Sloan push button flush valve parts

I've posted part of the executive summary from the downgrade document. Pretty harsh, looks like MDT has headwinds in the diabetes space, robotics, and supply chain margins.
I am thinking of cutting and running. It is just over 1% of my portfolio, I am a type 1 diabetic and I do see the community moving from MDT to different companies products in the space. podd pumps, and freestyle libre / dexicom CGMs. Just was a bit curious to hear what others are saying before I hit the sell button.
Will probably put the capital into either long term bonds. The account is tax advantaged, but only for the next 9 years.
​
From UBS.
Medtronic PLC
Low Expectations Not Low Enough; Assume Sell
Near-Term Sales and EPS Downside Risk as Transformation Takes Time
We are assuming coverage of MDT shares with a Sell rating and a $79 price target. Despite MDT's ongoing transformation, we lack conviction that MDT can return to
sustainable mid-single-digit top-line growth and drive consistent operating margin
upside. MDT's current WAMGR (weighted average market growth rate) is 4%-5%, but
MDT has been losing share in some of its highest growth businesses (i.e. Diabetes), impeding sustained growth at or above its WAMGR. Over the next 4 years, we project a
3.8% sales CAGR vs. consensus at 4.8%. Potential resolution of the outstanding
Diabetes Warning Letter could be a positive catalyst for the stock, but we see MDT at
best stemming recent share loss in Diabetes even with new product launches vs. truly going on the offensive and driving share gains. Below Consensus on NT Sales and LT Key Pipeline Product Opportunities
In FY24 and FY25, we are below consensus EPS by low-single-digits and high-single-
digits, respectively, driven mostly by lower sales. While MDT may gain marginal share in
some businesses, i.e. Evolut FX in TAVR (Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement), MDT is
losing share in others, i.e. cryo, peripheral , and diabetes, to name a few, which nets to
at best MDT growing in line with its ~4.5% WAMGR. Longer-term, we are more
cautious on 2 key pipeline products: (1) The Hugo surgical robot, which we see driving
$100M in sales in FY2027 vs. consensus at $330M; and (2) The Symplicity renal
denervation (RDN) catheter, where we model minimal sales through FY27 vs. consensus
at $177M given what we think will be reimbursement and market development hurdles. UBS Evidence Lab Surveys Show TAVR Growth, Minimal Diabetes Share Gains
Beyond key new product launches, our UBS Evidence Lab surveys also point to
potentially lackluster growth for MDT in 2 of its highest-growth markets, TAVR and
Diabetes. The TAVR survey indicates just high-single-digit U.S. growth over the next 2
years, below consensus at low double-digits. In Diabetes, the survey projects just ~1.9
points of share gain in 2023, entirely dependent on a 780G launch this year that remains
very much uncertain given the Warning Letter.

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[Sorry for being a bit late today. I hit a bit of writers block this week and it took a bit to write out this part]
-----Damian-----
He sat in the tunnel as the two tiny aliens dozed on him. He kept an ear out for anything out of the ordinary since he couldn't really watch for it. Not having much else to do, he finds himself hesitantly listening in on the various conversations the voices were having.
When will the birds find us? Why not just kill whatever's out there? More blood! Aww look how cute the minis are! Smother the smols with cuddles! No, don't wake the babi! Something's moving out there. Did anyone else notice how the sky was pastel yellow? Poor toddler needs some medical attention soon.Threat aproaching! All three of you will need a bath after this. Danger, someone's coming! Huh? Threat? Danger? Blood!? Kill! What'd they say?
His attention was grabbed by the voices starting to buzz around and go from a calm humm of conversations to a roar of rage and aggression. In response, his muscles tenced and he payed more attention to listening. Sure enough, he could hear small steps and muttered voices around the base of the main shaft. Glaring at nothing and softly growl-humming to himself, he carefully lifted the two tiny aliens from him and sat them in the pile of cloth he previously occupied.
He took a second to make sure the two were as comfortable as possible and wouldn't wake up. Then he moved back towards the enterance of the tunnel, grabbing his blade as he went. Lowering to a crouch-crawl when he was just within the enterance, he peeked over the edge. It took a second to adjust his vision to the light streaming through the half open doorway and a bit of blinking to get the bright spots to go away.
He then watched as a small handful of unknown shapes moved around the base of the tunnel, though none glanced up or looked to try and figure out how to get up to where he was. Assured they either didn't know where he was or weren't trying to get up there, he let himself lay flat on his stomach and peek a bit farther over the edge. He watched them move around the base of the shaft, half listening to the chattering of the voices as a few slowly calmed back down again.
After doing whatever it was they were doing, the group trickled out the half open door. One stayed back and waited for two to return and set whatever they were carrying down in the middle of the shaft. Then all three left. Damian was curious now. His curiosity warred with his protectiveness within his mind as he glanced between the pile of whatever-it-was and the door. Eventually the voices noticed his indecision and piped in with their two cents.
Eventually his curiosity and the voices won him over. Pushing back up off the ground, he carefully put his blade back in it's rope sheathe on his back. Taking one last glance back at the two sleeping aliens, he started his climb back down. He was around halfway down the shaft when the voices grabbed his attention. Pausing his decent, he glanced down and saw a small form slip through the doorway and wiggle itself into a small indent in the wall. If he hadn't of been watching, he would have never known it was there.
With his curiosity now shifted to protectiveness, his decent was quicker but he was more careful of where and how he lowered himself. He eventually paused just above the sight of whoever was hiding, moving to sit on a small ledge of warped metal. Now how should he do this? Should he climb down opposite them to have warning for any attacks? Or should he climb over to snatch them from their hidey-hole? Not being able to decide, and ending up only working himself up more, he consulted the voices for their opinions.
Most of the voices were ignored because of how unhelpful they were, just babbling out whatever caught their attention. Instead he listened to the quieter, more calm voices. Normally he couldn't hear them well since he mostly tried to ignore the crowd in his head until he couldn't and by then it was too loud to focus. So he took note on how these voices seemed different somehow.
He can't put his finger on it, but there was something off about them other than the fact they were calm most of the time. They interacted differently too. Instead of them talking over each other and only a couple responding to each other through the hoard of voices, they spoke more like they were having an actual conversation.
Climbing down opposite could give us time to figure out if they are peaceful or not. Yeah, but on the otherhand it could give them the opportunity to get a lucky shot in since we'd have to have our back facing them. Climbing down over them could also do that since we wouldn't be able to see them. True, then again it could allow us to restrain them faster. Do we want to restrain them? Well, they are technically threatening the kids by hiding until we come down.
Damian tried to voice his own opinion on that conversation but when he thought like he normally did, the rest of the crowd commented and drowned them out. He huffed in irritation and waited until the crowd calmed back down again before focusing on the calm group from before. Trying something different he kinda..... thought at them? He directed his thought more towards that group than the rest, anyways.
' What about both?'
It seemed to work since the group went quiet for a second but the rest kept chattering on. He didn't seem to need to explain what he ment since the group of voices already seemed to know. Luckily when they spoke back up again they were easier to focus on, probably doing something similar to him to add him into the conversation.
That....could work. I'd probably be best to have our blade at the ready though. Yeah, we can use it like a make-shift shield to block our vitals, just in case.
Listening in on the brainstorm session for a bit, Damian made his way sideways along the walls of the shaft until he was halfway between his previous position and the spot whotever-it-was was hiding in. Climbing down a bit lower he continuously glanced down to gauge how far up he was. Once he deemed he was low enough, he took a breath to try and steady himself. He really isn't looking forward to the way this'll jostle his barely clotted injuries.
Pulling his blade from his back, he adjusted his grip on it so he could block as much of his vital organs as possible with the flat of the blade. Taking one last breath, he braced himself and kicked off the wall to let himself fall the rest of the way down, turning as he did to face the hole. Landing with a heavy 'thdd', his knees bent to help absorb some of the momentum. He internally winced at the pain that landing shot through his wounds.
His sudden landing did startle whatever was hiding since he saw it flinch and shift in its little cubby. He glared it down for a bit as he waited for any indication of an attack. Getting none, he slowly let himself straighten up again. Still not getting a reaction, he slowly, almost hesitantly, half-stepped towards the pile of whatever-that-is. Nothing. He slowly side-steped his way over to the pile, only sparing it a glance to see if it was a more immediate danger or a trap of some kind. At least from this new angle the light reflected off the thing's pupils so he now knew it was actually looking at him.
...
Not that that helped his nerves at all. Taking a chance, he slowly crouched down next to the pile. He then quickly switched hands holding the blade, tencing and waiting for any reaction from the quick movement and momentary opening.
......
Nothing.
.............
Ok, he'd be lying if he said the complete lack of reaction at this point wasn't putting him even more on edge. The absolute riot the voices were raging in didn't help either. Waiting tencely for another few seconds, he tried and get his vision to adjust so as to see what-or-who-ever-it-was better. Much to his dissapointment, he wasn't able to with the light pouring in from the half open doorway at his side. Letting himself move his gaze down to the pile next to him, he made sure to keep the two glowing orbs in his peripherals.
Lifting his freehand to shift the pile, he studied it as best he could in the dim lighting while also paying attention to his 'guest'. It took a bit of shifting and confusion until it clicked in his mind. It was cloth. Just a large pile of cloth. Blankets, various types of clothing, what looked like towels, he even spotted what he thought was one or two tiny pillows. The pile now having his full attention, by both curiosity and confusion, he let his head turn fully to get a better look at it out of his good eye. Shifting the pile around more to feel the textures of the different cloth in the pile, he started to sort through it.
