So it's definitely a COMPLETELY different world we are living in compared to when I was younger. Maaaaaan... back when I was a kid? My mom and other adults straight just didn't give a FUCK..... NO, NOT ONE SINGLE FUCK!... NEITHER DID CPS!!...
FOR REAL..
My parents could force me to work as a sex worker to pay ALL OF OUR BILLS - SINGLE HANDEDLY - even though I'm only 9. Then I could walk alone to the store, that's A MILE AWAY, at MIDNIGHT, to BUY FIREWORKS for my mom.... Which she could immediately LIGHT THEM ALL, SHOOTING THEM OFF DIRECTLY AT ME, CATCHING ME ON FIRE THEN I ALMOST DIE.... because I was short of paying rent and she actually needed to use my child support check on something OTHER than her hair and nail appointment, a Lobster dinners for her and her boyfriend, plan B & menthol cigarettes.... and as I'm in the hospital, covered in 3rd degree burns all over 96% of my body.... police would probably ask me "why i think she did this to me" & I tell them the truth? they'd say "lol prove it or ur lying! FAKE NEWS! CONSPIRACY! LIE AGAIN!"...and I could have a whole video of it, to which they'd scream "LOL K? UR OLD ENOUGH TO HELP OUT WITH THE BILLS! U WANNA LIVE OFF UR PARENTS FOREVER, U LITTLE LEECH???.... ur parents are allowed to assign the necessary consequences to disobedient children!" check me out of the hospital early and send me back home.... where she then tries to kill me AGAIN FOR SNITCHING, TRY TO KILL ME AGAIN and if I tried to call CPS again, they'd TRY TO MAKE ME AN APPOINTMENT.... FOR 5 MONTHS FROM NOW.... AND SHOW UP LATE.. ask why "I think she did this again" and again I tell them the truth, CPS would be like "lol k but did u DIE tho????...."
Now a days? If someone notices even just a SMALL SCRATCH and barely visible bruise....? CPS will pop out of the fucking bushes, almost as if they had been manifested by my child because I told him no earlier and he's been angrily thinking about how much of a bitch i am, how horribly I treat him and since i don't love him, he's running away to "teach me a lesson"..... to which they will find me guilty of child abandonment, endangerment and abuse.... even though the scratch is from the family cat when they were play fighting and the bruise is from him tripping and hitting his arm on the staircase railing.
LORD, PLEASE HALT THE WORLD AND ALLOW ME DEPARTURE - FOR I DESIRE NO FURTHER ENGAGEMENT IN THIS UNPLEASANT JOURNEY! 😹
❗👇🏻❗👇🏻❗👇🏻𝕊⃨𝕀⃨𝔻⃨𝔼⃨ ℕ⃨𝕆⃨𝕋⃨𝔼⃨👇🏻❗👇🏻❗👇🏻❗ (𝕓𝕖𝕔𝕒𝕦𝕤𝕖 𝕪𝕖𝕤, 𝕦𝕟𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕦𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕝𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕀𝕊 𝕟𝕖𝕔𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕒𝕣𝕪-𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕤𝕚𝕞𝕡𝕝𝕖𝕥𝕠𝕟 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕥𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕎𝔸𝕐 𝕥𝕠𝕠 𝕤𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕝𝕪)
IF YOU ARE AN INDIVIDUAL WHO DISPLAYS BEHAVIOR REMINISCENT OF A "KAREN" ((STRUGGLING TO RECOGNIZE HUMOR OR IDENTIFY SARCASM, OVERREACTING AND SEEKING ATTENTION BY BEING EXCESSIVELY DRAMATIC ABOUT THINGS THEY HAVE MISUNDERSTOOD - DESPITE ANY CORRECTIONS AND PROPER REITERATED EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED)) I ASK THAT YOU PLEASE CONTINUE READING!.... IF YOU ARE NOT, YOU MAY RESUME YOUR DAILY ACTIVITIES-FOR THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT IS NOT INTENDED - NOR NECESSARY - FOR YOU TO CONTINUE READING...
SINCE YOU REQUIRE RHETORICAL THINGS TO BE MADE AS ABSOLUTELY CLEAR AS HUMANLY FUCKING POSSIBLE, REGARDLESS TO THE FACT IT SHOULD BE COMMON SENSE..... I WOULD LIKE TO ATTEMPT TO BRING TO YOUR ATTENTION, REMIND AND REQUEST THAT YOU PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CONTENTS OF THIS POST ARE COMPLETELY MADE UP. I KINDLY REQUEST THAT YOU DO NOT FEEL OBLIGATED OR TEMPTED TO TAKE ACTION OR CONTACT ANY AUTHORITIES REGARDING THE INFORMATION PROVIDED HERE. I WANT TO ASSURE YOU THAT NO CHILDREN HAVE BEEN HARMED BEFORE, DURING, OR AFTER THE CREATION OF THIS POST. THIS POST IS STRICTLY FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES, AND ALL THE CLAIMS MENTIONED ARE PURELY IMAGINARY. I WANT TO EMPHASIZE THAT NONE OF THE SCENARIOS HAVE EVER ACTUALLY HAPPENED - NEITHER IN MY CHILDHOOD NOR IN THAT OF MY CHILD.
🖕🏼THANK YOU🖕🏼

Seeking fellow adventurers for friendship, laughter, and great conversations! 27/M/UK
Hello there stranger.
I'm a 27-year-old guy from the UK, and I'm here in search of new friends to brighten up my day and share some of the things I love with. Life can get a bit hectic and isolating at times, so having someone to chat with would be a breath of fresh air.
A bit about me: I'm a fan of video games, and currently been playing Jedi Fallen Order in anticipation of the next game. I also love nature and greenery, science, reading (particularly keen on fantasy and have read all of Brandon Sanderson’s cosmere and am contemplating starting the epic wheel of time journey).
To balance out the more serious side of life, I'm a huge comedy fan. There's nothing like a good laugh, and I absolutely adore live standup (David Mitchell is my spirit animal).
I work in healthcare. While the job can be quite rewarding, it also comes with its fair share of stress and odd hours (which means I almost certainly will have times where our routines are in sync not matter where in the world you’re from)!
If any of this resonates with you, please don't hesitate to drop me a message, and if you’ve made it this far you may as well.
PS - I have a cat

Hello there stranger.
I'm a 27-year-old guy from the UK, and I'm here in search of new friends to brighten up my day and share some of the things I love with. Life can get a bit hectic and isolating at times, so having someone to chat with would be a breath of fresh air.
A bit about me: I'm a fan of video games, and currently been playing Jedi Fallen Order in anticipation of the next game. I also love nature and greenery, science, reading (particularly keen on fantasy and have read all of Brandon Sanderson’s cosmere and am contemplating starting the epic wheel of time journey).
To balance out the more serious side of life, I'm a huge comedy fan. There's nothing like a good laugh, and I absolutely adore live standup (David Mitchell is my spirit animal).
I work in healthcare. While the job can be quite rewarding, it also comes with its fair share of stress and odd hours (which means I almost certainly will have times where our routines are in sync not matter where in the world you’re from)!
If any of this resonates with you, please don't hesitate to drop me a message, and if you’ve made it this far you may as well.
PS - I have a cat

I (BF, 33) and my girlfriend (GF, 22)
I have known this girl for quite some time, and we started off as friends. I met her in the Philippines. She’s from the Philippines, and we have been friends ever since. Then suddenly, around November, she asked me out. It took me by surprise because I liked her a lot, but I assumed I was not her type, so I stayed friends. I was very happy and glad—it was the happiest day of my life to date someone I really wanted to be with.
Fast forward five months into our long-distance relationship, we finally had a chance to meet. I planned everything for Valentine's Day weekend and even had a surprise for her. I rented out a condo and arranged a Valentine’s Day surprise, which she loved. She was very happy and cried because it was the sweetest thing she had ever received.
During the two-week stay, she rarely wanted to engage in any intimate actions and mostly talked on the phone. There was a moment when I borrowed her phone, and she freaked out, which caused a problem, but we got over it. However, she was always on the phone and barely talked to me, so it was pretty rough. We only had sex about two times, and she even left early during the stay.
Fast-forward another five months, we have still been talking, but she rarely communicates with me. She seldom does video calls because she says she lives with many family members, but she rarely gives me time. When we do talk, she rarely says anything—it’s mostly me talking. I get tired of it. I’ve tried to do things for us like watch a show together, play games, or just talk about random topics. I tried introducing her to some of my interests, but she shows barely any interest in the things I like.
Now, after all this time, she doesn’t want to have me on her social media. She doesn’t take any pictures of us and says she loves me, but she does very little. The most important thing she has done for me is getting a tattoo removed that I don’t like, which she lied about at the beginning. We argued over it, and I know she’s very hesitant to continue after the first session.
I’ve been paying for her medical bills, her school, and some emergencies. I even gave her a phone because her old one was damaged, and she made an excuse that we couldn’t talk all the time because it wasn’t working. So we still have issues. There’s no connection, in my opinion. I do a lot of romantic things on my stories on Instagram and Facebook, but she pays no mind to it. I send her memes on TikTok and Instagram, and she barely responds or says anything about them.
On the 19th, I paid for her to go to Japan with me this June 19. I am really reconsidering my feelings because I was thinking of proposing to her. But then I saw a Facebook video of her ex from a long time ago because I was snooping (bad on me, I know). I saw how she acted completely differently with this guy—constantly kissing him on her media, even sharing him on a live stream. But she won’t do that with me. I saw more affection, and she was more conversational and clingy with him. They did everything together, even though this guy, as she says, cheated on her five times. He was the one who took her virginity. They broke up about a year ago, and I think it hurt her. But I’ve been suffering emotionally throughout this whole relationship. I would tell her, but sometimes I feel like it just goes over her head. I just can’t connect with her in many ways. She knows English very well, so it’s not a language barrier. I think she just doesn’t love me.
In Japan, I was thinking of having a talk with her. If we break up, I will be able to take everything back that I purchased for her because it is not fair that I’ve been doing more than any of her exes or any men in her life, yet I feel like she treats me like I don’t exist. I’m not on her media, she barely touches me physically, and she barely sends me anything intimate. She just says good morning and good night and then tells me about her cats.
The question I want to know is: am I being played? Am I being used because I am an American who is able to help her out, and she’s just loving the fact that I’m able to help but not loving who I really am for her? Because I want a family and kids, and she knows that, but she says in about four years she will be ready. Should I take her word on it after she finishes school, or am I just a chump?
thank you for reading I am so conflicted right now anything can help.

Link: https://www.wusf.org/health-news-florida/2024-06-09/the-chicken-and-egg-problem-of-fighting-another-flu-pandemic
Health News Florida By Arthur Allen - KFF Health NewsPublished June 9, 2024 at 6:00 AM EDT
"The spread of an avian flu virus in cattle has again brought public health attention to the potential for a global pandemic. Fighting it would depend, for now, on 1940s technology that makes vaccines from hens’ eggs.
Even a peep of news about a new flu pandemic is enough to set scientists clucking about eggs.
They worried about them in 2005, and in 2009, and they’re worrying now. That’s because millions of fertilized hen eggs are still the main ingredient in making vaccines that, hopefully, will protect people against the outbreak of a new flu strain.
“It’s almost comical to be using a 1940s technology for a 21st century pandemic,” said Rick Bright, who led the Health and Human Services Department’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) during the Trump administration.
It’s not so funny, he said, when the currently stockpiled formulation against the H5N1 bird flu virus requires two shots and a whopping 90 micrograms of antigen, yet provides just middling immunity. “For the U.S. alone, it would take hens laying 900,000 eggs every single day for nine months,” Bright said.
And that’s only if the chickens don’t get infected.
The spread of an avian flu virus has decimated flocks of birds (and killed barn cats and other mammals). Cattle in at least nine states and at least three people in the U.S. have been infected. A man's death in Mexico was caused by a strain of bird flu never before found in a human, officials said Wednesday.
It's enough to bring public health attention again to the potential for a global pandemic.
As of May 30, the only confirmed human cases of infection in the U.S. were dairy workers in Texas and Michigan, who experienced eye irritation. Two quickly recovered, while the third developed respiratory symptoms and was being treated with an antiviral drug at home. The virus’s spread into multiple species over a vast geographic area, however, raises the threat that further mutations could create a virus that spreads from human to human through airborne transmission.
If they do, prevention starts with the egg.
To make raw material for an influenza vaccine, virus is grown in millions of fertilized eggs. Sometimes it doesn’t grow well, or it mutates to a degree that the vaccine product stimulates antibodies that don’t neutralize the virus — or the wild virus mutates to an extent that the vaccine doesn’t work against it. And there’s always the frightening prospect that wild birds could carry the virus into the henhouses needed in vaccine production.
“Once those roosters and hens go down, you have no vaccine,” Bright said.
Since 2009, when an H1N1 swine flu pandemic swept around the world before vaccine production could get off the ground, researchers and governments have been looking for alternatives. Billions of dollars have been invested into vaccines produced in mammalian and insect cell lines that don’t pose the same risks as egg-based shots.
“Everyone knows the cell-based vaccines are better, more immunogenic, and offer better production,” said Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Health Security. “But they are handicapped because of the clout of egg-based manufacturing.”
The companies that make the cell-based influenza vaccines, CSL Seqirus and Sanofi, also have billions invested in egg-based production lines that they aren’t eager to replace. And it’s hard to blame them, said Nicole Lurie, HHS’ assistant secretary for preparedness and response under President Barack Obama who is now an executive director of CEPI, the global epidemic-fighting nonprofit.
“Most vaccine companies that responded to an epidemic — Ebola, Zika, COVID — ended up losing a lot of money on it,” Lurie said.
Exceptions were the mRNA vaccines created for COVID, although even Pfizer and Moderna have had to destroy hundreds of millions of doses of unwanted vaccine as public interest waned.
Pfizer and Moderna are testing seasonal influenza vaccines made with mRNA, and the government is soliciting bids for mRNA pandemic flu vaccines, said David Boucher, director of infectious disease preparedness at HHS’ Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response.
Bright, whose agency invested a billion dollars in a cell-based flu vaccine factory in Holly Springs, North Carolina, said there’s “no way in hell we can fight an H5N1 pandemic with an egg-based vaccine.” But for now, there’s little choice.
BARDA has stockpiled hundreds of thousands of doses of an H5N1-strain vaccine that stimulates the creation of antibodies that appear to neutralize the virus now circulating. It could produce millions more doses of the vaccine within weeks and up to 100 million doses in five months, Boucher told KFF Health News.
But the vaccines currently in the national stockpile are not a perfect match for the strain in question. Even with two shots containing six times as much vaccine substance as typical flu shots, the stockpiled vaccines were only partly effective against strains of the virus that circulated when those vaccines were made, Adalja said.
However, BARDA is currently supporting two clinical trials with a candidate vaccine virus that “is a good match for what we’ve found in cows,” Boucher said.
Flu vaccine makers are just starting to prepare this fall’s shots but, eventually, the federal government could request production be switched to a pandemic-targeted strain.
“We don’t have the capacity to do both,” Adalja said.
For now, ASPR has a stockpile of bulk pandemic vaccine and has identified manufacturing sites where 4.8 million doses could be bottled and finished without stopping production of seasonal flu vaccine, ASPR chief Dawn O’Connell said on May 22. U.S. officials began trying to diversify away from egg-based vaccines in 2005, when avian flu first gripped the world, and with added vigor after the 2009 fiasco. But “with the resources we have available, we get the best bang for our buck and best value to U.S. taxpayers when we leverage the seasonal infrastructure, and that’s still mostly egg-based,” Boucher said.
Flu vaccine companies “have a system that works well right now to accomplish their objectives in manufacturing the seasonal vaccine,” he said. And without a financial incentive, “we are going to be here with eggs for a while, I think.”
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

