#the farlands snippets

[myths-of-fantasy]

Snippet 13 - Learning

“This is hard!”

Squirrelpaw glanced up at Shrewpaw and grunted her agreement. Kite hadn’t been kidding around saying that she was going to teach them and they’d quickly discovered that she was a taskmaster. In the moon since they’d left the Haebond, she’d taken a step back from the things she usually did. Instead of waking up before them, hunting and coming back with a morning meal for everyone, she woke each of them up in a rotating shift of who would accompany her on dusk hunting missions. Instead of setting up the camp wards herself, they drew twigs to see who would be handling the alignment and placing of the stakes and Kite was much stricter about the night watches.

There were days when they did no travelling at all and instead, Kite ran them through grueling combat drills and started teaching them the proper glyphs and symbols. Squirrelpaw at least had the advantage of not being completely new to the symbols - her father had a habit of scratching things in farwrit when he needed to keep track of things and Kite had already been giving her supplemental lessons from their first days on the stretch. Her friends however were learning the sounds and glyphs from scratch, struggling to remember the variants of certain sounds and what they were paired with.

“Are you done Squirrel?”

Squirrelpaw looked up to see Kites striding over to her, a pile of twigs and stripped branches gathered by her paws, likely for the fire. 

“No,” she admitted. “Can’t remember the symbols for ‘bind.’”

Kite peered at her work with a tilted head and a critical aqua eye.

“Your glyphs are crooked, but that’s a good circle,” Kite praised. “And you remembered that tethers come from the bottom - those are among the most important parts to remember.”

Squirrelpaw preened.

“This is hard,” Shrewpaw reasserted, frustrated rubbing his paw across his own scratching. “I can’t even keep my lines straight!” 

“It’s only hard because of how old you are,” said Kite, walking around and gently batting his paw aside. “Usually you learn this kind of stuff from the moment you can hear from your kinband and you take refined training if you want to be a charmer but all of you are older than even the final exam applicants - that means you have to learn everything you would usually pick up passively over years in a few moons.”

“Squirrelpaw has an advantage and even she’s struggling,” Stormfur huffed.

“You’re just not used to reading,” said Kite. “The Five Clan Sanctuary doesn’t have any need for writing - you all speak the same language and none of you regularly practice charming. Keep practicing - you don’t have to be perfect instantly. If you can learn to recognize the more common symbols, you’ll be more or less fine.”

Feathertail sighed, “Can you help me then? I keep dredging dirt over my lines and it’s making them muddy.”

“Show me how you’re doing it,” Kite agreed and padded over.

Squirrelpaw leaned over to watch Feathertail grimace and extend a paw beginning to imitate the glyph that Kite had drawn for her earlier. Her paw trembled as she wrote, seeming to divert at random creating thicker spots that obscured her sigil. Feathertail sat back, frustrated at her messy picture with her tail lashing.

“I don’t know why I keep messing up like this,” she huffed.

“I think I do,” said Kite. “Which paw do you use when you fish?”

“What?” said Feathertail, blinking in confusion. “I just use your paw.”

“Pretend you’re fishing,” Kite instructed. “Lash out at a fish in the air.”

Still looking baffled, Feathertail obliged. She pulled herself into a hunter’s crouch, the kind modified for standing on a river-bank without getting too sore. She slowly raised a paw as is to strike a fish.

“Stop,” said Kite and Feathertail obeyed. “Try to make the glyph again but use the paw you raised instead.”

Feathertail’s tail flicked, clearly frustrated by Kite not explaining her thought process but obeyed. To Squirrelpaw’s surprise - and Feathertail’s too she thinks - her paw was much stronger. The lines came out much smoother and there wasn’t any trembling, her claw seemed to go exactly where the silvery molly want it to go with only the swiggles that showed her inexperience.

“I thought so,” said Kite, purring with satisfaction. “A lot of creatures have inherent paw preferences - one paw is for fine tasks and heavy lifting while the other is for balance and guidance. I have a right paw preference and so does Squirrelpaw - you and Stormfur seem to have left paw preferences.”

“What about Shrewpaw?” Stormfur asked.

“My glyphs are bad no matter which paw I use,” the tom grumbled.

“He has no paw preference,” Kite chuckled. “You’re struggling because you’re trying to make completely straight lines instead of letting your claw glide. If you make sharp angles, nothing will align right - try making the corners rounder.”

Shrewpaw stuck his tongue out, hissing lightly as he's drawing. Kite had them all running through the complex glyphs for fire, water and air. She had been beating it into their heads to recognize the difference between the ways different charmers write the glyphs.

“A fire charmer like me will always use the snake glyphs,” Kite had said sternly. “Fire is my center and I’ve learned to fight around it. Anyone with fire charmer training will center their glyphs around the flame.”

“It worked!” Shrewpaw said triumphantly. “You can at least tell it’s baga now.”

“Well done,” Kite praised.

She reached out and placed her paw on top of Stormfur’s, gently guiding him to start at the bottom of one of the glyphs instead of where he was struggling to start it from the top.

“There’s no set way to start a letter,” she told him. “Direction only matter during active charm carving - do it the way that feels familiar to you until you’ve memorized the glyph. Practice direction when you can recognize the sounds and symbols in an instant.”

“Okay,” said Stormfur, smiling a bit as he refocused on his glyphs.

This is hard, Squirrelpaw thinks to herself as she begins to scribble out each of the runes she can remember. But it’s also really fun.

---

“There are four levels of summon,” Kite lectured. “Minor, Lesser, Common and Major. Taati - my summon - is a common summon. They’re typically considered companions. They’re the friendliest and one of the bigger summons you’ll encounter.”

“What are the largest?” Feathertail asked. “Will we ever come across a bear summon?”

“No,” Kite denied. “Summons feed off of our energy and life. No creature - not even Touched bears - can summon anything larger than a hare.”

“Why? Wouldn’t a bear have more life energy than we do because they’re big?” Stormfur asked.

“All Touched have the same amount of passive energy,” Kite said. “A bear is bigger and so it takes more passive energy for them to retain their Touch - larger creatures always risk falling to mindlessness.”

“You can become untouched?!” Shrewpaw blurted out in terror.

“That leads me to my next point,” Kite said dryly. “The only spirit who is your friend is the one you summoned. It is only your friend after you’ve summoned it and before that, you should treat it as an enemy.”

“Even while we summon it?” Stormfur asked.

“Yes,” said Kite. “Because it will try to kill you.”

She sat on her haunches and brought her paws up to her chest. She parted her fur, showing a series of scars on her chest. They were faded with time but they were ragged and raised, still visible despite her thick coat.

“Not all summon tests are the same but do know that being summoned is seeking to influence the world and the less sound of mind you are, the more free they are to do what they want. So yes, you can become Untouched by making an asymmetrical deal with a summon.”

Squirrelpaw shuddered. Losing the Touch is like something straight out of a New Moon story the theurgists told each other. Feeling your sapience slowly drain away while your emotions and carnal instincts begin competing for your attention and your ability to reason steadily becomes torn to shreds, Your friends and allies becoming competition for valuable resources and no longer do you think to trade, only to fight and snarl to defend what you need to survive. 

“Don’t worry,” Kite’s voice snapped Squirrelpaw back to attention. “I won’t let that happen to you. The drills I’ve been running you through are the same ones I did as a kit - you’re not allowed to even cough on a summoner’s ring until I deem you strong enough.”

“...on an ordinary day I might feel patronized,” Stormfur said. “But I don’t even wanna risk going mindless like…”

“Crow,” Feathertail agreed quietly. “That’s what happened to him right?”

“...the disease from the hungering ones’ bite does sap a person’s mind,” Kite agreed softly. “But usually it’s just hunger overwhelming them. It makes them too sick to eat normal prey and makes them constantly thirsty - Crow attacked Feathertail because all he saw was food and he was starving.”

“Thank you,” Feathertail choked out. “For not making me…”

“If I have the chance, I won’t make you kill each other,” Kite promised. “I can’t say it’ll never happen, but I will always try to protect you.”

She rests her chin on Feather’s head, wrapping her tail around her. Squirrelpaw darted over, snuggling into her aunt’s thick fur, purring gently as Shrewpaw slunk over, cautiously.

“Can we call training to an end?” Shrewpaw asked hopefully. 

Kite chuckled.

“Sure. I’ll even do the stakes tonight.”

#the farlands au #the farlands #the farlands snippets #projects by ankh #worldbuilding #warriors #the warrior cats au #warrior cat ideas #warrior cat au #warrior cats #squirrelflight #squirrelpaw #feathertail #stormfur #shrewpaw #kite #magic #constructed language #conlangs

[strelles-universe]

"What have you done?!"

Rusty stayed quiet as the gray kitten shrunk in on himself, curling away from the enraged form of his Overseer and mentor. He and Myna exchanged a glanced, keeping Kite safely behind them as the blue molly eyed her with her fully bristled pelt and bared teeth eyed them with intense suspicion.

"I-I didn't think they were too bad," Graypaw stammered. "And-and they were looking to get away-"

"You endangered the entire sanctuary!" she snarled. "Letting charmers enter the wards of the Great Founders!"

"Are you The Blue Star?" Kite asked bravely.

She hissed in a seemingly reflexive manner, clearly forgetting that they were there. The molly placed herself between Graypaw and them despite her minute trembling revealing her fear.

"Why do you ask?" she growled.

"Our father brought us to the Sanctuary of the Four Clans," said Kite. "He said that we'd be safe here."

"Where is he now?" the Overseer asked, her eyes darting about as if expecting their father to leap into view at any second.

"Dead," said Myna blandly. "So is our mother and our siblings."

The molly didn't beak her defensive pose, but her narrowed eyes did soften with - sympathy? Empathy? Rusty couldn't tell.

"What taint have you mastered?" She asked.

"We're flame charmers," said Rusty. "Look we don't mean any harm - we just heard that this is the place where we can settle down and be safe."

"...I will need to speak to the other Overseers," she said finally. "Come with me. And you Graypaw, return to your mother - we will discuss your actions another time."

#the farlands snippet #the farlands au #not strelles related #magic #rusty #graypaw #bluestar #princess

[bubble-popping]

Snippet Tag Game

but I'm in my Dream Stan era so :P

tagged by @puzzl-d 🫶🫶

Most recent thing I wrote, dsmp w/ dreamnap and admin!sapnap

"Are you hungry, by the way? I made your favorite this morning!" "I knew I smelled something delicious. Did you really wake up so early just to-" The netherborn froze in the kitchen doorway. Dream stood in front of the furnace, tending to the cuts of meat as they sizzled over fiery coals. He'd long appointed himself as the sole cook, both here and in the Community House, because everything Sapnap touched always managed to burn and George was just utterly clueless in the kitchen. However, that wasn't what gave Sapnap pause. His lover and childhood best first had shifted into his full Farlander form, an impressive seven feet of long limbs and snow white fur. But again, this was not unusual. In fact, Dream often chose to be in his full form when they stayed here. But this time, for whatever reason, Dream also chose to be entirely naked--aside from an apron that only covered his front. "Pandas?" Dream glanced back at him, mildly curious, until he saw his expression. He giggled, the mischievous little minx, and wiggled his hips, tail swaying with the movement. "Take a picture, it'll last longer." "So this is why you're up early, huh?" "You can't prove anything," Dream taunted, returning to the steaks as he deemed them ready and removed them from the heat. It took all of Sapnap's willpower to have a seat at the two-chair table and not jump his lover right then and there. "You know I have a meeting with Schlatt later."

