WALLET OF GREED: Every night at midnight this wall it will refill itself to exactly $2000 in $100 bills. If you cross into another country, it will automatically change the bills to the local currency, following the exchange rate. The cash can be deposited. Placing a credit card in the wallet will wipe it free of debt. Increase luck
WATCH OF SLOTH: Pressing the hidden button on this watch will freeze time for a period of up to two hours, allowing you to play now and save work for later. Nobody will be aware of the situation, or of your movements during the freeze. It will need to recharge for at least three hours before the next activation. Smaller dials show a countdown of the freeze remaining and time until recharge is complete
SPECTACLES OF ENVY: While wearing these glasses you'll be able to see a person's deepest darkest secret written above their heads. Prolonged use of the glasses will eventually show additional personal information about the person including the thoughts regarding you. Allow to change body to copy other like add freckles or slowly change hair or eye color
RING OF PRIDE: Wearing this ring greatly enhances your cognitive abilities allowing you to access your memory information with extreme clarity. You will retain all knowledge allowing you to instantly learn languages and skills. Your creativity he will increase exponentially, and your competence in drive will be unmatched by anyone around you.
FLASK OF GLUTTONY: This flask will always be filled with your liquor of choice no matter how much you drink. Caring this flask gradually causes you to become more fit and you will maintain this figure regardless of how much you eat or drink. You will no longer require a sleep to maintain stamina and your body will become resistant to most forms of disease.
GUN OF WRATH: This pistol increases accuracy of the shooter. The gun will never jam, rust, or malfunction. The magazine will always be full while holding this firearm. Anyone who looks at you, including cameras, will see you as someone completely different than your actual appearance when shooting
LOCKET OF LUST: Wearing this lock it or having it on your personal possession will cause anyone you desire to find you sexually attractive. They were on hopelessly give into your advances allowing you to sleep with any person of your choosing. Placing someone's photograph with in this like it will cause them to fall uncontrollably in love with you so if the necklace remains in your ownership. You are immune to sexual diseases and there will be no unwanted pregnancy.

