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February Wrap-up

Ah, February. How I loathe thee. Winters are always dangerous for me because of all my health issues, but this year I found out my wind resistance is either zero or negative. It’s been a stormy month but not very cold. I always thought I was bad at handling the cold. Turns out I was wrong. It’s the cold wind that makes it painful to breathe, that sets my throat on fire, and makes my lungs feel like they’re made of metal.

So I spent most of the month in recovery mode which means my productivity tanked. I wrote two book reviews and four Friday posts for Narratess and only posted here once. I’m still on track for those goals, and I’m even a little ahead because I already have six (including this one) posts for my twenty post goal for Princess.

I finished four more books, two for book tours and two for Netgalley. Netgalley is a service that connects book reviewers, librarians and other professionals with publishers/authors. We get a free book in exchange for a review. This is usually to get reviews ahead of release and create hype. Goodreads says I’m four books ahead of schedule, but I know that once I start reading the real chonks (which is my goal this year) I’ll only finish one or maybe two books a month. Even when I’m actively working on my ‘reading once a day’ habit, a book with over 600 pages (and maybe even 800 pages) will take up significantly more time than a 230-page young adult romance.

Look, I’m an idiot. I said I wouldn’t do book tours a few years ago when I started adding more book-related posts to Narratess. Then I said I wouldn’t request more books from Netgalley because of the added pressure through reading deadlines. But I’ve done four book tours so far and I have a few more coming up. I also request four more titles on Netgalley last weekend. Sigh.

For games, there was only one: Wolcen. I already talked about it in a previous post and I’ll talk more about it in the future, but the bad weather also affected my hands. I wanted to play more Pokemon, more Stardew Valley, maybe even get back into Guild Wars, but none of that happened. And that’s okay.

Instead of gaming, I dived back into non-fiction. I started watching more videos on writing and personal development. Even on Netflix, I felt like I wanted to watch more documentaries or reality tv than sitcoms or fantasy series. It’s unusual for me to have this kind of clarity when my body is feeling like crap. Brain fog is real. So it’s a strange experience when my brain acts like a sponge and just wants to soak up everything. My headache isn’t gone (heck, it might be worse than other days) but I can think! I can process information! I draw conclusions based on the information I have! I can apply theory to practice! Seriously, it’s been years since I’ve experienced this.

It made me want to be more productive. So even though I didn’t post more or play more, I did write more. I finished a piece of flash fiction and submitted it (no word back yet), and my short story (granted, written in December) was selected as a finalist. The finalists were selected by industry professionals out of at least a hundred submissions. Knowing that these people loved my story enough to pick it as a finalist is huge and a great motivator to keep writing. I know some of you have voted, so thank you! 29th of March I know if I’ve won or not.

So I’m working hard on my writing career. I made a rough publishing outline for this year and a wishlist of books I want to write. For now, I’m still focusing on finishing the Infernal Contracts trilogy. Book 2 is getting a second draft with more words, better scenes and character growth. It hurt initially when I missed the December deadline, but I truly believe it’ll be a much better book now. I’m going to write the outline for book 3 when it’s with beta readers, so I can jump right in when the final draft is done.

March will be busy with nearly all of my weekends filled up with exhausting events. So I hope I can get my writing and editing done. I’ll do my best to post here more frequently (I still have so many drafts I want to finish), but Narratess comes first.

The Path I’ve Walked

This post appeared on Narratess first. I wrote and posted it on my thirtieths birthday, last June. I thought it would a great get-to-know-me post since I don’t think many readers here know about this part of me.

Turning thirty means different things for different people. Some are scared of it, getting old. Others see it as their second twenties, but with more wisdom. And there’s a third group that mostly confused about how they should feel about thirty. I turned thirty today and I have no idea what it means to me, but I do know that the past decade has contributed the most to who I am today.

Life is nothing without its ups and downs. Highlights are earning a bachelor and a master degree, finding a full-time job, quitting said job, have stories and articles published, becoming a dog mom, and getting married. Low points are getting my chronic pain diagnosis, getting hit by a car and rejection letters. (I kept adding things to the highlights, which is a good sign.)

For my writing career, these were the years that I knew what kind of writing I wanted to do. During my years at the university, I received a lot of criticism on my writing. It wasn’t academic enough and I struggled with that the most when I was writing my master thesis. That was also the moment that the pain attacks began, so I was distracted most of the time as well. Academic writing wasn’t for me, especially in the humanities. The extra courses I picked during my bachelor were for the computer science, linguistics or history department. All of them were more relaxed about writing style. These were the subjects where I got high grades and also the subjects that still interest me to this day.

I still enjoyed writing during my university years. Most of my stories were beginnings or summaries of stories that would come to me at weird times. Those moments started in high school, but I never managed to quite finish a story. I wanted to develop my writing since I knew I was lacking skill. I started a blog about the games I played. I even started writing fanfiction for one of my favourite games, Guild Wars 2. The fanfics were probably the first real stories I finished.

