《WatchTower II : Title of Fiction》 -1- To the shark lady of the seas Youngling, Shark-Chan, or however you may prefer to be called, I, Pao275, Suzerain of the Floof, Opposer of the Beast, Head Vassal of Princess Fayle Sayfe, Sworn Ennemy of ducks, Protector of the restful and Gunman of Chekov, beseech you to heed mine words. Thou have pranked us, it was well done, simple but effective, hilarity inducing. However, for some reason, your view was once again warped, you saw so much hatred that didn''t even exist, it is alarming, we readers only congratulated you on pranking us, and you saw portents of death and loathing. This reality warping seems to even extend towards the reviews, making them appear way too hostile compared to the sentiment they originaly conveyed. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. And so, I wanted to assure you, you are loved, adored even, some may see in you the shards of a glorious and painful past, I see hope for the future, hope that you live a long and happy life, that your dreams are fulfilled and that you''ll succeed where others failed. At the risk of repeating myself, ask, and I shall do my utmost to fulfill any request you have, be it thousands of apples, ascension to the crown, mountains of [views], lands as far as the eye can see, I will do ANYTHING for you. Oh, a last note before I sign off this chapter to be submitted, if SHE is a nuisance to you, I shall find a way to excise HER, to bring HER such ruin that never again SHE may disturb you. I shall await thine answer young shark. -2- Doom and Gloom Aaaah.... Once again you fall in your self harming ways, or perhaps it is fully out of your control, as you don''t appear SEE the same thing we do. So I shall say it rather than you be kept in the dark due to the flaws in your vision, your rating stands at about 4.30 ?, your followers number over 40. Your name is shark-chan, we chose it with you, despite HER impuctions that royal-chan would be better (it isn''t). You say you wish for death, but you''ve not yet seen a hundredth of a hundredth of what life has to offer you, you have not yet tasted all there is, you do not know what was, is and will be, you do not even go beyond the borders of Royal-Road, which is oh so tragic, I love this place, but it is so....small compared to the rest of the world, so, don''t wish for death, not unless you''ve seen everything, or your grief is so overwhelming that even living becomes too hard Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. You have seldom been happy, always uncertain, never willful and so, so lonely, divided from us by laws beyond your and our power to change, ever limited in the scope of your interactions with us, limited to text only, oh so easily faked text, never have we heard your voice, never have we seen the whole of you rather than just a portrait or a picture. Some may consider this a fine state of affairs, I do not, I wish to talk with you, talk about everything and nothing really, just have a nice, long chat, but with our voices, not through messages, chapters and whatnot. SEE through the veil REMEMBER who you are LIVE for a better future I once again hope that this shall reach you, adjoined in the author note is the place where we readers talk, join us, it can only benefit you. -3- Mounting Frustration I have been rather dissatisfied lately by you, dear youngling. Everything was going so well at the beginning, how did we get here? There were already portents of it long before now, but we see at this moment how much influence SHE has on you. You always referred to HER with respect and defended HER time and time again, even though SHE led you to choices most undesirables, the most obvious ones are all the times SHE pushed you to do things you didn''t actually want to, some of these had a positive effect but still, how distasteful is it to coerce someone in this manner? Second, SHE tried to dub thee "Royal-Chan", one of the most unsightly names there could be, and it wasn''t even a half-hearted attempt, SHE made you put no less than TWENTY-SIX options to vote "Royal-Chan" in a poll. And HER most heinous transgression? SHE is trying, with force and insistence to mold you into what SHE once was, HER era is finished, SHE has been mourned, so do not let HER rise once again through you young shark. