#Shadowlight

[merakimoonglade]

Shadowlight, chapter 3

Excerpt:

Keeping her eyes low, Elain hummed a lullaby her nursemaid used to sing to her and her sisters as she walked the overgrown path along the side of Rhys’ family home. With each step she rocked her body side to side letting the exaggerated motion lull her nephew into a deeper sleep. Nyx had quickly loosened his iron grip on the lock of hair she’d forgotten to push behind her shoulder but Elain would rather trek through the surrounding forests at night than risk waking the fitful sleeper once she laid him down in his cot. 

Reaching the back of the house, she curved into a slow, wide turn, her eyes fixed on a smudge of watermelon pink at the far side of the weathered stone wall. It had to be a flower because she’d seen nothing within the camp yet with such a similarly vivid hue but it was too well hidden beneath the dull, yellowing grass to determine if it was one of the rare blossoms that only grew in Illyria.

The list of pink hued flowers native to the Night Court slipped from her mind as she reversed her course. She reflexively looked up from the grassy path and almost stopped at the sight. The cottage stood on the outskirts of Windhaven and the two sides Rhys told Elain she could walk so she remained in his sightline held a perfect view downslope to the training fields. Illyrians spackled the cloudless pale blue sky like black stars, their Siphons glowing like multi-colored constellations, their faceless armor-clad forms just far enough away that Elain didn’t worry about the clamor of swords and shields waking her nephew. While she had no interest in training to be a warrior like her sisters she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the Illyrian’s savage dance. It fascinated her how quickly their wings moved, snapping and whipping the males around as fast as an arrow slicing through the air. 

Rhys would outpace them. Azriel and Cassian moved even faster. 

Without thinking, Elain glanced down the hill to three sets of bat wings. Two were brutally scarred, and one pair of gleaming obsidian talons tore higher into the sky than the others. 

Every part of Elain tensed. Shadows that had been a haze of muted silver in the bright sunlight were now the gray of a storm cloud. They clung unmoving to Azriel’s imposing figure like predatory birds waiting to strike, and his, Rhys, and Devlon’s wings were rigid with tension. Night dark power blurred the edges of Rhysand’s form against the stunningly clear blue sky. 

Read the rest of the chapter on A03.

If you'd like me to tag you for updates please let me know. ❤️

[bangbangfire]

BALDUR’S GATE 3 (2023) — developed by larian studios.

[straynoahide]

I don't know about the lore but sauron had galadriel and still turned into dark side ??? Even love couldn't save him :(

They've had a fated connection but not allowed themselves the vulnerability to truly love what is different- to love the Enemy.

Sauron is unhealed. He's been in the 'dark side' for ages before she was born, and may have come the closest to the Light in his time with her yet, but a lifetime would be too short to climb such a fall and become again the lost Mairon.

As for her, she is of a proud lineage and an ambitious woman who yearned for power, and has peeked into the abyss from up close. She knows what it has for her desire, but also what she risks each day she remains in the Middle-Earth of fading grace.

I love that they dance around each other without fully meeting, because crossing over would diminish both and fulfill neither at this point in the story. Their connection is built in their dialectic, what they become by confronting light and shadow- not by yielding.

They can both condemn and redeem- not each other, but their own hearts, because Eru made both sovereign of their own fates, doomed to be free until the end of days.

I believe anyone can be saved- but only One saves, who will have the last word at the end of the world. Many may talk, but until then remember, we know only that it has not yet been spoken.

[theoutcastedartist]

Hello! My friends and I discovered your Shadow Light AU tonight and I just have to tell you that we are INSTANTLY obsessed with this! We love it so much!! I personally have been screaming about how tired Sonic looks (my poor boy) and what is the significance of the 17??? 👀👀👀

I don't know if you still plan on returning to this AU, but we'll be very happy if you do! (I saw the asks where you said you'd gotten into LMK which, valid. Me and a few of my friends love LMK too!) Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful day!

(Also your art style is absolutely AMAZING. Tails looks absolutely adorable and I love the way you draw Sonic!!)

hello! Sorry it took so long to FINALLY answer this XD

Haven't really checked my inbox in a minute imma be real. But I'm very glad to hear you and your friends have been liking the AU (despite it having been in an indefinite hiatus lmaooo) the AU **MIGHT** be coming back if my current returned interest in sonic stays for long enough. If I do decide to bring it back I'll make a post officially announcing it.

and yeah my AU boom!sonic is a very sleep deprived little guy.

