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Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Reader mode
[X] Use this for what it is a greeting and a token of friendship. Talk to Jaromila about her journey and troubles and share some of your own. Some information will pass between you, but you won't fish. (Bolster personal relationship more, for reduced information.)
 
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Thief of Names
  • Media
    • yrsillar said:
    Before the Nightmare of the Emerald Seas, a long glittering mantle of green and black blew in a phantom wind, borne by a tall, tall shadow. A crescent smile, white teeth in the dark, and a half mask of liquid moonlight in the stylized shape of a hart. Twelve pointed antlers of shadow and mist emerged from a swirling halo of starlit hair. In one hand the shadow cradled a book of crumbling black leather, its pages split by a trailing crimson marker, and in the other, a jauntily held spear, its gleaming head leaned up upon a shoulder.
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    Did a doodle of this
     
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  • Media
    • [X] Be a bit more direct, ask after the situation of the central White Sky, and the prevailing opinions there. Be willing to share obliquely some of your own internal situation to get it. (Focus on the professional (Gain more information, bolster personal relationship less.)

    @yrsillar Cede did a thing^
     
    [X] Use this for what it is a greeting and a token of friendship. Talk to Jaromila about her journey and troubles and share some of your own. Some information will pass between you, but you won't fish. (Bolster personal relationship more, for reduced information.)
     
    [X] Use this for what it is a greeting and a token of friendship. Talk to Jaromila about her journey and troubles and share some of your own. Some information will pass between you, but you won't fish. (Bolster personal relationship more, for reduced information.)
     
    [X] Use this for what it is a greeting and a token of friendship. Talk to Jaromila about her journey and troubles and share some of your own. Some information will pass between you, but you won't fish. (Bolster personal relationship more, for reduced information.)

    Can't have friendship lasers without friendship.
     
    [X] Use this for what it is a greeting and a token of friendship. Talk to Jaromila about her journey and troubles and share some of your own. Some information will pass between you, but you won't fish. (Bolster personal relationship more, for reduced information.)
     
    [X] Use this for what it is a greeting and a token of friendship. Talk to Jaromila about her journey and troubles and share some of your own. Some information will pass between you, but you won't fish. (Bolster personal relationship more, for reduced information.)
     
    [X] Use this for what it is a greeting and a token of friendship. Talk to Jaromila about her journey and troubles and share some of your own. Some information will pass between you, but you won't fish. (Bolster personal relationship more, for reduced information.)
     
    [x] Use this for what it is a greeting and a token of friendship. Talk to Jaromila about her journey and troubles and share some of your own. Some information will pass between you, but you won't fish. (Bolster personal relationship more, for reduced information.)
    Don't think there's a rush for more information, more interested in the character and think strong relationships between emissaries will be useful.
     
    [X] Use this for what it is a greeting and a token of friendship. Talk to Jaromila about her journey and troubles and share some of your own. Some information will pass between you, but you won't fish. (Bolster personal relationship more, for reduced information.)

    Also, amazing art Cede
     
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    Stars Painted on Canvas
  • Apocrypha
    • Stars Painted on Canvas

    Stars, raging with hate
    Painted with a simple stroke
    Trapped on black canvas    ​

    Each gasp to breathe in the cold, thin air felt like she was breathing daggers. Despite this, Ren An pumped her legs to go even faster. Snow-covered boulders and small rises rose to slow her down, but with a strength she was not yet familiar with, she bounded over them, climbing even further up the mountain. Moonlight from the full moon provided enough light for her not to stumble while scaling the slope, but she knew it would also allow her pursuers to track her. Distance, she needed more distance. With a leap, Ren An grabbed a taller ledge and pulled herself over it, only to find a small plateau covered in white snow. Looking back and down, she could see the black dots of rapidly approaching sect mates. Taking another painful breath, Ren An turned towards the other end of the plateau and began her run again.

