#stead

When my partner first read Broken Ground, he thought Stead was Karmo. Which initially doesn't make sense... but it got me thinking.

After all, why should Alix be second-in-command of the Redcloaks? What has he done to demonstrate that he would be fit for the role? We only see him as his original self briefly in one section of The Book of Shane. He is loyal to Shane, surely. It makes sense that he would be the first to follow him when he has lost everything else. He is sorely lacking, however, in "pagetime", character development, or any leaderlike qualities that I can see. He only serves to reveal that something strange is happening to those Conquerors who kept their spirit animals in passive state.

There is a harsh disconnect between the nervous, timid Alix we are introduced to and the stern, emotionless Stead of the later books. We don't get to see how he shifted from one to the other. We don't really know anything about the guy, whether as a Conqueror or a Redcloak. Indeed, it's up to the reader to infer that Stead is the rather forgettable soldier who showed up for a few pages in The Book of Shane!

What if my partner was onto something, and Karmo was the better choice for this position?

Karmo was introduced all the way back in Hunted, and although he only appears in a few books, he is a lot more developed as a character than Stead. He begins as an antagonist, albeit a sympathetic one, which is evident even before he gives his testimony to Shane in Venture. In that last section of The Book of Shane, we see them work together and build a better rapport than Shane and Alix ever did. Karmo strikes me as exactly the type of person Shane could use at his side. Loyal, but not a blind follower. More of an equal. Clever enough to come up with ideas to counter Shane's. Rational and usually levelheaded. We've seen he has a good moral compass. Shane clearly trusts him and thinks him capable, enough that he sent him to bring Dawson and Rumfuss to safety. He did succeed in retrieving Dawson (and recruiting Devin to the Redcloaks in the process).

And he has cool lightning powers. That's definitely a plus.

In ARHoE, once Karmo joins his ragtag band, Shane finds himself seeking out his new friend's counsel frequently. They become quite close; Karmo is the closest thing Shane has to a best friend. When their numbers grow enough that the order is named and a hierarchy established, the decision to make Jolt his second-in-command comes naturally to King. In the main timeline, he holds this position long into their adulthood. In the alternate timeline, he steps in with a heavy heart to take Shane's place, and leads the Redcloaks well for many years thereafter.

I'm happy to realize that all the gange can have thier own stead if they wanted to.

I genuinely didn't think herminia would have anything showing past her giant mask

Meanwhile Tytos is so ugly alsdkfjsa what is even his face

Auguste is Unhappy. The things he does for acting...

Meanwhile Pardis looks really nice?? help

(Rinyuu is still making soup)

Happy Anniversary Octopath Traveler!!!

Aight, so this is basically a rewrite of Last Words and a part of Loss from The Burning Tide. It's a 'what-if' AU where Abeke dies instead of Shane. A little disclaimer before we begin, this write includes: -Violence

-Descriptions of blood

-Usage of swords and stuff

-Harm to both humans and animals

-It's pretty long

So if you are uncomfortable with any of those themes, I have to ask you to not proceed further. For all of you staying, thank you! Without further ado, let's get into it!

Loss

The Place of Desolation was an abandoned base, an unused snare for centuries, and now, it was the location of one of the biggest battles in the history of Erdas. The chilly air was filled with yells, cries, screeches, hoots, growls, roars, and clashes of metal on metal. A gust of sweet ocean air entered and exited Shane’s nose with every breath. The breaths were getting more and more rapid. Drawing his saber, Shane ran down one of the halls to meet the incoming array of Greencloaks.

