Searching for the love of my life. Can I find her here? Possibly so let's try! I'd also like to meet irl at some point but until then let's get to know each other here first.
So who am I? A student studying ICT, an artist (a printmaker to be specific), cat dad, a Jack of all trades if you will!
I enjoy quite a variety of things such as, riding my bike, getting into better shape, learning new things, gaming, playing the piano, trying out new activities among all other things. I am also a pretty good cook of basic foods plus I think I can be pretty funny too (I hear people like that 😁)
I am trying to live a healthy and balanced life so I am hoping you do too.. I don't smoke or do drugs and don't really enjoy that near me either. I do have a drink occasionally though.
I am quite open so you can ask me anything and I'll try to answer the best I can. I am also quite curious about you and want to learn more.
I would describe myself as kind, compassionate, honest, caring and respectful. I am equipped with blue eyes, a short hair and a varying beard style. I don't mind exchanging pics as I feel that mutual attraction is important too. I am also a whopping 5'7" (170cm) tall but I don't care about your height, I care about your personality 😎
People of all races are free to approach me~
I am excited to see what kind of a person you are!
Take care beautiful people all over the world

If you’re reading this I am begging you to believe me. Especially if you have children. My name is Leon and I have been investigating strange disappearances for four years. I am not an official investigator or a journalist. Before I started this whole thing I did not believe in ghosts or the paranormal. For me to believe in something I had to see it with my own two eyes! Everything had to be factual and everything had an explanation.
At least this is what I used to believe until my wife was murdered four years ago. They found her at work completely skinless. She was drained of blood and was missing all of her nails. They told me the precision required to accomplish this was not heard of yet. I waited months for answers and they never came, so I decided to go get them myself. I had no idea where to start or who to speak to so I went back to the store to try and dig up as much information as I could find.
Her manager eventually told me that she had gotten into a fight with a customer that day and that he assumed she went home on time. When her body was found in the employee break room he was shocked. He had no idea she was still in the building. He said he told me exactly what he told the police. I asked him if there was any footage of the man she was arguing with but he told me the security cameras were not working that day. I vividly remember wanting to punch this guy in his damn face. He was no help and I was determined to solve my wife's murder.
I ended up searching for the guy for months. I asked every one of her coworkers if they saw the argument and a couple of times I even had a run-in with the cops. They insisted that I should let them do their jobs and that they had everything handled. There was no chance I was going to listen to them. I had to take time off from my investigation to attend her funeral and make sure I got all of the preparations right. In hindsight, I was not growing properly and I really should've taken some time to reassess.
So fast forward another month and I finally get a lead. Something I assumed the cops didn't have, this meant I could finally get some answers before being stonewalled again. I ended up finding this guy, Will Brookes at a fucken motel off of the highway about three miles from where my wife worked. I waited for two days before I saw him leave his room to get ice. Once I knew what room to find him in I knocked until he opened the door. He was rightfully pissed but not as pissed as I was. It took every ounce of willpower in my body to not kill him on the spot.
“Why did you kill my wife?!” I snapped as I forced myself into the room and slammed the door behind me. He looked shocked.
“I did not kill her!” He screamed and tried to move around me. So I grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him into the wall next to the tv. This guy was not very heavy and not very strong. At that moment I was wondering how he could kill anyone.
“You were the last person to be seen with her alive!” I barked. I wanted to push his body through the wall. I wanted to crush him.
“I was bringing her the papers she requested for a job offer she accepted in a place called LittleBrooke!” The man said. He was shaking so I put him down and pushed him to the side. “Show me the papers,” I demanded. My wife had told me twice that she had gotten a new job offer. I was extremely excited! I work from home and would be happy to live wherever she wanted. All she had to do was say the word and we could’ve left as soon as possible. But she never made it home to tell me the news.
I watched as the shaking man handed me a stack of papers and even a suitcase. “Here, take it and please leave me alone!” He shouted. “Okay.” I left the motel room and went right to my car. I put everything on the passenger seat and went home. Once I got there I sobbed in the driveway for over an hour before finally getting out and heading inside. I never got to see her body and I never got to say goodbye. Being in this house felt like I was walking into a damn shallow grave of sorts.
I went right to the master bedroom and packed up as many clothes as I could. I even took some of her favorite items, I don’t know why. I took a couple of pillows and two blankets, and after that, I went around to search the rest of the house. Once I had finished in the master bedroom I went and grabbed all my items from the bathroom. After that, I went into the nursery. We were planning on trying to have a baby once she got her new job. I looked around the nursery and took some stuffed animals and blankets, nothing too crazy. I also made sure to grab our family photo album. Finally, I made sure to grab all of the savings from the jar we had plus anything I kept in the safe. I also made sure to grab our wedding video and once I had everything I thought I could need I left the house. On my way out I made sure to tell the building goodbye.
Once I got back into my car I decided to drive a bit. No way in hell was I going to the same motel as that guy so I drove until I hit a hotel far enough away from my house. I did not end up checking in though. Once I got close enough I backed up and just kept driving. I eventually hit a truck stop after a couple of hours and decided to rest my eyes for a while. I was exhausted and there were way too many questions rushing through my head. I knew if I kept driving in that state I would probably crash or something.
After sleeping for four hours I decided it was time to look through the papers and figure out what I was going to do next. I took the first paper from the stack and started to read it. For the sake of time here I will only tell you guys what I found that was interesting.
Paper One: You have been accepted to work as a store manager! Please review your employee packet for more information.
So as I am going over this first paper a couple of things stick out to me. Whoever wrote this was trying not to be specific. The whole paper was one big announcement for a new store opening up in a place called LittleBrooke. There was no state mentioned anywhere on this paper, I would later find out that this place was supposed to be in Washington D.C.
I decided to dig around and eventually found the employee packet. She accepted a job at a mega-store called BrightMarketZ. I thought it was a pretty weird name but what stood out to me was what they were offering to pay her. $22.00 an hour! I couldn't believe it. No wonder she said yes and didn’t bother to ask any questions.
Paper Twenty: To find LittleBrooke please enter [REDACTED] into your GPS device. You will be staying inside apartment 307. All rent for your first month in LittleBrooke is covered by your employer. Please note that all apartments are two-bedroom only. If you have a larger household please speak to Sydney May at Town Hall for bigger accommodations.
After reading this I decided to just go to LittleBrooke and get answers. I was assuming that I would find out what the hell happened if I just went. I wanted to know what my wife died for and I wanted to know why this was some big secret in the first place. I went back to bed and as soon as the sun came up I put the information into my GPS and headed for LittleBrooke.

Year One in LittleBrooke

It took me three weeks to reach LittleBrooke and I could tell that something was wrong the moment I found the town. If I wasn't so damn desperate for answers I would've turned around as soon as I saw the library. The building itself wasn't big but the two huge lions on either side of the staircase gave me the creeps.
After that I passed a mechanic, the whole place looked run down as hell. There wasn't a single car to be seen but the sign said open. The man standing outside of the building waved to me so I gave him a slow wave back. He looked weird. At the time I couldn’t place my finger on why but now I know it’s because he was not human.
The theater was kind of cool to look at in a vintage kind of way. They were not showing anything when I drove by and I made the decision early on to stay out of the theater altogether. After the theater, I saw a small building that said LittleBrooke Press. If anything else I figured I could write for the paper.
As I approached the apartment building a woman was standing outside. Her face was weird as hell. It looked like she had far too much plastic surgery like her face was threatening to pop at any moment. “Hi, can I help you?” she asked me. Her voice was shrill, it was gross to even hear her speak. It sounded like she was putting on a fake voice just to speak to me. “Hi, my wife accepted a job offer. Unfortunately, she has passed away. I would still like to claim the apartment left to us. I can work at any place that currently has an opening.” I offered.
“LittleBrooke Press has space for two more writers!” She smiled and handed me the keys to the apartment. She never asked my name and she knew exactly where I wanted to go. I thought it was weird but I didn’t argue. Instead, I took the keys and thanked her. I spent that whole day getting settled into the new apartment. A couple of things, the front door had four different locks on it. I thought that was pretty weird. I also did not see or hear any other people until my third night in the apartment. I called the LittleBrooke Press about a potential job and they told me to email my submissions. There was no need for me to come in person and honestly, I liked this deal a lot.
For the first few months, I spent my time writing about whatever came to my mind. After that, I would send it in and get my money back. The editor never told me what to do and they never requested anything. It was sweet. As December rolled around I could feel myself slipping into a seasonal depression. At that point, I had made no progress in any of my investigations. I did not know the town well enough and frankly, I felt like I was wasting my time. That night I decided to check out the local bar. It was pretty hidden, you had to drive further into LittleBrooke to find it. Once I got there I was shocked! The place was packed. I sat down at the bar and ordered a drink.
The bartender was hot as hell, too hot. She was so even looking so perfectly symmetrical that it made me extremely uncomfortable. There wasn’t a single hair out of place. “So are you new in town?” She asked me. “Yeah, I just got here a couple of months ago. My now-deceased wife accepted a job offer here.” I said bluntly and dryly. I wanted to finish my drink and go. It was like the bones in my body were screaming at me to leave. The woman looked shocked. “Tell me, does that happen often? Do people accept a job offer in LittleBrooke and turn up dead a couple of days later?” I hissed. It was a genuine question but she did not take it too kindly. She took my drink from my hands and told me to leave.
As I made my way back to my car I could hear someone coming up from behind me. I turned around as fast as possible and had to take three steps back. It was the bartender, but she did not look the same. Half of her face was weighed down like she had no bones at all. Her eyes were bulging out of her head. She gurgled at me. “You need to leave!” She finally snapped and swung her arm in my direction. I moved back before she could hit me. As her hand hit my car window it shattered like it was made of ice. I watched as her arm popped and clicked. I could see it slowly getting longer. Before I knew it her arm was dragging on the pavement! She lunged at me so I punched her in her stomach. She gurgled again and sunk her teeth into my jacket. I screamed for help as we hit the pavement. She was trying fucken eat me! I grabbed her by her hair and threw her backward as hard as I could. As I scrambled to my feet and looked at her I screamed again. Her skin was pulled back. Now hugging the bones on her face. Her eyes were completely exposed! I turned and dove into my car as fast as I could. I slammed the door behind me and sped out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell.
The next morning I received a letter under my door. “Sorry, you had problems last night! Please accept our sincerest apologies.” -Mayor Brookes. There was $300 included with the letter. Now, I thought about leaving but decided I had to stay. Something was going on here and I had to find out what. I removed my jacket to see if the woman had injured me, she didn't but the experience was still terrifying. For the first time in a very long time, I was scared. But I also felt closer to the truth than I have ever been before.

Year Two in LittleBrooke

I spent all of January writing about the women who attacked me. I even contacted the police. I quickly learned that the police were going to be completely useless. My editor never sent the story back so I had assumed it was published.
At the end of the month, I left to shop for some supplies. Let me tell you, the grocery store in LittleBrooke is something else. They don’t have any brands you’ve ever heard of and at first, that drove me nuts. However, I quickly came to fall in love with the food here. It was comforting to have something to enjoy. Like always, I made sure to shop for two to three months at a time. Shopping was easy, I used the self-checkout to make sure I didn’t have to speak to anyone.
Once I got home I put everything away and decided to look around the apartment building. My whole floor started with 301 and went all the way to 310. The first floor was 501 to 509. There was a technical second floor but none of the doors were labeled. It looked like someone was renovating the place.
I got to see some of my neighbors too. An older woman, two men, and I were living next door to a lady the whole time. I had never seen or heard from these people before. It seemed like everyone wanted to keep to themselves too. I wanted to try and talk to someone but every time I approached them they turned and walked away. For what it's worth they looked completely normal.
So I left the apartment building and ventured around the property. There were no other apartments anywhere close to the one I was staying at, or so I thought until I found one about thirty minutes away. It was so out of the way you wouldn't find it unless you were looking. Against my better judgment, I opened the doors to the building and walked right inside. The place smelled like rust and soot.
I went to explore the first floor and was shocked to find blood trails on the floor and the ceiling. I followed the trail and made sure to look at the numbers on each door. This floor was numbered 1-10. Most of the doors were locked and I wasn’t going to try and knock anything down. I opened the door to apartment 10 and walked right inside. There was just enough light from the sun to illuminate the place. It looked like the whole place had been ransacked. I checked the tables and cabinets before heading into the bedroom. I searched the dresser and under the pillows before finally checking under the bed. When I looked under I spotted a black box. I grabbed it and that is when I got the feeling again. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I felt something sharp dig into my shoulders.
I screamed as loudly as I could, my face slammed off of the carpet and I clenched the box with one hand. Before I could figure out what the hell was happening I was tossed backward. I went into the bedroom door and rolled a couple of times until I reached the torn-up couch. I slowly lifted my head and to my horror what I was looking at was way too far from human to be real.
It looked like a dog ape thing. It was mostly skinless aside from some skin on its torso and face. The creature had thick, long claws and was standing on its hind legs. It barked at me. Its fangs were huge! I quickly scrambled to my feet and rushed out of the door as fast as possible. I could feel the blood running down my back. Never once did I consider letting this box go.
“Help!” I screamed as I burst through the apartment complex doors and started to run back to the main road. My heart was pounding, I could feel my chest getting tighter with each step. I could hear the beast behind me, it was screeching. I thought I was going to die for sure, there was no way I could continue to outrun this beast. That’s when I heard a car and before I knew it I could see it! A woman was waving me over, she was just up ahead! I had to push a little harder. I had to be just a little stronger.
When I felt the embrace of the car door I ripped it open and dove inside. She sped away and I looked out of the window. The beast did not follow us any further. “Are you insane!” She snapped at me. That’s the last thing I remember before passing out.
When I woke up I was laying on my stomach on an extremely comfortable couch. I could smell someone making pasta with meat sauce. My stomach was going insane. Everything hurt though, especially my back and my left side. I figured I had hurt my side when I was tossed across the room.
At this point, I did not dive into the box yet. I could barely move. “Hi.” I heard a woman say from the kitchen. “Thank you,” I replied before trying to sit up. I was so concerned that this woman would be another monster. When I saw her though I knew she was normal. She didn't look so damn perfect and that was a breath of fresh air.
“What's your name?” She asked me as I watched her prepare two bowls of food.
“Leon,” I said before closing my eyes. “You heard me screaming?” I asked her seriously.
“I did. I’m pretty sure everyone in our building did. You got hurt pretty badly, I did my best to patch you up.” She paused and laughed. “My name is Ashley.”
So I ended up crashing at her place. During this time I tried to focus on recovering. Sleeping became hell, I was having constant nightmares. I also spent a lot of time working on articles. I ended up giving Ash the keys to my apartment so she could get my laptop. It was a big move to trust anyone here but I am glad I did.
​

