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the-realms-master · 1 year

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Studying For Entry Exams With A Sweet Fae Friend

I’m alive, I swear I’m alive!!!!! It has been… like, two months since I posted a chapter of Layered Realms. Apologies for that— life decided to kick my ass in every possible way around mid July and things are only just recently settling into place more. But!!!!!!! Now I can actually guarantee at least somewhat regular uploads, because I have a chapter’s worth of buffer! And yes, heheheheh, that does mean I am sitting on an entire chapter that none of you have seen yet 😏

Also, I’m aware that I gained about thirty-odd followers during the period of time that I didn’t post anything about LR, so if you’re reading this thinking “What the fuck is Layered Realms?” Then here’s your explanation! It’s an original story of mine, and here’s where you can get more info about it!

My Original Story— What’s Going On?!

Hi, I’m Mar! Nice to meet you all! If you’re reading this, it’s probably because of my recent Layered Realms post. You’re here for an explan

TUMBLR

Cw/Tw: Character is depicted kind of spiraling, not really having a panic attack but something along those lines. Other than that, I think we’re good!

Now that all of that is out of the way, I’ll stop talking your ear off and let you get reading! Chapter six, part six of Layered Realms, part five of A Traveler’s Tale.

Studying For Entry Exams With A Sweet Fae Friend

I shoved the books, pamphlets, and articles farther away from me on the table and collapsed my head into my arms. None of this was sticking in my head, and it didn’t make any sense. I was exhausted, my brain was foggy, and I’d been working at this for hours now. These materials all seemed custom-made for people who had grown up knowing about magic, and all they really needed was a light refresher on the basics and to then delve deeper into the more obscure things that would be on the entry exams. I needed much more than a refresher on the basics, I needed an entire mastercourse. There was no way I was going to pass those tests. And then what would happen? I might not get to see Eris or Amir or Hedera ever again, and I would just have this knowledge and these books and materials that I spent way too much money on and time on, and it would all be—

I heard clomping nearby. It sounded like it was right outside my kitchen door.

“What the…” I approached the door and peeked out.

“Eris?!” I swung open the door immediately. Unlike when I’d last seen him in the forest, he had that illusion spell or whatever it was over his legs. Granted, not as bad as a kid with goat or deer or whatever legs standing right out in broad daylight, but they still looked wonky.

“Eris, what are you doing here?” I hissed, dragging him inside. He flashed a silly grin at me.

“I heard Amir and Hedera talking and Hedera was asking him to send you something, but he said you’d probably be stressed with studying so he’d wait. I didn’t want you to be stressed! So I came to find you!”

“How did you even—“ I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Never mind. Does anyone even know where you are??” His face fell.

“Ooh… I should have thought of that, shouldn’t I…” ‘Oh no you made the child sad, you made the child sad you idiot—‘

“I hope I didn’t worry anybody, I don’t want them to be scared for me—“

“It’s okay, buddy, I can text Amir, remember? And he can tell Hedera and anyone else who needs to know. It’s gonna be fine.” I reassured him, ruffling his curls. I walked back into my main living room, motioning him to follow. His eyes widened at the pile of printed materials on my table and I laughed a little.

“Amir was right about that, I am stressed.” I snatched my phone from on top of a book about how commanders influenced history without being found out as magic users (one of the only ones that had made some semblance of sense), went to messages, and scrolled.

‘Just in case no one knows, Eris is with me. he came to cheer me up lol’

‘Ah, excellent. Thank you for telling me Traveler— I had a pretty good guess, but it’s good to know for sure. Now Hedera won’t bite my head off. 😂’

‘😂

does he need to be back by a certain time?’

‘Just don’t keep him too long. I’ll let you know if Hedera says otherwise, though. I can come pick him up and just teleport home with him when you’re done.’

‘sounds like a plan!’

I turned back to Eris.

“Amir knows where you are now, and he says you can stay for a little bit!”

“Yay!” He scrunched up his cheeks till they nearly closed his eyes, and pulled his shoulders right up next to his ears.

“Amir’ll come get you when it’s time to go. Until then, what do you want to do? I can put off studying for a few hours to destress, I suppose…”

Eris widened his eyes almost comically.

“Oh no Traveler! You still gotta study! You have exams in a couple days! I was just hoping I could make the studying itself less stressful…” I sighed.

“Okay then, buddy. How do you plan on doing that?” I sat back down and patted the seat next to me. He scrambled over to be next to me and had a quick look over the books.

“The way Hedera always tells it to me is like this: when you have an overwhelming project or problem, the first thing you gotta do is break it down to ‘manageable chunks.’ Then you just take the chunks one at a time, and you’re done before you know it! It’s like cutting up your food before you eat it!”

“I guess that makes sense…” I sighed. Eris smiled at me.

“And… this is my wisdom, so don’t take it quite as seriously, but if I can make it pretty and fun, I think it makes it feel better even when you’re doing hard things.”

“How would you suggest we do that?”

“First off, Traveler, you should drink water and get yourself a lil’ snack.” He commanded firmly. “Amir always says he can’t focus with an empty stomach.” I rolled my eyes and barely contained a sigh. ‘Does Eris even know what Amir eats?’

“Okay, little man.” He followed me around the kitchen as I assembled a bowl of fruit and yoghurt, ate it, and filled a canteen with ice and water.

“Yay!” He said as we settled back in at the table.

“Now. Do you have cute stickers and writing pads?” He asked with big, shiny eyes.

“Mm— somewhere…” I remembered one of my friends had given me a bunch of cute office and study supplies back when we thought I was actually going to have enough money to go college right away.

“Hang on.” I got up and began rummaging in one of my drawers. Somewhere in here, maybe at the very bottom—

“Here we go!” I tossed the pack of notecards and stickers onto the table in front of us.

