The world was gone. Veris paid no attention to the raised voices that echoed around him nor the hunched figure of his father kneeling in front of the men that crowded the tent's opening. None of that mattered.
This thing wasn't his mother. It couldn't be. It was impossible. Its lips were bruised, purple, and bloated. Through its small mouth gap, Veris saw Cracked and smashed teeth daggering into its gums. He almost fell back at the bloody sight. His mother's smile could warm their entire tent in the winter. His mother's skin was soft and flawless, not like the beaten leather draped across a shattered resemblance of a lady. The wrist snapped into the wrong position. Chest caved in. Thick, Raven hair ripped out in patches and dyed in blood. NO. She wasn't this cruel to look at. His mother was the sunshine, the first warm summer breeze that traveled with the smell of sugar plumbs and Perfumed silk. His mother was alive, not this destroyed, dead thing splayed out on his kitchen table.
This was one of the Abara boy’s tricks, an illusion meant to scare Veris into believing something that couldn’t happen—ringing filled Veris's ears. His Tears felt like oil running down his face. He fell from the chair, collapsing on the hardened dirt they had for a floor. How could this happen? She was just going out to get food. How could this happen?
"Tell the boy to rise," shouted a commanding, unfamiliar voice. Veris raised his head and locked gazes with the speaker. A light-skinned Tusta caste soldier dressed in a crisp white uniform adorned with silver bells. Three other soldiers stood beside him, their uniforms tinged with shades of grey denoting their lower rank. The justice of Tylansi had come to Veris's home—sudden and brutal. Veris was ensnared, lost in the man's cold and ruthless eyes. He was like a demon from the scriptures given flesh. Solid shoulders and a great, black beard that swallowed his face. He was tall and muscular, not like a hero, but like the stories of trickster devils that stole wives out of their husbands' beds that Veris’s mother read to him.
"His name is Veris. The almightly himself blessed him with it. Tusta or not, you will not disrespect his god-given dignity." A voice Veris knew well chastised the soldier. It was humbleman Nara, the village's holy leader. The elderly man was wrapped in a sheer gossamer robe interwoven with strings of blue and green. The colors of the Acaska caste. The lowerest within the Tylansi sovereignty. Veris had rarely seen the kind man raise his voice at anyone. Let alone a man of a higher caste.
A gray-clad soldier darted towards Nara with his hand on the strap of his gun holster. " Watch your tongue—Acaska filth. You are in the presence of your lords. Mind yourself under the almighty's watchful eyes." Shouted the man, only inches away from Nara's face. Nara tried to stay firm, but Veris noticed a shaking in the older man's frame.
"We are here for remuneration, not the execution of holy men. Begone Cosia. You are not needed in this matter." The white-clothed soldier looked to the other. "Yes. Sir. I'll secure the area. Some of these Acaska are as sly as snakes," The young man saluted to his leader. Turned, spat in Nara's face, and marched into the village. Nara displayed no emotion, but his shaking lessened.
His father's thin form hobbled to the side of Veris and stared down at him. Veris met his father's amber eyes with twins of his own. He would never have imagined a gaze as lost and helpless could ever belong to his father. His father stabbed his skeletal fingers into Veris's thigh. The boy jerked up at the touch. His dress robes were smeared with dirt and grime. The stitched design of a dragon his mother had sowed onto it fell off as he rosed. Veris raced to catch it but was stopped by his father's firm grip.
"Get up, little bear. We have to welcome the Lords to our home. They are here for judgment." Glaris Al'dan, Veris's father, spoke softly into his ear. Veris sprang forward and wrapped his slender arms around his neck.
After the village famine began, his father rarely spoke to him. "You look them in the eye when they ask you a question. Veris. This is serious. They have to believe your words. okay?" Glaris patted Veris on the back and gently pushed him toward the entrance.
"What about Mama? Are they here to help her?" Veris asked shakily. " Hush now, my brave little bear. Your mother is in the hands of the Almighty. She's singing in his divine choir and spreading your name throughout the heavens. We must protect ourselves now." Glaris spoke. Veris wiped away the new tears that tracked down his face. He wouldn't give the devils a chance to bottle his tears.
Five feet away from the soldiers, they halted. And just as they had practiced before, they did the honorable position of submission when addressing a higher caste. Hands-on knees and head bow to the waist.
" Veris Al'dan, are you aware of the crime brought against you and your family on this almightly day?" The white leader asked. The voice was dead and cold.
" No, my lord surpeme. I was woken up from my sleep by my father's cries. My mother said she was going to the village over to barter for food, " Veris said in a voice laced with pain. He knew
" Your mother was found attempting to steal bread from a Tusta-owned bakery. When confronted, she attacked the owner and ran. The owner's sons caught her. She has paid for her transgression against the law.” The white soldier stated with

The world was gone. Veris paid no attention to the raised voices that echoed around him nor the hunched figure of his father kneeling in front of the men that crowded the tent's opening. None of that mattered.
This thing wasn't his mother. It couldn't be. It was impossible. Its lips were bruised, purple, and bloated. Through its small mouth gap, Veris saw Cracked and smashed teeth daggering into its gums. He almost fell back at the bloody sight. His mother's smile could warm their entire tent in the winter. His mother's skin was soft and flawless, not like the beaten leather draped across a shattered resemblance of a lady. The wrist snapped into the wrong position. Chest caved in. Thick, Raven hair ripped out in patches and dyed in blood. NO. She wasn't this cruel to look at. His mother was the sunshine, the first warm summer breeze that traveled with the smell of sugar plumbs and Perfumed silk. His mother was alive, not this destroyed, dead thing splayed out on his kitchen table.
This was one of the Abara boy’s tricks, an illusion meant to scare Veris into believing something that couldn’t happen—ringing filled Veris's ears. His Tears felt like oil running down his face. He fell from the chair, collapsing on the hardened dirt they had for a floor. How could this happen? She was just going out to get food. How could this happen?
"Tell the boy to rise," shouted a commanding, unfamiliar voice. Veris raised his head and locked gazes with the speaker. A light-skinned Tusta caste soldier dressed in a crisp white uniform adorned with silver bells. Three other soldiers stood beside him, their uniforms tinged with shades of grey denoting their lower rank. The justice of Tylansi had come to Veris's home—sudden and brutal. Veris was ensnared, lost in the man's cold and ruthless eyes. He was like a demon from the scriptures given flesh. Solid shoulders and a great, black beard that swallowed his face. He was tall and muscular, not like a hero, but like the stories of trickster devils that stole wives out of their husbands' beds that Veris’s mother read to him.
"His name is Veris. The almightly himself blessed him with it. Tusta or not, you will not disrespect his god-given dignity." A voice Veris knew well chastised the soldier. It was humbleman Nara, the village's holy leader. The elderly man was wrapped in a sheer gossamer robe interwoven with strings of blue and green. The colors of the Acaska caste. The lowerest within the Tylansi sovereignty. Veris had rarely seen the kind man raise his voice at anyone. Let alone a man of a higher caste.
A gray-clad soldier darted towards Nara with his hand on the strap of his gun holster. " Watch your tongue—Acaska filth. You are in the presence of your lords. Mind yourself under the almighty's watchful eyes." Shouted the man, only inches away from Nara's face. Nara tried to stay firm, but Veris noticed a shaking in the older man's frame.
"We are here for remuneration, not the execution of holy men. Begone Cosia. You are not needed in this matter." The white-clothed soldier looked to the other. "Yes. Sir. I'll secure the area. Some of these Acaska are as sly as snakes," The young man saluted to his leader. Turned, spat in Nara's face, and marched into the village. Nara displayed no emotion, but his shaking lessened.
His father's thin form hobbled to the side of Veris and stared down at him. Veris met his father's amber eyes with twins of his own. He would never have imagined a gaze as lost and helpless could ever belong to his father. His father stabbed his skeletal fingers into Veris's thigh. The boy jerked up at the touch. His dress robes were smeared with dirt and grime. The stitched design of a dragon his mother had sowed onto it fell off as he rosed. Veris raced to catch it but was stopped by his father's firm grip.
"Get up, little bear. We have to welcome the Lords to our home. They are here for judgment." Glaris Al'dan, Veris's father, spoke softly into his ear. Veris sprang forward and wrapped his slender arms around his neck.
After the village famine began, his father rarely spoke to him. "You look them in the eye when they ask you a question. Veris. This is serious. They have to believe your words. okay?" Glaris patted Veris on the back and gently pushed him toward the entrance.
"What about Mama? Are they here to help her?" Veris asked shakily. " Hush now, my brave little bear. Your mother is in the hands of the Almighty. She's singing in his divine choir and spreading your name throughout the heavens. We must protect ourselves now." Glaris spoke. Veris wiped away the new tears that tracked down his face. He wouldn't give the devils a chance to bottle his tears.
Five feet away from the soldiers, they halted. And just as they had practiced before, they did the honorable position of submission when addressing a higher caste. Hands-on knees and head bow to the waist.
" Veris Al'dan, are you aware of the crime brought against you and your family on this almightly day?" The white leader asked. The voice was dead and cold.
" No, my lord surpeme. I was woken up from my sleep by my father's cries. My mother said she was going to the village over to barter for food, " Veris said in a voice laced with pain. He knew
" Your mother was found attempting to steal bread from a Tusta-owned bakery. When confronted, she attacked the owner and ran. The owner's sons caught her. She has paid for her transgression against the law.” The white soldier stated with

