The worlds are gone by flash of gold,
And Taylor's forge is still and cold.
No songs are sung, for duty calls,
Though darkness dwells in Cauldron's halls.
There shadows lie on Victoria's tomb,
In Brockton Bay, condemnèd, doomed.
But still the Rings of Power gleam
Soon Scion will be just a dream.
There will human'ty steel its spine,
As Annatar leads Three, Sev'n, and Nine.
He pulled the mass of water forward through the beachhead. The sewers cracked from the pressure. Once, he might have switched out and turned it all to stone. That knowledge, though, of unyielding stone, it taught him exactly how to wear it down. It would not bend, so it would be weathered until it broke.
The lone woman from the quartet flew in front of him, in her black armor and cape. In time he would hold her beneath the waves, like She told him to, and someone would remember in a critical moment. But for now, he darted around her, his water echo pulping the child sprouting a forest that she tried to protect.
Hours later, he turned away, and Newfoundland sank beneath the waves.
—————
He looked over the oil field and sent a pulse through the local ether. Lightning struck the rig, igniting the oil at the top.
A quartet stood proud before him. They thought they had a chance, that all of the sacrifices they made would be worth it in the end.
With a thought and another pulse, the etheric waves being controlled by the one in golden armor were sundered and two grams of protons were annihilated. The resultant energy pulse flash-boiled the blood of everyone within 30 feet... almost everyone. One of the Brutes with thickened skin merely got severe burns. The alpha and beta emitters he breathed in will fix that soon enough.
A woman made of lightning arcs towards him. He lets her strike, and all of her potential is instantly grounded.
It's too bad, he thinks, that there is no chance that three of that quartet will see whether their work comes to fruition, and neither will I.
—————
She would dance between the lasers, the fists, the missiles. 81.998%... 34.232%... 100% chance I'm unharmed if I dodge this way.
24.995% chance I get both of my freedoms if I open a portal here. 100% chance the critical opportunity for this-me's freedom comes more than one year earlier if I do.
She would pull the seemingly random metals together. A laser would became a power source. The Changer's childhood fears would be subtle in every face he ever would see again. The dimensional anomalies of the robed man would fall to her control, and monsters would surge forth. The callow youth would be quicker to anger, slower of thought, and his feelings of displacement would be roused every time he sees his nemesis trade people and objects like there was nothing to it.
Inspired by listening to Carole of the Bells on my commute. Not actually Christmas related.
Carol of the Bells
~~~ Ranna - Brockton Bay, early 2000
Amy was crying again, due, Carol assumed, to the unfamiliar room, bed, and people. Possibly the violent and sudden lack of her father, too.
"It's alright, sweetie, mommy's here for you. It's okay." That was what she was supposed to say, right? Then why wasn't it fucking working?
A small mote of light, scarce the size of a fingernail, appeared behind Amy's back, and released a sweet and low sound.
Finally, thought Carol, a good night's rest.
~~~ Mosrael - Lyon, France, April 2000
"Sarah, I know it's going to scare people, but if we don't do something, the healers and Thinkers are going to be overwhelmed. I need to do this."
"Alright. I'll run interference for you, and if we make it through this I'll set up an interview on the news."
A knuckle-sized mote of light appeared on Carol's hand, and a harsh and rowdy clamour spread through the nearest streets of Lyon.
"Behemoth last sighted in Golf-3. Brandish revealed they can reanimate the deceased. Risen capes will focus on intercepting Behemoth's attacks. Large numbers of deceased capes in Alpha-7, Echo-1, Golf-4." Miss Militia's coordination was as welcome as ever.
Behemoth attacks Lyon, France in both April 2000 and October 2003, and we don't have any specified Behemoth target between 2003 Lyon and unknown in 2010 / New Delhi in 2011. Leviathan sinks Newfoundland in May 2005, so Dragon doesn't participate in Endbringer coordination yet. MM would have recently graduated to the Protectorate, has a brain, and isn't otherwise very Behemoth-useful.
Also inspired by Parian.
