hot pain arced down across her back, along her legs and seared along the outside of her thigh. The ley-beast shrieked out in agony, and Maize's knee threatened to buckle.

"Don't even think of releasing such a half hearted curse on me yet." He smirked, releasing her chin and stepping back. "You'll need more of a reason than simple insult to kill me. And I relish in being the one to give you that conviction. If you keep pressing me, I may lose the ability to restrain myself. The shirt. Then get on the table."

He eyed the growing indignation in Maize's face with an amused smirk. "Or do you require my help?"

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

She understood what Posa had meant. The live wire burns of ley had been bad enough, but they didn't feel like this. She could see his shadow on the floor beside the table, he only ever moved his hand and his fingers danced as if he were weaving on some kind of invisible loom. Every single motion felt as if he was tearing her apart.

The beast of her ley flared her power, and thrashed. But even in what was usually a dark sanctuary of her mind - Maize could see the slender golden cords holding her down as her form was disrupted, the vaguely humanoid form turned amorphous and shapeless, and still her screams pierced Maize's mind.

Maize fared no better. Burning, ripping pain raced along her back and legs. It arced along her sides and around her neck as if she were being pulled apart at invisible seams. Just when the brink of darkness would threaten to shut her mind down it would stop. Leaving her to gasp against the table, tears burning furrows down her face.

She wasn't aware of anything but the tearing, burning pain in every part of her body. The sound of her own heart blocked out whatever else was in the room. Her head spun, her eyes burned, and she was sobbing into the headrest.

All her life she'd heard about fates worse than death. This was one of them. Trapped in a body so wracked with agony that the world outside of it ceased to exist. Death would be a release. She'd been so offended every time one of these so-called gods had spoken down to her about how frail her body was.

Now she could see it. They were right. Was this something their body could just… endure? Could they go through something like this and move? Nothing living could. She was sure of it.

It took her a long time to realize the pain had stopped. Her body still felt on fire, but the active feeling of being ripped apart had stopped. Dimly she was aware she was still crying, and her chest felt tight. Her hands felt as if they'd been dipped in molten metal and her head was pounding from crying.

Her throat was ragged, and felt as if she'd been screaming for hours. She must have been the one screaming, not her ley-beast. Though the agonized shrieks still echoed in her mind.

Shock began to settle over her, making her skin feel cold and her body begin to quake. Somewhere, a loud banging noise recoiled in her ears.

BD? Bright, blinding light engulfed her vision as she was flipped off of the table and onto her back onto a cold floor. Bobby… I don't wanna die yet…

She shuddered violently in the arms of the one that had grabbed her. A gold shine exploded at her chest, covering her quaking body in a cloak of shining ley.

She felt something warm and soft cover her chest, and the glimmer sunk into her ribs, filling her lungs out so she could feel air in and out. Her pounding heart felt gripped by something gently squeezing it in regular time. Slowly, carefully, her breath eased, the drowning sound in her ears calmed.

The gold light cradled her. Still every muscle felt heavy but she was breathing, she didn't feel as if she was drowning in fire. She felt supported. Words were still too heavy to lift, and even with the glimmering ley helping her to breathe, her throat was shredded.

I was screaming… Bobby… I was calling for you… She squeezed her eyes shut, her cries turning from pain of the body to pain in her heart.

It had stopped. She was okay again, she could breathe, her heart was beating. Someone had saved her.

Her eyes couldn't focus, her body still refused to move. She tried to focus, listening for BD's voice.

"I told you to be careful." Elliot's voice.

"I was." Maize's mind brought up the image of Seth. Her breath stuttered. She felt the arms holding her shift, and another flare of warmth filled her chest, stilling her heart and leveling her breathing out as if she were sleeping.

Her mind remained aware, and she began to struggle to find control of her limbs.

"What part of frail did you ignore? What part of her body will fail if you put it under too much stress did you refuse to acknowledge?" Elliot's raspy voice rose angrily. "If she dies we lose everything you fucking lunatic."

Cool, collected, and unfazed, Seth retorted. "She isn't dead. And I got fairly deep before she began to crash. Deeper than I expected from the way you went on about her." Maize heard boots against the floor getting closer.

Her mind wanted to panic, but the gold warmth in her chest refused to let her heart speed up or her breathing change.

"Did you find it or not?" Elliot again, demanding.

"Not yet, What you're asking is going to require a few visits to sort all the chaff. You're asking for a single fry in a pond, and tying my hands on how to catch them. It'd be easier if you allowed it to mature more. A larger target is easier to find." A cold finger brushed against the side of her neck, leaving a thin trail of heat.

A slap followed. "I delayed enough already any further and no one would be able to contain it, much less control it. The bands will only do so much for so long. If we didn't act now, we'd lose." Elliot seemed to pause. Maize felt herself being lifted, cradled not in arms, but the gentle warmth of ley.

"I might find it next time." Seth's voice sounded amused as it got further away. "Or the time after that. Maybe the time after…"

Maize felt grateful that they were leaving him behind. Though she was far from comfortable. She tried to move against the ley surrounding her. It was as if she were fighting against a massive futon. Unable to move more than a small wiggle, while the soft gold glow in her chest continued to regulate her breathing and heart.

"Stop fighting me, Marigold." Elliot's voice was cool, commanding.  She still couldn't see past the halo of ley around her head. "I wouldn't have had to resort to this if you hadn't refused."

She felt herself set down on cool fabric. She felt heated hands against her neck, then at her wrist. The same things she'd felt before when she knew she was safe didn't feel safe anymore. The pulse taking, the brushing her hair out of her eyes… it felt oppressive, possessive even.

"Agree to follow my directions. Agree to help me, and you won't have to go back to him." Elliot offered. "He's damn near impossible to control, and next time I may not be able to keep you alive."

Maize's throat struggled to make a sound. She moved her head side to side.

I won't kill for you, Elliot. I don't want to be someone's weapon. She thought bitterly

The warm glow retreated from her chest, making her cough briefly and struggle to turn onto her side. Her eyelids felt like stone and her eyes felt full of sand so she squeezed them tightly shut, trying to let her body settle.

