(That title makes it seem like I had a tank battalion over the next ridge helping me out by offering fire support. What an image.)
I've beaten white and even silver lynels in single combat before, but so far I have only been able to do so with training wheels: level 4 amber earrings, champion's tunic, and soldier's greaves (a whopping 88 armor), which allows me to shrug off pretty much any melee weapon they hit me with for just a quarter heart of health (except the crushers, those take four hearts). The near-invulnerability provides a great base upon which to practice combat with these creatures in a safe(er) environment.
Also, if you kick a white lynel in the face, you get a really nice bow. I eventually got to the point where I'd use savage lynel bows to farm royal weapons from hinoxes, then go use the royal gear to farm lynels for savage bows. When you throw the Master Sword (here twice-upgraded to 50 damage) into the mix, you violate the laws of thermodynamics; you get more goodies out of the process than you need to sustain it.
But I wanted to complete the Trial of the Sword. To unlock the full potential of the Master Sword. I admit, I'm not doing it because it's right or because it's what heroes do. I'm doing it because I wanted a (sorta) free top-tier weapon that (sorta) never breaks.
Also the sword glows.
So I take the Trials. One might ask if it's worth the stress and strain at this point in the game; all of the shrines have been completed, all the inventory expansions have been acquired, all the memories re-lived. There's precious little remaining on which to use an awakened Master Sword. But questions of worth fall within the purview of your conundrums of philosophy. Ain't nobody got time for dat, I wanna hit things with a shiny stick!
I tried the trials during my first play through the game, four years ago. I didn't do well; I couldn't even complete the first set—heck, I couldn't even get half-way through the first set. This second time through I do better. It still takes a couple tries, but the first trials go down.
I put it down to playing the game on a larger screen; 32 inches, not the Switch's 6.2. It makes a huge difference; I can actually see enough detail to let me parry and dodge. With my current play through clocking in at 110 hours, 105 of those on a large screen, it astonishes me that I completed my first 70-hour playthrough entirely on the Switch's tiny screen.
I've never seen the second set of trials before this playthrough, but they're actually easier than the first, there being no water-only levels. Bomb-arrow armed bokoblins on the third floor catch me off guard the first time, but I complete the middle trials on my second attempt.
The final trials scare me. I have read the ancient texts. I know what awaits me in the deep. I know what the monks awoke in the darkness of the magic boxes. Manes... and flame... Without gads of armor to cover my ass I fear I will simply be smashed flat by these beasts. But I dive in anyway—the trials won't complete themselves. The shiny stick won't be given to me. I need to earn it.
When I get to the first rest stop, I find something that makes my heart stop. Three ancient arrows? The ancient texts made no mention of these! The only equipment notices I had were for the flamebreaker boots; a not-so-subtle 'you will spend the next five floors on fire' advertisement. I know what these arrows can do to the mere meatbags who oppose me! Five minutes ago I wasn't even worried about guardians, because lynels. But these... these. For the first time ever, I feel a little thrill of hope. If I have these, even without armor, I can beat lynels. My own little cheat code. All I have to do is tough out the guardians.
My first pass through the final trials doesn't go well. I'm nervous, twitchy. I take too many hits. I inadvertently shove my one and only hearty radish into my greedy mouth instead of the cooking pot, wasting a whole full recovery opportunity. By the time I arrive at the second rest stop, there aren't enough food items on the floor to get me back up to full health. And after that comes snow levels; I can't cook everything on this floor to bring my health up as much as possible because I need them to provide me with cold resistance for the next few floors. I get through a couple levels before I tunnel vision on the wrong target; a blizzrobe freezes me and a silver bokoblin turns me inside out.
The second attempt I make sure to take a little bit slower. I plan my attacks, I withdraw if I'm in a position I don't like, I make very careful use of the few elemental weapons I have to one-hit kill and stunlock tougher enemies. When I get back to floor 14, I don't take my chances. I oneshot the blizzrobe with a fire arrow then pull out the first of my three ancient toys and stick it right up the silver bokoblin's backside, banishing his ass to the shadow realm. I will not have another run ruined by those two.
Things proceed more or less smoothly from there. I get to floor 17 and face my first lynel, a blue. It manages to glare at me for all of 2.6 seconds before the second of my ancient arrows wipes its stupid face (and the rest of it) from existence.
The guardians on the following floors give me pause, but the lone ones are easy to abuse and the three on floor 22 don't cover each other if you approach from the right angle. They are all slowly dismantled, one by one.
And then, finally, I arrive on the final floor, 23. Here there are eight little basic red bokoblins on horseback, a guardian turret, and my sum of all fears, Mr. White. Tall, proud, buff, and ugly as all get out, it spots me immediately, screams in barely-contained ketamine-fueled rage that someone as pink as me would deign to cross its field of view, and hauls its massive bow off its back. Before it fires is all the time I have.
It's all the time I need.
I draw the royal bow. I draw the last ancient arrow. I nock this final bolt, the swansong of power on the operatic ballad of shiny sticks. I raise the bow, pointing the arrow at a space a couple feet above the lynel's face; it's a long way, after all. I draw the string.
As afraid as I am, I'm also giddy. I'm there. This will be easy. I just need to let this thing fly and the hard work will all be over. The only thing remaining will be some little pissbabies on horses and a machine that is too stupid to avoid getting stunlocked by repeatedly having arrows shoved in its eye.
I loose my ultimate weapon.
The arrow travels gallantly through the air, its tip sparking into incandescent magnificence as it crosses the open space, dripping sparkles as it flies, little harbingers of its mission of doom. The giddiness reaches a fever pitch. I'm trembling with excitement.
The arrow buries itself...
...in the dirt six inches from the Mr. White's feet.
I've fluffed it. I had one shot, literally, to get this done, and I failed.
I want to cry. These trials have been hard on me. I've had to take extended breaks in the middle of them several times already to untense myself. The prospect of doing it all over again on account of one whinnet-ridden lynel quiet frankly gives me the screaming heebie-jeebies, you know what I mean? Ten year old me would have chucked the controller and screamed in guttural German. Thankfully those days are behind me; I simply pause and walk away for a while. Did I go have a little weep? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe screw yourself.
I like to imagine the lynel and his hangers-on spend several seconds staring at the ruined arrow on the floor in front of them, then looking back up at me with contemptuous amusement as I literally try to swallow my fear, panic, and horror all at once. Of course, the game doesn't render emotions like that, but it's a funny image.
I have an argument with myself here. I don't want to try this full-frontal combat without my training wheels armor—I'm a coward. But even more so than that, I really don't want to run through the last 22 floors of the final trials again—I'm lazy. I even consider quitting the trials and giving up on the fully-awaked Master Sword. I consider using exploits to skip the final set of trials; it's not like I haven't already made it through all these floors, right? I'd just be... you know... skipping one single floor. Sorta. That's not too unfair, right?
When I come back I heave a large 'woe-is-me' sigh and unpause.
I can't face this creature and its groupies all at once on an open field.
I run for all my sorry little Hylian twink ass is worth.
Unfortunately, that's where the story stops being so dramatic. I climb the tower in the corner after I've broken the lynel's line of sight, severely abuse the guardian turret, and hunker down on my new perch. I know I can't bow the lynel to death; I don't have enough arrows and it'll call orbital strikes down on my head. I can't engage it in direct melee combat; I have only four weapons remaining and they'll break on its face before its face does.
But I realize I can abuse the bokoblins as well. They're really no more capable than the guardian turrets are. They won't attack me en mass. I pull them over where the lynel can't see them, one at a time, and pick them off their horses and steal their weapons. After a few minutes there's nobody left in the room except myself and Mr. White. Now I have a dozen weapons; sure they aren't all great, but they're fresh.
I now have no choice other than give up here, at the last step, or just dive in and see where it goes. It's not really a choice.
What I can say is that, thankfully, the training wheels experience gave me the actual skills necessary to get the job done. Mr. White and I engage in combat I manage to take him down with a dozen broken weapons, one broken shield, and all of my hearts.
That rush when the lynel finally collapses was incredible. It was like someone had jabbed an entire thing of adrenaline directly into my heart. I mean it was probably a week's worth of dopamine in my brain, dumped all at once, but still. At this point I want to cry, again, though this time not in pain or frustration but rather pure elation such as I haven't felt in a while. I did it. I completed the Trial of the Sword. And the final trials only took me two attempts.
I'm much better at this game now than I was four years ago.
I promptly take my glowing stick and use it to club Thunderblight Ganon to death.

I posted this on VeteranBenefits and got a lot of questions. Figured I’d share here too.
A quick guide to VA loans
I've read several posts on here talking about VA loans and I wanted to get the record straight out there regarding them.
Disclaimer - I'm a veteran who happens to be a mortgage broker. 75% of my business is VA loans. I focus on them because I feel that veterans are underserved in the home buying world. Now that is out of the way, here is a quick summary on using your VA loan benefit.
Credit Guidelines
The VA does not have a minimum credit score requirement, however each lender does. Lenders will go as low as 500 on credit scores. If your credit score is in the 500's, the more important thing that is that you don't have any late payments or collections within the last 12 months. If you have a lower score, but no lates in the last 12 months, some lenders will manually underwrite your file and you can purchase a house that way.
There is no down payment, but there are closing costs and their could be a funding fee
The VA loan is the best mortgage product on the market. There is no down payment required. There is a funding fee, but that funding fee can be rolled into the mortgage so you don't have to pay it up front if you don't want to. You can be exempt from the funding fee if you have a service connected disability of 10% or more. If you have a pending disability claim that gets approved and is effective before your closing date, you can get that funding fee refunded.
There is no down payment, but there are closing costs. These will vary depending on the area you live in. It is possible to get sellers to cover these, and it is possible to roll them into the loan if the appraised value comes in high enough. But it's good to have 5-10k available to cover closing costs.
Income Requirements
You do not have to be at your employer for more than 2 years if you are a veteran who is out. As long as the income is considered stable, we can use it.
If you collect VA disability, we can gross your monthly amount up by 25% to improve your purchasing power because it's considered non taxable income.
Your monthly school benefits cannot be used because that is not considered stable income.
Things to consider when using your VA loan benefit:

• Shop around for different lenders. Do not just go to Veterans United. My personal experience and opinion is that they scam veterans out of thousands of dollars by not disclosing points/origination until the very end. If you do go through Veterans United, please look over that loan estimate and get it in writing that they aren't charging you points/origination.
• If you get denied by a lender, please contact a mortgage broker to get a second opinion. Different lenders have different guidelines. Several of my veteran clients that I have helped buy homes were denied by other lenders saying they couldn't get them done. Just because you get denied doesn't mean you can't use your VA loan, it just means you can't use your VA loan with THEM. There's a difference.
• You can use your VA loan multiple times as long as there is entitlement remaining. The VA loan is not a one and done use.

