#difference between islands and continents? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bestworstcase · 3 months

Text

tin hats on. let’s talk about the great war.

first, a general point about the relevant world of remnant spots: qrow narrates all of them. i think this is important to keep in mind when assessing the information provided, because he editorializes constantly, and i do not believe that we are meant to take qrow’s obvious biases at face value. rather, this is a narrative choice to introduce us to this history through a very distorted lens; qrow is ozpin’s man, loyal to the bone before to the revelation of ozpin’s lies, and it is also very likely that he had no formal education prior to his enrollment at beacon academy.

#1: the pre-war kingdoms.

vale sits on the northwestern coast of sanus, sandwiched between “steep mountains” and “waters too shallow for any real monsters to pop out of.” throughout the kingdom’s history, every attempt to expand the kingdom’s borders past the mountain range has ended in “colossal failures”—the most recent of which is mountain glenn, in the post-war period.

however, vale was also engaged in a different expansionist effort in the century preceding the great war: the kingdom was building settlements on “the small islands and peninsulas” of the northeastern coast.

to the north of vale lay the kingdom of mantle. qrow does not give a lot of detail regarding the settlement of solitas, just that “at some point, a group of settlers were crazy enough to venture out into the northernmost continent,” but i submit that the founders of mantle came from northern sanus. why?

mantle’s location at the southwestern tip of solitas is geographically closest to the island of vytal, just off the north coast of sanus; had the settlers come from northern anima, they would have more likely landed on the eastern side of the continent.

qrow says this: “the harsh weather conditions proved to be just as useful as the mountain ranges when it came to keeping the creatures of grimm at bay,” and while anima does have mountain ranges, they’re not remarked upon in WOR: mistral. it is vale that depends upon “steep mountains” to bulwark its eastern flank against the grimm, and vale that has made repeated, unsuccessful attempts throughout its history to expand its borders beyond those mountains.

it is unclear how long mantle existed as an independent state prior to the great war, but we know that it’s not very old; qrow also states that the century preceding the great was “filled with so much tension” that it might as well be “lumped together” with the great war. meaning almost certainly that there were smaller-scale conflicts throughout the whole period. sometime during that century, vale began to build settlements in northeastern sanus. mantle was settled “at some point” by “a crazy group of settlers”—and “i guess when you’re that desperate,” qrow opines, “a frozen hunk of rock doesn’t seem like such a bad place to call home.” mantle is geographically closest to northeastern sanus. there are—there have always been—people living outside the kingdoms, who do not want to be part of the kingdoms.

you do the math. or i will: mantle was founded by people displaced from northeastern sanus by valean expansion, probably in the neighborhood of a hundred years prior to the great war.

meanwhile, mistral was conquering anima. notably—because qrow doesn’t like mistral, particularly—there is less ambiguity on this point than on vale’s settlement of northeast sanus: this expansion was an imperial project. a conquest. mistral was (and based on the language used in the present, still is) an empire, meaning its “territories” are all conquered people or polities from whom the imperial core extracts resources, which—both historically and in the text of this story—includes slaves.

so, argus. during the century preceding the great war, mistral’s attention turned to northern anima. according to jaune and ren in 6.7, mistral’s expansion into the region was stymied by the cold until forming an alliance with mantle; qrow describes mantle as an “unlikely friend” to the empire. the goliath in the room that none of these characters acknowledge (and may not know, given their upbringings—bandit, orphaned young, & very sheltered) is that the region was probably not uninhabited at the time.

empire. conquest. controlled territories. you cannot have these things without also having conquered people. what stymied mistral’s expansion into the region was likely not the cold per se but the logistical burden the cold imposed upon military action here; invading a cold region with an army in the wintertime is famously not a good idea. and, if mantle was founded by people displaced by valean imperialism… well, that explains both qrow’s view of it as an “unlikely friend” and why mantle would make such an overture of alliance to mistral in the first place; vale and mistral were the great world powers, and for mantle—a small, vulnerable, dust-rich but otherwise resource-poor state with every reason to fear its closer southern neighbor—cozying up to mistral would have been just rational politics; hug one great power to insure against invasion by the other.

and then there’s vacuo.

WOR: vacuo is easily the least factually trustworthy episode in the series to the point that i think it is probably all but worthless in terms of the historical narrative given; it’s worldbuilding the modern day cultural narratives about the conquest of vacuo, not the actual history.

(the CFVY novels, i believe, support this reading: in the present, many city vacuans believe the narrative qrow offers here that the old kingdom of vacuo was a “paradise,” but “comfort breeds weakness” and its people were complacent, soft, helpless to defend themselves from invaders from more hardened kingdoms… but the first king of vacuo was a man called malik the sunderer, shade’s history teacher states that it’s been centuries since vacuo was conquered and the real history has been so obscured and distorted by myth that it’s impossible to know what it was truly like, and desert vacuans—the nomadic peoples who don’t live in the kingdom—have a starkly different cultural outlook on hardship that is much more in line with the story’s themes and also reality, valuing community, hospitality, and resilience over “strength.”)

but there is one kernel of very interesting information in this episode: “after the great war, a formal government was finally established.” meaning there wasn’t a formal vacuan government before the great war.

vacuo was not a state before the great war.

of vacuo’s entry into the great war, qrow says this:

Up to this point, Vacuo had done its best to stay out of the fight. Mantle and Mistral, having both already established a small presence in Vacuo territory years before promised to leave them alone, provided they didn't interfere. Soon, those talks evolved. It went from "Don't side with them" to "Side with us and you'll be safe". Vacuo did not much care for that, and they came to the conclusion that if Vale were to fall, there'd be no one left to stop Mistral and Mantle from conquering them next. So they did what they considered to be the logical thing. They drove Mantle and Mistral out of Vacuo and told Vale they had their backs.

at this point in history, vacuo did not have a government. at this point in history, vacuo was not a state. the kingdom of vacuo had been conquered centuries ago (by “more developed kingdoms,” qrow says—by whom?), and according to rumpole (<- an actual authoritative source, given she teaches history at shade!), “few documented accounts or records remain from that far back.”

the conquest of vacuo predated the conflicts of the prewar century (and probably predate the existence of mantle). this illustration in WOR: vacuo implicates all three of the other kingdoms—blue for mistral, white for mantle, green for vale:

so there is no question that vale participated in the butchering of vacuo; it did. but this illustration is also impressionistic, ahistorical, not a literal representation of how vacuo was conquered.

by the time of the great war, vacuo was a territory occupied by mantle and mistral, but vale does not seem to have had a significant presence there. in the present, vacuans harbor a lot of resentment for mistral and atlas, less for vale. vale is also, by virtue of being located on the same continent, the kingdom best positioned to invade vacuo if it so chose.

(qrow asserts that vacuo was conquered by “more developed” kingdoms, but it was also dust-rich—the CFVY novels confirm this—and there is a clear correlation between technological innovation and access to an abundant source of dust. it’s possible that a scarcity of, say, iron inhibited ancient vacuo’s technological development and put it at a military disadvantage, but generally i think it’s more likely that qrow is regurgitating historical propaganda there.)

the point being: vale conquered the kingdom of vacuo and then either withdrew or lost a war with mistral for control over the territory at some point prior to the great war.

regardless of the finer details, the historicity of qrow’s account regarding vacuo’s entrance into the war seems… pretty suspect given that vacuo did not have a government. what sort of “talks” do you suppose the mantle-mistrali bloc was having with the non-state actors of vacuo? what kind of “presence” did mistral, the empire that conquered all of anima, actually have in the vacuan territory?

hmm. i wonder.

vacuo “drove mistral and mantle out” and threw in their lot with vale; meaning, the vacuan side of this war was really a war of independence. vacuo wasn’t “doing its best to stay out of the fight” so much as it was under mistrali control until the vacuan people rebelled, then sided with mistral’s enemy.

#2: salem?? ?

ozpin—and qrow by extension—believes that salem ignited the war with a false-flag op in northeastern sanus (“to this day, no one knows who shot first” + “salem’s smart. she works in the shadows, using others to get what she wants, so that when it comes time to place the blame, we can only point at each other”). much of the fandom not only takes this at face value but also assumes without… really any basis at all that salem was responsible for the “incident” in mantle that the mantelian government used to justify a raft of draconian censorship laws.

but… authoritarian regimes can and will use any pretext to justify repressive new laws whose real purpose is to punish dissenters and strengthen control over the populace; banning art and all forms of self-expression is not a move that anyone would think with any seriousness would protect people from the grimm. qrow is either being disingenuous in purpose or (more likely) just doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about because four years at the monster-hunting college is the sum total of his education: “the people of mantle had come to believe that they would be much safer from the grimm if they could only keep the emotions of the masses in check” is the kind of bullshit nonsense you would expect if the guy doesn’t know how government works, either the modern-day democratic councils or whatever system prewar mantle had; what is the distinction between “the people” and “the masses?”

in. the. unreliable. narrators. show.

mantle’s autocratic government found a pretext to crack down on subversive speech and pumped out a massive body of propaganda to the tune of “we’re just doing what we must for the good of the people :)”—that’s what happened. that’s why mistral imposed the same laws on its territories but not in the imperial core, and why mantle didn’t have a problem with that “selective” enforcement.

maybe salem sent some grimm to attack mantle, maybe she didn’t. maybe there was a public protest that got angry enough to attract grimm. maybe there was a protest that got too rowdy, and who’s going to openly question the government officials claiming that officers on the scene opened fire into the crowd because a grimm jumped out of the sewers? grimm evaporate when they die. kind of a hard thing to fact check.

and in a similar vein… vale’s king rolled out a welcome mat for mistrali colonists who came to colonize valean settlements. it is beyond nonsensical to think that there was no violence involved. colonization is an inescapably and inherently violent process. and remember, the rioting began shortly after mistral imposed draconian censorship laws on its occupied territories, which absolutely would have included parts of eastern vale.

it was inevitable and completely predictable that this situation would explode. might salem have sent someone to fire the first shot? sure? but why would she bother, when the fuse was burning down all on its own?

(and that’s assuming she even had an interest in provoking a massive war at all, which seems rather unlikely given her apparent disinclination to engage in wanton destruction; see also her consistent choices to limit civilian casualties by pulling out of vale quickly / planning a surgical strike on haven academy / not attacking mantle / not sending grimm into the subways of atlas.)

but. but–

they did put her in the thumbnail. the point of this is presumably to imply that she did, in fact, do something to influence these events.

specifically.

they put her in the thumbnail superimposed over the leader of the vacuan rebellion, who:

led what must have been a pretty desperate fight against steep odds to drive an industrialized global power out of vacuo,

kept that coalition together after they won and formed an alliance with vale, and

was a faunus.

ozpin is superimposed over the king of vale because he was the king of vale. so: is the choice to position salem in this way similarly non-arbitrary?

looks into the camera like i’m on the office.

salem is a faunus. she identifies herself as such (“your grace” is the mode of address for menagerie’s chieftain) and she has been socially understood as a faunus for thousands of years (in a time when faunus were hunted and caged like animals, the stories about the witch who lived in the woods among “beasts and monsters” were, uh, probably not referring to wild animals; “beasts” was a euphemism for the people the ones telling those stories hunted and caged.)

to this day, ozpin associates the faunus with salem. he suspects blake of being her spy; he similarly singles out velvet after the massacre of lower cairn (and we don’t get to see what he actually says, only that velvet is in tears by the end). at haven, leo more or less says “the council overruled me and my hands are tied,” and ozpin immediately decides to freeze him out and insinuates to the kids that he suspects leo might be a traitor; meanwhile james “two votes” ironwood is closing atlas’ borders, cutting off the global supply of dust, recalling his troops from an allied state, and behaving so erratically that mistral is evidently anticipating a fucking invasion, and ozpin instructs qrow to take the lamp to atlas anyway. lionheart is a faunus; ironwood is human. the tea set ozpin gifted to lionheart is a replica of salem’s tea set. math.

so the fact that salem is superimposed over the faunus leader here does not seem coincidental; the narrative is very consistent in linking salem to the faunus because she is herself a faunus.

in WOR: faunus, qrow describes the appalling treatment of faunus by humans throughout history (first ostracized and hunted down, later enslaved and exploited) before to the great war and states that, after the great war, “the world was desperate to find compromises that would ensure they'd never see the likes of it again; the faunus were awarded equal rights as citizens of remnant, and as an apology, they were given an entire continent of their own to do with as they pleased. there were some that saw this as fair and just, but many saw it for what it really was: a slap in the face from a nation of sore losers. and so menagerie was born.”

and from the great war:

But whatever the reasoning, everyone bowed to the King of Vale by the time it was over. The Great War had ended. The world was ready to live under the rule of Vale. But the King refused. The leaders of the four Kingdoms met on the island of Vytal, and it was there that they worked together to form a treaty and establish the future of Remnant. Territories were redistributed, slavery was abolished, governments were restructured, and the Warrior King, the last king Vale would ever have, founded the Huntsman Academies and placed his most trusted followers in command of each Kingdom's school.

a few things to unpack here.

first: ozma as the king of vale would have had quite a lot of power to drive the vytal negotiations in the direction he wanted them to go; the other three leaders were given at least a notional say, but these were people who had just seen ozma unleash the horrifying powers of the sword of destruction upon their armies and bowed to him in abject terror—and that’s before getting into the possibility that ozma may have used the crown of choice to compel agreement.

second: “territories were redistributed” mostly appears to mean that mistral was forced to relinquish control over conquered territories that did not want to be part of mistral; vacuan sovereignty was formally restored (…on paper) (shade academy is the de facto government and has been since the war ended, which is worth raising an eyebrow at), parts of western anima were liberated, and… menagerie was given to the faunus.

