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Not Your Hero (an original work of mine)
There are plenty of words a mother could use to describe her son. Dashing, witty, handsome or strong. If someone were to ask Ximena Armstrong, however, only one of her boys would be introduced in such a proud light. If they asked about the other one, they would receive a strained compilation of complaints that he is vile, twisted, or a hateful beast. There are two sides to every story, though. What made a mother turn her back so quickly?
No one has ever gotten close enough to either party to ask for their side. One thing is for certain, Griffin Emiliano is a dangerous man, and Ximena Armstrong is a pathological liar.
Yet on an uneventful day in Betrothal, a group set out to find the answers to all the possible questions anyone could ask. When they find two boys, an anklet and a pile of bodies, there are too many questions to ask and not enough time for the answers before the doors are busted in and everyone is a suspect.
Chapter 1
“I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but if you run any slower, the snails will escape before we do!” A bellowing voice echoes through the halls of the underground chambers. Clambering behind him, a much softer voice rang out. “I’m sorry! This is my first time performing illegal acts, so sorry I can’t keep up with your vigilante lifestyle!” Turning on his heel, Gryffin casts a stone cold glare to his brother. “Don’t forget why we’re in this mess. You thought it would be a good idea to find the anklet, now three guards are dead and the blood is on your hands, kid.” Looking to the floor, Axel shrinks into himself; “I didn’t mean to…” “doesn’t matter the intention. It is the result that everyone will see. Remember that in everything you do.” Before another word was said, a loud crash brings the brothers out of their tension and drives their attention back to the situation at hand. Escaping certain death and bringing the anklet home to their mother, the smartest archeologist in their village. The winding chambers seemed to be getting slimmer and turning into simple tunnels, but with that, the duo noticed that the end of a tunnel was in sight. With reinforcements hot on their trail, Gryffin roars “Ximena will kill us if she finds out people died for that thing.” “Can you just call her mom?” “Not when she won’t call me her son.” “Well maybe if you-” Axel’s voice is cut off with another crash, the barrels in front of them breaking, causing whatever fruits and vegetables to scatter across the floors and stain their shoes more than the mud could. “Not another step, thief. Such a shame that I’ll have to tear such a pretty face to shreds” A masked man with a gentle but firm voice says, backing his words with a sword pointed to Axel’s face. The mask was unsettling at best, sporting a crooked smile with red teeth and white eyes, it’s a wonder the man could see through it. Though unsettling, he was right about Axel’s face. Unlike his brother, his face was pristine and untouched, his pale skin was a perfect target for a sadistic man such as the one in front of him. Questions hung on the tip of the blade as well as the tip of his tongue he realized it was getting closer, but he hadn’t taken a step. “If I can’t take another step, why can you?” “If I can’t take the anklet, why can you?” Comes the quick retort. “Well, technically you could, you just didn’t take that leap that you needed in order to actually grasp it.” With his sharp words and the tension rising, Gryffin grabbed Axel and made a mad dash for the light they witnessed moments earlier. Axel thrashed wildly, kicking the boxes of fruits and vegetables down to make more of a mess for the masked men to clean up later on. “I’m going to drop you if you keep doing that.” He warns with a scowl. “Right, sorry.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was nothing fancy about the village the boys lived in. Past every market on the left there was an alley that the homeless would find themselves digging through, praying to whoever was out there to spare a little mercy for one more day as they cling onto what little humanity they hold. For the homeless that couldn’t fight their way through, the market’s right side would hold the bodies. It seemed everywhere one turned there was another person riddled by disease and famine. When the people in command were brought to the village to speak their grievances, they were brushed off, laughed at and then given one day’s worth of food for the women and children. Proving that they were simply sitting with another government that couldn't care less for the people under their control, but gave the bare minimum so there were still people able to BE controlled. Griffin hated everything about the village. He could never wrap his head around why so many people still lived in such a ghost town. The people were reduced to nothing more than beggars and thieves with nothing to live for, but had the fight and the iron will of soldiers with the world to lose. Under heavy lids, he drags himself into a makeshift shack, calling it a house for them to stay in as the night ticks by. Axel stared at the ceiling, wondering how long it had been since he saw his brother. His once soft features now hardened with the years of war and murder, tanned skin now scarred and hands calloused. Those green eyes that once shined like stars now cut like emeralds that were thrown to the ground by a child throwing a fit. Black hair that was once short and well taken care of has now grown unkempt and matted. “What is going on in that head of yours?” The man in question growled out. “How old are you now, Grif?” “Twenty three, but you didn’t answer my question. What is the issue?” Axel shakes his head quickly. “I was just wondering what went wrong with us… Why did our family fall apart the way it did? Why did you leave? Why-” Griffin cuts him off swiftly “You ask too many questions, Ax. That will be your downfall.” A deep silence settles across the room after Axel nods “mom says that too.” Griffin lets out a heavy sigh after a while and asks something that he sounds like he has been dreading for a long time. “Where is dad?” Axel stands with a speed like no other and starts for the door. “Ax-” “If you can call that monster our dad but can’t call her our mother then you are no brother of mine.” Confused, angry and a little hurt, Griffin throws the closest object at his younger brother’s feet. “Are you gonna tell me what happened or are you going to let me believe that he was a good man and she was the monster, kid?”
