Letter cut out stencil

Okay, so this is going to be a long one, sorry.
TL;DR
Despite a six-year relationship filled with ups and downs, long-distance struggles, and personal insecurities, my partner and I shared a deep bond. However, misunderstandings and miscommunications led to an abrupt, painful and aribitrary breakup from her end. When I discovered my partner seeing someone new, it left me questioning the sincerity of our past love and struggling with unanswered questions. Now, I'm torn between seeking closure and wondering if there's any hope for us to reconnect or if it's time to let go and move forward. Given that in matter of weeks that we were really good now she is in love with somebody else. Is she acting out of anger, revenge or is this real and sincere?
Ful context:
I had a relationship with this person for almost 6 years. So first, it was like a year we were friends, and then best friends. She had a boyfriend; she is older than me by almost 8 years (F31 and M24) . She didn't love this guy and wanted to break up with him. I already had feelings for her but didn't think it was possible. It happened; we were together in a long-distance relationship for about a year. A year later, we were great but had some fights due to inconsistency and the distance - nothing serious, really. We reconnected for 3 months before I came back to continue my studies. This time she would move to the same country as me to pursue her master's. We decided to have some time off to think about stuff. I forgot and broke up with her 2 days prior to her arrival. Why? I still don't know why I did that... I guess it was the desire of getting to explore more things and see if I could find someone else, given we were struggling because of some differences in her circle's acceptance. I still kept in touch with her because I knew how hard it would be in a new country with no support. I took some time for myself and realized I still loved her and I was sorry. We got back together formally.
Then during a couple of months, we entered a blurred line; we both loved each other, and we had a relationship, but I started to create barriers because I felt I was hurting her, as I think I didn't love her that much - I did love her more than I can imagine, but I felt insecure. Then we didn't really break things off; we just were friends, but we would occasionally see each other and would have conflicts when we were away. When she came close, I pushed her away, and vice versa. But when we were together, whether intimacy was involved or not, there were no fights, only depth and honesty and vulnerability. We fought every time over chat when we were not in the same place. A year ago, I decided to apply NC after she proved to me I was no longer really important to her. So I decided to cut her off without much explanation, which I regret now. Then 3 months later, I reached out again because I missed her and wanted her to come back. During that time, my intention was to see if I could continue my life without her and if I could avoid being dependent on her. She told me she worked on herself, she had some barriers. But it didn't last long. We again were cool with each other, comfortable. She now said that she had her mindset that this was "physical" and stuff like that, but we both knew it wasn't; it was never physical. Sometime later, we spent NYE morning together; it was delightful. Throughout this time, we did not have any major issues other than the fact that we knew we loved each other but we put up this wall for some reason. During the time I applied NC, she reached out to me several times; I never responded. She thought I was with somebody else; then I responded, said I wasn't and some other things. She told me that it was hard for her if I were to move on too quickly, which I wasn't really doing. We even worked together; it didn't quite help. Now, it has been a while. Since January this year, I knew I wanted to get back with her, but I wasn't sure she would take me. We saw each other every other week quite regularly, and we would talk every day; it's like we've been (we were) best friends. In February, we were on the same page finally; we both agreed but didn't do anything really. Then we went to the movies, saw "Past Lives" together, it made us really sad but connected us deeply. We were closer than ever. Then in March during my birthday, I didn't prioritize her because I was insecure about what my friends would say (I know, it's childish) that resented her a bit, but we fixed it. We hung out 2 more times; it was deep, nice, and we were connected to each other. Then I thought maybe it was time for me to move on but didn't want to act without her knowing the picture and doing the right things so I asked her if "it would be okay if I start seeing other people?". She agreed at first, then it was reluctant. I dug in deep, and that didn't help. I think this made her feel like she was my second plate or that I was already fucking sombeody else or sorts. She in that moment recently moved out on her own and started a new phase. At that initial phase, we got close again about the things we could do at her apartment; we could be free, how much we wanted to see each other and be okay. Then I put up a wall saying that we should stop seeing each other. She got mad and said she did not want to pretend we never knew each other, and it was unfair for me to decide for both when she still loved me and I loved her too. Why did I ask her that? Because I didn't want to date anyone else unless she was okay with that and that wouldn't hurt her because I loved her.
Some weeks later, she was really distant and started treating me poorly, worse than a dog. I knew something was off; I started to pursue her. I was ignored. I told her it's not okay what she is doing, that she knew my emotional wellbeing, and I wouldn't do that to her. She told me I did exactly the same a year ago when I cut her off. It was not true; I still replied to her because I know how bad her anxiety can get. Then I asked, "are you with somebody else?". I insisted; she said yes and not only that but she compared me to him and made me feel like shit. I was frustrated and acted out of desperation; I texted her, saying I'm sorry. But she said I was only using her as an object of pleasure (which as you can tell from the text is far from the truth). She told me all of this was over when I broke up with her years ago, like she was resentful and mad but never really told me. Then I tried talking to her to at least give me closure and let me ask for forgiveness for my negligence and wrongdoing, which was repetitive but never came out of wrongness but from insecurity. She said she didn't believe I love her but was acting out of desperation and then I demonstrated to her it was not the case. Anyways she told me to give her some days to think about talking again. She didn't say a word for about 10-12 days; unintentionally I ran into her 2 times because we live close to each other. Then, I sent her some emails saying since she has not told me anything I will leave a letter at her apartment and gonna continue with my life. She didn't reply. When I went to leave the letters we both saw each other and didn't say a word; I left the letter at reception and left. Next day, her father called me telling he was worried and that I should stop reaching out to her or looking out for her. Ever since, I don't know anything about her other than she is already sleeping with this guy (which she never used to have casual sex before) so I guess they are super serious in a matter of 4 weeks.
Then I found out during our time she made out with some guys, and then I came across some news that confirmed she was sleeping with this new guy. This makes me think really horrible things and most importantly that she is in love with him so fast. Like our relationship an didn't mean anything.
Right now it really hurts because it makes me think she never meant any of the words she said to me. Literally a month or two months ago max, she almost begged to not cut her off out of the blue, that I was the love of her life, she still loved me, and that she would never want to hurt me.
And she did all of that. Also, important to note when I asked her "why don't you at least give me the closure that I deserve If I did nothing wrong and your exes who were assholes you gave them your time?" to which she responded "because I am not strong enough to see you yet. when I saw them I knew it wouldn't affect me, but with you, it would still affect me seeing you." But my frustration is that it seems like she is not over me; she still has feelings for me, and yet she is in a serious relationship with another guy and treated me like shit. Why???
Another aspect which is important. Her previous relationships she has never been alone since she has been 18 uintil now she has never been single for real. Yes, maybe this last 5 years we were not fomally but we were together in a way... She had a boyfriend he was abusive and he had another friend who protected her. So whenever she needed something she would move from one to another. Until she broke off with the absuive guy ended up with the other guy (who she didn't rally love but stick with him as a safe choice). Adn then when she broke up with this other guy, I got into a relationship with her. Although in this time she literally had no feelings with this guy and wanted to break up with him for months.
My question is, is she serious about this person? Why did she behave in such a heartless way? Is there any chance she is coming back, or did I mess up by breaking NC? Or she didn't love me anymore? I really doubt the last one because I would have noticed that because how expressive she is and cmfrotable she was with me even the las time we sa each other.

Hi all, so there will be a bit of background here, apologies if I miss anything but I’ll update if I do and it becomes relevant.
My wife and I have been married for 5.5 years, we have an almost 9 month old daughter who I adore, and 2 border collies whom I have trained extensively myself.
When we were dating, it was rocky now and then honestly I saw the red flags and tried to fix them and I guess out of fear of ending up alone, ignored them. We started in long distance living at the others apartment about 5 months of each year in her country and 5 in mine in usually 1-2 month stays. We had some fights but what couples don’t right? But there is one that sticks in my head. She blew up over something minor, we argued and she threatened to kill herself. I wanted to leave then and there, but I didn’t want to see harm come to her. When she got angry she would lose all control, she would hit herself, bang her head on concrete walls, throw things etc, so I to an extent, took her threat seriously, and my nature is to protect people.
I stayed, things calmed down, but unfortunately over our nearly 8 year relationship, this has become a pattern. She would lose her crap over small things and either threaten to kill herself (and on more than one occasion, our daughter also). She would self harm but nothing with knives, or anything, just banging her head and punching herself.
Partly for the above reasons I installed cameras in our home living spaces. I have since caught and archived video of her doing this as well as physically assaulting me.
Recently my brother came to visit, it didn’t go well, now my brother is a really picky person, completely inflexible and generally difficult to get along with unless you do everything his way, to the letter, without him telling you. The only right opinion or answer, is his. While here, we got into a fight because he didn’t like not being unloved when my wife changed plans after seeing a comedy show, ok fair enough, but he flew into exactly the same state as my wife did, completely unreasonable, threatening me (he is no longer welcome in my home), throwing a tantrum and just storming off leaving me to chase after him, until he attempted to physically assault me.
This made me realise that he and my wife are the same, and I’ve known for years that he is the same as my dad, and I really didn’t like my dad at all. This has been the catalyst for a few changes in my decisions recently.
So a few other key points, my wife and I make good money, we’re both on around $140k USD (converted from our local currency, we’re not in the us and are not American, but it’s an easier conversion), we pay sub 10% tax on that also. With that said, all my money goes to our bills and expenses, every last dollar. I have maybe $300 a month on my self and usually have less than $100 in my account at the end of the month, but all bills are paid. We own a h 700k usd house which is more than half paid off in the 4 years we’ve owned it, and a car (roughly 150kusd in my country), so we’re financially well positioned. Her salary supplements her spending and is meant to be our savings. I’ve tried to garnish my salary to create an exit fund if shit hits the fan, but I had to use the whole thing (about 15k) when our daughter was born (worth it though). I’m trying to rebuild this.
The house is in her name, as is the car, however I can prove payments on both.
My wife has a history of depression, which was referred to our local mental health services, so there is a history of this, but she refuses treatment, this only happened when I called the police on her when she was threatening to and trying to jump out of our 13th story window.
Since then she has: - pulled multiple kitchen knives on me and threatened herself (I took every sharp knife out of the house and took them to a friends apartment, she was keeper concerned with stopping me because she didn’t want our friends to know what was happening) - thrown and smashed almost every framed photo on the house, all of which I cleaned up - using said photo frame glass, threatened to and tried to cut herself - attempted to strangle me - shoved, punched and kicked me (only one instance I have on camera) - made me give up almost every hobby I enjoy - wanted our first dog, agreed to help train and care for him, never does - the same pattern is happening with our daughter, but I wanted a child so badly I accepted it would happen - regularly gaslights me - minimises everything I do - recently she has started with backhanded compliments and negging - she will project her fears and dark thoughts and say them as fact of what I think, when they are nowhere near any truth - forced out or alienated all my friends, now the only friends I have are our mutual friends or her friends. - gives me the silent treatment - asks me ambiguous questions and makes me guess what she means - gives me trapping questions which either I tell her what she wants to hear, degrading myself in the process, or tell her the truth, which she blows up over - starting a fight as I’m about to go out so I have to stay home and take care of her and miss what ever I arranged
Some minor things she has threatened to divorce me over: - leaving the aircon on - cleaning the house (we have a live in maid who’s job this is) - not cleaning the house in conflict to the above - working long hours - not earning enough money - being exhausted from taking care of our daughter at night then working a 9-10 hour day - not giving her a massage (she never gives me one but I give her 2-3 a week) - talking - sighing - walking the dogs (part of the maids duties) - not walking the dogs 🤷‍♂️ - snoring (I literally have no control over this) - not being able to remember things (I have a bad memory ok?) - being tired - doing something in her dream that never actually happened and wasn’t even me! (I’m not even joking) - having to go on a business trip - having dinner with my friends (I do this once or twice a year) - not inviting her to a guys night
I am realising that I need to start protecting myself. Aside from storing any and all video I have from these instances, what can I do? Would speaking to a divorce lawyer be of help? I am not yet ready to call it quits, but at the same time I’m not going to risk the rest of my life on her fucking me out of everything I’ve worked so hard to achieve. If we really wants a divorce in 5 days or 15 years, what can I do to protect myself ? Should I fully split our finances now? How do I do this without her catching on or is this a bad idea?
I know my wife is abusive, you don’t need to tell me that. She is quite clearly narcissistic, but I won’t taint your view further, you decide.
Sorry this is so long, but I’m really stuck here and need help, but have no one.

