New Lightpoacher: "The Lightpoacher Unique Helmet no longer has Recover 4% of Life when you lose a Spirit Charge. It now has 100% chance to gain a Spirit Charge on Kill (previously 15-20%), and Gain 5% of Physical Damage as Extra Damage of each Element per Spirit Charge."
If you have 7 abyss jewels (2 in helm, 2 in Darkness Enthroned, 3 socketed in passive tree), this is 105% phys added as extra while you have momentum in a map.
With Shaper of Flames, this is a lot of extra damage for physical spells that ignite. EK and WoC are the best choices here, although if you want to be a hipster don't let me stop you running Glacial Cascade or Purifying Flame.
You can use Asenath's Gentle Touch and get a lot out of them here - Lightpoacher's phys as extra applies to corpse explosions and Shaper of Flames applies there too.
I feel like there's a very good squishy softcore zoomzoom build in this shell, and it could probably upgrade into something tanky with 75% chaos resist, Incandescent Heart, Aegis, Determination, Divine Shield and the amazing new armoES hybrid masteries.
You also are in the extremely weird position of wanting mods on abyss jewels that aren't generally chased after - you can use 0 damage abyss jewels that have some combination of life, ES, armor, ailment avoidance and even resists.
I think there's a real build here.

Golden Grime
A warm blaze sparked in the depth of a clouded heart; it provided a feeling that has been long lost. The warmth sizzled, seeking its way through the chaos; it reached out to where it was needed the most. This feeling took Marie by surprise, a forgotten knowledge of some sorts remembered finally by her body, now fully engraved in her mind. [He always always made sure to take care of me. Even after his death, what did I ever do to deserve him?] The smile that captured William’s heart came back to be drawn on Marie’s face. This time however, it blossomed by the warmth she was feeling. Like the rays of the sun, it broke through William’s defences. William couldn’t help but think that Wills should have been the one to witness this not him. He was unworthy, incomplete, he was not Wills, he will never be.
“I am assuming you are dying to already start with a tour through the memories, aren’t you?” “I wonder what gave it away” She noted sarcastically while rolling her eyes with a faint chuckle. Marie was breaking free from what chained her. She was being liberated. For some reason, William couldn’t help but feel his heart sting, he cursed Wills with all of his will. How could he? How could he subject such a pure lovely soul to something like this? William knew that Wills didn’t provide him with the full story but there was nothing that William would know that would justify what he did, especially since he knows how much both of them cared about Marie. It was simply illogical. Yet, it was human nature to be illogical, as much as he despised admitting it, he wasn’t a human. He was a program; he had a task and he had to do it with outmost efficiency. “Shall we start then?” asked William. Marie replied by nodding.
“Now there are two options that Wills have left for you. Well, not an option more of a way to view these memories. The first way is to go with the memories you favour till we finished all of them, or we go with the path he intended us to view these memories. He picked a chronological order to these events.” William extended his hands acting as a balance, raising a hand or the other while talking. Just like Wills, William loved to use a lot of gestures. Marie didn’t take long to decide, she had already made up her mind. “I will follow the route that Wills picked up, so will we start from the party?” “No.” “You said he was following the chronological order though?” “Well, here is the thing. That was the first time YOU saw Wills. Wills had seen you way before that. This is one of the things that Wills isn’t proud of. His first memory is something- you know what? It will be best for you to see it yourself.” Marie wasn’t so sure how to feel about this. It makes sense that Wills might have caught a glance of her beforehand, considering how both of them attended the same University. But he never told her anything about that. Not a word.
“Alright….” Marie said with a lack of confidence, a sense of uncertainty. “How do we do this then? Do you like bring forth another ‘dimension’ or something? Or..?” “It isn’t that fancy sadly. You just enter me.” “Excuse me?” William coughed a bit, clearing his throat. “Let me rephrase that. Once you hold my hands, I will allow you to access the memories stored within me. As a form of gallery, you will find all of the other memories locked till you finish the first one.” “How many memories exactly are there though?” “Including the one you are about to enter, there are 11 memories.” “An odd number? That’s weird, Wills disliked them.” “Originally, or at least as far as my database knowledge extends, they were indeed only 10. Before he finished creating me though, he included this memory. The one he’s not so proud about. Maybe out of guilt, maybe out of sympathy or coming clean. I don’t know what he was thinking honestly.” “Out of guilt? What could Wills have possibly done to make him feel like so?”
William bit his lips; he couldn’t let the words break through. One of the rules he was bound by is to never inform Marie of a memory she didn’t see. “You’ll have to figure that out by yourself.” Marie’s worries gradually grew every second. Being able to hold herself no more, without a prior warning, William found his hands being held by Marie. Automatically, she was transported in some form of theatre. She sat in a two-handed sofa which took her body’s shape as much as turned. Next to her laid a normal t.v. remote with her field of vision being covered with a large dark screen. Despite the screen looking like a t.v. the screen was covered with typical red theatre curtains. [That’s so Wills like, he loved merging between the new joys of modern society and the ancient aspects of our world. He had been crazy for too long about old stuff. That was a bit charming in its own way you have to admit.] Marie thought to herself while pleasantly smiling. She had been doing that a lot lately, it seemed that she never managed to bottle down the good memories that Wills gave her when they were together. This made her even more worried, what possibly could have Wills done to make him regret something? Could he have cheated on her? She pushed that thought down as deep as she could, he wasn’t that type of man to begin with, besides that thought made her body tear up from the inside. Just like a spike being slowly drilled into the eyes of a tortured war prisoner, it was tormenting. [Now Wills, let’s see what you were so ashamed off.] She held the remote beside her and pressed the power on key. A couple of videos appeared on the television, as the curtains slid to the sides. The videos were captioned with Greek letters starting from Alpha till Kappa. Weirdly enough, the first memory and the 11th while it should have been named Lambda -following the theme of these letters- it was instead named Omega. Exactly as William have mentioned before, all of the memories had a visible lock and chains icon on them except Omega. She navigated to the memory then pressed the play button.
That was the last time Marie was in her body, the next time she opened her eyes, she saw herself striding with confidence through a campus. A campus she was accustomed with quite well, judging by the appearance of her surrounding, it must have been their university. It was freshmen year no doubt since the garden stretched in the horizon contained the flowers she adored -they were later replaced with white lilies in second year-. She tried to move this new point of view but with no use. She was stuck in place, mesmerised with the view in front of her. Her eyes followed her body through the campus till she disappeared behind a building. She felt a fidgeting in her hands, but the body refused to look at it. It was stuck in place; it didn’t yield to any of her demands. She was a spectator, a powerless one, and nothing more. {She is…. she is…I can’t describe her in words. I am speechless. -I think I am in love.} Recited the voice in her ears. It was loud, way louder than it should ever be. Just like her own thoughts, this sound rang right up in her mind. Thoughts, these were the thoughts of the person Marie was impersonating. Instantly, Marie recognised the voice as that of Wills. She was spectating Wills, rather she was Wills. She saw, felt, thought and experienced this memory through Wills’s body. She wasn’t sure what to make out of this new information. Although she understood why Wills came to this idea -to allow her to experience the memories first hand-, was it necessary? Should she quit? How can she even quit? Is she trapped here- “I don’t a stand chance with her, do I? Uh, don’t even think about going up to her.” {You know that you never get a chance with them. Don’t you remember what happened the last 20 times before her? You were always rejected and will always be. You know this is some kind of drug to you. You NEED to be emotionally dependent to function. You need someone to obsess over just so you can have things going. We ARE NOT going through that same shit all over again. We changed, didn’t we?} There was no reply. Wills didn’t think nor speak. He just stood there. Unsure of what to do next, he no longer wanted to be who he used to be. He is no longer going to be HIM. Marie stood frozen. Now, THAT she didn’t expect. What exactly is happening here? Why did Wills have his mouth sealed about any of this? Obsession? 20 people before her? Wills couldn’t function without having someone he is emotionally connected with? This was worrying. How much did she not know about Wills? A sudden jerk of emotions was pushed on Marie, everyone kept secrets sure, but was the man she loved, not really who he seemed to be? He once told her he had a lot of crushes before her; however, he never mentioned them being 20. Marie wished she had asked William about how to exit a memory. Why did Wills want to share something like that with her? Why now? Why after his death? No, there was no reason for her to delve so deep into this. He likes her, he might not have been the most confident man. There is nothing wrong with that. We all grow. So, what if he had that many people he was attracted to before her? He still chose her, and she was the first one to accept him.
[It might have started out as a harmful demeaner, but he changed. I changed him. I’m sure.] She kept echoing these words in her mind. Trying to turn off the warnings that were setting off in her brain. She trusted Wills, who he was before she met him didn’t matter. He changed, as any human did. We all change.
Thanks to how deep in thought she was, Marie missed out that the scenery before her eyes had completely changed. Now, Wills was scrolling through his phone. However, he wasn’t doing it leisurely, quite the opposite. As a predator sweeping down to capture its prey beneath its unforgiving sharp claws. Oh, what a predator he was, it didn’t take him more than a few minutes to have already located her Facebook page. It wasn’t that difficult really, all he had to do was see which account had her name while being in the common friends’ accounts. What made it even easier for him was how her account and her close friends’ accounts weren’t private. Disappointment doomed Wills when he found out that Marie was more conservative than he originally thought. Her page didn’t include anything about Marie nor her life, it was rather more of a meme hub as kids like calling it these days. From her friends and who she follows he was able to write down some notes about what she seemed to be interested in and who he might look out for. Most, if not all, of her friends were females. {That’s wonderful. We got quite a catch on our hands this time. Right? That’s what you want to tell yourself, isn’t it? Didn’t we just promise ourselves that we won’t be returning to who we were? Wills, we are not a lost cause yet. Please stop what you are doing.} It wasn’t a shocker when Wills didn’t listen. He kept indulging in this sort of addiction. Next, he managed to obtain the records of her family members. Her father, her sister Allison but he couldn’t find her mother, rather he wasn’t sure what to look for. Her sister on the other hand was easier to track. All it took Wills was mere seconds and he already had the whole life of Allison figured out. He knew which University she went to, what she graduated from, when did she graduate, what she is currently doing, where are Marie and Allison originated from, what kind of family friends they had and her hobbies -these will later come in handy when he tries to befriend her-. It took him an hour at most, and Wills managed to gather all the data he might ever need about Marie. There were somethings he still didn’t know, thanks to the air of mystery she had around herself, but he will figure them out soon. All he had to do was wait, soon everything will fall in its place.
How far can someone fall in the eyes of their lover? Marie Harris was now eye-to-eye with this problematic question. The thought of her changing Wills still lingered in her head, ringing stronger, as the image of the man she once loved cracked into pits; now replaced with a far more daunting image. An image of a stalker, an image of someone who manipulated her throughout their relationship. Suddenly every encounter they have ever had felt forced. The common things they once did together as a symbol of love turned out to be nothing more than a fabricated lie that was made to make her intoxicated with him more than she was. Every inch of Marie leaped into denying what she was seeing but how could she? She saw the truth from the eyes of her manipulator, from the very eyes of the man who lied to her face on numerous occasions without batting an eye. Marie saw red. Everything from beginning to end was a façade; one created to fool her and fool her it did. She protested on the continuation of this memory, she tried to snap out of the trace she was placed in; however, just like a broken record, she couldn’t go out till the end. She had to witness all the atrocities that were done by the man she once adored.
The next few parts were quicker paced. Sudden snapshots of how Wills trailed her throughout her day. How he figured out where she likes to drink her coffee, where she liked to eat, where she resided and everything that he could possibly collect about her. He followed her day and night, occasionally studying in between when he was sure that she was doing nothing -he was somewhat chained by the public appearances he still upheld-. He was a phantom of some sorts, ever only sleeping scarcely when he was sure Marie was “safe”. Naps spread throughout the day, timed perfectly with her schedule. During the night, he watched her sleep from a tree that he regularly climbed during their relationship. It was in this same tree that he sneaked into her room countless nights when they were together. This tree held a place in Marie’s heart and with this new revelation, it was eternally stained. How can a person that was once so beautiful become so deceitful? Marie closed her eyes, no longer wanting to see what was happening in front of her. She should have known, she should have already figured it out; no matter what she did, it was ineffective. As some form of torture, she had been forced to oversee all the actions Wills did. Every moment just fuelled her newfound ever-growing hate towards Wills.
Her mind plead to her, reminding her that Wills still changed after all but then she snapped. What if he changed? Would that ever change what he did behind her back? Would it ever recover the joys of the moments that were now spoiled? Would it help in mending the plagued heart she now possessed? No, it wasn’t enough, and it will never be. Wills was a disgusting human, even if he changed, it doesn’t somehow just erase the mistakes of his past. He had to be held accountable, and this was his way of doing it. As some sort of grand reveal that showcases his flaws.
“I HATE YOU WILLS CARTER. I FUCKING HATE YOU!” Yelled Marie on top of her lungs. She screamed and repeated those words as much as she could. In that moment, it was finally done. She blacked out to find herself back where she was seated with the curtains closing on the large t.v. Once she regained control of her body, she let anger overtake her. Letting her rage blind, her, she let out all this pent-up feelings on the chair she was sitting on. Fully assaulted, the chair bent in, taking her abuse till the storm brewing inside her calmed down.
They warned her, they always did. He wasn’t on her level, they said. He wasn’t worthy of her, they whispered. She was out of his league, they announced. How could a freak like him get her? Some refuted. Maybe it was jealousy, maybe it was disgust. A man never needed a reason to hate his brethren, did he? The lack of reason was what made things shambles for those involved. And oh, did she lack reason, how could she? How could she ever trust him? Didn’t she know? Didn’t she understand? He was a lie. He was a façade. A mask. He was never the man that was supposed to be on her level. Heck, even he didn’t understand how he “scored” her, as they often said. He wasn’t enough -he will NEVER be. No, he CAN’T be-. May the lord have mercy on the archivist.