tfp autobutts gain a new recruit...
part 2
I mean... he is so... unnoticable that it is highly possible that he will be able to free Megatron from imprisonment... Next
Hello! Guess who finally got motivation to write? I'll be posting chapters on Tumblr for now until i can FINALLY get an ao3 account.
CHAPTER 1
-About 2 months after LBD defeat-
Nothing.
Everything around him was just void. No color, no feeling, just, nothing.
He couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't see, couldn't hear, anything.
He was stuck.
So he waited. Waited for something to happen. Something to change the endless black around him, so he could feel anything again.
Then everything became too much.
Overwhelming colors and sounds suddenly filled the area. Voices overlapped, and silhouettes blended together.
He could hear people speaking, to him or to someone else he didn't know.
They suddenly got louder, and the colors got brighter as they burned into his vision.
He could suddenly feel hands grabbing his ankles, trying to pull him down to somewhere.
The voices didn't stop, they only got louder as more and more hands tried to pull him down.
He started to thrash and pull away, but he couldn't escape. Every hand that let go, two more would start to drag him down in their place.
He felt hopeless. He felt useless. He felt weak.
He was stuck.
But still, he continued to thrash, kick, bite, anything just to slow down his fate.
Maybe his efforts would amount to something, maybe all the work he's put in will let him feel anything, or at least get away from them.
He was scared. Scared of what would happen if they dragged him down far enough, scared of what he would become after.
He. Was. Stuck.
Now all he felt was anger. At this stupid situation, at them, and at himself. He couldn't do anything at the end of it all.
So he became engrossed in his thoughts, as the hands reached his head, and his vision turned black.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tang shot up from his desk. He looked franticly around where he woke up.
He realised he was at The Metrapolis Library. The section near the back, where most of the architecture and city records were located, with only a small lamp for light among the shelves.
"Dang, not again..." Tang groaned as he started to look through the scattered papers and opened books laid on his desk.
That dream... wasn't an uncommon occurrence for Tang. He seemed to always have it when he fell asleep at the library, or when he passed out after reading too many articles before bed.
It was never a pleasant experience, so he usually didn't try to think about that dream after waking up.
Tang finally decided to check his phone when an alarm went off while he was putting away The Mythos Sites: Professional Study.
He set that alarm for an event at the library tomorrow so he could leave 5 minutes early to avoid the crowds. Apparently he set it a day early. Just great.
He groaned in annoyance, but when he went to turn it off, he saw the time, and then started to panic.
"Aw crap! Nonononono-" Tang then started to clean up faster as he was apparently late for the weekly noodle night at Pigsy's.
This was a night every Friday that Sandy, Mei, Mk, Pigsy, Tang, sometimes including Red Son or Wukong, where they would all come to Pigsy's at a set time and then just hang out and talk for an entire evening.
This wasn't high scale or anything like that, but it was important to Tang. This was the one day of the week he would finally see everyone for once.
Mk seemed to almost always be either hanging out with Mei and/or Red Son, training, fighting demons, or delivering orders for Pigsy. He barely got to talk to Mk even when he was 'Freeloading' (as Pigsy would call it) at Pigsy's.
