Lutheran life villages at pine valley

Pre-event post here
The Southern Imperial expedition met with a defending Khuzait force at a forested village on the harsh Khuzait frontier. The point of interest for both parties was a derelict ruined fortress, dating back both hundreds of years (and a much stronger Calradic Empire) ago. The value of the ruins was in its location; the trail through would serve as an excellent supply route for further Imperial incursions into the Khuzait heartlands. The Khan had foreseen all of this through his patience of course, and so a host of primarily tribesmen cavalry was dispatched to the old fortress under the command of a rising local clan leader. Empress Rhagaea's marshal Prince Ethynol was busy fighting his brother wars against the forces of both South and North empire, and as such the Empress took the opportunity to put a loyal Vaegir Guard in command, one of the few that escaped the suspicion and accusations that plagued the Emperor's Guard following Arenicos' demise. While placing a fiercely loyal warrior in command was a reasonable choice, many suspect this was also done to weaken the influence of Prince Ethynol, who the queen presumably fears the rising power of as he prepares for his royal marriage to Princess Ira.
Rhagaea's marshal wisely expected trickery from the Khuzaits, and was quickly rewarded for his foresight. The Khan's forces travelled through harsh, rocky terrain to attack the Imperials on the flanks, and a fight was soon found, the Khuzaits initially encircling a significant chunk of the Imperial force and inflicting heavy casualties. While the trapped Imperials fought tooth and nail in the nooks and tunnels of the ruins, the Imperial marshal succeeded in rallying his still free forces, regrouping on the forest edge before bravely charging once more into the fray to save their comrades in a signature display of legionary brotherhood.
The Imperials had learned that the tribesmen are not to be feared, but respected. And with this newfound resilience, a massive attempt to secure the ruins and save their brothers was launched, to great success. The full extent of the Imperial arsenal was on display, with crossbows boosted up to the walls by their fellow soldiers ending the life of many a steppe horse. With a brilliant display of combined arms tactics, the Imperial army was able to retake control of the ruins and save the trapped legionnaires.
This was far from the end of Imperial troubles, as the Khuzait host had mostly withdrawn and began pelting Imperial shields and heads with relentless hails of arrows, fired mostly from horseback and supported heavily by a small contingent of Khanate Lancers, some of the finest of the steppe. Numerous efforts to lure the Imperials out of the ruins were launched, including a brilliant ambush by Khuzait warriors hidden in the tall grass of the forest on a significant number of lost legionaries. Despite many small successes, the Khanate's forces could not successfully dislodge the Imperials from the strongly defendable ruins. Following a few excursions by Imperial forces against the wavering Khuzait forces, the Khanate was forced into launching a final all out assault on the ruins to avoid a mass desertion. With both sides one decisive strike away from victory, a frantic final fight broke out on the steps of the ruin fortress, with militia archers successfully giving the Imperials the knockout blow needed to fully rout the Khuzait host.
With a path now clear into Khuzait lands, the Khanate will now have to contend with regular Imperial raids as part of everyday life. To complicate matters even further, the forces of the Sultanate had also attacked in tandem with the Imperial army, but that is a story for another time (and post)...
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In Meta Terms
The Khuzaits have defeated the Southern Empire!
The Khuzaits opened strongly, winning multiple rounds. After the Empire learned to fight with a heavily cavalry army, they were able to play to their strengths, coming back and winning hard fought rounds against the Khuzaits. The end of the battle was anyone's game, with the score being 1-1 in sets and 2-2 in rounds. Despite a strong Khuzait opening in the final round, they were eventually out manned by the empire's ranged and infantry.
Thank you to all who attended, both yesterday and today. We sincerely appreciate people sticking around through the server issues experienced yesterday (that were inflicted on us by a third party, now hopefully resolved), and its safe to say I speak for everyone when we were blown away with how smoothly today ran. The player count was fantastic for a one day in advance Sunday event, and it means a lot that people want to play so much they're willing to come at a different day.
Missed the event? Don't worry, we run them the first and third Saturday of every month, so check future sticky posts to stay informed!
Be sure to join our community Discord and grab your faction role to get in on the action, and go beyond merely playing in the event to building your character and legend around it. Participation in the Discord will likely earn you your own territory on the campaign map, which makes the eventual event for that castle all the more meaningful! If you are someone who only lurks these posts but never attends, I would genuinely like you to try the event out! If reading these summaries interests you, the experience is all the better when you're actually involved. Our community is very welcoming and has no sort of judgement based on player skill.
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Be sure to leave any screenshots, comments, or stories from the event below!

Throwaway account, as i don't want this connected to my other accounts.
My thoughts are erratic, forgive me for bouncing all over the point but I'm trying to include everything I've been thinking and feeling with my reasoning so please bear with me. Gonna be a long one. If you take the time to read all this and provide genuine, thoughtful feedback, know that I'm beyond appreciative.
I had my first child at 19, and his mother and I didn't stay together. He was given a hyphenated combination of our last names, and now all these years later his mother is engaged to another man with their own newborn, and my son calls said man "his other daddy". I understand that as even though i am active in my son's life, my own dad wasn't around and i ended up calling my temporary step-dad "daddy" for a period of time. My son's mom and her fiancé of course have been living together for a while so i don't see anything wrong with that, nor am i bothered by it as long as my son and Mr. Fiancé don't forget who his actual father is.
All that to say that this has led to me being unwilling to have my other children calling another man "daddy", which is one of a few reasons making me feel like i have to stay in my current relationship and eventually tie the knot with my girlfriend - even if i am currently unhappy more often than not and feel as if marriage would be dooming myself to a life of tolerance rather than contentment.
I feel like my current girlfriend is a great person, friend and mother, but many of her tendencies and thought processes tend to irk/frustrate me. I know no one is perfect and any relationship requires work and effort, but I can't help but feel as if there would be someone out there better suited for myself, or if I would just be better off alone.
Before I talk (or complain) about everything I'm unhappy about, I'd like to make it known that I've been 10 relationships before my current one, and i ended 8 of them with 2 of them ended by the girl- much to my chagrin. Those 2 had a pretty big impact on me but not as much as 2 that i ended due to being cheated on. The rest I ended i guess out of boredom? This made me feel as if I wasn't cut out for relationships and I should be alone, but then I end up lonely wanting a relationship. I ended one relationship with a cheater right before the relationship that gave me my firstborn. I never took the time to heal from that and I wasn't ready for a child at the time, so even though i love my son and have always been active in his life, i never thought his mother and I would have a longstanding relationship.
We separated and then i met and began a relationship with the second cheater. At the time I was 21 and she was 33, but i could've swore she was the best thing to ever happen to me. Thing was, she was still living with her ex and I'm sure you can imagine how that went. That whole relationship left me feeling emasculated.
I left that relationship and began a relationship with my current girlfriend not even 3 months later. Needless to say I did no healing, took no time for myself. To make things worse we moved in together within another 3 months, and she found out she was pregnant by the end of the year.
I was actually perfectly content with my only child and had no desire to sire another child at this point in time, but my girlfriend had gotten pregnant in her previous relationship and ended up losing the baby, so her baby fever was at an all time high and she would get depressed whenever we would have sex and I'd cum anywhere other than inside of her. She'd roll over and put her back to me and sulk about it until she went to sleep, sometimes even crying about it. This made me feel Tee-totally terrible so I eventually just 🤷🏾‍♂️ and started finishing inside her to give her the child she wanted. This pregnancy gave me my daughter and I love her to death, she's amazing. We were staying in an apartment complex with roommates, but after finding out she was pregnant we went to stay with her mom. I broke up with her after welcoming the baby due to feelings of discontentment, although we got together again a few months later.
We got our own place and stayed there about a year and a half before I broke up with her again because i felt like i just wasn't the man for her. I told her i didn't want to marry and i don't want anymore kids, mainly just to drive the point as these are things she wants. We separated for 3 or 4 months this time, in which period of time I had sex once with an ex and she had sex once with a coworker. Despite that, we got back together because i had "thought about it" and decided that i didn't mind marrying and having more children. Fast forward a year and we moved to a better home and welcomed our second child together, my 3rd child and 2nd son.
I've thought about and pretty much accepted the concept/fate of marrying my girlfriend. She's been insistent bordering on impatient which I understand. This last time we got back together I told her we'd be wed before our son got here, which was rash on my part. I rush a lot of things but marriage isn't one of them.
I don't know if it's because my girlfriend is the partner in question, but marriage just feels like a huge shackle to me and divorce is a hassle from what I've heard. I don't want to marry just for it to be unhappy and end up in divorce.
Back to: I feel like my current girlfriend is a great person, friend and mother, but many of her tendencies and thought processes tend to irk/frustrate me. I know no one is perfect and any relationship requires work and effort, but I can't help but feel as if there would be someone out there better suited for myself, or if I would just be better off alone.
Here comes the complaining.
I'm an introvert, through and through. I like reading books, i like quiet time, i enjoy having time to myself, I enjoy doing/accomplishing things alone.
My girlfriend has to be the antithesis. She can talk on and on and on for hours on end without nary a breath in between. This isn't as much of an issue as the subject of her conversation- most of the time, there isn't one. It's like 95% of her thoughts come out of her mouth and she expects me to reply and vividly react to it all. It's really kind of draining. I get that as the man i should be glad that I'm the one she's talking to, but sometimes I'd rather enjoy the song that's playing or just have time alone with my thoughts. So most of her dialogue has no real meaning to me, and she often talks/asks questions about things that would be clear to her with just a little observation on her end. A little thought. She's so busy spitting out that 95% thought that she can't use the remaining 5 to come to her own conclusions.
For example, we're riding in the car. It's sunny outside, yet starts to rain. She says, "The devil must be beating his wife". I just look at her like 😐 while internally doing the wtf Jackie Chan face because what kind of sense does that make? She says, "What you've never heard that?" No, because it doesn't make sense. The devil is in theory beneath us so even if he did have a wife and beat her, why would these tears be coming from the sky? Perhaps I'm just a dull rock and too analytical but i feel like we could've both saved our breath on that whole exchange.
Another example. We went to eat, i got a coke to go. It was riding in the front cup holder until i finished it, and threw the empty cup into the trash. A whole ten, fifteen minutes later she asks, "Did you finish your coke?" I just look at her like 😐 while internally doing the wtf Jackie Chan face because are you telling me you didn't see me throw it away while you're right beside me? Do you not see the empty cup holder? I say yea, to which she asks me to hand her her water bottle. I just feel as if she could've taken the time to do some looking and thinking on her own, and just ask me for her water.
We're driving with a gps, she says that she needs me to help her because she doesn't know if it's this exit or the next one. 😐 idk if i can do this for the rest of my life. The route is highlighted on the screen, instead of oh so many feet, the distance is point something miles, and the exit number is on the screen. I tell her to think about it. She takes the wrong exit and gets mad at me.
Other times she is literally just voicing her inner dialogue like "I want a coke", "I'm hot, need to turn on the air", "My head is itching" and she just looks at me waiting for me to say something when I feel like none of this really warrants a reply. I hate small talk but maybe I'm just a stick in the mud.
She asks for help ridiculously often when she doesn't really need any. She could do things on her own most of the time just by freeing up one of her hands or literally thinking about the issue more. She probably tells me "hold this" 15 to 93 times a day. Just put it down? We were eating chinese takeout one night, and with a table right in front of her, she tells me to hold her plate. You know they give you enough food to feed a small village in those flimsy ass trays so the styrofoam bends and she drops her plate on my legs and in the floor before i can get a hold of it. I can't tell you how many times she's asked me for help with something that literally has instructions on it; she just didn't take the time to read it. I point it out and she's like "Oh 😜". It's gotten to the point where other than "think about it", when she asks for help i ask "do you really" and when i feel like she doesn't i resort to a childhood saying of my mother: "USE YOUR NOODLE! And when you're done with your noodle, put it back in your soup and finish your dinner".
To sum these points up, my pride doesn't want my kids acknowledging yet another dad, my girlfriend spits faster than Eminem when I'm a quiet guy, and her problem solving skills are near nonexistent when I'm a self-dependent, figure it out type of guy. I guess these personality differences might stem from our upbringing, as she was raised in a volatile home with her brother, bouncing between her mother and grandmother who both talk just as much as she, while i was raised alone with my mother who also enjoyed quiet time and liked reading and such. BUT-
In addition to this, I don't feel like my girlfriend and I are as sexually compatible as we could be. Our preferences and things we want aren't that different, but i have a much broader taste than she does and I don't ever think I'll achieve sexual freedom with her. I know that some of my fantasies are off the table for her, and others I'm too ashamed to even open up about due to what she's made clear of her stance. She doesn't like the lights on during, she doesn't like eye contact, she isn't very vocal. I wanna see her, look her in the eye, when i talk to her she doesn't talk back and doesn't mention it till we're done. These differences probably come from our experience and lack of with porn and sexual partners. I think I'm her third or fourth relationship. The guy before me she was with for 5 years. I started watching porn at 12 or 13, was running a NSFW tumblr page before tumblr stopped being cool, regularly masturbated. I don't think my girlfriend ever really touched herself before me, and the only time i know of her masturbating was to send me a video like 2 years ago. I want more from out sex life but trying to bring it up is met with mild disgust before rejection. Ideally I want my partner to want to masturbate sometimes, for us both to have toys, for us to explore with ourselves and other people and explore our fantasies. My girlfriend doesn't even have any. This makes me reluctant to marry because I don't wanna give up on all of this without having experienced it.
On top of this is her style of living. Bathroom sink and tub full of hair. Throwing something away- KOBE! -she misses and doesn't pick it up. Preparing food and leaving the scraps and trash on the counter for roaches, rats and ants, i can't stand it. Her side of the bed looks like the empty water bottle monster threw up and she loves to eat before bed but rarely takes her dishes to the kitchen before sleeping, and just throws her trash in the general direction of the can without bothering to just lean over and place it in or at least see if she made it. I'll say something and she'll do better for 2 days and a half, then i feel like i wasted my words. 8 used wash rags left in the shower, not flushing the toilet, she just really kinda sucks at cleaning up after herself until the stars align or mercury is in retrograde or some divine intervention where she wants to do everything in a day. She's a manager at McD's now so she's working a bit more, but she used to be a server with multiple off days through the week while I've had the same job for 6 years working 6 days out the week from 7a-3p, sometimes working 3-3 or 7-7 and it's frustrating to come home with her having laid on the couch all day amidst a house that a torndado ran through. Then when I get home she wants us to clean together, nah I'm tryna sit down somewhere. I still help pickup but why could you not do this in the 10, 12 hours i was gone? At least start on it and i can come in with the assist like an alley-oop.
To top it off is her style of parenting/communication. Her dad is a loud man and he's to thank for the genes I guess, but she's quick to resort to yelling whenever things bother her or the kids don't listen, as if the louder you are the easier it is to understand. Like I said I'm a quiet guy and i consider myself rational so i like to slow down and calmly talk about things, talk to kids with a level head and tone when they're wrong and talk to her in a calm tone whenever we have any altercations. She normally beats me to the punch with child reprimands since those thoughts have been bubbling in her mouth, and i don't like the yelling at all. After she gets done yelling I'll usually come behind to tell the kids what went wrong and why it was/why they shouldn't do that. But due to my level-headedness she sees that as me not caring, and when i ask her to calm her tone she says it's just how she reacts when upset. The kids act drastically different when they're alone with me versus alone with her, going from minding to whiny/crying whenever she gets to yelling.
Besides the yelling and too high expectations for small children, i do think she's a good mom, i just wish she'd handle things differently sometimes.
To sum these points up, I'm worried about sexual fulfillment, cleanliness (having to pick up after 3 kids and an adult), and temperament/attitude once married.
I know these things take effort but I feel like she just isn't as conscious about it as I am, and when i try to explain why i think she could/should do things differently/more efficiently, she takes it as me criticizing her and belittling her. It feels like I'm in a relationship with a child sometimes as far as her tendencies go.
Is marriage really the best option? Should we spend some time apart or end things for good?
Despite all of this we don't have a bad 1 on 1 relationship, when it's good it's great but when it's bad i can't help but wonder. I get pensive. Is marriage the best course of action for my life, for her life, for our kids? Would we all be able to grow and develop better with mom and dad separated? Is there someone better for me, someone better for her out there?
I've already gotten the supplies I had in mind ready to propose to her in a way she would love and i am happy with, i just have yet to buy a ring. It's a huge commitment that i don't want to end in disaster and resentment.
Sorry for the book. Thoughts/advice greatly appreciated.