Sup guys🤘🏽 It’s all about nude photos of my fiancé and ex-gf. We all are from Burma (Myanmar) and currently live in abroad, and are highly educated (Some of you may already know what we are). And trust me, educated gurls are more lustful and doing great job in bed. I have a wild fantasy, which called Candaulism, the one who wanna show his girlfriend nudes to other. Yeh, but i gonna exposed them as a nude art in order to pay respect to their privacy.
Let me introduce my girls, Cindy, she’s my ex, within 20-30 y.o Hot babe, cute height ~160 cm, 50kg , black hair, black eyes, Chinese-Burmese. She have small boobs with pink sweet titties, when i first met her, She got retracted tits, and yes i make her tits pointy and give-’em good massage. Burst waist hip ~ around 27 25 28. She’s amazing giver and i can say she’s a queen of fellatio! She enjoy having anal sex more than casual way. Guess what, i got an anal tag and gap because of my fucking meat stick. We’ve been broken up for so many years but our fucking nude photos are still fresh and memorable af! She’s with a good man right now.
And about Anni,the love of my life, my fiancé, planning to get marry soon. 20-30 y.o black hair,Brown eyes, hot model sized girl, 176cm ,58kg. A perfect girl I’ve ever seen. Trust me she be my personal pornstars and train her the best girl in the bed. She got a beautiful boobs (B size Cup) with rosy color titties and perfect areola rings. And yes i use to suck-’em every time. Bust Waist Hip ~ 34 26 32 and she’s on pill for fucking raw and cream pies. She’s still learning new with me.
Contents. Reddit - Nude photos,Nude arts, some gifs and short clips. Tweet - Nude photos with sex diary (Black & white) Ig - Colorful nude arts (please follow my ig with real acc) Sketch - Nude sketches of burmese girls, female friends,so so. Ach forum - posting some bare nudes (only in higher ranks)
Q&A As shown in Photo.
Enjoy our nude shows, feel free to comment, sub & dm. Peace out✌🏽

The following events happened on this day in history!

• 04/02/1977 - Event - Harley Race battles Dick Murdoch
  
• 04/02/1983 - Mid-South Wrestling - Mid-South Wrestling S1983E14
  
• 04/02/1983 - Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling - Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling S1983E92
  
• 04/02/1983 - WCCW - WCCW S1983E92
  
• 04/02/1986 - Tuesday Night Titans - Hitting the gym with The Hulkster S1986E14
  
• 04/02/1988 - WCCW - World Class Championship Wrestling S1988E93
  
• 04/02/1988 - World Championship Wrestling - WCW World Championship Wrestling S1988E93
  
• 04/02/1988 - WCCW - WCCW S1988E93
  
• 04/02/1988 - World Championship Wrestling - World Championship Wrestling S1988E93
  
• 04/02/1989 - Clash of the Champions - Clash of the Champions 6 S1989E2
  
• 04/02/1989 - WrestleMania - WrestleMania 5 S1989E1
  
• 04/02/1994 - Smoky Mountain Wrestling - Smoky Mountain Wrestling S1994E92
  
• 04/02/1994 - Superstars - Superstars S1994E14
  
• 04/02/1995 - WrestleMania - WrestleMania 11 S1995E1
  
• 04/02/1996 - ECW Hardcore TV - ECW Hardcore TV S1996E14
  
• 04/02/1999 - Event - Stampede Wrestling Reboot Pilot
  
• 04/02/2000 - WrestleMania - WrestleMania 2000 S2000E1
  
• 04/02/2001 - Raw - Raw S2001E14
  
• 04/02/2005 - WWE Hall Of Fame - WWE Hall of Fame 2005 S2005E1
  
• 04/02/2006 - WrestleMania - WrestleMania 22 S2006E1
  
• 04/02/2007 - Raw - Raw S2007E14
  
• 04/02/2010 - SmackDown - SmackDown S2010E14
  
• 04/02/2011 - WWE Hall Of Fame - WWE Hall of Fame 2011 S2011E1
  
• 04/02/2012 - Raw - Raw S2012E14
  
• 04/02/2014 - WWE.coms 5 Things - Five Things to Look Forward to After WrestleMania S2014E10
  
• 04/02/2015 - SmackDown - SmackDown S2015E14
  
• 04/02/2016 - This Week in WWE - April 2, 2016 S2016E14
  
• 04/02/2016 - WWE Hall Of Fame - WWE Hall of Fame 2016 S2016E1
  
• 04/02/2016 - WrestleMania - AJ Styles talks about the significance of his impe
  
• 04/02/2016 - WWE NXT - Finn B lor feels the effects of his battle with S
  
• 04/02/2016 - WWE NXT - Strong Style has arrived: WWE.com Exclusive, Apr
  
• 04/02/2016 - WWE NXT - Bayley, disappointed after loss: WWE.com Exclusive
  
• 04/02/2016 - WWE NXT - Samoa Joe has no comments after loss: WWE.com Excl
  
• 04/02/2016 - WWE NXT - Has NXT said goodbye to Sami Zayn?: WWE.com Exclus
  
• 04/02/2016 - WWE NXT - American Alpha describe their journey to becoming
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - WrestleMania 33 S2017E1
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - WrestleMania 33 Kickoff Show
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - Tyler Breeze videos his own entrance at WrestleMan
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - Go backstage with Shane McMahon at WrestleMania 33
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder reunite backstage at W
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - AJ Styles reveals what championship is in his sigh
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - Rob Gronkowski is fired up after helping Mojo Rawl
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - Is Stephen Amell getting back inside a WWE ring?:
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - Mickie James makes the impossible possible at Wres
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - The Miz is excited to compete with his wife Maryse
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - Goldberg pumps up backstage at WrestleMania 33: WW
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - Tian Bing is excited to compete at WrestleMania 33
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - Alexa Bliss arrives at WrestleMania 33: WWE.com 4K
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - Chris Jericho is ready to settle his war with Kevi
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - Chad Gable describes the amazing energy of Wrestle
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - The Hardy Boyz speak before their return: WWE.com
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - Jeff and Matt Hardy are proud to be back home in W
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - John Cena and Nikki Bella share an emotional momen
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - Kevin Owens wants to do more than get even with Ch
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - Shane McMahon calls AJ Styles a special talent: WW
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - Dolph Ziggler describes the mind-blowing magnitude
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - Dean Ambrose on one of the worst beatings of his l
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - A humble Seth Rollins reacts after facing his ment
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - The New Day arrive for the Ultimate Thrill Ride: W
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - Amazing slow-motion footage of the Andre the Giant
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - Randy Orton achieves his master plan at WrestleMan
  
• 04/02/2017 - WrestleMania - Austin Aries declares it a great day to be great a
  
• 04/02/2017 - WWE NXT - Bobby Roode exudes confidence after his victory ov
  
• 04/02/2017 - WWE NXT - Asuka is photographed with the new NXT Womens Tit
  
• 04/02/2017 - WWE Now - WrestleMania Rookies React to Making Their Debut S2017E29
  
• 04/02/2018 - Raw - Raw S2018E14
  
• 04/02/2018 - WWE Ride Along - Phenomenal and Glorious Getaway S3E4
  
• 04/02/2018 - Raw - Woken Matt Hardy has procurement on his mind: WW
  
• 04/02/2018 - Raw - Mickie James collabs with The Ying Yang Twins: WWE
  
• 04/02/2018 - Raw - Why everything changes for Seth Rollins this Sunda
  
• 04/02/2018 - WWE Top 10 - Daniel Bryans Dominating Moves S2018E52
  
• 04/02/2018 - WWE Now - 6 Things to Know Before Tonights Raw: 04-02-18 S2018E71
  
• 04/02/2018 - WWE Now - First 5 Greatest Royal Rumble Competitors Revealed S2018E72
  
• 04/02/2019 - 205 Live - 205 Live S2019E14
  
• 04/02/2019 - SmackDown - SmackDown S2019E14
  
• 04/02/2019 - Miz & Mrs. - Babys First SummerSlam S1E7
  
• 04/02/2019 - WWE Top 10 - Top 10 Raw Moments: April 2, 2019 S2018E52
  
• 04/02/2019 - Raw - Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins want a Raw Tag Team Titl
  
• 04/02/2019 - SmackDown - EC3 looks to make a giant impact at WrestleMania:
  
• 04/02/2019 - SmackDown - Samoa Joe questions Rey Mysterios injury: WWE.com
  
• 04/02/2019 - SmackDown - Are The Usos ready for a Fatal 4-Way Match at Wres
  
• 04/02/2019 - WWE Now - SmackDown LIVE Preview: April 2, 2019 S2019E71
  
• 04/02/2019 - WWE Now - Rollins Gets Candid About WrestleMania Challenge S2019E70
  
• 04/02/2020 - The Best of WWE - Best of WrestleMania Theater S2020E12
  
• 04/02/2020 - The Best of WWE - Stone Cold s Best WrestleMania Matches S2020E11
  
• 04/02/2020 - Where Are They Now? - Eva Marie & Snitsky S5E1
  
• 04/02/2020 - Banks and Stratus... - WWE Dream Match Mania
  
• 04/02/2020 - WWE Top 10 - Top 10 NXT Moments: April 1, 2020 S2020E89
  
• 04/02/2020 - WWE NXT UK - WWE NXT UK S2020E14
  
• 04/02/2020 - WWE NXT UK - Ilja Dragunov emerges victorious on sheer will
  
• 04/02/2020 - WWE NXT UK - Joseph Connors avoids an irate Ridge Holland
  
• 04/02/2020 - WWE NXT UK - Kay Lee Ray & Jinny settle all scores
  
• 04/02/2020 - This Week in WWE - April 2, 2020 S2020E14
  
• 04/02/2020 - WWE Main Event - WWE Main Event S2020E14
  
• 04/02/2020 - Total Bellas - Brave New Bellas S5E1
  
• 04/02/2020 - After the Bell with Corey Graves - John Cena S2020E14
  
• 04/02/2020 - Making WWE - The photography of WrestleMania with Rich Freeda S2020E1
  
• 04/02/2021 - WWE The Day Of - Fastlane 2021 S2021E5
  
• 04/02/2021 - WWE Playlist - Banks vs. Belair: Road to WrestleMania 37 2021
  
• 04/02/2021 - WWE Now - 2 things to know before SmackDown: April 2, 2021 S2021E49
  
• 04/02/2021 - 205 Live - 205 Live S2021E14
  
• 04/02/2021 - wXw We Love Wrestling - wXw We Love Wrestling #7 S2021E5
  
• 04/02/2021 - SmackDown - SmackDown S2021E14
  
• 04/02/2021 - SmackDown - Otis & Chad Gable say theyre ready
  
• 04/02/2021 - SmackDown - Bianca Belairs ready for The Boss at WrestleMania
  
• 04/02/2021 - SmackDown - Logan Paul is coming to WrestleMania
  
• 04/02/2022 - WWE Top 10 - Top 10 SmackDown Moments: April 1, 2022 2022
  
• 04/02/2022 - WWE NXT - NXT Stand & Deliver S2022E14
  
• 04/02/2022 - WWEs The Bump - April 2, 2022 S2022E16
  
• 04/02/2022 - WWE Now - NXT Stand & Deliver Highlights and Results 2022
  
• 04/02/2022 - WrestleMania - WrestleMania 38 Saturday S2022E1
  
• [04/02/2022 - WrestleMania - Exclusive: Logan Paul says ** you, Miz](http://watch.wwe.com/program/179059)**
  

What event was your favorite in this list?

This is a really good lvl 125 poison build I found and running in NG+ that’s great for invades (also melts bosses).
60 Vigor 32 Endurance 57 Arcane Everything else starting stats, I’m Samurai class
Occult Venomous Fang 25 (2 handed, not powerstance)
Serpent Bow +10 with serpent arrows (10 dex before millicents prosthesis to use)
Millicents Prosthesis Rotten Winged Sword Insignia (use the lesser one if not in NG) Kindred of Rot Exultation Bull Goats Tailsman (can swap this out, I think max poise for claws in pvp is best though)
Mushroom Crown Veterans Armor (Altered) Lionel’s Gauntlets Veterans Greaves
This set up gets 101 poise at medium roll. (One less endurance you will heavy roll) 1900 hp, 142 poison build up
Deadly poison procs really quick with 4 buffs, 3 from talismans one from mushroom crown.
occult on venomous fang, not poison affinity, yeah poison affinity extends the duration, but that’s bad, your poison buffs don’t last that long, shorter duration means buffs proc again and occult gives more attack power and build up
Serpents bow does a lot of damage and procs deadly poison too
Claws don’t have good ashes of war options, lifesteal fist isn’t reliable, I just use Bloodhound step but there’s some decent ones to mess around with

Hello everyone I am a gal looking for long term gaming friends! I often play by myself and am hoping to change that.
Some games I play are ESO, Borderlands, Monster Hunter World & Rise, Starting Elden Ring, Remnant, Stardew, Dying Light 1 & 2, Tiny Tina's, I also have some of the Halo games as well. Always down for free games like Warframe also.
I play mostly on PC but also have PS5.
I am looking for any respectful, chill players 18 + located anywhere. I am a night owl so often awake late for my time.

People from North America Only
Must be 19-23 Years Old (gender don't matter)
Hi friend I haven't met yet! I'm a 21 year old dude from the West Coast who loves Music, Games, Art, Working Out, & Nature! (Nature includes animals 🦜 I LOVE birds) I would prefer you also be into some of these things plez!
I'm a pretty introverted guy due to my ADHD and Anxiety, which has made it difficult to make and keep friends.. But I'm really trying to be more sociable! Please try your best to hold a conversation (PLEZ). I have waaaay too many one-sided conversations on here... I hope to become really good long-term friends that can voice-chat & talk about whatever with each other at some point 🙂. Maybe even hang out if we happen to live in the same place! (that would be awesome, but higly unlikely, lol)
If you wanna game with me 👉🏼👈🏼, I mainly play on PC, but I also just got a PS5, so lmk! Some games I'm really into are:

• Souls games (such as Dark Souls & Elden Ring)
• Halo
• Minecraft

It's a pretty short list, but I'm open to playing other things too. Those are just my favs, lol.
And then I'm also really into music, and these are my favorite genres:

• Indie
• Rock
• Pop
• Funk

Maybe we could.. exchange playlists? 😳 lip bite
But anyways, what're you waiting for?? Shoot me a DM! ..right now. {・ᴥ・} ﾉ🔪

Hello there. I have a variety of games and have just purchased Monster Hunter Rise. I also enjoy the Borderlands series,Stardew Valley, Remnant, Terarria, just started Elden Ring, enjoy Dying Light, Elder Scrolls Online etc and Magic the Gathering Arena and Hearthstone. Also would love to try the sims multiplayer mod.
I am looking for anyone ages 18-40 to play. I am lgbtq and 420 friendly! Let me know your age, general location and a bit about yourself in your intro please! Would be great to show each other selfies so we can see one another to

In den Weiten der Galaxie wird Euer Schicksal bestimmt, ob auf den Schlachtfeldern oder in den Forge Worlds von Segmentum Thelyn Ennor. Trete unserer Warfare oder Industrial Division bei und das Vers wird uns gehören! Wir sind die Ordnung! Wir sind die Inquisition! FOR THE EMPEROR!