Year Three and Four in LittleBrooke

During my recovery, I spent most of my time writing. I wanted to write about everything I have seen and experienced. I had a lot of questions and way too much time with my thoughts. Ash and I got to know each other too.
I told her about how my wife had died mysteriously. I eventually opened up about her being skinned and drained of her blood. Ash told me she had come to LittleBrooke with her older sister. Her sister went to work one day and never came back. She was working at the theater. Ash had told me that she was stuck here, she didn’t feel right leaving with her sister still missing. Every time she would try the cops would meet her at the town line.
It was during this time that we both shared that we had never seen a police station. We talked about the monsters too. Her first run-in with one was at the grocery store. I told her about what happened to me at the bar. She told me that she heard rumors of the beast living beyond the apartments. The first time she saw it was when it was attacking me.
As I started to recover more we discussed a couple of things. First, the neighbors here suck. She could hear me screaming and came to help but no one else did. Second, neither of us has seen any families since we moved here. It was at this point I decided I wanted to leave and I offered to take her with me. We could both get out come hell or high water. She agreed but there was something I had to do first.
I showed her the box I had taken from the apartment.
“You almost died for a box?” Ash asked me. “Yes,” I said seriously.
I opened it and blinked. I found a picture of a girl with black hair and bright green eyes. It read, Stephanie. I found a missing persons report too. This girl had been missing a year before I got here. I decided that my last article would be about her. I had written about a couple of missing people before this. For example, the old lady in our building vanished and her apartment was rented out two days later.
I also found a badge inside the box. It read F.O.P.P. and there was a name! Jack Bridges. We tried to look up the organization's name but we came up empty-handed. I ended up writing the story about Stephanie and the next day Ash and I got packing. We decided to take my car since the cops know what hers looks like. I packed up the essentials all over again and we piled into the car. “We should check the other direction. Before we leave.” I suggested. Ash knew about the bar already but neither of us knew what was beyond that point: This suggested changed the course of our lives forever.
So we started driving in the other direction. We passed the bar where the woman had tried to eat me, we passed a convenience store I didn’t know this town had and we just kept driving. Eventually, I could hear Ash speaking to me, “Holy shit! The police station.” she pointed out. I couldn’t believe it either. I did not stop driving though but I wish I did.
Eventually, we saw a sign that read, LittleBrooke High. Go Bears!
I started to slow down a bit until the school was in view. The place looked run down as hell. There were holes in the walls and leaves growing up the side of the building. The parking lot was massive and full of buses. I pulled the car into the parking lot and told Ash to get into the driver's seat.
“You’re not serious?” She asked me. I could tell she wanted to go but I said, “This is it! This is the last place of note in this fucken town. Just take the wheel and I will be right back.” I said as I jumped out of the car and went to look around.
As I approached one of the buses I grabbed the doors, they were already open a crack. I pulled them open and was hit with a horrible stench. I had to step back and puke and no I am not going to describe what I saw in that fucken bus. At that point, I decided I had seen enough and it was time to fucken go.
“Help!” I heard someone cry from a couple of buses over. “Please!” I heard again. I wanted to slap myself because I knew better. I had already decided it was time to leave but I went to investigate anyway. I went to the bus and pulled the doors open. It smelled like stale piss and blood. “Back here!” A girl screamed out to me. I made my way to the back of the bus, stepping on school jackets and over backpacks. That is where I found them. Two teenagers are tied to the leg of a bus seat. They looked horrible, caking in blood and sweat. They were both injured. “Stephanie?!” I exclaimed as I bent over to free them. I recognized her face the moment I saw it.
“Can you move? I asked the blonde girl.” As I started to let her go. “Everything hurts.” She told me. I opened the emergency exit and called for Ash to pull the car over. It took her a second to hear me but she came as fast as possible. “I am going to get you guys in the car and we are going to get out of here, okay?” I told them. I wanted to tell them everything was going to be okay, but I couldn't. It felt like that would be a huge lie.
Ash stepped out of the car and helped get the girls into the backseat. As I stopped to look around I could feel the bus shift in weight. I turned around and inhaled sharply. Standing before me was a creature wearing a jacket that said COACH on it. He looked sickly, and pale, and his veins were protruding from his face and hands. As he ran at me I jumped out of the emergency exit door just in time to feel something slam off of the back of my head. I looked down to see a barbed football. I could feel blood trickling down my neck, I stumbled forward and felt a hand grab my arm. Ash was shoving me into the car. She slid over me, closed the passenger door, and backed the car up. I thought she was moving like lightning.
At this point, everyone was screaming. My heart was threatening to jump out of my fucken chest. I was so sure we were all going to die here, just like everyone else I had seen on the buses. But no, Ash sped out of the parking lot. The coach chased us to the school limits but for some reason, he did not follow us anymore.
I know we should've stopped to see if the kids could find their parents but we didn't. Instead, Ash just kept driving. Eventually, we could hear the cops behind us but that did not stop her. It took us six hours to finally see the You Are New Leaving LittleBrooke sign! I couldn’t believe it. This place was not that big at all.
So listen, if you’re invited to take a job in LittleBrooke. Don’t take it. It’s not worth your life.

Oil prices have been the same as they were in October 2018 for a few months now. Around $70/barrel.
National average in Oct 2018 was 2.90/gallon. National average today is 3.54/gallon.
Exxon, for instance, reported anywhere from 75% to 168% in year over year quarterly growth from June 2021 - September 2022. To be fair, this is after seeing negative YoY growth from March 2019 - December 2020. But, funny thing about the negative YoY growth that "big oil" experienced during COVID.. it wasnt caused solely by COVID. Exxon saw negative growth near 20% nearly a year before COVID brought down the world. In fact, the negative growth during COVID was very similar to the downturn from September 2014 - September 2016.
What I really want to emphasize here is the next part: I just laid out 2 separate downturns in Exxons history. Both were similar in length, and both were similar in size, albeit COVID being a little higher(5-10% higher during some quarters).
After the COVID downturn, Exxon reported quarterly YoY growth ranging from 75% to 168% over the course of about 6 quarters from 2021-2022. 4 out of those 6 quarters were 120% or higher.
After the 2014-2016 downturn, Exxon reported quarterly YoY growth ranging from 24% to 44% over 8 or 9 quarters from 2016-2018.
There is no precedent for the amount of greed we saw from corporations last year. Fuel prices were a driving force as well - and its very clear to me that greed was the driving force behind increased fuel prices after taking this small dive, confirming what we all should know already. So what we have here is compounded greed that ultimately made many things unaffordable over the past year - greed from the transportation side, greed from the producer greed from the supplier, and then of course regular YoY cost increases/inflation that should be expected. When you compound all of these increases into one final price that we all pay, you get record profits for everyone except the consumer, who gets fucked.
Id be willing to bet that YoY growth trends are similar for most corporations over the past 1-2 years, and do not match prior downturn years, just like with oil corporations.
And all they had to do was say "sorry, gas prices are high and COVID caused so many supply chain issues!!!" Yeah, you're not increasing production back to pre pandemic levels because you can just jack your prices up 200% and make record profits while not having to hire more employees.
America is fucked unless we do something about corporate greed. Greed is to be expected from the individual, but we cannot have monopolies run around completely unchecked.
If I left out something here, please point it out, thanks!
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/XOM/exxon/gross-profit

If you’re reading this I am begging you to believe me. Especially if you have children. My name is Leon and I have been investigating strange disappearances for four years. I am not an official investigator or a journalist. Before I started this whole thing I did not believe in ghosts or the paranormal. For me to believe in something I had to see it with my own two eyes! Everything had to be factual and everything had an explanation.
At least this is what I used to believe until my wife was murdered four years ago. They found her at work completely skinless. She was drained of blood and was missing all of her nails. They told me the precision required to accomplish this was not heard of yet. I waited months for answers and they never came, so I decided to go get them myself. I had no idea where to start or who to speak to so I went back to the store to try and dig up as much information as I could find.
Her manager eventually told me that she had gotten into a fight with a customer that day and that he assumed she went home on time. When her body was found in the employee break room he was shocked. He had no idea she was still in the building. He said he told me exactly what he told the police. I asked him if there was any footage of the man she was arguing with but he told me the security cameras were not working that day. I vividly remember wanting to punch this guy in his damn face. He was no help and I was determined to solve my wife's murder.
I ended up searching for the guy for months. I asked every one of her coworkers if they saw the argument and a couple of times I even had a run-in with the cops. They insisted that I should let them do their jobs and that they had everything handled. There was no chance I was going to listen to them. I had to take time off from my investigation to attend her funeral and make sure I got all of the preparations right. In hindsight, I was not growing properly and I really should've taken some time to reassess.
So fast forward another month and I finally get a lead. Something I assumed the cops didn't have, this meant I could finally get some answers before being stonewalled again. I ended up finding this guy, Will Brookes at a fucken motel off of the highway about three miles from where my wife worked. I waited for two days before I saw him leave his room to get ice. Once I knew what room to find him in I knocked until he opened the door. He was rightfully pissed but not as pissed as I was. It took every ounce of willpower in my body to not kill him on the spot.
“Why did you kill my wife?!” I snapped as I forced myself into the room and slammed the door behind me. He looked shocked.
“I did not kill her!” He screamed and tried to move around me. So I grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him into the wall next to the tv. This guy was not very heavy and not very strong. At that moment I was wondering how he could kill anyone.
“You were the last person to be seen with her alive!” I barked. I wanted to push his body through the wall. I wanted to crush him.
“I was bringing her the papers she requested for a job offer she accepted in a place called LittleBrooke!” The man said. He was shaking so I put him down and pushed him to the side. “Show me the papers,” I demanded. My wife had told me twice that she had gotten a new job offer. I was extremely excited! I work from home and would be happy to live wherever she wanted. All she had to do was say the word and we could’ve left as soon as possible. But she never made it home to tell me the news.
I watched as the shaking man handed me a stack of papers and even a suitcase. “Here, take it and please leave me alone!” He shouted. “Okay.” I left the motel room and went right to my car. I put everything on the passenger seat and went home. Once I got there I sobbed in the driveway for over an hour before finally getting out and heading inside. I never got to see her body and I never got to say goodbye. Being in this house felt like I was walking into a damn shallow grave of sorts.
I went right to the master bedroom and packed up as many clothes as I could. I even took some of her favorite items, I don’t know why. I took a couple of pillows and two blankets, and after that, I went around to search the rest of the house. Once I had finished in the master bedroom I went and grabbed all my items from the bathroom. After that, I went into the nursery. We were planning on trying to have a baby once she got her new job. I looked around the nursery and took some stuffed animals and blankets, nothing too crazy. I also made sure to grab our family photo album. Finally, I made sure to grab all of the savings from the jar we had plus anything I kept in the safe. I also made sure to grab our wedding video and once I had everything I thought I could need I left the house. On my way out I made sure to tell the building goodbye.
Once I got back into my car I decided to drive a bit. No way in hell was I going to the same motel as that guy so I drove until I hit a hotel far enough away from my house. I did not end up checking in though. Once I got close enough I backed up and just kept driving. I eventually hit a truck stop after a couple of hours and decided to rest my eyes for a while. I was exhausted and there were way too many questions rushing through my head. I knew if I kept driving in that state I would probably crash or something. After sleeping for four hours I decided it was time to look through the papers and figure out what I was going to do next. I took the first paper from the stack and started to read it. For the sake of time here I will only tell you guys what I found that was interesting.
Paper One: You have been accepted to work as a store manager! Please review your employee packet for more information.
So as I am going over this first paper a couple of things stick out to me. Whoever wrote this was trying not to be specific. The whole paper was one big announcement for a new store opening up in a place called LittleBrooke. There was no state mentioned anywhere on this paper, I would later find out that this place was supposed to be in Washington D.C.
I decided to dig around and eventually found the employee packet. She accepted a job at a mega-store called BrightMarketZ. I thought it was a pretty weird name but what stood out to me was what they were offering to pay her. $22.00 an hour! I couldn't believe it. No wonder she said yes and didn’t bother to ask any questions.
Paper Twenty: To find LittleBrooke please enter [REDACTED] into your GPS device. You will be staying inside apartment 307. All rent for your first month in LittleBrooke is covered by your employer. Please note that all apartments are two-bedroom only. If you have a larger household please speak to Sydney May at Town Hall for bigger accommodations. After reading this I decided to just go to LittleBrooke and get answers. I was assuming that I would find out what the hell happened if I just went. I wanted to know what my wife died for and I wanted to know why this was some big secret in the first place. I went back to bed and as soon as the sun came up I put the information into my GPS and headed for LittleBrooke.

Year One in LittleBrooke

It took me three weeks to reach LittleBrooke and I could tell that something was wrong the moment I found the town. If I wasn't so damn desperate for answers I would've turned around as soon as I saw the library. The building itself wasn't big but the two huge lions on either side of the staircase gave me the creeps.
After that I passed a mechanic, the whole place looked run down as hell. There wasn't a single car to be seen but the sign said open. The man standing outside of the building waved to me so I gave him a slow wave back. He looked weird. At the time I couldn’t place my finger on why but now I know it’s because he was not human.
The theater was kind of cool to look at in a vintage kind of way. They were not showing anything when I drove by and I made the decision early on to stay out of the theater altogether. After the theater, I saw a small building that said LittleBrooke Press. If anything else I figured I could write for the paper.
As I approached the apartment building a woman was standing outside. Her face was weird as hell. It looked like she had far too much plastic surgery like her face was threatening to pop at any moment. “Hi, can I help you?” she asked me. Her voice was shrill, it was gross to even hear her speak. It sounded like she was putting on a fake voice just to speak to me. “Hi, my wife accepted a job offer. Unfortunately, she has passed away. I would still like to claim the apartment left to us. I can work at any place that currently has an opening.” I offered.
“LittleBrooke Press has space for two more writers!” She smiled and handed me the keys to the apartment. She never asked my name and she knew exactly where I wanted to go. I thought it was weird but I didn’t argue. Instead, I took the keys and thanked her. I spent that whole day getting settled into the new apartment. A couple of things, the front door had four different locks on it. I thought that was pretty weird. I also did not see or hear any other people until my third night in the apartment. I called the LittleBrooke Press about a potential job and they told me to email my submissions. There was no need for me to come in person and honestly, I liked this deal a lot.
For the first few months, I spent my time writing about whatever came to my mind. After that, I would send it in and get my money back. The editor never told me what to do and they never requested anything. It was sweet. As December rolled around I could feel myself slipping into a seasonal depression. At that point, I had made no progress in any of my investigations. I did not know the town well enough and frankly, I felt like I was wasting my time. That night I decided to check out the local bar. It was pretty hidden, you had to drive further into LittleBrooke to find it. Once I got there I was shocked! The place was packed. I sat down at the bar and ordered a drink.
The bartender was hot as hell, too hot. She was so even looking so perfectly symmetrical that it made me extremely uncomfortable. There wasn’t a single hair out of place. “So are you new in town?” She asked me. “Yeah, I just got here a couple of months ago. My now-deceased wife accepted a job offer here.” I said bluntly and dryly. I wanted to finish my drink and go. It was like the bones in my body were screaming at me to leave. The woman looked shocked. “Tell me, does that happen often? Do people accept a job offer in LittleBrooke and turn up dead a couple of days later?” I hissed. It was a genuine question but she did not take it too kindly. She took my drink from my hands and told me to leave.
As I made my way back to my car I could hear someone coming up from behind me. I turned around as fast as possible and had to take three steps back. It was the bartender, but she did not look the same. Half of her face was weighed down like she had no bones at all. Her eyes were bulging out of her head. She gurgled at me. “You need to leave!” She finally snapped and swung her arm in my direction. I moved back before she could hit me. As her hand hit my car window it shattered like it was made of ice. I watched as her arm popped and clicked. I could see it slowly getting longer. Before I knew it her arm was dragging on the pavement! She lunged at me so I punched her in her stomach. She gurgled again and sunk her teeth into my jacket. I screamed for help as we hit the pavement. She was trying fucken eat me! I grabbed her by her hair and threw her backward as hard as I could. As I scrambled to my feet and looked at her I screamed again. Her skin was pulled back. Now hugging the bones on her face. Her eyes were completely exposed! I turned and dove into my car as fast as I could. I slammed the door behind me and sped out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell.
The next morning I received a letter under my door. “Sorry, you had problems last night! Please accept our sincerest apologies.” -Mayor Brookes. There was $300 included with the letter. Now, I thought about leaving but decided I had to stay. Something was going on here and I had to find out what. I removed my jacket to see if the woman had injured me, she didn't but the experience was still terrifying. For the first time in a very long time, I was scared. But I also felt closer to the truth than I have ever been before.