soooooo....bored and playing with chat gpt. oh god....its so bad and yet....I want to keep going.
Chapter 1: Wings of Doubt
​
The swirling mists of the Warp slowly receded as Ciaphas Cain, Commissar of the Imperium, opened his eyes. The last thing he remembered was the deafening explosion aboard the Chaos battleship that had threatened to consume him. But instead of being cast into the embrace of oblivion, he found himself in a vast chamber of ethereal light.
​
Gone were his worn-out uniform and battered laspistol. Instead, he wore ornate golden armor that radiated a divine aura, its intricate details embellished with celestial motifs. He could feel the weight of a pair of immense wings on his back, their feathers shimmering with an otherworldly glow. As he surveyed his surroundings, Ciaphas realized he stood in the presence of a magnificent being—a massive figure seated upon a golden throne.
​
Ciaphas's breath caught in his throat as he gazed upon the enigmatic figure. Though the being was silent, an overwhelming sense of power and purpose emanated from it. He knelt instinctively, overwhelmed by the palpable force that seemed to fill the chamber.
​
A surge of emotions enveloped Ciaphas, an intangible connection that conveyed a mixture of approval, guidance, and unspoken purpose. But as his eyes met the celestial figure's, doubts and fear surged within him. The familiar voice of self-doubt whispered in his mind, reminding him of his true nature—a coward masquerading as a hero.
​
"How did I end up here?" Ciaphas thought, his mind racing with apprehension. "I've spent my entire career avoiding danger, always seeking the easiest way out. How can I, a false hero, possibly fulfill this monumental task?"
​
His inner monologue waged a relentless battle against the call to rise and accept his new destiny. He feared exposure, the revelation that his cowardice would be laid bare before the Imperium and the God-Emperor himself. The weight of the golden armor and the majesty of the wings felt like burdens upon his shoulders, symbols of a responsibility he doubted he could shoulder.
​
He questioned his worthiness, his ability to inspire others when his own heart trembled with fear. How could he rally the weak when he doubted his own strength? How could he strike fear into the hearts of enemies when he himself was a victim of his own fears?
​
Ciaphas's doubts multiplied, threatening to engulf him in a sea of anxiety. But even as the tumultuous thoughts churned within him, he couldn't deny the flickering ember of duty that remained. The image of those suffering under the weight of darkness, yearning for a glimmer of hope, pulled at his soul.
​
In the depths of his inner turmoil, he realized that perhaps his flaws were precisely what made him suitable for this mission. Perhaps it was his own experiences with fear and self-preservation that allowed him to understand the struggles of others. The false hero had survived countless battles, not through unwavering courage, but through cunning and calculated retreats. And maybe, just maybe, those experiences could ignite a spark of resilience within those who had lost hope.
​
With a deep breath, Ciaphas steeled himself against the doubts that threatened to paralyze him. He had always been a master of deception, skilled at projecting an image of bravery in the face of danger. If he could deceive countless soldiers and citizens, he could deceive even himself.
​
Embracing the unknown future, he rose from his kneeling position. The weight of the golden armor and the unfurled wings served as constant reminders of his role as the angel of the Imperium. But beneath the majestic facade, the doubts and fears still lingered, refusing to be silenced.
​
As he took the first steps towards fulfilling his new purpose, his inner monologue persisted, whispering tales of his true nature and the impending exposure of his cowardice. But Ciaphas chose to confront those doubts head-on, accepting them as a part of himself.
​
In the face of danger and uncertainty, he would strive to inspire others. He would wage a secret battle within, determined to overcome his own fears while shielding them from the eyes of those who looked to him for guidance. The false hero, now an angel of the Imperium, would navigate the treacherous path before him, forever haunted by the possibility of being unmasked.
​
And in doing so, he would forge a new legacy—one that transcended his own limitations and ignited hope in the hearts of those who needed it most.
Chapter 2: The Lurking Shadows
​
As Ciaphas Cain contemplated his newfound role as the angel of the Imperium, a familiar figure emerged from the ethereal light. It was Jurgen, his loyal aide, still alive and steadfast by his side. Clad in his ragged uniform, melta-gun in hand, Jurgen's presence offered a glimmer of familiarity amidst the overwhelming uncertainties that surrounded them.
​
"Jurgen!" Ciaphas exclaimed, a mixture of relief and surprise flooding his features. "I thought I had lost you."
​
Jurgen offered a lopsided grin, his eyes twinkling with the mirth of an old friend. "Thought you could get rid of me that easily, sir? Not a chance."
​
Ciaphas couldn't help but feel a surge of gratitude for Jurgen's unwavering loyalty. Despite the chaos and mysticism of their current situation, Jurgen's grounded presence provided a semblance of normalcy.
​
"We have a mission, Jurgen," Ciaphas began, his voice laden with determination. "We are to journey into the Eye of Terror, the heart of darkness itself, to face the treacherous Fulgrim, the first heretic. It will be a battle like no other, filled with unimaginable peril and ancient evils."
​
Jurgen's grin widened, revealing a glint of excitement. "Sounds like a right proper adventure, sir. Count me in."
​
Together, Ciaphas and Jurgen ventured into the inky abyss that lay before them, the Eye of Terror swallowing them whole. They traversed through a twisted realm of shifting shadows and malevolent energies, their every step fraught with uncertainty. The air crackled with an otherworldly malevolence, and the darkness seemed to whisper secrets that threatened to drive them mad.
​
As they pressed forward, guided by a sense of purpose and the distant echoes of Fulgrim's presence, the fabric of reality distorted around them. Eldritch abominations, spawned from the darkest recesses of the Warp, clawed at their sanity, testing their resolve. But Jurgen's melta-gun blazed with righteous fury, disintegrating the monstrosities that dared stand in their way.
​
Time lost all meaning as they delved deeper into the heart of the chaotic realm. Each encounter with the denizens of the Warp pushed them to their limits, the struggle between the divine presence within Ciaphas and the lingering doubts within his soul growing more intense with each passing moment. But Jurgen's unyielding faith in his commander acted as an anchor, grounding Ciaphas amidst the storm of uncertainty.
​
Finally, they reached the inner sanctum of Fulgrim's lair—a chamber shrouded in a sickly haze, where the air reeked of corruption and depravity. The fallen Primarch, once a paragon of martial prowess, now stood before them, his features twisted and distorted by the foul taint of Chaos. His eyes gleamed with malicious glee as he regarded the unlikely duo that dared challenge him.
​
"Fulgrim," Ciaphas declared, his voice steady despite the tremors of doubt that threatened to consume him. "Your heresy ends here."
​
Fulgrim's laughter echoed through the chamber, a cacophony of derision and mockery. "Ah, the false hero and his loyal lackey. How quaint. Do you truly believe you can stand against me?"
​
The room seemed to tilt, reality warping under the weight of Fulgrim's corrupted presence. But Ciaphas, bolstered by Jurgen's unflinching support, pressed on. He drew upon the divine power that coursed through his veins, unleashing a righteous fury against the fallen Primarch.
​
A battle of mythic proportions erupted, with Ciaphas and Fulgrim clashing in a dance of blades and raw power. The chamber crackled with energy as their weapons met, each strike shaking the very foundations of the Warp. Shadows writhed and twisted, merging with the chaos of the battlefield as ancient curses and whispered incantations swirled through the air.
​
Through it all, Jurgen stood by Ciaphas's side, his melta-gun blazing with righteous fire. His presence acted as a shield against the horrors that sought to unravel their resolve. The mystic energies that danced around them seemed to respond to Jurgen's unwavering faith, adding an element of divine protection to their cause.
​
The battle raged on, the clash of wills and steel reverberating through the abyss. Though doubts gnawed at Ciaphas's core, threatening to undermine his every move, he pressed forward, drawing strength from the unyielding support of his loyal aide.
​
In the end, it was a combination of Ciaphas's newfound celestial powers, Jurgen's steadfastness, and a touch of cunning that led to Fulgrim's defeat. The fallen Primarch crumbled before them, consumed by the forces he had once embraced.
​
As the echoes of the battle subsided, Ciaphas couldn't help but feel a mixture of relief and lingering doubts. He had emerged victorious, fulfilling his divine mission, yet the shadows of his own insecurities continued to haunt him. He wondered if his true nature—a coward masquerading as a hero—would ever be laid bare.
​
But for now, he stood as the angel of the Imperium, a symbol of hope and resilience against the encroaching darkness. With Jurgen by his side, they would continue their journey, facing new trials and horrors, and perhaps one day finding the redemption they both sought amidst the labyrinthine realms of the Warp.
Chapter 3: The Illusion Unveiled
​
In the aftermath of their supposed victory over Fulgrim, a disquieting truth began to unravel around Ciaphas Cain and Jurgen. What they had believed to be their noble quest to defeat the heretic Primarch was, in fact, a cruel deception—a fabrication meticulously crafted by an ancient Necron Lord who held them captive within a sprawling tomb world.
​
As the haze of the simulated battle dissolved, the illusions that had surrounded them fell away, revealing the cold, metallic walls of their prison. Ciaphas and Jurgen found themselves confined within eerie, cocoon-like structures—creches designed to keep them in stasis while their minds were immersed in the nefarious virtual realm created by their captor.
​
Grim realization settled over them, intertwining with the lingering doubts that had plagued Ciaphas throughout their journey. The false hero had unwittingly played into the hands of a being far more sinister than Fulgrim himself. The very essence of their triumph had been a charade—a cruel manipulation of their hopes and desires.
​
But as their eyes adjusted to the harsh lighting of their prison, a hollow voice echoed through the chamber. It emanated from an unseen source, the ancient Necron Lord who had orchestrated their torment.
​
"Welcome, false heroes, to the heart of my domain," the voice reverberated, laced with a sinister undertone. "You have served your purpose well, unknowing puppets in my grand scheme."
​
Ciaphas's heart sank, the weight of his own inadequacies amplified by the cruel machinations of their captor. How had he been so blind? How had he allowed himself to be manipulated into playing the part of a hero when he had always been a reluctant coward?
​
The voice continued, its tone dripping with ancient malice. "You see, I sought to exploit your greatest weaknesses—the doubts that gnawed at your very souls. The false hero, plagued by self-doubt, and his loyal aide, burdened with unwavering faith. Such contradictions make for a tantalizing tapestry of despair."
​
Ciaphas and Jurgen exchanged somber glances, their spirits crushed by the revelation. Their struggles, their victories, all nothing more than a meticulously crafted illusion. The Necron Lord had seized upon their insecurities, manipulating their hopes and fears to further his own twisted agenda.
​
"And now, as the final act of my grand performance," the voice hissed, its words echoing within the chamber, "I shall leave you with the knowledge of your own futility. You are trapped within the confines of my tomb world, destined to live out your days in this simulated prison, forever ensnared by your own self-doubt."
​
The room fell into an eerie silence, save for the distant hum of machinery. Ciaphas's mind raced, desperately searching for a way to escape this nightmarish predicament. But the realization of their captivity weighed heavily upon him—every option seemed futile, every glimmer of hope a mere illusion.
​
In a final act of cruel mockery, the Necron Lord delivered a monologue to an empty room, its words directed at no one but the heroes ensnared within the simulation creches. His voice dripped with malevolence, a symphony of disdain for the beings he held captive.
​
"Know this, false heroes, you shall forever dwell in the shadows of your own failures. Your cowardice and unwavering faith, forever etched upon the annals of this tomb world," the voice intoned, relishing in their despair. "And as for me, I shall bask in the triumph of your defeat, reveling in the knowledge that even the falsest of heroes can be broken."
​
With those chilling words, the voice of the Necron Lord faded into nothingness, leaving Ciaphas and Jurgen alone in their simulated prison, adrift in a sea of despair. The weight of their captivity pressed upon them, their hopes shattered, their struggles rendered meaningless.
​
But amidst the darkness, a flicker of defiance stirred within Ciaphas's heart. A whisper of resilience urged him to confront his fears, to defy the fate that had been thrust upon them. The false hero, still burdened by doubt, resolved to forge a new path—one that would defy the expectations of the Necron Lord and reclaim their stolen destinies.
​
With Jurgen by his side, Ciaphas steeled himself for the arduous journey ahead. They would defy the odds, fight against the despair that threatened to consume them, and seek a way to escape the clutches of the ancient Necron Lord.
​
For even in the depths of their darkest hour, the spirit of heroism refused to be extinguished.

So, I'm feeling an itch to try and do another crossover, this time with Frostpunk of all things. Thus, I am gonna try it. However I must state some thing. In this universe, as the date Frostpunk is set in. Or at least, The scenario "A new home" is happening in. Is somewhere during 1886 to 87. And the invention of the Nukes are during 1933. So for all intents and purposes, The Federation never stumbled upon humanity. At least, in a way they stumble upon them so much earlier than they should. This way, the feds never had a reason to exterminate the species in the first place. They didn't know they existed.
In terms of things regarding the Laws of New London. In this story, both Order and Faith are mixed together. The laws leading to Faith Keepers and The Temple are signed as well as the laws leading to Patrols and Foremen. As for Adaptation laws. Child Labor, Extended Shift, Soup, Extra rations for the Ill, Prosthetics, Ceremonial funerals, Public house. Nearly everything is researched.

For the purpose of the City, they haven't crossed the Line yet. But as any who played the game knows. The other side of the Line is so tempting. So very, very tempting.

