WITCH AND WARRIOR... also mystify i am vv curious about both
OKAY OKAY OKAY- you asked about two of my favourite stories lol, prepare for an info dump
I am so freaking half sleep right now but if I don't answer this ask right now I'll sit on it for two months so we'll see how coherent I am and how much I get through before I crash entirely
Witch and Warrior is a story that was inspired entirely off of a piece of epic music I was listening to and most importantly, the artwork that went along with the music. It was actually two artworks smashed into one but you couldn't tell so anyway I wanted to write a story about two sisters (and tangent here but later I read a book with a similar but veyr different premise very good book would recommend if I can remmber the title of it)
I'm extremely insecure about the names I gave them but I'm also too tired to rename them right now so um um um um panik
We have sister 1, she's the older one, she's got pink hair (on the lighter red side), don't question it. Sister 2 is the younger one (like 2 years age difference), she's got blue hair (on the darker black side), don't question it.
Anyway so magic in this world was outlawed like thirty years ago before either of our peeps were born. And then was this giant purge to kill everyone born with magic. Those who lived fled to the outskirts of the kingdom but it's surroudned by a lotta lotta lotaa mountains so they settled in this inhabitable forest on the outskirts instead. THe forest is filled with a bunch of mutant, wild beasts, so the kingdom never settled it, but the magic users are desperate and they end up taming the beasts.
Welp the kingdom doesn't like that so they start this massive war to try to wipe out the last of the magic people once and for all (nevermind the fact that more magical people are still being born)
The problem is that they have to go the magic users, who have the use of A) their magic, B) the familiar terrain, and C) their mutant beasts. So it's less a traditional battlefield and more crazy bush warfare that I forgot the name of and so we end up in this unique situation where having more soldiers can actually hurt the kingdom's army because it limits their mobility.
Course, it's a big kingdom so they get lots of soldiers they don't really need, but they're resourceful and what do you do when you have too many resources? Throw them away.
But we'll get back to that in a sec
There's a bunch of different types of magical people
Witches - they're conjurers. they can make stuff out of nothing. all the stuff they make though will be made of the same stuff. That doesn't make sense. Like if one of them makes a spear and their thing is dirt, their spear will be made of dirt. only it won't literally be made of dirt, but it will look like it is. it's made of magic and the magic happens to look like dirt. it's different for every witch. one person might be ice, another stone, someone might lightning, who knows. Not super powerful, pretty good at hiding themselves, except their magic reacts when they come into contact with their thing. so if someone has the dirt thing, when they walk on dirt, the dirt will react to it. It uh- makes a lot more sense in my head. Like the most common type of magic to have, make up the bulk of the magic peep army. They fight in pairs so they can watch each others backs.
Sorcerers - elemental type magics. tend to be extremely powerful and wildly out of control. Get discovered quickly because their magic is hard to control. They sit at the back of battle fields and bombard the enemies. magic is not as good up close, can be dangerous. they're guarded by witches most of the time. very rare. the army focuses them specifically because they can do the most damage.
Wizards - rune based magic. very slow to cast, mostly used for traps or for not battle related things like growing crops, building, etc. They'll prep battefields in anticipation of the army and so the army sends out scouts to set off their traps before they attack. Uncommon ish? probably the second most common? very good at remaining undetected
Warlocks - summoners. they summon beasts and demons and such. will sometimes accidentally do so as children which gets them caught, but if they make it past then, they're good. tend to keep around summons trahter than summoning bunch of stuffs, bonds and all that. uncommon to rare(?)
pretty sure there was another one but I don't remember what it was... it's in my notes but do I want to go look at them right now?
oh hey I think the magic people are called the Coalition, so um yeah I'll refer to them at that. that's the magic people who are in the forest.
Mages - oh right! these are shapeshifters! they're not common. can make mistakes when imitating people. causes a lot of problems for the army cause spies and stuff. need to have identification things in place to make sure they don't get infiltrated
Gifters - not sure if they'll stay in the final story or not but they can grant people abilities but it slowly kills them
Anyway, so magic people are always the first born of the family. not every family, but only the first born will have magic if there is magic to be had.
so Sister 1 is SIKE the younger of the two (also they have a younger brother, who is probs like 5 years younge ror something). they did a switcheroosual with Sister 2 because they realized she was gonna have magic, like some prophetic dream or something, so in order to keep anyone from getting suspicious of her, they made her the younger child
The oldest is super important in this culture. they get all the rights, all the attention, all the glory. they inherit the house. other children are often overlooked and married off.