I know this is a long post so I will cut it here. If anyone has any questions or would like to see more posts related to using VA loan benefits, please let me know. There is so much misinformation out there about VA loans so I want to set the record straight on several things that I have seen on here. The last thing I want to see is a fellow vet not use their earned benefit because of bad info.

I've seen a lot of talk about Fire Emblem Engage's approach to storytelling and overall writing but little about the specific themes present in the game. I decided to dive into that with this thread. To be clear, this isn't a thread concerned with defending Fire Emblem Engage's narrative, nor am I trying to critique it. I mainly want to talk about two major themes in the game and how those themes affect the cast & overall narrative. One is immediately apparent, and the other is a bit more subtle.

Family

Family being a massive theme in Fire Emblem Engage is a no-brainer; Just about every character deals with family somehow. Support conversations, moments in the main narrative, or gameplay, the family theme is an absolute constant in Engage. Examples include Alear's relationship with their "parents," the royals and their respective families, Panette and Pandreo, Kagetsu running away from home, the four hounds, Veyle, etc.
We're tread to various family dynamics as well. Paternal love, found in families, familial expectations, and abuse are all concepts interspersed throughout Engage. While it varies in quality and overall execution, for the most part, it succeeds. Early on, we're treated to Diamant and his relationship with his father, which informs so much about his character in a way far past his initial arc. Fire Emblem has never shied away from killing parents for motivation, but Diamant's anxiety over his impending father's death and struggle to reconcile his past sins feel relatable here. Ivy struggles with the guilt of aiding her father in his crimes, someone she genuinely loves. This applies to their respective younger siblings to a lesser extent as well. Alcryst's support with Celine was a bit of a struggle to sit through me in parts since they talked about experiencing death anxiety over their older siblings. Panette's disgust over her parents and her clash with her brother also fall into this. Citrinne being cousins with Diamant and Alcryst, Kagetsu and Merrin running away from home… it's all builds towards a unifying theme.

A major fumble, but the attempt was appreciated

I would hardly classify the 4 Hounds as top-class Fire Emblem villains. They ultimately fall short of adequately exploring a broken-found family dynamic. Primarily due to last-minute exposition dumps that harshly contrast with their previous characterization. Still, seeing the developers attempt to give them more dimension was nice. Even though their connection is more of an undercurrent than explicitly shown, and Zephia mostly comes across as cartoonishly cruel, she's still driven by a desire to have (what she perceives) a real family. The tragedy of her character is that she never appreciated what was in front of her. Griss and Marnie are also driven by their desires to be accepted, with Marnie having a praise kink and Griss's obsession with pain possibly being a twisted example of being touch starved.

A Mother's love

The theme comes to a head with Lumera, Alear, and Sombrone. Lumera's love for Alear is genuinely palpable, and it's especially helped by the voice acting. That said, it's difficult to connect to Lumera's affection towards Alear, and her death scene comes across as unearned and needlessly dramatic. Knowing the whole truth adds some much-needed context to her prior actions and makes future runs a bit sadder. I appreciate how Lumera and Alear needed each other; Lumera's entire family was killed, and Alear was at constant risk of being killed by their father if they didn't perform. It's an absolute tragedy that past!Alear and Lumera's relationship wasn't given more focus.
Ultimately, Fire Emblem Engage makes the point that family, above all else, is a group of people united by the ties of love they have for each other. Blood relations aren't a strict requirement, and I feel the support system helps foster that sense of togetherness and warmth.

The theme of identity and choice

I never expected Fire Emblem Engage to tackle the concept of "You are who you choose to be," but here we are. Generally, Fire Emblem leans pretty hard on biological determinism, and Engage doesn't seem any different at first glance. The game repeatedly goes out of its way to hammer in that we're playing as someone extraordinary; A Divine Dragon, the most preeminent figure on the continent, with the ability to rouse Emblems and save the world. It's similar to how past Fire Emblem lords have exceptional bloodlines that let them use special weapons, access special powers, or open doors, but taken to a greater extreme. And Alear falls into that same category. Or do they? In truth, Alear isn't a Divine Dragon by blood but a Fell Dragon and one of many of Sombron's tools to subjugate and take over Elyos. Alear can't even rouse Emblems through prayer, and even their design evokes a desperate attempt at trying to be something they're not.
But despite being born into carrying out evil deeds for their twisted father, Alear can ultimately choose to be the person they want to be. To be a hero, a "good dragon," and someone surrounded by people that love them. The central twist adds more weight to Alear's status as a Divine Dragon. While the endless praise can be annoying, it's also nice to see it contrasted with Alear's past self, who was so traumatized by Sombron that they suppressed their emotions and were reduced to repeating the words "defect" to motivate themselves to live. You could barely call that existence, living to fight and carry out orders, with the constant threat of being ruthlessly killed by their father. It's even reflected in their fear of the Corrupted, which stems from seeing their siblings killed by them. I would also be remiss if I didn't discuss the game's unintentional transgender reading associated with Alear. Even though they were born as a Fell dragon, they could still be a Divine dragon. There's no twist about their mother secretly being a Divine Dragon, and they rouse Emblems using the Fell dragon method. But functionally, it's irrelevant; they're the Divine Dragon because they choose to be one.

Closing Words

Is Engage successful with its theming? I'd say so. But these theme is strongly contextualized around the game's structure, which doesn't always let them shine. We're not allowed to process or linger on some more engaging (heh) plot threads. Alear can infamously get over the worldview being shattered by the truth in a couple of sentences (and the amnesia plot doesn't help Alear on this front either, as it mitigates character development). To say nothing of Alear's best character moments being backloaded by the narrative, so the most exciting parts of the character aren't at full display during most of it.
There's no doubt that Engage suffers from a messy, by-the-numbers story with awful pacing. It was never my intention to refute people's criticisms about the story. But personally, my overall impression of the game's writing is positive, mainly because of how it weaves its themes into the story and characters. It is shockingly thematically consistent and goes out of its way to give Alear's backstory some genuine texture to set them apart from being just another stand-in for the player.
I have more to say regarding Veyle and other themes, such as Sombron's isolationism, but I'll save that for another time.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading, and have a nice day.

My husband has been telling me he thinks he’s schizophrenic for a while now, hearing voices and such. I would feel so bad I would pretty much downplay his experience and try to make him feel better by saying things like, “I doubt it babe, it sounds like you have intrusive thoughts sometimes, it happens to pretty much everyone”
Lately things have progressed. He’s been mentioning seeing faces a lot. He was also driving the other day and he hallucinated that the car in front of him morphed into a giant stack of tires. I am so grateful he was able to pull over because he was on a 4 lane busy expressway that also has tractor trailers on it and people routinely cruise at 80mph. He also heard a voice telling him to TURN LEFT! (Which he cannot regardless because it’s a straight expressway with exits, no turns)
He was obviously shaken up and managed to get himself to a VA hospital. They didn’t do much except rule out a brain bleed or tumor on a CT scan and he did talk to psych but they referred him to an outpatient appointment in April because he wasn’t in a state of psychosis or anything.
He has also been having paranoid thoughts, the other night he kept looking to the side while we were talking, he was talking slower than his normal speech, and he hallucinated that I was recording him with my phone but I was just sitting there eating pizza and my phone was actually in the next room. He was also talking about how the WiFi signal is making him think this way and was talking about aluminum foil being the solution.
Before things progressed he told me that he was fully aware that the voices he heard were not real, but they still freaked him out and was concerned about why it was happening.
I definitely had misconceptions about schizophrenia because I was under the belief that people with schizophrenia believe the voices are real and cannot differentiate them as being “not real”. I’m sure this may be true for some but now I understand this is not across the board.
I’m kind of just venting here, but also looking for ways to support my husband through this. For clarification- he is not yet diagnosed and the hospital is having him follow up to explore this further. He has confided in me through this whole situation and has even expressed concern that I would leave him. I assured him that I would never, and I shed tears as he said this to me because I don’t want him to ever think that.
He is open to trying medication if that’s what the doctors suggest at his follow up. but in the meantime- is there anything I can do to help him if he begins to act paranoid again? And any other ways to generally be there for him and ease his mind?