“Yay!” Eris clapped his hands and and eagerly attacked the plastic shrink-wrap.

“These are cute! Okay, now try breaking this problem into chunks?” He looked over the whole stack of materials and singled out the example problems sheets.

“This seems like it’d be important. Is it actually the way that the tests are gonna be?”

“As far as I can tell.” I shrugged. He nodded.

“Okay. Maybe make a list of what’s asked in these questions?” My eyes widened.

“Oh my word, how did I not think of that?” He giggled.

“Sometimes a fresh mind and a fresh pair of eyes are all you need!”

“I’ll say!” I grabbed a gel pen and a lined notepad with rainbow bubbles on it to start making that list. Eris laid a gentle hand on my arm.

“I… I think you should read through all the problems first, then go back to the beginning and start writing things down.” I gave him a grateful smile.

“You’re a lifesaver, in more ways than one.”

“It’s no problem, really! I like to help!” He smiled so big that his eyes closed.

The problems were just as confusing before, but I carefully read through every word, taking note of repeated concepts. I made it to about problem seven before I started breathing heavier, thinking once again of just how out of my depth I was, and how hard it would be to pass those exams, and there might be intimidating people there, and I only had a few days left to prepare and—

Eris gently head-butted me, nuzzling into my shoulder.

“Take a drink of water?” His words were muffled in my sleeve. I stared down at him.

“Why?”

“You’re getting all caught up in your fears. Amir says water distracts you from your thoughts and makes you focus on the action of drinking. Maybe it’ll pull you out of your head. Take a drink of water. For me?” My hand shook a little as I reached for the canteen and brought it up to my mouth. I focused on the cold water moving across my tongue, then into my throat, and how the muscles in my neck and throat felt while I swallowed. It was so cold that I could feel as it went down my esophagus and into my stomach. I slowly set the canteen back down. As soon as I did, Eris locked his arms around my opposite shoulder, going under one arm and over the other.

“You can do it,” he whispered. I felt my heart squeeze.

“Thank you, kiddo.”

I managed to make it to problem nineteen before Eris butted me again and motioned toward the canteen. I huffed at my own sensitivity.

“Don’t feel bad about it! I don’t even understand half of these words! It’s definitely hard, and that makes sense. I’m just tryna help with that.”

“I know, but I wish could just— deal with my problems like a normal person.” Eris turned his head up to me with upturned eyebrows and wide eyes. They were hazel at this angle.

“I don’t think there’s any… normal people. Hedera always tells me there’s no wrong way to deal with your problems as long as you’re not hurting anyone.” I made a helpless face.

“I guess— ugh, I guess you’re right.” He just held me tighter.

“You got this.”

Every so many problems, Eris had to remind me to drink or take some breaths. By the fifth correction, I was getting used to it, and the next time I felt overwhelmed, I did it without him asking me. He smiled and nuzzled further into my shoulder.

“How many are there?”

“Forty-five.” I said, a miserable undertone in my voice.

“Hey, you’re gonna be good! Don’t worry! I’m here to be your friend, and you can start on the list as soon you get there. You just wanna read it twice so that you makes sure you don’t miss anything important.”

“I know, little guy. Thank you.” It took us a while, but we finally, finally made it to question forty-five. I already had about five themes and concepts that had stuck out to me because of how often they were repeated, so I put those first at the top of the list.

“1. All human magic users are classified as one race, “commanders”, regardless of affiliation.

2. Humans without natural command who practice manufactured command are called “practitioners” (and that’s what I am)

3. Since I’m gunning for the practitioners’ classes, I’ll mainly need to know about their methods. The main methods are; specific, complex hand movements; drawing diagrams, sigils, transmutation circles, glyphs, and runes; combining reagents as components, sort of like a potion; and the spoken word.

4. All the other types of visual magic are made up of runes, which originate from the demon and fae written languages, as well as drawing from draconic, aquatic (which is apparently mermaid language), and the ‘evocative languages’ of other magical races. The spoken word magic also draws on these resources.

5. Commanders, fae, demons, and other beings with a natural command over a magical force, all draw magic from their own realm. No matter where they currently are, their energy is intertwined with the magic of their own realm, and they channel it through themselves by directing their energy. Practitioners use outside methods of channeling the energy around them. That means whatever realm they’re in, that is what they are drawing magic from.”

I looked down at my handiwork with at least some measure of satisfaction.

“I’d say that covers the most important bits. Now I can try to work on some nuances…” Eris shook his head vigorously.

“You should find where these facts are talked about in your books and articles and stuff and go back over those parts. Highlight them with something pretty! Copy them off onto your notes! Make sure you know all those parts really well! Then you can try to work on some— smaller thingies.” I sighed.

“I guess so…”

“Take a drink of water now— in fact, maybe you should have some sweet drink to celebrate!” I smiled.

“That sounds nice.” He grinned big and pretty at me.

“Hang on, I can make you some tea! Meantimes, maybe work on your five facts. You could give yourself a sticker you like for each one you feel like you really learn!”

“Will do, captain!” I flashed him a grin. The hopeless, emotionally dead feeling in my chest and the pit of my stomach was conspicuously lacking.

“Just don’t burn the kitchen down,” I remembered to caution as I turned back to the books.

“I’m not gonna!” He protested.

“I know how to make tea, Hedera and I pretty much live off it.”

“But do you know how to work a stove?” He fumbled for a second.

“We-ell, no, n-not exactly… but Amir has told me how they work before!”

