Link for all the chapters available here: Engines of Arachnea on Royal Road
Deep in the groaning halls of sinew and bone he awaited his audience with the god. At a wave of his hand the ribs which held up the ceiling contracted, tendons shifting within the pink walls of the chamber as the jagged, calcareous spurs that composed the doorway sank back into the spongy masses of tissue, revealing a passage curving down and out of sight.
Menash stood before the yawning portal and considered eternity. This was no an idle thought: here in the Dawning Chamber, the concept was very real. His father, Yulan, had stood in this exact spot times beyond count. When he was struck down in his prime by the Night Weaver and her Leaper offspring, torn limb from limb as he fought to defend Chthonis from a raiding party, Menash’s uncle, Aqavarr, had carried his broken remains over that grinning threshold to join the hosts of the dead, never to return.
A hot and heavy exhalation rattled up out of the depths, wafting in the acrid scent of the bonding pools and the wet slithering sound of the rebirthing canals. Menash felt a crackle of static in the corners of his mind before the signal sharpened and he heard It whisper distinctly:
“Enter…”
The familiar dread crept its way up the small of his back, and he gave a little shiver. No matter how many times he had communed with the Vitalus, he’d never been able to shake the feeling of his utter insignificance. But he persevered, walking bravely down the slurping passage, past the rows of broad antechambers lining either side of the hallway. Each one held a slumbering shape immersed in a cryogenic bath, towering hulks of muscle encased in ribbed and riveted plates of chitin. No two were alike in size or physiology, but all seemed to emanate the same primeval aura of dread that tickled Menash’s fight-or-flight-instinct, skewing it very much towards the latter response. These were the Hollowores, soulless avatars of the Vitalus, each one a tool capable of eradicating an entire species. As Menash approached, one of the living weapons stirred to life. A pronged, anvil-shaped head emerged from the bath, umbilical feeder tubes detaching from its armored flanks as the rest of its bulk followed, its mauve exoskeleton as sleek and shiny as amethyst. The Hollowore extended legs as thick as grown pine trees and lifted itself above him, its pairs of crushing pincers dripping amniotic fluids as it herded him towards the central room.
Bundles of white gossamer filaments spread all across the floor, encircling steaming pools of pus and acid. He saw arms and legs, sensory organs and entire exoskeletons being knitted before his very eyes, the amino acid chains being stitched on a layer at a time, the weeping pus evidence of microphages fighting off possible infections as the Vitalus did Its work.
These were the next generation of exomorphs, yet to be assigned to their hosts. It was here that Vitalus constantly improved the only thing that could ensure the continued survival of Menash’s subspecies. Exomorphs were bonded to Gallivants at birth, the organisms supplying their hosts with the means to breathe an atmosphere they was never meant to endure, and the strength to fight in a world that was red in tooth and claw. They were as swift as the summer wind and could multiply their host’s muscular power by up to twelve times their natural output.
But for all their God-given might, Gallivants were still mortal. They could and often did perish in the endless struggle for existence that the Vitalus called the Great Game. But even in death they could still commit their essence to posterity, passing down their defining traits through the malleable genetic code of the gilt helix. It was the Vitalus’ greatest boon; through the gilt helix a single individual could become a progenitor of an entire generation, becoming at one stroke the father of whole nations and peoples.
One day he too would prove worthy of the honor that Yulan had earned with his life. But he was not alone in that ambition. Menash was annoyed to find the crimson-clad Vezda and the cowardly Racek waiting for him inside, standing next to a large ball of filaments that hung from a tonsil-like growth hanging from the walls.
This node pulsed, emitting a small storm of bioelectric activity, networks of fungi conveying commands in the form of oscillating voltages to their communities of symbiotic bacteria, the latter containing greigite mineral crystals aligned in the shape of electromagnetic coils. Other networks hidden in the walls modulated and amplified the signals, and the three Gallivants steeled themselves for the onrushing flood of information as the Vitalus tapped into their minds.
He was a candle before the raging heart of the thunderstorm. For an instant Menash touched a fraction of Its intelligence, the divisions of time and space rolling back as they joined the ocean of shared consciousness, becoming one with the living systems of Arachnea. From the tiniest aeroplankton floating above the waves of the golden coastlines, to the herds of ultrapods munching their way through swathes of trees in the savannahs. Menash felt himself pushing up out of the soil, longing and lusting and reaching for the sunlight with a trillion green fingers uncurling, alive with the furious movement of life.
But what was that flicker of orange to the east? That searing heat, that prickling pain spreading like a cancer down his side?
The Vitalus scooped them up and hurled them headlong into hell itself. A roaring wildfire was sweeping into the heart of the eastern rainforests. Menash tasted ash and ruin, felt pieces of himself wither and burn, his branches tongues of fire, wood cracking from the intense blaze, sap boiling instantaneously upon contact and rupturing, splitting him right down the grain. He fled in terror, running, slithering, digging, swimming, flying away in crazed panic from the walls of red death closing in on him. As his skin flaked off in clumps of charcoal he looked back and saw it towering over the treetops, the epicenter of this howling vortex of destruction: the grey behemoth. Its burnished metal hide gleamed like copper, reflecting the fury of the conflagration burning well into the night.
Menash pulled his mind away before it was lost forever in the storm of electric potentials. He saw Racek and Vezda swaying on their feet, breathing hard and fast.
“Heart of the World,” he managed to gasp, “What is your bidding?”
The Hollowore maneuvered itself until it was facing him directly. Tiny beady eyes fixed him in their blank gaze. The node emitted a blue pulse and the creature shuddered as it received the signal. It opened a maw powerful enough to chew boulders into gravel and rumbled:
“This one is the alpha which survived first contact with anomalous variable. It will tell Us what occurred, and from whence this threat emerged.”
“It came from the karst mountain range, where the yellowjacket Amit live,” Menash replied, “It was destroying the largest mound in that area, massacring its inhabitants. It brought the mountain down on them—we’ve never seen anything like it. Zildiz was the first on the scene. She warned us not to approach, and that it was dangerous, but some of us,” here he cast an angry look at Vezda, “Some of us went ahead and tried to scavenge from the bodies of the dying. Then the behemoth ignited the air and burned scores of us to cinders.”
“Irrational. Why did you do this?”
“W-we thought that you had spawned the grey behemoth,” Menash stammered, embarrassed to say the least, “That it was the newest addition to the Great Game, another species of ultrafauna that would help perfect Arachnea.”
“Not so. It was made by an evil far older than the All-In-One,” replied the Vitalus, “It is called a Divine Engine. In cycles past, this evil sought to undo this world and all that inhabit it. In that, it almost succeeded.”
Menash felt his blood run cold at those words.
“Is it the only one of its kind?” Racek piped up. Menash and Vezda both bristled at his interruption; subordinates were only supposed to speak when spoken to.
“There were several deployed here in Our infancy. We had thought them all destroyed in the War of Creation.”
“Your Munificence,” Racek went on, heedless of the venomous looks he was getting from the other two, “Most of us survived because Zildiz persuaded us to dive into the river. She saved all our lives! But as I washed up on the riverbank, I saw the behemoth casting a seedpod into the skies. I did not see where it landed, but it was travelling in a high arc due east. Is this the behemoth’s method of reproducing? If so, then how many offspring can it generate from this one seed?”
The Vitalus met his questions with a minute of silence. Menash had never known It to take so long to respond to a query, and felt another stab of unease in his gut. Unless he was imagining things, the Vitalus seemed genuinely disturbed by the scenario that Racek has raised, enough to convince Menash that the danger was far from hypothetical.
“That is a distant possibility,” It said somewhat cryptically, “Regardless, We cannot allow the Engine’s continued existence.”
“Then it must be destroyed,” Vezda said, her barbed tail eagerly perking up.
“We are not certain that it can be,” the Vitalus said, and Menash heard Racek audibly gulp at the admission.
“But Your Omniscience, you alone are the arbiter of growth and decay,” Vezda said in disbelief, “Surely you can unmake this monster as well?”
“Perhaps. The Divine Engines were built to withstand the extremes of temperature, gravity, atmospheric pressure, acidity and irradiation found on semi-inhabitable exoplanets. Worlds of bareness and desolation, glassed by thermonuclear bombardment or infested with alien microorganisms. In the wars of Our youth, the Betrayers used tungsten-alloy warheads fired from space platforms to crack their bulkheads. Not even Our vessels, the Hollowores, could damage them in any significant way. We will need time to gather the raw materials and fabricate the weapons needed to end this threat.”
“What must we do?” Menash asked.
“If this variable is not dealt with, it could upset the delicate balance We have sacrificed so much to achieve. Already the wildfire it has caused will release close to 400 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and destroy 2.3 million acres of forest before Our countermeasures can stop it. Time is our limiting factor. If the Engine cannot be destroyed now, it must be restrained.”
“It hasn’t moved an inch since we last saw it,” Vezda said brightly, “Maybe it has already died?”
“Yes, and maybe your mother was a horka toad,” Racek said snidely. Vezda scowled and took a step towards him, then stopped as she remembered that she trod on hallowed ground.
“Not so. It has merely gone dormant. Having expended its fuel, it is now running on the bare minimum of its reserves. My children, you must ensure that it does not wake again. Establish a quarantine zone around the Engine and let none approach, on pain of death. The Leaper kindreds will secure the ground while the Gallivants patrol the skies.”
Vezda and Menash exchanged troubled looks. Nobody wanted Leapers establishing a foothold in what was essentially a buffer zone between their subspecies. Once allowed to settle in a habitat, it would not take long for them to adapt and become masters of their new territory. Ousting them would become a battle of attrition, and given the lower birthrates of Gallivants, it was not one they could long afford.
“Respectfully, we do not require assistance from our brother kindred,” Menash ventured, “We are more than capable of safeguarding the area ourselves.”
The node throbbed again, the bioelectric flashes taking on an angry purple hue. With a sound like the grinding of a millstone the Hollowore clashed its claws together impatiently. All three of the mortals took a hasty step back.
“The alpha will obey, or another will be found that can,” the Vitalus growled at them, “All subspecies will observe a general truce during this period. This is a temporary addition to the Great Game. Those that serve Us well shall be rewarded. We shall also enlist the aid of your terrestrial cousins, as well as the Cataphract clans to replenish the soil, and lone Saints who shall rove beyond the quarantine zone.”
Menash’s unease deepened. The Vitalus was bringing together four different kindreds, some of which killed each other on sight, in a move that reeked of desperation. The kindreds had worked together before, of course, on complex projects such as altering rainfall patterns and husbanding struggling species, but never so many at once. This was bound to end in bloodshed.
“Those that break the truce shall be chemically neutered, and their gilt helix purged from the existing gene pool,” the Vitalus continued, “You will maintain this quarantine until We have dealt with the Engine.”
“It is understood!” Menash and Vezda said at once.
“But what about Zildiz?” Racek blurted out, again risking his entire lineage by speaking out of turn, “She might still be alive out there!”
“He’s right,” Menash found himself agreeing despite his dislike for Racek, “She’s our alpha, after all. It would be a shame to lose her helix. Do we have your leave to send out a party to recover her?”
The Vitalus pondered the request for a moment, then crushed his hopes when it said:
“Regrettable, the loss of the female. Valuable stock for the breeding program. But it has not responded to Our signals—it is unlikely to have survived. The female Vezda shall take up its duties as alpha.”
“But Your Benevolence—” both men cried out in unison.
“It is decided. She has risked the Great Game, and must abide by its outcome. To speak more on this would risk Our displeasure,” the god warned.
“We can’t spare the manpower anyway,” Vezda pointed out, trying not to look too pleased at Its decision. She darted a quick look at Menash, long enough for him to see the selfish desire festering in her heart. He turned away from her in disgust, baring his blades by the slightest of margins to let her know what he thought of her, then asked the Vitalus:
“But what of the Engine’s seedpod? Should we search for it?”
“Negative!” the Vitalus boomed, its node reinforcing the word with a spike of activity that sent needles of pain spearing into their heads, “We shall complete this task. It is dangerous and can be entrusted to no other.”
The Hollowore angled its massive head towards the cavernous ceiling, armored flaps on its back sliding aside as it unfurled sets of rigid sixty-meter wings. A wide sphincter on the roof gaped open and Menash saw the evening sky awash with the stars in their milky multitudes. The Hollowore took a deep breath through the spiracles lining its thorax and abdomen, pumping air through a pair of hollow tube-like protuberances under either of its wings. Menash and the others quickly scampered to a safe distance. Seconds later there was a scream of chemical combustion and the Hollowore rose into the evening skies, leaving behind a long trail of superheated gases, the backwash almost knocking Menash off his feet. They watched as the Hollowore gained altitude, making straight for the columns of billowing smoke on the horizon, a sweeping shadow blotting out the light of the heavens.
The Vitalus’ mental presence receded with it. When it did not return, they took it to mean that they were dismissed and likewise took flight and headed for Chthonis. They were hardly out of the Dawning Chamber when Vezda seized the scrawny Racek by his wings and anchored her feet right up against his back.
“Funny little man, are you? Crack jokes at my expense again, and I’ll see to it that you’ll never fly again!” she snarled, yanking hard. Racek yelled as his wings threatened to pop out of their sockets.
“Stop!” Menash said, ramming his shoulder into her and knocking the smaller male out of her grip. Vezda rounded on him, blades out and her tail aquiver with rage.
“As for you! No one should speak to the Vitalus like that!” she shrieked, “Much less gainsay It! Are you trying to get us all killed? It is the source and continuance of life itself—”
“But the Vitalus doesn’t always consider the individual scale of things,” Menash reasoned, controlling his rising anger as he tried to defuse the situation, “Its scope of thought is beyond ours. Therefore it is up to us to look after each other. None of us can win the Great Game alone. We need people like Zildiz for the species to prosper.”
“Your logic is flawed,” Vezda spat, “Empathy is a sham devised by the selfish action of the gene, which seeks only to preserve itself. At least I am honest enough to look after my own interests. Your obsession with that whore is misplaced. Heed my words, Menash. What happened today marks a change in the Great Game. Only the ruthless will reap the rewards of this era. Think on that, and act accordingly.”
The female darted off in another direction, leaving the two behind.
“Thanks,” Racek said, rubbing at his sore shoulders, “My, my. She’s really taking her promotion very seriously, isn’t she?”
“This doesn’t make us friends,” Menash said shortly, “We share a common interest, that’s all.”
The two flew together in silence for a time, the dark canopy unrolling below their feet. Racek had always been a bitter rival for Zildiz’s affections. In the mating seasons he and Menash had flown the damsel-dance against each other countless times, racing and dogfighting at top speed through the dense bamboo thickets in an effort to impress her.
But each time she had always chosen Menash. Naturally. He was the stronger, the braver, the son of the Scourge who had slain hundreds on his lightning raids into Leaper territory. Their pairings had been brief and passionate, yet she had always laughed at the end and gone on her merry way, a rose petal borne on a scented breeze, the dalliance as meaningless to her as other concerns like eating or breathing.
But not to him. Right now, all that mattered was her. And Racek was the only one in the whole wide world who knew exactly how he felt. Did that mean he could be trusted? Menash considered the enormity of what he was about to do, and wavered. Then he saw her face in the darkness of his home, the face she wore when they were all alone together, and he took a deep breath before breaking the silence, saying:
“I’ll be in charge of the quarantine. I can arrange for you to disappear for a few days. I can have one of the younglings mimic your magnetosynaptic signal, make it seem like you’re with the rest of us.”
“You’d do that? For me?” Racek said in astonishment.
“Hah. Not for you,” Menash laughed softly. He looked Racek straight in the eyes and continued: “What’ll it be, then?”
If he so much as hesitates, I’ll have to kill him here and now, Menash told himself.
“Why, yes. Yes, of course!” the little brown male said vigorously.
“Good,” Menash sighed with relief, “She’ll be very grateful to whoever brings her home. I’d do it myself, but as an alpha I can’t risk being seen as disobedient.”
“Then why give me this chance? After all that’s passed between us?”
“I should have thought that was obvious,” Menash replied. Racek digested that for a bit, then out of nowhere said:
“If I find her—when I find her—I’ll tell her exactly who it was that sent me.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“Bah! Just so we’re even, that’s all,” Racek grinned, his mouthparts slanting askew.
“Thanks, I guess. I’d…I’d appreciate that. You do understand what we’re risking here, right?”
“Sure. We’ll be total genetic write-offs if we’re caught. But it’s not like I wanted to see tiny ugly Raceks running around the house anyway. What about you, though? Why are you putting your neck on the chopping block?”
“You know why,” Menash said quietly, his thoughts still lingering on her face.
“Yes,” Racek agreed with a wistful air, “Yes, I suppose I do.”
And the pair spoke no more until they reached Chthonis.
Link for all the chapters available here: Engines of Arachnea on Royal Road

Generally, I like the idea behind the current tiebreaker rules and Shot in the Dark rules. The threat of rocks serves as a test of loyalty for opposing alliances, while the Shot in the Dark serves as a way for a consensus target to save themselves at the price of agency while also serving as an extra strategic layer for the majority to deal with.
What I'm not a fan of is the randomness of these mechanics. These are both mechanics that, when they come into play, decide eliminations, and to me an elimination doesn't feel satisfying or earned when it's based entirely on luck.
So I have an idea to modify the mechanics of each to maintain the core purpose of them while putting more control in the players' hands, adding layers of strategy in the process.

DEADLOCKED TIE RULES

Let's say we have a tribe of six consisting of three opposing alliances: A, B, and C against D, E, and F. This tribe goes to vote and it ties 3-3 between C and F, eventually deadlocking 2-2 as both alliances stay loyal.
At this point, normally what would happen is a consensus discussion between A, B, D, and E. They must unanimously agree to eliminate C or F, as failing to a come to a consensus will randomly eliminate one of the four of them.
Instead, my idea is to put the power in the hands of C and F, giving them the opportunity to eliminate one of the other four if the two of them can unanimously agree (a unanimous agreement would be necessary even if more than two players are in the deadlocked tie). If they agree, the person they chose is eliminated. If C and F can't agree to eliminate someone, then once again they become vulnerable and one of them will go home. At this point I'd be fine with a rock draw, though any mechanic to eliminate one of them would work.
What this does is add a strategic layer to deadlocked ties. If the tribe is anticipating a tie scenario, every player now has to factor in their relationship with the people receiving votes. "Will I be in the line of fire if these two are the ones deciding my fate?" It also offers a point of cross-alliance negotiation which gives power to the people on the bottom if they play the deadlock correctly, one that could shake up the dynamics in the aftermath. This also should make deadlocks more entertaining in general, as there's likely to be a lot of tension in the room, especially given that the people in the tie likely targeted each other and now one of them has to either turn on their alliance or put their own game at risk.

SHOT IN THE DARK RULES

Let's say we have an alternate universe where this tribe of six is a lot more united. F is the consensus target and everyone knows it, even F. It's going to be a unanimous vote, so F sacrifices their right to vote to instead take the Shot in the Dark.
At this point, normally what would happen is that F would have a completely random 1 in 6 shot at safety. If they chose the safe scroll, the Shot in the Dark acts as a Hidden Immunity Idol and saves them. If not, all votes cast against them count and they remain vulnerable.
Instead, my idea is to set a specific criteria for whether the Shot in the Dark would make F safe. For me, I'm taking inspiration from Australian Survivor's Ultimate Vote advantage. The Shot in the Dark will only save someone if every vote cast was against them (if anyone lost their right to vote, that has no impact on whether the criteria is met). If it does, then the person who played the advantage will become safe and everyone who is eligible to vote must begin a revote process to eliminate someone else. Otherwise, the advantage holds no power. That's the criteria I have, but any specific criteria should also work.
What this does is takes the randomness out of Shot in the Dark and adds a strategic layer to the mechanic, putting the power in the players' hands while punishing tribes that choose to be openly united. The majority can counter the advantage by having someone throw their vote, but this comes at the risk of causing distrust and exposing the tribe's pecking order.

Hey folks -- hoping someone with experience building in a mountainous/snowy area could help us out here 🙏
We purchased a home a few months back in an area that gets a ton of snow (300" a season) and is at the base of a mountain range (Teton Valley) -- basically adjacent to the foothills. This home also came with plans for an addition with a basement that we were planning to get started on.
A few weeks back we noticed that the crawlspace had about 6" of water and that the sump pump was unplugged for whatever reason. We plugged it back in, it kept chugging along, getting clogged on occasion, and the crawlspace remained damp, but there wasn't much standing water (hard to say with 100% certainty, because we have been in the process of moving).
We let our builder and architect both know about this water (apparently the previous owners either had no idea it was there, or failed to mention it), and they both were concerned, and recommended digging a large hole to see what the water level in it looks like the next few weeks. We're doing that next week.
Other details: - All of the well reports in the area suggest that the static water level is at around 90' below the surface - The area is generally very dry, and there was no visible moisture damage in the crawlspace - Gutters here are not an option, because the snow would just tear them off - The water in the crawl space was not moving (not a hidden creek, or anything) - We did not do any snow plowing around the house (had not moved in yet), and neither did the previous owners - The plans specify a waterproof seal and perimeter drain pipe, but not sure if that's going to be sufficient (probably won't be)
Questions: - Is it a horrible idea to continue with a build that has a basement in an area where we know there is moisture for 1-2 months out of the year, but not entirely sure how much? - Are there any water mitigation strategies we could employ around the property, regardless of whether we build the addition? I don't think French Drains would really cut it for this type of environment. - Any advice, in general, on things to do or not do with regards to building/owning a house in an area with this type of snowmelt situation? Or just things to look out for in general?

There isn't a lot of spoilers but there is some but barely any legit spoilers passed the special exam post desert island arc.
Hey!
Finished reading up to the current Volume of the LN and wanted to share my thoughts on the series as a whole and where I think it may go from here.
I became aware of this season when season 1 first aired through social media and decided to watch the show up until the end of the first season. After it ended, I had to know more and so I looked and found out about the light novel. I was hooked ever since.
My thoughts on the first year were pretty good because the mystery of the school, the students and the MC kept me interested and it was very refreshing having a main character not allow himself to be bullied by his friends or act like a stereotypical virgin whenever a women would talk to him.
I found the beginning to do a very good job of keeping people on their toes as even though this is based in Highschool and has a battle royale based premise, it uses different games then your typical battle royal clone and allows you to basically view how it’s played through the eyes of the protag Kiyo.
Another thing that makes Kiyo interesting is that while he does boast internally that he knows everything on a level that would surpass some of the smartest college students in Japan, he does not immediately flaunt or trivialize the games to the point where there isn't any tension with each game.
Another thing I enjoy is that though it’s a team-based Battle royale, the fact that you get to know the leader of each team and they slowly grow to know Kiyo makes it interesting and sets up potential conflicts of interest before the first year is even halfway over. Personally, I like all of the other class leaders a good bit. I enjoy Ryuuen especially because he still remains true to his nature, but he takes advice from the person who beat him using just as morally questionable tactics as him and works to fine tune those morally questionable tactics so that he doesn't get beat because he is sloppy on his approach. I enjoy Ichinose battle with her "horrible" shop lifting past as much as an American can sympathize on something most over here would consider very minor in terms of criminality. While I can't obviously say it's just fine, I also feel at times it's overblown but again I'm American and at some point, we've all pocketed a pack of gum or added an extra item to our shopping cart we didn't ring up. She is a genuinely good person which is enjoyable when the other people portrayed as rivals are just as likely to stab you in the front as well as they would in the back. While the main goal is to graduate from Class A because somehow everything you ever need in life will somehow be given to you, the thought of making sure everyone makes it to the finish line is a good goal on its own knowing how easy it is for people to be expelled. I Don't mind Arisu but truthfully up until the most recent chapters, she was honestly hard to relate to even more than Kiyo because every time she's on screen she always has a smug grin as if everything is already taken care of and no matter what, she will come out on top. while its charismatic it can kinda drive off any sense of connection. I'm happy she starts getting humbled later on, but it takes a long time.
The series threw me for a loop when they focused heavily on Horikita in the beginning only to seemingly drop her to a side character for the rest of the arc until Kiyo dealt with Ryuuen. It honestly felt like she wasn't that important anymore, so I was pleasantly surprised how she slowly made her way back into the sub-protag role throughout the rest of the 2nd year. I don't really like Horikita compared to most of the other characters, but it speaks more highly to the other characters than anything wrong with her. My reasons for disliking her a little more than the other characters maybe stem from the fact we see more of her than anyone else and could have changed if she was more of a side character than one of the main focuses of the series. I do think that she gradually gets better as a character or more dynamic would be the better way to phrase it, I still think she is very flawed or at least she is written flawed, but the story seems to make things conveniently workout in her favor whenever she desperately needs it. I will say that I find that some of my favorite characters are legitimately side characters some of which have just recently showed up or showed up and went away for a long period of time after. Case in point Tsubaki from class 1-c she is basically kiyotaka but not overpowered like he is. We get a lot of Nanase in the beginning of the second-year arc but basically after the deserted Island exam she barely shows up anymore her split personality also just goes away. Kiryuuin Is also one of my favorites and she is sparingly gets in the story but when she does, she is very interesting and I'm sad that in a few more books she'll probably complete disappear from the story. I was never high on some characters like Kei, Nagumo, Matsushita ( mostly because why isn't she revealing this secret hidden talent that she said she had in the first year) and Manabu. I know Manabu might be a hot take, but I personally feel like his whole schtick about not telling Horkitia that he does love her but wants her to do her own thing for an entire year was so stupid because he just needed to call her to the student council office and literally have the conversation at ANY point in the year why wait till the end. I'm glad that he gives Kiyo a goal or maybe project he wants to complete before he meets Monabu again but other than that he was a blander Kiyotaka.
On that note a few things that have bothered me as the story has gone on,

1. I’m not going to say anything even though I could because then people would look at me weird. And we can’t have that?
   
2. I won't reveal where you came from even though it would be the most detrimental thing, I could do to you whether people believe it or not, but I won't because I never intended to use it as a tactic no matter what. why not?
   
3. You betrayed us and kicked our friend out of the school so I'm going to dropout so we lose but I will wait for a week or so to do it because I wanted to see the festival first. huh? Why wait for something stupid like that? You're already planning on Jeopardizing your whole class but decide to wait because of a festival that theoretically doesn't matter anymore. Not only that but the fact that you don't leak what happened that caused the friend to be expelled while you waited to expel yourself, further causing an issue for them when you are gone, just doesn't make any sense at all.
   