Sliding the last few meters on the thin ice covering the cold ground, Shane’s saber caught one of the Greencloaks under the ribs, sending him toppling back into a rather skinny-looking deer. With a few quick strides, he joined Stead and Howl in the mass of people and animals. “Are these all the Greencloaks from the ships?” Shane yelled over the growing roar of battle, “Or just a part of them?” He hoped that the Greencloaks on the island were the only ones who would fight, their numbers were impressive to say the least, outnumbering the Redcloaks almost five to one, if you didn’t count the spirit animals. “We don’t know,” Stead yelled back, before ducking as a one-headed axe swung at his head. Quickly cutting the wielder on the shoulder, he turned to kick at the dog which was probably the man’s spirit animal. “We haven’t seen any others on the ships, but there may be more hiding, waiting.” The words escaped the young man’s mouth in a series of gasps, his ram pupils darted from side to side as he scanned the surroundings, before bringing up his stained longsword to point at three large animals in the near distance. A ram, a boar, a leopard… and something long and curved on the head of the ram, something that was curling around the horns of the oversized animal. A snake. A cobra. Gerathon. The Great Serpent. Great Shane thought, focusing on the nearing animals, Four of the infected Great Beasts as well. His hopes for the outcome of this battle seemed more and more like a far-fetched fantasy. If only they could manage to activate the snare, maybe it could hold back, or even stop the infected. It didn’t seem like an entirely reliable idea, but if Niri could still hear Takoda and the others underground, maybe she could find out something valuable.

Without any other response to Stead, Shane put his smooth wooden mask on and turned to find Howl trying to hold off the Greencloaks in a circle around him and Stead. He quickly ran to the man’s side, to help fend the Greencloaks off. They would have bigger things to worry about than the Greencloaks, and they needed all the room they could get, even with these powers, it was difficult to hold Great Beasts off. Shane’s saber came in contact with an axe at the same moment as Howl attempted to block it with his sword. Shane couldn’t stop his mind from replaying the battle at The Temple of Dinesh, the battle where he and Conor blocked a sword from Shane’s own soldier, to protect Abeke. The very Abeke who was now on this island, under his protection. Quickly shaking his head, he pushed the man with his shoulder, sending him off balance. There is no time to dwell on the past. Turning around Shane sheathed his saber, and prepared to meet the galloping Great Beasts. The serpent, he noted to himself immediately. He needed to get Gerathon off Arax, her reach was too big while on the ram. Uraza and Rumfuss split away from Arax to join the mass of Greencloaks, leaving him to charge forward. Shane waited for the ram to be a few steps away from him, before dodging to the side, Gerathon extending and lunging for the air where Shane was just a moment ago. With a slight push to Arax’s hindquarters, Shane imbalanced the ram, causing him to stumble, Gerathon uncoiled from his horns and fell on the ground. Arax tried to regain his footing, nearly trampling the serpent in the process, which got him a loud hiss. Arax charged at Shane again, this time, Shane grabbed the ram’s horns, digging them into the ground, Arax’s back bent unnaturally before the ram relaxed in an attempt to break free. Shane let go of the ram’s horns and scanned the ground to find Gerathon, but the snake wasn’t anywhere in his field of vision. Gasping for breath, Shane noticed Uraza attempting to catch Jolt, who was moving faster than any man should be able to. He also saw Worthy yelling something inaudible at Stead, who was jumping over Rumfuss, giving the boar cuts from a short dagger, while his longsword was sheathed on his back. Moving closer to them, Shane could make out what Worthy was screeching desperately at Stead.

“Don’t!” The younger boy was yelling “Stop! Don’t hurt him! Good lord, just listen to me!” Worthy’s tone was changing with every screech, from angry, and worried, to annoyed, and frustrated. Shane remembered that Rumfuss was Dawson’s spirit animal, Worthy’s younger brother. Pushing a pair of very confused-looking Greencloaks aside, Shane came closer to Worthy and Stead and tried to yell over the commotion. “Stead, keep Rumfuss occupied for now, it won’t be long.” Before he could look back, he felt all the air exit his lungs at once as something slammed into his side with an immense force. His head hit the ground hard, had it not been for the mask, then his eyes, nose, and mouth would have been full of dirt. Looking up, he saw two hooves coming up, and he immediately rolled, the hooves came down hard, sure to have shattered Shane’s ribs if he hadn’t moved away in time. Standing up, he saw Arax lining up to charge at him again. Shane readied himself and as the ram neared, he pushed one of the horns to the side, making Arax change course and run straight into Rumfuss. The two animals collided, the dirt flew in every direction, and the air filled with grunts and squeals of surprise. Shane heard a sigh of relief followed by a chuckle, which he assumed came from Worthy and Stead. A loud bird-like screech carried on the battlefield, Shane snapped his head in the direction of the sound, and he saw Jolt clinging to one of the small windows up on the fortress, his now torn cloak billowing in the icy wind of the island as Uraza stalked away below him. Shane saw Howl and Worthy running to his aid, but as he began to do the same, he was stopped by a cobra, the large snake stood up and opened her hood. The Great Serpent was formidable, even in this form. He remembered how large and terrifying she was as a Great Beast. Even now, she was just as deadly, she was faster and more agile. Backing up, he tried to avoid Gerathon entirely by going around her. The snake let out a monstrous hiss and slithered with terrifying speed towards Shane. Shane tried to pull out his saber to cut at the snake, but within mere moments the serpent lunged and bit his arm. With a gasp of shock, Shane grabbed the large cobra behind her hood, pulled her off, and threw her on the ground a few meters away from himself. Breathing heavily and quickly, he undid the clasps that held a piece of leather to his lower arm. Memories flashed through his mind, of Drina and her spider, Iskos, as Gerathon forced the monstrous arachnid to kill his sister. As he pulled the leather off, he saw his arm, his scaled arm, Gerathon bit him right where he had golden-green crocodile scales, the venomous fangs of the serpent didn’t pierce the skin. Shane sighed a sigh of relief and put the piece of leather back on. 