#Dream #Sapnap #Dream smp #Dsmp #dreamnap #will this ever be posted in full? #only time will tell #barring I don't get immediately distracted with a new cooler idea

[scarletiswailing347]

Imp and Skizz: Skylands Adventure Chapter 1

Impulse had heard of lands beyond the border, beyond the oceans, and most of all, beyond the clouds. Under the influence of several rounds of the Moonlight Tavern's Specialty Spidereye Cocktail it seemed plausible enough, but now that he was sober and lugging around a full inventory filled with rather precious and expensive items, it was starting to seem a lot more like a pipedream than anything.

"Oh, you have got to see it, man!" the mysterious Netherborne had said, "The Aether it- it's incredible! Flying blocks, mobs that you can't find on regular biomes,and it's sobeautiful!"

Perhaps he was being hasty, perhaps he was being greedy, but all Impulse could think of in that moment was taking as many strange blocks as possible and using it for his various farms.

"Hey, I don't blame ya," the blond laughed after gulping down an entire mug of the aforementioned cocktail, "I woulda done the same thing."

And so here he was now, abandoned after the man had to go on the run for...something. Impulse didn't even get his name, 'I doubt it would've helped much but it could've been something at least, ' Impulse sighed, he understood that life can get in the way of things sometimes but he had no clues to go off on aside from the various snippets that Impulse could recover from his drunken haze on that one faithful night.

"...beyond the Farlands-

"...gonna need a rocket or a plane at least-

"...can't reach with an elytra-

"...need a lot of fire and cold protection."

Not even the letter that the (probably) Blaze hybrid left behind gave any concrete clues.

"Hey man! It's your drinking buddy from last night, thanks for letting me stay the night btw. Finally didn't have to freeze in the stupid overworld for once. I know we made plans to find the Aether together and everything but I'm afraid I can't fulfill my end of the deal, I'm a bit of a wanted criminal ya see. Nothing super bad (morally speaking), mind you, but unfortunately the Sentinels don't care much for that kind of thing. If you wanna go find the Aether on your own then that's perfectly fine, just be sure to keep this book on ya just in case you end up somewhere without any respawn magic. If you're not then just keep it anyway, ya never know where life takes you, ya know? Salutations and good luck!"

Impulse initially didn't want to go on this journey at all, he liked his peace and quiet after all, but his curiousity ate at him everyday 'til he's finally had enough. He did all the research he could and pieced together as much as he could from their humble town library, and yet it still wasn't enough.

The only place left he could think to look was back to where it all started.

"Why 'ello there, the usual?" asked the bartender.

"Yes, please," Impulse sighed a heavy sigh and slumped over the counter, "And make it ice cold."

"Yes, sir."

The tavern was rather empty which wasn't much of a surprise given it was 10:15 on a Monday morning -- too late for those who drank 'til the sun rose and too early for those who drank 'til the sun set.

One of the advantages that Impulse had as an independent redstoner was the fact that he can take a vacation whenever he pleases without much worry aside from waning customers. Luckily, though known mainly locally, Impulse's customers are loyal to a fault an would not mind waiting for his eventual return (besides, he wasn't the only redstoner around town should they need help).

"Tough week, eh?" asked the ram hybrid(?) whom Impulse has been a loyal customer himself to.

"It's still Monday, Zedaph," Impulse said to him with a half exposed eye.

"And yet you're here drinkin' in the middle of the day, lookin' like some Watcher put obsidian on you," Zedaph said while brewing the concoction, "Normally you only do that when all your contraptions are failin' miserably."

Impulse snorted, "Well, you got me there."

Zedaph set down Impulse's drink in front of him, "So, you wanna talk about it or what?"

Impulse took a sip, "It's nothing really, just about to go looking for a place that may or may not even exist after my supposed-to-be-partner abandoned me."

"Oof, that's rough, buddy."

"Eh, can't really blame him," Impulse waved an unfocused hand, recalling the various stories of faceless avatars descending from the heavens to bring 'balance' to servers, "Sentinels. You know how it is ."

"Ah," Zedaph hummed, "Any clue what he did?"

"Who knows, man, could be anything," Impulse shrugged, "All he said was that it wasn't anything super bad...morally speaking, anyway."

Zedaph hummed, "How specific."

"...mmmyeah," Impulse took another sip, "Anyways, I'm not here just to drink. I'm trying to figure out where he got his information from and he seemed like a regular here so..." Impulse waved a vague hand, "Not sure how we never met, though."

"Ooh, a regular? What's his name?"

"...I don't know," Impulse confessed.

"...you don't know?" Zedaph raised a brow, "You're supposed-to-be-partners and yet you don't even know the man's name?" the cheeky blond scoffed, "...and here I thought you were a polite young man."

"Hey, I am polite!" Impulse protested, "It's just that- when you're drunk, things just. Get forgotten, y'know?"

"Ah, I see, a bond forged in alcohol -- the strongest kind there is," Zedaph said with a sarcastic flair.

"Don't sass me!"

"Do you remember what he looks like at least?" asked Zedaph.

"Blond, pointy-eared, red pupils, red sclera, probably Blazeborne," Impulse hummed, "...red shirt, some kinda vest...and that's about it, I think," Impulse shrugged.

Zedaph placed his fingers on his chin, "Ah, Tango of the Tek Clan." he hummed, "Yeah, I know him. He usually comes during winter, which I suppose is why you two never met. He heard about the jack-o-lantern festival and wanted to see it this year. He's homeless but he's got a few haunts I can list down for you later."

Impulse hummed, "Hm, I see, thanks, Zed. Do you know if he raided any ancient libraries or wells of forbidden knowledge or..?"

Zedaph replied, "If he has then he hasn't said anything about it," then muttered, "well, either that or he only did when he was absolutely smashed..."

The bartender thought for a moment and seemed to have come to a realization, "...hey, hang on a minute!You never really said where you were going in the first place!"

"Oh, the Aether," Impulse said as casually as he could.

"The Aether."

"The Aether."

"W-"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time, okay?" Impulse put his hands up exasperatedly, "And I have a feeling finding him would make things a little bit easier, so can you help me? Find him, that is."

"'fraid I can't, mate, got into a bit of trouble and now Graph won't let me out of her sight for at least a couple weeks," he took a glance at Graphoniac, who glared at him warily, and gave a sheepish smile.

"Aw man."

"Look at the recruitment board maybe?" Zedaph shrugged, "There's got to be at least one idiot out there who's willing to help you."

"Hey! But also, good idea!" Impulse took his mug and stoid from the bar stool , "Thanks Zed!"

"Happy to help," Zedaph nodded.

#wip #c impulse #c zed #c tango #c graph #wasnt sure if i should add her cause of how small her part is but might as well #moonlight smp tag #Imp and Skizz: Journey to the Skylands #backstory #f hermitcraft

[devinisagirlsname]

OCtober Day 1

Prompt: Sunrise

I’m posting this today without any proper editing or beta reading or anything. This month is going to be an exercise in me writing every day and posting so I get over the idea of people possibly seeing my work. Please, if you do read this, keep that in mind.

Also, these will all just be snippets from the larger story. If anyone is actually curious enough, feel free to ask me any questions about whatever.

On her first morning in Farland, Aisling discovered that her brand new home faced East. A burning slice of the new day broke past beautiful but functionally useless curtains to wake her. Aisling groaned and attempted to turn away from such an early morning, but that only served to alert Blue, who had been sleeping heavily at her feet. The monstrous white hound stood, stretched, and trampled his master's knee on his way to ask for breakfast.

"Blue!" She shouted, sitting bolt-upright to stop her familiar from moving from her bruised knee to more delicate lungs. Blue gave a single bark, jumped off the bed, and happily thundered to the kitchen to await breakfast. The bedroom settled back into quiet dawn, but sleep was successfully driven away.

Aisling kicked and stretched her toes to find her slippers before she pulled herself from bed. Though piled with rugs, the floor of the cabin held the night's chill as if the foundation sat on ice. Aisling hesitated in grabbing her housecoat- a thin red thing that clashed horribly with her copper hair, but it was a gift from Mother Kathleen during her first winter festival in the capital. For the warm and dry of Alterhart, the robe served Aisling well. Now, it was clearly not up for the blustery winds of the coast.

Still loath to admit she was awake so early, she topped the housecoat with one of the many extra blankets from her bed, and patted out to the kitchen. Small creaks in the wooden floor reminded her that she was no longer in the dormitory she'd grown up in, no longer surrounded by other girls with the same goals, same gifts.

Blue sat by the front door and threw his head back to look at her as she left the bedroom. It caused him to give a floppy upside-down smile before he righted himself and scratched the door with a sturdy 'thunk!'. Clearly, a stronger force than breakfast was calling to him.

"I guess we'll need to add a flap to the back door for you," Aisling mused, adding the chore to her growing list. Her hand reached for a light switch, hitting empty wall, and she was reminded of the fact that the previous owner used lay lines for all the electricity. This was the home of a Mother, after all. The most gifted magic users, sent to help communities as hands of the Grande Matriarchs.

Talented. Gifted. Magical.

Blue barked.

"Right, sorry sir," Aisling unlocked the heavy door and a gust of wind assisted her in opening it. Blue ran out immediately, jumping the stairs of the deck and bolting after something small that shook the bushes nearby. Aisling tucked her hands under her arms and shivered, but she couldn’t help but be awed at the sight that greeted her.

The cabin's location had been troublesome to reach the night before, while she was weary from travel and stressed from meeting the local leaders. A winding path with uneven, ancient wooden steps to lead you up the mountainside made her trip and stumble. Thick pine meant it was easy to get lost if you stepped off the dirt trail, and even with a guide it took nearly half an hour to drag herself to her new home.

She hadn't taken time to look back at the town once she finally made it to the front door.

The deck had box seats to a perfect view of sunrise in Farland. The yard had been planted to have shorter shrubs line the front gate, nothing that would grow so out of control as to cover the sight of the town square. The sun painted the white stone of the fountain orange, reflecting off the ever-flowing water like crystal. The sparkling effect spread all the way behind the storefronts and homes of the main town to the docks. Aisling could see a couple of small fishing boats coming back in, a few more anchored still on the horizon.