Writing on my blog actually led to my first paid writing gig at MMOgames. I had a column about Guild Wars 2 for a while, but it was hard to keep up with my fulltime job and gaming. My continued struggle with chronic pain had me drained most of the days. I didn’t play enough to keep the column going. My involvement in the Guild Wars 2 community led to an invite for a short story in a fanzine for charity. Raven and I both worked on the fanzine with the wonderful Mel Sayre at the helm. It was a great project to work on with 70 other very talented people, artists and writers alike.

The job that I landed was much easier than I had anticipated and I managed to get my tasks done on time. I used the free time I had to do creative work. I wrote short stories and worked on a game design document. That’s where I got my energy from. My creative juices kept flowing and I needed an outlet, but once I opened the tap, they kept coming. Writing fiction (and using a fountain pen and paper specifically) had become therapeutic. If I wasn’t able to take that time for myself, I would have burned out. The nearly two-hour daily commute and the increasing stress from a management with no sense of leadership were enough for my health to become worse. Quitting was my best option. It was one of the hardest decisions to make and also the easiest one. Health comes first. My husband told me to take this chance and pursue my dream of a writing career. I launched Narratess while I was still working and wrote one article a week to post.

One and a half year later and I’m still blogging here. My selection of short stories is being read by the first readers and I hope that soon I can share more information about my first book release! I’ve used my twenties to realise what I wanted to write and do my words to get to a level worthy of publishing. My first book release will be in my thirties and it won’t be the last. I’m sure I’ll need a few years to learn more about publishing and book marketing, but I’ve got time to learn.

Participating in Blaugust

Years ago I took part in the Newbie Blogger Initiative where I made many blogging friends. This year I’m taking part in an event that sprang from the community event so long ago. Belghast, our gracious host for the coming month, combined Blaugust (an event to motivate bloggers to post every day) and the NBI in one: Blaugust Reborn. Mentors advise (newbie) bloggers about keeping your own blog, coming up with ideas and staying motivated. It’s a great way to expand your readership, meet other bloggers in a wide variety of topics and work on your blogging skills. I loved the community then and many are still present today. I can’t wait to read and get to know the new bloggers.

I signed up as a participant, since I’d feel wrong to be a mentor even though I’ve been blogging for years. Princess in a Castle hasn’t been active for the past years since I’ve been working on other projects, but that’s going to change. On my other site (Narratess) a post goes up every Friday, but blogging every day is something I haven’t done for a while. I want to blog more and getting back into that rhythm of writing a lot of posts is a great way to get started.

The topics for next month will be mostly focused on the 101 goals since I haven’t updated those since the beginning of the year and I have made progress. There are more inspiring TED Talks that I want to share and played more games. I’ll definitely write about those. I might talk about the interesting things I watched on Netflix. My brainstorm is nearly done, but some topics might be exchanged for topics the Blaugust community will tackle.

I hope to see you next month!

101 Goals, 1001 Days: Reinstall my PC and Journaling

Reinstalling my pc has been on my to-do list for a long time. The past few months the blue screens and crashes became more frequent so it had to be done. After a crash the day before yesterday I thought it was time. I backuped my data and my husband started the reset process. I think that’s one of the biggest improvements of Windows 10. Resetting your pc is so much easier now than it was before.

I went for a full reset, without saving any personal settings. I wanted a clean start again, also because I wanted to know where my problems came from and that is easier with a clean install. I saved the important files to my other hard disk, hoping that it’s not faulty.

After installing the basics, Firefox, Chrome, Steam, Guild Wars 2, I also installed Fortnite again. I’ve been enjoying it every time we play, but we don’t have much time to game together, since our dog isn’t allowed to come up to the game room. Fortnite used to load slowly. It would still be launching while I booted my husband’s pc, logged in, launched the game and collected the daily. Yes, it was that bad. I just test it and it launched in a few seconds! I should’ve done this a long time ago. Hopefully, my other games will run smoothly as well, and no more crashes in League of Legends.

I’m also working on my other goals, like blogging every day and writing in my journal. Of course that’s not something I’ll be sharing with you, but I’ll tell you a little about my journaling habit. I used to write one page a day, as a journal, with no rules except that it had to be one page. It helped me figuring out myself, my life, my dreams, but it also gave me a chance to talk about important events and reflect upon them. I stopped early this year after my health got worse and I wanted to sleep instead of writing my page.

Skipping one day isn’t enough to break a habit, as long as you’re conscious of it and willing to continue. But after not doing that thing for a few days and you’ll forget it’s a habit and it’s becoming something you do instead of something you do every day. I believe this is why people tell aspiring writers to write every day and to never skip a day.I want to get back into that habit of journaling each day, although I’ll probably use the morning to write instead of the evening. My mind will be fresh and that first page can be a good warm up for further writing.

Guild Wars 2 - The Clock Tower

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Yes, I know I’m a day early, but I know people usually have plans on the 31st and it’s a saturday. I wrote a small Halloween story with some of my characters appearing. Half of them you’ve already met in other stories, a few you haven’t, yet. I do have stories about them, but I really want to finish young Miira’s story line right now.

