#ftr3

Tagged by the great @the-orangeauthor, thanks!!

Floor (Deathdancer - Ailin POV) in which Ailin was attempting to teach Zaul how to fight.

She [Ailin] couldn’t lash out. In the arena, a broken nose was nothing. Training in an attic hideout was an entirely different matter.

Darkness swirled, black sand swarming the room. A terrible whine rose to met it, the hollow ringing of death emptying her head.

Zaul let go.

Ailin fell, muscles not cooperating. Two sets of hands caught her face, and she couldn’t tell which ones were real and which weren’t.

Was she blacking out? Or was that just a future where Zaul hadn’t let go in time?

TTSSSSSSSSSSNNNNNNNN. The ringing rose, tones that didn’t belong together overlapping painfully.

More hands grabbed her shoulders, trying to turn her. She couldn’t count them anymore, couldn’t tell real from phantom, couldn’t tell present from future. She lashed out, her whole body crawling with scorpions, at the joints that would force him to let her go. Her blows connected with air.

“Ailin!”

The floor rumbled, and the grasping hands vanished. The world went silent, time vibrating to incredible stillness against her skin.

Breath in. Breath out.

The breaths were far too fast. She slowed them gradually, careful to keep them shallower than she wanted. The buzzing quieted, the tingling slipping away.

“Ailin?”

Zaul’s voice was at least six feet away, quiet and scared.

“Hnnggh.”

“You good?”

“I’m grand,” she muttered. Her voice was a strangers, distant and flat. A hollow echo of what it should be.

fly (Firetide Rising 3)

Koruni [Kina's sister] just took another deep breath, and nodded.

“You understand this is treason, right?” asked Kina, softly.

“Better treason than betray my sister again.”

“You never betrayed me.”

“I am not letting anyone take you away again,” hissed Koruni, spit flying. “You already died once, Kina. I am not mourning you again.”

free + felt (Deathdancer - Zaul POV)

“That your final choice?” asked the man at the door.

“If I say no will you let me pick something else?”

“Nah.”

“Than I suppose it’s my final choice,” Zaul managed, dry mouth catching the words.

Final choice indeed. There was something deeply unsatisfying about his last act of free will being to choose weapon he was bad with from a selection he was terrible with.

It felt deeply unreal. Like it was all some big joke, like whatever came next wasn’t actually coming. Not properly. Not permanently.

friend (Deathdancer -Ailin POV)

“Did you talk to Dymas?” asked Zaul.

“Do you still want to help?” Ailin countered.

The easy smile faded, his face settling into a remarkably sharp focus. He had the most expressive eyebrows Ailin had ever seen, like the friendlier dogs that worked in the agriculture and livestock districts, or traveled with the caravans.

“I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t serious about it,” Zaul said, holding her gaze. “I don’t make promises lightly, and I don’t make promises I won’t keep.”

I tag (no pressure!!): @sleepyowlwrites, @akindofmagictoo, @viskafrer, @thegreatobsesso, @drippingmoon, @ink-fireplace-coffee, @dontjudgemeimawriter and open tag for anyone who wants it!

From the amazing @the-orangeauthor, thanks!!

Deep (Deathdancer - Ailin POV)

Ailin took a deep breath, falling into a crouch. She flipped the parrying knife in her left hand, bracing it lightly under the hilt of her own scimitar.

She tried to push down thoughts of bookies and gamblers, already planning on her victory. They’d set the odds 5-to-1 against her tonight, counting on her to earn them a month of wages in this one fight.

Ailin almost preferred the fights she was supposed to lose.

dear

dream (Firetide Rising 3)

As suddenly as the strangeness had started, it was gone. Everything snapped back in place, like a sail sheet in a storm. Kina blinked, refocusing to the sudden lose of enhanced senses.

“Something is happening to me,” she muttered, heart beating a little too hard, throbbing in her vision even as she tried to blink it away. “I don’t know how reliable I can be.”

“You felt in control to me,” said Tino. “But you use magic like some people have perfect pitch. It’s instinctive. You might just be starting to access new levels of subconscious use.”

“Maybe.”

It wasn’t comforting. Unconscious magic had resulted in uncontrollable dreams for most of her life, and she hadn’t learned to control them quickly or easily. Now, on the brink of war, didn’t seem like the time to start the process all over again.

dare (Deathdancer - Zaul POV)

Dymas gaped at him, mouth hanging open. If Zaul’s ears weren’t buzzing with fury, he would have laughed. It had been a long time since he hadn’t wanted to laugh.

“How dare you speak to me like that,” Dynas rasped out, eventually.

“Fine. Maybe I’m done. You’re lucky I’m not Ailin, because without her you are screwed in every last infinite future there is.”

