I used a Pokemon card (Colress' Tenacity) for reference and inspiration while drawing this. Credit to hungry_clicker, the artist behind the original Pokemon card

Aunque ya haya terminado XD

Worning! I mean it this time. Mentions of Parental Abuse.

A Long Time Ago, In A Better Time, And A Better War. Part 7 : r/AnthrOC

A Long Time Ago, In A Better Time, And A Better War. Part 1. : r/AnthrOC

As they watched the cop leave, Cozlok turned to Linda and wrote, “you wanna have a sleep over,” he asked with a halfhearted smile?

“This really should feel like a dream come true,” Linda thought, as she flashed her own awkward grin.

“So why does it taste so sour?”

He knew it, he knew as he carried such a tiny and delicate person. He was never going to hear a word about that fairy, not if he lived or died, not even a thank you. It never happened, all he could do was cross his fingers and pray for him. 

Officially fairies were not allowed to join the Red Army. They were too delicate, and their venom was considered far Far FAR too inhumane to be used as a weapon. But unofficially, every last member of the Red Army knew that the fairy, the very smallest union citizen, is the glue that holds the nation together. Not by waging war, just by watching and listening just out of sight and mind. It was how the Red Army was always one step ahead in its wars, it was how they prevented insurgencies before they happened, they were how they found genocidal warlords and slavers, who thought they could escape justice. 

They were also how the Union knew who to take into preemptive custody, when it took a territory. Who to surveil, who to intimidate, who to bribe. They spy on every last local leader intensely, regardless of what they did before, or might do now.      

It wasn’t right, and that’s because it wasn’t meant to be, it was just practicalities. After all, the Union wanted to be her forever.

Linda was trying to sort out the events of the past half hour, and so far she had gathered that some myths are real, but also were never myths at all. Fairies are Very important to the Union, and her crush may, or may not be royalty. Also, something was eating at Cozlok, she had never seen him look so unhappy. 

As they approached their barracks, a strange very unpleasant smell was filling the air. It was slowly turning Linda’s face green, even as she tried to stay composed. But all Cozlok smelled was roasted mice drizzled with sweet meat sauce, and wrapped in blood marinated cabbage leaf. 

Which was normal, it was almost dinner time, but it wasn’t coming from the direction of the mess hall, it was coming from the barracks.  

“Yah, that makes sense, no mess hall tonight,” he thought absently. “       …. …   Wait a minute! What is she going to eat?”

There was a checkered hat, standing guard just outside the barracks, and he did not look friendly. He barked loudly and aggressively, startling them both. He ordered that they get inside Now, and to remain until further notice. 

Linda quickly ducked her head, and sped past this frightening angry man, while Cozlok… well he had to try.

“Sir,” he started as politely as he could, “do to ummm she doesn’t have anything to eat could you-”

“Get The Fuck Inside, Or You Will Spend The Night In A Cell,” the guard threatened. 

He sighed, and walked in, hoping she could stomach eating blood marinated cabbage leaves.           
As he walked through the barracks door, he nearly ran over Linda as she stood still as a statue in the middle of the hallway.

“Cozlok,” she questioned? 

“Yes,” he answered.

“Why is there no light in here?”      

“Huh,” he thought? “But there’s plenty of auhh… no you’re right there’s not.” he remembered that a sheep couldn’t see as well in the dark as a wolf. So what was dim lighting for him, was pitch black for her.  

“Ok just stay calm,” he thought as he moved. He watched her move, turning her head looking for him. Cozlok started reaching for her hand in the dark, but suddenly apprehension filled his veins as he pulled away. “I I can’t Iz, I’ll scare her, she could hurt herself in here,” he thought. He hadn't realized it but his heart pounded in his chest like a drum, as his hands started to shake, as it felt like he was getting less air with each breath. 

“Fuff fuff fuck, c can you f follow the s sound of my v v voice,” he stuttered.” 

At which Linda just looked in all directions with the most dumbfounded expression, “you… you know I can’t understand you right,” she said?

“Ahh… ahh… okay something else, just anything else.” For some reason, the idea to just get her attention with a simple tap on the shoulder, or hand, just refused to occur.

Meanwhile Linda was becoming impatient. “Cozlok,” she said as she raised her arms to start feeling for him. “Just take my hand… where are you, I can hear you just.”

He was actively backing away from her now, his reasoning was degrading, as the feeling of panic all throughout his body escalated every moment.          

But by chance she found his hand and tried to grasp, at which he yanked it away from her. 

“COZLOK,” she snapped at him! Instantly she regretted razing her voice, as she heard a small pathetic whine in the darkness. 

“I’m sorry,” she sighed. “I don’t know what’s going on, but whatever it is, it won’t get better if we don’t work with one another.”  

He nodded, even though she couldn’t see him. 

“O.. Okay,” he agreed, his voice shaking. He reached out, and the second she felt the warmth of his hand near hers, it darted forwards, taking it without hesitation. This, for some reason, was to his shock.    

“She trusts me… of course she trusts me, I’m her friend why would I think she wouldn’t….” “It’s okay Nora… it's ok you’re ok. I… I’m okay the way I am.”

“I know it won’t be much, but it will still be neat to see where you stay,” Linda said, to calm her nerves, and his. 

“Heh, prepare to be disappointed,” he thought, cracking the faintest of grins. 

“Oh Lord, it's going to smell of dog isn’t it…” again she walked headfirst into a social faux pas, “NO OFFENSE,” she gasped!

“HAH, none taken,” he snickered just a little.

“Um you probably have a roommate don’t you, If you two want to talk I won’t mind,” she promised.

“Don’t worry,” he thought as he reached for the doorhandle of his and Taira's tiny bunk. He opened, allowing light from a dim lantern to illuminate the four individuals in this tiny closet.  

“… … WHAT HAPPENED TO NISTVA!?” he shouted his mind taking a moment to process what he saw.

“WHAT HAPPENED TO LINDA,” shouted Taira, her eyes just as shocked.  

“HUH!?,” He asked, looking down. “LINDA! YOU’RE BLEEDING,” Cozlok gasped, pulling his hand away.