She heard the disappointment in Elliot's voice. "Your body needs to recover but your ley is fine. Disrupted, but intact. When I bring your food later, eat it all, and drink anything I bring you. Nod if you agree."

Mari nodded faintly, leaving him to continue. "You have one day to decide if you're going to help me, or if you're going to resist. Make the smart choice, Marigold."

A cloak of warm gold covered her over, soothing the burning ache left behind by the spider's web. In the back edge of her mind, the shapeless form of her beast-her lay curled in the shadows. Even in her mind she couldn't reach out to comfort her own broken shade.

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

By the time Elliot returned with a tray of Taishon food, Maize had pushed herself into sitting up. It was more than she thought she'd manage, but she'd done it. She'd been leaned against the stone wall with her eyes closed, concentrating on feeling out her own body when the metal gate creaked open.

Her eyes opened to slits, untrusting as the slender doctor entered with the tray in one hand and a tall bottle in the other. The door slowly swung shut behind and he stepped to the folding table near the bed. He quietly set the tray down, a heap of glazed chicken and vegetables beside a dam of rice filled the air with a tantalizing aroma. Salty broth soup with cubes of tofu, and a few small servings of prepared sides glistened like treasure across the tray. In the corner, a small cup with familiar pills, mundane human medication.

Maize eyed the meal cautiously, pushing herself off of the wall.

Her body still ached, but the burn was almost completely gone. Vaguely Elliot's earlier words echoed in her mind as she pushed herself to the edge of the bed, dangling her legs from the side. He lifted the folding table and set it beside her.

Maize didn't want to look at the monster that looked like her friend. Whoever it was standing there couldn't be the Patcher she'd known and trusted. She was drained, emotionally, at this point. A small, hurt, sniff escaped her mask of calm, threatening to crumble everything away.

Her hand moved out, taking up the chopsticks and on instinct giving a small word of thanks before picking up the bowl of rice and curry. She sniffed again, cracks of exhausted emotion breaking through.

"You're allowed to cry." Elliot's words sounded somehow both bitter and permissive. "I'm not such an inhuman monster that I'd judge you for crying. I understand that you've been through a lot in a short time."

Quietly, maize sniffled again, her chin quivering as she ate without another word, heated tears flowing freely and unstoppable down her cheeks dotting her shirt.

"I can't avenge the ones I've lost without you, Marigold. I made my decision centuries ago. And when you came along, I found the method to achieve that. A perfect trifecta of the right capacity, power, and ability. A one of a kind weapon I can use against those who took everything from me all those years ago. And those who allowed it to happen."

Maize shuddered, but still didn't speak, keeping her eyes downcast, eating small bite after small bite slowly. Elliot observed her a moment, then held the bottle out.

"I meant what I said. Agree to follow my direction. Be my sword and I won't let the spider near you again."

She folded the hashi together, setting them down on the tray and took the bottle up. The heavy liquid sloshed inside with the soft clink of ice. Without prompting she flipped the cap up, taking a slow, cautious, sip. Sweet and lightly carbonated fruit soda slipped across her tongue and down her throat. The cold soothed the ragged edges worn from hours of screaming in pain. Though the bubbles tickled and burned making her flinch back and shake her head before taking another careful sip.

She seemed to not pay mind to the tears still trickling down her face as the crisp drink revitalized her spirit next to the familiar food. Still, she refused to speak, taking the utensils up again to pick up veggies and clumps of rice.

In the shadows of her mind, even the ley-beast stirred and meekly took in the wisps of ley. Maize realized the food and drink must have been made with Divine Tree fruit and honey.

She had about half of the meal eaten before daring to speak up at all. She wiped her face on the sleeve of her shirt, looking down at the bottle of soda in her hands.

"I don't want to kill anyone." She whispered, not daring to lift her voice too much, afraid it would crack and she'd break down again. "I'm sorry you've been hurting for so long…" She swallowed, flinching slightly. "But destroying more lives isn't justice. I won't help you."

Elliot's eyes leveled on frail human before him. He didn't move, only watched with disappointment. "Tomorrow the spider will be looking through your soul for the power of your command, again." He said evenly. "I'll do what I can to ensure he doesn't kill you." Somehow the promise of aide felt much more like an ominous threat. Her stomach clenched anxiously as she felt the shift in his attitude. His voice turned cold, detached.

"Your vessel needs to recover. Finish your meal. I'll send one of the others to collect the dishes later." Elliot didn't await a response as he strode to the gate. He pressed a pale hand against the lock on the gate and pushed it open. "Good night, Marigold."

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

Day and night were meaningless in the depths of the cave. Mari knew that either Elliot or one of the Pact Rats following him would bring her a meal. The foods were varied, but they were all things she liked and honestly, she wasn't in the mindset to crave anything in particular.

Changes of clothes were usually brought in with what could be assumed was the evening meal, and she was numbly left to take care of herself in the small secluded alcove of a rustic bathroom before bed.

Twice Roll and Lock had escorted her to an odd natural mineral spring that looked like it was flowing out of a fossilized tree. The second time had been what Maize was assuming was a day ago after the last "session" with the spider. Each time she felt a different sort of ley permeating her body and melting the soreness and stiffness away. After the last time, she vaguely wondered if stories of the fountain of youth were in reality springs like this one.

She'd had two more sessions with the spider by this point. And while she expected him to be showing some form of frustration; disturbingly, he only seemed more fascinated. The demented beast seemed more interested in drawing her pain out than finding the part of her soul Elliot was so desperate to have.

Patterns of behaviour can be a weakness in an operation. That was something Marigold had learned decades ago. If a group had regular patrols, then those against them would simply plan around those regular patterns. You want to break into a house? Learn the walking path of the occupants. You want to avoid the police? Learn where and when they take their breaks, and which officers rotate on patrol.

And when you expierence regular and consistant pain, you learn to compartmentalize it. What might have started as some of the worst pain you've ever had, when it's happened over and over, becomes just another hurdle to your daily life. You learn ways to function despite it.