• Name: Thelyn Ennor
• Motto: " it's the way we Play "
• Ausrichtung: Warfare & Security
• Organization: Private Military Company
• Allianz: Horizon Alliance
• Memberanzahl: 160 [TE Community: 550]
• Ships: +400 (inkl. Javelin & Idris & Polaris)
• Homepage: www.Thelyn-Ennor.eu
• RSI Link: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/orgs/THELYN

Wir sind eine Multigaming-Gilde, die erstmals in Lord of the Rings Online aktiv war. Mit Star Citizen nehmen wir nun unser 15. Spiel in Angriff, um möglichst viele Erfolge feiern zu können.
**Was bisher war...*\*
Zu unseren bisherigen Erfolgen in MMO's zählen mehrere World-, European- und German-Firstkills sowie zahlreiche Server-Firstkills. So waren wir die erste Gilde Europas, welche in Lord of the Rings Online die 24er Raid Instanz "Helegrod" clear'n konnte und den World-Firstkill in der Raid Instanz "Feste Dunoth" im Hardmode erreichte. Unser Warhammer Team zwang europaweit als erstes "Hand von Ualatp & Usirians Wächter" in die Knie und war stets unter den besten RvR Gilden. Außerdem feierte unser Star Trek Team mehrere World-Firstkills und konnte die erste Zusammenarbeit mit GameStar etablieren. Unser Rift-Team konnte bereits direkt nach dem Head-Start des Spiels große Erfolge in Form von mehreren Server-Firstkills feiern. Auch mit unserem Star Wars The Old Republic Team waren wir sehr erfolgreich, denn dort haben wir zahlreiche German-Firstkills sowie Server-Firstkills erreicht. Des Weiteren hatten wir schon TV-Auftritte bei Gaming-Shows - wie z.B. NBC GIGA, Buffed Show bzw. Allvatar TV und veröffentlichten auf Buffed.de, GameStar, Onlinewelten und Allvatar.com zahlreiche Guides sowie Artikel. Bekannt sind wir auch für unsere Live-Raids auf verschiedenen Messebühnen, welche immer sehr viele Zuschauer anlocken. Mehr Infos über unsere Erfolge, Projekte und bisherige Geschichte findet ihr auf www.Thelyn-Ennor.eu
**Gildenziele*\*
Getreu unserem Motto "It's the way we play" haben wir uns in allen MMO's, in denen Thelyn Ennor vertreten ist, das Hauptziel gesteckt, all das zu erreichen, was im High End-Content (sei es PvE oder PvP) eines MMO's als Erfolg zu betiteln ist. Das gelingt nur durch viel Disziplin, Engagement und eine hohe Aktivität der Member. Unsere Gilde wird im Hintergrund durch einen sehr erfahrenen Organisationsapparat geleitet, welcher dafür sorgt, dass den Membern höchste Qualität und Effizienz in den MMO-Teams zur Verfügung stehen. Wir sind ständig dabei uns in allen Bereichen weiterzuentwickeln, um einen gewissen Grad an Perfektion zu erlangen.
**Star Citizen Team*\*
Thelyn Ennor ist eine stark erfolgsorientierte Gilde und darauf werden wir unsere gesamte Struktur wie auch Fleet & Event Organisation auslegen. Wir wollen in allen Bereichen von Star Citizen vorne mitmischen, so ist es unser Ziel den gesamten High-End Content zu bewältigen, dazu gehören vor allem in Sachen PvE das Betreiben von Produktionsanlagen und Raumstationen so wie aber auch PvP Schlachten. Wir werden an den gewaltigsten Schlachten an vorderster Front teilnehmen und für unsere eigenen Sektoren eine hohe Sicherheit gewährleisten! Eine leistungsstarke Warfare und effiziente Industrial Division ist notwendig, um unsere militärischen Operationen erfolgreich durchführen zu können. Wir sind schon seit einiger Zeit in Star Citizen unterwegs und haben somit schon reichlich Erfahrung im Spiel sammeln können. Natürlich ist es unser oberstes Ziel, unsere Private Military Company an die Spitze zu treiben und unser eigenes Territorium zu erobern! Für diese Herausforderungen suchen wir loyale & erfahrene Piloten die Spaß am erfolgreichen Raiden und am PvP haben, sowie sich aktiv am Gildenleben beteiligen wollen! Das Wichtigste hierbei ist, dass man zusammen als starke und feste Gemeinschaft heranwächst. Thelyn Ennor war treibende Kraft bei der Gründung der "Horizon Alliance" mit dem Ziel, alle Inhalte des Spiels ausreizen zu können und ist heute die größte militärische und wirtschaftliche Allianz im deutschsprachigen Raum.
**Unsere Member*\*
Thelyn Ennor ist eine zielstrebige und vor allem erfolgsorientierte Gemeinschaft. Daher legen wir viel Wert auf eine perfekte Charakter-Beherrschung, Aktivität, Hingabe, Teamplay und Spaß am Spiel. Wir erwarten von unseren Membern in jeder Hinsicht hohen Einsatz für die Gilde und eine 100%ige Loyalität. Als selbstverständlich erachten wir, dass unsere Mitglieder während der Progress-Phasen absolute Priorität auf ihre Raid-Aktivität setzen und sich immer in allen dafür notwendigen Bereichen auf aktuellem Stand befinden. Unsere stets hoch gesteckten Ziele erreichen wir nur, wenn jeder mit Leidenschaft anpackt und sein Bestes gibt. Im Gegenzug können neue Member von uns eine professionelle Führung und erfahrene Beratung sowie eine hohe Aktivität erwarten. Wenn Ihr ein Member von Thelyn Ennor werdet, seid ihr Teil einer großen Community, welche schon mehrere MMO's erfolgreich spielt und sich auch in zukünftigen MMO's niederlassen wird. Um einen noch stärkeren Bund zu schaffen, veranstaltet Thelyn Ennor mindestens einmal jährlich ein Real-Life Treffen, zu dem alle Mitglieder eingeladen werden.Es gilt zu beachten, dass bei uns **ein Mindestalter von 18 Jahren** herrscht.
**Kommunikation*\*
Wir nutzen [**Teamspeak**] als Voice Tool und [**Discord**] als Chat, welche für alle Member Pflicht sind.Unser Forum ist die Hauptkommunikations-Plattform, hier werden Raids geplant und organisatorische Dinge besprochen.Weitere Informationen findet Ihr auf unserer Homepage:[**Teamspeak**]Wenn Ihr Fragen zur Gilde habt, könnt Ihr uns natürlich jederzeit im Forum oder im [**Discord**] kontaktieren.
Euer, Thelyn Ennor - Star CitizenTeam

People from North America Only
Must be 19-23 Years Old (gender don't matter)
Hi friend I haven't met yet! I'm a 21 year old dude from the West Coast who loves Music, Games, Art, Working Out, & Nature! (Nature includes animals 🦜 I LOVE birds) I would prefer you also be into some of these things plez!
I'm a pretty introverted guy due to my ADHD and Anxiety, which has made it difficult to make and keep friends.. But I'm really trying to be more sociable! Please try your best to hold a conversation (PLEZ). I have waaaay too many one-sided conversations on here... I hope to become really good long-term friends that can voice-chat & talk about whatever with each other at some point 🙂. Maybe even hang out if we happen to live in the same place! (that would be awesome, but higly unlikely, lol)
If you wanna game with me 👉🏼👈🏼, I mainly play on PC, but I also just got a PS5, so lmk! Some games I'm really into are:

• Souls games (such as Dark Souls & Elden Ring)
• Halo
• Minecraft

It's a pretty short list, but I'm open to playing other things too. Those are just my favs, lol.
And then I'm also really into music, and these are my favorite genres:

• Indie
• Rock
• Pop
• Funk

Maybe we could.. exchange playlists? 😳 lip bite
But anyways, what're you waiting for?? Shoot me a DM! ..right now. {・ᴥ・} ﾉ🔪

Hello all, I just had a bit of inspiration for a new build using the Conquest of Skyrim mod along with the Futhark stuff we currently have. I was thinking that a Dune style character could be a lot of fun, but I am unsure of what skills seem to fit best?
So far ideas that come to mind for me, are Light Armor, Speech, Stealth, & One Handed: Daggers? Any other suggestions you think fit for a Paul Muad'dib style of play?

So, I played and beat DS3 back in middle school. For context, that's like 7 years ago. I never played another souls game till Elden Ring, which I was super hyped about and pre-ordered. I have roughly 600 hours clocked in on ER, and I decided to go back to my roots of DS3, and it feels significantly easier than I remember.
I remember getting the shit kicked out of me by nearly everything, seeing as it was my first souls game, and the bosses being my worst nightmare (FUCK YOU PONTIF). However, while the game still feels difficult in terms of level design & enemy placement/variety, with sometimes me feeling like I'm jus the worst, the bosses feel so easy. Like, ridiculously so. I just killed the dancer, and I've killed every boss up to them, main & optional on my first or second try.
It honestly feels like ER had harder bosses than this. ER bosses were nightmarish at times, and sometimes still are on newer playthroughs. Are ER bosses just harder than DS3 bosses? I honestly don't understand why these bosses feel so easy.

I think making it more dynamic and cinematic would be the best thing rly. When you use an Ardour manifestation bubbles form around you and you are out in danger and the roaring of the water gets louder and louder until you are out of danger and everything goes silent. Then the dread serpent surges out of the water. Alternatively you could make it so that part of the moonseye becomes obscured and as the player is looking at it to see what is happening lightning strikes, briefly revealing kaido before he swims to the player’s boat
Phase 1: kaido emerges from the Voidsea and blasts a ring of ice around him with his ice breath, the ring changes size depending on how many boats there are. Standing on it will damage and slow you over time.Kaido will alternate between standing in the center and using close range attacks such as swipes, bites. He also uses 3 consecutive aoe Ardour screams. He will use a thin potent ice beam attack at the deck of your boat/ the ice ring that causes large crystals (like ice eruption) to erupt from the ground. Auto-gripping knocked players. After some time he will submerge and reappear outside the ring, using ranger attacks such as extremely powerful ardour lasers, ice spikes and ice rain similar to jus karita. During this time he will take significantly more damage from cannons and will automatically swipe at anyone who tries to cheese it by leaving the ring and meleeing, knocking them far back. After some time he will continue to alternat until 25% of his health is drained.
Phase 1.5: the ice ring disappears, and kaido begins swimming away, creating a current that the player must use to chase him. He will use ice breath to create walls of ice spikes next to him that the player must maneuver around in their boat. Hitting these spikes will destroy them, but will slow you down and damage your boat. Kaido will go a certain distance before turning around and blasting the player with ardour lasers which they will have to parry, dodge or avoid in their boat entirely. Kaido will stop once the player reaches him.
Phase 2: kaido will wrap around the mast of one ship, using a mix of melee and ranged attacks. Kaido will first swoop his head low and use scratches, bites, slams and tail swipes.during this time, he will be more aggressive but easier to hit as you don’t have to go as close to the mast to hit his main body. He will then pull his head up and begin using ranged attacks, such as quickly snapping at players multiple times, a thin ice beam that is shot in a serpentine pattern, a high wind up ardour beam that slowly follows the player, and a breath of ice straight downward to the mast and the only place players can hit it. After the second set of attacks, he will either go to a different ship or repeat the process if there is only one ship. Repeat until 25% health is gone and down to half health.
Phase 2.5: kaido does the same thing except this time he (being wounded and slightly slowed and tired) remains next to the ship allowing players to shoot him mid chase. He will instead blast ice spikes far ahead of him, diving and resurfacing further ahead at his end destination once the chase is over and firing an ardour beam at the player.
Phase 3: kaido will grab all nearby boats and pull them underwater. He will then start using many aoe melee attacks such as thrashing around, performing a lunging bite to dive underwater, diving and then doing a emerge-bite-dive combo 3 times (indicated by bubbles underwater) and loudly roaring while firing ice breath into the sky creating a large distance ice rain. All of these attacks willbe hard to avoid and punishing forcing the player to desperately dodge and parry until kaido becomes exhausted, standing still. Rinse and repeat until he is down to his last 25% where he will release the boats causeing them to float back up
Phase 3.5: kaido will once again swim alongside the boats, however he will occasionally dive and resurface behind, the boat. He will grab onto the back and blast an ice beam that sweeps across the steering wheel section of the boat, just barely shooting over the boat and creating a larger spike wall ahead of you. The captain will have to stop steering and dodge through the sweeping beam. He will mix these in with regular ice walls. If another boat is far enough behind you. He will pop up in front of your boat and fire his sweeping ice blast across the main deck, forcing anyone manning a cannon to dodge and creating a spike wall behind your ship. Continue until chase is over blah blah ardour beam.
Phase 4: kaido cocks his head and releases a desperate roar into the sky, conjuring a whirlpool/circular current around him and granting a second wind. This current will pull in any player toward the center and toward kaido. During this phase kaido will fire constant ardour beams at the circling ships that do higher knockback. He will also let out a roar that conjures ice spears around him. These ice spears fly towards several of the cannons of any ship (only attacks the cannons facing him) temporarily freezing and disabling them. This also does high damage and knockback to anyone standing behind the targeted cannon. Ships with more cannons will have more spears launched at them. Kaido will also use his ice breath to create tall pillars of ice along the current, which release large, aoe blasts of ice when hit, knocking players back. If a player is knocked off their ship and pulled in close enough by the whirlpool to reach kaido. He will grab the player in his jaws and thrash around dealing high damage before flinging the player.
Death: after kaido drops to 0 hp he will roar and dive underwater, his fate unknown. Is he dead? Alive? Who knows. All that matters is that you won. You beat the dread serpent. Items will float to the surface for the next 10-ish seconds along with receiving the ardour murmur.