Okay, so this is going to be a long one, sorry.
TL;DR
Despite a six-year relationship filled with ups and downs, long-distance struggles, and personal insecurities, my partner and I shared a deep bond. However, misunderstandings and miscommunications led to an abrupt, painful and aribitrary breakup from her end. When I discovered my partner seeing someone new, it left me questioning the sincerity of our past love and struggling with unanswered questions. Now, I'm torn between seeking closure and wondering if there's any hope for us to reconnect or if it's time to let go and move forward. Given that in matter of weeks that we were really good now she is in love with somebody else. Is she acting out of anger, revenge or is this real and sincere?
Ful context:
I had a relationship with this person for almost 6 years. So first, it was like a year we were friends, and then best friends. She had a boyfriend; she is older than me by almost 8 years. She didn't love this guy and wanted to break up with him. I already had feelings for her but didn't think it was possible. It happened; we were together in a long-distance relationship for about a year. A year later, we were great but had some fights due to inconsistency and the distance - nothing serious, really. We reconnected for 3 months before I came back to continue my studies. This time she would move to the same country as me to pursue her master's. We decided to have some time off to think about stuff. I forgot and broke up with her 2 days prior to her arrival. Why? I still don't know why I did that... I guess it was the desire of getting to explore more things and see if I could find someone else, given we were struggling because of some differences in her circle's acceptance. I still kept in touch with her because I knew how hard it would be in a new country with no support. I took some time for myself and realized I still loved her and I was sorry. We got back together formally.
Then during a couple of months, we entered a blurred line; we both loved each other, and we had a relationship, but I started to create barriers because I felt I was hurting her, as I think I didn't love her that much - I did love her more than I can imagine, but I felt insecure. Then we didn't really break things off; we just were friends, but we would occasionally see each other and would have conflicts when we were away. When she came close, I pushed her away, and vice versa. But when we were together, whether intimacy was involved or not, there were no fights, only depth and honesty and vulnerability. We fought every time over chat when we were not in the same place. A year ago, I decided to apply NC after she proved to me I was no longer really important to her. So I decided to cut her off without much explanation, which I regret now. Then 3 months later, I reached out again because I missed her and wanted her to come back. During that time, my intention was to see if I could continue my life without her and if I could avoid being dependent on her. She told me she worked on herself, she had some barriers. But it didn't last long. We again were cool with each other, comfortable. She now said that she had her mindset that this was "physical" and stuff like that, but we both knew it wasn't; it was never physical. Sometime later, we spent NYE morning together; it was delightful. Throughout this time, we did not have any major issues other than the fact that we knew we loved each other but we put up this wall for some reason. During the time I applied NC, she reached out to me several times; I never responded. She thought I was with somebody else; then I responded, said I wasn't and some other things. She told me that it was hard for her if I were to move on too quickly, which I wasn't really doing. We even worked together; it didn't quite help. Now, it has been a while. Since January this year, I knew I wanted to get back with her, but I wasn't sure she would take me. We saw each other every other week quite regularly, and we would talk every day; it's like we've been (we were) best friends. In February, we were on the same page finally; we both agreed but didn't do anything really. Then we went to the movies, saw "Past Lives" together, it made us really sad but connected us deeply. We were closer than ever. Then in March during my birthday, I didn't prioritize her because I was insecure about what my friends would say (I know, it's childish) that resented her a bit, but we fixed it. We hung out 2 more times; it was deep, nice, and we were connected to each other. Then I thought maybe it was time for me to move on but didn't want to act without her knowing the picture and doing the right things so I asked her if "it would be okay if I start seeing other people?". She agreed at first, then it was reluctant. I dug in deep, and that didn't help. I think this made her feel like she was my second plate or that I was already fucking sombeody else or sorts. She in that moment recently moved out on her own and started a new phase. At that initial phase, we got close again about the things we could do at her apartment; we could be free, how much we wanted to see each other and be okay. Then I put up a wall saying that we should stop seeing each other. She got mad and said she did not want to pretend we never knew each other, and it was unfair for me to decide for both when she still loved me and I loved her too. Why did I ask her that? Because I didn't want to date anyone else unless she was okay with that and that wouldn't hurt her because I loved her.
Some weeks later, she was really distant and started treating me poorly, worse than a dog. I knew something was off; I started to pursue her. I was ignored. I told her it's not okay what she is doing, that she knew my emotional wellbeing, and I wouldn't do that to her. She told me I did exactly the same a year ago when I cut her off. It was not true; I still replied to her because I know how bad her anxiety can get. Then I asked, "are you with somebody else?". I insisted; she said yes and not only that but she compared me to him and made me feel like shit. I was frustrated and acted out of desperation; I texted her, saying I'm sorry. But she said I was only using her as an object of pleasure (which as you can tell from the text is far from the truth). She told me all of this was over when I broke up with her years ago, like she was resentful and mad but never really told me. Then I tried talking to her to at least give me closure and let me ask for forgiveness for my negligence and wrongdoing, which was repetitive but never came out of wrongness but from insecurity. She said she didn't believe I love her but was acting out of desperation and then I demonstrated to her it was not the case. Anyways she told me to give her some days to think about talking again. She didn't say a word for about 10-12 days; unintentionally I ran into her 2 times because we live close to each other. Then, I sent her some emails saying since she has not told me anything I will leave a letter at her apartment and gonna continue with my life. She didn't reply. When I went to leave the letters we both saw each other and didn't say a word; I left the letter at reception and left. Next day, her father called me telling he was worried and that I should stop reaching out to her or looking out for her. Ever since, I don't know anything about her other than she is already sleeping with this guy (which she never used to have casual sex before) so I guess they are super serious in a matter of 4 weeks.
Then I found out during our time she made out with some guys, and then I came across some news that confirmed she was sleeping with this new guy. This makes me think really horrible things and most importantly that she is in love with him so fast. Like our relationship an didn't mean anything.
Right now it really hurts because it makes me think she never meant any of the words she said to me. Literally a month or two months ago max, she almost begged to not cut her off out of the blue, that I was the love of her life, she still loved me, and that she would never want to hurt me.
And she did all of that. Also, important to note when I asked her "why don't you at least give me the closure that I deserve If I did nothing wrong and your exes who were assholes you gave them your time?" to which she responded "because I am not strong enough to see you yet. when I saw them I knew it wouldn't affect me, but with you, it would still affect me seeing you." But my frustration is that it seems like she is not over me; she still has feelings for me, and yet she is in a serious relationship with another guy and treated me like shit. Why???
Another aspect which is important. Her previous relationships she has never been alone since she has been 18 uintil now she has never been single for real. Yes, maybe this last 5 years we were not fomally but we were together in a way... She had a boyfriend he was abusive and he had another friend who protected her. So whenever she needed something she would move from one to another. Until she broke off with the absuive guy ended up with the other guy (who she didn't rally love but stick with him as a safe choice). Adn then when she broke up with this other guy, I got into a relationship with her. Although in this time she literally had no feelings with this guy and wanted to break up with him for months.
My question is, is she serious about this person? Why did she behave in such a heartless way? Is there any chance she is coming back, or did I mess up by breaking NC? Or she didn't love me anymore? I really doubt the last one because I would have noticed that because how expressive she is and cmfrotable she was with me even the las time we sa each other.

Sorry for the long post! First time posting ever. Sorry if it's not very concise.
I (26f) come from a very large, complicated family. When I was two, my bio parents divorced, and since then (through multiple marriages and divorces) I have gained a plethora of siblings, all of whom I love dearly. Of the seven siblings I have gained, three of them were also birthed by bio mom (50f, who will be referred to as Gaslighter from now on). These three siblings are "Lucy" (28f), "Birdie" (17f), and "Topher" (14m) (all names changed). For context: Gaslighter had abandoned me twice in my childhood - once when she and my father ("John" 53m) first divorced, and once when she and my step father (53m) separated. While the first time was not memorable due to my age and the shorter time span, the second was when I was 14 and I had no contact with her for THREE YEARS. No holidays, no birthdays, nothing. On top of this, when she was around, she was emotionally and verbally abusive to me. She tried to keep me from my father, talked crap about him constantly (including trying to convince me at age 7 that John wanted me aborted), she would not let me play with my sister or friends, and she consistently fat shamed me my entire life. I was a very athletic kid, so I was not by any stretch "fat", but because I had a large appetite due to exercise and medications I needed, I was dubbed "miss Piggy" and "the vulture", and Gaslighter would screech "caw caw" like a vulture if I grabbed seconds. Due to this, I've been struggling with eating disorders since I was 10. She also forced me to raise Topher from birth, as she had forced Lucy to raise Birdie. Now, there's a bunch of other examples I can include, but this is already a lot. So, to the story... I've known for a few years that I would end up cutting Gaslighter out of my life, between the childhood trauma that continued into adulthood and how she treated everyone I love. That being said, I was planning on playing nice until Birdie and Topher were both adults, because I was afraid that pissing Gaslighter off would have negative repercussions on them. I had told Lucy, Birdie, and Topher about my plan and they were all very understanding and on board. For everything I have been through, they have too. The last decade has just been about survival until they were legally free. But in the last year, I have been diagnosed with PTSD from the abuse endured by Gaslighter, and her behavior has become more erratic and terrifying. Over Christmas, I decided that I couldn't wait another 4 years, so I began distancing myself, hoping to just fade away from her. Interactions with Gaslighter had begun inciting my panic attacks, and for my own health, I needed to get out. THIS is where the problem starts. Obviously, Birdie is almost an adult, and she has her own plans to dip out as soon as she turns eighteen. That being said, Gaslighter is actively tightening her grip, making Birdie's life miserable. When I told my siblings that I was going to just ghost Gaslighter, Birdie freaked out. She asked me to not ghost, but to tell Gaslighter that I no longer wanted a relationship with her. Because I knew I wouldn't be able to face her without a breakdown or caving in (this woman has an amazing ability to make herself the victim), I offered a compromise: I would write a letter and mail it to her, and I would wait to completely cut her off until it was mailed. Birdie was happy with this solution. I took my time writing the letter because the stress of the situation was overwhelming and I was still terrified of Gaslighter. Besides that, the tiny part of me that always needed Gaslighter to be a REAL mother to me wanted to keep giving her chances. So, I spent countless nights crying to my fiance about the situation. I did write the letter, but I never got around to mailing it because life was crazy with final exams and family events and work. I still intended to send it, but just never got to it. This past weekend, my father called me. John was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer when I was 15, and, for the following 4 years, I took on the brunt of caring for him. I took him to almost all of his appointments, made sure he had his medicine, talked with doctors, made sure he ate and the house was clean when he was too sick to do it. He never asked me to do any of it, but this was during the time in my life where Gaslighter was MIA, so I had the freedom to spend my time where I wanted, and I chose to take care of him. I have no regrets whatsoever, and I'm glad for that extra time, because I seldom spent time with him as a child. John was the first person who I felt actually understood me, and we had a lot in common, so those years were some of the best in my life. He really is one of my favorite people. Because of the harsh treatments, however, his health has been a mess since his diagnosis. But we have all just been happy to have him around, especially since the doctors told us there was a 6% chance he would survive past 5 years. It has now been 11. While John is still in remission, he recently received some distressing news. In the phone call last weekend, he told me that he will be paralyzed from the waist down within the year, but more than likely, within a few months. I was devasted. I had a breakdown that devolved into my hatred of Gaslighter and her treatment of myself and my father, and something switched inside me. I truly no longer felt any love or care for that woman. I decided that night that I was done. I blocked her on everything and decided I would never see or speak to her again. Birdie obviously isn't happy about it. I know I didn't keep to my promise about the letter. But I just can't justify ever interacting with her again, and I know that letter will do nothing but add fuel to Gaslighter's "woe is me" narrative. So, I guess I am asking if I am the a-hole for not keeping my promise and just ghosting, despite possible repercussions or the feelings of my siblings?

Hello everyone! As always, thank you for your upvotes and comments on my last post about the Sussex County Jane Doe- I hope that her identity will be given back to her soon.
Today I'd like to highlight a Doe case from a neighbouring state.
TRIGGER WARNING: This case involves a young child (3-5) whose body was found in a gruesome state. There are no graphic images for this case, but there will be descriptions and speculation, so proceed at your own risk.
DISCOVERY
On the 5th of February, a 47-year old nurse, Cecilia Davis, has been walking her dog with a friend at Rockaway Beach (specifically near Beach 112th Street) in New York City, New York, USA, around 4:55 PM. When she was collecting seashells, she noticed a bedsheet with a pattern of letters and Disney characters Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck, which was tangled in seaweed, tattered and mixed in with debris and horseshoe crabs. Intrigued, she came closer, only to discover that a body of a young child was wrapped in the fabric- she called out "This is a child!" to her friend, after which the two women called the authorities. The boy was nicknamed "John Valentine" as the investigators tried to find his identity.
When Davis managed to catch a glimpse of the body from shoulders down when she found the bundle, she assumed that the child was a girl, about a year old, whose skin had the color of "aged yellow foam"- after a proper medical examination, it turned out that it was actually a boy, and aged 3-5 at that. One of the child's knees was bent, with his foot tucked under his body.
The boy was determined to be white and/or Hispanic. He was 3'0" (36 inch / 91 cm), and his weight couldn't be estimated. He had brown, slightly wavy hair, and his eye color was unknown. His foot was size children's 5. Several bones in his torso were broken- I'm not sure, however, if it happened post-mortem or if it could've been a sign of abuse in life (but I have to say, it would be quite likely that he was abused). The body was headless, but it wasn't cut off- it likely detached during the decomposition and got washed away and eaten by marine life. His cause of death is unknown.
The sheet John was found in was called a "blanket", but it would appear that it is actually a crib sheet. The pattern could've been dated back to the 70s, so there's a possibility that it was a hand-me-down or thrifted. It was also mass-produced, so tracking it down was impossible. The body and the sheet were found inside a duffle bag, which was described as "yellow plasticized canvas duffle bag with one side pocket with a snap enclosure. There are multiple grommets for top closure of the duffle bag. No string is present. The bottom of the duffle bag is made of a heavy white canvas. There are 2 approximately 2” wide canvas straps attached to and surrounding the duffle bag. The duffle bag is approximately 30” tall with a top circumference of 34”. The side pocket measures 10 inches wide and 8 inches tall". It was also described as "nautical-style" and was wrapped with duct tape, and might've had a drawstring on top at some point. No known photos of the bag are available, but there are ones of the crib sheet. I'm assuming that the bag must've opened in the water or deteriorated enough to open, revealing the contents.
Due to a lack of leads, police theorized that the boy might've been thrown into the ocean from a boat or overseas and washed up in New York. A local on websleuths theorizes that the child might've been dropped from Atlantic Beach Bridge by Beach 2nd St and taken to Beach 112th St- Apparently, a lot of people drown in the area, and their bodies are taken up to 169th St (Marine Parkway Bridge).
CONCLUSION
Discovering the body of John Valentine has impacted everyone involved. The precinct involved in the investigation collected funds to sponsor the boy's funeral, so that he wouldn't wind up in a Potter's Field. The Children of Hope Foundation also contributed, and now John is resting at the Cemetery of the Holy Rood in Westbury, L.I, in a section called Island of Hope, with (at the time) 80 infants who have been found abandoned or murdered by their mothers at birth. John was one of the older children buried there.
Cecilia Davis, the woman who found John's body at the beach, has passed away from cancer sometime before 2013. According to her sister-in-law, Emilia Arvai, it has impacted Cecilia twice as much, as she wasn't able to have children. She was allegedly never the same after that incident. According to Arvai, Davis would say "How could someone be so cruel to throw a baby away like that when there’s people around the world who can’t have a baby. (...) There’s a million people who would take that baby."
I think that it's pretty much a given that some kind of violence was involved in this case- why else would someone throw away the body of a child? John wasn't an infant or a newborn, he was as old as five, so it wasn't a case of post-partum psychosis or someone giving birth unexpectedly and panicking. The broken bones made my eyebrow raise- if he really was thrown into the water from a high place like a bridge, then I can see bones breaking on impact, but they could've also been a result of physical abuse; We don't really know much about this detail. It's unfortunate that John's head wasn't recovered- it would probably tell us more about him, maybe a bust or a sketch could've been made and circulated and maybe someone would recognize him.
People on websleuths speculated that John might've been Jesus Alvarado Martinez, a four year old who was probably abducted by his father after he killed his mother in Texas in October of 2004. The age and ethnicity fit, as does height, plus Jesus vanished shortly before John was discovered. There is a lot of distance between Texas and New Jersey, but it is technically possible that Jesus' father could get there in the few months between October and February.
There are no dentals available of John (of course), no fingerprints (which might've been erased due to prolonged exposure to water and decomposition) and, suprisingly, no DNA. This case is relatively recent (forensic development-wise)- I'm suprised that no DNA was taken. Perhaps the investigators expected that it will be solved soon? Still, there are good news- thanks to the department's care over the boy, he was buried (and not cremated), and we even know where he is. Digging up the coffin, taking a sample and performing genetic genealogy on it seems to be very possible, and only needing the funds and public interest to re-open the case. I think that if someone like Othram will take the case in, John being identified is a case of "when" and not "if". I have high hopes for young John Valentine getting his name back at some time in the future and, hopefully, that justice will be served to anyone who took his life and discarded his body in the ocean almost 20 years ago.
If you believe you have any info about John Valentine's case, contact the Office of Chief Medical Examiner New York City at (212) 447-2030 (case number Q05-00731).
SORCES:

1. NamUS.gov (includes photos of the crib sheet)
2. doenetwork.org
3. nydailynews.com (paywalled)

John Valentine's websleuths.com thread

So my (17m) bf and me (17m) are big on sentimental gifts rather than expensive gifts since we are young and saving up for college. Because of this, for valentine’s day I got him a picture book of us, a letter, and some small gifts. I was very surprised with what he got me because it was bigger than any other previous gift. However, I was slightly suspicious about the contents. He got me a weight loss journal (I’m a healthy weight and have never expressed an urge to lose weight), various chocolate nuts (he knows I hate nuts), a candle and a stuffed animal (these ones are normal). I just assumed the journal and nuts were an honest mistake. He also made me a very nice card where he cut out construction paper to make a cute arts and crafts for me which was my favorite gift. When asked about the weight loss journal, he claimed to not have not paid attention when he bought it.
Fast forward to recently, I was playing on his phone because mine was charging (we have each others passcodes and are okay with each other being on the others phone). Now I know it was probably an invasion of privacy but I decided to look up my name in his texts to see what he said about me to other people, just out of curiosity.
I found a conversation with his mother where he asks her to buy me a gift the day before valentine’s day. She asked what kind of candy I like and he didn’t respond (explaining the nuts). I also found out that she had made the card I liked so much. I completely understand if he couldn’t afford to get me anything but the fact that he couldn’t even bother to go to the store with his mom to pick out my gifts makes me feel so insulted. He couldn’t even be bothered to make a card for me. I thought that it was so thoughtful of him to take time and effort to do that for me, but finding out it was all his mother hurt me. I confronted him about it and he said that he had procrastinated until February 13 and didn’t get me anything himself.
Even though it was a few months ago, I still feel betrayed and saddened.
TLDR- my boyfriend couldn’t be bothered to get me a valentines gift, so his mom got it for him

We're familiar with the tried-and-true method of firing off sigils. It's vulgar, but it works. But, a lot of people hit a wall after the first 5-10 sigils and they stop working. This is when we need to pivot. Here are some ways to add more thought into your sigil casting. More thought=more energy in the direction of the sigil, which is always a good thing during casting.

1. Astrological Correspondences:

Time your sigils alongside astrological events that are suitable for your working. The moon is an easy one for this.
New moons are low points in the cycle, so use those to wipe the slate clean and to dedicate yourself, to set a new course. Full moons are culminations, they're good for directing energy at a problem, as well as cutting ties with anything actively.
Also, keep your eye out throughout the year as well. I'll give you this one for free: May 18th, Jupiter will be conjunct the sun, with Venus and Uranus close by. Great time to manifest unexpected blessings.

1. Elemental Correspondences:

Tie elements into your work based on what you need to achieve, and make sure to match them correctly.
Do you want to stop smoking? Bury the sigil instead of burning it, so that way the earth is giving a bit of energy to it over a long period of time.
Want to summon a fling? The magic only needs to work for one night, so burn away!
Also, look into the various realms that the elements reign; Fire is passion, zeal, and creativity, air is intellect and strategy, water is emotion, and extremely mutable, and earth is material goods.
Tip: This nests well into #1. Bury a sigil in Taurus, burn it in Aries, etc.

1. Numerology and Gematria:

Want love?
L = 12
O = 15
V = 22
E = 5
12+15+22+5=54
5+4=9
Give your sigil nine sides. Cast it nine times, or on September 9th at 9:54.

1. Color:

This nests well with the elements. You're casting a love spell or a curse? Write it with a red pen. Want money? Use green? Protection? Black.

1. Use Every Sense While Casting it:

Try making the environment you cast the sigil in completely unique, engaging every sense in some way that relates to what you're trying to manifest.
You want to manifest a relationship? Cast it in your bedroom, with scented candlelight, roses on the bed, and a piece of chocolate on your tongue.
You want protection from evil? Point a knife at it in the garage before burying it at the edge of your property and end it taking a whiff of smelling salts.
Those are two different kinds of workings, so casting them should feel different from each other. When you get good at this, every sigil should be unique.

1. Turning One Spell into Many:

Runesoup has an excellent article on this, but I'll touch on it too. Find a way to break up one desire into several.
For example, if you want to get a new job, you could just cast "I am in a new job that I love," or you could cast "I find interesting leads on Indeed," "I am a persuasive interviewee," "I get job offers that are higher than I expect," "Recruiters find my resume impressive," and so on and so forth.
Not only does this give you more time and more energy to put towards your goal, but the numbers in and of themselves can have magical correspondences. The more opportunities to add intention into your working, the better.

1. Do Something That Signals to The Universe That You Know This Will Happen.

Aleister Crowley was once out of money. So, he did an elaborate money ritual, and then he spent the last of his money on ice cream. He did this because he 100% had faith that money was coming in.
Listen; We all aren't Crowley. I don't want to advocate that anyone plays chicken with the universe. But You should act confidently that whatever sigil you just casted is on its way. If you manifested a partner, make sure your Tinder is in top shape. If you manifested a job, start looking at what you might wear for the interview.
You made this a part of your story. Act like it.
Compare these two sigil rituals:
"John wanted a new job. John wrote "John has a good job." on a piece of paper, crossed out the repeating letters and vowels, made a symbol, jerked off while staring at the symbol, and then burned the sigil."
OR
"John wanted a career. CAREER = 58, and 5+8=12, so John made 12 sigil intentions all relating to thing he'd need to bring into his life for a new career. He looked at a sky chart and noticed that Venus was about to enter his 10th house of career, let's say Gemini, so he made sure that at least half of those prompts related to the finer things he wanted to manifest in his new career, as well as the mental skills he would need to capitalize on opportunities.
The day after the first new moon after Venus enters Gemini, he starts a six day routine where he puts a sigil on him, maybe in his shoe, and does a five mile jog in nature. At the end, or when there's a good wind. he rips it up and throws it into the breeze.
The other six he distributes between fire and earth, burying four and burning two. (This is getting long but assume this as thought out as the air one above.)
When all this is said and done, he makes sure his suit is dry-cleaned and that his headshot on LinkedIn is up to date."
If you were the Universe, which John would you listen to?

This is taken from and is copyright protected by globalsoup.net, a website that promotes flash Fiction with annual writing contests.
I am reprinting these Flash Fiction Prompts because they are outstanding ways to freewrite and offer plenty to work with for those who want to learn how to write Flash Fiction.
So check out these prompts and the article and work some of them into your journal! Post the best responses!
100 Awesome Flash Fiction Prompts - Plus Bonus Prompts!
We’ve put together 100 flash fiction prompts, each one designed for a very short story. These prompts will probably be best suited to a story of between 300-1,000 words. If you want to write a longer story using these prompts, you can easily expand these ideas to fit a story of any length.
What is flash fiction?
Flash Fiction is defined as a very short story that can be anywhere from just a couple of words to about a thousand in length. The beauty (and difficulty) of writing flash fiction lies in trying to tell a complete story in so few words. Great flash fiction is succinct, emotive, thought-provoking, and impactful.
What’s the difference between flash fiction and a short story?
The only difference between flash fiction and a typical short story is the word count. However, this scarcity of words means that writing flash fiction can feel like a completely new skill. Just like the short story is a different animal to the novel or novella; flash fiction is kind of unique.
When writing flash, you’ll need to use fewer characters, a simpler plot, and you’ll have to make each word count. This is why editing is so important. You have to be brutal. Cut out everything superfluous and really make sure each and every word is performing an important function in the story. If you’re interested in writing very short fiction, why not check out drabbles? Drabbles are stories of exactly 100 words in length, and they can be a great way to practice keeping your stories very, very short.
How to plot a flash fiction story
When you sit down to write flash fiction, you must begin by choosing an appropriate plot. You cannot simply use a short story plot and tell it using fewer words. A typical flash fiction plot is like looking at one part of a story under a microscope.
For example, let’s look at prompt #21 in our list of 100 Flash Fiction Prompts:

1. Two people on a sinking ship must decide who should take the last seat in the last lifeboat. If you were writing a novel about a sinking ship, you’d probably want the actual sinking to be the climax of the story. Of course, there are infinite ways to write a novel about a sinking ship, but this would structurally be the most obvious. You’d use the first part of the novel to introduce your characters and describe the voyage leading up to the sinking and the sinking of the ship would be the dramatic climax, leaving the last part of the book as the resolution.

The golden rule of writing short stories is to begin as close to end as you can. So, to turn the same story from novel to short story, you’d probably want to begin with the ship sinking. You haven’t got time to introduce the characters before the action begins, so you’d need to feed in exposition and backstory here and there during the events.
All stories need a good climax. So, you would find the most dramatic moment in the story and build up to it. Perhaps your climax would be the two main characters having to decide who will take the remaining seat on the last lifeboat.
Finally, you need a resolution. In a longer short story you do have time to bring in some kind of satisfying resolution at the end.
But, if you’re writing flash fiction and your story is only a few hundred words, you really need to zoom in on one tiny moment in that story.
You don’t have time to tell the entire story of a sinking ship, but you can turn one moment into a story.
We’ve chosen the lifeboat situation as the key moment in this hypothetical story. Two characters must decide which one of them will take the last seat on the last lifeboat. This is an appropriate plot for flash fiction because it’s simple, high-stakes, dramatic, and thought provoking.
Not all flash fiction will have a plot quite this dramatic, but all great flash fiction will have a plot that can be expressed in just one or two sentences.
If you have a plot in mind, but it seems more suitable for a longer story, you can sometimes find several flash fiction plots hidden within it. Just look for little stories within the story, like the lifeboat moment in our hypothetical tale of the sinking ship.
This brings us to our top tip for coming up with ideas for flash fiction stories:
if you’re ever stuck for ideas, you can find little stories within the story in books, movies, and TV shows. A full length feature film might have as many as 20 little incidents in it that could easily be flash fiction.
Don’t directly write a story based on the film, though. Just carefully pick out those little moments, write down what’s happening as a one or two sentence plot, and then use it to inspire your own, completely original flash fiction story.
One of our 100 Flash Fiction Prompts was actually taken from the movie Pulp Fiction!
How to write very short flash fiction
There are several reasons writers might start writing flash fiction. Of course, it could be that they just love and enjoy the form, but sometimes they’ll be a more strategic and practical reason at play.
Perhaps they want to practise the process of writing stories within the confines of a certain word limit. Maybe they are trying to develop a daily writing routine and they don’t have a lot of free time. It could be that they’re trying to break a habit of not finishing writing projects, or perhaps they are entering a flash fiction competition.
Whatever the reason, very often when we sit down to write flash, we must work under an imposed or self-imposed word restraint. We’ve set ourselves (or been set) the task of keeping the story under a particular number of words.
So, how do you plot a flash fiction story when you have to keep your story very, very short.
We’re not going to discuss stories of 100 words or fewer here. Technically, those stories are still flash, however, we prefer to categorise 100 word stories as drabbles and anything under 100 words as micro fiction.
But what if you have to keep your flash fiction story under, let’s say, 300 words? How do you write a flash fiction story that short?
The answer is: get your microscope out again. Remember earlier when we said writing flash fiction is like looking at part of a story under a microscope? If you have to write very short flash fiction, you’ll need to zoom in even further.
Let’s look at a couple of examples from our 100 Flash Fiction Prompts:

1. During a match, a young boxer must decide whether to throw the fight.

If you had 1,000 words to devote to the story, you could have time to tell the story of the entire fight. With only 300 words, it might be better to zoom in on the very moment when the boxer must choose whether or not to go down.
In a longer flash fiction story you might have time to go into detail about why he’s in this situation and why he’s so conflicted. In a 300 word story, you might only devote one or two sentences to his gambling debt and the large sum of money waiting for him if he goes down in the third round, as instructed.