When her heart felt as if it'd explode, she learned to still it with the muscles around it. When her lungs felt tight in an attack, she learned how to breathe through the pain and discomfort.

When her legs threaten to buckle under her, she learned how to shift her weight and continue walking forward.

Three times now she spent hours crying, screaming, and begging for darkness to swallow her up. She was denied that darkness.

Three times now she had been released, her body restored and her pain treated.

Three times she felt the molten knife of a monster tearing open her soul to look for a power he didn't have.

Two times he pushed her body to the point of Elliot stopping the demented creature and using ley to stabilize her physical body.

The last time he had learned exactly where the limit was and would stop just shy of pressing her into shock, only to let her recouperate exactly enough to press her to the same point. Elliot had stepped in after several hours of the torment, demanding answers and snatching her away with harsh words she'd been too exhausted to understand.

Trying to calculate time in a place with no sun and no clocks wasn't easy, but if she was right, she'd be feeling the spider's presence any time now.

Three extended meetings with the monster gave her enough to know how he was going to act and how he expected her to react by now.

But the pain he inflicted was just pain. The first times it had been worse than simply dying. The first cuts he had made into her ley had rent her soul and body.

But she lived.

Like the memory of tearing her ACL, the pain had been unbearable when it happened.

But she lived.

She lived with pain every day of her life in one form or another. Her legs, ankles, chest, head… the list was seemingly endless. What could he do more than what he already had? Cause more pain?

Spite trailed along her back, a mocking sort of tone coming from the ley-beast that had suffered so much at his hands. I'm tired of this shit. It hissed.

Fear only ever worked for so long before it turned into resentment, anger, and hatred. Control through fear could never last. Even Swain knew that and used alternate methods of manipulation.

Fear of pain could never work for long against someone who woke every morning aching and sore just from existing in the physical world. And Maize had reached her limit.

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

When Seth arrived at the cell housing the little human bearer of the monkey king's flame he had walked with his normal confident step. As the cell's occupant came into view, he paused, a smirk touching at the corner of his mouth.

"Have you reached your breaking point, Miss Marklan-Leeds?" His voice chided, eyes taking in the flaring creature before him. A delicious rime of anger surrounded the immature soul around her. Sweet-bitter fear replaced by the sharp tang of indignant fury. He licked his lips just slightly.

There was nothing forced about the calm she had this time. The first time she'd locked her joints with determination to not appear weak. He could still recall the delectable scene of blood from her hands and how tempted he'd been.

This time, she met him with purpose in her shoulders, intention in her back, and anger in her hands. He wondered how far he could push her now. How long before she'd begin begging for his plucking at the strands of her soul to end.

The self righteous pigeon had stopped his little game last time before he could snap the little ape's last tie to reality, just a while longer and her mind would have snapped into delirium.

Now though, he was sure that her fall would be ever more exquisite.

A flick of a finger lashed a strand of ley to the lock, opening the mechanism and swinging the gate open.

"Eager to begin today?" he inquired as she stepped out. He noticed her footing was more sure than usual, perhaps her bravado had something to do with that. He chuckled mirthlessly. That particular scent of pride and anger reminded him far too much of an ancient adversary.

"You know the way, your majesty." He added.

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

Something had changed in the way he was moving. They were halfway to the ley room before it dawned on her what he had said as she left the cell. Her hands briefly clenched at her sides as she debated rising to the bait.

She stopped before entering the room itself. His casual steps paused and in a brief moment the oppressive pressure of the spider's aura descended on her like a dense fog. Her shoulders stiffened and her skin bristled.

"Don't lose your nerve now…" The toying tone belayed a note of disappointment.

That was the difference. He'd held back. A flare of anger raced up her spine before she stepped forward with an annoyed click of her tongue striding to the damnedable table without another falter or hesitation.

Seth rolled his head, cracking his neck with a smirk as he stepped into the room, closing the door behind to complete the seal in the room. She'd already stripped her shirt off and was sitting up on the table, her back to him. Red tinted her ley in fine lines like lightning.

"And now our race has truly begun." He said, taking his seat to eye up the ley beast that had turned from cowering and lashing out in fear to bristling before him, ready to strike out on command.

Maize closed her eyes, finding her center and settling her tone to speak evenly. "You're talkitive today." She accused.

"Another first you've managed to draw out of me." He assured, smirking openly now. "Like my failure until now has also been a first. I admit, the task was impossible from the start unless you helped me."

Curiouscity burned at the corners of her mind. "Oh?"

"If I hadn't stopped you the first time, this would all have been over in that exact minute." He explained. Maize felt an unwanted tension roll down her back. She recalled the first day when he'd stopped her before she could command him.

"Did you think I would try again?" She waited for the first cut that hadn't come yet.

"I thought you might have by now, but I'd hoped not. That'd ruin our race against each other." Seth casually leaned back in the high backed chair. "And to be completely honest, you've been the most entertaining bit of prey I've ever had. And I am including the twelve kaminai. When we're done with each other I may switch to live prey in the future."

That struck a nerve, a heated red flare washed over the girl and her beast briefly snarled. Seth watched her take a breath, exhaling a long stream of essence that swirled and joined the trails that swirled around the room. He lifted one side of his lip in amusement, eyeing the woman before him through the glass of his lenses.

"If you think you can. Go ahead. Command me." He mocked, sitting up with a tilt of his chin in superior self-assurance. "Just so you know that's the game here. Can you truly strike me down with one word? Because that's all you'll have the chance to unleash. The moment you use that ability, your ley will reveal to me exactly where your ability has been hiding. I'll only have to rip it out."

A brief tremble tightened her chest and she clenched her jaw. Her promise to Posa quietly replayed in her mind.

"So if you think you can destroy me in a single word, try me. I could bring the Crane in here, you could try it on him instead. I've been a little disappointed you haven't commanded him too. This cave system is my lair, I've waited all this time for you to utter a single word of command to any of the little insects here. And you've stubbornly refused to utter even a syllable." His voice got closer as he spoke.