So I was out with a buddy at one of those small town China buffets and he got a fortune cookie without any paper fortune in it. And I went home and made this. While listening to the album Wasteland to Wonderland by Paddy and the Rats.
It takes place in a world where science and magic coexist. Poorly. (Think S.T.A.L.K.E.R. but with wizards) The city and the countryside are ruled by a being known as the fateweaver. She rules with an iron fist, her command over sorcery absolute. Deep within the city her scientists are working on something. Something insidious. One of these decides that they wont be a part of it anymore. They are exiled from the city with a terrible curse and nowhere to go. There are rumors however of another sorcerer, who lives in an old estate far on the other side of the wastelands.
Bereft of any other ideas, they go. Ready to challenge fate.
Like my stuff? Check out the archive!: https://www.reddit.com/talkingtalltales/comments/1bdfpxb/timerafts_script_archive/
Want a comission of your own?: https://ko-fi.com/timeraft
Dialogue
SFX
Context
context that changes the audio
The listener has been cursed by a figure known as the fateweaver for refusing to work on a scientific project for them. They have fled from the fate weavers city and sought out a mysterious sorcerer to have the curse lifted
Unfortunately they didn't get very far past the edge of the estate.
Well well well what have my roses caught for me?
A trespasser all tangled up in the thorns. A dime a dozen drifter.
Trespasser trespasser why did come?
Seems you're a little tangled up there. Did you really think you’d just be able to waltz into my sanctuary? You have no idea how much danger you’re in right now.
You’re lucky that my roses judged you to be a good person at heart or their enchantments would have made you into a rat as soon as you pricked yourself on them. Then my cats would have probably eaten you.
So tell me why you came and I’ll cut you down and pretend I never saw you.
What's the matter trespasser? Devil got your throat?
What brought you here? Just what manner of mortal are you?
Oh it seems it can speak after all. Come on now.
You’re stammering. Talk slower.
A scientist you say? Well well well. It's not often I’m graced with the presence of a sage like yourself.
Tell me, child of science, why would you seek out a sorcerer? I don't suppose you came here just to check out my roses.
And what's this on your neck? Seems to my eyes to be a tendril from a curse mark.
Tongue clicking
Ooooh boy, somebody out there must really not like you huh? Why is that?
More stammering
Actually you know what? I’m not interested. Here let me unsheathe my knife and cut you down.
Cuts them down
Thud
Now I’m going to close my beautiful eyes for a moment. And when I open them you’re going to be gone. I'm going to go back to sleep and in the morning this will just seem like some silly dream.
Understand?
Alright sweet pea.
One
Two
Three
Deep breath
And you’re still here.
Ok let's try again shall we?
One…..
Two……
Frustrated sigh
Ok I’m starting to get a little bit angry now. You know you woke me up from a really wonderful dream?
I was driving down the coast roads in a long silver convertible. I think it was a thunderbird like from that Marc Cohn song.
I had the top down and the radio on. The sea breeze was tossing my hair just so and I had that lovely salty fresh taste in my mouth. You have no idea how much I long to return to the coast. To feel that breeze for real just one more time.
The sun was going down and the sky was a million radiant colors. Just exploding up from the ocean. I had my arm draped around the shoulder of some lounge singer. It was one of the nicest dreams I’ve had in a long long time.
And right in the middle of it, as my favorite song came on over the radio and that good looking singer started to sing along to it, so softly I could barely even hear. I leaned in for the kiss and what happened instead?
I woke up- alerted to a trespasser into my little sanctum. My hair is a mess and my mouth tastes like morning breath. And instead of some gorgeous singer, I get to spend this cloudy damp little night with you.
So you can see how I might be a little unamused right now. Clearly you’re not going to take the off ramp I so generously provided to you so explain why you’re here. It had better be a really good reason.
Listener stammers again
You know what shut up. Let me see that curse mark. The whole thing.
Shhhhh relax i just need to look. Take off your shirt.
Turn around.
Traces their finger over the curse mark
Oh ohh damn. You’re really up the creek aren't you? You’ve been cursed by the fateweaver herself.
I’ve seen this before. It's a very insidious little curse.
Your energy slowly sapped away. Day by day. Everything around you goes greyer and greyer. And then one day your tank finally goes empty and you sit down somewhere, close your eyes and turn into stone, never to stir again. It's a favorite of hers.
What did you do? You don't seem like the defiant type. I'm guessing it was something like speaking out of turn during a meeting. Something stupid and petty like that.
Ohhh you had some “concerns”? Didn't like the implications of what you were being told to research did you?
Laughs
I’ll paint the rest of the picture. You shared these “Concerns” with her, but to your incredible surprise (and nobody else's) instead of listening to your ethical concerns she cursed you.
Listener does not deny it
Hehe yeah I knew it.
I can tell you're the type to assume the best of people aren't you. That’s cute. That's why you came out here just assuming I'd lift your curse out of the kindness of my little old heart isn't it? The evil sorcerer in the heart of the wasteland is surely just a caring good Samaritan deep down.
Well why would I lift the curse even if I could? What's in it for me? Me and the fateweaver have an understanding. She gets the city and the mountains. And I get the wasteland. Sure we're enemies, but frankly she's beaten me. And I'm tired, so why Should I rock the boat for some no name labcoat like you? Why risk another confrontation?
So no, I don't think I’ll be helping you.
You can stay right here if you want though. I think a statue would look really nice right over…. There. Right over on that iron bench by the dry fountain. Make sure you strike a good pose when it starts, Sweet Pea.
Maybe sit right there with your head in your hands. Cry a little bit even. It'll give this place a real melancholy vibe. Maybe I'll let the roses grow over you. That doesn't sound so bad does it? Just try not to make too much noise. I need my beauty sleep. See ya in the morning!
Mocking laugh
Oh you look so cute when the light fades from your eyes like that. Whatcha gonna do? Beg? Cry?
Go right on ahead! Sadder stories than yours have failed to move me! But I love a good begging session as much as the next sorcerer! Come on then! Lets see it.
Listener gets angry. In a tranquil way.
Oooh a death glare. Shiver me timb-
Listener sucker punches them in the gut, tackles them and takes the knife. pinning them to the ground with the knife to their throat.
Wha-oof!!
Oh you're a tricky bastard aren't you? I have to admit that I never would have expected you to punch me in the gut like that. And you got your grubby little hands on my favorite knife.
You think you've got the upper hand don't you? Well go ahead try and slit my throat. Take that knife and do it.
Go on. Try it.
The knife won't cut me. I know it. And if you truly know something it can't hurt you. It's killed enough for me that it knows it won't be trusted by anyone else. That's old magic. Nice try though.
Of course you realize that this means war.
Punches listener in the face
Grunts
Shoves the listener off of them.
They square up with eachother
Come on you fool! Hit me again! Show me that you're made of blood and bone! Show me what you lose if your flesh becomes stone. Stand up for yourself! You deserve to live don't you?
Grunts as they throw a punch. Listener dodges
Well?! Show me that you want it! Show me how bad you want to live!
Dodges a punch
Is that all!? I was just starting to respect you!
Throws another punch and hits the listener. The listener is knocked back and lets out an angry primal yell.
Yeah that's it! Scream! Cry for blood! Get mad! Get angry! Live damn you! Live!
Punches the air
You've got too much to lose to let me stop you! Take your fate into your own hands! You know what you came here for! Take it!
Tries to punch out the listener. The listener dodges and counter punches. Hitting their cheek
Laughter
spits
You made me bite my cheek, you little piece of dirt. First blood goes to you.
My mouth tastes like blood, but tonight the blood tastes like wine. Images are flashing through my mind. Images of the past and the future. You're something else. Worth getting out of bed for at least.
Laughter
So you want to live? You're not the only one. I can help you with that, but it'll cost you.
This curse of yours isn't some run of the mill evil spell. It's not a matter of me just waving my hand and casting a good spell to counter the evil one. There's a reason she's called the fateweaver. You turning into stone has literally been written in the stars. It is your destiny, it's part of the great tapestry of the world's fate.
The sun will rise tomorrow, the river will flow to the sea, the moon shall wax and wane, and you will turn to stone. It is your fate.
Ha! There's always a way. I can change your fate, that's what it means to be a sorcerer after all, to change fate. Come with me. To the well of eternity.
Walking and talking
My estate is built around the well of eternity. It is the bedrock of everything I am. The little seed that became the core of my power, and the link that became the chains that bind me. I wasn't always what I am now. I used to be a dental hygienist, but I had a curse of my own I needed to break. I’ll spare you the gritty details but it led me here from my home dimension.
A great man once compared the world to an optometrist trapped on a rail car with one little hole in the wall. Forced to watch the world pass by but being unable to see where the train was going or where it had been, only where it was at that moment.
That is what it is to be bound by fate, but what if I told you there was a way out of the boxcar?
That great hole in the center of the brick plaza? That's the well of eternity.
We'll have to descend the staircase around it. Watch your step, the stairs are slippery and thin.
Conjures a magical fire for light.
A magical fire burning a brilliant shade of [whatever your favorite color is] it will guide our way.
This world of yours and mine is one of many. All that happens here is one way or another driven by a conflict between those who serve the princess of the tower, the goddess of order. And the Witch of the plains. The goddess of chaos.
The fateweaver serves the former, although she doesn't know it. And I served the latter, even though I despised it. All that happens in every universe on the most fundamental level, is driven by their eternal hatred. So if you ever felt like the gods were fools, well you weren't far off from the truth.
Or in any case that's how it has been explained to me. I'll freely admit I don't understand most things as much as I'd like to. I’m a lot less than I appear to be. Most sorcerers are. We’re all smoke and mirrors. Shadows on the wall. Ghost boxes and card tricks.
They are deep in the well. There's a quiet watery ambience.
The well of eternity may look like water, but in truth it is the stuff that makes up the void between universes. If you submerge yourself into the water you will cease to be a part of this world and the forces that command your destiny will have no power over you. Your life will be your own.
Whispers minus the debt you will be owing me
Wait, I want you to understand what exactly you are doing to yourself.
There was a kingdom once where the tribe of the valley and the tribe of the hill were all times at war. There was a trader who sold to both sides and became fabulously rich.
But one night as he was riding through a small city a great storm arrived suddenly.
He went to the valley tribe for shelter, but they had no love for someone who also knew the people of the hills.
He went to the people of the hills but they would not shelter a man who also knew the people of the valley.
Thus the storm descended upon him and he was without shelter. Even of the worst kind. He was never seen again.
Do you understand?
Look into the waters.
I can show you glimpses of the great cities of the multiverse.
Samandar, The Emerald City, Tanelorn, Coruscant, El Dorado, Tooner Flats, Numinor, Detroit.
None of them will ever be a home for you.
If there is a place anywhere in the multiverse for a soul that has been baptized in the well of eternity I don't know of it. And trust me, I've looked. You can't go home again.
If you let me lower you into these waters your fate will be your own, and that can be a terrible thing. For whatever happens this point forward will be your responsibility. And if things go poorly you will have no one you can blame save for yourself. Are you certain you want this? I won't blame you if you turn back. There are worse fates than being stone. Becoming like me for example.
Look me in the eye and tell me you want this. Only you can make this choice.
Pause
listener nods
Deep breath
Smooch!
For luck
Splash as they push the listener into the water.
Listener is submerged in the water
Swim up! Swim up!
Fade out
Listener wakes up in inside the speakers home on a couch
Hey. How you feeling?
Head hurts right? And it's not just because of that black eye I gave you last night.
You know you saw a lot of stuff in the waters but you can't remember any of it. That's how it went for me at least.
You'll remember what you saw in time. A little bit will come back to you bit by bit. And It will change you, in ways you might not like. Until then well, ignorance is bliss as they say.
Can you sit up?
Good job, drink this. It's spiced wine, it'll calm your senses a little.
They hand the listener a coffee mug full of warm spiced wine
Like it? I whipped it up while you were napping. It’s not magic. Just calming.
Listener suddenly notices that they have a tattoo of a broken chain on their arm.
Oh yeah I see you just noticed your sick tatt. I did mention something about a debt to me did I not?
Hey! I said my help would cost you didnt I? I mean sure yeah I’m basically a saint, but I still need something in return. That tattoo is just a little forget me not. Something to keep that fresh in your mind. Besides, it looks good on you. Gives you that little bit of edginess you’ve been missing.
The broken chain. It's a symbol of mine. There's thirteen links. One for every second you spent under the waters down there.
You see I’ve been thinking and I’ve decided I need to get more active outside of my garden again and I'm gonna need a….
Hmmm minion sounds a little too hierarchical. So does servant. I mean I’m just an ordinary guy/gal. I can't have a servant. Too rich for my blood.
Let's say I'll need a helper. Yeah helper sounds nice. Somebody to do my leg work while I focus on the more technical stuff. You’ll love it. Give you a chance to get out of the lab and punch something. If this bruise on my cheek means anything you’ve got some pent up energy you need to work out.
Simple proposition really. Every time you run an errand for me a link disappears from the chain. Help me out thirteen times and you’re free to go. Unless you ever knowingly lie to me, that's gonna add another link to the chain. In the meantime you can stay here.
Hey have you ever driven a Hi-Lo? Do you think you could steal one?
Visible confusion
Nevermind, we'll talk about errands later.
Finish the wine and take a nap for a while. You’ve had a rough night. And it won't be your last. For better or worse. You chose to live a life without a destiny.
When you wake up I’ll have an errand you can run with me.
Cheek kiss
Sleep tight Trespasser.
-30-