Another note on writing. Some of you have already seen me mentioning it on Twitter. I’ll be taking part in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this year. It’s a global event for anyone who wants to sit down and write a novel. The goal is to write 50.000 words in the 30 days of November. And that’s what I hope to do. Starting this sunday I’ll be writing 1667 words a day. Since I still work full time and have to spend two hours a day commuting, I probably won’t have much time to work on my fanfics.

Miira and her warband will be back the 4th of December, ready to kick butt. Get ready to meet Tarakona Kohimuhimu and Kaibush Treewood (yes, my names are crazy) and enjoy the story!

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Guild Wars 2 - Grawling Preparations

Grawling Preparations

In the morning the warband was visited by their ethereal foes again. Miira took charge of her group again, while the Bane warband manned their usual posts. She adjusted her plans from the night before based on her observations of that battle. And it worked, with the ghost’s morale breaking earlier than the previous attack.

Afterwards, Primus Bayn decided that the cubs should take on one of the smaller tasks of the Bane warband. Grawl were converging on a nearby statue of the human god Balthazar. Although in their usual unintentionally hilarious way,  they called him Badazar.

“Pff, really? Badazar? Are they that stupid? Besides, why would you even worship anything?” laughed Malkov.

“I doubt that what the grawl do is actually worshipping. They believe in something though, and that can be a powerful thing.” Miira said.

“Jeez, look who’s acting all grown up. Talking smart.” Sennen mocked her.

“No, she’s right. I once heard of the norn who joined Jormag, the svanir. Jormag gives them his power, because they believe in him.” Torruhk.

“But he’s a damned dragon. Balthazar is not. He doesn’t even exist.” Sennen raised his voice.

“No, the human gods left Tyria, at least that’s what the humans say. I hope we killed them when we took back Ascalon. Maybe we can find some time to join the Bane warband and go to the crypt. The statue of the goddess Dwayna is in there. Maybe her ghost will be as well.” Primus Bayn explained. He’d heard rumors about a non-hostile ghost appearing there. One who resembled the statue.

“Why did their gods leave? And how? Did they die?” Korina shivered at the thought of death. If even gods couldn’t avoid death, how could she?

“That I don’t know, little one. I’d bet if you asked someone from the Durmand Priory, they would know. Maybe you should visit them someday.” Primus Bayn said.

“For now we have to focus on the grawl and their ‘ritual’.” Miira brought them back to the present. “They’re gathering around this statue of Balthazar, god or not, and we have to stop them. Who knows what happens when they complete this ritual.”

Primus Bayn nodded. He was proud of her willingness to lead, but it also put him in second place. He knew that it wasn’t his warband. He would have to leave them soon. But seeing them growing up so fast, he felt sad. He’d never found a mate, so he saw his fahrars as his children. Even though he knew that he would never have spent as much time with his own cub as he did with the fahrars. It was strange. The love he felt for the cubs would never be the same as the love of a parent for their cub.

Primus Bayn looked at Miira as she talked about possible strategies. She questioned everyone about what they knew about the grawl and how they fought. None of them had fought grawl before. The only thing they knew anything about was the area surrounding the statue. They borrowed a map from Marin and made notes on it.

Sennen cut off one side of the valley with fire. Malkov attacked from atop the cliffside, sniping them from above. Korina instilled fear in the grawl. Miira and Torruhk attacked the grawl head on. Only moments after they’d started their assault, the grawl had either fled or were dead. One of the grawl screamed “We’ll be back!” as he skipped away. Malkov had an arrow ready to fire, but Miira stopped him. The grawl’s retreat was all they needed.

The cubs came back to the camp excited. They’d fought new enemies today and won. Sennen, Malkov and Torruhk were making fun of the grawl and their lack of intelligence.

“Tor.” Miira only had to say his name and Torruhk knew what to do. He jumped into a salute and said “Yes, Miss!” before running off.

“Where’s he going?” asked Korina.

“Taking care of dinner.” Miira answered.

Malkov’s eyes opened with surprise. “I want to go too. Maybe I can shoot my own boar.” He grabbed his bow from his shoulder and ran after Torruhk.

“I bet they’ll be fighting to kill the biggest boar.” Korina laughed.

“Boys will be boys.” Giggled Miira.

Sennen lagged behind the rest of the group, the way he usually did . He was in deep thought and didn’t see Korina standing in front of him. He bumped his head against the Quaggan backpack she always carried around with her. “Ouch. What do you keep in that thing? Jeez.”

“Maybe if you just paid attention, you wouldn’t bump into me.” Korina snapped back.

“Aren’t you becoming too old for Quaggan stuff?” Sennen rubbed his snout.

“Why don’t you go play with Miss Hotness instead of bugging me?” Korina cherished her backpack, because it was the last thing her mother had given her. It helped her deal with her anxieties.

Miira let the two fight it out and reported back to Primus Bayn. They evaluated the mission together. At the end Primus Bayn asked “Why did you let the grawl live? Why not let Malkov kill him?”