When a wide, hot hand pressed against the small of her back, a shudder rolled up through her entire torso, followed immediately by a heated fury that traced back down. The heated coil snaked up her spine, stopping at her shoulders as she hissed.

"Don’t you dare fucking touch me."

"Or what, Little Monkey King?" Seth reached from behind her, wrapping his hand around her throat. His hand burned against her skin.

"You'll make me? You have the power to do it, but do you have the conviction to make it count?" He leaned in against her shoulder, dropping his voice to a low almost-whisper.

"I don't think you do."

A pair of hard bangs sounded on the door, snapping the spider's attention away from her. His hand slid slowly off of her neck, trailing over her shoulder as he turned. Irritation laced through his movements as he leaned his hips against the end of the table. His arms crossed over his chest and a flick of his fingers send a thin flash of gold to the door, pulling it open.

"You're ruining my work you self-important cock." Anger burned at his words as the door opened fully. Maize could see Elliot standing in the hall. She drew a leg up to her chest, wrapping her arms around it and shielding her face behind a wall of hair.

The pale haired doctor eyed the apparent scene in front of him, a sneer touching at his lips before his attention fully focused on Seth. "There isn't time for your fucking games anymore. They're on their way here." He beckoned the other man with a firm tilt of his head.

Seth pushed away from the table, ignoring the woman as he strode across the room with a heavy sigh. He stepped into the hallway, closing the door to a crack that he stood before, angled until he could just look at Maize from the edge of his glasses.

When she shifted, sitting up and trying to look out the crack, straining to see and hear what the two were doing a snap of gold flared past her face, close enough for the heat of it to make her wince. A silent instruction to sit still.

Her shoulders tensed, heated rage broiling under her ribs.

"You've wasted enough time that they've managed to track her down." Elliot's furious voice sounded close. Maize looked confused, until she realized it was coming through the strand of ley.

"You handed me a half metamorphosed soul and demanded I find its mouth. If she were less developed, or more developed there would be something to find. But inside of that cocoon is nothing but sloppy undefined ley that barely has the cohesion of putty. As it stands you've managed to raise a prideful, stubborn woman that refuses to use her power even to protect herself. So if you're so pressed at how much time this is taking you make her use it so I can tear it out while she's commanding you to fuck off a bridge into a gorge." Seth's voice never really raised beyond a normal speaking voice, but the anger and irritation of being interrupted was evident.

Elliot's voice was restrained, his raspy tone dropping. "It doesn't matter anymore. Can you find her memories?"

"I marked them."

A faint, resigned sigh. "Rip them out. If we lose this location now we won't have the time or ley to do it before she begins fighting back."

Maize's stomach dropped. Her world felt as if it had been ripped out from under her. A dizzy sense gripped her head.

"If you're sure." Seth's voice lifted in an almost teasing tone, as if he were taunting the captive eavesdropper. "You're ordering her death. The moment I cut her memories from the pnuema, she'll be nothing but an empty husk. The little life known as Marigold Marklan-Leeds won't exist anymore."

"I said what I said." Elliot's tone was cold. "I'll take the weaker weapon I can wield over the untempered one that can turn on me."

"As you wish then."

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

Marigold listened to the voice transmitted through the thread. Her heart felt as if it had stopped and Posa's words were pounding in her mind, over and over.

Choose your own life over his. Do whatever it takes to survive.

The door began to open again, she could hear Elliot's steps echoing down the stone hall as he left.

Everything around her turned into a haze of slow motion. Her body felt hot, her skin felt as if it were going to burn away as fear turned into rage and back into terror. They were going to kill her.

Her eyes shot to the unassuming man stepping back in. She saw his fingers twitch and twisted burning lines of ley snapped around her, scorching into her skin. Animalistic screams tore through her throat, echoing the roar of rage from the beast of ley around her.

"You heard the man, Marigold." He stated flatly, though his eyes took in the primal animal struggling in his web, lashing out even as the lines entangled it, burning lines into the uncontrollable ley. Across the girl's pale skin, welts echoing the beast's begin to raise up.

His hand shot out with a speed he often reserved, wrapping firm fingers around her throat to hold the thrashing girl still.

As his hand squeezed, Mari's gaze zeroed on his face. A wild, furious and desperate fire burned in her eyes. Her words and breath were choked, but a hideous flare of power crashed through her body like a tidal wave of fury. In desperation she grabbed Seth's arms, digging her nails into his forearm, her other hand trying to peel his fingers off of her throat. Hot ropes of ley, tinted red, wrapped through her chest, entwining around her core. When they reached her neck and began encircling it Maize could feet the flames of desperate survival scorching at her skin and down to her bones.

The firey hot ley burned Seth's hand, still he held onto the struggling wretch. She opened her mouth and a single syllable flew from her tongue. He saw the flare in the beast's form as the command activated and his finger twitched.

"Die."

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

A massive pulse of raw cosmic energy released through the entire cave system as if a bomb had gone off. Heated cracks of red snapped through the room, destroying the golden seals in the walls and knocking free jagged chunks of stone as the flow was disrupted.

In the middle of fallen from the walls, crushing the tables and scattering the censers of incense lay the pale exposed body of a young woman and the cold, lifeless corpse of an ordinary looking man.

Her skin was welted with thin thread-like burns criss-crossing over her torso, and her throat bore a red handprint that wrapped from one side to the other. Her breath was shallow and lightning-like scars flowed up her arms, originating from the amber and metal bracelets on her thin wrists.

Elliot had barely made it to the end of the hall when the pulse happened and the scene before him forced even the Crane to hesitate. The shattered remains of the door lay scattered in the hall, and the ley room was thoroughly destroyed. Pale eyes flicked from wall to wall, the released ley was converging on the soft body laying serenely amongst the rubble.

He didn't need more than a moment to see that the spider was dead, his divine core had been crushed to ash. As others arrived in varying states of panic behind him, the Patcher lifted a hand, silently ordering them to stay back as he picked his way into the room around jagged stone drained of ley. The beast had retracted to her core, barely a shadow of what it had been not five minutes before. Kneeling down he brushed his fingers on the side of her marked neck. The pulse was strong, but slow. He gently pressed two fingers to her sternum. Her breath was even and stable.