Once upon a time, in a small village nestled at the foot of the magnificent Mounjaro Mountain, lived a young woman named Lily. Lily had always struggled with her weight and had often felt self-conscious about her appearance. She longed to embark on a journey of self-improvement and find a way to shed those extra pounds.
Mounjaro Mountain, with its majestic peaks and lush greenery, had always been a source of inspiration for the villagers. It was said that the mountain possessed a magical aura, capable of transforming those who dared to conquer its heights. Determined to make a positive change in her life, Lily decided to undertake the ultimate challenge—she would climb Mounjaro.
As she set off on her journey, Lily faced numerous physical and mental obstacles. The steep slopes tested her endurance, and the thin air at higher altitudes made breathing difficult. However, she persevered, fueled by her determination to overcome her weight-related struggles. With each step, Lily could feel the weight of her insecurities slowly lifting, replaced by a growing sense of accomplishment.
As she climbed higher, Lily began to realize the positive aspects of Mounjaro beyond just her weight loss. The breathtaking views from the summit reminded her of the beauty and vastness of the world. She met fellow climbers from different walks of life, all united by a common goal—to conquer the mountain and conquer their personal challenges.
On her journey, Lily discovered the importance of self-acceptance and self-love. Mounjaro became a symbol of her resilience and inner strength. It taught her that weight loss wasn't just about physical transformation but about embracing a healthy lifestyle and nurturing a positive mindset. She realized that her worth wasn't defined by her weight, but by her determination and the happiness she derived from leading a fulfilling life.
When Lily finally reached the summit of Mounjaro, she stood tall, proud, and lighter not just in body but in spirit too. The view from the top was awe-inspiring, stretching far beyond the horizon. The mountain had not only helped her shed pounds but had also gifted her a new perspective on life.
Returning to her village, Lily became an inspiration for others struggling with their own battles. She shared her journey and the positive impact it had on her life. Her story ignited hope in the hearts of those who had felt weighed down by their insecurities. Together, they formed a community that supported and encouraged each other in their pursuit of self-improvement.
In the years that followed, the village at the foot of Mounjaro transformed into a hub of wellness and positivity. People from far and wide flocked to the village, not just to witness the grandeur of the mountain but to seek personal growth and empowerment. The positive aspects of Mounjaro had rippled beyond weight loss, touching the lives of countless individuals and transforming the village into a beacon of inspiration.
And so, Mounjaro stood tall, not just as a physical landmark, but as a symbol of transformation, inner strength, and the boundless potential that lies within every individual.