Year Two in LittleBrooke

I spent all of January writing about the women who attacked me. I even contacted the police. I quickly learned that the police were going to be completely useless. My editor never sent the story back so I had assumed it was published.
At the end of the month, I left to shop for some supplies. Let me tell you, the grocery store in LittleBrooke is something else. They don’t have any brands you’ve ever heard of and at first, that drove me nuts. However, I quickly came to fall in love with the food here. It was comforting to have something to enjoy. Like always, I made sure to shop for two to three months at a time. Shopping was easy, I used the self-checkout to make sure I didn’t have to speak to anyone.
Once I got home I put everything away and decided to look around the apartment building. My whole floor started with 301 and went all the way to 310. The first floor was 501 to 509. There was a technical second floor but none of the doors were labeled. It looked like someone was renovating the place.
I got to see some of my neighbors too. An older woman, two men, and I were living next door to a lady the whole time. I had never seen or heard from these people before. It seemed like everyone wanted to keep to themselves too. I wanted to try and talk to someone but every time I approached them they turned and walked away. For what it's worth they looked completely normal.
So I left the apartment building and ventured around the property. There were no other apartments anywhere close to the one I was staying at, or so I thought until I found one about thirty minutes away. It was so out of the way you wouldn't find it unless you were looking. Against my better judgment, I opened the doors to the building and walked right inside. The place smelled like rust and soot.
I went to explore the first floor and was shocked to find blood trails on the floor and the ceiling. I followed the trail and made sure to look at the numbers on each door. This floor was numbered 1-10. Most of the doors were locked and I wasn’t going to try and knock anything down. I opened the door to apartment 10 and walked right inside. There was just enough light from the sun to illuminate the place. It looked like the whole place had been ransacked. I checked the tables and cabinets before heading into the bedroom. I searched the dresser and under the pillows before finally checking under the bed. When I looked under I spotted a black box. I grabbed it and that is when I got the feeling again. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I felt something sharp dig into my shoulders.
I screamed as loudly as I could, my face slammed off of the carpet and I clenched the box with one hand. Before I could figure out what the hell was happening I was tossed backward. I went into the bedroom door and rolled a couple of times until I reached the torn-up couch. I slowly lifted my head and to my horror what I was looking at was way too far from human to be real.
It looked like a dog ape thing. It was mostly skinless aside from some skin on its torso and face. The creature had thick, long claws and was standing on its hind legs. It barked at me. Its fangs were huge! I quickly scrambled to my feet and rushed out of the door as fast as possible. I could feel the blood running down my back. Never once did I consider letting this box go.
“Help!” I screamed as I burst through the apartment complex doors and started to run back to the main road. My heart was pounding, I could feel my chest getting tighter with each step. I could hear the beast behind me, it was screeching. I thought I was going to die for sure, there was no way I could continue to outrun this beast. That’s when I heard a car and before I knew it I could see it! A woman was waving me over, she was just up ahead! I had to push a little harder. I had to be just a little stronger.
When I felt the embrace of the car door I ripped it open and dove inside. She sped away and I looked out of the window. The beast did not follow us any further. “Are you insane!” She snapped at me. That’s the last thing I remember before passing out.
When I woke up I was laying on my stomach on an extremely comfortable couch. I could smell someone making pasta with meat sauce. My stomach was going insane. Everything hurt though, especially my back and my left side. I figured I had hurt my side when I was tossed across the room.
At this point, I did not dive into the box yet. I could barely move. “Hi.” I heard a woman say from the kitchen. “Thank you,” I replied before trying to sit up. I was so concerned that this woman would be another monster. When I saw her though I knew she was normal. She didn't look so damn perfect and that was a breath of fresh air.
“What's your name?” She asked me as I watched her prepare two bowls of food.
“Leon,” I said before closing my eyes. “You heard me screaming?” I asked her seriously.
“I did. I’m pretty sure everyone in our building did. You got hurt pretty badly, I did my best to patch you up.” She paused and laughed. “My name is Ashley.”
So I ended up crashing at her place. During this time I tried to focus on recovering. Sleeping became hell, I was having constant nightmares. I also spent a lot of time working on articles. I ended up giving Ash the keys to my apartment so she could get my laptop. It was a big move to trust anyone here but I am glad I did.

Year Three and Four in LittleBrooke

During my recovery, I spent most of my time writing. I wanted to write about everything I have seen and experienced. I had a lot of questions and way too much time with my thoughts. Ash and I got to know each other too.
I told her about how my wife had died mysteriously. I eventually opened up about her being skinned and drained of her blood. Ash told me she had come to LittleBrooke with her older sister. Her sister went to work one day and never came back. She was working at the theater. Ash had told me that she was stuck here, she didn’t feel right leaving with her sister still missing. Every time she would try the cops would meet her at the town line.
It was during this time that we both shared that we had never seen a police station. We talked about the monsters too. Her first run-in with one was at the grocery store. I told her about what happened to me at the bar. She told me that she heard rumors of the beast living beyond the apartments. The first time she saw it was when it was attacking me.
As I started to recover more we discussed a couple of things. First, the neighbors here suck. She could hear me screaming and came to help but no one else did. Second, neither of us has seen any families since we moved here. It was at this point I decided I wanted to leave and I offered to take her with me. We could both get out come hell or high water. She agreed but there was something I had to do first.
I showed her the box I had taken from the apartment.
“You almost died for a box?” Ash asked me. “Yes,” I said seriously.
I opened it and blinked. I found a picture of a girl with black hair and bright green eyes. It read, Stephanie. I found a missing persons report too. This girl had been missing a year before I got here. I decided that my last article would be about her. I had written about a couple of missing people before this. For example, the old lady in our building vanished and her apartment was rented out two days later.
I also found a badge inside the box. It read F.O.P.P. and there was a name! Jack Bridges. We tried to look up the organization's name but we came up empty-handed. I ended up writing the story about Stephanie and the next day Ash and I got packing. We decided to take my car since the cops know what hers looks like. I packed up the essentials all over again and we piled into the car.
“We should check the other direction. Before we leave.” I suggested. Ash knew about the bar already but neither of us knew what was beyond that point: This suggested changed the course of our lives forever.
So we started driving in the other direction. We passed the bar where the woman had tried to eat me, we passed a convenience store I didn’t know this town had and we just kept driving. Eventually, I could hear Ash speaking to me, “Holy shit! The police station.” she pointed out. I couldn’t believe it either. I did not stop driving though but I wish I did.
Eventually, we saw a sign that read, LittleBrooke High. Go Bears!
I started to slow down a bit until the school was in view. The place looked run down as hell. There were holes in the walls and leaves growing up the side of the building. The parking lot was massive and full of buses. I pulled the car into the parking lot and told Ash to get into the driver's seat.
“You’re not serious?” She asked me. I could tell she wanted to go but I said, “This is it! This is the last place of note in this fucken town. Just take the wheel and I will be right back.” I said as I jumped out of the car and went to look around.
As I approached one of the buses I grabbed the doors, they were already open a crack. I pulled them open and was hit with a horrible stench. I had to step back and puke and no I am not going to describe what I saw in that fucken bus. At that point, I decided I had seen enough and it was time to fucken go.
“Help!” I heard someone cry from a couple of buses over. “Please!” I heard again. I wanted to slap myself because I knew better. I had already decided it was time to leave but I went to investigate anyway. I went to the bus and pulled the doors open. It smelled like stale piss and blood. “Back here!” A girl screamed out to me. I made my way to the back of the bus, stepping on school jackets and over backpacks. That is where I found them. Two teenagers are tied to the leg of a bus seat. They looked horrible, caking in blood and sweat. They were both injured. “Stephanie?!” I exclaimed as I bent over to free them. I recognized her face the moment I saw it.
“Can you move? I asked the blonde girl.” As I started to let her go. “Everything hurts.” She told me. I opened the emergency exit and called for Ash to pull the car over. It took her a second to hear me but she came as fast as possible. “I am going to get you guys in the car and we are going to get out of here, okay?” I told them. I wanted to tell them everything was going to be okay, but I couldn't. It felt like that would be a huge lie.
Ash stepped out of the car and helped get the girls into the backseat. As I stopped to look around I could feel the bus shift in weight. I turned around and inhaled sharply. Standing before me was a creature wearing a jacket that said COACH on it. He looked sickly, and pale, and his veins were protruding from his face and hands. As he ran at me I jumped out of the emergency exit door just in time to feel something slam off of the back of my head. I looked down to see a barbed football. I could feel blood trickling down my neck, I stumbled forward and felt a hand grab my arm. Ash was shoving me into the car. She slid over me, closed the passenger door, and backed the car up. I thought she was moving like lightning.
At this point, everyone was screaming. My heart was threatening to jump out of my fucken chest. I was so sure we were all going to die here, just like everyone else I had seen on the buses. But no, Ash sped out of the parking lot. The coach chased us to the school limits but for some reason, he did not follow us anymore.
I know we should've stopped to see if the kids could find their parents but we didn't. Instead, Ash just kept driving. Eventually, we could hear the cops behind us but that did not stop her. It took us six hours to finally see the You Are New Leaving LittleBrooke sign! I couldn’t believe it. This place was not that big at all.
So listen, if you’re invited to take a job in LittleBrooke. Don’t take it. It’s not worth your life.

Timestamp https://imgur.com/a/egEVgLj
Boots - McRae black jungle boots, size 10W (I am an 11 regular in new balance if that helps, these boots fit me well), worn around the house a few times otherwise brand new - $120 + shipping
HK45c threaded barrel - used, I’ve had maybe 50 rounds through it, still in perfect shape, $225 shipped
Paulson DK-5 riot faceshield - fits PASGT helmets, new, $56 shipped
Gen III Ecwcs level VII parka - Lightly used but still in great shape, size large regular - $150 shipped
M65 DCU jacket - Nearly new USGI Large field jacket in Large, no liner, $52 shipped
Molle Pack Frame - Never used, no idea why I have it, no cracks, Tan/Coyote Brown color, $31 shipped
Pm me if you’re interested but comment as well for a flair check, PayPal F&F only, NO NOTES PLEASE!

Oil prices have been the same as they were in October 2018 for a few months now. Around $70/barrel.
National average in Oct 2018 was 2.90/gallon. National average today is 3.54/gallon.
Exxon, for instance, reported anywhere from 75% to 168% in year over year quarterly growth from June 2021 - September 2022. To be fair, this is after seeing negative YoY growth from March 2019 - December 2020. But, funny thing about the negative YoY growth that "big oil" experienced during COVID.. it wasnt caused solely by COVID. Exxon saw negative growth near 20% nearly a year before COVID brought down the world. In fact, the negative growth during COVID was very similar to the downturn from September 2014 - September 2016.
What I really want to emphasize here is the next part: I just laid out 2 separate downturns in Exxons history. Both were similar in length, and both were similar in size, albeit COVID being a little higher(5-10% higher during some quarters).
After the COVID downturn, Exxon reported quarterly YoY growth ranging from 75% to 168% over the course of about 6 quarters from 2021-2022. 4 out of those 6 quarters were 120% or higher.
After the 2014-2016 downturn, Exxon reported quarterly YoY growth ranging from 24% to 44% over 8 or 9 quarters from 2016-2018.
There is no precedent for the amount of greed we saw from corporations last year. Fuel prices were a driving force as well - and its very clear to me that greed was the driving force behind increased fuel prices after taking this small dive, confirming what we all should know already. So what we have here is compounded greed that ultimately made many things unaffordable over the past year - greed from the transportation side, greed from the producer greed from the supplier, and then of course regular YoY cost increases/inflation that should be expected. When you compound all of these increases into one final price that we all pay, you get record profits for everyone except the consumer, who gets fucked.
Id be willing to bet that YoY growth trends are similar for most corporations over the past 1-2 years, and do not match prior downturn years, just like with oil corporations.
And all they had to do was say "sorry, gas prices are high and COVID caused so many supply chain issues!!!" Yeah, you're not increasing production back to pre pandemic levels because you can just jack your prices up 200% and make record profits while not having to hire more employees.
America is fucked unless we do something about corporate greed. Greed is to be expected from the individual, but we cannot have monopolies run around completely unchecked.
If I left out something here, please point it out, thanks!
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/XOM/exxon/gross-profit

I don't know if this is allowed, If not, I'll happily delete. This is a recent comment on one of Jessica's articles about the Idaho Murders and...I can't. I just can't.
We are being lied to about what happened that night. Let's remember, law enforcement is allowed to lie to us and they are under NO obligation to share the truth with the public! Nothing about the official narrative makes ANY sense and there is indeed a cover-up of epic proportions taking place! They are protecting some very important people, as well as the University, the town of Moscow - and their profit$! Everything points to this being drug related and a lot of people on the peripherals are somehow involved - including some corrupt law enforcement. Here are some things I've learned about this tragedy that I wanted to share with everyone...
Please keep in mind that anything I share has not been proven as fact and this is only information I've gathered from different sources which I believe to be true (or very close to the truth) :
1. Everyone go check out the YouTube channel: Thou Shall Not Kill. He has been 'boots on the ground' in Moscow ID and his videos contain unique local footage, information and perspectives. His sources offer the best theory I've heard so far - the theory that makes the most sense - it's very eye opening!
2. This was about DRUGS. Apparently Maddie was upset because the drugs being sold out of the house were being cut with fentanyl (and could therefore kill people).
Allegedly Maddie flushed roughly $275,000 worth of drugs down the toilet and threatened to 'snitch' on the operation and the dealers and report it to the authorities if it didn't stop. Xana was the one responsible for stashing the drugs and this would explain why she had the lock fixed on her bedroom door and didn't want the other roommates (or anyone else) having access to her room. Maddie "told Adam everything" - and Jack S (who was acquainted with Emma Bailey and maybe others involved in the drug ring) knew she was in danger and that "they were gonna get her for this" - which they DID - just a few hours later. Word got back to the 'King Pin' of the operstion and he ordered the hit - a gruesome cartel-style slaughter - to send the message that you don't F around with them or this is what happens!
3. Research and look into the REAL owner of the Mad Greek restaurant, where both Xana and Maddie worked. His name is 'Constantinos' and allegedly he's an international drug King Pin with legitamite business fronts all over. His daughter is in the same sorority as one of the roommates and she's also the owner of the abadoned white Elanta found in Oregon apparently. (This statement about the Oregon Elantra could be incorrect and I'm not 100% certain of this).
4. The owner(s) of 1122 King Road are involved somehow - that house is owned by an LLC and they were VERY quick to just give their house away to the University.. who can afford to just throw away a WHOLE HOUSE?!
5. Dylan (and possibly Bethany) knew something was gonna go down, they were told it would be some kind of a shakedown - NOT that the four would be murdered. I believe this is how they were able to get Dylan to cooperate and play a part, and how they had someone 'on the inside'. D & B were fully aware their "friends" were being murdered at the time and her story in the PCA is BS. They were likely involved in the cleanup afterwards and the killers told them to wait until NOON to call 911 - but to first call over some of their friends to muck up the killers' tracks and taint the crime scene. These girls are scared for their LIVES and it's why they won't step foot near Idaho. It's really weird they don't talk to any of their sorority sisters or friends in Moscow ID anymore ... you'd think that after something so horrific and traumatizing you'd would want the support of your friends and especially your sorority sisters .. but I guess not if you have something to hide and to protect ...
6. That VSCO picture of Dylan gazing at the camera with a HUGE knife - is creepy AF! Who takes a picture like that? It's not done in a funny or jokey way - it's intense and kinda terrifying - and if you ask me - very telling. Kinda like the matching tattoos Dylan and Bethany got VERY SOON after the murders .. TOO soon IMO. Those tattoos come across as a 'badge of honor' more than a tribute to the victims. Super sketchy.
7. Emma Bailey, Demetrius Robinson, Quinn Kelley and Brent Kopacka had something to do with the murders - as did some corrupt law enforcement (local police officers/FBI?) Officer Payne of Moscow PD owns some kind of warehouse for a meat processing/packing business in North ID close to the border apparently.
Large scale drug rings require the involvement and protection of LE to be successful and make the kind of money they make. Payne and Kopaka are connected through the Military (?) I believe. It's alleged that Emma stashed drugs in the house with Xana (and possibly also in the empty room that was under Ashlyn Couch's name on the King Rd. lease). Emma Bailey lives super close just behind the King Rd. house - and would be a very close spot for the killers to flee to after the murders.
8. The leaked audio is REAL and shows there was some kind of ambush that night. The authorities have 'debunked' it as fake - because it is proof of what really transpired! It's not as if they would admit to the public it is real.. This was an ambush and the killers were KNOWN to the victims in one way or another. No one snuck in the back sliding door in the dark, like some ninja assassin, and stabbed 4 people on two separate floors, inflicting such horrific injuries in such a VERY SHORT amount of time - then just dissapeared into the night without so much as a trail of blood! Sorry but that just didnt happen. The victims were awake and things went from normal to deadly fast.
9. There were at least 3 people inside the house that night - and likely a few more outside and on the perimeters, keeping watch. The cops nearby at around 3 AM who were busting those kids for drinking were lookouts that night. The officer involved in that encounter has since left the Moscow PD force - which I find to be a strange and suspect coincidence (?) Those cops were in plain clothes and an unmarked/undercover car RIGHT NEXT to the King Rd. house at the SAME TIME as the murders. I find it really ODD that they busted those kids (who were being pretty responsible really) and held them up for SO LONG, asking them A LOT of unnecessary - and frankly dumb - questions, like: "what brand of beer were you drinking?" If you watch the bodycam footage you can tell the cops were trying to draw that encounter out for as long as possible and stall those kids to prevent them from going anywhere near 1122 King Rd! You can even see 3 or 4 dark silhouettes (people) running in single file from the direction of the murder house in the bodycam footage! I don't believe that Moscow PD has undercover officers in plain clothes and unmarked cop cars just lurking around Greek Row at 3 AM to catch drunk kids stumbling out of apartment buildings.. I just don't buy that.
10. Drugs are a HUGE problem in Idaho and a quick Google search will show there is solid evidence the Cartels operate in that area. This has been covered by their local media many times and it's not like it's a secret!
It's not like it's far-fetched to say that huge drug rings operate in Moscow Idaho. It's a FACT. And it's not like it's far-fetched to say college campuses are a HUGE market for these drug rings and can make them a TON of money! Fraternities and Sororities are well known for dealing drugs ... just think about this: if every person at that 150-person party at King Rd. (that took place the night before the murders) spent $$ on drugs - that would be thousands of dollars in profit - in just ONE night at ONE party. It's not far-fetched to assume that pretty sorority girls would be tasked with supplying drugs to all the college kids and all their friends - because who would suspect them?! Especially considering we now KNOW FOR A FACT that they were all connected to Emma Bailey, who is a convicted drug dealer! There is even bodycam footage of her leaving the King Rd. house on one occasion.
11. Where there's smoke - there's fire.
We must ask ourselves WHY do we keep hearing that this was a known drug house and all these things alluding to drugs and a shakedown gone wrong - if there's nothing to it? WHY have so many people that are close to the murders (Jack S, Inan Harsh, the surviving roommates) all left town, never to return? WHY are the locals still so scared if the guy who did it is behind bars? WHY is there such secrecy surrounding the case and WHY do they want to demolish the King Rd. House before the trial even starts?!!
​

