I DO NOT OWN THIS STORY!
This is a story written by Voltage and was on the Lovestruck app that was shut down due to lack of funding.
I am simply writing the stories from the app out as I prefer to read them this way and nobody has yet to do so.
I have typed this out word for word from the app except for a few bits to help identify people sense there are no pictures to see who is talking.
If you have any suggestions on how to make this flow better, please let me know!
Love & Legends - Saerys Route
Season 1: Chapter 2
"Hellspawn! Ruin-bringer!"
(Uh oh. That sounds familiar.)
The frenzied peasant is causing a stir, and it's starting to turn heads.
"Cloak. Now."
"They already saw me, I don't think a hood is going to do-?"
"Now. This lot scarcely knew her, save by-!"
"Cruel demon, leave this place!"
Quick as I can, I tug the hood up over my head and…
(Now, how did Saerys manage to be so subtle in a brightly-lit study?)
Thinking fast, I spot a shadow cast by a hanging blanket in a market stall, and step back into it.
Saerys gives me a look, slightly approving, before another shout draws his attention.
(Wait a second…)
(They weren't talking about me at all!)
The gathering crowd is starting to form a circle, with Saerys at the center.
"…"
The shouting doesn't seem to faze him, but I can see his knuckles turn pale at the growing undercurrent of suspicious whispers.
"What is all this? Clear a path!"
A knight in armor emblazoned with Reiner's crest steps through the crowd, the command ringing clear over the hubbub.
"This damnable hellspawn-!"
"-Is the reason you have a roof over your head rather than a pile of cinders!"
A hush falls over the crowd, and all eyes are on Saerys. He takes a half-step back.
(I'm starting to see what he meant by 'unwelcome attention.')
"You stand before Saerys, one of the Witchslayers Heroes, and dare to slander his name?"
"One of the Heroes? You mean to say this hellsp-?!"
"Hold your tongue. You, all of you owe this man your lives, your prosperity!"
Saerys winces, and the half-step back turns to a full one. He looks ready to bolt.
(Half of them don't know the first thing about him and call him stuff like hellspawn, the other half want him on the highest pedestal they can find.)
(Sounds like he's got it worse than the time I tripped walking offstage at my high school graduation.)
"And after all the Witch Queen inflicted on his people, you would name him a ruin-bringer?"
"You ought to apologize in full, and beg his forgiveness at that!"
"No need, I should just… be on my way."
His eyes dart between faces in the crowd, and his steps have taken him near an unlit alleyway.
(I'd better keep close; odds are he'll make himself scarce the second eyes are off him.)
"My lord Saerys, I hope you will forgive this unkindness."
"It seems there are still those who—My lord?"
Someone steps between Saerys and the crowd for just a moment, and smooth as silk he vanishes into the shadows.
(Okay, that was cool. He's like something out of a spy movie when he wants to be.)
The crowd turns from shamed to confused, with people looking for Saerys, milling about, and making themselves scarce.
(I better go after him, or I'll never catch up.)
I follow him into the alley.
Peering into the dark, I spot Saerys just as he turns a corner.
(It's even darker over there… It looks like he's heading out of town?)
Stumbling in the dark, I follow Saerys out of the city proper, and into an open field.
I tail him as quickly as I can, but it's slow going in the dark, and his footsteps are unerring.
(And this after he tells me humans are like baby deer or whatever!)
(Some dream-dude guardian he is.)
I open my mouth to call out to him, but my foot catches on something and I pitch forward.
"Woah-!"
A rush of cool air comes with a hand on my shoulder, holding me steady.
"…"
(How did he…? I could barely see him a second ago!)
"…Thanks."
"Watch your step. Cabbages."
Without another word, he turns away and continues walking through the rows.
"Alright, what was all that about? What did all those people mean?"
"I kept my silence on it for good reason."
"Look, who are you? So far I've heard hellspawn, ruin-bringer, Witchslayer Hero, is it even any of those?"
"You know what, better question: what are you? I don't even know that much!"
"You're not a human and you're not an elf, so what are you Saerys?"
He freezes mid-stride, whirling to fix his eyes on me.
They're the only part of his face I can make out, and they're narrowed.
"Why do you want those answers so badly? What makes you care what I am?"
"Because I want to know! And you know what? I don't even need a reason!"
"This is my dream and I can do whatever I want in it, and if that means finding out what sort of fantasy thing you are, then I'm damn well gonna find out!"
Saerys turns on my again, and this time I catch a gleam of bared teeth.
(Okay, that pissed him off big time.)
"…"
He shuts his eyes for a moment, and I hear him take a slow breath.
"Fine. You will not cease pestering me until I tell you, so fine."
"I am a demon."
"A demon?"
"You're not gonna try and…steal my soul or seduce me or something are you?"
"…What?"
"Okay, not that sort of demon, then."
"You have a very strange idea of what demons are like."
"…Were like."
"Were? I thought you said you are a demon."
He shifts his gaze, down and away from me.
"I am. I am also the last of them."
(…Oh. That knight mentioned something about the Witch Queen and his people..)
"I want to make sure I understand."
"If you're the last demon, and the Witch Queen did something to your people…"
"I was little more than a child, so what I know is what I was told later."
"The Witch Queen decided that the demons needed to die, and so we did."
"If my village had not-!"
He cuts himself off, his jaw clicking shut.
"I am so sorry, I had no idea."
"People seldom do."
Saerys looks me over for a long, still moment.
(I can only imagine what he's seeing when he looks at me.)
