thefishywizard

[thefishywizard]

MORE MORE MORE MORE REWRITE ME WANT MORE REWRITE

YOUUU didnt say anything specific so *I* get to pick the topic

The Ro’Meaves, Aaron, and Zenix

(Sorry for the wait. I've been writing this for awhile. Also fair warning this is really long)

The Ro’Meaves never stood a chance. Zane is a bad apple of course but that bad Apple had to come from a worse tree. Garte's paranoid destructive downward spiral is one of the major dominos impacting the narrative. With war against Tu’la on the horizon, Garte's behavior became more and more erratic. While outwardly, he was seen as the kind and understanding lord who adopted his wife’s bastard son, behind closed doors he was cold and cruel to his family. This, and whispers about how Garte cant even keep his wife loyal lead him to becoming more and more resentful of Vylad. The living walking talking embodiment of his wife’s infidelity. When Vylad is 12 Garte rids himself of the problem through a bear hug and knife to the back. Garte cant afford this getting out, cant afford someone taking pity on the boy. that's what Garte tells himself to justify it, but the truth is, he wanted to do it himself. it feels a cruel kind of victorious to see light leave the green eyes that look nothing like his. to have cold growing colder evidence that he'll never have to see someone else son walking around HIS estate. Afterward, it isn't hard to cover up. he sinks to the floor with the body, crying out for his guards as he cradles vylads corpse in his arms with more tenderness than he ever did in life. a Tu'lan refugee working as an attendant takes the fall. Garte claims them a spy who murdered his son in cold blood. the public is outraged and demands an execution. To which Garte, oh poor grief stricken lord Garte can't bring himself to refuse. Details of the death are kept to a minimum, servants who have suspicions are wise enough not to voice them. O’Khasis goes into mourning at the tragic loss of the lords son, his remaining two not fairing much better.

Zane is 15 and Garroth is 17 when they attend their brother's funeral. While Garroth struggles to retain composure, Zane finds himself... bored. The last thing he wants to do is sit at a stuffy ceremony with the public performatively morning the loss of someone who was never even in line to be lord. The burning oil high up in the spindly gold braziers make the atmosphere uncomfortably humid and fragrant . At some point after the ceremony, Garroth approaches him, voice all soft and empathetic in a way that makes Zane sick, asking some idiotic questions about how he's doing. He gets increasingly frustrated at Zane's dismissive nature towards the funeral and the death itself. Garroth makes a comment, a desperate plead more like, that even if Zane doesn't mean it he shouldn’t say things like that. Zane argues that why should he care about their frail shell of a mother’s mistake? The child she devoted oh sooo much of her time to was gone and it never meant anything. In a few years no one would even remember the Ro’Meaves had a third son. none of this would ever had happed if their mother hadn't whored herself out to make father jealous. The punch across his jaw comes as a surprise but in retrospect Zane really should have expected it. Oh Garroth was furious. How typical. He’s just as emotional as their mother. Not like Zane. Not like their father. men like them were above the childish flights of hysteria the rest of his family seemed privy to. But Zane wasn't one to take disrespect lying down. He pushed back and the fight broke out. Right there at the funeral. 20 feet away from Vylads casket. It was one badly aimed shove from Garroth that brought it to a swift end. Zane staggered back into one of the high gold braziers lining the church. The ones burning that sickeningly floral oil. It splashed down on him, catching his eye and the side of his face. Zane heard the sizzle of his flesh before he felt it. the scream was ripped from his throat as he crumpled to the ground. Garroth rushed to his side immediately, looking horrified and guilty. Zane felt a vicious sense of satisfaction at that. But a moment later garroth is snatched by the back of his collar and drug off by their father. Everyone’s yelling. Everything HURTS. His mother is holding him like if she doesn't he’ll be the next of her sons to wind up in a casket.

