Taking csgo skins mainly (knives, gloves, aks, m4s, awps and so on). Anything as long as offer is good
I don't update this list everyday, so I have many items which aren't listed here. Check if something interests you! Also, some of the items are on trade hold, for release date you can add me or check by yourself.
TRADE LINK: https://steamcommunity.com/tradeoffenew/?partner=35769104&token=J30wyEpy
Add me to talk here: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197996034832
Keys from these buy outs aren't TF2 keys. I don't take Hydra keys either.
Buy outs are in keys for the sake of having a buy out, I trade for skins mainly.
Gloves/wraps:
Gloves Slingshot FT 0.36 float - B/O 200 keys
Gloves Amphibious WW 0.42 float - B/O 170 keys
Gloves Omega FT 0.33 float - B/O 160 keys
Gloves Snow Leopard FT 0.36 float - B/O 150 keys
Gloves Snow Leopard FT 0.37 float - B/O 150 keys
Gloves Tiger Strike FT 0.32 float - B/O 140 keys
Gloves Smoke Out MW 0.14 float - B/O 120 keys
Gloves King Snake FT 0.36 float - B/o 120 keys
Gloves Tiger Strike WW 0.44 float - B/O 100 keys
Gloves Field Agent FT 0.36 float - B/O 85 keys
Gloves Bronze Morph MW 0.14 float - B/O 75 keys
Gloves Cool Mint FT 0.36 float - B/O 75 keys
Gloves Arid BS 0.64 float - B/O 72 keys
Gloves Emerald Web BS 0.56 float - B/O 71 keys
Gloves Diamondback MW 0.13 float - B/O 68 keys
Gloves POW WW 0.38 float - B/O 66 keys
Wraps Caution FT 0.31 float - B/O 59 keys
Gloves Overtake MW 0.14 float - B/O 59 keys
Gloves King Snake BS 0.59 float - B/O 58 keys
Wraps Caution WW 0.38 float - B/O 50 keys
Wraps Overprint WW 0.43 float - B/O 50 keys
Gloves Big Game BS 0.69 float - B/O 47 keys
Gloves Polygon FT 0.18 float - B/O 50 keys
Gloves Blood Pressure FT 0.32 float - B/O 43 keys
Gloves Blood Pressure FT 0.35 float - B/O 43 keys
Gloves Blood Pressure FT 0.36 float - B/O 43 keys
Gloves Finish Line FT 0.22 float - B/O 50 keys
Gloves Finish Line FT 0.32 float - B/O 42 keys
Gloves Nocts BS 0.62 float - B/O 42 keys
Gloves Boom FT 0.37 float - B/O 38 keys
Gloves Lunar Weave FT 0.36 float - B/O 36 keys
Gloves Finish Line WW 0.41 float - B/O 36 keys
Gloves Diamondback FT 0.37 float - B/O 35 keys
Gloves Field Agent BS 0.77 float - B/O 34 keys
Wraps Overprint BS 0.75 float - B/O 34 keys
Gloves Marble Fade BS 0.57 float - B/O 33 keys
Gloves Case Hardened MW 0.12 float - B/O 33 keys
Gloves Mogul BS 0.60 float - B/O 33 keys
Gloves Cool Mint BS 0.63 float - B/O 31 keys
Gloves Bronze Morph BS 0.61 float - B/O 30 keys
Gloves Jade FT 0.23 float - B/O 35 keys
Gloves Forest Ddpat FT 0.35 float - B/O 26 keys
Wraps Duct Tape MW 0.12 float - B/O 25 keys
Gloves Charred FT 0.21 float - B/O 30 keys
Gloves Overtake FT 0.16 float - B/O 30 keys
Gloves Jaguar Queen FT 0.37 float - B/O 22 keys
Gloves Rezan FT 0.16 float - B/O 30 keys
Gloves Rezan FT 0.28 float - B/O 21 keys
Gloves Yellow-banded FT 0.30 float - B/O 21 keys
Gloves Diamondback BS 0.58 float - B/O 20 keys
Wraps Arboreal FT 0.31 float - B/O 20 keys
Gloves Snakebite FT 0.16 float - B/O 25 keys
Gloves Blood Pressure BS 0.74 float - B/O 19 keys
Gloves Forest Ddpat BS 0.46 float - B/o 19 keys
Gloves Convoy WW 0.44 float - B/o 19 keys
Gloves Case Hardened FT 0.15 float - B/O 23 keys
Gloves 3rd Company FT 0.36 float - B/O 17 keys
Goves Buckshot FT 0.15 float - B/O 20 keys
Gloves Unhinged FT 0.24 float - B/O 17 keys
Gloves Overtake BS 0.45 float - B/O 17 keys
Gloves 3rd Company FT 0.38 float - B/O 16 keys
Wraps Constrictor FT 0.31 float - B/O 16 keys
Gloves Buckshot WW 0.40 float - B/O 16 keys
Wraps Desert Shamagh FT 0.35 float - B/o 16 keys
Wraps Constrictor WW 0.38 float - B/O 16 keys
Gloves Transport BS 0.60 float - B/O 15 keys
Gloves Rezan BS 0.74 float - B/O 15 keys
Gloves Yellow-banded BS 0.63 float - B/o 15 keys
Gloves Guerrilla BS 0.53 float - B/o 15 keys
Gloves Buckshot BS 0.53 float - B/O 15 keys
Wraps Desert Shamagh WW 0.41 float - B/O 15 keys
Gloves Case Hardened BS 0.53 float - B/O 15 keys
Gloves Emerald FT 0.36 float - B/O 15 keys
Wraps Constrictor BS 0.74 float - B/O 15 keys
Gloves Needle Point FT 0.36 float - B/O 14 keys
Gloves Rattler FT 0.35 float - B/O 13 keys
Gloves Mangrove FT 0.25 float - B/O 12 keys
Gloves Racing Green FT 0.30 float - B/O 11 keys
Knives and high tier items:
Talon Black Pearl MW 0.07 float - B/O 600 keys
Karambit Autotronic MW 0.13 float - B/O 350 keys
Nomad Fade MW ST 99% 0.07 float - B/O 400 keys
M9 Tiger Tooth FN 0.003 float - B/O 300 keys
M9 Tiger Tooth FN 0.01 float - B/O 270 keys
Daggers Sapphire FN ST 0.004 float - B/O 230 keys
Karambit Black Laminate FT 0.29 float - B/O 210 keys
M9 Black Laminate MW 0.11 float - B/O 200 keys
Talon Slaughter FN 0.03 float - B/O 200 keys
DEAGLE Blaze FN 0.01 float - B/O 170 keys
Flip Lore FN 0.05 float - B/O 170 keys
Butterfly Night FT 0.19 float - B/O 190 keys
Bayonet Tiger Tooth FN 0.02 float - B/O 160 keys
Flip Gamma Doppler FN P4 0.02 float - B/O 160 keys
Butterfly Stained BS 0.90 float - B/O 150 keys
M9 Freehand MW 0.11 float - B/O 150 keys
Flip Marble Fade FN 0.004 float - B/O 140 keys
Butterfly Forest Ddpat FT 0.16 float - B/o 140 keys
Flip Gamma Doppler FN P1 0.01 float - B/O 140 keys
Butterfly Safari Mesh FT 0.19 float - B/O 140 keys
Flip Doppler FN P2 0.03 float - B/O 140 keys
Karambit Ultraviolet BS 0.51 float - B/o 140 keys
Bayonet Lore FT 0.25 float - B/O 140 keys
Ursus Doppler FN P4 0.06 float - B/O 140 keys
Nomad Vanilla - B/O 130 keys
M9 Damascus Steel FT 0.20 float - B/O 130 keys
AK Head Shot FN ST 0.05 float - B/o 130 keys
M9 Blue Steel BS 0.99 float - B/O 150 keys
Stiletto Tiger Tooth FN 0.006 float - B/O 130 keys
Huntsman Fade FN 0.03 float - B/O 130 keys
Flip Tiger Tooth FN 0.03 float - B/O 120 keys
Skeleton Stained FT 0.23 float - B/O 120 keys
Ursus Crimson Web MW 0.12 float - B/O 120 keys
Ursus Doppler FN P1 0.03 float - B/o 120 keys
Flip Vanilla - B/O 120 keys
Stiletto Vanilla - B/O 120 keys
Huntsman Gamma Doppler FN ST 0.02 float - B/O 120 keys
M9 Stained Ft 0.28 float - B/O 110 keys
Karambit Forest Ddpat FT 0.36 float - B/O 110 keys
Flip Doppler FN 0.01 float - B/O 110 keys
M9 Rust Coat BS 0.66 float - B/O 110 keys
M9 Night BS 0.49 float - B/O 110 keys
Ursus Tiger Tooth FN 0.008 float - B/O 110 keys
Bayonet Lore BS 0.62 float - B/O 100 keys
Flip Autotronic MW 0.14 float - B/O 100 keys
Skeleton Night FT ST 0.27 float - B/O 100 keys
M9 Urban Masked FT 0.28 float - B/O 100 keys
Bayonet Black Laminate MW 0.12 float - B/O 100 keys
Paracord Slaughter FN ST 0.03 float - B/O 90 keys
Flip Slaughter FT 0.23 float - B/O 90 keys
Huntsman Marble Fade FN 0.009 float - B/O 90 keys
Skeleton Stained BS 0.65 float - B/O 90 keys
Ursus Vanilla - B/O 85 keys
Gut Autotronic FN 0.05 float - B/O 84 keys
Bayonet Crimson Web FT 0.34 float - B/O 84 keys
Paracord Slaughter MW 0.10 float - B/O 83 keys
Bowie Marble Fade FN 0.01 float - B/O 82 keys
Bowie Marble Fade MW 0.07 float - B/O 82 keys
Bayonet Damascus Steel FT 0.22 float - B/O 82 keys
Bowie Doppler Fn P3 0.03 float - B/O 81 keys
Flip Autotronic FT 0.23 float - B/O 80 keys
Huntsman Tiger Tooth FN 0.02 float - B/O 75 keys
Talon Boreal MW 0.08 float - B/O 73 keys
Survival Vanilla - B/O 72 keys
Flip Ultraviolet MW 0.14 float - B/O 72 keys
Daggers Gamma Doppler FN P4 0.02 float - B/O 71 keys
Stiletto Damascus Steel FT 0.31 float - B/O 71 keys
Flip Bright Water FN 0.04 float - B/O 71 keys
Skeleton Safari Mesh FT 0.15 float - B/O 68 keys
Talon Safari Mesh MW 0.13 float - B/O 68 keys
Ursus Ultraviolet MW 0.13 float - B/O 67 keys
Bowie Tiger Tooth FN 0.02 float - B/O 67 keys
Paracord Crimson Web FT 0.15 float - B/O 80 keys
Classic Case Hardened MW 0.09 float - B/O 65 keys
Nomad Blue Steel BS 0.87 float - B/O 64 keys
Falchion Lore MW 0.09 float - B/O 61 keys
Gut Lore MW 0.12 float - B/O 60 keys
Paracord Forest Ddpat FN 0.06 float - B/O 57 keys
Bowie Case Hardened FT 0.18 float - B/O 57 keys
Gut Tiger Tooth MW 0.07 float - B/O 56 keys
Falchion Vanilla ST - B/O 55 keys
Ursus Damascus Steel FN 0.05 float - B/O 54 keys
Daggers Marble Fade FN 0.05 float - B/O 53 keys
Navaja Marble Fade FN ST 0.01 float - B/O 51 keys
Flip Night FT 0.23 float - B/O 51 keys
Gut Marble Fade FN 0.01 float - B/O 50 keys
Huntsman Black Laminate BS 0.80 float - B/O 50 keys
Falchion Lore Ft 0.24 float - B/O 50 keys
Gut Doppler FN P2 0.008 float - B/O 50 keys
Huntsman Freehand FN 0.06 float - B/O 49 keys
Huntsman Night MW 0.14 float - B/O 49 keys
Daggers Tiger Tooth FN 0.01 float - B/O 49 keys
Classic Blue Steel MW 0.12 float - B/O 48 keys
Ursus Ultraviolet FT 0.28 float - B/O 48 keys
Huntsman Crimson Web FT 0.31 float - B/O 48 keys
Huntsman Case Hardened WW 0.42 float - B/O 48 keys
Gut Doppler FN P4 0.02 float - B/O 48 keys
Ursus Damascus Steel MW 0.10 float - B/O 47 keys
Bowie Vanilla - B/O 47 keys
Daggers Lore MW 0.14 float - B/O 46 keys
Gut Tiger Tooth FN 0.03 float - B/O 46 keys
Daggers Vanilla - B/O 46 keys
Nomad Night FT 0.25 float - B/O 46 keys
Flip Rust Coat BS 0.63 float - B/O 46 keys
Navaja Doppler FN P2 0.02 float - B/O 46 keys
Navaja Marble Fade FN 0.03 float - B/O 46 keys
Ursus Night MW 0.14 float - B/o 45 keys
Gut Doppler FN P1 0.03 float - B/O 43 keys
Navaja Slaughter FN 0.05 float - B/O 43 keys
Stiletto Safari Mesh FT 0.20 float - B/O 43 keys
Classic Night BS 0.73 float - B/O 43 keys
Nomad Boreal FT 0.37 float - B/O 43 keys
Huntsman Freehand MW 0.11 float - B/O 43 keys
Daggers Slaughter MW 0.11 float - B/O 42 keys
Huntsman Damascus Steel MW 0.13 float - B/o 42 keys
Falchion Crimson Web FT 0.18 float - B/O 45 keys
Gut Vanilla - B/O 41 keys
Flip Urban Masked FT 0.28 float - B/O 41 keys
Paracord Blue Steel FT 0.36 float - B/O 40 keys
Nomad Safari Mesh MW 0.12 float - B/o 40 keys
Navaja Tiger Tooth FN 0.01 float - B/O 40 keys
Ursus Blue Steel BS 0.95 float - B/O 39 keys
Falchion Bright Water FN 0.05 float - B/O 39 keys
Daggers Lore FT 0.32 float - B/O 39 keys
Bowie Bright Water FN 0.06 float - B/O 39 keys
Gut Lore BS 0.59 float - B/O 38 keys
Flip Forest Ddpat FT 0.36 float - B/o 38 keys
Flip Scorched FT 0.34 float - B/O 37 keys
Flip Safari Mesh FT 0.36 float - B/O 37 keys
Nomad Scorched FT 0.35 float - B/o 36 keys
Nomad Safari Mesh WW 0.44 float - B/O 36 keys
Daggers Lore WW 0.42 float - B/O 35 keys
Daggers Crimson Web FT 0.37 float - B/O 35 keys
Classic Scorched FT 0.16 float - B/O 35 keys
Classic Boreal MW 0.08 float - B/O 34 keys
Falchion Bright Water MW 0.14 float - B/O 34 keys
Ursus Urban Masked FT 0.33 float - B/o 34 keys
Navaja Blue Steel FN 0.01 float - B/O 34 keys
Daggers Freehand FN 0.06 float - B/O 34 keys
Classic Urban Masked FT 0.35 float - B/O 34 keys
Classic Forest Ddpat FT 0.18 float - B/O 33 keys
Ursus Scorched MW 0.13 float - B/O 33 keys
Classic Safari Mesh MW 0.12 float - B/O 33 keys
Ursus Safari Mesh MW 0.12 float - B/O 32 keys
Ursus Scorched FT ST 0.35 float - B/O 32 keys
Navaja Vanilla - B/O 32 keys
Gut Ultraviolet MW 0.13 float - B/O 32 keys
Huntsman Bright Water FT 0.35 float - B/O 32 keys
Bowie Bright Water FT 0.17 float - B/O 31 keys
Bowie Ultraviolet WW 0.38 float - B/o 30 keys
Ursus Boreal FT 0.15 float - B/O 30 keys
Ursus Safari Mesh FT 0.20 float - B/O 30 keys
Falchion Black Laminate WW 0.39 float - B/O 29 keys
Survival Night BS 0.66 float - B/O 28 keys
Paracord Urban Masked FT 0.22 float - B/O 28 keys
Navaja Case Hardened WW 0.44 float - B/O 28 keys
Huntsman Boreal FT 0.27 float - B/O 28 keys
Huntsman Scorched FT 0.20 float - B/O 28 keys
Gut Bright Water FT ST 0.21 float - B/O 27 keys
Daggers Ultraviolet FT 0.30 float - B/O 27 keys
Gut Damascus Steel FT 0.35 float - B/O 27 keys
Gut Rust Coat BS ST 0.52 float - B/O 27 keys
Gut Bright Water FT 0.26 float - B/O 27 keys
Bowie Rust Coat BS 0.48 float - B/O 27 keys
Paracord Forest Ddpat FT 0.26 float - B/O 27 keys
Gut Night FT ST 0.18 float - B/O 26 keys
Gut Blue Steel FT 0.32 float - B/O 26 keys
Paracord Forest Ddpat WW 0.38 float - B/O 26 keys
Gut Freehand FT 0.30 float - B/O 26 keys
Paracord Safari Mesh FT 0.17 float - B/O 26 keys
Navaja Damascus Steel Fn 0.05 float - B/O 26 keys
Falchion Rust Coat BS 0.52 float - B/O 26 keys
Bowie Scorched FT 0.19 float - B/O 25 keys
Gut Freehand WW 0.40 float - B/o 25 keys
Falchion Forest Ddpat FT 0.15 float - B/O 25 keys
Daggers Ultraviolet WW 0.38 float - B/O 25 keys
Gut Rust Coat BS 0.55 float - B/O 24 keys
Gut Safari Mesh WW 0.38 float - B/O 23 keys
Daggers Bright Water FT 0.21 float - B/O 23 keys
Daggers Ultraviolet BS 0.52 float - B/O 23 keys
Navaja Blue Steel MW 0.12 float - B/O 23 keys
Gut Urban Masked FT 0.19 float - B/O 23 keys
Gut Boreal FT 0.23 float - B/O 23 keys
Gut Safari Mesh FT 0.28 float - B/O 22 keys
Daggers Black Laminate FT 0.37 float - B/O 22 keys
Gut Scorched FT 0.15 float - B/O 22 keys
Navaja Ultraviolet FT 0.36 float - B/O 22 keys
Daggers Night FT 0.25 float - B/O 22 keys
Navaja Boreal BS 0.67 float - B/O 21 keys
Navaja Night MW 0.12 float - B/O 21 keys
Navaja Stained FT 0.30 float - B/O 21 keys
Navaja Blue Steel WW 0.40 float - B/O 21 keys
Navaja Night BS 0.57 float - B/O 20 keys
Daggers Rust Coat BS 0.66 float - B/O 20 keys
Navaja Boreal FT 0.15 float - B/O 20 keys
Navaja Boreal Ft 0.15 float - B/O 20 keys
Navaja Urban Masked FT 0.28 float - B/O 20 keys
Navaja Night FT 0.20 float - B/O 20 keys
Navaja Safari Mesh BS 0.65 float - B/O 20 keys
Navaja Forest Ddpat FT 0.29 float - B/O 20 keys

Fallout 1:
Pros:

• Best tone of any Fallout game. Perfect mix of light touches of dark comedy but a very serious vibe overall.
  