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Cover

45 – Unorthodox methods

Albert’s face contorted and twisted, his teeth ground and his voice almost spilled out in a scream as the pain of the gem exploding in his hand coursed through him like liquid fire. It burnt and the shards were hot and cold at the same time, the raw mana impossible to tame, as time itself threatened to break apart. He didn’t know, he couldn’t know at the time, but what he witnessed there was the making and breaking of countless timelines that didn’t even have time to fully come into being before being annihilated. He could see, or rather glimpse at, the intervention of the System itself preventing a critical failure of the flow of time.
All the while he watched the world rewind itself by five seconds.
Activating [Strengthening], he stretched out his other arm right where he knew PsyOps would be and prepared himself to feel the most pain he had ever felt in his life.
Right on cue, it happened. PsyOps stopped moving back in time right when Albert’s hand was at the end of its trajectory. The man settled out of the reversed time stream in the same spatial position as his arm, and Albert knew he did it right because the pain he felt could not be replicated by anything he could even conceive of. His nerves were, briefly, in the same position as PsyOps’ upper body, atoms grinding against each other in their desperate attempt to obey Pauli’s exclusion principle, while the whole body of the man struggled to keep itself whole with a newly inserted interloper in its chest cavity.
Albert pulled the arm back towards himself almost reflexively, coming away with a bloody fist covered in wounds and bleeding cuts. In front of him was the frozen expression of pain and shock on the other man’s face, regarding him with wide, wet eyes before turning to gaze at the hole in his chest while his legs lost their strength and he collapsed on the floor. From the hole in his chest came a fountain of blood, while a smaller rivulet escaped his lips.
Albert wished he could just close his eyes and sleep now. His vision was blurry and dark, and his head swam. Both his arms were mangled and damaged, and the pain had turned into a sensation of throbbing and heat, with the indistinct feeling of cold from his raw flesh being exposed to the contaminated air of the sewers. But he couldn’t.
He closed his eyes, swaying but not falling, and teleported back to where his mother and Lloyd were waiting for him. He found them lying on the ground, blood coming from their noses and pooling on the smooth concrete floor, eyes rolled up in their sockets. They were shaking and convulsing, though: they were alive!
“Appraisal.” He said, voice raspy and painful.
[Samantha Cromwell. Currently unconscious, suffering a stroke due to the wounds inflicted by a careless mental probing.]
[Lloyd Cromwell. Currently unconscious, suffering a stroke due to the wounds inflicted by a careless mental probing.]
Albert disappeared in a hurry. He came back to existence in his own room in his house, heaving and coughing. He used a hand to prop himself up against the side of his bed, bloodying the sheets and his pillow, leaving a trail all the way to the drawer where he had hidden the healing potions. When he opened it, however, they weren’t there. Panic threatened to rise. Clarity, a hard currency to come by in the state he was in, seemed more and more slippery by the second. Then, words echoed in his mind, reminding him of when his mother told him she had found the potions. Shit. She took them away?
He scanned the room, searching for clues. The potions weren’t there. Perhaps they were somewhere else, he thought frantically. Perhaps in his mother’s room. There was a safe there, where she kept money and other things he was never allowed to see. If there was a place in the house the potions could ever be, it was inside that safe. He went down the stairs, leaving a bloody trail from his messed-up hands. He was actively using his healing skill on them, which added to the pain and distractions from all the sensations coming from the limbs.
[Healing II] -> [Healing III]
The safe was locked shut. And Albert didn’t know the combination. He sighed, looking at his hands and then at the safe. He thought about punching it for a long moment before what little mental clarity he had left reminded him that punching steel with his bare hands was not a good idea even with strengthening magic. He knew a less stable person would have done it, but he wasn’t a character in a novel and two lives depended on him not making dumb choices.
He thought about his mother and grandfather, lying down on the cold concrete floor, dying from the wounds PsyOps inflicted them. A primal rage took over Albert, who ran to the shed in the garden and retrieved the heaviest of his steel weights before running back to the house, yelling like a madman covered in blood and gore. He didn’t care if someone saw him.
When he was back in the bedroom, he began to assault the safe with all his might. He hit it and hit it, over and over again, watching the metal bend and chip and lose its integrity. A small gap was quickly visible, and through it he could see many strange things inside the safe, but also the familiar glint of the healing vials the system had given him. The sight made him hit the safe even harder.
[Strengthening IV] -> [Strengthening V]
He yanked the safe open, the strained mechanisms finally giving up under the pressure. He snatched the potions, downing one himself to keep from fainting and then drinking one of the mana potions to replenish his depleted reserves, and teleported out.
The bodies were not moving anymore. He rushed to them, to his mother first and then to his grandfather and fed them the potions. Then, he slumped against the leg of one of the tables and waited, watching the world grow ever distant like he was receding back into a long and dark tunnel, his breathing becoming quieter and quieter from the labored heaving of before, and his body becoming heavy like tungsten. He closed his eyes.
***
Samantha Cromwell awoke on the cold concrete floor of her father’s house. The first thing she did after pulling herself up – only dimly aware that her body was in peak physical condition for some reason she did not know – was check her surroundings. While her gaze momentarily stopped on her father’s body, and she noticed that he was breathing regularly, it didn’t linger there for more than a few seconds. Immediately, she was drawn to the sight of her own son collapsed against a table at the far end of the room, with two empty vials of liquid some distance away, having tumbled out from his open hands.
They were enveloped in bloodied bandages, and a surge of motherly worry and unbridled hate at the man responsible for all this pain battled for supremacy in her mind. But as she saw that he was simply sleeping, and that his hands were all healed and bore no scars, she calmed down. After having made sure that her father was okay, propping him up with a cushion she pilfered from upstairs, with increasing clarity she carried her son – he was light, or perhaps she was strong – to the car and drove him home without a word.
There, she found the blood on the floor and on the steps, then on the sheets of his bed. She changed the sheets and cleaned the blood, set her son to sleep, and retreated back to her room. She barely spared a look at her safe, cracked open by a monstrous force, smiled and let herself too collapse from exhaustion on the bed.
During her long rest her phone rang like crazy. The HDF was calling her. But she didn’t care, and she slept on.
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You can read the next 2 chapters right now on Royal Road! Earth's Chosen Royal Road
My Stories
Everywhere at the end of Time
My Series
Earth's chosen
Isekai of the Ultimate Ritualist
Immense Space

Don't take this wrong. It's an honest question. Many vets saw actual physical combat (i.e., getting shot at, shooting at, getting blown up, and blowing up enemies).
What about the vets who deployed to a combat zone but never saw that "action"? I know they are combat vets, but when the VA asks a vet if he/she is a combat vet, what's the correct answer from the vet who stayed inside the wire and supported the front lines?
I want your opinions. WRT Veterans, it always seems that the definition of "combat vet " is murky at best and often contingent on the person/agency asking the question.

Don't take this wrong. It's an honest question. Many vets saw actual physical combat (i.e., getting shot at, shooting at, getting blown up, and blowing up enemies).
What about the vets who deployed to a combat zone but never saw that "action"? I know they are combat vets, but when the VA asks a vet if he/she is a combat vet, what's the correct answer from the vet who stayed inside the wire and supported the front lines?
Again, this is not a troll post; I want your opinions. WRT Veterans Benefits, it always seems that the "combat vet" definition is murky at best.

Selling this Giv3nchy hooded varsity jacket which is brand new and complete with original tags. Never been worn. Bought off Rick Studio and features white leather arms and a beige wool body complete with the Giv3nchy branding across the front. Ribbed knit hem and cuffs, 2 front pockets and a metal zipper on the hood. In perfect condition apart from one missing press stud fastening which can be seen in the last photo. I think this came off in transit but isn't really a big deal as can't be seen when worn.
Size large and true to size. I'm 6"1 80kg and it fits me well with a little room to spare for sweatshirts underneath. I've included some fit pics to help. Approximate measurements when buttoned and lying flat are: shoulders: 54cm, chest: 59cm, arms: 65cm, length: 69cm.
Price is just £45 all in. Will post using Royal Mail first class signed for. Payment via Paypal invoice only. Timestamp, tagged pics and fit pics can be found here: https://imgur.com/a/WoGoyqS Anyone serious about buying please get in touch. Thanks