 "Fucking fool." He sneered down at the unremarkable body of one of the most feared demons of all time. A soft glow of warm ley surrounded the topless girl, lifting her evenly into the air, though he was sure she was generally unharmed. "You self-indulgent foolish bastard just had to push your luck."

He looked again at the girl, tracing the thin scars over her torso, knowing without seeing that they extended all over her. He then eyed the lightning-like marks up her arms, frowning. "You really put every ounce of yourself into that…" He mused, carrying the girl out of the room, abandoning the corpse of the Corpse Keeper.

"Grab everything you can." He commanded to the concerned faces of the crew. He didn't care which was which. He walked toward the exit of the spider's den.

"We're leaving."

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

[allthemurders]

bbc father brown fans, please help me out with research for my college final major project!

somehow i have ended up being heavily encouraged by my tutors to make a cold open that is Actual Fanfiction (i am still not over this fact hjfdkhgks). atm i'm doing target audience research, so if you've got a few minutes to spare, pls complete the questionnaire linked below ✨✨

(this questionnaire is 100% anonymous. if you can, pls answer the optional questions too, as this will allow me to go more in-depth in my research write-up)

[sunnyy-sunsh1ne]

About Guizhong Having a Correlation with Domains and the Heavens (TL;DR)

It is indeed a fact that Guizhong has similarities with the Heavens & Domains.

She's an entitity that "descended" from above, and also has clothes that resemble to the Abyss/Heavens & Domains.

To continue with the theory we need to asume that all deities descend from the Heavens or recieved the blessing of the Heavens.

With Heavens I don't mean Celestia, but a higher/different power like the Primordial One and its shades or even the Seelies/any other divine envoy.

This theory also follows another theory from a video of @/Ashikai.

Where she talked about domains being concentrated places of space & time. According to this theory these places are like the teapot function, where we can have a big space in such an small teapot.

Domains could be places full of chaos, crowded with forbidden knowledge or random data of Teyvat.

This data could be physical items that the ley lines cannot storaged for some unknown reason.

So because these items cannot be in the ley lines & in the world of Teyvat, domains were created by the Heavens so Teyvat could exist with peace.

Here is where Guizhong finally appears, to be part of the creation of domains.

I have three leads about Guizhong being a creator of Domains:

(1st lead) The ornament she uses in her clothes, and also her clothes being similar to Lumine's & Paimon's clothes.

The ornament of Gui can be seen in various forms around Teyvat, like in the Viparya flower, in the elemental attack sight of Nahida and more.

But I think that @archa1c_l0rd (in twitter) can talk better about it. This post was helped by this other one...

Link: https://twitter.com/archa1c_l0rd/status/1617437510912860162

(2nd lead) I think that Gui's clothes look pretty similar Paimon's clothes (asuming that Paimon has some corelation to the Heavens).

And also a bit to Lumine's clothes (if she also even has some corelation to the Heavens.

(3rd lead) The 3rd lead is the catalyst weapon Memory of Dust.

According the weapon's description, in this dumbbell lies all the wisdom of Gui, one that Rex Lapis was never able to unlock after Gui passed away in the Archon War.

What if inside this lies a domain just like in the teapot function?

Maybe Gui was able to create this dumbbel thanks to her previous creations of domains.

I would like to add that maybe domains could also storage god's residue so it doesn't harms Teyvat.

Maybe old destroyed civilizations had gods that died in some point of history (ex. archon war).

As also there could be pple's souls put in those domains, so they were not storaged in ley lines bc maybe they had forbidden knowledge?

This is why domains have artifacts and weapon ascension items.

[system-architect]

BELATED asura appreciation week day 1 - talk about one of your asura ocs! i had a busy week but there's never a bad time to talk about my guys lmfao

gunner is my main character and is also my commander! he has a non-commander au as well but i mostly think about the commander version. don't let his appearance fool you-- he's about 185 years old right now, the mists just kind of pickled him

he's a rata novan who ended up getting hurled into the mists due to uncontained ley energy overloading the portal he was traveling through while trying to escape the chak. after escaping the mists, he got his masters in synergetics, had a brief stint in the inquest researching the mists/eternal alchemy, accidentally blew up a lab after making his collider go supercritical, hid out briefly in the maguuma wastes, and then fled into the fractals to lay low while being a fractal explorer. in commander au, he's eventually caught by the peacemakers and then sort of leashed to zojja (in the same way canach was to anise) and sucked into the personal story timeline from there on

the freak accident w/ the portal left him with permanent physical-magical-spiritual scarring, and on top of turning him into a revenant, it 'blew open' the ley channels within his own body. he's unable to properly regulate his own magical flow and soaks up uncontained magic like a sponge, with his condition worsening over time as more gods and dragons are killed

the extra magic has some perks and is why he's been able to so "easily" hold himself in combat as the commander, buuuut if he isn't careful, he hits critical mass and his body attempts to purge all of the excess magic at once. the magic trying to vacate forcefully is extremely painful and incapacitates him for awhile, and is super dangerous to anyone around him. he usually gets warning signs prior to this happening in the form of vertigo, headaches, and 'auras' (physically seeing ley anomalies and magical flows). the different pieces of tech built into his armor are regulators (built by one of his "coworkers") that are supposed to help slowly diffuse the magic out over time to prevent this. this 'ability' has won him a few fights, but the cost is high.

i think that's all? HERE'S SOME OTHER FUN FACTS ABOUT HIM:

he's trans + gay

he has adhd and tourette's syndrome. both of those get worse the more magic he has in his body (or the more stressed he is lol)

he has ley magic and spectral agony scarring all over the right side of his body

mallyx and shiro are his canon legends, kalla sometimes comes and goes at will

he obtains astralaria during heart of thorns, and he ALSO has a canon nevermore that he gets during icebrood saga

his name is technically gunn but he just plain prefers going by gunner and that's effectually become his name

he had Normal Organs at the start of PS but over time his magical corruption has turned his innards/mouth/teeth a glowy kaiju blue

[the-wicked-science-of-love]

A gentle embrace from heaven

Originally posted April 26th

Alright, this is the single most self indulgent shit I've ever written in my entire life and I love it. A lot of sappy, gay, romantic fluff because I'm a delusional little yearner like that.

