Jephthah's Daughter
"Can the blind lead the blind? Won't they both fall into the ditch?" Luke 6:39
I think human weakness is why the Bible encourages us to think like siblings, instead of rulers. (Deuteronomy 17:18-20, Matthew 23:8-10) More often than not, human leadership can't be trusted to represent us. How much more unqualified are we humans to represent G-d!
The Bible says we imitate our leaders. (Esther 1:13-18, Matthew 10:25) It even goes so far as to say G-d chooses our leaders, good or bad, to give us someone to learn from. (Proverbs 28:28) G-d removed Nebuchadnezzar from being king of Babylon because of his sin and pride. Once he understood that, "the heavens rule," G-d restored his mind and his kingdom.
But, what if we believe something bad about a leader that isn't true? Won't that make us believe G-d condones bad behavior? Won't that encourage us to emulate bad behavior? "As a man thinks in his heart, so he is." (Proverbs 23:7)
In the days after the people of Israel came into the Promised Land, they had no king. Their human "leaders" were priests and judges.
This brings us to Judges 11:30-40.
I've seen a few posts lately asking if Jephthah, Judge of Israel, sacrificed his child to the G-d of Israel. The historians who believe she was killed, do not provide any evidence of such an atrocity. (1 Timothy 6:3-5, Titus 1:9-11, Deuteronomy 12:30-31)
The Bible describes the entire event. The text shows that Jephthah's daughter lived out her days in service to the Priesthood. I provide as evidence the following:
Israel would have to abandon their religion to allow the sacrifice of an innocent human. (John 16:1-4) You might ask then, "Wasn't Jesus innocent of sin?" Jesus was innocent, but He was no mere human. He did for us what only G-d could do. The New Testament teaches us that Jesus is G-d, just as the Old Testament said He would be. (John 10:30, Isaiah 9:6). This mystery is spelled out in mankind. My words on this page are me, but not all of me. They would not be here without me, and they cannot be ascribed to another person. My words are my spirit outside my body, working to make my intentions a reality. In a more powerful way, Christ embodies G-d's Spirit. (John 1:1-18, Isaiah 55:10-11) We call Jesus, "Son of G-d and Son of Man," because He assumed human form for our sake. (Psalm 2:7, Psalm 110:1, Matthew 22:41-46, Mark 1:11, Hebrews 2:7-9, John 3:14-17) Our Heavenly Father can be known through Jesus' divine power, logic, and character. (John 14:8-11, Matthew 11:27, Isaiah 55:9)
When people sinned against innocent blood, G-d did not protect them, or receive their sacrifices. (Joshua 23:11-13, Jeremiah 19:1-5)
In the book of Ezekiel 18:2-4, G-d doesn't allow children to suffer for their parent's mistakes. He refuses to kill the righteous along with the wicked. G-d's love demands we also support justice this way. (Genesis 18:23-33, Genesis 20:4, Numbers 16:22, Exodus 23:7, Psalm 11:4-7)
Jephthah's daughter was not killed for her father's vow. We can know this for the following reasons:
Jephthah didn't sacrifice his daughter himself. That would require that he knew nothing of the G-d he'd made the vow to. (Deuteronomy 23:23) The G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob calls us to choose life. (Deuteronomy 30:14-20)
Judges 2:18, Judges 11:29, and Hebrews 11:32-34 tell us that G-d's Spirit was with Jephthah. His words in Judges 11:15-25 show Jephthah to be educated in the Mosaic accounts of Hebrew affairs. These are some of the things Jephthah would know as a Hebrew in his days:
Jephthah knew what was allowed or disallowed as a sacrifice under G-d's covenant. Hebrew males made at least three sacrifices every year. (Exodus 23:14-17, Exodus 34:23-24, Deuteronomy 16:16-17)
He said he knew the law well enough to know what kind of vow he had made and that he could not retract it. (Deuteronomy 23:23, Judges 11:35, Leviticus 5:4, Numbers 30:2)
No one outside the tribe or possession of Levi was to serve in the tabernacle or to officiate as priest. Only priests are allowed to actually perform sacrificial rites. Numbers 18:1-7 Jephthah was a Gileadite of the tribe of Manasseh. (Judges 11:1, Numbers 26:29)
Innocent humans are never killed under the Law of Moses. (Deuteronomy 24:16, 2 Kings 14:6, Ezekiel 18:20)
Human sacrifice is one of the worst things a person could do under the Law of Moses. It is strictly forbidden. Moses' law came long before Jephthah. (Deuteronomy 12:30-31, 2 Kings 17:17, Jeremiah 7:31, Jeremiah 32:35)
First-born males are, "holy to the L-rd," meaning they are His property. Under this directive, humans are always "redeemed." They are purchased back; a substitute is given for them. (Exodus 13:13-15, Numbers 18:15, Leviticus 27:1-5)
Neither they nor "unclean" animals are allowed in any type of blood sacrifice. This is emphasized in the case of humans with the word "surely." (Strongs H389, Numbers 18:15, Exodus 13:14-15, Leviticus 27:20, Exodus 34:20)
Only certain, "clean," animals and offerings of food are acceptable to be devoted to G-d. Anything that *is allowed to be devoted as a burnt offering, "shall not be redeemed, but shall surely be put to death." (Leviticus 22:18-19, Leviticus 27:28-29, Numbers 15:1-12*)
Humans and unclean animals are not ever allowed as sacrifices on the altar or anywhere else. (Leviticus 27:11-12, Leviticus 27:28)
"Devoted" fields and children permanently belonged to the priest. They could not be sold or redeemed under this extraordinary, "vow of devoted things." They weren't set on fire, they were put into service. (Leviticus 27:21, Numbers 18:8-14, Ezekiel 44:29) See Strong's H5411 and H5412 referring to the "nethinim." This is the name for those given into temple service. (Nehemiah 10:28-29, Ezra 7:24)
Any person making an acceptable sacrifice to G-d in an unacceptable way, also breaks the Law of Moses. Offerings made without the benefit of a Priest and a place chosen by G-d are in violation. Deuteronomy 12:2-8, Judges 2:2-5, King Saul was forsaken by G-d for officiating as priest at a sacrifice. (1 Samuel 13:5-14)
The atrocities committed by the, "sons of Hinnom" were well known in the time of Jephthah. (2 Kings 23:1-10, Jeremiah 32:30-35) To sacrifice a son or daughter was a crime punished by abandonment by G-d or death. (Leviticus 18:21, Deuteronomy 17:2-7, Deuteronomy 18:9-12, 2 Chronicles 28:1-15)
Any person in the same room with the dead or who touches a dead person, even in war, is "unclean for seven days." To resolve this requires ritual bathing on the third and seventh day. It also requires living, "outside the camp for seven days." (Numbers 5:2, Numbers 19:11-16, Numbers 31:19)
Jephthah didn't persuade a priest to sacrifice his daughter.
Priests made atonement for the "uncleanness" of others through acceptable sacrifices. They and the nation and became, "clean," by offering these sacrifices. Many verses attest to this. Here are a few of them. (Leviticus 14:1-14, Leviticus 15:13-15, Leviticus 15:31, Numbers 15:1-12)
When Israelis warred against others, it was because of their outrageous idolatrous practices. (Deuteronomy 13)
A priest cannot sacrifice a thing that would make himself and the people near him unclean. That would be contrary to the whole purpose of making an offering. (Leviticus 4:13-20, Leviticus 3:5).
Priests were not allowed to be near any dead body unless the person who died was an immediate family member. If a priest attended a funeral, his cleansing required ritual washings, seven days of separation, and a sin-offering. (Leviticus 21:1-6, Ezekiel 44:25-27)
G-d requires holiness. (Exodus 19:6, 1 Thessalonians 4:7, Leviticus 10:1-3, Leviticus 19:2, 1 Peter 1:16) Sacrificing anything unacceptable would have desecrated the man, the altar, and the tabernacle. To sacrifice one's child on G-d's altar was considered a profane act honoring a false, foreign god. (Leviticus 18:30, Leviticus 20:1-5) If a priest had sacrificed Jephthah's daughter, the priest and Jephthah would have been put to death for murder. Then, the altar would need ritual cleansing. The tabernacle would then need to be rededicated. Anyone present would have to remain outside the camp for seven days. This is evidenced by the history of Antiochus Epiphanes. He sacrificed a pig on the altar with the purpose of desecrating Solomon's temple. The temple had to be rededicated and cleansed before it could be used again. These events are recorded in 1 Macabees Chapter 1, and 2 Macabees Chapter 4. No such events surrounding Jephthah, or his daughter, exist.
G-d didn't change His mind and allow this one instance of human sacrifice on His altar. His character is unchanging. His law is love. (Numbers 23:19, 1 Samuel 15:29, Malachi 3:6, James 1:17, 2 Timothy 2:13)
Jeremiah 20:13 Abraham was tested by G-d and directed to sacrifice his son, Issac. As a prophet of G-d, Abraham represented G-d's message to us. (Genesis 20:7) He prophesied our Messiah's sacrificial death in Jerusalem to redeem mankind in Genesis 22:8 and Genesis 22:14. Supporting passages include: (Isaiah 8:18, 2 Chronicles 3:1, John 1:29, Luke 13:34, Luke 18:31, John 8:28, Luke 23:34-49)
Jonathan, son of King Saul was condemned to die under his father's rash vow and yet Jonathan was not put to death. He did not hear of the oath his father made before breaking it. The people restrained Saul from shedding Jonathan's innocent blood. (1 Samuel 14:26-30, 1 Samuel 14:36-45, Psalm 109:30-31)
If Jephthah's daughter had died, she would have been lamented at least seven days, not four. A longer memorial would have been normal, since she was the only child of the nation's ruler.
Jews today call the period of mourning the dead, "sitting Shiva." Shiva is the Hebrew word for "seven." It refers to the first seven days of mourning. (Genesis 50:10, 1 Samuel 31:13, 1 Chronicles 10:12, Sirach 22:12)
Important people were sometimes mourned 30 to 70 days after death. (Genesis 50:1-3, Numbers 20:29, Deuteronomy 34:8) Chabad Jews still mourn parents a full 30 days.
So, what became of Jephthah's daughter?
I think the greatest witness to answer this, is in what the nation did in response to her sacrifice. Instead of being mourned, she was remembered and emulated by the people. All the men and women went to Shiloh to commemorate her faithfulness once a year. The following scriptures document this.
The passage says she was subject to a vow of lifelong celibacy. (Judges 11:39)
Hebrews were familiar with this type of vow as evidenced by the young woman's response to it. She asked for two months to spend with her friends in the mountains to cry over her virginity. The word used here for "crying" is Strong's number H1058. It is a crying in sorrow. If she had been sentenced to death, she would have a lot more to mourn than just her virginity. (Judges 11:36-37)
The Bible says Jephthah was "brought very low," meaning he didn't want to go through with his vow. He granted his child her request to spend time with her friends. Her friends could have legally helped her escape. (Deuteronomy 23:15) This suggests she would be willingly leaving their home in Mizpeh to reside with the priests. (Leviticus 22:10-11) They were in Shiloh at the time, according to Joshua 18:1, and Joshua 21:1-4
Judges 11:39-40 tells us that Jephthah's daughter was honored by the women of Israel. They went up yearly to "commemorate," (Strong's H8567,) not lament, her obedience to her father, Jephthah, and her Father, G-d. *Judges 21:19-25** documents a yearly "feast of the L-rd," where women were gathered at Shiloh.
The Hebrew words for lamentation, mourning, and weeping are, Strong's H4553, H5594, and H1058, respectively. These are not the words used for the yearly memorial of the daughter of Jephthah.
Males made three sacrifices each year. 1 Samuel 1:1-7 documents Samuel's father, bringing his wives with him to Shiloh only once each year. At this time, he made a sacrifice and they held a feast. They also worshiped G-d before leaving Shiloh. (1 Samuel 1:19)
The greatest example of emulating Jephthah's daughter is in 1 Samuel 9:9. Samuel the Seer was dedicated to G-d at this feast by his mother, before his conception. (1 Samuel 1:11) She also made this extraordinary vow, upon Samuel, as well as a Nazarite vow. Though Samuel was born an Ephraimite, he was given to the tribe of Levi and offered in service to the priesthood for the rest of his life. (1 Samuel 1:21-22, 1 Samuel 1:27-28, 1 Samuel 2:18-19, Leviticus 27:2) Samuel became Judge of Israel when he was grown. (1 Samuel 7:9-15)
There are other instances in Biblical literature in which people made this type of vow:
Anna the Prophetess dedicated herself to G-d after living with a husband seven years from her virginity. She was in the temple day and night offering service to G-d. (Luke 2:36-37, 1 Timothy 5:5, Psalm 84:10)
The Apostle Paul speaks of the churches' service to confirmed widows: women who had vowed themselves in service to G-d. Only carefully chosen persons were allowed to make this vow. (1 Timothy 5:3-15, Numbers 30:9)
The Old Testament refers to the Levites as servants, "given," to the sons of Aaron. The "Nethinim," or, "given-ones," were servants to the Levites and the temple. Sometimes whole families would dedicate themselves to Temple service. (Ezra 2:43-54, Nehemiah 10:28-29)
Once, a league of countries shrewdly entered Israel's land, pretending to be from far away. They did this to save their lives and reap the benefits of becoming covenant servants. Joshua 9:3-26 records them as hewing wood and drawing water for the congregation as well as for the altar of the L-rd. (Joshua 11:19, 2 Samuel 21:1-9)
Author's Note: The words of Jesus can protect us from the sins that come from making vows. (Matthew 5:33-37, Matthew 6:13)
Related verses: (Exodus 32:32-33, Leviticus 18:30, Deuteronomy 17:6, Deuteronomy 18:1-8, Deuteronomy 23:21-22, 2 Kings 16:3, Ecclesiastes 5:5, Ezekiel 18:20, 1 Corinthians 10:13, James 5:12)
Blessings

My Attempt at collecting images for each weapon in BO6 from current material. did one of these for MWIII gonna try and do better this time. Too many images sadly so they have to be links. I wasted ages on this... Please feel free to point out any mistakes.
A while ago a bunch of fake names began spreading for some of the weapons, no idea why people believed them especially when stuff like having multiple weapon with the same name in warzone is just stupid but hey YouTubers barely do research.

Assault Rifles

t10_ar_coslo723 - Colt Model 723 (AR-15 Platform) The generic AR-15/M4 stand in for this game. by default appears to have a carry handle upper.
https://imgur.com/pFw1oZE - Blurry Gunsmith Image
https://imgur.com/e1rI0Mh - Reveal trailer image
https://imgur.com/EdrKPSx - First person with optic
https://imgur.com/n7wnqzK - First person without optic, is full auto in clip so clearly not an M16A2
t10_ar_mike16 - M16A2 (AR-15 Platform) Classic burst fire rifle
t10_ar_aking74 - AK-74 (AK Platform) The standard AK of this game in 5.45x39mm instead of the typical 7.62x39mm (like the original AKM), decent chance its modifiable into a classic AKS-74U through barrel and stock attachments
https://imgur.com/sfOlRpZ - First person
https://imgur.com/lxBlcpY - Blurry profile image
https://imgur.com/gHcQDsm - On a wall
https://imgur.com/PMrvtUq - In the hands of an enemy
t10_ar_leasy - CETME Model L Lot of people calling this the Krig (FNC/Ak5) for some reason, completely seperate weapon
https://imgur.com/1yAXd1t - Fairly clear image
https://imgur.com/Fcg4adD - Similar image with a different view of the weapon
t10_ar_asvalor - AS Val (Val/Vintorez Platform) Integrally suppressed rapid fire assault rifle as seen in MW2019
https://imgur.com/12HZur1 - On a wall
t10_ar_love85 - L85 Normally seen as its L86 LMG variant in CoD games but returning as an AR this time. Possibly in the same platform as the AR-18 due to being based on it though the two are ergonomically massively different so sharing attachments seems unlikely
https://imgur.com/Wr79Ces - presumably the L85?
t10_ar_able18 - AR-18 Designed as a alternative to the AR-15 in real life
https://imgur.com/Gyk2y91 - First person
https://imgur.com/9TGZhN6 - Blurry profile
t10_ar_rmary2 - Mendoza RM2
"AMES 82" t10_ar_clove - SAR-80
https://imgur.com/FswbmOl - Inspect
https://imgur.com/t5CXSHn - Another part of the inspect
https://imgur.com/xskzaba - First person
https://imgur.com/yGwj0I1 - Vault edition image

Battle Rifles

t10_br_sgeorge542 - SIG SG 542 (SG 500 Platform) GRAU 5.56 (SG 553) in battle rifle form
https://imgur.com/lbjfbpP - First person, could be the 550 but the dark mag makes me think this is a 542
t10_br_ceasy - CETME Model C Despite the similar name it is not 100% certain its in the same platform as the CETME Model L since aren't very similar rifles and just share a manufacturer in real life (platforms are not based on manufacturer). very similar to the Lachmann 7.62 (HK G3)
t10_br_falove - FN FAL (FAL Platform) The most classic of all battle rifles, likely full auto unlike its MW2019 variant to separate it from its Marksman Rifle variant in the same platform
t10_br_aeasy - AEK-937 (AK Platform) Not a battle rifle in real life since it's 7.62x39mm but is for gameplay purposes. Likely fairly low-recoil due to its BARS system.
https://imgur.com/YybtfaT - Presumably the AEK-937 though heavily modified, interestingly has a sling

Sub-Machine Guns

"Jackle PDW" t10_sm_geasy9 - Gepard PDW (AK Platform) A unique AK-based SMG not to be confused with the Gepard anti-material rifle series (the Lynx, aka Signal 50).
https://imgur.com/iUSKWKj - First person image, not an AKS-74U
https://imgur.com/xj7jyLO - Clear Gepard PDW profile
https://imgur.com/Emr5ODH - Blurry first person with drum mag
https://imgur.com/9Jqn6sK - Vault edition image
t10_sm_safox - FAMAE SAF (SG 500 Platform) 9x19mm SMG version of the SG 550
https://imgur.com/1cxr5LU - On a wall with the SR-25
https://imgur.com/eCn5gbZ - First person reloading
t10_sm_mparis5 - MP5 Returning again in its standard glory, probably in the same platform as the CETME Model C
https://imgur.com/fApj0wK - Clear image, notice the Corvus gloves a major manufacturer in MWII/III showing a clear link
t10_sm_srvalor - SR-2 Veresk (Val/Vintorez Platform) Actual SMG based on the AS Val/VSS Vintorez's design
t10_sm_mdog1 - IMBEL MD1 (FAL Platform) 9x19mm version of the FN FAL
t10_sm_roger31 - Grendel R31 (Grendal Platform)
t10_sm_sroger3 - SR-3 Vikhr (Val/Vintorez Platform) Essentially an unsuppressed version of the AS Val, not technically SMG in real life though is designed for the same role (like the AKS-74U)
https://imgur.com/RqxNHbS - First person
https://imgur.com/TrYvEqu - On a wall
"Compact 92" t10_sm_pparis90 - PP90 Foldable SMG similar to the FMG-9 in design
"t10_sm_chuck9" - Colt 9mm SMG (AR-15 Platform) Possibly burst only to separate it from its MWIII variant (AMR9)

Shotguns

"Marine SP" t10_sh_moslo500 - Mossberg 500 (Mossberg 500 Platform) The standard pump-action shotgun for this game
https://imgur.com/RgqtWK3 - In the hands of a random enemy
https://imgur.com/ydIVKMp - First person
https://imgur.com/E10rv6e - Clearer image
https://imgur.com/SiZwG6f - Vault edition image
t10_sh_bparis500 - Bullpup Mossberg 500 (Mossberg 500 Platform)
t10_sh_sbaker12 - CBC Model SB 12 (Break-Action Platform) Single-shot shotgun, god knows how they'll balance it
t10_sh_olove - Rottweil Skeet Olympia 72 (Break-Action Platform) The Olympia returns except its actually an Olympia this time instead of a Beretta Model 682
t10_sh_uncle1 - Remington 11 The standard semi-auto shotgun for this game
https://imgur.com/r2udzqf - Soldier doesn't pump after firing so probably the 11

Light Machine Guns

t10_lm_aroger10 - AR-10 LMG (AR-15 Platform) Belt-fed version of the AR-10
https://imgur.com/daJDxyq - First person
https://imgur.com/Nr6I540 - Blurry profile
t10_lm_puncle21 - PU-21 (AK Platform) 5.45x39mm AK-based machine gun
t10_lm_ksuger58 - KSP 58 (MAG platform) Swedish version of the FN MAG (what the M249/Minimi is based on), in 6.5×55mm Swedish
https://imgur.com/yf5pZkn - Don't know if this is the 58 or 58D
https://imgur.com/Mv1L8tl - Another profile image, same issue
t10_lm_ksuger58d - KSP 58D (MAG platform) Same as above but in 7.62x51mm NATO

Marksman Rifles

t10_dm_mary16 - Mk12 SPR (AR-15 Platform)
https://imgur.com/6xFl8RI - First person, might be SR-25
t10_dm_ralove - IMI Romat (FAL Platform) DMR FAL likely semi-auto only like the MW2019 one
t10_dm_svalor - VSS Vintorez (Val/Vintorez Platform) Marksman rifle variant of the AS Val
t10_dm_aeasy - AEK-971 (AK Platform) 5.45x39mm version of the AEK-973, low recoil due to BARS system.
OTs-03 SVU (SVD Platform) Bullpup version of the SVD
https://imgur.com/J5eQpEx - Quite dark image but look at the hand placement, no way thats a normal SVD
https://imgur.com/FxwpNgW - Really confusing image, dust cover is very SVD-ish but iron sight is entirely unique. its either a highly modified SVU design or a gun not on this list
t10_dm_sroger25 - SR-25 (AR-15 Platform) I'm starting to think the AR-15 platform is just too big or it's broken up into an AR-15 and AR-10 platform. As seen as the Tempus Torrent in MWII/III
https://imgur.com/1cxr5LU - On a wall with the FAMAE SAF
t10_dm_sgeorge550 - SIG SG 550 (SG 500 Platform) Semi-auto DMR version of the SG 550
https://imgur.com/ZvUJVjE - Clear profile view

Sniper Rifles

t10_sn_droger - Dragunov SVD (SVD Platform)
"LR 7.62" t10_sn_ultiger - PGM Ultima Ratio (PGM Sniper Platform) 7.62x39mm French bolt-action
https://imgur.com/kpnX9RV - Inspect (could be Hecate)
https://imgur.com/MsAwAqO - First Person (could be Hecate)
https://imgur.com/bf7GqIY - Vault edition image
t10_sn_hechuck - PGM Hécate II (PGM Sniper Platform) .50 BMG French bolt-action, I hate that this thing is fairly well known purely because of SAO
t10_sn_love96 - L96 Classic British bolt-action thats appeared in a lot of CoDs, likely uses the BOCW Tundra name

Handguns

t10_pi_usuger9 - HK USP 9 (USP Platform) 9x19mm version of the USP
https://imgur.com/TK86saU - Not clear if its the 9 or 40
t10_pi_usuger40 - HK USP 40 (USP Platform) Heavier .40 S&W version of the USP
t10_pi_mpmary - Makarov PM (Makarov Platform) Not to be confused with the character, classic Russian pistol
https://imgur.com/Cdy2tYA - First person
https://imgur.com/oMe9ZfD - Reload
t10_pi_aps - Stechkin APS (Makarov Platform) Fully automatic pistol
t10_pi_paris30 - Grendal P30 (Grendal Platform) Shorter semi-auto version of the R31
t10_pi_stiger - Five-seveN
t10_pi_mable - Beretta M9
M1911
https://imgur.com/2DegkRw - Since its in the background there's a chance its not usable but the other guns on this wall are

Launchers

t10_la_pable3 - M72 LAW
t10_la_pafox3 - Panzerfaust 3
t10_la_stisaac - FIM-92 Stinger Presumably the more anti-streak launcher
https://imgur.com/2CsJaYJ - First person
https://imgur.com/MHLVEoP - Aiming
Milkor AV-140 MSGL I think this shouldn't be here... this is the MGL model from MWII/III likely reused as a default asset and will probably be changed before launch
https://imgur.com/o78Ubyf - ?????

