GALATIANS   Chapter Three  

Instruction as opposed to [לעומת, Le`OoMahTh] belief
[verses 1-14]  

-1. O [הוי, HOY] GahLahTeeM [Galatians] foolish [כסילים, KeÇeeYLeeYM]!
Who seized [אחז, ’eeHayZ] [את, ’ehTh] your eyes after that was made known to you in plain [בפרוש, BePhayROoSh] that YayShOo`ah ["Savior", Jesus] the Anointed was crucified?  

“The missionaries of the cross of Christ had to compete with pagan priests who paraded the images and symbols of their savior-gods in spectacular processions. There was the cult of Cybele, ‘the Great Mother,’ whose consort Attis died by self-mutilation with the decline of each year’s vegetation. During his ‘passion week’ a pine tree swathed as a corpse was carried through the streets, and three days later his devotees joyfully celebrated his ‘resurrection’ as the guarantee of their own immortality. Another savior-god of Asia Minor was Sandan-Hercules. His symbol was a funeral pyre on which, according to the myth, he had immolated himself after performing the labors that were imposed on him. Still another was Mithra, the sun-god, who was portrayed in the act of slaying a bull, which represented the chaotic element in the universe, and which in dying was believed to give new life to the world.  
In competition with these sensuous and often obscene observances, Paul’s portrayal of the crucified Jesus suffered a disadvantage.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 496-497)  

...
-6. … ’ahBRahHahM [“Father Exalted”, Abraham] believed [האמין, Heh’ehMeeYN] in Gods, and it was thought [ונחשבה, VeNehHSheBaH] to him righteousness.  

Yes, but Abraham, in addition to believing God, also accepted God’s ordinance of circumcision.  
“Both sides could quote scripture, and each could explain the other’s ‘proof’ in the light of his own position. The Jews believed that the Torah existed from the beginning of creation; and that, although it had not yet been written in Abraham’s day, Abraham had obeyed it, being perfect in all his works and pleasing to God in righteousness all his days (Jubilees 23:10; II Baruch 57:2). To prove that Christians could not be saved without being circumcised and assuming the yoke of the Torah, the Judaizers quoted Gen. [Genesis] 17:14.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 502)  

[Genesis 17:14 - “And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My covenant.”^iv ]  

-7. Therefore [ובכן, OoBKhayN] know that [כי, KeeY] sons of the faith are they, sons of ’ahBRahHahM.  

“The church began in the synagogue, the main difference being the Christian affirmation of the messiahship of Jesus. But as Greek-speaking Jews and Gentiles came in, this difference in the interpretation of prophecy was widened by laxness in observing the law of Moses. The synagogue expelled the Christians, leaving them without the legal protection which Judaism enjoyed under Romans law. … Not only freedom from the law of Moses but the question of Christian rights under Roman law was involved when Paul declared that the men of faith in Christ were the true sons of Abraham.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 503)

  ...
-9. From here [מכאן, MeeKah’N], that the seizers in belief are blessed [מבורכים, MeBORahKheeYM] together with ’ahBRahHahM the believer.  

“Although faithful (KJV [King James Version]) means lit. [literally], ‘full of faith,’ its primary meaning today is ‘fidelity,’ ‘reliability,’ so that it does not express clearly Paul’s main point, which is Abraham’s response in believing God … Like the sun and the rain, God’s blessing on such a man knows no restrictions of race or nation.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 504)  

-10. The reliers [הנשענים, HahNeeSh`ahNeeYM] upon realizing commandments [of] the Instruction are given under a curse [קללה, QLahLaH], that see, is written:
“Cursed [ארור, ’ahROoR] are all who that do not realize [את, ’ehTh (indicator of direct object; no English equivalent)] all the words the written in Account the Instruction, to do them.”
 

“The range of the curse of which Paul is speaking appears in Deut. [Deuteronomy] 27-30^iv … It is described in terms of the hideous torments which history inflicted upon the Hebrew people. The one word ‘fear’ tells the story – fear of famine, disease, and death; fear of war, torture, and slavery; fear of past, present, and future. All these were punishments on earth, and death ended them. But by the time of Paul they had been projected into the hereafter, where the law’s curse would pursue the soul through an eternity of torment in a hell which was conceived in the fiery imagery of Greek and Persian mythology. The dramatist of the dialogue of Ebal and Gerizim had left open one window of hope – repentance and return to God; but as for the future life, eschatology and apocalyptic had blacked out even this.  
… rabbis reasoned that since the Scripture was God’s word, the curse which it pronounced upon the disobedient was God’s curse. He replied that the law was not God’s way of salvation, but only a codicil which angels added through Moses the intermediary (vs. [verse] 19). That was a complete break with the synagogue.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 505)  
“It is worthy of remark, that no printed copy of the Hebrew Bible preserves the word כל col, ALL, in Deut. xxvii.26 which answers to the apostle’s word πασι [pasi], all here.” (Clarke, 1831, vol. II p. 382)   ...  

…………………………………………  
The Instruction and the promise
[verses 15-20]

  ...
-16. And behold, the promises were said [λεγει legei, “says”] to ’ahBRahHahM and to his seed [ולזרעו, OoLeZahR`O, σπερμα sperma], not said “to your seeds”, like upon multitudes, rather “to your seed”, like upon an individual [יחיד, YahHeeYD], and he is the Anointed.  

“This kind of ‘proof’ from scripture by reading ‘spiritual’ meanings into details of grammar and discovering ideas that were not within the purview of its writers was being employed more and more.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 513)   ...

-19. If thus, for sake of [לשם, LeShehM] what was the Instruction?
She was added [נוספה, NOÇPhaH] because of the trespasses [הערבות, Hah`ahBahROTh],
until that [כי, KeeY] would come the seed that to him was intended [מכונת, MeKhooVehNehTh] the promise.
The Instruction was delivered [נמסרה, NeeMÇeRaH] in mediation [באמצעות, Be’ehMTsah`OoTh] [of] angels in hands of an intermediary [מתוך, MeThahVayKh].
The intermediary is not of one,
and Gods, he is one.  

“Thus viewed, the purpose of the angels’ expedient was not to prevent sin – a thing which the weakness of human nature made law powerless to do – but to convince men that they were so bad that nothing could save them except God’s mercy through Christ. ...  
This was a clean break from the Jewish conception which held that the law was the gift of God’s lovingkindness to overcome the evil impulse and prevent sin by guidance and discipline in good works. The orthodox maintained that Abraham’s faith was one of these law-works. The belief that angels were present at the giving of the law was widespread ... The presence of the angels, said the rabbis, was the measure of the law’s great glory. Paul said it was a fading glory from the very beginning ... Moreover, it was twice removed from God’s own immediate action, because it was ordained, or ‘enacted,’ ‘through the agency of’ angels, and even they did not communicate directly with the people, but gave the law ‘in the hand of a representative,’ i.e. [in other words], Moses.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X p. 515)   ...  

…………………………………………  
Slaves as opposed to sons
[verses 21 to end of chapter]   ...

-28. There is no [אין, ’aYN] YeHOo-DeeY, even [אף, ’ahPh] no [לא, Lo’] nation;
there is no slave, even no son free [בן חורין, BehN HOReeYN];
no male, even no female,
because [משום, MeeShOoM] that all of you are one in Anointed YayShOo`ah.
 

“Paul’s concept of equality and unity in Christ was an incipient revolution, the consequences of which are only now beginning to be worked out. Wherever his gospel is preached, men become uncomfortable with the age-old equation, ‘foreigner equals inferior’; with the incongruity of man’s ancient thanksgiving that he had ‘not been born a woman’; and with the violation of democracy and brotherhood involved in Aristotle’s definition of a slave as ‘an animated implement’.” (Stamm, 1953, TIB vol. X pp. 519 & 520)  
“Such unity in Christ does not imply political equality in church or society.” (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, 1990, TNJBC pp. 787)  

...  
END NOTES  
^iv Deuteronomy (the curses, from chapters 27 and 28)  
Chapter 27
...
-15. Cursed is the man who makes a graven or molten image (an abomination to YHVH), the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret. …
-16. Cursed is he who despises his father or his mother…
-17. Cursed is he who shifts his neighbor’s border... 18. Cursed is he who misleads the blind to go astray in the way... 19. Cursed is he who perverts the justice due to the stranger, orphaned, and widowed... 20. Cursed is he who lies with his father's wife... 21. Cursed is he who lies with any manner of beast … 22. Cursed is he who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother … 22. Cursed is he who lies with his mother-in-law … 24. Cursed is he who strikes his neighbor in secret …. 25. Cursed is he who takes a bribe to strike an innocent person … 26. Cursed is he who does not fulfill the words of this law to do them …
Chapter 28 ... 15. … if you do not listen to the voice of YHVH your Gods, to ensure the performance of all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today … all these curses will come upon you, and overtake you. 16. You are cursed in the city, and you are cursed in the field. 17. Your basket and your kneading-trough are cursed. 18. The fruit of your belly is cursed, as is the fruit of your land, the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock. 19. You are cursed coming and you are cursed going. 20. YHVH will send cursing, discomfort, and rebuke upon you and upon all that you put your hand to do, until your destruction and ...your quick death, ‘because of your evil transgressions of forsaking Me’. 21. YHVH will make pestilence stick to you, until He has consumed you from off the land which you came to inherit. 22. YHVH will strike you with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with fiery heat, and with drought, and with blasting, and with mildew; and these will persist until you perish. 23. And the heaven that is over your head will be brass, and the earth that is under you will be iron. 24. YHVH will turn the rain of your land into powder and dust; it will descend upon you from the skies until you are destroyed. 25. YHVH will cause you to be stricken before your enemies; you will sally forth against them from one direction and flee away from them in seven … and you will be a horror to all the kingdoms of the land. 26. And your carcasses will be food for every bird of the skies and beast of the land, and no one will scare them away. 27. YHVH will strike you with Egyptian boils, and with hemorrhoids, and with scabs, and with incurable itching. 28. YHVH will strike you with madness, and with blindness, and with astonishment of heart. 29. And you will grope at noonday as the blind grope in darkness, and you will not make your way ... and you will always be only oppressed and robbed, and there will be no one to save you. 30. You will engage a wife and another man will lie with her; you will build a house and you will not dwell in it; you will plant a vineyard and not consume of it. 31. Your ox will be sacrificed right before your eyes and you will not eat of it; you will be robbed of your donkey right in front of you and it will not returned to you; your flock will be given to your enemies; and you will have no one to save you. 32. Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people, and you eyes will fail from looking for them all day; and you will be powerless … 33. A people you did not know will consume the fruit of your land and labor, and you will be only oppressed and crushed all the days. 34. And you will be crazed from the sights which your eyes will see. 35. YHVH will strike you with an incurable sore boil in the knees and in the legs, from the sole of your foot to your forehead. 36. YHVH will lead you and the king you set over yourself into a nation neither you nor your fathers knew; and you will worship other gods there – wood and rock. 37. And you will become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples into whom YHVH will drive you. 38. Much seed will you carry out to the field and little you will gather; for the locust shall consume it. 39. You will plant vineyards and dress them, but you will neither drink nor gather; for the worm will eat them. 40. You will have olives within all your borders, but you will not anoint with oil; for your olives will drop off. 41. Sons and daughters will be born to you and will not be yours, for they will go into captivity. 42. All your trees and fruit of your land will be inherited by the locust. 43. The stranger who is among you will rise above you higher and higher, and you will descend lower and lower; 44. he will lend to you, you will not lend to him; he will be the head and you will be the tail. 45 And all these curses will come upon you and will pursue you and overtake you until your destruction, because you did not listen to the voice of YHVH your Gods, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. 46. And they will be on you as a sign and as an example, and on your seed for ever, 47. because you did not serve YHVH your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things. 48. And you will serve your enemies, whom YHVH will send against you, in hunger and in thirst and in nakedness and in want of everything; and he will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. 49. YHVH will send a nation against you from afar, from the end of the land, like a vulture swoops down, a nation whose tongue you have never heard, 50. a nation of fierce aspect which will neither respect the elderly nor show mercy to the young. 51. And he will eat the fruit of your cattle and the fruit of your land until you are destroyed, so that there will not remain corn, wine, or oil, the increase of your oxen, or the young of your flock, until he has caused you to perish. 52. And he will besiege you in all your gates until the razing of your high and fortified walls in which you trusted throughout all your land … which YHVH your God gave you. 53. And you will eat the fruit of your belly, the flesh of your sons and daughters whom YHVH your Gods gave you, in the siege and in the blockade by which your enemies starve you. 54. The man who is tender among you and very delicate will [cast] the evil eye against his brother, and against the wife of his bosom, and against the remnant of his children, those remaining, 55. so that he will not give any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat, because he has nothing left him during the siege and in the blockade by which your enemy will starve you within all your gates. 56. The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, will [cast] the evil eye against the husband of her bosom and against her son and against her daughter; 57 and against her afterbirth that comes out from between her legs and against her children whom she bears, for she will eat them secretly from want of everything during the siege and the blockade by which your enemy will starve you within your gates 58. if you do not observe the performance of all the words of the law that are written in this book, that you might fear this honored and awful Name, YHVH, your Gods. 59. And YHVH will make your plagues awful, and the plagues of your seed, great, chronic, and sore … 60. And He will return to you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were in dread, and they will cleave to you. 61. Also YHVH will raise upon you every sickness and every plague that is not written in this book of the law until your destruction. 62. And you will be left a small minority, having been as the stars of the skies for multitude, because you did not listen to the voice of YHVH your Gods. 63. And it shall come to pass, that, just as YHVH rejoiced over your improvement and multiplication, so YHVH will rejoice over your perishing and destruction, and your plucking from off the land to which you had come to inherit. 64. And YHVH will scatter you among all the peoples, from the end of the earth to the end of the earth, and there you will serve other gods, which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers: wood and stone. 65. And in those nations you will not assimilate, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; and YHVH will give you there a trembling heart, and failing eyes, and languishing of soul. 66. And your life will hang before you, and you will be afraid night and day, and you will have no faith in your life. 67. In the morning you will say: 'Would it were evening!' and in the evening your will say: 'Would it were morning!' from the fear that your heart will fear, and from the sights your eyes will see. 68. And YHVH will return you to Egypt in ships [instead of] by the way which I said you would never see again, and you will sell yourselves to your enemies for slaves and maids, and none will buy. 69. These are the words of the covenant which YHVH commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant which He made with them in Horeb.   An Amateur's Journey Through the Bible

Foundations of Humanity 28 (Upturned Stones) - an NoP fanfic
​
Thank you u/SpacePaladin15 for establishing the Nature of Predators Universe, and for allowing Fanfics to flourish! Thank you again, u/Braquen, u/Acceptable_Egg5560, u/BiasMushroom721, and last but not least u/Liberty-Prime76 for proofreading! This is my side of the Nature of a Giant crossover!
First -- Previous -- Next
Memory transcription subject: Valek, Venlil tourist
Date [standardized human time]: Sept 11th, 2136. Middle of 3rd Claw
“Well then, what would that make me?”
I jolted, swinging around at the sound. I had felt the voice come from behind me and resonate in my own chest. My fur stood on end as I locked onto his baleful eye glaring down at me. Alvi was frozen to her seat and Maeve had a hand to her chest, her chair now sat nearly half a tail from the table from her jump, her veil fallen from the jolt.
“Jesus Fucking Christ, Tarlim!” She swung her head to meet his eye over her shoulder, “How are you so quiet? Please don't sneak up on me like that.”
Tarlim continued to stare me down, and I could feel myself crumbling under the weight of his attention, though Jacob broke his concentration with a kind greeting, which Maeve returned likewise before asking, “Would you like to join us? These two were just teaching me about Predator Disease. I hope that isn’t a problem?”
Just like that?! Just mentioning his diagnosis set him wild earlier, and we’re just going to keep talking?!
“Not at all!” Jacob replied while he wandered over to the opposite side of our table and sat himself down. So I guess we are going to just keep talking! Even though the Giant was so obviously glaring down at me! But despite that, they just sat across from us, squeezing onto adjacent seats.
I found my tail wrapping itself around Alvi. I didn’t want her to get hurt. I didn’t want anything to happen now that they found us. How… How did they find us? “How did you know where we were?”
The Beast swung its arms wi-
NO! No! Night be damned, you WILL get this through your thick skull Valek. Tarlim. He! Is Tarlim!
Tarlim swung his arms wide, emphasizing the otherwise barren balcony. "You have a human with you. It wasn't hard to guess. It’s a rather familiar feeling. I always seem to end up in a place that the rest of the herd isn’t, and the same seems true for humans." His weighty focus came back to me, "I believe one of you was saying that was a symptom of predator disease?”
“That’s right,” Maeve answered immediately, clueless to or pointedly ignoring Tarlim's eyes on me. “Though it confuses me how the behavior of observers can be part of a diagnosis. That seems… less than scientific.”
“Yes, I would also like to know the logic behind that,” his ears and eyes locked onto mine while pointedly eating a dough ball, “I am very curious.”
Maeve gave me a nod of encouragement, urging me to continue, “Well… I-If the herd is avoiding someone, they must not be communicating ‘safety’ well enough. O-Or even being aggressive! So they would need to be taught how to not be a danger to others.”
“Really?” His ears were perked to signal his interest. ”And since everyone runs, screams, freezes, and cowers at the sight of me simply…” His voice wavered into silence. I could see his expression barely holding back rage and despair as he forced himself to hold a neutral serious expression.
It was Maeve who finished the thought. “Simply for being what you are. Valek…” She faced me directly. Her voice was a tone I heard when we talked about difficult things; devoid of accusation and yet carried by a desperate need to know, “do you believe that a living creature, any thing, sapient or not, should be abandoned because of how they are born?”
My ears fell flat. I could feel the attention of the world on my psyche, and I felt my tail pull from Alvi to protect myself instead. “I… No… But… But what if they’re a danger to the herd? Even humans wouldn’t keep a dangerous human free, would they?”
Jacob spoke through one of his dough balls. “Depends on what you mean by ‘dangerous.’” He swallowed and picked up another, “most ‘dangerous’ humans are like those Venlil who stabbed their partner, or that other Venlil who smashed their partner’s head on some stairs.” What?! The three of us were all startled at that news. “One was a fear response, the other just a simple accident. Worth a punishment, sure, but not always imprisonment.”
Maeve gulped and added, “Jesus, what happened on Prime Station…? Anyway, something else I noticed is: your process seemed very… proactive. Humans are reactive to injustice, or at least we try to be. Even if we know someone is at high risk of being a danger to those around them, we believe it is wrong to punish them for something they haven’t done. Innocent until proven guilty is a key tenet of our entire justice system.”
“Hey, it’s like they said,” Tarlim swallowed another ball, “it’s about teaching, not justice.” And levied his next challenge against me. “So what is it that I need to be taught? After all, you guys freaked out at seeing me, so you must know exactly what made me so aggressive and dangerous! Right?”
Of course I know why I freaked out! It was because he was big and… he was big and… No, no, that wasn’t the only reason! It couldn’t be the only reason. He was… he was big and he… His teeth! That’s it! They were… big and… And… Was that really it? Was that as deep as this fear went? I can’t even say I was afraid for my life, or for Maeve or Alvi’s life. Not next to how I felt running across the farm. There had to be something more to this than just how he looked!
My mind was spinning trying to justify itself, when Maeve cut through the fog, “Valek… What do exterminators… do?”
I thought for a long moment, “They… They protect us from predators. When there is a predator sighting, they investigate, locate, then exterminate the creature.”
Maeve took a moment to think on my words, then continued, “So what would an exterminator do… if a sapient was a Predator? Would they exterminate them too?”
“Ah, that’s simple!” A gruff voice leapt over a mouthful of dough, “They shoot ‘em with a flare with shotgun-level powder, douse ‘em with gas, and watch ‘em burn alive! That’s what they do!”
The sudden shock derailed our lesson, before Maeve asked incredulously, “Excuse me?? Did you just say exterminators… exterminate… with fire?!” Fear was evident behind her voice.
That couldn’t be true! The exterminators weren’t like that! They were- they were…
The Gi- Tarlim propped up his data pad toward us. There was a human wearing a blue spacesuit standing opposite what looked like more than a dozen exterminators in full flamer gear. The human held up one hand. “Hail people of Venlil Prime! I come in Peace! Take me to your leader!” Instantly, the exterminator closest to him pulled out a flare gun and shot the human. He fell to the ground, the flare bouncing off.
“Ah must say,” Jacob picked up another ball of dough, “Ah thank God Ah wore that suit. That flare still gave me a good bruise, but at least Ah didn’t need any skin grafts.”
I wanted to say it was just that one Venlil. But when the human defended himself, he was doused with fuel. Then there was… there was Tarlim. He was scrambling. Trying to save the human. Trying- trying to protect a friend! But he couldn’t! Jacob was set ablaze! He- he was!
The video ended with Jacob burning on the ground.
They had to have their reasons! Their duty is to protect the herd! They were trained to do only that! They take an oath to do only that! They can’t be… Evil! There’s proof they aren’t!
Like there’s proof they helped people during Herd Protection?
My heart stopped still.
“I-I need to go.”
---
I could only hear my claws clacking against the tile as I bolted down the stairs, through the arcade and out the front door, filling my lungs with fresh air. In the noise of the city surrounding my isolation, I felt my heart steady its pulse, and I walked aimlessly to clear my head.
I looked around at the city, constantly moving and beating with life and activity. This was the prosperity that the Federation promised us, that Exterminators put themselves in harm's way to protect. Was all of it just a facade? Some cheap veneer to cover bloodstained rot? We weren’t a utopia, I had never believed that; the Federation and Exterminators can’t be perfect. But Emerald Marble, Krakotl researchers, Tarlim’s imprisonment… These kinds of things are not accidents, and are not the work of a single person.
My mind drifted as I tried to understand why, while my paws carried me back to the hotel. I didn’t take stock of my surroundings until I heard the familiar buzz of the Forum, and stopped a moment to listen.
“My cousin Mavek got into the JEOTC, you know! That kid’s going places!”
“Did you hear? Farzer’s son was diagnosed with predator disease.” --- “I always knew something was off about that boy.”
“I saw one of those freaks on the street.” --- “Another? Are you sure it was one of them?” --- “I saw the scars on their neck! There’s no doubt that they were from there!” --- “I still can’t believe that they would just throw all those monsters out on our streets.”
“No, really! I saw it!” --- “That’s a puddle of Speh! Nobody could live in those drain tunnels for so long!” --- “On my mother’s Star I saw it! I think they’re hiding in there, working together; planning something!” --- “But they’re diseased! They don’t have the brains to work together!”
“And now the landlords are trying to more than double our rent!” --- “Double?? But- but we’re barely making ends meet as it is!” --- “Look, there’s still time to negotiate the contract. In the meantime, I can get more double shifts in the lumber yard.”
“So I called the exterminators, but instead of setting out gas or poison, they bring out the flamers! An entire half of that reserve burnt to ash! Those things only had a couple years until they were ready to cut!” --- “What?! But that reserve was part of our finance plan! How are we going to pay the equipment loans when that forest’s harvest comes around?” --- “We’ll think of something. Brahk. It was a Groben root chewer! They shouldn’t burn the forest just ‘cause it bit a worker’s hand!”
Of course: it's here too. How deep do I have to dig to see these things? Are they even buried at all?
I looked for and found a place to sit, then dug out my pad. Tarlim seemed surprised we didn’t know about him, but Alvi had, and she lived in the Capitol, so his lawsuit must have been televised. And he was right, all I had to search was ‘Dawn Creek correctional facility’ and I immediately found page after page of reports.
“A shame upon Corrections!”
“The secret drug trade of Dawn Creek”
“The failure of Dawn Creek’s Correctional Facility: Doing more harm than good.”
“Against the Herd: The predators deserved it!”
“Venlil weakness on full display”
“The illegal modifications of proven therapy devices!”
I clicked on that last one, figuring it would be the most likely to describe even a little of what physically went on inside. And it did. My stomach turned over and my heart sank to meet it: pictures of empty cells, empty of inhabitants and beds and tables and light. An open bathroom that once was sterile now a splashed palate of grime and filth. A kitchen that no one should ever eat from, with food that defies definition.
And the therapy devices! The Herd Therapy room had a photo of the safe spot, one of the investigators standing inside for scale. The article said that the room would commonly take twelve but that circle looked like it was rated for half that! And the electronics for the floor… They were a nightmare! The voltage was shown to be half-again over the mandated amount!
Then I saw The Chair… it was too big. A massive crown of connectors for the head. Metal clamps for the limbs instead of cloth straps. Electric probes set apart that a normal Venlil would be too small to connect. There… there was only one person that could have been used on.
“My stars… Why had it taken so long for the Light to find this?”
Maybe because it was never in shade?
‘Facility patient testimonials’. It took skipping three pages to get past all of Tarlim’s lawsuit, before I found another one. “This is the third week that I’ve been on latrine duty. Doctor Volm said it would teach me to value the herd. B-But I have to do it alone! I don’t understand…” Spoken from a patient of Clegel Falls Correctional Facility, followed immediately by the same Dr. Volm talking about how the diseased needed to learn their lesson with hard work. That the neglect was simply from a lack of staff. And the author sung the Doctor’s praises in their prose.
Fine. If hard work is how you fix predator disease, then what is their success rate?
The patient name went nowhere, she testified while incarcerated and never left. But the author was prolific, and I found one story that followed a success case. Checking their name, four others were released with them, in addition to a pawful from around the planet. Perfect! I would be able to cross reference their names and find out what happened! Doing just that, I found other release records, but it was just the same names again.
Ok… well if it is so successful, they must want everyone to know it! So finding lists of released persons shouldn’t be too hard. ‘Correctional facility release stories’... hmm, nope. ‘Correctional Facility successes’ - OH that is not what I meant. Brahk. Fine, how about ‘Dangerous predators released on the city’. There we go.
There’s Dawn Creek again. Guess Tarlim wasn’t lying about setting everyone loose. Alright here we go. Let's check these names. There’s my twelve. And there they are again. And again. Why is this story eve- Wait. [Standardized Human Times: 2129? 2126? 2132]...? They’re just releasing the same list over and over!
Were these people even patients?!
I checked each article detailing their release, and they couldn’t even get their diagnoses straight. Same issues: predator sympathizer was on every list, herdless behavior on most, excessive aggression on one or two, but they kept switching who had what. Ok, fine, just pick one!
Kaulna. The first article with her name mentioned predator sympathy, so start there. Treated at the Capitol… and Sweetwater? And Glacierview?? They’re on opposite sides of the Band!! Sun blast it, fine, what about early life? Nothing about education. This ‘Kaulna’ is alive and well in Clegal… and four years old. Oh, one with a medal for honorable service?? No, He died before my Kaulna’s first treatment.
Alright let's try Chelm the… Gojid Harchen? Ok what about Tarsi… who has three single biological mothers in separate cities. Brahking spawn of speh! Stranek?! Anyone?!
Please! Just one person! Just one person who got out who’s not- who’s not…
There was one.
“My son was cured after we took him to the Facility. Only took a few paws to find the right sedative!”
Wait, paws?
I altered my search. ‘Correctional sedatives’. Tons of stories now appeared. New stories. A parent would bring a child in and they would get a sedative to correct the ‘disease’ the child had and be sent on their way. There were several results about such things happening on the Yotul homeworld. But… none of these people were actually interred in the facilities. I found a public list of inmates who were incarcerated in the Capitol in the last month and compared names with the parents talking about their kids.
The kids who returned weren’t on the list. The kids who didn’t… they were.
None of the kids who were on the list had any records of leaving. No record of someone leaving after checking in. Only… only…
… Tarlim. I’m so sorry Tarlim.
I felt the wind around me as my legs sprinted back to the arcade. I shouldered through the door and kept running back to the food court, then bounded up the steps to our table, spurned again by the sound of Alvi crying.
“If what… They do is a choice… what even is a predator?” I crested the top of the stairs, “What… what even is predator disease?”
I knew the answer.
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Response to "China's interception of U.S. aircraft" Li Shangfu: All countries manage their own warships and aircraft
cross-strait
2023-06-05 08:29:45
both sides of the strait
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(Reported by Hong Kong Wen Wei Po reporter Ge Chong in Beijing) At the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue yesterday, someone raised the so-called issue of "Chinese military planes and ships intercepting US military planes and expulsing US warships". In this regard, Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Li Shangfu asked back, why did the questions you raised just now happened near China's airspace and territorial waters, but not near the airspace and territorial waters of other countries? This is because China's military aircraft and warships Never go to the airspace and territorial waters of other countries to do so-called navigation hegemony. The Chinese Defense Minister stated eloquently that the best way is for countries to manage their own warships and aircraft well.
◆Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Li Shangfu delivered a speech on the topic of "China's New Security Initiative" at the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue yesterday.
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Li Shangfu said that China and many relevant countries have formulated rules for sea and air encounters, these are to avoid unnecessary dangers during encounters.
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A fierce confrontation between China and the United States will be an unbearable pain for the world
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Li Shangfu delivered a speech on the topic of "China's New Security Initiative" at the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue yesterday. According to CCTV reports, when it comes to Sino-US relations, he said that Sino-US relations are related to global strategic stability and are also the focus of attention of all countries.
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Li Shangfu said that China believes that China and the United States should live up to expectations and follow the trend of the times. The significance of Sino-US relations has long gone beyond bilateral relations and has global influence. The international community generally hopes for the healthy and stable development of Sino-US relations, and worries about conflicts and confrontations. It is undeniable that if there is a fierce conflict and confrontation between China and the United States, it will be an unbearable pain for the world. China believes that a big country should behave like a big country, and should not provoke confrontation between camps for temporary selfishness. It should take into account the overall situation, resolve differences through exchanges and cooperation, and respond to the expectations of various countries. History should not be forgotten and lessons learned.
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Li Shangfu pointed out that China and the United States have different systems and great differences, but this does not prevent the two sides from seeking common ground while reserving differences to develop bilateral relations, nor does it prevent the two sides from deepening cooperation based on common interests. History has proved time and again that China and the United States both benefit from cooperation and lose from confrontation. China has been seeking to establish a new type of major-country relationship with the United States, but this requires the United States to show sincerity, match words with deeds, and take practical actions to meet China halfway, so as to promote the stabilization of the relationship between the two countries and the two militaries. Find a way to get along without fear of difficulties. In the past few years, Sino-US relations have hovered at a low point after the establishment of diplomatic relations. Everyone knows the reasons for this difficult situation. The world is big enough to accommodate the common development of countries in the region, including China and the United States. The three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation are the correct way for China and the United States to get along with each other.
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Countries outside the region try to disrupt the South China Sea for profit
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Regarding the South China Sea issue, Li Shangfu said in his speech that with the joint efforts of countries in the region, the situation in the South China Sea is generally stable and exchanges and cooperation are deepening. At present, tens of thousands of ships from various countries pass through the South China Sea every year, and the total value of goods transported to the world is as high as 3.5 trillion U.S. dollars. It has never been heard of a ship whose passage is blocked or its safety is threatened. On the contrary, some countries outside the region are exercising "navigation hegemony" in the name of "navigation freedom". They want to disrupt the South China Sea for profit. We need to be highly vigilant and resolutely resist.
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Li Shangfu said that it is normal for neighbors to have differences, and everyone is communicating and negotiating to resolve them properly. However, some countries outside the region are sowing discord behind their backs. We must distinguish between interests and remain sober. China is willing to join hands with countries in the region to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, actively promote consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, and jointly build the South China Sea into a sea of ​​peace, friendship and development.
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The Asia-Pacific does not need to form cliques and "cliques"
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Li Shangfu also pointed out that facts have proved that wherever the hand of hegemonism and power politics is extended, there will be no peace and wars will abound. China believes that only by respecting each other and treating each other as equals can we live in harmony. Resolutely oppose imposing one's will on others, putting one's own interests above others, and basing one's own safety on the insecurity of others. Some countries wantonly meddle in other countries' internal affairs and regional affairs, resort to unilateral sanctions, force coercion, launch "color revolutions" and proxy wars everywhere, mess up a region and then walk away, leaving a mess. We must not let this happen Things are being replicated in the Asia-Pacific.
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He said that some major powers once again proposed the so-called "Indo-Pacific strategy". China believes that no matter what the strategy is, it should not draw lines based on ideology and use so-called "imaginary threats" to build exclusive military alliances, otherwise it will easily fall into a "self-fulfilling prophecy." Attempts to promote "NATOization of the Asia-Pacific" are essentially kidnapping regional countries and exaggerating conflicts and confrontations, which will only plunge the Asia-Pacific into a vortex of division, disputes and conflicts. History has proved that bloc politics and division and confrontation will not bring real security, but will only aggravate tension and undermine regional stability. What is needed in today's Asia-Pacific is an open and inclusive "big cooperation", not a "small circle" formed by cliques.
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In addition, at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Li Shangfu also mentioned the lyrics of an old song "My Motherland" widely sung in China: "When a friend comes, there is good wine. If the jackal comes, there is someone who welcomes it." Shotgun!"
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The Chinese army is not afraid of any opponent
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Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Li Shangfu said at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore yesterday that if someone dares to separate Taiwan from China, the Chinese military will not hesitate in the slightest, will not be afraid of any opponent, and will resolutely safeguard the country no matter how much it costs. sovereignty and territorial integrity.
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China must be unified and must be unified
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According to CCTV reports, regarding the Taiwan issue, Li Shangfu said in his speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue that the Taiwan issue is the core of China's core interests, the Taiwan issue is China's internal affairs, and the one-China principle has become a recognized basic norm of international relations. Any act that blurs or hollows out the one-China principle is absurd and dangerous.
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Li Shangfu said that the world can see very clearly that the DPP authorities "coerce foreign powers to seek independence" and external forces "use Taiwan to control China" to interfere in China's internal affairs are the root causes of tension in the Taiwan Strait and the biggest trouble in changing the status quo of the Taiwan Strait maker.
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Li Shangfu said that China must be unified, and it will inevitably be unified. This is the aspiration of the people and the trend of the times. We are willing to strive for peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity and best efforts, but we will never promise to renounce the use of force. If someone dares to separate Taiwan from China, the Chinese military will not hesitate in the slightest, and will not be afraid of any opponent. No matter what the price is, the Chinese military will resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
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[Expert Interpretation] China's attitude is resolutely beyond the past
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Wang Yong, a professor at the School of International Relations at Peking University and director of the Center for American Studies at Peking University, pointed out to Hong Kong Wen Wei Po that State Councilor and Defense Minister Li Shangfu fully demonstrated the firm determination of the Chinese military to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity during the Shangri-La Dialogue, showing that China In order to safeguard the core interests of Taiwan, the core Taiwan issue is not hesitant to fight. If someone dares to split Taiwan, I believe that the Chinese military will never hesitate. The expert believes that China's statement is more resolute than in the past, and it should be aimed at the current US stepping up its deployment in the Taiwan Strait.
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The US security order is an exclusive security order
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According to Wang Yong's analysis, China and the United States have different views and opinions on the security order in the Asia-Pacific region. China advocates cooperation among major powers and coordinates a new security concept of mutual benefit and common security among regional countries. This is completely different from the so-called liberal international order advocated by the United States and its so-called leadership responsibilities in the Indo-Pacific region. Wang Yong pointed out that the essence of the security order in the United States is to maintain its own hegemony, to engage in "small circles", and to create an exclusive security order.
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Recently, the U.S. side has made frequent announcements, expressing the obvious willingness of several government officials to visit China. According to reports, the Assistant Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in East Asia and the Pacific will visit China on the 4th. Wang Yong believes that, as China has repeatedly emphasized, the most important thing in the future is that the United States should change its strategic perception of China, correctly understand China's rise, respect China's core interests, and not play the Taiwan card or "use Taiwan to control China."
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The United States must truly respect China's core interests
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Regarding the direction of Sino-US relations in the next step, Wang Yong believes that the next step in Sino-US relations is expected to usher in opportunities for adjustment and improvement. He said that if Sino-U.S. relations continue to develop along the line that the U.S. side was too tough before, it may eventually lead to tragic results. And results that the international community does not want to see. However, how China-US relations will go next depends on the determination of the US government.
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Wang Yong emphasized that what the U.S. government should do now is to truly respect China's core interests, truly match words with deeds, and focus on cooperation in areas where the two sides can cooperate, so as to jointly benefit the two peoples and at the same time help maintain regional peace. and stability.
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Wang Yong believes that Sino-U.S. relations may be facing the last window to improve relations before the U.S. election. China and the U.S. now have many common interests. As long as the two sides seize this opportunity, gradually resume dialogue and gradually build consensus during the dialogue, The relationship between China and the United States is still expected to recover from the decline, thereby avoiding the path of conflict and war.