“I do not trust you not to hurt yourself, my friend—“ I got up and dragged the book I was working on with me to the kitchen, supervising Eris as he very exaggeratedly and slowly, to prove that he knew exactly what he was doing, set my little heat-proof glass kettle on the stove, filled it with water, and started it. Then he pulled from his brown leather satchel at his waist, which I hadn’t even noticed he still had on him, a little pouch of dried leaves.

“Hedera and I grow these as magic practice, so some of them are a little funny sometimes, but these are the nice ones.” He informed me as he got down two mugs for us. He swiveled his head around the kitchen and then asked

“Do you have any cloths that you don’t mind getting a lil’ bit stained?”

“Sure,” I motioned to the cupboard where I kept my rags. “Just pick the most beat-up looking ones.”

He lined the mugs with two raggedy cloths and crushed the leaves into the bottoms of them.

“There we go! Now we can drain the tea leaves out when they’re done steeping.”

“Mmm.” I smiled at him.

“Thank you.” He grinned, silly and sideways.

“You don’t have to thank me, Traveler! I wanted to do it!”

“I know but—“ the water for the tea started boiling. Eris placed a finger over my lips, effectively shutting me up.

“Shhh! Okay, now I gotta take care of this.”

Careful not to touch the hot parts, he took the kettle by the handle and poured the hot water into the mugs.

Once the tea leaf fragments were drained, Eris had somehow managed to turn the bitter leaf water into something delectable with sweetener and cream, and we sat at the table sipping our little “health potions” as I began thinking of them. (Though to be honest, I thought it might actually be a health potion at first— it made me feel that much better.) After he finished his warm drink, Eris got even more cuddly than before, squishing his cheek against me and closing his eyes. Soon enough, I heard his breathing grow more and more slow and even until he was almost snoring softly. He’d fallen asleep with his arms locked around me. I looked down at his calm, peaceful face and smiled, pressing a small kiss to the top of his head. It helped to have him close, breathing a slow, calming rhythm against my side, his warmth almost like a constant reminder to slow down and take it a little easier. Take a breath and a step back if need be. For the first time that day, I actually got into the zone. Time didn’t seem real as I lost myself in the materials, taking pages after pages of notes, marking down and tabling for later the things that didn’t make sense at first so as not to lose my rhythm.

It was quite the shock when I finally set down my pen and looked at the time. And looking out the window I saw that it was already getting dark. Careful not to wake Eris, I reached over half the table with my ink-covered dominant hand and grabbed my phone.

‘Eris is asleep— think it’s about time to come get him?’

It took a few minutes to get a response. As I waited I gently stroked Eris’ hair and stared pensively out the window, and then a notification with Amir’s nickname popped up on my locked screen again.

‘I think so

Hedera would probably prefer him back before the sun goes down completely’

‘Seems reasonable’

‘I’ll just teleport to you, if that’s alright— address?’

I sent him my address.

I gently shook Eris’ shoulder to wake him.

“Amir’s gonna be here soon to take you home, buddy…” he blinked hazily and continued clinging to my arm as I stood up.

“Mm, okay…” I grabbed my phone and half-led, half-dragged Eris through my kitchen. Whipping out the phone, I texted

‘I’ll just come out to the front with him’ to Amir and opened the door to find him standing there. Despite the recent less-than-autumnal weather, he was wearing a pair of black leggings and a warm maroon sweater that had glittery strands woven into the rest of the fabric, a heart cutout, and sleeves that billowed out before being sharply cut off by a wrist cuff of fabric. He tapped his ankle-length boot.

“Well, aren’t you going to come out to the front?” I rolled my eyes.

“Front, I’m gay.” I said in a monotone. He golf-clapped at me. Smug bastard.

“Very good, very good.” He held out his arms for the still half-asleep Eris, and his whole snarky demeanor changed. He leaned down and cocked his head.

“Hey buddy… you ready to go home? Did you have a nice time with our Traveler?” Eris nodded drowsily.

“They did so good… I think I helped a lil’ bit…”

“You helped bunches, kiddo.” I reassured him, awkwardly snaking my arm out from his grip and allowing Amir to wrap his arms around him and hold him close. He looked so peaceful, cheek squished and hands nestled against Amir’s side.

“You’re a lifesaver.” I whispered to him.

“Get much done?” Amir smiled at us both. I laughed softly.

“I think I absorbed more actual knowledge in the time he was here than I did in the whole day and half I tried to study before.”

“He took a looooong nap, huh?” He said, looking at how out-of-it Eris was. I nodded, smiling at him.

“Almost three hours.”

“He’s really taken a liking to you,” he slid an arm under Eris’ legs, which looked significantly less human than they had when he arrived. I waved.

“Bye, little friend!”

“Eris, oh Eris… your glamour could use some work,” he clicked his tongue.

“So that’s what his illusion spell is called!”

“Mhm,” Amir nodded, seeming distracted. He drew a circle in the ground with his toe, like he was planning something out— then he nodded and a low, nasal hum emanated from him. It felt like a solid something passed through me, and I cocked my head at Amir.

“What was that?” Amir winked at me.

“Demons are oft purported to be uncannily good at warding. I just warded this whole area— after all, if you’re going to be learning magic, you may have a mishap or two, and it would be awful if a neighbor were to hear of it or see it.”

“I haven’t even gotten in yet…” I mumbled, rubbing the back of my neck.

“Oh, but you will~!” He and Eris disappeared, the dim light revealing a small spark left in their wake. I watched as it dissipated with the last of the day’s sun. The sunsets were coming earlier and earlier these days. Finally, I went back inside and closed my door. I still had work to do.