Melees

"Combat Knife" t10_me_combatknife - Combat Knife Standard knife
https://imgur.com/77BG1Aw - Inspect
https://imgur.com/dwi9hE6 - Vault edition image
t10_me_knife - Hunting Knife
t10_me_halligan - Breaching Tool
t10_knife_loadout - Scout Knife
Baseball Bat Possibly execution exclusive
https://imgur.com/G4RqAni - Three images in one
Axe Possibly execution exclusive
https://imgur.com/mI1ON1k - nice and brutal
https://imgur.com/1lqAa4i - motion capture prop

Special

M134 Minigun https://imgur.com/GfIeDlP - simple image

Out of the 3 games I would have to say 2 easily takes the cake as my most favorite in the trilogy to date. This is mostly because Metroid Prime 2 Echoes took everything from the first game and made it even better. New environments, suits, weapons, enemies, boss battles, updated visuals and more unlockable content make Metroid Prime 2 a worthy successor to it's game of the year original back in 2002.
Metroid Prime 2 Echoes is arguably one of the best games you can pick up on the original Nintendo Gamecube. It features a great fun and lengthy campaign which should take most players around 20 or more hours to complete if you're looking to complete the game 100% first time through. Loads of unlockables to collect and a rich and well thought story which is told through walls of text by scanning Luminoth and Pirate data entries much like in the first game.
The main complaints about Prime 2 we're it's higher ramp in difficulty compared to the first game and the fact that the multiplayer was flat compared to another and very similar sci-fi shooter Halo 2. First and for the most yes while the game could get very challenge especially when encountering the later bosses in the game (i.e Boost Guardian, Spider Guardian, Bomb Guardian and Quadraxis) I actually appreciated Prime 2 for this aspect. Mostly because in the first game Samus felt like an Overpowered unstoppable force with no formidable opponent or obstacles to overcome once you've obtained the Varia Suit and at least 50 missiles throughout the game. There's also the fact that the bosses we're too easy and boring due to their predictable attack patterns and that they we're more tedious and time consuming than fun.
In Metroid Prime 2 yes while Samus is still a badass and overpowered swiss army knife on legs there are some new obstacles that are introduced that make her far more balanced and grounded than her Metroid Prime 1 counterpart. The first thing being you can no longer spam missiles by pressing Y, A and Y again unlike in Prime 1. There's also the fact that enemies do far more damage in Prime 2 and the introduction of the poisonous atmosphere when first entering dark aether which constantly eats away at the player's health forcing them to enter light crystals and beacons in order to slowly replenish their health over time. Lastly bosses in Prime 2 are a lot harder than the bosses in Prime 1. Bosses like the Boost Guardian require the player to enter morph ball mode and hit The Ing with morph ball bombs in order to get it to morph back into Ing form. All while the creature does a boost ball attack which can take off 30+ hit points of your life on normal combined with the additional damage you take from the poisonous atmosphere of Dark Aether with no light crystals to protect you.
All of these new things introduced to add more challenge really negated that feeling of power you had in Prime 1 and this is what made Prime 2 so special to me as the combat felt more rewarding and forced you to get creative with your strategy and plan ahead for future fights. It basically gave the game an early Dark Souls feels. Even though it's a tough and brutal challenge to overcome it's also a challenge that's worth conquering. As for the multiplayer what can I say. Yes it was flat and boring and honestly the only reason it was implemented was to compete with the likes of Halo 2 but this isn't that big of a deal considering Metroid was never a multiplayer focused game to begin with and honestly I would take Metroid over Halo anyday and anyone who knows Samus would know she would eat Chief for breakfast. Plus the xbox is honestly the shittiest console in my honest opinion due to the fact that it's a major cash cow that focuses primarily on the multiplayer aspect with little variety compared to the Playstation and Nintendo Consoles. Nintendo's consoles tend to focus a lot more on story and offline multiplayer with family while the Sony Playstation is the best of both worlds considering even though it does have a few primarily multiplayer focused exclusives it also has more than enough single focused games and variety for people like me who don't want to put up with screaming little kids and constant drama and negativity from other players online who just want to enjoy the game for the story alone.
Overall out of the 3 games Metroid Prime 2 is ranked in the middle with a 9.1 by Gamespot, with Prime 1 being rated the highest with an astonishing 9.7 and Prime 3 the lowest with a pretty solid 8.5. All of which I disagree with. If I had to rank the 3 games in order I would rate Prime 1 9.3/10, Prime 2 9.5-6/10 and Prime 3 8.9-9/10.
The reason being 3 getting flack for it's awkward movement controls with the wii. Motion controls can make things a bit too easy and less adventurous and the fact that it doesn't offer a whole lot new to the trilogy compared to the previous two titles. Really the only issue I agree with is the fact that some of the movement sequences can be a little tricky to pull off with the Wii controller. Yes having the ability to free aim did soften the difficulty up a bit but it made up for this by including a new hair tearingly challenging difficulty called Hypermode which reduces the player's damage output by 50% and increases enemy damage by 50%. Plus the fact that enemy's enter hyper mode a lot more frequently forcing you to enter hyper mode in order to dispatch enemy's more quickly at the cost of draining your health faster. Playing Prime 3 on Hyper Mode is basically the equivalent to playing Doom Eternal on Ultra Nightmare or even Halo 2 on Legendary since i've never played Prime 3 on Hyper Mode yet. Yes Prime 3 may not have offered a whole lot new to the trilogy but honestly I liked that it didn't change much from the first 2 entries. Sure maybe a few new graphical tweaks and abilities would have been nice to see but overall I liked that it stuck close to the original formula. It's like the old saying goes "If it ain't broke don't fix it.
To wrap this discussion up Prime 2 is currently my most favorite Prime game in the trilogy and once I finish playing through Prime 3 my full thoughts on that game will be up for discussion. So what is your favorite Prime game in the trilogy to date?

I finally have caught up in this series over the last week and all i can say is something bad is about to happen in kanokari, something very bad. Reiji has 7 pieces in play right now and he hasn't moved one in nearly 100 chapters, i mean he's poked a few of them in recent chapters, but not to the extent he needs to.
There is some disturbing things as well, Chizuru making him promise that they tell each other truth, the 17th is really not a good day for anyone who remembers what happened on that day last year, its going to rain and Kazuya possesses some form of confidence.
I wanna be clear there is a 0% chance they drift off slowly into a happy couple, that's never been an option for how this has to end.
I have always said that Chizuru has to move when Kazuya was at his most pathetic moment in some sense of the word and while i still see that as the only way they end up together; i am left wondering how he's going to make that happen as he hasn't moved the pieces he needs to in order to make that happen and we are only days away from their date.
I find this very scary as Chizuru holds two trump cards and at the moment and she's got no way to play them and for the moment at least i see no way to break Kazuya, which makes the prospect of a fizzle out at the end of this arc very much in play. There are also lots of warning signs that he's in deep trouble that Reiji has littered around as well.
The two cards Chizuru holds definitely leaves me with faith that they will still end up married before this story is said and done, but for the moment at least i see no way to get there from here.
I would to hear other peoples thoughts on the matter though.

This is a weekly reminder post of this sub's stance on potential copyright infringement. This is a serious issue that needs to be kept in mind when creating and listing NFTs.
Original post by u/HurleyBird1
Quick disclaimer: I AM NOT A LAWYER. THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE - THIS IS SIMPLY INFORMATION WITH WHICH TO EDUCATE YOURSELVES AND PREPARE YOURSELF FOR LEGAL ADVICE FROM A LICENSED SOURCE.
Now that that's out of the way. My credentials are: MBA, with a bit of business law classes under my belt.
I want to give a quick explanation of how copyright works - and I'll do so through quick blurbs n some myth/reality bullets.
Source: copyright.gov (US)

1. Subject matter of copyright: In general28(a) Copyright protection subsists, in accordance with this title, in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. Works of authorship include the following categories:(1) literary works;(2) musical works, including any accompanying words;(3) dramatic works, including any accompanying music;(4) pantomimes and choreographic works;(5) pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works;(6) motion pictures and other audiovisual works;(7) sound recordings; and(8) architectural works.(b) In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.

- Myth: I can use any image/song/video/writing I want.
- Reality: No. Not true at all.
- Myth: Well they never said it's copyrighted.
- Reality: Upon publication (and even while a work in progress) a work is automatically protected via copyright under US Law.
- Myth: Well they never sold it.
- Reality: It doesn't have to be commercialized to be protected.
- Myth: Well it was a long time ago
- Reality: Possibly true...as long as the creator is deceased (or if multiple creators, the last living one is deceased) and the required time has passed...although this gets tricky with "estates."
(d) Duration of Rights.—(1) With respect to works of visual art created on or after the effective date set forth in section 610(a) of the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990, the rights conferred by subsection (a) shall endure for a term consisting of the life of the author.
So what's this thing I hear called "Fair Use?"
Straight from the source:

1. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use41Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

Uhh...help me translate that please... (here's a decent official translation: https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html)

1. above...if it's non-profit educational use, you're usually good to go...if it's for money or trade (commercial nature) then you're usually NOT...unless YOUR piece is "transformative"

Transformative uses are those that add something new, with a further purpose or different character, and do not substitute for the original use of the work.
- Myth: Well this is paid for in Algos, not USD so it's not "commercial"
- Reality: IT IS commercial. You could even barter for bacon and it'd be commercial. It's an exchange of one good/service for another good/service.
- Myth: My piece with Batman inside a card is "transformative"
- Reality: No, unfortunately, more-than-likely the courts would say it's not. A good litmus test is..."If Warner Bros Entertainment (owner of Batman) wanted to make an NFT/ASA "Batman card" would yours compete with it or be possibly mistaken (by a reasonable person - so in America think 8th grade education) for real merchandise? Probably...thus it's not transformative enough.
"nature" gets a little tougher. This looks at protecting the "creative process." Thus, using other works of art is less-likely to be protected than using factual sources - like historical photographs since it's easier to "create art" and thus "transform" factual pieces than other art pieces. This is also talking to things like "parody." Satire is NOT protected. "Parody" is. What's the difference? LegalZoomputs it well: While a parody targets and mimics the original work to make a point, a satire uses the original work to criticize something else entirely. Another way to look at it is that satire uses another work as a way to comment on something happening in the world that has nothing to do with the original work.
- Myth: I added a different border, extra planets, and some blur effect to MTZ's World of Light - it's a new piece of art.
- Reality: Not likely the courts will see it that way.
- Myth: This guy added a filter, some burn effects, and collaged a bunch of newspaper headlines together - isn't that a violation!
- Reality: Probably not...the courts would probably see this as a creation of art out of factual sources.
amount/substantiality in relation to the whole...this is where using clips of songs that are only like 5 seconds long works! But using more than that...runs into problems. This is tough to decipher too...as some songs are EASILY identifiable from just 5 seconds (Ice, ice, baby) - and thus NOT fair use. But some aren't. Usually you're safe using a very small clip of a song or video - especially if you're adding more to it. But this is a dangerous game to play - and there's places to get free audio (some sources below)
effect of the use - this is probably the biggest one. Courts will look at simply...does YOUR work affect the sales or potential for sales of the copyright owner. Of note...this is looked at at the time of the issue being brought to the court, not at the time of sale. For example, let's say my batman card sells for 10 Algos today, but Algorand BLOWS UP and soon every NFT is on Algorand. And now my OG Batman NFT is seen as one of the first Batman ones and official. Warner Bros gonna sue the shit outta whoever owns it at the time they sue to get the rights to all sales of that NFT. So that person is left holding an empty bag when Warner Bros wins in court.
- Myth: Well they're not commercializing it NOW so I'm safe.
- Reality: Technically, yea Warner Bros probably won't spend the money to go after the OG artist and the hands the asset passed through...HOWEVER, they may. That's their right. Who knows - the Napster days showed us the lengths companies will go to. EVEN BIGGER HOWEVER, the last person holding it when Warner Bros DOES decide to go after that Batman NFT...uh oh for them - they just lost their asset.
- Myth: Well it's been like a year, and no one has brought up copyright. So I'm good.
- Reality: If this was in a normal market...maybe this argument would work. If McDonald's let you sell a Ronald McDonald poster for like a year on Amazon with no issues, some court may say "bro, you took too long to bring this to us." HOWEVER, with cryptocurrency being so new (and Algorand being so little known/discussed), most courts would see it as "reasonable" that a copyright owner failed to exercise their rights within a year - possibly even a decade. (Updated because I realized last example dealt with trademark not copyright :o)
So what am I safe to use?
US Government works (mostly)...any deemed free to use by creator...and any a copyright lawyer says they have your backs on (cuz now they're liable).
Here's some great sources for free use items (please add to this list below if you know of some!!!):
Pictures: https://buffer.com/library/free-images/ (Unsplash is one of my faves)
Music: https://www.wix.com/blog/photography/2019/11/27/free-music-for-videos/
Video: https://blog.hootsuite.com/free-stock-videos-sites/
You'll notice there's a lot of "shoulds" "coulds" "probably" etc. This is because copyright cases are all unique and go to the courts. The best bet is to go with stuff you KNOW is free and fair-use. If not, I'd look up copyright law, consult supreme court cases concerning copyright, and ultimately, talk to a lawyer.
AGAIN: I AM NOT A LAWYER. I AM NOT PROVIDING LEGAL ADVICE. I AM SIMPLY PROVIDING INFORMATION. THERE MAY BE ERRORS ABOVE THAT COULD CAUSE SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGES - CONSULT A COPYRIGHT ATTORNEY IF YOU WISH TO RECEIVE LEGAL ADVICE.

Hi everyone, this is my first time applying for bankrupcty. Am I really not eligible for Chapter 7?
☆I'm 25, I make $16.50/hr in Texas.
☆ I have $18,000+ in credit card debt, $5,000+ in auto.
Upsolve says that because I will have $120 extra income after bankruptcy, I am not able to file Chapter 7. Is that really true ? I feel so lost now. I just really want this debt off of me. :(

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Meanwhile, at the same time as the purple cloud first descended...
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SLASH
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A guttural, wheezing cough escaped the goblin's throat as it knelt, thick globs of saliva and mucus splattering the dusty ground.
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[>>[QUICK ADAPTATION(E)]<<] The proficiency of your passive skill has been increased by 0.01%! 

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In a blur of motion, a razor-sharp jian cleaved through the creature's neck, its wicked edge leaving a crimson wake in its path. The goblin's severed head hit the earth with a dull thump, viridian eyes still wide with shock as its body crumpled lifelessly.
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From the roiling miasma of noxious purple mist arose the attacker, a lithe figure wreathed in an aura of deadly grace.
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The jian in their grasp glistened, coated in a grotesque mixture of goblin blood and ichor. As they stepped forward, crimson eyes flickered with an eerie inner light, glaring balefully at the remaining goblins struggling to regain their footing.
‎
"I know it's unfair, but you came with an army," the attacker remarked, their voice cutting through the fog like a knife. Their form shimmered and phased in and out of reality, the poisonous vapors parting briefly to reveal chiseled features set in an impassive mask.
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One particularly massive goblin, clutching a greatsword nearly as tall as itself, let out a guttural war cry. Veins bulged obscenely beneath its mottled green skin as it charged, each thunderous footfall shaking the very earth.
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SLASH!
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[>>[QUICK ADAPTATION(E)]<<] The proficiency of your passive skill has been increased by 0.01%! 

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With a horizontal sweep of its blade, a fan of virulent emerald droplets exploded outward.
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The attacker's body flickered once more, the jian becoming a blur of motion that ended with its razor tip buried in the goblin's throat.
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The creature's pupils blew wide, a gargled death rattle its only eulogy as it crumpled bonelessly to the ground in a spreading pool of its own vile ichor.
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No sooner had one foe fallen than the attacker had phased through the miasma to engage the next, the jian carving a deadly through the air. A goblin head sailed in a grotesque arc, jaw still locked in a perpetual snarl, before thudding wetly into the dirt.
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One by one the goblins that had besieged the village fell, hewn apart by an unstoppable flurry of strikes that left their broken forms littering the ground.
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At last, Ji Wuye, the crimson-eyed swordsman whose jian ran slick with vital fluids, came to a halt before the shattered remnants of the wooden palisade wall.
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With measured strides, Ji Wuye advanced, right arm extended as the jian's razor edge caught the wan rays of sunlight piercing the miasma.
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THUD-!
‎
THUD-!
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THUD-!
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With each footfall, his form shimmered and phased, leaving a wake of severed goblin heads bouncing across the trampled earth.
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His steps slowed as a familiar silhouette resolved itself from the roiling vapors in the distance. "Still indifferent, huh?" he murmured, shifting aside in a single fluid motion.
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SWOOSH-!
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A fierce gust of wind rushed through the space he had just vacated, momentarily parting the thick purple mists to reveal an elf woman, holding a bow.
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A flurry of strikes left a trail of goblin corpses scattered in her wake. The elf woman's strikes were as precise as they were lethal, each blow a calculated expenditure of pure, economical violence.
‎
In her wake, the street lay strewn with broken goblin forms, their viscera intermingling in a grotesque tapestry of greens and crimsons.
‎
Yet amid the carnage, scattered like fell blossoms upon the bloodied cobbles, were unmistakable human remains - severed limbs, torsos cloven nearly in twain, all bearing mute testament to the elf's indiscriminate fury.
‎
She moved on, features an inscrutable mask of indifference, leaving behind a trail of horror - not just the shattered goblin corpses, but the slack, lifeless faces of elderly villagers, eyes still wide with their final moments of shock and pain.
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Dirt and mingled blood streaked their pallid countenances in macabre rictus grins.
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“Sigh…” Ji Wuye dropped to one knee amid the butchery, throat constricting as he gently slipped his fingers beneath the eyelids of each fallen elder, closing their eyes with a reverence that seemed discordant amid such wanton destruction.
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Prying apart the rictus jaws, he sealed their mouths, granting them a semblance of peace in death. When at last the grisly task was done, he rose and bowed deeply to the still forms, holding the stance for a solemn moment of silence.
‎
Humans and elves have developed natural defenses or adaptations that provide some resistance against the lethal effects of the poison.
‎ ‎
Despite appearances, the poison—or rather, the combination of poisons—used to cloud the battlefield was specifically formulated to affect only monsters such as goblins.
‎
Unlike humans, goblins have a distinct respiratory system that rapidly absorbs the poison, leading to swift and lethal effects. Additionally, their skin is more permeable to the specific toxins in the poison, allowing it to quickly enter their bloodstream.
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Moreover, due to their smaller size, goblins inhale a relatively higher dose of the poison compared to larger races like humans and elves.
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On the other hand, the current reaction in humans involves the poison's psychoactive compounds, which induce hallucinations in humans and elves, even at lower concentrations.
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These compounds interact differently with the brain chemistry of non-monster races, causing vivid and terrifying hallucinations without the lethal effects experienced by goblins.
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In short, what the non-monster races are experiencing right now is merely how they 'imagine' being poisoned. Each person's reaction varies; one might immediately faint, while the majority have their vision altered to see the scenario they imagine.
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"Also, the effect should be gone in a few minutes," he murmured, shaking his head. "Yet I forgot to consider her indifferent view."
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A weary sigh parted his lips as Ji Wuye's gaze roamed across the broken corpses once more. It seemed achieving zero casualties hidden achievement was an impossibility as long as the elf remained here.
‎
His plan had been to utilize the noxious purple vapors to incapacitate the goblin horde while the villagers remained safely sheltered, emerging once the threat was neutralized and the challenge cleared.
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But the elf's interference had introduced an unforeseen variable, one with tragic consequences.
‎
Suddenly…
‎
COUGH-!
‎
COUGH-!
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The sound of raucous coughing and pained shouts snapped Ji Wuye from his morose reverie. Pushing aside this matter, he strode towards the commotion to find a familiar knight surrounded by a knot of goblin assailants.
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Though grievously wounded, chainmail rent and weeping crimson life from a dozen punctures, the knight fought on with grim tenacity.
‎
His guard wavered as he was forced to pause, doubling over to expel thick gouts of blood in a spasm of hacking coughs. Under normal circumstances, such a paltry cluster of foes would prove little challenge.
‎
However, the knight's imagination of being poisoned felt overwhelmingly real. Despite there being no signs of poison—only the stab wounds from countless daggers inflicted on his body—the knight acted as weakly as if he had been poisoned with a deadly toxin.
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"That's the limit for one person," Ji Wuye muttered, shaking his head as he accelerated into a sprint, jian held low.
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Leaping off the spot, he launched himself into the melee in a soaring leap, right arm cocked back as the blade's razor edge sliced parallel to his cheekbones.
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Pulse of the Blade: First Move, Gentle Breeze! 

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Ji Wuye's lithe form swayed with a dancer's grace, his movements harmonizing with the gentle currents of air as if guided by some unseen choreographer.
‎
The jian became an extension of his being, lashing out in blurred arcs to the left and right. Each strike met its mark with surgical precision, goblin heads toppling from ruined necks to become macabre ornaments skewered upon the blade's slender length.
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[>>[PULSE OF BLADE SWORD ART(??)]<<] Your understanding of Pulse of Blade Sword Art has slightly increased! 

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The cadence of Ji Wuye's footwork merged with the wet patter of blood striking the ground, composing a perverse rhythm that seemed to goad him into an ever-quickening tempo.
‎
When at last the final goblin fell, its decapitated corpse joining its brethren in a sprawl of broken forms, an eerie stillness descended once more.
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[>>[PULSE OF BLADE SWORD ART(??)]<<] Your understanding of Pulse of Blade Sword Art has slightly increased! 

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With an almost casual flick of his wrist, Ji Wuye sent the grisly garland of severed heads tumbling free, the gory mass impacting the packed earth with a sickly squelch reminiscent of a dropped barrel.
‎
The Pulse of Blade Sword Art comprised a vast repertoire of techniques, yet Ji Wuye had only glimpsed the opening movement as demonstrated by Song Jia.
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Yet, here, thanks to the Tower's system, Ji Wuye could feel each strike and parry, which incrementally deepened his understanding.
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A faint smile played across Ji Wuye's lips as this realization took hold. Turning to face the battered knight who leaned heavily upon his blade. "What a great performance, wake up, Knight of Averial House—this poison only works on those monsters."
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[!] Congratulations, Climber Ji Wuye, on successfully defending Kenlan Village! 

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[>>[INFORMATION]<<] Challenger Ji Wuye, Congratulations on successfully clearing the third floor! 

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[!] You've encountered a hobgoblin! A being who should not be involved in this challenge! The gods are impressed by your incredible achievement! 

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[!] You have defeated a Hobgoblin, impressing all the gods who are watching your performance! It is truly a remarkable feat! 

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[!] You have single-handedly defeated 3/4 of the goblin army, which is an incredible accomplishment! 

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[!] Your participation in defending Kenlan Village is unparalleled, and you have accomplished an extraordinary feat! 