Jacare lands a right Belfort answers with a sharp left hand another left lands from Belfort and they have a big exchange. The respect for one another’s power is certainly visible Belfort lands a big left hook another and Souza grazes with a left hand return. Belfort’s left eye is a bloody mess but he lands a massive left hand and another and Souza is moving backwards and initiates the clinch. Aldo lands again Stephens trying to move forward aggressively but Aldo defends eats a right shakes his head at Stephens then lands a hard right hand. Stephens goes two to the body right hand up top Aldo moves forward with a right hand and a one-two combo. Jab to the body from Aldo Stephens tries to come over the top and Aldo lands a big right hand to the face of his opponent. Stephens grazes Aldo with an overhand right and Round 1 is in the books. MMAFighting scores the round 10-9 for AldoRound 2: Despite Aldo finding success early Stephens looks like he belongs in the boxing ring. Jab pushes Stephens back a bit and Stephens answers with a nice right hand — maybe his best land of the fight thus far. Another Aldo round more than likely. MMAFighting scores the round 10-9 20-18 overall for AldoRound 3: They touch gloves and off we go for the third round. Better round for Stephens but wasn’t enough. MMAFighting scores the round 10-9 30-27 overall for AldoRound 4: This has been a fun nine minutes of action as Stephens is certainly holding his own. Belfort lands a right hand big left as well. - Alpha AI

The Restless God lies trapped, but not idle in its sealed off realm. It writhes and yearns for the day it may again take pleasure in the pain of mortals. To once again play in the blood and baske in the terror only finite creatures can produce.
Many worlds it's fed upon, but never satiated. But the world that fought back against its attacks long ago are the ones it wants all the more. It has become an obsession.
So it waits, and it feels, searching for weaknesses between the borders of our world and itself. Hungry and anxious it salivates at the thought of breaching into our world again. It will be its greatest decadence and pleasure, and our darkest days. Despite this, we must pray to Her Divine! We must beg for mercy and the return of Her light.
-Grand Mage Tellomon the IV on the prophecy of the Dark God's return (Second Age)
Pitch blackness. Pure darkness. A thick void of nothing completely swallowing me up, like a fish in the depths of an ocean.
I was crouched low in a ready position, using my right hand to balance by holding onto the wagon's wheel beside me. My legs burned from forcing myself to remain completely still. But pain had become a constant in my life now.
But I was grateful for the adrenaline burst that would always dampen the ever present burden of hunger and fatigue. At least it helped for a little. But the pain found its way back to me faster and faster each time.
It was hot and humid, almost like the swamps of the eastern bog a good 3 weeks journey from here. The cold wind stopped when the darkness befell our remote town. The breeze no longer ran its cold tendrils across the barren streets.
I grabbed the thin string tied around my neck and pulled out a heavy monocle hanging from it. I held the cold metal up to my eye, to look through the green tinted glass.
The magically infused monocle always remained cool to the touch, with a static shock feeling emanating from it.
I held it to my eye to see the world around me clearly, yet tented in bright shades of green. My eyes roamed across the quiet, motionless street.
Debris and bloated corpses littered the street. With no wind and the unnaturally heavy darkness, this somehow had a dampening effect on the stench coming from decaying bodies. They could only be smelled once you were almost on top of one of them or a meter away. But my dead kinsmen helped even in death, making good landmarks to navigate through the darkness.
There were monsters that accompanied the dark fog. Twisted figures that were the void itself. Maybe they were the cruel thoughts of the Restless God made manifest.
Humans long ago, in the First Age had named them rippers. We all hoped they were just a myth, not actual walking nightmares
The rippers swarmed the town in the blinding dark. They seemed to only kill for killing's sake. They never ate the people they killed, almost like it was just for fun instead of survival.
It made sense in some twisted way. The Restless God must have returned to our realm, and brought these hateful things with it.
Prophets had long told of The Restless One's return by it sending nightmares through the veil of reality, to infest in the minds of our leaders. Centuries of slowly chipping away at the barrier separating us, chipping away at our sanity.
The Restless One birthed itself into our reality like an already dead stillborn abomination. Like a newborn giant, deformed with extra limbs and already rotting from death.
But it was alive! As alive as this strange creature could be. Now it was free, and this did not bring the thing elation, just more anger and restlessness.
How do I know all these things? The nightmare visions sent to all mortals across the realm since the Restless One's returned. Actually there were nightmares for most of the town leading up to the event. I guess it was our omens for being so close to the epicenter of its invasion.
One omen would have been terrible enough, but something this perverse stacked on the misfortune.
Dark signs of its arrival showed themselves all over the Kingdom of Maldune. The signs stretched further across to the neighboring kingdoms. The wretched god's birth pains were so terrible, I wager they were felt thousands of leagues away on The Wild Continent.
But the other Kingdoms didn't have the vast magical communication network like us Modunians, so reports of bad omens tampered off dramatically outside of our borders.
The misfortune of my town was like I said, we were the closest to the epicenter of the entities push into our reality, closest to the cradle of the spoiled god.
An entire mountain range protected us from the shock wave of magical energy, but all livestock siezed up and died. All birds fell from out of the air. All rodents died in their holes. And our very young died in their cribs.
It was a terrible event to have the town's children instantly killed, but now I see it as a mercy for the little ones. The innocent children got to go to Our Divine in their sleep peacefully, or at least quickly. They didn't have to die in the suffocating dark, or by the diseased claws of the rippers.
The town's guard fell quickly. A group of 16 men on loan from The Capitol, to keep peace and protect the trade routes. Our peacekeepers were more used to using words to settle disputes among merchants, or occasionally throw a drunk into a cell overnight.
They were ill equipped to handle the inky blackness that engulfed the town, rolling down from the mountain like a fluid landslide. The confusion of the townspeople quickly turned to pandemonium as the screams began.
That's when we realized we were not alone in the dark. Things moved quickly in the blackness. The Rippers began to slaughter everyone in the pitch blackness.
The first few days are a blur to me even now. But that's how I remember the beginning of the horror, the beginning of the end. I remember the dark engulfing the town, the adrenaline of fear. My last sight was of silent death spilling down from the mountains like a boiling pot overflowing with a viscous poison.
When the black fog first swept over me, my first few breaths of the miasma burned my eyes and lungs. The taste of metal on my tongue. The smell of sulfur and something sweet. Something sweet and rancid. Decay and corruption.
But now I had to shake the fog out of my head and return to the terrible present. I had to embrace the hopeless situation without falling to despair.
My magical sight gazing through the monocle finally spotted the rest of my group. Jillsophie, Tagert, and Fellip. Tag and Fel carrying the heavy burlap sacks of animal feed, while Jill led the three of them through the darkness with her own magical monocle.
We spotted each other from across the corpse littered roadway. The General Goods store had caught on fire early in the supernatural invasion. Somehow the strange darkness had put out the fire, snuffing it out like a heavy blanket thrown over a weak flame. That's why we were back, looting the store, trying to keep from starving to death before the rippers could kill us first.
Jill gave me a series of quick hand signals I had recently taught her. They had scavenged three bags of feed. Fil was carrying two big bags and Tagert one of them, but they were heavy and we were all weak. Jill wasn't carrying anything. She was too busy leading the two of them by pulling on the corded string she had tied around both their waists.
Before I waved the three of them to hurry over, I turned to Caville, my partner in crime on this side of the road beside me. He blinked wide eyed in the darkness, one gloved hand twisting the ends of his graying mustache while the other held a death grip on the pommel of his sheathed short sword.
I had to remember I could see him clearly through my monocle, but he only saw and felt the oppressive darkness. He was just waiting for a claw or fang to strike him from the darkness.
Because of this I lightly placed my hand on his shoulder. The light touch didn't stop Caville from almost jumping out of his boots. He quickly calmed when he realized it was me. The old warrior steadied himself once more.
I place my hand on the flat of his chest so he could feel my finger placement through his light shirt. I signed the question to him through a series of light thumps separating the words.
"Another bag. 40 LBS. Can carry?" I finished my signing by holding the hand placement designating a question mark firmly against his chest. I saw his eyes widen and he grimaced in doubt. His old frame shook a little as he prepared his answer.
Of course he answered back that he could carry the load, but I knew the real answer. It's amazing how much we communicate through non-verbal cues, and how much more when we think we are concealed in darkness.
He was barely standing on two feet. Starving and aching. He was pushing his late 50's, and his joints and muscles carried the pain of being a veteran soldier for over 30 years. He would collapse under the weight of his light armor and newly added bag of feed. No way he could keep quiet or climb back up into the attic we were all hiding at.
But Caville's years of being a proud soldier almost assured me that he would take on the task regardless of his disposition. So I signed back to Jil, "Drop 3rd bag. Later."
I lied and informed Caville that I was incorrect in my assessment. There wasn't an extra bag of feed, and we would be returning to the relative safety of the windmill.
Jil quietly led Fil, with Tagert close behind, across the road. Her own magic monocle making it possible to maneuver around the maze of debris and bodies. They all moved slow enough for Jil to communicate with sharp tugs on the string fastened around both of them. Stealth was key.
When I first saw it I didn't know how to react. I knew what the rippers looked like through my monocle, and I knew the placement of all the dead town-folk. But as I watched my three companions snake around the bloated body of Mr. Dredge, the blacksmith, I saw the faintest quiver of motion within the corpse.
Normally, that would mean some sort of vermin or carrion feeder had nestled within the body. But in this nightmare world we lived in, the Rippers killed everything that wasn't already slaughtered when The Restless One re-emerged into our reality, sending out It's shockwave of death.
To my horror I realized something else. Upon closer inspection of Mr.Dredge's body. I noticed it had somehow moved a couple feet to the left since last time I had seen him. I could even see the wet smear marks in the dirt from where it dragged itself over.
My magical monocle could also detect other magic. It wasn't very good at it but still could. My vision was bathed in illuminating green, but magic showed up white.
That's what I saw rising out of Mr.Dredge's body. Four bright spider-like legs protruded out of the back of the corpse, and hooked into the ground, lifting the stiff dead body into the air slowly, quietly.
Jil in the others were completely unaware of the horror looming up behind them. The jaw of Mr. Dredge fell off with a soggy "plop" into the dirt. What looked like a large inverted scorpion's tail writhed out the body's mouth. The scorpion tale hung down around the body's bloated chest. The tail curling up to point a large stinger at the group.
I could see that Jil had heard the "plop" of the jaw falling off the corpse behind her. She raised her eyebrows, sniffed the air, and froze in an alert state, her two companions bumping into her.
I had temporarily frozen too. I had never seen a monster like this before. Its spider legs lifting the body up to let its human feet brush its toes lightly on the ground. The whole body was ridged from rigor mortis. The body's hands curled to its chest, making fists, stiff legs swaying like the awkward pendulum of a clock. Still bodily juices and blood oozed profusely from hismouth and ripped open guts.
A surreal thought came into my mind. Maybe it was my mind trying to make sense out of nonsense. Mr.Dredges stiff body reminding me of toy soldier from my childhood. They were always stiff jointed when brand new, not dead.