What follows here is obviously a myth, but the thing is, this story is not just a meme, but is taken seriously by many, and has a long and very real history.
Time for the story of the evil black scientist that created white people.
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The story of Yakub comes from a black supremist / seperatist religious group known as the Nation of Islam (NOI). They have a paramilitary wing known as the Fruit of Islam (FOI).
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The NOI was founded in 1930 by a white man, WD Fard. That is not his real name, as he changed his name over and over, hidding behind about 58 different aliases during his life. WD Fard is the first known source of the Yakub story. WD Fard and Elijah Muhammad were likely influenced by the Moorish Science Temple, and were possibly even members. Timothy Drew's Moorish Science Temple said that early pre-Columbian civilizations were founded by a West African Moor "named Yakub who landed on the Yucatan peninsula". WD Fard was rumored to have attempted to take over the Moorish temple, but failed, under the name David Ford-el.
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It is thought that Wallace D. Fard was the same man as Wallace Dodd Ford, an inmate in San Quentin Prison. According to San Quentin records, Wallie D. Ford was born in Portland, Oregon, on February 25, 1891, the white son of Zared and Beatrice Ford, who were both born in Hawaii.
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On August 15, 1959, the FBI sent a story to the Chicago New Crusader newspaper, stating that Fard was a "Turkish-born Nazi agent who worked for Hitler in World War II". This was refuted by the NOI, which called it propaganda and sued the news outlets that failed to check with them about running the piece.
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WD Fard was last heard from in 1934. He was linked to the Pacific Movement of the Eastern World and Japanese agitators such as Satokata Takahashi, and Ashima Takis. This led many NOI members to express pro-Japanese sentiment and refused the draft to fight against the Japanese military, stating that they would not fight people whom they regarded as fellow members of the Original Asiatic Race.
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After Fard, the NOI was headed by Elijah Muhammed.
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Malcolm X publicly accused Elijah of "having 8 children with six different teenage girls" who "were his private secretaries."
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Over a series of national TV interviews between 1964 and 1965, Malcolm X provided testimony of his investigation, corroboration, and confirmation by Elijah Muhammed himself of multiple counts of child rape.
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Many people suspected that the Nation of Islam was responsible for the killing of Malcolm X. Five days after Malcolm X was murdered, in a public speech at the Nation of Islam's annual Saviours' Day on February 26, Elijah justified the assassination by quoting that "Malcolm got just what he preached", but at the same time denied any involvement with the murder by asserting in the same speech: "We didn't want to kill Malcolm and didn't try to kill him. We know such ignorant, foolish teaching would bring him to his own end".
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Elijah's pro-separation views were compatible with those of some white supremacist organizations in the 1960s. He met with leaders of the Ku Klux Klan in 1961 to work toward the purchase of farmland in the Deep South. For more than ten years Elijah received major financial support from white supremacist Texas oil baron H. L. Hunt due to Elijah's belief in racial separation from whites.
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The Nation of Islam's mythology states that Yakub is the biblical Jacob. Malcolm X also states that John of Patmos was also Yakub, and that the Book of Revelation refers to his deeds: "John was Yacub. John was out there getting ready to make a new race, he said, for the word of the Lord".
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His wife’s name was Maitseye, which means “Miss Manners.” After being married Yakub and his wife started to recruit followers to take part in a special mission.
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Yakub taught and proved that there were certain aspects of our imagination and bodies that were deliberately suppressed by leaders and the 24 elders. He taught that the freedom and peace that they were experiencing was false because they were denied knowledge of aspects of mind and body. Yakub simply knew that “if your peace could be destroyed it was not worth much.” He reasoned that the ancient people experienced peace and freedom simply because they had not experienced evil and ignorance which was suppressed by the Elders.
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The name Yakub means “big head scientist”. Yakub would be known by this name until he came into the fullness of the understanding of his mission. He realizes that his mission was that of a creator, God of the non-blacks, and patriarch of the Israelites. After this realization, he would no longer be called Yakub but would be called Yahweh.
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Yakub created white people in a eugenics "grafting" experiment, to give the evil locked inside of black people a flesh of its own.
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The Whites where uncivilized savages at first. Moses and Jesus where both sent out to help them. Jesus created the religion of Christainity to allow Whites to take over the world. Moses taught them to walk upright, use fire, stop eating babies, etc.
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Yahweh / Yakub founded Judaism:
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"My children, I Yakub, your creator, greet you here on the Island of Pat-mos in the year of eight thousand five hundred and fifty. First, I shall thank you, my created people, the Albinoid people, for adhering to my rules of planned parenthood and selective breeding to bring you into existence. I am here to pass on to you my final piece of wisdom which will allow you to rule the world for 6000 years. I first envisioned creating you when I was just a boy, after the darker tribes killed my mother and father and mocked and teased me in school. I have developed the best methods for controlling the darker tribes. You, my special people, my chosen people, my precious Albinoids, you will have many empires if my program is implemented."
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The NOI says the original blacks where members of the Tribe of Shabazz. It claims that this Tribe inhabited Egypt's Nile Valley as well as the area around Mecca in the Arabian peninsula; Elijah Muhammad claimed that Mecca was the Tribe's original home and "the ONLY HOLY SPOT on our planet".
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After Malcolm X split from the group, disgusted by the extremism via a change of heart in a visit to Mecca where he saw whites and blacks pray together in the Sunni Muslim religion, he denounced violence and said the revolution could be bloodless, and accept whites as brothers. Malcolm X was murdered. The new head of the group, Louis Farrakhan, hinted strongly that he had something to do with the murder plot.
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Qubilah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz, was arrested on January 12, 1995 accused of conspiracy to assassinate Farrakhan in retaliation for the murder of her father, for which she believed he was responsible.
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Many, including Malcolm X's family, have accused Farrakhan of being involved in the plot to assassinate Malcolm X. For many years, Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm X, harbored resentment toward the Nation of Islam—and Farrakhan in particular—for what she felt was their role in the assassination of her husband.
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During a 1994 interview, Gabe Pressman asked Shabazz whether Farrakhan "had anything to do" with Malcolm X's death. She replied: "Of course, yes. Nobody kept it a secret. It was a badge of honor. Everybody talked about it, yes".
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Farrakhan played a key role in getting two of the country's largest gangs, the Bloods and the Crips, to sign a ceasefire in May 1992.
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Farrakhan had also organized the Million Man March through Washington DC in 1995 which united a range of African American groups to counter negative portrayals of black manhood; it was the largest black demonstration in U.S.
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In conflict with the white US Government, the NOI made intelligence connections. Gamal Abdel Nasser, Muammar Gaddafi, and Saddam Hussein are a few. The LaRouche movement is another.
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Kurt Frederick Ludwig was a German spy and the head of the "Joe K" spy ring in the United States in 1940–41. It involved Paul Borchardt, a German archaeologist, who was was fired from his university post and confined in Dachau for being a Jew. He was let out and agreed to travel to the U.S. posing as a refugee and to spy for Germany due to patriotism. He was caught by a janitor informant and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Ludwig himself as sent to Alcatraz, but was released in 1953 and deported shortly afterwards. Borchardt was known for his theory that the mythical city of Atlantis was located in Tunisia.
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I believe there is an intersectionality between the Borchardt Atlantis theory and the Yakub myth, but at the moment, cannot put into words exactly what it might be.

-oroszországban középiskolásokat tanítanak drón pilótának -bucsai képek 1 éve és most -az ellentámadás nem lesz bejelentve ukrán hadügy videó -ukrán harctéri eü áprilisi videó -UK hadügy: oroszországban gyakoarlatilag betiltották a kék-sárga szín hasznlatát , még háborút támogató pártot is zaklatnak amiatt, amiért /régóta/ használják -wagneresek elkaptak egy orosz alezredest a 72. dandár vezetőjét , mert részegen rájuk lőtt, mert utálja a wagnert -elemzés: Koffman professzor a háborúról -ukrán napi videós összefoglaló -szabad oroszország légió támadása oroszországban helikoptereik is vannak -oroszországi utcán az orosz partizánok , másik videó ezen videók többségét az orosz közvélemény számára készítették és nem valódi harcot mutatnak az biztos, hogy van harc oroszország területén és az orosz hadseregnek nincsen bevethető tartaléka, amit azonnal odaküldhetne

orosz sorozás/mobilizálás

-az FSZB-sek nem csak az ukránokat, de az orosz mobilizáltakat is kínozzák -mobilizáltakat eladtak magánhadseregnek lelövéssel fenyegették őket, ha nem harcolnak Bakhmutban

drónok, rakéták

-FPV drón személyautó ellen -az ezredessé előléptetett Magyar Róbert 100 ukrán egységet szerel fel 20000 FPV drónnal -orosz KH-22 rakéta siekresen eltalálta a szántóföldet ezek eredetileg az amerikai anyahajók ellen lettek kifejlesztve -ukrán termobarikus RPG felturbózva Advanced Combat Optical Gun sight-al

friss térképek

-a déli fronton Novodarivkát visszafoglaltak az ukránok orosz csatornák Neskuchne elvesztéséről is beszélnek

Veszteségek

-orosz veszteségek vasárnap 470 troop losses, 7-day troop average: 477, Equipment losses: $54M, 63 landbased losses, 7-day average: 56 -orosz veszteségek hétfő -orosz 9A317 TELABuk-M2 kap találatot -ukránok lövészárkot támadnak -ukrán támadás videó -sok gyereket megöl az orosz hadsereg -lőszerszállító URAL teherautó ellen még a közeli találat is elég -2 éves kisgyereket találtak a lerakétázott lakóház romjai között Pidhorodne in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast -ukrán tüzérség kadiroviták ellen bakhmutban, a benni hill zene jár hozzá -ukrán tank orosz tankot lő ki Novodarivka, Zaporizhzhia -tank-tank harc ebben a háborúban ez ritka

ISW

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, JUNE 4, 2023 Elements of the all-Russian pro-Ukrainian Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) and Freedom of Russia Legion (LSR) conducted another limited raid into Belgorod Oblast on June 4 and are reportedly continuing to operate in a Russian border settlement. Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov responded to a RDK and LSR demand to negotiate for the exchange of captured Russian prisoners of war (POWs). The dissonant Russian responses to and reporting about the limited raid in Belgorod Oblast continue to suggest that the Russian leadership has not yet decided how to react to these limited cross-border raids. The limited raids and border shelling in Belgorod Oblast are increasingly becoming the current focal point for criticism against the Russian military leadership. Russian forces again targeted Ukraine with Iranian-made drones and cruise missiles on June 4 making it the fourth consecutive day of strikes across Ukraine. Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed on June 4 that Ukrainian forces may have regained positions in southwestern Bakhmut, supporting repeated Ukrainian reports that Ukrainian forces maintain positions on the southwestern outskirts of the city. Ukrainian and Russian forces both claimed to have made limited territorial gains on the Kupyansk-Svatove line. Russian forces conducted limited ground attacks around Bakhmut and Marinka. Ukrainian forces conducted local ground attacks and reportedly made limited tactical gains in western Donetsk Oblast and eastern Zaporizhia Oblast. The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) submitted a draft government decree that will no longer require an individual’s presence at an enlistment office for military registration. Russian officials continue to use rest and rehabilitation schemes to deport Ukrainian children from occupied territories to Russia.

Vége

ukrán katonai őz vasárnap reggel

Honestly? I have no idea how to start this one. In fact, I don't even know if I should post this, period. My parents brought me my phone a couple hours ago, and scrolling through YouTube and Reddit doesn't do much to take my mind off of things. I might as well write my heart out, right? Maybe somebody out there can find my story helpful, insightful, thoughtful... I dunno. Anyways, I might as well get writing before another couple officers walk in, looking for some details that they missed the last time I told them about what happened on June 3rd.
This part isn't exactly central to the story per se, but I'd like to just honor my buds, say what I thought about them before I forget. These guys, to me, were like a second family. The type of guys you'd call to help get rid off a body, the type of guys who would follow you anywhere. I've known them since I transferred in 4th grade. Only pair of dudes that would give me the time of day in the entire school, Andy and Gabriel. Andy was a sort of short and skinny guy, but he'd talk so much you'd swear he was six inches taller than he was. He'd always go on like he was God's greatest gift on Earth, especially when it came to sports. He'd yell Kobe and miss a rebound, or tell us to call him Messi and miss every goal. Your typical jokester. We didn't start off as friends either. It was around the fourth time
in the Office for fighting that I got wise, looked over at him, glanced at his bruised eye, then felt my own jaw. "Hey, we good? I got my licks-" I paused to scratch my cheek for effect- "and you definitely got yours..." Andy just looked me up and down once, checked himself, grinned like a Hyena and that was that. I met Gabriel through Andy. He was the only one of us you could call a popular kid. He's good at Baseball, really friggin' athletic, tall, built like a milk truck, and kind. Super kind. Like you could just ask him for a french fry, or a slice of bacon off his burger or something and he'd just do it. Didn't expect anything back. Didn't say anything. He'd glance up and just give you whatever you needed, no BS. We were walking back to Gabe's house after a party at a Junior's house, some slacker that wears a bunch of fake bling to school and takes "bathroom breaks" to vape in the stall. Some dude destined to be handing you a Big Mac in a couple years, you know? Not exactly the shining example of morality, not that I would know. Anyways, I really only showed up to shoot the shit with my buds and for some "apple juice" in those plastic red cups. I was going to bounce when I figured out this dude who was hosting the party, Mr. "I'm too cool for school", didn't have anything that could get me plastered. As it turns out, Gabriel wasn't feeling the party either, and Andy was "having no luck with the ladies", (Giggity,) so we all decided to nab a couple of waters and cookies for the road and stepped out into a warm summer evening. (Seriously, Andy gives me pedo vibes sometimes)
It wasn't exactly dark when we left the house. It was that perfect time of night where there was red, orange and purple reflecting off of the clouds in the sky. I snapped a photo 'cause I'm that kinda guy, and we started walking. This neighborhood was one of those aging 60's neighborhoods with all of the one story buildings, rusty chain-link fences, crack houses, senior citizens, that sort of stuff. Perfectly square blocks and blocks of houses with the peeling paint, broken sidewalks, barking dogs, you get the picture. If you were to think of the neighborhood from the top down, it would be like a big square with about three streets of depth inwards, with a big forest in the middle. Inconveniently, the party was in the western corner, while Gabe's house was down a slope, on the exact opposite side, the east side of the neighborhood. Basically a big pain in the posterior. Now just to be clear, we couldn't call Gabriel's mom for a pickup because of the nature of the party, and we weren't really feeling like taking the shortcut path through the woods at night, so we took the long way around. about a quarter of the way down, like 10-15 minutes into the walk, the lights lining the street flicked on. Now, that didn't bother us too much, because Gabe's casa was su casa, or whatever. In short, we had spent a lot of time walking around here before. Anyways, when the lights turned on they sort of dazzled my eyes, and a whole thing happened with me and the sidewalk called tripping. I went down and cut up my hands real nice and both of the guys turned around to help me up. It took them a second to spot me, because the lights lining the street were spaced in such a way that they would have a sort of staggered area of effect when they turned on. I had happened to trip right in one of the dark spots, so like I said, it took them a second to get me off of the ground. I got up, and did that thing you do when your hands hurt after a fall and you smack them together and rub them against your pants.
"You good?" asked Andy.
"Yeah yeah, I'm fine," I said, still slapping my thighs.
I looked up and saw somebody standing underneath the closest streetlamp. They were positioned in such a way that they faced the road from the lip of the sidewalk they stood on, with their head cocked slightly way from us and down, like they were staring intently at a bug or something in the road.
they guys must have seen me gazing off into the distance and they turned around to stare with me. the figure was around 20 feet away, right underneath the halo of light that the streetlamp made. they were wearing an old ice cream coat and uniform, like something out of the 60's. The folded cap on their head at a jaunty angle, a shock of slicked back golden hair just underneath it.
"Whaaaaat theeeee fuuuuuuck..?" I whisper to no one in particular.
When did he get there?
We had started walking towards the man, transfixed, and stopped just outside of the light's reach. He looked gaunt, sickly, almost. His mouth was pulled into a thin customer service sort of smile. the uniform he wore was a bit dirty, with a twig or two hanging from his pants like he had been running through the forest or something. that something on the ground seemed to be pretty interesting to him, so we all turned to try to sot what was capturing his attention. Looking back, I should have known right there. Have you ever seen someone doing or wearing or saying something that had compelled you to stare at them? Like a junkie downtown or some dude wearing a sign saying the end is nigh? And do you remember how you tried not to stare but kept that person in your peripheral vision, because they were interesting or suspicious or whatever? That's exactly what this guy was doing. He was looking at us. We never even noticed. Anyways, we hadn't seen anything on the ground so we looked back at this dude. BOOM! Instant time-out. Somewhere in that quick glance when we weren't paying attention, his head snaps up and locks us with this piercing stare. Now my heart's going a mile a minute. Fight or flight's kicked in and I tense up. my hands come up and I'm making fists. Meanwhile, the rational, thinking part of me is analyzing this guy. He hasn't broken that unnerving, artificial customer service smile. in fact, it looks almost wider, almost hungry. that's not the worst part. there's blood on his left thigh, black now after so much time. His eyes. I'm going to remember those eyes 'till the day I die. Even at night, his pupils were a darker black than anything in the world had any right to be. All consuming, omnipotent, soul-seeing eyes. The killing intent radiating from this thing was overpowering. Time-in.
"Jesus Christ!" Gabe barks.
It's the first time I've heard him swear. Andy's transfixed.
"What's the game plan?" I say, surprising myself with the icy calm in my own voice.
Andy's practically talking to himself. "I-I think we should-" he swallows audibly- "go around?"
The light creates an invisible barrier between us and the man-thing. we shuffle along the edges of each streetlight's effect. The neighborhood goes silent, save for a slight breeze along my back. every time i glance towards the ground to make sure I stay out of the light, he seems to get closer. of course he doesn't in actuality, because every time I look up in fear, he's still standing there, right there on the curb. We finally make it around that first light and turn around to face the second one. He's right there. Right on the border. that invisible line that separated the living from the dead.
Andy falls backwards. His arm falls into the light and instantly it's upon him. it's nails have turned into long, wicked claws. They rip into his upper arm and shoulder. It managed to nick his artery before we pull him out of the light. Andy is screaming bloody murder and I take off my shirt and tie it around the worst around the worst of his wounds. An uncaring, cold part of me surveys the damage and notes that Andy is unlikely to live more than an hour without emergency care. I hate that part of me. I hate how in that time of crisis, I could come to terms with one of my best friends dying to a freak on the street. Did it even matter? those years of friendship, now that I look back? That's one of the reasons I'm writing this story I guess. This story is me caring, right? The fact that I'm writing this shows I care, right? Anyways, in that instant I know we're screwed. there's no way we can get Andy back to Gabriel's house in time if we have to deal with this thing. The Ice-Cream Man surveyed his work as Gabe tried calling his mom for the fourth time. Andy had stopped screaming and passed out. I ended up holding his hand, staring up at this monster. It seemed to enjoy hurting us, enjoy it's handiwork. I grimaced and turned to Gabriel.
"Time to go, dude." Gabe looked up at me, still holding his buzzing cellphone to his ear. there was desperation and shock in his eyes, and I guess it was the same for me too. "We've got to go."
I made it clear this wasn't a conversation to be having.
It's sort of an open secret that I'm the thug of the school. At least, that's what everyone else thinks. It's not like I'll try to rob you or anything, but everyone knows that time I bent a kid's knee backwards. I didn't get into major trouble because of it, due to the fact there was a recording showing three guys ganging up on me, hurting me. I didn't have to make that kid a cripple, but I did. I got beaten for a year and a half, by those same three guys, and it all came out at once. I wanted to hurt him, and I did. but when you do that to someone, no matter how justified, people treat you different. especially when they're the same people who watched me get punched, and kicked, and hit, and put down. In a heartbeat, I was an untouchable. No more social life. No girlfriend, or anything like that. So, my only friends on this earth were Andy and Gabe. Blah blah blah, I'm sure you don't care about the sob story screw-up called my life. Anyways, the important part is that Gabe knew my business voice when I spoke.
"Okay, here's the idea." I glanced over to Mr. Freak. "We're going to take the forest path. It doesn't have any lights, so we'll be fine. if we move fast on the downhills, we can make it to your Mom's house and go to the hospital before..." I spared a glance to looked at Andy's face. he looked like he was sleeping. I felt around for his pulse.
He was still alive, thank God.
Gabe looked like he wanted to say something, and I knew exactly what he wanted to say. We were going to cross that bridge when we came to it.
We had, like I said, been around the block before. we made it to the trailhead, with that thing following us all of the way. jumping from streetlight to streetlight. The streetlight that would normally light the signpost and path into the forest was out, and it had been for years. That wasn't the issue. The issue was that the exit, the exit that was a short jog away from Gabe's house, had been replaced just last summer. we both knew that it was very likely that someone wouldn't make it. Gabe hoisted Andy into a fireman's carry, and we started our descent down the hill in silence. I made a sparing glance backwards, and there the Ice-Cream Man stood waiting.
It was hard keeping track of which trail we were on and where to turn in the pitch dark. It was around 10:00 now, and Andy seemed to get worse as time went on. We almost got lost a couple times, and we had to double back every now and again too. Gabriel and I said nothing as we went downhill. We said nothing when we saw the trail outlet at the bottom of the hill. We said nothing when the Ice-Cream Man appeared right underneath the lamppost. The sign read; "Rubicon Valley River Loop: 1.1 mi". We came right up to that invisible border again.
"I'll go first."
"Will you? We both know-"
"Shut the hell up and listen to me."
Gabriel. He was good at Baseball, really friggin' athletic, tall, built like a milk truck, and kind. Super kind. Like you could just ask him for a french fry, or a slice of bacon off his burger or something and he'd just do it. Even if there was a deadly monster chasing you, with his Mom's house just a short jog away. Even if you were willing to fight it instead, even if it didn't make sense for him to stay behind. Even if he knew you wouldn't want to keep living without him and Andy. Didn't expect anything back. Didn't say anything. Even though I'm writing this story just 6 hours later, I can't remember for the life of me how I got across that halo of light without him right behind me. Gabe's Mom flew down the porch when I rounded the corner of the cul-de-sac. I bet she was wondering why we were home so late, why Gabriel wasn't with us, why I was staying clear of the streetlights.
I remember her asking me where her niño was.
When I woke up in the hospital, the police asked me where the wolves attacked us. I didn't correct them. What was the point? I assume they knew what was actually out there. After all, wolves bite and tear. It was just a line for the news stations. Turns out I was raked across the back by a wolf too. The doctors told me I was very lucky. They said if Gabe's Mom was a second slower getting us to the ER, I would have ended up like Andy. I feel cold. I haven't been crying. Do I even care? I feel like I'm a horrible person. I hope that I'm allowed to go to their funerals, pay my respects. My Dad has a Machete hidden under the bed. That Ice-Cream Man better be counting every second he has left, because I'm going to do more than bend his knee backwards next June 3rd.

