Started some serious writing again. I don't know how long it'll take for me to finish this story, but I'm optimistic about how it'll turn out. The story is called Shien. Here is the summary, taken from my fictionpress profile. Set in the same geographical region as Willing Tool but takes place later in the country's history. Shien is but an infant. She has no powers to fight the army drawing near, the assassins lurking in the shadows. But her very birth is the King on a chess board. Her life or death will turn the tide on the most devastating war Temire has ever seen. It'll be broken into two main portions, Shien - Prologue, and Shien. The prologue will cover everything before Shien's birth, and the main story will cover the life of Shien. There will be several parts to the prologue, each part about 2-3 chapters (2000-3000 words or so) long following the perspectives of the major forces in the Civil War. The main story should be about as long as the prologue, but told in a single part (so around 10 chapters or so). Currently, I've written a chapter zero introduction for the prologue section, and am on the second chapter of prologue - part one, which follows the story of Sitou Ten'ue, the character who killed the former monarch and is planning to help her master, Riun Ten'ha, usurp the throne of the country. Here's chapter zero, a little sneak peak to the story!
“It’s not my fault that I’m the Heiress…” The woman took a step back towards the cliff’s edge, her shaking foot stirring up a small whirl of dirt. But her pursuer only answered by taking a matching step towards her. “Don’t come near me. One more step and I’ll jump off.” Her pursuer didn’t seem to care, taking yet another step and another. Their distance closed. The woman tried to back up more, but she was already at the end of the ledge. From where she was standing, she could feel the vibration of the ocean waves clashing on the coast. “Why me, why me, why me? It’s not my fault. It’s…it’s all your fault. Don’t blame me. I told you to stop coming, you coward. Stop coming!” The pursuer reached out to grab the woman, prompting her to bend backwards. The slight shift of centre of gravity was enough to make her tumble. She slipped off the ground, screaming. “Not yet, Heiress.” The pursuer said while stepping the woman’s hand onto the cliff’s edge. Her fall stopped with a dozen cracking sounds of her wrist bones breaking. Despite seeing her own flattened hand, the woman smiled. “I knew it wouldn’t be over yet, Sitou Ten’ue. I knew you’d save me.” “Then you’re wrong, Heiress.” Ten’ue bent down so that she was facing the woman’s hand. The woman shivered when Ten’ue’s fingers hovered over her thumb. “Fingers” was a misleading description. Ten’ue’s fingers, or rather appendages, were like centipedes; a segmented black shell extending just a little past her knuckles encased them. Each segment of the shell was adorned with small razors that matched the sharpness of the fingertips. The only remnants of humanity were the blood vessels that extended from Ten’ue’s human flesh into the dark armour. “Just let me die, just let me die,” the woman screamed, trying to shake her hand out from the bottom of Ten’ue’s boot. “Just give up, Heiress. Hou kai ju en. Neh’ui gan’oku mu dou.” Ten’ue’s used her inhuman index finger tip to cut into the woman’s thumb, just below the first joint. Wisps of smoke rose into the air amidst the woman’s screams as the searing incision was made; all blood instantly vaporizing under the energy. “Damn you, Sitou. Damn you. I’ll haunt you forever. You won’t live long…” The woman’s voice trailed off when Ten’ue kicked her off the cliff. A splash was heard some ten-men’s-height below where the woman’s body splattered onto the rocky shoreline. Without even looking down once more, Ten’ue pulled out a small bottle of clear liquid that she poured on the woman’s severed thumb, watching the ink turn into a turquoise hue upon contact with the skin. She pressed the thumb onto a scroll to make a print below the words. Riun ji sen yuin Chin Depu Sen’u hou nokudai Gaisen Chiyu yuin Xue Fuu Kiri ji fen’ou ya Notes: The italicized text is in Haiyu, a dialect of the fictional language of Shirinese. Below are the translations. Hou kai ju en. Neh’ui gan’oku mu dou: It will end soon. You won’t feel it. Riun ji sen yuin Chin Depu, Sen’u hou nokudai Gaisen, chiyu yuin Xue Fuu, Kiri ji fen’ou ya: Surname of Riun, mark Chin Depu, sixth generation Gaisen after Sen’u, gives mark Xue Fuu the title of Kiri.
～青月レン aka Dexterity | 