-- oh also objects can absorb magic over time, so old things are actually very valuable, they have to be well cared for and it just leaks into them can't really happen on purpose but yeah that's important
so Sister 1 is the one everyone is paying attention to going to events and stuff also they're nobility did I mention that? they're the house of Sayithmar um dragon themed crest I think? very highly honoured, very important, very rich, very close to the king.
brub okay I'm tired enough that I can't be insecure anymore so Sister 1 is named Omikiia and sister two is named Luesivra yes I know how to pronounce those no i won't tell you how don't make fun of me I was going through a weirdly spelled name phase and I got too attached
(infodumping while tired is very funa ctually highly recommend this is going far better than I expected)
Anyway so Omikiia is running the show but like their fathr does something stupid and he's gonna be executed for it and she's like "halt" and makes this deal with the king because he's known to like to gamble and so she says okay I'll joing the army and so long as I'm alive you keep my father alive but you can arrest him if you want. And the king's like well okay you'll both die this is fine and he accepts
So she goes running off to war and leaves Luesivra behind to suddenly run the place. And so for all intents and purposes, she is now the eldest child. also her father is gone and her mom is dying ooops so she inherits the estate and begins representing the family in noble affairs and yeah she is quite literally ruler of the house now.
Well so remember how I said too many soldiers in the army in actually a bad thing? But they have so many so what they do is they throw the untrained newbies at the sorcerers in the back because a lot of people die fighting them and it doesn't make sense to lose trained soldiers when they can overwhelm them with the fresh meat instead.
Omikiia figures this out pretty quickly. She doesn't want to die, she doesn't want her new friends to die
So there's this thing in the army
It's run by ten generals. There's the upper nine and then there's the one, known as the King's General. this is the guy in charge. the other nine generals are their support and advisors and all that jazz
Anyway, traditionally, anyone can challenge anyone else in the army to a duel. If they win, they get to take their position. Survival of the fittest and all that, strongest people make the rules.
In a desperate scheme to change things, she challenges one of the generals to a duel and oops she wins even though she's young. cause um, she a prodigey with the sword also her sword is magical so yeah taht kind of helps
There is, unfortunately, a rule that you have to be one of teh Nine for a year before you can challenge the King's General for their spot in order to prevent take overs like this, so in the meantime Omikiia starts weasling her friends into support positions, then she challenmges the King's General, beats him, takes over the army as the yougnest General ever, and starts changing things
She duels a lot of people to earn respect, kicks out half of the nine to replace with her own people while keeping the other half for their experience and stuff
So she basically takes over, yay!
Meanwhile Luesivra is trying not to die in the noble ranks and long story short she ends up engaged to the crown prince (who has an older brother from a previous wife of the king who was a commoner and therefore not eligible for her children to hold the throne because it must always stay in pure noble blood). She's like, really good in the court, people respect her, she's keeping her house alive, her sister is the King's General, suddenly this house that put itself on the edge of disaster is thriving, and the king who doesn't like his son very much wants to control that house and she kind of wants the protection of this marriage but also if either of them find out she's a witch, she'll be killed
oh yeah she's a witch by the way. I think I forgot to mention that
Luesivra is the witch, Omikiia is the warrior, hence the name of the story
Anyway, Mystify! Also known as Code Mystify, also known as my dearly beloved story, also known as the thing inspired off about ten seconds I saw of a video game I ahve never played, hence also being calld the video game story- yeah it's great!
umm I don't remember if you were there when I rambled about Wraith on the discord server but htis is her story!
So we have this country I think I called it something with an A or other I'll find it again in seven months probably
anyway they have something called the Aeon Games (yes the game has a name I forgot I named it not sure what I think but yep it stays for now) they call it the Aeon Stage sometimes yeah it's cool
basic rules for it that are constantly under revision. each player combatant etc whateveryawanna call them has a series of crystal-things that are set into their outfits. break all the things and they're out. or alternatively, you can kill them. or knock them out. or maim them. whatever you want really.
In one on one fights, which are uncommon except for show, breaking their crystals is how you win. in team fights which are the norm, there are checkpoints you need to capture. kind of like capture the flag I guess?
the stages are dynamic, with moving terrain, lots of varied land, each arena is different, yada yada
Anyone can technically sign up to try and get hired by a team but most won't be
The teams are made of eight players. Typically, you'll have three defending and the other four split into pairs to go on the offensive. does vary from team to team though.
