#instar

Flames, Decres, Instar (Instar gets 2 versions bc I couldn't decide)

Moonless [unreleased, 2020]

moon some [unreleased, 2021]

had fun using inverted pencil marks for the stars

another + lore below

There's a helmeted figure mumbling to itself as they chase hooded men on the rooftops of Gotham. They are much too small to be fighting alone like this.

"'And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.'"

It's always taken her a long time to form her sentences. Thoughts and feelings and so many words swirl around her head, and the most precise words to use are always the ones highest out of reach. But these words are the ones that Olly mumbles to themself like a prayer, so she doesn't need to think too hard. She remembers every single word by heart, and can say them so fast.

"'And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.'"

The glint of poisoned steel flashes towards her enemies. She's moving faster than she can see. 'Like a tiger beetle,' she thinks. She's reacting to the way air moves around her, the vibrations running through the ground. Olly points out the best places to hit, flaws in the defenses of her enemies, how to best use her weight and speed to get them to hurt each other while she jumps and weaves and dodges around them like a Portia jumping spider.

They're stronger, but she's faster. We have always been faster.

"'And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree! But only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads...'"

She shouts that verse with the same conviction Olly does, and she feels their energy well up inside of her. She feels so free. And like her heart is about to burst.

"'And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.'"

She remembers hearing of the angels who did battle in the park with fire and steel and divine fury, how one had been slain and the other grievously wounded. She had seen their blood covering the ground like a field of crimson flowers, their bodies nowhere to be seen, and she had found the relic mentioned in the prophecy that had showed up in the lost-and-found column of the Gotham 1 Newspaper that day.

That night, she had a dream about a grasshopper who was screaming and crying and was so angry at themself, was so scared because there were trapped children who were going to be hurt now that the angels had fallen, and they couldn't save them.

"'And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.'"

But she could save them, with Olly's help. Together, they would make sure these bad people would never hurt anyone again.

"'And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle...'"

The false prophets are weighed down by their heavy armor and long robes and their reactions dulled by fatigue and pain. This is her chance to use what Olly gave her.

"'And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months...'"

She finishes the final verse as the last one hits the ground, dead:

"'And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.'"

She collapses to her knees and tries to catch her breath. Her arms and legs are achy, but she knows the achiness means they're getting stronger.

You did a good job, instar. I'm really proud of you. Take a few minutes before we run, we can't be caught when the bodies are found.

She smiles. Olly is happy.

Same bunch of doodles. Suddenly some awful swords?

And suddenly (not realy) some Instar? And proto-party. With tails!

I see Instar as someone with humanoid face (skull in melted portrait kinda hints) but it is hidden under curly soft hair of something with such form. Also I think they share a same species with Soms so I gave them bug antennas too.