Now the warnings again which I post before every story. If Harley wasn't out of character enough in the last story this one will beat it by a landslide okay? I still write very literally and it's very mediocre, I want to improve my skills but my ideals have always been fun first. The last one is canon divergence, at this point I've been calling it my own little AU, where the angel takes on a much different path in life.

Finally, here is my funky cringe story.

Beau was occupying his bigger body form, moving quickly through the darkness propelled by his freakishly long arms. Grabbing onto pipes, protruding metal pieces, and corners to move himself forward. He was barreling his way toward the Doctor's lab, returning to their shared lair to continue to plot out the next phase of their plan. As soon as he enters the area they created for themselves, he puts himself right by Harley’s numerous bodies. Sitting beside a particular one with a green dyed torn sheet worn like a cloak, Beau closes his eyes and transfers to his new body.

They had made some considerable progress since starting their partnership, causing everyone to split up into their own factions fighting against each other for power was easy. Eliminating every one of them who was smart enough to try and gain control was hard, but for them it wasn't impossible. Mommy Longlegs was the first to fall, her stringy body being mistakenly caught in a crusher and taking her out of the picture. And any toys in the area were either captured for further testing, or destroyed and extracted for poppy gel. With her gone, their next target ws Catnap which should be easy since he curiously began to work alone.

Meanwhile Beau and Harley’s situational friendship evolved into that of a genuine one, as they got to talking more in the background of their plotting. They bonded over things they mutually enjoyed, finding they surprisingly still have a lot in common, as well as reminiscing on the past they spent together. This opened the door for deeper conversations, getting to know each other outside of surface level bonds. What their homes were like, what their schools were like, what their lives were like. Everything before and after, every difference, every similarity.

There's no telling when their affections evolved from platonic to romantic, eventually compliments and praise became flirts and intimate discussions. Eventually physical touch entered the picture, it started with the odd hug here and there. Then it became embraces, cuddling, hand holding, nuzzling, the list goes on. Harley used to be so abrasive about any form of touch, just a few years ago, only allowing handshakes he initiated. But now he was desperate for it, whenever they were in private together he became downright possessive over it. There was no reason to engage in such behaviors and yet they did, living vicariously through their robot forms even though they couldn't feel each other's touch.

As the monitor flickered to life on the robot, a row of jagged teeth appeared on its flat surface. Feral and wild like a carnivorous, hungry animal, opposite to the typical menacing eye that peers out over you in a judgemental squint. In addition to gaining a deeper meaning to the term partners, Beau has been given permission to take control of Harley's spare bodies. This is to keep his human form hidden from the public, as its purpose becomes a much more personal use. He moved deeper inside the lab, directly to its core, as he entered he called out for his beloved.

“Ley ley! I'm back from scouting the third level!! I think I found quite a few unmonitored entry points that we could use!! Even one that goes directly to Catnap’s lair!!”

Beau picked up a nearby clipboard and began jotting everything he found down on one page, and on another he began to draw a crude map.

“Oh! And I've taken the liberty of figuring out when the opposing rebel groups will and won't be in the area!!”

He fills up more and more pages with ideas and visuals for various plans of action, as he begins to get a bit worried about a lack of response.

“Lee!? Are you alright!? Are you there!?”

Nothing. Beau enters the back office area which they had made their personal home, and finds it empty. He goes back out into the main area and begins to search for clues.

“Harley! Don't make me send Yarnaby out to find y- oh wait a minute..”

He trails off in thought as it occurs to him his other half’s might still be occupied with a solo project he'd been working on in secret. He'd be finishing it today but needs as much time as possible to get the finishing touches right.

“Nevermind! I just now remembered! Come out when you're ready.”

Just as Beau begins to boot up one of Harley's computers for a classic game of 3D space pinball, when he hears footsteps approaching from behind.

“Ah there you are, pretty boy. Sorry for all the shouting but you remember the last time it… happened…”

As he turned to face him, there standing before him was Harley Sawyer, just as he was before. Strikingly as human as possible, as if nothing had ever happened in the years since Beau last saw his face. Beau in the robot loomed over him, shaking a little as he began to try and collect himself to speak.

“H…hooww did you do that? I mean I know how you did it, I showed you how, I even wrote it down for you but wh-”

“This was my secret project, it felt lonely being so robotic while you got to be a human. So I made up my mind and decided to join you, though I improved upon your original formula quite a bit.”

“I… oh my god… it's been so long since I've seen your face… I'm at a loss for words! I can't even begin to comprehend this- I… it's really you!”

Beau reached out a hand to touch him but stopped as he realized. “Wait, let me greet you human to human, like old times. Eh, you did restore connection to my body once you were done tinkering with it right?”

Harley just nods his head “I finished my work on your body as well, it should still be on the examination table.”

Beau immediately takes off before standing outside the door, and transferring his consciousness from a borrowed body to his own. Immediately lots of things felt odd, new to him now, but not completely unfamiliar. He pushed aside those feelings as he ran out the door back to Harley, stopping just in front of him now looking up into his eyes.

“My goodness… It's been so long. You don't know how much this means to me right now.. How much you mean to me.. Fuuuuck! I hate being unable to cry. Do you know how long I've waited? How I longed and wished to see you again, as you?”

“Your wish has been granted, I am here again. Though we could never be the same, we could never be as we were.”

“I don't care, I still love you. I have always loved you, I will always love you. Damn, that feels good to say out loud! But-”

“But?”

“Sorry, it's probably too much for the first time I've said that to you.”

“Nonsense, it's just the two of us now in our own space, no prying eyes so I don't mind. And besides, I love you too.”

Beau feels flustered, though his face can't really express it by becoming flush with red.

“So, what exactly did you do with my body?”

