via
https://ift.tt/2kZYcYVdistressedherbalist:
A tragedy in stages
i
It was always the three of them. Even when she was the youngest. Even when it took her longer to handle her gifts. She learned about them anyways, because teethless was never in her blood and magic ran through her veins. Because sooner or later they’d need her and she would always stand besides them.
ii
It started with hope. When the Astrals offered a solution and her eldest, gentlest, brother clung to it. They followed him, because what else would they do? He wanted to try, and what else are siblings for if not to be there, come what may.
He’d never make it on his own. That is why the three of them always went together.
iii
She hid her mounting horror. They both did. She learned to mask hers deep beneath a placid smile. She was always polite, whenever Their attention shifted to her. She smiled and bowed gracefully, as she’d been taught, while she buried her despair and her rage as deep as she could. And as her brother’s condition worsened all she could do was trade empty reassurances with the only one she could be honest with.
‘It’d be over soon’ the younger siblings muttered to each other, ‘it’d be over soon and he would be back to normal again’. Everything would be alright.
iv
It was only disbelief, what she felt when the rejection happened. The rage came later. It came when, as she rocked a cradle, deep into the night, He came to her. He made demands. Because her brother was tainted now, he said, impure. All his virtues sacrificed. And he needed to die. But not yet. Not until some convulted circumstances came to pass.
They’d all die, she realized, if she acquiesced. Every last bit of her, of her brothers, would be gone.
So she raged. She would not betray her brother. Even if the world fell to darkness, she would not. She told the Draconian as much.
v
She almost missed the warning, when it came. A moth, black and invisible in the darkness fluttered around her, circling her head until she noticed. She wasn’t afraid, she knew what it meant and she felt more resignation than dread. But there was hope as well, when the moth landed on her extended hand and she realized that at least one of Them thought of her family as more that pawns.
Curses are powerful things, when they come entwined in the blessings of a mother. She had planted a seed, deep into her bloodline. Do not believe their lies it said. It would grow, in time.
vi
Vengeance. The thought ran continuously through his mind as he listened, impassive, to Their plans. His brother had obeyed and he had been changed. His sister had rebelled, and she was dead. And now it came to him, who had been overlooked until there were no alternatives.
They would not take his family from him, he determined, even as he agreed. Even as he pretended to obey. Even if it took thousands of years, they would have retribution.
They grieved together, in private. Just the two of them. And as the grief faded and was replaced by hatred, they planned.
The reign of the gods would come to an end, and their family would endure, come what may.
.
@sparklecryptid @hamelin-born @theotherguysride @lectorel
This is all your fault. Have it.
*screaming endlessly*. SO GOOD.
Oh my god(s), this is brilliant and gorgeous and incredible, THANK YOU SO MUCH!
And may I just say that I love what you did with the unnamed sister and the Oracle’s bloodline? I think - I think that Ardyn and the line of Lucis tries to keep an eye on them, watch out for them when they can - but it’s not that easy. It’s not that easy at all, because the line of Oracles is seen as the direct conduit of the Astrals, and therefore probably under a lot more divine scrutiny then the Blood Royal. The Lucis Caelums pity their cousins, who never had the chance to be free, who do not know the truth of their past or their history. The Line of Lucis do what they can when they can, and it’s - it’s not enough, it’s never enough, but they do what they can.
And then came Ravus.
I am - ambivalent when it comes to Ravus. My perspective of him is greatly colored by whoever’s writing him at the time. But Ravus?Ravus defying the gods for his sister, Ravus outright hating the Astrals - oh yes, Ardyn would very much approve of his nephew’s attitude. As would Regis, for that matter - they might have slightly different opinions on his personality and life choices, but his attitude towards the Astrals? They would approve.
@sparklecryptid @theotherguysride @lectorel
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