4. Horikita has lucked into some of the most micky mouse wins I've ever seen. Like I said before the plot sometimes seems to not make sense in a real word aspect but because the other can control how 120 kids always behave you can give bad reasons for something to work out and it always will because the plot needed it to. I really truly feel like that exam where Sakura was expelled was damn good all the way up until her best friend decided not to follow through with her plans to sink the class in retaliation. There was literally nothing anyone could have done to stop her or Kushida from sinking the class once the exam was over. I truly thought it would have been checkmate for the class and maybe you shift away from class 2-D the same way it feels like Kiyo is doing now and consider it a failed experiment. I would have LOVED it if she flunked the class even though Kiyo and Horikita did everything possible to bring them close to being class A. Actions have consequences, you expelled my friend and not the traitor and making excuses that it work out if Kushida complies from that point forward. OK fine I'll screw everyone like they screwed my good friend by dropping out willingly. Could you imagine the fallout knowing you failed even if you made the right decision in that moment. Basically, halfway through the second year 1 class has officially lost the race but just like Nagumo said, it's still possible to transfer out of a class to a different one so it doesn't mean the story ends for Kiyotaka or any of the students, but that class has lost.
   
5. Koenji is literally my least liked character in the series at this point and it's strictly based off what I THINK will happen in the future. The author has done absolutely zero to give backstory to Koenji and why he is so good at everything. Zilch. At least as unreasonable as it sounds, we know why Kiyo and the other white room students are so broken. The most we know about Koenji is that he is a blonde Adonis who studied in China and for some reason just laps everyone at everything. My thoughts on this are that if and when Kiyo decides to leave the class, Horikita and by proxy (Koenji) will be the final boss.
   

I don't like 4 the most and 5 the second most because it starts to make you doubt any haymakers are coming that legitimately don't feel like an asspull anymore. I can't be engrossed in the story if I feel like Horikita is going to be the final boss. I can't be engrossed in the story if I know that Horikita is going to use Koenji to actually make it hard for Kiyo to win that final round. I can't feel engrossed if I have a feeling one of the leaders is about to be expelled or completely sidelined for some completely stupid reason so that we can get this obvious conclusion started. That's why I can stand those last two points I didn't see Kiyo allowing Kei to get beat up and tortured multiple times to further his goals or plots. I didn't foresee a not so random secret agent being planted in the school and immediately striking Kiyo while he's talking with Arisu the daughter of the man he just ousted. I didn't foresee Kiyo convincing one of his would be rivals to come back to the school because it would be a little boring if that class completely fell apart without him to lead it. I didn't foresee Kiyotaka making as many "friends" the way he has since the start of series and most of those relationships feel natural which is why it has been fun following Kiyo and the people he encounters.
Overall, I'm happy with this series and it has made me look for more LNs to fill in my time while we wait for more to come out.
I'd be happy to hear your thoughts on the series as a whole as well.
Tldr; I like almost everything but the things that I dislike are becoming more prevalent in the story than in the beginning.

This is a story I've come up with my head for years It predates most things talked about so I've had to figure a way for it to fit in. This story was created basically to find a good way to blend Dbs with Naruto. There is a bit of a "timeline thing" but that will be explained and basically thrown away fairly early on. Also it starts a little overpowered but only due to the bigger things I started building up too. Also This is my first time "writing this down" and I'm not exactly a world class story teller so in ways this is more of a character.His name is Hachiman
This takes place in the Hidden Leaf Village but the current time is during Just before the 4th Great Ninja War. In this world The Kaguya clan has not yet gone extinct. A Prodigy child is born of the Kaguya Clan. A Rere Genetic Awakening has happened within the child's body Opening access to the Ötsutsuki genes within him of which being born with Byakugan and multiple charkra nature's are amongst a couple. His Ötsutsuki ability has the ability to manipulate time to a second difference Small but extremely reliable. Due to being such a a Prodigy at a young age as well as fascination with different Justu, as well as Frankly not being able to Beat or Captured he was Drafted into the Anbu. He shows hardly any emotion and Know's full well he can do what he wants to an extent but has no want for this as he Would rather just live peacefully and whatever brings him and everyone closer to peace he will due solemnly. He grows up with Hardly anybody but 1 girl named Kiriko (Kiri for short) In the middle of a mission The Hidden Stone attacks the Leaf! Hachiman hurry's back to the village quickly! Quickly he fends off quite an amount of Hidden Stone. A Shriek is heard in the distance! He rushes to Help! There he finds Kiriko with blood trickling the the hands of the enemy. Blind Rage awakens within Hachiman His Time related Kekkei genkai Erupts! White Surrounds the entire area it seems as if the world Is collapsed within it. When he comes to he awakes in a Forrest, "Where is the hidden leaf?" He thinks. Realizing his eyes have awakened Sharingan! Shinobi running through the Forrest stop him "Who are you they ask" As Hachiman looks up they meet eyes with the Sharingan. Immediately they attack! Hachiman defeats then. As he begins to walk around he notices the world and the chakra of the world itself is different? Eventually he stumbled into a camp and realizes this is an Original Uchiha Camp. He begins to ask questions blending in with the fact he has Sharingan they questioned nothing. He begins to put the pieces together His Kekkei genkai awakened and Swalllowed Him in time, He himself has Time traveled to before the Villages had begun. Thinking back in history eventually he works under the Uchiha but with minimal Killing as to protect time from being distorted and making an impact that never happened. As time continues he meets Madara Uchiha and studies him from the shadows Observing and Copying his every move. Hachiman learns his Sharingan's ability is able to Save and copy other Sharingan Formation (allowing Amaterasu, etc) Later he again Stay's in the shadows and does the same with the Tobirama. As time moves on he realizes he does not age anymore. He begins to not fully understand his situation but make the better of it instead. In the shadows he studies and copies all of the Legends from Naruto. Eventually Rinnegan awakens and Before the final Ninja war he abandons this dimension. "It is not my home anymore" he believes. He watches as Naruto and Sasuke beat Kaguya and Learns of the Ten tails. Trying to further his power he discovers a Ten tails abandoned in a random dimension. He decided to become a Ten Tailed Jinchūriki. Later Sasuke while traveling through his Rinnegan meets Hachiman. Hachiman explains everything. Sasuke already having his first run in with Otsutsuki explains everything that has been happening home. Hachiman has no interest as he feels a greater threat is coming. He tells Sasuke to leave him and he will stay out of all Trouble and wishes to be left alone.
Dragon Ball Super side of things
The Grand Priest has learned of a Universe Remnant that has survived Xeno's destruction. Immediately he sends a New Angel named Jin is sent to Investigate. Feeling a threat Incoming Hachiman meets Jin. Jin begins to explain why he was sent but Hachiman dosen't try to listen as he believes this might be an Otsutsuki threat. He fights to the Fullest ability! (Ten Tails Jinchūriki Awakening, Pure White Susanoo armor coated to his body, Lighting Style armor (similar to what The 3rd Raikage used), Sword of Nunoboko, as well as Multiple upon Multiple Shadow Clones) It is during this fight he awakes what he calls (Divine eyes) which allows him to use Divine Jutsu (which is basically just any Jutsu turned up to an 11) He is losing almost overwhelming however he is able to his a surprise Planetary Devastation. This surprises Jin to which he states that Hachiman is coming with him. Reluctantly Hachiman agrees. They leave to meet with The Grand Priest which has an Idea for the young Hachiman. During the 1st meeting with Universe 6 as well as Universe 7 Hachiman is brought to View and see if he can contend with such fighters. A sparing match is to be had the winner gains access to 1 wish from the Super Dragon Balls! The Fight begins! Hachiman Vs Vegeta!! To all Viewers the Fight ends Astonishingly Quick as Vegeta dosen't move everyone including Vegeta Unaware he is Locked in Genjustu. While The Fight unannounced to Vegeta is Over, Vegeta believes the fight is currently happening. Hachiman used Genjustu to obtain all Knowledge Vegeta has about everything. Quickly Hachiman learns of what sayians are as well as The circumstances as well as the Different sets of Dragon balls. Vegeta's body is set in the stands Senzu beans don't work as Vegeta's body is fine. The Fight with Goku Begins!! Using the Knowledge Hachiman now has He understands how to Fight A sayians better. While maintaining a "Mind Fight" with Vegeta Hachiman begins to Truly battle Goku. Using as many cheap trucks as he can to contend with a sayians of Goku's Caliber Eventually the fight ends with A Planetary Devastation Sealing Justsu. Goku can't escape. Announced as the winner Hachiman gains his wish! However with the knowledge gained from Vegeta he chooses to Use the Namekian Dragon Balls instead as a Win He makes his 3 wishes 1) He wishes to become a Half Blooded Sayians while maintaining all abilities he had Before 2) He wishes to unlock what his Bloodline Calls Tensigan 3) He does not care what this wish is and Gives it away Shortly after the The TOP is announced. Jin has been assigned to watch over Hachiman to keep eyes within his universe and Him. Hachiman decides he will be entering the TOP alone as he as already stated he will not intervene within what is happening with his universe The training with his New Found Divine Eyes mixed with the Blood of a Sayian has led him to become Overwhelmingly Powerful as well as unlock Ssj2 The TOP begins!! Immediately knowing the difference in power as well as being cunning Hachiman Buries himself within the Ground Funneling and Learning how to manipulate Kachi Katchin steel, as well as basically being a Clone summoning Factory that fight above ground. For the most part Hachiman keeps quiet until near the end. In a Fatal attempt he does try to fight Jiren thinking Genjustu might solve the problem IT does Not. Jiren let's it happen at first Letting Hachiman Speak to him. Later he breaks free however and Finds the real body of Hachiman. Seeing No way to win in a Sayian Anger fuled Rage he uses a Justu never been done before DIVINE STYLE: DIVINE REAPER DEATH SEAL Everything fades to black and seemingly Hachiman Disappears. In pure black A voice Speaks "My Slumber has been interrupted by whom" A Divine Reaper God appears before Hachiman Otsutsuki Honestly in Fear for the 1st time Hachiman has no words However The reaper Feels his energy and reads his based off this. "You ask for my power for such a weak Creature..... Pathetic" he states Hachiman responds " It was a sudden Idea I had no idea what would become of it Who are you?" " I am the What happens to God's and angels who have fallen, I am the manifestation of the Natural order Of things" Taking an Intrest in Hachiman The Reaper proposes an Offer "I have not been summoned in millennia as well as God's have not fallen in such time, I would like you to become my new Reaper You will gain access to my abilities as well as my Power" "& In Return?" Hachiman responds "I exist in all of time Past, Present, & Future you will be of use to me there will be interference from me in anything you do, so long as every now and then you fuel me with energy" Hachiman agrees Appearing back in the same spot as if Time stopped again Hachiman awakens with Black Energy pouring from his body He rushes Jiren Quickly however His body cannot take the duress and Gives out Hachiman is Eliminated The TOP proceeds regularly. When the Universes are Brought back Hachiman appears in the dimension he was Watching over back home in Universe 13 Jin arrives afterwards to Explain that the Grand Priest would like his presence. Hachiman goes with Jin to meet. The Grand Priest is alone with no Guards as well as no King Xeno He explains that he is unhappy with the way the Universes are being run. Tired of presiding over a Child with the Supreme power. He asks if That was the God Reapers energy he Felt within Hachiman. To which Hachiman says Yes. "Can you access it? Use it and your own will?" The Priest asks Hachiman responds No but it's still within him he could learn to harness it but why? Grand Priest has a plan to extract Xeno's energy and Give it to him to run this the Multiverse Correctly as a God should he also explains that when King Xeno destroyed the Multiverse is seems at that exact moment is when Hachiman's outburst happened and The moment destroyed Single handedly restarted his Universe through time. To help train Hachiman with his New Found power as well as the Fact Universe 13 has no current God of Destruction Hachiman is assigned as well as Given God of Destruction Power After a 4 years have passed Hachiman has traveled not only throughtout his universe but because his universe is still so Young there isn't much to Destroy or Watch he travels throught the other Universes. Every planet he has been too throught the Multiverse he places the Flying Rajin Seal A Coup has begun Grand Priest helps set the stage Hachiman's reaper energy has manifested through talking to the Reaper as well as practice. The Reaper energy as well as Reaper Saiyan Form has the ability to completely absorb Energy of all Kinds and Manifest it as Their Own. He uses Rope Kunai Energy weapons to predominantly absorb others energy. King Xeno is Stabbed at the same time as The Grand Priest the channel the energy from one blade to another. As the Energy is being drained Hachiman begins to see inside the Grand Priests Mind seeing that the Grand Priest plans to eradicate all of the Multiverse for Good Hachiman stops! The power is drained from Xeno but the Grand Priest has 75% of the power while Hachiman has the remaining 25%. Hachiman Escapes Labeled a Traitor Hachiman is Hunted by everyone the Grand Priest can get his hands on. Traveling from world to world Hiding Honing all of his abilities to One day fight The Grand Priest and Finally decide what should be done with The power of Xeno.
If you read all That I Love you Frfr please Put input I'm sorry its sor Poorly written and put together but I've never done something like this in writing purely in my head. I hope someone reads this one day!

Me: I think this big bowl is dishwasher safe? Can I run this in dishwasher?
Other: I usually wash mine by hand.
Me: Oh, it's really dirty, is it ok if I wash in dishwasher or would you prefer I also wash this one by hand?
Other: [dead silence...refuses to answer...implying "I gave you my answer"]
Me: [stunned-no answer, what did I do wrong?! trying to complete my task] Um, ok? [ loads in dishwasher unsure & trying to avoid remaining in uncomfortable situation]
Me ... realizing only *after* washed in dishwasher, that the special-secret-hidden-meaning must've meant, not "I like to wash by hand" but "I want YOU to wash yours by hand" & hating myself.
Blaming myself for *expecting* the other person to simply say-what-they-mean-or-want.
Ugh. It's so painful & depressing coexisting with neurotypicals.
How do y'all feel after uncomfortable miscommunication engagements like this?