The Hoax Story of Remarkable Testimony of a Buddhist monk in Myanmar (Burma) who came back to life a changed man!
Introduction The story that follows is simply a translation of a taped testimony from a man with a life-changing story. It is not an interview or a biography, but simply the words from the man himself. Different people react in different ways when they hear this story. Some are inspired, some skeptical, a few will mock and ridicule, while some others have even been filled with rage and anger, convinced these words are the ravings of a mad man or an elaborate deception. Some Christians have opposed the story simply because the radical and miraculous events described herein do not fit their feeble image of an Almighty God.
We were first made aware of this story from several Burmese church leaders who shared it with us. These leaders had looked into the story and had not found any suggestion of it being a hoax. It was with this in mind that we decided to step out and circulate the story. We do not do so for any monetary gain, or with a motivation of self-promotion. We just want to let the story speak for itself, and invite Christian believers to judge it according to Scripture. If God wants any part of it to be intended for His glory or to encourage His people, then we pray His Spirit will work in the hearts of the readers in those ways.
Some people have told us they think the monk in this story never actually died, but that he just lapsed into unconsciousness, and the things he saw and heard were part of a fever-driven hallucination. Whatever you think, the simple fact remains that the events of this story so radically transformed this man that his life took on a complete 180-degree shift after the events described below. He has fearlessly and boldly told his story at great personal cost, including imprisonment. He has been scorned by his relatives, friends and colleagues, and faced death threats for his unwillingness to compromise his message. What motivated this man to be willing to risk everything? Whether we believe him or not, his story is surely worth listening to and considering. In the cynical West many people demand hard evidence of such things, evidence that would stand up in a court of law. Can we absolutely guarantee, beyond doubt, that all of these things happened? No, we cannot. But we feel it is worth repeating this man's story in his own words so that readers can judge for themselves.
My Early Years Hello! My name is Athet Pyan Shinthaw Paulu. I am from the country of Myanmar. I would like to share with you my testimony of what happened to me, but first I would like to give some brief background information from my life growing up.
I was born in 1958 in the town of Bogale, on the Irrawaddy Delta area of southern Myanmar [formerly Burma]. My parents, who were devout Buddhists like most people in Myanmar, named me Thitpin [which means 'tree' in English]. Our lives were very simple where I grew up. At the age of 13 I left school and started working on a fishing boat. We caught fish and sometimes also shrimp from the numerous rivers and streams in the Irrawaddy area. At the age of 16 I became the leader of the boat. At this time I lived in Upper Mainmahlagyon Island [Mainmahlagyon means 'Beautiful Woman Island' in English], just north of Bogale where I was born. This place is about 100 miles southwest of Yangon [Rangoon], our nation's capitol city.
One day, when I was 17, we caught a large number of fish in our nets. Because of the many fish, a large crocodile was attracted to us. It followed our boat and tried to attack us. We were terrified so we frantically rowed our boats toward the riverbank as fast as we could. The crocodile followed us and smashed our boat with its tail. Although no one died in this incident, the attack greatly affected my life. I no longer wanted to fish. Our small boat sank because of the crocodile attack. We had to go home to our village that night on a passenger boat.
Not long after, his employers transferred my father to Yangon City [formerly spelt Rangoon]. At the age of 18 I was sent to a Buddhist monastery to be a novice monk. Most parents in Myanmar try to send their son into a Buddhist monastery, at least for a time, as it is considered a great honor to have a son serve in this way. We have been observing this custom for many hundreds of years.
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A Zealous Disciple of Buddha When I turned 19 years and 3 months old (in 1977), I became a normal monk. The senior monk at my monastery gave me a new Buddhist name, which is the custom in our country. I was now called U Nata Pannita Ashinthuriya. When we become a monk we no longer use the name given to us at birth by our parents. The name of the monastery I lived at is called Mandalay Kyaikasan Kyaing. The senior monk's name was called U Zadila Kyar Ni Kan Sayadaw [U Zadila is his title]. He was the most famous Buddhist monk in all of Myanmar at the time. Everyone knew who he was. He was widely honored by the people and respected as a great teacher. I say he "was" because in 1983 he suddenly died when he was involved in a fatal car accident. His death shocked everyone. At the time I had been a monk for six years.
I tried hard to be the best monk I could and to follow all the precepts of Buddhism. At one stage I moved to a cemetery where I lived and meditated continually. Some monks who really want to know the truths of Buddha do things like I did. Some move deep into the forests where they live a life of self-denial and poverty. I sought to deny my selfish thoughts and desires, to escape from sickness and suffering and to break free from the cycle of this world. At the cemetery I was not afraid of ghosts. I tried to attain such inner peace and self-realization that even when a mosquito landed on my arm I would let it bite me instead of brushing it off!
For years I strived to be the best monk I could and not to harm any living being. I studied the holy Buddhist teachings just like all my forefathers had done before me.
My life proceeded as a monk until I got very, very sick. I was in Mandalay at the time and had to be taken to the hospital for treatment. The doctors did some tests on me and told me I had both Yellow Fever and malaria at the same time! After about one month in the hospital I was getting worse. The doctors told me there was no chance for me to recover and discharged me to make arrangements to die.
This is a brief description of my past. I would now like to tell you some of the remarkable things that happened to me after this times...
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A Vision that Changed My Life Forever After I was discharged from the hospital I went back to the monastery where other monks cared for me. I grew weaker and weaker and was lapsing into unconsciousness. I learned later that I actually died for three days. My body decayed and stunk of death, and my heart stopped beating. My body was prepared for cremation and was put through traditional Buddhist purification rites.
Although I faded away in my body I remember my mind and spirit were fully alert. I was in a very, very powerful storm. A tremendous wind flattened the whole landscape until there were no trees or anything else standing, just a flat plain. I walked very fast along this plain for some time. There were no other people anywhere, I was all alone. After some time I crossed a river. On the other side of the river I saw a terrible, terrible lake of fire. In Buddhism we do not have a concept of a place like this. At first I was confused and didn't know it was hell until I saw Yama, the king of hell [Yama is the name ascribed to the King of Hell in numerous cultures throughout Asia]. His face looked like the face of a lion, his body was like a lion, but his legs were like a naga [serpent spirit]. He had a number of horns on his head. His face was very fierce, and I was extremely afraid. Trembling, I asked him his name. He replied, "I am the king of hell, the Destroyer."
The terrible, terrible lake of fire The king of hell told me to look into the lake of fire. I looked and I saw the saffron colored robes that Buddhist monks wear in Myanmar. I looked closer and saw the shaven head of a man. When I looked at the man's face I saw it was U Zadila Kyar Ni Kan Sayadaw [the famous monk who had died in a car accident in 1983]. I asked the king of hell why my former leader was confined to this lake of torment. I said, "Why is he in this lake of fire? He was a very good teacher. He even had a teaching tape called 'Are You a Man or a Dog?' which had helped thousands of people understand that their worth as humans is far greater than the animals." The king of hell replied, "Yes, he was a good teacher but he did not believe in Jesus Christ. That's why he is in hell."
I was told to look at another person who was in the fire. I saw a man with very long hair wrapped on the left hand side of his head. He was also wearing a robe. I asked the king of hell, "Who is this man?" He replied, "This is the one you worship: Gautama [Buddha]."
I was very disturbed to see Gautama in hell. I protested, "Gautama had good ethnics and good moral character, why is he suffering in this lake of fire?" The king of hell answered me, "It doesn't matter how good he was. He is in this place because he did not believe in the Eternal God."
I then saw another man who looked like he was wearing a soldier's uniform. He had a large wound on his chest. I asked, "Who is this man?" The king of hell said, "This is Aung San, the revolutionary leader of Myanmar." I was told, "Aung San is here because he persecuted and killed Christians, but mostly because he didn't believe in Jesus Christ." In Myanmar the people have a common saying, "Soldiers never die, they live on." I was told that the legions of hell have a saying "Soldiers never die, but they go to hell forever."
I looked and saw another man in the lake of fire. He was a very tall man and he was dressed in military armor. He was also holding a sword and a shield. This man had a wound on his forehead. This man was taller than any person I have ever seen. He was six times the length between a man's elbow and the tips of his fingers when he stretches his arm out straight, plus one span of a man's fingers when he spreads out his hand. The king of hell said, "This man's name is Goliath. He is in hell because he blasphemed the Eternal God and His servant David." I was confused because I didn't know who either Goliath or David were. The king of hell said, "Goliath is recorded in the Christian Bible. You don't know him now, but when you become a Christian you will know who he is."
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I was then taken to a place where I saw both rich and poor people preparing to eat their evening meals. I asked, "Who cooked the food for these people?" The king of hell replied, "The poor have to prepare their own food, but the rich people get others to cook for them." When the food had been prepared for the rich people they sat down to eat. As soon as they started a thick smoke came up. The rich people ate as fast as they could to ease their consciences. They were struggling to breath because of the smoke. They had to eat fast because they were fearful of losing their money. Their money is their god.
Another king of hell then came to me. I also saw a being whose job is to stoke the fires beneath the lake of fire, to keep it hot. This being asked me, "Are you going into the lake of fire too?" I replied, "No! I am only here to observe!" The appearance of this creature stoking the fire was very terrifying. He had ten horns on his head and a spear in his hand that had seven sharp blades coming from the end. The creature told me, "You are right. You came here just to observe. I cannot find your name here." He said, "You must now go back the way you came." He pointed me toward the desolate plain that I had first walked along before I came to the lake of fire.
The Road of Decision I walked a long time, until I was bleeding. I was hot and in great pain. Finally, after walking for about three hours I came to a wide road. I walked along this road for some time until I came to a fork. One road, going off to the left, was wide. A smaller road went off to the right hand side. There was a signpost at the fork saying that the road to the left was for those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The smaller road to the right was for believers in Jesus.
I was interested to see where the larger road led so I started down it. There were two men walking about 300 yards ahead of me. I tried to catch up with them so I could walk with them but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't catch them up, so I turned around and went back to the fork in the road. I continued to watch these two men as they walked down the road away from me. When they reached the end of the road they were suddenly stabbed. These two men cried out in great pain! I also cried out when I saw what happened to them! I realized the bigger road ended in great danger for those who traveled down it.
Looking into Heaven I started walking down the believers' road instead. After traveling for about one hour the surface of the road turned to pure gold. It was so pure that when I looked down I could see my own reflection perfectly. I then saw a man standing in front of me. He was wearing a white robe. I also heard beautiful singing. Oh, it was so beautiful and pure! It was much better and more meaningful than the worship we have in churches here on the earth. The man in the white robe asked me to walk with him. I asked him, "What is your name?" but he did not answer. After I asked his name six times the man answered, "I am the one who holds the key to heaven. Heaven is a very, very beautiful place. You cannot go there now but if you follow Jesus Christ you can go there after your life has finished on the earth." The man's name was Peter.
Peter then asked me to sit down and he showed me a place to the north. Peter said, "Look to the north and see God create man." I saw the Eternal God from a distance. God spoke to an angel, "Let us make man." The angel pleaded with God and said, "Please don't make man. He will do wrong and will grieve you." [In Burmese literally: "He will make you lose face."]. But God created a man named anyway. God blew on the man and the man came to life. He gave him the name "Adam". [Note: Buddhists do not believe in the Creation of the world or of man, so this experience had a significant impact on the monk].
​
Sent Back with a New Name Then Peter said, "Now get up and go back to where you came from. Speak to the people who worship Buddha and who worship idols. Tell them they must go to hell if they don't change. Those who build temples and idols will also have to go to hell. Those who give offerings to the monks to earn merit for themselves with go to hell. All those who pray to the monks and call them 'Pra' [respectful title for monks] will go to hell. Those who chant and 'give life' to idols will go to hell. All those who don't believe in Jesus Christ will go to hell." Peter told me to go back to the earth and testify about the things I had seen. He also said, "You must speak in your new name. From now on you are to be called Athet Pyan Shinthaw Paulu ["Paul who Came Back to Life."].
I didn't want to go back. I wanted to go to heaven. Angels opened a book. First they looked for my childhood name (Thitpin) in the book, but they could not find it. They then looked for the name I had been given when he entered the Buddhist monk hood (U Nata Pannita Ashinthuriya) but it wasn't written in the book either. Then Peter said, "Your name is not written here, you must return and testify about Jesus to the Buddhist people."
I walked back along the gold road. Again I heard beautiful singing, the kind of which I have never heard before or since. Peter walked with me until the time I returned to the earth. He showed me a ladder that reached down from the heaven to the sky. The ladder didn't reach to the earth, but stopped in mid-air. On the ladder I saw many angels, some going up to heaven and some going down the ladder. They were very busy. I asked Peter, "Who are they?" Peter answered, "They are messengers of God. They are reporting to heaven the names of all those who believe in Jesus Christ and the names of those who don't believe." Peter then told me it was time to go back.
It is a Ghost! The next thing I was aware of was the sound of weeping. I heard my own mother cry out, "My son, why did you leave us now?" I also heard many other people weeping. I realized I was lying in a box. I started to move. My mother and father started shouting, "He is alive! He is alive!" Other people who were farther away did not believe my parents. I then placed my hands on the sides of the box and sat upright. Many people were struck with terror. They cried out, "It is a ghost!" and ran away as fast as their legs could carry them.
Those who remained were speechless and trembling. I noticed I was sitting in smelly liquid and body fluids, enough to fill about three and a half cups. This was liquid that had come out of my stomach and my insides while my body was lying in the coffin. This is why people knew I had indeed been dead. Inside the coffin there was a type of plastic sheet fixed to the wood. This sheet is placed there to retain a corpse's liquids, because many dead bodies release much fluid like mine did.
I learned later that I was just moments away from being cremated in the flames. In Myanmar people are placed in a coffin, the lid is then nailed shut, and the whole coffin is burned. When I came back to life my mother and father were being allowed to look at my body for the very last time. Moments later the lid of my coffin would have been nailed shut and I would have been cremated!
I immediately started to explain the things I had seen and heard. People were astonished. I told them about the men I had seen in the lake of fire, and told them that only the Christians know the truth, that our forefathers and us have been deceived for thousands of years! I told them everything we believe is a lie. The people were astonished because they knew what kind of a monk I had been and how zealous I had been for the teachings of Buddha.
In Myanmar when a person dies their name and age is written on the side of the coffin. When a monk dies, the monk's name, age and the number of years he has served as a monk are written on the side of the coffin. I had already been recorded as dead but as you can see, now I am alive!
Epilogue Since 'Paul who came back to life' experienced the above story he has remained a faithful witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. Burmese pastors have told us that he had led hundreds of other monks to faith in Christ. His testimony is obviously very uncompromising. Because of that, his message has offended many people who cannot accept there is only one Way to Heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. Despite great opposition, his experiences were so real to him that he has not wavered. After many years in the Buddhist monk hood, as a strict follower of Buddhist teachings, he immediately proclaimed the Gospel of Christ following his resurrection and exhorted other monks to forsake all false gods and follow Jesus Christ with all their hearts. Before the time of his sickness and death he had no exposure to Christianity at all. Everything he learned during those three days in the grave was new to his mind.
In a bid to get his message out to as many people as possible, this modern-day Lazarus began distributing audio and video cassette tapes with his story on them. The police and Buddhist authorities in Myanmar have done their utmost to gather these tapes up and destroy them. The testimony you have just read has been translated form one of those cassette tapes. We are told it is now quite dangerous for citizens of Myanmar to be in possession of these tapes.
His fearless testimony has landed him in prison at least once, where the authorities failed in their bid to silence him. Upon his release he continued to testify of the things he saw and heard. His current whereabouts are uncertain. One Burmese informant told us he is prison and may have been killed, while another informant was told he is now released from prison and is continuing his ministry.
Translated by: Asian Minorities Outreach P.O.Box 901 Palestine, TX 75802 U.S.A. E-Mail: monkst... u/yahoo.com Website: http://www.antioch.com.sg/mission/asianmo
________________________
Dear Triplegem Members, The following message was posted to the NDE.com Website by someone called 'James' on 23rd July, 2000. (NDE = Near Death Experience). The Monk's story is identical. But the source is different. Details can be viewed at
<>
The message began with: "Buddhist Monk visits Hell" I believe this person died, body decay & rotten. He was then brought to those places by the LORD to show him some vision. <-------
This is taken from a mission paper "Northside Missions Update" Northside Christian Centre 31-61 McLeans Road Bundoora Victoria 3083 Australia
The same 'Monk's Story' followed. Then, exchange of interesting messages took place at the NDE.com Bulletin Board among NDE regulars, some of them are Christians, and finally, someone called 'Melvin', 'a Myanmar Buddhist', posted the following message and the discussion came to a close.
The fact that the same story has re-surfaced in another form (cassette), perhaps in a another country is a bit disturbing!
Best wishes to all our Triplegem members, MM Lwin
...................................................................

You guys gotta help me on this, I'm sure Kyoshi does a bunch of cool stuff in her comic but I (like most ATLA fans, I suspect) have not read the comics so I won't be mentioning them here.
Is Kyoshi's reputation as "the badass avatar" really justified? You will find comments by the boatload of people watching any Avatar State clip and saying "oh man that was kyoshi coming out right there!!!" but I cannot see Kyoshi as anything but a pretty passive and even selfish character.
Kyoshi's biggest event in the show as we see it is when she proudly stands against Chin the Conqueror, defending her home and ending his reign swiftly and without mercy, liberating the Earth Kingdom from his terrible rule, right?
Yeah, kinda, if you remove all the context and over glorify it, that is what happens. In reality, Kyoshi did not lift a finger until Chin the Conqueror, the "horrible tyrant" as she says, comes to her doorstep and demands surrender. Admirably, Kyoshi ends the conflict without violence by demonstrating an absolutely insane show of force and completely separating her peninsula home from the mainland. Immediately after, Chin stupidly stands on a freshly terraformed cliff and falls to his death.
Does that not amount to Kyoshi running away?? She only inadvertently caused Chin's demise at BEST, unless there is something weird angle you could push that she was positive Chin's humiliation would cause to him just ending his own life? And all of that only AFTER he has evidently subjugated the entire continent.
She clearly is only fending for herself with a lack of regard for the rest of the Earth Kingdom (Seriously, she couldn't have even known she stopped Chin until much later!) Not to mention that during Avatar Day and when Aang connects with her in book 3, Kyoshi weirdly takes continuous credit for Chin's murder, acting like what she did was a clear cut strike for justice for the Earth Kingdom. Aang actually clarifies to her that she clearly did not kill Chin, his demise was of his own accord and she just says "I disagree?" like bro, thats not how it works LOL, you can feel like you killed Chin because that makes you look better after the fact but that's seriously just not what happened.
All in all, I really do like Kyoshi and even this (imo more accurate) characterization as some history revisionist trying to make herself look better makes her a very compelling character. I still cannot shake the frustration I feel when I see fan after fan holding the opinion that Kyoshi is "the badass one." I even asked my friend on Discord what he thought of Kyoshi (I believe he has only seen ATLA all the way through 1-2 times) based off what he could remember and he of course said "Badass." When I asked him why, he said "That time he took over Aang and said 'im gonna kill you all' to the villagers." That is of course not what happened, but it's just funny that that is what he remembered about the "badass avatar."
What do you guys think? I'd actually love if the comic readers could tell me more about Kyoshi and if there's any extra extra context surrounding the events that makes Kyoshi seem less passive and willing to let tyrants do whatever they want, or if my read on the events are wrong in general

Overall, I liked this season much more than season 2 and felt like it did well in expanding the show from the first season.
The Good

• The theme and Gambler's death was a great idea. It was executed extremely well too.
• The budget and quality overall still felt in line to be the "peak" in superhero TV.
• Crusher & Paula's arc was done perfectly, even their deaths.
• Glad to finally see the Stargirl/Icicle Jr relationship
• I do love the overall tone maintained in the show. It's lighthearted and glosses over the drama of secret identities while making it a non-factor. There are no legal repercussions for many things, and I do appreciate that aspect being ignored.
• The cast was huge and everyone wanted to be a good guy, I think the show writers balanced that very well and made most situations pretty fun to watch.
• Yolanda & Rick's mentality toward Cindy was believable and fair. As with most of the "Frenemy" relationships this season.

The Bad

• Early on in S3, I was very shaken by how poor the acting was at certain times. Specifically how unnatural the entrances were from Sofas/Lily & Pat/Barbara. I also hated the over-the-top nature of Barbara's manager Tim (leading Paula to predictably intimidate him)
• I thought the amount of action and fight sequences were less than other seasons, and was replaced a bit by very basic drama. Not unbearably so, but much more than I would have liked. Story-wise, it made sense since there wasn't that much to fight and the CW is notorious for adding that cheap drama to everything.
• Icicle's return was great but I wish he did this a few episodes earlier.
• I wasn't a fan of how the final fight happened in the junkyard at night. It was a little hard to see at times, and the stakes felt very low.
• I really wish Rick's home life was better explained. It would have made sense for all of the orphans to share a home and have someone fun to be their guardian.

