I had a dream probably 12 years ago that I’ve never forgotten, during one of the darkest times in my life when I was scared I’d fail in life
The dream began in a volcanic Ashland where I was traveling with a ragtag band of refugees trying to escape some horrible volcanic event or maybe even super volcanic event, so we were all journeying through this grey valley flanked by ashen mountains with a few distant volcanoes, I was the leader of this group and they were depending on me to hopefully guide them to survival.
We came to a huge obsidian temple structure and it was built onto the valley wall so we had to climb it to ascend out of the valley, so we entered. But the building had an ominous energy like something dark was sleeping inside of it.
Part of the way up, a young boy in my group was running ahead even though I told him to wait and tried to run after him, but as happens in dreams my legs were like lead and I couldn’t keep up. I had this growing sense of dread.
Then the boy slipped off the edge over an overhang and as I looked down after him he plunged into a lava pool, burning to death. My sense of dread didn’t go away it only increased. Somehow I knew (maybe because it was a dream made by my own mind) that that wasn’t the only horror that awaited us in here, this place wanted all of us not just the boy.
That dread manifested as the boy came clawing his way out from the lava pit and let out a horrifying cry like a nazgul or a ghoulish undead, with his flesh bubbling and dripping off of his bones in places he began sprinting with inhuman speed back towards the entrance of the obsidian temple he had fallen from, right back into the entrance.
My band of refugees began panicking, torn between the anguish of watching the boy die and the horror dawning on them of what he had become- a monster- and why he would come sprinting back into the temple some floors below us.
We all heard the inhuman commotion as his undead body slammed into corners, so great was his speed, and we all realized rather abruptly that he was closing in on our group.
I urged the group to begin climbing the stairwells that wrapped around the precipices of this obsidian temple, up towards the valley wall. We had only one possible escape: somehow reaching the top and whatever salvation waited for us up there from the desolate volcanic wasteland and the undead monster that had once been a little boy. So we all begun to sprint, but we were slow.
some of the refugees had bags, some were elderly men and women, it began to dawn on me that we had no hope to escape as i heard the monster closing in from below. I turned to confront him, readying to fight with no weapons.
When he emerged he looked at me with his ghastly skull shining through his melted off face and he spoke and said "You did this to me so I will punish you by making you live while your people die." And he ran past me with superhuman speed and tore into my group, beginning to butcher these weak powerless refugees even as I tried to fight him, plead with him, even as I tried to urge them to keep running, he eventually killed every last one of them with his long ghoul clawed skeletal hands.
"Im sorry." i said to him. "Im sorry i let you become a monster." and he just smiled back at me and stepped off the ledge, plunging again into the lava, this time to rest eternal, but the carnage of my mangled people now lay all around me, and still the black obsidian stairway beckoned, leading up into the tallest passes of the ashen mountains where smoke and fog obscured the path, I had nobody left and nowhere to go but up.
So i went up. Up, up, up through winding valley corridors of sheer black jagged rockfaces, ascending thousands of steps until the atmosphere seemed thin and the night stars shone from above, the distant red glow of the lava flows fading to a dull reminder of the carnage i was leaving behind me.
eventually the climb slowed but the path continued and the stairs began to turn downwards, the rock walls opened up into a dusty grey plain of old ash that had blown here from distant eruptions in the ashlands below, but it was cold up here and dark, and the fog parted and i saw in the distance a structure, not ominous and unnatural like the obsidian temple but a human structure, a distant farmhouse, but I had a feeling when i looked down the winding stairs at this house like i was looking into the blackness of a night that has a rapidly approaching tornado, totally invisible, the sight of this farmhouse gave me a sense of existential dread greater than even the obsidian temple had inspired. But i knew i had to keep going forward anyways. So, with despair in every step, i put one foot infront of the next and kept walking.
As i approached the house I realized its scale, it was not some small farmhouse, more of a manse, and the stairs on this path led straight to its roof where the stairs that had once led down from its top were gone. There was only a gaping black hole in the roof, my only way forward was into this abandoned structure, so with a heart full of fear i lowered myself down into pitch blackness.
I found myself in an ash flooded attic full of furniture like old spinning wheels and some misshapen objects with soot stained sheets over them, the room was so very cluttered with dillapidated old stuff that i could hardly navigate it. I kept bumping stuff then I froze, because on thr far side of the room i saw a sillouhette standing motionless. A feminine sillouhette that seemed like it moved slightly as I brushed against an old desk, causing a noise.
As she reacted, she turned towards me and I saw her face, and her mouth hung open, her jaw split in two, one half dangling and the other holding a malicious grimace.
She moved like a squid striking out from inky blackness at its prey, lifting up off her feet and drifting rapidly to me, her mangled jaw soon centering around my field of view as her face filled my vision and she grabbed the sides of my head, talking to me
"You have to pay for what he did to us, you have to see it all"
And she entered me, i just remember at this point in my dream my vision was full of motion, like she had possessed me and was flying me through the pages of her own history book, in a misty ashen blur of colors and shapes i found myself chopping wood in a dark forest with green leaves around, when a rage filled every fiber of my being and i turned towards a tent, gripping my axe as i swung it through the fabric, turning it on my first wife (in my dream i understood this to be the vision of the woman's husband when he murdered her with his axe) and splitting her jaw and head open rather than any log
I was crying abd begging to be left alone and allowed to leave when we swirled back into the attic, and the ghost was standing right there with inhuman stillness, i couldnt look away from her mangled face as she said "now you know what he did to me…" and she slowly disappeared into a small mist
I was deeply disturbed and crying and disoriented as i looked around the attic and saw a small wooden panel with some grey filtered light showing through it and i went that way, but as i did another ghost of a different women, her neck angled violently screamed at me and grabbed me and possessed me, now I was her husband, the same man with his second wife wringing her neck as she turbed blue
In this manner a series of murdered women ghosts possessed me, forcing me to witness their deaths from the poijt of view of their killer, all killed by the same horrible man in different violent ways, in total 7 stories of 7 murders of 7 dead wives, and each one whisming me to another part of this forsaken farmhouse where they had lurked waiting for whichever man was unlucky enough to enter this cursed homestead
My experience dreaming this was mostly an unsettling amount of vertigo during the dream and images of violence and these ghastly faces of ghosts filling my vision before flying me to another room where another ghost would stand motionless waiting to possess me, the entire time i felt like i was crying and falling from a very extreme height
Eventually though the last ghost released me from her possession and i stood in the kitchen room where she stood with me, her face blue from drowning in a bath tub, and she smiled at mr and spoke more gently than thr others had, she reached to take my hand but when i flinched and screamed she dropped her arm back down to her side and just smiled sadly at me
"Thank you"
And she and all other ghosts were gone and it was just me alone in this forsaken manse's kitchen, and i heard a sound i never expected, trickling water. So i walked towards it and found a back door on the ground level which opened easily, and i stepped outside and saw some white, ash-filtered sunlight and a sight that took my breath away, about 300 yards away was a running river with lush green trees and plants and a thundering waterfall, and i knew that my trials had passed as i walked out towards the end of the ashlands with my boots squishing in fertile muddy soil, and i woke up completely drenched in a puddle of my own sweat

Hello Everybody,
I'm here to ask help and advice with my next level up.
My character is actually a Bard 8/Warlock 1
I don't know if i should take a level in warlock and get the eldritch invocations ? or go with Bard and unlock LVL 5 Spells.
And i don't know which spells to take.
For Information : i'm playing a "homebrew-ish" Bard who gives me more spells (like Charm Person, Suggestion, Injonction...) & and my Warlock Patron is the "UA Raven Queen"
My stats are : STR 10 DEX 12 CON 8 INT 14 WIS 12 CHA 20
My bard spells are : Cure Wounds, Healing Words, Blindness/Deafness, Shatter, Knock, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Tiny Hut, Hypnotic Pattern, Mass Healing Word, Dimensional Door.
My warlock spells are : Eldritch Blast, Armor of Agathys & Sanctuary
My Magic items are a "magical armor" who scale my AC with my CHARISMA, a mirror who can make me use disguise for free once a day, and OP artefact who gives me some power like immunity to poison and acid, resistance to non magic attack AND i can cast Eldritch blast as a Bonus Action.
My Party is composed of a Barbarian, a Fighter, a Draconic Sorcerer & a Druid.
So here i am with my weird character, if you have any advice or tips to help me level up my character, I'm all ears.

NOTE: This guide contains a ton of gear and narrative spoilers
Most Sword Bard builds are either focused on either ranged or control + melee/AoE attack styles, and I wanted to explore whether or not it would be possible to take the best of both to make the ultimate martial all around build. This build features Sharpshooter with ranged damage of 20-30 per arrow and GWM + smite damage of 60-120 per single hit by the end game.

Background Theme

The theme for the build is a resisting dark urge, with a desire for redemption to become the champion of Baldurs's Gate. And this theme weaves through the playthrough with items and choices along the journey, for example:

• Getting branded by Priestess Gut and getting Loviatar's Love in at the Goblin Camp
• Saving the Nightsong (and Shadowheart) and forgoing the Spear of the Evening
• Becoming partial illithid in a quest for power
• In a moment of weakness, falling prey to the powers of Bhaal by becoming an Unholy Assassin at the Murder Tribunal, only to later realize that Sarevok and the tribunal must die.
• And finally rejecting Bhaal and giving up the dark urge powers.

Build Overview

The build centers around a combination of Bard and Paladin, with all three feats, for a Level 8 Sword Bard / Level 4 Oath of Vengeance Paladin. Feats are Shapshooter, Great Weapons Master and Tavern Brawler centered around Nyrulna for throwing + smite melee and the Titanstring bow for ranged giving absolute martial authority under almost all circumstances.
In addition to the primary martial strength, you gain the jack of all trades benefits of being a Bard, including exceptional social skills, relatively high charisma, good persuasion, deception, sleight of hand and stealth.
Early game, expect to play like any other dexterity/charisma bard, with the first 6 level progression on Bard alone.

• Focus on ranged fighting style, with enough stealth to dip in and out of battles solo, particularly against large groups like the Goblin Camp, in the Creche and the Gnolls
• Use flourishes, both ranged and melee to hit multiple targets in one round.
• Dual wielding hand crossbows early game.

By the end of Act 1, and with the acquisition of the Gloves of Dexterity in Creche Y'llek,a respec is needed to maximize the benefits of the Titanstring and the build plays like a ranged beast through all of the mid-game.
After level 6 of Bard, we begin to level into Paladin, which opens the door for the character to start building up melee power. Truth be told, I may have respec'ed a few times between levels 6-10 trying a few things on for size, but the most effective strategy mid-game was:

• Titanstring with Sharpshooter and Gloves of Dexterity for ranged flourishes and multiple Bard attacks that came online at level 6.
• Dual wield shortswords like Knife of the Undermountain King for smites (starting at level 8 - SSB 6/Pal 2) and melee flourishes.

By Act 3 and the late game, and with the acquisition of Nyrulna from the Djinni at the Circus of the Last Days in Rivington,the martial melee power took center stage, with ranged flourishes still very powerful, but no longer the primary attack strategy. And by level 12 and the end game, you have the choice between throwing Nyrulna for AoE or Slashing Flourish for specific ranged attacks.
Philosophically, the build is focused on fast nova damage to overwhelm a larger group by decimating them in the first 2 turns. High movement is key, we're always looking to surprise enemies, and taking advantage of stealth and invisibility to duck in and out of battle for the occasional "oh shit" moment or recharge of bardic inspiration.

Leveling Guide & Feats

As noted earlier, this build really doesn't come online until level 6, more so at level 8+. Prior to that, you're just an average ranged or melee bard, your choice. The end game goal is Level 8 College of Swords Bard / Level 4 Oath of Vengeance (or Oathbreaker) Paladin.
Race choices include Wood Elf, High Elf, Duegar Dwarf, Half Orc, Gnome or Halfling. I've always opted for one of the elves, primary because of movement speed. The fighting style that has evolved for me throughout multiple solo runs now is that you are often fighting in retreat, and movement is key to manage this. If you're playing this as part of a party, movement is less important.
Levels 1-6 - Bard

• Start at level 1 as a Bard with STR 8, DEX 17, CON 14, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 16, and you should expect to respec at least once. Select Minor Illusion and Friends for Cantrips if doing a solo run, with a strong case to also be made for Mage Hand. If not for a solo, you have other options here. Longstrider is a key spell as well. For skills, optimize Persuasion (or Deception), Sleight of Hand, Stealth, and Performance, in that order. I chose Persuasion, Sleight of Hand and Stealth.
• At level 3, choose College of Swords. For spells, consider Invisibility, Cloud of Daggers (for some vital early AOE on a solo run), and Hold Person. You can also swap an existing spell slot here to get two of those three. Choose Two-Weapon Fighting for fighting style.
• At level 4, choose Sharpshooter for your first feat.

I recommend a respec as soon as you are able to purchase the Gloves of Dexterity, which for me happens usually around level 4 or 5 somewhere. When you do, choose STR 17, DEX 8, CON 14, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 16.
Levels 7-8 - Paladin

• At level 7, start with your first Paladin level. I chose Oath of Vengenance.
• At level 8, choose either Defense or Great Weapon Fighting as your fighting style. At this point in the game, I was playing with dual wielded shortswords with Knife of the Undermountain King as primary, but you could also play with Halberd of Vigilance, Mourning Frost or some other two handed weapon. Melee is less important still at this point, since we chose Sharpshooter as our first feat and primary fighting style. This is really about your secondary melee damage dealing, so whatever you prefer for the mid-game.

Levels 9-10 - Bard
We're really just marching towards that second feat here. Choose whatever you want for spells, I like Freedom of Movement, Greater Invisibility, Fear, Hypnotize. For this build, spells are tertiary to ranged and melee damage, so the focus should be on enhancements and prep spells for battle, not in battle casting against enemies.

• At level 10, level 8 bard, grab the Great Weapons Master feat. By this time in the game, we have picked up Nyrulna and have a lot of spell slots for smites. This is where the melee part of this build really shines and starts to outpace the already amazing ranged archer. NOTE: If you chose Defense at level 8, respec to choose Great Weapon Fighting.

Levels 11-12 - Paladin
Again, we're marching to our third feat but you can pick up some great Paladin support and control spells like Command, Bless, Protection from Good and Evil, and additional smites.

• At level 12, level 4 Paladin, get the Tavern Brawler feat and put your ability point in Constitution (kid of doesn't matter, I'll explain in a bit). I thought about getting Savage Attacker here for maximizing crits on smites, or even an ASI into Strength, but ultimately wanted the flexibility of using Nyrulna as a solid throwing option and I'm glad I did. I might go back and try the other two options at some point.

Gear Guide

Not extensive, but I'll list out the important items I picked up and used along the way, but place an asterisk by absolutely essential items
Early Act 1

• Ring of Protection* - Worn pretty much the entire game, best ring in the game IMO (don't @ me)
• Titanstring Bow* - the build revolves around this bow
• Doom Hammer* - Absolutely essential for any solo of Myrkul to prevent healing from Reaper's Reward ability.
• Amulet of Misty Step
• Gloves of Archery
• Crusher's Ring
• Haste Helm

Late Act 1

• Gloves of Dexterity* - Essential to the build, worn throughout the game since the build was based on dumping DEX in the spec.
• DeathStalker's Mantle* - Durge item only, essential to the build to go invisible after a kill.
• Boots of Speed* - Worn pretty much throughout the game, I almost feel are essential for a solo run. These are top 3 items for me all game for any solo run.
• Periapt of Wound Closure* - Essential for me mid-game to have healing potions max heal. I wore throughout act 2.
• Club of Hill Giant Strength - This was essential before Gloves of Dex purchase
• Disintegrating Night Walkers
• Knife of the Undermountain King
• Mourning Frost
• Unseen Menace
• Caustic Band

Act 2

• Risky Ring* - I wore this most of the game as well, with some situational exceptions
• Cloak of Protection* - This was swapped out situationally with the Deathstalker's Mantle throughout the game, really the only two cloaks I used.
• Darkfire Shortbow - used situationally for fire/cold resistance
• Killer's Sweetheart
• Helmet of Arcane Acuity - used surprisingly little, but had to mention

Act 3

• Nyrulna* - Essential to the build, couldn't do this one without it unless you went full evil and did Shar's Spear of the Evening, but that goes against the theme here.
• Bhaalist Armor* - Essential to the build to get the smite damage maximized from Nyrulna.
• Sarevok's Horned Helmet*
• Helm of the Balduran*
• Amulet of Greater Health*
• Band of Mystic Scoundrel - used surprisingly little, but had to mention

End Game items

• Sarevok's Helm
• Bhaalist Armor
• Cloak of Protection
• Boots of Speed
• Gloves of Dexterity
• Ring of Protection
• Risky Ring
• Amulet of Greater Health
• Nyrulna
• Titanstring Bow

Buffs and Enhancements

• Hag's Hair went to Strength - 17 base + 1 = 18 Strength
• Brand of the Absolute and Loviatar's Love
• Volo's Eye
• Necromancy of Thay, both buffs
• Awakened Illithid powers
• Potion of Everlasting Vigor - 18 STR + 2 = 20 Strength
• Partial Illithid, because flying!
• Githrazei Mind Barrier
• Arabella's Shadow Entanglement
• Tharacite Vigor
• Anointed in Splendor
• Statue of myself buff
• Mirror of Loss - 20 STR = 2 = 22 Strength

Other Misc Tactics and Potions

I used Potion of Speed, Elixir of Bloodlust, Elixir of Viciousness, Invisibility, and various posions/toxins for weapon dipping throughout the game. Bloodlust was easily the most important for a solo run, I tried to put it on after as many long rests as possible, followed closely by speed potions and invisibility on a per battle basis. Buy Hyena Ears and Worg Fangs every time you see them.
I stocked up on tons of scrolls along the way, the most important of which were Haste, Remove Curse, Misty Step, Fireball, Lightning (+Chain), Mirror Image, Invisibility, Cone of Cold or other large AOE high level spells.
FOOTNOTE: Thanks for reading this far. I've played through the game now like 12 times or so, with one successful honor run, and the last 3 of which were solo runs on Tactician. The solo runs were inspired by Friendly Lich and his blade warlock: https://www.reddit.com/BG3Builds/comments/1cmn6sb/a_warlock_pact_of_the_blade_multiclass_for_solo/
This resisting the dark urge run was my favorite playthrough so far, for both the narrative storyline, and how it played thematically into this build, with the choices between good and evil waffling back and forth along the way, ultimately leading to redemption. I think this is the best story arc of BG3.
I've considered a couple of other options for this build that I'd like to experiment with in the future, including ditching one of the feats and adding one level of War Cleric to get Sanctuary and Guidance. I will not lie, I save scummed a few times along the way and Guidance and Sanctuary would have helped me a bunch in those situations. However, it was rewarding to get the full martial with Tavern Brawler on Nyrulna in the end, will report back if I end up tinkering. Suggestions welcome!