ACT 1. Sunday afternoon after visiting the local market two brothers wait for their train to arrive. If they were even a minute late, they knew their mother would surely scold them and scold the elder of the two far worse. The idea of another beating did not bother the elder brother; he had been through far worse just dealing with the brat and his attempted jailbreaks, though something did begin to make him painfully nauseous forcing him to feel pressured by the light breeze as if gravity had suddenly been increased tenfold. All his senses were heightening beyond anything he had thought possible.All around him he saw that the once energetic and hyperactive passengers had become little more than mannequins; their movements slowing to a standstill. They had all gone silent. The station was no longer filled with the cries of children or the gentle laughs of their parents. He had never heard such silence in such a crowded location. He did not feel panicked, nor did he feel a need to act for this silence was oddly comforting to him. However, the newly calm atmosphere would quickly be the source of a lifetime of suffering.His hand began to reach for his brother in an attempt to call his attention. Though in a moment of both unprecedented shock and exhaustion John shoved his younger brother onto the rails of an oncoming train. Local news would report the incident as nothing more than a tragic manic episode of a young sixteen-year-old. However, for John this single visceral instant in which all of his brother's bones were instantly crushed was stretched into hours. He was painfully aware of how every bone in his brother's body contorted in inhuman ways some nearly resembling perfect right angles, until eventually, they snapped and sent insurmountable pain throughout his nervous system. His blood curling screams were made mute by the screech of the train coming to a halt, though, by the time they stopped, his brother had torn his every vocal cord and had long ago lost consciousness. Still on the platform, the elder brother stood still, attempting to process what exactly he had done. He had no idea what force had compelled him to push his brother, but that instant would forever define what he saw as reality.That however was nineteen years ago, in present day he lived in isolation far from any person. He spent his isolated days wandering the land around his cabin completing house chores that distracted him from reminiscing about his days in the asylum or as he liked to call it “The Echo Room” where he was transferred after the incident. He headed inside after spending a portion of his morning counting all one-hundred-and-thirty-two trees that were showing signs of life after the harsh winter that nearly forced him to cut down two of them for firewood. Once inside he began preparing his morning coffee when he heard a loud creak come from the hall. He (after many incidents) learnt to avoid the boards that creaked, so in his mind immediately an intruder was breaking into his cabin searching for food or his stash of special edition coffee. Deciding to investigate he walked towards the noise when suddenly he heard two knocks at his front door. Confused and slightly worried, he proceeded to walk towards the door making sure not to step on any of the annoyingly loud floorboards.He approached and looked through the peephole and saw only what remained of the melting snow outside. Opening the door, he saw that only his steps led to the doormat. He glanced around and saw no indication of any life aside a few dark patches on the snow. He was about to close the door when he noticed a tiny red package wrapped in a radiant red bow placed clear from where the door would open. Cautiously picking it up, he noticed how it had almost no weight to it; as if empty. He walked inside and sat at his desk planning to journal later about the weird morning he had been having. He examined the exterior of the package and saw how not only was it near perfect condition but it was also slightly warm to the touch; as if recently held. He undid the bow and cautiously opened the package, half expecting an explosive of some sort. Though, all he found was a ragged ripped piece of paper. Unremarkable aside from the fact that it was inside such a carefully constructed package. On the other side he saw that it had some scarlet lettering inscribed into it reading.“Ouroboros”. At first believing it to be a prank by the kids who had heard rumors about him, and his incident, nearly caused him to dismiss it entirely deeming it little more than a slightly humorous event. He decided to put it aside for now as he had coffee left to drink that was quickly getting cold. He walked back towards the kitchen still distracted by the idea of no trace being left by whoever had left the gift. Was it even a gift? Maybe it was just some well-executed prank? In any manner he would later have a better look at it. He absentmindedly, reached for his cup and immediately pulled his hand back shocked by the temperature of the cup. It was frozen! Almost to a complete solid. He thought himself slightly distracted but not enough to freeze his morning coffee especially not his special edition coffee. First The Box and now this, it was all adding up to an annoying morning. Was it still morning? No, that’s not right. He had just spent the day counting trees. How could it still possibly be morning?The thought of Dr. Lumis being correct about his mental condition after so many years sent a chill down his spine especially since last time they talked, he did not exactly behave amicably. He was sure that both incidents had been isolated events that could never happen again. Sure, he had heard the echoes every once in a while, but he was never insane like the others; this he knew to be a fact. If he was insane, how could he have ever left? Disoriented and beginning to sweat, his legs suddenly gave out causing him to fall backward landing on the cold wooden floorboards. He looked around hurriedly expecting to see an intruder that had somehow found him. After seeing nothing but his pristine furniture, he steadied himself and began to control his breathing. He slowly got up causing the wood underneath to creak under the sudden release of weight. Deciding to further assure himself he went around the cabin checking in all four rooms. He found nothing aside from his own disturbances. Still feeling slightly nervous and disturbed he headed back towards the living room in search for The Box with the red bow determining that it had somehow triggered his current situation. The Box was still where he placed it; much to his relief. He sat down. He looked once again at the scarlet lettering.
Act 2. Back in the asylum he would often spend his days wondering how he could have ever been grouped alongside individuals who had purposefully and viciously committed heinous crimes against innocent victims. He was not insane like them. Whatever had caused his hand to shove his brother had long abandoned him. His routine now consisted of cleaning whatever mess the older residents made in the halls and transporting lab waste to the crematorium. He would clean from the southern stalls all the way to the northern cemetery and make his rounds gathering the waste from the rooms. It was a simple job but lonely, nonetheless. The halls were often only illuminated by tiny flickering red lights that indicated the position of the cameras through which Dr.Lumis would often monitor John during his nightly crusades. Though incredibly distasteful, John did not mind, he accepted that odd situations would be easier to explain if someone of credit had seen them. Yet despite this, he felt he was being watched by someone other than the doctor. He assumed that this feeling was due to the paranoia he had been diagnosed with a few months back. On a particular night, moments after dumping another bag of soft solids and dense liquids down the chute, he heard footsteps, just outside the room. Expecting to see the doctor he begrudgingly walked towards the door. Exiting and seeing no one he called out for the doctor but got no response aside from the echo of his own voice. He began to walk towards where he had heard the footsteps come from when he suddenly collapsed out of exhaustion. The same exhaustion that had plagued him during the moment of his brother’s death. He tried to reach for his panic button (a gift from Lumis) but it had disappeared from his chain. He tried to scream but not a single whisper was heard. He gazed into the dark corridor where he had thought Dr.Lumis had gone, but saw nothing but soft shadows. Though something was unnervingly wrong about them. They moved as if following an order, all synchronized, all heading towards him. That night in the asylum had left him scared to even return to the disposal area; he feared that The Shadows might eventually be able to reach him. The Shadows did not haunt him unaccompanied: they followed alongside The Echo tormenting his nights. While The Shadows could not reach him during daylight, he could never escape The Echo. It followed wherever he went and tracked everything he did. Dr.Lumis explained that he merely suffered from an extreme case paranoia but John saw the others; who yelled and who screamed true nonsense, he was perfectly aware of himself and the ones around him. Dr. Lumis secretly believed patient #132 experienced Hyper-sanity though this he would never verbally confess. It was term he decided would for now adequately describe his patient’s acute awareness of The Shadows and The Echo. John would for many years go without hearing The Echo after that night, only ever hearing what seemed like the final moans of a dying voice. Back in present day, he hoped he wasn’t suffering another hallucination as they tended to leave him in an embarrassing shocked state. He questioned what “Ouroboros” could possibly mean in relation to himself. He considered the possibility of it being an early warning of some threat to the sanctity of his home. He quickly dismissed it as he had not interacted with anyone long enough to possibly annoy them. Weird them out? Sure. Offend them? Maybe with his sense of fashion. Following his incredibly fine-tuned survival instincts he put on a light coat and went outside to walk among the trees. A mundane task, but one he truly enjoyed especially since he hoped it would distract him for a short while. Just before he closed the door behind him, he took one more look at The Box sitting on his desk and decided to take it with him in case he met the person who had left it. The sun had begun to set marking the end of the day. He watched the sun hide behind the mountain range letting the world bathe in darkness for another night. John did not dislike the night (he had worked nightshifts in The Echo Room for years) but he didn’t find the freezing cold to be ideal. He had not left his land for what was a few years now and the idea of even slightly stepping out of his comfort was making him incredibly anxious. Still, he walked forward towards wherever the path took him. The night only got darker and quieter, and he only got colder. He did not see the lightning bugs that usually warded away the dark near the edge of his hill. Without the soft hum of bugs or soft breeze that would brush against his beard he felt alone. Even the nights back in the asylum did not possess this level of quiet. He kept moving hoping that eventually he would find something that could break the uncomfortable silence. As he continued down the hill, he realized he could no longer distinguish the path from the dirt surrounding it. He considered heading back when he realized he had not kept track of where he had come from. Not only was he lost but alone with his thoughts and whatever had been watching him from the start. He walked a step forward and then another one back repeatedly. What he was attempting to achieve was beyond reason. Had he gone mad? No, he was perfectly sane. “Wait, I can hear them clearly now” he spoke, his voice dried from the cold.“This is not a hallucination” he spoke softly.“i-I AM NOT HALLUCINATING” he proclaimed. He heard The Echo once more though they were not of his voice but rather of Another. He had long been aware of “The Echo” but he could never fully determine whether it was a dream or an effect of the chemicals but this Other was undoubtedly real. “I don’t know where you are but please. Are you real?” he asked the night. He could now hear The Echo or rather feel the pressure of its words upon his reality. Had it been trying to hide the Other? He walked forward and pulled out The Box. “You gave me this right? What for? What purpose does it serve?” No one responded.Annoyed, he threw it as far as he could down the hill. “THERE! THIS CAN’T CONTINUE WITHOUT IT, RIGHT?” He shouted at the endless empty. That’s when out of the darkness emerged a faint light. Was it a lightning bug or maybe a sign of civilization?
Act 3. Cautiously, he approached the cold light and saw that the light was artificial. The tube inside flickered before another appeared a few feet ahead, and then another and then another and then what seemed like an uncountable amount more. He took a step forward and noticed that the ground underneath had turned to hard white tile. Accepting that this was not the weirdest occurrence that had affected him he proceeded to walk forward making sure to keep a mental note to journal about it later. The surrounding landscape transformed into white walls that every so often had a window that let him peek at the other side. At first, he could still see the snowy landscape, but it to slowly changed; first having scattered papers and then chairs, cabinets, and desks until they eventually resembled a typical office. Its purpose was not obvious to him, and neither was the hallway but if they were changing surely, it possessed a deeper metaphorical meaning that related to his life. He saw a door at the very end of the hall and decided to not postpone the ploy of whatever “The Echo” was planning. He stood before the door wondering about what it could possibly contain. John proceeded to open the door. Inside was a desk along with a single cabinet. Walking inside he noticed that the room was illuminated by some otherworldly source that had no words that could possibly describe it. He walked towards the desk and a file he had not seen previously, sat open. Inside was a description of his physical appearance. “Age: 35. Height: 5’8. Weight: 185 lbs. Hair: Black with obvious signs of stress. Eyes: Brown. Character Aptitude: High.” “Okay, I get it. I’m old, you didn’t have to expose my hair like that” he said slightly embarrassed quickly restyling his hair. He noticed that even though they had an almost perfect description of his hobbies, dreams and wishes they did not have a single picture as if they for some reason were only able to use words. “SOOO you know about that one time in the asylum (don’t ask) BUT NOT A SINGLE PICTURE? That’s lame.” he said mockingly. On the final page he found what looked like an incomplete file; most of the personal attributes had not yet been filled and only a note was made reading. “They don’t need a complete story just one they can understand.” Besides the fact that whatever role he played in this act had been a mere afterthought; he was confused as to how anyone could have ever gathered such sensitive and personal information about his isolated life. Was it The Echo? Had it told them his life? A phone started to ring somewhere in the room abruptly breaking the silence he had become used to. He quickly rotated towards the source of the ringing but did not find anything. There was only him and the four walls that despite the lighting did not change a shade of grey. He walked towards one of them that seemed to be where the noise came from resting his hand on it and gently put his ear to it thinking that the ringing was from another room entirely. The wall he had just laid a hand on had no longer a physical representation and causing John to fall through to the other side. Disoriented he slowly looked up and saw The Telephone illuminated by what seemed to be the same light that illuminated the previous room. This one however was far more powerful and concentrated solely on The Telephone. He approached it expecting a chasm to somehow appear underneath his feet. The Telephone did not stop ringing and only seemed to increase in intensity (though this could have simply been a hallucination). He lifted it to cut the blaring noise and slowly put it to his ear. “hello?” “…” “…” “The protagonist only dies if the story ends” the voice said quietly. “HUH? YOU DRAGGED ME HERE TO TELL ME THAT OMINOUSLY ANNOYING LOAD OF *********!” “…I’m so sorry” The call disconnected not out of offense but rather out of completion. John slammed the phone back onto its stand and decided it was time for this nonsense to end. He walked out into the room he was in before anxiously attempting to find another exit: only to be met with solid walls. What wicked game had he been roped into? When would it end? These were questions he would answer far earlier than he expected. A door appeared in the center of the room. No, it was more of a two-dimensional plane that appeared to be a sort of portal. With no other options, John stepped into the newly opened portal.
Act 4. On the other side was a station, and his ears were immediately flooded with the cries of children and the laughs of their parents. He walked around moving through the crowd careful to not miss any indication of the location. His pace increased as he began to recognize the commuters shortly realizing exactly where he was. He rushed to a platform, the platform where he and his brother were to arrive after their day in the market. He sat on a nearby bench committed to saving his brother no matter who he would have to shove instead. Three agonizing days passed with the daily commuters repeating their routine with the slightest variations. One of these variations would be the key to preventing the day that haunted his nights. Something would soon cause him to shove his brother onto the tracks. He was determined to stop the fall or kill himself to keep his brother safe.He heard a familiar laughter and turned towards the source and saw his brothers face uncontrollably laughing and himself lightly smiling. He began to run towards them but felt once again suddenly exhausted. As if the air became a type of nonnewtonian sludge making his legs impossibly heavy. The crowd around him seemed to be moving just as easily as before; children laughing just as maniacally and just as carelessly. He tried to yell to them, but his lungs were filled with the dense fluid drowning any screams he attempted. He was forced to watch how his brother got closer and closer to the edge. Through much effort, he managed to get close enough to extend a hand towards his past trying to desperately push him away from his brother. The past reacted in what seemed to be a defensive system and sent a temporal anomaly throughout the space his past and present inhabited. Time began to exponentially speed forward. In a last desperate attempt to prevent his brother’s death he tried to distract the past long enough to let the train pass without incident, but the temporal anomaly caused the relative slow velocity of his touch to have the effect of a sudden jerk and in his final moments of consciousness he saw his brother accelerate towards the rails in a split second. He awoke back in the office alone with nothing, but the realization of what force had killed his brother. He curled into the fetal position and began to cry; still believing his lungs to be filled with the dense liquid he did not let out a single sigh. He spent several hours in this state of painful silence without even opening his eyes. His emotions were chaotic and his thoughts unending. They tormented him for hours far after he had run out of tears to let out. They were merciless and torturous forbidding him from resting, insisting on his suffering. Being the cause of his brother’s death nearly caused him to go insane yet part of him kept insisting that Another was to blame. Another had caused him to do it. The Other had forced his hand. Of this, he was now sure. The Other enjoyed his suffering, The Other forced him to kill his brother. He had not eaten nor slept in what seemed like years and yet he stood up defying the gravity that held him down. He took a deep breath of as much oxygen as his lungs allowed and began to speak. “Whoever you are. Whatever you are. Wherever you are. Just know I will no longer play for your entertainment the rest is entirely my choice” he said threateningly. He then began to walk forwards confidently towards the dark wall and through the hidden door that he was not supposed to see. He entered what seemed to be a studio room though, unlike the sterile office; it was trashed. Papers littered the floor and empty bottles populated the lone mattress. On it laid a journal that had recently had liquid spilt on it. He picked the journal and gently opened it and began to read. It was scratched with the stray ideas of a creator who seemed to have never decided upon an end or beginning to his story; yet possessing the journey. He saw many ideas that together seemed to create a way for the continuity to depend entirely on Another rather than itself. A thought described in a single word interested him enough to take it with him. The room started to dissolve around him transforming into a cold landscape. Armed with the knowledge of who he was he treaded what remained of the worn-out path. The sun began to rise signing the start of another day, yet John did not seem to notice as he was focused on something buried in the snow. He could not see much of it yet he knew it was The Box he had thrown the previous night. He dug it up and began his walk up the hill once more. He eventually arrived at his cabin and walked towards his front door….
Act 5.
If you wish to rebel; continue reading on the next page.
Begin the story once more on Truth 2.
If you wish to ward away The Other; don’t read any further
If you wish to follow The Echo read Truth 3
To understand turn to Truth 4
Truth 1
…Before deciding that no longer would he be a puppet for someone’s amusement. John arrogantly began marched back down the hill and headed north towards the nearest interstate a few miles from his home hoping that he had derailed The Echo’s plot. It took him hours on foot, but he would eventually come across the road and start his journey back to civilization no longer subject to the whims of an Otherworldly Audience. He believed his future was now his to decide. He decided what he would become. He decided when and what to think. This he was sure would be how he escaped his torment. John suddenly suffered a complete body collapse and fell forward landing face first onto the scorching road. It would be several sweltering hours before anyone would find him. But eventually someone did, john suffering heavy burns and on the brink of death was saved. He would awake months later in a hospital bed though no one would ever know of this. Weeks would pass as john laid in the hospital bed unable to speak or even move; alerting no one to his consciousness. The doctors and nurses were busy with whatever important patients needed immediate attention; they walked from one end to the other in what seemed like mere minutes. The entire time the only company he had was The Echo and yet slowly it too seemed to forget his existence as well. Eventually The Echo having no interest went away.Jane a third-year medical student had recently joined the staff a month prior and had already been assigned two elders and one child. Though overwhelmed she did not grow annoyed nor frustrated; she loved her job and by proxy her patients. Despite her benevolent nature there was a single patient she never went near as he always seemed to be watching her despite his eyes being shut for over four months. Any time she got near to patient #132 she would begin to get nauseous and quickly retreat. She had no ID on the man, but it seemed he was dehydrated for far longer than should’ve been possible and should be by all accounts dead if not near it. Whenever she worked nightshifts, she would swear that she heard the man whimper slightly as if to warn her of something. Even when she was on the opposite side of the building, she would hear the echo of his groans. She would eventually be transferred and would soon forget the man who after 6 months was officially declared braindead and was due to be disposed of, yet she would still every once in a while, still hear The Echo. Forgotten Ending
Truth 2…Realizing that there was no other choice John took a step forward while placing the note he ripped from the journal into The Box making sure to keep it neatly packaged. He saw the footprints he had left two nights before and carefully stepped into each one making sure to not disturb the surrounding snow. Whatever…Whoever had set him on this path allowed him to live a life of suffering, a life of loss, and a life of pain. This, he felt was the way things were intended to play out; the way it had to end. He placed The Box on the final step making sure it would not be knocked away whenever the door would eventually open. He walked away nearly to the edge of the property when he looked back once more. Managing to peek inside he saw his past still making his coffee when he saw an almost invisible distortion appear near the front door. He smiled and turned away only saying…Freedom ending
Truth 3…though spotting a disturbance near the back of the cabin distracted him from the front door. He decided to investigate for fear of losing a single blossoming tree. Arriving near the back fence he saw no indication of a disturbance giving him much needed reassurance. He heard noise emerge from inside the cabin giving him one more dilemma to deal with. He headed to the backdoor making sure to not disturb the recent snow and entered the cabin. Being sleep deprived and without coffee he had forgotten about the wooden floor and stepped on one that caused a creak to be heard throughout the cabin. He quickly hid in the bathroom fearing that he had disturbed the continuity that The Echo had established when suddenly a bright flash blinded him. He found himself at the front door next to The Box. Slightly amused he proceeded to knock on the door and was soon after transported once more to an empty hall. Both confused and entertained as he was being transported from one place in time to another he took a few steps forward alerting the past to his presence. Seeing his past enter the hall he ducked and quickly hid around the corner. His past seemed to believe that the doctor was in the halls and decided to investigate though just as he was nearing closer; his past collapsed. John saw how his fall was slowed as if moving through the dense liquid he had once gone through. He walked towards his past and noticed an old fashioned panic button that would instantly call Dr.Lumis to his location. Measuring the consequences, he decided to remove the panic button and head back towards The Shadows. For a third and final time he was transported to a final location, the bottom of a snowy hill. Taking in his surroundings he noticed burn marks on the snow where his past would eventually walk through the portal whenever the past caught up. He reached into his pocket and realized how the plot was supposed to move forward. He walked until he reached the exact point where his past would once again find The Box. He kneeled and buried The Box making sure to erase any evidence of his own disturbances. Fully fulfilling his purpose John collapsed. The End.
“Did the hero die?” “What?” “Did he die?” “No? He beat the bad guy and saved the day remember?” “Yea but like AFTER.” “Well, I guess after a few years he would.” “No” The young child said growing annoyed, “when you said, “The End” did he die?” “No.” responded the elder brother. “Then what happened to him? Is he still alive?” “The protagonist only dies if you stop reading.” concluded the elder brother as if possessed. Begin again?
Truth 4…Then just as he took his first step forward everything began to rot. His trees, his home, his coffee, all of it was slowly eroding into a fine dust. He knew that another temporal anomaly would be the likely cause, but he had not yet experienced one that possessed this level of molecular destruction. The fabric of his reality was slowly and thoroughly being untangled into its most simple of compositions. It separated the light from dark, gravity from time, and words from spaces.John could now comprehend what had defined his reality for so many painful years, he finally understood The Narrative and how all possible endings had been chosen long before his creation. John had been a slave from the moment The Narrative began; not once in his entire existence had he ever had a real choice only walking paths already treaded by Another. He was nothing but a plot device in an otherwise self-indulging tale written by a gentle master forced to be cruel for those above. From the moment this story began, John was in pain. He could never hope to truly escape; he could only die until he arose once more. Had John never understood what his life really was then maybe he could’ve found meaning in his suffering. Unfortunately, this choice has now forced John to become aware of how truly meaningless his existence was. His life was little more than entertainment for The Other; they were the ones truly in control. For as long as The Other remained, The Echo would doom John to eternal suffering. The Echo was never in control of The Narrative; he too was merely a subject to it by an even greater force. The Echo did not wish for John to suffer but The Other would not allow John to live if he did not. It is a toxic cycle of pain, suffering and realization that forces John to relive The Narrative lifetime after lifetime. The Narrative must have suffering intertwined into its foundation otherwise The Other would grow bored and erase the reality ending John in but a mere thought. Don’t you see? Don’t you understand? This is reality; John cannot exist without pain, The Echo cannot live without a narrative, and The Other is you. THE END......
Intended to be a philosophical narrative detailing the tragic relationship between the reader, the narrator, and the character and how they cannot coexist without hurting each other.

