#shadowstepper

Y’all probably know what this is a reference to. ;)

Featuring a character from a darker Fangbone story I was cooking up back in 2017: A villainous shadowstepper named Blackblood.

Laying on his belly on the ground, a hill only barely looking over the near distance, he took first watch for his adventuring troop. They were situated just far enough away that they may rest but, close enough that if push came to shove he could ask for assistance. Goblins and bandits and nefarious so-and-sos alike lurked in the night. They were no strangers to the strife of a late night assassination attempt.

His keen sight picked up on a shadowy figure. With BAD NEWS, (the precision-sniper musket of his own making)  out and at the ready in his hands, he aimed the sights at whomever–- or whatever was approaching.

“How fortunate for you then.” Solitude. What Ardyn wouldn’t give to never be alone again. “Then again I do suppose we have quite a bit of practice at that. Being alone, forgotten, abandoned, sealed away to never see the light of day.”

The chancellor stepped forward, his gaze falling to the setting sun in the distance. “Did it never cross your mind why no one came for us? Why they all just left us there as he wrote us out of history? The people wanted us to be king, yet they fell in line with a demon’s tantrum.”

“I wasn’t abandoned. she died, I’m not. “ He took a breath. “Our stories aren’t the same.” 

Even as he said it he could taste ash in his mouth. It might not be the same as his story, but it was the same as the founder kings brother wasn’t it? The two kings who story he dreamt of every night. With his and Noctis’ faces on them. Except if this strange fellow really was from that time. It wasn’t just dreaming the family resemblance, it was real. 

Aera felt her face heat up as a delightful chill traveled down her spine, and guilt pooled in her stomach. It has been a long time since she heard Ardyn speak. Usually, it was in hazy dreams and fractured memories... Or in her lucid nightmares. She had almost forgotten how his voice sounded without the distortion.

“I-I...” Her rough voice scraped against her ears, causing her flush to become a darker shade. 

Hastily, she looked down and began fiddling with the ends of her long white scarf wrapped tightly around her neck. Aera had never dreamed that she would reunite with Ardyn. How could she? After all the pain and trouble she’s caused him, both in life and death. And besides, the former oracle assumed that he despised her after that. Aera understood; she would too- even though she wasn’t the one in control that time. But seeing him here now, with that playful smile of his, made her feel bashful and awkward but surprisingly happy. However, these feelings accompanied her contrite heart, which sought to choke out and way down any sparks of joy it could find.  

“I... I became lost,” she rasped. “That’s all.”

“You’ve left me alone for far to long and I am upset at you.” She started, pouting with her arms folded over her chest. 

| | -- @shadowstepper​ 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 -- | |

                     ❝  𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐍𝐎 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 to speak to me as if you know the entirety of the story. Sealed away you were, for two-thousand years away from ME and the rest of the world. You assume I did not keep track? You were [ [ e r a s e d ] ] because of your mistreatment for [ [ m y ] ] people! I purged the world of the darkness that YOU so [ [ h a p p i l y ] ] stood behind. I made my choices based on what I was told, based on the world that I was RAISED IN. Had you listened to the Gods, listened to what I was being told, you may have done the same. EVERY LAST PERSON that I killed I kept track of. Their families, their LIVES mattered. They were killed for their illness, one the Oracle could not cure. I am not to blame for that. BLAME ME FOR YOUR MISTREATMENT BUT I SAVED THOSE BENEATH ME. ❞

@shadowstepper​ gets a hastily done thing before I head to work

Traversing the worlds was what came easily to Sora. After everything, it’s what he clung to to give him some solace. His hands still felt the chill of Yozora’s crystal. The dread of never being freed again still stuck with him and made him constantly look at himself. Was he whole or were pieces of him fading and flickering out still?

 He didn’t regret what he’d done. He’d do it again and again until no pieces of himself remained if it meant his friends would be safe. That mindset kept the Light’s power radiating off of him like the sun itself despite the fear and sadness that crept into his mind if left unchecked.

The world he’d found himself in shook him. Too similar to Shibuya. It didn’t have the bright and hopeful air... The feeling that no matter what happened, eventually everything would turn out right that most worlds he’d walked did.

Never the less, he pressed on. No companions at his side save for his Dream Eater who looked a little off and cartoonish against the rest of the world. So much for World Order.