1. A family must decide what to take and what to leave behind as a wildfire approaches their home.

If you had 1,000 words to devote to this story, you might be able to write about the whole process of choosing what to take and what to leave behind. You might be able to mention many different choices and have the whole family participate in the story. You’d be able to go into some details about certain choices and the stories behind individual objects or mementos, as well as the implications of choosing certain things over others.
With only 300 words, it would be advisable to zoom in on one member of the family and to focus on one profound and important choice.
How to write a flash fiction story
Now you have your mini plot, you still need to make sure your flash fiction feels like a complete story. It should still have a beginning, middle, and an end.
Just like a short story, you may need to bring in a little exposition here and there to give texture, context, backstory, and to bring some depth to the characters. But, unlike a short story, you won’t necessarily need to end with a full, detailed resolution. It’s quite common for a flash fiction story to end with a quick twist or plenty of ambiguity.
Flash Fiction is much more about eliciting emotions and provoking thought, than setting up and resolving a complex story.
100 Awesome Flash Fiction Prompts
A young ballet dancer chooses not to tell the other dancers in her troop about a loose paving stone outside their dance studio.
Two sisters realise they’ve both been on a perfect first date … with the same man.
On the car journey home, two parents realise they’ve left their child’s favourite teddy on a park bench several hours away.
A writer suffering from writers’ block looks for inspiration in a strange place.
Set 200 years in the future, a young man realises he’s too emotionally dependent on his robot assistant.
A young woman discovers she’s taken the wrong suitcase home from the airport. The contents of the case make her question her own life choices.
A murderer realises he has only 10 minutes to dispose of a body.
A child decides to walk home by themselves after their parent forgets to pick them up from school … again.
Your protagonist manages to talk the grim reaper out of collecting their soul.
Your protagonist suddenly realises they’ve been living in a simulation.
A young couple has chosen to spend the night in a haunted house to fix their marriage. Your story starts just as things get very weird.
Your protagonist finds a letter they wrote to themselves when they were a teenager.
Your protagonist must decide whether or not to drink from a fountain that erases all painful memories from the mind.
Your protagonist comes across a street called ‘Memory Lane’. They quickly realise the name is eerily apt.
A bride finds out something startling about her future husband an hour before the wedding.
Your protagonist finds an advertisement for a company that promises everlasting youth.
A youngest sibling shows up at a family reunion they weren’t actually invited to.
Your protagonist finds a piece of paper with a spell on it. If they say the words out loud they aren't sure if something terrible or wonderful will happen.
Your protagonist is watching a jazz band play when they realise they know the drummer from somewhere — but where? It takes a whole song for them to figure it out.
Your protagonist must meet their ex for lunch to tell them they’re now engaged. It’s been just a few weeks since they split up.
Two people on a sinking ship must decide who should take the last seat in the last lifeboat.
During a match, a young boxer must decide whether to throw the fight.
Your protagonist must pack their belongings before moving to a new colony on mars.
A pilot realises they have lost control of their aircraft.
Your protagonist doesn’t want to attend their 100th birthday party — and for good reason!
Your protagonist gets stuck in a lift with their ex … 5 minutes after breaking up with them.
A child says goodbye to the fairies in his garden before moving to a new home.
Your protagonist saves someone’s life … and then wishes they hadn’t.
Your protagonist arrives at a blind date. They’ve been set up with someone they actually know a little too well.
Set in a dystopian future in which public displays of affection are banned, your protagonist faces an agonising choice.
An agoraphobic must face their fear in order to save something important.
Your protagonist must make her partner fall out of love with them. Both their lives depend on it.
Your protagonist is hiking with her small children, they come face to face with a grizzly bear and her cubs.
Cinderella and Prince Charming realise they got married too quickly.
A message written in graffiti on a bathroom wall has serious implications for your protagonist.
Your protagonist finds a bag, looks inside, and realises the owner might just be their soulmate.
Your protagonist has been seeing the same stranger everywhere they go for months. They finally decide to confront them.
A couple realise their relationship is over during the trip of a lifetime. They’ve been saving up for the trip for years.
A public debate sees two previously married people letting their private grievances come into their arguments.
Your protagonist plans their escape from a retirement home.
A couple realise their fundamental beliefs are at odds with each other.
An artist develops an obsession with drawing a next-door neighbour.
Your protagonist finds themselves trapped in a cabin with a group of hikers during a heavy snowfall.
An ice skater must face going back on the ice after a dangerous fall.
A couple must decide their plan for New Year’ Eve. They both have secret reasons for their choice.
A family must decide what to take and what to leave behind as a wildfire approaches their home.
Your protagonist is waiting for someone important at the airport. They begin to think that person isn’t going to show up … and then they realise why.
Your protagonist must find their way through a maze. What they find in the middle of the maze is the last thing they were expecting.
An actor waiting in the wings has forgotten his first line.
Your protagonist is wrongly identified as a hero. Do they come clean?
Your protagonist realises their past is catching up with them.
Your protagonist overhears something that has serious implications for them while trying on clothes in a changing room.
Your protagonist is in a costume shop trying to decide what to dress up as for Halloween.
Your protagonist realises they’ve slipped into an alternate dimension.
A surgeon must make an impossible choice on the operating table.
A pregnant journalist interviews the mother of a missing child.
Your protagonist must ask his girlfriend’s father for his blessing, only to discover the father knows his deepest secret.
Your protagonist sees something on social media that will change their life forever.
Two work colleagues realise they’ve been dreaming the same dreams for weeks.
A reluctant daughter comes to terms with having to carry on the family business.
Your protagonist realises she must go on the run.
Two bank robbers disagree on their plan to rob a bank. This leads to a disastrous consequence.
A strange case of deja vous leaves your protagonist convinced of supernatural interference.
A sceptic begins to question their beliefs during a psychic reading.
Your protagonist uncovers a scandal at their workplace.
A hapless cook tries to recreate her late father’s favourite recipes in an effort to feel connected to him.
Your protagonist has a premonition that makes them certain they can’t visit their mother-in-law for Christmas. Now he must convince his husband.
A young backpacker discovers something unexpected in a cave.
An impulsive character and an indecisive character are brought together by chance. They must make an important choice.
Two characters cleaning up after a party discover an object that sheds light on something strange that happened earlier.
Two strangers are trapped together during a blackout.
Your protagonist must take a leap of faith in order to save something important to them.
Your protagonist discovers a huge part of their life has been a lie.
Your protagonist has set up an elaborate way to propose. Inexplicably, everything goes wrong.
Your protagonist must buy a dress for her mother’s funeral.
Your protagonist goes back to her favourite city in the world, only to find it has completely changed.
While stargazing, your protagonist realises the stars are forming secret messages in the sky.
Your protagonist hears a news story on the radio that will mean the world changes forever. However, she seems to be the only person who heard it.
Your protagonist is crossing a frozen lake. They see something under the ice that definitely shouldn’t be there.
A workaholic must come to terms with retirement.
An Olympic athlete must decide whether or not to report their teammate for doping.
A young mother feels isolated from her childless friends.
Your protagonist is about to realise their greatest ambition. Will it be everything they were hoping for?
Onboard a spaceship, a couple prepare to go into stasis for hundreds of years.
Your protagonist has an obsession with thinking about the past.
Set in a post-apocalyptic future, your protagonist meets an unlikely love interest.
Your protagonist visits a place from their childhood and realises their memories of that time might not be accurate at all.
A small child has decided to run away from home. Her parents watch on with amusement as she decides what to put in her backpack.
On a whim, a bus driver decides to radically change his route, much to the chagrin of his passengers.
Dystopian. A couple in love are only allowed to spend time with each other one day a year.
A shapeshifter begins to realise their powers are fading. They must decide what form will be the last one they take before they cannot change again.
The devil visits your protagonist with an offer on her soul.
Your protagonist suddenly has the ability to read minds. There’s only one place they want to go now!
Your very wealthy protagonist has designed a simple test to see who will inherit her estate.
An archaeologist discovers something that will change how we see the history of the world. It could be dangerous. Does he keep it to himself?
Your protagonist must clear out their late mother’s house. She discovers an incredible family secret.
Your protagonist is meeting his brother. They haven’t seen each other for 20 years.
Your protagonist develops the ability to see the world literally through someone else’s eyes.
Your protagonist starts to believe their partner might be a spy.
Your protagonist discovers a hidden camera in their living room.
Looking for a flash fiction competition? Check out our ‘Big List of International Writing Competitions!’ Looking for inspiration? Why not check out our list of the 20 Greatest Short Story Writers of All Time! Just received another short story rejection? Here’s our post about ‘How to Deal With Story Rejections’ Bonus Prompts! Two characters waiting by the side of the road realise they are both meeting the same person.
A woman loses her young niece in a busy shopping mall.
Three strangers must solve a riddle in order to gain entry to a secret club.
A poor woman must borrow ingredients from her neighbours to bake her husband a birthday cake.
A waiter finally finds out why an old man has been coming to the restaurant where he works every day at exactly the same time.
Two work colleagues must decide which of them is to take the blame for a terrible mistake at work.
Your disgruntled protagonist goes to confront the couple next door about the strange noises they’ve been hearing at night.
A family dinner party sees three characters make three very surprising announcements.
Two women argue over who should get to buy the last dress available in a store. How do they decide who should get it?
A young couple find out they knew (and disliked) each other vehemently as children.
Love writing stories? Register now for our free 7 Day Story Writing Challenges. Write a short story in a week, get extensive feedback on your entry, and compete for a prize of £500 in each round of the challenge. Register today!
Mastered the art of flash fiction? Now you can try submitting your stories to literary magazines! We’ve compiled a list of the best literary magazines that don’t charge a reading fee! Check out our Big List of No-Fee Literary Magazines.