March 30 Episode of Dynamite: The Dawn Is Coming- This plays after the Bunny vs Toni Storm match is over, signaling that the Dawn is Coming.
April 6 Episode of Dynamite: Every Angel Is Terrifying- Blue lights go off as this music and this animation plays on the screen after the Hikaru Shida vs Julia Hart match.
April 13 Episode of Dynamite: The Heartless One Debuts- After MJF finishes his interview, the lights go out and blue lights lead the way on one of the entrance ways. They turn red when Heartless by The Weeknd plays. The camera zooms in to Victor Armstrong putting sunglasses on before dancing to the beat. He dances to the ring with red and blue lights filling the arena. Once he raises his hands, the lights stay red. "Dynamite. The home of sports entertainment and professional wrestling. Only the elite are here. And yes, that means me. You might be wondering why I'm here. Well I'll tell you why. One word, seven letters. F-R-E-E-D-O-M. Freedom. I can do whatever the hell I want here. I can make an open challenge to any damn person in that locker room tonight. But I'm not here for that. I want more. I am joining the Owen Hart Tournament. If Tony Khan wants to step in this ring and say that I have to prove myself, I will. Trust me." Tony Khan comes out and says that he's going to need to defeat someone for it. "Deal. I'll be waiting." He puts his sunglasses back on and sits on the top turnbuckle. Billy Gunn comes out and the match happens. Armstrong wins and is at the bottom of the tournament.
Singles: 1-0 Tag Team: 0-0 Trios: 0-0
Being The Elite 303: Join The Dark Order- Armstrong walks with headphones listening to The Weeknd. Alex Reynolds and John Silver catch up to him and compliment his red blazer. They then ask him to join the Dark Order. Victor takes his sunglasses and puts them on and smiles. He says yes. They are shocked, but glad. They lead him to their part of the arena and the rest cheer for him. They all shake his hand, one by one. Colt Cabana says that he knew a tailor, and had her make a new blazer for him. It's a red one with a zoomed Dark Order logo on the back. He puts it on and immediately loves it. He lets Colt keep the old one. Armstrong makes an ultimatum, He can join the Dark Order if he's the coach. They agree and the role is fulfilled.
April 19 Episode of Dark: The First Match- Victor Armstrong makes his first entrance as a member of The Dark Order as a coach. He's with competitors Evil Uno and Stu Grayson, Alan Angels, Preston Vance, Alex Reynolds, and John Silver.
April 20 Episode of Dynamite: Breaking The News- Victor Armstrong catches the AEW crowd up and tells them that he is the official coach of The Dark Order. He wants a match for the next Rampage. Serpentico comes on screen and asks for the match. Armstrong says, "Who is that?" and this makes Serpentico mad and says that he wiill make Victor remember.
April 22 Episode of Rampage: Who Are U?- Victor Armstrong takes on Serpentico. In an even 8 minute match, Armstrong hits the GTH and the Spear for the win. He shakes Serpentico's hand in respect. He also makes an open challenge to any man and woman to face him and Anna Jay at Dark.
Singles: 2-0 Tag Team: 0-0 Trios: 0-0
Being The Elite 304: Thinking About The Forbidden Door- The Dark Order talks about the opponents they want to face at Forbidden Door. Armstrong makes the list of Yujiro Takahashi, Evil, Hirooki Goto, Tetsuya Naito, Juice Robinson, or Zack Sabre Jr.
April 25 Episode of Elevation: Doing Coaching Things- Armstrong accompanies The Dark Order in 3 matches: Evil Uno, Stu Grayson, Alex Reynolds, Alan Angels, and Preston Vance for one; John Silver for the next one; and Anna Jay for the final one. The Dark Order all won their respective matches.
April 26 Episode of Dark: Mixed Match: Armstrong and Jay get their challenge answered by Brian Pillman and Julia Hart. After 5 minutes, the Dark Order win the match. Griff Garrison comes out and attacks Armstrong with a steel chair before running away.
Singles: 2-0 Tag Team: 1-0 Trios: 0-0
May 4 Episode of Dynamite: Corrupt?- The Varsity Blonds make a promo challenging either the Dark Order or House of Black. House of Black come in and attack the Blonds before going after Julia Hart. Armstrong and the Dark Order help Hart out. Armstrong extends his hand to her and she accepts it. They hold her up and leave in the crowd.
Being The Elite 306: And Scene- The Dark Order talk about Harry Potter and Silver's match with CM Punk. Armstrong ends the segment with... and scene.
May 9 Episode of Dark: Coaching Duties- Victor Armstrong accompanies John Silver to his match with Tony Deppen.
May 10 Episode of Elevation: More Coaching Duties- Armstrong, Silver, Reynolds, and Angels are on the side of Evil Uno and 10 for their match. They win and Armstrong makes the challenge to Buddy Matthews at Dynamite.
May 11 Episode of Dynamite: The Secret Becomes Gossip- Armstrong, accompanied by Anna Jay, John Silver, and Alex Reynolds, faces Buddy Matthews. A clean mix of brawling and fighting, Matthews couldn't keep up with Victor's Muhammed Ali-like quickness. A spear ends the competitive match. Victor Armstrong is now 4-0 in AEW.
Singles: 3-0 Tag Team: 1-0 Trios: 0-0
May 18 Episode of Dynamite: Owen First Round- Armstrong faces Rey Fenix. Fenix's high-flying skills were no match for the reflexes of the Heartless One. Victor countered a moonsault into a vicious spear to win and advance to the semi-finals to face Samoa Joe.
Singles: 4-0 Tag Team: 1-0 Trios: 0-0
May 25 Episode of Dynamite: Owen Semi-Finals- Armstrong faces Samoa Joe. A hard-hitting battle has the floor literally shaking. Victor mainly aims for Joe's legs. The match ends with Joe locking in the Coquina Clutch, and Victor gasping for air. He picks Joe up and hits a stunner. Two GTHs and a spear ends the 20 minute match. Armstrong is now 6-0 in AEW.
Singles: 5-0 Tag Team: 1-0 Trios: 0-0
Double Or Nothing 2022: Owen Finals- The long-awaited showdown between Victor Armstrong and Adam Cole happens. The match was real competitive. Cole goes for a Panama Sunrise, but Victor lands on top of him. He hits a GTH and a spear to win the championship belt and trophy with Cole's partner, Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.
Singles: 6-0 Tag Team: 1-0 Trios: 0-0
June 1 Episode of Dynamite: Staredown With His Goddess- Armstrong appears on stage to help his wife Athena, Anna Jay, and Kris Statlander even the odds against Jade Cargill, Kiera Hogan, Red Velvet, and Stokely Hathaway.
June 3 Episode of Dynamite: The Second House Guest- Armstrong has a match against Brody King. It is a very hard contest Armstrong wins after 10 minutes and a GTH and a spear.
Singles: 7-0 Tag Team: 1-0 Trios: 0-0
June 15 Episode of Dynamite: Road Rager- In an unlikey pairing, Malakai Black and Victor Armstrong are forced to team up together in a tag ladder match for the AEW World Tag Team Championships against Jurassic Express. The team actually win the titles, allowing Armstrong to become a double champ, both with Black and his wife Athena.
Singles: 7-0 Tag Team: 2-0 Trios: 0-0
June 23 Episode of Dynamite: The Fate Of Me is Set- Victor Armstrong sets up a match between Anna Jay and Julia Hart. If Jay wins, Malakai will break up the House Of Black. If Hart wins, Victor will join the House.
AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door: The Fate Of Me- In the Buy-In, Julia beats Anna Jay clean. That means that Victor comes out to Heartless one last time. After their title defense against Roppongi Vice, Buddy Matthews and Brody King come out with Julia. They hold him down and take his red jacket. Julia hugs him. Armstrong has tears in his eyes because he is doing all of this for her. Black then hits him with the Black Mass as initiation.
Singles: 7-0 Tag Team: 3-0 Trios: 0-0
June 29 Episode of Dynamite: Blood And Guts- Armstrong competes in his first match as a member of House of Black. He is in a cloak and a Black Panther-type mask. He quickly defeats Ethan Page due to a GTH. He is now 11-0 in competition, 8-0 in singles matches. Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee come out to challenge the two to a match at Fyter Fest. It is later made as a triple threat match against Starks and Hobbs.
Singles: 8-0 Tag Team: 3-0 Trios: 0-0
July 13 Episode of Dynamite: Fyter Fest- In a shocking turn of events, Victor Armstrong suffers his first loss in AEW history, but did not get pinned by Lee.
Singles: 8-0 Tag Team: 3-1 Trios: 0-0
July 15 Episode of Rampage: Dark Order- Victor Armstrong finally faces people he mentored for a short time in Silver and Reynolds. House of Black obliterates Silver to end the match. Darby Allin and Victor Armstrong brawl as Malakai Black and Sting stare each other down.
Singles: 8-0 Tag Team: 4-1 Trios: 0-0
July 27 Episode of Dynamite: Fight For The Fallen- As Malakai and Victor are taking interviews, Armstrong wants Darby in a Coffin Match.
August 10 Episode of Dynamite: Coffin- The Coffin Match happens between the two. At one point, Allin is trying to climb a ladder before Armstrong gets up. He grabs Darby's arm and yanks it, causing his head to bash on the ladder and for him to fall on a barbed wire net. Armstrong tries to slam Darby through the ladder, but he ends up getting powerbombed through the ladder. Darby ends up choking Armstrong with a chain, leading to him falling in the coffin. This is Armstrong's first singles loss in AEW.
Singles: 8-1 Tag Team: 4-1 Trios: 0-0
August 26 Episode of Rampage: AEW Trios Tournament- Armstrong joins Buddy Matthews and Malakai Black to go against The Dark Order. This time Dark Order wins.
Singles: 8-1 Tag Team: 4-2 Trios: 0-0
All Out 2022: Breaking Away- As Sting, Darby Allin, and Miro defeat House of Black, Armstrong gives his cloak to Julia Hart, shrugs, and gets his sunglasses.
Singles: 8-1 Tag Team: 4-2 Trios: 0-1
September 14 Episode of Dynamite: The Heartless One Returns- Lights go out and The Weeknd starts playing. The red blazer wearing, sunglasses rocking sensation is back. Victor Armstrong states that he finally broke away from the House of Black and he's ready to take control for himself. He's done with the Dark Order and he wants a match tonight. Jay Lethal answers but Victor wins after 10 minutes with his devastating spear.
Singles: 9-1 Tag Team: 4-2 Trios: 0-1
September 23 Episode of Rampage: Grand Slam- Victor Armstrong is facing Sammy Guevara. After Tay grabbed Victor’s shoe, Sammy rocked Armstrong with a knee strike. Sammy hit the double jump cutter for a near fall! Armstrong rallied back with a lariat to Sammy. Armstrong used the GTH on Sammy. Armstrong nailed Sammy with the Heartless DDT and then a second Heartless DDT! Armstrong used a third Heartless DDT! He rocks Sammy with a Spear for the win as he winks at Tay!
Singles: 10-1 Tag Team: 4-2 Trios: 0-1
September 26 Episode of Dark Elevation- The Challenge is Made: Victor Armstrong appears behind the commentators asking for Paul Wight. He's not there, but Armstrong goes in the ring with a microphone letting Paul Wight know that he wants him as soon as possible.
October 5 Episode of Dynamite- 3rd Anniversary: Victor comes out with a balloon before he pops it to go in his match with Hangman Adam Page. Armstrong used a Heartless DDT for a near fall on Page. Page tried to retaliate with the Buckshot Lariat but Victor caught him with a Spear for the pinfall! Paul Wight showed up to shake his hand, but Victor sets the challenge for him: a match next week, which Wight accepts.
Singles: 11-1 Tag Team: 4-2 Trios: 0-1
October 12 Episode of Dynamite- Sammy jumps in: Just before the match between Armstrong and Wight happens, Sammy Guevara comes out and attacks Armstrong. After the attack, Guevara challenges Victor to a match on next week's Rampage.
October 21 Episode of Rampage- That Son of a Bitch: Guevara stomped Armstrong while they were in the corner and then hit Armstrong with a massive chop. Armstrong fought back with body punches. Armstrong followed up with a Heartless DDT. Guevara rolled up Armstrong for a near fall. Armstrong wasted no time and made Guevara pay after hitting him with a GTH for the win! After the match Paul Wight comes and wraps his hand around Armstrong's neck, wants him at Full Gear, and lets go.
Singles: 12-1 Tag Team: 4-2 Trios: 0-1
October 24 Episode of Dark- Bring Me Paul!: Armstrong brutalizes Paul Wight at the commentary desk with a kendo stick. He hits him until Wight starts bleeding. This 'distraction' causes The Wingmen the match against the Blackpool Combat Club.