I just got the "full collection" and had to turn around and print 76 promo cards to complete my set.
It's kinda crazy that there's almost triple-digit cards that I can't reasonably get ahold of.
I've seen cards like corrupted data go for $80-$150 for one card, while the full kickstarter collection ran me $180 on ebay, even less for people that didn't miss the kickstarter like me (didn't know of the game yet).
As an ex mtg fanatic, I LOVE that four souls is sold as a complete experience. It was one of my biggest draws to it. I now do weekly sessions with my friends, and I've bought holy rollers, unholy rollers, the mat, the game plus all DLCs (which I hardly play.. maybe 3 hours cumulative) etc. just to show my support.
With that though, if you're starting to approach the point that 10% of the game is out-of-print promo cards even for kickstarter backers, I don't think you can reasonably call it the "full collection" anymore, regardless of how it's framed and disclaimed.
This is a huge concern for people just getting into the game as well. You buy a game with 707 cards that's marketed (on multiple sites) as "containing nearly all the latest cards" just to find out that you're *306\* cards short of the full package with alt-arts, promos, and kickstarter exclusives. That's demoralizing and, I'm sorry, but borderline insulting.
I think a yearly or bi-yearly bundle during the holidays containing mass-produced versions of promo cards would do the trick. This route retains the same incentives for those who get the original promos through early-access and a sense of pride and accomplishment over their exclusive card while not alienating the rest of the fanbase. You could even have different tiers that come with progressively better incentives. People bought kickstarter editions with incentives beyond all of the cards-- they'd do the same for the bundles
You'd also have the marketing advantage of it being on shelves for
A.) Students and teachers getting out of school with time to spare. May seem niche, but multiple people in my play group are students, teachers, or both including myself and my partner.
B.) Folks who are Christmas shopping for the Isaac fans in their life.
This would enable people to have their finances in order for predictable releases, and I'd eat my shoes if they didn't sell like hotcakes. You have a uniquely passionate, loyal, and ravenously addicted fanbase. TAP INTO IT. I'd give my left nut to Beelzebub for my personal clients to have so much love.
This is just a rant by a mega-fan of the card game and a humble MBA with some product management and marketing experience. At the end of the day, I don't do merch, but I love the game and will continue to buy every expansion and gameplay accessory.
I just hope this is heard and possibly considered because I think it's genuinely best for the future of four souls. I would never have typed this up during my MTG days, because I didn't care enough. Thanks for such a great game, truly.
TL;DR,
Exclusive-print business models create frustration and FOMO. They're choosing to pass up on my dime with gimicky product-tied or location-exclusive promo cards, and it's a shame. Just make promo cards uniquely marked or serialized, and create promo packs once or twice a year around summer and the holidays for us schmucks who don't wear merch, don't go to conventions, and don't drink g-fuel. $ TAKE MY MONEY $

With the extreme situation finally resolved, the attentive but weird part of my mind had settled back into place. Which prompted a zigzagging trail of thoughts.
The weird structure beneath the pillories reminded me of a drill, which made me think about TMNT 1987 with those tunnelers that delivered Shredder and his cronies. That, in turn, made me think about April O'Neil '87, which made me remember one YouTuber talking about a clear difference between the '87 cartoon and the Nickelodeon version, that was summed up by a sprite version of Zangief from Street Fighter singing "Titties, Titties, Titties, Krang and Technodrome" using Tarantella Napoletana as a background music, ending with "April - Titties!". This brought me to the conclusion that I really should make up with my mates as soon as I get back because I wanted to fondle some... again. I wanted to fall asleep holding a titty in each hand or even smooshed against some, motorboat them.
As I came back from my mind trip, I became increasingly aware that I was aching all over and, across my whole body, there was a sensation of tiny little bubbles popping in my skin, it was most pronounced in the areas where I had scales out. When I pressed my hand against the scales, I nearly burned myself! What is this heat?! Or... is this Heat? The presence of my mates made it barely noticeable, for the most part, but it was still there, yet, until now, I treated it like a background noise, pushing it down. And now, it was coming up to the surface, it seems. When I got knocked around and the Dragon took over, there was a deep-seated frustration that I felt and couldn't quite understand. When the Goddess... was done with me, she sped up the whole "Unification of the Spirit" as it were... But Dragon was still his own self, it seems, and he wasn't happy with me. The gold was what calmed him down, some. My Dragon wanted release, one way or the other, which is why it actually took over. I needed to do something about it, try and channel it while I'm in control, so that I wouldn't need to rely on being knocked around. And... let Dragon loose sometimes, out to play.
"This was a Dungeon root," mage informed me, as he approached. "His majesty found several of them across the land. They sprout from the Demonic Dungeon as the means of delivering something to the surface, or delivering someone to the dungeon." "Huh, so my wild guess was correct... Hold on, does that mean demons can invade at any moment? They can just ride one of these and attack anywhere!" "The dungeon roots can, and have, sprout inside the wall. The spatial properties of the Dungeon, allows it to bypass the Holy Barrier and the Death Wall," mage confirmed. "His Majesty had ordered the research when they first appeared, and we know their limits. They cannot be used for the full-scale invasion because they require nutrients to function and not just magic energy, and because His Majesty can track their appearance due to his connection to the Barrier. We cut them down quickly. They never get a chance to blossom." "Got it. Sorry to ask this late, but what is your name?" I felt embarrassed, but the mage was in good humor. "Alabastor, Hero. I understand how you might've been pre-occupied with something else. And I must apologize for being caught off-guard earlier," mage said. "You, however, handled it rather well, despite encountering these new demons for the first time. We have no record of them, and that explosion... If not for your fast reaction, we would have perished. Thank you for saving us." "I got really lucky there. I became complacent, sloppy," I shook my head. "Besides, it's your shield that protected us. Thank YOU." "That was the protective shell that your Dragon's spirit conjures in the event of mortal danger. The survival instinct." "Damn... Okay... Well. Regardless, y'all came through for me and I appreciate it. Let's just say that we're all did great," I slapped my face to keep my mind from panicking. "Uh... isn't the Dungeon meant to be conquered?" "The core of the dungeon takes several months to calibrate, during which the person who conquered it has to remain within the room, as all the exits will be closed. The only person who can successfully reach the Core is the King, and, perhaps, you." "The dungeon isn't under the World Tree, is it? Would fit the theme." Alabastor shook his head. "The dungeon lies deep beneath the cursed lands where demons reside. Should you come up on the wall, near the Breach, in the early hours of the morning, you can actually see the entrance. Are you alright?"
My skin was actually sizzling now, blisters started appearing on the surface. "Uhhh... I lost all my gold during the attack, and now it's probably dust on the wind. Damn... this Heat is really getting to me..." "This gold, you mean?" Alabastor gave me collected coins, still attached to the adhesive makeshift tape. "How?!" "Sir Tiarlin have picked them up," mage smiled. "It was reckless but attentive, I would be sure to inform His Majesty of his exceptional talents. Although I'm sure he already knows."
I quickly pressed them against my skin and the calmness washed over me like a gentle breeze. Seeing this, Alabastor pulled a strange leather belt out of his Storage and quickly slotted all the coins into it, then he slung it over my chest like an ammo belt.
"Woah... I could've used that before! What is that?" "It's made to hold magic crystals or potions, strange that you've never had used it before. But, then again, you seem to lack some other common knowledge as well. Almost as if... something kept you distracted."
I facepalmed, but as I tried to find words, Radius appeared, dragging something behind him. "I found something on the edge of the forest, looks like a dump of unwanted stuff. There were demon footprints all over the place. This thing was the only thing intact," he called out. "Oh and... Thanks for the save, Hero. I owe you one. Those demon bitches pack a punch, my head is still ringing like a bell."
"Radius, next time you decide to stick your neck out like that - guiding us and all (thanks for that by the way) maybe you should go and spend your bells somewhere first. Your reaction to those bitches was a bit... strong," I noted, glad to divert mage's attention. "If you know what I mean." "Hehe, sorry about that..." "Hmm... this is... the Aggregator," Alabastor noted. "This should be inside the chief's house, not thrown out somewhere in the forest." "What does it do?" "The Aggregator serves as the core of magic barrier that surrounds the village, it is connected to special channeling bricks in the wall that serve as the anchors. As long as Aggregator is intact, the barrier is active, reflecting any magic sent at it, keeping demons at bay. As magic energy is channeled through the bricks, they maintain hardness of unprecedented scale, spreading to surrounding walls, making sure demons can't break through the walls via physical attacks," mage explained.
"This looks... very simple but sturdy," I noted. "Looks mass-produced." "You are correct. These were handed out to future village chiefs, they meant to protect it so that it can protect their home in return. Speaking of which, I suggest we either continue our journey or return to Kestrel. You look like you need some rest after this battle."
"Radius, how many villages are left on this side?"
"Three, they're pretty close to each other. I just hope we won't run into more demons..."
Honestly, at this point, I was ready to clock out, curl up inside a sleeping bag, lament how cold and cruel it is without my mates and fall asleep. With or without, quietly sobbing into my hands from crept up loneliness. So far, there were no notable results of our journey, every single village was destroyed. And yet...
"I feel like we NEED to keep going, I'm sorry if that..."
"Perhaps your Insight is driving you, I will trust that," Alabastor noted, he didn't look tired.
"I mean, it's only three, right? Let's keep going," Radius sighed.
Tia nodded, but I've noticed that he looked shaken. I gave him a hug, feeling his body trembling a little.
"Let's go."
The first village was mostly intact, save for the chief's house. Aggregator was broken to pieces, part of the wall collapsed. Examining those channel bricks made me pause - they really weren't stones, but Tia's village had stones! I couldn't recall any special visible barrier, either.
"Alabastor, where do these... bricks come from?"
"They are produced from the material found here, in the jungle. Strong but flexible. After being treated with special solution it would temporarily become malleable, then it would be cut into bricks and fitted into the wall."
When I heard this, something clicked in my head, like a puzzle piece slotted into place. I quickly tore the brick out and held it in my hand. Somewhere, from the depths of my twisted mind, resurfaced an old and weird phrase.
"A hyuck - it's mountain dilk!" I uttered. "Well, demonic jungle dilk anyway."
This was the silk produced by that demon beast worm! Which meant some lack of communication between whoever is making this and mages in Kestrel. They didn't recognize it. I was getting antsy, because the strange feeling I've had the whole time had only gotten stronger. There were two more villages this way, once we cleared those we could return, and boy did we need to. Radius was barely holding his eyes open, so have I. I wasn't tired physically, but letting loose with Dragon Spirit, exhausted me mentally. I wanted food for both body and soul, some TLC from my mates, some self-digging. But my mind cleared when we reached the next village, because of what we found.

