1000 point turnoment at my local game store. Arks of omen Space marines. I chose what I chose because stern guard vets have a slightly better bolter than your typical bolter and can also take combi weapons that are able to handle a variety of issues if need be and can also take heavy weapons, so that removes the need to have devastators squads, in such a small list and i can throw one squad of ten in a drop pod and secure the midfield objective marker.Added a relic contemptor dreadnought with two twin volk weapons IOT reach out from one end of the board to the other amd hopefully get some good mortal wounds. Assault squad to screen for my battle line units with some plasma fire. Basic tactical squad IOT have OB SEC on home objective and prevent deep striking behined me. I'm trying to hold onto my main objectives and do some serious damage with a flexible list to deal with any issue. Does it look like I can do that with this list? Or any changes? Here is the list
++ Arks of Omen Detachment (Imperium - Adeptus Astartes - Ultramarines) [63 PL, , 996pts] ++ + Configuration + ***Chapter Selector:* Blood Ravens, Bolter Fusillades, Duellists, Ultramarines Successor Arks of Omen Compulsory Type: Elites Battle Size [6CP]: 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points) Detachment Command Cost Game Type: 5. Chapter Approved: Arks of Omen + HQ + Captain [5 PL, -1CP, 85pts]: Relic blade, Rites of War, Storm bolter, Stratagem: Warlord Trait, Warlord + Troops + Tactical Squad [10 PL, -1CP, 126pts] . 5x Space Marine: 5x Bolt pistol, 5x Boltgun, 5x Frag & Krak grenades . Space Marine Sergeant: Combi-melta, Hellfury Bolts, Plasma pistol, Stratagem: Honoured Sergeant . Space Marine w/Heavy Weapon: Grav-cannon + Elites +
Relic Contemptor Dreadnought [8 PL, -1CP, 195pts]: Cyclone missile launcher, 2x Twin volkite culverin Sternguard Veteran Squad [12 PL, -1CP, 200pts] . Sternguard Veteran: Special issue boltgun . Sternguard Veteran: Special issue boltgun . Sternguard Veteran: Special issue boltgun . Sternguard Veteran: Special issue boltgun . Sternguard Veteran: Special issue boltgun . Sternguard Veteran: Special issue boltgun . Sternguard Veteran: Special issue boltgun . Sternguard Veteran Sergeant: Combi-melta, Master-Crafted Weapon, Plasma pistol, Stratagem: Honoured Sergeant . Sternguard Veteran w/Heavy Weapon: Multi-melta . Sternguard Veteran w/Heavy Weapon: Multi-melta Sternguard Veteran Squad [12 PL, -1CP, 140pts] . Sternguard Veteran: Special issue boltgun . Sternguard Veteran: Special issue boltgun . Sternguard Veteran: Special issue boltgun . Sternguard Veteran: Special issue boltgun . Sternguard Veteran Sergeant: Combi-melta, Plasma pistol, Stratagem: Honoured Sergeant, Sunwrath Pistol Sternguard Veteran w/Heavy Weapon: Grav-cannon Sternguard Veteran w/Heavy Weapon: Grav-cannon + Fast Attack + Assault Squad [12 PL, -1CP, 180pts]: Jump Pack 7x Space Marine: 7x Astartes Chainsword, 7x Bolt pistol, 7x Frag & Krak grenades Space Marine Sergeant: Astartes Chainsword, Digital Weapons, Plasma Pistol, Stratagem: Honoured Sergeant Space Marine w/Special Weapon Plasma Pistol & Chainsword Space Marine w/Special Weapon Plasma Pistol & Chainsword + Dedicated Transport + Drop Pod [4 PL, 70pts]: Storm bolter ++ Total: [63 PL, 996pts] ++

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As title, since one of the Russia's justification for war is that some of the regions they disputing are Russian majority and those who identified as such often vote in favor of pro-Russia party, when they finally sit on negotiating table for a peace deal, should Ukraine ask Russia to take all the self-identified Russian in Ukraine to Russia with the property they can move, while Ukraine gov buy the immovables as market price from them?
View Poll