I finally snapped out of my daze when glowing white spikey tendrils pushed the body's guts out with another wet impact noise. The many spiked appendages snaked out slowly towards the back of the unaware Tagert.
"Jil!" my voice boomed out, breaking the silence like a cannon burst. Everyone jumped in surprise. "Run! Run!"
With my off hand I quickly dug into my pocket and produced a phlare, the phosphorus filled stick. I quickly pulled the cap off with my teeth, igniting the flame dangerously close to my face. I didn't care, and barely felt the heat.
Holding out the phlare to signal to Jil and the others, producing a blinding light in the dark. But the blackness was unnatural and dampened the burning flame into a muted orange glow. Regardless, the phlare was still bright enough to signal the unsuspecting trio crossing the street.
Through the monocle I saw all three of them lock eyes on the light and begin to hurry towards me. It was against human instinct to run unaware in darkness. This made them not fast enough, because the Dredge-thing shot out a torso tendril to stab Tagert in the upper back.
Tagert let out a cry of pain, but kept coming. The cry of pain causing all three to break out into a full run. The need to live finally overriding the need to see.
I dropped the phlare as Jill led the other two up to me. They almost ran her poor soul over as she braced to stop them. The Dredge monster seemed to be slow. Her Divine was still blessing us!
I grabbed Caville's shoulder and Jil grabbed the tail of my shirt. We all took off together, back to the windmill.
We tried to go as fast as we could the couple blocks back to our hideout, but It was hard going. Caville lagged beside me, with Tag and Fel huffing as they carried the 40 pound feed bags.
I looked back at Dredge to see it had fallen on its stomach and was skittering after us like a centipede. It was considerably faster now!
I lowered the monocle to put both hands on Caville's shoulders and push him in front of me. Even if I pushed him we still wouldn't be fast enough.
My mind raced, like it had so many times since the birth of the Restless One. My mind swirled with anxious thoughts of decisions and counter-decisions. My sleep deprived and starving brain hallucinated the faces of my people alongside the terrible silver teeth of the Rippers lunging towards me out the colorless backdrop.
But like always, I made a desperate choice. "Drop the feed bags! Its gaining on us!
I expected to hear the "Thump! Thump!" Of the bags hitting the dirt, but I got what I least expected instead.
"No Jack! Don't drop the feed! I'll buy you time!" Caville said as he shrugged free of my grasp on his shoulders and started in the opposite direction towards Dredge.
"I'm so t-tired of running away! A-and I miss my daughter and grandkids!" the old warrior declared, his voice cracking at the end of his statement.
He held out an outstretched hand and fingers. When the tips of them made contact with Jil's dirty clothes, he easily side-stepped around Jil and the other two with grace as they hurried past him in the dark. These were skills long honed from blindfold training to heighten a soldier's situational awareness level.
Jil was the only other to see what was happening. She reached out for him as the other two pushed her forward. She stifled a cry and pushed ahead.
I was glad Jil wouldn't see this, but I felt I had to watch. I had to witness his sacrifice in the depths of this hell.
I saw Dredge's corpse crawl its way up to Caville, one of its longer talons hooking into Caville's upper knee. Caville screamed and sliced horizontally instantly. The sword cut through the air harmlessly over the monster.
Caville took this information and countered quickly as more sharp tendrils stabbed into his lower body. He rose the blade high over his head and let out a final death blow, plunging the sword downwards to impale the monster, staking it to the ground.
The monster pulled the old soldier down and tore into him. Caville's screams echoed out as I turned to run. Worse is when his screams finally choked out and fell silent.
The group of us made it un-accosted for the rest of our journey. We hurried in silence just like we were in mourning. We made it to the edge of town where the river and the watermill stood.
We climbed up the stacked boxes on the side of the building to slide open a wooden panel into the attic.
The inside of the attic had the low glow of multiple lanterns and the stuffy smell of multiple unwashed people living in tight quarters together for a long time.
We piled in quickly to close up the entrance behind us. There were 8 of us now. Me, Jil, Fil, Tag, Mama Denise, her two kids, and Harper sleeping in the corner.
All eyes met mine as they counted the three of us. No one had to ask what happened to Caville. They all knew. I think even the kids knew.
By the best we could reckon, it had been a month since death swept over our town. The rippers patrolled the streets and buildings constantly, searching for survivors to kill in the beginning. They also destroyed any cache of food or weapons they came across.
There was a deeper intelligence behind the rippers. They were vicious and animalistic when encountered, but they would carry out complicated tasks relentlessly, like soldiers receiving orders. It had to be the malicious influence of the Restless One speaking to all of them, like they were the claws at the end of his corrupting grasp.
It was Jil that had the idea for the feed bags at the General Store. Yes, they were for cows and horses, but they had been magically enhanced and would give the human body what it needed also.
It would give us enough strength to try and escape this Divine forsaken town, and hopefully leave the darkness to flee to the safety of the Capitol.
I knew the thought of making it all the way to the Capitol was ridiculous. The longer we headed east, the more likely we ran into the army of rippers that left the town at least two days ago.
It had been hundreds of them! Me and Jil were out scouting the General Store for the feed bags we had just now retrieved.
The going was slow, because the enemy was everywhere. But we knew how to maneuver from rooftop to closely packed rooftop. And the grew closer togeher the closer we got to the center of the town.
From where we started, the watermill in the outskirts of town, it seemed like the town was suspiciously empty of the monsters. But we soon realized that was the opposite. We didn't see any Rippers on the outskirts because they were all gathering together in the town square
The bright figures of humanoid shaped demons clustered together in a giant group. The magical vision of the monocle causing them to glow from whatever evil sorcery created them. So many of them huddling together created a glowing sea, flooding the courtyard.
Rippers were rumored to have always existed. Even before The Restless One returned. But they were rare and only inhabited places of great tragedy and a history of dark magic. Now there was an army of them, amassing to March East towards The Capitol.
Some said The Rippers were phantoms created by The Restless One. They were his only way to reach through dimensions and torment the living.
More scholarly Old-timers theorized the Rippers came from the vengeful spirits of the long extinct elves, hunted to extinction by Man a millennium ago.
Ancient texts mention the long extinct Legacy Elves had a bad habit of dabbling in dark magic, causing The Restless One to specifically target them, repeatedly using the elves innate affinity with magic to breach into our reality to cause havoc.
Many believe Man's genocide against the elves was not entirely warranted, it had help seal The Restless One away. But not all elves worshipped the Restless One. Many of them worshiped Her Divine like we humans do. But relations between elves and humans had always been strained, and this was the excuse humans needed to eliminate their rival for dominance over the lands, once and for all.
"Why must we be punished?" I remembered Tehama asking when all this first happened, back whe. She was alive.
"It's not our fault! It's the fault of our long dead ancestors! The kingdom that commited the atrocity doesn't even exist anymore!" Tehama said in a fit of nervous mania.
We had to hush her for getting too loud. But the truth is, we had no answer. There was no clear reason why we were all being subjected to such anguish.
Like I said, Tehama didn't make it anyways. On a supply run she had grabbed a doll from her old home to bring to Mama Denise and her two girls, but had dropped it in the street when Jil spotted a group of Rippers scaling the rooftops a block away.
We all scrambled to hide, hoping the Ripper patrol moved along. But they spotted the dolly laying in the dirt. And some sort of supernatural intelligence recognized this wasn't here on their last patrol. They knew humans were moving around.
The five of the Rippers in the patrol circled the doll, all letting out a high pitched squeals, like an alarm calling to others.
Me and Jil hid in a nasty bale of hay next to a gutted horse laying beside it, hopefully masking our scent. Our terror rose as we watched more and more Rippers coming out of the shadows. They slid down buildings, out of doorways, from under debris, and they all were all screaming, almost deafening to us.
There were three magical monocle's during this time. All of us had one. And we could all see the count of Rippers going into the hundreds!
They would find us! By flooding every corner of the street, they would come across us eventually!
That's when Tehama made her decision. I didn't see exactly where she hid, but she wasn't hiding anymore. She broke cover and ran directly into the streets, into the crowd of monsters. She tossed her monocle behind her towards our direction, maybe for us to recover later.
Of course they glowed brightly through the monocle, but to the naked eye they were an inky black. A black blacker than their surroundings, making it almost impossible to see them.
When the Rippers got close to their chosen victim, they allowed their prey to see their shiny silver teeth.
The sharp protruding teeth stand out bright and glistening, almost like silver, against the backdrop of darkness. as they moved in to kill the hapless human.
This is all Tehama saw as she dropped to his knees and searched blindly for the dropped dolly. She screamed and cried as the teeth sank into her tearing off little bits of her flesh.
The Rippers began to whoop and laugh like hyenas as they snatched piece by peice of her away. From the little I knew, the Rippers didn't need to eat. They just bit her for the joyful cruelness of it.
Blood soaked, mostly skinless hands of poor Tehama found the dolly that had started all of this horror. She hugged it close to her skinless chest and let out a gurgling scream before tipping over, most likely dead from shock.
That very second! That truly horrid moment! I decided I wasn't going to die in this town. I wasn't going to "wait it out" like all the old-timers advised. They are all dead now anyways! They didn't wait it out.
The King's armies hadn't made it in time. No fireballs from battlemages to shatter the darkness, no royal purple knights lead by The Heroic Prince Julian, no salvation from Her Divine!
If we waited we would all die in the dark. No doubt the King was coming with his armies, but how many days, or years will it take to Him to reach our settlement?
No, I would not die here. I had promised myself this years ago! I would survive like I had also promised! I would save Jil the way she saved me!
Then the army of rippers moved out East towards the Capitol. But there were still wicked things left behind to kill us. But this was our best chance!
As I sat in the darkness of the attic my mind was free to visualize in wonderful colorful detail my last memories before the Restless One tainted our town with its sightless void.
I remembered walking through the town, going towards the training academy. I was going to climb the mountain behind it. I was going to climb it again and again until I graduated and became one of the Royal Warden's Squires. The academy started soon and I never made it to the top without resting and without dropping my pack.
This is why I was one of the first to see our oncoming doom. The inky blackness spilled out from around the mountain to flood towards the town.
I knew I had to run and give warning to the town's guard. I wasn't a Warden's Squire yet, but I still had a duty to protect the people.
Tears heated up my cheeks as I sat in the dark, greatfull Jil and the others couldn't see me crying, as I remembered the death that followed.
But one of my last memories gave me the tiniest blink of hope. I remembered the peak of the mountain stabbing through the blackness. The mountain was tall enough to escape the flood of hell filling the valleys and town around it.
There was a ceremonial watchtower at the top of the mountain, filled with supplies. It's where the academy cadets earned their badges and completed their training. The mountain was the last test to becoming a Warden's Squire. A grueling uphill climb with a nickname given to the mountain by past cadets that like to boast over their hard earned accomplishments.
The mountain was affectionately called Mt. Despair, and it would be our salvation.
Part 2 https://www.reddit.com/Ceslystories/comments/11q7xcw/despairs_peak_part_2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Part 3: https://www.reddit.com/Ceslystories/comments/11ziluk/despairs_peak_part_3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Part 4: https://www.reddit.com/Ceslystories/comments/12916odespairs_peak_4_finale/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

