You may remember our previous Verified Reader flair used to encourage users to participate in discussions and so-forth. These flairs are getting a serious revamp going forward. Now this flair has been split into two: Established Writers and Elite Contributors.
​
https://preview.redd.it/ic3ez2iqtn2b1.png?width=236&format=png&auto=webp&s=5c1c955f45402166abf03945d4c47a070cade51d
https://preview.redd.it/28otqfiqtn2b1.png?width=237&format=png&auto=webp&s=1fc19e91117f0b037749ee21dc920b18a7718204
Starting today, reaching a certain threshold in either post or comment karma in this subreddit (and having an account older than 60 days) will reward you with a flair showcasing your involvement in the community. Currently the amount of karma required to receive these flairs is relatively low but will likely increase in the distant future when the sub becomes more active/ gets more users. Below are descriptions of the flairs and rough idea on how to get them:
Elite Contributor - This flair is given based on comment karma from posts that are not your own. Having this flair indicates that you have been actively leaving feedback and input under other's work and questions to positive reception. Other people found your feedback so helpful or insightful that you have gotten plenty of upvotes or awards from grateful users.
Established Writer - This flair is given based on post karma. Having this flair indicates that you have been uploading your content to the subreddit to positive reception. Other people found your stories so interesting or well-written that you have gotten plenty of upvotes or awards from supportive users. (theoretically you could get this flair for posting alot of Discussion/Question posts. We do not have an issue with this, but - because of the threshold - it is pretty unlikely)
If you believe you should have gotten a flair (i.e. you have an obscene amount of community karma ( if you are curious what your own karma in individual communities is, you can view it by going to the following link (if you substitute your own user in it) https://old.reddit.com/useYourUserHere/ and click show karma breakdown by subreddit on the left sidebar)) feel free to reach out to moderators via modmail about the issue. Automod automatically assigns the flair when the requirements are reached, but if there is an issue in the command it might fail to do so.
As of now, there is no combination flair; you can only have one or the other. The Established Writer flair will automatically replace Elite Contributor if you have it.
There is a third flair, but it is not as easily obtained.
​
https://preview.redd.it/igk24g4pio2b1.png?width=268&format=png&auto=webp&s=4ccc56dc534ec31a21925b7b3d79115e28837186
https://preview.redd.it/txrw2j4pio2b1.png?width=259&format=png&auto=webp&s=f31d4cd451a3899f80baecb6ffdbc197fc70b7a3
Official Writers are users who have been members of the subreddit for a long time and consistently post. Official writers get a flair in an eye-catching red color to make their posts stand out and a spot in the community's sidebar linking to their collection. If you don't know what a collection is, its a reddit feature that groups your posts together into one page where they can be easily read in succession. This can be really helpful if you exclusively post a single ongoing story in multiple parts. We plan on only allowing 10 official writers at a time (a limitation of the sidebar widget).
Unlike the above two flairs, getting this one is not only harder but is not given automatically. To become an Official Writer, you need to apply via modmail.
Below are a few requirements for being an official writer:

• Reddit account must be 3 months (90 days) old or older - we don't want just any spam or alt account representing the sub
• Must not have had action against your account in the past month - if you had been banned in the 30 days prior to applying, you are not eligible and will be denied
• Your Reddit account must have a verified email - if your account has a verified email you'll see an icon in your trophy case stating so
• Have a substantial amount of original content posts in the community - these will be scanned for plagiarism; removed posts and posts that break our rules do not count; if you are verified and stop posting for 2 months or more, your title will be removed
• Your combined community karma must be positive - similarly to the above flairs, this limit will likely increase in the distant future when the sub becomes more active/ gets more users

The extra criteria used in evaluating requests is left to moderator discretion but other reasons for denial can include but is not limited to: sitewide bans for violation of Reddit policies in the last 90 days, posts removed for copyright violations, excessive harassment complaints against you, etc.
You may not use multiple accounts to apply. If you attempt to increase your upvote count using alts you'll likely get caught by admins and this can result in your account being suspended; do not do it.
After the manual verification is complete, a moderator will notify you of the decision. If you do not receive a response in over a month (30 days) you may contact the top mod directly via message. DO NOT SEND AS CHAT.
This post is incredibly long. If you have any questions, comments, concerns feel free to leave them below. While the concept has been in the works for a while, the execution is brand new to the sub and is bound to have a few issues. We look forward to hearing community feedback on the ideas above.

Hello, everyone! I have written down every single bit of news about Starfinder Enhanced from PaizoCon Online that just wrapped up. Forgive the incorrect fantasy names. All of the images showed in the stream are featured here, too.
TL;DR It's basically Character Operations Manual 2, but also featuring variant rules for GMs to implement.
Starfinder Enhanced art!
Themes:

• New Themes (The Rancher / Vidgamer (lets you remotely control vehicle weapons?) / The Personal Trainer)
  
• Some of them are repeats (Diplomat/Medic/Paranormal Investigator)
  

Species: - Lots of new species (Novians: embodiments of tiny dying stars, Elenia, Playable Holograms that have an AI core w/ hardlight body)

• Some are from APs (Elebrians, Endiffians, Moyishuu)
  
• Alien Species Deck species turn from cardbacks to "proper" ones, like Gripli, Kayal, Kitsune, Samsarans.
  
• One of the new species are Skiridates (?). They have a sonic breath weapon and an ability called "gregarious". Can fly with clumsy maneuverability. They hold guns with the powers of "Magic and love".
  

Archetypes:

• A lot of new Archetypes.
  
• Armored Visionary (similar to Hellknight Signifier), Autocite (you have your own personal soundtrack as an ability), Exalted Champion (a furtherance of the Divine Champion, a lot of new deity-specific options), Major League Coach (abilities like Huddle, Trickplay and Playbook), Counselor (helps other characters work through their stress and terror. One of the abilities is called "Additional Spoons" (on a 10 minute rest you can give an RP to an ally).
  
• Menagerie Manager (basically battle master, with abilities like Flock Tender, Just a little Push, Social Graces, Rescue Pet and Care Package. It can give companions feats??)
  

Feats:

• 90 new feats!!!
  
• Aerial Evasion, Akitonian Battery Hack, Anti-grenadeer, Trusted Companion (?)
  
• Arcane Riposte: if you failed to cast a spell because of an AoO for example, you instead deal 7 x Spell Level damage to the attacker
  
• Project Manager: lets you coordinate your group when they're using Aid Another to aid you, thus increasing the bonus you get based on your Charisma modifier)
  
• Gag Gift: dirty trick to put a grenade on someone
  
• Avenger: when an ally is brought to 0 points you can attack the creature that downed them).
  
• Bear Down (?): when an enemy saves against a spell you can spend 1 RP and another spell slot of the same lv or higher to force them to repeat a save with a -2 to the save
  
• Firing Solution: use physical science instead of piloting when firing weapons during Gunnery.
  
• Comedic Timing: once a day make a save to let an ally reroll Bluff/Diplomacy/Intimidate.
  
• Starship Officionado: once per Starship combat you can inspire them without a check.
  
• Mystic Opportunist: gives the enemy a penalty to saves if they're under Harrying Fire.
  
• Spell Gem Eater: consume spell gems to get bonus spell slost.
  
• Ley Leech: gives you spell slots when you counterspell.
  

Class Remakes:

• Not intended to be full remakes, just adding some spice where it was missing.

Enhanced Envoy:

• They're changing Envoy to be less pigeonholed into the support role. Your round to round action economy changes to be more versatile and you feel less pressured to ONLY support, letting you do other stuff + an improvisation.
  
• Inspiring Combo: do a full action to use an attack AND use one of your improvisations, but there's a bit of a recharge and you can't do this every round.
  
• Signature Support: choose get 'em/ inspiring boost/etc. Don't spend RP when using the upgraded version of the improvisation.
  
• Lead by Example 9th level ability: when you crit you can use an improvisation as a reaction.
  
• 14th lv ability: When Allies score crits - you now crit on a 19-20 for the rest of the fight. If another ally crits - you now crit on an 18-20.
  

Enhanced Solarian:

• Was very MAD (multiple ability score dependent) due to Charisma, but they don't specify what exactly they changed about that.
  
• The design philosophy was to make Charisma more relevant. The attunement tracking and process was very binary, esp with how fast combats can be. They wanted to ensure there were ways to advance attunement, but also how to spend attunement points even if you don't have all 3.
  
• Attunement Surge: when you have 2 attunement points you can spend 2 as a free action to get some different effects: like getting Insight bonuses to reflex save, or 1st time you damage a creature you increase the damage you're doing.
  
• Combat Meditation 3rd level class feature: spend a full action to gain 1 more attunement.
  
• Aftershock 8th level ability: when you use a Zenith you gain a benefit for 1 round or d6 rounds if you spend 1 RP. Graviton: you calculate AC using CHA instead of DEX (lol why). Photon: you calculate ATK and Damage with CHA instead of Dex/Str.
  

Enhanced Technomancer:

• Technomantic Talent (?): Every 3 levels you pick a School of Magic and get a feature that buffs it. You can invest into the same School or different ones. A few examples below:
  
• Evocation Talent: the first dice on a damage roll is counted as maximum damage. You can learn this Talent up to 4 to get more guaranteed max dice.
  
• Unspecified Talent: If you roll a d20 as a part of the spell, you can reroll the d20 (?)
  
• Deconstructivist: your spell DCs are 2 higher for Constructs with tech trait, 1 higher for non-tech Constructs. Stacks with other DC increasing bonuses.
  

Enhanced Witchwarper:

• They admit original WW Sucks at early levels.
  
• They now get some free daily usages of Infinite Worlds.
  
• Tweaked some Infinite Worlds effects. The main one was the Environmental 2nd level one which just deals 1 point of damage per spell level, which didn't seem like a lot, so it's been retuned.
  
• Overload Reality: you push beyond what you can do in 1 turn. You can cast a spell and use Infinite World in the same turn a few times per day
  
• Otherwordly Skill: they can choose 1 skill and add it as a class skill. Later on (5th level?) you can replace your chosen skill.
  
• Ideal Outcome level 11 ability: when you reroll you can reroll a 3rd time (?)
  

Classes:

• Every class gets 4 pages of new stuff, including the Enhanced classes and Evolutionist/Precog.
  
• Enhanced classes get 2 page of Enhanced rules.
  
• Evolutionst gets the Divine niche.
  
• Operative has an exploit branch that begins with Mysterious Benefactor - someone is leaving you hints and clues to help with Skill Challenges. If you invest more into that branch you can "unlock" the Benefactor's Identity. At lv14 you get Puppet Master Exploit, letting you become an Operative of that mysterious organization and help your allies in a similar way.
  
• Mystics get new Connections. For example: Shifter can shapeshift their body, partially or fully. You get a natural weapon, when you cast spells you get protective bonuses. At lv19 you can shapeshift into a massive living starship or a colossal creautre (lol).
  
• Biohacker has Hypermycology Field of Study that lets you affect healing. Breakthrough: cause mycological growth to cause micro-evolutions that may cause side effects.
  
• Precog gets the Seer Anchor: turns you into a fortune tellediviner. Greater Anchor: when you cast divination spells it increases the chances of a correct divination.
  

Spells:

• Rules for designing spells (?)
  
• Tons of new spells, such as Fantastical Transformation. 5th level Spell; available for all casters. You adopt a flashy battle persona that changes your clothes/hair as you wish. Duration: 1 round per level. Gives you a 30ft aura, any creature that enters/begins gets dazzled for 1 round + 1 round per level (?). As a move action you can use Special Abilities, such as making a bluff check to feint with a +2 bonus, intimidate a dazzled with a +2 bonus, once per round shoot EAC 5d6 beam damage (if dazzled they take extra damage).
  
• 2 pages of new Rituals
  

Creature companions:

• New creature companions. Bone familiars. Liminals (fey). Vividile (?) - little reptile that lowers radiation levels and changes colors. Scooteroot (?) sentient plant caterpillar that grows berries that you can eat. Ebralaire (?) a fox with big rabbit ears and can look adorable to compel creatures.

Gear:

• Lots of new equipment (including serums and personal items)
  
• Scaling equipment rules! You get a starting point for range/damage/EAC/KAC/ACP etc.
  
• Then, weapons and armor slowly gain weapon/armor perks(!!!) that let you attach special weapon/armor properties to customize your thing to be what you want it to be.
  
• Options for paying a bit extra beyond the upgrade cost to exceed the limits a bit.
  
• Grafts to put on your armor to change the armor's concept: is it super bulky and heavy duty (gives more armor, but reduces your speed)? Something like that.
  
• Pricing will be fair and balanced.
  

Starships:

• Starship combat changes. Rules for lighter, more abstract starship combat. More flavor and skill check driven.

GM tools:

• Alternate skill DCs (solution for overtuned skill DCs at higher levels)
  
• Free Archetype rules
  
• Milestone leveling explanation
  
• Section on Resolve Points: 2 pages to give you new uses for Resolve Points, such as "Increase the save DC", "Hit with 2 crit effects instead of just 1 on a crit", "Use an RP to grant a Mech 2 additional move/standard action", "give yourself a move action".
  

few interesting items featuring D.C. bronze age semi keys.
Higher grade items.
Higher grade items
I.FORGOT PHOTOS
https://imgbox.com/g/MU61LOd4Mp SHOWCASE # 97
https://imgbox.com/g/imB6dUBRTr SOWCASE # 98
https://imgbox.com/g/QdyB6M8qv7 SHOWCASE # 99
https://imgbox.com/g/28G7FRrwWq SHOWCASE 100
https://imgbox.com/g/qHHVGWLGLB FIRST ISSUE SPECIAL
https://imgbox.com/g/y3jtQyaWU0 DC SUPERSTAR SPECIAL
Lets start off with a set of SHOWCASE 97-99
From 1978. Power girl in her first solo adventure. 2 years after first appearance...45 year old comics.
97 beautiful copy. 9.0/9.2 small 2 inch reverse spine fold...basically top couple of inches raised a bit. 4 small non color breaking tics on the spine. Edges on bottom front cover light wear showing.
98: Call it a 7.0? Biggest problem is the dressing at the top of the inner spine. Then a couple of light spine tics ,Plus light wear on the edges seem to be it for damage.
99: 9.2 a little wear on the edges, no spine tics that I can see.
$50 plus shipping for the set
Next is DC Special Series Vol 2 # 10 AKA Secret Origins of superheroes. Three nice origins in one 52 page giant from 1979 $10
This features the untold mysteries of Dr. Fate, the strange Genesis of Lightray and the training of Black Cnary
Next is First Issue Special # 12. From 1976 mid grade $10
Featuring the 1st appearance and origin of : "Starman" Pursued by Turran Kha, amiable alien Mikaal Tomas flees to Earth and warns of an impending invasion. Origin and first appearance of new Starman. Superman stars in a one-page public service announcement, "Justice For All Includes Children" (art by Neal Adams).
The last for today is
D.C. Showcase # 100 From 1978 52 pages $10
Cover pencils by Joe Staton, inks by Dick Giordano. "There Shall Come a Gathering," script by Paul Kupperberg and Paul Levitz, art by Joe Staton; Some unknown force is disrupting the fabric of time and pulling the Earth out of orbit; Volcanoes explode, dinosaurs rampage, and heroes from all times pop up everywhere; Green Lantern, Atom, Flash, and Adam Strange fly to an orbiting spaceship and battle gold robots. Lois Lane, Creeper, and the Challengers fly to the Rocky Mountains to crack a big green alien box; Metal Men and Teen Titans quash Vikings and Nazis; Phantom Stranger gathers heroes and holds a seance to summon the Spectre; together they return the Earth to its orbit; Lois Lane and Angel O'Day repel the alien responsible. Features almost every character who ever appeared in Showcase. Wonder Woman stars in a one-page Hostess ad, "Dilemma." Article by Paul Levitz that tells how the creators - all fans of Showcase - pulled the book together. It then gives brief biographies and cites issues for the 60 superstars, as well as where they appear in the main story.
Shipping $5 per single $7 for the set.
Discounts?
Hey about $50 shipped for powergirl set ($7 off) and $30 for other 3 bundled, shipped free ($7 off)
Best deal? All 6 books $65 SHIPPED
NOW GET THEM ALL FOR $50 SHIPPED!
Thanks for looking. Questions? Just ask