My great-grandfather, Alexander Houck Mosier, served in WWI with the 79th Division during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which took place from September 26, 1918, to November 11th, 1918. This is his story.
I have in my possession the transcription of a diary he wrote while deployed. A major help in writing this story is the book History of the Seventy-Ninth Division A.E.F. during the World War: 1917-1919, published in 1922. The book was extremely helpful, as Alexander had trouble spelling the French names. Reading along helped me to narrow down the towns he traveled through. I also have created a google map (https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1Q49-SJTkOTM5jPSWg-qH7cAeFjOtm68&usp=drive_link) , which plots where I think he was. Especially in later parts where his division is in combat, the pins mark the general area. The map covers his whole diary, so minor spoilers for where he traveled.
In this story, I have picked specific entries from his diary, marked in bold, to tell the story, with my comments/ summary along with quotes from the book, in italics. There are entries for each day, but some are removed to shorten the length of the story.
Alexander Houck Mosier was born on May 25, 1894, in Maryland. When he was drafted, he was a laborer in a flour mill with an 8th grade education. He was drafted at the age of 23 and was sent to Camp Meade in 1917 as part of the 79th Division, 313th Infantry, Company D.
Major General Joseph A. Kuhn oversaw the division, with Colonel Claude B. Sweezey commanding the 313th infantry. The men of the 79th division were drawn from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. A good example of the demographic makeup of the division is given in the form of the 310th Field Artillery: “In this one regiment there were fifteen nationalities, American, Russian, Italian, Polish, Austrian, Jewish, Swiss, English, Lithuanian, Greek, Bohemian, French, Irish, Romanian, and even German. There were four different religious beliefs, Protestant, Catholic, Hebrew and Greek Catholic, while twenty-five men of the regiment asserted they had no religious adherence. As to educational attainments, but fifty men in the regiment had ever attended college, while 114 had no education of any sort. Others had been to elementary, grammar and high schools.”
By September 30th, all the men had arrived at Camp Meade and were ready for training. The training lasted from October 1st, 1917, to July 5th, 1918. On July 5th, the division departed for Hoboken.
Saturday, 6 July: Reached Jersey City about 4 AM. Taken ferry across to Hoboken, on ferry boat. Loan aboard U.S.S. Leviathan. Went on Guard at 6 PM.
U.S.S. Leviathan was formerly the German Liner Vaterland, seized along with the entire U.S. branch of the Hamburg American Line when war was declared. The ship was originally designed to carry 4,500 passengers but by the time Alexander boarded, it had been upgraded to 14,000.
Monday, 15 July – Arrived at Brest about 2:30 PM. Stayed aboard ship all night. Up all night, band playing.
Tuesday, 16 July- Left boat and landed at Brest, walking 6 miles. Arrived at rest camp about 12 AM. Weather was cloudy and rainy. Went in a field of weed. Work hard to get tent up in rain.
Thursday, 18 July- Left camp about 2 AM. Walked 6 miles. Boarded cars 42 men to a car. Passed through Lerody, Landerneaux. Bremmes a very nice town. Munitions Camp located.
An excerpt on what the box cars were like: “Box cars are usually provided for the accommodation of the troops. They hold from 3'-2 to 40 men. Sometimes seats are provided. Straw will be provided whenever practicable to make the men as comfortable as possible when traveling in cold weather. Space at each end of the car should be left clear for rifles, rations and accoutrements; the rifles being secured by an improvised rack made with screw rings and a strap or sling.”
Friday, 19 July – Still traveling. Passed Angers, Tours, Vierson (Vierzon) large R.R. Centre. People of better classed. Nice homes.
Saturday, 20 July – Still on board train without much comfort eating or sleeping. Passed Dijon. Mostly wheat and potatoes grown. Seen droves of cattle 1500. Several camps, some been overseas 8 months.
Sunday, 21 July- Arrived about 6 AM. After being on train about 80 hours, walked 4 miles and secured quarters. 3rd floor 18 men in 1 room very good after being on train. Town named Blissey sa Pierre. Rained all day.
Thursday, 25 July- Hiked 2 hours with heavy packs and then drilled till noon. Packed up and left. Passed through Chatillon SuSeine. Reached Longeaux (Longeau) about 1 o’clock and stayed till morning.
Friday, 26 July- Left Longeaux (Longeau) about 11 AM. Traveled in trucks about 2 PM. Billeted again not very good. Town prices very high. Champlittle (Champlitte) name of town.
Champlitte was the site of the Tenth Training Area, where the division was to spend all of August in intensive combat training. This area had not been touched by the war. A description of the area: “It was picturesque from one end of the training area to the other, with the peasants always ready to extend a hearty greeting. Men of the Ammunition Train tell of a large sign displayed on the town hall, or hotel de ville of one of the places they entered, bearing the inscription, “Welcome to our American Friends,” and of the formal address of welcome delivered by the town’s patriarch, while the children and girls threw flowers to the men standing in the ranks. There was, however, little to do in the area by way of recreation. At the end of a hard day’s work the sole amusements would be a stroll through quaint village streets, a halting conversation with a native, or a glass of light wine sipped in a sidewalk cafe. Regulations forbidding the sale of strong liquors were enforced by the military authorities and were well observed on the part of the French population.”
From July 26 to September 8th, Alexander’s entries are sometimes short. The following is a selection of that time.
Saturday – 3 August – Short drill and lecture of care of feet. Taking automatic rifle apart with eyes tied shut with a handkerchief. Taking all apart with eyes tight shut, putting together the same way. Inspected by Lt. Townsend. Only 1 pin missed but would not stop from shooting.
Thursday – 8 August- Shooting on rifle range with automatic rifle. Made a good score. 23 five shots.
Thursday – 15 August – Drilled in morning and went to gas house and tested our gas mask. Took part of positions in front line trenches in honor of some Catholic festival. Nearly all people turned out.
Friday- 23 August- Went on 6 hour hike about 16 miles. In evening foot inspection. Tired and hungry and received pay. Also emergency rations. Still warm and cloudy and very cold at night.
Saturday – 31 August – Drilled and went through the manual of arms. Drilled with gas mask on for 1 hour. Pretty hard to get on in six seconds.
Monday – 2 September – General inspection of equipment. All taking a bath. One man drowned name Raspa. I ran for a pole up to town about 500 yards.
DROWNED? Taking a bath? What an awful way to go.
Sunday – 8 September – Left Campsite. Walked 6 Miles to Oyrios. (Oyreires) No rest men drop out about 11 AM. Boarded train with 2 days of rations at 5:45 PM. 40 men to a car, passed backed to Champlatde Maatz Chaumorunt (no idea).
Monday, 9 September – Passed Revigny Barekduc (Bar-le-duc?), reached Longville and unloaded. 9:30 AM went to town and stayed up in a hay loft.
Tuesday, 10 September – Rainy, no drill. More troops passing, auto trucks passing through, No retreat.
Thursday, 12 September – Cloudy and rainy. Inspection of everything, gun and clothes. Detail unloading cars, hay, and goats.
This story will continue in 3 days with PART 2: Preparing to Attack

The sun began to set on the small Scottish island, casting a warm orange glow across the quaint village. As the residents finished their meals and the last few visitors trickled out of the local pub, a man named Ewan slipped into the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to make his move. Ewan, a middle-aged man with a scruffy beard and unkempt hair, was an alcoholic. He was known by many on the island for his frequent drunken antics and had been kicked out of the pub more times than he could count. Despite several attempts to quit drinking, Ewan was powerless to resist the allure of alcohol. As the last of the pub's patrons made their way out the door and the owner began to close up, Ewan seized his opportunity. He snuck into the now-empty pub through a back door, hiding behind a large wooden barrel in a corner. He held his breath, praying he wouldn't be discovered as the owner locked up and left for the night. Once he was sure the coast was clear, Ewan emerged from his hiding spot and surveyed the room, his eyes gleaming with excitement. He licked his lips as he approached the rows of bottles behind the bar, the promise of a long night of uninterrupted drinking weighing heavily on his mind. However, as Ewan began to move across the pub, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about the pub. The warm, lively atmosphere he was accustomed to had been replaced Ewan looked around as he approached the bar and wondered to himself. Why do pubs always limit themselves to the same decor? The harsh shades of red. The black and white photos of people long dead and oil paintings which seem to have been painted to fade into the background. Ewan had both drank and been barred from every pub on the island now and has seen little to no variety in interiors. "I guess it is to make it feel homely and familiar. Our brains associate familiarity with safety and people who feel safe are likely to drink more." while still feeling unsettled moving across the bar. The feeling of unease wasn't going to stop him from drinking as much as he can physically take before sneaking out leaving the landlord none the wiser. Until a stock take shows some discrepancies that he will probably put down to spillages or his carelessness with bookkeeping. Then he thought "No I will drink as much as I want and top the bottles up with water" Ewan's eyes grazed over the selection of choices on the Optic. Grouse being his usual preferred choice when he wants to spoil himself on the rare occasions he has money to burn, Bells being his usual go-to poison as the price and alcohol content measure up quite nicely but tonight he was going to drink like a king. He grabbed the bottle of Redbreast and carefully unscrewed it from the optic and began to greedily chug straight from the bottle. He walked drunkenly from behind the bar to a stool he sat down and for no reason held the bottle to the sky and said "cheers" at that moment the jukebox began to blast out at an incredibly loud volume "You're mine" by Ritchie Valens. "FUCK!" Screamed Ewan as he put down his bottle and hurried over to the jukebox. The light emitted from which was now making the shadowy areas seem darker by contrast. He scrambled to the floor feeling for a plug socket behind it to unplug the thing. The sound up close was almost deafening. After feeling along the wall to no success he quickly pulled at it to come forward so he could get behind it to where the plug must be and sure enough it was there. He yanked it out of the wall with a hard jerk and the record began to slow "yourrr minee forrrr eternityyyyyy....." and then silence. Ewan let out a sigh of relief. "Thing must be connected to some sort of sensor" Ewan walked to the window, crouched down in case anyone was looking in to see what the noise was. He looked to see if anyone in the opposite building heard the commotion. He looked and the only building on the other side of the road facing the pub was a thatched-roof cottage. Dimly lit by street light, with a sign above the door that read "Alf's funeral home" "Well Alf. I'm sorry if I woke up any of your clients" slurred Ewan while chuckling to himself. He reached for the bottle on the bar while turning and no bottle. He retraced his steps from the bar to the jukebox to the window and back to the bar but the
bottle was nowhere to be seen. Then he looked up at the Optics. There he saw it. The fine redbreast whiskey. He staggered over to it. Holding the bar for balance. There it was and seemingly untouched. He must have drank near on a quarter of the bottle but there it is. Almost full and back where it was. "I must have tipped it up with water after drinking and put it back. This isn't the first time I've lost chunks of time from drinking and it won't be the last" mumbled Ewan allowed as an attempt to reassure himself. Putting his feeling of unease down to the nerves of being caught along with the dull twinge of guilt he feels for stealing Ewan decided to look for cheaper alternatives for his next binge. He finally settled on a bottle of Jack. Only total pussies who want to pretend they like whisky because they think it gives them an edge drink Jack Daniels. The faggots that drink it non ironically will never notice it is watered down. Ewan grabbed a glass this time deciding to drink measured amounts. Aware that loss of time while drinking is usually followed by passing out entirely. Ewan sat hunched over on a rickety wooden stool, the creaking of the floorboards beneath him barely audible over the deafening silence that enveloped the empty pub. The musty smell of stale beer and old wood filled his nostrils as he took another swig from the glass of his Jack Daniels, a bitter taste lingering on his tongue. “Piss water,” he thought to himself. The room was dark, though his eyes had now adjusted enough to fully take in his surroundings. The old faces in frames on the wall. A photo on the wall to his left was of a party being held in this very pub. Looking to be in the 1910s judging from the fashion. Amongst the 20 or so people in the image, one woman stood out in the dead center. Her long hair was down, a contrast from the other ladies in the photos sporting the traditional Pompadour style of the time. She was smiling while looking off to the side. Seemingly unaware that she was to be the star of the photograph. Above the photo on a shelf made from taxidermy antlers sat an antique hunting rifle. The light from the street lamp reflected off the mettle barrel casting eerie shadows across the rows of dusty liquor bottles. Ewan thought about how many parties would have taken place here over hundreds of years this pub had been open. The idea of drinking for any kind of pleasure had become such an alien concept to him now. Drinking for Ewan wasn't a way to unwind or relax or even in his mind feed an addiction. Not anymore anyway. Now he finds himself desperate for a drink to quell the demons that haunted his every waking moment. As the alcohol began to take hold of him again, the memory he had been trying so hard to suppress clawed its way back to the forefront of his mind. It was a memory that he could never escape, a weight that anchored him to the ocean floor of despair. It had been over six years since the accident. The night had started like any other: dinner with friends, laughter, and, of course, alcohol. It was supposed to be a celebration of Ewan and Isla, his wife's fifth wedding anniversary. But as the night wore on and the glasses piled up, so too did the tension between them. “We need to get a taxi.” Said Isla after excusing herself and Ewan “I am fine to drive! It is only a mile down the road” “You were supposed to stay sober tonight” “Yeah, and you were supposed to get your license 3 years ago.” “Do you really wanna do this now?” Ewan thought on this for a second before speaking “No. I am sorry I was only meant to have a couple but got a little carried away. I am sorry, but you know we will never get a taxi at this time of night. Come on I'll drive slow” Ewan cut this memory short. He wouldn't allow himself to think about this anymore. As tears began to fall from his face he necked the remainder of the contents of his glass. Before he had a chance to pour himself another drink the stall he was sitting on was jerked back with such force that Ewan landed on the ground with a thud. Smashing the glass that was tightly gripped in his hand in the process. Ewan let out a pained gargled yelp as he shook his now bleeding hand in pain. The blood splatters landed on the wall art and photos. He looked at his hand and saw that yes indeed a large chunk of glass was sticking out of his hand. He yanked it out. With that more blood trickled out rapidly. He turned to see what happened to his seat. And there almost 3 feet away from him sat his bar stool. “Fuck this!” said Ewan as he hurried to the back door. Locked. He tried the fired exit, the windows. All locked. At this point, he didn't care about being discovered. He turned all the lights on. And started bashing his fists against the windows. The glass wouldn't budge he grabbed a chair and began smacking the window over and over again until the chair had fallen to pieces. Suddenly the Jukebox started playing again. Some big band highland number that he did not recognize this time. “I know I unplugged that” as he looked at the jukebox he noticed that the hunting rifle that sat on the shelf to the right of that was gone he scanned the room and to his horror, he saw a lady standing in the corner of the room facing away from him. His vision was slightly wavy from the alcohol. “Hey I don't know if you work here and you are trying to mess with me for breaking in. You have successfully scared the shit out of me and I am happy to wait outside for the police to arrive or whatever. I am bleeding, let me leave?” The woman turned around. It was the lady from the photograph. Her face was covered in bruises. Her eyes were red and puffy. She put the hunting rifle that was in her hands up to her chin and pulled the trigger. The front of her face exploded revealing bits of teeth and a gaping hole where her mouth should be parts of her brain decorated the ceiling the remainder half that was still in her skull pulsated a little as blood tricked out. She fell to her knees and now with her few remaining teeth bare, she looked as though she was smiling. Though her eyes gave the impression of pure rage. As she fell head first on the floor the electricity died. Ewan scurried away while on the floor to the corner by the bar and then vomited. “not real, it's not real it's not real” he said while covering his eyes. Afraid to look. He sat like this for what felt like hours. In that time a puddle of urine collected around him. “Usually I don't piss myself until I've finished my second bottle” he darkly thought to himself. “I need to find a way out of here” Thought Ewan as he opened his eyes and saw that there was no trace of the lady from the photograph anymore. The ceiling was clean and the gun was back on its shelf. He stood shakily. As He stood he noticed that the building on the opposite end of the street now had a light on. He began banging on the window again “Hey! I am trapped in here! Send help!” He saw movement in the window as someone pulled back the curtain to look. It was a middle-aged gentleman with greying hair. He looked around confused to see where the noise was coming from “OVER HERE!” Shouted Ewan and he banged on the window until his other hand was just as bloody. The gentleman then turned in Ewans direction “YEAH OVER HERE I AM TRAPPED! PLEASE COME AND HELP ME!” The gentleman looked as though he was trying to hear while with his hand he reached for the lining of his shirt. With one motion he ripped his shirt open relieving a gash going all the way up his body stitched together with what appeared to be wire. His look of concern turned to amusement and he pulled the wire. Undoing the stitches to show where his vital organs that have now been donated used to be. He laughed like a madman as he pulled his skin back. His head now leaning against the glass and his laughter which sounded muffled due to the distance was still audible from the pub. Deep and raspy but that of a madman. Ewans attention was broken by the sound of a familiar clank of something metallic. It was a sound that was instantly recognizable to anyone. The sound of coins dropping to the floor. Ewan turned and looked and sure enough, there were two coins on the ground behind where he stood. He bent to pick them up. They were old. Very old. From what he could see in the dim light they looked to be that of the Victorian times. He heard the sound again. This time over by the jukebox. He walked over to pick them up and noticed something. The floor under the jukebox looks to be a cellar door. He dragged it out some more to reveal that yes indeed, it was some kinda entrance to a hatch of some kind. This time Ewan saw the coins drop to the floor. He looked up at the ceiling and saw dozens of corpses laying flat against the ceiling with coins covering their eyes dressed in their funeral clothes all shoulder to shoulder. The sight was horrifying. And as if waiting to be viewed, at that moment their flesh began to melt to just skeletal remains, and coins and blood showed Ewan as he frantically tried to get the hatch on the floor open. Digging his fingers into the gaps trying to grip it to lift it until he eventually found a bit to latch onto. With one firm pull the hatch came up. He dove into the cellar. Not caring what he will find at this point. Slamming it shut behind him. He searched his pocket to find his lighter. After a few attempts at getting it to light he managed. He saw it wasn't a cellar at all. Instead, it was a tunnel. He began to follow it along. After walking for about 30 minutes the tunnel got narrower and narrower until Ewan was crawling on his hands and knees. He noticed a light ahead and felt hopeful that this could be the end of his ordeal. He began to notice he was crawling on pavement and broken glass. He kept going until he could stand and he could see trees and a road he hurried out of the tunnel and saw to his confusion. He was still inside the cellar. The trees stopped sharply at the ceiling and the road stopped sharply at the four walls that surrounded him. He turned to go back through the tunnel, Back the way he came. this was not the way out. what he saw as he turned defied all logic. The small part of his brain that clung to rational explanation broke as he saw that the tunnel he had just crawled through had been replaced with a tipped-over car. He saw a younger version of himself slowly regain consciousness while suspended upside down. He froze unable to move or look away. “Oh god please don't make me relive this” “Isla? Oh my god, Isla” Ewan checked her pulse but couldn't find one. He could see emergency services lights coming towards them from a distance. He knew he would go to prison for manslaughter if caught causing death by dangerous driving “I am so sorry baby. I am so sorry” Ewan said through tears while unbuckling her seatbelt and moving her over to the drivers side and then crawling back out of the car to flag down the ambulances. "They'll be able to resuscitate her, She will be okay and I will take care of her". Ewan didn't notice that the car had begun to ignite until it was too late. The flames spread quickly. “Ewan..?” said a dull voice from the car. Ewan turns and hurried to the car but by that point, it was too late “Isla!” He cried as he watched the flame cover his wife. Isla screamed in pain until her face was completely burnt away and all she could make was gargles and all Ewan could do was watch in horror. Then the entire room went up in flames and became ash leaving Ewan completely in the dark. Sobbing. “I am sorry I didn't know. I didn't mean to. I.... I...!" Ewan composed himself. "I deserve to die but I am not dying in here" Ewan stood and pulled out his lighter again to light the room only to see it was now filled with hundreds of bodies all staring at him. the tips of their feet scraping across the floor as they floated closer. Ewan backed away until he felt something metallic. A ladder leading up to a manhole shaft. he quickly began to climb as the ghostly rotting corpses moved closer to him at a more rapid speed now. as he reached the top and forced the lid open he was greeted by sunlight. hands clutched at his ankles dragging him back but with determination to survive he pulled himself free and was finally outside in the open. He closed the cover shut. He could hear birds chirping, and sounds of people driving to work. The world had never seemed so beautiful. "Oh my god buddy are you okay?" said a young man who looked horrified at Ewan who was covered in dried blood, ash, and a collection of injuries. "I am going to call you an ambulance buddy hang tight" The young man pulled out his phone and began to dial. by this point, Ewan began to pass out. He slipped in and out of consciousness while getting carefully placed on the gurney. "What is your name?" "Have you taken anything?" "Who's blood is this" "My name is Ewan, I haven't taken anything. I guess I have had far too many spirits last night though" he laughed to himself as the doors to the ambulance closed. as the vehicle began to speed away music began to play on the radio. "I didn't think ambulances had radios" said Ewan as he began to recognize the music. "Your mine and we belong together. Yes, we belong together" He tried to stand but he had been strapped down to the gurney. The walls of the ambulance began to melt away. The paramedics all had coins covering their eyes and mouths stitched shut. Ewan let out a scream as fire began to cover his body he could see once the walls of the ambulance were fully gone he was still in the pub. it was still night and he was now very much on fire. He let out one final scream before his lips were completely gone. His chard body fell to the floor by the bar with a thud. An empty bottle of Jack tightly gripped in one hand and his lighter in the other. In his final state of living consciousness before his inevitable death, he saw the light emerge from the window. The sun was finally rising for real. He closed what remained of is eyelids and let out a pained sigh as he died. Ewans body was discovered later that day by a confused and horrified cleaner. Who immediately phoned the police. The investigating officers, who knew all about Ewans drunken antics on the island and had their suspensions regarding the circumstances involving his wifes death. Put Ewans demise down to an elaborate and painful suicide. That night as his body lay on the slab in Alfs funeral home. After the sun had set and everyone had left for the evening. But in the pub opposite the funeral home, Ewan emerged from his hiding spot behind the barrels and surveyed the room, his eyes gleaming with excitement. He licked his lips as he approached the rows of bottles behind the bar, He felt an unsettling feeling of deja vu but had managed to shake it off by the promise of a long night of uninterrupted drinking which weighed heavily on his mind.