“Because I don’t kill for sport. The grawl don’t have any idea what they’re doing. Killing something for its lack of intelligence is wrong. If it was the right thing to do, Tyria would be a lot less crowded.” Miira had a serious look in her eyes. She held on to her values firmly, even if others thought her weak because of it.

“Miira, I admire your sense of justice, but sometimes you should show less mercy to your enemies. Not everyone has a good heart and stupidity can be very dangerous. I’m not saying you acted wrong in this case, but think about it. You might be dealing with dragons and dragon minions later. You have to be careful with the calls you make. Sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture.” Primus Bayn said, trying to prepare her for the evil that lurked beyond the outskirts of the Black Citadel. The fight against his branded brothers still haunted his dreams regularly.

Miira nodded. He did have a point. But she was certain that she’d made the right choice this time.

 

Night Falls

Night Falls

Night fell. Miira looked up at the clear sky. There was no light except for their campfire. Her friends were already asleep and Primus Bayn was talking to Latres. Miira suspected she was the leader in the warband. Miira rarely saw the stars. It was either cloudy or the light from the Black Citadel obscured her view.

“Hey kid, can’t sleep?” Primus Bayn asked Miira. He sat down besides her.

“I probably could, but I wanted to look at the stars. They’re beautiful and I don’t get to see them often back home,” she said. The two sat silently watching the stars. Then Miira looked at him. “Primus Bayn, what’s our final mission? I know you’re not supposed to tell us yet, but I have a bad feeling. You’re not leading us into danger, are you?”

Bayn looked down at the white furred cub. “Your mane is getting long. Not just that, you’re all growing up so fast.” He’d always favored her. She was smart, maybe even the smartest cub he’d mentored. He wasn’t surprised that she’d noticed something. Her eyes narrowed.

“I’m sorry, Miira. There’s something I have to do and I need your help. You probably haven’t heard, but the tribune doesn’t like me very much. This is probably my last year as acting Primus. I’ve heard they want me to be a scrapper. Unless… Unless I prove I’m worthy. Worthy and capable of mentoring great warbands, like yours. You lot are the best group I’ve had and the others have seen in years. We just have to prove that you truly are the best.” Primus Bayn had a serious look in his eyes and hunched over towards her.

Miira hadn’t expected this. She liked Primus Bayn very much. Why anyone would hate him that much, she couldn’t understand. Enough to make him a scrapper, of all things. “We’ll help you. I know the others would agree as well. I think it’s a small favor compared to what you’ve done for us.” She didn’t know how much she could do, but she would try. She didn’t want to let him down.

“Really?” He looked up at her with gleaming eyes. “Thank you. I’ll train you the best I can. I’m prepared to do anything to save my life from scrapping. Even death sounds more attractive to me. If they made me a gladium, maybe I could go out into the world and join the Vigil.”

She thought the vigil would fit the Primus very well. “Thank you, Primus. I promise I’ll do my best for you to keep your position as Primus. You taught us a lot and you’d also teach the next generation more than any other Primus I know. I think the vigil would accept you if you applied, even if you’re not gladium. Figure out what it is that you really want and go for it. Even if you have to defy the Tribune.” Miira punched his shoulder softly as encouragement. Primus Bayn laughed and nodded.

“What’s that?” Miira stood up and pointed towards a blue shimmer appearing at the edge of the camp.

“Grr. Miira, get the others and grab your weapons. We’ve got company.” Primus Bayn growled.

Miira ran towards the tents and grabbed her staff. On the way out she poked her friends and told them to get ready for an incoming attack. Torruhk and Sennen were up as soon as they realized they could kill something. Korina and Malkov preferred to stay behind. Miira had to kick them out of bed.

“No, this is not a drill. This is for real. I saw the ghost appear and from what I gathered from Varian, they rarely come alone. We have to defend ourselves.” Miira said with confidence. “Torruhk, Sennen, I don’t want you near the tents. You’d probably destroy our camp. Go with Loculus and kill the ghosts before they can reach the camp. I’m sure the ghosts will appear in different places, so we have to be prepared. Malkov, see if you can climb that tree. You can warn us about incoming ghosts. Snipe everything hostile coming our way. Korina, stay close to me.”

The cubs took their places. Loculus didn’t want the two cubs to join them, but Primus Bayn assured him that they could look after themselves. Malkov took out his longbow and positioned himself in the highest tree in camp. He shouted out the number of ghosts and the wind direction so Miira and Korina knew where to go. Varian and Maris joined them as soon as Varian had calmed down. Latres stayed behind to guard the weapons.

The four male charr hacked and blasted away at the ghosts and made a game out of it. These ascalonian ghosts weren’t the brightest. They were blinded by hatred towards the charr. Meanwhile Malkov saw small groups spawn at the back of the camp. He shouted that there were three coming at the north side. Miira lit up her staff and sent light energy towards the ghosts, while Korina summoned a poisonous cloud around them. It was enough to make the ghosts dissolve. They would be back later, probably even angrier than before.