Getting to a small clump that wouldn't separate with a small shake, he shifted his grip to pull the peices apart from each other. He heard the popping of static as he pulled some away and he perked up at the familiar sound. Rubbing both pieces of cloth that had stuck together, he compared them to each other. One was fluffier but the other was thicker and warmer. Both were soft and felt better than most cloth in the pile so far.
Deciding that both were now his, he pulled them from the pile and stuffed them into the knots of rope hanging from his chest in the make-shift pocket. He froze and stiffened mid-stuff at a clacking sound and the sight of something a bit shinier than cloth falling out of the pile. He stayed perfectly still for a second as he stared at the shape infront of him. Instincts deciding it wasn't a threat, he relaxed back down and let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. Finishing stuffing the cloth to his chest, he leaned forward and grabbed the thing.
Turning it over in his hands he tried to puzzle out what it was. He felt his head tilting as he turned it over and over to try and see if the slightly different angle helped. Starting to put slight pressure and small tugs on the sides and various parts, he jumped when he felt a small give. Messing more with that spot, he finally got a small section to pull away from the shape. It couldn't be removed but when it was all the way out a peice next to it could move a bit better.
'Oh! Was this a puzzle box of some kind?' Before he could keep messing with the alien-shaped-puzzle-box, he heard the sound of shifting. Remembering with a start that he wasn't alone, his head snapped up with a glare. Whatever-it-was was moving from it's hiding spot. Glancing down at the blade he hadn't realized he'd dropped, he realized the vulnerable position he put himself in. Before he could grab the blade, the figure rushed towards him.
Moving from both instinct and the orders from the crowd in his mind, he dropped the puzzle-box and lunged directly at the figure instead of for the blade. He rammed into the small and fluffy form and slammed it to the ground, easily pinning it with hands on its arms and a knee on it's middle. It struggled but he only had to put a small bit more pressure onto his knee for it to stop with a small wheeze.
He tried to figure out a rough plan of what to do know but the voices were swarming aggressively again and making his head fuzzy. He couldn't think. All he knew was the venom being spit from the swarm of voices, the adrenaline in his veins, the fast pace of his heart in his chest, the throb of his wounds, the need to protect his kids. His kids. They were his. No one else can have them. They were never being taken from him! He won't be alone again!
He saw the thing under him try to talk to him but it was wheezing from the pressure to it's middle and his ears were starting to ring. His eyes were blurry from his mounting panic (why was he panicing?), not that he'd be able to see much in the dim lighting anyways. His ears were stuffed with cotton. His mind was filled with static. He couldn't think. It was so loud. Why was it so loud? Why won't anything quiet down!? Why can't the world just shut up!? Why won't everything. Shut! UP!
His gaze was drawn by a small tuft of whatever fluff the thing he was pinning down was made of as it fluttered to the ground. It slid just above the floor until it finally came to a gradual stop just within the edge of the light a [foot] away.
It was a tiny green feather. It still had some fuzzy brown-grey baby-fur-feather-fluff stuck to the bottom of it. Something about the sight tickled the back of his mind. He couldn't put his finger on what. Trying to focus on why that feather was important, he felt the fuzziness retreat a tad. Just in time for the figure under him to wheeze out part of a word before running out of breath
"Dam...i.." His eyes widened at the familiar voice as he whipped around and lurched off the figure below him with a suprised squeak of a word.
"Ree!?"

“I know you’re awake…Katherine…Kaaaaatheriiiine…”
“Shut up.” I had been awake for a little while, just staring at the wall.
“I knew it.”
“Can you not sleep?” I rolled over and looked at him as I asked the question.
James was in his rocking chair in the corner of our bedroom right next to the window. The moon outside was illuminating his face.
“I’m ok. Just a lot on my mind.”
“Like what?” I did my best to sit up. I was almost at my due date and I was enormous. During the pregnancy I wasn’t quite as sensitive to his little issues that I normally was.
James suffered from severe bouts of anxiety and he would spend lots of nights just rocking in his chair, trying not to worry about things.
“I think we should get a dog.”
“What?”
“We should get a dog. Every kid should grow up with a dog.” He turned his head to look at me. Most of his face was in shadow, but his eyes were bright. He smiled at me.
“Ok. Is that it? That’s what’s keeping you up?”
“Yes. Oh, and I also love you.”
“I love you too.”
“And I farted.” I had never known James to end anything on any kind of sappy note, so he always had to say or do something childish to ruin the moment.
I loved him so much.
-
“He’s kind of gross.” There were so many dogs at the shelter, but my husband immediately went to the mangiest one. A large mutt with his tongue hanging limply out of the side of his mouth. The mousey brown fur looked like someone had teased it with a brush and sealed the deal with an entire can of hairspray, and he had a slight limp as it walked toward this strange new man making baby talk. I watched the dog cock its head from side to side like it understood what James was saying.
“He’s perfect.” I could tell that James was in love.
“Why him?”
“Well…every other little guy in here is so animated and vibrant. He’s…um…not.”
“He looks like an oversized mouse with bad hair.”
“That’s perfect!”
“What?”
“We can name him Feivel! Does Feivel like that name?! Who’s a bugaboo doggie?! Who’s da doggie?!” The dog started making inquisitive whines and that lazy tongue came to life and began to lick the strange man's fingers through the chain link fence.
Feivel came home with us, and for a month that dog never left my husband’s side.
-
“What happened?”
“Can you put me on speaker so Art can hear me?”
“Ok. You’re scaring me Katherine.” I was trying to hold it together. James’ parents had recently moved to the east coast, so I had no choice but to call them on the phone with the news. “Ok, you’re on speaker.”
“Ok. James… um… James had an accident. It was a hit and run. Someone hit him with a car while he was crossing the street and then just kept driving.”
“Oh my God! Is he alright?”
“He’s um…” I had been with James since our sophomore year in high school, but we had been friends since we were six. I had known his parents for almost just as long.
“He’s…he’s gone.”
“Oh my God…”
I had to make lots of phone calls that day. It was the hardest day of my life.
-
“Mommy needs to talk to you.”
Feivel had been pacing the house for three days. When he wasn’t pacing, he would just sit at the front door waiting for James to come home. He wouldn't sit with me, almost like he blamed me for James not being there.
“Come here. Feivel! Come here.” He finally gave in and walked over to the couch. I patted the cushion next to me and he jumped on the couch and sat down.
He grunted at me several times and when he was done voicing his frustrations, his tongue jutted out of the side of his mouth and just hung there.
I don’t know if it sounds stupid or not, but I had a conversation with him about what had happened to his Daddy and why he wasn’t with us anymore. I felt like it would have been cruel not to.
He stared at me through the whole story and when I was finished, there was a heavy silence between us that was eventually broken by a small cry from him before he put his head in my lap.
-
Three weeks later, I had Casey. The birth was rough and there were multiple issues. For a little bit there, I was afraid that I might lose her too. She had to stay in the hospital longer than I would have liked, but when I was finally able to bring her home, Feivel took to her instantly.
He was always next to her.
-
As the years went by, I made sure Casey knew every detail about her father. I would tell her stories and Feivel would always add something in his own language. I don’t know if he was backing up what I said or perhaps contradicting it, but I do know he was always happy to be included in the reminiscing.
Shortly after she turned four, Casey’s favorite pastime was drawing with her crayons. I had quite a few pictures up on our fridge of our little family in the midst of imagined adventures. She always drew James in with us. The way she always emphasized his balding head would make me smile.
I would BBQ on Friday nights because James had always done the same.
When we first moved in, he had built a huge grilling station out of brick and bought this ridiculously large grill that could almost fit an entire cow inside of it. James had said we would need it for the amount of children and grandchildren that we were going to have. We would sit in front of it every Friday night with a bottle of whiskey while he cooked.
Casey and I would sit at the same table and have juice while we made hot dogs. I thought it was important to keep some of our traditions alive for Casey.
In spite of losing James, we were happy. I started to adjust to a life without a partner, which was not a very easy thing to do since we had been a part of each other’s lives since we were both six years old.
-
Almost five years after I lost James, I met Stephen. I was a busy woman with a young daughter and up to that point, I had not even thought about dating. There was something different about Stephen though. I was interested in him from the first time we met.
Casey and I were playing in the park with Feivel one day and somehow we lost him. He just vanished. I looked for him for hours while my mom watched Casey, but I couldn’t find him. For three days I was beside myself and Casey was constantly in tears. Then, Stephen showed up on my doorstep holding our Feivel at the end of a leash.
A tall man with thick hair and trendy glasses wearing a flannel and jeans.
“Oh my God!”
“Hi. I uh…found him in the park down by the river.” I snatched him up and he started whimpering and shaking his butt back and forth. I completely ignored the man at my door. When Feivel had had enough of my pets, he ran inside to look for Casey.
“Thank you so much. Oh my God, you have no idea how much we missed him.” I was wiping tears from my eyes.
“Oh, I might have a clue.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem.”
As I was wiping my nose on the sleeve of my sweatshirt, I realized that the man standing at my door was gorgeous.
“Can I…let me give you some money or something. You have no idea how happy you just made my daughter.”
“No, that's ok. Just happy to help.”
“Thank you.”
There was something about the way he looked at me with his eyes. My stomach fluttered. I wanted to invite him in, and the fact that I wanted to do that upset me.
I thanked him. I didn’t even ask him for his name. I’ll admit that I even closed the door on him a little more abruptly than I meant to.
All three of us shared my bed that night. It was the best night’s sleep I’d had in years.
-
A couple weeks went by and then I saw him again, the man who had found Feivel. He was sitting in the park with his back against a tree, reading a book. Casey and I had been taking turns throwing a frisbee for Feivel, and I saw him out of the corner of my eye. I decided that I would thank him again and apologize for being so awkward.