So Wraith, for those who don't know, is like an S class player. She's the high of the high,the best of the best, everyone fears her and everyone wants her. she has the highest kill count on record, of both enemies and her own teammates. high casualty and injury rate in games with her. everyone on her team has to sign a thingie saying that like you can't sue the team if she kills you. Killing isn't encouraged but it's not forbidden.
She was on this team but due to inner drama (revolving around a well intentioned now ex-boyfriend who didn't communicate the most effectively) she left.
Well, there was this team who was in the lower ranks, playing on a local region level, known as Team Flashfire. And they were good, but they were also very low profile and the company who owned them didn't have the money to support the team for long. They weren't getting high enough ranked matches so they weren't getting much visibility and they weren't making enough money. the company declared bankruptcy and sold off their player's contracts (yes that is allowed but the players can also terminate the contract instead)
Well there's this other company, Mystify, who dabbles in the arcane magically thingies of the world and they're rich, very successsful, so hey why not they started a Aeon Game team because well- they can
So they bought the contracts off of this low profile team and ended up with three players (there were more, but some of them left) from that team. Mercy (known occasionally as Miracle but gosh darn her previous name stuck too hard), Terrablaze, and Sentinel. They all know each other and have played together before.
Mercy is unique in that she is capable of reviving people. This is unheard of. She can only do it within a several minute timeframe before their soul entirely disconnects from their body and they're dead for good. On the battefield, that's not a lot of time especially when you're actively being kept away from fallen teammates. She doesn't have to do it often, but it does make her extremely valuable. (completely unrelated but she gets a girlfriend with shadow powers later)
Terrablaze has elemental powers but like- they feel different vibe wise than most of mine but like functionally are the same. But mostly she actually fights with her guns and grenades that she customizes herself.
Sentinel has like, the ability to animate stone? also is sturdy. yep. He also is more weapon-based like Terrablaze, whereas Mercy and Wraith are more power-based in their combat styles.
there's more details there but my memory is fuzzed and I am tired
Wraith counts as two players because she has this soulbound companion, Ashes. Their powers are linked together, but Ashes is technically a separate entity with its own body so they count it as its own player, but they share a player contract. So in terms of recruitment, they're one, in terms of how many people you can submit to a game, they're two. It's complicated. She can bring shadows to life and they attack people and possess things and also she blip in between them. and probably other stuff, still working out the fine details.
That's five people, then they have two more, Chimera and Visage (illusion-y transformaton based powers + more charmy enchantress ish powers), who are these four foot tall lizard people, very cute, they're a married couple, I adore them.
that's only seven...
oh yeah, they have this other teammate but she dies so I forgot who she is. then they get this dude Hijink who has glitchy powers. he can glitch through reality (weird teleport thing) and disrurpt other people's abilities.
So, at first it's just the three from Teamflaze (flaze?? Team Flashfire wow) who get hired (for a tiny bit of information, Terrablaze was the 'team captain' of sorts and actually the person the team was named for. In the Mystify team, Wraith is the 'team captain' because she is the most experienced player by far)
Wraith has been a game player for eleven years. most people are only players for like five. high casualty rates also it's traumatic also it pays ludicrously so if they want money they get that quickly. If they're good, that is
The Mystify people actually only take the Team Flashfire because they wanted Mercy because her abilities are so unique. (she can also make this glowing gooy crystaly magically stuff. I'll draw it one day then it'll make sense) also working with Wraith it's interesting because Wraith is infamous for killing her teammates as often as she does her enemies (read: soul bound to a sensitive and extremely dangerous creature from another realm who has a very poor grasp on human emotions and cannot tell the difference between frustration, fear, anger, adrenaline, and generally being upset. Said creature's impulse is also to attack rather than wait out situations)
But Mercy can kind of bring people back so... for the first time in her life, Wraith has some leeway with her out of controlness.
She has a chance to make friends without killing them
Oopsies
anyway that's the gist of both stories. there is of course lots more but thanks for asking I'm gonna go sleep now I am so very tired I hoped this all made sense but before I go!!