--- Table of Contents ---
Spring 4984, 9 Kuromoth, Spring Equinox
“Archmage, I thought you had already gone…” Brom’s voice, beyond Her door. She didn’t move, didn’t bother to look towards the closed portal. Had it been months or years since he'd last come to sit with Her?
“I will be leaving presently…” Archmage Morndancer’s cold voice answered. She squeezed tighter into Her little ball in the dark corner. It didn’t matter that he would be gone. He left the tower often, but it didn’t stop Her punishment. Even as the season turned from winter to spring, She'd stayed locked in Her room. With no books and no company. Occasionally being taken out to give samples in a lab completely separate from that of Her treasures. Only their yowls and barks from down the hall offering any comfort.
“It’s an important day, isn’t it, Archmage? Perhaps Sellon will pass the test.” Ran’s voice. Did he sound nervous? Her head tilted, just a little, towards the door. The half-circle of light from Her window did very little to banish the darkness of the room. She hadn’t bothered to light the candles. What was the point?
Morndancer scoffed, “Doubtful. Ronni didn’t manage it. And just as his sister before him, Sellon will join the Mages Guild whether he passes or not.” Sellon and Ronni, Archmage Morndancer’s children. She'd heard of them from Brom and Ran. So they were Mages as well. Perhaps they would be the ones to come take Her blood and cut Her hair in future. It didn’t matter. Nothing had ever mattered.
“But a Wizard-Cleric of Saint Bede might…”
“Enough.” Morndancer interrupted Brom, “Bede is no god, he wasn't even a decent Mage, he was and is a villain. We would not have this responsibility to save the world if he and his lot hadn’t doomed it.”
“Of course, Archmage, yes.” nervous feet shuffled outside Her door.
“Even now, Shaloon is trying to locate the next storm.” Morndancer continued his chastisement, “They come more frequently and destroy greater swaths of land. If we continue to be as useless as the other Talons, there will be no world left to save. So rather than waste your time on prayers to usurper gods, you had best refocus and redouble your efforts while we are away. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Archmage,” Brom and Ran said in unison.
“Good. And be sure to return those to the library when you have finished with them.” the hiss of fabric on stone accompanied the Archmage's exit.
Her door handle jingled, and Her head came up a fraction, but, “Wait…” Brom’s whisper. Silence followed, and She dropped Her head again, pressing her closed eyes into Her knees. Minutes passed, or was it hours? Did it matter? Maybe She would crawl into Her bed and try to sleep. Time passed faster that way. Or maybe She would just stay here in Her little ball in the corner.
“He should be gone by now…” Her lock clicked, and the door creaked open, but She didn’t bother to look up, “Goldy? Maybe She’s sleeping…” Brom whispered.
“Damn, it’s dark in here. Red, can we get a light?” She didn’t answer Ran’s request. What was the point? They would find Her and they would take Her for samples. She didn’t have to help them do it. “Grab the candle from the table, Brom. My hands are full.”
She could feel the life of a tiny flame beyond Her door. Felt it draw closer and enter Her room before it flickered and died. “Oh, Goldy… please don’t…” the shuffling of feet moving carefully in the darkness came closer. She tried to pull in tighter, tucking Her head against Her chest and letting Her now shoulder-length hair fall forward to further hide Her face.
They crouched at either side of Her, Brom setting the useless candle down to Her left with a soft ‘tink’ of brass on stone. Something much heavier was placed on Her right, the familiar scents of hardbound leather, paper, and ink… “We brought you some books, Red…”
She lifted Her head, looking through the tangled strands of golden hair and seeing a pair of worried faces looming in the dark. “If you light up the room a bit, we can read,” Brom slowly pushed Her hair back, careful not to touch Her skin. As though She would burn him. She might have. If She could find the energy.
“You’re not supposed to...” Her voice crackled from lack of use, making Her whisper even more inaudible.
“What?” Ran leaned closer, but She didn’t repeat Herself, “It’s been months, Red. You’re not in trouble anymore.”
She blinked silently at him.
“Look, Goldy,” Brom shuffled forward, still in his crouch, “things can go back to normal now. The Archmage will be out for a few days. We can take you to play with the animals tomorrow.” She shifted Her blank stare to him. Brom waited for a moment, searching Her face for a familiar flicker of excitement. She didn’t give it to him. He sighed, “We’ll leave these with you then. You can read them when you’re ready.”
Brom made to stand, but She grabbed the hem of his sleeve, “Stay with me…” On the candle, the smallest of lights began to flicker to life. Brom sat down with a groan, and on Her other side, Ran plopped down even less gracefully.
He leaned his back against Her bed and picked the top book off the small pile they'd brought Her, “We can stay until lunch, Goldy.”
“But we still have a lot of work to do…”
It was enough. The candle burned brighter, and She shifted Her legs down, taking the book Ran passed to Her. Things would finally be returning to normal. As they always had been, and as they always would be.
***
Shon woke long before the kitchen servant would come to fetch him. Everything was the same, and yet nothing would ever be as it was before. Sitting up, he ran his fingers through his hair, only to realize that everything wasn't the same. The other two boys who'd reached maturity were also awake. It looked like Gaven hadn’t slept at all, his sandy hair tousled and his dark eyes bloodshot.
“This is it then… the last morning in the dorms?” Gaven whispered the useless question. Nan, the oldest by a month, nodded in silence. Shon didn’t bother with even that much, swinging his legs off the bed and kicking something. Another difference. A final gift from the Church. A leather pack for him to carry everything he owned.
Shon dressed in silence only broken by the shuffle of the other two joining him. After tying his boots, he started packing the bag. It was large enough to fit all of his clothes and even his seven journals, though the eighth made it a very tight fit.
“Should we make the beds?” Nan whispered. Again, Shon didn’t answer. Instead, he stripped the blanket and sheets from the mattress, folding them neatly and placing them with the pillow at the foot of the bed.
“Yeah… they'll have to strip them to wash anyway…” Gaven said, following Shon’s example.
They'd just finished when the door creaked open. Normally woken by the morning bells, Gaven and Nan both jumped, looking from the dark window to the door then at each other.
The servant girl who usually woke Shon looked in on them with some confusion, then hummed in understanding before holding the door open for them, “Come on then. There may be some leftover dessert you can have while we make breakfast…”
Shon doubted he could eat anything at the moment. His stomach worked itself in knots that put an uncomfortable pressure on his heart that in turn seemed as though it wanted to beat its way into his throat. The entire sensation made him feel a strange sort of nauseous. Nan and Gaven looked no better than he felt, and they both swallowed before exiting the room. Gaven took a moment to look back over his shoulder before shaking himself and setting his eyes forward. Nan seemed to rush from the room, too afraid to look back. Shon took one last look around before following, the door clicking closed behind them.
He let the other boys walk ahead of him and wondered what they were thinking. Gaven would be taking the test with him today, but Nan had been selected to join the Masons Guild and had opted to accept the offer right away rather than try for one of the divine orders first. Perhaps Nan was the smartest of them.
“We'll miss you…” the servant girl whispered so only Shon could hear, “It isn’t glamorous, but it’s honest work... if you want to join the Servants Guild…” the Servants Guild was a loose association of otherwise privately employed cleaners and cooks. It was the last choice for orphans, but also their most common destination. She'd meant the offer as a kindness, so Shon nodded in thanks, though nothing but the most desperate situation would ever see him join.
The head cook looked up as they entered the kitchen, nodding in understanding, “Couldn’t sleep?” he asked Nan and Gaven, who mumbled incoherently in response. To Shon, the cook smiled, offering only a silent nod.
The girl who'd reached maturity with them was already in the dining room, staring mournfully at a plate of hastily scrambled eggs and a few cookies from the night before.
“Hey Lara, couldn’t sleep anymore either?” Gaven asked with a strained smile. Shaking her head, she picked up her fork and tried to force down some of the breakfast. She'd been accepted into the Tailors Guild, but unlike Nan, had chosen to take the test with Shon and Gavin. Just in case.
The cook himself brought the boys their plates of eggs and cookies, and they ate in silence until the morning bells sounded. The three unused to being up early jumped at the sound, exchanging nervous looks. Their juniors and the priests would come flooding in soon, laughing and talking and enjoying another breakfast with friends and the closest thing they had to family. It would be the last time the four of them ate with the others in this room.
Shon didn’t know if he could take the bustle today, even if it was the last. Or maybe because it was. He stood, taking his mostly full plate and returning it to the kitchen. The cook looked from the untouched food to Shon and back again, then picked up a pair of cookies and held them out to him, “You might not be able to eat now, but you can save these for after.”
Shon took the gift, meeting the cook's eyes and nodding in silent thanks. The cook returned the nod and Shon left the kitchen without looking back. He slipped the cookies into one of the side pockets of his new pack as he made his way to the courtyard. He passed the bathroom, its wall lined with low-hanging sinks and a single long mirror. He'd practiced arching his eyebrows in that mirror...
Entering the courtyard, Shon hesitated, remembering his first early morning. When he couldn’t sleep for excitement at the mere possibility of training with a real adventurer. He'd wanted to learn to fight, but more than that, he'd wanted to learn how to train. After all, he would be doing a lot of that once he joined the Temple. It would be helpful to have a head start… Or, that's what he'd told himself back then.
Shon shut the door with a click of finality that rang in the still morning air. To his left were the classrooms where the city's children took lessons. Just thinking about his last lesson, with only those coming of age, still made him blush. To his right was the door to the chapel, where he'd sat with the other orphans through the weekly sermons. Shon respected the god of life and healing, but Soleil had never been his patron. Across from him was the clinic, where the Clerics of Soleil saw to the needs of the sick and injured. He'd only been sent there once, after breaking his arm trying to climb the tree in the courtyard.
Shon would have no need to pray to Soleil specifically, and the Temple kept their own clinic... if he passed. If he didn't... There was a chance he would see the clinic again, perhaps the chapel...
Shon stepped off the walkway surrounding the central tree, and a familiar voice sounded from its roots, “Feeling up to a few exercises?” Master Veon-Zih asked, rising from his cross-legged seat in one fluid motion. Shon stopped in their little clearing and nodded, letting his pack slide off his shoulder and flop heavily to the ground. “I take it there's nothing fragile in there then?” Veon-Zih asked with a chuckle.
The idea that a thirteen-year-old would have something valuable or fragile enough to break just by dropping the bag finally pulled Shon all the way out of his contemplations. He arched a skeptical eyebrow at his master.
“There, that’s more like it. You looked like a rather well-preserved zombie.” Veon-Zih took Shon by the shoulder, shaking him, “Not a thought in your head, or skip in your step.”
Shon shook his head, sinking into his horse stance to start his drills. He punched with his left fist first, and Veon-Zih took position just out of reach, so Shon’s knuckles barely brushed the fabric of his tunic. Shon held the position until Veon-Zih also threw his first punch. He aimed for Shon’s face, sending a wave of air and ki over his skin and nearly touching his nose. Shon didn’t flinch.
They worked through their punches in unison, nearly touching but never quite connecting. Shon worked in silence for a while then said, “Too many thoughts…”
“And none of them new, I’m sure,” Veon-Zih commented.
Shon nodded, “The same ones circle again and again. Even though I can’t do anything about them... yet.”
“Not until after the test.”
Shon had to swallow a sudden lump in his throat and nodded again, unable to speak even if he'd wanted to.
Veon-Zih moved on to the next strike, and Shon copied him. He'd lost count of the punches but followed his Master's lead. “I don’t suppose you want to talk about it?” Master Veon-Zih asked.
Shon shook his head but then sighed. Most people seemed to like thinking out loud, especially when troubled. He didn’t understand why, but his usual quiet contemplation wasn’t working, so maybe… “If I don’t pass…”
“I would think of all days, today would be the one to take a break!” Father Branston called from the chapel door. He began strolling towards them with a broad smile, “Do you think you’ll be done in time to join me?”
Was it time already? Shon glanced around, noticing Nan, Gaven, and Lara approaching from the living quarter, all looking pale, their lips drawn in tight unsmiling lines.
Veon-Zih hadn’t come up from his stance, so neither did Shon, but the Monk did laugh, “Keeping a routine can be soothing in times of great change.” he winked at Shon, “Even if it’s a positive change.”
Shon tried to smile at Veon-Zih’s apparent show of faith but wasn’t sure if he'd managed it. What if…?
“Well, I don’t want to rush you. Can I trust you to get Shon to the Chapel on time if I take the others now?” Father Branston laughed as though he'd said something particularly humourous, his great belly bouncing with mirth.
“We'll be there.” Master Veon-Zih assured Father Branston, and Shon nodded mutely, resuming his drills and trying not to watch the others leave. “We have plenty of time,” Veon-Zih whispered, “Take a few deep breaths. It's the end of your childhood, not your life.”
They moved from drills to kata. Master Veon-Zih stayed in front of Shon, moving with him and matching his routine strikes with the appropriate counters. “You were saying?” it had been awhile since Shon had tried to speak, though his head continued to spin with the half-formed thoughts.
“I don’t want to think about not passing,” Shon said, kicking high and hitting Veon-Zih’s waiting arm.
“Do you believe such thoughts will jinx you?”
Shon dropped his kick and punched as the kata dictated. Veon-Zih was right; working through their regular routines did seem to help calm his pounding heart. “I don’t know… Maybe? It’s stupid, though. Whether I pass or not was decided when I was born. It won’t change just because I think about it.”
“Emotions are rarely logical.” Veon-Zih smacked Shon’s punch aside at the last moment, and Shon moved smoothly from that strike to the next, “It’s normal to be nervous. One of your peers is just as nervous, and he already knows where he’s going.”
“They all do…” Shon mumbled, snap kicking straight in front of him, confident in his Master’s speed to dodge and counter.
Veon-Zih did indeed dodge, but instead of the usual counter he hooked Shon’s foot with his own and tried to pull him off balance. Shon only stumbled for a moment, shifting his form to a different kata and counter, his body moving before his mind could catch up. Veon-Zih spoke as they continued the different form without finishing the first, prompting, “Even those taking the test have other plans, just in case?”
“Lara was accepted by the Tailors, and Gaven is going to enlist in the guard…” They had sped up the pace, and Shon needed to concentrate, now on edge in case Master Veon-Zih decided to shift the practice again. A few more strikes in, the Monk dropped below Shon’s punch and swung at his ribs, forcing Shon to block. Shon switched the kata to his most recent on instinct, using the block to redirect the punch rather than stop it as the original kata would have dictated.
Veon-Zih smiled, his eyes twinkling at the move as he picked up the pace even further, “Both of those are honest jobs and noble callings.” Shon could only grunt in response, now moving too fast for him to think of anything but the exercise. Veon-Zih continued, “The enlisted make up the bulk of Hengist’s armies, and their loyalty is admirable. The Tailors Guild not only clothes the populace but often creates beautiful works of art that serve to enhance the natural beauty of the human form.”
The Master hadn’t even broken a sweat, but Shon had to gasp out, “But I don’t-” before he was interrupted by another unexpected punch. He countered but then disengaged, breathing deep and slow, “What will I do? If I don’t pass? I thought about joining the enlisted too but…” but the idea of being so close, and yet so impossibly far from his failed dream, pained him in a way he couldn’t put into words.
When Shon didn’t continue, Veon-Zih asked, “Will you reconsider joining me then?”
Shon blinked at the Monk, his eyes going wide. He'd thought he'd lost his chance with the Monastery when he'd denied Veon-Zih for the Temple three years ago, “You mean you'll still take me?” he stammered out.
Veon-Zih closed the distance between them and placed a firm hand on Shon’s shoulder, “So long as you are an obedient and willing student, remember?”
Shon’s eyes burned and another lump rose in his throat, preventing him from speaking. He nodded, and Veon-Zih smiled, turning away from him so Shon could rub his eyes without the Monk seeing. He still wasn’t comfortable with the thought of failing, but he felt a little more at ease, knowing he wouldn’t be alone even if he did.
“Shall we go then?” Veon-Zih scooped up Shon’s pack and held it out to him, “Destiny awaits no man.”
***
The Grand Chapel was dedicated to all the gods of the kingdom, and though today it was closed to the public, the doors were still crowded with families from every walk of life. Merchants and craftsmen mingled excitedly with one another while their children nervously awaited the start of the test that would determine the trajectory of the rest of their lives. A smaller group of only two families stood apart from the throng. Dressed in fine clothes and protected by private guards, the nobles surveyed the commoners with a detached air as though above the gods themselves. The boy Shon often saw at the Temple was among them.
Shon stopped just outside the crowd, arching his neck to try and see the doors. His quiet dread had turned to jitters of nervousness as he and Master Veon-Zih walked through the city. He wasn’t sure if he'd wanted to run or stop moving altogether. Now that they were here, he tried to distract himself by studying the faces and movements of those gathered. Though if he tried to draw them now, the shaking of his hands would probably make the pictures impossible to decipher.
The differences between the nobles and commoners, in particular, caught his eye. One of the nobles, a man of middling years, wore long robes with a high collar buttoned tight to his neck and looked as if he would rather be anywhere but here. Shon had just finished scanning up the man’s robes when their eyes met. A shiver, entirely unrelated to the general anxiety of the test, ran down his spine.
The noble’s eyes went wide, and he started for Shon, the edge of the crowd giving way for him like the sea before a ship. “You…” his voice was breathy, and he reached out. Shon stepped back and ran into Master Veon-Zih, “They are back, truly?” the strange man asked, his eyes fixed on Shon who could only stare in bewilderment.
“My good lord Morndancer!” Father Branston’s joy-filled greeting sounded from the side, “So your youngest has come of age has he?” the Abbot seemed to snap the noble from his focus, and he turned away from Shon as Branston made his way through the crowd, Lara and Gaven close behind.
“Yes, Abbot.” Morndancer surveyed the Cleric with what Shon could only describe as contempt, though the look hardly wiped the wide smile from Branston’s face, “Will we be starting soon? Sellon and I have business with the Mages Guild.”
“Though if young Sellon should find himself capable…” Branston started, but the noble snorted. “Ah well, to each their own.” Branston finished, turning away from Morndancer to address his young charges.
From a pouch on his belt, Father Branston pulled forth three small books that shouldn’t have been able to fit in the little bag, “I present to you, your papers.” He fanned the books out before him, and each of them took the one closest to them. They were bound in leather with the seal of the Kingdom of Daanlin embossed on the cover. The knight on the kingdom seal rode a horse and held a shield with the seal of Clearhelm on it, three tall pine trees in front of a snow-capped mountain.
Their papers were proof of their citizenship and would serve as a record of their lives and accomplishments. Master Veon-Zih had shown Shon his own papers months before. It held a record of every border he had ever crossed and every teleport he had ever taken, as well as proof of all of his adventures and every job performed for any of the kingdom’s organizations. Veon-Zih’s papers were a veritable tome compared to Shon’s meager notebook. Opening it to the first page, Shon saw his name followed by his presumed place and date of birth. It detailed that he had been raised in the Church in Smildna and when he had come of age. At the bottom was a place labeled but left blank for the date and results of today’s test…
Branston was still speaking to them, but Shon only partly registered the words, “You should keep your papers on you whenever possible. You will need them to reenter the city any time you leave…”
Veon-Zih placed a hand on Shon’s shoulder, and he nearly jumped out of his boots in surprise. Leaning down, the Monk whispered in his ear, “Soon this book will be full of your adventures and accomplishments. Regardless of what happens today.”
“Abbot,” Morndancer interjected as Father Branston finished his explanation, “the test? Some of us have places to be.”
“Yes, yes, patience is a virtue, my dear Lord Morndancer. The sun will rise no faster with you tapping your foot at its pace.” he lowered his voice and continued to address the anxious children, “I am so very proud of all of you. Know that no matter what is discovered today, the light of Soleil will always shine with joy at what you have and will accomplish in your lives.” Shon wondered if any of the adults realized that their constant efforts to comfort their nerves seemed to be having the opposite effect. Shon’s palms were sweating as he closed his papers, and he had to wipe them on his pants to try and distract himself from his pounding heart.
“Follow me,” Branston turned away, walking through the middle of the crowd that had suddenly grown hush at his movement towards the door. Veon-Zih gave Shon one last pat, then slipped Shon’s pack from his back and tossed it over his own shoulder. Letting his student know without words that he would be waiting for Shon to return, one way or another.
Shon could feel the eyes of the noble Morndancer boring into him as he followed Father Branston through the throng towards the Grand Chapel. What was that man's problem? Who was back? Shon was too distracted by the test to dwell on it, but the man had made his skin crawl, and having him at his back wasn’t helping his nerves.
Father Branston turned to address the crowd as the doors began to swing open, “The testers will enter alone and present their papers to the clerks by the door. Families and friends may wait outside until the test is complete.” Nervous adolescents made their way forward, careful not to jostle one another, many accepting last-minute hugs and well wishes from their families.
Shon thought he remembered the Grand Chapel well from his visit almost six years ago, but was struck again by the beauty of its art. The masterwork statues and carvings were outshone only by the stained glass dome that painted the round floor in bright light of every color he could imagine.
Of the ten gods, eight representatives stood opposite the doors, waiting quietly while the testers handed their papers to the clerks and shuffled nervously in the middle of the majestic holy site. Neither the Temples of Horsa nor Saint Giorgos were present. Their absence wasn’t surprising. The Temple of Saint Giorgos only took those of noble birth and would give their tests separately, and the Temple of Horsa was openly shunned in Clearhelm, its only branch located in the capital city of Tarorn.
Shon handed one of three clerks his papers. She took them with only a glance, hastily scribbling Shon’s name on a long list before handing the book to one of the others who wrote the date in the spot allocated. By the time all the testers had filtered in, there were about twenty young boys and girls huddled in the center of the room.
The Cleric of Hengist, in robes of white and blue, stepped forward to address them. “You are gathered here today in the hopes of being chosen to serve. To serve the province, the kingdom, and most importantly, the gods. But before the gods can choose you to act as their divine hands and voice, you must train and study hard their tenants and virtues. And before even that, your body must be able to hold and direct their power. For a feather that cannot hold ink will never be a quill. This is not a test of your worth but of your natural, innate ability.”
As he spoke, two other Clerics, Father Branston of Soleil and a female in the colors of Lune, stepped forward, each holding something round covered with a dark cloth. The Cleric of Hengist continued, “Very few are born with the capacity to touch the divine, there is no shame in failing.” the Clerics of Soleil and Lune removed the protective coverings and everyone had to shield their eyes from the brilliant light that flared in Father Branston’s hand.
Squinting as his eyes adjusted, Shon could just make out an orb glowing in a bowl in the Abbot’s hands. The Cleric of Lune held a similar sphere, though it appeared dead beside the brilliance of the other. “When we call your name, you will touch the empty vessel,” the Cleric of Hengist gestured towards the unlit stone, “and then you will touch the vessel filled with divine magic,” with his other hand, he gestured towards the light. “Do not hold the stone for longer than a moment. If your body is unable to channel the magic it could do serious harm,” he warned.
“Trase,” one of the clerks called from the door, reading off the list they'd compiled. A tall boy stepped forward on shaking feet. He approached the Clerics, who nodded solemnly, all encouraging smiles gone. Reaching out, he touched the unlit orb, then with a deep breath, reached for the glowing vessel.
Nothing happened. Trase pulled his hands back, and Branston whispered -though all could hear in the stillness of the room- “It’s alright lad, you may go…”
“Anhala,” the clerk called, and a girl jumped before rushing forward to try.
The first six failed before a girl named Gena reached shaking hands to the orbs. As her fingers brushed the light vessel, the dead sphere in her other hand began to glow. She gasped, holding tight to both globes, now both shining brightly.
“Congratulations, my dear, you may choose an order…” the Cleric of Hengist gestured to the altars around the Chapel. Gena pulled her hands back slowly, and the unlit stone died once again. Shon watched as she walked to the altar of Soleil to await the end of the test before beginning her life as an adept in training at the Church.
“Shaclin Ebonheart,” the noble boy Shon often saw at the Temple stepped forward, rubbing his hands on his pants before reaching for the orbs. Nothing. He held on, and Father Branston gently removed the boy’s fingers from the light orb. Shaclin pulled away sharply, clutching his hand to his chest and whimpering. His skin had grown red and blistered.
“I’m sorry…” the Cleric of Hengist whispered.
Shaclin turned away without a word and strode for the door, still clutching his burned hand, silent tears staining his cheeks.
I won’t cry… I won’t… “Shon,” Shon closed his eyes, imagining himself in the Temple chapel with its calm silence and soothing scent of incense. He could almost smell it when he opened his eyes and moved forward.
Time slowed down… it took hours to reach the Clerics. Days to raise his hand to touch the dark orb. Now that he was closer he saw that they were actually crystals, tumbled into perfectly smooth spheres. His palm covered the dead stone, and it felt cool, as though it had just been dug from the ground by adventurous children. He reached for the stone bathed in light, feeling the warmth radiate off it before he even made contact. It wasn’t nearly hot enough to burn, and yet Shaclin’s hand had shown blisters.
Shon touched the stone. The warmth filled his fingers and crawled up his arm. It flooded his body like a vessel being filled with water before flowing out his other arm and down his hand. The dead stone came to life, its coolness replaced by the warmth of the divine magic, using him as its conduit connecting the two.
“Congratulations, son, you may choose an order…”
Time sped back up, and Shon let his hands slide off the stones. “Congratulations,” Father Branston echoed, nodding towards the altar of Hengist, “The rest is up to you.”
Only two others passed the test. A girl with long auburn hair and green eyes had joined the Temple with Shon, and a boy had gone to the Church of Saint Bjarki. They stood by their respective altars as the last of the failed testers left the Chapel. Gaven and Lara managed strained smiles at Shon as they left. He attempted to return them but wasn't sure if he'd managed it. The eight Clerics all breathed sighs of relief as the last left, and Branston and the Cleric of Lune returned the covers over the stones. Though still lit by the light through the colored dome, the Chapel seemed so much darker without the divine light to fill it.
“Four this year! An entire fifth!” the Druid of Cathbad exclaimed, her brown and green robes rustling as she danced in place.
“Yes, quite remarkable. Twice the average.” the Cleric of Saint Bede agreed. Though he resisted dancing for joy.
The Cleric of Hengist was also smiling broadly, though when he spoke, it was to the kids, “You may spend the afternoon with your families. Report to your chosen order before sixth bell.”
The girl who also joined the Temple of Hengist, Daisy, gave Shon a warm smile and hurried with the others to retrieve her papers. Now marked with their status as divine conduits. Shon walked behind them, his nervousness replaced with excited anticipation. He felt somehow full and empty all at once. With one door open, another had closed...
Shon stepped into the morning light to find the crowd had cleared. Only the three families of his fellows remained, hugging and kissing their children in joy. “We shall have a feast fit for the King!” Daisy’s father exclaimed, lifting her into the air as if she were no more than five. Shon’s stomach growled.
“Hungry?” Veon-Zih asked, stepping out from beside the door and presenting Shon with his pack. Shon felt his cheeks go red, and Veon-Zih laughed, rubbing his own belly, “I could use some lunch myself.”
Hastily Shon dropped his pack and rifled through the outside pockets, finding the cookies in the last one left to check. They were cracked and crumbled in some places, but he held one out to Veon-Zih regardless.
The Monk took it with a bow, “I am trying to resist being disappointed.” he confessed as Shon eagerly shoved his own broken cookie in his mouth.
He nearly choked, and Veon-Zih patted his back hard, not helping. Shon managed to swallow, then stammered, “Master, I…”
Veon-Zih interrupted with a laugh loud enough to fill the empty entryway, “Just promise me you won’t let your new studies dull your old. I plan on testing you with each visit.”
"Visit?" Something Shon couldn’t name filled his chest with warmth reminiscent of the divine light, "Test? You..." He thought he might burst with barely contained hope. No one could be so blessed... "You'll still train me?" Shon asked.
“I happen to be good friends with one of your future teachers at Hamerfoss.” Veon-Zih stated for the first time, “I’m sure he'll welcome my visits. If you'll have me…”
Shon didn’t have words for an answer. Instead, he lunged forward, wrapping Veon-Zih in the first and only hug he could remember giving anyone.
--- Table of Contents ---
All comments and communication are welcome and wanted.

u/stormegeton Thank you for the beautiful lace cut "thank you" card! And for the special packet of stickers! I love the animal ones and the butterfly and bottle ones are gorgeous. I'm glad you loved the card I sent; thank you for your kind words
u/Jane_Q thank you for the elephant claw game postcard! It's so cute! I had the opportunity to go to Thailand when I was in college and have loved elephants ever since; they're so smart! I loved your story about getting stuck in the cemetery, it reminded me of dumb stuff I used to do as a teenager
u/rainbowquarts Thank you for the lighthouse card! I will def check out that Marsha Blackburn video. People ARE NOT prepared to deal with AI and it's fascinating how it's affecting all communities (art, education, etc) differently. I saw a lawyer just used ChatGPT to get precedent caselaw for his cases and he ended up turning in fake cases to a judge. It's a mess!
u/_alltyedup Thank you for the beautiful galaxies postcard! I love the soft mint color of the picture, even though I know space doesn't have such pretty colors. My favorite thing about space is how far away everything is. It's mind-blowing that we can see light from a star that died a long time ago.
u/awachob Thank you for the extremely dope face hugger "free hugs" card! I'm so glad I saw your offer and was able to get one! I love it so much; it's going on my card wall of fame (which is on the back of my closet door). I am feeling an Alien/Aliens double feature coming on. Thanks for the bday wishes as well and the beautiful stickers!
u/hermitcreature Thank you for the postcard to color in with the Legend of the Bald-Landers on the back! I have read Herodotus' "The Histories" (well 500 of 600 pages) but I don't remember anything as fun as "gold-guarding griffins" lol. Thank you for the cool stickers, too; I love the holographic ones :)
u/draconic_healing Thank you for the handmade card! I love the holographic stickers and the bright colors! I appreciate the specific inclusion of the cat, too! I used to play Sims back when I had the CD-ROM of the first version in like the year 2000. I'm sure it's a lot different now, though lol.