As I walked closer, I took in every detail. I was sure he was a few years younger than I was and he looked very athletic. His glasses rested on the tip of his nose as he read from The Winter of Our Discontent; Steinbeck has always been my favorite author.
Feivel must have seen him just as I was about to say something because he reached the man before I did. I could hear Casey calling for me.
“Hold on honey. Give me a second.”
Feivel was all over the man and he was laughing at the writhing whining beast who was trying its best to lick every inch of his face.
“Feivel, don’t be rude.”
“No, it's fine. I’m glad he remembers me.”
“Yeah. Wow, he really remembers you.” Feivel was so excited that he started to whimper and expose his tummy. “Feivel! Have some self respect!”
The man stood up next to me. My stomach was fluttering again and I could not stop looking at his eyes.
“Hey, I have to apologize about…uh the way I kinda shut my door in your face.” He laughed.
“You don’t have to apologize.”
“Mommy?” Casey had run up behind me and was partially hiding herself behind my leg while she stared at the man. “Mommy?”
“This is my daughter Casey.”
“Hello Casey.”
“Hello.”
“My name’s Stephen.” Casey stayed behind my leg.
“It’s ok honey. Tell him your name.”
“I’m Casey and this is my mom. Her name is Katherine.”
“Well…you’re a very pretty girl and it’s very nice to meet you.” I noticed that his eyes started to tear up while he was looking at my Casey. He wiped his eyes and shook his head. He was clearly embarrassed. “I’m sorry. She just… reminds me of my niece. We lost her a few years ago.”
We talked for a while that day. Every time he looked over at Casey, I swore that he was on the verge of tears.
-
It didn’t take very long at all; I was hooked. Feivel was hooked. Eventually, even Casey was hooked.
I tried to take it slow. I didn’t want to date anyone. I wasn’t over James and I knew it, but I just wanted to be around this man and I honestly could not explain what it was at the time. I always wanted him at the house, so he was there all the time. I loved it when he looked at me.
For the most part, he was great, but there were some things that were off. There were things I should have paid more attention to, but again, there was something about him that made me feel like I needed him.
He would kiss me with his eyes open every time, and even though the way he kissed me was great, something about it still gave me the creeps. I would crack my eyes open sometimes in the hopes that he had stopped doing it. Every time I saw those eyes staring back at me, I felt uneasy. I had only ever been with James, so I thought maybe some guys just did that, even though all of my friends thought it was weird too.
He also did things when he would come over that would raise the hairs on the back of my neck. Maybe that description is a little too harsh for what I was thinking at the time, but it fits now.
He would move things around the house. The toilet paper would be folded in that terrible triangle every time. James used to do that. He would also randomly adjust my coffee cups in the cabinet so the handles all faced the same way. Again, something my James used to do.
I had no idea what he did for a living, he told me he was in construction, but I had no idea who he worked for. He had never invited me over to his house, nor did he ever talk about his family.
My friends told me that I needed to relax and just enjoy myself. I admit, for the most part he seemed like the almost perfect guy. It was almost like he knew everything about me.
-
It was three months before he stayed overnight. I had Casey stay over at my mother’s house because it didn’t feel right to have her there.
We tried to be intimate, but I felt dirty. He said it was fine. He stayed anyway.
In the middle of the night I rolled over and cracked my eyes open. He was in the rocking chair in the corner. The moon was illuminating his eyes while he looked out the window. I thought I was dreaming for a minute.
“I know you’re awake…Katherine…Katherine?”
I didn’t say anything. I pretended to sleep. He turned his face to me and smiled. His eyes were so wide and bright.
“Katherine?”
I never went back to sleep that night. I just laid there for a while going back and forth from feeling like I was betraying my husband to feeling like I was an idiot who should just enjoy having a relationship with someone.
Around four in the morning, I had finally begun to drift off to sleep, but Stephen started making noises.
I rolled over and realized that his eyes were wide open. I was going to say something, but he was asleep. I waved my hand in front of his face to make sure.
He began to grunt and his body would shake every now and then. He was having a bad dream and his open eyes began darting back and forth.
“Get out of my head…” He whispered it twice. “Fuck you…out of my head…Mine now…”
It was too much to take. I quietly slid off of the bed and backed my way out of the room. Just as I made it to my door, his eyes moved and focused on me. He was still asleep, but it was like his eyes were watching me just the same.
I walked downstairs. He continued to talk in his sleep for over an hour. I was pretty sure right then that I had to break it off, or at least really slow down. I just didn’t feel right. And to be honest, I was a little creeped out.
-
I was drinking my coffee in the kitchen and thinking about what I was going to say when something caught my eye. Casey’s pictures of our family on the fridge looked different.I got up and took a closer look. James had been changed in every picture. He didn’t have short hair anymore, it was full and he was also wearing glasses. My heart skipped a beat and I felt a terrible lump in my throat. I wondered what this man had said to my daughter to convince her to remove her father from the pictures. I was done.
A few minutes later, he came downstairs in a rush. He was wearing a black Flogging Molly t-shirt. James’ favorite shirt.
“What are you doing?”
“Good morning! I forgot to turn on the alarm! I’m going to be late for work!”
“Stephen, why are you wearing that shirt?”
“I found it in your closet.”
“But why are you wearing it?”
“Well in case you forgot, I ripped the one I was wearing last night.”
“That’s my husband’s shirt.”
“Oh come on, he’s not going to be wearing it anytime soon. I gotta go, I’ll see you after work.” He leaned in for a kiss, but I backed away. “What’s the matter?”
“I don’t think this is going to work out.”
“What?”
“I think we need to take a break.”
“Over a t-shirt?”
“There’s…there’s a lot of things Stephen.”
“Are you being fucking serious with me right now?” His voice raised, something I had not yet experienced with him. Something in my head told me to back away from him, so I did. I backed right up against the counter within reach of my knives. It made me feel better.
“I think so.”
“But I don’t want to do that. Tell me what I did and I’ll fix it. I’ll take off the shirt. Katherine…please.” I looked right into his eyes. I thought maybe I was overreacting, but the pictures, messing with my daughter to erase her father, that was the breaking point.
“Please leave.”
The kindness in his face fell away to an ugliness that made me start to tremble. He noticed it. A smile slowly started to rise and it looked like he was going to take a step closer. I rested my hand on the counter behind me, inches from the knife block. He halted and stood still.
“Feivel!” My dog ran into the kitchen at the sound of my voice and looked back and forth between us. I could tell that he sensed the tension. Feivel walked over to my side and just looked back at Stephen without making a sound.
“Are you going to sick the dog on me? Are you crazy or something?”
“Stephen, I just want you to leave.”
“I thought I did everything right.” He let out a sigh. “I had all the answers. I know everything about you and I still can’t make it work. This cannot be my fault…it’s not…it’s your fault! Why are you doing this?!”
“Leave. Now.”
“Ok…I just…” He started laughing and looked down. He tapped my husband's shirt. “Well…shit… I tried to fuck Katherine, and all I got was this lousy tshirt…is that how this going to end?” He just stared at me. I wouldn’t answer him. “I don’t think so. You’re going to change your mind.” He turned and walked out of the door, slamming it behind him.
After he left, I locked all of the doors and called my mother. I told her what happened and not to take Casey to daycare. I told her that I would be able to pick her up in just a little bit. I called all my friends and let them know what happened. I basically wanted to hear other people tell me that Stephen was nuts and in the event that something happened to me, I wanted people to know where to look first.
I ripped all of Casey’s drawings off of the fridge and crumpled them up and threw them away.
I walked back upstairs to get dressed and I noticed other things.
I had only kept a few clothes that belonged to my husband and some of them were missing. I had a small jewelry box on the bathroom counter, and most of the rings and necklaces that James had given me were also missing. I walked through the house and began to notice random little things were missing here and there and the only thing they all had in common were that they were gifts given to me by James.
-
Before I picked up Casey at my mother’s, I called the police to see if anything could be done, even though I was pretty sure that I knew the answer. Other than being a creep and a thief, Stephen actually hadn’t done anything. There was nothing the police could do.
I took Casey to the park to explain to her why Stephen wouldn’t be around anymore. Feivel was sitting next to her in the backseat. I started by asking her about her drawings.
“I didn’t change them.”
“Casey, honey, I saw them this morning. They’re changed. You changed the way daddy looks.”
“But I didn’t mommy. I wouldn’t do that. Maybe Stephen did it.”
“You think Stephen took your crayons and changed your drawings?”
“Maybe. He thought he was going to be my new daddy anyway, so maybe he thought it was a good idea.”
“Wait. Who said he was going to be your new daddy?”
“He did. He said it lots.”
When we got to the park, I made sure Casey stayed right next to me. We started throwing the frisbee down by the river so Feivel could play in the water if he wanted. I asked her some more questions about Stephen and anything else he might have said to her. It didn’t sound like he had said much more.
We were about to leave when Casey started waving at something.
“Look Mommy, it’s Stephen!”
He was standing on the other side of the river, and he was waving back to us. He was wearing a button up shirt and a pair of jeans that both belonged to my husband. He was smiling at me.
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Are you mad at Stephen or something?”
“Yes honey. I don’t think we’re going to be talking to Stephen anymore. I think he needs to go away.” I reached down and scooped up my daughter and began to walk back toward our car.
“We’re going home. Come on Feivel! Feivel?” My dog had been staring at Stephen and he still hadn’t moved. “Feivel, come!”
Stephen whistled and that was enough for Feivel. He jumped into the river and began swimming toward the other side. I called after him over and over, but he eventually made it to the other side and ran over to Stephen. He gave me one last wave before he reached down and clipped a leash onto Feivel’s collar. He turned around and started to walk away.