Shi Huo slumped down into the tavern seat with a put-upon sigh, uncaring of the racket made by his armor as he loosened the shoulder straps, allowing them to clatter to the floor.
None of the other patrons of his favorite tavern even glanced up as he casually batted the loose bits of armor under his table with his feet. Nor did they look up as his compatriots joined him, repeating his actions.
Their table was far from the only one with shoulder pauldrons gathered beneath it. It was a favored hangout for the Sect Guard of the Brazen Claw.
“So, we’re to be rebels now?”
His compatriots grunted quietly as the tavern owner’s daughter placed mugs before each of them without a need for prompting on any of their parts.
“Not just rebels,” Xing Zhong muttered quietly. “Part of the Grand Army of Ten Huo besides.” He spat to the side. “If I’d wanted to spend my days gallivanting across the country fighting bandits and Instinctive tribesmen, I’d have joined the Imperial army.”
Shi shrugged as he took a sip of his drink. “Well, it seems we’ve not much choice in the matter now.”
“Aye,” Xing nodded. “That we don’t.”
Such was the life of a mortal in Ten Huo. Cultivators made decisions and it was the mortals who had to live with the consequences.
It wasn’t like any of them would dream of quitting their jobs, throwing off their colors and disappearing into one of the city’s many back alleys.
And gain what work? Shi thought. The merchant caravans are basically a death sentence. The nearest farms are abandoned. Fishing boats have all but stopped going out since they started being attacked by sharks. Empress above, even the gangs have gone quiet as of late.
No, as unpalatable as this latest change was to him, he knew that the alternatives were worse.
The four men and one woman sat in silence, each sipping their drinks as they mulled over their worries.
“Do you think we’ll get gonnes?” Zhuan finally asked, glancing up from her drink. “Johansen’s guards have gonnes.”
“They call themselves the militia,” Xing corrected, though he did not move to correct her otherwise.
“Gonnes…” Tian breathed. “That’d be a thought.”
The weapons had achieved a near mythical status amongst the mortals of the city during the siege. Mystic tools that might allow a dozen mortal men and women to stand toe to toe with a cultivator.
Sure, the Brazen Claw had some of their own; fire-lances they were called, but they were reserved for the sect’s elite mortal troops.
Not the street-sloggers like him and his friends.
“Forget that!” the thus far silent Zou snapped at them. “You all realize that we’re rebels now? Dissidents!?”
Tian glanced at his friends, before they all mutually shrugged.
“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Tian leaned back in his seat. “I mean, not for us, obviously. But my grandad was around back when the whole Northern Independence movement was going strong.”
Indeed, he was pretty sure the old man would have been hooting and hollering with glee at the thought of Ten Huo trying for independence once more if the cold hadn’t taken him a few winters past. Still, lots of the city’s older crowd would no doubt be waxing poetic about the new magistrate taking the city back to its ‘golden years’.
Personally, Tian was dubious this wouldn’t all turn out the same way it had for them. With the rebel leaders all rounded up and their closest family lines forced to face decimation.
Well, with the exception of the former leader herself, Tian thought. I mean, you can hardly decimate the Imperial family for one of its members rebelling against the Imperial Family.
Though wasn’t the former magistrate now part of Johansen’s inner circle? She was an Imperial. So was she a hostage or a collaborator? And now that he thought about it,hadn’t he heard some chatter about her losing her powers?
He vaguely recalled some chatter about that back when they were running the Imperial army out of the city. Or rather, back when the sect’s heavy hitters had been doing that. He and his squad had spent the entire ‘conflict’ guarding a checkpoint near the wall. The closest they’d come to seeing any of the fighting had been when they’d heard gonne-fire going off near the Imperial Palace for a few evenings.
The whys hadn’t really mattered. That sort of thing was for cultivators. Mortals like him just did as they were told.
Which, while sometimes annoying, also meant that they usually avoided the fallout that came with those decisions.
His grandad had certainly fought for the rebels during the Northern War of Independence, yet he’d not been punished for it. He’d just missed out on some of his pay and been re-inducted into the guard when the Imperial Army rolled back into the city.
Oh, certainly there’d been a few hangings of mortal officers, but that was to be expected. Appearances needed to be kept.
“Grandad was fine.” He said philosophically. “Just do as you're told. Don’t talk too much and hope it works out for the best. And if it doesn’t… just shut up and get ready to surrender when things start looking dicey.”
Zou looked at him in disgust, but the rest of the table nodded along in agreement.
“…So gonnes?” Zhuan ventured again. “And silver. Specifically more silver. Because I’ve heard the ‘militia’ gets paid four silver a week?”
“Four silver a week!? Someone’s having you on.”
“No, I’m serious. And one more besides if they see any actual fighting.”
“Horseshit. I bet you-”
This time it was Tian who interrupted, clearing his throat as he posed the other question that had been bothering him since he sat down. “Before all that, do you think the sect will actually hand us over?”
Sure, the sects didn’t actually care for him and his, but in his experience cultivators never backed down on anything without a fight.
Zou scoffed. The man had finally realized that no one else shared his patriotic outrage at Ten Huo’s rebellion and was mulishly nursing his drink.
“You seen any Silver Paw Sect members wandering around recently? If they didn’t put up a fight over Johansen turning the whole city against the Empire, I don’t think they’re going to put up much of a fight over him taking a bunch of mortals from them.”
None of them had much of an argument against that.
------------------\
As soon as they were back at the compound, Jack tossed his new ornate scepter over to Ren, who only barely caught it. Which said a lot about how surprised she was by what was essentially a key to the city’s more mystic defenses.
Of course, normally, in the hands of anyone who the weapon was not keyed for it was just a big paperweight.
“Wha-” the merchant started to say before trailing off as her eyes became momentarily glassy. “This… this is keyed to me!?”
“Surprise,” Jack singsonged, as the seals of his armor cracked open with a hiss before unfolding like a flower, allowing him to step out.
“Surprise?” Ren murmured quietly to herself, before rounding on him with a… complicated expression. “This is a rod of control. Whoever holds it may as well hold the city.” She eyed him. “Why is it keyed to me!?”
Jack scratched the back of his neck.
Yeah, the artificer in charge of carving the rod hadn’t been happy about Jack’s request for that small alteration. At first he’d refused politely. Jack had politely requested he reconsider. The artificer had refused again. Impolitely, that time.
At which point Jack had made the request again.
Impolitely.
The other man had then acceded to the miner’s wishes.
Benefits of destroying the equivalent of two sects simultaneously, I suppose, Jack thought.
Fortunately, aside from Ren, no one else seemed too bothered by this new development. Elwin was already following the members of the newly established ‘Steel Paw’ down into Jack’s workshop.
Which was probably for the best. While he had some assurances against poor behavior on the part of his newly acquired band of cultivators, that didn’t mean he trusted them.
And An…
“I don’t know about that,” An opined as she rather casually dug her little finger into her ear canal, wiggling it back and forth in a rather unladylike manner. “The old Magistrate had one and she still lost the city.”
Ren whirled on her fellow cultivator. “*After *she lost her ability to cultivate. Which would have rendered the city’s internal defenses useless to her.”
Defenses that were, to hear them described to him, pretty potent. The protections surrounding the walls were among the least of the tools available to an Imperial magistrate. Once an attacking force penetrated deeper into the city, it was possible to summon phantasmal spirit beasts, activate anti-cultivator traps, and bring down precision lighting strikes.
Potent stuff, Jack thought.
Stuff that might have come in handy in the minutes immediately preceding the Red Death’s arrival.
Unfortunately, not only were most of those defenses located around the Imperial Palace, the one person capable of activating and controlling those defenses had been busy fighting said dragon herself rather than directing the city’s ancient weapon systems.
Ren continued, gripping the rod in her hand so tightly Jack was actually a little worried she’d snap it. “If Lady Huang had still been capable of utilizing her control rod, the success of Tian’s coup would not have been nearly so assured. Even after her erstwhile bodyguards abandoned her.”
“Sounds useful,” An hummed, before her gaze slid over to him. “So why are you handing it off to the dog?”
Sure, the little black haired tiger-kin was trying to sound nonchalant, but Jack could detect just a hint of jealousy and avarice in her gaze now.
He sighed. “Because Ren’s spent the last few weeks trying to run this city. Sure, she’s got Huang helping now, but it’s still ultimately been her work. She’s the one I trust most with anything… city related.”
Even as Ren puffed up, An seemed to deflate slightly, as if in recrimination.
She’d tried to help with the more bureaucratic side of Ten Huo’s administration. For a little while, before it became abundantly clear that her total lack of familiarity with administration in general - and the political makeup of the city specifically - meant she was causing more harm than good.
Enough so that I’m reasonably certain she had someone else helping her set-up Jiangshi in my absence, *Jack thought. *Because if not… well I shudder to think of how much of a mess the place must be.
He said none of that though.
“It’s not a slight,” he added quickly, attempting to cheer the cat up. “You’ve been just as busy working with Gao to set up and integrate the Jiangshi militia in the city. And I’m sure you’ll be even more busy trying to integrate the sect forces into the new Ten Huo army.”
An seemed to perk up at that, tail fluttering about behind her back even as she stifled a smile.
“Still Master, I have to ask, why bother with this… delegation in the first place?” Ren asked quietly. “It’s a… not insubstantial break in tradition. And while I am one hundred percent loyal, others might see it as a weakness in the security of your rule should they learn that it is I, not you, who holds the reins of the city’s defenses.”
“Well, ideally no one will ever know,” Jack responded easily. “And as to why, well, you said it yourself about a minute ago. Things went to shit for Huang because she was both the city’s most powerful defender *and *the person in charge of directing those defenses.”
Jack tapped one of the thrusters on his suit with the back of an oversize knuckle. “I don’t intend to hamstring myself like that.”
It was An who finally got it. “You intend to repeat what you did in Jiangshi across the province. Build more edifices. Summon more spirit beasts. Put the mortals to work.”
Jack nodded, glad to see that one of his followers got it. “Exactly. I can’t afford to spend all my time in Ten Huo. That fortress I’ll be building on our Northern border is just one example of the kind of projects that might take me out of the city for days at a time.”
Ren nodded. “And you do not wish to leave the city defenseless in your absence.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say the city was defenseless even without the defense matrix, but essentially yes,” he acknowledged.
It took him a while to realize both women were staring at him.
“So beneficent,” Ren finally murmured as she fell seamlessly and gracefully to one knee. “To focus on the wellbeing of the province as a whole, even over your own personal power.”
The blonde dog-kin stared up at him, eyes burning with an earnestness that made him mildly uncomfortable – which was ironic given that once upon a time he’d dreamed of being worshipped as some manner of living god.
“This Delan Ren shall strive to prove to you that your act of faith and selflessness was no mistake. So she swears.”
Jack could only nod mutely as he realized that An had likewise taken a knee.
“That’s… good.” He spent a moment searching for the proper response to this unexpected show of enthusiasm. “See that you do.”
A little gruff, but it sounded appropriate.
“Of course,” Ren nodded eagerly, as if she’d just had some manner of holy mission bestowed upon her.
It almost made Jack feel bad that the two main reasons he’d foisted the control rod off onto her were because he was almost entirely sure the thing wouldn’t work for him – and he didn’t want to be cooped up in the city all the time like some oversized guard dog.
*Well, I guess it’s good that Ren’s happy about it, *he thought.
Still, this seemed like the most ideal moment to slip away.
“Right,” he said, shifting slowly towards the door. “With that done, I’m sure we all have a lot of work to do. An has army stuff. Ren has city stuff. I need to check in with Elwin.”
Both women nodded eagerly, showing not a hint of aggravation at the veritable shitload of problems he’d just offloaded onto them.
“Of course, Great One.” Ren smiled happily.
An just nodded slowly. “I’ve got it handled.”
He certainly hoped so.
…Because he’d be totally lost if either of them didn’t.
Not least of all because I’m pretty sure Gao would kill me if I attempted to foist off any more work onto him.
—----------------------
As Jack strode through the halls towards Lin’s quarters, he watched through his tablet as Elwin fussed over the newly formed ‘Steel Paw’.
A name about as subtle as the moniker itself where the origins of the unit were concerned given that the was made up of survivors of the now defunct Silver Paw Sect. Cultivators that had been outside the compound when he’d leveled it.
Now, he’d been aware that the attack would leave survivors. Counted on it even. He’d expect them to see which way the wind was blowing and leave town as quickly as possible.
…Or be gunned down assaulting his compound in some futile attempt at getting revenge.
He’d been leaning towards the former outcome though. That was usually what happened with a rival gang once you’d broken up the core membership.
They hadn’t done that though. Or at least, some of them hadn’t.
Instead, they’d shown up on his doorstep begging for mercy.
Mercy, which he’d granted – after a fashion.
His eyes tracked to the nearest member of the group as she took off her tiger-mask helmet, unveiling a fuzzy pair of tiger ears – and a mark on her neck.
The old explosive chip special, he thought, a complicated expression flashing across his features.
As he watched, Elwin all-but grabbed the muscular tiger-kin onscreen. The slight elf was utterly ignorant, or perhaps uncaring, of the way the bigger woman practically snarled at her, instead focusing on the runes engraved on the woman’s pauldron.
One of which was visibly flickering, the low blue light weak and inconsistent.
“Wu!” Elwin shouted. “The buffer on this enchantment is failing. I could hear this one’s armor clicking as she walked in here.”
“This one has a name.” The tiger-kin muttered sullenly.
Elwin ignored her, turning instead toward the sheepish looking dog-kin woman that appeared on-screen.
She wore robes, much like most cultivators Jack had met, but they were of a distinctly different bent. More European than Asian. That was not to say it didn’t have Asian elements, it certainly did, but it was clear that Elwin had a part in designing the uniforms of her apprentices.
“This one apologizes mistress,” the dog-kin bowed. “This one thought the matrix would hold.”
Elwin snorted in a manner that somehow managed to be graceful while still conveying the utmost disdain. “No, you *hoped *it would hold.”
A single delicate finger pointed to the offending piece of armor. “Magister’s do not hope. They know. Why is that Wu?”
The young woman shuffled uncomfortably. “Because unreliable spellwork is a blade without a handle.”
“Precisely,” Elwin turned to where Jack assumed her other apprentices were standing. “Now, because Wu thought she could get away with subpar work, I can only assume others amongst you feel similarly.”
She received no reply in response, from the still undressing members of the Iron Paw or her apprentices. “As a result, you shall all be redoing these runes in their totality. And if I find even one weight reduction enchantment or rust resistance rune that is not up to my standards, you shall be wiping them and doing them again.”
“May we use the laser cutting artifact for the physical work, mistress?” A voice timidly asked from off-screen.
“No,” Elwin scoffed. “I’ve noticed more than a few of you growing dependent on our lord’s artifacts for your labors. I would be remiss in my duties as your teacher if I failed to correct that failing, lest you prove utterly useless beyond the walls of this-”
Jack stopped just in time to avoid bumping into the doors of Lin’s room. Putting the tablet away, content that Elwin had the former Silver Paw members in hand, as well as her apprentices, he glanced up at the two guards stationed outside to make sure neither had noticed his faux pax.
They hadn’t. Or at least, they were doing an admirable job or pretending they hadn’t by standing at attention and staring at pretty much anything that wasn’t him.
Hell, if he didn’t know better, he’d say they looked uncomfortable.
Which he supposed made sense. He could well see a cultivator acting… poorly towards anyone that had seen them embarrass themselves.
“Is Lin in?” he asked, content to let the moment pass by.
“She is.” The woman on the left answered quickly, her eyes remaining fixed on the far wall. “Along with Lady Huang.”
God, they still sounded nervous, he thought. How bad must cultivators be?