Author’s Note:
If you enjoy the story so far, please consider upvoting and commenting! These go a long way in helping the story reach a larger audience. (Also, reddit removes all my formatting for some reason so if you want a fully formatted read, check out my story on RoyalRoad)
READ 2 WEEKS AHEAD: Season Finale Chapter 17 is now available for Tier 2 Manifest Fantasy Patrons and higher!
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First
Three, two, one... execute.
Ron peeked around the corner, his M4E1 Carl Gustaf already loaded with standard HEAT rounds. The rest of Alpha Team stacked up behind him or behind Ryan, who was on the other side of the doorway. Through the opening, they could see a nightmarish tangle of webs and egg sacs, with the skittering shapes of Spiranids lurking in the shadows in the far corners of the room.
The Queen was positioned in the center of the room, completely exposed by a cluster of eggs. Henry watched as Ron leveled his Gustaf, taking aim at the Queen while they stayed along the wall to ensure Ron’s backblast was clear. It should have been an easy kill, but a flicker of movement caught Henry’s eye.
A blob of white flew across his vision, smacking into Ron just as he fired his weapon. The thick strands of webbing bypassed Kelmithus’ shielding and wrapped around him, sending him flying back a couple of meters. He landed on his back, his body and launcher completely stuck to the floor by the condensed silk.
Around the same time, the Gustaf’s projectile struck the Queen’s abdomen section. The resulting blast tore through its exoskeleton but was far from a fatal blow. The Queen shrieked, a sound far deeper than Henry expected.
“Fuck!” Ron shouted, struggling to break free from the webbing.
Henry exhaled. They were a man down, but helping him had to wait; the not-dead Queen and its minions took precedence. It would be great if he had another launcher in his own Holding Bag, but that was something he’d have to bring up to Chief Cole later. Henry tossed his grenades into the room, the pops mingling with the screeches of injured Spiranids. Ryan struck simultaneously, throwing his own collection into the mix. Like firecrackers, the explosives were violent but short-lived.
As the chaos subsided, Henry pushed in. Raising his shotgun, he tore through a Spiranid that pounced at him, its carcass smoldering from the white phosphorous. Beside him, Isaac, Ryan, and Dr. Anderson’s shots rang out, tearing through their own sectors of fire.
Almost immediately upon their entry, the Queen surged forward with terrifying speed. It reared its head back like it was about to vomit, mandibles covered in a sick, yellowish color. Henry recognized immediately what it was trying to do. “Acid, move!”
Henry dove away from his previous position, taking a shot at another Spiranid that had taken the opportunity to jump at him while its master was preparing to attack. He narrowly escaped the lethal spray as it jetted toward him. The acid splattered on the ground where they had stood not even a second before, sizzling fiercely as it corroded the thick webbing sprawled across the floor. He noticed as he ran that, rather curiously, the acid was simply puddling on the floor. There was no damage to the floor itself, but if it could tear apart high-quality monster silk just like that, he didn’t want to find out what it could do to an envirosuit.
Henry glanced back after blasting apart his third Spiranid. His teammates were fine – Ryan helping him keep the Queen’s attention, Sera already on her way to Ron, and the others taking care of the smaller Spiranids. He tried to get a quick headcount of how many Spiranids they’d already eliminated. Between their guns, Kelmithus’ magic, and the grenades, he estimated they had killed at least a dozen so far. Solid progress, but the fact that they weren’t able to take out the Queen with their first strike was an issue.
Henry rolled to his left as the Queen pounced on his previous position. It was fucking fast, like a Goliath birdeater but scaled up – and with nasty abilities that really shouldn’t belong on a creature like this. He recovered quickly and took aim, firing point-blank into its thorax. The white phosphorous pellets hissed as they burned into its exoskeleton, forcing it back.
Beside him, Ryan’s shotgun boomed. He struck the Queen’s legs, which seemed to be more fragile than the thick exoskeleton surrounding the head and thorax. The pellets bit into the chitin, likely striking a nerve as evidenced by the leg’s subsequent buckling and collapse. It was a lucky shot – one that he doubted they could repeat four or five more times.
“Sera, use my knife! Here, right here!” Ron called out.
Sera’s sword must’ve been too large to effectively cut through the webbing. They had to hurry up. He and Ryan had been dodging the Queen’s attacks, but mostly by a hair’s breadth. All it took was one lucky hit from the Queen to put them out of commission, possibly for good. “Sera, status on Ron?”
“One minute!” she responded.
Damn. That was one minute later than he’d hoped. Reacting instinctively, Henry noted the Queen raising one of its legs – a sure sign of it preparing for another attack. The Queen struck again, this time cleaving the air with the leg, aiming to corral him into a predictable escape route. As its leg swept through the air, Henry caught sight of the Queen rearing its head back in a grotesque mimicry of a snake about to strike – another acid attack.
Anticipating the monster’s strategy, Henry feinted to the right, a move he hoped would mislead it about his true intentions. As the Queen’s head followed his feint, Henry twisted sharply, scraping against the rough ground. With a powerful push from his legs, he launched backward just as the Queen unleashed its attack.
Acid spewed forth in a wide arc, splattering where he had just been. The corrosive globs almost instantly melted the webbing on the floor, collecting into pools. And there was the second issue. The longer this fight dragged on, the less room they’d have to maneuver.
Henry unloaded into the creature’s compound eyes before tossing a flashbang near its legs. The creature staggered backward, blinded in both its eyes and its sensory hairs. Henry used the precious few seconds he bought to reload his weapon and check up on his team. “Yen, sitrep?”
“Stragglers neutralized; we’re moving to you now.”
Automatic gunfire erupted as Isaac and Dr. Anderson joined the fight against the Queen, dumping their mags on the creature’s head. The 6.8mm seemed to penetrate well, but he could say the same if they fought an elephant; the Spiranid Queen was simply too large for the relatively small caliber rounds to have any effect besides pissing it off.
The Queen lunged again, its legs surrounding him from all sides. There was only one way out, and it was through the belly of the beast. Henry rushed forward, ducking under the Queen’s mandibles as he slid underneath its abdomen. He fired his shotgun as quickly as he could, unloading pellets into the beast’s underbelly. The white phosphorous scorched the softer flesh, drawing a shriek of pain from the massive creature.
As the Queen writhed under the relentless assault, Ryan and the others seized the moment to reload their weapons and reposition. They poured everything they had into the creature’s cephalothorax, bluish ichor oozing from the hundreds of new wounds that they opened up. Yet, it was like chipping away at a mountain – it simply wasn’t enough. The creature thrashed around violently in response; Henry knew it was only a matter of time before it landed a hit on someone.
And land a hit it did. With a terrifying swiftness, one of its massive legs slammed into Henry’s chest, launching him backward. The shield Kelmithus cast on him flickered as it absorbed the brunt of the impact. He crashed into an egg sac by the entrance – its membrane ruptured on impact, drenching him in a sticky, corrosive slime. The sac provided little cushion, and he hit the ground hard, the breath knocked out of him.
Pain flared across Henry’s chest where the Queen’s leg had struck him. Gasping for breath and battling the encroaching blackness in his vision, he instinctively checked his envirosuit. He started with the areas he could see, glancing down at his chest. It was visibly deformed, dented but not quite a gash.
Still intact, thank goodness. No breach, but another hit like that would be disastrous. He breathed a sigh of relief, his chest hurting like hell as he did so. He checked his sides and back. Parts of his suit were covered in slime from the egg sac. It didn’t seem as corrosive as the Queen’s acid, but it was still a hazard. Quickly, he swiped at it, removing as much as possible with his gloved hands to prevent further damage.
He forced himself up, grabbing his shotgun from the floor. The Queen was already barreling toward him, the damn monster not letting up. He didn’t have time to make a run for it; he needed to jump to one side or the other, and the timing needed to be perfect. Just as the Queen’s shadow engulfed him, the air turned icy cold, frost creeping up on his visor.
Ice formed from thin air, spearing up from the ground and piercing through the Queen’s legs. The spikes rooted the beast in place. Not one to waste an opportunity, Henry dashed away from the entrance, firing at the immobilized giant spider as he linked up with the others.
“Sera?” Henry asked again.
Sera’s voice came in strained. “Almost…” Then, with a triumphant shout, she announced the word Henry had been desperate to hear. “Done!”
“Owens!” Henry said, risking a glance back.
Ron had already grabbed his Gustaf and was in the process of loading another HEAT round. “On it!”
Henry grinned. It was a relief, to be sure. With Ron free and back in the fight, the odds had just tipped heavily in their favor. The Queen was tough, but it wasn’t invincible; they just needed an opening.
Given the damage the Queen sustained to its body, Henry couldn’t imagine it being in peak fighting condition. Even in its weakened state, though, it still had the capability to dodge Ron’s attack, and it seemed to be saving its web ability for that very inevitability.
“Take out the legs!” Henry ordered.
They combined their fire on the left legs, since Ryan managed to break one of them earlier. He heard a crack that might’ve been the chitin giving way or the leg snapping, but it was hard to tell. He was just about to chalk it up to the prevailing gunfire around them, but then he saw it: a brief stumble. The Queen recovered quickly, but it was clear to Henry that it wouldn’t be able to manage any more damage to its legs.
Then, he noticed a blur in his peripheral vision to his right, moving so fast his eyes could barely keep up. Shit, he was certain he kept track of the Queen’s movements. With the existing damage to his envirosuit, he’d be completely fucked. He braced himself for another impact, but it never came.
As he focused harder on the blur, he caught a glimpse of a flash of light that could only be one thing – Sera’s sword, And, just like a flash of lightning, she had already cleared the vicinity of the Queen. The Queen’s foreleg seemed to simply vanish, severed so cleanly that it took a moment for the beast to realize what had happened. When it did, it let out a screech of pain, its balance faltering as it tried to adapt to the sudden change.
While Henry focused on taking out another leg from the left side, Sera had already shifted to her next target. Their assault was brutal: white phosphorus pellets and hard-hitting 6.8mm on one side, ice magic and skilled swordsmanship on the other. And to think, they managed to inflict all this damage by the time Ron completed his reload.
“Clear the way!” Ron called out, his Gustaf aimed right at the Queen’s head.
Henry jumped back, watching as Kelmithus conjured another set of ice spikes to root the beast again, in case the five obliterated legs weren’t enough to keep it down. The Queen thrashed against the icy bonds, its remaining legs slashing through the air in a frenzied bid for freedom. It spat acid – a tactic that would’ve worked effectively on most other materials, but instead simply got diluted with the melting ice. Even as the acid reacted with the ice, the spikes held firm, anchoring the beast in place like steel cables.
Henry’s heart pounded in his ears. Come on, Owens, he urged silently. Take the shot.
As if on cue, Ron pulled the trigger. The Gustaf bucked in his hands as the HEAT round streaked towards its target. Henry barely had time to brace himself before the explosion hit, the shockwave slamming into him and nearly toppling him over. He staggered back, gazing into the settling dust.
When the smoke cleared, the Queen’s head was obliterated – replaced by a gory mess of shattered chitin and pulverized flesh. Blood sprayed from the gaping hole, covering the ground in a pale blue hue. The creature’s body convulsed, its remaining legs scrabbling weakly at their surroundings.
A surge of triumph washed over Henry, but it was fleeting. From the corner of his eye, he locked on to a glimpse of movement. One of the Queen’s legs continued to spasmodically jerk around and spray the ground with blue ichor. He raised his shotgun in a nonchalant motion and blasted the errant limb, watching as it shuddered and went still.
Sera stepped up, her sword barely catching the light as she jammed it into what was left of the Queen’s thorax. A sharp twist, and it was over. She then yanked the blade from the carcass, her grip shifting subtly along the hilt. As she flicked the sword, frost swiftly coated the ichor clinging to the metal. The frozen debris was flung off, hitting the ground and shattering like glass.
He glanced down at his Holding Bag. Damn, the fight took out most of his shells. Swapping out his shotgun for his M7, he turned to his team and took stock of their condition. It seemed everyone had mostly gone unscathed, only debris and dirt scarring their envirosuits. Well, except for himself and Ron. “Think we’re gonna have to start calling you pinata now,” Henry said, clapping his friend on the shoulder.
Ron scoffed. “Yeah? Says the runner-up,” he said, tapping the dent on Henry’s envirosuit. “Better ‘pinata’ than ‘roadkill’, though. But seriously, what’s next? Don’t even know where to start.”
The room was empty, save for the debris strewn about and the singular obelisk standing in the center of the room. He didn’t notice it earlier, but as he got closer, he realized that the obelisk emitted a faint light that barely escaped the canopy of webs. He looked it up and down before turning to the others. “Only one place to start. Let’s clear out the webs, see what’s hiding below.”
“Doc, Kel, clear out the eggs. Hayes, Sera, see if the Queen’s got anything useful. Everyone else focus on the webs,” Henry ordered.
Ron drew his knife and started slicing through the dense cobwebs. “Hey, what y’all think the Queen’s Tier is?”
Isaac paused to consider. “Eh, Tier 8, probably. Minotaur boss and Rillifane boss were both Tier 8, so I’d say the spider’s around the same level.”
“Well, the resilience of the specimen isn’t a definitive measure of the Tier,” Dr. Anderson pointed out. “It’s quite possible that we merely had the most suitable tools at hand in this particular encounter.”
“The scholar speaks truly,” Sera agreed. “There is nary a defining criterion; defense is but one of many that are considered by the Guild. Were it so simple, Kelmithus and I would have attained Tier 9 ere now.”
“So, what do you think the Queen is, then? Tier 7 maybe?” Ron asked.
Henry shook his head. Tier 7 didn’t seem accurate. Using his knife to scrape some of the webbing off his glove, he voiced, “Spiranids are weak in general, but are classified as Tier 5 or higher because of their traps, ambush tactics, numbers, and abilities. Archers can use Wind Snipe and mages can use wide-area spellcasting, but they can’t reliably penetrate the exoskeleton’s armor. If anything, this is probably on the lower end of Tier 9.”
“Tier 9, huh?” Isaac muttered.
Sera smiled as she stood back. She stuffed a frost-covered gland into her holding bag and paused from her work as she chimed in, “Hmm… how keen. I expected nothing less from the first Tier 6 entrants in Eldralore’s history! It shows plain why the Guild did so swiftly raise you.”
“Hah,” Henry chuckled. It was an amusing thought, but… “Say, ya think we can get to Tier 7 after this?”
Sera’s eyebrows shot up. “Tier 7? A mark of no slight merit. What have you achieved since attaining Tier 6?”
Henry reached to scratch his chin, then cursed softly as his glove thudded against his visor. “Well, we took down a Rillifane pack, a Sentinel Lindwyrm, and now this primal Spiranid Queen. That’s not too shabby, eh?”
“Firm victories,” Sera admitted, “but advancement weighs more than battle alone. The Guild also considers quest difficulty, knowledge gained therefrom, and impact – in other words, glory.”
“The Baranthurian Ruins,” Dr. Anderson blurted, taking the words out of Henry’s mouth. He turned to Kelmithus, who approached them after confirming that the eggs had been cleared out. “Surely, working with the Sanctum Arcanum must be quite the honour. The Guild holds their quests with high esteem, wouldn’t you say?”
Kelmithus nodded, burning a clump of disposed webs on the ground. “True as that may be, advancement oft hinges upon the cumulative experience of dozens of quests.”
“Well, ain’t no small feats for us lately,” Ryan remarked. “The quest to the Baranthurian ruins, what was it, Tier 8? Yeah, that was Tier 8. Sentinel Lindwyrm? Hell, Tier Nine. That there beast?” Ryan pointed his gun at the carcass of the Spiranid Queen. “Tier 9 as well.”
Ron interjected, “Plus we’ve been helping out along the way, like those villagers, and taking on quests others won’t touch. Honestly, the Hardale quest should be pretty weighty too, considering the Nobian shenanigans.”
Sera hummed, mulling over Alpha Team’s experiences. The fact that most of their quests at Tier 6 had essentially been Tier 7 quests or higher in difficulty was probably unheard of in the Guild. Not only that, but they’d been able to complete these difficult quests successfully. Hell, with flying colors, even. That had to count for something.
Henry looked over at Sera, stepping back as he allowed Kelmithus to dispose of the webs that he had cleared out. “So, whaddya think? Based on what we’ve done, you think we got a shot at Tier 7?”
Sera looked up at the ceiling as she weighed her response. “Ehh, you’ve a strong case. Alas, it’s Taldren’s call to make. His favor seems yours, though; I wager he’ll agree.”
Henry grinned. Moving up meant they could have access to more quests. Naturally, that also meant better rewards and in turn, access to some truly magical equipment. “Good to hear. Guess we’ll see to it once we get back to Eldralore. Now, we should probably –”
A soft glow of light gradually lit up the room, interrupting Henry mid-sentence. He squinted, readying his weapon. The light came from the walls and ceiling, illuminating the once-dark chamber. The obelisk, now free of webs, now hummed… healthily? It wasn’t like he had a manual to tell him if this was a good or bad development, but judging from the facility’s reaction, it must’ve worked.
Henry glanced at his HUD. The temperature readings were rising, too. The icy chill from Kelmithus’ magic rapidly dissipated as the environmental controls kicked in. “Well, looks like we’ve done all we can here. Let’s head back to the containment cell room and see if we can find anything else of interest.”
– – –
Outskirts of GB-2, Grenden Forest
Carvus Alnect Virelius narrowed his gaze toward the brightening sky, his eyes cutting through the retreating mist that had long veiled the forest’s canopy. This unprecedented clarity above the ruins was strange. After centuries cloaked in an impenetrable fog, why did the skies clear now?
The Umber Vicearch’s mind worked like a whetstone, sharpening the fragments of reports from his scouts, cryptic as they were. The recent skirmish, occurring concurrently with the lifting fog, could not be mere happenstance. Regardless of the answer, the unexpected fold presented a welcome complexity to test his mettle.
He set his thoughts aside as the sound of footsteps approached.
“Leuarch Eldreyn reporting, milord,” one of his men said. “We’ve word from Serarch Trelian.”
Carvus gave him a nod to continue.
Eldreyn relayed the news. “The scouts espy traces of battle: a fallen Sentinel Lindwyrm and two carriages left abandoned near the cave’s entrance. The land bears scars from some form of magic, strewn with strange metal tubes and other objects unknown to us. Save for the Lindwyrm, no other bodies are to be found. What are your commands, milord?”
Carvus took a deep breath. No other bodies? Two carriages? That such a formidable creature was felled with no apparent casualties among their ranks suggested a small but extraordinarily capable force. Each member was no doubt Tier 7 at the least. The limited number of carriages implied a party not larger than ten. But… what could the metal objects mean?
Powerful though they might be, could such a small group withstand his numbers? Carvus entertained the thought briefly. No, direct confrontation would be unwise. The site bore secrets too vital to squander on rash gambles. Better to maneuver them into a position where the only viable option would be to comply with his demands.
“Hold our position, Lornus,” Carvus commanded. While he preferred the safety of their hidden vantage in the forest, the intrigue of Trelian’s findings – the slain Lindwyrm – was too compelling to ignore. “The contents of Trelian’s report compel our own investigation. Lead us, that we might see for ourselves.”
“As you command, milord.”
It was a short walk to the clearing. As they reached the treeline, Carvus held up a hand, signaling his men to halt – they should go no further than the cover of the forest. The aftermath of the battle lay evident before them. The massive form of the Sentinel Lindwyrm sprawled near the far side of the clearing, its outline murky at a distance.
Carvus squinted, adjusting his position slightly for a better view. He felt his jaw drop, a lapse in composure that surprised even him. Yet, who could fault him? The beast lay nearly torn asunder, its massive body riddled with gaping, jagged wounds that no sword or arrow could inflict. Indeed, not even traditional siege weapons or combat spells could inflict such damage.
The destructive capability of fyric powder was well-known to him – he had seen its use in adamantite mines. The wounds on the Lindwyrm, however, spoke of a force of another Tier entirely. Where fyric powder might clear a path through a stubborn boulder, the agent used against the Sentinel Lindwyrm seemed capable of obliterating several boulders at once, perhaps even an entire cliffside.
Turning his attention from the ravaged beast, he scanned the battlefield. Among the chaos, his eyes caught the glint of metal – strange tubes scattered about, all some lighter shade of bronze. The craters were blackened and littered with debris: shards of metal mixed with wires. This was clearly no ordinary skirmish.
He moved closer to the tree line, cautiously examining the unfamiliar objects. The metal tubes bore no resemblance to any weapons known to Nobian forces. However, their presence here implied that somehow, these objects were related to the catastrophic wounds on the Lindwyrm.
Near the cave’s entrance, two metal carriages lay abandoned. Their exteriors were marred by dirt and marked with an array of dents that appeared to be from the Lindwyrm’s armored tail. The carriages, in style and make, aligned with reports of American machines observed by their Umbercari in distant Eldralore. Mounted atop each was a long cylinder. As foreign as they were, he could tell they were weapons – ones capable of unleashing formidable destruction.
Adventurers throughout the ages had ventured here, all repelled by the formidable Lindwyrm that long guarded these grounds. Had it been folly to devote their resources to the conquest of their neighbors, rather than to mastering and exploiting this site? Such questions surpassed his station, yet irrespective of the answers, the Emperor would surely take no pleasure in learning that he had allowed Americans to plunder the Gatebuilder’s secrets.
Carvus turned to Lornus. “Bid our scouts to investigate the cave.” As Leuarch Eldreyn departed to carry out the orders, he beckoned to one of his serarchs. “Bring me one of those metal tubes. I wish to examine it.”
He sat on a rock, watching the light bend around the man’s form until he vanished from sight. The serarch then adjusted the temperature around his body, matching it to that of the forest. Were it not for the subtle shifts in the man’s mana as he held the spells, Carvus would have surely lost track of him.
The serarch made his way forth, passing through the trees and into the clearing beyond. With haste, he seized upon one of the tubes that lay scattered about, and then, as quick as he had come, he turned and made his way back to the forest’s edge. When at last he returned, Carvus stood up and held out his hand.
The tube, lighter than its solidity might have portended, was chill to the touch and was marked by a patina that showed clear signs of bending. He tried to bend it with his fingers, but the metal resisted. Even when he used magic to strengthen himself, it yielded naught but scant impression. What could have possibly moved the metal?
Looking closely, he noticed that the metal wasn’t bronze, as he had first thought. Though bearing a hue akin to bronze, it was of a kind unfamiliar to him. The surface was engraved with American script – characters and sequences that held little meaning to him. Yet, to deem the letters ‘engraved’ would be to err; it was as if they were imprinted with a craftsmanship nary a smith could rival.
He turned it over in his hands, his eyes drawn to a circular groove near the base. Examining both ends, Carvus noted the open end was distorted as if a great force had expelled something from within – an insight into his previous question. The other end was sealed, marked by a small, precise indentation. He held it up, aligning it with a similarly sized hole in a nearby tree.
This was no common weapon. As a trebuchet releases its load, so too must this tube have hurled its own projectile. It gave him an idea. What if one were to use an adamantite tube with fyric powder, place a keen arrowhead atop, and ignite the mixture below? Would it rival a standard Wind Snipe combined with physical enhancement magic?
Carvus’ thoughts were interrupted by someone calling out to him. “Milord.”
“Hm?” He looked up, finding the face of Leuarch Franus. “What is it, Martano?”
He hesitated, as if second-guessing his words. “The… The Lindwyrm… The men grow restless, milord. They wish to claim the spoils of this battle – the Sentinel Lindwyrm’s materials are prized in many a lore. And these carriages, would it not profit us to salvage what we can? They may hold more secrets – or riches.”
He turned the leuarch’s words over in his mind as he would a well-worn coin. In truth, the idea held merit. Even the smallest measure of a Lindwyrm’s blood was a treasure beyond compare – to say nothing of the other materials, sought after by alchemists and smiths alike. That the Americans had forgone harvest was a curious thing indeed. Could it be that they were ignorant of the creature’s true worth? Or perhaps, had they found something more valuable?
And then there were the carriages, gleaming in the sun like ripe fruit waiting to be plucked. If they could but glean some understanding of how the Americans had so deftly slain a beast of the Lindwyrm’s standing, it would surely prove a boon to the Empire’s own martial pursuits. Perhaps, armed with such knowledge, they might at last gain the upper hand against the accursed Sonarans.
Carvus cast his gaze once more upon the clearing, then turned to face Martano. “Aye,” he said. “Let it be so.”
Yet, as he made to step forth, a low, droning sound beckoned his attention – a buzzing hum that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. The unfamiliar noise compelled him to halt. He raised his hand, stopping his men as he searched for the noise. He tilted his head skyward, squinting as he beheld a strange sight: a winged thing hanging in the air above the clearing, like an animal circling its prey. As the sunlight reflected off its surface, it became evident to him that this was no creature of flesh, but a machine – much like the metal carriages.
“Hold,” Carvus ordered. “We dare not venture forth.”
Martano stepped forward, doubt and confusion etched across his face. “But, milord, if we shroud ourselves in invisibility, surely they cannot see us.”
Carvus shook his head. “Nay; recall the umbercari we sent to infiltrate the Duke’s mansion. They, too, thought themselves hidden, yet were somehow discovered. We know not what sorcery that flying machine might possess, and we cannot risk exposing ourselves.”
Before Martano could respond or venture any further protest, the scouts returned, led by Serarch Trelian. The search bowed his head before providing his report, “Milord, the cave lies empty, and the Lindwyrm’s nest remains untouched. We discovered footprints leading to a great sealed door, which we believe to be the entrance to the ruins.”
Carvus nodded. The Americans had ventured forth and left the loot behind for a reason. He thought back to a fortress that the Empire once sacrificed to encircle the forces of the now-conquered Kingdom of Durenelle. “So be it. Let us abandon these lesser spoils. As our adversaries have forgone these spoils in pursuit of greater gains, so must we sacrifice Straltus.”
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My local council put out a letter saying they're cracking down on unkempt lawns. I like to keep my lawn long so I can see fireflies and butterflies which means my yard unfortunately falls into that category. Even if it wasn't for the insects my yard still looks like crap when it's mowed because of how uneven it is plus the hillside makes it a pain in the ass to cut. Any wild flora alternatives I can plant so I won't have to trim my yard anymore? I live in Southwest Pennsylvania, nearing Ohio. Also could these wild flora suggestions be non-toxic to cats? I have a couple of strays they come to my house