The pain was the worst thing`Dominick Mason had ever known…and he knew what it felt like to die. It felt like his brain was in a blender, being chopped to liquid for a Jeffery Dahmer smoothie and though it seemed melodramatic, he imagined he could feel himself losing brain cells by the minute. The sun, Merrick told him, would not burn him, but it would decay him faster, so sleep or rest during the day. With the sick, throbbing agony in the center of his brain, however, that was impossible. He spent most of the day curled up on his side, hugging his knees, and moaning. He had flashbacks to dying in his apartment, and that made things even worse. The room became too small, too close, the air too stale. His heart, filled with the blood of last night’s meal, pounded in his chest, and he went from slightly chilly to hot and feverish as blood was forced through his circulatory system. It mixed with the embalming fluid and left him feeling full and constipated. He didn’t want to get up, but he also didn’t want to go on lying there. He was the definition of miserable.
Before long, the pain became too great and he got up to pace, pressing his hands to the sides of his head and gritting his teeth. Merrick, who slept very little if at all, sat in his chair and watched, trying his best to talk him through it. “It’ll be over soon,” Merrick said. “The pain receptors in your brain are the first to go. When they burn out, you won’t feel anything.”
“When?” Dom asked, his voice raising with the tide of pain.
“A couple days?”
“A couple days???”
“The pain will lessen gradually,” Merrick said, “this is the worst of it.”
Dom believed that this was, indeed, the worst of it, but he doubted it would lessen gradually. For the rest of the day, the pain got worse and worse until every light blinded him, every sound turned his stomach, and the smell of anything made his gorge rise. The cloying smell of the embalming fluid, the light but unmistakable odor of dead flesh, and the scent of stale blood sitting in decomposing stomachs made him want to vomit, but he was afraid to. He didn’t think he could handle the sight of blood rushing from his mouth and splattering the floor. He still possessed enough of his facilities, he believed, to go insane.
Pain has a way of darkening one’s mood, and by the time the sun began to set, Dom was in the most sour mood possible. Even Merrick’s calm, fatherly voice was beginning to get on his nerves. When he took the oath to him the day before (or was it the day before that?), he turned his faith and trust over to Merrick entirely. He was finally accepted, included, finally had the love and fellowship that, in the pit of his soul, he had always wanted. Merrick understood him, Merrick was kind to him.
But deep down, Dom realized that he didn’t fully trust him. He said that his brain didn’t rot because he was “lucky.” That sounded like some bullshit to Dom. Why wasn’t Joe a blithering idiot too? Was he lucky as well? Did lightning strike in the same place twice? In life, people had done nothing but hurt and lie to Dom. Why would death be any different? He thought back to the strange liquid that always seemed to leak from Merrick’s nose, and Joe’s. He thought it was embalming fluid, but it never leaked from his own nose, or from anyone else’s. He tried to tell himself that it was far too soon to judge, but once he began to doubt something, his mind raced away. He felt a twinge of guilt, as Merrick had done absolutely nothing to deserve his doubt, but goddamn it, his head was on fire and he wanted it to stop. Anything to make it stop.
Just after sundown, the music began as Club Vlad opened for the night. It throbbed in the center of Dom’s head and made him want to claw his eyes out. When it became too much for him, he slipped away and stumbled into the sultry summer night. He came out in the alley running behind the club, clutching his head and breathing through bared teeth. He staggered, bumped into a metal trash can, and roared at the top of his lungs, as if he could purge himself of the pain by screaming.. His voice echoed and came back to him, making the pain worse.
Merrick was lying. He knew it. People always lied to him. His brain was rotting and PEOPLE WERE LYING! Flashing with anger, he slammed his fist into the brick wall of a Chinese restaurant. He barely felt anything so he did it again and again until his hand was lumpy and shaking. He sat heavily on the ground and pressed his hands to his head. It felt like maggots were burrowing into his brain, and he was suddenly terrified that they really were. He needed to stop this awful pain, but how?
An idea came to him.
The funeral home.
Maybe there was something there.
He was on his feet and lumbering there before the thought had even finished reverberating through his mind. It was a long shot, but he was desperate. On the way there, he stuck to the shadows, staying out of the light cast by the streetlamps and avoiding people. When he passed them, he kept his head down. When he reached the funeral home, he went to the back door where he and Jessie had gone the other day. He tried it, and it opened.
Inside, he bounced off the walls like a pinball, knocking over an end table and tearing at the flesh of his head, pulling it away in long, gray strips. He panted like a wild animal, his body a raging tempest of emotions. It was reaching a crescendo, he thought, his brain was about to go supernova. The world dimmed, things got really echoy. The young man he’d picked the embalming fluid up from was there, looking scared.
Flashing, Dom grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him against the wall, knocking a painting of a flowery field to the carpet. Everything seemed to go in slow mo. “How does Merrick keep his brain from rotting?” Dom heard himself demanding from far away. “How does he keep the pain away?”
The man trembled. “I-I-”
Dom slammed him again. “Tell me or I’ll make you like me.”
“No!” the man wailed. He shook his head from side to side, his eyes wet with fear.
“How?”
“He-He uses a solution,” the man stammered. “Some kind of special thing. It preserves his brain. That’s all I know.”
An idea occurred to Dom.
Holding the man by the back of his neck, Dom dragged him into the embalming room and pushed him against the table. His head felt like it was swelling. Hot, screaming, getting ready to explode. He looked around, found the embalming machine, and grabbed the hose. There was a sharp tip on it so that you could jam it into a body. He held it in his hand, hesitating for just a moment before pressing it to his temple. The man watched in horror as Dom slowly shoved the tip into his head. It tore his flesh, broke through his skull, and sank into his brain. He felt no pain, only pressure, but cried out anyway. His eyes rolled up into his head and a shudder went through his body.
“Turn it on!” he yelled.
“That’s not what he -”
“TURN IT ON!”
Starting, the man turned the machine on. Cold embalming fluid squirted directly into Dom’s brain. Almost at once, the pain began to ebb away, replaced only by a fuzzy sense of numbness. His knees buckled and he sank to the floor, looking for all the world like an addict taking a hit of his favorite substance after a long and trying day. Fluid leaked from his nose, ears, and eyes and dripped down the back of his throat.
The man waited for a long time, then turned the machine off.
The pain was gone.
At least for now.
“Tell me again,” Dom said.
The man did. Merrick used a special preserving agent to keep his brain intact. Joe, the man suspected, got it as well. So Merrick had lied to him.
Dom felt betrayed.
And angry.
Leaving the man (Dom realized that he didn’t even know his name), he walked back to Club Vlad, his hands fisted in his pockets. All his life, he had been hurt, lied to, and ignored. All his life, people had done wrong to him. And all those years, he just took it.
He resolved not to be so accepting in death.
At last, he was going to stop being a sniveling little bitch and stand up for himself.
When he reached Club Vlad, he slammed through the back door and took the stairs two at a time. At the top, he called out Merrick’s name. The old man was sitting in his chair, being attended to by Jessie and Matt. He looked startled when Dom came in. “You lied to me,” Dom said, stalking over to his benefactor.
“What are you talking about?” Merrick asked, doing his best to sound innocent.
“You lied to me!” Dom screamed. He bent over and got so close to Merrick’s face that he could have kissed him. “You told me there was no way to save my brain, but that’s not true. You’re pumping your head full of shit and letting the rest of us rot.”
A dark shadow flickered across Merrick’s face. “Watch your tone when you talk to me,” he said. His voice was low, menacing.
“Fuck you,” Dom said. “I should k -”
Suddenly, Dom was being grabbed from behind and yanked back, an arm around his neck. He cried out in alarm as Joe swung him around and slammed him face first into the wall. He heard his nose crunch, felt his teeth shatter. Next, Joe wrestled him to the glitter-sprinkled floor and wedged his knee between his shoulder blades.
Merrick watched with a sneer of disgust, his hands gripping the arms of his chair. He wheeled himself over, Jessie holding his IV stand steady and following behind. “Listen, you son of a bitch,” Merrick said, “you’re lucky to be a part of this family.”
Cold fear filled the pit of Dom’s stomach, yet he wouldn’t back down, couldn’t back down. He had lived his entire life like a mouse in a burrow, he wasn’t about to live his entire death the same way.
“Fuck your family,” he said defiantly. “And fuck you.”
Merrick’s face darkened and he sat back in his chair. He looked at Jessie and nodded. She went away and came back a moment later holding something in her hand. Dom’s eyes widened when he saw what it was.
A wooden stake, one end honed to a razor point.
Why they had one of those lying around, Dom didn’t know; it’d be like Superman keeping a piece of kryptonite on the mantle over the fireplace. Merrick directed Max and Matt to hold Dom’s arms down/ Joe pivoted, kneeling on his head now so that Dom’s back was exposed. Dom’s heart slammed with terror and tremors raced through his body.
“Is this what you want, Dominick?” Merrick asked. “To die? To truly die?”
Dom swallowed hard. No, it wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted to live, to love, to have a family one day. He wanted a happy, normal life, the life TV and social media had been promising him since he was a little boy.
But all of that went out the window the night he died in his little apartment. There was no life anymore, just a grotesque parody of life. What was there for him other than death? Clinging desperately onto life for decades like Merrick? Stuffing himself full of embalming fluid and moth balls? Grinding for one more minute just so he could sit hooked up to a machine?
Dom spoke.
“What?” Merrick asked, not having heard.
Dom licked his lips. “Just fucking do it.”
For a moment, nothing happened. Expectation hung in the air. Finally, breaking the tension, Merrick nodded to Jessie. Kneeling down, she brought the stake up, and Dom closed his eyes.
This was it.
He braced himself for death.
Jessie brought the stake down just as a shot rang out, deafening in the small space. Her head whipped back, embalming fluid, skull fragments, and gray, sickly pieces of brain showering from the back of her head. She flopped back and landed on the floor with a sickening thud.
A woman cop, her black uniform in stark contrast to the burning white light, stood in the doorway to the hall, her gun drawn. Everyone did, indeed, freeze, more out of surprise than respect for authority. They all looked at her, their dead mouths agape, resembling children who’d been caught doing something wrong.
“Everyone on the ground!” she barked.
No one knew what to do. They hadn’t expected to be raided by the police so had not prepared. She jerked her gun and everyone instinctively flinched. “On the ground!” she repeated. To Max: “You too, bone boy.”
The first one to react was Joe. He sprang at her like a big, undead frog. She brought the gun around and fired, but he was already crashing into her. The shot went wild and struck the IV bag next to Merrick; he ducked and let out a sound of fear. The others rushed her, and Dom got quickly to his feet. Jessie lay on the floor, her mouth open in a silent scream and her bony fingers frantically examining the ragged hole in the center of her forehead. For a moment, he was frozen; everything was happening too fast. Then, when Merrick saw him and cried, “Stop him!, he came alive. Jessie tried to grab at his leg, but he kicked her hand away and stomped on it like it was a giant spider. On the other side of the room, Matt, Joe, and Max had forced the cop to the ground. Perhaps excited by all the action, perhaps just hungry, they began to tear her apart. She howled in pain, and the last thing Dom saw before he fled was her open, blood-filled mouth. Her eyes were filled with pain…with terror.
After that, Dom ran.
***
When the interloper was dead, Merrick directed Joe and Matt to dispose of the body. “Get rid of it,” he said wearily and rubbed his temples, “make sure it isn’t found.”
They rolled her into a carpet from the office, and the way her feet stuck out may have been comical under other circumstances.
Goddamn it, this was bad. Merrick’s entire philosophy rested on avoiding detection. He had done well in that regard. Whereas other vampires had attacked their villages and gotten themselves dug from the ground and staked, he had made it four decades. He never shat where he ate, and there is no bigger turd than killing a cop. They might dawdle on all the boys who’d gone missing - taken because their blood was stronger and more robust than the blood of girls - but they would not take a cop dying lightly at all.
Merrick owned various businesses around the country. He and the others would simply move on. Tomorrow night, they would disappear into the night. They had done it before and they would likely do it again. Once things were settled at their new base of operations, he would have Joe killed for all the trouble he’d caused.
And Dom?
Let him go.
The little rat wouldn’t last a month on his own.
“Jessie?”
Jessie sat against the wall, gazing into space.
“Jessi…start packing. We’re leaving tomorrow.”
She didn’t move, didn’t seem to hear. The shot had all but lobotomized her.
Damn it.
Joe backed the van up to the back door of Club Vlad, and then helped Matt carry the carpet-rolled body down the stairs. They loaded it in and closed the back doors. Together, they drove around looking for a place to dump it. Merrick wanted it to go unfound, but Joe doubted there was anywhere isolated enough in the city. On a whim, he drove to Washington Park, a vast expanse of green trees and shadows. There was a large pond there. It seemed the best option. They were leaving tomorrow anyway, so did it really matter?
Joe backed the van to a railing overlooking the dark water and put it in park. He and Matt got out, fetched the body, and carried it to the railing. They lifted and heaved it over. It splashed. Thus, they rid themselves of Vanessa Rodregiez.
***
Bruce sat anxiously up in his easy chair and waited for his cell to ring.
Parked in front of the TV by warm lamplight, a beer wedged between his legs, he’d been watching the 11’o’clock news when the phone rang. He picked it up and it was Vanessa. “Hey,” she said, “I think I found our body?”
“Which one?” Bruce asked and took a drink. “We have a lot of those these days.”
“Dominick Mason.”
Bruce sat forward in his chair. “Dead Dom? Where?”
“He just came out of a funeral home, ironically enough.”
“That sounds about right,” Bruce said. “Where are you now?”
“I’m following him east on Central.”
“Are you sure it’s him?” Bruce asked.
“I think so, but I’m not sure. I’ll call you back when I’m done.”
Bruce sat the phone aside and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
At some point, he fell asleep sitting up, his head lulled to one side and his mouth open. He snorted himself awake, rubbed his eyes, and sat up. He checked his phone and was perturbed to see that it was past 2am.
Vanessa hadn’t called.
He dialed her number and let the phone ring until it went to voicemail. Sighing, he ended the call, then waited a few minutes and called again.
Still no answer.
It was possible she had forgotten. Maybe the guy turned out to not be Dead Dom after all. She followed some random guy around, realized it, and that was that. Hell, she was probably too embarrassed to call and tell him about it.
Something told him that wasn’t right, however.
There was something else going on here.
Something…darker.
Just before 3am, his phone rang. He snatched it off the end table next to the chair and answered it. It was Burt, the night sargent. “Rodriguez is missing,” he said simply.
Bruce’s heart sank. “Missing?”
“Yeah, she hasn’t checked in for hours and she isn’t answering calls.”
“I’m on my way,”
Bruce tore through the house, pulling on his uniform, socks, and shoes in less time than it took a Daytona 500 pit crew to service a car. In ten minutes he was speeding down 787, the Albany skyline rising in the distance. As he hurried to the station, he thought back to his last conversation with Vanessa. She’d found Dom the Dead Man, the “corpse” who’d scared Ed Harris out of a 20 year career. Despite all their talk about vampires and the living dead, Bruce didn’t believe it, not really. Even so, he was sure that Dominick Mason had done something to Vanessa.
He checked in at the station before doing anything else. They had triangulated Vanessa’s last known location via cell towers. Cops were already out searching the streets for her. Bruce went out as well, intending to start from her last known position and work his way east on Central. The closest funeral home was Tebbutt and Frederick on Central. There was also Lasak & Gigliotti on North Allen Street. Bruce didn’t know which one Vanessa had seen Dom come out of, so he checked both.
Both were deserted at this hour.
Undeterred, Bruce drove up and down Central Ave. At one point, he noticed a shape in an alleyway that looked human. He hit the brakes, jumped out, and pointed his gun at it. “Freeze!”
An old wino stepped out of the darkness. “Alright, you got me,” he said, hands up. “I started COVID. It was an accident, I swear.”
Bruce sighed and put his gun away.
For two more hours, Bruce searched the streets of Albany for Vanessa. At 4am, he spotted a squad car abandoned in the rear parking lot of an abandoned gas station on lower Lark Street. He called it in and the desk sergeant confirmed that it was the one Vanessa had signed out that night.
Still there was no sign of Vanessa herself.
Just after dawn, as the city came alive and CDTA buses began lumbering up and down the streets, Bruce got a call on his cell. “A jogger found a body in Washington Park.”
Bruce was in his personal car. He had no bubble light, no siren. Even so, he sped through the streets like he did, blowing through red lights and stop signs with little care to himself or anyone else. When he got to Washington Park, he found an army cops by the pond, the scene cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape. He slammed on the brakes, threw open the door, and jumped out without even turning off the engine.
The body was rolled up in a carpet and lying on the bank. Two beat cops unrolled it at Bruce’s direction. “We should wait for -” one of them started, but Bruce cut him off.
“Do it.”
They compiled, and at the carpet’s center, like a rotten cream filling, was the body of Vanessa Rodregiuez. Her head was tilted to one side, her eyes wide and staring. Her throat had been mangled and ripped away, her head nearly severed. Even in the black and red mess, Bruce could make out the teeth marks and puncture wounds. They may have looked like something else to anyone else who saw them, but he knew, in that moment, what they were dealing with.
A sharp pang of horror sliced through him, and his knees went weak.
“Jesus Christ,” one of the beat cops drew.
Bruce fell to, rather than knelt on, one knee. He bent over the body, a mixture of horror and grief welling his throat. He wanted to reach out, to comfort her in death, but he stayed his hand. Instead, he visually examined the body. She had bruises on her face, defensive wounds on her hands, and her gun was gone. Whoever had attacked her, she put up a fight.
Something glinted on her pants.
“What’s that?” one of the cops asked.
“I dunno,” the other replied, “but it’s all over the carpet.”
Indeed, there were glinty little specks all over it, winking like mocking eyes. Nice work, eh? We really fucked her up, didn’t we? Wink wink.
“It looks like…”
The other cop cut him off. “Glitter.”
Bruce flashed back to his visit to Club Vlad the other day.
There had been glitter everywhere.
Bruce stood up.
He had work to do.
***
Instead of going back to the station to start his shift, Bruce went to Lowes. There, he bought a mallet, a gas can, and a dozen sticks of wood. An employee in a blue vest used a machine to sharpen them to a wicked point and he took his purchases to the car. Next, he drove over to the Mobil station and filled the gas can. He was so hellbent on revenge that he sprang for premium, the good stuff. No expense shall be spared.
His final stop was at a Catholic church. He filled a canteen with holy water from the marble font by the door, then swiped a crucifix from the wall. He stopped by the station, went inside, and grabbed a black duffle bag with POLICE written across the front in yellow. He opened the gun cabinet in his office, took out a shotgun, and loaded it with shells. He grabbed a handful from the box and stuffed them into his pocket.
He was just finishing up when Bertha came in. “There you are,” she spat, “I’ve waited long enough for you to do something. I demand -”
Bruce shoved the duffle bag into her arms. “Make yourself useful.”
“What?” she demanded.
“We’re going to get your granddaughter,” Bruice lied. Kind of.
Bertha’s demeanor changed. “Good. It’s about time. I was starting to think you were a complete incompetent.”
Bruce didn’t answer. Outside, he plucked the bag out of Bertha’s hands and tossed it into the backseat. He slipped behind the wheel and Bertha sat in the passenger seat. “Where are we going?” she asked.
“Club Vlad,” Bruce said and started the engine.
“I want all of them arrested.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Bruce said.
She barked orders the entire way there. Bruce was so deep in his thoughts that he barely heard her. The image of Vanessa’s ruined throat and terror-twisted face haunted him, and he felt a lump forming in his throat. Hot tears filled his eyes but he blinked them back and forced himself to calm down.
I’ll cry when I’m done killing, he thought.
A few minutes later, he pulled to the curb in front of Club Vlad. It was a hot and sunny day and the place seemed even more ominous because of it. The windows were black, the front cast in perpetual shadows by the old marquee from when it used to be a theater. The place was surely closed, but Bruce could hear music still playing from inside, some techno dance bullshit. “Alright,” he said, “let’s go.”
Getting out, he slung the dufflebag over his shoulder and carried the shotgun, the canteen full of holy water clasped to his belt. Bertha carried the gas can, looking confused. “Why do we need this?” she asked.
“We’re burning the place down.”
Bertha blinked in surprise…then an evil grin carved across her face. “That’ll show the bastards.”
Unlike last time, the door was locked. Bruce used the butt of the shotgun to break the glass, then reached inside and unlocked the door, being careful not to cut himself. This was the point of no return. What he had in mind would probably get him kicked off the force or even thrown in jail - and we all know how tough jail can be for a former barnaclehead. The memory of Vanessa’s contorted face pushed him on, however.
He’d suffer any consequences he needed to just so long as he got the sons of bitches who did this to her.
Inside, the club was cool and cave-like. Strobe lights flashed, on and off, black and white, dazzling Bruce’s eyes. The bartender was at his station, cleaning up from the night before. When he saw Bruce and Bertha come in, he started. Bruce pointed the shotgun at him. “Don’t fucking move,” he commanded.
The bartender hesitated, then reached for something under the bar.
The shotgun kicked in Bruce’s hands, and the bartender flew back, turning as he crashed into the barback. Bottles, glasses, and mugs crashed to the floor along with the bartender. Bruce racked the gun, and the shell flew out. He moved low and fast now, expecting to be swarmed by vampires, living thugs who worked for vampires, or vampire thugs who worked for themselves.
Though the shot had been like thunder, no one came.
Bruce had no idea where to go, but he imagined that vampires were naturally gravitate to the lowest part of the building. Was there a basement? Shit, he should have looked up the building plans at city hall. Damn, this is what happens when you go off half-cocked. He searched around a bit, opening doors and sweeping the rooms beyond with the shotgun. He found no basement, only stairs leading up. “Stay close,” he said to Bertha.
In the lead, Bruce crept up the stairs, the flashlight on the shotgun providing a cone of clean, white light. At the top of the stairs, he went right, and came to an office and a store room. Backtracking, and bumping into a bungling Bertha, he went into the next room. It was large and open with a vaulted ceiling, almost like a ballroom. Here the same strobe lights throbbed on and off, making him dizzy. Was this to dazzle prospective vampire hunters?
Either way, this was the place. Bodies lay strewn across the floor, some curled up on their sides and others in the classic vampire pose: Flat on their backs with their hands laced over their chests. In the center, like the sun to the planets, Merrick Garvis lay slumped back in his wheelchair, his neck exposed for any potential assassin to come and cut. Not that it would kill him. At least Bruce didn’t think it would.
“They’re all dead,” Bertha whispered. She looked around and gasped. “There’s Jessie.”
Jessie lay on her back, her hands folded on her chest. She had a ragged bullet hole in the center of her forehead. “Oh, God,” Bertha wavered, “someone shot her.”
He hoped it was Vanessa. And he hoped it fucking hurt.
Looking around, Bruce couldn’t find Dominick Mason. Was he the one who killed Vanessa? Was it a group effort? He wanted the little son of a bitch bad, but it looked like he’d have to go on without him. They didn’t have much time.
Unshouldering the duffle bag, he knelt down and rummaged around. “Start splashing that gas on the bodies,” he said.
“But -”
“Just do it,” he snapped.
There must have been a harder edge in his voice than normal, because Bertha jumped and did as she was told. She upended the can and began to splash gasoline onto the sleeping forms, the smell of it acrid and strong.
Taking out a stake and the mallet, Bruce went over to Merrick and knelt down. He gripped the stake in one hand and placed it firmly against Merrick’s chest. He brought the mallet up and hesitated, the gravity of what he was doing finally reaching him. What if he was wrong? What if -
Merrick’s head whipped up and their eyes locked.
Too late.
Bruce brought the mallet down as hard as he could. The stake drove deep into Merrick’s heart, and the vampire let out a howling screech that rang through the chamber like the cry of a banshee. His bony fingers clawed at the stake and his head whipped from side to side, his back arching and his robe coming open. In the quick strobe pattern, Bruce was shocked to see that his body was little more than a wood frame, chicken wire, and cotton balls. His blacked heart was hidden behind a screen of mesh that the stake had easily torn through. It throbbed, seemingly in time with the strobe lights, and Merrick let out another wail.
Bertha screamed, and Bruce jumped to his feet.
The vampires, drawn by their master’s cries of distress, were rising to their feet. Two, four, six of them, pale and ethereal like ghosts in a gothic mansion. They came toward Merrick, and Bruice fell back a step. The old man had gone still and lay slumped to one side, his eyes open and his mouth slack, embalming fluid leaking from the corner of his lips. Jessie bent over him and touched his face. Though she moved like a zombie, with no human emotion, Bruce was crazily sure that it was a touch of tenderness and love. Merrick didn’t stir.
He was dead.
Jessie looked at him. Yellow liquid leaked from her eyes like tears. Instead of attacking him, she turned on her grandmother and slammed her against the wall. Bertha screamed and dropped the can. It landed on its side, its contents sloshing out onto the floor. A man that resembled the pictures Bruce had seen of Joe Rossi only deader rushed him, slamming into him and knocking the shotgun aside. It hit the floor and skidded away. Joe grabbed Bruce around the throat and squeezed. Still the lights flashed, off and on, off and on. The walls thrummed with the mechanized beat of dance music, pierced only by Bertha’s screams as Jessie ripped out her throat.
Joe leaned in, his fangs wicked and glowing in the light. Bruce clawed at the monster’s face, tearing away strips of dead flesh. Joe turned his head to the side, and Bruce kneed him in the groin. Even dead, getting kicked in the balls hurt like hell, apparently. Joe’s grip loosened and Bruce was able to shove him off. Bruce unclasped the canteen and frantically screwed the cap off as Joe recovered. Joe sprang at him again, and Bruce splashed him in the face.
A sound like sizzling meat filled the air, and Joe screamed at the top of his lungs. He pressed his hands to his face and danced around the room, his skin liquifying and oozing between his fingers. The others were coming now, led by a terrible skeletal thing. Bruce scooped the shotgun off the floor, brought it around, and fired. The blast hit the thing dead center, tearing it literally in half. The top half flew back, an all too human look of surprise on its face, and the bottom half fell over with a wet thud. Another vampire came at, and Bruce slammed it across the face with the butt of the gun. He heard its jaw crack, saw teeth flying.
Bertha lay dead on the floor, Jessie bent over her. The smell of Bertha’s blood attracted the others, who seemed to forget about Bruce, Merrick, and everything else. Joe was on his knees, wailing in pain, and the skeletal thing was pulling itself toward Bertha. A feeding frenzy broke out as vampires fought to get a piece of her the way piglets might fight over their mother’s teat. Bruce watched in a mixture of horror and fascination, but recovered himself. He grabbed the gas can from the floor and dumped the rest of its contents on Merrick’s body, the feeding vampires’ backs, and the floor, using the last of it to make a little trail to the door. He tossed the can aside, bent down, and stuck a match.
A huge, fiery whump filled the room, and fire streaked along the trail. The vampires all went up in a huge ball of flames, and fire shot up Merrick’s body, catching his robe, his hair, and the wooden frame that had kept him semi upright for God knows how long. Letting out inhuman screams, the vampires broke from Bertha’s corpse. One stumbled around, bounced off the wall, and fell; another toddled toward Bruce before falling to its knees. The half skeleton kept drinking from Bertha’s neck even as it burned.
The heat was enormous, baking. Bruce backed away, and the last thing he saw before smoke obscured his vision was Merrick Garvis.
He was literally melting.
***
Dominick Mason tried to go home, but he no longer had a home. All of his worldly possessions sat on the sidewalk in front of his building, discarded coldly as easily. His key didn’t work in his door and there was a FOR RENT sign on it. Why would it be any other way? He was dead. Sooner or later, everyone forgets you when you’re dead, and all the things you held so dear wind up in the trash. It was a hard pill to swallow, but most people aren’t around to see it after they die.
He was.
From his building, he walked east toward Washington Park. In the distance, thick, black smoke billowed into the air, and sirens rose. He barely noticed and wouldn’t have cared even if he did. No more rubbernecking for him. That was for the living.
The pain that had plagued him so the previous day came back, only less this time. Maybe he was imagining it, but it was getting harder to think. Not that he cared, really. What was there to think about anyway? How he had no one to mourn or miss him? How he died and not one single person, except for maybe his mother, cared, or even noticed? How he had done nothing with his life? Even to the women he’d slept with, what was he? Just another dating app hookup. They probably didn’t even remember his name.
Merrick had been right about one thing. Death was easy. It was life that was hard…life that hurt.
With that in mind, Dominick made his way to Washington Park. It was a vast and deep place with many small caves and thickets. Kids played on the playground, their cries of laughter scenting the still air. It had grown cloudy and began to rain. Still, smoke poured into the sky in the direction of Club Vlad. Dom didn’t wish ill on Merrick and the others, didn’t hope it was them burning. He didn’t care anymore. Not about them, not about anyone. For better or worse (and he would argue it was worse), his life was over. His time came days ago, he just missed the boat.
Picking out an isolated little area, Dom sat against a tree with his legs splayed out in front of him. He titled his head back and closed his eyes. Yes, thinking was hard now. His mind felt sluggish, cold. He was thirsty…so, so thirsty, but he ignored it.
Slowly, the bugs found him. Flies buzzed around him and laid their eggs in his skin. Beetles scuttled over him, followed by worms.
Next, it was the birds. They ate out his eyes and nibbled at his blue, bloated skin.
The animals came last.
Their appetites were bigger.
And they left little remaining of poor, outcast Dominick Mason.
***
That night, Bruce sat alone in his little trailer, a bottle of whiskey wedged between his legs and unshed tears in his eyes. He stared at his reflection in the darkened TV set and took long swallows from the bottle. He planned to drink until he forgot or passed out, whichever came first. He tried to not think about Vanessa, but in his addled state, he couldn’t control himself, and began to cry. When that storm passed, like the others before it, he chugged from the bottle.
As distant church bells clanged the hour - midnight - a feeble knock came at the door. Bruce took another drink and it came again. Getting up, he stumbled, nearly fell, and gripped the bottle tightly. He didn’t want to lose one precious drop.
Again, the knock.
“I’m coming,” Bruce slurred. He staggered to the door and fought with the lock. He was dizzy and seeing double.
When he got it, he opened the door.
The bottle dropped from his hand and clanked onto the floor.
Vanessa, clad in a puke green hospital gown, stood on the step, her hands pressed to her chest and a look of anguish on her milk white face. Her head tilted to one side, the wounds on her neck cleaned but open, gaping. Her dark eyes shone with tears. “I’m dead,” she said.
Breaking down in tears, she collapsed against him and they sank to the floor. She was cold and smelled. Bruce wrapped his arms around her and held her to his chest anyway. “Shhh, it’s alright,” he said drunkenly. “Hey, it’s alright.
“I’m dead,” she repeated, and her voice broke. “I don’t want to die.”
Bruce held her close, trying to warm her icy skin. He didn’t know what to say, so he cried with her.
“You’re safe now,” he said, “it’s going to be okay.”
“I want blood,” she said and sobbed harder, “I want to hurt people.”
“Shhh,” Bruce said again. “It’s okay.”
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a utility knife. He flicked the blade across his wrist and searing pain shot up his arm. “Here,” he said and offered her his blood, “drink this.”
He did this without care and without thought. She needed him, and one barnaclehead always backs up another.
Vanessa hesitated, looking from his face to the oozing blood, unsure.
“Go ahead,” he told her.
Vanessa brought his wrist to her mouth.
And began to drink.

Source: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/twid-05-16-2024
This week in Destiny, we are a little over two weeks away from the launch of The Final Shape. From The Witness to the Dread to Prismatic to Exotic class items, and more, there are so many things to be excited about. And today, we have even more to share with you, including some system updates and reworks that will also happen at launch. So, without further ado, let’s get into it!
Topics for this week:

• Weapons tuning recap.
  
• Build your arsenal shorts.
  
• Enhanced perk updates.
  
• Memento changes.
  
• Reduced Fragment costs at Ikora in The Final Shape
  
• New boss profile for The Pantheon.
  
• Zero Hour Exotic mission is live.
  
• METORO webcomic feature.
  
• Destiny 2 Content Vault updates.
  

Weapons Tuning Recap

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Yesterday, we shared details about our plans for weapons tuning in The Final Shape. This includes a change to some weapon mod specs, weapon balancing, and perk updates. For more details, check out our Dev Insight: Weapons Tuning Preview blog.

Build Your Arsenal

As the excitement for The Final Shape is ramping up, we’re sharing a first look at some of the Exotic weapons and armor you can expect to see. Check them out and start cooking up those builds!

Microcosm Heavy Ammo Trace Rifle
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Khostov Auto Rifle
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Mataidoxia Warlock Exotic Chest Armor
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Gifted Conviction Hunter Exotic Chest Armor
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Hazardous Propulsion Titan Exotic Chest Armor
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Enhancement in The Final Shape

During the Lightfall year, players have gotten a taste of weapon enhancement with the raid Adept weapons from Root of Nightmares and Crota's End. In The Final Shape, you'll see that this system has undergone some upgrades, making enhancing your weapons easier and allowing us to comfortably expand this system to include more weapons. Here’s a quick recap on how weapon enhancement will work alongside some of the changes:

• Weapon enhancement allows the weapon to be upgraded to receive enhanced traits, a weapon level, and a memento socket. To upgrade your weapon, players can navigate to the inspection screen and insert the enhancement tier mod for standard currencies (raid Adept weapons will continue to use Spoils of Conquest).

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• Enhancement Tier 1:
  
  • Replaces your Masterwork and provides the weapon with an enhanced intrinsic that matches the stat of your old Masterwork.
  • Provides a weapon level, a date when you first enhanced the weapon, and a memento socket.
  • Raid Adepts only: Since these weapons have a base-crafted version, we want the Adept versions to feel like a meaningful upgrade. Therefore, these weapons can visit the Relic on Mars to adjust their first two columns (typically barrels/magazines) in a similar fashion to how crafted weapons can augment these perk columns.
• Enhancement Tier 2 (weapon level 11 requirement):
  
  • Once the player inserts this mod, the left column trait(s) will automatically be upgraded to their enhanced perks. If you have multiple perks, this will update all traits in the column. Players will not need to visit the Relic on Mars to update these traits anymore.
• Enhancement Tier 3 (weapon level 17 requirement):
  
  • Once the player applies this mod, the right column weapon trait perks will automatically be updated to be enhanced. Like the left column, this will upgrade all of the traits present and does not require visiting the Relic.

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We've heard the feedback that weapons should have more avenues to acquire enhanced traits. In The Final Shape, all new weapons will either be craftable or have access to weapon enhancement. In addition, weapons that remain active drops in the following activities will be eligible for enhancement:

• Vow of the Disciple raid Adepts
  
• Guardian Games
  
• King's Fall raid Adepts
  
• Gambit
  
• Competitive Crucible (all of them)
  
• Trials of Osiris
  
• Crucible
  
• Iron Banner
  
• Vanguard Ops
  
• Nightfalls
  
• Prophecy Dungeon
  

This will include older instances of these weapons, as long as they have an origin trait. Unfortunately, due to some technical constraints, there are a handful of weapons instances from before Season 17 that have origin traits and are active drops, but they will not be eligible for weapon enhancement. If a weapon is not actively dropping in these activities and playlists or it’s under the legacy focusing options, it will not be enhance-able when The Final Shape releases. If weapons are reissued and become a part of a playlist's active drops once again, we'll update older versions that have origin traits to enter weapon enhancement.

Mementos in The Final Shape

We've received a lot of feedback on weapon mementos, especially as new mementos have released in our seasonal events. In The Final Shape, we have a few changes coming that impact how you store mementos and apply them to your weapons.

• Crafted and enhanced weapons will no longer need to visit the Relic on Mars to apply mementos. Players can apply the memento of their choosing directly in the weapon inspection screen.
  
• Memento stack cap limits will be raised from 1 to 3.
  
• Mementos will no longer be stored alongside the player's consumables. When The Final Shape launches, your mementos under consumables will show as faded. Then, once the faded memento is dismantled, you'll see +1 memento added in the weapon inspection screen as a virtual currency. For players who figured out how to get around the original memento stack size limits, this will allow you to dismantle all those mementos safely, even if you temporarily go over the intended stack limit of three. If you are holding three (or more) of a particular memento, it will not drop again until you spend your mementos to be under the stack size limit of three.
  

Reduced Fragment Costs at Ikora In The Final Shape

Subclass Fragments purchasable from Ikora are expensive, particularly considering how many there are, especially for New Lights. In The Final Shape, we have reduced the cost of Fragments from 25000 Glimmer to 10000 Glimmer. Our goal here is to make these vital build-crafting elements more accessible for new and returning players.

The Pantheon Grows Stronger

Another week, and your task has become more difficult, Guardians. Rhulk, Disciple of the Witness, has joined The Pantheon, and we’ve gathered intel for your mission.
VANGUARD – GUARDIAN DISPATCH – ALL POINTS BULLETIN
DEFENDERS OF THE CITY,
You are tasked with the elimination of the following target:

-RHULK, DISCIPLE OF THE WITNESS-
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CLASSIFICATION

• The last-known Lubraean
  
• First Disciple of the Witness
  
• Other names: The Upender, Worm Father
  
• Dread
  
• Resonant
  

HAZARDS

• Darkness mastery
  
• Immeasurable strength and durability
  
• Powerful Lubrae’s Ruin Glaive
  
• Suns of Lubrae attack and debuff
  
• Savage Strike kick
  
• Umbral Suffocation attack
  
• Teleportation
  
• Resonant Spikes area effect
  
• Guardians rated Sigma-3 or lower are advised not to engage
  

INTEL

• Rhulk was born on the planet Lubrae, a world originally blessed by the Traveler that spiraled into an authoritarian regime when the Traveler left. Fueled by rage, Rhulk sought to destroy the regime, but his bloodlust led to being ostracized from his clan. Eventually, afraid of what he’d become, his clan attempted to kill him.
  
• Decrypted records from the Pyramid indicate that the Witness made contact with Rhulk during this time, restored him, and empowered him as the first Disciple. Rhulk took his vengeance on Lubrae, annihilating its parent star and destroying the planet.
  
• Vanguard power assessments place Rhulk far above any previous enemy faced by any Guardian. Battle scholars theorize the bold fireteam that stormed the sunken Pyramid only prevailed due to Rhulk’s humoring a fight to begin with. But prevail they did.
  

OF NOTE

• Hidden cipher-sequences buried in the symbols throughout have been decrypted by a pioneering Cryptarch, thanks to countless fireteams keeping the way clear. The solved sequence is believed to be astronomical coordinates to Lubrae. (Probe dispatched… awaiting arrival.)
  
• The creation of the Hive was majorly influenced by Rhulk. The first Disciple of the Witness subjugated the Worm mother, Xita, and forced her spawn into union with the Krill, which led to the Hive species and the Hive Gods themselves.
  