Everyone else also seems have their own things going on. Pigsy obviously has the shop, and now he seems to have more customers than ever after the whole LBD situation, so he usually has less time to talk, inside and outside of his restaurant.
Mei is usually just hanging out and having fun, but will almost never answer texts when she's 'in the zone' with video games, streaming, or anything else, which has been almost her entire mood lately.
The only one he really does talk to more than once a week is Sandy. But Tang does stay at home most of the time while Sandy also barely leaves his boat as is.
So you can understand why Tang is speeding towards Pigsy's with apologies and excuses about to tumble out as he crashes through the doors.
"Phew... Hey *huff* sorry I'm... *huff* late again!" Tang yells as he lays his messenger bag down and sits on one of Pigsy's stools.
Tang starts to stretch as he looks around Pigsy's. He then notices that the only other people in the restaurant are Pigsy and Sandy.
"Hey Sandy, where's everyone else?" Tang asks as he goes to sit down with Sandy at one of Pigsy's tables.
"Oh, hello Tang! We were worried you wouldn't show up!" Sandy exclaimed as Pigsy came out from the kitchen, noodles in hand.
"Hey Tang. Yeah, the kids left after Mk got a demon attack notification, and Mei followed after him. So it's just been me and Sandy for a bit." Pigsy said as he sat down with them.
"I missed them?! Aw, I haven't seen them all week! I at least wanted to see how they were doing." Tang then grabbed his own bowl of noodles, eating with a sour look on his face.
"It's ok, Tang! Maybe you can join them in something else? We all know you've been pretty couped up recently." Sandy said as he started to brew his own tea to go with the noodles.
"Maybe, but I'm not sure there's anything we can do together, especially with all of Mk and Mei's new responsibilities and my own... uh, research I've been engrossed in." Tang sighs as he pushes away the now empty bowl.
"That's why I'm always excited for this hangout every week. It's some of my only time to see you guys and for all of us to have a break from everything. And who can say no to free noodles from Pisgy's?" Tang smirks as Pisgy chuckled a little and murmured something along the lines of "freeloader. "
"I guess I can't argue with that. But don't worry, Tang, I bet that those kids will be here next time." Pisgy says as he puts an arm around Tangs shoulders.
Tang smiles softly at Pigsy, "Yeah, I hope so."
After that exchange, they trio hung around a little longer, talking about their days and interesting things that happened in their own time.
But of course, these things eventually come to an end, so Sandy and Tang eventually left to let Pisgy close up shop.
Sandy and Tang then have their goodbyes outside of Pisgy's and went their own ways.
Tang walked along cracked sidewalks on his way home. Streetlights lighting almost every section.
It was an oddly quiet night. No music, no yelling from demon fights or otherwise, and no bright lights shining in his face.
It was calm. It was nice.
'What are we going to do about him?'
It was too nice to last, apparently.
Previous || Next
Chapter 1: Five Hours Before Death
"AMELIA!" My boss exclaimed as he walked over to my desk.
"Yes, sir, do you need something?" I say while still looking at my computer.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I need you to tell me about my agenda for this afternoon," he says urgently while looking at his watch.
"Ah well, sir, you have a one-thirty meeting with one of the board of directors and a six o'clock dinner reservation with the misses" I told my boss while looking up at him.
My boss looks at me and says, "Before I leave for my one-thirty, I need you to come to my office; I need to speak to you about something urgent. Got it."
"Yes, sir, I understand," I say, confirming it.
'What does he want to tell me? Oh, I hope it isn't what I found out a few days ago,' I thought as I looked back at my computer. Two days ago, I found out that my boss: Nicholas Anderson, had an illegal import business up and running. And in turn, he paid the mayor to keep quiet about everything. I shook those thoughts out of my head, focusing on my work.
Time flies by and now it is twelve-thirty. I get up from my desk and head to Mr. Anderson's office on the next floor above. Walking over to the sliver elevator doors, you press one of the buttons on the wall next to the doors. The doors open, and you step in, turning around while the doors shut, pressing the button heading up to the next floor. Hearing the irritating music blaring into the rectangular box, the doors open; indicating, that I am on the next floor.