“Right, well I’ll just be heading in then,” he said.
Both guard’s eyes opened wide, and one visibly twitched, but neither said anything.
So Jack pulled open the doors.
Just in time for a rather long, rather feminine moan of pleasure to echo out from inside. A moment of stunned silence followed.
He started to close the doors.
“Wait, Jack this is-” Lin’s surprised voice started to call out from within the room, accompanied by Huang’s gasps.
He finished closing the doors.
He ignored the blushing of both guards.
He walked away.
And only once he was down the hall did he whisper quietly to himself.
“Christ, I knew they were close, but I didn’t think they’d grown that close.”
He certainly hadn’t thought they were both lesbians. Sure, they’d been hanging out a lot, but he’d thought they were both just close friends. That was the logical assumption. Neither had given him any hints beyond that friendship that they liked women.
That was… fine though.
Good for them. Two members of his nominal harem liked each other. That was good.
He wasn’t jealous. Not at all. He already had two women he was with. His ego had not been stung at all.
“Speaking of which,” he murmured. “…I need to find An. Or Ren. Or both.”
Yes, both sounded good.
First / Previous / Next
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First
Ferodias POV / Ten Years Earlier
His heart was pounding in his ears, the thrum of battle lingering for longer than it needed to as he pants hotly. He looked around the wooded area, between the trees, and around the trampled grass, and all he saw were the mangled corpses of monsters. He forced himself to focus, and before long, he could sense and hear his friends and allies; they all seemed to be okay, if not reasonably exhausted. "Sound off!" He called out, wiping the blood off the blade on his pant leg before sheathing it as his tail curled and lashed behind him.
"Here and a'okay!" A voice called out; it was from Brasyl, a young half-orc archer who wielded a bow that was impossibly hard for most people to draw and used unique, heavy arrows. The grey-skinned fellow stepped out of some brush and into view with a toothy grin, his face, chest, and right arm coated in blood that wasn't his own as he used a dirty rag to polish off his knife. "Those bastards sure got the drop on us, eh, Rodi?" He mused cheerfully enough.
Ferodias couldn't help but smirk a bit at the half-orc, it was a very close fight, but they did slaughter the infestation of branch bugs that had been terrorizing the local farming villages. At the very least, they culled the population, and they shouldn't be an issue until next spring. His ears twitched as he heard the squelching of bug flesh, turning to see Monty, a human teen warrior who planned to open his restaurant when he saved up enough coin to retire. He was currently grabbing tokens from each branch bug for proof of their total kill count. Upon seeing Ferodias spot him, Monty smiled while waving a branch bug head. "I'm good over here!" He chirped, stuffing the head away in a large sack before moving to the next one.
"I hate bugs." A voice said as they came up behind Ferodias, though he didn't need to turn to know who it was. Regan stepped up beside Ferodias, the half-elf wiping the blood off the end of his magic staff. "All those extra spindly limbs and that disturbing screeching, ugh." He complained as he shuddered before stamping the end of his staff into the dirt and leaning into it. "I would have rathered gone after those grappler bears that were seen near that mining town; at least they have the good decency not to swarm and get gooey blood all over the place."
Ferodias couldn't help but smirk with amusement at his best friend's expense; before he could respond, Regan was nearly knocked over by Danica, a young dwarven teen with an impressive goatee and an equally impressive hammer, as she smacked Regan's back a few times. "Ah, quit your bellyachin Spells; I kept them off ya well enough." She mused mischievously before going over to join Monty with the monster butchering.
Regan scowled with vague annoyance before sighing as he turned to face Ferodias. "Are you absolutely certain you want 'all' of these individuals as your guardians?" He asked, lowering his voice to a near whisper as they spoke privately. "At least reconsider, Danica, if only for my sanity." He mentioned, not sounding serious but making his point.
Ferodias' ears twitched as he flashed a small smile, speaking softly to keep this conversation between themselves. "Why not? They're all good people, strong for their age too; I'm sure they'll be up to snuff by the time the trials are called to a close." They've had this conversation a few times now, but it was only this time that Ferodias really felt genuinely confident of the people he gathered. The members of their party had shifted around a few times over the last couple of years, with Brasyl being the latest member and Danica being the longest-standing member so far. "Besides, you're just jealous she's paying more attention to Monty than you nowadays, aren't you?" He teased mischievously, speaking normally as he waggled his ears while looking over at the half-elf.
Regan flushed, though a frown was soon on his face. "As if, like I would want a woman in the shape of a barrel." He retorted as he looked away.
Danica called out from where she was, ripping off some bark bug limbs with Monty, no doubt planning on adding that to dinner tonight. "Don't worry, Spells; you're too much of a twig for me anyways." She called out playfully, taking it all in stride as she grinned while the other guys chuckled at the scene.
Ferodias couldn't help but laugh at his friend's expense before joining the others as they rounded up the bug heads, all in all, they managed to kill around thirty-seven bugs, and for three silver a head and the reward for the job itself, it was looking to be a good payday for their efforts; not to mention some extra protein for their next few meals. The day soon turned to evening, and their party had set up camp among the trees during their trek back to the nearest guildhall a few towns away. Monty had got a firepit going and set about making dinner, which was comprised of fire-grilled and salted bug legs, some hard bread, and dried fruits. Danica meticulously tended to everyone's weapons, ensuring they were polished and free of any bug guts or blood that were possibly missed earlier. Brasyl had procured a hard case with a latch, pulling out a lyre which he began playing, the delicate looking instrument producing a sweet little melody as the group waited for the food to be cooked.
They had been resting around the fire for some time, the bug meat ending up giving off a rather delicious smell, admittedly. Monty still tending to the fire while turning the legs over a portable wire grill. It was peaceful and quiet, save for Brasyl's music, that was until Regan started shifting around his tent, stepping into the open while clutching his staff. He only had his pants on, but he looked serious as his eyes stared into the darkness around them. Well, it was dark for most of them; with the aid of the flamelight, they could peer fairly far into the darkness; only Monty was relatively blind to anything beyond the reach of the flamelight. "What is it, Spells?" Danica spoke up, tossing Ferodias his sheathed blade and passing over Monty's spear. Brasyl set his lyre down and collected his bow as he notched an arrow.
Regan looked around, his eyes darting side to side. "Movement, we have trespassers who crossed the first threshold of the security perimeter I set..." He explained in a hushed voice.
"How many?" Ferodias asked as he drew his blade, retrieving his shield from beside his tent and standing at the ready, his tail curling close as his ears twitched and strained to catch any sounds beyond the crackle of the wood in the fireplace.
Regan pointed his staff in a direction as the group turned and readied themselves. "We got three, and they're closing in on us; they must have seen the fire." He reasoned as he twitched. "They're sixty feet away; they just crossed the second threshold." He reported, though his brow furrowed as he tilted his head. "Hold on, four more trespassers just crossed the first threshold in the same direction as the first group."
"What does that mean?" Brasyl asked as he drew his bow, the weighty limbs bending in response to the half-orc's strength as he aimed into the grey darkness. Regan didn't answer at first as Brasyl narrowed his eyes. "Spotted the first set... It looks like people in dresses!" He exclaimed, confusion apparent in his voice, though he didn't let his arms relax.
Regan had his eyes shut for a moment before opening them. "Adjust your aim a finger to the left and down, fire!" He ordered, Brasyl making the slight adjustments as the heavy arrow was loosed with a 'thwum,' an animalistic yelp sounding out a split-second later.
In mere moments, the three figures Brasyl had spotted were now in range of the flamelight; there were three women, two looking relatively untouched, save for some bruising and torn clothes. It was the third woman that caught Ferodias' eyes; she was pummeled brutally, her lip split, and one of her eyes had swollen shut, her dress had been ripped to shreds, and she was absolutely drenched in blood. He wanted to say something, speak to her, but he heard howls in the air and remembered at least three more things were chasing these women.
Regan stepped forward, raising his staff and firing off bolts of lightning, the energy arcing through the air and colliding into what appeared to be an enraged hound, frying the beast; there were two more left, having avoided being caught in the blast of electricity as both Monty and Ferodias stepped forward. The human brought his spear low before deftly thrusting into the open maw of one of the hounds, while Ferodias brought his shield up and bashed the remaining beast in the middle of its lunge, stunning it for a moment when he followed up with a downward slash and beheaded it.
The whole ordeal was over before it really began, Danica stepping forward and examining the beast corpses as Ferodias looked over to the women. "What's going on here?" He said, doing his best to present a gentle display despite the fresh blood coating his blade and arm.
The trio of ladies, upon closer inspection, were just girls barely older than Brasyl but younger than Ferodias. Two of them were clearly shaken but doing their absolute best to maintain their composure. The third and worse off seemed more hardened and collected, yet her gaze was distant and not focused. While she certainly looked like she was beaten to shit, because she was, Ferodias realized that most of the blood on her body wasn't hers as it coated her right arm and chest. If he had to guess, she managed to kill someone with that blood-drenched dagger she was clutching. It took a few moments, but a wolfkin girl with mostly human features spoke up. "I am Lady Nerva Foundeli, daughter of Viscount Foundeli." She said before gesturing to the younger of the trio, who was a half-elf that was shuddering almost uncontrollably despite trying her best to remain stoic. "She is Lady Roche Ferdina, daughter of Baron Ferdina." She then gestured to the battered teen human and spoke up, her own voice shaky and faltering from whatever experience they had gone through. "She is Lady Historietta Blackstone, daughter of Count Blackstone." She explained, taking a moment to clear her throat before looking among her rescuers. "We had been kidnapped three days ago, coming from a banquet in the capital... They were planning on holding us for ransom, but we overheard them talking of... of... Using us..." She said, choking on her own words, trying and failing to maintain her composure as Danica went about getting the ladies to sit by the fire, though Historietta remained standing where she was. "They planned on having their ways with us before throwing us away once they got their ransom... It was a day later that Historietta got the attention of one of those vagrants and began insulting him and his mother. She... She seemed to be somehow accurate as she managed to enrage him to the point where he entered the room we were locked in." She said, shivering as she recalled the event. "We begged her to stop, not to make things worse; however, it was too late, and he started to pummel her... We could do nothing since our arms were bound, but somehow she managed to free herself in the midst of the beating and got her hands on his knife." She then glanced over at Historietta, a mix of fear and awe in her voice. "She spilled his guts and freed us and managed to get the jump on one of the other bandits, killing him in his sleep. We managed to escape, but after some time, we heard those foul beasts hot on our heels. We saw your fire in the distance and ran towards you, hoping for the best." She said, gratefully taking a wooden cup with water as Monty passed them to the two ladies, Historietta still standing off to the side.
Brasyl spoke up, having returned to the camp with a bloodied arrow as he looked among the others. "Those hounds were domesticated; someone sent these things after these ladies." He said, not having been there for the story.
Danica nodded at his words. "Yeah, we have a kidnapping situation on our hands; these ladies just escaped." She explained, Brasyl's eyes going wide before bobbing his head as he cleaned off the arrow and tucked it away in his large quiver.
Ferodias approached Historietta, reaching out to touch her shoulder but then thinking better of it. "You alright, Lady Historietta? Can I get you something to eat or drink?" He asked softly, his tail curling tightly behind in distress at seeing a young woman in such a state.
It took a moment, but she seemed to come out of her fugue and looked directly at Ferodias; she averted her gaze, seemingly looking at something before croaking out some incomprehensible words and curtsying. It was almost regal as she grabbed what remained of her tattered dress to do so.
Lady Nerva spoke up while watching this take place. "I'm afraid Lady Historietta cannot speak right now; that vagrant she antagonized had grabbed her by her throat before she had been slammed around. Frankly, I'm surprised she can even breathe properly."
Ferodias looked and felt distressed, worry plain on his face, even as Historietta offered a small smile and wincing as she did so. Regan soon returned from the shadows as he spoke out. "I've reinforced my security wards with more lethal charms; we shouldn't have any more uninvited guests of the unsavory sort." He explained, offering a bit of a smile until he got a good look at Lady Historietta and winced at her condition. "Oh gods, give me a second." He said, heading over to his tent and grabbing his pack; he soon returned with a small vial of red liquid and uncorked it. "Here, a healing potion; I just bought it last week." He explained before going around behind her and placing a hand on her back. "Don't mind me; I'm just gonna use some life magic to amplify the potion's effects." He explained gently, a faint blue light radiating from his palm as Historietta slowly downed the potion, wincing with each swallow.
Monty offered a smile as he set out some bug legs and dried fruits on some wooden plates and passed them to the ladies. "Sorry about the cuts of meat, but you should eat up and gather your strength; we still have a bit of trek before we're back in a major city." He explained. The two ladies certainly looked skeptical at their plates, but they managed to give their thanks. Despite their reservations, they were soon digging in, breaking the fire-charred chitin to get to the soft meat on the inside.
As the minutes ticked by, Ferodias procured a water skin, a change of clothes, a towel, and a spare set of shoes and came over to Historietta and Regan. The duo was now sitting on the ground, with Regan on his knees behind her, Regan's magical light still glowing as Historietta's skin gradually stitched itself back to gather, the bruising and swelling receding as she seemed to even breathe more easily. "Here, once you're done, I've set up some tarps and a light nearby, so you take these and change out of those blood-soaked clothes and rinse off with this water skin." He explained before holding up the water skin in particular. "It's enchanted with water magic to refill every six hours, so don't worry about using it all." He mentioned.
Historietta took a slow breath before speaking up, her voice still scratchy but nowhere near as bad as it was earlier. "Thank you again; I'll be in your care." She said, bowing her head again.
After a few moments, Regan pulled away and stood as he looked down at the Lady, Ferodias being quick to offer his hand to help her to her feet. "Alright, that is as much as I can do for now without overly exhausting you. Get some rest, and we'll do this again in the morning." He explained, shooting Ferodias a curious glance while Historietta got to her feet. Lady Historietta once again bowed her head before walking away with the things Ferodias had brought; Ferodias couldn't help but watch as she left, though that's when Regan poked him in the ribs and quirked a brow at him. "What do you think you're doing? You're smitten with her, aren't you? Don't you remember that you can't tell anyone who you really are?" He chastised in a harsh whisper. "Don't do anything stupid."
Ferodias winced before chuckling sheepishly; he hadn't realized he was being that obvious; then again, Regan could read him like a book. "S-sorry... I... I just couldn't help but admire how composed and capable she is and how she's handling herself right now, even more so than the other ladies." He replied as his ears waggled while he scratched the back of his head.
Regan nodded, seemingly agreeing with that. "You're right... It's almost as if she's gone through this before." He mentioned worriedly. "Just watch yourself, don't go compromising your trials when you've come this far." He warned quietly as he pats Ferodias' shoulder before rejoining the group.
Ferodias nodded, though he looked over at the changing area he set up, catching a vague silhouette of the lady as he felt his cheeks heat up. "I'll try... But gods... What a woman."
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Acts I to IV are available in my previous posts.

