The music I currently am writing fics to, because true art inspires more art.

             A fool am I? For falling in love? For not checking first what awaited at the bottom of the cliff? For not questioning whether or not it was too good to be true? Am I a fool for looking at love with wide-eyes like a child? Does being an adult mean we can no longer be relentlessly optimistic- that we must act as our own life preserver, that we must be both the person jumping and the bungee rope that will catch them before their head is dashed open?

             Then by all standards, Yes, I was and am a fool, a fool for not being cynical. I keep going through the motions, like a car without a steering wheel, left to careen down a hill in the vain hope that somehow the wreck I will make at the end will be better than the last. Fall for someone new again and again, like someone who goes to the doctor for a cure to their ills but then discards the pills for their bitterness in favor of the sweetness of their vices. If it is through pain that we grow up, that we are forced to mature, then how am I still but a hapless babe, unable to keep myself from grabbing a hot cake pan without protection despite being warned again and again I would be burned?

             What have I learned? To not date assholes, but to be lured in by the sweet honey of others and to fall into their web, only to find they are yet more of the same? If I went to a college class only to be tricked like this I would demand a full refund, but how can one demand a refund from life?

             I have learned nothing. And yet I have already begun the cycle yet again.

          “My soul?” The world around us is dead quiet, with not even the wind stirring the dry leaves about my feet. The wails in the distance had died down finally after hours and hours of ceaseless noise.

          “Yes, idiot, your soul. When did you lose it?” They ask frustrated, arms crossing over their chest and their face turning as red as the blood that stained my clothes and hand.

          “Oh. Yes, that.” I sigh and stare down at the stone in front of me, shakily engraved with love and care and christened with tears. “I suppose it went with you.”

Utopia

Utopia, is the name I give being with you.

   When I walk alongside you in the morning dew;

      When I find nature does not bother me anymore;

         Even when getting where we go is working hard labor,

   I have found a place called Utopia

Utopia, is the name given to your smiles.

   The sweetest softest look I can see for miles;

      The look most shy as I realize you’ve fallen for me;

         A look I mirror as one I’ve loved for years fills me with glee-

   I find myself lost yet again in Utopia

Utopia, is the name I wish all would call you.

   A place where all who find love are given what is due;

      A place where no limits are placed on that sweetest emotion;

         Where I may love you and you love me without others’ frustration.

   I wish others would find themselves Utopia

Convincing

I am you, but different.

But you said, even at our most stringent 

we still struggle to do anything.

Ah, I guess that is true.

I am you, but cheerier.

Yet you spiral down the well and cry easier

and depression haunts at your door.

Well, that is fair, I suppose.

I am you, but diagnosed.

Your pills aren’t taken and you let your mind coast

And the things we wish to do are still left undone.

I - Stop fighting with me.

I am you, but- I want to be happy.

No one said you couldn’t be

Except voices you think matter.

No, You have said it, repeatedly.

 I am you, but the better version.

Say it again and with conviction

for the only one you haven’t convinced yet

Is yourself.

Update alert for Chapter Three: I Am Here

I hope you all enjoy this next chapter! We speed ahead to 15 years before canon, when Wizard!Izuku, aka Hoshiko, finds Shimura Tenko.

If you haven’t read the story yet, here’s the summary of this Fantasy/No-Fantasy AU! Please, check it out and see if you like it :)

“DEMON KING!” He roared, twirling the divine lance One-For-All before pointing the tip at the large man, “It’s over! You will threaten no more people, destroy no more lives!”

Hoshiko didn’t live in the same world he used to, didn’t even go by the same name he used to. He couldn’t, not when this world likely had its own Midoriya Izuku. He’d lived a life too long and too far away from his old one. But in this world, he was happy. In this world, he’d been a scientist, a hero, a businessman, a professor- he had been able to do so many things. And now, he was a father to an adopted son that had needed help, and the teacher for a student who just wanted a chance to be a hero. He was, at least, happy.

Still, he wished he could see his friends from his old life once again.

Hey everyone! Austin here with a new fic!

This went live- what yesterday? The day before? It went live sometime at least. It follows the story of Wizard!Izuku from a Fantasy AU as he finds himself thrown into the regular My Hero Academia world- a man of magic in a world of quirks. He goes by a different name and ends up adopting a random kid named Shimura Tenko he finds in trouble. 

The end pairing for Wizard!Izuku will be Tododeku (Shouto x Izuku) featuring the fantasy version of Shouto, while Normal Izuku will be with someone different. Yes, there are two Izukus- multiverse baby, there’s one of each person in each world!

The first Chapter is rather short, but that’s just cause I wanted to get this out there- the next chapter (how much I’ve written so far at least) is already longer than Chapter 1! Hope you guys check it out and then stick around :)

The Furnace - (Isle of the Sun Mini-Story)

Words: 1,322

Warnings: None

AN: So! This is the first of a series of fics taking place throughout the setting of my DnD campaign. I’m both doing this to expand my world but also to practice my writing, so I’d love to hear what anyone who reads it thinks! This is a unique setting, so the gods, politics, and geography of this DnD setting are entirely my own; given as my players are still going through the campaign, some of these mini-fics may be purposely vague. Anyways, enjoy!

Most gods don’t take anything close to human form. Or at least that was what I was raised to believe. The eternal mother of all was little more than a mass of light, bound together by the power of creation. The ender of everything existed in a mercurial form beyond the realm of the living, watching us in silent judgment. The gods made real by man's belief and through copious amounts of magical energy were little more than phantoms that formed long enough to smite those who wronged their believers. None walked the earth in a traditional human form.