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Last week's post https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d6ng7c/roundup_ufos_kepler_aerospace_and/
Archive https://wayback-api.archive.org/web/20240602211034/https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d6ng7c/roundup_ufos_kepler_aerospace_and/
Moon phase waning crescent 🌘 , four days before new
Mars Right Ascension 1h 36m 28s
.1 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d6nqv1/there_were_3_of_these/ photos, daytime sky, threelights observed, photo shows twolights, moving fast, low over treeline, jefferson city Missouri, submission statement issues, , removed by mods
.2 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d6nr9p/1979_ufo_close_encounter_a_version_was_posted_in/ sighting description, single object multiple lights, approach, directly in front, Laval Québec Canada 🇨🇦 , audio description beeping sound, scanning, oval-shaped, very dark, small colored lights racing along its middle ridge., the sonar beeps had reached me, hitting the ground around me in a rapid circular motion. , emotion of fear, witness left the area, vanishing, missing time 2 hours, subsequent entities
.3 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d6nyqn/balls_of_fire_in_mexico/ photo, daytime sky, fleet, on ridgeline, repeat visitors, Mexico 🇲🇽, “brujas bolas de fuego en Mexico”, following the witness, vanishing and reappearing, [GOODPOST]
.4 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d62ml5/what_is_this/ video, daytime sky, twolights observed, single object blackwhite possible metallic sphere, contemporaneous report, two witnesses, moving straight, at home, backyard, stationary overhead, trajectory change, right angle turn, departure, Utah
.5 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d53cim/uap_florida_53024/ video, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, single light object stationary, Satellite Beach Florida, near water Atlantic Ocean, above Patrick Space Force Base., USSF , similar sighting in comments
.6 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d6mkfc/possible_ufoarv_over_fort_collinsco_appx_1230_pm/ video, daytime cloudy sky, contemporaneous report, fort Collins Colorado, single light object, elongated, tictac, horizontal orientation, horizontal trajectory, disappeared into clouds, [GOODPOST], similar sightings in comments, two witnesses, appeared directly in front, possible reaction to being observed, right angle turn, departure, wtf_is_that, silent
.7 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d77rnx/the_cryptoterrestrial_hypothesis_a_case_fo new paper, ultraterrestrial
.8 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d6ur3sighting_in_joshua_tree_june_1_after_contact_in/ photos, nighttime sky, Joshua Tree National Park California, single light object, human initiated contact, moving and stationary and moving, going left, right, stopping, going left abruptly, zig-zagging or moving in circle., zigzag movements, loop
.9 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7c7pn/all_the_relevant_uap_updates_from_may_27june_2/ information, state of disclosure USA https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d76s3u/disclosure_process_series_year_1/ different OP, overview of events
.10 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7bs3t/with_all_the_ufo_stuff_in_the_news_i_need_to_get/ sighting description, urban area, Sydney Australia 🇦🇺, nighttime, single light object, orange 🟠, overhead, it looked to be the size of a room or helicopter. , emotion of fear, I felt this rush of anxiety, or panic., silent , moving toward water, pacific ocean, it seemed to have metallic / silver fins portruding from the top and the bottom, barely visible from its glowing orange center. , electronic effects phone battery died, similar sightings in comments, [GOODPOST]
.11 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7cra5/orb_flashes_hello_and_goodbye_may_19th_2024/ video, at home, backyard, nighttime sky, single light object moving, flashing erratically, two witnesses, duration 3 minutes, Southern California, between San Diego and Los Angeles, multicolored, brightness change, flareup and dimming, blue 🔵 glow, vanishing and reappearing, powerlines , flew over the witness home , repeat visitor
.12 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d763bx/diamond_shaped_craft_with_blue_propulsion_et_o sighting description, at home, backyard, south Carolina, two witnesses, evening sky, single object multiple lights, blue 🔵 glow, diamond 💠 shaped, flew overhead, low over treeline, descending and ascending, speed change, The craft just swooped down from behind us to about tree top high then went back up as it went away from us. As it went forward and back up it increased speed., disappeared into clouds, cloaking, has anyone seen?, similar sighting in comments
.13 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1d7226c/ive_had_telepathic_communication_with_galactic/ experience description and photos, orb, fleet, single object blackwhite, emotion of love, telepathy, dream description, entities, physical effects goosebumps,
.14 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1d79z3z/berwick_upon_tweed/ photos, nighttime sky, single light object, angular, color change, berwick on tweed England the UK 🇬🇧, near water north sea, contemporaneous report, moving erratically observed, duration 3 hours
.15 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d6txk6/lightning_flashes_a_new_brother_cries_live/ video, nighttime sky, storm, lightning, single light object, low below treeline
.16 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7kxuz/in_light_of_jason_sands_scott_andrews_and_now/ childhood experience description, [GOODPOST], nighttime, at home, urban area, Annapolis Maryland, men in black response, event amnesia, facility off of Defense Highway that I ran away from as a kid., Northrup Grumman, I think I might have been used in some compartmentalized government program as a kid and all I can remember is running away from one of the facilities., similar experience in comments https://wayback-api.archive.org/web/20240604170928/https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7kxuz/in_light_of_jason_sands_scott_andrews_and_now/ Archive
.17 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7otwj/weird_story/ sighting description, at home, nighttime, single light object, reaction to being observed, sudden departure upward, I felt like it immediately saw me and shot straight up at a speed I can’t estimate because it was gone within a blink. , subsequent odor, I walk back outside again and there is a very strange clean smell, almost like an ozone type smell I used to get from an air purifier ., eastern Tennessee, similar sightings in comments, low over treeline, near oak ridge national laboratory, contemporaneous report
.18 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d842p9/going_through_my_old_sketchbooks/ drawing, single object multiple lights, red and yellow 🔴🟡, diamond 💎 shaped, threelights, triangle formation, disappeared behind ridgeline, duration 15-20 seconds , has anyone seen?, Central Kootenays British Columbia Canada 🇨🇦, similar sightings in comments
.19 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7v2x2/what_is_the_orb_in_the_skynyc/ video, nighttime sky, single light object stationary, multicolored, low below rooftop, urban area, Manhattan NYC New York state, OP comments downvoted, big debunker energy
.20 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7w0gd/new_zealand_sub_readers_did_you_see_that_pyramid/ sighting description, has anyone seen?, Wanganui new zealand 🇳🇿 , single dark object, pyramid shape, multicolored, all the edges lit up like a prism., over water Tasman Sea,
.21 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d841nq/sacramento_june_4_2024/ video, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, at work, duration 3-4 minutes, threelights, triangle formation, blackwhite, flashing, formation change, speed change, vanishing, similar sighting in comments, low over treeline, Sacramento California , observed rotating, looked shiny and spinning,
.22 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d7mshs/strange_lights_over_naperville_illinois_june_1st/ video, nighttime sky, single object multiple lights or fleet, flickering, threelights, formation change, low over treeline, anomalous to witness, Naperville Illinois, [GOODPOST], multicolored, flareup and dimming, lighting configuration change, stationary and moving, two witnesses
.23 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d7yjci/weird_lights_in_the_sky_over_my_house/ photo, nighttime cloudy sky, fleet, stationary duration hours, all night, the UK 🇬🇧, similar sighting in comments, https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d80bzg/weird_lights_in_the_sky_over_my_house_video/ video, lighting configuration change, flashing in pattern and steady, [GOODPOST]
.24 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1d788yv/every_few_months_i_keep_having_a_dream_seeing/ dream description, repeat visitor, contemporaneous report, at home, single dark object, splitting, ship then broke into pieces and did a spiral motion and then disappeared., I then wake up what looks to be a shape or at least the wall to ceiling was curved and extremely clean and silver white., similar experiences in comments
.25 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d86k5f/vectors_vs_pixels/ sighting and discussion of movement, it was there and then wasn’t. My brain/memory tried filling it in with it disappearing but not sure.
.26 https://old.reddit.com/Thetruthishere/comments/1d7jj3a/ghost_girl_in_my_house/ childhood sighting description, entity, humanoid, inside home , Venezuela 🇻🇪 , i saw her with a white dress passing by , mimicking sister, emotion of fear, witness left the area
.27 https://old.reddit.com/Glitch_in_the_Matrix/comments/1d7kkmu/house_disappears_in_time_slip/ experience description, building anomaly, disappeared, One day I passed it going to Landrum south Carolina,the other town, and then when I come back it wasn't there no more. , witness stopped the car and got out
.28 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d7yb8m/weird_message_in_the_head/ experience description, meditation, communication, AS5, AS5, AS5 and AS are my initials and number 5 in astrology stands for curiosity, knowledge and adventure., storm, lightning, contemporaneous report, the UK 🇬🇧
.29 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d7nzml/vivid_memory_of_alienlike_glitch_of_tv/ audio description, loud sound, appeared out of nowhere, at home, two witnesses, nighttime, strange noise came from the tv. It was a foreign noise, so not something a tv or channel would make. , similar to the slenderman jumpscare sound except less extreme and more alien like., analysis requested
.30 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d7bpbd/please_help_me_understand/ experience description, at home, repeat visitor, footsteps, circling, nighttime, anomalous animal activity, loud bird, bird squawking all night long, seemingly as if it’s right outside the windows, all around the house. , I would hear what sounded like rocks clicking together, the sound would circle around my trailer and I would hear rustling noises like something was moving all around my trailer. , similar experience in comments, Galisteo new Mexico
.31 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d7gtk4/possible_ufo_encounter_when_i_was_a_teen/ sighting description, Northwest Arkansas, nighttime, from car, two witnesses, single light object, flashing, blinking and spinning., rotating, low over treeline, brief duration 3-5 seconds, vanishing, witness stopped the car, previous sighting shadow figure, inside home , doorway
.32 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1d88kepeople_who_have_seen_entities_inside_were_they/ discussion of sightings, entities, inside building, [GOODPOST] if I do say so myself.
.33 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8apn8/zero_doubt/ art 🎨, painting, "Zero Doubt"
.34 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8b9bmajestic_giant_blue_orb_floats_across_the_sky_and/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, blue 🔵, Oceanside California, duration 2 minutes, flew overhead, trajectory change observed, right angle turn, similar sightings in comments, ISS? , repeat visitor https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d95ui2/4_orbs_one_flashes_when_i_asked_it_to_3_times_may/ more video, big debunker energy, two witnesses https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9xb1j/stop_and_go_dancing_orb_may_21st_2024/ more video, single light object moving, multicolored
.35 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8dykx/tampa_florida_9pm_est/ video and photos, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, single light object moving fast, additional objects moving straight, urban area, Tampa Florida, similar sighting in comments
.36 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8hdd6/congressgov_s4443_intelligence_authorization_act/ document, IAA2025 uap amendment advances out of committee
.37 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8lmki/strange_lights_over_gosport_uk_5624/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, spotlights type, diffuse, downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted, Gosport the UK 🇬🇧, contemporaneous report, low over rooftop,
.38 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8vxzd/any_ideas_what_this_could_be/ photo, nighttime sky, near water Atlantic Ocean, Tybee Island Georgia, triangle 🔺️ observed, ascending, moving and stationary and moving, hovered over the houses about 2 minutes before silently leaving. , had three large lights on each edge of the shape with smaller lights in between. , threelights,
.39 https://old.reddit.com/Glitch_in_the_Matrix/comments/1d8pbg6/camo_military_bomber_disappears/ sighting description, airplane anomaly, vanishing, two witnesses, appeared to be a b52 completely come out of nowhere and had to have disappeared. It was headed straight for the dam at a very low altitude and no way having enough time to pull up before either hitting dam or a mountain. Made no noise, silent, near water
.40 https://old.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1d8jd1v/what_is_this_and_howwhy_did_it_get_into_a_picture/ photo, daytime cloudy sky, possible entity, camping, Looks like a wooden robot heating up lava?
.41 https://old.reddit.com/InterdimensionalNHI/comments/1d8bul6/i_wish_i_could_some_how_let_you_all_see_what_i/ experience description, repeat visitor, ongoing, Pupcake3000, physical effects vision change, static, whenever a UAP is going to appear I can see a distortion that has a shape against the background of what it mimics or appears out of. I can track it until a flash occurs and then in place of the distortion, a physical UAP craft will appear.
.42 https://old.reddit.com/UFOB/comments/1d87eyo/uap_while_walking_outside/ video, daytime sky, powerlines, single light object, low over treeline, plane for comparison, possible interaction with airplane, possibly circling plane, possible jumpy movement or vanishing and reappearing, flickering erratically, repeat visitor, Clear cloudless days are better, sunglasses help a lot., [GOODPOST]
.43 https://old.reddit.com/Thetruthishere/comments/1d7ulw4/i_met_the_devil_in_florence/ sighting description, entity, urban area, Florence Italy 🇮🇹, emotion of fear, As if he had been a predator forever, a danger since the beginning of time. His face is giving me goosebumps all over my back and behind my ears even now as I describe it almost ten years later.
.44 https://old.reddit.com/Thetruthishere/comments/1d91a7b/my_friend_and_i_saw_a_ufo/ sighting description, nighttime, two witnesses, Central Arkansas, single light object, low over treeline, stationary and moving, physical effects paralysis, silent, horizontal trajectory, wtf_is_that, possible military response jets
.45 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9mygw/lights_in_phoenix/ video, nighttime sky, near fairgrounds, possible single object multiple lights, urban area, Phoenix Arizona, OP is not the witness , removed by mods
.46 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9nkwt/las_vegas_060524/ photo, nighttime sky, single light object, elongated, horizontal orientation, tictac, urban area, Las Vegas Nevada, contemporaneous report, submission statement issues, , removed by mods
.47 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d8ym3d/strange_object_in_the_sky_recorded_on_night_vision/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, through night vision camera, single light object, elongated, angled from the horizon, moving, disappeared into clouds, contemporaneous report, fishing, near water, creek, not seen by eye, possible cloaked craft, a blurry section of sky moving through the clouds., Montana
.48 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9o965/someone_answe video, nighttime cloudy sky, hard to see, cylindrical shape observed, moving fast, submission statement issues , removed by mods
.49 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d97vta/im_reposting_with_an_edit_since_i_cant_edit_posts/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single light object moving fast, blackwhite, possible interaction with clouds, elongated, possible disk shape, downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted, big debunker energy , Connecticut, video analysis requested , possible ARV
.50 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d92ktp/saw_last_night_in_the_sky/ drawing and reference image, single object multiple lights, multicolored, contemporaneous report, nighttime, central Missouri, stationary, from car, possible reaction to being observed, witness looked away and looked back, vanished,
.51 https://old.reddit.com/RBI/comments/1d961ax/who_showed_up_to_my_home/ experience description, men in black response, at home, One day my uncle went out on a hike in the woods, when he came back he claimed to have seen a UFO flying above a river, A few days later I heard a knock at the door., I answered the door and saw 2 men wearing black suits, they asked me if uncle was there, they referred to him by his full name., 2 men showed up to his work and offered him money to retract his statements on the radio
.52 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9oitw/object_moves_right_to_left_large_cloud/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single light object moving fast, contemporaneous report, urban area, Chicago Illinois, lighting configuration change, dark to light, flashing erratically, duration 10-15 seconds , downvoted to zero , polarized sunglasses., blackwhite, horizontal trajectory, silent , deleted
.53 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9t4uy/sighting_in_sacramento_ca_65_930pm/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, Sacramento California, urban area, powerlines, low over rooftop, two witnesses, single light object, twolights or plane for comparison, interaction with airplane, pacing plane,.moving and stationary and moving, speed change, while flying off it was making erratic movements, almost like it was swirling while flying, and was slowing its speed down periodically. , duration 5-10 minutes,
.54 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d9vnrassistance_in_narrowing_down_what_i_saw_i_the_sky/ sighting description, nighttime, contemporaneous report, twolights, single light object flareup and vanishing, moving in opposite directions, overhead, silent, duration 1 minute, near the Missouri-Arkansas border
.55 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1dabdoy/sketches_from_my_experience/ experience description and drawings, [GOODPOST], at home, nighttime, fleet, line formation, moving, outside bedroom window, electronic effects lights wouldn't turn on, physical effects vibration, Then everything started vibrating and everything began glowing a bright golden light., location anomaly, found myself immediately back on my bed., audio description humming sound, approach, started to get louder and louder., communication, “Be Warned”, my guess is the warning was to brace myself, sudden departure, missing time 8 hours, northwest USA, https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1dbgoxq/sketches_of_my_experience_pt_2/ more drawings
.56 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1daa5mmy_experience_at_11yo/ childhood experience description, no craft, at home, inside bedroom, daytime, felt observed, physical effects paralysis, I got the sense of aliens in the room watching me, and I got frozen there., similar experience in comments, Patagonia Argentina 🇦🇷
.57 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1dah6e9/i_uploaded_video_on_some_red_orangish_orbs_if/ video, nighttime sky, greeley Colorado, https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbbz46/ufo_sighting_here_in_greeley_colorado_last_yea reposted
.58 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dalmhq/objects_objects_like_moving_stars_that_disappea sighting description, moving stars, repeat visitors, nighttime, near water, pool, zigzag movements
.59 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dan7ed/do_you_see_it_what_is_it_see_body_text_location/ video, nighttime sky, urban area, Czech Republic 🇨🇿 , single light object stationary and moving, possible reaction to being flashed with light, vanishing, After it disappears the lights do something like a quick search , contemporaneous report , deleted
.60 https://old.reddit.com/observingtheanomaly/comments/1dafi3v/possible_ufo/ sighting, two witnesses, electronic effects camera jammed, Michigan not far from lake Michigan. , near water
.61 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dansg2/took_this_tonight_i_have_a_video/ photo, contemporaneous report, single light object, elongated, tictac, horizontal orientation, wishaw Scotland the UK 🇬🇧 , removed by mods https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dao5hl/video_of_object_over_central_scotland/ video, powerlines, low over rooftop, disappeared behind rooftops , removed by mods
.62 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1dalyhm/after_seeing_that_one_guys_sketches_i_thought_i/ drawing, experience, traveled to a burning golden world. Walking around the place was like standing on the surface of the sun without being harmed.
.63 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1daswk0/i_was_in_a_strange_gifted_program_in_the_early/ childhood experience description, no craft, Gifted program, space lab, rural south Georgia, early 1980s, similar experiences in comments, event amnesia, telepathy
.64 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1dav8fq/so_what_am_i_seeing_here/ video, nighttime sky, plane and star or twolights, multicolored, flashing, possible jumpy movement
.65 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1daqpxd/saw_this_weird_white_thing_in_pacoima_ca_today/ photo, daytime sky, single object multiple lights, worm 🪱, contemporaneous report, pacoima California, at work, stationary, duration 3 minutes, stationary and moving, descending below rooftop,
.66 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1db018u/%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B6%D0%B5%D1%82_%D1%87%D1%82%D0%BE_%D1%8D%D1%82%D0%BE/ photos, daytime cloudy sky, single dim object, elongated, angled from the horizon , low over treeline
.67 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1db54c7/interesting_sighting/ sighting description, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, at home, backyard, plane for comparison observed, single light object stationary, overhead, duration 1 minute, vanishing , removed by mods
.68 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1db23kd/what_was_that/ photos and video, single light object, observed stationary and moving, at home, very bright, low below rooftop, Almaty Kazakhstan 🇰🇿
.69 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1dayon4/this_was_about_200_feet_in_front_of_me_and_about/ photo, nighttime sky, single light object, elongated, observed moving slowly, vanishing, Yerington Nevada,
.70 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1db9n78/ufo_just_filmed_this_in_my_garden/ video, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, single dark object moving erratically, wobbling, shape change observed, the actual shape of it was quite inconsistent too, moving almost like it was not a solid object. , Derbyshire the UK 🇬🇧, at home , removed by mods
.71 https://old.reddit.com/Glitch_in_the_Matrix/comments/1d7aexj/i_saw_a_house_in_the_woods_once_and_then_neve experience description, possible landed craft, mimicking house, entities, scientists, Midwest USA, [GOODPOST]
.72 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbdwah/5pm_672024_over_bradenton_fl/ video, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, Bradenton Florida, two witnesses, over water, single light object, blackwhite, elongated, barbell, twolights close formation, zigzag movement observed, It was extremely shiny with no wings and it moved back and forth several times in an odd fashion.
.73 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1dbawxz/my_nhi_visitation_experience/ childhood experience description, at home, nighttime, witness woke up, entities, light shining in bedroom, angel, It was massive and seemed like it was coming from another dimension because it would not have fit in the space in front of my bed., emotion of calm, communication, telepathy, physical effects vibration, the vibrations were so loud and strong when it first spoke that I said ouch and kind of put my hands on my head in response to the intensity. It lowered the vibrations and asked me “is this better.” I responded yes., event amnesia, I can't remember that important thing it said to me where I told it I understood.
.74 https://old.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1dbfizd/ufo_sighting_darwin/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, orange 🟠, horizontal trajectory, low below treeline, Darwin northern territory Australia 🇦🇺 , near water, Timor sea
.75 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbey4c/flashing_object_over_seattle/ video, daytime sky, urban area, Seattle Washington state, over water, Puget Sound, single light object, flickering, flashing erratically, low over rooftop,
.76 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbfmrh/video_taken_back_in_the_middle_of_march_of_this/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, Bradenton Florida, two witnesses, twolights observed, moving and stationary, approach, directly in front, repeat visitor
.77 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbfs08/the_hanford_atom_factory_ghost_planes_and/ document, history, Hanford Atom Factory Washington state, multiple objects, repeat visitors, ghost planes, military response
.78 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbah9h/ok_second_try_to_post_thiszoomed_video_of_my/ video, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, two witnesses, plane for comparison, downvoted to zero, Sofia Bulgaria 🇧🇬 , duration 1 minute, appearing and vanishing, single light object
.79 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dban4e/ufo_serbia/ photo, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, single light object, green 🟢, moving erratically, speed change, trajectory change, all different directions, low over rooftop, Serbia 🇷🇸, single light object, worm 🪱 or M-shaped, duration 10 minutes , downvoted to zero
.80 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbtwu5/did_anyone_else_go_to_the_connecticut_cryptid_and/ photos of public event, Trumbull Connecticut, ufo convention
.81 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1db4yjm/some_sort_of_craft_flying_around_our_house_fo sighting description, contemporaneous report, at home, nighttime, single object multiple lights, outside bedroom window, 5 bright red lights on top and 5 blue lights on bottom 🔴🔵, horizontal trajectory, trajectory change, it started spinning, and things got weird., rectangular shape or cylinder, silent, moving erratically, diving, spinning, zig-zagging, hovering, and moved more like a bird having fun or eating bugs than anything else. , angled from the horizon, zigzag movements, stationary and moving, five witnesses, duration 35 minutes, near airport, Bailey Colorado, interaction with airplane, approach, at one point it looked like it was going to intersect with a plane heading to Centennial. They were very, very close, and the object darted higher into the sky quickly just before the plane passed., similar sighting in comments , [GOODPOST], downvoted to zero
.82 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1dbr1gx/farwell_to_hends/ drawing, art 🎨, entities, 2 species in cenos proxima centauri b.
.83 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1dbo5e8/sighting/ sighting description, has anyone seen?, from airplane, single light object, ascending and descending, vanishing and reappearing, over water pacific ocean, California
.84 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1dbud2w/invisible_silent_and_hyper_fast/ photo, possible cloaked craft, contrail, horizontal trajectory, moving fast, emitting orbs,
.85 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1db409e/how_do_you_think_it_works/ art 🎨, drawing, machinery
.86 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1dbwomneed_help_identifying_a_conversation_i_listened/ dream description, repeat visitor, urban area, being in a city that's "suspended" in the sky. These cities are connected to each other and you travel to them on vessels that are also suspended., emotion of fear, I remember the traveling parts of the dream the strongest because my fear was really strong and it allowed me to experience the dream more clearly. entity, has anyone seen?
.87 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dbfy3z/garry_nolan_aaro_has_discredited_itself_beyond/l7sht44/ sighting description, historical event, Trumbull county Ohio, 1994 Trumbull County UFO Incident dozens of civilian witnesses and 3 different police agencies had around 6 or more police officers see it close up less then a few hundred feet above him and it shut down his patrol car and radio and lit up the area he was standing like it was 12pm not 12 am during the incident as reported., the entire craft is coated in some kind of thick rock/asteroid material that provides protection from radiation when traveling through out the solar system it also is extremely heat resistant. They also have 3 smaller craft that form a triangle around the craft using electromagnetic fields and a propulsion system and charged particles that defy gravity
.88 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dby11b/friendly_reminder_destroying_or_falsifying/ information, This is a friendly reminder that the act of destroying or falsifying records in advance of a GAO audit, even if legislation mandating the audit has not yet been fully ratified by Congress, is considered obstruction and will result in severe legal penalties., AARO, IAA2025
.89 https://www.reddit.com/UFOB/comments/1dbsf7v/spotted_in_the_air_over_southern_coast_of_japan/ video, nighttime sky, single light object moving, multicolored, south of Japan 🇯🇵, to the west of Hiroshima, right on the coast., near water, in the centre, there looked to be a black triangle 🔺️, dimming, vanishing, repeat visitor, similar sighting in comments
.90 https://old.reddit.com/Thetruthishere/comments/1dbq8yw/gilman_springs_is_an_extremely_creepy_and_haunted/ sighting description, entity, inside car, Gilman Springs California
.91 https://old.reddit.com/astrophotography/comments/1dblfhb/what_are_the_green_dots/ photo, nighttime sky, twolights, not seen by eye, 10 minute long exposure, overhead
.92 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1dbjool/ufo_sees_me_using_my_camera_and_disappears/ video, nighttime sky, at home, two witnesses, single light object stationary and moving, duration 3-4 minutes, reaction to being filmed, disappeared behind treeline
.93 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dc15zp/shadow_on_cloud_o video, daytime cloudy sky, cloud anomaly, stationary
.94 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1dc34h3/ufo_spotted_during_drag_race_bakersfield_ca/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single object blackwhite, possible disk shape with dome, horizontal orientation, moving fast, from car, racecar, Bakersfield California
.95 https://www.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1dc3ebp/what_is_this_in_middle_of_video_several_lights/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, low over ridgeline, single light object, elongated, diffuse, vertical orientation, appeared out of nowhere, flashing, vanishing, repeat visitor
.96 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1dc0l6a/saw_something_on_a_recent_flight_what_was_it/ sighting description, from airplane, urban area, NYC New York state, metallic cylinder with acorn 🌰 shaped head, moving fast
.97 https://old.reddit.com/AnomalousEvidence/comments/1dbzpbq/anyone_seen_this_entity/ childhood sighting description and drawing, entity, has anyone seen?, at home, nighttime, inside bedroom doorway, physical effects paralysis, approach, pain, event amnesia.

