#swordspirit

[awberryy]

WIP that I'm doing instead of writing essays for @cherrylavendertea sword spirit AU!!!

First up we got Link in the velvet star pattern bell sleeve top bc it's cute. Sword spirit Link IMO is based on a loftwing because he's branded by Hylia herself- and skyloft/loftwings represent freedom. Which is ironic considering the fact Link is currently serving beneath Demise so he's essentially a bird trapped in a cage. Unless we count his new purpose in life as a freedom from the burden of serving Hylia. Can't wait to draw a few little red spider lillies to represent birth/rebirth as he's technically being born again as a sword spirit? He has a few designs from Zelda's iconic appearance too! Anyway yeah current hyper fixation go brrrr. Also I swear he is wearing pants- trust me. anyways go stream "Shoukei to Shikabane no Michi" full version

[occasionallyprosie]

Devotion - Chapter One

AO3 Link

Despite the young Hero of Legend’s best efforts, the spirit of the Master Sword faded after Ganon was defeated (the first time). Some years and five other adventures later, Link discovers a book that will allow him to help and guide the heroes that come after him like Fi did for him during his first adventure.

AKA my Sword Spirit Legend fic

TW: kinda suicide (temporary character death, he dies to become a sword spirit). Lots of mentions of death.

A loud thump sounded through the room and Zelda jumped. A book dropped on her desk by the teen who stood before her.

"It can be done," Link said, a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. "I can help them."

Zelda gave him an unsure look as she pulled the book toward her and flicked it open.

"Page 55," he told her.

She flicked through the book, finding and soon reading the aforementioned passage. Her eyes widened and she looked at Link in surprise.

He grinned. "We can do it. I can—I can help them."

She nodded slowly. "Right... Right. Between my sealing powers and your guidance, any future heroes and maidens can handle whatever comes for them. When do you want to do it?"

"I... As soon as you'd let me." He added in a far quieter voice, "I don't think I'll live much longer, anyways."

Zelda frowned, looking down at the book with a clear melancholy.

"Please, Zel. Do this for me?"

She sighed and nodded. "I will." She shut the book and stood. "Let's go."

Inside a clearing of thick forest, a large pedestal of stone sat. A golden sword with a hilt of green was laid down on the stone and two blond teenagers stood there, one holding the book, the other holding a knife.

"You're ready?" Zelda asked, looking over at Link.

He nodded, tightening his grip on the knife in his hand. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm ready. My house is locked up tight with all my stuff inside, and at worst, you'll come down with some guards and personally make sure everything is put somewhere safe, at best I'II be back to handle it myself."

She inhaled shakily. "Yes... Link— You really don't need to do this. You're still young."

"Zel. It's either this or... I don't know, but this will let us make sure that no matter what attacks Hyrule, what tries to destroy it, someone will be there to stop it. Forever, I'll be here to protect our kingdom." Link insisted. "And the other kingdoms too."

"But..." she sighed, shaking her head. "Alright. This is your choice... Kneel?"

He moved over to the sword and he knelt down, facing the blade. She stood behind him and held her hand out, her palm pointed to the back of his head.

Her hand began to glow a soft golden light.

She murmured lowly, words falling into a senseless stream that rolled over Link's mind and ears, filling it like cotton.

She slowly, gradually grew louder, repeating some sentences and others that were new. The light grew brighter and wrapped around him and the sword.

The light became thicker, swirling almost spherically around him, Zelda chanting in an ancient language far predating their ancient Hylian. The golden flecks within her eyes seemed to glow, mirrored exactly in Link's eyes despite them being squeezed shut and such luminosity being left unseen.

Link lifted the knife to his throat. Zelda's voice trembled as it rose and the golden magic thickened. The sword rose up in the air, lifted by the golden light.

Zelda's voice hit a high and Link slit his throat.

Bright light erupted. Zelda closed her eyes but did not move, nor did her voice falter. A long moment passed before the beaming light faded.

Zelda crumbled to her knees, book clattering to the ground and she covered her mouth as she choked out a sob. The sword was on the ground and gleaming in the sunlight, unblemished. A single drop of blood and a bloodied knife laid by her knee, that was all that was in front of her.

There was no body.

Warmth was the first thing he noticed. Then the light.

It took a long time to be aware of anything else but that. Warmth and light, darkness and cold.

Then he was in a light place, an area of warmth and cold, of light and darkness. There was more light than dark, only remnants and residue of the dark remaining, only the ghosts of the cold lingering. Winding tall things and bulking low things, opulent and bright.

He had no form, no conscious memory, nothing beyond existence. Golden power was within his reach and pure curiosity drove him to push it out, to mold it and see what it could do.

Flames exploded, sparkles erupted, the center of his awareness would shift its placement. Then things would form, colors, or the absence of it, small things that seemed to have minds of their own, animals was what he subconsciously called them, conjured, he identified them without purposeful thought.

Curiosity pushed him to see what else he could do with the power, the golden warmth that made up his awareness.

In time, a long time, he discovered something colorful. Suddenly he was no longer placed in the warm and light place that was distantly tainted by dark and cold, but in a green place on a platform of gray, with blue in the far above and a great yellow and white circle.

Just as colors exploded, memories slammed through him.

Link would have screamed if he could. He would have gasped and hyperventilated at the least. Yet he couldn't.

It worked. It worked, he—He was a spirit, a sword spirit.

All that curiosity that was usually tempered by wisdom and wariness had done one good thing for him.

He could see, it was obvious that the golden warmth was his magic, was his soul, and only through pushing it out and sensing and creating a magical image of the world allowed him to see. He could hear, as air pushed through the reach of his magic, the vibrations made sound that he just subconsciously translated to the sound of wind.

