@flashfictionfridayofficial Thanks For The Prompt!

Greatest Honor

Thanks for the prompt @flashfictionfridayofficial

Short and sweet, no warnings.

They smile and clap, faces made of dull plaster with hollowed eyes. It was a crowd so dense that individuality was completely lost. All he could do was stand there frozen in place, a smile etched across scarred skin. This was suffocating. Why did they have to drag him out for this clown show?

*Merow?*

Gwen hopped onto his lap and butted her forehead between Van’s eyes, snapping his attention from the monitor. Her whiskers twitched impatiently, while sausers of sparkling darkness stared into his soul begging for attention.

“Pft… Don’t you know not to mess with millitary men Gwen? Your reputation could be ruined.”

Van returned her greeting with a small bump of his forehead, instantly elicited an echoing rumble from her stomach. As Van drew away, Gwen tilted her head to the side, inviting scritches that he was powerless to deny. Van’s fingers ran through her fluff, ruffling the emaculately groomed coat completely out of sorts. Fawn wouldn’t be happy about it, but Gwen enjoyed the attention.

Van placed a kiss on her forhead and let out the breath he had been holding.

“What would I do without you baby?”

Satisfied with his company, Gwen settled on Van’s lap as he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for the first time in days.

What's Bloodmage about? 👀👀👀

(I adore the title by the way)

Thanks for the ask! Sorry in advance for the ramble...

Oh boy, how to describe this one... (I will preface this story as insanity with plot. Most of the characters are severely brain damaged or willing to follow along with the crazies to keep them safe, and I love them all. )

An unofficial squad of soldiers and cryptids are trying to stop a vampire cult (who has infiltrated and overtaken a large world power) that plan to block out the sun and take over the world. All while a large war is happening in the background under the orcestration of the vampires. Most ordinary soldiers have no idea what is going on, and a collection of governing cryptids are trying to keep it that way.

After the squad is forcefully split up thanks to the trickery of the enemy leader, the medic of the group is in a plane crash while trying to reunite with the others. The wreck happens to land in a ritual cite put together by the vampires in an attempt to bolster their numbers with another type of volitile cryptid called bloodmages.

Caught up in the ritual, the medic is turned into a bloodmage, but he is one of the severely brain damaged characters and flasely concludes that he has been turned into a vampire. Unable to end himself with the traditional methods, he decides to find his fellow squad mates to continue their goal only to get caught up in another mess involving bloodmage politics.

Extra context: Bloodmages are beings who have been implanted with red blood crystals that are harvested from a deep pit known as the mouth of hell. After a long comatose incubation period the blood mages awake with enhanced durability/longevity and powers unique to their specific brood (powers have pretty significant variability with some potential for overlap such as the ability to make constructs, bombs, and weapons from their blood/blood they condense store up from others). Along with their other abilities, bloodmages are incredibly mentally unstable unless they have something or someone to tether them to reality. This makes them great short term soilders due to their drive for violence, but not for long term use as they tend to start attacking one another if they grow bored with easy combat.

Thanks again for the ask, I've been really bad about keeping on this one due to some hang-ups with the plot, but I love it to death :)

Termination

Thanks for the prompt @flashfictionfridayofficial

Lan decides to make a move after learning that his deal with the council has been voided.

Warnings: Violence and death

“I heard an interesting rumor.”

Ripples cascaded across the wine soaked floor as council members looked up from their drunken revilry.

“It was such a silly little thing, but I knew that it was the perfect tale to end things on.” Water droplets danced around Lan as he took another step forward, once more disrupting the wine underfoot. “Besides, I just know you’d be interested to hear it.”

Several of the more grounded members began to stir, reaching for their stupid little bells with shouts of panic that only grew more desperate as the metal melted into puddles of burning liquid.

“Oh… Not interested then?” Streams of water began running from the ceiling, twisting together to form thin serpentine constructs.  “I guess there really isn’t a need to go over things.”

The serpents began to slither down the large pillars of the hall, quickly gliding towards their prey. Lan continued to advance, walking just slowly enough for his constructs to begin feasting. The council desperately struggled, arms harmlessly passing through the serpents' bodies, only serving to further entangle them. It was a wasted effort. Their fates had already been set in stone the moment they broke their word.

“Such a pity, Rue would have enjoyed this.” But the love birds would be busy, wouldn’t they? 

Half smiling, Lan stepped onto the platform, reaching out to one of the feasting serpents. It raised it’s head and quickly abandoned the others to gently offer up a gilded skulls it had collected. Blinking in surprise at the already smooth surface, Lan couldn’t hold back a chuckled. Even for pigs, their hides had been softer than he expected. 