BrickUniverse LEGO Convention is happening today at Monona Terrace in Madison. Today is the last day to see the show!
One of the featured Artists from BrickUniverse, Paul Hetherington, will also be in Wisconsin Dells Monday, May 29th for a Meet & Greet from 11am-2pm at Buffalo Phil's Pizza and Grille. Paul is the creater of both of Buffalo Phil's Brick Cities!
www.buffalophilsgrille.com
www.paulhetheringtonartist.com
www.brickuniverseusa.com

-MOBAs became popular via Warcraft 3, MMORPGs (and subscription-based games) became mainstream via WoW and to a lesser extent games like Everquest, Eve Online and Tibia -Multimedia systems (besides as music players which PS1 and SAT were already; PSP was a good portable music and movie player pre-smart phones+could be plugged into a TV (DS as well though only for one screen)). DVD playback on 2/4 consoles (the Xbox required an external IR adapter to be plugged into a controller port in order to play movie DVDs; the DC and GC didn't have it built-in) -Online gaming on consoles (Halo 1-2, Star Wars Battlefront 2, R&C: Up Your Arsenal, Call of Duty 3, TimeSplitters 2 & FP, Killzone, FF11, etc). It was not built-in on GC and they quickly pulled back external support due to hacking risks -PC emulation got a lot better which led to more fan translations and hacks -GTA 3-style AA/Semi-Open World games became mainstream although the GTA series itself was by far the most popular (The Getaway, Spider-Man 2, Scarface, Simpsons: Hit & Run; didn't sell as well: Mafia, Mercenaries 2, The Godfather, Just Cause, True Crime: Streets of LA) -People realized that games are art (Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Okami, Silent Hill 2) -Rhythm games using peripherals became mainstream on console (Guitar Hero and Singstar for PS2, the genre itself was pretty popular on PS1 already though) -QTEs return (Shenmue, RE4, GoW) -Hack 'n Slash/Weapon-based Beat 'em ups saw a 3D revival/reimagining in DMC, PoP, GoW and Ninja Gaiden. Usually these incorporated more AA and ARPG elements than previous 3D Beat 'em ups -Life Sim (The Sims, Animal Crossing) and games with Social Sim elements (Persona, Shenmue) became more or less mainstream
-More linear Zelda and Final Fantasy games -More similar console hardware led to even more multiplats
-Bloom effect -Digitally distributed indie games start making their mark from the mid '00s onwards and on PC especially (via Steam; Cave Story, N, Dwarf Fortress, Soldat, La-Mulana, Garry's Mod, Darwinia, Samorost 1-2, Within a Deep Forest, Passage, Lyle in Cube Sector, Knightfall 2) -Cover Shooters (MGS2, The Getaway, Kill Switch, CT Special Forces: Fire for Effect) -Some DLC on consoles (none on GC?); PS2: https://www.reddit.com/ps2/comments/93os44/can\_someone\_explain\_ps2\_dlc\_to\_me\_and\_a\_full\_list/ -3/4 consoles had 4 controller ports built-in (the PS2 didn't) -PS2 was backwards compatible while the others weren't (the GC is compatible with GBA games if you buy the peripheral for it) -Western/Computer RPGs became more or less mainstream on console (XB) -P&C Adventure games almost died out -Memory cards were phased out -Developers or publishers focused more on the console versions of games, leading to worse PC ports? (according to LGR) -Mystery loot boxes (MapleStory)
​
Anything else to add? Which ones are your favorites?