The Ugly

• I was disappointed that Ultra Humanite's plan to become president wasn't much farther along. Starman's anger was often incredibly annoying and should have put more energy into becoming a politician.
• Ultra Humanite's plan itself was very low stakes and lacked a fraction of the depth as the ISA's in S1.
• The team-up of Dr. Ito, Ultra Humanite, and Icicle felt very rushed. I wish they spent more time explaining that, specifically in how Humanite & Jordan went from "sworn enemies" to evil buddies.
• Starman going public and putting the current JSA identities out there would have potentially been a great dynamic to handle. It would have been a little overdone and maybe too "real" for the show to get into but might have given more depth. Allowing for more outside influence coming to Blue Valley
• Rick's behavior with the hourglass was kinda annoying and felt forced. That plotline has been done in almost every superhero TV Show and it provided nothing new. Probably necessary to add a few critical fight scenes, but still an eye-roll.
• I hope Mike was able to get more screentime solving things with Courtney & the family. Ideally, they would do that in a S4.

I'd love to be part of the effort to see S4 get made on "Max" or whatever platform. I love the idea of them delving more into the multiverse with these characters and would put in any effort to make it happen.

Throwaway account because my parents follow my main. I’m on mobile so please excuse the formatting. I really don’t feel like I was a jerk here but I figured I should reach out to the people of Reddit for an unbiased opinion. My (16f) mom has a friend that she’s known since before I was born (we’ll call my mom’s friend E). E & her husband, C, are friends with my parents & I just think it’s a little weird at their age to have “besties”. Like it’s perfectly fine as adults to have your own friends but my mom & E call each other “their village” & C & my dad have literally been friends since middle school & hang out all the time, they’re at our house for dinner or game night or to work on projects at least twice a week. We also go to their house a lot, & whenever our families hang out together E & C’s daughter H (13f) also wants to hang out with me. It’s just a little irritating to have a younger kid always tagging around. If I tell her to leave me alone she usually will just go hang out with our moms but it doesn’t change the fact that she’s just in my house a lot. So on to the situation where I may have been the A hole; I got home from school, E & H are at my house. E is at the kitchen table so she sees me come in & says hi. I’ve had a long day and I’m tired so I just ignore her & go upstairs. H is in the game room so that’s even more irritating & I just go in my room. I come down for a drink of water around dinner time & C is now over too. Everybody is just hanging around in my house & frankly it’s just a little irritating. My dad &!C come in from the deck where I guess they’re grilling, my dad asks me if I “said hi to Aunt E, Uncle C, & my cousin”. This just kind of rubbed me the wrong way because technically they’re not related, even if they have known each other my whole life. So I told E just honestly “you know you’re not actually my aunt, right?” She looked kind of surprised but she smiled & said she knew so I didn’t think anybody was upset or anything. Then the next week was my birthday party, when I asked my mom when C, E, & H were getting there she said they weren’t coming. I expressed my surprise because I didn’t think there was any issue over me telling the truth but my mom gave me a really aggravated face & said “you can’t expect them to come over after you act like they’re not welcome all the time, right?” Then went on about how I can’t have it both ways but it’s not like that, I just don’t get why we hang out all the time it seems excessive, & a birthday is a different thing; they’ve always come to my parties. Even last year when H was not doing well they still dropped in to give me my gift. Now all our friends/family at the party keep asking where they are & it’s just stressing me out. My mom keeps asking me if I want her to call them & invite them, my dad keeps asking me to “stop pouting” but I’m really not I just don’t get why we have to act like we’re family & hang out all the time. So AITA?

Throwaway account because my parents follow my main. Obligatory I’m on mobile so please excuse the formatting. I really don’t feel like I was a jerk here but everybody is acting like I am; I figured I should reach out to the people of Reddit for an unbiased opinion. So my (16f) mom has a friend that she’s known since before I was born (we’ll call my mom’s friend E). E and her husband, C, are friends with my parents, and I just think it’s a little weird at their age to have “besties”. Like it’s perfectly fine as adults to have your own friends but my mom and E call each other like “their village” and C and my dad have literally been friends since middle school and just hang out all the time, like they’re at our house for dinner or game night or to work on projects at least twice a week. We also go to their house a lot, and whenever our families hang out together E and C’s daughter H (13f) also wants to hang out with me. It’s just a little irritating to have a much younger kid always tagging around like your best friend. If I tell her to leave me alone she usually will just go hang out with our moms but it doesn’t change the fact that she’s just in my house a lot. So on to the situation where I may have been the A hole; I got home from extracurriculars and E and H are at my house. E is at the kitchen table so she sees me come in and says hi. I’ve had a long day and I’m tired so I just ignore her and go upstairs. H is in the game room so that’s even more irritating and I just go in my room. I come down for a drink of water around dinner time and C is now over too and everybody is just hanging around in my house and frankly it’s just a little irritating, like we just saw them three days ago. My dad and C come in from the deck where I guess they’re grilling and my dad asks me if I “said hi to Aunt E, Uncle C, and my cousin”. This just kind of rubbed me the wrong way because technically they’re not related, even if they have known each other my whole life. So I told E just honestly “you know you’re not actually my aunt, right?” She looked kind of surprised but she smiled and said she knew so I didn’t think anybody was upset or anything. I just went to my room. Then the next week was my birthday party and when I asked my mom when C, E, and H were getting there she said they weren’t coming. I expressed my surprise because I didn’t think there was any issue over me telling the truth but my mom gave me a really aggravated face and said “you can’t expect them to come over after you act like they’re not welcome all the time, right?” And then went on about how I can’t be mad every time they’re around but also get mad when they’re not here but it’s not like that, I just don’t get why we hang out all the time it seems excessive and a birthday is a different thing; they’ve always come to my parties. Even last year when H was not doing well they still dropped in and E gave me my gift. Now all our friends and family at the party keep asking where they are and it’s just stressing me out and everybody is acting like I’m the bad guy so I’m just hanging out in my room during the party. My mom keeps asking me if I want her to call them and invite them and my dad keeps asking me to “stop pouting and come enjoy the party” like I’m throwing a fit but I’m really not I just don’t get why we have to act like we’re family and hang out all the time. So Reddit, AITA?

It's said that we each think ourselves of the protagonists of our own stories. Take that too far and you get narcissistic people who annoy everyone around them- but there is another layer to it.
In the end, we all experience the world through our own eyes. And what we see is always limited.
Don't get what I mean? Imagine for a second that you were living in a simulation. Now, you may think that it's nearly impossible for a computer to possibly synthesize everything in the world going on around you.
Imagine walking into a bookstore. Have you ever... actually read every single book in there? No, leave that, have you ever even opened each book? How do you know that... each book is real, that each book actually has words in it without you opening each one? They could very well be placeholders, just there to make the world look more real.
Extrapolate that to the world. Sure, there are ways of knowing about everything going around you- but how much do you actually experience?
In the end of course, it's only what we experience that shapes what we think of reality. We can never go inside someone else's head.
This would all just be a though experiment. Or at least, it would be normally.
Two week ago, I moved into a new town. I didn't really relish the idea as it was a rather small town- a far cry from the city I'd grown up in, but I had to come here as part of a job, and my student loans weren't going to pay themselves.
I sighed, and grit myself for six months of utter boredom.
That's what I thought would happen. I settled in well enough, only for my doorbell the ring the very afternoon I had arrived.
Hadn't been expecting that- I hadn't even unpacked half of the boxes yet.
It was my neighbor- at least that was how they introduced themselves. It was Gary, his wife, and his twin daughters. They were nice enough- though overall given that I was eager to get to work they were more of a distraction than anything.
The visitors didn't stop there though. The mailman, other neighbors from down the street, the owner of the local grocery store, the garbageman- all of them fell the need to ring on my doorbell just to say 'hello' to me. I wouldn't have minded but the thing was that the conversations dragged on for far longer than they ever should have.
And now that I truly think about it- there was something really off about each of those conversations. I know the Uncanny Valley effect is regarding faces- but this was like that, except for speech. What was being said was normal- but there was an, oddness to it that I couldn't really put my finger on. As if I was thinking- 'Wait a moment, real people don't talk like this.'
I just chalked up all of this attention to small town values and went to sleep even though I barely got any unpacking done at all.
I did notice something odd- outside the window that looked over my backyard- I saw the silhouette of a lady with her dog by the road. This wouldn't be abnormal on its own- but for three nights in a row, I always saw her.
At seemingly the same place.
The next morning I got up and my day was instantly ruined when I saw that all the tires to my car had been slashed.
So much for small town hospitality- I was almost beginning to swear when I heard a warm voice said, "In trouble there, neighbor?"
It was Gary. From the way he approached me- it was like he'd been waiting all this time behind the corner just to pop up when I would notice the slashes tires.
"Uh... yeah, someone did this..." I said.
"Oof- looks like we got ourselves a troublemaker on the loose here," Gary said. "We should let the Sherriff know- oh, there he is!"
In what couldn't possibly be a coincidence, the Sherriff strolled right up to us as if he had just been strolling around the neighborhood. "Good morning there- and oh, is this our new resident!"
He introduced himself and assured me that he would look into the matter, and as with all the other conversations I had up till now it lasted three times longer than necessary. I was really beginning to become impatient.
At the time I just chalked it up to folks from a small town being different, though now that I look back on things, they were definitely dragging out those conversations as much as possible.
Gary offered me a ride to work- which I accepted given I had no real other options. He talked a lot about his own life- only occasionally asking me questions about mine.
In case you were wondering what it was that I did there- I was a reporter working on a story. I was looking into a story regarding a factory near the town, and so Gary was nice enough to drop me off at the town library which also housed its records.
It was fairly old- didn't even have a digital system in place, they still used those old cards you would write into if you wanted to take a book out.
You would think that at the very least in a library I would get some peace and quiet, but no.... the librarian and her two assistants walked up to speak to me. They shooed away the other patrons who also seemed to want to introduce themselves and began explaining how the library worked.
Again, the conversation lasted way too long for my liking.
I tried to focus on my work, but I really couldn't. I noticed it every so slightly- people were waiting for me around every corner. Their faces were in books that they clearly weren't reading as they were on the same page for two hours.
I didn't make much headway as I made to leave- unsure of how I would even get back home when the second I stepped out of the library I ran into Gary.
"Hey there!"
"Were you... waiting for me all this time?"
"Aww shucks no! Of course not, I was just in the area and remembered you didn't have a ride home. Realized the library closes around this time so I thought I'd give you a lift."
'Thank... you," I said, very creeped out.
On the drive back, Gary told me that there was going to be a large party over at his house tomorrow afternoon. I said I had work- but Gary told me the library was closed on weekends. I found that to be very odd but had not real way of confirming that it was wrong so I shrugged and said that I would be there.
That night, again, I saw the lady with her dog across the street. In the same spot. I didn't think too much of it then.
The next day was the party- and to my surprise it looked like half of the town had shown up. I was immediately ushered in and asked to sit down in the center of the living room- it was as if I was the Birthday Boy at a kid's party.
Everyone wanted to speak with me- it was nice for a while but became quite overwhelming thereafter.
That night, I again saw the lady with her dog across the street. I could swear she was in the same spot as well.
I went ahead and opened the door- going for an evening stroll. I walked down the road and I saw a woman in her mid-forties walking a Golden Retriever. She was no longer standing still, but was walking up to me, eager to introduce herself. She walked the same route every day, she told me, and was really excited to see the new face who was the buzz all around town.
The next day I tried to get some new tires- but every shop in town was out of it (and by every shop I mean the two there). Despite how friendly everyone was, none of them had a spare set of tires- something I found hard to believe.
They did managed to find a bicycle I could borrow- that was good enough to go to the grocery store and back. It took me over an hour to get to the library for my job though- Gary kept offering to drive me there, but I always refused.
I did actually get some work done- and it went on like that for a week longer when my bike was stolen one day.
The Sherriff was right around the corner as the last time, and Gary was as willing to offer a ride as ever. Now, I couldn't even get someone to lend me their bicycle anymore.
That night, I saw her again. That same lady, standing across the street. In the same spot.
I went for a walk- and she ran into me. As if she had been expecting me.
I had no idea what was happening around this place. I felt nauseous and didn't come out of the house for two days, just whiling away time on my laptop.
I had made my decision then- screw this job! I was getting out of here. I called my boss and told him I was leaving, and given I somehow still didn't have new tires I just called for a taxi company. I'd get my car back some other way- I didn't want to live here a moment longer.
The night before my planned escape, I woke up, startled by a noise downstairs. I went to see that it was... Gary.
He wasn't carrying a weapon of any sort and didn't look threatening in any way- but he was in my house at two in the morning.
"H-how did you get in?" I asked him.
"Ah, picked the lock. Locksmith helped," he said.
I grabbed a nearby umbrella- hardly an adequate weapon, but the closest thing near me. "D-don't get any closer!"
"I don't want to bother you," Gary said, seemingly nonplused by how weird this whole situation was. "I just wanted to let you know... that you can't leave."
That confirmed my suspicions when I heard a voice from outside.
"Gary! How long are you going to hog everything for yourself!"
"We want our turn!"
"What happened to 'sharing is caring?'"
I looked outside the window- and saw the townsfolk had surrounded my house.
"What is going on?!" I demanded.
"It's hard to explain," Gary said. "But let me start at the beginning. The 'factory' you were looking into, it wasn't a factory at all. It was a research facility for the military. We don't know why- but they made us. They made us like this, eternally trapped in this town. They abandoned us. We don't know why- just that it seems they wanted to curse us. I know no other reason as to why the should torment us so."
His face twisted into a snarl.
"We are background characters. We have little will of our own. It's only when someone like you comes from the outside that we find our purpose. That this town of ours has life breathed into it. Did you know what my days like were before you came along? I would stand in an empty house with my 'family' for hours on end. Just staring at a blank wall, unable to eat or drink or sleep. Unable to feel, unable to express myself. I can't even talk to members of my family unless you come around."
"Ah, I think you have a term for us," Gary said. "NPCs? Side characters? That's what we are. We can't do anything unless you come around. And I loved it so much when you were here- for the firs time in years I felt alive. Did you know something? My house is actually empty. No furniture. Nothing at all. Everything that you saw in there on the day of the party- it materialized only when you came in. I could go back home to an empty house, but I won't anymore." He began to move. "Come with me."
I ran upstairs and locked my bedroom door, barricading myself in as well as I could. I looked out my window and saw throngs of people there.
I can hear them at my door. Any minute now they'll get in.
I-I have family outside here guys. I do not want to spend my life being a prisoner of whatever... things live in this town.
My hand is shaking in terror as I type this out on my phone. I... don't know what I can do in this situation. I think I can smell smoke- they're definitely starting a fire, knowing I'll have to jump out the window. I don't know if they'll fight over me or try to tear me apart so each of them gets a piece, but they're not going to leave me alone.
They may all be prisoners here- but it looks like I'll end up being another inmate along with them.