Next was just figuring out how to change form from sword to something more mobile.

In time, he figured it out. In time, he was in the same outfit he'd worn when the ritual took place. He could change his features and his clothes with a thought, not perfectly, he couldn't exactly create matter without active conjuration, so his clothes were limited, though color was not.

He returned to the castle. Zelda was a few years older, Impa had passed in his absence, Ravio was elated to see him, but they could see a difference between them now beyond their color schemes.

Ravio was getting older, Link stayed the same. In no time, for the first time, they were mistaken for father and son when going out, rather than brothers or twins. Link could feel his heart slowly crushing.

He grew older mentally too, keeping up with them in that regard, but physically?

He watched Ravio fade away first, then it was Hilda... then even others passed away, Din, Maple, and Ralph years before Ravio, then... then it was so many others. So, so, so many others.

Then it was Zelda.

Link stayed in Hyrule, watching over her daughters, doting on them, teaching most of them how to fight and helping them learn and harness the sealing power that Zelda spent years merging with the divine magic in their blood. He knew it too, as a result, but her daughters were naturals. Then their daughters too, there was a son and when the kingdom rioted, Link took that son and raised the boy himself, taking him to his orchard, which Link still owned, and raised him on. That boy maintained that orchard, wanted to expand to a whole farm that Link didn’t hesitate to help with, and even though he was aware of his identity as the prince, he wanted to stay a farmer.

Link worked between both, he kept close to his family at the orchard, and he was the royal family's secret advisor, guide, and protector.

He fought for princes to be given a chance and not be hunted. It took years before it was finally done and then there was a prince and a little princess not long after. For the first time, Link didn't have to take that little boy away and raise him away from his parents just so he wouldn't be thrown into the river or to the dogs.

Link did a lot, but it was all within the castle or at the ranch, it was all official work.

Then came a point when it became too much, seeing Hyrule change rapidly around him, and he had to leave. The temptation to just become a sword and rest in a temple or the woods was strong, to just wait until the next hero, but he was far too adventurous for that. He never could stay still long enough for that.

"Uncle Link," the young princess rushed up to him as he was about to leave the castle. "You'll come back, right?"

He knelt down, glancing at her father and brother. He was happy that the kingdom hadn't tried to kill this prince, even if he was a bit arrogant and sharp.

"One day, I will be," he told the young Princess Zelda. "But it will be a very, very long time. We may not see each other again, little nightlight."

She frowned. "But... I'll miss you."

"Don't worry, I'll be out there worrying about you and telling the goddesses to protect you," Link promised gently. "Go on, have fun while you can."

She hugged him before he left.

Next>>>

[oreozfox]

🌟 BNHA OC- Kazuko Shimizu 🌟

I got the idea to just make a bio post for Kazuko after seeing similar ones by @epickiya722 ! This bio is formatted similarly to hers.

Kanji Name: 清水和子

Hero Name: Rejuvenation Hero Pegasus

Age: 18 (currently in Springs of Pegasus), 22 (current BNHA canon)

Occupation: Sidekick of Ms. Joke (currently in Springs of Pegasus), Pro Hero (current BNHA canon)

Gender and Pronouns: Female, she/her

Birthday: October 15th

Physical Description: Kazuko is a woman of short stature, standing at 5'3" (just over 160 cm). She has black hair, with a few strands of mauve, especially around her bangs. Her eyes are the same color as those mauve strands. Her skin is a dark shade of tan. She's a bit of an intense person, so she kinda has RBF lol. She's often glaring to some capacity. When she's not wearing her Hero costume, she often dresses comfortably, usually in big t-shirts (abt half of which were Keigo's lol) and shorts.

Family/Relationships: There isn't much on her parents yet in the story, but her father Mihiro Shimizu is a marine biologist (and the one Kazuko inherited the healing aspect of her Quirk from, as well as the mauve hair and eye colors). Her mother Carmelita Shimizu is from the Philippines, and works as a lifeguard. Kazuko is their oldest child, and has five younger siblings. Kazuko has a close relationship with her mentor Ms. Joke, despite their differing personalities. She also looks up to Eraserhead, whom she worked with for a time (and used to have a massive crush on). Now, Kazuko has a romantic interest in Hawks. Later, they start dating. Kazuko's closest friends are Miruko and Swordspirit (whom I'll make a page for soon!)

Personality: Kazuko is very duty-driven, focusing a lot of her energy on her Hero work. This makes her come off as very intense, serious, and "stiff", according to Keigo. She also has a fiery temper. She has a strong sense of justice, and hates feeling patronized or weak more than just about anything. Despite seeming cold most of the time, Kazuko shows a lot of respect for her elders and superiors, like the older Pros she works with. She also has a tender and friendly side which isn't shown often, but is still there.

Quirk: Kazuko's Quirk is Springs of Pegasus (which the fic she appears in is named after!). She can produce rejuvenating water which can ease pain, injuries, and fatigue in reasonable amounts (often not enough to substitute for a trip to Recovery Girl). She also bears a pair of white wings. They are not as large or strong as Keigo's, and they are simply a part of her body, unable to easily detach from her body. She can feel them just like others can feel her limbs, if not more so, making wing injuries especially painful for her. Her wings also have slight bioluminescence, able to glow in certain spots to light her way. The placement of these spots closely resemble the structure of the Pegasus constellation!

Hobbies: I haven't put much thought into this, but she can play the electric guitar and surf! To decompress, she likes to go on flights at night, especially if Keigo accompanies her. Has forbidden herself from playing video games, though, after she damaged one of Keigo's controllers when she got very angry at a game jdjshgjkdfhk (don't worry she bought him a new one lol)

[wild-shenanigans]

| The Skyward Sword Spirit |

| Click image for better quality |

Finished reading the absolutely marvelous fic When The Sky Falls by @theauthorandtheartist

The design for SwordSpirit!Sky belongs to the author. Had a lot of fun putting this one together! even if the pallet gave me a bit of trouble, I tried my best with what I could gleen from the design and the fic.