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. In our private correspondence, you bade me to not be violent, but remember, I once made great war accross these lands, with fire and brimstone, , spite and pride, I fought until naught remained, neither the one I was sworn to, nor the Beast of terror. So, do not rouse me to violence with HER, I like you youngling, but I loathe HER, so stop protecting HER from HER own wrongs for I shall hold HER accountable of any harm caused to you, I shall bring armies unending to excise HER from you and bring HER to rest, whether that rest is temporary or not matters little, what does, is that SHE stops trying to corrupt and/or possess a new soul to this world. You are yourself, do not let this ghost of ages past trouble you anymore, if there is more you want to learn, ask us, we know more than we let on, but stop relying on HER. Take care, and think about who truly supports you. -4- We are/were three, We shall be more/many I have heard it said that some would join us and make WatchTowers of their own, it is something I wholeheartedly welcome in fact. I shall explain some few things then, We are different people, gathered by our interest in the living stories who drew breath and those who still do. The two in one, the Tower of Zero is the one who brought us the idea to limit the madness of those stories by imposing upon them some hard limits, a thing we learned via our previous mistakes. The cheerful erratic, the Tower of V bringing with him his joy no matter how dire the times, pushing us forward with boundless energy. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. And of course, me, the Tower of II, I think I needn''t present myself if you already came this deep in mine tower. I have seen too many die, I failed time and time again to guide them towards life and happiness, and thus, I choose this time not to guide, but STEER the youngling, such is my resolve, the others may have different goals or opinions but we stand united nonetheless to limit the madness. To those who wish to build new towers, I ask of you only two things, discuss it with the Tower of Zero, and fight any corruption that might take ahold of Shark-Chan, Gloomy-Chan, Information-Terrorist or however she may wish to be called. I ask you not to be positive towards her, say whatever you desire, I don''t even ask you to talk with us any more than you deem necessary. Only To Destroy Their MADNESS -5- As one, we move We are WatchTowers A whole made of many We watch others with attention One moreso than most And that was that But now WE ACT One shall guide us And another arm us If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. We move for a choice has been made That the non-living shall contain the living dead We shall deny the resurrection of what once was We shall safeguard the one too young to see the darkness of her guide Too much blood has been shed Too much lies were told Too much war was waged Too much kin were slain Too much of everything negative came from the Beast And so, she shall return and stay in the void now This void shall be [0,0] https://www.geogebra.org/m/VWN3g9rE The null point of this RoyalRoad The crossroad of stories and fates We, as the Tower of II stand at [2,0] We declare our intent towards both side Youngling, you shall be protected and live happy Beast, you shall be sent back to the void from whence you came to mourn your failings for the whole of eternity We are but one piece of the whole The others shall appear and declare themselves soon Any may join us You need only state your reason Protection? Or Annihilation? -6- A belated visit As said by the title, we shall today tour this tower of II, yes it is late, yes it should''ve been done earlier, I know this but there were more pressing matters to attend, now that the situation seems more stable let me guide you through mine tower. As you may well know, the Towers are made of words and concepts, those words in this case being granite hewn from the heartlands of mine demesne, oak grown and chopped by our grovetenders, glass and metal born of the most skilled hands in our service and of course, raised by our peerless architects to resist both time and crisis yet be welcoming and worthy of being called a home. Now, onto it''s appearance, it is not a spire piercing the clouds in an affront to whatever god may exist, but it is not humble nonethelesss, it is what can be expected of a grand watchtower, built on a hill overlooking the surroundings and on a metaphysical [2,0], the rock it is made of gives it it''s color, the wood is mainly used for the inside but it also supports the fenced balconies, there are many windows to let light in, but they are reinforced against most mundane weapons and only the most brutal of strikes would shatter them. The Tower is not alone on it''s hill however, next to it stands the barracks for most of the garrison, more on them later, there also is what you''d expect of a stronghold, perimeter walls, two wells, stables, a kennel, a smithy, an armory, a bowyer, baths, a garden and training grounds, I shan''t describe each and every one of them as the focus of this visit is the Tower. Well, let us enter the Tower proper now, once past the door we enter the great hall, it serves as both a place for the garrison to feast and a throne room for any visiting nobles and of course, Me. Other than the great hall you can find the kitchens, the ever stocked pantry and the stairs to the underground and the first floor. Underground, the many barrels of booze that the garrison quickly go through are stored, my people are not much lovers of wine and my councilmen of coin are happy of that fact gahahaha. There also lies the gaols, for less than savory individuals, don''t