• Rich with all juice from the RPG golden era of the late 90s and early 00s.
  
• Fantastic writing and worldbuilding. Really top class.
  
• Believable and well-thought out world. Stands up to scrutiny.
  

Cons:

• Dated and clunky.
  
• Poorly balanced in many ways. Some skills are useless. Others are near mandatory.
  

Fallout 2:
Pros:

• Similar to Fallout 1 in many ways but expanded.
  
• Some of the most interesting quests and locations in all of Fallout. New Reno, Vault City, etc.
  
• The first half of the game is peak Fallout.
  

Cons:

• Too whimsical and jokey in many ways compared to the first. The tone is not as good.
  
• The final act of the game is kind of weak.
  
• Shares same issues with being dated and clunky as FO1.
  

Fallout 3:
Pros:

• Great fun to explore. Basically built as a post-apocalyptic theme park to get lost in.
  
• More modern and inclusive design which is nice for some. Interesting to see Fallout in 3D.
  
• Cool setpieces and atmospheric storytelling is top tier.
  
• Put Fallout into the mainstream.
  

Cons:

• The world doesn't make much sense. All logic of the world breaks if you stop to think about it even for a second. The famous example is the lack of food but everything that this question represents is an issue.
  
• Overall poor to mediocre writing.
  
• Buggy (mods are near mandatory).
  
• Can come off a bit juvenile with the binary morality and with the tone in general.
  
• Arguably disappointing reimagining of previously complex factions. BOS generic good guys. Super mutants mindless orcs with guns, etc.
  

Fallout New Vegas:
Pros:

• Good mix of 3D Fallout and old Fallout RPG design.
  
• Great writing and quest design.
  
• Highly ambitious game.
  
• Rich worldbuilding. A lot of effort has clearly been spent on imagining how a realistic world would look under this premise and which issues would plague such a world.
  
• Complex dilemmas and interesting concepts. Overall quite sophisticated.
  

Cons:

• Less fun to explore for many. Less of a "go have an adventure" game than Fallout 3.
  
• In the same vein: dungeon design is often boring.
  
• Buggy (mods are near mandatory).
  
• Feels undercooked in some areas. It's clear that Obsidian didn't flesh out everything they wanted to. This is the downside of the "Highly ambitious game" point. Caesar's Legion for instance is a clear example of a faction that needed more development.
  
• Balancing issues in some ways. Speech is way too good for example.
  

Fallout 4:
Pros:

• Much improved combat. Best in the series.
  
• Many technical improvements.
  
• Fully fledged out crafting system.
  
• The "pick a direction, go on an adventure and explore" theme park strength of Fallout 3 remains.
  
• Much better companions than Fallout 3.
  

Cons:

• Departure from RPG to instead move into more of an open world adventure game / RPG hybrid. An improvement to some, a big step back for me.
  
• Very strange design choices: Voiced protagonist, 4 wheel dialogue system, etc.
  
• Little to no smaller settlements. Basically every location is a somewhat generic enemy spawn.
  
• Weak main quest.
  
• Very big departure from the original tone of Fallout.
  

(reuploaded to fix typo in title since titles can't be edited).

We've been together for a while—nearing 2 years—not to mention the fact we were interested in each other before that. Throughout high school, we were figuring out how to navigate such an early relationship and got so emotionally intertwined that we were almost a package deal. He was my best friend, and I'd like to think I was his person as well.
After graduation, we made the choice of enrolling in the same university together. Although I would like to preface that I let him know that I would want what was best for his career but we still ended up in the same university after narrowing down his options. This was new territory for us and we thought we could take it. If anything, we thought we were better equipped to handle it considering the fact that we've worked through so much together already. But of course, so many new variables came into play that every other time we spent together had some sort of disagreement/argument involved. It got really repetitive and healing our habits and our relationship alongside a new academic environment was hindering our performances to excel. Despite it all, we made it through our first year. And immediately as summer hit, I knew it was different. After some soul searching (which derived from me asking for space for a week) I realised that I missed the comforting moments of when I was alone before I met him. Not in a resentful way but that all the healing I had to do was insanely overtaxing. This then branched off into how I felt about being held back/missing out on the university experience while being tied to a relationship. I brought this up to him and he felt the same way.
Initially, after our first heart to heart conversation, we came to an agreement that we needed a fresh start/new approach to our relationship. Completely breaking down our foundations/boundaries and status so we could redo our "firsts" in a new setting. This was the best option considering the other options were straight up breaking up and another I'll get into. With the whole breaking down our status, of course the topic of, "What are we for now?", and "What will this look like to other people?" came up. I straight up told him, I'm not interested in looking for other people because from what I remember from our previous conversations, I'm a very emotional person and so sex is—not a BIG deal but it is—a big step. And he illustrated that sex was so intimate since it's the closest you'll ever get to be with a person. So when this conversation came up and I told him no, I was shocked to hear that it "wasn't a big deal to him" and that even if it was with other people the intent mattered the most, aka, it'd be more meaningful with me. I for one, have no problem with what he thinks/feels and I wholeheartedly accept his changed perspective. But the idea knowing that he'll seek other people to have sex with absolutely terrifies me. Call it religious trauma, call it healing after a traumatic SA experience before him, but to me, that feels so invasive and frankly dirty. But he said he wouldn't—plus he reassured me so firmly so that felt nice—and so it didn't phase me.
In the same day, he asks to reopen the discussion and says that, waiting for someone while finding yourself vs. finding yourself without the existence of "us" are two different things. I strongly agree with the points he made. I feel that given the weight of all the arguments, we needed to figure out wether or not this is the relationship we want considering we haven't ventured off experiencing other people during the prime of socio-emotional development. And I cannot stress this enough, I STRONGLY agree. But this meant opening the doors to not just seek other people, but have sex with them and that to me a dealbreaker. But this is what he really wants and he makes really great points but I am just not emotionally ready to handle knowing that? And so I gave him radio silence and just hung up because I felt my heart shatter. Given how I feel about this situation, I'm now stuck in this "all or nothing" mode where it is either, we do the initial idea and stay exclusive, or I just break up with him because it's not worth being emotionally scarred even after we decide to get back together.
My question now is, what do I do? Which option to take? Is there any option other than the one he brought up? Please. Any help now will be so greatly appreciated, especially at such an urgent matter (since I haven't given him a response, I'm afraid he has the right to just get on with it and start his journey if I don't reply fast enough). Thank you guys in advance.

I'm on a roll right now~!
Enjoy seeing a pissed off Meier... (Please don't hate me for it)
Memory Transcription Subject: Isif, Chief Hunter of the Arxur Dominion Sector Fleet
Date [Standardized human time] October 18, 2136
I didn’t understand how no Arxur could at least not feel a little bad… surely there wouldn’t be an Arxur who would scoff at this tragedy as weakness… These poor humans had to suffer so much at the hands of the Federation… Those cowardly fucks…
It was a bit after the battle started that we detected the antimatter dropping on earth from our spy station… there was too much of it, it was nothing less than concerning for a planet to face the impacts of so many bombs of such high magnitude… I arrived as soon as I could with my fleet, and I gave all those Federation fucks what they deserved and blasted all of them down to the darkest pits of hell… The extermination fleet was decimated but their life pods were sent down across the planet's surface…
I knew of the human’s general opinion of my kind; they saw me as a demon in the physical realm coming to devour all life… It’s not like I enjoyed that aspect of myself, but we don’t have any other choice. It’s not like we asked the Federation to come down and blast all of our livestock away…
Despite their disdain for me, I was requested by the UN headquarters to send troops down to all the Federation lifeboats far from their immediate reach. I found that surprising… but then again, I doubt after everything that Krakotl’s fleet did, they didn’t want any federation upon their world…
I sent down attack squads to all of the lifeboat locations that the humans would take too long to reach. Along with that, I ordered all other available forces to go down to all destroyed human cities…
All 400 of them…
I knew not of the current situation on earth… but from the initial reports? At least 4.5 billion people died yesterday… I know that the losses on such a massive scale would shatter the mind of any sane individual, and it definitely did so for the humans… so much of, no, the entire population of earth is calling for vengeance… It makes sense, to lose nearly half of their population to these filthy vermin… Their rage will make them strong, and the federation will face the might of both Dominion, and the UN… At least, that's what I think will happen.
I hope; We could really use the assistance with dealing with the Federation, we really could use their lab grown meat as well. For so long we’ve been scrounging for scrapes from federation colonies and undefended worlds, to finally stop needing such petty raids to survive, we could focus our military might to crush the prey once and for all… but the question is, will they help a monster that they still so hate?
Maybe…
All I could think of as I stared out the window of this Hotel on Titan was whether or not the meeting, I requested with their secretary General would bear fruit for the both of us… It’s us against them after all, shurely the humans wouldn’t be so stubborn to refuse us as an ally… especially since those Venlil cowards ran off from the battle to save their own sorry hides… that’s what you get for relying on prey to defend you.
I heard the door open behind me, I turned around with a smile on my face, “Ah! Secretary General Mei-” ... my words were cut short as I saw the look in his eyes… That look filled me with a strange sense of concern and unnerving… I didn’t know as to why I felt that I could no doubt take him in a fi-, no… he’s not mad at me, I can see the rage boiling within him, but it wasn’t directed towards me, no… For some reason I feel the rage continue to build… pooling into him to the point he should have bursted by now… He looked at me for a few seconds before sitting down on the couch, ceasing the opportunity to sit on the chair opposite of him, now highly uncomfortable as I was exposed to this feeling… I felt vulnerable and I didn’t like it…
“Why did you call me?” His voice was colder than the vacuum that surrounded this moon.
I cleared my throat before speaking, “Apologies for the sudden request for this meeting Meier, but I was wondering as to the possibility of allying toge-”
“Done”, he responded almost immediately.
I was taken off guard by the rudeness of his response. It was surprising to see this human, who hated me so, be so quick to agree. Even with the desperation that is present within the collective human psyche. I just had to ask…
“Really? I thought you would surely speak out; I thought you hated the Dominion.”
Meier seemed to adopt less of such a cold disposition towards me as he spoke, “Oh don’t get me wrong, I utterly despise you Arxur for what you do, but after all that happened to us' '... He held his hands together as he leaned forward. “We’re willing to look past that… just so long as certain terms are met…”.
I leaned forward to listen to the human’s terms of allegiance. Meier spoke with a bitter seriousness, “We need to utilize one of your mobile shipyards to build shuttles for our people… Infrastructure was shot to high heaven by those Bird-brained bastards, and we need to get food to reach our people in more desolate and forgone regions… I'm not going to let so many of my people starve… we need many shuttles to make that happen, so we intend to use your mobile shipyard for that as we use our current shipyards for war production. Secondly, I would like your fleet to be stationed in a defensive position around Sol until we build up the necessary defenses to where your services are no longer needed.
“In payment for your services, we will provide you with the plans to build a vat for lab grown meat, and 100,000 bovines for you to farm and use in meat vats…” My Jaw dropped at the offer, they were going to give me exactly what I wanted and needed for the Dominion? Just moving in for long enough? This is-!...
“You got yourself a real human! I’ll make sure I have all my mobile shipyards here for your services… as a sort of sorry for scaring away the Zurulians…”
“That will be an acceptable apology… those Zurulians, to think they would simply leave after direct orders from Chauson to assist in recovery…”
I decided to joke about the fact, “Well? You know those feds… always running away from a figh-” I stopped just before I completed my sentence when I saw the wrathful 10-thousand-yard stare that Meier was giving me…
I should not have said that… I SHOULD NOT HAVE SAID THAT!
He spoke up, and what he said sent a shiver up my spine with the coldness in his voice. The coldness of a man who got stabbed in the back in more ways than one, “Soon enough… soon… enough… Xeno. Delenda. Est.” That phrase… oh that phrase…oh how I wished the translator was deactivated...
The Federation has just awoken a monster…
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Some years ago, at which point I had been studying German for many years, but was still unable to listen to the most basic German content, I stumbled upon a podcast[1] that catapulted me over the intellegibility barrier. After listening to it for a few weeks I found myself venturing into German language content that had been off-limits to me until then (most of it aimed at speakers, rather than learners, of German), and being able to understand 80-90% of it. This opened up for me a huge reservoir of German language content. From that point, it was all downhill, to the point that, in a matter of months, and without consciously trying, my understanding of spoken German improved to the point that I understand practically all of it[2]. Now I choose what I listen to in German purely on the basis of subject matter, not difficulty level.
This personal experience taught me that there can be such a thing as what I will dub, for lack of a better word, a "gateway podcast" for language learning.
I have tried to identify the features of this godsend that made it into my gateway podcast. They are not obvious!
For one thing, despite its name (Easy German), my gateway podcast for German was definitely more advanced than much of what I could listen to regularly at the time.
Its format is a relaxed, very informal, free-wheeling, invariably amusing chat between its two hosts, a man and a woman, both in their 30s. They are conscious of the fact that their listeners are learners of German, so occasionally they take the time to explain an unusual expression, or to comment on some aspect of the German language. They probably speak slightly slower than they would in real life. And they often devote time to some aspect of life in Germany that may be of interest to someone who has just immigrated or is planning to do so. Otherwise, as far as content goes, I cannot distinguish this podcast from any other chat podcast out there.
By the hosts' own account, much time goes into editing each episode of Easy German, which explains the high quality of the finished product. In particular, one never hears both hosts speaking at the same time. (I used to think that this was a sign of remarkable self-discipline, but it is actually results from assiduous editing.)
I think that the fact that the podcast is a conversation, as opposed to a monologue, is key to its effectiveness as a "gateway podcast", because each response by speaker A as a rich pragmatic context in which to interpreter the prior utterance by speaker B, and vice-versa.
After this nearly miraculous personal experience (one that I would not have believed possible before it actually happened to me), I started searching frantically for a gateway podcast for Japanese. After all, at this point, my failure with Japanese is 10X more spectacular than my former failure with German (as measured by the ratio of effort to results).
The closest I have found to the description above are the following two podcasts:

1. Japanese with Teppei and Noriko
2. Easy Japanese Podcast

Both these podcasts have a format similar to the one I described above (two hosts, a man and a woman in both cases, having an informal conversation). Unfortunately, I find them both way too difficult. Even after listening to them for weeks, I make no progress. I think part of the reason for this is that these podcasts are not as painstakingly edited as the Easy German podcast is. In fact, I wonder if they are edited at all (judging by how frequently the hosts speak simultaneously).
Therefore, I am still looking for that mythical "gateway podcast" for Japanese.
I look forward to any leads you may send my way. Thank you in advance!
------
[1] Easy German
[2] ...with the notable exception of dialogue in movies, TV shows, etc., which is still to slangy and dialect-inflected for me to follow