Hide and Seek

@flashfictionfridayofficial Thanks for the prompt!

Summary: A rather intense game of hide and seek preformed every fifty years. Each game spans over a five year period and involves about 300 active participants. The goal of the game is survival, but from what? Most involved only have a notion of their pursuer.

Warnings: Horror, blood, some eldritch elements

A pungent mix of rusted iron and raw meat woke Gordon suddenly from a dead sleep. Quickly glancing at the band bolted to his wrist he should have had another three hours before his next move, but the calculation must have been wrong. Adapting quickly, Gordon pulled out his hunting knife, and began pruning back a collection of tissue that had begun to grow, producing a thick pool of blood. The work was fowl and tedious, but a necessary step to buy more time. 

As he lingered the ceiling began to groan, warning of an impending collapse. Packing up the large mostly cleaned vertebra, Gordon inspected it for any additional growths before loading it on his back and quickly grabbed some extra supplies. There was no telling how long he’d have to be on the move before reaching another shelter, but delaying any longer would be dangerous. 

Inserting his data card, Gordon quickly switched his status to targeted. Looking back to the shower, he almost regretted not taking a bath before crashing, but sleep had been a better investment. He could worry about feeling clean when he could afford it.  

Stalking down one of the many dim corridors, dread simmered in his veins. Up until last year he’d been given alerts when his turn was drawing near, but lately he hadn’t even run into wanderers making him fear for the network. Reaching a good distance through the tunnels, the solitary echo of his boots was interrupted by the sound of dripping blood, as tissue continued to form around his burden at an alarming rate. A shiver ran down Gordon’s spine as he recalled his last encounter with the creature. If he could escape the tunnels and get to the lake he could use the current to outpace it, or he at least hoped that he could. 

It could smell him like this, and the chase would be easier that way wouldn’t it? The creature would take time to collect its fallen flesh, but the time it stalled varied significantly from case to case, making the tactic risky to use often. He’d avoided it for the most part, but today the scars on his left arm began to ache making him pause to glance over his shoulder. It wasn’t as overgrown as before, so maybe he was putting enough distance between them? That hope carried him a little faster, pushing him to the surface minutes before he’d anticipated.

Stepping out into the forest, a dock sat only a couple hundred feet away. The sight filled his bones with a surge of anticipation that died in his throat at the sound of twisting wood. Plastering himself against the far wall of the building, Gordon held his breath and listened as the trees were bent out of place. It was here. Silence followed for half a minute, forcing Gordon to sneak a small gasp of air, as his heart began to beat wildly. A low sallow hum called for him to cry out along with the rest of the forest, to make himself known, but he resisted. 

Among those that answered the call, a Starling perched on a nearby branch sang out and was instantly bathed in a red light that crept past the corner of his hiding place. Gordon saw the starlings eyes grow wide, and its muscles stiffen up as it lost balance and fell into the grass mere feet away from him.  

The wood once more creaked and strained as it was bent out of form. The red light passed over the top of the building, lingering just where he was hiding. It was taunting him, and he needed to move. The boat was so close but his legs seemed frozen, knowing what would happen if the creature laid eyes on him. The little Starling twitched and writhed, its eyes seeming to plead for an escape that Gordon couldn't provide. He could only make sure that the creature was occupied, and keep the game going until the timer ran out. Clenching his teeth, Gordon forced himself to move. 

As he took his first step, the sounds of the forest cut out suddenly, making his movements feel impossibly loud. The creature crooned in a twisted mockery, the light remaining in place, eerily still, and perfectly obstructed, goading him to flee. Swallowing back his fear, Gordon accepted the challenge and ran, ripping through the trees faster than he’d ever managed before. 

Even as his racing heartbeat rang through his ears, Gordon could hear the trees behind him, snapping at their bases to make room for the hunter. It would have its fun, but if Gordon could help it, the creature wouldn’t have its prize today.

Rose, after being cursed long ago, came to adapt to her unfortunate circumstances. While once completely wild, she has come to appreciate the finner things in life, mainly deserts.

I personally prefer her sketch design most, but the inked is a close second.

reblog to send your mutuals a hug. maybe just the thought is enough to cheer them up 🥺

Heads Up, Seven Up

Share 7 lines from one of your WIPs

Thanks for the tag, @renasdoodles

I haven't reached the editing faze of my WIP yet, so you just get the unedited insanity that it is at the core.

Taking a deep breath, Owen released his hold. Maren had finally calmed down once he got her out of the water and rested.

Well calmed down in the fact that she was currently unconscious. He still had to go off into the woods to look for anything that could help fight the withdrawal symptoms.