Memory Transcript: Felix Hawthorn - Captain, leader of the last City
Date: [standardized human time]: Day 47
I can no longer see the lights out there. The Little fires and candles that lit up the city. The houses are all but covered in ice. The automatons are barely managing to work through the frigid winds. I turn to check the thermometer, even in my office. Built at the base of the Generator. The winds could reach me through the cracks in the walls. I blinked the ice out of my eyes as my vision locks with the thermometer. "Negative... 150 degrees..." I croaked out. Speaking aloud as I slowly turned to face the cloak on the wall.
To my bewilderment, and amazement. It was still turning away. Even when frost threatened to break it. Just a few more hours... just a few more...
I weakly lifted my arm, If I survive. It'll need amputating. I couldn't even feel the burning cold that was coating its' senses yesterday.
No guardsmen, Faith Keeper, or anyone has came to alert me to anything new... The infirmaries were the only buildings with enough warmth for people to at the very least. Feel chilly... Heh... "Should probably go to one..." I shiver at I felt Jack Frost threaten to tear my insides apart, speaking my thoughts won't help much... thinking things out will keep me focused...
I can't go to a Infirmary. We have no space for a new one to be built, nor do we have enough space for everyone... Thus, here I sit. In my chair. Watching the frost grow on my windows... I pray to myself, that whoever plunged us in this Frozen Hell. Would have mercy on the children and the elderly
As the glass in my window gets overgrown in ice and snow, I slowly close my eyes. And lay back. If this is the end of the human race as we know it... I rather sleep through it than see the results. I already wrote down notes so whomever finds me, will know what to do.
Sleep takes me, the frost won't win that battle at least. In the realms of Dreams. I'm sitting under the warm sun, my daughter and son playing in the grass not too far from me. My wife and I play a game, pointing out the different shapes the clouds made in the sky...
​
There is a pirate ship... a bird... that's a whale... "No, silly. That's a dolphin!" she'd laugh, I would respond with a chortle and a "Well, when you're right, you're right."
Such warmth... It's not even that warm in actuality, it is as average a day as any other... but I feel so... warm.
---------
Memory Transcript: Jannim, Junior Venlil explorer
Date: [standardized human time]: Day 47
I shivered as the ship struggles to handle the temperature of this planet. Of course, sometimes a explorer will never come back. Be it through running into Predators, a error in the systems. Or just bad luck. But I never thought it would happen to me.
I boot up the terminal, thankful it still worked at least. "Explorer Log 21. Jannim. Horkle, our exterminator. Succumbed to the wounds he sustained during the crash. Day 7 after the crash, our pilot, Thalk and captain Fonn still haven't came in from checking on the damages the ship sustained when the storm hit us. Should've left when we noticed it but no... we just had to be heroes to a race we don't even know how to find." I panted as I glanced to the ships' walls. Thanks to the ship I'm alive, but how long will the power last? If Fonn and Thalk were still alive out there... I took a deep breath and continue the log "The captain and pilot left the ship sometime yesterday, to check on external damages and on the engines.-" A growl from the predator-like winds stole my attention away.
You survived a Arxur raid, and this is how you go out? Fearing for your life because of alien nature?
Yes, I was...
​
I take a bite out of my emergency rations, the blandness of it was much better than the chill in the air. "-I-if anyone finds this, leave this planet. Don't go looking for the natives, LEAVE. Before the scans broke down, it appears the planet is gonna undergo various storms similar to the one I am in. Leave at once and mark the planet down as a Deathtrap." I managed to keep myself from stuttering as I continued the message "The planet itself seems predatory, if this is anything to go by. I believe the natives of this planet will have succumbed to the frost during this storm. If not this one, then the next one. Or the one after that. However long it takes. Nothing should be able to survive such harsh winds in this temperature."
I stop myself, taking a few deep breaths, then another bite of my ration. "... If you're stationed near Venlil Prime. Please, find Pallhen. He's my father... tell him... I love him, and that I'm with Mother now." I choke past a tear as I looked to the systems. "Looks like the lights are about to fail, if the controls are anything to go by. Even if the pilot and captain return. We won't be able to even launch... Final log of Junior Explorer Jannim. Protector watch over us." I sighed before ending the Log. Left in silence, I listened to the predatory-storm beat on the ship. And watch Horkles' corpse lay on the medical table of our ship.
Silently counting the emergency rations, and what regular rations we have left. I would last around a week. Perhaps longer if I space my meals out... I think I'll just keep my meals as is, having to do with spacing meals out will just raise my hopes... Can't really have that if this storm lasts much longer.
I resumed eating my ration as I try to guess what the natives were like before this planet became a great, big, Temperature Predator. ------------------------------------------------ Memory Transcript: Felix Hawthorn - Captain, leader of the last City
Date: [standardized human time]: Day 48
"Captain!" A harsh voice awakens me, I use my one good arm to push the Faith Keepers' hands off me. He was apparently shaking me awake. "I'm up, I'm up!" I cried out as I sighed. I could see the relief worm its way onto Brother Collins' face. "Captain. We made it" he exclaimed as a mix of relief and pure joy radiates from his face to his voice. I grumbled in tired bewilderment as I turned to look at the thermometer.
"The storm has passed!" Collin cheered as I mentally froze at the sight on the Thermometer on the wall. -20 degrees Celsius... "Brother Collin! don't just stand there!" I cried out as I stand up with as much my renewed vigor would allow me. Causing the Faith-keeper to freeze in place. "Get out there, and tell the Guards to check the people, check them yourself it you have to. I need information on how our population handled this storm before we move forward!" I shout my orders at Collin, before grabbing my scarf off my neck. The ice still hasn't thawed off my scarf but... I fashion it into a sling for my arm "I'll be here after I have my arm amputated. Can't die now after all we went through." I allow a slight snicker escape my lips as I walk out the doors of my office and marched to the nearest infirmary. I could hear Collin run out of the office shortly after me and went off to find the guards, check families. Maybe both.
To my relief, the infirmary I first arrived at had a place open for me. Due to overcrowding, I was given a seat on the floor. And now... here I wait, listening to the doctors and nurses comfort and calm the ill and wounded. A few shot nasty glares at me... I'd like to see them try and prepare the city for a storm like that. I think I did pretty well... ---A few hours later.--- "So... we're at 307 able bodies, a hundred dead. Five missing. And finally, 246 amputees" I stated to the Head guardsmen, Matthew Williams. And there beside him stood high Priest Jenkins Anderson. "Moral will go up of course, everyone who survived the storm will feel nothing but joy for a while. But now we have to deal with reverting the city to what it was before the storm." I point to Matthew with my newly attached arm, the claw couldn't point fingers but it works when I need to grab something. I shift to point at Anderson as this was for them both to do. "Spread word that we are sending hunters back out and are putting the hothouses back up. I want scouts looking through the wilderness for anything they can find out there. We're not out of the storm yet" I declared as I brought my prosthetic back down. "Take stock of what rations we currently have, and spread them out as much as you can to the population. Send word to the Factory to start churning out Prosthetics... And when you have the scouts ready, inform me." Mister Williams saluted me before leaving the office, while Anderson stays there, watching me... "Did... the two come back?" I asked him, the silent shake of his head told me everything... "We don't have the bodies... find out the name of that father and his daughter, then make a pair of graves for them." Anderson nods and with a respectful bow, stepped out the door.
Finally left to my thoughts, I sat back in my chair. Staring at my desk. So many lives lost... I did what I could, but should I have done better? I could have done better... they are all dead because of me, how many of them were parents?... how many children?
I sat in silence as I start a prayer to the dead. Praying they forgive me for failing them. Praying again that they pass on to a place better than where we are. And finally, Praying that someone up there actually is listening...
Once my prayers were done, I looked to the reports brother Collin had placed on my desk during my time in the Infirmary. Apparently something had crashed during the start of the great storm. There was something flying out there... Going by the calculations the engineers did under Collins' request. The crash is relatively close by... a three day travel on foot, two via riding one of the automatons through the days and night.
I stand from my desk and walk out the door, Paying some mind to a picture of my wife on my way out. I had to be one of the scouts. For this at the very least... if there is some hope there is a survivor out there, if the father and his daughter is there... I have to be certain... we have enough automatons and able bodies to use the coal mines and coal thumpers. And after the storm, I do not believe we required the other laws. I'll leave the high priest in charge until my return. Matthews is a good man but... Anderson is the more compassionate of the two. He'll keep up the moral while I'm away.
​
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​
This wasn't a lot, but hey. Hope you liked the introduction. If anyone has any questions regarding New London in the story, please feel free to ask. If anyone has anything to just say, feel free to share your thoughts.

In today’s fast-paced and ever-evolving business landscape, organizations are realizing the critical role of human capital management (HCM) in achieving long-term success. To thrive amidst change and uncertainty, companies must invest in reskilling, engage their employees, and optimize their workforce. In this article, we will explore key initiatives that HR professionals can introduce to promote HCM, develop human resources through reskilling, improve employee engagement, and optimize the workforce. Along the way, we’ll discover how organizations are embracing these strategies to unlock the potential of their employees.
HR professionals play a pivotal role in fostering a culture of continuous learning within their organizations. By empowering employees with new skills and knowledge, HR can unleash their full potential and ensure organizational resilience. Let’s delve into the effective strategies to cultivate a culture of continuous learning.

1. Assessing Skills and Identifying Skill Gaps: To effectively implement reskilling and upskilling initiatives, HR professionals must first conduct a comprehensive assessment of the existing skills within the workforce. By leveraging assessment tools, such as skills inventories, competency frameworks, and performance evaluations, HR can gain insights into the skills that need development. For example, a retail company might discover a gap in digital marketing expertise as they aim to expand their online presence.
2. Designing Tailored Learning Programs: Once skill gaps are identified, HR professionals can collaborate with managers and employees to design tailored learning programs that address specific needs. These programs can take various forms, such as workshops, webinars, mentoring programs, or online courses. For instance, a technology firm could organize coding boot camps to equip employees with the latest programming languages.
3. Promoting a Learning Culture: Creating a culture that values continuous learning is crucial for the success of reskilling efforts. HR professionals can promote a learning culture by recognizing and rewarding employees who actively seek development opportunities. They can also foster a sense of community through knowledge-sharing sessions, lunch-and-learns, or internal forums where employees can exchange ideas and insights. For example, an engineering company might establish an internal blog where employees can share their technical expertise and learn from each other’s experiences.
4. Leveraging Technology for Learning: In today’s digital age, technology offers a wealth of learning opportunities. HR professionals can leverage e-learning platforms, mobile applications, and virtual reality (VR) tools to provide accessible and engaging learning experiences. For instance, a healthcare organization could incorporate VR simulations to train medical staff in complex procedures, allowing them to practice in a risk-free environment.
5. Measuring and Evaluating the Impact: To ensure the effectiveness of reskilling initiatives, HR professionals need to establish measurement frameworks to track progress and evaluate the impact of learning programs. This could involve tracking metrics such as improved job performance, increased employee satisfaction, and reduced turnover rates. For example, a hospitality company might measure the impact of a customer service training program by assessing customer feedback and measuring the frequency of positive reviews.

In today’s dynamic business environment, where organizations face increasing complexities in talent management and workforce optimization, leveraging an HCM system brings numerous benefits. It not only improves HR efficiency and data management but also supports talent development, enhances employee engagement, and ensures compliance with regulations. Below are the benefits of using a HCM system:

1. Centralized Data Management: HCM systems centralize employee data, streamlining HR operations and ensuring data accuracy and security.
2. Improved Efficiency: Automation of administrative tasks frees up HR professionals’ time for strategic initiatives and employee development.
3. Enhanced Workforce Planning: Analytics and reporting capabilities provide valuable insights for talent acquisition, resource allocation, and workforce optimization.
4. Talent Development and Reskilling: HCM systems facilitate the design and delivery of personalized learning programs, boosting engagement and ensuring a skilled workforce.
5. Streamlined Performance Management: HCM systems support goal setting, continuous feedback, and performance evaluations to foster a culture of performance excellence.
6. Compliance and Regulatory Compliance: HCM systems help organizations ensure adherence to labor laws, regulations, and data security measures.
7. Employee Self-Service: Self-service portals empower employees to access and manage their information, reducing HR administrative tasks and enhancing satisfaction.
8. Integration and Scalability: HCM systems integrate with other HR software, providing a holistic view and accommodating organizational growth.

In an era of constant change, HR professionals must lead the way in promoting human capital management, reskilling, employee engagement, and workforce optimization. By fostering a culture of continuous learning and implementing tailored initiatives, organizations can unlock the potential of their employees and adapt to the evolving business landscape. Remember, investing in your employees’ growth and development is the key to future success. So, let’s embrace the opportunities that lie ahead and unleash the true potential of our workforce.

