fantasy

<p>Excerpt:</p><p>Tyrannical Mirror</p><p>The unknown ship crashed against the dead shore of a lake. The impact tore through the wasteland’s stillness: a metallic roar, scattered fire, and a tremor that churned the mud. They were far from the castle, in a lifeless place. Only crumbling ruins, a ghost city rotting upright, no animals, no birds, nothing. The silence of a graveyard.</p><p>Shin’s ship descended beside it, followed by the brutal landing of Dragon Darius, whose colossal body shook the ground. Rain fell thick, drumming against his black scales.</p><p>Shin leapt from her ship and ran toward the downed fighter without a second thought for anything but the pilot. Black smoke swallowed it from the tail, and the windshield glowed with heat. She forced the canopy with nails and raw strength until the glass gave way and shattered. Then she saw.</p><p>The scream that ripped from her throat threw her backward; she clawed at the mud to keep from collapsing.</p><p>“Shin!” Darius roared, approaching with steps that sank the earth.</p><p>The dragon lowered his enormous skull to the cockpit, sniffing, staring. Inside, unconscious over the controls, lay… herself. But not. It was Shin, yet with silver hair and armor bearing the emblem of the ancient Exquemano Empire.</p><p>“Uncle…” Shin whispered, voice breaking. “What… does this mean?”</p><p>“I don’t know… this is…” Darius’s deep voice wavered, something rare in him.</p><p>…</p><p>–Read more in its original language, Castilian, at ficto grama.com, an open source Spanish community of writers–</p> <small class="notice" x-post-type-data="None"> Takahe has limited support for this type: <a href="https://lemmy.world/post/38981381">See Original Page</a> </small>

<p>Excerpt:</p><p>That Place</p><p>“Let me introduce myself again…” — Rakai’s voice broke the silence inside the ship, the rain still dripping steadily against the metal hull. “My name is Shin Rakai, and yes, I’ll say it once more… I am the adopted daughter of Dante Lorian, the Supreme Deity of Darkness.”</p><p>The tension hung thick, like the damp steam rising from their soaked clothes under the cabin’s heat. Lorian sighed with an air of icy arrogance before replying.</p><p>“Shin Lorian. ‘Biological’ daughter of Dante Lorian, Emperor of Exquema. And I assume you already know the rest.</p><p>”She crossed her arms and turned her gaze toward the hatch, as if looking directly at Rakai were beneath her.</p><p>Rakai raised an eyebrow, smirking with equal arrogance.</p><p>“Now I see why you talk like that… little princess.”</p><p>Lorian’s red eyes flared, cold as frost.</p><p>“Huh? Don’t call me that.”</p><p>She straightened slightly in her seat, as if about to lunge. Rakai, however, coughed to ease the tension, settling back calmly and crossing one leg over the other.</p><p>“Whatever… I told you I’d explain, so listen.”</p><p>Her golden eyes locked onto Lorian’s, carrying a weight that allowed no distraction.</p><p>“One of those things opened in space. My uncle and I—” she gestured toward the dragon, making Lorian arch an eyebrow but remain silent—“flew out to close it before anything could come through. And just when we finally managed to seal it… you shot out from inside, crashing near a lake. We rescued you.” Rakai sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. “Now we’re at the castle.”</p><p>The word seemed to ignite something in Lorian. She rose from her seat with barely contained energy, almost furious.</p><p>“Castle…? But in Elisium there wasn’t a single castle left standing.”</p><p>“We’re not in Elisium. We’re in Exquema, in the imperial capital.”</p><p>Lorian’s lips curved in a strange mixture of relief and anxiety.</p><p>“You should have started with that…”</p><p>She walked toward the exit.</p><p>“At least this is a place I know… and I hope he’s here too.”</p><p>“Hey, wait!” Rakai tried to stop her, but her counterpart slipped through her fingers.</p><p>Lorian stepped out into the rain, standing before the ruined colossus that had once been the pride of her lineage. Her eyes were lost, empty of certainty.</p><p>Rakai sighed and caught up with her. She could see something beyond anger on her face: a deep, barely contained pain.“I wonder… if Exquema’s fate is to fall… and ours as well…”</p><p>Lorian’s murmur hung in the freezing air. Her steps carried her toward the destroyed castle, pulled by an instinct she couldn’t resist.</p><p>“I want to hear it… everything.”</p><p>Her voice sounded broken, heavy with repressed grief.</p><p>Rakai nodded. Together they walked toward what remained of Exquema’s ancient throne.