#nikolai borisyuk

[ominous-feychild]

✦ Writer Questionnaire 2 ✦

Thanks for the tag, @the-golden-comet! (And @the-letterbox-archives tagging me when I was almost done here, haha)

Heads-up! Long post!

How long have you had your writing Tumblr/Writeblr? A fast and loose estimate is fine!

Two months ago to the date actually??? Or, at least, that's when I first uploaded a story here. My first actual Writeblr post was me hopping in on an open tag on the 6th of June, haha. I thought it was just a month, but looks like the summer's gone by in a flash! 😭

What led you to create it?

So, I'm a writer on Tapas! I'd been attempting to social network on other social medias (twitter and bluesky) but wasn't getting anywhere, didn't like the general formats, and uh... I'm sure I don't have to explain why I don't want to touch Twitter with a 10-foot-pole anymore. Let's just say, if you haven't seen, it's just as bad as (if not worse than) everyone says. Anyhow, I'd seen lots of Tumblr short stories on other platforms and started investigating what it's like here. Didn't know what "Writeblr" was or that it even existed, but eventually stumbled into the field after posting my short story. Thanks, @darkandstormydolls! ❤️

What’s your favorite thing about the Writeblr community?

How supportive everyone is??? Like omg you guys are so sweet, idk how to take it. Also I love seeing how much passion everyone else has for their writing, haha.

What’s one thing you’d like your mutuals to know about you?

Uhhhh, I think I'm pretty open about the things I'd like people to know about me, haha. I never mean to offend, so if I accidentally say something wrong, please tell me! I'm autistic and very dumb.

Is there anything you’d like to see more of on your dash?

I'm ngl I keep meaning to build out my followed tags for my fandoms, haha. The only fandoms I really see things for are TMAGP (10/10, TMA is my obsession. I am obsessed. It is one of my Special Interests and I love it with all my heart) and House of the Dragon??? Except I'm not even a fan of HotD??? So that's kinda annoying, haha. (Aka, my fandom stuff, but that's on me.)

WIP it Good

Which Works-in-Progress (WIPs) or writing projects are you noodling about, lately?

Rising From the Ashes, tragically. (Because it's one of the LAST things I should be working on right now, haha.) Otherwise, I'm of course always obsessed with the Arcane Rifts. Then I force myself to be obsessed with Sun and Shadow, though it's slowly growing on me, haha.

How long have you been working on them?

Haha, so I've historically jumped around a lot in working on different things, so these are approximate guesstimations!

Rising From the Ashes has likely had 3 or 4 years put into it/the characters. If you include the Calamity Crew (which overlaps with it in the timeline and originally ended up merging with the cast of RFtA), I'd say definitely 4 years!

The Arcane Rifts has had 5 years put into it.

Sun and Shadow is very new; I'd say it probably only has about 4 months of work in it? It's part of why I'm less interested in it, haha. Less I've put into it and less I'm attached to.

Do you remember what inspired them/what got you started?

Oh... oh dear. How could you ask me this??? 😭😭😭

Rising From the Ashes has existed since, I think, 2016. It started (tragically) as an RP starter on Google+. I wish I was kidding.

To those unaware of how it worked in that space (and likely similar ones to this day), you'd post a starter and people would join in with their own characters. 99% of the time, they'd drop out before long. However, I'd work out details of the characters in the process and carry that info over into the worldbuilding. I eventually stopped RPing with the masses and settled down with a single "partner" who I'll call Kris.

She's the one who stole my docs.

The Arcane Rifts technically originated as another RP starter? It never got attention, though, and instead my ideas for it simply carried over into the worldbuilding in general.

One of the characters of the original starter was important in the worldbuilding. It was not a character you see in the early books of tAR, though, so don't bother trying to figure it out. But, since he was so important, his origins were also important.

The Arcane Rifts started in 2019, as I wanted to make a story building out said character's origins. It was originally going to be a duology, the first book being Gene's backstory and the second being how Gene and The Other Guy's lives intertwined. (No, they were not gay for each other! 😂) It's since changed a lot, and focuses basically exclusively on Gene, haha. The last book in the series will probably be focused on the other character, though!

Sun and Shadow started for a romance novel competition on Tapas which has since ended. I didn't get to finish it in time for a lot of reasons, but I primarily cite stress and exhaustion from working full time at a physically-intensive job. It grew shockingly quickly and I had some fans donate to me related to it, so I'm kinda forced to work on it, haha. Dw--I like it! It's just harder to work on for a number of reasons, haha.

How much time, in your best estimation, do you spend thinking about them?