Have a little snip of sixteen year old Wraith struggling at social functions while Ashes is Not Helpful. (For additional context, Wraith is from another country and she is still very unfamiliar with the culture and language of this place. This is a party thrown by game players that her team got invited to. Ashes just doesn't do people. Oh also Wraith has a tail and horns like maybe I should mention that)
She dodged elbows with significantly less grace than she dodged attacks in the arena. She was so focused on not accidentally touching anyone that she kept backing up into clumps of people. She scuttled away immediately every time, before they could drag her into a conversation.
She had to keep her tail tucked against her legs to prevent it from being stepped on. Someone brushed their fingers through her hair as she ducked past; the thick, silky fibers slid from their grasp like water in a closed fist. Wraith still yelped softly.
Despite how she’d grown physically, she still felt painfully aware that she was the youngest person here.
Laughter boomed around her, as loud as the bangs of guns in the arena. The concentration of people did nothing to disperse the sound. It echoed off of bodies just as well as walls.
“Eyy!” Someone draped his arm over her shoulder. She moved to flip him over and crack his skull open on the marble floor but- Oh- Swagger.
He moved with far less grace than his name would suggest, leaning heavily on her while his other hand swished a glass around haphazardly.
“Wraaiiith!” He drawled, spilling pungent breath out of his mouth and all over her face. She stiffened, wishing it was considered as appropriate to break arms to escape outside of the Aeon Stage as it was within, “I’ven’t seen you all day!”
“I saw you an hour ago,” she pulled gently away from him. His weight followed her, balancing him dangerously in her arms. She reluctantly held him up so he didn’t fall. He was her teammate after all.
And considering how many of them she’d- she’d-
A little kindness was the least she could do.
He waved a hand aimlessly, “Pfst. Here! ‘Ave a drink!”
He inserted a cup into her free hand. It was full of a dark red liquid that smelled about as good as Swagger did.
She didn’t like him very much.
“I don’t want it,” she tried to say but he pushed her hand more forcefully towards her face. She stumbled back, releasing his weight in order to steady herself. Her tail lashed wildly, banging into legs and unintentionally moving the crowd away from her.
And sure enough, Swagger crashed gracelessly to the floor.
Lovely.
His nose cracked upon meeting the unforgiving surface and spat out blood angrily.
Wraith’s stomach churned unhappily at the sight, but it wasn’t anything she was unfamiliar with.
“You are drunk,” she decided, despite not knowing what that meant; it was what everyone else said to him when he got like this.
She looked around for a spot to deposit the drink he’d given her. They were always served at these parties, though she’d never cared to try one. She’d eat when they got back to the player quarters.
She handed it off to the first hand she saw: Ashes’, and knelt to help Swagger up.
“‘Mfine,” he mumbled disorientedly, swaying on his feet as she lifted him, “tis a scratch.”
“It is your nose,” she corrected.
“Mhat’s wat I said.”
She set him up so he was standing; he continued to cling to her shoulder for support.
He shook out his hair, completely ignoring the blood that went flying from his nose. It looked decidedly crooked.
He broke it.
“Ashes, can you- help… me?”
The creature in question was munching on the remains of the cup she’d given it. Its ears rose inquisitively towards her.
She ignored how the glass would probably come back up in a steaming, liquified puddle in the middle of the night and she’d have to clean it up. “Can you help me carry Swagger over to Surgha and Glarald?”
Ashes slurped down the last of the glass. Swagger gave an intense shudder at the sight of it sliding down the creature’s translucent throat membrane. Wraith ignored him and heaved him towards her companion, who obediently maneuvered its way underneath him, so he was now draped over Ashes’ back instead of Wraith’s shoulders.
“Thanks,” she pushed her hair, which was beginning to fall out of its braids, out of her face and stood up straight, “Do you see them?”
Ashes nippled on the edge of Swagger’s jacket, eyes trained on Wraith attentively. It gave no outward reaction to her question. The only indication she had that she’d been heard were the specks of excitement and curiosity that wavered through their bond.
“We’re not doing anything fun,” she warned.
Ashes yipped disappointedly.
“I know,” Wraith soothed.
“S’why you follo’d by ‘at ‘hin anyway?” Swagger muttered deliriously, “mght be a demon or smthng.”
The crowd seemingly took one glance at Swagger’s bleeding nose and another at Wraith, before deciding this was normal and moving on. She watched with frustration, unable to get a glimpse of any of her other teammates over the bobbling bodies and heads. No one stopped to help.
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