I ran back to the car and put Casey in her car seat as fast as I could and I drove to the parking lot on the other side of the river, but by the time I got there, he was gone with our dog.
-
I filled out a report with the police and tried to get a restraining order.
“Ok, so here’s the problem. You said his name was Stephen Tasavo?”
“That’s right.”
“Ok look. This is not going to make you feel any better, but this man doesn’t exist.”
“What?!”
“He gave you a false name, Miss. Couldn’t find anybody by that name fitting his description. You got him on social media anywhere? Does he have any friends?”
“I…I don’t know. I don’t have any of that crap. Social media I mean. I guess I just…never asked him about any of it. We’ve only been seeing each other for a few months.”
“Well, from the pictures you took on your phone, we know what he looks like. We’re going to keep an eye out for him, whoever he is. I suggest you keep your doors locked and inform the people at your daughter’s school. If there’s anywhere else you can go, I don’t think that would be a bad idea.”
I went home that night anyway. Casey was a mess after Stephen took Feivel and I thought that it would be a mistake if I didn’t give her some sense of normalcy. I had four friends stay with me that night.
-
A month later I got a call from a number that I didn’t recognize.
“Hello?”
“Don’t hang up the phone Katherine. Feivel really wants to hear your voice.”
“You sick fuck! Give me back my dog!” He was quiet for a moment.
“I've got you on speaker and you’re saying nasty things like that. He can hear everything you’re saying. Can’t you?! Can’t you?! Who’s a bugaboo doggie?! Who’s da doggie?!”
“Stephen…I’ll do whatever you want…please just give him back to me.”
“Come on Katherine. I know you know that’s not my name.”
“What is your name?”
“You know, I thought I had to become someone else to be with you. But I don’t think so. I’m going to like you getting to know the real me.”
“Please just give me my dog.”
“I’m going to make you see that it was destiny that your husband died. I’m going to make you see that his death was what it took to bring us together.”
“You son of a bitch!”
“Anyway, I’ll see you soon.” He hung up the phone.
I called the police, and after that night, I didn’t hear anything from Stephen for two months. Two months of looking over my shoulder. Two months of waiting.
I bought a gun. I kept it in the drawer of my bedside table. I wasn’t taking any chances.
-
I woke up with a start in the middle of the night and I heard the sound of muffled whining. I sat up in bed and looked around my bedroom before I grabbed the gun and got up. I walked to my window and noticed that it was slightly open. I looked down into the backyard.
Smoke was pouring out from underneath the closed lid on the grill. It looked like something was tied around the handles in order to keep it shut. I ran downstairs to the patio door. I opened it and held the gun in front of me. The smell of something burning was making me sick to my stomach. Something was crying out inside of the grill, frantically trying to get out. My heart sank as I realized that it was Feivel’s collar tied around the handle.
I screamed and grabbed the hose and turned it on. I lunged for the lid of the grill and I burned my hands as I tore away the collar from the handles.
I threw the top to the grill open and sprayed the hose inside. Feivel leapt out of the grill and down onto the brick patio. I soaked him with the hose. A belt had been tied around his muzzle. I ripped it off of his face and kept the water on him.
I turned to look back at the house. I didn’t want to leave him, but I realized that I had left my phone upstairs. I opened my mouth to scream for help, but then I had a hard time making any sound when I saw what was on the patio table. There was a bottle of whiskey on it with two glasses that had already been poured. There was a note on the table.
“It’s Friday Night! Time to BBQ!”
There was also something else on the table. A small fake rock. James and I had always kept it hidden amongst the other rocks in the backyard.It had a small compartment on the underside where we kept a spare key to our house. Stephen was in our house.
I looked back down to Feivel. I was left with the awful decision of having to leave my dog. He was gasping for air, but he was still alive. I had to get to Casey to make sure she was safe.
“Feivel, I’m sorry!” I left the hose laying across him and I ran back inside.
As I ran up the stairs, I saw that Casey’s door was closed and as I reached out for the knob, I heard a familiar noise coming from my room. The sound of a rocking chair. I cracked open Casey’s door and I could see that she was still asleep in her bed.
“Kaaaatheriiiiine…”
I closed the door and held the gun in front of me as I walked into my room.
The man I knew as Stephen was rocking in my husband's chair, wearing my husband’s clothes, and holding a house key that only myself and my husband knew about.
“I’ve missed you so much.” I raised the gun without saying a word. My hand was shaking. He was smiling and rocking back and forth. “You’re not going to shoot me.”
“Goodbye Stephen.” I pulled the trigger and nothing happened but a dry snap. I pulled the trigger again, but nothing happened.
“If you held that thing more often, you could probably tell that it’s just a little heavier when it has bullets in it.”
I lunged for my bedside table and pulled the drawer open. The small box of bullets was gone.
“I unloaded it while you were asleep.” He stood up. I ran for Casey’s door, but he caught me before I could open it. I felt his hand go over my mouth and he picked me up by my shoulders. I struggled as he carried me closer to the top of the stairs.
“I’ve watched you sleep for so many nights now, just wondering how I could get you back. But I think there might not be any saving of what we had.” He hit me across the face and threw me down the stairs.
I heard my ankles snap when I hit the floor, and I screamed. His footsteps were quiet as he started walking down the stairs.
“We could have had a life together. I really wanted that. I even put something on the grill, but then you went and ruined that too.”
“Mommy?!” Casey had run out of her bedroom and was at the top of the stairs looking down on us. Stephen was just a few steps away from me. I started to crawl along the floor toward the kitchen.
“Go back to your room Casey. You’re mother and I are fighting.”
“Casey! Get Mommy’s phone and call for help!” I screamed, as I pulled myself along the floor and into the kitchen. All I could think of was getting to the block of knives.
“Where do you think you're going off to? Wait, I know…”
Stephen ran around me and to the kitchen counter. He picked up the block of knives and spilled them on the floor. “Come and get ‘em Katherine.”
He walked back over and stood over me while I crawled toward the knives. He was laughing.
“To think, if someone hadn’t killed your husband, none of this would have happened.”
I tried to shut his voice out of my head as I crawled forward. I was getting closer.
“You know the person who hit him did actually stop for a moment…just a moment…he opened his car door and almost ran over to help, but then something stopped him. Did you know that?”
He’s lying Kathering. Keep moving.
“I was there. If I close my eyes, I can still see the whole thing. If that guy had helped instead of just driving away, maybe James would have survived and what I’ve had with you and Casey… all that would never have been.”
I was right in front of the pile of knives. I reached out and then he stomped on my hand. I felt bones break. He leaned down, grabbed me, and turned me over to look at him. He was crying.
“I still think it was destiny that brought us together, but I was wrong about you. You don’t have any place in our family. Me and Casey. I’m going to take her far away from here. She’s mine now.” Tears were pouring out of his eyes and he was trying to blink them away, but the tears wouldn’t stop.
“Son of a bitch! Stop it! Stop it!” He rubbed at his eyes with one hand. “She’s mine now!”
I brought my knee up as hard as I could between his legs and he dropped me to the floor. He fell to his knees right next to me. I could hear sirens outside.
I reached out and grabbed the largest knife. I raised it over my head, but before I could swing it down, he grabbed my wrist and started to squeeze. I felt my grip start to loosen and I was afraid that I was going to drop the knife. He started to laugh as the sirens were getting closer.
“Looks like it’s time we get things over with.”
I felt his body slam against mine, and at first I had no idea what had happened, but then Stephen began to scream and I could hear Feivel growling behind him.
Feivel had managed to fit his jaws around the back of Stephen’s neck and buried his teeth to the gums. He was pulling Stephen away from me; blood poured down either side of his throat.
I tightened my grip on the knife and I pushed it into Stephen’s stomach over and over and over again. Feivel eventually let go of Stephen, and as I continued to plunge the knife into the mushy mess I had made, my dog limped over and started to whimper.
As Stephen lay there gasping for breath, I stared at his eyes. They were staring back at me and he was no longer weeping. I felt crazy, but his eyes looked kind. They looked happy.
-
“How are you feeling now?” I remember the detective had this perfect voice. A Paul Winfield voice. Had the things he was about to tell me weren’t so terrible, I would probably only remember how beautiful that voice was.
“I can’t walk, but they’ve got me so drugged up that I don’t mind very much. I’m going to be able to go home tomorrow. Or…to my mother’s at least.”
“How’s your daughter doing?”
“She’s good. She’s staying with my mother.”
“I hear that hero dog is going to pull through.”
I smiled. Tears started coming up thinking of Feivel sitting somewhere without me while he was going through all this.
“He’s not going to be a hundred percent, but he’s going to have a good life. He deserves it.”
“Ok. Now for the unpleasant stuff. We finally got some answers on who this guy is. Was, excuse me. His name is Joshua Linder. He’s been keeping a small apartment only a mile away from your house for the last three years. It looks like he’s been watching you the whole time. All kinds of things all over his apartment.”
“Did he kill James?”
“No. He couldn't have. Up until three years ago he lived across the country from you. Even then, there was no way he was driving the car that killed your husband. He was legally blind.”
“What?”
“Not completely blind, but may as well have been. That is his connection to you, and to your late husband I’m afraid.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You said he knew things he shouldn’t have right?”
“Yes.”
“Where the spare key was, um… certain things you shared with your late husband, correct?”
“That’s right.”
“Katherine, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to say it. You are aware that your husband was an organ donor, were you not?”
“Yeah.”
“It seems that uh… Mr. Linder was the recipient of your husband’s corneas after your husband passed. Now how he found out about you, we have no idea. There’s some kind of phenomenon that’s called cellular memory that frankly I think is…”
He kept talking, but the only thing on my mind were Stephen’s eyes.