(menagerie had to have been a mistrali colony before the great war ended, otherwise the framing of “a slap in the face from a nation of sore losers” is nonsensical.)

third: note the implication that awarding the faunus equal rights and giving them an island was a desperate compromise to insure against the perceived threat of a second war. it’s of a piece with ozma’s attempt to appease mistral and avoid war by “sharing” eastern vale with mistrali colonists.

the vacuan leader—his ally in the war—was a faunus, but it sounds very much as though ozma saw her kind as adversaries, at least in potentia, whom he made it a point to appease in the hope of avoiding a war. which is irrational on its face but does make sense in conjunction with ozpin’s clear inclination to imagine connections between salem and faunus, however baseless that suspicion might be.

and on that note, qrow also says this: “a lot of settlements were lost during those years, and most were never reclaimed. rations on food and dust were put into effect, development of technology accelerated, humans and faunus who fought alongside one another became closer and every day, mankind grew more and more efficient at destroying itself.”

pay attention to that rhetorical structure.

many settlements were wiped out

food and dust were strictly rationed

technological (military) development boomed

humans and faunus grew closer

mankind grew ever more efficient at destroying itself

one of these is not like the others.

qrow’s framing of these events likely comes from ozpin, whether directly (things ozpin told him) or indirectly (ozpin’s influence as headmaster over beacon’s curriculum). so the inclusion of “humans and faunus who fought side by side grew closer” into what is otherwise a list of ways mankind “destroyed itself” is perhaps telling of ozma’s mindset at the time; which in turn supports the implication that ozma perceived the faunus as a potential threat to appease after the war.

now!

the question is, how was salem involved—and why?

well. we know that salem is inclined to revolution; she rallied people to rebellion against the brothers millions of years ago, and in her war against the academies in the present, she aligns herself with groups like the white fang. she refers to the global order ozma established through the vytal accords derisively as “your so-called ‘free’ world.”

and we know that salem herself is a faunus, and thousands of years ago she was present enough in faunus culture that their creation myth is just a refraction of her story—transformation into something new by a choice to leap into magical waters.

we know that the faunus did not have rights in any of the four kingdoms before the great war, and mistral in particular is noted for its reliance on (presumably, mainly faunus) slave labor. reading between the lines of qrow’s slanted narration, vacuo was a mistrali territory back then, and in the CFVY novels it’s mentioned that vacuan faunus were regularly enslaved in mistrali-operated mines within that territory.

and we can guess, based on their leader being a faunus, that the vacuan rebels who drove mistral and mantle out of vacuo were predominantly faunus, plus humans willing to follow and fight for the faunus.

in the present, salem preferred sienna khan over adam and dropped adam like a hot potato after he assassinated sienna; she also clearly has no intention to attack menagerie, where the grimm notably do not seem to be a serious problem. salem also implicitly identifies herself as a faunus (“your grace”). so there are grounds for thinking that she does consider the faunus to be her people.

vacuo’s part in the great war was a war for independence. salem is both pragmatic and ruthless; she understands that nothing forces people to cooperate quite like the threat of a common enemy; she has the means to turn the tide of any war by the simple expedient of directing her grimm against the side she wants to lose. if she was in communication with the vacuan rebels—or just had spies—she could have coordinated grimm raids to sever supply lines or winnow defending forces in advance of attacks planned by the rebels, tipping the odds in their favor.

she knows ozma. if she was paying attention to the war, she would have known it began with his futile effort to appease mistral by giving away parts of vale; she has to know he sees her in the shadow of every faunus. the vacuan rebels—most of them faunus, led by a faunus—saved his bacon by joining the war he very much seems to have been losing (the frontlines were in vacuo by the end of the war; all of eastern vale was destroyed, and the king of vale and his army made their final stand in vacuo; vale itself was… probably under mistrali occupation at the time).

i am sure salem did not want, particularly, to throw ozma a lifeline. but she does care about freedom in the abstract—“your so-called ‘free’ world”—and she may think of the faunus as her people. once the war began, once it became clear that vale was losing… well, either vale would fall and mistral would rule the world, which would be undeniably worse for the faunus, or she could grit her teeth and accept helping ozma as a fair price for a shot at liberating the faunus.

and the only thing she would have to do to influence the war’s outcome is use her grimm to disrupt mantelian/mistrali supply lines and specifically target their forces on the battlefield. such attacks wouldn’t stand out against the backdrop of regular grimm activity—there are a lot of grimm in the world beyond her control—but a sustained, deliberate campaign of grimm attacks focused on one side would absolutely add up over time to a significant advantage for the other. especially given that the logistical burden of waging war on a foreign continent is already so much higher than defending your home.

if salem could also keep wild grimm off the backs of vacuo’s and vale’s armies to some extent, a la the apparent absence of a grimm problem in menagerie, that advantage would be even sharper.

…although she probably did not anticipate that ozma would use the sword of destruction to crush everyone who opposed him, or the crown of choice to do… whatever it is he did with it. you win some, you lose some.

#does the god of animals answer prayers for deliverance do you think.

75 notes · View notes

yourmomxx · 7 months

Text

GIRL CRUSH

❧ summary - you are in love with jj, but he only has eyes for someone else

❧warnings - signs of depression, disassociation and withdrawal, all the angst, unrequited feelings, this is written kind of abstract, I think?

❧word count - 4.7k

❧based on this request

songs ❧girl crush - harry styles ❧she - dodie ❧astronomy - conan gray

❧main masterlist

“Because what’s worse than knowing you want something, besides knowing you can never have it?” ― James Patterson, The Angel Experiment

Kiara Carrera was the most beautiful girl you had ever seen.

It was a fact almost as certain as the continous circling of the earth around the sun.

She was captivating, really, and it was such a strong pull toward her it almost confused you.

Her hair was dark, curls silky and defined, in a way that yours could never be. You wished, sometimes, you had her tan skin, smooth and soft, the object of all desires. The way she walked was enchanting, floating just the right amount in her step and never too harsh. You could drown in the deep brown of her dark eyes, expression of empathy and compassion, sincere in a way you only wished you could be.

You were in love with Kiara Carrera, because who couldn’t be, with her angel voice, and her confident attitude, and the way she smelled of flowers, and beach, and the rising sun on the first summer day.

Kiara Carrera had once in your presence been compared to a descendant of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, which, in all honesty, you couldn’t do anything else than agree to. You would know, you were one of her best friends, you spent almost every waking minute with her and the rest of the pogues, and yet you never grew tired of the spark she had that made her glowing golden.

The amount of guys you’d had walking up to you, to ask for her or about her, and how could you blame them, you understood. But you turned them away.

You would like to say it was merely for Kiara’s gain, because you didn’t want one of those not-serious screwboys in her near, but it wasn’t, you weren’t considerate like that, another trait that she had you forward in.

But Kiara Carrera, beauty incarnate, the princess of pogues, living evidence of relations between the rich and the poor side of the island, had only eyes for one specific person herself. A boy that made her smile in a way that made her forget the entire world around her, and also shake her head in exasperation when he talked sometimes.

The lucky guy’s name was JJ Maybank, and he was her best friend, and, in a way, also yours.

JJ admired Kiara. In that way, he was no different to the other guys that kissed the blessed ground she walked on. He loved the way she paced around the room when she was contemplating hard, or the way the wind from over the sea blew a stray curl in her face.

JJ Maybank was more than his love for Kiara Carrera, though. JJ was kindness, and consideration, and he was the overcome of a terrible childhood, and he was the love he held for his friends.

In that way, you couldn’t blame Kiara for being infatuated him. Because who wouldn’t be? Thinking about it like that, they fit for each other perfectly, like two pieces of the same puzzle.

There was no space for you in-between. There never had been.

It had become a tradition for you and JJ to meet up in-between lessons to talk about the most mundane things, gossiping about annoying teachers and getting at least one intelligent conversation for the hour.

It was mostly JJ doing the talking, though, oftentimes. You didn’t mind. Letting JJ’s voice wash over you like the silent lullaby of the waves on a windy day had turned into a necessary comfort you couldn’t imagine to miss.

You hadn’t enjoyed school for a while now. There were too many people cramped up on too little space for your liking, and everyone wanted to talk about everything, and it demanded your concentration on things you found yourself not caring about or interested in.

But you met deadlines, and you delivered the grades, so that meant you were alright.

If the breaks you spent in-between classes leaning on your locker, talking to JJ - or mostly listening to him - were what made things worse or better, you didn’t know. And even if you had caught yourself glancing at his quickly moving lips for far too long than a friend should every once in a while, then you didn’t allow yourself to think about it.

The cheaply painted, red metal was cold against your cheek, as you did your best to not bend over and throw up that sickening feeling that’s been sitting heavy on your chest the entire day.

It was Thursday. Maybe. Might be Friday. You didn’t really remember it all that much anymore, it all was blurred. JJ was talking about a party he went to, where he met someone who told him something, that’s what your mind managed to register.

JJ didn’t enjoy spending time with you anymore. It was clear to you, clearer than freshly polished glass windows.

He hasn’t said it like that, of course.

JJ would never, he was too nice.

But you weren’t Kiara, and JJ would much rather spend time with her than with you. You knew that, it was not hard to tell.

All at once, JJ suddenly stopped his rambling mid-sentence.

You didn’t need to see the way he glanced over your shoulder as he suddenly stood taller, or hear the silk voice travel down the hallway, calling out his name, to realize who had shown up.

You recognized it in the change of his eyes when he looked at her.

Kiara swerved a younger student as she headed straight up to JJ, hugging him, and greeting you with the most blinding and sincere smile you’d ever seen someone wear.

She made it so easy to love her that you felt terrible about wanting to hate her.

Those thoughts were changed when she looped her arm around JJ’s and fixed his hair.

JJ’s hair didn’t need fixing, that’s what you thought. He was beautiful when his blond strands were tousled, boyish, and it added up with the mischievous glint that swam in his eyes.

You were being unfair now, you knew that, Kiara wasn’t the bad guy here, she’d merely pushed a strand of JJ’s hair aside as she talked to him.

JJ’s skin was surely burning at the spot where her skin had touched his.

You knew yours was.

JJ’s voice would be different as well, when he spoke to Kiara.

It was light, in a way that you knew you could never make him sound, because you had no way to make him feel free, and careless, and cared for, not in a way you used to, when he was still only friends with her and you were allowed to be selfish enough to keep him to yourself.

The sickening feeling spread again. From your chest, down to your stomach and in your throat, quite like the exact opposite of the warmth that seeing JJ once had given you, and you almost laughed at the irony if you weren’t in so much pain.

JJ waved his hand at you. “Hey man, see you later, I told Kie I’d walk her to class.” You blinked.

Kie. He liked to call her that. A nickname. He’d never given a nickname to you.

You nodded. “Yeah no, sure. See ya.”

JJ disappeared into the crowd, Kiara somewhere next to him.

All of a sudden, you didn’t know if the world had been this blurry the entire time.

The next time it happened, was at the beach.

You were walking next to JJ on your right side, Kiara was occupying your left. You were on your way together to John B’s cabin to meet him and Pope there, and had decided to take the long route next to the raging sea.

Wind was carrying the smell of salt in your direction, and JJ’s tanktop was tugged around all over his body.

In hindsight, you should have known. In hindsight, if you had spun the thought only a bit further, you would have known that there would not be a way for this to work.

JJ and Kiara were two forces pulling each other near, nothing that only possessed human strength could put itself between them, it was no use, not even to try.

“And I mean, the Carsons got this huge boat-”

JJ gestured around with his hands when he talked. You leaned slightly away as to not get in the way of his movements.

Kiara was focused on him when JJ spoke. Her body subconsciously drifted nearer.

You leaned slightly away so she wouldn’t bump into you.

JJ made a joke.

Kiara laughed.

She doubled over and leaned into JJ. Her hand found his arm as she slapped him playfully. JJ tucked his head down. Blushing, probably.

This time, the sickening feeling started in your stomach and chest already.

They were walking together now, right next to each other. Their joy-bounced steps carried them further than yours, weighed down by longing, and caring, and guilt, and you fell back.

The only thing you could do was follow their already vanishing footsteps in the sand.

When you arrived at the cabin, and Kiara and JJ greeted your friends a whole lot of feet before you did, John B raised his eyebrows at you, questioning.

You ignored his suspicious look.

Pope seemed to hold you just the tiniest bit closer when he hugged you.

The feeling spread out to your head.

The last time it happened was at a party.

One, that, in your defense, you did not even intend to show up to. It was a house party, which was unusual enough as it was, which pogue was there you could meet that had enough space in their house to throw a party and enough determination to clean it all up afterwards?

But, apparently, John Laren had moved new on the island, and wanted to make his presence known as of that event. Where middle-aged people brought casseroles, cupcakes or batches of brownies, eighteen year-olds threw massive parties with drugs and alcohol for everyone that was underage and younger.

As mentioned, you hadn't planned to go. In your current condition, a party was really the last thing on your mind.

Unfortunately for you, though, you had not calculated Pope Heyward into that idea.

That prick.

"Yes, I'm coming!"

You rushed to your front door, almost tumbling over that goddamn couch leg that you had wanted to rip off for years now, and quickly swung open the thick hardwood, before the person on the other side could get a chance to pound against it as if their life depended on it again.

"Geez!"

Before you were even able to realize who stood before you, Pope had already shoved you by the chest, and into the house again.

The door slammed close again.

“You are going to that party.”

Your mind wasn’t working right now.

“What are you- Hey, come back!”

But Pope had already made his way up the stairs. You turned and ran after him.

By the time you arrived on the upper floor, Pope was already standing in your room, ready to open the closet doors. You jumped forward and slammed then closed, guarding them with your arms spread like something sacred.

“Slow down,” you said. Pope rewarded you with an impatient look.