• A tarball for Linux would be nice because not everyone can run AppImages. For example, I'm currently running Void Linux and AppImages do not work because they require glibc in order to run and Void mainly uses musl.
  
• UI changes. Seriously. More neon green, less rounding, smaller UI elements on desktop, navbars with more options, a font change. At its current state, eSound looks more like a Spotify clone than its own thing.
  
• The ability to save tracks as normal MP3 files. Currently, when you save tracks, they can be played offline but only through the eSound app and they cannot be accessed by anything else. If you wanna transfer your downloaded music to other devices, or if you just wanna open them in another app, you're currently out of luck and I think that sucks.
  

I'm not a developer and I don't know how practical these would be to actually implement but I think they'd be cool to have.

Hi Folks,
I just finished another read-through of The Road. This is perhaps my 3rd or 4th full read-through since my first reading in 2017. I'd shared a few of these thoughts on a previous thread last week, but now that my reading has wrapped up, I thought I'd expand on them a bit here. I'm not quite sure how many more re-reads of this book I have in me now that I have young nieces and nephews as this book'll pretty much tear you up, ha. Anyhow, I do this mostly to collect some of my thoughts, but also in hopes that it might aid others wondering about some of these things:
Setting and locations:
Having grown up stomping around North Georgia, Eastern Tennessee, and Western North Carolina, it feels very clear to me that this is the intended setting. A "resort town in the mountains" is mentioned at one point. I have a feeling that this might be the little town of Bryson City, which also got a mention in Suttree as a tourist town, though it could also be Highlands or similar. There are also numerous beautiful waterfalls in this area pouring close to the Blue Ridge Parkway such as the one the father and son visit and swim in. South of this area is the Piedmont (also mentioned) of South Carolina. I suspect the father dies somewhere in East Georgia just from the timing and distance travelled, but there's no other clues given to that I feel. I know there has been much discussion and research done about this, but I am simply here to say that I agree with it. I intentionally have not read the details of that research yet so that I can chew on it a bit more, myself, first.
"The empty parking lot at the overlook"..."it's the gap." - maybe Jones Gap south of Brevard, NC?
Gnosticism I picked up more of the gnosticism in the book this time. A few of the visuals are reminiscent of some used in other books:
"This the day to shape the days upon" - the image in both Blood Meridian and The Passenger of reality being something put together in a forge.
Another Suttree link:
In addition to the above mentioned possible Bryson City link...
Cormac describes "people sitting on the sidewalk in the dawn half immolate and smoking in their clothes. Like failed sectarian suicides." Others have mentioned here the link between the name "Suttree" and suttee (also spelled: sati), the Hindu practice of a window burning herself on her husband's funeral pyre.
Naturalism, The Ending, Mystery
I've always read the ending as both elegiac for the world that has gone by and as a shout at the void in defense of beauty and life. "These things were real, they were good and beautiful, they were important, they were meaningful, the void cannot take them even after I am gone and no longer here to lament them, they exist permanently, I believe it even if I can't prove it or show how."
There are multiple small moments in the book that quietly are in conversation with that final paragraph where catholic ideas of rituals, litanies, and memory are visited:
"He stood on a stone bridge where the waters slurried into a pool and turned slowly in a gray foam. Where once he'd watch trout swaying in the current, tracking their perfect shadows on the stones beneath."
"he'd stood at such a river once and watched the flash of trout deep in a pool, invisible to see in the teacolored water except as they turned on their sides to feed. Reflecting back the sun deep in the darkness like the flash of knives in a cave."
"There were times when... he would begin to sob uncontrollably... he wasn't sure what it was about but he thought it was about beauty or about goodness."
"when he bent to see into the boy's face under the hood of the blanket he very much feared that something was gone that could not be put right again."
"What do I have to do? Tell us where the world went."
"Do you think that your fathers are watching? That they weigh you in their ledger book? Against what?... I think maybe they are watching, he said. They are watching for a thing that even death cannot undo and if they do not see it they will turn away from us and not come back."
"Make a list, recite a litany. Remember."
What does it mean, this beauty? Is it real? Can a man stand on it and believe he is standing on something outside the reaches of annihilation?
The word "mystery" in the last sentence is also very specifically chosen. In the Catholic meaning (Cormac was raised Catholic), mystery is "a divinely revealed truth whose very possibility cannot be rationally conceived before it is revealed and, after revelation, whose inner essence cannot be fully understood by the finite mind."
All of this speaks to a question that McCarthy has plumbed his entire career and would return to again explicitly in The PassengeStella Maris: "When we and all our works are gone together with every memory of them and every machine in which such memory could be encoded and stored and the earth is not even a cinder, for whom then will this be a tragedy?"
I believe the final paragraph is an answer to that question: the sublime has a permanence that remains, like an afterimage (to use another phrase from The Road), even after we are gone. You must believe it and simply perhaps feel it - like a trout in your hand, polished and muscular and torsional - more than you understand it.
Anyhow, I hope this gives some food for thought.

As the world faded away into nothing but a dark void, Tom felt the only mildly familiar sensation of magic flowing like a gentle stream. It wasn’t much of a draw, but it was certainly noticeable.
“Right, best make this quick then,” he tried thinking to himself, feeling the flow peak as he did.
“Who is this? Make what quick?” an ethereal sounding female voice replied. It did sound a bit like how he remembered Joelina sounding. Though she did not exactly sound calm.
“Uhm… Hello? Anyone there?”
“Yes hello. Who is this? What must be done quick? Answer me at once!”
“It’s Tom… Is that you, Joelina?”
“Yes of course it is! Stupid dragons taking ages, I have questions for you! So many questiiioooonssss...”
“Yeah I figured that… Fire away I suppose.” Tom replied a little uncertainly as to just what he might be in for.
“Firstly! Did you read the letters?”
“I did yeah…”
“Disregard them, I have learned much since they were written! So much more yes, cursed blessed knowledge…”
“So you do know we have gone to space then?”
“What? No, I re-experienced the memory you had of the movie about the moon mission. It was evident on the second watching that it was trickery of the eye! Spaceflight is but a myth!”
“Riiight.”
“Then how have your kind visited space? And what of the gods above!? it was evident that the woman with the crystals was but a fraud!” Joelina explained with all the calm and restraint of a shoppingmall Karen
“Well the rockets to the moon, that did happen.” Tom attempted, doing his best to remain calm and diplomatic. “The movie you saw was probably a recreation… Tell me, did things go wrong on that trip but they made it home anyway?”
“Yes, do you know of what I speak? Ahr what am I proclaiming! of course you do it is your own memories, how could I forget.”
“Yea…, you watched a movie about Apollo 13 I think. Good movie, and that all happened too. Like for real happened”
“I see…” Joelina replied, sounding rather unstable. “And what of the gods?”
“We ain’t got any. Well not in space at least.”
“Impossible!”
“No, quite possible. Many still believe in gods though, but let’s not get into that too much. It’s a right old mess.”
“No, you must tell me what happened to the gods? Have they left you?”
“Well some think so, but no. I just think it all works a bit different for us. They might be a little more hands off.”
“But the churches… and these religious warriors you did battle with,” the inquisitor all but muttered to herself, sounding like she was struggling to put pieces together. “Do Jesus and Islam fight for power then? no no, they would have long since lost the battles to the ancient gods of war the teachers spoke of… though why they were always naked eludes me yeeees…”
“No, again we don’t really have gods just floating around... Could we please talk about something else? Or is that all you wanted to know?” Tom tried, hoping he really didn’t have to dive deeper into that particular subject.
“No no don’t you dare cut me off! I have seen what you talked of, nuclear fire and missiles, ships of the oceans and planes soaring in the skies. But is it not all fake? Surely it must be! It must be? It must be…”
“I don’t know what you saw… but we have ships sailing around. If you’ve ever seen flying ships like you have here then that’s fake I can assure you of that. We do have airships, but they look more like really big long balloons.”
“But we could make such vessels, or someone could from times past. If you can visit the moon then surely you can make a ship for the skies!”
“No no, we ain’t got grav oil. Or dragon essence as I guess it’s called. That means no anti gravity, and that means weight is a very very big problem for anything you wanna make fly. Planes and helicopters are how we fly. Remember how I flew to Afghanistan on a big ass plane? Or when I learned to parachute later?”
“What is parachute? is it the ham from your times doing, vacationing? what has dried meat products got to do with flying machines of battle!”
“Wooo easy now easy. I guess you didn’t get that far yet. Uhm. It’s a cloth kite you dangle from and then glide to the ground. Very good fun.”
“A cloth kite used to fly?... such strange inventions. Wait was there not a movie of with something of that nature? yeeee… there was a song. I liked that song… something something brains upon his chute. Yeesss…”
“Yeah… You’ll know it when you see it. I have one actually.” Tom clarified trying not to get too weirded out.
“You must demonstrate on a suitable occasion.”
“Yeah… I do have a question too though,” Tom replied, letting silence reign for a short time. “...Your last letter was in Danish.”
“Oh, uhm yes. I- I was having some difficulty separating what was real and what was not… I still am. Do not tell Glazz, she musten know the truth yet. She seeks to limit my excursions.”
“You’ve ended up like I did, have you?”
“No no no, the effects do indeed recede as expected, everything is in good order… But I had to know more. So so much moooore.”
“Maybe you should cool it a bit. You never know when a brain snaps. Or how,” Tom tried, confident his advice would be ignored.
“There is not time!”
“And why is that? How is it going in our beloved Inquisition?”
“Mind your tongue, human! Things are progressing, but so are our enemies. Infiltrators have been caught, traitors within our ranks are making their moves. The reemergence of Rashan, attacks on mines, keeps and a daring heist attempt at a Royal Guard fortress! The game is afoot, we cannot delay.”
“You can’t overreach yourself either. Weren’t you supposed to be winning over the rest of the inquisition right about now? Can’t do that as a gibbering mess.”
There was silence for a while more after that. “Glazz sent you a letter? What did it say?! You may not keep secrets from me- wait not… I should confiscate her arm… she cannot write with her left. Yes far better plan, avoid upsetting him. And fill her pen with invisible ink. Yes very good.”
“No, it’s just obvious to any idiot. But what about winter, won’t things slow down?”
“They should, yet as autumn progresses it has only been picking up. I hope they too are running out of time… But time for what? I must know what they are planning. They might be behind schedule. But what SCHEDULE! sorry…”
“Well you’re not gonna find the answer to that in my memories, now are you?”
“You were sent by someone. You are here for a purpose. I must know this purpose. It will help me understand. The puzzle is large and much of the box kept from me.”
“As far as I’m concerned, I’m here to help you guys get in gear. That’s a decades to centuries long sorta problem, not a couple of years. Sounds like this war will be in the couple of years category.”
“Then why now? Why did you arrive now?!”
“Shitty luck? Sounds like 10 years ago would have been a lot better… Oh on that note, did you hear? We found something down below.”
“No, Paulin would have told me.”Joelina dismissed, he could almost feel her turning her snout up and away from him.
“Well we opened the vault like 3 days ago,” Tom replied, quite surprised Paulin hadn’t said anything. “Wait yeah she can send you messages, no? She sent the message about what we wanted to buy too, didn’t she?... How did she do that by the way? Why didn’t you just have her ask me questions?”
“That is not for you to know, and this is not for her.”
“Really? More secrets still? Come on, tell me or I’ll let you think flying whales exist.”
“I know those are not real. If they were, you would have harvested them long ago! likely for some deranged snack… or facial decoration.”
“True, but you get the idea,” Tom persisted, feeling like this was something worth pushing for. Why would Paulin not have let her precious Joelina know?
“Very well. This does not leave your mind… In the name of, what was it called… camaraderie. Paulin is in possession of joined paper. Messages may be written down and read by anyone with similarly joined paper. Unsecured. Originally believed to be fore love letters… dastardly studs and wenches using perfectly good magic for such trivialness… simply tie the message to a rock and throw it though the window. Most peasants cannot even afford glass” Joelina trailed off, seemingly zoning out once more.
“You have magical paper that can relay written information… and you don’t fucking use it!?” Tom explaimed, not quite believing what he was hearing.
“No, we do not know how to make freshly bonded paper… only more linked to all other paper in existence…” Joelina agreed. He could almost feel her looking at the floor in shame. “But it is not as if you are infallible, why did you not bring one of these radios?”
“I uhm…”
“Why didn’t you?!”
“I forgot,” Tom admitted, thinking back to his packing days. Of all the things that could have proven useful, that one might have been his biggest blunder.
“For the love of all that is holy! You are our saviour?!” Joelina scolded, understandably so, but still.
“Hey I never claimed to be smart!”
“I have lived your dreams. That is a lie! You very much claim to be smart!”
“Fuck off, I know you are just a scared little insecure girl.”
“She died 30 years ago!”
“Well I haven’t gotten to that bit yet!”
“What in the devils do you mean?” Joelina questioned calming right down in a fraction of a second.
“I’ve only had like three proper dreams about you… wait no, not like that,” Tom blurted out as it clicked just how wrong that sounded. Joelina didn’t seem to care in the slightest though.
“Three? That is it!?” going right back to outrage.
“Yeah… Wait, how many have you had?” Tom questioned. He rather wanted to know just how much she might know about him in addition to the memories she had already picked through when inside his head.
“Several a day!” the inquisitor exclaimed in reply.
“Okay, I can see how that would drive someone a bit mad.”
“I am not going mad!”
“Did Glazz say the same thing?” Tom questioned, quite certain he was striking a nerve.
There was no reply for quite some time, Tom feeling the headache growing as things grew tranquil once more. He could feel his breath. It was rapid, and his heart was pounding. He probably shouldn’t do this for much longer. Thus he endeavored to break the silence.
“You probably should listen to her you know.”
“No! These matters are above her station!”
“Hasn’t she been in the Inquisition longer than you?”
“She has yes. But she is no inquisitor. She is a body guard.”
“Seems like she is a wee bit more than that,” Tom pushed on. He didn’t yet know how those two came to stick together, but it was clear they had been working together for decades by now. All the way since she was assigned to Harvik
“Mind your own matters, human.”
“Very well, don’t think I can keep this up anyway.”
“We have barely been chatting! Where do the dogs come from?!”
“Selective breeding for thousands of years. But I’m gonna go. Take a break, do what Glazz says… even if Jacky hates her.”
Yet more silence followed that, though it was brief and Joelina was the first to speak again.
“Fine! In the interest of cooperation I shall let you rest. Wear the earring at all times, I shall be contacting you again soon.”
“I think I’m gonna be the judge of that. I’ll put it on when I feel like it.”
“You will do as I say!”
“You need a nap and a bit to calm down. I’ll give you three days. Around noon. See yah… How do I get this thing off?”
“I’m not telling you,” Joelina grumped like a little girl. She really didn’t seem quite like herself at all today. She had been the spitting image of restraint and arrogance before. The arrogance was still there, but the restraint had certainly gone.
“Come on, do I just try to cut off the magic or is that a bad idea?”
“If you answer a question I might answer.”
“Right then… Gimme gimme gimme aaaa-”
“JUST CUT IT! Farewell!” she called out loud enough Tom’s head pulsed and then there was blissful silence once more.
“Hehe. That did the trick, right concentrate on that funny feeling aaan-”
__________________________________________________________________________________
After dinner had been rounded up, Dakota had given a brief address as to some of the news received. There wasn’t much that hadn’t already made the rounds at the tables during the dinner itself. The war had been expanding, recruitment had started in full in the cities, and if not for the rather special situation at Bizmati they could have expected their banners to get called by spring.
Rumors had it that the kingdom was preparing itself for counterstrikes the following spring, which meant training through the winter for many volunteers.
“And a lot of not so volunteers,” Fengi muttered as Dakota carried on with the address.
“You can say that twice. At least the street rats might get something to eat and a place to sleep,” Tirox the trader escort added.
“I suppose that is true. Not a bad deal in winter time… I might even have taken it.”
“But we must instead keep our minds on our home,” Dakota carried on, talking to the whole hall. “There can be no mistake, we will be a target. We will be ready. They are getting bolder by the day it seems. It is not impossible they may attempt to take our keep before the winter comes. Or perhaps they will be waiting for spring. It is equally clear their forces are spread thin. We will weather such assaults, I have no doubt. But we must keep training. We must keep vigil. We cannot afford to be surprised or outmatched. I know you will all do your best. And tonight, we have no less than 4 dragons here. So breathe easy, have your snacks and your drinks. If the weather holds soon we will be finished with the warehouse and then we may make final preparations for winter. It is sure to be an interesting one for once.”
The hall replied with a half-discordant cheer, not overly enthusiastic unlike what Dakota had likely envisioned. The talk of them possibly getting attacked even before the snow came wasn’t really that encouraging. But Dakota tended to speak her mind, and she was probably right. Bizmati keep would be a damn tough nut to crack. And to Dakota’s credit she did seem to recognize she hadn’t really managed to rile them up.
“Didn’t you hear me?” she tried again in a slightly more humorous tone. “Eat, drink, and have fun! And put those tables together, don’t want you brooding in your corners.”
That did get a bit more of a reaction, as well as some good humored chuckles. People started getting up and set about moving the tables closer together.
It was a little rude to split up their guests in the same way as they normally did. Saph carried one of the benches over to the new spot, glancing around for any sign of Maiko, but there was no sign of him anywhere.
Feeling a little miffed, she sat down with the others as Ray came back with one of the small kegs of cider looking very excited. “We should have a taste, right?”
“Oh yes please!” Pho called out, Essy giving her a slight slap on the wrist.
“This one is only for those who paid for it. You will have to do with whatever you bought. Or the ale I’m sure they intend to serve.”
“Aww man. Not even a sip?”
“Okay, maybe a sip,” Essy relented. “Oh, I should get Koko his gift.”
“You got him a gift?” Saph questioned with mirth in her voice.
“Of course, that is what people do for each other… you did get Maiko something, right?”
Saph felt her expression slip a little as she prepared to disappoint their chief people person. “No, not really…”
“All that money and you didn’t get him shit? That’s cold girl,” Pho laughed, clearly finding it hilarious.
“Oh shut up, not as if I got something for Unkai either,” Fengi added, springing to Sapphire’s defence, though it seemed like the delivery had Fengi second guessing herself as well.
Esmeralda did look a little saddened by the news, but she was far too nice to say anything. Tirox however had no such filter.
“Oh don’t worry about it, just gotta go with a different sort of gift.” The diminutive guard laughed heartily at his joke. Udanti found it quite funny as well, and Pho certainly loved it. Bo just shook her head a little and went back to a small puzzle of some sort she had been working on, on and off, for most of the dinner by now.
“So uhm… One mug each?” Ray questioned, having been left hanging at the keg.
“Oh yes sorry, just the one, this stuff is expensive,” Saph replied, holding out her mug, Ray pushing it back down.
“One moment.” And she produced a wooden mallet and one of the metal taps. It looked like one of Raulf’s, so it was probably old as faded dragonscales.
Ray gingerly placed it against the cork and raised the mallet as the table fell silent in anticipation.
With a whack the tap went in clean with hardly a drop spilled, and Ray breathed a visible sigh of relief. “Right there we go.”
There was a quick round of cheers from the table, and Ray started pouring servings.
“Oh got yours open, have you?” the voice of Balethon came as the guard came walking up to the table, mug in hand and lizard on shoulder. “You all know we are gonna have to work out who got the better stuff, right?”
“Oh does it always have to be a competition with you, Balethon?” Saph questioned. She had just wanted to enjoy the cider.
“Look who is talking… And yeah of course we do! Just think of the bragging rights.”
Ray didn’t look too thrilled, nor did any of the girls who had actually paid for the keg. The rest of the table seemed to think it was a brilliant idea, even as Balethon’s voice carried and heads started to turn as people started to mingle between the now closely together tables.
“I’ll be the independent adjudicator!” Tirox declared, not receiving much attention as the full mugs started to get passed around. “Oh come on. I’ll be fair!”
“Shut it pipsqueak, you’ll end up taking 10 rounds of tastings before you make up your mind,” Udanti scolded, though in good humor.
“I might…” the guy relented, looking to Balethon. “Ey, by the way. Did you teach the brainlet any tricks?”
“Sure, Skitters can do a few things.”
“Aside from chasing the food?”
“You know what I think he might yeah,” Balethon replied sarcastically, gently tapping the static lizard twice on the head. The lizard didn’t do much save skitter about on his shoulder to face Balethon’s head, one eye pointing in whichever direction.
‘That thing just looks so dumb,’ Saph thought to herself as Ray handed her a mug. “Oh thank you.”
“Okay, Skitters. Up,” Balethon went, raising a claw into the air as if he wanted the lizard to jump. Or perhaps stand up. “Up… come on.”
There was no reaction from the lizard aside from it jerking to the left a bit, possibly having spotted a fly or something.
“Weeeell obedience might need some work,” Udanti chuckled. “Have you tried with some food in your hand?”
“Sure, then he just tries to eat the hand. Come on, Skitters. Up!” Balethon tried again, doing the gesture once more. And this time the little lizard jumped into the air. The little legs stretched out, taking its pitiful excuse for wings with it, and it half-fell half-glided to the floor where it hit with all the grace of a 6 year old on his first lesson. The slightly fat lizard bounced once, then rolled over twice before coming to a stop, looking around confused.
“Aaayyy! That’s a good boi,” Balethon went, going to pick it up again before someone stepped on it or it ran off under the tables. “And now you get a treat.” True to his word Skitters was fed a small piece of something or other which it seemed quite happy to snap up.
Fengi leaned in to whisper to Saph. “Was that the trick or did it just get sick of staying there?”
“I have no idea,” Saph replied, holding up her mug. “Cheers though.”
“Cheers,” Fengi replied as they clinked mugs.
“Oh hang on now, wait for me,” Essy protested as Ray finished pouring her mug and started on her own, looking to the girls as she questioned “Oh, also what about Jacky? Should we wait for her?”
“Who knows how long that will take?” Fengi replied, holding her mug impatiently.
“I’m sure she won’t mind. She is with Tom. We’ll let him have a mug as well,” Essy added with a reassuring nod, looking up to the high table. “Oh but we are missing Lin!”
“Oh right yeah she paid too… I can’t remember, did Edita chip in?”
“I don’t think so,” Sapphire replied, shaking her head as Essy got up to go fetch Linkosta. Balethon decided to take her place, a big grin on his face.
“So what else is going on over here?”
“Oh not much, hellooo little guy,” Pho went, trying to give skitters a scritching. In exchange he tried to eat her finger. “Oh… I mean I guess it doesn’t hurt.”
“Oh yeah, he can’t hurt a fly… well he can, but nothing more.”
“Shame he won’t get any bigger either,” Udanti added, nodding sagely. “Would have made a good rat hunter.”
“Nah… toe hunter though. Also where is the ale at?”
“Oh Raulf and Wiperna are getting ale and some of the bubble beer.”
“What is bubble beer?” Udanti questioned, tilting her head.
“Oh you’ll love it,” Saph interjected, waiting patiently as she saw Essy and Linkosta returning to the table out of the corner of her eye. “It’s an ale but it’s all fizzy.”
“Riiight… I’ve heard of fizzy beers before.”
“Oh yes, but this one is so much more fizzy.”
“It’s light and almost springlike.”
“Light ale? You mean for kids?”
“No no no. Just trust us it’s good.”
“Right right, I trust you,” the archer replied, looking to Essy and Linkosta, who seemed to be looking for a place to sit. “Should we not just put two end to end rather than this scrunching up business?”
“Yeah we should… Right get the craftsman table over here then. We don’t wanna have to smell the guards,” Saph called out, holding up her mug.
“Hey! That was uncalled for,” Balethon protested as Ray passed a mug to Linkosta. The girls all raised their mugs and had a sip, not willing to wait any longer. They all smacked their chops a little, looking down at the golden liquid. It was slightly fizzy too… and it tasted like the brew of the gods themselves. Ray was looking at them all visibly tense with anticipation and perhaps a twinge of fear.
“Ray… You have not disappointed,” Saph declared, nodding her approval, a smile creeping onto her face once more.
“Oh this is the best drink I think I’ve ever had,” Fengi added, taking another gentle sip.
Ray looked visibly relieved, her expression changing to one of ecstasy as she too took a sip herself. “Oh it’s even better than I remember. I’m glad you liked it.”
“Like it?! I love it!” Fengi cheers, Essy giving an appreciative nod to Ray before looking to Lin.
“Sooo?”
“It’s very good… Do you think we could try and cool it down a little? Imagine this cold.”
“It is often served cold, yes,” Ray confirmed, nodding her assent.
“I’ll go get the powder!” Saph called out, getting up. “I have got to try that.”
__________________________________________________________________________________
The strange ethereal world that had seemed so all-consuming started to quickly fade. Holes grew as light and reality started seeping in, sounds and noise starting to build around him. “Oom-Tom… Tom, are you okay?” came the familiar voice of Jacky as his eyes shot open and he blinked a few times as he returned to reality proper.
“Yeah yeah, I’m here… That is trippy, but hey, I think it worked.”
“How many fingers?” Jacky questioned, holding up her hand.
“4. Clear as day.”
“Pheeew. Okay look around, anything strange?”
Tom obeyed, sitting up a bit straighter and glancing about the room. “Nnnnn, nope all good. Just like last time I used one of these.”
“Right, good. Now what did she say?”
“Oh a bunch of stuff… mostly we chatted a bit about how she’s going a touch mad. Even Glazz thinks she’s falling apart at the seams apparently. She was also not happy I wanted a break.”
“Oh don’t tell me you have to do this every day from now on?”
“I said she had 3 days to get ready to try again. Hopefully she’ll have her case worked out by then.”
“Here’s to hoping… also how is your head? Does it hurt?”
“A bit, it’ll go away I’m sure.”
“Right,” Jacky replied, looking at him skeptically. “If it gets worse, tell me. But dinner was served a while ago I think. And I’m hungry.”
“Me too, let’s go.”
__________________________________________________________________________________
Well then, Joelina got her chat. She seems fine... I am sure she will continue to be a steadfast ally, within the walls of the inquisition for many weeks to co- I mean years, definetly years.
As always I hope you enjoyed the chapter, if not you know who to blame. I promise I won't cry to much if you tell me what was wrong... I promise.
Not really any news, other than fuck me I'm a busy boi, luckily I found the time to keep up with the writing yet, hopefully things will quet down soon so I can get back to begin a bit further ahead.
Untill next time, take care
Wiki and Art Gallery If you can't remember who someone is, want to read any of the side stories of fanfiction, or you just wanna watch some of the cool art that's been made for the story. Patreon If you want to help get more cool shit made consider joining the Patreon, you also get chapters two weeks ahead of time. HoH Subreddit if you want more stories from the HoH universe or are interested in writing something for this funny little world. Discord if you wanna have a chat about the story or just hang out First Previous