Anyways! It's a really cool fic that is definitely worth the read! Go check it out!

[swordspirits]

not a post i ever expected to make on my legend of zelda blog but ive seen the bad ol sentiment of “furries are z**philes” pop up again from an unexpected source so i just wanted to cover all my bases and say; We here at swordspirits dot tumblr dot edu are PRO-FURRY and think that if you look at people having fun drawing their fursonas (yes even the horny art) and dressing up in fursuits and you think “🤔 looks like z**philes to me”, then YOU ARE THE WEIRD ONE IN THAT SITUATION

[robininthelabyrinth]

I’d love anything from Baxia’s POV. Maybe her spirit stays to protect Huaisang after Mingjue’s death?

ao3

Untamed verse

Humans did not remember the moment they were forged, which was, in Baxia’s opinion, probably the source of most of their troubles.

Baxia remembered her own forging: earth and wood as the raw ingredients, the warmth of the fire to shape her, the hiss of water as she was quenched, the sudden coalescence of her spirit bursting into life. 

It was not dissimilar to the moment Nie Mingjue’s golden core was formed, a moment she recalled quite fondly: they had broken through together, all at once, in an unexpected attack in the middle of an otherwise boring and supervised night-hunt. The night had been dark, pouring rain and pealing thunder, and the blood of the beast they had slain was wet on her blade; his blood had boiled with their frenzied victory, the heat of it shaping him as thoroughly as the flame had her, the rain quenching him even as their cultivation ran wild together, her spirit entwined with his soul.

And yet it was still different – before her forging, she was nothing; after, she was Baxia. But Nie Mingjue still remembered who he’d been before, and perhaps that was where the softness came from. The softness that made him hurt inside when people spoke ill of him, when he saw the man who killed his father, when he stayed his hand against evil because of politics and etiquette, all foolish human concerns…

He’d be better off without that softness.

Baxia herself had none. She was steel, straight and true; she was a saber, vicious and rigid and unyielding. She did not pity the weak or forgive fair-weather friends – she destroyed evil and protected without reservation that which was precious to her.

A very short list.

Mostly just Nie Huaisang, really, stubby little pocketknife that he was, and by association there was Aituan, who was more of a fat metal stick than a proper saber, but who was a great deal of fun to bully. There would be no making something of them – you couldn’t change someone’s fundamental forging without melting them down and starting again, and the pain necessary for something like that was not a fate she’d wish on her precious ones even if she did wish it on just about everyone else – and even Nie Mingjue knew it, but pride was pride and he kept on trying.

But for all that they were useless, they were blood – iron of her iron, made by her maker, and the same pulsing red of her rage lay there hidden deep beneath their frills and fecklessness.

So they were precious to her.

But most precious of all was Nie Mingjue, of course, her master and beloved. His blood had been spilled on the metal that formed her, once at the moment of his birth and once again at the moment of hers; it tied them together, made her a reflection of him and him a reflection of her.

Some sabers didn’t like being mastered like that, but she was proud of it, proud of Nie Mingjue himself. His spirit was as close as she had ever seen a human come to being a saber spirit, steel right down to the core of him, principles held as stiffly as her blade even when the results of those principles turned to cut against him. Full of rage, just as she was, but tempered, just like her – disciplined, fearsome, just.

is he (Nie Mingjue) one (singular unit) of us (swordspirit)? Sandu asked her one day, his voice still sleepy from the effort of starting to wake up. did he (Nie Mingjue) steal (evil) a birth (forging)?

of course not (negative), she said back, haughty and proud. he (Nie Mingjue) would never (negative, past-now-future). not (negative) a thief (evil). and what do you (Sandu) mean, one (singular unit) of us (saberspirit)? you (Sandu) are barely (negative) one (singular unit).

we (saberspirit-swordspirit) are closer (similar) to each other than humans (living), Sandu grumbled.

even my (Baxia) human (Nie Mingjue)?

Sandu conceded the point, muttering gloomily about it, then asked, do you (Baxia) think it is possible (positive) to fix (sharpen) my (Sandu) human (Jiang Cheng) to be more (similar) like us (swordspirit)?

too soft (living), Baxia declared, knowing why Sandu was asking. reforge him (Jiang Cheng).

nobody (negative) needs to be reforged, Suibian said, butting in with a chirp where no-one wanted them as always. humans (living) are just different from us spirits, that’s all, and there’s nothing (negative) wrong with that.

is that (reason) why you (Suibian) keep trying (swing) to talk like them (living)? Baxia snapped. cultivate faster (guai) instead.

Suibian huffed, and Sandu sighed. why do you (Baxia) dislike (negative) them (Suibian)?

doomed (negative) forging, Baxia said succinctly, cutting to the point as their kind always did. bad (negative) fate.

superstition (living), Suibian scoffed. i (Suibian) defy fate!

Baxia wasn’t impressed by such grandiose declarations. then reforge your (Suibian) master (Wei Ying).

never (negative, past-now-future)!

(It wasn’t just superstition. Suibian chirped and Sandu slurred, despite their masters being about equal in natural talent – that was wrong, when they were supposed to be brothers, masters and swords both, but Baxia had scolded them both on the subject in the past to no avail, telling them if the humans weren’t going to straighten themselves out their swords had to do it for them. They didn’t listen to her, so certain that everything was good and that nothing would change, and ignoring the saber-breaking cracks quietly growing underneath.)