“I made it's capabilities match my own, now we will be able to feel the sensation of touch. I have placed a multitude of sensors beneath our skin, so we can feel again. It won't be as sensitive as before, I could only make so many between our bodies. But it's enough to at least feel something, as it connects wirelessly to the brain.”

Beau lifts a hand again and gently puts it up to Harley’s face, caressing his cheek softly as now he can feel sensations again. Harley leans into the touch, smiling with an unfamiliar joy. Not only did his invention work wonderfully, but it also felt so peaceful to him. Beau slowly lets go of his face, then grabs Harley's hand to hold, fingers interlocking together. The sensation is alien to them but the more they touch, the more it comes back to them. The stimulation gradually becomes as natural as their sight and hearing, all like it was before.

“You never cease to amaze me, my love. Your technology remains nothing short of incredible.”

“You can't expect anything less when you're in the presence of the best. Is there anything else you would like to try?”

“Oh hell yeah.”

Beau lets his hand go and swiftly pulls in Harley for a kiss, he has to stand up on his tippy toes and pull him down a little bit to make it work. The passion between them is electric, literally, the lights around them begin to blink and fizzle as Harley's hardware bursts with excitement. And the best part of them not having lungs, is they can kiss as many times as they'd like and not have to breathe. The only thing stopping their frantic making out was a light fixture on the ceiling bursting.

“Oops.” Harley says as he pulls away, holding Beau up by the hips. The other is in a daze of pure joy, unable to think about anything but the feeling of love he shares.

Eventually Beau stands himself up and speaks. “Holy shit, that was hot! Speaking of, have I ever told you how hot you are? I mean seriously you are really smokin’ out here.”

Harley snickers as he hears his partner be completely enamored with him, it's equally amusing as it is amazing to feel that love. “Flatter me.”

“Okay so you're really tall, which I didn't really care about before but now you're really strong. Which means you can pick my ass up, and toss me around! It's going to be really great for me, because I love being pinned to the wall. Also you're naturally just really hot, I mean have you seen your face? Gorgeous.”

“Your obsession with me is shocking yet never unwanted. And after everything I can truthfully say I would tell you the same, although a tad more dignified. You are mine, and mine alone you hear me? Nothing else gets to lay claim to you in any sort of way without my express permission you hear me?”

“Possessive are we? Not a problem. In fact, I think it's really hot how bossy you are. You kept me pining for a very long time no matter how mean or nasty you got. I promise to be very devoted to you.”

“Good, that's my little angel.”

“Hmm, angel? That's a new one. You typically aren't the type for creative pet names. Why the change?”

“I came up with it in the moment just now, it even has a slight meaning to it, if you’d like to hear it.”

“Yes, absolutely I would love to.”

Harley hesitates a bit before going off on a ramble, almost nervous to be doing this so outwardly. “You're so clever for coming up with the greater of this plan, and so swift when bringing death upon the things we've needed to take out. You're a sign from above for it all to end, though I believe in no gods. An angel from the heavens to reign chaos over this fractured order, an angel to deal a swift death to those whose time is overdue.”

Beau tilts his head and raises an eyebrow at him in curiosity. “I think you've been spending too much time with the Prototype, though I don't exactly hate the sentiment.”

“Going so long without mortal flesh can really change you in ways you never were before. Some of them are wanted, others, unwanted. I never considered a lot of things about you, about us, until I was stripped of myself and changed so much. My mind is clearer yet still so lost in a fog, I don't liken myself to a religious man. But our experiments, they get to talking a lot, about prophecies, about someone who will turn the tide in their favor.”

“The rebel groups are the same, only.. Poppy talks about it more than Doey and Dogday. Like father, like daughter, I suppose. And.. I honestly don't blame you for having your mind stray and actually start considering their holy bullshit. When it comes down to it, deep within ourselves, we're all men who fear mortality. I would be lying if I said I never wished for a higher power to help me through this, no matter if I believed in one or not. Guess that's one thing that never changed about me.”

Harley went quiet, in a bit of embarrassment that he's ever sincerely considered something even remotely religious. What has he become since being made into an experiment, how far has his integrity fallen? Even when steeped in self loathing, he noticed a double meaning to Beau’s words, something was bothering him.

“Is there something on your mind?” He asked after a bit of silence.

Beau felt ashamed and uncertain, but he knows better than to hide something from Harley. He slowly nods his head before speaking in a low tone. “Are we- are we sure we want to go through with taking out Catnap?”

Harley chuckles in disbelief, “Really? After all this time, all this effort spent carefully planning the elimination of our experiments you are getting cold feet?”

“It's.. it's different now than before, at the start of everything I couldn't care if I lived or died. I threw caution to wind because there wasn't anything left for me. But you, you opened up to me, we became friends again, and then we became something amazing. Killing Catnap will send the Prototype flying into a blind rage, but what if he gets smart and realizes that the resistances would never attack Catnap out of fear. What if when we blow up Safe Haven, Doey realizes that the Prototype couldn't have figured out where it was. What if they both catch onto us and attack us instead? The risks we're taking are too much, and I don't wanna lose you. I love you so much it hurts.”

“Listen to me, Beauregard. We. Are going to be. Fine. We are more intelligent than them by a landslide, we are stronger and have the manpower to boot, trust me when I say anything they throw at us at the last minute we will handle it. Do you understand me? We reign above them in every way, these toys will know their place at the bottom and that is where they will rot.”

Beau nods reluctantly, he still carries the weight of his doubts but tries to ignore them for Harley’s words. Harley notices and pulls him in close for an embrace, it's uncommon for him to initiate anything, but recognizes that this is a special case. He tilts his head up to look at him with one hand so they can make eye contact with each other, that way what he says next might actually stick with him.

“Be secure in knowing that we are in this together, you and I will do this together. There is nothing stopping us when we collaborate and handle this as a team. I love you too, Beau, we can do this.”

Beau leans into him and hums with content, this satisfies his answer, he enjoys the embrace for as long as possible. Harley places a peck on his head before resting his cheek there, and they enjoy this moment together.