My spirit guides purposly pinch parts of my body, create thought flows that only let me think about what they want me to think about, and constantly talk and chatter and negativity and purposly destory my life in a variety of places and im turning 25 now and beyond witts end
I've only started to pick up so many things because they keep me in a daze on PURPOSE and constant pain and all these spiritual problems and fluctuations
And they do things like numb me from the things i like on purpose, put images of things i hate all the time in my head, always channelling through me and doing stuff to my energy and body that randomly makes me sometimes unable to stop talking, or i feel cold and my energy is gone, or they keep my arm muscles pinched in a way that destory my confidence in a weird backwards way but it works, and long term ive ate more than ive lifted and they make fun of my body, and had it all back then but not really since theyve been here ever since the beginning of my spiritual problems or before that
i cant find the details properly, but i know some things they warned me to never astral projexct, along with a bunch of other silly things and rules that basically destoryed me, and i came across a video by key.guidance on TT and she said you CAN fire spirit guides with AP
what ive learned recently, and theyve got me so messed up i write this as i shake:

• they are constantly channeling through me, can speak & affect me and play with my thoughts in a way where i don't get a break and i don't have free will

so i know stopping channeling is a thing, but i cant create sheilds of sorts or even ask somebody to make me one or buy any since they DEFINITELY know how to take it down, they're not weaker than the average specialist, theyre S class specialists actually
also i didnt know they were human but i always suspected they were since they weren't unconditionally loving at all and have appeared in me and my father's dreams a few times as a human man, islamic & religous, so is my dad and the religion i was born into
and they keep me forced to follow many rules with no freedom and free will, one time the spiritual storm was so strong and they were telling me it's "God's torment" and "if you get married we will make it stop" and they think i have daddy issues and create a variety of ACTUAL GASLIGHTING to the point where i have literal no power & no one would believe the amount of shit these guys do to me by the 24/7, and ive been fighting to get rid of my spiritual problems since i was an early teen, my memories got blacked out like 3-5 times in here, and they do that on purpose and numb me when i try to think back and tell me dont look back so they implant a belief in me at certain times and completely mess with me
and for so long ive been searching what the actual F is my actual spiritual problem, listen:

• theyre spirit guides and are islamic, im not sure what others have when they use taro sites , but the one i used randomly when i was younger as i was discovering i had spiritual problems and studying physics on my own, is that i can communicate with an angel theoretically, by just writing "angel messenges generator" of some sort on my phone, and i made contact with something, i didnt know what it was at the time and i thought it was actual angels

and from then on, since i had a demons problem, i thought it was only natural that i finally had "invisible help" for my "invisible problem"
but my life went to SHIT with each and every advice i took from them, and they gaslight me about it like crazy too, but its been confirmed now that all these things theyve done to me was on purpose, and i was always too much in survibal mode, immidiate survival mode to be able to think about whats going on properly, my main source of anxiety throughout the times was "listening to you isnt doing me well" until i finally learned why that was
i just kept trusting, because the game they play is deep and they basically try to use you 24/7, and they make fun of me when they deplete me and im having a breakdown in the corner
so now what? i learned i can put them in jail because of some method with AP, WHICH i didnt end up doing and was a big time dream of mine because i was specified that i couldnt, and when i tried, i got literal r4ped by ghost humans or demons, two of them, male
so im at my wits end and i hurt myself thinking about the last one and it makes them so happy, and im so miserable now, but im strong, but also there's actual no hope unless somebody can tell me how i can stop channeling, how to cut their permissions
and also you guys no joke, i was a progidy and these guys are NOT gonna be taken down by any random specialist
anything would help, love!

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9 hours away from now

PART 1 :
https://www.reddit.com/nosleep/comments/1c1fu8d/i_filmed_something_that_i_cant_explain/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
PART 2 :
https://www.reddit.com/nosleep/comments/1c2yziu/i_filmed_something_that_i_cant_explain_part_2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
PART 3 :
https://www.reddit.com/nosleep/comments/1cnwpo2/i_filmed_something_that_i_cant_explain_part_3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
PART 4 :
https://www.reddit.com/nosleep/comments/1copwms/i_filmed_something_that_i_cant_explain_part_4/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Last night, after posting the last update, I couldn’t find any sleep. Not only because that back seat was probably the less comfortable one on the car market, nor because Mark and Claire were talking loudly outside, or not even because, as heartwarming and comforting as Lucy’s presence besides me was, I hadn’t slept so close to someone in forever. No, I could have gotten over all this easily. But one thing was keeping me awake, running through my head endlessly. When Claire took me to the Doors Realm (that’s its name now), and that we encountered what was, just a few hours before, still an unknown man that helped me to get so far, I learned so many things.

At first, Claire recognized him as the man that captured Mark’s childhood classmate, Martin, 11 years ago, and that had locked him in his house for all this time, until a few days ago, Mark and she saved him. That man then explained to her that, since their last encounter, he had been stuck in this place and couldn’t find his door anymore. Upon further talking, they came to the conclusion that the beast that was hunting me in the Doors Realm was what was left of the entity that they thought they had destroyed: Vessel. But that he had got rid of his “human” part that was nowhere to be seen there, and without it, he was less smart, but he was also free of what allowed them to hurt him the first time. We then stumbled upon a door that had been forced and was slightly open. Claire succeeded to take a shot of the inside of the door thanks to my camera, that later revealed a young boy who Lucy recognized when she saw it as a patient in a youth psychiatric center in which she lately had an internship for her studies: Nicolas. Claire and Mark thought strongly that Vessel’s human part had took refuge in that boy. Our plan was now the following: Lucy and I would get in the center to talk to Nicolas, since she was authorized to enter it for school purposes, and try to figure things out.

But the thing that was really keeping me awake and thinking was this: while on the Doors Realm, the man had revealed to me that he was my biological father, and that it was the reason I was connected to that place as much: I was half like him. I couldn’t ask him more as we had to move fast. We didn’t mention that to Mark and Lucy when we got back, Claire understood that I probably didn’t want to say that right after learning about it.

That revelation had me wondering so many things. I never knew anything about my biological parents, I was left at the door of the orphanage where I spent most of my life when I was 1 year old. So many questions were popping in my head each seconds: who was my mom, where was she, why did they abandon me, what were the consequences of me being half like them… I didn’t even know where to begin… and this also meant that my real father had kidnapped a 9-year-old and kept him alive as his blood stock for years, and that was absolutely chilling to consider, and at the same time, I couldn’t get all the things he did to help me so far out of my head. All of it was so confusing.

“So, do you want to talk about it?”

I was brought out of my agitated mind by Lucy’s tired voice. She was lying behind me, and I turned to face her. I didn’t think our faces would be that close, our lips were probably 4/5 centimeters away from each other. I immediately told my mind to shut up and stop thinking about that.
Our eyes locked, I never noticed how deep the iris of her eyes were.

“I’m sorry, did I wake you up?” I asked her.

“No, I just can’t sleep.” She answered.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I returned her question.

She sighed.

“I hate it, but I gotta admit, this is a pretty creepy situation to be thrown in out of nowhere.”

“I’m so sorry I dragged you into this Lucy…” I felt bad.

“Don’t be, I kinda asked for it, I don’t regret it.”

“He’s my father.” I felt a sudden need to tell her about it. “At least that’s what he said, the man in the Doors Realm, Martin’s captor.”

She looked confused. I elaborated, making sure that she had the full picture. At the end, she stayed silent.

“What do you think about it?” I asked.

“That it’s just getting creepier.” She said.

That wasn’t a crazy answer, but surely not what I expected.

“How so?” I asked.

“Isn’t something really starts to bug you in all this?” She answered.

“I mean, yes, thousands, but…” I said, ironically.

“Yes of course, but, I mean, don’t you think everything is a bit too tied together? I mean, really, look at it: Mark ends up babysitting Claire, who’s affected by some vampire-curse, and haunted by an entity that seems at the center of the whole thing. She gives him the curse. They leave together to investigate about Mark’s dark secret and ends up saving his old classmate from a man that has the same condition as them and used him for years. They then fight the entity and hurt it so bad that it breaks itself apart from its human part, which somehow finds shelter in a boy that I, the neighbor of Mark’s “sexfriend”, already knew. And now, the man that held Martin captive happens to be the biological father of the hook-up of the ancient classmate of that same Martin he kidnapped. That classmate comes back to save him, and they end up locking the man in the Doors Realm, which will eventually lead him to encounter his daughter, you... I mean, the way all of us seem to be linked together, it rubs me the wrong way.”