"Quite a sight, isn't it?"

Aisling threw herself back so fast she nearly cracked her skull on the doorframe. Her hands were up- still wrapped in her blanket shawl- prepared to fight before she recognized the sweet voice.

Sunflower was sat on the half-log bench, politely trying to hide her laugh. Her braids were tied back at the nape of her neck, hanging over her shoulder in a much more casual style than Aisling had seen the night before. She stood and Aisling saw she wasn't even in her Sister robes now, but in street attire of trousers and blouse, something that Aisling remembered being disciplined for back at in the dorms. A Sister was always meant to wear the uniform of her station, especially when meeting with a Mother.

"Mother Bernadette and I would meet for breakfast," Sunflower explained. A mournful look passed her dark eyes before she chased it off with a smile. "Since it's your first day, I was hoping you might keep tradition with me. Mrs. Romae will treat you to fresh coffee and bacon if you help her open the shop."

Aisling's stomach gave a whine before she could properly answer. She felt her ears redden and could no longer meet Sunflower's kind and open face.

"I'll need to dress," she finally mumbled. "I have to unpack my robes and-?"

A hand was on her shoulder, but Aisling didn't feel like she was being trapped. Instead she finally met Sunflower's eyes.

"Sunflower Addams," the sister started, her voice taking on a gravely edge and she wrinkled her face as she spoke. "This is breakfast, not a sermon! If I have to put on all those layers and chains each time I go to buy butter I am never leaving this house again!"

Sunflower un-scrunched her face and chuckled, apparently pleased by her own impression of the late Mother Bernadette.

"I used to take it all very seriously, you know," she explained. "It's what the capital tells us, that our gifts are great blessings and that we should hold up the honor of the Grande Matriarchs." She gave a heavy sigh and Aisling felt at that moment like Sunflower was truly trying to reach her for…something. "Farland isn't Alterhart. Yesterday you met everyone has Mother Harkin, I think today it would be best for you to introduce Aisling."

Blue chose that moment to come bounding back, dragging a branch the length of his body in victory up the steps. He sat at Aisling's feet and dropped it, giving the two women and tail wag and floppy smile. Aisling felt her shoulders relax, a stress she hadn't noticed suddenly leaving. She smiled.

"Then let me grab my boots and trousers. Maybe in town I can get a proper coat; Farland truly isn't Alterhart."

#my work #my writing #OC-tober #I hope this properly posts with the read more #I wrote this in three hours after I remembered I was supposed to start today #words are words I guess

[myths-of-fantasy]

Kite explaining the runes to Squirrelpaw. Conlanging is fun when you're figuring it out as you go lol

#projects by ankh #the farlands au #conlang #the farlands snippets #the farlands #conlangs #constructed languages #magic #warriors #the warrior cats au #warrior cat ideas #warrior cat au #warrior cats #lore #worldbuilding

[myths-of-fantasy]

Snippet 10 - A Little Comfort

“Hey Kite?”

Kite glanced down at her and Squirrelpaw almost lost her courage but she’d been mulling over it for a few days now.

“Why don’t you use your whole name?” she asked.

“What are you talking about?” Feathertail inquired.

Shrewpaw blinked, “That’s a good question - I think only Bluestride has ever called her by her full name.”

“She has a full name?” Stormfur inquired, darting forward to catch back up. “Her name isn’t just Kite?”

“It’s Kitethroat,” said Shrewpaw. “Apparently she sings really well.”

“She does,” agreed Squirrelpaw.

Kite’s ears had gone flat against her head when Squirrelpaw had asked and so when Kite snapped her attention to her, she flinched expecting anger. Instead she was faced with Kite’s red ears and embarrassed face.

“I don’t sing much Squirrelpaw,” said Kite. “Mostly just for my family. And when cats know my suffix is -throat, they always ask me to sing. And some of they get very upset when I tell them no.”

“Oh,” said Squirrelpaw, waving her tail. “Is that why you stopped singing when we got older?”

“...a bit yes,” she muttered. “But I wasn’t exactly singing for you. Rusty has nightmares sometimes and dad used to sing to help him sleep better.”

Squirrelpaw stepped towards her aunt and walked close enough for their fur to brush. Neither one of her aunts brought up their father a lot - Sandstorm says it’s because Kite blames herself for their dad’s death and for a bit, Myna blamed her too.

“Why?” Squirrelkit had asked.

“...bad things happen in the Outside,” Sandstorm had said quietly. “And when enough bad things happen, even good cats look for someone to blame.”

“But Aunt Myna does blame her any more right?” Squirrelkit had asked.

“...no. She doesn’t.”

Because now she blames someone else.

Squirrelpaw wonders now how much her mother had told her - clearly not every thing, she’d only been a kit and knowing about the intricacies of her aunts’ suffering wouldn’t do her any good. But now she’s older - she’s been on the Outside. She wasn’t naive enough to think she’d seen the full extent of suffering that he Farlands could enact on creatures but she liked to think that she’d matured a lot since she first left. 

Kite’s tail brushed her back and she glanced up at the tired but happy light her aunt’s eyes.

Thank you, she said without words.

Squirrelpaw just pressed more firmly against her.

#the farlands snippets #projects by ankh #worldbuilding #the farlands au #the farlands #warrior cats #warriors #the warrior cats au #warrior cat ideas #warrior cat au

[myths-of-fantasy]

Snippet 7 - A Place to Call Home Pt. 2

For a group of cats that live mostly separate, they sure group up a lot, Rusty mused to himself looking at the large collection of cats.

Myna had groaned and whined when Rusty had announced that they would be leaving to meet other cats upon her return but had eaten her prey and walked with them. They didn’t see any other cats as Willow led them in a seemingly random direction into the middle of the forest, but Rusty smelled a lot of them. He felt eyes on his pelt and concluded that they were being followed to this place where the paws dwelled.

“There are a lot of paw places,” said Willow. “But this is where the paws of the Kindra Sector and the Sector of Typhus usually meet. Cats from the Zephyr Sector and cats from the Umber Sector join them sometimes but we haven’t seen any umbers since Raggedstar was named Overseer.”

“Is that unusual?” Myna asked.

“A bit yes,” said Willow. “We older cats tend to keep our friends within the sectors unless we’re planning to move, but the paws are usually very friendly.”

“Oh joy,” said Kite dryly.

“Don’t mind her,” said Myna rolling her eyes. “Kite would spend everyday curled in a hole if we left her.”

“And I do wish you’d let me,” Kite said with a wistful sigh.

Gray snickered at her while Willow gestured with her tail to the clearing ahead. There were a collection of smooth gray rocks laying in what Rusty thinks might be the only sky visible section of the forest, soaking up sunlight with cats sprawled on every available surface.

“These are the Sunningrocks,” said Willow. “Bluestar and Stormstar negotiated an agreement near the beginning of their leaderships and it’s been neutral ground ever since. “

“There was a huge uproar when it was announced at the Gathering,” Gray said with a mischievous grin. “If you can find the elder’s district, you should ask them about it. Dappleri always tells the story so dramatically.”

“Let the elders have their fun,” chuckled Willow. “Sunningrocks has been a point of tension between Typhus and Kindra since the river tentatively rerouted - before The Separation, we used to fight each other over these stones.”

“Over some rocks?” said Kite, unimpressed.

“It was more of a boundary dispute,” Willow informed. “The area around Sunningrocks gave Kindra a significant amount more hunting territory - but the Typhus lost that territory. Kindra argued that the river was Typhus’ territory and the only reason they had Sunningrocks before was because it was surrounded by water. Typhus said that Sunningrocks had always belonged to them and therefore, they should keep it even though the river changed.”

“Seems silly but then again, I didn’t live through it,” Kite decided, flicking her ear.

“I’m certainly glad that Bluestar and Stormstar put a stop to all that,” Willow agreed. “Lives have been lost over Sunningrocks.”

Their conversation carried them the last few legs of the distance to Sunningrocks where cats glanced up at them curiously.

“I’m going to go sit with the adults,” Willow said, flicking her tail to a collection of cats near the river. “Stay within sight Gray.”

“Yes mom,” he agreed and started up the rocks.

“Hey Grayir,” purred a silver molly, lounging on her back.

“Hey Silverir,” he responded.

“Who are your friends?”

“I’m Rusty,” he spoke up. “And those are my sisters - Kite and Myna.”

“Odd one out with that name,” Silver giggled. “Two birds and a tarnished metal?”

“Two birds and a color,” Rusty corrected as Kite slumped down onto the warm rocks.

“Mmm…” she hummed. “Alright, I can see why wars were waged over these rocks.”

“They do feel nice,” agreed Rusty, settling beside her.

He purred lightly, enjoying the sun seeping into his pelt without the threat of a farcreature attacking him. Rusty had honestly taken their home sanctuary for granted when he was a young kit, naive and ignorant to the struggles of those who walk the world without magical borders and border wardens to protect them.

“Hey guys, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

Rusty cracked open one eye, “Does it require me getting up?”

“No.”

“Then I’m willing to meet him.”

Gray laughed prodding him into opening both of his eyes. Rusty at least gave him that respect, wincing when the sun hit his previously covered eye. As soon as his vision cleared, he noted a lanky brown tom with pale violet eyes and a white tipped tail.

“...he’s cute,” slipped out of Rusty’s mouth making the new tom yelp and hide his face in Gray’s pelt.

“He is, isn’t he?” Gray laughed. “This is Raven - he’s my best friend.  Raven these are my new friends - the tura I got in trouble for.”

“Woah,” said Silver, quickly sitting up. “You didn’t tell me you brought a few tura - can they do anything cool?”

“I don’t know,” admitted Gray. “I assume so - Bluestar seemed really angry so they must be strong in some capacity.”

“There will be no magic demonstrations today,” said Kite. “It’s way more peaceful here than out there and we have no intentions of getting kicked out if we can avoid it.”

“That’s fair,” Gray admitted.

“Well if you don’t want to do magic, but Raven is here, who’s up for a swim?” said Silver, grinning brightly.

“Ew,” said Myna even as Kite clambered to her paws.

“Sure,” she purred. “Rusty? You coming?”

“And leave these warm rocks? No way.”

“Alright, have fun!”

Rusty watched from his position laying down as Kite darted off after Silver towards the river, quickly beginning to splash about in the shallows and giggling loudly. Raven and Gray settled beside him and Myna, starting up a conversation.

He sighed happily and thanked his family’s sacrifice. It seemed now they had a place to rest.