The significance of "17", if I remember correctly (it's been a minute since I've thought of the more intricate details of this AU) for sonic is that he was Dr. Thorndyke's 17th (and last) attempt at Project Light (who is a scientific experiment created with the goal of harnessing the powers of one of the Halves of Solaris, known as Iblis the Flame)

Project Shadow on the other hand, is the one and only of himself (the ultimate lifeform) whose original creation under Gerald Robotnik was, like Project Light, meant to harness the powers of one of the two halves of Solaris, his being Mephiles the dark.

The Bio lizard and the Chaos clones were part of a failed abandoned project of trying to harness the God powers of recreating Chaos themselves.

Iblis and Mephiles are some of the gods the Ancients worshipped before the collapse of their old civilization, the two are quite literally halves of a bigger God (Solaris, who does not have a design in the AU yet).

It's important to remember in this AU that despite the two being created within the same facility/on ARK, they are not related by blood at all.

Shadow still retains his black arms DNA (with a twist) and was created by Gerald and his team,

Sonic's DNA is that of one of the preserved remains of one of the royal children from the collapse of the Ancients, and he was created by Thorndyke and his team

(and he and Gerald had very... Clashing views on the ethics/morals of how they treated their respective creations.)

Dr. Thorndyke was not a nice man, from the few interactions shadow and maria had with him. He was a very secretive man when it came to any version of Project Light. They didn't even meet our Project Light - ver. 17 (who we all know as Sonic) until 3 years before shit hit the fan - to say the least.

Shadow, while being in stasis for 50 yrs had his memories slightly tampered with, while he remembers most of ARK, he does not remember sonic (but feels unusually drawn to him for some unexplainable reason) and Sonic had been accidentally sent 50yrs into the future instead, but unlike shadow he has lost all of his memories on ARK - poor blue couldn't even remember his own name (dubbed 'Little Light' by Maria) and was largely mute until he met Tails and Co. His name "Sonic" technically came from Eggman, constantly referring to him as a "SuperSONIC nuisance" lmao

But yeah thanks for sending this ask! Even if it's been a minute ToT

[sepia-stained-sunset]

Talia al Ghul and Kimiyo Hoshi are so funny because a lot of Talia's struggles are rooted in a filial loyalty that clashes with her own moral code.

Meanwhile, Kimiyo Hoshi's first appearance was her telling her dad to shut the fuck up and let her do her job and as a direct consequence of that she became one of the most powerful beings in the DC universe.

[electronicclowncollector]

My contribution to shadowlight week!

As shadowlight week is coming up, and i'm not exactly an artist, I thought i could do my part to provide @lilacharbour for what she could do (unfortunately, she said they were simply too good for her to recreate) so I decided that I would give them to the public for admiration purposes.

List of ideas (in case they're hard to read)

Hope/lost

Sting almost quits, but relapses

Fresh gets lost and never gets found

Sting goes to confession booth (Catholic)

Rogue gets lost in an alley and gets mugged

Rogue gets lost in an alley and gets mogged

Angle/Demon

Rogue and Sting get baptised

Sting uses the 'Acutie' line on Rogue while Rogue Matthew Cheney cries over basic maths homework

Sting turns into Garfield

Rogue turns into Odie

Stingue learn pythagoras theorem (Sting is crying)

Lock/Key

Sting locks Rogue out of the house after an argument

Rogue handcuffs himself to sting (protest to get sting to wash the dishes)

Sting loses the housekeys while gambling, Rogue is in tears

Locked in a room together with no way out (kissing)

Contrast/Unison Contract/Union

Rogue goes on strike

Rap battle

Sting contracts a new virus that makes whoever has it HATE Rogue Cheney

Sting and Rogue sign a contract to disney (forced to be live action :(and a sequel)

Divorce signing (part 3 to the cheating scandal)

Childhood/Future

Sting mourned Rogue's death (Rogue is a naked ghost behind him)

Sting and rogue start a corrupt family channel

Sting is homeless

Sting has a gambling problem and rogue has to manage his finances

Rogue is homeless after spending his life savings on golden cat ears

Rogue and sting have kids (they look nothing like one of the parents. Part 2 to the cheating scandal)

Sting asks rogue to marry him while rogue asks to break up at the same time (rogue accepts)

Flowers/Genderbend

Sting and rogue come out as trans at the same time (but Both are still only attracted to men so they break up)

Sting and rogue at cinema. Sting is eating flowers

Rogue drinks the girl potion

Sting drinks the boy potion and becomes MALE^2 (suddenly no longer deadbeat)

Rogue kills sting for eating frost's flowers

Secret/Intimacy

Rogue reveals he's pregante so sting gets the hell out

Rogue and sting in bed together facing away from eachother

Sting cheats on Rogue with Edolas Rogue. Rogue walks in on it.