Paradox, Viciate, and Lorenzo continued on their descent into the castle to the Well of Wisdom. A sacred place bestowed on the Alphaverse since its creation. A well that possess the most valuable wisdom from across the Megaverse. Paradox had his group stop in one of the chambers for he assumed his prisoners will be awaking from the poison soon. He then had his chains wrap around King Alexander, Venessa, Cross, Tray, Selena, Malissa, Lucrest, Leoped, and Phonix. Viciate deployed several drones that aimed their weapons at the chained prisoners with Paradox standing resolute holding the Matrix of Eternity in his hands. The prisoners eventually woke up one by one and were greeted by crude words and jeers directed towards them. The chains that bound them prevented them from utilizing their powers to break their bonds and even if they did, the bullets from the drones will prove extremely lethal to their weakened state. Paradox ordered the prisoners to be placed in a line on their knees as he snapped his fingers which summoned imps and more infernal warriors to act as guards. King Alexander, "You can't restore the Matrix in the Well of Wisdom, it will shred you to pieces." Paradox smugly, "Maybe, but that's why I'll have each of you go in for me and see who can withstand the Well." Malissa, "He's going to sacrifice us! Where is Joan? Did she escape?" Paradox, "Oh I believe Tray knows the answer to that." Everyone turned wondering where Tray could be until he finally spoke, the others were shock at his new appearance for he appeared otherworldly to them. Tray did not lift his eyes towards the group, but rather hung his head low. Paradox's eyes beamed with sadistic delight as he spoke, "I guess one can say your sister is now very OPEN MINDED!" It took a few seconds for this joke to register in the minds of the prisoners, but when it did, all of them violently shook the chains in order to be free. "Go ahead use all your powers to break those chains, it only transfers your power levels into my soul. Lockjaw was right, all of you are complete fools in underestimating these accursed chains!"
He grabbed Phonix as his victim but stopped when what seemed to be an earthquake began to shake the foundations of the castle. The earthquake only intensified the longer it went, Venessa, "Does anyone else hear bass boosted music?" In a spectacular explosion of dazzling lights and rifts across space and time, Diamond's glowing body appeared in a giant hole in one of the castle's walls while blaring Hit Me Baby One More Time. Everyone was left speechless when they saw Diamond, believing it to be a ghost. "PARADOX!!!!!" In terror Paradox began to back away, "Impossible, I scarred you for life! HOW ARE YOU EVEN STRONGER THAN BEFORE?!" "It is not for you to know the circumstances that brought me here before you today. Regardless I am back. AND THIS TIME THERE IS NO POWER IN THE MEGAVERSE OR THE NETHERWORLD THAT IS GOING TO STOP ME!" Paradox ordered Lorenzo, Viciate, and the rest of his minions to dispose of Diamond as he journeys deeper to the Well of Wisdom. Viciate used his powers to generate clones of his allies as he slowly approached Diamond. Observing this, Diamond began to smile, "How about I even those odds." After finishing his sentence, 20 identical clones of Diamond manifested themselves behind him. Unlike other clones or copies, these 20 were able to act independently as a collective hive mind. The original Diamond attacked Viciate head on while the duplicates attacked the other clones and others attempted to free the prisoners. Viciate attempted in drawing his sword to strike Diamond in an exposed position, but Diamond's intense senses was able to prevent Viciate from using his sword. In a matter of seconds, Diamond punched Viciate to a bloody mess before leaving him stuck on one of the walls.
His abilities alerted him of several imps closing on his position, and in a swift motion, Diamond created a new Sword of Light, which was far longer and sharper to simultaneously decapitate all of the imps that circled around him. While watching all of this unfold before her very eyes, Selena could not help but smile at seeing Diamond restored to his former self, "He's back." A clone of Diamond randomly appeared next to her, "Nice to know I'm no longer on house arrest." The clone was able to free Selena from her chains and started to free the rest of the prisoners. After freeing them, he gave the group a new set of orders, "I may not know all of you, but focus your abilities in taking down those devilish warriors over there. I'll handle Paradox." The clone soon vanished alongside the other copies leaving only the original Diamond left. Just when Diamond started to follow Paradox's trail, Lorenzo used his acidic whip to suspend Diamond in place. Lorenzo was successful in his attack and used this advantage to expel fatal toxins into Diamond's lungs. "Ugh. Dude, you got some serious oral hygiene problems. Here take a mint!" Lorenzo's mouth was open due to him being stunned seeing his foe unphased with his lethal toxin. The supposed mint landed on his tongue, which resulted in a strong electrical shock being sent all over his body causing him to black out. "Nice whip though, I'm for real going to take this for my collection." Diamond bent over and collected the whip before resuming on his mission to destroy Paradox. Paradox was nearly at the entrance of the Well, but felt his body frozen in place, no matter how hard he tried to move. He finally realized he was frozen by Diamond's soul manipulation, yet when he made this realization, Diamond was already floating horizontally whispering into Paradox's audio receptor, "I think I am going to show off my newfound abilities."
Paradox tried to slice Diamond with a chain along his back, but Diamond vanished before he could land a hit. He reappeared behind him and with a simple flick, Diamond sent Paradox crashing through the castle's walls and ceilings. Paradox regained his stance as he morphed into Astros as he stopped a punch from Diamond which sent shockwaves, shattering any neighboring glass. Paradox kicked Diamond at his shin before hitting him with brute force across his face. He summersaulted backwards a few yards as he morphed into the Ice King. He then summoned several frozen daggers and sharp projectiles as he sent them flying towards Diamond at light speed. Diamond noticed the projectiles flying towards him as he achieved speeds that made time around him slow down several seconds. It was if things were occurring to him at a quarter speed, so with a wave of his arm, he took control of the projectiles and had them float around him before resuming time and sending them back to Paradox. Paradox moaned loudly as the projectiles lodged themselves in tight crevasses of his body and interfering with some of the vital mechanisms. The two teleported away from the castle into the depths of the grand city where they continued their battle. Paradox changed into Shen the disgraced Shogun as he desperately tried to slice off Diamond's limbs and head. Diamond casually dodged each attack with ease he summoned the Sword of Light which has grown longer and sharper to reflect his reunion with the Light. The two blades collided with each other, but Paradox was no match for Diamond's swordsman skills.
Diamond noticed Paradox's right arm malfunctioning from one of the ice projectiles and taking advantage of this weakness, he punched Paradox repeatedly in the chest before kicking him to the floor. He then created a revolver from his nanites and fired four bullets consecutively into his weak spot. He knew his bullets succeeded in wounding his opponent, for the sound of loose air began to hiss from broken wires and Paradox's arm glitching by morphing into many different appearances before changing back to its default appearance. Diamond smiled smugly as he released that Paradox was truly terrified in that moment, "Where has your self-confidence gone? Are those appearances not making you comfortable in your mechanical body?" "SHUT UP!" Paradox then changed into Mecha-Diamond as he was able to grab Diamond by his throat and threw him into multiple buildings. The two eventually landed on top of a commuter train before Diamond could free himself. Diamond sliced his opponent's arm to free himself and used his thrusters to fly backwards as he observed Paradox's body shifting gears to re-forge the missing arm. While in the form of Mecha-Diamond, Paradox had four mechanical tentacles grow out of him, which resulted in Diamond activating his suit to grow tentacles of his own. The two opponents had their tentacles wrap around each other as they fired their blasters at each other. Diamond tried to create two clones of himself, but Paradox's tentacles grabbed him and tossed him into one of the train carts as the civilians screamed in terror. He gradually regained consciousness as he prepared to find Paradox, but for a long minute, he could not sense Paradox. It was not until a lady screamed of a large spider approaching them from the other end when Diamond released it is Paradox crawling on all fours with great speed. Paradox shifted back to full height in a most grotesque fashion as his body spun in different ways before his head shifted back to its normal size. Diamond yelled at the passengers to run to the other cart as he dealt with Paradox. While the passengers fled, two extra mechanical arms began to form on Paradox's appearance of Mecha-Diamond as all four of arms ignited red plasma blades. "Attack Diamond!" The four arms began to spin in opposite directions of his body in quick movements as he rapidly approached Diamond that it was impossible to strike him above or behind.
Confused on what his next move should be, Diamond noticed parts of Paradox's chest plate were loose as it was glitching in and out. Out of options, Diamond swung at Paradox which he swiftly blocked with the four blades, but Diamond was able to have his nanotech grow on Paradox's arms as he then had the nanites send an electric shock on the foreign host, which granted him an opening in tearing off the chest plate and firing two blasts from his repulsers into Paradox's chest. This stunned Paradox as Diamond charged at him and began to tear all the vital wires, buttons, and controls that operated Paradox's mechanical body. Paradox's voice box became affected as it began to shift into different tones and voices as he tried to speak, "No, I will.....not.....be bested a.....second......time." Paradox was able to gain control of his arms as he threw Diamond out of the train cart out into the city's skyline. Diamond was able to shoot a grapple around Paradox's legs as he pulled both of them out into the air as his body began to glow golden with pure Light. Paradox descended towards him with chains around his body as he prepared to strike fatal blows on Diamond's body. Diamond closed his eyes as he extended his right arm while having his fingers form a finger gun. He whispered silently with firm conviction, "Through the power of Heaven's Light all things are possible......grant me the power to send this foul demon of a man back to the infernal depths where he belongs." Diamond then fired a large blast of pure Light towards Paradox as his enemy screamed in anger, "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" The power caused from this blast was so strong and hot that it started to melt the metal on Paradox's body and causing any remaining circuits to fry.
Diamond floated towards the ground as he stared at a ball of fire fall towards the ground as it created a large crater. He stepped forward and saw Paradox's mangled body as his soul still held possession of it. Paradox was still able to manipulate his body to change into whoever he chooses, and as a last resort he changed to Diamond's mother. "Trevor.......how could you do this.....to me......your own mother.......after all your father and I have done for you this is how you repay us?" "Quit your bull you pathetic character of a soul. If I had the power to judge you in the afterlife, I would create a separate place for sadistic manipulators such as yourself so all you scoundrels can do nothing more than hurt yourselves for your sins!" Diamond then used his power to lift Paradox in the air and was about to crush his body and seal his soul permanently, but as he did so a blazing portal appeared as a pitch-black arm reached out and snatched Paradox before Diamond had time to react. Dumbfounded, Diamond de-activated his suit and left his Light form in order to process what happened. Realizing there was nothing else to do he traveled back to the castle. When he arrived, he saw how the group of heroes easily defeated all of the devilish creatures and were tossing all the dead bodies into a giant pile. Only one thing concerned him, the fact Lorenzo and Viciate's bodies were both missing from the battle. He reasoned they managed to escape, but with the injuries they sustained, it would be a long while before they would show themselves again. After making this assumption, Diamond's family greeted him with open arms and hugs, yet even Diamond did not recognize Tray's new body. Tray had to explain his entire story again to Diamond so he would understand why he looked like "A living glowstick." Hearing Tray's story about Joan made Diamond sorrowful and offered to help in making sure Joan's body receives a proper burial. King Alexander and Diamond hastily organized the funeral and gave Joan's family time to grieve and remember their youngest member that was stolen from them.
While the mourners were conversing with themselves, the king wanted to lead Diamond through the many rooms and wings of the enchanting castle. He wanted to show Diamond the inner secrets and history of this castle, so he very discretely led him down a flight of stairs into an older section of the castle where even most of the king's court were not allowed to enter. The two stepped through two enormous emerald doors and continued on through the darkness. The king ignited a turquoise flame from his hands and led Diamond to a large wall. King Alexander, "Stare at these murals Diamond. Notice the story they tell." Diamond stared at the murals and paintings on the wall trying to understand the history behind them. He saw what appeared to be angels directing two races. To the right were humans with their leader baring a resemblance to Alexander with folded hands in prayer as their eyes gazed at the Heavenly specters, in addition it appeared that swords and shields were descending towards them. To the left were the ancient race of Enders who also had their gaze towards Heaven, but descending towards their hands were scrolls with quills, signifying their role to write and document. At the front of the line of Enders stood none other than Ranfus, although significantly younger. Diamond continued down the wall as the next scene involved the leaders of the humans and enders being coronated with the two leaders' hands being locked in agreement. The next scene depicted what was either a battle or war where many humans and enders were dead, brough to their demise by rebellious humans. It depicted how after the battle Ranfus took the remaining enders away to a place that could supervise the entire Megaverse free from human interaction. The last scene showed the battle worn king of the humans siting on his throne with a tear in his left eye, while his right side remained stoic. His left arm pointed downwards to a decree while his right arm pointed upwards with a grand castle and city floating in the palm of his hand. "The Enders used to dwell with you?" "Indeed, for you see, the king in those murals is actually my great-grandfather. Time goes by very slowly for us here, not only that but we tend to live for thousands of years. Originally, after the first man and woman were created and fell into sin, we were created in the aftermath of that event. We bear the same weaknesses as other humans after the fall, but we were created to protect the Enders, who would document the shifting tide of Creation across the Megaverse. Our special duty connected us more in tune with the messengers of Heaven and we strived to live up to our mission of acting as the second example for the Megaverse, the Main Omniverse being the first. Yet, a few of the humans of my great-grandfather's time were seduced by the powers of evil for the many fallen angels, now turned demons, preyed upon their fallen status and sparked division between human and ender. Eventually a genocide broke out where rogue humans wanted the power of the Enders to themselves and would slaughter anyone who opposed them. My great-grandfather and Ranfus ultimately triumphed, but the damage had been done for the Enders no longer trusted us and collectively agreed humans everywhere were unpredictable and destructive. Ranfus left this Omniverse with the survivors of his race, thus leaving us as the sole inhabitants of this realm. From the ashes of the old kingdom, my great-grandfather led the creation of a new one as you can see here, but the reason why his left side is sad is the fact he did not kill the leaders of the rebellion. He did not want to take their lives, so instead he banished them to the wildness of the Megaverse. After casting them out of this Omniverse, he placed a ban where no one will be able to enter or leave. Using his divine gifts, he was able to practically make it seem like this Omniverse was erased and could not be discoverable unless him or another king wills its borders to open up once again."
"And what happened to the exiled ones?" "Most of them died across the Megaverse but their main leader, Mek'el continued following the path of evil and grew stronger in the powers of darkness. This granted him an unnatural talent of cheating death, but when an event in Omniverse 63,745 occurred when that Omniverse's Celestial had an offspring with that Omniverse's name for an angel, Mek'el sensed the potential of such an offspring." "Hold on, that's the Omniverse the Megaverse Council and I had named Evangelion. Yeah, those creatures they call angels are definitely not real angels, but you mean to tell me that this Mek'el influenced The Devourer?" "No, Mek'el BECAME The Devourer. He transferred his soul into the newborn soul of the deadly offspring, completely fusing with the new soul. In response to this, my great-grandfather on his deathbed, ordered my grandfather to create a device that could end Mek'el once and for all. That device was the Matrix of Eternity. It was hastily crafted before my grandfather sent it to Omniverse 63,745 hoping it could destroy Mek'el there. Unfortunately, it did not fulfill its original purpose due to Mek'el fully becoming The Devourer and traveled across the Megaverse eating the Core of whatever Omniverse he entered. His travels would take a long time to reach his next destination, but nothing could stop him. The Matrix continued to grow with wisdom in Omniverse 63,745 before an apparition of an Ender ordered a singular person to send the Matrix in the direction of the Main Omniverse. Eventually, the Matrix landed in your Omniverse, but was kept hidden for a long time with only glimpses and rumors of such a treasure of untold power being passed on from dimension to dimension. Finally at last, you found it in 2021 just as The Devourer arrived in your Omniverse. Little did you know, but upon his defeat when you unleashed the power of the Matrix, it sent shockwaves across the Megaverse. Myself along with my people celebrated when we felt the destruction of The Devourer, finally knowing a dark piece of our history has been put to rest." "When I traveled to Omniverse 63,745 last summer, it was promoted that they created the Matrix of Eternity." "Their leaders simply changed the story and wiped our part out of their history books, for the select few who told you it was their ancestors that created it are not at fault. For they too believe this error, this is simply a mistake on their ancestor's part and nothing more. Come along now, let's head back up a few stairs back to where there was an intersection, there is more I need to show you."