Author's Note: This original work had once been created in hopes to be an original Star Wars story. The author has adapted the story to be its own original work taking place in the franchise. In particular, the author has chosen between the movies of Episode 6 and 7. Main characters, battles and other major events will either be cut out or referenced. This is not a fanfiction. All characters were created from the author aside other characters, such as the sentient species, items like blasters, were created and rightfully owned by Lucasfilm.
17 Standards Years Ago
She recalled the day when her brother was gone for good. Little Sorella was 6 years old. She and her brother, Dearthair, 12 were on their own in Kail.
Kail was Coruscant's smaller twin, on the grassland planet Miero. The town had stone adobes of shops and homes, everyone full of giddy and glow. Out to the south laid Neero, a spaceport settlement. On the occasion, some folk traveled to Neero to obtain exotic goods to sell back in Kail.
Despite the hearty prosperity of Kail, Sorella, and Dearthair were orphans. They hid in their ruined home, once full of glee and joy, now faded, cracked, and sloppy. Clothes, pots, pans, holograms, and drawers with emptiness now occupied the home.
Their parents ventured to Neero, trusting Dearthair to take care of the place while they were gone.
Later that day, an investigator visited the home to confirm that their parents, had died while protecting a kid from being taken away by traffickers.
With no parents, they were brought to the next town, Grangor. Yet, both knew, they couldn't stay there. The foster center was a heap, a dump. The caregiver didn't care about the kids trashing the place, she just wanted her money from the adoption fee to bid and brag about how she won another bet on Odupiendo racing. The children there began to form groups, making turfs and destroying each other's territory.
Not to mention, the possibility of separation. Their chances were even higher considering families of Grangor could only afford for 2 children to raise. They knew if either one of them left, they would no longer be the family they once knew before.
So by the next day, Sorella and Dearthair escaped and stayed in Kail. All it became was their next worst nightmare. The town had been ransacked by raiders. The community now had to use its funds to restore what was lost. And that meant raising prices and trips to Neero to resell exotic goods for better deals.
Despite this, they went back to their home and pondered about the food they would eat and how they could keep the place up.
At first, they begged for a bit. And when begging didn't work, one would pickpocket the distracted fool. They used any credit they acquired to quiet the rumbles in their stomachs.
Dearthair even began to ask for jobs around town but no one wanted to hire them. Not enough money to pay, one vendor noted. Had they not used the funds, there would've been a chance.
However, sometimes, if the shipments they received or the abundance of the crop were good, a few of the family friends they knew would stop by and give the siblings food. One of them, Kli, a Zeltron, tried her best to visit often, cleaning their home and cooked meals. She told them she would have offered her place but unfortunately, due to audits visiting, she did not want to risk them being taken back to foster care. (After all, for her, it was hard to lie. She hated telling a lie).
The siblings didn't mind, they appreciated the help.
They did eventually stop pickpocketing aside Dearthair who had gotten better at it. He promised to stop but he figured a few credits wouldn't hurt.
He was almost caught once at the same time as the day Sorella last saw him.
Dearthair was eyeing around a restaurant, searching for a clumsy idiot. There were a few visitors from other worlds here, whining and belching their sorrows away about some rumored war. This prompted Dearthair to steal without worry. Who would even notice? Even the bartenders would be too busy to give these drunks their drinks and people chatted about their life at tables.
As he passed by a few patrons, talk fumbled into the air. "Did you hear?" a Rodian stammered. "They're taking the children....just come in and start shooting..."
"What is the New Republic going to do about it? Nothing!" a Twi'lek snapped.
"I've heard that they use certain techniques....they don't remember who they were," an elderly man huffed.
Dearthair grumbled. None of these clients seemed to be carrying a huge sum of credits. Most looked down on their luck. Then there was...
He spotted a drunken human fool, slamming his credits on the counter. The human had on shiny boots with a blaster at his side, and gold linings on his coat toppled with a furry vest. "Moar!" he yelped. "Dang tenders....can't even affurd a proper dr...visit Kail they said, the best place to hide and..."
Dearthair slithered by the human's side, eyeing the gold before his eyes. He glimpsed around the room, checking for onlookers one last night in case anyone had the idea to look.
He stopped as he felt the human turn to him. "Hey kid...cun you tell sumone to hurry it up? I hit the jackpot today!"
"Oh, did you?" Dearthair said, raising his eyebrows.
"Sure did," the human burped. "Got me a hefty bounty and now I lay here low. I heard this place was the besst. It's gone to crap. You all this money for nothing....you might as well just take off to another place....they say a storm's brewing....so run if you an..."
"Really, huh?" Dearthair continued, now secretly roaming his hand in the human's coat pockets, scrambling for credits.
"Kid, listen to me, HIC-UP, you're better off on your own if I were you." The human sneezed and tossed his credits on the counter to the bartender. "Yo tender, gimme another one of those bluey thingies. The watchmacallit with the special."
"That's unfortunate," Dearthair hummed, now counting how many credits he had in his hand before shoving it in his pocket.
The human swirled around in his seat, causing Dearthair to flinch. He froze, terrified that he was caught. The human hadn't seen it but the way his eyes stared at the boy...it was like he knew.
He proved to be wrong as he sighed. "Kid, I know I...HI-CUP...may look like a fool but...never turn your back down on an offer. Look around...no one's coming to help you. The town got ransacked by raiders and do you get? Nothing. You have to use everything on your own to 'fix' your problems. Yet if it was Neero, oh, for sure, let's make it all pretty and shiny for the tourists. And yet they stop the imports because of the darn fear of theft."
"Well, everyone helps when they can," Dearthiar noted. "A little bit of help can go a long way."
"Yeah, but to be a man...you have to learn to be on your own. You wanna be someone's babysitter fine. They admire you more though...when you can show you can stand on your own two feet. That's what everyone wants. So guess what...if this upcoming war starts and the New Republic ain't doing a lick of Bantha dong to help....then my allegiance is to those who offer me a place."
The human glanced at his new drink sitting quietly, took one long chug, and laid his head on the counter to sleep.
Dearthair breathed in and out, full of relief. The other customers were still busy with their worries. Digging in for a few more credits, he booked out of the restaurant, heading back home.
He knocked on the door and sounded the bell, alerting Sorella he was there. She led him in and they counted the credits.
"1,000 credits," Dearthair noted. "Enough for 2 loaves of bread, some pieces of fruit, blue milk, porridge from Kali's and maybe we'll have enough to buy The Last Starfighter." He nodded to the holoprojector they had propped by the window along with a few holograms.
"Can't wait to watch that one, I heard from Yue it was a good show," Sorella said.
They went out to buy the items and returned home happily. Yet, Dearthair's mind did not venture off from the human's words. Even when watching The Last Starfighter, he kept thinking back to that old kook's speech. Were they truly doomed to be there?
Well, he knew the guy was drunk but still...his words held some truth.
Kail was surely picking its place back up but time proved other areas were now suffering. Neero was barely getting any more exotic goods, causing another economic shift, leaving Kail to sell only what they produced around them. And last of Grangor, pfff, who knows. And with words about war, kidnappings, and no one helping....it made Dearthair wonder how he could escape this.
He stared at Sorella, intentively interested in the hologram. She had become a bit of a handful now. Kli wasn't around as much considering she was preparing her shop for inspection. Sorella once had almost set the house on fire by trying to cook some food. Or that other time when she tried to take some strange "candy" from an alien, he had to swipe her away.
He was the one who had to take charge, making sure they had food, she wasn't going anywhere she shouldn't be, keep aware of who was at the door, and how to pickpocket....come to think of it, he surely could've survived by himself. Still, he knew Sorella was all that was left of the family he knew.
His parents...they would be so proud of him, doing all he could to provide for himself and his sister. Yet, there was only so much he could do now.
"Hey, Sorella?" he asked as the hologram ended, the hero fading in the blue light. "Do you ever think about...getting away from here?"
Sorella thought for a bit. "I don't know...I mean...I like it here. It can be rebuilt. We just need to get more money."
Dearthair felt his heart clenched. "Well, what if you had to get away from here....and go anywhere else?"
"Well, yeah, I would go but then I go back over here," Sorella beamed.
"What is it that you love about it here?"
"Well, how it used to be. Remember when Kli would give us those Oprair cakes, Ronen with the Swirly Tumblers, Jei let us play with the Pikies. This...is home to me. I can't imagine leaving it." Sorella's eyes glistened with tears. "And Mom...Dad..."
Dearthair swung his head. He circuited his eyes back to Sorella only, seeing her stare into space, more tears plundering down.
He felt guilty seeing her eyes like that. It would eat him up next, reminding him about his parents. It reminded him though what a baby she was...she could never keep her emotions in check. She was always so sensitive when it came to things that bothered her, like when he told her to be careful about cooking.
"Are we going to go away?"
Sorella's eyes were now on Dearthair, awaiting an answer.
Dearthair shook his head. "The only one coming and going is me," he said, patting her head. "You're staying here."
Sorella laughed. She yawned and got up, heading towards her room. "Goodnight, Dearthair," she said. "Thanks for always looking out for me, brother."
Dearthair smiled. "Of course," he said, his eyes averted away. "Anything to keep family together."
She didn't remember the exact time, but it happened at the darkest hour of the night. Sorella woke up to hearing screams, and loud wails booming through the atmosphere.
Then came the smoke. She sniffed the air, a wisp of charcoal and harsh heat filling her lungs. She coughed a little before getting up, wondering if maybe it was Dearthair this time trying to cook (he had his moments too).
Instead of the glare from the windows, she saw bright gleams of blazes erupting around the other homes.
"What?" she gasped, checking around and seeing the chaos unfold before her eyes.
A few of the homes were destroyed, either eaten alive by the pulsing inferno or shattered apart.
People were running everywhere, bellows echoing and confusion amassing.
What the hell was going on?
"Dearthair! Kail's on fire!" Sorella yelled, running to her brother's room. She went inside to see he wasn't there. "Dearthair?"
BOOM!
The house shook wildly. Sorella stumbled to keep her balance. She ducked under a table, stayed for a few minutes, and then bolted out to the door again, to peek.
She now saw one of the sources of the chaos. Before her eyes was a white armored abomination, its hideous nightmarish visor scanning around for its next victim. Behind its body, it held a giant tank and in its hands, a huge gun with a nozzle. The abomination aimed the nozzle at a home and enraptured its flames from the gun. It engulfed the house in seconds.
Sorella gulped, stepping back inside her home. Danger lurked behind her as she twirled around to see flames were now entering her home.
Sorella shrieked and scampered out.
She took no notice of the abomination known as the Flametrooper, eyeing her running away. "We have one here, near the homes," he noted.
Sorella mindlessly searched around. "Dearhair!" she cried, wondering where he was. She even looked for the adults, any familiar faces but no one stopped, they continue to run without care.
"Help!"
Sorella turned to see a kid like her now snatched up by another abomination. This one had a different visor, its helmets more delicate with design and he carried no tank, just a blaster in his hand. "That's almost all of them!" the second abomination, the Stormtrooper said, carrying the struggling kid away.
Sorella felt a verge of tears and bellows in her body but she knew she had to escape. In times of danger like this taught by Dearthair, she knew she had to run.
She darted past a couple more homes before she then saw one of the Stormtroopers takes notice of her. "Get her!"
She crawled through gaps, between walls, under trenches, anywhere to get away from the horrid monsters.
She never turned around.
Sorella made it safe once she had entered a small hole in a broken-down store, its entrance blocked by the fallen beam supports. The troopers behind her attempted to fight their way in, clashing with the beams. She ran to the back entrance and shut the door, hoping for some reason at least that would stop them.
She turned around to see another nightmare. The Stormtroopers with the kids were heading inside large vehicles. Kids all stuck together, hugging one another and crying. A few bodies laid on the ground. Some folks still fought the troopers, which unfortunately ended in their demise.
"You won't take him away from me!" a mother yelled. She was on the ground the second she jumped at a trooper.
Sorella hid behind a crate, peering from above. She spotted him.
"Dearthair?" she said, seeing a familiar figure. He was guided by two Stormtroopers, heading inside one of the large vehicles.
"No, Dearthair!" Sorella yelled.
She foolishly ran forward, only to be picked up by someone. Kli held her in her arms, rampantly charging towards a land speeder.
"No, my brother!"
"We'll find him," Kli said. "I'm sorry, Sorella, there's nothing we can do. You will die!"
"I don't care, I don't want them to take my brother!".
Sorella's eyes misted. Her vision blurred as she turned from the inferno of homes to the somber kids in vehicles and looked back to the land speeder, a few others joining them. There were the last of parents, shopkeepers, and their children.
"Hit it!" Kli said as she strapped herself and Sorella in.
"No, Dearthair!" Sorella said, turning around.
The pad to the vehicle closed up, sealing the familiar figure's fate.
"No! Turn back! Turn back!" Sorella pleaded. "Mom...Dad...brother!"
No one gave her any recognition as the land speeder surged forward, Kili holding Sorella tightly, trying to calm her.
"We have to tell everyone about this," Kli hollered. Get the New Republic, contact the other planets around us and..."
She never finished her words as a huge blast exploded behind them, sending the vehicle tumbling.
All Sorella remembered from this part was that she was flying in the air for a bit and hit the ground, knocking her to sleep.
Thanks for reading this if you made it to the end! This is my first time writing in a while (I know I probably messed up some stuff) and I'm all about improving at my craft. Critique away every little bit, just help me to know what I can do to improve!

See the previous posts: https://www.reddit.com/JurassicPark/comments/1419mpy/jurassic_world_the_hegemony_of_biosyn_dominion/ https://www.reddit.com/JurassicPark/comments/142b35e/jurassic_world_the_hegemony_of_biosyn_jwd_rewrite/

