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– studio: https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/29560582/comments/
– character refs: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/523130772/
– teaser: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/522175828/
– chapter one: i, uh, don’t know how to link a specific post help—

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more info: this is a story i’m writing about a trio of siblings, Char, Raelyn, and Zackary, and their misadventures trying to save the kingdom. they’re the children of the king and queen of the Immortal Realm, the main Realm in my magical universe. after a series of mysterious events involving the children's aunt, their father’s estranged sister, and a malevolent ghost or two, the siblings discover the darker plan behind their seemly normal life.

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i’ll be trying to post a chapter or two a week, i don’t know how consistent this will be or if this will even survive. but i hope you enjoy

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chapter one

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Char frowned down at himself, wishing he hadn’t agreed to wear this Fates-forsaken dress. Just because he felt female earlier didn’t mean he would now. But it was too late to alert his family his gender had changed— he was now the crown princess for the rest of the evening, for better or worse.

Raelyn smiled at him, “Aren’t you excited, Char? I always love this parties.”

Sure you do. Char thought sarcastically, but he nodded. “I guess. I never really liked these, but whatever. It’ll be over soon enough.”

“Hm, I don’t get why you do like it, though…” Rae said, sounding a bit judgmental, which did not at all match her friendly smile, wide dark gold eyes, or her braided black hair and scattering or freckles. She actually liked dresses, and was wearing a fancy deep blue one that clashed with Char’s pale purple one.

“‘Cause I’m a pessimistic introvert,” Char said without missing a beat, “and you’re an optimist who likes people for some reason.”

“You’re not!” Rae argued, and Char face-palmed. Literally nothing about him implied that he was a happy-go-luck extrovert like his sister. Well, maybe his dirty blonde hair and green eyes weren’t as intimidating as his siblings’ black hair (which Char totally wasn’t jealous of), but it wasn’t like he smiled all that often.

“Yeah, right. Now, can we just get this over with? Mom and Dad are probably waiting on us.” Char said, walking towards the main hall. Rae rushed to keep up with him, her shoes clicking on the hard floors.


Char tried to open the huge door as subtly as possible, but it was nearly 15 feet tall, and made of extremely heavy wood, so stealth was no longer an option. The first to notice Char and Rae’s attempt to come in without attracting any attention was their mother, Freya, who excused herself from the conversation she was in and walked over to the twins.

Char’s mother actually looked kind of intimidating as she walked over. Her long golden hair was braided back, and she was wearing a green dress embroidered with pink, purple, and blue flowers. Her intricate crown caught the sparkling light from the huge chandelier that huge in the middle of the room. She was pretty in a natural way, like she didn’t really bother with her looks. Her green eyes were the same shade as Char’s, and it seemed like all three of her children had inherited the immense amount of freckles.

“Glad you two finally made it.” Freya said cheerfully.

“Yeah, yeah, someone took forever to do her hair.” Char said, looking pointedly at Rae.

“And someone didn’t even bother with h— their hair.” Rae said, hesitating on Char’s pronouns.

“True.” Char shrugged, and his mom smiled.

“Well, you two do look nice. Come on, your dad needs to make some rather unnecessary announcement and apparently we all need to be there.” Freya said, nudging her children along.

Char sighed, going along and wondering what his dad needed to unnecessarily announce. “Oh, so Zack’s with dad, right?”

“Yeah. He’s signing vengefully at the noble your dad is yelling at— talking to.” Freya joked, though it wasn’t as much a joke as the truth.

“Yep, that makes sense.” Char said, and Rae nodded.

‘Come on! Will someone please just translate for me? Dad! S o m e o n e ?’ Zack was signing, looking annoyed.

“Hey, Zack is currently yelling at you in sign language.” Char said.

“Oh. Right, sorry Zack.” Anubis apparently really hadn’t noticed Zack til then. “Anyways, perfect timing. I’ll go ahead and make the announcement and get this over with. Honestly, why do these dumb parties exist?”

“Exactly. Then again, aren’t you in charge of these parties?” Char countered.

“Well, yes.” Anubis said, giving Char a faint smile. “But at any rate.”

“I still like these parties.” Rae said.

‘I’d like them better if people understood me.’ Zack signed grumpily.

“Me too, dear.” Freya agreed. “But go ahead and make that announcement, Anubis.”

“Oh, so you were stalling and now I can’t have a conversation with my kids because you’re being impatient?” Anubis asked teasingly.

Freya blushed, “Oh, just—”

“I was teasing, chill.” Anubis smirked.

“Ugh, cut the snappiness.” Char rolled his eyes.

“Don’t be rude—” Rae said, but she looked embarrassed, too.

“Whatever, moving on.” Anubis sighed, no clear emotion regarding this. “I’ll go ahead and—”

The grand doors on the other side of huge room banged open, and a single person, a lady who looked to be maybe thirty, stomped in confidently, a familiar smirk on her face. From what Char could tell from the distance, she had short black hair that was streaked with neon pink, of all colors, had pale skin and a couple of faded scars. She was wearing a black dress, and black boots, and had a flannel tied around her waist. The weirdest part about her was her eyes, though. The ‘whites’ of her eyes were black, and the pupils were slits with a thin ring of gold around them.

The look on Anubis’ face made Char wonder just how bad of a criminal this mystery lady was. The crowds parted for her, apparently because of the silver sword she was holding loosely. Her freaky eyes stayed fixed on the royal family, and frankly freaked Char out. He could tell the mystery lady bothered his siblings, Rae especially, who’s eyes were wide with what Char assumed was fear. Char also noticed Zack looked like her recognized the lady, and was maybe even holding back a smile.