-
My little family of three moved far away from home. We now have a house next to my husband’s parents where Casey can get to know her father’s parents and Feivel can go on walks with me while I pull him in his wagon when he gets too tired. I try not to think too much of what happened, but I still have trouble sleeping.

I have a vent hood that is flush mounted and uses IR. I set up an IR transmitter and trained it to turn the hood on and off with a routine. But sometimes I just want to push a button on the wall like a light switch. Is there a good option for that?

“I know you’re awake…Katherine…Kaaaaatheriiiine…”
“Shut up.” I had been awake for a little while, just staring at the wall.
“I knew it.”
“Can you not sleep?” I rolled over and looked at him as I asked the question.
James was in his rocking chair in the corner of our bedroom right next to the window. The moon outside was illuminating his face.
“I’m ok. Just a lot on my mind.”
“Like what?” I did my best to sit up. I was almost at my due date and I was enormous. During the pregnancy I wasn’t quite as sensitive to his little issues that I normally was.
James suffered from severe bouts of anxiety and he would spend lots of nights just rocking in his chair, trying not to worry about things.
“I think we should get a dog.”
“What?”
“We should get a dog. Every kid should grow up with a dog.” He turned his head to look at me. Most of his face was in shadow, but his eyes were bright. He smiled at me.
“Ok. Is that it? That’s what’s keeping you up?”
“Yes. Oh, and I also love you.”
“I love you too.”
“And I farted.” I had never known James to end anything on any kind of sappy note, so he always had to say or do something childish to ruin the moment.
I loved him so much.
-
“He’s kind of gross.” There were so many dogs at the shelter, but my husband immediately went to the mangiest one. A large mutt with his tongue hanging limply out of the side of his mouth. The mousey brown fur looked like someone had teased it with a brush and sealed the deal with an entire can of hairspray, and he had a slight limp as it walked toward this strange new man making baby talk. I watched the dog cock its head from side to side like it understood what James was saying.
“He’s perfect.” I could tell that James was in love.
“Why him?”
“Well…every other little guy in here is so animated and vibrant. He’s…um…not.”
“He looks like an oversized mouse with bad hair.”
“That’s perfect!”
“What?”
“We can name him Feivel! Does Feivel like that name?! Who’s a bugaboo doggie?! Who’s da doggie?!” The dog started making inquisitive whines and that lazy tongue came to life and began to lick the strange man's fingers through the chain link fence.
Feivel came home with us, and for a month that dog never left my husband’s side.
-
“What happened?”
“Can you put me on speaker so Art can hear me?”
“Ok. You’re scaring me Katherine.” I was trying to hold it together. James’ parents had recently moved to the east coast, so I had no choice but to call them on the phone with the news. “Ok, you’re on speaker.”
“Ok. James… um… James had an accident. It was a hit and run. Someone hit him with a car while he was crossing the street and then just kept driving.”
“Oh my God! Is he alright?”
“He’s um…” I had been with James since our sophomore year in high school, but we had been friends since we were six. I had known his parents for almost just as long.
“He’s…he’s gone.”
“Oh my God…”
I had to make lots of phone calls that day. It was the hardest day of my life.
-
“Mommy needs to talk to you.”
Feivel had been pacing the house for three days. When he wasn’t pacing, he would just sit at the front door waiting for James to come home. He wouldn't sit with me, almost like he blamed me for James not being there.
“Come here. Feivel! Come here.” He finally gave in and walked over to the couch. I patted the cushion next to me and he jumped on the couch and sat down.
He grunted at me several times and when he was done voicing his frustrations, his tongue jutted out of the side of his mouth and just hung there.
I don’t know if it sounds stupid or not, but I had a conversation with him about what had happened to his Daddy and why he wasn’t with us anymore. I felt like it would have been cruel not to.
He stared at me through the whole story and when I was finished, there was a heavy silence between us that was eventually broken by a small cry from him before he put his head in my lap.
-
Three weeks later, I had Casey. The birth was rough and there were multiple issues. For a little bit there, I was afraid that I might lose her too. She had to stay in the hospital longer than I would have liked, but when I was finally able to bring her home, Feivel took to her instantly.
He was always next to her.
-
As the years went by, I made sure Casey knew every detail about her father. I would tell her stories and Feivel would always add something in his own language. I don’t know if he was backing up what I said or perhaps contradicting it, but I do know he was always happy to be included in the reminiscing.
Shortly after she turned four, Casey’s favorite pastime was drawing with her crayons. I had quite a few pictures up on our fridge of our little family in the midst of imagined adventures. She always drew James in with us. The way she always emphasized his balding head would make me smile.
I would BBQ on Friday nights because James had always done the same.
When we first moved in, he had built a huge grilling station out of brick and bought this ridiculously large grill that could almost fit an entire cow inside of it. James had said we would need it for the amount of children and grandchildren that we were going to have. We would sit in front of it every Friday night with a bottle of whiskey while he cooked.
Casey and I would sit at the same table and have juice while we made hot dogs. I thought it was important to keep some of our traditions alive for Casey.
In spite of losing James, we were happy. I started to adjust to a life without a partner, which was not a very easy thing to do since we had been a part of each other’s lives since we were both six years old.
-
Almost five years after I lost James, I met Stephen. I was a busy woman with a young daughter and up to that point, I had not even thought about dating. There was something different about Stephen though. I was interested in him from the first time we met.
Casey and I were playing in the park with Feivel one day and somehow we lost him. He just vanished. I looked for him for hours while my mom watched Casey, but I couldn’t find him. For three days I was beside myself and Casey was constantly in tears. Then, Stephen showed up on my doorstep holding our Feivel at the end of a leash.
A tall man with thick hair and trendy glasses wearing a flannel and jeans.
“Oh my God!”
“Hi. I uh…found him in the park down by the river.” I snatched him up and he started whimpering and shaking his butt back and forth. I completely ignored the man at my door. When Feivel had had enough of my pets, he ran inside to look for Casey.
“Thank you so much. Oh my God, you have no idea how much we missed him.” I was wiping tears from my eyes.
“Oh, I might have a clue.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem.”
As I was wiping my nose on the sleeve of my sweatshirt, I realized that the man standing at my door was gorgeous.
“Can I…let me give you some money or something. You have no idea how happy you just made my daughter.”
“No, that's ok. Just happy to help.”
“Thank you.”
There was something about the way he looked at me with his eyes. My stomach fluttered. I wanted to invite him in, and the fact that I wanted to do that upset me.
I thanked him. I didn’t even ask him for his name. I’ll admit that I even closed the door on him a little more abruptly than I meant to.
All three of us shared my bed that night. It was the best night’s sleep I’d had in years.
-
A couple weeks went by and then I saw him again, the man who had found Feivel. He was sitting in the park with his back against a tree, reading a book. Casey and I had been taking turns throwing a frisbee for Feivel, and I saw him out of the corner of my eye. I decided that I would thank him again and apologize for being so awkward.
As I walked closer, I took in every detail. I was sure he was a few years younger than I was and he looked very athletic. His glasses rested on the tip of his nose as he read from The Winter of Our Discontent; Steinbeck has always been my favorite author.
Feivel must have seen him just as I was about to say something because he reached the man before I did. I could hear Casey calling for me.
“Hold on honey. Give me a second.”
Feivel was all over the man and he was laughing at the writhing whining beast who was trying its best to lick every inch of his face.
“Feivel, don’t be rude.”
“No, it's fine. I’m glad he remembers me.”
“Yeah. Wow, he really remembers you.” Feivel was so excited that he started to whimper and expose his tummy. “Feivel! Have some self respect!”
The man stood up next to me. My stomach was fluttering again and I could not stop looking at his eyes.
“Hey, I have to apologize about…uh the way I kinda shut my door in your face.” He laughed.
“You don’t have to apologize.”
“Mommy?” Casey had run up behind me and was partially hiding herself behind my leg while she stared at the man. “Mommy?”
“This is my daughter Casey.”
“Hello Casey.”
“Hello.”
“My name’s Stephen.” Casey stayed behind my leg.
“It’s ok honey. Tell him your name.”
“I’m Casey and this is my mom. Her name is Katherine.”
“Well…you’re a very pretty girl and it’s very nice to meet you.” I noticed that his eyes started to tear up while he was looking at my Casey. He wiped his eyes and shook his head. He was clearly embarrassed. “I’m sorry. She just… reminds me of my niece. We lost her a few years ago.”
We talked for a while that day. Every time he looked over at Casey, I swore that he was on the verge of tears.
-
It didn’t take very long at all; I was hooked. Feivel was hooked. Eventually, even Casey was hooked.
I tried to take it slow. I didn’t want to date anyone. I wasn’t over James and I knew it, but I just wanted to be around this man and I honestly could not explain what it was at the time. I always wanted him at the house, so he was there all the time. I loved it when he looked at me.
For the most part, he was great, but there were some things that were off. There were things I should have paid more attention to, but again, there was something about him that made me feel like I needed him.
He would kiss me with his eyes open every time, and even though the way he kissed me was great, something about it still gave me the creeps. I would crack my eyes open sometimes in the hopes that he had stopped doing it. Every time I saw those eyes staring back at me, I felt uneasy. I had only ever been with James, so I thought maybe some guys just did that, even though all of my friends thought it was weird too.
He also did things when he would come over that would raise the hairs on the back of my neck. Maybe that description is a little too harsh for what I was thinking at the time, but it fits now.
He would move things around the house. The toilet paper would be folded in that terrible triangle every time. James used to do that. He would also randomly adjust my coffee cups in the cabinet so the handles all faced the same way. Again, something my James used to do.