The king led Diamond to a room with many floating orbs that had different colors symbolizing a different Omniverse. "I am aware that you and the Megaverse Council have a broad idea to all the soldiers at the disposal of our enemy. But I want to show you some specific souls that are.......unique. The person known as The Ageless managed to recruit several corrupted versions of the strongest beings in your Omniverse's hierarchy. Among them consist of a fallen Omniversal Tribunal, Protectors, Insanity Trio, Bad Time Trio, many alternate timeline versions of you, and other powerful individuals from the Megaverse. The Ageless and Demonic Council calls this elite group the Bad End Friends. King Alexander brings forth an orb that displays the souls of those fallen humans. This reveals the true thoughts of their soul and what their soul really says." Diamond leaned forward to hear the cries of their souls and was surprised to hear their souls cry out in unison. "We just wanted to heal but now our nightmares are real, and we'll never wake up for we're torn apart! We want freedom! Freedom! Freedom!" Diamond could not believe what he heard, for it caused him to step back to avoid their cries. "Secondly, I want to briefly touch on the Ageless' story. Thousands of years ago lived a man born with unnatural gifts, he could enter into violent places and leave with minor bruises. He was able to kill the celestials in his world with his mere hands and crude weapons. Yet, he was not satisfied, he wanted more power and more entities to kill, for he enjoyed the bloodlust. This led to him being sought out by the fallen Seraphim now named Black Hat. He offered him more power and an entire place beyond his imagination to live the rest of his days as a butcher. The man agreed and henceforth became an unwavering servant directly to Black Hat. Eventually, he earned a reputation by parading himself as a savior wearing polished white and gold armor, in order to win the trust of many defenders who protected their native Omniverse. Once he won their complete trust and learned their secrets and fears, it would be too late for that Omniverse. For it would be a matter of time before complete carnage would be unleashed on all the helpless souls in that Omniverse. Thus, he was given the title Harbinger of the End.......a human who is an undisputed champion in gladiator battles with a mind to match his muscles.......a man always youthful, laughing at the hands of time........The Ageless."
"The last thing I want to reveal to you is the location of our enemy's base. The Megaverse Council has discovered it and that is Omniverse 6,666,666. That Omniverse had so many events that ran parallel with your Omniverse it was almost an exact copy. However, before your Omniverse was assaulted by Black Hat's forces in 2021, they won a resounding battle in that Omniverse. Everything that could have gone wrong in that final battle, did indeed go wrong." King Alexander used his powers to generate a vision of that fateful day. The scene pans to a bloodied and defeated Diamond with a shattered Sword of the Omniverse with Black Hat towering over him. The two listened intently when Black Hat spoke, "The Initiative has fallen. Its members......lost. You have been deceived......betrayed.........purged." The vision hovers over countless bodies of Initiative members that had died in the battle with some of their corpses disfigured and mutilated they were unidentifiable. "I can feel you are scared of judgement day. You led millions of souls to their grave. Your lukewarm faith shaken due to your pleas and petitions being ignored. So, I offer you a choice. Join us and postpone the judgement day, have all the pleasures of the world handed back to you, and avoid living the life as a failure!" The defeated Diamond raised his teary eyes and spoke, "I......accept!" The crowd around him chuckled as Black Hat stepped away with Alastor taking his place, "It's a deal!" The defeated Diamond shook his hand and became controlled and a vessel for Alastor until his original body could be restored. After this moment a large echo of thunder echoes across the battlefield with a bright light shining in the distance. The Ageless, "What is that?" Black Hat, "The veil of the Main Omniverse has been lifted. We are no longer kept out! We must seize this opportunity before it's too late." Ageless remain here with Alastor's vessel." "Why?" "If things go sour for me and my forces in the Main Omniverse, I want us to still have a strong foothold here in the Megaverse. This Omniverse will be perfect. I will be taking half of our forces with me." "What of the few people who survived this battle, should I find them and use them as prisoners and entertainment?" Black Hat had a sadistic smile, "There are no survivors!" The vision then played the sounds of screams with Diamond begging Alexander to end the vision. "That's enough! I cannot watch nor listen to this vision anymore! Please end this nightmare!"
Alexander ended the vision as the two were brought back to reality. Alexander spoke with sympathy to Diamond, "I did not show you that vision to torture you. I revealed it, because you need to understand exactly what to expect from our enemy and take deep root in your faith." "Why did the pleas and petitions of that Diamond go unanswered?" "Truthfully, that Diamond did not pray for deliverance, he instead wanted more glory and praise. When he was in public and prayed, it was for show, and he was not sincere in the words he said. Even at the last moment, he received a message from Heaven begging him to repent from his prideful ways and deliverance would come. Yet, in that last moment, he refused with his soul saying no it has to be my way and I do not want to change the life I am living and that's final. It was his fault no Heavenly aid came, now he has no one else to blame other than himself for his misdeeds and wickedness." Diamond's body had a series of goosebumps when King Alexander finished speaking. He always wondered what would have happened in the final battle for his Omniverse if there was no intervention, now he wished for this catastrophic example to leave his mind.
After this event, King Alexander led Diamond to a sacred place called the Veil of the Celestial Plane to speak with his angelic friends. Along the way, King Alexander explained to Diamond the difference between True Balance and Perfection. How True Balance is the perfect imperfect form of Perfection, because as mortal creatures that are finite with flaws no person alive can reach True Perfection. He explained how demons fear True Balance and how the demons only focus on temporal goals not eternal, for all that awaits them in eternity is eternal punishment. (This is a footnote, because at the end of this post in the comment section I will share the entire conversation in greater detail, for some reason the Sub-Reddit automatic rules count it as a rating post no matter how hard I rephrased the dialogue. Very weird that happened because it never happened before, but hopefully I will be able to share that conversation in full under this post, because it took a lot of effort in composing the dialogue.)
Filled with courage and zeal from their conversation, Diamond entered into the Veil and soon found himself in a vast empty white plain where numerous figures of light floated around him before manifesting themselves as angelic beings. He observed how each of the nine choirs of angels were present. "The Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. All present here at this very moment." A Seraphim spoke up, "Why do you wish to commune with us?" "I am here seeking advice from my Heavenly friends in these trying times. I'm sure all of you are very much aware and can sense in the Celestial Cosmic Plane that the forces of evil are growing ever so powerful. I can feel it within my being that soon a final confrontation may happen." Saint Michael the Archangel, "You already possess all that you need. You know the prayers for deliverance and aid. Furthermore, you know how your enemy thinks." "With all due respect, this time it is different. Different than the way it was for the fate of the Main Omnvierse. This....is the fate of the Megaverse....of everything that had exist, currently exists and will exist. Please there must be some advice all of you may be able to bestow upon me." A Virtue floated towards Diamond's soul to speak, "These particular demons feast on fear, chaos, and revenge. They want nothing more than to see the righteous fall, yet their common weakness is the sin of pride." Uriel intervened, "Pride, that ancient sin which was the sole root that led a third of our former brothers and sisters into disobedience. Fully rejecting the True Love of the Father and willingly following the arrogance of the fallen light bearer, who now brings darkness and death to everyone." Azrael quickly followed up with Uriel's statement, "When they fell from grace, they still retained their position and powers. Now with their leaders nearly having their bodies restored before their fall, through the power of The Seed, they are more of a threat to the Natural Order."
Diamond came to a sudden realization, "With Cloaked Shadow having control of the Dark and shadows in general, does that mean he was a Power before he fell?" The choirs nodded as Diamond responded with his hands near his mouth deep in thought. "I see, well if pride is their weakness than surely arrogance is a key factor in their personalities. Perhaps if the Matrix of Eternity is re-loaded with the knowledge accessible from the Alphaverse, it could overwhelm them." A Cherub, "Yes! The knowledge from the Alphaverse can restore the Matrix and used to harm the demons!" Saint Gabriel the Archangel, "Do not be afraid in this next step in your journey, Trevor. Since the fall of man, the Devil and his minions have actively been at war with mankind, searching for ways to snatch souls from Heaven. Yet, in the history of not only the Megaverse, but your own world, you know that God conquers all, even in the darkest times. From the persecution of the early Christians under the rule of the Mad Emperor Nero, deadly heresies, scandals, political and religious wars, the French Revolution, Napoleon Wars, Russian Revolution, Mexican Revolution, World Wars, down to the present. The demons worked through man to not only bring ruin to the face of the Earth, but to attack the Church. However, both the Earth and the Church have endured and will continue to endure until the end of time when God will come in all His splendor and glory and reward the just while punishing the wicked. For they will receive their reward." A Throne, "There is one more thing that will surely turn the tide of the war, but only as a last resort." Diamond, "What is it? Please share." A Seraphim, "The hypothesis of you being able to fuse with your friends Ben Tennyson and Xavier is true. If Xavier is fully in tune with his scarab and enter into his phase known as Sacred and Tennyson into Alien X, you three will become the singular most powerful entity in the entire Megaverse." Saint Michael the Archangel, "Be warned for this should only be used as a complete last resort. For there can be no going back when you three become a singular entity. There might be potential for you three to separate from this final form, but if there is, it will be certain death for no mortal can yield that much power. Arise young warrior, take courage, and have total faith on the Lord, He will hear your prayers. Remember we are at your side and every warrior in the final battle will have their guardian angel with them at all times."
The Heavenly beings once again became balls of bright light, which slowly blinded Diamond before he awoke from his vision back in his own body just before the Veil of the Celestial Plane. King Alexander stared at Diamond before helping him to his feet. Diamond, "I know what I must do. I must re-load the Matrix in the Well of the Megaverse." Alexander, "That's suicide. For you to be exposed to so much power and knowledge, it will vaporize you." "Believe me, it will work. Just help me recover the pieces of the Matrix and I will reforge it with the nanotech from my suit." Diamond sprinted with great haste through all the flights of stairs Alexander had them take, back to where the pieces of the Matrix laid. He had Alexander hold the pieces together in their proper position as the nanotech from his suit crawled around the broken pieces and fused the Matrix back together again. During this time the other heroes caught up to Diamond and Alexander and decided to watch as Diamond would enter the Well of the Megaverse. King Alexander led the group to the entrance of the Well where everyone wished him good luck. Diamond transformed into his Light form and entered the Well. This form allowed him to withstand the pressure around him as he opened the Matrix to collect wisdom from all corners of the Megaverse both the good and bad. When he did this, thousands of images and lifetimes flashed in his mind causing him to scream, in order to avoid his mind from overloading he constantly switched to different forms and phases every 30 seconds. Everyone waited anxiously outside after hearing Diamond's screams and began to fear for the worst, but just when their hope wavered, a silhouette started to walk towards them. From the depths of the Well emerged Diamond holding the restored Matrix of Eternity firmly in his right hand. King Alexander, "Welcome back Diamond!" "Thanks. With the Matrix restored and the new alliance your Omniverse has made with the Megaverse Council, hope for our victory has reached an all-time high." The heroes only stayed for a few more hours at the Alphaverse before returning back to the base of the Megaverse Council. Upon arrival, the Council members were stunned to see the return of their leader, and with swift orders, Diamond once again regained leadership of the Megaverse Council.
Epilogue
In a desolate place with abandoned buildings in Omniverse 3. "Volxi, can you head downstairs into our storage to bring some refreshment to our party?" "You got it sis!" Volxi entered into one of the chambers to find a spare stash of spiked beverages but was startled when she heard a voice echo in the darkness. "Time's running out Vol." She leaned over to view where the voice was coming from until her eyes landed on a glowing dark green warrior. She gasped as she recognized it was her old friend from Omniverse 8. "Cayden what happened to you?" "That name no longer has any meaning for me." "You look so different. Your skin is green and your eyes black. You look like......" "A ghost? Phantom? Condemned Soul?! Truly a miserable fate I have fallen into. Given a body constantly degenerating and repairing itself, allowing me to phase between matter but how painful it is feeling my cells destroy themselves before regenerating and repeating the process all over again." "Is this a dream?" "No." "I thought not, if it was there would be something to replenish my throat." Cayden hands Volxi a bottle. "Thanks mate. I still have a cup on me. Here it's on the house." Cayden took a long sip before speaking. "We haven't seen each other since the destruction of your people's original home. A lot has happened since then. Last year a terrible event plagued the Megaverse and I tried to stop it. I made my own device that enabled me to visit other Omniverses. I could sense something sinister causing many Omniverses to die. I took my weapons and went to who I thought was responsible. That man was so strong and talented, he mortally wounded me without taking our fight seriously. I thought at that moment when I laid dying that I would give anything to get a second chance at life. To see my friends and family again. My requests were answered by a figure in black business attire and a top hat."
Volxi groaned for she knew who he was referring to while Cayden continued on with his speech. "I accepted his offer and became what you see before you. The only part that was positive is in our contract, I managed to still own partial control of my soul. Perhaps it is through this partial ownership that causes me to experience great pains and desperately seek liberation." "And you came back to your friend for aid huh?" "No, I came as a messenger." Volxi stared at him with concern. "You struck a deal with him too, Volxi. A deal before your home, the ninth Omniverse was destroyed, causing you and all the survivors to wander throughout the Megaverse." "I forgot all about that deal. It can't happen this soon, he did not even stay true to his promise." "Is that really a surprise?" "DANG IT! Alright I'll wager my way out of it. I always do." "You can't talk to yourself out of this one!" "How long do I have Cayden?" Cayden stepped close to Volxi where he was only a few inches away from her face. "That name has no meaning for me, I'm The Shameful now. You have only a few hours. He will send his terrible leviathan to drag you, your sister, and this entire Omniverse along with you! Already his army sets their eyes on this world, drawn by ravenous hunger, by the one who bears the crimson scar." The Shameful laid his hand on a piece of Volxi's face that was not covered by cybernetics. "Make peace with your losses and may it only be a swift end and not a contract of servitude. Alas, he always comes to collect what is his." In that moment The Shameful vanished from her sight and without a moment to lose, she started running back upstairs into the settlement screaming for everyone to pack their things and prepare to leave. Her sister, Val stopped her, "Did you fall down the stairs giving you that slash across your face? What's coming after us?" Volxi stared deep into her sister's soul, "We need to run as far as we can and get our people to safety before it's too late." From a few hundred yards away The Ageless stood waiting for the perfect time to strike with Maestro Zorro summoning the nightmarish Leviathan.

