5th of December, 1999th of NDE. Cosmopolitan World of Faraetharant.

  “…honest to the gods, that is all I sold to them. Junk. Nothing more nothing less.” Rain dropped against the rge octagonal windows positioned high, close to the ceiling. Beyond them the dark bluish skyline stretched interminable, its gloomy rays shining into the spacious office of the middle-aged orc businessman who frantically pleaded to Faenia in the vain hopes his life shall be spared. But treachery discovered and proven seldom if at all was shown mercy – especially when it came to the arghyrian Eye of the Bck Rose.

  A stoic silence was her only answer, her slenderly oval face adorned by faultless, gently curved jawline brushed by the dark, earthly purple colrs of her dress shirt, rounded cheeks and cold, mildly snted almond framed eyes of vibrant greens speckled by hints of gold reflected nothing before the profusely sweating orc whose usually dry, parched green skin was cmmy by his sour, malodorous perspiration. Even his elegant, expensive dress shirt hewn from a linen-based arcane-weave fabric – nearly bereft of creases, the colrs embroidered with golden patterns of blowing wind against the white – darkened at his armpits and neck by the forming blots of sweat.

  “You know there is no point in repeating what we already know to be lies.” At those harsh, cold words Eldagai trembled in the chair, yet he could not move away as rows of ft and spread out, ribbon-like white siphoning ropes circled around his chest, starting from his bulbous abdomen, tightening him to the padded back of his office chair. His dread filled eyes moved almost immediately onto her hands covered partially in the gauntlet like extension of her silky, subtle textured and frugally glossed matte dragonidh leather jacket. Her fingers gently curved onto the front panels’ edge and folded it up partially, then pulled out a few small orbs and a rge roll of thick, dimpled and glossy silver sealing tape.

  Before he could speak up once more, trying to save his cmorous hide, Faenia forced the orb inside his mouth, kept it in with one hand whilst the tape seemingly stirred like a bewitched serpent. Quickly it adhered onto his left cheek, and three times she wrapped it around before she tore it away, with two pats fttened it to the rest. “Instead of racking your brain to futile save your hide, you should think what to say to the Gods. They shall care and inquire more broadly about your greed, gluttony and lust filled life than us.” She patted him on the back, and as she sauntered towards the door, whistling an old sailor’s tone about the fancies of the Gods, Eldagai ceased not his efforts to parley mercy.

  Yet Faenia cared not, as her mission at st came to an end. One of the most boring where she had to act as avaricious, lust filled secretary of the aging orc. Many a times she regretted her choice to be a spy, an assassin, but as she looked back one st time to the whimpering, pleading orc, she though “Nah, just for this, hundred percent made the right choice.” For the st time, she bid him farewell, then shut the door and made her way down to the parked car.

  ***

  Before she got into her bulky, angur framed magicraft car of a lustrous, deep bck coating and windows, she looked up, her feet pnted firm into the concrete. Faenia stiffened her jacket’s thick, broad and round colr zipped down on the left side, the silvery ring resting atop her chest line. Her golden lipstick covered glossy lips creased magnificently as she blew one st kiss towards the office across busy highway she already dreaded to drive onto.

  Slowly she fitted herself into a comfortable position on the seat with a clear view to the office on the 312th floor of the Reach-Tower protruding through the city level. With a quick hiss the double-breasted jacket opened, revealing the slim full-bodied corset with broad pels inid with raised patterns of two dragons sitting, staring inwards. The two sharp points of her aubergiene purple aughierna satin dress shirt rested on them as she slunk into her soft leathery seat, waves of tender wrinkles arose in tides as her weight pushed against it.

  The chocote dark parts of her hair drink in the little light filtering through the shaded window, whilst the snow-white highlights of her angled bob shaved on the left temple in diagonal square patterns glimmered briskly. Reaching into her right inner breast pocket, she pulled out a case, popped open with her index finger and wedged a cigarette betwixt her lustrous lips. As the conjured spark tched onto the end it tittered softly as Faenia puffed out the first cloud of smoke.

  Gently, she guided away the hanging hair cascading before her left eye, then watched as the lugubrious, minimalist style of city scenery lit up in the orange and azure of magic induced fmes. The tongue of fire high above stretched afar before wind and rain billowed it away into the emptiness from whence it came. “Finally, over.” She excimed with a sigh whilst pulling out a small tablet, pressing her thumb onto the small square on the mirror screen right besides the portrait of the departed orc. She inhaled deeply, then puffed out another cloud with particles of mana floating at its edges, shaping it into a winged horse passing through the window on her right before the cruel wind breaking its form.

  “Was it fun at least?” She jolted from her slouched position, hearing the soft, husky and of course a second ter familiar voice of her superior. In the previously unoccupied seat on the left now sat a devilishly divine beauty whose long dark hair was collected into a low bun right behind her nape. A single dragon horn curved around her head, an infernal grow searing beneath the cracks running across its brimstone like surface.

