(06-19-2024, 11:50 AM)SilverFang01 Wrote: Hinata finally lits the match.

For the caged bird sings of freedom: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31658633/chapters/144299743

Yrsillar Wrote:Heavy footfalls were approaching the door. Solid and unyielding qi was matched with a scent she now recognized as sea spray. Beneath it, like an eel darting among the riverweeds, she could feel a sulking presence. That must be Xuan Shi’s bound spirit, the nightmare Kongyou. There was something else as well though, like a little blot of ink reflecting, or perhaps consuming, the very attention that fell on it.

She felt it pause there outside the door. There was doubt there, even now.

"Please come in," Ling Qi said, projecting her voice more with qi than air.

The presence startled, and then the door pushed open.

tealruby Wrote:The Hermione known as Mystic, one of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in another dimension, has inspiring news concerning the launch of a new magical school for Britain.

TheInkredibleKaptainKaiju Wrote:Daniel, Hester, James, and Ichigo raid a smugglers' den of salvaged Gem equipment.

ssjSega Wrote:Got a new chapter ready faster than expected. Like I said last time, we're getting our major Decepticon antagonist. Also, remember what I said about this chapter being a lot heavier? Well, it's gonna probably be mood whiplash levels of heavy since things are gonna get pretty gruesome.

As for why that is... well let's just say we're entering Energon Universe territory and leave it at that for now.

So... yeah, fair warning.

In lighter details, I will say ahead of time that this chapter's a synchronous episode with the last one, being set around the same time as it. The events here should also probably explain away why Bond started having those visions towards the end of the previous chapter.

Anyway, special thanks and shout out to SwapAUAnon, Matrix Dragon, and Quantum01 for Beta Reading this chapter.

Corpus Historiae Berkiae, 1396, Wrote:In the end, it is fair to say that the dragons shaped Berk’s culture well before the Hooligans learned to partner with and ride them. From the birth rate dysfunctions that made every child born on Berk precious and worthy of investment and cultivation, to regular raiding that forced the creation of a highly communal social structure that focused on mutual support of all members to keep them capable of functioning, to the regular damage on their buildings that cultivated a fixation on investment into housing and infrastructure, and most famously, how the demand for loyal members of the tribe led to both a flattening of social hierarchies and the rabid opposition towards thralldom.

The irony is that many of these cultural elements ended up being adopted by the component cultures of first the Kingdom of Berk and later the North Sea Empire in general, as subsequent events helped push circumstances that were broadly similar, if vastly different in scale, to the conditions back during Berk’s tribal days. Instead of regular damage to their infrastructure from raiding, warfare and the accepting of refugees helped bring about a widespread building boom across Berk’s territory—to this day, it is still a point of pride in many Eirish cities that they have emergency housing standing by in case of need. And the birth control methods brought on by proper medicinal use of Deadly Nadder venom reduced birth rates voluntarily over the coming generations…