I had no idea what he did for a living, he told me he was in construction, but I had no idea who he worked for. He had never invited me over to his house, nor did he ever talk about his family.
My friends told me that I needed to relax and just enjoy myself. I admit, for the most part he seemed like the almost perfect guy. It was almost like he knew everything about me.
-
It was three months before he stayed overnight. I had Casey stay over at my mother’s house because it didn’t feel right to have her there.
We tried to be intimate, but I felt dirty. He said it was fine. He stayed anyway.
In the middle of the night I rolled over and cracked my eyes open. He was in the rocking chair in the corner. The moon was illuminating his eyes while he looked out the window. I thought I was dreaming for a minute.
“I know you’re awake…Katherine…Katherine?”
I didn’t say anything. I pretended to sleep. He turned his face to me and smiled. His eyes were so wide and bright.
“Katherine?”
I never went back to sleep that night. I just laid there for a while going back and forth from feeling like I was betraying my husband to feeling like I was an idiot who should just enjoy having a relationship with someone.
Around four in the morning, I had finally begun to drift off to sleep, but Stephen started making noises.
I rolled over and realized that his eyes were wide open. I was going to say something, but he was asleep. I waved my hand in front of his face to make sure.
He began to grunt and his body would shake every now and then. He was having a bad dream and his open eyes began darting back and forth.
“Get out of my head…” He whispered it twice. “Fuck you…out of my head…Mine now…”
It was too much to take. I quietly slid off of the bed and backed my way out of the room. Just as I made it to my door, his eyes moved and focused on me. He was still asleep, but it was like his eyes were watching me just the same.
I walked downstairs. He continued to talk in his sleep for over an hour. I was pretty sure right then that I had to break it off, or at least really slow down. I just didn’t feel right. And to be honest, I was a little creeped out.
-
I was drinking my coffee in the kitchen and thinking about what I was going to say when something caught my eye. Casey’s pictures of our family on the fridge looked different.I got up and took a closer look. James had been changed in every picture. He didn’t have short hair anymore, it was full and he was also wearing glasses. My heart skipped a beat and I felt a terrible lump in my throat. I wondered what this man had said to my daughter to convince her to remove her father from the pictures. I was done.
A few minutes later, he came downstairs in a rush. He was wearing a black Flogging Molly t-shirt. James’ favorite shirt.
“What are you doing?”
“Good morning! I forgot to turn on the alarm! I’m going to be late for work!”
“Stephen, why are you wearing that shirt?”
“I found it in your closet.”
“But why are you wearing it?”
“Well in case you forgot, I ripped the one I was wearing last night.”
“That’s my husband’s shirt.”
“Oh come on, he’s not going to be wearing it anytime soon. I gotta go, I’ll see you after work.” He leaned in for a kiss, but I backed away. “What’s the matter?”
“I don’t think this is going to work out.”
“What?”
“I think we need to take a break.”
“Over a t-shirt?”
“There’s…there’s a lot of things Stephen.”
“Are you being fucking serious with me right now?” His voice raised, something I had not yet experienced with him. Something in my head told me to back away from him, so I did. I backed right up against the counter within reach of my knives. It made me feel better.
“I think so.”
“But I don’t want to do that. Tell me what I did and I’ll fix it. I’ll take off the shirt. Katherine…please.” I looked right into his eyes. I thought maybe I was overreacting, but the pictures, messing with my daughter to erase her father, that was the breaking point.
“Please leave.”
The kindness in his face fell away to an ugliness that made me start to tremble. He noticed it. A smile slowly started to rise and it looked like he was going to take a step closer. I rested my hand on the counter behind me, inches from the knife block. He halted and stood still.
“Feivel!” My dog ran into the kitchen at the sound of my voice and looked back and forth between us. I could tell that he sensed the tension. Feivel walked over to my side and just looked back at Stephen without making a sound.
“Are you going to sick the dog on me? Are you crazy or something?”
“Stephen, I just want you to leave.”
“I thought I did everything right.” He let out a sigh. “I had all the answers. I know everything about you and I still can’t make it work. This cannot be my fault…it’s not…it’s your fault! Why are you doing this?!”
“Leave. Now.”
“Ok…I just…” He started laughing and looked down. He tapped my husband's shirt. “Well…shit… I tried to fuck Katherine, and all I got was this lousy tshirt…is that how this going to end?” He just stared at me. I wouldn’t answer him. “I don’t think so. You’re going to change your mind.” He turned and walked out of the door, slamming it behind him.
After he left, I locked all of the doors and called my mother. I told her what happened and not to take Casey to daycare. I told her that I would be able to pick her up in just a little bit. I called all my friends and let them know what happened. I basically wanted to hear other people tell me that Stephen was nuts and in the event that something happened to me, I wanted people to know where to look first.
I ripped all of Casey’s drawings off of the fridge and crumpled them up and threw them away.
I walked back upstairs to get dressed and I noticed other things.
I had only kept a few clothes that belonged to my husband and some of them were missing. I had a small jewelry box on the bathroom counter, and most of the rings and necklaces that James had given me were also missing. I walked through the house and began to notice random little things were missing here and there and the only thing they all had in common were that they were gifts given to me by James.
-
Before I picked up Casey at my mother’s, I called the police to see if anything could be done, even though I was pretty sure that I knew the answer. Other than being a creep and a thief, Stephen actually hadn’t done anything. There was nothing the police could do.
I took Casey to the park to explain to her why Stephen wouldn’t be around anymore. Feivel was sitting next to her in the backseat. I started by asking her about her drawings.
“I didn’t change them.”
“Casey, honey, I saw them this morning. They’re changed. You changed the way daddy looks.”
“But I didn’t mommy. I wouldn’t do that. Maybe Stephen did it.”
“You think Stephen took your crayons and changed your drawings?”
“Maybe. He thought he was going to be my new daddy anyway, so maybe he thought it was a good idea.”
“Wait. Who said he was going to be your new daddy?”
“He did. He said it lots.”
When we got to the park, I made sure Casey stayed right next to me. We started throwing the frisbee down by the river so Feivel could play in the water if he wanted. I asked her some more questions about Stephen and anything else he might have said to her. It didn’t sound like he had said much more.
We were about to leave when Casey started waving at something.
“Look Mommy, it’s Stephen!”
He was standing on the other side of the river, and he was waving back to us. He was wearing a button up shirt and a pair of jeans that both belonged to my husband. He was smiling at me.
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Are you mad at Stephen or something?”
“Yes honey. I don’t think we’re going to be talking to Stephen anymore. I think he needs to go away.” I reached down and scooped up my daughter and began to walk back toward our car.
“We’re going home. Come on Feivel! Feivel?” My dog had been staring at Stephen and he still hadn’t moved. “Feivel, come!”
Stephen whistled and that was enough for Feivel. He jumped into the river and began swimming toward the other side. I called after him over and over, but he eventually made it to the other side and ran over to Stephen. He gave me one last wave before he reached down and clipped a leash onto Feivel’s collar. He turned around and started to walk away.
I ran back to the car and put Casey in her car seat as fast as I could and I drove to the parking lot on the other side of the river, but by the time I got there, he was gone with our dog.
-
I filled out a report with the police and tried to get a restraining order.
“Ok, so here’s the problem. You said his name was Stephen Tasavo?”
“That’s right.”
“Ok look. This is not going to make you feel any better, but this man doesn’t exist.”
“What?!”
“He gave you a false name, Miss. Couldn’t find anybody by that name fitting his description. You got him on social media anywhere? Does he have any friends?”
“I…I don’t know. I don’t have any of that crap. Social media I mean. I guess I just…never asked him about any of it. We’ve only been seeing each other for a few months.”
“Well, from the pictures you took on your phone, we know what he looks like. We’re going to keep an eye out for him, whoever he is. I suggest you keep your doors locked and inform the people at your daughter’s school. If there’s anywhere else you can go, I don’t think that would be a bad idea.”
I went home that night anyway. Casey was a mess after Stephen took Feivel and I thought that it would be a mistake if I didn’t give her some sense of normalcy. I had four friends stay with me that night.
-
A month later I got a call from a number that I didn’t recognize.
“Hello?”
“Don’t hang up the phone Katherine. Feivel really wants to hear your voice.”
“You sick fuck! Give me back my dog!” He was quiet for a moment.
“I've got you on speaker and you’re saying nasty things like that. He can hear everything you’re saying. Can’t you?! Can’t you?! Who’s a bugaboo doggie?! Who’s da doggie?!”
“Stephen…I’ll do whatever you want…please just give him back to me.”
“Come on Katherine. I know you know that’s not my name.”
“What is your name?”
“You know, I thought I had to become someone else to be with you. But I don’t think so. I’m going to like you getting to know the real me.”
“Please just give me my dog.”
“I’m going to make you see that it was destiny that your husband died. I’m going to make you see that his death was what it took to bring us together.”
“You son of a bitch!”
“Anyway, I’ll see you soon.” He hung up the phone.
I called the police, and after that night, I didn’t hear anything from Stephen for two months. Two months of looking over my shoulder. Two months of waiting.
I bought a gun. I kept it in the drawer of my bedside table. I wasn’t taking any chances.
-
I woke up with a start in the middle of the night and I heard the sound of muffled whining. I sat up in bed and looked around my bedroom before I grabbed the gun and got up. I walked to my window and noticed that it was slightly open. I looked down into the backyard.
Smoke was pouring out from underneath the closed lid on the grill. It looked like something was tied around the handles in order to keep it shut. I ran downstairs to the patio door. I opened it and held the gun in front of me. The smell of something burning was making me sick to my stomach. Something was crying out inside of the grill, frantically trying to get out. My heart sank as I realized that it was Feivel’s collar tied around the handle.