Melinda and the Little Green Men
by Andrew Roller
Melinda and the Little Green Men
Table of Contents
Chapter One - A Sad End
Chapter Two - A Castle for a Queen
Chapter Three - Incommodious
Chapter Four - The Sewer Room
Chapter Five - The Teleport Threat
Chapter Six - Neverwhere
Chapter Seven - Permanent Perigee
Chapter Eight - Losers Welcome ( Especially )
Chapter Nine - Buried Alive
Chapter Ten - Gone Away
Chapter Eleven - Dead Broke
Chapter Twelve - Grave’s End
Chapter Thirteen - Audition
Chapter Fourteen - Heavenly Flush
Chapter Fifteen - Coffined
Chapter Sixteen - The Big Bang
Chapter Seventeen - A Sucky Day
Chapter Eighteen - Examination
Chapter Nineteen - Expelled
Chapter Twenty - Enslaved
Chapter Twenty-One - The Bugler
Chapter Twenty-Two - The Gates of Salvation
Chapter Twenty-Three - The Amateur Genius
Chapter Twenty-Four - Pooper’s Paradise
Chapter Twenty-Five - Eisegesis
Melinda and the Little Green Men
by Andrew Roller
Chapter One - A Sad End
It was their last day on earth. The two girls, playing in the field in their suburban neighborhood, didn’t know this. If Melinda and Emily were ever to return to earth, it wouldn’t be for a very long time.
Melinda was ten years old. I could say that she looked “striking”. Or I could use some other politically correct term. In fact, she was very lovely. Her lank, flaxen hair fell to her slim waist. A white string bikini clung to her svelte figure.
Emily was seven years old. Her short red hair fell to her shoulders. Stout, she resembled a girl version of Winnie-the-Pooh. Emily wore a one-piece floral print swimsuit. Both girls had on rubber flip-flops.
Emily was clever. Though she was only seven years old, she wore a red fireman’s hat with the number “21” printed on it. Emily hoped that her hat would fool people into believing that she was older, or even that she was a fireman.
On this bright sunny day, something flashed in the sky. Both girls saw the silvery disc as it caught the sunlight. Emily was quick to figure out what it was.
“It’s a flying saucer!” Emily said. Melinda, who was taller than Emily, watched it with her friend. The saucer sailed over the neighborhood. As it approached, the girls saw it clearly. It had a flat circular base, and a domed top. A line of porthole-like windows encircled the lower part of the dome. There was a front-facing windshield.
The saucer, and its shadow, skimmed over the field. The saucer’s shadow briefly engulfed the girls. Then the saucer passed over a treeline. It settled into tree-dotted scrubland. From that place came a sound of snapping tree limbs, and of brush being crushed. Silence followed.
“Let’s go!” Emily urged. Both girls wanted a closer look at the flying saucer. It was unimaginable that such an object could land in their neighborhood! The girls had no idea that they would soon be swept up in an ongoing galactic war. They rushed into the treeline. Then Melinda and Emily crept into the shady brush beyond.
The saucer was there. It stood on metal legs, hulking amid the surrounding trees. An electrical hum, like that put out by high tension wires, came softly from the saucer’s smooth hull.
An airlock opened in the side of the saucer. A stair-equipped gangplank descended. Then, as Melinda and Emily watched, a line of little green men came down the gangplank. The men were about as tall as the girls. They were carrying a pink worm. It was a big worm, as big as a little green man.
The men laid their worm down on the grass. The last men in the group had brought shovels. The shortest of the little green men was in charge of the men. Named Chirpley, he set several men to work digging a hole.
Emily crept forward. Melinda tried to stop her, but decided to accompany her. The little green men saw the girls. There was a mutual cry of surprise from both parties. The men stopped their digging. Emily asked what they were doing.
“We’re digging a grave,” Chirpley answered. He and the other men stood with solemn faces. Emily, who sometimes went fishing, said that it was odd to bury a worm. She only dug worms out of the earth.
Chirpley stood straighter. He, like his fellows, had a round head. Two green antennae stuck out of the top of his head. He was without clothing, except for a white loincloth that, being puffy and full, resembled diapers. Chirpley wore white gloves. On his small feet were big, rhinestone-studded cowboy boots.
“This is no ordinary worm!” Chirpley told the girls. “It’s our queen!”
“Except she’s dead now,” a second little green man said. He looked much like Chirpley, with a round head and antennae. He wore a loincloth, gloves, and cowboy boots.
“She was a very old queen,” a third little green man said.
“So, since she’s dead, we must bury her,” a fourth little green man said. There were, in all, a dozen of them.
“Stand aside!” Chirpley told the girls. It didn’t matter that the girls were already at a distance from the dead worm. Chirpley rarely missed a chance to look important. Even in front of little Earth girls.
The little green men dug their grave. Or, rather, a few of them did, while the others watched this with Melinda and Emily. Chirpley supervised.
The dead queen was buried. The little green men had just filled in her grave when someone, off in the trees, yelled,
“Attack!” Stones and handfuls of dirt flew from the treeline. Several little green men were hit by the stones. A stone banged off of Emily’s Fire hat. She and Melinda screamed. So did the little green men. The men ran back aboard their flying saucer and, as neighborhood boys whooped and hollered, and threw more dirt and stones, Melinda and Emily followed the men.
No sooner had the green men and the girls rushed into the saucer, than something came out of it. Two somethings, in fact. They were grotesque. Ghosts, they resembled white sheets torn by the wind from a clothesline.
The boys charged from the trees. They were attacking through the shady brush when the ghosts set upon them.
“OOOOOO!” the ghosts howled. The boys screamed in terror. They fled back into the trees, and into the field.
The saucer hummed more loudly. Its gangplank retracted. Just before the ship buttoned itself up, the ghosts zipped back inside of it. The saucer whisked into the sky. It disappeared beyond the clouds.
Within the saucer, Melinda and Emily cringed before the ghosts. These hung over them, looking horrid. The ghosts had blank, bulging eyes, and gaping mouths with fangs. They had scared the boys, and were now scaring the girls. To the little green men, they were damn annoying.
“Our spaceship’s haunted,” Gauss apologized. He was one of the men. He and several of his crewmates, though dressed like the others, also wore utility belts.
“But we got it at a discount,” a fellow crewman said. The green men stood with the girls on the saucer’s bridge. To one side was the closed airlock. To the right, and to the rear, the bridge opened onto other rooms.
The saucer was named “Regoob”. Compared to a military cruiser, it was a little ship. Yet Regoob was plenty roomy. Its many spaces held a number of unwanted passengers. But these occupants were mostly small, and furtive, unlike the two hovering ghosts.
One occupant was big. He was a worm, like the men’s dead queen. He slithered about in the saucer’s recesses. Except now. Curious about the girls, this worm peered from a shadowed corridor. Then, he did the one thing that he was known for, and named for. He farted.
“Farrrrrrrrt!” It was a big, smelly fart. Both girls clutched their little noses. The little green men did the same. The ghosts, who had been so hideously maleficent, fled. An embarrassed Fartley slipped away into the ship.
“Peeyou!” Emily cried. Melinda echoed her. The girls made for the airlock. That’s when they realized that Regoob was airborne. In fact, the little saucer was far beyond the Earth.
“We’d better go home,” Melinda said. Emily wasn’t so sure. The saucer’s pilot’s seat, before its dashboard and its windshield, struck her as inviting.
“Can I drive?” she asked. Since no one was, at the moment, controlling where the saucer went, she figured she might try.
That’s when Gauss saw the Moon approaching. It was approaching fast. He gave a cry of alarm. The other men, now seeing what he saw, gave panicked yells.
Emily jumped into the pilot’s chair. Grabbing the saucer’s yoke, she steered the ship clear of the Moon.
“Hooray!” the little green men yelled, with Melinda. Emily continued to fly the speeding saucer. Gauss gave her driving tips.
Soon, the ship was approaching Jupiter. As anyone who’s watched the film “2001: A Space Odyssey” knows, or even the film, “Starship Poopers”, Jupiter is no ordinary planet. It’s a gateway to other parts of the galaxy.
Emily couldn’t resist flying through a galactic gateway. Regoob sped toward Jupiter. The planet soon filled Regoob’s windshield.
Within Jupiter’s clouds was a bright oval. This wasn’t Jupiter’s red spot, but a metal doughnut. This doughnut, however, was slender. It was dotted by circular lights.
“Head for the center!” Gauss said to Emily. She did. Regoob shot through the slim doughnut and into hyperspace.
A kaleidoscope of colors streaked past Regoob. They were very pretty. The girls remarked upon them as Regoob tunneled through our galaxy.
The little saucer popped from hyperspace. It sailed among the ordinary stars again. Ahead was a ringed planet.
“That’s Quigley!” Zolna, one of the little green men, told the girls.
“We live there, in a castle.” Gauss said.
“A castle!” Melinda was impressed.
“Does your castle have a fireman?” Emily asked. The answer was “no”. So Emily, who was now Regoob’s pilot, asked to be the men’s fireman as well. The men agreed.
This left Melinda wondering what she could be. Before dinner, of course, since she still hoped to get home soon.
“You can be our queen!” Zolna told her.
“I’ll be the princess!” Emily said. She was still intent, too, on being the men’s fireman and pilot.
“I’m the king!” Chirpley said. This brought Fartley-like noises from the other men. So Chirpley settled on being what he already was, the men’s captain.
Somewhere in the ship, Fartley ensured his place in this little world, by farting.
Quigley loomed. Space traffic was flowing toward the purple planet. Quigley was belted by shimmering rings. But their colors clashed. Melinda remarked on this.
“It’s better than having no rings at all, like Earth,” Chirpley riposted. He did not mention that planet Quigley lacked a moon.
Emily followed the space traffic into Quigley’s atmosphere. There, the ships scattered to their destinations. Emily, directed by Gauss, flew over a city. Its buildings, compared to those on Earth, were outlandishly shaped. Beyond the city lay a beach community. And then, shining to the sunlit horizon, was a lavender sea.
“Land there,” Gauss told Emily. He meant the far side of the beach community, near the seashore. Emily put the saucer down in a patch of sand.
Regoob stood upon its metal legs amid other parked spaceships. Makeshift buildings were also neighbors to to Regoob. No castle was in sight. The sea lay near.
Chapter Two - A Castle for a Queen
Zolna opened the airlock. Its gangplank lowered, and the men and the girls disembarked. The hour was noon. It was hot. There was a salt tang in the air and, in the distance, the waves could be heard as they broke along the shore.
Chirpley led the party along a sandy trail. It wound between the spaceships and the homes. Hofsted, the fattest of the little green men, waddled at the file’s rear. He complained about leaving the ship.
“We’ll be at our castle soon,” Chirpley said.
The beach community slumbered in the seaside air. There were odd odors. These smells, of cooking food, caused Hofsted to say he was hungry. The men ignored him. A seagull sailed overhead.
Creatures gazed here and there from the spaceships and from the homes. Their alien faces startled Melinda and Emily. It was as if they’d wandered into a back lot on Star Wars, full of extras in outlandish costumes! Some of the aliens were surprised to see the girls.
“What are Earthlings doing here?!” an alien asked.
“There goes the neighborhood,” an alien, observing the girls, lamented.
Chirpley heard this.
“Commoners!” he riposted, to his alien neighbors. “Show some respect for royalty!” Melinda realized that Chirpley meant her, and Emily. She blushed. As for Emily, she trotted along with a self-confident look. She’d piloted a flying saucer, and now she was the inheritor of Luke Skywalker’s realm. Plus she was a fireman, and a princess. This was a fine day!
The trail led onto the beach. It was mostly vacant on this weekday, with a few bathers and seagulls. Chirpley indicated a large sculpted heap of sand on the shore. It stood just above where the inrolling sea boiled.
“There it is!” he said. He and his crewmates beamed at Melinda and Emily.
The men had built a big sand castle. It had some attractive towers, a wall and a moat. Several small flags, in various colors, decorated the edifice. An old door lay across the moat. It gave access to a hole in the ground, that the castle enclosed.
Emily was entranced. When the men invited her to come inside, meaning down into the hole, she agreed. Melinda cautiously accompanied them. As she did, she seemed to hear her name on the wind. But she saw nothing unusual, besides the bathing aliens and the seagulls.
Zolna led the group into the hole. He did so with a flashlight. Several other men lit flashlights too, as the group entered the hole.
The hole had a stone staircase. It had been carved by time, and by an intelligent hand. Sand dusted or clung to some of the steps. So did seaweed and seashells. These also cluttered the floor of the cave that the stairs led down into. An old stove sat in the cave.
“This is Mr. Lehman’s cave,” Zolna told Melinda and Emily.
“We used to be his gardeners,” Hofsted said proudly.
“Gardners?” Melinda asked. She saw only stone, and the oceans’s detritus.
“It was an easy job,” Hofsted admitted.
“He’s a sailor,” Chirpley said.
“But he’s disappeared,” Gauss added. “We don’t see him anymore.”
“That’s too bad,” Melinda said.
An apparition appeared on the stairs, near the lowest step. Melinda yelped. Emily gave a gasp of surprise, and the men gave startled cries.
“Melinda,” the ghostly figure said. It resolved itself as a tall, slender boy.
“You’re human!” Emily gasped. The boy’s image remained streaked with transmission lines, as if it were being beamed into the cave from far away.
“Quiet!” the boy snapped at Emily. She gasped anew. So did Melinda, and the others
“You’re my bride,” the boy told Melinda. The bikini-clad girl shrieked.
“I’m King Kleigowski,” the boy said. “From Earth, of course. My galactic fleet will arrive in a moment. Stay here as it attacks. Then, I will land, and we’ll be married,” the boy said to Melinda.
Seawater spilled down the stairs. The boy’s image vanished.
“My God!” Melinda gasped.
“She’s not marrying you!” Emily, finding her courage, told the place on the stairs where the boy’s image had been.
More seawater came down the stairs.
“We’d better go,” Zolna said. “The cave floods at high tide.”
Emily scrambled up the stairs with Melinda. The men followed. The tide was boiling about the castle. In the clear sky above, thunder sounded. Then sirens began to wail in the distance. Kevin Kleigowski, who had been terrorizing the galaxy’s far side for some time, was now attacking Planet Quigley!
Melinda and Emily ran with the men from the beach. They headed back to Regoob. All about them, the beach community was coming alive to the danger that thundered above. A battle was underway in the sky.
Melinda and Emily ran up the gangplank into Regoob. As the crew came in after them, a seagull flew into the ship. Emily reclaimed her place in the pilot’s seat.
Regoob took off. Other spaceships were beginning to rise from the land too. Suddenly, a transmission forced itself onto a television screen on Regoob’s dashboard. A man in a military uniform issued a warning. His insignia showed that he was a Quiglian general.
“Attention all civilians!” the general warned. “We’re under attack! Do not leave Planet Quigley! All civilian spaceships are grounded!”
“We’d better land,” Hofsted said.
“Ignore that!” Chirpley shouted.
“But—“ Melinda gasped. Emily flew stolidly higher.
“We’re soldiers!” Chirpley said.
“We’re volunteer lifeguards,” Zolna said.
“Good enough!” Chirpley retorted.
The saucer was now climbing at an eye-popping speed. It cleared the clouds, and the sunlit sky. The starry cosmos opened before it. The ship sped toward the nearest ship in the Quiglian fleet. The Quiglians were locked in a battle with King Kleigowski’s ships.
As Regoob closed on the big Quiglian cruiser, the general reappeared on the saucer’s dashboard T.V.
“Stop!” the general ordered.
Chirpley drew himself up to his full, diminutive height.
“Sir!” he told the general, with an irked look. “I am Chirpley Superlapee.” To Emily, Chirpley said, “Full speed ahead!” Then, for effect, he added, “Don’t shoot ‘till you see the whites of the their eyes.” Since he was sounding very important, Chirpley added, “Your money or your life!”
The saucer rushed at the cruiser. As it loomed, Emily began to think that going full speed ahead might not be a good idea.
Then she realized that they were too close to the cruiser to stop! As a collision became obvious, she leapt from the pilot’s seat.
“Duck!” Emily called to Melinda. Samuel, the seagull who’d flown into the ship, drew himself up to his full, diminutive height. He did so on the floor, where he’d settled by Melinda’s feet.
“I, Miss, am not a duck! I’m a sea-“ Samuel began.
Melinda felt a sudden tingling wash over her. She was standing somewhere else, if still beside Samuel, as the bird finished giving his species.
“-gull,” Samuel said.
They were all someplace else. That is, the girls, the men, and whatever else that had been on the saucer’s bridge, was now in a jail cell. The jail’s front wall and it’s door consisted of iron bars. A heavy white mist clung to the jail’s ceiling.
The saucer was nowhere to be seen. But there was a low hum, that is common to spaceships.
A tall boy came to the cell’s door. Melinda gasped. So did Emily, as cries came from the men.
“It’s that boy!” Melinda yelped, alarmed, to cries of alarm from her cellmates. She cringed. So did Emily, and the others.
“Call me Kevin,” the boy said. He grinned at Melinda. “You’re lucky I’m around. Your little friend ( he meant Emily ) crashed your saucer into a Quiglian cruiser.”
“I’m not marrying you!” Melinda said.
“Me neither!” Emily said.
“Me neither!” Hofsted said.
Kevin laughed.
“You’d better let me do the thinking,” he told Melinda. “My teleport ray couldn’t reach you on planet Quigley. You were too far away. So I told you to stay. And what did you do?” He grinned, and not pleasantly. “You fled, of course, directly toward me!”
As Kevin spoke, the mist coalesced. Suddenly, it was no longer a mist, but a pair of fanged, bulging-eyed ghosts!
“OOOOOO!” the ghosts howled, at Kevin. The boy ran shrieking out of the jail cell. A moment later, tingling engulfed Melinda. Everyone else in the cell was caught in the same sensation. Then, as suddenly as they’d arrived, the captives all disappeared from the jail cell.
Chapter Three - Incommodious
Melinda sat on the floor. Her head rested against a tiled wall. A sink was above it. Around her, in disorder, lay a number of little green men. Emily sat nearby. Samuel, lying near Emily, righted himself. He flew up and about in a mist that floated along the bathroom ceiling.
They’d been teleported again.
“Where are we now?!” Emily asked.
“I’m in a toilet!” Chirpley shouted, from a bathroom stall. “Help!”
The men and the girls gathered themselves. Some of the men, being teleported to the bathroom, had landed in toilet stalls. Chirpley hadn’t just wound up in a stall. He’d been planted with such force into a toilet that his bottom was stuck in the hole at its base. Toilet water surrounded his semi-submerged figure. He gazed helplessly from the commode.
“Don’t flush it!” Chirpley cried, of his toilet, as the girls and some crewmen piled into his stall. The group couldn’t help laughing. Chirpley, however, didn’t laugh. Being stuck in a toilet was not his idea of a good time,
Emily and the crew pulled Chirpley out of the toilet. He was unhurt. His body was wet in places. His diaper-like loincloth was soaked.
A woman screamed. Shouts came from the men who hadn’t crammed themselves into Chirpley’s stall.
Kevin had teleported his captives from his spaceship to a Quiglian one. Specifically, he’d teleported his captives into a ladies’ bathroom aboard the Quiglian ship.
“Eeeeek!” the woman visitor screamed. “There are men in the bathroom! In the ladies’ bathroom!” Soldiers arrived. When they learned that the men in the women’s bathroom had also crashed their saucer into the Quiglian ship, they arrested them. Chirpley and his crew were brought before General Grouchley. They were accompanied by Melinda and Emily.
General Grouchley commanded the Quiglian fleet. His flagship was called The Drut. It was this that Regoob had crashed into.
George Grouchley was big, fat and green. His uniform strained to contain him. It was he who had grounded all of Quigley’s civilian ships, and who’d ordered Regoob to stop. It was he whom Chirpley had disobeyed.
Chirpley stood to attention before General Grouchley. He did so with wet pants, from the toilet. Gathered behind Chirpley was his crew, and the girls. The volunteer lifeguard saluted the general. This did not improve George’s mood.
“I understand you were in the ladies’ bathroom,” George said to Chirpley.
“Yes, sir,” Chirpley answered. “I was stuck in a toilet.”
“Your saucer crashed into my ship!” George told Chirpley.
“Yes, Sir,” the volunteer lifeguard replied. Emily slipped partly behind Melinda, to escape the general’s eyes.
“We’ll need a new ship,” Chirpley told George. “To continue our noble fight against King Kleigowski.”
“Kleigowski’s fleet is in full retreat!” George told Chirpley. “I’m not sure what happened. One minute they were attacking, the next — they were fleeing!”
“I may know why - “ Chirpley said.
“Obviously, I’m an even better general than I knew,” George concluded. He eyed Chirpley. “Get your stinky saucer out of my ship! And stay out of the ladies’ bathroom!”
“Yes, Sir,” Chirpley replied.
Several women came screaming into the general’s presence.
“Help!” the women shouted. “Our bathroom is haunted!”
Chapter Four - The Sewer Room
Regoob had smashed through a large glass panel in the hull of The Drut, near its stern. Doing so, Regoob had plunged itself into a big cesspool. Much of the cesspool’s contents had emptied into outer space. This left the saucer at the bottom of the big cesspool, in such sludge as remained. The cesspool stank.
Repair ships had plugged the hole in The Drut’s hull. The big, open cesspool was in The Drut’s sewer room. This was a big, high-ceilinged room, with a crane. As Regoob’s crew arrived, along with the girls, the crane lifted Regoob out of the cesspool. It plopped the saucer, with a clang, onto the sewer room’s floor. A work crew gathered about the stinky craft.
Chirpley strode up to the work crew.
“I am the captain of this august ship,” he said, in a tone that he hoped sounded important. Chirpley had a high voice. But now, his voice was mouse-squeaky, for he was holding his nose. So was his whole crew, and the girls.
The work crew was wearing disposable masks. One of them regarded Chirpley, who remained in wet pants.
“You own this piece of shit?” the workman asked Chirpley. “It’s going to need a lot of cleaning.”
“We’ll wait until you’re done with it,” Chirpley said.
“You’ll clean it now,” a workman told Chirpley. “General Grouchley wants you, and your saucer, off of his ship!”
“Oh!” Chirpley said. “We must have important duties awaiting us.”
“The general just wants you to go!” a workman said.
Meanwhile, back at the ladies’ bathroom, a priest had been called. He was exorcising the bathroom of its two ghosts. Ladies waited with rising anxiety as this holy procedure proceeded.
“Hurry up!” a woman complained.
“I have to go!” another woman said.
The priest paused in his incantations. He assured the ladies that they wouldn’t have to wait long. There was no need to go elsewhere. The priest was a speedy priest. But, if he were to rush, in an unholy way, the ghosts might not be exorcised. So the priest proceeded with due reverence for the divine. And the ladies waited. With rising anxiety.
Chapter Five - The Teleport Threat
Regoob left The Drut. That ship, and its fleet, were now returning to planet Quigley. Emily was piloting Regoob. She was doing so with the purpose of learning to fly it better.
Melinda was aboard Regoob. So was everyone in Regoob’s crew. Samuel, the seagull, had again invited himself aboard. The ghosts, exorcised from the ladies’ bathroom, were aboard Regoob too.
On the saucer’s bridge, teleportation was being discussed.
“People teleport all the time on Star Trek,” Emily said. Chirpley had seen the show.
“We call it ‘Apes in Space’”, he said. Emily scowled at him.
“Who knew an ape - I mean, a human - would invent teleportation?” Gauss asked. Melinda asked what he meant.
“No one in the galaxy can teleport,” Gauss said. “Except, now, Kevin Kleigowski can.” Everyone on the bridge considered this.
“We need to stop him,” Melinda said.
“Yes!” Emily agreed. “He could attack Earth!”
Chirpley saw a chance to be important. Standing straight, though he was still short, he said,
“Men! We must go after King Kleigowski! We must climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow, and go where only apes in space have gone before!”
Gauss hastened to a computer.
“I’ll see if I can find the king’s fleet,” he said.
“Maybe we should ask for help from General Grouchley,” Melinda said. Chirpley bristled.
“I’ll be in command of this mission,” he said. “Since it was my idea!”
“General Grouchley didn’t do anything to defeat the king,” Zolna said. “It was our ghosts who scared him off.”
“I found him!” Gauss said. He meant the king’s fleet. Gauss told Emily what direction to fly in. She did so. Chirpley, pleased, began to practice a victory speech.
“I came,” he intoned. “I saw - “
“And I got stuck in the toilet,” a crewman said.
Chapter Six - Neverwhere
Kevin Kleigowski was angry. The panicked retreat of his fleet had put his ships into disarray. The fault was his own. His fleet was crewed by robots. Their purpose was to obey.
Kevin stood on the bridge of his flagship, Teliot. He spoke with his robot admiral, Dolt 0001.
“Take the fleet through a hypergate,” Kevin ordered his admiral. “We’ll reorganize ourselves on its far side.”
“Yes, Sir,” Admiral Dolt answered. Kevin’s fleet was soon flying toward a distant gas giant. There, it would pass through the planet’s hypergate.
Unknown to Kevin, a little saucer, flown by a seven-year-old girl, was hot on his trail.
Kevin’s fleet neared the gas giant. As Regoob closed on the fleet, Gauss told Emily,
“Hurry! They might go anywhere in hyperspace!”
Regoob snaked among the disordered vessels.
“Land on Teliot,” Gauss told Emily. “That’s the king’s flagship.”
Teliot was a big cruiser. Emily zipped above it. She put the small saucer down amid the outbuildings that topped Teliot’s hull.
The cruiser, and its accompanying fleet, passed into the gas giant’s hypergate.
Emily yawned. She was in a flying saucer in hyperspace, atop a galactic cruiser, but she was also a sleepy seven-year-old. Melinda shared her sense of exhaustion. She said so.
“And I need a bath,” Melinda said.
“I don’t need a bath!” Emily said.
“Emily Fortley, we will both take a bath!” Melinda said. The little green men escorted the girls to a bathroom. The area included a laundry room. When the girls were bathing, they found that they weren’t alone.
“Hey! Quit looking!” Emily said, spying the ghosts in their bathroom.
“Shoo!” Melinda scolded.
The ghosts, sniggering, slipped away.
Melinda and Emily bedded down in a bedroom aboard Regoob.
“Good night, Emily,” Melinda said.
“Good night, Melinda,” Emily said. Neither girl could guess what the hour was back on earth. Then both got a rude reminder of where they were. Fartley trumpeted a loud goodnight in the near distance. The girls escaped the ensuing smell by falling asleep.
As for the little green men, they were concluding their day. They soon bedded down in the room with the sleeping girls. The saucer, atop Teliot, was still passing through hyperspace.
“I don’t know where the king is going, but he’s going a long way,” Gauss said.
“He could be going in circles,” a crewman said. “To throw off pursuers.”
“We’ll board Teliot tomorrow,” Zolna said.
“We can’t do that until we’re out of hyperspace,” Gauss said.
“When we are, I’ll lead the way,” Chirpley said. “Hofsted?”
“Yes, Sir?”
“Bring a trumpet. I’ll need you to blow it.”
“Sir?” Hofsted asked.
“Huh?” Zolna asked.
“It will be a great heroic deed to capture King Kleigowski,” Chirpley said. “When we charge him, Hofsted can blow the trumpet.”
“What about all of his robots?” a crewman asked.
“We’ll charge them too,” Chirpley said. “Zolna!”
“Yes?”
“You bring a trumpet too.”
“Maybe we should just bring Fartley along,” someone said.
“Yes!” Chirpley said. “We’ll have loud farts, and loud trumpeting, and then I’ll say ‘Charge!’. Very loudly.”
“After we leave hyperspace,” Gauss said.
With this, the little green men went to sleep.
“Melinda.”
The 10-year-old sat upright. She’d gone to bed wrapped in a dry bath towel, but now she was in her bikini again.
She wasn’t aboard Regoob. She sat in a field of pale mushrooms. These grew suddenly taller, on long stalks. They became a forest of mushrooms. The mushrooms shaded Melinda from the high sun. Through sprouted undergrowth, a path trailed off into the tall mushrooms.
Then an old man appeared. Using a gnarled branch for a cane, he followed the path. He saw Melinda and spoke.
“Melinda.” He said this at a distance. However, Melinda heard it as if he were beside her. She even smelled his breath. It had an odor of onions.
Melinda stood.
Suddenly, the man was before her. His stooped figure was tall and commanding.
“I want you,” he rasped to Melinda.
The blonde frowned. At least, she told herself, she was face-to-face with the person they’d been pursuing. She did not call him king.
“Kevin. You look awful,” Melinda said.
The man scowled.
“I’m done with Kevin,” he said. “Kevin’s attack on Planet Quigley failed. I don’t like failure.”
The man smiled at Melinda.
“Kevin bores me,” he said. “You don’t.” The man took Melinda’s arm. She found herself walking with him, despite not wanting to.
“We’ll rule the universe,” the man told her.
Due to Reddit’s character limit, I can only post part of my book here.
A free copy of “Melinda and the Little Green Men” is at:
http://andrewroller.com
Copyright 2023 by Andrew L. Roller. Melinda and the Little Green Men is a trademark of Andrew L. Roller.