Tragic, the questions you're asking me--

It depends, haha. I'm autistic and hyperfixate a lot. Also, for one, that's a suuuuuper vague question??? Like what do you mean "how much time"--how much time within the day? How often in general? Idk, man, haha.

I think about the Arcane Rifts a LOT!

I've put an incredible amount of time and effort into it, and I'm in love with 90% of the characters there. Even the background characters have had a lot of work put into them, getting relatively fleshed-out backstories to make their motives understandable (even if not agreeable!), and I love them all so much, haha.

Except Katerina. She's a bitch.

I also think about Rising From the Ashes a good amount, and it's invaded my brain again lately, haha.

I took a step away from RFtA and basically all of my other stories late 2021 when Kris (my ex-writing partner) and I had a falling out. It was incredibly difficult for me emotionally to look at anything I worked with her on, and obviously RFtA was a huge one (actually, tAR was the only thing of my early works she had nothing to do with). Since early this year, I've finally been able to work on it again and it's been incredibly fun removing her stuff, actually!

I think all that is a good part of why I keep randomly getting obsessed with it again, haha. It's like looking at old friends (the characters, not Kris) and being all "omg??? I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN FOREVER??? PLEASE TELL ME EVERYTHING YOU'VE BEEN UP TO!!!" except it's removing Kris's stuff, haha.

I think about Sun and Shadow a lot more than you might expect with how much I talk about not preferring it, haha. I love the characters! Crow and, actually, Valyarus especially. They're both super interesting characters, and I'll randomly find my brain working out scenes between characters interacting with them.

(The problem with SaS is that, as a book, it's incredibly different from my usual works. It's a small cast of Frey/Crow and technically Daleira, while most of my stories focus on larger casts. It makes for a VERY different experience, and so it's a lot harder to work on)

When someone asks the dreaded, “What do you write about,” question, what do you usually say?

Actually, I've got a ready answer for this one! Until SaS, I was dedicating my time to the Arcane Rifts and had prepared the answer:

Percy Jackson meets Lord of the Rings in a steampunk fantasy world full of ✨mysteries waiting to be uncovered✨

(I'd say the "mysteries waiting to be uncovered" part ironically/accidentally mockingly most of the time, whoops, haha. I always feel awkward advertising my works.)

It was awkward when people would get actually interested in it from there and ask more questions, haha.

To clarify: that's my tagline for the Arcane Rifts! The story has gods and demigods messing with mortals, using them as their playthings and being REALLY immature babies because they don't really face consequences for their actions like PJ. Then, it's a lot more "grounded yet fantastical" like LotR, where magic is kinda infused with reality and yet you still have issues like starving to death and whatnot.

Let’s Rotate Blorbos

Name any characters you created.  Side characters, protagonists, antagonists, characters who’ve never been written, the first original abomination you ever pulled from your ass; whomever you’d like!

UHHHH THERE'S A LOT TO LIST???

Try this for a taste! These are just the guys I've gotten colors for!

Freya, Crow, Daleira, Valyarus, Grimnir, Soren, Gene, Tazin, Mislav, Adilzhan, Ludmila, Rada, Caspar, Nikolai, Gennadi, Oska, Rieka, Liesel, Carmin, Nora, Sammy, Kieva, Caron, Varik, Elazi, Riaan, Roman, and Tiberius! (Though Tib is getting a name change sooner or later)

Who’s the most unhinged?

Unhinged in which way? There's a lot of options there, haha.

I'm going to give honorary mentions to Valyarus, Gene in the later books, Tazin, Rieka, Gennadi, and Tiberius ! (Why does it not surprise me that most unhinged characters are from tAR? 🤣 Also I swear it's a coincidence most of the unhinged characters are red.)

(... Probably.)

In general, I'd say that, incredibly ironically, the Existence of Order is the most unhinged of all my characters. She's just incredible at hiding it.

(Tbf half of the Existentials probably belong on the "unhinged" list anyway but eh. They still don't compare to Order!)

Who comes the most naturally for you to write?

I'm going to give this as a tie between Gene and Sammy!

Gene has my 'tisms and just about all of my trauma, so we have a lot in common, whoops, haha. Also there's a... very specific detail about his character that makes him easier to write in general. It's just a major spoiler. 👀

Similarly and actually identically to Gene in some ways, while Sammy has a lot in common with me, he's also incredibly perceptive! (Although we don't share that fact.)