“What are you doing here?”

“You know what i’m doing here,” Pope shot back, no hesitation.

You withstood the urge to roll your eyes.

“I’m not going to John Stewart’s,” you clarified.

Pope did roll his eyes.

“His name is John Laren,” he corrected you. “John Stewart is on reality tv.”

He grabbed you by the shoulders, and easily maneuvered your non-resisting body to the edge of your bed.

“And you are going,” He stated. He pressed you into the mattress.

“Now sit down and be quiet, and let me pick out something for you to wear.”

Pope whirled around and ripped the closet doors open. He began rummaging though the different shirts and pants that were hung up inside.

“I don’t understand why you so desperately want me to go,” You said, swerving right to ditch an orange shirt that came flying at you just in time.

“Because,” Pope drew out the word slowly, as he concentrated on a black tank top in his hands, “you’re sulking.”

He walked over and thrusted the top into your grip.

“And when you’re sulking, I’m sulking,” he continued. “We’re twinning.”

“But we’re not-“ Pope raised a warning eyebrow. You raised your hands in defeat.

“Alright, alright.”

Pope patted your cheek.

“That’s my boy.”

A second of hesitation, but Pope sighed and the mattress dipped as he sat down next to you.

"Look, man," He started, hesitantly. "I like to think that you don't think I'm stupid."

You raised your eyebrows. Pope continued.

"And, considering I don't need glasses, unlike - some of us-" He took a deep breath.

"Man, I see the way you look at Kiara."

Your eyebrows shot up to your hairline.

The way you looked at- "What?" You stuttered out, not even trying to hide how baffled you were.

Pope shook his head. "My bad, I should have worded that differently. I mean the way you look at Kiara, when she is around JJ."

Oh.

Ah.

Your body felt slow. This made way more sense.

You didn't even notice how you were slowly turning away to not have to look Pope in the eye.

"Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't-" Pope scoffed. More at himself than you, really.

"I know we have that rule. No pogue on pogue macking? But seriously, man, I should be the first person who knows what it feels like to be in love with their best friend. And honestly? I can't blame you."

You felt a comforting pressure on your shoulder when Pope placed his hand there.

"I want you to know I'm not judging you. Don't feel bad about ... what you're feeling. You know?"

You loudly breathed in, not even knowing what to say. What could there be to say?

Pope stood up again. His hand slid off your shoulder slowly. He didn't hold your silence against you. You silently thanked him for it.

"Look, that's the whole reason I want you to go to this party. You need to loosen up a little, drink away your thoughts, get some groove in."

Pope demonstrated his words by shaking his whole body from one side to another like a dancing snake.

The corners of your mouth cracked into a smile at that. Pope saw it as a win, turned back to your closet again, grinning.

You sighed, suddenly reminded of why he was here in the first place.

"What would I even be doing there?"

Pope shrugged, still rummaging through all your clothes, not caring about any mess. "Go out. Have fun. Have some drinks. Have some boys, have some girls, whatever you're feeling tonight."

You ignored him. "Are JJ and Kiara going to be there?"

"No," Pope answered shortly and pulled out cargo pants from the closet. "They both have plans."

"Together?"

Pope threw the pants at you. "Here you go. Put it on, fifteen minutes, downstairs." He waved himself off. "Actually ten, you're not a teenage girl. Let's go!"

And just like that, he was out the door. You regarded the clothes in your hands skeptically, the black tank top and dark green cargo pants, and couldn't help but notice, how Pope had not answered your question.

Jason Lawrence was a Pogue, whose lifestyle drifted more toward the direction of Kook. There had been a few of them over time, the line between too poor and too rich wavering, and they were trapezing on it.

Whether John Lance invited all entirety of the cut to show off, or to really just throw himself a good old welcome party, remained unclear.

In all honesty, you didn't really care that much. The only reason you were here was because of Pope, and the second he dared to take his eyes off you for more than five minutes, you would be gone like the wind.

Multicolored lights flashed over the ceiling like the spotlights in a club. Most people that were running around with red solo cups in their hands, you recognized - from bonfires or other house parties.

In a way, the entire cut was just like a really big neighbourhood.

Your eyes searched over the crowd of people, desperately looking for a quiet space next to a wall, hopefully, and you politely denied a blond girl with just the necessary amount of covering-up clothing, when she offered you a drink.

"Come on, man, at least pretend like you're having fun!"

Pope appeared next to you out of the blue, and if the loud music hadn't swallowed his equally yelled words, you would have flinched.

You shot your friend a grim look.

"That would be lying, and I don't like lying."

A sharp pain erupted in your chest when Pope stabbed his finger right above your sternum.

"See, I know that's a lie," He said. "Because I know you like lying, I saw you lying often, so what you just said -" He raised his poking finger, "-'t was a lie."

You leaned closer to him and furrowed your eyebrows.

"Dude, are you drunk already?" You asked loudly.

"We've barely been here for half an hour!"

Pope shrugged, shoulders and hips moving to the rhythm in a way that was definitely not correct by beat.

"Chester from the mini bar did a mix for me!" He explained, hand shooting out to point you in the direction where he had come from.

You raised your eyebrows. Chester from the mini bar might have mixed Pope's stuff a bit too well. That lightweight couldn't hold his own on a normal day with a beer.

You smelled the cup in his hand and couldn't fight off the way your face twisted in disgust.

"Dude, what is in there?" You took the cup out of Pope's hand, which was relatively easy, he wasn't all there with his hand anyways.

Pope drew his eyebrows together and pulled his lips into a pout.

"I was drinking that," He complained. You shook your finger in front of his face.

"I think you've had enough, honestly."

"Give that-" Pope burst forward and grabbed for your hand holding the drink, but you pulled it out of his reach just at the right time and raised your hand in the air the highest you could.

Additionally, you raised yourself on the tips of your toes.

Pope tried to stretch himself, but it didn't budge, so he shorthandedly pressed his thumb into the crook of your elbow hard, forcing you to bend your arm down.

Your friend let out a victorious laugh as he reached for the cup that was now almost on eye-level with him, when you made a not thought-through decision on the spot, raised the cup to your lips and downed its contents in one sip.

The liquid went down your throat like cold fire.

Your entire inside squirmed, and your face twisted into a grimace of pure disgust.

"Hey!" Pope threw his hands in the air.

"You're drinking, man! You're having funnnn!"

You wouldn't have put it like that, maybe. But when Pope grabbed you by the wrist and pulled you with him, through the crowds of people and to the shining neon letters that said MINI BAR, you just followed him.

You were having fun. It was almost an hour later, or maybe two, might have just been a half, you didn't really know. Or care.

The solo cup you were sipping held your fourth drink tonight, or your sixth, or your third, you had absolutely no idea.

All you knew was that it burned in your throat like any good liquor should, and that it made you feel good in a way you hadn't felt for weeks now.

The way you weren't quite in full control of your limbs was a side effect you chose to ignore.

The air was vibrating. All colors were more saturated than the first time you came in, they flickered behind your eyelids even when you weren't looking.

Hot bodies of multiple people crowded together, somewhere a table was playing beer pong, while the music roared through your blood stream and pushed arenaline with it.

It felt good. You felt good.

Why hadn't you done this much sooner, Pope was right. And alcohol was great. Like, actually.

The tunes drew you in. Masses of people, it felt, were moving in the same way, all together.

You closed your eyes, and just let it go.

No thinking about the right way to move your lips, the sweat slowly dripping down the back of your neck, or how the alcohol in the cup wasn't quenching your thirst, just worsening it.

It didn't matter. It was as if the music had manifested itself physically, and was moving all of your senses totally on its own.

You felt light, a feeling you had missed over the last few months.

Your chest was free, you could breathe.

The air was full of euphoria, it tasted of glee.

Suddenly, there was a sound that stood out, something that didn't fit the atmosphere.

You blinked your eyes open just the slightest bit.

There, just a few feet away from you, you made out a familiar arrangement of blond strands - some dark, others lightened by the burning sun out on the waves of the sea.

It was a magnetic pull, you couldn't do anything against it if you wanted to. You hadn't really been in posession of your own body since you had taken that drink from Pope.

"JJ!" You heard yourself call out.

Your friend turned around to you, and God, his eyes were beautiful. The string of colorful lights was perfectly illuminating the small streak of skin that was laid free beneath the unbuttoned top of his shirt, a brown one, lazily tucked into casual jeans.

He looked good.

And would you love to blame that thought on your currently dosed state.

So you did.

Your hand slapped on the place of his shoulder, just where his neck met his chest.

"What are you doing here?" You asked, loudly to overcome the sound of the music. "Thought you had plans."

JJ grinned. You mimicked it. Pope had once told you about the mirroring statistic with people one liked. You thought it was bullshit.

"Made a last minute change!" JJ yelled back, and even in your current condition you noticed how his gaze flickered, searching for something that wasn't you in the crowd of people.

"Me and Kie made a stop here before ending our date!"

You blinked.

“Huh?”

You were quite sure JJ repeated his same answer to you. But you didn’t really know, because your ears felt stuffed.

Me and Kie made a stop before ending our date.

Me and Kie. Our date.

You stumbled back.

John B had dunked your head in cold water once to sober you up. This was worse.

Your chest felt heavy, pressed together in a camp handle.

Your hand dropped from JJ's shoulder. He didn't notice. His eyes kept scanning the crowd.

You backed away. You needed space, just some way for your chest to expand and let air into your lungs.

Your back hit another wall of bodies. Everything was so tight around you.

The air didn't feel euphoric anymore, it felt stuffed, and thin, and heavy.

You needed to get out of here.

Stumbling, tumbling and tripping, eyes always focused downwards, you pushed past one person after the other.

You didn't know where you exactly were going, but when you reached a wall, there had to be a door somewhere too, right?

You got lucky. A tall boy was pushed into you and made you almost fall over, but the way you leaned into a different direction drew your attention to a large gate not too far away.

You gathered your last bit of lasting strength in your legs and pushed yourself out of the house, out of the stuffed room, into the cold air of the night, and the smell of sea salt rather than the salt of sweat.

You left the lights behind you. You just kept going. You needed to get some distance between you and that house.

You ran until you reached the shore; quite literally.

The hard wood of the dock creaked under every step you took further out, until you reached the ending.

Tied down ships were softly tuckering on the wooden stakes.

Rather laboriously, you leaned down to sit on the edge of the not fenced trail. You brushed some dirt off your palms, and hugged your knees to your chest.

Almost every last drop of drunkness you had felt just a few minutes earlier, had vanished.

There were no chattering voices around you, nor the hard bass of a remixed 2000's pop song. Just the small, almost not there, rush of the rustling waves.

An occasional drop signified fish swimming to the surface and diving down again.

Some frogs were quacking in the tall blades of grass.

You pressed your knees closer to your body.

Through your lungs, you inhaled the warm summer air. It would soon be morning.

Something directed your thoughts to the song 'Memory' from Cats.

"And soon it will be morning".

The background noise around you didn't change.

You hated how weary you felt, how heavy your heart. From one sentence, how your night was taken in one's hand, and crushed right in-between his fingers, without him even realizing the splinters digging into his palms.

You hated how much power you had given him over you, a man, a boy, who had no interest in you besides the one of a good friend, which was fine, you should be fine with that.

But for some reason, you weren't, in the same way that you weren't altruistic, and not a girl with dark hair and curls and tan skin, the way that you just weren't Kiara Carrera.

Who were you to blame JJ for the way you couldn't grow up and grow out of your feelings.

"Touch me, it's so easy to leave me".

A soft creak behind you caught your attention.

You didn't turn around.

There was no danger to be expected from the people on the Cut. Not that you knew of.

You told yourself that was the reason you stayed.

Not the fact that you didn't care, if the approaching footsteps were danger or not.

A body, clad in a dark brown shirt and jeans plopped down a few feet to your right.

You almost retched when the smell of distinct perfume reached your nose.

"What happened, man?" JJ asked loudly. "You just ... left, back there. We didn't know where you were." He chuckled. You could hear it in his voice, the way he was still rest-drunk. "Thought you found yourself a nice lady and decided we weren't enough fun, if you know what I mean."

You stayed silent.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw JJ looking at your side.

You heard him sigh.

"Man, I'm serious. If something's wrong, you can talk to me. I'm always there for you, you know that."

You bit the inside of your cheek.

Was it fair to let him fidget, like a fish on a rod? As far as you knew, JJ hadn't done anything wrong, not actively.

You stared out the sea.

"I don't like you with Kiara." Your voice was raw and rough. You slightly cleared your throat.

The light breeze made the reeds rustle in a whisper.

JJ sighed and rubbed a hand over his face frantically.

"I know, man," He murmured. "No pogue on pogue macking, I get it. I broke the rule."

You hummed. Behind the horizon, the sky colored brighter.

"Maybe it's that, yeah." You still didn't turn your head.

The night ended and greeted the day, the blood rushing through your ears drowning out any other noise around you.

You pushed down the shiver that threatened to shake your body when the wind picked up.

“But maybe it’s just because I am so terrifyingly in love with you.”

Behind the reeds and over the smooth water, the sun rose slowly above the Banks, a burning orange flare of light.