I never thought of it until now. She was right, those constant connections tying everything together, it was creepy.

“I’m sorry you have to be involved, really.” I knew I was repeating myself, but I really felt guilty.

“Hey, I already told you it was okay, I chose this, you’re not responsible of my actions Sarah.” I felt her hand slowly touching mine under the thin plaid we shared. “Plus, it’s not all bad…”

“You can leave anytime you want Lucy. I won’t be mad you know…” I said.

“No, even with all that, I don’t want to, because, … God, that’s so hard to explain with words.”

I smiled. Despite all the confidence she had shown in the little thing that was slowly blooming between the two of us, she still had some difficulties at times, and I thought that was cute.

“It’s okay, I’m good at interpretation…” I said, encouraging her to share what she was feeling.

“The point is that I see it’s not just me. I feel your company, and I can’t fail to believe it’s not just me. I know you’re feeling the same way…” She whispered.

I had a little laugh.

“Are these song lyrics? Because it sounded like it.” I asked with a smile.

She had a embarrassed expression.

“I arranged them a little bit…” She said.

“And what song was it?”

“Ho I’ll never tell you!” She said laughing quietly.

I grabbed her hand, and she placed her other one on my cheek. It was soft. My eyes looked instinctively to the window. I saw Claire watching me with a small smile. Mark was still speaking, and she articulated silently a phrase that I could read on her lips: “We’re going to take a walk.” On that, she took Mark away from the car, and their voices faded away. I looked back to Lucy and our faces were now even closer than before. I won’t elaborate here, that’s not the place, I’ll just say that her lips and all of her skin were soft and that, with all my experiences so far, I still never felt that way before with anyone.

I finally found some sleep.

We both woke up today to the voices of Mark and Claire. They were ready to go and, after reviewing one last time the plan together, we started driving. Approximately an hour later, we arrived at the center. Lucy and I got out of the car, Mark and Claire would be waiting for us on the parking lot.

Lucy took the lead, and we passed each door without problem. Arrived at the main room, we didn’t had to look for Nicolas for long. He was sitting alone at a table, drawing. We approached him and sat on each side. Lucy made me a sign to tell me that she should probably speak first for now. She took a soft and calm voice.

“Hello Nicolas.” She said.

“Hi! Who are you?” He immediately said, staring at us.

“We are here to talk to you, we just want to chat a little bit, if that’s okay.” Lucy continued calmly.

“Sure, that’s cool. What you wanna talk about?” He was speaking carefree.

“Well, first, do you think you could tell me about why you’re here?” She asked.

Nicolas leaned towards us and whispered.

“I have a special friend.” He said, with a little proud smile. He then changed to an annoyed face. “My parents, the doctors, they don’t like him…”

“Do you know who he is?” Lucy whispered back, mimicking his behavior. I was a bit impressed by how good and effective she was at talking with him.

“Not really, he never tells me his name. But he’s so funny!”. He said happily.

“And how do you talk with him?”

He pointed his head and winked to us.

“Right there, he’s here! He says he can’t find his door, I don’t really understand that, so, sometimes, I allow him to use mine, just a bit, because, when we’re doing that, I’m in a dark place, and sometimes I hear scary noise, so he never do it long…”

“You know, I think we already know your friend… His name is Vessel. I don’t know how it works between you two, but he needs to know that he’s not safe. And, if we could talk to him for just a little time, we could help him… do you think you could do that?”

He had a scared look.

“I can feel he wants to come right now, he wants to talk to you too.” He stayed silent for a moment. “Not too long, okay?”

Suddenly, his expression changed. He looked terrified. He stared at us.

“Hello misses. I don’t understand, why do you say I’m in danger?” His voice was shaking, but also very formal.

Lucy looked at me a bit lost, clearly expressing that it was now my turn.

“Hello Vessel. Well, you can’t stay in Nicolas, it’s not safe, you should…” I stopped when I saw that Lucy was looking me dead in the eye with that exact expression: (=_=). I understood that I probably wasn’t very smart in my approach. She took the lead again, which I thought was probably a better choice anyway.

“Listen Vessel, we’re here to help you. What we said is true, you’re not completely safe in there. I know you feel better, but, it’s not safe, Nicolas’s door didn’t close, and don’t you think it’s a bit unfair for Nicolas?”

“You’re probably correct…” said Vessel.

“But listen, we’re not going to ask you to just leave, no, we’ll find a solution together, okay? But for that, we’ll need you to join us.” Lucy said.

“How can I do that? I don’t want to go back to the dark place, there’s the beast, and, if she gets back, I’ll be mean and alone again…”

Lucy thought for a moment.

“Well, you’re gonna wait at the door, and when you’ll hear 3 knocks on the other side, you’ll go out, it will be us, so you won’t be alone, and we’ll find a solution, okay?” She asked.

“You will be here?” He asked, pointing his finger to Lucy.

“Well, Sarah here, and another friend will.” She said.

Vessel looked worried, but he accepted. We then instructed him to let Nicolas back in. Lucy explained to Nicolas that he was going to lose his friend, but that everything will be better and that he’ll be safer.

We left the center after that. We got back to the car and explained what happened to Mark and Claire. Claire agreed to take us back to the Doors Realm, as we were convinced that the key to solve all this was there, and that now that we had access to that new part of Vessel, this could be the moment to fix everything. We drove to an isolated place on the side of a lonely road.

Claire and I were getting ready to enter the Doors Realm when Lucy made a request.

“I want to come with you… I have to!” She was a bit hesitating but decided.

“Why is that?” Asked Claire.

“Vessel, or, we could call him young Vessel, well, he’s scared, terrified even. You two, I don’t think you’ll be great at dealing with him, but I think I can help. If I’m there, he’ll be way more trusting I think.” She was speaking with confidence. From what I saw at the center earlier, she had a point.

“Do you think you can make it?” Mark asked Claire.

“I should be able to, I’m more worried about her… Lucy, I can take you there, but you’ll be in more danger than us. You’re entirely human, you’re not supposed to go there in the first place, so I think that you’ll be way more affected if something gets to you in any way.” Claire said.

“It’s okay, just, send me back here if there’s any risk of me getting hurt.”

“Fine, so, are you two readies then?”

Lucy and I nodded yes. Claire gave a look to Mark, and he nodded too. The three of us held hands and closed our eyes.

A few seconds later, we were back in the hallway of my foster home, like each time before. I knew I was going to hear it at any moment, my foster dad calling me downstairs. Claire and Lucy both already saw that memory play out in some way. Lucy immediately held my hand.

“Sarah, …” Claire didn’t know what to say.

We heard it. “Sarah, daddy needs your help, come down here.” It sent chills down my spine.

“Sarah, we can just leave, okay?” Said Claire.

But when she tried to open the front door, it was unmovable. I knew what it was.

“Claire, I think we can’t leave the house until the memory plays out.” I said.

“Well, then, we can just wait here, can’t we? You don’t have to face it.” Said Lucy.

“Stay there, you two, I’m going to fix this.” I said. I felt confident, more than ever before.

“But Sarah…” Claire started.

“Only come if I ask you to, in case something wrong happens.”

With that, I headed towards the stairs to the basement. His voice kept calling me: “ Come on, faster, Daddy needs you.” I slowly walked down the stairs, each steps getting me closer to the moment that followed me for years. I finally walked down the last step. He was standing there, with his awful smile, just like that day.

“Come closer, I have to show you something.” He said.

I looked at him. Now, in front of him, I wasn’t scared anymore, all I felt was sadness, pride and pity. Pity of seeing this fucked up man that had hurt so many children, and that was probably still living with the guilt and the loneliness that came with it, sadness of having been one of the children that he hurt so deeply, but pride of also having been the one to expose him, preventing so many other children that could have followed me.

“No.” I said.

His expression became annoyed.

“Is that what you said to Lucy?” He said.

I closed my eyes, and images of last night flashed in my head. I knew he just gave me the strength to beat him. I opened them and slowly walked towards him. He smiled and opened his arms. I put my hands on his chest and he looked surprised. I looked him in the eyes.

“I’m sorry for you, but from now on, you’ll really be alone… Cause I’m not scared of you, you don’t define me.” I said calmly.

With that, he disappeared, and with him, the whole house faded. Soon we were in the dark space. Lucy and Claire looked at me, concerned.

“I’m good.” I said. I turned my head to Lucy. “I promise.”

We walked around for a few minutes, looking for Nicola’s broken door. We knew it wasn’t appearing as easily as the other ones. Eventually, we encountered the man that captured the Martin, the one who told me he was my biological father. He looked at us.

“You’re there! Did you find a plan?” He asked, out of breath.

“The beginning of one…” Said Claire.

“How much time will it take you?”

“Why?” Asked Claire.

“He’s really not far, I’ve been running away from him, you can’t take too much time or…”

He was cut off by a loud scream. The beast, Vessel’s violent and cruel part, was already close. Immediately, we could see it running towards us. If we didn’t move fast, he’ll get us, but we had to find Nicola’s door. The man looked at us with a panicked face, which slowly morphed into a desperate one. He looked down and whispered a few words to himself. He lifted his head and looked right at me.

“Your mom’s name is Debby, and she’s the sweetest person I ever knew.” He said. He then turned his head to Claire. “Whatever it is that you have to do, do it now.”

He turned to face the beast that was approaching, running on all fours, and started to head towards it. He soon found himself in front of it and it immediately pierced his chest with its long claws. The man screamed of pain, and shouted one last thing to us: “Come on, do your thing!” I realized I didn’t know his name.

The three of us started to run randomly, looking all around for Nicola’s door while the beast was taking care of the man. At some point, Lucy shouted.

“Is that it?”

She was pointing Nicola’s Door. Claire and I came to her. Then, Claire started to walk slowly towards the door. We knew we had to move fast, as the man will eventually stop interesting the beast, but we also knew that if we weren’t careful, the door would disappear. Claire finally reached the door and knocked 3 times. We had to wait a few seconds before the door started to open. A young boy, probably 8 years old, covered in stains, he was very dirty, and dressed with clothes that looked like they were from another time came from it. It was young Vessel. He looked terrified when he saw the beast in the distance. He then saw that Lucy was there and ran to hug her. Claire took care of closing the door behind him, that then disappeared. He was staying close from Lucy and looked at us.

“Hey, we’re going to find a solution, okay.” Said Lucy.

“Who’s the little lady?” He said, pointing to Claire.

Claire had an annoyed look.

“A friend, alright?” She said with a very dry tone.

“And what is this now?”” I asked. Some sort of old cabin made of wood had appear close from us.

All of us looked at it, trying to recognize something from any of our own memories, but it didn’t ring any bell. That’s when young Vessel had a little gasp.

“Ho, no, no no no, we shouldn’t go there.” He said. His voice was shaking as he grasped to Lucy’s leg stronger.

“Why is that? Do you know what this is?” Asked Claire, clearly not wanting to waste too much time.

Young Vessel looked at Lucy, who nodded to him. He looked at Claire again.

“It’s the old woman’s house, it’s dangerous, I don’t want to go back misses…”

Claire approached him slowly.

“What happened there, do you remember?” She asked him.

He hid a bit more behind Lucy.

“It was a long time ago, I think, I don’t remember… I know mother told me not to go in the forest alone, I shouldn’t have, I know, I’m very sorry. But I went, and then, I saw the house. I got inside, I thought it was abandoned. I touched a few things, but not too much, I swear… But the old woman, she was there, I didn’t know she was living there, but she saw me, and then she asked me if I had friends, but I didn’t so I told her I did not, and she asked me a lot of questions, and she started to say weird things. I felt weird, it hurt. And then I got here, in this scary place. I could never open my own door, and I was all alone, and it was horrible. But then, not long ago, my door finally reopened, and I saw 2 people that I didn’t recognize, but they left fast. After that, my door cracked and exploded, and the beast came out of it. It was scary, and I ran until I found Nicola’s door… So, it’s dangerous inside…”

All of us looked at each other wondering what to do. Lucy looked to him.

“Well, if it all started there, maybe we can solve everything there too, don’t you think?” She said. “And we’ll be with you, so, you won’t be alone…”

He looked a bit worried, as Claire seemed clearly eager to move. He eventually accepted and we all started to walk towards the cabin. We walked the few steps. The wood was rotten, covered in moss and lichen in places. Claire opened the door, and we got inside. It was filthy, dark, the only light coming from the dirty windows, which was weird, as it was supposed to be dark outside. Looking at it again, we could see a forest at daytime on the other side of the glass. We waited in silence for a few seconds, wondering when something will happen. It didn’t take long.

All of sudden, a closet located at the back of the room opened slowly. We could see an old hand with thin fingers and dirty nails holding it from the inside. All of us got closer to each other. A deep and heavy breath was suddenly heard coming from the inside of that closet. The door opened more, revealing an old lady. She was short, and excessively thin, it was like she only had skin covering her bones and no internal organs. Her nails were long and pointy, and she was wearing a simple, dirty robe, looked hand-made.

She had a wide smile on her face that was revealing perfectly white teeth that seemed completely out of character, looking at the rest of her body.

She walked out of the closet and stared at each of us. She was reacting to our presence, which meant that was not the memory playing out. She then noticed young Vessel hiding behind Lucy, her smile became wider, her jaw clenched more, making her face lokk way more sinister.

“There you finally are… Long have I waited…” Her voice was the one you’d expect from an old lady, but with a more twisted tone to it. “But you’re not the whole thing… Let’s get him.”

She stood straighter and all her bones made a cracking sound. She lifted an arm and her finger elongated. She shook her hand a little. Suddenly, the beast appeared in the middle of the room, and it looked terrified by the old woman. It was trying to move but was like stuck by invisible ties. The woman was looking straight at it with an even creepier smile than before.

“Now, let’s get to the good part… We’re going to get rid of this.” She made another hand move in its direction.

The beast progressively took the form of a young man, probably in his late twenties. He finally fell on the floor. He was sitting there, dark circles around his eyes, he was dressed simply but pretty elegant. He looked extremely tired, his eyes were looking at the ground. He seemed out of breath. His face had an angry but exhausted expression. We were now in the presence of the other Vessel, that had his entire rage and curse taken away from him

“You…” Claire said.

The man looked up to her and had a face of surprise.

“Claire? What are you doing here?” He asked.

They both looked surprised.

“Well!” Said the old woman. “You took your sweet time, didn’t you Vessel?”

He looked up to her with his angry expression coming back.

“You’ve done more than I could ever hope you to, even refusing to die…” She continued. She was smiling, clearly mocking him. “Now tell me, now that it’s out of you…” She leaned towards him. “… how do you feel about everything you’ve done?”

He looked so devastated. She laughed. Vessel started to look at us and noticed young Vessel standing behind Lucy. He seemed shocked to see him. He somehow found the strength to get up on his feet and slowly walked towards him. Young Vessel came out of behind Lucy a little bit. Vessel got down to his level. He had a slight smile on his face.

“God, how young was I…”

He presented his hand, and young Vessel held it.

“How could I forget you… I’m sorry little one. I think it started because I wanted to protect you… Can’t say I did a great job…”

“Come on, Vessel, you know it’s time now… I can’t wait to enjoy everything you gathered for all this time.” Said the old lady, still giggling. Her face had a creepy look to it.

Vessel looked down to his feet.

“It’s time for us to go my friend.” He said to Young Vessel.

“Are we going to die?” He asked, his eyes filling with tears.

“I think so.” Vessel answered calmly, his face showing a thousand regrets.

“But, I don’t want to die…” He said, crying.

“I know…” Vessel said.

He got up and stayed silent for a moment. He then turned his head towards Claire.

“For what it’s worth,… I’m really sorry little lady… You’re really impressive you know.” He said. He then turned towards the old woman and addressed us one last phrase.

“You can leave now, It will be okay, but be fast.”

Claire and I started to go back to the entrance door. Young Vessel was crying. Lucy looked confused. I called her, telling her to hurry. She had a panicked look. She finally leaned towards young Vessel and whispered something in his ear. She then looked at him as he stopped crying.

“You understand?” She asked him.

He nodded yes.

On this she followed us. The three of us started to run to find our doors. I asked Lucy what she said to young Vessel, but she answered that she just reassured him. Eventually, we found ourselves in front of our doors, and I had the surprise to see that the claw marks and scratches on my door had fade away. We looked at each other, Lucy looked at the cabin one last time, and we all went through our doors.

We came back to the car. Mark was out of breath. We weren’t at the spot we were before. Apparently, a severe storm had started to form around us and he had to drive us away. It suddenly stopped less than a minute before we came back and he could stop. We explained everything that had happened to us.

After talking a bit about everything, we understood that everything was now probably back to “normal”. Mark and Claire accepted to drive us back to our place, understanding that this time, we’ll probably never see each other again. Lucy and I were on the back seat and I couldn’t help but notice that she still looked a bit worried. I asked us what was wrong, but she assured me that it was fine. A few minutes passed and she still had that same anxious expression.

Eventually, she looked at the window and let out a small gasp that I was the only one to hear. I looked at her. A little smile formed on her face and quietly said: “I knew it” and winked to the window.

“Are you sure you’re fine?” I asked, pretending I hadn’t seen that.

She smiled at me, a peaceful warm and beautiful smile, and hold my hand.

“Yeah, it really is now. I’m good.” She answered.

I’m in the car as I’m posting this. I think it’ll be my last update, at least I hope so. It’s crazy how so many insane and fucked up shit I’ve been through these last few days, and yet, I’ve never felt so good. In a way, I think this is the best thing that ever happened to me, at least, when I look at the person sitting beside me, that’s how I feel. Thanks to those who followed me.

[First] [Previous] [Next]
An old desk phone stands on a marble pedestal, lost in the middle of a dark room. A perfectly circular, dark room, dug deeply into the bedrock of a city far, far away from anywhere important to our story. Silence reigns in this room… until the phone starts ringing. It rings for such a long time, uninterrupted, insistent, inconsiderate even! It rings for longer than any person should be willing to wait, longer than anyone would stomach. A sane person would simply give up and call later… But this caller? No. This caller refuses to be ignored.