#projects by ankh #the farlands #the farlands au #the farlands snippets #magic #alternate universe magic #the warrior cats au #warrior cat ideas #warrior cat au #warrior cats

[myths-of-fantasy]

Snippet 5 - A Lesson Learned Pt. 3

When Crowpaw woke up, he felt like he’d been kicked in the throat by jack hare. His mouth was dry and his shoulder ached. It took him a moment to remember the events of the day before but as soon as he did, he winced and closed his eyes again.

Stupid, he thinks, bitterly. He remembers mocking Squirrelpaw, asking what Kite could possibly be protecting them from. Now he knew. Now he understood. She was keeping them away from these kinds of dangers deliberately She was just trying to protect them, their parents could only scold and punish them if they were alive after all. And he repaid her determined protection by sneaking off and getting attacked.

Now here he was with a blazing shoulder and a pounding pain in his head, ready to slow down the group all because he was too arrogant to believe that Kite was trying to help.

“Here.”

He opened his eyes again, Kite dropped a large mouse in front of him and Squirrelpaw who’d settled beside him at some point.  She was wearing her charm again do he figured that Taati had been unsummoned. He was thankful for that, the sear-spirit creeped him out. That was the real problem. As proud as Crowpaw claimed himself to be about his heritage, even though he was a theurgist, Crowpaw was frightened of charmers and their magics. He understood - intellectually - that Kite was the same as him, just older and so her magic had never been sealed.

He stretched out his head and started nibbling on the mouse, deciding to save his conflicted emotions for another day.  Besides, he couldn’t let Squirrelpaw eat their entire mouse on her own. Everyone else was already awake and eating the same large mice that he was. Crowpaw was honestly a little suspicious that what she’d caught them were actually mice, considering they were about the size of a young rabbit. 

“Where’d you get these?” asked Squirrelpaw, licking the blood from her lips. “These are huge.”

“It’s breeding season for dire mice,” said Kite, flicking her tail back in the direction towards the mad cats. “They come out around dawn and shriek their heads off to any mouse in the area - wasn’t hard to catch a few.”

She set her bag to the side and rifled through it, pulling out a large pawful of small yellow flowers and set them in front of Crowpaw.

“Eat these to lessen the pain in your shoulder,” she instructed. “Then eat the mouse to wash the taste from your mouth.”

Crowpaw blinked at the suggestion.

Smart.

He swallowed the flowers, screwing up his face as he did so and then dug back into the mouse. Squirrelpaw took on a sympathetic expression and pushed the mouse closer to him, instead beginning to properly clean herself.

“Where are we headed next?” Feathertail asked.

Kite flicked her tail, “There’s a group of cats with a Sanctuary of their own - the Sanctuary of Blood. I intend for us to stop there and take a few days for all of us to sleep properly and restock on herbs and materials then we will continue to the White Peaks.”

“The mountains?” Stormfur said, taken aback. “Aren’t there wolves in the mountains?”

“Some yes,” said Kite, dismissively. “I speak a dog though so we’ll be fine. Wolves want nothing to do with cats unless we’re dumb enough to attack them. And I’m sure once you see how large they are, there will be no problems there.”

“Will Squirrelpaw learn how to charm fire?” Crowpaw asked finally.

Kite’s tail swished, a slight frown crossing her face.

“Yes I think,” said Kite looking at Squirrelpaw. “Were you sealed?”

“... no,” Squirrelpaw admitted to shocked gasps from every one but Crowpaw and Kite. “Dad told me and Leafpool to keep it to ourselves and to never use our power.”

“And that stopped you?” Stormfur asked skeptically.

Squirrelpaw flicked her ear, “That and seeing Blackpaw use his power and die in front of us.”

Stormfur’s ears flattened, “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah well, that was wake-up call enough,” said Squirrelpaw with a shrug. “Dad said that the only reason he can charm fire within the barrier is because he was invited in as a magic user and therefore, he’s considered a permitted creature.”

“And that’s why he has that marking on his chest,” explained Kite. “If he ever steps outside the borders - like I did - you’ll have to be reinvented in. And if you stumble across before being reinvited, you’ll be blocked or killed.”

“Isn’t there a permanent invitation?” Feathertail asked. “There can’t possibly only be a temporary version.”

Kite smiled, “There is. But then you can’t leave the Sanctuary until the link is broken and it comes with a series of responsibilities.”

It was Shrewpaw that caught on first, a loud gasp that drew everyone’s attention.

“You mean… becoming an Overseer?” he said and Crowpaw’s head snapped back to Kite who was sitting as if she hadn’t just revealed life shattering information.

“Yes,” said Kite with a smirk. “Overseers are territory bound theurgist but they also can’t use their powers as freely as a temporary permitted charmer. They are granted temporary powers by the secret ritual that makes them an Overseer but they’re bound to the whims of the power.”

“What does that mean?” Feathertail asked curiously.

“The Founders of your Sanctuary preserved their powers somewhere in the Starshards,” Kite explained. “When a new Overseer is chosen, the magic connects to them and they go through some kind of test. If they pass they must swear an oath to use the power in the ways that the founder deemed acceptable and by accepting this, you are also agreeing to punishment if you use it incorrectly. The problem is, when an Overseer dies, they are added to the chorus of voices within the power and so now, they can influence the will of magic.”

“... having magic kind of… sucks,” Squirrelpaw said lamely. 

“Which is why Sanctuary theurgists are sealed,” Kite chuckled. She looked around at everyone sitting up and bright-eyed. “Is everyone properly ready to move on now?”

Crowpaw turned and sniffed his shoulder - the pain was mostly faded so he turned back to Kite and nodded, getting to his paws.

“Then let’s get a move on - the Blood Sanctuary is far away,” said Kite.

---

They made some decent progress that day. Coming across another containment sector, Crowpaw was relieved to find that they could go around this one and that it was smaller. He kept pace with Kite (who he’s certain had slowed their pace that day) and didn’t dare wander off. He paid attention when she pointed out certain herbs and felt a wave of guilt and embarrassment when he realized that she’d been trying to teach them the whole time.

Now that he wasn’t deliberately ignoring her or dismissing her, Kite was starting to grow on him. She was harsh sometimes but apologized if she noticed any hurt feelings and does her best to avoid making a similar mistake - she’s cheeky and wise though there’s an undertone of sadness to all of her stories and tips.

He wondered what she thought of him - a cat who had to risk being eaten alive before he was willing to give her a chance.

I’m no better than the cats who harassed me about being a theurgist.

The thought rattled through his head long after they finally settled down to build a camp. He was snapped out of his self-loathing by Feathertail prodding him gently in his flank.

“Hey,” she said with a gentle smile. “Do you want to rest by the fire pit or try to hunt.”

Crowpaw stretched out his leg, flexing the muscle and winced when pain rippled through his muscles.

“I-I’ll stay here,” Crowpaw said, and the words left a bitter taste in his mouth. It was the smart decision - he shouldn’t be running around and hunting while his shoulder felt like it was on fire but he hadn’t been injured in a while. Staying put and healing up seemed like the most boring thing he could’ve done.

“Okay,” said Feathertail not pressing him. Maybe she could tell that if she asked again, he’d change his mind.

He watched her pad off and wondered how she got her full name.

---

Crowpaw reluctantly swallowed his mouse.

Three days since he’d gotten his wound and it felt like it was getting worse instead of better. Kite changed his wrapping every night, gave him new herbs every night but he was getting concerned. The skin was a proper pink and the muscle - while not growing back - was being recovered by skin slowly as his fur regrew from where it was shaved. Despite this, it still twanged when he walked and his mouth felt drier and drier every time he woke up.

No matter how much water he drank, it never seemed to be enough but he kept drinking anyway. 

His appetite was decreasing too but Crowpaw put that down to the fact that he couldn’t keep anything down. Anything he ate came right up again and he’d be throwing up a mass mouth of half digested mice or birds. After doing that for a few days straight, no one would be in a mood to eat.

Kite kept forcing him to eat some absolutely disgusting herbs but they were the only thing he didn’t wake up coughing on so he swallowed them with minimal complaint.

---

Crowpaw huffed, pushing away the mouse he was offered by Squirrelpaw.

“Come on Crow, you have to eat something,” she urged.

“Why? I’ll just throw it all up again,” Crowpaw grumbled, licking his lips.

“Look, you’re thirsty - eat the mouse,” Squirrelpaw insisted.

Crowpaw sighed and forced the mouse down to make her happy.

He pretended not to see her worried expression when he woke them all up in the middle of the night, coughing and gagging and finally vomiting up the mouse. He laid back down, a sickening sensation in his stomach and he wondered if he would ever start to get better.

---

Crowpaw lapped at the water before him, drinking as much as he could. It was rare that they came across proper bodies of water to drink from instead of just surviving off of the water in their prey. The dryness of his mouth was finally starting to die down but only so long as the water passed down his throat.

“Looks like we’ll be sticking around here for a while,” Kite remarked. “You won’t be able to go far drinking that much water.”

Crowpaw barely made out the tone of concern in her voice and dismissed it. Water had never tasted so good.

---

Kite carried over a mouthful of herbs and a small mouse. It was smaller than even the mice back in the Sanctuary. Crowpaw didn’t give the mouse a second glance, he didn’t know why Kite kept trying when he was just going to keep throwing it up.

Crowpaw choked down the herbs and Kite watched him with a steadily dimming twinkle in her eye.

---

Crowpaw wondered when just looking at the others eating normal prey had started to make him nauseous. He shook his head, resigned. Because of his stupidity, he might spend the rest of his life eating disgusting herbs.

He set to work, grooming his filthy pelt. He hadn’t been feeling the urge to keep himself tidy lately. What was the point when he kept throwing up on his own pelt? He tried to keep his eyes away from Feathertail and her mouth as she tore into a rabbit that she’d managed to find. Would Crowpaw ever taste rabbit again? Or would be forever relegated to watching others eat his favorite food?

He shook his head and returned to grooming as best as he could.

It was better not to wonder about that.

---

The herbs weren’t working anymore - or maybe they were and now he just wanted real food?

“Our kind isn’t meant to subsist on herbs,” Kite had muttered watching him eat. “I don’t know how much more these have to offer you.”

---

Crowpaw averted his eyes from Squirrelpaw this time - he couldn’t afford to throw up the meager amounts he’d swallowed today.

---

Crowpaw’s mouth felt properly hydrated for the first time in days and he even mustered a purr when Feathertail took her turn to curl up beside him.

---

His mind is getting hazy now - what was wrong with him?

Kite instructed him to lay down and said they’d stay in the same camp for a few days. Crowpaw wondered why her claws were unsheathed and why she looked do defeated. He didn’t dwell on this though, he was exhausted.

His eyes slipped shut.

---

I’m sorry Feathertail.

---

“Crowpaw stop it!” Feathertail shrieked and pressed back desperately, keeping his mouth from her face.