Zaul’s voice was loud. Far too loud. He forced himself to stop talking, blood pounding like fire in his face.

dark (Deathdancer - Zaul POV)

Zaul landed in the dark alleyway, head spinning. He caught the wall, breathing hard through his nose, echoes of pain vibrating in his ribs and the base of his skull.

Something siphoned through him, threading unpleasantly through every little nook in his mind, every tiny space of his body.

A familiar thrum settled around him, stilling the world back into reality.

He didn’t remember why he’d done it. Couldn't remember what he'd run from. All he could come up with were quick flashes. Sharpness on his throat. Shadowy figures in the dark.

I tag (no pressure!!): @sleepyowlwrites, @sleepysera, @akindofmagictoo, @writingonesdreams, @thegreatobsesso, @cherryxwrites and open tag for anyone who wants it!

Tagged by @winterandwords, thanks!!

eat (Deathdancer - Ailin POV)

“Fine,” she said. “Win the fight. Draw it out, make him look better than he is. Leave him alive, it’ll give better odds next time.”

Ailin nodded, mouth dry. She’d done that before. She’d take some hits, let him land a few solid cuts, scramble around in the dust to give him more space than he needed. The real fighters would see through it, but the general crowd would eat it up.

“Go on then,” said Efram, waving at the pit. “Before the others come to an agreement.”

Ailin vaulted into the pit. Sand puffed around her feet, and she blinked through it, head down just slightly to keep her eyes hidden. Prickling pain jittered across her, faint tremors as the young man considered starting the fight early.

drink (Deathdancer - Ailin POV)

What should she say? Don’t scream. Don’t run. I’m here to kill you, but not really. If someone said it to her, she’d have a knife in her hands before they could finish talking.

Dymas paused by the bed, taking a long drink from a small goblet on the nightstand. His usual rich clothes of office hung by the bed, and he had changed into a pale gray nightgown under a heavy dark robe.

cook (Firetide Rising 3)

Mostly hidden behind the others, Kina jumped onto the pier herself, assessing the village. People were watching them from their doorways, or by the cooking pit, dressed in a mix of traditional grass skirts and modern fabric clothes. The huts were thatched with palm leaves, many without doors, and the sandy beach stretched into rocky points at either end.

swallow (Deathdancer - Ailin POV)

The Oracle’s shimmering eyes scanned the room for an instant, taking in the body and Ailin. Ailin’s heart sank, stomach knotting with snakes. I’m so screwed.

“Where is Dymas?” she asked, starlit eyes meeting Ailin’s.

Ailin swallowed once, hard, and didn’t answer. How, in all the infinite futures, was she supposed to get out of this?

I tag (no pressure!!): @sleepyowlwrites, @akindofmagictoo, @ashen-crest, @light-macadamia, @thegreatobsesso, @sharraus and open tag for anyone who wants it!

Tagged by the ever-amazing @sleepyowlwrites, thanks!!

frost ice (Firetide Rising 3)

Water closed over Kina’s head, and she kicked out, heading straight down, Tai’s shadow moving beside her. She grabbed his arm, guiding him in the darkness as they raced for the ocean floor, rushing to get ahead of the magical freeze she knew was coming.

Sure enough, the water above them was already chilling, the waves creaking with ice. Kina popped her ears thirty feet down, racing the frigid magic even as her muscles tried to seize against the cold. She pulled in magic, fueling her muscles, giving herself extra energy for the dive.

crown (Firetide Rising 3)

“Where’s Haku?” asked Nali, quietly.

“I’ll deal with Haku,” snapped Maile.

“If he touches Kina again, I’ll kill him,” said Nali, simply. She held Maile’s eyes, long fingers twisting into hard fists.

“I’m sure you will,” shrugged Maile. “Although I can’t protect you from the consequences of killing the crown-promised.”

“You’ve never protected me from anything in my life, and you certainly aren’t about to start. Don’t pretend otherwise.”

Maile raised her eyebrows, staring at Nali with a barely contained glare for an instant. Nali stared back, cold lines burying any traces of the excitable scholar Kina could usually find in her face.

eternally (Deathdancer - Ailin POV)

Ailin gritted her teeth, refusing to consider why she was here, and vaulted a low aqueduct into the outer garden.

Elaborate bronze and copper sconces with huge torches were scattered through the plants, along meticulously swept brick paths. It was blindingly green here, water from the Oasis feeding swaths of demanding foreign trees and bushes.

A large marble-tiled fountain bubbled in the center. In the water stood a massive bronze statue of a humanoid figure with a working sundial head.

Hazarys, the eternal god. Guardian of the past, guide of the future. Time made divine.

Time-touched were said to be descendants of Hazarys. That was why Aramzind had never been without an Oracle, in this thousand-year-old city that had birthed divinity in the heart of their Oasis.