</p><p>The gigantic doors gaped like decayed jaws. Inside, the damp darkness was broken by puddles reflecting lightning flashes. Lorian ran her fingers over the wet stone walls, as if searching for a hidden memory in every crack. Rakai mirrored the gesture, with the same reverence she always felt when walking through those ruins.</p><p>Her voice shattered the silence, soft yet weighted.</p><p>“When I was a child, my father used to tell me about Exquema. About these walls, and what they meant to him.”</p><p>The echo of their footsteps accompanied every word.</p><p>“About how he freed his people from the tyranny of the gods, from blind devotion, from offerings and the rotten power over mortals. About how he sought a place free of all that.”</p><p>Lorian listened in silence, her shadow cast against the walls torn open by the storm.</p><p>“That’s how Exquema was born. A place with no gods, no religious chains. Where men and women govern themselves, placing their destiny in their own hands and strength. A paradise. He made it sound like a paradise. And I… I could see the light in his eyes when he spoke of this. Of what this castle once meant.”</p><p>They reached the throne room. The roof was open, letting the rain fall like a wound that never healed. The throne, reduced to collapsed stones, still bore an inscription on its back. Rakai stopped at the foot of those ruins.</p><p>“His ideal spread quickly throughout the entire system… I suppose that confidence was what led him to attack the Republic in Elisium.”</p><p>She sighed, looking straight at her.</p><p>“That’s when the imperial ideal died, barely born. That’s when Exquema fell… and left us this.”</p><p>The rain struck the stones like ancient tears.</p><p>Lorian looked up through the hole in the ceiling, her eyes glowing a muted red.</p><p>“In the previous reality I fell into… the Shin from that place also said everything began in that battle. It was in Elisium where her story and mine split. What happened in this reality?”</p><p>Her voice was calm, but tinged with melancholy.</p><p>Rakai spoke in a tone that cracked with memory.</p><p>“Dad fought the Supreme Deity of Light in Elisium. The first and last clash of the Two Divinities.”</p><p>She paused, breathing deeply.</p><p>“That collision tore open the first rift. A tear in reality. The one that swallowed him, condemning him for years in the Nexus.”</p><p>She approached the inscription, tracing the letters with her fingers.</p><p>“Without him, Exquema was left leaderless. His ideal collapsed. The Republic took control. This castle… ended up as you see it. That’s how Exquema was born and died in a single battle.”</p><p>Silence weighed between them like a gravestone. Their gazes met for a moment: two reflections of the same wound, two destinies marked by a father’s fall.</p><p>“And you?” Lorian crossed her arms, her tone challenging. “Where do you fit into this story, Rakai?”…</p><p>–Read more in its original Castilian language at fictograma.com , an open source Spanish community of writers–</p> <small class="notice" x-post-type-data="None"> Takahe has limited support for this type: <a href="https://lemmy.world/post/39019256">See Original Page</a> </small>

<p>Excerpt:</p><p>“Ashes</p><p>Aboard the ship, both cut through the stars. For one, that cloak was familiar territory; for the other, it was a strange ocean, full of dead constellations that seemed like silent watching eyes.</p><p>The silence was broken by Lorian’s voice, rough and heavy with suspicion:</p><p>“Why did we have to leave Exquema so fast like you said? I understand nothing’s left there but… your uncle… but still, it’s strange. What are you hiding, Rakai?”</p><p>The red-haired Shin piloted with crossed arms, eyes fixed on the darkness dotted with stars. She answered calmly, though her voice bore a weight the void amplified:</p><p>“The Federation still lists the old Empire system as a sector to ‘Eradicate.’”</p><p>“Eradicate?” Lorian tilted her head, her red eyes lit with doubt.</p><p>“They never patrol the area because it would be a waste of time… but you never know when they might. If they see people in Exquema or any planet in the system, they wouldn’t hesitate to destroy it.” She sighed, leaning back against the seat. “That’s why I only go every now and then to see my uncle.”</p><p>A harsh silence grew between them, finally broken by Lorian’s question:</p><p>“The Federation? Which Federation?”</p><p>Rakai leaned back even more, squinting as if the stars weighed on her.</p><p>“When the Republic fell and dissolved, the few surviving primordial gods formed the Universal Federation. Let’s say it’s a second Republic, but much less cold… and in certain ways, much better.”