This was fun. Thanks for the tag!

No pressure tagging: @kuebiko-writing @davycoquette +open tag

Last line tag 

@wyked-ao3

Thanks for the Tag! I haven’t gotten much writing done recently because of life but this was a little section from something my brain decided it felt like writing. 

The guardian stared at him with eyes that glowed like distant galaxies. 

-Sleep young warrior, sleep and let this poison pass from you-

The voice echoed through his mind and he felt at least somewhat relieved that he hadn’t broken down for no reason. 

No pressure Tags: @renasdoodles @kuebiko-writing @laisley-writes @leahnardo-da-veggie ,

@creatrackers @somethingclevermahogony +Open tag

Crumbling

@flashfictionfridayofficial

This story is a little portion of a side story for Bloodmage that I've recently started working on.

Warning: The picture at the end depicts blood and injury.

The door was already wide open when Aariv arrived. At one time he would have found that to be strange, but in this day and age who thought to close doors properly anymore? Whatever the case he didn’t have time to be picky right now, he needed to stow himself somewhere until the danger had passed. There was no way he was going to be found out after running for so long.

Stepping into the unfamiliar place, a frown creased his brow, there was no sign that this place had belonged to someone, no individuality. Crumbling walls stared back at him, almost in a reflection of whatever counted as his soul these days. The uncanny feeling sent shivers down his spine as he carefully pulled the door to. There was always the chance it was another trap so Aariv left himself an escape route open, and tried to keep his mind as sharp as his exhaustion would allow.

Room after room he was met with a growing sense of anxiety, no place should be this dilapidated and soulsess, not if there was someone living there. It wasn’t until he reached the last room along his path that Aariv felt his fear melt into oblivion. A fireplace sat in the center of the room, a half burnt log resting behind the grating.

Stepping forward, Aariv felt heat radiating from the empty hearth, a smile slowly spreading over his cold face. It seemed that his luck had for once pulled through and he’d chosen a favorable vessel. With the man’s soul absent he could easily inhabit without much worry. There was no possession quite so simple as when a creature had lost their spark.

“Dr. Field! You need to get back to work, Dr. Are you listening?”

Flexing his fingers, Aariv attempted to adjust to the situation. A nurse stood over him with poorly concealed irritation evident on her face. Smiling, Aariv stood and nodded his acknowledgment, which seemed to somewhat placate her. Once she scurried out of the unfamiliar room, Aariv took some time to assess his new body. He could handle being a Doctor, it was his specialty, after all. Still, a small frown tugged at the corner of his lips as Aariv looked into a nearby mirror, brushing back his disheveled hair while taking note of the obvious signs of exhaustion. No wonder the man’s body had been abandoned. He was falling apart inside and out.

What can you tell me about Luis?

Thank you for the ask!

He’s definitely one of my favorites from this story, so I might have gone a bit overboard with the explanation...

Luis is one of the first blood mages to ever be made and serves as a kind of side antagonist in the (Bloodmage) story. His main power has to do with disrupting other blood mage’s control, but he is also able to manipulate blood into various explosive constructs as well.

Due to the unstable mental state of blood mages, he spent a good portion of his early days indiscriminately killing to try to feed the bottomless desire for blood and violence that plagues his species. After growing sick of the conflict but unable to stop himself, Luis resolved to end his suffering but found the task more difficult than he had anticipated. In his lowest point, he was confronted by a tree spirit named Jade, who he instinctively formed an attachment with, creating the first tether. A process by which a bloodmage is able to reign in their violent and bloodthirsty nature by grounding themselves with another living being. This tether does not have to be a romantic connection, but in their case, it certainly developed into one.

With his mind restored, Luis reigned in his race, instructing them on the proper methods to prevent rampant destruction and insanity. As their leader, he acts as the primary representative of blood mages on the cryptid council, a group founded to help regulate supernatural creatures. Of the other council members, he particularly dislikes the fairy king and will regularly keep a pair of brass knuckles made from high-quality iron for his inevitable clashes with the fairy king’s bodyguard (Alasdair).

After his wife is killed by tech witches, Luis informs the council of his intent to wipe out her killers. Refusing to attach himself to another tether, Luis has resolved to get his revenge by any means necessary, even if it is costing him his sanity.

Given her nature as a forest spirit, even if her body is dead, as long as part of her core remains intact there is a chance for her to be saved, but with the teck witches bent on expanding their power he is left wil little choice but to take a more aggressive stance on the matter.

They are a really cute couple, in my opinion, and I love getting to write/draw little blurbs of them being happy together, so thanks again for the ask 😊