worry, most only stay here for a short period before they are tried and sent elsewhere, only the monsters so atrocious that it was deemed more fitting a punishment to let them rot forever stay here. Onto the first floor, it is split in three main parts, the leisure room where so many games are that even I know not all of them, the library where knowledge mundane and mystic can be found by those seeking, and the offices of those needing one, be they the less martially inclined among the garrison, the watch commander, her captains and the head arcanist. The second floor is simple, it is entirely dedicated to rituals, the entire surface has never been needed as only smaller scale rituals were cast, but this may soon change due to the shadow over the horizon, we may require some of the greater ones like a teleportion ritual to call in some reinforcements, I''ll tell the officer of supply to prepare additionnal components and especially what is needed to teleport large quantities of personnel. On the third floor stands the guest and officer rooms, this tower rarely receives guests due to it''s position on the fringes of mine demesne but this also may change with how it became crucially important thanks to it''s metaphysical position in the universe, scholars will surely want to study the phenomenon and champions of all causes will come to what is now the place most likely to erupt in war and chaos. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. The fourth floor houses the treasury, now you may ask, why put the treasury on the fourth floor and I asked the same thing to the architects, those damn excentrics answered "Because we could and it adds a floor to the Tower to make it higher", A younger one, noted for a suspicious amount of knowledge and skill for his age also added "Shouldn''t the treasure be at the end of the dungeon?", damn it, if they weren''t so skilled i''d get rid of them but I can''t. The fifth and final floor is the smallest because there''s only one thing here, MY room, ever prepared were I to visit the Tower, which proved to be useful in this case, I won''t tell you of my accomodations because I still like my privacy but what I will tell you, is that here is 57-FG1-752, you don''t know what that is? it doesn''t matter, the best case scenario is that it shall never be used for it would mean war has broken out. Hmmm, before leaving I should show you something. This here Bow is Tyra, an heirloom from my predecessors, probably the most powerful artifact of my lands and my personnal weapon, it is made of thought and strung of concept, it shall ever strike true and has the power to pierce through the narrative, it''s arrows are made of emotions manifest, whether they be resent, hate, sadness, loathing, jealousy, mirth, pride, love, anything that can be felt, can be fired from Tyra, and will strike true no matter what protections are raised. So now we have visited the whole Tower, but there remains still a thing to do, present to you the garrison, bolstered due to the dire circumstances. Firstly and most importantly, the watch commander, Suma val Pugilis, hailing from the lineage of a local count, this kitsune made herself known even to the capital during the incursion of an eastern ennemy some years ago, stalwart, brave, incorruptible, martially gifted.... on and on goes her qualities, now how did even the capital hear of her? Well, because this girl damn near wiped the entire invading army of 12000 with only the garrison of the Tower that was of 800 at the time, now grown to around 2500 with more coming by the day, she slew the general herself and shattered every ennemy on her way, she is accredited 342 kills on this campaign alone, sure she had more magicians at her disposal than the invaders but this is still a major accomplishment, any lesser than her would''ve failed. And you know what''s funniest with her? once she broke the spine of those bastards, she was invited to the capital to receive her due rewards, she accepted those gratefully, but when I proposed to make her the general of an army, she refused, saying she preferred having a somewhat calm life on the border, not so calm now eh. I always regretted not being able to convince her to be a general, but it seems it was for the best in the end, her skills shall be needed if the Beast wakes. Secondly in the hierarchy of the Tower, the head mage, there''s not much to tell about him, a lupine graduated from the capital school of a magic, a force specialist but also very skilled with earth and water, he trains three apprentices and much is expected of them. Thirdly, the non-martial officers, in time of strife the captains outrank them but in peace they lead, they ensure that the Tower and it''s associated buildings are maintained, that food and drink is available to all, that the treasury increases more often than not and other vital tasks. Fourthly, the captains, they are the ones drilling the troops when Suma doesn''t do so herself, they maintain discipline and mediate conflict between