…Apologies for the lore dump… anyway…

I’m not gonna lie, I had some trouble with this one! Big shoutout to BFF for helping me figure out what felt so wrong about the writing at first and thus leading me to fix it! Also she wants me to remind all of you that she has laid a claim on all of the LR characters and they are all hers! 😂

Thank you very much for reading! Next upload will be exactly one week from now! And I can actually guarantee that this time! 😅

#eris and traveler #eris #eris (original character)#layered realms chapter six #layered realms #amir #amir amator (original character)#amir amator #amir (original character)#a traveler's tale #a traveler’s tale chapter five #a traveler’s tale

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morgansplace · 2 years

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hi y’all, Morgan here! I’m making this post as a boost for Mar’s new sideblog, an acc for their story, Layered Realms!

If you’re interested in fantasy stories, i really recommend checking her’s out. The worldbuilding, characters and plot are amazing, and i’m really invested into it already.

The account is @the-realms-master and her main blog is @mar-the-magician, go check their stuff out!

#boost <3 #layered realms #srsly this story is literally like a drug #i'm so invested into it is not even funny anymore #this is an open invitation for new amir simps #pspspsp #amir amator supremacy #a traveler's tale #talent is relative

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sorazvlief · 2 years

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Goody-Goody ehehehe

hi they're possibly my fav design (They/She)

This is Embry, a goody-two-shoes according to Amir @mar-the-magician

#layered realms #traveler's tale #maplesthoughts

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friendlyfaded · 2 years

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I wanted to make a picrew for Amir from @mar-the-magician ‘s Layered Realms, so here’s how I picture him!

it’s nothing super fancy, and i imagine he’d have more jewelry (specifically on his horns), but yeah

#layered realms #amir the incubus #my husband 💙

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lifeofafangirlsproblems · 2 years

Photo

(via Which Realm are you From? (Slightly Updated) | The Realm of Trees)

#realm #realm of trees #realms #layered #layered realms #trees #forest

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boiledegghole · 1 month

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window into mortality

#boiledegg art #new boiledegg oc just dropped. it doesnt have a name yet #very proud of this one. the lighting gradients were surprisingly hard to do with no transparency and one layer #so yeah this is my quetzalcoatlus oc. it is a godlike Weird Thing that dicks around with the mortal realm by using the butterfly effect #the little version of itself is a tiny lobotomized mortal version of itself that it made so that it could see whats up down there

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cait-sith · 6 months

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Loosely based on the scene in the cabin in book 3 of the Farseer trilogy, though it doesn't match the description much. Still, I wanted to go all out on this one. It is my favourite book series, after all. Something done last year for @winterfest-gift-exchange.

#rote #realm of the elderlings #fitzchivalry farseer #the fool #nighteyes #lord golden #fitzloved #my art #jorm scribs #artists on tumblr #art #robin hobb #farseer trilogy #fun fact this drawing has somewhere nearing 500 layers

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mekha-draws · 2 months

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Kinda digging the vibe on this one folks

I swear this is a wind themed skin guys I swear

#flight rising #accent wip #tundra dragons #accent share #very fun and colorful right now but watch as the lines/shadow layers send this thing to the shadow realm lmao

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lordgolden · 4 months

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is rote actually gay or is that just the fandom? only trying to set expectations before reading

this is the hardest question of all time I’m referring you to this post

#like jokes aside is there canon queer content? yes #the fool invented being gay #this is just hard question to answer lmao #like how can I even answer this. the layers #peanut gallery feel free to chime in #like fitz/fool is canon to me personally #do you take authors word as god??? or do you read what’s on the page cuz like #ask #anon #realm of the Elderlings #rote

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mar-the-magician · 2 years

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Healing And Explanations With a Sarcastic Tsundere Fae Healer

Seriously, a big, massive thank you to @glassbearclock because

FUCKING SHIT 100 NOTES???? THAT'S THE MOST I'VE EVER GOTTEN!!!!

So, ahem, anyway, here is the much anticipated second chapter! Part two of A Traveler's Tale.

Healing And Explanations With a Sarcastic Tsundere Fae Healer

“Hey. You. Up. Now.” I cracked an eyelid open. Ow— it was bright. Where was I? I definitely did not normally sleep in the middle of the day on a bed of grass, flowers and other plants. The same sarcastic, biting voice said

“Up. Off my flowers. Now.” I sat up, looking around for the source of the voice, remembering as I did— rumors, hiking, ankle got hurt. Eris. I reached up around my neck and felt the the pendant was still there. Well that was something. I turned my head and finally caught sight of the person who had been talking. I just barely contained a “holy shit” at the sight of her. She looked like something out of a painting. Pale skin, rosy cheeks, massive almond shaped eyes framed by long lashes, perfectly defined freckles— and she had long, pointy ears. The only thing not very picturesque about her was her expression, which seemed distinctly murderous.

“What are you doing here, human?” She almost sneered. “You shouldn’t have even been able to get in these woods, let alone my clearing.” I stood up, (ankle— ouch) partially to be squashing as few of her flowers as possible, but also partially to be more on level with her. Wow she was tall.

“I don’t know what you mean about getting into the woods, there was a trail and I walked right in. As for the clearing, I didn’t find my way here. Some… apprentice guided me here.” Her eyes widened.

“Eris? Oh fuck, did he let you in the pathway?” I bristled.

“Hey, don’t blame Eris for this! He was just as surprised to find me here as you are. I got my ankle caught and hurt in some dead branches in a dried up creek bed, and he found me and helped the pain go away for a little while, and then said he would take me somewhere that I could get proper healing from somebody.” Realization dawned on me.

“Was that supposed to be you?” She smirked.

“Well don’t sound so surprised, human. Yes, I’m a healer. Eris is my apprentice, though I guess he probably already told you that.” I nodded.

“In not so many words, but I could’ve guessed.” ‘Though not because of any similarities in personality, that’s for sure,’ I thought. She sighed.