Verse 29 - The purpose of sending this chosen messenger:

God says:

"That he may make evident that they indeed have conveyed the Messages of their Lord. He has encompassed what is with them and He enumerated all things in number.” (The Quran 72:29)

The verse uses the past tense verb "أَحَاطَ" (aḥāṭa) which means "encompassed" or "surrounded." The verb "لَدَيْهِمْ" (ladayhim) involves possession and is not bound by tense in the same way verbs are. So an accurate interpretation would be that God has encompassed what is with them, meaning what is with this chosen messenger and his time (i.e. the Quran), or that God has encompassed (past tense) what was with them (past tense), meaning the prophet and his companions. It can refer to a present or ongoing state resulting from a past action but the "he may make clear" refers to a future event, which indeed makes this a prophecy. Either way, Rashad fully fulfilled it all. This is exactly what transpired. The verse continues:

"And He enumerated all things in number."

The preservation and guarding of the Quran was done by way of numerical patterns/codes embedded within the Quran, God enumerated everything in numbers.

Answering the weak claims of liars, doubters and rejecters:

I will quickly go over a couple claims that I found online and refute them. I will only answer claims I personally think are response worthy. The rest are not even worth the time.

Claim: "Rashad's overall message was unlike that of other prophets/messengers":

This is totally false, because he eradicated prevalent Shirk, the same Shirk that still to this day continues to "flourish" amongst traditionalists.
God says in the Quran, interestingly in the same chapter that we discussed above (i.e. Chapter 72, The Jinn):

"And the mosques are for God, so do not call upon anyone with God." (The Quran 72:18)

The traditionalists are all invoking the prophet, in the same manner they are invoking God. They are all (and I mean literally all of them) saying during their 5 daily prayers:

'as-salaamu 'alaika ayyuha n-nabiyyu' (Peace be on you, O Prophet!)

This is literally an invocation directed to an entity other than God, namely prophet Muhammad. Rashad came and eradicated this Shirk from the Muslim community, but traditionalists remain in their worship of the prophet and refuse to be reminded and reformed.
The real question should be; why would an imposter (who hypothetically was inspired by Satan) want to eradicate prevalent Shirk from the Muslim Ummah?

Claim: "All messengers were prophets, therefor there's a seal on messengership as well!"

And when we ask them: why? They indirectly answer: "Because we say so!" and expect us to just take their words for it.
There's literally nothing behind this erroneous analogy of theirs that supports it. They are literally just claiming that God is bound by a rule. They are literally just inventing and fabricating rules they expect God to submit to.
God says:

“but he is the Messenger of God and the seal (i.e. end) of the Prophets” (The Quran 33:40)

They quote this verse and use it as some sort of evidence while this very verse is the exact opposite, it is against them, but they are rendered incapable of perceiving it.
Messengers are not prophets by default, they are just messengers, whereas prophets are individuals who receive prophecies from God that they convey to people, which makes them messengers as well. This is the linguistic definition of these words. It's baffling how this understanding has been reversed by traditionalists, with the claim that messengers are both prophets and messengers, while prophets are merely prophets. This claim is totally baseless and makes no sense at all.
God has not defined these words in the Quran in any specific way because the Quran is not a dictionary or lexicon; the definitions of the words are something we should naturally understand. Just as we naturally should know where Mecca is located or where the former Qibla was located. Both messengers and prophets are sent by God with a revelation (Scriptures or not) and with Clear Signs, whilst calling for submission and the worship of God alone. Prophets, in addition to all of that, also receive prophecies, foretelling the future, which is why they are called 'prophets.'
Rashad was a messenger of God, not a prophet. He didn't receive a new prophecy because the knowledge of the timing of the Hour was already present with us embedded within the Quran. He was only guided by Gabriel and shown how to uncover it. Prophet Muhammad is the one who received this prophecy originally, but it was obscured from everyone (including prophet Muhammad), hence why he was directed to say:

"Say, 'I do not know whether that which you are promised is near, or if my Lord has appointed for it a distant term. [God is] the Knower of the Unseen, and He reveals unto none His unseen, except who He has chosen of a messenger..." (The Quran 72:25-27)

God states:

"And We did not send before you except men to whom We revealed. So ask the people of the scripture if you do not know, with the clear proofs and the Scriptures. And We sent down to you the Reminder so that it may make clear to the people what has been sent down to them, and perhaps they may reflect." (The Quran 16:42-43)

Everyone that was sent by God had some sort of revelation, whether it was by way of Scriptures and Clear Signs. There's no specific thing distinguishing the two (except for the linguistic distinction I mentioned here above).
It is only their fallacious analogy, that's all. It is based on a passage from the Quran saying; prophets ruled according to Moses Law, the Torah, therefor, a messenger is someone who brings a new Law. Did they forget that Jesus was a messenger and a prophet and he didn't abrogate the Torah?:

"[The Day] when God will say, 'O Jesus, Son of Mary, remember My favor upon you and upon your mother when I supported you with the Pure Spirit and you spoke to the people in the cradle and in maturity; and when I taught you writing and wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel." (The Quran 5:110)

Do you see how fallacious their reasoning actually is? Disregard their weak arguments; it is all weak in my eyes and should be equally so in yours too. God says:

"And We do not send the messengers except as bringers of good tidings and warners. So whoever believes and REFORMS - there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve." (6:48)

Messengers are bringers of good tidings and they serve as warners, and their purpose is to make us believe and to reform us (by the Will and Grace of God). Messengers are also described with revelations of the Book and the Balance (which literally has to do with "Laws"):

"We sent aforetime our messengers with clear signs and sent down with them the Book and the Balance, that people may stand forth in justice; and We sent down Iron, in which is strong material, as well as many benefits for mankind, that God may test who it is that will help, unseen, Him and His messengers: For God is full of strength, exalted in might." (The Quran 57:25)

Prophets are also specifically described as being sent with Scriptures so they can "judge between people":

"Mankind was [of] one religion [i.e. before their deviation]; then God sent the prophets as bringers of good tidings and warners and sent down with them the Scripture in truth to judge between the people concerning that in which they differed." (The Quran 2:213)

Both are described as being sent with revelations containing Laws.

The Sunni definition of "prophet" is derived from the founders of Sunnism, the ancient rabbis:

From a Sunni/Salafi Fatwa:

"The well-known difference between a Prophet and a Messenger is that a Messenger is one to whom a law is revealed and he is commanded to convey it, whilst a Prophet is one to whom a law is revealed but he is not commanded to convey it. But this distinction is not free of problems, because a Prophet is also commanded to call people, convey the Message and judge among the people."

Source
That it is possible for a prophet to receive revelations from God and suppress them and not convey them to the people, is nothing but a copy/paste from ancient rabbinic literature. The Sunnis got this from the rabbis of old (Maimonides, to be exact):

"But with regard to one who suppresses his prophecy because he does not want to share it with the public, and one who contemptuously forgoes the statement of a prophet and refuses to heed it, and a prophet who violated his own statement and failed to perform that which he was commanded to do, his death is at the hand of Heaven, as it is stated: “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall not hearken unto My words that he shall speak in My name, I will exact it of him” (Deuteronomy 18:19)."

Source: Sanhedrin 89a - 8.
Two points to consider:

1. Why would God reveal something to someone and not command him to convey it to the people? Why are they attributing this sheer stupidity to God?
2. To claim that God would reveal something to someone with the purpose of conveying it to others while simultaneously allowing him the free will to choose whether he wants to convey it or not, and if we hypothetically say that this is the case, then if a prophet were to actually not convey the revelation, then this would imply that God doesn't know the future or that He randomly sends Revelations to people and hopes they will convey it to others. Either way, this is a stupidity God is far above.

To refute both of these points, we have to look no further than the Quran itself:
God says:

"O Messenger, convey that which has been revealed to you from your Lord, for if you do not, then you have not conveyed His message. And God will protect you from the people. Indeed, God does not guide the disbelieving people." (The Quran 5:67)

And,

"Indeed, those who conceal what We sent down of clear proofs and guidance after We made it clear for the people in the Scripture - those are cursed by God and cursed by those who curse." (The Quran 2:159)

Hiding what God sends down is only done by cursed individuals, to claim that God would send revelations to cursed people stems from nothing other than ancient Rabbinism*.
^\Rabbinism: Rabbinic Judaism has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Babylonian Talmud, and also "coincidentally" after the advent of the Quran.)
The phrase: "for if you do not, then you have not conveyed His message" - implies that the purpose of the revelation is to convey it to others. It implies that it is expected of him.

The two deleted verses:

It is interesting to note that there's only 2 extra verses, because matching the mastery of the Quran with more than 2 verses is impossible. It's impossible to mimic the Quran with more than 2 verses without making mumbo jumbo phrases and sentences that make no sense. The shortest chapter in the Quran is made up of 3 verses, nobody has ever brought 3 verses that match the Quran.
If you think it is to deny the Quran if one were to believe that 9:128-129 are added verses, not belonging to it, then you would also believe that 'Ali disbelieved, according to historical accounts. This is recorded in the history books of Sunni scholars themselves.
We find in Kitab al-Masahif by Ibn Abu Dawud, where he suggests that Umar ibn Al-Khattab considered adding verses 128 and 129 to a separate Surah if they had been three verses instead of two, indicating some recognition of their contentious nature during the compilation of the Quran. It is also mentioned that Zaid bin Thabit found these two verses with only one scribe, namely with Khuzaima ibn Thabit. A whooping 65 scribes to the disposal of prophet Muhammad, and only one had these two verses written down. They still included them, which was unusual given the strict criteria for including verses based on multiple witnesses (Source: Ibn Abu Dawud, Kitab al-Masahif; Al-Suyuti, Al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Quran).
In As-Suyuti's Al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Quran, we read that Ali ibn Abi Talib expressed concerns about additions to the Quran. According to a narration by Muhammad ibn Sirin from Ikrima, Ali refrained from pledging allegiance to Abu Bakr because he believed that something had been added to the Book of God, indicating his suspicion regarding the integrity of certain verses (Source: Al-Suyuti, Al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Quran).
Do you also consider 'Ali to have apostatized? If not, then why would we be? Especially considering the fact that we now even have substantial evidence that two additional verses were added and that precisely these two verses, the verses that always have been shrouded in doubt, that they ruin the 19 code. But when omitted, the code remains in tact.

The verse saying "No falsehood approaches it":

The traditional translation of this verse is:

"Falsehood does not approach it from before or behind; it is a Revelation from the Wise, the Praiseworthy." (The Quran 41:42)

This above is a deviation from the Arabic grammar of the words and the Arabic idiom being used. Let's go through each word, but before doing that, we need to read a few verses before this verse so we get some context:

40: "Indeed, those who are deviating concerning our Âyât (Signs/Verses) are not concealed from Us. Is he who is cast into the Fire better off, or is it the one who safely comes forth on the Day of Resurrection? Go ahead and do whatever you wish. Indeed, He is Seeing of whatever you do."
41: "[these are] indeed those who disbelieved in the Reminder after it came to them. And indeed, it is surely a Mighty Book."
42: "Falsehood does not come to it, neither from its past nor from its future. It is a Revelation from One who is Wise, Praiseworthy."

The phrase: "بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ" (From its past): Literally: "Between his hands" - As I have already explained earlier in this post, this is an idiom which all traditional translators seem to be totally ignorant about. It simply means "his past" or "before him (i.e. his time)."
The phrase: "وَلَا مِنْ خَلْفِهِۦ" (nor from its future): Literally: "And not from after him/it" - The word "Khalfihi" can mean "Behind it" and it can mean "After it." Because the idiom "Bayni yadayhi" precedes it and means "Its past," and has to do with time, therefor "Khalfihi" likewise is about time and should be translated as "its future." The word "Khalaf" is the opposite of the word "Salaf," which is generally taken to mean "predecessors" while "Khalaf" is the opposite, "successors." It is about the past and the successive future.
God is ensuring us that the Quran is immune to falsehood and cannot be corrupted,even if attempts are made to alter it with lies and fabrications. How can this be best demonstrated and proven true? Through a numerical code that preserves every aspect of the text. If a single letter is added or removed, the code fails. This is exactly what Rashad Khalifa discovered during his lifetime. In other words, even if intentional attempts are made to distort the Quran, they will fail because there is a safeguard in place. This verse does not state that people cannot attempt to distort the Quran; anyone can distort its contents (even you or I can do it right now at this current moment). Rather, it means that falsehood cannot successfully infiltrate it at any time and be forever being considered to be the original Quran, thereby ensuring its preservation.
To claim that this verse is implying that nobody ever will be able to distort the Quran and remove or add from it, then you would also essentially be saying that Rashad Khalifa disproved the truthfulness of the Quran because he did just that, he removed two verses from it and millions of Muslims are reading his Quran and fully believe the Quran was distorted while it wasn't (hypothetically).
Another interpretation of this verse (that is fully valid and plausible) is that God is talking about the time during which it is being revealed and written down by scribes. Because the verse ends saying "...It is a Revelation from One who is Wise, Praiseworthy." In other words;

"Falsehood does not come to it neither in its past nor its future, (because) it is a Revelation from a Wise One..."

I.e. It is not falsehood that is being revealed, neither in its past nor will there be any revealed in its future, because it is all from God. The last phrase is what makes this the most likely accurate interpretation.

Weird Sunni translation of this verse exposes their ignorance and thus also their mistranslation of 72:28:

This very verse uses the exact same idiom that 72:28 contains. The "Between his hands" one. This is how traditionalists translate it in this verse (i.e. 41:42):

It cannot be proven false from any angle...
— Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran
Falsehood cannot approach it from before it or from behind it...
— Saheeh International
that cannot be approached by falsehood, neither from its front, nor from its behind...
— T. Usmani
which falsehood cannot touch from any angle...
— M.A.S. Abdel Haleem
Falsehood may not enter it from the front or from the rear...
— A. Maududi (Tafhim commentary)
Falsehood cannot come at it from before it or from behind it...
— M. Pickthall
No falsehood can approach it from before or behind it...
— A. Yusuf Ali
Falsehood cannot come to it from before it or behind it...
— Al-Hilali & Khan

The rendering: "From any angle" is a complete mistranslation because that is not what the Arabic verse says.
The rendering: "its front nor from behind it" - What does this even mean? Does the Quran have front doors and back doors? It is not even an idiom in Arabic, let alone English. These translators just assumed that this is an idiom in both Arabic and English, while the literal translation makes very little sense in both Arabic and English. How would someone come to the Quran with falsehood behind it?
Does it mean "from the frontside" of its cover? And the "backside" of its cover as well? The Quran was not even in book form at that particular time when this verse was revealed, so how is that explained? The fact of the matter is that they have failed to understand this idiom, which is why they also mistranslated the verse where Rashad Khalifa is prophesied:

"Except who He has chosen of a messenger, for indeed he will follow a path from before him (i.e. before his time), and after him will be a (guarding) monitoring."

The same idiom is used in this verse. I see this as a significant sign from our Lord. It seems He used this idiom in these two verses specifically for this very reason, to show that they are ignorant of the Quran's language, its idioms, and that they completely disregard its grammar and structure of the verses and etc. This is why they end up with these awkward phrases like, "Falsehood may not enter it from the front or from the rear," and "Falsehood cannot come at it from before it or from behind it," among others, which we won't delve into any further. Not only is the English grammar appalling, but these statements are also meaningless in English. They pay no attention to this and have likely confused people by the masses.

The only person to claim messengership that has been assassinated is Rashad Khalifa:

It is very notable that, out of all people who ever have claimed messengership (or prophethood), Rashad is the only one who was assassinated. This also speaks volumes. Sure, Sunni Hadiths speak about a few who claimed prophethood and were consequently executed, but we all know how truthful and accurate Sunni Hadiths are.
This is just an interesting tidbit, it speaks volumes to me personally.

Conclusion:

Wasn't everything in Chapter 72 exactly what Rashad Khalifa experienced and accomplished? It undoubtedly was, and it is impossible to deny. Knowing this, a rejector will certainly be called to account and questioned on Judgement Day as to why he rejected and denied something God made confirmable and undeniable.
God has made it evident that the Hadiths are nothing but fabrications and He has made it evident that they even tempered with the Quran. If you keep on believing that the Quran Sunnis uphold is fully from God, you are literally dooming yourself and transgressing against God because He has revealed means for us that enables us to confirm Rashad's claims. You are part of the problem. What is the difference between you and a Kâfir (disbeliever) of the past such as those who opposed prophet Muhammad? Nothing at all. So fear God and submit to Him fully.
I urge you, O Muslims, to fear God! O people, fear God, because denying a messenger of God renders you an apostate or a Kâfir (a rejector who covers the truth after knowing it). You have no right to deny Rashad Khalifa. God did not send a messenger and allowed you to keep living your life doubting him or totally disregarding him. Imagine if the early Muslims behaved like that? Do you think God would have been pleased with them? All the excuses I have found online are very weak and based on flawed analogies and fallacious reasonings, such as "God said that every messenger was sent to people who spoke his mother tongue, therefore, Rashad must be a fake messenger." And these people actually believe this will be a plausible excuse on the Day of Judgement🤦‍♂️.
Fear God, O believers, and submit to Him fully! You have been shown the truth, and it is now upon you to testify it. How you do that is your decision to make.
Another major excuse people use is that Rashad supposedly claimed that his Quran translation was divinely inspired/guided, and this is nothing but a lie. Nowhere has he claimed this (as far as I know). There are interviews on YouTube where you can clearly hear him saying that he made a personal promise to God in a supplication that he would not move past a word (while translating) until he fully understood its definition. This does not mean "My translation was guided/inspired by God Himself."
Remember this Statement God made concerning those who are rendered incapable of seeing His Signs:

"I will turn away from My Âyât [i.e. Signs/Verses] those who are arrogant in the earth without right. And if they see every Sign, they will not believe in it, and if they see the path of right guidance, they will not adopt it as a path, and if they see the path of misguidance, they will adopt it as a path. That is because they denied Our Âyât (Signs/Verses) and were heedless of them." (The Quran 7:146)

With this, I end this article, and may God open your hearts to Truth and guide us all and keep us steadfast upon His Straight Path until we die, âmîn.
/ By your brother, Exion.

In the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Gracious.
Peace be with you!
Before I begin this article, I want to make an open declaration:
I testify that Rashad Khalifa was a messenger of God, the messenger of the Covenant whom God sent to the world in order to show us that the Quran was fully conveyed, fully preserved and fully enumerated in numbers and codes that still serve as a guard against corruption.

Introduction:

There's always been a lingering question in my mind about the Egyptian researcher whose name was Rashad Khalifa (God bless his soul). I never fully rejected him because of the Miracle 19 code he unveiled to the world. I always wondered, "Why would God allow an imposter to discover such an amazing miracle?" However, I always postponed doing thorough research about him and his claims, until a few days ago. Someone posted a thread here about him which prompted me to finally sit down and conduct deep research. This investigation revealed undeniable evidence that he indeed was a true messenger of God. I am literally still perplexed while writing this post. It doesn't make sense to me how the entire Ummah is so blind, as these things I have discovered are literally right there in the Quran, stated in very clear words. I know that Rashad did point out a verse which implied that it would be revealed, but I don't think it was as explicit as what I just noticed has been mistranslated and/or widely misunderstood.
This article will not deal with hidden messages or codes, in case you don't believe in those. Instead, I will discuss clear prophecies from the Quran that have been undeniably fulfilled by the messenger of God, Rashad Khalifa.
I will talk about Chapter 72 "The Jinn." This chapter is perhaps one of the most researched in the Submitters community, primarily because it contains hidden prophecies and because Rashad Khalifa's name is embedded in it mathematically and numerically. However, due to our deep engagement with the numerical aspects, we have somewhat neglected the actual context of what is being said. One of the main reasons why I previously have been reluctant when it comes to Rashad is because he claimed to have been told by Gabriel about the specific timing of the Hour. Now, after having conducted research where I discovered that the Quran literally is saying that a future messenger will reveal its "Ghayb" (Unseen), and verses saying that God would reveal its timing in the future to this future messenger, it has become very clear that Rashad could not have been an imposter.
Without further ado, let's begin this post.

The prophecy of revealing the timing of the Hour: "None reveals its due time except Him":

God states in the Quran:

يَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَنِ ٱلسَّاعَةِ أَيَّانَ مُرْسَىٰهَا ۖ قُلْ إِنَّمَا عِلْمُهَا عِندَ رَبِّى ۖ لَا يُجَلِّيهَا لِوَقْتِهَآ إِلَّا هُوَ ۚ ثَقُلَتْ فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ لَا تَأْتِيكُمْ إِلَّا بَغْتَةًۭ ۗ يَسْـَٔلُونَكَ كَأَنَّكَ حَفِىٌّ عَنْهَا ۖ قُلْ إِنَّمَا عِلْمُهَا عِندَ ٱللَّهِ وَلَـٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ ٱلنَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ

Translation:

"They ask you about the Hour, 'When will it be?' Say, 'Its knowledge is only with my Lord. None reveals its due time except Him. It became heavy upon the heavens and the earth. It will not come upon you except suddenly.' They ask you as if you are well-informed about it. Say, 'Its knowledge is only with God, but most of the people do not know.'" (The Quran 7:187)

The phrase: "يُجَلِّيهَا" (yujallihâ) is a verb in Arabic that means "he/she reveals it" or "he/she uncovers it." With "لَا" (Lâ) before it, it becomes a negated verb in the present tense and should be rendered as; "No one reveals it" The "it" here is the knowledge of "when," hence; "When will it be?' Say, 'Its knowledge is..."
The phrase: لِوَقْتِهَا (Liwaqtiha): It is a prepositional phrase in Arabic that translates to "at its time", "its due time" or "Its proper time" in English. The negating phrase that precedes it makes it: "No one reveals its due time..." The revelation of its timing is emphasized, and not the actual event itself. This is very important to understand.
The phrase: إِلَّا هُوَ (illa hu), this is an exception clause that signifies exclusivity, meaning "except Him."
In other words, only God is the One who reveals its due time, which directly also means that God will reveal its due time at some point in the future. If this is not the case, then why was the prophet directed to say that nobody reveals its due time except God? It's not a sentence that negates the revelation of its timing, but rather a sentence that specifies who the Revealer will be, by negating everyone else other than God.
But then the verse continues and states something very interesting:

ثَقُلَتْ فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ

Which translates to:

"It became heavy upon the heavens and the earth"

This implies that it (i.e. its knowledge) already was with them at that time because it "became/was heavy," which is a past tense statement in Arabic. During that particular time, only God knew (i.e. during the revelation of this verse), but its knowledge was within the Quran, embedded in it. Because what is it that became so heavy upon the heavens and the earth if not the knowledge of its timing? The topic of discussion is the knowledge of "when." It doesn't seem to be the event itself as it is speaking in past tense terms.
Quick re-analysis of the entire verse:

Phrase: يَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَنِ ٱلسَّاعَةِ أَيَّانَ مُرْسَىٰهَا: They ask you about the Hour, "When will it be?"
Phrase: قُلْ إِنَّمَا عِلْمُهَا عِندَ رَبِّى: Say, "Its knowledge is with my Lord."
Phrase: لَا يُجَلِّيهَا لِوَقْتِهَآ إِلَّا هُوَ: None reveals its due time except Him.
Phrase: ثَقُلَتْ فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ: It became heavy (or "weighed heavy") upon the heavens and the earth.
Phrase: لَا تَأْتِيكُمْ إِلَّا بَغْتَةًۭ: It will not come to you except suddenly.
Phrase: يَسْـَٔلُونَكَ كَأَنَّكَ حَفِىٌّ عَنْهَا: They ask you as if you are well informed about it.
Phrase: قُلْ إِنَّمَا عِلْمُهَا عِندَ ٱللَّهِ: Say, "Its knowledge is with God."
Phrase: وَلَـٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ ٱلنَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ: But most people do not know.

