Shiny Things for Horrible People
The smell of blood was everywhere.
It clung to the grass. Hung in the air. Painted his tongue.
Alistair’s fangs throbbed.
The hunger crept in slow, insidious. Not a gnawing pain, but a pull. A tightening in his spine. A whisper in his skull.
Feed. You need to feed.
He pressed a hand to his ribs. Breathing hurt. The cuts across his chest burned.
HP: 43 / 130 2025-05-11 17:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
“So, That Escalated Quickly”
Alistair’s body jerked forward as the paralysis lifted.
Status Effect: Immobilized – Cleared
Trial One – Active
Objective: Acquire 1 Medallion
As the spell of immobility lifted, Alistair felt a rush of relief. His muscles, stiff from magical paralysis, twitched like they were waking from a long sleep.
“Finally,” he muttered, rolling his shoulders as mov...
2025-05-10 17:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
The world seemed to hold its breath.
Eliza’s words hung in the air, unfinished yet heavy enough to crush the space between them. Thorne felt a sharp pulse in his chest, a mixture of dread and disbelief.
Darius.
Jonah’s hands slowly slipped from his hair, his grief momentarily overridden by confusion and fear. Ben, ever silent, had gone pale, his lips moving soundlessly as if trying to form words that wouldn’t come.
Thorne's voice b...
2025-05-09 17:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post
The room of the city’s key reeked of sweat, spilled wine, and victory. The air was thick with the aftermath of the battle. Celebration and indulgence twined together in a haze of noise and flickering torchlight.
Thorne sat stiffly in a high-backed chair near the heart of the revelry; an untouched goblet of wine balanced precariously between his fingers. The light from the glowing crystal danced off his pale skin, illuminating the faint bruises and healing cuts still scattered a...
2025-05-08 18:55:12 +0000 UTC View Post
The battle below was a storm of steel and blood, yet the tide had shifted irreversibly. Thorne could see it now. No, feel it in the chaotic pulse of the battlefield. The once-indomitable Lockridge line had fractured beyond repair. The northern gate was lost, its defenders scattering like leaves in a gale. What had begun as a disciplined defense had unraveled into a panicked rout.
The allied armies, Thornfield’s battered remnants reinforced by the Viremont host, had become a ven...
2025-05-07 17:00:10 +0000 UTC View Post
Thorne’s glowing eyes fixed on the northern gate, his face impassive though his heart thudded painfully in his chest. The battle had raged with such ferocity that even from this distance, the chaos seemed to pulse through his veins.
The barracks, once a symbol of Alvar’s steadfast city guard, were now overrun. Thornfield and Viremont banners pressed against the tide of Lockridge forces, but the fortified building had been breached.
Darius. He had no way of knowing if hi...
2025-05-06 19:27:32 +0000 UTC View Post
Thorne stood beside Uncle in the towering command room, the two of them silhouetted against the wide-open windows overlooking the city.
From their vantage point, the northern gate was a vivid tableau of chaos, a desperate collision of forces illuminated by the flickering light of Alvar's burning rooftops. The green-and-gold of the Thornfield banners surged forward in tight formations, their soldiers clashing against the steel wall of Lockridge warriors entrenched before the barra...
2025-05-05 17:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post
Everything was blurry.
Alistair blinked, but his vision stayed cloudy, smeared with color and motion. He heard voices. Laughter, whispers, chanting, but they sounded far away, like echoes through a tunnel. He tried to focus.
Then the sun hit him.
And his body screamed.
System Notification
You are under the effects of sunlight!
Vampir...
2025-05-04 17:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Alistair gasped as he came to, jerking upright like he'd surfaced from drowning.
For a moment, he just sat there, breathing hard.
No pain.
His chest wasn’t torn open. His fingers weren’t slick with blood. No hollow cavity where his heart used to be.
He touched his shirt, perfectly smooth.
No rip. No wound. Not even bloodstains.
He blinked. Slowly. Then checked the window.
HP: 104 / 104 Status: Stable
Still alive.
Technic...
2025-05-03 17:00:10 +0000 UTC View Post
The room was a hive of barely contained tension. Uncle stood at the edge of the wide, open window, his thick fingers clasping the sill as he peered out over the city. The governing building, perched atop the tallest hill in Alvar, gave an unobstructed view of the chaos below. Smoke coiled into the evening sky from distant fires, and the din of fighting carried faintly to their ears even from this height.
The sound of hurried footsteps echoed up the spiral staircase before the mes...
