Written by [Anonymous]
Spoilers for some of my writing
Fang Percival was a harpy who grew to be a famous idealist, government representative, before being eventually revealed as a murderer, elementalist, and manipulator, who still remains as a sort of strange superstitious figure, entrapped within the Reverence Tower. The library tower in question was built by Deolas in its later years of conquest on the Diamond Talon on a remote glacial island east of the Permafrost Dunes. There have been multiple “sightings” of him outside the tower or of a human with similar “ink” elemental soul projection to Fang, but this is deemed as an extension of the superstition and stories surrounding him; he has gained notoriety in many areas over years of his imprisonment in the Reverence Tower, and with his pitch black feathers, blemished by his taboo methods of soul strengthening.
Fang was born in an outer, poorer town within the country Myrin, to his father Benton, and his mother, Ana, who had died whilst laying his little sister Ruby’s egg (extremely common among Harpies). Ruby was named this because of her strange, brownish-red feathers. Rumors about mutations like this plagued Ruby through her childhood, and ultimately Fang sought to dispel these rumors using any means. Highly defensive of his family, he was shortly imprisoned at the age of 16 before released and returning to his family. Ruby, reprimanding him for this fairly violently as she had to support her aging father and handle all the stress of this and peoples hatred towards her by her own.
Fang would live with this mistake for about 5 years. Ruby became stressed because of the things put on her by society, Fang by his lack of knowledge on what to do about it, considering what had ultimatley culminated in it last time, though he still tried to more silently fight for his sister. Catching him once or twice, though, she was furious, and didnt want him to risk anything so that he could continue supporting them; Ruby was also silently a bit selfish that Fang had left her to fend by her own during that incident and during this time to an extent, and was trying to battle and cope with her own emotions as she continued to grow up.
She wanted for Fang to stop trying to play that hero but silently and subconsciously contradicted herself. Fang was simply unsure of anything and was dealing with his own stress because of the circumstances.
At 21, Fang took notice of increasing violence in the area. Due to Myrin’s increasingly worse diplomacy with Deolas, which was currently rising to power and gobbling up territory in the Diamond Talon, things spiraled out of control on the border. Their town, notably close to the border, was receiving some of this. Fang still didn’t know what to do and was vastly conflicted on what Ruby even wanted… it seemed like a battle in which neither side he took would win, in his own household. Meanwhile, Benton’s health was taking a resurgence, which distracted Ruby at least a little bit. Still conflicted with Fang trying to act out and just wanting him to stop what he was doing, and the stress with various invasion, along with worsening discrimination from others, she chose to latch onto this, and it made Fang happy as well since it seemed that they could connect better.
However, diplomacy continued to break down rapidly between Myrin and Deolas. One of the closest calls yet had just been narrowly avoided by the family, one that had actually killed and maimed some people int he town. The family moved further inward, but apparently about everyone had been doing this so it was basically the new border. At this point, there was a full-scale war. Lots of people took out their frustrations on Ruby, who now even shared an unfortunate resemblance to General Zel, one of the leading figures in the attack against this certain area in the border… along with stress from moving her now healthier family and this as well, Ruby tried not to snap, but was at least grateful that Fang was keeping his head low now and was appreciating what they had.
Fang, on the other hand, silently hated this idea. He knew that Ruby just wanted him to stop risking things, and to not ever leave them again like that, and that they were siblings who loved one another, and needed to take care of their father and appreciate the time he was here… Benton was quite old comparatively, and had “married” very late. Ruby, staying mostly at home and watching out for things, believed that they would be fine and that what they still had wouldn’t be taken away by this stupid “war”. Though, she was scared, and didn’t want to show it. There had been another close call to Benton being threatened along with Ruby, which caused her to break down further.