Ailin spared the statue a glance as she darted past, leaving the splashing water behind her. Unprompted, her toes stung, and she shifted her stride to avoid the brick she should have tripped on.

“I suppose I’m supposed to think you for that,” she muttered, glancing back at the statue.

Predictably, Hazarys didn’t answer. How could they? They were divine time, not some distant relative to be avoided at parties. Time didn’t make for a good conversation partner.

home (Deathdancer - Ailin POV)

“I’m not just a clerk,” Zaul muttered. “I never was. I had teachers who always told me I had to be ready to fight, but I had other people who made sure I never had to. And then when I wasn’t what they wanted…” he trailed off.

“You weren’t what they wanted, so they cut you loose,” Ailin finished softly, risking a glance at his face. He nodded, lips tight.

“The Oasis was always supposed to be home,” he said, almost to himself. “Legacy and loyalty, and all that. But people turn on you when you aren’t enough. Privilege is lonely, and leaving it is lonelier.”

“Anything is lonely if you don’t have a choice.”

summer sun (Deathdancer - Ailin POV)

Safely out of sight on the roof, Ailin collapsed. She rolled onto her back, eyes closed against the burning afternoon sun, and released her body.

Sensation exploded, crawling through her all at once. Her chest spasmed, catching with a future where she coughed.

Ailin let it happen. For a moment, her muscles ran wild, thrashing like a mouse caught by a constrictor. It was always worse after a fight, especially if she had to repress herself in the aftermath.

The twitching passed, fading unsteadily to stillness. Ailin lay still, trembling with a thousand futures all at once.

BONUS: angel

devil

I tag (no pressure!!): @drippingmoon, @afoolandathief, @winterandwords, @light-macadamia, @avrablake, and open tag for anyone who wants it!!

Tagged by the amazing @akindofmagictoo, thanks!!

voice (Deathdancer - Zaul POV)

“Dymas?” asked Zaul, blinking at him.

“…No?”

“What are you doing?” Zaul glanced around, heart racing, but there was no one with him. “You hate the cold.”

He was wearing plain, slightly mis-matched clothes. The robes and underclothes were clearly from different sets, and his scarf was sized more like a woman’s.

Dymas took a hesitant step back, not answering. Zaul’s stomach clenched slighty. Dymas was many things, and hesitant had never been one of them.

“What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“I’m not Dymas,” he said, in what was obviously Dymas’s voice.

vary (Deathdancer - Ailin POV)

Dymas had been on her [Ailin]. But this young man, he wasn’t. He was a stranger who’d gotten himself into whatever this mess was all on his own. It wasn’t Ailin’s place to solve his problems.

Except…he’s going to die.

“I want to fight him,” she heard her voice, words forming without consciousness.

Everyone in the spectator box rounded on her, with varying levels of shock.

very (Deathdancer - Ailin POV)

Ailin frowned. Zaul had always seemed such an open book. Suddenly she wasn’t so sure. Unease prickled in her chest, and she swallowed carefully.

“Any connection to an Oracle creates expectations,” Zaul added. “It’s not a big deal, Ailin. I promise.”

“No offense, but in my experience ‘I promise’ is just something people say when they’re trying to get you to believe a lie.”

“You and I have had very different experiences,” he said, giving her a sad little smile.

vein (Firetide Rising 3)

“You’re not a mage,” snapped her father.

Kina wasn’t. It stung deeper than it should have, hearing her father say it.

But she was close enough.

Most mages used their breath as a focus, had a telltale inhale as they sucked in magic to use. Some favored breathing through their nose, others their mouth. It didn’t matter, anyone who had spent any time around mages would recognize the inhale that came before the magic.

Kina didn’t move.

Her heart beat, once, and she dragged in magic with it. Energy crackled in her chest, racing through her blood, crackling dangerously in every vein and tendon and bone.

I tag (no pressure!!): @ashen-crest, @sleepyowlwrites, @the-orangeauthor, @druidx, @papercutsunset, @thegreatobsesso and open tag for anyone who wants it!

Idle (Deathdancer - Ailin's POV)

Ailin’s heart jolted without warning. She braced for whatever was about to cause the adrenalin surge, eyes darting, but there was no one else in the room besides her parents.

“You took your time,” her mother said lightly. It wasn’t an idle comment. Nothing with Lezmi ever was.

That was the threat. Not a visible attack, but suspicion. Her parents pressing her, digging for the truth.

Ice (Firetide Rising 3)

Kina wasn’t entirely sure what “sharper lines” meant, but she focused on the cold edges around her, hands tightening into fists as she tried to compress them further. It was easier said than done. She fought the magic around her, chilling it slow, turning it into invisible sharp lines, into ice against her skin.

Idea (Deathdancer - Ailin POV)

The problem was, Ailin had no idea how not to kill someone. And she only had until sunrise to figure it out.

