#534ft.

Thanks @finickyfelix for the tag! :3

Rules: Search for the given words in your story. If your story doesn't have a word, you can use a variation on it or a word with a similar meaning.

Today's words are:

Wait, Heart, Eye, and Use.

(These produced some fun results today :3)

- - - - - - -

Wait

(excerpt taken from Frequency: Forsaken's current draft)

“Have you heard of Ralillith Tiro?” Zenith contemplated for a moment. “...No, I don’t think so. Should I have?” “I... assumed you would have. He was a... very well-known criminal. In fact, he was executed a little over a year ago.” “Why are you bringing this up?” Zenith asked. “Because of the memories I regained after breaking my Flaw. But, I–... I want to ask you something first. Something very important, okay?” “Of course.” Dusk hesitated, waited as long as he could before continuing. “What if I told you I wasn’t Dusk? What if I told you I was somebody else? What if... what if I wasn’t who I said I was? What if I wasn’t... me?”

Heart

(Excerpt taken from 534ft.'s current draft)

(CW: mention of violence/gore)

Men, women, and children were slaughtered with heartless indiscrimination in an instant. Heads rolled, blood pooled, and organs were gutted and spilt all along the dirt roads. It was a brutal massacre. A bloody mess.

Eye

(Excerpt taken from Wild & Grief: The Mute Bard's current draft)

For several hours, he refused to leave the altar, curled in a ball with no cries or screams escaping his lips. He was as silent as a mid-winter’s morning, and as incensed with pain as a typhoon. It wasn’t until hunger overpowered him did he decide to stand once more. His face was red, and his eyes puffy and dry. His breathing was ragged and silent, and his clothes were dirtied with soot and dirt alike.

Use

(Excerpt taken from Frequency: Wounded Reflection, Volume V: The Fire Is Gone)

(cw: mention of blood)

Blood coated her arm, and some splashed out onto her, but she didn’t reach its heart. Deep within, however, she could feel it slowly beat. She pulled her arm out, drenched in ghast blood and various white-coloured viscera. She pulled her right arm back and, despite it more-than-likely being broken, she forced it into the ghast’s flesh as well. The pain blinded her, but it did nothing to slow her down. Her arm, broken and far weaker as a result, was still just as destructive as any weapon she’d used before.

- - - - - - -

I hope you enjoyed reading those snippets! :D

For everyone who wishes to partake, I have a challenge for you >:3

If you want some easy words, use:

[ Light, warm, shadow, and chill ]

HOWEVER, if you can, see if you have any of the following, or variations therein >:3

[ Hunter, Spirit, Determination, and Curiosity ]

(Inspired by the Frequency Series)

I wonder if anyone does :3c

I nominate @leahnardo-da-veggie, @traderotales, and @of-potions-and-blades-official since I haven't seen your writing in a while, and want more >:3

Thanks to @diabolical-blue for the tag!

Find an excerpt of your writing containing each word.

My words are Worn, Fear, Bright, & Price.

- - - - - - -

Worn: (Excerpt from Vol. 5 of Frequency: Wounded Reflection)

But when he saw her now, she looked awful. Her hair was messy, as if it hadn’t been cared for in weeks. Her eyes were sunken from a lack of sleep. Her clothes were stained, ragged, and only loosely worn. And though she was slowly eating, her figure – especially the bones in her face – were notably more exposed. It wasn’t significant, but it was apparent. He wanted to say something, but he didn’t know what. He didn’t know what troubled her so, or if her state could be explained by other means. He didn’t have the courage to speak, he wanted to, but couldn’t bring himself to.

Fear: (Excerpt from current draft of 534ft.)

Jesse got as comfortable as he could before eventually allowing the night to claim him. He slept with an almost carefree abandon. He wore only his undergarments and covered himself with only a thin blanket. He'd slept in far worse conditions so this was something he preferred. However, at the crack of dawn, Jesse shot up in fear, a cold sweat rolling down his exposed back and his eyes shaking restlessly. A long dead nightmare no doubt rang in his head, it must've weighed heavy on his mind like a snake wrapped around its prey, even now ten years past.

Bright: (Excerpt from current draft of Frequency: Forsaken)

Next, he took a metaphorical leap as he began to imagine a dagger. The light dimmed as it quickly coalesced in its new form, that of a dagger that fit squarely in Dusk’s palm. Although, perhaps to call it a dagger was a tad presumptuous. Instead, it would be more accurate to refer to it as a knife; small and inconspicuous if not for its luminous nature, and more suited for slashing than stabbing. Nevertheless, it was a much bigger step forward than what he had been doing. Of course, with such a leap, the light had dimmed greatly. ‘The larger an object, the more light is required to make it shine just as bright... That makes sense, I suppose... but... that might be a problem in the future.’

Price: (Excerpt from current draft of Frequency: Hellfire)

“Alright, now we did just make a deal, but I want to offer it again.” David said. ‘You didn’t offer to me twice...’ Akita thought. “I’m on a mission to hunt someone down,” David continued, “and rid myself of their influence. Joining me will mean you don’t have to stick your neck in crime again, I already stuck my neck out for you. Your price, what you will do, is to fight alongside us through thick and thin.”