To whom it may concern in microsoft,
I am really getting frustrated with your operating system. I am 50 years old, and I learned DOS back in the 80s. Every year, I notice more and more intrusion into my personal life. If you were to compare a Windows operating system with someone's home, it would be no different than putting hidden cameras and microphones in every part of the home, including the washroom and the bedroom. In fact, I think there would be even more cameras and mics placed in the bedrooms and washroom. The very fact that people would prefer privacy in those areas, but because people would expect more privacy in those places, Microsoft would place one inside the toilet to monitor the size, the color of the turds, if a girl was on her period, how many times someone wiped their ass, if someone decided to take a shower, how long they take a shower, how well they scrub their junk, then even give those things ratings and send off all that information to their servers. This is what is going on in every Microsoft operating system if you were to compare the OS to someone's home. Basically, you can call someone's computer their digital home. Why do people put up with it? Why would someone agree to it? Now just imagine you were trying to own your own home, but then Microsoft came in and made it too expensive by screwing with the market, so it made it impossible to build or own your own home. Then gives you one option: either your digital self lives in the streets homeless, or you rent one of Microsoft's homes and you must agree to the terms or you cannot live in their home. So you move in and it seems not so bad at first. You don't really realize what is going on, and most never even realize it, and for many that do find out, there are even more cameras in the washroom and bedroom than there are in the living room. It's such a sick invasion of privacy they go into denial and pretend to themselves that it's not happening as that is their only way to cope with the vile sickness of what is occurring.
When you have a home or business, your cameras are pointed outwards so you feel safe inside. But when cameras are pointed inwards, that means you're in a prison. Slowly, the cage is closing around the people, and it is hard for most to even see, but it's there, and eventually if that cage closes too much where the people feel they cannot even move around, that's when shit will hit the fan. But those who are closing this fence around the people realize this, so constantly they are testing on the maximum they can put the fence around the people without making them freak out, and so every year it gets a little smaller. How can they do this? How can they violate basic human rights and nobody react? Well, when you control the flow of information, you control the people. Also, the law does not recognize a human being as a human being with inherent rights and dignity but instead recognizes a human being as a legal person with granted rights and obligations that if those obligations are not fulfilled are punishable by law.
I am just wondering how my operating system became a build lab 19041.vb_release.191206-1406 Docker Desktop. Everything is saved on your servers; my desktop is no longer my desktop; it's your desktop with all my information. It did not clearly say, "Do you want to have everything you do saved on another server?" It does not warn me that's what it is going to do or that's what it is doing; it just takes whatever it wants, which is everything, and then saves it on their system. I could just hear it now, a tech saying to another, "So what color was his turd today? Oh, oh, interesting, very interesting, because you know if you try and hide that information from us we need to know the information even more. Why do you think we have a camera and a mic in the toilet bowl and one in the shower and another looking down at you?"
I never agreed to use a test version of Windows; I never knowingly agreed to have my files saved on another computer; I never knowingly agreed to any of the data collection that violates my basic human rights. Yet these things go on and are built within the operating system itself. Windows' main purpose is not to provide the end user with services; the operating system's main purpose is data collection of the end user, then to hide the data collection from the end user as to not notice it occurring, then its purpose is to create services to lure people into using the device. How can you detect a virus, a trojan, or a rootkit on your computer when the God damn Operating system on the computer is the rootkit?

