SORRY FOR THE DELAY EVERYBODYYYY it’s been a rough and busy few weeks. I’ve not had it very easy at college, but I’m managing. Trying to get back into this because I think it’ll help me. I also am starting to work more on the rework of BOOK TWOOOOO!!! yaaayyy!!! I also want to get my book on Barnes and Noble for a lower price than it is on Amazon to make it more readily available to people. Hope it works!
I’m also thinking about making an amazon e-book but it would only be available on Amazon if I did end up making one. I’d really be making it for the people overseas who can’t readily get my book in a printed format. Comment down below if you think this is a good idea!
And now, some pictures!
This is a scene from Checkmate 5–so technically spoilers haha but yk what it’s too spectacular for me to care. I had to take a reference picture of myself to draw that dude from this wonky angle, yes the city is getting rained on by fire, no that man is not Halthadius, and yes I drew that picture last week.
Here’s another picture–this one I drew this past week. This is also from Checkmate five, and I’m not going to tell you who the characters are just yet. We probably will not see many pictures of them. You are allowed to guess who you think they are in the comments–but don’t spill the beans if you know for sure who they are!
ALSO PEOPLE! I NEED TO UPDATE MY WEBSITE! I’ll let y’all know when I do, and I should get to that later today! If I don’t, I’ll hopefully fix it up sometime this coming week.
(Sneak peek time! This one is going to be from Anquites Yraisha’s backstory. I’m going to start putting parts of that up here to see what people think. Comment down below!)
Checkmate: Anquites
Part One
Anquites Hiffson Yraisha was born to Hiffson and Wjnya Yraisha nearly ten hours before his twin brother, Agnatus Theyo Yraisha. Both baby boys looked exactly the same, or perhaps Agnatus was slightly smaller. But all the same, they each had a strong magic spark and would make their parents proud.
Unfortunately, Anquites and Agnatus’s parents weren’t easily pleased.
Especially when it came to two mischievous, magically talented twin boys.
“Hurry up, Anquites!” Agnatus hissed at his twin brother, gesturing wildly. 10-year-old Anquites was running as fast as he could, but he kept dropping the peaches and stopping to pick them up.
“I wouldn’t be walking so slowly if you were carrying half of them,” Anquites muttered as he stopped to pick up yet another peach that had fallen and replace it precariously upon the tottering pile in his small arms.
Agnatus was the one who always came up with the plan, even if Anquites’s were better, and since stubborn Agnatus had always designated himself as the “leader,” Anquites simply followed him and did what he said despite muttered arguments. Again, Agnatus had failed to plan ahead and now he and Anquites were very close to being caught red-handed.
“Or maybe they’ll just follow the trail of peach juice,” Anquites sighed, looking at the peach he’d just picked up and realizing it had a large gash on the side it had fallen.
Agnatus growled wordlessly at Anquites from across the road and glared at him, stamping his foot, and telling his brother to hurry up yet again.
Anquites glared right back and took his time with the peach, placing it carefully upon the rest.
Now, the reason they were stealing the peaches from their neighbor’s yard was that these were not ordinary peaches. They were beautiful, large, juicy, ripe, and perfectly tended peaches that were slightly crunchy but smooth and sweet. The juice from the peach would run down the holder’s hand and often up their arm, making them wish to lick the juice off their arm while resisting the temptation to take yet another bite in a very greedy way.
The rumor was that the peaches were raised magically, by Rucchio Mankai, a rather sour old man who was not a known warlock, but everyone always said he had been before he was expelled from the Order of Warlocks by the High Council for horrible crimes.
All the boys in the town were afraid of him. Agnatus may have liked the peaches but even he didn’t like risking a fight with Old Man Rucchio. However, Anquites was not afraid of him–he merely felt sorry for him. Rucchio Mankai, he knew, used to be a respected member of the community, but nine years ago, the year after Anquites was born, he had become reclusive and sullen. A few months ago Anquites eventually connected this to his wife’s death, and since then had stopped judging the elderly man and instead decided to respect him.
Pain was real, as he knew all too well. Though he may not have known grief, pain was an old friend of his.
Anquites growled angrily under his breath at Agnatus’s careless thinking and stupidity as he crossed the street to join his brother, who took half the peaches from him insisting that he would do it correctly, which Anquites didn’t mind in the slightest. After all, now he only had to carry half the peaches. As long as he got something out of it, he didn’t mind the mild insults.
They reached the safety of the backyard and quietly put the peaches in the cool, empty shed.
Anquites felt a burning guilt inside him and a wish to confess to Old Man Rucchio what he and Agnatus had done, but even as he was tentatively suggesting that they stop stealing peaches, Agnatus simply laughed.
“You want to stop taking peaches? Have you forgotten how they TASTE, Anquites?” Agnatus waved his hand in front of his twin’s face.
“Yes, I know, but–” Anquites started to say, but Agnatus laughed again.
“Obviously you don’t know, or you’d just follow along with what I say,” Agnatus told him cheerfully. “Come on, if we don’t do our chores, Mama will be angry.”
“Angry at me,” Anquites muttered to himself as Agnatus left the shed. “She doesn’t get angry at you. You don’t know the reasons, but I do…and I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
The shed seemed even more empty with the peaches there, and suddenly Anquites knew what he wanted to do.
That’s the end of part one of Checkmate: Anquites, but there’s 12 more parts, so we’ll see how it goes. I’ll be editing as we go along haha. This was written over a year ago.
Hope you enjoyed! Comment down below what you think!
Anyways, small life updates–I’M OFFICIALLY AN AUNT. My lil nephew Jude was born!!! I’m very excited to meet him in a few weeks!!
How are y’all doing? Let me know in the comments!
–TheNoelleBird
“Nice to feet you.” –Veronica
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