Everything in my inventory is up for trade. The most valuable items are listed here, the rest you can find in My Inventory

Feel free to Add Me or even better send a Trade Offer. Open for any suggestions: upgrades, downgrades / knives, gloves, skins / stickers, patterns, floats.

All Buyouts are listed in cash value.

KNIVES

★ Butterfly Knife Freehand FN #1, B/O: $2500

★ Butterfly Knife Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $822

★ Butterfly Knife Scorched FT, B/O: $616

⎯

★ Bayonet Tiger Tooth MW #1, B/O: $1300

★ Bayonet Autotronic FN, B/O: $1050

★ Bayonet Tiger Tooth MW, B/O: $629

★ Bayonet Bright Water FT, B/O: $326

★ Bayonet Safari Mesh BS, B/O: $233

⎯

★ Karambit Lore FT, B/O: $1110

★ Karambit Damascus Steel FT, B/O: $840

★ Karambit Freehand MW, B/O: $784

★ Karambit Bright Water MW, B/O: $759

⎯

★ M9 Bayonet Fade FN, B/O: $1801

★ M9 Bayonet Fade FN, B/O: $1801

★ M9 Bayonet Damascus Steel FN, B/O: $751

⎯

★ Nomad Knife Fade FN, B/O: $1156

★ Nomad Knife Slaughter MW, B/O: $544

★ Nomad Knife Blue Steel WW, B/O: $318

⎯

★ Flip Knife Marble Fade FN, B/O: $646

★ Flip Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $574

★ Flip Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) MW, B/O: $552

★ Flip Knife Case Hardened FT, B/O: $257

★ Flip Knife Freehand FT, B/O: $255

★ StatTrak™ Flip Knife Bright Water FN, B/O: $287

⎯

★ Huntsman Knife Lore FN, B/O: $461

★ Huntsman Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $436

★ Huntsman Knife Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $353

★ Huntsman Knife Autotronic FT, B/O: $212

★ Huntsman Knife Bright Water FT, B/O: $129

★ Huntsman Knife Forest DDPAT MW, B/O: $129

★ Huntsman Knife Forest DDPAT BS, B/O: $123

★ StatTrak™ Huntsman Knife Rust Coat BS, B/O: $127

⎯

★ Bowie Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 2) FN, B/O: $375

★ Bowie Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $363

★ Bowie Knife Tiger Tooth FN, B/O: $269

★ Bowie Knife Crimson Web WW, B/O: $192

★ Bowie Knife Bright Water FN, B/O: $159

★ Bowie Knife Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $126

⎯

★ Stiletto Knife Slaughter FN, B/O: $616

★ Stiletto Knife Crimson Web FT, B/O: $412

★ StatTrak™ Stiletto Knife Night Stripe FT, B/O: $227

⎯

★ Falchion Knife Lore FT, B/O: $214

★ Falchion Knife Autotronic FT, B/O: $192

★ Falchion Knife Scorched WW, B/O: $105

⎯

★ Survival Knife Crimson Web BS, B/O: $216

★ Survival Knife Case Hardened FT, B/O: $198

★ Survival Knife Scorched FT, B/O: $111

⎯

★ Shadow Daggers Fade FN, B/O: $368

★ Shadow Daggers Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $228

★ Shadow Daggers, B/O: $201

★ Shadow Daggers Damascus Steel FT, B/O: $108

★ Shadow Daggers Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $105

★ Shadow Daggers Black Laminate FT, B/O: $99

★ Shadow Daggers Forest DDPAT FT, B/O: $85

⎯

★ Gut Knife Doppler (Sapphire) MW #1, B/O: $1700

★ Gut Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $223

★ Gut Knife Marble Fade FN, B/O: $203

★ Gut Knife Doppler (Phase 2) FN, B/O: $191

★ Gut Knife Case Hardened BS, B/O: $127

⎯

★ Navaja Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $199

★ Navaja Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $199

★ Navaja Knife, B/O: $138

★ Navaja Knife Damascus Steel FN, B/O: $111

⎯

★ Classic Knife Urban Masked FT, B/O: $146

★ StatTrak™ Classic Knife Stained BS, B/O: $168

⎯

★ Ursus Knife Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $476

★ Ursus Knife, B/O: $375

⎯

★ Skeleton Knife, B/O: $1137

★ Talon Knife, B/O: $608

★ Paracord Knife, B/O: $305

★ Survival Knife Forest DDPAT FT, B/O: $97

GLOVES

★ Moto Gloves Transport MW, B/O: $204

★ Moto Gloves Polygon BS, B/O: $142

★ Moto Gloves Blood Pressure BS, B/O: $84

★ Moto Gloves Blood Pressure BS, B/O: $84

★ Moto Gloves 3rd Commando Company BS, B/O: $63

★ Moto Gloves 3rd Commando Company BS, B/O: $63

⎯

★ Specialist Gloves Crimson Kimono WW, B/O: $1215

★ Specialist Gloves Tiger Strike FT, B/O: $672

★ Specialist Gloves Lt. Commander FT, B/O: $305

★ Specialist Gloves Lt. Commander BS, B/O: $140

★ Specialist Gloves Crimson Web BS, B/O: $137

★ Specialist Gloves Buckshot FT, B/O: $75

⎯

★ Driver Gloves Crimson Weave FT, B/O: $359

★ Driver Gloves Imperial Plaid BS, B/O: $229

★ Driver Gloves Overtake BS, B/O: $77

★ Driver Gloves Racing Green FT, B/O: $48

⎯

★ Sport Gloves Omega FT, B/O: $739

★ Sport Gloves Amphibious BS #2, B/O: $733

★ Sport Gloves Arid BS, B/O: $292

⎯

★ Hand Wraps Giraffe MW, B/O: $212

★ Hand Wraps Leather FT, B/O: $160

★ Hand Wraps Desert Shamagh MW, B/O: $101

⎯

★ Broken Fang Gloves Yellow-banded MW, B/O: $185

★ Broken Fang Gloves Needle Point FT, B/O: $67

★ Broken Fang Gloves Needle Point WW, B/O: $59

⎯

★ Hydra Gloves Case Hardened BS, B/O: $65

★ Hydra Gloves Emerald FT, B/O: $65

★ Hydra Gloves Emerald BS, B/O: $62

WEAPONS

AK-47 Case Hardened BS, B/O: $130

AK-47 Bloodsport MW, B/O: $79

AK-47 Fuel Injector BS, B/O: $76

AK-47 Fuel Injector BS, B/O: $76

AK-47 Bloodsport FT, B/O: $70

AK-47 Neon Rider MW, B/O: $60

StatTrak™ AK-47 Aquamarine Revenge FT, B/O: $72

⎯

AWP Fade FN, B/O: $1039

AWP Asiimov FT, B/O: $139

AWP Asiimov FT, B/O: $139

AWP Wildfire MW, B/O: $95

AWP BOOM MW, B/O: $93

AWP BOOM MW, B/O: $93

AWP Duality FN, B/O: $81

AWP Asiimov BS, B/O: $79

AWP Asiimov BS, B/O: $79

AWP Chromatic Aberration FN, B/O: $60

StatTrak™ AWP Hyper Beast FT, B/O: $68

StatTrak™ AWP Hyper Beast FT, B/O: $68

StatTrak™ AWP Electric Hive FT, B/O: $55

⎯

Desert Eagle Blaze FN, B/O: $623

Desert Eagle Emerald Jörmungandr FN, B/O: $241

Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption FN, B/O: $81

Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption FN, B/O: $81

Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption FN, B/O: $81

Desert Eagle Printstream FT, B/O: $54

⎯

M4A1-S Blue Phosphor FN, B/O: $434

StatTrak™ M4A1-S Bright Water MW, B/O: $55

⎯

M4A4 Poseidon FN, B/O: $1465

M4A4 Asiimov BS, B/O: $55

M4A4 Hellfire MW, B/O: $50

⎯

USP-S Kill Confirmed MW, B/O: $72

USP-S Printstream FT, B/O: $69

StatTrak™ USP-S Kill Confirmed FT, B/O: $139

⎯

AUG Flame Jörmungandr FN, B/O: $234

P90 Run and Hide FT, B/O: $147

Five-SeveN Candy Apple FN, B/O: $61

Trade Offer Link - Steam Profile Link - My Inventory

Knives - Bowie Knife, Butterfly Knife, Falchion Knife, Flip Knife, Gut Knife, Huntsman Knife, M9 Bayonet, Bayonet, Karambit, Shadow Daggers, Stiletto Knife, Ursus Knife, Navaja Knife, Talon Knife, Classic Knife, Paracord Knife, Survival Knife, Nomad Knife, Skeleton Knife, Patterns - Gamma Doppler, Doppler (Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, Phase 4, Black Pearl, Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald), Crimson Web, Lore, Fade, Ultraviolet, Night, Marble Fade (Fire & Ice, Fake FI), Case Hardened (Blue Gem), Autotronic, Slaughter, Black Laminate, Tiger Tooth, Boreal Forest, Scorched, Blue Steel, Vanilla, Damascus Steel, Forest DDPAT, Urban Masked, Freehand, Stained, Bright Water, Safari Mesh, Rust Coat, Gloves - Bloodhound Gloves (Charred, Snakebite, Guerrilla, Bronzed), Driver Gloves (Snow Leopard, King Snake, Crimson Weave, Imperial Plaid, Black Tie, Lunar Weave, Diamondback, Rezan the Red, Overtake, Queen Jaguar, Convoy, Racing Green), Hand Wraps (Cobalt Skulls, CAUTION!, Overprint, Slaughter, Leather, Giraffe, Badlands, Spruce DDPAT, Arboreal, Constrictor, Desert Shamagh, Duct Tape), Moto Gloves (Spearmint, POW!, Cool Mint, Smoke Out, Finish Line, Polygon, Blood Pressure, Turtle, Boom!, Eclipse, 3rd Commando Company, Transport), Specialist Gloves (Crimson Kimono, Tiger Strike, Emerald Web, Field Agent, Marble Fade, Fade, Foundation, Lt. Commander, Crimson Web, Mogul, Forest DDPAT, Buckshot), Sport Gloves (Pandora's Box, Superconductor, Hedge Maze, Vice, Amphibious, Slingshot, Omega, Arid, Big Game, Nocts, Scarlet Shamagh, Bronze Morph), Hydra Gloves (Case Hardened, Emerald, Rattler, Mangrove), Broken Fang Gloves (Jade, Yellow-banded, Unhinged, Needle Point), Pistols - P2000 (Wicked Sick, Ocean Foam, Fire Element, Amber Fade, Corticera, Chainmail, Imperial Dragon, Obsidian, Scorpion, Handgun, Acid Etched), USP-S (Printstream, Kill Confirmed, Whiteout, Road Rash, Owergrowth, The Traitor, Neo-Noir, Dark Water, Orion, Blueprint, Stainless, Caiman, Serum, Monster Mashup, Royal Blue, Ancient Visions, Cortex, Orange Anolis, Ticket To Hell, Black Lotus, Cyrex, Check Engine, Guardian, Purple DDPAT, Torque, Blood Tiger, Flashback, Business Class, Pathfinder, Para Green), Lead Conduit, Glock-18 (Umbral Rabbit, Fade, Candy Apple, Bullet Queen, Synth Leaf, Neo-Noir, Nuclear Garden, Dragon Tatto, Reactor, Pink DDPAT, Twilight Galaxy, Sand Dune, Groundwater, Blue Fissure, Snack Attack, Water Elemental, Brass, Wasteland Rebel, Vogue, Franklin, Royal Legion, Gamma Doppler, Weasel, Steel Disruption, Ironwork, Grinder, High Beam, Moonrise, Oxide Blaze, Bunsen Burner, Clear Polymer, Bunsen Burner, Night), P250 (Re.built, Nuclear Threat, Modern Hunter, Splash, Whiteout, Vino Primo, Mehndi, Asiimov, Visions, Undertow, Cartel, See Ya Later, Gunsmoke, Splash, Digital Architect, Muertos, Red Rock, Bengal Tiger, Crimson Kimono, Wingshot, Metallic DDPAT, Hive, Dark Filigree, Mint Kimono), Five-Seven (Neon Kimono, Berries And Cherries, Fall Hazard, Crimson Blossom, Hyper Beast, Nitro, Fairy Tale, Case Hardened, Copper Galaxy, Angry Mob, Monkey Business, Fowl Play, Anodized Gunmetal, Hot Shot, Retrobution, Boost Protocol), CZ75-Auto (Chalice, Crimson Web, Emerald Quartz, The Fuschia is Now, Nitro, Xiangliu, Yellow Jacket, Victoria, Poison Dart, Syndicate, Eco, Hexane, Pole, Tigris), Tec-9 (Rebel, Terrace, Nuclear Threat, Hades, Rust Leaf, Decimator, Blast From, Orange Murano, Toxic, Fuel Injector, Remote Control, Bamboo Forest, Isaac, Avalanche, Brother, Re-Entry, Blue Titanium, Bamboozle), R8 Revolver (Banana Cannon, Fade, Blaze, Crimson Web, Liama Cannon, Crazy 8, Reboot, Canal Spray, Night, Amber Fade), Desert Eagle (Blaze, Hand Cannon, Fennec Fox, Sunset Storm, Emerald Jörmungandr, Pilot, Hypnotic, Golden Koi, Printstream, Cobalt Disruption, Code Red, Ocean Drive, Midnight Storm, Kumicho Dragon, Crimson Web, Heirloom, Night Heist, Mecha Industries, Night, Conspiracy, Trigger Discipline, Naga, Directive, Light Rail), Dual Berettas (Flora Carnivora, Duelist, Cobra Strike, Black Limba, Emerald, Hemoglobin, Twin Turbo, Marina, Melondrama, Pyre, Retribution, Briar, Dezastre, Royal Consorts, Urban Shock, Dualing Dragons, Panther, Balance), Rifles - Galil (Aqua Terrace, Winter Forest, Chatterbox, Sugar Rush, Pheonix Blacklight, CAUTION!, Orange DDPAT, Cerberus, Dusk Ruins, Eco, Chromatic Aberration, Stone Cold, Tuxedo, Sandstorm, Shattered, Urban Rubble, Rocket Pop, Kami, Crimson Tsunami, Connexion), SCAR-20 (Fragments, Brass, Cyrex, Palm, Splash Jam, Cardiac, Emerald, Crimson Web, Magna Carta, Stone Mosaico, Bloodsport, Enforcer), AWP (Duality, Gungnir, Dragon Lore, Prince, Medusa, Desert Hydra, Fade, Lightning Strike, Oni Taiji, Silk Tiger, Graphite, Chromatic Aberration, Asiimov, Snake Camo, Boom, Containment Breach, Wildfire, Redline, Electric Hive, Hyper Beast, Neo-Noir, Man-o'-war, Pink DDPAT, Corticera, Sun in Leo, Elite Build, Fever Dream, Atheris, Mortis, PAW, Exoskeleton, Worm God, POP AWP, Phobos, Acheron, Pit Viper, Capillary, Safari Mesh), AK-47 (Head Shot, Wild Lotus, Gold Arabesque, X-Ray, Fire Serpent, Hydroponic, Panthera Onca, Case Hardened, Vulcan, Jet Set, Fuel Injector, Bloodsport, Nightwish, First Class, Neon Rider, Asiimov, Red Laminate, Aquamarine Revenge, The Empress, Wasteland Rebel, Jaguar, Black Laminate, Leet Museo, Neon Revolution, Redline, Frontside Misty, Predator, Legion of Anubis, Point Disarray, Orbit Mk01, Blue Laminate, Green Laminate, Emerald Pinstripe, Cartel, Phantom Disruptor, Jungle Spray, Safety Net, Rat Rod, Baroque Purple, Slate, Elite Build, Uncharted, Safari Mesh), FAMAS (Sundown, Prime Conspiracy, Afterimage, Commemoration, Dark Water, Spitfire, Pulse, Eye of Athena, Meltdown, Rapid Eye Move, Roll Cage, Styx, Mecha Industrie, Djinn, ZX Spectron, Valence, Neural Net, Night Borre, Hexne), M4A4 (Temukau, Howl, Poseidon, Asiimov, Daybreak, Hellfire, Zirka, Red DDPAT, Radiation Hazard, Modern Hunter, The Emperor, The Coalition, Bullet Rain, Cyber Security, X-Ray, Dark Blossom, Buzz Kill, In Living Color, Neo-Noir, Desolate Space, 龍王 (Dragon King), Royal Paladin, The Battlestar, Global Offensive, Tooth Fairy, Desert-Strike, Griffin, Evil Daimyo, Spider Lily, Converter), M4A1-S (Emphorosaur-S, Welcome to the Jungle, Imminent Danger, Knight, Hot Rod, Icarus Fell, Blue Phosphor, Printstream, Master Piece, Dark Water, Golden Coil, Bright Water, Player Two, Atomic Alloy, Guardian, Chantico's Fire, Hyper Beast, Mecha Industries, Cyrex, Control Panel, Moss Quartz, Nightmare, Decimator, Leaded Glass, Basilisk, Blood Tiger, Briefing, Night Terror, Nitro, VariCamo, Flashback), SG 553 (Cyberforce, Hazard Pay, Bulldozer, Integrale, Dragon Tech, Ultraviolet, Colony IV, Hypnotic, Cyrex, Candy Apple, Barricade, Pulse), SSG 08 (Death Strike, Sea Calico, Blood in the Water, Orange Filigree, Dragonfire, Big Iron, Bloodshot, Detour, Turbo Peek, Red Stone), AUG (Akihabara Accept, Flame Jörmungandr, Hot Rod, Midnight Lily, Sand Storm, Carved Jade, Wings, Anodized Navy, Death by Puppy, Torque, Bengal Tiger, Chameleon, Fleet Flock, Random Access, Momentum, Syd Mead, Stymphalian, Arctic Wolf, Aristocrat, Navy Murano), G3SG1 (Chronos, Violet Murano, Flux, Demeter, Orange Kimono, The Executioner, Green Apple, Arctic Polar Camo, Contractor), SMGs - P90 (Neoqueen, Astral Jörmungandr, Run and Hide, Emerald Dragon, Cold Blooded, Death by Kitty, Baroque Red, Vent Rush, Blind Spot, Asiimov, Trigon, Sunset Lily, Death Grip, Leather, Nostalgia, Fallout Warning, Tiger Pit, Schermatic, Virus, Shapewood, Glacier Mesh, Shallow Grave, Chopper, Desert Warfare), MAC-10 (Sakkaku, Hot Snakes, Copper Borre, Red Filigree, Gold Brick, Graven, Case Hardened, Stalker, Amber Fade, Neon Rider, Tatter, Curse, Propaganda, Nuclear Garden, Disco Tech, Toybox, Heat, Indigo), UMP-45 (Wild Child, Fade, Blaze, Day Lily, Minotaur's Labyrinth, Crime Scene, Caramel, Bone Pile, Momentum, Primal Saber), MP7 (Teal Blossom, Fade, Nemesis, Whiteout, Asterion, Bloosport, Abyssal Apparition, Full Stop, Special Delivery, Neon Ply, Asterion, Ocean Foam, Powercore, Scorched, Impire), PP-Bizon (Modern Hunter, Rust Coat, Forest Leaves, Antique, High Roller, Blue Streak, Seabird, Judgement of Anubis, Bamboo Print, Embargo, Chemical Green, Coblat Halftone, Fuel Rod, Photic Zone, Irradiated Alert, Carbon Fiber), MP9 (Featherweight, Wild Lily, Pandora's Box, Stained Glass, Bulldozer, Dark Age, Hot Rod, Hypnotic, Hydra, Rose Iron, Music Box, Setting Sun, Food Chain, Airlock, Mount Fuji, Starlight Protector, Ruby Poison Dart, Deadly Poison), MP5-SD (Liquidation, Oxide Oasis, Phosphor, Nitro, Agent, Autumn Twilly), Shotguns, Machineguns - Sawed-Off (Kiss♥Love, First Class, Orange DDPAT, Rust Coat, The Kraken, Devourer, Mosaico, Wasteland Princess, Bamboo Shadow, Copper, Serenity, Limelight, Apocalypto), XM1014 (Frost Borre, Ancient Lore, Red Leather, Elegant Vines, Banana Leaf, Jungle, Urban Perforated, Grassland, Blaze Orange, Heaven Guard, VariCamo Blue, Entombed, XOXO, Seasons, Tranquility, Bone Machine, Incinegator, Teclu Burner, Black Tie, Zombie Offensive, Watchdog), Nova (Baroque Orange, Hyper Beast, Green Apple, Antique, Modern Hunter, Walnut, Forest Leaves, Graphite, Blaze Orange, Rising Skull, Tempest, Bloomstick, Interlock, Quick Sand, Moon in Libra, Clean Polymer, Red Quartz, Toy Soldier), MAG-7 (Insomnia, Cinqueda, Counter Terrace, Prism Terrace, Memento, Chainmail, Hazard, Justice, Bulldozer, Silver, Core Breach, Firestarter, Praetorian, Heat, Hard Water, Monster Call, BI83 Spectrum, SWAG-7), M249 (Humidor, Shipping Forecast, Blizzard Marbleized, Downtown, Jungle DDPAT, Nebula Crusader, Impact Drill, Emerald Poison Dart), Negev (Mjölnir, Anodized Navy, Palm, Power Loader, Bratatat, CaliCamo, Phoenix Stencil, Infrastructure, Boroque Sand), Wear - Factory New (FN), Minimal Wear (MW), Field-Tested (FT), Well-Worn (WW), Battle-Scarred (BS), Stickers Holo/Foil/Gold - Katowice 2014, Krakow 2017, Howling Dawn, Katowice 2015, Crown, London 2018, Cologne 2014, Boston 2018, Atlanta 2017, Cluj-Napoca 2015, DreamHack 2014, King on the Field, Harp of War, Winged Difuser, Cologne 2016, Cologne 2015, MLG Columbus 2016, Katowice 2019, Berlin 2019, RMR 2020, Stockholm 2021, Antwerp 2022, Swag Foil, Flammable foil, Others - Souvenirs, Agents, Pins, Passes, Gifts, Music Kits, Cases, Keys, Capsules, Packages, Patches