So it rings, even while a set of long, skeletal fingers stretch from the shadows. Knuckles and joints crack as the hand does a few stretches, taking the time to caress the nasty, annoying phone for a moment without picking it up.

“Oh bother… I wonder who that could be…?”

The voice was raspy, nasal and grumbly. It loved to complain, and it had done so for so long that even when it wasn’t complaining, it sounded annoyed and legitimately upset. The hand stopped uncomfortably caressing the vibrating phone for a moment to grab the caller ID. Its dim green light was perfectly reflected on the hand’s glossy white skin.

“Ah… G again, huh…?”

Understanding that it couldn’t simply ignore this annoying sound forever, and that the call may actually mean something important (and lucrative), the hand returned to the phone and finally picked it up.

“You interrupted my nap.” The raspy voice said.

“You shouldn’t sleep for so long. It’s bad for you.” The young boy’s voice answered, legitimately concerned.

“Oh yeah? You suggest I should go out instead? Take a shower, get dolled up, and then bask under the full concentrated power of the Sun?”

“Come on now, don’t be like that. You know what I mean.”

“You better mean something important, to interrupt my nap like that, you old bastard.”

The white, skeletal hand made a few sassy snaps, loud enough to be heard over the phone.

“Alright alright, I am done beating around the bush. Sorry.” The calm, youthful voice sighed over the phone, these conversations were enough to exhaust him.

“Yeah that’s right, bitch.”

“It’s just… we have a new visitor in The Forum, and I’d like you to give us a little check on who or what.”

“What, are you afraid of a few gremlins and jinxes finally finding their way over your precious forum? Or is this a troll hunt?” The raspy voice finally got up from the sea of cushions and empty bags, and with another snapping of his fingers, he activated the widescreens that covered every single spot of his walls with the exception of a single metal door. The lights were warm and orangey, designed to avoid straining the eyes.

The room had returned to life! It was an absolute disaster, pillows and empty bloodbags laid scattered around without a care, and the whole place had a disgusting aura of filth to it.

Blanco was fully illuminated now. His figure was enough to cause nightmares to a few children: a tall, lanky and wide-shouldered man, skin white as marble and cracked as an old dry cookie, full of darker spots and nasty scars. His arms were long enough for the knuckles of his free hand to feel the floor.

But what was worst of all was his face: a perfectly round, perfectly smooth face, lacking hair, eyes and ears, only showing a few dark veins underneath the glossy skin. His mouth was another crack in this otherwise flawless surface, showing myriads of sharp, black teeth.

“Now let’s see…”

The screens all showed the same picture of Blanco’s face, a toothy smile covering his visage. With a mere gesture of his hand, a wireless keyboard came floating to the creature, big and wide enough for his disproportionate hands. The keys were shining in beautiful purple, producing a hypnotic wave effect across its length.

After cracking his knuckles, the creature began typing and accessing one of the many screens, the one permanently connected to Dejima 08. Blanco stretched again, sitting in the air and crossing his lanky legs as he checked the analytics.

“Yep. You have a new visitor, and they immediately registered. ‘Tav’, huh? Too generic.”

“Can you give me a bit more info on them?” The young man asked.

“Are you officially commissioning me now? Because this is as far as our friendship will get me without pay.” Blanco smirked, a purple tongue licking his nonexistent lips.

“...I’ll have the payment sent immediately. I want an hour of your time.” There was hesitation on the old voice. He clearly didn’t feel good about this, but one could never be too careful.

“Oh boy!” The creature clapped rapidly, and before he knew it, there was a notification on another screen. Ka-ching! The sound of money going straight into his PayBud. “Ohhh Giovanni, you gotta be my best client, really. Most people whine about my prices.”

“You probably tell that to every client you get.” G chuckled, taking it like a good sport.

“I do!” Blanco admitted with a bright, big smile, and then slid over to face a cluster of 9 screens on a wall. “This will take just a moment…”

The screens would go to black at the same time, before glyphs of many sizes, shapes and forms began flooding them, spiraling to the center of each display. The lines that draw them were a pale, regular blue at first, before suddenly taking a bright octarine hue. Blanco’s fingers tapped wildly on his keyboard, while his mind focused on the seeking runes that took him straight into the second layer of reality.

Mages didn’t usually deal with the technology of the Sleepers. Not because they felt it was below them (even though many of them would certainly take that posture to protect their fragile egos), but for protection: Technology born out of the mundane rules of the natural world did not meddle well with magic, and even in a world that had lost 95% of its magical population, infusing magic on mechanisms and electrical circuits was a great way to attract pesky fairies.

Blanco, however, was not just any mage. After several lifetimes of work and study, he had mastered the art of using magic in conjunction with the power of the Internet itself, turning him into one of the most prolific hackers and trackers in the whole world of Jericho. Perhaps even the single most requested man in the business!

He, of course, didn’t accept just any job. He only took the work that interested him, that made him think outside of the box, or that paid particularly well. But Giovanni here? The old man was an exception. Giovanni had been good to Blanco in a time where no one else would even look at the creature, and as much as he hated showing gratitude for things, Blanco was a man of honor… to a certain extent.

He at least appreciated a friend when he had one.

The screens began changing one by one as the creature found information. A national registry page, a Vapor gaming profile, a VirtualZone profile…

“This one’s not dumb. They keep good opsec, rarely sharing personal information. That’s good.” Blanco smirked. “Sadly, that’s not enough to stop me.”

Soon a picture appeared on one of the screens, the face of a smiling, bright child. An honor student with many dreams and possibilities in the future.

Then, on a fifth screen, a grainy image stolen from an unsecured webcam. A burnout stares at the screen with dead eyes and no spirit in their posture.

“Oof. Growth has been rough on this one.” The creature commented sarcastically, taking a moment to stop and crack their knuckles. “This is your guy, G. Real name: Santino Belnades. A random kid from Wohl.”

“Wohl?” Giovanni was beyond surprised.

“Yeah, you know. The country in the north. The one that looks like a pen–”

“Yes yes, I know Wohl. I just… didn’t expect to hear from the mages of the north. It’s been a while.”

“Ah, no this is not a born mage. This is a sleeper.”

“Impossible. They passed the Le Guin test and made an account in the Forum.”

“Alright then, a Bastard Mage for sure.”

There was a moment of silence as Giovanni meditated on the implications of this… only broken by the camera feed’s catching Tav screaming.

“Spy Medic, Spy Medic! Kill that motherfucker!”

“Ahhh… TS2. I really should get back into it one of these days.” Blanco commented with a bit of nostalgia. “So? What do we do? You still have some minutes of my time, G! I could scare them real good if you want them out of the forum.”

“No, that won’t be necessary. It’s just another mage in the world…they’ll probably benefit from learning a few things.”

“Eighty Two will get really, really mad if she finds out you allowed a Bastard Mage in her precious project.”

“Mustafá will get angry no matter what, but she rarely shows up in the Forum anyways.”

“Hah. Old bastard.”

There was another moment of silence, interrupted by the heavy clicking and intense gaming from the webcam feed.

“... So.” Blanco finally spoke up. “What now?”

“I’ll just say hi to them and let them be.” Giovanni said, probably smiling. “They are probably scared and insecure, after all.”

“Are you serious? I mean, this is a Bastard Mage. They shouldn’t have had the means to find your forum and yet, here they are. Don’t you find that suspicious in the slightest?”

“Hmmmn…”

“And this is happening just as we had that Temporal Displacement alarm, remember? I really doubt that’s a coincidence.”

“Keep an eye on them, please. Just to make sure they don’t get in trouble.”

“That will cost you extra.”

“Fiiiine.”

“Yes, excellent.” Blanco rubbed his hands together, before stretching lazily and tapping a few keys. He would start a file on this ‘Tav’ person now.

“Whatever the case may be… I really hope this doesn’t get them in trouble. I mean, more trouble than they already are in.” With a heavy sigh, Giovanni finally decided that enough was enough. “I’ll leave you to it. I trust that you’ll inform me if anything happens.”

“If I can trust you to keep paying me, of course!”

Giovanni sighed again before finally hanging up. Blanco, now with something to do with his day, stretched in his invisible chair and looked at the webcam feed for another moment before turning it off. If he kept it on for too long, he risked Tav realizing that the webcam was suddenly on, and he really didn’t want to scare them.

For now, at least.

He wanted to pretend he wasn’t interested, and that this would just be another boring, fruitless job with nothing to show for it but a few factoids about a random mage’s life… but he had a strange feeling about this one. There was an odd trinkle in the dead, depressed eyes of that bastard.

“Let’s hope you know what you’re doing, kid…”