~~~ Kibeth - Brockton Bay, 2002
The E88 thug turned around, still pointing his gun, and marched straight into a corner of the room.
"Fleur, any ideas what the fuck is going through Kaiser's head right now?" Needless to say, that dinner party was over, and the new soundtrack contradicting itself with every ring was not helping the rising emotional tide.
This bell is such a pain in the ass, Carol thought, sweat dripping from her brow, as Mike picked up the phone and started yelling into it. It's almost like it wants to ring itself.
Mike has time to raise a family after Fleur's death, which suggests early 2000s for that timing.
~~~ Dyrim - Madison, 2009
The portals kept coming, and She would Not. Stop. Screaming.
Carol shrieked in fury, summoning a fist-sized mote of light. A clear and pretty tone rang out, and the people within earshot sighed at the blessed silence that followed.
Hundreds of yards away, the Simurgh turned, as if to face her directly. It couldn't be, could it?
A portal appeared, and a woman in a suit and fedora ran through, tackling Carol through another portal onto a bed. Everything faded to black.
~~~ Belgaer - Unknown, Unknown Earth, 2005
Sveta turned her face to Carol. Long strands of - something - lashed out and tore the bed frame to pieces. The woman in the suit deflected a fragment coming at them, then jabbed the knife into the tentacle that followed. "Help me! I wanted to live, not survive like this!"
Carol allowed the double-fist-sized mote to ring, and Sveta calmed.
"Who are you?"
Sveta roams Russia, killing "hundreds of people over several years" before being moved to the asylum, which means mid-2000s.
~~~ Saraneth - Boston, 2011
"Oh, so anyone who is theoretically capable of controlling other people needs to go straight to the Birdcage? We're now focusing on people who are doing their very best, the people trying their hardest to make a positive difference in this world, instead of the monsters like Heartbreaker?
"As Quinn demonstrated, your key witness either let a master run free for years while not mastered himself, or picked the most tangentially-related means he could think of to fulfil a basic command that a kindergartner knows means to go away - I would like to remind you of the sequence of random kindergartners we had confirm exactly that - in order to try to ruin his ex-girlfriend's life because she hired a more capable manager. Either way he perjured himself."
A basketball-sized mote of light appeared on the Judge's desk and rang a deep tone, a tone that was almost more felt than heard.
"As soon as I finish speaking this sentence, you will state for the record all of your bribes, conflicts of interest, and other misconduct involving this and previous cases, then declare a mistrial."
As the PRT guards, Tinkertech earplugs inserted, put the handcuffs on the wrists Carol was offering them, Carol looked at the stenographer.
"And then we're going to be doing this again, with the understanding that if Ms. Mcabee isn't found not guilty, the Silencer of the Simurgh won't walk free either."
~~~ Astarael - Unknown, Unknown Earth, 2013
The ringing of her largest bell felt almost like a gentle caress of her thoughts, endless waves of peace, the embrace of a lover, and the joy of meeting a good friend after years away. Carol could see the river that wasn't quite there, a rushing waterfall at the far end, with the golden glow slowly fading as the thing that had been playing Scion washed away.
The shattered insectoid mask, and the face it covered, seemed to regard her with pity, and a portal appeared before her that showed her daughters embracing each other, finally, once again. Both healthy, both with the right number of limbs and faces, both with new scars that would fade with time.
Carol closed her eyes for the last time, and let herself be swept away to see Mark once more.
This is an omake for Writer2814's "Maria Campbell of the Astral Clocktower" over on SB. MCotAC is one of the best fanfics for either Bloodborne or Hamefura/Bakarina.
Chiaroscuro
~~~
It was a fever that brought King Artorias down, in the end. Maria rushed to his side, but was too late; no other Light Mages could summon the necessary balance of light and shadow to purge the Abyssal taint.
Their factions aligned behind each Prince as they finalized the plan for succession, and Lady Maria kept the peace in memory of her liege.
~~~
Sarah sprinted through the halls, her Dark Familiar lashing out at Katarina's harem. Rolling earth, rushing water, roaring flames, and ravaging winds - it made no difference. The Dark Familiar would parry, riposte, and shield as fast as they could cast. Sophia's gehrmans were no different, bullets ricocheting down the corridor, putting fresh holes in paintings from dynasties and kingdoms past.