October 27 Episode of Dark Elevation- Side Quests: Armstrong just had a match against Brandon Cutler. A spear out of Cutler's shoes ends this 2 minute match. A true free win.
Singles: 13-1 Tag Team: 4-2 Trios: 0-1
November 2 Episode of Dynamite- Face to Face: Victor Armstrong and Paul Wight come face to face. The main arguments are that at Full Gear, the match will finally happen. This is a match that Victor wanted to have since he first started wrestling. Paul Wight will make sure he wishes he never wanted that match. As Victor leaves the ring, he purposefully bumps into Wight, making him even more upset. Armstrong announces that he would love for Wight to commentate his next match on Rampage next week.
November 12 Episode of Rampage- A Front Row Seat: Victor Armstrong faces Lee Johnson with Paul Wight on commentary. A nice match goes on for around 9 minutes with Armstrong doing a Michael Jackson Sweep the Chin taunt at Paul Wight. Armstrong planted Lee with a Heartless DDT! Johnson ducked the Spear and rocked Victor with a thrust kick! Victor hit the GTH out of nowhere and pinned Big Shotty! Cole Karter tried to hit Victor from behind but Armstrong clocked him with the Spear!
Singles: 14-1 Tag Team: 4-2 Trios: 0-1
Full Gear 2022: It Happens- It's Victor Armstrong vs Paul Wight! After both men trying to suplex the other, Armstrong gets out of it and tries to pick up Wight for a GTH. His legs give out and he needs medical attention. With Wight distracted by Officials tending to Victor, Victor Armstrong runs behind him and hits that GTH. Once Wight gets back up, Armstrong hits the Spear for a 11-minute win.
Singles: 15-1 Tag Team: 4-2 Trios: 0-1
November 30 Episode of Dynamite: A Wrestling Match- Victor Armstrong faces off against Dax Harwood. Armstrong went for the GTH but Harwood intercepted. Dax attempted the slingshot powerbomb but Armstrong escaped by countering with a hurracanrana. Armstrong blasted Dax with punches to the gut. Dax countered Victor’s Spear with a slingshot Liger Bomb! After countering one another’s cradle pin attempts, Armstrong hit the Heartless DDT on Dax for the win!
Singles: 16-1 Tag Team: 4-2 Trios: 0-1
December 7 Episode of Dynamite: Making It Known- Victor talks to the fans. He says now that he's beaten Paul Wight, he's learned a lesson: in wrestling, you don't have to ask for a match, you can just take it. And he might take that match next year, next week, Friday, or tonight!
Being The Elite 326: Get Your Dues- Victor Armstrong finds Rush at a parking lot. He pushes him and lets him know that even though he's not with the Dark Order, if you mess with them, you mess with him. Rush tells him that Preston Vance betrayed him because he grew up. His leader to him would have been someone like Rush, not a ten-year-old. If Armstrong wants to do something about it, he'll face him at Rampage. Armstrong will make sure that Rush gets his dues.
December 16 Episode of Rampage: A Little Out of Hand- Armstrong faces Rush. Outside the ring, Rush connected with leaping knee strike. Rush climbed to the top rope and drove himself through Armstrong, crashing through the time keeper’s table! Rush used a crossbody off the top rope but Armstrong rolled through. Victor spiked Rush with a Heartless DDT. Armstrong turned Rush inside out with the Spear for the win! Preston Vance charged to the ring and began to brawl with Victor Armstrong. Vance went for the Lariat but Victor moved and Preston hit a security guard with the move! A team of AEW Security had to separate both men!
Singles: 17-1 Tag Team: 4-2 Trios: 0-1
December 23 Episode of Rampage: Intervening- Victor runs down the ring and eliminates Rush from the $300,000 Three Kings Christmas Casino Trios Royale, in support of Evil Uno, John Silver, and Alex Reynolds.
December 28 Episode of Dynamite: All Ego and No Eating- Victor goes against Ethan Page. Armstrong countered a slam by Page with a DDT. Victor Armstrong applied a cross face but Ethan Page managed to touch the bottom rope with his boot, forcing the ref to break the hold. Ethan Page had Victor on the top turnbuckle but Victor countered with hammer elbows. Page trapped Armstrong’s arm, propped him over his shoulder, and smashed him with an avalanche powerslam for a near fall! Playing possum so Page couldn't pick him up, Armstrong hits the GTH and a Spear for the win!
Singles: 18-1 Tag Team: 4-2 Trios: 0-1
January 6 Episode of Rampage: Settling This Score- Armstrong faces Preston Vance. Armstrong was about to go for the Coffin Drop on Vance when Rush jumped into the ring to act as a human shield. As the ref forced Rush out of the ring, Preston shoved Armstrong off the top rope, sending him crashing onto the mat. Vance then locked a chokehold, which Armstrong countered into a GTH and a Spear for the win!
Singles: 19-1 (1-0 in 2023) Tag Team: 4-2 Trios: 0-1
January 11 Episode of Dynamite: First Williams vs Ambrose, Now Armstrong vs Moxley!- A blast from the past, Victor Armstrong goes against former partner Jon Moxley. Moxley spiked Armstrong with a piledriver but Victor kicked out at the one-count! Moxley tried a round kick but Armstrong caught it and then rocked Mox with the Heartless DDT! Moxley got up and curb stomped Victor! Victor came up with a clothesline off the mat at Moxley. They traded palm strikes! Armstrong landed a lariat and then the After Hours Spear for the pin over Moxley!
Singles: 20-1 (2-0 in 2023) Tag Team: 4-2 Trios: 0-1
January 18 Episode of Dynamite: Going Off- Renee Paquette interviews Victor Armstrong about his match against Jon Moxley. Armstrong says the following: "I felt great relief defeating Jon Moxley to get my 20th win here in AEW. He knows me inside out and I know him inside out, so there was no question that the match would've been crazy. The last time that I fought the individual behind Jon Moxley was when he was a goofier motherfucker. He was hoisting hot dog carts and unloading all over authority figures. Well now he's hoisting your baby girl and unloading all over you. But when you look at what he is now, he sure is a tougher son of a bitch. You of all people should know that. However, you need to remember this: the more things change, the more they stay the same. Even me, I'm wearing a red $3000 jacket and sunglasses looking like a bootleg Halloween version of The Weeknd. I even fucking come out to The Weeknd, and the crowd loves it! They sing the chorus, they sing the whole song. I feel like fucking Chris Jericho, only I'm younger and and I'm better than a bloated 52 year old rock star who is trying his hardest to stay relevant after his prime 13 years ago by creating a group of six monkey bitches and one excellent person who is a friend of mine, but two of said monkey bitches think that they're the greatest couple in wrestling history just because they're bad guys. They're not. That's me and my wife. Renee, you have interviewed a bunch of wrestlers on your podcast, Oral Sessions, and you've also been interviewed by Jon Moxley on Anal Sessions. But you have never been in the presence of a more diligent, vigilant, meticulous, sagacious, conscientious, analytical, methodical individual than me. Thank you for your time."
January 20 Episode of Rampage: Is Payback Coming Tonight?- Victor Armstrong faces a member of the Jericho Appreciation Society in Daniel Garcia. Victor used a Heartless DDT-Suplex combination. Armstrong wiped out Garcia with a back elbow to the floor. Armstrong followed up with a suicide elbow for a near fall. Garcia and Armstrong exchanged kicks and then Victor sat out with a neck breaker for a two-count on Garcia! Garcia sat out with a pump handle for a near fall on Armstrong. Garcia was looking for the Dragon Tamer but Victor cradled him for a near fall. Armstrong connected with a Pele kick off the top rope and then an After Hours Spear for the pin on Garcia! After that, Victor grabbed a mic and ran into the crowd. "Daniel Garcia, it is now time for you to take out your metro card and get aboard the L Train! Put your motherfuckin' head down you goddamn bum! Record got me feeling like The damn Undertaker!"
Singles: 21-1 (3-0 in 2023) Tag Team: 4-2 Trios: 0-1
January 25 Episode of Dynamite: A Fucking Challenge- Jon Moxley storms down the ring to express his frustrations toward Victor Armstrong's comments on Renee's show. Vic has gone too far and he's gonna die if he gets in this ring again! The Jericho Appreciation Society wants their hands on Victor first, but Victor comes out and challenges both Mox and Jericho to a triple threat match at Revolution!
February 8 Episode of Dynamite: Armstrong vs Garcia- Jericho distracted Armstrong until Garcia attacked Armstrong from behind! Armstrong tried for a spear but Daniel Garcia countered with a body lock front guillotine. Armstrong fired back with a GTH and a Spear for the three! Chris Jericho comes from behind and hits Armstrong with a Judas Effect! Jon Moxley comes out and fights all JAS members until they retreat. He then hits Victor Armstrong with a Paradigm Shift!
Singles: 22-1 (4-0 in 2023) Tag Team: 4-2 Trios: 0-1
February 15 Episode of Dynamite: Texas Tornado- There is a brief reunion between Victor Armstrong and Jon Moxley as they face Rush and Preston Vance. Moxley rocked Rush with a cutter! Armstrong took Rush off his feet with a massive clothesline. Jose the Assistant cracked Armstrong with a steel chair. Wheeler Yuta ran down and battered Jose up the ramp with forearms. Victor speared Rush but Vance broke up the pin at the last possible moment. Rush chopped at Victor while Armstrong returned fire with punches. Mox used the chain on Vance and made him submit with a choke while Rush was occupied. Victor then returned the favor from last week with a Spear!
Singles: 22-1 (4-0 in 2023) Tag Team: 5-2 (1-0 in 2023) Trios: 0-1
March 1 Episode of Dynamite: Sitting At The Stage- After Chris Jericho defeats Peter Avalon, Victor Armstrong comes out and attacks all members of JAS with a Kendo Stick! He sets a chair on the stage and sits down. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am the diligent, vigilant, meticulous, sagacious, conscientious, analytical, methodical individual, THE Victor Armstrong! And I am the winner of the epic triple threat match between Jon Moxley and the bloated old man I just knocked out, Chris Jericho. What I just did is prove that the Jericho Appreciation Society is a weak pair of assholes who feel like they run the show when The Heartless One is right here. Now I don't get in the ring every week. But when I do, I show up and I show out! If you don't believe me, I have held the true biggest prize in Professional Wrestling history for damn near a whole year. All while people thought that it was a terrible thing that someone so unknown could hold such a belt for so long. I proved the critics wrong, and I will prove both Bitch Jericho and Gone Moxley on March 5 at Revolution by making them take out their metro cards and get aboard the motherfuckin' L Train! Thank you for your time, I'll see you tomorrow!"
March 2 Episode of Ring of Honor TV: Hello, ROH!- After Athena talks with Willow Nightingale, Victor Armstrong's picture comes on screen with these words sentence by sentence: "Hello Ring of Honor! I am the diligent, vigilant, meticulous, sagacious, conscientious, analytical, methodical individual, THE Victor Armstrong! And I am finally here. I'll be honest, if ROH didn't go out of business, this would be the company I signed with. I would be ROH Champion by now. But it's always better to be late than never. I can't be with you right now, but I will be after Revolution on Sunday. Will I be beaten up? Of course. Will I win? Of course. And before you know it, I'll compete in Ring of Honor. And I already have my opponent in sight... Dalton Castle! This was a dream match for me ever since 2017. Don't be a bitch, Dalton. Thank you for your time."
Revolution 2023: A Triple Threat Dream Match- Victor faces Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley in a triple threat match. With all three men bloodied, the match is hitting a boiling point. It ends with Jericho hitting the Judas Effect on Moxley and going for one on Armstrong. When he does, Victor is able to pick him up and hit him with the GTH for the three count. "Chris Jericho, it's time for you and Mox to take out your metro cards, and get aboard... the L Train!"
Singles: 23-1 (5-0 in 2023) Tag Team: 5-2 (1-0 in 2023) Trios: 0-1