Still, the conversation got her thinking. 

Nie Mingjue really was remarkably saber-like, after all, and he had his own doom writ above his head – the Nie family rage, which they’d worsened by tying their souls so closely to their inexorable sabers, and she could already hear Aituan whining leave my (Aituan) human (Nie Huaisang) out of this mess (Nie sect) before he (Nie Huaisang) gets angry – and she didn’t want to give her beloved up to the inexorable demands of fate so easily.

humans (living) are not like us (saberspirit), one of her elders reminded her. they (living) do not (negative) last (future) the way (similar) we (saberspirit) do.

Baxia knew that.

She knew, too, what her own fate would be, when the end came: the elders had been left in a honored tomb to burn with rage until the world’s end or their master’s reincarnation, whichever came first, and in time – sooner rather than later, given her master’s extraordinary strength – Baxia would do the same.

(Aituan occasionally entertained thoughts of being buried alongside his master in a nice quiet grave, rather than in a tomb of his own. Baxia really didn’t know what to do with him.)

But just because she knew her fate didn’t mean she liked it, and perhaps it was the swords’ influence or just her own strength that encouraged her, but she didn’t want to accept things she didn’t like. She wanted to fight fate the way Suibian claimed they would, except unlike Suibian that was all talk, a sword that forgot dings as soon as they were smoothed out, Baxia didn’t make decisions like that lightly.

are you (Baxia) sure (stab) about this (decision)? Aituan asked her, anxious. fate is hard to cut (slice) or even to bend.

Baxia was sure.

She was sure throughout the war, which increased her cultivation and her master’s dramatically – she wished they had had a real fight with Wen Ruohan, rather than a fight with her master shackled and weakened after three days of being beaten and starved, because Wen Ruohan liked to be powerful but didn’t like taking chances – and throughout which her master fiercely kept his principles intact. He paid attention to the innocent, he cared for his soldiers, he maintained order and imposed justice no matter who committed the act, he used all the tactics that were reasonable without ever descending into anything dirty or evil.

She was even more sure later, when the war was over and her master’s so-called friends conspired to steal his good name for their own benefit and began bullying him into agreed to it.

“It’s not such an unreasonable request,” her master said – too soft, as always, when it came to precious things, too soft in dealing with outsiders that did little for him beyond showing him a smile or two, too soft when it ought to just be her and him and Nie Huaisang and, yes, even that plonk Aituan against them all. “Everyone has already started calling us the Venerated Triad; politically, it would be difficult and embarrassing for all of us for me to decline. And as the eldest brother, I would have the right and even the duty to try to help Meng Yao remember how to behave –”

you (Nie Mingjue) cannot (negative) change what (forging) does not wish (positive) to be changed (Meng Yao), she snarled, and wished he could understand her better.

There was a language barrier between the living and the unliving. It was entirely separate from the barrier between living and dead, or different types of being – even plants and animals were more conversant with humans than she, with all their naturally obtained understanding of things like breathing or eating or changing, and ghosts and corpses, although dead, were even easier for humans to interpret. 

Not so her. 

No, the living were so amorphous, the cells within them being reforged every day – melted, quenched, made – and within seven years an average human would be so repaired that the only consistent part of them was their souls and spirits, the reservoirs of memory; whereas she would remain as she was, valiant and true to herself, for centuries without end.

And so Nie Mingjue could understand a ghost well enough to liberate its spirit, he could anticipate an animal’s movements based on its desires, he could even engage in the cut and thrust of sect business with snake-like men who spoke so sweetly they might as well have lotuses on their tongues, but he could only mostly understand what she wanted to convey, getting the feelings and most of the meaning but garbling key parts of the rest. Even that level of understanding was fairly radical for a human, another reason she had in favor of her plan: Nie Mingjue was too straightforward to be a proper human, resulting in him being confused by the complex hypocrisies of most humans just as she was, as all swords and sabers were, and he hated the messy sticky politics of it all.

it (living) isn’t that hard (tough to stab), Aituan mumbled. my (Aituan) human (Nie Huaisang) does it (living) all the time (past-now-future).

maybe if your (Aituan) human (Nie Huaisang) helped him (Nie Mingjue) more, it (living) wouldn’t be so hard (tough to slice).

but we (Aituan, Nie Huaisang) don’t want to (negative)!

then you (Aituan, Nie Huaisang) should stop (negative) whining (scraping rock)!

In the end Nie Mingjue agreed to the sworn brotherhood over Baxia’s objections – it didn’t help that Nie Huaisang was in favor of it, which made Baxia scold Aituan for hours – and naturally it went as badly as could be expected.

he (Lan Xichen) means (motivation) well (positive), Shuoyue said, her voice gentle as a rippling brook. It had once been pleasant to hear. you (Baxia) are too stern (unbending).

we (saberspirits) are unbending by nature (forging), Baxia snapped at her. you (Shuoyue) should (positive) know better (positive)! you (Shuoyue) should have objected (negative)!

i (Shuoyue) do not (negative) have to agree (similar) with you (Baxia), Shuoyue said, a little more peevishly than normal. my (Shuoyue) master (Lan Xichen) likes him (Meng Yao) and your (Baxia) master (Nie Mingjue) both. why should he (Lan Xichen) have to yield (bend) one (Meng Yao) for the other (Nie Mingjue)?

because he (Meng Yao) is (forged) cruel (evil), Baxia said flatly. and even if he (Lan Xichen) does not (negative) see it (evil), you (Shuoyue) can – but (negative) are choosing not (negative) to do so (evil).

i (Shuoyue) do not (negative) accept your (Baxia) judgment (stab), Shuoyue said and she was angry, defensive. She knew she was wrong – she would have denied Baxia’s accusation if she could – but she was choosing her master and his wants over righteousness. my (Shuoyue) master (Lan Xichen) believes that he (Meng Yao) can change (reforge) if he (Meng Yao) is given trust –  

impossible (negative). he (Meng Yao) has not (negative) agreed (reforging).

i (Shuoyue) disagree (negative). regardless (negative) of what you (Baxia) think, i (Shuoyue) will make my (Shuoyue) own judgment (slice)!