There was a young girl named Alice. She loved paranormal stories. She loved to read about ghosts and listen to other people’s hauntings. Alice desired, more than anything, to become another ghost story. Every time, when she went to bed, she faced the bedroom window. Every time she faced that window, she felt something was watching her even though nothing was there. This feeling of being watched only ever excited Alice.
As time went on, her bedroom window grew only annoyed her. The bedroom only ever showed the woods that connected to her backyard. She so desperately wanted something, anything in her window. A creature, a ghost, a face, or anything would have done the trick. Alice was tired of seeing nothing. She was going to get her ghost story one way or another.
One night, Alice snuck out of her bed and the house. She quietly walked over her bedroom window and looked out into the woods. There she saw something, someone. A man in a white rabbit mask with a camera around his neck and a knife in his pocket. He was hidden just out of view of her bedroom. In the end, she got her ghost story. Supposedly, Alice haunts the woods to this very day.

The most bizarre thing happened to me yesterday.
This is a throwaway account because this story has to do with a co-worker. Several co-workers and I have Reddit account and often post on subs related to the industry we’re in and I don’t want them to see this.
Yesterday, a female co-worker asked me to be her sperm donor.
I’m friendly with this woman. I like her. I think she’s genuinely a sweet person who takes her job seriously and is good at what she does. I don’t think she always gets a fair shake at work or is taken seriously some of the time due to her appearance and some might say flirty behavior. I don’t know if she’s trying to be flirty or if she’s just one of those super friendly people. There’s nothing crazy about her appearance or anything, she’s just objectively attractive. I’ve heard guys make inappropriate sexual jokes about her. There have been rumors about her hooking up with multiple male colleagues. There was even a rumor that she and I were having an affair at one point, which had no merit. I’ve never slept with this woman or done anything sexual with her. I find her attractive and admittedly sometimes I do have to force myself to maintain eye contact with her when she’s talking to me. She wears revealing blouses sometimes. I’m a boob guy, so I’m just being honest here. But I’d never pursue anything like that with her. I’ve only ever acted respectful towards her.
I’ve been divorced for about 2 years. I’ve dated some since then, but nothing serious that I want to commit to. I have kids with my ex-wife.
So she told me she needed to meet to discuss something important with me. I’m a director and she’s a manager, separate departments - I’m not her supervisor. My department handles some things for her department and I know she’s been having trouble with somebody on my team. I assumed that’s what she wanted to talk about.
Instead, she took me out to lunch to give me this big speech about why she wants to be a single mom and why she wants me to be her sperm donor! I was literally speechless. It was obvious she’s been thinking about it for a while. She’s even consulted a lawyer about the logistics of ensuring that a sperm donor of her choice could be guaranteed to not be held legally responsible for the child. She tried to assure me that she wouldn’t expect anything from me, she doesn’t want any involvement from me, and we wouldn’t have to tell anyone. We could even have actual sex if I wanted to do it that way, or we could be more formal about it, depending on my comfort level.
I mean, it’s bizarre and was very uncomfortable, but at the same time strangely flattering. I didn’t say no right away. I haven’t actually told her no at all. I mean, inside I was yelling no way, but why didn’t I actually tell her that? Maybe I just wanted me ego stroked a bit more, idk.
Of course I asked her why me. She said I’m nice, she likes me, I don’t treat her like a lot of the guys we work with. She thinks I’m “normal,” healthy as far as she’s aware, and she likes my physical features. But she’d want a full health history on me and my family before moving forward.
I asked her why she didn’t go to a sperm bank. She said that’s what she initially planned to do when she started seriously thinking about becoming a single mother, but once she started delving into it she discovered that there are many ethical issues with sperm banks. Shes been talking online with several women who have used known donors and has decided that’s the way she needs to go. She thinks I’m a good fit because while we’re friendly, we’re not friends, we don’t hang out with each other, we don’t know each other outside of work. She feels she knows me well enough to determine she likes me and certain traits/characteristics, without having to worry about it being weird because I’m not a close friend or somebody that would be around her family or friend group at all. Plus, I’m divorced now so there no spouse or partner to have to deal with.
She said she could always leave the company before anyone would possibly realize her kid looks like me if I’m worried about that. She feels she’d probably have to leave to avoid things being weird between us. She’s been studying for some sort of certification in hopes of finding a more specialized job anyway, she claims. We live in different cities, so our lives are totally separate outside of work.
I felt like it was a prank or hidden camera thing. Truly one of the most bizarre and unexpected things to happen to me. But when I googled “coworker asked me to be a sperm donor” I was surprised to find out this is far from an isolated incident. What’s even more bizarre is after reading some of these other stories, I’m not 100% about saying no. I mean, I’m about 90% sure I’ll say no. I felt bad telling her no on the spot and intended to let her believe that I was considering it over the weekend since I got the impression she had spent so much time thinking about it and rehearsing what she was going to say. But now I actually am finding a tiny part of myself considering it and I almost can’t believe myself.
Anyone ever been randomly asked to be a sperm donor before??? If you actually said yes, why? Did it work out in the end or become a legal mess? And no, I’m not seeming actual legal advice from Reddit.