“I believe in love and lust and sex and romance. I don't want everything to add up to some perfect equation. I want mess and chaos. I want someone to go crazy out of his mind for me. I want to feel passion and heat and sweat and madness. I want valenties and cupids and all of that crap. I WANT IT ALL” ― Barbra Streisand

#jj maybank x you #jj maybank imagine #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank #jj maybank x male!reader #male!reader #girl crush #yourmomxx #outerbanks imagine #outerbanks x reader #rudy pankow imagine

116 notes · View notes

septembriseur · 6 months

Text

The other day I was talking to a friend who's a Muslim activist, and I made the connection between Amitav Ghosh's analysis of the climate crisis and my feelings about the genocide in Gaza and, more broadly, to the enforcement and regulation of inequality in our current moment. Ghosh refers to the way that we are living in the climate crisis as "the great derangement." There is a kind of collective madness, he argues, in the fact that we all know that climate change is happening and why it is happening and that every day we contribute to it happening, and yet at the same time climate change appears almost nowhere in our culture. We don't talk about it. We don't engage with it. Engaging it with would mean acknowledging that the premises on which our society is built are false and unsustainable. And the genocide in Gaza functions in a similar way: we know that it is happening and yet we don't talk about it or engage with it because it exposes the falseness and unsustainability of the premises of our society (premises that in this case include human rights).

I think that a lot of the things that Ghosh says illuminate how these two derangements are actually the same derangement, the derangement of what people in the environmental humanities have started calling the plantationocene. This has to do with a world ecology that sustains a hegemonic elite (and Eurocentric) modernity through the breakdown and (re)circulation of everything that is deemed to belong to the non- or subhuman. The world of the plantationocene is one that has always been defined by the ability of hegemonic power to treat both ("sub")human and nonhuman populations as interchangeable resources that can be deployed whenever and wherever they are most profitable to hegemonic powers: vide the relocation of African slaves and South Asian laborers, the disastrous ecological reshapings of colonized territories to better produce an elite European modernity.

To challenge what is happening in Gaza requires a challenge to several key principles of this world: that hegemonic elite modernity (which Israel has always formed a part of, as one can easily see by glancing at attempts to define the "Global North") has the right to regulate populations as it sees fit; that this regulation of populations is right because the sub-/nonhuman does not possess an unquantifiable wholeness that can be damaged or destroyed through civil destruction and forced relocation (i.e. it makes no difference to resettle indigenous peoples of the Americas or to transport South Asian laborers to islands halfway around the world, because their interchangeability means that nothing important is lost in the process— no more than transporting a plant to a different continent entails a loss or damage to the plant or botanical world); that the sub-/nonhuman exists as a resource to fuel, produce, and sustain hegemonic elite modernity, and can be simply wiped out if it becomes inconvenient or counterproductive to that modernity.

If you start to pursue these ideas, you realize that the genocide in Gaza is enmeshed in the "border crisis" and "refugee crisis" in Europe and the U.S.; you realize that all of these are enmeshed in your ability to walk into a superstore and purchase cheap consumer goods produced and assembled under inhuman conditions; it is enmeshed in everything you touch. And it becomes so overwhelming that you simply do not know how to think about it, because the suffering and the culpability for the suffering become so vast.

But we cannot let ourselves perpetuate this derangement. We have to look straight at the fact that it is absolutely insane that Gaza is no longer even the top headline on news sites. It is absolutely insane that Americans and Europeans (and even some Israelis!) can walk around and go through their days and not think about it at all. It is absolutely insane that we know what is happening and don't act. And I think that a lot of what Ghosh writes in The Great Derangement about the nature of contemporary politics explains why we don't act— but we have to live in the dissonance and tension of how absolutely insane it is that we don't act. We can't let the derangement trap us inside of it.

89 notes · View notes

ltwilliammowett · 6 months

Text

Today we are taking a different approach and I will show you that it is still possible to transport freight by sailing ship. A small but fair and emission-free project awaits you behind door no. 20 - the brigantine Tres Hombres

She is rather unknown and unfortunately there is not much to say about her story, so here are two pictures of her

A bit about her :

The Tres Hombres is a former German war fishing cutter (KFK) from 1943 that was converted into a cargo ship after more than 60 years and has been operating a climate-neutral freight service between Europe and the American continent since the end of 2009. The three men (tres hombres) Andreas Lackner, Arjen van der Veen and Jorne Langelaan got to know each other on sailing ships and jointly developed the concept for an emission-free freight service by sea. As a pilot project, the Tres Hombres is intended to expand the fair transport market niche and prove its economic viability.

The Tres Hombres sails across the Atlantic every year. The ship departs from the Netherlands in October, loading stockfish in Norway, wine in France and olive oil in Portugal. The route then leads to Belém in Brazil, where wine and olive oil are unloaded and coffee beans and other fair trade products from the Amazon basin are loaded in return. On the return journey, the Tres Hombres for Rum and Cocoa Beans calls at the edge of the Caribbean, including the Antilles island of Grenada and the Dominican Republic. On the way back to Europe, tinned fish can be loaded in the Azores. And the products can then be purchased in Europe as well as online.

#tall ship #naval artifacts #brigantine #tres hombres #age of steam #advent calendar #day 20

123 notes · View notes

linderosse · 4 months

Note

Hi there! Id like to ask a question.

I like your idea that the kingdoms Legend went off to adventure to (Holodrum, Labrynna, Hytopia and Lorule) are all in the same place or era rather haha, like they all coexist. Its rather genius!

But that makes me curious, do you have an idea where the kingdoms are located? I know Lorule is a whole other place entirely, but what about the others? Which kingdom is from the north? South? Etc. I'm just curious how far or near each kingdom is, and where Hyrule is between all of them. (Also am I missing other kingdoms?)

Thank you!!!

Yep— the five kingdoms currently entering an alliance in Legend and Fable’s era are Hyrule, Labrynna, Holodrum, Lorule, and Hytopia.

Technically, Legend (and sometimes Fable) have seen even more: Subrosia is a separate kingdom beneath Holodrum, past Labrynnans can visit the present with the Harp of Ages and have canonically traveled to other countries, and Koholint… was as real as a dream can be 🥲. And that’s not counting independently governed countries that are part of the larger conglomerates, like Hyrule’s river Zoras ruled by Queen Oren, or the Tokay island beside Labrynna.

So, background— as you may know, there are four types of non-Hyrule worlds in the Zelda franchise.

Independent government, but owes allegiance to Hyrule (Ex: Every Zora’s Domain and Gerudo Town in the series)

Actual, independent other country (Ex: Spirit!New Hyrule, Hyrule!Calatia (Calatia is not canon to the games, but is a popular fan-canon based on Link’s homeland in the Valiant Comics adaptation))

Parallel world (Ex: Time!Termina)

Dream world (Ex: Wind!Ocean King’s Realm)

The question is: which of these are each of the kingdoms Legend has visited, and if they’re physical, where are they located with relation to Hyrule?

Koholint is a dream world, and is therefore not in this alliance. However, I love Link’s Awakening too much to ignore it entirely in the Wisdomverse. What happened to Koholint will be addressed in The Secrets We Keep :).

As you said, Lorule’s different. No need to place it geographically; it’s a parallel world to Hyrule.

Hytopia seems to be confirmed North of Hyrule according to the (admittedly non-canon) Hyrule Encyclopedia. Apparently it’s also confirmed in ALBW? I don’t remember that, but it’s been a while since I’ve played ALBW so I believe it. According to the Encyclopedia, the Hytopians wear frilly clothing to brave the cold northern climates. That’s hilarious and I love it. I’m going with north for this one.

Hyrule is where Hyrule is :)

Finally, Holodrum and Labrynna are claimed by the Encyclopedia to be parallel worlds, but I disagree with this. The Encyclopedia is non-canon, and iirc also says Termina stopped existing after Time left, which I refuse to believe as well. Sure, it looks like Legend gets teleported to Holodrum/Labrynna by the Triforce in the beginning, but later, Impa, Fable, and a bunch of Hylian knights make it over there just fine and I doubt they did so using anything other than normal physical means. In the Hyrule Historia timeline (which I pretty much mostly follow), the Oracle games happen before Link’s Awakening, which means Legend sails home from Holodrum/Labrynna. But Legend is also pictured riding somewhere on a horse at the beginning. Therefore, we can deduce that perhaps one of the two countries borders Hyrule on land, and the other is a separate continent— or both are connected by land, but you could take a boat back to Hyrule if you wanted. My money’s on Labrynna being off to the West so far— the eastern Labrynnan forest border connects to Hyrule’s woods, and this leaves the southeast ocean of Labrynna open for Legend to sail back to Hyrule to, through the Sea of Storms where the storm at the beginning of Link’s Awakening seems like it could work (Legend has already shipwrecked there once before, but he’s totally the kind of guy to want to brave those waters again either as a test of strength, challenge, or punishment.) Jury’s still out on Holodrum!

I’m actually playing Oracle of Seasons for the first time right now (on Wednesdays and Fridays! 😇) and just finished Oracle of Ages last week— so I may update my views on Holodrum as I unlock more of the game’s map!

Tl;dr: Fable’s got a whole intricate mess of a chronospatial geopolitical situation to deal with here. Mad respect to our diplomat Zelda <3

#lin responds #wisdomverse #lu wielders of wisdom #linked universe #lu wis #wis fable #lu legend #lu fable #lu hyrule but like the country and not the person #hytopia #hyrule #holodrum #labrynna #lorule #loz #zelda

64 notes · View notes

sorryimananti-romantic · 7 months

Text

Lore Concept: 'An Empire of Dreams and Illusions'

[faerie prince au!ateez]

Faeries

first faeries were created from the purest kernels of magic

physical appearance ranges from almost human-like features to having animalistic features like horns, tails, wings, scales, etc.

every faerie possesses at least a small affinity for healing magic, if nothing else

their power elements are usually nature-inclined but some tend to deviate towards the 'unnatural' elements

every faerie can sense at least someone with similar magic as themselves

some faeries possess an animal form, which differentiates from faeries who are shapeshifters and can wear any skin

all faeries possess better senses than humans- which includes heightened vision, hearing, and smell

a few faeries that share darkling blood may possess darkling characteristics as well- physical or magical

Darklings

first darklings were created from the darkest (but not evil) kernels of magic

physical appearance is just like faeries- what sets them apart is the darkness of their aura and magic

but dark does not mean evil- just like all darklings are not inherently evil, all faeries are not inherently 'good' as well

also possess healing magic

their power elements are usually the 'darker' aspects of nature, hence more dangerous than faeries but that's debatable as well

just like faeries have elemental magic, darklings also possess elemental magic but their difference is in their wielding techniques

most of them can shapeshift into animals

also possess heightened senses but they can sense danger better, and can sense the unnatural better than faeries

their wings usually resemble bat wings

High Healers

the elite class of healers who work for the royal courts and reside in the castles to serve their ruler

they are usually born with major healing magic which is why they choose to excel in this field

however, someone with another elemental magic but a good affinity for healing may also choose to direct their energy and power to become a healer

usually rely on their magic but also depend on natural remedies

make sure the course of nature is not changed as they heal

create the medical records for the library

some work solely for research and advancement in the field

when healing is their major focus, they can sense ailments and disorders

can 'unheal' as well but that's the dark side of their magic

The Panthers of Soca

ancient creatures, forgotten with time

helped in the creation of faeries and darklings, raised the first of them as well

strive for balance and harmony in nature to maintain the natural time flow

can travel between dimensions through portals

speak a language that is no longer understood by anyone but themselves (except the 'bridge')

shifted to Mirinae but in an alternate dimension, way before faeries ever shifted to that same planet

appearance is feline with yellow or green eyes that often glow, wings huge and either batlike or with feathers, pointy claws and tail. often possess scaly skin

their dimension is mostly smoke and ruins and they feed on the energy of the nature itself- they're immortal

if someone messes up with the flow of nature, it is their job to make things right and choose the best possible path for the future

Mirinae [Geography]

[parts of worldbuilding were inspired by Dreamcatcher's Deja Vu!]

As of the first book in this series, Mirinae dates to be only two decades old since fairies started inhabitating in it.

The planet Mirinae was made to look as much like planet Earth as possible, with its geography and land and seas and oceans, lakes and rivers, the plants and animals, the weather, etc.

The technology is mostly magic-fueled hence lack of pollution.

There are 4 continents- Aries, Scorpio, Leo-Gemini and CaLiSa. Fomalhault is considered more of an island than a continent.

There are 7 kingdoms named after the stars of the princes and the princess. The Kingdom of Aries is shared by Seonghwa and Yunho. The Kingdom of Gemini is split into two states- Castor and Alhena- for Yeosang and his twin.

There are 7 seas named after the birthstones of the princes and the princess (ex. diamond for seonghwa and yunho). The stones can be found reflecting in the sea.

There 2 rivers in Mirinae- one in the Kingdom of Scorpio called River Noor (meaning 'light') and the other flowing through the three kingdoms in CaLiSa called River Al Ard (meaning 'of earth').

There is only one desert which is in the Kingdom of Fire, stretching from Denebola to Algieba.

There are 3 mountain ranges- one in Bharani in Kingdom of Aries, one in the Kingdom of Scorpio stretching from Jabbah to Antares, and one situated where the three kingdoms in CaLiSa meet. Bharani hosts the highest mountain range.

There is one volcano range in a small island near Regulus in the Kingdom of Leo.

There are 2 suns in Mirinae- the purple sun often called the moon by the Princes and the orange sun. The orange sun resembles the sun from planet Earth and it shines during the day but dims during the night, letting the purple 'moon' take over and cast a purple but dark glow in the sky

The weather is controlled by a group of faeries in every kingdom specifically working to maintain a suitable climate for their kingdom.

Currently, the animals and birds inhabiting the planet were 'exported' or manufactured from the planet Earth.

Mirinae [Magic and Facts]

Apart from the major 9 elements of Dark, Light, Water, Space, Spirit, Earth, Fire, Air and Nature, there are a number of 'minor' elements and powers unique to their users.

Among them are shapeshifters who can shift into any skin, healers whose sole purpose is to heal through a variety of means, etc.

Reproduction/fertility rate is low for faeries compared to humans.

A daughter is rare. Identical twins even rarer. Fraternal even more. Fraternal with one son and daughter? Rarest.