  “The first few weeks not so much. The end, I much more prefer.” Faenia answered truthfully flicking the finished cigarette towards the window it never hit. Fmes devoured it before impact, only a few droplets of ash danced down onto the snting armrest.

  “Good. Though next time, if possible, use a bit more… furtive method if possible.” Astrydril remanded whilst watching as flottirians approached the arising, swirling bckness slithering forth the newly made hole. “Well, you said it should send a message to the others. This, sent a message I’d say.” Faenia retorted folding her arms as she assumed a defensive position.

  Astrydril sighed then a cup manifested in her right hand and she took a gentle sip. “I guess, this shall work. But enough of the past.” She said jestingly, then snapped her finger and the screen in the middle of the front panel activated, reflecting the image of a file including the portrait of a peculiar elf. One whose skin was dark and had a mild, but nonetheless distinctive etheric quality to it. It was like as if someone coated her lustrous smooth skin in the night sky itself. But after a better look and reading the strange name, she realized it was an agent, a spy of the enemy.

  “An infiltrator?” She asked immediately. Astrydril shook her head. “A spy captured by the Snow-Scaled Division. A vessel carrying her descended, then subsequently fallen into the junkyard eastwards from where you are.”

  “Escaped, didn’t she?” Astrydril nodded before continuing. “She possibly did, hopefully dead if you ask me.”

  Faenia raised an eyebrow. “I contacted you because if push comes to shove, you have the most chance to take her down. But for now, go to the crash site at the junkyard, confirm whether she survived or not. And if she did survive, catch her.”

  “Dead or alive?” She questioned knowing the forgetful habit of Astrydril. “Both are good for me.” With that she vanished whilst waving her hand with half an awkward smile. Faenia sighed, then pced her palm against the gss panel in the middle, which upon lighting up stirred to golem-engine.

  ***

  Immediately of the door opening, Faenia swiftly pinched her piercing ornated nose. Myriad odors lingered, swayed around her magicraft car. So strong together that tears flocked towards the corners of her eyes. Rotten meat, vegetables mingled in a balefully igniting recipe, decaying furniture covered in the hide of once great beasts emanated a strange smell pnting its hooks and pulling her breakfast towards her mouth to exit. And for a moment Faenia believed the stench of death courted her. No way I am that lucky.

  With a translucent bubble of fresh, perfumed air conjured before both her nostrils like pushed in tampons, she approached the rge vessel following vaguely the structural silhouette of a gryphon. Though she noticed droplets of bckened, inky blood dried amongst the garbage, she knew the Federation spy known as Leittik had not perished. For all intents and purposes, it was not a crash – or at least they managed to nd nicely amongst the hills of waste.

  Surely, I am the unluckiest agent. Just when vacation was in the grasp of my hand. She cursed within herself, approaching the drawbridge pnted into the tainted earth, disturbing the amassing chaos of litter. Led by caution, Faenia made sure her dragonid leather boots wrapping around her feet, reaching only up to her ankles made as little sound as possible. Before her, the wide antechamber section of the vessel greeted her with an eerie emptiness. A sigh she read quite a few about in her favored horror novels.

  Though unlike in those often involving some kind of monster, ghost or demon, the culprit was simply a child of two worlds who exceeded at being a major headache for the Dominion. Numerous times her sabotages swung the pendulum of battles, bringing victory for the Grand Myotis Federation, a bit less but still a thorn of her actions inciting uprisings on the colonies coveted by the Federation – even including one incident on Aramides-IV where she herself was tasked with eliminating the heads of the rebels.

  Faenia halted right at the entrance, though not out of fear of what may lurk in the seemingly abandoned vessel. Swirling tendrils of mana particles manifested in her eyes, attaching into her green and mildly golden pupils slit at their center like a dragon’s. On top of those two noble shades, the enigmatic azure of magic joined in a glow as the spell to peer into the Fold of Time revealed a vague silhouette, she suspected being the escaped spy. Though she wasn’t dead, the fact she clutched her side to stem possible bleeding relieved her that Leittik won’t be as much of a headache for her.

  As the mostly featureless silhouette approached her, Faenia stepped out of its way and watched as it dissipated along the blots of inky bck blood veiled by the chaotically strewn across waste. Before she followed after, she turned back and decided to investigate further in hopes of finding something to use to strengthen the spell’s effect. A piece of garment carrying blood, skin or even bits of flesh, or all the above on the clean, metallic floor of silver. And possibly the meager crew of two assigned. A fact which bothered her.