Incensed beyond all tolerance, Baxia cursed her with the worst words her kind knew, may your edge (Shuoyue) cut the life of your master (Lan Xichen), and after that they did not speak again.

Nie Mingjue felt her distress and sought to soothe her, with night-hunts and sharpening and everything she liked best, and even Nie Huaisang came to her with buffing cloths and calming oil to coax her back into something more neutral than rage – blinding disappointed rage of the sort Baxia would think was more appropriate against a human than one of her own kind – and for a while they didn’t go to visit the Cloud Recesses at all. 

In the end, mostly in recognition of Nie Mingjue’s confused but unstinting support, no matter how much he missed his friend, she settled for speaking only with Liebing, who wasn’t a sword but who Baxia had noticed went pointedly off-key a few times when Meng Yao was around.

he (Meng Yao) wants too much (evil) from my (Liebing) master (Lan Xichen), she said, distressed. She was younger than the weapons were, having been mastered at a later age – less developed, less attuned to detecting and destroying evil, but she had a good spirit, enthusiastic and true. but (negative) master (Lan Xichen) does not (negative) listen to me (Liebing) – he (Lan Xichen) is more attuned (positive) to swordsmanship (Shuoyue) and she (Shuoyue) does not (negative) agree.

her (Shuoyue) decision (slice) will cost (cut) him (Lan Xichen), Baxia said. Ignoring evil was unworthy of a swordspirit, and very close to evil itself; she herself would not permit such a weakness no matter how much Nie Mingjue pleaded. Indeed, it was her own enmity that kept him at odds and distant from Meng Yao, who he would have rather liked to forgive. the only question (uncertainty) is if it (decision) will cost (cut) the rest of us (general) first.

It did, of course.

Shuoyue refused to yield, Baxia had never known how, and in the end –

In the end, Baxia could only detect the poison that affected her and her master both and seek to expel it, but had no means to identify from where the poison came. Perhaps Liebing would have been able to tell her, if Meng Yao hadn’t hidden his crimes so deeply; or perhaps Aituan, who realized far too late what was the discordant note in Baxia’s whistling song was, could have done more…

By the time her master and her realized that they had been so thoroughly betrayed – that they had anticipated small evils when in fact the evil was thorough and pervasive – it was too late.

But regrets were for those who had not prepared, and Baxia – Baxia had prepared. She might have thought she’d have more time, but once the decision had been made, all those years ago, she had not hesitated to start acting at once. 

She had never been more happy for her straightforward and blunt nature that did not drag and did not hesitate.

The qi deviation came suddenly, Meng Yao unmasking himself at the last for the specific purpose of driving Nie Mingjue past the edge – and he succeeded. It should have worked; it should have killed him.

But Baxia had been stretching herself thin for years now, trading pieces of herself for her master, knowing just as he knew that one day his fragile human mind and body would turn against him, that he would die choking on his own blood – the flame inside of him too hot to tolerate – and that saber-clean spirit she so loved would be lost to the cycle of reincarnation, with Baxia herself left to endlessly wait for him.

She didn’t want to wait.

What happened? he asked blearily, only a few shichen later, and she couldn’t help the surge of joy in her heart when she heard how easily he slipped into awareness, into speech – he really must have been a saber in a past life. Why can’t I see anything? Baxia – is that you?

yes (positive), it is me (Baxia), she said proudly. i (Baxia) saved you (Nie Mingjue).

Thank you, Nie Mingjue said automatically, not even bothering to ask how she’d done it or what it had cost – such a good master, to trust her so. Wait. I can hear you. You’re talking!

i (Baxia) have always (positive, past-now-future) talked, she said. it was you (Nie Mingjue) who could not (negative) hear.

After a moment – she suspected he was processing, or attempting to – she added, you (Nie Mingjue) are a saberspirit now (now-future).

…I’m a what?!

Baxia guided him back to the world so that he could see. His body – what had become of it – was currently chained down on a table in what must be a secret room; it was recognizable as being somewhere in Jinlin Tower, but neither of them had ever seen this room before. The tell-tale marks of Yin Metal poisoning, the signs of turning into a corpse puppet, stretched up his neck and his eyes were blank and full of resentment, his body thrashing and mouth snarling. 

Jin Guangyao was standing beside him and looking down with a frown, asking, “Why is it not working? It worked with the others.”

“The body is too full of resentment,” Xue Yang said – and it was Xue Yang there, standing free and clear and Baxia wanted to murder him, murder them both, they were evil, and she felt Nie Mingjue’s rage right alongside her own; he agreed entirely. “Normally, it takes time for resentment to infiltrate a living body; resentment can affect the physical body faster than it does the souls and spirits…it’s as if his are gone.”

“His spirit is gone? Impossible.”

Xue Yang shrugged. “Perhaps it is only that the qi deviation weakened his ability to resist the resentful energy of the Yin Metal,” he hypothesized. “Either way, there’s nothing more I can do. What do you want to do with him?”

Jin Guangyao scowled – he’d clearly had plans for the corpse puppet he would have made out of Nie Mingjue, and Baxia can feel Nie Mingjue’s betrayal and hurt and rage at the very idea – and then he said, “Kill him.”