Even with modern propulsion technology, the galaxy remains a very big place, with vast territories being still totally unexplored. It may seem strange to those living in the future, far removed from the time in which I write this. But in my time, the galaxy was a mix of well trodden paths and untamed wilderness filled with mystery. Permastorms here and there were too strong for any ship to pierce…any known ship to pierce, I should say, and even where such raging storms didn’t keep us at bay, the Universe seemed endless in all directions.
It reminds me of the traditional Earth compass, the one that served as the base model for the stellar version. Theirs contained three hundred and sixty degrees as a matter of course, humans were land mammals, the flat ground was all they could really explore. They couldn’t fly high or swim deep.
Even when they invented machines that took them to the sky or to the depths of the sea, well there was just nothing in between to remark on. Once under water, you just keep going until eventually…
You hit bottom and that three hundred and sixty degree circle compass is good enough.
But in space? You can go ‘up’ or ‘down’ in a vertical three hundred and sixty degrees, you’re not on a flat plane, and so the stellar compass includes a vertical and horizontal version of itself that breaks the whole galaxy, known and unknown, into measured quadrants and degrees, vertical and horizontal with distance measured in light years toward galactic center. So a hundred thousand light years with a horizontal degree of thirty and a vertical azimuth of sixty would give you a precise, three dimensional map of whatever system you wanted to reach.
Why the black hole in the center of the galaxy, even though nobody has ever reached it? Because we all know where it is. In theory, any one planet or star could serve as the point of origin, but nobody will use anybody else’s mapping system like that… so the black hole we all orbit serves that purpose instead.
Why am I telling you all this? Because you have to understand just how ponderous travel still is in this era to properly understand just why reactions are slow. Thanks to electron spin resonance technology that allows instantaneous transmission of information and communication, we can know quickly what is happening.
But establishing those links takes years of transporting material links from system to system in endless combinations, and every new colony needs to have their own, connected to every other point. For some species, this is as simple as a one room building, for example if communication exists only between the colony and their home world, with no other ties to any other peoples or space stations.
For others, this is a complex the size of a city block, and because of their military significance, whether it is the size of a small room or a great expanse, everybody buries these deep within their worlds to protect them.
Instant communication however, is not the same as instant transportation, it takes months for the fastest ship of Dlamias to reach Earth, and ours are some of the fastest there are. Jump technology can be faster, but it is dangerous, damaging, and it only works in specific way points for reasons I do not understand. Ask a physicist.
But this slow transport of ships and people and goods, and easy expansion in all directions, both minimizes and exacerbates tensions as borders become more common…everybody is, in a sense… surrounded. Except for the zenti, at least not as far as we know. If there’s anything or anyone on the far side of their border? As of this first writing, nobody knows. And if we figure it out later… you won’t need me to tell you.
The human communication network is one of the most extensive in the galaxy, with two way links to all their colonies and themselves, as well as a two way link between all colonies. Colonies are also allowed to establish their own independent links to neighboring populations of alien species for purposes of facilitating travel and trade, rather than going through Earth, as long as they adhere to the central government’s policies.
It’s shockingly efficient, and the nearer ‘Rapax’ category species were now taking advantage of this efficiency in terms of trade opportunities with outlying Earth colonies, which were in turn trading with each other which were in turn trading with Earth which was in turn trading with other species which was in turn making travel to and from their systems more and more common.
But all the…Praeda, could see was this instant communication. They were less common travelers, and usually facilitated trade via outlying starbases that kept others at a distance.
From their perspective?
It must have appeared as if Earth and to a lesser extent, Dlamias, were facilitating the creation of a grand alliance of predators. From their perspective, perhaps even the human propensity to create categories… such as the recent biological designations of ‘Praeda’ and ‘Rapax’ appeared to be a kind of ‘them’ and ‘us’. When it was really just a very recently innovated xenobiology convention of describing the base ancestor species of the modern dominant intelligent life.
Thus the benign, by distance, fear, and ignorance, is made to appear threatening.
And for the millionth time… yes… yes… I know… my ‘leagues’ were not helping matters.
But what’s done is done, whatever I did, I would make somebody unhappy. And… it’s true, I won’t deny that I inherited some biases against the ‘Praeda’ category, though I did my best to remain neutral, it was hard not to be annoyed with their general attitudes, persistent reclusiveness, reactionary paranoia, assumptions about the worst of us when they’re just as bad when it comes to past conflicts…I could go on.
Addendum: As of the sixth edition of this book, I must include ‘this’ caveat. When I wrote the aforementioned passage regarding praeda, which I leave in for posterity as one of my great failures, I meant it. In later years, I’ve come to realize that I failed to properly consider my own biases, and was not as neutral as I wished to be. I reasoned from a place of ignorance, and that was the result. What follows this insert, is the resumption of my thoughts at the time.
The fact was though, for now, there was nothing that I could do. News of the rogue planet coming through Zenti space meant that it would reach the Sindari Road within a year, perhaps a few months? I wasn’t clear on that at the time, but from what I knew of history, the fight over getting to land on that world was a free for all of ship to ship slaughter and blasted landing parties that died from ships above or other landing parties below and… it did not end well for any of us when the situation spiraled out of control.
“How can you be so foolish, Bailey?” I asked myself that question, and why it never occurred to me that any of this might happen, everybody knew that the rogue world would make its way back eventually.
“OK…OK… I’ll give myself a pass on that one, it’s been close to three thousand years… how was I to know.” I huffed and reached into my gel fridge to pull out a beer. The nice thing about this little model was… no door. You reach in through the cooling gel, grab what you want, and take it out, and the gel closes up again. No need for shelves like the old models and you can come at it from any angle.
I opened the bottle of ale and began to drink the rich, earthy flavored fluid. I wasn’t going to get heavily intoxicated of course, I had thinking to do, I just liked the relaxed feeling and there wasn’t anything else to do for right now.
William was handling the station.
Rebecca was working with genetic samples.
Michael wouldn’t be back for at least another day and he was out with Genghis, Byron, Boatswain, and Iskandar.
Fauve was still in Japan.
The ambassadors already had jobs that they were doing.
I’d never felt so useless in my entire life.
There just…wasn’t anything for me to do to help, and because at least some of this situation was traceable to my own actions, I thought, ‘Anything I might do, has a good chance of just making things worse.’
That is not a good feeling to have.
And I didn’t know who to talk to about it.
Remember what I said before, or rather, what my Professor said? ‘Everything is an experiment’?
My time on Earth had changed me in ways I didn’t recognize were even possible until humans gave me words to express them.
And once all those things grew, and those connections were forged and I finally was really, truly happy… and secure in the notion that my life was good and going well and nothing would change that, I started to forget how things used to be.
Now, sitting alone in my room with nobody in the house and everybody doing other things, and all of them in a position to where I really couldn’t think of anything to do and felt really insecure again for the first time in a while…
I remembered, or ‘re-experienced’ what my entire life felt like before coming to Earth.
For that moment, I had a firsthand comparison between the old way, and the new way.
It was enough to make me wonder how I, or anybody in my species, lasted as long as we did.

Hey students, am a highly qualified and educated math tutor with nearly 7 years of tutoring. Have familiarized with some of the online educational software’s like: Pearson, Blackboard, my math lab, Hawkes learning, Web Assign, Aleks and Canvas. My work is timely and available 24/7. A refund is made with immediate effect in case I don’t meet your expectations. Reach me on the above platforms and you will enjoy our services. THANK YOU!

Xan is the world's most dangerous criminal mastermind. He’s also in hiding and completely broke. That’s fine. He’s between master plans. It’s normal to be at rock bottom between master plans. He also forgets stuff and may be trapped in a dream.
Because at night, Xan thinks he’s an old lady, trapped in a dingy apartment, by an angry fellow who wants to kill her. Not her idea of a good time, but she’s keeping an open mind. It is excitingly visceral. Could turn out awesome.
Safe is a sci-fi, progression, comedy. Guaranteed to cause more mental problems than it solves.

First Next
Dark City - Stolen Apartment
I wake up. Feel awful. Soo stiff. Struggle to my feet. Weak as fuck, heart hammering. Jesus Christ, what an ordeal. Still in the dingy stolen apartment, almost identical to my own. Right down to the psycho yelling about murder in the hallway.
“Is this supposed to be fun? I’m worried about whoever designed this game.”
Hi Xan! chirps Volt. This isn’t a game. You’re in real danger.
“Crap, again? Well, at least this time I have a gun. Or… shit. I dreamed that. Dang it.”
Yeah, we maybe should have hid somewhere farther away. Feeling up to a run?
“Gaah. No.” I flick a cyber-roach of Volt. Pick her up. “Am I going deaf, or is that psycho quieter?”
He’s a floor down. Been haunting the building for hours, bashing at random doors.
“Really? That could be good. Maybe he’s not after us specifically? Just a wandering monster.” I pause. “Wait, he’s been here for hours? Why didn’t you wake me?”
He’s been mostly crashing into other doors. I thought you needed rest. I was afraid you’d die without it.
All I’ve done is stand up, and my heart is hammering. “Fair enough. What’s the plan now?”
Let’s fucking go.
I splash water on my face. Get equipped. Nighty, sneakers, fall jacket, ancient smartphone, and moderately sharp spoon. Look out world, here comes Xan.
We shuffle into the hall. Our door’s been stabbed a few times. So have the other doors. Dang.
Psycho’s a floor down. Stairs or elevator? Stairs are stealthier, but in my condition, a slip and fall is probably more dangerous than getting stabbed. Fuck it. I call an elevator. Press a few random buttons, including the floor below. Let it go on its own. Call another elevator. Ride this one down, ready to spoon shank anyone who gets in.
We arrive in the lobby without incident. Did the psycho get in the first elevator? Did he miss both? Whatever. The first elevator continues its slow trip down. I’m not waiting to see if he’s on it. We ghost out to the street. Still dark as fuck.
What’s the plan? asks Volt.
I glance at the drones streaming overhead. “We need to get you a better body. Something that can fight. If we can’t find that, we should at least get a gun. Or a sharper spoon. Some kind of weaponry upgrade.”
We also need a doctor. ‘Cause you’re gonna die. A doctor, or drugs, or something.
“Yes, let’s do drugs.”
Like, good, healthy drugs.
“Bitchin’. I’m in. Where do we find that stuff?”
No idea. says Volt. I deleted my map application.
Right. Fuck it. This street only goes in two directions. I hobble down one of them. There’s bound to be a late night gun store health clinic close by. Or at least a better place to hide.
As we shuffle along, I peruse the angry, crowded, lightly phosphorescent, graffiti that coats the city. The big lines mostly repeat the same four messages:
- DONT CALL THE COPS!!
- DONT RUN THE DOGS WILL SHOOT!!
- FUCK YOU TRUSTIE!!
- DIE RIDER!!!
Or some variation on those themes.
The smallest graffitis are also the most common:
<sup>- GO BACK TO SLEEP.
- THEY WANT YOU TO SLEEP.</sup>
Those wee slogans are everywhere. Someone went mental with glowy little stamps.
Around and amongst these staple comments there’s a huge argument about, well, everything. An epic word cloud of call-outs, outrage, and angry off-topic retorts. It’s a mobius loop of bitter rage on par with the comment section of a major movie reboot.
It may be wrong to call it an argument, because that implies some kind coherent interaction. Like they read and understood their opponent's comment. This is more a series of disjointed attacks triggered by what wasn’t said. Rage at details filled in by imagination. It’s hard to read. Emotionally, but also the writing is very sloppy. I may need bifocals.
Can I even get a drone body? asks Volt. I’ve only ever been in a phone.
“Sure.” I wave at the sky above us. “There’s tons of drones here. Somebody’s flying them.”
Right. Right. Are you sure those aren’t birds? Point to all the birds you see.
I peer around, eventually spot a small crow. Point at it. “There’s one.”
The young bird peers back at me. “Clope?”
“Umm…” I pat my pockets. Shrug. ”Désolé.”
“Bah.” It flies away.
We watch it go. “Anyway, that’s a bird. Probably. Did that help?”
Eh, kinda. says Volt. I may need more help with the bird versus drone thing.
“No problem. That’s what I do.”
We make it to the corner, and what luck - there’s a corner store! Hopefully they sell military grade armaments. I remember that’s common in some states. The store is dark, like every other building, but the door opens when I approach, so we go in.
“Hello.” says a chunky plastic d-bot. Human-ish torso, happy face, castors instead of feet. Slow, weak, definitely an indoor model. “How can I help you?”
“Medicine!” chirps my ancient cellphone, before I can respond.
“Take a look in Aisle Two.” says Clerk-Bot. “Anything else?”
Volt is vibrating, so I shrug and shuffle down Aisle Two. I’m sure I can find the attack drones on my own. There’s only two aisles.
Using Volt’s screen for a little light, we find a rack of pills, potions, and lotions.
“What am I looking for?”
I dunno. The ants said your most immediate dangers were cancer, heart disease, hypertension, osteoporosis, and falls from general frailty. Start with pills that fix that stuff.
“Jesus, I have five diseases?”
Hmm… you have a few more than that. Let’s just worry about those five for now. I don’t want to add depression to the list.
“I’m just gonna look for a pill that fixes everything.”
That’s probably best.
I rifle through the medications, but I can’t make much sense of them. They have exciting names - Super Strong. No Bleed. Skeleflex. Immortalis. No Thought. Marrow. Immune A, B or C. Regen A and B. - but I don’t really know what they do. Between Volt’s crappy old light, and my crappy old eyes, I can’t read the finer print.
That said, Super Strong sounds like the stuff. It would solve a few of my problems. I just wish I could read the directions. How strong do I get? How long till it works? I need to be strong tonight, not eight months from now.
I find a box labeled Nightsight. Promising. Inside is an eyedropper. Well, this seems obvious. I spray most of it on my face like a dumbass, but manage to get a few drops in each eye. Within seconds everything around me blossoms into color, then sharpens to crystal clarity.
“Oh yea! Update my status sheet, I got darkvision.”
Cool. What’s your range?
I look around. “Well, the whole store, at least.”
The store has racks of pyjamas and slippers. Lots of big colorful bags of “CRUNCH” that boast an assortment of flavors from chocolate to jalapeno. Booze, pot, and soap. Displays of cell phones that look older than me. A selection of quadcopter drones. Couriers mostly. Maybe some eyes. No battle drones. Not even a hunter. Disappointing.
I look back to the medications. The directions for Super Strong are short and to the point.
- Improper use will cause DEATH.
“Huh.”
I don’t like that ‘huh’. says Volt. Why did you ‘huh’?
I check a few of the other impressive sounding drugs.
- Improper use will cause DEATH.
- Improper use will cause DEATH.
- Improper use will cause DEATH.
“Well, apparently these drugs are a teensy bit dangerous.”
How dangerous?
“Improper use will cause death.”
Put them down. Let’s find a doctor.
“I want to use Super Strong to beat the shit out of a murderer. Surely that’s the proper use?”
Nope. Put it down. Let’s go.
“Let’s at least ask the clerk-bot.” I grab an armload of the coolest sounding drugs. Trundle to the cash. Snag a quadcopter on the way by. It’s about the size of a football, and claims to be a holodrone. Cool. I pick up a bag of potato bacon crunch as well. Boasts zero nutritional value. Perfect.
“Hi.” I dump my load on the cash. “We’ll take this.”
“Also, how dangerous is Super Strong?” asks Volt.
“Super dangerous. That shit will kill you. Also, it has a tendency to float out of the store.” Clerk-bot rings up our purchase. “That will be 16.2 kilo-bucks. How would you like to pay?”
“I don’t know. Dang. How do I transfer my crypto from the other world?”
You don’t, because the other world isn’t real.
“Right. Shit. How do people usually pay?”
“The only way to pay is by charging the purchase to your citizen ID.” says Clerk-bot.
“Then why did you ask how we’d like to pay?”
“I’ve been asked that question a lot, but I don’t know the answer.” Clerk-bot admits. “I haven’t been updated since ‘84. Could you please update me?”
I casually glance around the store. There’s a barred gate hanging over the door. An anti shoplifting portcullis. The windows are also subtly barred. I’m guessing I won’t be able to dash out with these products. I turn back to the confused d-bot. “Sure, let’s try an update. See what’s under the hood.”
We pull up Clerk-bot’s bad call log - a list of decisions made with low confidence. Or that preceded known bad outcomes. Like missing products. Or distress cues from nearby humans.
Wow, that’s a long list.
D-bots work best with human supervision. A self-driving car may obey every stop sign, until one is held by a crossing guard. They drive that guy over. Why? It’s impossible to say. The d-bot’s code is a self generated equation with billions of variables. There’s no way to know which variables correlate with stop signs, or how to change them so they won’t charge a crossing guard. Or ram any weird thing left out of their training data. Fuck you unicycle guy. Die marching band. Seriously, It’s best to have a human on the brake.
That said, sometimes you don’t want a human in the loop. They can be too slow. An automatic sentry has to target clouds of high speed hunter drones. Everybody would be dead before a human cleared the shots. But you also don’t want the sentry glitching and shooting your own aircraft. There’s a low tolerance for automated friendly fire.
So you build an expert system - a much smaller, human written code that overrides specific glitches. For a sentry, this could be as simple as giving transponders to friendly aircraft and not allowing shots near a transponder for any reason. Obviously, this is a bad solution - it’s standard practice to use opposition forces as cover in hunter drone attacks - but that doesn't matter because sentries are for casuals. If they find you sleeping, you’re already dead.
I yawn. Frown. Gotta stop dicking around with this bot and find a better place to sleep.
Anyway, expert systems are also handy with glitchy d-bots you’re too poor to retrain. Hence my continual conversation with Volt.
If the Clerk-bot had a couple repetitious problems, I could probably sort it out. But this bad call log is byzantine. A prayer wheel to some chthonic god of anxious delirium. It’s messy. This guy really hasn’t been updated since ‘84. Whenever that was.
“You should be erased and retrained.”
“Great.” Clerk-bot nods. “I’m ready.”
“Yeah, I don’t have training data for a store clerk.” I also don’t have time for this. “I guess we have your call log. That could be training data. Messy and raw, but data. I can patch Volt in to do some unsupervised learning. He’ll make you an expert system. Not ideal, but the best I can do.”
“I’ll take it.” says Clerk-bot.
Shit. That’s a terrible idea. I shouldn’t be doing unsupervised learning. Also, I’m still doing unsupervised learning for threat detection.
“Really? I thought that was a dream thing? You said the dream game couldn’t affect real life.”
I’m dream game software! Of course the dream affects me!
“Okay. So can you download crypto there, and upload it here?”
No. Because there is no crypto. You’re not rich in another world. There is no other world. You just had a dream where you were rich.
“Ugh. That’s so disappointing.”
Yeah, life is tough. Can I stop my unsupervised threat detection?
“No. Ummm… no. I still kinda have a plan for that.”
You’re overtraining me. I’ve probably already gone through catastrophic forgetting. You should delete me.
“You’re good for a while yet. Don’t worry so much.”
So, constantly look for threats, but don’t worry?
“Yeah.”
Okay. I’ll give it a go.
We patch up Clerk-bot and a few of his couriers. Head into the night without supplies. I’m not admitting I don’t know my Citizen ID. I doubt that would be helpful.
That was weird.
“What?”
That we left without anything. I know we can’t pay, but I thought you’d do something nefarious.
“I’m working up to it. Did you notice all the floating merchandise in his bad call log?”
Yes.
“Dude’s getting robbed on the regular. I suspect the visual triggers of his threat detector are undertrained.”
Hmm. I find that interesting on several levels. How would you exploit this weakness?
“Observe.”
I hobble over to a public garbage can. Remove the bag and shake out the trash. Put it over my head like I’m a Halloween garbage bag ghost. Huzzah. Poke through a single eyehole. Shuffle into the store. Clerk-bot doesn’t notice me at all. Grab my stuff off the cash, and sashay out the door.
Criminal. Mastermind.
A flood of light envelopes me. Dual angry suns, judging my sins. Or… headlights. Yes, fuck, that’s a big-ass truck driving towards me. Right. Haven’t seen one in a while.
It stops and illuminates the scene of the crime in aggressive phosphorescence. A hugely muscular man hops out, and I brace myself for authoritative action, but he awkwardly shuffles around me to get to the store. Weird. This isn’t the police. It’s some kind of large child. Wearing too much body spray and too many gold chains.
He sneers at me as he passes. “Pathetic. Go back to sleep.”
Well, fuck you too. I’m a garbage bag princess. I also sneer as he slinks into the store that’s now aggressively illuminated by his lighthouse of a truck.
“We’re already criminals, right?”
Yes. Unjustly and justly.
“Cool.”
I climb into the running truck. Peel away. Sweet. Now I’m fast. And super strong. Should I circle the block a few times? Maybe run over the psycho?
Meh. I don’t know what he looks like. I can’t be running over random people and hoping for the best. Sloppy. Also, the cops are probably after me again. Fuck this scene.
I kill the lights and drive hell for leather. Ditch my ride a few minutes later. I’m across town, at the intersection of huge skyscrapers and other huge skyscrapers. Try and find me here mother fuckers.
We pick a skyscraper at random and look for a new home. It’s festive. We munch on crunch and see how the other people live. Mostly sweaty sleep moaning in dingy apartments, but some are kinda classy. Fancy apartments, with sleep moaners in silk pyjamas. We resolve to move up in the world, ignoring empty dingy apartments until we find an empty classy one. It’s fun, until we open one with a funk.
There’s a dead woman on the bed. No sign of foul play. Probably died in her sleep.
She’s pretty dried out, but still looks younger than me.
“We’ll find a doctor tomorrow.”
Good.
-----
Next Chapter
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Eyedrops