Rogue kissing booth

Cheating scandal.

Larcade

[just-b-wilde]

Lumen and Dexter from my fan fiction story Shadowlight by Silence 🔥 thank you so much!

[moo-shroomi]

a list of my fav fairy tail ships except some of them i have liter never heard others ship

-nalu obviously i’m obsessed with them

-minerva x erza call me crazy but those two girls have fat gay crushes on each other

-sting x rogue idc what anyone says they are gay. especially sting. fruit basket ass man.

-cana x lucy i mainly ship nalu like 1000% but also like cana and lucy had so much chemistry randomly like uhhh something LGBTQ is going on with them

-gruvia i think they’re so silly they’re sweetie pies

-juvia x cana fr i ship cana with every female character atp

-mavis x zeref literally they make me so sad i bawled when i saw their story episode bc like they could’ve at least been happy together if the curse didn’t like kinda kill her ish and he would be so different and ugh idk bro zeref also makes me mentally ill in general poor bby

-gajeel x levy they’re actually the cutest cutie pies to ever cutie pie

-millianna x kagura they just seem fruity bro

-laxus x mira i dont think i would ship them if i hadn’t read fanfics that they were in but now that ive read so many fanfics im kinda obsessed with them. they just don’t interact enough in the show

-gray x erza listen ik this is controversial but sometimes they had mad chemistry but like this to me is like i think it’s silly but i don’t think they’d ever be a couple but i think they def did kiss before

idk i can’t think of anymore rn but maybe ill add to this later

[mahamayax]

[thisaintascenereviews]

Defences - Shadowlight

Throughout this year, I’ve talked about a lot of what I’ve come to call “Octanecore,” which is the nickname I give to metal and hard-rock bands that are primed for Sirius XM Octane. These bands have a similar sound, but it’s not a sound I totally mind, either. They all are in the realm of hard-rock, metalcore, or alt-metal. Sometimes they’re all three, or they specialize in one, but they have elements of all three. You could argue that certain bands are Octanecore, but they’ve been grandfathered into the name. You could call any metal band with catchy hooks “Octanecore,” but I think ever since bands like Spiritbox and Bad Omens got big a few years back, a lot of these bands are popping up.

If they aren’t popping up, they’re changing their sound to fit that mold. Both Beartooth and Wage War are two bands that morphed into that sound over the past few years. Nonetheless, a lot of bands have been popping up with that sound, or some semblance to it, including English outfit Defences. Apparently this band has been around since 2017, but this is my first time listening to them, specifically with their third album, Shadowlight. I read a review of the album, and had an idea of what to expect, but after listening to it, I was pleasantly surprised, although this album isn’t perfect. I don’t necessarily love this thing, but Shadowlight is pretty good.

They really take the Octanecore sound, as well as a shade of R&Bcore in the vein of Issues. and do something rather fun with it. Their brand of Octanecore is pretty generic, but it’s done well for what it is. There aren’t any moments that really blew me away, but there were a lot of moments I enjoyed. What’s sort of disappointing, however, is that despite the band having two vocalists, and both of them being very good (seriously, they’re wonderful), there aren’t that many memorable hooks here. It’s a shame, because the vocals are really good, but there’s not much done with them.

The heavier moments are pretty cool, but they’re also generic and nothing special, so I don’t know how to feel about it. They’re not bad, and they’re enjoyable, but a lot of the bands I mentioned in the beginning have this same sound, only better. That’s kind of harsh to say, especially where this band has been around for as long as those bands have (and possibly longer), but this is relatively generic stuff that doesn’t go above and beyond.

I will say, however, that it’s worth hearing if you enjoy this sound, and if you can’t get enough bands like it. They do have an interesting edge with some R&Bcore sounds and influences showing up every now and again, especially with the slow and moody “Inspirit,” which really shows off the vocals and the slower side of this band. The R&B elements don’t show up much, or they’re very fleeting when they do, but that would a cool element for them to explore in future albums. It would definitely set them apart, especially with Issues being gone now, and there’s a hole to fill in that vein. I like this album, but this band needs that knockout song or album to really get people to look at them as something more than a knockoff.

[gbhbl]

Album Review: Defences - Shadowlight (Long Branch Records)

Each track on this new album finds Defences oozing passion and showcasing their ability to deliver something creative.