Her mind whirled and she should be able to throw him off - she would’ve been able to  at the beginning  of their journey but he’d grown fast. His limbs were long and powerful despite his messy, emaciated look. She pushed his chin up, keeping her hind legs kicking at his stomach and trying not to think about his foggy eyes.

He released a nonsensible shout, his mouth that he always claimed was dry dripped drool on her face while his paws stretched, clawing at her throat.

She finally dislodged him and ran, pelting across the clearing and out of the barrier. His blood was in the stakes and they wouldn’t protect her from him. He snapped at her tail, laughing manically and she whirled around, clawing him across the face. He hardly reacted, shaking his head and springing on her back, sinking his teeth into her scruff. Feathertail instantly dropped, landing on her back and slamming into the earth.

Crowpaw gasped and Feathertail ran back to the camp - if she went too far, the others wouldn’t be able to find her and Crowpaw would keep chasing her. She would get tired eventually she couldn’t afford to waste too much energy leaving a safe zone.

Crowpaw scrambled after her and they were locked in a clawing, screeching fit once more. Glass, foggy eyes showed no sign of recognition, only hunger and he kept snapping at her neck.

Just as Feathertail was beginning to accept that she’d have to handle this herself, Crowpaw was yanked off of her. She rolled, panting and watched Kite swing him upward by the scruff like she was going to throw him. Instead, she yanked down sharply and Crowpaw’s body didn’t follow fast enough.

Feathertail emptied her stomach at the snapping sound that rang through her ears.

---

Squirrelpaw stared blankly as Kite slung Crowpaw’s broken body across her back.

“ …there’s a burial place for Tainted Ones not far from here,” she said.

None of them protested and Squirrelpaw forced her paws to move. They hadn’t taken this trip seriously in the beginning, had thought it would be easy and when the land was barren, thought their biggest worries would be a lack of things to do while traveling.

There’s no point in punishing you, Kite had said when she led them away from the Tainted Ones. I’m here to keep you alive - The Farlands teaches its own lessons.

Squirrelpaw bit back a despairing cry as Shrewpaw fell into step beside her, pointedly not looking at Crowpaw’s limp corpse. 

If this was the Farlands teaching them something, she preferred Kite’s lessons.

“I’m sorry Crow,” whispered Squirrelpaw. “May you walk the skies in peace.”

#the farlands #the farlands au #projects by ankh #the farlands snippets #tw death #tw mercy killing #mercy killing #snapped neck #physical illness #animal death #worldbuilding #the warrior cats au #warrior cats fandom #warrior cats fanfic #squirrelpaw #crowpaw #feathertail #stormfur #shrewpaw #kite #squirrelflight #crowfeather

[myths-of-fantasy]

Snippet 14 - Learning Part 2

“Woah,” Squirrelpaw whispered, looking about.

They weren’t even at the White Village yet and already she was starting to see an enormous difference between the Flatlands and the area near the village. The closer they got, the more at east Squirelpaw noticed Kite was becoming. She started being more lax about them setting up the stakes - waiting later and later, usually insisting they keep walking until they find an outpost. The outposts were becoming more common and better stocked too, with less and less dug out dens and more properly crafted dens of twigs, brush and logs.

The latest outpost village Kite has led them too had a simple pair of guards sitting beside the most intricate looking stakes that Squirrelpaw had ever seen. Each about the size of her head with runes big enough to be properly read from a tail-length away instead of simply being blood charged. The runes danced with a gentle green glow and these guards looked far friendlier than the ones they’d met at the haebond.

“Llaka travellers,” one guard greeted happily.

“Llakabre,” Kite responded, dipping her head. “We’re looking for a short rest. We mean to keep heading for the Snow Market.”

“Most walkers are,” chuckled the guard. “Come in then - I’ll warn you, the mahau will likely have you escorted until you’re confirmed to not be a Morpher.”

At Kite’s utterly unimpressed look, the guard added, “Yeah we know. But it makes the residents feel better. Most of them have lived and died in this little outpost and between us, they couldn’t tell the difference between a jarrtalon and a furytalon.”

Kite chuckled at this comparison, seeming satisfied by the answer and motioned for Squirrelpaw and the others to follow her.

Passing through the entryway was like walking into another world. Everywhere she looked were creatures lounging and talking. She’d never seen so many foxes in her life - they don’t usually come near the Sanctuary and most of them had been various shades of red like Squirrelpaw herself. There were expertly woven beddings that were covered in moss and feathers hat passerbys settled on to chat or rolled over to give space to others. Further back were more creatures on merchant mats, bartering and selling things while interested parties curiously pursued the wares. 

A stab of relief went through her as she began to notice more and more signs against walls and resting against wareboxes. While the others were still getting a handle on Archaic, Kite had slowly begun to teach Squirrelpaw Kahrononepa or “Crow’s Foot” which she said was growing more and more common to see.

Crow’s Foot was harder to learn than Archaic in Squirrelpaw’s opinion. At least in Archaic you had a guess about what’s being communicated based on which sigils were being used. A living gada was probably a preservation rune and seeing two smokes usually means, “fire.” But Crow’s Foot was a bunch of strange symbols with no obvious signs or clues as to what they mean. While her friends mastered rune chains and anchoring, Squirelpaw struggled to differentiate individual sigils from each other.

She squinted her eyes at the latest sign they encountered. Sitting at the entrance to what she assumed was a series of interconnected and underground tunnels that functioned as dens.

“It says, The Midnight Set,” Kite said, noticing her intent stare. “It’s one of the outposts set up by the Great Badger Midnight - she’s said to live near the Bleeding Waters.”

“A great badger?” Stormfur echoed as Kite led them to a line of creatures sitting beside a den.

“Yes,” Kite agreed. “Midnight the Badger was one of the few recorded Dreamwalkers known to the Farlands. She was amazing at interpreting visions from The Mother and helped avert a lot of crises.”

“What happened to her?” Feathertail asked.

Kite flicked her ear, “No one knows. Some say she received a terrible vision and ambled off to avert it. Others say that she got tired of greedy creatures coming to her to tell them their futures so that they could profit from it. My dad always said that she knew her job wasn’t done but needed a rest so she went to rest over the cliffs near the Deeplands, overlooking the Bleeding Sea.”

Kite stepped up next in line, rifling through her satchel for a pawful of talon pieces. She counted them out, mumbling to herself before looking up at the molly before her. Squirrelpaw was a bit surprised when they started fluently talking in Farpspeak, poking pieces and occasionally gesturing back at them. Squirelpaw barely made out a few words for food and a reference to nesting before Kite pushed a small collection of talon pieces towards the merchant.

“This is wonderful,” Kite said, a mad grin on her face. “We can stay here for a moon.”

“A moon?” Shrewpaw yelped. 

“So that you can learn,” said Kite. “They have a minor academy here. I’m a fire charmer - my core is that of flames and so is Squirrelpaw’s. But I don’t know about you other three - if you’re anything but fire charmers, I’ll need to gather the basics of charming other elements before we continue.”

“But you said anyone can charm with any base,” Stormfur reminded her.

“Of course,” said Kite. “But a water charmer using fire as a base now has a water weakness in all of their glyphs because they only learned fire based ones. Also because I’m fire based, there are simple glyphs you have to learn from others because I never memorized them.”

“Oh,” Feathertail blinked, waving her tail. “Like fire starting glyphs?”

“Yes,” agreed Kite. “I never learned those because I can just… Ignite  my paw and have a fire. Just the same that some water charmers don’t need water finder spells because they can just draw water from the ground and force it to pool where they want it.”

“Oh,” said Stormfur. “So… how do we know what kind of charm center we have?”

“The academies always have Wild Stones,” Kite explained. “Once you’ve learned to bring your energy to the front of your claws, the stone will show you. Admittedly I only know what the sear reaction looks like and I’m reasonably sure that the rest of you aren’t flame charmers.”

Kite led them into the den and Squirrelpaw looked about in awe at the gem holders pushed into the walls, glowing gently like trapped flames illuminating the tunnel. There were several divergences from the main trail - each with signs sitting outside of them. There were stakes in the ground too, with woven tops likely to keep the tunnels from collapsing from the sheer number of dens branching from the main cavern.

Near the end, Kite sniffed at a sign and purred. She flicked her tail and led them down this side cavern with a longish tunnel that oven into a large den space. There were two large nests near the center, a pool of water off to the side. A small tunnel off to the side had a strong smell that made Squirrelpaw wrinkle her nose - a dirtplace she assumed. A stack of woven mats rested by the entryway which was decorated with more flickering crystals that illuminated the den.

Kite purred loudly and slipped her satchel from her back and onto the ground. She bounded over to the leftmost nest and settled in with a deep, pleased sigh.

“I can’t wait to reach the White Village,” Kite purred. “The nests they make there are so wonderful.”

“All of this is for us?” Shrewpaw gawked, his head whirling every which way.

“Yup,” purred Kite. “And it didn’t cost nearly as many talons as I was worried it might. Turns out there was a festival here not too long ago so they have a surplus of talon pieces and have started using it to expand - since these are the ‘older dens’ they don’t cost much.”

“A den we don’t have to ward before we sleep?” Stormfur hummed clambering into the second nest. “I’m perfectly content with that.”

“You should keep an eye out anyway since there aren’t any barriers, but our danger will likely be from other Touched rather than Farcreatures which is a welcome change,” Kite hummed.

“Fine by me!” Squirrelpaw chirped and bounded forward, clambering into the nest beside Kite.

Kite chuckled and shuffled around to give Squirrelpaw more room and left space for another body. Shrewpaw smiled sheepishly but climbed in with them, settled by Kite’s warm belly, snuggling into her soft fur while Feathertail joined her brother in the second nest, stretching out with a warm sigh.

“This is nice,” Shrewpaw hummed.

Squirrelpaw snuggled closer to her aunt and agreed.

#the farlands au #the farlands #projects by ankh #the farlands snippet #the farlands snippets #warrior cats #warrior cat ideas #warrior cat au #warriors #squirrelflight #squirrelpaw #shrewpaw #feathertail #stormfur #kite

[myths-of-fantasy]

Snippet 13: Haebond Part 2

This was surprisingly hard to write lmao and now it's mostly a shopping chapter.

----

“That is too much,” Kite snapped. “These are worth at least three bundles.”

“It’s only worth one,” the merchant said stubbornly. “Not as high quality as it could be.”

Kite’s tail lashed angrily, the fur on her neck beginning to stand up as her eyes narrowed.

“This is a fresh talon,” the molly hissed. “Three bundles is me settling.”

“Is not fresh,” the tom argued. “How would you know? Who did you trade it from?”

“No one you daft beetle brain!” Kite growled. “I got it from the monster I hunted. Never mind - I don’t want to do business with you anymore.”