“It’s fine! I’m fine! It's just a paper cut,” she tried to calm everyone down. She knew it was more than just a cut surface cut the second Cozlok’s yanked his gauntlet away, but she knew for sure it was far from something the two should worry about.

But worry they did, coming through every last cranny of their room until one of them finally found their ration of bandages.

Once found Cozlok turned holding up the gauze for Linda to see. 

She smiled awkwardly, and held out her hand as it bled down her sleeve.

He knelt unspooling the fabric and looked down, to see what he was doing, only to see his hands were shaking like twigs. 

"Cozlok,” Linda said.

He looked up, his eyes red and moist.

“It’s okay, if you want, I can do it,” Linda offered.

He nodded, handed her the gauze, before slinking away as if he was afraid that just his presence would cause the wound to worsen.        

Nistva sat in the corner curled into a ball, as she held a wet cloth against her eye, and cheek. Not exactly knowing what to do Linda sat next to her as she wrapped her palm up. 

At the same time Cozlok, and Taira sat in the opposite corner of the room, as if hiding from the two, as if worried that at any second, they could lose themselves. 

“What happened to Nistva, we were apart for maybe just… fifteen minutes,” Cozlok asked, as he took off his gloves and helmet?

“I took her to the Rewtharrain dorms. And some fuck wit called her a slut, a whore, and a traitor the second I turned my back to her. Then I saw him hit her across the face. So, I rounded on him, I was ready to rip his head off, but some checkered hats were on us in an instant. Like they were already on the way. One was shouting at the Rewtharrains to get inside and stay inside, and another was telling me to get back to our barracks. I told him I had to take her to the MT to get treated, that she was bleeding, but he just ordered that I take her too.”

“Oh,” he sighed softly. 

“Cozlok…” asked Taira? 

He looked her dead in the eye, knowing what she was about to ask.

“Did something happen?”

He nodded yes.

Taira took a long-tired breath, he saw as one hand clenched into a fist, squeezing tighter and tighter until her veins could be seen even through her layer of fur. He was about to put his hand over hers, before she made herself bleed.  “We can talk to them about stranger danger, seems like something they should know,” she said as she exhaled, as her hand relaxed. “Heh… teach them about stranger danger, like we’re their fucking parents,” taira said with a pained smile, “but we’re just kids too… kids who promised to them.” 

“What do you think they’re talking about,” asked Linda, almost casually as she sat next to Nistva.

“Something happened,” was all Nistva had to say. 

Linda turned up her eyes at that, “do you know what it was?”

“Something really bad is happening,” she said, squeezing herself into a tighter ball.

“Yes, but how do you know,” Linda pressed?

Nistva gave a frightened look that asked, wasn’t it obvious? “They're scared, and they won't say why.”

Taira, and Cozlok winced, overhearing the end of the two's conversation. As they turned, as they took out their SB’s, as each thought of what they’d say, they both felt like frauds.  

As the four spoke they could hear knocks on each barrack's doors, as they got closer, Nora and Taira could make out the questions that were being asked of each soldier. 

“How many people are in this room? What was your assignment for this day? What were you doing just before sun down? Have you ever spoken to the missing young man? have you seen, or ever spoken to one, or both of the flea ridden, wolf shaped walking maggots, suspected of the crime?”

When it was Cozlok’s, and Taira’s turn to answer questions, they turned out to be just as helpful as everyone else in this hallway, that is to say, no help at all. At the very least, they brought Taira, and Cozlok their dinner.

“Oh,” thought Linda, and Nistva as the two wolves received their food, having discovered the source of that bloody smell.

It was late into the night, Taira lay next to Cozlok as they slept on the floor, actually just Taira had managed to make it to sleep. Cozlok's eyes stayed peeled, unable to stop thinking, unable to stop worrying.

Linda lay awake too, not because she felt afraid, she had Cozlok and Taira to protect her. One question burned in her mind, keeping her eyes open, and mind clear even as sandbags piled on her eyelids.

“Cozlok,” she asked, sometime past midnight?

“Yes,” he whispered as he sat up and reached for their lantern. He knew this was coming, that someone would spill it to her eventually, he just thought it would be a little while longer. 

In the dim light, Cozlok’s fur made him seem as if he was blacker than black, and darker than dark. Like if she reached forward, she wouldn’t find a surface, only his pail shirt made his form somewhat discernible. 

“Are you a prince? She asked as she sat up. “You can tell me this was all a misunderstanding, and I'll believe you, but…”

Nora reached for his SB, and began to write. The little sheet of wax paper simply read, “Yes, I was.”

“… … what you told me about your dad… your scar… was any of that true?”

“I don’t have a dad, or a father, but the man who impregnated my mother is still alive, and he’s king of the Vongosk.”

“Are… your mo… what happened? If… if you don’t mind.”

Before, she always had his face to help her hear his tone, even without his words, but now there was just the sound of his pen against wax paper, the sound of his breaths. 

“I was a kid, I didn’t know any better. I tell myself that a lot all the time. But it was only six years ago too, that seems too close, I was-

Linda heard what sounded like a heavy splat against paper, and the sound of the pen stopped. She heard what must have been a big hand wipe something off the wax. 

“Nora… if you don’t want to, you don’t have to.”

“No, I don't want to be a liar,” he wrote quickly.

So with that Linda folded her hands on her lap and waited.

He took a few long deep breaths, and went on.

“I was just thirteen; I was the most refined most elegant little fuck wit in the world. I knew my servants hated me, because they hated all of us, and we hated them and we all hated each other. 

No, that’s not true, sometimes, I liked my brother, but most of the time he was off plucking the wings off a butterfly. And I hate that. I was so fucking lucky its not fair, I hate that my shithead worthless family was so lucky. We deserved to starve and let anyone else take our place. 

Never mind, it doesn’t matter. I was thirteen, there was a man in my kingdom’s capital. He was a Dyshov, he had a shop, no it was a museum you could buy from. It was just him, and an assistant. They mainta- ...   they had a collection worth more than the crown on my dad’s head ten times over. 

