Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
- Thread starter yrsillar
- Start date
- Original Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
[X] Let him play his game, make up for lost time and try to forge a few more lines of personal acquaintance among his group.
Inserted tally
Oh man, that was really neck and neck for a while there.
Having an initial gathering be just Xiulan, Meizhen, and Suyin is definitely too small. There'd be no special point. They're already well acclimated to each other, if not truly acquainted (Li Suyin why you so smoll?)
Need to invite further flung members of our social group as a baseline. For instance, Xuan Shi and Shen Hu. They can bond over their shared interest in naps.
Need to invite further flung members of our social group as a baseline. For instance, Xuan Shi and Shen Hu. They can bond over their shared interest in naps.
A Harsh Lesson
- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
A Harsh Lesson
As the laughter finally faded Tan Guo greedily breathed the damp air of the well. She didn't quite know what had happened but she was a good girl who took her mother's instructions seriously.
"Stay quiet and still."
Those were mothers instructions so even when the screaming got louder and louder Tan Guo stayed quiet and still. She didn't know what had happened but she knew a hero would fix everything. They always did in the stories. The well water was quite cold though. Tan Guo hoped the hero would hurry.
Tan Guo rested her head back against the damp well wall. Her arms shook from the cold and from the wasted effort of trying to climb out of the well. She had not even gotten three bricks up from her small perch before falling back into the water. She really hoped the hero would hurry. She was getting scared she would never get out of this well. For now Tan Guo simply resolved to wait for her mother or anyone else to remember her and get her out. The well water was quite cold though. She hoped they would hurry.
Eventually Tan Guo saw a face peer into the well. She almost waved at it but remembered her mother's instruction. It didn't seem to matter that much though as a rope was tossed down the well and a man began to climb down. He had a very pretty red cloak clasp. She told him that as he effortless began climbing back up the rope. He didn't even smile at her though. Tan Guo thought that was quite strange. Everyone else smiled at her when she said something was pretty.
It was just a few seconds outside of the well before Tan Guo wanted to go back to the cold and dark water. Anywhere was better than the sight before her. Tan Guo's heart felt like it would burst as she looked at the broken homes, the broken earth, and the broken bodies all around her. She felt her stomach and throat begin to ache like they had last winter when she couldn't eat anything. This wasn't how the story was supposed to go! Where was the hero?!
Tan Guo sat beside an old man as they looked at the red stained earth and the ash blackened walls of her village. The man had tried to ask some questions but Tan Guo couldn't think. Her head was filled with buzzing, like the buzzing of the flies she could see everywhere. For now the two of them sat in silence. Well as silent as it could be with the sound of orders being shouted, the sound of bodies hitting muddy earth and the buzzing of flies.
A new sound caused Tan Guo to slowly turn her head towards the endless marshes. A wagon carrying a woman covered in clear chains rolled towards the village. More wagons followed each filled with chained men and women. What really caught Tan Guo's eyes though was the carriage leading the procession. It was the most elegant and beautiful thing that Tan Guo had ever seen. She listlessly watched as the beautiful carriage rolled elegantly pass freshly dug holes and the cooling ashes of her home. Tan Guo watched it roll pass her while her vision began to swim. As the carriage rolled past the village she finally felt tears on her cheeks. She knew now that no hero was coming to wake her from this nightmare.
A.N
A short omake @yrsillar
Though Cai and Ling dealt with the bandit attack they didn't really fix anything for any survivors. I hope people enjoy this omake and I hope to keep practicing my writing. Any critiques are welcome as they help me become a better writer!
As the laughter finally faded Tan Guo greedily breathed the damp air of the well. She didn't quite know what had happened but she was a good girl who took her mother's instructions seriously.
"Stay quiet and still."
Those were mothers instructions so even when the screaming got louder and louder Tan Guo stayed quiet and still. She didn't know what had happened but she knew a hero would fix everything. They always did in the stories. The well water was quite cold though. Tan Guo hoped the hero would hurry.
Tan Guo rested her head back against the damp well wall. Her arms shook from the cold and from the wasted effort of trying to climb out of the well. She had not even gotten three bricks up from her small perch before falling back into the water. She really hoped the hero would hurry. She was getting scared she would never get out of this well. For now Tan Guo simply resolved to wait for her mother or anyone else to remember her and get her out. The well water was quite cold though. She hoped they would hurry.
Eventually Tan Guo saw a face peer into the well. She almost waved at it but remembered her mother's instruction. It didn't seem to matter that much though as a rope was tossed down the well and a man began to climb down. He had a very pretty red cloak clasp. She told him that as he effortless began climbing back up the rope. He didn't even smile at her though. Tan Guo thought that was quite strange. Everyone else smiled at her when she said something was pretty.
It was just a few seconds outside of the well before Tan Guo wanted to go back to the cold and dark water. Anywhere was better than the sight before her. Tan Guo's heart felt like it would burst as she looked at the broken homes, the broken earth, and the broken bodies all around her. She felt her stomach and throat begin to ache like they had last winter when she couldn't eat anything. This wasn't how the story was supposed to go! Where was the hero?!
Tan Guo sat beside an old man as they looked at the red stained earth and the ash blackened walls of her village. The man had tried to ask some questions but Tan Guo couldn't think. Her head was filled with buzzing, like the buzzing of the flies she could see everywhere. For now the two of them sat in silence. Well as silent as it could be with the sound of orders being shouted, the sound of bodies hitting muddy earth and the buzzing of flies.