Squirrelpaw watched the tom’s face turn from aggressive to panicked as Kite returned each of the talons she’d gotten to her bag. She ignored the merchant’s frantic back peddling and motioned them all to leave. Kite stalked up to a different merchant who was displaying an even wider array of herbs. She greeted the molly kindly, albeit she was slightly terse with her words as she pulled out a single crestbeak talon.

The merchant’s eyes bugged out as Kite blandly asked, “What can I get for this?”

The molly shook her head in amazement, “That is fresh? From what kind?”

“Shallow crested,” Kite said. “Sorry if that’s not good-”

“Shallow crested is fine,” the merchant assured. She flicked her tail to a collection of items on the far end of the rug. “You may pick any of these.”

Kite nodded, turning to her party.

“Pick a satchel from him,” she said flicking her tail to a brown tabby lounging by a collection of bags. “They aren’t super special but they’re free and we can’t afford for me to be the only one with herbs and travel supplies from this point onward.”

Squirrelpaw’s ears pricked, and her fur bristled with excitement, “Are-are you going to teach us how to be proper Farwalkers?”

Kite’s tail swished, “We’ve long since passed the point of no return so yes. I have to teach you lot to survive as both a unit and alone - if we cross the mountains with you still only knowing the basics, none of us will make it.”

“You aim to cross the White Peaks?” the merchant inquired, surprised. “You oughta stop in the White Market before you do so.”

“I plan so Imo,” Kite said with a light nod as the old molly straightened up. “Go on, pick a satchel - and see if you can find a starter stand. They’re not here frequently but sometimes you get lucky.”

“Okay!” said Shrewpaw as the bounded over to the satchel merchant.

The tom opened a single yellow eye for half a second and then closed it again, settling down as he picked his teeth with one of his claws.

“Take one for yourself - try not to take one where the straps are longer than your tail.”

Squirrelpaw sat on her hindpaws, holding one of the bags turning it over. They were all the same leather brown and most were styled as simply as Kite said. She hopes that once Kite teaches them proper adventuring, the Snow Market would have even better satchels - and maybe she could keep the one she already has and give it to Leafpaw? It would make attending to cats far away easier if healers weren’t limited by what they could carry in their mouths.

She finally picked out a simple leather satchel, sliding it over her head and letting it settle on her left flank. She wiggled a little, trying to adjust to the new sensation as she twisted to look at the small, tube shaped weight just at the top of her right flank that kept the pack balanced.

“The starter shop is two blankets down,” the yawned, pointing down. “You only get one freebie though so don’t ruin those bags - I’ll remember your faces.”

“Thank you,” said Feathertail, as she finished adjusting the bag on her own back.

Squrrrelpaw fell into step behind her friend, looking around curiously as some cats went through a similar series of events to Kite. Arguing and debating about the worth of their finds with stubborn merchants - some would concede and make the trade, others would respond as Kite did and seek another merchant. Sometimes it was the merchant who sent away the farwalkers, claiming their items fake.

“Think that’s it?” Shrewpaw asked, pointing his nose towards a blanket with two cats talking to each other. On the blanket was a series of bundles - seemingly miscellaneous objects until Squirrelpaw realized they were different types of items all separated from each other to allow individuals to observe them.

“Welcome new walkers - I’m Heavy Wind and this is my sister, Pollen Breeze,” the caliby molly greets warmly. “These are your starter bundles! Because your party is so big, I’m requesting that you each only take two packages each and that you try to disperse these among who is doing what role!”

“What are all of these?” Squirrelpaw asked curiously.

Pollen Breeze stepped forward and gestured to the items beneath a red blanket.

“These are all combat orientated,” Pollen Breeze explained. “Everything under the blue blanket are all healing related and everything else are general items that you should have.”

“...I want to heal,” Feathertail stated. “It doesn’t look pretty but I want to know as much about healing as I can.”

“I hope you find a good tutor,” Heavy Wind said. “This bundle is of basic herbs. Dock leaves, catchweed, chervil, daisy leaf and leather bandages.”

“Thank you,” said Feathertail. “Do I keep the wrapping-”

“You can keep the bay wrapping,” Heavy Wind reassured. “Use it as a vomit pad or just to hold the herbs if you wish.”

Feathertail slipped the herb bundle in her bag.

“I’m a fighter,” admitted Stormfur.

“So am I,” agreed Shrewpaw.

“Well these are combat wraps," Heavy Wind said, flicking her paws. "It keeps your bones aligned when you fight - helps prevent you from breaking your legs but also helps it heal straighter.”

“And these are throat guards,” Pollen Breeze explained, touching what seemed to be a thick leather clasp. “Can’t have your throat torn out if it’s protected. You can find wider ones that also cover your scruff.”

“Do you have anything for claws?” Stormfur asked.

“Not over here no,” said Pollen Breeze. “You’re better off looking at the White Market.”

“And I suppose you are simply an adventurer?” Heavy Wind said, looking to Squirrelpaw.

“Yeah,” she admitted sheepishly. “Fighting and healing is cool but I would rather just wander.”

“You’ll want some leg guards as well then,” said Heavy Wind. “But you will also want this set that has a wayfinder, a basic map and runed camp stakes.”

“What’s a waywinder?” Squirrelpaw asked as she accepted the parcel. “Is it like a map?”

“Kind of,” said Heavy Wind. “It’s more to help you orient yourself - especially if you’re somewhere without landmarks like the Flatlands.”

“Cool,” said Squirrelpaw. She already felt much more prepared for the journey and she sank her claws into the ground in anticipation. Kite had already begun teaching her how to be a proper fire charmer and if she worked hard enough, she’d start being able to read.

“Let’s get back to Kite,” said Feathertail.

Squirrelpaw nodded and for a brief moment, allowed her imagination to run wild with images of she and her friends mastering the outlands.

#the farlands snippets #ther farlands #projects by ankh #the farlands #the farlands au #magic #alternate universe magic #alternate universe #warriors #the warrior cats au #warrior cats #warrior cat ideas #warrior cat au #squirrelpaw #squirrelflight #feathertail #stormfur #shrewpaw #kite

[myths-of-fantasy]

Snippet 12 - Haebond

“Hold it!”

Squirrelpaw stopped as Kite’s tail quickly crossed her chest as a very stern looking tom with a pair of impressive golden braces around the base of his ankles. 

“We’re not Tainted,” Kite called up. “We’re just looking for rest.”

“Yeah I’m sure,” the tom called back. “But we have to check you all the same.”

Kite rolled her eyes but sat down, her right ear flicking in annoyance.

“Someone was promoted recently,” she grumbled, “The Mahir will receive word of this.”

“Isn’t checking a good thing?” Stormfur asked, settling beside her.

“Unless someone is visibly Tainted, you won’t know until you’ve long passed the point of checking,” said Kite. “Remember how Crowpaw became? The Hungering Ones are the only cat Taints I know of that still have enough mind to behave like cats,”

“You could be Callers,” the tom blustered.

“You’re settled aren’t you?” Kite snarked. “Never been beyond your borders. Callers don’t shape change beetle brain. They change their voices - and before you say it, Morphers can only change their forms but not their voices - and they certainly don't act like cats.”

The tom’s ears flattened and turned a bit red as another much smaller cat stepped forward. He was about Squirrelpaw’s size - maybe a bit bigger just because of his ears and near completely black. He had sharp and intelligent ice blue eyes and a single white front paw paired with a small white splash on his muzzle.

Like Kite, he bore a braided thread, but his was much more elaborate. It was a combination of red and orange, a bird skull hung down the front with a pair of talons on either side of if and despite his small size, Squirrelpaw became nervous.

“She’s right Snake,” said the smaller tom. “You’re making them wait for no reason.”

He flicked his tail for them to follow as Snake sputtered then turned his head looking humiliated.

“I told you that one day you’d encounter a cat who’d been in the Deeplands,” the small tom chided. “That one day, some cat would start calling you out but you rarely listen.”

The tom turned to Kite, “I’m sorry for him - he means well but he's prideful. My name is Tiny, I am the Mahir of the Haebond, may I know yours?”

Kite bowed her head, “I am Kite - I used to belong to the Searbond but I’ve been a Farwalker since they disbanded. These are my companions - from the Five Clans’ Sanctuary.”

“The Sanctuary?” Mahir Tiny echoed, shocked. “I thought that was an old queen’s tale.”

“So did I,” Kite snorted. “Imagine my surprise when my siblings and I stumbled upon it.”

Tiny shook his head, “Always more to uncover as the Mother dreams. How long did you plan to stay?”

“Only a few days Mahir,” said Kite respectfully. “We just need a bit of food, to restock on herbs and maybe spend a couple of nights here.”

Tiny walked forward and grasped the crystal dangling from her own braided chain. Kite’s own chain was braided a bit simpler and smaller, the colors being mainly red and gold with Taati’s charm directly in the center.

“This is a summoner’s chain,” Tiny observed. “If I remember correctly, the Searbond only give these to graduates.”

“Your memory is flawless.”

“You may stay,” said Tiny releasing the chain. “The Searbond have never been anything but honorable in our dealing and it’s a blow to every kinband that they’ve disbanded.”

“Hopefully they won’t stay disbanded forever,” said Kite. “The disbanding was due to a fall of wards - maybe once this journey is over and I’ve had time to rest I’ll find a better place and re-ignite our flame.”

Tiny stared at her and for a moment, Squirrelpaw thought he was going to criticize her but Tiny stepped back and did a more thorough once over of her form. Squirrelpaw saw Kite’s ears flatten a bit and her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“Sorry,” Tiny said slowly. “But may I inquire your sire?”

Understanding crossed Kite’s face and she nodded, “My sire was Tanager.”

“By the Mother,” Tiny whisper shouted. “Well I hope your refounding goes well then - and know that Haebond will stand for you when you show up and reband.”

Kite smiled and dipped her head, “The Searband thanks you.”

Tiny flicked his tail and a large black and white tom padded over, “This is Barely - he’ll show you to the visitor’s sector.”

“Thank you for your kindness,” said Kite and delved into the band.

---

Squirrelpaw was amazed - she was expecting something small. A simple rest spot based on how Kite had described her Searband camp. Kite has said that the Haebond was, “a bit bigger than us and it shows” but she hadn’t been expecting this! After Barley had shown them to their dens, Kite had allowed them to rest for a short moment before asking if they wanted to see something amazing. As Kite was usually a very strong advocater of staying put, Squirrelpaw had eagerly agreed to see the amazing thing.

And she was glad that she did.

To her left she saw a series of cats standing on large, decorative cloths with lines of smooth stones separating the passing cats from various objects and the cats behind them. Some cats approached with satchels like Kite’s, pulling out various special rocks and rare prey, pushing it forward in exchange for things on the clothes.

“It’s a trade center,” Kite explained. “All the cats with satchels are Farwalkers - we usually have some interesting things to trade with.”