Defences, the alternative metal band, are back with their brand-new album, ‘Shadowlight’, due for release on November 8th, 2024, via Long Branch Records. One listen to Shadowlight and it becomes abundantly clear that Defences are thinking a bit differently on this album. Not when it comes to huge alternative anthems of course, that’s what they do after all, but rather the layers that make this…

[merakimoonglade]

WIP Wednesday - Shadowlight, Chapter 3

Elain shivered with a rush of melancholic anger. Azriel had been on edge all morning, he hated the camps and his contempt for them was palpable in spite of his unreadable expression. A few hours in Windhaven and from the way the shadows were acting and how he kept a hand near Truth Teller he looked ready to snap. She wanted to go to Azriel, try to make a corner of his mouth curl up in the suggestion of a smile, all he would allow himself here, and distract him from the Illyrians who looked at him with equal parts loathing, disgust, and dread. Like something dredged from the depths of hell and brought to the light. Fear kept her from his side. She was afraid to see how carefully he avoided meeting her eyes again and his too polite, courtier appropriate response. He’d already turned away from her the two times she caught him watching her. 

@tswaney17 🌸

[chickenroost]

Shadowlight [pony/request]

by @chickenroost

[straynoahide]

The only hope in this endless night

Is to follow you through the shadows of the deepest blue, away from the light

I hear your voice is calling me: "Don't be afraid"

But there's something deep inside of me

Forcing me to turn away, to turn away

Take my hand, don't turn away, I need you to stay

I know a place where the light and the dark can become as one

This loneliness is killing me

Is there a place we both can live?

You're the dancer in the dark

You're the child of the light

You're the sinner of all time

You're the saint with wings so white

You're the distant shape in the night

You're all the innocence left alive

You're like tainted sun

You're the star shining bright

This is one of my favorite songs ever and I think the ship captures this trope so well. It's the ship of ships, the archetypes of light and darkness and their volatile symbiosis and contradiction.

I wanted to share the lyrics as well with the song bc I think it fits (you gotta genderswap it bc the male voice is the light and the female voice is the dark, but otherwise):

Sauron is the Deceiver, the form that knows and dances in the dark recesses of marred Endórë, wrongdoer of all time from the memory of the Noldor, servant of the Darkness Everlasting; the shape-shifter with power over of the unseen world, burning mightiest among the tainted flames of Anor.

And yet since the Wrath, out of fear, and out of pain, and out of missed redemption, a loneliness, a yearning consumes him.

Galadriel, the Child of Ilúvatar, Lady of Light, warrior-lady and rallier of men, a sorts of Saint Joan of Arc in Arda, moved by forces Men lack the conviction to name; - and yet at the same time, just the inner child, the little girl, who does not understand and misses her older brother, who wants to restore him, restore the unmarred innocence and love she knew in Valinor, her true home that no longer is.

What is home, then? An aspiring ruler, a houseless inheritor of the House of Finarfin, whose Star is branded in her armor over her heart.

The flame of that Star burns bright, both is her Light, her compass since the Doom was spoken - but also burns with the same Fëanorian Fire that burned too bright, and consumed itself.

It must be tempered - but not doused, never doused. No one understands that, so she knows a loneliness, too.

That compass leads her to empower what she sought to destroy, and nobody shall forget, that He lives because of her.

She knows he knows.

He knows her loneliness, because he knows the same loneliness.

And he knew it in her before before she did, so he saw her, and sees her, and she doesn't have to be lonely ever again.

As he leads, she follows, but turn away she must; and the further she gets, the more she will have to follow back. Even if she makes a dwelling and wears a crown, she knows it is not her true crown, that it does not match Nenya; that it will never be home.

Home will be that place, where light and dark can become as one. She will yearn for that place, the place where she'll take his hand and not walk away. Even if it is not within the spheres. Even if she has to wait for the world to be remade. Even if she has to plead to the One, like Lúthien plead for Beren.

And she will curse the world, and curse him, and curse herself. Was a greater test, a greater burden ever placed upon a Child of Ilúvatar?

[straynoahide]

he has the ambiguous psychology that makes him a more compelling villain. i believed he had a very strong bond to Aulë and after Morgoth's defeat doubt crept on him, but he couldn't bring himself to face judgment in Valinor. so he fell back to the 'shadow' again- the comfortable darkness, the familiar. then he saw that Light shine again. and he fell right back into doubt of his own path.

because Galadriel.

(requested by anon)

[sepia-stained-sunset]

It's a tragedy that Kimiyo Hoshi and Talia al Ghul haven't met yet/aren't friends in canon.

There's a very interesting conversation that can be had regarding Talia and Kimiyo's different perspectives on sustainability, and their vastly different methods. If they wouldn't team up, they would at the very least value each others' inputs.

Also Dr. Hoshi needing funding is such a perfect set-up for her to meet Talia? Literally how are they not canon??