--- Table of Contents ---
--- Part 1/2 ---
When Shon woke again, it was to be told he'd slept, not only the rest of the day and night of the incident, but the entire day after as well. Despite the Cleric assuring Shon that this was normal, he still had Shon eat breakfast in the infirmary while the Squires attended their morning lessons. He'd slept through drills, breakfast, and prayer.
The Cleric kept the curtains drawn over the window, though Shon's head wasn't pounding anymore, and had added a second set of standing curtains around the girl's bed. Shon's eyes flicked in her direction with every alternate bite he managed to force down, but there was no movement beyond the white cloth.
Master Daunas came in shortly before tenth bell and armor practice to inform Shon that he was to take the day off to rest but could rejoin the others in training the following day. He was at least allowed to leave the infirmary, though he waited until he could hear sparring outside before he did. He didn't want to run into any of the Squires.
As he opened the door to leave something flew by the window, catching Shon's attention enough to make him stop and look over. But it was already long gone. Just a bird... Assuming he hadn't imagined it. He shook his head, still aching all over. His mind swam with worries and memories, made worse by the fact that the Cleric was trying to hide shivers now that Shon was fully rested. He'd probably just imagined it...
Back in his room Shon huddled over his journal. He could still smell the smoke in his hair and had decided it would be best to shower soon, but finally alone, his thoughts and memories could no longer be ignored.
So he drew. He tried to start safe. Nangran atop his borrowed horse; Ivelm mostly naked and shaking a club in his doorway; the Archmage's workroom lined in shelves filled with magical components. That one had taken a while. But as he released these images onto the page, others forced themselves forward. Smoke billowing over treetops; a burning tower; charred bodies; and a girl reaching out through the flames. A girl lying asleep in the bed next to his. The stillness of the picture made her look dead.
He dropped his pencil, letting it roll right off the desk. Crossing his arms over the book, he rested his head on his desk. The wood felt warm compared to his skin, comforting. What more could he have done? What could a Paladin have done? Or Master Veon-Zih? Shon saw again the bodies and shivered.
No one could save everyone. To think otherwise was pure arrogance. But knowing the facts and feeling them were two very different things. The tower wasn’t that far from Hamerfoss. Shouldn’t they have known something was going on? Shouldn’t they have been able to do something sooner? Years sooner? Long before the fire killed those people?
A loud tapping startled him awake. When had he fallen asleep? Shon searched his room in confusion, trying to piece together his dream and what had awoken him. He'd been in the Temple chapel, but as he'd walked down the middle aisle, the pews had started to decay, the stone walls crumbling. Small plants, then trees began to sprout from the ground, overgrowing the once-holy place now in ruin. Shon pressed the heels of his hands hard into his eyes, trying to remember what had come next... A man with white hair pulled back in a ponytail had been standing at the head altar... something with leathery wings on his shoulder...
The painful screech of something sharp on glass had Shon jumping up, his chair falling to clatter on the ground behind him. He looked to his window but saw only orange sky beyond. Was the sun already setting? He knelt on the mattress and looked out the window, unsure what he expected to see. He was on the third floor, but that was definitely where the sound had come from, and the window was the only glass in the room.
Nothing but open sky.
He opened the tiny window, the pane swinging up and letting in cold and refreshing air that helped clear his mind. Master Daunas's voice bellowed orders from the courtyard below, and Shon stuck his head out to look down and see his fellows working through their dagger forms. He'd slept through lunch and afternoon lessons. And he still needed a shower.
If he hurried, he would be able to shower before the others finished their lesson. Shon left the window open and even opened his door before he remembered to grab a fresh uniform. Obviously, he still wasn't thinking clearly.
The halls were blissfully empty, and Shon could almost pretend that even if he did pass someone, their breath wouldn't show in the air. It was a short-lived fantasy, however. He managed to make it all the way to the showers, but when he opened the door a voice called, "Squire! Why aren't you... Oh..." Shon performed a sharp about face to stand at attention before the Major General.
"At ease, Squire Shon," Selibra sighed, waving him down, "Did you get enough rest?"
"Yes, Sir," Shon answered but then caught movement out of the corner of his eye, again. He hadn't managed to turn his head far enough to see before the Major General started speaking. Shon snapped his head back to give the officer his undivided attention.
"You did well, Squire. Smith Nangran told us what happened at the tower." Sir Selibra managed a strained smile that faded quickly, "If you want to talk about what you saw there... any one of us will be more than willing to listen. You shouldn't have had to experience death so soon." an image of an arm pulling away from a charred corpse flashed in Shon's vision.
Shon swallowed down the accompanying nausea at the memory and managed a nod, adding a quiet "Thank you, Sir." for good measure.
Feeling the need to scrub even more than before, Shon was grateful when the Major General left, allowing him to enter the still-open room. The shower was only mildly comforting, however. What should have been scalding water felt merely lukewarm now, the mist billowing off his truly icy skin thick enough that he could barely see the spigots. Closing his eyes, he scrubbed and tried to imagine the images flowing off of him with the filth...
Something chirped, and Shon slammed the water off. Just the pipes creaking... How much longer would he have to rest before his mind stopped playing tricks on him? But as he moved for his towel, Shon stopped in shock, his new uniform had been scattered around the benches and floor.
He hadn't heard the door open, but had heard the pipes creaking? But who here would even do something like this? Shon started to search the showers, but as he did, he heard something else—voices in the hall. The Squires were done with their practice. He still didn't want to see them and dressed quickly, rushing from the shower and slamming the door behind him.
Something thumped into the door from the other side. Shon held his breath and turned slowly. It was his imagination. It had to be. He reached for the handle again and, standing behind the swing, opened the shower slowly.
"He's been gone three days... Do you think they sent him away?" Thom's voice sounded from around a corner, and Shon jumped in surprise, pulling the door open fully as if he could hide behind it.
"No way. he's the best Squire we have, so what if he's a Sorcerer." They were talking about him... Shon definitely didn't want to see them yet. He dashed down the opposite way, taking a long way around through the Paladin's barracks and back to his room. Or that's what he'd planned before he remembered the Squires hall would be full of people now taking their break and trying to get into the shower before everyone else. His feet faltered, and he turned away again, to one of the hardly used stairs that would take him down to the rest of the fortress.
Barred from his room, Shon made his way to the place he associated the most with comfort, the chapel. It wasn't empty, three Paladins knelt in prayer near the front, but it didn't matter anymore. He felt a wash of calm as he entered the incense-filled room, the sweet-smelling smoke finally banishing the stench of burning hair from his memory.
Shon took a spot near the back, kneeling to pray as he stared up at the statue of Hengist behind the altar. He was dressed in full plate mail, his arm raised in triumph, holding his mighty sword, Darkspliter.
Shon sighed and felt himself smile for what felt like the first time in a very long time. He could tell Hengist anything and everything, and none of it out loud... But then his smile faded. What would he say...?
I'm sorry. I feel like I've been lying to everyone, to you. I've known there was something different about me, something wrong with me. That's why no one likes to touch me, why everyone pulls away at the feel of my skin, like it's somehow dirty or painful. I should've realized... Should have known...
But I worked so hard... You know that, don't you? And I'm not ready to give up. I'll do whatever it takes, atone anyway I can if you just tell me how. The Major General said something about it being a sign. I want to believe he meant the unlikely convenience of Smith Nangran knowing an Archmage who could make an item so I won't have to get the tattoo. Thank you. I just hope I don't disappoint after getting a second chance...
The bell for dinner sounded. Feeling better, Shon considered going with the Paladins as they left the chapel. Until one of them shivered as they passed. "Winters right around the corner," another muttered.
"We'll need to install the heating orbs soon." the last answered before the door closed... He wasn't hungry anyway.
Please, Hengist. Don't let me hurt anyone else. Kefir was trying to help me, and I answered that kindness with pain. What if the healers hadn't gotten to him in time? Would I have smothered him in ice? Please, I'll give up everything if it means that will never happen again...
But he didn't want to give up anything. He wanted to fight, to reach his highest potential, and lead a life of meaning. He thought of Master Veon-Zih. The Monk had told him that he didn't need to be a Paladin to fight for justice, and he was living proof of that. But...
I don't want to be alone... At first, I thought I just wanted you, a god, as a guiding light in my life. But now I realize that being a Paladin gives me even more than that. It gives me brothers and friends, and I don't want to lose them either. But I especially don't want to hurt them.
Shon clenched his hands tighter, as tight as he could, digging his fingers into the spaces between his knuckles; as if external pain might dull internal strife...
They say I'm scary... And I know they aren't really joking. I can see it in their eyes and hear it in their nervous laughs when they try and make it a joke. But they only mean when they fight me... don't they? And I'll never try to hurt them. It's only sparring... they know that... don't they?
He squeezed his eyes tighter shut,
But what about now? Will they be even more afraid? Even when we aren't sparring? Can I blame them if they are?
He actually found himself waiting for an answer... Of course, none came. He wasn't a Paladin yet, and wouldn't be able to feel the god until he swore his Oath and took a piece of Hengist into himself. For now, Shon took in a deep breath, as deep as he could, then let it out slowly, relaxing his hands and face as he attempted to release his anxieties unto his god.
I won't give up. I'll fight this danger within me as hard as I will fight any threat without. I ask for your help with this. Please don't give up on me yet. I'll prove I'm worthy, I swear.
The bell ending dinner and starting study time sounded. Shon stayed in the chapel until a handful of Squires came in to pray themselves. They hesitated by the door, but Shon didn't look at them. He knew he couldn't hide forever. But he also wasn't sure what he should say to any of them. Or if he should say anything at all. Shon waited until they moved away from the door to finally stand. If he had to face any of them, he wanted it to be the ones he considered friends first.
Shon left the chapel and made his way to the library, fighting the urge to just go back to his room. Heads swiveled in his direction the moment he opened the library door. Shon flinched, sucking in a sharp breath and holding it, pulling his energy in as best he could.
He stepped in, and the Squires exchanged looks, but then the Paladin on library duty coughed, and they quickly went back to reading.
His typical spot was available as usual, so Shon made his way there. The others would want to talk after... and if not, he would just go back to his room. Distracted by his continued worries -and the silent effort to hold his energy in- Shon still heard when something behind him hissed along the stone.
He spun quickly, scanning the floor. This time he definitely wasn't imagining it...
"Squire Shon... Shouldn't you be resting?" He turned back to find the Squires trying to make it seem like they weren't staring at him, while the Paladin who called looked openly concerned.
Shon's cheeks flushed, now feeling cool rather than warm. Another change... He cleared his throat, "No, Sir..." and when the Paladin's worried expression didn't let up, Shon added, "I've been resting all day."
"Three days..." Zihler muttered.
Shon met his eyes and the Squire smiled, but Shon couldn't tell if the expression seemed strained or not. He nodded anyway, taking his seat alone at the table by the window.
Books on their current subject of study were already laid out, and he pulled one forward, opening it without checking the title. As he read, he could hear the others occasionally whisper and even caught snippets of what they were saying,
"I found another one. Do you think this will be enough?" Thom asked.
"We have the rest of the hour; we should find all we can," Rerves answered. It didn't sound like they were studying, but Shon had missed three days of lessons; maybe they were working on an assignment... He went back to his reading. He would get any missed work tomorrow.
When the bell rang that would finally begin their last hour of free time, Shon closed his book. It would be best to just go to bed early; everyone seemed to think he should be resting anyway; they could talk after he got the sealing item... But he hadn't stood yet when his six closest friends jumped up, books in hand, and crowded around him, preventing him from leaving. From running away.
"We're glad you're okay." Rehlien blurted out.
"The Major General told us what happened," Baradin added.
Shon looked from him to Kefir and took in a sharp breath, "I'm..." he started to apologize, but Kefir interrupted with a broad smile,
"I'm fine. I even got a day off for it. I didn't need it though, they healed me up right away."
Rerves placed his book down on Shon's table, "It was just really surprising, you know? But hey! Now we know why you're so cold all the time."
Shon looked down at the massive tome on the table, not wanting to meet their eyes. He didn't know what to make of what they were saying. There was no way it was okay. How could they be alright with a dangerous magic user that could kill them all on accident...
"We found these. We thought they might make you feel a little better," Thom whispered, stacking his book on top of Rerves' and opening it to a page he'd marked with a ripped piece of scrap paper. It wasn't a textbook, it was a record book. Shon furrowed his brows down at the page, reading 'Sir Patrich, served 4876-4929, died 4955. Paladin of Hengist, General. Air Sorcerer...'
Shon looked up to find them all smiling down at him. Zihler set his book down over Thom's, opened to another personal record, "This one was a fire Sorcerer, and they're supposed to be the most destructive."
Rehlien took Baradin and Kefir's books and stacked them with his own beside the open records. He ran his fingers over the slew of bookmarks sticking out of the closed pages, "All Sorcerers and Paladins." Rehlien said.
"Master Daunas said you would be back in a few days, but just in case we wanted to find these for you," Thom explained in a rush, "You know... in case the officers or Mages needed to be convinced..."
Baradin cleared his throat before he spoke, clasping his hands behind his back, "We haven't found any ice Sorcerers yet, but they're also the rarest, so that really shouldn't be surprising."
"Yeah, and there are plenty of fire who are crazy dangerous even when they're trained," Kefir added quickly.
Shon could feel a burning in his eyes and blinked furiously, looking away from his friends. He wouldn't cry.. he wouldn't. "Thank you..." he managed to croak out, finally giving in and rubbing his eyes. None of them commented on his show of emotion, or the frost clouding his window.
Rerves took the seat across from him with a smile, "So, what type of familiar do you think you'll get?"
Shon managed to stop blinking enough to arch an eyebrow. Hadn't Ivelm said something about a familiar too?
"I bet you it'll be something really lame." Zihler laughed, "To balance Shon's badassness."
"Squire!" the Paladin librarian barked, "Pushups! Now!"
Zihler groaned, mumbling as he stepped back to perform the punishment, "How do they always do that?"
"Divine hearing," Rehlien snickered as Zihler started the pushups, "Probably only works for curses, though."
"You can join him," the Paladin called without looking up from his book, and Rehlien groaned, dropping down next to Zihler.
"Seriously though," Rerves said, ignoring the boys huffing and puffing through their punishment, "Familiars are animals, they're supposed to be even closer to their Sorcerer than a Paladin and their mount! Like an extension of yourself. You can see through their eyes and talk to them with your mind. It's awesome!"
Thom actually blushed, confessing, "We read up on it a bit over the last two days..."
They knew more about what he was than he did. Shon actually smiled, starting, "I don't..." but chittering, like a particularly loud squirrel, interrupted him. The Squires all swiveled their heads to look around, Rehlien and Zihler jumping to their feet with the Paladin, who stood so quickly his chair fell over. The chittering turned to chirping, and then to a purr, as Shon finally found what was making the noise.
On top of the bookshelf closest to the door, sat a tiny dragon.
The size of a large barn cat, its scales were mostly brown but had streaks and blotches of red and orange, like the few deciduous trees that still held their leaves in autumn. Its leathery wings were folded against its back and its front claws grasped the edge of the bookshelf. Its long tail, complete with a scorpion-like stinger, flicked back and forth, its sinuous neck held high as it surveyed the library.
Some of the Squires let slip breaths of wonder, and the little dragon seemed to preen at the attention, holding its head a little higher and purring even louder. The Paladin, however, stepped around his desk and commanded, "Stay back, Squires," before he started chanting. The little dragon tilted its head at the Paladin, as curious as the rest of them. A moment later, the knight's spell washed over them to fill the room, sending a shiver down Shon's spine and making more than one of the other Squires shudder.
The little dragon let out another string of chittering and hissed down at the Paladin, whose eyes went wide as he announced in a breath, "It's real."
"How did it get in?" a senior Squire asked. Shon started to stand but then fell back again as images flooded into his mind. He watched a window opening from outside the fortress, and saw himself lean out. Then the image shifted, and he saw himself digging under his bed for a new uniform and towel as the him that was watching slipped out the door. It shifted again, and he saw himself in the shower, mist billowing off his shoulders before he dug through the piles of clothes left on the bench. It shifted again, and he darted into the library and behind the bookshelf, watching as he, Shon, walked in and sat down at the little table.
Shon blinked and shook his head furiously to try and clear it. All the pictures had flooded in so fast that no one even had time to answer the question or pose their own, "I let it in..." Shon whispered, then looked at the Paladin, explaining quickly, "I didn't mean to. I left my window open to air out my room and..."
"It's okay, Squire," the Paladin was actually smiling, and the little dragon whistled, "They're goodly creatures, though elusive. I've never seen a live one." the dragon leaned forward on the bookshelf, crouching down on its front claws and wiggling its hindquarters before it leaped into the air, opening its wings to spread as wide as it was long. It glided a lap around the library then hovered in front of the Paladin, chittering again and flapping hard enough to blow the man's short hair back before flying right towards the group of Squires around Shon.
It brushed Baradin's head with its claws, the boy ducking as it swooped down to land on Shon's table. The dragon looked from the open books to Shon, then, before Shon could pull back, climbed up his arm and to his shoulder, purring hard enough to vibrate Shon too. It weighed considerably less than it looked like it should, though its claws were sharp enough to pierce through his clothes as it climbed. It brought its face right up to Shon's eye, and though he tried to pull away, it followed him with its long neck, rubbing its cheek along his face. The scales were smooth and lacked temperature, like being touched by a gloved hand. It nuzzled his cheek again, then down his neck and into his shirt.
Surprised, Shon tried to throw the dragon off, but it just dug its claws into his sleeves, chittering angrily then clawing its way around to his back before lifting itself up to drape over his head. "What..." Shon started, but the Paladin cut him off with a laugh.
"I think that answers your friends' questions, Squire."
Shon was too confused to even arch an eyebrow at the man, but Rerves apparently understood what he'd meant because he said, "But I thought only animals could be familiars, like cats and crows and stuff..."
The Paladin nodded but then shrugged, "That's usually the case, but sometimes, rarely, there will be a Sorcerer who gets something a bit more special, like a winged serpent, fairy dragon, or in this case," he nodded at Shon, "A pseudodragon."
The pseudodragon purred, vibrating Shon's head. The Squires all gaped slack-jawed in awe at it, and Shon reached up slowly. He wasn't even sure what he was going to do, pet it? Push it off? But before he'd even touched it, it lifted its head, stretching its long neck out and nuzzling into his hand, obviously not caring that his skin was colder now than it had ever been.
"Damn..." Zihler muttered in obvious disappointment, "I was really hoping it would be a toad so I would have something to make fun of..."
The little dragon's answering twitter almost sounded like a laugh.
***
She groaned, rolling over and nuzzling deeper into Her pillow. Except it didn’t smell like Her pillow. Her eyes flew open, and She sat up. Then fell back down. That was stupid. Ran and Brom had probably taken more blood than usual again… except She couldn’t remember them taking Her for samples. Not for weeks and weeks…
“It’s alright, you’re safe here,” the kindly voice of a man spoke from Her right, and She sat up again, more slowly this time. A stranger in white robes with a sword embroidered on the chest reached out to help Her up, but after touching Her back he pulled sharply away.
She was too confused to apologize for burning him. “Where?” She asked, looking around the room. Like the stranger, it was covered in white. White blankets, white rug, and white curtains hanging to either side of an open window. A window that looked out onto a blue sky. She gasped, scrambling from the bed and nearly tripping over Her white gown. Of course it was white. How in all the hells did they keep it all clean?
She shook Her head and rushed for the window. The man behind Her gasped, his chair scraping loudly as he stood to follow. She pressed Her hands on the cold glass, staring up into the sky, “I’m on an upper floor!?” She grinned excitedly over Her shoulder as the stranger stared at Her, mouth hanging open.
Turning back to the window, She used Her arm to wipe the fog from Her heat off the glass, letting Her gaze trail down. She didn’t see the treetops She expected. Not close anyway. Instead, the forest was beyond a wide clear field, which in turn was beyond a tall stone wall with people dressed in silver walking along its top. She stood on Her toes to look down through the window. Between the wall and Her was a courtyard full of more people swinging things that glinted in the sun.
This wasn’t the tower. None of those people wore robes except the nice stranger. She spun to him, “My treasures, where are they? Brom? Ran? Where…” She saw a flash of red, heard a pained bark, and smelled iron. She fell to Her knees, grasping Her chest and breathing hard, remembering bits and pieces. He killed them. He killed all of them. Then what? She couldn’t remember...
“You are in a training facility of the Temple of Hengist, Hamerfoss, in Clearhelm.” a new voice, deeper, less kind though not cruel, spoke from the doorway. Lifting Her head, She saw the new man wearing a crisp, white, uniform, with a sword hanging comfortably from his belt. Hengist… so that explained all the white.
The kind man in robes had rushed to Her but dared not touch Her. Wise. With Her head spinning so fast, there was no way She was controlling Her heat properly. “How long has she been awake?” the new man asked the kind one.
“She just woke up, Major General,”
“He killed them…” She whispered, squeezing Her eyes shut, pushing back the rage and sorrow, trying to fill in Her memory. What happened next?
“It will be alright. You're safe here,” the kind man said again.
She pulled Her own hair, lacing Her fingers into the golden strands and squeezing. What had happened? She had run down the hall, but how had She gotten out of Her room? There were strangers in Her tower. These men? She glared up at the brown-haired man who looked down at Her, his hands behind his back.
“Who are you? What did you do to the Mages?” She could feel the hair rise on the back of Her neck and a familiar tingling where the collar should be.
The Major General remained calm before Her building fury, saying only, “Calm down.” It was a command backed by magic. She felt the power flow over Her and try to settle on Her mind. She could almost sense the peace it promised but shook Her head, clearing it of the spell.
He could've used his magic to hurt Her. Perhaps not with the collar as the Archmages did, but in other ways. And yet, he hadn’t moved from his spot, his hands still behind his back. She looked again at the sword of Hengist at his side. She'd read all about the gods. Hengist was good and noble, all about self-sacrifice and protecting the weak… A fool, the Mages had said. And yet his Temple ruled this province. The Mages of Her tower would never work with the Temple of Hengist. Or any kingdom order…
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She didn’t need his help to calm down, not when She had something to focus on. She shoved Her grief to the back of Her mind. “How did I get here?” another image flashed in Her mind, fire all around, a white path, blue eyes.
The Paladin didn’t answer right away; instead, he motioned for the robed man - a Cleric? - to bring him a chair. She tilted Her head curiously at him, but he only sat down with a weary sigh, then gestured towards the bed, “Please, have a seat.”
She stood, returning to the bed and eyeing the door over his shoulder. He hadn’t locked it. “We saw smoke from the woods and found you in a burning tower.” the blood drained from Her face, “We have recovered several bodies from around the structure, but there were no other survivors.” he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and fixing Her with a piercing stare, “What happened? What was going on in that tower?”
She brought Her feet onto the bed and hugged Her legs tight, “I don’t… I can’t remember…” a fire, the tower burning… But it was made of stone. Her fire couldn’t burn that hot… Could it?
“Sir Selibra,” the kindly Cleric sounded stern, crossing his arms and glaring down at the Paladin, “She has just woken up from what was obviously a terrible ordeal. Show some compassion.”
The Paladin, Selibra, actually looked ashamed, leaning back in his chair and clearing his throat, “I apologize, miss…” he drew out the last word, looking at Her expectantly. She tilted Her head. “What is your name?” he asked more clearly. She tilted Her head the other way. Were they going to play that game here too?
The Cleric hummed then said, “Please forgive him, miss, we are all very troubled by the events and deaths at the tower. The Major General merely got ahead of himself. If you could tell us your name, then we can let you rest and…”
“I don’t have a name.”
The two men blinked dumbly at Her, and She rolled Her eyes, “I knnnooowww,” She let Her legs fall back down, so She was sitting properly again, “But I don’t know it yet. As soon as I do, I'll tell you.” She assured them. The men exchanged looks as She glanced again out the window. Maybe She should've just told them what Brom and Ran called Her… But those weren’t names. They were descriptors. No better than ‘Firewyrm.’
If these Temple men were to be believed, everything was gone. She had no room, no books, no clothes, no treasures, and no name. What did She have? She pulled Her hair over Her shoulder and stared out the window as She stroked it. She had Her hair. They hadn’t cut it in months. She had Her body. She straightened Her posture, holding Her head high. And She had Her power—the fire crackling deep inside Her soul. The Mages had taken the first two. The third had destroyed them.
“You should rest,” Selibra stood, and Her eyes snapped back to him, “You can send for me when you feel ready to talk. Until then, focus on recovering your strength and your memories.”
He made it all the way to the door, even swung it open before She called out, “What are you going to do to me?”
Selibra turned back, his eyebrows raised in surprise. The Cleric placed a hand on Her shoulder, slowly and carefully, gauging how much of Her heat he could handle. She turned to him, and he let Her go. He'd held on longer than expected. “We will keep you safe, child.” the Cleric assured Her.
The Paladin grew stiff for a moment, then brought his right fist up to his chest, “By the sword of Hengist’s honor, we will safeguard your life and freedom,” Freedom? “Whatever injustices you endured there, you will find justice in the laws of Clearhelm.” She didn’t know what to say, and so, after an awkward moment of silence, Selibra turned for the door again and left.
She didn’t lay down. Instead, She walked back to the window. The view seemed to stretch on forever from so high up, higher than She'd ever remembered being before. Even when She used to climb the trees around Her tower.
Selibra hadn’t locked the door, but the Cleric bustled around behind Her, and the wall below Her clanked with armored knights. What was freedom anyway?
--- Table of Contents ---
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355 HD/MA $4.5
48 Hrs 4K/VU $6
600 Miles HD/VU $4
80 for Brady HD/VU $6.5
A Journal for Jordan HD/MA $5
A Man Called Otto HD/MA $6.5
A24 5-Film Set (X, Green Room, It Comes at Night, Hereditary, Witch) HD/VU $15
Ad Astra 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Addams Family (2019) 4K/IT $4.5
Addams Family 2 4K/IT $5
Addams Family With More Mamushka! (1991) 4K/VU $5.5
After Yang HD/VU $4.5
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Fabelmans HD/MA $6.5
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Giant 4K/MA $5.5
Gift HD/IT $3.5
Glass HD/MA $4
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Heat (Director's Cut) (1995) 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Hellbenders HD/VU $4.5
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Italian Job 4K/VU $6.5
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MIB International HD/MA $3.5
Mickey & Minnie 10 Classic Shorts HD/MA $5.5 or HD/GP $5
Mid-Century 4K/VU $5
Midsommar HD/VU $4
Miracle on 34th Street (1947) HD/MA $4
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Mommy HD/VU $4
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Morbius HD/MA $4
Moving On HD/VU $5.5
Mrs Harris Goes to Paris 4K/MA $6
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Nashville (1975) HD/VU $4
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Nope HD/MA $5.5
Northman HD/MA $4
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Paranormal Activity 1-8 Collection HD/VU $22
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Parasite HD/MA $4
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Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters HD/MA $3
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Phantom Thread HD/MA $4
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Push 4K/VU $6
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Ratatouille HD/GP $4
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Searching HD/MA $4
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Secret in Their Eyes HD/VU or IT $3
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She Said HD/MA $6.5
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Son of God HD/MA $3
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Source Code 4K/VU $5.5
Spartacus HD/MA $3.5
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Spinning Man HD/VU $4
Spirit HD/VU $4
Spontaneous HD/VU $4.5
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Teeth HD/VU $4.5
Ten Commandments (1923) HD/VU $4
Ten Commandments (1956) HD/VU $4
Tetro HD/VU $4
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Thor Love & Thunder 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/GP $3.5
Till 4K/IT $7
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War on Everyone HD/VU $4
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Waterworld HD/MA $4
Weekend HD/VU $4
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What We Did on our Holiday HD/VU $4
Where Crawdads Sing HD/MA $4.5
Whiplash HD/MA $4
White Christmas HD/VU $4
Whitney Houston I Wanna Dance with Sombody HD/MA $5.5
Wicker Man (1973) HD/VU $4.5
Wind River HD/VU $4
Winnie Pooh Springtime with Roo HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Wolf Man (1941) HD/MA $3.5
Woman King HD/MA $5.5
Women Talking 4K/IT $7
X-Men Days of Future Past Rogue Cut 4K/IT $5.5
All other movies (A-Z)
101 Dalmatians HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
12 Years a Slave HD/MA $3.5
13 Hours Soldiers of Benghazi HD/VU $2.5
1917 HD/MA $3.5
2 Fast 2 Furious 4K/IT $3.5
2 Guns HD/VU or IT $2.5
21 Jump Street HD/MA $3
3 From Hell (Unrated) 4K/VU $4 or HD/VU $2.5
31 (2016) HD/VU $2.5
310 to Yuma 4K/VU $5
47 Meters Down HD/IT $3.5
47 Meters Down Uncaged HD/VU $3.5
47 Ronin HD/MA $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
50/50 HD/VU $4
71 HD/VU $4
A Clockwork Orange 4K/MA $5
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A Good Day to Die Hard (Ext) HD/VU $2.5
A Most Wanted Man HD/VU $3.5
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A Quiet Place Part 2 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
A Wrinkle in Time HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Abominable 4K/MA $5.5
About Time HD/VU or IT $3.5
Action Point HD/IT $2
Adore HD/IT $3.5
Adventures Of TinTin HD/IT $2.5
After Earth HD/MA $3
Age of Adaline HD/VU or IT $3
Aladdin (2019) 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Alex Cross HD/VU or IT $2
Alfred Hitchcock 5-Film Set (Saboteur, Shadow of Doubt, Trouble with Harry, Marnie, Family Plot) 4K/MA $24
Alice Through Looking Glass HD/GP $3
Alien 6-Film Collection HD/MA $18
Alien Covenant HD/MA $2.5
Alien Resurrection HD/MA $4
Alita Battle Angel 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
All Eyez on Me HD/IT $3
All Money in World HD/MA $3.5
Allied HD/VU $3.5
Aloha HD/MA $3.5
Alvin & Chipmunks Road Chip HD/MA $2.5
Amazing Spider-Man 2 HD/MA $4
Amazing Spider-Man HD/MA $3.5
American Assassin 4K/VU $4.5 or HD/VU $3
American Frontier Trilogy (Sicario, Wind River, Hell or High Water) HD/VU $7.5
American Made 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
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Anchorman 2 Legend Continues HD/VU or IT $2.5
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Angel of Mine 4K/VU $5.5
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Anna Karenina HD/IT $3.5
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Annihilation HD/VU $3
Antebellum 4K/VU $5
Ant-Man & Wasp HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Ant-Man HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
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Arctic HD/MA $4
Army of One HD/VU $3
Arnold Schwarzenegger 6-Film Collection (Last Stand, Total Recall, T-2, Red Heat, Maggie, Hercules in NY) HD/VU $14
Arrival HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Ash vs Evil Dead Season 3 HD/VU $5
Assassination Nation HD/MA $3.5
Assassin's Creed HD/MA $3
Atomic Blonde 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/MA $3
August Osage County HD/VU $3
Avengers Age of Ultron HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Avengers Endgame HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Avengers HD/GP $3
Avengers Infinity War HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Back to Future 3 HD/MA $3.5
Back to Future Trilogy 4K/MA $14 or HD/MA $9.5
Bad Boys for Life HD/MA $4
Bad Grandpa HD/VU or IT $2.5
Bad Words HD/IT $3
Bambi 2 HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Bambi HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Bangkok Dangerous HD/VU $4
Bank Job HD/VU $3.5
Barbie & Her Sisters in Great Puppy Adventure HD/VU or IT $3.5
Barbie in Princess Power HD/IT $3.5
Barbie Star Light Adventure HD/IT $3.5
Battle of Year HD/MA $3.5
Battleship HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Baywatch HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Beatriz at Dinner HD/VU $4.5
Beauty & Beast (1991) HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Beauty & Beast (2017) HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Before I Fall HD/VU or IT $3.5
Begin Again HD/VU $3.5
Beirut HD/MA $3.5
Ben-Hur (2016) HD/VU or IT $3.5
BFG HD/MA $3.5
Big Eyes HD/VU $3.5
Big Hero 6 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Big Lebowski 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Big Little Lies Season 1 HD/GP $2.5
Big Short HD/VU or IT $3.5
Birth of a Nation HD/MA $3.5
Black Panther 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $2.5
Black Widow HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Blackhat HD/IT $3.5
Blair Witch (2016) HD/IT $2.5
Blair Witch Project (1999) HD/VU $4
Blockers HD/MA $3.5
Bloodshot HD/MA $4
Boardwalk Empire Season 1 HD/VU or IT $4
Bombshell 4K/VU $5
Book Club 4K/IT $3
Book Club HD/VU $2.5
Book of Life HD/MA $3.5
Born a Champion 4K/VU $5
Boss Baby 2-Film Set HD/MA $6
Boss Baby HD/MA $2.5
Bourne Identity HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Bourne Legacy HD/VU $2
Bourne Supremacy HD/VU $3.5
Bourne Ultimatum 4K/MA or IT $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Boy 2 HD/IT $3.5
Boy Erased HD/MA $4
Boy HD/IT $3.5
Boyhood HD/VU or IT $2.5
Braveheart HD/VU $3.5
Braven HD/VU $4
Breakfast Club HD/IT $4
Breakthrough HD/MA $3
Burnt HD/VU $3.5
Butler HD/VU $3
Bye Bye Man (Unrated) HD/IT $2.5
Cabin in Woods 4K/VU or IT $4.5 or HD/VU $2.5
Call of Wild 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $2.5
Captain America Civil War HD/GP $2.5
Captain America First Avenger HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Captain America Winter Soldier HD/GP $3.5
Captain Marvel HD/GP $2
Captain Phillips HD/MA $3.5
Carol HD/VU $4
Cars 3 HD/GP $2.5
Case for Christ HD/IT $2.5
Chaos Walking 4K/VU $5
Chicago (Diamond Edition) HD/VU $4
Children (2008) HD/VU $4
Christopher Robin HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Cloverfield 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Coco HD/GP $2.5
Cold Pursuit 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Collection HD/VU $3.5
Columbiana (Unrated) HD/MA $4
Come & Find Me HD/VU $4
Commuter 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Company of Heroes HD/MA $4
Contraband HD/IT $3
Cooties HD/VU $4
Cornetto Trilogy (Shaun of Dead, Hot Fuzz, World's End) 4K/MA $15
Counselor HD/MA $4
Courier 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Crank 4K/VU $5.5
Crawl HD/VU $3
Crimson Peak HD/IT $3.5
Croods HD/VU $3.5
Cruella HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
D Train 4K/IT $4
Daddy's Home 2 HD/IT $3
Daddy's Home HD/VU $3
Dark Tower HD/MA $3.5
Darkest Hour (2017) 4K/MA $5.5
Darkest Minds HD/MA $4
Darkness HD/IT $3
Dawn of Planet of Apes HD/MA $3.5
Daybreakers 4K/VU $5.5
Deadpool 2 (w/Super Duper Cut) HD/MA $4
Deadpool HD/MA $2.5
Dear White People HD/VU $3.5
Deepwater Horizon 4K/IT $3
Dementia 13 (Director's Cut) HD/VU $4
Despicable Me 2 HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Despicable Me 3 4K/MA or IT $5
Despicable Me 4K/IT $5
Detroit HD/MA $3.5
Devil's Due HD/MA $3.5
Dilemma HD/VU $3.5
Dirty Dancing 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Disney Animated Short Films Collection HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Divergent Allegiant HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Divergent HD/VU $1.5 or 4K/IT $2
Divergent Insurgent HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Django Unchained HD/VU $3
Do Right Thing 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Doctor Strange HD/GP $2.5
Dom Hemingway HD/MA $3.5
Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot HD/VU $4
Doom (Unrated) 4K/MA $5.5
Doorman HD/VU $3.5
Doors 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Dora & Lost City of Gold HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Downton Abbey Movie HD/MA $3.5
Dracula Untold HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Draft Day HD/VU $3.5
Dragged Across Concrete HD/VU $3.5
Dreamkatcher HD/VU $4
Dredd 4K/VU or IT $4 or HD/VU $2.5
Duel (2016) HD/VU $3.5
Dumbo (2019) HD/GP $3
Dune 4K/MA $5.5
Dying of Light HD/VU $2.5
E.T. Extra Terrestrial 4K/VU or IT $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Edge of Seventeen HD/VU or IT $3
Edge of Tomorrow 4K/MA $5
Edward Scissorhands HD/MA $3.5
El Chicano HD/MA $4
Emoji Movie HD/MA $3
Encanto 4K/MA $4 or 4K/GP $3.5
Ender's Game HD/VU $2.5
Enemy at Gates HD/VU $4
Enough Said HD/MA $3.5
Epic HD/MA $3
Escape Plan HD/VU $2
Eternals HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Everest 4K/MA or IT $4.5
Ex Machina HD/VU $3
Exodus Gods & Kings HD/MA $3.5
Expendables 2 HD/VU or IT $1
Expendables 3 (Thea) HD/VU $2 or 4K/IT $2.5
Extreme Prejudice (1987) HD/VU $4
Fast & Furious (2009) HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Fast & Furious 6 (Ext) HD/VU $2 or 4K/IT $2.5
Fast & Furious 6-film Collection HD/VU $12.5
Fast & Furious 7-film Collection HD/VU $14
Fast & Furious 8-film Collection (9 Films) HD/MA $17.5
Fast & Furious 9-film Collection (11 Films) HD/MA $20
Fast & Furious HD/VU $3.5
Fast Color 4K/VU $5.5
Fast Five (Ext) HD/IT $2.5
Fatale (2020) 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Fate of Furious (Ext) HD/VU $2
Fate of Furious (Thea) HD/VU or IT $1.5
Fault in Our Stars HD/MA $3.5
Fences HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Ferdinand HD/MA $3.5
Fifty Shades Darker (Unrated) HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Fifty Shades Freed HD/MA $4
Fifty Shades of Grey (Unrated) HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Fighting with my Family HD/IT $4
Finding Dory HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Finding Nemo HD/GP $3.5
Finest Hours HD/GP $3
First Blood 4K/VU $5
First Man HD/MA $4
Flight HD/VU or IT $3
Florence Foster Jenkins HD/VU or IT $3
Footloose (2011) HD/IT $3
Forever My Girl HD/IT $3
Fortress HD/VU $4
Four Kids & It HD/VU $3.5
Fox & Hound 2 HD/MA $4
Frank & Lola HD/VU or IT $3
Frankenstein (1931) HD/VU $3.5
Free Guy HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
French Dispatch HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Friday 13th Pt 3 HD/VU $3.5
Frozen (Sing-Along Edition) HD/MA $2 or HD/GP $1.5
Frozen 2 4K/MA $4 or HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Frozen Ground (2013) HD/VU $3.5
Frozen HD/GP $2
Furious 7 (Ext) HD/VU $2 or 4K/IT $2.5
Fury HD/MA $3.5
G.I. Joe Retaliation HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Gambit (2012) HD/MA $4
Gambler HD/VU or IT $3
Gemini Man 4K/VU or IT $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Gentlemen 4K/IT $4.5
Get Out HD/MA $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Ghost in Shell (2017) 4K/VU or IT $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Ghost Team One HD/VU or IT $3.5
Ghostbusters (1984) HD/MA $3.5
Ghostbusters 2 HD/MA $3.5
Ghostbusters Afterlife HD/MA $4
Girl on Train HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Girl With All Gifts HD/VU $4
Girls Trip HD/VU or IT $2
Glass Castle 4K/VU $5.5
God's Not Dead 2 HD/MA or IT $2.5
God's Not Dead A Light in Darkness HD/MA $3
Gods of Egypt HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Gold (2016) HD/VU or IT $2.5
Gone Girl HD/MA $4
Good Dinosaur HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Good Kill HD/VU or IT $3.5
Grace Unplugged HD/VU $2
Greatest Showman HD/MA $3.5
Green Mile 4K/MA $5.5
Grey HD/VU or IT $3
Guardians of Galaxy Vol 1 HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Guardians of Galaxy Vol 2 HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Guest House (2020) 4K/VU $5
Guilt Trip HD/IT $3
Gunman HD/MA $3
Hacksaw Ridge HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Hail, Caesar! HD/IT $3
Halloween (2018) HD/MA $3
Hammer of Gods HD/VU $2
Hands of Stone HD/VU $3.5
Hannibal Season 1 HD/VU $5
Hard Target 2 HD/IT $1.5
Hardcore Henry HD/VU or IT $3.5
Hate U Give HD/MA $4
Hateful Eight HD/VU $3.5
Heat HD/MA $3
Hell Fest 4K/VU $5
Hell or High Water HD/VU $2.5
Hellboy (2019) 4K/VU $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Hercules (1997) HD/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $4
Hercules (2014) HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Here Comes Boom HD/MA $3.5
Hidden Figures HD/MA $3
Hillsong Let Hope Rise HD/IT $2
Hitman (Uncut) & Hitman 47 Bundle HD/MA $7
Hitman's Bodyguard HD/VU $3.5
Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Hocus Pocus HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Home Again HD/MA $3
Home Alone 2 HD/MA $3.5
Home Alone HD/MA $3.5
Homesman HD/VU $3
Honey 2 HD/VU $3
Hop HD/MA or IT $3
Hope Springs HD/MA $2.5
Hostiles 4K/VU $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Hot Fuzz HD/VU $4
Hotel Mumbai HD/MA $4
Hotel Transylvania HD/MA $3.5
Hours (2013) HD/VU $4
How Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) 4K/IT $4
How to Train Your Dragon 2 HD/MA $2.5
How to Train Your Dragon HD/VU $3.5
How to Train Your Dragon Trilogy HD/MA $9
Hugo HD/VU or IT $3
Hunger Games 4-Film Collection HD/VU $8
Hunger Games Catching Fire HD/VU $1.5 or 4K/IT $2
Hunger Games HD/VU $1.5 or 4K/IT $2
Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Hunter Killer 4K/VU $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Huntsman Winter's War (Ext) HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
I Can Only Imagine HD/VU $4
I Feel Pretty HD/IT $2
I Frankenstein HD/VU or IT $2.5
Ice Age Collision Course HD/MA $3
Incredibles 2 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Incredibles HD/GP $3.5
Independence Day Resurgence HD/MA $2.5
Indiana Jones & Temple of Doom 4K/VU $5.5
Indignation HD/VU $4
Initiation 4K/VU $5 or HD/VU $3.5
Inside Out HD/GP $2
Instant Family 4K/IT $3.5
Interstellar HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Into Woods HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Invisible Man (1933) HD/MA $3.5
Invisible Man (2020) 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Iron Man HD/GP $3.5 or HD/GP $2
Iron Mask (2019) HD/VU $4.5
It Follows HD/VU $3.5
It's a Wonderful Life 4K/VU or IT $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Jack Reacher HD/VU $3
Jack Reacher Never Go Back HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Jacob's Ladder HD/VU $4
Jarhead 3 Siege (Unrated) HD/IT $2.5
Jason Bourne HD/VU $2.5
Jason Statham 4-Film (War, Crank 1 & 2, Transporter 3) HD/VU $10
Jaws 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Jeff Who Lives at Home HD/VU $4
Jersey Boys HD/MA $2.5
Jesus Music HD/VU $3.5
Jigsaw 4K/VU $4.5
Joe HD/VU $3.5
John Wick 1 & 2 Bundle HD/VU $4
John Wick 3 Parabellum 4K/VU $4.5
John Wick Chapter 2 HD/VU $3.5
John Wick HD/VU $2
John Wick Trilogy (Parabellum 4K) HD/VU $9
Jonah Hex HD/MA $4.5
Joy HD/MA $3
Judy 4K/VU $5
Jungle Book (2016) 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $2.5
Jungle Cruise HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Jurassic Park 3 HD/VU $3.5
Jurassic Park 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Jurassic World 5-Film Collection HD/MA $14
Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/MA $3
Jurassic World HD/VU $2.5
Justice (2017) HD/VU or IT $3
Kevin Hart Let Me Explain HD/VU or IT $3
Kick-Ass 4K/VU $5.5 or HD/VU $4
Kid Who Would Be King 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Kidnap HD/VU or IT $2.5
Killer Elite HD/IT $3
Killerman HD/VU $4
Kin (2018) 4K/VU $4.5 or HD/VU $3
King Kong (2005) 4K/MA or IT $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Kingsman Golden Circle 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/MA $3
Kingsman Secret Service 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Knick Season 1 HD/IT $3.5
Knick Season 2 HD/IT $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Kung Fu Panda 3 HD/MA $3
La La Land 4K/IT $3.5
Labor Day HD/VU or IT $3
Lady & Tramp HD/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $4
Lady Macbeth HD/VU $4.5
Last Christmas HD/MA $4
Last Exorcism HD/VU $4
Last Knights HD/VU $3.5
Last Man (2019) HD/VU $4
Last Stand HD/IT $2
Last Vegas HD/MA $3.5
Last Witch Hunter HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Leatherface HD/VU $4
Legend of Hercules 4K/IT $3
Leprechaun 7-Film Collection HD/VU $12
Les Miserables (2012) HD/VU or IT $2
Let Me Explain HD/IT $2.5
Let's be Cops HD/MA $3.5
Life (2017) HD/MA $3.5
Life of Crime HD/VU $3.5
Life of Pi 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA or IT $3.5
Light of My Life HD/IT $3.5
Like a Boss HD/VU $3.5
Lilo & Stitch 2 Stitch Has a Glitch HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Lilo & Stitch HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Lincoln Lawyer 4K/VU $6.5 or HD/VU $4
Lion King (1994) HD/GP $3
Lion King (2019) 4K/MA $4 or HD/GP $2
Logan HD/MA $3
Logan Lucky 4K/MA or IT $4.5
Lone Ranger HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Lone Survivor HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Long Shot HD/VU $3.5
Longest Ride HD/MA $3
Longest Week HD/VU $3.5
Looper HD/MA $3.5
Lorax (1972) HD/MA $5
Lorax HD/VU $3
Lords of Salem HD/VU $4
Lost World Jurassic Park HD/MA $3
Love & Monsters HD/VU $4
Love Coopers HD/VU or IT $4
Love, Simon HD/MA $3.5
Loving HD/VU or IT $3.5
Luca HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Lucy HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Mad Max 2 Road Warrior 4K/VU $5.5
Madagascar 3 Europe's Most Wanted HD/VU or IT $3
Magnificent Seven (2016) HD/VU $3
Maleficent 4K/MA $4 or HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Maleficent Mistress of Evil HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Mama HD/IT $3
Man Who Shot Liberty Vance 4K/VU $5.5
Mandela Long Walk to Freedom HD/VU $4
Martian HD/MA $3.5
Mary Poppins (1964) HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Mary Poppins Returns HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Matrix Resurrections 4K/MA $5.5
Max Steel HD/IT $3
Maze Runner Death Cure HD/MA $3.5
Maze Runner HD/MA $3.5
McKenna Shoots for Stars HD/IT $2
Mechanic Resurrection HD/VU $2.5
Megan Leavey HD/IT $3
Midnight Sun HD/MA $3.5
Midway 4K/VU $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Mile 22 HD/IT $3
Million Dollar Arm HD/GP $2.5
MindGamers HD/MA or IT $3.5
Minions 4K/MA or IT $4.5 or HD/VU $3
Misconduct HD/VU $2.5
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children HD/MA $3
Missing Link HD/MA $4
Mission Impossible 3 4K/VU $4.5
Mission Impossible 4 Ghost Protocol HD/VU $2
Mission Impossible 5 Rogue Nation HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Mission Impossible 6 Fallout 4K/VU or IT $4.5
Mission Impossible 6-film Set 4K/VU $23 or HD/VU $17
Moana HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Moneyball HD/MA $3
Monkey Kingdom HD/MA $3
Monster High Electrified HD/VU or IT $2.5
Monsters University HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Monuments Men HD/MA $3.5
Mortal Engines 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Mortal HD/VU $4
Mortal Instruments City of Bones HD/MA $3
Mother! HD/VU $2.5
Mother's Day HD/IT $2.5
Much Ado About Nothing (2013) HD/VU $4
Mud HD/VU $2.5
Mulan (2020) 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Mummy (1999) HD/VU $4
Mummy (2017) 4K/MA or IT $4.5
Muppets Most Wanted HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Murder on Orient Express HD/MA $3.5
My All American HD/MA or IT $3.5
My Fair Lady 4K/VU $5.5
Nebraska HD/VU $3
Nerve HD/IT $3.5
New Mutants HD/GP $3
News of World 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/MA $4
Night at Museum Secret of Tomb HD/MA $3
Nightmare Alley 4K/MA $5.5 or HD/GP $3.5
Nightmare Before Christmas HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
No Escape (2015) HD/VU $3
No Strings Attached HD/VU or IT $3.5
No Time to Die 4K/IT $4.5
Noah HD/VU or IT $2.5
Nobody's Fool HD/IT $2.5
Non-Stop HD/VU or IT $3
Norm of North HD/VU $2.5
Nostalgia (2018) HD/MA $3.5
Now You See Me 2 HD/VU $3.5 or 4K/IT $4
Now You See Me HD/VU or IT $2.5
Nutcracker & Four Realms HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Oblivion 4K/MA or IT $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Occupation (2018) HD/VU $3.5
Occupation Rainfall HD/VU $4
Office Christmas Party HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Olaf's Frozen Adventure HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Ong Bak 2 HD/VU $3
Onward 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $2.5
Other Woman HD/MA $3
Ouija HD/IT $3.5
Ouija Origin of Evil HD/VU or IT $3.5
Outlander Season 1 Vol 1 HD/VU $5.5
Overdrive HD/IT $2.5
Overlord 4K/IT $3.5
Oz Great & Powerful HD/GP $2.5
Paddington HD/VU $3.5
Pain & Gain HD/VU or IT $3.5
Paranormal Activity 3 (Ext) HD/VU or IT $3
Paranormal Activity 4 (Unrated) HD/VU or IT $2.5
Paranormal Activity HD/VU $4
Paranormal Activity Marked Ones HD/VU or IT $3.5
Passengers HD/MA $3
Patriot Games 4K/VU $5
Patriot's Day HD/VU $3
Peanuts Movie HD/MA $3
Penguins of Madagascar HD/MA $3.5
Pet Sematary (2019) 4K/IT $3.5
Peter Pan (1953) HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Peter Rabbit HD/MA $3.5
Pete's Dragon (2016) HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Philomena HD/VU $2.5
Pinocchio (1940) HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Pirates of Caribbean Dead Men Tell No Tales 4K/MA $4.5 or HD/GP $2.5
Pitch Black (Unrated) HD/MA or IT $4
Pitch Perfect 2 4K/MA $4 or HD/VU $2.5
Pitch Perfect HD/VU $2.5 or 4K/IT $3
Pixar Short Films Collection Vol. 3 HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Planes Fire & Rescue HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Planes HD/MA $2.5 or HD/GP $2
Playing with Fire HD/IT $2.5
Pocahontas 2 Journey to a New World HD/GP $3.5
Pocahontas HD/MA $4 or HD/GP $3.5
Point Break (2015) 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Poison Rose 4K/VU $4.5
Pompeii HD/MA $3.5
Possession HD/VU or IT $2.5
Power Rangers (2017) 4K/VU or IT $4.5
Precious HD/VU $4.5
Predator (2018) HD/MA $3
Predator 4-Film Collection HD/MA $11
Premium Rush HD/MA $3.5
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies HD/MA $3.5
Primal HD/VU $3.5
Prodigy HD/VU $4
Project Almanac HD/IT $3.5
Protege HD/VU $4
Punisher 4K/VU $5.5
Punisher War Zone 4K/VU $5.5
Purge Anarchy HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Purge Election Year 4K/MA $5 or HD/MA $3.5
Purge HD/VU $3 or 4K/IT $3.5
Quarry 4K/VU $5
Queen & Slim HD/MA $4
Queen of Katwe HD/MA $3 or HD/GP $2.5
Ralph Breaks Internet HD/GP $2
Rambo (2008) 4K/VU $5.5
Rambo 3 4K/VU $5.5
Rambo 5-Film Collection 4K/VU $23 or HD/VU $17
Rambo First Blood Pt 2 4K/VU $5.5
Rambo Last Blood 4K/VU $4.5
Rango HD/VU $3.5
Raya & Last Dragon HD/MA $3.5 or HD/GP $3
Rear Window HD/MA $3.5
Reclaim HD/VU $3.5
RED 2 HD/VU $2
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Thanks to u/BlueFishcakes for the SSB universe.
[First] [Previous] [Next]
Chapter 18 - When It Rains It Pours
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- 18th of April 2024,13:10, Salem district, Sweden -
Adam finally, in the midst of what had now become a proper rainstorm, reached the outside of Vitsand. Only ten or fifteen minutes ago when Adam had driven past what he believed to be his little brother hand in hand with a shil’ it had just begun raining.
But now it had become a lot more aggressive, fairly quickly at that too, which was lucky for François that it only happened now when Adam was almost at his destination. Thinking of which, he took a right instead of going forward which would have taken him into Vitsand itself. François said he was at the beach nearby, well it was barely a beach considering how tiny it was. The beach could at most hold three families at once especially since there were really only space for three cars on the dirt parking lot there, but. Thanks to how secluded it was, whenever the family had gone there during the summer it was almost always empty and no one besides Adam's family and a couple of the locals even knew it existed.
And Adam now took the last turn he’d need to take before reaching his destination. that being onto a dirt road which went through a small patch of forest until it reached lake Mälaren and the unnamed beach François was currently waiting for Adam at.
Going slowly on the tight dirt road it didn’t take long for Adam to reach the beach and while he stopped just before the beach, on the tiny dirt parking spac, Adam could see something a little peculiar. Something that confirmed a theory he had rolling around in his brain whilst he was driving here.
And that something was a boat, a small fishing boat if Adam had to guess. That had simply been lodged into the beach, now stuck. Which had pretty much confirmed his idea that he had in fact gotten to the beach by boat. And seeing as François didn’t own a boat last time Adam heard anything, much less actually even lived in the area. It was likely stolen, now why François would steal a boat was a mystery, one Adam hoped the man himself could clear up.
Adam turned off the car, and dug out his phone out of his pocket. And just as he was about to call his older brother, there was a knock on the window. While it startled Adam a little he quickly glanced to his right where the knocking sound was emanating from and lo and behold, it was in fact his older brother, François.
After spotting him François quickly opened the red car door and sat himself in the Saab, reasonably so because the weather was fucking ridiculous. “Took you long enough” François said with a sigh, just from his voice anyone could deduce that he was pretty tired.
And another thing he realized as he looked over to his brother who was putting on his seatbelt was that he had a massive red splotch on his right thigh.
As if he had been bleeding there, he had clearly covered it with something , likely a bandage and it didn’t look like it was bleeding but Adam still found it rather concerning, reasonably so. “And what the fuck happened to you then?” He asked, the concern noticeable in his voice.
“Ah… I’ll explain but we need to get fucking going” “And we need to get going right about now because you took longer than I thought you would” François finished as he slumped down into the passenger seat. “Not really my fault but… whatever.” Was Adam’s response before he turned the car back on.
Turning the car back on the headlights lit up the darkness caused by the incredibly dark rain clouds. Adam slowly creaked his way around the tiny dirt parking lot before the car was finally facing the correct direction. Now going back the way he came from not many minutes ago at all, Adam realized he didn’t even know where François was supposed to be taken to.
“Where are you even supposed to be dropped off?” Adam asked, and to his question François, who while Adam was getting away from the parking lot had nearly fallen asleep in only a couple seconds. Jolted up at the question, hitting his knee on the glove compartment in the process. “AAH FUCK!” François all but yelled out. Holding his shaking, bloodied leg he responded after a couple seconds “Aah I mean, I don't really know honestly, I didn’t really think id have to go all the way over here”
“Would dropping you off at mom & dads place work? Also, my first concern would be you seeing a doctor, I don’t know what the fuck you’ve been up to but you clearly hurt.” Adam retorted, a little more serious than prior.
“Sure that's fine…. Also I don’t think that's necessary” His older brother responded as they finally made it out of the little forest and onto the road that would take them down to Salem, away from Vitsand. “I'm only injured in that leg and I think it's only really shrapnel and a big burn, scar, thing? I'm not really sure, I haven't had much time to diagnose what it is.”
“I… I'm not going to ask yet how that happened but are you sure you can handle that yourself without getting an infection?”
“Look, i'm trying to escape here and that would be completely thrown out the window if I went to a hospital now”
“Worst case scenario I go to one in a week, the chance of them knowing who I am then is considerably lower, still not something I want to or plan on doing but it's a last ditch choice I could take.”
“You know mom will probably force you to go to the hospital the moment she sees you like that?” Adam responded with a slight chuckle. Because it was true, to be fair any other sane person would have also done so but their mother was a little special, aggressively caring would probably be the best descriptor Adam could think of regarding his mother, she definitely had character either way.
“Yeah yeah whatever, I’ll deal with it then I've got bigger concerns” François said as Adam saw something he really hoped he wouldn’t on his way down. That being what he believed to be his little brother Andreas and a shil girl roughly the same age as him. Luckily though, They seemed to have sat themselves under a fairly large tree to wait out the storm. And, the boy, who Adam was almost entirely certain was Andreas had his head turned away from the car staring intently at the woman he was with.
However as quickly as he saw them, Adam drove past them. And François either didn’t have the energy to care or simply didn’t register that they were there. Either way, Adam was relieved as that meant he didn’t have to deal with François freaking out. Which he’d had the luck of never doing prior, sure he’d heard his parents deal with him having an episode but he never had to get involved himself. Mainly because all of his mental issues came post-invasion and they hadn’t seen each other much post-invasion. Besides the very early days of the invasion when Adam moved back into his parents house and François also lived there because he had moved there a month or so prior for work in inner-city Stockholm.
This pretty random request has been one of the few this post invasion he’d even texted or called Adam, muchless met in person. Since only a little bit after the invasion François took almost all the money he had and bought a small house with a decent amount of acreage in effectively the middle of nowhere. Meaning, since he’s moved no one’s really seen or heard much from him.
However as they were nearing Salem and there with François drop off point, Adam wanted to know what in the fuck was going on. “So, you said you’d explain…”
“Yeah about that… It's a long story but it's the least I can do I suppose….”
------------------
- 18th of April 2024,13:20, Salem district, Sweden -
Tamarz and her pod landed on the very small, sand beach. The one the suspect who managed to flee, crashed the boat he somehow stole into. How he even managed to go under their, and hundreds of marines' noses was beyond Tamarz and how he then had time to jack a boat, drive it. Slowly mind you, out into the greater part of lake “Malaren” before the data teams even saw any irregularities via satellite was a fucking mystery to everyone including the aforementioned data teams.
Or alternatively, they know how he did it but don’t want to say how because it would prove them incompetent. Either way he had gotten extremely lucky that in the first place, no one found him in the woods, but then that no one spotted his slow limping towards the first town with access to the lake where he then spent, according to data teams, twenty whole fucking minutes getting the engine of the boat he stole to start.
Twenty whole fucking minutes, and during that entire time no one had any fucking idea where he was. And Tamarzs and her pod were still rolling around in that fucking forest trying to find the goddess damned stiff. Tamarz almost wished she didn’t have contact with the data teams, but alas deathsheads are given a lot more freedom to act as they wish and so they, more specifically the pod leader, needs to have quick ways to contact those who collect such information, aka the data teams. Sure she did have a superior but beyond that and the empress herself no one could really get their tits involved in what the fuck she decided to do.
But back to the reality of the situation, at least she could have a little piece of mind knowing the numbskull marines, being several hundred in number covering a fairly large area. Couldn’t find the literal bleeding, limping man who was probably walking for an hour straight before he got the goddess damned boat.
How no one even saw the blood trail was mind boggling. And the only ones who’d thus far even been remotely close to the whore was Tamarz and her little pod of deathsheads. Which to be fair shouldn’t be surprising given that they are you know, deathsheads. But still it irked Tamarz to no end that they still hadn’t caught him. Since it's not like he was an expert, he clearly miscalculated several things which she SHOULD have been able to take advantage of but she missed those in the moment and thus lost the advantage.
At least now they know roughly where he is, because for a little bit no one had any idea where he was. Luckily the data teams managed to get their tusks out of their asses and found him driving away on the boat. But alas, there wasn’t much point dwelling about the past and the small mistakes Tamarz made as a pod leader that made them miss their suspect entirely.
Turning the vic off, Tamarz stepped out, her three pod members following suit. As she stepped out she noticed two things immediately.
One, that it was raining, like a lot. This weather reminded her a lot of Shil itself actually, although this wouldn’t be considered a particularly rainy day back on Shil. Unlike here where this amount of rain was fairly rare from her personal experience. Also that she hadn’t even noticed the rain before stepping out was a bit concerning to herself. She’d been pretty deep in thought and concentrated on the task at hand but surely she would notice if the rain went from zero to a hundred, right?
And second was the boat in question, stranded on the tiny beach they landed on. The suspect, clearly in too much of a hurry to flee, didn't even bother trying to park it or anything; he just crashed it into the beach.
At least it was nice to know that the data teams weren’t just talking out of their ass when they said he crashed it.
One other thing she did realize as she was looking around was the lack of a strong blood trail. Which to be fair, could be because of the rain, especially since Tamarz didn’t really even know for how long the rain had been going on. But still there should be some red residue left on the ground. But there was only a faint streak of red going from the crashed boat to a tree.
And from that tree Tamarz thought she could make out a small red line going to the tiny dirt parking lot, however, if it was blood it was so diluted that she wasn’t sure. How he even made it this far without fainting was also a mystery, since at least according to the experts from prior. He shouldn’t have long at all until he either dies of blood loss or simply goes unconscious.
But deciding not to waste more time than necessary, Tamarz got her move on.
“Mejoxia, Juia, you two do a quick grid search of the small wooded area here to make sure he isn’t hiding here” “Me and Réka will quickly look through the boat to see if there’s anything of interest there”
At that, all three in unison shouted “Ma’am yes Ma’am!” the two who were going to search the woods, turning around to do so. With that Tamarz and rakiri pod mate Réka made the small walk from the parked vic to the boat the terrorist had left stranded at the beach.
The short walk up to the boat was in silence. But as they got onto the rather small boat, they saw quite a lot of things that caught their attention. First of all the blood, his blood, was everywhere. But especially around the driver's seat, where there was also a first aid kit with all of its contents strewn around the drivers seat. Secondly he had opened what Tamarz could only assume was the engine of the boat located under the helm. And there were crossed wires, literally, whilst other wires had seemingly been cut off at random. And two wires had clearly been cut, and then forced to reconnect with something humans call “silver tape”
While Tamarz really had no idea what she was looking at, this was likely how he forced the boat to start in the first place, in order to facilitate his escape. While she was looking around she noticed something, under a table that was between two small couches. There was a rifle, which Tamarz pointed to, quickly alerting Réka to the contraband.
However as she was about to go under the table to retrieve the weapon, she received a call. And the visor in her helmet immediately let her know whom was calling.
It was in fact, her contact within the data-teams, Mrs Ele'ya, Do'ro Ele'ya.
“I will make this call quick since you need to go immediately after it” Do'ro immediately began speaking as soon as Tamarz answered the call. With but a quick paus she continued.
“We have determined the suspects current position to be near the town of Salem, not more than twenty minutes by road from your current position and maybe two or three by flight”
“I’ll send you the exact coordinates but you need to move now, last he was seen by the other data team on “CCTV” footage was in a red car, they’re unsure if he’s driving the vehicle or not so you might have two armed suspects” “Move now, don’t waste time.” And before Tamarz even got a singular word in, not even a “Yes Ma’am” Do'ro turned off the call.
Well as Mrs Ele’ya said, Tamarz better get moving. While it was a little disturbing that this was all getting so close to home, this was Tamarz’s chance to redeem her own pride, and the pride of the empire from some mentally ill primitive….
[Next]