    Something stopped her, in the middle of the plateau, a stillness in the air that seemed almost oppressive. Slowly, like a man stretching in the morning, an open-air gazebo appeared. White, just like the snow it sat on, and with clear crystals dangling from the brim of its roof, the pavilion looked like something from the fantastical stories her Ma told. Stories of fairies, spirits, and myths. Sitting at the edge of the structure was a girl who couldn't have been older than sixteen dressed in a fur-collared black robe with a white wide-brimmed and pointed hat sitting on her head. Long black hair spilled out from underneath the hat, and the hair seemed sprinkled with motes of light. In front of the girl was a pitch-black canvas painted with pricks of white paint which almost seem to shift and twist upon themselves.

    "It's been a while since someone has visited me while I worked," the girl began, turning around to face Ren An. "Not even my dear sister will visit me until I'm done. But, where are my manners? I am Sister Ling Xing, what is your name?"

    Each moment she spent talking with this strange girl was another moment those bastards got closer. "My name is Ren An," she began, "and I'm sorry to disturb you while you work. I'll leave you to it and be going now."

    "Nonsense!" The Ling Xing said airly, taking a brush and twirling it in their hand. "Come, sit with me. The night is long and climbing any higher would be dangerous for a cultivator in the Red and Gold realm. Even now you are pushing your limits."

    "I…I can't," Ren An said, taking a nervous step back. "There are people coming after me. I have to get away."

    Ling Xing clicked her tongue, frustration souring their face. "Or," they began, "you can sit in my gazebo and enjoy guest rights. No harm will come to you while you rest here, this I promise."
    Ren An could hear them now, the brutes chasing her cursing at every boulder they jumped over. "Fine," Ren An agreed, walking towards the gazebo nervously, "but I'll never forgive you if this is a trap."

    "Dear," Ling Xing said with a grin, "I trap much more important things than you this night. But, if it eases your mind, I would not care for your forgiveness regardless."

    Stopping in her tracks, Ren An took a deep, painful breath. "No, no it wouldn't ease my mind."

    "It is the truth. It is also true that you will be safe with me. Lying serves little purpose this night."

    Ren An stepped into the gazebo. Immediately, a warmth she hadn't realized had been missing began seeping into her. Breathing didn't hurt anymore and she could feel tense muscles begin to relax. Sitting down on one of the benches facing the direction where her pursuers were coming from, she waited. It wasn't a long wait. Three boys scrabbled up the lip of the cliff, with their faces red and panting. It seemed the thin air wasn't kind to them either. Within a moment of standing atop the plateau, the leader of the group, a tall bulky boy by the name of Zhan Lim, spotted her and his lips curled into a vicious smirk.

    "Tired of running, have you bitch," Zhan Lim asked as he stalked towards the gazebo. "Now hand it over before this gets uglier."

    Before she could say a word, Ling Xing interrupted. "She will not, and I would ask that you curtail your vulgarity when in the presence of ladies."

    Zhan Lim turned his gaze to Ling Xing, smirk turning into a frown. "And who the fuck are you," he asked.

    "Have manners fled the students of the Argent Sect? You have infringed upon me and my work and yet make demands? Introduce yourselves and I may reciprocate. Otherwise, leave."

    "It's just another bitch, boss," said one of Zhen Lim's goons, "Let's rough them…"

    Before he could finish, Ling Xing raised her brush to the sky and slashed it down. Qi swelled in the sky before lancing down in a bolt of hungry darkness. The attack pierced straight through the unfortunate goon's hand, leaving a perfectly circular hole. Screaming, the man fell to his knees and clutched his hand to his chest, trying to prevent blood from seeping out.

    "I do not countenance disparaging remarks of my character," Ling Xing said calmly, her words piercing through the man's screams, "nor do I spare the foolish their due. Leave."

    Backing up, Zhan Lim snarled, "We'll be back. My father's a viscount, and once he hears about this, you'll wish you'd never been born."

    Sighing, Ling Xing raised her brush again, but the boys were already darting down the cliff and out of sight, dragging the injured man with them. Shaking her head, she turned back to her painting and quiet returned to the mountaintop. It was nice, Ren An thought, to just sit in silence, without worries about being chased, or ambushed. So she sat there, quietly, waiting for the sun to rise. Zhan Lim and his crew would be a worry for tomorrow. Slowly, she drifted off to the sounds of Ling Xing softly painting. Until a gentle shake woke her up. The sun was peaking up over the horizon, and beautiful colors seeped through the sky.