It's no Joke
I'm so damned tired, it's all broke
This whole damned galaxy is one slippery slope
Is there hope?
Everyone is trying to cope
As alliances and corps are just slowly choked
And it's a damned shame
To see all these players in the Van
Doing everything they can
Trying just to be the man
But it's
Hard to make plans
When a bunch of your work and time
gets taken by another man
Just because he freakin' can
​
It's getting hard to handle
Blues becoming just a gamble
Game news is nothing but nightmare and scandals
And the coalition leaders just vagabonds and vandals
Do ya'll agree, or is it just me?
That they keep us running, in PvP
Pretty soon..we'll have NOTHING to lose
Consider this the light at the end of a short fuse!
​
For Eve's Sake!
I'm sick of working with devs that I hate!
With no loyalty and a penchant for makin mistakes!
It's like they wanna seal your fate
Jump the hell on through
Or just get off the damned gate!
​
And they hope they we don't wise up
Because they knew if we knew the truth that we would rise up
But the funny thing is that everyone already knows
The worst enemy is right under our damned nose!
​
And I don't know if we're hopeless or scared
But there was a time when everybody cared
When we were more than consumers with credit cards
We would hit systems with a 1000 people hard!
We lost sight of the things we really need
Enter NetEase's capitalism and greed,
They said they had good intentions..well,
That's how they say you pave the Highway to Hell
​
Now I'm sittin' in highsec, VC's off
They don't wanna hear it? Start choppin ear's off!
Before you start cookin' 'em
Let their hearts thaw!
I'll start boiling oil, boy
My style's raw!
​
Now I can dig the fleet drops
But all this dumb hurt feelings punishment crap has gotta stop.
All this "I'll make you quit through pure misery"
Should never be confused with the art of PvP
​
'Cause respect in that field happens for a reason..
Though truth in the community is treason
Well I'll spit fire till I'm coughing and wheezin'
Breezin'!
Best FC of the season
Pleasin'!
Everyone I meet
Man I'm so neat.
'Cause I'm 1337
LEET!
And I ain't here to compete
This ain't a contest
Real PvP is a complex conquest
​
IT GETS WORSE
'Cause I'mma go onto the next verse:
I wonder if my talent is a blessing or a curse?
I guess I'm sorta going in for the kill
But If don't is it possible no one else will?
Turn on Echoes news, it's all garbage.
So called hardcore worried about yardage
But we have among us some PvP artists
If we joined forces we'd be the hardest!
So I wanna throw you a little song
To let you know it's finally on
And let ya know that yer never alone
We gonna hold it down till we have the whole throne!
​
Cuz I'll be honest this game's an embarassment
NetEase is too greedy and arrogant
So I'mma stand for Eve's proletariat
And fly in on a chariot
With a lyrical lariat!
It's my cross
And I'll carry it
Until they put me in my coffin
And bury it!
We got it all on our shoulders
And if ya'll are waging war
Then you got yerself another soldier!
​
Cuz I ain't doing nothing but getting older and older
As the galaxy around me gets colder and colder
I got a brain full of ill lyrics
And I been waiting for the galaxy to be ready to hear it!
So don't fear it!
Consider this a proposition
My position on competition
Is simple Addition
We'll put the opposition
Into submission
Like spaceship magicians
With all kinds of ammunition!
​
The bottom line
Is we're runnin' outa time
If we're waiting for a redesign
Or something to engage our fine minds
But we gotta stay on the grind
And hope to be surprised at what we find
You best bet we got the power and the dedication
We got the education
And we have determination
​
You can do anything you want, man!
It's on YOU!
And you got nothin' to prove
Unless you WANT TO!
So I suggest that ya'll prepare for battle
Cuz I'mma rattle these cattle from Florida to Seattle
And all this prattle
On Eve Discord is makin' me nauseous
My advice to red FC's: Be cautious!

Selling bundled and unbundled cache sets. Prices are not negotiable.
Please leave a comment on my steam profile on which set you are interested in buying.
Payment methods I accept are CSGO items or TF2 keys.
Pay before month cooldown to reserve a set. Buyer goes first.
Prices are subject to change.
Steam Profile:
https://steamcommunity.com/id/Trunga/
Steam Rep:
https://steamrep.com/profiles/76561198071250362