When you were a kid, and you saw a rainbow, did you ever want to try to get to the end of it? I bet you did. I did, anyway. It wasn’t the mythical pot of gold that tempted me. Wealth was too abstract of a concept at that age to dream about, and leprechauns were creepy little bastards. I just wanted to see what the rainbow looked like up close, and maybe even try to climb it.
Of course, you can’t get to the end of a rainbow because not only is there no end, but there isn’t even really a rainbow. It’s an illusion caused by the sunlight passing through raindrops at the right angle. If you did try to chase a rainbow down, it would move with you until it faded away. That’s why chasing rainbows is a pretty good metaphor for pursuing a beautiful illusion that can never manifest as anything concrete.
I bring all this up because I think it was that same type of urge that compelled me to chase down the Effulgent One. It’s not a perfect analogy, however, considering that I did actually catch up to the eldritch bastard.
I first saw the Effulgent One a little over two years ago. My employer – who happens to be an occultist mad scientist by the name of Erich Thorne – had tasked me with returning a young girl named Elifey to her village on the northern edges of the county. The people of Virklitch Village are very nice, but they’re also an insular, Luddite cult who worship a colossal spectral entity they call the Effulgent One. I saw this Titan during my first visit to Virklitch, and more importantly, he saw me. He left a streak of black in my soul, marking me as one of his followers. I can feel him now, when he walks in our world. Sometimes, if I look towards the horizon after sundown, I can even see him.
This entity, and my connection to him, is understandably something my employer has taken an interest in. I’ve been to Virklitch many times since my first visit, and I’ve successfully collected a good deal of vital information about the Effulgent One. The Virklitchen are the only ones who know how to summon him, and coercing them into doing so would only earn us his wrath. He’s sworn to protect them, though I haven’t the slightest idea of what motivates him to do so.
Even though I can see him, I usually try not to look, to pretend he’s not there. The Virklitchen have warned me never to chase after him. Before Virklitch was founded, the First Nations people who lived in this region were aware of the Effulgent One, though they called him the Sky Strider. Any of them that went chasing after him either failed, went mad, or were never seen again.
I was out driving after sunset, during astronomical twilight when the trees are just black silhouettes against a burnt orange horizon, when I sensed the presence of the Effulgent One. He was to the east, towering along the darkening skyline, idling amidst the fields of cyclopean wind turbines. I could see their flashing red lights in the periphery of my vision, and I knew that one of those lights was him. I tried to fight the urge to look, but fear began to gnaw at me. What if he was heading towards me right now? What if I was in danger and needed to run?
Risking a single sideways glance, I spotted his gangly form standing listlessly between the wind turbines, his long arms gently swaying as his glowing red face bobbed to and fro.
I exhaled a sigh of relief, now that I knew he wasn’t chasing me. That relief didn’t even last a moment before it was transformed into a dangerous realization. He wasn’t just not chasing me; he wasn’t moving at all. He was still. This was rare, and it presented me with a rare opportunity. I could approach him. I could speak with him.
This wasn’t a good idea, and I knew it. The Effulgent One interacted with his followers on his terms. If I annoyed him, he could squash me like a bug. Or worse. Much worse. But he had marked me as his follower and I wanted to know why. If there was any chance I could get him to answer me, I was going to take it.
“Hey Lumi,” I said to the proprietary AI assistant in my company car. “Play the cover of I’m Always Chasing Rainbows from the Hazbin Hotel pilot.”
With the mood appropriately set, I veered east the first chance I got.
Almost immediately, I noticed that the highway seemed eerily abandoned. Even if anyone else had been capable of perceiving the Effulgent One, there was no one around to see him. I got this creeping sense that the closer I drew to him, I was actually shifting more and more out of my world and more and more into his. The wind picked up and dark clouds blew in, snuffing out the fading twilight and plunging everything into an overcast night.
The Effulgent One didn’t seem to notice me as I drew closer. He was as tall as the wind turbines he stood beside, his gaunt body plated in dull iridescent scales infected with trailing fungus. The head on his lanky neck was completely hollow and filled with a glowing red light that dimly bounced off his scales.
Seeing him standing still was a lot more surreal than seeing him when he was active. As impossibly large as he is, when he’s moving it just naturally triggers your fight or flight response and you don’t really have time to take it all in. But when he’s just standing there, and you can look at him and question what you’re seeing, it just hits differently.
It wasn’t until I started slowing down that he finally turned his head in my direction, briefly engulfing me in a blinding red light. When it passed, I saw that the Effulgent One had turned away from me and I was striding down the highway. Even though his gait was casual, his stride was so long that he was still moving as quickly as any vehicle.
Reasoning that if he didn’t want me to follow him he wouldn’t be walking along the road, I slammed my foot down on the accelerator pedal and sped after him.
That’s when things started to get weird.
You know how when you’re driving at night through the country, you can’t see anything beyond your own headlights? With no visual landmarks to go by, it’s easy to get disoriented. All you have to go by is the signs, and I wasn’t paying any attention to those. All my focus was on the Effulgent One, so much so that if someone had jumped out in front of me I probably would have killed them.
I turned down at least one sideroad in my pursuit of the Effulgent One. Maybe two or three. I’m really not sure. All I know for sure is that I was so desperate not to lose him that I had become completely lost myself.
He never looked back to see if I was still following, or gave any indication that he knew or cared if I was still there. He just made his way along the backroads, his bloodred searchlight sweeping back and forth all the while, as if he was desperately seeking something of grave importance. Finally, he abandoned the road altogether and began to climb a gently rolling hill with a solitary wind turbine on top of it. I gently slowed my car to a stop and watched to see what he would do.
I had barely been keeping up with him on the roadways, so I knew I’d never catch him going off-road. If he didn’t stop at the wind turbine, then that would be the end of my little misadventure. As I watched the Effulgent One climb up the hill and cast his light upon it, I saw that the structure at the summit wasn’t a wind turbine at all, but a windmill.
It was a mammoth windmill, the size of a wind turbine, made from enormous blocks of rugged black stone. It was as impossible as the Effulgent One himself. No stone structure other than a pyramid or ziggurat could possibly be that big, and the windmill barely tapered at all towards the top. Its blades were made from a ragged black cloth that reminded me of pirate sails, and near the top I could see a light coming from a single balcony.
When the Effulgent One reached the hill’s summit, he not only came to a stop but turned back around to face me, his light illuminating the entire hillside. Whether or not it was his intention to make it easier for me to follow him up the hill, it was nonetheless the effect, so I decided not to squander it.
Grabbing the thousand-lumen flashlight from my emergency kit, I left my car on the side of the road and began the short but challenging trek up the hill.
I honestly had no idea where I was at that point. Nothing looked familiar, and the overgrown grass seemed so alien in the red light. The way it moved in the wind was so fluid it looked more like seaweed than grass. The clouds overhead seemed equally otherworldly, moving not only unusually fast but in strange patterns that didn’t seem purely meteorological in nature.
With the Effulgent One’s light aimed directly at me, there was no doubt in my mind that he had seen me, but he still gave no indication that he cared. The closer I drew to him, the more I was confronted by his unfathomable scale. I really was an insect compared to him, and it seemed inconceivable that he would make any distinction between anthropods and arthropods. He could strike me down as effortlessly and carelessly as any other bothersome bug. I approached cautiously, watching intently for any sign of hostility from him, but he remained completely and utterly unmoved.
The closer I got to him, the harder I found it to press on. From a distance, the Effulgent One is surreal enough that he doesn’t completely shatter your sense of reality, but that’s a luxury that goes down the toilet when he’s only a few strides or less from stomping you into the ground. His emaciated form wasn’t merely skeletal, but elongated; his limbs, digits, and neck all stretched out to disquieting proportions. His dull scales now seemed to be a shimmering indigo, and the fungal growths between them pulsed rhythmically with some kind of life. Whether it was with his or theirs, I cannot say. There were no ears on his round head. No features at all aside from the frontwards-facing cavity that held the searing red light.
As I slowly and timidly approached the windmill, he remained by its side, peering out across the horizon. I turned to see what he was looking at, but saw nothing. I immediately turned back to him and craned my neck skywards, marvelling at him in dumbstruck awe. I’d chased him down so that I could demand why he had marked me as one of his followers, but now that I had succeeded, I was horrified by how suicidally naïve that plan now felt.
Many an internet atheist has pontificated about how if there were a God and if they ever met Him, they would remain every bit as irreverent and defiant and hold Him to account the same as any tyrant. But when faced with a being of unfathomable cosmic power, I don’t think there truly is anyone who wouldn’t lose their nerve.
So I just stood there, gaping up at the Effulgent One like a moron, with no idea of what to do next.
Fortunately for me, it was then that the Effulgent One finally acknowledged my presence.
Slowly, he turned his face downwards and cast his spotlight upon me, holding it there for a few long seconds before turning it to the door at the base of the windmill. I glanced up at the balcony above, and saw that it aligned almost perfectly with his head.
Evidently, he wanted to meet me face to face.
Nodding obediently, I raced to the heavy wooden door and pushed it open with all my might. The inside was dark, and I couldn’t see very well after standing right in the Effulgent One’s light, but I could hear the sounds of metal gears slowly grinding and clanking away. When I turned on my flashlight, the first thing I was able to make out was the enormous millstone. It moved slowly and steadily, squelching and squishing so that even in the poor light I knew that it wasn’t grain that was being milled.
The next thing I saw was a flight of rickety wooden stairs that snaked up all along the interior of the windmill. Each step creaked and groaned beneath my weight as I climbed them, but I nonetheless ascended them with reckless abandon. If a single one of them had given out beneath me, I could have fallen to my death, and the staircase shook back and forth so much that sometimes it felt as if it was intentionally trying to throw me off.
When I reached the top floor, I saw that the windshaft was encased in a crystalline sphere etched with leylines and strange symbols, and inside of it was some kind of complex clockwork apparatus that was powered by the spinning of the shaft. Though I was briefly curious as to the device’s purpose, it wasn’t what I had come up there for.
Turning myself towards the only door, I ran through and out onto the upper balcony. The Effulgent One was still standing just beside it, his head several times taller than I was. He looked out towards the horizon and pointed an outstretched arm in that direction, indicating that I should do the same.
From the balcony, I could see a spire made of purple volcanic glass, carved as if it was made of two intertwining gargantuan rose vines, with a stained-glass roof that made it look like a rose in full bloom. The spire was surrounded by many twisting and shifting shadows, and I could perceive a near infinitude of superimposed potential pathways branching out from the spire and stretching out across the planes.
The Effulgent One reached out and plucked at one of the pathways running over us like it was a harp string, sending vibrations down along to the spire and then back out through the entire network. I saw the sky above the spire shatter like glass, revealing a floating maelstrom of festering black fluid that had congealed into a thousand wailing faces. It began to descend as if it meant to devour the spire, but as it did so the spire pulled in the web of pathways around it like a net. The storm writhed and screamed as it tried to escape, but the spire held the net tight as a swarm of creatures too small for me to identify congregated upon the storm and began to feed upon it. But the fluid the maelstrom was composed of seemed to be corrosive, and the net began to rot beneath its influence. It sagged and it strained, until finally giving way.
A chaotic battle ensued between the spire and the maelstrom, but it hardly seemed to matter. What both I and the Efflugent One noticed the most was that the pathways that had been bound to the spire were now severed and stained by the Black Bile, drifting away wherever the wind took them.
The Effulgent One caught one of them in his hand and tugged it downwards, staring at it pensively for a long moment.
“That… that didn’t actually just happen, did it?” I asked meekly. I waited patiently for the Effulgent One to respond, but he just kept staring at the severed thread. “But… it’s going to happen? Or, it could happen?”
A slow and solemn nod confirmed that what he had shown me had portended to a possible future.
“That’s why you marked me as your follower then, isn’t it?” I asked. “You needed someone, someone other than the Virklitchen, someone who’s already involved in this bullshit and can help stop it from deteriorating into whatever the hell you just showed me. If Erich had picked anyone else to go to Virklitch that night, or hadn’t asked me to stay for the festival, it wouldn’t have been me! It didn’t have to have been me!”
His head remained somberly hung, and I hadn’t really been expecting him to respond at all to my outburst.
“Elifey liked you,” he said in a metallic, fluid voice that sounded like it was resonating out of his chest rather than his face. “I would not have chosen you if she hadn’t.”
He twirled the thread in between his fingers before gently handing it down to me like it was a streamer on a balloon. I hesitantly accepted the gesture, wrapping as much of my hand around the spectral cord as I could. The instant I touched it, a radiant and spiralling rainbow shot down its length and arced across the sky. When it reached the chaotic battle on the horizon, it dispelled the maelstrom on contact, banishing it back into the nether and signalling in biblical fashion that the storm had passed. The other wayward pathways were cleansed of the Black Bile as well, and I watched in amazement as they slowly started to reweave themselves back into an interconnected web.
“But… what does this mean? What do I actually have to do to make this a reality?” I asked.
The Effulgent One reached out his hand and pinched the cord, choking off the rainbow and ending the vision he had shown me.
“A reality?” he asked as he held his palm out flat and adjacent to the balcony. “It’s already a reality. All you need to do is make it yours.”
It seemed to me that I wasn’t likely to get anything less cryptic than that out of him, so I accepted the lift down. He took me down the hill and set me down gently beside my car before setting off out of sight and beyond my ability to pursue him.
Even though my GPS wasn’t working, the moment I was sitting in the driver’s seat the autopilot kicked in and didn’t ask me to take control until I was back on a familiar road. I know that windmill isn’t just a short drive away, and I’ll never see it again unless the Effulgent One wants me to. I don’t think I can say I’m exactly happy with how that turned out, but I suppose I accomplished what I set out to achieve. I know what the Effulgent One wants of me now, and why he chose me specifically. If it had been all his decision I think I’d still be feeling kind of torn about it, but knowing that I’ve been roped into this because of Elifey makes it a lot easier to bear.
And… I did actually manage to catch a rainbow. I just needed a giant’s help to reach it.