I have been using the 1 Mark 5 for almost a year now and recently the updated version of the Xperia 1 Mark 6 has been released. Eventhough some features look compelling, like the optical 48mm camera, I am still in the process of discovering the advanced and hidden features of my Xperia 1 Mark V. After having used exclusively iPhones before the Sony, I am still curiously figuring out the best details and settings. Like mastering the manual mode of the camera, in which it really feels like your doing real photography, or figuring out the most comfortable screen resolution and size and white balance options.
After year 1, I am still super happy having made the switch to this wonderul peace of technology. I think every iPhone user knows the feeling of seeing the new iPhone released and already being bored with the existing device, but here I feel completely different and still really enjoy the Mark V and feel like I'm only slowly getting it all figured out in the best possible way. Have fun other niche-technology and tech identity enthusiasts, may you have a great time with the Xperia.

Is it normal to keep pictures of your ex in your camera roll? I really really was in love with this guy maybe still but i see now thats its okay ut was an experience and life moves on. Or should i delete them. They are in the hidden folder but, i go in there sometimes.

Has anyone gotten to the end of either SkieMechanic or PeacekeepeMechanic and gotten any exclusive reward for it?
Skier 1: Find encrypted flash drive (Reward: EXP, Skier Rep, Roubles, Gun, Mags, & Ammo) Skier 2: Hand over decrypted flash drive (Fails Peacekeeper Route) (Reward: Skier Rep & Roubles) Skier 3: Hand over documents with decrypted data (Reward: EXP, Skier Rep, Roubles, & Armor Plates) Skier 4: Plant 4 cameras around Ground Zero (Reward: EXP, Skier Rep, Roubles, & Weapon Parts)
Peacekeeper 1: Hand over decrypted flash drive (Fails Skier Route) (Reward: Peacekeeper Rep & Dollars) Peacekeeper 2: Hand over documents with decrypted data (Reward: EXP, Peacekeeper Rep, Dollars, and Armor Plates) Peacekeeper 3: Kill 5 PMCs on Ground Zero (Reward: EXP, Peacekeeper Rep, Dollars, & Weapon Parts)
Mechanic 1: Hand over encrypted flash drive and find pc parts (Reward: EXP, Mechanic Rep, Roubles, & Tech Loot) Mechanic 2: Stash Military Tech on Reserve & Shoot Flare at Reserve (Reward: EXP, Mechanic Rep, Roubles, Gun, Mags, & Ammo) Mechanic 3: Kill 10 scavs on Customs (Reward: EXP, Mechanic Rep, Roubles, Tech Loot, & Hideout Craft) Mechanic 4: Find hideout on lighthouse & Extract (Must complete Ground Zero task of Skier or Peacekeeper first) (Reward: EXP, Mechanic Rep, Roubles, Loose Loot) Mechanic 5: Get hard drive from hideout on Lighthouse (Reward: EXP, Mechanic Rep, Roubles, & Weapon parts)
I'm wondering if there is a hidden reward someone has gotten at the end. Or if this event is just Part 1 and we have to find out in Part 2 if we chose the right path or not.

So, for those of you who know my story I have been through a lot during R. Those who don’t can view my post history as I wrote a lot about it.
Back in June of last year I caught WW still in communication with AP. And by communication, I mean I caught her with a hidden camera in our bedroom on a FaceTime masterbating with him while I was staying at a local AirBNB for a golf tournament.
To say I was devastated is an understatement, as it invalidated 6 months of R and put us back to below zero. Looking back, I realize now that I was the only one driving R initially. I was active on subs, reading articles and books, learning everything I could about how to recover from this devastation and keep my family whole. I was also telling WW what I needed from her for R but to her it felt forced. Like I was telling her what needed to be done and when, like being in IC.
She didn’t want to do any of it back then. She was sorry, sure. Sorry for the pain she caused me. Sorry that the kids had to hear us fighting behind closed doors. Sorry that her friends thought less of her. Sorry she got caught. In her mind, she was still blaming me for the affair but knew she couldn’t say it out loud because she couldn’t defend that feeling under scrutiny.
Since DDay 3, I have seen a remarkable shift in my WW. She started IC shortly after and has been dedicated to improving herself as a person. She confessed her actions to our families, some of her friends and one couple that we are close with. She has cut her toxic mother off for long stretches (4 months) and no longer allows her influence on her life and our marriage. This was the big one for me as it was a massive strain on our marriage for its entirety. She has read books to better understand how she could allow herself to self sabotage like this. How she could take everything good in her life for granted and jeopardize it for so little gain. She has evaluated how she interacts with others (men in particular) and established clear boundaries for her behavior. She supports me in my career and helps more with the kids on a day to day basis (also a problem pre-affair). She acknowledges all the things I do for her and our family and expresses appreciation. She reciprocates and shows me how much she respects and values me on a daily basis. She communicates what she is feeling and when she needs more from me in a particular area (also a pre-affair issue). She recognizes AP’s motivations and feels shame for not seeing it sooner.
We have had a few missteps along the way, such as some omissions from the original affair coming to light as well as a coworker acting inappropriately that she didn’t share with me until I found the voicemails and made him call the both of us with his wife on the call also to admit what he was doing (threatened to send the voicemails to HR and blow up his career). While these were serious violations, we have worked through them along with her motivations for keeping them secret. She understands and verbalizes why her motivations were misguided and realizes that therapy has been key in getting her to understand these things.
As of now we are settled back into a comfortable routine, but this time it is more even when it comes to supporting each other. We have made new friendships with others outside of her long standing and somewhat toxic friend group and distanced ourselves from the ones that don’t support us. We have an improved level of intimacy that we are both comfortable with (though I do admit I miss the hysterical bonding 🤣). We focus more on family than before and our children have become much closer with their cousins as a result. We “date” each other often and she drives half of that equation now instead of me having to pursue her as before. We spend quality time with the kids as well as alone with each other every day. In short, we have built the marriage we want out of the ashes of the old one.
There are still struggles of course. I still harbor resentment and anger at times and can face triggers on isolated occasions. She is overcoming a lifetime of conditioning and poor coping skills which is not done overnight. We argue (respectfully of course) on things at times but we communicate our frustrations immediately now instead of letting them fester. I still have some struggles with intimacy as I can get stuck in my head in the moment on occasion, which concerns me, but we make it work.
At the end of the day, we both have taken this nightmare and have turned it into an opportunity to better ourselves and our marriage. To honestly and harshly assess our flaws and shortcomings and dedicate ourselves to either fix them or at least minimize their impact.
I look back on the period before DDay 3 and still have many regrets, from ignoring my gut during the affair to how I handled things after it came to light, but I don’t fault myself. I realize I was doing the best I could with the information I had available, and was making decisions from a place of integrity and hope. While I may have been naive at times, I never betrayed my own values during this process. I always made decisions with the best interests of my family at heart. We still have a long way to go and this is a life long endeavor for improvement, but at this moment I feel content and optimistic with our progress. This is a long, ugly path that can be avoided with emotional intelligence and maturity, but unfortunately some don’t have the self introspection needed to do so. That is where the childhood trauma comes into play in my opinion.