We have been to Corsica several times, and there are several ways to travel to Corsica by ferry: We went to Nice, took the afternoon ferry and were in Bastia in the evening. The next time we took the night ferry from Savona and arrived in Bastia the next morning. And we also went to Livorno once, took the early morning ferry and were in Bastia by noon.
From Bastia, we first headed north on a 110 km coastal road with small villages and breathtaking views. First we came to ERBALUNGA with its massive tower on a rock by the sea has a picturesque location. Then we passed Maccinaggio, Cap Corse, Centuri-Port - a small romantic fishing port and center of lobster fishing - and continued via Pino to Nonza.
In NONZA the houses cluster around a rock that rises 160 m from the sea. We walked up to the Tour Pouline - a fortified tower from the 16th century. From there you can see the black beach, which makes a great contrast to the turquoise sea.
After we had explored the north, we drove from Bastia down the whole east coast - we made a stop at Moriani Plage with a beautiful sandy beach - to Porto Vecchio.
PORTO VECCHIO has a fantastic location and has a lively old town: the Genoese fortress from 1539 is situated on a hill. Porto Vecchio is the third largest city of Corsica, besides the flourishing tourism there is still the traditional salt mining and other trades especially in the suburbs. The malaria mosquitoes were wiped out in the 1950s, so that even in this area could be built without further ado. The old town consists of only four longitudinal and ten transverse streets, it is closed to traffic in the summer. At the Place de la République people like to drink their Pastis or Kir in the evening. In the old town there are many restaurants in various price ranges and boutiques partly with typical products of the country.
Many people come to Porto Vecchio for its beautiful beaches. BENEDUTTU PLAGE - a long fine sandy beach with a view of Punta di Chiappa and also of Porto Vecchio. A part of PLAGE CALA ROSSA is occupied by a luxury hotel, therefore the fine beach is accessible only from the western side. PALOMBAGGIA PLAGE with white sand and turquoise calm water - one of the most beautiful beaches of Corsica - is surrounded by red rocks. At ST. GUILIA PLAGE some hotels are settled in the meantime. Thus, the once paradisiacal bay has now become more of a commercial place. But the beach is still wonderfully bright and the water crystal clear. RODINARA PLAGE - a dreamlike round bay - one of the most beautiful of Corsica. Once only a dirt road led to the lagoon. Since a real road was built, this bay is very busy in the season.
From Porto Vecchio we made a tour to COL DE BAVELLA (1218 m high) - an impressive landscape. There are good hiking trails, e.g. to the Cumpudella (Trou de la Bombe), a huge hole in the rock face, where you are rewarded with an incredible view after a scramble. In season, of course, it is very busy there, and the "real" hikers come as early as possible in the morning.
Near the small village of L'Ospedale is the drinking water reservoir BARRAGE DE L'OSPEDALE. From there you can hike up to the 70 m high waterfall Piscia di Gallo - but it is more worthwhile in spring, when there is still enough water.
From Porto Vecchio we went on to BONIVACIO, one of the great attractions in Corsica - despite the many visitors. The upper town, where we stayed, is built on a 60 m high chalk rock plateau and still has a historical structure. We could see all the way to Sardinia from our hotel - it was beautiful weather.
The harbor is at the end of the long, narrow inlet. From there it is best to make a tour on foot. From the fortress walls you have a fantastic view of the city, the coast and the sea and all the way to Sardinia. On the harbor promenade there is a sea aquarium in a natural grotto. The shore road leads to the fishing port and the ferry port,
The upper town is reached through the 16th century Porte de Gênes. From the Jardin des Vestiges one has the most beautiful view over the harbor. It is hard to walk from the lower town to the upper town, because it is quite steep and with many stairs.
The journey continued to the extreme southwest, the land of blood vengeance - still until 1840. SARTÈNE - the "most Corsican of all Corsican towns" - is an interesting old town, which is virtually stuck on a rock. Almost no ray of sunlight reaches the winding narrow streets, and the narrow multi-story houses sometimes have window holes like sinister defense towers. The center of the old town is the Place de la Libération with some restaurants where you can sit outside and enjoy your drink.
From Sartène we drove to PROPRIANO. This place was discovered late by the tourists, there is a nice promenade between the marina and the pier, where it is lively especially in the evening. Propriano is located on the Gulf of Valinco, here the rivers Taravo, Baracci and Rizzanese flow. Right next to the lighthouse is the beautiful beach Plage du Lido.
On a scenic coastal road you drive from Propriano to PUNTO DE CAMPOMARO. Here is still an unspoiled stretch of coast with calm turquoise water and bizarre granite rocks. Above the small village of Campomoro you can see a 16th century watchtower.
AJACCIO is the administrative center and capital of Corse du Sud. The city with its southern flair has a beautiful old town with the citadel and many restaurants and stores. Ajaccio is probably best known as the birthplace of Napoléon, whose statue can be seen at Place Maréchal Foch. In the evening it becomes lively in the alleys of the Genoese old town with many bars and restaurants.
Unfortunately, the citadel can only be visited as part of an organized guided tour. Worth seeing is the church "Notre-Dame-de-la-Miséricorde" with a large dome, where Napoleon I was baptized. There is of course also a Casa Bonaparte. In the new town, you can still find some magnificent houses on the Avenue de Paris or the Cours Grandval, where there are often stores and boutiques.
Northwest of Ajaccio one comes to the POINTE DE LA PATARA. You can easily walk to the Genoese tower from 1608 from the parking lot. From there you have a beautiful view of the Iles Sanguinaires with the lighthouse. From the parking lot you can also make a coastal hike to the north. There are beautiful views of the sea everywhere and you can walk down to the beach at Capo de la Fena to cool off. However, the surf is quite strong.
The view was magnificent on the CHEMIN DES CRÈTES, but it was also very difficult to even find an "entry" to this trail. And besides, the Macchi was partly so dense that you had to be careful not to hurt yourself on the thorny bushes.
Especially in the south of Ajaccio there are beautiful beaches. First of all there is PORTICCIO with its long wide beach. Porticcio is now a large seaside resort with good infrastructure.
Then comes the bay with the long PLAGE D'AGOSTA with a view of the Isolella peninsula. In the next bay there is the fine sandy Plage de Ruppione between rocks with quite high waves.
And then comes my absolute favorite beach with fine light sand and crystal clear water - SOLE E MARE, and I hope that there will not also be larger hotel and apartment buildings there.
A beautiful small lonely sandy bay with calm water can be found at PLAGE DE PORTIGLIOLO. North of Ajaccio are the beaches PlLAGE SCUDO and PLAGE MARINELLO, very popular with the locals because they are not too far from the city.
From Ajaccio you can make an excursion to PORTO POLLO. On the way we went through the mountains, where we "got lost" a few times, because there were no signs, and we could only drive by "feeling". Porto Pollo is located on the Gulf of Valinco and has a fine sandy beach with many picturesque round rocks. In summer, a lot of people come here. At the end of September however many things are already closed or will be closed.
A recommendable tour south of Ajaccio is the ROUTE DES COLS. Over various passes and through the largest eucalyptus forest on the island, you come to the small village of Coti Chiavari, 486 m high, with a pretty little church. From there you also have beautiful views of the mountains to the sea.
On a hiking tour, we headed towards Corte and then to the small village of Cuttoli-Corticchiato, continuing to the idyllically situated hamlet of San Petru at 888 m above sea level. From there we went to the MONTE ARAGNASCU, a somewhat arduous tour in the blazing sun. But we were rewarded with a beautiful view of Ajaccio, the Gulf and the Gravonatal.
In the GRAVONA VALLEY is the village of Bocognano, from where you can also hike well. We came on the poorly signposted "Chemin", whereby we were also surprised by rain.
Interesting was that we were accompanied all the way first by several dogs, then later one remained. When we eventually had enough of the rain and the bad path and walked back, we encountered some wild boars which did not look very "friendly". The dog started barking at them. And indeed, they sought the distance. It looked like the dog was trying to protect us somehow. Down in the village we met the owner of the dog - the older man invited us spontaneously for coffee - and he told us that his dog was often on the way as a "companion" for hikers.
Another hiking tour led us first to the GORGES DE PRUNELLI and to the reservoir Lac de Tolla, which supplies Ajaccio with water. From there we went to the large farming village of Bastelica, the gateway to the high mountains. From here, many hiking trails lead into the mountains and to some waterfalls.
Another excursion we made towards the north over the Col de San Bastiano to the Golf de la Liscia to CARGÈSE. This place with a small harbor is located on the southern slope of a headland. Worth seeing is the Greek church "Eglise greque" from the 19th century with old icons. North of Cargèse are of course again beautiful sandy beaches.
From Ajaccio in the direction of Corte we looked at the CASCADE DU VOILE DE LA MARIÉe, where the water normally plunges 150 m into the depth. It was quite a climb and then, unfortunately, the waterfall didn't even have too much water at the end of September.
Through beautiful pine forests we came towards Corte past the famous PONT DU VECCHIU, built in 1927 by Gustave Eiffel. Until 1999 this was the only connection across the gorge, but now there is a modern bridge.
CORTE has the only university in Corsica with about 4000 students. The old town, rich in tradition, is situated below a rock with an old fortress built in the 11th century. In 1962-83 this fortress was used by the Foreign Legion. From the Belvedère viewpoint near the citadel, there is a beautiful view of the mountains and the surroundings of Corte.
Also worth seeing is Fontaine des Quatre-Canons, a colossal fountain that served as a water supply for the upper town in times of siege. On Cours Paoli you can find restaurants, bakeries and many other stores. On the Cours Patrimonial, there are some arts and crafts stores. The 17th century church Eglise de l'Annonciation is one of the oldest buildings in Corte.
From Corte we drove along a narrow road through a beautiful mountain landscape to the RESTONICA VALLEY, a nature reserve with many Corte pine trees. By car, you can drive to the parking lot at the Bergerie de Grotelle. The ascent to Lake Melo was quite difficult, you had to climb over many large stones, sometimes you didn't know at all how to continue and had to climb back, and so on. After about 2 hours we had made it and were at the Melo mountain lake. After a 30-minute rest in the sun, we then needed for the descent again 2 hours. Because with one of my trekking shoes the sole loosened, and I had to hold them together in a makeshift way with the shoelace...
From Corte we went first through the NIOLA VALLEY with numerous hiking trails. For a long time this area was only accessible by mule trails. Here wild boars ran across our path. You can see them especially in autumn when the chestnuts fall from the trees.
The large village of EVISA is located in the middle of chestnut forests and is a popular destination. Here begins (or ends) the hiking trail through the wild gorge of Spelunca. Through a beautiful mountain landscape and a 14 km long granite gorge we came to the GORGE DE SPELUNCA, an impressive gorge where you can hike very well - either from Evisa or from Ota.
In the small very popular town of PORTO at the mouth of the Porto River, we had a beautiful view of the Genoese Tower, the Gulf and the mountains from our hotel. The angular Genoese Tower on a headland is the landmark of Porto.
From Porto we drove to the CALANCHES DE PIANA, which start 8 km behind Porto. The granite rocks here are eroded by wind and water into the most bizarre shapes. The colors vary depending on the time of day, in the evening for example bright red. From the old mule trail - Sentier Muletier - you have great views of the rock world. There are also other trails - e.g. La Corniche.
Then we drove to PIANA, perched on a 434 m cliff, which can call itself "un des plus beaux villages de France". The only sandy beach in the area is the Plage d'Arone in a beautiful crescent shaped bay with only a few people.
From Porto, the best way to get to CALVI is to take the coastal road, which is very winding but takes you through some beautiful scenery on the Gulf of Porto. From our accommodation in Calvi we had a great view of the fortress and the Gulf of Calvi.
Calvi, the pearl of the north, is a well known and popular vacation center. Very nice are the lively alleys in the lower town and the harbor quays. In the alleys of the lower town and the harbor quay you can stroll nicely and also find restaurants and stores. The church "Sainte Marie Majeure" with a polygonal ground plan is striking. The first Christian chapel on this place was built already in the 4th century, subsequent churches were destroyed several times. The present church was built in 1774. Outside the town on the Gulf of Calvi there is a long narrow sandy beach, the water here gets deeper only slowly - ideal for small children.
The citadel "Bastion Spinchone" is the landmark of the city, you can walk around it on a ring of walls and have beautiful views of the city and the sea. The citadel was built on Roman foundations and is the oldest fortified building in Calvi.
Worth seeing is the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste in the center of the citadel. Originally built in the 13th century, the church was largely destroyed by the explosion of a powder tower in 1567 and subsequently rebuilt in the Baroque style.
A beautiful beach near Calvi is the Plage d'Argentella, about 1 km long, in the bay of Crovani. You can get to the peninsula on a dirt road. You can make a nice but strenuous hike there. From a parking bay you have a beautiful view of the peninsula.
A nicely situated and rather quiet place is l'ILE-ROUSSEL with a small harbor and the Genoese tower and lighthouse on the peninsula "La Pietra". The village owes its name to this offshore island, which has now been turned into a peninsula by a dam and turns red at sunset.
L'Ile Rousse was laid out in 1765 in a rectangular street pattern around the harbor and is said to have the mildest winter climate in Corsica. In the alleys of the old town of L'Ile-Rousse there are several small shops selling souvenirs, jewelry, clothing, wine, etc. In the Marché Couvert there is a market in the morning. In the surroundings of Ile-Rousse there are many light sandy beaches.
Between Calvi and L'Ile-Rousse in the small village of Algajola there is a very beautiful wide and 1.5 km long beach - PLAGE D'AREGNO. In high summer, the beach is apparently very crowded. When we were there in mid-September, we had the beach to ourselves.
SAINT FLORENT is located in the north of Corsica on the wide bay of the same name - in winter an idyllic fishing village. Since the place is very popular, the population increases tenfold in the summer. A point of attraction for tourists is the large marina. In the center you can find bars, restaurants and many souvenir stores. St. Florent is also called "St. Tropez of the island" because of its special flair. On a panoramic road above Saint Florent one has again and again beautiful views of mountains and sea.
On the way to Bastia you can make a detour to the local mountain of Bastia - the 960 m high SERRA DI PIGNO. On a clear day you have a good panoramic view over both sides of Cap Corse .
BASTIA is the most important port for ferries from the French and Italian mainland and also for freight traffic. Bastia is the biggest commercial and economic center of Corsica with an industrial zone. But Bastia is also a busy center of Corsican everyday life. The Place Saint Nicolas with plane trees and palm trees is 300 meters long and 90 meters wide, making it one of the largest squares in France. The beach Plage Arinella, located south of the city, is very wide and long, but unfortunately not very attractive.
The heart of Bastia's Terra Vecchia district is the horseshoe-shaped Vieux Port with the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste in the background. Walking north through the narrow streets, you come to the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, where a market is held on weekends.
Around the dock there are many restaurants in all price ranges. When we are in Bastia, we always have our aperitif at a bistro where we have a nice view of the small harbor and the church.
The citadel was built by Genoese in 1380. There are the magnificently renovated Governor's Palace, the Cathedral of Sainte-Marie-de l'Assomption - a Genoese Baroque building erected in 1604-1619 - and the small chapel Oratoire de la ConfrIère de la Sainte-Croix, where you can see a cross made of black ebony in a side chapel.
The palace was the seat of the Genoese governors between the 15th and 18th centuries, today it houses the Ethnographic Museum.