[Claim Information at the Bottom]
Centuries Since Liberation

The Kingdom of Asmanakashra

On a cool summer evening, a gathering of children formed a semicircle around the amber fire, eyes filled with a mix of wonder and excitement. Having entered their 10th year, the boys, girls, and ashten of Jorchiktele were finally old enough to hear the history of their kingdom, including its less savory aspects. As the young ones began to settle around her hearth, the high priestess Ajarma smiled to herself. The story of liberation was her favorite tale to sing. Once everyone was accounted for, her eyes widened as she became animated and her bracelets of iron, copper, and stone jangled together to form their rhythmic clangor. Performing the dance passed down for generations, the priestess began to sing Asmanakashra’s epic of liberation.
“Long ago we worked the mines,”
“Forced to toil akin to beasts.”
“Ancestors from far and wide brought in chains,”
“Unity under the crack of whips.”
“Spirits remained unbroken,”
“Even as bodies collapsed.”
“As we worked we learned,”
“Of gifts placed by the Gods.”
“As we dug deeper and deeper,”
“The bountiful mountains sheltered us.”
“One day the lowland devils,”
“Grew too weak to whip us.”
“Metal in hand we caved their skulls,”
“A people finally freed.”
“Now their bones pave our mountain paths,”
“And their blood grows our wine.”
“We honor our sacred freedom,”
“Praise the Mountains, the King, and the Mines!”
Her performance caused a raucous response from the young audience, who answered the end of her sacred tale with a chorus of oaths:

“Praise the Mountains, the King, and the Mines! Praise the Mountains, the King, and the Mines! Praise the Mountains, the King, and the Mines!”

Sanctification

King Damiharthro of Anagekh, his high priestess Ajarma and an assortment of porters were nearing the final stop of their annual tour of the kingdom. It was nearing the end of the harvest season, and chilled weather was sure to follow. In his youth, King Damiharthro had enjoyed traversing the beautiful hills surrounding his village, but as old age made his body weary even simple tasks like riding his horse were becoming difficult. Even as the evening sun warmed the hillsides and colored his white wool shawl, Damiharthro felt a chill deep in his bones. To age truly is a curse, he thought to himself. Thankfully, this was the last stop on his final tour as king, after which he could finally rest his weary bones.
Damiharthro and his entourage crested a small ridge, and on the other side they found their destination. The village of Keshthrute sat nestled between the ridge and the imposing base of a mountain, with a small brook bubbling through the village’s center. Southwest of Keshthrute and at the intersection of ridge and stoneface was the mine that had given Keshthrute its name. Before liberation, the Keshthrute mine had exported copper far abroad, feeding the war machines of empires far from these sacred lands. After liberation, Keshthrute followed the example of her fellow mine-clans and continued operations, albeit with less demand and under significantly better conditions. After all, the Gods did not fill their mountain homes with metal so it could go unused. Outside Keshthrute’s low stone wall, a man in traditional earth tone wool greeted Damiharthro and his assistants. The man bowed to his king, before declaring,
“I am Nakabno of Keshthrute, the beto of the Keshthrute mine-clan. May your ground be stable.”
“May your ground be stable.” King Damiharthro replied. “Let the sanctification ritual begin.”
Thereafter, the priestess Ajarma led the procession. First they visited Keshthrute’s village shrine at the center of the town square, a squat stone table with a chunk of copper ore embellished at the center of the table’s surface. Upon hearing her sacred chants, the townsfolk surrounding the party cheered. Then they visited the highest point in town, where Ajarma offered her prayers to the herders. At this time of year, many of the shepherds had already migrated east for warmer weather, so prayers at Keshthrute’s highest point were meant to carry across the wind and find their intended target. Next Ajarma arrived at the town’s vineyard. Keshthrute was too high in elevation for the best wine production, but the small grapes received Ajarma’s blessing nonetheless. By this point Damiharthro was fighting off the desire to fall asleep while still riding his horse, but he knew the most important part of the ritual still had yet to be conducted.
Ajarma, Damiharthro, and Nakabno and the other members of the procession finally arrived at the mine just as the sun was sinking beneath the mountain. Ajarma pulled out the sacred mashthra, a thin and slightly concave plate of iron. After a moment, she took her wooden staff and struck the face of the mashthra. The metallic clang reverberated off the mountain face, and the sound resonated well into the ravines beyond. For a moment there was silence, as Ajarma used her mythic intuition to interpret the sound of wood striking metal. Having interpreted the echos, Ajarma told the assembly,
“The Gods favor Keshthrute, but be warned as this year’s winter will be severe. In spring this chill will haunt you, do not plant until later in the season.”
And with that, the augury and sanctification were over. Damiharthro privately had many reservations about the auguries, as he knew they were not always correct. Such was the fickle will of the Gods he supposed.
Before leaving, Nakabno approached Damiharthro with a serene smile on his face. “May your ground be stable, King Damiharthro of Anagekh.”
“And may your ground be stable, Nakabno of Keshthrute. I believe I shall see you this winter?”
“As is my duty,” Nakabno replied.