So, for those of you who know my story I have been through a lot during R. Those who don’t can view my post history as I wrote a lot about it.
Back in June of last year I caught WW still in communication with AP. And by communication, I mean I caught her with a hidden camera in our bedroom on a FaceTime masterbating with him while I was staying at a local AirBNB for a golf tournament.
To say I was devastated is an understatement, as it invalidated 6 months of R and put us back to below zero. Looking back, I realize now that I was the only one driving R initially. I was active on subs, reading articles and books, learning everything I could about how to recover from this devastation and keep my family whole. I was also telling WW what I needed from her for R but to her it felt forced. Like I was telling her what needed to be done and when, like being in IC.
She didn’t want to do any of it back then. She was sorry, sure. Sorry for the pain she caused me. Sorry that the kids had to hear us fighting behind closed doors. Sorry that her friends thought less of her. Sorry she got caught. In her mind, she was still blaming me for the affair but knew she couldn’t say it out loud because she couldn’t defend that feeling under scrutiny.
Since DDay 3, I have seen a remarkable shift in my WW. She started IC shortly after and has been dedicated to improving herself as a person. She confessed her actions to our families, some of her friends and one couple that we are close with. She has cut her toxic mother off for long stretches (4 months) and no longer allows her influence on her life and our marriage. This was the big one for me as it was a massive strain on our marriage for its entirety. She has read books to better understand how she could allow herself to self sabotage like this. How she could take everything good in her life for granted and jeopardize it for so little gain. She has evaluated how she interacts with others (men in particular) and established clear boundaries for her behavior. She supports me in my career and helps more with the kids on a day to day basis (also a problem pre-affair). She acknowledges all the things I do for her and our family and expresses appreciation. She reciprocates and shows me how much she respects and values me on a daily basis. She communicates what she is feeling and when she needs more from me in a particular area (also a pre-affair issue). She recognizes AP’s motivations and feels shame for not seeing it sooner.
We have had a few missteps along the way, such as some omissions from the original affair coming to light as well as a coworker acting inappropriately that she didn’t share with me until I found the voicemails and made him call the both of us with his wife on the call also to admit what he was doing (threatened to send the voicemails to HR and blow up his career). While these were serious violations, we have worked through them along with her motivations for keeping them secret. She understands and verbalizes why her motivations were misguided and realizes that therapy has been key in getting her to understand these things.
As of now we are settled back into a comfortable routine, but this time it is more even when it comes to supporting each other. We have made new friendships with others outside of her long standing and somewhat toxic friend group and distanced ourselves from the ones that don’t support us. We have an improved level of intimacy that we are both comfortable with (though I do admit I miss the hysterical bonding 🤣). We focus more on family than before and our children have become much closer with their cousins as a result. We “date” each other often and she drives half of that equation now instead of me having to pursue her as before. We spend quality time with the kids as well as alone with each other every day. In short, we have built the marriage we want out of the ashes of the old one.
There are still struggles of course. I still harbor resentment and anger at times and can face triggers on isolated occasions. She is overcoming a lifetime of conditioning and poor coping skills which is not done overnight. We argue (respectfully of course) on things at times but we communicate our frustrations immediately now instead of letting them fester. I still have some struggles with intimacy as I can get stuck in my head in the moment on occasion, which concerns me, but we make it work.
At the end of the day, we both have taken this nightmare and have turned it into an opportunity to better ourselves and our marriage. To honestly and harshly assess our flaws and shortcomings and dedicate ourselves to either fix them or at least minimize their impact.
I look back on the period before DDay 3 and still have many regrets, from ignoring my gut during the affair to how I handled things after it came to light, but I don’t fault myself. I realize I was doing the best I could with the information I had available, and was making decisions from a place of integrity and hope. While I may have been naive at times, I never betrayed my own values during this process. I always made decisions with the best interests of my family at heart. We still have a long way to go and this is a life long endeavor for improvement, but at this moment I feel content and optimistic with our progress. This is a long, ugly path that can be avoided with emotional intelligence and maturity, but unfortunately some don’t have the self introspection needed to do so. That is where the childhood trauma comes into play in my opinion.

So, for those of you who know my story I have been through a lot during R. Those who don’t can view my post history as I wrote a lot about it.
Back in June of last year I caught WW still in communication with AP. And by communication, I mean I caught her with a hidden camera in our bedroom on a FaceTime masterbating with him while I was staying at a local AirBNB for a golf tournament.
To say I was devastated is an understatement, as it invalidated 6 months of R and put us back to below zero. Looking back, I realize now that I was the only one driving R initially. I was active on subs, reading articles and books, learning everything I could about how to recover from this devastation and keep my family whole. I was also telling WW what I needed from her for R but to her it felt forced. Like I was telling her what needed to be done and when, like being in IC.
She didn’t want to do any of it back then. She was sorry, sure. Sorry for the pain she caused me. Sorry that the kids had to hear us fighting behind closed doors. Sorry that her friends thought less of her. Sorry she got caught. In her mind, she was still blaming me for the affair but knew she couldn’t say it out loud because she couldn’t defend that feeling under scrutiny.
Since DDay 3, I have seen a remarkable shift in my WW. She started IC shortly after and has been dedicated to improving herself as a person. She confessed her actions to our families, some of her friends and one couple that we are close with. She has cut her toxic mother off for long stretches (4 months) and no longer allows her influence on her life and our marriage. This was the big one for me as it was a massive strain on our marriage for its entirety. She has read books to better understand how she could allow herself to self sabotage like this. How she could take everything good in her life for granted and jeopardize it for so little gain. She has evaluated how she interacts with others (men in particular) and established clear boundaries for her behavior. She supports me in my career and helps more with the kids on a day to day basis (also a problem pre-affair). She acknowledges all the things I do for her and our family and expresses appreciation. She reciprocates and shows me how much she respects and values me on a daily basis. She communicates what she is feeling and when she needs more from me in a particular area (also a pre-affair issue). She recognizes AP’s motivations and feels shame for not seeing it sooner.
We have had a few missteps along the way, such as some omissions from the original affair coming to light as well as a coworker acting inappropriately that she didn’t share with me until I found the voicemails and made him call the both of us with his wife on the call also to admit what he was doing (threatened to send the voicemails to HR and blow up his career). While these were serious violations, we have worked through them along with her motivations for keeping them secret. She understands and verbalizes why her motivations were misguided and realizes that therapy has been key in getting her to understand these things.
As of now we are settled back into a comfortable routine, but this time it is more even when it comes to supporting each other. We have made new friendships with others outside of her long standing and somewhat toxic friend group and distanced ourselves from the ones that don’t support us. We have an improved level of intimacy that we are both comfortable with (though I do admit I miss the hysterical bonding 🤣). We focus more on family than before and our children have become much closer with their cousins as a result. We “date” each other often and she drives half of that equation now instead of me having to pursue her as before. We spend quality time with the kids as well as alone with each other every day. In short, we have built the marriage we want out of the ashes of the old one.
There are still struggles of course. I still harbor resentment and anger at times and can face triggers on isolated occasions. She is overcoming a lifetime of conditioning and poor coping skills which is not done overnight. We argue (respectfully of course) on things at times but we communicate our frustrations immediately now instead of letting them fester. I still have some struggles with intimacy as I can get stuck in my head in the moment on occasion, which concerns me, but we make it work.
At the end of the day, we both have taken this nightmare and have turned it into an opportunity to better ourselves and our marriage. To honestly and harshly assess our flaws and shortcomings and dedicate ourselves to either fix them or at least minimize their impact.
I look back on the period before DDay 3 and still have many regrets, from ignoring my gut during the affair to how I handled things after it came to light, but I don’t fault myself. I realize I was doing the best I could with the information I had available, and was making decisions from a place of integrity and hope. While I may have been naive at times, I never betrayed my own values during this process. I always made decisions with the best interests of my family at heart. We still have a long way to go and this is a life long endeavor for improvement, but at this moment I feel content and optimistic with our progress. This is a long, ugly path that can be avoided with emotional intelligence and maturity, but unfortunately some don’t have the self introspection needed to do so. That is where the childhood trauma comes into play in my opinion.

I don't know the official name for this contraption so I will just name it the LOTD (Low Observable Technology Drone)
How it works: In the center of the LOTD's interior is 2 magnets constantly pushing away from each other because they are facing the opposing directions, the position of this magnetic opposition changes to create the needed force to go any direction at any moment with virtually no arrow dynamics because of how magnetics work and the spherical shape of the craft. These 2 primary magnets would be surrounded by a separated layer covering the surrounding interior of the sphere allowing it to levitate in the air, so in short, the primary magnets or "steering magnets" allow the sphere to steer into a given direction while the separate magnets or "levitation magnets" give the needed force allowing the sphere to levitate so the sphere isn't just rolling around on the ground.
Where can it be used?

• Air: Magnets work on the Earth's surface, if you don't believe me buy some magnets, this should be enough info.
• Space: Magnets will work in space without any extra help, as they don’t need gravity or air¹. Electro-magnets would also work the same way in outer space as they do on Earth
• Underwater: Magnets work well underwater, and their magnetic field exists underwater just like it does above water¹²³. The pull force of a magnet keeps almost all of its strength underwater¹. Water is almost completely non-magnetic, so magnets work underwater the same as they do in air or in a vacuum³. Note: The LOTD's outer shell gives protection towards any outside elements.

