9 November 2023

The scene at the bottom, where she gets drunk, feels like one of the best I’ve written for this story. It’s become one of the anchor points; the ways I can tell if my ideas are drifting too far from the point of the story. It should be about Kyra, and how she handles her whole world shifting around her.

And sadly, it seems to be the last thing I wrote all year.

…one of her axes.

Brinja’s eyes went wide. “It’s fine, it’s fine! It’s supposed to do that! That’s how the car moves!”

Kyra forced herself to relax. “So you have some manner of beast or demon caged to move the vehicle forward?”

“No, not exactly… Well, kinda? I guess you could see it that way…” Brinja pondered for a moment and shrugged. “Close enough.”

More confused than ever, Kyra settled into her seat. Brinja pulled a strap across herself and shifted a lever. Then the car started to move. At first, Kyra focused on what Brinja was doing. Knowing how to control one of these strange carriages might be important later. Once they exited the gorge, however, Kyra couldn’t focus on anything other than the city before her. It was well past dusk, and it looked to Kyra as if the stars themselves had climbed down from the skies to light up the city. “Is… is that…?”

Brinja grinned widely. “Welcome to New Naothair. You probably knew it as Krotlin, though.”

Kyra set her jaw. Of course the sight was incredible. Awe-inspiring, even, especially when from her perspective, just the other day it was a festering camp with few, if any, permanent structures beyond the demon king’s castle. But at the same time… No, exactly because of that, it served as a stark reminder that Kyra didn’t belong here. That this entire world was foreign to her.

It took another twenty minutes or so to reach Brinja’s apartment. Kyra had to admit, the trip was far smoother than riding would have been, or any carriage she’d ever been on before.

[Later scene, written later in the day]

Kyra knew she’d had too much to drink. She couldn’t bring herself to care, though; at least her memories had finally stopped hurting her for the moment. Had stopped trying to pry their way into her brain, to torment her with what would never be.

She stumbled out of the bar and managed to keep herself mostly upright as she headed back towards Brinja’s apartment. Kyra felt a twinge of guilt when she realized the girl was probably worried about her right now. Maybe she should get one of those infernal phone things. Even if it was a hassle, at least she’d be able to reach Brinja and let her know she was fine.

By the time Kyra noticed the men following her, she was already pretty much surrounded. She groaned to herself and fumbled for her axes, before she remembered she’d left them at the apartment at Brinja’s insistence.

One of the men, a blonde boy with a leering smile, reached out toward her face. “Hey, pretty lady! Why don’t you come with us? We’ll show–”

Before he could actually touch her, Kyra grabbed his arm and bent it back the wrong direction. While he screamed, she grabbed him by the lapel and tossed him into his cronies off to the side. “Buzz off, assholes. I’m not in the mood.”

With tears in his eyes, the blonde screamed, “Get her!”

Kyra had trouble remembering the details of that fight. She did remember it was brutal, though. Between the alcohol and her exhaustion, she was running on instinct… and before she’d entered the seal, she’d trained to kill, not spare, her enemies.

At some point, a couple of them pulled out some strange new weapon that launched powerful projectiles. But they were generally meant to be used at range, and it was all too easy for Kyra to dart in too close and take their weapons.

Once everything was said and done, she stood alone, hands bloody, amid a pile of corpses. She was pretty sure two or three of them had gotten away, but she didn’t feel particularly worried. In fact, if anything, she felt weirdly energized right then, even smiling a bit.

At least, until she heard Brinja’s voice behind her.

“Kyra?”

8 November 2023

Mela’s expression was inscrutable while she looked Kyra up and down. “So it is true, then. You really are the next demon king.”

Kyra narrowed her eyes. “Is that going to be a problem?”

With a harsh bark of laughter, Mela waved out across the city below them. “You see this? They don’t need us anymore. Saintesses? Demon kings? As far as they’re concerned, it’s all just stories.” She snorted and shook her head. “Not that those old fools at the church realize that.”

For several moments, the two women just watched the hustle and bustle of the city below them. Finally, Kyra asked, “So, what now? What are you going to do?”

Rather than answer, Mera simply smiled. For some reason, that expression made Kyra’s stomach churn.