We had a big storm two days ago and my neighbors oak tree and several other of their trees are dangling precariously over my property. The neighbor said because they’re hanging over my property that they aren’t responsible for having them cut. I called my insurance company and they said because the trees haven’t fallen yet that I should send the neighbor a certified, notarized letter saying their trees are posing an imminent threat to my property and they need to have them trimmed. If they fall and damage my property they will have to cover it, too. Insurance said until I serve the notice or damage is done then nothing can be done aside from me forking out the money to have them trimmed. She advised me not to do that. Meanwhile, I can’t use my yard or my driveway. She was going to do further research and call me back. Does all this sound right? If so, does anyone have a sample letter? I’m in Louisiana if that matters. Thanks in advance

Today the White House announced tariffs on certain products imported from China, including steel and aluminum products, semiconductors, electric vehicles, batteries and battery components, solar cells, ship-to-shore cranes, syringes and needles, and certain personal protective equipment (or PPE). According to the White House, these higher tariffs are designed “to protect American workers and businesses from China’s unfair trade practices.” Tariffs are essentially taxes on imported goods, and altogether the tariff hikes cover about $18 billion in imported goods.
In 2018, Trump abruptly ended the economic era based on the idea that free trade benefited the global economy by putting tariffs of 25% on a wide range of foreign made goods. This was a cap to a set of ideas that had been sputtering for a while as industries moved to countries with cheaper labor, feeding the popular discontent Trump tapped into. Trump claimed that other countries would pay his tariffs, but tariffs are actually paid by Americans, not foreign countries, and his have cost Americans more than $230 billion. Half of that has come in under the Biden administration.
Trump’s tariffs also actually cost jobs, but they were very popular politically. A January 2024 National Bureau of Economic Research working paper by David Autor, Anne Beck, David Dorn, and Gordon H. Hanson established that the trade war of 2018–2019 hurt the U.S. heartland but actually helped Trump’s reelection campaign. “Residents of regions more exposed to import tariffs became less likely to identify as Democrats, more likely to vote to reelect Donald Trump in 2020, and more likely to elect Republicans to Congress,” they discovered.
Now Trump is saying, that if elected, he will impose a 10% tariff on everything imported into the United States, with a 60% tariff on anything from China and a 100% tariff on any cars made outside the U.S.
In contrast, the administration’s new tariffs are aimed only at China, and only at industries already growing in the U.S., especially semiconductors. Tariffs will rise to 50% on semiconductors and solar cells, 100% on electric vehicles, and 25% on batteries, a hike that will help the Big Three automakers who agreed to union demands in newly opened battery factories, as well as their United Auto Workers workforce. “I’m determined that the future of electric vehicles be made in America by union workers. Period,” Biden said.
The administration says the tariffs are a response to China’s unfair trade practices, and such tariffs are popular in the manufacturing belt of Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Democratic senators from that region have asked Biden to maintain or increase tariffs on Chinese imports after “[g]enerations of free trade agreements that prioritize multinational corporations have devasted our communities, harmed our economy, and crippled our job market.”
In other economic news, a new rule capping credit card late fees at $8, about a quarter of what they are now, was supposed to go into effect today, but on Friday a federal judge in Texas blocked the rule. The new cap was set by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the brainchild of Massachusetts Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren, and was part of the Biden administration’s crackdown on “junk fees.”
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Bankers Association sued to stop the rule from taking effect, and U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, appointed by Trump, issued a preliminary injunction against it. His reasoning draws from an argument advanced by the far-right Fifth Circuit, which oversees Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana, arguing that the CFPB itself is unconstitutional because of its funding structure. "Consequently, any regulations promulgated under that regime are likely unconstitutional as well," Pittman wrote.
On Friday, major airlines, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, and Alaska Airlines—but not Southwest Airlines—sued the U.S. Department of Transportation over its new rule that requires the airlines disclose their fees, such as for checking bags, upfront to consumers. The department says consumers are overpaying by $543 million a year in unexpected fees.
The airlines say that the rule will confuse consumers and that its “attempt to regulate private business operations in a thriving marketplace is beyond its authority.”
The other big story of the day is the continuing attempt of the MAGA Republicans to overturn our democratic system.
This morning, House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), second in line for the presidency and sworn to uphold the Constitution, left his post in Washington, D.C., to appear with former president Trump at his trial for falsifying business records to deceive voters before the 2016 election. The House was due to consider the final passage of the crucially important Federal Aviation Authority Reauthorization Act, but Johnson chose instead to show up to do the work the judge’s gag order means Trump cannot do himself, attacking key witness Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer. Johnson described Cohen as “clearly on a mission for personal revenge” and, citing his “history of perjury,” said that “[n]o one should believe a word he says in there.”
“I do have a lot of surrogates,” Trump boasted this morning, “and they are speaking very beautifully.” Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who was also at the trial this morning, later said on Newsmax that they had indeed gone to “overcome this gag order.”
Johnson went on to call the trial “corrupt” and say “this ridiculous prosecution…is not about justice. It’s all about politics.” He left without taking questions. Meg Kinnard of the Associated Press called out the moment as “a remarkable moment in modern American politics: The House speaker turning his Republican Party against the federal and state legal systems that are foundational to the U.S. government and a cornerstone of democracy.”
Peter Eisler, Ned Parker, and Joseph Tanfani of Reuters explained today how those attacks on our judiciary are sparking widespread calls for violence against judges, with social media posters in echo chambers goading each other into ever more extreme statements. According to her lawyer, Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, wore a bullet-proof vest as she came and went from court, an uncanny echo of the precautions necessary in mob trials.
In a different attack on our constitutional system, House Republicans are trying to replace the administration’s foreign policy with their own. Over the weekend, they introduced a bill to force President Biden to send offensive weapons to Israel for its invasion of Rafah, overruling the administration’s decision to withhold a shipment of 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his government would invade Rafah despite strong opposition from the Biden administration.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters: “We strongly, strongly oppose attempts to constrain the president’s ability to deploy a U.S. security assistance consistent with U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives.”
The Constitution establishes that the executive branch manages foreign affairs, and until 2015 it was an established practice that politics stopped at the water’s edge, meaning that Congress quarreled with the administration at home but the two presented a united front in foreign affairs. That practice ended in March 2015, when 47 Republican senators, led by freshman Arkansas senator Tom Cotton, wrote a letter to Iran’s leaders warning that they would not honor any agreement Iran reached with the Obama administration over its development of nuclear weapons.
The Obama administration did end up negotiating the July 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran and several world powers, under which Iran agreed to restrict its nuclear development and allow inspections in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. In 2018 the extremist Republicans got their way when Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal, largely collapsing it, after which Iran resumed its expansion of the nuclear enrichment program it had stopped under the agreement.
Now extremists in the House are trying to run foreign policy on their own. The costs of that usurpation of power are clear in Niger, formerly a key U.S. ally in the counterterrorism effort in West Africa. The new prime minister of Niger, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, whose party took power after a coup d’état threw out Niger’s democratically elected president, defended his country’s turn away from the U.S. and toward Russia in an interview with Rachel Chason of the Washington Post. Recalling the House’s six month delay in passing the national security supplemental bill, he said: “We have seen what the United States will do to defend its allies, because we have seen Ukraine and Israel.”
—
Notes:
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/13/white-house-opposes-house-bill-force-israeli-arm-shipments-00157691
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/14/nyregion/mike-johnson-trump-trial.html
https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-speaker-mike-johnson-court-09aef3de395fa77843f2600f40da6ac3
https://www.vox.com/2015/3/10/8182063/tom-cottons-controversial-letter-to-iran-explained
https://www.cfr.org/backgroundewhat-iran-nuclear-deal
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12106
https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/zgpokqdxlpd/05102024creditcard.pdf
https://www.texastribune.org/2018/08/30/under-trump-5th-circuit-becoming-even-more-conservative/
https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-judge-blocks-rule-capping-credit-card-late-fees-8-2024-05-10/
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/major-airlines-sue-biden-administration-over-fee-disclosure-rule-2024-05-13/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/14/speaker-mike-johnson-house-trump-trial
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/18/politics/donald-trump-tariffs-trade-waindex.html
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/biden-sharply-hikes-us-tariffs-billions-chinese-chips-cars-2024-05-14/
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w32082/w32082.pdf
https://www.brown.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/05012024section301tariffsletter.pdf
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/14/politics/new-china-tariffs-biden-trump/index.html
https://www.npr.org/2024/05/14/1251096758/biden-china-tariffs-ev-electric-vehicles-5-things
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/05/14/memorandum-on-actions-by-the-united-states-related-to-the-statutory-4-year-review-of-the-section-301-investigation-of-chinas-acts-policies-and-practices-related-to-technology-transfer-intellectua/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/05/14/us-threats-led-rupture-vital-military-ties-nigerien-official-says/
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/cutting-the-spigot
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-election-threats-courts/
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/13/politics/video/stormy-daniels-bulletproof-vest-clark-brewster-trump-hush-money-trial-ac360-digvid
https://www.automotivedive.com/news/united-auto-workers-electric-vehicle-plant-joint-venture/704275/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/samabuelsamid/2024/05/14/volvo-polestar-tesla-detroit-take-biggest-hit-from-china-ev-tariffs/
Twitter (X):
atrupastatus/1790485101966487881
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-14-2024

Tl;dr Version for anyone who doesn't want to read a bit of a rant: This game is way too damn greedy. <--
Important Edit: I'm new to reddit but guess I'm just not allowed to talk because I have slightly negative Karma? I'll just try to edit this as I see more and more comments I can't respond to, or DM if you feel like it ig.
Some Various disclaimers and background information before the rant:

1. No, this is post is not to shame people who aren't FTP. Do what you want with your money, I just want to explain why I don't think I'll ever support this game financially and see how the rest of the community feels. This is also not some propaganda to get you to either not spend money or stop spending money, or in other words by all means keep supporting Shift-Up and their products, do you boo.
2. I'm not the biggest gacha game player, I've only played two prior to this (Girls Frontline and some Star Wars one), both that I did end up throwing a little money at to support them despite Nikke ultimately being more fun imo (just to show no, I'm not against in game purchases for free games out of principle). Big bold letters here tho incase you missed it: I HAVE PLAYED GACHA GAMES BEFORE
3. I do enjoy this game and don't imagine I'll stop playing any time soon, as far as phone games go this is probably the most fun I've had (not the highest bar to set, I know). More big bold letters, because I know you like them (icky small letters go away >: ( I DO LIKE THIS GAME
4. I understand that ultimately the goal of any game is to generate income, and I don't hold it against any game. Rather I have a problem with how this game "encourages" you to spend money.
5. I started playing this game during the RE:Zero collab and quickly came to this conclusion, don't know what ultimately compelled me to rant about it (maybe just one too many all blue pulls)