Act III - The Gathering of the Clouds

Mia Everett
Visually confirming Rainn's revelation, Victoria is shown in a cage inside Amelia Everett's lab, within Biosyn's Citadel. Mia does her best to comfort the scared and depressed Achillobator and her motivations are explored shortly after. It's revealed that due to her experience within the team who made the Indominus and the Indoraptor, Biosyn tasked her with reviving InGen's IBRIS program by breeding raptors with high obedience potential. However, none of the achillobators cloned by Biosyn proved to be trainable enough for the program's ambitions (even though they attempted to mimic Owen's experience by having keepers being there at the animals' birth), which displeased Dodgson and the other higher-ups, who are now favouring another research team, who focuses on a more intrusive way of controlling dinosaurs. Basically treated as a second-class researcher amidst a rather toxic work environment, Mia became desperate enough to hire poachers to capture Blue, which she intended to breed with their achillobators in order to finally have trainable individuals. As Victoria is not sexually mature, Mia is in front of a considerable setback and fears that Dodgson will pull the plug due to her lack of results, especially in this troubled period for Biosyn.
The tying noose
The next day, the intel collected by the UN agents (people involved in the Black Market, Biosyn's connections with it) are sent to the nearby countries, including Italy, where an arrest warrant is launched against Kayla.
On his side, Isaac Gibbon is contacted by Bigelow who tells him about the debacle of their mission in Malta, saying that Claire and Owen saved the grey guards from disaster. He orders her to stay in Italy for the moment and wait for new orders. Shortly receives, he receives a candidate for a desk job in the DSD: It's Franklin. Gibbon tells Franklin he heard about his bravery during the 2019 incidents and his past connection with InGen (Before the DPG, Franklin worked for it as an IT Technician), before asking questions about Claire as he is aware that she collaborated with him not only on some occasions in the past few years but also in the 2019 Costa Rican incident, where Franklin was the couple's companion while they were running from InGen's agents and the authorities.
Dubrovnik
The inhabitants and tourists of the Croatian seaside city of Dubrovnik are surprised when a Biosyn Quetzalcoatlus descends upon the old town and starts attacking people. As a joke similar to one in TLW with the Japanese businessman and his reference to Godzilla, some extra could yell in Valyrian "I left Westeros because of this!" or "By the Seven, not again!" (Dubrovnik was one of Game of Thrones' filming location).
Ramsay's email
In a manner similar to the Hawaii attack scene in Gareth Edwards' Godzilla, the Dubrovnik scene cuts just as the Quetzal swoops on the bystanders and we are now in the bar of Biosyn's employee village. Wu is watching the news of the Dubrovnik attack on the TV (there is even a declaration from Zoe Murdoch, in which she denies the pterosaur came from Auronzo's Sanctuary and was probably created by a rival company who somehow put their hands upon Biosyn Quetzalcoatlus DNA. In the bar, someone whisper that one of their Quetzals did escaped from the valley thanks to the temporary deactivation of the invisible fence system and that Dodgson has launched an investigation to know who's responsible) when he receives a mysterious email from Ramsay, which includes the name of some woman. Wu search it on the internet and ends up on IMDB where he discovers that the adult "Charlotte" on the videos is actually an actress who lives in London.
Arrest
In Rome, early in the morning, Kayla is arrested in her flat by the police as she is accused of illegal smuggling.
Viscontini
Following all the incidents in the Alps, the clash in the Sabine Hills and the recent Dubrovnik attack, people gets pissed at Biosyn and protests occur in several locations, including Rome. In the Italian Ministry of the Interior, Viscontini has an argument with Pazzi, declaring that they need to take severe actions against Biosyn but the minister retorts that taking large-scale actions against the corporation might trigger a whole deal of undesirable consequences, including deteriorating US-Italian relations due to the close ties between Biosyn and the US government. He won't risk that just because of some rumours, weak proof and small incidents. Viscontini retorts that soon, Biosyn might have an angry mob showing at its gates with the goal of driving it out of Italy.
Following Vuillier's instructions, Claire, Owen, Nyamu and Dougal leave Malta the same day and fly to the Eternal City, where they have to meet Viscontini in the AISI headquarters. There, they have a video call with Vuillier. He and Viscontini wants to send the trio of WDMC agents to Auronzo Valley so they can infiltrate Biosyn's facility, find compromising information and transmit them to the Italian authorities, hoping to finally convince Pazzi and the rest of the government to take action against Biosyn. However, one of the agents points out that they will need an entrance ticket as one doesn't simply walk into Auronzo, since the borders of Biosyn's lands are guarded and monitored while some people disappeared after going too close from the Sanctuary (anti-Biosyn activists, reckless adventurers, Grendel Corporation's spies, others from the AISI's and Austrian government). Viscontini declare they might have that ticket.
We cut to Kayla in her prison cell. The guard announces she has visit and she is brought to a room where Viscontini and Dougal waits for her. The head of the AISI and the WDMC agent then negotiate with her: In exchange for her freedom, she will bring Dougal, Claire and Owen to Biosyn's Sanctuary. However, Viscontini precise he'll have her hunted down if she ever betrays them.
Kayla raises the fact that she can't show up at Auronzo like this and needs a motive. Viscontini and Dougal then talk about the animals seized in Malta's black market.
Theo's Mission
That day, Wu summons Theo, explain the whole issue with the fake Charlotte and ask him to go to London, find the actress and question her about the videos so they can have proofs to show Maisie, who started to really become insufferable because of Dodgson's bad influence (in that part of the story, one of the few scenes where she's likeable is one where she and Drummond bonds over the common passion for dinosaurs). The ex-mercenary soon leaves Auronzo, taking a bus for Venice in the nearest village while Wu explains to Pellegrino and Dodgson that Theo had urgent family matters to deal with in the UK.
Leaving San Francisco
Desiring to supervise the Dolomites Crisis more closely, Vuillier fly to Italy.
Nine containers
As evidence of Biosyn's possible connections to the Maltese black market has been discussed on the news, Dodgson knows it's a matter of time before Vuillier, the Italians or the Austrians send people in Auronzo and expose Biosyn's misdeeds.
We then follow Pellegrino's POV as she oversees the exit of nine large mysterious containers from the Citadel and their departure from the airstrip just outside the valley. One of her subordinates asks what's inside and she answers that she has no idea, with Dodgson only giving her a series of instructions. They watch the containers being flown abroad.
The following day, Pellegrino speak about it to Wu and other employees with anti-Dodgson sentiments like Drummond. She notices that Wu is uncomfortable as they talk about it and realize he must be hiding something. Ramsay, who just arrived from the US in preparation for a big corporate event in the Citadel, almost surprise their discussion. As they're not sure if they can trust him or not, they pretend it's nothing. Wu then phones Theo and asks him about his secret mission's progress.
London
In London, Theo finds the actress from the videos and initially posing as a reporter, filming her in an interview, he then ask her questions about the videos and after some hesitations, she concedes to give him answers and reveals among other things that the shooting occurred a few months ago in some local warehouse, that the director of those videos is none other than Colin Trevorrow (who, desperate for a job after the debacle of the Jurassic World film, accepted to participate to that project, oblivious that Biosyn was behind it since a dummy company took care of the production).
AISI
Vuillier arrives in Rome and meets with his agents, Nyamu and Viscontini in one of the AISI headquarters' conference rooms, where a map of Auronzo Valley and its surroundings has been laid. Kayla is also there and offscreen, our characters talk about the plan.
At the end of the meeting, everyone but Vuillier and Viscontini leave the room. Both have a secret conversation during which the Italian say that the Grey Guard's Mediterranean Company, supported by the Austrians and secretly by him (as he fears that Biosyn has informers within the Italian government), are deployed in one of the villages near Auronzo, and is supposed to act as a Plan B should the Claire-Owen-Dougal trio fail, by taking a secret path through an old mine and a mountain pass before breaking into Biosyn's citadel. The WDMC agents don't know that and when Vuillier ask why, Viscontini answers that it's better that way (should the agents be captured ant tortured, they won't tell Biosyn that there is a second team) and that the secret path isn't safer as one of his spy was killed by some creature after taking it and arriving in sight of the valley. He thinks that a small dozen of grey guards have better chances surviving the pass' guardian(s) than three civilian agents.
To the Dolomites
The next day, in the middle of the morning, Kayla is preparing her plane in some airstrip near Rome and the seized creature from the black market is loaded in the hold (I have no idea which species to choose). Equipped by the Italians, Claire, Owen and Dougal say farewell to Vuillier, Nyamu and Viscontini. The Frenchman tells Claire that it's time to unleash the She-wolf upon Dodgson but Claire correct him by saying "Not the She-wolf. The Dragon." (in this AU, she has a particular connection with the dragon-like Indominus), implying she'll get the mission done whatever it takes. He and the other two men wish them good luck and the trio of WDMC agents climb aboard the plane. They soon take off.
Biosyn's aerial defense
Kayla's plane arrives in sight of the mountains which delimit Biosyn's Sanctuary. Informed of their mission by Vuillier and Viscontini, one of the grey guards is watching the plane through his binoculars as it passes over the village where they are staying.
Kayla is soon contacted by the Citadel's control room as they detected the aircraft on their radars and they ask her why she's coming. The pilot answer that she collected an animal which might interest them (she told the WDMC agents and the Italians that Biosyn doesn't have this particular species in their Sanctuary) and ask to land on their airstrip. While the Biosyn employees discuss, the plane is about to enter Auronzo Valley by the east, as that part of the sanctuary is the furthest from most of the buildings (while the airstrip is in the northernmost parts of Biosyn's lands, beyond the mountains with the frozen dam lake) and thus where Claire, Owen and Dougal has the best chances of landing unnoticed. The trio of agents take their parachutes and prepare to jump, but at the same time, Dodgson, who heard that Kayla was arrested by the authorities just a few days ago, fears that her plane is a Trojan horse and decides to activate the valley's "aerial defense". On the screen of one of the room's monitors, we see a group of dots heading straight towards the plane. It's actually a group of pteranodons, from the same toothed variant as those who appeared in Jurassic Park 3 (there is even at least one black male identical to the scrapped one from Johnston's film), and they just collide with the plane, crashing against the cockpit and getting turned to shred by the rotors' blades, damaging the plane (the scene is partly inspired by a cutscene from the Ninth Mission of Paraworld's campaign). Owen wonder why those pteranodons behave in a suicidal manner. Suddenly, the pteranodons retreat and as their window is shrinking, the agents know they have to jump now (they've reached the middle of the valley and their trajectory deviated northwards, towards the mountain dam). Claire jumps first but as Owen is about to jump in his turn, the plane is attacked by a Quetzalcoatlus and the Raptor Whisperer sees another and a few pteranodons chasing her fiancée, whose parachute opened. Claire shakes the pterosaurs off by disappearing into the valley's dense forest. As they will be grabbed by the attacking pterosaurs as soon as they leave the aircraft, Owen, Dougal and Kayla stay inside it and brace for the crash. The plane crashes down at the surface of the frozen lake by the mountain dam in the northern part of the valley.
Back in Rome, Vuillier, Nyamu and Viscontini are worried as they heard the agents and the pterosaurs' screams (they had an open channel all that time with Kayla's plane). They hope the agents will survive this ordeal and activate the beacons they were given before their departure.
Note: The fate of the animal they took with them is still unclear for me. It really depends on the chosen species. If it's something large and potentially dangerous, Kayla would probably want to drop it in the valley in order to have a lighter plane and not deal with it after crashing. But if it's a creature about the size of a small dog for example, they could free it as they leave the wreckage.
Gigantoraptor
We then cut to Claire hanging in the trees but instead of a Therizinosaurus (which already appeared in TRQ. Moreover, Claire had a small arc with this species in that story), she is threatened by a Gigantoraptor. The scene plays out much like the Theri scene from Trevorrow's version, with Claire hiding in a pond etc.. Once the Gigantoraptor walks away, Claire gets out of the pond and sees the fumes from the plane's crash in the distance, behind the mountain dam.
The dam lake
Before it sinks in the lake, Owen, Dougal and Kayla leave her plane and step on the ice. Under it, they notice a large shadow and know they better move away from the lake. They notice a ladder by the dam but as they head towards it, a Quetzalcoatlus or a Pteranodon lands on their way. They step back, moving towards an opening on the lake's surface. Suddenly, a giant 9-meters long temnospondyl (based upon an unnamed and fragmentary genus from Lesotho) burst out the water, almost killing one of the characters. Ensue a scene where our three protagonists have to evade both the pterosaur and the amphibian. The pterosaur ends up being dragged underwater by the temnospondyl but other pterosaurs arrive and to escape them, our trio climbs on the dam and rushes to its elevator, going down in the valley. Down at the dam's base, they notice it's dilapidated and Kayla tell her two companions that Biosyn sell some of its power to the nearest villages.
Note: The main doubt I have about this scene is having a temnospondyl living in the icy water of a mountain lake. It might be too much of a stretch so if you think it's not realistic at all, it will be scrapped from the scene (and perhaps be replaced by a juvenile Baryonyx or something like this, an animal which could be also the one our characters brought with them in the plane.
Plan B
Since the agents lost their beacons during the pterosaurs' attack and the crash, they couldn't tell Rome that they were still alive. Vuillier and Viscontini fear the worst and send a message to Laurenzo Cesare.
Droppings
Meanwhile, Claire started walking towards the dam, hoping to find her companions on the way if they made it out alive from the crash. When she hears a racket in the woods, she hides and a Biosyn tyrannosaur arrives. But it's not on a hunting mode and instead, it just leaves some droppings on a log near Claire's hiding place. After the predator leaves, she approaches the log and smears her face with the droppings, remembering her "Walk in the Park" with Owen when they searched her nephews during the Fall of Jurassic World (the droppings hide her smell, dissuading the other animals to investigate her).
Argument
An argument bursts out between Owen, Dougal and Kayla while they're walking south. The first wants to find his fiancée, the second says that their mission is more important, and Kayla is mad at both men since she lost her plane (and livelihood) because of the WDMC's mission. And unsure about her intentions, the two men distrust her but she tries to reassure them by saying that Biosyn can fuck off since they are also responsible for destroying her plane.