In the spirit of Efap's ROTS/Plinkett episode and similar discussions, I thought I'd post some some breakdowns/analysis/etc. of Redlettermedia's spacewars commentary, one subject at a time or something - here's part one for now.
(Hopefully the "greentext quotes" here won't become a visual nightmare, given the amount of quotes - we'll see I guess.)

Plinkett audio commentary: SW Ep4
But really, a space station the size of a small moon? And they just happened to get pulled into the exact hangar bay which is located right near all the things that they need to get to.
But they do get back to the Millennium Falcon on foot, right? Like right after when they rescue Princess Leia and get all showered up; so the prisoner room and the garbage dump that's like one floor below it - is like right near where the hangar bay is?
Same with all 7 power reactor control things that shut off power to the main tractor beam...
Why is this Death Star so big again?
Oh right, the giant space laser. Ah, whatever...
The Death Star is silly and nonsensical; each set is designed for the purpose of the movie's needs:
The prisoner cell block only has one way out; which is great by the way, in case a crazed prisoner escapes and corners a guard?
There are giant steel doors everywhere, that close to block off hallways - utterly pointless, except it's neat to have Han and Chewie jump through a door as it's closing while they're being chased by Stormtroopers.
"Open the blast doors! Open the blast doors!"
I guess they're blast doors...
What are they blasting against? [...]
I guess they're like watertight bulkhead doors? - like on the Titanic? You know, in case the Death Star hits an iceberg.
And then you got the extendable and retractable bridge over the cavernous pit; this serves no purpose? - unless we want a scene where Luke has to swing across the pit heroically with Leia.
And don't even get me started on the fact that there are no railings anywhere on any of the [?] walkways, that go above endless pits to nowhere...
It's all very stark, and abstract, and science-fictiony stuff.
I guess the Empire's so confident in its efficiency, that it doesn't need shit like safety railings - they've been accident free for over three years now!
Now you might be saying to yourself, well, I did complain about the Theed power room, right?
But I never really complained about the look of the Theed power room - or the fact that they didn't have no railings either!
And they have these silly rotating force field doors, that led to a little room with a pit in it for no reason...
It was like that little Keymaker guy from the Matrix sequels showed up - and he opened up the door to a completely different fucking world.
I guess George wanted them to have a fight scene on a Star Wars looking set, or something that looked like the Death Star kind of environment? - but he couldn't get them onto one storywise, so he just said that there would be one underneath this old quaint city.
You see we need some kind of connection to reality?, and as absurd as a planet-sized space station with a giant laser is - it's still much more believable than the fact that Naboo has a gigantic power generator under its city;
accessible through doors in some kind of hangar bay for some reason.
And it's like underneath the main palace? And not like a 100 miles away in the middle of nowhere.
It's like having a nuclear powerplant under the White House - not necessarily the greatest idea....
If I owned a nuclear powerplant, I'd probably go and touch the Uranium rods. I'd rub my face against them.. in hopes that I would get superpowers and be able to shoot laser out of my eyes... But I'd probably just get horrible cancer.
You know, I got something to admit - I got cancer once? But I was cured of it... Because you see, once the cancer cells saw what I did in my basement at night? - they all killed themselves. They said they didn't wanna bring their children into a world such as mine.

This of course being an expanded version of a point that touched briefs in the Ep1 review:

Plinkett: SW Ep1
Oh, and then they go from the palace to this room, what is this room? Is this in the palace??
I mean I know George wanted the Jedis to fight in a cool place that's really Star Warsy? - so.. so what this is like a power generator? What does it power, the Universe??
So you're expecting me to believe that the people that built this technological wonder were dying without space supplies for 2 days??

One additional plot hole I seem to have found here (at least haven't seen anyone else mention it) is that at the beginning of Ep1, the hangar with the ships quite certainly was not in the palace (the Queen's group looked like it had walked quite a distance away from the palace before the 2 Jedi freed them - and then Panaka's like "the hangar, this way" and next second they're at the hangar; no way they made the whole trip back to the palace during that cut?) - however at the end, they enter the palace via the hangar.
Either way this aside, while the comparison in that commentary section is accurate, the big problem here is that a much closer and more natural comparison to what happens here with the Theed hangar->"powerplant", is not the Death Star here, but rather the Bespin duel - and Plinkett doesn't make that obvious comparison anywhere.
As an environment, Bespin is a direct predecessor to mainly Coruscant (i.e. the exterior) as well as to a lesser extent the Naboo capital - its interior doesn't directly look like the Palace (if anything that one's much more comparable to the Yavin throne room), however it's an exotic, idyllic and embellished, arguably "aristocratic" looking environment built right next to the hellish looking carbon freezing chamber, a junkyard featuring a conveyor belt leading into an inferno, and probably other industrial areas;
this in itself is not yet "unjustified" in any way - Cloud City is a "gas mining colony" after all, and as James Cameron is well aware, smoke-filled metallic industrial environments already have an inherent tendency to look like Hell on Earth and serve as a perfect setting for climactic showdowns against creepy villains and monsters.
However Han's group never visits Lando's moody looking industrial facilities before being taken there by Vader - so from their perspective, and the way it's conveyed in the movie (starting even with the room Threepio initially enters), these industrial and engine rooms represent the "evil underbelly" of Cloud City, hidden beneath and inbetween the picturesque city and the soothing bright hallways that serve as a "front" for this hidden truth;
even the gnome-like aliens first found by Chewie in that junkyard, and later seen participating in in the carbon freezing procedure, while literally just being industrial workers there, come off as malicious, almost demon-like creatures who're seemingly exclusively found in these grim underbelly rooms.
Then, even though it's reasonable to expect a city with a police force to feature prisons and detention centers, the one that Chewbacca gets locked in has an emphatically grim and evil look to it - a complete contrast to the public areas.
That's not what the Enterprise's detention cells look like?
Moments later, Han is strapped into a torture contraption, in a similar room with a dark red ceiling - one might assume the Empire brought the torture equipment with them, but really this place increasingly starts looking like an evil Imperial fortress rather than a benign, idyllic city built around some factories.
And if the initial scenes inside the freezing chamber didn't outright confirm that this place exists right "next" to the bright hallways, then certainly that's exactly how it turns out to be when Luke arrives and is lured into this trap - one moment he's in the white hallway, the next he enters a door and is pulled into the hell room with Vader.
Plinkett's "Keymaker from the Matrix" comparison becomes more and more applicable here - even though the believability isn't stretched as much yet, since why shouldn't there be quick and easy access to the industrial/engine rooms from the public hallways?
And the Empire just happens to be using this room, since Vader wants to use this otherwise normal industrial facility to freeze Luke so he doesn't try to escape during the trip to the Emperor... or something.
However as Luke starts following after Vader after pushing him off the platform, and walks through a creepy tunnel into what seems like a level of control rooms connected by darkly lit hallways, the place becomes hard to distinguish from some of the interiors of the Death Star - especially the Emperor's throne room from the 2nd one;
and then Luke is blown out a window that looks like a spider web (not quite unlike the one seen behind the Emperor's throne in the next film), into a vast, round bottomless pit with walls that look like the surface of the Death Star.
Sure - if that long shaft emerging from underneath the city and reaching down into the clouds (possibly connected to the "gas mining" somehow) were to be hollow inside, then it would look like a gaping bottomless pit - but why does its wall have to look like the Death Star's surface? And also evoke the bottomless pit that was surrounding the tractor beam controls for some reason?
So at this point, Luke and Vader have gotten from a smoky industrial facility that you would expect from an industrial city like this, to what looks indistinguishable from the interior of an evil Imperial station or fortress - even though these interiors have been here for years, way before the Empire arrived here a few days ago, and effectively made it into its temporary evil space station fortress;
they hardly could've revamped the design of all these rooms and chasms during the short time they've been staying here, to make them look like an Imperial base instead?
Really by all looks, these levels beneath the carbon freezing facility, as well as those "prison rooms" from before, look like this for no other reason than that the Bespin city functions as a honey-trap Imperial fortress in this film;
and as the duel starts protruding into the increasingly Deathstarish looking environment, it seems like dream logic starts completely taking over any pretenses the environment initially had of "making sense in-universe":

each set is designed for the purpose of the movie's needs:

What's happening on a small and not even anywhere as immediately noticeable scale in Ep4's Deathstar, is taking place on a much larger scale here - the environments are designed according to the needs of the film, as well as to reflect the meaning of what's happening in the story as well as the protagonist's mental state:
the "control room level" looks like an Imperial fortress because it's functioning as one here, and exists as a representation of the dark place (morally and mentally) Vader is trying to lure him into; and the claustrophobic hallways, spider window and gaping chasm reflect and intensify Luke's bleak states of mind during those respective moments - the unfamiliarity of the environment reflects the hidden knowledge that he's about to discover, the hallways and thin bridge intensify his "trapped in a deadly situation" situation, and hovering above a gaping pit into nothingness is seemingly how he feels about having learned what he just learned: that his entire aspiration to go after his father, and what his trusted mentors had been telling him, were all lies, and he seemingly has way to escape the "dark abyss" that Vader is trying to pull him in (ironically the literal dark abyss is what he jumps into to escape it - having changed into representing the preferable nature of death/uncertainty to what Vader is offering him).
So how does this all compare to the Ep1 counterpart?

You see we need some kind of connection to reality?, and as absurd as a planet-sized space station with a giant laser is - it's still much more believable than the fact that Naboo has a gigantic power generator under its city;
accessible through doors in some kind of hangar bay for some reason.
And it's like underneath the main palace? And not like a 100 miles away in the middle of nowhere.
It's like having a nuclear powerplant under the White House - not necessarily the greatest idea....