Lord of the Mine-Clans

Nakabno rode through the chilled winter night as snow quietly settled around him. In Keshthrute snow storms were larger and more frequent, but down here the falling flakes maintained their blissful serenity without a hint of danger. He had always enjoyed the snow, but he certainly would not mind the more mild winters of Jorchiktele. Just as this thought crossed his mind, the fires of the capitol became visible through the darkness. Thankfully he would not have to spend another night camped along the mountain paths, and he would arrive on time if only barely. An extra day’s delay might not have hurt his chances, but it is always difficult to discern what will contribute to the other betya’s considerations.
Jorchiktele had always been an imposing city, situated between two rivers and with mountains to its north and south. The most prominent hill is the eponymous Jorchiktele, which towers over the settlement from the southwest. From the north and the west, the Mitele and Atuare rivers come together to form the Ishtene River, and wheat fields blanket the small valley. When the basin along the Ishtene gives way to the gradually increasing face of Jorchiktele, the wheat fields transform into terraces, although these earthworks do not extend more than two-hundred feet above their lowland counterparts. Above the terraces come squat clay houses, where the majority of Jorchiktele’s people lived. These abodes had a single doorway in and out, and were constructed from the clay sediments harvested in the basin below. Above the clay homes are the stone houses of the merchants and landowners. While they have the influence to live in larger homes of polished sandstone, they pale in comparison to the estates granted to betya. Near the summit of Jorchiktele, these complexes had multiple levels and are built out of the finest stone in the region. They are often accented with gold and copper, two ores long associated with the nobility. Just beneath the final summit are two perfectly square buildings, cast in an amber hue as the flames of a thousand torches lick the polished granite surfaces. Even from this distance, Nakabno could see the metallic iconography catching in the light of the flames, a symbol of authority as resolute as the ground beneath his feet. Even after having visited multiple times, Nakabno was in awe riding towards Asmanakasha’s largest settlement. He hoped that he would soon be able to call it home.
Upon entering the city itself, an attendant led Nakabno to his local estate. As a beto Nakabno was entitled to stay in the luxurious structure while he was visiting the capitol, which far outshone his living quarters back in Keshthrute. The dimensions of his estate, given its position near the summit of the mountain, should have been impossible. Much like the other buildings of Jorchiktele, Nakabno’s temporary abode was partially built into the mountainside, sitting atop a manufactured plot of level ground. Nakabno always privately wondered if these would slide down the mountain-face, but he did not dare question his countrymen’s craftsmanship. Despite these concerns Nakabno had a wonderful night’s sleep, and around noon donned his ceremonial woolen robes to ascend the cobblestone path towards the Royal Palace.
After being ushered in by royal attendants, Nakabno found himself at the center of the palatial complex. The sturdy roof that covered the majority of the building gave way to an open circular courtyard, dotted with fire pits to keep the participants warm in the winter air. Alongside the lack of roofing, the polished granite floors of the palace were replaced with the bare earth of the mountain. Arranged in a circle were a collection of wooden seats and a single floor mat, all of which were empty when Nakabno had arrived. Early once again, that must count for something, he thought to himself.
As noon drew closer, the other betya entered the courtyard. Following them was Ajarma, the priestess of Jorchiktele, and finally King Damiharthro of Anagekh. In the few months since Nakabno had last seen the aged King, his eyes had become even more sunken, and his arms looked like branches in the depths of winter. He had already shed the royal white robes, but atop his head he still wore the Royal Crown. The King waddled to his rightful place on the floor mat, and Ajarma helped him take his seat. Despite his decrepit appearance, King Damiharthro wore a proud smile. After all, his burdens in life were about to be lightened at last.
Once everyone had arrived, Ajarma stepped into the center of the circle. Striking her mashthra and listening to it’s holy resonance, Ajarma announced with a thundering voice,
“The Gods have willed the selection of our next King, deliberation has begun!”
With this announcement, the many betya took their opportunities to speak during their allotted time. Each of these men had been elected in a similar process by their Mine-Clans, whether due to their work ethic, personal charisma, or raw talent when it came to mining and smelting. In addition to these qualities, the men were now to be judged by their administrative careers as well. King Damiharthro heard the arguments of the betya with increasing disinterest, it was clear this long process was wearing out the already weak King. Nonetheless, he remained awake long enough to hear all of the betya make their pitches, after which the debates began.
It was now up to the representatives to pick the leader they would rally behind through a voting process. The new King would require all other members to vote for him, so as could be imagined the selection process could last days or even weeks. Before Nakabno got a second opportunity to speak, the winter sun had already set, signaling the end of the day’s discussions. The betya left the courtyard and headed to their respective manors for the night, but as they say politics do not sleep. Nakabno spent the night hosting a grand celebration for his fellow betya, hoping that his own personal charisma would be enough to secure his place as the King of Asmanakashra.
Four days after deliberation had begun, Nakabno's plan had paid off. Upon entering the courtyard, everyone in attendance agreed to vote for their pleasant host. King Damiharthro, having seen Nakabno’s success only months prior, agreed with the verdict. After the striking of the mashthra, Ajarma carefully removed the Royal Crown from Damiharthro’s head and placed it on Nakabno’s. This artifact had been passed between kings for centuries, a golden ring studded with limestone, sandstone, and granite on the band. At the center of the forehead, the brand dipped towards the nose, the central bridge adorned with copper and iron stones. The Royal Crown fit Nakabno perfectly, and a wide smile spread across his face.
“Hail King Nakabno of Keshthrute!” shouted Ajarma.
“Hail! Hail! Hail!” came a chorus of voices.
Once the ceremony was completed, Damiharthro pulled King Nakabno aside.
“You know my liege, the title of King is a heavy burden to bear. When I was first chosen decades ago the title had been perfunctory, and my role mattered very little in the grand scheme of the Kingdom. But things are changing. In the past few years, there have been reports of other kingdoms ascending, even those who once yoked us in chains. This has the potential to be an unstable time, King Nakabno, and all I ask is that you rule well.”
“Thank you for this advice, Damiharthro of Anagekh. May your ground be stable.”
“May your ground be stable, King Nakabno of Keshthrute.”
Claim Name: The Kingdom of Asmanakashra
Claim Type: Confederation of the Mine-Clans/State
Starting Age: Iron Age
Map: here
Technology: Writing, Bronze Working, Iron Working, Horse Domestication

The cast of Strange New World has completed a season two press junket related to MCM Comic Con in which they talked to multiple outlets about what we can expect in season two of Strange New Worlds.
I thought it would be nice to gather the information I've found in a central hub so people who are interested don't have to track down every interview themselves. Feel free to click over to the interviews and listen to them in their entirety, or simply read the highlights I have provided below.
All Access Star Trek highlights:

• Number One's trial will occur in episode two, Rigel VII's return will be in episode four, and Lower Decks cross-over will be in episode seven (it will be directed by Jonathan Frakes).
• Strange New Worlds will have more classic comedic scenes this season.
• Uhura will be more comfortable "letting her hair down."
• Each episode feels like a movie, genre continues to play an important role in the episodic nature of this season. "Feels almost like different shows." Rebecca Romijn is not sure that all the genre work done this season will be embraced by all fans.
• A fan asked if there was a musical episode this season, Celia Rose Gooding said she could not answer the question. Celia did say that the impact of Hemmer's death will be felt in season two and the audience will learn more about his and Uhura's relationship even though he's gone.
• Lower Decks cross-over is "ridiculously fun" according to Rebecca Romijin. Jonathan Frakes is repping the ship name Spoimler. Jack got to do some improvising. Kirk isn't in the cross-over.
• Number One feels the freedom of getting to live authentically after her courtroom episode. Described as a "metamorphosis."
• Pike is mostly done navel-gazing, but his challenge continues to be to remind himself that the journey is the destination. Captain Batel and their relationship has been an important part of that reminder this season.
• M'Benga is still finding his way, at least initially. It's a struggle, but he continues to go forward to see what his future will bring. More of a focus on M'Benga and Nurse Chapel. The audience will learn about their backstory.
• According to Jess Bush, Spock and Chapel's relationship gets "really complicated" this season.
• Ethan Peck talked about how difficult it was to keep in mind Spock and Kirk's relationship because their characters are currently so far from the beginning of the original series. Ethan mentioned Carol Kane and how he enjoyed getting to work with her and become friends with her. He also said he's most excited for fans to see episode five.
• Paul Wesley talked about how he thought it would be a mistake to automatically be the version of Kirk we see in the original series. Kirk is still trying to figure himself out. The fun in playing the character is to slowly evolve into who we are familiar with. Says in many ways Kirk is still a boy in Strange New Worlds. He's still a lieutenant, he's not ready to be a captain yet. Paul wants to get to the point where he can play the character as someone who has a deep confidence and an unwavering sense of who he is but Kirk isn't there yet.
• Spock will go through many different aspects of self-exploration. He may appear more human at times, and more Vulcan at other times. Ethan said the writers are writing him more human than in the original series.
• Carol Kane will be a recurring character, meaning she will not be in every episode.

Open Pike Night highlights:

• M'Benga's shows different aspects of his personality this season. He has more action scenes. More of his past and history will be revealed this season. He will be on an away mission.
• What the audience is watching in season two is Melissa Navia at the most difficult point in her life due to the loss of her partner, Brian. It was infinitely more difficult to play Ortegas in season two due to that loss, but she did it.
• Ensign Uhura is a bit more established than Cadet Uhura. She now has people that have to answer to her, instead of having to answer to everyone else but she's still human and still trying to figure herself out. She's one step closer to the Uhura we know in TOS this season.
• La'An and Uhura's relationship is different in season two. Uhura is a bit more relaxed around La'An. She also stands up to La'An in episode two.

Other interview links: Cast beaming in, Celia Rose Gooding talking about Uhura's relationship with Hemmer, what the cast is excited for in season two, Spocks relationship with T'Pring, working with Jonathan Frakes, playing legacy characters.

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Autumn 4986, 16 Aoimoth
Shon and Nangran hobbled their horses at the base of a steep hill deep in the woods north of Hamerfoss. They'd left at fourth bell, before any of the other Squires had woken for their morning run, and it had still taken them hours of riding through narrow trails to reach this place. At least they hadn't run into any monsters. The snow that had dusted the landscape during the night lay thick here, crunching underfoot and occasionally flopping noisily to either side as it fell from the tall evergreen branches.
Shon adjusted the strap of his sword across his chest and reached his left hand back to brush shaking fingers over its hilt. He'd been glad when the Paladins insisted he take it with him. To them, it marked Shon as a representative of Hengist and the Temple. To Shon, it was a sign of his hard work and resolve. Having it was a comfort.
Nangran started up the hill, and Shon hurried to follow. The smith hadn’t spoken a word since they set out, not even to try and ease Shon’s anxiety, for which Shon was grateful. Master Daunas had tried to sound confident as Shon saddled his borrowed horse, and The Major General had offered him encouragement as they mounted. Neither realized how much that just drove home the desperation of the situation in Shon’s mind.
The smith pulled his heavy cloak tighter, and Shon looked away. He hadn’t bothered to wear his cloak. He'd never really felt chilled in the winter like others seemed to. Now that he knew why, he wished he had. Cold continued to swirl around him, enhanced by his worries. If he could just block those emotions, the power would never have been a problem to begin with.
The trees thinned the higher they climbed, disappearing almost entirely as they crested the top of the hill. The clearing looked over the treetops, offering an unimpeded view of the horizon. Forest all around, with flatland to the south and rocky mountain peaks to the north. Only a handful of small trees grew in the clearing, and in the middle stood a little ramshackle hut only slightly larger than an outhouse.
Nangran threw his arm out, stopping Shon from walking past him, "Don't touch anything. And don't be surprised if he says no right off."
Shon nodded, trying to swallow down his fear so it wouldn't be seen in his eyes. Dropping his hand, Nangran started forward again, finishing, "Be honest, but not insulting." The instructions, -or perhaps advice?- seemed like common courtesy, which made Shon wonder why quiet Nangran had bothered to say anything.
As they drew closer to the little shack, Shon could make out a sign on the door. He squinted to read it and had just made out 'No Soliciting' when the door swung open, banging against the wall and sending birds into flight. An old man, so thin he looked like a skeleton with yellow skin pulled tight across its bones, stormed out. Wearing nothing but a loincloth, he was shaking a thick stick at them that glinted with red rubies in the low autumn light.
"I already paid my dues for this decade! So you can take your request and shove it-" Shon’s hand instinctively reached for his sword, but Nangran just crossed his arms over his barrel chest. The old -virtually naked- man stopped yelling mid-rant and lifted one shriveled arm to shade his eyes as he squinted at them, "Eh? Flintchest, what’re you doing way out here with a blasted mage in tow?"
Rather than answer, Nangran started forward again, he didn't much care for talking, let alone shouting. Looking from Nangran to the loincloth man, Shon slowly lowered his arm, but still took position to the left and just behind the Smith as they approached the crazy man with the glittering club.
"No mage." Nangran said as he came right up to the strange old man, "Squire." he glanced over his shoulder at Shon and finished, "Sorcerer."
The old man spat on the ground and moved his squint to Shon. Running his eyes from the top of his black head to the tip of his polished boots and back, exaggerating the movement before he stopped at the Squire’s cold blue eyes.
He spat again, then barked "Where's your familiar?" scanning first the ground at Shon's feet then the sky above his head.
Shon blinked at him, furrowing his brow in confusion at the question. The mage snapped his fingers impatiently, "Your familiar! All Sorcerers have a familiar."
Nangran came to his rescue, "Just woke last night," he said shortly.
The mage spat again but didn't argue, "Well, come in then." Shon looked sideways at Nangran, but the Smith had already begun following the skinny old man into the shack. Shon hurried to catch up.
Inside, Shon's eyes were assaulted with a sparkling rainbow of colors. The room they'd entered was considerably larger than the outside would suggest, with plush carpet and a stuffed high-back armchair in front of a blazing fire in the opposite wall. Shelves full of exotic plants, glowing glass jars, and glittering stones filled every available space, reflecting off one another and setting streaks of light to dance on the floor and walls like sun rays through crystal.
There was too much to take in, so Shon focused on their host. The old man was slipping into a thick robe of deep purple velvet. He'd hung the club on the wall beside the door, which looked just as decrepit on this side as it had on the outside.
"Make a habit of greeting visitors half-naked and swinging an old fireball wand?" Nangran asked as he slipped out of his cloak.
"Keeps the conversations short." the old man replied tersely, tying his belt and turning to his guests. With boney knuckles on boney hips and glare firmly planted on his wrinkled face, he snapped, "Don't bother getting comfortable, Flintchest; you'll be leaving soon enough."
The Smith ignored him, hanging his cloak on the hook that had presumably held the mage's robe. "Got a favor to ask," he said, but the old man was already shaking his head,
"More like a favor to cash in. That's the only reason you're in here and not smoking in a hole outside."
Nangran ignored the threat and motioned from Shon to the old man and back. "Archmage Ivelm." The mage looked Shon up and down again as Nangran made the introductions, “Squire Shon.”
"Not much longer, I'd say." Ivelm said to Nangran as he finished his second examination, "It's to the Guild with this one. Too much magic." he turned his head and spat in a brass can by the door. It rang out with a loud ‘ting!' and Ivelm sniffed, looking down at Nangran again, "What do you want, Flintchest?"
"Need a seal. So the boy doesn't freeze Hamerfoss more than it already is." the smith crossed his arms, watching the mage and somehow still seeming completely at ease.
"Eh?!" Ivelm exclaimed, leaning far forward. Shon had to try hard not to crinkle his nose as the old man brought his face close enough that Shon could smell Ivelm's breath. Garlic, the mage ate a lot of garlic…
"So… you don't want to be a mage, do you?" he demanded, glaring down his nose at him. Shon shook his head and would have answered with a 'no ser.' except the mage continued, "Rather swing around some hunk of metal like a brute?"
Shon blinked stupidly, and Nangran cleared his throat, "Watch what you say about my swords, old man."
Ivelm ignored the smith as soundly as Nangran had ignored the Archmage, and continued to Shon, "The powers of the universe are at your fingertips. Blood blessed with the strength of the elements, and you wanna throw it all away," he threw his arms into the air, still uncomfortably close, "And for what? Some illusion of an honorable death by the sword?"
Shon didn't know what to say. He looked past the affronted mage's face, only an inch from his own, to Nangran. But the smith gave no sign he was going to help. Shon’s future depended on convincing this strange old man, this Archmage, to help…
Shon wasn't the type to try and convince anyone of anything, but the least he could do was explain himself. Shon stepped back from the mage to address him from a more comfortable distance. "I chose to dedicate my life to perfecting my art, and my art is martial combat," he said. Ivelm wrinkled his nose, his mouth twisting as if he were going to spit again, but Shon continued, "magic would be better served in the hands of someone who wants it badly enough to work for it. Like I've worked for my martial skills."
Ivelm leaned away from Shon, his eyebrows lifted into his frizzled gray hair. Shon looked to Nangran, hoping for some sign that this was a good response. The smith smiled from behind the mage.
"Soooo…" Ivelm drew the word out, "You think only those who dedicate themselves to strict study and practice should wield the power of the universe?" he leaned forward again, turning his head and fixing one eye on Shon like a bird. As if trying to catch him in a lie.
Shon nodded, confused, then asked, "Isn't that what it takes to effectively wield magic? Focused study?"
Ivelm didn't answer the question, instead turning his face to examine Shon with the other eye, scanning him up and down yet again. The old man had looked him up and down so much Shon wouldn't be surprised if the next question were about his hair or boots.
But Ivelm didn't ask another question. Instead, he stood straight and spat into the brass can with another ringing 'ting!' "I like this one," he said, turning his back on Shon and facing Nangran, "But it's too much." he shook his head, lifting his hands in helpless surrender, "Too much power, and ice at that. Stubborn element that one. And it's so finicky to block just elemental magic..."
Ivelm continued talking but Shon heard very little of it. A hole had opened in his gut, and it felt like his heart was racing his stomach to fall into it. But Nangran just rolled his eyes at the mage, interrupting, "Used to be the name in new magic items... made shackles to hold Archmages." he squinted at Ivelm, who had frozen mid-head shake, "Must've gotten rusty out…"
Ivelm snapped his fingers under the Smith's nose to stop him talking, "The mind does not rust, Flintchest!" he huffed, one bare foot tapping under his robe, "Not like your swords and shriveling muscles." Nangran just stared stubbornly, his thick, muscled arms still crossed over his broad chest.
The mage continued to tap his foot, his nose in the air. But as the silence stretched, Ivelm looked down at the smith, who continued to say nothing. The silent battle of wills ended when Ivelm threw his arms up in disgust and shook a finger under Nangran's nose, nearly hitting it, declaring, "I'll show you. I'll make a gem especially for this lad, and you'll see the mind only continues to grow sharper!"
He spun on his heel back to Shon, who had just made out the smith's returned smile from behind the mage when the old man snapped his fingers in Shon's face, making him jump. "Well, what are you waiting for? Come here so I can take some measurements!" Ivelm swung around again and marched across the room to a large workbench with plants and gems scattered across it. Shon scrambled after him, praying his thanks to Hengist and suddenly feeling light enough to float. His anxieties dropping away and melting like snow in summer.
***
It was already noon, and no one had come to see Her. She jumped up to grab the bars of Her window, pulling Herself up to peak out but seeing nothing but new snow and tree trunks. She was full to bursting with nervous energy, amplifying every sound and sensation. Footsteps sounded outside Her door, and She dropped from the window, sprinting across the room and resting Her ear on the wood.
“Ran, recheck the lab. Brom, with me.” Archmage Morndancer spoke with his strange alternation between draconic and common as he passed Her door without stopping. She could easily make out the swish of their robes on the stone hall leading away. Three people, Brom, Ran, and Archmage Morndancer. And yet the scurrying of too many feet to be only the two apprentices and Archmage Shaloon, sounded from the floor above. There were strangers in her tower again. Many strangers. Something was happening, something big…
She ran to Her window again, just for something to do, seeking some way to burn off some of the anxiety of not knowing what was going on around her.
A roar from down the hall, a roar of pain, sent ice washing through her veins. She slammed into the door at full speed. Pounding on the wood, She called out, “Brom?! Ran?!” Nothing. Then a yip cut short, followed by barking and yowling.
She shook the handle with both hands, rattling the door on its hinges, “BROM! RAN!” Something was happening to Her treasures, something terrible… The door handle began to glow, the metal warping and sagging as it melted. The knowledge that She would be in more trouble than She had ever been in before was nothing compared to Her terror. She wrenched the handle back with all Her might, splashing molten metal across Her bed, lighting fires that flared in her panic, and sending smoke to curl up to the ceiling.
She didn’t care. She shouldered the door open and ran.
“Red?!” She passed the first open door but couldn’t stop as Ran called out to Her. Reaching Her treasures' room, She tried to stop but slipped, slamming into the ground with a sticky splash. A final whining bark started a buzzing in Her ears as She stared, transfixed, at Her hands. They were painted red. Warm and sticky. The overpowering stench of iron nearly made Her gag as She looked up to see Morndancer toss aside a glittering golden wolf pup, the body flopping limply over the corpse of its mother and siblings.
Her world went red.
***
The last sample was taken care of, but something roared with enough ferocity to shatter glass.
Morndancer's head snapped around in time for him to fall back, shielding his face with his hands as the Firewyrm exploded. White-hot fire engulfed Her and spread out to the stone floor and walls. His robes began to smoke, the new fire protection spells woven into them being overpowered by the sheer ferocity of the blaze.
Brom had no such spells, and he had only managed a single step towards the girl before he fell to the ground, writhing for only a moment before lying still. The Archmage heard Ran scream from the hall before the journeyman stumbled past the door, flailing wildly. Barely discernible as human inside the flames.
The Firewyrm moved towards him, stepping through Brom’s head, turned to ash, and blown up to dance in the air on the same heatwaves causing the girl's hair to wave wildly about Her. She didn't seem to notice, Her face was expressionless and her eyes glowed as red as the scales across Her cheek. Morndancer tried to snap his fingers, but the golden collar around Her neck melted, Her clothes burning off and leaving Her naked and terrible in the flames.
His robe was burning now, and only the pain of that could pull his eyes from the Firewyrm as he pointlessly tried to beat the fires off. He fell back, hitting the wall, which drooped, sagging and dripping molten stone onto his head and face. Then he fell further back, into a gate that opened behind him.
Shaloon pulled him through the portal and into the library three stories up. The Firewyrm roared again and the tower walls shook with the force of it. The gate closed, but Morndancer continued to burn. He could hear screaming. Was it him? Was he screaming? Fire burst up the spiral stairs in the middle of the room, and apprentices, both their own and many sent from the central and western Talon, scrambled about in a panic, some even leaping from the windows.
Shaloon cursed, holding out her hand and summoning her sword again. She had to draw the circle five times before a second gate finally formed, and she dove through it, pulling Morndancer along with her as it quickly closed. An apprentice reached through, and his arm fell at Morndancer’s feet, miles away in the sitting room of his manor back in Smildna.
He laughed. Shaloon slapped him, and he laughed. Ronni, his daughter, burst through the door, her own daughter, only a year old, perched on her hip, and still, he laughed. “What’s wrong?! What happened to him?!” he barely registered his daughter's words and continued to laugh, rolling around on the ground in mirthful madness.
“The Firewyrm She…” Shaloon started, but Morndancer yelled over her in draconic,
“She is true! She is pure! She is rage! The children will come and raise the grandchildren! We have only to await the coming of those Chosen!” the room faded around him, becoming washed out and gray then finally black as he continued to laugh and shout, “They take those who slew them and use them to raise themselves anew…”
He couldn’t feel his burns or the hands trying to settle him. He saw only darkness and stars. And the eyes of his Master boring into his soul from the outer planes.
***
Shon couldn't remember ever feeling so drained in his life. He'd been tired before, exhausted even, but it had never felt quite like this. The eccentric Archmage Ivelm had ordered him to 'empty his energy' into stone after stone. Measuring the weight, color, and temperature of each. Making notes in chalk directly on his table and talking to himself. Shon was shocked the first time he saw the smooth rock handed to him change from a translucent white to an onyx as black as his hair, but by the time they'd gone through the twentieth stone, Shon had decided to stop counting.
Ivelm, however, seemed to get more and more excited with each one. Giving Shon reason to suspect the mage may be taking the energy for himself. After what felt like hours, Ivelm finally stoppered the potion he'd mixed with the most recent jewel, glowing a soft pale blue, and stepped back from the workbench, bony hands on bony hips.
"It can be done." Ivelm swiveled to face Nangran, "He's strong, I don’t know how he managed not to manifest until now, but it's all focused in one elemental direction." he rubbed his chin and looked at the ceiling, completely ignoring Shon's arched eyebrow. "It has a bit of divine flavor as well. But I suppose that shouldn't be surprising for a training Paladin." The mage stopped musing and glared down his nose at Nangran, who had made himself comfortable in the oversized wingback chair by the fire, "It will have to be a lot bigger than a piece of jewelry would allow."
The smith just hummed and sipped at his mug. When had he gotten a mug? Shon looked from one old man to the other. It was apparent Ivelm wanted Nangran to ask him for details, but the ever stoic smith said nothing.
Shon was tired. His limbs felt heavy, and the weight of his simple uniform felt more like platemail. He was just about to ask what the Archmage meant, to hurry them along, when Ivelm threw his hands in the air and said, "You'll need to find somewhere to put it. I would recommend that." he pointed at the hilt of Shon's sword over his shoulder, continuing, "If the lad is insisting on swinging a metal stick around instead of harnessing the ultimate powers of the universe then that same stick might as well sap the power literally as well as figuratively." Shon arched an incredulous eyebrow but Ivelm wasn't paying attention, finishing, "I can get it down to about an inch and a half orb. At the smallest. If you want something different, say so now."
Nangran set his mug on the ground and stood with a grunt and a groan. Shon just wanted to go home and sleep for a week, so when the smith reached for the hilt of his sword for a closer look Shon hardly noticed, until the squat smith jerked it down to eye level. Shon swung his arms like a drowning man and stepped wide to prevent himself from falling over.
"Quit wigglin'," Nangran grumbled, studying the sword's pommel with a professional eye. "One and a half'll do, preferably in a tear…"
The mage snorted and continued to ignore the struggling half crouched Shon, his voice dripping sarcasm as he addressed the smith, "Shall I wrap it in silk for you as well?"
"Na." Nangran let go of the sword, and Shon stood straight, lifting his leg to shake out the knee. "Drop it off when you’re done." the Mage snorted again but didn't counter.
None of them were interested in extending the visit, so Nangran grabbed his heavy cloak and shrugged it on while Shon waited by the door. "It will be at least a fortnight," Ivelm called from his position by the workbench, not about to walk them out.
Nangran grunted his confirmation and opened the battered and decrepit door, letting the wind and early autumn snow blow in on their way out. Shon followed numbly, his eyes unfocused as he walked, and ran right into the much shorter man. Nangran hardly moved as Shon bounced off of him. He was squinting into the distance, one large hand shading his eyes. Shon stared at Nangran for a moment before following the direction of his gaze over the tree line.
Smoke. A LOT of smoke. The black clouds billowed violently into the sky, occasionally lit from below by sparks shot high into the air.
"Elm!" Nangran shouted. Shon had never heard the man call so loudly. The Archmage must have also been shocked because the door to his hut swung open and he stuck his head out to look to either side, eyes wide.
"Flintchest, what?" but he soon saw what, "But, that's the old chemist's tower… What?" he stood in shocked confusion for a heartbeat before turning back into the hut. Shon looked from the shack to Nangran, but before he could say anything, the mage was back, struggling with two long rods, one blue with what looked like waves painted all around, the other black and studded with diamonds.
"Don't just stand there!" Ivelm snapped at the two as he finally managed to slip the blue rod into a sheath at his side. He then pointed the diamond rod at the space between two close-growing trees. Shon heard him say something unintelligible, and one of the diamonds shot out of the tip of the rod to hover between the trees before expanding into a portal.
Beyond the magical gate, Shon could hear the fire roar. It sounded how he imagined the burning hells might sound, but as he followed the two men through, he realized his imagination was tame by comparison.
The smell of burning flesh and hair choked him as they stepped clear of the gate's magic. The heat smashed into them like a wall, and all three brought their arms up to shield their faces. Around them were the charred remains of what looked like humans, their faces buried in the mud as if they'd been trying to run from the blaze. Shon had to swallow the bile that rose in his throat and focused instead on the fire Ivelm had said was a tower.
It was completely engulfed in bright flames of all colors. Squinting through the light, he could see the stone walls melting like wax. The arch of the doorway sagged in the middle, and Shon's eyes went wide. Someone was in there.
He would've had to shout over the roar of the flames, but it didn’t matter; Ivelm was already raising the blue wand, jerking his fingers in strange ways and mouthing words impossible to hear. Water shot out the tip of the wand with the force of a ballista and hissed against the glowing stones.
It wasn't possible. It must be a trick of the flickering flames. But the figure turned its face to them, long hair whipping about as it took steps in their direction.
"Don't just stand there, boy!" Ivelm screamed. "They must have a fire-resist spell; those things don't last forever!"
Nangran grabbed Shon’s upper arm, pulling him a step closer to the fire and down so he could shout in his ear, "Freeze a path."
Shon swallowed. He was so tired, literally drained. He didn't know what to do or how to do it. But the figure in the fire reached out to them only to pull away from a drop of molten rock. Shon fell to his knees, placing his hands on the ground and pleading silently to Hengist. He didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how to control the power. He tried picturing a path of snow between himself and the tower base, concentrating on it until the mental image overlaid the real world, as he did when imagining phantom fighters during practice.
Ice snaked its way from Shon's fingers towards the burning tower along his mental path, powered by the fear that he wouldn't be fast enough to save the person inside. The water from Ivelm's wand helped carve the way, and Shon grunted physically as he struggled to push mentally. His breathing came heavy and ragged. He could feel the fire melting the edges of the ice as if it were a part of him. Still, he fought back and forced it to continue to form into solid sheets moving closer and closer to the figure still trapped in the tower.
Wherever the ice formed solid, it stayed. The fire drawing back from it until, finally, it reached the doorway. He urged the ice to climb up the doorframe, to hold it in place and keep it from falling, from moving at all.
Shon was seeing double. He struggled to focus on the figure and flinched as they stepped onto the frozen path. The ice hissed and melted under their bare unsteady feet, he could feel it... feel them, their heat, on his ice.
It was a young woman. Or an older girl. She was naked; her clothes burned away by the fire. Her long hair was being blown forward by the heat of the burning tower, obscuring her face. As she moved closer, Shon could make out strange red stripes snaking around her body, standing in stark relief against her pale skin.
Ivelm stepped in front of him then, throwing Nangran's cloak around her shoulders as she crumpled to the ground. Nangran himself knelt beside Shon, resting one massive hand on the Squire's back. "You can stop, lad…" his voice trailed off, and Shon felt an emptiness open in his chest. No one could have survived that, not if they hadn't already made it to the entrance like the girl. As if to punctuate the thought, Shon managed to focus his eyes only to see the tower's entrance wall fold and collapse in on itself, the stones flowing like soft wax.
--- Table of Contents ---
Sorry for the double post today. I wanted to keep Ch 14 & 15 together.
Thanks for making it this far, you are the real MVP