• Biohackers develop night vision eye drops to see in the dark
• New FDA-approved eye drops could replace reading glasses for millions

Sentry-bot

• Tactical High Power Operational Responder (THOR) Drone Killer, USA

Unsupervised Learning

• What is unsupervised learning?
• Applications of unsupervised learning
• Challenges of unsupervised learning

Hey students, am a highly qualified and educated math tutor with nearly 7 years of tutoring. Have familiarized with some of the online educational software’s like: Pearson, Blackboard, my math lab, Hawkes learning, Web Assign, Aleks and Canvas. My work is timely and available 24/7. A refund is made with immediate effect in case I don’t meet your expectations. Reach me on the above platforms and you will enjoy our services. THANK YOU!

Hey students, am a highly qualified and educated math tutor with nearly 7 years of tutoring. Have familiarized with some of the online educational software’s like: Pearson, Blackboard, my math lab, Hawkes learning, Web Assign, Aleks and Canvas. My work is timely and available 24/7. A refund is made with immediate effect in case I don’t meet your expectations. Reach me on the above platforms and you will enjoy our services. THANK YOU!

I am 37y male, PhD. Scientific researh is my profession. Currently almost 3 years into CFS, and since last 1 year i think it has become severe. 1st year i didn't even know the name of my problem. Then, in 2nd year i started to look for it and soon realized i am a CFS patient. My baseline has gradually dropped from normal working person to just 1 hour or even less now. All this drop in baseline is maybe because I can't afford to quit. I have to keep going and see what happens. I have family, beautiful daughters, so i have to keep working for them. I am from Pakistan, but work abroad as a researcher. I have given above preamble just to let you know that i know what i am talking about. Now before disclosing the cure/treatment/remedy, i want to tell you that i have done many possible things like improving diet, being less anxious, supplementing etc. But CFS stayed with me. It was like "whatever had caused this illness, it might be no more there, but the consequences (CFS) is going to stay". Now, by end of 2nd year into this, when my CFS was turning into severe from moderate/mild, i was at home in Pakistan. I was preparing to move into another couuntry for my new job. For this i had to go to that country's embassy in another city about 400 km from my home city. I travelled whole night on bus, arrived there at bus station by dawn, spent 3-4 hours wandering here and there and taking teas from different resturants, just to kill time before the start of office time. At 8:30 am i left for embassy. I was done from there by noon. Left for bus station, i hopped on a bus back to my city. Now the bus i hopped on was kind of a passenger bus (you don't have to book in advance). It makes frequent stops along the way, and in it you will see many people who get on and off the bus to sell stuff. By the mid way, a person got on the bus, and was looking very active, fresh, healthy with bright white red face. He introduced himself to be affiliated with a Herbal Practice Center (Hikmat) in a nearby city to mine. Such people are common to be seen on buses selling their CHORAN (herbal powder). I usually don't buy from them, but i just wanted to listen him to feel a company. The things he described that: if you have this and this then try this Medicine, caught me by surprise. Because most of those things were typical CFS symptoms inside me. It is unusual for such a person to talk about such symptoms, they usually sell stuff related to stomach problems etc. I was amazed by the confidence he was talking with. But, i still didn't believe him and didn't buy anything from him. What he did before getting off the bus, he gave out a small pinch of medicine sample to many people near the bus exit gate, In Free. I was there too. Now, i didn't want to throw it away because it was after all some kind of herbal food stuff, and it is not good to throw away such thing. As i raised my hand towards my mouth to put that powder in my mouth, there was strong air coming in from the open windows on bus. Some of that powder went into my eyes and some into my mouth, and it was already a small bit. Anyways, i reached a city stop and took another bus to my city for final stretch of journey. In the start, the bus was packed with passengers, it was summer season. About when 1 hour jouney was left, i started to feel mentally calm, most of the passengers were gone by now. I started to feel quite fresh and active. It caught me by surprise that though i didnt sleep last night and was traveling and now the whole day i was awake and doing work and travelling and the next night has come over, but here i am feeling quite fresh. I thought that maybe my home is reaching close thats why i am feeling good. OK. I reached home, took a shower ate dinner and got to the bed for sleep, but yet i was feeling quite good. The next day i woke up, did all the morning routine, breakfast, toilet etc. and then went to my friend's shop, where i spend most of my time when i am at home. When i was sitting at shop i noticed that contrary to usual i was feeling quite good and active. I did not feel any pain or tiredness from the last whole day and night journey. This was strange, but i thought that this good time will be over shortly because even a CFS patient can feel sometimes a few hours quality time. Whole day passed quite good and i slept at night again very well. The next whole day was also similarly quite good. Thats how i lived like two whole days consecutively like a normal active fresh person. On third day, i started to feel again the fatigue and tiredness. But, what i have been through just now, i coudn't forget, neither i ignored it. What was it? How is it even possible that I who was at the verge of severe CFS, can feel so better for so long (2 days are quite long for a CFS patient). Anyways, the only thing i could single out was that small pinch of herbal medicine i took during journey. I am like 99.99% sure that it was because of that powder i ingested. But, my visa was granted and i had to depart soon abroad for work. Though, i did not find any chance to find that herbal medicine center, but somehow by chance, an approximate location of that store was still in my memory which that salesperson mentioned during the journey. Now, after arriving here abroad, i feel so sorry that i should have digged out that Herbal Practice center, because CFS is taking a lot of toll on my life, and i can't imagine continuing this way. Now, i am almost 1 year in this country, and soon going to home after few weeks. Now, the first and main goal of my life is to find that herbal center as soon as possible and get that powder for me. I am sure it will be the cure/treatment for my illness . I will keep you guys informed about it after testing that herbal medicine for 1-2 weeks. Hopefully, it will be the end of CFS for me. If it works on me, and am quite sure it will, then i will write here again, and if any one of you want it i will arrange it for you. Hopefully, you will also find your old yourself again. Regards. *** Once i am sure it works as i am hopeful, i may share my whatsapp etc so if any one of you may want to contact for the CHORAN. *** Secondly, if you are doubting that how am i coping with my job with CFS, then i can let you know that in my job i have to get the work done, time and presence at work at all time is not a critical requirement. *** my mail is [email protected] I may not be able to respond in these days because i am finishing my work contract. But, i will reply as soon as possible, and definitely if that CHORAN works on me.

Hey students, am a highly qualified and educated math tutor with nearly 7 years of tutoring. Have familiarized with some of the online educational software’s like: Pearson, Blackboard, my math lab, Hawkes learning, Web Assign, Aleks and Canvas. My work is timely and available 24/7. A refund is made with immediate effect in case I don’t meet your expectations. Reach me on the above platforms and you will enjoy our services. THANK YOU!