Hello everyone,
I am a very casual/newbie tarot user who is wondering if anyone using the same deck as I am could give me some pointers
The Jolanda Tarot deck is the first one I bought because the illustrations spoke to me a lot more than other decks. (Since then I also occasionaly use a TdM)
It came with the usual little leaflet that has a short list of words associated to each card that I often have a lot of trouble interpretating
For the past few years I tried to mainly rely on the images to do my interpretations, and sometimes reach for the internet when I am having trouble. However, most of the information I find seem to describe the RWS cards, and I often find cards that have a very different vibe between the two decks, so it's not always very helpful.
So here are the few questions I have:

• I read about a bigger book about the Jolanda Tarot, written by the creator of the deck. I'm considering to purchase it and would be curious to know if anyone here had read this book and to read your thoughts about it
  
• Since the back of the cards have a drawing that has an orientation, I chose not to do upwright/reversed positions in my readings. Was it a wise decision or would you advise me to do reversed positions even if I can see if the card is going to be reversed before turning it ?
  
• I read somewhere (one comment on this subreddit and one blog post somewhere else) that it is "based on" the thot tarot. (Or at least has some similarity for certain cards). I was curious to hear other opinions about this, and would be curious to know if you would advise me to read more about Thot tarot cards interpretations to help me read the Jolanda deck. (I am a bit scared of the Thot tarot)
  
• If anyone wants to share remarks about the symbols that seem specific to this deck, I am all ears. (Especially the animals that appear in 2 or 3 cards like the frogs, foxes, cats, fishes, rats etc as well as the little stone people that are in a lot of pentacle cards and on the star)
  
• The deck seems to reference a lot of different cultures and parts of the world, but as I am not swedish, I was wondering if there were some obvious swedish folk references that I could have missed
  

I hope this post is not too long or too vague
I really like this deck and spending time with it

Throwaway account for privacy and safety.
I (35M) have a brother (37M) who is a drug addict and alcoholic. He was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and refuses to take the meds he has been prescribed, choosing to self medicate with alcohol and drugs. He has been to rehab multiple times and quickly relapsed afterward each time.
His life is currently chaos. He has three small kids whose mother left him because of his drug abuse and inability to keep a job or pay his share of the bills. Despite his problems, the mother of his kids has not gone for full custody, and until recently the kids were staying with my brother part of the time. His utilities are regularly shut off because he doesn’t pay the bills, and his kids don’t bathe when they are with him. He regularly asks relatives for money, which he uses to buy drugs and alcohol. He has stolen from various family members, including me, for years and pawns what he takes for drug money. He has a knack for stealing sentimental items and family heirlooms.
I live in a different part of the state, but in the past I have offered to go to AA meetings with my brother, encouraged him to take his meds and stay in therapy (our parents have paid for him to go, but he never sticks with it), sent him literature about mental health problems and addiction, talked to him about my own journey in therapy (we both had pretty dysfunctional childhoods), and more. Nothing sticks.
Since his oldest child was born, his behavior has grown increasingly unstable and threatening. It started as verbal abuse—cussing me out regularly, for example. He would also cuss out his kids’ mom and our mom and would punch holes in walls. His behavior has continued to escalate since then. He has made multiple verbal threats of violence, including threatening to kill people who upset him. Last year, he was arrested for fist fighting with someone while drunk. Recently, he was arrested on a felony charge for assaulting a woman with a gun.
There are currently a ton of open court cases against him, but so far he has always managed to avoid going to prison. We come from a comparatively wealthy family, and he leverages his entitlement and privileges to avoid facing consequences. He is like a cat who has nine lives and can be very charming when he chooses. He is also an excellent liar, which nearly everyone in my family has learned the hard way over the years.
One of the many open court cases against him is for driving drunk (a DUI) in the state where we both live. I accessed the legal records online, and it lists the DUI as a first offense. When he was on vacation in another state a few years ago, he also got a DUI there. The state we live in didn’t know about the prior DUI, and usually the penalties for a DUI are stiffer if someone is a repeat offender.
This is where I am worried that IATAH. After his recent felony arrest, I was so upset and angry—mostly for his children—that I called the prosecutor’s office in the state where we live and told them about his prior DUI in the other state. At the request of the person I spoke with, I emailed the prosecutor’s office a link to a news article about his first DUI (he almost ran over a child and did significant damage to property, so it made the local news). They assured me that I would remain anonymous and that my brother would never know I supplied this information.
AITAH for ratting out my own brother? What tipped me over the edge to do it was talking to his kids and hearing how damaged they are by his behavior. The oldest child told me he is afraid of his dad/ my brother when he drinks and that drinking when the kids are around has gotten more common lately. The kids don’t know about the drugs, but I know of multiple cases where he has been high when watching his kids, too.
I know that the info I reported isn’t enough on its own to force my brother to face legal consequences for his actions. However, it could lead to a stiffer penalty on his current DUI case. I don’t know if having it on file could also impact the other, open criminal cases against him or not. I suspect that if the kids’ mom files for sole custody (which I have repeatedly encouraged her to do for the children’s safety), having the old DUI on file could provide extra evidence showing a pattern of dangerous behavior.
I reported him because I was tired of feeling helpless as I see children being traumatized, not properly cared for, and in danger. It is painful to see the cycle of trauma being re-created with a new generation of children. I hate the United States prison system, but I want my brother to face appropriate consequences for the ways he continues to hurt people, including his children and himself. I’ll also admit to feeling very angry with him—I recently found out that he has been taking financial advantage of one of our elderly family members who is disabled—and my anger is part of what fueled me to do report his prior case.
I am afraid that he might physically attack me if he finds out what I did. On the other hand, I am terrified for his kids, their mom, family members, and for innocent strangers if the situation continues on its current course. I feel like I have both done too much (betraying my sibling to the law) and not nearly enough (trying harder to protect the kids and others), and it has warped my perspective on this.
AITAH, Reddit? Thank you for your input.

So I know the title sounds bad, but it is unfortunately true. I’ve always been a huge animal lover and I still love animals, but let me explain. This all started as a child…my mother wasn’t really too keen on having pets, but as a child who loved animals, sometimes I was able to convince her. My first pet was a Rottweiler as a toddler and I loved her, but one day idk what happened I played with her at my dads house and just never saw her again but I was too small to really grasp what could’ve happened so I just let it go. Fast forward to when I was in elementary school, and I went to my dads house where they had a little baby yellow chick and my dad told me I could have it (without asking my mom) so when I went back to my moms house she was obviously upset , but she let me keep it anyway as my responsibility and I was up for the task. Now that I think of it, as a child I had no idea what I was doing but I treated that little chicken with all the love I had, but being clueless I only fed the chicken bread….the chicken died after a few weeks maybe and I was absolutely crushed… Fast forward again, my mom told me I could have a cat and I loved that cat and actually gave it proper food this time, but eventually the cat started pooping outside of the litter box and my mom wasn’t having that so she took my cat to the ASPCA and once again…I was devastated. A while later, I found 2 bunny rabbits outside they belonged to a neighbor who was neglecting them and only really using them to entertain their toddler. I “rescued” the rabbits and actually did all the necessary research to take care of them and gave them a proper home, but one of them died unexpectedly (not a result of my care) so my mom made me give the other back to the neighbor and my heart was crushed again. I could go on and on about how many animals I have found and “rescued” and had as a pet as a child but they all resulted in the same outcome of my heart being crushed by having to give them away. When I finally became an adult I decided that I’d finally have my own pet that no one would force me to give away. I’d be able to love them and care for them the way I always had as a child, but now….its different. I got a dog and I was ecstatic, but the only problem was is that I didn’t feel the love for her that I had always felt as a child for animals. There was nothing wrong with her, and she wasn’t a bad dog, and I wanted to have that lovey feeling but I just couldn’t. I thought maybe I just need time to form a bond and no matter how much I played with her, cared for her, etc. I couldn’t feel “love” I ended up having her for about 2 years, before I could no longer take care of her as I was having surgery and had to move out of my apartment because I had to quit my job due to my health issues and tbh I didn’t even feel sad or crushed about it and knowing that made me feel so evil and heartless. I’ve decided that after her, I no longer want any pets My partner has discussed getting a pet, and I’m not sure that is a good idea due to what I’ve felt previously. I need advice om how to reject the idea of a pet without sounding like an evil person who no longer loves animals as pets.