"I do not think you are her, MC"
"You do not seem evil, just…naïve."
"Even so, you have all the answers I care to give."
"There is only one way to stop being naïve, yeah?"
For a moment I could swear I see his lips curl upward in a grin before he steps past me, back towards town.
"We should get back to the castle."
The trip back to the castle is quiet, and the roads are empty.
(It's a good thing we're heading back, too. It's getting chilly, and this cloak isn't quiet cutting it.)
The path we take through the castle is familiar; the guest bedroom we eventually stop at is the same one we visited earlier, when I got my new outfit.
"Your room. If anything comes up, mine is at the end of the hall, on the right."
"Um, what? I'm supposed to stick close to you, aren't I?"
"Well, yes, but-"
"Then I've gotta stick close to you! I'm sure your room is just as nice."
"Ah, well…"
"You're supposed to be guarding me, and that's gonna be hard from way down the hall."
"Besides, this is a dream. Why not?"
Saerys opens his mouth as though to say something, but apparently thinks better of it.
He shakes his head, sighs, and beckons with a wave instead.
As it turns out, his room is…
(Almost completely empty? Maybe the guest room would have been nicer after all.)
(Still, I've made my bed and I'll just have to lie in it.)
(With this hot dude.)
The room is all but barren aside from the basics.
A simple bed, a corner desk and chair, a modest bookshelf.
"You don't… entertain much, do you?"
"No. And at any rate, I do not spend much time at the castle. I have all I need."
I give the single bed a critical look.
"Not all we need, unfortunately. So…"
"So we're gonna share the bed, right? You know, since there's just the one."
Saerys sighs.
"I did offer you an entire room to yourself, but I will not make a guest sleep on the floor."
(Score!)
I take a seat on the edge of the bed and start unlacing my boots and various other bits of my new outfit.
(Seems like laces are in-vogue in fantasy land.)
Saerys does the same , then lifts his top off smoothly with a quick roll of his shoulders.
(Oh, wow!)
My eyes go wide, and I can't resist a low whistle.
"Daaaaaamn, son, you're fine as hell. You could cook a breakfast on that six-pack!"
I never thought I'd say this about Saerys, but he's got a look on his face like a confused puppy.
"…Where did you say you were from again?"
"Chicago, the midwest's pointy hat."
(Somehow, that description doesn't seem to have cleared things up for him.)
"And does everyone in….Chicago speak as you do?"
"Well… not everyone, no."
"Mostly it's people around my age or younger who use that kind of slang."
"I guess nobody here is really gonna understand any of it, huh?"
The confusion on his face turns to curiosity, and he takes a seat on the bed to unlace his own boots.
"That much, I can relate to."
"After… what happened, others who understand the demons' native tongue are few and far between."
"I could teach you some modern slang, if you want."
"And if you feel like sharing it, learning to speak demon sounds kinda fun!"
He blinks, surprised, then gives me a reserved smile.
"That would be nice. As you said, there is only one way to stop being naïve.
"
"Exactly! Okay, so for starters, what I said earlier was a figure of speech that means, like, you're very attractive."
"Ah-! Well, thank you, I suppose."
He glances around the room, looking thoughtful.
"The demon word for a desk is jevech."
"Jevek?"
"Close, make the ch a little softer. And really, it can refer to a desk or a table."
"So more like… jevech?"
"Good, good. Humans often have trouble picking up the pronunciation."
(He's having fun, I can tell. Probably doesn't get many chances to talk about this stuff, huh?)
I can't help but to match his grin; it looks good on him, and it's infectious.
"Okay, let me think…ooh, this is a tricky one."
"So if somebody says 'no yeah,' that means yes, and if they say 'yeah no,' that means no."
"But, if they say 'yeah no yeah,' that means yes."
(Aw, the confused puppy look is back. Guess that one was a little advanced.)
"…Your language has… difficult subtleties, it seems. Hm…"
A bit of a smirk creeps onto his face.
"Zheth mel kathik."
"Sheth…jeth mel…"
He covers his mouth with a hand and huffs a few soft breaths that might, just maybe, be laughter.
(As rare as it probably is, happy is a good look on him.)
"Alright, you beat me. What does it mean?"
"Taken literally, it would be 'walk like water.'"
"It means you hope someone's path will be smooth and safe."
"Humans often say 'fare well' in the same sense."
"'Walk like water,' huh? I like it, even if I'm gonna have to work on the pronunciation."
Those soft almost-laughs again, and-
-And suddenly it occurs to me that our linguistics chat has brought us very close.
Our hands are very nearly brushing against one another, and I'm close enough to see the subtle shift of sleek, toned muscle when he moves...
(All of a sudden, I can't shake the feeling I'm up past my bedtime!)
"Okay this has been really fun we should do it again sometime goodnight!"
Before he can reply, I power-walk to the other side of the bed and clamber in, tugging the cover over my head.
"...Sleep well?"
I feel the cover shift as he climbs under them and settles in.
"...What's that in demon?"
"Glad you asked. Saloth quaval."
"Saloth quaval to you too, Saerys."
TO BE CONTINUED...
Authors Note:
I plan to try and add a chapter once a week but I hold no promises.
I also plan to do all the routes for Love & Legends as well as the other stories that were on the app.
If you would like to watch the scenes that this story is typed from simply search the story name in YouTube and you are sure to find it.
If anybody has any questions please do not be afraid to ask.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the story as much as I did!
Again I DO NOT OWN THIS STORY!