This is the only instance that seems to emphasize the actual event itself and not the knowledge of its timing:

"It will not come to you except suddenly"

So I don't really understand how some people see this verse as a rebuttal against Rashad's claim.
In another verse, God states:

ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَنزَلَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ بِٱلْحَقِّ وَٱلْمِيزَانَ ۗ وَمَا يُدْرِيكَ لَعَلَّ ٱلسَّاعَةَ قَرِيبٌۭ

Which translates to:

"It is God Who sent down the Book with the Truth and the Balance and whatever makes you know that the Hour might be near." (The Quran 42:17)

The phrase: يُدْرِي (yudrī): "he/it makes know" (third person singular masculine).
The suffix: كَ (ka): "you" (second person singular masculine).
Sunnis interpret it as "and what will make you realize that the Hour might be near?" i.e. as a question. But the focus is on the continuous action of God 'sending down' various things, including the thing that informs us that the Hour is near. Also, the word "يُدْرِيكَ" (yudrīka) is present tense, their English translations say; "what will make you know," which is future tense. They've been unfaithful in their translations just so they could cover up the prophecy.
The traditionalists have disregarded the grammar completely just to hide the fact that this verse says what it says. The knowledge of the timing of the Hour was always present within the Quran. The reason why He said "might be" is because it was obscured and there was a messenger to come that would be given instructions on how to uncover it. Had He not said "might" then He would have disclosed that it actually is near.
Traditionalists interpret it the following ways:

"And what will make you perceive? Perhaps the Hour is near."
"How can you tell? The Last Hour may well be near:"
"And what will make thee realise that perhaps the Hour is close at hand?"

All of their translations totally deviate grammatically. Also, removing the "," and "?" gives it a consistent flow. The entire sentence is a statement and all of it is connected to "it is Who sent down...":
God has sent down:

• The Book with the Truth
• The Balance
• That which would make us realize that the Hour has drawn near.

Crystal clear!

Chapter 72 - The chosen messenger with the knowledge of the the timing of the Hour:

This is where I became fully convinced about Rashad. While I was translating this chapter, I did so genuinely and have spent days looking through dictionaries and Arabic grammar rules and etc. There is no denying this man anymore.
Let's start with the 23rd verse.

Verse 72:23:

"(Mine is) but a conveyance from God and His messages; and whoso disobeys God and His messenger, then for him is the fire of hell, wherein he will abide forever."

The verse depicts Prophet Muhammad being directed by God to say this sentence, emphasizing that his task was solely a conveyance from God and His messages, which we all know to be the Quran. We are reminded that Prophet Muhammad's task not to interpret it (as the traditionalists claim). This is also what God explicitly says in 75:18-19. The chapter continues and reveals a crystal clear prophecy:

• 24: "Until when they see what they are promised, then they will know who is a weaker supporter and fewer in numbers."
  
• 25: "Say, 'I do not know whether that which you are promised is near, or my Lord has appointed for it a distant term.'
  
• 26: "[God is] the Knower of the Unseen, and He reveals unto none His unseen,"
  

- 27: "Except who He has chosen of a messenger, for indeed he will follow a path from before him (i.e. before his time), and after him will be a (guarding) monitoring."

Breakdown:

The phrase: "Until when they see what they are promised": Meaning the Hour. God says:

"Verily that which ye are promised is true; And lo! The Judgment will indeed befall." (51:5-6)

Many have totally missed this and I am a bit confused about how all of us could have missed it. I've googled a bit and haven't found anyone address this specific verse. When God says, "That which you are promised" in the Quran, it is usually the Hour that is being referred to.

• The phrase: "I do not know whether that which you are promised is near, or my Lord has appointed for it a distant term.": Prophet Muhammad is instructed to say that he has no knowledge of the timing of the Hour, whether it is near or far in the future. This verse also contradicts the Sunni Hadiths, which claim that the prophet allegedly indicated the Hour is near by signaling with his two fingers attached to each other.
• The phrase: "and He reveals unto none His Unseen": God does not reveal this "ghayb" (the Unseen) of the Hour to anyone, and then Says this:
• The phrase: "Except who He has chosen of a messenger": Except to this chosen messenger, which indeed was none other than Rashad Khalifa, God bless his soul and that of every messenger and prophet of God.

The word "ٱرْتَضَىٰ" is in past tense and translates to; "He Has chosen," which implies that it is not a general statement about what God does in regards to messengers in general, but rather something God indeed intends to do in the future with a specific messenger that already is chosen. It is talking about a future scenario because of the latter part of the verse where a word that is in a "non-past" tense is used, unabeling us to interpret it as something that already has occurred.
The word "يَسْلُكُ" (yasluku) comes from the root س-ل-ك (s-l-k), which generally means to follow a path, to enter upon a way, or to make a way through something:

Word: سَلَكَ • (salaka) I, non-past يَسْلُكُ‎ (yasluku)
to follow a road, to wend, to travel along
to enter upon a course
to behave, to comport oneself
to proceed, to act
to set foot, to enter

Source: wiktionary.org
The يَـ (ya-): This prefix indicates third person singular masculine in the present-future tense and could be "He" or "It."
And سْلُكُ (sluku): The verb stem from the root س-ل-ك (s-l-k) meaning "follow a path"
This word is rendered as; "he will follow a path/way," as it is a "non-past" word. In Arabic grammar, the term "non-past" refers to the verb forms that are used to indicate both present and future actions. Unlike in English, where we distinctly separate present and future tenses, Arabic uses a single form that can convey either present or future tense depending on the context or additional particles that specify the time frame. Now here's the tricky part; "Yasluku" is a non-past tense word, which means that it could be both present and future tense, there's nothing that specifies the tense for us in the preceding words except for the past tense phrase "He has chosen," but because nobody but God knew of the "Ghayb" of the Hour at the time of the revelation of this verse, "Yasluku" (He will follow) must be understood as a future tense word, and can't be present tense, because this messenger was not yet there. We are forced to decide its tense based on the context of these verses and what they are saying.
The verse that follows it includes elements of past actions ("they have conveyed," "He has encompassed," "He has counted"), but the purpose clause "so that he may make evident" (لِّيَعْلَمَ) indicates a future revelation to prove these past actions. This suggests a future-oriented purpose or consequence, where the revelation/clarification is yet to occur.
Therefore, the verse is referring to a future incident or happening in the sense that it is pointing towards a future clarification regarding past actions, which also proves that the verse before it also should be future tense. This is something that traditionalists totally have disregarded.
Take a look at how Sunnis translate "يَسْلُكُ":

(72:27:7) yasluku = makes to march

But in other instances:

(16:69:6) fa-us'lukī = and follow (71:20:1) litaslukū = That you may go along (72:17:8) yasluk'hu = He will make him enter

Why this discrepancy? Why have they chosen, not the primary, not the secondary, but rather some quinary definition of this word here for this specific verse to say "March"? Because translating it faithfully exposes them and it would contradict their fabricated Hadiths.
Accurate Translation and Breakdown:

إِلَّا (illâ):
Except
مَنِ (mani):
who
ٱرْتَضَىٰ (irtadâ):
He has chosen
مِن (min):
Of
رَّسُولٍۢ (rasûl):
a Messenger
فَإِنَّهُۥ (fa-innahu):
Then indeed, he
يَسْلُكُ (yasluku):
He will proceed upon a way/will follow a way, He will causes him to follow a way
مِنۢ (min):
From
بَيْنِ (bayni):
Between
يَدَيْهِ (yadayhi):
his hands

The phrase: "between his hands": Idiomatically meaning, "before him" i.e. a time before him.
Same idiom is used here:

"...confirming that which was before him (lit: "between his hands") in the Torah." (The Quran 5:46)

The last part of the verse (i.e. 72:28):

"...and after him will be a (guarding) observation/monitoring."

The future tense "Will be" is added here because of what I've explained earlier.
The phrase; "رَصَدًۭا" (Raṣadan) literally means "an observation/monitoring." They have done the same unfaithful misinterpretation and mistranslation here too. This is how they have rendered it:

"and behind him observers"
"angel-guards before and behind them"
"watchers to go in front and behind"
"guards who go before him and behind him"
"and a guard behind him"
"march before him and behind him,"
"watching guards (angels) to march before him and behind him."

This word comes from the root "ر-ص-د" (R-S-D), which carries the meaning of observing, monitoring or lying in wait. Edward William Lane (d. 1876) wrote in his Arabic-English lexicon (where he defines "رصد") that it implies (or could imply); "for the purpose of guarding," but it does not literally translate to "guards" in English. This word (i.e. Rasadan) can be translated as "a monitoring," "an observation," or "lying in wait," and one could add "guarding" in brackets for deeper clarification of its definition. The 9th verse of this chapter also uses this same word:

"And we used to sit on places therein to listen. But he who listens now finds a flame in wait for him;" (72:9)

But means "in wait" here because "...finds a flame in observation/monitoring for him." makes no sense.
The traditionalists render it as, "a guard(s)," and the only place they have rendered it like this is this very verse:

(72:27:13) raṣadan = a guard

While in other verses, they've rendered it (I would say somewhat) accurately:

(72:9:13) raṣadan= waiting
(78:21:4) mir'ṣādan = lying in wait
(89:14:3) labil-mir'ṣādi = (is) surely Ever Watchful
(9:5:14) marṣadin = place of ambush
(9:107:9) wa-ir'ṣādan = and (as) a station

Source: https://corpus.quran.com/qurandictionary.jsp?q=rSd#(72:27:13))
It is quite revealing that they have mistranslated this word in this particular instance where God is conveying this prophecy.
The word "Rasadan" (رَصَدًا) in Arabic, when used in the Quran, typically refers to something set up or placed as a means of observing, guarding, or waiting. It can be associated with concepts like watchfulness, surveillance, or a place where someone lies in wait:

1. Description of a place: "Rasadan" can refer to a place where one waits or watches.
2. Description of an object: It can also describe an object used for observing or watching.
3. Description of an event: It might describe the act of waiting, observing, or watching for something to occur.

It could also describe a general description of a time. It is not used to describe people. Simply put, it describes a place, object, or event related to observation, surveillance, or waiting, and is not used to describe people. Why traditionalists have chosen to interpret it as "guards," "angels," or other entities is very puzzling, especially given that there is no inherent singular or plural form, nor anything that implies it refers to entities. It is a noun, not a verb, so it does not have tense or person as verbs do, and it is not conjugated for tense or person. I genuinely wish a Sunni could respond to this post and elaborate on why all of their Quran translations have rendered this word in such an unfaithful way.
The verse continues; "Wa min Khalfihi" (and after him), which they have rendered as "and before him." While this is possible and is not technically a mistranslation, the word that follows is "Rasadan" and is not in plural or singular and literally just means "an observation/monitoring." You can triple check every Arabic dictionary in the world to confirm that I am not just making stuff up here.
Their misinterpretation is achieved by deviating from the accurate grammar behind each word. To be able to make an erroneous interpretation such as theirs, they've ignored the specific numbers of words, their persons, their tenses and much more:

• - He will follow a way from before him = This entire phrase is in 3rd person singular in Arabic, and likewise in my English translation.
• - And after him = This is also in third person singular, just as it is in Arabic, i.e., "Khalfihi."
• - A monitoring = No tense or person or anything that implies that it is an entity.

What is this "a (guarding) monitoring"?

The guarding monitoring that would be after him, I interpret to be the miracle code of the Quran that Rashad discovered, the Miracle 19 and other mathematical codes that have been found within the Quran. These miracles not only act as a safeguard against corruption and tampering but we are in a time where we are literally able to monitor the entire Book through monitors and use Miracle 19 to confirm that the entire Quran is with us, which is interesting to note. The literal text states that an observation/monitoring will be after him. We are indeed the first witnesses of this fulfilled prophecy and we are living in the time where the monitoring is being done.
Understanding all of this obliges us to accept Rashad's claim of messengership and never doubt him again.
The last verse of this chapter is the most intriguing and most telling one,

but this post is too long and doesn't allow more characters so check the comment section to find part 2.

I'm using Kaguya from the war after stabilizing and taking more Chakra from the Shinobi alliance, so basically Kaguya from chapter 689, whom I think is her strongest form. And I'm only doing Shippuden for today.
DMS Kakashi
DMS Kakashi. He has the speed to blitz her. . Both Kamui Raikiri and Kamui Shuriken are perfect durability negations that have both been shown to work. Not only this, he's been shown to react to multiple attacks from her, even able to Kamui them away. Oh yeah and he can phase through everything she does so it's a perfect defense
Win conditions for Kakashi: speed blitz+aim for her head with either Kamui Raikiri or Kamui Shuriken
Biiju Susanoo Sasuke and Ashura avatar Naruto: It's literally stated they acquired the strongest power. Not only that, but Sasuke himself states it. Not only that, boil release is stated to give him unparalleled strength and it was even able to overpower Kaguya . His Biiju Rasenshuriken is stayed to be the ultimate technique too, so as long as he has more power than his enemies it would be OP af. So not only do they have the power advantage, but they can amp themselves further and have massively superior techniques and not to mention intelligence
Wincons: One shot with durability negating Giant Rasenshurikens that are already stronger than Kaguya or just obliterate her with Indra's arrow. Speed shouldn't be a problem either seeing how many times Naruto alone tagged Kaguya during their fight and now they're both massively amped in that too
Sakura: Sakura gave all her Chakra to Obito ans couldn't use 100 healings after this. Despite this Sakura in base was able to so noticable damage to Kaguya with just a punch. I explained on my last post how Sakura is actually equal to EOS Naruto and Sasuke, but these two statements are the key points: she has better AP than both of them and she'll never fall behind them . Oh yeah she also has insane regen
Wincons: Blitz+strong punch
Conclusion: EOS team 7 all individually no-low diff her lol and also Juubidara (just saying)

This theory isn’t super serious. It’s mostly just having some fun and is mostly based on ~feelings~
Bonus chapter from ACOSF has Feyre and Rhysand naming their baby. Rhysand says he would never name their son something ridiculous. Feyre says she doesn’t believe him because his family name, and Rhysand acts like he hates his surname.
ANYWAY, after reading HOFAS, I am wondering if Rhys’ surname is… Quinlan.
Reasons:
Quinlan basically means “attractive form” which… if that’s part of their language and known would be kind of embarrassing. Edit just to add the meaning of his two names together: Since Rhysand basically means “enthusiastic” Rhysand Quinlan would mean “enthusiastic hot body”, essentially.

The petite female seemed to repeat Bryce’s words to the others. The female with the tattooed hands asked Bryce a question in their language. The petite one translated: “She wants to know what your name is.”
Bryce glanced from the tattooed female to the beautiful male at her side. They both possessed an air of quiet, gentle authority. The others all seemed to wait for their cues. So Bryce addressed the two of them as she lifted her chin. “My name is Bryce Quinlan.”
The male stepped forward, tucking in his wings. He smiled slightly and said in the Old Language, in a voice like glorious night, “Hello, Bryce Quinlan. My name is Rhysand.”

It’s when Bryce says her name that Rhysand finally says something.
Then, in HOFAS when Rhysand is making introductions

Rhysand snapped his fingers and three chairs appeared behind them. He sank gracefully onto one, crossing an ankle over a knee. The epitome of Fae beauty and arrogance. He glanced up at his companions. “Azriel.” He motioned lazily to the male. Then to the female. “Amren.”
Then he motioned to Bryce and said neutrally, “Bryce … Quinlan.”