Sarah finally reached her goal and threw open the double doors, only to see a wall of fog. She turned to her pursuers with a manic grin and pushed her way through.
As the roiling fog concealed ever more of her retreating figure, Prince Alan held everyone back. "We will only get in the way."
~~~
The throne had been removed from the throne room. In its stead, a stone sarcophagus lay on a strangely crystalline titanite pedestal. The lid was ajar, with King Artorias lying in state within.
Maria, the Lady once more, perched on a high-backed chair just before the throne dais. Her left knee crossed over her right; her titanite Rakuyo lay across both legs, with her hands gently clasped over the sheath. The brim of her tricorne hat was pulled low.
Maria, the Child, almost tittered at the deja vu as Sarah approached.
"A corpse," the Lady said, "should be left well alone."
The Knight stood, and drew Rakuyo from its sheath. "Oh, I know very well how the secrets beckon so sweetly."
She paced forward as Sarah's Dark Familiar started molding itself into a new Beastly shape. "The King's Dark Soul to unlock the Abyss - as you struggle to find your worth in our waking world, it must seem a dream with the answers just now coming within reach, but that way lies naught but madness. Only a honest death will cure you now."
The Mage ran her hand along the flat of her sword, the crystalline blade turning a deep black as it gained a shining white corona.
It's been a very long time since I've written anything. I recently went down a bit of a rabbit hole with the Wheel of Time, and while it's really difficult to get past the portrayal of women in general, the Saidar/Saidin duality has a lot of interesting potential. Something that's been bouncing around my head is what it might be like to be a trans person in a world that has such a binary magic system.
While a woman AMAB who submits to Saidar would probably be able to detected reasonably easily (assuming that the Aes Sedai ever go to their demesne), fit fairly well into a lot of white tower politicking, and would be able to get along reasonably well in any Ajah but Green or Red, I feel like that's not a story I would be able to do justice to and keep it interesting.
That said, there are a couple very interesting stories that can be written about a man AFAB seizing Saidin, depending on where we are in the timeline…
In case you aren't familiar with Wheel of Time, there's the One Power, split into Saidin (which exclusively men channel) and Saidar (which exclusively women channel). Three thousand years ago, the ultimate evil was sealed away by a group of 100 male channelers, and the backlash drove every one of them, and every male channeler until a major story event, irrevocably insane. As a general rule, insane plus powerful plus magic user is really bad for everyone in the vicinity.
I also want to really emphasize something that I tried to show in the text - Alys channels Saidin, with the usual consequences, because he is a man (who happens to be AFAB), and nobody in the setting can reliably detect that he is a channeler because that's how the Saidin/Saidar duality works - Saidar channelers can only detect Saidin through specific intention, though passively detect people capable of channeling Saidar, while Saidin channelers detect both Saidar and Saidin when channeled - and nobody even thinks to look at someone who isn't super obviously masculine presenting because it's a medieval world with poor education standards by Robert Jordan's time, let alone our own.
Please tell me if I missed the mark.
"I'm a woman," Alys reminded herself, staring into her own mirrored eyes in the glassy pond. "I'm learning the healing arts, I bleed monthly, and I've been betrothed to Jac since we were swaddled."
She blinked, and saw himself in a tailored black coat and pants on a field. His sharp jaw and cheekbones turned with her as she saw himself from new angles.
The image fit.
The image hurt.
She smashed his hand into the image and sobbed.
~~~
It was lucky, she was later told, lucky that the plague skipped her even as it killed everyone else in her village. Jac was dead. Her mother was dead. Her father was dead. Her sister, a welcomed surprise, was dead before her first turn of the year.
It's luck, she thought, as a hart walked onto the path a scant five paces ahead, and luck that her father's arrow pierced its heart.