    "I must be off, now," Ling Xing said, once Ren An was awake. "Be careful descending down the mountain, those ruffians from last night may still linger at its base."

    "Of course, and thank you Ling Xing for letting me stay here."

    "It was no trouble. I was able to trap sufficient starlight for my purposes this night regardless of your company."

    "Is that what you were trapping? Why?"

    "Why? So that I can lay claim to slaying a nightmare."

    A spirit of sloth
    Gifted pure starlight at night
    Slain with black canvas    ​


    A/N: @yrsillar Another omake for the omake throne! I hope people enjoyed the read as much as I enjoyed writing it.
     
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  • Apocrypha
    • Thor's Twin said:
    "It's been a while since someone has visited me while I worked," the girl began, turning around to face Ren An. "Not even my dear sister will visit me until I'm done. But, where are my manners? I am Sister Ling Xing, what is your name?"

    Each moment she spent talking with this strange girl was another moment those bastards got closer. "My name is Ren An," she began, "and I'm sorry to disturb you while you work. I'll leave you to it and be going now."

    "Nonsense!" The Ling Xing said airly, taking a brush and twirling it in their hand. "Come, sit with me. The night is long and climbing any higher would be dangerous for a cultivator in the Red and Gold realm. Even now you are pushing your limits."

    "I…I can't," Ren An said, taking a nervous step back. "There are people coming after me. I have to get away."

    Ling Xian clicked her tongue, frustration souring their face. "Or," they began, "you can sit in my gazebo and enjoy guest rights. No harm will come to you while you rest here, this I promise."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    The first two times her name is listed it's Ling Xing, but it's Ling Xian every time thereafter.
     
    [X] Use this for what it is a greeting and a token of friendship. Talk to Jaromila about her journey and troubles and share some of your own. Some information will pass between you, but you won't fish. (Bolster personal relationship more, for reduced information.)
     
    [X] Use this for what it is a greeting and a token of friendship. Talk to Jaromila about her journey and troubles and share some of your own. Some information will pass between you, but you won't fish. (Bolster personal relationship more, for reduced information.)
     
    [X] Use this for what it is a greeting and a token of friendship. Talk to Jaromila about her journey and troubles and share some of your own. Some information will pass between you, but you won't fish. (Bolster personal relationship more, for reduced information.)
     
    [X] Use this for what it is a greeting and a token of friendship. Talk to Jaromila about her journey and troubles and share some of your own. Some information will pass between you, but you won't fish. (Bolster personal relationship more, for reduced information.)
     
    [X] Use this for what it is a greeting and a token of friendship. Talk to Jaromila about her journey and troubles and share some of your own. Some information will pass between you, but you won't fish. (Bolster personal relationship more, for reduced information.)
     
    [ X] Use this for what it is a greeting and a token of friendship. Talk to Jaromila about her journey and troubles and share some of your own. Some information will pass between you, but you won't fish. (Bolster personal relationship more, for reduced information.)
     
    [X] Be a bit more direct, ask after the situation of the central White Sky, and the prevailing opinions there. Be willing to share obliquely some of your own internal situation to get it. (Focus on the professional (Gain more information, bolster personal relationship less.)

    I think the shared insight into what we're dealing with could be really useful for Jaromila. This is probably our best opportunity to be able to explain some of the things we're dealing with (like the ministry of integrity and the incoming Sun Liling).
     
    [ X] Use this for what it is a greeting and a token of friendship. Talk to Jaromila about her journey and troubles and share some of your own. Some information will pass between you, but you won't fish. (Bolster personal relationship more, for reduced information.)
     
    [X] Be a bit more direct, ask after the situation of the central White SKy, and the prevailing opinions there. Be willing to share obliquely some of your own internal situation to get it. (Focus on the professional (Gain more information, bolster personal relationship less.)
     
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