To get this one thing right out of the way out of the bat, there is no indication of those power beams or anything else in this place somehow being hazardous like the fissile radiant material in nuclear powerplants - so at least there's that.
However the believability is certainly stretched a lot farther here than anything in Bespin - for one, Theed is not a relatively small city built around an industrial function, it's just a regular royal capital; so unless the Naboo culture has some kind of "the kings are also the producers of goods" thing going on, this "power plant" being right in the palace building seems like a non-sequitur;
being next to the fighter jet hangar might make a slight bit more sense, but still not really at all - plus the hangar's in the palace now, unlike the start of the film.
Another big difference here is that the "powerplant" area is not just extending downwards into bottomless chasms, but also upwards towards the unseen ceiling - and one might ask oneself whether the buildings seen from outside were really high enough to contain that massive area, although the Palace (despite not being a skyscraper) just might.
And also while there's nothing inherently absurd about underground levels, or a round bottomless pit leading underground, the latter hadn't been set up by an exterior shot of the station, with the "bottomless pit" axis growing out of the flying saucer's lower half and reaching into the clouds/gas below (in what had been established as a "gas mining facility") - this time all that stuff is literally coming out of nowhere.
However ultimately what really doesn't make sense, analogously to the Bespin "control rooms levels" beneath the freezing chamber, is it looking like an evil Imperial fortress - Naboo isn't an evil fortress, so why would it have an evil looking interior like this?
However, a major difference here is that while the Empire had only occupied Bespin for a short while, was intent on leaving again (unless Lando refused to cooperate, that is), the Trade Federation has been here for quite a while longer - certainly in "film time" terms it takes up the length of the entire movie, even if the in-universe time that passes between the invasion and the return to Naboo might be ranging between a significantly long period to a few days) - and by all looks they were planning to stay and had some kind of huge sprawling plans in mind that involved the entire planet:

"Is the planet secure?"
"We have taken over the last pockets of primitive life forms - we are in complete control of the planet now."
"Good."

And in this movie, the Trade Federation is a proto-Empire of sorts - not only collaborating with the Sith and led by the literal future Emperor, they also seem to be a dystopian megacorporation of sorts, who've already (unofficially?) taken over significant Republic territory:

"You can't take Her Royal Highness there, the Hutts are gangsters! If they discovered her-"
"...It'd be no different than if we landed on a system controlled by the Federation; except that the Hutts aren't looking for her - which gives us the advantage."
"Your Highness - with your permission, we're heading for a remote planet called Tatooine; it's in a system far beyond the reach of the Trade Federation."

Their ships literally look like mini Death Stars (with Saturn rings around them, to make it slightly less obvious?), and their interior generally looks very Empirey as well.
So, compared to the idea that one might easily think of to try and ground the Bespin look in the universe, namely that "the Empire has started changing this place they're occupying into their evil fortress", such a notion certainly makes a lot more sense in the context of Ep1's plot.
Additionally this is somewhat supported by the visuals of Gunray riding around on a crab-throne while in a darkly lit looking Palace interior at night - even if only in this scene here:

"Your Queen is lost, your people are starving... and you, Governor, are going to die much sooner than your people, I'm afraid."
"This invasion will gain you nothing! We're a democracy - the people have decided!"
"Take him away."
"My troops are in position to begin searching the swamps for these rumoured underwater villages. They will not stay hidden for long."

This also conveys some kind of notion of "them remaking the place into their own", even if technically it's just a creepy looking robot chair and this scene (along with the later Sidious scene where they tell him they've taken over those primitive lifeforms) happens to take place at night.
Ultimately though, even if making more sense than Bespin by comparison, it's still a heavy stretch on rational world believability - and, of course, there's no direct hints at this actually having physically taken place there.
Similarly to ESB, this duel starts with the villain getting in the heroes' way as they're there for a different mission (having waited for them from behind a closed door as well), and at least partially showing signs of following a plan to lure them into increasingly dangerous environments:
Maul arbitrarily opens the gate to the space room and leads the fight there - then he backflips onto a bridge even further away from the hangar, and is subsequently seen stepping back from Qui-Gon all up until ending up in that corridor with the red force fields, and eventually the sealed room with the gaping pit:
where he immediately reveals to have been pretending to be retreating from Qui-Gon and turns around at him the moment the force fields reactivate again.
So, just like with Bespin, there's a surreal, dream logic element here that extends and reflects the literal premise of the villain luring the heroes into a trap - the environments he's leading them into look like an evil fortress, evoke power, awe and danger, and feature both claustrophobic small rooms/corridors to make the protagonists feel trapped, as well as gaping pits and chasms showing just how deep they can fall into uncertainty and death, in what's getting brewed up by the villains here;
and analogously to Luke in Cloud City, while the 2 Jedi aren't literally "surprised" by this environment hiding behind the door of a benign looking palace (which can be attributed to it either making sense to them in terms of how real-world logic, or their reduced lucidity), it's a place they haven't been showing seeing at any earlier point, and reflects the much vaster scope of what's going on here (i.e. the Sith plan to take over the world) that's hidden from them, is shrouded by secret, and that they're only going to proceed to uncover gradually.

"There is something else behind all this, your Highness - there's no logic in the Federation's move here. My feelings tell me they will destroy you."

Unlike ESB this isn't something that they learn the full truth of in an instant, without any direct hints preceding it - with the possible exception of this:

"I cannot teach him; the boy has no patience."
"He will learn patience."
"Much anger in him - like his father."
"Was I any different when you taught me?"

Effectively, or if explicitly going with a "dream logic" reading of these movies, according to which places, characters, circumstances and hidden schemes pop into the universe's existence the moment they're imagined by the author / enter the narrative, both these environments materialize inside these buildings out of nowhere to reflect and enhance the mental states of the protagonists, the villainous intents and schemes, and the meaning of what's happening in the story;
just like, albeit on a much smaller scale, all those Death Star parts only materialized in front of the heroes in order to give them new dangers and obstacles to overcome - incl. the garbage chute beneath a latticed hole right in the prison corridor, the monster that made itself known right as someone said "could be worse", and the walls that started closing in on them right after the monster disappears.

Then she shoots a vent on the floor and somehow knows that it's a garbage chute... HOW'D SHE KNOW THAT?
And why would a garbage chute be grated like that? Usually that's just like a air vent or somethin'...
It could've led to a dead end, where they all got stuck somewhere...
Or it coulda let straight to a garbage incinerator - nobody knows what that is? So their idea is to jump in it?..
I guess it's better than nothing? I guess you're fucked one way or the other...
But shit I wouldn't follow her in there, I'd surrender...

However, exclusively comparing these ANH examples to the Theed spaceroom without mentioning the much more similar Bespin spaceroom, amounts to a very incomplete comparison - and the accompanying conclusion that:

You see we need some kind of connection to reality?, and as absurd as a planet-sized space station with a giant laser is - it's still much more believable than the fact that Naboo has a gigantic power generator under its city;

and that this warrants "complaining" about:

Now you might be saying to yourself, well, I did complain about the Theed power room, right?
But I never really complained about the look of the Theed power room - or the fact that they didn't have no railings either!

leads to the question whether Plinkett/Mike/Rich/etc. are aware of Empire engaging in a very similar (in fact directly analogous) and comparable display of environment surrealism, with "the Keymaker opening a portal into an evil dimension", and stretching this "connection to reality" a whole lot further and more noticeably than those Death Star scenes (with the garbage chute itself standing out among them all, in turn);

This trash compactor scene is really a lot of fun;
but it always felt like a "give them something to do" kind of scene, in a movie where nearly every scene is motivated.
It's one of those "lowest point" kinda moments, where our heroes struggle against opposition - but it doesn't really serve an overall purpose in the storyline.
It's fun, and tense, and memorable, don't get me wrong - but from a story perspective it doesn't advance the plot too much...
The plot here being that the bad guys wanna blow up the Rebel base - and Han; Luke; Chewbacca; and the useless complaining woman need to stop them.
Having them tied up in the garbage compactor only to escape and go right back to where they were? - eh, it was a little unnecessary roadblock in this series of events.

; and how exactly this fits in with their high appraisal of that movie:

Plinkett: The Star Wars Awakens
He accomplished his task of creating a sci-fi film about the Hero’s Journey; and then had to live under the shadow of “The Empire Strikes Back” – one of the greatest films ever made for which he had the least to do with creatively;
he desperately needed Star Wars to be about something bigger and greater than just popcorn entertainment - so he went back to his classic literature book and his CliffsNotes to search for ideas.

Plinkett audio commentary: SW Ep1
So at this point as we're wrapping up, you're saying to yourself: "Why does this guy get so worked up over Star Wars - these are films for babies! They're just made for 5 year olds that like to play with toys."
Well - I don't find that entirely true; and I don't think that's all this could've been.
This is more about achieving greatness; and those that make excuses for greatness when it falls horribly short.
In "Empire Strikes Back", the filmmakers took the material from the 1st Star Wars, and brought it up to the next level.
They took a movie with robots, and a floating cloud city, and a rubber green puppet, and made it completely realistic and believable;

This ANH-ESB comparison and how the latter "took it to the next level" including on the "realism" front, seems to ignore how much it turned up the gears on the surrealism and dream logic when compared to those Death Star scenes - particularly in that very same "floating cloud city" mentioned in this quote.

it's a very dark movie that's brilliantly done in every aspect - filled with heavy emotion, stark realism, and beautiful visuals.
For a brief moment, "The Empire Strikes Back" showed us what could really be done with these movies and characters.
I think people have a hard time differentiating between movies that are made for children, - and movies that children can also enjoy.
If you're any age, "Empire" can speak to you on some level; "The Phantom Menace" caps out at about age 10 - unless you're a drooling fanboy that just loves lightsabers.
And saying that "The Phantom Menace" is really "just a film for children" - is code speak for it sucking.

Even if a reasonable comparison between these analogous sections of ESB and TPM would lead to the conclusion that the former is surrealist art kino while the latter is nonsense that disconnects you from reality; that the former is "one of the greatest films ever made" while the latter "sucks" (incl. at the example of this particular comparison) - they haven't yet made such a comparison or analysis, it's missing from their thesis;
and judging by them praising ESB and its floating cloud city as "starkly realistic", as well as leaving all of this out of their Death Star / Theed comparison, strongly suggests that they haven't ever thought of any these points, and are severely overestimating the amount of rational sense-making that EpV is built on.
For similar themes discussed by RLM, check out their Suspiria re:view (crazy dream logic inside the dance school),
as well the somewhat mixed commentary on the evil look of the Event Horizon (also re:view) and how there doesn't seem to be an in-universe justification for its gothic design prior to it falling into the hell dimension - since Sam Neill's character isn't some kinda "hell worshipper cultist" who would construct it in that fashion.

