Extra Story Collection

Extra Story 1: A Day in the Life of The Angler

Boris Fisk departed from his work at the ripe hour of 3 am. Not an ounce of sweat was dripping down his glistened, scaled head. He moved from the alley he was very used to and walked towards another dark corridor. The fish man was nearly one of a kind in the human capital, but that made his skills even more impressive than back home in the Great Pond from the Warplands. He straightened his tie as he walked. It hadn't been a relatively long time, but time away from home still filled him with unease.

It had only been a few days since he had suffered his first defeat; It was humbling, to say the least.

That girl saw right through me. I have been able to dance around these humans for years now, but she was the first beast-kin to even notice my schemes.

He ducked under a small bridge, its bricks still seeable in the darkness but barely.

A sharp chill crept through his entire body when he passed under the bridge.

Someone is here.

That was the last thing he thought before getting slapped on the head by something made of cold metal.

“Wake up, Angler.”

He opened his eyes to see three grim-looking men with swords and black dragon tattoos all over their bodies. He recognized them immediately.

Three humans I took down earlier in the night.

It seemed they were not happy with their losses. They were all inside some dimly lit room that reeked of urine. Boris tried to get up but felt the tight wires that coiled around his body, sealing him to the wooden chair.

“You didn't have any money on ya, but you better take us to it.” The shaggy bedhead in the front was most likely the leader of the group. He foisted a piece of jewelry in front of Boris and pointed to what was inside. 

“If ya don’t, well lets just say these other two are gonna get it.”

The other two behind him nodded

That got Boris’s attention. Magic coursed through his body before shooting out like blades from every part of him. They easily cut through the wires, setting Boris free.
“Hol up!”

“Kill himmmmmmmmmmmm!”
‘Yar!!!”

Now he used two of his Skills in unison, [Sudden Step] and [Metal Arms]. Boris disappeared from their view before quickly appearing behind them. He made an X shape with his flippers before sending them off in two opposite directions. Each of them hit their mark, cutting through both of the tattooed delinquents on either side of the ringer leader. Their bisected halves fell to the ground, spraying blood in every direction.

“MY BOYSSSSSSSSSSS!”

He turned around and leaped at Boris with lightning-fast speed. He dashed at him with all his might. Boris wouldn't be able to escape him with ease.

I have to use my magic then, no?

Boris opened his mouth and released a large sound wave that was akin to a banshee screech. The boisterous sound stopped the attacker in his tracks and filled his ears with blood.

“GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

He placed both hands over his ears. That was a fatal mistake. With the swipe of a flipper, the man’s head flew off, severed from his large body, and rolled around on the floor. Boris closed his mouth and retrieved the golden locket that the man had held.

If he touched them, I don’t know what I would do.

There was an image inside of it. On the left was Boris himself, his mouth agape, and to his side was another fish man or a fish woman to be specific. She had dark blue scales and wore a white dress. In her hands was a young fish man, maybe two or three years old with yellow scales and a coral pacifier in his small mouth.

Boris left the massacre behind him and walked through the wooden door. It was time to go home.

Extra Story 2: My Birth

No one ever remembers their birth. The memory of living creatures just isn't built that way. But what of artificially engineered beings? What about them? 

The answer is simple: we remember everything. 

From the moment we are born till the day we are killed or disposed of. This information was never told to me, it just appeared the second my mind had finished being formed. My master, Lord Ivorn, once told me that I was like a computer. I was programmed with specific “settings” at my birth and had a nearly bottomless memory. I remember the exact moment when I first opened my eyes. It was 3:06 pm in the inner castle of Lord of Calamity. I was created to be a companion of the newly appointed Destroyer.

My features were not bad either, though I was on the smaller side in nearly every aspect. I didn't feel like a certain gender either, though from time to time, Lord Ivorn has asked me to put more emotion into my words and act more "girlish." Whatever that meant…. I don’t have a high capacity for emotion or traits specific to my gender. He could have added them to my specs when he created me if he really wanted to. 

My creator thought there wasn't a point to anything besides being a strong and obedient drone. Though, as time goes on, I started to feel the desire to try on different clothing than what I am always wearing and I sometimes even laugh. Lord Ivorn encourages this new attitude of mine and even took me to get a new outfit in the human realm. I didn't feel like a dress would suit a walking storage system like myself, but the nice woman that ran the store said I looked ‘cute’. Whatever that meant… I'm supposed to be in my mid-teens from the specs that Lord Ivorn asked for.