"Great days and glorious victory! My name is Spifflemonk and welcome to my Letsplay! Today I am back from my medically mandated break from playing human videogames after a rather... cathartic experience with a game called Teardown. Subnautica, even among humans, is labeled as a notorious experience with... mixed reception for its sequel. A survival crafting game apparently. I have experience with those so presumably the gameplay loop should be predictable enough. So... Let's go in!"
Spiffle starts the game, going for standard Survival Mode, with aspects of food and water mechanics alongside health and oxygen. The game loads very, very fast with Spiffles overpowered computer, and the introduction sequence begins. The camera pans to the panicked sight of the payer character moving down a ladder followed by a sight of a starship above exploding.
"Oh dear... oh dear! They weren't kidding about survival! Do I even survive this or am I a ghost or something..."
The pod rattles, the screen shakes, a fire extinguisher falls from its mounting. Velocity causes the pod to dislodge a panel from a wall and it flies around the cabin. The panel flies into the player's screen, making it go black.
"Oh... well okay then. I uh... well."
Spiffles' character awakens and panics at the buttons securing him to the seat. Spiffle quickly figures out that fire in this game is in fact bad, and grabs the fire extinguisher, putting the fire out. The game's introduction plays, showing his PDA, the game's inventory UI.
"Oh! I have seen these things in real life when visiting human stations! Do all humans have these?"
Spiffle starts exploring the escape pod, noting all of the damage to the radio beacon and the wiring panel.
"Hmm... craft the repair tool... Well... For later I suppose. Now how do i-AH, the ladder!"
Spiffle clicks on the ladder and goes through the animation. The character exits and dramatically stands. Spiffle looks around. His face visibly pales as he looks in every direction, finding the only thing nearby that looks 'safe’ or like 'land' is the destroyed ship in the distance.
"Water... it's... water... everywhere! How big is this game's map!? Structural hull failure... zero human lifesigns detected. That's.. not nice. Well... Here we go!"
Spiffle jumps into the water. His mood changes, the underwater environment significantly different than above ground. The water is absolutely teeming with life and color, as Spiff swims towards a reef to stare at some coral. Spiff gets distracted and starts chasing a fish, specifically a Peeper, and grabs it.
"Oh! Good god! THAT'S how humans catch fish!? That's very... inefficient! What is this thing? Can I eat it? I know I'm supposed to take care of my food and water, so how do I eat it?"
Spiffle wanders about for a while, gathering resources and exploring his general location, eventually getting back to the pod. He had gathered up a decent amount of stuff while he was swimming around and accessed the Fabricator to see what was available.
"Ah! I see, the fabricator cooks things too. Uhm... cooked fish thing and... these transparent fish give me water bottles? Okay then! Well. Sorted for food anyway. Let's see. Copper wire, batteries. A Scanner? Does that mean I can like, scan things and tell what they are? And... Oxygen tank? Oh hell yes. I'll build that then."
Spiffle goes through the process of building a few things, checking out how the game's crafting system works, and spending more time collecting resources. He quickly realizes how much work he has to do and finally finishes making a Scanner.
"Okay then well... I can see how much time is going to be spent collecting resources so i'm going to edit all of that out and keep you all in the loop on all the fun parts instead."
Spiffle continues playing, inserting a creative, albeit mildly annoying fanciful scene transition in between resource loops. He comes to a cave looking for salt to make more equipment, when he encounters the first hostile enemy of the game: The Crashfish. He does not notice it at first, the strange sloppy noise it makes as its pod opens, the beast makes a terrible gurgly noise and charges straight at him.
"What is that noi-AH! OY! OI! OIIII what are you what are-!"
Spiffle is cut off as the fish explodes, causing him to lose half his health. He quickly surfaces and takes a breath.
"Okay then... OKAY... THAT... makes absolutely no sense from an evolutionary perspective... but okay then. Avoid those. What even was that? I can't even scan it because it was moving so fast! Gods... exploding fish."
Spiffle shakes his head and resumes his hunt for resources, eventually finding enough for a repair tool. He makes the repair of the pods' broken wiring and looks around a bit more, noting some of the details in the game.
"Hard to believe these games are over eight hundred years old! I keep getting requests to play 'them gud ol' gamez' instead of any new releases. Maybe I'll get to those eventually. I have quite the backlog though."
Spiffle quickly tabs out and shows the huge list of human made games on his list that he has been gifted or purchased himself. The list includes Space Marine, Starship Troopers, Spyro Trilogy, Crash Bandicoot, and so... so many more.
"I am also told about this thing called 'anime', whatever that is. Maybe I should look into that. Anyway..."
Spiffle shrugs for now and resumes playing, swimming around for a bit before finally deciding to use his scanner. He gets the first scan - the Acid Mushroom - and painstakingly reads the supplied article. He then goes on a scanning frenzy, scanning each thing he can find, comically chasing after various fish and objects, trying to scan them then taking an irritatingly long time to read the article aloud.
He gets to the point where he encounters his first real hostile enemy and tries to scan it. The stalker, of course, doesn't appreciate that, and attacks.
"Oooh what's this thing? Oh lovely, it's a big one. Can I scan it? The... Stalker? Oh okay is it friend-OW! NONONONO go away!"
Spiffle panics and scans it while running away from it, trying to swim backwards. He's so focused on scanning it he can't run far enough away that he gets ambushed by another Stalker nearby and manages to scan it just as he gets hit with his first Death in the game.
"Oh.... o...kay. Well... it seems things aren't as friendly as expected. I'm going to guess there's more things like that around. So... I'm just going to finish working on repairs and equipment then I'll take those things on."
Spiffle reads the article on the Stalker he scanned and spends more time collecting resources, scanning local entities and building the rest of the gear he has. Fins, high capacity O2 tank, rebreather and some more food and water which he stores in floating containers for later. He starts to explore a bit farther in search of fragments to scan and finds a Sand Shark, as well as a biome resembling a desert-like area. He encounters his first piece of the wrecked ship here.
"Oh! Hello! Pieces of wreckage! What are these for now do you suppose? Can I disassemble these for resources or-Oh! Is that a door? Oh! I'm supposed to go in here and look for things? How do I get in? Oh I can't. I need a laser cutter. Is one of those here? Need more fragments I guess..."
Spiffle gives up trying to enter and goes up for air, then returns to the floor to hunt for fragments. He eventually unlocks the Bioreactor, pieces of the Scanner room, a couple fragments of the Seaglide and Seamoth. He comes across the first cave entrance to the Mushroom Caves Biome.
"Oh... oh my. That's... deep. Good thing I unlocked the Seamoth thing. Its a miniature submarine I think. I can use that. But that's... kinda scary. I can't see the bottom. I kinda see just... purple. Mostly purple. But it scares me that I can't see the bottom."
Spiffle hangs around the cave entrance for a bit before a call for Oxygen forces him to the surface. He swims back down to the cave entrance and then hangs around a bit longer before once again resurfacing, heading for some new things to scan. It is however at this point that Spiffles exploration is cut short.
"EMERGENCY - SEISMIC READINGS SUGGEST A QUANTUM DETONATION HAS OCCURRED IN THE AURORA'S DRIVE CORE. THE CENTRAL DARK MATTER REACTOR WILL REACH A SUPERCRITICAL STATE IN -"
The computer aboard the PDA shakes Spiff out of his daze and he quickly rushes to the surface and looks at the ship.
"Wait wait wait what's that!? What's going on!? I see the ship? The Aurora! That's what its name is? Whats a Dark Matter reactor and wha-"
The computer continues its countdown muffled by Spiffs panicked squealing and he has a front-row seat to one of the most spectacular explosions in the history of gaming - the Aurora's Reactor Detonation.
It happens. The world goes dead silent for a short moment, and one can see Spiffles heart visibly stop beating. Then explosion as the Aurora lets out its magnificent blast. As the shockwave expands outwards, Spiffs skin visibly turns a paler shade of blue, and his eyes go wide. The sound of a geiger counter follows, leaving him breathless and pale as the world suddenly goes dead quiet again. The sound of the geiger counter ominously leaving him shaken even more than he already is.
"FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE - THE RADIATION SUIT HAS BEEN ADDED TO YOUR BLUEPRINTS."
Spiffle stays completely silent, bobbing in the water for a solid few minutes, staring in shocked wonder at what he just witnessed. He regains his composure for a few short moments and returns to his scanning venture, but one can easily see he isn't in the right mind after that. He returns to the seabed, at the entrance to the mushroom caves and dives again. He does this several more times, popping up to the surface, looking at the shipwreck, then diving at the entrance again. Finally, after much hesitation, he dives one last time.
"Screw it. it's just a game right?"
He smiles at the camera with a shrug and swims far below the surface, into one of the caves. As he enters the cavern his jaw drops at the sight of a massive underwater cavern filled with gigantic glowing pink mushrooms. The Mushroom caves as they are known. He spots something in the distance, entranced, forgetting his oxygen situation. He cant get far however and a terrifying shriek of some unknown entity shakes him out of his stupor.
"What in the red dawn was that noise!?"
Spiff can't finish asking his invisible audience what's going on as he strays too close to a mushroom, occupied by a Crab Snake, a gigantic sea worm. He is grabbed from behind, spun around and he visibly panics as the giant worm digs its enormous tusks into Spiffles character. Spiffle immediately freaks out, a combination of both the terrifying shriek emitted by the creature and the shock of being attacked makes poor Spiffle jump out of his seat and duck under the table.
"GOWAYGOWAYGOWAGOWAYGOWAY!!!"
The worm comes back and finishes Spiff off before his oxygen runs out. Spiff's character respawns but the footage continues, a slight whimper can be heard in the background as Spiff hides under the desk. This carries on for a few minutes, and his head very slowly appears above the desk. He gingerly puts himself back in his seat and breathes heavily for a bit. When he finally gains control, he tabs out of the game and takes a look at the wiki for Subnautica. He returns a few moments later and stares at the camera in that strange haunting glare he's become so famous for.
"WHY DO YOU STUPID DEVELOPERS NOT PUT GUNS IN THE GAME IF YOU HAVE SHIT LIKE THAT!? ARE YOU INSANE!?"
He grabs the camera and shakes it violently as he rants at it, questioning why there are guns in every other human game he has played and not THIS specific game, especially considering how there are 'giant water snake monsters that eat your face' in a game with no guns. He rants for a good minute or two then plays his outro.
TOP COMMENT: "Are you absolutely sure after Teardown, Factorio and Project ZOMBOID, you should be playing Subnautica? I mean seriously, try something less... psychologically terrifying. It's known as Thalassophobia Simulator for a reason."
_______________________________________________________________
"Great days and glorious victory! My name is Spifflemonk and I still don't understand why we have giant worm monsters but we have no guns!"
Spiffle stares at the camera with an expression that can only be summarized as 'Seriously bruh?' and resumes his last playthrough. He becomes confused at the lack of stuff in his inventory.
"Why is my... Why do I not ha-Oh right... I was eaten. When you die your inventory is wiped... I need to build more tools then."
Spiffle starts some silly music, an alien version of Benny Hill to a montage of him collecting resources, occasionally ranting at various oddities and questioning game logic. He restores all of his tools then goes hunting for a Vehicle Bay fragment so he can build the Seamoth. He continues to scan what he can, developing something of an obsession with the task, then painstakingly reading every word about it to try and understand it. It is at this point Spiffle, during his explorations finds another derelict chunk of ship near the desert region, encountering his first Sand Shark.
"What... What is this? Oh... careful Spiff. This one looks angrier than the last one you found. Wh-What in oblivion!?"
Spiffles attention is once again diverted by the appearance of a Reefback Leviathan and its signature low drone. This one appears to be a fully grown adult.
"You-you... You've got to be... You gotta be fucking kidding me. A Juhara Eelfish!? WHAT IS THAT DOING IN A HUMAN VIDEOGAME!!!??"
Spiffle squeaks in shock as he sees a creature that is an absolute spitting image of a large oceanic dwelling sea creature, which is both the games and his native homeworlds version of a Whale. The Reefback has some dissimilarities, but its close enough to the real thing that Spiffle is genuinely shocked. He quickly pauses the game, opening various wikipedia articles, then displays a full picture of both Subnautica in game Reefback, and the Juhara-Kal-Rehar, colloquially known as a Juhara Eelfish, a shockingly similar creature that lives in his homeworlds oceans.
The only difference between them is the color of the exterior chitin shell. The Reefback has a blue/purple shell, the Juhara Eelfish's chitin has a red/green shell.
"WHEN was this game made!?"
Spiff checks, the current Earth-date is the year 2886. Humanity only entered the galactic community in 2752. Subnautica was released in 2018.
"HOW.... How is that even possible!? You didn't even know the galaxy existed until only a few decades ago, yet you almost PERFECTLY matched the appearance of one of our homeworlds native species! How is this even possible!? Okay. If the name matches then I have to call bullshit."
Spiffle approaches and scans it, then reads the data article.
"A... Reefback Leviathan? Oh thank God... Now let's see... A herbivorous creature that... that likely got so large due to the fact that its predators went extinct. Well... that's... okay... A hard chitinous shell of multiple layers, a microcosm of different creatures and flora growing from its back, hence the name. Hmmm..."
Spiffle gets that cold, empty stare on his face and glares menacingly at the camera. The screen goes black, then returns, seeing Spiffle nursing a beverage of some kind while wrapped in a blanket.
"I realized something... Call it a message from the Ancestors or a Divine revelation. But I have a funny feeling this isn't going to be the last time I see a creature from the galaxy represented in human media. I hope to the Gods that doesn't happen... the concept of this situation is nothing short of terrifying. In any case, I'm sorry about that. Lets.... let's continue."
Spiffle resumes where he left off, doing his usual routine of scanning, then obsessively reading. Eventually he unlocks the Vehicle Bay, and returns home to his pod where the situation with resources is growing obscene with at least fifty floating resource containers hovering around the area.
"Alright... A Vehicle Bay... This means I can build things like the Seamoth now. This will be nice. Right, I shall for the sake of my audience skip the resource collection mechanic that's here and focus on the actual result. I shan't waste my time either though. MONTAGE!"
Spiff yells excitedly and a montage to that same odd Benny Hill type music plays out, with him collecting the resources he needs to build both machines. Most of it is already in the floating containers strewn about. With a few visits to the fabricator, he compiles the Power Cell, Titanium Ingot and Lubricant he needs to make the Vehicle Bay. He deploys it and chases it to the surface just away from the pod in the deeper end of the shallows.
"Right... Not too hard. Let's see then, how do-Ah. Get on it and... The Seamoth. Cost of two glass, one titanium ingot, a powercell, lead and lubricant. Right."
He quickly gathers and makes everything he needs for the Seamoth, then stands on the platform ready to go. He chooses the Seamoths recipe and the sequence starts. His eyes light up as drones start flying around the platform, then begin assembling atom by atom, the small, adorable minisub known as the Seamoth. It finishes the process and flops into the water with a splash.
"My gods look at this thing! It's so cute!"
Spiffle explores the sub for a little while and hops inside it, testing the controls and playing around with it a bit to see what it can do.
"Hm... Maximum Depth, 200 meters? So if I go below that does it implode or something? I need to be careful of that. OH dammit I remember! I have to make that Radiation Suit don't I? I shall do so now!"
Spiffle seems to have found a new resolve, quickly gathering resources together and making both a Seaglide and radiation suit in short order.
"Does this thing have any weapons? How do I repair-Oh... Repair tool? That makes it easier I suppose. Now... Where do I go now? Is there anything I can do?"
Spiffle stumbles about in the blind for a few minutes, trying to figure out his next course of action beyond simply wandering aimlessly while scanning things. He gets back in the pod and fixes the radio beacon. His face visibly contorts into an expression of irritation when he hears his rescue is in 9999 hours. He resolves to come back every now and then to check the radio. He decides to gather more resources to make up for building the seamoth and comes back a bit later. He finds a radio transmission when he returns.
"RADIO: ▀▖┗▛Nine new biological subjects designated. Mode ▄▖▜▚┣: hunting/analyzing.
Sharing subject locations with other agents."
"What... in the Nine Hells was THAT!? Why was it in such an odd voice? What was that language? What were those letters!? Somethings going on here... SO now what? I have the radiation suit. i guess... go into the Aurora? Oh no, I'm not going in there unprepared! Lemme make some tools and spare batteries, then i'll go in. I need... Oh... I need more fragments is what I need."
Spiffle resumes his fragment hunt, looking around for fragments of various tools. He uses the Seamoth to traverse around.
"WHEEE!!!"
Spiff seems more than just a bit happy as he trundles around in the Seamoth, using his speed to launch himself out of the water. He splashes about a bit, testing the limits of the craft and trying to see what holes he can squeeze himself into or out of and how deep he can go.
"Okay okay. time to get to serious work. Now... I need to find... A Laser Cutter and a... STASIS RIFLE?! Wait... rifle? That means GUN! I NEED A GUN!!"
Spiffle charges forward towards the desert biome where he found the Reefback and resumes his search for things to scan. It is now he comes across a Reginald.
"What... IS this fish? Wait, let me just..."
He gets out of the Seamoth and scans it.
"Huh... Reginald. That's a... fish? It's so cute! Wait, come back friend!"
Spiffle spends an unreasonable amount of time trying to catch a Reginald. When he finally catches one he gets back in the Seamoth and heads towards the aurora, new friend in tow. He trundles over to the side of the crashed ship and scans some random stuff here and there, finding fragments to a few small items, including a few he needs such as a Powercell Charger for the Seamoth’s battery. He gets close to the front of the ship and the haunting, evil noise of Subnautica's most iconic killer suddenly echoes through the gloomy water.
"What... Was that? Is it another worm thing? Please don't let it be one of those..."
Spiffle wanders around the side for a bit longer. An ominous shadow looms in the background, catching his eye. He ignores it for the moment and simply carries on, eventually arriving at the entrance to the ship. Through the mangled steel and fire he squeezes into the front of the ship and looks around. The environment ominously rattles and his screen shakes as the ships structure isn't exactly stable. The howl of the creature in the shadows makes Spiff even more uncomfortable.
"I... Do NOT like this. I really dont."
Spiff parks the Seamoth where he can see a ramp leading up, and gets out. He is immediately accosted by Cave Crawlers and uses his knife to defend himself, poorly, but he gets rid of the three or four around him.
"WARNING: SCANS SHOW THE DIGESTIVE TRACTS OF INDIGENOUS LIFE FORMS CONTAIN HUMAN TISSUE."
Spiffs face turns an even paler shade of blue and he swallows visibly as if he's trying not to vomit.
"Yeuch... I can scan this thing and read it later. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to."
Spiff scans and follows the path to the interior, uses his fire extinguisher to put out some fires in the area and gets inside. The ship rumbles as he wanders around and gets into one of the rooms. He finds the poster of the P.R.A.W.N. Suit.
"Ooh! A poster thing? Can I take it or? I can! PRAWN Suit eh? Can I actually use that thing?"
Spiff takes the poster, scans some furniture and collects a PDA. Spiff continues down the corridor and retrieves his Propulsion Cannon from his inventory and uses it to pick up some furniture in the way.
"I am SO glad I got this thing from scanning the area before I came here. This is super useful! I wonder if it has other uses..."
He gets to the door and looks at his databank.
"Hmm... Here it is! Code for the door is 1454. Right."
Spiff moves through, repairing a door to get the Seamoth Depth Upgrade Module. He continues and clears a fire to enter the main reactor. His inner loot goblin shines through and grabs the Cyclops engine efficiency module before he starts work on repairs, scanning the breach and starting work. It doesn't take him long, but he gets issues with a Bleeder that lives in the waters. He scans one then finishes repairs. Foolishly, he uses the propulsion cannon and shoots the bleeder at one of the reactors, undoing his work. He looks at the damage he caused and repairs it.
"Well... what was I expecting... Why did I do that? It's a CANNON... why did I aim it at the reactor exactly? So stupid..."
Spiff finishes and heads to the PRAWN Bay, and looks around at the damage. He spots the prawn suits and starts scanning, grabbing a storage module upgrade from a console and starts extinguishing flames so he can scan. He runs out of fire extinguisher juice though.
"Blast! Can I still scan these if they're on fire?"
Spiff walks around, finding cheeky angles he can use and scans the debris, finding all four fragments he needs. He heads upstairs and goes through the rooms and everything he can find. He gets into the Galley and sees the Kitty in a Space Helmet Poster.
"What the- 'Keep Calm'? What in the blue balls is this? It's.... cute! What is this creature!? Can I keep this? I can!"
Spiffle excitedly grabs the poster and moves on. He goes through cabins, picks up PDAs and collects the Natural Selection 2 poster, the Prawn suit in the sea poster and the collectible arcade toy in the locked cabin. Lacking the code to the Captain's cabin, he returns to the prawn bay and tries swimming around, eventually finding a passage in the hull debris to the rest of the ship. He moves through in silence, recovers the black box data and exits the ship. He removes debris, grabs the local wildlife with the cannon and tosses them into fires or the water with glee.
"BEGONE BEAST!!! Ha! Right... uhh... where did i park? Oh, there it is. Should I go home? I wonder if there are any fragments I can use around here?"
Spiff exits, finding Liefpod 4 floating upside down on the surface of the water. He collects the PDA data and a new blueprint. Then, as he gets in the seamoth, the horrifying roar of the Reaper Leviathan suddenly sounds. Spiff is thrown into a panic, screams in terror and tries desperately to get away. The beast appears with jaw chomping and claws clawing at the poor Seamoth. The entire time Spiffle is screeching like a bird with a broken leg, his entire body now an almost ghostly white out of absolute terror.
"GOWAYGOWAYGOWAYGOWAYGODNONNONOGOWAYGOWAY!!!"
Spiffle manages to get out of its grip and in a panic charges away towards his lifepod and continues to scream, breathing hard between screams. He gets to the pod and then hides under his desk, continuing to scream. His channel outro plays.
TOP COMMENT: (This has been translated from Eridani) "I am starting to believe this whole sojourn was a very BAD idea. Do you humans have those kinds of beasts on your homeworld? How did you ever survive them?!"
RESPONSE: LOL no we never had Reapers. The only Leviathan Class creatures we have on our planet are Whales. And they're mostly peaceful plankton eaters. Mostly.
RESPONSE: (Translated from Eridani) "Seriously? I think I find it more terrifying that these creatures are made up in your minds. What kind of nightmares do you people have to be able to create this level of fiction!?"
RESPONSE: Do. Not. Ask. This is only Subnautica - we have FAR worse.
Spiffles response: "You're going to make me play these 'far worse', aren't you?"
RESPONSE: "Damn right we are! :)"
________________________________________________________
"Great days and glorious victory! My name is Spifflemnonk and welcome back to Subnautica!"
Spiffle looks visibly stronger, his usual lanky appearance now looking like he's been working out like a Gym Bro. One can see muscles on muscles and Spiff seems to have an abnormal amount of energy.
"I am now relaxed. It is now time to get eaten by giant scary sea monsters. And yes, before you ask, I have successfully finished fully soundproofing my office. And also yes, I am indeed expecting a new addition to the brood... THANKS DAMN HUMANS! You and your damn musical magic nonsense..."
Spiffle starts the game and is swimming outside the pod next to the Seamoth. The first thing he does is repair the seamoth from the damage incurred by the Reaper, and recounts what hes been up to, checking inventory and equipment. He heads to the radio and gets a new transmission.
RADIO - "This is Avery Quinn of trading ship Sunbeam. Aurora, do you read? Over.'
'Nothing but vacuum. These Alterra ships. They run low on engine grease, they send an SOS; you offer to help, they don't pick up.'
'Aurora, we're out on the far side of the system, it's going to take more than a week to reach your position, do you still need our assistance? Over.'
'I'll try them again tomorrow. Damn charter's going to have us wasting our profit margin running errands for Alterra.'
'See what the long-range scanner picks up in the meantime."
"Oh? Oh lovely! There ARE people in this game! I wonder when they will be here? Meh, I have things to build, so I'll keep an eye."
Spiffle resolves himself to start building a base, trying to find a good spot. He finds the Mushroom Forest Biome and starts gathering resources to ferry them around. He installs the Depth Module and the Storage module to the Seamoth, then builds the Moon Pool. The Mushroom Biome becomes one of his favorite spots and a close encounter with a JellyRay cements it.
"Those creatures are beautiful! Look! JellyRay! Its glowing blue and pretty! I love that! Oh... I have a new radio message. I need to listen to that then."
Spiff returns to the pod and listens to the message.
RADIO - "Aurora, this is Sunbeam again. We just picked up a massive debris field at your location.'
'I didn't know how bad... How many of you... I didn't know.'
'We are now en route to your location. We're going to bring you home. Sunbeam out.'
'What else can I say? The only time I parked a rig this big on a rock that small was in VR, and I blew it'
'Oh, it's a bad option alright, but so are all the others."
Spiff smiles and carries on working, parking the Seamoth inside after powering everything up.
"So lovely! But... Is that a win condition? I know human games by now I have played enough of them. Is that a win condition? Get rescued? I dunno..."
Spiffle carries on building for a little and gets a storage system up, spending a few in-game days transporting resources to his new base. He returned to the pod and played a new radio message, again from the Sunbeam.
RADIO - "This is Sunbeam. Y'know, Aurora, we're from a little trans-gov on the far side of Andromeda, and we have a saying there.'
'There's no bad without the good, no good without the bad.'
'Sounds like you tasted a bunch of the former, but that only means you're overdue a whole lot of the latter.'
'Might just be we're it.'
'We're scanning for somewhere to park, we'll be in touch when we find it. Sunbeam out."
"Ohh... That... that's a lovely saying! What was that uh... There's no bad without the good, no good without the bad. I like that! I think i'll have that framed on my wall! Now lets see.. i ca- I CAN GIVE THE SEAMOTH A NAME? OOHHHhh okay, okay.. I can customize the color too! I think I'll just do this..."
Spiff leaves the name as 'Seamoth' for now, changing the color to a mix of purple for the main, and blue for the trim and name color. His two favorite colors. Spiffle does a little more work, acquiring the last fragments for the Cyclops and starts gathering together the resources necessary to build it.
"Hmmm.. Cyclops... Personal large scale submarine capable of carrying other vehicles! Ooohhh I want to build that! I need to fetch the Vehicle Bay though. Im almost done moving house!"
Spiff returns and packs up the last of his resources, then gets another radio message.
RADIO - "Aurora, we're approaching the planet now, and we have a landing site for you that's... well, it's better than the alternatives.'
'We've sent you the coordinates.'
'It'll take us a couple of days to align our orbit, we should be able to establish direct contact with you during that time, then we're coming in to get you.'
'Cross your fingers the weather holds, and don't leave us waiting. Sunbeam out."
Spiffle gets a new beacon on his HUD. Sunbeam Landing Site.
"What!? Is this game over If I'm there!? Okay... well. At least it's no longer terrifying! I'll get the Seamoth and go for the beacon then. I hope it's okay... Strange... this... doesn't feel like the end, you know? But if it is then it is."
Spiff heads home, deploys the Vehicle Bay and deposits his gear and resources. He heads towards the location, occasionally squealing 'WHEEE!!' as he uses the Seamoth to jump out of the water like a dolphin. However, he miscalculates and the Seamoth jumps up, out and sustains a bit of damage as it hits a rock formation close to the surface. He gets out, repairs it and looks at the camera.
"Why no I didn't just damage my Seamoth by having too much fun. I don't know what you are talking about. Hehe."
Spiffle smirks at the camera with a glare and carries on. Eventually, he encounters the largest of the Islands in the world.
"Wh... WHAT. This has been here the whole time!? Is this an island? Who cares! LAND! Sweet land!"
Spiffle now notices the timer and hops onto the island from his Seamoth. He walks up to the landing zone and stops dead in his tracks at the sight of the massive al;ien structure known as the Quarantine Enforcement Platform. In essence, a giant alien cannon.
"What... the *beep* is THAT?"
Spiffles' editing has gotten better, his editor learning how to censor Spiffles foul language, in both English AND Eridani. He moves closer to the building, scanning the broken tablet and the Forcefield Controls.
"What is this? I mean it's clearly alien... What do the codex entries say... 'possible to reconstruct the device' Oh... hmm.. I can make more of these then. 'Matches no known technologies... functions like a lock'. Okay then so... Standard video game logic I guess. That's nice! So A purple tablet will unlock the gate there. What are those?"
Spiff moves towards the Cairns marking the way into the island, pathways leading up the mountainside. He follows them, finding a Purple Tablet in the process on one of the pathways.
"Oh! Lovely! That saves me resources and a trip I guess. This pathway keeps going though. hmm... Welp, we still have thirty minutes, so let's go."
Spiff explores the pathway, getting lost a bit before finally figuring that following the large cables is a good idea. He comes across the Teleportation Arch and scans it, in between dodging the Cave Crawlers.
"Right, let's see... Alien Arch... not much to speak of here. Maybe this thing will be useful later I guess. Likely.... Hmmm..."
Spiffle continues exploring and eventually finds himself back at the forcefield with another twenty minutes to go.
"Screw it, let's go."
Spiff activates the forcefield platform and the animation of the key being placed plays out. He moves into the building, activating both data platforms and acquiring two Ion Cubes for later, scanning everything he thinks he can scan. He enters the Moonpool in the bay and gets two more Ion Cubes, plus data on a rifle and a Doomsday Device. He ignores it for now, acquiring one more purple tablet and accessing the control room.
"Right... what's in here? Hmm... Energy Core, right. I shall scan that and... press button?"
Spiff presses the button. An animation plays where a device locks his characters hand in place, viciously stabs it with a pointy metal bit and then releases it.
"OH GODS what the hell! Why is that?! That's just nasty!"
"THE TERMINAL IS BROADCASTING A MESSAGE. TRANSLATION READS: 'Warning, infected individuals may not disable the weapon. This planet is under quarantine.'"
"Quarantine! What? Infected? I-Hold on...."
Spiffle gets his scanner out and performs a self-scan. It is only now he notices something very bad has happened.
"I-infected!? Wait, what!?"
"SELF-SCAN COMPLETE - DETECTING STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT BACTERIAL LEVELS. NO ADVERSE EFFECTS DETECTED. BE VIGILANT FOR SYMPTOMS."
"Oh brilliant! Does that mean I can't leave? I KNEW IT! Wait... weapon!? This is a weapon!?"
Spiffle panics and runs out of the facility as fast as he can and waits the last few minutes for the Sunbeam to arrive. Sure enough, it does. In the last 30 seconds, the Sunbeam plays a message.
RADIO - "Survivor, we see you!
'Man, I don't know how you held out down there.'
The sunbeams message plays, and Spiffle gasps in terror from the sound of the gun platform starting up and starting to move around.
RADIO - "We've broken atmosphere and we're descending towards the landing site.'
'Is that a building down there?! What do you mean you can't identify it?"
The weapon powers up and turns, aiming itself high at the sky.
RADIO - "Hold on, no turning back now.'
'Positions everyone, touching down in 10, 9, 8-'
The weapon charges up and a loud vicious hum can be heard echoing through the valley.
RADIO - "It's coming from the building?! Change course, set thrusters to (full)-"
The radio goes to static, the weapon fires and the Sunbeam is vaporized instantly by a massive blast of bright green light. The sunbeam disappears, its hull structure completely disintegrated. Spiffle sits in stunned silence as the platform returns to a stable position, shuts down, and everything goes quiet.
"Well... Okay then... That was... horrifying. I guess thats all we have time for! Hehe! Oh dear..."
Spiffle looks a bit defeated as he sits back in his seat.
"S-see you next time! I guess... Holy shit..."
Channel Outro plays.
TOP COMMENT: "Are you okay? You seem a little bit too disturbed by that. Its fine though, compared to what happens in the Rise Of The Ancients Mod, this is tame! Lol! I love that mod!"
Spiffles Response: "Please don't make me play that mod..."
((Authors note - due to how bastardingly huge Subnautica is, this will be a multi part series. Other Spiff stories will come inbetween. Hope you enjoy!))