Act V: Queenbreaker

Returning home
Claire and Owen fly back to the US and in the arrivals hall of Reno's International Airport, they are greeted by a group of journalists who question them about the Dolomites Crisis, the role they played in it and if it's true that Claire and Wu, known to be sworn enemies, really did saved the world together. One of those journalists is Cassandra Landis (a character which appeared in my JW rewrite and TRQ, and some sort of minor recurring antagonist for Claire). When Landis asks Claire treacherous and inappropriate questions in addition to implying that she's a mythomaniac, the former park director punches her in the face in front of the cameras, knocking her out.
The end of Biosyn
Due to the death of Dodgson, Murdoch and almost the entirety of the board of directors (and its only survivor, Nathan Quinn, quickly retired from the corporation); the disastrous results of Auronzo valley's siege and invasion; and the breaking scandals, Biosyn is left leaderless, its stock exchange's value collapses and so does the company itself. The Cupertino HQ and other Biosyn installations across the US and the rest of the world are seen being vandalized and its anti-locust seeds destroyed by farmers during a protest.
Queenbreaker
In the DSD headquarters, Gibbon is having fun watching a parody video of Claire punching Cassandra Landis when Bigelow, who just returned from Italy, knocks at his door. They discuss her mission's failure, with Gibbon announcing he'll strip of her status by moving her to a simple desk job. They also talk about the mysterious attackers who raided the Citadel (Gibbon plans to blame the grey guards for the killings committed by those as part of the US government's anti-Grey Guard propaganda campaign) and Claire's various exactions in Auronzo (and more particularly the Hunting Lodge slaughter and the annihilation of Biosyn's board of directors), along with the fact that she and Henry Wu apparently saved the world from a GMO locusts-induced famine. Gibbon adds that people as idealistic and determined as Claire tend to easily fall in the dark side, create terrorist organizations, and that as a supposed world-saviour and charismatic figure, people will support or join her in droves, which might be quite a problem, moreover that empires tend to fall in her wake ("Who's going to be next after InGen and Biosyn?" he wonders); that following the Malta betrayal, the WDMC and the DSD are having some sort of war, and should Vuillier send Claire upon the DSD, the result won't be pretty. Luckily for them, the CIA anticipated the problem she'll become and started to move their pawns in preparation of Operation Queenbreaker, intending to make her pay for what she did to their ally Biosyn and put a spoke in Vuillier's wheels. However, after seeing Franklin in a nearby hallway, Gibbon adds that their conversation must remain a secret for the moment.
Bigelow leaves and Gibbon starts watching another video: Dodgson's presentation about the chips and the recording of the battle between the Carabinieri and the chip-controlled animals.
The DSD collects the testimonies of various people involved in the Auronzo Incident, especially those of Pellegrino and her men. When Bigelow realizes that the tyrannosaur freed by Claire is the same which killed Maisie, she tells her boss and he is satisfied by her discovery.
Soon, another division of the CIA launches Operation Queenbreaker. Online, agents spread the rumours about Claire's misdeeds with even extracts from the Citadel's CCTV footage (sent by Lucrezia Pellegrino) being put on the social media and new caricatures being made (depicting Claire as a bloodthirsty vampire or a rampaging dragon which kills indiscriminately). Meanwhile, a shot in the arm is given to the investigation about Claire's fatal errors when she was park director of Jurassic World and the misdeeds she committed during the Lockwood Estate incident and her missions for the WDMC.
The trial of Claire Dearing
One morning, Claire is arrested and brought to court.
She endures a humiliating trial during which all of her crimes, proven or alleged (fake news were thrown into the mix) are discussed.
One of Operation Queenbreaker orchestrators' most treacherous moves are having Karen, Claire's half-sister, testimony against her, claiming she's responsible for the death of her son Gray (which died in this AU, killed by the Indominus); and using Drummond's, Bigelow's, and Kayla's testimonies about the Dolomites incident, where the three of them said that a Tyrannosaurus ate Maisie Lockwood, to imply that the Lockwood heiress died because of Claire, as she released the very same animal which ended up killing the teenage girl. As being responsible for kids' death is a big no-no for the public opinion, Claire loses part of its support.
During the last session of her trial, Claire knows it's a lost battle and pleads guilty for the crimes she did commit (adding she'll "do it again" for the greatest good if needed) before delivering an ominous speech, in which she talks about the opposition between civilization and barbarism (how barbarism is Man's natural state. She uses herself as an example), Man and nature, how dinosaurs changed her, and why they fascinates and frightens us at the same time (according to her, it's because they are the avatar of a barbaric world to which the entirety of mankind once belonged. By submitting and exploiting them, it's like if Mankind tried to reassure itself about its superiority over Nature). She claims having seen the future, declares that the World of Men is ending and a new age is coming, that soon, the entire planet will become a new Isla Nublar, and that modern civilization will know the fate of Jurassic World. Having heard enough, the judge interrupts her and announce the verdict: She'll have a life sentence (in an earlier scene, a death sentence is discussed by the judge and some orchestrators of Operation Queenbreaker, with the judge saying he can't sentence her to death as it will spark massive outrage with possible disastrous consequences).
While Claire is escorted away, Vuillier contacts the WDMC's allies within the Costa Rican government. Outraged by what the government did to his de-facto wife, Owen tells his boss that he intends to accept whatever job the WDMC has for him in Europe or anywhere in the world but the US.
Sometime later, while public opinion is divided on the result of her trial (while some think she deserved this and is nothing but a bloodthirsty madwoman; others see in this trial nothing but political scheming), it's announced to Claire that she'll be extradited to Costa Rica, the official reason being that the biggest of her faults and the deadliest one (triggering the fall of Isla Nublar) happened on Costa Rican territory and that they thus want her locked in one of their prisons. Claire is transferred to Costa Rica.
The fate of Auronzo Valley
Negotiations about Auronzo Valley ends and a decision is approved by both the UN and the Italian government. It will become a true sanctuary co-managed by the WDMC and the local government.
Due to Claire's imprisonment, Vuillier proposes the position of sanctuary manager to Owen and the latter accepts, taking the position after his and Sigurd's emigration to Italy.
Nyamu's solution
While conversing with Nyamu, Vuillier laments that Claire is going to rot in jail while she deserves better. Nyamu suddenly has an idea. He tells the WDMC director that Claire might still work for them, in a place where her ruthless nature could be used for their benefit and be appreciated, a place where she'll be "out of sight" of Odegaard and far from the CIA's claws.
A few weeks later, in the Women's prison of San José, Claire receives the visit of not only Vuillier but also Rodrigue Santagar, their ally within the Costa Rican government (and a character we met in TRQ) Santagar tells her that in exchange for the help she and Owen provided four years ago, the government proposes her to transform her prison time in community service. When she asks the nature of this "community service", they tell her it consists in joining the Grey Guard and remaining exiled in the Five Deaths for ten years. Despite her lack of military or law enforcement background, the Guard's marshal and its council of captains voted in favour of her recruitment as they heard of her prowess during the Fall of Jurassic World, the 2019 incidents and her missions as a field agent for the WDMC. Claire accepts, as she could be still acting in favour of dinosaurs, in addition to taking less chances of being assassinated in prison on the CIA's orders.
Gibbon learns this and when someone ask him if he's worried about this decision, he answers that the grey guards have a dangerous life and that with luck, she'll get eaten by a dinosaur or murdered by a poacher soon enough, before adding that they'll keep an eye on her. He's satisfied that the WDMC pretty much abandoned North America, leaving the DSD in charge of every De-extinction-related issues there.
Into the West
In October, Claire is brought by Santagar and a couple of police officers to Caldera's harbour near Puntarenas, where a cargo ship named The Wanderer is waiting for her and the other new recruits for the Guard. Seeing Owen and their son Sigurd on the dock, she gets emotional and the Costa Ricans let her join them for a moment. She bids them farewell, with Owen promising to visit her in the Five Deaths whenever he gets the chance, and then, escorted by the recruits' overseers, she embarks on the ship.
Owen and Sigurd watch The Wanderer depart and head west, into the sunset.

Epilogue

Finally, the epilogue arrives. It consists of a montage of various scenes while Vuillier or Owen gives a speech which sums up the saga's whole story since the first Jurassic Park. Here's its structure:
- Introduction with our character declaring that the world has changed: Footage of the Sanctuary's raptor pack walking in a single file on top of some ridge while they cross the Alps. Their leader stops at some promontory and looks west, towards some lowlands. An attentive viewer will quickly glimpse Victoria in the file. We then cut to a forest where some wolves are eating a carcass when the Achillobators arrive. Both packs growl at each other and a fight is about to break out when a now adult Victoria suddenly arrives and stands by her pack. Outnumbered and intimidated by the larger predators, the wolves decide to abandon the carcass and flee, letting the dinosaurs take their meal; of a small fishing vessel somewhere in the Pacific being attacked and sunk by a Mosasaurus (while the adult featured in JW died, some of the WDMC characters talk about possible Mosasaurus sightings in the earliest parts of the story and mention the fact that a juvenile was also housed in JW when the park fell); of a military aircraft having an accidental and fatal collision with an InGen Pteranodon.
- The rise of InGen and the first de-extinction successes: Footage of the abandoned Embryonic administration on Sorna and Jurassic Park: San Diego; of Drummond wandering in the now deserted Lockwood Manor, exploring its museum and observing the model of Jurassic Park's visitor centre.
- The Fall of Jurassic World and InGen: Footage of the ruins of JW on Nublar and the former InGen HQ in Palo Alto (a location seen in TRQ).
- The downfall of other genetic engineering companies: Footage of some Mantah Corp complex (not the one from Camp Cretaceous' seasons 4 and 5. In this AU, the Mantah Corp island doesn't exist, thank goodness!); abandoned Grendel Corporation facilities in India and Cameroon; Biosyn's logos being removed in the Citadel by workers and other cleaning/doing repairs within the Biosyn facility.
- Loose de-extinct animals in the world: Footage of some Nasutoceratops in the Indian countryside; of a Spinosaurus (the one we saw in Biosyn's possession and which was carried out of the Sanctuary by the flood) swimming in the canals of Venice, arousing awe and wonder in locals and tourists; of a Biosyn Quetzalcoatlus flying over the countryside somewhere in Europe; a pack of InGen Compsognathus in some dark alley in sight of Hollywood, diving head first in the trash; a pair of Pectinodon in the jungles of Cameroon...
- Losses: Footage of the funerals of the Carabinieri who fell during the Battle of Auronzo; of Vincent Chapuy and a couple of other grey guards featured in this story in a memorial hall within Caer Draig (The Grey Guard's headquarters on Isla Sorna), melancholically looking at the names of those who died during the Maltese and Dolomites incidents (we also glimpse the names of some grey guards from the JW rewrite); of Drummond paying a visit to Maisie's and Theo's sepulchres in Lockwood Estate (Maisie has a plaque in her family's mausoleum while Theo has an empty grave outside near that of Iris', who died during the 2019 incident) ; of some room/hall/wing/laboratory in Stanford University being renamed after Henry Wu.
- The challenges and battles to come: Footage of Dougal and other WDMC field agents parking near the entrance of Mount Saint-Michel, running past fleeing tourists before looking up, toward the abbey at the top of mount, over which a Quetzalcoatlus (the same from earlier in the epilogue) is circling; of some unnamed genetic engineering company/ies creating new de-extinct creatures; of illegal exploitations and black markets.
- The importance of good collaboration: Footage of Guillaume Vuillier and his assistant Peggy Zubiri in the WDMC's new headquarters in Gland, Switzerland; of Drummond and Cesare welcoming Owen and his son Sigurd in Auronzo and watching dinosaurs in the valley together; of Kayla being shown her new plane and her and Bigelow going on some new adventure together (it's implied that Kayla now works for the DSD and that Gibbon changed his mind about Bigelow and decided to send her back on missions).
- The rampant Greed and Corruption: Footage of Senator Christine West in Washington, addressing questions about her close ties with Biosyn (she's in the middle of a corruption scandal) and walking away before being shot by a unknown sniper; of Giovanni Pazzi being dismissed from his position as Minister of the Interior after some whistle-blower (implied to be Viscontini) revealed that he was corrupted by Biosyn and warned Dodgson about the government's intents of taking Auronzo valley from him and arresting him.
- The looming threats and how Mankind's fate stand on an edge: Footage of Isaac Gibbon and other US government officials plotting in secret and DSD scientists working with embryos; of Claire, now in grey guard attire, standing at the top of a watchtower on some Isla Sorna ridge, looking at the ocean where she suddenly spots a suspicious ship in the distance (her eyes are seen ferociously locking on it); the final sequence, set at night, shows a Biosyn tyrannosaur looking at a town in the distance and letting out an otherworldly roar.
The End
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Thanks for reading!
I'm aware that I might have taken a few controversial story decisions but I think that's part of the fun of rewrites like this one, do what filmmakers can't due to various reasons.
Please, let me know of your thoughts. I'll be happy do have a debate about my work.

Hi! Planning to buy pancake type jacks to make my own patch cables. I want to order locally for the sake of convenience (I can order and get it the same day).
However, the local shop i found near me only carries stereo pancake plugs. If i use those type of plugs, will it work flawlessly and cause no harm in the long run?