• Cryptarchs have uncovered communications between Rhulk and Savathûn in which Savathûn derides Rhulk’s simplicity as a tactician. According to the Witch Queen, the first Disciple only values strength, and his downfall will be his brute force approach to every situation.
  

Zero Hour Exotic Mission Is Live

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The Zero Hour Exotic mission is now live. If you haven’t jumped in yet, you can find it in the Into the Light node in the Director. Completing the mission in the required timeframe will earn you the Outbreak Perfected Exotic Pulse Rifle.
As we mentioned last week, we’re celebrating the release by asking you to share your favorite moments with TR3-VR. Post your favorite art, screenshots, videos, or memes — anything that shows your love for our favorite overly attached robot. Just use the hashtag #MyFriendTR3VR. We’ll be giving our favorites an Art or Movie of the Week emblem and sharing your creations in a future TWID.

METORO Webcomic Feature

Do you like cute webcomics? Of course you do! Check out these weekly panels from Japanese webcomic artist METORO that detail her first journey into Destiny 2! Remember what it was like the first time you got your hands on the Gjallarhorn? How about your first raid? Piecing together the story behind the Light and Darkness saga? Well, METORO has put her Destiny 2 adventures into art form. You can catch her original work over on TwitteX in Japanese or read it translated into English below:

METORO Discovers Destiny 2

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METORO Challenges Onslaught

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METORO Teaches a History Lesson

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METORO Runs Vault of Glass

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METORO Takes on The Pantheon

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Player Support Report

"I would die for Archie” did not mean I wanted him to actively be the death of me.
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Known Issues List Help Forums Bungie Help Twitter

DESTINY CONTENT VAULT UPDATES

With the start of Year 7 of Destiny 2, on June 4 certain items will be deprecated from player inventories that correspond with vaulted activities and seasonal campaigns. They will then be moved into the Destiny Content Vault.
We have updated the Destiny Content Vault article to reflect these changes and created a new article fully outlining Items Being Deprecated at the Start of Year 7 for players to reference.

PARENTAL CONTROLS

Parents, guardians, and other responsible adults are now able to adjust their child’s Destiny 2 settings.
To set up parental controls, both the child and their adult need a Bungie.net account, and we will need to verify that the person providing consent and setting controls is an adult. We have created a Parental Controls Help article with details explaining how to create an account and instructions on linking it to your child's.
We have also updated our privacy policy. Please visit Bungie.net to create or manage your account and set your preferences today.

KNOWN ISSUES

While we continue investigating various known issues, here is a list of the latest issues that were reported to us in our #Help Forum:

• Capturing a zone in the Collision PvP game mode while having full super energy will slightly reduce Super energy.
  
• Tormentors can push turrets away in Onslaught with their slam or grab attacks.
  
• The Zero Deaths Triumph only unlocks when completing Zero Hour on the Legend difficulty, which should unlock on both Normal and Legend difficulties.
  

For a full list of emergent issues in Destiny 2, players can review our Known Issues article.
If you observe other issues, please report them to our #Help forum.

Who’s The Fairest Of Them All?

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This is what happens when someone asks you to draw your favorite Ghost Shell. The classic 77-way first-place tie.
Cheeese Lord on TwitteX
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A Titan’s Sacrifice

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Why does it always seem to be Titans dying in spectacular fashion? Is it because they are the bravest class, charging into battle to protect others without worrying about their own well-being? Uh... yeah, we can just go with that.
Movie of the Week:
[
Image Link^{imgur](https://twitter.com/famtom98/status/1788074319693992317)}
That’s everything we have for this week. Hopefully you’ve been having fun on the new PvP maps. We know there is a lot to do in these final weeks before The Final Shape, but if you haven’t checked the PvP maps out yet, jump into the New Territory playlist to give them a try. Not only are they beautiful and fun, you can also earn the Slaycation emblem by checking them out.
We’ll be back next week with another TWID and more details to share on The Final Shape. In the meantime, be good to each other, and thanks for hanging out with us.
Destiny 2 Community Team

Source: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/twid-05-16-2024
This week in Destiny, we are a little over two weeks away from the launch of The Final Shape. From The Witness to the Dread to Prismatic to Exotic class items, and more, there are so many things to be excited about. And today, we have even more to share with you, including some system updates and reworks that will also happen at launch. So, without further ado, let’s get into it!
Topics for this week:

• Weapons tuning recap.
  
• Build your arsenal shorts.
  
• Enhanced perk updates.
  
• Memento changes.
  
• Reduced Fragment costs at Ikora in The Final Shape
  
• New boss profile for The Pantheon.
  
• Zero Hour Exotic mission is live.
  
• METORO webcomic feature.
  
• Destiny 2 Content Vault updates.
  

Weapons Tuning Recap

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Yesterday, we shared details about our plans for weapons tuning in The Final Shape. This includes a change to some weapon mod specs, weapon balancing, and perk updates. For more details, check out our Dev Insight: Weapons Tuning Preview blog.

Build Your Arsenal

As the excitement for The Final Shape is ramping up, we’re sharing a first look at some of the Exotic weapons and armor you can expect to see. Check them out and start cooking up those builds!

Microcosm Heavy Ammo Trace Rifle
Video Link
Khostov Auto Rifle
Video Link
Mataidoxia Warlock Exotic Chest Armor
Video Link
Gifted Conviction Hunter Exotic Chest Armor
Video Link
Hazardous Propulsion Titan Exotic Chest Armor
Video Link

Enhancement in The Final Shape

During the Lightfall year, players have gotten a taste of weapon enhancement with the raid Adept weapons from Root of Nightmares and Crota's End. In The Final Shape, you'll see that this system has undergone some upgrades, making enhancing your weapons easier and allowing us to comfortably expand this system to include more weapons. Here’s a quick recap on how weapon enhancement will work alongside some of the changes:

• Weapon enhancement allows the weapon to be upgraded to receive enhanced traits, a weapon level, and a memento socket. To upgrade your weapon, players can navigate to the inspection screen and insert the enhancement tier mod for standard currencies (raid Adept weapons will continue to use Spoils of Conquest).

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• Enhancement Tier 1:
  
  • Replaces your Masterwork and provides the weapon with an enhanced intrinsic that matches the stat of your old Masterwork.
  • Provides a weapon level, a date when you first enhanced the weapon, and a memento socket.
  • Raid Adepts only: Since these weapons have a base-crafted version, we want the Adept versions to feel like a meaningful upgrade. Therefore, these weapons can visit the Relic on Mars to adjust their first two columns (typically barrels/magazines) in a similar fashion to how crafted weapons can augment these perk columns.
• Enhancement Tier 2 (weapon level 11 requirement):
  
  • Once the player inserts this mod, the left column trait(s) will automatically be upgraded to their enhanced perks. If you have multiple perks, this will update all traits in the column. Players will not need to visit the Relic on Mars to update these traits anymore.
• Enhancement Tier 3 (weapon level 17 requirement):
  
  • Once the player applies this mod, the right column weapon trait perks will automatically be updated to be enhanced. Like the left column, this will upgrade all of the traits present and does not require visiting the Relic.

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We've heard the feedback that weapons should have more avenues to acquire enhanced traits. In The Final Shape, all new weapons will either be craftable or have access to weapon enhancement. In addition, weapons that remain active drops in the following activities will be eligible for enhancement:

• Vow of the Disciple raid Adepts
  
• Guardian Games
  
• King's Fall raid Adepts
  
• Gambit
  
• Competitive Crucible (all of them)
  
• Trials of Osiris
  
• Crucible
  
• Iron Banner
  
• Vanguard Ops
  
• Nightfalls
  
• Prophecy Dungeon
  

This will include older instances of these weapons, as long as they have an origin trait. Unfortunately, due to some technical constraints, there are a handful of weapons instances from before Season 17 that have origin traits and are active drops, but they will not be eligible for weapon enhancement. If a weapon is not actively dropping in these activities and playlists or it’s under the legacy focusing options, it will not be enhance-able when The Final Shape releases. If weapons are reissued and become a part of a playlist's active drops once again, we'll update older versions that have origin traits to enter weapon enhancement.

Mementos in The Final Shape

We've received a lot of feedback on weapon mementos, especially as new mementos have released in our seasonal events. In The Final Shape, we have a few changes coming that impact how you store mementos and apply them to your weapons.

• Crafted and enhanced weapons will no longer need to visit the Relic on Mars to apply mementos. Players can apply the memento of their choosing directly in the weapon inspection screen.
  
• Memento stack cap limits will be raised from 1 to 3.
  
• Mementos will no longer be stored alongside the player's consumables. When The Final Shape launches, your mementos under consumables will show as faded. Then, once the faded memento is dismantled, you'll see +1 memento added in the weapon inspection screen as a virtual currency. For players who figured out how to get around the original memento stack size limits, this will allow you to dismantle all those mementos safely, even if you temporarily go over the intended stack limit of three. If you are holding three (or more) of a particular memento, it will not drop again until you spend your mementos to be under the stack size limit of three.
  

Reduced Fragment Costs at Ikora In The Final Shape

Subclass Fragments purchasable from Ikora are expensive, particularly considering how many there are, especially for New Lights. In The Final Shape, we have reduced the cost of Fragments from 25000 Glimmer to 10000 Glimmer. Our goal here is to make these vital build-crafting elements more accessible for new and returning players.

The Pantheon Grows Stronger

Another week, and your task has become more difficult, Guardians. Rhulk, Disciple of the Witness, has joined The Pantheon, and we’ve gathered intel for your mission.
VANGUARD – GUARDIAN DISPATCH – ALL POINTS BULLETIN
DEFENDERS OF THE CITY,
You are tasked with the elimination of the following target:

-RHULK, DISCIPLE OF THE WITNESS-
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CLASSIFICATION

• The last-known Lubraean
  
• First Disciple of the Witness
  
• Other names: The Upender, Worm Father
  
• Dread
  
• Resonant
  

HAZARDS

• Darkness mastery
  
• Immeasurable strength and durability
  
• Powerful Lubrae’s Ruin Glaive
  
• Suns of Lubrae attack and debuff
  
• Savage Strike kick
  
• Umbral Suffocation attack
  
• Teleportation
  
• Resonant Spikes area effect
  
• Guardians rated Sigma-3 or lower are advised not to engage
  

INTEL

• Rhulk was born on the planet Lubrae, a world originally blessed by the Traveler that spiraled into an authoritarian regime when the Traveler left. Fueled by rage, Rhulk sought to destroy the regime, but his bloodlust led to being ostracized from his clan. Eventually, afraid of what he’d become, his clan attempted to kill him.
  
• Decrypted records from the Pyramid indicate that the Witness made contact with Rhulk during this time, restored him, and empowered him as the first Disciple. Rhulk took his vengeance on Lubrae, annihilating its parent star and destroying the planet.
  
• Vanguard power assessments place Rhulk far above any previous enemy faced by any Guardian. Battle scholars theorize the bold fireteam that stormed the sunken Pyramid only prevailed due to Rhulk’s humoring a fight to begin with. But prevail they did.
  

OF NOTE

• Hidden cipher-sequences buried in the symbols throughout have been decrypted by a pioneering Cryptarch, thanks to countless fireteams keeping the way clear. The solved sequence is believed to be astronomical coordinates to Lubrae. (Probe dispatched… awaiting arrival.)
  
• The creation of the Hive was majorly influenced by Rhulk. The first Disciple of the Witness subjugated the Worm mother, Xita, and forced her spawn into union with the Krill, which led to the Hive species and the Hive Gods themselves.
  
• Cryptarchs have uncovered communications between Rhulk and Savathûn in which Savathûn derides Rhulk’s simplicity as a tactician. According to the Witch Queen, the first Disciple only values strength, and his downfall will be his brute force approach to every situation.
  

Zero Hour Exotic Mission Is Live

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The Zero Hour Exotic mission is now live. If you haven’t jumped in yet, you can find it in the Into the Light node in the Director. Completing the mission in the required timeframe will earn you the Outbreak Perfected Exotic Pulse Rifle.
As we mentioned last week, we’re celebrating the release by asking you to share your favorite moments with TR3-VR. Post your favorite art, screenshots, videos, or memes — anything that shows your love for our favorite overly attached robot. Just use the hashtag #MyFriendTR3VR. We’ll be giving our favorites an Art or Movie of the Week emblem and sharing your creations in a future TWID.

METORO Webcomic Feature

Do you like cute webcomics? Of course you do! Check out these weekly panels from Japanese webcomic artist METORO that detail her first journey into Destiny 2! Remember what it was like the first time you got your hands on the Gjallarhorn? How about your first raid? Piecing together the story behind the Light and Darkness saga? Well, METORO has put her Destiny 2 adventures into art form. You can catch her original work over on TwitteX in Japanese or read it translated into English below:

METORO Discovers Destiny 2

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METORO Challenges Onslaught

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METORO Teaches a History Lesson

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METORO Runs Vault of Glass

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METORO Takes on The Pantheon

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Player Support Report

"I would die for Archie” did not mean I wanted him to actively be the death of me.
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Known Issues List Help Forums Bungie Help Twitter

DESTINY CONTENT VAULT UPDATES

With the start of Year 7 of Destiny 2, on June 4 certain items will be deprecated from player inventories that correspond with vaulted activities and seasonal campaigns. They will then be moved into the Destiny Content Vault.
We have updated the Destiny Content Vault article to reflect these changes and created a new article fully outlining Items Being Deprecated at the Start of Year 7 for players to reference.

PARENTAL CONTROLS

Parents, guardians, and other responsible adults are now able to adjust their child’s Destiny 2 settings.
To set up parental controls, both the child and their adult need a Bungie.net account, and we will need to verify that the person providing consent and setting controls is an adult. We have created a Parental Controls Help article with details explaining how to create an account and instructions on linking it to your child's.
We have also updated our privacy policy. Please visit Bungie.net to create or manage your account and set your preferences today.

KNOWN ISSUES

While we continue investigating various known issues, here is a list of the latest issues that were reported to us in our #Help Forum:

• Capturing a zone in the Collision PvP game mode while having full super energy will slightly reduce Super energy.
  
• Tormentors can push turrets away in Onslaught with their slam or grab attacks.
  
• The Zero Deaths Triumph only unlocks when completing Zero Hour on the Legend difficulty, which should unlock on both Normal and Legend difficulties.
  

For a full list of emergent issues in Destiny 2, players can review our Known Issues article.
If you observe other issues, please report them to our #Help forum.

Who’s The Fairest Of Them All?

Image Link^imgur
This is what happens when someone asks you to draw your favorite Ghost Shell. The classic 77-way first-place tie.
Cheeese Lord on TwitteX
Image Link^imgur

A Titan’s Sacrifice

Image Link^imgur
Why does it always seem to be Titans dying in spectacular fashion? Is it because they are the bravest class, charging into battle to protect others without worrying about their own well-being? Uh... yeah, we can just go with that.
Movie of the Week:
[
Image Link^{imgur](https://twitter.com/famtom98/status/1788074319693992317)}
That’s everything we have for this week. Hopefully you’ve been having fun on the new PvP maps. We know there is a lot to do in these final weeks before The Final Shape, but if you haven’t checked the PvP maps out yet, jump into the New Territory playlist to give them a try. Not only are they beautiful and fun, you can also earn the Slaycation emblem by checking them out.
We’ll be back next week with another TWID and more details to share on The Final Shape. In the meantime, be good to each other, and thanks for hanging out with us.
Destiny 2 Community Team

Here is a summary of the announced upcoming game updates for patch 7.0 (Dawntrail expansion) from today’s Live Letter (LL 81). The information below is complied mainly from the officially translated live stream of the event, as well as FFXIV Discord's translation channel coverage of the event. The stream can be watched in full here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh5piV-0MWQ.
There was a fair amount of gameplay footage shown of the new content (particularly of the new/updated job actions and two brand new jobs), but I only pulled a few points of relevant information from it, rather than summarizing it all. But, as usual, please let me know if I missed anything major!
Patch 7.0: Dawntrail
Officially releases on July 2, 2024
Early access period for pre-orders begins Friday, June 28, 2024; 48-hour pre-launch maintenance beings Wednesday, June 26th
Job Updates
Job Actions Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx2vW0TAJKQ
Note: Today’s presentation was not meant to be a detailed breakdown of ALL planned job changes and additions, just a basic overview of some of the noteworthy adjustments. Full gameplay will be previewed during the current media tour, with complete details on all of the job adjustments, potency changes, etc. to come with the patch notes for 7.0 after launch maintenance begins.
Action Change Settings - To address button bloat, certain actions will be replaced by their follow-up counterparts on the same button upon use, instead of the follow-up actions being on a separate button. However, for those who would prefer it the old way, this setting allows you to choose whether or not those changing actions will be replaced by their follow-up counterparts.
Adjustments to Tanks

• Rampart and job-specific 30% damage reduction abilities will be upgraded in the 90s level range
• Reprisal’s duration will be increased to 15 seconds in the 90s level range

Paladin

• The second and third executions of Atonement have been changed to new actions with separate animations (the Atonement button will change to these actions automatically, so button presses will remain the same)
• A new action that can be executed after Blade of Valor will be added
• In order to execute Goring Blade, you will need to have Fight or Flight activated

Warrior

• A new action, which can be executed after three executions of Fell Cleave or Decimate while Inner Release is active, will be added
• A new action that can be executed after Primal Rend will be added
• Visual effects and animation of Inner Chaos will be adjusted

Dark Knight

• To reduce the number of inputs during burst damage phases, Blood Weapon will upgrade into Delirium, and the effects of Blood Weapon will be added to Deliirium
• A new action that can be executed after Living Shadow will be added

Gunbreaker

• A new action that can be executed after Fated Circle (via Continuation) will be added
• A new 3-step combo that can be executed after Bloodfest will be added (no cartridge cost)

Adjustments to Melee DPS

• Second Wind’s potency will be increased in the 90s level range
• Feint’s duration will be increased to 15 seconds in the 90s level range

Monk

• Basic combo mechanics will no longer center around maintaining a buff or DoT; instead, performing actions in a certain order will increase the next action’s potency. Adjustments will be
• Can accumulate up to a total of ten chakra while Brotherhood is active, to prevent chakra overflow
• There will be a potency buff to Six-Sided Star if executed while you have ten chakra stacks

Dragoon

• To reduce positional requirements for the single-target combo, the 5th combo action has been changed to a new non-directional action, Drakesbane (Fang and Claw/Wheeling Thrust will change to Drakesbane, so input execution will remain the same
• To facilitate maximum damage output at the beginning of a battle, Life of the Dragon will be available without accumulating Dragon Gauge
• To reduce the number of inputs during burst damage phases, certain actions will be removed or adjusted

Ninja

• Huton’s effect has been moved to a trait and will always be active (Huton will be changed to an AoE attack which grants the effect of Hidden)
• Actions which extend the duration of Huton’s effect will be adjusted in accordance with the above change
• Due to these adjustments, the Windmill logo in the job gauge will be removed

Samurai

• To simplify recast management, Tsubame-gaeshi will be changed to be executable after Meikyo Shisui
• Hakaze, Tenka Goten, and Midare Setsugekka will be upgraded into new actions
• Traits will be added that shorten the recast time for Hissastsu: Guren and Hissastsu: Senei

Reaper

• Plentiful Harvest’s effect will no longer increase the Shroud Gauge by 50, and instead will allow execution of Enshroud (now can be used when gauge is at 51 or more without waste)
• A new action that can be executed while Enshrouded will be added
• Hells’ Ingress and Hell’s Egress will have reduced cool down when Enhanced Harpe is activated

Viper

• Link to Viper job overview and gameplay demonstration in the livestream
• A fast-paced job that fluidly shifts between dual-wield blades and double-bladed strikes
• Has a similar total number of actions as other jobs, but is designed so that fewer actions need to be set on the hotbar
• Executing actions will build a job gauge, which can then be expended in an enhanced “Awaken” phase
• When applying buffs to yourself as well as debuffs to the enemy, certain other actions will be enhanced depending on which buffs/debuffs are active
• In addition to close-range melee attacks, there are also some long-range attacks available should you need to fight from afar

Adjustments to Ranged Physical DPS

• Second Wind’s healing potency will be increased in the 90s level range
• Damage reduction of job-0specific defensive abilities will be increased to 15% in the 90s level range

Bard

• Mage’s Ballad, Army’s Paeon, and the Wanderer’s Minuet will be changed into buffing actions which do not attack enemies
• Pitch Perfect will be changed into an AoE attack for ease of use in encounters with multiple enemies
• Single-target and AoE procs (Straight Shot Ready/Shadow Bite Ready) will be merged into one proc for better ease of use

Machinist

• Barrel Stabilizer will no longer increase Heat Gauger by 50, and instead will allow execution of Hypercharge (can now be used when gauge is at 51 without waste)
• A new trait which accumulates charges for Drill will be added

Dancer

• A new action that can be executed after Flourish will be added
• A new action which consumes Esprit and can be executed after Technical Finish will be added
• Certain skills currently triggered by Standard Step may now be executed without having to go through the step actions

Adjustments to Magical Ranged DPS

• Swiftcast’s recast will be reduced to 40 seconds in the 90s level range
• Addle’s duration will be increased to 15 seconds in the 90s level range

Black Mage

• Various adjustments will be made to streamline certain aspects of the job, such as restoring MP upon landing ice spells while Umbral Ice is active, instead of passively over time
• A new action which repositions Ley Lines beneath the caster once will be added

Summoner

• Solar Bahamut, a new summon akin to Bahamut and Phoenix, will be added (new summon rotation will be: Solar Bahamut - Bahamut - Solar Bahamut - Phoenix)
• A new attack action that can be executed after Searing Light will be added
• Summoner will keep Resurrection for Dawntrail, but may have it removed in 8.0

Red Mage

• Manafication will no longer increase Black Mana and White Mana by 50, and will instead allow the execution of enchanted swordplay actions without cost (can now be executed while mana is at 51 or more without waste)
• The AoE enchanted swordplay combo beginning with Enchanted Moulinet will now consume a total of 50 Black Mana and White Mana, similar to its single-target counterpart
• Whenever Embolden is executed, an attack ability will be enabled

Pictomancer

• Link to Pictomancer overview and gameplay demonstration in the livestream (I found this job much easier to understand by watching the demonstration, BTW)
• Job actions centered around Aether Hue elemental attacks (Red = Flare, Green = Aero, Blue = Water) and Motifs (Creature, Weapon, and Landscape)
• Aether Hue attacks build a gauge that can be expended on White elemental Holy attacks as well as Subtractive Pallette, which upgrades your other elemental attacks to higher-potency elements.
• Creature Motif involves rendering parts of a creature (eg. a Moogle) via attacks that will eventually summon the creature for a higher-powered attack
• Weapon Motif is a fast triple-cast combo
• Landscape Motif is a longer-cast action that deals damage to enemy and grants buffs to self and party members

Adjustments to Healers

• Swiftcast’s recast time will be reduced top 40 seconds in the 90s level range

White Mage

• A new action allowing the caster to quickly move forward will be added
• A new AoE attack, which can be executed up to 3 times after Presence of Mind, will be added
• New trait that increases Tetragrammaton stack number will be added

Scholar

• Seraphism, a new action which changes the caster’s appearance and enhances healing magicks, will be added
• A new AoE attack that can be executed after Chain Stratagem will be added; it will include a DoT
• A new trait that reduces recast time for Recitation will be added

Astrologian

• The card system will no longer be RNG based, and will instead simultaneously draw cards with offensive, defensive, and curative effects
• Every 60 seconds, you can draw one set of four cards (divided under Lord of Crowns or Lady of Crowns), each card having different effects, and you can use the cards in that set depending on your situational needs
• Astrodyne will be removed with the discontinuation of astrosigns
• New trait that increases Essential Dignity stack number will be added

Sage

• Eukrasia will now enhance Dyskrasia II into Eukrasian Dyskrasia, an AoE attack which deals damage over time to enemies within range
• A new party buff, which heals party members whenever the caster casts a spell, will be added (basically a ranged version of Kardion, but will only be in effect for a limited amount of time)
• New trait that reduces the recast time of Soteria will be added

PvP Updates

• Viper and Pictomancer will be added to PvP in 7.0
• New PvP actions, action adjustments, and adjustments to existing PvP maps are currently planned for 7.1
• Crystalline Conflict ranked matches will;; be in preseason between 7.0 and 7.1 (rankings will not be updated, but tiers and Crystal Credit will be affected by wins and losses

New Characters

• Two new NPCs that will appear in the Dawntrail MSQ were discussed: Bakool Ja Ja and Koana, who will both be competing for the throne of Tural. Bakool Ja Ja is a two-headed Mamool Ja, similar to Gulool Ja Ja, and Koana is the male Miqo’te from the Dawntrail poster.
  Other Information
  
• Benchmark software/graphics update: Some adjustments have been made based on feedback on the original benchmark. These include adjustments to lighting in the character creator, as well as corrections to graphical oddities in character models (addressing things like Keeper of the Moon Miqo’te teeth and Lalafell mouths/teeth). These adjustments will be incorporated into a new benchmark available for download, in addition to the game itself with Dawntrail. Information about a release date for the new benchmark will be announced later.
  
• Free Fantasia: Starting in 7.0, there will be a new NPC in Ul’dah with a low level quest that can be completed for one free Fantasia per character.
  
• In addition, using a Fantasia will now grant a 60 minute period during which you can make additional adjustments to your character after re-entering the game world if you are not satisfied with how the adjustments look in game. There is no limit to how many additional times you can tweak your character within this 60 minute period.
  
• Fall Guys collaboration event returns from May 23rd to June 10th
  
• Mountain Dew promotional event (US only): enter codes found under caps of specially marked Man. Dew products to receive points that can be redeemed for rewards, including in-game rewards such as a “Mountain Zu” mount and a consumable drink item.
  