When you were a kid, and you saw a rainbow, did you ever want to try to get to the end of it? I bet you did. I did, anyway. It wasn’t the mythical pot of gold that tempted me. Wealth was too abstract of a concept at that age to dream about, and leprechauns were creepy little bastards. I just wanted to see what the rainbow looked like up close, and maybe even try to climb it.
Of course, you can’t get to the end of a rainbow because not only is there no end, but there isn’t even really a rainbow. It’s an illusion caused by the sunlight passing through raindrops at the right angle. If you did try to chase a rainbow down, it would move with you until it faded away. That’s why chasing rainbows is a pretty good metaphor for pursuing a beautiful illusion that can never manifest as anything concrete.
I bring all this up because I think it was that same type of urge that compelled me to chase down the Effulgent One. It’s not a perfect analogy, however, considering that I did actually catch up to the eldritch bastard.
I first saw the Effulgent One a little over two years ago. My employer – who happens to be an occultist mad scientist by the name of Erich Thorne – had tasked me with returning a young girl named Elifey to her village on the northern edges of the county. The people of Virklitch Village are very nice, but they’re also an insular, Luddite cult who worship a colossal spectral entity they call the Effulgent One. I saw this Titan during my first visit to Virklitch, and more importantly, he saw me. He left a streak of black in my soul, marking me as one of his followers. I can feel him now, when he walks in our world. Sometimes, if I look towards the horizon after sundown, I can even see him.
This entity, and my connection to him, is understandably something my employer has taken an interest in. I’ve been to Virklitch many times since my first visit, and I’ve successfully collected a good deal of vital information about the Effulgent One. The Virklitchen are the only ones who know how to summon him, and coercing them into doing so would only earn us his wrath. He’s sworn to protect them, though I haven’t the slightest idea of what motivates him to do so.
Even though I can see him, I usually try not to look, to pretend he’s not there. The Virklitchen have warned me never to chase after him. Before Virklitch was founded, the First Nations people who lived in this region were aware of the Effulgent One, though they called him the Sky Strider. Any of them that went chasing after him either failed, went mad, or were never seen again.
I was out driving after sunset, during astronomical twilight when the trees are just black silhouettes against a burnt orange horizon, when I sensed the presence of the Effulgent One. He was to the east, towering along the darkening skyline, idling amidst the fields of cyclopean wind turbines. I could see their flashing red lights in the periphery of my vision, and I knew that one of those lights was him. I tried to fight the urge to look, but fear began to gnaw at me. What if he was heading towards me right now? What if I was in danger and needed to run?
Risking a single sideways glance, I spotted his gangly form standing listlessly between the wind turbines, his long arms gently swaying as his glowing red face bobbed to and fro.
I exhaled a sigh of relief, now that I knew he wasn’t chasing me. That relief didn’t even last a moment before it was transformed into a dangerous realization. He wasn’t just not chasing me; he wasn’t moving at all. He was still. This was rare, and it presented me with a rare opportunity. I could approach him. I could speak with him.
This wasn’t a good idea, and I knew it. The Effulgent One interacted with his followers on his terms. If I annoyed him, he could squash me like a bug. Or worse. Much worse. But he had marked me as his follower and I wanted to know why. If there was any chance I could get him to answer me, I was going to take it.
“Hey Lumi,” I said to the proprietary AI assistant in my company car. “Play the cover of I’m Always Chasing Rainbows from the Hazbin Hotel pilot.”
With the mood appropriately set, I veered east the first chance I got.
Almost immediately, I noticed that the highway seemed eerily abandoned. Even if anyone else had been capable of perceiving the Effulgent One, there was no one around to see him. I got this creeping sense that the closer I drew to him, I was actually shifting more and more out of my world and more and more into his. The wind picked up and dark clouds blew in, snuffing out the fading twilight and plunging everything into an overcast night.
The Effulgent One didn’t seem to notice me as I drew closer. He was as tall as the wind turbines he stood beside, his gaunt body plated in dull iridescent scales infected with trailing fungus. The head on his lanky neck was completely hollow and filled with a glowing red light that dimly bounced off his scales.
Seeing him standing still was a lot more surreal than seeing him when he was active. As impossibly large as he is, when he’s moving it just naturally triggers your fight or flight response and you don’t really have time to take it all in. But when he’s just standing there, and you can look at him and question what you’re seeing, it just hits differently.
It wasn’t until I started slowing down that he finally turned his head in my direction, briefly engulfing me in a blinding red light. When it passed, I saw that the Effulgent One had turned away from me and I was striding down the highway. Even though his gait was casual, his stride was so long that he was still moving as quickly as any vehicle.
Reasoning that if he didn’t want me to follow him he wouldn’t be walking along the road, I slammed my foot down on the accelerator pedal and sped after him.
That’s when things started to get weird.
You know how when you’re driving at night through the country, you can’t see anything beyond your own headlights? With no visual landmarks to go by, it’s easy to get disoriented. All you have to go by is the signs, and I wasn’t paying any attention to those. All my focus was on the Effulgent One, so much so that if someone had jumped out in front of me I probably would have killed them.
I turned down at least one sideroad in my pursuit of the Effulgent One. Maybe two or three. I’m really not sure. All I know for sure is that I was so desperate not to lose him that I had become completely lost myself.
He never looked back to see if I was still following, or gave any indication that he knew or cared if I was still there. He just made his way along the backroads, his bloodred searchlight sweeping back and forth all the while, as if he was desperately seeking something of grave importance. Finally, he abandoned the road altogether and began to climb a gently rolling hill with a solitary wind turbine on top of it. I gently slowed my car to a stop and watched to see what he would do.
I had barely been keeping up with him on the roadways, so I knew I’d never catch him going off-road. If he didn’t stop at the wind turbine, then that would be the end of my little misadventure. As I watched the Effulgent One climb up the hill and cast his light upon it, I saw that the structure at the summit wasn’t a wind turbine at all, but a windmill.
It was a mammoth windmill, the size of a wind turbine, made from enormous blocks of rugged black stone. It was as impossible as the Effulgent One himself. No stone structure other than a pyramid or ziggurat could possibly be that big, and the windmill barely tapered at all towards the top. Its blades were made from a ragged black cloth that reminded me of pirate sails, and near the top I could see a light coming from a single balcony.
When the Effulgent One reached the hill’s summit, he not only came to a stop but turned back around to face me, his light illuminating the entire hillside. Whether or not it was his intention to make it easier for me to follow him up the hill, it was nonetheless the effect, so I decided not to squander it.
Grabbing the thousand-lumen flashlight from my emergency kit, I left my car on the side of the road and began the short but challenging trek up the hill.
I honestly had no idea where I was at that point. Nothing looked familiar, and the overgrown grass seemed so alien in the red light. The way it moved in the wind was so fluid it looked more like seaweed than grass. The clouds overhead seemed equally otherworldly, moving not only unusually fast but in strange patterns that didn’t seem purely meteorological in nature.
With the Effulgent One’s light aimed directly at me, there was no doubt in my mind that he had seen me, but he still gave no indication that he cared. The closer I drew to him, the more I was confronted by his unfathomable scale. I really was an insect compared to him, and it seemed inconceivable that he would make any distinction between anthropods and arthropods. He could strike me down as effortlessly and carelessly as any other bothersome bug. I approached cautiously, watching intently for any sign of hostility from him, but he remained completely and utterly unmoved.
The closer I got to him, the harder I found it to press on. From a distance, the Effulgent One is surreal enough that he doesn’t completely shatter your sense of reality, but that’s a luxury that goes down the toilet when he’s only a few strides or less from stomping you into the ground. His emaciated form wasn’t merely skeletal, but elongated; his limbs, digits, and neck all stretched out to disquieting proportions. His dull scales now seemed to be a shimmering indigo, and the fungal growths between them pulsed rhythmically with some kind of life. Whether it was with his or theirs, I cannot say. There were no ears on his round head. No features at all aside from the frontwards-facing cavity that held the searing red light.
As I slowly and timidly approached the windmill, he remained by its side, peering out across the horizon. I turned to see what he was looking at, but saw nothing. I immediately turned back to him and craned my neck skywards, marvelling at him in dumbstruck awe. I’d chased him down so that I could demand why he had marked me as one of his followers, but now that I had succeeded, I was horrified by how suicidally naïve that plan now felt.
Many an internet atheist has pontificated about how if there were a God and if they ever met Him, they would remain every bit as irreverent and defiant and hold Him to account the same as any tyrant. But when faced with a being of unfathomable cosmic power, I don’t think there truly is anyone who wouldn’t lose their nerve.
So I just stood there, gaping up at the Effulgent One like a moron, with no idea of what to do next.
Fortunately for me, it was then that the Effulgent One finally acknowledged my presence.
Slowly, he turned his face downwards and cast his spotlight upon me, holding it there for a few long seconds before turning it to the door at the base of the windmill. I glanced up at the balcony above, and saw that it aligned almost perfectly with his head.
Evidently, he wanted to meet me face to face.
Nodding obediently, I raced to the heavy wooden door and pushed it open with all my might. The inside was dark, and I couldn’t see very well after standing right in the Effulgent One’s light, but I could hear the sounds of metal gears slowly grinding and clanking away. When I turned on my flashlight, the first thing I was able to make out was the enormous millstone. It moved slowly and steadily, squelching and squishing so that even in the poor light I knew that it wasn’t grain that was being milled.
The next thing I saw was a flight of rickety wooden stairs that snaked up all along the interior of the windmill. Each step creaked and groaned beneath my weight as I climbed them, but I nonetheless ascended them with reckless abandon. If a single one of them had given out beneath me, I could have fallen to my death, and the staircase shook back and forth so much that sometimes it felt as if it was intentionally trying to throw me off.
When I reached the top floor, I saw that the windshaft was encased in a crystalline sphere etched with leylines and strange symbols, and inside of it was some kind of complex clockwork apparatus that was powered by the spinning of the shaft. Though I was briefly curious as to the device’s purpose, it wasn’t what I had come up there for.
Turning myself towards the only door, I ran through and out onto the upper balcony. The Effulgent One was still standing just beside it, his head several times taller than I was. He looked out towards the horizon and pointed an outstretched arm in that direction, indicating that I should do the same.
From the balcony, I could see a spire made of purple volcanic glass, carved as if it was made of two intertwining gargantuan rose vines, with a stained-glass roof that made it look like a rose in full bloom. The spire was surrounded by many twisting and shifting shadows, and I could perceive a near infinitude of superimposed potential pathways branching out from the spire and stretching out across the planes.
The Effulgent One reached out and plucked at one of the pathways running over us like it was a harp string, sending vibrations down along to the spire and then back out through the entire network. I saw the sky above the spire shatter like glass, revealing a floating maelstrom of festering black fluid that had congealed into a thousand wailing faces. It began to descend as if it meant to devour the spire, but as it did so the spire pulled in the web of pathways around it like a net. The storm writhed and screamed as it tried to escape, but the spire held the net tight as a swarm of creatures too small for me to identify congregated upon the storm and began to feed upon it. But the fluid the maelstrom was composed of seemed to be corrosive, and the net began to rot beneath its influence. It sagged and it strained, until finally giving way.
A chaotic battle ensued between the spire and the maelstrom, but it hardly seemed to matter. What both I and the Efflugent One noticed the most was that the pathways that had been bound to the spire were now severed and stained by the Black Bile, drifting away wherever the wind took them.
The Effulgent One caught one of them in his hand and tugged it downwards, staring at it pensively for a long moment.
“That… that didn’t actually just happen, did it?” I asked meekly. I waited patiently for the Effulgent One to respond, but he just kept staring at the severed thread. “But… it’s going to happen? Or, it could happen?”
A slow and solemn nod confirmed that what he had shown me had portended to a possible future.
“That’s why you marked me as your follower then, isn’t it?” I asked. “You needed someone, someone other than the Virklitchen, someone who’s already involved in this bullshit and can help stop it from deteriorating into whatever the hell you just showed me. If Erich had picked anyone else to go to Virklitch that night, or hadn’t asked me to stay for the festival, it wouldn’t have been me! It didn’t have to have been me!”
His head remained somberly hung, and I hadn’t really been expecting him to respond at all to my outburst.
“Elifey liked you,” he said in a metallic, fluid voice that sounded like it was resonating out of his chest rather than his face. “I would not have chosen you if she hadn’t.”
He twirled the thread in between his fingers before gently handing it down to me like it was a streamer on a balloon. I hesitantly accepted the gesture, wrapping as much of my hand around the spectral cord as I could. The instant I touched it, a radiant and spiralling rainbow shot down its length and arced across the sky. When it reached the chaotic battle on the horizon, it dispelled the maelstrom on contact, banishing it back into the nether and signalling in biblical fashion that the storm had passed. The other wayward pathways were cleansed of the Black Bile as well, and I watched in amazement as they slowly started to reweave themselves back into an interconnected web.
“But… what does this mean? What do I actually have to do to make this a reality?” I asked.
The Effulgent One reached out his hand and pinched the cord, choking off the rainbow and ending the vision he had shown me.
“A reality?” he asked as he held his palm out flat and adjacent to the balcony. “It’s already a reality. All you need to do is make it yours.”
It seemed to me that I wasn’t likely to get anything less cryptic than that out of him, so I accepted the lift down. He took me down the hill and set me down gently beside my car before setting off out of sight and beyond my ability to pursue him.
Even though my GPS wasn’t working, the moment I was sitting in the driver’s seat the autopilot kicked in and didn’t ask me to take control until I was back on a familiar road. I know that windmill isn’t just a short drive away, and I’ll never see it again unless the Effulgent One wants me to. I don’t think I can say I’m exactly happy with how that turned out, but I suppose I accomplished what I set out to achieve. I know what the Effulgent One wants of me now, and why he chose me specifically. If it had been all his decision I think I’d still be feeling kind of torn about it, but knowing that I’ve been roped into this because of Elifey makes it a lot easier to bear.
And… I did actually manage to catch a rainbow. I just needed a giant’s help to reach it.