After an hour, the ghosts stopped spawning. Latres managed to keep her stock safe and the others were mostly unhurt. Only Torruhk had a cut in his paw. Miira immediately tended to his wound and patted it after she wrapped it. “You idiot,” she whispered. Torruhk winced as he felt the pressure on the wound. He apologized when the others couldn’t hear them.

Loculus stood at the center of the circle of charr. “You see why they call this Spirit Watch camp? They came at night now, so they’re easy to see. But they can attack at any time. They don’t sleep and don’t care how much time has passed.”

“Why do they attack us here? And why do you have to defend this place?” asked Miira.

“That’s a very good question, cub. Why do they attack us here? I don’t know. I doubt our superiors knew there were ghosts here. They heard about the grawl camp nearby and they wanted a camp near the crystal shard. Something about the Durmand Priory wanting to research it.” Loculus shrugged.

Latres sighed. “No, we were sent here to clear the Abbey Ruins. But these damned ghosts won’t stay away. It’s not surprising with a statue of one of their gods there. We should just break it. They won’t let us though, because it might endanger the treaty with the humans.”

“Ok, cubs. Back to bed now,” said Maris. “Enough excitement for tonight. Get some sleep while you can. You never know when they might return.”

A Promise Made

The following morning Miira was up before the others. She left camp shortly to gather some necessary herbs and prepared the seasoning for the meat. She hoped Primus Bayn would wake up before the others, but Torruhk was the first to join her. He sliced some steaks and seasoned them well.

Miira always admired Torruhk’s cooking skills. She knew how to prepare food well enough to survive, but most members of her warband would rather eat something else . Torruhk was making sure the fire had the right temperature before roasting the steaks. She just stared at him while he worked his magic.

“Tor, for the next mission, our last one before we’re a real warband, can I ask you something?” she spoke softly so as to not wake the others.

“Sure, what’s up?” He looked at her for a second before focusing on the fire again.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this. Bayn is hiding something. I saw it in his eyes. This mission is going to be more dangerous than he’s said and I want you to be ready.” Miira said.

“Mi, I’m always ready. But I’ll sharpen my sword before the battle, just to be sure.” Torruhk replied with a grin.

Miira’s eyes pierced Torruhk’s as she said, “that’s not what I’m talking about. I want you to listen to my orders. I want you to stay with me instead of jumping in head first. I need you to back off when I tell you to and run when we need to.”

That look was all Torruhk needed to understand what she meant. Their lives meant more than this mission. Even if they failed to complete the objective, only Primus Bayn would be punished. All they needed to do was enough to prove themselves worthy for the naming ceremony.

Miira was the strategist of the group. She was well known for her insight in battles and patterns. Ignoring a call from her often meant defeat as had become obvious during earlier missions and training. Malkov was a good scout. He often climbed into trees or on top of buildings to gain a better view of the situation. His information ensured that Miira could create suitable strategies and adapt to the situation . Korina, despite fearing death, always knew which fighting style was most effective for the enemies they were fighting. Torruhk and Sennen usually formed the front line together with Miira. Sennen would work his fire magic on the terrain to block off paths or ‘herd’ foes while giving Miira and Torruhk extra elemental damage.

They were a good team. They had proven so before  whenever they’d followed Miira’s plans. Improvisation was highly discouraged, especially from Torruhk and Sennen. Any call they made only resulted in more trouble.

Torruhk knew he was often too reckless and nodded. The look in her eyes frightened him slightly. It didn’t show her usual confidence. It wasn’t like her. This thing with Bayn was bothering her more than she’d let on. He felt a strong urge to give her a hug, just for comfort, but it didn’t seem right. Although they were close, a hug seemed too intimate. He expected a rejection if he initiated one, because he knew he  liked her more than she liked him.

Miira was relieved that  Torruhk had understood the need for caution. Now she needed to figure out how she could talk to Primus Bayn without having any of the others around. Korina woke up next and went about to do her duties. Malkov immediately started packing up camp after he woke up, all while Miira and Torruhk prepared breakfast. Sennen woke up last. He didn’t have any morning duties. They stopped assigning him any after he’d torched their entire camp. It had taken them more than a month to earn enough silver to replace their equipment.

After breakfast they waited for Primus Bayn to lead them to their new camp. Miira hadn’t been to Agnos Gorge yet, but she’d heard about it. Earth elementals haunted the place and one of the last big crystal remnants of the Searing was there.

Primus Bayn had led them to the Spirit Hunter camp. “This will be our base camp for the next week. We’ll help the Bane warband with their duties. They just relocated to this place. Of course, you will be responsible for most of the cooking and cleaning for as long as we’re here. Torruhk, we’re counting on you for some delicious boar meat.”

“Boars? Awesome! They’re fast, so it will be challenge to catch them, but you can count on me.” Torruhk’s eyes lit up. He grabbed his sword and ran to the edge of camp.

“Not so fast, cub. We’ve got a camp to set up first.” Primus Bayn threw a rolled up tent towards Torruhk. Malkov snickered behind his paw. Primus Bayn threw him the other tent, wiping the smile from his face.