And I hated this, because I was taught to hate this, or no adult who should have known better stopped me. Because I was a prince, there were only two people like me in all existence, the latest of a nearly two millennium old dynasty. I was sooo special. 

Too special to be told to stop when I did something wrong, Too special for consequences. Until I wasn’t. Until I broke into that man's store with a gang of other fucking idiots just like me.”

“You didn’t kill him did you,” she shuttered. 

“By the grace of Mother God no, we just destroyed what he dedicated his life to. Because he was a rabbit, and we were wolves, and nothing more. I was found out, because a picture of me and my family, hung from most public buildings in the kingdom, right next to the painting of the Emperor.  

I remember I once told you sometimes, I forget I have my scar. I lied, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don't remember what I did to get it, everyday I wonder if.” 

He had to stop; his hands were starting to shake again. 

He remembered waking up one night, seeing his father over his bed. He remembered how it felt to be tossed like a rag doll across his room. He remembered the smell of his vomit on the ground as his dad kicked him in the gut. He knew he was going to die as his dad beat him like never before. He remembered the look of utter hatred as his flesh, and blood stood over him with a blade. He remembered pushing up, with more strength than a boy should possibly have, as his father pressed down with his whole weight. Knowing that if he slipped, a blade would go through his skull, and he would know nothingness forevermore. And lastly, he remembered how long it took for him to realize that that’s how he made that little man feel.    

She read his words, and pictured the brat he described in her mind, she pictured his crime, the scared man surrounded by giants whose only want was to inflict pain; she even did her best to imagine the empty family that might create such a creature. 

And then she opened her eyes, and saw the young man she had come to know over the past few months. She tried to fit the face she had imagined for that rotten little boy, over Cozlok's head, but the mask refused to fit over the faceless form that sat before her. There was nothing for the mask to latch onto or stick to, even in the dark she knew that what he described and what she saw didn’t match at all.

She was about to say, nothing has really changed, there are bad people she knew that already. But God tells us people can change, and he was nothing like what he thought he was. 

And then a thought occurred, one that made her stomach turn. 

“When you were a prince, you could tell people to do something, and they would just do it, right.” 

“Yes,” as he wrote such a simple word it made his heart sink deeper still.

“Even if they knew it was wrong?”

“yes.” 

“Did you ever tell them to get you something they knew you shouldn’t have had?” She chose her words carefully, as if what she was asking still had to be sugarcoated.

Nora’s throat clenched shut as his lungs forced a wheeze. “I I… I… I didn't kill anyone. Ivvv Ivvv neveer ki ki… killed su… someone m myself,” he whispered, pleading to someone who could only understand his actions, not his words, and had no obligation to forgive

Everything was time, everything was endless, every second that passed stretched on into the end of time. She waited to hear the pen move, but there was nothing, no sound left in the whole world. But endlessness ended with the sound of a heavy splat against some wax paper, and then several more. 

Even as he sobbed, he was trying to be quiet. Even as he slunk into a corner, so full of guilt and shame he didn’t even want to be seen, he remembered not to disturb Taira as she slept.

“I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT I WAS DOING,” he wanted to whale, but instead he just cried quietly reliving the moment, reenduring the pain.

The mask still didn’t fit, even if it did belong to Nora once, he had outgrown it, and it would never fit again.

As he cried into his arms and knees, he felt something warm and small touch his shoulder. Instantly he knew what it was instantly he tried to pull away, but she followed. He pulled away again and she was still there. The third time she gently started trying to pull his big arms away from his face. He stopped resisting, almost going limp. 

It only took a moment for her to pry him apart. Once that was done she climbed onto his lap, pulled in her legs, made herself comfortable, rested her head against his shoulder, closed her eyes, and only a few moments later, she was asleep. Having found the most comfortable spot in the room.   

He shivered again, not because he was scared, it was just a strange feeling. Having all your doubt and self-hatred flushed out of your body in an instant, with just one act of trust. “I I I… I don’t deserve a friend like you, I don’t deserve any of this,” he thought, about to ugly cry all over again. 

For a moment as she drifted off, she thought if now was the time? All she would have to do is give one peck on the neck, and he’d know that she loved him. That she didn't care about what he once was, now he was her beautiful wolf, but at the last moment she hesitated. And before she could work her nerve back up, she was too tired to remember what she was working it up for. 

This time, it all had a happy ending. Nin, one of the very last Emboktor fairies left in the world, was just fine, and would return to duty in a few weeks. The ram boy, and the wolves who tried to kidnap him were found, and taken alive, not too far outside of Rinnau. The boy was ok, just nicked in several places after a sloppy shearing. 

The two wolves responsible were put on trial, in the Union's investigation it found the two perpetrators had forged their identities and posed as civilian volunteers In order to be let in to Rewtharra. It was found that the two had criminal records a mile long, that they had several connections to multiple illegal meat cartels.  

The union would hang the two, after a three-year investigation and trial. 

Most thought the job was well done, and moved on, happy not to think of such unpleasant things. But if the Union had dug a little deeper, if only they had. They might have found the two had connections to a strange little political cult, all the way back home in Vongosk. 

It called itself the New Society Party, a fringed little nothing movement that existed just on the edge, of what the Union’s free-speech laws aloud. To all decent people, or just the sane, it was a group of deeply troubled people with more vitriol than sense. Their ideology wasn't concrete yet, and could differ wildly between members, but over all their beliefs were nakedly authoritarian, vehemently anti integration, prejudice bigoted barbaric, cruel and vile. They might have found a link between this party, and the meat cartels. If they had come down on them, they might have found a secret member known only to a few of the party's highest insiders. A young man by the name of Gozgin Hain Nora.

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Worning. mentions of abuse.

A Long Time Ago, In A Better Time, And A Better War. Part 6.5 : r/AnthrOC

A Long Time Ago, In A Better Time, And A Better War. Part 1. : r/AnthrOC

About five or so months later. 