Due to the way I write, their analytical natures allow for them to spit straight facts about the worldbuilding and the people around them rather than beating around the bush, haha. Both are highly investigative, try to learn and understand everything around them, and notice small details other characters wouldn't! It makes it much easier for me to write, because uh... well here's an example of what my outlines look like.

Long story short: I include a lot of detail which I then transfer into the POV's character narration, cutting out details which they wouldn't notice or think about, haha. In Sammy's case (which that scene has Sammy as the narrator/POV character), very little information gets cut out because he's so perceptive!

(Here, as a treat--have another example!)

(In this scene, Nikolai is the narrator. Even the outline gets "filtered" to mirror the characters' way of thinking--like it's Nikolai himself seeing Caspar as "doll-like". The crossed-out stuff is details I most likely won't mention, but noted for myself, haha. I do the same thing if/when including details about the motives and thoughts of non-narrator characters.)

Do you ever cringe at them?

Gene and Sammy?

A B S O L U T E L Y .

Gene is a wreck in basically every way and desperately needs help (that he won't get until he meets Dimitry). As much as I love him, there's a lot of moments where you just can't help but wince and be all "shit, did you REALLY have to do/say that?"

Sammy on the other hand? He's a terrified, control freak manipulator who panics the moment he feels like he's losing control of a situation. It can be painful to watch, even if simultaneously fascinating.

How much control do you feel you have over your characters?  AKA, do they ever “write themselves,” refuse to cooperate, or do things you didn’t expect? To what degree? Are some less cooperative than others?

I explicitly go out of my way to add backstory to and develop each and every one of my characters until they "write themselves", haha.

I want my characters to feel like real people, so I do my absolute best to make them as real as possible. (That's part of why tAR is so massive...)

Special shoutout to Dimitry here, btw. Dude COMPLETELY screwed over the planned and intended from the earliest days path of the Arcane Rifts. I've mentioned before that Gene is villain-coded, yeah? Want to know why?

Because he was MEANT to be one! Then Dimitry had to come along, be the sweetest, nicest fucking person around to Gene while he was going through the worst part of his life, and keep Gene from slipping off the deep end!

MITRY, YOU PIECE OF--

Do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters? And do you have a preferred means of receiving said questions? For example, as Asks, as replies, as reblogs, as tag notes, as comments on AO3, etc.

I absolutely love, love, love!!! people asking questions about my characters!!! 🥰

I would absolutely prefer them as Asks sent to me, and especially would prefer if separate subjects/questions were sent in separate Asks! Like, say you were going to ask me about Gene and Dimitry. I'd rather two separate Asks, one asking for whatever you wanted to know about Gene and another for whatever you wanted to know about Dimitry, haha. However, if you wanted to ask a single question about both, that obviously is fine as a single Ask!

On writeblr engagement

What makes you want to follow another Writeblr account? Do you follow ‘em as you see ‘em, or take time scoping out the blog to make sure you align with its content? Do you follow based on WIPs, or vibes?

I definitely scope out before I follow, yes.

I choose based primarily on the personality of the person behind the blog, but the WIPs/vibes can also have an influence on my decision, haha. I'd rather follow people with kind/supportive personalities, and I'll eventually start liking their stories even if they're not initially my thing!

What makes you decide against following?

Bigotry. Moment I see it, I'm on the lookout for even the slightest hint of more and, if I see it, I'm OUT!

(That includes things like: homophobia, transphobia, TERFs, ableism, racism, xenophobia, etc.)

Also, while I include angst in my stories, the people who are big on "I have nothing but bad stuff in my writing and I'm proud" are, uh... not on my "follow" list. While they can write what they want and enjoy it, grimdark is not my thing. Angst is best in moderation and I very purposely control the amount of it in my life.

(Also Kris's--my ex writing partner's--obsession with "grimdark-ness" is a good part of why I'm so ecstatic to remove her stuff from my writing. Yes, I've tried it. For years. I hated it. Please and thank you. Also note that I proudly call myself an evil writer, so it's not like I don't love angst, it's just--moderation. Seriously.)

Do you interact with non-mutuals often?

Yes! I think a good 50-30% of my interactions are with non-moots, haha. I go out of my way to try to support my moots, but I'll definitely share support with anything that catches my attention, no matter who it's from!

To be fair, though, I think a majority of non-moots I interact with are on my mental "probably going to follow soon" list. I can be slow to make decisions, haha. It doesn't help that I try being active with my moots, so I'm trying to avoid growing that list too quickly!

Do your mutuals’ characters occupy space in your noodle?

Haha, depends what you mean by that? My brain is definitely too full of my own characters to have any space for anyone else's, but I definitely do think of others' characters at times! There's plenty of y'alls characters I really like, haha.