“This is so cool,” Feathertail purred looking at an admittedly pretty pile of fabric. A pretty collection of blues and white in a pattern that reminded Squirrelpaw of twinkling stars in the night sky.

“You want it?” Kite inquired and Feathertail’s head snapped up. “I managed to find a couple of mangemouth fangs on our way here and that might be enough for this.”

“I can really have it?” Feathertail asked and her eyes were practically dancing with starlight.

Kite chuckled and approached the over of the pretty cloth. Sure enough she rifled through her satchel and came out with a massive pearly fang that made the trader’s eyes bulge. They seemed to talk for a bit with Kite’s paw remaining on the tooth for most of it. Eventually they smiled and Kite pushed the tooth forward, the tom collecting it and quickly depositing it into his pouch while Kite padded back over to them.

“You can all choose one,” she instructed. “Turns out he was looking for one of these to complete a big project so it’s worth a lot more than usual.”

Feathertail instantly grabbed the blue cloth that Kite helped wrap around her neck. And Stormfur grabbed a matching one with revered colors - a pale sky with dark blue stars scattered across the cloth. After a bit of comparing, Shrewpaw decided on a pale green one with dark stripes and Squirrelpaw decided to follow the trend, grabbed its opposite - dark green with pale stripes.

Kite gave the tom a nod that he turned and led them through the trade center.

Squirrelpaw could’ve jumped out of her pelt with excitement at all of the cool things they passed. When Kite stopped to trade the other tooth for more herbs, Squirrelpaw had to resist the urge to beg for the colorful ankles she saw on display at another blanket and nearly broke when a tabby molly attempted to coax her over with fish-scale charms.

When they finally left the trade area, Squirrelpaw was relieved to not be the only one disappointed.

“Are there more places like this?” Shrewpaw asked.

Kite chuckled, “Of course - this isn’t even the largest market.”

“It’s not?” Feathertail said, her whisker quivering with awe.

“Nope,” laughed Kite. “There’s an even bigger one at the bases of the White Peaks. The White Village is pretty famous among Farwalkers - we’ll be stopping there before we try to cross the mountains. The Snow Market is incredible - we’ll have to find ways to earn talon pieces though.”

“Talon pieces?” inquired Stormfur.

“Not everywhere is trade based - out here on the Stretch? Most things are trade based because materials are so important. But in the denser areas, they can’t rely on just trade,” said Kite.

She lifted her paw and pinched her toes until it seemed like she was holding a people, “Talon pieces are about this big and they’re specially made in the larger cities by trained crafters. Instead of trading items, you paw over a specific amount of talon pieces - although you can barter some down. A fresh talon is worth about 20 pieces.”

“Sound confusing,” Shrewpaw mumbled.

“It’s more confusing to explain than it is to do,” said Kite dismissively. “I’ll see about finding more crestbeak talons and I’ll give you a few.”

“Why are crestbeak talons used?” Stormfur asked.

“Cause they’re powerful magical conduits,” the molly explained. “They have to be since crestbeaks are part of a very small collection of Deepcreatures that can use magecrafts. When crushed up, you can made magical beads and stuff to power mage machines like the Sun Tellers.”

“If that’s true, then why use them to trade instead of using them all to create?”

“I don’t know,” said Kite. “I don’t know everything you lot. I’ve just travelled farther than most - maybe you can ask the piece trader when we meet them.”

“It feels like you know everything,” Featherttail said. “You have an answer for all of our questions.”

“Cause I had some of the same ones when I was a kit,” Kite said. “And when my family became Farwalkers, I sought out answers for them.”

“Some answers are better off unsought,” Squirrelpaw remarked bitterly. 

What’s she protecting us from?

Squirrellpaw was shaken from her sad thoughts by Kite shivering, “Yeah. I have a very small amount of knowledge about the Deeplands and I sincerely hope it stays that way.”

“That’s the second time someone’s mentioned the Deeplands,” Stormfur said slowly.

Kite’s paws ground to a halt and she turned to them, shocked.

“Have none of you heard of the Deeplands?”

“Dad’s mentioned them before,” Squirrelpaw admitted. “But only when he’s swearing. Sometimes he grumbles about ideas that, ‘came from the fucking Deeplands.’”

Kite shook her head, “It’s like a small slice of the Foglands on this plane - the deepcreatures are all about ten times the size of normal creatures and Deepwalkers have said that time seems to flow differently the farther in you get.”

“Have you been there?” Shrewpaw asked, ears pulling back.

“Yes but only in the shallows,” said Kite. “I’m sure if I’d gone any deeper, I would’ve been killed.”

“Will we ever have to go there?”

Kite turned to continue leading them back to the visitor’s dens, “I’d say no, but anything can happen. Let’s just hope the Mother has nothing but good dreams.”

#projects by ankh #the farlands #the farlands au #the farlands story chapter #the farlands worldbuilding #the farlands snippets #worldbuilding #warr #warriors #the warrior cats au #warrior cat ideas #warrior cat au #warrior cats

[myths-of-fantasy]

Addressing me always calling her, "Kite" in the earlier snippets instead of the name she earned in the academy.

#the farlands #the farlands au #projects by ankh #the farlands snippets #the farlands story chapter #screenshots #story screenshots #story snippet

[myths-of-fantasy]

Snippet 9 - The Final Exam Part 2

Rusty’s paws pounded across the floor as the Jarrtalon blundered after him, he ducked beneath the brush listening to it screech and he almost turned around and clawed at its beak for the pain it was causing his ears. He heard it cracking through the bushes and cursed Kite’s big mouth.

“Famous last words,” he grumbled, scaling what he decided was the most inconvenient boulder and springing from it.

The jarrtalon screeched at him and lunged, its beak clacking in empty air and this time Rusty did swipe at it. His claws did almost nothing, sliding right off of the creature’s maw and he sprinted off, panting as it roared. He wondered where to run next - Kite had told him to stall the beast while he and Myna prepped something but he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep up the pace.

He decided that he’d used up enough time and skidded, turning on heel and charging directly towards the jarrtalon. It must’ve thought that it was its lucky day, flaring its massive but short wings and screeching a triumphant call as Rusty went back the way they’d come. It lunged so he jumped to the side, rolling as springing to his paws as the jarr slammed its beak into the ground. He dove beneath it and sprinted back up the hill, weaving in and out of the trees while the jarrtalon caused enough forest damage that he wondered if they would have to plant new trees. 

As he re-entered the clearing, he was relieved to see a glowing rune space and ran for it. Kite and Myna were nowhere to be seen so he caught on very quickly that this was an ambush. Rusty pressed harder running directly to the edge of the rune and waited, jarrtalons were far from intelligent so it thought nothing of its quarry pausing before a small light show.

Rusty waited for to be almost on top of hm before he sprinted off to the side bushes. The jarrs claws skittered on the ground as it tried to perform a sudden and tight turn, it slid too far and tumbled into the rune circle. Rusty was pleased when brilliant blue ropes appeared and held it down. The jarr screeched in rage and fury, flailing its wings and clawing the ground to no avail.

While Rusty caught his breath, Kite and Myna each leaped from a tree, their paws alight with fire. He winced when the jarrcreature wailed at the contact, its enraged squirming being tinged with pained desperation. Myna went for its throat, sinking her teeth in and pulled as Kite used her burning paws to scorch the creature’s beak. Kite jumped off when the creature gave a particularly hard thrash, stumbling as it tried to fling her off.

The same moment its massive orange eye locked on him, Myna was able to crush its windpipe and Rusty watched the beasts’ light fade from its eyes. It dropped its head without even a wheeze. The rune circle vanished leaving onto Rusty, his sister and the jarrcreature.

“...if we did all this, just to get our asses kicked by the other teams I’m killing both of you,” Myna rumbled.

“Fair enough,” said Kite.

---

There were only two teams left. 

When the sun had finally set on the seventh day, he’d discovered that the jarrcreature had gotten to one team before the reinforcements could arrive. His heart clenched with sympathy for the two families who wailed in despair upon finding that their kits had been eaten alive. Junco’s team had sent of a flair when it became clear that Carter’s wounds were getting infected and the three of them had bowed out, vowing to try again with the next batch of applicants.

Rusty was glad to hear it - Carter, Junco and Magnolia would probably crush the competition of the next exam. They were smart and powerful, it was just bad luck that they’d faced off against Rusty, Myna and Kite who could match them blow for blow.

The last team they hadn’t even encountered - from their subdued reactions to passing, Rusty figured they’d faced off against the team who’d been killed. It must’ve been a serious damper for them to realize that their unchallenged victory had come at the cost of the youngest team going out.

Rusty shook his head - only five moons old that team. He wishes his father had been allowed to tell them no.

Tanager flicked his tail, motioning for everyone to give him their attention as he stopped in front of the massive rune circle. His proximity to the device made the small orange crystal around his neck start pulsing a living light.

“Cats of the Searbond, the first half of the exam is over,” announced Tanager. “But now our potential charmers must face the hardest section - getting a summon.”

Tanager was drowned out by the excited calls of the crowd, waiting eagerly to see who would become a recognized fire charmer. Rusty sank his paws in the dirt as the crowd quieted down and Tanager motioned for the first tom to step forward.

Now that he could see him clearly, he recognized the tom as Ray. The golden tabby bowed his head as Tanager licked the space between his ears and then gestured for him to step into the rune space. Ray obeyed, walking with confidence into the center and shivered. Rusty watched one of their full charmers - Turmeric - step forward and walk to the young tom. Ray raised his head, unfaltering and tried to suppress his shriek of pain when Turmeric raked his claws across his chest.

The charmer sprinted from the space as Ray’s blood pooled on the rune and it started glowing. Rusty watched intently, hardly acknowledging Kite and Myna pressing against them with their own nerves as the runes became red instead of blue.

Ray lifted his head, his claws sinking in the earth and his eyes turning fully gold as he stared off at something they couldn’t see. His pelt began to heat up, smoke coming from beneath his thick fur as he trembled and shuddered. 

Horror sent his stomach straight to his paws and he dropped his head when Ray began to cough as his shaking grew worse. Rusty didn’t want to look up and see the tom failing whatever test the summons had designed for him - didn’t want to see Ray’s mouth filling with blood that spurted from his mouth every time he coughed. Rusty didn’t want to see the tom’s fur steadily charring as he wavered on his paws and the resulting scream of grief from his father somewhere behind him. He watched it anyway though because Ray deserved that respect at least.

Rusty watched the golden furred tom collapse, falling on his side dead as blood pooled by his mouth and his sunny fur now charred and baked to his skin.

The final exam was always the hardest.

---

Rusty had watched with bated breath, pressed against Myna who trembled with the same fear as Kite walked into the circle. Only one cat from the last team - Harbinger - had survived the summoning and a terrible anxiety clawed at the lining of his stomach for his baby sister with her determined sharp eyes, and stubborn grin.