“Well. Okay then. That explains what you’re doing in my clearing, though not in these woods.” I shrugged.

“I heard rumors about paranormal activity around here and wanted to check it out. Specifically I heard something about a ‘fae trickster’.” She scoffed.

“Oh don’t pull that on me, Eris and I are the only fae that frequent these woods and neither of us are tricksters.” I glared at her.

“I don’t know, I heard what I heard! Stop glaring bloody murder at me like you think I'm the one spreading the rumors or something,” I grumbled.

“Bloody mur—“ she sputtered, then took a deep breath.

“Okay. Whatever. Your ankle's pretty badly hurt, do you want me to heal it or not?” She muttered something under her breath that sounded like “you piece of shit” but I decided to let it pass.

“If you’re willing to do that, then yeah. That would be helpful.” She sighed and waved her hand, humming quietly under her breath.

“What are you doing?” She frowned at me and didn’t answer, continuing to hum until the flowers, weeds, and grass parted like the Red Sea into a space big enough for me to lie down on.

“I’m not going to try to heal your foot while you’re standing up, I’m not going to let you do any more damage to my meadow than you already have, hence, magic. Now lie down. Or sit. I don’t really give a fuck, just get your foot off the ground so I can have a look.” I gladly obliged, sitting down with my legs stretched out in front of me. She knelt beside my ankle and blew out a breath.

“Yes, that’s pretty bad…” she looked up at me.

“Okay if I touch?” I nodded. She took a gentle hold on my ankle and slowly twisted it to the side.

“Does that hurt?” I winced.

“A little bit,” I nodded. She carefully replaced it in it's original position and then gently turned it another way.

“Ow— ow, ow, ow—“

“Okay, okay, I get it. Shh, you’re… you’re gonna be okay, I can fix it.” I blinked back tears and mentally cursed myself. ‘Acting like a complete baby about a little pain in front of the prettiest girl you've ever seen. Great job, me!’

“I'm gonna start the healing magic now, and it might feel a little… different, but it won’t hurt. Okay?”

“'Kay…”

Humming again. Suddenly a rush of warm, heady pleasure shot up my leg from my ankle and I gasped. She looked up.

“All good? I can slow down, if you need me to,” I shook my head.

“No— you don’t have to— slow down—“ the closest thing I can liken the feeling of being healed to is a massage, but an extremely intense one. And at the same time, it was too strange to be quite like a massage. Warm and cool at the same time, tingling, and similar to the way I had felt when Eris had “healed” me as well. I tried to breath deeply, counting slowly in my head.

“There. You should let it rest and set for an hour, maybe, but then you can head back to wherever you came from.”

“Are you gonna want me to wait somewhere else and get out of your meadow?”

“Of course not!” She glowered at me. “You shouldn’t move or put any weight on it at all!” I held up my hands.

“Okay, okay! You know, your bedside manner could use some work,” I joked. She sputtered. “Usually gentle magical beings aren’t supposed to cuss, either,”

“Oh, racially stereotyping the fae! We love that!”

“I'm just kidding!” I laughed. Her face actually got red when she got angry.

“You and Eris are the only fae I’ve ever met, it would be a bit hard for me to start stereotyping y’all just yet.”

“Oh trust me, I can tell we're the only fae you’ve ever met.” She sighed and shifted. “I still don’t understand how you got in these woods in the first place. There’s a distraction spell, a fucking good one, too. You don’t smell like magic, and you certainly aren’t a commander.”

“First off, you can smell magic? Secondly, what is a commander?” She groaned.

“Not exactly how I wanted to spend my afternoon, but whatever.” She held out her hand to me. “Before I explain a bunch of things that you probably shouldn’t know, let’s introduce ourselves, shall we? Oversharing is always better when it’s with someone that you know. My name is Hedera.” I introduced myself and took her hand. Soft fingers. Oh wow.

“Hm. Not a bad name. Now, to answer your questions, yes of course I can smell magic, I eat magic.”

“You eat magic??”

“Yes! And you eat dead animal carcasses! Instead of arguing over who has the weirder way of consuming energy, do you want more answers? Good. That’s what I thought. A ‘commander’ is a human who can do magic without any aid. Some humans wouldn’t be able to do, say, what I just did for you, unless they had a diagram, or some magical reagents, or—“

“Reagents?”

“Do you ever run out of questions? Ugh. A reagent is a… a component for magic. Say, herbs, or a jewel, or a specific type of sugar or salt, or paper that’s intentionally made of rice, or whatever. Commanders don’t need those things, they just do magic like the fae do.”

“Well, I’ve never shown any ability in that area, but how would you know I’m not a commander?”

“They give off a magical signature. Every being that can directly connect to magical force does. But even if you weren’t a commander and were just using something other than natural command to reveal the distraction spell, you would still smell like magic. Which you don’t. Which is why I still think someone must have let you in.”

“Okay… makes sense… wait, y'all eat magic—“

“We’ve established this—“

“— So that’s what Eris must have meant when he talked about foraging!” She pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Honestly, I love the child, and I know it’s not true, but sometimes it feels like he couldn’t keep a secret to save his life. Yes, a foragers job is to seek out volunteers of legal age and capacity to consent to donate some of their magic for the consumption of fae who, for whatever reason, cannot currently feed from the fae realm.” She droned like she was reciting from something. “It grows back, as long as we don’t take too much, but that’s part of the reason why we always need foragers, to constantly be looking for new volunteers. So we don’t ever even risk taking just a little bit too much.” I nodded.

“I see. Why are you so mean to Eris?” She spluttered angrily.

“I'm not mean, he's my apprentice. I have to be a little tough on him sometimes.”

“Hmm. Okay… next question, what are access points?”