- - - - - - -

Once again, thanks for the tag! :D

The words for anyone wanting to take this up (in honour of 534ft.) are:

Dead/Death (either one), Hunger, Sick, & Kill

Tell me a little bit about your favorite WIP atm, and your favorite characters?

Your WIPs look really interesting so I'd love to hear about them!! :3

Hello! ○( ＾皿＾)っ

Happy writeblr live to you too! :D

My favourite WIP, currently and until it is complete, is 534ft. and the Apocalypse Gods series as a whole!

I have a soft spot for westerns, and so of course my western fantasy story is up there among my favourites.

Granted, Forsaken is a close second, and I definitely think about it more. But that love of western fantasies wins out in the end!

The story of 534ft. is about Jesse Graves who--after accidently causing the destruction of his hometown, Mortar, and the death of 89 people--goes on a quest to vindicate himself, and be free of his sins. He does so with a blessing from Death -- never to die or tire until it is done, and his horse companion Biscuit, with whom he shares this blessing with.

It's about love, learning to forgive, and be forgiven by others.

My favourite characters are:

Jesse Graves, obvious from the above.

Dusk -- the protagonist of Frequency: Forsaken.

and Claire Gallows, the other protagonist of the Apocalypse Gods Series!

My love for Jesse comes almost exclusively because he's cool :3 I love westerns, and he embodies a lot of my favourite tropes, plus he's just cool! And a little bit of a loser, but who isn't? (✿◠‿◠)

Dusk, comes from a deep love of Forsaken's story, and how much he changes throughout it. He grapples with his identity, learns to love, fights for change, and experiences great loss. His story is like a lifetime in a bottle, a great journey condensed into a decade. And I love all that he does and goes through.

Could you pick a WIP and tell me your favourite thing about it? Doesn't matter how big or small the thing is.

From: World-of-Iridensia

Hiya!

O(∩_∩)O

Sure! :D

We'll do... 534ft!

Happy Hallowed Ween! o((>ω< ))o

On this most EVIL of nights, I give you a treat! :)

For all of the recent Wild West Death you've posted about, I thought I'd talk about Apocalypse Gods, my Western Fantasy story!

- - - - - - -

I've talked about some of the setting, the four horsemen and their relevance to the story, as well as the characters a little (I'm also planning to do a Character Spotlight on Claire in early November).

So, today, why don't I talk about magic! :D

The magic system in Apocalypse Gods is... a soft-magic system, to say the least. Jesse has a deep fear of magic, stemming from his trauma, and Claire--out of respect for that trauma--doesn't use magic. Although, Claire doesn't use magic often even when not in proximity of Jesse.

But the magic is interesting!

There aren't many well-defined rules, it's more-so a system of "figure it out"; trial & error until something works, then repeating that. There are in-universe rules, but they're esoteric and not well understood. It functions off of runes, arcs, arrays, and patterns. To call upon a specific kind of magic, use must create a pattern/circle of runes, arcs/arrays to direct that magic, and hope you didn't fuck it up! :D But, since these runes/patterns are just... patterns and symbols, they can appear in nature, too! Say you're walking through a forest, and the trees line up in juusst the right way, and BOOM you're blind, or lost an arm, or some other in-consequential effect. Furthermore, you can enchant things with magic but inscribing the pattern onto the object and having the arrays flow into instead of out of it. The many sheriffs/law enforcement often wear cloaks enchanted with the magic of truth, so they can sense lies and see the emotions/regrets of a person's soul.

Again, I don't have many written down rules for it. The characters almost never personally interact with it, nor understand it enough for these rules to ever come up.

Not to mention, the narrators of each story is one of the four horsemen. Why would they go into info-dumping about the magic system? They know it already!

Plus, this story isn't about the magic. A story like Wild & Grief, or even some of the POV's of CoSF are magic-centric. But, while Apocalypse Gods is about many things, magic isn't one of them.

Thanks for the questions from this ask game! :3

📖 Are there any common backstory themes among your characters?

Yes!

Most commonly, a lot of my characters have one of two things - usually both. 1) Dead/otherwise uninvolved parents 2) A lack of home

I... don't know why its this common, but it is obviously a useful narrative tool to thrust a character into adventure if their home-life/family are taken away from them.

Characters like Lukas, Tinder, Jesse, and Reven all lose their homes in tragic events. As well as losing one or more of their parents as well.

Whereas characters like Dusk, Rain, Luna, or Kyr have their parents never brought up, or it isn't explicitly said what happens to them - if anything.

Notably, two exceptions to this rule are: 1) Thomas Taylor II, who has a loving family and personal apartment at the beginning of the story. 2) Luna, who lives on her university's campus and has a (mostly) supportive family, though they aren't shown in her story.

🪞 Name a few characters who are very different from each other in appearance.

Reven: - Average height (173cm), fairly lean build, short (mostly) clean white hair, and constantly seen wearing ragged and worn-out clothes, some resembling scraps of cloth more than clothes.