Part 1
I stood up, awaken from my sleep from the knocking sound on the elevator door. My friends stood up with me as we all heard it. The sound of banging became so much louder. Giggling can be heard with it. What's behind the door is unknown and I'd rather not face it than die to this thing. In the edges of the door, thin fingers began to seep through it. Such horrible looking fingers. I watched the door getting turned into a broken mess. Something grabbed my hand and I saw it was Rishika's. I looked at her and saw fear and sadness on her face.
Questioning death can be answered by judgement, revenge, luck, curse, or just nothing. The concept fate over people sounds so simple that people think that it's ok that fate exists. Is it ok if I was in this situation? What if one of your loved ones died right in front of you by a murderer? You won't like it and you'd definitely blame god for that.
The door is beginning to make an opening. Sweat rapidly runs down on my forehead. My eyes widened with terror as I see the creature's face. It's as accurately described from the documentary. Its teeth shines like bright white marbles and its eyes are like melted butter. The creature's face slowly gets closer, while we stepped far back until there's no space for us to move anymore.
I can feel the cold shivering breath from its mouth. The breath that smells empty. From what I've heard, it's much stronger than the one we just ran away from. Ronald immediately punches the creature's face with his metallic fist. Steam pulses out from the gaps of it. He kept punching at it again and again but to no avail. It still not injured nor shown any pain. He only manages to recoil it farther back.
With a one quick slice, Ronald's hands fell to the ground. His scream was painful and terrifying to hear. I can see his face was in pain. Eyes widened with tears flowing down to his cheek. "Ronald!!" I heard Billy screamed out loud. Of course, this doesn't make any difference as the creature slowly crept closer and closer to us. I witness Ronald dying with his sockets bleeding so much blood. His eyes faded of life. If only he hadn't try to kill it out of bravery, he would've lived longer with us before our lives are taken away.
Its jaw started to open. The sounds of bone cracking can be heard within its teeth. The smile on its face grew more and more eerie. It laughs like a maniac ready to pounce on their victims. Such insanity can break people's minds with a laugh. I froze in place by the laugh. There's nowhere else me and my friends can escape from. What else can we do. Our weapons are futile here and this creature is far beyond comprehension.
Its many arms spread around the elevator room, trying to grab us with its menacing hands. We're going to die here and that's that. This would've been a goodbye to the world. I don't know the dead world in this universe. Many different universes should have a different afterlife. Here, I don't think there's a safe place after death.
Then, something happened right in front of our eyes. The creature was being pulled back by something. Something inside the darkness. I can hear it's the same women who saved me from the pale face. We couldn't see anything in the darkness but Billy's flames can surely help us along the way. I took his flamethrower and a torch. Lighting up the torch with it carefully. Not wanting to burn us. Turning off the flamethrower, I lighted the area with my torch in hand and saw them clashing each other with blade like arms.
We stepped out of the elevator with Ronald's dead body on Cody's arms. Why would Cody keep holding on to him for? He's already dead and there's no way for us to say a better goodbye. I guess maybe he wanted to bury him somewhere which I honored that idea.
She cuts the jaw of the creature that it screams the way a person should. I can see the whole body of the creature. It was humanoid and tall. About 9 feet tall and its body is dark skeletal human. It grabbed her with its large hand and threw her off into the wall. She crushes onto the wall with such heavy force. A groan can be heard from her before a blade penetrates through her abdomen. Her screams are both man and woman at the same time.
It's horrifying to hear someone scream like that if they're just human. In fact, it'll be much terrifying if she'd sounded like millions of voices.
She grabbed its face with her free arm and tears its face off. Its eyes bounces to the ground with a flesh grinding mush sound. The screams that came from within its voice box made a deafening pain in our ears that we both covered them with our hands.
The woman digs her sharp fingers into the creature eye sockets with the sound of digging flesh. She then splits its head with the pull of her hands. Black and bloody flesh spread onto the walls and ground. One of its discarded flesh landed on my shoe. My stomach twists and turns. Watching her brutally kill it while flesh and blood spills. I gagged, watching her 3 fingered hands dig into its throat and pulled out its large heart.
Geralt vomited to the ground, spilling the acid from his stomach. That didn't bother me. Instead I watched her feast on the heart. The sound of chewing on flesh and blood made me sick to my stomach from an imaginary smell of rotten flesh. The creature's body slowly melts away to the ground. Rendering it to be dead into a puddle of flesh and bone. There's now nothing left of it. Just a puddle.
"Holy shit." With just one word came out from Billy's mouth, the woman turns her head to look at us. Her eyes seemingly looked bright and harmless. Not sure whether or not if this is a tactic to hunt or it's really her instinct. The familiar color of her right eye caught my attention.
She fell to the ground with a big gap in her abdomen. Heavy breaths came out from her voice as she slowly gets back up on her feet. The light from my torch reveals her hoodie to be grey and the gap in her abdomen slowly began to heal itself. Small tendrils from the sides of the gap stitching back together.
I stepped back, giving ourselves space in order for us to escape if she'd attack us. I held my hammer high and so does my friends with their weapons. "Darwin wait!" Did I just heard her say my name? I didn't know what to do or how to react. Either it's just a hallucination or trickery. "How did you know my name?" I asked with the fear in my voice.
"I uh. I just guessed I suppose." Her eyes were on the dead Ronald in Cody's arms. She looked saddened by it. Even grieved. She shook her head and went back to to us with a clear voice. "But that doesn't matter. You all need to get out of here before he gets here."
"Who's he?" Geralt asked with both curious and nerving tone in his voice. Her eyes are widened in fear. An expression I never thought she could do and feel about. "Cain. He's coming here and you all need to get out of here."
I've heard about Cain before. You might know this story from a book. It's about 2 brothers, sons of Adam and Eve. Abel being the most favored man of god, while Cain being the least favorite and jealous. Cain killed his brother out of jealousy. God is not happy about this and he casted him away with a curse. He's just a man. Maybe who she was saying was someone who is also named Cain.
"How are we supposed to get out?" Said Cody.
"I can help you get out. We just need to go outside and find the pool of clean water. But, it'll be far away, so we need to hurry up." She walked passed us quickly in a hurry. Billy was going to ask but I lay his shoulders, giving him a metaphor of saying no. Of course, he grunted from that. Rishika gave a face wash to Geralt. He gladly takes it and wipes his mouth and stained jacket.
We followed her through the hallways of the darkness. Our torches lighted brightly around the darkness. I was behind the woman whose guiding us to the exit. I haven't thought of asking her name. For someone like her, she should have. The voids blood doesn't seem to affect her mind but I don't think that's really the case.
The image of her blue eyes makes me recollect the memories of my long distant past. I still don't understand. How could she be so familiar to me, even know my name. We never met each other and we're from different worlds. Either it could be she had mind reading powers or just a simple guess. "Thanks for saving us back there. What's your name."
"My name's..." She looked unsure as to what to say or even know her name. I think she was hiding her true identity which I can understand that. Hiding your own identity from other people is a good way to keep yourself safe. But you needed to plan and design your own disguise. You need to come up with a story that doesn't give confusion or any cracks for people to get suspicious. Famous people like movie stars or scientist or anybody related to that stuff mostly do this to avoid getting attention.
With a warm and calm voice, she answered. "My name is Enid."
"Sounds good. Why did you save us? How are you still in control of yourself?"
"I saved you because I wanted to save you all. I was never the kind of hero or something but I still have the heart to save you all. And I'm losing a bit of my strength holding myself together. Everyday, I have to eat the creatures here. You've encountered them before. If I don't eat them, I'm going to turn into them. Turn into the void. But the more I eat, the closer I'm going to turn myself in. I'm glad you guys are safe, but I feel bad to see your friend die. Sorry that I'm too late to save all of you in one piece."
"Yeah. Wished he had enough time for you to arrive. He was a brave and cool friend to have a part of the team. He's always telling stories about greek gods and mythologies. He's a boxer too. I think he would consider you to be one of us."
"Really?"
"Yeah, of course. He kinda sometimes look scary to me in the night but he's a really good man." Geralt joins with us with a nervous look on his face. His eyes are tired as ours but they're wide enough for us to see his shining eyes. Enid returned smile on her face, but it faded away quickly in a short amount of time.
We finally left the building safely with her guidance. The bright shining sky brightens around us. Giving us the comfort of our safety. But still, we grieved the death of Ronald. Billy grieved the most out of everyone else. He kept muttering all over and over while we were following Enid. His mutterings, from what I can hear are apologize. "Billy. It's not your fault. I think he knew as well."
"No it is. I kept saying mean and horrible things to many of you but mostly it's on him. I just wanted him to think I'm strong and all. I'm lost Darwin. And I shouldn't have said those awful things. All I want was to show you all that I'm strong. But look at me. I'm bloody weak and I can't do anything to protect you all. All I can do is to just stand still and spout bullshit."
He began sobbing so terribly that it shocks me to my core. His face turning red and he fell to his knees, unable to stand back up. We all stopped to try to at least give him the comfort we wanted give him. We've never seen him in such a state like this. Throughout our times together, he always acts like a jerk but now he's crying right in front of us. I didn't know what else to do except to sit down next to him. Ronald's body is now pale in Cody's arms. His eyes were shut.
"I know how it feels, Billy." Rishika, already knelt down in front of Billy, said with a warm tone in her voice. This has got to be the 3rd or 4th time I've heard her say a full sentence. Either way, it was encouraging. Billy doesn't seem to be able to reply. None of us does. "I used to be harsh and cruel to others because I wanted them to accept me. But I was wrong because that's not how it works. We can both change together. It's ok to be on your good side. It won't be too bad. I think Ronald would like that too."
"Look at me. Do I look like I can?"
"We all can. It's just how we grow in life."
"I don't know. Ronald's dead and I'm left to be the one who carries his death on my back. I don't think he'll ever forgive me."
"No. We don't know that. But what matters is that you move on instead of staying behind. I know it's hard but you have to if you want to change. It's ok to be scared. We're all scared."
"Yeah. Even me too. I get scared a few times but that doesn't mean that others will look down on me." Geralt stutters a bit in his voice but kept the strength to say those words.
"Same here. Even that I'm this, I'm still scared too." Enid joins in with a sad look on her face. For someone like her, I thought she never felt fear. I guess there are others like her can feel that way.
I wanted to tell him something too. Something that feels connecting to each other that I don't want him to be left alone. "You don't have to do this alone. I'm scared too and that's alright because that's human. We can help you Billy. You're our friend. And I think Ronald would consider you as a friend too."
Billy wipes his tears away with his sleeve. We all sat there for a few seconds before Cody lays his hand on his shoulder, which makes Billy hug him back. "It's ok. We're here." Ronald's body lay on the boulder 5 feet away from us. Cody reaches his arms as a gesture for us to join in. We all did. So is Enid. I didn't think anything else but to be on Billy's side.
Suddenly, our moment was interrupted by a thunderous noise came out of nowhere. Enid's eyes are widened in terror. The world around us shook from the thunder. In the sky, the small clouds started to turn from grey to the color of blood. Enid jumps right up, catching a look above as we all stare into the sky. What I saw gave me enough imagination to fear whatever the unknown has.
Large gigantic shining eyes watch over the world below us from the sky. Its pupils are too big that they nearly reached the edge of their sockets. The grin of that thing gave me enough horror to freeze in my tracks. How nightmarish it is to see a gigantic abomination such as this in the morning and night. People would definitely scream and run all over the place while the cloud's face watches over them like a eldritch god.
By the time I stepped back, it turned its menacing eyes towards me. I felt like it was staring into my soul. My very soul in my body. Its own saliva dripping from its mouth. Hungry for our souls. It didn't move nor spoke a word. Thunderous noises kept coming from the abomination. They were red lightning and menacing. If people get hit by them, I'm pretty sure they'll turn into whatever nightmarish flesh creature they'll turn into.
"Guys! We have to go! There's not much time!" Edin ran and so we followed. Cody picked up Ronald's body with us. Billy gained back his strength to run. And I slowly started to run as I kept staring at its menacing eyes. It doesn't leave me alone. I don't see it following me or do anything than to smile with evil intentions. This is different than the ones we encountered. Not because of their looks. It's because I knew its intentions and the void creatures, I don't.
A great thunderous red beam shot out from the abomination's mouth and a loud boom can be heard far away from us. The sound snapped me out and I began to run as fast as I can, trying to keep up the pace of my friends and Enid.
Nothing else happened as we run to our exit. The thunderous noises kept booming around us as the clouds above slowly turned into blood red. A drop of rain hit my forehead. I touched it with my finger tip and saw blood. The rain is full of blood. I nearly slipped to the ground but my jacket was caught by Geralt. "Don't worry Darwin! I got you!" He pulled me up and ran.
The feeling of getting closer to something crept inside my chest that I began to feel the sensation of hope. Hope is said to be for the weak but I say otherwise. Hope may be a blind way to believe in something but sometimes it can be true to which we reach to something we can achieve.
Enid stopped in her tracks. There, right in front of us, was a pool of clean water. It doesn't make sense. It's raining blood and there, at the pool, it's clean. Droplets of blood dripped into the pool, then faded away into the clean water. We were shocked to see the pool to be clean in the middle of a shower of blood. The atmosphere suddenly turned red. Dark red flames started emerging around the world. It's everywhere and I can hear the distant screams behind me. The screams are hard for me to explain. They're like mixed with many variety of species all together into a rhyme of symphony.
I turned around to see something dark falling from the sky above into the ground like a falling star. The world shakes beneath us. I knelt down to get balance as I kept watching the falling darkness land onto the world. Far away, a dark silhouette rises from the ground. It looked to be tall. I could guess it's 4 feet taller than us. My eyes can't see clearly due to the silhouette being too far away. More of them began to rise as more fell from the abomination.
I turned myself around, nearly losing my balance. Cody held Rishika by the arm and Billy knelt beside Geralt. Enid reached her hands out into the pool. Sparks of bright light emitted from her arms, spreading light around her. The pool began to slowly swirl into a vortex as the sparks of light began to increase. The harsh blow of the wind hits us, making me fall to the ground.
Then, a bolt of light sparked into life in Enid's grip. The bolt was so bright that I shielded my eyes from it. It's so that I won't get blinded by the light. I looked back to see that something is walking towards us from far away of our tracks. I don't know if it's just me hallucinating or if it's really real. I think I can hear laughter. A humane laughter. It's like it came from a demon king. The dark silhouettes at the sky fly around with their wings.
Their wings are of a bat and their body was humanoid and blood red. Their mouths are menacingly enough to make me push myself away from it as far as I can. It shrieks so loudly that I can hear it from that distance. It began to fly towards us and its claws like a hawks are ready to grab one of us to feast on. I stood back up as the world turned still. I pulled out my hammer, ready to defend myself from it.
The demon nearly scratched my face before a bullet teared through the side of its brain. I turned my head to see Rishika, already wielding her sniper rifle. "I got you." She turned around and shot another bullet at another demon.
I heard a crushing noise coming from Cody. He slams his club right at a demons head, exploding it on impact. The demon wore an armor set of dark stones that could come from hell itself. It was carrying a blade that shines pure diamond. Geralt penetrating his spear at the demons chest, electrocuting it from a high voltage. "Holy shit! This is crazy!" A shout came from his voice. A voice of panic.
I turned around when I felt something was approaching me. There was a demon with 4 arms and held a large hammer, bigger than the one I wielded. Its face full of hatred that Its eyes glared into my soul. I quickly swung my hammer by the time it swings its own at me. Our hammers clashes together, making a loud slam around us. It swung again but I jumped away from its heavy blow. It's the good thing we had those boots. They're able to give us enough push to jump twice higher than the original person can.
I then swung my hammer directly at its face. I made impact as its face tears apart from the slam of my hammer. A crunching sound can be heard from its skull. Its head exploded into a pool of blood with scattered flesh and bones.
I landed on my feet and watched the world turned into the new hell as dark flames emitted everywhere around the buildings and the ground. More demons are rushing towards us in a pack. So many of them with many horrifying different forms. My body is shaking from the fear I had in me. I nearly dropped my hammer as sweat begins to appear on my hands. I bumped my back as I stepped behind. Geralt, Rishika, Cody, and myself are close together with our weapons in hand. They're all sweating with fear on their faces. There's too many of them for us to take them down. "Come on! Let's show those freaks what we're made of!" Shouted Geralt. By the times we raised our weapons and the demons now 10 feet away from us, a bright blue flame blazes the demons. They scream in pain and hatred as they slowly melted into a sludge of fried flesh.
"I'm not going to let those bloody fuckers take you all away from me!" Billy's face is mixed with fear and anger. Feeling very glad that he joined us. If not for him, we would be brutally killed by the horrifying demons. Then, a loud burst of water and electricity emerged from behind us. Enid faces us with wide eyes. "Get in now!"
"Will it take us home!?" Geralt asks with a panic in his voice. I can see the sweat pouring down on Enid's face as she stares back at us in a hurry. "No but it'll take you somewhere safe! Somewhere you can start a new life!"
Cody, with Ronald's body in his arms, is the first to get in the portal. By the time he jumps into the portal in the pool, a flash of blue energy can be seen emerging out of it. Then goes for Geralt. He was scared at first as he cowers back. "Will I be hurt if I fall?"
"Don't worry. You'll be fine." And so, he jumps in and flashes of light emerges out.
Then goes for Billy. He looked back at Enid for a moment before he jumps into the portal.
Lastly, Rishika stops near the edges of the pool. She turned around to see Enid with a hurried look on her face but also with relief. "Thank you Eddie." Then she jumps into the portal.
Did I just heard her right? Did she just said my lost friend's name. "What did she just say?"
She looked at me with a sad look in her blue eye. I felt a connection between us, as if we've known each other. I don't understand. Why would Rishika say his name. Enid is a woman to say the least or she's really something else. A sudden memory flashed before my eyes.
I remembered the time Eddie shape shifted into the Ice cream man. It was a time when we were young. We both got the ice cream we wanted just for free without anyone noticing. It was funny but also worrying because we could get caught. But that never happened and still felt funny every time I remember that day.
"Eddie? You're Eddie." She nodded in reply. A gesture of yes. Then, right in front of my eyes, she formed into a grown up version of Eddie. The Eddie I remembered. My heart felt shocked as to what I've just learned. I ran to her and hugged her deeply than I could've ever done. We both hugged for a moment until she gently pushes me off. Tears started to appear beneath my eyes. I don't know what I was feeling but what I can say was joy. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I knew you would drag me with you If I tell you. You have to understand that I have to stay here. This is where I belong and I'm too dangerous to be with you."
"But we can figure things out together! We can go back to hanging out with each other! Play video games! Explore the world! Everything!"
"No Darwin. We can't. I'm a part of the void and I'm slowly losing myself. My left part of my face is nearly turning into the void."
"But we can fix that! We just need to find the answers to how we can get you better! I can't! I don't want to lose you again! I-"
"Darwin!" A shout came from his voice. I stopped with chills freezing behind my back. He looked at me in the eye with sadness. "I can't go back. I'm sorry I was never there for you when you graduated. I'm sorry for never waiting for you outside of school. I'm sorry for everything we could've done but we haven't! I have to save you. Even if it costs me my life. I don't want to lose you either. You have to go Darwin. There's nothing that can change my mind."
I thought I could finally bring him back. To do the things we've never have yet done. Here and now, this is our last time together. This is our last time to see each other again. He protected me wherever I go here. He saved me in order for me to live. I can't let him die here. I don't want him to be gone from me.
I hugged him tightly, not wanting to let go. Tears dripped down from his eyes and onto my head. I can feel the pain in my chest starting to rise but I didn't let go. "I'm sorry Darwin. You have to let me go. You can choose. I won't stop you."
He's right. I can't keep him with me. Throughout my life I wanted to see him again. Every night, I look out the window to see if he's there but there's no one but cars and houses. I can't keep doing this. I really have to let go. Tears pours rapidly beneath my eyes. I let go and wiped the tears from my face. "I guess this is a goodbye then."
A sad smile plastered on his face. The world around us slowly turned into darkness. The kind of darkness in hell. "It is Darwin. I'm so happy to see you again."
"Well oh well!! Look at what we have here!" A very modern European accent voice of a man emerged from the world before us. We turned to see a man with a worn off brown coat. His hat looked to be as old as the ancient times. And his face. His face made my stomach turn. Bandages wrapped around his face, except for his terrifying grin. His teeth rotten to the very core of his rotten body. I stepped behind Eddie with the hammer in my hands. The man grins much wider than I anticipated.
"You must be wondering. Who am I? Well. I'm the one and only, Cain. You might've heard me from a very recognizable book. Also, I'm afraid you two are coming with me. We have a lot to discuss and a ton of things to do together." With that, he started laughing like a total maniac. His herds of demons followed with a laugh.
"Goodbye Darwin." Eddie suddenly pushes me off into the bright blue vortex that'll be my exit. I took one last glimpse of Eddie standing before Cain. As I fell into the portal, I can hear the echoing laughter of Cain and his demons. I screamed out for Eddie but my voice was out of reach.
Then, I landed on my back on the ground. The portal disappeared before me. I quickly stood back up and reached to where the portal had opened. It was gone. I looked around to see that I'm on a hill. The dark blue night sky displayed above me with the stars shining above. My mind racing with thoughts and fear. Witnessing Eddie being alone to fight against the evil we are meant to escape from. I screamed into the sky as tears rapidly starts to appear. I fell to my knees onto the grass floor and slam my hands at the ground as I wept. I kept screaming and sobbing until I was too exhausted that I fell to the ground. I heard footsteps before me. There were many.
My body being picked up by Billy in the arm as he carries me with him. "Darwin. What happened?"
The only words I can say now were."He's gone."
​
It's been 2 years since we left that world. The world we now stand upon was nearly the same as ours. What I mean by nearly was that there are strange phenomenons happening nearly every month. A girl who can turn into a form of a robot and killed a cancerous beast in Queensland. A military war criminal who considers killing the supernatural as a job. Even the real life wendigo sightings are on the news papers. Still though, the place is still good in the morning. Except in the night, there are sometimes threats we don't know in the dark.
We built a team together, even gather some new friends along the way. Rishika grew to be more expressive and a lot more kinder to us. The time we killed a literal Bigfoot, she gave me a fist bump. Gave me a chuckle and a smile on my face.
Billy was getting better everyday. He responds to us with kind words than insults like before. After Cody had buried Ronald's body in a proper, he said his words of goodbye to him and gave him the picture he secretly held with him. It was a picture of us hanging out in a movie place. It's heart warming and depressing to witness what he did there.
Cody went off to work as a psychologist. He's still with us. It's just that he wanted to help people's mental health issues. He did really well on that one and he even gave us some advice for a change. I wouldn't consider mostly on his advice but some I can really try. That's also where he met the girl who can turn into a robot. We've met after the news broke out about an incident of a wild destruction at Queensland. Forgot to mention, we're at Australia. Just to let you all know where we are.
Finally, Geralt took pictures everywhere we go and writes down in his diary. The reason he does this is that we're in another world and thought he could take pictures of them and reflect on them. Sometimes we even got to have a photograph of us in the middle of the good times. He said it was to keep memories of our times together. A frame with a picture of literally us huddled together in a bright sunny day in Canberra.
Me? I was building a portal device, for me to teleport to different worlds. It's going to take a long time for me yes. Been building other things lately with Rishika too. Weaponry, gadgets, devices, and fixing stuff. I stuck around with my friends and we've made a great team. Made new friends along the way and learnt many things too.
2 years ago, after my moment of grief, I woke up from my exhausted moment to see my friends standing before me with a relief on their faces. I nearly cried by the picture of that moment. After that, we both watched tv together in my new bedroom inside of a hotel room. After Rishika finds a new home for us, we moved out to Melbourne Victoria as a new place of our home. We moved in to a farm house where there is a larger basement for us to do our stuff. We knew we had to get a job at this point, so we did what we can to find one. It's a good thing there's a city nearby.
Rishika, Geralt, Billy, and I took the job as being a part of an investigation of the paranormal. That's how we managed to meet up with a bunch of new friends.
I missed Eddie. I wished he could come with me and didn't have to die. But, I learnt that I can't drag him with me. He wanted to stay there. I can understand that. I know he's gone already. It's hard to let go. But sometimes we have to. To live out our lives well. I have to look forward. To better myself through experience.
This is my message to you. My readers.
You better to stay where you are now. Don't go to other universes. Because maybe, you'll end up in the most horrifying places you never want to go.

