Challenge #03005-H082: Land of the Loveless

From around the world, tieflings were vanishing. Sometimes just fading away, sometimes disappearing in a gout of flame, but they were not dying. The spell was cast, though the summoners had to work very hard on it. A kingdom, a beautiful one where people, all people, were treated with dignity and kindness. The rulers, the queen and king, both tieflings. They were calling for the outcasts, the unwanted. “Come here, come home, please, let our lands shelter you.” Twin brothers, one tiefling, one not, would likely be summoned together. And those that tried to harm the innocent of these lands learned a painful lesson. – DaniAndShali

[AN: Hurmmmm… I gave them a happy-ever-after already and I have to play with this in my head for a bit… Whether ‘tis better to have the twins arrive with fiancees or before they meet…. How many hearts can I break or warm?]

They called them… the loveless lands. It was a realm of monsters. A pit of despair. Travellers refused to go near them. Those who shipwrecked on its shores never came back. The brothers Merrimine were lucky they were together with both loved ones when the ritual hit them. There had been warnings. Rumours. Gossip. Tieflings and other unwanted monsters all over the land were vanishing. Some in fire. Some in smoke. Some vanishing slowly, some disappearing between one pace and the next, as if they walked into another reality. When the wave of the distant spell hit a Tiefling courtier in the same room, both reached out. One arm clinging to his brother, the other desperately grabbing his lady love.

Whatever happened next, they were going to face it together. They clenched their grips and gritted their teeth… and opened their eyes in another land. They were surrounded by a lot of very confused Tieflings and a very few equally confused Humans. The only ones not confused were the ones too young to understand. Far too many of the howling infant Tieflings were covered in midden muck instead of swaddling clothes. As one, the Merrimine brothers and their fiancees cried out and dove for the most helpless and needing of the infants. All four of them had a baby in each arm and no idea of what to do next.

Others around them were similarly galvinised. The panic of the grown and the need of the small almost overwhelmed them. Tieflings from all walks of life and their rare Human companions did their best to help. The children capable of looking after themselves formed into clusters. Trusting a stranger who looked like them more than a stranger twice their size. Many of them had met ill fates from adults and were shy of trusting them.

[Check the source to see the full story]

(Source: peakd.com)

Challenge #03000-H077: Scheherezade III

I can’t help it, I gotta know, how DO people react at the royal event seeing the twins together?

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02929-h006-the-trouble-with-tails – DaniAndShali

Viceroy Jubilation Araveth Falsworth Merrimine could always tell when the rest of the room spotted his brother, Apprehension. It was not quite a universal gasp, but there was a definite chorus of indrawn breaths. Usually from the gallery of those waiting to see who was whom as they arrived. Then the musicians would stutter to a halt as they saw him and all the conversations in the room would stumble to a halt.

The other Viceroy and Jubilation’s twin brother, Apprehension Marveline Merrimine, was a Tiefling. Precisely, everyone’s stock idea of a Tiefling. A cartoon Tiefling, if you will. He named himself Loyalty and, during their shared adventures, they had been through much. If the twin Viceroys had not been born holding hands, Loyalty may have had a very different fate. A shorter one, for example.

Jubilation preferred the longer fate, despite all the trouble they shared. He’d rather have a brother than not. Especially with their shared sensations. For instance, right now, he could feel the echo of Loyalty’s trepidation as they waited to be announced. Loyalty leaned over and murmured, “You’d think I forgot to shine my hooves…”

[Check the source to see the full story]

(Source: peakd.com)