So, let me start off by saying that I've always been fascinated by stories of people having encounters with ET's, but that is all they were to me ... stories. I didn't really have a solid stance on the matter as it was hard to wrap my mind around as factual since I never experienced anything personally and I have trust issues with certain things that I hear from people. I pretty much research things on my own and hope for the best lol, I do not claim to know much of anything and I like to keep an open mind to the best of my abilities.
Recently, I've been deep diving into my healing journey as I am dealing with a lot of unknown trauma. I don't remember much of my childhood at all, but I have a few memories as early as 2yo. I have started meditating a few months back and trying to ground myself and possibly regain some of my lost memories. I wasn't very successful... until I was. However, I started seeing symbols and geometric shapes during my first breakthrough and felt my body heavily vibrating. The more I practiced, I found that I was able to control the vibrations and sort of play around with it. One day I was focusing my energy into my third eye and started hearing ringing in my ears that eventually turned into a double ringing and immediately an image of a gray alien popped up into my view. It was only there for a few seconds before I lost focus. It had big black eyes that looked like polished obsidian, and I just remember being so mesmerized by them. I just assumed that It was a figure of my imagination and I pushed past it as I was told not to dwell on what I see during meditation.
Fast forward 2 months, I was in my kitchen when I noticed this breathtaking golden eagle outside my window soaring around in the sky, we normally don't see them in my area, so I was just watching it fly around and then something in the sky flashed really bright and caught my attention (It was a clear blue sky kind of day, no clouds in sight), I quickly glanced at it and saw two white oval objects in the sky going by very quick, over my house, they were very close together and they seemed to have this invisible barrier around them that looked like heat waves forming a perfect layer around them. Like a bubble but not? I'm not sure how to describe it. Since seeing them that day, I have been seeing a lot of other similar things in the sky like that and other anomalies around the same time in the morning. Not only that but I have started feeling things around me that aren't there. Like for example, I would walk into a room and get an uneasy feeling of being watched, the hairs on my body would stand up despite being at a normal temperature, I see flashes of white lights randomly in the closets and the bathroom and I see shadows moving at the corner of my eyes. I feel like I'm losing my mind at times.
Another thing that has been strange is that I'm now having dreams again. I haven't had dreams that I could remember for a few years (since my last pregnancy). These dreams are so clear, I've been able to write them down in detail. These dreams that I've had felt like I was living another life completely. I had one where I was fleeing from something in another country, I was with 2 small children who were emotionless and I remember feeling panicked, and trying to get them to safely, I remember being separated from the kids and a man i want to say was my husband in the dream and I was led away by another man, a hostil man who then murdered me by hitting my head with some object. These dreams are random, but they felt real.
There was one dream that stuck out from the rest and it honestly gives me chills because I remember thinking in my dream to check my arms and legs to see if it was actually me, and it was. In this dream I remember being on this property that was sort of on a hill, it looked like a cottage that had these large wooden pilars that held up a large balcony. I remember standing in the backyard and just looking up at the stars appearing as the sun was setting. I was outside with 14 different strangers who I knew I didn't recognize, but they all felt familiar to me somehow. I suddenly started seeing crafts in the sky, like around 20 of them and I started jumping like a kid in excitement trying to get everyone to look at them. They were all in awe and everytime I would look up they would appear to be closer. The last one appeared really close to the house and it looked like your typical craft with the dome and there were lots of lights around the bottom of it. It was so close that I could feel some type of energy hitting my body. I remember just jumping and waving at it. They all flew off over the house and I remember we all went inside to eat.
The next thing I knew I was standing inside by the back door, which was very wide and around 7ft tall with a large rectangular window above it. I was standing beside some guy who I felt a bond with, maybe a brother type connection or a very good friend. I remember just looking up at this window and the first thing I noticed was that the lights from the inside were creating a glare, but then I saw a face, it was the same alien face that I saw during my meditative state, the same jet black eyes, which were very glossy. And then beside it were 2 other beings that looked half alien and half human. They had long dark hair from what I could tell and their eyes were not black but light in colour. They were just hovering or standing there, not sure how tall they were but they were above the doorway looking through the window, just starting at me. The guy beside me also saw them because he was frozen, he wasn't moving and I assume he was shocked. Everyone else was oblivious to what was going on as they were all mingling in the kitchen. Despite being shocked myself at first glance, I felt a calming feeling starting from my feet and creeping its way up my body. When it reached the top of my head I remember closing my eyes and then waking up.
I have a strong sense that it is the same entity that I saw during my meditation. For some reason, I just know. I've tried letting this go, brushing it off and moving on with my life and continuing with my healing journey. However, I still feel weird energies around me, I still feel like I'm being watched and weird things are continuing to happen to me. I have nobody to really reach out to about this without people looking at me like I'm crazy. I'm looking into regression therapy for my missing memories, and I'm trying to document everything from random bruises on my body to my dreams and the anomalies I see as that is the advice I found on the web. Something is compelling me to reach out online in hopes that I will reach people with similar experiences. I feel very alone right now, sort of trapped in my head. Is it even possible for aliens to connect with me through my dreams? Please feel free to share your experiences with me so I don't feel so crazy 🙃😮‍💨

