A little cloud of light leaked through her eyelids. The princess lifted one, noted the rustic surroundings, and let it flutter shut. "Hrm- where am I?" She dragged her eyes open again and made to sit up. Hay rustled underneath and scraped at her elbows. The princess opened her mouth to complain, when her gaze fell upon the most handsome boy she'd seen in months. Her hand frantically clawed at the space around her until it found her chest, which she clutched to control her racing heart.
"Gods have mercy..."
The princess stared at him wide-eyed. Her mouth flapped as she struggled to find any words.
All right, check it out. This piece was commissioned for the character I'd mentioned, but of all the pieces I have for her, I use this one the least, and thus have the least compunction against using it. Opinions?
Selecting a new batch of pics for the girls. They're super important for inspiration, as I can draw a lot of personality details from their appearance.
Still looking for an adequate picture of a silver-haired princess. Technically, I own one such picture (actually own, as in paid money for it), but it's a commissioned work for another character and I'm hesitant to use it.
@awkwarddingo Gravel tumbled down the cliff as the carriage tore around the edge. Five horsemen raced behind it, the black of their cloaks as their only shilouette against the darkness of the evening. Inside the carriage, a young woman clutched the pendant on her neck in one hand, and her bow in the other. She steeled her face against the challenge ahead of her.
And nocked an arrow.
Arrows whizzed past as the girl leaned out the window and pointed her bow. A soft twang, and a rider tumbled to the earth. She grinned in spite of herself. Maybe father will listen to me now. She moved to fire another when an arrow plunged into her arm. "Augh!" The girl shrieked and spun back inside the carriage. She studied the wound, watching her own blood pour onto her dress with a mixture of horror and curiosity. "I hope it didn't hit anything important..."
Another arrow struck the carriage driver in the neck, and within moments, the carriage started to wobble out of control. The cliff drew nearer. The girl glanced out both windows, calculated her chances, and leaped out the mountainside door just as the carriage tumbled off and shattered on the earth below. Rock bit into her skin and dirt got in her mouth as she rolled to a stop. She could feel the rumbling when the horsemen ground to a halt and leaped to the earth. The girl frantically crawled for the cliffside, but was stopped with a boot.
"Lift her up."
Two riders grabbed her arms and lifted the girl to her feet. A third rider studied her. "Is this the princess?" he asked, turning back to a fourth rider approaching. "Yes," came the reply. The fourth rider came up and yanked the pendant off her neck. "We got what we came for. Kill her and dispose of the body."
They shoved the princess to her knees. "No...no!" she begged. "Please, I won't tell! I promise! I swear! Don't kill me, I beg of you!" She glanced up at the sword raised above her head. Fear gripped her. The princess twisted out of their grip and dove for the cliffside. The last thing she remembered was hitting her head on a rock as she rolled to certain death.
Your character will find the princess unconscious in the morning.
I've decided that both girls will have their merits. One will not be decidedly "bad" and the other "good." However, the original premise still stands - one will be more useful in the long term, the other not so much. It'll be up to the hero to determine who that is.
Some parts of the following story are inaccurate. Do not take this information as absolutely true unless confirmed by eyewitness testimony.
Once upon a time, there was a doctor. He [sic] was the best doctor science could produce; thousands of lives were saved by his hand. Men and women alike crowed about his bedside manner, his charming good looks, and his spotless record. His peers respected his abilities and hailed him as the greatest medical mind of their age. He came to the world full of hope that he could help millions more by establishing his skill and techniques for generations to come.
Then the Voids came, and he was drafted into the war as a medic. As always, he saved every soul [sic] he could. And, if he could reach them, he could always save them, without fail. He became renowned as a miracle-maker, a god among men who could give death the finger and bring mortals back from the brink.
But as the war grew worse, the casualties piled up, and people started to die simply because he couldn't get there in time. He prayed for help, and got an answer: the Immortal Council sent Gwen Valentine, their mightiest Light Mage and the greatest weapon the humans had against the Void. With her help, the humans were able to rally their forces and organize a swift retreat. They'd all come to rely entirely on her powers for their survival, and the doctor swore to keep her alive until everyone could be rescued.
The Voids were not idle. Oh no, they were cunning creatures, and their dark minds hatched a plan to condemn mankind to the dust and take their intolerable Light Mage with them. Their plan worked, and the doctor could only look on in horror as they sank their dark tendrils into the Immortal's pristine flesh and ripped her to shreds. The doctor raced to her side and fought to save her - he knew from experience that he only had seven seconds to stop a mortal injury from taking a life. Seven seconds were all that stood between glorious salvation and miserable death for the entire human race on the planet. The fate of the world rested on his shoulders.
The Immortal took her last breath in his arms.
The whole world collapsed around him. Countless millions died in the following slaughter. Men, women, and children were all torn to bloody ribbons beneath the Void hordes.
And the doctor could only watch.
Hundreds of years after, when the sons and daughters of men began to repopulate the world, they started to tell the tale of the doctor. The story became twisted, and in time, it turned into the legend of the healer who betrayed humanity, a wretched man who murdered humanity's only hope for his own selfish designs. He became a bedtime story, a Grim Reaper who would take your soul if you weren't watchful.
Unbenownst to any, the doctor still lived. And still he could only reap the consequences of his failure. In an effort to atone, he drove himself into the study of magical healing, seeking for the holy grail of Resurrection that could undo his sins and restore all that was lost. He did, in fact, discover a method of resurrection, but it made a mockery of him: it could only restore souls that were within seven seconds of departure.
The same seven seconds that failed him hundreds of years ago.
To this day, he continues his studies, hoping against hope to find his holy grail.
Scrawl Banditta
ConductorCore
SilverPaw
Rin
ineffable
Shadows Demons
Lord Zee
