#onimia

[cosmosoracle]

"Hoyt? Is everything alright?"

It's been a while since I and Zinnya heard the noises from his room. I took my time to get ready and come out of the room compared to her; with some meditation, my oracular curse is also back in control, with just some minor fatigue and excessive glowing from my body. The waving of my skirt and hair all around me could easily be mistaken as flowing movements because of the water. After all, that's also what made it show so much less when I was younger, in the lake. But, above all, now I can swim normally without the collateral flaw of risking to float up because of my lighter weight. And now that I'm fully ready, before going out, I decide to knock on our assassin's door.

"Uh... yes. Much better than an hour ago, thank you. The loss of the book had me shaken, to say the least."

"May I come in?"

I only spend few minutes with him. He seems to be back to his usual demeanor, already busy with some kind of reverse engineering project. "I don't know how long it will take, but we're going to need stronger potions to sustain ourselves from now on."

"Are you equipped with everything you need for it?"

"Yes, don't worry about it."

"Well, in that case... have a good work and afternoon! I will be back soon, and if you need anything, knock on the door." I already know he won't, but I won't let him forget he's got my support. With that said, I swim outside of his room and close the door behind me, then head directly out to the orphanage nearby.

When we first saw the big building, cut in half by the current that divides the freshwater side of Outsea from the saltwater one, it was heavily guarded and impossible to approach. After we spoke to Cila and found her completely favorable to my cause, we also had permission to swim in and meet the little inhabitants of the place. One of them is called Onimia: she's one of the two survivors who came from the Lake of Mists and Veils mere days ago and escaped the clutches of the Vitalia. Lidya, her younger sister, prefers to roam freely through the freshwater area and we never had a chance to find her; but I had quite a few occasions to approach the older one. When I find her, she rushes to me.

Rumors about the fight with Roktor had already spread around the city - that was much quicker than I expected. Even the kids seem to know; and Onimia isn't naive nor blind, and the marks on my body speak very clearly. "I heard someone even died..." she murmurs with tears in her big, golden eyes. Ouch. How could I be so reckless. She just lost her caretaker, the man that carried her and Lydia to safety here in Outsea, and I was about to prolong her nightmare. I hug her tight to it, stroking her hair and letting her lean on me, trying to transmit her as much calmness as I can manage despite the little stab.

"Don't worry, little one... it is true, there was a fight, but everything went fine in the end and even the one who died managed to get back to life. I told you, I came here with my friends to ask help for our lake. And we did it! Outsea will help us defeat that monster, and you won't have to worry about such danger ever again when you come back home."

She seems relieved to the words, but also holds me tighter. "I don't want to go back there if it's dangerous. I very much prefer it here." I chuckle to that. "Of course!"

I cautiously shift the conversation to other topics, and I also catch the chance to inform her about our early departure. "We will have to leave for a while, but when the time comes we will all be back, and I'll come right back to visit you." Around half an hour flows by like it's nothing, and I find myself quite at ease. I grew up in a similar structure as well, and I feel pretty comfortable around the young ones... it kind of feels like home.

But unfortunately, I cannot afford much more time out. With the adrenaline dropping, I'm starting to feel the exhaustion on my body pretty clearly. So at some point I let her go to spend more time with the other kids, and I move on to my next destination, the Fountain, again.

~ ☆ ~ ☆

When I reach the Fountain, Opak is still working to fix the mess Roktor caused. I approach him carefully, watching over his doing and fidgeting with my hands a little before greeting him again. "Am I disturbing you?" But he simply stops for now, and I have his attention. It is actually him catching the chance to apologize to me as well for what happened.

"For what importance it may hold or not... I am sorry I couldn't intervene through the fight. I couldn't convince Roktor to back off when he challenged you, and I couldn't do anything but call the others when things got bad. I'm not as strong as some of the other Generals; and yet, what I did couldn't be enough."

"It's fine... I don't hold any grudge against you, and I know you were watching over us while we were fighting. I saw you cast. You could have just turned to the other way. Besides, I know fighting isn't your calling; mine brought me on this path, and I am aware of its risks."

"It is certainly different, yes. Mine is a quiet calling, while yours... not so much. But each one of us has their own."

"Speaking about it, I actually have come with a request specifically for you." I stop and make myself small in my shoulders while I wait for an answer, then I raise my eyes and see him nodding, listening. I sigh and take off my pirate hat. I retrieve the little blue flag pin that has us recognized as Heroes of Deadbridge under the rule of the new Blue Marquis, then I turn it in my hands...

"You see... this is not the first time I risk to not open my eyes again, and dying a second time really put things in perspective, more than before. I... want to pay respect to the people that fell in the lake, with the little I have left of them to be remembered with." I look up at him again, melancholy and regret in my eyes. "When I found this hat, I was exploring a shipwreck with a friend of mine, one that just recently fell near my town. We found personal belongings and clothes intact, but we found no bodies nearby, and we were naive enough to not ask ourselves why. Now I know that these people from the surface died to the Vitalia as well, and who knows how many more. So I want to leave you this hat, to remember the ones from the surface..."

"This spear, which belonged to the same fighter that wore this armor I have, for the fallen from Jaha..."

"And some of these seashells, for the rest of the people from the whole Lake."

I hold the symbols I just named close to me, waiting for an answer, and I see him narrowing his eyes. I give a sad smile. "I don't know if you can do anything at all with these, but they're all I have..."

"This is not how I usually work, but it doesn't cost me anything. I'll do what I can."