When you were a kid, and you saw a rainbow, did you ever want to try to get to the end of it? I bet you did. I did, anyway. It wasn’t the mythical pot of gold that tempted me. Wealth was too abstract of a concept at that age to dream about, and leprechauns were creepy little bastards. I just wanted to see what the rainbow looked like up close, and maybe even try to climb it.
Of course, you can’t get to the end of a rainbow because not only is there no end, but there isn’t even really a rainbow. It’s an illusion caused by the sunlight passing through raindrops at the right angle. If you did try to chase a rainbow down, it would move with you until it faded away. That’s why chasing rainbows is a pretty good metaphor for pursuing a beautiful illusion that can never manifest as anything concrete.
I bring all this up because I think it was that same type of urge that compelled me to chase down the Effulgent One. It’s not a perfect analogy, however, considering that I did actually catch up to the eldritch bastard.
I first saw the Effulgent One a little over two years ago. My employer – who happens to be an occultist mad scientist by the name of Erich Thorne – had tasked me with returning a young girl named Elifey to her village on the northern edges of the county. The people of Virklitch Village are very nice, but they’re also an insular, Luddite cult who worship a colossal spectral entity they call the Effulgent One. I saw this Titan during my first visit to Virklitch, and more importantly, he saw me. He left a streak of black in my soul, marking me as one of his followers. I can feel him now, when he walks in our world. Sometimes, if I look towards the horizon after sundown, I can even see him.
This entity, and my connection to him, is understandably something my employer has taken an interest in. I’ve been to Virklitch many times since my first visit, and I’ve successfully collected a good deal of vital information about the Effulgent One. The Virklitchen are the only ones who know how to summon him, and coercing them into doing so would only earn us his wrath. He’s sworn to protect them, though I haven’t the slightest idea of what motivates him to do so.
Even though I can see him, I usually try not to look, to pretend he’s not there. The Virklitchen have warned me never to chase after him. Before Virklitch was founded, the First Nations people who lived in this region were aware of the Effulgent One, though they called him the Sky Strider. Any of them that went chasing after him either failed, went mad, or were never seen again.
I was out driving after sunset, during astronomical twilight when the trees are just black silhouettes against a burnt orange horizon, when I sensed the presence of the Effulgent One. He was to the east, towering along the darkening skyline, idling amidst the fields of cyclopean wind turbines. I could see their flashing red lights in the periphery of my vision, and I knew that one of those lights was him. I tried to fight the urge to look, but fear began to gnaw at me. What if he was heading towards me right now? What if I was in danger and needed to run?
Risking a single sideways glance, I spotted his gangly form standing listlessly between the wind turbines, his long arms gently swaying as his glowing red face bobbed to and fro.
I exhaled a sigh of relief, now that I knew he wasn’t chasing me. That relief didn’t even last a moment before it was transformed into a dangerous realization. He wasn’t just not chasing me; he wasn’t moving at all. He was still. This was rare, and it presented me with a rare opportunity. I could approach him. I could speak with him.
This wasn’t a good idea, and I knew it. The Effulgent One interacted with his followers on his terms. If I annoyed him, he could squash me like a bug. Or worse. Much worse. But he had marked me as his follower and I wanted to know why. If there was any chance I could get him to answer me, I was going to take it.
“Hey Lumi,” I said to the proprietary AI assistant in my company car. “Play the cover of I’m Always Chasing Rainbows from the Hazbin Hotel pilot.”
With the mood appropriately set, I veered east the first chance I got.
Almost immediately, I noticed that the highway seemed eerily abandoned. Even if anyone else had been capable of perceiving the Effulgent One, there was no one around to see him. I got this creeping sense that the closer I drew to him, I was actually shifting more and more out of my world and more and more into his. The wind picked up and dark clouds blew in, snuffing out the fading twilight and plunging everything into an overcast night.
The Effulgent One didn’t seem to notice me as I drew closer. He was as tall as the wind turbines he stood beside, his gaunt body plated in dull iridescent scales infected with trailing fungus. The head on his lanky neck was completely hollow and filled with a glowing red light that dimly bounced off his scales.
Seeing him standing still was a lot more surreal than seeing him when he was active. As impossibly large as he is, when he’s moving it just naturally triggers your fight or flight response and you don’t really have time to take it all in. But when he’s just standing there, and you can look at him and question what you’re seeing, it just hits differently.
It wasn’t until I started slowing down that he finally turned his head in my direction, briefly engulfing me in a blinding red light. When it passed, I saw that the Effulgent One had turned away from me and I was striding down the highway. Even though his gait was casual, his stride was so long that he was still moving as quickly as any vehicle.
Reasoning that if he didn’t want me to follow him he wouldn’t be walking along the road, I slammed my foot down on the accelerator pedal and sped after him.
That’s when things started to get weird.
You know how when you’re driving at night through the country, you can’t see anything beyond your own headlights? With no visual landmarks to go by, it’s easy to get disoriented. All you have to go by is the signs, and I wasn’t paying any attention to those. All my focus was on the Effulgent One, so much so that if someone had jumped out in front of me I probably would have killed them.
I turned down at least one sideroad in my pursuit of the Effulgent One. Maybe two or three. I’m really not sure. All I know for sure is that I was so desperate not to lose him that I had become completely lost myself.
He never looked back to see if I was still following, or gave any indication that he knew or cared if I was still there. He just made his way along the backroads, his bloodred searchlight sweeping back and forth all the while, as if he was desperately seeking something of grave importance. Finally, he abandoned the road altogether and began to climb a gently rolling hill with a solitary wind turbine on top of it. I gently slowed my car to a stop and watched to see what he would do.
I had barely been keeping up with him on the roadways, so I knew I’d never catch him going off-road. If he didn’t stop at the wind turbine, then that would be the end of my little misadventure. As I watched the Effulgent One climb up the hill and cast his light upon it, I saw that the structure at the summit wasn’t a wind turbine at all, but a windmill.
It was a mammoth windmill, the size of a wind turbine, made from enormous blocks of rugged black stone. It was as impossible as the Effulgent One himself. No stone structure other than a pyramid or ziggurat could possibly be that big, and the windmill barely tapered at all towards the top. Its blades were made from a ragged black cloth that reminded me of pirate sails, and near the top I could see a light coming from a single balcony.
When the Effulgent One reached the hill’s summit, he not only came to a stop but turned back around to face me, his light illuminating the entire hillside. Whether or not it was his intention to make it easier for me to follow him up the hill, it was nonetheless the effect, so I decided not to squander it.
Grabbing the thousand-lumen flashlight from my emergency kit, I left my car on the side of the road and began the short but challenging trek up the hill.
I honestly had no idea where I was at that point. Nothing looked familiar, and the overgrown grass seemed so alien in the red light. The way it moved in the wind was so fluid it looked more like seaweed than grass. The clouds overhead seemed equally otherworldly, moving not only unusually fast but in strange patterns that didn’t seem purely meteorological in nature.
With the Effulgent One’s light aimed directly at me, there was no doubt in my mind that he had seen me, but he still gave no indication that he cared. The closer I drew to him, the more I was confronted by his unfathomable scale. I really was an insect compared to him, and it seemed inconceivable that he would make any distinction between anthropods and arthropods. He could strike me down as effortlessly and carelessly as any other bothersome bug. I approached cautiously, watching intently for any sign of hostility from him, but he remained completely and utterly unmoved.
The closer I got to him, the harder I found it to press on. From a distance, the Effulgent One is surreal enough that he doesn’t completely shatter your sense of reality, but that’s a luxury that goes down the toilet when he’s only a few strides or less from stomping you into the ground. His emaciated form wasn’t merely skeletal, but elongated; his limbs, digits, and neck all stretched out to disquieting proportions. His dull scales now seemed to be a shimmering indigo, and the fungal growths between them pulsed rhythmically with some kind of life. Whether it was with his or theirs, I cannot say. There were no ears on his round head. No features at all aside from the frontwards-facing cavity that held the searing red light.
As I slowly and timidly approached the windmill, he remained by its side, peering out across the horizon. I turned to see what he was looking at, but saw nothing. I immediately turned back to him and craned my neck skywards, marvelling at him in dumbstruck awe. I’d chased him down so that I could demand why he had marked me as one of his followers, but now that I had succeeded, I was horrified by how suicidally naïve that plan now felt.
Many an internet atheist has pontificated about how if there were a God and if they ever met Him, they would remain every bit as irreverent and defiant and hold Him to account the same as any tyrant. But when faced with a being of unfathomable cosmic power, I don’t think there truly is anyone who wouldn’t lose their nerve.
So I just stood there, gaping up at the Effulgent One like a moron, with no idea of what to do next.
Fortunately for me, it was then that the Effulgent One finally acknowledged my presence.
Slowly, he turned his face downwards and cast his spotlight upon me, holding it there for a few long seconds before turning it to the door at the base of the windmill. I glanced up at the balcony above, and saw that it aligned almost perfectly with his head.
Evidently, he wanted to meet me face to face.
Nodding obediently, I raced to the heavy wooden door and pushed it open with all my might. The inside was dark, and I couldn’t see very well after standing right in the Effulgent One’s light, but I could hear the sounds of metal gears slowly grinding and clanking away. When I turned on my flashlight, the first thing I was able to make out was the enormous millstone. It moved slowly and steadily, squelching and squishing so that even in the poor light I knew that it wasn’t grain that was being milled.
The next thing I saw was a flight of rickety wooden stairs that snaked up all along the interior of the windmill. Each step creaked and groaned beneath my weight as I climbed them, but I nonetheless ascended them with reckless abandon. If a single one of them had given out beneath me, I could have fallen to my death, and the staircase shook back and forth so much that sometimes it felt as if it was intentionally trying to throw me off.
When I reached the top floor, I saw that the windshaft was encased in a crystalline sphere etched with leylines and strange symbols, and inside of it was some kind of complex clockwork apparatus that was powered by the spinning of the shaft. Though I was briefly curious as to the device’s purpose, it wasn’t what I had come up there for.
Turning myself towards the only door, I ran through and out onto the upper balcony. The Effulgent One was still standing just beside it, his head several times taller than I was. He looked out towards the horizon and pointed an outstretched arm in that direction, indicating that I should do the same.
From the balcony, I could see a spire made of purple volcanic glass, carved as if it was made of two intertwining gargantuan rose vines, with a stained-glass roof that made it look like a rose in full bloom. The spire was surrounded by many twisting and shifting shadows, and I could perceive a near infinitude of superimposed potential pathways branching out from the spire and stretching out across the planes.
The Effulgent One reached out and plucked at one of the pathways running over us like it was a harp string, sending vibrations down along to the spire and then back out through the entire network. I saw the sky above the spire shatter like glass, revealing a floating maelstrom of festering black fluid that had congealed into a thousand wailing faces. It began to descend as if it meant to devour the spire, but as it did so the spire pulled in the web of pathways around it like a net. The storm writhed and screamed as it tried to escape, but the spire held the net tight as a swarm of creatures too small for me to identify congregated upon the storm and began to feed upon it. But the fluid the maelstrom was composed of seemed to be corrosive, and the net began to rot beneath its influence. It sagged and it strained, until finally giving way.
A chaotic battle ensued between the spire and the maelstrom, but it hardly seemed to matter. What both I and the Efflugent One noticed the most was that the pathways that had been bound to the spire were now severed and stained by the Black Bile, drifting away wherever the wind took them.
The Effulgent One caught one of them in his hand and tugged it downwards, staring at it pensively for a long moment.
“That… that didn’t actually just happen, did it?” I asked meekly. I waited patiently for the Effulgent One to respond, but he just kept staring at the severed thread. “But… it’s going to happen? Or, it could happen?”
A slow and solemn nod confirmed that what he had shown me had portended to a possible future.
“That’s why you marked me as your follower then, isn’t it?” I asked. “You needed someone, someone other than the Virklitchen, someone who’s already involved in this bullshit and can help stop it from deteriorating into whatever the hell you just showed me. If Erich had picked anyone else to go to Virklitch that night, or hadn’t asked me to stay for the festival, it wouldn’t have been me! It didn’t have to have been me!”
His head remained somberly hung, and I hadn’t really been expecting him to respond at all to my outburst.
“Elifey liked you,” he said in a metallic, fluid voice that sounded like it was resonating out of his chest rather than his face. “I would not have chosen you if she hadn’t.”
He twirled the thread in between his fingers before gently handing it down to me like it was a streamer on a balloon. I hesitantly accepted the gesture, wrapping as much of my hand around the spectral cord as I could. The instant I touched it, a radiant and spiralling rainbow shot down its length and arced across the sky. When it reached the chaotic battle on the horizon, it dispelled the maelstrom on contact, banishing it back into the nether and signalling in biblical fashion that the storm had passed. The other wayward pathways were cleansed of the Black Bile as well, and I watched in amazement as they slowly started to reweave themselves back into an interconnected web.
“But… what does this mean? What do I actually have to do to make this a reality?” I asked.
The Effulgent One reached out his hand and pinched the cord, choking off the rainbow and ending the vision he had shown me.
“A reality?” he asked as he held his palm out flat and adjacent to the balcony. “It’s already a reality. All you need to do is make it yours.”
It seemed to me that I wasn’t likely to get anything less cryptic than that out of him, so I accepted the lift down. He took me down the hill and set me down gently beside my car before setting off out of sight and beyond my ability to pursue him.
Even though my GPS wasn’t working, the moment I was sitting in the driver’s seat the autopilot kicked in and didn’t ask me to take control until I was back on a familiar road. I know that windmill isn’t just a short drive away, and I’ll never see it again unless the Effulgent One wants me to. I don’t think I can say I’m exactly happy with how that turned out, but I suppose I accomplished what I set out to achieve. I know what the Effulgent One wants of me now, and why he chose me specifically. If it had been all his decision I think I’d still be feeling kind of torn about it, but knowing that I’ve been roped into this because of Elifey makes it a lot easier to bear.
And… I did actually manage to catch a rainbow. I just needed a giant’s help to reach it.

Recently got this for my long hair kitty, and I'm wondering (before I keep buying it) if it actually makes a difference to be worth the money?