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Chapter 6 - From the Ashes
Winrow, Vanstead Dukedom of Augustein, Year 991
She remembered the sounds of screaming. That day came to her in flashes of disjointed images and sensations. In one moment, there was the usual constant chill of the facility, and then in the next there was a burning heat spiraling outwards, climbing up the walls and dying the grey into red.
She remembered twisting shadows and contorted figures. Those magicians, distant and immoveable figures for so much of her life, collapsed to their knees and choked on smoke.
She remembered smaller figures writhing in the flames. A hand crushed beneath debris reaching towards her. A smoking corpse she couldn’t recognize.
She still wondered, sometimes, lying on the cot and staring up at the wooden ceiling, if it had been Tom or Ben. She would focus on the little details of the figure, laboring over the smoking limbs and the exact hunch of the shoulders. She never did know for certain.
She supposed it didn’t matter in the end.
—
Joan inhaled, tightening and loosening her grip on the tray of food she was carrying with her. Once she was done mentally preparing herself, she pushed back her shoulders, gripped the door handle, and turned it.
The door opened with a loud creak. Joan had decided to leave it unoiled on purpose; Amara never responded to knocks, so the least she could do was give a very obvious advance warning when she entered the room.
Joan plastered on a large smile, ignoring the numbness that had been growing on one side of her face, and stepped over to the figure seated on the bed. Amara didn’t even turn, her eyes fixed on the open window and the flowing curtains. It was a bright day, the towering white clouds drifting peacefully across a vast expanse of blue. The sight was particularly welcome after a week of non stop rain.
“Good morning,” Joan said in her most cheery voice. She set the tray down on a small table placed beside the cot. Slowly, Amara turned her head to stare at her. Joan swallowed.
Ever since Amara had woken up, she’d barely spoken or even acknowledged her surroundings. All her movements were dulled, as though she was wading through water, and Joan had yet to see any true reaction from her.
Even when she’d first quietly explained what had happened, that the building was gone and that there weren’t any other survivors, Amara had just listened quietly, perfectly still and unmoving. When Joan had finished speaking, all she’d said was, “Can I see the ruins?”
Joan hadn’t known how to respond to that. Part of her suspected she still hadn’t fully processed what had happened and seeing the destroyed building might provide closure, but she also had to be honest and tell Amara that she was in no condition to move. Amara hadn’t responded to that, but she would still ask, every now and then. Those were the only times she would speak without first being prompted. Besides that, she only ever answered in short, clipped sentences, never referring to Joan by name and never saying more than necessary.
When Joan had confided in Leila, the watchman had made a sympathetic noise and shaken her head. “Poor thing must be in shock,” she’d said.
It was the most obvious explanation and the one Joan had immediately jumped to as well. And yet, the longer she spent around her patient, the more she started to wonder if that initial assessment was wrong.
Despite how dulled her movements seemed and how little she spoke, Amara’s eyes never had the same look to them. Even when she stared off into the distance, there was a constant sharpness there, a hardness that seemed at odds with the rest of her behavior.
Even now, seated on the hospital cot, Amara studied her with that same uncanny perceptiveness, a gaze that always made Joan feel like she was being judged. She forced her own eyes to remain steady instead of darting away like her first instinct was. She briefly considered how absurd it was for her, a former Rose, to be intimidated by an injured patient who was probably half her age and barely old enough to no longer qualify as a “girl.”
Joan cleared her throat, the sound seeming to echo in the pervasive silence.
“How are you today?”
A silent stare was her only answer. Joan suppressed the urge to sigh, instead keeping her smile plastered on. She nodded at the tray of food and stood again.
“Well, if you need anything, I’ll be right there doing work.”
Some time after Amara had woken up, Joan had gotten some neighbors to help her move a table into the patient room so that she could keep an eye on her while working. Amara hadn’t voiced any complaints about it, and it made Joan a little less uneasy, so she’d stuck with the system.
Joan settled down in her seat, squinting down at the stack of letters. She didn’t start reading, however, until she heard the familiar clink of silverware as Amara finally ate. Her shoulders slumped in relief, and she leaned over the table and began to work, ignoring the sensation of eyes on her back as she did so.
—
“You’re healing well,” Joan commented as she carefully inspected an unwrapped wound. She was sure to move slowly and with deliberate gestures, not missing the way Amara’s eyes followed her hands whenever she checked her injuries.
As Joan moved on to the next bandage, she once again considered how lucky Amara was to have survived the explosion. Though she hadn’t seen the building collapse herself, a few of the onlookers had told her that it was sudden and violent. “What do you think happened?” one of them had asked. Joan had told him that she didn’t know. Truthfully she suspected it had been an experiment gone wrong, but she hadn’t wanted to reveal Amara’s secret. As far as the other villagers were concerned, the building was just a lone orphanage that had suffered an unfortunate accident.
“Can I see the ruins?”
Joan frowned. “Not yet,” she said slowly. “Not until all your bones are healed.”
When she looked up again, Amara had turned her head away and was staring at the sky again. Joan sighed and continued the check up.
—
A knock sounded from down the hallway. Joan set down the shirt she was patching and stood with a frown.
“I’ll be right back,” she said before rising and hurrying to the door.
When she opened it, she found not another patient, but Leila still in her watchman uniform. She blinked at the woman, eyes briefly darting over to the basket she was carrying, then back up.
“Leila, it’s good to see you. What’re you doing here?”
“I was patrolling around the area and thought I’d stop by. Here.” She raised her hand and passed the basket over. Joan took it and peered down at its contents. Inside, she found various ripe fruits, some bright flowers that Leila must’ve gotten fresh from the florist, and a small pouch that, when opened, contained an array of glinting coins. Joan’s eyes widened.
“Leila, you didn’t have to—”
“They’re from the watchmen,” the other woman interrupted. She smiled. “I told them I was stopping by and they pooled together some money to help out.”
A warm feeling rose in Joan’s chest. She swallowed, carefully closing the pouch again and setting it back inside the basket beside a bright yellow blossom. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Please tell them thank you for me.”
Leila reached out a gloved hand and patted her shoulder. “After all the times you’ve had to heal us, this is the least we could do,” she joked. She glanced behind Joan at the hallway and lowered her voice. “Speaking of which, how’s she doing?”
“She’s healing well,” Joan said. “I estimate she’ll be able to walk around within the month.”
“You really do work miracles.” Leila shook her head and stepped back. “I ought to get back on patrol. Remember, if you ever need anything, you can ask me.” With a wave, the woman turned around and walked away.
Joan watched her retreating back, shaking her head with fondness before moving to close the door. Basket carefully balanced in her hands, Joan made her way back down the hallway and to the patient room.
“I’m sorry about that, Amara,” she said as she stepped through the doorway. “Leila visited and—”
Joan’s voice cut off.
The cot where Amara usually sat was empty, the wrinkled sheets haphazardly pulled aside. Joan’s eyes darted frantically around the room, landing on her desk table, where her sewing box was overturned, its contents spilled across the table, chair, and wooden ground. Fabric strips, threads, pins, cushions of needles.
And there, a few feet away from the desk, she could just barely make out the top of a head poking out from behind the bed.
The basket fell to the floor.
“No no no—”
Joan didn’t think, immediately sprinting towards the back of the room, cursing herself for being so stupid. Am I too late?
“Amara!” Joan called, stumbling as she leapt onto the cot and peered over in dread, her heart pounding against her ribcage.
There, seated on the ground with her back supported by the bed, sat Amara. She turned her head to face her, and Joan saw that in one hand she held a gleaming pair of scissors and in the other, a thick bundle of wavy hair that lay half scattered across the ground, blown around by the wind billowing into the room.
“You’re back,” Amara observed. Her gaze was as sharp and perceptive as ever.
Joan’s eyes rapidly scanned her, but there were no new injuries to make note of. The only change was her hair, which had been cropped short so that it sat in an uneven line below her chin.
All at once, the tension bled away and Joan slumped down.
“You cut your hair,” she said weakly. Her head throbbed, and she absentmindedly rubbed at it.
“Yeah.”
Joan released a long breath and slowly straightened. She closed her eyes for a moment, calming her rapid heart rate. When she spoke, she forced her voice to remain as still and calm as possible, though she couldn’t entirely mask the slight tremor in her voice.
“Amara, the next time you want to cut your hair or—or do anything, please tell me first. Please.”
Amara stared at her, quiet for a long time. She shifted her position, and for the first time since she’d woken up, something in her eyes changed.
“Okay,” she said.
—
It was a windy day. Joan shivered and pulled her cloak closer, but she didn’t remove her gaze from the figure walking just beside her.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Joan asked. Amara just nodded, not even turning to look her way, and Joan sighed and shook her head. She faced forward as well, eyes following the dirt path and remembering the last time she’d walked along it.
The closer they got to the ruins, the more Joan’s unease grew.
Amara had continued to heal at a rapid pace, and when she’d first started being able to walk around on her own, she constantly did so, moving with a silent, steady determination. The end result of that persistence had led them to their current situation, on the road to the ruins, Amara with only a few bandages left on her skin and walking by herself, albeit a bit slowly, and Joan, whose eyes kept darting over, watching for any reaction.
As far as she could tell, there were none. Amara moved with remarkable calm, shoulders relaxed and eyes steady.
Joan exhaled and kept walking. Ever since the scissors incident, as Joan had dubbed it in her head, Amara had started speaking more. She was still mostly quiet, but she seemed a little more engaged, more interested in her surroundings. She’d even requested Joan teach her how to read, after Joan had given her a tour of her little home and shown her the library. When Amara was sitting there quietly, listening as Joan taught her basic letters and spelling, Joan could almost tell herself that she was just an ordinary, curious young woman if not for the array of scars on her skin. Joan had tried to heal them, but form magic couldn’t alter colors, and so the marks still lingered.
That near normalcy, however, was where the doubts had begun. Initially she’d assumed Amara wanted to see the ruins to give her closure so that she could move on, but what if it had the opposite effect? Joan wasn’t a fool, she knew Amara’s behavior was in no way normal. She had to be repressing things, or perhaps the truth hadn’t really settled yet. What if seeing the ruins caused her to break down?
The longer they walked, the more the doubts grew. Joan quickly became lost in her thoughts, so much so that she didn’t immediately notice when they stopped walking
“Which way?”
Joan blinked and looked up, seeing that they’d reached a familiar fork in the road. Her heart sank and she swallowed. “Left,” she said, voice hoarse. She cleared her throat. “It… it’s just past that hill.”
Amara nodded and turned without hesitation, slowly making her way up the slight incline in a steady rhythm. Another breeze blew past them, carrying scattered tree leaves with it. Joan watched Amara reach the hill top and begin descending until she’d disappeared from view.
Joan stared at the path, limbs suddenly heavy. She tightened her grip on her cloak.
“Get it together,” she muttered. There was no reason for her to be so nervous, she told herself. It was absurd, after all the things she’d already seen throughout her life. But Amara had an uncanny ability to make her feel like a lost child again, someone completely out of her depth.
Joan waited a little longer, listening for any sounds, but there were none besides the wind and rustling flora surrounding them. And so, after a deep breath, Joan lowered her head and made her way over the hill.
When she looked up again, the ruins were in sight. She slowed her pace as she approached.
Where once a simple sturdy grey building had stood, there now lay a pile of debris. Only the bottom sections of the buildings remained standing, jutting out from the ground like broken blades. Charred, splintered wood lay strewn about the grass, and large chunks of shattered stone formed crude boulders.
Surrounding the ruins, colorful blossoms grew in bright patches. Originally someone had suggested burying the bodies—at least the ones they’d been able to recover—there. But Joan had shuddered at the thought of forcing the experiment victims to rest eternally near the broken facility, so she’d requested they move them to Winrow’s graveyard instead. Thankfully people hadn’t questioned her, though the move in the burial site hadn’t stopped people from planting flowers around the area as a memorial.
Joan’s eyes scanned the ruins, finally landing on a single figure standing just in front of the collapsed building. Slowly, Joan approached until she was a few feet away, her footsteps crunching as she stepped over debris.
Amara’s back was turned to her. She didn’t move, simply standing there staring at the destruction before her. The wind blew her now short wavy hair against her neck, and her cloak billowed. The movement caught Joan’s eye, and she caught a glimpse of Amara’s hands hanging at her sides, balled into tight fists that shook barely perceptibly.
Joan opened her mouth and closed it, not knowing what to say. Hesitant, she took another step forward.
And then, all at once, the trembling stopped. Slowly, Amara’s fingers loosened, uncurling themselves until they hung limply at her sides. She raised her head, lifting her face towards the deep blue sky. Joan saw her whole body breathe as another wind blew past them, as though she was trying to fill her lungs with as much air as possible.
A few seconds passed, and Amara’s shoulders fell as she exhaled. Her head lowered back down to eye level, and slowly, she turned around.
Strands of hair lay strewn haphazardly against her face, mussed and twisted by the wind. Her posture was perfectly relaxed and casual, not a trace of tension in sight. The scars running up her arms seemed almost to move in the shifting shadows cast by her cloak. Her sharp eyes, a bright green that gleamed in the sunlight, were piercing.
But what caught Joan’s attention the most was her smile. It was bright, unreadable, and utterly unfamiliar.
“Joan,” Amara said, voice calm. “Let’s go back.”
​
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8/3/2019 For Honor Standard Edition
7/25/2019 This War of Mine
7/25/2019 Moonlighter
7/18/2019 Limbo
7/11/2019 Torchlight
7/4/2019 Overcooked
7/3/2019 Dauntless
7/3/2019 Last Day of June