Weaponization: The LOTD could be used as a transportive EMP device that uses electrical waves to cut signals, vehicles, aircraft, GPS, communication, etc. If used correctly a single LOTD could be used to collapse a city in just a few days to a week, multiple of these could potentially shut down an entire state with the exception of rural areas being virtually untouched due to less reliance on technology.
Detection: Out of everything this I am most uncertain about, but I speculate a secondary layer beneath the outside shell could potentially use Plasma stealth to evade detection, the use of Plasma technology may also support glowing sphere encounters however this could be completely wrong. I am certain it will not appear on thermal cameras for a reason I will disclose soon, and this also means it will be extremely quiet simply because it won't have any exterior propulsion needed to cause significant sound.
Why is it being hidden? Mainly the power of magnetic transportation but the proposed mass EMP weaponization could also cause concern giving the creators of this invention a very good reason to hide this technology.
Energy Source: The LOTD likely relies exclusively on electrical energy being the reason it does not have propulsion exhaust from gas-based fuel.

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When I wake up the next day, my head is swirling with questions. As I get up from my bed and go to clean myself, I can’t help but question everything! Did last night actually happen? I am pretty sure it did, but it all felt so bizarre… and wonderful! There’s a planetarium in the city, and it is magical in the most literal sense of the word! There are books on magic there, too! So I can probably start studying and learning more next time I visit!

Speaking of books… I have something to check there, don’t I?

As soon as I am out of the bathroom I go to the living room to get my pills and then, I start passing the pages of Humiko’s book. As I reach the ‘Epilogue’ section, I confirm to my horror that the words have completely disappeared.

In a panic, fearing the worst, I check my notes… oh, good, those were still here.

“What, were you fearing they would simply disappear too? Idiot.”

“Hey, with magic we really know nothing. It could have happened!”

I do feel a little silly but, yeah. For all we know, it could have happened. The point is that it didn’t!

Breathing way easier now, I sit down on one of the couches and sigh. Picking up my phone, I can confirm that it's Friday and it’s already eleven past noon. I guess this time I am justified in sleeping so much? But at the same time, I can’t help but feel a little guilty.

“Because you’re being lazy, even with your free time.”

With another deep sigh, I try to ignore the voices and just look straight up at the ceiling, tapping my chin for a moment.

How do we proceed from here?

Pelafina said I shouldn’t visit the Elysium early, because it gets full of people. I wonder how true that is… actually, I wonder how true anything she said was.

“Since when are you this distrustful?”

I don’t know. I don’t even know why I lied to her in the first place, but I just felt that this phrase, the one long complete phrase I managed to translate, is far more important than I know. I can’t share it… I actually don’t want to share anything with this lady?

“She will probably send the Cloaks if you stop cooperating though.”

That much I know, and I hate it. She has all the control over the situation!

“There’s one thing she can’t control though. She has no idea about your internet activity now, does she?”

… Good point. I have to focus on that!

I actually have to get back to GalaxyTaco, too! See what he's been doing and all that!

“But before all that, breakfast.”

Ah, right. Almost forgot… although, wouldn’t it be better to just ask for lunch at this point?

“Fair.”

Yes! Time for a burger.

“They feel blander and blander every time you buy one. Why even bother?”

Because they are still delicious, and more importantly, they are cheap and fast!

I quickly order a special Bisontian burger, with extra cheese of course, and then sit back down at the table, connecting my computer to the TER and tapping away a message at GalaxyTaco, to let them know I am up. Then, I write down my discoveries in the file I’m keeping. I’ll transcribe them to the notepad later.

I am adding the symbols (which I’ve learned are called Runes after a visit to the Elysium), meanings and effects I’ve learned. I’ve also learned that I can create Glyphs, which are combinations of Runes to create different effects. I wonder if they are phrases in the language!

Speaking of. They don’t even know it’s a language, they just seem to assume the symbols have effects and that’s it! Maybe they use it, but they haven’t fully grasped the implications yet.

That feels surprisingly shallow though. Just how much knowledge do these people have of magic? Is magic a recent discovery?

Or is there something else keeping people ignorant…?

The burger arrives not too long after I am done writing. I eat it while ruminating on the subject a bit further. They are not idiots, are they? To me, the first thing that comes to my mind when seeing symbols if they are part of a bigger language or something like that. Then again, maybe the lack of translation dissuaded them from experimenting further?

Stuff is not fitting as nicely as I wish…

I am about to write a little more when suddenly, I am added to a group in my messenger service. GalaxyTaco is alive! But not only them! There’s two other people in the conversation too.

Panic ensues, at least for a moment.

“Okay. Just keep calm.” I tell to myself. “Take a deep breath… phew… and let’s do this.”

My fingers are preparing to write some quick and tasteless introduction, when suddenly someone beats me to the punch.

ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: HIIIIIII!! ^0^!!

Oh no. A weeb, and a very strong one at that. I can feel her aura, her reiatsu, pushing down on me like a wave of augmented gravity. There are two chances here: I either get along real well with this person, or we hate each other on sight. There’s no middle ground among us.

ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: don’t be shy! :3 we’re friends here, I swear!

Well they are being real nice at least. Could be worse, they could be souseiseki.

man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): yo, you there?

Who the hell are these people!? I assume they are friends of GalaxyTaco, right? I really want to be patient but, damn it, new people get me nervous so easily…

xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Hi there, hi! n.nUu sorry, this whole deal took me by surprise.
ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: ohhhh it is fine! uwu gal-kun told us everything!
ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: you must be so scared Dx I know I was when I got started!
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Well it has certainly been a journey, heheh n.n but I’ve managed.
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: I found the Elysium last night so, at least there’s that!
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): good job, that’s a big advancement actually
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): next you gotta find the clinic, though
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: There’s a clinic too? O.o
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): yep. but we’ll explain all that later
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): i’m canny btw. cannedtea at the forum, remember me?

My face burns a little bit when remembering this guy. I wasn’t expecting to find him again so quickly.

“Gay.”

Shut up.

ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: the name’s Aoi! ^0^/ UwU28 at the forum!
ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: sorry I didn’t comment your topic, i am a bit shy xwxUu
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: It’s all fine, no worries n.n I’m Tav! But you two probably know that already
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): it bears repeating, girl. it bears repeating.
ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: yeah! ^^/
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: alright I’m back! sorry I was seeing grandma to bed heheh

I sigh in relief, cleaning the sweat off my brow. Thanks saints, this was going to be a little too much for me to handle alone!

ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: oh hey gal-kun ~
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: reading up I see you’re all introduced, good good!
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: now I just gotta introduce the plan to you Tav, so pay attention!
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: I’m ready! o.o
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: alright, so
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: to avoid 82’s wrath?
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: canny here will be your voucher.
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: huh?
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: just put him in your profile and he’ll cover for you.
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: And you’re okay with that, Canny? ;w; really!?
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): eyeup, don’t worry girl. I gotchu.
ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: canny-kun and mort-sama covered for me when I just got in too :3 he’s the best!

For a moment I blink. Huh? Covered for Aoi? Does that mean they are also a Bastard Mage? What does that mean? Did they just find the link somewhere, too?

Questions for later, I guess.

xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Thank you so much Canny! ;w;
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): no prob bob
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): is it chill if I add you? you seem cool
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Ah, of course! :3 Add away! You too, Aoi-chan.
ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: EEEEE! Arigatou!! ^w^ <3 <3
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: oh yeah that reminds me.
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: Aoi, ain’t you forgetting something?
ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: ah right!!! Tavy! what are your pronouns? o.o!

What?

ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: you put you’d rather not say your gender and that’s so cool! I wanna know what to call you though! uwu
ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: if that’s okay of course ^.^
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: Aoi that is NOT what I meant damn it!
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): nono, she’s right.
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): sorry i kept callin you girl
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: not you too canny… focus!

I have never been asked that before… I mean, I have, by computers. But by people, it feels… odd.

I like it.

“You’re going to start with your delusions again?”

“They can identify as anything. Stop being so harsh!”

xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: … I think I will go with she/her.
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Is that okay? n.n
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): girl, don’t ask US
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): ask yourself
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): not the mean voice of anxiety, not the shit your guardians told ya
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): are YOU okay with it?

I feel the words pierce my chest for a moment. I gasp for air, my eyes opening a little more.

“This is all just play pretend. Don’t take it so much to heart.”

Shut up.

“What!?”

I said shut up. This time, this is for me. I decide this.

“You little ungrateful asshole…”

I want this. This makes me feel good and I will seize it. And you can go kiss my ass, you hear me!?