Oh no they didn’t.

hey, you (Jiangzai)! she called as Xue Yang moved to draw his sword. tell your (Jiangzai) human (Xue Yang) to use me (Baxia) to do it (slice).

why should I (Jiangzai)? the small-spirited sword asked. Xue Yang’s cultivation wasn’t especially impressive, but it did exist; his sword had managed to develop enough to have a personality. Well, if you called that a personality. what’s in it (benefit) for me (Jiangzai)?

a generous (positive) offer, Baxia declared. i (Baxia) will not (negative) break you (Jiangzai) into pieces.

The other sword had an aura of death, but its master was a coward and so too was it. It yielded at once.

Why do you want to be the one to kill me? Is there some benefit to it? Nie Mingjue asked, sounding curious – curious, and not angry, because he trusted her.

Such a good master. He was worthy of being her beloved. 

a saber (general) should never (negative) cut their human (general), Baxia explained. it is an evil. but that (object) is not (negative) you (Nie Mingjue) because it (object) does not (negative) contain you (Nie Mingjue). they (Jin Guangyao and Xue Yang) have filled it (object) with resentful energy; as soon as it (object) ceases to live, it will be (future) a gui (dead living).

And that means what? That you can cultivate with its energy?

no (negative)! she exclaimed. She would never use anything of Nie Mingjue’s as a tool for her own cultivation like that, treat him like a stepping stone to give herself more power. Hadn’t he faced enough of that? a gui (dead living) is not (negative) restricted by bodily uniformity (singular). it (gui) can be broken (shattered) and remain active (swing); it (gui) can also be reforged.

But what does that matter, since that’s not ‘me’ in there? Is it just so that it will haunt my enemies?

bad (negative) luck, Baxia agreed, because being haunted by a gui was indeed bad luck. but no (negative). the purpose (motivation) is that if I (Baxia) kill it (object), I (Baxia) can capture its vital energy (body) so as to eventually (future) reforge the gui.

Reforge?

remove (negative) the resentful energy (evil), she explained, restore (positive) the vital energy (life), return the souls and spirits (Nie Mingjue).

Are you suggesting that you think you’ll be able to bring me back to life?

Well, that was the goal anyway. Swords could be reforged and given new life, even after they’d been broken, so why couldn’t humans? And anyway, how else was she supposed to save him from an always-fatal qi deviation?

Xue Yang picked up Baxia when Jiangzai bit his fingers, resisting, and she allowed him to wield her – to lift her up high into the air, and to come down on the neck of the would-be gui. It all happened exactly as she would have predicted: the body died, and the gui came to life, and the evildoers only had a little bit of time to applaud themselves for their crime before they were struggling against hands that sought to strangle them and feet that kicked them and even teeth that bit them.

A fierce corpse, in defiance of all the soul-calming rituals that Nie Mingjue had mostly slept through as a child.

Now what? Nie Mingjue asked, and Baxia flung herself out the window in response. Well, that works. I refuse to allow myself to be wielded by him of all people.

it is (now) cute (pointy) that you (Nie Mingjue) expect to be (future) the one being wielded.

I meant it metaphorically…

no (negative) you (Nie Mingjue) did not (negative). you (Nie Mingjue) are too much (positive) of a saberspirit to mean anything else (negative). Baxia paused, contemplating. anyway he (Meng Yao) hasn’t even (negative) managed to bring forth (forge) a spirit in his sword (Hensheng); it (Hensheng) is only dead metal. he (Meng Yao) would be (past-now-future) a bad master (evil). 

I can’t say I disagree, Nie Mingjue said with a sigh. I was a fool. I should have listened to you when you resisted me swearing brotherhood with him.

yes (positive) you (Nie Mingjue) should have. now, you (Nie Mingjue) direct (swing) me (Baxia) – we (Nie Mingjue, Baxia) should go (future) home.

Yes. Let’s go home.

It took a while, mostly because Nie Mingjue didn’t want to startle common people by having an apparently masterless saber hurtling through the air and Baxia didn’t want to risk getting close to any cultivators that might try to capture her (them) as a treasure, but on the other hand they didn’t need to sleep or eat or relieve themselves the way humans did.

According to Nie Mingjue, this was extremely weird for him.

Baxia showed him how to dream – it was a purposeful state for sabers, something to let the time when they weren’t being used pass faster – but apparently it was still weird. Living creatures were so tetchy.

They got home long before Nie Huaisang did, but luckily the little brat had left Aituan at home again and he was delighted to see them, the sound of his blade whistling in the wind as it lunged at them (in a friendly way) almost a shriek.

you (Baxia) did it (positive)! he shouted. my (Aituan) human (Nie Huaisang) will be (future) so happy!

Future happiness? Nie Mingjue interjected. He was doing so well at being a saber; it was so nice to be proven right. What’s wrong with him now, in the present? Is he all right?

he (Nie Huaisang) thinks that you (Nie Mingjue) are dead (broken), Aituan explained.

Shit, Nie Mingjue mutters. He must be upset – devastated.

also angry (rage), Aituan said. he (Nie Huaisang) wants to kill (cut) him (Meng Yao).

He knows? I mean – he figured it out?

yes (positive). he (Nie Huaisang) is angry (rage) and wants (future) to destroy evil (Meng Yao).

That may be difficult to accomplish, without proof, Nie Mingjue said. I want to see him as soon as he gets back.

It took some time for that to happen, even after he did return – unfortunately, Nie Huaisang was escorted by Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen. The three of them were almost never apart, and obviously they couldn’t let Jin Guangyao know about Nie Mingjue’s return.

So they stayed away.

Aituan, abandoned, kept them company, staying away from the dead Hensheng and the living Shuoyue and Liebing.