American here (31M, Los Angeles). Just got back from a 2.5-week solo trip to Germany. This was my first visit there, so I wanted to share my experience.
I stayed in the following cities:

• Frankfurt - Amazing skyline, loved viewing it from green spaces throughout the city. The Messeturm, Commerzbank, and St. Bartholomew's Cathedral were my favorite sights.
• Tübingen - Beautiful, brightly-colored medieval buildings. Surprising amount of graffiti, which seemed to clash with the character of the city. But the Neckar Riverfront is lovely to walk along.
• Munich - Gorgeous city. Lively, yet well-kept. I was in a good mood the whole time here. The Residenz Palace and Theatine Church are incredible.
• Nuremberg - Absolutely fascinating place. Well-preserved old town and excellent museums (Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nazi Documentation Center, Nuremberg Trials Memoriam).
• Dresden - The most elegant city. Truly breathtaking architecture (Frauenkirche, Royal Palace, Academy of Fine Arts, etc.). Especially impressive so much of it was rebuilt after WWII destruction.
• Berlin - So unique with so much to enjoy. Reichstag, Fernsehturm, Museum Island (Pergamon and Neues), Charlottenburg, the Wall memorials, East Side Gallery, etc. I can see why Berlin is so beloved.

I also took day trips to the following places:

• Mainz - Very charming and relaxing break from the bigger cities. So many pretty churches, especially the Mainzer Dom, the Christuskirche, and St. Peter's.
• Hohenzollern Castle - Delightful, really cool variety of turrets and towers. Great brown and blue-gray exterior, and more attractive interior than expected.
• Neuschwanstein Castle - A dream. The castle has a great design, and the setting in the Bavarian Alps is spectacular. The interior was surprising, but a fun look into the mind of Ludwig II.

Some general thoughts:

• German people are very friendly, about equal to the French in my experience (I visited France last year). Germans' energy feel more similar to Americans than the French, however.
• English is not as widely spoken as expected. This was generally a non-issue, as most people were helpful and willing to try their best English when I struggled with my German. Younger Germans seem more confident with their English than older Germans do.
• Despite the above, 93% of music played in public was English-language (Lady Gaga, The Offspring, R.E.M., etc.).
• German food is very good, if a bit repetitive (so much pork and potatoes!). The Franconian sausage is my favorite main dish, and the Mandelrolle is my favorite pastry.
• German beer is great too. Augustiner Edelstoff is my favorite. Ayinger Bräuweisse and Augustiner Lagerbier Hell are also good.
• Public transport in every city is fantastic! Rules are a bit inconsistent and confusing though. Example: In Munich, a ticket I bought for the U-Bahn in the city center required validation, but a ticket I bought for the S-Bahn at Leuchtenbergring station was too big for the validation machine. The latter ticket didn't require validation, but I didn't know that until I asked a German for help.
• Deutsche Bahn train system between cities is generally good, but more delays than I expected.
• Despite May temperatures in Germany being roughly the same as France last October, German apartments get much warmer at night.
• If Germany doesn't do air conditioning and you're expected to keep windows open, why no screens to keep out bugs? So many mosquitos, moths, and gnats...
• Smoking shockingly common, especially among young people.
• I respect the frequent bike usage and got used to the bike lanes. But bikes zooming through public squares and such made me jump several times.
• I have never seen more construction in my life.
• As a gay guy, Frankfurt and Berlin have the hottest men. Dresden's pretty good too.
• Germany is a verdant and beautiful country. Loved the mountains and farms of Barvaria, the hills of Saxony, the castles along the Rhine Valley, and the copious amount of parks and green space.

Overall, I had a great trip! Very glad I got to explore Germany and would love to see more of it (Hamburg, Heidelberg, Cologne, etc.). Thank you for making an American feel welcome!

American here (31M, Los Angeles). Just got back from a 2.5-week solo trip to Germany. This was my first visit there, so I wanted to share my experience.
I stayed in the following cities:

• Frankfurt - Amazing skyline, loved viewing it from green spaces throughout the city. The Messeturm, Commerzbank, and St. Bartholomew's Cathedral were my favorite sights.
• Tübingen - Beautiful, brightly-colored medieval buildings. Surprising amount of graffiti, which seemed to clash with the character of the city. But the Neckar Riverfront is lovely to walk along.
• Munich - Gorgeous city. Lively, yet well-kept. I was in a good mood the whole time here. The Residenz Palace and Theatine Church are incredible.
• Nuremberg - Absolutely fascinating place. Well-preserved old town and excellent museums (Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nazi Documentation Center, Nuremberg Trials Memoriam).
• Dresden - The most elegant city. Truly breathtaking architecture (Frauenkirche, Royal Palace, Academy of Fine Arts, etc.). Especially impressive so much of it was rebuilt after WWII destruction.
• Berlin - So unique with so much to enjoy. Reichstag, Fernsehturm, Museum Island (Pergamon and Neues), Charlottenburg, the Wall memorials, East Side Gallery, etc. I can see why Berlin is so beloved.

I also took day trips to the following places:

• Mainz - Very charming and relaxing break from the bigger cities. So many pretty churches, especially the Mainzer Dom, the Christuskirche, and St. Peter's.
• Hohenzollern Castle - Delightful, really cool variety of turrets and towers. Great brown and blue-gray exterior, and more attractive interior than expected.
• Neuschwanstein Castle - A dream. The castle has a great design, and the setting in the Bavarian Alps is spectacular. The interior was surprising, but a fun look into the mind of Ludwig II.

Some general thoughts:

• German people are very friendly, about equal to the French in my experience (I visited France last year). Germans' energy feel more similar to Americans than the French, however.
• English is not as widely spoken as expected. This was generally a non-issue, as most people were helpful and willing to try their best English when I struggled with my German. Younger Germans seem more confident with their English than older Germans do.
• Despite the above, 93% of music played in public was English-language (Lady Gaga, The Offspring, R.E.M., etc.).
• German food is very good, if a bit repetitive (so much pork and potatoes!). The Franconian sausage is my favorite main dish, and the Mandelrolle is my favorite pastry.
• German beer is great too. Augustiner Edelstoff is my favorite. Ayinger Bräuweisse and Augustiner Lagerbier Hell are also good.
• Public transport in every city is fantastic! Rules are a bit inconsistent and confusing though. Example: In Munich, a ticket I bought for the U-Bahn in the city center required validation, but a ticket I bought for the S-Bahn at Leuchtenbergring station was too big for the validation machine. The latter ticket didn't require validation, but I didn't know that until I asked a German for help.
• Deutsche Bahn train system between cities is generally good, but more delays than I expected.
• Despite May temperatures in Germany being roughly the same as France last October, German apartments get much warmer at night.
• If Germany doesn't do air conditioning and you're expected to keep windows open, why no screens to keep out bugs? So many mosquitos, moths, and gnats...
• Smoking shockingly common, especially among young people.
• I respect the frequent bike usage and got used to the bike lanes. But bikes zooming through public squares and such made me jump several times.
• I have never seen more construction in my life.
• As a gay guy, Frankfurt and Berlin have the hottest men. Dresden's pretty good too.
• Germany is a verdant and beautiful country. Loved the mountains and farms of Barvaria, the hills of Saxony, the castles along the Rhine Valley, and the copious amount of parks and green space.

Overall, I had a great trip! Very glad I got to explore Germany and would love to see more of it (Hamburg, Heidelberg, Cologne, etc.). Thank you for making an American feel welcome!

Xbox Games
​

Title	Console	Price (USD)	Region
Street Fighter 6 Deluxe Edition	Xbox	60	Global

Playstation Games

Title	Console	Price (USD)	Region
Playstation Network Card $70	PS4 & PS5	63	North America
Playstation Network Card €75	PS4 & PS5	68	Europe
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum Precious Edition	PS4 & PS5	30	Europe
Space Engineers	PS4 & PS5	10	North America
Miasma Chronicles	PS4 & PS5	30	Europe
War Mongrels	PS5	25	North America
Serial Cleaners + Dino Park DLC	PS4 & PS5	25	Europe
TT ISLE OF MAN: RIDE ON THE EDGE 3	PS4 & PS5	30	Europe
Skinny & Franko: Fists of Violence	PS4 & PS5	12	North America & Europe
Space Engineers	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
DriftCE	PS4 & PS5	20	Europe
Stray Blade	PS4 & PS5	15	Europe
Clash: Artifacts of Chaos	PS4 & PS5	20	Europe
Transport Fever 2 Console Edition	PS4 & PS5	25	Europe
Townsmen PSVR2	PS5	20	North America
Football Manager 2023	PS4 & PS5	25	North America
Scars Above	PS4 & PS5	28	Europe
Chef Life Simulator	PS5	25	Europe
Townsmen VR PSV2	PS5	20	North America
Cities VR: Enhanced Edition PSV2	PS5	20	Europe
Cave Digger 2: Dig Harder PSVR2	PS4 & PS5	15	Europe
Colossal Cave	PS5	20	North America
Overland	PS4 & PS5	10	North America
Dungeon Munchies	PS5	10	North America
Overland	PS4 & PS5	12	North America
Emoji Kart Racer	PS5	15	North America
Broken Lines	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
GRIME: Colors of Rot	PS5	15	North America
Do Not Open	PS5	20	Europe
Last Day of Lazarus	PS5	13	Europe
Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed	PS4 & PS5	15	Europe
Dakar Desert Rally Deluxe Edition	PS4 & PS5	20	North America
LEGO Brawls	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
The Tomorrow Children: Phoenix Edition Island Explorer	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
Serial Cleaners	PS4 & PS5	15	Europe
S.W.A.N.: Chernobyl Unexplored	PS4	10	North America
Path of Titans + Founders Pack	PS5	20	North America
DreadOuts 2	PS4/PS5	15	North America
Two Hundred Ways	PS4	7	North America
Train Valley	PS4	7	Europe
Arcadegeddon	PS4/PS5	15	North America & Europe
Hourglass	PS4	10	North America
My Universe - Green Adventure: Farmers Friends	PS4	18	North America
Escape Game - FORT BOYARD 2022	PS5	18	North America
Lumberjack's Dynasty	PS4	15	North America
Tour de France 2022	PS5	25	Europe
Demon's Tier+	PS5	6	North America
This War of Mine Final Cut	PS5	15	North America
Ogre: Console Edition	PS4 & PS5	14	North America
Best Month Ever!	PS4 & PS5	10	Europe
The Fortress Deluxe	PS4 & PS5	10	North America
Rogue Lords	PS4 & PS5	15	Europe
Metal Tales Overkill	PS5	10	North America
Winkeltje: The Little Shop	PS5	10	North America
Cathedral	PS4 & PS5	8	Europe
Liberated: Enhanced Edition	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
A Juggler's Tale	PS5	10	North America

​
PC Games

Title	Platform	Price (USD)	Region
Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection (Vol.1 + Vol.2)	Steam	35	Global
Redfall	Steam	30	Global
Thea 2: The Shattering	Steam	5	Global
Assetto Corsa Competizione 2023 GT World Challenge DLC	Steam	8	Global
House Flipper Farm DLC	Steam	8	Global
Total Tank Generals	Steam	12	Global
Leap	Steam	10	Global
Climber: Sky Is The Limit	Steam	5	Global
Sunblaze	Steam	8	Global
MADiSON	Steam	18	Global
Re:Legend	Steam	8	Global
Hard West 2	Steam	15	Global
Civitatem	Steam	8	Global
Terraformers	Steam	7	Global
Arcadegeddon	Epic Store	10	Global
The Tenants	Steam	12	Global
My Time at Sandrock	Steam	15	Global
Tennis Manager 2022	Steam	15	Global
Captain of Industry	Steam	15	Global
Space Engineers	Steam	15	Globalc
Bunhouse	Steam	10	Global
Nero	Steam	10	Global
Pro Cycling Manager 2021	Steam	10	Global
Rogue Lords	Steam	13	Global
Solaris Offworld Combat	Steam	8	Global
Boombox	Steam	8	Global