~~~
The neighboring village had been touched much more lightly. One of the Aes Sedai - the stories were real - had been riding through at just the right time, and had seen the signs. The only deaths had been the wise woman, her apprentices, and the dozen patients under their care, as the woman's ageless, expressionless face watched her warder bar the door after throwing a torch into the healer's lodge.
The stories were real.
The same ageless, expressionless face had declared each and every other villager as free of plague, with merely the lightest brush of her hand against their forehead.
Alys walked past her at the cattle gate - this village had cattle! - exhausted, pulling Farmer Itam's cart with half of the hart still uneaten, still unspoiled. A raised eyebrow and a light brush against her arm, and the ageless woman in blue was on her way, leaving merely goosebumps behind.
"I'm Alys, healer's apprentice from two days west. My village is gone."
The village grieved even as it welcomed her. One of the matrons even gave her a blanket and some hay to sleep on in the barn.
~~~
The years passed and the Wheel continued to turn. Patients lived when there was no hope - and the women worried that she was driving herself into an early grave as she fought through fevers and chills. She took to wearing pants instead of skirts, "the leathers are better protection from the thorns of my herbs," and binding the breasts "that aren't good for aught but getting in the way of healing." Some of the gossips were scandalized, but everyone's family had someone that she had saved, and after a few years even the gossips didn't let peddler's nonsense distract them from who was caught leaving who's house in the dead of night.
But she couldn't remember their names. She barely remembered her own, Alys, and even then only because people would always use it to her.
Her apprentice in the blue dress was doing better than the apprentice in the green dress today. Actually, the person in the green dress was useless. "Don't come back tomorrow."
~~~
The girl in the red dress knew enough that she must have listened well to her mother, and she also looked familiar enough that Alys must have seen her around the village square a few times. Alys could work with this.
~~~
A tall man had ridden his horse through the village today, bought hay with a few silvers from a bulging purse, and casually rested his right hand on his sheathed sword. This would feed the gossips for weeks.
Something about him, though… something about the way he spoke to the headman raised Alys's hackles from across the square.
Alys turned back to today's patients as he rode off, the feeling of menace slowly fading away.
~~~
This was the second time Alys had seen ageless faces, this time in red. Five of them, all on horseback, four asking questions about the man from a few days before, asking if any of the men had seen anything. The last was doing something with her hands before crying an unknown word, "say din", as they all turned and galloped through as the cattle gate slammed itself open.
Another break from the monotony, some goosebumps, and now back to the idiot farmer who let a cow step on his leg.
~~~
The red apprentice was useless and would have to go. Alys had asked for an emetic, like the beady roots of the white flowered plants by the pathway, not needles of evergreen. Needles of evergreen were only good for cough, and this child had eaten spoiled meat.
~~~
She had a new apprentice today, in a purple dress. This one was a young woman, perhaps of age to have children, with her hair already pulled back properly. And she was pretty well trained, just needed some polishing. Maybe she was apprenticed to another village's healer?
It seems like she would fit right in, Alys thought, after all she and the longtime green apprentice are chatting with their heads close together like they're old friends.
~~~
The gossips had started talking about Alys again, whenever she wasn't looking, but she could hear their whispers at all hours. How she was "losing it" and "outstaying her welcome" and "do you know how expensive the dye is to keep poor Tanya employed" - who the fuck is Tanya?
And how she was destined to destroy this village, just like her last one.
"Well," Alys said, "if you insist."
The last patient healed, Alys grabbed the torch off the wall and headed to the village square.
~~~
It was luck, Alys thought, that the buildings caught so easily, and that the fire just seemed to jump from house to house, man to man, woman to woman.
Luck, the story of Alys's life.
The fire brought a smile to Alys's face as he turned east towards the Dragonmount beyond the horizon and lightning crashed down. The heat within him grew hotter and hotter as the fires joined into a sweltering inferno. He laughed and laughed until he knew no more.
~~~
The four red women picked their way through the scorched field. "A man did this", one said, "I detect residue from Saidin."
"We checked all of the men a few years ago; it must have been someone who moved in. And none of the women had the Spark, even their healer."
"This, sisters, is why we must succeed in our mission. We cannot allow the wheel to weave another Breaking."