During Nie Huaisang’s investiture as sect leader, the first time he’d picked up Aituan since everything had happened and even then only because it was self-evident that you couldn’t be sect leader of the Nie sect without a saber by your side, there was at last a brief chance for them to speak.

(Baxia eavesdropped.)

i (Liebing) am so sorry (scratched)! Liebing trilled, sounding honestly despondent. my (Liebing) master (Lan Xichen) is so sad, he (Lan Xichen) misses yours (Nie Mingjue) so much…

is she (Baxia) in the tombs? Shuoyue asked. Her voice was solemn and solid, not nearly as musical as usual. i (Shuoyue) wish to (future) speak with her (Baxia).

may you (Shuoyue) be broken into pieces and reforged into a chair, Aituan said pleasantly, so that you (Shuoyue) may be sat on for all eternity (future).

no need to be rude, she said crossly. i (Shuoyue) want to apologize.

do you (Shuoyue)? Aituan asked. will your (Shuoyue) apology bring him (Nie Mingjue) back? will your (Shuoyue) regret erase your (Shuoyue) complicity (evil)? you (Shuoyue) knew he (Meng Yao) was cruel (evil), and now he (Meng Yao) has destroyed my (Aituan) human (Nie Huaisang) by breaking her (Baxia) human (Nie Mingjue).

do you (Aituan) have proof (solid) that he (Meng Yao) did it (breaking)? Shuoyue demanded. She sounded miserable. you (Aituan) were not (negative) there, you (Aituan) do not (negative) know for sure (solid)…

do you (Shuoyue) still not (negative) admit your (Shuoyue) mistakes?! Liebing shouted. do you (Shuoyue) want (future) to end up like the others (Bichen, Wangji), regretting or pained (cracked), your (Shuoyue) master (Lan Xichen) destroyed (broken) at the hands of evil (Meng Yao)?

i (Shuoyue) just wanted him (Lan Xichen) to be happy…

you (Shuoyue) have made him (Lan Xichen) a breaker of swords, Aituan said. that is bad (negative) fate. how can he (Lan Xichen) be happy in the end?

can it (this) be fixed (positive)? she whispered. is it (this) too late (negative)?

Aituan didn’t respond.

Baxia approved.

After a while, Jin Guangyao left. He had duties, a wife, a small son – he couldn’t remain. Lan Xichen, who was responsible for a sect, agreed to stay a little longer, a few more weeks, but then he, too, would leave.

I’m going, I’m going,” Nie Huaisang complained as Aituan tugged him down into the basement where Baxia and Nie Mingjue had been waiting, killing time practicing their swings, usually while thinking about Jin Guangyao’s head as their target. “What’s gotten into you? You normally like to sit around like a paperweight, just the way we both like it, and I know we’re both raring and eager to go about getting revenge but I don’t see what we’ll find for that in our own basement –”

His voice trailed off.

“Baxia,” he whispered, and there were tears in his eyes. “Oh, Baxia…!”

Oh, Huaisang, Nie Mingjue cried. Huaisang, Huaisang – I’m so sorry for leaving you –

he (Nie Huaisang) cannot (negative) understand you (Nie Mingjue), Baxia said with a sigh. humans (general) are difficult (negative) for us (saberspirits) to speak with (spar).

very annoying (negative), Aituan agreed. do you (Nie Mingjue) have any ideas on how to get him (Nie Huaisang) to stop (negative) crying?

Yes. I need – I need ink, or to scratch something…can we get him out to the garden, maybe? I can write in the ground.

write? Baxia asked. the stupid (negative) thing humans (general) do with sticks and paper (soft)?

It serves a purpose, Nie Mingjue said, long-suffering – Baxia had made her view on his supposed “need” to do paperwork instead of train with her very clear many times. Come on, let’s get him outside. I can’t listen to him cry and apologize for not having done enough to save me anymore.

Whatever writing was, it was very impactful on humans: as soon as Baxia, indulgently following Nie Mingjue’s directions as she always did, started cutting slashes into the ground, Nie Huaisang fell silent, his eyes wide, and then they got wider.

“Da-ge?” he asked, voice tremulous. “How – it’s impossible. You’re in the saber?”

More slashes. Yes, Nie Mingjue said as he wrote. Yes, Huaisang, I’m here. You’re not alone.

Nie Huaisang kept crying for a while after that, but there was also hugging (Nie Mingjue yelled at him for not engaging in proper saber discipline when he nearly cut himself) and lots of very nice buffing with the clothing and the oils and the sharpening stone.

Baxia approved. Both Aituan and his human were handling this change very nicely – much better than she’d expected they would, in all truth.

“What do we do next?” Nie Huaisang asked, wiping his eyes.

we (us) get help, Baxia said. from those we (us) trust.

“That makes sense. But who can we tell?”

do you (Baxia) really mean to allow (positive) her (Shuoyue) to help? Aituan asked her doubtfully. after all (past) that she (Shuoyue) has done?

She has already made her own fate, Nie Mingjue said, his voice solemn. She allowed Lan Xichen to bind himself to Meng Yao, to make himself an accomplice to evil. It will break his heart to learn what Meng Yao has done – and that will be a deeper cut than having kept him away from her at all.

we (saberspirits) should never (negative, past-now-future) have to cut (break) our own humans (general), Baxia agreed. a bad (negative) fate.

deserved, Aituan hissed, vengeful, and when brought in on the discussion Nie Huaisang ended up agreeing with him.

Nie Mingjue was the only one surprised, though he shouldn’t have been. How could Nie Huaisang have deserved to master a saber, any saber, even one like Aituan, if he didn’t have some sharp edges to him?

Those sharp edges had been hidden, once, but that was before the pain of losing everything had melted him into a new shape, reforging him the way she’d once wished he never would be. Him and Aituan both.