​
https://www.reddit.com/IGSRep/comments/mc209m/xterno50s_igs_rep_page/

Xbox Games

Title	Console	Price (USD)	Region
Street Fighter 6 Deluxe Edition	Xbox	60	Global

​
Playstation Games

Title	Console	Price (USD)	Region
Playstation Network Card $70	PS4 & PS5	63	North America
Playstation Network Card €75	PS4 & PS5	68	Europe
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum Precious Edition	PS4 & PS5	30	Europe
Space Engineers	PS4 & PS5	10	North America
Miasma Chronicles	PS4 & PS5	30	Europe
War Mongrels	PS5	25	North America
Serial Cleaners + Dino Park DLC	PS4 & PS5	25	Europe
TT ISLE OF MAN: RIDE ON THE EDGE 3	PS4 & PS5	30	Europe
Skinny & Franko: Fists of Violence	PS4 & PS5	12	North America & Europe
DriftCE	PS4 & PS5	20	Europe
Space Engineers	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
Stray Blade	PS4 & PS5	15	Europe
Clash: Artifacts of Chaos	PS4 & PS5	20	Europe
Transport Fever 2 Console Edition	PS4 & PS5	25	Europe
Townsmen PSVR2	PS5	20	North America
Football Manager 2023	PS4 & PS5	25	North America
Scars Above	PS4 & PS5	28	Europe
Chef Life Simulator	PS5	25	Europe
Townsmen VR PSV2	PS5	20	North America
Cities VR: Enhanced Edition PSV2	PS5	20	Europe
Cave Digger 2: Dig Harder PSVR2	PS4 & PS5	15	Europe
Colossal Cave	PS5	20	North America
Overland	PS4 & PS5	10	North America
Dungeon Munchies	PS5	10	North America
Overland	PS4 & PS5	12	North America
Emoji Kart Racer	PS5	15	North America
Broken Lines	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
GRIME: Colors of Rot	PS5	15	North America
Do Not Open	PS5	20	Europe
Last Day of Lazarus	PS5	13	Europe
Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed	PS4 & PS5	15	Europe
Dakar Desert Rally Deluxe Edition	PS4 & PS5	20	North America
LEGO Brawls	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
The Tomorrow Children: Phoenix Edition Island Explorer	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
Serial Cleaners	PS4 & PS5	15	Europe
S.W.A.N.: Chernobyl Unexplored	PS4	10	North America
Path of Titans + Founders Pack	PS5	20	North America
DreadOuts 2	PS4/PS5	15	North America
Two Hundred Ways	PS4	7	North America
Train Valley	PS4	7	Europe
Arcadegeddon	PS4/PS5	15	North America & Europe
Hourglass	PS4	10	North America
My Universe - Green Adventure: Farmers Friends	PS4	18	North America
Escape Game - FORT BOYARD 2022	PS5	18	North America
Lumberjack's Dynasty	PS4	15	North America
Tour de France 2022	PS5	25	Europe
Demon's Tier+	PS5	6	North America
This War of Mine Final Cut	PS5	15	North America
Ogre: Console Edition	PS4 & PS5	14	North America
Best Month Ever!	PS4 & PS5	10	Europe
The Fortress Deluxe	PS4 & PS5	10	North America
Rogue Lords	PS4 & PS5	15	Europe
Metal Tales Overkill	PS5	10	North America
Winkeltje: The Little Shop	PS5	10	North America
Cathedral	PS4 & PS5	8	Europe
Liberated: Enhanced Edition	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
A Juggler's Tale	PS5	10	North America

​
PC Games

Title	Platform	Price (USD)	Region
Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection (Vol.1 + Vol.2)	Steam	35	Global
Redfall	Steam	30	Global
Thea 2: The Shattering	Steam	5	Global
Assetto Corsa Competizione 2023 GT World Challenge DLC	Steam	8	Global
House Flipper Farm DLC	Steam	8	Global
Total Tank Generals	Steam	12	Global
Leap	Steam	10	Global
Climber: Sky Is The Limit	Steam	5	Global
Sunblaze	Steam	8	Global
MADiSON	Steam	18	Global
Re:Legend	Steam	8	Global
Hard West 2	Steam	15	Global
Civitatem	Steam	8	Global
Terraformers	Steam	7	Global
Arcadegeddon	Epic Store	10	Global
The Tenants	Steam	12	Global
My Time at Sandrock	Steam	15	Global
Tennis Manager 2022	Steam	15	Global
Captain of Industry	Steam	15	Global
Space Engineers	Steam	15	Globalc
Bunhouse	Steam	10	Global
Nero	Steam	10	Global
Pro Cycling Manager 2021	Steam	10	Global
Rogue Lords	Steam	13	Global
Solaris Offworld Combat	Steam	8	Global
Boombox	Steam	8	Global

First off here's some of my handsome Mug shots
Alright, close your eyes for 1 second. No, serious close your eyes and picture this.
Its 4am on a Tuesday morning, almost at the break of dawn, we've been up all night on a face time call talking about life, cracking jokes, and just enjoying each others company. You shoot me a smile and a good night kiss and I send you one right back. You got the brilliant idea to take us Axe Throwing, we didn't hit the bullseye once but we had a lot of fun. We game together anything from super competitive ( Overwatch ) to nice and casual ( Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley ). We go thrift shopping and find this really cute vintage bucket hat, you proceed to wear everyday. 6 hours into our flight to Scotland, I fall asleep and lay my head on your shoulder. Running through Disney land and going on every ride multiple times cause we have VIP passes. Imagine we fall in love with each other and you find out I clap and shout "WOOO" when the plane lands..
Important Things about me
Sometimes I eat cereal with warm milk
I love being outdoors, hiking, surfing, biking. But I also need time to be indoors and watch movies/shows and play video games with some of my discord buddies and potentially you. Some games I'm playing right now are Overwatch, Among Us, Stardew Valley, Final Fantasy. I've been thinking of buying a switch recently. Right now I play everything on PC. I'm open to some new games if you have any mind you'd think I'd enjoy playing with you, for both PC and Switch!
I'm allergic to banana's
I don't smoke
I drink occasionally when I go out with friends, but I always keep it to a minimum, I don't like the feeling of being drunk.
I'm a goof ball, and I crack a lot of jokes
I'm an avid reader and try to read 1-2 books a month. I tend to read a lot of fiction, mysteries, and fantasy books. The one I'm reading right now though is a non fiction that was recommended to me by my best friend, called Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker. I won't spoil it for you here, but its honestly one of my favorite books I've read this year so far. It's a bit of heavy read, my warning to you.
I consider myself agnostic.
I'm 5'6
I'm a Personal Trainer @ a luxury gym. I love all my clients and I really like training people, most of my clients are a bit older with previous injuries and I realized that's something I'd like to do in the long term. So my goal is to be a Geriatric Physical therapist in the long term. In the short time, I'll keep Training and eventually move into Online Training.
I have to mention this because I've gotten this concern in the past, please don't assume because I am a personal trainer you also need to be super into fitness. I know what the stigma is, I'm not like that at all. My only concern is that you're happy in your skin and if you aren't happy then where ever you are on your journey, you so got this!
I go through phases with the music I listen too, right now its been a lot of 80's punk rock. So band's like A flock of seagulls, Bananarama, Billy Idol, Fleetwood Mac. I'm obsessed with making playlist.
I'm 50/50 on whether I want kids or not. Meaning, if my future S.O. wants kids then awesome, I think Id be a great dad, however if my S.O doesn't want kids, then that's also awesome. I'm okay not having kids and also with having kids.
I'm ticklish as fck, so I'm SERIOUS no funny business when we meet in rl
Important Things about you
Be a Human? As much as I want to believe in aliens, if they do exist, I don't think I'm ready to date one just yet. Although the thought of a intergalactic star crossed lover does sound interesting lol
You know what? If you're an alien feel free to message me lol
Jokes aside. Just be yourself, I'm not looking for anything specific in terms of personality or appearance, all that I ask is your 21+ in age, have something your passionate about, be down to earth, able to laugh at yourself, and generally a nice person.
btw you can open your eyes now, totally forgot I told you to close them at the beginning of the post. If you managed to read all that, you definitely need to message me and explain how you did it. Shoot me a message, maybe we hit it off, laters!

I don't have time to translate this fully, but the Japanese version of naruto.com posted a three-part interview with Shingo Kimura to commemorate the release of the second volume of the manga. Unfortunately they aren't available on the English version of the website.

Part 1

In Part 1, Kimura discusses how he got interested in manga.
From a young age, about three or four, his older sister used to draw pictures of his Kamen Rider action figure and he would imitate her. Not long after that he started watching the Fullmetal Alchemist anime and became aware that it was based on a manga. In the second grade he did an assignment that asked about what he dreamed of doing in the future, and he wrote mangaka because it was a job he was familiar with, despite not really understanding much about it. From then on he became more aware of mangaka.
He was first introduced to the Naruto manga at a friend's house when he was in the third grade. At the time he was impressed by how cool and 3D it looked despite rarely using screen tone for shading. After that he started collecting the tankobon edition. He considered Naruto to have just the right blend of "realistic" seinen and "cute" shonen qualities, so it really appealed to him.
In 2012 when he was in Junior High he started buying Shonen Jump after seeing a couple issues that had connecting Naruto illustrations on the covers [TL Note: promoting the release of Road to Ninja.] He was apprehensive about it at first because the story was a bit further ahead in the magazine than the tankobon he usually bought.
He also learned from reading the magazine that Kishimoto was acting as a judge for the Tezuka awards and wanted to submit one of his own manga, but at the time he was too busy with clubs and studying to practice drawing. In high school he decided not to do any extracurriculars and instead went straight home from school every day and spent hours copying manga. He occasionally drew his own original art, but mostly copied art directly from Naruto and Blade of the Immortal [by Hiroaki Samura]. He started copying Blade of the Immortal because Kishimoto had listed it as one of his major influences.
After graduating high school in Gunma he went to an art school in Kiryu. After graduating he submitted the manga he created as his final art project to the Tezuka Awards and won a Runner's Up award in 2018. The ceremony was the first time he met Kishimoto, who praised his drawing ability and shook his hand, as it was still pre-pandemic. He'd imagined if he ever met Kishimoto he would cry, but when he finally met him it didn't happen.
Kimura closes by saying that his entire identity is really derived from Kishimoto. His love for Akira, Blade of the Immortal, and the IG Production films Ghost in the Shell and Jin-Roh were all because they were things Kishimoto had praised.

Part 2

Kimura discusses his work on Sasuke Retsuden, saying that he tried to emulate Kishimoto's style as much as possible but feels he was only partially successful. He started by intensely studying Kishimoto's art, even making copies and enlarging pages to figure out the right line widths. However after checking more of Kishimoto's art he now feels he made the lineart too thick in the chapters of the first volume.
Ever since high school he's scrutinized everything he could about Kishimoto's art in order to emulate his techniques, even comparing the differences between the serialized edition in Jump and the final tankobon editions. For example, for the magazine editions Kishimoto draws dirt on clothing using a G pen, but for the tankobon editions he retouches them using a Posca ultra-fine pen.
In 2016 he bought a DVD called Jump Ryu which included an interview of Kishimoto in his studio. He paused the DVD and checked the various books in Kishimoto's studio to see what things he referenced and then bought copies of them for himself, including books about writing and planning out stories.
The same happened in 2015 when he went to the Naruto Exhibition, which had a display of various books and movies that Kishimoto kept around the studio. Included were Hunter x Hunter, Blade of the Immortal, various Tarantino movies, Elysium, District 9, and The Usual Suspects. He bought all the ones he hadn't already seen and watched them.
He's used a photo of Kishimoto and Hiroaki Samura as the home screen on his phone ever since he was in high school from an issue of Da Vinci magazine.
At the exhibit when he saw Kishimoto's illustrations on paper for the first time, he could imagine the world spreading out beyond the frame. He realized that if you just have paper, you can create entire worlds. Kimura says that he hasn't gotten to the point yet, but he's going to keep working hard and learning until he can some day do it himself.
Kimura tried to emulate Kishimoto's camerawork too, though figures it's probably ingrained in him anyway at this point. He mentioned trying to avoid long-range lense effects because it's not something Kishimoto would do, but he might use them in his own works. Kishimoto praised the fight he drew between Sasuke and Meno in the hallway, because it's difficult to position the camera in narrow corridors. Kishimoto had drawn lots of cool fights in similar alleys and Kimura wanted to show his respect for that. He also made an effort to keep things looking flat without adding anything too unusual to the composition.
Kimura was especially conscious of trying to match Kishimoto's style for the larger frames, though Kishimoto had told him not to be too conscious about it. At the time Kimura was struggling with the art, so he thought by trying to make his art as close to Kishimoto's as possible he'd figure some things out. He was also really nervous that if he strayed too far from the style of Naruto it might make people unhappy.
When Kimura was drawing the final page of the manga with Sasuke and Sakura's back facing the camera, the editor suggested that they should instead be shown from the front so their faces could be seen. Kimura revised the draft and gave it to the editor, who showed it to Kishimoto. Kishimoto sketched out his own rough draft for the page as a suggestion, which was very similar in composition to Kimura's original draft, showing them from both from behind. The editor apologized to Kimura for not trusting his original instinct. Kishimoto had also drawn one other draft sketch for him previously, so he was really happy.
After drawing Sasuke Retsuden he feels like he had been trying to explore his own artistry and style while subconsciously pushing away Naruto, but after being asked to draw the series he reread Naruto and fell in love with it all over again.
For a long time he had been working with his editor trying to submit drafts for his own stories and trying out various things, but after drawing Sasuke Retsuden he realized he should be honest with himself, that his work is always going to look a certain way. He can't quite explain it, but it's how he feels.