Just... omg, my hyperfixated AuDHD brain refuses to focus on anything except for the Hyperfixation of the Moment™.

This was a huge one! Hopefully I'm not screaming into the void with this one, or you guys enjoy finding out more about me and my WIPs.

If you're curious about the reason this is labeled Writer Questionnaire 2... well guess what!

Tagging (gently! This is a lot, haha): @honeybewrites @yourpenpaldee @paeliae-occasionally @mysticstarlightduck @illarian-rambling @.darkandstormydolls (tagged you earlier in the post haha) + open tags!

Divider from @cafekitsune!

[ominous-feychild]

✦ OC In Three 8 ✦

GUESS WHAT WE'RE BACK TO JUST BECAUSE I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF MAKING AESTHETIC BOARDS FOR MY CHARACTERS???

(And maybe I kinda sorta already made these for an unrelated thing and thought I could/should just go ahead and make another one of these with it, haha.)

Today we've got more of the Arcane Rifts's characters! They're all major characters within the story, but not main ones, haha. Except maybe/probably Nikolai? I'm not sure about him tbh. He's either major or main.

NIKOLAI BORISYUK

OSKA ISAKOVICH

RIEKA

LIESEL

Uh oh! Good Cop Nikolai's gotten caught in the middle of a bunch of members of the khonitva! What is he going to do???

More seriously, haha, I absolutely love these guys' vibes! I'm not sure when I'll release the post with these things but I wanted to share their little moodboards, so here we are!

Since I've gotten into the habit of talking about the characters for these things, how about I give you guys some quick summaries on these guys' characters?

Nikolai is Kavo's chief of police, and is widely liked by the general population despite their overwhelming distrust of Kavo's government! He's a vykolt (ice mage), an extremely competent fighter, and generally a charming guy! I love him.

Oska is the leader of the khonitva (the main gang plaguing the town of Kavo at the time of the story)! He's been in it since its earliest days, before the dismantling of the pugabiytsy, and only became the leader after the death of his brother 5 years before the story takes place. As the images (hopefully) imply, he's an ominous figure who plays chess! Wait, no. (*checks notes*) Looks like he's just a chessmaster-planner type!

Rieka is the khonitva's healer! She has blood magic which she's able to use both to heal (duh) and offensively! Like the MC Tazin, she appears to be Jhandan and faces discrimination for it--especially within the khonitva itself. Luckily for her, Oska doesn't seem to care about that! (Anymore.) While a sympathetic character, Rieka is also a beast--she'd be able to easily beat every single one of the other thus-far named characters in a fight (except for Nikolai) and yet... doesn't? Instead sits around letting the khonitva mistreat her??? Wonder what her deal is. 👀 (I also love her. Almost as much as I wouldn't approach her with a 10-foot-pole!)

Liesel is unofficially (but widely-accepted as) the second-in-command of the khonitva. She's been been working for them almost since the beginning and is even preferred to Oska by most of the gang. Except... problem. Nobody knows who she is. Again--she's been in the khonitva since its early days, and yet the entire time she's been there she's always been masked. Wears a fabric mask over the bottom half of her face and a domino mask over her eyes, together hiding all recognizable features of her face and separately protecting from a situation where one is removed. Why in the world would she be in the khonitva for so long, and yet still be so paranoid about her true identity being found out?

OC In Threes: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 Part 6 | Part 6.5 | Part 7 | Part 8

Tagging list (no pressure!): @honeybewrites @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star

@the-letterbox-archives @paeliae-occasionally @aalinaaaaaa @48lexr @huewrite + open tags!

Divider by @saradika

[ominous-feychild]

✦ Beach Episode Tag 2 ✦

Continued from part 1!

What would your ocs do in a beach episode? 🌊⛱️ Can they swim? Any activities they would particularly love or hate?

Characters from the Arcane Rifts: Alyona, Ivan, Oska,, Liesel, Nikolai, Damaris

Featuring tAR's characters mid-book 2, respectively aged (listing because there's lots of timeskips throughout the series and Gene literally starts it at 7 years old, so it's uh... very relevant): 19, 24, 32, 29, 34, 31, 33

Alyona

Almost immediately goes to try to learn how to surf. Falls into the water more times than she can count, but enjoys it anyway. Gets annoyed that Tazin's spending so much time obsessing over the sand, so she can't flirt or surf with him. Stays quiet about it, though, and is happy to actually hang out with him when he gets around to it. Only put on sunscreen twice, but doesn't sunburn. Figured out how to surf, though, and is going to be rubbing it in Tazin's face for the next couple weeks. Should've spent more time with your girlfriend, man.