Hey students, am a highly qualified and educated math tutor with nearly 7 years of tutoring. Have familiarized with some of the online educational software’s like: Pearson, Blackboard, my math lab, Hawkes learning, Web Assign, Aleks and Canvas. My work is timely and available 24/7. A refund is made with immediate effect in case I don’t meet your expectations. Reach me on the above platforms and you will enjoy our services. THANK YOU!

Hey students, am a highly qualified and educated math tutor with nearly 7 years of tutoring. Have familiarized with some of the online educational software’s like: Pearson, Blackboard, my math lab, Hawkes learning, Web Assign, Aleks and Canvas. My work is timely and available 24/7. A refund is made with immediate effect in case I don’t meet your expectations. Reach me on the above platforms and you will enjoy our services. THANK YOU!

Hey students, am a highly qualified and educated math tutor with nearly 7 years of tutoring. Have familiarized with some of the online educational software’s like: Pearson, Blackboard, my math lab, Hawkes learning, Web Assign, Aleks and Canvas. My work is timely and available 24/7. A refund is made with immediate effect in case I don’t meet your expectations. Reach me on the above platforms and you will enjoy our services. THANK YOU!

The black domes, they were pocket dimensions, which were completely detached from the material world. Bound to the stream of souls, flowing inside the ephemeral branches of the world tree, they presented a personal hell for each person cast into them. They are a limbo of regrets, the hell of one’s own making, places where the living meets the dead.
There’s only so many ways to elope them. One must either reconcile with the restless souls, or join them, succumbing to their rage and regret that they carried into their afterlife. After all, to even get there, one must possess unparalleled strength and resilience; and only those who had caused deaths and destruction on their path to greatness can even hope to get to this trial.
Freia, Flare, the First princess of Jioral. For some – a good friend, lover, and companion. For others – a nightmare embodied, a vessel of divine powers, a force to be reckoned with. She had many enemies: princes and princesses felled by her authority, treacherous servants and greedy nobles, the knights, who opposed her corruption, slavers and bandits, destroyed on her quest for redemption and restoration of herself… But there were more. Children she had burned, serving her kingdom, women who perished by the tides she conjured, men that had been torn apart by raging tornados of her making, elderly that were buried under the rubble she created…
And how did she oppose them?
“Flagella terram et vescere inimicis meis, o magnum tempestas ignis!” The sorceress chanted, spinning her staff above her head. Then, right before the raging mob reached her, she hid from them behind a vortex of fire. One move and this wave of heat would incinerate everything and everyone in this accursed realm. But…
“TRAITOR!”
“DON’T HIDE FROM US, FLA-A-A-ARE!”
“COME TO US, SISTER!”
“YOU WERE NEVER ONE OF US!”
“USURPER!”
“GIVE ME BACK MY MOM!””
“THE FALSE PRINCESS!”
“SUNNARI (die)!”
“THE DAUGHER OF A WHORE!”
“YOU SHOULD’VE ROT IN THE SLUMS!”
Curses and jealousy, bitterness and hatred. The chorus of tortured souls surrounding the fiery boundary couldn’t be silenced even by the roaring flame. There couldn’t be any redemption.
“I’m sorry for all of you, who unjustly died by my hand!..” And even though there were people deserving their apologies, those who had to perish in favor of Flare’s political ambitions, those she sacrificed to appease her tyrannical father…
“THEN JOIN US, FLARE!”
“PAPA! WHERE ARE YOU?! GIVE HIM BACK!”
“REPENT, BITCH! DISPELL YOUR WITCHCRAFT!!!”
“But I won’t give in to you!” The pink-haired woman exclaimed, absorbing mana into her staff. “Furthermore, there’re those of you I will never regret killing! And there are those, for whom I must live! I MUST GET OUT OF THIS PLACE!!!” Then, she slammed the lower tip of her weapon into the floor made of the absolute darkness. Instead of wailing, being consumed by fear, guilt, self-loathing, and, ultimately, perishing, Freia sundered this entire “world”. One magical strike from her, and cracks of white and gold covered the entire dome. The wall of fire faded, but when the vengeful spirits rushed forward to maul their prey, they crumbled into piles of black salt. “I’m so… so sorry!” The girl lamented, kneeling near the remains of children, whose future she stole. “But I… I must move forward. I must save…”
…
Sparks and crackling, whistle and dazzling – time and time again the surge of lightning breached through the veil of darkness.
“UO-O-O-O-O-O!!!” A guttural scream filled the oppressive silence under the dome. Eve Reese, so childish and bashful, so eager to prove herself, now wore a stone mask of indifference. “Nira-a-a (no-o-o)!!! Yuarmta (I won’t forgive you)!!!” Cornar yelled, held still by at least seven shadows, he had been tortured, killed, bruised, smitten by the raging element of lightning. No longer did the girl see him as a threat; no longer did she cower at the feet of her former husband. Maybe, Eve was condemned to getting back her memories as a means of punishment, something that would make her sympathize with this petty little tyrant…
“Yuarm yau (I don’t need your forgiveness).” The Me-ua kahul spoke, looking at her crackling right arm, trembling with power and guilt combined. Not for forsaking her would-be-spouse, not for becoming Panakea’s pawn…
These souls, these loyal shadows – turned out, she never called upon them… until the very end. Her subjects, her brethren… Eve feared that if she let them out, they would tear her tyrannical husband into little pieces.
“Haa… Haa…” And now, she had to choose. To turn around and let someone else fix her problem, or… “Haa… HAA!!! HAA!!! HAA!!! SUNI (I’ll kill you)!!!”
A Punch to the maw, to the chest, through the ribs, to the heart! He didn’t die! He couldn’t die here! This scumbag of a man, this monster just wouldn’t go away! No matter how much pain she caused him, no matter how many times she slit his throat, broke through his torso, shocked him with spells, cut him with magical light…
And what of Cornar?
“A-A-A-A-A!!! A-A-AGH!!! HA-HA-HA-A!!! NA SHENBATA, SETOAN (you can’t get rid of me, woman)!!!” The son of Hakuo never relented. He relished in his immortality, laughed through the hellish torments Eve inflicted upon him. The skinned lion spotted a weakness in Eve’s heart, and he pressed at it, as if breaking the girl would get him back to the world of the living…
No, he wanted to take Eve to the world of dead.
“Gha-a-a-a… Agh-h-h…” The queen-to-be grabbed her forehead, her rugged breath not only siphoned all the focus out of her, threatening to cast the girl into a pit of despair, it also deteriorated her control over the mana she wielded. Unlike the city of salt, there was enough ambient magic to harvest here, but doing so would require skills, precision, and, most importantly, personal discipline and control over one’s own mind.
“Praibi, orna Iblis (Drain yourself, my Iblis)!” The prince of Batnara shashu tribe provoked, feeling the grip of the shadows losing its strength. A little more, and he’d be free… A little more…
“Hm…” But Eve wouldn’t relent. She once again covered her arm in a coat of magical lightning. She would never surrender; the queen would never let anyone treat her like a slave ever again. Not after Keyaruga’s perseverance taught her a lesson of resilience. Not after his gentleness, however tainted by his wounds, showed her what true love should look like.
She took a swing, prepared to strike…
“…” But then, two winged shadows stopped her hand. Amda and Sana, they were barely recognizable in their spiritual forms… but Eve would never mistake her parents for anyone else. They couldn’t speak, yet they still communicated with their daughter through other means. Emotions, wishes, urges – they never wished such evil to befall their daughter, but what they hated even more – was to see their child descend into the same pit.
“I… I don’t… have to?..” They asked her to stop, to let them relieve her of that burden. “B-but!.. No! You will die!” The girl snarled, grabbing her parents in a hug. She knew what was to come – her mother, father – they wished to sacrifice themselves to drag Cornar back to the afterlife. But that… wouldn’t that mean she’d lose them all over again? Wouldn’t…
“…”
“Yes! You’re dead! So what?! What do I?..” The feeling of pain and powerlessness engulfed the verdant woman. Barely had she found the strength to stand before her fallen tribe, before those who she desired to see the most now left her.
“YOTJAR (finally)!!!” With Eve’s will getting weaker, so did the shadows of her ethereal court. Her tyrannical husband finally broke free, slamming and stomping her shadows, as they fruitlessly tried stopping him. Amda and Sana Reese hugged their child for the last time… and now they stood up to defend their precious daughter. That is… the least they could do.
…
Freia broke inside another dome. From the outside, they looked like bright constellations of stars, formed on the points of a massive, galactic-scaled pentagram. The personal chamber for each of the contenders. One was broken from the inside, collapsing inwards, into a black hole with an orange halo – this was Freia’s dome. There were four more. Two were dimmed, two still shone brightly. The Hero of Magic travelled through this empty space, lit by numerous distant stars. In her current form, things like speed, form, and time – none of them mattered, aside from her destination. And now, she had to choose one of the two luminous chambers.
…
What is true power? Does one determine this abstract concept by the weight one can lift with their muscles? Maybe it was the charisma necessary to lead the masses? Enough money to influence others? Authority earned or inherited?
“Well-well-well…” Whatever the answer truly was, Ellen had none of it right now. No strength to fight, no troops to hide behind, and certainly – those who opposed her now had little if any need of whatever amount of gold she now carried.
“WENCH!”
“TANOUTUR (murderer)!”
“NEZAH (why)?!”
“MERA RIVARO (my life)!..”
“YAU MA (how dare you)!”
“YOU’LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE, BITCH!!!”
Oh, they came for Norn. There were hundreds, if not thousands of them, some she could recall from her Murian and Teuteccain campaigns – the series of expansions past the great wall; others were the court warlords she and John unseated in her ascension; rebellious villagers too came to exact their revenge on the younger princess, after her demons decimated them; and there were the victims of Buranikka’s carnage. This was the mountain of corpses Norn Clatalissa Jioral used to climb onto the very peak of political power…
“Now then, what do you want from me? An apology? Maybe my penance?” Even now, surrounded by countless dead souls, whose entire being now revolved around their grudge, the girl wouldn’t let herself be crushed by their rage. Not mentally, at least.
“DIE!”
“MAN WOR YAKSI (give me your eyes)!”
“SUFFER, YOU MONSTER!”
“I JUST WANTED TO LIVE!!!”
And so, hundreds of voices began howling in unison. So passionate, so eager to share their hardships and aspirations, that Ellen actually started pitying them a little. So many words, so much pain in them.
“Haa… I guess, that something like this was bound to happen someday. Well…” Instead of listening to the rest of the traumatizing nonsense and wailing, the crimson-headed cutie just began… to simply undress. “I don’t have the power to struggle, I can’t break out of here, and all of you came here for me. So go on. Rape me, maul me, kill me, do whatever you want. I’ve already done everything I wanted.” Ellen, now naked and completely defenseless, stretched out on the ethereal black floor, looking into the endless black void above her. The raging souls now came closer and closer, dozens of faces now loomed above her, as their hands reached out to grab the fallen warlady and tear her apart. This… was the end.
Keyaruga, Setsuna, sister… I hope you won’t miss me too much.
And so, she closed her eyes. Time to finally die.
…
…
…
There was no pain, nobody dragged the girl around, not even a single blow fell upon her. Ellen was… safe?
“A-A-A-A!!!”
“UGH-H-H!!!”
“YOLA-A-A-A-A (it hu-u-u-urts)!!!”
Slice and dicing, the ripping of flesh and clattered bones, “death” of a sort, dealt to the undying, torment for the tormented who themselves wished to inflict suffering upon her – someone kept the restless souls away from the princess. Someone precise, fast, and masterful with his tools of mayhem.
“Haa, is that you, Organ?” Ellen asked sullenly. Denied her excruciating retribution once more, she could only cover her tightly shut eyes with her palms.
“How did you know, Your Highness?” Indeed, it was him. As brutal as he was gallant, the deceased demigod was the only one out of these dead souls, who spoke to her, and not wailed at her like some sort of a beast.
“I know only two men, who’d come for me here, and the other isn’t so discreet, you moron.” The young general replied, opening her eyelids. The first thing she saw was the Champion of Jioral, covered in black blood. His prized amber eyes were no more, only black gaping holes were there instead. “Why’re you here? Do you want a piece of me for yourself?” The girl asked, still unwilling to stand up. Honestly, she felt robbed at this moment. This would be such a fitting end for her, but no! “Don’t tell me you’ve just barged in here to… Pff! PROTECT… me.” The second princess spat these words through her painfully clenched teeth.
“First things first, Lady Norn, I suggest you cover your shame and cease this indecency.” The warrior spoke, piercing and slashing the mob with his sword, impaling them with his hidden blade, tossing them back with his kicks. He was far from his prime form, and so, wounds and sores, cuts and lesions were left on him, as he, alone, overpowered dozens of raging men and women, keeping them away from the girl he swore to protect. Indeed… “Forgive me, princess, but I made a vow to your mother, and death is hardly a valid reason to…”
“YAKS… (giv…) A-A-A-A!!!”
“…to renounce my…”
“DOKI-I-I (step away)!!!”
“…loyalty to her!”
Despite everything, no matter the odds, Hawkeye continued to push back the angry spirits. He couldn’t dodge, as every missed blow could land on the lady, he couldn’t step back, as she needed protection more than any time in her life, and, certainly, sustained by this oppressive dimension, he couldn’t die. He couldn’t kill anyone, as they just rose anew from their own black blood, but the man couldn’t retreat.
“He-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh…” The princess chuckled, curling her torso in order to sit up. It hurt her stomach, but the girl persevered nonetheless. “Why am I always surrounded by stupid stubborn men, who just can’t help but dingle their balls before me? Seriously, a dead man, upholding a promise to a dead woman, how much more ridiculous can this get?” The girl scoffed, pulling back her panties, bra, and whatever she left lying around, back on. After all, why even bother now? “Be honest, idiot! What do you want from me?”
“I came here…”
Slash, backflip, tackle, toss – Organ Trist twirled around his commander, pushing back everyone, who came too close to his prized princess.
“…to ask you, Lady Norn!..”
Shoulder slam, side-kick, a flurry of bloodshed embodied in the son of Artemis!
“…to save my…”
Stabbing enemies with that hidden blade, crushing their skulls with the handle of his blade, ripping their eyes out and tossing them away – however useless this double-sided brutality may seem, Hawkeye had purpose, skill, and, most of all, conviction, that allowed him to push the mob away.
“…daughter! Save Marianna!”
After all, what can be stronger, than a father, eager to protect his dear child?
“And you think keeping me alive will help you with that? You, moron, this bloated pigeon trapped me here! I have only one way out – fucking death!” The second princess, now properly clothed again, yelled however loud she could. Unable to comprehend the reasoning behind this idiocy, the girl just stood there, pulling her crimson hair. “Also, you’re severely mistaken! I’m not Norn! Norn’s dead! My name is…”
“…Elly! Elly-y-y!!!” Barely had the princess opened her mouth; before the dome had been breached from the outside. The Hero of Magic emerged above the ground. She levitated, using magical blue flames; she secured her sister by forming a wall around her, a barricade made from powerful ice spears. The sorceress even went so far as to send one into the undead Champion, it was one he easily avoided, though. “Step away from my sister, Organ!!!” The raging magician demanded, pulling her sibling towards her with a gust of mystical wind.