Some items on the list may no longer be available or are still locked, visit My Inventory for more details.

Send a Trade Offer for fastest response. I consider all offers.

Add me for discuss if there is a serious offer that needs to be discussed.

Today my church celebrated Pentecost, the day that the Spirit of God descended like tongues of flame on the first disciples of Christ and gave the gift of tongues and countless people heard the story of Jesus Christ in their own tongue in the land of Jerusalem. But in light of that historic day I'd like to share with you some thoughts and scriptures that may point you to Jesus Christ and the power of his Spirit and the freedom that comes with it when reading about Luffy and one piece. Also this should be noted as spoilers for anime people.
​
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2 Corinthians 3:17 NIV
​
In one piece wherever the main character goes there is release of captives and oppressed people from tyranny and evil. From the beginning with Koby getting rescued to Wano with the samurai and countrymen of Wano countless people have been freed because of the efforts and ideals of the Strawhat pirates.
​
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV
​
Just as Luffy's will has became more and more lined up with Nika's, once his will fully reflected the will of Nika, he took on the full image of Nika and it was overpowering and in the story it's noted that Zoan fruits tend to warp the will of the user to reflect the spirit or nature of the animal it's based off of.
​
For those who partake in the body and blood of Christ, follow Christ and are being made more and more like Jesus as they follow him. Just like Luffy and others become more attuned to the spirit or desire of the animal whose Zoan Devil fruit they ate. We are being transformed into the image of Christ with ever increasinging glory, and if following his will, will be made fully like Christ; Obedient to God, free from sin, loving, and pleasing to God.
​
And all creation is awaiting the arrival of Jesus again or the fullness of him and for his children to be revealed here.
​
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6 NIV
​
When Luffy shows up Oda has symbolized light or dawn breaking or light shining against the darkness. When people in One Piece see Luffy's face it's the closest they come to knowing the God of Freedom as he is literally the possessor of the will of Nika and by extension Roger and those who have been looking forward to freedom or truth are made to smile because of Luffy.
​
I love the scenes in One Piece that may be filler like when Luffy reminds someone of Roger in the bar in Logue Town or a god of wisdom like in Wano or Dr. k mentioning the Will of D. Because they seem shocked to see this similar spirit or demeanor at work in another person. How I hope that others who follow and have the Spirit of Christ would point others to Christ. And they would be shocked to see someone living as Jesus lived.
​
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
2 Corinthians 4:7 NIV
​
One issue I have with one piece is that the Haki powerscalers say Haki or your own will is Supreme. And that comes from one's self. But not everyone could be king of the pirates or has access to that power, not everyone has access to Color of the Supreme King Haki. For me I believe the power a Christian or follower of Christ has comes from God and I think this could be a sign that it's similar for the people in one piece.
​
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
2 Corinthians 4:8‭-‬9 NIV
​
There is never an easy mission for Luffy except maybe the one at the start of Alabasta Arc (Whiskey Peak) or maybe the Jaya Arc. But every arc he is hard pressed struck down, maybe ecen abadonded by Sanji in Whole Cake/Zou, but he bounces back.
​
We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
2 Corinthians 4:10 NIV
​
Luffy awakened the full transformation of Nika with his literal death, and just as the Christian carries around the death or usually the symbol of the tortuous death of Christ on the Cross believers in Christ are to reveal the life of Jesus in their body and actions. By dying to one's self or one's own will.
​
Consider the beginning, back to the garden of Eden where man first asserted his own will over God's and replacing that with Christ who in the Garden of Gethsemane acknowledged his own will, but submitted himself to God's own will.
​
Jesus did not want to take on the sins of the world and be an object of wrath by God. For he wanted the cup of all sin to pass him by if it were God's will, but unlike Adam in the first Garden, Jesus said may thy will be done.
​
There he took on the sins of the world upon himself and was treated like a sinner for the sake of the sinners who would believe in him in order to save them from the wrath of God. From there he was led before councils and leaders like Pontius Pilate and the Sandhedrin and Herod and though they(Herod and Pilate) found nothing wrong or worthy to condemn him Pilate sentenced him to death upon a wooden cross.
While the mockers told Jesus, 'you who said you could tear down the temple and rebuild it in three days, you who healed the lame and blind, bring yourself down from that cross, if you are able. He could save others but he cannot save himself.'
​
foolish words, of course he could not save himself, the rain does not save itself but falls from heaven to earth to water that which needs life and nourishment. Most flowers cannot save themselves, but dies for the sake of it's seed to spread and bring life to countless other flowers like itself. His death would mean life for those who believe and reconcilation to God.
Luffy in Wano faced death and was revived to life and awakened his devil fruit to reveal in it's full glory the body and likeness and power of Nika the god of freedom. When Jesus returned from death to life he too was raised in glory and power, power to save his friends who believe in him from the jaws of death and sin and set them free.
​
It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak,
2 Corinthians 4:13 NIV
​
Many of Luffys friends over the last 2-3 years of in manga time have believed in Luffy and spoken it out, while most had times where they didn't believe in him or thought it was over for Luffy, but for each member Luffy faced death for his friends whether it was taking bullets for Zoro, or facing Arlong and his men for Nami, or Fighting Don Krieg and saving the restaurant for Sanji and then later taking on an army at WCI and starving waiting for his cook. After these acts, each spoke out their belief in Luffy claiming that he would be the man to be the King of the Pirates.
​
For the disciples of Christ they knew him for 2-3 years of his earthly ministry and yet even after seeing the miracles and powers and knowing the man, the disciples fell away, but it wasn't until after his death, resurrection and the arrival of the Holy Spirit for the disciples in the book of Acts that his disciples were able to fully trust and believe him and face death for the sake of Jesus Christ. Before they were faithful men following Christ and hoping him to be the Messiah, but they were just men, but after the resurrection and coming Pentacost were filled with the Spirit. These men were now certain of who Christ was and were empowered to face death and persecution and famine and prison for the sake of Jesus' name, the very true and real son of God.
​
I hope and pray that the name of Jesus Christ would be lifted up high even in this subreddit. He died to save the world from the wrath of God and on Pentecost gave his Spirit as a teacher and guide to those first few disciples as a seal of their redemption from sin, and death, and from the evil spirit of this age. For any who would want to know eternal life must come to know Jesus Christ and this cannot come from a post on Reddit, but come from God himself through the very Spirit that hovered over the surface of the deep at the beginning of time and brought into existence light, life, and land out of a formless void.
​
Repent and believe in God and know his promises that he is sure to save those who turn and trust fully in God. Pray and hope for the Spirit of God. And I will join you in waiting for the blessed day when power comes to free you from your bondage to sin and death.

Hi all, I have a bunch of games I'm looking to sell. Only accepting Paypal F&F at this time. Free shipping on orders of $50+, otherwise please add $5 for shipping costs. Photos available upon request!

System	Item	Condition	Price
32X	Primal Rage	Loose	$60.00
3DS	2DS XL turquoise / black modded	Loose	$200.00
3DS	3DS XL NES Edition box	Box only	$80.00
3DS	Amazing Spiderman	Loose	$12.00
3DS	Amazing Spiderman 2	Loose	$12.00
3DS	Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer	Loose	$13.00
3DS	Bravely Default	CIB	$36.00
3DS	Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past	Loose	$60.00
3DS	Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth	Loose	$48.00
3DS	Final Fantasy Explorers	CIB	$30.00
3DS	Fossil Fighters: Frontier	Loose	$32.00
3DS	Kid Icarus: Uprising	CIB	$80.00
3DS	Kid Icarus: Uprising	Loose	$60.00
3DS	Kirby: Planet Robobot	Loose	$39.00
3DS	Madagascar 3	CIB	$9.00
3DS	Mario Golf: World Tour	CIB	$64.00
3DS	Mario Golf: World Tour	Loose	$58.00
3DS	Nintendogs + Cats Golden Retriever and New Friends	Loose	$22.00
3DS	Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity	Loose	$26.00
3DS	Senran Kagura: Deep Crimson 2	Loose	$56.00
3DS	Sims 3 (Heavily damaged / punctured case)	Game + case	$14.00
3DS	Ultimate NES Remix	Loose	$15.00
amiibo	Ness amiibo	Loose	$25.00
amiibo	Splatoon amiibo 3-pack (crease along top of cardboard)	NIB	$50.00
Books	Horizon: Zero Dawn Collector's Edition guide	Loose	$120.00
Dreamcast	Maken X	CIB	$50.00
DS	Barbie Fashion Show: An Eye for Style	Loose	$8.00
DS	Bomberman	Loose	$13.00
DS	Elite Beat Agents	Loose	$15.00
DS	Final Fantasy IV	Loose	$18.00
DS	Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift	Loose	$33.00
DS	Fossil Fighters	Loose	$27.00
DS	Geometry Wars Galaxies	CIB	$9.00
DS	Legendary Starfy	Loose	$15.00
DS	Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga	CIB	$9.00
DS	My Hero Firefighter	CIB	$11.00
DS	Need for Speed: Pro Street	Loose	$9.00
DS	Pac-Man World 3	Loose	$11.00
DS	Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End	CIB	$7.00
DS	Plants vs Zombies	CIB	$13.00
DS	Plants vs Zombies	CIB	$15.00
DS	Plants vs Zombies	Loose	$11.00
DS	Pokemon Black	Loose	$70.00
DS	Pokemon Black 2	CIB	$165.00
DS	Pokemon Diamond case only	Case only	$20.00
DS	Pokemon White	CIB	$85.00
DS	Power Rangers Super Legends	CIB	$12.00
DS	Rhythm Heaven	Loose	$43.00
DS	Rockman ZX (JP)	Loose	$26.00
DS	Spongebob's Atlantis Squarepantis	CIB	$7.00
DS	Yoshi Touch & Go	Loose	$12.00
DS / 3DS	Lego bundle Battles, Indiana Jones, City Undercover, Friends	Loose	$12.00
GB	Pokemon Red (JP)	Loose	$15.00
GBA	Metroid Fusion (label fading, wear on box)	CIB	$100.00
GBA	Pokemon Ruby (heavy wear on box	CIB	$240.00
GBA	Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros 3 box only	Box only	$35.00
GBA	Wolfenstein 3D	Loose	$25.00
GCN	Animal Crossing Memory Card (Some fading)	Loose	$18.00
GCN	Conflict: Desert Storm	Game + case	$11.00
GCN	Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix	Game + case	$23.00
GCN	Finding Nemo	Game + case	$5.00
GCN	Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup (Blockbuster case)	Game + case	$9.00
GCN	Metroid Prime 2: Echoes case w/ Nintendo Power insert	Case only	$20.00
GCN	Nascar: Dirt to Daytona	CIB	$14.00
GCN	NCAA Football 2005	CIB	$14.00
GCN	Resident Evil 0	CIB	$17.00
GCN	Resident Evil 4	CIB	$30.00
GCN	Resident Evil Zero	CIB	$19.00
GCN	Resident Evil Zero	Game + manual	$14.00
GCN	Super Smash Bros Melee (cracked inner ring)	Loose	$45.00
Genesis	6-Pak (label wear)	Loose	$10.00
Genesis	Madden NFL 98	Loose	$9.00
Genesis	RBI Baseball 4 (Damaged art / case)	Game + case	$6.00
Genesis	Road Rash 3 (tear in label)	Loose
Genesis	Turrican (label tears)	Loose	$15.00
Genesis	World of Illusion	CIB	$35.00
Genesis	World Series Baseball	Game + case	$6.00
Genesis	WWF Raw	Game + case	$22.00
Genesis	X-Men (faded label)	Loose	$9.00
N64	Banjo Tooie (Not For Resale)	Loose	$150.00
N64	Donkey Kong 64 (JP)	Loose	$12.00
N64	ED64 Plus	NIB	$100.00
N64	Hey You, Pikachu! (JP)	Loose	$7.00
N64	Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask manual (N64)	Manual	$30.00
N64	Mario Kart 64 (Player's Choice)	CIB	$100.00
N64	Mario Party 2 (JP)	Loose	$8.00
N64	Mario Tennis (JP)	Loose	$9.00
NES	Gauntlet	Game + manual	$25.00
NES	T&C Surf Designs	Loose	$8.00
PS1	Bass Landing	CIB	$18.00
PS1	Brave Fencer Musashi	Loose	$55.00
PS1	Coolboarders 3	CIB	$6.00
PS1	Crash Bandicoot Warped	Loose	$6.00
PS1	Destruction Derby Raw	Loose	$11.00
PS1	Final Fantasy IX	Game + case	$16.00
PS1	Final Fantasy Tactics (Greatest Hits)	CIB	$50.00
PS1	Incredible Hulk (No cover art / manual)	Game + case	$11.00
PS1	Loaded	Loose	$10.00
PS1	Mega Man X6	Game + manual	$35.00
PS1	NHL Rock the Rink	CIB	$9.00
PS1	Parasite Eve (no demo disc)	CIB	$75.00
PS1	Resident Evil (longbox)(Cracked case and some art damage)	Game + case	$100.00
PS1	Revolution X (longbox)	CIB	$29.00
PS1	Rugrats: Search for Reptar	CIB	$18.00
PS1	Streak: Hoverboard Racing	CIB	$8.00
PS1	Tony Hawk's Pro Skater	Game + manual	$10.00
PS1	Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2	Game + case	$10.00
PS1	Urban Chaos	Loose	$8.00
PS1	WWE Smackdown 2 (No cover art / manual)	Game + case	$10.00
PS1	WWF Attitude	CIB	$10.00
PS1	WWF WrestleMania The Arcade Game	Loose	$13.00
PS2	Another Century's Episode (JP)	CIB	$12.00
PS2	Art of Fighting Anthology (Water damaged art)	CIB	$12.00
PS2	Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2	CIB	$7.00
PS2	Dragon Quest VIII	Game + case	$20.00
PS2	Fight Club	CIB	$10.00
PS2	Fight Night Round 2	CIB	$10.00
PS2	Fight Night Round 3	CIB	$9.00
PS2	Frogger: The Great Quest	CIB	$7.00
PS2	Guitar Hero III	CIB	$13.00
PS2	Guitar Hero: Aerosmith	CIB	$9.00
PS2	King Arthur	CIB	$10.00
PS2	King of Fighters: Maximum Impact	Loose	$10.00
PS2	Medal of Honor European Assault	CIB	$8.00
PS2	Midnight Club (Sharpie on disc)	Game + case	$6.00
PS2	Mortal Kombat: Deception Premium Pack	Game + case	$25.00
PS2	Namco Museum	CIB	$7.00
PS2	NFL Street 2	CIB	$20.00
PS2	Onimusha 3: Demon Siege	Loose	$10.00
PS2	Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Round 2	CIB	$11.00
PS2	Resident Evil 4	CIB	$15.00
PS2	Resident Evil Outbreak	Game + case	$18.00
PS2	Resident Evil Outbreak: File #2	Loose	$40.00
PS2	Sega Classics Collection	Game + case	$11.00
PS2	Silent Hill 2 (no music CD)	CIB	$120.00
PS2	Silent Hill 2 manual (Crease on top right corner)	Manual	$30.00
PS2	Silent Hill 3	CIB	$150.00
PS2	SSX	CIB	$8.00
PS2	Star Wars Racer: Revenge	CIB	$10.00
PS2	Tekken 4 GH	CIB	$11.00
PS2	Tekken Tag Tournament	Loose	$6.00
PS2	The Great Escape	CIB	$10.00
PS2	The Thing	Loose	$22.00
PS2	Thrillville	CIB	$6.00
PS2	Thrillville	CIB	$6.00
PS2	Thunderstrike: Operation Phoenix	CIB	$6.00
PS2	Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4	Game + case	$7.00
PS2	Tony Hawk's Underground 2	CIB	$17.00
PS2	WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2006	CIB	$12.00
PS3	Amazing Spiderman 2	Loose	$18.00
PS3	Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel Overkill Edition	CIB	$11.00
PS3	Batman Arkham Origins	CIB	$10.00
PS3	Binary Domain	CIB	$20.00
PS3	Borderlands 2	CIB	$10.00
PS3	Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel	CIB	$6.00
PS3	Burnout Paradise	CIB	$8.00
PS3	Call of Duty Ghosts	CIB	$5.00
PS3	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2	Game + case	$5.00
PS3	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3	CIB	$7.00
PS3	Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood	CIB	$7.00
PS3	Dark Sector	CIB	$10.00
PS3	Darkness	CIB	$16.00
PS3	Dirt 3	CIB	$11.00
PS3	Disney Sing It Family Hits	CIB	$9.00
PS3	Dragon Age: Origins Ultimate Edition	Game + case	$14.00
PS3	Earth Defense Force 2025	Loose	$14.00
PS3	Fallout 3 GOTY	CIB	$10.00
PS3	Final Fantasy X / X-2 Collector's Edition (coffee stains on book)	CIB	$20.00
PS3	Grand Slam Tennis 2	CIB	$10.00
PS3	Hitman Absolution	CIB	$6.00
PS3	Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days	CIB	$10.00
PS3	Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix	CIB	$10.00
PS3	Lair	CIB	$7.00
PS3	Madden NFL 17	CIB	$20.00
PS3	Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain Day One Edition	CIB	$10.00
PS3	Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes	CIB	$11.00
PS3	Minecraft	Game + case	$11.00
PS3	MLB 13: The Show	CIB	$5.00
PS3	Mortal Kombat	Game + case	$9.00
PS3	Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja: Storm 2	CIB	$7.00
PS3	NBA 2K16	CIB	$9.00
PS3	NCAA Football 12	CIB	$8.00
PS3	NCAA Football 12	CIB	$8.00
PS3	NCAA Football 13 (Water damaged art and manual)	CIB	$22.00
PS3	NCAA Football 14 (wavy art, minor disc art damage)	CIB	$125.00
PS3	Persona 4 Arena (Wavy cover art)	CIB	$16.00
PS3	Persona 5	Game + case	$14.00
PS3	PS Move navigation controller	NIB	$35.00
PS3	Remember Me	CIB	$12.00
PS3	Resident Evil 5	Game + case	$5.00
PS3	Rocksmith 2014	CIB	$10.00
PS3	Sega Rally Revo	CIB	$14.00
PS3	Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes	CIB	$20.00
PS3	Skate 2	CIB	$12.00
PS3	Skate 3	CIB	$10.00
PS3	Skyrim: Legendary Edition	CIB	$9.00
PS3	Soulcalibur IV	CIB	$10.00
PS3	Street Fighter IV (water damaged art)	CIB	$9.00
PS3	Tekken 6	CIB	$11.00
PS3	Tekken Hybrid	CIB	$32.00
PS3	Tekken Tag Tournament 2	CIB	$17.00
PS3	Top Spin 4	CIB	$14.00
PS3	Two Worlds II (Water damaged art)	CIB	$8.00
PS3	UFC 2009 Undisputed	Loose	$5.00
PS3	UFC 2010 Undisputed	CIB	$8.00
PS3	Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3	CIB	$19.00
PS3	Ultra Street Fighter IV	Game + case	$25.00
PS3	Ultra Street Fighter IV	CIB	$27.00
PS3	Uncharted 3	CIB	$6.00
PS3	Vampire Resurrection (JP)	CIB	$58.00
PS3	Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine	CIB	$19.00
PS3	Watchmen: The End is Night The Complete Experience	CIB	$36.00
PS3	Wolfenstein	Game + case	$12.00
PS3	WWE 2K16	CIB	$13.00
PS4	Abzu	Game + case	$13.00
PS4	Borderlands: The Handsome Collection	Game + case	$6.00
PS4	Dragon Ball Xenoverse	CIB	$10.00
PS4	God of War	CIB	$13.00
PS4	Horizon Forbidden West Launch Edition	CIB	$28.00
PS4	Lego Dimensions	CIB	$29.00
PS4	Minecraft	Game + case	$16.00
PS4	Paper Beast Collector's Edition	NIB	$62.00
PS4	Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville	CIB	$9.00
PS4	Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville	CIB	$9.00
PS4	Ratchet and Clank	Game + case	$9.00
PS4	Risk of Rain 2	CIB	$12.00
PS4	Rocket League: Collector's Edition	CIB	$13.00
PS4	West of Dead: Path of the Crow	NIB	$28.00
PS5	Life is Strange: True Colors	CIB	$15.00
PSP	ATV Offroad Fury Pro	CIB	$7.00
PSP	Bad Boys	Game + case	$8.00
PSP	Burnout Legends	Loose	$7.00
PSP	God of War: Ghost of Sparta	Loose	$41.00
PSP	Midnight Club 3 Dub Edition	Loose	$20.00
PSP	Midnight Club: LA Remix	Loose	$17.00
PSP	Need for Speed Rivals	Loose	$11.00
PSP	Need for Speed: Most Wanted 5-1-0 (clear piece set in slightly)	Loose	$12.00
PSP	Need for Speed: Pro Street (water damaged art)	Game + case	$8.00
PSP	Pimp My Ride	Loose	$8.00
PSP	Sonic Rivals	Loose	$12.00
PSP	Star Wars Battlefront II	Loose	$10.00
PSP	Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max (Clear shell)	Loose	$15.00
SNES	Brain Lord	Loose	$50.00
SNES	Power Rangers Zeo: Battle Racers	Loose	$14.00
SNES	Power Rangers Zeo: Battle Racers	Loose	$14.00
SNES	Robocop vs The Terminator	Loose	$23.00
SNES	TMNT IV: Turtles in Time	Loose	$45.00
SNES	Top Gear	Loose	$11.00
Switch	Fitness Boxing 2	NIB	$30.00
Switch	Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild	CIB	$40.00
Switch	Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order	CIB	$34.00
Switch	Pokemon Shining Pearl	CIB	$30.00
Switch	Spyro Reignitied Trilogy	NIB	$25.00
Switch	Super Mario 3D All-Stars	CIB	$80.00
Vita	Call of Duty Black Ops Declassified	Loose	$17.00
Vita	Call of Duty Black Ops Declassified	Loose	$17.00
Vita	Lego Batman 2	Loose	$9.00
Vita	Litte Big Planet	Loose	$20.00
Vita	Need for Speed Most Wanted	Loose	$16.00
Vita	Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale	Loose	$17.00
Vita	Soul Sacrifice	Loose	$15.00
Wii	007 Quantum of Solace	CIB	$5.00
Wii	Alice in Wonderland	CIB	$8.00
Wii	Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party	CIB	$8.00
Wii	Disney Princess: My Fairytale Adventure	CIB	$14.00
Wii	Disney Sing It Family Hits	CIB	$12.00
Wii	Dokapon Kingdom	Loose	$60.00
Wii	Family Game Night 4	CIB	$12.00
Wii	Freddi Fish: Kelp Seed Mystery	CIB	$11.00
Wii	Gold classic controller	Loose	$40.00
Wii	Guitar Hero 5	Game + case	$16.00
Wii	Guitar Hero Aerosmith	CIB	$9.00
Wii	Hot Wheels: Track Attack	CIB	$7.00
Wii	Just Dance Kids	CIB	$6.00
Wii	Just Dance Summer Party	CIB	$8.00
Wii	Karaoke Revolution	CIB	$8.00
Wii	My Ballet Studio	Game + case	$8.00
Wii	My Sims Racing	CIB	$8.00
Wii	Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution	CIB	$8.00
Wii	NBA Jam	CIB	$12.00
Wii	Nights Journey of Dreams (back art punctured)	Game + case	$8.00
Wii	No More Heroes 2	CIB	$23.00
Wii	Resident Evil : The Umbrella Chronicles	CIB	$14.00
Wii	Tony Hawk Ride	Game + case	$10.00
Wii	Tony Hawk: Shred	CIB	$8.00
Wii	Wii Play Motion	Game + case	$19.00
Wii	You Don't Know Jack	CIB	$9.00
Wii	Zelda Wii Remote (no battery cover)	Loose	$40.00
Wii U	Tekken Tag Tournament 2	Loose	$38.00
Xbox	Battlestar Galactica	CIB	$10.00
Xbox	Buffy The Vampire Slayer	Game + case	$17.00
Xbox	Burnout 2: Point of Impact	CIB	$11.00
Xbox	Crime Life	Game + case	$11.00
Xbox	Destroy All Humans!	CIB	$10.00
Xbox	Enclave	CIB	$9.00
Xbox	Gun	CIB	$8.00
Xbox	Half-Life 2	Game + case	$10.00
Xbox	House of the Dead III	Loose	$13.00
Xbox	Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb	CIB	$15.00
Xbox	Midway Arcade Treasures	CIB	$10.00
Xbox	Minority Report	CIB	$7.00
Xbox	Mortal Kombat: Deception Kollector's Edition: Baraka Version	CIB	$48.00
Xbox	Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks	CIB	$28.00
Xbox	Namco Museum	CIB	$7.00
Xbox	Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones	CIB	$6.00
Xbox	Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy	CIB	$11.00
Xbox	Spiderman	CIB	$10.00
Xbox	Spiderman 2	CIB	$12.00
Xbox	Star Trek: Shattered Universe	CIB	$9.00
Xbox	Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith	CIB	$9.00
Xbox	Star Wars Jedi Starfighter	CIB	$10.00
Xbox	Star Wars Jedi Starfighter	CIB	$10.00
Xbox	Star Wars Starfighter Special Edition	CIB	$9.00
Xbox	Star Wars: The Clone Wars	CIB	$7.00
Xbox	Terminator 3: Redemption	CIB	$19.00
Xbox	Terminator: Dawn of Fate	CIB	$8.00
Xbox	Time Splitters 2	CIB	$15.00
Xbox	Time Splitters: Future Perfect	Loose	$20.00
Xbox	Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x	Game + case	$10.00
Xbox	Tony Hawk's Project 8	CIB	$12.00
Xbox	Tron 2.0 Killer App	CIB	$13.00
Xbox	Turok Evolution	CIB	$9.00
Xbox	Ultimate Spiderman	CIB	$27.00
Xbox	Unreal Championship	Loose	$3.00
Xbox	Urbz: Sims in the City Special Edition	CIB	$9.00
Xbox	WWF Raw	Game + case	$8.00
Xbox	X-Men Legends	CIB	$8.00
Xbox 360	Alan Wake	CIB	$8.00
Xbox 360	Avatar: The Game	CIB	$42.00
Xbox 360	Batman: Arkham City GOTY	CIB	$8.00
Xbox 360	Blue Dragon	Loose	$13.00
Xbox 360	Borderlands 2 Add-On Content Pack	CIB	$8.00
Xbox 360	CSI: Hard Evidence	CIB	$9.00
Xbox 360	Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two	CIB	$7.00
Xbox 360	Fable III: Limited Collector's Edition	CIB	$12.00
Xbox 360	Final Fantasy XIII	CIB	$14.00
Xbox 360	Gears of War: Limited Collector's Edition	CIB	$28.00
Xbox 360	Gears of War: Limited Collector's Edition (no plastic sleeve or art book)	CIB	$24.00
Xbox 360	Halo 3 Collector's Edition (one disc holder fell off)	CIB	$12.00
Xbox 360	Infinite Undiscovery	Game + case	$10.00
Xbox 360	Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights	Game + case	$10.00
Xbox 360	Kinect Sports Ultimate Collection	CIB	$13.00
Xbox 360	Kinect Sports: Ultimate Collection	CIB	$14.00
Xbox 360	Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom	CIB	$9.00
Xbox 360	Lego The Hobbit	CIB	$8.00
Xbox 360	Midnight Club: Los Angeles (Blockbuster case)	CIB	$9.00
Xbox 360	Monster Jam: Path of Destruction	Game + case	$22.00
Xbox 360	NCAA Football 08	CIB	$6.00
Xbox 360	Ninety-Nine Nights (sharpie on disc)	CIB	$9.00
Xbox 360	Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures	Game + case	$10.00
Xbox 360	Rocksmith	CIB	$10.00
Xbox 360	Skylanders: Giants	CIB	$8.00
Xbox 360	Snoopy's Grand Adventure	Game + case	$8.00
Xbox 360	Spiderman 3	Loose	$14.00
Xbox 360	Star Wars: The Force Unleashed	CIB	$6.00
Xbox 360	Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PAL)	CIB	$5.00
Xbox 360	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan	Loose	$19.00
Xbox 360	Walking Dead GOTY	CIB	$8.00
Xbox 360	Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine	Loose	$10.00
Xbox 360	Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition	Game + case	$15.00
Xbox One	Grand Theft Auto V	CIB	$10.00
Xbox One	Guitar Hero Live	Game + case	$35.00
Xbox One	Guitar Hero Live (punctured back art)	Game + case	$30.00
Xbox One	Just Dance 2020	Game + case	$6.00
Xbox One	Kinect Sports Rivals	Game + case	$12.00
Xbox One	Marvel Avengers	CIB	$8.00
Xbox One	Red Dead Redemption Game of the Year Edition	CIB	$14.00
Xbox One	Resident Evil 2 Deluxe Edition	CIB	$26.00
Xbox One	Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order Deluxe Edition	CIB	$15.00