At this point, she was barely stopping from snapping like Fang had done years ago. She still didn’t know how she felt about him… she had stopped him from doing that, she had left them in a time of so much need because of it and left her all alone and her father too, and it had been stressful for both of them, but at the same time, Fang being so quiet and subservient and silently stressed after that just felt so wrong, and he wasn’t even doing anything. But definitely now, he couldn’t leave, it would be the worst possible thing. She needed him now DEFINITELY more than ever, he seemed happier a bit lately so that was good, hopefully hes not going to leave again with bentons health getting better, like she didnt like how the imprisonment and the stress had affected him, like she wasnt feeling sorry for that cause it was bad but she hoped that Fang had learned from that mistake, and they could be just a normal family, and especially now he couldnt be defending them. They just needed to stay low, bow to hate, and be strong and smart and protect Benton and STICK TOGETHER.
Which is why she was FURIOUS when Fang was completely missing just in the middle of her summing up her thoughts like that. Already fucking mad at everything, in that one moment of actual deep thought amidst all this chaos and stress, he had left. Now, when everything was closing in on them, and Benton actually was having more of a chance of getting better, when she really really needed him to help. She had no idea what to assume. Had he gone off after someone who hurt her? But why one of those people in specific? There were too many. Did he go off trying to kill citizens of Deolas? Maybe General Zel? Or did he GO TO JAIL AGAIN?? This was the absolute worst time he could have left. It was even worse than left time, because she felt like mayyybbee they had a chance and were being strong together, and Fang wasnt doing dumb shit like that anymore. She hated it. Why did he keep doing this? But what if he wasnt even defending her this time, just running away? Did he feel oppressed for her hammering some common sense into him? Was he too stressed and ran away? WHY WAS HE LIKE THIS???
In reality, Fang had a lot of pent up stress, and especially viewed the absolutely awful ass diplomacy going on with Deolas and Myrin being the root of all this; just like his jailing earlier, all of this stress and the pain and stress that Ruby was giong through was as a result of either misinformation or disinformation. It was all like, misunderstandings and shit. Why didnt people know anything, whether it be stupid myths and superstitions, resemblences, or just bad politics harming everyone? He knew that against Rubys wishes he would have to do something, he just didnt think he was brave enough to do it and was beating himself up for it. She wanted him to stay, to stop risking themselves and putting them into danger, to not leave them like he did again, and scare them in their time of need. But this was just too much of a time of need, and, maybe… he could do something, especially in a more optimistic mood because of Benton’s better health. She really would hate him… she really would. But he could prove himself, that what he was trying to do wasnt just stupid. This could work in the long run. And after secretly being involved in politics for so long, only ever caught once or twice but with her not connecting the dots, just viewing it as another stupid attempt to try and protect her just has he had, putting her under stress more but only increasing his motivation, he had managed to actually get into power in several areas.
And so, he had left. He regretted his decision deeply multiple times but put it out of his head. He needed to do this, and it wouldnt end up like last time.Last time, even was somewhat successful, he thought, though he knew she couldnt take it, and it had had a lasting impact on their lives, and had left him with a fear of doing it again. But it was the right thing to do. If he didnt play hero, who was going to? They would just be running away the whole time, and Benton’s newfound health would go to waste. It was a huge gamble, and he felt guilt leaving them like this, especially when Ruby needed him so bad and he had begun to forgive him even just a tiny bit… it was just… he tried not to think about it. It was so hard. But he would get through this, and he did, with so much determination. He had ran into General Zel several times and had to stop himself from hating them.
He went through gut-wrenching possessions on several occasions for reasons he did not know. Sensers were obscenely rare among Harpies, yet he became one artificially, against their nature. He ate souls and became stronger, and used his abilities in corrupt way. But, he reasoned, it was all for the better good. He had risked everything to come here and save his family and so many others but mostly his, like, why not go all in? Ruby would see how he really cared about them, even if it was in methods like this. She had to. He had some increases in guilt, but nothing comapred to how much he needed to do this and come back to a secure home, safely, even if she tried to kill him. He wouldn’t just be quiet anymore, he would be a hero.