I sigh in relief and hand him over some of the belongings I was most attached to. I am sad to leave them behind, but it's for the best. Many more people need to remember those people, not just me. Many more must know... they shall not be gone with me, if things come to worst again. I can't help to keep acting for that purpose. I need to be ready for whatever comes next, and I keep repeating it to myself: I have to be ready.

"Thank you so." I hold my arms with the hands, and the grip gets tight a few moments later, as my thoughts flow out in words. "I don't want them to be forgotten, going to the other side is... well..." I take a moment, trying to find the right way to continue. "You know, I was even called an anomaly by someone there..."

"I can understand why, at least from my point of view." I'm surprised by such a prompt response and refrain from continuing, blinking my eyes and tilting the head in surprise. He takes a breath and continues, accompanying the speech with his free arm. "As I was saying, I'm not that strong, and I don't know any mean to bring people back to life. Your friends asked me if I could do anything about it, so I suppose they're also unaware; and even if Cila is a very powerful priestess, I'm pretty sure she's also unprovided of solutions to something as drastic as death. And yet, somehow, here you are. You opened your eyes again, after I saw you being eaten by Roktor with my eyes. Of course, this makes you an anomaly."

"Well... yes, of course it makes sense..." I glance at the bright diamonds at the center of the Fountain. I recall Pharasma's words again, about how this gift is something so rarely allowed. There are so many questions left unanswered... but I can't bring myself to talk about them with Opak, not anymore. This is going to be enough. Soon after, I part ways with him, and he recommends to be careful this time, and to have a safe trip.

I find myself alone in my room, finally able to rest a little. I can't sleep though; my mind keeps wandering through the enormous amount of events I just went through in so little time. I focus so much on the place where I supposedly spoke to the brothers, and I can't help but assume that this placr and the sphere I saw being filled with Black Tears where I met Arshea the last time are somehow connected. I keep focusing on it... ans at some point, I get a vision that lasts for just few seconds.

I'm standing on a long road of blue and violet hues, large and dotted in white, which runs to the horizon. On its sides, many other thinner paths branch and proceed straight ahead in their directions: the first one on my left is white, and the others all follow similarly light hues; the first one on my right is black, and it opens a similar series of parallel dark lines. No one walks with me, and I can't turn back. I can't help but wonder what it means...

[metamehta]

Review: Carpe Ominia by BluJae

Summary: Just because they won the war doesn’t mean the war is over. When you get a second chance, what else is there to do except to seize everything.

Time-Travel Fix-It - [Hermione G., Severus S.], Harry P., Ron W. - 55 Chapters - Words: 98784 - Rated Mature

Read it on AO3

Status: Complete

Review: The start of this story is really intriguing, and I was excited to see how multiple time-travelers would tackle the issue of Voldemort. This coupled with the short chapters felt like the pacing of Carpe Onimia was spot on. It ultimately did pay off, seeing that the Voldemort in this story was defeated far earlier than in canon.

The characterization of the “golden trio” were all varied and interesting in their own way. I liked that BluJae kept the friendship between Harry, Ron and Hermione intact without resorting to any ‘bashing’ tactics that can be done in many Hermione paired with a Slytherin stories.

On the flip side, the romances in this story left something to be desired. There were definitely moments in the story where I skipped over Severus and Hermione’s romantic scenes just because I had a hard time reconciling their interactions with the idea that the two could be romantically attracted to each other.

Ultimately, I did end up abandoning this story for two (and a half) reasons. The biggest issue was that I had no meaningful desire to see how the plot line surrounding ‘nexi’ would play out. However, I would have still stuck with the story if it weren’t for the choice to rotate the narrative voice between characters around chapter 40 of 55. A small note to add to the latter point was that I really disliked the story’s characterization of Lucius Malfoy (and Severus Snape) and a whole chapter following him was just the straw that broke this camel’s back.

I appreciate what this story was trying to do with its new take on the magical world and I liked how it avoided a lot of the pitfalls of the time-travel genre. It wasn’t my own personal preference for a story, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be yours.

Rating: 2.5 / 5 - Abandoned

If you like this story, check out:

Backwards with Purpose: Always and Always - features multiple characters time-travelling

The Poison Garden - Severus/Hermione time-travel. (Not really similar but I read it around the same time)

[newsnigeria]

Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

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Eyi ni Oruko oye awon oba Alade ni Ile Oodua/Yoruba #tradition #yoruba #king #oba

Ewo ninu won ni oba ilu tiyin

Ooni of Ile-Ife

Alaafin of Oyo

Awujale of Ijebuland

Alake of Egbaland

Olowu of Owu

Oluwo of Iwo

Olubadan of Ibadan

Soun of Ogbomoso

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Ataoja of Osogbo

Deji of Akure

Timi of Ede

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Olugbon of Orile Igbon

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Oloye of Oye-Ekiti

Owa Ooye of Okemesi-Ekiti

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Akaran of Badagry

Onikire of Ikire

Osolo of Isolo

Apetu of Ipetumodu

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Asawo of Ayete

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Olokaka of Okaka

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Onimia of Imia

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Onidere of Idere

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Iba of kishi

Elegushi of Ikate land…

Oloto of Otto

Oloto of Otto Ijanikin

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Onipetu of ipetu igbomina

Alaran of Aran-orin

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Oloro of Oro land

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Elesie of Esie land

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Oniko of ikolaje Idiroko

Onipokia of Ipokia

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Alajede of Ijede , etc .

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