However, the Sanctuary's denizens remind them that they better be united or else it will be the failure of their quest.
At some distance, in the middle of the fog, they see the recognizable silhouette of a sauropod, that of an Argentinosaurus (the species was seen in the distance and mentioned earlier in the story. Instead of Argentinosaurus, it could also be another large titanosaur). However, this herbivore has the particularity of having a symbiotic relation with some small carnivore species within Biosyn Sanctuary (I'm more thinking about a pterosaur or a flying/semi-arboreal theropod than a strictly ground-dwelling predator. For now, the baboon-sized Variraptor is my candidate), with the Argentinosaurus letting those carnivores eat its parasites and the insects flying around it while the carnivores will let out an alarm call shall a large predator approach. It could be illustrated in a scene where an Acrocanthosaurus (the one from the Drive-in scene) is spotted by the carnivores as it passes by. The Argentinosaurus turns to face the larger predator, adopt a defensive posture, and as the acro hasn't yet moved, the smaller carnivores take off from the sauropod and flies straight to the acro's head. Harassed by those creatures, the Acrocanthosaurus retreats. Thus, if those small carnivores (which we'll call the Argentinosaurus' suite) are brave enough to attack a megatheropod, our three protagonists know they're not safe and that they better move away.
The Sanctuary's true nature
While still heading north, Claire's path crosses that of a bull Shantungosaurus. She move out of his way and stay still. She and the audience recognize the animal as he was already in the JW rewrite and TRQ (in the first story, he gained some scars after a fight with a few Metriacanthosaurus), where he was a secondary "character" (and a threat in a few scenes). Both have a peaceful scene where they make eye contact but that quiet moment is shattered when a gunshot resounds in the forest and the hadrosaur flees, badly wounded. Claire hides and in the distance, she sees a hunter, accompanied by a couple of Biosyn security guards and another employee which she presume is some sort of supervisohunting guide. Watching how the hunter is dressed and how he behave in the wild, she knows he's not a professional hunter but just a rich hobbyist and then realizes the Sanctuary's true nature: It's a hunting reserve. As the Shantungosaurus escaped them, the hunter express his discontentment at the guide, which promise to find him another quarry. They leave and following the blood trail left by the hadrosaur, Claire finds him by a stream. His wounds are too grievous and he's too weak to lash out at Claire, who kneels by his head, trying to comfort him in his last moments, up until his last breath. Watching another of her former park's animals dying fills Claire with not only grief, but also anger. She change her plans and heads back south instead of continuing northward, following the hunting party's track.
Note: It doesn't necessarily have to be a Shantungosaurus in the role of the animal shot by the hunters, but it have to be a recognizable animal from the previous installments for emotional impact and Claire's development (another candidate could be the Therizinosaurus from TRQ)
She later finds another hunting party. One of its members, a Biosyn guard, pulls out an item she recognize: a raptor resonating chamber. The guard use it like a bird call and soon, an Achillobator, arrive, believing it heard one of its kind. The poor animal is shot by the hunters, who scream in satisfaction before taking a picture with their quarry. They then brings it to the Biosyn vehicle waiting nearby but before they leave (after having a short conversation during they mention that another team captured the rex and is bringing it the paddocks), Claire deliberately attract the attention of one of the guards, the same one which used the resonating chamber, and he say to his companions he won't be long. He move away from the road and deeper in the woods, he fall into Claire's ambush. She kill him, loot some of his equipment (including the resonating chamber), hide his body and leave. Worried for his colleague, the other guard with the hunters orders the guide to drive them back to the lodge, and search his friend. But he too is murdered by Claire, who takes a small metallic box on him. Activating the box, she realize it's a sonic weapon she has seen before, in the hands of InGen Security's elite troops during the fall of Isla Nublar (it's like a weaponized version of the box Dodgson and his companions have in Crichton's TLW). She turns it off, take it with her and follows the hunters vehicle's tracks on the road, towards the lodge.
However, Claire ignores she's being watched, and not by human eyes...
Over hill
Cesare and his men leave their accommodation and head for the frontiers of Biosyn's lands. Leaving their vehicles near a ruined fort, the grey guards start their trek while the sun is setting behind the mountains ahead of them.
A bed in the trees
As walking through the valley at night would be too dangerous, Owen, Dougal and Kayla decide to find a resting place and climb in a tree. From it, they have a panorama on a nearby lake and notice they are approximately halfway between the dam and the Citadel. At this moment, we also have peaceful scenes with the valley's denizens at dusk (Pelecanimimus fishing in the lake, herbivores drinking nearby, the same Spinosaurus from the report at the beginning peacefully sitting on the bank like an oversized duck...).
Theo's peace
In the evening, just a few hours before his flight to Venice, Theo also passes by his former home, which he left years ago before joining Ken Wheatley's mercenary company. His ex-wife still lives here and noticing that she started a new life with another man and seems happy, he walks away in peace, leaving behind him the last picture he had of himself and her (earlier in the story, Theo is seen looking at said picture).
The secret path
Back in Italy, the grey guards find the entrance of an old mine and enter it, taking the path that will allow them to pass under the limits of Biosyn's lands.
Mercenaries
Mercenary troops land in Biosyn's airstrip and their leader is brought to the Citadel. He has a discussion with Dodgson behind closed doors.
Foes... or allies?
A few hours after nightfall, Claire finally finds a large old chalet with typical Tyrolean architecture: The Hunting Lodge (it's implied that it was built way before Biosyn bought those lands, when the area was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before WWI). Claire remarks it's surrounded by an invisible fence (identical to the one from Jurassic World Evolution 2's Biosyn DLC) which prevents the animals from getting too close. Aware that the lodge wouldn't be a shelter for her and that its occupants probably outnumber her, she turns away from it, continuing to wander in the woods. But just a few minutes later, she hears sound in the nearby bushes. Aware she might be hunted, she is ready to use the ultrasound box and fight for her life. A pack of Achillobators shows up, menacingly walking towards her. At the same time, it starts to rain.
Claire first thinks of using the box and running away while the predators would be bothered by the sound but she knows it will be useless in the long run as they could track her all across the Sanctuary. She then remembers the reports she read earlier in the story, and especially that of the 2001 incident on Sorna, where Alan Grant and his companions walked out alive and unharmed from a close encounter with raptors.
In dire straits, she makes up a desperate plan and carefully, she pulls out the resonating chamber she stole from the Biosyn guards. She uses it and due to their bad experience in the sanctuary with the resonating chambers' usual users, the raptors get agitated but their pack leader tells them to calm down as Claire doesn't seem to be a Biosyn guard or a hunter. The pack leader walks alone towards Claire and sniffs the dried blood on her hands and clothes, realizing it belongs to other humans. Nothing happens for a moment and then the pack leader lets out a bark. Behind Claire, two raptors move aside. Slowly walking backwards, watching carefully the raptors' moves, Claire exits the circle made by the surrounding predators and continues doing so until she's at a respectable distance. At the beginning, the raptors just watch her but as she's heading towards the Hunting Lodge, she hears them following her. However, she is aware that they would have already pounced on her if they wanted to eat her and knows that they're more intrigued. Meanwhile, the rain intensifies (there could also be a storm).
Claire reaches the invisible fence, crosses it, and searches for its power source. But as she's sabotaging it, the Lodge caretaker (a gnarly-looking old local man) spots her and frightened by her look, runs away towards the building. She is forced to catch him and, after a short struggle, kill him with her knife before he can raise the alarm. After showing some trouble due to killing a probable innocent, she resumes her sabotage and the fence is deactivated. The raptors cross it and see Claire entering the lodge. Near its entrance, she finds a sword hanging on the wall as a decorative element and noticing it's still sharp, she takes it along with its sheath and heads for the rooms. Behind her, the raptors open the door and silently enter in the lodge. In the hallway which leads to the rooms, Claire stays still when the raptors walk past her as they head to the rooms and grin as her audacious plan is working. Claire enters one of the rooms, raises her sword blade over a sleeping hunter and when the time comes, thrust it into his body. Meanwhile, the raptors open other doors and entering the rooms, they rush on the sleepers. Slaughter ensues and only those who locked up their doors have the time to wake up, grab a weapon and fight for their very survival. Some of the lodge's occupants offer some resistance in the lounge but there, Claire activates the sonic weapon she stole and an ear-piercing sharp sound comes from it. While the raptors back off behind her, their common enemies kneel and scream in pain and Claire (who put on some earplug) slashes their throats, deactivate the weapon, and let the raptors tear the hunters alive while she raids some items (stuff like snacks, water, a first-aid kit, a map...) and leave, disappearing in the woods.
A bit later, she finds a small cave whose entrance is high from the ground and rest in it, sleeping until mid-morning.
The mountain's pass
At the end of their night-long ascent, the grey guards arrive in a pass/cave where they found human bones, which they presume to be those of the AISI's spy Viscontini told them about, and the remains of a Biosyn drone. Soon after, they are attacked by the guardian animal(s) the corporation left there to kill any trespasser coming from that direction. (I haven't chosen any species yet). They manage to defeat it (or them) and dawn break out as they arrive at a vista point which overlooks the valley. The grey guards observe it, the eyes of Cesare stop on the Citadel for a moment, and they retreat back inside the mountain to rest a few hours before descending into the valley. They send a message to Vuillier and Viscontini, telling them that they're inside the Sanctuary.
Traces of a slaughter
During their early morning patrol, a security team discovers that a massacre occurred during the night in the Hunting Lodge. They find clues indicating that someone helped the raptors and participated in the killings. The control room check the Lodge CCTV footage and fear spreads like wildfire among the staff when they discover the culprit is a sinister-looking black-clad hooded woman. Seeing that one of the figure's hand is a prosthesis and that the other wear a silver ring with a red gem, they realize it's Claire and Dodgson pretty much start to crap his pants (partly because one of the hunters was a very wealthy and powerful foreign client whose disappearance won't go unnoticed). Since she made it out alive from the plane's crash, Dodgson fears that the other WDMC agents might have too. When asked about the slaughter itself, Dodgson orders his staff to cover it up for the moment, as he don't want to worry the board of directors who are set to arrive later that day for a big event he planned in the evening.
Theo's return
Theo returns to Auronzo and Wu, who just learned about Claire's presence in the valley, tells him that they must get Maisie out of the facility as soon as possible since disaster tends to follow Claire like a shadow.
Taking the gloves off
However, Maisie has meanwhile discovered that the videos were another lie, by recognizing one of the scientists from the video, who also work at the Citadel (and who didn't aged, even though the adult Charlotte's video was supposed to be taken fourteen years ago). Aware that the gentle method is no longer considerable, Dodgson decides to use the hard one and Doctor Lesser locks Maisie in a cell within her lab, to which Wu can't access. Lesser reveal that it wasn't Wu who told Dodgson that she was a clone but the spy he has among Lockwood Manor's employees, and that the only true part in the video was the one about the genetic disease: Charlotte did had it, just like her mother Elizabeth before that (she died in 1993 and it was because of her Lockwood and Hammond fell out), and had the car accident which took her life didn't happened, the disease would have killed her a few years later. As he wanted Maisie to have a long life, Benjamin Lockwood asked the scientists he hired (there is a whole subplot about what they became in TRQ) to cure it and they did find a way. As the scientists' notes were accidently destroyed, the solution is now within Maisie's body, and Dodgson wants it so he can put new drugs on the market.
Before it's too late, Wu and Theo, with Ramsay's help, start organizing Maisie's evasion. The geneticist mentions a secret trail from WWI in the northeastern mountains: It's their escape route. He then heads for his lab, planning something else.
Tracking Claire
Curious about Biosyn's movements around the Hunting Lodge, Owen, Dougal and Kayla investigate it after the departure of the security troops. They discover evidence of Claire's passage and Owen tries to follow her fiancée's tracks. Kayla and/or Dougal make comments about the slaughter of the hunters.
Bigelow's last chance
Isaac Gibbon gives Jessica Bigelow a new mission: Go to Auronzo and ensure the evacuation of Lewis Dodgson and Biosyn's most important research. The agent ask her boss why and he said that he just received news that Biosyn is compromised. He also precise that it's her last chance after the Malta fiasco. Bigelow leave her safe house in central Italy and goes north.
Shady preparations
Continuing south, Owen, Dougal and Kayla see mercenaries positioning some sort of moveable antenna on a ridge which overlooks the road which connects the Citadel to the valley's northern continue, as finding Claire and entering the Citadel is more urgent.
The gathering of the clouds
One of the control room's employees ask Dodgson to come. He shows him footage from the Biosyn lands's southern gate, near the employee village.
Before the gate, a group of Carabinieri stand, showing to the guards and the security cameras a search warrant: The government finally decided to act against Biosyn. But Dodgson refuses to open the gates for the Carabinieri and orders the mercenaries who arrived during the night to intimidate them. The Carabinieri move away from the gate, with their leader warning against the consequences of such an action. At a respectable distance from the gate, Vuillier, Viscontini and Nyamu watched the scene. Soon, other groups of Carabinieri are deployed along the other entrances to Biosyn's lands. The siege of Auronzo has started.
Hearing about the siege's situation, some employees leave their post and head for the metro (which connects the Citadel to the village. Another loop also connects the Citadel to the various facilities across the Sanctuary, including the seven towers and the dam), in order to go to the village and then hoping to be able to leave Biosyn's lands before things starts to get too ugly but Dodgson's has the metro's station locked and commands them to go back to their posts. Seeing their CEO starting to act like Hitler in his bunker, they are afraid.
​
End of Act III.
See you tomorrow for Act IV