It’s the pause Rhys makes before announcing Bryce’s surname that strikes me as weird and is basically why I think Rhys’ last name is Quinlan, or some version of it. The pause could be indicative of him not remembering the name, but I think it’s fun to think it’s because he’s a bit incredulous she has the same last name as him. We know they’re distantly related, and maybe learning her name is why they decided to treat her nicer than they would others who show up in the same situation.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
We pulled off I-51 a little after midnight, stopping at a truck stop which was couched between the highway and a large forest.
We waited in the van for ten minutes or so. Trent had increased the sonar radius to its maximum of 30 miles a little over an hour ago. Somehow the red pings had kept up with us, holding a steady distance of around 20 miles. Considering we were averaging around 80 mph, and a coyote's top speed is only around 40 mph, we figured they had been enhanced in some way. Either that, or they shape-shifted into something faster. Regardless, now that we had stopped, we waited to see if the demon spawn would try and close the distance. Luckily, or unluckily, they didn't. They kept their 20 mile buffer, but we noticed they were beginning to spread out along the circumference of that boundary.
"We're close. They know that, so they're trying to trap us in." Trent said.
"Trying to?—more like they have."
We considered whether we should stay in the van and keep watch, but we figured that would do us little good. At their speed, they could be on us in ten minutes, which means we would need to stay up all night and keep tabs on their positions. Trent offered to stay up, of course, but I shut him down.
"The demon doesn't want to kill us now. You said it yourself. Plus, we need our rest. If they come, they come."
Trent didn't like it, but he acquiesced.
The truck stop had all the essentials: a gas station and mini mart with showers and an attached McDonald's, a large parking lot for truckers to idle and sleep, and even a section with lodging for those who wanted a more comfortable night's rest. I told Trent that he should take advantage of the showers, and after a little convincing, he agreed. While he was cleaning himself up, I patrolled the dingy, half-stocked aisles of "Daisy's Quick Mart". I probably would have been appalled at the quality of the store had I actually been paying any attention to it whatsoever. But I wasn't. I was thinking hard about what awaited me tomorrow.
During the drive, I had asked Trent why the demon would want us to return to the crash site. What did he mean that I would be 'confronting a dark entity in a place he couldn't help me'? He seemed hesitant to answer, but my little stunt outside the storage facility seemed to have sufficiently motivated him.
"When I said I've never done this before, I meant it." Trent started. "I've never done this exact thing before—meaning I've never projected someone into the past."
"So, I'm time traveling?" I asked.
"No—don't think of it like that." Trent paused, trying to come up with a good explanation. "It's more like I'm opening a window for you to look through: not a door. You're going to see the past, but you can't interact with the physicalities there. But that doesn't mean you can't interact with anything."
There was a space of silence as Trent tried to let me work out his meaning for myself. "I don't get it. Are you saying there's something I can interact with? Like what?" And then it hit me. "The demon. The demon can interact with me? Meaning what? It can kill me?"
"Meaning… I'm not exactly sure. You're going to be in a kind of psychic space. If it does damage, it won't be to your body. It'll be to your mind—or spirit. But I don't know what the limits of that damage could be. I just don't have those answers."
"If you've never done this, how do you know any of it will work?"
"That's an easy one." Trent answered. "Because it's been done to me."
There was silence.
"Look, if I know anything, I know my tech. Don't doubt that this will work. It's my job to make sure it does. I just need you to be in the right mental for this. Just because it knows your coming doesn't mean it automatically has the upper hand. It won't be able to see you unless you make contact with it first. In other words, you have to initiate contact. As long as you remain a spectator, you should be okay. Trust me. Just don't make contact."
I started pacing faster—fast enough to catch the attention of the overnight shift worker, a young man whose name I can't quite remember. I know it started with a "J". Jake, maybe? Anyway, he asked if I was alright, to which I responded in the affirmative. He left me alone for another couple passes, but when I almost ran into one of the shelves, he stood up and said, "Uh—I'm going to have to ask you to stop running around. I don't want you to hurt yourself."
I must have stared daggers at him, because he recoiled from my gaze. What's gotten into me? I thought. Then, steadying myself, I apologized. I looked around and grabbed the nearest edible looking piece of merchandise: a bag of Swedish Fish, and placed it down on the counter. "Just this, please."
The cashier rang me up. It was surprisingly cheap.
"Are you sure you're alright?" the young man asked. He was tall with brown hair. He seemed tired—maybe even more tired than me. But he also seemed kind.
I smiled as best I could and said, "No, I'm not. But there's not really anything you can do. Hell, there might not be anything I can do." I furrowed my eyebrows at my own response, realizing that imminent death may have broken my verbal filter.
On the other hand, the cashier did not seem surprised at all. "Ah, I see. It's one of those problems." He responded. "Well, hey, for what it's worth, you seem like one of the resilient ones. I think you'll be alright."
I only smiled and nodded at his mildly cryptic comment. Looking back, the whole interaction was a bit strange, but I had way too much mental clutter to recognize that in the moment. I took my Swedish Fish and walked through the anteroom which led to McDonald's. I found an open yellow booth that wasn't littered with crumpled straw sleeves and sat down, chomping mindlessly on my little red fish until Trent returned. When he arrived, he took my place, and I went to shower. After we were both clean and fed, we returned to the van. The pings were still pushed safely out of harm's way. But that didn't mean we were out of harm's way. Trent asked me if I wanted to sleep in the van, saying that "it'd be the safest place."
I thought it over. He was right, obviously. The van was not only outfitted with weapons I couldn't even begin to understand, but it was also our escape, and it would be just as difficult, if not more difficult to break into than the studio-style motel rooms with their wood doors and big windows. Still, if this was going to be my last night on earth, I wanted to sleep in a bed. A real bed. Trent understood and said he'd stay parked right outside my room for the night.
After purchasing a key from the night attendant, I moseyed over to the cement walkways which connected the twenty or so rooms. Mine was room #56, which I thought was odd since, like I said, there were only 20 rooms. I lugged in my tomato plushie and dad's old book and placed them on the queen mattress.
"I'll be right outside." Trent said after I collapsed onto the bed.
"Trent," I called out, stopping him half-way through the door.
"Yeah?"
All the blood in my body rushed up to my face as I realized my unfiltered mouth almost reflexively said the word "stay". I stared at Trent, my heart beating, my face hot. I considered asking him to sleep on the floor like my dad, but that would be childish and impolite. The alternative was to share my bed… Or I could take the floor.
"I'll just be right outside." Trent said before my mind processed a solution. "Come by if you need anything. I'll be up most of the night anyway."
"Okay," I replied in a faint voice.
Trent shut the door.
I sat atop the bedsheets and acquainted myself with my new living space. A feeling of regret closed over me as I considered that even sleeping on a carseat would have been better if it meant I didn't have to be alone. With a sigh, I turned on the bedside lamp and grabbed the book and stuffed tomato, using the tomato as a backrest as I slipped my legs under the covers and situated the book upright on my thighs. I cracked it open and was immediately blasted with a puff of dusty, old book scent. It was ripe at first, and I turned my head away to sneeze, but as I perused through the pages, the scent grew on me. It reminded me of the days growing up when I'd step into dad's study and read through one of the many volumes on cryptic topics which were at least two college degrees above my Lexile range.
I was only a couple minutes into browsing the collection of different scientific and philosophical works when I came across a page which contained highlighted text. This was unusual, as my dad would never mark up his books. He was a purist on that point. I rubbed my thumb over the yellow lines, and sure enough, it was highlighter.
The highlighted text was part of a small book by Carl Jung called "Synchronicity". There were a total of three pages that were marked, and they advanced like this:
Page 5:
The philosophical principle that underlies our conception of natural law is causality*. But if the connection between cause and effect turns out to be only statistically valid and relatively true, then the causal principle is only of relative use for explaining natural processes… That is as much to say that the connection of events may in certain circumstances be other than causal, and require another principle of explanation.*
Page 19:
…there are events which are related to one another experimentally, and in this case meaningfully*, without there being any possibility of proving that this relation is a causal one, since the "transmission" exhibits none of the known properties of energy…a situation which does not yet exist and will only occur in the future could transmit itself as a phenomenon of energy to a receiver in the present…Therefore, it cannot be a question of cause and effect, but of a falling together in time, a kind of simultaneity... "synchronicity"*
Page 22:
A young woman I was treating had, at a critical moment, a dream in which she was given a golden scarab. While she was telling me this dream I sat with my back to the closed window. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me, like a gentle tapping. I turned round and saw a flying insect knocking against the window pane from outside. I opened the window and caught the creature in the air as it flew in. It was the nearest analogy to a golden scarab that one finds in our latitudes, a scarabaeid beetle, the common rose-chafer… which contrary to its usual habits had evidently felt an urge to get into a dark room at this particular moment.
I flipped through the rest of the pages of the book. There was no more highlighted text, but there was a message on the last page which read:
Matthew 7:7-8
I'll meet you in the darkest place.
He also included his typical smiley face which had an ovular shape and three sprouts of hair which I now realized kind of resembled my tomato plushie. It was my dad's writing, of course. But why? And how? What did this mean?
The motel had a Bible stashed away in the nighstand drawer. I got it out and looked up the verses which read the following:
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
I spent maybe an hour ruminating on all of this. The whole discourse on energy and causality and a "falling together in time" just seemed so right. It was clear that my dad definitely did know what I was going through, but for whatever reason, he made it seem like he was oblivious. Why had he hidden that from me? I felt like I was being pulled in two directions. On the one hand, my dad loved me enough to leave this note, maybe even knowing the exact moment I'd need it. But on the other hand, he had neglected my struggles throughout my entire childhood. He even lied at times. Was this really enough to make up for all of that?
And then there was the section about the future transmitting energy to the past. I read back through the whole paragraph and the original writer had meant it to say this as something that wasn't possible, but my dad's highlighting made it seem like he wanted to flip the meaning. The future does affect the past. I thought about where I was headed and wondered if I would soon discover that for myself.
Lastly, dad's message. The Bible verse reminded me of the first time I prayed; how I reached out to God and received peace as an answer to my prayer. Now I feel like I'm actively seeking… something, but I don't know yet what I'll find. And then there's knocking. At first that reminded me of the story with the beetle tapping on the window, but then I went back even deeper in my memory and dug out the monster tapping at my window, and the words my dad spoke to me in order to set my mind at ease: "you're a superhero. And you know what your greatest superpower is? Your greatest power is you get to tell the monsters what to do. Because the monsters are only as strong as the stories you tell about them…so if you're ever scared, honey, just dream up a better story."
I was crying into my stuffed tomato now. I felt like all the blinking pieces of my life had finally been pulled together into a completed puzzle. This was all by design. My entire life, filled with so much chaos and confusion, was actually preparing me for this moment. And my dad thought I had the tools and strength enough to get through it. I flipped through the book one more time, thinking maybe he had left some other hidden comment—some formula to defeat this demon and return home. But there was nothing. Only that one comment: "I'll meet you in the darkest place."
What's the darkest place, dad? Is that where I'm going? Are you saying you'll be there, too?
With those thoughts in mind, my eyes became heavy shutters which, with a slight pressure on the pulley, winded shut. My swimming thoughts and firework-like fears dissipated, and I returned to a precious childhood memory. It was after an evening soccer practice. Summer. Dad was driving me to Dairy Queen. I got a cherry-dipped twist cone. I was happy.
So, so happy.
***
I woke up to sunlight blaring through my windows. Shit, I overslept, was my immediate thought. I threw off my covers and opened the front door. A glance at the clock showed 1:13 PM. I shouldn't have even been allowed to stay checked in this long. Damn, am I gonna get double-billed for this?
I heard a rummaging sound around the corner of my motel room. It sounded like a squirrel was trying to find an afternoon snack in one of the garbage bins. I stepped outside. The sun was extremely bright, to the point where I had to squint and put my hand over my eyes to even see the ground in front of me. I was trying to walk toward the van, but somehow I ended up in front of the trash bins where the animal's tail was sticking out from a turned-over, silver garbage can. Its tail was wagging excitedly, and I remember thinking that it was much too large to be a squirrel.
The animal bent down as if biting onto something, and I heard the sound of its growl as it struggled to tug whatever it was free from the barrel. Inch by inch, the creature backed out of the canister, and more of its sharp, sticky hair was revealed. I heard something snap, then the creature leapt back and I saw what it was chomping on. My eyes widened in horror as the pink tube of a human intestine was pulled taut like the end of a tangled hose. Blood and entrails were spilling out of the human's opened gut. And then, behind the canine, I saw the person's face. His face was pale white, his eyes closed, and his hair was slicked back… It was Trent.
Before I could react, I heard footsteps approaching from behind. I whirled around and saw my dad. But—no, it wasn't him. It was someone wearing a paper-mache face mask that was painted to look like my dad. The forehead of the mask was already beginning to crack, white specks breaking off like sawdust. Through the cracks, I could see the figure's true form. I didn't know darkness had its own type of light, but that's the only way to describe it. It was as if malevolence itself was reified into a skin which was actually an amalgamation of millions of little, oozing parasites that leached into the nearby light. When it finally spoke, the demon's voice was a full octave lower than the old man's at the deli. And it had an earth-stilling gravitas.
"Today's the day!" He sang and reached into his pocket. His lips curled upward into a foxy smirk. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this day." He said and held up a razor blade. Half his facade had already fallen apart, and now I could see the bugs up close, writhing in what was either horror or ecstasy. And his scent… it was somehow more rank than the rabid coyote rummaging through the trash can with Trent's cut open body inside. The demon closed in on my position, and in one, decisive motion, he brought the blade close to his chin, then sliced it across my throat. "Wake up!" He screamed.
I jumped out of my bed and grabbed my throat, feeling the cold sting of its quick slice. Hyperventilating, I patted the area down, trying to hold the blood in, but when I removed my hands, I saw they were dry. It was only a dream, I thought. Gray light was only beginning to filter in through the drapes. I'm in my hotel room. I'm safe. I tried consoling, but the pragmatic mental massages weren't enough to hold the force of my knees buckling. I dropped onto the carpet and cried for a long while.
Outside, rain was beginning to fall.
***
By the time I met up with Trent, I had already composed myself and decided to keep my dad's message and the nightmare to myself. None of it seemed particularly productive from a logistical standpoint, anyway. And I wanted to focus on the mission.
We stopped by McDonald's and bought a couple cups of coffee. Trent asked if I wanted any food, and I declined. Black coffee seemed like the only thing my stomach could take at the present moment. I could tell Trent was hungry, but he tried playing it off (I guess to be respectful of me?) I told him to knock it off and get something to eat. I didn't need my Charon getting lightheaded and dropping the paddle before he finished rowing me to Hell. He didn't care much for my joke, but he ordered a couple Chicken McGriddles at the kiosk anyway.
There were maybe ten patrons spread throughout the restaurant. We sat down at the same booth from the prior night, this time across from one another. Trent spent the first ten minutes or so babbling about our fuel supply and the logistics of the trip from here on in. Practical stuff. I've come to realize that's how he deals with his stress. He talks it out in short, durable sentences. I mostly nodded and watched as what looked like a storm front closed in on the truck stop. The sky was overcast, and there were darker clouds in the distance. The rain was still only a patter, but a middle-aged man wearing a yellow bow tie on the wall-mounted TV confirmed that there would be heavier rain and thunderstorms very soon.
After the worker delivered Trent's food and he ate it in record time, I posed the one question that was still on my mind.
"How do I fight him?" I asked.
Trent finished a large gulp of his coffee, then looked at me. It was the first substantial thing I'd said all morning; Trent could tell something was off with me, but he figured there was no point in asking what it was. "By 'him', I assume you mean the demon?"
I nodded.
Trent licked his teeth clean. "You could try praying again."
"I'm serious," I responded.
"I'm serious, too. It worked before, didn't it?"
"You mean at my house?"
Trent nodded.
"I thought you weren't a religious man?"
"I'm not. Just a practical one. If praying worked before, maybe it'll work again."
"That's the best you've got? A maybe?"
"No, I've got a lot of shit better than a maybe." He answered. "It's just not accessible where you're going. Which is why I recommend not making contact on the first run."
"First run? So we're going to do this more than once?"
"At least," Trent answered. Then, seeing my expression, he continued. "What? You thought this was going to be a one-and-done? We have to conduct some research first. I did tell you this was new for me, right?"
Somehow Trent's response had set my mind at ease a little. I was going to have more than one chance. Of course, why wouldn't I be able to go back more than once?
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? It would have gone a long way in easing my mind."
Trent lifted his hands in defense. "Sorry, I just thought that was a given. I mean, what we're doing is dangerous, just like I said, but it doesn't mean we aren't going to approach this as safely and scientifically as possible. However, there is a different problem with running multiple trials."
"The Organization?"
"That's right," Trent said like a proud parent. "Our little experiment will be like a giant spotlight, and the longer we wait around after it's on us, the greater the chance we'll have unwelcome company."
"So, safe but speedy."
"Safe but speedy. Exactly."
***
We fueled up and were back on the road a little after 8:00. From that point on, Trent and I were absolutely silent. I had the distinct feeling of being in the eye of a storm. The pings moved closer commensurate with our progress toward the crash site. The cloudfront continued its advance. And I noticed a haze beginning to descend onto the road ahead of us. It was fog.
We meandered further inland, the forest thickening around us until the rain almost stopped entirely—the leaves drinking it up before it fell onto our windshield. I kept my eyes on the radar. We were approaching the large yellow circle which indicated we had arrived. As we pulled closer, I began to feel things. Fear. Eeriness. Doubt. Then happiness. Hope. Love. Normally feelings like these had a clear source to picture, but these sensations came on in waves without any discernible reason. It was almost as if they were blinking into existence inside me.
"Here we go," Trent said like an airline pilot readying his crew for turbulence.
I still recall the exact moment we crossed the boundary into the area of higher energy. It was like something just "clicked" in my brain, and all of a sudden everything felt so much closer. The sound of the rain against the trees was almost right next to my ear. The trees in the distance would oscillate between their position a half-mile out, then suddenly seem five meters away. If I focused on something long enough, it began to radiate those same ethereal particles as when Trent released Ava's "phase lock". I checked to make sure the shifter wasn't set to "TD". Sure enough, it was still in drive.
"Can you see them?" Trent asked. "The shifts?"
"Yeah," I said in a dreamy voice. I felt like I was driving through a wonderland.
"It's the energy. I barely notice a difference. A bit of movement in the trees, but not much else. But I'm sure for you, it's a whole experience."
"What is this?" I raised my hand and caught some of the pixel dust dripping off the sun visor. It disappeared when it made contact with my hand.
"It's a kind of radiation. Everything emits it, just in different quantities. I'm still not exactly sure how it relates to the other realms, but I'm guessing it's a kind of primordial matter that helps connect our worlds."
"It's beautiful," I exclaimed. "I wish I could see the world like this all the time."
"Maybe you will," Trent whispered.
As we arrived at the crash site, I began to get glimpses of the past. My childhood dreams and memories were pushing their way out from my subconscious. I noticed an increased number of blinks, which were validated by Ava who reported the following: "Currently detecting 14,350 novel emergences and 2,777 controlled agents. Net anomalies: 2,777."
"That's a lot of blinks." I remarked. "Why doesn't Ava include them in the net anomalies?"
Trent turned his head so I could see his smirk. "Because blinks aren't anomalies."
I thought about it for a second. Blinks aren't anomalies. "I never thought about it that way."
"It's hard to think about it that way when 'normal' for most people means not picking up on a fundamental aspect of reality. But that doesn't make it any less real."
We continued past the epicenter of the yellow circle. "Are we not stopping?" I asked. "I think we already passed the crash site."
"It doesn't have to be exactly at the site," Trent said. "Plus, we don't want to stop on the side of the road and risk getting some civilian involved. There's a field about half a mile up ahead. I'm going to pull off the road and set up camp there.
The "field" that Trent was referring to was actually a large clearing that dipped down into several trench-like troughs which were filled to the brim with fog like witches cauldrons. Further on in the distance, I saw open fields, probably used for farming, and then a large hill where the trees once again reasserted themselves. We had pulled off the road and up a small incline where the trees had already been broken down, leaving a trail for us to drive through. When we surfaced at the edge of the clearing, Trent pulled us onto a flat bed of dried mud which was maybe thirty yards long.
"Here," he said with a sigh.
We both sat for a minute, looking around at the field. We had finally arrived. The rain was beginning to pick up, and the dark sky made it almost impossible to discern the time of day.
"You ready?" Trent asked.
I looked at him. Really looked at him. In his blue eyes. Was I ready? Did it even matter?
"Let's do this," I said.
***
This was the first time I was really able to inspect the back of Trent's van. He had talked up his gear a lot, and honestly, I was impressed. Not in the way that a scientist is impressed by another scientist's lab—I wasn't any kind of expert—but it still seemed remarkably well managed. Now that I was in a state where my vision had been enhanced, I could actually see the enigmatic particles circulating through the pneumatic tubes which were coiled like the pipes and valves of an elaborate wind instrument. The walls of the van, itself, were glistening white, making it easier to make out everything else inside. Along the floor were five overturned columns. Each column was dark and had a vibrating quality, as if they were charged with energy. Then atop the center three columns was a small altar which supported an apparatus with two skinny, metal arms holding a silver halo. At present, the arms were folded and the halo was suspended a few inches above the altar, faced-down. I thought maybe I'd see particles exuding from it, but instead it was emitting visible waves which bent and warped everything they touched.
"That thing is emitting a lot of energy." I remarked, gesturing toward the halo.
Trent stepped in between the columns and started pulling out the packages he had stuffed in there yesterday. "Just wait till' it's on."
Most of the packages contained only a single piece of equipment, and were otherwise packed with foam peanuts. We carefully removed each box and set them on the ground outside. I asked if the rain would damage any of the stuff inside, to which Trent only laughed and continued lugging out the boxes. When they were all out, Trent removed a box cutter from his pocket and went one-by-one opening them. There were eight pieces in total.
"What is it?" I asked as we fished the first item out.
"It's another apparatus, like the one inside. Except it'll mount on the ground out here."
I pulled out what looked like a metal tripod.
"Good, that'll go on the bottom."
"Where are we setting it up?"
"Over here," Trent said and stepped five paces away from the van. He coordinated himself up so he was centrally aligned with the inner ring, then stomped a few times. "This is the spot."
As we continued to work, I asked Trent about how the whole contraption works.
"Do you remember the first time we were in the van? When we had to escape from the semi-truck?" Trent asked and connected a secondary mounting apparatus on top of the tripod. It had four spider-like legs that made right angles and stuck into the ground.
"Of course," I said. "The 'phase lock'."
"Yeah," Trent said and gestured toward the metal stick that was in my hand. I handed it to him. "The phase lock is a seal on the level of energy that the van is allowed to release. It also controls its dispersion pattern so that it releases its energy in a steady wave. This allows Ava to scan for anomalies without causing us to become an anomaly." Trent stuck the plank into the neck of the tripod.
"So when you released the phase lock, we started emitting more energy."
"That's right." Trent confirmed. "Enough to create an alternate route through a different realm."
"So we blinked into a different realm, then back, just to avoid that truck?"
"That's right."
"But why couldn't we just move out of the way?"
"Because it had locked onto us. It was tracking our motion and adjusting its course based on the amount of energy we were emitting. So in order to escape, we had to radically skew our potential energy and then use it to shift."
"Couldn't he have just followed us?"
Trent connected four more pieces to the device which now looked like an elaborate teepee. He was fishing in the last box when he spoke again. "Yeah, he could have. But it was highly improbable that he would have found us." Trent returned from the bottom of the box with another silver ring in hand. "Think of it like this. Let's say you're trying to escape from some bad guy who's coming after you, and you enter a new room you've never seen before. Would you prefer this room to have three doors to go through, or ten?"
I thought about his riddle for a second, then responded, "It depends where they go."
Trent fastened the ring atop the teepee. "Let's say they all lead to random places, or let's say they're all closets that lead nowhere. The key is that more is better, because the more doors he has to check, the less likely he is to pick the correct one. Make sense?"
"So we opened up a bunch of doors and escaped through one at random?"
"Hence the gear 'TD', for 'Trap Door'."
I marveled at the insights, but not for long. Trent hopped back in the van and pulled a lever that I hadn't seen until now. The two metal arms raised the inner ring until it was perpendicular with the altar. Then Trent clicked one of three red buttons along the back wall, and I saw what looked like a large, glass eye suspended in a magnifying glass protruding from the wall, aligned with the center of both rings. A couple seconds later, the glass eye began to focus the energy which was being fed to it from the pneumatic tubes, and a blue pyramid of light projected from it into the first ring, then from the first ring into the second ring. All three pieces were aligned at slightly diminishing heights, so the cylinder of light beamed through the second ring, into the ground.
"Alright, time for the first trial."
I felt the nerves starting up in my stomach. Trent sensed this and hopped out of the truck. It was raining quite hard now, though it was still warm. Both Trent and I were soaked, but that hardly concerned us. He reached out and put his hand on my shoulder. "I know you're feeling scared." He said. "But trust me on this. You're going to do fine. Just keep in mind what we talked about. Stay a spectator. Okay?"
I looked into his blue eyes, which seemed especially gray in the dark. Still, Trent's voice was reassuring. All I had to do was trust him. Trust myself. Trust my dad. And it was all going to turn out right.
"I'm ready," I said.
Trent was still for a second, holding my eyes in his. Then he guided me behind the outer ring and into the cylinder of light.
"I should step into it now?" I asked, afraid I'd be called away immediately.
"It's not on yet, so don't worry. I still have to press another button."
I followed Trent's instructions and stood in the blue light which was centered on my chest. Then I watched as Trent ran into the back of the van and posted up next to the glass eye. "Ready?" He yelled out. It was hard to hear him over the rain, but I yelled back. "Ready!"
The next thing I saw was a blinding blue light beam from the van. I heard what sounded like a laser, then saw the cylinder oscillate, expanding and compressing. When the energy reached the second ring, I saw everything around me light up—it looked brighter than noon on a cloudless day. Then the oscillations made their way to me, and I was swallowed up whole.
***
When I came to, I was in the backseat of a car. I felt my butt rumbling. Everything was dim and quiet. And then I heard a woman's voice from in front of me.
"Mark, please, not with Lauren in the back."
The man, who I now identified as my father, pulled the cigarette away from his lips and blew the smoke at my mom. He eyed the back seat where I was sitting, using one of five markers that hadn't rolled off my lap to color a rabbit in my animal color book.
"The kid's fine." he said and took another drag.
"Mark," my mom repeated.
I saw my dad raise his hand in a rapid motion. "I said she's fine, Cheryl. Now check the map and make sure we're going the right away. I can't see shit with all this fog."
I took a moment to make sure I was really in the back seat. I patted myself. I clearly had weight. Then I tried touching the car. At first, my fingertips met a solid surface, but when I tried to press through, my hand slipped into the car. I quickly pulled my hand away as if I had reached into a fire.
That's when I heard the little three year old next to me start crying. I turned and saw that little-me had dropped another couple markers onto the ground and was struggling to reach them.
"Hey!" my dad shouted. "What did I say about crying?"
"Quit it, Mark. She just dropped her markers." said my mom; she turned to help me pick them up.
"What did you say to me?" Mark spat with a voice full of guile. He reached out and pushed her back into her seat. "Don't," he commanded. "She has to learn how to deal with life."
"Deal…" My mom started in disbelief. "Deal with life? Do you hear yourself? What's gotten into you?"
"Sometimes shit happens. It doesn't give her the right to cry. You helping her is just going to reinforce her behavior."
"Her behavior? What about your behavior? You're acting like a total dick."
I didn't even have a moment to react before my dad's hand was across my mom's face. I felt the slap more than I heard it, my own face seeming to swell with the force of the blow. I saw my mom cover her mouth and lean away. Then little-me began to cry even louder, which only challenged my dad to step up his own volume.
"Everyone needs to get a fucking grip before I crash this car." My dad shouted and took another drag. The scariest part was I couldn't tell if he was warning us or threatening us. I felt the sudden urge to do something. There was no way this was real. I was definitely in some fantasy concocted by the demon. He wanted to turn me against my dad. That was the only explanation for something like this. My dad was a good man, not… this.
As I contemplated what to do, I saw a small, golden light appear behind little-me's window. Apparently she saw it, too, because her cries hushed as she traced the wisp with her eyes. After a second, the wisp transformed into a bunny rabbit, reminiscent of the one she was coloring. The rabbit hopped alongside the window, then did a couple circles in place. I watched little me let out a playful laugh and reach toward the window.
"What's going on back there?" my dad asked with a scowl. Apparently the only sound more disturbing than cries were laughs.
I looked back to the front and saw my mom wiping blood from her lip. Her expression was miserable. "Leave her alone, Mark."
"I'll do whatever I damn well want to do, Cheryl. It's my kid back there."
My mom was quiet.
When I looked back toward the rabbit, it was no longer a rabbit but a person. Or at least it looked like a person. The figure radiated pure gold, and atop his head was what appeared to be a King's crown. I recalled Allison's experience of seeing the sun-like figure in her moment of distress. Was that what was happening here? Was this really all true?
"Hey!" My dad shouted, eyeing little-me from the rear-view mirror. "What are you reaching at?"
I looked and saw the golden figure extending his hand toward the window, and little me's hand was reaching back. "Mom, dad, it bright." little-me said.
"What's bright, honey?" my mom asked.
"Don't encourage her, Cheryl."
"Someone there!" little me shouted happily and dropped the rest of the markers and the coloring book onto the ground.
"Who's there?" asked my mom.
"Cheryl, I swear to God. Sit the fuck down."
Everything from that moment on happened so quickly I barely had any time to process it. My mom lifted out of her seat to either get little me's attention or help me pick up my coloring book. My dad responded by grabbing onto her throat, letting go of the steering wheel entirely. He threw her back against the car door, and her head hit the window so hard, the glass cracked. My dad had dropped his cigarette, and I could smell smoke coming from under his seat, but that didn't seem to bother him at all. He turned toward little-me at the same moment my three-year-old hand reached out and grabbed onto the golden figure, whose hand diffused through the window. When my dad turned, I got a whiff of the most awful smell that I wouldn't have been able to place had I not had that nightmare last night. He grabbed onto little-me's shoulder and tugged her away from the golden figure that was trying to pull her the other way. My dad's facade began to crack, and I could see those dark bugs crawling out from the pores in his arms, marching down toward little-me.
I reacted.
I grabbed onto my dad's arm and pulled him off little-me. I heard the sound of my shirt ripping as she was torn from his grip and pulled out of the car, diffusing through it like a ghost. My brief victory was immediately overturned as I saw what was now clearly the demon smiling at me, his wretched fingers curled around my forearm.
"Caught you," He sneered.
Then the whole world once again diffused into countless numbers of particles, only this time, instead of riding through it, I felt like I was falling through an elevator shaft with each floor darker than the last. The further I fell, the less I became aware of my surroundings, and the more I felt a deep sense of loneliness. It was as if I was the only person in the whole world: and the whole world was a prison designed entirely for me. This went on for so long, I began to forget who I was. Where I was. What was.
And then I landed.
***
Source Used:
Jung, Carl. Synchronicity. Translated by Sonu Shamdasani, Princeton University Press, 2010.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Content Warning: Domestic Abuse
***
We pulled off I-51 a little after midnight, stopping at a truck stop which was couched between the highway and a large forest.
We waited in the van for ten minutes or so. Trent had increased the sonar radius to its maximum of 30 miles a little over an hour ago. Somehow the red pings had kept up with us, holding a steady distance of around 20 miles. Considering we were averaging around 80 mph, and a coyote's top speed is only around 40 mph, we figured they had been enhanced in some way. Either that, or they shape-shifted into something faster. Regardless, now that we had stopped, we waited to see if the demon spawn would try and close the distance. Luckily, or unluckily, they didn't. They kept their 20 mile buffer, but we noticed they were beginning to spread out along the circumference of that boundary.
"We're close. They know that, so they're trying to trap us in." Trent said.
"Trying to?—more like they have."
We considered whether we should stay in the van and keep watch, but we figured that would do us little good. At their speed, they could be on us in ten minutes, which means we would need to stay up all night and keep tabs on their positions. Trent offered to stay up, of course, but I shut him down.
"The demon doesn't want to kill us now. You said it yourself. Plus, we need our rest. If they come, they come."
Trent didn't like it, but he acquiesced.
The truck stop had all the essentials: a gas station and mini mart with showers and an attached McDonald's, a large parking lot for truckers to idle and sleep, and even a section with lodging for those who wanted a more comfortable night's rest. I told Trent that he should take advantage of the showers, and after a little convincing, he agreed. While he was cleaning himself up, I patrolled the dingy, half-stocked aisles of "Daisy's Quick Mart". I probably would have been appalled at the quality of the store had I actually been paying any attention to it whatsoever. But I wasn't. I was thinking hard about what awaited me tomorrow.
During the drive, I had asked Trent why the demon would want us to return to the crash site. What did he mean that I would be 'confronting a dark entity in a place he couldn't help me'? He seemed hesitant to answer, but my little stunt outside the storage facility seemed to have sufficiently motivated him.
"When I said I've never done this before, I meant it." Trent started. "I've never done this exact thing before—meaning I've never projected someone into the past."
"So, I'm time traveling?" I asked.
"No—don't think of it like that." Trent paused, trying to come up with a good explanation. "It's more like I'm opening a window for you to look through: not a door. You're going to see the past, but you can't interact with the physicalities there. But that doesn't mean you can't interact with anything."
There was a space of silence as Trent tried to let me work out his meaning for myself. "I don't get it. Are you saying there's something I can interact with? Like what?" And then it hit me. "The demon. The demon can interact with me? Meaning what? It can kill me?"
"Meaning… I'm not exactly sure. You're going to be in a kind of psychic space. If it does damage, it won't be to your body. It'll be to your mind—or spirit. But I don't know what the limits of that damage could be. I just don't have those answers."
"If you've never done this, how do you know any of it will work?"
"That's an easy one." Trent answered. "Because it's been done to me."
There was silence.
"Look, if I know anything, I know my tech. Don't doubt that this will work. It's my job to make sure it does. I just need you to be in the right mental for this. Just because it knows your coming doesn't mean it automatically has the upper hand. It won't be able to see you unless you make contact with it first. In other words, you have to initiate contact. As long as you remain a spectator, you should be okay. Trust me. Just don't make contact."
I started pacing faster—fast enough to catch the attention of the overnight shift worker, a young man whose name I can't quite remember. I know it started with a "J". Jake, maybe? Anyway, he asked if I was alright, to which I responded in the affirmative. He left me alone for another couple passes, but when I almost ran into one of the shelves, he stood up and said, "Uh—I'm going to have to ask you to stop running around. I don't want you to hurt yourself."
I must have stared daggers at him, because he recoiled from my gaze. What's gotten into me? I thought. Then, steadying myself, I apologized. I looked around and grabbed the nearest edible looking piece of merchandise: a bag of Swedish Fish, and placed it down on the counter. "Just this, please."
The cashier rang me up. It was surprisingly cheap.
"Are you sure you're alright?" the young man asked. He was tall with brown hair. He seemed tired—maybe even more tired than me. But he also seemed kind.
I smiled as best I could and said, "No, I'm not. But there's not really anything you can do. Hell, there might not be anything I can do." I furrowed my eyebrows at my own response, realizing that imminent death may have broken my verbal filter.
On the other hand, the cashier did not seem surprised at all. "Ah, I see. It's one of those problems." He responded. "Well, hey, for what it's worth, you seem like one of the resilient ones. I think you'll be alright."
I only smiled and nodded at his mildly cryptic comment. Looking back, the whole interaction was a bit strange, but I had way too much mental clutter to recognize that in the moment. I took my Swedish Fish and walked through the anteroom which led to McDonald's. I found an open yellow booth that wasn't littered with crumpled straw sleeves and sat down, chomping mindlessly on my little red fish until Trent returned. When he arrived, he took my place, and I went to shower. After we were both clean and fed, we returned to the van. The pings were still pushed safely out of harm's way. But that didn't mean we were out of harm's way. Trent asked me if I wanted to sleep in the van, saying that "it'd be the safest place."
I thought it over. He was right, obviously. The van was not only outfitted with weapons I couldn't even begin to understand, but it was also our escape, and it would be just as difficult, if not more difficult to break into than the studio-style motel rooms with their wood doors and big windows. Still, if this was going to be my last night on earth, I wanted to sleep in a bed. A real bed. Trent understood and said he'd stay parked right outside my room for the night.
After purchasing a key from the night attendant, I moseyed over to the cement walkways which connected the twenty or so rooms. Mine was room #56, which I thought was odd since, like I said, there were only 20 rooms. I lugged in my tomato plushie and dad's old book and placed them on the queen mattress.
"I'll be right outside." Trent said after I collapsed onto the bed.
"Trent," I called out, stopping him half-way through the door.
"Yeah?"
All the blood in my body rushed up to my face as I realized my unfiltered mouth almost reflexively said the word "stay". I stared at Trent, my heart beating, my face hot. I considered asking him to sleep on the floor like my dad, but that would be childish and impolite. The alternative was to share my bed… Or I could take the floor.
"I'll just be right outside." Trent said before my mind processed a solution. "Come by if you need anything. I'll be up most of the night anyway."
"Okay," I replied in a faint voice.
Trent shut the door.
I sat atop the bedsheets and acquainted myself with my new living space. A feeling of regret closed over me as I considered that even sleeping on a carseat would have been better if it meant I didn't have to be alone. With a sigh, I turned on the bedside lamp and grabbed the book and stuffed tomato, using the tomato as a backrest as I slipped my legs under the covers and situated the book upright on my thighs. I cracked it open and was immediately blasted with a puff of dusty, old book scent. It was ripe at first, and I turned my head away to sneeze, but as I perused through the pages, the scent grew on me. It reminded me of the days growing up when I'd step into dad's study and read through one of the many volumes on cryptic topics which were at least two college degrees above my Lexile range.
I was only a couple minutes into browsing the collection of different scientific and philosophical works when I came across a page which contained highlighted text. This was unusual, as my dad would never mark up his books. He was a purist on that point. I rubbed my thumb over the yellow lines, and sure enough, it was highlighter.
The highlighted text was part of a small book by Carl Jung called "Synchronicity". There were a total of three pages that were marked, and they advanced like this:
Page 5:
The philosophical principle that underlies our conception of natural law is causality*. But if the connection between cause and effect turns out to be only statistically valid and relatively true, then the causal principle is only of relative use for explaining natural processes… That is as much to say that the connection of events may in certain circumstances be other than causal, and require another principle of explanation.*
Page 19:
…there are events which are related to one another experimentally, and in this case meaningfully*, without there being any possibility of proving that this relation is a causal one, since the "transmission" exhibits none of the known properties of energy…a situation which does not yet exist and will only occur in the future could transmit itself as a phenomenon of energy to a receiver in the present…Therefore, it cannot be a question of cause and effect, but of a falling together in time, a kind of simultaneity... "synchronicity"*
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A young woman I was treating had, at a critical moment, a dream in which she was given a golden scarab. While she was telling me this dream I sat with my back to the closed window. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me, like a gentle tapping. I turned round and saw a flying insect knocking against the window pane from outside. I opened the window and caught the creature in the air as it flew in. It was the nearest analogy to a golden scarab that one finds in our latitudes, a scarabaeid beetle, the common rose-chafer… which contrary to its usual habits had evidently felt an urge to get into a dark room at this particular moment.
I flipped through the rest of the pages of the book. There was no more highlighted text, but there was a message on the last page which read:
Matthew 7:7-8
I'll meet you in the darkest place.
He also included his typical smiley face which had an ovular shape and three sprouts of hair which I now realized kind of resembled my tomato plushie. It was my dad's writing, of course. But why? And how? What did this mean?
The motel had a Bible stashed away in the nighstand drawer. I got it out and looked up the verses which read the following:
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
I spent maybe an hour ruminating on all of this. The whole discourse on energy and causality and a "falling together in time" just seemed so right. It was clear that my dad definitely did know what I was going through, but for whatever reason, he made it seem like he was oblivious. Why had he hidden that from me? I felt like I was being pulled in two directions. On the one hand, my dad loved me enough to leave this note, maybe even knowing the exact moment I'd need it. But on the other hand, he had neglected my struggles throughout my entire childhood. He even lied at times. Was this really enough to make up for all of that?
And then there was the section about the future transmitting energy to the past. I read back through the whole paragraph and the original writer had meant it to say this as something that wasn't possible, but my dad's highlighting made it seem like he wanted to flip the meaning. The future does affect the past. I thought about where I was headed and wondered if I would soon discover that for myself.
Lastly, dad's message. The Bible verse reminded me of the first time I prayed; how I reached out to God and received peace as an answer to my prayer. Now I feel like I'm actively seeking… something, but I don't know yet what I'll find. And then there's knocking. At first that reminded me of the story with the beetle tapping on the window, but then I went back even deeper in my memory and dug out the monster tapping at my window, and the words my dad spoke to me in order to set my mind at ease: "you're a superhero. And you know what your greatest superpower is? Your greatest power is you get to tell the monsters what to do. Because the monsters are only as strong as the stories you tell about them…so if you're ever scared, honey, just dream up a better story."
I was crying into my stuffed tomato now. I felt like all the blinking pieces of my life had finally been pulled together into a completed puzzle. This was all by design. My entire life, filled with so much chaos and confusion, was actually preparing me for this moment. And my dad thought I had the tools and strength enough to get through it. I flipped through the book one more time, thinking maybe he had left some other hidden comment—some formula to defeat this demon and return home. But there was nothing. Only that one comment: "I'll meet you in the darkest place."
What's the darkest place, dad? Is that where I'm going? Are you saying you'll be there, too?
With those thoughts in mind, my eyes became heavy shutters which, with a slight pressure on the pulley, winded shut. My swimming thoughts and firework-like fears dissipated, and I returned to a precious childhood memory. It was after an evening soccer practice. Summer. Dad was driving me to Dairy Queen. I got a cherry-dipped twist cone. I was happy.
So, so happy.
***
I woke up to sunlight blaring through my windows. Shit, I overslept, was my immediate thought. I threw off my covers and opened the front door. A glance at the clock showed 1:13 PM. I shouldn't have even been allowed to stay checked in this long. Damn, am I gonna get double-billed for this?
I heard a rummaging sound around the corner of my motel room. It sounded like a squirrel was trying to find an afternoon snack in one of the garbage bins. I stepped outside. The sun was extremely bright, to the point where I had to squint and put my hand over my eyes to even see the ground in front of me. I was trying to walk toward the van, but somehow I ended up in front of the trash bins where the animal's tail was sticking out from a turned-over, silver garbage can. Its tail was wagging excitedly, and I remember thinking that it was much too large to be a squirrel.
The animal bent down as if biting onto something, and I heard the sound of its growl as it struggled to tug whatever it was free from the barrel. Inch by inch, the creature backed out of the canister, and more of its sharp, sticky hair was revealed. I heard something snap, then the creature leapt back and I saw what it was chomping on. My eyes widened in horror as the pink tube of a human intestine was pulled taut like the end of a tangled hose. Blood and entrails were spilling out of the human's opened gut. And then, behind the canine, I saw the person's face. His face was pale white, his eyes closed, and his hair was slicked back… It was Trent.
Before I could react, I heard footsteps approaching from behind. I whirled around and saw my dad. But—no, it wasn't him. It was someone wearing a paper-mache face mask that was painted to look like my dad. The forehead of the mask was already beginning to crack, white specks breaking off like sawdust. Through the cracks, I could see the figure's true form. I didn't know darkness had its own type of light, but that's the only way to describe it. It was as if malevolence itself was reified into a skin which was actually an amalgamation of millions of little, oozing parasites that leached into the nearby light. When it finally spoke, the demon's voice was a full octave lower than the old man's at the deli. And it had an earth-stilling gravitas.
"Today's the day!" He sang and reached into his pocket. His lips curled upward into a foxy smirk. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this day." He said and held up a razor blade. Half his facade had already fallen apart, and now I could see the bugs up close, writhing in what was either horror or ecstasy. And his scent… it was somehow more rank than the rabid coyote rummaging through the trash can with Trent's cut open body inside. The demon closed in on my position, and in one, decisive motion, he brought the blade close to his chin, then sliced it across my throat. "Wake up!" He screamed.
I jumped out of my bed and grabbed my throat, feeling the cold sting of its quick slice. Hyperventilating, I patted the area down, trying to hold the blood in, but when I removed my hands, I saw they were dry. It was only a dream, I thought. Gray light was only beginning to filter in through the drapes. I'm in my hotel room. I'm safe. I tried consoling, but the pragmatic mental massages weren't enough to hold the force of my knees buckling. I dropped onto the carpet and cried for a long while.
Outside, rain was beginning to fall.
***
By the time I met up with Trent, I had already composed myself and decided to keep my dad's message and the nightmare to myself. None of it seemed particularly productive from a logistical standpoint, anyway. And I wanted to focus on the mission.
We stopped by McDonald's and bought a couple cups of coffee. Trent asked if I wanted any food, and I declined. Black coffee seemed like the only thing my stomach could take at the present moment. I could tell Trent was hungry, but he tried playing it off (I guess to be respectful of me?) I told him to knock it off and get something to eat. I didn't need my Charon getting lightheaded and dropping the paddle before he finished rowing me to Hell. He didn't care much for my joke, but he ordered a couple Chicken McGriddles at the kiosk anyway.
There were maybe ten patrons spread throughout the restaurant. We sat down at the same booth from the prior night, this time across from one another. Trent spent the first ten minutes or so babbling about our fuel supply and the logistics of the trip from here on in. Practical stuff. I've come to realize that's how he deals with his stress. He talks it out in short, durable sentences. I mostly nodded and watched as what looked like a storm front closed in on the truck stop. The sky was overcast, and there were darker clouds in the distance. The rain was still only a patter, but a middle-aged man wearing a yellow bow tie on the wall-mounted TV confirmed that there would be heavier rain and thunderstorms very soon.
After the worker delivered Trent's food and he ate it in record time, I posed the one question that was still on my mind.
"How do I fight him?" I asked.
Trent finished a large gulp of his coffee, then looked at me. It was the first substantial thing I'd said all morning; Trent could tell something was off with me, but he figured there was no point in asking what it was. "By 'him', I assume you mean the demon?"
I nodded.
Trent licked his teeth clean. "You could try praying again."
"I'm serious," I responded.
"I'm serious, too. It worked before, didn't it?"
"You mean at my house?"
Trent nodded.
"I thought you weren't a religious man?"
"I'm not. Just a practical one. If praying worked before, maybe it'll work again."
"That's the best you've got? A maybe?"
"No, I've got a lot of shit better than a maybe." He answered. "It's just not accessible where you're going. Which is why I recommend not making contact on the first run."
"First run? So we're going to do this more than once?"
"At least," Trent answered. Then, seeing my expression, he continued. "What? You thought this was going to be a one-and-done? We have to conduct some research first. I did tell you this was new for me, right?"
Somehow Trent's response had set my mind at ease a little. I was going to have more than one chance. Of course, why wouldn't I be able to go back more than once?
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? It would have gone a long way in easing my mind."
Trent lifted his hands in defense. "Sorry, I just thought that was a given. I mean, what we're doing is dangerous, just like I said, but it doesn't mean we aren't going to approach this as safely and scientifically as possible. However, there is a different problem with running multiple trials."
"The Organization?"
"That's right," Trent said like a proud parent. "Our little experiment will be like a giant spotlight, and the longer we wait around after it's on us, the greater the chance we'll have unwelcome company."
"So, safe but speedy."
"Safe but speedy. Exactly."
***
We fueled up and were back on the road a little after 8:00. From that point on, Trent and I were absolutely silent. I had the distinct feeling of being in the eye of a storm. The pings moved closer commensurate with our progress toward the crash site. The cloudfront continued its advance. And I noticed a haze beginning to descend onto the road ahead of us. It was fog.
We meandered further inland, the forest thickening around us until the rain almost stopped entirely—the leaves drinking it up before it fell onto our windshield. I kept my eyes on the radar. We were approaching the large yellow circle which indicated we had arrived. As we pulled closer, I began to feel things. Fear. Eeriness. Doubt. Then happiness. Hope. Love. Normally feelings like these had a clear source to picture, but these sensations came on in waves without any discernible reason. It was almost as if they were blinking into existence inside me.
"Here we go," Trent said like an airline pilot readying his crew for turbulence.
I still recall the exact moment we crossed the boundary into the area of higher energy. It was like something just "clicked" in my brain, and all of a sudden everything felt so much closer. The sound of the rain against the trees was almost right next to my ear. The trees in the distance would oscillate between their position a half-mile out, then suddenly seem five meters away. If I focused on something long enough, it began to radiate those same ethereal particles as when Trent released Ava's "phase lock". I checked to make sure the shifter wasn't set to "TD". Sure enough, it was still in drive.
"Can you see them?" Trent asked. "The shifts?"
"Yeah," I said in a dreamy voice. I felt like I was driving through a wonderland.
"It's the energy. I barely notice a difference. A bit of movement in the trees, but not much else. But I'm sure for you, it's a whole experience."
"What is this?" I raised my hand and caught some of the pixel dust dripping off the sun visor. It disappeared when it made contact with my hand.
"It's a kind of radiation. Everything emits it, just in different quantities. I'm still not exactly sure how it relates to the other realms, but I'm guessing it's a kind of primordial matter that helps connect our worlds."
"It's beautiful," I exclaimed. "I wish I could see the world like this all the time."
"Maybe you will," Trent whispered.
As we arrived at the crash site, I began to get glimpses of the past. My childhood dreams and memories were pushing their way out from my subconscious. I noticed an increased number of blinks, which were validated by Ava who reported the following: "Currently detecting 14,350 novel emergences and 2,777 controlled agents. Net anomalies: 2,777."
"That's a lot of blinks." I remarked. "Why doesn't Ava include them in the net anomalies?"
Trent turned his head so I could see his smirk. "Because blinks aren't anomalies."
I thought about it for a second. Blinks aren't anomalies. "I never thought about it that way."
"It's hard to think about it that way when 'normal' for most people means not picking up on a fundamental aspect of reality. But that doesn't make it any less real."
We continued past the epicenter of the yellow circle. "Are we not stopping?" I asked. "I think we already passed the crash site."
"It doesn't have to be exactly at the site," Trent said. "Plus, we don't want to stop on the side of the road and risk getting some civilian involved. There's a field about half a mile up ahead. I'm going to pull off the road and set up camp there.
The "field" that Trent was referring to was actually a large clearing that dipped down into several trench-like troughs which were filled to the brim with fog like witches cauldrons. Further on in the distance, I saw open fields, probably used for farming, and then a large hill where the trees once again reasserted themselves. We had pulled off the road and up a small incline where the trees had already been broken down, leaving a trail for us to drive through. When we surfaced at the edge of the clearing, Trent pulled us onto a flat bed of dried mud which was maybe thirty yards long.
"Here," he said with a sigh.
We both sat for a minute, looking around at the field. We had finally arrived. The rain was beginning to pick up, and the dark sky made it almost impossible to discern the time of day.
"You ready?" Trent asked.
I looked at him. Really looked at him. In his blue eyes. Was I ready? Did it even matter?
"Let's do this," I said.
***
This was the first time I was really able to inspect the back of Trent's van. He had talked up his gear a lot, and honestly, I was impressed. Not in the way that a scientist is impressed by another scientist's lab—I wasn't any kind of expert—but it still seemed remarkably well managed. Now that I was in a state where my vision had been enhanced, I could actually see the enigmatic particles circulating through the pneumatic tubes which were coiled like the pipes and valves of an elaborate wind instrument. The walls of the van, itself, were glistening white, making it easier to make out everything else inside. Along the floor were five overturned columns. Each column was dark and had a vibrating quality, as if they were charged with energy. Then atop the center three columns was a small altar which supported an apparatus with two skinny, metal arms holding a silver halo. At present, the arms were folded and the halo was suspended a few inches above the altar, faced-down. I thought maybe I'd see particles exuding from it, but instead it was emitting visible waves which bent and warped everything they touched.
"That thing is emitting a lot of energy." I remarked, gesturing toward the halo.
Trent stepped in between the columns and started pulling out the packages he had stuffed in there yesterday. "Just wait till' it's on."
Most of the packages contained only a single piece of equipment, and were otherwise packed with foam peanuts. We carefully removed each box and set them on the ground outside. I asked if the rain would damage any of the stuff inside, to which Trent only laughed and continued lugging out the boxes. When they were all out, Trent removed a box cutter from his pocket and went one-by-one opening them. There were eight pieces in total.
"What is it?" I asked as we fished the first item out.
"It's another apparatus, like the one inside. Except it'll mount on the ground out here."
I pulled out what looked like a metal tripod.
"Good, that'll go on the bottom."
"Where are we setting it up?"
"Over here," Trent said and stepped five paces away from the van. He coordinated himself up so he was centrally aligned with the inner ring, then stomped a few times. "This is the spot."
As we continued to work, I asked Trent about how the whole contraption works.
"Do you remember the first time we were in the van? When we had to escape from the semi-truck?" Trent asked and connected a secondary mounting apparatus on top of the tripod. It had four spider-like legs that made right angles and stuck into the ground.
"Of course," I said. "The 'phase lock'."
"Yeah," Trent said and gestured toward the metal stick that was in my hand. I handed it to him. "The phase lock is a seal on the level of energy that the van is allowed to release. It also controls its dispersion pattern so that it releases its energy in a steady wave. This allows Ava to scan for anomalies without causing us to become an anomaly." Trent stuck the plank into the neck of the tripod.
"So when you released the phase lock, we started emitting more energy."
"That's right." Trent confirmed. "Enough to create an alternate route through a different realm."
"So we blinked into a different realm, then back, just to avoid that truck?"
"That's right."
"But why couldn't we just move out of the way?"
"Because it had locked onto us. It was tracking our motion and adjusting its course based on the amount of energy we were emitting. So in order to escape, we had to radically skew our potential energy and then use it to shift."
"Couldn't he have just followed us?"
Trent connected four more pieces to the device which now looked like an elaborate teepee. He was fishing in the last box when he spoke again. "Yeah, he could have. But it was highly improbable that he would have found us." Trent returned from the bottom of the box with another silver ring in hand. "Think of it like this. Let's say you're trying to escape from some bad guy who's coming after you, and you enter a new room you've never seen before. Would you prefer this room to have three doors to go through, or ten?"
I thought about his riddle for a second, then responded, "It depends where they go."
Trent fastened the ring atop the teepee. "Let's say they all lead to random places, or let's say they're all closets that lead nowhere. The key is that more is better, because the more doors he has to check, the less likely he is to pick the correct one. Make sense?"
"So we opened up a bunch of doors and escaped through one at random?"
"Hence the gear 'TD', for 'Trap Door'."
I marveled at the insights, but not for long. Trent hopped back in the van and pulled a lever that I hadn't seen until now. The two metal arms raised the inner ring until it was perpendicular with the altar. Then Trent clicked one of three red buttons along the back wall, and I saw what looked like a large, glass eye suspended in a magnifying glass protruding from the wall, aligned with the center of both rings. A couple seconds later, the glass eye began to focus the energy which was being fed to it from the pneumatic tubes, and a blue pyramid of light projected from it into the first ring, then from the first ring into the second ring. All three pieces were aligned at slightly diminishing heights, so the cylinder of light beamed through the second ring, into the ground.
"Alright, time for the first trial."
I felt the nerves starting up in my stomach. Trent sensed this and hopped out of the truck. It was raining quite hard now, though it was still warm. Both Trent and I were soaked, but that hardly concerned us. He reached out and put his hand on my shoulder. "I know you're feeling scared." He said. "But trust me on this. You're going to do fine. Just keep in mind what we talked about. Stay a spectator. Okay?"
I looked into his blue eyes, which seemed especially gray in the dark. Still, Trent's voice was reassuring. All I had to do was trust him. Trust myself. Trust my dad. And it was all going to turn out right.
"I'm ready," I said.
Trent was still for a second, holding my eyes in his. Then he guided me behind the outer ring and into the cylinder of light.
"I should step into it now?" I asked, afraid I'd be called away immediately.
"It's not on yet, so don't worry. I still have to press another button."
I followed Trent's instructions and stood in the blue light which was centered on my chest. Then I watched as Trent ran into the back of the van and posted up next to the glass eye. "Ready?" He yelled out. It was hard to hear him over the rain, but I yelled back. "Ready!"
The next thing I saw was a blinding blue light beam from the van. I heard what sounded like a laser, then saw the cylinder oscillate, expanding and compressing. When the energy reached the second ring, I saw everything around me light up—it looked brighter than noon on a cloudless day. Then the oscillations made their way to me, and I was swallowed up whole.
***
When I came to, I was in the backseat of a car. I felt my butt rumbling. Everything was dim and quiet. And then I heard a woman's voice from in front of me.
"Mark, please, not with Lauren in the back."
The man, who I now identified as my father, pulled the cigarette away from his lips and blew the smoke at my mom. He eyed the back seat where I was sitting, using one of five markers that hadn't rolled off my lap to color a rabbit in my animal color book.
"The kid's fine." he said and took another drag.
"Mark," my mom repeated.
I saw my dad raise his hand in a rapid motion. "I said she's fine, Cheryl. Now check the map and make sure we're going the right away. I can't see shit with all this fog."
I took a moment to make sure I was really in the back seat. I patted myself. I clearly had weight. Then I tried touching the car. At first, my fingertips met a solid surface, but when I tried to press through, my hand slipped into the car. I quickly pulled my hand away as if I had reached into a fire.
That's when I heard the little three year old next to me start crying. I turned and saw that little-me had dropped another couple markers onto the ground and was struggling to reach them.
"Hey!" my dad shouted. "What did I say about crying?"
"Quit it, Mark. She just dropped her markers." said my mom; she turned to help me pick them up.
"What did you say to me?" Mark spat with a voice full of guile. He reached out and pushed her back into her seat. "Don't," he commanded. "She has to learn how to deal with life."
"Deal…" My mom started in disbelief. "Deal with life? Do you hear yourself? What's gotten into you?"
"Sometimes shit happens. It doesn't give her the right to cry. You helping her is just going to reinforce her behavior."
"Her behavior? What about your behavior? You're acting like a total dick."
I didn't even have a moment to react before my dad's hand was across my mom's face. I felt the slap more than I heard it, my own face seeming to swell with the force of the blow. I saw my mom cover her mouth and lean away. Then little-me began to cry even louder, which only challenged my dad to step up his own volume.
"Everyone needs to get a fucking grip before I crash this car." My dad shouted and took another drag. The scariest part was I couldn't tell if he was warning us or threatening us. I felt the sudden urge to do something. There was no way this was real. I was definitely in some fantasy concocted by the demon. He wanted to turn me against my dad. That was the only explanation for something like this. My dad was a good man, not… this.
As I contemplated what to do, I saw a small, golden light appear behind little-me's window. Apparently she saw it, too, because her cries hushed as she traced the wisp with her eyes. After a second, the wisp transformed into a bunny rabbit, reminiscent of the one she was coloring. The rabbit hopped alongside the window, then did a couple circles in place. I watched little me let out a playful laugh and reach toward the window.
"What's going on back there?" my dad asked with a scowl. Apparently the only sound more disturbing than cries were laughs.
I looked back to the front and saw my mom wiping blood from her lip. Her expression was miserable. "Leave her alone, Mark."
"I'll do whatever I damn well want to do, Cheryl. It's my kid back there."
My mom was quiet.
When I looked back toward the rabbit, it was no longer a rabbit but a person. Or at least it looked like a person. The figure radiated pure gold, and atop his head was what appeared to be a King's crown. I recalled Allison's experience of seeing the sun-like figure in her moment of distress. Was that what was happening here? Was this really all true?
"Hey!" My dad shouted, eyeing little-me from the rear-view mirror. "What are you reaching at?"
I looked and saw the golden figure extending his hand toward the window, and little me's hand was reaching back. "Mom, dad, it bright." little-me said.
"What's bright, honey?" my mom asked.
"Don't encourage her, Cheryl."
"Someone there!" little me shouted happily and dropped the rest of the markers and the coloring book onto the ground.
"Who's there?" asked my mom.
"Cheryl, I swear to God. Sit the fuck down."
Everything from that moment on happened so quickly I barely had any time to process it. My mom lifted out of her seat to either get little me's attention or help me pick up my coloring book. My dad responded by grabbing onto her throat, letting go of the steering wheel entirely. He threw her back against the car door, and her head hit the window so hard, the glass cracked. My dad had dropped his cigarette, and I could smell smoke coming from under his seat, but that didn't seem to bother him at all. He turned toward little-me at the same moment my three-year-old hand reached out and grabbed onto the golden figure, whose hand diffused through the window. When my dad turned, I got a whiff of the most awful smell that I wouldn't have been able to place had I not had that nightmare last night. He grabbed onto little-me's shoulder and tugged her away from the golden figure that was trying to pull her the other way. My dad's facade began to crack, and I could see those dark bugs crawling out from the pores in his arms, marching down toward little-me.
I reacted.
I grabbed onto my dad's arm and pulled him off little-me. I heard the sound of my shirt ripping as she was torn from his grip and pulled out of the car, diffusing through it like a ghost. My brief victory was immediately overturned as I saw what was now clearly the demon smiling at me, his wretched fingers curled around my forearm.
"Caught you," He sneered.
Then the whole world once again diffused into countless numbers of particles, only this time, instead of riding through it, I felt like I was falling through an elevator shaft with each floor darker than the last. The further I fell, the less I became aware of my surroundings, and the more I felt a deep sense of loneliness. It was as if I was the only person in the whole world: and the whole world was a prison designed entirely for me. This went on for so long, I began to forget who I was. Where I was. What was.
And then I landed.
***
Source Used:
Jung, Carl. Synchronicity. Translated by Sonu Shamdasani, Princeton University Press, 2010.