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A/N: So, I think I'm happy with this chapter now, and as such I'll start posting this story again. It's gonna be slow though, probably going to limit myself to one chapter a week just for my sanity and also for quality. I do actually have a vague plan for this arc of the story, hence why this will be slower posting from here on as I figure everything out. Also the events in this chapter are still quick and fast hitting, and that's on purpose. It's meant to keep the characters from actually taking the time to figure everything out and keep the bad things from happening. Saying that, they'll have more room to breathe during the rest of this arc till the very end of it. Also, I'll try my best to not 'needlessly torture' dear Safa, but there will still be moments of severe and extreme despair in her future, it's unavoidable, even if you and I wish it were so.
So, without further ado, please enjoy the return of Safa and her adventures. I promise that after this arc we'll get back to more simple quests that don't involve saving the world.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
The royal family stood, paralyzed by magic as the Hierophants chanted. I could see fear in the eyes of Sarum’s children and wife, and righteous anger and hatred in the Emperor’s eyes. The chanting was rising in volume as the ritual progressed, dark magics swirling around the group. Sarum spotted us, his eyes widening first in surprise, then hope as he glanced at his family, a silent plea to save them first over his own life. A plea we would answer.
“FOR THE EMPIRE!” I yell, and we charge into the fray. The other participants, the witnesses of this ritual turn on us, brandishing their weapons. There were plenty of guards mixed in with the robed ones, and we entered a clash. I used every tool I had at my disposal, all of my powers, my weapons, everything, even my venom. Web was shot and would hold a foe in place long enough for me to deal with another, before I whirled around and slid the blade of my glaive into them. Venom pulsed through the veins of many and I would catch sight of Sae hopping around, just out of range, a flurry of arrows leaving him from a seemingly bottomless quiver.
Shards of moonlight zipped around, blowing great chunks out of armor and flesh wherever they impacted. I was just bringing my blade down on another guard when a sword slid between it and them, blocking my strike. My attention shifted instantly, and there was that man, that adventurer.
“Whatever you’re trying to do, we’ll stop you!” He snarled, but I could see the conflict in his eyes, and the slight waver in his voice. There was no time for discussion, I simply kicked the guard in the chest and focused my full attention on him and his party. Allied guards entered the fray, and it became a proper tussle. But we were running out of time, the chanting was continuing, the Hierophant Guard stood fast and were far deadlier than their more common counterparts.
I was thankful for the perception skills I had, as each near fatal strike caused time to slow down, long enough for me to shift out of the way. I appeared from a shadow on a wall and took a quick survey of the battle taking place, and decided it was time to turn the tables in our favor. My eyes glowed violet, the dark, necromantic magic curled around my fingers as was about to be unleashed when I was suddenly forced to duck under a blast of magic, followed by several arrows from the adventurers lady friends.
I tried again, but was stopped once more, forcing me to give up on raising the dead for now and focus on at least incapacitating the companions. I tensed and leapt, which was surprising enough to the elven woman that she didn’t move out of the way in time. So I ended up knocking her to the ground and spraying her down with a thick coating of web. Then I turned towards the older looking magic user. Still fair of course, thanks to magic, but I could sense her age and experience even from here.
I scuttled forwards, keeping my upper body low and she twirled her staff, sending a wave of fire towards me. Amkhu surged forwards, taking the form of a wall between us and I diverted my course around him, letting him handle the witch. Which he did, handily, utilizing the tentacles that came with his natural form to bind her up and keep her stationary. He did seem like he was about to eat her, but a mental command to keep her alive was enough to make him not do that. My next target was a small woman, who looked far too much like a child for my liking but the slightly pointed ears on her head and the vague bluish tint to her skin suggested that was a totally normal thing perhaps for an adult of whatever she was. She held a staff of her own and she was chanting feverishly, a pleasant, warm glow around her that revitalized and healed her companions. This woman was guarded by a much taller one, an orc in heavy plate armor and carrying both a tower shield and a giant mace.
The orc spotted me barreling for her and raised her shield, slamming it into the floor as her other arm cocked back, preparing to strike. Moonshard glowed and a burst of crystalline shards zipped forwards, each shot hitting the exact same spot on her shield and blowing great chunks into the dense metal. She grunted in surprise, and I was on her, pedipalps grasping the top of the shield while my forelegs rose and then started to batter the woman with savage strikes. It forced her to try and guard against my attack rather than complete her own, and she was doing decently enough before a few arrows slid into the back of her knee. A cry sounded and she went down, the healer turning and looking on in shock before she registered that I was coming after her next. She was not much of a challenge, too shocked to put up a fight and she was removed from play as I swiped a leg out sideways and sent her flying. She landed with a somewhat satisfying thud and I had a moments reprieve now.
I took the time to see the state of the battle, it wasn’t going well, the Imperial guard couldn’t break through the last of the Hierophants guard, most of the spectators were now dead and it was just a bloody mess. I started towards the guards, intent on breaking through their lines myself when I felt a hint of not so distant pain from Amkhu and I turned my attention to him.
His tentacles had been singed and a slightly soggy witch had freed herself and decided to go after a different target. The world slowed down and instead of watching a magical bolt of death streak towards me, it went for the one thing I could not bear to lose.
Sae started to turn and I knew that the blow would be fatal. I couldn’t allow that, even if it meant that things turned bad for the world. Whatever this Shroud thing was it would have to wait. I melted into the shadows and reformed between Sae and the bolt, raising my arm and focusing as much of the magic I carried into forming something vaguely close to a shield.
It worked… sort of. Instead of the magical bolt spearing me through the chest, it simply detonated against my arm which had the unfortunate effect of removing said arm. But my fleshweaving came in handy and only some of my blood splattered onto the floor before the flesh closed up around the stump.
Thinking quickly, one of my forelegs snapped forwards, smacking the severed limb in mid air and sending it whirling away, smacking the older witch in the face as she cried out in surprised disgust. Amkhu came to the rescue and promptly swallowed the limb, before again entangling the witch.
– – – – – –
Cameron didn’t feel right about all of this, something was trying to control him, push him to kill this other hero and her companion, and one of his own had just tried to do that as well. He couldn’t think straight, everything felt slow and the more he tried to think about it or act against the compulsions, the stranger he felt.
He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he couldn’t let his friend kill Safa, nor could he allow Safa to kill her either. So instead he forced himself to put one foot in front of the other and closed the distance, and speaking proved to be quite difficult as well. Fiona shot him a look as he approached, eyes dancing with glee at having inflicted such a wound upon her enemy.
“Finally! Kill this creature! Quickly, we have to end them, for the Dominion!” She said, her voice full of zealous fervor, but a firm punch from him knocked her out. He didn’t know what was going on, but whatever was going on was clearly wrong and needed to be stopped.
“No… no this isn’t right. Somethings wrong and we shouldn’t be fighting the-”
But just as he finished that thought, he was laid low by searing agony throughout his entire body, and he collapsed, before standing in a disjointed manner.
“HERO! KILL THESE HEATHENS!” The Hierophants yelled, and he dashed forwards. He was a prisoner in his own body and he struggled against it, watching as he met Safa in combat that was sure to be lethal.
– – – – – –
Ihena felt something shift and frowned, glancing down at the mortal world. In fact, all of the gods did. Even the dead souls in her present company looked down at the world. Things were not looking good, but there was hope yet.
But then things got worse, she felt a curtain getting pulled aside, things far older and more terrible than she or her kin were starting to stir and awaken. The divine attention of thousands of gods turned and saw the Shroud getting pulled apart, the tendrils of eldritch abominations and elder gods starting to spill forth.
They went to war in that instant, but Ihena held back, sensing something more down on the mortal plane and she looked abc. A build up of deadly energies, energies which could silence even her champion for good. She couldn’t allow that, and though it broke so many laws, she reached out and did the only thing she could do.
She interfered.
– – – – – –
I parried the sudden and vicious assault by the man, this other hero. At least I knew who he was now, which meant I was going to do my best to not kill him. But fighting with one arm is very difficult but I at least had Amkhu to help out, and Sae as well. With Amkhu back in place as my armor, he would lash out on the left hand side now and then, since that was where I was rather literally armless. I knew shock should have rendered me useless, but a combination of adrenaline and probably something to do with being a Champion kept me on my feet. Not for much longer though, I was starting to feel a bit weaker than earlier, slower too. I was rapidly losing strength and stamina, and that meant I needed to end this now.
Blades clashed again and again, Amkhu using a tentacle to act as a replacement arm for me to hold my glaive with and that allowed me to at least be decent with the damn thing. But hero boy here had two perfectly working arms and hands and he was not holding back.
I felt his blade cut into the carapace over one of my legs and I jumped backwards, then reversed course the moment I landed, which came as a surprise to him because he didn’t expect the sudden thrust I made. My blade sank into his gut and got lodged. It wasn’t really what I wanted, but it would do for now. I could heal him and apologize later. For now I had to-
The world went white, I heard maniacal laughter and watched in shocked horror as the royal family was vaporized by eldritch energies, and then something touched my mind. Something sinister. But it didn’t last long, I felt a gentle hand grab hold of me enveloping my entire body in holy light, along with the hero. I felt myself start to rise off the ground, my legs flailing, trying to find something to hold onto.
“Safa!” I heard Sae yell, then he slammed into me, holding onto a pair of my legs. And then we were sent rocketing away, and my consciousness failed me.
Everything was a kaleidoscope of colors and swirling light. I felt Sae start to slip, but could do little about it. He was flung away, sent who knew where, but the hero and I remained bound by my weapon. When the world finally righted itself, my blade came sliding from him and we went crashing to the ground.
I landed in a jumble of limbs and swears, and he just rolled to a halt, leaving a trail of viscera behind. But he was alive, if his groaning was anything to go by. Catching my breath, I forced myself to my feet, and took in a changed world.
– – – – – –
Ihena nodded as her champion, and the hero were sent to safety. Though her elvish companion had been carried along the threads of time as well, but he was now elsewhere. But they would meet again, she knew that much. She looked up, as the walls of her home began to crumble, tendrils slithered into the chamber where she had watched her champions progress, and she prepared for one final stand. She had done all she could, and now she would see what became of the future.
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