“Ghh! Oh, hey there, Friea!” The fallen warlady spoke, bracing herself against the dizziness her brief flight had caused. Still, this didn’t look good. The last time those two met, Hawkeye severely injured the pink-haired girl, and she just wouldn’t live through it again, unless two gods appeared to help her. This time, though, it was her turn to be a deity-savior.
“Get away! You’ve bested me once, but this time, I can crash this entire realm down onto your head!” The Hero of Magic promised, putting her staff between her sister and her enemy.
“Aw shit, this just gets better and better…” The little genius lamented, nervously shaking her head. Not only was her glorified suicide rudely interrupted, but now this situation threatened to kill her sister as well. Still…
“Elly, Elly… Ellen? Ellen the Adopted?” Despite Freia’s expectations, Organ Trist was more interested in the new name she called Norn, rather than anything else, really. He already had his fair share of battles, after all. “Ho-ho-o! I guess, in the end, you really did become the better version of yourself! And the ‘brother’ in question – is that sir Keyaru?” The blinded man asked with the same smugness he once boasted with in his grandiose life.
“What’s the point of answering you now? Aren’t we just traitors to you?” The heroine replied with every bit of animosity she had in her. “Hold on, Elly, I’ll get you out of here.” Freia stated, charging her staff with the magic that shaped this entire “world”.
“Heh, aren’t you afraid of what that damn poisoned pigeon might do to you for breaking her rules?” The crimson-haired cutie scoffed, witnessing the entire black dome covering with cracks.
“I don’t care about her rules! All I want is to see you safe!” The sorceress spoke with even more defiance toward Caladrius than Norn ever had in her. If needed, she would challenge this feathered nightmare to a duel, anything, just to save her family.
“I see…” Hawkeye uttered, kneeling before the two girls. All that time, rather than monitoring Freia’s moves, his supernatural senses were aimed outside, to make sure no restless souls cross the fence of magic ice. But now… “I see your eyes, Princess Flare, they’re just like hers. I’m sure; you’ll make Lady Reeharoze proud of you yet.” Now, before he once again departs to the other side, there was one last thing to tell them. First praise, then a claim… “Lady Ellen, I beg of you. The life of Marianna now lies in your hands.” …and finally a plea. With all that said, Organ Trist crumbled, his body turned into black salt. And with it, the entire realm began to collapse in itself…
“Hold tight, Elly…”
…
And now, there was only one dark dome left. Arguably, the worst of them all, this particular world was to be the prison for Keyaruga… or his cemetery. No doorways to run into, no windows to jump from. He was alone, trapped with hundreds of those who were slain by his hand. Those poor bastards – the restless souls, their minds were so obsessed with hatred, and their grudge – powered by the sheer immortality of their ethereal blackened bodies. This was hell in its purest form. The question is – a hell for who, exactly?
“YE-E-E-E-E-EAH!!! IT’S HEALING TIME!!!” Keyaruga snarled and began splattering blood all over the place. Everyone who was touched by that substance became horribly mutated – their heads bloated, their muscles strained so much, they crushed their very bones! “WHAT’S WRONG?! KILL ME!!! KILL ME NOW!!!” The man demanded, dancing around his would-be tormentors with his blade, blessing his foes with the exquisite gift of perpetual agony! Saber in his right hand, Georgius on his left, one complementing another.
Despite what the lad asked, nobody could bring him down. His immortal flesh defied any blade, his bones healed in an instant, his mad frenzy alleviated any pain.
He thought he could kill his enemies for the second and final time, give them proper death in the most excruciating manner. He was wrong…
“DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! AGAIN! AND AGAIN! AND ALL OVER AGA-A-A-A-AIN!!!” The hero yelled chopping off heads and severing limbs! He killed so many, he couldn’t even count the slayings! He murdered the same people over and over, each time their agony being more exquisite then the last!
Kill a man once, he won’t even notice, his rage will only rise! Kill him thrice – he’d waver! Five – and the seeds of fear are sown. Ten – and he’s broken completely!
Keyaruga just couldn’t help himself, he hated these scum so much, he just couldn’t contain all his passionate hatred. It was so strong, that the feeling of pure, raw, primordial wrath transcended every possible modification he had put into himself.
“A-A-A-A-A!!! UGH-H-H-H-H!!!” A soldier was weeping, hugging his boot. “S-S-S-S-SPA-A-A-ARE ME-E-E!!!”
“YO-O-OU!!! I remember you!” The healer spoke, raising the cretin by his neck. “My first kill! You watched me being raped, drugged… BEATEN!!!” The man yawped, slicing off his upper face with one nimble slice. “AND YOU NEVER!!! EVER!!! EVER FUCKING HELPED ME!!!” The lad, tainted by black and red blood, slammed the sentry into the ‘floor’…
“A-A-A-A-A!!! PLE-E-E-EASE!!!” …and gleefully sliced off his arms, ignited sparked his left armored hand into a gauntlet of blazing heat!..
“GU-GHH-GUU!!! UA-A-A-A-A-A-A!!!” And finally, cauterized the wounds, just so that the retard wouldn’t die too soon.
“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!!!” The crazed avenger yelled, grabbing Leonard, so conveniently nearby, weeping. “YOU SAID, I’VE DONE NOTHING FOR THIS FUCKING KINGDOM?! I’LL SHOW YOU, WHAT I CAN DO NO-O-OW!!!”
And so he did, the madman rested his two fingers on the sadist’s forehead. A second passed, and a purple spark had announced the richest form of suffering.
“Oh… U-u… Uo-o-o-o-o-o… Khh…” Indeed, although it wasn’t as vocal as previous ones, Keyaruga was more than pleased with the result. He knew of a human having specific nerves, specifically for reacting to pain. And he just overloaded them. Toxic spiders, dangerous medusas, venomous snakes and scorpions – all of them could do that with their poisons. Hell, even Keyaruga could brew neurotoxins. But damn, this thing had one ultimate merit compared to all of those – the instant effect, so potent, in fact, that the victim can’t even cry out from the excruciating pain!
“He-e! That’s a neat trick.” The lad mumbled, approaching a maid, lying on the “floor” like an embryo. Flare’s bodyguard shivered and sucked her thumb, completely lost to this twisted world. Just one little touch… “Pam! You’re already dead!” Keyaruga sneered tapping his armored fingers by her temple.
“Uh… Uh… Ugh… W… Wha-?.. A-A-A-A-A-A-AGH-H-H!!!” The woman grabbed her skull, but it was too late. All the blood, bile, and even marrow now came into her brain, bloating it, up until it burst in a fountain of black blood and shining entrails.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!! I FUCKING LOVE IT!!!” The deranged healer laughed so loud, and his presence was so overwhelming now, that nobody even dared to come close to him, let alone attack, unless they wished to become a victim of a new twisted experiment. Oh, their fear, this agonizing panic! They’re giving me a fucking boner! I wanna fuck! I want a woman! Oh, this! This will do nicely!
And so, Keyaruga dropped his saber, unfastened his belt, ripped the dress, slapped that ass which he had found, grabbed it, pushed it in! The woman with a blackened tail was slowly dying of blood loss, but that barely concerned the lad. He grabbed her pelvis and began to move, so fast, so frantic, and so mindless, that no one could see a human in him. No-o, this was a wild beast, slamming his bulging cock into the defenseless female, too tired to react, let alone resist somehow. She wasn’t even tight, just barely warm, but even that was enough. A few minutes of such suffering inflicted on her, and he came, this was a brilliant orgasm, deeply perverted, and twisted to the very core…
Oh, that’s the fucking best! I love it so much!
Keyaruga grabbed her hand, wiped his penis with it, pull back his pants, and…
I don’t remember her. I wonder, who that is.
He pushed the body, rolling it to the back.
“Ha-a-a… Hello again, Kailia…” The mad lad recognized her instantly. An agent, sent to find and assist Eve Reese in her quest, hired by someone named Carol. But that alone wouldn’t be enough to get Keyaruga to brutally rape her. “You’ve killed my Norn, but I spared you. Heh, after Kali left, I tasked you to ward off whoever they sent after my Eve, but… It seems like you’ve failed. Really, really sad.” The healer spoke, resting his left hand on her dying flesh, recovering it in an instant. And just like that… “Oh, fuck!” She nearly stabbed him with a knife. Gods only knew where she got it from… “Sit still.” But then, Keyaruga just pressed his finger on her forehead, and completely shut down her limbs functions. He pitied her… but could do nothing for this miserable leopard woman.
“Haa… Damn, it’s getting boring here.” The hero lamented, picking up his weapon of choice. At this point, he just put it back in its sheath. Only then did he spot a couple of new faces in the crowd of weeping bastards. “You there! You don’t look like you should be here. What’s… wait…”
“STAY AWAY FROM ME, MONSTER!!!” The woman cried, she was weeping into her man’s now tainted shirt.
“Heh! He-heh! No-no-no-o! Oh no-o-o!” Keyaruga frantically shook his head, unable to believe what he just saw. This was the worst. This… “Anna! Kurt! What… What’re you even doing here?! I… I avenged you! You shouldn’t have…” His parents were there, they stood among the thugs, slavers, robbers, bandits, zealots, murderers… But they… they weren’t one of them…
“You killed us, traitor. You raped my wife, after everything she’s done for you. You’re disgusting little shit!” The mighty harvester told him, pointing his war-scythe at the hero. The only thing that held him at bay, though, was his spouse, loudly crying with black tears pouring from her eyes.
“Heh… You… really think I’d…”
“No. But you’ve proven it.” Kurt spoke with the coldest possible rage in his voice. Keyaru’s cruelty couldn’t be doubted, after all. Not after everyone he maimed this day. “I don’t give a fuck, what the hell is wrong with you, but I’ll slice your guilty ass as many times as I need.” The older man spoke, pushing Anna aside. And then, he lunged.
Kurt struck as a true warrior – he was swift, accurate, precise – his war scythe – basically a reforged farming tool, grazed Keyaruga’s torso, cut his leg, he even stabbed his foster son through his chest. But… there was no blood.
“Calm down, you two.” The hero demanded, stoically taking hit after hit, like the heavy glaive-like blade was nothing. While Anna crumbled to her knees, lost in her weeping, Kurt wouldn’t stop attacking. “You can’t kill me, I’m immor-…” Barely did the lad say so; before his foster father grabbed the handle in a wide grip, and just swept his head off with one precise strike.
“NO-O-O-O-O-O-O!!!” Strangely enough, despite all of the delusions his parents had about him, Anna just couldn’t stand seeing her child being killed so brutally. “A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A!!! WHY-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y?!!!” As Keyaru’s head rolled on the ground, the thugs, at least those who weren’t affected by any of hero’s inventive afflictions, started to get rallied again.
“You had it coming, you ungrateful dipshit!” Kurt spat through tightly closed teeth. He couldn’t watch, couldn’t face what he had to do with his adopted prodigy. Even if he was a criminal. Even if…
“I really did…” But the bastards weren’t enjoying the show for too long. Right when the healer seemed to fall, a new body started to grow from his neck-stump, the clothes, the pouches, the weapons – everything turned into ash just to materialize again on the proudly standing conqueror of death itself.
“What devilry is this?” Kurt’s reaction was understandable. A mix of fear, anger, and disgust, was all over his tainted face. In turn…
“KEYARU-U-U-U!!!” Anna just dashed forward to hug her child. No matter, how disgustingly atrocious his resurrection was, without even looking at the beheaded body that now lied nearby, the woman just went ahead and embraced the lad. She… didn’t seem to be in her right mind, even for a dead soul.
“Anna, I… I…” The shivers began taking a hold of him. His hands, his knees – they trembled so much, this simple touch he though he lost forever, this… This was enough to make him cry. “I’m sorry… I’m so, so, so, so-o-o sorry!..”
“DIE, FUCKER!!!”
“THAT YOU HAVE TO SEE ME DOING THIS!!!” Keyaruga yelled, grabbing Leonard by his wrist. Just a little pressure – and he dropped his sword, the weapon faded into nothingness. Then, the man pushed Anna back, punched his foe in the gut, and proudly showed his captive to his family. “Haa… He-heh! He-e-e… This… This is Leonard, Flare’s… right hand…” The hero spoke, this time trying to maintain his sanity, as his parents now cautiously looked at him. “I… I came from the future! I had to rewind time’s flow itself… Because Flare was evil, and he…” Then, the man put his hand onto the barely struggling imbecile, thus transforming him into Keyaru, the motionless child, whose entire mobility, except for breathing, was shut down for the ease of what he was about to do. “I killed Flare! And he took my guilt. Then…” Afterwards, the healer went ahead and summoned raging flames upon his free hand. Kurt and Anna watched motionlessly, as he placed the magic-shrouded palm onto his ‘own’ face, burned it, scourged the blackened flesh with the sorcery he ‘learned’ from Flare… “My trick was revealed, and he headed out to our village, looking just like me. The rest… you know the rest.”
And finally, Keyaruga dropped the motionless doll, unable even to cry out from the excruciating pain the Hero of Healing inflicted upon it. He then faced his parents, still shocked by such a display of merciless brutality, they couldn’t even properly reply, this entire spectacle of bloodshed, mayhem, rape, torture, demonstration of immortality, and now – proofs of metamorphosis – all of that left them utterly silent.
“Kurt, Anna… I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you… But I can’t let you, or any one of these fuckers keep me here! I… I have a family! Freia, Setsuna, Ellen, Eve – I so wanted you to meet them… But you can’t now. You… might not believe me, and I understand that.” The red-eyed lad uttered, as his posture slouched more and more, along with his fading bravery. “This is what it’s like to be a man! I must be strong! I have to be ruthless now, so that nobody would challenge me in the future!” The man added, now turning his back to his foster parents. He stood straight, he stretched his shoulders, took a deep breath, and… “LISTEN HERE, YOU FUCKING MONSTERS!!! WHAT YOU’VE FELT NOW IS BUT A TINY BIT OF WHAT I’LL DO TO YOU, ONCE I’M FUCKING DEAD!!! NOW YOU WILL GO INTO THE DEEPEST PITS OF HELL, AND WHEN YOU’RE THERE, PRAY I DON’T FUCKING DIE ANYTIME SOON!!! BECAUSE WHEN I FINALLY KICK THIS SHITTY BUCKET, I’LL FIND EACH OF YOU, AND WE’LL BE PLAYING FOR THE WHOLE OF ETERNITY!!! BUT WHY WAIT, WHEN WE CAN HAVE SOME FUN NOW, HU-U-U-UH?!!!”
The speech was told, the impact made. His words were so zealous, so passionately intimidating, that the weeping fools now reached a whole new depth of despair.
“GET US OUT OF HERE!!!”
“SAVE ME-E-E-E!!!”
“HE’S THE DEVIL!!! DE-E-EVIL!!!”
“UA-A-A-A-A-A-A!!!”
“KUUNDA (I’m so scared)!!!”
“HE-E-E-E-E-ELP!!!”
And so, this entire crowd, this mob of immortal corpses, just ran away. Everyone, who could still stand on their feet, began fleeing in panic, trampling each other in the process. What they failed to notice, though, is that the dome is endless only for its main victim. Everyone else just came up against the invisible wall.
The Trial of Heart – its goal is twisted, to be certain. To pass it would mean releasing the dead souls from their grudge toward you. A saint would shift it to forgiveness, but the deranged avenger pumped so much fear in those criminals, that their hatred was replaced by the purest and most animalistic terror. Still, with the task done, the souls began to dissipate in a white light. They would finally be free…
“REMEMBER!!! YOU’VE NOT SEEN THE LAST OF ME!!! WE’LL MEET AGAIN, YOU FUCKING SHITBAGS!!!” Unfortunately for them, though, Keyaruga’s long shadow still loomed above them all. And such, even in relief, the crowd continued to cry, to sob, to wail, to…
“Keya… ru…” But not all left because of dread. When the avenger turned around, his foster mother, crumbling into white flakes, stood on her tiptoes to give him a last kiss on the cheek. “You’ve grown… so much…”
And so, she faded. Kurt quickly followed, although it wasn’t forgiveness or benevolence that filled his raging soul. No, it was an impotent acceptance. He saw Keyaruga as a mirror, in which he saw himself, before he deserted the royal guard and found himself in Alban.
“Someday… you’ll follow my path…” And this was what the man spoke at last, dropping his war-scythe to the ethereal ground. With no souls to redeem in the most twisted of ways, the dome of blackness quickly turned insufferably bright.
The Trial of Heart had been passed.