Once again if there is anything I missed or any suggestions people want to make feel free to let me know.
NCR: following their loss to the ruler of the strip, and subsequent evacuation, ncr troops returned home to find California in an even worse state, the capital was destroyed nearly exactly as the second battle for the dam took place, and it's destruction plus the armies defeat sent the already struggling ncr economy into a steep decline, seeking a solution, the reformed government attempted another, larger invasion of the mojave a few years later, which led to significant losses on both sides and ultimately another defeat.
This time, troops returned to a nation in near complete chaos. Shortages of food, water, and a now nearly worthless currency led to poverty and famine not seen since the founding of ncr, and riots over said famine, draft protests, and the resurgence of powerful raider gangs meant police and army forces were unable to keep order in many parts of the country, during this time, Brotherhood forces also began to re-emerge, defeating the scattered army in multiple battles. At this point desertion within the ncr military reached its all time high, with thousands of troops either going missing or being confirmed deserters, many of these soldiers would eventually end up forming their own gangs and petty warlord kingdoms within abandoned territories, with most becoming only slightly better than the raiders they were originally supposed to be fighting.
Eventually, the strain on the nation became too much, and the ncr began to officially withdraw from the southern states, with boneyard being one of the first, followed by almost every settlement, one by one, until the line finally held, the new border stretching from Navarro and the coast in the west to the Big Circle and Reno in the east. The ncr was gravely weakened due to its withdrawal, and lost both much of it's citizens as well as much of its industrial and commercial centers, despite this it has consolidated what it does have, and it's remaining cities are enough to keep it standing as one of the major powers of the west, albeit much less capable of its previous feats and ambitions
As of right now, the ncr is pursuing a policy largely of isolationism, and the ideas and ideals of figures like former senator Hanlon and Tandi hold great sway over the republic. Since the collapse the ncr had mainly been forced to focus its energy into rebuilding the north and solving the lingering issues of the food and water supply, and while it still boasts a comparatively formidable army, that army is strictly defensive, with no plans to fight back or reclaim territory being put in motion.
SHI EMPIRE: following the collapse of the ncr, the shi returned largely to a more isolationist stance on the outside world, shutting their gates and sealing San Francisco off from much of the outside world. Despite this, rumors persist about secret weapons deals with various wasteland groups, ranging from particularly influential warlords to the ncr itself, though this is not confirmed
THE HUB: following ncrs withdrawal from the south, the hub fell under the control of a coalition of caravan companies, local officials and army officers, and eventually managed to mitigate the damage of the collapse, soon returning to its role as a hub of trade for southern California, albeit with markedly less profit and stability, they are also one of the only places left in the south that are still in constant communication with ncr proper, with the hub maintaining telegraph lines between the powers in exchange for ncr goods and ammunition.
RENO: during the collapse, New Renos crime families declared independence from ncr, retaking official control over the city and forming a loose alliance to govern it, however this coalition quickly broke down, and the city is currently embroiled in a civil war between the Wrights, who also lead the remnants of the alliance, and the Van Graffs, who are attempting to seize complete control. So far the conflict has remained within the borders of the city and its surroundings, however ncr and Follower presence on the border has increased, both in response to a refugee crisis as well as the possibility of further escalation
WEST COAST BOS: following the decline of ncr, the brotherhood got the breathing space in the war it sorely needed, the west coasts elders and clerics needed only to wait for the ncr to continue to weaken, and following their second loss in Vegas, as well as news from the east of their victories and incoming reinforcements, the western brotherhood pushed back, retaking many of its lost bunkers and pushing ncr forces back. Currently it has merged with a large contingent of the east coast brotherhood, and brotherhood forces have been seen attacking a remnant warlord force in the boneyard area, though the exact reason for this is unknown. (Also important to note, the brotherhood still holds very limited control of the regions identified as theirs, with most of the area being under warlord amd Hub influence, brotherhood only hold a presence in locations such as lost hills and the the observatory)
NCR REMNANT: largely regarded as a myth or hearsay, rumors persist about a large force of veteran rangers and soldiers who, upon receiving word or the retreat from Baja and later the south, remained in and defended the city of Dayglow, turning the city into a fortress, however due to the presence of multiple hostile groups and the lack of contact from the area, Dayglows remnants are regarded more as a theory than an actual unit. No attempts at contact have been made by either the Hub or ncr proper.
WARLORD TERRITORY: warlord territory refers to the largely lawless stretches of former ncr land that have fallen into the control of small territorial groups, whether they be raider gangs, former army units, former brahmin barons, citizens militias or whoever else may have the incentive and manpower to claim territory, quality of life in these areas is still barely better than it was in the collapse, and wars, raids, and starvation are still commonplace, as well as the re-emergence of practices like slavery
NEW VEGAS: following the victory of the ruler of the strip over ncr, little is known in the wider west about the state of Vegas, though it would seem that progress was being made towards greater stability following ncrs retreat, this wouldn't last though, as the second ncr invasion began, and was met with extremely stiff resistance from the securitron army, as well as numerous local groups. Ultimately ncr troops managed to inflicted major casualties on the strip forces, even attacking and breaching the strip itself, and the damage done seems to have shattered Vegas as much as it did the ncr, leaving whatever plans its ruler had unfinished
THE LEGION: following their defeat at hoover dam, as well as the death of Caesar shortly after, the legion began to deteriorate and eventually dissolve, with many of its tribes returning to their former ways or what was left of them, the legion remains however, mainly in and around the capital of Flagstaff, though severely diminished, they have largely taken to ruling over or pillaging the reformed tribal groups and former ncr border settlements. Though many within the legion still hold Caesars ideals, none have been able to recapture what was broken when he died, and so the legion continues to decline.
Post-legion Tribes: named Legionem Proditores (Traitor Legions) by The Legion proper, the term refers to those who have returned to their former ways following the death of Caesar and the destabilization that followed. Vast swaths of the legions subjects attempted to return to their tribes roots, often to little success. Instead forming new tribes that are often completely antithetical to the legions ideals, this has led to the early beginnings of a confederation of tribes and villages that have proven to be a powerful force against the ambitions of the legion and groups like it, using legion tactics and weapons against them in response to slave raids and attempts at reintegration
GREAT KHANATE: following their move to Wyoming, the Khans formed a powerful nomadic empire based off the Mongols of old, so far little is known about their new society, though there have been reports of khan riders as far off as the california coast
EAST COAST BOS: the east coast brotherhood continues to reign as one of the major powers on the eastern seaboard, being the most powerful military force in the area, the commonwealth is the current headquarters of the high elder maxon, as well as his most trusted clerics, choosing it for its abundance of technical artifact over the comparatively safer capital wasteland, however pressure has been mounting for the elder to move once more, as the CPG at large has been becoming much less favorable towards the brotherhood, which it sees as overly protective of its tech and as overstepping its bounds far too frequently
COMMONWEALTH PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT: following the destruction of the institute the minutemen, alongside the brotherhood and multiple prominent settlements reformed the CPG, a council of representatives from each group who would govern the commonwealth and surrounding areas, since its inception the cpg has grown by many settlements, and the minutemen have grown alongside it, developing a standing professional garrison in many major towns, though still relying on its militia as its major military force. Recently the cpg has begun to debate the brotherhoods place on the council, and many councilors are demanding an end to the confiscation of technology from their citizens, with many demanding a right to use force against such attempts or demanding an eviction of the brotherhood from their bases across the commonwealth.
THE FREE PITT: Following the Pitts liberation, progress on the cure was slow, and conditions in the Pitt remained dismal, albeit better than it was under the raider lords. As time went on however, improving conditions in neighboring areas such as the Commonwealth and Capital Wasteland led to marked improvements in the Pitt itself, as trade and interaction with the newly established CPG, capital wasteland towns, and the Brotherhood led to stability and an improvement in the quality of life for many of its residents. As of 2296, the Pitt, with the help of allied scientists, managed to create a cure to the plague, and due to its industry and trade, its residents currently enjoy a level of stability and prosperity not seen in the city for over a century. Currently the Pitts biggest concern is a mounting need to create a proper government, a proposal that continues to be widely unpopular and staunchly opposed, with many in the Pitt still preferring the anarchic freedoms that the Pitt has stood by since the revolution.
MONTANA BOS: Founded during the very start of the Brotherhood, the Montana chapter was founded by a military officer in the days following Maxons call to revolt. When the war started however, the Montana bunkers found themselves in a much better condition than the rest of the nation, with Montana, and specifically their area of it sustaining far less damage. As a result of this, as well as the relatively low local population, the Montana chapter is in a remarkably safe location, and has a very small number of active combat troops as a result. To compensate for this, the Montana Brotherhood have become some of the best scribes in the entire organization, and the chapters bunkers have become vaults of precious artifacts and texts ranging from FEV samples to the personal effects of Roger Maxon himself. The chapter is also responsible for much of the brotherhoods historical recording, though due to their isolation and the precarious situation the brotherhood had faced in previous years, they have only recently started analyzing and recording the events following the start of the D.C. expedition, and are not expected to finish it for some time.
THE ENCLAVE: Following their loss at the hands of the Brotherhood in Capital Wasteland, enclave forces in the area pulled back to their bases at Mount Weather, West Virginia and Chicago, since then they have largely kept out of major conflicts, attempting to regain strength and manpower before moving on the brotherhood again, however two of their recent attempts at restoration have failed, with an expedition into the commonwealth failing with high casualties, and a researcher in a west coast facility defecting with promising tech.