Diretide 2022 Collector's Cache

Bundled Set Name	Hero	Quantity	Price (USD)
Shadowleaf Insurgent	Hoodwink	2	$7.5
Scarlet Subversion	Riki	5	$5
Whippersnapper	Snapfire	3	$7.5
Hounds of Obsession	Chen	2	$5
Seadog's Stash	Clockwerk	5	$7.5
Starlorn Adjudicator	Dawnbreaker	4	$7.5
Spoils of the Shadowveil	Spectre	5	$5
Chines of the Inquisitor	Faceless Void	5	$5
Trophies of the Hallowed Hunt	Ursa	5	$5
Crimson Dawn	Phoenix	5	$10
Forgotten Station	Terrorblade	5	$5
Dirge Amplifier	Undying	5	$7.5
Champion of the Fire Lotus	Monkey King	3	$5
Deathstitch Shaman	Witch Doctor	4	$5
Blue Horizons	Marci	5	$20
Angel of Vex	Invoker	5	$20
Dark Behemoth	Primal Beast	2	$30

Diretide 2022 Collector's Cache II

Bundled Set Name	Hero	Quantity	Price (USD)
Withering Pain	Clinkz	1	$5
Acrimonies of Obsession	Vengeful Spirit	1	$5
Unbundled Set Name	Hero	Quantity	Price (USD)
Grand Suppressor	Silencer	1	$5
Darkbrew's Transgression	Alchemist	1	$5
Transcendent Path	Oracle	1	$5
The Wilding Tiger	Brewmaster	1	$7.5
Dawn of a Darkness Foretold	Doom	1	$5
Cursed Cryptbreaker	Pudge	1	$5
Feasts of Forever	Night Stalker	1	$7.5
Darkfeather Factioneer	Phantom Assassin	1	$5
Withering Pain	Clinkz	1	$5
Freeboot Fortunes	Ogre Magi	1	$7.5
Acrimonies of Obsession	Vengeful Spirit	1	$5
Sacred Chamber Guardian	Huskar	1	$5
War Rig Eradicators	Techies	1	$5
Grudges of the Gallows Tree	Treant Protector	1	$7.5
Brands of the Reaper	Anti-Mage	1	$7.5

Ageless Heirlooms 2022

Bundled Set Name	Hero	Quantity	Price (USD)
Howls of the Northmarch	Anti-Mage	4	$2.5
Faction of the Feather	Templar Assassin	4	$2.5
Melange of the Firelord	Chaos Knight	4	$2.5
Heinous Exultation	Razor	4	$2.5
Tangled Tropics	Monkey King	4	$2.5
Fury of the Thunderhawk	Zeus	4	$2.5
Oaths of the Beloved	Death Prophet	4	$2.5
Twilights Legions	Night Stalker	3	$5
Jewels of Anamnessa	Medusa	1	$10

The Battle Pass Collection 2022

Bundled Set Name	Hero	Quantity	Price (USD)
Hides of Hostility	Huskar	4	$2.5
Heat of the Sixth Hell	Doom	4	$2.5
Nefarious Fixations	Lion	4	$2.5
Distinguished Forgemaster	Clockwerk	4	$2.5
Volcanic Sanctuary	Broodmother	3	$2.5
Obsidian Atrocity	Lifestealer	4	$2.5
Charms of the Firefiend	Batrider	3	$5
Molten Bore	Mars	1	$10

Aghanim's 2021 Collector's Cache

Unbundled Set Name	Hero	Quantity	Price (USD)
Scales of the Shadow Walker	Phantom Lancer	1	$7.5
Perception of the First Light	Dawnbreaker	1	$7.5
Apex Automated	Clockwerk	1	$15
Secrets of the Frost Singularity	Ancient Apparition	1	$10
Perils of the Red Banks	Chen	1	$7.5
The Chained Scribe	Grimstroke	1	$7.5
Widow of the Undermount Gloom	Broodmother	1	$7.5
Forgotten Fate	Mars	1	$10
March of the Crackerjack Mage	Rubick	1	$10
Cosmic Concoctioneers	Alchemist	1	$10
Blightfall	Abaddon	1	$7.5
Pyrexae Polymorph Perfected	Ogre Magi	1	$15

Nemestic Collector's Cache 2021

Unbundled Set Name	Hero	Quantity	Price (USD)
Silence of the Starweaver	Oracle	1	$7.5