Garroth was 19 and being ordered to marry the heir to scaleswind. He’d been sent to the guard training academy in Brightport after what happened at Vylad's funeral. He tried not to think about it. Throwing himself into his training, hoping that when night came he'd be too exhausted to think. Occasionally, that was the case. But most nights he'd be restless. On late nights that could probably be considered mornings, wracked with guilt and grief, he wrote letters. aided in delivering them by a small wyvern he’d rescued in the forest early on at the academy. letters to his mother... and Zane. Zane never wrote him back, but Garroth kept writing him anyway. He wrote to Vylad as well. Garroth doesn't send them, obviously, but there was a drawer in his quarters that's full of wax sealed envelopes. Right. Yes, the marriage, Garroth had stopped attempting to contact his father after 3 months of his letters pleading to come back home were returned unopened. But this time, when Raven returned from delivering the letter he’d written his mother, the wyvern carried with him an envelope stamped with the seal of O’Khasis. something saved for official lord dealings. Garroth tore open the envelope hesitantly, and was greeted to a professionally written order. Garte wanted Scaleswinds impressive military force, and had determined that the best way to do that, and for Garroth to redeem himself, was through a marriage alliance between him and the heir to scaleswind. Garroth felt his stomach drop. he vaguely recalled her being at some of the lords galas he was forced to attend as a child. he didn't remember much about her, but one thing he did know was that she had been young. Younger than Vylad even, and if Garroth had to guess, by now she’d be around 12, maybe 13. He felt sick. Garroth wasn’t stupid. He'd seen the portrait painted shortly after his birth and knew his mother didn't look older than a teenager. He knew what would be expected of them as early as possible. The paper crinkled under his fingers as he read the orders over and over and over, like the ink would somehow change if he looked at it long enough. He was trapped and so was that girl. Because of him, because his father wanted to punish him. though, he'd imagine she must be in a similar boat if the lord of Scaleswind agreed to such an arrangement. Garroth felt ideas he’d had for the future slipping between his fingers. Call him cheesy or romantic, but he’d wanted to fall in love. He’d wanted to build a life for himself. He’d hoped that all the years of pushing through, of doing what he was told, of trying to be mature and responsible and someone to be proud of, he could be happy afterward. Now that seemed like what it was, stupid and naive. With just the ink on the paper, Garroths life was ending and he was dragging a child down with him. He couldn't do this. He couldn't let this happen. His father had written that he’d be coming to collect Garroth next month after his 20th birthday. That was fine. There wouldn’t be anything for him to collect.

In the years following Vylad's death and Garroth's disappearance, some important things happened. Zane had proven himself an eager student with an insatiable lust for knowledge in his time training to be a priest. History books and literature from ages past spoke of ancient relics held by the divine warriors themselves. With power like that, you’d be uncontested. Sandwiched between the golden boy and the cause of his family's problems, Zane became an afterthought to his father. but with Garroth gone and Vylad dead, he could finally prove himself useful. Zane told Garte his findings, and Garte gave him the resources and the order to obtain the relics by any means necessary. Zane went to work, researching and utilizing the Jury to assist him in the search for these artifacts. the first one was easy. Esmund's relic, his family's birthright, was a core aspect of the jury. it's magic could be used to impower soldiers the holder deemed worthy. perfect for commanding a small army with uncontestable power. though, there seemed to be a limit on the amount of power given and it could be stretched thin. an elite group of 9 or a fractionally more sturdy army of 100. Something that was inconvenient to say the least. But through his research, Zane came upon something better, the Moonlight ward. it would open a gateway directly to the goddess Irene's dimension, and her relic. But the stupid thing was split into parts and cursed by Enki to keep them that way. In order to be fused, the curses placed on each piece needed to be activated. And when the lord of Falcon claw began openly speaking about the corruption Garte was displaying, how could Zane say no to such an eager volunteer?

Zenix was a 10 year old first year guard apprentice in the village of Falcon claw when it happened. The lord of Falcon claw had transformed into a terrifying black wolf. massive and vicious, it was ripping through people Zenix had known his whole life like it was nothing. Its jaws gory and terrifying, it hunted down members of the village in a blind rage one by one, having started with its own family. Zenix had tried to put up a fight. To follow his limited training, he really did. But the beasts jaws locked around him anyways. they tore into his stomach and chest, lifting him off the ground. The fangs ripped into his flesh effortlessly, and it hurt. God, it hurt, but the thing at the forefront of his mind wasn’t sadness at his life cut short or fear at the impending end. No. It was red hot, blinding, furious rage. In his last stand, Zenix used his position to grip his knife and tear it across the wolf's eyes. it whined and recoiled and zenix felt a hysterical laugh of victory bubbling in his chest, but it was short lived as the whine lowered into a vicious snarl. the jaws on his torso clamped down and zenix had the vague realization he'd been bitten in half before everything went dark.