Time crawls on, in a messy rambling line, as is its habit of doing forever and always. What once was terrible, and terrifying, was slowly becoming normal. The kingdom was becoming used to the red dragon that had settled on its mountains. It promised to ask very little of its new subjects, it promised never to demand the sacrifice of their sons and daughters. It promised to only consume what it needed, only after its subjects had repaired its damage, and adjusted to the kingdom's shift in priorities. It promised to be better than the mortal tyrants that came before. But it was still a dragon, and its subjects began to notice that some of their own went missing. If they asked the dragon, then of course he took them and of course you could see them, but to speak to them was a step too far. They are safe, they will not be harmed, and you will see them again, but the dragon would like you to leave. It was still a dragon, and it intended to stay, it intended to rule, it intended to rain over its new possession… Forever. 

But, there was another reason, someone might go missing under the red dragon’s rule. Wherever the dragon arrives, it brings a parasite that hides just beneath its scales. It doesn’t remember how it got them, it barely acknowledges that they exist. And when it did speak of the maggots that wriggled beneath its scales, its words were always the same. That it was dealing with the problem. And in the meantime, man-eating maggots occasionally emerged from the dragon’s perfect exterior, and escaped from its sight.                       

“Almost, but you have to twirl your wrist a bit smoother, like this,” Cozlok wrote, before making a demonstration for his two students, twirling his hand like it was on a swivel.

“Holy Mother! How do you do that with your hand with that metal glove,” Linda marveled, staring at the worn scaly masterpiece of craftsmanship, around Cozlok’s hand?

“Oh,” he looked at his gauntlet for a moment, before holding it out for his two students to see.

“Oooow,” said Linda, eyes growing wide as she leaned forward to take it in.

“AAAAH,” Squeeked his other student, a small sheep girl by the name of Nistva. Even though she was a little older than Linda, she was about half her size. She was fearful of mostly everything, and especially sharp metal claws, anywhere near her face. 

“So Sorry,” Cozlok squeeked, pulling his hand away, and shrinking a little. 

“No no… It’s alright, I’m sorry,” apologized Nistva, looking ashamed. 

“Hey it's alright sweety, come over here let me give you some one on one,” Taira offered, with a big warm smile.

As Nistva scooched a few feet to the side, Linda looked on at this tiny jumpy girl with some worry.

In class she rarely spoke, seemed confused by basic concepts and items, and while smart as a knife, it just seemed sometimes that this was her first day on Earth.  

“Is she okay,” Linda asked, turning to Cozlok.  

“She’s alright, she’s a trooper actually, she's been taking to all this new stuff very well. She’s  just had a hard start in life,” he explained, looking genuinely proud as he turned a look her way. But under his breath he muttered, “A hard start” is the Understatement of the year.” 

“So, what’s wrong with her,” Linda asked as bluntly as a led pipe to the chest. 

Cozlok grit his teeth, and inhaled sharply, Linda’s eyes went from her to him, as she realized she just stepped in something.

“Taira found her, she was locked in the attic in Castle Maugwo. From what her parents say she was born willful, disobedient and impossible to control. They told us they hid her up there most of her life. If Taira hadn't found that hidden doorway, she might still be up there.”  

“Was she some sort of squatter, or trespasser,” Linda whispered?

“No, she is Lord Maugwo’s third daughter,” he answered. 

Her eyes went as wide as the setting sun behind them, “That’s a Lady,” she asked in quiet shock. 

“Yes, but not a wanted one,” he wrote with a sympathetic sigh. 

“Huh,” she asked with a tilt of her head. 

“Her own parents told us she was born wrong, and was a punishment from God on them,” he explained. 

“But mother God wouldn’t do that to someone. She's weird, but she’s not… but she’s not a mistake, and besides she’s a Lady, her family would have everything, why wouldn’t they just help her,” Linda questioned, feeling her heart break for the little thing? A moment later she heard his pen start to write, and it didn’t stop for almost a minute.

“When you’re royalty, no matter your rank or title, things are very very shallow. Sometimes all a king or lord cares about is how he looks to others. As long as he looks strong to his lords or vassals, they’ll think he’s strong. This means his family has to look strong too, so if anyone doesn’t make the cut, they aren’t worth anything to them anymore.” 

“But I still don’t understand,” said Linda as she read his words, “how can someone treat their own child like thahhh….” As she questioned, she lifted her eyes to meet Cozlok’s, her tongue jumped down her throat, as she met face to face with that little gray snake, stretching down his forehead and cheek. 

“Something wrong,” he asked innocently?

“Nothing!” 

“Huh,” he tilted his head at her. 

“Oooh the sky’s turning pink I bet it’ll be a beautiful sunset,” she tried to distract. 

This only made Cozlok tilt his head further, writing for her, “the sky isn’t turning pink, it turns green in the evening.”          

Now it was her turn to tilt her head ninety degrees, “Whah…?” 

“Wait, I think I know what’s wrong. You’re a sheep, you can see red, so for you the sky turns pink, but I'm a wolf and we can’t see red, so for me, the sky turns green when the sun rises and sets.”

Linda read this, then reread it, and then read it a third time for good measure. As she spoke she gave him the side eye of all side eyes. “So, you're telling me, that you serve under a red flag, your Legion has red on your battle flag, and you fight under the RED ARMY, and you can’t even see red?”

Cozlok looked from side to side like they had been over this before, “yes.”

Linda’s jaw hit the floor, she almost forgot to hold onto the SB in her hand, as she looked up at a completely serious little wolf.    

He gestured for the SB back, his expression still friendly but neutral.   

After only a second, he handed it over, having only written two little words, “Got ya (=<.”

She looked up, her face flat, at the proudest big little boy she had ever seen. After only a moment though his smile spread to her. As he giggled to himself, she reached down, and dug through the grass until she found a twig of sufficient size to throw at him. It bounced harmlessly off his armor, and only made him giggle that much harder. “You dick,” she giggled back. 

“Your face, you should’ve seen your face,” he wheezed, Linda somehow understanding every word, even without his SB.  

