Title:
Characters: Shinyu Tayaminyo
Rating: Probably R, for my unfortunate attachment to expletives. Currently PG13.
Shinyu, oldest living son of the Matriarch of Tayaminyo Liyusu, was, to the surprise of none and the chagrin of many, a wizard. He was, in fact, one of the brightest young researchers of his generation, heavily involved in the application of wizardry to the other sciences. He was, in short, a nerd — a dim fate for the man who should have been the pride of a clan of warriors.
Tayaminyo Liyusu was among the clans of Starbright better known for their fierce and loyal warriors than their dangerous and cunning priestesses — a bit of a rarity among the Black Elves of Starbright Barony, where women ruled supreme, especially in magical and divine pursuits, setting Shinyu at a bit of a disadvantage. The Liyusu had held great hope for the first son of the Matriarch. His three older sisters had gone to the temple, and now bore the rods of the goddess, and the first son of the Matriarch was expected to be a strong and handsome warrior, like his father, before him. Sadly, he'd chosen to throw himself into work generally considered far above his station. Even more unfortunately, he was very, very good at it.
Setting aside a flask of sulphuric infusion, Shinyu turned to examine his notes, again. The potency of the explosive would be weakened with the direct addition of an acid, but if he could create a two part chamber, surrounding the explosive essence with a bubble of pit dragon acids, the force of the explosion would give sufficient momentum to shower the greater part of an invasion force. The trick would be containing the pit dragon acid.
He realised he enjoyed the physics and alchemy involved in this sort of work, but he just didn't care about the skirmishes outside the gates — the politics and power of Starbright. His passion was the art of alchemy and the wizardry that made it work. What his work was used for had been, until this point, of wholly no interest to him. This point, though, was different from the rest. At this point, his sister, Ei, had commanded him to find some viable method of obliterating the armies of the Hantoli Liyusu.
The Hantoli were close to the capitol, their estate laid between the first and second firebreak of Starbright Hall, itself. From a purely physical standpoint, that made it that much easier to burn.
Their soldiers were also likely to have trouble escaping the acid — if he could just get the spread right — since they'd be held in by the walls of the firebreak. On the other hand, the first gap in the firebreak was nearly a kilometer, and an explosive powerful enough to coat the whole thing would probably damage the firebreaks and Starbright, itself. That would make the Tayaminyo extremely unpopular.
Of course, none of that explained why he cared about this project and its applications. That reason was very simple, on the surface. His sister would very literally kill him, probably slowly and painfully, if he failed. The other reason was that he had some sympathy for the fourth son of the Hantoli matriarch — not that it mattered, both the Hantoli boys he'd known were dead. One died in defense of his home and family, and the other was beaten to death by his own classmates, and left to die on the Surface. The younger one had reminded him of himself, and he'd always wondered if he would end up the same way.