As he looked up, he saw Gerathon’s tail slinking away between a fighting Greencloak and a Redcloak. Shane looked back towards Jolt and saw Howl helping him down, while Worthy was grappling with a small woman who had some kind of elongated, hissing otter on her shoulder. Running to a large boulder, Shane jumped onto it, taking a few seconds to find his balance, he looked over the mass of fighters, and noticed a group of Greencloaks being forced to another part of the island by a stream of lava, Dinesh was being forced away with them. Looking to his right, he noticed Stead jumping in large arches around Arax and Rumfuss who were trying to charge at the man. But he didn’t see Uraza. His heart began to thump harder and harder in his chest, his thoughts were a mess. She could have gone to? Could she? Where is she? This isn’t Zourtzi. She can’t. Shane was so caught up in his worries, that he didn’t hear Stead approach or call his name. “King!” Stead was saying, Shane wasn’t sure how many times he said it. “Arax and Rumfuss ran away, for one reason or another.” Stead waited for a few moments, probably for Shane to give a reply, which Shane didn’t. Stead’s eyes narrowed in a worried way behind his white ram mask. “What is it?” He asked hesitantly.  “Uraza,” Shane replied, already looking for any openings in the wall of the fortress where Jolt was handing earlier. The short answer seemed to be enough for Stead because he nodded and let out a short grunt before stepping back.

“Try to follow her, I will try to hold the Greencloaks back for as long as possible, if we succeed or fail, I will find you and report it.” The man nodded quickly before turning, drawing his sword, and beginning to yell commands. Shane was grateful that the young man didn’t enquire any further on the subject. Jumping down from the boulder, he ran as fast as he could, faster than he ever ran in his life, towards the closest tunnel in the fortress wall. He tried to locate any growls or roars that could have come from the leopard. He couldn’t hear anything besides the sounds of battle outside the walls of the fortress, and he began to hesitate, what would he even do if he did find her? Fight her? Kill her, even? He wasn’t sure how far Abeke’s forgiveness would go if he killed her beloved spirit animal. Or how far the nations would look for his good intentions when they find out he killed one of The Great Beasts. Was he able to kill a Great Beast? He shook his head, he couldn’t think like this, he would die if he had to in order to save Abeke. Passing several openings, he slowed down where six passages met, looking around wildly, he ran up to one and went a few meters in before going out, and checking the other passages. It felt hopeless, how could he ever find a creature that was the exact image of stealth? Or her partner? As he went into the fourth passage he thought he heard Abeke’s voice. Without any hesitation he sprinted down the dark hall, Shane realized that it could lead to one of the balconies, overlooking the center of the structure. He slowed down ever so slightly as he heard Abeke’s pleading voice. 