• Preorders now open for new merchandise on the Square Enix store
  
• Immerse Gamepack version 2.2 available now: https://embody.co/ffxiv
  
• KFC promotional event is returning to Japan; details to be announced later
  
• Next Live Letter (LL 82), summarizing upcoming additions for 7.0, scheduled for June 14th
  

Hey, I would like to know how has everyone's experiences been with finding or hosting competitions in your area using Smoothcomp and related applications.
From what I can tell, people love it, although I don't know if there are some large or hidden fees people really take issue with or anything. Seems very useful, although it's hard to imagine not scrambling to figure out when your next match is lol
I'm a Judo practitioner but it is very hard to find competitions other than the big few since plenty of the time you really have to scourge around looking for them, which is cluttered by the remains of past competitions. And around here in Canada we're pretty old school and don't use Smoothcomp or similar applications, which is a shame. You can't even find Nationals on Smoothcomp. And for open mats, randoris, all that stuff is between dojos
That being said, I wish there was an app that showcased upcoming training camps, randori/open mats or seminars within a reasonable distance, although I'm not sure if this exists. But I'm curious if people would be interested in that, especially if there's a geolocation aspect that makes finding events in your area easier than finding a local barbershop on google maps. Figure it would make it easier for people to find these types of things or competitions for themselves or for their kids. Would you guys be interested in that, or is this problem not really a big deal?
I heard Smoothcomp might have some of the stuff I mentioned so either way, I'm excited to find some local stuff using that if that's the case.

Hello we introduce a new kind of factions. Heavily influenced by a worldwide rp with over 60 people, its a new kind of factions/kingdoms. With an immersive and expansive lore we are the first of its kind, with 8 main kingdoms in total with all of them having a special ring bound to their kingdom makes for a good story where your own ambitions and goals drive the world and influence the story of the world
For example of the story and lore :
With rings bestowed upon races, their destinies in store. Let me weave a rhyme that delves deeper into the unknown, Where the last mortal ring, in darkness, is forever thrown.
Three rings for the kings of man, their tales resound, In the annals of war, their might profound.
Two rings for the elves, one for harmony's embrace, One for loyalty, a balance in the eternal chase.
One ring for the dwarfs, their armor weightless and bright, Bathed in pale moonlight, a beacon in the night.
One ring for the half-elves, growth and future blessed, A promise of prosperity, on their path they rest.
But the last mortal ring, a creation of light and dark, Given to the half-orc, forever marked. Torn between the forces, a soul in strife, Bound to neither side, a tumultuous life.
And the final ring, crafted in the gods' ancient reign, Lost in the depths, where no deity can remain. A relic of power, hidden from sight, In the realm of shadows, where darkness takes flight.
So, my friend, the mysteries deepen, the tales unfold, In the realm of rings, where legends are told. Whispers of destiny, secrets yet untold, In this enigmatic tapestry, their stories forever hold.
So if your interested or have any questions feel free to dm us
https://discord.gg/nCbr2JzyRW

(continuation of part 4)
I already considered this piece the second greatest musical evidence for Clerith after the London Symphony Orchestra’s Final Fantasy VII Symphony’s second movement “Words Drowned by Fireworks” and its guide, but now that I know about the Clerith reunion that was baked into the ending, the gap between the two is narrower. Each time I hear Cloud begin to call out for Aerith in part 3 (3:04), I immediately start crying. It sounds so much to me like Cloud’s voice in the dark saying “Aerith…?”, meek and scared. If you’ve read everything so far, you know how long Cloud has been looking for Aerith, lost without her, searching relentlessly for decades in real-life time. Through FFT, DFF, Advent Children, MFF x FFVII… all of it spent looking for his Promised Land. In OG, Cloud was so tormented by Jenova’s manipulation and so consumed by the chase for Sephiroth that he could not realize what or how much he felt for her until she was taken away forever. The piece we’ve just analyzed tells the story of Cloud and Aerith intertwining and separating against their will, and you can truly feel Cloud’s anxiety as he struggles to wrench Aerith out of fate’s cruel grasp. Perhaps it is because of Aerith’s ultimately fatal responsibility, inherited from her mother, that this iteration of her theme is called “The Cetra”.
Though in part 5, Cloud and Aerith reunite… could this reunion symbolize their meeting again in Remake, or something more permanent? I think it’s meant to leave us wondering.
I’m very sensitive to music, and as I’m typing this, I’m crying a bit. I wanted to share my interpretation of “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” with you very badly, because it makes me feel so much and really enhances Clerith’s story. I’m overjoyed to have found out about the reunion at the very end. And it’s all because you guys showed love for my last analysis! You guys are giving me gifts every day.
V. b) i. 3) Combined Analysis
Please listen to and watch the scene of Cloud’s MOTF 6 (4:21-8:46) again, and consider section “V. b) i. 2)”. What is Uematsu telling us? Similarly to how main world theme of FFVII informs us that Jenova is sabotaging Cloud’s identity far before it becomes a plot point in OG, “Aerith’s theme - The Cetra” is telling us what not even Remake Cloud consciously knows at this point: he’s been searching desperately for her, and fears losing her once more.
As if that wasn’t proof enough, the timing of the shots and musical phrases is absolutely damning. Recall that part 3 of “Aerith’s theme - The Cetra” specifically symbolizes Cloud’s anxiety surrounding Aerith’s safety. It is this particular part of the piece that plays for the entirety of Aerith’s allusions to her murderers and her death (7:25-7:54), including the very moment where “Cloud feels his chest constrict tightly” (7:51-7:54). What’s more, part 5 the piece, which specifically Cloud freeing Aerith from the restraints of fate, coincides with the moment Tifa grabs Aerith’s hand and pulls her out from the circle of Whispers closing in on her (8:42-8:45). This moment leads me to believe that the reunion in part 5 of the piece indeed symbolizes Cloud succeeding (perhaps with Tifa’s help) in saving Aerith from her tragic fate and reuniting with her for good.
It’s heart-wrenching and brilliant. Our theory stands strong.
V. b) ii. Credits: Piece Inclusion
I find it very telling that the character themes included in the credits of Remake are Cloud’s “Hollow” (0:00-5:24), an orchestral arrangement of Aerith’s theme (5:24-9:24), and an orchestral arrangement of the main world theme, (9:24-14:27) which of course includes Cloud’s true theme. No other character themes appear during the rest of the credits (14:27-18:09). This is telling: the credits are communicating to us that Remake is about Cloud and Aerith. Our Mission Theory only gets stronger.
V. b) iii. Showing Relationships Through Music: Intermingling Character Themes
This doesn’t have to do with the Mission, but here’s a pretty good anti-Cloti argument while we’re here.
As shown in section “V. a) i.” where we explored the roles of Cloud, Jenova and Sephiroth’s themes within the FFVII world theme, the way character themes interact in a piece can tell you a lot about those characters’ relationships. This is certainly the case in “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” as well (see section “V. b. ii. 2)”).
I’d like to mention that in all of my listening to the Remake OST and rewatching playthroughs of Remake, I’ve never encountered a single piece that united Cloud and Tifa’s themes. Not once. Let alone a piece that depicts them as intimately or emotionally as “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” depicts Cloud and Aerith. Even the most Cloti cutscenes in Remake aren’t supported by pieces mixing or even juxtaposing Cloud and Tifa’s themes. I can’t find any of Cloud’s motifs anywhere during the orchestral arrangement of Tifa’s theme that plays during her resolution scene in chapter 14. I can’t find either of their motifs in the track the plays when Cloud calls Tifa beautiful at Seventh Heaven in chapter 3. A motif from Tifa’s theme does appear in the track that plays during the childhood promise scene in chapter 4, (0:00-0:25), but it never plays at the same time as or even near Cloud’s motifs (1:23-1:47 and 2:03-2:29). They’re distant or otherwise unaffiliated.
The only exception is that an altered version of Cloud’s theme’s section A phrase 1 appears in the background of Tifa’s theme (1:17-1:23). This symbolizes her connection to Cloud and how much of her attention and worry revolve around him— a reference to how she cares so much that it borders on dependency. Of course, it doesn’t go both ways: Tifa isn’t in Cloud’s theme at all. To me, this lack of reciprocity concerning the inclusion of Cloud’s motif in Tifa’s theme signifies that the only time Cloud and Tifa are together is in her head. She does think about him a lot, which we witness in her chapter of Trace of Two Pasts. Tifa loses sleep over him even two years after he left Nibelheim, despite the fact that she barely knew him at all:

“The moment she heard the word “Soldier”, the few memories she had with Cloud Strife came flooding back. He never contacted her after they parted ways two years ago […]. She tossed and turned all night. When she counted them again, her memories with Cloud were so surprisingly few that others might find it hard to believe that they grew up as next-door neighbors” (Trace of Two Pasts, translated by pekotranslates on Tumblr).

FFVII Remake Ultimania also comments on the superficial nature of Cloud and Tifa’s water tower promise, and how regardless of its naïveté, it became fundamental to Tifa:

“Though rooted in a jejune heroine fantasy of being rescued in a pinch by her hero, this promise is clearly etched in Tifa’s memory” (Tifa’s profile in section 01 of “Character & World”, “An Enduring Childhood Promise” in “Topics of Tifa” page 20).

You could argue that “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” is only one song wherein Cloud and Aerith’s themes interweave, but you’d be proven wrong by the Rebirth OST…
V. c) The Rebirth OST
Unfortunately, the full Rebirth OST isn’t out and available where I can listen to it right now. However, based solely on the incomplete OST that’s available to me right now, I can tell you with certainty that the composers were told to incorporate Clerith into the musical storytelling: Cloud and Aerith’s themes intermingle in multiple pieces. I can’t imagine what else I’ll discover once I listen to the full OST. For now, I checked out what was available on YouTube and listened to cutscene audios. This section would be eternal if I included every time Cloud and Aerith’s motifs interact, especially in chapter 14. Trust me, I’d love to talk about every single one, but this thing is long enough already, so let’s just address what pertains to our Mission Theory specifically rather than stopping at every single Clerith reference in the OST.
V. c) i. Ending Cutscene Music
Ending cutscenes are often used to address the next step the characters will be taking as well as their emotional and mental state. They also open up new questions to make the player curious. Indeed, Rebirth’s ending cutscene (18:56-25:00) gives us an impression of how the party members feel by the end of the game: everyone misses Aerith. Barret looks upset and confused at the mention of her (19:35-19:45), the girls are crying and Nanaki is mourning (19:58-20:35). Additionally, we are shown the empty White Materia and Black Materia in Cloud’s possession (20:40-21:24), foreshadowing that they will come to be important in part 3. Cloud and Aerith share a warm goodbye, and exchange promises: Aerith will send smoke signals if something happens to her so a worried Cloud can remain updated on her well-being and she will stop Meteor, and Cloud will stop Sephiroth (23:00-25:00). The fact that this scene is animated in CGI is enough to tell us that the devs consider it narratively important, just like they do Bugenhagen’s observatory and the party’s advance into the Forgotten Capital CGI cutscenes. What did the composers decide to communicate with us about the end of Rebirth and the plot going forward?
Big surprise: Clerith.
During the entire cutscene, only two themes play: Cloud’s and Aerith’s. The cutscene’s music begins only when Cloud notices Aerith among the party members and begins watching her (19:21). She interacts with the rest of the party without their knowledge, different segments of her theme playing one after another. Her theme only stops when Cloud finally looks away from her and to the empty White Materia in his hand (20:45). The music focuses on the mystery and ominousness of these materia, only returning to Aerith once Cloud hears her voice and repeats her message to the party (21:30).
Cloud’s theme appears when he asserts that Barret needn’t worry about him (section A of Cloud’s true theme, 22:41), though soft and tentative, only swelling when Barret and Tifa climb aboard the Tiny Bronco and Cloud finds himself alone with Aerith again (22:57). As he asks Aerith if “[she’ll] be okay getting back” (23:08), the final phrase of section A of his theme plays, but without its concluding note, the tonic. He waits for her to answer him as his theme waits for hers to complete and answer it, that final note dragging long over the seconds (23:09-23:13). She answers with a teasing remark that references their unwillingness to part from each other back in Remake’s Evergreen Park:

“[Cloud has] a chat with Aerith, from whom he’s reluctant to part” (chapter 9 in section 04 “Scenario”, “Main Story Digest”, “4. Saying Goodbye”, page 275)”.

As soon as Aerith answers Cloud’s question with this romantic callback, her theme answers his too: section C of Aerith’s theme begins with the key’s tonic, resolving Cloud’s incomplete phrase (23:13): she gives him resolution. He chuckles, getting her reference, and the music swells (23:16). The music ebbs and flows thusly, following the rhythms and underlying emotions of their conversation. Finally, the piece ends with phrase 2 of of section A of Cloud’s true theme, following a strong repetition of the first half of Aerith’s theme’s section A. The two make their promises to each other, and “No Promises to Keep” begins, leading us to the credits. This is most definitely a Clerith song, but more on that later.
What this shows us is that Cloud and Aerith’s relationship is fundamental to the plot of Rebirth and will also be fundamental to the plot of part 3: they are isolated one one-on-one in this cutscene, and the music depicts their warm, sweet interaction as well as the strength of Aerith’s character to contrast with Cloud’s somewhat meek personality. The composers are telling us that these two, specifically, together alone, are hugely important to the plot here. This was already true in OG, but no such emphasis was ever placed on their interactions and relationship in its music. Something is different, deeper, more intense now. The Mission Theory explains why. It also suits our theory that the composers are emphasizing the centrality of Clerith in the plot of the Remake trilogy. Cloud’s love for Aerith is the reason for the trilogy’s existence, and it will be the greatest motivator for Cloud in part 3. It’s a grand announcement.
Just like in Remake, I could not find a single instance of Cloud and Tifa’s themes interacting in Rebirth, apart from at the end of the intimate Skywheel date— but every girl receives this treatment in their intimate dates, so each of these instances can be crossed out. Additionally, the Tifa date is not the canon one, but I digress…
V. c) iii. Credits

1. Piece Inclusion

Once more, I find it very telling that of all the pieces included in the credits of Rebirth, the only character themes are Cloud’s and Aerith’s. We start with a song about Aerith’s point of view to mirror *Remake’*s “Hollow”, “No Promises to Keep” (5:18-11:10), followed by the FFVII world theme (11:10-16:12) which of course contains Cloud’s true theme, then we move into a piece whose unofficially translated title is “Parade Battle Ceremony - The Dawn of a New World” as an arrangement of the parade ceremony theme from chapter 4 (16:12-19:03), followed by a theme for the Lifestream springs whose name I don’t have (19:03-21:38), “Junon - Fortified Metropolis” (21:38-24:28), and finally, a gorgeous arrangement of Aerith’s theme (24:28-28:47). No other character is referenced in the credits music: the credits are telling us Rebirth is about Clerith. Our Mission Theory explains why.
V. c) iii. 2) “No Promises to Keep”
At the very end of this song written and performed by Aerith, we’re treated with a sweet little piano conclusion (10:46-11:10): it begins with a variation on Aerith’s theme’s section A (10:46-11:01), and concludes with two ascending arpeggios, each four notes long (11:01-11:10). Each of these ascending arpeggios is a variation of the phrase 1 of Cloud’s true theme’s section A. The differences are minimal. The phrase is usually five notes long rather than four, the first arpeggio ends on the tonic rather than Cloud’s iconic subtonic, and the second arpeggio starts on the subtonic rather than the tonic. The song Aerith wrote concludes with Cloud’s most famous motif. This is also the case in her Gold Saucer performance (3:31-3:41).
V. c) iii. 3) Arrangement of Aerith’s Theme
The final piece in the credits is an arrangement of Aerith’s theme (24:28-28:47) which has noticeably similar elements to the version of her theme that plays during the Jenova Lifeclinger battle in chapter 14 (0:12-3:36), such as the female choirs. Since these female choirs are only heard in the Forgotten City version of Aerith’s theme, and since the credits arrangement of her theme plays at the same time as clips from her chapter 14 pseudo-death roll across the screen, I estimate that this credits arrangement specifically reflects the event of Aerith’s pseudo-death. Recall that composers had access to the credits video as they composed, meaning this piece is specifically written for Aerith’s pseudo-death in Rebirth.
What I find fascinating is that, just like the arrangements of her theme that play during Aerith’s pseudo-death and the Jenova Lifeclinger battle, this credits arrangement contains the sound of Cloud’s pain, rage and protest. Phrase 1 and the first three notes of phrase 2 of Cloud’s true theme section A play on the strings and brass quite loudly and insistently, just as Cloud blocking masamune appears on the credits screen (25:11-25:21). Sephiroth’s dissonant, high and screechy violins appear just as his face comes onto the screen (26:33), and almost as a protective response, phrases 1 and 2 of Cloud’s true theme’s section A return (26:47-27:00). Finally, similarly to what we hear in part 5 of “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra”, a slightly modified section A phrase 1 of Cloud’s true theme play along with section C phrase 3 of Aerith’s theme (oh wow section A and C section Aerith for Cloud’s theme and section Cloud for Aerith’s theme I just realized that’s such a cute coincidence), though unfortunately they do not meet in the middle like last time since they start two octaves apart (28:20-28:25). I’ve recreated it for you once more here so you can really appreciate it. The fact that their motifs don’t truly reunite like in “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” is sad, but the very last thing you see onscreen is Aerith’s goodbye to the Tiny Bronco (27:10-27:42), so it makes sense that this piano conclusion implies that Cloud and Aerith aligned, but not yet reunited for good. That’s exactly what you get from the ending cutscene. It does seem to imply that they will be reunited in part 3, as both the ending cutscene and this piano conclusion read as a “till we see each other again” rather than a “farewell”.

VI. Textual Evidence

Now that the musical evidence is done, let’s compile some textual story evidence that supports our theory!
VI. a) Remake Trilogy (Thus Far) Handholding Explained?
As I’m sure you’ve noticed, handholding is a motif in Cloud and Aerith’s relationship— and an extremely symbolic one at that! When researching for info to validate my theory, I found that this Clerith motif was extremely helpful! Its inclusion in the Remake trilogy, and especially in Rebirth, is hugely significant in my eyes.
VI. a) i. Pre-Remake Trilogy: Aerith’s Initiative
Before examining the significance of Clerith handholding in Remake and Rebirth, we should establish the meaning of this motif in OG and Advent Children.
Cloud and Aerith have reached out to take each other’s hands many times since 1997. Aerith used to literally drag him by the hand a lot, shocking the cold and distant merc, before she left. After her death in OG, Cloud surely longed to be able to feel her hand take his again, cursing himself for not enjoying it while she was alive, and for never being the one to grasp her hand first: he never got to tell her how he feels about her, or to save her. It was always her reaching out for him, saving him.
This is why the scene in OG when Aerith reaches for him from the Lifestream after Cloud defeats Sephiroth in chapter 3 of disk 3 is so touching: Cloud sees her hand and reaches out to take it, so close to finally establishing that mutual connection, but she soon fades, and replaced by Tifa’s hand in the tangible world. He doesn’t get to hold Aerith’s hand again.
That is, not until Advent Children, where near the end of his battle with Bahamut Sin, he sees Aerith reach out to him once again (1:08-1:30). Cloud finally gets to hold her hand for the first time in two years when he lost her. This moment was given extra importance by the devs. In fact, Nojima told us the following:

“The ending scene of the battle with Bahamut, the scene where Aerith reaches out her hand, is an homage to the last scene from a previous production. It was [Nomura]'s idea” (FFVII Reunion Files, “Story Digest”, “Summoned Beast”, page 113).

VI. a) ii. The Remake Trilogy (Thus Far): Cloud’s Initiative
As I’ve said before, if I’m right that Remake is all about Cloud stepping up to be more attentive and active in his relationship with Aerith in order to save her, there should be concrete evidence of this in the Remaketrilogy thus far. If OG Cloud’s memories of and love for Aerith exist somewhere within Remake Cloud’s subconsciousness, then Remake Cloud should be far more active in the Clerith dynamic than OG Cloud was— after all, he’s supposed to know better this time around. Thankfully, the motif of handholding can help us evaluate this. Since we know pre-Remake Cloud was quite passive when it comes to handholding, Cloud initiating handholding in the Remake trilogy would be a strong indication that our theory has validity. Keeping this in mind, let’s see what we can find thus far in the Remake trilogy in relation to handholding, and if Cloud is indeed more active than he was in OG.
VI. a) ii. 1) Hollow Hands
Remake’s theme song “Hollow” makes allusions to the handholding motif: “This time, I will never let you go” is pretty clear. And so is “No Promises to Keep”, wherein Aerith speaks of Cloud “[taking her] hand and never [letting her] go” multiple times. Interestingly, these theme song lyrics seem to suggest that Cloud will be much more active in the Remake trilogy than in OG. “Hollow” even promises that Cloud will come to his senses and take charge of the situation: “this time, [he] will” be the one to offer his hand to Aerith, unlike in OG and Advent Children. This makes a lot of sense with our theory: now that Cloud has lost Aerith once, “this time for sure, [he]’ll” be the one to reach for Aerith’s hand, take initiative and save her the way she saved him.
Even though theme songs are extremely telling of a game’s main themes and intentions, lyrics are still all talk and no proof. What about the game itself? Do Remake and Rebirth deliver on this promise? Let’s see!
VI. a) ii. 2) Resolution Hands
The only significant time Cloud initiates handholding in Remake is during Cloud’s resolution scene in chapter 14 (5:18-5:40), wherein he tries to grab Aerith’s hand but is unable to keep her with him. He fills with determination and tells her in no uncertain terms that he’s coming for her. Just as we predicted, Cloud is the active participant in this iteration of the Clerith handholding motif: he’s even explicitly insisting against Aerith’s wishes that he should “get a say in all this” and that he’s “coming for [her]”. Let’s not forget that Cloud’s resolution is meant to reflect not only Aerith’s kidnapping by Shinra, but also her fated death. Nojima implied this by commenting the following on Aerith’s “Even if you think you have, it’s not real” line:

“Those who know what befalls Aerith later on will find the line really heart-wrenching” (FFVII Remake Ultimania, section 08 “Secrets”, “Development Staff Interviews, Part 2: Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshinori Kitase, Kazushige Nojima”, page 744).