The morning of October 17th 2019 was a cool and bright autumn day, two words rarely used to describe the treacherous Hanoi’s weather, when Lê Hải An arrived at his workplace, the Ministry of Education on 35 Đại Cồ Việt street, Hai Bà Trưng district, Hà Nội. Normally, he would have had a big breakfast at the office canteen then head off to his office at the second floor where he would spend the rest of his day trying to solve the numerous problems plaguing Vietnam’s education.
At 7:10 AM, someone spotted a figure falling from the 8th floor. There was a blood-curling smash; the figure was declared dead on impact. It wasn’t hard for people to identify the man.
In just a few hours, public media across Vietnam would declare that Vice Minister Lê Hải An had died. The reason?
He slipped and fell off the balcony.
The story I am about to tell you is not just a simple fall.
The story I am about to tell you sounds like something out of a conspiracy theory, the one spewed by tinfoil hat wearers on the street, the one peddled by shock websites and fringe extremist forums, the kind that would make you think it was a rejected Hollywood script and not real life. And I must admit, I have to work with secondary foreign sources with many being biased and some outright spewing baseless conspiracy theories. Many original sources had been removed or edited, forever lost into a memory hole resembling that of 1984. In trying to be faithful, I've removed a lot more "fantastical" elements that have no proof to be cross-checked; I will do my best to paint a complete picture of not only who Lê Hải An was, but the treacherous world around him, a nightmarish jungle of political infighting.
To those who don’t believe, I ask you to just give me the benefit of the doubt and remember this one thing:
“This is Vietnam.”
PART 1: The model teacher
In Vietnam, we have this saying: “Tôn sư trọng đạo” meaning “To worship your teachers and to respect your study.” A teacher was not simply a teacher; he/she was the paragon of society, the enlightener, the one who upheld all the virtues of society, who embodied such virtues, and who passed on such virtue to younger generations.
Lê Hải An was one such man.
Born in April 1st 1971 in Hà Nội, An was the son of Lê Hải Châu, a famous educator whose mathematics book was once the golden standard of Vietnamese mathematics education. In fact, if you were in Vietnamese highschool in the 90s to early 2000s, you would have used one of his books. For his contribution, Châu was awarded the title “The People’s Teacher,” a once highly prestigious prize reserved for the most devoted teacher. Given his family’s background, An was said to be set for life.
But An did not take the easy way. He challenged himself continuously, was handpicked as a government-sponsored student to study Mining and Geology at Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography. Even late in his career, he still pursued his passion for the mining industry, successfully defending a thesis on the application of neural networks in the oil industry at the Heriot-Watt University.
Given his background and training, Lê Hải An was made a professor at the Hanoi University of Mining and Geology. At first he was a teacher at the Petroleum department, but rose steadily through the rank. To his students, he was a knowledgeable yet compassionate teacher who never sought to exert his authority; to his colleagues, he was a man of honor, of dignity, representing the paragon of teachers thought to have been lost. Nobody complained when he was made the University’s principal; nobody complained when Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc appointed An to be the Vice Minister of the much troubled Ministry of Education.
Well, maybe not nobody.
PART 2: You have to go to Hà Giang and take the national exam
For every Vietnamese students, nothing struck the fear of God in them worse than the word "National Exam." Not as competitive as the Chinese Gaokao or the Korean Suneung, it is the stuff of nightmare that have made and broken life. Students competed for the sweet sweet spot at the Police Academy and Military Academy (It is in fact more difficult to become a cop or an army officer in Vietnam than to become a doctoteacheengineeIT technician); parents wait anxiously for their children's performance to show off to friends and families; educators wait for the top scores to make their annual achievement look good so they can attract better students to their high school.
Exam season rolled around, and the results were released by July 11th 2018. As soon as the scores came out, all of Vietnam was shocked.
Of all the 64 cities and provinces, Hà Giang scored the highest in the national exam, with the highest number of “Thủ Khoa” or “The top scorer.” This, to many, was a surprise: not only Hà Giang was the poorest province in all of Vietnam, it traditionally had high illiteracy rate, high dropout rate, low graduation rate, low university admission rate, and so on and so forth. The fact that during the same year Hà Giang had the highest rate of failure to graduate from high school also raised eyebrows.
And Hà Giang was not the only province. Sơn La and Hòa Bình, two other terrible performers, also scored suspiciously well, outmatching province such as Thanh Hóa-Nghệ An-Hà Tĩnh who have been known as "Đất Học" or "The land of the studious."
Immediately, people began to cry foul. There was a lot of anger: a lot of students who had worked their whole lives were in danger of losing their spots to some “irregularities.” A common saying began to emerge: “Em phải đến Hà Giang thi đại học” or “You have to go to Hà Giang and take the national exam.” Investigations were launched into the Ministry of Education just one day after the score was released.
Quick investigation revealed that this was not just some "irregularities" but a systematic scheme, raising scores for test-takers: some exam takers received a nine points out of a total of ten points boost for individual exam, and some had their total points raised by thirty points out of a total of forty. Not only that, the exam-takers who benefitted from this were some of the most powerful people in Vietnam. Take the case of Hà Giang: one of the person whose scores were raised was Triệu Ngọc Mai, daughter's of Triệu Tài Vinh, General Secretary of Hà Giang. The Triệu clan ruled Hà Giang as a fiefdom of their own, holding most important positions; they had strong ties with the Minister of Education Phùng Xuân Nhạ, a widely-hated and despised figures for his bare-faced corruption and mismanagement, and the President of Vietnam Trần Đại Quang. People were expecting the investigation would go to nowhere - afterall, who dared to incur the wrath of the President of Vietnam?
Then, out of nowhere, Trần Đại Quang died.
On September 21st 2018, the fit and healthy Trần Đại Quang suddenly passed away from “a rare and unknown virus which he contracted during his trips.”
No more explanation was given. One month later, on November 3rd 2018, Lê Hải An received Decision 1475/QĐ-TTg from Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc himself, making him the Vice Minister of Education and in charge of the National Examination scandal
PART 3: His final moment
For the next year, An worked with diligence, doing his best to hold the perpetrators accountable. By the numerous newspaper articles, it was clear he was the one leading the charge while his superior, Nhạ, kept a low profile and only appeared on the media every now and then to make some empty speech. He worked hard, showing up at his office early and having breakfast in the office’s canteen to save time, then immediately dived into work in his office on the second floor. His work yielded results: 16 bureaucrats were arrested, 222 exam takers were exposed, large sums of bribes were confiscated. To many, perhaps An included, it wasn’t enough. Everyone knew the big fish Nhạ was still out there, and everyone was itching to see him fall.
It was on the morning of October 17th 2019 when Lê Hải An arrived at his workplace, the Ministry of Education on 35 Đại Cồ Việt street, Hai Bà Trưng district, Hà Nội. We had little idea of what had happened on that day, but what we knew painted a very strange picture.
Normally, An would go straight to his office on the second floor, rarely having any reasons to go anywhere else. And, given the early hour, most other offices would be empty.
Yet, on that day, An seemed to have gone to the eighth floor. There was no record of what he was doing there or who he was meeting; the floor also had no camera. Photographs of the crime scene showed a table which supposedly An had sat - this table had an almost empty glass of cold tea, a cigarette pack, and an ashtray with ash in it. Another table was photographed with an old red gym bag and a nylon bag containing non-descript items; next to this table was a chair with another plastic bag containing non-descript items on it. All the tables were seated next to a balcony which was about 80 centimeters tall. An was described to be 180 centimeters tall, and when his body was discovered it was lying parallel to the building from which he fell from next to a tree but seemingly did not hit it.
Given all the evidence, by 8:30 AM it was concluded that An slipped and fell. No more investigation was made
PART 4: The truth won’t set you free
Of course, the conclusion did not satisfy anybody.
On one hand, there is very low trust for the Vietnamese police who have shown their ineptitude and willingness to fake evidence time and time again. With miscarriage of justice cases such as Hồ Duy Hải and Huỳnh Văn Nén fresh in every one’s mind, the police’s conclusion lost even more credits. The fact that the police quickly concluded An slipped and fell only at most two hours after they were notified of the accident and refused to investigate any further reek of a cover-up.
But, even with the benefit of doubt for the police, the idea of An slipping and falling was deemed unthinkable to many. For one thing, people did not understand why An went to the eighth floor when his office was on the second floor. If he was there on business, what business could it be at such an early hour (government offices in Vietnam often begin work at 8:00 AM if not 9:00 AM.) If he was there to meet someone, who was that someone and why was he not investigated? No investigation was made into his phone or email either.
Then there was the balcony.
The balcony was described by some to be eighty centimeter tall, which would make slipping a feasible case for someone 1.8 meter tall like An. However, images from the crime scene show a police man standing next to the balcony and the balcony reaching his chest. Given that the minimum height to be accepted to the police academy is 1.64 meters, we are looking at a 1.2 meter tall balcony at the very least. It will be very hard to slip and fall over, unless someone was leaning over it. But why would anybody do such a thing? Some suggested he was drunk and tired and this could have been the case, but with no toxicology report done on him there was no way to make sure.
Some commentators also pointed out that even if An leaned out and fell, his body would have landed in a perpendicular angle with the building block he was falling out from. Yet, in the crime scene image, he was shown lying parallel to the building, as if he had rolled over on his side. There were no obstacles on the way down so his falling body could not have hit anything. The only thing in his way was a tree, but the branches were very frail and images did not show any conclusive evidence that he hit the tree on his way down.
So, if he did not slip and fall, what else could have happened?
Suicide was also suggested and has remained a strong contender. It must be remembered that An was an important man being surrounded by enemies. He had a very heavy burden to shoulder and had to endure political shenanigans from all sides. Perhaps, the pressure had broken the hitherto earnest teacher who had not had a taste for the wild political arena. So, he decided to go to the eighth floor, climbed over it (which could have required him to drape over the balcony, explaining why his body was found parallel to the building) then let himself fall.
Of course, some don’t agree with the idea. They pointed out he was a very happy, very respected man with a long and promising career, a loving family, and a dedication towards a higher calling. Men like him, they said, rarely killed themselves. While this could be true, this “proof” is very weak as many successful men have committed suicide. Perhaps, he was only showing himself to be happy; perhaps there was something else going on with his life that we would never know.
Finally, and perhaps the most pervasive, is the idea An was killed. Of course, given that this theory was born out of circumstantial evidence not any real evidence, this belongs more to the conspiracy theory bin. The temptation was there: An was leading the crusade against some very powerful individual, many of whom had both the power and desire to get rid of someone like An. If the former President himself could die so mysteriously while in office, who was to say An was safe? The police’s quick conclusion and refusal to investigate any further as well as the image of a supposedly official letter from his wife begging for police protection (now scrubbed off the internet) only added more flame to the fire.
So, assuming An was killed, who had killed him?
The obvious answer to many would be Nhạ: he was An’s boss, he was investigated by An, he could’ve lost his power and friends and influence. He wanted An dead, had the means to do so, and was therefore the prime suspect. The many clans whose children’s road to power An had dashed such as the Triệu clan also had axes to grind with An.
However, there was another suspect.
Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, the man who had appointed An to the position himself.
Before this all happened, Phúc was rumored to be in a power struggle with President Trần Đại Quang and the Ministry of Public Security. After Quang’s death in 2018, Phúc was trying to court Quang’s Department of Public Security to his side. The new head of this Department was Tô Lâm (The man who was videoed eating at Salt Bae’s place in London while Vietnam was under lockdown and starving.) Perhaps, as a gesture of peace, Phúc sold out his subordinate as an “apology.”
Ultimately, given that these theories are born out of the lack of evidence and the coincidence, we cannot accept them as “reasonable.”
PART 5: Farewell
On the 21st of October 2019, Lê Hải An’s funeral was held. It was a simple affair and yet it attracted thousands of mourners, ranging from the Vietnamese elites to his students. To many, the loss of An was a great loss to this world. Even without his work to clean up the Ministry of Education, he was an honest, hard-working, humble man who had always tried his best to live up to the image of the model teacher that had become so rare in modern Vietnam. The fact that such a good man had to die so early only rubbed more salt into the open wound.
But time will fly. Life will move on, heals will wound, stories will be forgotten, people will forget. Lê Hải An will one day fade into obscurity, and with him the question:
“What happened to Lê Hải An on October 17th 2019?”
Source
[1] https://canhco.net/lo-hinh-anh-hien-truong-tang-8-va-loi-khai-nhan-chung-khi-ong-le-hai-an-nga-xuong-tu-vong-p329165.html
[2] https://tuoitre.vn/thu-truong-bo-giao-duc-dao-tao-le-hai-an-qua-doi-vi-nga-tu-tang-cao-20191017084152884.htm
[3] https://kienthuc.net.vn/xa-hoi/su-that-ve-thu-truong-bo-gddt-le-hai-an-nga-lau-qua-doi-o-tru-so-bo-1291388.html
[4] https://nld.com.vn/thoi-su/dieu-tra-nguyen-nhan-tu-vong-cua-thu-truong-bo-gd-dt-le-hai-an-20191017102746586.htm
[5] https://www.baogiaothong.vn/thu-truong-bo-giao-giuc-dao-tao-le-hai-anh-tu-vong-do-nga-tu-tang-cao-d438538.html
[6] https://vnexpress.net/thu-truong-giao-duc-va-dao-tao-tu-vong-3998189.html
Shameless self-promotion
In the next episode of "The Mysteries of Vietnam," we will return to a re-write and updated version of the first case I wrote about years ago: did Hồ Duy Hải murder two innocent postal workers at Cầu Voi post office, or was it the work of a serial killer on the loose? And why is the Vietnamese government intervening in the case?

Hey all. New here but I have lots of feedback on CAG, Mercari, GameTZ, and eBay. All games are cib unless noted.
Have:

System	Title	Condition
GameCube	Paper Mario Thousand Year Door Best Seller Black Label	CIB with Strategy Guide
Gamecube	Metroid Prime	CIB
Gamecube	Turok Evolution	CIB
GameCube	Nintendo GameCube Preview Disc	CIB
GameCube	Sims Bustin Out	CIB
Gamecube	Tak 2	No Manual
Gamecube	Batman Vengeance	No Manual
Gamecube	SpongeBob SquarePants Creature from the Krusty Crab	No Manual
Gamecube	Legend of Zelda Windwaker	No manual faded cover art
Gamecube	Metroid Prime	Disc only
Gamecube	Crash NitroCart	Disc only
Gamecube	Medal of Honor	Disc only
GameCube	Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess Strategy Guide	Very good condition
SNES	System with 2 Controllers	Good condition
SNES	Killer Instinct	Cart only
SNES	Ms. Pacman	Cart only
SNES	Mario Kart PC	Cart only
SNES	Super Gameboy	Cart only
SNES	Quick Shot Arcade Controller x2	Good condition
N64	Battle Tanx Global Assault	Cart only
N64	Cruis'N World	Cart only
Gameboy	Pokemon Red	Cart only
Gameboy	Pokemon Blue	Cart only
Gameboy	Qix	Cart only
Gameboy	Tetris	Cart only
Gameboy	Donkey Kong Land	Cart only
Gameboy Color	Pokemon Gold	Cart only
Gameboy Color	WarioLand II	Cart only some fading on label
Gameboy Advance	Sonic Advance	Cart only
Gameboy Advance	Sonic Advance 2	Cart only
Gameboy Advance	Sonic Advance 3	Cart only
Gameboy Advance	Megaman Battle Network 6 Cybeast Gregar	Cart only
Gameboy Advance	Sims Bustin Out	Cart only
Gameboy Advance	Pacman Collection	Cart only
Gameboy Advance	Yu-Gi-Oh 7 Trials to Glory	Cart only
Gameboy Advance	Yu-Gi-Oh Destiny Board Trader	Cart only
Gameboy Advance	Sonic X GBA V was Video	Cart only
Gameboy Advance	Fairly Odd Parents Vol 1 GBA Video	Cart only
Wii	We Sing 80s	sealed
Wii	Super Paper Mario	CIB
Wii	Donkey Kong Country Returns	CIB
Wii	Sonic Colors	CIB
Wii	Mario Galaxy	CIB
Wii	Mario Power Tennis	CIB
Wii	Kirby's Epic Yarn	CIB
Wii	Wii Sports	CIB
Wii	Wii Sports	No manual
Wii	Dragon Quest Swords	No manual
Wii	House of the Dead 2 & 3	disc only
Wii U	Mario Party 10	CIB
Wii U	Yoshis Wooly World	CIB
Wii U	Monster High New Ghoul at School	CIB
Wii U	Lego Hobbit	CIB
Wii U	Smurfs 2	CIB
Wii U	Pacman and the Ghostly Adventures	CIB
DS	Tetris DS	CIB
DS	Space Invaders Extreme	CIB
DS	Plants vs Zombies	CIB
DS	Crash Mind over Mutant	Cart only
DS	Elite Beat Agents	Cart only
DS	Cooking Mama 3	Cart only
DS	Guitar Hero On Tour	Cart only
DS	Guitar Hero On Tour Decades	Cart only
DS	Guitar Hero On Tour Attachment
DS	Yu-Gi-Oh Nightmare Troubadour	Cart only
3ds	Super Mario 3D Land	Sealed
3ds	3ds XL Silver Mario & Luigi System	Modded with Games
3ds	New Super Mario Bros 2	CIB
3ds	Mario & Luigi Dream Team	CIB
3ds	Super Mario Maker	CIB
3ds	Sims 3	CIB
3ds	Donkey Kong Country Returns 3d	CIB
3ds	Donkey Kong Country Returns 3d NS	CIB
3ds	Ultimate NES Remix	CIB
3ds	Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon NS	CIB
3ds	Hyrule Warriors Legends	CIB
3ds	Super Smash Bros	CIB
3ds	Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask	CIB
3ds	Captain Toad Treasure Tracker	Cart only
3ds	Animal Crossing New Leaf	Cart only
3ds	Donkey Kong Country Returns	Cart only
3ds	Nintendogs + Cats	Cart only
3ds	Lego Star Wars III	Cart only
3ds	Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time	Cart only
3ds	Legend of Zelda Link Between Worlds	Cart only
Switch	Dark Blue Switch Lite Console	Includes Box
Switch	Octopath Traveler 2	sealed
Switch	MegaMan Zero/ZX Collection	sealed
Switch	Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild	CIB
Switch	Pokemon Shining Pearl	CIB
Switch	Pokemon Brilliant Diamond	CIB
Switch	New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe	CIB
Switch	Paper Mario Origami King	CIB
Switch	Animal Crossing New Horizon	CIB
Switch	Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle	CIB
Switch	Splatoon 2	CIB
Switch	Bravely Default 2	CIB
Switch	Diablo III	CIB
Switch	Ring Fit Adventure	CIB
Switch	My Hero Ones Justice 2	CIB
Switch	Persona 5 Strikers	CIB
Switch	Cars 3 Driven to Win	CIB
Switch	Rayman Legends	CIB
Switch	Star Wars Pinball	CIB
Switch	Final Fantasy X/X2	CIB
Switch	Lego Worlds	CIB
Switch	L.O.L Surprise ReMix We Rule the World	CIB Includes Collectible Charm
Switch	Disney Classic Games Aladdin and Lion King	CIB
Switch	Super Mario 3D All Stars	Cart only
Switch	Cobra Kai	Cart Only
Switch	Hello Neighbor	Cart only
Switch	Pokken Tournament DX	Cart only
Ps1	Thrasher Skate and Destroy	CIB
Ps1	Resident Evil 3 Nemesis	disc only
Ps1	Dino Crisis	disc only
Ps2	Grand Theft Auto Vice City	CIB
Ps2	Grand Theft Auto Vice City GH	CIB
Ps2	Grand Theft Auto San Andreas GH	CIB
Ps2	Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2	CIB
Ps2	Snoopy vs the Red Baron	CIB
Ps2	Nana	JPN Import/CIB but faded
PS4	Godzilla	CIB
PS4	Berserk and the Band of the Hawk	CIB
PS4	Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4	CIB
PS4	Uncharted 4	Sealed
PS5	Elden Ring	CIB
PS5	Spiderman Miles Morales	CIB
PS5	Lego Star Wars Skywalker Saga	CIB
PSP	PSP 2001 system	good condition
PSP	Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary	sealed
PSP	Monster Hunter Freedom	CIB
PSP	God of War Chains of Olympus	CIB
PSP	God of War Chains of Olympus GH	CIB
PSP	Final Fantasy Tactics War of the Lions	CIB
PSP	Final Fantasy Crisis Core GH	CIB
PSP	Star Wars Force Unleashed	CIB
PSP	Tekken Dark Resurrection	CIB
PSP	Final Fantasy Crisis Core	Disc only
PSP	NBA Street Showdown	Disc only
PSP	Blitz Overtime	Disc only
PSP	Marvel Nemesis Rise of the Imperfects	Disc only
PSP	Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories	Disc only
PSP	Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories GH	Disc only
PSP	Atari Classics Evolved	Disc only
PSP	Patapon 2	Disc only
PSP	Sega Genesis Collection	Disc only
PSP	Midway Arcade Treasures Extended Play	Disc only
PSP	Space Invaders Extreme	Disc only
PS Vita	Lego Marvel Super Heroes Universe in Peril	no manual
PS Vita	Lego Batman 2	Cart only
PS Vita	Little Big Planet	Cart only

Wants:
Mostly collect handheld so let me see your lists of Gameboy, GBC, GBA, and Game Gear.

System	Title	Condition
Gameboy	Castlevania II	Cart only
Gameboy	Castlevania Legends	Cart only
Gameboy	Donkey Kong	Cart only
Gameboy	Gargoyles Quest	Cart only
Gameboy	Golf	Cart only
Gameboy	Kirby's Block Ball	Cart only
Gameboy	Kirby Star Stacker	Cart only
Gameboy	Mario Picross	Cart only
Gameboy	MegaMan II	Cart only
Gameboy Color	Game and Watch Gallery II	Cart only
Gameboy Color	Game and Watch Gallery III	Cart only
Gameboy Color	Mario Tennis	Cart only
Gameboy Advance	Classic NES Metroid	Cart only
Gameboy Advance	Contra Advance	Cart only
Gameboy Advance	Earthworm Jim	Cart only
Gameboy Advance	Fire Emblem	Cart only
Gameboy Advance	Metal Slug Advance	Cart only
Gameboy Advance	Metroid Zero Mission	Cart only
Gameboy Advance	TMNT	Cart only
Gameboy Advance	WarioWare Twisted	Cart Only
Game Gear	Earthworm Jim	Cart only

Alternative titles: Demon claims you Getting tempted by a demon Yandere demon wants you Corrupted by a dominant demon Possessive demon flirts with you
​
TW/CW: suggestive stuff, talk of corruption, (kinda) implication of public-play?, “pet”, dumbification encouragement?? (‘give up control’),
​
Introduction (for listeners): As an angel, life quickly gets boring… You seek the thrill of something new. One day find yourself sneaking out of heaven to check out the no man’s lands that separate heaven and hell. In your curiosity, you end up going a little too far and run into a demon…
Summary (for speakers): Demons are corrupt, everybody knows that. They enjoy toying with their prey, and most of all, love the idea of messing with angels. When one of these very creatures presents itself to you, you can’t help but tease them. Perhaps even more than just that…
​
~1.200 words/ 8-15 mins Audio
Usage: Everything goes, as long as you give credit! Adjust wording, change stuff, improvise, add or remove scenes, make it nsfw if you want. For any questions, feel free to ask. Have fun! :D
​
Monetization/paywall is ok, but I’d appreciate being sent a free copy!
Sfx optional but it enhances the experience, if you have access.
​
Setting: no man’s lands between the borders of heaven and hell
(I imagine this to be like a sort of rocky desert area that physically separates heaven and hell. Maybe like a layer between the two where ‘earth’ would be, or like some sort of grimm purgatory on the same plane that’s neither paradise nor torture. Either way, it’s rather empty, possibly with rock formations or fog to hide behind. Otherwise the demon would have spotted the angel too early.)
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sometimes I use … for very short pauses between lines (easier to read)
[these are for sfx, vocal cues, actions or other remarks]
italics are for emphasising a word
— — —
[cocky voice, taunting/teasing, somewhat slow speech, sultry/seductive undertones, very flirty, breathy?]
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How cute.
Are you lost, little angel?
You surely must be. Otherwise, what would you be doing so close to the border?
…
Isn’t it forbidden for ethereal beings to leave the gates of heaven, without explicit permission?
[taunting/teasing:] The no man’s lands are strictly off limits for such cute little angels like yourself.
Especially getting this close to hell-territory.
…
You’re a curious one, aren’t you?
And quite brave, to think you could cross a demon’s path and get away with it.
Or maybe you’re just stupid, angel.
Thinking you wouldn't run into somebody like me on your little adventure.
Or assuming I’d be willing to let you leave again.
…
Let me warn you; from here on out, there will be a lot more of my kind.
And none of them will be quite as honorable as me.
If you’re lucky, I’ll just let you off the hook and tell you to keep your distance from now on. But if I do that, how will you ever learn?
You shouldn't see demons as gracious, thinking you’ll always just get away somehow.
Us devils aren’t like that.
We can be quite cunning. Cruel, even.
And I’d rather teach you myself, than let another filthy imp do with you as it pleases.
It was me who found you, after all.
First come, first served.
[cocky chuckle]
How adorable.
Are you scared, little angel?
I can see you quivering. Slowly, backing away…
You’re not going anywhere.
Not until I’m done deciding what to do with you.
So many fun possibilities…
It’s quite rare to encounter an angel in this forsaken place.
Not even in my wildest fantasies would the thought of one, simply walking up to me, have come to mind…
…
And aren’t you just a pretty little thing?
That wonderful expression is so entertaining. I can’t help, but want to tease you more.
You’re just too much fun, little angel.
…
Oh, that adorable hint of terror in your eyes… The way your body is shaking…
You’re trying to act brave, aren’t you, little angel?
Trying to keep up that high-and-mighty facade.
But you’re not fooling anyone, my toy.
You’re like an open book to me.
The way your wings are tightly held at your body…
You’re scared, angel. Aren’t you?
Terrified of what I might do to you…
All those horrible stories you must’ve heard of us demons.
Your higher-ups want to make us out to be savages.
Monsters even.
And yet, you still came here.
Looking to find one of my kind?
To see with your own eyes, just what we’re capable of.
…
Or maybe you didn’t believe what you’ve been told.
After all, you must be quite used to heavenly banter, deceitful morality…
They want to make you think you’re ever so holy.
While demonic beings are presented as brutes, barbarians, even.
Just so you won’t dare to approach…
But you still did.
[small chuckle]
Today must be my lucky day.
To think that I was the one who found you…
You’re mine now, angel.
And I’m not willing to share.
…
Those morons wouldn't even know what to do with you, anyways.
Me, on the other hand… I know how to savour you.
How does that sound, hm?
[small, sarcastic chuckle]
Is that why you came here?
Because you have a thing for demons? The danger?
[lean in, whispered/one ear?:] How rare it is to find an angel that’s already been corrupted.
…
Are you bored of life in heaven?
Yearning for the taste of something new?
How adorable.
​
[short pause]
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Aw, don’t look away now, little angel.
Look at me.
Or are you scared the sight of my eyes alone, will plant the seed of sin within you? [small, sarcastic chuckle]
Worried you’ll be too weak to resist my charms, and simply give in to your desires?
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[short pause]
​
By the underlords, you’re just too cute.
I wonder what your soul might taste like.
[lean in, whispered/one ear?:] An angel is said to be quite the delicacy.
Even a tainted one.
…
Especially a tainted one…
So much more complex than any mere human.
Not as disgustingly sweet as a ‘holy’ soul.
Not as bitter as a forsaken one.
Just the perfect combination of flavours.
…
Tell me, how much of your purity has already been lost, little angel?
How often have you fantasised about encountering a demon?
How often have you craved the danger, the salacity [sa-LA-city]?
Does it excite you, my little angel?
Your purity. In comparison to me.
…
What a naughty angel you are.
Seeking the thrill of being craved by a demon.
No human could ever hunger for you, in the way a devil would.
…
Such carnal desire is quite frowned upon among you angels, isn’t it?
You must surely be tired of it.
Being told what to do.
How to feel.
Let me show you what it means to be wanted, angel.
Give yourself to me.
​
[short pause]
​
Oh, no need to be shy now.
You came here, after all.
Searching for something…
Something no angel nor god could give to you.
…
Let me be the one, little angel.
It must be so bland and boring in heaven.
I can make things a little more interesting for you.
And if you’re feeling really wicked, we could see just how long you can still stay in heaven, as your virtue crumbles.
Watching your soul decay, ever so slowly.
Your mind, always clinging to the memory of my fiery kisses on your tongue.
Flaming passion with the kind of heat only hellfire can invoke.
As more and more of that innocent sparkle leaves your eyes, and you begin craving more of me, with every breath you take…
…
You can pretend to still be a pure, perfect little angel.
A devoted follower of the gods.
When in reality, sin is dripping off your soul like hot tar. Staining everything it touches.
Your wings will slowly begin to lose their bright glow, turning darker and darker.
But just how long will it take them to notice the fallen angel in their midst?
A corrupt little demon in the making…
A head filled with the haunting memories of indulgence, the ideas of hedonism.
The taste of devilish ideologies…
Doesn’t that sound thrilling?
…
I can make you feel so many things you never even thought to imagine.
The decay of your soul, rich as honey on my lips.
Dripping down your body, and poisoning the soil you stand upon.
Until your once pure self has become only a memory, lost in the pleasure.
A whisper in your ear, drowned out by sounds of desire.
A mere shadow, flickering in the corner of your eye, as you give in to me.
…
Your skin, hot with indulgence. Lips, oozing sickly sweet rapture.
Pure ecstasy, my toy. Can you imagine what that must feel like?
Doesn’t the mere thought of it make your knees weak?
…
Can you feel your heart pounding in your chest, the anticipation building?
Ever growing, until eventually, all of your mind will be consumed by it…
To only imagine the things I could do to you. Just how good you could feel by my side.
If only you give up control…
Let me guide you, little angel.
I know exactly what to do…
Trust me.