Walking up to his door, I knock, telling him that I am there. "Come in," Mr. Anderson said. I open the door and walk into his office. Noticing a few pictures of his family here and there, he looked up from his computer.
"Ah, excellent timing Ms. Cameron; I was about to call you up," Mr. Anderson said as he pushed himself up from his black leather chair, making eye contact with you.
"May I ask what this is about; you made it seem crucial," I said looking curious but deep down I know what he may say.
"Uh, yes, I know that you found about my uh business. I must warn you if you tell the authorities or anyone for that matter, you might not get to be forty. Am I clear?" Mr. Anderson says
"Ye-ss, sir-r," I said, fear plastered onto my face.
"Good, then you may leave." I placed my hands onto the arms of the chair, pushed my legs up, feeling the pressure of standing. I leave the room and head back downstairs, thinking of what he was saying.
The day went by faster than the flash himself, a mixture of colors; pinks, oranges, and yellows stating that the sun is setting within the west. Shutting everything down and grabbing my purse and coat. I look down at my watch; which looks like it is from the nineties, and it reveals that it is 8:50 p.m. 'Huh has it been five hours already; who would have thought' I left the gray building and straight to my 1999 navy blue chevy corvette. I slammed the car door closed as I sat down in the driver's seat. I took out my keys from my purse so that I could start the engine. My keys have two keychains attached to them; one of them is a Slytherin crest, the other is a Gryffindor crest. I placed the keys into the ignition and turned it. The engine roared to life, I got strapped in and I reversed back into the parking lot to head the main road.
It did not take long for Amelia to get to her apartment. She pulled into the parking lot outside the complex, making sure she did not touch the curb, she turned off the engine and took the keys out of the ignition. She grabs her purse, slips her hand into door handle to open it. The door opens and she steps out into the crisp cold air. She steps onto the sidewalk and looks back to her car. Her car was shining from the light created by the lamp post. The wind blowing against her skin, the hair on her skin standing up and she gets a shiver crawling down her spine. Amelia did not pay attention to the ever-growing feeling within the pit of her stomach as she started climbing the stairs to the second floor.
I got to the top of the stairs of the second floor. I walked down the hallway a little bit to reach my apartment. It was about five minutes of walking; I reached my apartment: number 4. I looked over to my right and saw the door where my neighbor Minerva Barnes lives. 'She is such a sweet woman' I thought as I grabbed my keys to unlock the door. I got my keys into the lock, and I unlocked the door. As I was stepping into my apartment, I am suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of dread; like I should not have entered the apartment. Due to the lights not working, it gave me an eerie and creepy feeling to the atmosphere of the apartment.
It kept getting stronger as I took off my coat, my shoes, and when I placed my keys into the tray. I turn around and locked the door. I went into the kitchen, grab a small glass from one of the cabinets, and went over to the sink to get water. Placing the glass down, I went to turn the faucet on when everything went black. What I did not know right now was that my time to pass on had come.
Opening my eyes, I squint at the moonlight shining through the teal curtains. I tried to move but could not. I looked down and saw my hands were bounded. I turned my head so that I can see my feet, turns out my feet were also bounded.
"I wouldn't do that if I was you" someone said while standing in the shadows.
"Who are you? Why are doing this?" I asked fear rising within me.
"Did you really think he wouldn't know that you were gathering evidence to give to the police? I mean, Mr. Anderson knew that you knew about the business, so he made an educated guess, and what do you know he was right after all." The figure said while chuckling slightly.
Fear took ahold of me once I realized what he was talking about. You see, I have been gathering up evidence on my boss. Apparently, he has been bribing the mayor to cover up his import business. I look back at the figure wondering who they are.
"Who are you?" I asked as I stare into the shadows.
"That is unimportant lady" he said while pulling something out of his pockets. I couldn't tell what it was, but the feeling grew even more stronger as it was before. The figure then walks out of the shadows. His body was slightly brightened but you couldn't make out his face.
Since you now have a semi-clear view of the man, you notice that he had a Glock 19 9mm Compact. Your grandparents taught you how to hunt and when you were older you went to the shooting range, so you know different types of guns. You watch as he loads ammo into the gun. You look back at the curtains taking in the light of the moon. Hearing footsteps behind you, you realize that the man had walked up to you from behind.