Given this note by Nojima, it looks like we’re supposed to watch Cloud’s resolution scene with Aerith’s fated death in mind. Considering this, Cloud’s “I’m coming for you” line sure seems like an subconscious promise that he will save Aerith from her tragic fate. This subconscious promise could be the result of post-OG Cloud’s feelings and intentions rising to the surface. Nevertheless, he’s absolutely determined and he’s staying true to the promise he made in “Hollow”. I think it’s fair to say that this instance of the handholding Clerith motif does indeed fit perfectly with our theory. This is only one strong example though, and we need a pattern in order to pat ourselves on the back on this. So, let’s keep looking! There isn’t any handholding initiated by Cloud beyond that point in Remake. At this point in my research, I moved on to Rebirth to go digging for handholding there.
Hoo boy. I was not disappointed.
VI. a) ii. 3) Golden Hands
Let’s begin with the obvious. In their high-affinity gondola date in chapter 12, Cloud bravely interlaces his fingers with Aerith’s: Cloud’s taken charge not only of handholding, but the most intimate kind of handholding. I’m sure you’ve encountered the phrase “こいびとつなぎ” or “koibito tsunagi by now (literally translates to “lovers’ tie” or “lovers’ connection”); this is the term used in Japanese to refer to the type of handholding Cloud initiates with Aerith on the Skywheel. It’s considered the most intimate form of handholding. In Japan, skinship is normally considered quite significant and indicative of the closeness between two people— you could say it’s a big deal. Cloud also offers Aerith his hand when they step off the Shywheel, once more making the first move. Though some might say that the Skywheel dates shouldn’t be counted as canon, I believe Aerith’s date is indeed canon (I have my reasons but this post is long enough). Even if we discount the Skywheel date however, Clerith's use of the koibito tsunagi returns in a non-optional scene we will touch on later.
For what it’s worth, Alfreid offers Rosa his hand in the Loveless play too. I can prove that Aerith is the canon Rosa too, but I’m going to save that for my next analysis! You can take my word for it now, or just wait for that analysis to drop. Take it or leave it!
VI. a) ii. 4) Meta Hands
However, the narrative weight of these Clerith handholding instances doesn’t even come close to my very favorite iteration of the handholding motif in Rebirth. I’m referring to what I consider a severely underrated Clerith moment in chapter 13. First, some context: Sephiroth manipulates Cloud into giving over the Black Materia. Cloud seems to be firmly under Sephiroth’s control. However, the sight of Aerith being swarmed by Black Whispers snaps Cloud back into the driver’s seat: he breaks out of Sephiroth’s grasp to run to her and save her. Aerith gets knocked off into a fatal free-fall by a Black Whisper before Cloud can reach her, but he won’t have it: he lunges forward, hand extended. What results is a beautiful shot of their outstretched hands (56:25-56:27).
Let’s analyze this great shot. Notice how the seconds where Cloud is reaching downwards to grasp Aerith’s hand are treated. This key moment is stretched longer by a slow-mo effect, building up the tension and drawing the audience’s focus to the distance between their hands before Cloud actually catches Aerith’s in his, fulfilling the promise he made in “Hollow”. Their hands take up the whole screen in a deliberate close-up shot. All the ambient noises of the scene go quiet: Aerith’s theme is all we hear as Cloud reaches desperately for her. These are blatant audiovisual cues, signalling to the audience that whatever is happening on screen is especially significant. We should therefore examine this specific instance of the Clerith handholding motif to see what the devs are trying to tell us, and maybe it will fit with our theory!
We should begin by comparing this Clerith hand-reach shot to previous ones. If you compare it to the Advent Children’s hand-reach that occurs during Cloud’s battle against Bahamut Sin, it’s evident that Cloud and Aerith’s roles are reversed: just as our theory states, Cloud gets out from inside his head and reaches for Aerith this time. She saved him and the world in OG, and now it’s his turn to save her. This change becomes especially evident when you juxtapose the two scenes and notice how their hands have switched places, reaching from above and below, from left and right. I think the Rebirth hand-reach was deliberately made to look like the Advent Children one —and even the OG one in disk 3, chapter 3—, just to highlight this role reversal.
This Rebirth hand-reach is my favorite out of all because it shows that Cloud is much more conscious and attentive toward Aerith in Rebirth than he was in OG. At this point in OG (disk 1, chapter 25), Cloud is meant to be beating Aerith up at Sephiroth’s command, to the horror of the rest of the party. In fact, a few minutes before Cloud rushes to save Aerith in Rebirth, he has absolutely no problem violently shoving Tifa to the ground when she gets in Sephiroth’s way (53:27-53:33). This shove and Cloud’s earlier attack on Tifa in Gongaga (Rebirth, chapter 9) proves that Sephiroth is just as capable of making Cloud hurt his party members as he was in OG… though Sephiroth can’t seem to make Cloud hurt Aerith. Why is this? Why is it that Cloud beats Aerith in OG, but doesn’t even lay a finger on her —and snaps out of Sephiroth’s control at the mere sight of her in trouble— in Rebirth?
Our theory provides the answer. In disk 1, chapter 25 of OG, Cloud had not yet realized he loved Aerith. Sephiroth was therefore able to make him hurt her. But things are different in Rebirth. The Cloud we see in the Remake trilogy has gone through the OG timeline and traveled back in time, kicking off Remake as his second try at the OG timeline— and he did this precisely because he loves Aerith. His love for her is clearer and stronger in the Remake trilogy than in OG because Remake Cloud is an amnesiac, post-OG, time-traveler Cloud. He’s been through the OG before, has fallen in love with Aerith and realized it before, so this time around, he can’t even lay a finger on her. This is made evident by how closely the moments where Cloud pushes Tifa and saves Aerith are juxtaposed, separated by mere seconds of gameplay. Merely seeing Aerith in trouble wrenched control from Sephiroth and put it in Cloud’s hands again— Sephiroth probably couldn’t have gotten Cloud to attack Aerith if he tried.
This isn’t the only time we get evidence of this though! As Cloud approaches Aerith’s praying form in the Forgotten City, Sephiroth’s Black Whispers swirl around the buster sword: Sephiroth is trying to kill Aerith with it, while Cloud’s struggle to wrench it away plays out visibly on his face. Interestingly, Cloud is not being controlled by Sephiroth here. We know this because we can quite literally see the Black Whispers trying to move his sword, but also because every time Cloud is being controlled by Sephiroth in Rebirth, he has an empty-eyed, zombie-Cloud look on his face. Either that or he laughs or smiles somewhat maniacally. There is never any resistance on his part. To see an example, simply pay attention to Cloud’s blank face as he attacks Tifa in Gongaga in chapter 9 (19:20-20:30). You’ll see the very same expression on his face if you watch this video of Cloud following Sephiroth’s orders in chapter 13 (53:36-54:15). Additionally, look at how strangely Cloud smiles (41:01) as he grasps the Black Materia. Cloud makes none of these faces as the Black Whispers try to take control of his sword: quite the opposite. Cloud looks like he’s trying his hardest to pull his weapon back down and away from Aerith, a horrified look on his face as he grunts from the effort. Once more, Sephiroth is unable to make Cloud hurt Aerith.
Back to my favorite handholding moment. Think about this devs intention for this shot for a minute. The devs have been teasing us as to whether or not Cloud will succeed in saving Aerith in the Remake trilogy since it was first announced, and this slow-mo shot of Cloud catching Aerith’s hand as she falls to her death is a reflection of this tension. The audience holds their breath during those slow-moed seconds, all that hope and fear hanging in the balance. This instance of the handholding motif is a meta way for the devs to reassure us that Cloud will indeed save Aerith. I firmly believe this.
VI. a) ii. 5) Self-Sacrificing Hands
Alright, alright, enough about my favorite! Let’s move to chapter 14 of Rebirth! There’s evidently a lot going on with Clerith in this chapter. Let’s address the Sector 5 date. The handholding is first initiated by Aerith as she tugs him toward the candy vendor and Cloud reacts with a quiet gasp (4:07-4:17). Soon, it becomes a reciprocal embrace: Cloud holds his hand out for Aerith’s and tightens his fingers around hers, smiling at her before they head to the photographer (7:07-7:17).
Then of course, when Aerith pushes Cloud into a portal in her church, you can see Cloud reach his hand up toward her desperately as he falls (17:38-17:58). What I find particularly emotional about this moment is that Aerith pushing Cloud away from her is kind of the opposite of reaching for his hand: it symbolizes Aerith accepting her fate and giving up on a life where she can be with him. This Aerith seems to be a post-OG Aerith who exists separately from the main world we experience in Rebirth, meaning she knows all too well that her fate is to die. In fact, it looks like she is the very same or a similar Aerith to the one who appeared to Cloud in his resolution scene in Remake. By literally pushing Cloud away, just like she figuratively did in Cloud’s resolution scene, she is sacrificing both herself and the happiness she could share with Cloud. She’s going against her heart’s wishes, just like she did in Cloud’s resolution scene when she would not let Cloud take her hand. Indeed, post-OG Aerith seems to be resigned to her fated death and completely devoid of hope: she only wants to ensure the planet’s survival, because she thinks she knows there is no way she can or should be with Cloud. In contrast, Cloud reaches his hand out toward Aerith as he falls into the portal, and even though he does not know that her push symbolizes her self-sacrifice, his outstretched hand represents his protest. So far, our theory is fitting beautifully.
VI. a) ii. 6) Grieving Hands
Later in chapter 14 of Rebirth, after Aerith’s death/non-death, there is more handholding. As Cloud cradles Aerith’s body close to him at the Forgotten Capital, Aerith places her hand on his cheek. Cloud covers it with his, curling his fingers around it (1:03:33-1:03:53). Before he leaves her lying down on her back to go fight Sephiroth, he squeezes her hand as he tells her “I got this”— or, per the Japanese version, “Wait for me”, meaning he’ll reunite with her once he’s done (1:04:56-1:05:10).
VI. a) ii. 7) Hero-Heroine Hands
Next, the koibito tsunagi returns as Cloud and Aerith interlace fingers back to back in a classic hero-heroine pose, right after their two-versus-one fight against Sephiroth. This time, they both reach for each other simultaneously (7:42-8:18), without even having to look down at their hands or talk to each other, as though perfectly in sync. As you can see, Aerith and Cloud are now on the same page. This is different from post-OG Aerith’s attitude in the Sector 5 church earlier in chapter 14, as well as in Cloud’s resolution scene in Remake— my interpretation of this mutual koibito tsunagi is that both of them are agreeing to hold onto each other now, with neither of them pulling back or being inattentive of the other: their priorities are now the same. It seems now they are aligned, and hopefully this means that Aerith will be working together with Cloud so they can reunite again in part 3. Even if she doesn’t prioritize her life and happiness though, we know for sure Cloud will.
VI. b) Blocking Masamune Explained?
Another piece of evidence that Cloud has been through the events of OG before is the fact that he is able to block masamune. Cloud looks up and sees Sephiroth descending with his blade poised to kill Aerith. Screaming, Cloud instantly rips the buster sword from the Black Whispers’ hold and successfully blocks masamune. Hatred and determination fill his eyes as he rallies his strength and successfully pushes Sephiroth away, saving Aerith’s life (6:00-7:26)— at least, in one reality.
Obviously, something about Cloud is different in Rebirth from in OG, otherwise, the events of Rebirth’s chapter 14 would be the same as the events of OG’s disk 1 chapter 28. In my opinion, what happened here is that upon seeing Sephiroth swoop down with masamune, Cloud remembered Aerith’s death in OG, and the post-OG Cloud’s determination to stop it came surging up from within him. This is frankly the very best proof there is that Cloud is far more ready, stable, determined, and clear-headed about Aerith in the Remake trilogy than in OG. Our theory explains why! In fact, this very moment is what our entire theory banks on: Cloud saves Aerith in one reality, as is shown by the rainbow effect produced by the event, and just like that, the promise made in “Hollow” has been fulfilled! However, now we face the question of how to make sure that Aerith is alive and by Cloud’s side when the multiverse converges again into one protected timeline. I’m sure it will be done; we will see how in part 3.
VI. c) Theme Song Lyrics
What the theme songs’ texts have to say about the trilogy so far is quite important, as they summarize the feelings of the characters they represent: Cloud and Aerith. We can glean a lot from their perspectives that could help support the Mission Theory.
VI. d) i. “Hollow” Lyrics
“Hollow”, Remake’s theme song, was written about Cloud’s feelings and rumination. Nojima confirmed that, when he was given directives for the lyric-writing, “Nomura just gave [Nojima] the keywords: ‘told from Cloud's point of view’ and ‘standing in the rain’. [Nojima] interpreted that as ‘a ballad for a man who lost something/someone important’” (Nojima and Uematsu interview “‘I wanted to put the word ‘empty’ in the theme song of Remake. That was how it started’ - Music-Related Interview Part 6: Kazunari Nojima”, by Famitsu). Our theory is about Cloud’s motivations and mission to save Aerith, so “Hollow” is especially relevant.
Let’s run through the lyrics and analyze, starting with the song’s first verse:

“I would be lost, drifting along
Floating up high, time after time
And there you'd be, shining brightly
Your smiling face to guide my way
Bloody and bruised, brought to my knees
When beaten down, when broken up
You would appear, reach out to me
Heal every wound and make me whole”

Makes sense with our theory in mind, doesn’t it? This is post-OG Cloud remembering Aerith and what she means to him. “Hollow” seems to be told from the perspective of the post-OG Cloud hidden somewhere in Remake Cloud: a suppressed or eroded part of him that remembers Aerith clearly. Or maybe it’s told by Cloud after the events of the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration and before the start of Remake, asserting his mission to save Aerith.
Next, here are the pre-choruses:

“Was it all, a dream? Will I never know?
Foolish and blind to everything
Had I realized, had I thought it through
Would you be here in my embrace?”

&

“With your every smile, hiding something more
Dark mysteries lurking beneath
But I was consumed with this emptiness
This selfishness, this void to fill”

(continued in

Lore of Athel Loren

The Lore of Athel Loren is a bit of a weird one to adapt, since some stuff straight up doesn't work in Total War. But the same could have been said about Lore of Ice, and they handled that pretty well. Also there's a bunch of additional spells from the Roleplay game that could also be adapted, but since I don't own that book (and I don't trust the wiki) I'm sticking with the 6th edition spell lore.

• Tree Singing: Would either move tree terrain or do damage to units in forest on TT. Which is way too situational in Total War. I think it could be interesting to have a spell that turns an area into forest (since visually Lore of the Hags kind of does that), but it would be pretty useless unless they MASSIVELY buff the bonus welves get in forest terrain. Most likely just be made a damage spell, and maybe it has increased damage if the enemy unit is in a forest or something.
• Fury of the Forest: Would be a pretty straightfoward direct damage spell
• The Hidden Path: This is an interesting one. On TT you used it on a unit and it treated all terrain as open ground (so Strider basically), but it also couldn't be hit by an non-magical missile weapons. I'm not sure exactly how they could implement this, but it would be a neat to have a spell that makes a unit temporarily invulnerable to non-magical ranged fire. Or maybe it could be a variant of missile mirror, except you cast on a friendly unit instead of an enemy? Except maybe balance it out by not doing the projectile reflection, only negation of it? I think this is the most unique one for sure.
• The Twilight Host: Kind of neat one, it gives a friendly unit Fear if it doesn't have it, but if it already has Fear, then it bumps up to Terror instead. I think in addition to this, in Total War maybe if it is a unit that causes Terror, then it further bumps it up to also remove Immune to Psychology?
• Ariel's Blessing: A pretty strong healing spell, but the flavor text also mentions "restoring life to those who have fallen" so could be interpreted as restoring lost models too? Also gave a unit regeneration temporarily afterwards.
• The Call of the Hunt: A spell that buffed up attack and made a unit charge towards the closest enemy near it. Other than attack and charge bonuses in Total War, I'm honestly not sure how to adapt this properly. I think things like this are usually interpreted as Rampage in Total War, but that's not really fun. So maybe it would grant Devastating Flanker temporarily or something? Maybe Glorious Charge?

Lore of the Dark Master

Be'lakor's unique lore of magic from 6th edition. He was later changed to be a Lore of Shadows caster, and Total War went with this direction. But I think it's a real missed opportunity to not include these spells in some fashion in his campaign. Making a unique lore of magic useable by only one character might not be worth the investment, so maybe instead interpret it as Bound abilities, or maybe a spell lore option for the Undivided Daemon Princes. Dark Emissaries would also use them if they are ever added as a generic lord/hero option.

• Bolt of Dark Light: Magic missile, not much else to it except hitting pretty hard
• Betrayal in Death: Idea of this spell is that the spell is cast on an enemy unit, and when they die they would strike their own allies in a zombie-like manner (not actually turning undead). Easiest way to interpret this is maybe a Morghur-like ability where you use it on a low health enemy unit, and they are replaced with a unit of your own. BUT I think it would be more interesting if you cast it on an enemy unit, regardless of model count, and when one of their models dies it causes damage to it's own unit. Kind of like how the Phoenix Guard RoR has models explode on death, but it is self-harming.
• Curse of the Dark Master: So this was kind of a crazy spell. On tabletop it could be cast on any unit on the battlefield, and they suffered -1 tot their ranged and melee attack rolls. With it being permanent and the debuff remained active until the opponent dispelled it, the player who cast it chose to end it, or the wizard casts another spell or is killed. In terms of Total War I think it would probably just be a straightforward Hex spell that reduces attack and weapon strength stats. BUT I think it would be interesting to actually implement it like Tabletop. Maybe instead of it using up Winds of Magic on cast, it instead has no duration but slowly drains the WoM until either disabled by the player, the caster is killed, or the caster uses a different spell. It would be a neat option that could differentiate the "normal" debuff spells from ones that are meant to be kind of crazy.
• Fog of Death: Another kind of crazy spell on TT. It literally affected the entire battlefield, and you had to roll for damage on enemy units and roll to see if your own units would take damage as well. I think this would probably be best just as a normal stationary vortex honestly.
• Nightmare: Pretty classic leadership debuff, forced a unit to take a panic test. I think in Total War terms it would probably just inflict Terror on any unit that didn't have Immune to Psychology.
• Coils of the Serpent: An instant kill on a model if it failed a toughness test. In Total War terms this would probably be interpreted similar to Yuan Bo's executioner ability. Maybe an instant kill depending on HP thresholds again? Since it's a reusable spell and not a bound ability, it would either need a crazy high cost to balance it out, or a different requirement for the instant kill.

Lore of the Lichemaster

Kemmler's unique Lore of Magic from White Dwarf #310. It's not actually a unique lore of magic, more like enhanced versions of the Lore of Vampires, meant to represent how Kemmler is one of the most powerful Necromancers around despite only being human. I think this would actually be a way of making Kemmler stand out more than just the resident Krell summoner (who really should be a separate Hero now instead). Especially since they gave Ghorst a Grave Guard summon instead of the guy who was THE Grave Guard guy.
He is THE original Warhammer named character after-all, so he really deserves it imo. I'm not going to really go in-depth here since you can basically interpret these as charged up versions of the standard Lore of Vampire spells.

• Invocation of the Lichemaster
• Desiccating Grasp
• Eternal Vigour
• Withering Gaze
• Kemmler's Danse Macabre
• Curse of Eternities

Lore of Change

So this is kind of a thing and kind of not? Tzeentch's magic has gained and lost a lot from edition to edition. The one we have in-game is the 8th edition version of the lore which HARD focuses on damage. But Tzeentch had a lot of more spells that had more variety in uses in prior editions. I could see them doing what they did with Lore of Ice, by splitting these "leftover" spells into a separate spell lore.
Some of these are from the Roleplay supplements, specifically the Tome of Corruption, while others are from Storm of Magic. Which was an 8th edition supplement so those ones have a higher chance of being added.

• Invisbile Fire of Tzeentch: Magic Missile from Storm of Magic. Was pretty damn strong, but the other option Daemonfire Vortex was more of a Cataclysm spell.
• Dispel Mortal: Yeets a person into the Realm of Chaos. I don't think it is likely, but I think it would be hilarious to reuse the Blue Scribes death animation, where Tzeentch grabs them and pulls them into a portal for this. Maybe an instant kill that has an animation on humanoid characters to drag them in? Pipe dream material here, but fun to think about.
• Gift of Tzeentch: From the Realm of Sorcery RPG book. Basically gives a mage a spell they normally wouldn't have. I think this could be implemented similar to the Blue Scribes gimmick, except only for one spell slot. Like you press it, and it swaps itself out for one random spell before swapping back.
• Transformation of Tzeentch: Could be interpreted as a Morghur-like ability that turns units into Chaos Spawn of Tzeentch. Specifically doesn't work on Undead, and probably wouldn't work on Constructs/Elementals either.
• Destroy Magic***:*** Would be very interesting to have a Tzeentch spell that negates magical attacks or silences spell casting by the enemy. Tzeentch not only emphasizing his own strong magic, but shutting down other's magic makes a lot of sense. We have the former with things like the Lammasu's passive aura, and the latter has been implemented with things like the Jet Lion's contact effect. So it could work as a spell too.
• Tzeentch's Blessing: From the RPG, and it was just to gain a random mutation. But I think it would be fun to have it give random buffs. There's a lack of fun RNG in these games, so the idea of maybe randomly making your unit have stalk, or a random chance of regen for a short time would be neat.

There's also the various "coloured" fires of Tzeentch from older material, like Yellow Fire would give a shield for example. But I don't think they would make it in, since the 8th edition spells were a direct replacement for those.

Misc. spells from existing Lores that aren't in-game

There's a TON of spells from various supplements over the years that aren't part of their respective spell lores in game. So I'm not listing them all here, but things like the Tomb Kings had some interesting Incantations prior to the Lore of Nehekara being made, and there is a TON of stuff in supplements like Storm of Magic we could possibly include in-game.
Anyways those are my thoughts on some potential spells that can be added in the future? Any other obscure stuff I missed? Any interesting spells for Lore of Athel Loren from the RPG book that could be added instead? Would love to brainstorm more on this with y'all.

But hear me out: so I recently finished watching “Hidden love”- (had dropped it after coming across spoilers etc) and “ Everyone loves me”…sigh ,my reviews.
Hidden love- I must say Duan, was the greenest flag carrying this relationship. His character was very healthy and a good first relationship start. The series was cute, the banter between the siblings was a good comic relief without being too much. After going back to the beginning to rewatch then complete, I finally noticed and understood something’s alot better . So Duan was not a creep for wanting to be with FL in college, because he did not fall for her until after reconnecting during her freshman yr. FL on the other hand was already crushing from 2yrs prior while still in high school. I respect that he did not entertain any ideas about her during her middle/high school years.. he was a friendly brother figure. Now fast forward to them being together.. FL was very spoilt in my opinion (maybe due to how her family sheltered and provided everything for her) for all the things Duan done for her , compromises he made for her, chick had never said “thank you”🙄. Duan’s faults: why had he never made a police complaint or input a restraining order against the psycho chick from the beginning? there was no rational reason for her behaviors . The other part that irks me was the parents reasoning, that due to his family’s concerns they didn’t want Duan with their daughter… but it was ok having him visiting your home all those prior years, tutoring your daughter and a friend to your son, but when he wants to join the family it’s a problem.. FL’s reaction and expression during intimate moments was very misleading.. yes admiration can turn into love… but was she really there yet?
Everyone loves me- the title.. who ? Who?- both leads are from few of my favorites, I’ve watched almost all of their prior works. There was not much romance between the leads, 90% of the drama focused on the AAA game genre ,work politics and the FL pig headed personality, she rarely listen to the ML explanation she was more concerned with how he rejected her and her pride could not handle the embarrassment so she tries to hurt him by getting even. The remaining 10%.. eps 19-24 (they finally got together) but the FL wanted them to hide the relationship 🙄.. then the forced second couple (their romance development was unnecessary). Both dramas will not be in my rewatch list, def a one time watch .

Part 1

The official story is that I hit my head. According to the lawyer I wasn't lucid enough to be a reliable witness, and honestly, I'm starting to believe that might be the truth. It's certainly easier to accept that everything was all just some nightmare.
But if my mind wasn't playing tricks on me, and those fuck-heads didn’t have anything to do with my friend’s disappearance, then there truly is no explanation for what happened.
My therapist and parents both agree. The best way to preserve my sanity is to chalk it all up to my imagination. But I see understanding in their eyes when I recount the events. They want to believe me, I know it. That alone is enough to fuel my doubt.
—
School had begun that September with mourning. I only knew the guy who passed away by face and name. It had happened a month after his graduation, and two months before his first year at Cornell.
During the intercom-ordered moment of silence, I looked out through the classroom. Some were bored, some cried. Many shifted in their seats and were glancing around, like myself, counting every second till the awkwardness would end.
It ended sooner than we thought when a kid with sports goggles a size too big bouncing on his face slammed the door open, obliviously clarifying his attendance.
I'm embarrassed to say that this kid, Aiden, was the only friend I had made in high school until this point. I have a hard time introducing myself to others, but being friends with a prepubescent outcast wasn't making that any easier.
After middle school, my family moved to the small village we live in now. It was a brainless choice because my Mom had found better work, my Dad wanted to be closer to his aging parents, and I desperately wanted out of my old school.
Aiden was the first kid to introduce himself when I transferred last year. I realized he was the token 'weird kid' way too late to make it into any social circles. I know it sounds like I'm a shit friend, but that's the way our relationship turned out. Sure, we told our parents and teachers we were friends, but in reality, it was more a tolerance than friendship.
After all, we didn't have anyone else.
For once, I was thankful for Aiden's lack of awareness. It gave me something to focus on instead of the depressing silence strangling the room.
After realizing his mistake, he whispered an apology, sat down, and pulled out an insect encyclopedia from his book bag. What a nerd.
I distracted myself by reading the book from over his shoulder, and before I knew it, lights were turned back on and class began in earnest.
—
I was able to learn what had happened by eavesdropping on hallway gossip between my classes.
Eight kids, six seniors and two juniors, had found a cave in a region of forest known as Skeleton Park. With that discovery, they decided to add spelunking to their pre-graduation bucket list.
Skeleton Park is the setting of countless local ghost stories, which made it a hot spot for rebellious teen antics. Kids would do everything there: party, drink, smoke, fuck, and everything in between. They even crawled around in caves apparently.
When I first moved, I was a skeptic with no intent of exploring the woods. But one creepy phenomenon always unnerved me. For some reason, animals completely avoided the area.
I initially dismissed this as fiction, like all the other folk tales, until I started walking my dog, Paddy, along the town's bike trail.
The trail runs parallel to the remains of a stone wall outlining Skeleton Park. The first couple of times I walked along it, I didn't notice anything peculiar. But after my Dad first told me about the rumors, I became aware that the area was unnaturally silent. No birds chirped in the trees, no flies buzzing, and no rustling from rodents or any other animals.
Even more surreal, on several occasions I saw deer stop at the wall and walk along it instead of passing through the area. It was like there was an invisible border they refused to cross.
With this context, I'm sure you can understand the reaction of the locals when eight kids entered, and only seven escaped two days later, traumatized and bruised.
Honestly, I was surprised to not have heard about the event over the summer, closer to when it happened. Even more strange though, was how unwilling Aiden was to talk about the incident.
He was the kind of kid who had a strong opinion about everything. On top of that, he was constantly bringing up horror movies, or Creepypastas he had found online. But when I asked his opinion on this summer's events during recess, he only shrugged. Despite the nonchalant response, the look on his face told me that it bothered him. So I didn’t press, and let the subject go.
At the time I'd guessed that he might've had some connection to the kid that went missing. In a way, he did.
—
After an exhausting day of attempts from teachers to console their students with speeches, candy, and exceptional lenience, I was ready to go home.
I expected to find Aidan at the usual spot by the bike racks, where we met each day to walk home. Instead, there was an audience next to the bikes, forming a ring around two disheveled figures.
The flying fists and shouting could only mean one thing, so I kept my distance. Then I heard Aidan yell center, “Fucker!’ and saw a glimpse of his face spitting from a bloody mouth onto the other fighter.
Even though his back was to me, I could tell Aidan’s opponent was easily 5 inches, and 60 pounds heavier than my friend.
Teachers didn’t arrive to break up the fight before the two were on the ground, Aidan mounted with arms up, desperately trying to block blows.
A whistle was blown, and people began running away as my math teacher desperately tried to pry the football player off of Aidan.
He fought back the grown man and was finally pulled away when two more adults rushed to help. The boy was screaming at Aiden with carnal rage.
"You're a fucking liar! How dare you, I'm going to fucking kill you if I ever see you again!"
Aidan was still screaming too, but backed away willingly.
"I'm telling the truth dumbass! You were trespassing! You should be lucky we didn't press charges!"
Aiden looked bad but waved the teachers off whenever they asked if he was OK. Blood poured from his forehead, mouth, and nose. He had at least one black eye.
The other guy, I learned from the crowd, was one of the two juniors who had gone to the cave. He didn't have as many cuts or bruises but was supporting his weight on one leg and his friend's shoulder. Multiple teachers forced him into a chair while they waited for a nurse to arrive.
While the crowd control was distracted, Aiden sneaked over to me and whispered that we needed to get out of there. A couple of minutes later, the two of us were walking home like nothing had ever happened.
It took me a while before I dared to ask Aiden for the full story. He didn't even let me finish my question, which let me know he was more or less his usual self.
"My family inherited the property everyone calls Skeleton Park. It's not haunted, it's not toxic, it's not the home of a satanic sex cult; it's just a piece of forest that's been in my family for a couple of generations."
He spat a dribble of red onto the sidewalk, and I realized I'd never seen Aiden get violent before. We had our share of bullying this past year, but he would always shrug it off and laugh. He wouldn't even try to fight back. We would just get pushed around a bit, and he'd make a quip afterward about the guys' weight or smell.
"Every summer, my dad and I drive around the perimeter putting up trespassing signs, and every year they get ripped down. We get police calls once a month during the summer that somebody came limping out of there with a broken arm or leg, and they have the balls to demand we do something about it. It's not our fault nobody follows the law around here. It's the fucking woods, and it's our private property. What the hell are we even supposed to do?"
To be honest, I hadn't even considered Skeleton Park could've been private property. Though I believed everything Aiden said, I had never seen any signs along the border wall. Embarrassed from being one of those trespassers, I looked away and stayed silent as Aiden continued.
"The area is just too big. There are too many places to enter, and there's no way to block it all off. Though it's not like that'll stop anybody. I feel bad that somebody died, but I'm also a little bit thankful. Maybe now, people will think twice before messing around out there."
We walked in silence until reaching the junction where we would have to part ways. I was tired and wanted to head home, but I also was worried that Aiden would be jumped by some of the seniors if he was alone. It had happened before, and his earlier brawl could've been seen as a declaration of war.
Instead of voicing these concerns, however, I asked if he wanted to play video games at his house. He was surprised by the request but agreed.
I was on edge with every passing car, and every blind turn, but thankfully we weren’t attacked. After a couple more minutes of walking, we made it to Aiden’s house. His Dad was outside watering the garden. He turned, noticing our approach in the corner of his eye, but his planned greeting died in his mouth when he saw the dried blood coating Aiden’s face.
"Holy Shit! what did you do this time?" he exclaimed, running over to inspect his son’s injuries. "Oh, hey Brian," he added, smiling briefly at me before returning to his analysis.
Mr. Eriks was cool for a dad. Aiden never had a bad thing to say about him, and the way he handled everything that happened in the following months would only increase my admiration for him. He'd raised Aiden by himself, and I would've considered him a second friend if he wasn't 40 years older than me.
After determining the damage wasn't all that bad: a cut on Aidan's forehead and lip producing most of the blood, the three of us went inside.
Aiden went upstairs to take a shower, and his dad privately thanked me for walking him home. It didn’t take long for me to cave, and ask Mr. Eriks about the park.
"Yeah, we do own it," he answered while preparing snacks for Aiden and me. " My wife, Aiden's mom, inherited it before she passed away, and then it was signed over to me. To be honest, I don't know too much about it, and she didn't either. We just used it to go camping there sometimes, back before Aiden was born. Now we go together because it reminds us of her."
"Did you ever run into people up there, when you're camping?"
"Yeah, though not in the fall and winter when we usually go. I have the police's local number on speed dial for when it happens. Usually, it's just teens though. Kids tend to run away as soon as they see an adult with a flashlight. Paranormal or not, they know they're not supposed to be there- You staying with us for dinner Brian?"
At this point, I was too curious about the truth of Skeleton Park to leave, so I nodded and said I just needed to check with my parents.
After a phone call with my mom, some pizza rolls, and a couple of rounds of Fortnite, the afternoon stress had mostly faded away.
Me and Aidan were sitting in his room, scrolling Netflix for a slasher film to watch, when I finally asked what I'd been dying to know the entire afternoon.
"So, why was that guy saying you're a liar?"
Aiden chuckled at the question.
"He refused to believe my family owned the property his friend died on."
"Why did you even say anything? You know that just makes them want to beat you up more, right?"
"I'm tired of everybody using our land like a public park, I'm tired of picking up condoms left by people I go to school with, and I'm tired of keeping quiet about it. I tried explaining it to people in middle school. Our first project in fifth grade was a presentation about something important to us, I did mine about the park. Nobody believed me, and it got me socially exiled for the next four years. "
I ignored the urge to explain that there was probably more to his social exile than a get-to-know-you presentation from four years ago.
"That's fair I guess," I said instead. "You're dad says you go camping there."
"Yeah, on three-day weekends, and sometimes longer on breaks. Mostly in the fall and winter when there are less trespassers."
"You don't find it creepy camping there? Even without the trespassers?"
"You mean because of the silence?" Aiden smiled and looked over at me. "Yeah, the rumor about the animals is true as far as I can tell. Sure. It's kind of weird, but in winter it's kind of beautiful too. After a blizzard, there's nothing to disturb the snow, and it's kinda like the whole forest has gone to sleep. With the snow and no animals, it can get so quiet that you hear your own heart beating."
He looked off past me with a feeling of nostalgia, but all I felt was chills.
"I can take you if you want," Aiden added. "I'll have to ask my dad, but I think it would be fun to have another person camp with us."
"I'll think about it," was my way of declining without saying no.
Aiden just shrugged. "Suit yourself. Offer still stands if you ever change your mind."
Much to my annoyance, we weren’t even able to finish the movie. My Mom called, saying she was outside to pick me up an hour into our viewing of The Blair Witch Project.
I went to bed wondering how anyone could feel safe camping in a place like that. After contemplating taking Aidan up on his offer, I concluded there could be nothing that would make me spend the night there. Ironically, it would be less than a week before I changed my mind.
—
Three days later, I was walking Paddy along our usual route when she stopped and looked up at something beyond the stone wall, into Skeleton Park. She stood like a statue, eyes wide and fixated on some invisible thing.
I tried tugging the leash, pulling out a treat, begging, and making all kinds of sounds, but she just stood there. Paddy was a six-year-old golden retriever who easily weighed as much as I did, so I couldn't do much more than wait for her to move.
Suddenly, she began barking wildly at the air.
I tried approaching, but she growled at me, a sound I had never heard from her before, and I was forced to back away.
Before I could even process what was happening. She leaped over the wall and ran at full speed into the woods. It all happened so quickly that I had no time to tighten my grip on the leash.
She sprinted straight into the woods, and I chased after her, but I didn't make it far without tripping on a root hidden among the leaves. My knee was split open by something as I fell, and it took all my strength, fighting past the shock, to get back up. After recovering, I looked in all directions, but couldn't see Paddy anymore. I could only hear the tossing of leaves and branches in the distance.
Then there was nothing. Not a single sound. I'm not sure why I didn't question the sudden silence back then. It wasn't the gradual fade into silence you would expect from something running away. It was as if somebody had just hit a mute button on everything but the wind through the trees.
I don't know, maybe I'm misremembering the details.
Patty's disappearance doesn't matter anyway. We never found her, and dogs don’t live for twenty years, so at this point, we never will.
After taking a moment to recover from the shock, I limped home crying and told my parents what had happened. My Dad called the police because it was the only thing we could think of, but all they did was apologize and recommend we put up posters.
They couldn't do anything even if they wanted to. After all, she ran onto private property.
After that, the last thing I could think to do was call Aiden. His dad promised they could search the park that night, and he also offered to take me for an extended search the following weekend in case they didn’t find anything.
Of course, they didn't find her, just half of a leash wrapped around a branch. At least, that's what my parents told me the Eriks had found, they never actually let me see it.
A day before the trip, the Forecast started predicting snow: Saturday night into Sunday, eight inches, wet.
I probably should've given up then. Instead, I told Aiden this would probably be my only chance to find Paddy, insisting she wouldn't survive in the snow. After making sure with his dad, we continued with the plan and headed out after school Friday night.
—
While it hurts keeping this story in, reliving the memories is almost as painful. So I'm going to take a break writing for now and continue in a day or two. If anyone has a scientific explanation for why animals were avoiding that area, or for my dog's behavior, please let me know.
Thanks for reading, B
Part 1