His soul had began to grow strong to the point where it manifested artificially, as ink. Ink that could be written into scriptures, documents, and more, to help the cause of information. His whole goal. And he was still trying to ease up tensions and stop invasions, to forge diplomacy. He hid his black-turned white feathers, a telltale sign of elemental ability, which was highly resented among Harpies. She felt more sure about what he had done, he had sacrificed more, and had almost been put into Ruby’s shoes. He was really giving up everything for her, but would succeed this time. She would see his dedication, and this time it would work in her favor. He would do it no matter what, and come home having won this time!
After an incident with Zel and nearly being “discovered” in a few different ways, he had been demoted to a military leader for his aptitude and strategem, but he never continued to stop trying, at any cost. But eventually, he was so stressed, revising his earleir thinking at why he had left, that he wasn’t sure what to do, especially when he had made a few real friends to share his thoughts about the situation. He visited Reverence Tower illegally to get more information. It was all about information. People had to know things, there had to be better communication, diplomacy had to be less fucking STUPID! But in the end, the closest he couldnt make too much of a difference. The one he thought the most was that they would be going into Myrin’s territory for “negotiations”. He thought he could make a difference here… pulling strings, talking, whatever. This might be the closest he gets, if formal dumbass politics wouldnt work. He was getting restless, but this only got worse when they were actually going into the hometown.
This resulted in the insanely unfortunate situation of Ruby seeing Fang for the first time in like 8 years, coming back, on the side of the Deolans, with an army to invade their previous hometown. Fang did not do a very good job of explaining himself and was having some issues pulling the strings to get himself to make any sense. He was very stressed, and Ruby was outright furious. She had no idea what to think. Was he trying to pull something? Was he going to betray this army? All this time of him being gone was bad and unforgiveable enough, but coming back like THIS? She definitely hated him at this point. No, beyond that. Had he been a coward and ran away and switched sides? There were so many theories in her head, and none of them were good. Even the actual one that Fang proposed still sounded downright awful and evil to her, and she was seeing in red.
A tussle between them that Fang tried not to fight back from, but ultimately struck out, stressed and angry after everything he did, and hating himself for what it looked like was happening, and kind of even seeing her own viewpoint, and he was scared and confused, and seeing her angry like this after all he had thought, where did it go wrong, and had he hit her? It led to another invasion, which Fang tried to stop but, in the end, ran away from, horrified of the situation, and that Ruby would come back after picking herself up and running away shakily. He wouldn’t be able to handle if if he just stayed here. What had he done? He had failed spectacularly for the second time. And it was about this point where he just wanted to die. He couldn’t stay there and do nothing to help like earlier in their life and with Ruby getting so much hate now, but if he tried to act out he was abandoning them and actively hurting them. He was just so conflicted and it had come to a zenith here, where he was just completely unforgivable. And what he had made himself into trying to do it… a monster, for sure.
And now, unable to just go back to his family, which had been the whole point of all this (he was horrified even just thinking about Ruby), he had nothing else. And hearing that his father had died (delayed as well, and after several stressful miscommunications, adding to his dislike of them) added to this. He had performed the most immense, monumental screw up of all time, and miscommunications and confusion and diplomacy had played such a bad role in his life and in these events, that it basically fueled his motivation. Now, he found even just a slight amount of purpose in his original goal but not just directed towards his own family, but to everyone. He still hadn’t given up all his secrets after all, and even though it would be insanely tough considering the move he pulled back there, too, there had to be something. Maybe, even, one day, it would all be cleared up between him and… no, dont think about it. He had to give up on his sister. She had to be scared, no… he couldnt handle it.