  If she is such a headache, why assign so little to watch over her. Are we that conceited, assured at the quality of our bindings? With a bitter smile, she walked beneath the intense glowstones embedded in the angur ceiling, bathing the hallway in a warm glow. Not much awaited her in the first two rooms, the cabins of the crew where the various articles, decorative objects like small statues of strange gods and devils id across the carpeted floor, chairs turned over by the sudden descent and momentary loss of control over the vessel. Though the sheets remained intact in pce stretching over the broad beds.

  Moving onwards, she reached at st the prisoner holding area at the front. In the very instant the door slid five inches open, she glimpsed the two Snow-Scaled Division members assigned to guard and transport Leittik sitting in the quite spacious holding area separated by four broad and high pstic-like windows. Their legs pressed by the coils of charcoal bck siphoning ropes, stiff and sturdy with a slight metallic glint. The very same rope bound their chests stretching from their abdomen, reaching up towards their bosoms, pressing into the snow white beornid leather coat adorning their honed forms.

  Jaws resting on their jet-bck colrs betwixt the narrow space of the high, angur funnel colr of their white coats, deep bck sealing tape wrapped around their mouths, pressing cruelly into their cheeks whilst streaks of light danced on the rough, coarse glossy surface as their slumped heads stirred instinctively to her approaching steps. A bck velvety cloth served as blindfolds for both, knotted tightly behind their head amidst the strands. Leaning down, she read each of their name tags in a clear voice.

  The man before him was Ake, a pureblooded naurdian from Heleion’s far-north with pale white fair skin, no older than thirty at least when gazed upon by the naked eye, blessed with sharp, angurly contoured head, a retively handsome face and naturally lush hair cut short and slicked back, painted a warm caramel blonde. Sitting opposite, their bound wrists pressing into each other, sat the feykin springborn Ginnungriat Fransiska hailing from one of the colonies, with intense creamy peach toned complexion bereft of any blemishes as far as Faenia noticed, and with a better look even appeared a bit taller than her partner. Her hair long and flowing of an intense pink shade, on the left side of her temple, gently parted over her roundish ear.

  “Quite the tenacious one.” Half a smile appeared on her lips as she watched the silhouette dragging the two into their pce already bound. Though her blood was no longer tainting the white coats, she still sensed with a bit of magical aid its odor lingering on their surface here and there – mostly on the structured shoulders where the funnel colr arises, and the tenderly contoured scale pattern. She also saw as her fingers pressed against the squirming silhouettes who quickly went limp, into their current state.

  Slightly altering the inscription of the spell in her eye, she sensed the spell looming over the mind of the two Snow-Scaled Ginnungriaths, keeping them asleep until broken by either the spy or by someone else. Concluding there was nothing more to see, she left the two behind following the silhouette stepping out of the vessel, and with a sharp turn zigzagged betwixt the hills of waste, following the projection of the near past Leittik until it vanished suddenly, leaving Faenia to rely only on deduction and asking around.

  ***

  Two days passed since the task was pced into her care to hunt down the spy who proved to be quite the headache to the Dominion. Since then, besides catching up too te, she also learned that word got out of the capture of the spy, and her escape which spread like wildfire. The many enemies of Leittik wasted no time and hired quite a few Seekers native or taking up permanent residence on the colonial world of endless opportunities of their kind. In all honesty, the competition made her quite excited and a bit relieved after catching up too te five times in a row.

  It was the third time Faenia learned herself of the bounty pced across the whole megalopolis world. A small apartment on the lowest levels where the downtrodden, the outcasts and the accursed dwelt – besides some unsavory kind like cultists and such – where allegedly one of her Eyes seen the escaped spy. She hid in a frugal abode constructed in the eastern foundational pilr of one of the gargantuan Reach-Towers, near the nding port where various Voidvessels converged. In the small cavity hewn to be a cubicle with three considerably rge section, she found a stygian Seeker with his neck twisted.

  A few bckening spots on his purple abdomen indicated his failure to surprise the spy on top of him being dead. Though his death proved to be not in vain as it forced Leittik to hastily search for a new hiding pce, leaving behind another trail to follow. And so did Faenia followed until Leittik remembered to erase her own presence, tricking even time itself. How nice it would be for her to give up just for me. She thought gritting her teeth and sighing. Questioning around the locales, using seduction and threatening lead nowhere until she heard from an old acquaintance who began to ask about the bounty and if the Bck Roses themselves offered it. Hastily she said yes, but also mentioned cooperation and after a bit of silence, Minucius agreed.

  With another pair of eyes, she felt a bit of relief and it took not much time to learn where Leittik headed next. There she found an orc and a half-elven soratanese trussed up like the two Ginnungriaths, the same sleep-inducing curse cast upon them too. This time though she broke the spell and questioned the two Seekers, gaining a bit more information. Besides being aware that like all assassins, spies Leittik was a master of illusion, shadow and death magic, she also had the worrying ability to become ghost like.