Impatient

“Zaul, I’m trying to help you stay alive.”

“Look, if I have to fight, I’m already dead,” said Zaul, dropping his stance and turning to face her. “Let me at least die making a dumb joke.”

“Life is not a joke, Zaul!” snapped Ailin, patience running thin. “It’s an arena. You don’t survive the arena by making jokes!”

I tag (no pressure!): @sleepyowlwrites, @akindofmagictoo, @ashen-crest, @adayforducks, @mel-writes-with-her-dragons, and open tag for anyone who wants it!

Tagged by the amazing @sleepyowlwrites, thanks Sleepy!!

lonely (Deathdancer - Ailin POV)

“You weren’t what they wanted, so they cut you loose,” Ailin finished softly, risking a glance at his face. He nodded, lips tight.

“The Oasis was always supposed to be home,” he said, almost to himself. “Legacy and loyalty, and all that. But people turn on you when you aren’t enough. Privilege is lonely, and leaving it is lonelier.”

wrecked (Firetide Rising 3)

“People keep telling me I’m at war.” [said Kina]

“You want to leave the world better than you found it,” Tai said, simply. “And as sad as it is, there’s a price on that. A price most people aren’t willing to pay.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel important?”

“I just want you to understand that, for better or worse, you’re more than just you now. You’re the embers. You’re about to be an inferno, whether you’re prepared for it or not.”

I’m not.

“You’re part of it,” she said, as he watched her quietly, waiting for an answer.

“You’re the revolutionary, Kina, not me. I’m just along for the ride.”

This isn’t a ride. It’s a shipwreck waiting to happen.

“Everyone thinks I have the answers now,” she whispered, meeting his eyes. “But I don’t. Dragonstorms, Tai, I don’t."

monday

knives

Ailin stood in the dust. Knives heavy in her hands, she flexed her toes as the crowd cheered.

easy (Deathdancer - Ailin POV)

Her [Ailin's] voice sounded like a strangers. She hated it when that happened, when everything went so numb that her mind locked itself in a glass box. It was easy to be impersonal when emotions never bubbled to the surface, and that was dangerous.

If you were going to do terrible things, you needed to understand the consequences.

BONUS

smoke (Deathdancer - Ailin POV)

Ailin took a deep breath, nearly chocking on perfume, and tossed the candle. Heat blazed across her, and she scrambled back a few paces before the fire could actually catch. The candle landed on his chest.

With a terrible whoosh, fire exploded, raging sand caught in the wind. Ailin retreated to the door, smoke already billowing as the curtains caught fire, flames skittering up the fabric.

“I’m sorry,” Ailin whispered again. The fire overtook him, and Ailin couldn’t watch.

mirror

At the top of the roof, Ailin paused, turning back. The Oasis glittered, a black mirror filled with stars. The moon had barely begun to set, casting silver through the firelight. There was still time left for work.

I tag (no pressure!!): @akindofmagictoo, @sleepynightchild, @ink-fireplace-coffee, @zmlorenz, @sharraus, @thegreatobsesso and open tag for anyone who wants it!

Tagged by the fabulous @pluttskutt, thanks!!

Wool (Deathdancer - Ailin POV)

Ailin rubbed her temple, the worn wool of her scarf rough on her face, struggling to think. She had no idea what to do next. What did an assassin say to the target they were trying to save?

Wood (Deathdancer - Ailin POV)

Left alone, Ailin stared at the door for a moment, almost holding her breath. The candle fluttered innocently, dim gold brushing the shadows of charred carpet and wood, and no one came charging in to arrest her.

Mountain (Firetide Rising 3)

Very carefully, Kina stood up, scanning around. The sun was setting, final traces of fire slipping below the horizon as the sky began darkening to dusk.

She was in something akin to a city, surrounded by incomprehensibly massive buildings of obsidian and coral bricks, some with towering glass windows three times Kina’s height. The structures here utterly dwarfed her, sized more for a being like Lusedan or Solesal [dragons].

She’d been here before, once, as a child. In a Dream she only half-remembered, and hadn’t had since.

In the distance, the mountain rose farther above her, a temple-like structure hewn from the obsidian itself.

Grave Serious (Deathdancer - Ailin POV)

“Still,” Ailin added, unable to resist a little teasing, “probably best we don’t let you get too bored for a bit.”

Zaul snorted this time, choking slightly before recovering his breath.

“Little late for that,” he said. “I’m seriously considering dissembling the furniture to see if I can put it back together again.”

Ailin considered him. There was a solid chance he wasn’t even remotely kidding.

I tag (no pressure!!): @sleepyowlwrites, @citywillow, @the-finch-address, @akindofmagictoo, @ashen-crest, @avrablake, and open tag for anyone who wants it!