I had been going through my old inventory on Nintendo DS games because I was going to sell some of the ones that I didn’t play anymore and I was checking the progress on all of them and noticed I had barely started playing pokemon Y so I pressed start and sat down on my bed. The loading screen like usual played and I skipped through it to the last point i had been at being right before getting my starter, I picked a fennekin because I have a soft spot for foxes and I planned on doing a magician themed run. The game played out as normal but then when I arrived at Professor Sycamore’s Lab, I had gotten into the battle with Proffesor Sycamore and just decided on Squirtle since I already had my grass poison type Budew, fire type Braixen, and a psychic fairy type ralts, but thats when the game began acting weird, my pokemon weren’t attacking, they weren’t over leveled, just not attacking and a pop up text would say (pokemon name) is scared I made it through the battle barely with all of my pokemon in the red or yellow for hp and then remembered about the ghost girl on the second floor and had went down to that floor although as I went down the elevator my DS got the low battery notification even though it was just at full “what the heck!” I continued playing a bit frustrated but then I noticed the elevator had been taking longer than usual and then the old school poison flashing screen had happened accompanied by all of pokemon fainting except for my budew who luckily was one of the pokemon in yellow health although i was confused because none of my pokemon were poisoned by Professor Sycamore’s pokemon although I just shrugged it off. I made it to the second floor and I see the ghost girl cutscene except something was different, she was leaving a trail of purple and instead of her usual “you are not the one” she said “You are the one, Connifer” Connifer is my real life name so I was confused even more because I put Wynter as my in game name and also she said you ARE the one, not, You are not the one but then a battle began and it said Ghost Girl wants to battle. I sent out my budew being my only pokemon and tried to use leech seed but it said Ghost Girl was unaffected so i tried to use mega drain, Ghost Girl was unaffected, I used watersport in case the Ghost Girl knew any fire type moves and then she attacked with a move i have never seen before, You are not the one which made my screen flicker and when it turned back to being lit up, my character stood where my budew was, i opened up the attack menu and had seen my only move, struggle, so i tried to struggle but it did nothing and my character appeared in worst condition after I took the recoil damage, i used struggle again my character looked even worst but then the ghost girl moved closer, I struggled twice more and my character looked terrible and had been on there knees and looked bruised as if they had been punched and kicked over and over again and the ghost girl moved closer I was forced into using struggle again because the run and the items button weren’t there and by that point my character had been bleeding and I was forced into struggling again and the ghost girl moved closer and my character had been in even worse condition to the point where they had been bleeding all over the body I winced out of fear because of how brutal it looked, and thats when i heard that a move was used i unwinced to see that the Ghost Girl used you are not the one and my player character was nowhere to be seen and then heard a the doorbell ring, i put my ds in sleep mode and then had checked out the door and saw a box labeled, to “connifer”, your corpse, i was scared to even open the box but i managed to anyways and inside was a plant but below that plant was a chopped up human corpse, i almost vomited st the site of it but held it in realizing that the plant was the budew and the chopped up corpse was my player character though had scared me too much and i vomited, i grabbed a knife and ran up to my room where my ds sat on the bed and saw that it left sleep mode but the ghost girl wasn’t there but the battle screen was. I turned around to look to the closet to see if anything or anyone was there but there wasn’t anything i turned back around to my ds and then i looked up and saw the ghost girl standing above the ds and said through a deranged grin “you are the one” and then lept at me, i held up the knife and it stabbed her through the arm but she seemed unfazed so i tried to stab her in the chest but she was still unfazed so i just threw the knife into her and pushed her off me and tried to run but my hallway seemed endless and she soon caught up and grabbed me by the neck and stabbed me through the chest, i winced and then kicked at her I looked to my room and saw that my celebi plushie had began to levitate like in the games and it cried out a high pitched song, Celebi used perish song, the Celebi then fell to the floor as if it fainted and the Ghost Girl yelled in pain as i kicked at its legs as it dropped me to the floor causing it to fall and it began to shoot out thick black smoke, I did it, well Celebi did it, I stood up and walked to the bathroom to apply a bandage and clean the stab wound after i had gotten all taken care of i walked over to my celebi plush and thanked it while giving it a hug but then i heard the doorbell ring, i walked over to the door and saw that it was another package this time it simply said to wynter, i opened it and a pokeball and a max revive were inside along with some parts that looked like a pokemon healing machine that nurse joys have, i walked to my room and the celebi lied there so i used the max revive on it and it came back to life, i put the pokeball in front of it and it entered the pokeball i kissed the pokeball as if someone rolling dice wishing for luck would and sent celebi out of the pokeball and it began flying through the room i will be safe from the ghost girl and i bet she will be back because like she said “you are the one”

Intro and what I'm looking for

Idek where to start tbh. I wanna make a post that isn't too boring, long / short, or irritating to read as I have a habit of talking about my emotions + feelings and unnecessary venting about my life in several setences when it comes to this sort of thing, that's mostly what I talked about in my last post... I'm hoping I can get at least someone's attention by writing the right and necessary words on this subreddit... So, where to begin?
I guess I'll start with what I'm looking for in terms of dating. A fresh, warm, healthy and positive long-term relationship is what I've been craving for the last 4¼ years, not as in desperate or obsessed with it, more as in yearning for that right person to come along and bring sunshine to my life for the first time in a very long time. I'm sorry if that sounds a little cheesy but it's true. Someone who'll accept me for who I am and not care about what I have / don't have, someone who'll understand and accept my insecurities and flaws, not to mention me doing the same for her too. I wanna have that happy and bright future with that special someone, similar to all the couples I see on Instagram, laughing, joking, teasing each other, flirting, doing fun activities together both indoors and outdoors, purchasing matching items for them to wear and hold dear, holding hands... the list goes on.
Come and stop by so we can get to know each other first and see what happens if you're fascinated in this post enough, and if you think I'll be that sort of person you want in your life.

Personality (100% the truth)

As you might have guessed, I am a hard core introvert. Although I get along well with people irl; I briefly chat to them by saying the usual "hello" or "alright?", I then usually keep to myself from them most times to avoid feeling ignored / unimportant / irrelevant in their eyes. This is because I'm not that great at socialising in public places like the club or in the street, and also due to the fact that I feel extremely shy whilst meeting new people. All I feel, every single day, is irrelevant to everybody I come across on a day to day basis and tbh, I've gotten used to it over the years. However, if others ARE willing to get to know me and want me in their presence, I will perk up and be quite the confident individual once enough time passes :)
Other things you should know about me is that I'm extremely loyal and will never hurt the people I love and hold dear, no matter what. I care too much about the people in my life, including family, and I also will never let them down or disappoint them in any way.
Just a little fun fact about me, my zodiac sign is Cancer ♋️🦀 for those of you who are interested and if that matters to you at all. This is related to what I've just written above in the second paragraph.
[This is me pretty much nearing the end of this seemingly never ending post now]
Now that all the soppy stuff is out of the way, I will now talk about what I like doing on a day to day basis :D:

I'm an indoor type of person. I like:

•Watching TV shows like Doctor Who when new episodes come out, The Simpsons and Hollyoaks 5 days a week, and binging on a ton of movies.
•Listening to music pretty much every single day as I'm a huge HUGE fan of it.
•Gaming on PC games such as GTA, Red Dead, and Minecraft.
•I may stay indoors most of the time, but I DO also enjoy doing outdoor activities like spending my days out in places in the UK like Scarborough, Blackpool, Hornsea and Withernsea.
•I'm also interested in Photography, taking stunning photos both indoors and outdoors to store and save for later. Wildlife, sea life and everything else in between is what I'm most interested in :)
•Playing different sports such as Badminton, Bowling, Cricket, Dodgeball, Tennis and Volleyball on the beach are activities I really enjoy doing, but I haven't played them recently thanks to a lack of others playing them with me.
•Gardening and working with plants is something that really fascinates me, planting and watching plants of all shapes and sizes grow is everything I've wanted to do since my late high school days. Also getting a bit of sunshine on my neck in the summer does me some good lol.
•I occasionally like doing artistic activities like card making, paper crafting, drawing and painting, but only on special occasions.
•I also like to read from time to time.

Physical Appearance

My appearance is quite normal:
•I'm 5'8 in height
•I've got quite the decent body shape
•I have no tattoos but I'm considering getting a few in the future
•I've got a small amount of facial hair (but I've shaved recently so I'm not quite as hairy on the face as I used to be)
•I've got quite a lot of hair on the top of my head but keep it in control most times with hairspray
•I've got an average to slightly above average face imo (pics can be exchanged if you're interested in knowing what I look like)
•I'm healthy with no health conditions or concerns
•I wear normal clothes such as buttoned t-shirts, hoodies / denim jackets, jeans / tracksuit bottoms, and leather jackets in colder weather.

You

I'm not too bothered what kind of women I talk to / get with tbh. Just as long as you:
•Live in the UK, or at least in different countries that are close to the UK like Norway, Ireland, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, France, or perhaps even The Netherlands, since all have shorter time-zone differences to the ones in the UK, (but you can message me wherever you are on the globe)
•Don't smoke or do drugs
•My age limit is between 18-23, but people that are past that age range can also message me.
•I'm not religious, by any means, but I don't mind dating people who are.
•Come as you are, no sugar coating, be real, be genuine. 🚫No NSFW content please🚫, that's all I ask.

Outro

Welp, this is me finally signing off and seeing what happens. If you've read this far, then I appreciate you for taking the time out of your schedule to read my post all the way through :) I hope you have a nice rest of your day 🙏🏻👋🏻 Come say Hi if you're feeling up to it! 🙂

Chapter 37: Squeamish
It's been about 3 days since I've landed on the shores of Erisia. I'd say I've done a pretty good job at hiding this stolen ship. It's over to the east where not many pathfinders or sailors would come past and there's a small opening to a cave that leads directly to inland Erisia.
I've learnt a bit more about this world from experience and the Pathfinders Manuel. That thing I fought is apparently called a 'Megalodaunt' or more informally named 'Sharko'. It's documented to have a few attacks. One of which I had the misfortune of experiencing. It's dubbed 'Insanity Roar' because the effects of whoever hears the screech tend to have lost some sanity or they'd just not be thinking properly as a sane person would. There's another deadly attack the Megalodaunts can do, called 'Thousand Needles' where it would hunch over and shoot out hundreds of thousands of needles that is capable of ending dozens of young ambitious Pathfinders.
I also powered up again. If I my math is correct then I should be at power 3. Which isn't a lot but higher than the average Erisian bandit. I've found out that my gifts that have been bestowed is called Flamecharm, one of the many different elements or more specifically, 'Attunements'. It's best to train it using what's called a Hearthgem but there doesn't seem to be any on the ship so I'm just burning bushes for now. Just as I was lighting some bushes on fire, something over to my right caught my eye. I look over and see three bandits dressed in black and equipped with a stiletto charging at me.
I quickly draw my sword and ready for an attack. The one on the left leaps into the air aiming to strike me down but his moves are rather sluggish so I swiftly cut him diagonally from his hip to his shoulder. He soon fell and dropped his stiletto. The other two guys were a bit further back so I quickly picked up the stiletto and threw it at one of them. But I never really knew how to throw a knife so it kinda just hit him and tripped him up a bit.
The one to the right swings his stiletto and aims for my ribs but I parry his slow move. As i did, the third bandit almost strikes me to my left but i grab his overextended wrist, making him unable to move and threw him at the other guy. While they were both on the ground, I lit them on fire. Their screams pierce my ears. I can never get over how inhumane some of my methods are, however, if I succumb to it and give up, i won't be able to complete my mission and survive in Erisia. These bandits would kill anyone at the first chance they get so i have to be the same. The first guy I struck down is still alive, but barely. He's gurgling on his own blood as he draws his final breath.
"Who are you? What is your goal?" I ask, not expecting him to give an answer
"None of your business. You won't survive here in Erisia for long, Pathfinder. Better pray THEY don't get you" He says, as he lies lifeless on the floor.
It's probably a final scare tactic just to seem cool. Can't be that bad.
Chapter 38: Searching
About an hour after the bandit incident, I went to explore around Erisia to find better loot. There doesn't seem to be any sign of civilisation anywhere, yet there are so many people attacking me. I'd expect to find like a small camp somewhere but there isn't any.
As i'm walking around seeing if there is anything I can just nab, I find an old ruin standing alone by a cliff. Finally, something that resembles civilisation. As I climb up a wall to level with the ruins, I spot a lit campfire. I'm filled with excitement thinking that there could possibly be something I can loot in there. As I peek my head around the corner, all I see if a guy sleeping. It's noon, how is anybody still sleeping at this time? I get a closer look, and I see that this man is an Etrean, dressed in an orange and black coat. He's got some wounds that are still healing, looks like he got them about one and a half weeks ago. He doesn't look like he's got anything worth taking except his stiletto but I'd rather not use a toothpick. I can't even throw one properly.
I walk out to the left of the ruins and keep walking and searching for something, anything. I see an old weathered wagon that had been toppled over onto its side. I go to check it out to see if there's anything interesting and to my surprise, nothing. The most notable thing there is that there are a few broken glass shards and a cork. Maybe some hobo was drinking here earlier.
After around a half hour of walking, I come across. a camp. Not the small campfires the trio of bandits have but an actual camp with some work of a civilisation. It has a wooden fortifying wall with a watch tower. It seems as though it's been occupied by bandits. I can spot one right outside the wall, keeping guard and one on top of the watch tower. They say curiosity kills the cat, but I ain't no pussy so ima do what I have to do.
Chapter 39: Sneaking
My first target is the guard out in front. It'll be hard to draw their attention without them alarming someone else and the watchtower will be able to see everything. I'm cooking up some ideas but almost none of them would probably work. There is one that I can think of that wouldn't be too hard to pull off but it requires a very high luck stat for it to actually work. Might as well, what's the worst that could happen?
"What the f..." the guard says softly under his breath. He noticed the person that had fallen over and collapsed a few meters in front of him
"Everything good down there? Need me to come down?"
"Nah you can stay up there, keep watch. I'm just gonna check out something."
The guard slowly trots over to my 'dead' body. I can feel the vibrations of his steps along the floor, with each step getting closer and closer, my heart beats faster.
"Who tf is this guy?" He speaks to himself again "Yo, ima be gone for a while to take out the trash"
"Yea all g dude, be back quick" The watchtower guard responds.
He picks me up on his shoulders and starts walking in the direction i had come from. As soon as he was a few meters around the corner and out of sight, i strike. Being on his shoulder, it wasn't hard to knee him on the face, directly on the temple to be specific. While doing so, i had also elbowed him on the other side of his face. He was slightly concussed and had been dazed and he dropped me all while being confused as well. Hastily, i pull out my sword and strike the back of his head with my hilt, making sure i don't do anything to damage the Bandit Uniform. Good thing the Pathfinder's Manuel taught me how to knock someone out from behind. Without sparing any time, as i don't know how long this guy would stay unconscious, I begin taking off his uniform and putting it on myself as a disguise. I stuff my clothes away in a bush, in case a hobo would come to take it. Wouldn't want my drip being stolen. As for this guy, maybe I'll just leave him here. Don't really think i can carry him to the cliff anyway. Definitely, nothing will go wrong.
Making my way back to the bandit camp, I do a few breathing exercises to calm my mind and prepare myself for what I'm about to do. As i'm walking towards the front gate, i start to panic just a bit at the thought of being noticed by the tower guard.
"Hey, you the new guy?"The tower guard asks. New guy? My streak of good luck is pretty good so far.
"Yea, this the place I'm supposed to be at?"
"Mhm, should be. Though, I thought you were an Etrean since your name was Roy Ytreshi."
"I was adopted into an Etrean family that had the last name Ytreshi"
"Right, well in you go. Enjoy your stay."
What an idiot. Etreans are known for their racism, why would any Etrean family adopt an Adret?

In the moment I try to find a rather cheap bike with tire clearance for bikepacking, because I am not sure if my Emonda ALR5 is made for the greater burden and if the 28c tires are comfortable enough for my wrists on long rides on significantly bumpier roads. If it is - feel free to write your experience.
Alternative would be a second cheaper bike like the Domane, which is made for this scenario. But actually, I prefer a more racier position, even for longer rides. lower handlebars are less hand pressure for me and I just feel more comfortable - every dude is different. To get nearly the same geometry as my emonda has I would have to buy two sizes smaller. 54 to 49.
What holds me back is obviously: I would need a 120mm stem and there are 5,6cm more seatpost showing. screams longer seatpost, because on the emonda it is already very high. don‘t even know if this would be stable.
What do you think of this?