I screamed and grabbed the hose and turned it on. I lunged for the lid of the grill and I burned my hands as I tore away the collar from the handles.
I threw the top to the grill open and sprayed the hose inside. Feivel leapt out of the grill and down onto the brick patio. I soaked him with the hose. A belt had been tied around his muzzle. I ripped it off of his face and kept the water on him.
I turned to look back at the house. I didn’t want to leave him, but I realized that I had left my phone upstairs. I opened my mouth to scream for help, but then I had a hard time making any sound when I saw what was on the patio table. There was a bottle of whiskey on it with two glasses that had already been poured. There was a note on the table.
“It’s Friday Night! Time to BBQ!”
There was also something else on the table. A small fake rock. James and I had always kept it hidden amongst the other rocks in the backyard.It had a small compartment on the underside where we kept a spare key to our house. Stephen was in our house.
I looked back down to Feivel. I was left with the awful decision of having to leave my dog. He was gasping for air, but he was still alive. I had to get to Casey to make sure she was safe.
“Feivel, I’m sorry!” I left the hose laying across him and I ran back inside.
As I ran up the stairs, I saw that Casey’s door was closed and as I reached out for the knob, I heard a familiar noise coming from my room. The sound of a rocking chair. I cracked open Casey’s door and I could see that she was still asleep in her bed.
“Kaaaatheriiiiine…”
I closed the door and held the gun in front of me as I walked into my room.
The man I knew as Stephen was rocking in my husband's chair, wearing my husband’s clothes, and holding a house key that only myself and my husband knew about.
“I’ve missed you so much.” I raised the gun without saying a word. My hand was shaking. He was smiling and rocking back and forth. “You’re not going to shoot me.”
“Goodbye Stephen.” I pulled the trigger and nothing happened but a dry snap. I pulled the trigger again, but nothing happened.
“If you held that thing more often, you could probably tell that it’s just a little heavier when it has bullets in it.”
I lunged for my bedside table and pulled the drawer open. The small box of bullets was gone.
“I unloaded it while you were asleep.” He stood up. I ran for Casey’s door, but he caught me before I could open it. I felt his hand go over my mouth and he picked me up by my shoulders. I struggled as he carried me closer to the top of the stairs.
“I’ve watched you sleep for so many nights now, just wondering how I could get you back. But I think there might not be any saving of what we had.” He hit me across the face and threw me down the stairs.
I heard my ankles snap when I hit the floor, and I screamed. His footsteps were quiet as he started walking down the stairs.
“We could have had a life together. I really wanted that. I even put something on the grill, but then you went and ruined that too.”
“Mommy?!” Casey had run out of her bedroom and was at the top of the stairs looking down on us. Stephen was just a few steps away from me. I started to crawl along the floor toward the kitchen.
“Go back to your room Casey. You’re mother and I are fighting.”
“Casey! Get Mommy’s phone and call for help!” I screamed, as I pulled myself along the floor and into the kitchen. All I could think of was getting to the block of knives.
“Where do you think you're going off to? Wait, I know…”
Stephen ran around me and to the kitchen counter. He picked up the block of knives and spilled them on the floor. “Come and get ‘em Katherine.”
He walked back over and stood over me while I crawled toward the knives. He was laughing.
“To think, if someone hadn’t killed your husband, none of this would have happened.”
I tried to shut his voice out of my head as I crawled forward. I was getting closer.
“You know the person who hit him did actually stop for a moment…just a moment…he opened his car door and almost ran over to help, but then something stopped him. Did you know that?”
He’s lying Kathering. Keep moving.
“I was there. If I close my eyes, I can still see the whole thing. If that guy had helped instead of just driving away, maybe James would have survived and what I’ve had with you and Casey… all that would never have been.”
I was right in front of the pile of knives. I reached out and then he stomped on my hand. I felt bones break. He leaned down, grabbed me, and turned me over to look at him. He was crying.
“I still think it was destiny that brought us together, but I was wrong about you. You don’t have any place in our family. Me and Casey. I’m going to take her far away from here. She’s mine now.” Tears were pouring out of his eyes and he was trying to blink them away, but the tears wouldn’t stop.
“Son of a bitch! Stop it! Stop it!” He rubbed at his eyes with one hand. “She’s mine now!”
I brought my knee up as hard as I could between his legs and he dropped me to the floor. He fell to his knees right next to me. I could hear sirens outside.
I reached out and grabbed the largest knife. I raised it over my head, but before I could swing it down, he grabbed my wrist and started to squeeze. I felt my grip start to loosen and I was afraid that I was going to drop the knife. He started to laugh as the sirens were getting closer.
“Looks like it’s time we get things over with.”
I felt his body slam against mine, and at first I had no idea what had happened, but then Stephen began to scream and I could hear Feivel growling behind him.
Feivel had managed to fit his jaws around the back of Stephen’s neck and buried his teeth to the gums. He was pulling Stephen away from me; blood poured down either side of his throat.
I tightened my grip on the knife and I pushed it into Stephen’s stomach over and over and over again. Feivel eventually let go of Stephen, and as I continued to plunge the knife into the mushy mess I had made, my dog limped over and started to whimper.
As Stephen lay there gasping for breath, I stared at his eyes. They were staring back at me and he was no longer weeping. I felt crazy, but his eyes looked kind. They looked happy.
-
“How are you feeling now?” I remember the detective had this perfect voice. A Paul Winfield voice. Had the things he was about to tell me weren’t so terrible, I would probably only remember how beautiful that voice was.
“I can’t walk, but they’ve got me so drugged up that I don’t mind very much. I’m going to be able to go home tomorrow. Or…to my mother’s at least.”
“How’s your daughter doing?”
“She’s good. She’s staying with my mother.”
“I hear that hero dog is going to pull through.”
I smiled. Tears started coming up thinking of Feivel sitting somewhere without me while he was going through all this.
“He’s not going to be a hundred percent, but he’s going to have a good life. He deserves it.”
“Ok. Now for the unpleasant stuff. We finally got some answers on who this guy is. Was, excuse me. His name is Joshua Linder. He’s been keeping a small apartment only a mile away from your house for the last three years. It looks like he’s been watching you the whole time. All kinds of things all over his apartment.”
“Did he kill James?”
“No. He couldn't have. Up until three years ago he lived across the country from you. Even then, there was no way he was driving the car that killed your husband. He was legally blind.”
“What?”
“Not completely blind, but may as well have been. That is his connection to you, and to your late husband I’m afraid.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You said he knew things he shouldn’t have right?”
“Yes.”
“Where the spare key was, um… certain things you shared with your late husband, correct?”
“That’s right.”
“Katherine, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to say it. You are aware that your husband was an organ donor, were you not?”
“Yeah.”
“It seems that uh… Mr. Linder was the recipient of your husband’s corneas after your husband passed. Now how he found out about you, we have no idea. There’s some kind of phenomenon that’s called cellular memory that frankly I think is…”
He kept talking, but the only thing on my mind were Stephen’s eyes.
-
My little family of three moved far away from home. We now have a house next to my husband’s parents where Casey can get to know her father’s parents and Feivel can go on walks with me while I pull him in his wagon when he gets too tired. I try not to think too much of what happened, but I still have trouble sleeping.

Cling! Clang! Cling! Clang! The warning bells tolled ceaselessly throughout the human city, screaming out the portent of doom in their tintinnabulation.
And yet, no one hue-and-cry could be heard. Not one speech was given. No announcements or calls to action were made; not to shelter, nor to rally, nor even to evacuate. What good would it do? Everyone already knew what had happened, and no one could find recourse from it. What safety was there from the very laws of the world, the foundations of all societies, changing without warning in the span of a single heartbeat?
In the blink of an eye, the system itself had gone out.
In the city’s heart, a young man clad in ivory burst through the war room doors. “Captain General!” he addressed with a salute.
A wizened knight regarded him as he arrived. “Sir William, good. I take it you’ve noticed?”
“It was hard not to,” Sir William replied. “I don’t suppose you know why the system isn’t working?”
“No,” the commander answered. “We’re going to have to work with our best guess. Right now, I’m concerned with how the other nations will react.”
“Other nations? The problem is that widespread?”
“We don’t have any way to confirm that, but if it isn’t then the Vulpes have managed a ritual magic on a scale I’ve never heard of. If you look at it from the others’ perspectives, however, the people with the most motive to disable the system…” the Captain General left off.
“… would be us,” William finished, earning a nod from his superior.
The system had given certain bonuses to the abilities of the various sentients that lived within it. Faster growth in certain stats, racial skills, unique magics. Every group had been given certain advantages.
While this was true of the Humans as well, it was far less so than the others. Better stamina improvement through cardio, and a modest bonus to projectile accuracy were all they had been granted. Everything they had was a struggle, biting, clawing, and scraping to carve a place for themselves in this world.
If that playing field had been leveled, that would make them the primary suspects as far as the other races were concerned.
“We had nothing to do with it though, right?” the young man asked.
“Of course not!” the Captain-General scolded. He curled his lip and twirled his grayed moustache. “The system is a divine construct beyond human understanding. No, this was someone else. As I said, we’re going with our best guess.”
“What’s that, sir?”
“The best ritualists are the Vulpus,” he said, raising a finger. “They’re possibility one. If this is targeted at us, that leaves no other suspects. I doubt that’s the case, though. Their ire has been aimed at the Wolven for the last twenty years, and the fact that our commands aren’t working at all leads me to believe this is far worse than a jamming ritual.
The second possibility,” he explained as he raised another finger, “is the demons. I’m not sure how they’d manage it, but the system really has been destroyed, there is no other race with a penchant and a knack for destruction on such a level that it could damage the system itself. Of course, I doubt any mindless brute would be able to do such a thing. ”
William swallowed hard, fighting the urge to bring his hand to his shield to combat his unease. “So, the nobility?”