The royals who hold power over one element hold a wide range of magical variety, some of which is left unexplored too.

Darklings are dark in nature but not necessarily evil, though they have no one but themselves to blame over their bad reputation.

Each of the castle built for the royals is unique to them in its decor and layout, reflecting the vibe of the owner and containing secret passages and rooms known only to the owner and their trusted few.

The system of monarchy currently runs the planet but rebel groups exist as well.

Much of the court system and laws are influenced from humans though some laws are unique to the faerie-kind. For example, necromancy is forbidden and punishable according to the gravity of the crime as judged by the courts created to deal with this nature of crime.

The currency is gold, silver and bronze coins and is universal.

All faeries are considered to be equal despite their age, gender or position. However, discrimination may occur at certain ocassions (turns out faeries aren't all that different than humans).

The favoured means of travels is through carriages or animals mixed with a little magic to increase efficiency.

Communication occurs the same- fire letters, water messages, telepathic signals.

Educational institutes are found in every city with studies focused on magic related subjects, history, running-the-kingdom politics, etc.

Again, most educational, religious and cultural aspects the faeries brought to this planet are the ones they once shared with humans since two decades ago, faeries, darklings and humans coexisted on planet Earth. But in the end, the faeries unite because for their existence, they have to depend on each other and function as one, putting aside any differences.

Naturally, the languages are human as well, depending on the faeries birthplace, but the faeries are able to understand a multitude of languages through magic.

Glossary

[the scenes that directly inspired the beginning of this lore- from Dreamcatcher's Deja Vu!]

Original Dimension - the time-space the story takes place, the 'real' time-flow

Alternate Dimension - a layer over the original dimension with different time-space properties

The 'Other' Dimension - The one Yeosang and the royals casually refer to when they address the dimension of Yeosang's domain, the one where souls come to before moving on or deciding to stay

Portal - a gateway to a different time-space, where one or both could vary

Anti-nature - the term ateez use to refer to Gaeul's magic that literally seems like anti-nature since it turns into ash and does worse than kill now, even burning souls and sucking life out of the living things

Anti-magic - another term ateez used bc they're confused lol

Black hole - a mass of energy created due to an event that does not flow in its original time-space flow occurs

'Glitch in the matrix' - an irregular occurence

'Water has memories' - a 'vague' concept of certain memories linking to the water bodies they occur in so they can be accessed by other water users

Yin-yang bloodline - the prestiged bloodline of Nature users, kept secret. They are able to access an element other than their original nature element, usually earth since it's the closest in its properties. Some can access even 2 more. The yin-yang users can connect with their soulmates to access their element as well.

Cold fire - perhaps an element of its own, resembling fire in its original plasmic state and ice in its colder temperatures. Can burn like fire but with its extreme cold temperatures. Can also manifest as ashes resembling snowflakes

#lore: an empire of dreams and illusions #fic: take me home #fic: horizon #ateez au #ateez x reader #ateez scenarios #ateez imagines #ateez fluff #ateez angst #ateez smut #worldbuilding #seonghwa x reader #choi san x reader #hongjoong x reader #yunho x reader #yeosang x reader #mingi x reader #wooyoung x reader #jongho x reader

129 notes · View notes

yoonia · 9 months

Text

the bedroom hymns ● chapter viii

⟶ Chapter summary | As Yoongi returns home, he is welcomed by the shadows of his past, and the secret behind his journey being challenged and questioned. At the same time, you slowly begin to unravel your father’s secrets, as you begin to learn more about his magic, and you continue following the shadows of his footsteps to find out what he has planned.

⟶ Author’s note | We’re finally getting a long chapter! I contemplated between dropping this part as a full chapter or to split it into two, but I figured it would be best to combine the scenes as they work much better if being shared and told at the same time. That being said, I might be taking a break from posting the chapters for a couple of weeks (just a week or two, maybe) to finish the rest of the upcoming chapters so we can have some more regular updates. I’ll be back soon with more thrilling scenes, I promise. But for now, I hope this long chapter will fill your days as we wait for the next ones to come :)

chapter viii. chasing shadows

Yoongi never truly understood why he was able to find solace while he was staying in Smotia until he finally returned home.

Emburn Empire, Min Yoongi’s home kingdom and the home of the fairies, can be quite distinctive compared to any other kingdoms that inhabit the Land of Far Far Away. Its vast territory rises from one of the most sequestered regions of the fairy tale land, divided into three separate sections connecting Emburn Empire with the three different elements of nature which support the empire as a whole—on the land, its landed territory that is united with the main continent of the fairy tale land; on the water, the small province floating against the rough waves of the Carmine Sea; and on the air, presented by the patch of island housing the main government of Embun which levitates gracefully above the continent, floating among the thick white clouds on the blue-grey sky above.

Here, much like in Smotia, greens in various hues cover the expanse of Emburn. Widespread of green grass and a vast variety of trees blanket the range of hills, with dense clusters of tall trees crowning the rising terrains and stowed between the dip of valleys. Some trees grow here just as wide as the people’s homes and almost as tall as the sky above, with many that are almost older than the entire empire itself. Thick clusters of wild ivy smother the stone walls of the Imperial Palace and the people’s houses in the towns, and flowers bloom in a myriad of shapes and colours that only exist here in the Emburn Empire.

Yoongi recalls all the dawns and mornings he spent sitting on top of the tallest hills in Smotia, looking away from the towns and the mercenary camps to enjoy the sight of the canopies of trees and the widespread meadows and finding similarities there to the sea of green waiting for him back home. Oftentimes, he would wonder how the empire that was built within the human realm could have given him a sense of familiarity which reminded him of his home. Whenever he remembered how Smotia existed in the borders between two realms, he would find himself wondering if the similarities had been deliberately created to mirror their closest neighbour, albeit their existence is separated by the portals hidden in the depth of the Elcester Forest. And that was before Yoongi learned of the truth about the Wicked King’s true antecedents and the true history behind his ascension as the ruler of the Nythelean Empire.

Had King Aneas done it on purpose, then? That he had built his new home in the human realm which resembled the land where he had once been, taking everything that he had learned from his former ally about making use of the land’s resources to establish his empire and to support his people?

Because just like how Nythelean Empire gain their resources from the Land of Smotia, the fertile land, the green hills, the abundant woodlands and fresh springs that spread all over the territories of Emburn are the ones that have helped the empire and its people to thrive for a long period of time. But unlike in Smotia, resources are not the only things that the people of Emburn could gain from nature.

One look was all he needed to see, through the first sight that Yoongi had taken from his homeland on the day he emerged in the bluffs after leaving Smotia behind, to remind him that the two empires are not one and the same. Arriving at the bluffs at dawn, he traveled towards the southeast of Earthpeak Cliffs and across the borders between kingdoms, where the sight of the territory of Emburn first welcomed him. The green hills of the landed territory of his homeland opened for him like a warm embrace. The sight and the feeling that overcame him as he marched his loyal mare, Aspen, through the borders had been almost comparable to what he experienced the first time he first came through the borders of Smotia.

Yet all the similarities ended once he finally reached the area where the landed territory of Emburn and the capital city were connected, where the first sign of Emburn’s distinctive nature could be seen.

What doesn’t exist in the vast fertile land of Smotia is magic. The same kind of magic that exists here in every part of the land, drifting in the air that Yoongi breathes, and is constantly felt by every single inhabitant living within the territories of Emburn Empire. This old magic is what becomes the empire’s source of power ever since the day it was established and built by Yoongi’s ancestors, with the emperor and empress sitting on its throne becoming the pillar and the core that hold the magic together, binding it and keeping it stable for many years.

It is the same powerful magic that allows the capital city of Emburn and the Imperial Palace to defy gravity, levitating far above the mainland and higher than the peaks of Earthpeak Cliff, the tallest rocky mountains which stand above the Carmine Sea.

The sight of the levitating capital city which Yoongi saw the moment he reached the heart of Emburn had become clear evidence and reminder of how different his homeland truly is, not only compared to the human land of Smotia but also to all the places he visited throughout his journey. Beyond the sight of the sea of green that welcomed him in the landed provinces, appeared to his eyes the majestic sight of Marble Falls, the flowing waterfalls that descend all the way from the grounds of the Imperial Palace in the sky and down to the Armere River that flows between the range of hills in the grounded region of Emburn in the mainland.

This powerful magic was first found by the ancient fairies who once roamed this part of the fairy tale land, passed down to Yoongi’s blood ancestors who built the empire from the ground up to create a peaceful haven for the fairies in Far Far Away land. The magic that still exists today, the one that is holding the empire together in the present, and the same magic that becomes the cure to Yoongi’s ailment, helping him piece together the bond that he has with his mana which has grown weak and fragile during his time away from home.

It had only taken Yoongi mere seconds after breathing in the fresh air here in Emburn and stepping through the gates of the Imperial Palace for his power to begin knitting itself together. He could feel every fractured piece of his mana strengthening itself until his powers began coursing through his body once again, until he was finally able to heal. In an instant, his senses were heightened, the mana flow within him stopped rebelling against him and it began to calm down, settling peacefully the way it should have been.

Days have gone by since his arrival, and before he realises it, those days are slowly turning into weeks. Albeit his mana has yet to fully return to its normal state, Yoongi is quite relieved to have made the decision to return home, allowing him the chance to not only recover the magic within him but also to gain more strength before he returns to finish his journey.

Sometimes, when he would roam through the imperial palace on his own, he would be filled with guilt and realisation that he should have probably listened to Yijeong’s advice about returning to Emburn so he could recover. If only he had listened and hadn’t been so stubborn about staying in Smotia, knowing that the chances of him finding what he was after had been slim, perhaps he would have been able to use his powers when he needed them the most.

But that was all in the past now, and all he can focus on now is to recover completely while thinking of ways to make up for his obstinacy once he gets back to where Yijeong is. Because recovering his powers hadn’t been the only thing that Yoongi had managed to gain by coming home.

Ever since the moment he arrived back to the land of Far Far Away, Yoongi immediately noticed the peculiarity hanging in the air. He could easily sense the turbulences happening in the fairy tale land, recognising immediately that something had been brewing in his absence. Warning bells kept ringing in his head as he entered the home castle with cautions upon his arrival. His shoulders had been heavy, not knowing what to expect as he made his way to see his parents.

While it wasn’t bad news which welcomed him home, the odd exchange that he had with his mother during their first reunion didn’t help much to reassure him about the situation.

“Was it really necessary for you to be away for so long? What could have been more important than being here, for you to prepare for the crown and handle the matters around the empire in place of the Emperor?”

Empress Ariane had always shown Yoongi a form strict of love, as she had always placed the matters of the crown and the empire above everything else, including her own son. In her eyes, Yoongi is not just her biological son, but the Crown Prince and the sole heir of the Emburn Empire, and she has always reminded Yoongi of his role at every chance she gets. So it shouldn’t have been a surprise to Yoongi when she immediately brought up his duty to the empire and the crown upon his return home, to remind him of the need for him to focus on preparing himself to take the Emperor’s place once it was due time for him to take the responsibility.

Yet there was something in the way the Empress addressed the matter which had been bothering Yoongi. His own conscience has been brewing with suspicions, and it has kept nagging him in the back of his mind that he finds it hard to shake the thoughts away, even to this day.

“What if something happens to—” the Empress’ words broke and shattered at the mention of the Emperor while they sat together in the throne room the day Yoongi first came to see her. Hurt flickered through her gaze, though she quickly blinked it away before Yoongi could say something about it or look deeper into her thoughts at that moment. “What if something happens while you are out there running amok doing heavens know what? You know I wouldn’t be able to handle this entire empire by myself.”

Yoongi never said a thing in return except making a promise that everything would be okay, regardless of what the Empress was trying to imply. There was no need for her mother to finish her words, as Yoongi could already hear it in his head.

What if something happens to the Emperor?

“Nothing is going to happen. I am sure of it.” Yoongi said this to the Empress with full conviction, as he had truly made sure of the safety of the empire and the Emperor before his departure from home.

Emperor Aymon, the ruler of the Emburn Empire and Yoongi’s biological father, has been bedridden from a mysterious illness which started two years ago. The ailment had come out of nowhere, when the strong and healthy Emperor unexpectedly started to grow weak. It had all begun with the Emperor losing control of his mana flow, until the magic within him began fighting back against him, erupting through his whole body while hurting him from the inside. Once the powerful mana began to simmer down, it almost seemed like every drop of magic within him had been wasted, and so did his soul.

Even the entire empire was hurting, as his magic—that was supposed to stabilise the powerful magic within the home of the fairies—started weakening. The unexpected changes of weather caused the crops to fail and prevented fishing ships from sailing out across the Carmine Sea. Earthquakes and storms happened every so often that people kept having to build new homes, while a series of peculiar illnesses began to spread in towns.

To this, the Emperor had chosen to lock himself in one of the tallest towers in the Imperial Palace, not only for the sake of himself and to prevent his magic from harming people around him, but also to preserve the magic that he had left to keep his empire under control. Even once the Empress and the High Priest of Emburn managed to aid him in stabilising the empire with their magic, Emperor Aymon remained in his refuge while doing his best he could to find a way to heal.

Yoongi still remembers the days he spent with the Emperor during the height of his sickness. The fairy king had always appeared to his eyes as the most powerful being he had ever known. But during that period of time, it seemed to him that his father was withering right in front of his eyes, appearing more frail than he used to be as the Emperor laid down on the massive bed where he had been resting during the time of his illness.

But at the same time, the Emperor still appeared to him as the strongest person he had always known. When even at his most critical condition, the Emperor still did his best to fulfil his duty as the ruler to use the rest of his magic to keep the empire and their homeland from crumbling apart.