When Aaron returned to himself, it was to nothing. Pain was erupting from a gash he could feel across his eyes and the world was darker than black. But he could smell the overwhelming irony tang of blood. Could feel it on his skin, in his mouth. He called out with a broken voice to his family, for his guards, for anyone. But his voice only echoed out into the clearing. He staggered to his feet and stumbled blindly around looking for any sign of life. The amulet that served as a catalyst still clutched tightly in his hand. After that it didn't take long for him to piece together an idea of what had happened. Aaron buried the bodies. Marked the graves with stones. When an O’Khasian trader came by a few weeks later, the lord of falcon claw had fled. Word spread fast of the mad lord who massacred his village, leaving nothing but red smears on the ground.

Gene had been put on babysitting duty. In charge of two literal children. Vylad was tolerable at least. He knew when to shut up and listen, though gene suspected the teenager was sneaking around behind his back, he’d yet to actually see him do anything incriminating. Zenix on the other hand seemed to take no greater pleasure than making Gene's life miserable. Bitching and moaning and arguing. He didn’t listen. At all. As if following one of genes (very reasonable) orders would actually fucking kill him. Gene delegated him to Vylad. He himself had better things to do than wrangle an obnoxious preteen. But Vylad proved himself to be an even less attending babysitter than gene. Focusing all of his attention instead of watching the goings on of the guards in the village they were posted at. Which, yeah, Gene told him to do, but he also told him to watch the LORD. As usual, nobody listened to him or did their damn jobs. Irene forbid anyone actually does anything useful around here. Though Gene will privately admit this isn't his idea of a good time either. watching what he would charitably refer to as the most boring village he'd seen in his life. after or otherwise. he kept his eye on the "busy" marketplace, cocking an eyebrow at the sight of some kid stealing from traders, immediately getting caught, and making a break for it. gene chuckled at the sight but that quickly died and replaced itself with outrage as he got a good look at the kids face.

Zenix decided he was sick of genes condescending ass immediately after he was assigned to his troop. The rules were stupid and arbitrary, and just because VYLAD was content to follow them didn't mean that zenix was. Yeah, sure, they didn't NEED to sleep or eat nearly as much as they did before. But zenix liked doing those things. Those were, like, two of his favorite things. Even if he didn't need to, Not eating and not sleeping still made him tired and hungry and pissed off, and zenix was less than content to just wait till he'd "get used to it." Yeah. Fat chance. So, yeah, mayyyybe he snuck away while vylad wasn't looking. not like it was hard. zenix pretty much just walked away 5 minutes after Gene dumped him there and Vylad made no move to stop him. Zenix just wanted something to snack on. he'd be in and out before anyone even noticed he was gone. He made his way on the gravel paths, glancing around at the near empty (but still busier than every other part of the village) town square. He made his way to the cart selling bread and cured meats, not even breaking stride as he nonchalantly snatches up a basket of bread buns and a hanging sausage. This is what people don't tell you about theft. you just gotta look like you know what you're doing and no one will suspect a thing. A second later, a loud shout from the stall owner carried over the square and, for no reason in particular really there's no way that has anything to do with him, zenix decided that running back to the safety of the trees sounded like a good idea. Its when he rounds a blind corner led to the straight shot up to the forest that he collides face first with a 6'3 hulking wall of metal armor. he's thrown back onto the gravel and glared up at the- mother of Irene, what are they feeding these guards??? this guy is fucking huge. a metal plated hand is held out to help him up but zenix smacked it away pushing himself up. He snatched the basket and what few buns remained inside it and tried to dodge around the wall of the a man. That same armored hand landed on his shoulder stopping him (with what sounded like a sigh??? was he fucking BORING this guy!?) and wheeled him back around to face the very unhappy looking merchant he stole from. zenix groaned.

a 23 year old Garroth led the young boy back to the guards station. Thanking Irene that Visher was jolly enough about the whole thing to take it in stride and accept a hard negotiated apology from the boy instead of demanding harsher punishment. He didn't think anyone would insist on going too hard on a child this young, but lord Malik had a tendency to be cruel if caught in a bad mood. And as a simple guard of the village that was lenient enough to take in a faceless stranger, he wasn't in any position to challenge the lord if this issue was brough to him and he demanded harsher punishment. The boy lounged with one arm over the back of the chair at the table him and Dale used to play cards (he wasn't going to bring a CHILD into a holding cell for interrogation) droning out evasive answers to all of Garroths questions on where his parents were, what village he hails from, what he was doing in phoenix drop. Garroth frowned, realizing he'd need to change tactics. he glanced over at the cupboards. the boy was stealing food, most likely, he was hungry. The question of what he likes on his sandwich is much more enthusiastically answered. Through mouthfuls of food, Garroth learned a little more. The boys name is zenix. he wont specify where he came from or who his parents are but when Garroth asks who he's staying with, the answer of "some guy who's like, thirty or something." sets off some alarm bells.