2025-05-02 17:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post
The governing building, once the pristine heart of Alvar's bureaucracy, had transformed into a bustling nexus of survival. The grand halls were crowded with Thornfield soldiers resting on benches or sprawled on the marble floors, their armor dented and bloodied. Makeshift stations had been set up along the walls, where medics tended to the wounded, their tools gleaming under the flickering torchlight.
Supply crates were stacked haphazardly in every corner, their contents sp...
2025-05-01 17:00:28 +0000 UTC View Post
The square was a storm of chaos and death.
The cries of the wounded, the relentless clash of metal, and the guttural roars of soldiers locked in combat swirled into a deafening cacophony. Bodies moved like waves in a boiling sea, black-clad Ravencourts clashing with Thornfield greens, their struggle painting the cobblestones with blood. Aether flared in bursts of light and shadow, illuminating fleeting moments of terror and triumph.
Thorne stood on the edge of the maelstrom...
2025-04-30 17:00:17 +0000 UTC View Post
Thorne’s gaze settled on Arletta, her clipboard held loosely in her hand, a shadow of fatigue crossing her usually composed face.
“He’s waiting for me?” Thorne asked, his voice sharper than he intended.
The woman nodded, her grip tightening on the clipboard in her hands. “Yes. He left earlier for the governing building. From there, he can oversee the battle and direct the fight more efficiently.” Her gaze lingered on his battered form. “He instructed me to sen...
2025-04-29 18:47:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Thorne perched on the rooftop, his glowing eyes fixed on the chaos below. The sun dipped low on the horizon, casting the city in hues of orange and red. Smoke curled up from the Braddock estate, blending with the fading light as if the building itself bled into the evening sky.
He didn’t move, didn’t flinch, as the scene unfolded. Servants scrambled desperately to douse the flames, buckets of water seeming laughably small against the roaring fire. He watched their frantic mov...
2025-04-28 17:00:15 +0000 UTC View Post
Alistair lounged in the armchair, doing his best impression of a man who hadn’t just signed his soul away.
Across from him sat the Blood Mistress.
She didn’t move. Didn’t blink.
Just watched.
The crimson motes drifting behind her pulsed faintly, swirling into strange, broken shapes, wings, crowns, claws, all made from the raw stuff of magic and madness.
Alistair resisted the urge to squirm.
Instead, he chuckled.
A short, dry sound.
N...
2025-04-26 21:39:25 +0000 UTC View Post
Thorne’s mind raced as he watched the battle unfold below. The Ravencourt soldiers pressed their advantage, black and silver uniforms clashing violently with the crimson and gold of the Braddock guards. The air was thick with the metallic tang of blood and the acrid scent of smoke, but despite their ferocity, the Ravencourts hadn’t yet overwhelmed the estate’s defenders.
Thorne’s glowing eyes flicked toward a cluster of guards rallying near the estate’s main entrance. A...
2025-04-25 17:00:27 +0000 UTC View Post
The crow.
The symbol at the bottom of the parchment was unmistakable, its crude lines etched with precision that somehow radiated malice. The faint glow of aether surrounding it made his skin crawl, the energy resonating with something powerful and unnerving.
His mind flashed back to the crow painted in purple on the wall earlier, the wet paint still vivid in his memory.
He’s everywhere, Thorne thought, his grip on the parchment tightening. How deep does his influen...
2025-04-24 17:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post
The room darkened as Thorne melded into the shadows, his body vanishing from sight as if he were never there. He shifted slightly, repositioning himself against the wall, but the limited shadows left him with fewer options than he liked.
The woman’s narrowed eyes swept the room, her grip on her curved swords tightening as she moved with deliberate steps.
“Coward,” she hissed, her voice low and venomous.
Thorne took a slow, silent breath, expanding his Veil Sense...
2025-04-23 17:00:22 +0000 UTC View Post
Thorne leapt from the edge of a crumbling rooftop, his coat flaring behind him as he grabbed hold of a taut clothesline stretched between the buildings. His gloved hands gripped the line tightly as he zipped across the gap, the faint creak of the wire lost beneath the muffled sounds of the distant city.
Uncle’s words still echoed in his mind. “Always the obedient little assassin.”
Thorne’s lips curled into a faint smirk. Obedient? Not for much longer.
His boot...
2025-04-22 17:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Uncle’s thoughtful expression lingered as the silence stretched on, heavy and oppressive. He stood unmoving for a long moment, his piercing gaze fixed somewhere in the distance as though lost in his own calculations. Finally, with a deliberate motion, he went around the desk and lowered himself into his chair.
Reaching into the folds of his coat, Uncle retrieved the small summoning stone. The ripple of aether that accompanied its activation was subtle but unmistakable, and Thor...
2025-04-21 17:08:49 +0000 UTC View Post
The room shifted.