Okay with that out the way let's get to the meat of the issue, which can honestly be summarized to 2 main sins so hell get ready for another list I guess : ^ )
1.The top heavy nature of the roster. "When everybody's special, no one will be"- Angry animated ginger dude (rip in peace). When I first started playing this game and doing some pulls I felt like a superstar, I mean wow I'm pulling all these super rares like it's nothing, even got all my counter girls maxed out and after about ~60 pulls I've managed 2 super super rares! Then I started to notice how all these "super rares" seem to have all hit max limit break and peeked at the Nikkepedia to realize the sad truth of this game. Given my past experiences with gacha I expected maybe something like 30% of the roster to be "SSR", not 95%. What's even more baffling is that the SSR actually does have it's own subcategory of "hey, these are actually the super rare ones" with Pilgrims having a miniscule chance to pull. I didn't want to put a list inside my list ( yo dawg, heard you like lists) but there's a few reasons why I really dislike this, and it was getting more and more "massive block of text" while I typed it so sorry.
-The first and probably most readily apparent issue being that it means you're unlocking new characters at a snails pace. It feels like the intended way to unlock new characters is to throw thousands of gems/ recruit rosters at the slot machine so you can do the high quality mold to actually have a chance (more on this later) to get a new character. I realize luck is a subjective matter, and yeah I've seen posts from people bragging about pulling 4-5 SSR in a pull, but objectively speaking the other gacha games were far more generous with the unlocking of new characters.
-Secondly, and probably what I hate the most, is that these "SSR" are simply not created equally (putting aside the obvious and aforementioned "actual SSR" of the pilgrims). I'm not saying every Nikke has to be an absolute powerhouse (more on this later) but if you want to make Nikkes that are just inferior versions of other Nikkes or have kits that just straight up aren't good, I dunno chief...maybe put them in a lower tier of the roster? Hell putting aside the meta/ actually caring about the kits of your waifus let's just talk about the lore/ backstory of these characters. Matis (my favorite squad, big hearts and kisses especially for Drake), the super star hero squad and best the Missilis company has to offer? Okay sure, makes sense they're SRR. Prima Donna Nikkes that...work in the music industry for some reason? Uh okay not sure why these military bots are making music but they're famous ig so why not, SSR it is. Oh hey Absolute, Rapi's former squad and supposed elite of Elysion now that's a contender for SSR for sure. Maid for you, Nikkes that run a maid cafe...well let's make em SSR. Okay okay I shouldn't hawk on the waifu game having waifus that are character archetypes even if it makes absolutely no sense in the setting of the game but you still get the point right? You have characters that are presented to you as the cream of the crop (in other words have lore friendly reasons to be classified as SSR) thrown into the same category of rarity of characters that work in maid cafes or other random civilian jobs/ hobbies. This all putting aside the actual strength of these character's kits (Matis is pretty good at least, big hearts and kisses) I'm simply referring to the story reasons for characters to be presented as "SSR".
-Thirdly this all just reeks of some system you see in a lot of games where they use certain words to artificially make you feel more accomplished, if that makes any sense. The lowest tier (of absolute garbage) is referred to as "rare", the slightly better but ultimately still useless (<3 u Rapi/ Anne) tier is "super rare", and the bulk of the roster is "super super rare." Fellas, that's not how the word "rare" works at all. I feel like most games at least refer to their filler trash as "common" or the like so why does the game call the, in lore, mass produced no personality foot soldier Nikkes "rare"? This leads back to "SSR" having it's own category of rarity, did they realize "SSSR" would look and sound stupid so that's why Pilgrims don't have their own category? I dunno, could have called it "ultra super dooper cream your pants because you're a real winner rare" or they could have just (alongside making some of the "unworthies" a lower tier) gone with 4 tiers with a more honest and conventional naming system (common- uncommon-rare-epic) but they didn't because that doesn't trigger the dopamine in slack jawed gamer so they like you more and spend more money or whatever reason so many games use terminology that feels like patting you on the back. Almost lost my cool there, sounding a lil schizo huh? Let's move on to the other main point to save face.

1. The way progression is handled (and how that ties to the roster) "When you come to it and you can't go through it and you can't knock it down, you know that you've found the wall, the wall, the wall." -Mark Henry (still kicking, I think). Gacha games, or really most games, have parts that are for the cream of the crop. The real go getters (or go spenders) who invest a lot of time (or money) into the game and are rewarded for it. Usually these are things like raids or other limited time events, typically speaking though it's not the main story of the game that's the major hurdle for the playerbase to surmount. Typically speaking there's a slow and steady incline of requirements for players to progress through the story of a game, be it skill (let's be honest, not really a factor for gacha games) or equipment/loot, but not here. Instead you have rapidly increasing arbitrary "recommended power levels" (yes, we'll talk about this later) coupled with a massive middle finger in the form of level limit/ limit breaking in a nice package of pain and inconvenience, because I hate you for enjoying and caring about the story we wrote (which the game will proceed to spoil in events, which have a way lower bar of entry) or something idk. Jamie, pull up that list again.

-So pulling a SRR is "accomplishment" enough, pulling the same SRR 3 more times is whack crazy luck, doing that whole process 5 times is insultingly absurd (b-buh muh Kilo tho, because rip anybody who wasn't here for this event). Technically speaking there are systems in place to make this easier, but both of them are still hella rough. You can either use the wishlist feature (on the normal recruitment, and not for pilgrims) to cut out the massive bloat of SRR you don't care about and still pray on that 4% chance or you can grind out 200 total recruits to get mileage tickets to knock out one of 20 pulls you'll need in order to get pass this wall. You've already seen posts either lamenting their luck or singing praises to lord because after months people have managed this, and imo that is not a good system of progression for the main story of your game. I don't have a problem with there being content that encourages you to spend money, for heavens sake they have a "hard campaign" (which is just the same lay out of campaign maps with massively spiked up requirements with the same exact rewards as the normal story, minus the actual story part) so why not just let people enjoy the normal campaign. It comes off as a really cheap and scummy way to encourage people to spend money, holding the story of your game hostage. Just lower the requirements of the normal campaign, I'm sure older players don't have the "naw these new players need to suffer like I suffered" mentality, nobody is going to be mad at you.
-Oh yeah, recommended power levels. A lot of games have the system of "increase your number to keep up with the enemies increasing number" but none of those feels like a slap in the face as this game's system of "you'll either meet this required number or we'll just nerf your damage to the ground" (evidently the exact percentage of this used to be a lot worse before they patched it, further proof that the playerbase isn't against the game being made more accessible). This is probably the part where the Nikke superfan tells me I just have a massive skill issue and it's totally possible to clear these missions at a deficit, and this is absolutely true. I've seem some superstars talking about clearing levels while under 20k or more the recommended amount (I've only managed 10k, all thanks to Crown whom I love and cherish) and you know what the secret to success is? I just hinted at it in those parenthesis but it comes down to pulling "the right" SSR Nikkes. Okay that's a little disingenuous , as there's a little bit of skill/ understanding of the games system involved and grinding out the various resources you need to level said actually good SSR Nikkes, but it doesn't change the fact that there are Nikkes you actually want if you care about progressing through the game and there's all the ones you don't that seemingly only exist to reduce your chances of pulling these Nikkes. Let's backtrack to that "wishlist" system for a bit, which is what is intended to make sure you get the (non pilgrim) Nikkes you want like Liter or Tia. You'll recall that the wishlist doesn't increase your total chance to pull a SRR (makes sense) but just ensures that you only pull the designated SSR, but the problem is this only applies to this normal pulling. It is still my opinion that most of the SSR you're gonna get are going to come from the various molds, which cleverly has no such system of wishliting (because let's be honest, this would probably destroy any incentive to pay money for people who don't care about costumes). So you're either dealing with a system of most likely not getting any SSR from normal pulling or having a slim chance of pulling the SSR you need (assuming you even pull a SSR to begin with) with the mold, neither of which sound too appealing to me
-Speaking of molds, and this probably going to be my most controversial take (or at the least the most demanding), it is blatantly unfair that high quality and company molds aren't a guaranteed SSR. In the case of of the high quality mold the process of getting one is slow enough (I maybe manage 1 a week, outside of events or CD redemption that may give more) and there are enough SSR (putting aside the fact that you want to pull the same SSR multiple times anyway) that I really don't think it would be that bad if you just don't let us get kicked in the gut by pulling Neon after all that effort. In the case of the company specific molds from the tribe towers you are quite literally hard limited to pulling 3-7 a day (assuming of course you have a squad capable of tackling the tower), and you're going to make them have an even lower total chance of a SSR than the normal high quality mold. I'm only half way to my pilgrim mold (I had to wait till crown before I even felt like starting the tower, because even doing the easiest levels is mind numbing with just one Nikke) but I've heard horror stories of going 5 pilgrim molds with no pilgrim in sight, and ngl I may just weep when it's my turn to experience that. If you want to further reduce the acquisition of molds to still encourage some spending that's fine by me, but please let us have some safety net in this ruthless Nikke grind.
That's pretty much it for the rant so I just want to finish with some closing thoughts. I really do like this game, honest, and I wouldn't mind supporting it if it just didn't make me feel so used and abused. There are plenty of games with microtransactions or additional content where it feels like you're buying them because you want to support the dev, not because it feels like they're holding a gun to your head, and I just want this game to feel more like the former. I'm happy to discuss this rant further if anybody has their own ideas and opinions (or even if people just want to defend the game) so let me know what yall think, assuming you even read that blob of text up there.

Not the best writter nor the most knowledgeable 40k fan, but there is my humble contribution for this AU
I tried my best for this, and probably have some contradictions with the lore, I probably missed some important parts or decisions of the community. I apologise if that's the case.
Not a native english speaker, sorry for the mistakes
Eager to read your opinions about this.
Disclaimer: I've tried to make the relationship wierd and to emphasise the following elements: « Is she... messing with your mind ? » and the possibility she might read OS thoughts (cf u/Sweet_older-Sister 's Magnus post).
Not everyone is promised for a great destiny.
For a scholar in the City of Light, being born and continuing to live on the splendid Prospero, learning day by day, exchanging with peers and studying hundreds of books and grimoires is a more than ordinary destiny, but one that is oh so satisfying. Add to that the occasional opportunity to speak with the brilliant minds of the XVth Legion, and it's hard to imagine a better life. Here, among all the scholars, there is one who stands out from the rest for his unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Friendly nicknamed ‘Bookworm’ by his peers, it's almost impossible to see him without his nose buried in a book. With his face hidden beneath the hood of his bure, he cuts himself off from the world and devours every sentence, every word, every letter that passes before his eyes. It is said that the only time he took his eyes off his reading was when warriors from the 15th were addressing him. Like many other inhabitants of the planet, Bookworm had an affinity with the Warp. However, his presence was no weaker or brighter than anyone else's, and he only stood out from the crowd because of his habit of reading all the time. He lived a peaceful and happy life, enviable in a way.
As the Lord of Prospero, Magnolia rules and lives on this world, surrounded by her precious children. Returning to her planet after another victorious conquest, and receiving a triumphant welcome, the Cyclopean Sorceress marched through the capital at the head of her legion before the astonished eyes of the people. The distinctive scents of Prospero invaded her nostrils, awakening a slight nostalgia for the days of her childhood, right up to the arrival of the Emperor. With her noble gait, she moved mechanically towards the Great Library, eager to find new things to record and archive. The fact that she was in such a quiet place, where all known knowledge converged, appealed to her spirit, even though she was obviously the source of distraction for all scholastic eyes. Her presence, so imposing and remarkable, was an object of admiration for all the scholars eager to imbibe her knowledge. Trying to ignore the stares, she browsed the shelves of the library, observing the bindings of the books that passed before her eyes, when, at the turn of a corner, she stopped abruptly, almost knocking over a hooded figure who didn't even reach her waist.
Not a word. Not a glance. Not even a whisper. The silhouette continued on its way, unperturbed, even ignoring the accident that had almost occurred. Initially disturbed by what had just happened, Magnolia held back a cry of protest and, intrigued, tried to probe the Warp to observe the small light that had just passed. This moment was as absurd as imagining a firefly shining brighter than a lighthouse, and yet... Carefully approaching the little firefly, Magnolia infiltrated its mind to see what might be hiding there. She was amazed to see an exact replica of Tizca's library, with the same shelves, the same walls, the same stone slabs... The only real difference was that there were far fewer books than in the original. Wandering around the place, stunned by the perfection this mortal had instilled in her mind, she skirted both empty and full shelves, until finally she found the mortal's consciousness, seated in front of an old desk, filling in the blank pages of a book. This singular discovery aroused her curiosity even more. She approached at a snail's pace and glanced over the shoulder of this strange individual before opening her only eye. There, on the paper, were words she knew, for she herself had already read them. The mortal copied and engraved in his mind the works he read, and did so with particular care, annotating certain passages to add his own thoughts. In this way, each book in her mental library constituted not only what she had read, but also the ideas that had grown from it.
Magnolia observed this mortal's consciousness attentively, amazed by what he had achieved, even allowing herself to leaf through some of the works already completed. Some might think that this person was a dullard who existed only through his reading, but there was a brilliant, if shy, mind behind it, preferring to keep his ideas and innovations to himself, whether they were good or bad. As the lines went by, a guilty pleasure sprang up in the Primarch's heart, as she read every thought of this curious little mortal. In a way, he could be just like her, and she saw this as a pleasant reflection in a distorting mirror. However, this same pleasure caused a slight disturbance in Magnolia's psyche which spilled over into the mortal's consciousness. For the first time, his silhouette quivered, attracting the Cyclops' gaze, then he pulled a small diary from a bag at his feet and scribbled the date followed by the simple phrase “feeling watched” before putting it away and resuming his work. Having witnessed all this, Magnolia did her best to regain composure, her curiosity having reached its peak. She bent down to search the bag, found the newspaper and, imitating the silhouette's handwriting, added ‘Thoughts about Primarch Magnolia’ and put the newspaper back in its place before leaving the mortal mind.
Her cheeks slightly redder than usual, the Primarch headed for her palace, ruminating on what had just happened. Why had she done this? How had this scholar managed to arouse her curiosity to such an extent? How was it possible that a mortal could worm his way into her thoughts without them having spoken for even a moment? She had no answer, but one thing was certain: she had to see him again and study him. She wanted to understand how a demigoddess like her could be so distracted by a mortal. The further away she got, the more the image of this hooded scholar haunted her thoughts, and the more a feeling of discomfort slowly gripped her heart, weighing down on her chest. The day passed, and not for a moment were her thoughts neglected by this mysterious scholar, and when night came, devoured by her own thoughts, exhausted by this new sensation compressing her chest, she decided to act. Sailing on the currents of the Immaterium, Magnolia rediscovered the glow of the firefly and once again entered her slumbering mind.
The mortal's dream was one of absolute calm. It was an infinite expanse of calm water, on which he stood amidst creations representing his desires, his plans, his hopes, his family... Everything here was soothing, and Magnolia took the time to observe every detail of each representation, discovering a little more about the personality of this stranger who was no longer completely himself. From time to time, as he fashioned a new representation, the scholar would glance in the direction of the Primarch who was hiding as best he could. A smile would appear on his lips and, in a whisper, he would resume his work, that night erecting an immense block of roughly carved marble. The block was twice the scholar's height, and seemed destined to represent a person whose features and details were as yet undefined. All night long, the mortal shaped his dream, under the curious gaze of the demigoddess. The next day, and the days that followed, she was unable to go to the Great Library, too busy as she was, but every night she would enter the man's mind to spy on his dreams, watching the slow but careful progress of the mysterious statue standing proud. She was spotted a few times, but each time, the mortal smiled and resumed his work in earnest. Was it a coincidence that the greatest advances were made after she had been spotted? This little merry-go-round lasted a few days. And the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months. Every night, the sculpture advanced, representing a woman whose facial features were still indefinable.
When Magnolia received the order to leave from Prospero, she demanded that a certain scholar be taken aboard the Photep, but, unsure of her own actions and refusing to admit her obsession with a civilian, she disguised the whole thing as a mobilisation order for new members of her ship's staff, making sure nonetheless that the object of her obsession was one of the new arrivals. When she saw him set foot on the metal frame, her face lit up, and she couldn't help but enter, once again, into the mind of the man whose absence was causing her such unusual sensations. Rushing over to the desk, she found, as usual, the little man's consciousness writing, yet her eye was focused on the bag at the foot of the desk. She slipped her hand into it, grabbed the newspaper and read all the pages she had missed since her first intrusion, and as the pages and days went by, ‘Thoughts about Primarch Magnolia’ became ‘Sweet thoughts about Primarch Magnolia’. Each day began with ‘Dreamed about Primarch Magnolia. Thoughts about her the day, and dream about her at night. Somehow, it feels nice’. The Cyclops' cheeks took on a slightly darker hue, moved and embarrassed that he was thinking of her too. As she put the newspaper back in the bag, the mortal dipped his hand in and brushed against her skin. He stopped, turned his head and met the Primarch's gaze. Under the shadow of her hood shone two supernaturally blue eyes, but in front of the crimson-pink red face, a huge, shy smile took shape. ‘I hope I won't wake up if it's a dream’ he said. Caught off guard, the Primarch held out her hand and showed him sparkles ‘Hu... Look little Bookworm! A cool spell!’ and then vanished in panic. The next entry in the diary was ‘Daydreamed about the Lady. She was cute.’.
Later that night, Magnolia hesitated to dive into Bookworm's dreams, but she eventually built up enough courage to do it. There, she saw the finished statue. It was a magnificent representation of the demigoddess. Her noble face was imbued with gentleness and affection. It was an expression she had never seen before, and yet seeing it brought a deep warmth to her heart. On the statue, from around her good eye and heart, sigils were engraved, describing in detail and passion the fantasies and thoughts that the scholar harboured about this divinity. There was an overwhelming purity and sincerity, and the more the Primarch read what was there, the more the fire in her chest intensified. She had finally found the answers to her questions, and understood Aurelia much better now: ‘Is this what she called love then?’
Deep within the Warp, a certain Weaver saw a string burning and disappear, then it chuckled ‘Not everyone is promised for a great destiny, but the Destiny watch over everyone.'
Hope you enjoyed it