If only Yoongi had been as indifferent as how the Empress had made him to be—both to the Emperor’s condition and the turbulences occurring in his home kingdom—he would have thought that Empress Ariane’s inquiries had come from a place of concern. The concern she might have felt for the Emperor’s wellbeing, and what might happen to the empire with the Crown Prince being away during the Emperor’s absence.

Yet, seeing the truth now, Yoongi remains haunted by a lingering doubt.

Unbeknownst to the Empress, Yoongi had visited Emperor Aymon not long before leaving Emburn. Not only had the Emperor always known what Yoongi had been up to during his time away from home, but it had actually been the Emperor himself who sent him off on his journey in the first place.

“I want you to do me a favour while I still exist in this realm. It will be quite challenging of a task should you take it, and it wouldn’t be an easy path, but it is necessary that you go into this journey to prevent the upcoming turmoil that may arise in the Land Far Far Away in the near future.”

That day, the Emperor sat down on his bed, his back resting on the headrest as he spoke to Yoongi. He seemed resolved as he relayed his request to his son. But for the most part, he also appeared resigned, as if he was ready to welcome the end of his time should it come to him. But for the first time after a while, Yoongi had also noticed that his father had looked like he was in a much better shape than he usually would, which gave him a sense of relief, albeit briefly. Because no matter how well-shaped he looked as he sat there looking into his son’s eyes, the Emperor’s voice still showed how weary he truly was.

“If you are willing to take this challenge for me, you have to promise me two things,” Emperor Aymon said then. His voice came out stern, and his words came like a warning that Yoongi had no other choice but to agree and make a promise to follow his words. Only then did the Emperor continue with the list of requirements that Yoongi needed to follow. “One, you must go into this with an open mind and forget everything that you’ve learned about the war between kingdoms that was written in the books. Two, you must never let your mother know about my request. Promise me this.”

Yoongi had questioned this specific request from his father at first, yet the warnings given to him had made him grow cautious enough to make sure that he wouldn’t be leaving the Emperor alone without someone watching over him while Yoongi was away. Before he left, Yoongi had ordered a few of his trusted men to keep watch on the Emperor, warning them to trust nobody except for Yoongi. Not even the Empress herself.

He hated not being able to trust his own mother, but the situation that happened after had proven that he had made the right call. As now that even the Empress and the Royal Aides are being placed under close watch, the Emperor’s condition has been getting better. Though Yoongi has been adamant about keeping this information a secret between himself and his men, that not even the Empress knows about the Emperor’s improving health.

It has caused him to feel unsettled, not knowing who to trust even in his own empire. Yet the situation had only given him more reason to do what his father willed him to, as he set off to fulfil not only the Emperor’s request, but also his own intention.

Tonight would be the last night Yoongi would be spending at his home.

Tomorrow, he would have to decide if he should return to Smotia and regroup with his men, or if he should start investigating the Wicked King more closely to know what he is up to. Yoongi knows that he has been gone from his camp for too long, and through the reports sent to him by his men, he has heard that many things have been happening with the Nythelean Empire since the day he left Smotia.

It has made him feel anxious, suddenly afraid that he would miss the perfect opportunity of accomplishing his tasks, now that the Wicked King is on the move. Once again, he regrets for not taking his time to recover sooner, as his departure from Smotia seems to have only caused him the long restless nights filled with all the ’what ifs’, wondering if Fates are trying to stop him from doing what he is required to do.

To calm his thoughts, Yoongi steps away from his bedchamber once the night has fallen. When the night is deep, Yoongi often feels a heavy awareness hanging in the air around him, as if warning him about the shift happening in the fairy tale land and there is something looming in the horizon that he needs to be wary of.

Normally, he would simply reside in his room when this happens, where the stiff tension that he has been constantly feeling would not be able to mess with his mana flow. Or, he would spend the night in the library, trying to make sense of everything that the Emperor had told him as he dives right into the books that were written about the ancient kingdoms, the great war between kingdoms that had once rattled the land of Far Far Away, and about the ancient magic spells—one of which had been the same one that had allowed him to walk into his soulmate’s dream.

Tonight, Yoongi chooses to spend his time roaming through the dark hallways of the Imperial Palace with no destination in mind.

For the first time after a long while, he allows his mana to lead the way instead of giving in to the silence. He tracks down even the passageways within the castle that he had rarely traveled through—passing the vacant rooms and the Royal Guards’ posts, past the Great Hall where the empire would often hold their annual festivities, and he continues walking until he suddenly finds himself crossing the palace’s courtyard and entering the Lumina Apex Hall, where the source of the elemental magic that the Emperor has casted onto the palace’s grounds can be found.

Originally built by his ancestors as a temple to worship the moon—which was once believed to be the source of Emburn’s magic—the Lumina Apex Hall has become a fixture within the Imperial Palace’s grounds where the Emperor would spend late hours in the night to cast his magic, casting the spells that are needed to maintain control of his empire and its vast territories under his reign.

With walls and pillars built with Clayntine stone, one of the most durable materials that could only be found in the land of Emburn, and windows made of Shadow Crystals, the Lumina Apex Hall lights up in the nightfall with structures that reflect the moonlight perfectly like mirrors. Located at the center of the Royal Garden, the structure is partly covered with a layer of wild vines growing along its walls and pillars which have rapidly developed with time. Thick hedges and flowers blooming in pastel colours line up on either side of the pathway leading to its front door which has been left unlocked for the Empress and the Royal Priests’ daily visit.

A burst of energy welcomes him as Yoongi enters through the door. There are no lights inside the main atrium, yet moonlight streams through the Shadow Crystals that form the dome ceiling above the atrium, illuminating the hall perfectly with streaks of soft light spreading across the stone floors and bouncing against the stone walls. Standing at the center of the atrium, his eyes roam through the walls around him.

Even here, inside the stone walls, vegetation grows rapidly between the pillars. The overgrowth of vines appears along the pillars, bushes rise from the ground to cover the pale-coloured walls, and a thin layer of grass emerges where the floor tiles made of Osnite stones are split. As Yoongi looks up, he gets to see the bright display of stars which adorn the night sky of Emburn. The sight of the dancing aurora in copper and gold in the sky should have been daunting, when Yoongi notices that the shades seem darker than they usually would, presenting the shadows of peril in its wake.

Yet the sky seems brighter tonight than it usually does, with stars glimmering in the night sky, surrounding the aurora like a protective blanket. Somehow, it gives Yoongi a sense of peace to be walking under such a phenomenon as he steps towards the center of the atrium, where a small pond made of Clayntine stone stands on its own, taking over the space at the heart of the Apex Hall. Around the pond, specks of silver and cyan blue glitters appear to be floating around it instead of a flowing stream, beginning from its center and moving out towards where the streaks of moonlight are falling into the room.

He reaches out to touch the silver specks, feeling them crackle against the tips of his fingers before he retracts his hand. Smiling at the sight of the flowing magic that is the essence of Emburn Empire, he turns away and walks across the atrium to reach one of the glass doors of the Hall which leads to another part of the Royal Gardens that only the Emperor and his trusted people could enter.

Under his touch, the door opens for him, and Yoongi walks out through the pathway that has become familiar to him after all the years he has become acquainted with this place. A core memory from his childhood returns to him as he walks down the gravel-covered pathway, though the overgrown hedges and blood orchids blooming all around him are nothing like what he had seen many years ago.

He was a mere child when he first walked down this pathway with his father holding his hand, long before Emperor Aymon took the throne and during the time Yoongi’s father was slowly taking over the empire’s business with their alliances. To the Emperor, those visits had been about introducing Yoongi to his future duty and responsibility as the future Crown Prince of Emburn, while to Yoongi, the memories that had been engraved in his mind from that period of time hold an entirely different meaning to him.

Beyond this pathway is a magical place, the portal gate which acts as the border between realms and the bridge that connects Emburn Empire to the other kingdoms in the mainland of the land Far Far Away. It was through this magic gate that the Emperor had been able to travel freely between kingdoms and realms, to be able to visit their allies and neighbours while keeping the homeland from being exposed to external threats, and without having to lose connection to the source of Emburn’s magic—just like what happened to Yoongi during his journey. It wouldn’t be until later, once Yoongi takes the throne as the new ruler, when he would be required to do the same, though he would still be able to cross the portal gate whenever he needed to.

The Eden Isle Gardens is what the magical portal gate is called, and it is the one place that Yoongi would always come to visit whenever he returned home.

For many years, ever since he was a child, he would secretly escape to this place whenever he needed a moment of reflection. This has been a place of refuge where he would be able to find peace, and a place that holds one of his most treasured memories which Yoongi has kept for many years.

Even in the Emperor’s absence, the vegetation in this part of the magic garden grow beautifully. The Emperor’s magic remains strong here, keeping the grounds fertile, the grass and hedges perfectly trimmed instead of growing rapidly, and the portal gates secured, with nobody else but Yoongi and Emperor Aymon holding the key and memorising the spell that would help them activate the portals when needed. Yoongi follows the path that has been adorned with blood orchids growing left and right, fairy dust leading his way through the areas that moonlight is unable to penetrate, until he finds the center of the garden, to the place where Yoongi would always return to.

At the center of the garden, surrounded by a small pond and blooming blood orchids, stands a small gazebo made of Shadow Crystals. His legs feel light as Yoongi walks across the boardwalk across the pond to reach the gazebo, while a sense of deja vu fills him as he takes a seat inside, right at the spot which overlooks a locked steel gate which has always caught his attention.

Once in the past, that steel gate had been one of the magic portals that the Emperor would use for his journeys. It was the main bridge connecting his empire to their former ally, another empire which the former Emperor of Emburn, Yoongi’s grandfather, had managed to form a tight bond with. A close and mutual relationship which lasted until the height of Emperor Aymon’s reign.

But as Yoongi looks out through the steel gate now, there is nothing left out there but the wastelands and the ruins of the fallen empire that was once superior in its reign.

After the war between kingdoms, the territory which lies beyond the portal has become a forbidden area for anyone to enter. With remnants of hazardous toxins and black magic that may still linger in the area after the war, nobody has been allowed to come across the borders and into the wastelands for many years. From this side of the connecting portal, the steel gate is secured with chains made of Magraonor steel and locks that are bound with magic spells casted by the Emperor and the High Priest.

Even though Yoongi wouldn’t be able to walk across the gate with all those spells preventing him from seeing what is beyond the darkness, he can picture it inside his head. Through his distant memory, he still recalls the majestic empire that had once been the most peaceful place in Far Far Away, the home of the elves, fairies, and powerful mages who once loved to travel between kingdoms to spread their knowledge about ancient magic and healing remedies. But if only he would close his eyes tonight, the brilliant images of the fallen empire that he once remembered would not be the image that he sees.

Another reason why Yoongi has been doing all he could to evade sleep tonight was the dreams. Ever since he used the spell which allowed him to walk into his soulmate’s dream, and ever since the day he arrived back home, a different kind of dream has been haunting his long, restless nights.

In his dream, he saw himself crossing over the steel gate, the chains and locks had been broken and he could easily walk across the borders to enter the wastelands. He saw himself walking up the steps to the fallen empire’s home castle, surrounded by nothing but shadows and the ruins that had been said to fill the barren territory, and a thick layer of white mist following him as he reached to where the main palace should have been.

Everything about the dream has been daunting, and it has only solidified his concerns about the peculiar shift happening in Far Far Away. While he never got to see what was waiting for him at the end of those steps, to see what was hidden behind the thick mist and beyond the broken stone walls, he still remembers the feeling of unease that lingered through his chest as he was stuck inside the dream, the eerie shadows that seemed to follow him through the mist as he entered the wastelands, and the feeling of death that seemed to linger.

The unnerving sensation he felt was so strong that he could feel it touching his skin even as he opened his eyes upon his return to the waking world. Even now, as he silently recalls the sights he saw in his dreams, his body shudders, while the same uneasiness fills his chest, warning him about the darkness that may come to visit.

As Yoongi sits silently at the center of the magic garden, under the dome roof of the glass gazebo overlooking the high hedges and broken pathway leading to the steel gate, he is unable to look away from the darkness beyond him. Lost in the faint memories that he has of the past, he doesn’t notice it when a black cat enters the premises, sauntering between the hedges filled with blood orchids and over the glimmering pond before finally joining him to lie down in the gazebo.

The black cat follows Yoongi’s gaze, as if trying to understand what the man is thinking so deeply about. The cat suddenly slides closer and rubs itself against Yoongi’s calf to gain his attention before sitting back on its hind legs, with his curious eyes looking out towards the nothingness beyond the gate.

“We used to slip away and escape to this place when we were kids, didn’t we?” a deep voice speaks. “What a wonderful time that was, when we were nothing more but oblivious little children who knew nothing about the world.”

Yoongi turns to the black cat with a smile, recognising the voice that had just spoken to him, allowing him to identify this mysterious cat that had just decided to join him in his wonderings. “Indeed, we were. Those moments back then were truly irreplaceable,” Yoongi says, responding to the cat as he turns his gaze back at the steel gate. “We used to run away from the tutors to hide in this place, and then played hide and seek until the sun came down and Father would have to come down here himself to fetch us.”

“Those were the days,” the black cat softly chuckles. The cat falls silent for a moment before it softly continues, “This was also the place where you met her for the first time, wasn’t it?” The cat turns to look at Yoongi as the other does the same, and they exchange gazes with each other when the cat adds, “I’m talking about Her Majesty, Queen Milena.”