The members of the Bane Warband looked on from a distance as the cubs set up their own tents. Varian Ironbane was impressed with their swiftness as the cubs set up their tents. “They’re going to need this skill if they’re staying here. Should we tell them?” he whispered to Maris Spiritbane. Varian shivered at the thought of the ghostly visitors.

“Nah, they’ll find out soon enough. And then we’ll have a laugh.” Maris replied with a wink. “It’s bad enough we have to stay here. These cubs will lighten up the mood while they’re here.”

“As long as they’re not giant pussies like Varian, they’ll be fine.” Loculus laughed. Varian glared at him and let out a low growl.

“Save your growling for someone who is actually impressed by it.” Loculus retorted smugly as he leaned against the rock wall.

Torruhk had somehow found the biggest boar in the entire  forest and presented it well-seasoned to his warband and their hosts. Loculus started telling a tale of old Ascalon, teaching the cubs a little about the history of the place.

“Have you seen any Ascalonian ghosts yet?” Loculus asked the cubs. Korina and Malkov shook their head. “You’ll see them soon enough. But you needn’t be frightened. You can kill them. If you’re brave enough. ” He paused and then started laughing. “Unless you’re like Varian, haha. You’ll find out why this place is called the Spirit Hunter camp.”

Varian winced. He had expected a comment sooner or later. He disliked Loculus’ teasing. His comments were sharp like daggers, but he did help out whenever the ghosts outnumbered Varian.

The young charrs were huddled up together talking about ghosts when the fifth member of the Bane Warband returned. Latres Bladebane had been to the Black Citadel to stock up on merchandise. She sold weapons to anyone who passed through Spirit Hunter camp. It was vital to keep a large supply because  ghosts sometimes stole the weapons if they got the chance. “Heya, I’m Latres Bladebane, the first member of the Bane warband. I hope my friends treated you well. I know they like to tease, but they’re good guys, really. They’re just not very used to other charr. Their manners aren’t very inviting.” She winked.

 

Guild Wars 2 - Fanfic - Tail Tugging

Tail Tugging

“Torruhk, wait for me. You shouldn’t do that.” The white cub chased her red-furred friend. He was using his sword and axe on an unsuspecting drake.

“Pah, he’s no match for me. I’ve killed a dozen before. Their meat is delicious if prepared well.” He said without stopping his attack.

Miira joined him and used her staff to make sure the drake would be dead before it could hurt her friend. The drake was already lashing out at Torruhk with its tail and tried to spray her with acid.

She noticed scratches on her friend’s side. She focused her energy into healing him and stopping the bleeding.

“Thanks, but I didn’t really need it.” Torruhk said.

“Idiot, you don’t even see what’s going on around you. That’s why our missions fail. You don’t listen and strategy isn’t even in your vocabulary.”Miira said as she punched his shoulder.

“That’s why I have you,” he stepped back from the drake and winked at her. “He jumped on the drake and stabbed his sword through its head.” Tonight we’re having drake barbeque. Let’s get this meat to the camp.”

“You should take care of your weapons. The blade of your sword isn’t sharp anymore. You could’ve killed it faster.” Miira said  as she picked up the drake’s tail.

Torruhk picked up its head and threw it over his back so that he carried most of the body on his back and the front legs hung down over his shoulder. He would’ve started running back to camp if it hadn’t been for Miira tugging his tail to slow down. It’s something they had agreed on years ago. Torruhk was always in front of Miira. If she wanted something she would tug his tail, gently. He now knew what Miira wanted most of the time when she tugged. They were almost in sync.

Even within their warband, they were closer together than the others. Miira always felt it necessary to help out when someone was in trouble. Torruhk was said to have a gift for finding trouble. The other three minded their own business. They took care of themselves first, before looking at others. Miira didn’t think they were bad charr because of that. It was part of their culture to be able to save yourself first. Charr were eager, but should know their limits. Pride and arrogance can cost more than one life in war.

That’s what Miira told Torruhk daily, but he didn’t listen. One day he said, ‘If you’re so afraid of me dying, then you stop that threat.’ Miira did her best not to lose sight of him when they were outside of town. She often failed, but then the sounds of screaming, often of an enemy, would guide her to her friend.

They arrived at camp with the drake corpse. The others cheered at the sight, ready to prepare a feast.

“Torruhk, you’re the best!” said Malkov. “Other fahrars are jealous of our dinners. I know, I saw them looking.” His dark brown fur with ginger spots gave him enough camouflage as a ranger to successfully snipe enemies, but he never volunteered to kill an animal for dinner. The young charr took out his dagger to start skinning the drake. He saved some of the drake scales for decorating his armor later.

Sennen worked his expertise at the fire to roast the drake meat. “Sennen, stop it. You’re going to burn the whole camp down!” screamed Korina. She immediately started throwing sand towards the fire that was trying to expand to their tents.

Sennen looked up and shrugged. “What? I can’t help it fire likes me. When I call her, she grows to the size of her love for me. And don’t you love me more than the world?” he said casually.