Look at it.
​
O, how it snarls and growls,
Stamping, stomping, flailing,
Leveling flat all that is
As its temper is allowed
A kind of free reign.
​
Its masters, who once had the
Idea of trying to, how shall we say,
Keep it on a leash, I suppose?
They gave that idea up ages ago.
​
Recognizing the futility in such a folly,
Unable to control the growth
Of the savage beast they placated
For so long that, they too,
Shall be doomed by it
Going horrifically insane…
​
...it would be seem that they opted to sit back.
​
And just, well, watch.
​
This once was a beautiful land, you know.
​
Miles and miles of boundless fields.
​
Trees as far as the eye could see,
Stretching forever, endlessly,
Until the line of sight was,
By its finitude, made to yield.
​
Shrubbery, springing up in both
Plains and hills alike,
Grass and flowers rooted in the soil,
A place for all to go enjoy a bit of respite.
​
Fauna of all kinds, occupying land, sky, and sea,
Harmonious in their relationship with…Her, yes, Her; I forget
Her name, although we all seem to refer to her as “Mother”, or sometimes…”Nature”; any who,
Yes, all kinds, many, innumerable, unique in every way, beautiful, indescribably precious.
​
…I wonder where they went…
​
Where are they…?
​
Back then, if you can believe it,
There was water to drink, and air to breathe.
​
Here, we were given
Everything we could
Ever want, ever need.
​
Children will look into their little books.
​
Read tales of wondrous lands.
​
See depictions of colorful sights.
​
Marvelous creatures, plants, animals, filling their pages.
​
Quite adorable, its; they wish to know more.
​
How they cannot stop turning the papers with their hands.
​
Eyes wide with wonder, they’ll eagerly look outside.
​
“I, too, wish to see this world, so clear and bright!”
​
Outside doesn’t look like the pages, does it?
​
Yet, when these were written, these old tales
That they so adore, inspiration came from
Out there, no? Those authors…didn’t they draw from the
Eternal source, that beauty beyond the edges of town?
​
Surely, that is the case, young one…
​
But…that was in the past.
​
Bother not, in some desperate plea to see what they saw.
​
Those parts are unhallowed ground.
​
All of that…
​
It is gone…
​
“O, what could’ve caused such a cruel injustice?”
​
I’ll merely point out of the window,
At the rampaging creature
That spews forth muck
Into the dirt
And kills off all the evergreens,
Grass, bushes, young petals,
Claws raking the crust,
Kicking up thick clouds of angry dust,
As it, that thing,
Doesn’t like challengers; doesn’t like rebels,
Nor does it favor and joy…instead, only punishment and hurt.
​
Starving and stampeding
Many numbers of
Shocked, frightened beings,
Causing them to tremble and quake
(Flee or fight, they’ll try both
As it succeeds in getting what it wishes to take),
It does with pride; homes annihilated,
Leaving them to wander aimlessly
Into the yards of
Those taught to hate,
Beat, eat, greet
With hostility and rage.
​
Unless, usefulness is proved
(Only by the decree of so many,
As is the usual decider),
At which point
They can be worthy of
“Love” and “care” again,
Relegated to long hours alone
In a cage.
​
“Weren’t these green and non-bipedal things here first?”
​
I nod, affirming their suspicions.
​
“And we’re tearing up their home?”
​
Again, another sad, despairing nod.
​
“Sad.” “I agree.”
​
Indignant, a mother storms forward, taking the child away in a huff.
​
“Do not let them poison you with their filthy lies.” She said in a biting, scathing tone.
​
“You’ll be ruined…
​
…just like them.”
​
“You don’t want the masters to come for you, no?”
​
“They will, you know that.”
​
“And what did I tell you of this world, this one in your books?
In those old pictures you look through so often?”
​
“Remember what they said; it was uncouth and unclean.”
​
“Primitive boulder dash, they said; worst of the worst things to be seen.”
​
“Now, here we are. Satisfied, happy, and free.”
​
“Please, do not dare try to flee.”
​
“There’s nothing for you out there.”
​
“Accept the love, and the care.”
​
“Another thing; stop trying to get a hold of the Mother.”
​
“You and your desire to be close to Her, how foolish;
You’ll just be distracted
From your sisters and brothers.”
​
I scowl for a bit, but carry on nonetheless.
​
A chuckle can’t help but always escape my lips at that word. Masters.
​
Please, they have no control over this anymore.
​
Did they ever? No. For you see, that drive, that lust, that…narcotic (let us
Be honest as to what it is), well, it is not containable; it even breaks out
Upon the skin, the eyes, the face, the teeth, the breath, and renders
Whoever possessed by it, a boiling sore.
​
Quite clear, it is, that all that merely takes place, is the bidding is done
Through flesh puppets who’s dark minds are enraptured by mad poltergeists
From two millennia ago and a country stormed some centennials that have passed
Us by, threatened by everything that wasn’t them, longing to make them all pay the price,
Engaging in audacious heists,
Souls pitch black,
Illuminated no longer
By the light of the sun.
​
I never saw them ever again.
​
Unbeknownst to me, the whole family was eaten.
​
Swallowed, gulped down, forced into its gullet.
​
Could I have known? Unlikely. I was busy trying to
Avoid the wrath.
​
A difficult feat, in these troubling times.
​
Into the stomach they went.
​
Hell is where they were sent.
​
Forcibly melded with others.
​
Made, by another will, their sisters and brothers.
​
Grey, amorphous, moldable, indistinguishable.
​
Just one giant mesh; differentiation? Inconceivable.
​
Leveled flat, mixed around until all dissolved into all.
​
Keeping a herd in line is hard work; it’s better
If their traits and whatnot are irreparably mauled.
​
Stirred by the lining and walls,
Deep inside, no one can hear
The pained, pleading calls,
Badly burned and seared,
Soon they shall be flushed down the halls.
​
Years and years and years ago,
Those….masters…they would sometimes,
Silver-tongued smooth talkers they are,
Go the route of playing nice.
​
When this didn’t work as well as they had hoped,
Away went all of the politeness and rhetoric,
Thinly-veiled smugness, a superiority complex to rival their long dead God
(Intelligent among us will know this as
The true father of this monster,
Evidence that even ghosts
Can give birth)
Set forth was this living storm; indulge, they did, in the great vice.
​
Has it an abode?
​
I think not.
​
Mindlessly, it just consumes and roams.
​
Gas of a most foul kind has overtaken the air.
​
I want to choke it, make it unable to inhale.
​
Liquids vital to life have never been so worse for wear.
​
Bleed it dry, dismember it; it’s my only wish, until it is empty and pale.
​
Loud, noisy, its innards turn as it grinds its meals
Into steaming batches of sameness, literal shit
Eaten by future meals in their lairs (to which they’re permanently confined).
​
What little is left here, is what little we’ve got.
​
Dying everyday, she’s already in the coffin.
​
Within Her breast, Her many children go,
A safe place to escape all that is rotten.
​
I’ve considered joining Her myself.

I write book reviews on Half Past Midnight, a blog dedicated to the surreal world of fantasy and science fiction.
As a reader who dislikes waiting for stories to be completed, I decided to pick up Jenn Lyons' A Chorus of Dragons when the last part of the series was published. I prefer my book series long, sprawlingly ambitious, and complete. For me, the first book in the series, The Ruin of Kings - ticked off all these boxes, and a lot more.

Plot

The first of a series of five huge books (each clocking in about six hundred pages), The Ruin of Kings is a hot, glorious mess. Set in the fictional empire of Quur, the story takes place in a world rife with politics and magic, with plenty of plotting and backstabbing to top it off. This book is divided into parts and starts with a conversation between the main character, Kihrin, and his jailor, a creature named Talon.
Although it's not clear why Talon is holding him captive, she soon forces her prisoner to recount his story for her so she can record it. In between, she interjects with her own narration of his life (due to reasons I do not want to spoil for you.) Kihrin starts from a point in his life where he was sold into slavery and eventually came into Talon's grasp. On the other hand, Talon prefers to go back further in time, right back to Kihrin's childhood, where everything started. The narration alternates between the two for a major part of the book.
Kihrin's past is rife with murky secrets and shady dealings... which eventually led him into trouble when he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. After discovering his real identity, he soon becomes embroiled in a web of political intrigue and deception which reaches far back into the annals of history.
Quur is a dangerous place to live in. There are demons roaming on the streets, monsters lurking in the seas, and cruel dragons holding prisoners of their own. But worse than these are the monsters that are human. Evil takes many forms in this story, and not all of them are unpleasant to look at.

Except real evil isn’t a demon or a rogue wizard. Real evil is an empire like Quur, a society that feeds on its poor and its oppressed like a mother eating her own children. Demons and monsters are obvious; we’ll always band together to fight them off. But real evil, insidious evil, is what lets us just walk away from another person’s pain and say, well, that’s none of my business.

Kihrin soon discovers that he is now a pawn in a game much larger than himself - a game that is tied to the very fate of the world. This world has a bloody history filled with ancient prophecies about mortals, immortals, demons, and witches, all of which are interpreted by different factions and religions in their own ways.
The Ruin of Kings was very hard for me to get into at first. There were just so many different families, creatures, gods, and prophecies that it took a while to finally understand what the characters were even referring to. To top that, there are characters who have similar names, who have lived multiple lives in different people's bodies. That means you can never really be sure who you are talking to. All of this, coupled with extremely tangled family trees, the complex narration jumping to and fro in time, and a general feeling of what-the-hell-is-happening, made it really hard to figure out what was going on in the first few chapters. Honestly, you just have to bear with those chapters to get through to the part where it gets good. Don't make the same mistake as me: use the glossary at the back. Take notes if you have to. This book rewards careful reading, but you'll have to put in the effort.
About a third into the book, I finally reached the point where I could not put it down. Once it finds its rhythm, it becomes a page-turner not afraid to subvert tropes. There are several moments where the story takes turns you just didn't see coming. This results in a delicious experience that takes its time to develop into an epic conflict.

Characters

Kihrin meets a host of fascinating characters throughout the story - a sea witch with a bad temper, a demon with a flair for colorful vocabulary, and goddesses who like to move mortals around like pawns in a game of chess. Everybody wants something - and they are often different things. The various characters have their own agendas to fulfill and motivations to fuel them, lingering between various shades of black and white. Lyons does an excellent job of making these characters feel real to get us invested in their stories and relationships.

Kihrin

Kihrin is an extremely flawed protagonist who struggles with his own identity and the weight of his destiny. He struggles to do the right thing while balancing the darker streak in him. At the same time, he's also witty and clever enough to think on his feet, making for a complex character that has you rooting for him despite all the mistakes he makes.

“I don’t want to be a pawn,” I said.
“Good. This is a war, not chess.”

Worldbuilding

The world-building in this book is very detailed and intricate. The world is vast and has multiple kingdoms and religions, all with their own cultures and beliefs. Although we only visit a few of them at the moment, I have a feeling we'll see a lot more of them in the future. Plus, the magic system has clear and well-defined rules, often intertwining with politics in strange and unexpected ways. Coupled with a host of gods, demons, wizards and dragons, it makes for lore that is rich and fun to sink your teeth into.

“Sooner or later, everything falls: waves, empires, races, even gods.”

Clearly, a lot of time was spent on creating the mythology of Quur and it shows. However, it does tend to be a little messy and overwhelming at times. A lot of the names are too similar and there were chapters where I found myself going back to a previous part to look up information and connect the dots.

Writing Style

For me, the writing style was the weakest part of this book. Although the prose is engaging and the dialogue is witty, the way it is presented make it hard to get into initially. There were multiple info dumps in places, and the constant flow of new information feels overwhelming at times. With way too many plot threads, the shifting timelines, convoluted history, and magic dynamics make it harder to keep track of the story. It does have a payoff but requires a lot of effort on the reader's part initially.
There were too many points where I thought of giving up. I wish that the story had followed a linear or a simpler narrative format to draw readers in, at least for the first part - when they are still deciding whether to continue with the rest of the series.

