"...oh, I thought I smelled you earlier. We just have to stop meeting like this."

"..."

"Back in Gallia, in Crimea... We just ran into each other recently, too. I don't know about others, but I can tell who you are. You have one heck of a stench."

"...enough talk. Prepare yourself."

"Still won't own up, huh? Fine. If that's the case, I'll just tear your mask off and show everyone myself!"

Thursday Prompt Story: This week's prompt is... shortage

Back on my bullshit and ready to take on this again.

Hello, it's still not the Human, but I'm fairly confident he'll come around again any time now. It's still Tienno, by the way. I got this weird idea after seeing the prompt and realized that I needed to write the story in Word for it to work. Basically, the ink is slowly running out and there's only one piece of paper to write on, definitely not a ploy to write as little as I can while I'm still getting back into it.

I converted the original file from a Word document to a PDF since that's the only other thing this website accepts. I don't know how this will go, but just in case, I'll paste the story at the bottom without the gimmick. It is recommended you read it the way it was intended, though!

The Thursday Prompt is provided by the user Thursday_Prompt on FurAffinity. Read every new entry of The Thursday Prompt a day early on our FA: TheFireTiger

My sweetest Cecilia,

There is a shortage of both parchment and ink in our land right now, so I must write this with haste.

Our defense appears to go smoothly. Enemy forces from both the north and west empires are being routed back, and our walls are being reconstructed as fast as they can. We’ve still suffered many casualties, however – I simply have no idea how you managed all this in our short-lived reign together. I’ve learned so much from you, yet I still find myself asking what you would do and not getting a concrete answer.

Allies from the southern empires have also arrived, a much-needed relief after the disaster of last week. Most of these units have moved to defend the empire’s borders, especially the western empire after their brutish assault. My brother has aided me in so much of this with his knowledge of combat, and I cannot thank him enough.

Alas, there is a subject of utmost importance I need to discuss: the noir-clad armored fiend simply referred to as Silence. We still don’t know what his intentions are, or why he decided to lead the charge against our kingdom, but I have received word of his identity, even if minimal. Spies across the land indicate that he has black, flowing hair and has a purple box-like object that he always looks down at when no one is around. They have also, on one occasion, caught him whispering to his blade while he was camped outside empire borders, and he also appears to sleep fully armored, likely to reduce the risk of being identified. I know this isn’t much to go off, but we suspect he might be travelling overseas to the east and begin a raid of your kingdom. If that’s the case, then we should always assume Silence could be anywhere, at any time.

That said, it is quite concerning. Silence has only ever caused havoc across this continent in the six years he’s become a threat, and every empire’s leaders have stated that it is unlike him to leave the continent despite his currently unclear motives. He seems to have an affinity of sorts for this land, evidenced by the constant attacks he’s propagated by himself. Actually, now that I put some thought into it, it is also unusual of Silence to side with any kingdom, as he has done so for the past week with the western empire. I would best describe him as a ruthless mercenary, one that detests all the kingdoms of this land and would like to see them levelled by his hand. For him to have led last week’s assault… it is either a coincidence, or something much more nefarious is at play.

I can only pray that this letter reaches you in a timely manner. If these rumors are true, and Silence is arriving to your land, then you might not have enough time. You might not know much of him but do put trust in me when I say he is a force to be reckoned with. We unfortunately don’t know what he wants, but your kingdom, being the most important of your lands, will most likely be targeted first.

Curses, I’m almost out of ink. I can say no further, it appears. Please take care, dearest Cecilia, so that we may once again rule the lands hand in hand.

-Arvin