Sighing, Yoongi looks around the garden and reminisces about the past. “This was the place—” he says, as his memory takes him back to that moment in time from many, many years ago, when he was nothing more but a little boy who could barely able to speak fluently, yet was curious enough to follow his father to see what the Emperor was up to when he suddenly changed his plans with Yoongi to come to this place, only to find out that the Emperor was having important guests visiting. While the Emperor went on a stroll with his guest, Yoongi came to the gazebo to meet the young Princess Milena, the future queen who was resting while staying under the shade. The young Crown Princess of their neighbouring empire welcomed Yoongi with a warm smile, a sight that to this day remains to be the most glorious thing about her for Yoongi to remember.

“We did come across each other in this place for the first time, but it was beyond that gate where I used to be able to see her—” Yoongi says, pointing at the locked steel gate, while his memory once again takes him back to those days when Emperor Aymon took him along during his visits past the steel gate. Back then, a remarkable empire stood proud and strong on the other side of the gate, with the sun shining brightly on its prosperous land. Now, there is nothing there but the dark void and the flowing white mist that haunts him in his sleep.

The black cat looks out towards the steel gate and, as if knowing what Yoongi had just been thinking about, says, “And now there is nothing left there but the wastelands.”

“Is that really the truth?” Yoongi questions almost distractedly, and the cat scoffs.

“Only you would question it.”

The blunt comment draws a smile to Yoongi’s face, and he turns back to look at his peculiar companion to say, “The only thing I’m questioning right now is why you chose to come here while disguising in that form. I didn’t expect that you would follow me all the way back home, Yijeong.”

The black cat, Yijeong, stretches out and lies down near Yoongi’s feet before answering, “As a concerned friend, I was worried when I didn’t get a word from you since you went home. I had to slip out in disguise to move easier when following you. This form was the perfect choice since nobody would pay attention to a black cat strolling through the gardens. Did you notice that you were being followed by guards? I’m not sure if they know what you’re up to, but it seems that they’re determined to keep people away from the gardens to give you some privacy.”

Despite knowing that he wouldn’t be able to see anyone other than the two of them, Yoongi still steals a glance over his shoulder, looking back to where these royal guards that Yijeong mentioned might be standing by. Somewhere near the Apex Hall, no doubt, as it would be rare for regular guards to be able to come this far. The only exception was given to Yijeong, as the son of the Empire’s General, the only other person aside from the Emperor who has access to visit this magical place. Just like him, Yijeong has been trained and prepared to replace his father once the time comes, to one day stand by Yoongi’s side once he takes over the throne and rules the empire, and he had been trained all the spells that would be needed for him to do his duties.

“I noticed having extra shadows following me since I left my room,” he says, before facing towards the center of the gardens again and settling back against the glass wall on the side of the gazebo, though he turns his attention towards the other side of the gardens this time, where fireflies are beginning to appear around the pond. “I’ve had guards shadowing me since I got back, so I already expected them to follow me here too. But I didn’t care. They wouldn’t be able to enter this place anyway.”

“I guess you’re right,” Yijeong says as he lays his chin on his paw. “What were you expecting to find by coming here anyway?”

“I don’t know. I couldn’t sleep, then I started strolling through the palace’s grounds, looking for some kind of a distraction,” Yoongi answers with a deep sigh. “I suddenly felt like I needed to get out of the palace, and I suppose that’s how I found my way here.”

Yijeong says nothing for a moment, before he questions Yoongi with a hushed voice, “Something was bothering you. Has the Emperor’s request been weighing heavily on you?”

His question draws a frown to Yoongi’s face. Yoongi had never truly revealed the true purpose of his expedition into the human realm, not to his loyal men and even to Yijeong, except to simply mention that it was a royal duty that was needed to be done under the Emperor’s request. Yijeong may have never questioned it out loud, and despite his willingness to stay by Yoongi’s side and to join him on his journey, Yoongi had always known that his best friend had been curious, if not suspicious about what he aimed to find.

It was not until the day Yoongi had to depart from camp, leaving behind Smotia to return home, when he finally pulled Yijeong aside to tell him everything—about the true reason why he left home, about why he had chosen to remain in Smotia, or why he had to keep a close eye on the Wicked King.

Only Yijeong knows what their true mission was, and what the Emperor had requested Yoongi to find without Empress Ariane ever knowing.

“Find my childhood friend. Find Milena. Help me find out what happened to her, and if she is still alive, bring her home. I cannot leave this realm without having any knowledge of her fate. I can’t die regretting that I couldn’t do anything to save her. If you can find ‘him’, then you might be able to find out if he still has her.”

Yoongi understood it quite well when Yijeong complained about being kept in the dark. Thankfully, his friend was quick to forgive him, knowing that such a big secret would cause a myriad of other problems should it ever get out, or for the Empress to hear that her own husband had made such a request. Even though it has been such a long time since both Yoongi and Yijeong ever came across Queen Milena, they both still remember how jealous the Empress had been of the Emperor’s friendship with his closest friend.

But sharing this secret only gave little relief to Yoongi’s heart, because there is still one more secret that he holds dear, unable to find a way to reveal it to Yijeong when he still has his own doubts. That finding Queen Milena, a mission that might be fundamental for the Emperor’s road to healing, has only been a small part—if not the first step—of Yoongi’s personal goal. And he has yet to be able to share this with anyone, even Yijeong, because he has never truly shared the real story of his first encounter with Queen Milena in the magic gardens.

Because that day, Queen Milena had not been sitting in this gazebo on her own, and only Yoongi and the Emperor knew Queen Milena’s secret which had been hidden until now.

Just as Yoongi is silently pondering if he should share his secret with his best friend, the air around them suddenly shifts. There is an invisible weight that breezes through the bushes, stirring the peacefulness that has been accompanying Yoongi in his wallowing. Even Yijeong becomes alert as he stirs by his side that Yoongi instantly rises, already prepared to use his magic to connect to the elements around them so he can see what is happening. But before he can even begin summoning his mana, Yijeong snaps his head to focus on him. His best friend’s gaze remains on his chest just as warmth begins to form against his skin, while the mana flow within him seems to be reacting to the sensation rising around them.

“Hey, Yoongi?” Yijeong says with a spark of surprise lathering his voice.

“Yeah?” Yoongi answers with his eyes focusing back and forth between Yijeong and the gardens, noticing how the leaves are swaying with the unsettling breeze.

“Why is that thing glowing? Did you do something or are you conjuring your mana to have it reacting like that?”

“No, I’m not doing any—” Yoongi starts to respond when his amulet—which has been hanging from his neck and down to his chest the whole time he was here—begins vibrating. He looks down and touches the amulet, which is now glowing in his hand as he lifts it up to get a better look. Blue light shimmers from the center of the amulet, flickering and swirling even stronger as he brings it up, inadvertently pointing it towards the locked gate that was supposed to lead him to their fallen neighbour.

His breath is caught, as he slowly begins to understand what is happening. There is only one reason why the amulet would be reacting this way, even if it makes no sense at all for it to be trying to lead him towards the forbidden territory beyond the sacred gate. And then, something finally dawns on him.

“You know, this amulet has been lighting up quite often since I got back home,” he whispers almost to himself, while the voice inside his head adds, ever since the dreams started happening. “But this is the first time it’s doing something like this.”

This can only mean one thing. “I think someone is using his magic to create portals, and they have been moving around between realms.”

Yijeong slowly rises, while Yoongi’s heartbeat picks up, beating rapidly in his chest right after he says those words. “Do you know who it might be? Can it be possible that—” Yijeong begins to question him, only for him to see Yoongi shaking his head, chucking to himself with disbelief when he says,

“It’s impossible, but—”

And it seems almost too good to be true just to think about it. Yoongi swallows hard as he wonders about this, as he can no longer qualm the rising hope blooming in his chest when he adds, “I think I know who it might be.”

She’s so close. How could it be?

Yoongi has no idea how it could possibly happen, but he can sense you being so close to him that he can almost feel your presence within arm’s reach. His body trembles with anticipation, excitement, and his worries rising at the same time. Seeing that there is light appearing, hope waiting at the end of his journey, Yoongi slowly releases his amulet and kneels down beside his best friend.

If he wants to find the truth, and find you, then he will no doubt need help to achieve it.

“Yijeong, I need you to listen to me carefully—”

Your hands feel clammy as you stand right in front of another silver door.

Unlike the other doors that you have seen so far, this one looks the most ordinary and a bit—old. Made of deep-coloured wood, its front is adorned with embellishments made of thin silver linings that are crafted in intricate curves formed in floral patterns, and they all seem to glint in the dimly lit hallway. You probably shouldn’t be intimidated by its size and the intricate details that you are seeing, but not surprisingly, your knees are already shaking with the mere thought of opening this door filling your head.

Deep down, you already know that whatever you may come across once you step through this door, it will be far from ordinary. This is what you have learned so far from these silver doors after venturing into them for the past few days, as it had become one of your past afternoon activities once you are done with your daily lessons and royal duties.

The shock that you gained after entering the first silver door remained within you for quite a while. Pure disbelief had followed you after coming back out of the door, not entirely sure if what you encountered that day had been real. If only you hadn’t found yourself stumbling back into the hallway of Stargrave Castle or nearly spraining your ankles on your way back to your bedchamber, perhaps you would simply think that you were dreaming. That there was no way you could have gone back to The Citadel, or that the door had connected you back to the smaller—and slightly bland-looking—study room which your father, King Aneas, would often spend his time working in with his men back at the capital.

But you were well awake to feel it when the dusk came in and your skin was covered by the bumps rising as the temperature dropped so rapidly. And you were definitely awake when the palace’s maid came to help you prepare for dinnertime. You even held a long and steady conversation with her while she was brushing out the knots in your hair, further proving that you were walking in the real world instead of being stuck in a long, extended dreamscape.

Yet those things couldn’t stop you from questioning your own sanity as you laid down on your bed that night, particularly when you recalled the conversation that you ’heard’ from your hiding spot when you were in the study room. But then you looked out the window of your bedroom, the curtains left open as you had wished to see the stars and you saw a glimpse of the same copper aurora which had captivated you on the night of your arrival, the magical display of light once again making its appearance known to you as it danced in the sky above the calm ocean.

The sight quickly reminded you of how different and peculiar everything should be in this place. It made you realise that the odds of you actually being transported back into a different place across the realm would not have been impossible. It was hard to deny it when you remembered experiencing jumping into a burning flame to get into this realm, and that magic did exist in this place in ways that you couldn’t possibly imagine.

It was your own curiosity which had drawn you back to the same hallway after you were done with your lessons on the next day. At first, you considered going through the same door again, if only to prove that you hadn’t been dreaming and that you were completely sane. But then your father’s voice echoed through your mind as you stood in front of the same door, reminding you of his warning to only try one door at a time.

As you wished to be able to see more, you stepped away from the first door. There was no humming sound calling you back when you left it behind, while an odd pull was felt through the air, and you followed it until you found another silver door not too far away.

The silver door which soon became your second to try out had been smaller in size compared to the first one you had gone into. Yet you still entered with caution. You came through the door thinking that you would be prepared to find another surprising revelation, only to feel the shock filling your entire being when you walked through the door to come out through a small cabinet, and you found yourself emerging into the royal waiting room that was located within the city hall in the capital city of Smotia.

There was nobody around to catch you as you came out of the waiting room. After finding the podium on the first floor, right where your father’s throne was placed for him to acquire during formal ceremonies, you continued to make your way to the upper floors. Having been to this place often times before to accompany your father, you found no trouble in finding the main balcony, where the King would stand before the people of Smotia as he leads various ceremonies and rituals together with you by his side and his loyal ministers shadowing his movements.

Sure enough, as you looked down from the balcony, the Elysium Square was presented right before your eyes. The town’s square where the people would gather to see their King and to celebrate the empire’s annual events, and oftentimes, to simply enjoy the free time they have during their daily lives.

The same way the people were doing as you looked down from above. Keeping yourself in the shades to avoid being seen, you saw how the town’s workers were walking down the pavements as they were on their way home, making quite a haste to make sure that they would return to their dwellings before dusk. There were also little children playing around the fountains, while their mothers kept their busy eyes to watch over them while gossiping on the sides.

Just like the day before, when you felt your knees buckling beneath you in shock, you had to hold on to the railings as you watched the people below, the faint voices of their laughter became solid proof that you had been once again sent away from your new home. A memory flashed through your mind just then, of how each time you were supposed to attend the royal gathering alongside your father, the King himself would never ride the royal carriage with you to reach the city hall.

Each time, your father would somehow arrive not long after you would, with not a sight of another royal carriage arriving at the city hall to bring him all the way from The Citadel. Turning back to the hall where you came from, you could almost picture it, to see the King walking down the hall before emerging through the main balcony to greet his people, his daughter, and his men, without a single person witnessing how he had truly arrived.

With your curiosity deepened, you continued your adventure for the next few days by trying out two different silver doors, both of them lined up within a nearby hallway just beyond the King’s study room. And just like the previous ones, each of these doors took you back to different areas in the land of Smotia which you had become most familiar with.

The smaller one took you back to the town’s church.

You came out through the storage room door at the back of the church and, in your shock, you came so close to bumping into the head priest while you were busy taking in your surroundings. It was pure luck that you had been quick enough to slip into a nearby room which was thankfully empty, that you were able to avoid getting seen by the head priest who walked by with his helpers.

When the coast was clear enough for you to slip out of the room, the evening mass was just starting to take place. You may have recovered from your shock by then, yet once again, your mind was caught in a battle between acceptance and denial to make your exit. Fallen prey to your own curiosity, as you wanted to get a closer look instead of leaving with questions shadowing your thoughts, you returned to the room where you had been hiding in. From one of the wardrobes you found, you managed to grab a commoner’s cloak for you to borrow, using it to hide your identity as you slipped between the parishioners who came for the head priest’s sermon and gain his blessings.