I wonder what it would have been like to be born into a normal family? To be a normal girl? As time goes on, I ask myself these questions, but in the end, I know my place. I am meant to be used and discarded when Lord Ivorn sees fit. There isn't a point for me to act like a girl or have thoughts of one. All these factors were determined at my birth. I am Protoform Epsilon. I am a walking storage unit and a mixture of denizens of the deep. That is all.

Extra Story 3: Out of the kingdom

“You know, this scenery is really beautiful.” I took in the large buildings and packed streets, trying to burn them into my retinas. Raze was sound asleep or at least pretending to be. He was not happy that I won us this cart from the gambling den.

We tumbled down the large streets, passing by vendors, houses, and weird-looking shops. This section of the human realm looked very "eastern" as Raze had put it. People wore turbans above their heads and huts were sitting below the large buildings. The food smelled amazing, like prime-time meat. I could go for some good steak or kebab soon…

I looked over at Raze’s sleeping body. His head was turned away so that I couldn't see if he was truly asleep. I just stared at him for a few minutes and I’m not really sure why. I saw something in him, despite how poorly I had been treated so far. I think we both had untapped potential and room to grow. I felt like there was something he could give me and something I could give back in return. I gazed upward to focus my view on the blazing sun of the morning. I hadn't slept in a day and that was on the cold hard grown of the crypt.

I shook my head. “That stuff doesn't matter. We have the imps to worry about now. I hope everything turns out alright."

Extra story Four: The Weakest Of All

From birth, our strength was determined in our tribe in an archaic and arbitrary way. No matter who you were, it didn't matter. Once your strength and potential were taken into account, that was that.

For most this system was a blessing, allowing them to prosper in life and take in everything in stride. For me it was different.

I was looked down upon because of my deficiencies and cast aside because of them. The only reason I was respected at all was because of my status as ‘daughter of the princess’. I would have to carry on our legacy because of my gender. That was all I would be good for. No magic, the lowest attack value in Azurespine history, and a female to boot.

It was awful.

I contemplated taking my own life many times as I grew, but I decided not to. Not because I was a coward, but because I didn't want to give the ones who despised me the satisfaction of victory.

I never thought I would get the chance to prove myself, like the male members of my family, but opportunities presented themselves over time.

When I was in my tenth year of life, I took on a pack of wolfmen on my own. They planned to devour our tribe's children while we slept, but I had ventured out that night to see the true sky and confronted them.

I was bruised and battered, but I never went down. My attacks started to hit harder and harder, much to my own and my enemies' surprise. It was enough to drive them off even though I was close enough with Death to greet him in the Underworld. It was the first time where I felt like I had truly done something for myself as well as my people and I didn’t want to stop.

Father and my brothers would see me come home in the worst of conditions, but they always cheered me on. To them, any Azurespine that fought was worthy of praise, no matter their strength or gender. Only Uncle turned his back on me. He didn't like my reckless attitude and thirst for fights. My younger self reminded me of a troublesome white-haired boy that I am currently traveling with.

Uncle would always say what I did was "unsightly" and that I needed to "act like a proper girl." I never took what he said to heart, even after the others in my family had perished.

And then—

After waiting for what felt like years...

—It happened

After honing my body and training in and outside of my home, my help was needed. The other Azurespine were away or had other matters to take care of, but not me. No one cared for Lyra the Soft, except that she would lead our people in the future once Uncle passed on.

That would take quite some time, as we Azurespine could live to nearly five hundred years old. By the time I came to assist the Vatre, I nearly lived for thirty springs, but had the youthful complexion of someone ten years younger.

My time had come and I had failed... That was until I met him.

This foolish and stupid boy made a mockery of me and I...just...lost it. When I challenged him to a fight, it wasn't to defeat him but to defeat all those who ever looked down on me.

I thought by beating him, I could finally show others that I had something. That I was worthy. I wanted to be useful too. And that was when I decided that it didn't matter. These people accepted me over time and allowed me to fight alongside them. I may have forced their hand at first, but they didn't seem to mind having a weakling like me along.

Komoria even considers me her "friend." It was a word that humans used, but for me, it was the closest thing to kinship in my own terms. My relationships at home were just for show and the ones I knew a little better never had time for me.

Now I have a goal insight, not only for my people but for myself. I would help defeat those who inspired terror across the continent.

Maybe I will come out stronger if we survive and become renowned by people for more than my lineage. It's hard to imagine, especially coming from him, but I will be content with either of those stubborn men saying it. Be it Raze Havok or Uncle, I just hungered to hear one sentence from either of them. 

A genuine and heartfelt speech would be asking for too much.

I just want them to say....”Lyra, you did a good job.”