Here is the first chapter of a religion text I am compiling. This religion has no name. At the beginning is the chapter number and the verse number, so chapter 1 and Verse 4 will be 1:4.
I - Humanity And Beyond 1:1 It was generations upon generations ago, as the stars were young and the song of the universe were mere notes lacking melody, that our blue planet was created. Through the darkness of the void, our home was forged in light and chaos, and life did not exits upon it for many more millennia to follow. The creation of our planet, Earth, did not immediately result in the sudden population boom of humanity. Humans have been around for a mere fleeting moment in the grand scale, and even less in the scale of Detaros. She, Detaros, was the one to manifest her dreams into a reality from her slumbering existence. She is not awake nor asleep. The passage of time was endless at first, what seemed like an eternity would be spent upon an abandoned rock, forgotten by all but one. Oceans of magma crashed and burned away the land, as mountains that spewed flame and debris cascaded over the horizon in all directions. 1:2 From the heavens above, the first of many gifts - water, rained got thr first time. Over millennia, many storms would blanket the earth, filling the deepest of chasms with the cooling water. Even then said water would bubble and boil away from the heat of sub aquatic volcanoes, but from the chemical sludges and soups, what would be the precursor for all would become. 1:3 A single organism, one barley understandably small in size - a bacterium known to us as a mere single cellular organism, one probably only having a life span of the minutes, seconds or hours. Yet it held enough information to replicate itself and to feed and to produce waste. It replicated. It replicated again and again. However, our star, still rejoicing in the bounty of Fallen Gods, produced too much radioactive material for organisms to live on the surface of the land or near the light that pierced the depths of the oceans. 1:4 Over thousands of years a barrier was formed that reflected this radiation, and eventually the earth became cleanly divided between the 3 realms - Land, Water and Air. Over time, life on Earth branched out from the singular group of organisms. It was us, Humans, who learnt this. We believe ourselves masters of creation and conquest, but no, we are not. Humanity may be upon our home, Earth, and maybe we will be for a decade, a century, a millennia from now. 1:5 However, our time in “possession” of the universe is ultimately temporary. Empires of old would burn out and fizzle into dust and smoke, and new groups and armies would form from the upturned rubble. Humanity will one day die out, be it today or in a billion lifetimes from now. Our time toying with the instruments of existence is temporary. 1:6 Regardless, it is a mercy for those to partake in their dull lives, for a life of chaos and despair is much worse fate than boredom. The uninteresting lives of man will never be remembered, but they will never be forgotten for they live on through our books, and through our minds. It was us, and followers of us who have been rewarded through not health or wealth, but knowledge. 1:7 Enlightenment is not the reason to follow a god, for trying to be devoted when one seeks rewards is a transgression. Such issues can be overcome, but it is not our right to make the wicked better. It is our duty. Ownership of our lives is a fundamental human aspect, and such aspects may not be ignored. 1:8 An old man and his donkey were trapped one day in a deep muddy hole they had fallen in. The duo pleaded passers by for aid, but were met with only people throwing dirt and mud into the decline. The foolish donkey ignored such mud, crying for help as it was buried alive, whereas the man used these materials to build steps out of the ground. To be blind to the opportunities given to one is to set oneself up for failure. By the will of humanity and of our pantheon, we are destined to forge a path that will expand beyond humanity, as one day, perhaps a new species shall rise where we once did, and perhaps they will learn of our history and of our fates. 1:9 We have a history, a history any may learn about. There were no prophets, none in possession of a direct connection to the pantheon. However, our prayers have been answered by the gods. The gods, each a embodiment of an aspect, were divided between their moralities. Each god always wandered the cosmos, creating and manipulating space and matter to their will, even to a point where they consumed The Perogantos who were the direct ancestors of the gods themselves. 1:10 Upon the dawn of creation, bewildering power was unleashed upon all that was and was not, each a blob of raw energy shaping and morphing itself at a glacial speed. The Perogantos they were called. Each a barley living soup of molecules and empty space. Each had a domain. Their names, lost to all but their descendants, contained a word of unknown power. A word is not a good way to describe it, for a word would imply it was able to be comprehended by mortal minds. It was an idea attached to the being so intrinsically it couldn’t be separated. Eventually, these entities spawned their own children - the very gods themselves. 1:11 The Kreatonia, architects, built and altered the worlds as they saw fit, working in tandem to create order, or working against each other to sow chaos and discord. The Solki were those slumbering. Not awake nor asleep. The pseudo-conscious clandestine collective cared little for the matters of many, although as the dormant beings periodically became active, great changes would occur. The Destruvari were not only corrupt but worthy of contempt. Destroyers and harbingers of decay and degradation is all they were. They sought only to undo the “damage” the Kretonia has produced. Each building the children of Detaros was a blemish upon the earth, with each human simply being akin to a fly or a gnat. 1:12 Each of the Destruvari had their own ways to bring around the end of empires. Evocae froze over much of the landscape of the world numerous times, each millions of years ago before humanity could flourish and innovate. 1:13 Each deep freeze lasted millions of years until Pychos reverted her devastation upon the planet with great waves of heat and flame. The last of these states in which the planet remained in a frozen world for well over ten million years, Pychos had enough for once and for all. In doing as he had done time and time again, Pychos entombed himself within the core of the very Earth he saved, weak and fragile. Periodically, even to this day, gouts of flame and smoke erupt from the ground as the building energy tries so desperately to escape as the slumbering cacophony of heat and turmoil tries desperately to claw free from the prison of his own making. As for Egola, she was banished from Earth, doomed to wander a void as cold as she was. 1:14 Her power dwindled as a radiant species of beings clambered forth - Humans. The will of humans took centuries to make long lasting effects upon the gods, with our rapid industrial development causing damage upon the planet. Each god had their own reaction. 1:15 Yvtå, the god of blossoms and nature, recoiled in disgust at the despicable actions of man. Nūvokato found it frustrating that the beings he deemed lesser were performing his work for him. The Kreatonia were mostly indifferent or annoyed by this. The gods all collectively agreed not to punish humanity for our actions, but instead let the consequences of waste and destruction of what they made take its toll on us. 1:16 Regardless, despite all agreeing in their courts of marble and gold, not all gods were willing to accept. 1:17 Salagos, described by the gods as a twisted jester and inventor of cruel and malignant “jokes”, deceived Tevos, a wrathful spirit, into killing a fellow spirit, one who bestowed fledgling species with the most basic of knowledge such as that of using tools or the creation of fire. The spirits name was Esh, made from the will to invent and conspire. The one with a vendetta with no reason grabbed his sword. In a grassy field where Esh was laying, observing the sunrise, Tevos decapitated the ethereal maiden, her blood spilling upon the pasture doomed humanity to a stagnant age, in which crude society overwhelmed mankind, leading to war after war after war. 1:18 However, the barbaric Salagos undid their actions by reviving Esh and bestowing upon her a great burden — the burden of knowing that her precious children of man had scarcely grown, governed by lunatic kings and queens and the laws of insanity. For their crimes, Salagos was forbidden from interfering with the affairs of gods or mortals, banished into a state reminiscent of The Slumbering, lacking the ability to ever wake. 1:19 The First Humans were not free from sin, for no being was truly ever perfect within that manner. The first humans lived their lives as ordinarily as one would expect. Wake up, eat, drink, sleep. Even today, we are no different at our core than those who tread the ground years, decades and centuries ago. 1:20 These people forged their own ideas of a god, or even multiple gods. The rise of the sun, a ritual as old as the earth, was so fascinating to them that they made their own version of pantheons. Self proclaimed prophets walked the soil, no different and us now. Those who believed to understand the workings of reality yet failed to use their “knowledge” to benefit them. 1:21 Some men did benefit the world. Great scientists and mathematicians of olde invented things from numbers to fire to art and philosophy. It was the spark of emotion and creativity that set humanity apart from the rest, destined to conquer and command as well as crumble and collapse. Of course it was some who learned that the gods had existed in one form throughout human history, from the ancient Pantheons of old to more modern beliefs of a god, or in this case it was gods. 1:22 It was Nietzsche who said “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” Such quotes are true, for a person with determination and conviction can overturn the most drastic of circumstances and the most mundane inconvenience. 1:23 By the will of The Pantheon, we are one. Humanity is one group that must stand together united against the unknown lest there is nobody left to stand against disorder and anarchy. Against the forces of chaos, we must emerge victors, for the people who have truly won have reached enlightenment such the beating heart of flesh and the soul of the very essence of their mind. 1:24 No person, no matter who they may be, or who they believe they are, regardless of whether they are a slave to violence and cruelty or the most zealous and fanatic of priests, nobody is immune to sin. Sins are undeniably evil, as torturous to both the sinful and those around them. 1:25 Pride is not the celebration of something. Nor is it the promotion of something. It is a construct of arrogance and believing oneself to be superior to those over even the most minute differences. 1:26 Excess is not living comfortably or seeking things to prevent unnecessary suffering or stress, but is living wastefully and opulently and by taking from others. The waste made by one individual could have been the material used to produce the steps that two, five, ten or even one hundred or even one thousand and more people could use to climb out of destitution. By our definition, Excess prevents the sinful from learning or being reminded of the condition of others, but also prevents those others from living better lives. 1:27 Sloth is not the will to relax, take time off or simply ignore their problems. It is the ignorance that prevents people from improving, developing and evolving. By being subject to Sloth, one can not strive for greater things, but instead seek nothing but the quickest path to instant benefits rather than a long journey to excellence. 1:28 Wrath is not anger. Wrath is hate and rage. The unprovoked and unpredictable nature of the wrathful makes it difficult to understand them. They may not always use their fists to attack but instead use their words to spew hateful rhetoric and insults at their opponents. They may be angry for a variety of reasons, but wrath prevents those finding inner peace and strength among the chaos, and thus, unable to find either themselves or a better path to take, veering off the road into the darkness. 1:29 Ignorance is not the absence of knowledge or the absence of expertise, for it is instead the failure to grasp one’s responsibilities, ignoring their wrongdoings and shortcomings and ignoring the opportunity to grow and help others. If a king is given an instruction by all twenty of his wise advisors and promptly discards said guidance, he has sinned for he has rejected the possibility to save people. However, if someone discards instructed that would harm others if implemented, regardless of if this was known or not, the ignorant would not have sinned.