I was just returning back from another interview. It has been the third one this month.
I failed to make the cut yet again.
Life hasn’t been easy for an ex-soldier with the economic downturn currently underway.
The COVID pandemic had also wiped out all my savings.
So I was open to securing any job that would help me pay my bills.
I hadn’t eaten all day and just passed by a McDonalds. It was crowded and I thought to myself, ‘Let me just order a takeout’.
I could see a few vehicles waiting in front of me.
There was a guy in his motorcycle honking incessantly demanding the customer in front to keep it moving.
He was a tall man with long hair and clearly looked edgy and irritable. Both his arms were heavily tattooed. He stepped down from his bike and started to walk towards the car in front of him.
I couldn’t make out what he way saying but I could see the conversation was getting heated.
I got down from my car and walked towards the biker guy.
As I got closer, the biker banged on the hood of the car and was pointing his finger at the man threateningly.
The guy in the car was looking a little alarmed. He had a young boy seated next to him.
The woman working at the driveway counter appealed to the biker to maintain his cool. He would hear none of it.
She then proceeded to call the police and this made the biker more irate. He snatched the receiver from her and hit her face with it. She fell backwards and started bleeding from the nose.
The biker then proceeded to turn his gaze towards the man in the car. He opened the door and dragged the guy outside.
He drew his hand back to throw a punch at him.
I caught his arm from behind and kicked him hard in the shins. He yelped in pain and let go of the other man.
He then turned back angrily to take a look at me. He was wearing a black jacket with the name Kenny embossed in front.
I said, “Listen Kenny. I have had a really bad day. So you either stop this madness or I am going to break your bones.”
He snarled and threw a punch at me with all his might. I swerved to the right and ducked just in time, causing him to miss completely.
Next, he whipped out a switch blade from his pocket and lunged towards me with it. I side stepped him and counterattacked with a punch to his plexus. He went down on one knee.
I caught hold of his knife arm and ordered him to drop it.
“Drop the knife kenny!! This is your last warning”, I repeated.
He started to fidget with his other arm around his shoe. I realized he had another weapon hidden in his sock.
So before he could attempt anything else, I twisted his forearm and landed a crushing blow to his elbow. It snapped into two and he lay on the floor yelping in pain.
By this point, other people came forward to intervene and help with the situation.
As Kenny was being led away by the police, he kept staring at me with madness in his eyes.
“I am coming back for you. This is going to be the biggest regret of your life”, he yelled.
I didn’t care and started going back to my car.
Then the man who was threatened by Kenny came forward and shook my hand.
“Hi. I am Rupert. That is my son Henry”, he said.
I waved my hand at the boy and he waved back.
“I would like to thank you for what you did for me back there”, he said.
“You not only helped me maintain my dignity but also helped me save face in front of my son”, he continued.
“This means a lot to me as a dad” he said.
I nodded in acknowledgement not sure what I was to add to the conversation.
He then reluctantly asked,” Is there anything I can do to repay the favour? Please feel free to ask . Anything. I would be most grateful.”
I thought for a moment. I could see the man was wealthy.
“If it’s not too much of an ask, I would appreciate a job if available. If you feel that is difficult, no problem. Forget I asked. No worries.” I said.
He smiled back at me warmly. He reached into his pocket and handed me a card.
“Please come to my office tomorrow. We can talk” he signed off.
From that moment on, I became the personal bodyguard and chaperone of his 8 year old son Henry. We immediately hit it off and became pals. I looked after all his son’s travelling arrangements.
We would also go to McDonalds every week for his favourite Burger and fries. I later learnt that his father was a very wealthy man who made most of his money during the dot com bubble.
I also became friends with the female employee at the driveway counter who had earlier been attacked by that biker punk Kenny.
Her name was Stella and it didn’t take very long for the two of us to start dating.
With a fulfilling job and a loving girlfriend by my side, my life was finally back on track. I couldn’t be happier.
And then one day - it all came crashing.
Henry and I as usual visited the McDonalds joint and I was surprised to see Stella missing at the counter.
I asked the staff about her and they said she hadn’t turned up today.
I thought that was weird. She had stayed over at my place and I saw her leave for work in the morning.
I tried calling her number but it was unreachable.
I dropped Henry at home and headed towards Stella’s apartment.
She had given me a spare key and I opened the door with it. Everything was in its place.
I tried her number again. It remained not reachable.
I decided to go back to my apartment to check if she might be there.
When I reached the door, I could see the lock had been smashed. The door was left slightly open.
I took out my side arm and slowly entered the apartment.
I could see a life size figure of Ronald McDonald the clown sitting on my sofa.
The famous mascot was sitting cross legged with one arm resting on the backrest. Just like how he likes to sit on benches outside McDonald outlets all across the world.
I was a little taken aback, but quickly switched on the lights to take a closer look.
As I moved closer, my knees buckled under my own weight.
It was Stella. She was the one who was dressed as the clown.
There were injury marks around her neck. She had been strangled to death.
I managed to call the cops while still reeling from the shock.
I also noticed her right hand which was resting on her thigh, was close fisted. When I pried it open, there was a crumpled piece of paper inside.
It read -
“She was really begging me for mercy.
Where was soldier boy when she needed him huh?
Boo Hoo….I’m Lovin It!!
I’m Lovin it!!
Signed Yours Kenny”
I could feel a surge of anger envelop me. And yet I lay there helpless.
Had it not been for the surveillance cameras at the entrance of my home, I would have been in jail by now.
The police could clearly see Kenny carrying Stella’s body and breaking into my apartment.
They put out a nationwide notice for Kenny and he’s been on the run ever since.
Even after 2 months following Stella’s death, the police were not any closer to catching the culprit.
But I did apprise Henry’s dad of the situation. His life was also at risk after considering what happened to my girlfriend.
But our collective worry was for Henry. We didn’t want to see him suffer for no fault of his.
So I started training Henry to take his own safety seriously. I devised multiple safeguards to keep him protected while being outdoors. Always ensured that I was personally there to drop and pick him up from school.
My boss appreciated all that I was doing for his son. He knew I had taken Stella’s death hard.
He was a generous and compassionate man and I liked working for him.
Although he did notice I wasn’t my usual cheery self anymore.
One day when I was waiting at the office, he tossed the keys of his new car at me.
“This should perk you up. Take her for a spin” he said.
“And also go pick Henry up from school”, he finished as he left for a meeting.
I got down to the parking lot, and there she was … waiting. The new Bugatti Chiron.
I opened the door and took the driver’s seat. The fresh smell of the leather upholstery was already lifting my spirits.
‘Boss was right! I am perking up’, I thought to myself.
I drove around the block and stopped by McDonalds to pick up the usual order for me and Henry.
I felt a tinge of sadness when I could no longer see Stella at the counter.
Anyways, I picked the order and started my way towards school.
As I went past the restaurant, I saw an old jeep parked by the side of the road. I didn’t think much of it at that moment.
When I reached Henry’s school, I parked the car a few feet away from the entrance. A couple of minutes later, I noticed the same jeep I saw at McDonalds go past me and park 20 mts in front.
I would have never given it a second glance had I not spotted it at the restaurant.
The jeep had 3 passengers. They looked like bikers with tattoos, beard and long hair.
And then there was Kenny standing behind a tree to avoid detection. But I spotted him.
He was gesturing towards them to get ready. I could see his Harley parked just a few feet away.
They were planning some kind of ambush.
The school bell rang and the children were already out on the streets.
I could see Henry at a distance in the courtyard. He was slowly making his way towards the gate.
I immediately called him on the phone and told him to go to the Principals office and stay there. I made it clear under no circumstances was he to venture out until I gave him the all clear. He understood.
He was safe as long as he was within the school’s premises.
The next thing to do was move to another location. The children were already pouring onto the streets, and the last thing I wanted was to see a child getting hurt.
I started the car and went past the jeep before taking the next turn. I kept driving.
Few moments later, the jeep caught up with me and the driver violently swerved towards the left causing me to go off course. My car came to halt.
The guys quickly alighted from the jeep and they were all armed to the teeth.
Kenny came in his motorcycle and stopped his bike a few feet ahead of me. He took out his shotgun and had it aimed straight at my chest.
The firing started before I even had the time to react.
I instinctively ducked for cover with my eyes closed.
But in my heart, I knew my time was up!!
As the seconds went by, even with all those bullets being sent my way - my body felt strangely light.
‘Am I in heaven already?’ I thought to myself.
I slowly opened my eyes and tilted my head upwards to take a peak.
And I realized I was sitting in an armoured bullet proof car.
The entire biker gang were mad with rage, doing everything possible to penetrate that thick armour plate.
Kenny was barking orders at his gang to continue the onslaught. He then pointed his finger at me and yelled, “I am coming for you.”
I looked down at the seat next to mine and saw the takeout I had ordered.
Just to piss him off even further, I took out my Big Mac and slowly took a big bite.
I sat there in gastronomic bliss savouring my burger, while being under a continuous hail of bullets.
The firing suddenly stopped. Kenny the psycho was livid as hell - to see me have a good time.
I looked him in the eye while I took a sip of my favourite milkshake.
And then, continued to chomp on my burger.
He looked a little crestfallen at how his plan was misfiring and then frantically gestured his troops to keep at it. The firing started again.
But it didn’t last long. They eventually all ran out of ammo and his buddies began to flee the scene, as we could hear sirens at a distance.
The attack had taken a toll on the car. But it managed to withstand all that damage. All that firing.
A life saver!
I looked at Kenny again. Only one thought was running through my head now.
‘My Turn’.
I switched on the ignition and rammed the car straight into Kenny. He hit the bonnet hard while the car continued to race forward.
He was clinging on to dear life with his outstretched hands desperately clutching at the sides of the car.
Next in the demolition line, was his prized Harley Davidson.
I hit it full steam and watched it smash to smithereens - with parts scattering all across the road.
Then, I hit the brakes and Kenny was sent flying 10 feet forward.
After impact, he slowly staggered to his feet - all bloody and bruised.
His face was swollen like an apple.
He was pleading towards me with folded hands to show him mercy.
‘This is for Stella. And She’s lovin it’, I said out loud.
I hit the accelerator again.

Let’s be open about this—most of today’s corporations have a transparency problem.

• Managers don’t know a team’s true status.
• Employees cover over the ugly truth to avoid blame.
• Pervasive, blind faith in, “The way things we've always done things.”

The sores (problems) lurking under the surface stay hidden until an infection festers. When the alarms sound at the 11th hour, it’s too late, too expensive, and too widespread to remedy. Companies end up in the ditch like this every day. And teams, stakeholders, and customers suffer the pain.
Think this is rare? Think again.
Why is situational awareness so poor?
The easy answer? Most of us work in a broken system.

• Top-down decision-making dilutes team autonomy.
• Fear of blame from making mistakes hides the truth.
• Employees and managers don’t play in the same sandbox.
• Mass acceptance of the current reality as the permanent reality.
• Rampant deadlines, multitasking, and dependencies obscure progress.

This is an environment that cultivates long-lived, hidden problems.
And many managers ignore (accept) this broken system.
You can’t blame them. Managers today are more disconnected from the ground truth than ever. And the divide between managers and teams has widened with the rise in remote work.
In turn, many managers delegate problem-solving to their people.
They expect teams to figure out solutions to their problems on their own. Managers believe they are empowering their teams. Teams feel managers send them to fend off attack from a lion with a butter knife.
Despite the slim odds, teams try to navigate this chaos, but often fail and feel powerless to change their situation. They end up accepting their plight. It’s easier than braving the headwinds (behaviors and norms) that keep the broken system in place.
Management is out of touch, and the teams throw up their hands in defeat.
The empowerment angle backfires.
Employees often don’t have managers who invest time to help them with the solution.
So, problems remain hidden and unsolved.
The management belief in employees “bringing solutions, not problems” wreaks havoc on transparency. Today’s problems don’t have an easy solution. And when employees aren’t allowed to bring you problems, you won’t see them until it’s too late.
Read about how I overcame this toxic belief and emerged my 5 steps for building a problem-solving culture here: https://medium.com/simply-agile/how-i-overcame-a-toxic-management-belief-to-unleash-team-autonomy-8cfb4c645813?sk=e326241cf7c9f7f132e05e18b100fd1e
Please let me know your thoughts.

After watching Mutahar's video ob Boeing, as well as Mentour Pilot, Coby Explanes and 74 Gear, I believe that there is reason enough for Boeing to suspend production of the B787 and B737 MAX.
Ever since Boeing's merge with McDonnell Douglas, Boeing went from being engineering focused to financially focused. This might be a smart business move in terms of improving profitability, but long term, if it hasn't started already, this could kill Boeing.
Boeing's only real competitor is Airbus, who have remained engineering focused. While Airbus has made several bad decisions with aircraft designs being unprofitable, such as the A340 and A380, Airbus has learned from their mistakes and are now outputting very reliable, profitable aircraft. Their production list currently includes the A220, A320 NEO, A330 NEO and A350. All of these are very reliable aircraft. The only problem Airbus has is that they're unable to keep up with the demand (if you ordered an A320 now, it wont come for about 10 years).
Embraer, Bombardier and COMAC are not nearly big enough to pose any risk to the duopoly.
Boeing's current production list is the B737 MAX and B787. Both these aircraft should be grounded till further notice, especially since 2 whistleblowers are mow mysteriously dead. Here's the reasons why
B737 MAX

• The MAX-10 and MAX 7 remain uncertified for safety reasons. Why is the MAX-8 and MAX-9 allowed to stay certified if the other 2 are unsafe?
• The MAX-9 has had countless QC issues that could easily cause a crash. You cannot allow exceptions or risks in aerospace manufacture. We don't want a repeat of the DC-10
• The B737 is a 60 year old design that has been modified to its extreme. The only reason Boeing re-engined the B737 was in response to American Airlines making a deal for Airbus's A320 NEO. They would have developed the B797 instead to replace the B737 and B757 (which has been out of production for 2 decades and they're all aging). Hence the MAX was a rush job.
• Hidden features like MCAS causing crashed. We don't know if Boeing is hiding more information from pilots.

B787

• Strong evidence to suggest the certification was falsified.
• Countless problems with the fuselage being improperly fixed.

While the B787 thus far has not crashed, theres strong risk for it. And we all know abut the B737 MAX.
The FAA and ESA should ground ALL of these aircraft types so a full inspection of them can take place. Production should be suspended too until the QC problems are fixed.
Edit: Im from the UK from a British perspective. Saying you wouldn't ever want to fly in an Airbus because its French (which isn't strictly accurate), isn't a good reason to support Boeing.

(continuation of part 3)
Since Fatal Calling is all about Cloud facing his past and his origins, Tifa’s musical theme is most appropriate for the ending cutscene. For all of these reasons, Tifa’s theme is absolutely appropriate for the conclusion of Fatal Calling. It makes a lot of sense then that once Cloud has finished revisiting the past and vanishes with the crystal to find his Promised Land, Tifa’s theme stops and Aerith’s theme begins.
There’s a lot to be said about Sephiroth in Fatal Calling. Sephiroth feeds off of despair, and deems Palamecia’s suffering inadequate: he seeks a much greater source of power than this realm. He states that Palamecia isn’t “the world that was promised to [him]”, referencing his desire to become the god of his core world of FFVII:

“Sephiroth: Melding with the planet, I will cease to exist as I am now only to be reborn as a ‘god’ to rule over every soul” (FFVII OG, disk 1, chapter 25).

Sephiroth’s line “Now, let us return [Cloud]. Back to the Promised Land” reveals he wants to return to their shared core world of FFVII, like we established in our review of the Remake timelines theory (see section “I. a) vii.”). Sephiroth wants to go back to FFVII and modify the OG timeline to achieve his evil goals. This is his ideal scenario, his place of complete happiness: his desired Promised Land. Fatal Calling is setting up Sephiroth’s plans for Remake. In fact, the after-credits scene wherein Sephiroth stands in Nibelheim as it burns confirms his return to the FFVII OG timeline.
However, he isn’t the only one returning. Now that Cloud has revisited his past in Fatal Calling, he’s ready to reach his Promised Land. After Sephiroth’s after-credits scene, the OG FFVII title and logo turn into the FFVII Remake title and logo, indicating a shift: we are now officially in the Remakeera or world. Cloud and Sephiroth disappeared at the end of Fatal Calling, and now the game is telling us where they’ve gone. Combined with Hamaguchi’s recommendation that players complete the collaboration event before playing Remake, I think this is a solid indication that the Cloud and Sephiroth we see in this collaboration event are those we encounter in the Remake world. Once the switch to Remake occurs, Aerith’s theme returns. This communicates that she is indeed —as we’ve proven countless times already— Cloud’s Promised Land. But it also conveys her importance to the story of Remake. Scenario writer Nojima confirmed this:

“Aerith's the most important character in the remake so we paid special attention to her lines” (FFVII Remake Ultimania, section 08 “Secrets”, “Development Staff Interviews, Part 2: Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshinori Kitase, Kazushige Nojima”, page 744).

Aerith was already important to OG, so what could’ve motivated Nojima to state her importance to Remake? Could it be that she’s even more important in the latter than she was in the former? In what way?
That was the collaboration! Before we move on from MFF x FFVII Remake entirely though, let’s glean some more relevant information from some of the collaboration’s promotional material and special features.
III. e) iii. Promotional Material and Special Features
Two particular pieces of promotional material for this collaboration stick out to me as extremely relevant. The first is a promotion for a new summons batch in the Mobius FF game, created in honor of the collaboration.
MFF x FFVII Remake Summons Batch Cloud Promo
The summons batch contains three FFVII Remake-themed cards, including a Cloud card. As you can see, this promo reads “Who awaits in the Promised Land?” under Cloud’s picture.
The second is a promotion of an Aerith and summons and an Aerith Job Card (in MFF, Job Cards allow a character to embody an archetype or another character, giving them certain physical traits, clothing, weapons and abilities):
MFF x FFVII Remake Aerith Summons and Job Card Promo
I couldn’t find this picture in English, but the text relevant to us translates to:

“Midgar's Flower Vendor Summons
‘I'm searching for you. I want to meet… you.’
The witch protects the planet, imbues it with power, and leads to the Promised Land.”

A few things here. First, Aerith is referenced by name, and we see a picture of her in her famous praying pose. Secondly, both Cloud and Aerith’s images are attached to the notion of the Promised Land. Cloud’s card asks who awaits there, and Aerith’s evokes a guiding role, as though in response. Thirdly, both Cloud and Aerith are attached to the notion of searching: Cloud searches for the Promised Land and whomever awaits there, and Aerith searches for Cloud’s true self. Speaking of which, the promo also includes parts of Aerith’s famous gondola date quote from OG:

“Aeris: I'm searching for you.
Cloud: …?
Aeris: I want to meet you.
Cloud: But I'm right here.
Aeris: I know, I know... what I mean is... I want to meet... you” (disk 1 chapter 24).

In case you’re wondering about the lady in Aerith’s clothes on the left-hand side, that’s Meia, a character in MFF. She is the “witch” being referred to in the promotional material. She’s often called the Azure Witch. Meia is wearing Aerith’s clothes because a Meia-type Job Card called “Flower Girl of Midgar” was created in honor of the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration:
MFF x FFVII Remake \"Flower Girl of Midgar\" Job Card
There’s even an Aerith outfit you can have Echo wear, and it appears with Wol’s Cloud outfit in the promotional picture:
MFF x FFVII Remake Echo's Aerith Outfit and Wol's Cloud Outfit
To be fair, Tifa also appears in one of these summons promos. However, unlike Aerith’s, her appearance doesn’t reference the Promised Land or her version of the gondola date. She is not presented in connection to Cloud at all. On top of that, while the Aerith and Cloud outfits are promoted together, Tifa is paired with Vincent in the promotional image:
MFF x FFVII Remake Summons Promo Tifa and Vincent
This is hardly indicative of Cloti content in the event collaboration or in Remake.
III. e) iv. Cloud’s Promised Land
All in all, the collaboration tells the story of Cloud searching for his Promised Land, just as post-OG Cloud has been shown doing for years and years of canon SE content. Cloud is searching for Aerith in the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration, just like he was in FFT and DFF, and just like he was shown doing in the 30th FF Anniversary Exposition. This is nothing new. However, the collaboration informs us that this mission to be reunited with Aerith is what leads Cloud to enter the world of Remake.
Echo noted that people obtain the Promised Land they deserve rather than the one they want. What does Cloud deserve? I believe the answer is: another chance at saving Aerith.
Cloud needs to start over, from the top. He needs to go back to the very moment he and Avalanche arrived at mako reactor 1 to bomb it. He needs to return to the beginning of the OG game. He needs a redo, a fix-it, another shot at happiness; a remake.