Please by the Mother if one of us must fall, let us be me and not her, Rusty pleaded.

She released a muted grunt, half hiss when her chest was clawed open and she sank her claws into the now blood soaked earth as her eyes alit golden. Rusty watched with bated breath as Kite’s pelt began to sizzle like all the cats who gotten to this stage. Instead of coughing, she snarled with either rage or determination - baring her teeth at an unseen enemy. The blood spilling from her chest began to condense and Rusty’s nerves morphed into pure joy as the blood jumped and crawled forward. 

It shaped itself, the top of the sentient pile forming into a visible head and large, bright eyes. It’s body streamlined and as it reached forward, the globby stumps became arms and tiny fingers. It fell forward and crawled towards Kite, the globs behind it becoming legs and the smeared trail it left became a bushy tail.

Kite looked down with brilliant, illuminating eyes and extended her paw to the blood creature allowing it to place its paws on her. A flash of light went off and the rune ring became a barrier of fire between Rusty as his sister as the flame washed down her back.

When it cleared, the bloody creature was clearly a squirrel in some form and Kite had the symbol of the summon glowing on the back of her paw. The symbol dimmed, the squirrel glowed and shrank into a small orange crystal with a hole at the top for it to be strong upon a braided cord.

Rusty was the first to cheer as Kite bent and picked up her summon and the crowd lost their minds. She stepped shakily out of the circle as Ivory and Chestnut ran to her bloodied side, walking her to the healer’s den so that she could recover.

As Myna started forward herself, Rusty basked in the pride for his sister and listened to his father announce her success.

“All respect for newest Sear Charmer Kite!”

#projects by ankh #the farlands snippets #the farlands au #the farlands #blood #death #warriors #the warrior cats au #warrior cat ideas #warr #warrior cat au #warrior cats #alternate universe magic #magic #firestar #princess #kite #myna #rusty

[myths-of-fantasy]

Snippet 8 - The Final Test Pt 1

“Today is the day you’ve all been waiting for!”

Rusty shook his head, taking a deep breath as he bounced in place. A mixture of excitement and anxiety ate away at him as his dad went through the usual speech. His father was standing on the highest ledge above their family's den as was proper for Mahirs for the Final Exam. 

He shook out his paws and took another deep breath and tried to will his paws to move and join the other applicants out in the clearing instead of cowering like a kit who’d seen a thorn-beast for the first time.  He grunted when he was nudged and looked up at the cream point molly sending him an amused look.

“Calm down little brother,” she chuckled. “You’ll do just fine.”

“Easy for you to say,” Rusty groused. “You’re easily the most prodigal healer we’ve ever had - what if I fuck it up and embarrass our whole line?”

“Then you’re the first cat to embarrass an entire line of cats,” his sister deadpanned and he groaned.

“Ivory!”

“I’m just saying,” Ivory remarked, drawing her tongue over the bridge of his nose making his screw up his face. “No one cat has ever embarrassed a whole line of cats. Every cat messes up sometimes - you just gotta keep your head up.”

Rusty took a shaky breath and nodded, “Okay.”

“Now, here are this season’s applicants!”

“Good luck,” Ivory purred, nudging him gently then padding off allowing Rusty to take a breath and pad out of their den.

He wove through the excited and cheering crowd, creeping around the back where the other applicants were waiting, shifting in place with either excitement or worry. He spotted his two sisters who were taking the final exam with him and quickly bounded over to Kite and Myna. He settled between them feeling himself relax minutely as they shot him nervous looks themselves. Being the Mahir’s kits gave them no perks or advantages to this - if anything, it gave them penalties as in the past, Mahir kits had been robbed only minutes into the exam.

Rusty looked up as Tanager flicked his tail and all the applicants rose to their paws, following him as he jumped from the ledge and led them to the barrier. They all lined up near the edges as Tanager walked in front of them with Swallowtail carrying a basket of dyed rope collars. Tanager handed three cats the same color as he walked down the line. Rusty chuckled when he felt Myna and Kite leave his side, deliberately positioning themselves to be selected as a team.

Tanager dropped a pale green rope in front of him and sent him a warm smile.

“Good luck son,” he said quietly and continued down the line.

There were fewer applicants than usual - probably because everyone knew how rough the exam was now, and most cats refuse to let their kits take it for fear of losing them. Rusty had counted 12 applicants total when Tanager got to the end of the line.

“Alright applicants,” called Tanager. “Find your team and get ready. This is your last chance to back down - if you’re not certain you’re willing to risk your life, to potentially die if the charmers can’t respond to your distress signal in time, this is your chance to back out.”

Rusty settled beside his sisters who’d managed to get their green woven collars and looked around. He was impressed - not a single cat budged.

“In that case, may the Mother’s wings shield you,” said Tanager dipping his head.

The charmers dropped the barrier and they all raced forward to the cheers of the kinband and vanished brush.

---

“Done,” Myna said around the vine in her mouth. She gave it one last yank, tightening the weave work she’d done to seal the gaps of their temporary den and released it. She used her paws to tuck the extra length into the folds. “Where’s Kite?”

“Hunting,” said Rusty. “Said that almost everyone will be trying to hunt tonight so she’ll be trying to see if she can steal their collars early.”

“Hmph,” grunted Myna. “Help me start on the fire then - your memory is better.”

“You’re doing the full symbol?” Rusty asked.

“I feel like we should use the stronger ones yes,” said Myna. “That’s why I asked.”

“Ah,” said Rusty and scrunched his nose. “Kite is better than me with full symbols - I think fire is snake, rune and two smokes.”

Myna nodded and started scratching out the main circle then proceed to add the long symbol for fire within it’s center. Rusty hissed lightly when she moved her paw above it.

“Anchors come from below,” he reminded her. “Do it from the top and you’ll start a forest fire.”

Myna nodded and instead added the spokes to the bottom half of the sigil, careful to keep each side symmetrical and at least roughly hit the proper five points. She nipped her paw, drawing blood and quickly shook it onto the rune. It lit up and cast their little makeshift camp in a bright green light.

“You have the wood for this?” asked Myna and Rusty pointed his nose to a pile of large sticks, leaves and dead vines he’d collected while Myna had worked on the den.

He padded forward and pushed one of the heavier logs from the pile and glanced up, “Since this is going to be a long term camp we can make a star fire tonight then collect wood for a proper den fire tomorrow.”

“Seems good to me,” said Myna.

Star fires didn’t take too long and Rusty was thankful. He’d hardly gotten any sleep the night before and spent all of his day on edge and anxious for the exam. They arranged the wood in the proper shape and then pushed the few stones the stone they collected into place. Sure the runes themselves were meant to stop the fire if it started spreading out of the circle but you could never be sure - Rusty didn’t want to go down in history as the only applicant who’d burnt down the exam forest because he didn’t make a fire containment rune correctly. 

When Kite trotted into the clearing, Myna had just flicked her paw and finished lighting the fire.

“Oh good you’re back,” said Rusty, flicking his tail. “Find anything?”

Kite dropped a trio of rats beside the fire.

“No one was dumb enough to leave their collars,” she asserted. “So I got us some food instead. You guys got the fire so I assume I’m creating the wards tomorrow?”

“Yup,” said Myna. “And you’re taking first watch.”

Kite hummed, not the slightest bit upset by this and settled beside Rusty and started in on her rat, “Just think guys - in seven days, we’ll be real fire charmers.”

“I can’t wait,” Rusty purred as Myna settled on his other side.

---

Kite leapt backwards with a hiss as the gray tom charged her, swiping furiously at her face. She dropped when he leapt at her, rolling out of the way. The tom slammed into the ground with a grunt them scrambled to his paws instead to spring on her but she lashed out and kicked him directly in the nose making him squeal.

Rusty watched from the bushes with serious eyes, scanning the perimeter in case this was some form of trap. He’d sent Myna to the other side that way they’d be prepared for the tom calling in back up. Rusty recognized the attacker as Junco and in the past four days, his team had never left him alone. He twitched his ears and Myna nodded lightly conveying that she saw him. Rusty made a cautious clawing motion in the air and Myna’s eyes narrowed seriously.

Rusty tensed and waited. 

Kite finally got the upper paw and dodged around Junco one last time and pounced on him. She gripped his collar with her teeth and tugged it from around his neck, nimbly leaping back when he tried to surge up and capture her. Junco whirled and tried to sink his teeth into her own collar but she stepped back making him overextend, he stumbled forward landing on his face and leapt on him again and raked his back with her claws sheathed.

Junco shook and bucked but couldn’t dislodge her and finally released a yowl of surrender.

Kite instantly jumped off and let him charge away into the brush. Kite panted, licking her paw and drawing it over the slight clip on her muzzle from where she’d been unable to complete dodge Junco’s claws. Just as she plopped down, recovering her breath, Junco’s partners - Magnolia and Carter - came pounding down the path, ready to easily overpower Kite in her exhaustion and take her collar and reclaim Junco’s.

Rusty and Myna leapt out of the bushes at the same time, slamming into the aggressive cats and started shredding them. Rusty had caught Carter, a smaller but still quite ferocious fighter. As he dodged flailing claws and hissed through vicious bites, Rusty felt his respect for Carter growing - he was a lot like Kite in a way.

But Kite is way faster, Rusty adds to himself and lunged for Carter’s hind leg to return the favor of the painful bite on his tail. He sank his teeth into his short fur and tasted blood exploding onto his tongue. Carter screamed in pain and Rusty instantly released him. The tom reflexively tried to put his leg down to run but it buckled beneath him and Rusty darted forward tugged on his collar. Carter fell still and allowed him to take the collar without a fight. As soon as it was off, Carter limped rapidly towards the bushes with Magnolia scrambling after him, her fur in tatters. She allowed Carter to lean on her as they padded from sight.

Rusty turned panting to Myna who was putting on Magnola’s pale blue collar and Kite who was already wearing Junco’s.

Rusty grinned, “Now we just have to survive the last three days.”

#projects by ankh #the farlands #the farlands worldbuilding #the farlands au #the farlands snippets #the searbond kinband #warriors #warr #warrior cats #the warrior cats au #warrior cat ideas #warrior cat au #magic #fighting

[myths-of-fantasy]

So anyway, here's the symbol for 'fire' used in The Farlands for rune-work and magic

The word for "snake" is "baga" and so represents the /b/.

The word for "rune" is "rama" and so represents /r/.

The letter "a" is displayed with the symbol for "smoke (afaa)."

And so Braa (fire). But since fire is also very common within the Searbond Kinband, it can also be represented with just the two a's.

#projects by ankh #the farlands worldbuilding #the farlands #the farlands snippets #neopgraphy #worldbuilding #conlang #warriors au #warriors #the warrior cats au #warrior cats #warrior cat ideas #warrior cat au