Ivan

Was the one who carried the most stuff onto the beach. Not because everyone else pushed it onto him, but because he insisted. Planned on following Gene and Rada's directions to put on sunscreen every two hours, but passed out while relaxing. Ludmila tried waking him up, but he was out cold. Nobody wanted to put sunscreen on him while he was sleeping, but at least Ludmila moved the umbrella to cover him as much as possible. He got a bad sunburn.

Oska

Went with Rieka and their twins. Did some research on the specific location before going to make sure it was safe for the kids. Spent most of his time chasing after them and making sure Rieka was relaxing, but still enjoyed himself because his family did! Put sunscreen on his kids, forgot to put a second round on himself. Only got a very mild sunburn. His kids were spared.

Rieka

Went with Oska and their twins. Nearly had a breakdown before going because she was anxious about showing her scars. Oska managed to calm her down and keep her from changing her mind. She spent a majority of her time sunbathing, but also played with her kids and spent some time in the water. Some people stared, but all it took was one look from her and they scattered. Oska's gun helped with the one guy that didn't. At some point, they ended up with some things they didn't arrive with. She's 90% sure it was Oska who stole them, not the kids. She doesn't mind. She knows who she married. She applied sunscreen twice and didn't get a sunburn.

Liesel

Went alone. Checked every witness several times to make sure there wasn't someone either of her identities recognized before finally setting down her stuff. Learns to surf and collects a bunch of shells for her brother! Secretly admires a few of the other women there. Forgot to put on sunscreen more than once. Got a horrible sunburn and made her beard for a fiancé cover for her with the khonitva.

Nikolai

Dies. Almost literally. He's an ice mage extremely sensitive to temperature. Hates, hates, hates the heat and is miserable every second he's there, but tries faking a smile for Damaris. Spends a majority of his time looking after her son and trying to pretend he didn't regret every decision that led him up to that moment. Was too miserable to think of sunscreen, but put it on when Damaris reminded him. Missed some spots and got burned, but it was the least miserable experience from the day.

Damaris

Went with Nikolai at his cousin's recommendation. Started off enjoying herself, but suspected he did not. Halfway through the day, she started to wonder if this was Vera's way of trying to get revenge on Nikolai for something he did. That's a thing cousins and siblings do, right? Grew more and more worried as Nikolai became less able to hide his discomfort. Packed everything up and made them leave early. Put on sunscreen twice and wasn't even there for 4 hours. Did not get a sunburn. Yelled at Vera, who swore up and down that she didn't think it'd make Nikolai sick. Yelled at her more and made Nikolai take some time off of work.

This is part 2! Check out part 1!

Divider by @cafekitsune

[ominous-feychild]

Me: *working on the Arcane Rifts stuff*

Brain, suddenly: Nikolai is a horse girl.

Me:

Me: omg you're right--

[ominous-feychild]

Karlen’s breath misted as he sighed.

The sun had set over an hour ago and the night sky was tinted grey by the clouds. Dilapidated buildings—either barely held together or abandoned from disrepair—surrounded him, stretching out as rows in both directions. Between the run-down buildings and the uneven, rocky road, it was easy to tell that they were in the bad part of town.

Nobody spoke a word. Karlen and his fellow pasidnyy—police officers—had been standing outside since before sundown, waiting for the moment they could finally leave. Their patrol was supposed to only run up to an hour, but it’d been pushed back after some khonitva had been discovered in some hidden passageways. Then, they were forced to wait even longer as their coworkers indoors started their sweep over to look for more secret entrances.

Although none of them wanted to be there, it made sense that they were putting so much time into this search. It wasn’t every day they had a lead on the khonitva—the main bringers of crime to their small town—and they had to use this opportunity to its fullest. But that wasn’t the only reason.

Earlier that evening, Caspar—the konyushy, or the right-hand of the governor—had been ambushed and threatened by the khonitva. It’d kicked off such a fuss that even Gennadi—the bolyar, or governor—had come out of his manor to help the pasidnyy take care of the situation.

Karlen didn’t know much about politics, but it sounded appropriate that Gennadi, who had powerful magic, would come out to help Caspar, who everybody knew to do most of Gennadi’s job.

Now, though, Karlen had bigger concerns than politics or any of what happened earlier that evening. Now, it was nighttime. And nighttime was when bolyui were most powerful.

So Karlen shuddered as he pulled his scarf over his nose, once again scanning his surroundings for anything unusual.