IV. The Hidden Plot Point: Mission Theory

a) Thesis
Here lies the heart of my theory. My dear Cleriths, Sephiroth isn’t the only one who travelled back in time to undo destiny and create a reality where things go his way: Remake is also —I would even say primarily— Cloud’s chance to free Aerith from her fate, save her life and secure his shot at happiness with her. That’s why he experiences MOTFs in Remake: he’s done FFVII before and now he’s back, although with only fragments of his memories from OG, to save Aerith. That’s why his triggers all involve Aerith: he doesn’t consciously remember anything from OG, but his grief over Aerith is so strong that it rises from his subconsciousness at the slightest trigger.
In Remake, Cloud remembers some but not all elements of the OG timeline (MOTFs), and it appears he only remembers the most important things: all his MOTFs revolve around Aerith and her fate. Our theory explains why Aerith triggers Cloud’s MOTFs in Remake quite perfectly: he traveled back in time to prevent Aerith’s death from happening. Remake Cloud remembers Aerith because, well, he knows her from OG. Post-OG Cloud has returned to the past to save Aerith, resulting in Remake. This is why seeing her in Remake triggers visions and memories of things that haven’t happened yet in Remake, but have already happened to post-OG Cloud. He recognizes her face on Loveless in Remake because seeing her face again is the whole reason he entered Remake in the first place. His visions of her death when they meet once more at the church, the spike of anxiety and grief as he watches her walk away from him, the constriction in his chest when she talks about doing everything in her power to help the planet… all of it, it’s all his memories of OG being jogged by things related to her death. What he’s forgotten from the OG timeline emerges in flashes of pain, images, memory and emotion. Remember that the language the devs used to describe these instances where Cloud reacts to Aerith in this way is always about “remembering” or “recognizing”; Cloud has to have seen Aerith, known Aerith, loved Aerith, lost Aerith and felt the pain of living without Aerith before in order to recognize and remember these feelings. Think about it: this is the only thing that can explain Cloud’s extremely selective MOTFs and the fact that he has MOTFs at all.
The Remake trilogy is all about Cloud and Sephiroth stepping into the ring one more time, both ready to risk it all to get what they lost in the OG timeline. Sephiroth is hungry for destruction and godhood, while Cloud stands determined to save the love of his life. Fighting for their respective goals, the fated enemies enter a new battle in Remake, one to end the war, both needing to win this time after losing so horribly in OG. Now, it’s all or nothing. Sephiroth vying for the planet, and Cloud reaching out for Aerith.
Cloud’s back with a quest, one he can’t fail— it’s the most secret and important plot point of all. I call this the “Mission Theory”.
IV. b) Mission Theory Logistics
There are a few things that remain vague, so I’m going to use this section of the analysis to speculate on the logistics of my theory. We know very little about the hows of the timeline and multiverse shenanigans, so I’m going to hypothesize. However, this analysis is about the whys: so if you’re not interested in mechanical speculation on the logistics of time travel and multiverses, you can totally disregard this section and skip to section “V.”.
IV. b) i. Cloud the Time-Traveler?
It’s unclear whether Remake is the result of post-OG Cloud going back in time to try his hand at the OG timeline again, or the result of post-OG Cloud somehow informing OG Cloud that he must save Aerith this time around. It’s vague in the same way that we aren’t sure if Remake Aerith is post-OG Aerith or if she’s been informed by post-OG Aerith via her connection to the Lifestream as a Cetra. Though it doesn’t much matter how Cloud has memories of Aerith’s death in Remake, I personally think that Remake Cloud is a time-traveling post-OG Cloud. My explanation as to why might be a little confusing, so again, feel free to skip to section “V.”.
One must be able to communicate with the Lifestream in order to obtain knowledge of the future. This access can only be granted to the Cetra or to the souls of the deceased that compose the Lifestream itself. Since Cloud is not a Cetra, he cannot commune with the Lifestream while he is alive, meaning a deceased post-OG Cloud would not have been able to communicate his memories of the OG plot-line with a living OG Cloud. Therefore, the only way Remake Cloud could have knowledge of the future (manifested as MOTFs) would be that Remake Cloud is inhabited by his post-OG consciousness. Effectively, this is time-traveling.
Then comes the question of how Cloud was able to time-travel at all. I have what I consider a pretty solid hypothesis. The most interesting thing about the realm of Palamecia is that every FF character that’s ever appeared in the realm for a cameo died in their core world beforehand (spoilers for FFI, FFV, FFVI, FFX, FFXII, FFXIII, FFXV incoming). These characters include Tidus (FFX), Lightning (FFXIII), Garland (FFI), Sephiroth (FFVII), Gilgamesh (FFV), Vargas (FFVI), Gabranth (FFXII) and Ultros (FFXV). My interpretation of Palamecia serves at least partly as a directory for deceased souls that can’t simply fade. For instance, FFX’s Tidus actually came back to life to be with his love>! Yuna !! FFX!<. Of course, MFF x>! FFX !!FFX!< and FFX-2, just like MFF x FFVII Remake came out between FFVII OG and FFVII. And similarly to Fatal Calling, the ending cutscene of MFF x>! FFX !!Next thing you know, FFX-2 comes out and shows Tidus returning to Yuna and their core world in an optional cutscene.!< The MFF x>! FFX !! Tidus !Remake.
IV. b) ii. Post-OG Cloud’s Amnesia
If we consider that Remake Cloud is a time-travelling post-OG Cloud who’s returned to the start of the OG timeline, we encounter another logistical problem: why doesn’t Cloud remember everything or most things from the OG plot-line in Remake, like Sephiroth and Remake Aerith do? After all, aren’t the three of them in the same time-travelling boat? Why isn’t Cloud as lucid on the matter as the two others? Didn’t the post-OG Cloud in Fatal Calling face his past and origins? Shouldn’t that mean Cloud would remember all that stuff in Remake from the start?
In OG, the true Cloud’s memories are repressed by both his false persona and Jenova. The latter’s memetic abilities are able to block Cloud’s memories of the past from emerging and conflicting with his SOLDIER persona. For instance, in both OG and Remake, Cloud is unable to hear Aerith tell him Zack’s name in Evergreen Park: Jenova blocks it out. I think this is a similar situation: post-OG Cloud’s consciousness carries memories things that Jenova doesn’t want Cloud to know, so she pushes down on them. On top of that, after travelling through different worlds and back through the Lifestream for who knows how long, post-OG Cloud’s consciousness must be quite weak. We know how good Cloud is at repressing, so it makes total sense to me that post-OG Cloud’s consciousness would be trapped or suppressed somewhere deep in Remake Cloud’s subconsciousness. After all, it’s not like this whole time-travelling-consciousness thing is normal for a mind to experience. It’s no wonder Remake Cloud doesn’t consciously remember how things go in OG. However, post-OG Cloud’s love and grief for Aerith are so strong that memories related to her can occasionally pierce through to his Remake consciousness and Jenova’s barriers, resulting in his MOTFs. His pain and love for her are definitely permanent and strong enough:

“A young woman descended from the Ancients who will forever be engraved in [Cloud’s] heart” (Dirge of Cerberus, Japanese manual, Aerith’s character description).
“I believe for those who formerly traveled with her as comrades and for the viewers, each carries their own feelings and love for Aerith. In this story, Cloud also carries his own undying feelings for Aerith, even to this very day… Its relation with the church scene is… Yup. I’ll leave this part to your imagination. (laughs)” (Nomura interview on Advent Children “Designer’s Note” in *Famitsu PS2!*magazine, October 24th issue).

So you see, Remake Cloud’s mind is a little more complicated than OG Cloud’s mind. Everything is still the same in Remake as in OG, but with the added complication that his future self is hidden in his subconscious mind, probably trying to get out.
There is actually pretty good evidence of this. I’m sure you’re aware that whenever Jenova is trying to hide something from Cloud or altering his memory and/or perception, the screen glitches green with an audio cue (34:15-34:29, 1:15:30-1:15:41 and 1:17:14-1:17:29). Guess what? These Jenova audiovisual cues also occur during the MOTFs (ie: MOTF 3 2:58-3:07 and MOTF 4 0:29-0:42). Whenever post-OG Cloud’s consciousness encounters anything that reminds it of losing Aerith, the strength of its pain helps it push memories of Aerith to the surface so that RemakeCloud can consciously see them. Remake Cloud then experiences sensations and/or visions, all from his future self’s memories as they rise to the surface, propelled by grief. Jenova can’t allow Remake Cloud to fully recover his post-OG memory, so in order to shut down the process, its cells jump in to repress the MOTFs: this results in the classic Jenova audiovisual cues. The only time Jenova doesn’t bother to fight against a MOTF is the sixth, as it is quite weak: no visions occur, only a tight sensation in his chest.
IV. b) iii. Eclipse Contact and Cloud’s Memories of Reactor 1
There is one problem I have trouble decoding. In Eclipse Contact, Cloud tells Wol and Echo that the last thing he remembers is the run-up to his arrival at mako reactor 1 (FFVII OG, disk 1, chapter 1). Recall that usually, people summoned to Palamecia have no memories of their world of origin and lives before that point at all. So then why is it that upon being summoned to Palamecia, Cloud recalls the events that took place right before the start of the OG game? This strikes me as highly relevant since this is the exact point in time where post-OG Cloud’s consciousness needs to be transported to in order for Remake to begin, but I haven’t been able to figure out a solid hypothesis on what it could mean. My best guess is that this is the devs’ way of signalling to us that the events of the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration occur before the very beginning of post-OG Cloud’s second try at the OG timeline (Remake).
Now that I’ve shown you how I’ve come to form my Mission Theory and we’ve done some pesky housekeeping, let’s connect some dots, shall we? It’s time to really get into it and see if any of my wild speculation tracks with content from the Remake trilogy so far.

V. Musical Evidence

What about the music of the game? Any hints there? Let’s try to see if we can find support for the Mission Theory in the music made for the Remake trilogy thus far!
As a preface to my musical evidence analysis, I want to insist on something: the story guys tell the soundtrack guys everything. In a high-quality production such as Remake, people who make music for audiovisual media are told everything in advance. They need to know the secrets of every little scene, because their job is to depict whatever is happening through music.
Therefore, if the Mission Theory is true, then there has to be musical evidence for it.
V. a) Preface: The Basics of the FFVII OST
There’s a lot of evidence in the music of the Remake trilogy that we have to address, but before we get into it, I do have to give you the basics of the FFVII soundscape! For the easiest experience, I suggest you keep a tab open for every link I provide for you until the music analysis is over, because we will be hopping from one musical theme to another and then back again.
V. a) i. The World Theme: Cloud’s Troubled Identity
The world theme of FFVII is a perfect example of how musicians working on an OST have to know the secrets of a story as they compose for it. On top of representing the FFVII world as a whole, it doubles as Cloud’s character theme… except that isn’t exactly right. You see, this piece does indeed contain Cloud’s true theme, but Sephiroth and Jenova’s musical motifs also contaminate it. This, of course, symbolizes how Cloud experiences identity sabotage because of these two antagonists. The result is that globally, the world theme does indeed represent Cloud’s character, but it isn’t exclusively Cloud’s in the same way that Cloud’s mind isn’t exclusively his. It’s brilliant storytelling through musical motifs, and evidently requires Uematsu to know in advance that Sephiroth manipulates Cloud’s identity in the story.
For future reference, let’s isolate Cloud’s true theme from Jenova and Sephiroth’s influence.
V. a) i. 1) Sephiroth: Dissonance and Semi-Tone Motif
I’m sure you know Sephiroth’s infamous theme: “One-Winged Angel”. The first motif we need to know is Sephiroth’s threatening, repetitive dissonance motif, which plays all throughout the piece (plays solo at 0:00 to 0:04). The second motif is what I call the semi-tone motif. “One-Winged Angel” has a ton of minor 2nd intervals, which is what we call the relationship between two notes that are only a semi-tone apart. You might recognize the minor 2nd interval in the foreboding Jaws theme. Just like in Jaws, the minor 2nd interval or semi-tone is commonly used to indicate an impending, life-threatening danger, a monster, predator, evil, or insanity; suits Sephiroth quite nicely!
V. a) i. 2) Jenova: Parasite Motif
The track “J-E-N-O-V-A” contains many competing melodies and has generated many variations of those melodies —almost like clones— that all represent aspects of the alien’s character. The main Jenova motif is simply a descending, two-octaves-long, arpeggiated mb6 chord (eight notes total). I’ve played it for you here. Sometimes, this motif is altered to form variations. For instance, in “Listen to the Cries of the Planet”, a variation of Jenova’s main motif is created by changing the order of the notes and reducing the number of notes to only six (0:00-0:03), however, it remains an arpeggiated mb6 chord. Regardless of the alteration, if you hear an arpeggiated mb6 chord, it means Jenova is creeping close by or that its influence is at work.
The variation of the mb6 arpeggiated chord that concerns us alters Jenova’s main theme so it ascends from the tonic to the b6 note and descends back to the tonic, then ending on the lower dominant for a total of eight notes. I’ve played it for you here. I call this variation the “parasite motif”, because it is often heard when Cloud is being controlled by Jenova. For instance, it plays when Cloud loses himself and becomes unusually violent in Rebirth’s chapter 13 (17:25-18:34), signalling to us that Jenova is in control. It is also the main motif of the track “Who… Am I?”, which evidently symbolizes Jenova’s fuelling of Cloud’s identity crisis— though here, the parasite motif is shortened to its six first notes.
V. a) i. 3) Cloud’s True Self
Now that we can recognize Sephiroth and Jenova’s motifs, let’s return to the world theme to isolate Cloud’s true self. Cloud’s true theme can be heard from 0:51 to 3:48. It consists of a section A (0:51-1:54), followed by a section B (1:54-2:41), and then returns to section A (2:41-3:48).
After Cloud’s true theme concludes however, it seems he experiences a psychic interference: doubt and confusion weave through the world theme (3:48-4:09), representing an instability in his identity. I call this interruption of Cloud’s true theme the “interference section”. It symbolizes a moment of psychic interference or weakness within Cloud that Sephiroth and Jenova take advantage of to take control of Cloud.
The end of the interference section introduces Jenova’s parasite motif. It slithers in (4:09), later joined by Sephiroth’s dissonance motif (4:16): Cloud’s mind and identity are being hijacked by the two antagonists in service of their evil plans.
They torment Cloud, dominating his mind until he manages to free himself: section A of Cloud’s true theme begins playing again (6:06), closing the loop of the theme.
Based on this musical storytelling, if you already knew the character motifs going into OG, you might’ve suspected something odd was going on with Cloud’s identity, and that Jenova and Sephiroth were involved. All this to say that whatever music is playing at any given time can give us hints as to what is going on. That’s the power and significance of a good soundtrack. Trust me when I say that with Uematsu and his team, we’re in excellent hands. And remember: the story guys tell the soundtrack guys everything.
V. a) ii. Aerith’s Theme
Another base we have to cover before checking out the Remake soundtrack is Aerith’s theme. I’m sure everyone here is familiar with it, but I insist that you refresh your memory. It consists of a section A (0:00-0:34), a section B (0:34-1:13) and a section C (1:13-2:00), concluding with a repeat of section A.
V. a) iii. Motifs and Timing in FFVII OSTs
I’m going to analyze pieces in great detail, which people who haven’t studied or paid attention to soundtracks may find strange. To prevent anyone from making the mistake of thinking that I’m reading too much into things, I want to emphasize that the music that plays during the Remaketrilogy’s cutscenes is carefully timed, composed and arranged to match the events in the cutscenes, as they are provided in advance to the musicians. Composers pay lots of attention to whatever is going on onscreen so they can include the corresponding musical motifs as accompaniment at the exact right moments, always striving to get the timing perfect. I’m not exaggerating the effort and minutia involved in soundtrack composition and arrangement. Here are just a few sound staff comments from the “Material 4: Soundtrack” section of the FFVII Remake Material Ultimania to prove it:

“[To] make sure players really feel the weight of the moment, we worked hard on getting the tempo and the entry timing of each instrument exactly right. In particular, that big ‘boom’ that sounds almost like a meteor crashing down was fine-tuned to match the timing of the logo's appearance. I remember this was a real sticking point for us, because if the boom's timing was even slightly off, the effect would be completely different. We […] had to sequence [each and every sound] to play at exactly the right moment” (Shotaro Shima on track “Midgar, City of Mako”, page 229).

&

“I was originally told to keep this piece to under two minutes, but it ended up being over six minutes long, in order to match the flow of the cutscene. I arranged the track while watching the latest CG visuals that had been rendered for the scene” (Naoyuki Honzawa on track “Smash ‘Em, Rip ‘Em”, page 309).

&

“This is the track that plays during the tour of Shinra’s different divisions. The movie shown in the Visual Entertainment Hall describes the history of the Ancients (0:25 onward in the soundtrack version), and I wanted to create a musical link to them as well, so I made use of the chord progression from ‘Aerith’s Theme’ [D(I)-Am(Vm)-D(I).] [This simple sequence of moving from major to minor and back again creates a really mysterious air. Then, during the section where the movie recounts the history of the construction of the Shinra Building (1:47 onward in the soundtrack version), I quoted a section of the Shinra theme” (Yasunori Nishiki on track “Stewards of the Planet”, page 313).

V. b) The Remake OST
Now that you’re ready, it’s time to verify the Mission Theory’s validity with Remake’s music.
V. b) i. MOTF 6 Music
We were able to explain Remake Cloud’s MOTFs with the Mission Theory, and it just so happens that the music that plays during the scene of MOTF 6 is unique to Remake. This gives us the perfect opportunity: we should analyze the piece that plays as it occurs to evaluate the legitimacy of our theory on the Remake trilogy, using all the motifs we uncovered in section “V. a)”.
First, a refresher on the scene and on our theory’s interpretation of it. The party is gathered in Aerith and Ifalna’s old room at Shinra HQ. Here is how the scene is described by the VA script notes:

“The Whispers once again close in [on Aerith], but Aerith refuses to stop speaking this time.
Aerith: Listen to me. […] Shinra isn’t the enemy. They were the ones who set things in motion, but our true foe is someone else.
At that moment, the spectacle of Meteor they saw in the Visual Entertainment Hall comes into Cloud and the others’ heads.
Aerith: Somehow, some way, I want to help— all of you… the planet…
For some reason, Cloud feels his chest constrict tightly” (FFVII Remake Material Ultimania Plus, VA script notes, “Aerith Speaks”).

Indeed, right after Aerith says she wants to help the planet any way she can, Cloud looks down at his chest with a frown and a quiet grunt (7:46-7:54). According to the Mission Theory, this tightness in Cloud’s chest can be explained as an emergence of post-OG Cloud’s grief, triggered by the slightest allusion to Aerith’s sacrifice.
The piece that plays during this scene is called “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra”. It is one of many variations of Aerith’s iconic theme arranged for Remake. However, Cloud’s theme is just as prominent in the piece— if not, more.
V. b) i. 1) The Fate Motif
Before we interpret “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra”, I need to introduce you to one more motif that crops up in the piece. There is a windy motif that appears (from 1:45 onwards) and it is unaccounted for, despite how it’s clearly meant to represent something. I’ve become certain that this wind noise symbolizes fate, and I’ll tell you why.
In the MOTF 6 scene, just after Nanaki explains how he gained knowledge of the Whispers via contact with Aerith (7:23), they emerge and begin swirling aggressively around Aerith (7:26). Her hair and dress blow and ripple in the resulting wind. From this very moment onward “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” (3:00), a string section (bowed instruments in the violin family) that deliberately emphasizes the airy sound of the bow crossing the strings enters, creating a windy effect that adds to the already present wind noise (that started at 1:45). As the Whispers progressively become even more aggressive onscreen, both the wind SFX of the cutscene and the wind noise in the piece get louder and louder. Because of the timing of its appearance and crescendo in the cutscene, I’m certain the wind noise is meant to represent the restrictive flow of fate; it only makes sense, given that destiny is a current —or a wind— that cannot be broken, and Aerith is like a helpless petal in fate’s carefully planned storm. Of course, it’s also quite significant that the Whispers make a windy noise as they fly. You can hear it every time they’re onscreen, like when they first appear to Cloud in chapter 2 of Remake (17:45-18:20), or when the White Whispers hold Cloud back from chasing after Aerith during Rebirth’s Sleeping Forest scene in chapter 14 (28:43-29:45). You can also hear the wind sounds in other Whisper-related tracks, such as “Whorl of Whispers” (clearly audible at 2:50-3:05), as well as “A Death Not Ordained by Fate” (clearly audible at 2:56-3:18). Therefore, I’ll call these wind noises the “fate motif”.
V. b) ii. 2) Interpreting “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra”
In part 1 of “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” (0:00-1:45), Aerith’s theme and Cloud’s true theme play simultaneously, their respective phrases fitting perfectly together, interweaving peacefully and softly. It sounds like the two of them are chatting, dancing bashfully yet contently and in perfect sync, glad to be exactly where they’re meant to be as their themes sing together in harmony (soft piano). Part 1 of this piece is about Cloud and Aerith becoming important to one another as they discover their soulmate bond.
Unfortunately that contentment doesn’t last. In part 2 (1:45-3:00), Cloud experiences a moment of psychic vulnerability (world theme’s interference section). Fate lurks (fate motif enters quietly). His instability forces our couple’s sweet dance to a halt, and Aerith’s theme must retreat as Cloud’s confusion takes center stage. Sephiroth torments and taunts him (semi-tone played by strings, 2:03-2:10), taking advantage of Cloud’s psychic interference to plunge him into darkness (world theme’s interference section ends, low cello enters, 2:18): Cloud temporarily becomes a darker version of himself as evil corrupts him (piano plays section A phrases 1 and 2 of Cloud’s true theme in minor, 2:18-2:53). Jenova finally reveals itself and promptly exits, releasing Cloud’s mind from its grasp (seven first notes of parasite motif played twice on piano 2:53-3:00). Cloud is free, but the damage has been done: his dance with Aerith has long been interrupted, and she is gone. Part 2 of “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” is about Cloud being manipulated in service of Sephiroth and Jenova’s evil plan, interrupting his interaction with Aerith.
Part 3 (3:00-3:33) kicks off the mechanisms of a tragic fate (strings section joins fate motif, 3:00). Both anxious that she’s disappeared from his side and terrified of the darkness he just discovered inside him (in part 2), Cloud fearfully calls out for Aerith (phrase 1 of Cloud’s true theme’s section A, timid and hesitant piano, 3:04-3:15). Before his psychic interference began (start of part 2), Cloud’s voice was accompanied by Aerith’s as they grew closer and closer (their character themes mingling in part 1)… but now, Aerith isn’t answering his call, and he cannot find her (Aerith’s theme doesn’t to join Cloud’s anymore).
Anxious, Cloud tries calling out for Aerith a second time (section A phrase 2 of Cloud’s true theme’s, 3:19-3:31), searching for her in the hopes that they can continue their dance, but even now, Aerith does not respond. She’s gone (Aerith’s theme remains absent). Destiny keeps Aerith away from Cloud (fate motif gently crescendos). Part 3 of “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” is about Cloud’s separation from Aerith, his search for her, and the fear and anxiousness he feels when he realizes he cannot find her.
And then, part 4 begins with a sweet, gentle voice, calling out from the blackened horizon: it’s Aerith (section B phrase 1 of Aerith’s theme, soft piano, 3:33-3:45). Cloud finally hears her respond to his pleas: he’s found her. Fate begins howling in protest, doubling its efforts to keep Cloud and Aerith apart (fate motif crescendos noticeably in reaction to Aerith’s theme, 3:45). You can just picture Cloud running toward Aerith, struggling against the current of destiny to try and close the distance between them. Aerith tries calling out for Cloud a second time, (section B phrase 2 of Aerith’s theme, 3:40-3:43), but the Whispers only swirl around her more ferociously, taking her away in the uncompromising current of fate (fate motif continues to crescendo). Aerith tries again (section B phrase 1 of Aerith’s theme, 3:47-3:49). It sounds like she’s saying “Cloud, I’m over here, come find me!”
Fate doesn’t take too kindly to her defying it. Cloud and Aerith are not supposed to be together; it can’t be, it won’t. She’s destined to die to save the planet, and he’s destined to remain hollow forevermore. I can picture Cloud breaking into a sprint at the sound of her voice, running countercurrent to the flow of destiny— but the winds are so loud, fate’s demands are so strong, and the Whispers are shrieking in defense of destiny now. Aerith’s voice emerges for the fourth time (first three notes of section B phrase 3 of Aerith’s theme, 3:54 to 3:56). Fate screams louder, louder (steep crescendo of fate motif, 3:59-4:02). In a desperate hail Mary, Aerith shouts out one more time, as though throwing her hand out toward Cloud’s extended fingers (section C phrase 1 of Aerith’s theme, louder and more insistent, cutting through the fate motif as it crescendos sharply, 4:00-4:06). Part 4 of “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” is about Cloud and Aerith desperately trying to defy fate in order to be together. And then, it all stops: fate has seemingly quieted Aerith (4:04-4:08)…
Part 5 (4:08-4:27) begins with Cloud jumping, launching himself off the ground with all his strength (Cloud’s true theme section A phrase 2, first 5 notes, melody starting on the note E5 and ascending) as Aerith plummets toward the ground in a fatal fall (Aerith’s theme section C phrase 1, melody starting on the note E6 and descending, the last note altered)— he successfully catches her in mid-air (both Cloud’s ascending melody and Aerith’s descending melody meet in the middle of the octave, first uniting on B5, and then ending on A5). I’ve recreated the melodies for you here so you can hear this reunion more clearly. If you consider that the airy strings in this piece represent fate, which I do, the fact that they follow Cloud and Aerith’s themes in part 5 signifies that they are now in control of their own destinies, and successfully making it their fate to reunite.
To be completely frank, I did not realize until right now writing this that Cloud unites with Aerith in part 5, even though his theme is right there. I’m so excited to share this part with you.
We hear Aerith once more, her voice quietly trailing off into the silence (phrase 4 of section C of Aerith’s theme) with no conclusion (phrase 5 normally follows phrase 4 to conclude Aerith’s theme, but is absent here). Part 5 of “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” suggests that Cloud will save Aerith and that the couple will change their fate, but also conveys an uncertain and open-ended quality.
(continued in part 5)

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