I had the biggest crush on this guy since 2018 but I never confessed. In 2020 he dated his ex so I was forced to cut contact and I moved on.
I dated my ex from May 2021, he got cheated on in December 2021, I got cheated on in December 2022. I reconnected with him in March 2023, fell for him again, confessed in June 2023.
He confessed that he liked me in 2018, but he moved on in 2019 because he thought I didn't like him back. We fell for each other but didn't make it official though we acted like a couple because I was healing and I was honest about it. I started wanting commitment by February 2024.
In April 2024 he confessed that he had feelings for his girl bestfriend throughout 2022 because she was there for him after his breakup. However I wasn't comfortable as he didn't give me commitment because of him healing from her, he didn't confess it earlier.
Today we had our first date (meeting for the first time, when we were friends we never met each other), we were being all cuddly and I saw a text message from the girl bestfriend he claimed that he blocked. She said "How was the date?" . Then he told me that his friends told her we went on a date. I saw her text and it crushed me. I have been cheated on before and I need a lot of reassurance and emotional security or I won't handle it well. I cried about it to him and he immediately blocked her.
I was very self conscious because I'm skinny, he made me feel so loved, he asked me out!!!
He paid for the date, he travelled a long way (12 hours) to meet me, he dropped me, he was sick, he did everything, and then this. Also he's been putting in a lot of effort since July 2023.
It's finally an official relationship. I'm having a lot of mixed feelings. It's been 20 minutes after the date and I smell like him. He gave me a little flower and I kept it in my diary to dry it up for the memories. I gave him a handwritten letter and brought him a brownie.
All I know is that he is 1000% better than my ex. For some context, I dated my ex from May 2021-December 2022. It was my first relationship and an extremely toxic one. He cheated multiple times, lied about everything, crossed my physical boundaries on a daily basis, talked down on me, controlled me and isolated me. There were 127 red flags and I was severely trauma bonded. We broke up and got back together over 18 times in a year.
So compared to that, this feels like heaven, this guy replies to every part of the paragraph, there's genuine changed behaviour everytime I bring up something I'm uncomfortable with ever since last year.

I hate my mom. I hate her so fcking much. I got a letter from school with my chosen name and she went on a whole rant about the fact that I'm deciding this to early and I'm too young. She told me again that I'd never become a boy and I'd just be a trans boy. On the other hand she still thinks this is a phase and I'll grow over it. Before I came out she was okay with me buying mens clothes and she even approved of me cutting my hair. Now she's taking it all back, she wants me to buy women's clothes because "that's how my body is" and I can't cut my hair past my shoulders. She keeps saying all these bad things and afterwards she asks what she's doing wrong and why I'm sad and that also makes me feel very guilty. I have final exams tomorrow and the whole next 2 weeks but I don't even know how I'm meant to focus now.
(This is probably a big mess I'm sorry I'm just really sad and frustrated)

Reflections... Sometimes my letters are reflections, capturing our little world. Which, despite us not being together romantically, I'm so happy to say exists. We have a world, you and me. We make a world, just us, where we laugh, fake argue (bc we have to because we don't have real arguments 🥲), think about each other. The world which has all of the things we've watched together, alone. All the slight touches and glanced from across the room. A world that has our whole history and a world which expands the very every single day we say hi. Just as a preface... I love our world! Time to reflect.
A couple of days ago i slipped. You caught me at one of those moments where my brain-mouth filter gets overwhelmed by my urge for you boiling inside and what i feel just comes out (no puns! Stop looking for one!!! 🤭).
We were talking about tension building, and i got so overwhelmed i blurted out something like... "Tension is built in the space between us which keeps me from tearing you apart". 😭 Which, when i realized what i said, i first thought, yo that's cool af 😆... But then immediately had to cover it up.
I wonder if you knew that was meant for you? I wonder if you also knew that it just came out, completely original off the top. 🤣🤣🤣 So original i was honestly shocked that i said it. You're not stupid I'm sure you know...
I wonder if you find it cute that sometimes i can't contain myself so much that it just happens. Like when i moved to sleep next to you. As a side note i hope you know there was no funny business. I swear i just felt a pull so strong i had to go sleep next to you. It was the only way i felt ok again. Literally like a magnet that is now at rest because the Attraction to the other magnet is complete. The two not being able to get any closer. 😊
977 days of talking to you every day since that trip where we finally reconnected for real. 977 days I love you. 977 days and my body literally rejects the Idea of missing even 1.
Good morning love. Love? Doesn't even cut it... Good morning my soul 💌
🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🦝

Re-done version of a previous fanscript bc I wanted to add more classic literature - enjoy :) (also, this one is set in season 2 and stars the Powercast girls almost exclusively, it was a lot of fun)
Scene: Wednesday and Enid are hanging about in their room, both reading - first upside down in her armchair, latter lying on her belly across her bed. There's a knock on the door.
Enid: Come in!
Bianca: (peeks in) Hey.
They greet her. Thing waves at her friendlily.
Bianca: (entering) Just wanted to drop by and ask if there's been any news from the town.
Wednesday: None. No new sighthings at all.
Bianca: Ah. Alright. (she waits for another moment, then turns to leave)
Enid: Wait.
Bianca turns to her.
Enid: You can stay for a bit.
Bianca: Actually, I have to ... (she stills for a moment, thinking) ... you know what, that's fine.
She walks over to Enid, who pats on the bed next to her, smiling. She sits down, fetching her phone.
Bianca: The fencing club is getting new equipment today, but ... I'll see it soon enough. I'll ask Davinia and Yoko to unpack it. If they don't mind.
Enid: (shrugs) Quality couple time, time for you to relax a bit. I think you can use it.
Bianca: What do you mean?
Enid: (nods at her hands holding the phone - her nailbeds are sore from picking at them)
Bianca: (a little somber) That's nothing.
Enid looks at her, then finishes typing something on her phone and moves to the back of the bed as the conversation continues
Wednesday: I'm afraid they still won't lift the curfew any time soon.
Bianca: (chuckles) Oh, no - that stays until next year, I'd say.
Enid: (getting back up, sitting down next to Bianca) Come on, I can't see this.
She unscrews a small, new tube of salve and takes Bianca's right hand, starting to apply it on the wounds. Bianca looks at her surprised, and her hand trembles for a moment - but then she decides to not pull it away. She looks ahead, sighing a little. Then she turns to her other hand - Thing presses it, avoiding the sore parts. She smiles a little.
Bianca: I didn't expect this level of friendliness in this room.
Wednesday: Insufferable, isn't it?
Enid: (snorts)
Wednesday: Do you want to say something?
Enid: (looking at her) Do you want me to?
They stare at each other for a moment, then first turns back to her book. Enid smiles, turning back to her work while Bianca holds back laughter.
Bianca: What are you reading?
Wednesday: (closes the book, revealing it to be "Catching Fire", the second Hunger Games installment)
Bianca: (does something between a gasp and a chuckle) Mainstream and YA? Addams, I'm shocked!
Wednesday: Enid suggested it.
Enid: I'm reading Dracula meanwhile.
Bianca: Really?
Enid: (chuckles) Didn't expect what I'd be given.
Wednesday: Journal entries and newspaper articles I thought would be to her taste. I'm glad I didn't have to search for long.
Bianca:: Huh. To be honest, reading letters or retold stories in a book always sounded with me really well.
Wednesday: I did like that element in Frankenstein. And Pride and Prejudice.
Bianca: (chuckles) No way. Jane Austen too, Addams? Do tell.
Wednesday: (looks at her)
Bianca: And not the added Zombies version, right? You went for the original.
Wednesday: Nothing more painful that reading about the english upper class. Besides, am I not allowed to like well-written dialogue?
Bianca: I was going to say, Austen is pretty smart usually.
Wednesday: The characters are for sure. Usually.
Enid: Also, Austen likes her protagonists to learn something without them being stupid.
Bianca: You don’t see that granted one often for sure.
Enid: It’s like the old Barbie movies. (she’s done with Bianca’s right hand and moves on to the left one)
Wednesday: What?
Bianca: Said by someone who’s never seen one.
Wednesday: Do tell yourself now, Barclay.
Bianca: Barbie’s usually a pretty good role model. I can’t remember an installment where she’s not clever or very hands-on when it comes to the plot.
Enid: Word. People come to her for help, and she can usually provide it until she needs some herself.
Wednesday: Huh.
Enid: Plus, those movies’ humour is underrated.
Bianca: Indeed. Still can’t get over the added bloopers.
Enid: Love those. (finishes applying the salve on her other hand)
Bianca: (quietly) Thank you.
Enid smiles. Bianca lies backwards onto the bed, looking at them.
Enid: (murmurs) Yeah, good idea.
She lies down next to her and they’re all quiet for a moment. Then Enid moves to turn around so she can lean her heels against the wall a bit. Bianca follows suit, relaxing.
Wednesday: I once came across a book called “Winter’s Bone”. The protagonist also can take care of herself really well, but she needs the help of others to get by still, and to solve her father’s disappearance.
Bianca: I remember that one. It’s really about the need of people of each other.
Wednesday: (looks at her) Interesting perspective.
Bianca: (shrugs) The whole story happens because she’s fighting to keep her loved ones, and protect them. And everyone else kinda rely on each other as well. Even when they try to get by themselves, they still need each other. That has an effect on the story a few significant times.
Enid: Yeah…
Bianca: (chuckles)
Wednesday: What now?
Bianca: I just remembered the movie adaptation was what launched the main actress into the Hunger Games.
Wednesday: Really? (looks at the book) Fitting.
Enid: Really was. And they stuck to the books like crazy. (she sighs, looking at the Dracula book lying around nearby) Wish that was more normal.
Bianca: (follows her look) I think I remember they ruined Lucy, right?
Enid: Mina as well. For the usual reasons. Too strong and active and too nice respectively.
Bianca: Hm.
They lie on the bed for a moment, looking at the ceiling.
Wednesday: We could have less of that. (thinks a moment) Enid?
Enid: Yes?
Wednesday: (lifts up her book) What did this series’ adaptation do concerning Prim?
Enid: Well, they didn’t add her skill and ability to focus as a healer that her mother has too in film 1, but they added it significantly in the second one… so you get the impression Prim matured this way when Katniss was absent, which still works for me.
Bianca: And that she’s just not a hunter like her sister, but a really needed healer. Which is great. The series does point out that everyone is good at something else. And how much Katniss needs her as the story goes on. By the end, their roles are almost reversed.
Wednesday: Slow down, I’m still in part 2.
Bianca: (chuckles) Sorry.
Enid: I’m glad you enjoy it this much.
Bianca: (raises her hands) While we’re at healing, this feels really good.
Enid: Yeah – I’m more of a healer than a hunter too, I guess. (sighs)
Bianca: Well, didn’t we just say that’s a good thing?
Enid looks at her, then smiles. Bianca returns it.
Bianca: (shows her her hands) Case in point.
Enid: You know what else is healing? (she fetches her phone) Any preferences for a playlist?
Wednesday: (sighs) Headphones.
Enid: Headphones?
Wednesday: (sighs again) Headphones please.
Enid: (smiles)
Bianca: Maybe some Disney?
Enid: (beams at her) Coming right up!
They relax back on the bed and Enid starts the playlist. They stare at the ceiling. The first song comes on – it’s “Mother knows best” from Rapunzel. They both cringe their noses. After a moment, Enid fetches her phone back and seeks the shuffle button.
Enid: Do you mind?
Bianca: No! Really not.
They look at each other for a moment – not saying anything, but seeing something in the other they understand. Enid presses the button and cuts the song of at “Mother knows-“. The next one is the reprise of “Part of your world” from “The Little Mermaid”. They both relax at it a little. Wednesday looks over at them, with a gentle look, and turns back to her book. After a moment however, she decides to fetch her own headphones and get some white noise to reading. Outside, Xavier opens the door to the balcony and comes walking towards the window. He looks to see if the girls are home, and sees Enid and Bianca chilling on the bed, having closed their eyes. As he looks closer, surprised and even raising an eyebrow at this, Thing slams against the glass flatly. He jumps back startled. The hand signals him to go away.
Xavier: Why?
Thing: (smacks the glass twice firmly)
Xavier: Ugh, fine! (he walks away)
Inside, the girls stir a little. They remove their headphones.
Enid: Did you hear something?
Wednesday and Bianca: (hear the door slam in the distance and exchange a look) No.
They go back to their music.