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The large man looked down at the half-Orc and frowned, “And she’s sure that you’re the ones for this quest.”

“In the flesh, as it were.” Dank said, tilting his head like a child. The man shook his head, “Gods help us all.”

“Do you want to be my friend?” Orlogg asked and the group groaned.

“Not particularly, no?” The man replied. The half-Orc gazed into the flames and said nothing at that. “You all do realize that you’re meant to be the ones to save the world, do you not?” Vestare puffed her cheeks and sat down next to Orlogg, extending her hands towards the flames.

[image description: an orange full moon partly covered by the silhouettes of bushes over a dark blue sky. in the centre, white serif font reads “writeblr introduction.” / end id] [image via @avakrahn​] 

INTRODUCTION.

about me.

my name is ray. i’m 26 years old. she/her. i live in new york city, and am an mfa student concentrating in fiction.

i studied law in the u.k. and the u.s. and hated it in both places.

i write literary fiction, magical realism, and fantasy.

i am obsessed with beautiful prose.

i currently have several WIPs which i will begin posting about here. 

other random tidbits about me:

i am a semi-competitive pokemon player and was the president of my undergraduate university’s pokemon club.

i am obsessed with animals of all kinds. especially dinosaurs, cats, fish, and bugs. i have 11 fishtanks.

i play magic the gathering.

i love fashion, but only the slow kind. i have been shopping 100% slow fashion for over seven years. i tried to be a fashion blogger once and failed. 

i decorate cakes.

i have terrible taste in music.

i hate planning trips, but am excellent at packing for weeks in only a carry-on.

no?  well you dont get a choice 🙃 

essentially it’s a revisionist retelling of the story of the devil.  i think it’s time that non-religious people starting looking at the bible/christianity from a scholarly POV.  i’m an atheist.  however i’m not here to disrespect the bible or christians and i intend to do my share of research to portray your religion and bible respectfully even though some of you ✨don’t bother to be respectful with other cultures or religions✨ 

anyways my idea comes from the fact that the early christian church used elements of ancient non-christian religions to make it appear more fearful.  the symbol of a horned god can be linked to a number of ancient deities, including the greek god pan.  if you look at the names of some demons, many of them can easily be linked to god/deities from other religions. and the very same goes for the devil.  in fact, we only think of the devil by the name of Lucifer because of a translation error made in the 17th century in the king james bible.   

the name Lucifer comes from the latin word lucifer, which was also the name of the deity who was the personification of the morning star in roman mythology (in greek myth he was phosphorus).  the same can also be said for the name of devil being satan.  like lucifer, it was also a word rather than a name, it meant “adversary”. anyways, my story follows the god phosphorus.  he is the personification of the morning star along with other pagan gods, who represent the natural elements.  one day, they are killed by a newer and more powerful being - god.  he spares phosphorus, changes his name to lucifer, and lets him live among his angels as the angel of light.  anyways long story short, adam, eve, and the demon lilith are involved and dante alighieri gets a cameo at the end 

The only way I can save her is by not knowing her at all.

The closer she gets to me the more danger I put her in.

The pair of adults sat opposite each other in a booth in the non smoking section of Laura's Roadside diner. The diner has stood beside the stretch of road leading up to the large forests and mountains where the coal mines and lumber mills live. Providing numerous jobs to the town below. Pastel yellow and while colored walls, decorated with photos of Laura's favorite customers smile out from there simple wood frames. It had been a long time since Laura Mactavish stepped foot into the diner. There was only Crazy Larry taking up two booths for his lecture on Cats as Aliens to the empty seats.

Laura Mactavish had loved Crazy Larry before he had "Seen the Light". Back then his name had been Larry Right, the owner of the thrift store and pawn shop. The "Light" Larry had seen was that of the moonlight glistening off the translucent, nubile bodies of Siren's. They lay across the creek bed under full moons. It wasn't the light that had driven Larry out of his mind, but the fury of an angry Laura. To every manager or owner of Laura's Diner there was a promise that Crazy Larry could eat for free. And he did, not often but he did appear for a stack of pancakes and two boiled eggs.

The current owner of the restaurant, a vivacious thirty two year old strawberry blond woman with jade green eyes and a smart mouth named Vi sat across from David. Her face a mixture of good humor and utter embarrassment. Only a year separated the two in age, but Vi acted as if she were David's adopted big sister.  She sipped her coffee. Black like her heart and spoke after being silent for a good five minutes after hearing David's latest story about Hailey. 

"You're the worst dad ever…" She said as she tipped a cigarette out of her pack of them and lit it. 

"I knowwwwww," David said as he brought his head down hard on the cheap wooden table of the booth, hard enough to make Vi wince.  She blew smoke at him and his olive toned face came up scrunched like a cute Gargoyle and she reached over and squeezed his baby cheeks which made him glare at her. 

"You Can't Smoke here," David grumped as he rubbed his forehead. 

CHARGE COMPLETE

STARTING SYSTEM

My eyes open. A fake window, a couch, a girl. She plays on the floor, chasing the cat with toy trucks. The cat meows sticks its tail into the wall and starts charging. 

“Sed! You’re awake!” The girl says, smiling at me. 

“Is your mother gone?” I unplug my finger and walk into the kitchen, where the remnants of Taz’s mum’s breakfast are still visible. 

She comes and holds my skirt. “She just left.”

“Did she give you breakfast?”

Tazanna shakes her head. I frown and pick her up to place her on the island. 

“Can you make me pancakes?” She asks, playing with the hem of her butterfly pyjamas. 

I sigh, looking into the fridge. Old grapes, half full cans of soda, a bowl of leftover cereal.

“I’m sorry, it looks like your mother hasn’t gone shopping yet.” I hand her the cereal, she frowns. 

“She hasn’t gone shopping in weeks, Sed. Can’t you go?”

[...]

I take a solid coloured shirt, some overalls, underwear, and socks from her dresser and start putting them on her automatically, with more efficiency than a human could ever muster. Taz rushes out of the room when I’m done. 

I produce a programmed sigh and walk down the stairs once again, only to see the girl trying to unplug the cat’s tail. 

“Tazanna, what are you doing?”

“I want to play!” The cat’s code keeps her from interrupting its charge. 

I kneel in front of her. “Tiger needs to sleep, just like you and me.”

She frowns, “Why didn’t he sleep at night, just like the rest of us?”

“Well, first of all, cats need to sleep way more than humans do. Also, at night, Tiger was out getting you a present. Come on!” I take her small hand and drag her to the back door. “Now remember, no looking!”

She covers her eyes with her other hand but keeps looking through her fingers. 

“Taz…”

Her lips turn into a mischievous smile, but she closes her hand before I open the door. 

We are hit by a wave of hot air that makes the hairs on Tazanna’s arms stand. Without letting go of her hand I crouch and pick up a box the size of my thumb from the dirt floor. No grass has grown yet, no plants, no flowers. How long have we been waiting? I’ve lost track. 

“Can I look yet?” 

“Wait.” I look up at the sky. Still red. Still like a fire burning over us.