Fang absolutely despised himself, and shows of subservience, rare among Harpies and not even conforming with his rank, did not help with him rising up in the ranks at all. He had great difficulty, especially with his dislike of diplomacy and politics that had also come up with this, and his own guilt, adn tehf act that his own guilt had also led to him taking out his anger behind the scenes in politics, and even lamenting and showing his secrets to his own friends, one of which he had killed and eaten the soul of. He was just coping and taking out his anger on everything, not even aware on what he was doing anymore, just slowly trying to inch towards that goal he had set. Any means necessary, remember? And now he had a lot of hatred towards authority to back it up. Which is why he himself had to become the authority, just like originally planned… to make knowledge available. So there would be no more pain in these miscommunications and so people wouldn’t suffer under diplomacy and confusion, and so that dissonance among Harpies would fade one day.
And he supported Deolas as it ate up his own country and those surrounding. He had nothing left there, it would be too painful to go back and there was just no point, now his only purpose in his pathetic life was to be a servant to the world, and all the countries merging would help with less conflict and miscommunication, after all. More cautious now and narrowly avoiding accusations, especially as more of his feathers blackened, and he continued in his morally corrupt ways. He was just a total unimportant dick, like what he had done to his family, and now he had to do whatever it took to prevent it from happening to others, to his “friends”, to anyone else, to a few of his childhood friends, even to those people who had hated Ruby, they were misinformed. Indoctrinated. He would fix it all. He continued to think this even as he was discovered, went in trial, and was exiled, put onto the brink of death. He was so tired. What was he going to do? What was he going to do? He had to keep trying for everyone, right? For his sister maybe. He had to keep going. The world was against him, but he wasn’t against them. He would fix it. He would get stronger and stronger so he wouldn’t fail the, so he wouldn’t betray what he had provoked in them for the long run. All of this… he… wouldn’t… he’d already messed up, but that doesn’t mean he can stop, and he didn’t deserve to, either. He had to keep going.
He visited the library more, obsessed with more knowledge and techniques to help resolve things. He nearly died several dozen times infiltrating the government and setting up puppets, and killing “corrupt” leaders, he continued with his self-deprecating mindset, and his motivation. After all, he had nothing else, and had lost whatever other friends he had nearly killed General Zel after a last confrontation, in which Fang was fucking pissed, especially at her leadership in the military and with her causing some of this, and being one of the reasons why he had gone to that thing and met Ruby… he was coping pretty hard. And, he hated himself a lot, only really caring about other people, and feeling awful about Ruby even though he tried to justify what he did back then. He hated his mistakes, and his method, but not his idea, ultimately, and continued along with it now that everything else besides said idea was locked off. It was something he could do to make himself even just slightly not worthless… Nope… still worthless… a battle in which he nearly died, again, leaving him with lasting injuries and his body weakened, but he didn’t care.
After a few more failed attempts to do anything to influence more healthy diplomacy while trying to secure a single nation, funding libraries silently with stolen armory and explosives money, and more daring events in which he became notable in not caring for himself, only for other people who he viewed just, taking his anger out on others who fed into dissonance and miscommunication, and killed a few more politicians. After further injury, making it difficult for his endeavors, and yet another close encounter with Zel (had he noticed Fang adequately, Zel definitely would have easily killed him) he practically retired to Reverence, too weak to fly, one of his wings broken, and continued to eat souls. His feathers, fully black, his soul still wasnt strong enough to accomplish what he wanted, even though by this point he was among those with the strongest souls on the planet, and he continued to study and do anything he could to make a difference, spending most of his time in the library, continuing his pursuit of his ideals for the world. He barely slept or ate by the time he was 34.
He fended off people coming after him, nicknamed the “Raven of Reverence”, and was kind of generally feared, but only by a minority who had actually heard of him. He even wrote several things and added them to the library, and encouraged people to visit the library even though they didnt like him, both of these things summing up towards helping his goals, common knowledge, union, and lack of communication, and lack of corruption. He hadnt changed too much, just he was more intense and sleep deprived, and injured and a bit more violent. He didnt achieve much either here, though, no matter how hard he tried, much to his dismay, but he had nothing else to do besides to keep trying, to keep pushing for the only ideals he had left, which were kind of fading as well. He just didn’t know what to do, and he was too tired to think about doing anything else.