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Apartment 1 PROS: - $1200/month (including utilities!!) - Newly renovated, privately owned by kind landlord - 8 min drive to work - Walking distance to one of my favorite neighborhoods in my city - People have told me that the immediate surrounding area is relatively safe in the daytime
Apartment 1 CONS: - Very little natural light (one north-facing window in the entire apartment) - Private lot parking in the back (car break-ins are unfortunately getting more and more common in my city) - Porch pirates - Surrounding areas can be a little unsafe at night
——
Apartment 2 PROS: - Plenty of natural sunlight (huge east facing windows) - 5 min drive/15 min walk to work - Secure building (safety) - Secure garage parking - Amenities (gym, nice rooftop, etc.) - Close to many fun areas in my city
Apartment 2 CONS: - ~$1650/month (including utilities)
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Some other things that may be worth noting: - I may be getting a raise at the end of this year. - My long term plan is to move back home and live with parents again at the end of summer 2024 to save money. Ideally, I would be doing that now but I’m waiting to be approved to work remotely.

​
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I have this 11 year old dog named chappies, little cranky dog getting in her age. Earlier today we let her out in the front to do her business and all of a sudden I heard her yelping outside so I ran out and found their dog pinning chappies down hard so I went up kicking without thinking. Note: there’s another dog of the same breed but the difference is the darker shading in his coat and his friendliness with people and other neighbors dogs. The dog in question has a lighter shade in coating and a darker face and is a female. The dog I kicked in the ass with my steel toe boot was the one with the lighter coat. As the police arrived they were closing their garage door which they have it open all the time which is not unusual for them. They denied it was their dog that bit chappies and blamed it on the stray instead. I’ve tried catching the stray but with no such luck. They hid the dog in their backyard where the owner lives.

I’m [23] currently deciding between two different apartments right now and seriously cannot decide. I would love to live below my means and save money, but safety is incredibly important to me as well (especially as a single, young woman). I make about $4,200 a month after taxes and 401k and insurance contributions, etc (ugh, taxes). I also paid a bit more than I would have liked on housing this past year (which I’m beating myself up for), so I’m definitely looking to save as much as I can on living expenses on my new apartment.
Apartment 1 PROS: - $1200/month (including utilities!!) - Newly renovated, privately owned by kind landlord - 8 min drive to work - Walking distance to one of my favorite neighborhoods in my city - People have told me that the immediate surrounding area is relatively safe in the daytime
Apartment 1 CONS: - Very little natural light (one north-facing window in the entire apartment) - Private lot parking in the back (car break-ins are unfortunately getting more and more common in my city) - Porch pirates - Surrounding areas can be a little unsafe at night
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Apartment 2 PROS: - Plenty of natural sunlight (huge east facing windows) - 5 min drive/15 min walk to work - Secure building (safety) - Secure garage parking - Amenities (gym, nice rooftop, etc.) - Close to many fun areas in my city
Apartment 2 CONS: - ~$1650/month (including utilities)
Based on my income and my desire to save as much money as I can, I think I know the answer to this question but I’m curious to hear y’all’s thoughts as well. Thank you in advance!
Some other things that may be worth noting: - I may be getting a raise at the end of this year. - My long term plan is to move back home and live with parents again at the end of summer 2024 to save money. Ideally, I would be doing that now but I’m waiting to be approved to work remotely.

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“Mother……Father……Brothers……Sisters……..Why must you have to go so soon?” said a voice that sounded like Azazel. Darkness falls around the world. A person can be seen fallen into the dark void. It was Azazel who was falling into the void. His eyes were a dark golden and were crack as if his eyes were actually made of glass all along. “Why……..Did it have to be them? Why must they be chosen for death?” said Azazel. Deep dark thoughts and visions start to root into Azazel. Visions that blame him for his family death. Thoughts that show him how bad of a brother he is and he shouldn't have been born. All of these not only made Azazel eyes crack more but a seed of hate was planted into Azazel. For once this seed blooms into a hatred flower Azazel would become full of nothing but hate for himself. And will devour Azazel into darkness. Hours later after Azazel returned home the sun came into being. The golden sun of Surya shines down on the land of gold making it light up like a star in the night sky.The sun shines down on that once stood Azazel village was now but ash and dust. There was no one left or remains of the village. It was as if Shiva came and punished the entire village for upsetting him. Azazel laid in the middle of the village asleep from trying to put the fire out in the village. Everyone he knew was gone. All his friends and family were gone. But only one person came to his mind out of all everyone, was his dear older sister Seraphina was she safe? Is she alive? He knew that the tree was a far walk from the village meaning she could be alive somewhere. All he needed to do was awaken and open his eyes. The sun beams down on Azazel who was still asleep. A couple hours later Azazel quickly awoke and quickly breaths in and out. It seemed he had a nightmare about something involving his family. As he continued to take deep breaths in and out something was strange about Azazel after that strange nightmare. Azazel. He knew the sun was out because he felt the warmth on his skin but why couldn't he see it? He slowly felt around and feels the hard ground. "Why can I not see? Am I dead? Is this my punishment from the gods?" said Azaze not knowing he had gone blind. "Shaddap" said a voice. Standing not to far away from Azazell was a man carrying a bowl of sweets. He had a heavenly aura around him. This man was no one than the honorable Buddha. He had been watching Azazel from sometime now ever since he came to that tree last night. He could feel the seed planted into Angel and see the damage it could do if fully bloom. "What? Who said that? Gods is that you? Have you come to reunite me with my family in the stars?" said Azazel. Buddha continues to much on his candies. He looks on the ground and see a small rock. He kick it gently at Azazel. The rock hit Angel straight at his forehead. "Ow! What the hell that for?" said Azazel looking at the direction the rock hit him from. "Maybe if I hit you with something you'll finally shut up about that nonsense you are spilling. And look at that it works." said Buddha before stuffing his face again with candy. "Nonsense?" said Azazel confused. "Yes, nonsense. All this talk about death and being reunited with your loved ones. And the gods coming for you is all but silly. Your not dead pal. No gods are here to take you or punish you. You are alive fully Azazel. This is no dream or nightmare but real life." said Buddha. Azazel slowly begins to tear up before letting out a golden shower of tears. Buddha's words had struck him like a knife. "I DON'T DESERVE TO BE ALIVE! MY FAMILY DOES! THEIR DEATH IS ALL MY FAULT! IF ONLY I WAS THERE TO PROTECT THEM FROM THE DANGER OR WHOEVER CAUSE THIS! THEY WOULD BE ALIVE! I'M A HORRIBLE BROTHER! I DESERVE NOTHING BUT DEATH!" said Azazel before looking down and crying more tears. The seed started to slowly sprout in Azazel. Buddha sighs before frowning. Lotus appears in his eyes. "You're still blind. Maybe it's time you open your eyes" said Buddha before the lotus changed position. Suddenly a magic blindfold appears and starts to slowly wrap around Azazel's head covering his eyes. Azazel felt the soft fabric of the blindfold and how comfortable it felt. Suddenly his vision came to him again. "I can see again!" said Azazel. He slowly looks up to see Buddha. "Are you a God? You must be one…..You know my name even though I never told you." Buddha chuckles and smirks. He then pointed to himself while his power and glowing eyes glances down on Azazel. "I am the honored one! Throughout Heaven and Earth the only one who can move me, IS ME! I am the Buddha!" said Buddha. Azazel quickly bowed before Buddha. "Thank you for your help, Lord Buddha! I am not worthy of your present!" said Azazel. "Shaddap. There's no need for that, praising me stuff kid." said Buddha as he went back to munching on candy. Azazel looks up confusingly at Buddha. "Why?" said Azazel. "Because I said so. Now I've been watching you kid for quite some time now. You're a special one you know. You're just like me kid except you lack love for yourself and other things. Azazel, your family loves you no matter what happens. They would put you first before themselves because they love you. So don't beat yourself up and blame yourself for their demise. Seraphina would want you to be alive more than ever kid." said Buddha. Azazel looks up at Buddha as he is reminded of his beloved sister. "Seraphina……..I'll live for you! NO ALL OF THEM! I'LL BECOME THE SHIELD OF HUMANITY! THAT WAY I'LL PROTECT EVERYONE FROM HARM!" said Azazel trying to hold back his tears. Buddha smiles as he reaches out his hand for Azazel. "If you wish to be the shield of man. Then you must reach new heights. Would you like to reach enlightenment with me Azazel?" Azazel slowly took Buddha's hand. "Yes…..For Seraphina."
Dust started to settle around the wall. Angel slowly started to get up. Everyone on the humanity side was shocked to see what had happened. Nakara on the other hand had heart eyes and started to simp harder for Buddha. The thought of just two Buddhas made her heart beat faster than ever. "GO MY LORDS! DESTROY THAT ANGEL!" said Nakara. North shakes his head in belief. "Simps these days…." said North. The Gods cheer for Buddha though Buddha paid no attention to them. The second Buddha also paid them no attention. Shiva was starting to get pumped up just watching the battle between Buddha and Angel. "There…..There.....There TWO OF THEM?" said Ares surprisingly "It would seem so. So I guess the legends are true." said Hermes. Ares quickly grabs Hermes and shakes him. "LEGEND? WHAT LEGEND? TELL ME THE LEGEND HERMES!" said Ares. "Okay! Okay! Just put me down and I'll tell you!" said Hermes. Solid pay no attention to him. He was more interested in the fight. Ares puts Hermes down and apologizes for shaking Hermes. Hermes quickly dust off his attire. "Now where was I? Ah yes. There is a legend or myth that there is more than one Buddha in this world. But no one has ever seen more than our beloved Buddha friend until now. I guess the myth is true but there can only be one true Buddha out there." said Hermes. Ares couldn't believe it. "Indeed, there can only be one in this world. There must always be an original to be able to make copies of it. Though I wonder how many there are?" said Solid. Ares chuckles. "Can't be more than 5 of them. Then they'll eat up all the sweets in the world. Right Zeus?" said Ares chuckling. Zeus didn't say a word or a peep because he was no longer in the room with them. "He left a while ago. Probably for some important business." said Solid. Angel took some damage but not severe enough to put him down. Blood was leaking from his head. Slowly Angel starts to untie his blindfold that was soaked in blood from Angel's blood. "No need for this anymore. It's time I fight with everything I got!" said Angel. Both Buddhas smile at the words that came out of Angel's mouth. Angel took off the blindfold and dropped it on the ground. He picks up his swords and opens his eyes. "As the shield of humanity! I will never break!" said Angel, his eyes shining like gold. He rushed at the Buddhas. "ANGEL IS BACK ON THE ATTACK! WHAT DOES THE SHIELD OF HUMANITY PLAN TO DO?" said Heimdall. Buddha smiles knowing Angel is improving. The second Buddha summons a Six Realms Staff. Both Buddha rushes at Angel. “No way that fool can take on two GODS!” said someone from the God side. Prep watches in disgust. “That Buddha shouldn’t be fighting. That traitor! I hope after this round I can finally end him myself.” said Prep as he continued watching the battle from a corridor window. "Seems like I'm not the only one who wishes to get back at Buddha. Though you'll have to get in line pal." said a voice before chuckling. A muscular creature was walking up to prep. The creature had a long tail and brown hair covering him everywhere. He was wearing a gold chest plate over a yellow shirt, a gold coattail with red and turquoise trim, maroon pants, a red sash belt, and black boots with gold soles. He also was wearing a red two-piece cape and a small gold headdress with two long red feathers. His eyes were bright blood red as well. He seemed to be carrying a red staff. This creature was no one else than the Great MONKEY KING! Sun Wukong(Chinese). Sun Wukong smiles as he was in the presence of the strongest titan in all of Greek. He had heard many stories and poems about Prep. Just the thought of going toe to toe with Prep excited him. Angel swords and Buddha halberd/staff clash with each other causing the dust to slowly build up. "Wukong. What is it that you want? So I can be at peace." said Prep, not taking his eyes off the fight. Wukong laughed. "Why so serious? Lord of Titans….I think we both know what I'm here for." said Wukong as eyes glow with Wukong's true ambitions. “If it’s to rumble I am too far above your league. Your immortality is nothing but a fable here alongside these walls. You're nothing but a warrior of hair.” said Prep. Wukong laughed, before getting serious. “You're funny, you know that Prep? Even if my immortality doesn’t work here I’m still a fierce fighter. The Great Monkey King won't go down easily." said Wukong. Angel and the Buddha were in a stalemate. Angel and the Buddhas smile before they swing again over and over. The speed of each swing started to increase over time. "Whatever….." said Prep. Wukong slowly walked past Prep and stopped before going down the corridor. His eyes were glowing bloody red. He turned his head a little so that one of his eyes looked dead at Prep "A little word of advice my titan friend. Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer. This tournament of Gods and Redditors has only just begun……….." said Wukong before walking away. Prep was silent as he could feel the darkness fill back up the corridor. Meanwhile, in the VIP for Humanity. Tempest and Brundhilde were watching the fight. “I wonder how long will that Ice last?” said Tempest. “Hm? The ice?” said Brunhilde. Tempest was watching Angel's swords more closely. “Yes, the ice. Ice is a strong material but only when it's frozen solid but after a while it becomes nothing but useless. Especially in the heat." said Tempest. Brunhilde looks at the intense swings Angel was doing. The ice though made from the heavens was slowly starting to melt as the stalemate continued to happen. Angel would soon have to change weapons or else he would be defeated. But no matter when an opportunity to strike seems possible the second Buddha covers it. Angel would have to take care of the clone first before taking on Buddha. "Come on Buddha! Kill that little human!" said someone on the God's side. Suddenly something caught Tempest's eyes. Little lotus starts to form in Angel's eyes. "Could……could he be able to see the future through his own eyes?" said Tempest. "Possible. He was taught under THE BUDDHA after all." said Brunhilde. Tempest wishes he fought the gods. Just from watching his heart pumps with excitement alone though his face never changes from his serious expression. "ANGEL SWORDS HAVE MELTED AWAY! WHAT WILL ANGEL DO NOW?" said Hemdaill. Tempest looked back at Angel to see if it was true only to see that it was. The handles of the ice swords were on the ground but there was something else on the ground as well. It was………. BLOOD! But whose blood was it? Everyone was shocked and quit to see who it belonged to. It was no one else than Angel! He used his wing to block the blows from the Buddha but sadly it came at a price. Angel felt horrifying pain from the attack. "BUDDHA ATTACK HAS CONNECTED BUT ANGEL BLOCKED IT WITH HIS WING AT THE LAST SECOND!" said Hemdiall. "Guess you are done truly warming up kid?" said both Buddhas smiling. Angel slowly looks up and opens his eyes. There was lotus in his eyes as well glowing. "Yes! Thank you for the warm-up. Now let's truly dance!" said Angel, smiling.
The end