Just like the rest of the last hour, nothing stood out. The streets were completely empty besides the pasidnyy, who had gathered out front of the khonitva’s base. Their torches were the only source of light besides that filtering through the clouds and the snow piling on the ground was untouched by all but their own footsteps.

Half out of the desire for something to do and half to sate his anxiety, Karlen found his eyes scanning higher than the streets—to the rooftops.

And, there, he saw a figure. 

Heart skipping a beat, Karlen lifted his torch a bit higher and took a step forward, trying to get a better look at whatever he saw. But there was nothing there—as far as he could see, not even the snow was disturbed.

“You okay there, Karl?” a voice asked.

Karlen unwittingly jumped, twisting on his heel to face the source of the voice—another officer and a friend of his, Melina, who now wore an obnoxious grin on her lips.

But Karlen’s pounding heart didn’t let him feel any annoyance. Instead, he forced out a laugh, but still couldn’t help but glance back at the rooftop.

“Yeah,” he said hesitantly, “I just thought I saw something. False—”

More movement flashed out of the corner of his eye—this time, in a nearby alleyway. Karlen jumped, quickly turning to try and catch whatever it was in his torchlight.

But, once again, there was nothing there but snow and shadow.

“—alarm,” Karlen finished, swallowing as he forced a grin onto his lips and met Melina’s eyes again.

He had to hide how desperately he tried focusing in on his peripheral vision, struggling to see whatever it was he kept thinking he saw. An animal? he hoped.

A bolyui, his mind replied.

Not helpful! he complained.

Then something landed on Karlen’s shoulder, making him jump again. When he turned to look ahead once more, though, he got to see Melina’s grinning face again—this time much closer, as she’d approached Karlen to set her hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, I’m not seeing anything, man. You’re probably just feeling jumpy because this is your first shift out this late, yeah?” she asked. There was a bit of teasing in her voice, but also some sympathy. At least that helped.

“Yeah,” Karlen hesitantly agreed, sparing another glance to the rooftop he’d previously seen the figure at. This time, there were footprints.

Stopstopstopstop you’re just imagining stuff now!

“That’s what I thought,” Melina interrupted with a grin. “Don’t worry about it—I’ve had plenty of night shifts, and look at me! Still alive and human!”

Melina paused, sparing a moment to give an over-exaggerated wink.

“Probably,” she added with a smirk.

Karlen gave her shoulder a halfhearted shove, glaring at her before glancing about him yet again.

“Vynost, Lana, what is wrong with you!?” he hissed.

She just laughed.

“Maybe everything. Maybe I’m not human. Maybe I’m just some corpse a bolyui’s reanimating or something,” she said teasingly, giving another wink. Then, shaking her head and waving her free hand dismissively, she added: “look, they’ll probably be out here any minute now. It’ll be fine!”

More movement drew Karlen’s eye—this time, though, it was the door of the building before them. Nikolai—their pasidnyy captain—and two other officers had just opened the door. They were all now in the process of stepping out into the snow.

“What timing,” Melina muttered, having followed his eyes.

Nikolai wore a tired smile as he caught Karlen’s eyes, then looked between the rest of them. “There was nobody else in there, so you can all go home now. Sorry this took longer than we were expecting.”

“Find anything interesting?” Denis called. He was another officer, but Karlen knew very little about him.

Nikolai’s eyes snapped to Denis at the question. His exhaustion was clear for a moment, but he quickly gave a weak grin.

“No, thankfully,” he said pointedly, but sighed as he stepped down the stairs of the deck. The other two pasidnyy who’d surveyed the building with him followed closely behind.

Something bumped into Karlen’s shoulder, drawing his eyes. Melina was grinning at him, fist planted on his shoulder.

“See? Just as I said. Get home safe, yeah?” she said. As she spoke, she’d started stepping backwards. Finally, she cupped her free hand around her mouth. Her face was lit dramatically by the torch in her off hand. “Oh, and don’t forget! Don’t let a bolyui catch you!!! I wouldn’t want to find your corpse or anything tomorrow~!!! Byeeeeeee!”

Karlen’s heart twisted at the thought, but Melina only cackled as she flipped on her heel and headed off. He looked to the other pasidnyy in hopes that they might be heading in the direction of his house, but—no luck. All four of the others were headed in the opposite direction.

Karlen swallowed. That just left Nikolai and Denis, who seemed to be wrapping up their discussion. Maybe one of them will be heading my way? he hoped weakly.

‘Don’t let a bolyui catch you!!! I wouldn’t want to find your corpse or anything tomorrow!!’ echoed in his head.