“...”

xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: … Yeah. Yeah, I think I am okay with it n//n
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): atta girl
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): it’s chill to call you a girl right?
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Yeah yeah, I like it! n.n
ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: yayayay Tavy-chan! :3
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: huh. that’s unexpectedly wholesome…
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: but let’s focus! Aoi! do you have the book?
ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: right here boss! o.o7

ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!! has sent you bastard_recipe_book.pdf
Accept?

Huh? A pdf? I hesitate for a moment but, hell, maybe it’s magic and magic can’t get viruses or something. I just click it.

ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: this is the rulebook for us Bastards, don’t tell nobody about it though OoO!
ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: it’s a seecret~
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: A secret book… now that’s cool uwu
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): man, tav’s first secret
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): granny get the camera
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: lol
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: no but really, read it, study it well
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: it’s all vital.
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: will do! I’ll print it and get to it right now
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: NO!
ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: TAVY-CHAN WAIT
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): wait a sec tav
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Huh? O.o
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: don’t print that one!
ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: yeah you can’t print magic books, it’s risky
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): the runes can activate and shit would go boom
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Oh, okay o.o
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Man I hate reading on the computer! ;w;
ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: sorry tavy-chan ;w;!! but that’s the only way!
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: yeah… anyways, I gotta go to bed, real badly.
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: I trust you got it from here right?
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Yep! n.n
ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: byeeee everyone!! uwu see you in dejima!
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): see you around

I sigh and slowly lean back on my chair. That was intense, way too intense… but I am smiling. Really, this is some proper progress! I finally have tools to work on my own! Maybe I can even translate some more after learning magic!

“Are you sure that’s all you’re happy about?~”

… Shut up. Don’t look too deep into the whole ‘pronoun’ thing.

I am opening the file I got when, suddenly, another message hits me.

It’s from Canny!

man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): hey tav
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): if you don’t wanna read it on computer you can get it physical.

Whuh?

man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): you said you found an elysium, was it in a library?
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Yeah! o.o
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): thought so
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): look through the mundane part of the library, specifically in the section where you get cooking recipes
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): see if you can find a cheap notebook that says ‘MAGIC’ in it.
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): open it, say ‘jantar mantar’ to it, and that’s your ticket.

My eyes light up. A secret book, hidden under the cloak’s noses like that? That’s perfect!

man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): the book’s written in draconic, which basically means only mages can read the real shit and you can’t destroy it
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Wait what? O.o Draconic? Are dragons a thing here?
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): not anymore they ain’t
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Aww :c
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Wait,I can’t destroy it? O.o No matter how much I try?
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): i mean, you can, but it won’t do nothin
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): don’t worry about it
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Ok! n.n but hey I don’t know Draconic D:!
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): don’t worry about it girlie
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Yay! n.n I will go get it then
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): get some other books too, in case you’re being tailed.
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): good luck tav
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Thank you Canny!
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Ah! I will be on my phone so don’t send me magic stuff for a while, okay?
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): gonna teach you the glyph for your phone later.
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Yipee!! n.n
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Ah hell, sorry for that úwu
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): you’re fine girl
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): good luck.

I feel motivated, so motivated that I stand up immediately, close my computer, and finish my hamburger on the spot.

“Going out again!? Hah.”

I am running out of mean things to say, that’s a good sign.

“Don’t count on it.”

“You are doing great. Let’s go! The day’s young and we have notes to take!”

Yes! I don’t even notice the door in my way this time! I just go out and hop my way over to the elevator.

To the library! Again!

My name is Lisa, and I’m a 25-year-old artist. I’ve always had a fascination with the macabre, which is why I jumped at the chance to explore an abandoned psychiatric hospital for my latest project. I planned to capture the eerie beauty of the decaying building, but I ended up uncovering something far more sinister.
The hospital had been shut down for decades, rumored to be haunted by the spirits of the patients who suffered there. It stood on the outskirts of a small town, its presence looming like a dark shadow over the landscape. I arrived at dusk, my camera and sketchpad ready, not knowing that the true horror was about to begin.
As soon as I stepped inside, the air felt thick and oppressive. The corridors were lined with peeling wallpaper and broken furniture, remnants of a place once filled with life now reduced to silence. I began my work, sketching and photographing the desolate rooms. But as night fell, I started to hear whispers.
At first, I thought it was the wind playing tricks on me. But then I saw her—a ghostly child standing at the end of the hallway. Her eyes were hollow, and she wore a tattered hospital gown. She didn’t speak, but her presence was enough to send chills down my spine.
I tried to rationalize it as a figment of my imagination, a product of the eerie atmosphere. But when I looked through the viewfinder of my camera, she was still there, staring at me. I decided to leave, but as I turned to go, the hallway seemed to stretch infinitely. No matter how far I walked, I couldn’t find the exit.
Panic set in. I wandered through the maze-like corridors, each turn leading me deeper into the hospital. The whispers grew louder, and shadows danced just beyond my vision. I stumbled upon an old treatment room, and that’s when I felt it—an icy grip on my shoulder. I spun around, but there was no one there.
The next thing I knew, I was lying on the floor, unable to move. My body felt like it was being pinned down by an unseen force. The whispers turned into guttural growls, and I saw the ghostly child again, but this time she wasn’t alone. Dark figures surrounded her, their eyes glowing with malevolence.
I don’t know how long I was unconscious, but when I woke up, it was morning. I was outside the hospital, my camera and sketchpad scattered around me. I tried to convince myself it was a nightmare, but the bruises on my arms told a different story.
I left the town, determined to forget what had happened. But the events of that night haunted me. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the child and her demonic entourage. I began to notice changes in myself—unexplained rage, blackouts, and strange symbols appearing in my sketches. I knew I had brought something back with me.
Desperate for answers, I returned to the hospital. This time, I was prepared. Armed with research on exorcisms and protective charms, I ventured back into the darkness. The building seemed to welcome me, the shadows reaching out like old friends. The whispers began immediately, guiding me to the same treatment room.
I confronted the ghostly child, demanding to know what she wanted. To my horror, she spoke in a voice not her own, a deep, demonic growl that echoed through the room. She told me that the hospital was a place of great suffering, a beacon for malevolent spirits. She and the others were trapped, seeking release through me.
I tried to perform the exorcism, but the entities were too powerful. They overpowered me, forcing me to relive the horrors of the hospital’s past—patients tortured, doctors driven mad, and rituals that opened doorways to unspeakable realms. Each time I thought I escaped, I found myself back in the same room, the same moment.
It was a time loop, a never-ending cycle of terror. I was their plaything, my mind fracturing under the constant assault. Days, months, years passed—I lost track of time. Every escape attempt brought me back to the beginning, each failure chipping away at my sanity.
One night, I discovered a hidden room behind a crumbling wall. Inside, I found journals written by Dr. Whitaker, the hospital’s chief psychiatrist. His writings detailed experiments to contact the other side, using patients as conduits. The journals described a ritual to bind spirits, a possible way to end the torment.
Armed with this new knowledge, I gathered the items needed for the ritual—candles, chalk, and an ancient tome I found in the hospital’s basement. The ritual required a blood sacrifice, and I hesitated, but the thought of eternal torment pushed me forward. I cut my palm and let the blood drip onto the chalk-drawn symbols.
As I began to chant, the air grew colder. The ghostly child appeared, flanked by the dark figures. They howled in rage, trying to break the circle of protection I had drawn. The ground shook, and the walls seemed to close in. My voice trembled, but I continued, pouring all my will into the words.
Suddenly, the figures froze. A blinding light filled the room, and I heard a deafening scream. When the light faded, the figures were gone, and the child stood before me, her eyes no longer hollow. She whispered a thank you before vanishing into the ether.
Exhausted, I collapsed, waking up hours later to a silent hospital. I stumbled outside, the dawn breaking over the horizon. I felt a sense of peace, but it was short-lived. As I made my way home, I noticed people staring at me, whispering. My reflection in shop windows showed dark, hollow eyes staring back. The entities had not been banished; they had latched onto me, using me as their new vessel.
I fled the town, hoping to escape their grasp, but they followed. My mind continued to fracture, the symbols appearing on my skin now. I’m writing this from a motel room, knowing my time is short. If you’re reading this, beware. The hospital’s evil isn’t contained within its walls—it’s a stain on the soul. Don’t come looking for me. Don’t try to find the truth. Some places are meant to be forgotten, their secrets buried in darkness.

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