The International 10 Collector's Cache

Unbundled Set Name	Hero	Quantity	Price (USD)
Ravenous Abyss	Underlord	1	$15
Beholden of the Banished Ones	Warlock	1	$10
Fury of the Righteous Storm	Disruptor	1	$7.5
Heartless Hunt	Bounty Hunter	1	$10
Herald of the Ember Eye	Grimstroke	1	$10
Fissured Flight	Jakiro	1	$7.5
Flashpoint Proselyte	Huskar	1	$10
Signs of the Allfather	Natures Prophet	1	$10
Glory of the Elderflame	Lina	1	$15
Songs of Starfall Glen	Enchantress	1	$7.5
Forsworn Legacy	Mars	1	$30

The International 10 Collector's Cache II

Unbundled Set Name	Hero	Quantity	Price (USD)
Evolution of the Infinite	Enigma	1	$7.5
Beast of the Crimson Ring	Bristleback	1	$10
Clearcut Cavalier	Timbersaw	1	$10
The King of Thieves	Keeper of the Light	1	$7.5
Horror from the Deep	Tidehunter	1	$10
Talons of the Endless Storm	Chaos Knight	1	$7.5
Carousal of the Mystic Masquerade	Rubick	1	$7.5
Crown of Calaphas	Shadow Demon	1	$10
Wrath of the Fallen	Doom	1	$10
Blacksail Cannoneer	Sniper	1	$10
Secrets of the Celestial	Skywrath Mage	1	$7.5
Blaze of Oblivion	Phoenix	1	$7.5
Master of the Searing Path	Ember Spirit	1	$15
Steward of the Forbidden Chamber	Templar Assassin	1	$20
Claszureme Incursion	Faceless Void	1	$30

Collectors Cache 2019

Unbundled Set Name	Hero	Quantity	Price (USD)
Gothic Whisper	Phantom Assassin	1	$50

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…
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Prev: Nature of Abandonment (1/?) : NatureofPredators (reddit.com)
Next: (When it's ready)

I have worked at jobs with some interesting people, crazy drama, and some questionable management, but my current job gets a gold star.
We had one manager jump ship after they caused a lot of issues within the workplace. Our assistant manager is starting to spiral out of control; they slept with an employee who will soon be getting promoted (did I mention that the ASM is married and the employee was engaged. They had their wedding a few weeks later), they talk so much shit about people, and they will even stop employees from working so they can talk all about their personal lives and issues, and they are a two-faced human being. There is something really off about this person; besides the fact that they're almost fifty and act like they want to be twenty-five. The ASM started acting like we were friends and not once did I ever confirm I wanted a friendship or show any interest in hanging out with them or knowing about their personal lives; they just volunteered that info on their own. I may sound like the a-hole here, but they're the ASM, I'm just an associate.
I had a sit down with the general manager and informed them of the issues with the ASM and I didn't agree with the employee being promoted. The company is still going ahead with the promotion. Thankfully, I am not the only employee who does not want to see this person promoted; granted they don't know what I unfortunately know.

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.

it's coming sometimes in 2026 (if it's not cancelled), will you pay your ticket to see the next adventures of Rey ?

It's not an official Intel NUC but it's a GEEKOM Mini IT8 (GM08i5T). I've used it for projects but nothing multimedia-wise until now and that went south quick.
To begin, long ago I was using it for SDR and speakers I had plugged into the 3.5 jack in the front threw out mad interference with the board's activity, such as the interference you would hear back then when the hard drive was doing I/O and you heard a bunch of garbled white noise in the background. Anyway, I stopped using that and used Bluetooth instead.
Recently I wanted to turn it into a HTPC and it worked for a bit...
For reference, my TV has 4 HDMI: 1 (empty), 2 NUC, 3 SAT (Dish Joey), 4-ARC (SHIELD > Soundbar > TV).
I noticed it yesterday when I woke up and the TV's sleep timer didn't turn off the SHIELD. It took no time at all to remember the grounding problem from the front jack and the speakers determined the problem that the HDMI was looping interference with my TV back to the Soundbar and SHIELD as well.
With the IT8 on 2, CEC would not work at all and volume control via ARC would not change on the Soundbar <-> TV. When I pulled the HDMI and/or power from the computer, ARC/CEC worked normally. I emailed GEEKOM but I know I'll get the pleb response, so any engineers or PCB geeks out there might have an idea what it could be would be much appreciated. If you want shots of both sides of the board, I can post that too.
This is just for general knowledge and ideas so I'm not necessarily looking for an immediate fix as I could just buy another one if needed, just ideas where to look.