As everyone around you was listening to the head priest’s sermon with rapt attention, the burning candles on the altar swaying with the breeze, their soft lights illuminating the walls and the dais while giving a serene feeling into the whole church, your attention remained on the side doors leading to the back halls where you came from. Once again, you could almost see the shadows of your father, sauntering through the back halls with his magic before appearing at the altar without anyone noticing or wondering where His Majesty had come from.

The next silver door you tried had appeared to your eyes like a work of art. The carvings on the wood panels had been the ones to draw you in, before you noticed that the silver embellishments that marked the door seemed to have silver specks floating around it, drawing more of your attention to have a closer look. That was before the humming voices began to call for you, pulling you in, enchanting you to slide in the key and open the door for a new adventure.

The magic door brought you to the orchard house that was part of the royal winery on the outskirts of the capital city. Located beyond the borders of the Elcester Forest where the wide, open plane was rich and fruitful enough for the vineyard to grow massively, it was the place which produced the royal wine that the King would often serve to his special guests during royal dinners and important events that were held by the empire.

Despite recognising the place almost immediately, you still took your time to look around to find clues, any signs that may confirm your suspicions. Leaving the main house, you browsed through the warehouse and stockrooms, not stopping until you finally found the crates of bottles that were being prepared to be sent away to The Citadel. It wasn’t until you saw the royal crest marking the crates and the bottles when you finally confirmed it, that the place had indeed been another one of the King’s properties which was situated within the territory of Smotia.

Back in the part of the empire which existed in the human realm.

You walked across the clearing with a mixed feeling of awe and trepidation. The day was beginning to settle down to dusk by the time you were venturing through the property, with the sun descending into the horizon, spreading more shadows than light through the open vineyards. It allowed you to stay in the shade to avoid being seen, and to be able to watch the workers from a safe distance. As the night was closing in, there were only a small group of people left working at the winery. Most of them were just finishing up, either at the warehouse or the stockrooms where they kept the crops. They all seemed busy with their own tasks to notice you, though it didn’t stop you from feeling like someone was watching your movement, causing you to become even more cautious while you were feeding your curiosity.

It was after the last trip you took through the silver doors when you finally came to a realisation, to finally understand the secret behind them. Once you accepted that your little adventures had not been a dream or imagination, and that what you encountered had not been mere illusion, you finally understood what these silver doors were.

Portals.

The silver doors that your father had given you access to have been magic portals, with powerful spells that would bring you to different places, allowing you to emerge in different realms, and perhaps even beyond.

If only you hadn’t had the talk with your father on the day you first arrived in this castle, or taken the time to understand more about this new realm and learn about magic since you have been here, you would have simply thought that you have indeed gone crazy. But all the days you spent learning about the fairy tale land and the magic that lies within the realm have only helped you to understand everything better, and you soon realised that this was the magic that your father mentioned the day he handed you the bundle of keys that you are now holding in your hand.

“Within each one of the silver doors, there is a strong kind of magic. One that has been so demanding of our family’s powers, exists under my control, and it is also the type of magic that should be kept secret, no matter what. Once you go through them, you will understand why it is important for me to defend this castle and our home territory.”

Was this the reason why your father brought you back to this place after so long, after spending years keeping you away from it? Did he want you to learn about his magic after protecting you from it? Was this the reason why he handed you these keys, to show you the power of magic that has been passed down in your family?

But then the most important question still haunts you to this day—

Has this been His Majesty’s way of being able to travel to different places in a short amount of time so he could handle his business, to be able to do his duty without having to travel far and long so he could continue taking care of his empire?

With this new knowledge, your curiosity has been growing stronger than your fear, and you have more questions plaguing you each day. Questions that you would have to keep to yourself until the day your father would return home.

Until then, you would gather more information through your lessons and from opening more magic doors. Perhaps, the more you get to see the magic behind these doors, the more you can see this new world as you continue venturing through these portals, then you will be able to learn and understand more about your father’s magic and this magical realm, and find out who you truly are.

That was the reason why you are standing here tonight, right in front of yet another silver door that has drawn your curiosity that you find it hard to look away. The silver embellishments on the door are glimmering right before your eyes, as they reflect the soft glare of moonlight that has penetrated into the hallway through a nearby window.

The moonlight that rarely accompanies you whenever you are about to embark on your own little adventure.

In your previous trials, you have only chosen the short period of time in the late afternoon after tutoring hours to slip out of your bedchamber and venture into these halls. Keeping the short timeframe that your father had given you for these adventures, you have always used the sign of dusk to remind you to return home, allowing you to be back right before dinnertime.

Today has been different. Tutoring hours lasted longer than usual, when Lord Gordan took over your afternoon lessons and sat you down to teach you about your family’s ancestry. The extra lessons didn’t end until dusk finally came, when Nanny Abigail took over guarding you as she led you straight to dinner in the royal dining hall.

It wasn’t until long after dinnertime when you finally found the chance to slip out of the bedchamber. The absence of Lord Gordan and Nanny Abigail when you stepped out of the room, and the absence of the lady maids in the hallway wasn’t so much of a surprise, but it was quite a shock to find that there had been no guards standing by outside of your bedchamber. Just like how it would have been back at The Citadel when you could barely see yourself going around the palace without at least one guard following you.

It made you curious, yet you spent no time wondering about it, and took the chance to slip out of your quarters and find your way back to this hallway of silver doors.

There were no palace staff in sight as you walked down the halls, but you did catch a sight of a pair of guards standing in their post in a nearby hall, though they seemed to be focused on guarding the King’s study room to notice you slipping into the shadows behind the pillars as you made your way into this place. Glancing towards the end of the hall and to the opposite way, you make sure that the coast is still clear, and nobody would catch what you are doing as you move closer to the silver door.

This time, there is no humming sound coming out of the door to summon you, as if beckoning you to come closer and choose this door for you to open tonight. Yet the silver key that you are holding seems to vibrate against your palm the closer you come towards the door before you. The vibration is strong enough to cause the rest of the keys in the bundle to jingle that you have to press your palm around them to keep them from making too much noise, afraid that it might draw someone’s attention and you would miss the chance to see what lies beyond the magic door.

Knowing that you won’t have much time left before the guards would begin their evening patrol and your absence in the bedchamber gets discovered, you reach back and pull up the hood of your cloak to cover yourself before walking through the door. Learning from past experiences, after finding yourself emerging into unexpected places and coming close to being seen or recognised, you realised that you would have to be more careful to avoid getting caught by someone and accidentally exposing your father’s secret during your trips.

That was why you decided to be much safer tonight, to disguise yourself as you go through with your secret escapade.

Under the half-ragged cloak that you have often worn whenever you escaped from The Citadel at nightfall, you have chosen to wear a commoner’s clothes—a plain, dark-coloured tunic top and a pair of tight breeches—instead of your daily dresses. The pair of boots that would normally be hidden under your bed have replaced the low pair of heels that you wore during today’s tutoring hours and afternoon lessons.

With a deep inhale of breath and a silent prayer, you turn the vibrating key which has somehow become warm in your hold, and gently open the door.

You suck a deep breath as you emerge into a bedroom that looks nothing like the rooms you have seen all around the magic castle so far. The room you walk into appears to be quite small yet cozy, with a queen-sized bed positioned right at the center of the room, covered with a couple of fluffed pillows and fresh sheets, with a thick furry blanket folded on the foot of the bed. There is a shaded lamp on top of the side table right beside the bed, and a cold, unlit fireplace on the opposite wall. Right in front of the fireplace, a brown felt that appears to have come from a deer is laid to cover the wooden floor, making you think for a second that you might be inside a hunter’s lodging, until something draws your attention to make you think otherwise.

On your right appears to you a wooden door. Even while being closed shut, you can still hear the muffled sounds of people chatting and cheering, the sounds of glass clinking and cutleries hitting tables and plates, and the rough voices of men shouting and calling names. The noises that you hear are enough to give you a hint to figure out where you currently are, as they bring you back to the scene you encountered a period of time ago during your late-night trips into town. Though doubt fills your mind, as you still find it hard to believe it to be true unless you can see it with your own eyes.

You turn towards the door, and the door from which you came in from grabs your attention. Looking at it now, it seems to be the door of a walk-in closet. But just like the other portals, magic has turned it into something else. Through the half-opened door, instead of seeing the interior of a closet, you see the sight of the magic portal that is still open. There is nothing there but the sight of a dark void with swirling blue lights floating at the center. The dark void seems eerie to you, yet you no longer look at it with fear as you know that this magical sight is what will lead you back to the magic castle once you are done venturing here.

The sound of a man’s laughter and the loud cheers that follow draw your attention back to the bedroom door. Curious to know where you might have ended, you carefully make your way to it. The wooden floor creaks beneath your booths, making your breath hitch, and you silently pray that the noises outside would drown the sounds you are making as you slowly reach for the doorknob and turn it open. To your relief, the door has been left unlocked, and you carefully pull it open just an inch. Just enough for you to see what is on the other side.

The muffled sounds you heard suddenly clear out and immediately hit you straight in the face—the loud chattering that seems to come from dozens of rowdy men and the boastful laughter that you heard earlier, with the sounds of glasses clinking against each other or hitting against wooden tables. Seeing nothing but a wooden walkway and railings as you open the door, you realise that you are currently on the upper floor of an establishment, while the noises seem to have been coming from downstairs. The familiar scent of booze, dust, and burning candles wafts through the air, and you stifle a gasp as you soon realise where you are.

Moving in haste when you barely have the chance to recover from shock, you shut the door with a soft click and turn the other way. Across from you appears a window, left partly opened for the cold night breeze to flow into the room, blowing the thin curtains that have little to do to shield the lights coming from the street outside. With shaky legs, you walk towards the window and look down.

Just as suspected, you see the bustling street of the business district of Smotia right down below, with people passing by as they are making their route home or searching for a place of leisure after a long day of hard work. You can easily recognise the street you are looking at, because you had ventured into the same street the last time you slipped away from home.

Still busy taking everything in, you almost miss the sound of firm footsteps and the creaks on the wooden floor outside of the bedroom, until you hear them coming closer towards the bedroom door. A low and deep voice calls out from outside the door, snapping you out of your shock, “Anee? Is that you?”

Turning sharply with a gasp, you rush to close the door to the closet, hiding the glimmering portal before rushing into the small bathroom on the other side of the fireplace to hide.

“You didn’t tell me that you were coming tonight—”

The deep sound of voice fades just as the bedroom door opens merely seconds after you close the bathroom door shut. “Anee? Are you here?” the man calls out again after coming to a halt. “Huh. That’s funny, I thought I heard someone here.”

Just when you expect him to leave after finding the room empty, you hear the man entering the room instead. The floor creaks more intensely under his boots, and you hold your breath as you sense him coming towards the window. Peering through the seams between the door and the wooden frame, you catch the sight of the man as he stands in front of the window, looking down the street with a sigh.

“Must have been my imagination, then. ’Am getting old for this, I swear,” he seems to mumble to himself before he gently shuts the window, and as he bends, you get to see him more clearly to recognise him. The illuminating street lights from outside the window are helping you to see his face.

Sir Elias.

A woman’s voice is heard from outside the room, calling for him, and the man turns to walk away. “Nothing, love. I thought I heard someone in the room, is all,” he calls out to whoever was calling him as he makes his way to leave the bedroom.

“Who is it? Is it Anee?” the woman’s voice seems muted as she remains outside the bedroom, with the noises from below rising in the background.

“Nah,” Sir Elias chuckles lowly. “It’s just the wind—” he calls out to the woman that you assume to be his wife as he turns and begins walking away, before adding gently under his breath, “Or maybe I just missed that bloody sucker.”

You remain still as you listen to the faint click sound of the door coming to close, followed by the sound of Sir Elias’ heavy footfalls over the wooden floor fading in the distance, until silence fills the room.

It isn’t until you take a few more deep breaths and steady your shaking hands before you finally open the door, looking around you to make sure that the bedroom is completely empty before finally stepping out of the bathroom. With a deep, exhale of breath, you come down to your knees in your relief and rest back against the bed. Your eyes turn to the window, now closed shut to shield the voices from the town below, leaving you in the stifling silence where your mind once again becomes the loudest.

The silver door has taken you back to The Rare Roots, the local pub right at the center of the business district in Smotia, and straight into one of the rented rooms on the upper floor of the pub, which Sir Elias had offered you to take the night you came here.

Your head spins as questions after questions continue to fill your mind.

Why would the King have direct access to a local pub in the business district of Smotia?

And why would Sir Elias—the owner of the local pub who you have never once seen coming to visit The Citadel—be calling your father by his childhood name, as if they have known each other personally for a very long time, or that he would expect the King to be appearing in one of his rented bedrooms as if it would be such a normal occurrence to happen here?

You remain in the bedroom for a while longer, looking around to find any sign that your father had truly been here, while the night passes by with the muffled sounds from the crowd of The Rare Roots below penetrating through the silence. The noises out there are loud, but not loud enough to drown your thoughts as you take a seat at the foot of the bed, trying to make sense of your findings.

The curtains by the window have been left open after Sir Elias’ departure, allowing the figure that has been moving in the shadows to look his way in, watching your movements in silence, his presence completely unbeknownst to you. Perched atop the roof of the next building, he gets a clear view of you. Of the way you seem to be wallowing so deep in your thoughts that you are unaware of the pair of eyes that are keeping a close watch on you.

And he continues to watch over you, taking his time to take the sight of you in and memorise everything he sees of you until you finally slip away, disappearing into one of the doors which acts like the portal bringing you back home. That is when he also makes his move, stepping back into the shadows to return to where he belongs, filled with the delight of victory that comes after finally finding what he was after.

Found you. Finally, I’ve found you, he wonders to himself, as he slips away and disappears through the shadows of the night.

121 notes · View notes