(Afternoon writing below)

Brinja offered to let Kyra stay the night in her apartment, and without anywhere else to go, Kyra accepted. The girl led her to a small vehicle; Kyra assumed it was a carriage of some sort, but she saw now place to tether animals, and the whole contraption sat quite low to the ground.

The interior was no less strange. The seats were covered in some kind of carpet, and they all faced one direction, rather than facing each other. Kyra sat down and discovered the seats were soft enough they would not have been out of place in a nobleman’s carriage. “How important is your family to own carriage’s like this?”

Brinja blinked, then started laughing. “This? This is just a [Honda Civic]. The expensive cars are much nicer, trust me.” Then she inserted a key of some kind, and the carriage itself roared.

Kyra jumped in her seat, reaching down for one of her axes. “What sort of sorcery is this?”

6 November 2024

Brinja knew she should have already left. All the other researchers had already gone back home, and it was getting late. A mere intern like her really had no business studying the old demon king seal this late; anything she could figure out, someone else had already researched in depth.

And yet, here she was. She couldn’t help herself. Brinja had grown up on stories of the saintess Fera and her epic battle with the demon king, of the sacrifice of the great warrior Kyra, and all the legends surrounding them. The seal was the greatest evidence those old heroes had actually lived.

With a sigh, she stopped poking and prodding. It really was getting late, and as safe as the city was, it still wasn’t the best idea for a college-aged woman to go walking around by herself in the dark.

While she gathered her things, however, the seal lit up with an eerie, purple glow. Brinja froze, unable to do anything but watch as glowing cracks creeped along the face of the seal. In a bright burst of light, the seal collapsed, revealing a three-meter tall figure. A crown of horns curled around his head, and wicked claws tipped the fingers on his hands.

Brinja let out a squeak of terror, but the figure only tipped forward and collapsed into dust. Behind it stood a woman, roughly in her late 30s, wearing a well-worn set of armor from around three or four hundred years ago.

It took a moment for Brinja’s thoughts to catch up to what she was seeing. Once they did, though, they exploded out from there. This couldn’t be… She wasn’t…

The woman noticed Brinja and flashed her a weary smile. “Hello there. I’m Kyra.” She collapsed against the wall and took a deep breath. “Sorry if this seems strange, but could you tell me what year it is?”

Kyra didn’t know what to make of the series of expressions that flashed across the young woman’s face, before she finally settled into a grin so wide it unnerved Kyra a bit. “Oh, wow. It really is, you really are…! Ah ha! This is amazing!” The girl froze and coughed once. “Erm. Sorry about that. It is 329 PDK, or Post Demon King.” She scooted closer. “Are you really the Kyra? The one that traveled with the saintess Fera and fought the demon king?”

For a moment, Kyra couldn’t respond. Three hundred years? Already? Though it did make a strange sort of sense. “Yeah. That’s me.”

Once again, the girl’s eyes lit up, and Kyra half expected her to jump up and do a jig or something. She managed to contain herself, though, and stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Brinja!”

3 November 2023

I really struggled when I tried to participate in Nanowrimo for 2023. It didn’t go well, as you will see.

Three hundred years.

Three hundred years.

Kyra shouldn’t have been surprised; she’d known the seal was supposed to last a long time. She’d known all her friends would likely be dead if she ever got out. But then again… she hadn’t actually thought she’d ever get out, had she?

But she hadn’t died like she was supposed to. Instead, here she was, alone, again. And this time, the world itself felt foreign.

Kyra felt this keenly when Brinja pulled out a small, black tablet with shaking hands. She tapped on it a few times, then held it up to her ear. Considering everything the girl must have been through, she was holding herself together fairly well; Kyra was impressed.

The tablet produced a ringing sound, and then a woman’s voice emerged. “This is the Krotlin City Police Department. What is your emergency?”

Kyra jumped at the voice, but before she could react, Brinja replied, “H-hi, yes. My name’s Brinja Sonorak. I… I was kidnapped by some demon cultists, but I… They… they’re all dead now.”

There was a pause. “I see. Do you know your location, Miss Sonorak?”