 The exception was an experience that would shape my world forever. 

 Two decades prior I had been exposed to the world mother's light, an experience that by all rights should likely have killed me. With that, she gave me her blessing and I found I could control light and darkness at will as if it were second nature for me to do so. I wandered my homeland, helping those in need, healing those I could with my sliver of the creator's power. 

 Eventually, my power began to fade. I had used up the blessing, over-taxed my abilities. And the mother of all was nothing if not aloof. The chance I would regain my powers was small. It was foolish of me to try if I was to be perfectly honest with myself. 

 But I owed it to myself and those I knew to try. I needed to regain what made me the Creator's prophet. So I set out on a journey to find her realm, a way to enter the source of all creation. 

 My trip led me to cross the path of dragons, of giants, of evil men and gods. If not for the goodness of stranger's and the world-mother's hand, I would have died long before. 

 My journey was long and arduous, however, I eventually found it. 

 The place where the Light of the world leaked into the material realm. 

 It was hidden away, squirreled beneath a ruined castle, with battlements falling apart and towers that wished to crumble to the ground. Nothing save for the wooden timbers kept them in place, yet as with their exposure beneath the stonework, they too would wither and the building would collapse. The wind had stilled and the grass was sparse. I had yet to see any animals, no deer or rabbits or anything of that sort, for hours and hours. 

 For a place where the thinning of the veil between the Creator and her Creation resided, it looked dead and decayed. 

 I pressed on, however, delving into the ancient building, desperate for that light which I had lost. What I found... well, I was not expecting it to say the least. 

 The central chamber was made of large dais raised in the middle with steps leading up to it. In the middle was a large bonfire, giving off the warmth and light of the mother. I sighed, breathing in her presence deeply. I truly had missed being so close to her. 

 Sitting next to the fire were two men. Well, 'men' being a subjective word. One was quite clearly a half-elf, with a head of long red hair, pulled back into a ponytail with a neat, trimmed beard and piercing eyes. He had a book and quill, scribbling away things into it. The other was a young boy, perhaps eight years old. He looked rather plain, save for the dove on his shoulder, chirping into his ear. 

 The boy had been staring at me since I had entered the room. Beneath his gaze, however... I couldn't help but feel like he had been watching me since I had begun my journey years ago. The molten gold of his eyes stared into mine and despite the youth in his face, I could tell this was a mask, purposeful or not. "Ramthais, it is the lady my father told me of." 

 With a snort, the red-head looked up at me, a wry smile pulling his lips apart, "Well well, it's nice to see yet another one of us chosen by the mother and father has finally arrived. I am Ramthais the Elder, or so those who have known me in my different bodies call me." He shrugged as if his name mattered little. Perhaps it did not. Was I not known by my own title almost more than by my name? 

"Please. Sit. It is a rarity that one is chosen so clearly by Aunt Yew-Ay." The boy said with barely any emotion. Calling the mother of all his Aunt? Just who was this boy? 

 I incline my head to him, "Forgive me young ser, but I'm afraid I am not aware of who you are. Not that I know Ramthais either, but in his case, I at least know his name, and a little bit about him. For you, I cannot say the same of course." 

 Mirth danced in the boy's eyes for a moment and the dove chirped into his ear again and he actually let out a laugh. "Oh yes Father, I can see why she was picked. The care and precision of creation are there." Was he... was he actually conversing with the dove? Calling it his father? Who was this child? I blinked and the child was suddenly gone. 

 "I have titles of course but my name is Aunmundr," a suddenly deeper voice said next to me. I jerked back, an older, teenage version of the boy standing next to me, as emotionless as he had been minutes ago. "Some refer to me as a god- though I care little for what terms mortals have for us." 

 I breathe deeply, trying to get a hold of my emotions that had been running wildly now due to the sudden teleporting. Ramthais laughed a bit, "Don't worry my dear, you'll get used to little Aunmundr's quirks soon enough. You must forgive him- he's been around for far less than either all-mother Yew-Ay or the destroyer Severot. And given as he did not make mortals, he is not entirely sure how to interact with them." 

 This was turning into something quite bizarre, even by the standards of someone who had been gifted the power of the Goddess. "So... you are a god? And you Ramthais?" I ask, to the other man with a frown. He chuckles and waves his hand. 

 "No no, I'm a mortal like yourself. I stumbled across this place a few decades ago and I have been keeping young Aunmundr company here ever since." The godling had moved away from me, his eyes staring off into the wall as if he was looking beyond to another part of the world. "As the chosen of Severot, I am to wait for the Chosen of Yew-Ay and the Mediator to come." 

 I raise an eyebrow at that comment. Ramthais shrugs, "I'm not the man who decided on our titles. I simply came looking for the Furnace," he said, gesturing to the likely-eternal bonfire in front of us. "If you would sit and wait with us, Aunmundr will explain why we are being gathered here. An important mission is in store for us from what I understand." The older half-elf's eyes danced with a light I couldn't place. 

 I considered leaving. This was all quite bizarre and frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if my brother had slipped some hallucinogens into my rations when I had last visited him. Maybe I had never left his house and he was in a corner snickering to himself. 

 However, the bonfire pulsed and a soothing warmth beckoned me to sit. My mother, my creator, beckoned me to join the odd man and the god in human form. 

 I had sought out the desire of the Goddess and she responded. Perhaps it was not in the form I expected, but it was a form nonetheless. 

 I sat down.