A new sound caused Tan Guo to slowly turn her head towards the endless marshes. A wagon carrying a woman covered in clear chains rolled towards the village. More wagons followed each filled with chained men and women. What really caught Tan Guo's eyes though was the carriage leading the procession. It was the most elegant and beautiful thing that Tan Guo had ever seen. She listlessly watched as the beautiful carriage rolled elegantly pass freshly dug holes and the cooling ashes of her home. Tan Guo watched it roll pass her while her vision began to swim. As the carriage rolled past the village she finally felt tears on her cheeks. She knew now that no hero was coming to wake her from this nightmare.
A.N
A short omake @yrsillar
Though Cai and Ling dealt with the bandit attack they didn't really fix anything for any survivors. I hope people enjoy this omake and I hope to keep practicing my writing. Any critiques are welcome as they help me become a better writer!
Seeing these both in the same chapter, we better get a choice in the future to choose what kind of persona that Ling Qi wears at social gatherings, and one of those choices better be the "Overprotective big sis" archetype.
Man, from what I know of Chinese people, ain't rare.
- Location
- Staring into the void
I recall there being an idiom where it's 4 or 5 of the most common Chinese names, and the closest idiom in English is: "Every man & his dog". But I can't find it with google.
Do recall that sending aid to the village would be the responsibility of their feudal lord. So Baron-not-here-at-the-moment, or the Viscount above them primarily, though Renxiang could order aid delivered it'd be an overstep unless paid out of her personal accounts.
And those are apparently running red hot feeding hungry turtles and stuff.
- Location
- United States of America
Although, given what I've seen of the Meng and their barons, I'm not entirely convinced that any support will be given and the town will just be abandoned. I mean, I like Shen Hu, but if he is an example of a typical low ranking noble of that area then I see the chances of saving the village to be low. After he got betrayed, he isolated himself for over 1/2 a year just sleeping and cultivating.
But maybe I'm just being too pessimistic about how the traditionalist Meng run things in their neck of the woods.
- Location
- The United States
- Pronouns
- He/They
I don't know how much of how nobles act you can draw from Shen Hu.
He had no reason to think he would have any trouble in the tournament when he made his sequester decision, in a normal year he would have been favored to win.
Sending aid to their vassal towns is simple self interest: ruined villages pay no taxes, and will bleed money to protect from wild spirits without productivity. Its more cost effective to pay for wall repairs and import people and tools to fulfill disrupted trades.
- Location
- United States of America
Which was why I said abandoned. The villagers would just move to other villages and try to start life anew, the wards won't be maintained and will fall, and the village would be reclaimed by wilderness and spirits, just like the abandoned village that Su Ling and Ling Qi found at the foot of the Sect. No additional money spent on a village and taxable skills are just shuffled around.
However, looking back at the update, it specifies that the place was a town, not a village. With a wall, a barracks, and presumably other pieces of infrastructure. In that case, it would be bizarre for all that work to simply be left to rot given a bandit attack. The cost to repair the town and restaff the guard would be much less than the total loss of income from having the town there.
Seriously though, did Shen Hu face punch his traitorous friend yet?
- Location
- The United States
- Pronouns
- He/They
Judging by where Han Jian and Gan Guangli are in relations to ourselves right now, I'd say we're the better part of a year until he can catch up enough to realistically challenge.
Depends on if his friend got lazy after getting in.
- Location
- United States of America
So, a fun bonus has just dropped on Royal Road dealing with the Twilight King and how much of a danger he was to the Empire as a whole. It appears that he managed a means to parasite parts of his soul off of other souls to create Not!vampires. Basically, a vampire plague that was only stopped by the Purifying Sun detonating and destroying huge swathes of Golden Fields and starting fires all the way in the Emerald Seas.
- Location
- Canada
Bonus 11: The Twilight King - Forge of Destiny
It is impossible to speak of the Cataclysm without delving into the matters of the Second Dynasty. It is agreed among scholars that that by the time of (...)
www.royalroad.com
Link for convenience
What's the difference between these threads and that? Beyond the obvious lack of choices.Bonus 11: The Twilight King - Forge of Destiny
It is impossible to speak of the Cataclysm without delving into the matters of the Second Dynasty. It is agreed among scholars that that by the time of (...)
Link for convenience
notanautomaton
I've got 99 quests, I've finished one
The Royal Road is further back in the timeline and has some edits. It will also have some more differences going foreward, though there hasn't been much so far.
Right, we're already in Threads, while they're still in Forge.
Now that I think about it, if we didn't vote for CRX, what do you guys think this part's name would be?
- Location
- New Brunswick, NJ
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
If we had voted to be Meizhen's handmaiden: Coils of Destiny.
To join the Argent Sect: Vows of Destiny.
To reject all offers and blaze our own trail: Paths of Destiny.
Hrm, wait, I think there was another option... oh yeah!
To marry that one guy and be a colonist on the frontier of a blasted wasteland: Little House on the Destiny.
To join the Argent Sect: Vows of Destiny.
To reject all offers and blaze our own trail: Paths of Destiny.
Hrm, wait, I think there was another option... oh yeah!
To marry that one guy and be a colonist on the frontier of a blasted wasteland: Little House on the Destiny.
- Location
- PA
Why would the name change?