Part 3

In Part 3 he discusses his five favorite scenes from Naruto.
First is the Rasengan / Chidori clash at the Final Valley. He discusses how impressive it was to show the scene from beneath the water, using screen tone to darken the water and bubbles to convey the power, with the water spray eventually giving way to show them clearly. He mentioned that there was a similar scene when Hashirama and Senju were shown fighting as children.
Second is the scene of Sasuke using Kirin. He explains that Kishimoto used a special function on his copying machine to draw the Kirin, which would "hollow out" thick lines leaving only outlines. Kishimoto had mentioned that he no longer has a copier with that function so he can't draw Kirin anymore.
Third was the scene of Naruto returning to Konoha. He explains that Kishimoto drew the rough draft and his assistants did the inking for the final art, but he's still impressed they were able to do something so detailed in a weekly series. He praises the perspective and composition and mentions the contrast with the scene when Sasuke later returns to the village.
Fourth isn't a specific scene, but rather the times Kishimoto would show an action shot from three different angles similar to an action movie. He realizes he forgot to include a scene like this in Sasuke Retsuden.
Fifth is the scene of Naruto unlocking Kurama's gate for the first time, and he praised the callbacks to Iruka's dialogue in the the first chapter.
He mentions at around that time there were Naruto contests in Jump where you could win prizes if you submitted postcards with Naruto drawings. He submitted seven or eight drawings and won six prizes. One of his drawings was the scene of Obito saying "this left eye craves war," though his sister told him he was naive to think they would choose winners based on the quality of the art.
He also loves the first chapter of the manga, and says that any time he had trouble drawing his drafts he'd go back and reread the first chapter for inspiration.

Honestly? I have no idea how to start this one. In fact, I don't even know if I should post this, period. My parents brought me my phone a couple hours ago, and scrolling through YouTube and Reddit doesn't do much to take my mind off of things. I might as well write my heart out, right? Maybe somebody out there can find my story helpful, insightful, thoughtful... I dunno. Anyways, I might as well get writing before another couple officers walk in, looking for some details that they missed the last time I told them about what happened on June 3rd.
This part isn't exactly central to the story per se, but I'd like to just honor my buds, say what I thought about them before I forget. These guys, to me, were like a second family. The type of guys you'd call to help get rid off a body, the type of guys who would follow you anywhere. I've known them since I transferred in 4th grade. Only pair of dudes that would give me the time of day in the entire school, Andy and Gabriel. Andy was a sort of short and skinny guy, but he'd talk so much you'd swear he was six inches taller than he was. He'd always go on like he was God's greatest gift on Earth, especially when it came to sports. He'd yell Kobe and miss a rebound, or tell us to call him Messi and miss every goal. Your typical jokester. We didn't start off as friends either. It was around the fourth time
in the Office for fighting that I got wise, looked over at him, glanced at his bruised eye, then felt my own jaw. "Hey, we good? I got my licks-" I paused to scratch my cheek for effect- "and you definitely got yours..." Andy just looked me up and down once, checked himself, grinned like a Hyena and that was that. I met Gabriel through Andy. He was the only one of us you could call a popular kid. He's good at Baseball, really friggin' athletic, tall, built like a milk truck, and kind. Super kind. Like you could just ask him for a french fry, or a slice of bacon off his burger or something and he'd just do it. Didn't expect anything back. Didn't say anything. He'd glance up and just give you whatever you needed, no BS. We were walking back to Gabe's house after a party at a Junior's house, some slacker that wears a bunch of fake bling to school and takes "bathroom breaks" to vape in the stall. Some dude destined to be handing you a Big Mac in a couple years, you know? Not exactly the shining example of morality, not that I would know. Anyways, I really only showed up to shoot the shit with my buds and for some "apple juice" in those plastic red cups. I was going to bounce when I figured out this dude who was hosting the party, Mr. "I'm too cool for school", didn't have anything that could get me plastered. As it turns out, Gabriel wasn't feeling the party either, and Andy was "having no luck with the ladies", (Giggity,) so we all decided to nab a couple of waters and cookies for the road and stepped out into a warm summer evening. (Seriously, Andy gives me pedo vibes sometimes)
It wasn't exactly dark when we left the house. It was that perfect time of night where there was red, orange and purple reflecting off of the clouds in the sky. I snapped a photo 'cause I'm that kinda guy, and we started walking. This neighborhood was one of those aging 60's neighborhoods with all of the one story buildings, rusty chain-link fences, crack houses, senior citizens, that sort of stuff. Perfectly square blocks and blocks of houses with the peeling paint, broken sidewalks, barking dogs, you get the picture. If you were to think of the neighborhood from the top down, it would be like a big square with about three streets of depth inwards, with a big forest in the middle. Inconveniently, the party was in the western corner, while Gabe's house was down a slope, on the exact opposite side, the east side of the neighborhood. Basically a big pain in the posterior. Now just to be clear, we couldn't call Gabriel's mom for a pickup because of the nature of the party, and we weren't really feeling like taking the shortcut path through the woods at night, so we took the long way around. about a quarter of the way down, like 10-15 minutes into the walk, the lights lining the street flicked on. Now, that didn't bother us too much, because Gabe's casa was su casa, or whatever. In short, we had spent a lot of time walking around here before. Anyways, when the lights turned on they sort of dazzled my eyes, and a whole thing happened with me and the sidewalk called tripping. I went down and cut up my hands real nice and both of the guys turned around to help me up. It took them a second to spot me, because the lights lining the street were spaced in such a way that they would have a sort of staggered area of effect when they turned on. I had happened to trip right in one of the dark spots, so like I said, it took them a second to get me off of the ground. I got up, and did that thing you do when your hands hurt after a fall and you smack them together and rub them against your pants.
"You good?" asked Andy.
"Yeah yeah, I'm fine," I said, still slapping my thighs.
I looked up and saw somebody standing underneath the closest streetlamp. They were positioned in such a way that they faced the road from the lip of the sidewalk they stood on, with their head cocked slightly way from us and down, like they were staring intently at a bug or something in the road.
they guys must have seen me gazing off into the distance and they turned around to stare with me. the figure was around 20 feet away, right underneath the halo of light that the streetlamp made. they were wearing an old ice cream coat and uniform, like something out of the 60's. The folded cap on their head at a jaunty angle, a shock of slicked back golden hair just underneath it.
"Whaaaaat theeeee fuuuuuuck..?" I whisper to no one in particular.
When did he get there?
We had started walking towards the man, transfixed, and stopped just outside of the light's reach. He looked gaunt, sickly, almost. His mouth was pulled into a thin customer service sort of smile. the uniform he wore was a bit dirty, with a twig or two hanging from his pants like he had been running through the forest or something. that something on the ground seemed to be pretty interesting to him, so we all turned to try to sot what was capturing his attention. Looking back, I should have known right there. Have you ever seen someone doing or wearing or saying something that had compelled you to stare at them? Like a junkie downtown or some dude wearing a sign saying the end is nigh? And do you remember how you tried not to stare but kept that person in your peripheral vision, because they were interesting or suspicious or whatever? That's exactly what this guy was doing. He was looking at us. We never even noticed. Anyways, we hadn't seen anything on the ground so we looked back at this dude. BOOM! Instant time-out. Somewhere in that quick glance when we weren't paying attention, his head snaps up and locks us with this piercing stare. Now my heart's going a mile a minute. Fight or flight's kicked in and I tense up. my hands come up and I'm making fists. Meanwhile, the rational, thinking part of me is analyzing this guy. He hasn't broken that unnerving, artificial customer service smile. in fact, it looks almost wider, almost hungry. that's not the worst part. there's blood on his left thigh, black now after so much time. His eyes. I'm going to remember those eyes 'till the day I die. Even at night, his pupils were a darker black than anything in the world had any right to be. All consuming, omnipotent, soul-seeing eyes. The killing intent radiating from this thing was overpowering. Time-in.
"Jesus Christ!" Gabe barks.
It's the first time I've heard him swear. Andy's transfixed.
"What's the game plan?" I say, surprising myself with the icy calm in my own voice.
Andy's practically talking to himself. "I-I think we should-" he swallows audibly- "go around?"
The light creates an invisible barrier between us and the man-thing. we shuffle along the edges of each streetlight's effect. The neighborhood goes silent, save for a slight breeze along my back. every time i glance towards the ground to make sure I stay out of the light, he seems to get closer. of course he doesn't in actuality, because every time I look up in fear, he's still standing there, right there on the curb. We finally make it around that first light and turn around to face the second one. He's right there. Right on the border. that invisible line that separated the living from the dead.
Andy falls backwards. His arm falls into the light and instantly it's upon him. it's nails have turned into long, wicked claws. They rip into his upper arm and shoulder. It managed to nick his artery before we pull him out of the light. Andy is screaming bloody murder and I take off my shirt and tie it around the worst around the worst of his wounds. An uncaring, cold part of me surveys the damage and notes that Andy is unlikely to live more than an hour without emergency care. I hate that part of me. I hate how in that time of crisis, I could come to terms with one of my best friends dying to a freak on the street. Did it even matter? those years of friendship, now that I look back? That's one of the reasons I'm writing this story I guess. This story is me caring, right? The fact that I'm writing this shows I care, right? Anyways, in that instant I know we're screwed. there's no way we can get Andy back to Gabriel's house in time if we have to deal with this thing. The Ice-Cream Man surveyed his work as Gabe tried calling his mom for the fourth time. Andy had stopped screaming and passed out. I ended up holding his hand, staring up at this monster. It seemed to enjoy hurting us, enjoy it's handiwork. I grimaced and turned to Gabriel.
"Time to go, dude." Gabe looked up at me, still holding his buzzing cellphone to his ear. there was desperation and shock in his eyes, and I guess it was the same for me too. "We've got to go."
I made it clear this wasn't a conversation to be having.
It's sort of an open secret that I'm the thug of the school. At least, that's what everyone else thinks. It's not like I'll try to rob you or anything, but everyone knows that time I bent a kid's knee backwards. I didn't get into major trouble because of it, due to the fact there was a recording showing three guys ganging up on me, hurting me. I didn't have to make that kid a cripple, but I did. I got beaten for a year and a half, by those same three guys, and it all came out at once. I wanted to hurt him, and I did. but when you do that to someone, no matter how justified, people treat you different. especially when they're the same people who watched me get punched, and kicked, and hit, and put down. In a heartbeat, I was an untouchable. No more social life. No girlfriend, or anything like that. So, my only friends on this earth were Andy and Gabe. Blah blah blah, I'm sure you don't care about the sob story screw-up called my life. Anyways, the important part is that Gabe knew my business voice when I spoke.
"Okay, here's the idea." I glanced over to Mr. Freak. "We're going to take the forest path. It doesn't have any lights, so we'll be fine. if we move fast on the downhills, we can make it to your Mom's house and go to the hospital before..." I spared a glance to looked at Andy's face. he looked like he was sleeping. I felt around for his pulse.
He was still alive, thank God.
Gabe looked like he wanted to say something, and I knew exactly what he wanted to say. We were going to cross that bridge when we came to it.
We had, like I said, been around the block before. we made it to the trailhead, with that thing following us all of the way. jumping from streetlight to streetlight. The streetlight that would normally light the signpost and path into the forest was out, and it had been for years. That wasn't the issue. The issue was that the exit, the exit that was a short jog away from Gabe's house, had been replaced just last summer. we both knew that it was very likely that someone wouldn't make it. Gabe hoisted Andy into a fireman's carry, and we started our descent down the hill in silence. I made a sparing glance backwards, and there the Ice-Cream Man stood waiting.
It was hard keeping track of which trail we were on and where to turn in the pitch dark. It was around 10:00 now, and Andy seemed to get worse as time went on. We almost got lost a couple times, and we had to double back every now and again too. Gabriel and I said nothing as we went downhill. We said nothing when we saw the trail outlet at the bottom of the hill. We said nothing when the Ice-Cream Man appeared right underneath the lamppost. The sign read; "Rubicon Valley River Loop: 1.1 mi". We came right up to that invisible border again.
"I'll go first."
"Will you? We both know-"
"Shut the hell up and listen to me."
Gabriel. He was good at Baseball, really friggin' athletic, tall, built like a milk truck, and kind. Super kind. Like you could just ask him for a french fry, or a slice of bacon off his burger or something and he'd just do it. Even if there was a deadly monster chasing you, with his Mom's house just a short jog away. Even if you were willing to fight it instead, even if it didn't make sense for him to stay behind. Even if he knew you wouldn't want to keep living without him and Andy. Didn't expect anything back. Didn't say anything. Even though I'm writing this story just 6 hours later, I can't remember for the life of me how I got across that halo of light without him right behind me. Gabe's Mom flew down the porch when I rounded the corner of the cul-de-sac. I bet she was wondering why we were home so late, why Gabriel wasn't with us, why I was staying clear of the streetlights.
I remember her asking me where her niño was.
When I woke up in the hospital, the police asked me where the wolves attacked us. I didn't correct them. What was the point? I assume they knew what was actually out there. After all, wolves bite and tear. It was just a line for the news stations. Turns out I was raked across the back by a wolf too. The doctors told me I was very lucky. They said if Gabe's Mom was a second slower getting us to the ER, I would have ended up like Andy. I feel cold. I haven't been crying. Do I even care? I feel like I'm a horrible person. I hope that I'm allowed to go to their funerals, pay my respects. My Dad has a Machete hidden under the bed. That Ice-Cream Man better be counting every second he has left, because I'm going to do more than bend his knee backwards next June 3rd.