Jesse: - Short (165cm), smaller frame, short messy brown hair, and wears several loose fitting layers to appear larger.

👶 How do you usually name your characters? Do you start with a particular letter or meaning, or maybe borrow names from other people?

"RANDOM BULLSHIT GO!" - Moonknight

On a serious note, I genuinely just feel the name out. Very few character names have any inherent meaning. Most of them are just, "Yeah, that feels right!" without much more than that.

Obviously, excluding family names shared between characters as hints they're related, there are still a few examples of names with meaning.

Most notably is Lukas' name.

Lukas itself doesn't have any meaning. But his family name, "Tiro", does!

It comes from a portmanteau of the words "Time" & "Hero", and stems from an older draft of Frequency in which is closer in genre/setting to something like MHA or most modern superhero comics.

However, it still fits, as he and his family still have a connection to time, so have their family name be linked to that is fitting.

Another example (that I've mentioned a few times already), is Reven!

It is currently the Week Of Reven! And as I've mentioned there (and elsewhere) a few times, is that Reven's name isn't his real name.

It is actually a shortened version of the word "Revenant", as in the undead who returns to life to exact revenge on their killer. This is both true in and out of universe, as Dusk initially refers to him as a revenant, before, out of habit, it eventually gets shortened.

Lastly, a different example.

In the setting of the Apocalypse Gods series (so far, only 534ft.), I try to make sure every character has a name that would be historically accurate to the wild west period of american history, as the story is a western fantasy. So, although it doesn't take place in our world, I'm still naming the characters after the real world.

This is why Jesse is named as such.

Jesse, in the modern day, is a gender-neutral name but - at least in my experience - I tend to see it used for more female characters than male.

However (if I'm remembering correctly, it's been a while since I researched this), historically, it used to be a much more masculine name.

(This is part one of two-part post, part two here)

A couple dozen miles inland from the east coast of the Great State Of Armra lay the small milling and masonry village of Mortar. Or – I should say – it used to.

The year was 1819 O.W., and it was a crisp and fair autumn evening, with death lingering in the air.

I wasn’t there before it happened, but as the dead later told me, a child found a book of magic. Whether it was due to ignorance or indifference, they began to read it.

They wanted to learn magic, and found the book to be of great interest. It held secrets of old and powerful spells and magics, and the youth learnt quickly. But for all of their incredible curiosity, came a healthy dose of nescience.

They read too much, found something too powerful and – unaware of its consequences – cast a terrible spell.

The skies darkened with dense clouds, as if it were about to rain. The wind howled like souls of the damned. The air became arid and lifeless, and cut the skin of anyone it rushed past. Even the sparse forest around the village seemed far less vibrant than usual that time of year.

Something was wrong, but not in a way anyone could put into words, for there were no words the people could stir from their hearts.

Soon, gales of violent, thrashing wind hurled through the village, nearly knocking even the heaviest of people over at their strongest. It dawned on some, what was to come, but there was little running.

A moment later, little more than a spell, came the galloping.

Dozens of shadowy mounted cavalrymen descended upon the village. They raced through the streets mercilessly, cutting any who stood in their path. Heralds of war, soldiers of hell on stallions of earth and flame charged through the streets with ruthless efficiency.

Men, women, and children were slaughtered with heartless indiscrimination in an instant. Heads rolled, blood pooled, and organs were gutted and spilt all along the dirt roads.

It was a brutal massacre.

A bloody mess.

Soon the violent death reached me, and I was summoned to collect the souls of those unfortunate enough to die that day.

I watched the ceaseless brutality firsthand as I flowed through the crowds taking those whose time was due. It was obvious to me then, what was the cause of this butchery, but not why, not yet anyhow.

Soon, with the aid of a couple sparks, the wind set a few buildings aflame. It was only a matter of time for the rest to crumble and fade. The gales ensured none would stay standing.

Over the course of a long and blood-stained hour, a cumulative 89 people died that day, with another few hundred having sustained various injuries. No building remained intact. The earth was forever stained with blood, soot, and fear. Hundreds were left homeless, hungry, and scarred, mentally and physically.

It was perhaps one of the single greatest tragedies, for the fact that it was all caused by a single child.

This child, left unharmed from the slaughter by sheer chance, stumbled out from the wreckage alone, shaking, and with two distant, unblinking eyes; the look of a soldier long from the war.

With nothing in their possession, and their self was covered in soot, blood, and damaged clothes, they shambled toward me. Their eyes were bereft of even a hint of life. They were small, and overall unassuming as far as mortals went.

“The others went that way,” I said jokingly while pointing, fully expecting them not to hear me. But, lo and behold, they looked straight at me before turning around to see where I pointed. After a second or two, they kept walking toward me.

That fascinated me.

- - - - - - -

This is a snippet from 534ft's (current) first chapter! It follows the events of Jesse's backstory, told from the perspective of Death.

This is a two-part post, link here, and I highly recommend you read that if this one interests you! :D

As always, if you have any questions, ask me in asks, comments, or reblogs (text or tags)! I'll answer to the best of my ability! ^_^