One second it was just the three of them, Alistair, his father, and Fergus. And the next, the shadows peeled open like wet paper.
A figure stepped out.
Cloaked in crimson from head to toe, she moved like fog. Even her hands were covered, gloved in the same blood-red fabric. No visible weapons. No smell. No heartbeat.
Alistair’s instincts screamed.
Alistair’s head whipped toward the source, fangs already pricking at his gums. His pupil...
2025-04-19 22:31:40 +0000 UTC View Post
The heavy door clicked shut behind the last of the guild leaders, sealing the room in a tense, suffocating quiet. Uncle stood motionless by the desk, his fingers tapping the edge with a deliberate rhythm, like a ticking clock counting down to an inevitable explosion.
Thorne didn’t rush to speak. Instead, he straightened his posture and adjusted his cloak, letting a faint, confident smile tug at his lips. Every movement was precise, calculated, his Mask of Deceit and
Thorne walked alongside Arletta, his steps measured as they passed through the dimly lit halls of Uncle’s mansion. The faint echoes of distant activity reached his ears, guards patrolling, murmured voices from other rooms, but here, near the heart of the estate, everything felt unnaturally still.
“How is he?” Thorne asked, his voice low.
Arletta didn’t glance at him. “Furious.”
Thorne exhaled sharply through his nose, feigning casualness. “At me?”
<... 2025-04-17 17:00:18 +0000 UTC View Post
Thorne crouched at the edge of the rooftop, his glowing eyes reflecting the orange flames consuming what remained of the Thornfield estate. The mansion, once an imposing symbol of wealth and power, now lay in ruins.
The columns that had once stood proudly now splintered and crumbled inwards, crashing to the earth in clouds of dust and debris. Gleaming white marble, polished to a mirror sheen just days ago, was cracked and scorched black by the roaring fires that tore through the ...
2025-04-16 17:00:15 +0000 UTC View Post
The noble quarter was a war zone.
What had once been the pristine heart of Alvar, its wide streets lined with stately mansions, manicured gardens, and glittering fountains was now a battlefield. Fires raged unchecked, thick black smoke curling into the sky as Ravencourt soldiers stormed through the quarter with ruthless efficiency.
Thorne ducked into the shadow of a crumbling archway, his glowing eyes narrowing as he surveyed the scene ahead.
The streets of the noble ...
2025-04-15 17:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post
Thorne’s eyes snapped open, his senses screaming danger before his conscious mind caught up. The darkness of the attic pressed in around him, broken only by the faint light creeping through the window’s edges.
His ears picked up the sounds first, distant and horrible.
Swords clashing. Heavy impacts. Wood splintering.
And then, unmistakably, screams.
He bolted upright, his breath shallow as adrenaline surged through him.
Beside him, Selene stirred, groa...
2025-04-14 17:00:26 +0000 UTC View Post
Alistair stood alone on the rooftop.
Wind tugged at his hair, cold and sharp. His thoughts weren’t much clearer.
He’d just been told he was chosen. A champion. For the Blood Mistress, no less, a Goddess whispered about in fear, the kind you didn’t pray to unless you had no other options.
He’d never even said her name out loud.
Blood was her domain, sure. Made sense for a vampire. But she was also the patron of hunger, power-hungry warlords, desperate nob...
2025-04-12 19:51:58 +0000 UTC View Post
The remainder of the party was a test of Thorne’s patience, each passing moment tugging at his already frayed nerves. The events of the night weighed heavily on him, but the nobles around him were blissfully unaware.
Questions came at him from all sides, polite inquiries masked as veiled attempts to extract information, subtle jabs disguised as humor. But Thorne’s social skills rose to the challenge, his carefully honed facade projecting an image of calm confidence. He projec...
2025-04-11 17:00:18 +0000 UTC View PostThorne stood frozen, his breaths shallow and uneven as his mind raced. The crow etched into his hand pulsed faintly, its light soft but steady, a reminder of the man’s parting words. A chill had settled deep into his bones, unshaken even by the warmth of his blood pounding through him.
Move, he told himself, but his body refused to obey.
Instead, his Veil Sense surged outward, more expansive than ever before. He reached deeper, stretching the limits of his ability, driven...
2025-04-10 17:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Thorne’s focus had been so consumed by the oppressive aura of the mysterious man that he almost didn’t notice the shift beside him. The wrongness hit him like a delayed wave, sending a chill skittering down his spine.
Eliza had gone completely still.
He turned, his heightened senses on high alert, and froze. The sharp glint of daggers in her hands caught the faint shafts of light piercing through the room. Her knuckles were white against the grips, her arms steady. Too ...
2025-04-09 17:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post