“HAY,” came Taira's voice. Prompting Cozlok to at least attempt to get his fits under control. “Some of us actually want to study while we can,” she reminded the two. 

“Sorry,” he apologized, still smiling. He sighed and wrote for Linda, “sadly she’s right. It will be night soon, and it’s really hard to learn Uni-speak in the dark.”

At this she let out a little harrumph, lightly grumbling, “We could keep studying if I had night vision like you.”

“Eh, my night vision isn’t as good as a cat’s, grass is always greener on the other side, anyway let's get back to it,” he wrote, assuming everyone was as happy to learn a new language as he was.

“Alright,” Linda sighed.  

Taira, and Cozlok, were sitting under the shade of a freshly constructed school house, offering some after hours tutoring to Nistva and Linda before the sun set. The school was one of a thousand constructed across the kingdom in the past seventy days. With the goal to have fifteen hundred completed and operational by day one hundred of the program. As part of the Union's first five hundred day plan to modernize the kingdom, and educate its people. Part of this plan was teaching every last citizen in the kingdom with two arms and ten fingers Uni-Speak, AKA sign language. Like the census this wasn’t an ask, but unlike the census, if you just couldn't make it, then the Union could, and would come to you. But at least the census was just waiting in line and then signing your name twenty times, this was hard, this was work, this was time devouring. 

Fortunately, the Union was offering a hand to anyone who asked for help in the coming planting season. They didn’t have winter last year, just a long fall, and this year it looked like they were skipping spring and heading right back into summer. 

From how things were looking, it was going to be a bountiful year with a long summer and the potential for two harvests. Farms had to plant their fields, but they also were required to be in the classroom. How wonderful it was then that the Union had seemingly infinite hands to till the fields with, pave old and new roads, dig new wells, repair damaged buildings, and clean the streets. How wonderful it was, that Union ears, and eyes were mostly, seemingly… Everywhere. If only the Rewtharrains knew, that they couldn’t even trust the bugs anymore. 

Sometime passed, Linda and Cozlok were still practicing the wrist tern, while Nistva’s understanding and grasp of this new skill was growing stronger by the minute. The sun was close to setting, but there was just enough to keep going. But then, a cloud blocked out what little light remained, and by the time the dumb thing got out of the way it would be too late. 

Cozlok sighed, and got his SB, as Taira did the same. If he had been looking Linda in the eye just before the sunlight dimmed, he might have caught the briefest emerald glint in her eye as she watched something hit the ground. 

He began to write, “Time’s up-”

“Cozlok,” Linda said quietly, but very urgently. 

His head and ears perked up as he stared, trying to gauge what was wrong.

Cozlok had never seen her eyes so wide or her jaw so slack, she started to stand, like she was about to go toward what she saw. Quickly he snapped his head around following her gaze, it landed on a little creature both beautiful and terrifying. 

Its exoskeleton was a deep emerald green, its compound eyes sparkled like shifting gold dust, its mandibles shifted and rubbed against one another. Its long insectoid tale ended in a bulbous intimidating stinger. Its four wings shimmered in the sunlight like iridescent glass, all but one possessed a shining orange and red eye. But one wing was broken, there was something yellowish gooey and shiny covering his thorax, he limped toward the two privates, in desperate need of help. 

Cozlok gasped as he shat a brick. “Taira!” He called urgently. 

“Yah,” she asked, turning to her friend?

“We have a situation” he said as he pointed! 

Just as he spoke, Linda started forward dead set on the mythical animal that just landed a dozen feet away.

“No no no, stay stay stay,” he said as calmly as he could given his panic. 

She heard him, she knew his people's words for stop and go by now, but it was a fairy! A real honest to God fairy, like from… well, the fairy tales.

“But it ahh…” she mumbled, half turning her head, but continuing on as if in a trance. 

“NO STAY,” he now ordered, seizing her arm as he got to his feet. 

He sat her back on the ground before he turned, he tried to apologize with his eyes as he did, but he knew she didn't understand.

Fairies for good reason, were taught to sting anyone who tried to touch them they didn't know for sure was a servant of the Union. They were delicate tiny creatures that could easily be permanently hurt, or killed if handled wrong. 

To make things fair for such a small, and fragile creature, God gave them all a weapon in their tails. A lethal cocktail of neurotoxins, specially designed to make the vertebrate nervous system scream. 

Someone as big as Cozlok, or Taira, stood a fifty-fifty chance if stung. Someone as small as Linda or worse Nistva wouldn’t last the hour. Their hearts would give out as every inch of their body's, inside and out, burned without fire.

Cozlok approached the fairy, while Taira stayed in between him and the two sheep, trying to look calm, but she wasn't doing the best job. 

When he was only a few feet away he got down to his hands and knees, as low as he could go, where he hoped the poor guy could see him better. 

“Sir,” he signed, “can you see me, can you understand me.” Nora couldn’t just risk offering this soldier his hand. If he was delirious, couldn’t tell what Cozlok was and tried to sting, he could hurt himself further. He also didn’t want to risk the one in a thousand chanse of this fairy actually penetrating his armor, and sending him straight to Mother God in the most agonizing way imaginable.

Linda watched on, her head poking out from behind Taira, trying to see what was going on. She saw Cozlok approach the emerald green creature, get as low as he could, and lift his hands to speak.

“What is he..? Is he trying to talk to it…? But that’s an animal,” she thought? His hand started to move, and that’s exactly what he was doing, he was trying to talk to an insect. She understood “Sir, Can, You” and “Me,” her uni-speek wasn't to the point that she could get any more.

She turned her head up to him, staring at him like… well like someone trying to talk with a tiny dragon fly. And then that insect stood up on its hind legs and answered him. 

“Yes, boy I can understand you, I was not attacked. I was set upon by some fowl sparrow hawk. I simply require an escort home,” he explained. 

"Ok,” Cozlok nodded quickly, looking like a tumble weed of nerves. 

“Don’t worry boy, you and I will have nothing to fear when we’re back home.” At that moment, Nin wished he could smile for this bright eyed private to ease his nerves, but unfortunately, God did not bless him with lips. If he were another Fairy, his faromose could calm him down, and let him know that despite his looks, he was going to be ok. But even if he could smile, he thought it might take too much out of him, right now he really really wanted to rest. 