In Conclusion

Ultimately, The Ruin of Kings is a story about the blurred lines between black and white, about destiny and identity. It weaves together an impressive conclusion enriched by its detailed world-building, grey characters, and solid magic system. This is something that would make an excellent reread once you know how it ends - there are so many nuanced details that are very easy to miss on a first read.
For all its strengths, the story still has its issues, marred by the narrative structure and expository style, which seems too overwhelming to properly enjoy for the first half. However, continuing with it is a rewarding experience. This story will delight fans of G.R.R.M, Robert Jordan, and Brandon Sanderson, who like their tales epically ambitious and filled with adventure and danger.
Although it took quite a while to read this huge book, I kept thinking about it long after turning the last page. I thought I would need a bit of a break with a shorter story before starting the next book, but I couldn’t follow through on that and started the next part the very same day :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQBLBvi67fw
Wikipedia Copy Paste Select Biography:
"[H]ere we have John Wayne, who was a major artistic and psychological figure on the American scene, ... who at one point used to make movies of soldiers who had a certain validity, ... a certain sense of honor [about] what the soldier was doing. ... Even if it was a cavalry movie doing a historically dishonorable thing to the Indians, even as there was a feeling of what it meant to be a man, what it meant to have some sense of duty. ... Now today we have the same actor making his new war movie in a war so hopelessly corrupt that, without seeing the movie, I'm sure it is perfectly safe to say that it will be an almost technically-robot-view of soldiery, just by definition of how the whole country has deteriorated. And I think it would make a very interesting double feature to show a good old Wayne movie like, say, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon with The Green Berets. Because that would make a very striking comment on what has happened to America in general - phil ochs 1968
​
The events of 1968 – the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and of Robert F. Kennedy weeks later, the Chicago police riot, and the election of Richard Nixon – left Ochs feeling disillusioned and depressed.[86] The cover of his 1969 album Rehearsals for Retirement portrayed a tombstone with the words:
​
PHIL OCHS
(AMERICAN)
BORN: EL PASO, TEXAS, 1940
DIED: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, 1968
​
After a brief stay in an Argentinian prison, Ochs and Ifshin were sent to Bolivia via a commercial airliner where authorities were to detain them. Ifshin had previously been warned by Argentinian leftist friends that when the authorities sent dissidents to Bolivia, they would disappear forever. When the airliner arrived in Bolivia, the American captain of the Braniff International Airways aircraft allowed Ochs and Ifshin to stay on the aircraft and barred Bolivian authorities from entering. The aircraft then flew to Peru where the two disembarked and they were not detained. Fearful that Peruvian authorities might arrest him, Ochs returned to the United States a few days later.
​
On September 11, 1973, the Allende government of Chile was overthrown in a coup d'état. Allende committed suicide during the bombing of the presidential palace,[109] and singer Victor Jara was rounded up with other professors and students, tortured and brutally killed.[110] When Ochs heard about the manner in which his friend had been killed, he was outraged and decided to organize a benefit concert to bring to public attention the situation in Chile, and raise funds for the people of Chile. The concert, "An Evening with Salvador Allende", was held on May 9, 1974, at New York City's Felt Forum, included films of Allende; singers such as Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Dave Van Ronk, and Bob Dylan; and political activists such as former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Dylan had agreed to perform at the last minute when he heard that the concert had sold so few tickets that it was in danger of being canceled. Once his participation was announced, the event quickly sold out.[111]
​
After the Chile benefit, Ochs and Dylan discussed the possibility of a joint concert tour, playing small nightclubs. Nothing came of the Dylan-Ochs plans, but the idea eventually evolved into Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue.[112]
​
The Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975.[113] Ochs planned a final "War Is Over" rally, which was held in New York's Central Park on May 11. More than 100,000 people came to hear Ochs, joined by Harry Belafonte, Odetta, Pete Seeger, Paul Simon and others. Ochs and Joan Baez sang a duet of "There but for Fortune" and he closed with his song "The War Is Over"—finally a true declaration that the war was over.
​
Ochs' drinking became more and more of a problem, and his behavior became increasingly erratic. He frightened his friends both with his drunken rants about the FBI and CIA and about his claiming to want to have Elvis's manager Colonel Tom Parker or Kentucky Fried Chicken's Colonel Sanders manage his career.
​
In mid-1975, Ochs took on the identity of John Butler Train. He told people that Train had murdered Ochs and that he, John Butler Train, had replaced him. Ochs was convinced that someone was trying to kill him, so he carried a weapon at all times: a hammer, a knife, or a lead pipe
​
By Phil's thinking, he had died a long time ago: he had died politically in Chicago in 1968 in the violence of the Democratic National Convention; he had died professionally in Africa a few years later when he had been strangled and felt that he could no longer sing; he had died spiritually when Chile had been overthrown and his friend Victor Jara had been brutally murdered; and, finally, he had died psychologically at the hands of John Train
​
On April 9, 1976, Ochs died by suicide by hanging himself in Sonny's home.[121]
​
Years after his death, it was revealed that the FBI had a file of nearly 500 pages on Ochs.[122] Much of the information in those files relates to his association with counterculture figures, protest organizers, musicians, and other people described by the FBI as "subversive".[123] The FBI was often sloppy in collecting information on Ochs: his name was frequently misspelled "Oakes" in their files, and they continued to consider him "potentially dangerous"[124] after his death.[123]
​
Congresswoman Bella Abzug (Democrat from New York), an outspoken anti-war activist herself who had appeared at the 1975 "War is Over" rally, entered this statement into the Congressional Record on April 29, 1976:
​
Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago, a young folksinger whose music personified the protest mood of the 1960s took his own life. Phil Ochs – whose original compositions were compelling moral statements against the war in Southeast Asia – apparently felt that he had run out of words.
​
While his tragic action was undoubtedly motivated by terrible personal despair, his death is a political as well as an artistic tragedy. I believe it is indicative of the despair many of the activists of the 1960s are experiencing as they perceive a government that continues the distortion of national priorities that is exemplified in the military budget we have before us.
​
Phil Ochs's poetic pronouncements were part of a larger effort to galvanize his generation into taking action to prevent war, racism, and poverty. He left us a legacy of important songs that continue to be relevant in 1976—even though "the war is over".
​
Just one year ago – during this week of the anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War – Phil recruited entertainers to appear at the "War is Over" celebration in Central Park, at which I spoke.
​
It seems particularly appropriate that this week we should commemorate the contributions of this extraordinary young man"
Rehearsals For Retirement

I kind of used this prompt to play with some ideas for magic that I've had, involving blindfolds and sight without sight. I had some pretty clear imagery in my mind for this, though I don't think I was able to get it on page like I wish I could have.
Here's the link!
-----------------------------------------
I adjust my blindfold. Damn thing was getting loose. My Sight allows me to see the world around me, although it's... mistier.
"Oh, come on! Not again!"
I hear the empty-headed explorer's voice on the other side of Cobbles. Idiot. This is like the 4th day in a row he's gotten stuck here.
I try to walk silently, but the stones crunch underfoot. I can practically hear him perk up, about 3 walls away.
"Maze lady! ...Mazlady! M'lady? Oh, wait, I remember: Malady!"
His voice is nauseatingly cheerful.
"Malady, can you help me out here? I seem to have--"
"No," I yell, as I continue walking. "No, I will not help you 'conquer the labyrinth,' go back home and chop some wood or something!"
"Come on, please? I only need a little help!"
Did he sound closer? It doesn't matter. "You're never gonna--"
A sound. Cobbles. 6 feet away, around the corner leading to Billows. I take a step back and draw my blade. It wouldn't be the first time I had to defend myself here.
I crouch, ready for anything. A Beast. A madman. I've killed both. Neither was a hard fight.
It was the idiot.
He peeked around the corner, and hit me with a dopey grin. He had something in his hands, something that shined golden with power in my mind. A compass? That would be no use here.
As I tried to identify it, he stated at what was in mine. My shortsword. I knew it well. It darkened where it should have shimmered, and shined in the shadows.
He just... Stared. Maybe someday he'd wrangle up the mental acumen to be able to ask about it.
I shoved past him. Though he was taller than me, he was no threat. I'd learned that on his first day here, when another Beast had attacked him. I'd found him scrabbling up one of the walls, only for it to turn slick and dump him right onto his backside.
I ignored his pleading and managed to lose him as I entered the Billows. True to its name, my cloak billowed up around me. The rest of my clothes were just tight enough that they wouldn't become a hindrance of I had to fight. Normally, the wind irritates people, but it's easily manageable with the right steps.
I hear fabric flapping in the wind. Another cloak. I round the corner, and find a girl, her long hair flailing about in the wind, matching her cloak. She hadn't tied her hair back still? Another idiot. No wonder no one manages to get through.
It seems the only reason she got this far was...
In my mind, I see the labyrinth around me, misty and translucent. The girl glows orange in this realm. She has magic.
Well, so do I. I murmur a few select words, and turn invisible.
She turns. If she could feel that magic, she's more powerful than I thought. Maybe she--
Her eyes.
They're silvery, reflective.
She's a Scion.
Shit.
I explode in a burst of movement. She can see me despite the invisibility. As I run, I can feel her hold her arms up behind me. A Ward. Magic is increased tenfold within it.
Suddenly, my Sight is telling me too much. Every crack in the stone, every movement of the wind, every heartbeat of every Beast, madman, and adventurer in 3 miles is fed directly into my head.
Screaming, I rip off my blindfold. My spell has been interrupted, I'm entirely visible, but I don't care. My mind feels as if it's on fire.
Eventually, I somehow manage to wrest my mind back from the agony. I stop the Sight.
Everything is so bright. I'm unnerved by the sudden solidity of everything.
After a few breaths, my eyes adjust, and I start moving again. She's not that far behind.
Out of Billows, into Night. I unsheathe my sword, and it illuminates the darkness around me.
Left, left, right, straight ahead, forty steps southeast
Eventually, I made it to a safe spot. Clean water, and a few small food items I've hidden. I stop to breath, and take a drink of water. I turn to leave.
But she's there. At the entrance to my little room.
Her red cloak somehow remains vivid in the oppressive darkness. Her scarlet hair shines, and her inhuman, silvery eyes reflect the light of my sword.
She speaks, but 3 voices sound as she begins to walk forward.
"Malady of the maze, this is the judgement of Anzuerias. You have been deigned unworthy of the power you wield. You will soon be--"
She stops, suddenly. Her eyes bleed to a normal green color. She suddenly looks terrified. She squints, despite how dark it is. She looks small.
I know that feeling.
I whisper to her. "It's okay. While you're in here, the Emperor can't control you."
She takes a step forward. "It's been so long..."
Her voice is pure and clear. And her own.
I give her a blindfold, and begin to teach her how to See, how to navigate the maze. I craft another Soul shield, like mine. A band of intricate metal, infused with the magic of the labyrinth.
I tore her from the emperor's grasp. She's her own person now.
I'm the Malady of the maze. And I'm going to infect every single person the emperor sends after me. Because I was once just like them. And now I know what it is to be free.

Abortion:

The standard liberal position: As far as we know, fetuses are not conscious and have never been conscious. This means that while it is maybe not harmless to terminate a fetus, it must be weighed against others harms that the fetus might cause: harm to the mother's body, wrecking the mother's life, harming a community by requiring it support the fetus, etc. By this calculation, it sometimes reduce overall harm to terminate a pregnancy before fetal viability.
The standard conservative position: A fetus does not have to be viable outside the womb to be considered a human life. It is alive, it has numerous human functions before it is "viable", and it has its own unique human genome. For that reason, terminating a pregnancy is nearly equivalent to killing a viable baby, and so it should be considered more harmful than any amount of harm the fetus might do the mother or society, excluding if there is a reasonable risk of the mother dying if the fetus is not terminated.

LGB People:

The standard liberal position: There is nothing inherently moral about romantic or sexual attraction between the opposing sexes, and attraction among the same sex is equally moral. Marriage between same-sex people should be legally equivalent to marriage between opposite-sex people. The various accommodations that have to made for same-sex couples to reproduce (surrogacy, baby formula, etc.) are standard accommodations that many straight couples utilize, so it follows that the care that children of a same-sex couple receive is not any worse than that of the average straight couple.
The standard conservative position: Society does not well distinguish between legal marriage and religious marriage, and by the rules of most religion, there can be no marriage between two people of the same sex. Same-sex relationships, when kept private, do not cause significant harm on a community, but the enthusiastic promotion of same-sex relationships can confuse children and threaten the social norm of straight relationships. Being a responsible, committed spouse and parent is already difficult, and when too many people in the community promote alternative lifestyles, from open relationships, to gay relationships to divorce, to other non-traditional and/or hedonistic lifestyles, it can threaten social stability and make it difficult for children and young adults to walk the straight-and-narrow (no pun intended).

Trans People:

The standard liberal position: The purpose of sex and gender as categories are to serve human interests, so if they get in the way of human interests, they should be re-defined to be more useful to society. If a person feels tremendous pain from being associated socially with a certain sex or gender, then it benefits the society to associate that person with the opposite sex or gender. Insisting that a person is a specific gender will create unnecessary conflict, while including that person as the gender they want to be creates a more unified and supportive social fabric.
The standard conservative position: Sex and gender are vitally important categories, that should never be shifted just because they are causing pain to people. If a person feels tremendous pain from being associated socially with a certain sex or gender, that person should receive counseling and social support to embrace their assigned gender because there is no good reason for a person to feel upset about their sex or gender any more than they feel upset about their hair color or height. We should be teaching people that their sex and gender, while unchangeable, do not define their personality, and that it has always been socially tolerable for men to act "feminine" in certain ways and for women to act "masculine" in certain ways.

Guns:

The standard liberal position: Guns are extremely dangerous, and you should have to prove some level of responsibility to possess one. Especially as mental illness becomes more prevalent in society, guns pose a serious risk to the safety of our citizens and we must make it more difficult for guns to end up in the hands of evil and mentally ill people.
The standard conservative position: Guns are extremely dangerous, but so are knives, and homemade bombs. It's easy to be dangerous in the modern world, and trying to disarm and disempower people so that they cannot hurt each other is not the right approach. People who are motivated will always find a way to kill each other, and so the most effective approach is to empower as many good people as possible with the power to stop evil and mentally ill people, to make better efforts to isolate and treat mentally ill people, and to better promote a culture of tolerance for one's enemies rather than one of radical hatred, resentment, and victimhood.

Immigration:

The standard liberal position: America was built on the efforts of huge numbers of immigrants, and we can continue to employ large numbers of immigrants to build out the future. American culture becomes richer with the influence of foreigners, and as long as they are working hard and paying taxes, they are a net good for our society and economy.
The standard conservative position: While immigrants can provide huge economic benefits, allowing too much immigration can pose unique threats to the country. Immigrants can establish communities where English is not spoken and where traditional American values are not practiced. They can funnel money and trade secrets back to their home countries, and they can buy large swaths of real estate in highly desirable areas. Highly skilled and intelligent immigrants and their children can also push the existing citizens out of the most prestigious colleges, and make it more difficult for existing citizens to be employed at the most desirable US companies. On the other end of the spectrum, letting in low-skilled workers, including illegal immigrants, can have similar cultural and economic risks. Should low-paid or seasonal immigrants have children in the US, those children are entitled to numerous public benefits as US citizens, and the combination of single-income households, large numbers of children, and seasonal and/or low-paid work can lead to underemployment and create an economic burden on the welfare system.

Taxes:

The standard liberal position: Taxes are a means of regulating society. They are a safety net that ensures that people can't blow all their money and starve during retirement. In general they ensure that people don't starve no matter what good or bad decisions led someone to poverty. The government might be horribly inefficient, but at least it is comprehensive: no one will be left to starve just because they don't appeal to whatever personal biases individual donors use when deciding where to donate. Progressive taxes also force the more fortunate in society: the richer, the more intelligent, the better connected, to share a larger fraction of their income with the nation, thus constituting a push towards a more egalitarian society that reduces, but certainly does not eliminate, the dominance that the lucky and powerful have over the weak and less fortunate.
The standard conservative position: Personal responsibility is king, and people should pay as little in taxes as possible to ensure only the most necessary parts of government functioning. Your social safety net should be that if you are a good person who makes good decisions, others in your community will sympathize with you and help you in a time of need, without any government compulsion required. Different people will necessarily have different abilities and different levels of success, and so long as the vast majority of hard-working, moral people have avenues to support themselves and their families, there is no need to redistribute wealth.

Climate Change:

The standard liberal position: Climate change is the greatest existential threat of our time, and we should devote a huge number of resources to the research and development of new technologies. We should also be willing to raise the cost of energy to reduce consumption and further motivate companies to develop improved technologies. Even if it hurts the growth of the economy in the short-run, we might be able to revert the climate disaster and then we can revamp the economy later.
The standard conservative position: Climate change is a mild threat in the near future, but humans will likely be able to adapt and gradually move if necessary over the next few hundred years. The cost of revving the economy now and making these adaptations later will likely be less than the cost of crippling the economy now, and possibly never getting it back online. By revving the economy now, we can focus on making as much money as possible and then we will have plenty of money to fund research and development for the necessary technologies to halt and reverse climate change, like carbon scraping, cloud manipulation, etc. However, we will not be able to afford such things if the world economy collapses due to the skyrocketing energy costs that accompany, for example, the shutting down of coal power plants. We will not able to afford investing in such technologies if the government doesn't prioritize GDP growth and goes way over its budget in funding social services, etc.

Healthcare:

The standard liberal position: The medical industrial complex monopolizes the healthcare system and engages in price-gouging, which screws over everybody to line the pockets of the insurance companies. The government needs to take greater control of the healthcare system so that the people in charge of healing you are not simultaneously incentivized to make as much profit as possible at your expense.
The standard conservative position: The medical industrial complex is allowed to monopolize the healthcare because of government subsidies and the tight connection between government and the medical companies. In a purely free-market system, each person could decide what types of health insurance and health services they are willing to pay for, and health providers would be free to compete with each other to prove to consumers that they are cheap, efficient, and helpful in the long-run.

Welfare:

The standard liberal position: The US is an extremely wealthy country, full of extremely wealthy individuals who waste extreme amounts of money. In such an abundant country, there is no reason for a family to be struggling to get enough food to eat. Regardless of what choices someone made or didn't make, if there is enough money around to relieve someone's deep suffering, we should do it. If nothing else, how can you take pride in your nation if you have people starving on the street?
The standard conservative position: Poverty is fundamentally unsolvable, especially if you consider poverty to be more than a deficiency of money. Even if you provide money to those in need, if they don't have responsibility, intelligence, or care for others, they will likely waste the money and continue to harm themselves and others. In that sense, for many of the poor, no amount of money will do much to improve their life or relieve their suffering. Your best chance at lifting people up is trying to spread a culture of responsibility, intelligence, and care for others, by providing extreme encouragement for things like working, saving money, and staying married, and extreme discouragement for things like laziness, wasting money, having children outside of marriage, etc.

Military:

The standard liberal position: The US military is far larger than necessary for any practical purpose. It is unlikely that any future war will require such a large number of conventional weaponry as opposed to, for example, nuclear weapons, bioweapons, or virtual weapons, and the cost of simply maintaining so much equipment is expensive. For these reasons, the size of the military and military spending should be reduced.
The standard conservative position: You never know what kind of conflict will break out and at what level. The entire purpose of having such a large military is to be ready for the most unlikely and worst-case scenarios, which are slightly more likely when you consider America is often expected to act as "world police" to protect NATO and other allies, and when potentially bad actors like China and Russia are investing tons into their own militaries. In that sense, the American military should be funded and kept up-to-date and strong enough to fight not only one country intent on doing harm, but any conceivable coalition of allied bad actors.

Minimum Wage

The standard liberal position: Minimum wage ensures that nobody has to work in exchange for an amount of money that is too low to reasonably live on, given the geographic region. Without minimum wage laws, people who for whatever reason cannot relocate to an area with better jobs or a cheaper cost of living are forced to work and essentially be exploited at an artificially low rate because the companies that employ them know that they are desperate and without alternatives.
The standard conservative position: People are not entitled to be able to live in the city where they currently reside. If you happen to be born in the most expensive city on Earth and do not develop any valuable skill which can net you a job that pays higher than the minimum wage, you may have to move to a different city. A company is not required to pay employees the maximum amount that they can afford. Further, some companies cannot afford to raise the minimum wage on some positions, and raising the minimum wage will push those companies out of business. This often pushes smaller business out first, and provides the lion's share of rewards to mega-corporations.

Drugs:

The standard liberal position: Drugs, especially drugs which aren't particularly lethal and don't encourage violence, like marijuana, mushrooms, or MDMA should have criminal penalties greatly reduced if not abolished. Making such things illegal just floods the court and prison systems unnecessarily.
The standard conservative position: It is theoretically tolerable or even good for drugs like marijuana, mushrooms, or MDMA to be legalized, but society has to be responsible enough to use such things responsibly, and society doesn't currently seem to be very good about acting responsibly when given full autonomy and freedom. If society shows a pattern of acting less responsibly whenever given more freedom, then the primary focus should be on encouraging people to be more responsible, and the secondary focus should be on providing yet more freedom to people. In short, we should not answer "should drugs be legal?" before we answer "How can we empower people to act more responsibly?"

Religion:

The standard liberal position: Religion can be used for good or evil, and it must constantly be put into a modern context to ensure that it is promoting the good instincts in people and not the evil ones. Religion should never be used a justification to harm "evil" people, and people can find the values of love, discipline, faithfulness, etc. with or without religion. People of various religions and no religion can live together harmoniously under a single legal system, and so that legal system should be separated fully from any religion.
The standard conservative position: Religion is a necessary stabilizing force in society. While theoretically possible for someone to be a good person without religion, in practice a lack of religion is often used to justify hedonism, nihilism, laziness, antisocial behavior, narcissism, anxiety, and the destruction of stabilizing social norms. Religion is uniquely effective at giving people a sense of duty, responsibility, and purpose, and until modern society finds an effective replacement for religion, increased religiosity should be encouraged.

Death Penalty:

Standard liberal position: Human beings never have the right to kill other human beings. When it is undeniable that someone has committed a heinous violent crime, they should be isolated from the population, but efforts should still be made to ensure that they are treated humanely. No matter how guilty they seem, it could come out years later that they were innocent.
Standard conservative position: Human rights are for people who are not rapists and murderers. While the state should not be given power to execute people on circumstantial evidence, when is is absolutely undeniable that someone has committed a heinous violent crime, killing them is just, economically efficient, and provides maximal protection for the innocent in society.

Police:

Standard liberal position: Police are granted a huge amount of power and legal leeway in the US, and thus should be held to an extremely high level of responsibility. Any misconduct should be punished immediately and harshly, and the repeated evidence that there is little accountability in police departments shows that the entire system is corrupt and needs total rehauling.
Standard conservative position: While police who engage in misconduct should be punished, police are also human and need a small amount of leeway to do their job. They are often in life-or-death situations, and making the perfect decision every single time is not a realistic standard. The vast majority of police interaction, including with minorities, is positive, and while we should always criticize them for their corruption and failures and pressure them to be better, at the end of the day the police, even at the current level of corruption, are a net force for good. The good cops should be respected, and it's almost never a good idea to cut funding on police, especially in high crime neighborhoods.

Basics

• Feel free to leave a comment here, dm me on reddit or add me to talk on Steam, but a comment in this thread is still needed for a trade!
  
• I am open to any kind of offer, just make a reasonable one
  
• I take any Game/DLC I don’t have already (STEAM ONLY) You can compare here
  
• Also taking any Steam Items (Cards, CS:GO, TF2, etc.) & PayPal offers
  
• Trading my whole Steam Inventory, 15.000+ items if there is something you are interested in
  
• I will go first on keys that are already revealed to ensure the key is still working for you, all other keys are unrevealed & safe keys.
  