Cover Art <<Previous Start Next >>
Early the next morning, as the sun was just cresting the horizon, Bellona was putting the last of her gear onto a merchant wagon. With the change in plans for several routes that came with the news of the new dungeon came an opportunity to start the first part of her route with some company. For the first leg, she’d be accompanying a caravan, then going by horse alone for the second leg, before going on foot for the last leg. It made her logistics easier, she didn’t have to worry about feed for the horse for most of it.
The champion of Amirume went over her mental checklist one more time as she adjusted the position of her stuff, making everything as neat as possible. All her heavy armor was in the chest, until she was setting out on the last leg there was little reason to wear more than a chain shirt. There was little chance of danger on the main roads, so her axe she’d keep at her side and her shield on the horse. Even when traveling solo, it would be easier on the beast to distribute the weight of her armor rather than have her entire armored mass centered on its back.
For the last leg, when the horse would be left behind, she’d wear her full kit. If you were going to be carrying the weight anyway, there was no better distribution than to wear it. That would also be the section where she’d be traveling up mountain paths, and she didn’t look forward to it. She’d worn her armor for days while moving and fighting across relatively flat land before, but days of going up a mountain in armor were going to be quite different. Fortunately, it was early summer, so the mountains wouldn’t be too cold on her way up.
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After Moriko had reached the monastery, Mordecai and Kazue had turned their attention back inward, for it was time to build. As usual, Kazue went first. With her plans finalized, the walls of the cavern on the fifth floor shifted and formed tiers, enabling ever-higher placement of mushroom buildings, and larger structures that could spread their weight on supports of multiple heights.
This was a large village of artisans, crafters, farmers, athletes, entertainers, writers, philosophers, and similar professions. She expanded on her tokens idea, to pass through the gate required five tokens, but the laganthros were free to hand tokens to one, some, all, or none of a party’s members as they saw fit, and the tokens would attune themselves to those who they were presented to. She also borrowed from Mordecai’s double-door concept: the first door could be opened by anyone who had five tokens, the second door would open only if the first door was closed and everyone inside the corridor had five tokens, and the first door also can’t be opened unless the second door is closed.
In addition to the more straightforward challenges she’d been thinking of previously, she had developed some slightly more complicated quests. Many professions use heat, so a challenge could start with “My fire drake wandered off and I can’t find him!”, leading to tracking down the drake, then figuring out the sub-challenge (it might be somewhere hard to access, or be distracted by a love interest, or maybe it found a shiny to large for it to carry but won’t let it go and hisses at any one who gets close, etc), solving the issue, and then they might still need to persuade the drake to come home.
There were many variations of ‘I need a thing’ that could be made into challenges, and the first obstacle was unstated: The inhabitants could pick the challenge, and could make it harder. If they didn’t like you, it would probably be long and involved, and wind up getting dirty, wet, and cold. So being at least reasonably polite made everything much easier. It wasn’t terribly likely that this would be an issue by the time someone got this far, but Kazue had decided that she was going to include variability in all her future challenges that made things easier for people who were being nice.
Now, people needed proper settings for them to venture into, so she spun off side caves of differing layouts and environments; some were jagged rifts that required navigating a lot of vertical terrain, some were wide with one or more streams or small ponds, others saw a return of crystal outcroppings, and a few were mildly caustic with acidic, alkaline, or salty environments. Nothing too dangerous of course, unless one was exceptionally foolish.
With many of the available challenges being at least partly physical, she started arranging for appropriate rewards as well. Mordecai had made sure she now knew how to craft some of the common physical enchantment items and how to alter their form and fine-tune their secondary abilities. A belt that could let someone carry more weight, boots that made you a little faster or made your steps quieter, a cape that could keep you warm or could help you blend into the background, and many other possibilities.
Not that she neglected the mental side either: glasses that could help decipher an unknown language, a pen that always wrote smoothly and without smearing and with unlimited ink of your choice, crafting tools that enhanced the product you made, and several other items of specialized use were all available rewards. She wanted the rewards here to be more focused on helping people better their skills, rather than rewarding them with direct knowledge as the library did.
Of course, sometimes people would be coming through who knew more than anyone in the dungeon did on a topic. Their challenge would be to teach, and rewards would generally be in raw materials unless there was other information they wanted.
She did have to be careful just how generous she was though. From dawn to dawn, there was a limit to how much the dungeon could create that could be claimed as loot, and they could only ‘stockpile’ for values that had already been won or that they already owed as part of a trade agreement. Their inhabitants were not so limited, but only if they worked with ‘real’ materials rather than ones created directly through dungeon mana, and it took a fair amount of time and effort to craft even a minor enchanted item the proper way. So unless there was a good cause, the items the inhabitants crafted were their own to use or to trade as they saw fit.
When Kazue was done she looked over the town to make sure she was satisfied with her work. There were towering mushroom spires, thick-walled squat mushroom buildings, long buildings made from many mushrooms grown together, and every other combination that had been asked for that she could make work. A lot of them were ‘dummies’ at the moment with no roads to reach them or doors to enter them, but she’d change that as the population grew. She even had a few unoccupied buildings growing from the ceiling, which were left available to be claimed by any inhabitants that could make their way to them. A little challenge and reward set up for her own people, figuring out how to make flying magic items or systems.
Creating the lighting had been one of her favorite parts. There had been a few concepts she’d considered, such as just making every mushroom and fungal surface glow slightly to create a very even and ‘sourceless’ lighting, but in the end, she went for something a bit more flavorful. The underside of the mushroom caps glowed to illuminate the area around their base while large glowing ‘spores’ floated overhead to cast a dimmer radiance to the general area, and all the paths were marked with tiny little puffballs that would collapse in a sudden burst of glowing dust spores if disturbed, most likely coating whoever messed with them and leaving a glowing residue that would smear the more you tried to rub it off.
All of the fungal-based light was in a soft blue/green color, but in addition to the ‘natural’ lighting, the inhabitants had access to fire and normal light spells, making the interior of the buildings look warm and inviting against the backdrop of perpetual twilight outside. Overall she rather enjoyed the contrast of slightly spooky exterior lighting and warm, inviting interior lighting.
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They’d had plenty of time to build up lots of energy since Kazue’s mother had come through, so technically Mordecai could have built up his side at the same time. But he felt it was best to wait until she finished in case there were any surprises. The upside-down houses on the ceiling had not been in their original ideas for example, though in this case, they didn’t cost a significant amount more. They did, however, give him an idea to add later.
For now he focused on his original plan. At the entrance to the fifth floor, visitors would find themselves entering a wide campsite. There was no equipment, but the space was obviously cleared with a small, 2-foot tall ‘fence’ of piled stones and a fire pit in the center. There was also a plaque that read:

This area is neutral territory for the two warring factions beyond, but animals and monsters do not know such distinctions. Proceed at your own time and in your own way, there is no one path or one method to success. 

Combat challenges were fun and straightforward, but even the library was only a warm-up. Beyond the cleared campsite stretched a dimly lit mushroom and fungus forest that gave away nothing of what lay in wait for brave adventurers to face. Or at least would, when he was done.
Mordecai started with the terrain. The campsite was going to be slightly disadvantageous in that it was at the bottom of a shallow depression. All ways out were uphill, making it impossible to see most of the cavern from here even without the addition of a forest. From there he varied the terrain, creating twisting valleys, solo and clumped hills, the occasional small ravine, and very few areas of simple, flat land. If one tried hard enough, one could even find thin trails running along the walls of the cavern, but those were carefully placed and angled to be difficult to spot from below. Once done with the layout, he created a few springs to become the heads of several streams that eventually combined into a river that flowed into the boss chamber at the end of the cavern.
Back toward the entrance, he also introduced a small, natural ‘alcove’ with three waterfalls coming down along the inner curve of the wall into a small pool, which in turn started its own stream. These three waterfalls were connected back to the warren’s water network, making them part of the ecology of the dungeon. It was also time to add a layer of complexity: rather than just having exclusive pathways for different water uses, he started using nature’s filters of rock, soil, and sand to keep most of the impurities flowing into the sewers, and then let water seepage work its way into various underground ponds, which in turn became the sources for further streams. He made sure the paths alternated going into airless pockets and into caverns that were half-air and had light sources embedded in the ceiling to let photosynthesis take place. All natural purification. This was the source of the water for these three waterfalls and introduced the preexisting biome into this floor.
Now he looked at his entire catalog of available mosses, lichens, and fungi to select the best ground cover options, then he carpeted the entire floor in a mixture of this ‘grass’. Not entirely unaltered, Mordecai did fortify them to make them more resistant to being walked on and generally tougher, but for the most part he left them alone in their design. He was also doing a wild-seeding mix, to let them all compete and find their preferred environments. And there were plenty available, every single visitor had brought in various spores and tiny seeds that most humanoids never realized were clinging to them and shedding from their skin at all times.
He’d also been very considerate of Kazue’s origins. While she knew how to zoom in on material structures, he’d carefully avoided showing her how that technique could be used to examine all the tiny critters that lived on people all the time. Mordecai had found out a long time ago that most people did not want to know about them. It did however provide a source for the next layer of this floor’s ecology, filling all the undergrowth with tiny creatures invisible to most people. Once Mordecai was satisfied that everything had reached a self-sustaining state, it was time for the ‘trees’ of this forest.
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My Patreon if you want to support me directly.
Also to be found on Royal Road.
$3 Patreon: Early chapters, lore excerpts $5 Patreon: Short Stories $10 Patreon: New stories not published anywhere else (Until after I finish this story at least)

Lunar Near Year: OxGlittering Noel BowsBad Kitty HeadphonesSoft Plush AntlersChristmas Celebration Headband2022 Celebration HeadbandVegan Dove FascinatorSpring HornsLucky HeadbandSpinning Web BoppersBat TophatJack-O-Lantern BoppersVampires HeirCute Kitty EarsSkull CrownRainbow Diamonds EarringsSparkly Christmas Bell EarringsFur CollarSantas BeardCute Carrot NoseFluttering Butterfly SleevesHeart Necklace (Left)Over The Rainbow SleevesFashionable Round FramesChocolate Lucky CoinLucky Bow PinDangly Rainbow EarringsRainbow VisionBat EarringsSupernatural Hoop EarringsIced Ginger Bread EarringsReindeer CrossbodyLeprechaun BeltMagical Fairy LightsFather Christmas Present BagPolar Cutie Leg WarmersVersailes Snow Powder CoatMix Matched Stripe SocksCherry Blossom BodiceTreasure SatchelMerry Sparkly DressGood Tidings Shawl CapePresent DisguiseWarm Glittering CLoakCandy Cane SwordsCherry Blossom BodiceAdorable Lace Up Doll BootsThigh High Princess Ice BootsGlowing Pumpkin WandGlittering Jelly Platforms
Sorry if it looks messy :')Most of these items are 3k, but I don't mind if you want to nyp instead!