vylad suppressed a sighed as gene ranted loudly about how he was 25, thankful the two of them were much too far up on the hill to be heard. Zenix's stunt had caused a lot of problems, it'd be an understatement to say he threw a wrench in the original plan. more like the entire plan got ripped to shreds and set on fire. What they were ORIGINALLY here to do was keep an eye on the lord. Apparently he was some distant indirect descendent of Irene, which explains why he's never heard of him before, its a connection to a bloodline so flimsy that vylad was more likely to be a divine descendant than Lord Malik. A benefactor that Gene was keeping hush hush wanted information- who was he kidding. The benefactor was Zane. Gene had done a pretty good job of keeping it quiet but vylad was much much quieter. It didn't take a genius to figure out that his brother was up to something behind the scenes. The shadow knights job was simply to observe the village, gather intel on the lord. But that plan had long since evaded them now that Zenix was down there easily chatting away with his older brother in the guards station. Oh, yes that's right. Garroth was here is well. this must've been some kind of funny twist of fate that vylad had found both his brothers again five, maybe six years after his death. not that either of them knew it. But this could be good, with Zenix on the ground, they could learn more than they would've from just observing. Gene wouldn't like it and sure it wasn't ideal to have a ten year old running recon. But even gene wouldn't be able to deny that guards hear a lot, including apprentices, they're pulled in on information that's kept behind closed doors. However, vylad couldn't deny to himself the real reason this was good, it meant they would be staying here longer. watching Garroth, it made something in him ache to see the way he intentionally softened his posture so he appeared less threatening despite his stature as he spoke to zenix, it was familiar. vylad zoomed his spy glass closer to Garroth's helm, trying to see the face underneath, worried he was forgetting it. It felt like he spent a lifetime in the nether after his death. So long that he'd convinced himself he'd never see his family again, That it was a life long behind him. But now, Garroth was right there and Zane was the reason he's even here in the first place. So, if Vylad noticed Zenix's clumsy attempt to sneak off, well, maybe he pretended not to. If the closest he could be to his brothers was two people away, then vylad was okay with that.

[thefishywizard]

Back pain

[thefishywizard]

Yeah so and then, during the epilogue, they get married and have the chance to live in peace together in Phoenix drop and get to spend time seeing their kids grow up- Whatever. fuck you. I'm never showing you anything again.

[thefishywizard]

Wednesday_commissions oc is the 12th and final attack for artfight! This is been so much fun! Thank you everyone who attacked me!

[thefishywizard]

11th attack for @0beewitched0 !

[thefishywizard]

10th attack for @boyswillbebutch ! She got that dog in er

[thefishywizard]

9th attack!!! @button-drop 's ocs were so cute i couldn't stand the thought of separating them.

[thefishywizard]

8thhhh(?) I believe attack! Check out @batfromspaceyipe

[thefishywizard]

7th artfight attack for @sol-draws-sometimes ! Sorcificer steampunk gal! She may have just caused an explosion.

[thefishywizard]

6th attack for artfight! Human version of @koymoa 's little radio guy, HES MY SON ACTUALLLLYYY

[thefishywizard]

Big ass fuckin eyes. What are you looking at??? huh???

[thefishywizard]

5th attack for artfight! I love this character. Very fairly odd parents 🩷💚 check out Linspiral!

[thefishywizard]

4th attack for artfight! @abnormallyo-a-k 's shining star check them out if you want more of this diva! (Or just yaknow generally you should check them out 🔥🔥🔥✊️👊)

[thefishywizard]

Third art fight attack, Put these two in a survival horror game together 🙏🙏 from left to right oc creators are breadlight_ on instagram and Ansjepansje123 on art fight check em out!

[thefishywizard]

Loved drawing @shadowqnights mcd oc for art fight! Fayeee 😭😭😭

[thefishywizard]

First attack for art fight! Check out discoturnip on twitter or bluesky! (Click for better quality)

[thefishywizard]

Sorry, this seems very wishy washy I only decided to join last minute, haha. Most likely, I'll be going after mutuals, but this is my first time in art fight, so bear with me 😭