Important Links

• My Steam Wishlist ~ 300+ Games Wishlisted
  
• My Steam Games ~ 3000+ Owned Games
  
• My IGSRep Page ~ 50+ Trades Made
  
• My SGS Flair ~ 50+ Trades Made
  
• My GameTradeRep ~ 10+ Trades Made
  

Humble Bundle Gifts
Steam

• 112 Operator
• 198X (Unused HG)
• 911 Operator
• Action Henk
• Amnesia: Rebirth
• Amnesia: The Dark Descent + Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
• Anomaly Defenders
• Arizona Sunshine VR
• Armello
• Battletech – Shadow Hawk Pack
• Beholder
• Between the Stars
• BioShock: The Collection
• BioShock™ Remastered (RL in some countries)
• Blaston
• Book of Demons
• Broken Age
• Butcher
• Calico
• Crusader Kings II (RL in some Countries)
• Crusader Kings II The Old Gods DLC
• Crying Suns
• Day of the Tentacle Remastered
• Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
• Death Squared
• Deep Dungeons of Doom
• Disjunction
• Draw Slasher
• Driftland: The Magic Revival
• Duke Nukem Forever The Doctor Who Cloned Me
• Dungeon Rushers
• Eastside Hockey Manager
• Embr
• ENCODYA
• Endless Space® - Collection
• Evan's Remains
• Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered
• Fallout 1
• Fallout 76
• Full Throttle Remastered
• Fury Unleashed
• Galactic Civilizations Ultimate Edition
• GameGuru
• Genesis Noir
• Ghostrunner
• GNOG
• Going Under
• Golden Light
• Guns of Icarus Alliance Collector's Edition
• Guts and Glory
• Hack 'n' Slash
• HackyZack
• HIVESWAP: Act 1
• Hotline Miami 2: (RL in AU)
• How to Survive 1 (Unused HG)
• Hyperdrive Massacre
• If Found...
• I'm not a Monster
• Into The Radius VR
• Kerbal Space Program
• Killing Floor 1
• Killing Floor 2
• Killing Floor 2 Digital Deluxe Upgrade
• Killing Floor Incursion
• Kingdom Classic
• Kingdom Two Crowns
• Layers of Fear
• LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game
• Lust from Beyond - M Edition
• MirrorMoon EP
• Monaco
• Monaco
• Nex Machina
• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl
• No Time to Explain Remastered
• Orbital Racer
• Orwell: Ignorance is Strength
• Oxenfree
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Plus Edition
• PAYDAY 2
• Pesterquest
• PGA Tour 2K21
• Pixplode
• Popup Dungeon
• Psychonauts
• Regular Human Basketball
• Resident Evil Revelations 2 - Episode 1: Penal Colony (RL in some countries)
• Ring of Pain
• Rym 9000
• Sid Meier's Civilization VI
• SIMULACRA
• Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing
• Sonic Adventure 2
• Soulblight
• Soulblight
• Space Crew: Legendary Edition
• Space Pilgrim Episode 1: Alpha Centauri
• Stacking
• Star Trek: Bridge Crew
• STAR WARS - Knights of the Old Republic
• STAR WARS - The Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition
• STAR WARS Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
• Stick Fight
• Stories Untold
• Strange Brigade
• Stronghold Crusader 2:
• Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones
• Styx: Master of Shadows
• Super Meat Boy
• Superhot: Mind Control Delete
• Supraland
• System Shock 2
• System Shock Enhanced Edition
• Talisman: Digital Edition
• The Amazing American Circus
• The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game
• The Inner World
• The LEGO® Movie - Videogame
• The Walking Dead
• The Walking Dead: Michonne - A Telltale Miniseries
• The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
• This War of Mine
• Ticket to Ride
• Tooth and Tail
• Tower 57
• Tropico 4
• Wanderlust: Travel Stories
• Wandersong
• Wargroove
• Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide
• WARSAW
• We Were Here Together
• West of Dead
• Westerado: Double Barreled
• Wizard of Legend
• Worms Rumble
• WWE 2K Battlegrounds
• XCOM 2
• X-Morph: Defense Complete Pack (Unused HG)
• Zero Caliber VR
• Zombie Driver HD

GOG

• Liberated
• Wanderlust: Travel Stories
• ENCODYA

Origin

• Command & Conquer Remastered Collection
• Dead Space
• Mirror's Edge
• Populous

Rockstar Social Club

• Max Payne 3

Other

• Elite Dangerous - Cobra Mk III ship skin (Frontier Key)
• GameMaker Studio 2 Creator 12 Months
• Intro to Game Development with Unity
• Microsoft 365 Single 1 Year Licence Code (Eurozone)
• Musik Maker EDM Edition (Magix Key)
• Pathfinder Second Edition Core Rulebook and Starfinder Core Rulebook
• Race The Sun (Flippfly Key)
• Rooster Teeth FIRST Subscription - 1 Month Free (Rooster Teeth Key)
• Starfinder Core Rulebook and Starfinder: Junker's Delight
• Starfinder: Pact Worlds Campaign Setting (Paizo Key)

Fanatical Steam Keys

• 16bit Trader
• Alien Rampage
• Among the Sleep - Enhanced Edition
• A-Tech Cybernetic VR
• Castle of no Escape 2
• Daemonsgate
• DISTRAINT: Deluxe Edition
• Drill Arena
• Er-Spectro
• Eternam
• Fairy Lands: Rinka and the Fairy Gems
• Galactic Lords
• Grey Goo Definitive Edition
• Hostage: Rescue Mission
• King Arthur's Gold
• King's Table - The Legend of Ragnarok
• Marco Polo
• OutDrive
• Overcast - Walden and the Werewolf
• Particula
• Prophecy I - The Viking Child
• Red Risk
• Savage Lands
• ShipLord
• SPACECOM
• Sparkle 2 Evo
• Sparkle 3 Genesis
• Spiritual Warfare & Wisdom Tree Collection
• Story Of the Survivor
• Timberman
• Trip to Vinelands
• Tropico 5
• TTV2
• UBERMOSH
• UBERMOSH Vol.3
• UBERMOSH Vol.5
• UBERMOSH:BLACK
• UBERMOSH:WRAITH
• W4RR-i/o-RS
• Walhall
• Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide

Retail & Revealed Keys
Battle.net

• Overwatch Digital Extras [Collectors Edition Retail Key: World of Warcraft Winston, Hearthstone Cardback, Starcraft 2 Portraits, Heroes of the Storm Tracer, Diablo 3 Mercy Wings (+ XBOX One Mercy Wings)]
• Overwatch Widowmaker Noire Skin (XBOX ONE Code)

Steam

• A grande bagunça espacial - The big space mess
• Aegis Defenders
• AI War: Fleet Command
• Anomaly Korea
• Anomaly: Warzone Earth
• Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation
• Attrition: Nuclear Domination
• Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan
• BARRIER X
• Bear With Me Collectors Edition
• Bioshock 2
• Blood of the Old(OLD VERSION) + Blood of the Old - The Rise To Greatness
• Bomber Crew
• Boys Love (Locked on Steam)
• Chroma Squad
• Clickdraw Clicker
• Darkness and a Crowd
• Deadbreed
• Death Squared
• Drift Streets Japan
• East India Company Gold
• Endless Space Collection
• Epistory - Typing Chronicles
• Food Hunter
• Freebie
• Galactic Civilizations II: Ultimate Edition
• Galactic Lords
• Glass Wing
• Grid 2
• Grid Rally
• GROOVY
• GT Legends
• Guns of Icarus Alliance
• Guns of Icarus Online
• HackyZack
• Heaven Island - VR MMO
• Heaven Island Life
• iO
• JDM Tuner Racing
• Journey Down: Chapter Two
• Kingdom: Classic
• Knights and Merchants
• Krog Wars:
• LARA CROFT AND THE TEMPLE OF OSIRIS™
• Layers of Fear
• Little Nightmares - DLC Fox Mask
• Little Nightmares
• Little Racers STREET
• Lost Moon
• Lost Moon:
• Mad Games Tycoon
• Mafia III: Sign of the Times
• Magicka 2
• Magma Tsunami
• Manual Samuel
• Medieval Wars
• Megabyte Punch
• Mighty Party
• Mini Attack Submarine
• Monsti
• Multiple Key for: Brilliant Bob / Why So Evil / Why So Evil 2: Dystopia
• No Turning Back
• One Finger Death Punch
• Paradox Wrench
• Paranormal Psychosis
• PHAT STACKS
• Q.U.B.E.
• Rapture Rejects - Humble Exclusive "Safari Outfit" DLC
• Rise of Industry
• ROGALIK
• Satellite Reign
• Serial Cleaner
• Shadowrun Returns Deluxe
• Sins of a Solar Empire Trinity Edition
• Skullgirls
• Snake Pass
• Space Beret
• Space Hulk Ascension
• Space Overlords
• Starship: Nova Strike
• State of Mind
• State of Mind Soundtrack
• Stealth Bastard Deluxe
• SteamWorld Dig
• Switchblade
• Tharsis
• The Deer
• The Next Door
• The Slaughtering Grounds
• The Strangers
• The Walking Dead: Season 1
• Tomb Raider: Temple of Osiris & Guardian of Light Bundle
• Turn Around
• Unforgiving Trials: The Darkest Crusade
• Unforgiving Trials: The Space Crusade
• Unknown Battle
• VAULT OF HONOR
• Viscera Cleanup Detail: Santa's Rampage
• Warp Rider
• Winged Knights: Penetration
• Witherung Kingdom: Arcane War
• Woodle Tree Adventure
• Yellow: The Yellow Artifact
• Zero Gear

Uplay

• Rayman® Origins
• Watch_Dogs™
• Watch_Dogs™ DEDSEC Edition Content

GoG

• Little Nightmares - DLC Tengu Mask
• Little Nightmares - DLC Fox Mask

Playstation 4

• Tekken 7 - PS4 DLC Theme"
• Project CARS 2 - Dynamic Theme PS4"
• Dark Souls III Transitory Lands PS4 Theme
• Dark Souls III The Ringed City PS4 Theme
• Sword Art Online : Hollow Realization: DLC Maid Costume (Also PS Vita)
• DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE 2 - Masters Pack
• DIGI’ADVENTURE PACK - PS4
• One Piece Burning Blood - Golden Luffy DLC (Also PS Vita)
• Tales of Zestiria - Mystische Artes und PlayStation-Designs (Also PS3)
• Little Nightmares - DLC Tengu Mask
• Little Nightmares - DLC Fox Mask

Xbox One

• DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE 2 - Masters Pack
• One Piece Burning Blood - Golden Luffy DLC
• Little Nightmares - DLC Tengu Mask
• Little Nightmares - DLC Fox Mask

3DS

• Nano Assault EX
• Retro City Rampage: Nintendo 3DS Theme

WiiU

• Freedom Planet
• Shantae and the Pirate's Curse

Microsoft

• XBOX Game Pass 14 Days
• XBOX Game Pass 3 Months

Coupons & Other Stuff

• 25% Off Coupon for PurePings.com Servers
• Absolute LoJack for Laptops 90 Day Trial Key Giveaway
• Astro Lords: Oort Cloud Exclusive Alienware Pack
• BigHead BASH Alien Head Key Giveaway
• Broforce 25% Steam Discount Key Giveaway
• Civilization V 50% Steam Discount Key Giveaway
• Divine Souls Closed Beta Key Giveaway
• Drunken Robot Pornography 60% Steam Discount Key Giveaway
• Dungeon Defenders Eternity Alienware Helmet Key Giveaway
• Heroes Of Newerth 200 Silver Coin Key Giveaway
• Heroes Of Newerth Account Icon Key Giveaway
• Loadout Exclusive In-Game Alienware T-Shirt Key Giveaway
• Neverwinter's Tyranny of Dragons Prize Pack Key Giveaway
• Shadow Warrior 75% Steam Discount Key Giveaway
• ShootMania Storm Exclusive Alienware Skin Giveaway
• War Inc. Arsenal Bundle Giveaway
• Warface Starter Pack Key Giveaway

Important Links
My Steam Wishlist
My Steam Games
My IGSRep Page
My SGS Flair
My GameTradeRep

Basics

• Feel free to leave a comment here, dm me on reddit or add me to talk on Steam, but a comment in this thread is still needed for a trade!
  
• I am open to any kind of offer, just make a reasonable one
  
• I take any Game/DLC I don’t have already (STEAM ONLY) You can compare here
  
• Also taking any Steam Items (Cards, CS:GO, TF2, etc.) & PayPal offers
  
• Trading my whole Steam Inventory, 15.000+ items if there is something you are interested in
  
• I will go first on keys that are already revealed to ensure the key is still working for you, all other keys are unrevealed & safe keys.
  

Important Links

• My Steam Wishlist ~ 300+ Games Wishlisted
  
• My Steam Games ~ 3000+ Owned Games
  
• My IGSRep Page ~ 50+ Trades Made
  
• My SGS Flair ~ 50+ Trades Made
  
• My GameTradeRep ~ 10+ Trades Made
  

Humble Bundle Gifts
Steam

• 112 Operator
• 198X (Unused HG)
• 911 Operator
• Action Henk
• Amnesia: Rebirth
• Amnesia: The Dark Descent + Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
• Anomaly Defenders
• Arizona Sunshine VR
• Armello
• Battletech – Shadow Hawk Pack
• Beholder
• Between the Stars
• BioShock: The Collection
• BioShock™ Remastered (RL in some countries)
• Blaston
• Book of Demons
• Broken Age
• Butcher
• Calico
• Crusader Kings II (RL in some Countries)
• Crusader Kings II The Old Gods DLC
• Crying Suns
• Day of the Tentacle Remastered
• Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
• Death Squared
• Deep Dungeons of Doom
• Disjunction
• Draw Slasher
• Driftland: The Magic Revival
• Duke Nukem Forever The Doctor Who Cloned Me
• Dungeon Rushers
• Eastside Hockey Manager
• Embr
• ENCODYA
• Endless Space® - Collection
• Evan's Remains
• Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered
• Fallout 1
• Fallout 76
• Full Throttle Remastered
• Fury Unleashed
• Galactic Civilizations Ultimate Edition
• GameGuru
• Genesis Noir
• Ghostrunner
• GNOG
• Going Under
• Golden Light
• Guns of Icarus Alliance Collector's Edition
• Guts and Glory
• Hack 'n' Slash
• HackyZack
• HIVESWAP: Act 1
• Hotline Miami 2: (RL in AU)
• How to Survive 1 (Unused HG)
• Hyperdrive Massacre
• If Found...
• I'm not a Monster
• Into The Radius VR
• Kerbal Space Program
• Killing Floor 1
• Killing Floor 2
• Killing Floor 2 Digital Deluxe Upgrade
• Killing Floor Incursion
• Kingdom Classic
• Kingdom Two Crowns
• Layers of Fear
• LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game
• Lust from Beyond - M Edition
• MirrorMoon EP
• Monaco
• Monaco
• Nex Machina
• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl
• No Time to Explain Remastered
• Orbital Racer
• Orwell: Ignorance is Strength
• Oxenfree
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Plus Edition
• PAYDAY 2
• Pesterquest
• PGA Tour 2K21
• Pixplode
• Popup Dungeon
• Psychonauts
• Regular Human Basketball
• Resident Evil Revelations 2 - Episode 1: Penal Colony (RL in some countries)
• Ring of Pain
• Rym 9000
• Sid Meier's Civilization VI
• SIMULACRA
• Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing
• Sonic Adventure 2
• Soulblight
• Soulblight
• Space Crew: Legendary Edition
• Space Pilgrim Episode 1: Alpha Centauri
• Stacking
• Star Trek: Bridge Crew
• STAR WARS - Knights of the Old Republic
• STAR WARS - The Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition
• STAR WARS Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
• Stick Fight
• Stories Untold
• Strange Brigade
• Stronghold Crusader 2:
• Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones
• Styx: Master of Shadows
• Super Meat Boy
• Superhot: Mind Control Delete
• Supraland
• System Shock 2
• System Shock Enhanced Edition
• Talisman: Digital Edition
• The Amazing American Circus
• The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game
• The Inner World
• The LEGO® Movie - Videogame
• The Walking Dead
• The Walking Dead: Michonne - A Telltale Miniseries
• The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
• This War of Mine
• Ticket to Ride
• Tooth and Tail
• Tower 57
• Tropico 4
• Wanderlust: Travel Stories
• Wandersong
• Wargroove
• Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide
• WARSAW
• We Were Here Together
• West of Dead
• Westerado: Double Barreled
• Wizard of Legend
• Worms Rumble
• WWE 2K Battlegrounds
• XCOM 2
• X-Morph: Defense Complete Pack (Unused HG)
• Zero Caliber VR
• Zombie Driver HD

GOG

• Liberated
• Wanderlust: Travel Stories
• ENCODYA

Origin

• Command & Conquer Remastered Collection
• Dead Space
• Mirror's Edge
• Populous

Rockstar Social Club

• Max Payne 3

Other

• Elite Dangerous - Cobra Mk III ship skin (Frontier Key)
• GameMaker Studio 2 Creator 12 Months
• Intro to Game Development with Unity
• Microsoft 365 Single 1 Year Licence Code (Eurozone)
• Musik Maker EDM Edition (Magix Key)
• Pathfinder Second Edition Core Rulebook and Starfinder Core Rulebook
• Race The Sun (Flippfly Key)
• Rooster Teeth FIRST Subscription - 1 Month Free (Rooster Teeth Key)
• Starfinder Core Rulebook and Starfinder: Junker's Delight
• Starfinder: Pact Worlds Campaign Setting (Paizo Key)

Fanatical Steam Keys

• 16bit Trader
• Alien Rampage
• Among the Sleep - Enhanced Edition
• A-Tech Cybernetic VR
• Castle of no Escape 2
• Daemonsgate
• DISTRAINT: Deluxe Edition
• Drill Arena
• Er-Spectro
• Eternam
• Fairy Lands: Rinka and the Fairy Gems
• Galactic Lords
• Grey Goo Definitive Edition
• Hostage: Rescue Mission
• King Arthur's Gold
• King's Table - The Legend of Ragnarok
• Marco Polo
• OutDrive
• Overcast - Walden and the Werewolf
• Particula
• Prophecy I - The Viking Child
• Red Risk
• Savage Lands
• ShipLord
• SPACECOM
• Sparkle 2 Evo
• Sparkle 3 Genesis
• Spiritual Warfare & Wisdom Tree Collection
• Story Of the Survivor
• Timberman
• Trip to Vinelands
• Tropico 5
• TTV2
• UBERMOSH
• UBERMOSH Vol.3
• UBERMOSH Vol.5
• UBERMOSH:BLACK
• UBERMOSH:WRAITH
• W4RR-i/o-RS
• Walhall
• Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide

Retail & Revealed Keys
Battle.net

• Overwatch Digital Extras [Collectors Edition Retail Key: World of Warcraft Winston, Hearthstone Cardback, Starcraft 2 Portraits, Heroes of the Storm Tracer, Diablo 3 Mercy Wings (+ XBOX One Mercy Wings)]
• Overwatch Widowmaker Noire Skin (XBOX ONE Code)

Steam

• A grande bagunça espacial - The big space mess
• Aegis Defenders
• AI War: Fleet Command
• Anomaly Korea
• Anomaly: Warzone Earth
• Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation
• Attrition: Nuclear Domination
• Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan
• BARRIER X
• Bear With Me Collectors Edition
• Bioshock 2
• Blood of the Old(OLD VERSION) + Blood of the Old - The Rise To Greatness
• Bomber Crew
• Boys Love (Locked on Steam)
• Chroma Squad
• Clickdraw Clicker
• Darkness and a Crowd
• Deadbreed
• Death Squared
• Drift Streets Japan
• East India Company Gold
• Endless Space Collection
• Epistory - Typing Chronicles
• Food Hunter
• Freebie
• Galactic Civilizations II: Ultimate Edition
• Galactic Lords
• Glass Wing
• Grid 2
• Grid Rally
• GROOVY
• GT Legends
• Guns of Icarus Alliance
• Guns of Icarus Online
• HackyZack
• Heaven Island - VR MMO
• Heaven Island Life
• iO
• JDM Tuner Racing
• Journey Down: Chapter Two
• Kingdom: Classic
• Knights and Merchants
• Krog Wars:
• LARA CROFT AND THE TEMPLE OF OSIRIS™
• Layers of Fear
• Little Nightmares - DLC Fox Mask
• Little Nightmares
• Little Racers STREET
• Lost Moon
• Lost Moon:
• Mad Games Tycoon
• Mafia III: Sign of the Times
• Magicka 2
• Magma Tsunami
• Manual Samuel
• Medieval Wars
• Megabyte Punch
• Mighty Party
• Mini Attack Submarine
• Monsti
• Multiple Key for: Brilliant Bob / Why So Evil / Why So Evil 2: Dystopia
• No Turning Back
• One Finger Death Punch
• Paradox Wrench
• Paranormal Psychosis
• PHAT STACKS
• Q.U.B.E.
• Rapture Rejects - Humble Exclusive "Safari Outfit" DLC
• Rise of Industry
• ROGALIK
• Satellite Reign
• Serial Cleaner
• Shadowrun Returns Deluxe
• Sins of a Solar Empire Trinity Edition
• Skullgirls
• Snake Pass
• Space Beret
• Space Hulk Ascension
• Space Overlords
• Starship: Nova Strike
• State of Mind
• State of Mind Soundtrack
• Stealth Bastard Deluxe
• SteamWorld Dig
• Switchblade
• Tharsis
• The Deer
• The Next Door
• The Slaughtering Grounds
• The Strangers
• The Walking Dead: Season 1
• Tomb Raider: Temple of Osiris & Guardian of Light Bundle
• Turn Around
• Unforgiving Trials: The Darkest Crusade
• Unforgiving Trials: The Space Crusade
• Unknown Battle
• VAULT OF HONOR
• Viscera Cleanup Detail: Santa's Rampage
• Warp Rider
• Winged Knights: Penetration
• Witherung Kingdom: Arcane War
• Woodle Tree Adventure
• Yellow: The Yellow Artifact
• Zero Gear

Uplay

• Rayman® Origins
• Watch_Dogs™
• Watch_Dogs™ DEDSEC Edition Content

GoG

• Little Nightmares - DLC Tengu Mask
• Little Nightmares - DLC Fox Mask

Playstation 4

• Tekken 7 - PS4 DLC Theme"
• Project CARS 2 - Dynamic Theme PS4"
• Dark Souls III Transitory Lands PS4 Theme
• Dark Souls III The Ringed City PS4 Theme
• Sword Art Online : Hollow Realization: DLC Maid Costume (Also PS Vita)
• DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE 2 - Masters Pack
• DIGI’ADVENTURE PACK - PS4
• One Piece Burning Blood - Golden Luffy DLC (Also PS Vita)
• Tales of Zestiria - Mystische Artes und PlayStation-Designs (Also PS3)
• Little Nightmares - DLC Tengu Mask
• Little Nightmares - DLC Fox Mask

Xbox One

• DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE 2 - Masters Pack
• One Piece Burning Blood - Golden Luffy DLC
• Little Nightmares - DLC Tengu Mask
• Little Nightmares - DLC Fox Mask

3DS

• Nano Assault EX
• Retro City Rampage: Nintendo 3DS Theme

WiiU

• Freedom Planet
• Shantae and the Pirate's Curse

Microsoft

• XBOX Game Pass 14 Days
• XBOX Game Pass 3 Months

Coupons & Other Stuff

• 25% Off Coupon for PurePings.com Servers
• Absolute LoJack for Laptops 90 Day Trial Key Giveaway
• Astro Lords: Oort Cloud Exclusive Alienware Pack
• BigHead BASH Alien Head Key Giveaway
• Broforce 25% Steam Discount Key Giveaway
• Civilization V 50% Steam Discount Key Giveaway
• Divine Souls Closed Beta Key Giveaway
• Drunken Robot Pornography 60% Steam Discount Key Giveaway
• Dungeon Defenders Eternity Alienware Helmet Key Giveaway
• Heroes Of Newerth 200 Silver Coin Key Giveaway
• Heroes Of Newerth Account Icon Key Giveaway
• Loadout Exclusive In-Game Alienware T-Shirt Key Giveaway
• Neverwinter's Tyranny of Dragons Prize Pack Key Giveaway
• Shadow Warrior 75% Steam Discount Key Giveaway
• ShootMania Storm Exclusive Alienware Skin Giveaway
• War Inc. Arsenal Bundle Giveaway
• Warface Starter Pack Key Giveaway

Important Links
My Steam Wishlist
My Steam Games
My IGSRep Page
My SGS Flair
My GameTradeRep