“You know, you’re taking this remarkably well for someone who clearly has no prior knowledge of the magical world.” She said suspiciously. I shrugged.

“I’ve always known there was something else out there, you know? I guess I went through a brief phase as like, a twelve-year-old, where I wanted to be a skeptic and a cynic and all that good shit, but by the time I was around thirteen I realized that that just wasn’t going to cut it when it was as obvious as could be that… we weren’t alone in this world. I mean, I’ve read and researched enough paranormal, cryptid shit that this is really just confirming what I’ve suspected for years.”

“Huh. Okay then. To answer your question, access points are… like gateways, I suppose, between your realm and the realm that Eris and I hail from. In order to get from one realm to another, you have to find an access point and enter it with intention. No-one just accidentally slips from one realm to another, that way. It’s a whole lot safer.”

“Don’t tell the fantasy authors that,” I joked. She snorted.

“Sure. Not sure I quite get the reference, but whatever.”

“How do you find an access point, then? What do they look like?”

“Well, access points are created when the energy from one realm, or one layer of a realm, touches the energy from another realm, or another layer of that realm. That’s really the only qualification. They can look like anything. So most people find them using finding spells, though Eris has taken to trying to detect the difference in the energy of an area instead. Which I think is very admirable of him, honestly. That’s nowhere near as easy.”

“Then why is he doing that?” I queried. She chuckled. Oh. Pretty laugh.

“Because he doesn’t know when to let well enough alone, the little shrimp.” That was the most affectionate I had heard her sound the entire conversation.

As we continued talking she softened somewhat, though she was never what you’d call amicable. Eventually she looked up at the sky and raised her eyebrows.

“It’s uh. It’s been enough time, now.” She coughed. I looked at my watch.

“Oh, shit, it’s been three hours! …I guess we were both enjoying ourselves,” I tried, awkwardly. She scoffed. Did her cheeks get a little pinker or did I imagine it?

“E-Enjoyed is a strong word, but… sure,” she waved her hand. “Whatever floats your boat.” she stood and held out her hand to help me up. My ankle was still sensitive, tender-feeling, but no immediate pain when I stood up. She nodded, looking at my ankle.

“No tangled pain, and your stance is balanced. That’s good. Go easy on it for a couple days. You shouldn’t be here after dark, so let’s hurry back.”

“Why shouldn’t I be here after dark? I thought you and Eris were the only ones who frequented these woods?”

“The only fae. Now less talking, more walking.” So I stayed silent for the rest of the hike to the driveway. When we reached my car, she turned awkwardly.

“Get— ah, get home safe, Traveler,”

“Both you and Eris called me that. Why?”

“Maybe I’ll tell you some other time.” ‘Some other time?’

“Does that mean I’ll be seeing you again?” She started walking away.

“Maybe.”

And that concludes chapter two! Eris will pop up again in the next one, so I'm sure some of y'all are looking forward to that. Except for getting hit with writer's block for a while at the end there, this was really fun to write, and I'm going to enjoy exploring Hedera's character more! I hope you all enjoyed!!

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thesunandmoons-blog · 2 years

Note

Sugary sweet? You fucking— whatever. I’m giving Amir his phone back, I got what I wanted to know. Make sure that you do write the date down. Piece of shit. Hope the stress… calms down a little. And if it’s too much, you don’t… have to come to the tribe meeting.

(Out of character— I got called away IRL, so that’s why I’m having to cut the conversation off, but I hope you enjoyed it! I think I want to go around giving all the bigger fans of Layered Realms some character anons, becuase this was really fun! I might let someone in on the secret and get them to anon me, too, so I don’t look suspicious 😉)

I... appreciate the sentiment, Hedera. I'll be at the tribe meeting. It's gonna be a nice distraction from everything. Plus seeing you will be nice. Very nice, actually.

And yes, sugary sweet. Talk soon <3

-Traveler

whoever the fuck u are please have a good timezone and sleep with a good, cold pillow <3

#hedera <3 #my wife #i love you #layered realms #layered realms anon

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the-realms-master · 2 years

Text

Framework And Fascinations With A Flirty Incubus

The answer to ‘Which Chapter Next?’ was a very emphatic “AMIR!!” which honestly, I’m so glad y’all picked this!! Because I’ve had Talent Is Relative brainrot ever since I established the dynamics of it in my mind. It’s probably the storyline with the most potential chapters in my mind so far 😅

Cw/tw: this chapter contains mild sexual references throughout! If that’s not your thing or makes you uncomfy, then just scroll right along, friendo~

Also, small side note, the reader character here is heavily implied to be demisexual or on the grey-ace spectrum.

With all that out of the way, here we are! Chapter four, Layered Realms part four, Talent Is Relative part one.

Framework And Fascinations With A Flirty Incubus

Third person POV, focused on Amir.

Amir kicked his foot out and leaned against the wall. He was loitering in the Demworth’s Institute of Command Education (D.I.C.E.) office, hoping to grab a quick snack. An educational institution’s student help office might seem like an odd place for an incubus to look for a meal, at least at first glance. But the help desk attendant here was hot, and almost every student who came in saw him and let off a wave of energy that Amir could and would gladly and quickly consume.

Ting!

The bell on the door rang, and someone carrying a massive pile of paperwork stumbled into the office and dumped it on the desk. Not even sparing a second glance for the attendant, they started sorting through it while rambling to him.

“—and I filled out the form for the History Of Manufactured Command class as well, but it wouldn’t scan into my computer. Everything’s been acting weird recently and so finally I just decided to bring all of the physical copies in, just to make sure. I’m so sorry, I know it’s a lot of extra work—“ the attendant sighed. He pointed over to the other side of the room.