'This is it; this is how I go out, huh' I thought as I felt the gun was placed on the back of my head. I opened my mouth tasting salt, which meant tears. I was so scared I didn't realize that I was crying. The tears were flowing down my face at a rapid pace as the man pulled the trigger.
**BANG**
Amelia fell to the ground as blood flows out of her head. Blood spatters across the lightly colored walls and floors turning them crimson red. The man walks towards an open window. Putting the gun back into his pocket, the man got up onto the windowsill. The man looked back at the body, blood pooling around her and glistening in the moonlight. The wind blowing steadily as the man jumped out of the window and onto the pavement below. Walking away from the crime the man had just committed, he wore a sadistic smile on his face.
part 1 nad yalls aint egtting context
Here it is! My fic for them, hope you guys enjoy 🫶🏽
i miss modramos fics so much please someone write one for my mental health bro
I black…all I can see is black.
I try to find anything other than black but I can’t. I am somehow standing even though I don’t see any solid ground. My head is pounding and I feel as if my skull has been hit with a frying pan.
Whoosh
I hear a noise behind me and turn around quickly but not seeing anything or anyone.
Whoosh
I turn around again now feeling dizzy a bit from the turning.
“Show yourself!” I exclaimed tired of the silence. Unfortunately getting what I asked for.
A tall skeletal figure appeared in front of me, his appearance terrifying. His skull was an oval shape with deep slits going up from one eye and down the other, he seemed to have an almost permanent smile carved into his face. He didn’t have eyeballs instead he had two pinpricks of light resembling his pupils. His hands also skeletal in nature but with holes punched into them.
“H-hello…oh you’re terrifying..” I said intimidated by his height
☟︎□︎⬥︎ ♋︎❒︎♏︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ♒︎♏︎❒︎♏︎✍︎ ☠︎□︎ □︎■︎♏︎ ♓︎⬧︎
⬧︎◆︎◻︎◻︎□︎⬧︎♏︎♎︎ ⧫︎□︎ ♏︎❖︎♏︎■︎ ♌︎♏︎ ♋︎♌︎●︎♏︎ ⧫︎□︎ ♑︎♏︎⧫︎
⧫︎□︎ ⧫︎♒︎♓︎⬧︎ ◻︎●︎♋︎♍︎♏︎📬︎
I blink confused “I’m um sorry but I can’t understand you” I said softly and watch as the figure nodded understanding. I was about to ask something else but I could feel my body pulling me out of the darkness.
I woke up in my bed sweating and panting and I look at the clock “shit! I’m late to work!”
Fin
(Translation
I don’t know if all of the Wingdings things are accurate so I apologize for that)
How are you here? No one is supposed to even be able to get to this place.)
I’ve decided I’m going to start making chapters
I have not named the character so if y’all wanna name her go ahead I plan on having multiple love interests for people to chose from.
LMAO NOT ME SPEAKING LIKE THIS AND NOW READING IT AND REALISING IT SOUNDS SO WEIRD EW
This is legit how I break down literature for my students.
Ive recently started rereading splintered by a.g. howard and decided and i wanted to rewrite the story without jeb so heres a snippet of the first chapter then the link:
He looks shocked and hurt as I slam the door in his face. I lock it as I feel tears welling up in my eyes. Whether those tears are those of anger or sadness, I wasn’t sure. I just know I can’t help but to let them fall. I force myself to turn away from the door and continue on with what I was doing. I falter as I pick up my backpack that I previously left in the living room, hearing Jeb knocking on the door and calling out my name.
If anyone would like to read the first two chapters of Under The Shadows... Being co-written with @skeletonhands.poetry on Instagram 💙
I think you'd like this story: "Under The Shadows" by BruceWilson291 on Wattpad https://www.wattpad.com/story/328475816?utm_source=android&utm_medium=com.tumblr&utm_content=story_info&wp_page=story_details_button&wp_uname=BruceWilson291&wp_originator=4wZWu9aRInwx3C511HLCPkksDnh8WIBSnxOifnrrAiSiCYvRhLY8b%2FmzqMeWWtbELfs9I3Lp3kK2ovVY8D2KaHwTCWyRvbzQfbBkeRCfA5fJQhWRCpZsz7DszI%2BKfD7e
This is the new first draft of chapter one from some other book I'm working on... Have fun!!! Any feedback would be appreciated, good, bad or indifferent, just be fucking honest, please.