  Their weapons – and as she concluded in addition, the stygians hits and spells – all passed through her body as if she was a wraith or a specter. Most likely the inheritance of her father. In that moment she was a bit gd for the bounty and the Seekers, as she gzed over this fact. Or to be precise thought little about it after reading the file provided by Astrydril.

  When she reyed the information to Minucius on the onset of the second day of the hunt, Minucius himself paid in encouraging information regarding the location of the Federation’s spy. “She was seen two hours ago in the very Reach-Tower where I live. She seems to hang around the bar on the 304th Level, asking for underworld brokers for tickets.” Little needed to be said why she asked for tickets. Continuing on Minucius also mentioned she found someone willing to sell her and that he already talked with the scummy high elf who immediately offered to aid in the capture after hearing the sum of the bounty.

  But as always when it came to hunting crafty spies, Faenia learnt to temper her expectations. And upon standing before Minucius’s apartment door on the 358th Floor, waiting for the door to hiss open, she felt vindicated to her chagrin. Usually, she only waited two minutes or five when it came to friends and acquaintances to force open doors or seldom windows. This time, she waited four as unease gradually deepened, hearing nothing from behind the red and yellow door even after enhancing her hearing.

  Greeting her in the one room – but quite spacious – apartment with armory and bath was the corpse of the scummy broker ying in his own prismatic, iridescent pool of blood stretching towards the furniture. A clear shot through the head and chest just below the neckline. Not far from him at the wall, Minucius sat hands behind his back, bound with the bck cord thirsting for mana and the strength of the living. Across his face, a wide strip of silver sealing tape with the outline of his agape lips behind, his red blood dripping down on it, still a bit leaking from the hole in the center of his broad forehead with a few strands of his creamy, medium brown hair sprawling across his head and shoulders.

  This time when she peered into the Fold, found no silhouette besides the one falling into the corpse of his acquaintance. Though at first, she was quite frustrated, she decided to at least do the minimum and search through the pockets of the two corpses. Hidden inside the inner pocket of the broker’s lost, sleek coat he found a crinkled piece of paper confirming the terminal and the fake name of the payer. A sigh escaped her as she approached the door with a clear view to the rising spiral building above which numerous vessels floated before nding on the few hovering pads.

  “Time to end this at st.” She muttered to herself. Before she stepped through the door, she offered a prayer to Minucius, then headed straight clutching the piece of paper.

  Author's Note:

  And another one begins. A short piece featuring the tomboy agent Faenia who since her st story set centuries before, now rose to became an Eye of the Bck Rose.

  Originally, this I was thinking of making a Chronicles story, but as I was finishing Back and Forth, I decided to stay in the same point in time, in the same conflict. A conflict which will have a few more stories in the future, but as of now I am intending this to be more of a background event when I make the bigger leap in time forward for the Void Between Worlds stories.

  Now just some retrospection for this year as I don't want to spoil the next part. Overall I am mixed on my achievements this year.

  The bad parts: Still too formuic when it comes to the short stories. I do want to repeat some of the earlier stories from the first iteration, hoping to improve on them in terms of prose, character building and such.

  Another is character building. Though I am a bit mixed on it, just leaning closer that this needs improving. Which is why I am trying to have certain characters return in stories, even if they died in the first iteration or in another story. Like I want my Indiana Jones character to return, just haven't figured out yet how as he was a human who are retively long lived, but not to an elven extent. Even Lythienne is one I want to feature more, and to be honest will for the major storyline.

  Now in regards of bondage elements, I want to do a bit more and this one I feel I improve a bit on after hitting a wall in terms of prose. Hence why I came up with the Bound Diaries idea, as the first few dozen will probably be me practicing writing not just characters getting bound and gagged, but also their reactions, what they feel - be it fear or arousal - and a bit more.

  Now there are probably a dozen more I have to improve on, but I forgot them as of writing this. So some things I am happy with.

  As its quite evident, when I started out I just wanted to write stories featuring military DID scenes, mostly yuri ones. But I also wanted to add in male character around the end of the Colonial uprising arc of the first iteration, which got deyed considerably I think till the end of the Great War. Now I have quite a few selection for GIDs and male POVs and I pn to expand on both and fine-tune them a bit. As originally I was less confident in describing males for some reason. Honestly don't know why.

  Another thing I am a bit happier with is that my works are a bit longer now and not just because of my uniform descriptions. They are still long occasionally, but I want to hit a nice bance with scenery, looks, outfit/uniform and lore/worldbuilding parts on top of the few action scenes.

  And a mixed note in regards of action scenes. I am mixed on that as for a long while I was unsure whether to settle on a soft or hard magic system. But as of now, I am settling on a soft one which is understood by only a select few [like Lythienne].

  Anyhow, that is enough rambling. Thank you for reading all this and the chapter, the next comes tomorrow, in a simir time hopefully.

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