Part 18 A Delicate Situation (Part 1) (Part 17)
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"Aho, Zim, ni je na?" Msko was the first to notice and greet the relatively short, stout, and furry being that just waddled into The Hammer’s Control Center.
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"Ah, Administrator Zimuzari, I am honored you could join us." Atxika's eyes quickly shot up from the holographic display being projected from the table she was leaning on and landed on Kyim'ayik colony leader. "Have you had an opportunity to read through the initial report we sent you?"
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"Hello there, Mkso, Admiral Atxika. It's…" The reddish-brown ball of fur paused his adorable squeaking, half covered his mouth with one of his paws, and let out such a tremendous yawn that Atxika could see both the massive front incisors as well as the not quite as large, but still impressive, set of canines behind them. "My apologies, I woke up less than half an hour ago. But it is good to see you both, as well as an honor and privilege to join you in your Command Center, Admiral."
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"The honor and privilege are mine." Atxika bowed slightly with her pleasant smile still wide. "And I would like to apologize for waking you. It will still be a few days before we arrive at our destination and this strategy meeting could have waited."
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"No, no, no, that's alright." Zim quickly replied with his species' high pitch and chirpy version of galactic common while stretching out and flicking his long, shiny whiskers as he approached the military leaders. "I've already gotten about nine hours of sleep. Skipping the last hour or two has killed me yet! And I’d rather get started on this sooner rather than later.”
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Admiral Atxika had to put in real effort to prevent herself start cooing at the delightful manner with which Zim made his way over to the holo-table and climbed the stool-like chair designed for his anatomy. The long, wide, and flat tail distinctive of the Kyim'ayik was lifted just off the ground and stretched far back to balance the rest of the being’s body weight while the relatively short hind legs carried him along in an awkward, though comfortable, bipedal gait. With the limited range of motion in the squat, fuzzy man’s leg-like arms as he stretched, it was clear his species was more intended for quadrupedal locomotion. Despite that fact, the posture of the Kyim'ayik Administrator while he walked was far more similar to her own, or a human’s, than what she had remembered from her previous interactions with the species. However, as Zim stretched out his back to its full length, adding good chunk to his overall height, and began climbing the stool so he could have a proper view of holographic display, Atxika was suddenly reminded of a domesticated species of vermin-hunting musteloid from her species’ homeworld that were quite popular pets. Even though she knew this furry little man was a well respected guest on her ship, and a being from an Ascended species, she couldn’t get over how adorable he was.
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“I hope you didn’t wake the misses.” Msko commented with a sarcastic tone while shooting the beaver-otter a cheeky wink.
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“Nah, that woman could sleep through an atomic detonation.” Hearing the galactic common word for ‘atomic detonation’ be said with such an endearing squeak was pushing the Admiral to the absolute limits of her self control.
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“I can have some food and refreshments brought, if you like.” Atxika interjected while doing her best to keep her smile from growing too wide and showing all of her teeth.
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“Oh n-” Zim was about to politely decline before Msko interrupted him with a bit too much energy.
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“Yes, please!” The War Chief blurted out. “That restaurant Tens took me to in your Amenities Section was amazing! I knew this ship had a huge manufacturing capability, but I didn’t realize you’d have freshly grown food.”
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“I’ll have the private command facilities prepare something.” The Admiral quickly replied to ensure that Zim couldn’t refuse. “How does a zetloxoni platter sound?”
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“What are-” Zim began to ask before Atxika realized her mistake and explained.
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"Zetloxoni are fish fillets, rolled in a semisweet and highly nutrient-rich grain, and occasionally topped with more fish or other ingredients." The Admiral replied while typing into the display to bring up a holographic representation of the sushi-like dish she was describing. "This is what I was thinking."
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"That actually looks amazing!" The Kyim'ayik ears suddenly perked up and eyes grew wide with delight.
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"Wonderful! It's settled then." Atxika pressed in a few more commands to place the order then tried to redirect the conversation to reason for the meeting. "I find it is often easier to address delicate situations with a clear mind and full stomach."
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"Delicate?" The squeaky reply carried a noticeably sarcastic tone as Zim shifted his attention towards the holographic representation of a planet and saucer shaped ship orbiting it. "That looks like Arnehilians. Ain't nothing delicate about the Grays, except maybe their physical forms."
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"Well, they're definitely Arnehilians but…" Msko interjected with a hesitant tone that caught his Kyim'ayik friend off guard. "We don't think they're Grays."
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There was a second of confused silence as Zim stared into the War Chief's eyes to see if this was a joke. Before Nishnabe could bring himself to explain, however, Atxika chimed in to give the proper explanation.
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"What I am about to say is Level 8 classified information from Military Command and should be treated with the appropriate amount of secrecy. Do you understand?" After an incredibly professional and understanding nod from the Administrator, the Admiral continued. "We have confirmed the existence of a non-aligned, neutral-standing collective of decentralized Arnehilian groups who refer to themselves as, quote, 'the Greens', or the Free People of Sundered Arnehil. According to all reports, they are an ecologically-minded, nomadic, agricultural society who regularly travel in such a way as to avoid any means of tracking or detection by their… less peaceful cousins. However, there are a few who regularly check in with Military Command to avoid potential confrontations. There have been no indications that any of their groups discovered so far are violent, nor even capable of galactic standard levels of self-defense."
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"I thought those rumors were just misinformation or propaganda." Zim was now much more earnest as gazed upon the holographic saucer floating above the planet. "And you say they're even ecologically-minded?"
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"Our drones haven't detected any significant environmental disruptions." Msko sounded far more nonchalant about this situation than his long-time friend was expecting. There was no aggression or anger in his movements as he indicated towards a highlight portion of the holographic planet floating above the table and prompted the display to project a new hologram. "Their settlement is using solar and wind energy to operate their infrastructure and accumulate power reserves. From what we can tell, they're only a week away from finishing their agricultural harvest and two weeks away from their power reserves being fully recharged. If we had been delayed a month, there's a good chance we would have missed them completely."
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“What kind of resource impacts would I have to account for?” The Administrator quickly followed up.
​
“Maybe a couple hundred tons worth of basic elements and organic matter.” It was clear Msko had already scoured everything and couldn’t find any reason to be concerned. “But the drones' sensors can’t detect any real difference between now and six months ago. Like I said, if we were delayed a month, we might not have even known they were ever there.”
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"I see…" There was a moment of pause as Zim stared at the highly detailed holographic representation of a temporary settlement located only a couple dozen kilometers from where he had been planning his own colony.
​
The two military officers remained silent to give the Kyim'ayik Administrator all the time he needed to think about what he had just been told. Each species, without exception, had some unique form of architectural design and aesthetic, and the variety of buildings Zim was looking at were no different. The extensive use of cheap, easy to produce polymers, the simple, module construction, and rounded, nearly circular, aesthetic to all of the building were all clearly Arnehilian. However, there was something humble, almost intentionally so, about the lack of silver-metal detailing combined with the way the structures simply flowed into the untouched trees around them. Rather than a budding slaver-colony run by beings who thought themselves entitled everyone and everything, this looked like the respectfully maintained dwelling of a temporary guest who wished to remain discreet. Though the Administrator knew his duty to his people would normally demand he evict these uninvited squatters from his land, he couldn’t help but feel something almost kindred in what he was seeing.
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"Have you made contact with them yet?" Zim flatly asked, though he could already guess the answer. "Do they know we're coming?"
​
"No and no." Atxika promptly answered, while letting her smile fall into a more professional expression. "Their ship is inactive, seems to be in a state of disrepair, and is currently in a free-floating, low orbit. According to our scans, their ground-based sensor systems are incapable of detecting our reconnaissance drones. However, they would absolutely notice our fleet entering the system."
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"Well, we don't wanna scare them." Zim finally squeaked out with a slightly giggle that sounded more like a chirp. "Reptiles always freak out when you startle them."
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It had been nine hours of working in the greenhouse when Mayor Harideth noticed the young dark gray-skinned, olive-drab clad messenger running towards him at full speed. Though he had known this young woman her entire life, she was a member of her community after all, he had never seen her running this fast. It wasn't the speed of her approach that made him stop what he was doing, rather it was the unadulterated fear plastered across her face. As Nalhilum sprinted down the path between the vertical hydroponic racks, a few of the Arnehilians in the greenhouse took notice, though didn't stop their work. When the young woman came to a sliding halt just in front of the Mayor, it looked like she was about to keel over from exhaustion and stress.
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"My dear, please." Harideth had a genuinely concerned expression on his scaly face as he quickly moved to brace the young woman and prevent her from falling over. "You are too young to give yourself a heart attack running like that. Whatever is happening, you don't need t-"
​
"Mayor, we've been detected." The dread that came out of Nalhilum's voice and the tears in her eyes as she looked up at her community leader shattered the man's soul.
​
"Do not fear, Nalhilum, my dear. Please sit and rest. We will be fine. I promise." Harideth helped the young woman slowly lower herself into a seated position, plucked a just-ripe fruit from a vine he had been tending, and handed it to her before turning towards the closest other people in the greenhouse. "Maricha, please see to Nalhilum and ensure she recovers. I am needed in my mayoral duties immediately."
​
In the few seconds it took for the worker to be at the young woman's side, she had already begun nibbling on the sweet treat, savoring it as this was her last opportunity, and the Mayor had given her a gentle kiss on the forehead then began running out of the greenhouse. Though Harideth felt he had a personal duty to stay at his messenger's side until she had fully recovered and ensured she wouldn't need further assistance, he had a greater duty to his community as a whole. Despite feeling the same fear that he saw in Nalhilum’s eyes, and wanting to ball up and hide with every fiber of his body, he charged as fast as he could towards the town hall building. Though he knew running this fast was not good for his health, especially in his old age and after working all day, the only thing on the Mayor’s mind was the safety and future of the people who trusted him with their lives.
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“Please don’t let it be the Oppressors.” Harideth muttered to himself as he ran as fast as his legs could take him. “By the Gods of Old, please don’t let it be them.”
​
For nearly a millennium now, his people had been free of those who flew the red and gray flag and, despite the many hurdles and setbacks, they had found their own form of happiness. After the Dynastic family who had kept his working-class ancestors in literal chains had been dealt a devastating blow when their capital ship was overrun by a group of abducted, pre-Ascension beings, it sparked a revival of the Free People’s ideology in the slave population. Stories of people living together in mutual aid, love, and respect once only told in hushed whispers were shouted from the rooftops as most of the surviving members of the Dynasty were thrown from them. Once all of the slaves of the other species were freed and on their way back to their respective homes, the budding groups of Greens scattered into the interstellar winds to avoid reprisal from other Dynasties which were sure to want revenge. There was even a dream that they would find other groups of Free Arnehilians living among the stars.
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It was a blessing that their rebellion had initially gone unnoticed by the rest of the Arnehilian Dynasties and the greater community as that gave his ancestors time to disperse beyond the ability to be completely tracked down. Even if a few scattered communities eventually met their death or worse, the end of their freedom, there would be some who were able to survive and thrive. Though Harideth had assumed his nomadic village may eventually run into someone, he put a great deal of effort into minimizing that potential. In fact, he chose this very planet as their temporary stopping grounds specifically because it was far out of the way of most civilizations and people. After spending nearly a full season on this beautiful world, he had even started to grow attached to it and was looking for an excuse to postpone their migration in order to facilitate repairs to their ship. Being detected after so long, and with only a few weeks until they would have been ready to leave on their own, was something the Mayor could have never been prepared for.
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“Make a hole!” A person wearing a dull green cap shouted down a rather cramped corridor that Harideth was barreling towards at full speed before quickly pulling back and nodding towards the man as he passed.
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“Thank you, Chuzikum.” Harideth faintly mouthed while darting past the person and into the now cleared passageway that led outdoors.
​
Finally outside, the man only slowed his sprint to turn a few corners and avoid running into the few unwary people who had failed to notice him coming. He was less than a hundred meters away from the town hall building housing his destination, the command and control room, and he couldn’t stop now. Regardless of how hard his heart was beating, how much he felt his body overheating from the strain, and how much he wanted to just collapse, he couldn’t fail his people. As the building got closer and closer, Harideth tried to think through all of the possibilities of who it could be that had detected them. Though none of the options that came to his mind were particularly pleasant, from Bendari pirates to Qui’ztar law enforcement or even the Oppressors themselves, he was already trying to work out contingency plans as he finally approached the already open door and his assistant waiting for him beside it.
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“Please close the door behind us, Marlati.” Harideth’s request was just barely audible as he crossed the threshold of the door and was quickly followed by his assistant who did as she was asked. “Who is it and what do they want?”
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“The communication signal we are receiving registers as the Qui’ztar Third Matriarchy, Mayor Harideth.” Marlati quickly and quietly replied as she followed the man towards the command and control room.
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“Oh, thank the Gods.” The Mayor stopped mid step and placed a hand on the wall next to lean and catch his breath for a moment. “This could still be very bad, but it could have also been so much worse.”
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“Um, sir?” The Mayor’s assistant watched him with a hint of concern as she could see how much he was overheating. “Would you like me to get you a cooling pack?”
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“Oh, no, that’s alright.” Harideth stood back up straight and continued towards his final destination, though a bit slower than before. As he turned back to his assistant, he gave a compassionate nod of approval. “You are too kind, my dear. This is just a…” The man’s voice trailed off as his thoughts began to concentrate on a plan of action.
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“A what, sir?” Marlati nervously in a manner which caused the Mayor to look back at her. “I’m sorry sir, but this is the first time this has ever happened in my entire life.”
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“First time for me too, Marlati.” Harideth admitted with a hit of nervous laughter. “But I do know enough about the Qui'ztar to not be issuing an immediate emergency evacuation order.”
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“That’s not very reassuring.” Though the whine that just came his assistant would have been grating in any other circumstance, she was right and the Mayor knew it.
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“That is the name of the game you help some of the children play, something of the magical planets?” Harideth stopped at the door to the room which separated him from his responsibilities as a Mayor.
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“Adventures of the Magical Worlds, sir?”
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“Yes! I believe there is a moral alignment chart in the rules somewhere.” Though it was clear that his assistant didn’t quite know what he was getting, it became incredibly obvious as he explained. “If I remember correctly, everything I’ve read about the Qui’ztar would put them roughly in the ‘hierarchical neutral’ category.”
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“Ah…” The assistance was quite hesitant as she knew what that actually implied. “That still isn’t very reassuring.”
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“They’re here to do a job. And as long as we comply and don’t get in their way, we’ll be fine.” The Mayor was doing his best to hold up his mask of confidence and not let this young feel what he felt.
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“And what if their job is to kill us?”
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“Then they wouldn’t have made their presence known. They would have simply shown up and sent us all to the next life.” However morbid that statement was, it actually did give the Marlati a small sense of real relief in the fact they weren't already dead as the door to the command and control room opened and the pair slowly walked in.
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"Sir! Thank the Gods you're here!" A communications specialist shouted from his seat in front of a terminal towards the Mayor as he quickly approached.
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"Of course, Telucima, I wouldn’t make you talk to them all by yourself." Harideth tried to crack a joke to the young woman behind the terminal in a vain attempt to calm her obviously flustered nerves. Though Telucima’s dark gray skin was never as shiny as a royal's, her face was especially dull and pale at the moment and the Mayor couldn’t help but empathize with her. “Now, please, give me your report. What do we know?”
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“Well…” Telucima made a gulping sound as she swallowed some of the semi-poisonous saliva that had been building up in her mouth as a fear response. “There is a fairly substantial colony fleet headed our way being escorted by the First Independent Fleet of the Third Qui'ztar Matriarchy. They have stated that we are inhabiting an unregistered settlement on a planet that has already been claimed by the Kyim'ayik. However, they have not yet made any demands, claimed our settlement is in violation of any laws, or even made any threats. I am absolutely sure they know who we are, but they didn’t explicitly identify us in their message. I’m not exactly sure what it is going on, but the signal strength and delay indicate they are still a day or two away.”
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“Interesting…” The Mayor commented with a more curious than scared tone while rubbing the top of his head in contemplation. “No demands, threats, or attempts to justify the use of force through galactic law… Is there any way we could get a real-time communications link established?”
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“Sir? You want to talk to them?” Marlati could barely contain her fear as she interjected. “I thought every species hated us, and you want to talk to them?”
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“They hate the bastard Oppressors, Marlati, though maybe not as much as we do.” Harideth knew this would be his one and only chance to make a good impression on what could otherwise be their impending doom and he was doing everything in his power to muster the inner courage needed for this conversation. “They may not know the difference between us and… them… yet. But something tells me they might.”
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“Sir,” Telucima had redirected her attention back to her terminal and was running through the system to facilitate the Mayor’s request, “I can establish a quantum link, though it would require me to activate the relay on the ship. If there are any oppressors nearby, there’s a chance they could detect our presence and attempt to use the trace to track us down.”
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“Do it.” The Mayor ordered with a tone that implied he knew the risks. “I want to see if these Qui’ztar would be willing to allow us to stay for the few weeks required to complete our harvest. Worst comes to worst, we’ll have to start packing everything up early and delay the repairs for another season.”
​
The next few moments were nearly silent aside from the sounds of a tapping keyboard and the occasional digitized ping from the terminal. Telucima had begun the task of awakening the ship, configuring the communications channel, and activating the relay through text-based commands on a simple, monochromatic screen, while the other two people clad in simple olive-drab clothing could do nothing but fester in their thoughts. While Harideth was busy planning out how he was going to grovel and beg for permission to finish his people’s desperately needed harvest of fresh food, Marlati was simply doing everything in her power not to shake in fear. When the final confirmation ping came from the terminal and Telucima began pressing her headset tightly to her ears, the faint whispers of a translated voice could be heard.
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“Yes I can understand you…" The communications specialist, though lacking much previous experience in speaking with a member of another species, seemed to be focused solely on her job and not her fear. "Oh no, I'm sorry, this terminal doesn't have that function. It's… Yes, I can absolutely do that. Just give me one moment to set up the connection and I'll be right back with you."
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In a flash, Telucima had taken off her headset, stood from her console, and was moving to a nearby bag resting on a table, much to the shock of the other Arnehilians. Before either the Mayor or his assistant could question the young woman, she was triumphantly holding up her personal data-tablet and was returning to her seat.
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"What-" Harideth began before the young woman cut him off while pulling her tablet into the terminal.
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"Ope, sorry about that, sir." The specialist cut off her mayor and began to explain in a rush. "I was speaking to a communications officer and she wanted an audio-visual feed to link to her commanding officer. This terminal doesn't haven't that functionality, but I can just just patch a link through my tablet. It's got a mic and camera and we can use it as the display."
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“Good thinking, Telucima.” The Mayor laid a gentle, compassionate hand on the woman’s shoulder after she had placed the tablet at a good angle and sat back into her chair to type in the commands. “I knew you were the right person for this job.”
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“It was the communications officer’s idea, sir.” Telucima couldn’t help herself but to be honest regardless of the praise. “I’m just glad there were instructions for this kind of patch in the training manual. It should just take a moment to load.”
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When the relatively small screen came to life in front of the Mayor’s face, he saw three faces looking back at him with expectant eyes, and he froze in shock. Though none of the expressions looked out right hostile, he could tell none of those individuals would tolerate anything less than submission. Despite only ever seen descriptions of the being he was now looking at, all three could easily be identified. Even without his tail being visible, the furry, large-toothed person on the right was clearly a Kyim'ayik. The large, mostly-hairless, blue primate with pronounced tusks in the middle was, without a doubt, a Qui'ztar of particularly high rank. However, the not-as-large, similarly hairless, but copper-brown primate on the left was a species Harideth had a special fear, and particular reverence, for.
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“Are… Are you a Nishnabe?” Harideth stammered out before even introducing himself or allowing these beings to introduce themselves, which prompted the Qui’ztar and Kyim'ayik to turn to the now confused human.
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“Yes…” Msko replied hesitantly. “I take it you are aware of my people?”
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“Aware…” Harideth couldn't stop the heartfelt smile from forming across his scaly face. “You… Your people… the Vanquishers of Tyrants, the Bane of Oppressors, the Unstoppable Rage, and the Saviors of the Oppressed… Your people are the reason my people have been blessed with a thousand years of freedom!”

He had expected this sooner rather than later, and it hurt to see.
He knew it wasn't going to work.
The Galactic Assembly was full of aliens, not humans. The things that got humanity's attention were the same sort of things that tended to scare the GA.
But of course, the average human couldn't have known that, and with their tendency to change creatures around them to become more human, the aliens with which they worked didn't see it either.
They were doing the right thing, but going about it the wrong way.
Still, that didn't stop his feelings of sadness and empathy for their plight.
Walking with Sunny, standing on the buddy pegs attached to her back, and examining the protest encampment around him, he couldn't help but be impressed by their bravery.
He knew for a fact that if he was in their shoes, he would be way more likely to hide, lie to everyone around him, and even himself.
But here they were out in the open, a shining beacon of defiance against the GA.
It was a difficult situation, of course he supported the GA wholeheartedly, and he always would, and with that support came an understanding.
But that didn't mean that he had to agree with them.
They were scared.
And people tend to lash out at things that scare them.
As it turns out, that seemed to be a common factor across the galaxy.
He reached down, hand caressing the tear gas canisters at his belt and the accompanying gas mask. He prayed, just PRAYED that he wouldn't have to use them, but how was he to know what would happen. When people got righteously angry about something they tended to act up, and when thrown into a group of like-minded people, the pack mentality was overwhelming.
He wanted everything to go well, he wanted them to make their point, to prove that they were the moral superiors, demonstrate to the GA that they weren't militant, and all they wanted was peace.
That was the sort of thing that would get across to the GA.
But with humans involved... He didn't really have much hope.
He glanced around at the assembled tents, looking for any sign of trouble.
He didn't see much, just the limp white flags, with the LFIL logo printed proudly on their front.
Still keeping an eye on his surroundings, he leaned against one of Sunny's shoulders.
"So, what do you think about this whole thing?"
Sunny turned her head to look at him, gold eyes and blue carapace glittering with the yellow sheen of the Rundi sky.
She shrugged, setting him a little off balance. She grabbed his feet to steady him as she continued up a small incline.
"It doesn't bother me, and I suppose I understand them."
"Oh?"
"Imagine finding someone you connect with, someone who understands you more than anyone ever has. Imagine a Drev finding the greatest warrior in the galaxy, and then... Just having to suffer knowing you can never be with them. Granted none of the other species ever would have considered it an option without the humans, but now.... It makes sense. You connect with someone well enough, then beyond that there isn't much you can do. And now the GA has prohibited that."
"I agree with you completely, but let me play devil's advocate for a moment. They aren't even the same species, without the same genetics. It wouldn't be physically possible to produce a viable offspring wouldn’t it?”
She turned her head to look at him.
"And how does it work for your brother David and his husband Jordan?"
He laughed,
"Ok, ok, poor question."
"Adoption is a relevant option. Plus, this is coming from the guy who lent his DNA to some alien."
"Arguably she stole it, but I get your point."
They turned another corner scanning the crowd,
"Hear me out though. Humans are... Well, you know how humans are. They need... uhhm uhhh you know…”
Adam got a little red,
”…Affection and intimacy... How does that even... Work?"
"Oh, I am sure some human has found a way, besides, humans and Drev aren't so different in that regard..."
He tilted his head to look at her,
"How the hell do you know that?”
"Got into a discussion with Krill. He thinks it's possible, though he would never tell you humans. He already thinks you do a ton of stupid stuff anyway."
”Oh really what is he expecting? I don’t think anyone from our crew would jump at the opportunity to do it with a Drev be it man or woman… Besides with all these tall as hell Drev males, human women wouldn’t have much fun either would they?”
”Considering males who would be interested, aren’t you good friends with Ramirez? Why don’t you ask him, maybe he knows someone?”
”Okay damn fair point… but the female argument still stays.”
”Krill did some research, I swear I never saw him so… done with humans. He looked like he would drink away his sorrow to forget everything… if his body could tolerate alcohol.”
”So what did he find out about this time?”
”After another particularly massive aggressive rant about how and I quote “shitting freaking goddamn incredibly punk-ass weird” you humans are, he said some weird words in a context I didn’t understand. So, do you know what a dragon is and can you tell me why it is so bad?”
”Hmm what… wait a second…”
”…”
”Oh shit…”
”So?”
"So uhmmm uhhh, let’s stop with humans and talk about Drev again okay? Don't you Drev guys also have a mating season?”*
"We did, but it was actually based on the magnetic fluctuation of our planet in time with the seasons. Now that we don't have that anymore, things are out of whack."
"Huh, I didn't know that."
"You never asked."
"Because that is a totally normal thing to ask someone. Hello, my name is Adam, and I am actually very curious about how... That stuff... works on your planet."
"That stuff, huh?"
He rolled his eyes,
"I was sheltered ok, give me a break."
They came to a stop at a crossroads, and Adam stepped down from her back and onto the dirt, tilting his head to listen, trying to detect any signs of a disturbance.
As of yet there was nothing.
He turned to the left, down another line of tents, passing into a more populated area of the protest encampment.
People wearing specially made clothing, with the LFIL logo, shirts, scarves, bandannas, jackets, hats etc. etc. walked about, openly with their alien companions, a few even brave enough to show overt affection towards each other.
A human hugging a Tesraki, while another stood on a box to kiss the cheek of their Drev partner.
"Now that, is something I couldn't do."
He said to Sunny, as they walked past.
"Kiss someone?"
"No, Kiss someone three to four feet taller than me. Way too much work."
"How do you know, maybe climbing up three feet would be worth it?”
Eyes followed them nervously as they walked past, their riot gear marking them as “the enemy”.
"I would rather not be in danger of twisting my ankle every time I wanted to show someone affection, thanks."
"You twist your ankle all the time anyway."
"That's my point. If I twist my ankle now, imagine what would happen if I had to do acrobatics on a regular basis."
They came to a halt as a group of protesters paraded in front of them holding up picket signs.
One of the protesters turned to glare at him,
"We aren't doing anything illegal!”
Adam held up his hands,
"I know. I'm just security to make sure no one gets hurt.”
The other human didn't seem convinced, angrily grabbing their alien companion around the waist before marching off.
The Tesraki looked uncomfortable, looking back at them apologetically.
Though Tesraki were generally cutthroat businessmen, they tended towards extreme submissiveness in relationships with humans.
Adam stepped through the gap left by the protesters and continued walking.
As they did, they early ran into a group of kids selling little white flags and bandannas.
They pulled to a halt, eyes widening in surprise and shock.
A young Tesraki pulled to a halt with them looking as if he was about to panic and run off.
However, the kid at the front's eyes widened and a big smile crossed his face,
“Holy shit! You, I know you!"
Adam smiled,
"You do now?"
"Yeah , yeah you're in that movie. You, you command the UNSC fleet."
For some reason, that exclamation calmed the other kids, and they squealed, shouting and asking for a picture. Of course, he was happy to oblige, posing with them for their pictures. Sunny stood to the side, happy to watch though she was dragged in for the next set of pictures once they realized who she was.
"What are you doing here?"
One of them asked, glancing down at his clothing. When she saw what he was wearing her smile was falling,
"You... aren't here to stop us, are you?"
Adam shook his head,
"No, of course not, protesting isn't illegal."
He motioned to Sunny with his other hand,
"Sunny and I are just here to make sure that you guys stay safe, and that no one gets hurt.”
Sunny nodded. One of the more skeptical looking teens looked up at him,
"How do we know you aren't here to stop us. You work for the GA after all."
Adam shrugged,
"I don't have much else to prove, other than my word."
The skeptic looked at them, a wicked smile appearing on her face,
"I know."
She reached into her cart and pulled out one of the bandannas,
"Wear this!”
It was clear she expected him to balk at the idea, but to her surprise, he smiled,
"Alright, sounds reasonable."
He held out his arm, and watched, still smiling as she tied it around his upper arm still glowering at him skeptically,
"Think you can spare one for my big friend?"
He patted Sunny on the arm.
That broke her skepticism, and she smiled openly, handing a second one over to him, which he tied around one of Sunny's upper arms.
He waved a goodbye to them, and stepped back up onto Sunny's back, walking away with her.
"That was nice of you."
He shrugged,
”Not really. I honestly agree with them. The GA has no right to tell them who they can and cannot be with. I know they have some reasons, but I feel like there is a better way of dealing with it."
Sunny hummed deep in her throat,
"Uh-huh, or you really just want a really tall girlfriend."
He sighed,
"Honestly I'd settle for any size girlfriend if I could just talk to her like a normal person without sticking my foot in my mouth. No Maverick and Dr. Katie do not count…"
"Your incompetence with women is acrobatic."
"I'm glad you're impressed.”
Together, they continued their slow circle around the encampment, drawing suspicious and confused eyes as they went. Sometimes they were recognized, and occasionally people would ask to take pictures with them, other times, they just wanted to talk.
The variety of people was... astounding.
A barely five foot human with a nine foot Drev.
A group of humans and a group of Tesraki.
A lawyer and a Finnari.
Two couples both as business partners with a Tesraki half.
They were young and old male-female, in all different pairings.
Old soldiers, and young students.
It was honestly quite stunning.
At one point they stopped off for water and ran into a massive bodybuilder with his Drev girlfriend, whose carapace at any other time would have marked her as ugly for a Drev.
At first Sunny felt bad for her, with her muddy brown carapace, mat without any shine.
The man turned and handed Adam some water.
”Here better stay hydrated brother!”
Adam raised the bottle,
"Thanks."
The man looked him over, eyeing the bandanna around his arm.
"Interesting accessories for a GA affiliate."
"You can work for someone and disagree with them."
The man laughed,
"I suppose that's true."
He greeted Sunny as well, who was trying not to stare at the other female Drev for too long, lest it seem like she was staring.
He motioned to the arm band,
"Supporter, or-"
His eyes flicked between Adam and Sunny.
"We're just here to make sure everyone stays safe."
Off to the side the mat Drev looked at Sunny,
"I'm sorry."
Sunny glanced over at her nervously,
"Sorry for what?"
"You must have been treated very poorly on Anum."
Sunny shuffled her feet awkwardly,
"I was alright I guess..."
"Regardless. I hope things work out for you. The Drev beauty standards are unfair, and things need to change."
Sunny wasn't entirely sure how she was supposed to feel about that.
"They aren't so bad."
She ventured defensively.
"Then I am sure you are getting combat offers left and right with your coloring.”
Sunny went quiet again. She would have said this was passive aggressive, but the Drev didn't do passive aggressive, so was this just an open statement about how ugly she was? If that was the case, it kind of hurt.
"I have, because I am an experienced warrior."
Her voice was cold.
"Oh, so where is your partner?"
"I turned them down."
That seemed to surprise the female Drev.
Sunny felt her fists clench, but Adam placed a hand on her arm. She was quiet,
The two humans exchanged a look, the way that only humans can, speaking without actually saying anything.
”C’mon babe, lets look a little bit around and let these two be… It was nice meeting you brother! Also… good luck man…”
The human bodybuilder turned around, taking the Drev by one of her hands to lead her away.
Adam took Sunny by the arm and raised his water at the man,
"Uhm what? Huh anyway, good luck to you too?"
Before turning to walk away, the other Drev cut in at the last second.
"I hope you find a worthy battle partner."
Adam Squeezed Sunny's arm tighter, but she turned her head anyway snapping,
"I already have."
Before marching off without another word.
Adam was forced to scamper after her, his legs much shorter.
"Wow, wow, hold your horses!”
She finally slowed to a stop, still fuming.
"Who the hell does she think she is!?”
"Sunny-."
"Calling me ugly to my face!"
"Sunny-"
"I should have challenged her to a duel right then and there!"
"Sunny!?”*
She turned to look at him,
"What!?"
He climbed back up on her back, patting her shoulder,
"She was obviously just insecure and jealous. I mean come on, look at you, blue is the rarest color in the galaxy and most attractive for a Drev, and we all know that height is the least important attribute of Drev beauty standards. The better you can fight, the more you make up for it, besides it's not her fault that she can't accept someone as being valid unless they are in a pair."
Sunny grunted. He frowned,
"Speaking of which, coming from her it seems like a double standard. You fight with me, and I'm fucking awesome, so by default you have to be too."
"Wow Adam, you really know how to make a person feel better."
"I know."
[…]
They were crossing back to the other side of the encampment, when they ran into some familiar faces.
Ramirez and Maverick appeared from the crowd, waving the two of them down with greeting hands.
They pulled to a stop, and the commander motioned to the white bandanna on Ramirez's arm,
"Nice accessories."
"I like yours too."
"I didn't know you were a supporter?”
Ramirez laughed,
"Man I am a supporter of whatever the hell people want to do with themselves."
Off to his side Maverick had tied one of the white bandannas to her belt.
"And you?”
"Personally, I don't give a shit. I don't even think it should be an issue, but by banning it, the GA created a problem for themselves and took away the freedom of choice for these people. Even if I did disagree with what they are doing, I would still support their ability to make that choice for themselves."
She tugged on the bandanna,
"But hey, would I be wearing this otherwise?”
The commander nodded his head, surprised and pleased at his men for being so open minded, though he supposed it should make sense. They worked with aliens every day. Where others might have fostered a sense of fear based on unfamiliarity, they had experience.
"Let’s just hope this all goes over well tomorrow. I don't want to have to use any of this."
He motioned down to his gear.
The commander sighed.
"Isn't that like the catch 22 thing?”
Loyal to one side.
Sympathetic to the other.
Empathetic to both.
He would be relieved when it was finally fixed.
Though how he could help was beyond him.
[...]
"Please everyone, calm yourselves. The Galactic Assembly is addressing the issue as we speak."
The crowd roiled and churned like the bubbles in a pot of boiling water. Flags waved and voices rose high into the air.
The chanting increased in fervor.
"Please!"
The Rundi struggled to raise his voice high enough to be heard over the crowd, who only grew with strength and intensity.
Commander Vir keyed his mic,
"Delta units to the GA side of the crowd, some of these protesters are looking extremely agitated. Let's make sure they don't do anything we're all going to regret.”
He stood with his back to the GA chambers, its wide arching courtyard devoid of life, except for those unfortunate Rundi ordered to carry messages from one side of the compound to the other, otherwise they tried to keep their distance from the front facade of the building and the churning mass of protesters.
White flags waved and fluttered.
Commander Vir held the energy shield with one arm, pressing it back firmly against the crowd, so they could not pass the dedicated marking point.
"Commander, the crowd over here is getting violent."
He grimaced and reached a hand down to open the line,
"Stun them and let them calm down, do NOT catch anyone else in the crossfire. We do not want this escalating."
"Yes sir."
Something pushed against his shield and he grunted, pushing back.
The white bandanna on his arm was pressed against the clear blue force field and helped to at least confuse the crowd before them.
And luckily, they would be kept too confused to get violent.
The aliens among the human protesters helped as well.
If this was on earth, things would have broken out into a riot by now, but the Drev the Tesraki and the Finnari tended to be more levelheaded when it came to these kinds of things, and they managed to reign in their humans from doing something stupid.
He closed his eyes tight for a second, praying that the GA would rethink their position.
It hurt him to watch these people struggle like this.
It just felt so strange that anyone should be here in the first place.
Beside him, Sunny had taken control of two young humans who were getting a bit more than rowdy,
"Let’s keep this a protest, and not a riot."
She growled, giving them a look that would have made anyone quell in their boots. It sort of made him half smile, Sunny was such a badass, he wanted to be more like her when he eventually grew up.
His thoughts were cut off, as the crowd churned a bit, pressing into his shield.
He keyed his mic again, prepared to go over the loudspeaker and tell them that if they didn't calm down he was going to turn this protest into a mass nap time.
He had the power to do that if things got out of hand, though he honestly didn't want to.
The GA needed to see this.
He was so preoccupied with the crowd, that he barely noticed as the Rundi ran up from the inside of the compound, flying forward on its long spindly legs.
It stopped by the first Rundi to say something, and the conversation that passed between them didn't look particularly encouraging.
HIs heart sank into his stomach.
He felt... Surprisingly disappointed, very sad for all those people who were going to get their day ruined.
The Rundi waffled around at the front of the crowd for a bit before turning and looking over to where he stood.
Oh great.
The Rundi walked over, and he backed off from the crowd, allowing Sunny to take a step in his place with her shield at the ready.
The people looked as if they were about to start something, but seeing her expression, they decided not to.
He dropped his shield and lowered his head to hear the Rundi over the roaring of the crowd.
"The GA is not budging."
The Rundi whispered,
"They are asking the protesters to leave."
Adam growled in frustration.
Behind him someone in the crowd pointed at him,
"They're saying no aren't they!?”
Others took up the call, and soon enough the rest of the crowd had been alerted. Adam was forced to run back to support Sunny, as everything suddenly grew more intense.
Fights were breaking out on the left and the right.
People were hitting the ground as the guards were forced to stun them.
That only agitated the rest of the crowd who also began to buck and fight.
Adam keyed the mic for real this time, filling the intervening space with his booming voice,
”ALL OF YOU KNOCK IT OFF RIGHT NOW OR I WILL STUN YOU ALL."
The aggression in the crowd died down, though the anger remained sizzling at the surface.
Overhead clouds passed over the sun, before him the crowd roared like a wave, and behind him the GA council chambers were as silent as a ghost town.
"LISTEN, QUIET DOWN ALL OF YOU."
It sort of felt as if he was floating.
The world around him hardly seemed real though that was not the best way to explain it.
The crowd died down a bit,
"You may not understand this! And I have said it before, but these are not humans. Protests don't work on them. When they see a group of angry humans, they get scared and when they get scared, they double down even further. I know it does not make any sense to you NOT to protest for what you believe in, but if you are going to do this, you MUST remain civil. Even now the GA is frightened by you. They don't believe you are rational, and they are not going to listen to you if this keeps up."
The crowd had quieted down to a milling sort of confusion.
"Then what should we do!"*
The shouting came from somewhere and in anger, though he couldn't pinpoint the source.
In frustration he nudged Sunny, and she allowed him to climb on her back as he had before.
The crowd could see him now, and he could see them for the most part.
He waved them down trying to cut off the others who had taken up the chant.
"I understand what you are trying to do, and I support your efforts, but you are only hurting ourselves. The GA can only be won by rational discussion."
"The GA won't see any of our representatives. They are debating only on their own facts and opinions."
One of the crowd's people snarled. The call was echoed and Adam stared at them in shock,
"Wait what!? Are you serious?”
There was a muttering throughout the crowd.
"For fuck's sake."
He muttered under his breath,
"The Rudi think none of us are high ranking enough to be allowed into the council chambers, and none of the representatives will take up our cause. The human ambassador thinks we are disgusting, so she won't do anything and says she won’t represent our minority."
The muttering through the crowd grew louder.
Adam looked around, head turning to see all the angry faces, blushed with red, or streaked with tears.
These people were frustrated, and hurt, and he understood why.
This wasn't right!
He closed his eyes again and took another deep breath.
What was he thinking!?
He stepped down from Sunny's back and walked over to one of the protestors in the front row, pointing to his large flag on a pole that was about eight feet tall.
"May I borrow your flag?"
The protester stared on at him in confusion,
"What, why?"
"Because, I am going to give you the representative you need."
[…]
Commander Vir and Sunny walked alone down the length of the GA outer courtyard.
A billowing white flag streamed lazily over his head, suspended there by way of the pole which rested heavily on his shoulder. The white of the fabric had been marred now by many colors as hundreds of rushed signatures had been scrawled on its face.
He was armed with the backing of a thousand protesters, a hundred signatures, and more than a few dozen stories.
Sunny turned her head to look at him, and he fancied that maybe he saw an expression of pride in her eyes, though she didn't say much except,
"Pretty brave."
He didn't feel very brave, and as they walked through the front doors of the GA atrium, his hand was shaking against the cold metal of the flagpole.
He was stopped by a pair of Rundi guards on his way into the chamber, but was let in after they recognized who he was.
He could hear voices up ahead, and the sounds of the protest going on outside had all but died away,
"They have proven that they cannot be civil, and based on the humanizing effect, we can assume they will do similar things to any non-human lifeform that they encounter."
"I may not agree with their decision counselor, but that sounds like your prejudice against humans is seeping through."
There was an uproar in the council chamber.
He paused for a moment, staying with Sunny just out of line of sight and took a deep breath.
She lay a hand on his shoulder.
"Here goes nothing."
He muttered, before stepping his way out onto the GA floor.
At first no one noticed his presence as he made his slow way into the center of the circle, but his large, white flag soon changed that.
The council chambers went silent.
The chairwoman stood,
"Commander, what are you doing here. Shouldn't you be taking care of the protesters?”
His lips drew into a thing line,
"With all due respect councilwoman, I am."
He rammed the flagpole against the stone, sending a loud cracking sound out and around the wide atrium silencing the council,
"I have been made aware that you refuse to see their representatives based on a ranking issue, well I assume my rank is high enough."
The Human rep leaned forward,
"Commander, this is not your place!”
He shot her a look,
"Then whose place is it counselor? I heard a certain democratic counselor refuses to speak for them because they are and I quote “a too small and insignificant minority”…”
He turned his head in a wide arc at the watching crowd,
"Counselors, you have known me, longer than you have known any human currently in this galaxy. You understand that I know your rules and your customs. You understand that I have only ever striven to protect and uphold the GA and the planet's it encompasses. I have thwarted wars, signed treaties, and broken my own body for your best interests."
There was silence about the room.
"Will you let me speak now, with the understanding that my loyalty has never wavered from you, and never will?”
The silence continued.
Aliens understood the power of human loyalty.
Or at least they should…
The chairwoman took a seat,
"Very well, commander."
He lifted his head, feeling his heart slow as he took a few deep breaths. There was a muscle in his face that had begun to twitch, like it always did if he was extremely angry or nervous, but he held it down,
"I understand you are frightened, and I understand that you are confused, but I want you to know first of all that those people outside are good average people. They don't mean you any harm. They are hurting, and they are afraid for themselves, and they are trying to get your attention. Historically, humanity has used protests to right the injustices of government to combat prejudices brought on by one's sex or the color of their skin. You must understand that they see this as an impingement on their happiness and a decision made out of line."
There was a murmur around the room.
"So, I ask you now, that I may, perhaps, answer your questions and ease your worries. Why are you so against them?"
"It's unnatural."
It was the Bran representative that had spoken, and he did it quite emphatically.
"Why?"
The commander asked,
"Because they aren't even the same species."
"So?"
The Bran seemed caught off guard,
"They... It's not natural. They can't reproduce, so it isn't... A thing that should be done."
The commander shrugged,
"So if one can't reproduce then they aren't natural? I see a couple issues in that logic relating to prejudices against people with infertility."
There was a murmur around the room.
"So, they can't reproduce, so what? You know who we can reproduce with though... Adaptids."
There was a sort of hushed exclamation form around the room.
The commander shrugged,
"They can't have kids.... Hardly a good enough argument to bring to the floor of a government discussion."
"What he is trying to say is that this practice equates itself to bestiality. It is utterly disguting!"
It was the human representative this time, and she stared at him with her eyes narrowed in anger.
He kept his cool, though he very much did not like her.
"That is absolutely disgusting and wildly insulting of you because that implies that one or both parties are no better than animals, beasts as you will."
The room was silent,
"So which one is it, are humans animals, counselor, are the Finnari or the Rundi animals?"
He turned to the Drev counselor,
"Are the Drev just dumb animals that have no understanding, and no decision making abilities?”
The Drev representative stood, angrily cracking his spear against the stone,
"We are most certainly not!"
The commander held up his hands,
"Then what is so bestial about it? Bestiality is absolutely disgusting because you are taking advantages of a creature that can neither understand nor protect itself from what you are doing. It cannot say yes, and it cannot say no. It has no greater understanding than that of a child, and so cannot make its own decisions."
He looked towards the Finnari representative,
"Tell me counselor, is your species a species of children, with no greater concept of their own decision making?”
"Of course not. Why would you even imply such a thing!?”
"I imply nothing, counselor. This is what YOU imply with your decision. So far we have established that all parties are intelligent consenting creatures, and none of you have managed to give me an actually good reason for banning the practice."
The floor was growing more agitated.
"They will be a poor example for the rest of the galaxy. If we make it legal others will surely follow."
Adam turned his eyes on the speaker, an Iotin,
"You're worried that they are going to turn the rest of the galaxy extrial?"
He laughed,
"That is a poor argument which is not only selfish, but foolish. People should be allowed to make their own decisions. And assuming you are right, what then? Oh no... There are a few more extrials... And it does... What exactly?"
He turned in a wide circle,
"If you are worried about population growth or in this case population falloff due to this issue then you should be reminded that extrials comprise a percentage of the human population so small that I could fit the greater majority of them on my ship comfortably. This occurrence is not common, and even if the numbers were to rise, it would not be of enough significance to cause issues."
His heart was hammering hard inside his chest. He felt like he was doing alright, but that might mean nothing.
"In any event, these relationships do not affect the vast majority of the galaxy. Humans cannot be with the Bran or the Rundi due to the water we shed from our skin. The Gromm and the Iotins are out for similar reasons. Vrul and Gibb are incapable of having feelings for humans in that way as far as we know, and both the Tvek and the Celzex are too different from humans for either party to be interested."
He walked around in a circle, allowing the flag to trail behind him,
"Furthermore, the humanization phenomenon happens with or without romantic intent, and as it is, its mention is more a mark of prejudice on humans than it is an argument against the two groups being together."
He left the floor open for a little while, as the council muttered with each other.
Finally, the Drev representative stood,
"My species culture and our way of life has been upturned by the GA. I fear relationships with humans will result in the loss of our culture. We have already strayed far from what we originally were. We are hardly recognizable as Drev anymore."
The commander let his voice soften,
"I understand that the Drev have lost a lot in joining this..."
Sunny held up a hand, and in surprise he was cut off.
She took the floor,
"Your Glory…"
She said bowing her head,
"If you would have truly upheld those ideals, you would not be sitting on this council."
The Drev pulled back in surprise at her words,
"Yes, we lost a lot in joining the GA, and after the war, but I would argue that some of that was for good. Before the GA people like me, with perceived imperfection were cast into the fire and perceived as no better than animals. This practice still takes place on our planet, where these traditions are still alive and well."
Her words made the room shift nervously,
"However, culture changes and adapts, and it must to survive. We changed in order to live among the GA. We found other alternatives to fighting that still maintain our honor and our prowess in war, and this includes the sports that the humans have brought to us. Furthermore, the vast majority of the Drev I see who are with humans are those of us who would not be accepted by our own kind, perceived as ugly or malformed. If this is the case then your traditions remain sound, and those like me are removed from the mating population."
The counselor almost looked ashamed at her words, turning his head away so as not to look her in the eyes.
"As far as a change of culture goes, it was bound to happen, and it seems you are more worried about change than you actually are about relationships."
She went quiet, and Adam nodded to her taking the floor again.
A Finnari counselor stood,
"I am simply worried about our birth rate. The Finnari were farmed by the Gnarlak for many years, and we are only now replenishing our population."
"I don't think you need to worry. The amount of relationships is so small that it will not affect the Finnari population in any significant manner."
The chairwoman stood,
"Your arguments have been heard commander, but, what the others do not mention is the issue of disease. We have seen a great increase of human transmitted illnesses."
"I hate to cut you off chairwoman, but that is NOT related to interspecies relationships, it has another explanation: human tourism."
"Explain."
"You all know that humans are not allowed to leave their planet, unless tested for all communicable non-treatable diseases. This means that those of us that you see here cannot physically pass our diseases off onto other people. In this case these issues did not stem from relationships at all, but poor vaccination, the poor regulation of tourism, and allowing aliens to travel onto earth where infected humans are located, not testing them as they leave. You see? You don't even have problems with them, but you are using them as a real scapegoat for the actual issues. In fact you are causing more problems by banning this! The more you push, the harder they will push back, eventually someone is going to get hurt. Also since they are not allowed to be together legally, they do it illegally, and because they do it illegally, they end up in dangerous places exposed to greater rates of crime. They get hurt, and they get involved in things they would otherwise not have gotten involved in if you had not banned it. Just look at Noctoplis. It has the highest rate of extrials living there and the lowest policing force and the most corrupted system. There are no legitimate jobs there, so we see an influx of crime by desperate people who won't be accepted anywhere else. Not to mention that it increased the depression rates, which increases suicide rates. Your laws have ostracized them, forced them to become criminals, and turned many of them to killing themselves, rather than living in a world where they are seen as disgusting."
He had to take a deep breath,
"Earth has seen all of this before, and one way or another, eventually someone will see what I am trying to say."
He rested the flag on the floor beside him, feet planted at shoulder width.
"I hope that this rational conversation will allow a more open mind on the council. I encourage you to talk to their representatives. They are more rational and educated than I am, and they can give you hard facts and statistics. But please, they don't want to cause trouble, if you allow them to do as they will, you might find these problems going away for you."
The human representative clearly did not seem convinced, but he didn't expect to convince her, he expected to convince the others who were more afraid than they were prejudiced.
"It seems as if we have some other potential policies to discuss, commander."
The chairwoman said, tapping her fingers on the table before her.
"I have a suggestion, ma'am."
"And that is?"
"A temporary revocation on the ban, that way you can SEE what the universe will be like without it, and you can judge for yourself whether The ban does any good. You don't have to overturn the law just yet, but temporarily suspend it, that way you can re institute at any time. Then you will have concrete proof. You can do testing, and polls and whatever else, then you would know for sure."
His suggestion turned into a discussion, that dragged on for many minutes before the chairwoman raised her hand,
"It has been decided, all in favor of this temporary proposal please indicate."
The voting lights flashed above them.
[…]
He walked from the venue, hours after he had entered.
The flag felt heavy in his hands, his boots thudded with exhaustion on the white marble below him.
Outside, the protest field was surprisingly silent, though he could still see their flags.
As he walked closer, he could see that the crowd was sitting down.
Their voices reached him from a distance at first, until he realized they were calmly singing with each other.
Waiting...
Suddenly the first people from the crowd noticed the two silhouettes coming from the chambers towards them.
A lone man and Drev, walking from the building.
The man was wearing riot gear, a full helmet, a shield, and carrying their flag, resting against his right shoulder.
The group of them began to stand, rising to their feet and yelling.
They quieted as he got closer.
"What did they say!? What did they say!?”
He passed the flag to the original protester who looked on at him with such an expression of pleading that he felt his eyes tingle a bit with rising emotion.
He had to look away, boosting himself onto Sunny's back, keying his mic.
The crowd was silent.
"I spoke to the GA. After a long debate, and a slim majority the GA have decided to temporarily revoke the ban on inter-species relationships until a-"
He didn't get to finish his sentence, drowned out by a powerful wave of noise and joy so overwhelming that he was nearly knocked backwards off his feet.
The crowd surged forward and Sunny staggered as the group surrounded them.
Adam found himself on the ground on his feet, enclosed by hundreds of pairs of arms, as every person tried their best to get one hand on him.
He was deafened by cheering and an outpouring of gratitude so profound he had simply never experienced such emotion.
He looked up at Sunny, pressed in with him by the enthusiastic crowd, she nodded her head in approval.
He grinned, he had to admit this felt pretty good.
Though, whether it was all over was a question for another time.
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Easter Island (Rapa Nui) was truly one of the most amazing places I've ever visited and I would love to go back there someday - 5 days was not enough.
There is a process to get to Easter Island, although fairly simple. Here are a few things to know ahead of time:
It's a 5-hour direct flight from Santiago, Chile.
You have to fill out the online Formulario de Ingreso a Rapa Nui (Rapa Nui Entry Form) (IRN). I printed the form out after submitting it, although this turned out to not be necessary. You go through a special line at the airport in Santiago and they look up your passport in their database - they know if you have submitted the form.
https://ingresorapanui.interior.gob.cl/
You have to have reserved accommodations that are registered with the National Tourism Service (SERNATUR). This was stated very clearly with the AirBnB that I booked.
You have to have an official guide to visit any of the archaeological sites that are within the National Park, which is about half of the island. It's best to buy an entry ticket for the National Park ahead of time (about US $80), which can be done online:
https://www.rapanuinationalpark.com/pages/compra-de-tickets
Print out the ticket and always have it with you. There are entry stations at each of the major archaeological sites and they will stamp it there.
Hanga Roa is the only town, its small but there are lots of shops and restaurants, a good place to buy souvenirs. Internet is extremely limited throughout the island, but there is a little café on the main street that has great wi-fi. It's called La creperia Rapa Nui, the food and service are great, and the tropical juices are so refreshing in the hot weather.
Some of the top sites to see:
Orongo: old ceremonial site where the bird man contest took place each year to choose a new leader. It is located on a high cliff, right next to the Rano Kau volcanic crater. A small trail runs around the top of the crater.
Rano Raraku: a spectacular quarry where all of the moais (the carved heads) were carved, then transported around the island. There is a 2-kilometer trail that winds through the quarry, past lots of partially carved moais. You really appreciate having a guide here because every moai has its own story.
One thing I didn't know before I got there: there are more than 800 moais that form a circle around the island. ALL OF THEM were knocked over about 300 years ago during a period of inter-tribal warfare. The ones you see in photos have been restored by archaeologists in the past 50 years.
Tongariki: this is the largest restored platform, with 15 moais. It is an amazing place to watch the sunrise. You need a guide with transportation, because it is about 15 kilometers outside of Hanga Roa. My guide threw a bicycle in the back of her pickup and I rode the 15 kilometers back to town after sunrise, past big herds of horses and lots of old fallen moais and platforms along the coast.
Anakena: on the northern coast of the island, this is the beach where the Rapanui people first landed 1,000 years ago. It is spectacular, with a large platform that has 4 moais. There are also several small restaurants, the best ceviche I've ever had anywhere in the world.
Tahai: just north of Hanga Roa, easy walking distance. A platform with 5 moais and a single one by itself, this is the place to watch the amazing sunsets.
There is an excellent guidebook that is available on the island in both English and Spanish. A Companion to Easter Island, by James Grant-Peterkin.
The Rapanui people are very warm and friendly, although not many people speak English. The island is part of Chile, so everybody speaks Spanish and about half the people speak the Polynesian language of Rapa Nui. Two important words in Rapa Nui will be greatly appreciated:
Iorana: hello, goodbye, how are you? good morning - this is the Easter Island equivalent of aloha.
Māuru-uru: thank you