I'll just leave this here, let me know how terrible it is...
Prologue : March 14, 1980
The kid was in an ally, paralyzed by unadulterated fear and terror. He wept into his hands and jumped at every little sound he heard. His sixteen-year-old brain ran through a million thoughts a second. He started taking deep breaths as he tried to calm himself, which didn't work. Then he looked at the dumpster he stood by through the tears in his eyes. After a few seconds, he started punching it as hard as he could. He then collapsed to his knees and held his more than likely broken hand. His sobs weakened as panic finally started to wear down. Then he spoke to himself in an almost manic state of desperation.
"What the fuck am I going to do? I can't go home. Fuck! Fuck!! Fuck!!!."
He stood back up as he still held his hand. Then he looked around the ally frantically as he wiped the tears from his eyes. He became sick to his stomach as he heard a police siren get closer to him. Then he got back on his knees behind the dumpster as he started to dry heave, which inevitably led to him vomiting all over the side of it.
"Hey, kid, are you okay?"
The kid's eyes went wide as he heard the voice behind him, then he wiped his mouth as he got to his feet and started to walk away.
"Kid, I'm not a cop."
The kid stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Then he turned and saw a man in his late twenties to early thirties with long black hair. He started crying again as he clung to the strange man.
"It was an accident. I didn't mean to do it."
His voice shook as he spoke. He continued to sob into the man's shirt as he incoherently tried to talk.
"I-I-I-I di-didn't..."
"Shh, it's okay, kid."
The man paused as he rubbed the kid's back and sighed.
"Let's get you somewhere safe."
Then he turned and started walking him to his car.
"There are a lot of cops out tonight."
After they got to the car, he opened the passenger side door for the kid and closed it behind him. Then he walked around to the driver's side and got in. As he started the engine, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and grabbed two, then lit them both. He handed one of the cigarettes to the kid, who accepted it and took a drag.
"So, umm, what's your name, kid?"
He asked as he started driving, then took a few long drags from his cigarette as he opened the window. He felt the kid's eyes on him as he continued to drive. Then he looked over and saw the suspicion in the kid's eyes. He sighed as he took another drag from his cigarette, then introduced himself.
"I'm Lynn Miller, the president of the Broken M.C."
He saw the kid nod from the corner of his eye.
"I'm Craig Bailey."
He sighed as he looked down, then continued.
"But what few friends I had called me, Lucifer."
"Nice to meet you, Lucifer."
Lynn said, then after he pulled into the parking lot of the M.C. clubhouse, he put the car in park and looked at Lucifer.
"So, what were you talking about when you said it was an accident?"
"I killed somebody."
Lynn lit another cigarette and examined Lucifer as he thought.
"Who?"
Lucifer sighed as he looked down into his lap and took a shaky handed drag from his cigarette.
"The captain of the football team."
>bored from indulging in the deeper ends of the magic system I am making
>Why not experiment with something more simpler?
>make a rough new system and wrote a POC around it.
>Reread just for fun... It follows a hard magic system...
Fuck...
--
Welp, here's what I wrote... If you are reading anything below this point then know that I wank a lot of words. You are warned.
Oh and it's intended to be the first chapter of sorts...
--
Maya closed the old worn tomb on her lap, 'Basics of herb mixing' - Soul Herbologist, Stevle. Maya sighed... Not at exhausting the last book from the tiny orphanage library... Maybe a bit from the endless puns the author sneaked into the entire lexicon... but more at the boring enlightenment spark she had finally observed last night... Maya stood up to return the book, It was a short way to the library, just a flight of stairs above from her room infact.
Maya walked the wooden creeks of her corridor, that she had haunted like a greedy serpentine gremlin for all of her whole 16 years of life, she had lived in the orphanage... She passed the wooden board from which she often took jobs... Or more specifically the various jobs that she would come to find specialization in... ofcourse! All due to the also boring soul trait she had... which she had proudly isolated when she was 12 years old! But as soon as Maya had done scanning through all available documentation of her soul trait in the measly library and the warden's head... Words could not define how bummed out she was...