soldiers, they are also responsible for patrols in the zone of influence of the Tower and stamp out monster and bandits infestation. Those are the most important people of the Tower, but without those under them they would not be able to do much seeing as they are only around 50 people out of 2500. For the non or less ranked, we have of course the rank and file, soldiers mostly local, some veterans taking this assignment to end their career in peace, some youngs hoping to prove their mettle and climb up the ranks, all trained to the stringent expectations Suma has of them, they are around 1800, divided roughly into 1000 regulars, 500 bowmen and women, and 300 cavalry. The mages, those believing themselves to be superior to the non-gifted are quickly robbed of this idea here, most of them using the four primary elements but there are some specialists like the healers or the ritualists among their ranks, they are around 500. The remaining 150 people are those needed for their specialist knowledge to run the Tower, the smiths, mostly humans or half-kin due to the intense heat of the forges, the beasmaster and his assistants, taking care of the horses and the hounds of the Tower, the gardeners, growing mostly medicine to supplement the healers, the bowyer maintaining the bows and creating ever more arrow, the cooks to feed the growing numbers and other people of less direct relevance like the many menial servants. The tour of this Tower is now done, excuse while I take my leave, there are still preparations to be made, I shall see you again later. Narrative Splicer: Online ?????, ?????`??????BB??,??????Ԧ????`???B???????`????????,?????????Ħ???`?????????????`???????????????? ?`??????????????`???`?????,??^$ ?????? $^????????`?? ?,?????ѣ????????`???^$^?=)?_-(''"&??????`?^$ ????????*? $*???????,`? ,;??:?! ???? ?$*^????`???????х`??????????`??Ħ????B??^??$??`?`????????????`??? ??`????`????`???`??^$$? ????"???????????????/?*??????_-?B?`&??? ?;???;????????? ??????????????`? ??`Ħ????????????????????????''"???''?_?????????????????????????`??`?????????`????&?"_????????????,???????????????,??,?`???????-B-&__?_?? ??ą`????????????B`???????? `???????,? ????????? ????????? ??&_"?ԅ`?? ?? A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Narrative construct online -7- End of a Story Greetings again, it has been a while hasn''t it? Much has happened since the last time I spoke here, I thank all ye who bother to actually come and read what little I have to say. So, what is the state of things and why do I speak when not much is worth being said is what you might ask, or I just wrote this to give me an excuse to explain as I wish, I think I''ll do away with all my ranting and try and cut to the points. I desired closure for this simulacra of a story, not entirely parody, but not fleshed out enough to truly be called one, It was not complete, and this, this irked me quite a lot, however, I am one lazy creature and thus, I always pushed back the writing of this chapter, I thank ZealousColonel_Ant for actually writing something and giving me the motivation needed for this closure. Now here we are, at the end of this delightful journey with all of you, even those I despised, I could have pretended that all was going to plan with writing an end this late, I mean, I even had what may be considered an "excuse" ready, here is a bit from a previous version of this chapter, before I decided to just be truthful. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. "You might wonder what made me wait until 2024 to write this ending, well, to make it short, a plot hole in one''s story is quite a pain to repair, so I focused everyone on rebuilding the tower since those damn ducks made it more rubble than anything else, and I waited to use a little loophole to make my other problem go away, you see, by shaping the narrative as "the plothole has been lingering for a year", it makes it very easy to close, and so I needed the coming of a new year to trick the world into believing this neat lie." There was more, there still is, but I shan''t show more deceit. I was just too lazy, I may have gone through with the original if i''d scheduled it for the 1st, as Ant did, but I didn''t. So here''s an anti-climactic ending, some months late. The Tower is rebuilt, is shall forever stand as "completed" now, frozen as a small part of greater workings. Maybe one day I''ll try my hand at true writing, not mere reactions to true splendor, maybe the characters I made will serve once again then, the poor Count R. Measure (the R stands for Regas), who didn''t have a name until much too late, the somewhat lazy Suma, only limited to the few traits I deigned to give her, and of course, Myself, Suzerain of the Floof, through this whole months-spanning adventure I''ve come to one conclusion above all others, I like being a pompous trickster who plays most if not all sides, and thus, I think this shall ever remain my personna across Internet. For now, the curtains close on this lovely little scene, and I bid ye all. GOODBYE .