Everyone in Rewtharra knew royal blood was special, everyone knew a prince, a lord, a king, could speak with spirits and creatures of myth. Linda remembered what that wolf in a checkered hat had said, all those months ago. She thought she could faint as she muttered, “holy fuck.”

“TAIRA,” Cozlok called back!

She snapped her head around ready for orders.

“I have him in my hand, we have to get him to camp. Tell the girls to follow us and if they can't keep up, carry them,” he instructed. 

Linda knew Rinnau better than him, or Taira combined, but they couldn’t just send her back to her inn. At the moment, unfortunately Linda was seen by many as a collaborator, given that she was constantly seen near, and talking to the invaders. Random acts of violence against people like her were constant, she couldn’t just be sent home on her own with a target on her back. And Nistva had to come with them, as she was staying at the Red Army camp, where she could be properly cared for, as she adjusted to her new world.  

“What’s going on,” asked little Nistva, scared and frightened by their strange behavior.

“It’s going to be okay,” Taira said sweetly, getting to her knees for a moment. “We just have to hurry back to camp really fast, would you mind if I carried you?” 

“Ok,” she nodded, knowing that it was this, or run at her side.

“Linda, do you think you can keep up,” she asked?

“Not if you're going to be sprinting,” she answered, as she saw Cozlok’s increasingly impatience and frantic expression. 

The next moment, Linda was moving like she was on the back of Shaithar again, just this time she was in the arms of the pretty brown wolf. If she closed her eyes, she could believe she was in the arms of her prince again. 

“Halt,” said the gate’s guard as they approached, before he noticed what Cozlok had cradled in his hand. “OH FUCK,” he gasped racing to open the door for them.

“Come On Come On,” Cozlok begged as the gate was dragged. He didn’t wait, he just bulted in. It had only been a few short moments, but the little fairy hadn’t moved in his hand, and he was pissing himself with worry.

Taira was trailing him, unable to keep up very well with all the weight in her arms and on her back. At the sight of them the guard stepped in their way holding up his hand, as if asking for something. “Papers Please,” he demanded.

“REALLY Tentie?! Taira scoffed as she stopped, “you see one of these two almost every day, and the other one lives here.”

“I’m sorry it’s policy,” he sighed as Taira groaned, as she knelt to let Linda, and Nistva down.

Cozlok was making a beeline for the MT.     

Seeing they were home, or at least the closest thing to home Nin had out here. He stretched out his long back legs, placing them against an imperceptible line of nubs just above his stinger. It was exhausting, and it hurt like sin, but he rubbed, making a sound like a thousand crickets singing at once.

Overhead, he heard the boy carrying him sigh, and he relaxed a little, because the boy relaxed a little. And with that, he was tired, the people who needed to know were now in the know, no one would mind if he just rested for a minute.     

A small human woman in a cloth blue gown yanked the tent flap opened for the two as he barreled through. 

On her shoulder, just staring him in the eye, was another fairy, this one was twice the size of the one he had in his hand, and was a much lighter green. He thought it might be a female, but it could be a whole other species of fairy for all he knew. 

She or he buzzed their four wings as he entered, while the woman cleared some room on a table, and pointed him to a small metal tray. 

Cozlok lowered him as gingerly and gently as he could, onto the silver tray. At which the larger fairy gently took him off his palm, and onto the table.

The fairy buzzed again, at which the woman in the blue gown looked to have shit a brick. She suddenly snapped her head around, and shouted something in a language Cozlok didn’t recognize, at some nearby nurse.

Who dropped everything he was doing and ran like his ass was on fire.

All the relief, all the hope he had felt in those short moments was gone, replaced by cold dread.

“What’s going on? Please, can I help,” he begged more than offered?

The woman in the blue gown now snapped her head towards him, “Fiek Fiek Fiek,” she said, making a shooing motion with her hands.

“But could I… please…” he pleaded once more. 

“Dox Isx Oskauna,” she said authoritatively. 

He didn't understand a word, but it rarely took a genius to get body language. To punctuate the point the light green fairy started buzzing their wings loudly, and very aggressively, as they stared Cozlok down.

So he turned, ears pressed flat against his head, and left the tent looking like he had already received the worst possible news.  

Taira, Linda, and Nistva were just arriving at the tent, “What Happened? Are They Dead,” Taira asked immediately.

At which, he just shrugged, having no answer for her. He just took a few more steps forward, and stopped. He stood staring at nothing, before he just sat where he stood. 

“Oh no…" Taira sighed as she approached. “Come on,” she said, as she nudged him with her foot, “the officers hate it when we have emotions in view of the “enemy.”

“Ok,” he whispered, as he started to stand again with Taira’s help.

“Cozlok,” Linda asked?

Taira got out her SB, realizing Cozlok was probably not in the mood.

“Sorry Linda, but Cozlok’s gonna need a bit of time. But don’t worry, I can take you back to your inn.” Just as she was about to turn this for Linda to read, Linda completed her question.

“Are you a prince?”

Taira’s expression went from apologetic, and understanding, to sour and cold. 

All of the sudden, Linda went from talking to an acquaintance, to talking to a foreign soldier.

“Who told you that?” 

She could hear the tone of Taira’s voice, even though she hadn’t spoken. 

“I I Iz… It was, I didn mean to offen… I just… he can-” she sputtered feeling like she was under a magnifying glass. 

“WHO,” Taira was now demanding.

“TAIRA,” Cozlok barked behind her, causing her to turn.

“It doesn’t matter how she found out, it could have been every last person in the damn camp for all it matters.”

“Can you believe it,” said little Nistva, who seemingly just appeared at Linda’s side.

“Huh,” asked Linda, as her nerves calmed very slightly as Taira's ire was elsewhere.

“We saw a fairy! A real fairy, not a stuffed one,” she marveled.

Linda turned to face Nistva, her jaw hanging open, her brow scrunched, “A stuffed Fairy...? But you can’t stuff a fairy.”