One day, he had another visitor, Ruby, who had heard about them. He didn’t even know how to react, or what to think, and before neither of them could even say a word, Fang, in total (tired) shock and kind of stuttering for a moment, he was immediately struck with a sword that she was carrying, as she swung it with all her might, a conflicted look on her face, but one with an overtone of mighty hatred nonetheless. He couldn’t react in time in this situation, nor did he want to anymore. One could only guess what either of them were thinking or feeling in this moment. He woke up later, linked to the Reverence tower, and unable to age. Where Ruby went was a mystery, or how long he had been asleep, or even how long he was awake for. He didnt know if he still couldnt sleep, o if it was just because he was toof ocused on doing anything else, at least for the first years.
At this point, their relationship had totally vanished. Fang, especially over the years from now on, had shoved any thoughts of their happiness together into the back of his mind out of complete self-hatred, insomnia, and with no room for that besides their goals. Notably, he still never thought her as wrong for how she viewed him, and understood where she was coming from. Over hundreds of years with no aging and only reading and writing, and receiving occasional visitors that he was grateful, silently, for, whether hostile or just wanting to read something. The library was eventually shut off by Deolas, but what Ruby did prevented it from ever being destroyed, nor did Deolas want to mess with it. Once, Zel visited, had Fang explain everything, and left promptly, Fang feeling no more fulfilled than before and unable to read Zel, but harboring none of his hatred from earlier. He had adopted less of a hating view on politics, but had never eased up on his own self-hate, though reading and writing distracted him from it on occasion (which was very conflicting for him). His goal remained the same, and he was in quite despair when he came to the conclusion that the library was locked to outsiders.
Sometimes, curious people would break into the tower and either get scared by his presence, or, rarely, have talks (which Fang didnt know how to handle, and he was very tired and bad at social communication at this point, but he tried. He also had issues making friends beyond just talking because he was a bit scared of how his quest and sacrifices and decisions would affect them like it had his family, and he hated himself too much, as if his only reason to exist was to serve others, etc.) But maybe one day, his power still building, he could exit it, right? Something, or time, would save him, and then he could go make a difference and fight for unity and knowledge and everything once again. It seemed like a single second before he had already read the millions of the books in the library and was writing his own to fill empty shelves.
How long had passed he didn’t know, but he was still finding his determination resurfacing frequently even as hundreds of years went by in the outside world, never viewing himself as being worth any more shelves: just a desolate, unpolished, dead tree, holding books. One day, he would make it up for everybody, and he wouldn’t fail this time… and he he did, how was that any different from earlier? Why would he turn back now? Yet, maybe… there was something he could do, to make all of this investment worth it… it had to be right. He was going to fix the problem that had done all this in the first place, besides himself, of course. He would continue to get stronger, get more influence, pull more strings one day, take more action… all for knowledge. People needed it, no matter the cost, no matter whether they wanted it or not… just like Ruby had. And he wasnt afraid of the failure that had lost him everything… how would he grow, otherwise? How would he fight?
Before his imprisonment in the tower, the alliance with Cirra by Deolas had been formed, and unprecedented trade was underway. However, this gave Ruby, who was now a criminal and hadnt spoke a word since the incident, a way to obtain a sword that could do ANYTHING, in the form of probably the most insane infiltration and beatdown leading to knocking out the King of Cirra, the owner of the 100 Swords, then taking one and flying it hundreds and hundreds of miles over to the Reverence Tower, at the least distance between the two in the cycle of Cirra’s cyclical movement through the sky. She was imprisoned shortly after leaving the tower, followed and shot at the whole trip, and was ultimately killed, still without speaking a word, by General Zel, who wanted to seem to do it himself, and who was a decorated war hero at this point and had huge authority, especially before the ranking system became much more strict in Deolas.
He kept reading, writing… and looking for a way out.
That’s when I appeared before him.
- Anonymous