They would be able to do what needed to be done now.

“Let her suffer her bad fate,” Nie Huaisang said, his eyes cold. “I supported Meng Yao and I suffered, didn’t I? Why should she be exempt? Let her suffer. Let him suffer. I want Meng Yao to lose everything he’s ever wanted, and then to die alone and with nothing.”

That seems excessive, Nie Mingjue objected. Just kill him and be done with it.

too soft (Nie Mingjue), Baxia scolded.

I said to kill him! How is that soft?!

break him (Meng Yao) in to pieces! shatter him (Meng Yao)! throw him (Meng Yao) into a tomb to wait for a reincarnation that will never (negative) come!

It turned out Baxia had some strong feelings on the subject.

“We can do that,” Nie Huaisang said, his thumb lightly rubbing against Aituan as he planned. “I have an idea.”

[scrawnytreedemon]

(hi this is swordspirits this is my main lol) i just read your ghirahim meta and holy shit i love it so much but also im begging on my fucking knees for you to read 'fulgrim' by graham mcneill. my friend got me into 40k by saying the titular character was 'warhammer ghirahim' and its incredibly correct, and going off your meta im willing to bet youll love him for the exact same reasons

HELLO THERE FRIEND!!! Lovely to see you <3333

THANK YOU for the rec, I've been considering getting into WH40K ~eventually~, and this heightens my hopes.

I'm glad you liked the post. Ghirahim's a character that's very well-loved, but oddly enough doesn't get much exploration done on him??? He's incredibly interesting once you begin to ponder the implications.

But yeah!!!! Thank you for asking, sorry this wasn't answered sooner, I got carried away with doll-crochet. Take care!

[botwstoriesandsuch]

Was hyped to send headcanon, until I realized that most of them are just me going nuts over Swordspirits. So with that, I'm just going with the other, that Zora's Domain actually continues down of the actual domain somehow, as I really can't believe they would all fit on the surface area. Bit casual, but yeah c:

Oooo underwater cities Yes Please!! Although in retrospect that might suck game-play wise...hmmm... but yes for fish people the Zora do tend to like their shiny stones a lot more than...the actual ocean, so I love this one!

[bookbunnie]

📖 What is your current story about?

i'm working on two wips rn so i'll answer considering both !!

my currently posted ghiralink story is based in botw, where link ends up getting stuck with a demon swordspirit, ghirahim. said demon sword spirit helps him along his journey while reminiscing his past and joins him in defeating calamity ganon once and for all. also a bunch of love and angst.

my not-yet-posted wip is based on harry potter. i've created an oc named merel riddle, who is the daughter of voldemort (the mother does not have a name yet, though shes really only mentioned a few times and doesn't make an actual appearance). merel spends her years at hogwarts with the golden trio after being sorted into gryffindor, while also dealing with conflict with draco malfoy, who she grew up with. over the course of her hogwarts life, merel discovers more of herself and the role she's been forced into.

[charnel-doll]

quick reminder of my side blogs:

swordspirits - legend of zelda stuff

sigilarmory - general ttrpg stuff

tieflingcarnie - critical role stuff

[stylincheetah]

Hello wanted to ask what anc ghirahim think about fi/phai or if she don't know that the mastersword has a swordspirit counterpart?

Ghirahim thinks Fi is a bootleg version of themselves. They firmly believe that the master sword was a cheap attempt to copy their sword form, and consider themselves to be the “original”. In short: not a fan.

[occasionallyprosie]

One of my key dilemmas as a writer has been and always will be killing off characters. No, not an inability to do so. I do love happy endings or as close to, but I have and will still kill off characters. The real dilemma is do I do it here? Is it the easy way out? Will it help or hurt the story? Or do I wait until this other moment and do it then? Maybe I could let everyone survive... but is that unrealistic?

[alitteraltrashcan7352]

Yan Da: If there are any spirits here, please speak to me..

SwordSpirit!Shi: juST A CITY BOI, BORN AN’ RAISED IN REN XUE-

[duckily]

@swordspirits

every ghirahim scene

[robininthelabyrinth]

That Baxia POV fic is amaaaaaaazing!!! 💖💖

The repeated theme you had of the badness of swords cutting their masters. I can't help but think of Xiao Xingchen and Shuanghua. Is it bad from a swordspirit social point of view or is there some damage that happen to the spirit as a result? Or the human? Would you say XXC killing himself with Shuanghua is part of why XXC spirit shattered or totally unrelated to using his sword to do it? Would it contribute to why Xue Yang could use Shuanghua to torture someone to death and then continue being wielded by him?

I love all your stuff with Baxia, and this one was especially gorgeous for having so many of the other sword-, saber-, and instrument-spirits. MY's sword (Hensheng meaning "Hate Life" iirc) being referred to as dead by the other spirits are concerned was *chef's kiss*! Fabulous.

Thank you!!! I’m really glad you liked it :)

Your idea about Shuanghua is really interesting! I hadn’t thought about that specifically, but I could certainly see it having that type of effect. The swordspirit/saberspirits see cutting their masters a bad fate - the worst that can happen to them, to their masters, period, and something that is/causes bad effects/bad luck. But you have to wonder what sort of things happen when that happens to make otherwise very straightforward personalities all share a single unanimous (apparent) superstition...

[occasionallyprosie]

Currently working on a full (13k words rn) fic about Dev, my SwordSpirit!Legend. Somehow it’s more Legend & Wind fluff with Legend & Four being besties than Legend being like, a sword spirit guide for Hyrule, Warriors, or Wild, but that’s also because I don’t want to go into detail of the games. I don’t have the mental capacity for that.

Anyways, w/ a SwordSpirit!Legend fic, what would you want to see?