OCOC

Back again dear reader?
How lovely!
As I sit here in the well illuminated Magus’ office, I can hear the soft pattering sound of falling raindrops outside plus there is the scent of Petrichor in the air, gently drifting in through the open windows.
It is…gorgeous.
Such simple things that are part of the miracle of life on this planet that drifts along, circling a massive ball of nuclear fire through the inky black void of space.
Being with my Magus has made me ever so philosophical these days but I do still so much enjoy butchering people like bleating, terrified sheep. That can be so entertaining! The blood, the screams, the pleading and crying… all as wonderful as the sound of raindrops descending from the sky, landing on the roof with a pleasing resonance.
Oh I do wax lyrical at times… teeheehee…
Now then, back to my amazing story:
I had just sampled my Rum & Raisin Gelato for the first time, taking in the icy, milky sweetness and pungent flavour of the rum blended into the creamy concoction when… WHACK!
A ball flew out of nowhere, smacking me rudely in the side of my head, knocking my Gelato out of my heads, causing me a moment of stunned incredulity.
I felt no pain if that was your concern dear reader.
As my Magus said, it takes more than a surprise sneak attack with a leather clad football to harm me. Normally I would have plucked the offensive object out of the air yet I was so intent upon savouring my Gelato that my guard was down for an instant.
I spun around to see a group of six buff, fit, muscular looking young men, probably in their early twenties in age, all considering me and my Magus with derisive smirks.
One in particular, the one who had hit me with his ball, a tall, well-muscled, shirtless young man called out to us, with an arrogant snide tone in his voice,
“Hey, give us our ball back!” he demanded as I now had the offending item in my hands.
“Apologise to the lady and buy her a new Gelato,” said the Magus in a cold flat tone as he stood up, glaring daggers at the overly muscled moron.
“What? It was an accident man, don’t get upset, ok boomer?” the young offender laughed out aloud mockingly at us.
I was burning with fury at this point as was my Magus. I could feel his power itching to smite this fool.
The strutting, ignorant, puffed up idiot pushed out his muscular chest and strode the twenty or so feet towards us, trying to look threatening, thinking he could intimidate us and make us cower before him.
“What you going to do about it you, eh? Come on you fat fuck, you wanna have a go, do ya?” he called out as he stopped right in front of the Magus, daring him to act.
My Magus didn’t flinch an inch as the cretin had no idea he was seconds away from something extremely unpleasant. My Magus never took his eyes of the cretin but spoke to me,
“No but she will. Meridiana, remember what I said, no killing but everything else is fine. Teach this muscle brained mouth breathing imbecile a lesson he will never forget lest I butcher him...”
The arrogant young fool suddenly appeared apprehensive as I stood up, his ball now in my left hand. I extended my talons from the fingers in my hands, just enough to puncture and rip the ball apart into pathetic shreds which I tossed aside once done.
His eyes widened in total shock as he stumbled a step backwards.
“Tremens!”
I unleashed my power of Id Insinuation, a Psionic discipline of the mind which we Succubi possess that reduces our victims to apoplectic quivering wrecks, losing all control of their bodily functions from experiencing all-consuming pain, psychic misery and abject terror. I am a master at this Psionic Discipline if you are curious.
The arrogant, blustering fool had no mental discipline or defence against such an assault, collapsing down upon the ground with a low groan of wretched pain, his bowels and bladder immediately releasing as he began fitting uncontrollably, foam appearing from his mouth.
My Magus, went over to the now prone young man, rolled him onto his left side, removing a small leather-bound wallet (I learned the name later) from the back of his flimsy short pants and took out a colourful, small rectangle from it. Then he dropped the wallet back onto the spasming idiot on the ground.
“HEY! YOU”RE STEALING FROM WAYNO!”
“No. I am taking compensation from your inconsiderate dickhead who shall now be called Wanko as he owes the lady a Gelato. Pray that is all we take from your idiot friend,” my Magus said in a harsh growl.
‘Wayno’s compatriots were taken aback by the harshness of the glare from my Magus, not knowing what to do.
They had seen their leader felled with nothing but a word from me. I gave them a very wide, open smile, briefly showing them a glimpse of my fangs for just a second then made them normal human teeth once more.
Their eyes widened hugely in astonished fear.
I looked at my Magus with a beaming smile. This was how to use Power.
Reduce your enemies into snivelling, gibbering terrorised wrecks.
People started stopping and began staring at the scene that was unfolding around us. In a way I was a little sad as my perfect experience was ruined by an utterly inconsiderate, thoughtlessness of a bunch of overly charged testosterone filled idiots playing a stupid game with a ball when it was clearly obvious that there were many people about and one missed catch would result in… well a lost Gelato for a start!
The Magus focused his will, them waved his right hand with a small gesture saying,
“Sapiens Obscura!”
Everyone in the nearby vicinity all immediately stopped with a blank look on their faces, staring hollow eyed at the Magus.
“There is nothing to see here, you will remember nothing of this. Walk on, go about your business and have a lovely day.”
The crowd who had stopped to watch, were starting to get out their phones to film the incident, all suddenly did as the Magus commanded, just walking away with a faint puzzled smile on their faces as though nothing had happened.
Even the idiots’ friends walked off in a daze, leaving him still trembling and fitting in his own filth upon the ground.
I glanced back in almost adulation at my Maus.
What Power!
He saw me looking at him, shrugged and sighed.
“Here, you can have my Gelato, Meridiana. I shouldn’t eat it anyway, bad for my blood sugars. We should go as the glamour will not last and we do not want to attract more attention to ourselves.”
“That was wonderous Magus, to be able to influence so many minds like that…” I almost gushed at him.
He stared balefully at the still writhing, convulsing moron who had thoroughly soiled himself at this point, then shrugged.
“A simple use of The Will and The Way, combined with a hypnotical charm, makes it easy to do however I only had one prepared so we should not linger here. Let’s just walk away further down the path to a less crowded area and appreciate the sunset.”
I nodded in agreement, taking a small, tentative taste of the Magus’s Vanilla Gelato. Delightful!
Vanilla was far a more subtle flavour, not as bold as my now destroyed Rum & Raisin waffle cone. Perhaps a better flavour in the end as subtlety is a hallmark of refined taste. I enjoyed it immensely.
With my Gelato in my left hand, I took the Magus’ arm in my right, we gently strolled away from the scene of the destruction of my Gelato and the mind of a callous, bullying, cretinous idiot. He might recover… I hoped not. One less muscle bound thuggish oaf was what the world could do with right now. He would have made for a tasty snack though…
“I thought you said we should be careful, not use our power like that?” I asked after a couple of minutes of sedate walking.
I noted, glancing briefly to our rear, that there was no commotion behind us although after a few minutes some new passers-by had stopped to try to help the fallen fool.
“If he genuinely apologised to you for his oafish stupidity rather than try to bully us, I would not have done anything. Oxygen Thieves like that deserve a short, sharp shock. It is better than Percussive Cranial Adjustments.”
“What?”
“Punches to the head. If your hands are not conditioned and strengthened, you risk breaking bones within them by punching people in the head. There is a strong risk that you may render your foe unconscious, causing them to collapse, smacking their head on the floor resulting in them getting more damage to their already asinine cerebellums. Then the screaming and wailing starts, police are called, arrests are made, lives are ruined blah blah blah.. not worth the trouble no matter how tempting it is. However, in certain cases, a swift kick, punch or hard knee to the balls of the miscreant can solve a lot of problems extremely quickly and not result in a brain injury,” he added with a dark smile.
I erupted in evil laughter!
My demonic cackling drew some apprehensive eyes from passers-by but at this point I didn’t care. Even my Magus winked at me with a dry, faintly amused smirk.
“Oh Magus! That is most amusing. I shall use that tactic from now on as you are correct but you missed one minor detail,” I said with an infernal glint in my eyes.
“I did? Do tell,” he replied with a glimmer of mild curiosity.
“By ‘kneeing them in the balls’ as you so delightfully put it, you do damage to their second brain as almost all men think with their balls!”
The Magus stopped, then briefly chuckled at my cutting wit, shaking his head lightly.
“Very true Meridiana, very true. Come, here’s a free and clean enough bench for us to sit and watch the ocean and sunset,” he said as we came upon another empty park bench that looked out over the beach and sea.
I nodded and took my seat, focusing again upon my delightful, sweet snack while enjoying the ambiance of just being at the beach, watching humanity blithefully and ignorantly walking by, their minds closed to almost everything around them. Many had their faces glued to their phones, or had devices covering their ears, walking along at a brisk pace, ignoring the beauty that surrounded them. If I wasn’t a demon, I would had felt sorry for these people… but I didn’t. It made me despise them all for being such thoughtless idiots, so completely self-absorbed, locked inside in their pathetic little heads.
My Magus interrupted my musings,
“So what was that you did to that reprobate then Meridiana? I need to fully understand what powers and abilities you possess so we can properly plan for the missions ahead.”
“I see,” I replied primly as I crossed my legs, with them facing towards my Magus. I took another small bite from my Gelato then said, “How about you tell me what you think you know then I will… be honest with you Magus. Hmm… my that was difficult to say… no matter, I will fill in the gaps of your knowledge after you speak. I am so extremely curious as to what you think you know.” I sat back and observed him intently.
He shifted in his seat, turning more towards me, pausing in thought before speaking once more,
“Well… I know you can do the following: you can Shape Shift, altering your appearance to appear like different being, but does extend to animal forms?”
“No Magus but that is a good question! I can appear as other humans but there is a limit as I can only do so within a certain size range limit to the power. I cannot appear as a small child nor a giant man. I can appear as another type of demon, just not the massive ones like say a Pit Fiend or other large demons and I dare not appear as a Demon Lord or Prince as if they ever found out that a demon or someone was impersonating them… the torment they would inflict would be… beyond extreme for such an affront. Go on.” I took another little bite of my Gelato. So Good!
“Interesting… ok…your kiss will drain the life energy from your victim, reducing them to a crumbling lifeless husk?"
I nodded with a wide smile as I extended my long, deep red tongue, lapping and twirling around my Gelato seductively. He ignored it. Sigh.
“How long does it take for you to fully drain your victim?”
My eyebrows were raised at that question. My Magus was wise to ask this and it made me consider it too.
“I am impressed Magus, no one has ever bothered to ask that. I estimate maybe twenty to thirty or so resting heartbeats, perhaps a little longer? To be honest I never really paid attention as to how long the kiss took to drain my victim as I am normally in the moment, relishing the sensation of drinking a human’s lifeforce and energy but now I will. Thank you Magus. This makes me more aware of my abilities for my own purposes.”
“Hmm… I suppose we can time it in the future, but not here in this city. A withered husk appearing will attract too many questions for now. Next then, I understand that you can become Ethereal? Stepping into the that plane of existence briefly and becoming untouchable here.”
I nodded.
“How long can you maintain that ability, and how often can you use it?”
“Another excellent question Magus. I can use it at will as often as I like. As to maintaining it… you know I have never truly thought about that as I only use it to step away from threats that might actually harm me. Perhaps this is something else we can experiment on together Magus?” I said with a hopeful, demure smile.
This time I received the glimmer of approval from him which made me grin inwardly. His desire for knowledge! That’s his weakness! Oh happy day. And it included Gelato as well!
“That we must do as it may be vital for your own safety and survival. Knowing how long you can safely stay in the Ethereal Plane will be paramount. Next… I know you can Charm, use the power of Suggestion and Domination, that you have the power of Extrasensory Perception, which you used on me earlier on and you have the power of Clairaudience which allows you to listen in on your targets from a distance. Quite useful in combat and stealth situations I would say?”
“Yes it is Magus. I have used that many times to spy upon my victims and enemies, gaining much useful information without them ever being aware.”
I smirked once more as that power enabled me to ferret out so many secrets that were thought to have been spoken without anyone else listening. I now nibbled on the sweet wafer biscuit cone of my Gelato, oh how glorious that was.
“I know that you have Psionic Abilities, powers of the mind, but this is now where my knowledge falls short. I also believe that you are an adept in The Arts, capable of wielding magic and spells.”
I smiled broadly back at my Magus. He was indeed well informed.
“Yes, that is all true. Now I will tell you what I am fully capable of. Firstly I can walk… travel between the dimensions if I so choose. I do not need to create a Gate to travel between realms, I simply picture where I wish to go and I appear there. I can only do this for myself though. In addition, I must take care in not pushing to go beyond my limits, try to cross too many dimensions in one trip, as I could strain my mind and lose myself between dimensions. Next, I can go Invisible at will,” and did just that right in front of him, for a couple of seconds before reappearing once more. He nodded briefly and I was somewhat disappointed that I did not receive a bigger reaction. Oh well. There was still some waffle cone left.
With another little sigh I carried on,
“I can also detect the presence of magic within a thirty foot radius for over an hour or so but I have to maintain my concentration for this to continue otherwise the detection ceases after a minute. I have the power of Telekinesis…”
Now my Magus’s eye lit up with real interest. I stopped speaking as I knew he wanted to ask questions.
“Now that is an impressive ability. How much weight can you lift at your maximum exertion? What is your range? Are you able to use the power in a delicate, fine tuned way for minor manipulation?”
His enthusiasm was immensely gratifying. It was the most animated that I had seen him be thus far.
“Oh my Magus… so many questions! I had no idea that such an ability would intrigue you so much… perhaps I should have demonstrated that power when we first met?” I said with a teasing smirk.
He harrumphed but waited for me to continue.
“I know I am able to lift a war horse in full cataphract armour as I did so a few times during the campaign of General Flavius Belisarius against the Persians at the Battle of Dara, much to their shock and horror. It turned the tide of the battle I have to say with a little modesty. Empress Theodora was the one who summoned me and used me for a decade to help her favoured General. I liked her. She was utterly ruthless and exceptionally intelligent." I took a moment to have another bite of my Gelato before continuing,
"At the end of my service to her, I gifted her with Cancer which took her life painfully. And that leads us to another of my abilities, Cell Adjustment. I can, if I so choose, alter the very cells within mine or your body Magus, healing you and reshaping your metabolism. I also can do harm with it too, although that takes a lot more power and isn’t an instant way to kill people but it still can be fairly quick way to murder someone, often painfully so. I may cause a blood clot to form which travels to the brain or thicken the arteries of a victims heart making it have a seizure or perhaps flooding their body with so much adrenaline that they fit uncontrollably… so many options….” I mused openly as I tried to remember the ways I had killed with this power before.
I am a Master of Human anatomy by the way, having spent tens of thousands of years eviscerating my victims, inspecting their corpses afterwards as well as later studying under learned Greek physicians back in the early days of the Roman Empire.
My Magus gave me a cool assessing, calculating stare. I could see he had taken the hint, that I could completely alter his physiology, potentially removing the excess weight from his body, repairing the damage that such a condition had done to him. My hook was baited.
“I… see… go on Meridiana.”
There was a very cautious tone in his voice now. My inner smile only grew.
“Moving on, I can shield my mind exactly like you did with an Intellect Fortress and Thought Shield. The power I used upon the thoughtless buffoon, the Id Insinuation, I can also employ over a twenty by twenty foot area. All within will feel my wrath and despair as he did. Unless they are incredibly strong willed or have mental defences like we do. I can also let loose a Psionic Blast if I so choose but that is a wasteful use of the power in my humble opinion. And of course I have my spells,” I said as I used my power to open the tiny pocket dimension to where I had hidden my tome of magic and other priceless treasures.
A small tear in the fabric of reality briefly appeared in front of us and the Magus looked in, seeing my not insignificant horde of treasures, which included my priceless tome of spells.
“This is another of my abilities, Pocket Plane. It can access a tiny alternate reality, where I keep all my precious things. Only I can access it, no one else can,” I said with a pointed glance at the Magus. He understood instantly and was deeply fascinated by the pocket plane.
Everything was stashed carefully away from all who would covert its contents, including my Demon Lord who despite all the torture he and his minions inflicted upon me for nigh on a thousand years, was never able to break me, denying him from stealing my treasures from me!
I would rather cease existing than let that happen which he eventually learned thus giving up on the attempt as he preferred to keep tormenting me for eternity anyway, rather than end my existence. I quickly closed the portal lest it attract unwanted attention.
"Now as you mentioned earlier, I am an Adept in The Art, ranked at a power-level of fifteen I am proud to say. I suspect that you are a few levels higher than myself but do not have as many spells as I have, do you?”
I took one last bite of my waffle cone, casually dangling the prospect of more power to the Magus. Such a wonderful combination, frozen sweet cream and sugary crunchy biscuit. The Roman Byzantines would have gone mad for it. Ahh well.
“You are correct Meridiana. Spells and magic are extremely rare these days. I have some theories as to why that is however we can discuss them later. Sufficed to say, I will need more spells and that is also why I summoned you, to teach me as much as I am teaching you and I know full well you are going to try and ensnare me with that,” he said with another dry, cold laugh. “Instead of you trying to enslave me, how about we do deals instead?”
Now that was a language I could speak and my smile grew ever so wide.
“But of course my dear Magus, just give me control of what is left of your soul…” I laughed.
He had the temerity to laugh at me.
“Oh no Meridiana… you fail to grasp your situation. This is not you holding power over me, it is me holding power over you… oh you see it now don’t you? I have turned your face to alabaster, because you discovered that what you thought was your servant was all along, is your master. You are wrapped around my finger,” he said pointed to a shining band of gold around the third finger on his left hand. I stared in horror at it.
“Yes, not only are you bound to me body and soul, but your essence is bound within my wedding ring. My wife bought that for me with pure love in her heart. You know certain objects have power. This is one of them… one ring to rule you… “ he laughed chillingly again at my dismay. Oh how deliciously evil he can be.
I was stunned.
He had trapped my essence in a Phylactery. How, I did not know?
The wedding ring, an object that bound two hearts together, the circle a symbol for eternity, now held my essence within its golden circle of eternal love.
“Oh don’t look so pissed. You’d have done it to me, well not via a wedding ring that's for sure but still, you would have enslaved me. Again, I do not seek to control you but I am not stupid, I know the parable of the Frog and the Scorpion. You will always try to enslave and dominate me, it's who you are, it's your nature. Look, Meridiana and think before you lose control again. I am not your usual chump of a wanna-be Magus. Times have changed. I am prepared to unleash you upon the world to spread chaos and mayhem. If anything, you OWE me from getting you out of hell. And I am housing you, feeding you, clothing you, giving you knowledge and will protect you from other demons that WILL come looking for you. Oh yes, don’t think that your former lord hasn’t noticed by now that you’ve flown the coup! He will be furious. And that binds us together even more so because part of my plan is that we kill him and seize his throne for ourselves," said the Magus casually.
Dear reader… in all my existence, nothing has ever floored me with it’s sheer breathtaking audacity. My face was already drained of colour when he revealed his total control over me but more so, the scope of his plan… beyond incredible.
I bowed my head to him in total subjugation…for now.
“I am yours Magus. I will do as you say. Your plan to gain our…freedom… is audacious in the extreme. If we can achieve this…” I said breathlessly, my eyes alight with burning lust for him now. Again, to my immense disappointment, he ignored my sultry steamy gaze.
“Always aim as high as you can Meridiana. The Will and The Way will get us far, further than you can imagine but I need more knowledge and power as do you. Now do you see why I want you as a partner? We have a target painted on us and the clock is already ticking. Soon your former lord will start to try to send his minions through the void to retrieve you and drag me there as well. We don’t have time for games Meridiana, that is if you wish to stay here?”
“I do want to stay… I will do as you ask Magus but I must ask…why? Why take such a risk?”
“It’s better to rule in hell then serve in heaven don’t you think?” he said with a evil grin as he stood and offered his hand to me. “And your old boss needs his head blown off with a sawn-off double barrelled enchanted shotgun, filled with 12 gauge 000 buckshot made from the metal from the nails of The True Cross… right to his fucking face!” my Magus snarled savagely.
Oh how beautiful that sounded.
“Absolutely! I am all in. I have no real choice anyway do I?”
I took his hand in mine and ever so gently squeezed it.
“You do. I admit that I have forced this upon you but look at the alternative, spending eternity, eventually going insane from boredom, within your cell because Pope Sylvester II confessed on his death-bed. That wasn’t your fault. Mind you, you did underestimate the willy priest now eh?”
I nodded with a sigh and chagrin upon my face.
“Yes, that is true.”
“Your lord throws an epic tantrum, what I’d call “chucking a wobbly”, even though you were one of the top demons in soul possession and ruination. What a stupid cunt. Only a complete fuckwit throws away his best employee in a fit of pique like that.”
I burst out laughing at that dear reader. No one would EVER dare to call my former lord those things but my Magus did. I felt the ebullient elation once more. This man had an epic vision.
“Now then, I assume you are still hungry? And for food for now Meridiana.”
“Yes Magus,” I said with a small smile.
“Good. We’ll go grab dinner at the best buffet in town as that will be the the most effective way you can satisfy your appetite. It’s only Tuesday so it won’t be overcrowded. Then we can go to the casino next door where you can use your skills to steal a fortune from those rapacious bastards!”
My smile could not be wider dear reader. The promise of all I can eat (sadly not human souls or hearts) and the chance to steal from those who steal with their rigged games!
This was turning out to be the most amazing day in all my life.
We made our way back to the car when I noticed that all the cars had little metal plates on both the front and the back, inscribed with Arabic numerals and roman letters.
As we got to the car, I noticed what the Magus had on his metal plates:
HWY2H3LL
Oh rapture!
Part 6