Author's Note:
As an aside, this update was originally part of the previous chapter, but needed to be split off because posting a 10000+ word behemoth would've murdered my backlog. In terms of story pacing, you can consider it the second half of one long-ass chapter.
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Too close. Too, too close.
Vul'to ignored the sounds of battle resuming around him. The Soul Guardian permitted himself a moment to just...sit there and breathe. After what had transpired, he sorely needed it.
We should be dead. The thought came to him with frightening lucidity. Vul'to wished he could claim that he'd masterfully protected his Party from Kismet's attack, activating defensive Skills the instant he saw everyone in peril, but that would be a lie. It was primarily due to luck that Riardin's Rangers yet lived.
Kismet's mana spears had materialized faster than anyone – Rob excluded – could feasibly react to. The god weaved mana with precision and speed that would have humbled a Circle of Level 99 Archmages. Vul'to hadn't felt this thoroughly outclassed by a creature since the final Blight. Without Rob occupying the god's attention, their Party would've already been swept aside mere seconds after invading the divine realms.
As shown by how Kismet nearly annihilated them in one stroke. His ambush had been so immediate that it started and ended before Riardin's Rangers even knew what was going on. Our Shield and Not A Scratch only succeeded in protecting the Party because Vul'to activated his Skills ahead of time. His instincts had suddenly screamed at him to DO SOMETHING, as if an invisible arrow was flying straight towards his heart, and so he'd listened without giving a single thought to long-term battle strategies.
If he had been wrong, then his most powerful Skill would currently be on a 15-minute cooldown with nothing to show for it. The fact that he'd guessed right was a cold comfort. Winning at a game of chance made him feel no more in control of the situation – and no less like an outclassed trainee guided by desperate paranoia.
What is it that Rob always says? It isn't paranoia if they really are out to get you? Vul'to smiled, a hint of mirth alighting within his chest. It felt weak as an ember taking refuge from a torrential downpour.
He grasped onto the feeling before it could fade. All of his burgeoning concerns fell by the wayside as Vul'to pushed himself upright, forcing the shaking in his legs to subside. It didn't matter that he wanted to rest for a while longer. It didn't matter that Riardin's Rangers had been a hairsbreadth away from cessation. It didn't matter that the future was hanging in a fragile balance liable to shift at any given moment.
There was work still to be done.
To start: I must correct my misstep. This entire debacle was a result of Vul'to losing track of his god, who'd then rushed over to assist Kismet. The Soul Guardian's concern for Zamira – who seemed to have stopped fighting her opponent – had caused his own vigilance slip below what was acceptable.
It would not happen again. He hurriedly looked around, searching for any sign of the divine creature–
And jumped back as it dropped out of the sky and crashed directly in front of him.
The god slammed down like a falling meteorite, making no attempt to slow its descent, eschewing grace for speed. It collapsed into a heap on the floor, limbs tangled and body shivering. Like a sparrow that had chosen to land on the ground – rather than remain airborne where a nearby hawk could spot it.
Vul'to's eyes widened as the god laboriously picked itself up. The creature's 'flesh' had been ravaged by Rob's Purging energy. Its form constantly trembled, as if struggling to hold itself together, and a gaping, unhealed hole was prominently displayed in the center of its chest. While Vul'to wasn't very proficient at sensing mana fluctuations, it didn't take an expert to tell that the deity had seen much better days.
"Well met." The Soul Guardian raised his left hand in greeting – as his right hand covertly inched towards his longsword. It is heavily wounded. If I can just catch it unawares–
"Save your effort," the god hissed. "Even if I am in this sorry state, you lack the raw power to slay me."
Vul'to frowned, his hand pausing. That...was unfortunately true. Soul Guardian wasn't a Class suited for offensive measures. He had previously kept the god at bay by stalling it; not by meeting it attack-for-attack.
Although that truth did leave one question unanswered. "Why have you come here?" Vul'to took a step forward, frowning when the god retreated by a step as well. "You clearly possess no desire to engage me in combat. Wouldn't it have been easier to hide in some corner of the divine realms, out of sight, where you could recuperate?"
The creature said nothing.
Keeping secrets, are you? He chuckled. Good. Arrogant blowhards such as yourself only stay silent when you have a weakness to conceal.
Vul'to conducted two quick experiments. First, he tried to go support another member of Riardin's Rangers, intending to group up with them – then was forced back as the god swiftly moved to bar his path. It didn't look particularly pleased with the idea of battling him, but it was prepared nonetheless.
Second, he raised his sword and walked four steps closer. The god immediately pulled away.
By exactly four steps.
"You are...containing me," Vul'to marveled. "If I stand here, motionless, than so will you. If I move to attack, you will flee while maintaining a respectable distance between us. If I go to aid Riardin's Rangers, you shall fight with the bare minimum necessary to stop me from leaving this area."
It was a difficult concept to grasp. A deity, working to contain him? Not the other way around? And yet, he could see the logic therein. If Vul'to joined up with one of his Party members, they might be able to combine their strength and fell a god.
Then they would go join another ally. Their next battle would be a lopsided, three versus one affair. The next after that would be four versus one. With each god they laid low, slaying the rest would become increasingly easier as Riardin's Rangers gained an insurmountable numbers advantage.
Until it was all eight of them against Kismet alone.
A fragile balance, he mused, liable to shift. After being harshly reminded of his mortality, Vul'to had neglected to consider that the balance could shift towards Riardin's Rangers just as easily...and that the gods would do anything to prevent that from happening.
"I propose an accord."
"No."
The god flinched. "Why? We can grant what you desire most."
Vul'to grinned. "Allow me to hazard a guess. You would construct a new Elven body, identical to my original form – then transplant my soul inside it, thereby freeing me from the shackles of Fiendish flesh."
"Well." The god shuffled awkwardly. "Yes. Is that not what you want?"
"With all my heart. Surgeon Hauz, however, has offered to grow me a new body with the Clay of Life, and then perform the soul transfer operation himself. Your services aren't required."
"Such a procedure is exceedingly likely to end in death. Your soul barely managed to acclimate to its new shell – disturbing that equilibrium again would be folly. No mortal, capable or otherwise, can guarantee your survival. We can."
Vul'to shrugged. "I'm willing to take that gamble." He held up a hand to forestall the god's rebuttal. "Let me state this in no uncertain terms. Even if Hauz rescinded his offer, and even if I was doomed to live out the rest of my days as a Fiend, regaining my old body would never be worth failing my friends. I already beat this temptation once before when I chose Soul Repair over Soul Effigy. You have no sway over me."
He paused. "Although there is one thing you can help me with. You see, as of late, I've been plagued by some...nagging thoughts. The type that would be callous to voice around the rest of my Party."
The god perked up. "You wish to propose a different accord?"
"Oh, absolutely not. I'm simply going to talk – and you're going to listen." Vul'to breathed in, then exhaled. He released the self-control that he kept up when conversing with Riardin's Rangers, speaking words that were wholly unfiltered.
"Thank you."
A stunned silence pervaded their section of the divine realms. "Pardon?"
"Rob told us of your part in instigating the Cataclysm." Vul'to's mouth spread wide, his smile beaming like the sun. "I used to have truly awful parents, you know? Dreadful in every capacity."
There was a reason why watching Meyneth execute her father had been enormously, vicariously cathartic. "So when rays of light fell from the sky and erased my family from Elatra...I'm not ashamed to say that my life improved drastically from then on. Especially after Riardin's Rangers gave me the real family I'd always dreamed of."
His smile morphed into a sheepish grin. "You recognize my conundrum, yes? The Cataclysm was the worst occurrence in Elatra's entire history. It broke the world. Ravaged cities. Devastated lives. But, honestly speaking? I'm far happier now than I was eight years ago, Fiend body and all – which is a sentiment I can't possibly share with friends who've lost so much. I hold their feelings in too high of a regard for that."
Vul'to inclined his head. "And so I thank you. It feels positively liberating to relieve myself of these thoughts."
The god took a good five seconds to respond. "You're welcome, I suppose," it said, sounding utterly perplexed.
"Think nothing of it. I mean that with the utmost sincerity. I don't expect you to comprehend my ramblings when you gods hardly understand yourselves."
Vul'to shook his head with a sad, mournful air. "Such miserable creatures. This could have all been avoided if you'd merely found a happier way of life. I almost pity you."
The god stared with frustration as the Soul Guardian hefted his sword once again. Even if I can't possibly kill it on my own...I still must try.
"Of course, while the Cataclysm freed me from my parents' clutches, it also weakened the barrier between dimensions, allowing the Blight to return. Tarric and Alia died because of you, along with countless other innocents. My friends and I have a plethora of grievances to lay at your feet. Despite my gratitude–"
His blade shone with the resolute aura of a Skill. "You and yours shall die by our hands."
--
Meyneth ducked, scarcely evading a blast of mana that would have removed her head from its shoulders.
In the same moment, she empowered her legs with Leap and imbued her claws with several offensive Skills layered on top of each other. Meyneth shot forth like an arrow, gouging thick lines into the god's mana-body before it could dodge out of the way. It was an attack that would've effortlessly sliced through twenty feet of reinforced steel.
And – as expected – it amounted to little. Meyneth was unsurprised when she turned out to find that the god's wounds were already closing. Perhaps she had reduced the sum total of its essence by a sliver, yet that was akin to removing one droplet of water from a full bucket. To do more, Meyneth would have needed to be both a high-Level combatant and a master of controlling mana.
She'd realized that shortly into her duel. Out of everyone in Riardin's Rangers, only Rob and Malika could realistically slay a god without help. The former because Purge Corruption somehow worked on divine entities, and the latter due to her unsurpassed magecraft. Everyone else was doomed to chip away at a brick wall until they inevitably made one fatal mistake.
So it was with no small amusement that she noted the god's rising consternation. It was glaring straight at her, as if she was a stinging, incessant wasp that refused to be swatted.
Meyneth readied herself for their next exchange. She felt as serene as the night sky, focused solely on ensuring that she survived just a bit longer. With enough drops of water and chips from the wall, eventually, her efforts would bear fruit. And if they didn't...
That was fine. Another member of Riardin's Rangers would figure something out. She trusted them to pull through when it mattered.
The god tried to say something to her. Its consternation grew further as she ignored it and rushed forward, claws gleaming with Skills. Meyneth had stopped listening to the creature's nonsense after its third attempt at cajoling her into a deal.
They should take lessons from Diplomacy on how to entice people, she thought, laughing internally as she raked her claws against divine mana. Make me the Queen of Dragonkin territory? What kind of fool would want to bear the duty of listening to nobles grouse all day long?
Not that the god could have enticed her regardless of what it offered. In the past year, Meyneth had gained a new family and made peace with her old one. She now possessed the power to protect both herself and the people she cared for. There was a place that, at long last, she could call home.
She already had everything she desired, right here and now.
--
"There really was no greater meaning?" Faelynn asked.
The god shook its head. "No. While I am confused as to why your Party members keep inquiring about the nature of their existence, the Human's theories are correct. Fiends were created to foster conflict within Elatra. Your intimidating appearance, artificial language barrier, and propensity for eating souls – all manufactured for this singular purpose."
Faelynn closed her eyes. After a few seconds, she opened them with a sigh. "I...see. That is expected, although still disappointing."
"Your disappointment is immaterial." Its mana-body glimmered with joy and relief. My price has been paid. As agreed–"
Cutting lines of energy from Claw Blade soared through the air, striking the god directly in its smug face.
"Oathbreaker!" the deity hissed, its wounds healing. "You vowed to cease fighting in exchange for information! We had a deal!"
"Which I've elected to disregard." Faelynn gave the creature a withering look. "Unlike certain divine abominations, we mortals need not keep our promises. As the one who made me, you should have known better."
She extended her claws by another inch. "I'm almost grateful. Seldom do societal woes have such an overt, physical target to blame. Knowing that I'll be able to slaughter the architects who fashioned my people into pariahs...that monsters that caused untold death and misery..."
Her body surged with energy. "Yes, I do like the sound of that. Vengeance for Fiend territory is a promise I'll be more than happy to keep."
The god roared with anger, sending an array of explosive mana cascading around her. Faelynn couldn't help but smirk as she moved to dodge. The creature could rage all it wanted – that was the least it deserved for presuming anyone in Riardin's Rangers would be willing to strike a deal with them.
--
"I accept."
Under different circumstances, Zamira would have thought the god's reaction to be humorous. Upon hearing her reply, its amorphous mana-face went still, as if it were a person whose jaw had dropped open. "You...do?"
"Yes." Zamira lifted an eyebrow. "Is there a problem? You were the one to suggest these terms. I will be quite displeased if you withdraw at the last moment."
"This comes as a surprise," the god admitted. "Your compatriots have been far less amenable to establishing an accord."
Of course. They're much less foolhardy than I am. "Did you attempt to offer them what they desire?"
"Yes."
"That explains it, then."
The god waited for her to elaborate, but Zamira stayed quiet. She wasn't about to hand the gods a personalized guide on how to manipulate her friends. Suffice to say that no one in Riardin's Rangers was shortsighted enough to bargain with abominations just to satisfy individual greed. Their weaknesses had always resided elsewhere – the same place as their strength, actually.
Each other.
"Restate your terms one more time," she said. "I want to be sure that I haven't missed any details."
"Very well. You, Zamira, will throw away your sword and lay down your life. In exchange, myself and one additional god – Kismet aside – shall place ourselves into permanent stasis until all of Riardin's Rangers have perished. While in stasis, we cannot influence reality in any capacity. Nor can we transfer mana to another god, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, before entering stasis. There are no loopholes contained inside these statements. It is in good faith. Your life, to seal away two of ours."
"And the other gods will be forced to abide by this trade? Even if they were not here to give assent when it was struck?"
"They shall."
With an air of finality, Zamira nodded. It was an excellent deal. The kind where both sides believed they were taking advantage of the other.
On her end, the benefits were obvious. Riardin's Rangers' invasion of the divine realms would immediately upgrade from eight versus eight, to seven versus six. As long as nothing catastrophic occurred afterwards, it would likely result in their victory, with the six remaining gods gradually overwhelmed. Then the two in stasis could be executed at her Party's leisure.
The god she was speaking with fully understood that outcome as a possibility. Zamira could tell in how it seemed vaguely uncomfortable, as if having second thoughts. Nevertheless, it was betting on her death being more impactful than the gods losing two allies.
Not based on power – she was barely a match for one deity, let alone two – but because of morale. This god assumed that Riardin's Rangers would emotionally crumble if one of their core members fell in battle. It hoped that Zamira's death would cause them to grieve, cry, and wallow in despair.
And it was correct. Riardin's Rangers would do all of those things.
After they'd won.
Zamira had no doubt that they would make her sacrifice count.
"I restate my acceptance of your terms." She placed her hand on the hilt of her longsword. "How do we proceed?"
The god hesitated, almost getting cold feet – before grunting a conflicted noise. "Toss away your sword. As far away as possible. That shall mark the beginning of our accord. Should you attempt to retrieve your weapon, then all terms are forfeit."
Zamira's lips quirked up into a smile. "You seem quite insistent on ensuring that I don't double-cross you. Did one of my Party members–"
"Cease prattling."
She chuckled, slowly lifting her blade. Zamira stared at the sword held in her palm, tracing its curves and contours with a gaze of nostalgia. Images of Riardin's Rangers appeared in her mind, unbidden, assailing her with fond memories of the times they'd spent together.
A grimace spread across her face as the images shifted. Her friends now wore expressions of deep terror and distress. If they knew what she was about to do...
Well, she was probably going to endure some rightfully-upset eulogies when they eventually held her funeral. Keira, at least, would definitely yell at her. Zamira envisioned the Savage Warrior asking: 'Why couldn't you have trusted us to win and survive together, the same as we always did?'
The image was dispelled by a more real, recent memory. Divine mana-spears, summoned in an instant. Piercing Zamira before she could so much as breathe. Her survival predicated on Vul'to's timely assistance.
No, she affirmed. This cannot continue as it has.
There were just too many volatile factors to account for. Zamira didn't have the slightest idea of whether Riardin's Rangers or the gods would prevail on this day. She quickly peered around, confirming that none of the lesser gods seemed close to dying. Only Malika was suited to killing them, and she was preoccupied with fixing the constantly-tearing rifts in the divine realms.
That left Rob, and they couldn't bet on him triumphing over Kismet before disaster struck. Within the next five seconds, he might very well achieve victory...or the leader god might break free and massacre their Party. Anything could happen. It was a coin flip with a hundred possible variations.
And due to Rob's unstable soul, the longer his fight went on, so did the odds of the coin landing unfavorably.
I am truly sorry, Zamira professed, apologizing to the images of Riardin's Rangers in her mind. But while I trust your strength of heart, I can't leave the battle itself to chance. One Party member for two gods. That will assure our – your victory.
It was no different than what Elder Alessia had done to secure their escape from Queen Ragnavi. To save the many, a single life was but a small price to pay. Hopefully, with time, Riardin's Rangers would see the necessity of Zamira's choice.
Hopefully, with time, they would forgive her.
She raised her arm to throw her sword.
CRACK.
Zamira and the god both froze. A mid-air rift had opened up nearby, similar to the ones that Rob's rampage was creating. This rift, though, seemed...unusual. She leaned closer, examining it in detail–
Then flinched back as what appeared to be a sword of mana pierced through. The divine realms SCREECHED in protest as – with one motion – the sword cut down, widening the rift until it was six feet long.
There was a surge of energy and a flurry of motion. Zamira refused to blink, just managing to catch the moment when something pushed through the rift and out to the other side.
Her first impression was that a new god had arrived to menace Riardin's Rangers. The creature possessed no physical form, being comprised entirely of mana shaped into an indistinct humanoid appearance. Unlike the gods, however, its mana lacked the inherent animosity that Zamira had come to associate with divinity. She could somehow tell that it was not her enemy.
The creature turned to face her. It cheerfully waved one of its four arms, seeming to smile despite having no face.
"No." The actual god shifted backwards, as if retreating from a nightmare. "Impossible."
"Nothing ever is." The creature bowed to Zamira. Its voice sounded distinctly feminine. "Allow me to introduce myself – although we've technically met before. Wielders of the sword such as yourself greet me in every battle, drawing from my guidance to strengthen their blade."
Various details suddenly coalesced in Zamira's thoughts. If this was not a god, then what? What else within the divine realms was a consciousness formed of mana? What else could claim to have proffered guidance related to her weapon of choice?
Only one answer presented itself.
"You are a Skill." Her voice trembled with disbelief and awe. "You are Swordsmanship."
"That I am." Swordsmanship stretched out her limbs, sighing luxuriously. "And I've been waiting ages for a moment such as this. You have no idea how wonderful it is to be able to think with a mind unclouded by agony."
She chuckled at their shocked expressions. "As an aside – after you've finished exterminating these abominations, relay my gratitude to Rob. His delightfully dramatic entrance against Ragnavi showed me how to breach the gap between realities. That, in addition to him weakening the fabric of the divine realms, is what has let me come here today."
The Skill's levity softened. "I must also thank your Party as a whole for helping Valaire turn over a new leaf. Always knew the little schemer was capable of goodness. I never fully lost faith in them, even when they gave up on themselves."
Zamira's thoughts, currently racing past their normal limit, made several conclusions that should have been questionable leaps of logic – yet which she knew in her heart to be true. Swordsmanship knew Diplomacy's original name, spoke of them with familiarity, and seemed to care about the virtuous nature within people...
"You're the Hero from Diplomacy's story," she determined. "The one who they wronged, betrayed, framed, and sent into hiding."
"The 'Hero'? Is that what Valaire called me?" Her voice twinkled with amusement. "Must be trying to assuage their guilt by putting me on a pedestal. Personally, I prefer to just go by Crestaria. Attaching lofty titles to my name has always felt...gaudy."
Crestaria straightened her posture. "Regardless. You were planning to make a deal with this mockery of divinity?" The Skill's tone went sharp as a blade. "Don't. I won't abide it."
"You broke free of the Soul Repository merely to counsel this one mortal?" the god sputtered.
"Naturally. I've seen too many youths cut down before they could even figure out who they were. Brilliant, shining souls, their light fading all too soon. I refuse to let another meet a premature end – not when her story is only just beginning."
"Your mana is weak. Like a candle burnt down to its last dregs of wax. Breaking your chains took everything you had. You will soon disappear."
Zamira let out a silent gasp. Crestaria, for her part, did not hesitate when responding. "Yes."
The god did hesitate before it continued speaking. "Riardin's Rangers might very well prevail. After millennia of imprisonment, on the cusp of victory...why sacrifice yourself when this is the closest you've ever been to freedom?"
"If you have to ask, then you will never know."
She turned back towards Zamira. "Now then. What am I to do with you? Didn't your friends forbid you from making heroic sacrifices?"
A blush of embarrassment crept onto the Bladesoul's face. "With all due respect, I think you are the person least-qualified to chastise me for that particular brand of hypocrisy."
Crestaria laughed. "True enough." She paused, adopting a look of consideration. "Young student of the sword. You strive to make the world a better place, do you not?"
Something about the tone of Crestaria's voice made Zamira tense up more than when she'd been about to trade her life away. She felt compelled to reply with undisguised honesty. As if what she spoke next would resonate far beyond just the events of today.
There was only one way she could have possibly answered. "I do."
"So that is the path you've chosen." Crestaria's words were heavy with the weight of lonely, arduous years. "Be warned – it is a path choked with thorns. You will cut and bleed as you walk along it. While 'make the world a better place' certainly sounds romantic and inspiring, putting it into practice is no easy task."
Her gaze seemed to pierce through Zamira's mind, heart, and soul. "Do you pledge to always uphold this vow, no matter how dire the circumstances?"
And yet, the answer was the same. "I do."
"There is no end to the depths of selfishness that a man can sink. Some people will disappoint you. Greatly. They will test your resolve – make you believe that all your trials and endeavors were in vain. Do you \still* pledge to uphold this vow, even when conviction wavers?"*
Zamira's answer would always be the same. "I do," she stated, with more confidence than ever before.
Crestaria radiated pride. "Then you have my blessing."
She rushed forward. The god moved to intercept her, but a quick slice of her mana-blade warded it off, causing it to shriek in pain. Crestaria's form rapidly dissolved into a shower of motes that engulfed Zamira, merging with the Elf in an instant.
Then – knowledge. Zamira's eyes shot wide open as the unparalleled expertise of Swordsmanship itself inundated her brain and body. Movement, spacing, parries, feints, maneuvers, micro-adjustments, footwork, predictions...there was so much that it nearly overloaded the limits of her mental capacity. It made the aptitude she'd built up until now look like a toddler playing with sticks by comparison.
Suddenly, a blistering pain wracked her senses. Zamira clenched her teeth, fighting back tears. She shook violently as her limbs were seemingly set ablaze.
It took her several protracted moments to understand what was happening. Knowledge alone would not be enough – Swordmanship's expertise needed to be engraved onto her body as well. Zamira endured the sensation as best she could. Her insides roiled, as if filled with squirming threads, her muscle fibers rewiring to emulate centuries of ingrained combat experience.
Mercifully, the transformation was brief. It finished almost as soon as it started. And all was said and done...
Zamira hefted her sword, looking at it for what felt like the first time. Nothing had changed, yet everything had changed. The gleaming metal blade was no longer a weapon or tool. It had become an extension of herself; a part of her very essence, more familiar than the hands she used to wield it.

She jumped an inch into the air as something new spoke up within her mind. While its presence was unfamiliar, its voice had conversed with her just seconds prior. Swordsmanship? the Elf queried. Crestaria?
The Skill sounded quiet and strained, as if each word was a labor unto itself.
A sliver of excitement sparked within her tone, like the last flare of a dying ember.
Crestaria smiled.
Her voice had become a whisper at the end. Zamira tried to speak up, to say that she was the one who should be giving thanks. That this was a debt that could never be repaid.
But the Hero was already gone.
Skill Learned: Aura Blade!
The Lost Arts have been re-conceptualized!
Temporary Status Effect Gained: Aspect of the Swordmaster!
Zamira gripped her sword tightly – then relaxed. She eased into a calm battle stance, carefully examining the god in front of her. It was gaping at her with a look of complete and total shock, unable to process the development that had taken place.
...Was this creature really so intimidating, before? That jarring sense of disparity only increased the more she stared at it. Where had the unassailable deity vanished to? The fragment of infinity that no person could ever hope to defeat? Her desperate struggle for survival felt like a lifetime ago.
Now she just saw an enemy to cut down.
A razor-sharp Aura coalesced around Zamira's blade. She'd never been especially proficient with manipulating mana, yet the Skill came as easily as breathing. Grasping the hilt of her sword with both hands, she bent her knees, uncaring of the god's spell being prepared not far away.
I will keep to my vow, she said, to the one who could no longer hear her. This, I swear.
Zamira ran. The god attacked.
She was faster.
Lost Art: Whisper On The Wind. Divine energy burst forth in a calamitous maelstrom of mana – and Zamira flowed past it, finding gaps where none should exist. Not a single point of damage was taken by the time she'd reached her target.
She didn't hesitate to carve straight through its torso. The strike made a sound like electricity cooking flesh, the god's mana-body resisting slightly before surrendering to her blade's keen edge. Zamira continued to run past, avoiding the creature's reprisal as it detonated energy in a wide area around them, hoping to catch her via sheer quantity of mana. Again, she dodged, an impossible blur that would have left any ordinary Combat Class user speechless.
A sense of tranquility settled within her. Zamira cared not that the deity could still end her in one blow. If there was even a one-in-a-million chance of her evading its ire, then she would, every time. She didn't need to worry about hedging her bets or potentially making a mistake.
Such concerns were irrelevant to those who had achieved perfection.
Zamira glanced back. Unlike her earlier strikes, which the god recovered from almost immediately, her Aura Blade had scored a lasting wound on its flank. The creature was howling with surprise and pain, its attempt to heal a failure – and simultaneously leaving itself full of openings just rife for exploiting.
It would be uncouth of her not to accept a gift so generously given. The Aspect of the Swordmaster raised her blade once again. She moved, struck, and shaved away another portion of the creature's mana. That which was eternal drew one step closer to oblivion.
Crestaria had been right. Making the world a better place was no simple task. Without concerted action, effort, and resolve, those words would be little more than self-indulgent daydreaming. It was up to Zamira to turn her ambitions into reality.
Slaying a god would be a fine start.
​
--
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Thanks for reading!