[ryin-silverfish]

Do you think SWK could, in an imaginary scenario, have also fallen prey to Daji's beauty? Ik that book SWK has no show interest in anything like that, however, we can also admire a nice painting or a nice view.

(Since a JTTW-FSYY crossover is deep in AU and HC territory by nature, everything below is my own fannish take.)

It depends on whether the "beauty" is just that, extreme aesthetic appeal, or a supernatural charm ability. I feel like the latter is closer to how Daji's charm works in FSYY, especially the part where she charms her executioners to the point of not able to lift the axe.

The former is possessed by plenty of demonesses, none of which has stopped SWK from attacking them when push comes to shove. The latter depends on how high his magic resistance is. /j

Seriously, though: in FSYY novel, we only witness Daji affecting mortal soldiers and executioners with her charm, before she's decapitated by the Immortal Slaying Flying Knife.

Though Lei Zhenzi (and, after the first failed attempt, Yang Jian and Wei Hu) are also there, they are overseeing the execution and we have no idea if they'd have fallen to the same effect if they were holding the weapons themselves.

(The fact that they have to command mortal soldiers to chop off the Three Demonesses' heads instead of, y'know, do it themselves is kinda an inconsistency that never gets explained.)

A similar scene of Daji charming her executioners is also found in the earlier Pinghua version. Here, it seems like her charm depends on line of sight to work——when Yin Jiao stepped in after two executioners had failed, he covered his eyes with a sash.

Daji still escaped in her true form before the strike connected, but was spotted using JZY's mirror, immobilized by his seal, and finally stuffed into a sack and crushed with mortars.

Now, going back to the magical resistance thing: SWK's magical resistance is pretty damn high, though not as high as his resistance to physical attacks——special moves like Yellow Wind Demon's Samadhi Wind, Red Boy's Samadhi Fire, and Scorpion Demoness' poison still cause problems for him.

(The "pretty damn high" statement can be supported by the failed execution methods after his capture by the Celestial Realm. Fire Bureau and Thunder Bureau gods get involved, and their flames and lightning didn't do a thing either.)

However, however: we don't really see any magical power that only affect the mind in JTTW, aside from maybe illusions. Certainly nothing like FSYY's various spells and treasures that work directly on the soul.

When JTTW demons try to deceive/charm people, they tend to do it the old-fashioned way——through actual trickery and seduction.

Yeah, there's certainly some interesting potential in exploring how FSYY's soul-based arts and AOE formations interact with JTTW's more one-on-one battle style and rarer, but more memorable treasures in a combined universe.

Anyways, I guess whether Daji's charm magic works on SWK will depends on 1) whether you think his magical resistance wards against this type of attacks, and 2) the context of this hypothetical encounter.

Like, does he already have an idea of how Daji's power works via a failed attack/watching someone else fall prey to it (probably Bajie because...Bajie)? Is he caught by surprise mid-battle?

Did Daji like, eat someone's soul again, then possess their body and approach the pilgrims in an attempt at playing the long game?

Nah, wait, are we talking about pre-Havoc SWK, Journey-Era SWK, or the Victorious Fighting Buddha?

...I know this question probably isn't asking for an analysis of Daji's charm power and how JTTW and FSYY's different "Battle of the Arts" style will work in a combined universe.

However, if you are asking me whether a SWK/Daji ship is possible: shipping is for fun. Crackships especially. It doesn't need permission or canon compliance to work for you.

I'm not personally interested in any SWK ships, being about as aroace as Book! SWK myself, so I don't have much to offer on that front.

That said, Daji would probably make a good White Bone Spirit style villainess, who relies mostly on manipulation, enhanced by a power set that is relatively rare in JTTW and works best when the target is caught by surprise or completely unaware of its influence.

Also, someone who's very aware that she can't take on the silly OP monkey directly, but his very guillible monk master is ripe for the taking.

[zofi-persson-quotes]

Energy

The user is able to control energy to their will, the thing that is the base of all the magic systems. With how energy influences things as a whole, Energy users are naturally stronger than most, only limited by their vitality and imagination.

Other than that, energy magic is in a way connected to some degree to all the other kinds of magic, due to people needing energy to even cast the simplest spell. 

Energy is, alongside Light, Darkness, Space, Time, Void, Creativity, Life and Death, one of the Nine Primordial Magics.

It has two sub-elements, Electricity and Technology

Limitations:

Energy Absorption/Immunity

Distance, mass, precision, etc. depend upon the knowledge, skill, and strength of the user, and their power's natural limits.

May be unable to create energy, being limited to manipulating only from already existing sources.

May be limited by the amount of energy a person can hold in themselves.

Extensive use of powers over a long period of time could deplete one's energy reserves.

May be limited in amount of energy or the type of energy.

Energy spells

Dynamokinesis - manipulate or generate energy.

Energized Body - absorb energy to power oneself

Energy Absorption - absorb and utilize various kinds of energy

Energy Drain - drain living beings or objects from their energy

Energy Channeling - channel energy and use it for a variety of purposes. 

Energy Concentration - concentrate one’s energy into a certain point of one’s body

Energy Connection - have a deep physical/spiritual connection with energies.

Energy Containment - contain/trap energy

Energy Defiance - ignore energy and energy currents

Energy Detection - sense the presence of energy in one's vicinity

Energy Generation - generate energy

Energy Manipulation - manipulate energy

Energy Attacks - use energy in offensive ways

Energy Defense - use energy in defensive ways

Energy Constructs - create constructs out of energy

Quintessence Force - create and manipulate an unique form of electrical and life energy.

Energy Immunity - be immune to energy

Energy Negation - negate energy

Energy Perception - perceive energy

Energy Signature Manipulation - manipulate one’s or people’s energy signature

Ergokinetic Flight - use energy to fly

Energy Blast - create blasts of energy.

Energy Emission - release energy.

Energymancy - gain divination via energy

Ergo-Telekinesis - use telekinesis through energy 

Ley Line Manipulation - The user can manipulate ley lines, the conduits of energy that surround a planet.