Denis gave Nikolai a curt grin and a wave before twisting on his heel, also heading off north—the opposite direction of his house. After Denis turned around, Nikolai sighed and began digging into a bag on his side, fishing through it.

I’m going to have to walk by myself, aren’t I? Karlen thought nervously, a lump swelling in his throat as he looked at the procession of his coworkers heading north.

Bolyui hunted people who were alone. So how was he going to fare?

“Hey!” Nikolai called, making Karlen jump and drawing his eyes. Nikolai slowed from a jog, stopping a few feet away and offering Karlen a sympathetic grin. “You’re Karlen, right?”

Although Karlen had never really interacted with Nikolai before, he’d heard a lot about him. Nikolai had been in the pasidnyy since he was young, and with that combined with his vykolt abilities—or ice magic—he was far more physically capable than any normal human. Because of that, he’d been quick to rise through the ranks of the pasidnyy when he’d become a vykolt. Everyone seemed to say he was a pretty cool guy, though.

Pun unintended.

Regardless, Karlen didn’t know how to be anything but formal with his superiors. So, when Karlen spoke, his awkwardness leaked into his voice.

“Yessir… Nikolai,” he said awkwardly.

Nikolai didn’t have to laugh. His face pinched as he struggled not to, though it sure seemed like he tried to hide it.

“Just… call me Kolya,” he said, voice trembling from his barely-repressed laugh.

Karlen’s face flushed, but he nodded slightly.

They weren’t kidding… he’s really informal, he couldn’t help thinking.

Rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, Karlen turned his head away, looking around as an excuse to hide his face from Nikolai.

“Y-yeah,” he started, “okay, Kol—”

But Karlen froze, tensing, as he knew he saw something on the rooftop again.

“—ya,” he forced himself to finish.

But whatever he’d seen was gone. Again. Even though he knew he’d seen it. Unlike before, Karlen finally let himself scan his eyes over the rooftop, desperate to find whatever it was he kept see.

I’m not crazy, I’mnotcrazy, he desperately told himself, I’m NOT crazy, so where is it!?!?

“Hey,” Nikolai’s voice interrupted. Startled, Karlen jumped to meet his eyes, panicking until he realized it was just Nikolai—a friend.

Nikolai gave him a small smile, but Karlen could see the tension in his face. Whether or not he saw ‘it’, Nikolai seemed to understand his fear.

“Want me to walk home with you?” Nikolai offered with a smile.

Face flushing and eyes going wide, Karlen put his free hand up defensively. “I-I mean, you don’t have to,” he began, “I just—”

“It wouldn’t be a problem,” Nikolai interrupted, giving an understanding smile. “You live southwest, right? I’m headed the same way. Plus, what kind of captain would I be if I let one of my officers walk home alone this late?”

Karlen hesitated. As awkward as he felt, he also knew how much of a blessing it was to have a vykolt at his side—especially this late at night. So, finally, he awkwardly ran his free hand back through his hair, smiling weakly.

“Yeah, okay,” Karlen answered.

Nikolai gave him a warm grin, but his face quickly grew serious as he scanned the path ahead himself. Seemingly satisfied, he nodded to himself, took a step forward, and then waved Karlen ahead.

“Come on,” Nikolai said a bit dismissively. “We should probably hurry up.”

“R-right!” Karlen stuttered, quickly stepping forward and pacing ahead.

Nikolai nodded, trailing beside and slightly behind him, but easily within sight. Nikolai surveyed their surroundings as they walked, but still continued dismissively, “yeah, so. I figure you haven’t had any late shifts before?”

Karlen gave a quick, jerky nod, constantly looking between Nikolai and their surroundings while they walked as well. He didn’t know whether or not it comforted him that Nikolai was also keeping a lookout.

“Yeah,” Karlen admitted awkwardly. Is it that obvious? Am I really that much of a mess?

But he still couldn’t help looking around them, heart pounding. The same old dilapidated buildings he’d seen from afar for the past couple hours still stood around him, but something seemed… off.

Swallowing, Karlen shook his head and continued trying to figure out what exactly was bothering him. Meanwhile, Nikolai rambled, seemingly trying to fill the silence.

“Well, from what we can tell, bolyui ignore people in larger groups,” Nikolai said. “So we don’t have anything to worry about from earlier.”

Karlen and Nikolai’s path was lit by the torch Karlen held aloft—unlike the rest of them, Karlen didn’t think he’d seen Nikolai with a torch before. Regardless, the torchlight didn’t seem to be reaching as far as he remembered it to, and the shadows seemed to reach so much closer…

“We should hurry now, though, because it’s just us two,” Nikolai continued, “but it’s still pretty unlikely that we—”

Nikolai’s voice cut off.