“I don’t know what Zerif’s done to you, but I know you, Uraza.” The girl seemed to be sobbing while saying it. Shane rounded a corner and nearly tripped on Tasha who was lying on the stone floor, clutching one of her arms, blood oozing in between her pale fingers. As he looked up, he saw what he feared the most. Zerif standing on one side of the room, at the balcony, and Abeke in a corner on the other, being backed in by Uraza. The leopard seemed so distant, her violet eyes lacking the intelligence that he had seen countless times before. “Deep down, I know that you don’t want to hurt-” Abeke’s pleading was cut off as Uraza leaped for her, paws outstretched, sharp claws glinting, ready to kill. This time, Shane didn’t think about what he was going to do, he only knew that he needed to get Uraza away from Abeke, and he jumped. He collided with Uraza in the air, the impact was so strong it slammed him and Uraza into the wall. His mask came flying off. He tried to hold onto the back of The Great Beast, but it was so difficult, her fur was so soft and short, and it was impossible to hold onto it. The leopard rolled on the ground, trying to get the nuisance off her. In one of these rolls, Shane lost his grip and slid slightly on her, but it was enough for Uraza to grab his arm and sink her teeth into it. He yelled out in pain, letting go of Uraza with his other hand, dropping on the floor. The leopard shook him, Shane thought his arm was gonna get torn off, but after a few seconds Uraza let go, Shane tried to scramble away, to try and regain his footing again, only to feel a wrenching pain in the side of his ribcage. Going off balance again he hit the ground with his head, and his vision flowed before him, he tried to yell, but the leopard’s grip was too tight, pushing at his ribs, threatening to break them. And all at once, she let go and turned without giving Shane a second glance. 

He knew his wounds weren’t fatal, and he knew Uraza knew it too, why was she letting him go so easily? He took in a few shaky breaths, and then stopped as the realization dawned on him. The world seemed to go silent for the next few moments. He wasn’t the target, and he was never the target, Abeke was, she was the target in Zourtzi, and she is the target now, Uraza missed her before, and she isn’t going to make the same mistake twice. “No-” Abeke begged the leopard before stumbling back as Uraza lunged at her. Uraza grabbed Abeke right under the ribs, on the side of her stomach, and shook violently. Shane’s vision blurred with tears, this time he didn’t hesitate. He ignored the pain in his arm, and the pain in his ribs. Unsheathing his saber, he grabbed it with both hands, bringing it high over his head, and put it right through Uraza’s back leg. The metal blade came out stained in bright red blood on the other side of the leopard’s leg. Uraza roared in pain and agony as she dropped Abeke on the cold ground. Just as the leopard whirled around, Shane pulled his saber free of her leg, another loud roar escaped her as she limped away from him, leaving a trail of red blood on the ground. The leopard seemed to notice him for the first time then, and to notice Abeke, Uraza’s ears flattened and her eyes widened as she let out low moans directed at her partner, before she could make any other move, she disappeared in a flash of bright light, into her passive state.  The only signs of Uraza’s presence were a pool of blood, the red-stained saber, and Abeke’s still body. Shane dropped his saber, and went to Abeke’s side, dropping on his knees beside her body. He took her head in his hands and looked into her warm, brown eyes. All the sound from the world seemed to come back to him at once, the metal clashes from the Redcloaks and Greencloaks from the sides of the chamber, their yells, and Abeke’s heavy breathing. He tried to focus on her face, to make himself look at her, but he couldn’t suppress the tears, they flooded his eyes, threatening his vision.

“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry for everything.” Sobs tore from his throat in between the words. He wanted to say so much, to say how much he regretted the war, how much he wanted to make up, how much she truly meant to him, but the words didn’t come to him. He was supposed to die! He was The Devourer! She was one of The Four Heroes of Erdas, she didn’t deserve this. “I know… and I… forgive you.” Abeke was still willing to put her faith in others, even now. Her words came in short gasps, and they only made him sob harder. To Shane’s surprise, Abeke pulled him in for a hug, she felt warmer than the air around them, and Shane felt safe, for once. As Abeke pulled back, she tried to say something, but the words never took shape, she frowned and seemed to focus all of her energy on delivering a single message to him.

“Could you… promise… to protect them?” The words seemed to take a great toll on her. Abeke looked straight into Shane’s eyes, not many people did now, his eyes were inhuman, they were those of a crocodile. Without any hesitation, he nodded, he didn’t know who they were, maybe the other Four Heroes? The Greencloaks? The Great Beasts? Their summoners? It didn’t matter, he vowed to protect all of them, no matter the cost.