“Freak.” Whispered Korina. “So stop calling her. And fire isn’t your lady, so stop treating it like your mate. You’re going to make the Searing look like something minor when you set all of Ascalon on fire.”

She was fed up with him. During their training, he’d set the training dummies ablaze and a few hours later, he’d sent up fireballs into the air. Korina wasn’t afraid of the fire itself, but of what it could do. Even as a necromancer, she didn’t like death. The permanence was terrifying. That’s why she wanted to mend whatever death could do. Animating the dead and restoring life made her fear death less. This mastery also gave her the opportunity to make death come quicker to the ones that deserved it.

“Primus Bayn!” Torruhk greeted their educator with a grin.

“Torruhk, I see you outdid yourself again. I must say, in all my years of training cubs, I’ve never eaten as well as when I started to train you cubs. I’m proud of you.” Bayn Razorclaw sat down next to the fire and started roasting a piece of drake leg.

Dinner passed without anything or anyone set on fire. There was still enough of the drake left for a good breakfast. Korina volunteered to look for moa eggs to go with drake bacon and Miira would gather herbs for seasoning. The others would pack up camp so they would be ready to leave. The primus would take them further into Ascalon for more challenging enemies.

“I think you’re almost ready for the final mission. The one that will earn the warband its name. I can’t tell you anything about the mission itself yet, but it’s going to be an exciting one. It’s the best one I’ve planned in years. But first I want to give you all some time to prepare. That’s why we’re heading to Agnos Gorge. You might even see your first ascalonian ghost.” Bayn grinned with excitement.

He had high hopes for these cubs. They were the best group he had seen in years. They displayed impeccable teamwork and strong individual skills. The only downside was their personalities. All five of them had strong personalities that often clashed. If they didn’t overcome that problem, their pride, they would fail the mission. Another year as an unnamed warband would be just as bad as being gladium.

They could earn their name and the honour of best warband of their year. This mission could make or break them. He needed them to finish this. To show everyone he wasn’t too old. As long as he could be a primus, he wouldn’t be a scrapper. He’d received a warning to control these cubs before they hurt someone. They thought he was inadequate, too old. His last group didn’t do well. They said it was his last chance. If these kids succeeded, he might still be given the honour to die in battle.

Bayn did his best to hide his insecurities, but Miira picked up on them. She saw concern in his eyes, but didn’t know why. Miira didn’t ask about it. It wouldn’t be wise with everyone around. She would ask him when they were alone. One mistake in the final mission could mean the end of her warband and she wanted to protect all of them. She had to know what was on Bayn’s mind.

Guild Wars 2 - The Quiet Before The Storm - Fanfic

Quiet Before The Storm

Miira walked through the asura gate into the Black Citadel. She’d been visiting more frequently lately and the gate operator nodded to her in recognition. Most people had heard of her vanquishing Zhaitan and of her friendship with Destiny’s Edge. The charr in the Black Citadel needed hope in order to face new and unfamiliar threats. She felt that she had to live up to her name, Lightbringer. Most charr were happy to see her walking about in the city. It meant things weren’t as dire now.

Throughout her adventures she’d made new friends and she visited most of them when she was in town. But she always went to Torruhk first. She was excited to see him today. Things were still dire and they didn’t have a plan yet to fight Scarlet’s army, but today felt like a good day. She was only a  day away from the battlefield and she was confident that the lines would hold out until she’d get back. Later that afternoon she’d have people to see and errands to run, but breakfast came first. She’d left Lion’s Arch early because she craved blueberry pancakes. In the field they’d usually eat whatever they could catch. To eat something sweet was a luxury.

The white furred charr entered the inn. The usual patrons waved, shouted and even whistled. Torruhk turned around behind the bar and grinned.

“Well, Ma’am. What can I do for you?” He said as she sat down.

“Blueberry pancakes. And a hot cocoa. I need something sweet.” She said.

“Gotcha.” He walked into the pantry to get all the ingredients and started cooking. His limp looked worse today.

Miira made some small talk and shared the latest news from Lion’s Arch with the patrons. These charr hadn’t left the capital for ages, but were curious about the modern world. When Scarlet first started causing trouble, they’d ask Miira to tell stories of her battles.

“Breakfast is served.” Torruhk shouted. The patrons took that as their cue to leave Miira and Torruhk alone.

“So, how’ve you been?” he asked. He leaned on the counter so that he’d be on eye level with her.

“Oh, you know…” she sighed and looked down at the pancakes, slicing off a bite.

“No, I don’t. I have no idea who or what you’re facing. I worry about you. I know I shouldn’t, but I do. Can’t help it.” The look in his eyes pierced through her skull. She could feel his agitation. He was right. Scarlet’s attacks were some of the worst she’d seen. She’d lost many of her friends, because of the Molten Alliance. The fire legion had worked together with the dredge and created something horrible. They’d even come close to the Black Citadel and it had been up to Miira and her friends to stop the threat. That had been when stories had started to spread and Torruhk started to worry.

