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@this-is-not-an-alien

Ooh, how do you say “why aren’t you in school?” in Dutch?

Usually: “Heb je geen school vandaag?” (Don’t you have school today?) It’s usually formulated like that because the Dutch school system is freakishly irregular and oftentimes a school will take a day off randomly.

Your new pic’s really interesting btw it looks like it could’ve been from ancient Egypt or Greece!

Thank you so much! It’s one of my newer drawings of Liorah, I was particularly proud of that one XD Her clothing and headdress are based on Amazigh’s (Berber) traditional clothing. It’s pretty close to what Liorah would have worn for formal events in her time and place. (Medieval North-Africa) Don’t get me wrong, very few things in my book are historically accurate, but I do like taking historical inspiration. And it’s super pretty XD

That whole ‘rant’ was awesome btw!

Aw, thanks!

Ehud had sole rights to calling her Rosy and she had no interest in becoming ‘chubby’ with everyone here, some of them at least were going to die so there was no reason to become attached.

That is the most Rosario thing I’ve ever read XD

Rosario nodded and was about to say something when an explosion occurred. For some obscure reason she was not surprised. No, no surprises here, just a blockbuster size metal man.

That was hilarious!

@joelle-stone

 I went on vacation over the weekend and everything I did I somehow managed to get it into my book or research it for my book or use it for my book. I was telling my dad about it, and my older sib (who was listening in) was like, “Do you do ANYTHING but books?”

That sounds so familiar XD

Gavril

The man laughed and put away his rifle. I relaxed. That had been much too close.

“The first one better knock me out,” he said.

I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing but stifled it immediately.

“That’s… optimistic, but okay,” I said, as I folded the sling and returned the lead bullet to the pouch. I had never used my sling on a person, but I had hunted and chased away predators. The bullets could shatter a hyena’s thick skull, so a human’s wouldn’t be a problem. I was glad I didn’t have to try it.

The man introduced himself as Klein Larson, a Gunnery Sargeant. I had no idea what that meant, but I did gather that I’d been correct and he was in the military.

He flew across the chasm with the help of some sort of device attached to his armor.

I raised my eyebrows, impressed.

“Well now. Let’s break out of prison,” he said,

I nodded and peered up the stairs. Ehud and Riure were disappearing around a bend, but Rosario stood at the bottom of the stairs, a small device that looked like a weapon clenched in her hand. She gave us both a quick, calculating look, then bolted up the stairs ahead of us, shooting glances over her shoulder as though she expected us to stick a knife in her back.

“I’m Gavril, Crown prince of the Lehabim. Second in command, I don’t know what you’d call that in your time,” I said, apologetically.

I didn’t mean to brag, but he’d introduced himself with his name and rank, so I did the same. I didn’t pride myself on my rank. It hadn’t been handed to me, I’d had to prove myself every single day, but I hadn’t really earned it either. It didn’t feel that way, at least. I’d never even been in a real battle.

Rosario slowed, held up with Riure, who was having trouble with the stairs. I waited, patiently. I was in no hurry to get to the top, and I didn’t want her to feel rushed. Eventually, they reached the top.

Liorah

I heard voices downstairs. Gavril and the other one– Ruby five? Gavril’s voice came first. His tone was familiar and it sent my stomach plunging to my boots.

It was the tone he used when there was danger, the slow, careful, measured one. There was a pause, then laughter. I let out a sigh of relief. Gavril had managed it, again. Footsteps rattled up the stairs, first two pairs of quick ones. Rilyn and Konyar burst inside, both in human form now. Then two slower pairs, that paused somewhere halfway, and another sound, a rattling of nails on steel. That must be Riure, Sadiq, and someone else. Either Ehud or Rosario. Probably Ehud.

They came through the doorway next, Ehud’s blonde hair even more rumpled than usual. Rosario came next, her footsteps bounding in long, quick strides. She shot a suspicious look over her shoulder at what sounded like Gavril and the new person.

“Yeah, I know. Gavril’s a pretentious, overly-polite idiot. You learn to ignore it after a while,” I told Rosario, making sure Gavril could hear me.

“I heard that!” He said, appearing in the doorway, a frown on his face for the first time.

“You were supposed to,” I said, grinning smugly.

The armored man followed him. Apparently, Gavril had decided it was alright, so I’d just have to trust him.

Gavril looked down the stairs.

“Okay, I think that’s everyone–” Before he could finish, the door slammed shut and we were left in darkness.

I scrambled to my feet and limped toward Gavril. I stood next to him, somehow feeling as though I needed to be close to him.

A single light clicked on on the far side of the room, illuminating the door that we hadn’t gone through yet.

A metallic, unnatural voice resonated out of the walls, and even through Dancrow’s voice-box-thingy.

“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here, and those who have intruded upon mine final days of rest shall feel the crushing of my wrath until they are reduced to mere piles of bleached bones, like all who have–”

My mouth had gone dry and I barely managed to keep the quiver out of my voice. We were trapped, up high, together, and held up only by the very thing that was threatening us. This was just great.

“You know, that’s really dramatic and all, but we don’t have all day. Summarize the death threats and get to the point,” I said, dryly. Though it sounded like nothing more than my usual bravado, I had another reason. I wanted to figure out if the stupid thing could actually hear us.

The castle silenced, apparently insulted. Good.

“Ya know, you might have an idea there.” The castle’s tone had altered so radically that I staggered backward. It was a casual drawl, not unlike Dancrow or Ehud’s accents.

“‘Kay, here’s the thing: Only half of y’all are getting out of this room alive. I’ll leave it up to y’all to figure out who dies. Just hurry, you have one hour before the staircase loosens and y’all plummet into the chasm. Ya won’t survive the drop, so I’d pick out half as quick as you can. As soon as you give me a list of names of them who die, the others can leave. Have fun!”

My stomach twisted as what that meant finally set in. Out of all of us, only half would leave. The others would die. Somehow. Just, die.

“Oh, and if there’s an uneven number of y’all, half plus one die. Life ain’t fair.”

The utter disregard the castle seemed to have for our lives made red flecks appear in front of my eyes. I couldn’t lose anyone here. I couldn’t. Especially not if my life could save someone. Tears of anger, of fear, of pain, brimmed in my eyes.

I raised my wounded leg and yanked the boot off, almost enjoying the sharp sting. I reared my arm back and hurled the boot at the lit door with all the power I had. I was barely biting back furious tears as the boot simply bounced off the wall. Useless.

_______________

Okay, y’all, I took the liberty of moving everyone’s characters along a bit, since I really wanted to get the trap started.

Here’s how it works: Besides what the castle mentioned, there’s no way to break down either of the doors, the walls, or anything else. (Don’t worry, the characters won’t actually die, but I need them to feel as though there are actually consequences.)

The purpose of this exercise is to figure out how characters react to a clear sacrifice/survival situation. I thought it might be interesting 😉 I picked the rules so it could happen that one of the characters just sort of grits their teeth and rattles of a list of names of people who will die. Generally, whatever happens will cause a lot of internal and external conflict, and I hope y’all can have some fun with it!

Oh, and nobody is required to stick to the utterly ridiculous voice I randomly chose for the castle. That was solely for my own amusement.