Maya's soul trait was... 'trait-less', a simple soul trait, she cursed her own internal language for the trait-lessness of her soul... Her greed for cool shit had seeped into all of the neural netwoking she had aquired in her life... If everything she learns becomes clearly defined and outlined by study... Her venomous fantasy was never satiated... She had fimiliarised herself with every label she was acquainted with... Defining all words that helped one simulate the world in a more comminucatable objective fashion... It wasn't surprising that her neural network was quirkless... Why would her soul trait be anything other than... Trait-less.
Soul traits are what allows soul spiritualists to manifest metaphysical arcane abilities into reality. Every being has one... It's an emergent behaviour inherent to all intelligent beings.
Simpler soul traits form because the wielders inherently have less bias in their language... Therefore making scientific methodology a very synergetic life path the practitioner walked on.
But Maya? She had the simplest... The simplest in all of Permutation the universe allowed... And the same? was her undoing. Maya was never going to have a manifestable arcane ability due to the trait-lessness of her soul... Let alone the cool shit she always dreamed about...
It was a long way to the library, Maya recalled the many jobs she took from the board. It was necessary for everyone who had isolated their soul trait in the orphanage, to contribute to the orphanage.
But that wasn't why Maya took those many jobs... It was either to keep her pockets flowing... or otherwise to indulge in her never-ending quest to find and possibly unlock cool shit... She collected rare herbs, she had once helped a craftsman to make the design blueprint model of his soul puppet more ergonomic, despite her extremely limited expertise in the subject... She even helped a zoologist identify a specific hare he wanted to study! that could hop for a larger distance because it had a unique epigenetic expression... Sad and truly boring old times... But Maya smirked nonetheless... It was fun.
Maya turned the book in, to the librarian's trained hands, waving her a final, still smug, sayonara. She had already packed her things, which wasn't much to begin with... All practical stuff for travelling and some tools she knew would need, the small marsh green travel sack waited outside the warden's room.
Maya walked into the warden's room. The warden eyed her through his old dotting glasses, oddly sharp for the otherwise wrinkled skin behind it. "hmm... hmm... Are you sure about this dear Maya?", Zanish asked, The old bag of bones clutching her letter, that advocated that the holder has isolated their soul trait and has observed an enlightenment spark, everything needed to persue soul spiritualism.
"Why... Why Creed of Thought?”, the old warden asked, knowing that unorthodox academy was a hassle, for all its students.
Maya smirked, "Yes, Mr. Zanish", she replied. "I am certain that it is the best for me... You know me already, don't you?", she said with thick pretentious posh oozing from her tongue.
Zanish nodded, "yes yes... another hustler added to the Labrinth of hustling, They will let you in... It's not like they stop anyone anyway."
Maya giggled at the old man's habit of repeating the first word of his speech... She wasn't sure if she would miss him, but... it was always fun whenever she was caught sneaking out of her room after the 14th out of 16 fractions of the day.
Zanish signed the document hesitantly, Creed of Thoughts was an academy that didn't teach... Atleast in term of orthodox education... They merely traded resources for information. All promising soul spiritualists would trade by showcasing their, any and all, acquired synergy between their soul trait and enlightenment spark... for credits. Credits that the Creed awarded for getting to document that emergent synergetic behaviour showcased, they would award more for any questions they ask, ofcourse.
And it is these credits that were used to exchange resources, that the Creed traded. Money, textbooks, research material, arcane tools, a lecture on a topic of interest, physical demonstration, beast essence, usage of the many workshops and its facilities, herbs and much more! You name it! For the right credit? They trade it! Some even got a chance to enter the whispy archive of dreams, just for a limited period ofcourse.
It didn't matter that the Creed was originally formed by a malevolent faction... Their system for education was fair, that is all that mattered. The begrudging Benevolent Factions never got any excuse to scrutinise them... For the academy itself wasn't making any combat force for itself like every other faction was...
But the biggest problem for Maya, in Zanish's perspective, was that she had observed the Whispers of the Void as her enlightenment spark... The slowest of all enlightenment sparks.
Enlightenment spark is a signal observed by a being in their neural circuitry... The specific conditions that triggered the spark, basically a matching of a neural signal to a perfected contradiction-less neural circuitry called 'enlightenment', was unknown...