“You’re all good. The whole system is kind of fucked right now, they just tried to update it. Go over to that table to sort through it. Make copies of the ones you need. Take your time, if you have to. Just remember the deadline is Monday, so don’t push it out any further than that.” They sighed, and Amir could feel the wave of relief crashing over them.

“Thank you so much— I think I can get it all done today.” They gathered up their things again and plopped it all over onto the side table. Amir continued to look them over. Their massive wave of relieved energy had drawn his attention to their magical signature. It was oddly… sparky. They must be electricity affiliated. But beyond that they were— tangled, somehow, like a dark shadow had been cast over all their energy. He pressed against the wall with his foot to push himself forward, and approached them.

“It’s late in the summer to be doing this much paperwork,” he murmured. They glanced up.

“I had all this shit done at the start of this summer, but now I’ve decided to change a bunch of stuff. So yeah,” they said absently, immediately turning their head back down to their forms. They had looked at him. Full in the face. In all his glory. And not even a single spark of attraction had flitted through their signature. Interest? Yes. Mild curiosity? Yes. But attraction? No. Maybe they just weren’t into boys?

“What has you so down? Your signature is practically exuding dark feelings right now.” He cocked his head at them curiously. They shrugged bitterly.

“Boyfriend just dumped me.” Abrupt and to the point— and they did like boys. Hm. Curious.

“I could take your mind off that, if you’d like…” his tone was sultry as he traced a finger down their arm. They laughed. Good-naturedly, but still!

“No thanks, pretty boy— I’ve got a lot to get done, and plus I don’t do the whole ‘fucking random people I just met’ thing. Shocking, I know. How will society ever get over the scandal?” They joked, but he could see the flicker of defensiveness in their signature. Hm… some knowledge to tuck away for later.

“I could change that~” They wrinkled their nose.

“Hmm. No.” Amir raised his eyebrows at them.

“You don’t think I could?” Did they know nothing about demons?

“Oh I know you could. I just don’t think you would.” He stared at them.

“What makes you think that?” They shrugged.

“Eh, just a hunch of mine.”

“And do you judge all demons by your little… hunches? Because if so, let me know how that works out for you, Goody-goody.” He sighed and placed his hands on their shoulders. “Okay if I smush you?”

“If by that you mean rest your entire upper body weight on my shoulders then… sure.” He sank down onto them and plopped his chin on the top of their head.

“What are you working on?” A burst of excitement flashed through their signature.

“Laying out the framework for my future.”

***

Goody-goody’s POV.

The demon lifted his chin from it’s place digging into my scalp and cocked his head at me. He did that a lot. It was kind of cute, like a puppy.

“Now you’ve got me interested, Goody-goody. What’s this future that’s got you so excited?” I smiled.

“Well I— hm. Let’s just say that while I may have natural command, and I may be electricity affiliated, neither of those are really… my strong point? And something came up that’s made it so I can switch my classes to manufactured command ones, which means I’ll be doing a whole lot better, and learning a whole lot more.”

“If you don’t mind my asking, what changed?” He said, settling back onto my shoulders and head. I squirmed slightly. I wasn’t exactly willing to share just yet that I had wanted to take manufactured command classes since the beginning, but had changed my mind for my boyfriend, Brook. Since we could both take natural command classes, he had convinced me that we should sign up for the same classes so that we could spend more of our time in the day around each other. And he certainly wasn’t interested in taking manufactured command classes. He was a powerful nature affiliate, with tons of potential, all-but nationally ranked on his plant and earth magic— unlike my puny sparks. But after he broke up with me, saying that he wasn’t emotionally ready for a relationship where he was doing the brunt of the work and compromise, I had no reason to stay in those classes. The incubus gripped my shoulders gently, pulling me back from my thoughts and into the real world again.

“Never mind, Goody-goody,” he whispered. That was odd— oh, fuck, right, demon. Could sense my emotions.

“S-sorry about that—“

“Don’t apologize for feeling things strongly. ‘Those who have felt the deepest grief are best able to experience supreme happiness.’ That’s an Alexandre Dumas quote.”

“Why do you know that?” I laughed a little incredulously. He snorted.

“I’ve regularly visited the human realm for decades, little Good-goody. I know my way around.”

“Would you stop calling me that?” I laughed.

“Maybe when you prove to me it’s not true, Goody-Two-Shoes,” he sing-songed. Oh I liked this guy.

“Pffft— maybe buy me dinner first. Or, y’know, just buy me dinner— no fucking required. That’d be awesome too. College fees are a bitch, after all.” I rolled my eyes and went back to my paperwork. His weight on my shoulders was… comforting. Grounding. I liked it. I hoped he didn’t stop— because I was going to need some grounding to get through this load of shit. Especially in my current emotional state. Oh, he was so warm. I scooted back into him a little bit.

“‘Earliest Origins of Manufactured Command’? That would take you back to the history of fae and demon orthography, wouldn’t it?”

“Speak English,” I grumbled. He chuckled into my hair.

“Orthography is the study of words— letters and alphabets.”

“Ohh— I remember now,” I shuffled through to the next page. How many fucking times were they gonna make me sign my name?

“Well, now I have the advantage on you,” he murmured.

“What?”

“I know your name but you don’t know mine,” he pointed to my paper.

“You can remedy that. Oh, also, that class will in fact be including studying ancient fae and demon runes and alphabet and such, and how they changed over time. So yeah, that’s gonna be fascinating,” I murmured. I could feel him smile against my hair, and he started pressing gently into my shoulders again.

“My name,” he said as I practically melted into the massage (good grief, was I really that touch starved?)

“Is Amator. Amir Amator.”

“It’s a pretty name,” I breathed. My shoulders were sore.