</p><p>Lorian’s eyes widened in surprise. She leaned toward her, seeking each word as if they were burning embers that both burned and illuminated.</p><p>“If the Empire never fully formed, then what ended the Republic?”</p><p>“The Republic fell just a few years ago,” Rakai spoke with strange calm, like reliving a memory she didn’t want to touch again. “There were many things, but among them, the war of the Holy Divinity.”</p><p>Lorian frowned impatiently.</p><p>“Don’t leave things half-said as though I knew everything here, Rakai.”</p><p>She smiled slightly, bitterly.</p><p>“It was a war among gods. The Republic against itself. My father and I were caught in the middle.” Her gaze hardened. “That was only three years ago.”</p><p>Lorian muttered an insult under her breath, crossed her arms, and turned her face to the stars.</p><p>“How did you end up adopted by one of the greatest gods of the universe… or universes, who knows?”</p><p>Rakai tilted her head and replied bluntly, as if tearing off a scar with her nails:</p><p>“I lived in a common world, with a common life. I was barely five when a war broke out among the gods of my world. It was the first time they revealed themselves… and they did so only to kill each other.”</p><p>“What war? And why?” Lorian asked, her tone sharp.</p><p>“How should I know?” Rakai spat the words disdainfully. “Gods are like that: they fight for supremacy, pride, for nothing. They drag mortals who pray to them into ‘divine’ wars where no one wins. This was no different. Just more bloodshed… temples in ruins, burnt flesh, screams mixing with the thunder of their power.”</p><p>She paused. Her golden eyes flickered with a contained fury.</p><p>“Their war cost me my world. My parents died protecting me. And I would have died too if it weren’t for him… who appeared just in time to save me.”</p><p>Lorian looked at her sideways, her expression stiff.</p><p>“I don’t get something. Dante saved you, but… wasn’t he trapped in the Nexus?”</p><p>Rakai sighed and rubbed her face.</p><p>“Yes… but he left years ago somehow. He told me a rift opened, and he escaped. He didn’t know how much time had passed, only that when he emerged, he found Exquema reduced to ashes. He wandered aimlessly until he reached the planet where I was.”</p><p>Lorian clenched her jaw, confused.</p><p>“You’re terrible at telling stories, you know that, Rakai?”</p><p>Rakai shot her a glare, but the arrogant smile returned to her face like a gentle poison.</p><p>“Actually, no, princess. I don’t usually tell myself stories about the universe.”</p><p>That nickname triggered a twitch in Lorian’s brow, who snorted.</p><p>“Anyway, he saved you and adopted you. Lucky mortal kid.”</p><p>Rakai looked down at the stars. Her voice broke, barely audible:</p><p>“Yeah, lucky to watch everyone you loved die.”</p><p>Silence grew heavy as lead. At last, she continued:</p><p>“Yes. He adopted me, raised me, and a year later… he put his blood in me.”</p><p>The words struck like lightning. Lorian lunged at her, grabbing her shoulders, eyes wide like a deranged beast:</p><p>“What?!”</p><p>“Let go, crazy bitch!” Rakai pushed her back against the seat. “What the hell is wrong with you?”</p><p>Lorian trembled, voice torn.</p><p>“What for? You… you’re a mortal adopted by a deity, and he transferred his blood into you! How are you still alive?”</p><p>Rakai averted her gaze with a resigned sigh.</p><p>“I have no idea. It just happened. Dad gave me his blood… it hurt, yes, but my body adapted. I have the blood of the Supreme Deity of Darkness flowing through me. Technically, I’m a goddess. But I hate being called that.” She hugged herself. “I detached myself from that long ago.”</p><p>Lorian looked at her with a mix of disbelief and disdain.</p><p>“Technically you are… but you’re something I never thought I’d see. An aberration.”</p><p>“I know. And I don’t care.” Rakai’s voice was low, bitter. “I just want to be me. Not Dante Lorian’s daughter. Not the goddess of Hate.”</p><p>That name hung like a knife. Lorian repeated it, venom dripping:</p><p>“The goddess of Hate? Why would they even call a mortal that?”</p><p>Rakai took a deep breath, eyes fixed on the void…”</p><p>–Read more in its original Castilian language at <a href="" rel="nofollow"><span class="invisible">https://</span>fictograma.com/</a> , an open source Spanish community of writers–</p> <small class="notice" x-post-type-data="None"> Takahe has limited support for this type: <a href="https://lemmy.world/post/39070224">See Original Page</a> </small>