I bought a house in the middle of the woods. It was cheap for its almost perfect place in nature and I would be a mad man if I even hesitated to think about buying it back then.
Sure, some may say that it is haunted or cursed, but I do not believe in the paranormal and with that I had nothing to lose. In the few decades I have lived here, nothing strange occured. I have been minding my own business, harnessing crops and vegetables for my own survival. I always liked the thought of a simplistic lifestyle and no connection to the outside world. I even insisted that the previous owners leave the key on the doorstep, so I would not meet them. I do not like other people. I do not even remember the last time I spoke to one.
I usually go on a walk at midnight. I only have to sleep for about. hours a day. I don‘t know when I adapted this skill, it feels like I have been doing it forever. I love to see the stars that shine brighter than I have always seen them when I was living somewhere else. Out here, in the middle of nowhere, no light dares to fight against the stars. It is beautiful out here and the warnings of a beast that roams the forest make me giggle sometimes. The Beauty out here would not allow some deformed creature.
My strolls usually take two hours, but recently I have been increasing it. I was feeling very awake and not tired at all, so I decided that I would take a different route as before because I was able to observe my surroundings sharply. As I was looking to my left I saw a dense cloud of fog that invited me for an adventure off course.
As I walked into much deeper fog, I noticed that the ground becam softer and wetter. Whenever my shoes touched the ground a sound of wet dirt was released. I did not have to think about what this mysterious area was, I knew that the area I lived in used to be moor, but due to forestation, it became less interesting.
Now I might admit that I got scared when I heard leaves and grass rattle in the distance. It was not loud, but it was the only thing I could hear. The wind was taking a break and the fog rose out of the wet earth without making a sound. The rattling had all my focus and I stood still for a second. My mind was completely surprised by this sound. I knew that whatever it was, it was tall enough to make the leaves shake. Maybe it was the beast that I was warned about.
I am no normal person, I admitted that already. My first instinct was not to run away and get home safely, but it was to attack. I knew where the sound came from and I was wide awake, so I just sprinted towards it, almost falling into the mud. It started running too, but I was faster.
I jumped and threw the beast onto the peat. The entire ground shook. A cloud obstructing the moon made it impossible to see what monster was now screaming in my face, but it did not take long before I could see it. I could already hear its heartbeat and I smelled its fear. It smelled good.
I tried to say something to it, but since I have not done so in years, my voice was just a complete mess. As it screamed, I noticed that it was just a boy, a human. I let him go and shivered in fear. I looked into a puddle of water next to me and saw my reflection.
Magenta eyes on a deformed face stared back. It took me a moment to realize that there really was a creature in the woods.
It was me.

I'm looking for a good, clear picture/ screenshot of the plush from the K-drama The Smile Has Left Your Eyes, (alternat. title: Falling Stars/ Hundred Million Stars From the Sky). Year 2018 Starring Seo In-guk and Jung So-min. I just can't find neither the plush itself nor a good picture of it for me to attempt to crochet one myself. It was such an adorable little bugger. If possible front and back, maybe even one side... (⁠๑⁠•⁠﹏⁠•⁠)

Am I just missing something? I haven’t made any progress in about 2 weeks. I have enough gold to make one minor improvement (level up a few levels, add 1 star, etc) per day. And I can’t farm any gear because I can’t beat the nodes, and I can’t build up a team to build those nodes because there’s no gold.
This game is starting to feel unplayable to me.

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.