“Hey guys.” The lady said, casually walking up to them.

“Max.” Anubis said like it was a curse word, not the mystery lady’s name.

“Oh, good to know you’re glad to see me.” Max said. “And, Zack, have you been using the Shadow-Realm much recently? You know, when not here.”

Zack nodded, and signed something, but no one really noticed over the glaring contest Max and Anubis were now having. “How do you know Zack? He can’t use the Shadow-Realm, he’s only ten, weren’t you like nearly 100 before you could?”

“I’m not a very reliable example, and of course he can. Of course, thanks to this Fates-forsaken— literally— palace, neither of us can enter the Shadow-Realm.” Max said.

“The what? What is even happening? Who even are you, by the Fates?!” Char interjected. “Rae looks kinda traumatized, by the way, and why does Mom look like she wants to punch something?”

“Ooh, explainin’ all this would take a while. So, basically, Shadow-Realm is magic-y shadow-y place certain people can enter and use to their advantage. For the next question, I’m pretty sure Death Boy over here wants me out of here, but, of course, not happening. Uh, skipping over who I am for the time being, I have no clue why the child is traumatized. And your mom probably wants to kiII me because I kinda blew up the palace in the Hub after she kiIIed my wife… but, at any rate, my name is Max Knight, and your dad is my idiot brother.” Max said, grinning.

“Okay then.” Char said, kinda still processing the infodump.

‘Wait wait wait—’ Zack signed. ‘Is anyone going to acknowledge that she said Mom killed someone?’

“She has to be lying.” Rae said quietly, so quietly it sounded like a whisper.

“Nope. I may be many, many things, but a liar isn’t one of them.” Max said. “I’d have Amie vouch for me, but I didn’t bring her, I didn’t even tell her I was coming here, and for good reason.”

“It was an accident!” Freya snapped, the first thing she’d said since Max showed up.

“Besides, you could’ve acted faster, couldn’t you?” Anubis added.

“And you could’ve not given her the extremely lethal sword her first time sword-fighting!” Max snapped back. “Know what, no, I’m not here to debate this. No. I’m here to talk to the children. So, ignoring you guys.”

‘I discovered something.’ Zack signed to Max. ‘I found out there are certain spots in the Keep I can enter the Shadow-Realm in.’

“Really? Nice, nice…” Max said.

“Since when do you know sign language?” Anubis asked.

“Since I got extremely confused by an eight year old waving his hands at me and decided it wouldn’t hurt.” Max said. “And can you please be quiet? Actually, Zack, why don’t you just lead me to one of those places you can enter the Shadow-Realm and we can talk here. Oh, and bring Rae. Shadow mentioned something about her.”

“No. I’m not just gonna let my kids go off with you—” Anubis started.

“Remind me who, of us, has adopted several kids over the years?” Max countered. “Besides, I don’t care about what you think. He needs proper training… like— nope, no, not gonna say that, it’s apparently illegal for me to mention her but it’s completely fine when you do it.”

Anubis frowned, and glanced at Freya, who sighed, “Even if we disapprove it’s going to happen anyway, might as well just let them.”

“Well, you heard her. And, by the Fates, if you do anything to harm them—” Anubis threatened.

“Yeah, I know, you’ll kill me three times over. So, bye, for now.” Max said, glancing at Zack, who looked pretty excited, and Rae, who looked kinda traumatized.

“D-do I have to?” Rae asked.

“No, but I can probably help out with your hands turning black and the voice in your head.” Max said. Rae’s eyes went really wide, like her best kept secret had just been reveled, which it actually had.

“What?” Char asked.

“Oh, none of your concern. So anyway, lead the way tiny child.” Max said, following Zack as he purposefully walked towards the nearest closet. Rae kept her head down and followed, leaving Freya, Anubis, and Char extremely confused and concerned.

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chapter two will be coming out soon! i hope you enjoyed

I KNOW I SAY THIS A BUNCH BUT *standing ovation* that’s amazing- The descriptions are spectacular, the characters are clearly incredibly well thought-out, and that cliffhanger- AMAZING. AMAZING I SAY. I could ramble about one specific character for hours on end but I won’t, because I don’t want you to get annoyed with my obsession over this character quite yet.

LOZBOTWFANGIRL wrote:

I KNOW I SAY THIS A BUNCH BUT *standing ovation* that’s amazing- The descriptions are spectacular, the characters are clearly incredibly well thought-out, and that cliffhanger- AMAZING. AMAZING I SAY. I could ramble about one specific character for hours on end but I won’t, because I don’t want you to get annoyed with my obsession over this character quite yet.

Oh, thanks a bunch I’m glad you like it and it doesn’t just sound like i was rambling lol

I love the way you represented Char's genderfluidity! And when I saw the name Anubis I immidiately started fangirling over The Kane Chronicles xD I eagerly await the following chapter, keep up the great work!

Luna-Lovegood-LOL wrote:

I love the way you represented Char's genderfluidity! And when I saw the name Anubis I immidiately started fangirling over The Kane Chronicles xD I eagerly await the following chapter, keep up the great work!

So i may or may not have been inspired by Kane Chronicles to make him— but thanks a bunch :3

This is a seriously amazing story. I already feel connected to the characters (though that may be because I looked at a lot of your art dumps) and am super excited about what's coming next. Keep up the good work!

‘Lead the way tiny child’ is the greatest quote i think I have ever heard ever-

This story looks awesome! I was wondering if you're looking for someone to edit/proofread the chapters, because if so I would love to! If not that's 100% fine, keep up the good work!