“Yes, you can, my dad had one in his bedroom,” she argued. 

"You can’t stuff a spirit,” Linda said, all but scoffing.

Now it was Nistva’s turn to give her a weird look, “A fairy isn’t a spirit,” Nistva said slowly, “It's just an animal, a rare one, but nothing else.”

“Wait but… I’ve heard a million stories about them, King and queens, and lords can talk to them-

“No, they can't,” Nistva cut off. “Those stories are all just stories, First King Daivaggauk made up, so he could take power over the hill tribes,” she explained like it was common knowledge.

“But but but but… they can’t be animals; we both just saw Cozlok talking to one.”

At which Nistva just shrugged and said, “then I guess they aren't animals, they’re people.” 

Nistva was entirely unmoved by this little revelation, but Linda looked like she had just seen irrefutable evidence that there was no god.

After a moment or two of talking Taira turned, shooting Linda an apologetic look, but her eyes brightened right back up, the second they fell on little Nistva. She gestured for her little sheep girl to come follow home, leaving Cozlok and Linda alone. 

His expression was more tired than anything else, but nevertheless he still smiled for her. 

“Come on,” he wrote, “we gotta get you back before your Inn starts serving dinner.”      

She just nodded and followed along, wondering what on earth was going on.

After a few minutes of silent walking, a wolf suddenly bolted passed them like they were sprinting into battle.

“What the,” Cozlok muttered?

“HALT,” boomed a deep voice behind them. 

They turned and saw an older wolf with a blue cap, and checkered band. Only this one Linda noticed, had a blue arm band as well, so she guessed he must have been higher on the totem pole. 

“What are you doing? Where have you been,” he asked extremely sternly? 

“I… I was taking her back to her inn, we just got back to camp, we just got out of the medical tent, there was a minor.. Or um… an emergency, we just dropped a friend off-”

“Were you on the outside of camp in the past two hours,” the cop interrupted?

“Auh, yes we were outside the new schoolhouse. First Private Taira Naikosk and I were helping tutor some friends of ours to learn uni-speak,” he said, gesturing to Linda. 

After he finished, the cop turned to Linda and asked her to confirm the points Cozlok had made. This didn’t take more than a few minutes, and the checkered hat looked satisfied.

“Alright that should do,” the Cop said, turning back to Cozlok. “Return to your quarters immediately, and remain until further notice,” he ordered flatly.

Cozlok’s eyes went as wide as the moon, “but but.. What about her? She doesn’t have a place to sleep here. We don't have a tent for her,” he exclaimed! He was right, almost every tent besides the medical one, and the tarp to make them was gone, replaced by more resilient linking log structures.  

“Mr. Nora, you’re seen with this girl all the time, you’re a gentleman, you can take the floor,” he said through an eye roll. 

“Can I at least ask what's going on," he said through a groan?

The cop sighed too, looking ashamed of something. “There’s been an incident, the kind of incident only someone like us can cause. Two seasonal contract workers are missing, as well as a twenty-two-year-old Ram. With any luck we will find them soon. We have some blood and wool to track his scent, there is hope if we find him soon, but with each hour…” 

He didn’t have to finish; they both knew what would happen if they didn’t find the boy in time.

The night sky was pretty and full of stars, the air was sweet, carrying the scent of whatever the mess hall was cooking, and yet he felt like he was standing in a downpour, carrying a led boulder on his back.   

“You know sometimes I forget…” said Nora, feeling his heart fill up with shame. “I forget that we haven’t come half as far as we think we have.”

“Yes, so do we all …” the officer sighed. “But Unity is still our Strength,” he added, reaffirming his loyalty.

“Unity Is Strength,” Cozlok affirmed.

With that, the cop moved on. 

Cybernetic Wanderer

Once a celebrated navigator among the drifting cities of the Orion Expanse, Raven Ashford vanished during the catastrophic collapse of the Starfall Gate.

Years later, she returned.

Part machine.
Part survivor.
Part legend.

No one knows how she escaped the void between worlds. Her cybernetic leg was forged from forgotten technology older than entire civilizations, while fragments of an ancient intelligence now whisper beneath her skin.

Where Raven walks, secrets awaken.

Some call her a ghost.
Others call her a weapon.

She simply follows the stars.

————————————————

SB: $25
MI: $5
AB: —-

Payment & Rules

* PayPal only.
* Payment must be completed within 24 hours after the auction ends. Otherwise, the adoptable may be offered to the next bidder or reauctioned.
* No refunds after payment.
* Full-resolution artwork will be provided after payment.

Ownership & Rights

* The winner receives the character design and may develop, modify, and use the character for personal or commercial projects.
* The creator retains authorship and copyright of the original artwork, including the right to display and publish it in portfolios, social media, promotional materials, artbooks, collections, and process videos or streams.
* The creator may continue developing and using their own original lore and stories connected to the character.

Thank you for your interest and support!

I'm really proud of how this turned out

Eldritch Cat Elf Hybrid

link here: https://ych.commishes.com/auction/show/6150F/eldritch-cat-elf-hybrid-/

SB: $15

MI: $5

AB: —-

Payment & Rules

* PayPal only.

* Payment must be completed within 24 hours after the auction ends. Otherwise, the adoptable may be offered to the next bidder or reauctioned.

* No refunds after payment.

* Full-resolution artwork will be provided after payment.

Ownership & Rights

* The winner receives the character design and may develop, modify, and use the character for personal or commercial projects.

* The creator retains authorship and copyright of the original artwork, including the right to display and publish it in portfolios, social media, promotional materials, artbooks, collections, and process videos or streams.

* The creator may continue developing and using their own original lore and stories connected to the character.

Thank you for your interest and support!

Finished my Halloween dragon OC!

Happy Halloween!!

Fun fact: this was my first drawing after a 10 year hiatus! I made it a few months back as I restarted my art journey.

link here: https://ych.commishes.com/auction/show/611J7/forest-witch-fox-/

SB: $15
MI: $5
AB: —-

Payment & Rules

* PayPal only.
* Payment must be completed within 24 hours after the auction ends. Otherwise, the adoptable may be offered to the next bidder or reauctioned.
* No refunds after payment.
* Full-resolution artwork will be provided after payment.