Enlightenment spark serves to shape and therefore dictate the how's and why's of one's soul trait is manifested... And the whispers of the void? It had a torturous pace... It requires one to align their neural signalling with the Void itself... The now aligned signals would become the Void's whispers... The whispers broke chunks out of one's soul form and then worked as a solvent to glue the pieces in any Permutation... Repeat the process to ad nauseum, and the soul gets granular and granular each iteration... Basically making one's soul, clay like... which can be molded in any manner...
What this enlightenment spark gave in versatility of manifesting one's soul trait... It also came with the drag of refinement and the inevitable analysis paralysis of doing actual intelligent design without a fixed end shape... The Whispers of the void was well documented! It allowed for a better accuracy of manifestations but it brought nothing unique the other myriad enlightenment sparks synergising with the various soul traits brought.
Zanish also knew Maya's soul trait was traitless... and knowing that brought him the burden of knowledge that Maya wasn't going to manifest anything metaphysical, Period. For there had been no recorded metaphysical arcane abilities acquired by a trait less soul spiritualist, except ofcourse... They were precise with whatever they did.
Precision and efficiency of a trait less soul... Accuracy and versatility from the whispers of the void... That is all Maya had... Oh and also that smug annoying want for the 'cool shit' she had always claimed she was gonna manifest, ringing in the old man's ears since the age her innocence turned into greed... Zanish sighed... The probability of having both a traitless soul and the Whispers of the void enlightenment spark must be the last plack fraction away from zero... For this Permutation has never been documented in all of his old wisdom... No known example for Maya to follow...
Zanish handed the letter to Maya, "here... here... you better don't disappoint me, lad. Or... Or I am gonna punish you next for never breaking any rules this time around", Maya knew he meant that as a challenge, to find an actual manifestable metaphysical arcane ability out of her hand of cards.
Maya pulled her eyelid down and taunted with her tongue out, bleah. Even if this is a good bye, she wasn't not going to be a brat.
Maya took her small travel sack, now resting on her shoulder, as she set off to Yana, where the Mystical Labyrinth of the Creed of Thought slumbered.
The Creed of Thought was carved into the heart of a literal giant, a stone monolith otherwise. Dreaming in its grey granite mass. What made the stone mountain move? all slow in the plains of Yana... going nowhere... No one knew...
Maya caught up to her friend, Rundra. A fluffy dog for a man, tall and lean, yet built like a rectangle, warm yet rigid as the earth beneath him... they were from the same orphanage... Rundra was also a promising soul spiritualists... his soul trait was 'vigor', it gave him irrational will power and a slightly accelerated self healing capacity due to an unique epigenetic expression... he also had glimpsed the enlightenment spark, 'path of indifference'... Maya never figured out why the synergy bummed him... it sounded cool as shit! 'Indifferent Vigor!', A famous previous wielder of both had manifested Weapon Egos into all her blades... its path never bargained with anyone! but Rundra doesn't seem very excited about it...
Maya thinks Rundra decided to start academy because of her... but why did he choose Creed of Thought too? Little did she know it was Zanish that pestered him to go out and experience his life... He chose Creed of Thought simply because Maya was confident it was gonna be a ride.
"hey, ready to leave?", Maya asked
"I would have long been gone if I didn't wait for you to finish the last few pages of that book", Rundra said with a stearn face... but Maya knew he was wagging his imaginary tail already in excitement.
It was going to be a long journey... Longer because Maya was hell bent on hitch hiking her way there... Spending money on travelling a well travelled path? Especially with a lot of traffic? What is this... A scam? Maya grinned, soon she got a lift on an two oxen pulled carriage... The animals looked well worked... Well feed too! looking at the slush it pulled, logged in the carriage... Maybe its epigenetic expression would be worthy of study... Maybe its beastial essence can be extracted?
Maya closed her eyes long after Rundra, the oxen's beast essence wasn't going to offer an epigenetic suggestion for her body to mimic, especially in any kind that would lead to cool shit...
And with that, Maya turned to the brilliant moon, she could swear it was dim before... But it's not long before a snot bubble starts to inflate and deflate from her nose, as Maya drowsed away into sweat slumber.