“You know, you have enough knots in these shoulders of yours to very securely tie someone to a bed.” He murmured in my ear. I rushed a hand up over my mouth to hide my surprised laugh.

“Dude, we’re supposed to be at least somewhat quiet in here, especially when there’s people working on stuff. Don’t make me laugh!” He smirked.

“Not the usual way I have people begging me not to make them make noise, but I’ll take it.”

“Oh good grief—“ I turned back to my papers. Well. This was shaping up to be less boring and stressful than expected. I had already made faster progress than I had thought I would.

“Maybe I’ll actually manage to make it out of here before— oh, shit.” I said as it started to pour rain outside.

“You’re fucking early!” I whisper-shouted at the rain. Amir stifled a laugh.

“This is gonna be a nightmare to drive in!”

“I love the rain,” he mused. “Also, the technically correct way to phrase that would be ‘this is going to be a nightmare in which to drive’ or ‘driving in this is going to be a nightmare’. Don’t end a sentence with a preposition.”

“Mm, go fuck yourself. ‘Sides, you don’t have to travel home in this, you can just teleport.” I muttered. He let out a sultry chuckle. Very different from the way he’d laughed before. I didn’t like that one as much, it sounded fake.

“Only if you watch m—“

“Hush,” I snorted. “Not the time.”

“Fine,” he huffed. “Also— why can’t you teleport?” I scoffed.

“Teleportation magic is hard, even for commanders with actual talent. I’m nowhere near that level and I never will be. I can barely make static. Maybe if I actually make it to my fourth year in manufactured studies I’ll learn it that way.” After several beats of silence and two more forms filled out I asked

“Why do you love the rain?” He shrugged.

“It doesn’t rain in the demon realm. When I first got arrived in your realm, an old best friend of mine was leading me, and it was raining. I was… awestruck. And my friend explained to me what it was, and why it happened, but I was still just… so entranced. So they humored me. And we ran around and shouted and danced in the rain. I suppose some part of my brain still associates rain with all those good feelings.” Oh dear that was adorable. My heart was melting.

“And speaking of good feelings—“

“No-ho-ho-hope!” I leaned my head back and looked into his eyes.

“Stahp.” I bundled up my papers and stood to go to the copy machine, then dropped my forms off at the desk and traipsed back over to where Amir was still standing. He smirked at me.

“I’m an incubus. How am I, in good faith, supposed to ‘stahp’ as you say?” I frowned at him as we walked outside, standing under the shelter of the awning.

“Stop that.”

“Stop being a devilishly handsome, incredibly charming, master of flirting, tease? I’m sorry, Goody-goody, but no can d—“

“Stop objectifying yourself.” He stared at me with confused eyes.

“You’re not… just an incubus. I mean, that’s a part of your identity, and it’s a good thing that it’s a part of you that makes you happy and that you’re not ashamed of, but you’re also just… a person. A person who gives good cuddles, and has his ears pierced, and also looks like he had a failed piercing when he was younger, and quotes Alexandre Dumas, and corrects peoples’ grammar, and likes Helluva Boss—“ I pointed to his pendant, which had the book that the Helluva Boss characters used to travel from one world to another hanging from the end of it, “and loves the rain and dances with his best friend and smells like strawberries and lavender.” He was looking at me like I’d grown a second head. I coughed and turned away.

“S- um. Sorry about that. I guess that got… too personal.” Did I just mention how he had smelled? What was wrong with me? I should go. As I started to walk away, he grabbed my wrist. I raised my eyebrows at him.

“It wasn’t… too personal. You— I’ve known you for half an hour and you just pointed out things that people I’ve known for months never cared to notice.”

“Oh. Uh. Okay.” I looked him over for a second. Well, after all… why not?

“Can I get your number?” An involuntary, incredulous smile began spreading over his face.

“You may.” It became a shit-eating grin.

“Oh fuck you,” I laughed.

“You may do that, too!”

“Eat shit!”

“I wouldn’t recommend it.” I was gasping with laughter at this point.

“Oh just give me your phone, you weirdo.” I panted between involuntarily giggles and snorts. He handed it over. I grinned at the elaborately decorated Verosika Mayday case.

“Nice phone case. How exactly has no-one noticed you like Helluva Boss??” He laughed.

“It’s a mystery, Goody-goody.” I typed my number in and named myself ‘Frustrated Paperwork Person’. Under companies I put ‘Helluva Boss Fandom.’

“I’m hilarious, I know. Ooh! The rain stopped for a bit! Catch you later, alligator!!” I dashed out towards my car as fast as I could to make the most of the lull.

***

If they had looked back, they wouldn’t have seen much. Just an incubus looking so lovestruck that Cupid himself would have bodied them out of jealousy. Who was so out of it that his glamour spell had fallen away, revealing his horns and his tail, which was suspiciously curling and uncurling like a contented cat’s.

I. FUCKING. LOVED. WRITING. THIS!!!!!

Amir and Goody-goody’s dynamic is just food for my soul, and it makes me so incredibly happy. This is definitely my favorite chapter I’ve written so far, and I’m honestly so proud of it! So I hope you all enjoyed as much as I did!

Also, I have a TON going on this upcoming week, so it’s unlikely that any new chapters of Layered Realms or any new fics are gonna go up over that time period. I’ll probably still be hangin out, making silly little shitposts and reblogging stuff and so on and so forth, but likely don’t expect anything too coherent.

Outdated notes! Also, almost there— just one more chapter to find, copy, paste, and post and I’ll be caught up to the current timeline at the time of the creation of this sideblog!

#layered realms #talent is relative #goody-goody #amir #amir (original character)#amir amator #amir amator (original character)#fantasy story #my fantasy #original fantasy #fantasy writing #my original work #my original content #my original writing #magic story #layered realms chapter four

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