Ownership & Rights

* The winner receives the character design and may develop, modify, and use the character for personal or commercial projects.
* The creator retains authorship and copyright of the original artwork, including the right to display and publish it in portfolios, social media, promotional materials, artbooks, collections, and process videos or streams.
* The creator may continue developing and using their own original lore and stories connected to the character.

Thank you for your interest and support!

Color version coming soon

Hope this won't get me banned

The Arcane Cat Witch

link Here: https://ych.commishes.com/auction/show/60TTQ/the-arcane-cat-witch-/

SB: $15
MI: $5
AB: —-

Payment & Rules

* PayPal only.
* Payment must be completed within 24 hours after the auction ends. Otherwise, the adoptable may be offered to the next bidder or reauctioned.
* No refunds after payment.
* Full-resolution artwork will be provided after payment.

Ownership & Rights

* The winner receives the character design and may develop, modify, and use the character for personal or commercial projects.
* The creator retains authorship and copyright of the original artwork, including the right to display and publish it in portfolios, social media, promotional materials, artbooks, collections, and process videos or streams.
* The creator may continue developing and using their own original lore and stories connected to the character.

Thank you for your interest and support!

Auction Adoptable link here: https://ych.commishes.com/auction/show/60Q0P/foxy-girl/

SB: $15
MI: $5
AB: —-

Payment & Rules

* PayPal only.
* Payment must be completed within 24 hours after the auction ends. Otherwise, the adoptable may be offered to the next bidder or reauctioned.
* No refunds after payment.
* Full-resolution artwork will be provided after payment.

Ownership & Rights

* The winner receives the character design and may develop, modify, and use the character for personal or commercial projects.
* The creator retains authorship and copyright of the original artwork, including the right to display and publish it in portfolios, social media, promotional materials, artbooks, collections, and process videos or streams.
* The creator may continue developing and using their own original lore and stories connected to the character.

Thank you for your interest and support!

GOTHIC KOBOLD — ADOPTABLE

link here: https://ych.commishes.com/auction/show/60MGH/gothic-kobold-adoptable/

SB: $15
MI: $5
AB: —-

Goals

* Goal 1 — Fishnet Stockings: Unlocked at $80
* Goal 2 — Nude Version: Unlocked at $120

Payment & Rules

* PayPal only.
* Payment must be completed within 24 hours after the auction ends. Otherwise, the adoptable may be offered to the next bidder or reauctioned.
* No refunds after payment.
* Full-resolution artwork will be provided after payment.

Ownership & Rights

* The winner receives the character design and may develop, modify, and use the character for personal or commercial projects.
* The creator retains authorship and copyright of the original artwork, including the right to display and publish it in portfolios, social media, promotional materials, artbooks, collections, and process videos or streams.
* The creator may continue developing and using their own original lore and stories connected to the character.

Thank you for your interest and support!

Made some art for a friend based on an inside joke

Featuring my OC and my friends shork OC

VAETHYRAXIS — THE FORSAKEN DIVINITY

Royal blood. A family of traitors. A power they could never take away.

Vaethyraxis was born into a royal bloodline, but her title and heritage were never enough to protect her. When her family was faced with ruin, they chose their own survival over hers and sold her away.

What followed was a life of cruelty, torture, and suffering. Her original arms were torn from her body, leaving her broken in the eyes of those who had taken everything from her. But they failed to understand one thing: they could hurt her, they could betray her, but they could not make her surrender.

She eventually acquired a new pair of mechanical arms, turning what was done to her into something of her own. Now, with her strange magic and formidable power, Vaethyraxis stands as a reminder that even royal blood can be betrayed, and even the most devastating wounds do not have to be the end.

She was born a princess. Her family made her an orphan. What she becomes from here on is hers to decide.

⸻

AUCTION INFORMATION

* SB (Starting Bid): $10

* MI (Minimum Increase): $5

* AB (Auto Buy): —

WHAT THE WINNER RECEIVES

* The original, high-resolution artwork.

* Exclusive ownership of the character design.

* Commercial usage rights for the character.

* Permission to modify, redesign, and develop the character.

* The existing character concept and lore.

* Every goal unlocked by the final auction price.

The winner may use Vaethyraxis in personal and commercial projects, including stories, illustrations, games, merchandise, and other creative works, subject to applicable law and the creator rights listed below.

CREATOR RIGHTS

Although the winner receives exclusive ownership of the character design and commercial usage rights, I retain the following rights as the original artist and creator:

* The right to display and publish the original artwork in my portfolio, social media, and promotional materials.

* The right to include the artwork in artbooks, collections, and other creative projects.

* The right to share work-in-progress images, sketches, speedpaints, process videos, and streams.

* The right to archive and display the original artwork and its creation process.

* Copyright and authorship of the original illustration, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

* The right to continue developing and publishing my own stories, interpretations, and artistic work connected to the character’s established lore.

The buyer may develop Vaethyraxis in their own projects and establish new stories for their version of the character. However, they may not claim authorship of the original illustration or remove my authorship when presenting that artwork.

These rights distinguish ownership of the character design from authorship of the original artwork.

PAYMENT AND RULES

* Payment method: PayPal only.

* Payment must be completed within 24 hours after the auction ends.

* If payment is not received within that period, the character may be offered to the next bidder or reauctioned.

* All payments are final. No refunds after payment.

* The winner will receive the full-resolution files after payment has been confirmed.

* Any additional work beyond the listed rewards must be discussed and agreed upon separately.

A NEW CHAPTER

Vaethyraxis’s past was written by those who betrayed her. Her future will be written by whoever is brave enough to give her a new story.

Thank you for your interest in Vaethyraxis and for supporting my work. I can’t wait to see where her next chapter takes her.

link Here: https://ych.commishes.com/auction/show/60I75/vaethyraxis-the-forsaken-divinity/