Today's games repulse me with their copycat, timid and shallow character. Though it seems like there is a variety of concepts flashing around, in practice games revolve around the same half-dozen tropes. Their hallmark sign is that it is nothing that is not seen on TV. If the game's idea is not a reflection of the modern world from someone who, by all appearances, has never read a real book or has experience to share, then it's Pirates in Some Carribean, or the Victorian Age When Jack the Ripper Roamed in a Black Cab, or the Middle Ages with Standard Treachery, or Abstract Space Exploration. I was sick and tired of this a few years ago, now I have all but given up on this art form. Even when the concept is interesting, it is rarely taken far or with force. Neutered developers are afraid to give offense and as a result make bland, short-breathing stuff, but I think the sharp edges are never there to begin with anymore. I don't know anybody who sets out to defy the world, stand apart from its simulations and blandishments and spit a good gob in its ugly square face.
I have never had an opportunity to make a game of my own (it takes a team besides everything else), but I have made mods for a very old RPG for years - new mechanics, plots, magic, quests, effects, scripts, writing and so on. I have more or less put that old engine on its head, though I know hardly anyone will ever find out about my efforts. This is to say that I am not a pure theorist. Some time in the winter, bored and exasperated, I decided to do a quick marathon of game ideas - for RPG, quests, simulations, something in-between - and see how many I can whip out on the run. I would like something from here picked up by a company, but I am not advertising. I realize that is probably not something that might happen. It was a good exercise for me, however. Here are the results for all to see. I did ten first, then three more occurred to me.
1 ) Circa Caotica
You play the role of Jabsh, a clown of a traveling circus, who suddenly discovers that he is no orphan but the son (Raka, daughter for female players) of the director, Maestro Leotardi. Minutes later after making the sobbing confession the boss is swallowed by the Crocodile Man in a suspicious accident. You have to own up to the unexpected legacy and step into the tight and tall boots of the director. Your responsibility is to keep the circus going by fine-tuning and inventing acts based on ideas solicited over regular all-troupe brainstorming sessions despite little starting respect from the others, who have decided to unionize as well (the mentalist takes notes). You must keep drawing in crowds to avert the bankruptcy, earn respect and manipulation points and find the truth behind Leotardi's death and the disappearance of the Big Green cashbox with everyone's last year salary and the medallion that supposedly bears the face of your mother the same evening. All the while you still have to perform in regular clown acts with your partner. You can play as a red clown or a white clown, and the other type will be your foil.
2) Nachtwaffe
"Ah, count. Decided to join me for a walk?" Vampires steal planes from the Nazi airforce to zoom through the dark skies over the Balkans and turn humans to make more of their own. You start out as a single nosferatu, converted from an arrogant German, and must find and raid small airports and landing strips across the forests and mountains of Roumania, impersonate a living officer to get supplies and fuel, avoid communist guerillas, find and build places to hide during the day and choose which humans to turn to expand your force. Naturally, it is all quite a dead end, as the war is bound to finish sooner or later, which radio broadcasts confirm, and what then will happen to the vampiric empire? But this is something that the gameplay begins to convey to the player gradually. Hopefully the fate of someone who has no future but still does his all will touch some dormant strings in players' hearts.
3) Yuck!
The sleepy Tibetan village of Dongtso is unaware of what lurks in the bushes and the mountains: you, the desperately lonely yak-man. Born with a big head and two horns, you have only one connection to civilization: the gold ring in your nose. Squinting cross-eyed, you can just make out some kind of symbols on it, and a banner over the village shrine features ones like them. This must be the key. You have to lurk about the supersititious hamlet, helping the folk at night and out of sight with small chores and evesdropping on their reactions and conversations until you can pick up a few words, including, at some point, "Hello." Since this is a game about Tibet and shaping up something rebellious, let the tongue be one of Tibet's many and accompanied by Tibetan script. You can train to pronounce the words when you dare show yourself to children, old people and widows, to improve from mooing to legible speech, but until then you have to dodge men's hunting parties and survive. With enough good deeds and a few friends, you might win the folk's confidence and stand before the village council so that someone might teach you to read. The quest becomes complicated, however, by the appearance of the army of People's Republic of China that establishes a base in the village in its push to subdue Tibet. The year is 1952. One of the newcomers is a local - a renegade llama who, the villagers say, has been on many supernatural journeys in the mountains, even to Shangri-La, but is now wearing the uniform of Tibet's conquerors. The writing on the ring, deciphered, identifies him as your father. What will happen next?
4) Footlocker
This is a soccer-themed RPG, but you view the sport from the point of view of a bookie besieged on all sides by mafia. To pay back his debt he resolves on a colossal set-up: first get control of an underdog team, then bring them at least to the regional semi-finals and, with the bets in their favor, make them lose in a big way. The thugs are ready to provide cash handouts, leg-breaking, knuckle sandwiches, addictive opioids and more to get the right people on the team and stubborn elements out, but at the cost of increased control and cut of the profits. You must balance their appetities with placating sports authorities, the press, sponsors and police. In the final match a dilemma presents itself: go through with the plan and ruin the team or defy the gangsters and take your chances on the right side of the tracks?
5) And See It Again For the First Time
Starting out from your homeland on three caravels, you unfurl the sails and set out to circumnavigate the world. The globe is randomly generated every time and rolls away at the horizon, with the map, continents and straits unknown beforehand, in the manner of River Raid. Your characters are the three ships and their crews, condition and supplies are their stats. Dropping anchor at strange shores and dealing with natives will be necessary but dangerous as they fight with each other, shuffle and migrate like microbes. Loss of crew can't be repaired. At least one of the ships must find the passages and make it to the fabulous Gate of Makhamedi, enter it from the far side and begin the journey home.
6) The Person and the Essence
In the beginning chapter you play Sauqin, second-in-command to general Varziranga, head of the army of the Arcolan Empire sent to quash the rebellion of Panlaa, who has tried to bring his province to secede. The imperial army has crushed Panlaa'a troops a fortnight ago and has got him shut in the Ravine of the Gold Specks. Complete victory is near, but the commander has been acting strangely since the battle. On this decisive night his behavior spins out of control just as Panlaa makes a sudden sally from his trap, causing great confusion. As his lieutenant, it falls to you to maintain order in dealing with the various officers as well as the clerics of the One, who insist that Panlaa, a lapsed pagan, be given to them for execution once he is captured. The ending of the chapter will determine whether Panlaa ends in the emperor's prison in the capital, Hotharsoom, alive or dead at the clerics' hands, whether Varziranga will be simply demoted or disgraced.
Chapter two will take place in the capital city. You will have been promoted to a top military command for your performance, only to become embroiled in an intrigue involving the emperor's controlling mother, a consequential schism in the church of the One over whether the head of state is eternally the same person reincarnated or a series of persons, demagogues in the public and lurking pagans with unclear motives. Other chapters will follow, and the endings will determine who sits on the throne and who stands behind it, whether state policy is in principle subject to revision and criticism or not and whether the pagan faiths are crushed without mercy or adopted into the church of the One. The material here is Byzantium, Egypt with the notion of the pharaoh as incarnate Horus and the empires of southeast Asia. Some early Christian heresies also deserve to be revivified.
7) Of Rats and Men
You are a rat trapped in the gears of the Trumpet of Doom, the hugest, heaviest and most advanced steam ship ever to paddle the Grumuous Sea. This basin is famously salty enough to let even an iron float for a time, which, the public money finally gathered, made it the perfect road to carry the 25-inch-gunned ("24 + 1 for Paterland!") Trumpet to the shores of Festaly and at last give those Festalians what for! The citizenry is cheering with patriotic joy, the brass bands are blowing. The ship rats are less happy, especially you, who were captain Reissenpouf's pet before you managed to scramble through a porthole and below the desk as he was buttering a toast. You are nearly panicky with fright. Unlike the locals there, you have spent time locked with the diagrams in the captain's safe and know that the battleship is very weakly armored below the waterline. Someone must have made a good bit of business during the construction selling the metal. When the Trumpet comes up against the Festalians with their triton suicides or their rumored counterpart ship, the Rough Musician, not even the Grumuous Sea will keep it from ending up as a gigantic, barnacled wreck on the ocean floor.
To avoid this fate you only have so much time to organize the other rats for systematic sabotage. The game's world is the enormous ship below and above the deck. The humans of the crew are, of course, adamant in their resolve to get themselves killed, so they will repair the servos, the cables turning the massive gears, the ball bearings, the hydraulics and the rest almost as quickly as those are destroyed. This effort will be headed by the near-transparent, monochrome spindle of a man, Admiral Hel, the leader of the expedition, always of his private high deck, sipping his black milk and staring through his spectacles ahead to where TOD's fate awaits it. If all of you ratfolk together gnaw through and spoil enough of the ship's devices, however, the captain might just have the authority to radio Kaiser Walzer of the decision to turn back... though you personally may also have to sneak back into his cabin to sit on his pillow and intone suggestions as he sleeps. The fact that you are an albino rat and at first come across as a crazy visionary doesn't help, and neither does being a female rat and having to give birth to a litter every so often. The current mate can be deputied on tasks while lactating. Other ships may sometimes be encountered in the sea, with different results, and you may improve your reputation in the murine community by predicting these encounters, if you check the looking glass often enough. The length of the game, and hence the difficulty, depends on the distance to Festalian waters - from two weeks' journey to three months.
8) Cosmic Choir
You play as one of the planets of the solar system. The other actors and your partners are the thieving and scurrilous Mercury, the lusty and sly Venus, the militant braggart Mars and so on. And you are the meh-in-the-middle Earth, and in this group of strong personalities stand out with your unique ability of Rational Decision (it would be nice to get Woody Allen for the voice acting, were he younger). Other planets have other powers, and all of them certain characteristics and appetites (for tasty meteorites, for more intimate or more standoffish orbits and so on). The plot revolves around the announcement of the Sun that it has had enough of burning hydrogen and wants to retire, going immediately into the red giant phase, which would, of course, burn up all of the inner planets and kick the outer planets way out. For this the star has recruited a planet-sized asteroid, large enough to pull most of the star fuel away so that the moribund transformation may be set in motion. The euthanatic dark planet is whirring ever closer. Before it gets on a near enough orbit to disrupt the Sun the other planets must find out what caused this sudden depression and persuade their ruler and source of life otherwise. (The answer is that the Sun has always dreamt of going nova but lacks substance.) Playing as the only inhabited planet, you must also keep the life forms on you alive through all of the maneuvering. If you can get Mars to cooperate, however, you may shorten the distance enough for humanity and some of the ecosystems to make the leap and found Musk City there, and then you won't have to care about your surface anymore.
9) Paris, 1245 A.D.
A meticulously researched simulation of the criminal underworld of medieval Paris and the worlds that abutted on it: those of the church, guilds, city watch, the university, lepers, the court and so on. No shortcuts and simplifications for babies who can't tell a Benedictine from a Cistercian. A dynamically filled encyclopedia may be included, though, and remain permanently unlocked for later replays. The main character is a vagrant and a thief. This may be a persistent sandbox, possibly a multiplayer RPG, or it may have a plot, but strictly within historical realities.
10) The Last Supper
You play the role of Jesus, son of God, in the company of the twelve disciples. The game should probably be in first person. (The Sermon of the Mount and such may be shown in cutscenes, or they may be challenges in quiz form.) The time period is your wanderings in Judea after the baptism and until the last night before the arrest. The background is the Judaic society at the time and its Roman controllers, somewhat historically accurate. This is a detective story, a wholldoit where you need to figure out who is best suited to betray you in due time so that you may prep him for the job and finally give him the impetus to "do it quicker" at the Last Supper. For Christ certainly needed someone to betray him. It's not always Judas: the identity of the potential traitor, along with his motives, will vary randomly between playthroughs. Incidents and encounters along the road, both recorded in the Bible and invented, will liven up the experience and better inform you about the personalities of the disciples, building on but going beyond what is known (Peter with his short temper, the lofty John an so on).
11) Cuadrophobia
Ships and the sea again. This time you are a typical sailor with an atypically strong survival instinct on one of the vessels in a colossal game of Battleship between Our Guy and the Other Player. Accordingly, there are two grids firing at each other: your side's and the enemy's, though you only get to travel across your own. The ship you begin on is chosen at random: it may be anything in size from a single-squarer to a five-squarer. Smaller ships are less likely to be hit, of course, but when a ship is finished, it sinks, and you with it. The purpose of the game is to survive until Our Guy's victory, which programmatically is likely but not guaranteed and happens about 70% of the time. To do this you must desert on a regular basis, setting out in a dinghy to a ship more favored in the current situation. However, the dinghy only travels three squares per turn, and you can only spend two turns in the open sea before dying. You also need time on board ships to access their radio broadcasts, which, besides playing some inspirational propaganda, update the picture of the grid as the battle rages. Without it you are limited to paddling to vessels that you can directly see. The role-playing element comes from dealing with ship commanders, who all take their duties and titles - captain of Cruiser! captain of Battleship! - very seriously, from picking up supplies in floating debris and from acquiring special abilities that let you, for example, paddle an extra square farther. Is war evil? Is it to be hated, or is our side to be cheered on? After all, if Our Guy loses, this will all have been in vain.
12) Standardom
In this game of life, dedicated to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), you must pass through all of the Gates of Conformity to win your ultimate prize - death from old age, as opposed to suicide. The option to kill yourself is always available in the menu. Being the hero and chickenshit that you are, though, you are determined to submit to every humiliation just so you can press forward. The world of the game is a vertical platform that moves with you along the Y axis, which represents time from some random year forwards: you may begin at 100 B.C., 1824 A.D., 12749 j-Spec and so on. It is really all the same where on the timeline you are dropped off. As with other platformers, once the screen has moved, there is no going back. You can walk freely to the left and right, however, pick up bonuses, disarm threats and converse with characters. Going up, every so often the screen is intersected by a wall with a gate in it. Your character's silhouette must either match the cut of the gate or be smaller to pass through. You start out small as a baby, a little circle, but very soon handicaps such as Discovery of Talent, Unusual Upbringing, Independent Spirit or Love of Sex will begin to rush at you to complicate your silhouette with Г, & and other such protrusions. You will also grow in size until your late 20s. Luckily, opportunities will also present themselves to prune some of this exotica: Family, Steady Job, Political Engagement, Puppy, Human Interest and other bonuses can be found or obtained from conversations to simplify your puzzle to a manageable cut until such time as the years pile on and the worst is behind you. You will become smaller and smaller and able to rush through the checkpoints one after the other to the finish line.
13) Six Handshakes to Liberty
The country is suffering under a cruel dictatorship. Ar-Parason, the president-for-life, has wrung the last of resources from the nation and has now thrown it into a disastrous war. In his palace he is surrounded by guards armed to the teeth and without a shred of conscience to shoot the bastard. What can you, a humble microbiologist living in the suburbs, do about this? Nothing, it seems, until you discover a strain of bacteria that is absolutely deadly within weeks and immune to all known antibiotics except one, still not fully developed. The microbe is passed along by touch. Alas, you discover it when you become infected with it. You still have the resources to finish the research on the antibiotic and save yourself, but now you realize that you possess the perfect secret weapon to rid the country of the tyrant. Although you can't get so close to Ar-Parason in person, someone must enjoy that intimacy...
Every day you do your research at the computer, look through the press, then put on gloves and go out in search of people in contact with other people who will, you hope, ultimately carry the strain to its target. You have to follow news to figure out whose hands to shake and who to sleep with - secretaries, daughters of generals, corrupt officials - and many times the scheme will fall short of success. The chain of handshakes will terminate early somewhere, and these intermediaries will just die. But all those sacrifices are worth it, aren't they? You keep several intrigues going at once, determined to see one of them to the end. Meanwhile an epidemic is beginning in the country, Ar-Parason is starting to take precautions, and your own remaining time that could be spent on finishing the antibiotic is also running short. What is more important: life, revenge, justice, survival, honor? Your actions will be your decisions.