“I’m sorry. You know how the battlefield can be. I don’t like saying it, and maybe it isn’t entirely true, but it does feel like war. The Toxic Alliance, the aether pirates. Scarlet’s army is united, we’re not. Rox is here as well. We’re talking with the higher-ups later.” Miira explained.

“That I’m unscathed is mostly due to the warband working together. Of course only Rox and I see it as a warband, but we all know we share a bond.” She felt a moment of pride talking about her friends. Torruhk looked confused.

“I’ll never feel that strong a bond with humans. Nor the asura, pesky little ones. I still value what we had, our group, before it fell apart.” Torruhk said with a pang of nostalgia in his voice.

“Tor, what we had, nothing beats that. But these people are my friends and I know that they have my back. I know they would do anything for me and I for them. I can trust them. That’s what a warband is. A family away from home.” Miira’s voice softened as she spoke. She took a sip of the hot cocoa and felt the warmth spread through her body. A smile appeared on her face.

Torruhk looked at her while she enjoyed his cooking. The frown disappeared from his face. “I can’t help but soften up when you smile like that. I’m glad that smile hasn’t disappeared.” He said with a grin.

“I know you’re worried and I’d give anything to have you on the battlefield with me. But it’s not a good idea. Your training was years ago and your injury makes you a liability. I don’t want to risk it. Especially because it’s you.” Miira explained.

“I could defend.”

“No, you couldn’t. You want to be at the front line, preferably in enemy camp. If I take you, even as a defender, you’ll be out there. That’s just who you are.”

“I hate it that you know me so well, Mi. I also feel flattered. You’re the most confusing woman I’ve met. Besides my mom. ”

“You’ve seen her lately?”

“Nah, she used to come for pancakes once a month. But she turned in a bitter old cat. Says I’m not worthy, that my father would be ashamed to find out that I was a cook instead of having died in battle.”

Miira shook her head. “That’s sad. Please don’t let her get you down. You’re the best damn cook there is in all of Ascalon and beyond. She should be proud.”

“I have to go. They’re expecting me.” She said while she got up. She didn’t want to go. Leaving Torruhk became harder every time. But it was her duty. She couldn’t abandon Tyria. This meeting was vital for uniting the powers of the charr with the others.

“Take care, Lightbringer. I hope to see you again soon.” Torruhk’s eyes betrayed his sadness. He gave her a bag with lunch. He always made sure she had enough. That was his way of taking care of her. There was nothing more he could do.

Miira paid and left the inn. She knew Torruhk didn’t want her money, but she insisted. She had earned it and it was no good to keep all the money for herself. Especially in times like these, money needed to change hands. That’s the only way other people could make a profit.

She headed to the crafting area to find the master blacksmith. Her enemies were getting stronger and she needed better armor to defend herself with. The master blacksmith would help her out. She didn’t know which materials to use, although she had plenty of everything.

When she reached the blacksmith, she asked for the recipes and handed over the gold. It was expensive though. But it was worth it. It wasn’t perfect. Attacks could still injure her, but it would be more difficult to land a lethal blow.

A few hours later Miira finished her armor and walked over to the vault to stash her old armor. She might need it in the future. She found a bench close to the vault to eat her lunch. She opened the bag and the smell of raspberry cookies found its way to her nose. Beneath the cookies were a few cinnamon buns and wraps made with grilled moa. Her new armor would soon be too small if she ate it all. She saved the cookies for the journey back to camp. Maybe she’d share them with her friends.

Miira finished her lunch and headed for the gladium quarter. The armies needed more power on the battlefront. Maybe some of the gladium could be persuaded to fight with them and regain some of their honor. Anyone was welcome to join, as long as they weren’t a liability. Even when they couldn’t fight, they could help out strengthening the fortifications or sorting out the facilities and logistics. Charr engineering and knowledge was needed. She hoped that some of them were willing to work together with asuran scientists to fuse their technologies. That might be their only hope against their new enemies.

Scarlet’s armies had spread throughout Tyria and they needed legions in the more remote locations. Their troops couldn’t react fast enough to reach new places under threat whenever Scarlet changed strategies. Miira did see a pattern. All recent attacks were getting closer to the cities, including Lion’s Arch. She feared the worst would come sooner than they could prepare for. At least she had her new armor to back her up.

A long afternoon passed. Miira had recruited a few more soldiers and proposed that they would form a warband. Afterwards she returned to Lion’s Arch for another meeting. On her way to the lionguard headquarters, she opened her backpack and took one of the cookies. Just as she bit down on it, she felt the earth tremble…

 

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Guild Wars 2 Fiction

Miira Lightbringer:
Fried Moa Steak
Quiet Before the Storm

Young Miira:
Tail Tugging Part 1
A Promise Made Part 2
Night Falls Part 3
Grawling Preparations Part 4
Badazar Incarnated Part 5
Graduation Part 6 - Final

Savyrius Belain:
We Meet Again...

Naella Ysangwan:
Dogs and Ogres

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