“I-I’m not sure, but I think they took me to the demon king’s seal.”

“Okay, we have people on their way. Are you alright? Are you injured in any way?”

“N-no, I’m not injured. The person who rescued me stopped them before they could hurt me.”

“Is that person with you now?”

“Is that person with you still?”

“Yes. U-um…” Brinja shot a glance at Kyra. “She said her name is Kyra. And… and I think she’s probably the Kyra.”

There was a long moment of silence. “Could you tell me exactly what happened, Miss Sonorak?”

So she did. The more Kyra heard, the less she regretted killing the lot. Seriously, had nothing changed in that three hundred years she’d been sealed?

Then, she heard a series of roars and squeals, accompanied by blaring red and blue lights racing toward them. Kyra stepped protectively in front of Brinja and readied her axe, right as three white beasts raced around the corner. Then they opened, and Kyra realized these were some manner of carriage. Men and women in dark uniforms poured out, pointing some sort of metal object her direction. One of them, a tall, burly man, called out, “Lower your weapons and put your hands on your head!”

26 April 2023

This was fun. I think I do intend to do more with these characters at some point in the future. That said, I would like to focus more on Hanako and Majesty for the time being…

There are definitely some spots I’d tweak in this scene, though. The biggest one is that I’d like to have Kyra have a bit more banter with the cultists; give her a chance to actually confirm things are what they look like, and make it a more ironic twist for them before she kills them in some way. Also, without knowing the rest of the story (both Kyra’s past and where the story goes after this), it’s hard to set timelines, so all that may change.

Notes

Brinja (pronounced brin-ya) trembled in fear on the altar. She struggled against her bindings, but the ropes were too tight for her to break free. With tears in her eyes, she watched as the cultist raised a dagger to plunge into her heart.

Just before it fell, there was a sharp crack, and the seal on the great evil split. An eerie red light beamed from it, and the seal crumbled to pieces, revealing the figure of an eight-foot-tall humanoid monstrosity with horns on its head.

“My lord!” All the cultists, including the one holding the dagger, turned and knelt before the figure. 

For a long moment, the demon didn’t move. Then, slowly, it tipped forward, landing face down on the floor, and slowly disintegrated into dust.

From behind it, a tall red-headed woman in scarred leather armor stretched. “Oh, it’s good to be out of there. I hope Fera won’t mind that I went ahead and killed the thing… if she’s even around anymore, I guess.”

It was at that point she and Brinja made eye contact. There was something fierce in the woman’s eyes, and Brinja trembled even harder.

The woman’s gaze flickered over the cultists around her, drinking in the scene. Before she moved, the lead cultist gathered their wits and shuffled toward her, head bowed. “My, my Lady! Long have we awaited your return!”

With narrowed eyes, the woman simply said, “Have you now?” With a motion so smooth Brinja almost missed it, she spun one of the axes from her belt into her hand. A moment later, the axe-head blazed with an infernal violet flame. “Then I’d better give you the reward you bastards deserve.”

She launched herself toward the cultist, bringing the axe back, and Brinja squeezed her eyes shut. She had no way to block her ears, however, so she heard every thud of the axe, every scream and shout, every interrupted spell the cultists tried to cast before they were cut down.

Things were quiet for several moments before Brinja felt warm, rough hands working on her bindings. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see the woman tenderly untying her.

“Even who knows how many decades–maybe centuries–later,” the woman muttered, “and crap like this is still happening?”

Soon, she’d released Brinja, and the young girl stood shakily on her feet.

“Are you alright? Any injuries?” The woman looked over Brinja with concern.

With a shake of her head, Brinja replied, “No, I-I’ll be alright. Thank you!” She bit herr lower lip, then asked, “U-um, I hope you don’t mind, but… W-who are you?”

The woman relaxed. “I’m Kyra. What’s your name?”

Brinja’s head went blank. Kyra? The Kyra? The goddess of battle that sealed herself off with the demon lord to keep him from escaping [three hundred years ago]? A little awed, somehow Brinja managed to spit out, “It… it’s Brinja.”

“Right. Good to meet you, Brinja. And, er… Sorry if this seems strange, but by any chance, could you tell me what year it is?”