Heart skipping a beat, Karlen felt his feet come to a stop. Before he could overthink, he flipped on his heel to face Nikolai and see what was the matter, but—

Nikolai wasn’t there.

“Nik… kolai?” Karlen asked, desperately looking between every nook and cranny Nikolai could possibly hide in. Karlen didn’t notice it until now—as the shadows had seemingly swallowed him whole—but his torch had gone out.

“Kol-Kolya!?” he asked more loudly, raising his voice and letting his torch fall to the side. Maybe Nikolai just wasn’t responding because of the nickname thing? he hoped.

This is just a prank, he told himself. This has to be a prank. A cruel, horrible prank, but still a prank, right!?!?

But the towers around him couldn’t be faked. Instead of the old, dilapidated buildings that’d lined the poorer streets of Kavo, there were now giant obsidian towers extending into the sky. Every second that passed, they seemed to morph and twist more—reaching so high that they seemed to tear into the very sky. The air and clouds above them swirled around the top of each obsidian tower, seemingly being swallowed into their ever-growing mass.

Watching it made him feel nauseous.

As Karlen craned his neck farther and farther back, he managed to lean so far back that he stumbled. He caught himself, rising back to his feet, but he noticed something else wrong in the process.

The air. It was thick and muggy, tainted grey and clinging to him like the sticky fog of a hot summer. Every second that passed, the fog seemed to get thicker, tinting the air darker and swirling about his limbs.

But Karlen fought it. Desperate to find Nikolai—to find anyone—he forced himself to run through the sludgy air. Each step grew harder and harder to take alongside his breathing. He was hyperventilating.

Nothing even moved.

Karlen had taken enough steps to get to the edge of the tower—he knew that. But, even with every step he took, everything had seemed to move with him. Even though the edge was right there, had always been right there, he couldn’t get any closer to it.

It was like all of reality was anchored around him.

Finally, Karlen let his feet come to a stop. Instead, he leaned his hands on his knees, struggling to catch his breath as tears welled in his eyes and his vision blurred.

‘We should hurry now, though,’ Nikolai had said, ‘because it's just us two; but it's still pretty unlikely that we—’

Will run into a bolyui? Karlen couldn’t help thinking, half-laughing as remembered Nikolai’s last words. I really had to be taken then!? At THAT moment!? What kind of sick fucking joke is this!?

Managing to half-catch his breath, Karlen slowly—and painfully, as it was still hard to move—stood back up, hesitantly surveying his surroundings.

This isn’t Kavo. It’s like a faespot, isn’t it? So where’s the bolyui? Wouldn’t it have come out by now? Karlen wondered, taking labored breaths as he looked around.

And then his stomach sank.

Because there had been long, endless shadows between each of the obsidian towers.

And, now, those shadows were watching him.

They were curled up, elongated human shapes, each smiling with creepy, distorted faces. They watched him eagerly, as though he was a delicious morsel they aimed to devour.

You have got to be kidding me, Karlen thought, tearing up.

No sooner had that thought passed than the shadows began to melt. They formed dark, inky puddles around all of the towers—all except for the one next to Karlen, that is. He couldn’t find it within himself to feel hopeful about that, though.

Finally, the puddles slowly started to snake toward him. He took a few painful steps back, but—

Karlen’s foot hit something.

Then his back.

And his blood ran cold.

At long last, he looked behind him to see that he’d—somehow—actually managed to move. And now he was trapped, as his back had run into a tower behind him.

Karlen didn’t miss the irony of this situation, either.

'Ṇ̸̉ow̵̫͖̐hĕ̸͈re..̵. t̵͚͗̎o r̶̤̖̍̈un̵͔̂̓.̵..̷̡͔͎̈́́ no̴̻͠ẅ̷̹́,'  something said from behind him. And yet it sounded nothing like a voice—it was a horrible sound, distorted and overlaid by crackling noises alongside echoes of itself. But it still made intelligible words.

What could’ve made sounds like that, Karlen didn’t want to know. But it was behind him.

He didn’t want to look at it.

He really didn’t want to look at it.

But, Karlen hesitantly and slowly turned his head to see it, and a chill went down his spine.

👻👻👻

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! This is the first chapter (or, at its appropriate length, haha) of the Arcane Rifts!

Tagging tAR fans and those interested: @honeybewrites @illarian-rambling @the-golden-comet @darkandstormydolls

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