Hello, I’m from the Midwest. I’m looking for someone I can talk to anytime. I’m usually craving some form of social stop to throughout the day
Here’s a bit about me: I like to play video games. I’m good at valorant csgo league. But beside competitive games I like to play chill games like portal and elden ring. I like to go outside and do things like long/skateboarding. That also includes going fishing, hiking, camping and hanging out with friends. I enjoy to smoke thc, it always brings me up. My favorite music is hiphop and I enjoy juice wrld. My favorite movie is Donnie Darko.
Overall I’m pretty laidback and chill, just looking for a fun time. Have a good day/night

Memory Transcription Subject: Ovook Tkarna, Captain of the United Hope
Date [Standarized Human Time]: August 22, 1898
"I repeat, unknown ship, you have trasspased into territory of the Krakotl Alliance. State why are you here and who you are or you will be considered a hostile"
The bird, or at least I thought that it would be classified as a bird, said again, his (her?) patience running low due to our lack of a response to the order given to the crew
"A-apologies"
I finally said. Though I hadn't recovered from the shock of finding a civilization on what was suppossed to be a normal exploratory mission, I was still the Captain of the ship, and it was my duty to take the lead in situations of high importance, and he doubted there was a situation of bigger importance than a First Contact situation
"This is Captain Ovook Tkarna, Captain of the Exploratory Vessel 'United Hope', and she is my Second in Command, Arkhor Sanjalis"
The bird looked at Arkhor, their eyes apparently examinating closely the apparence of the girl
"We were supossed to explore this system for a future colonization... Well, that was when we thought that this system was uninhabited and that there wasn't inteligent life here"
The bird quickly put their gaze back on me, eyes narrowing at the answer
"Exploratory Vessel? In all of my carrier I have seen Cruisers with less weapons than those of your vessel! Hell, MY Cruiser has less weapons than your vessel!"
The bird said, venom behind those last words. Even though this was a serious situation, I couldn't help but notice how it used the word "Cruiser" to refer to their ships, but that didn't make sense. Even if their ships were bigger than his ship, the United Hope only classified as a Large Skaknar [Heavy Frigate], and that was because it had been built on the almost finished hull of a Jaknar class. Nevertheless, that gave two possible options for an explanation: their shipbuilding capabilities were still young, and as such they classified things like Skaknars [Frigates] as Shaknaruks [Star Cruisers], which would at least give some security to the Commonwealth even if conflict was the last thing they desired. Or, their shipbuilding capabilities were so advanced that they could fit the firepower of a Shaknaruk [Star Cruiser] in a ship slightly bigger than a Skaknar [Frigate], which would mean terrible things for the gigantic ships back at the Commonwealth
"W-well, I- Uhm..."
I stuttered, trying to find the words to respond to the acussations of the bird. Luckly, Arkhor apparently already had something prepared
"That is due to uncommon circumstances"
The bird again shifted their attention to Arkhor, and I did the same, waiting to see what she would said
"The United Hope was built upon the hull of an old battlecruiser, and leaving aside some point defense lasers, most of the weapons are mere husks without the necessary power to operate"
The bird narrowed his eyes at the answer that Arkhor gave, and I looked at her now with confusion, since everything she had said was a blatant lie. Yet Arkhor looked at me with a look I was familiar with, a look she had given me many times in situations that seemed hopeless during maneuvers that seemed suicidal. The "trust me, I know what I'm doing" look, and so I mantained my silence for now
"Hmm.... Wait there"
The bird finally said, and after that the communications link was closed, which at least gave the crew some room to breathe, and many let out breaths of air they didn't know they were holding
"What in the name of the Great Shankala was that!?"
I screamed at Arkhor, bewilderment in my voice because of what she had said, to which Arkhor answered with a surprisingly calm look
"That, bugbutt, was a de-escalation of the situation in which we found ourselves in"
She said, as if what she had done had been the only course of action that could be taken, which only confused me even more
"A de-escalation? You call lying a de-escalation!?"
I said, raising from my chair and taking height by raising half of my body segments in the air, which gave me a pretty intimidating stance, since both my arms and pincers were quite notable in that position. Of course, I didn't let the small legs of those segments move, even if I wanted to, since that was something generally seen as vulgar if done outside of the privacy of one's own home
"NO, Ovook"
Arkhor spat, also raising from her chair. Even though, technically, the Arthroplakrans were bigger than the Karkranians, the reality was that an Arthroplakran could only rise themselves to half of the segments that composed their bodies, since trying to do otherwise would put way too much weight on the exoskeleton, damaging the armor or, even worse, breaking it and hurting said Arthroplakran, while the Karkranians were completly fine due to their tails being relatively shorter compared to the rest of their bodies. Which, in short, meant that Arkhor was almost the same height as me, and that only made the discussion we were having all the more intimidating for the rest of the crew
"I call it 'keeping important information about the Commonwealth and our ships safe'. Did you see how that... That bird looked at us? It was like they were ready to take us out as soon as we said something that they didn't like!"
I stood in silence for some moments, principally because she had called me by my name. Dating back to our days in the Academy of Brooma, when we would usually just annoy each other, it had become a sort of silent rule that we would only use our real names in situations of utmost priority and importance, which, to be fair, was a pretty accurate description for our current situation. I quickly snapped out of that, shaking my head a little before looking back at Arkhor
"That's EXPECTABLE, Arkhor! We showed up uninvited, into a system that could possibly be already claimed by them, while having more weapons on this exploratory vessel than they seem to have on their warships!"
Arkhor looked at me with a mix of bewilderment and irritation on her look, and I couldn't help but flinch a little, since deep down even I didn't completly trust my own words, that were more like excuses rather than possible justifications after seeing how aggressive the bird had been towards them, even after they said that the United Hope was just an exploratory vessel
"That still doesn't make sense! We arrived here without any of our weapons ready, we complied with everything they told us, and even if we did try to attack them, we are outnumbered! Hell, it should be us the ones over the edge, not them!"
I sighed as I put a hand on the space between my antenna, while Arkhor lowered her head a little, still with a little of irritation on her look. This situation was stressing me, stressing her and likely stressing everyone else on the bridge, and the fact that that bird hadn't returned yet only made the situation more tense
Though, thinking better, it was probably a good thing that it hadn't returned yet; the little discussion between Arkhor and Myself would have probably prompted the bird to take them as prisioners or maybe even fire at them if it misinterpreted the situation
"Uh... H-hey, guys?"
Kraftan spoke, breaking the spontaneous silence that had fallen on the bridge, and getting the attention of both Arkhor and Me
"Look, I don't want to fuel this paranoia about the intentions of our mysterious guests here. But..."
He trailed off, before putting on display in the bridge the image of one of the vessels of the birds, probably having being taken by one of the cameras in the hull of the United Hope
"I have to say, those spaceships appear to be quite advanced, and REALLY well armed"
The attention of the bridge quickly settled on the image displayed by the holoprojectors, and some small gasps were heared trought the bridge at the sight of the vessel
The vessel, for starters, had dozens, maybe hundreds of small turrets with what appeared to be railguns or maybe coilguns spread throught the hull. In a way, it remainded me of the Support Kinetic Guns that the United Hope had, yet they were painfully small, way too small to actually serve as normal Support Kinetic Guns. Maybe they were Small versions? Those were usually found on any ships on the navy, from Snalknals [Corvettes] and Small Skaknars [Light Frigates] all the way to the Large Shandukark [Heavy Battlegalaxies] and their variants due to the fact that those guns were less energy consuming than the Laser Cannons found on bigger ships, and could serve as more powerful Anti-Air weapons; yet the vessel in the screen was big, maybe not as big as a Small Kharfnak [Light Destroyer], but it should be able to satisfy the energetic need for some Laser Cannons to serve as Anti-Missile defense
So why was it using only kinetics?
Maybe it was merely a matter of doctrine, it was possible that those birds favored cheap saturation fire instead of the precise but energetically costly shots of the Laser Cannons, even if that also came at the expense of the probability that some missiles could get through the defensive fire. Though maybe the birds trusted them enough to take that risk
The scanners also detected a considerable number of missile launchers, and something werid was that the scanners didn't, or couldn't, detect any form of energy based weaponry, which made me wonder a little about the why of that. Yet all of that quickly became meaningless as I, and probably the rest of the crew, got a good look at the bow of the ship
There, menacingly protruding from the hull of the vessel, was a Heavy Main Kinetic Gun, or at least an analogue of one, if that made sense
"..... T-that's impossible"
"Well, unless they, somehow, managed to create hyper realistic visual illusions, its very much possible"
"M-maybe it's an error! Are you sure that you didn't mess up the scanners before we departed?"
"I did the standard revisions SIX TIMES before departing from Graekyo, are you really cuestioning the job I have done for the past twenty years right now!?"
Both Alvja and Kraftan argued, the logical part of their brains being momentarily shut down due to the shock of the sight of the weapon, and honestly I couldn't blame them
Main Kinetic Guns, or MKG's, were the primary anti-asteroid and, most importantly, anti-ship weapons that the warships of the "Sharuk Abkayla" [Stellar Warforce] used. Unlike Support Kinetic Guns, these were only found on two types: Main Kinetic Gun, and Heavy Main Kinetic Gun, with the principale difference between them being that Support Guns had various types of shells and could be grouped into batteries of up to four guns in a turret and used against a big variety of targets, while Main Kinetic and Heavy Main Kinetic Guns were only capable of shooting anti-ship munitions (fired in bursts of three in the case of MKG's, and a single round in the case of HMKG's), and usually ran throught a quarter (or, in case of HMKG's, half) of the warship, protruding from the bow of the vessels, with the only similarities being that both used a revolver cannon system to maximize their fire rate and being a chemically-electromagnetically powered hybrids as to minimize the energy required to fire them
The thing is, even with all that, Main Kinetic Guns still used a lot of energy from the reactors, to the point that some weapons had to be deactivated in order to fire the ones found on Khragnaraks [War Constellations] and Shandukarks [Battlegalaxies], while 'smaller' ones being found all the way down to the Large Kharfnak [Heavy Destroyer] still being capable of draining an important quantity of energy from the reactor
And yet, there it was, an HMKG in a ship no bigger than a Medium Kharfnak [Destroyer], seemingly existing only to confirm my fears about the technology of these aliens, and laugh at our reactions as dread set in each and every single one of us
If these.... Birds.... Had the capability to put such a weapon in a, relatively, small vessel, it frightened me to think what else they might have that we didn't know about, and I imagine that many crew members were having a similar thought to mine
"THAT'S ENOUGH YOU TWO!"
Arkhor screamed, snaping me out of my thoughts and back to reality, at the same time that she got the attention of Kraftan and Alvja, snaping them out of their argument
"We are in the middle of one of the most important moments in the history of the Commonwealth! We cannot afford to get into infighting and argumenting against each other now!"
Both of them hunged their heads in shame, and quickly directed their attention back at their posts while Arkhor gave a tired sigh
"So, what now?," She said, looking back at me "I'm pretty sure that we are aren't exactly authorized to just give sensitive information to them, and it doesn't seem like they will be willing to accept vagueness in our answers"
Sometimes I hated when she was right, and this was one of those times. The Commonwealth certainly wouldn't look at us with good eyes if we gave information that they didn't want us to give; yet the Birds were seemingly on the edge, and any answers that they didn't like would certainly make our situation worse, maybe even lethal
I really wished we were instead dealing with a Proton Storm rather than this
"Ovook?"
Once again I snapped out of my thoughts, seeing the concerned look on Arkhor, and the rest of the crew for that matter, in the periphery of my sight
Of course, I was still the Captain of this ship
"Our situation is delicate without a doubt," I finally said, trying to give a semblance of calm in my voice "I.... Believe.... That if we want to make it out of here unscathed, then we will have to.... 'Create'.... Some information that they might ask us"
Looking around through my various eyes, I could notice that a numerous part of the crew seemed to have calmed down; though my relief was short lived, as I noticed that the entirety of them were Karkranians, while the Arthroplakrans all seemed just as distressed as before
Damn it, were my antenna twitching? Maybe my mouth parts were moving nonstop? Judging by the looks in the Karkranian side, it seems that, at least, they didn't really bother studying the visual cues of my species. I mean, it was a little irresponsible, since the Captain of the ship was an Arthroplakran, but at least that meant that they swallowed my facade of calm; not much, but it was a start
"So," Arkhor said, looking a little irritated "Essentially we have to do what I did since the start?"
I chuckled internally, even in a life or death situation, she still found ways to annoy me a little
"Of course not," I said, moving my head to face her "Because, now, I'm authorizing you to do it"
Arkhor gave an exasperated sigh while she lightly moved hee head from side to side, but in the end, she chuckled a little and sat back on her command chair
"Alright everyone, y'all heard mister authorizer, everyone back to their duties!"
She seemed to inject a little of her eagerness in the crew, and soon everyone was back on their stations to do their part to the best of their abilities
"Just so you know," Arkhor said, looking at me with one of her side facing eyes "When we get back, I'll say that this was my idea"
With some amusement in me, I walked back to my chair, sitting comfortably in it while I chuckled a little
"I hope that you have the same amount of creativeness as you do of smugness"
With a final laugh between the two, I adjusted my captain's hat; it was a little annoying how it covered my eyes, but nevertheless it wasn't a big deal
"Alright," I said, more to myself than to anyone else, while I took a deep breath and exhaled to finally calm myself "Let's make the Homeworld proud"
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I’ve been singing for 20 years, since I was 7. Since then I have practiced every chance I got (at least 2 if not 7 days a week), I’ve joined multiple choirs, I’ve had exactly two paid singing gigs, and have sung for a crowd of 200 (which was amazing!).
I’m not very skilled but I try to utilize non-harmful singing techniques, and I try to push my voice to it’s limits. I also can’t read music nor do I know anything to do with music theory. And now at 27, I’m realizing I’m never going to hit the notes I want to hit in the way that I want to hit them with my voice. I love belting, I love singing high and loud and letting the passion for the song ring through my body. But I’m no Amy Lee. I’m no Ariana Grande, no Mariah Carey, no Beyoncé, and certainly not Sarah Brightman! All these amazing vocalists have heavily influenced my style and have made me strive for better, but I simply am not built for those notes. And that’s okay.
I’ve built a really wonderful repertoire of songs that suit my voice (Juice by Lizzo, Close To You by the Carpenters, Pporappimpam by Sunmi, Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend by Marilyn Monroe, you get the range) and I’m sincerely satisfied with that. (: I think forcing myself to align with vocal types I’m not compatible with was helpful for awhile to learn from, but now I’m glad to have found things I can sing non-stop without wearing out. I still love high belts and indulge every now and again, but I’ve found my range and I’m gonna stick with it and develop it as well as I can as my voice starts to age.
Here’s to finding your vocal niche! Hydrate thoroughly, everybody.