“Not the ordinary nobility, no. The only ones that could pull this off are demon gods,” the Captain-General answered. “A lesser god might have the power to destroy the system if that god had an affinity for destruction. There are two types of monsters born from destruction, the dragons and the demons.
"The Dragons deny there being lesser gods among their number. As such, I believe we are looking at the work of the Three Devils: The Marquis of Cruelty, the Baron of Fire, and the Marquis of Fate.”
William placed his hand on his chin in contemplation. “Couldn’t the problem be temporary, sir? If not, then you might be on the right track. The Devils might be able to pull this off. The Marquis of Fate is the most likely of the three, but I don’t know. I don’t see the motive for Laplace, and I’m not sure I agree that De Sade or Richthofen have the power to do it.”
The young man grimaced, looking up at the commander. “I think we need to consider the worst-case scenario, sir: not a lesser god, a true divinity.”
“Be very careful with your words, paladin, lest you fall,” the old knight warned. “Regardless, if that is the case then either the greater gods want the system gone, in which case the system is at its end, or the gods have gone to war, in which case the world is in trouble.”
“A grim thought,” William agreed. “What are your orders, sir?”
“For now, we must scramble to get our defenses back up, in case this is the first stage of an attack. You let me worry about that. I want you to find the underlying cause of this, hero. Track the demons’ latest movements. Even if this wasn’t their doing, there might be a clue to find there.”
“Is there no other way, mother?” a young woman asked.
This was a hasty decision. Too hasty, perhaps, but the situation demanded urgency. If they dawdled, the entire city-state of Mirage could be blown to dust, quite literally.
A legendary illusion magic, affecting every sense and turning any stranger away, kept the city safe, or it was supposed to. They said the magic was a ritual devised by their peoples’ god of trickery, who fooled the great god of order into giving his people the control of it. If so, then that trickster was no longer there to answer questions.
Some said he was dead, slain in a conflict with another deity, perhaps that very same god of order. Most, however, believed that was a deception, and that he had faked his death long ago, as the master of illusions he was.
To ask the Vulpes, while their patron may have taken inspiration from the fae, only he could have come up with fueling such an illusion directly from a leyline. Monitoring and maintaining it was a simple matter for the fox therianthropes, the foremost experts of ritual magic.
Or, at least, it was.
“We’ve lost the system, Cadmea” the voice of the head of the ritualists’ clan reminded her daughter through. “We no longer have an interface to check the mana flow. Every moment we linger, we run the risk of losing control of it. We live over a wind leyline, and wind magic, above all other kinds, likes to move freely.”
Cadmea swallowed hard. Any moment could lead to an irreversible cascade failure that could raze their nation. Even in the best-case scenario, their land’s only strategic defense would be stripped from them; Mirage didn’t even have walls, for pity’s sake.
Time was of the essence, she knew that, but by its very nature there was no predicting how this ritual would turn out.
The ritual itself was crude, to say the least. The runic arrays were slapdash, made by dragging her tails through the sand in an exceptionally rough “circle” that she could barely make out in dusk’s light. The incantation was unusually short and sounded like an elder asking a favor using outdated slang while baby talking. For crying out loud, the ritual’s focus was a “sandwich” that didn’t even fit the definition of one!
And of course, the intended result itself was unpredictable, and had potential to be far more disastrous than the swift ablative end the leyline would bring.
It was a wild guess, but they had to take it.
“Okay,” Cadmea said. With that, she tossed “sandwich” onto the mound of sand off-center of the array with a splat. For a moment the young ritualist felt she wouldn’t mind a swift death by leyline rupture; it would be better than dying of embarrassment. She spoke the words.
“Yo, Tetra, god ob magic, pwease put yo ears on” she loudly announced. Her cheeks flushed. “It would be gwoovy if could ya pwease do us a sowid and hewp us out, ya dig, home swice?”
“Wow, you actually said all that?” a voice rang out over the dunes.
Cadmea looked around and saw nothing. Something was wrong. No, if by some miracle this ritual had actually worked, then…
She brought her hand up to her ear. “Mother, I think it worked. What do I say?” No response came through the enchanted earpiece.
“Ah ah ah!” the voice laughed. “No speaking to mommy dearest now. You thought yourself significant enough to summon me, so you can speak for yourself. I’ve gone ahead and jammed that little trinket of yours for now. Understand, mortal?”
The vixen nodded, sweat dripping down her brow. “Y-yes. I thank you for allowing me to summon you.”
“Oh, you didn’t summon me, I was already in the neighborhood checking something… interesting. Ooh, speaking of interesting, thanks for the offering.” A hand reached out and grabbed the Frankenfood monstrosity from above the podium. Cadmea looked up around to a short, strange woman floating in midair.
She looked strange, like a cross between a human and a wingless pixie. She was short; 86, 87 centimeters. Her hair shimmered with every color of the rainbow and more; her eye colors shifted unpredictably from moment to moment.
She wore a multicolor robe and carried an ornate staff on her back. It was tipped with a glowing violet crystal, and on its base rested a blade. Cadmea could just make out the handle of a wand on her hip.
The way she materialized was sudden, like she’d been there all along, but the vulpine woman hadn’t been able to recognize it.
“What… are you?” Cadmea asked, only for the entity to give her a crooked grin.
“Oh, I’m a lot of things. The Force of Chaos, Tetra the Fourth, the Goddess of Magic, a rule breaker, a 3D projection, an eldritch abomination, part of a web novel, a reality warper, on and on and on. If you mean my appearance, I’m an elf, but not a high elf. This is what my original form looked like,” she answered. She took a large bite out of the slope in her hand.
“Mm, that’s good for mortal fare! Jackfruit, cave-aged cheese, cucumbers, peppermint, and tomato sauce!” she observed, then took a bite of the handful of slop. Cadmea fought to restrain her turning stomach. “So,” Tetra asked with her mouth full, “what exactly do you think you deserve my help with?”
Cadmea took a deep breath to settle her nerves. Despite the chills running down her spine like a parade of spiders, she had to stay calm. There was no predicting this… woman anyway, so she may as well get straight to the point. Waffling about just wasted time and increased the chances for things to go awry.
“We need your help controlling the leyline tap we use to fuel our city’s grand illusion spell. If you could-“
Tetra shoved a messy finger in her face. “I’m going to cut you off right there and say ‘no,’” she said. “I’m sure that stick-in-the-mud Tri’s got you thinking magic is something to be harnessed and follows your little rules and regulations, but again: no. Magic doesn’t follow the rules, it breaks them! Otherwise, it’s just boring old natural law! Physics and math! Yuck!”
The elf’s smile grew unnaturally wide, ear to ear. Suddenly, a teal flash lit up the sky. Cadmea wheeled around to see a colossal pillar of light shooting up out of the sands and into the sky, growing wider and wider at the speed of sound, ripping the land apart. “NOOO!” she screamed as she helplessly watched the magic engulf the city. She fell to her knees. She was too late.
There was no surviving that, no matter how high your level was. There was no barrier they could create. How could there be? This was a leyline, a flow of magic so powerful that it took. And they’d been trying to harness it?
“Well, look at that! Such is the hubris of mortals,” Tetra said as the magic raced to meet them. “Magic is chaos! Imagination given force and form! It wants to be as free as the wind!”
Cadmea squeezed her eyes shut and braced for the end…
… but the end didn’t come.
“I think I’ve made my point,” Tetra declared.
Cadmea slowly opened her eyes. There in the distance stood Mirage, like nothing had happened. “W-what?” she asked, hyperventilating from fear.
“What, did you think there was only one way to use an illusion like yours? Oh, but don’t think that wasn’t real, think of it as a preview. So, now you know I have all the leverage in this little negotiation you want from me. So, what do you think you can offer someone like me?”
“I-I don’t-“
“Of course, you don’t. You’re one person living in one city in one reality out of an infinite number I could hop to, and an infinite number of them could use my help more than you. This is a nexus world, sure, but that doesn’t mean you yourselves are important,” she says. “Normally the answer is ‘absolutely nothing,’ and I don’t answer your little plea in the first place.”
“So… why did you?”
“Ah, that’s the right question!” Tetra replied. “Like I said, I was checking something interesting. Two somethings. So, what is your name?”
“C-Cadmea.”
“Well, Cadmea, I’ll make you a deal.” Her tone became ice cold. “I’m not going put any kind of monitor on your little magic power source, or automatically regulate it for you. I could, but I won’t.
“I will, however, give you, specifically, the ability to sense its flow from any distance so you can know how wide your figurative valves should be from day to day. In exchange, I’m going to have you do a series of tasks for me.”
The elf reached into her pocket and pulled out two polished orbs, one slate grey and the other jade green. “I want you to bring these to the fairy kingdom. Ask for the nightshade twins and deliver these to them, it should be clear who gets which. Wait there for further instructions.”
Cadmea nodded, still shaken. “Okay, I accept,” she said. “But how will I tell my people how to adjust the magic?”
Tetra sighed impatiently. “Give me your earpiece,” she said. Cadmea did as instructed, handing it to the short woman, who pulled the wand out of her robe and tapped it to the implement before handing it back. “There. Unless you bumble into an absolute antimagic field, that should let this communicate with your mother’s copy anywhere in this multiversal supercluster.”
“Multi-what?” Cadmea asked.
“Everywhere, it works everywhere you’ll ever go. Ask the grey twin if you want a detailed explanation,” the goddess said. Her eyes rolled in her sockets, then kept rolling until they fell out. She caught them in her hand and put them back in, magically none the worse for wear. “You can say your goodbyes through your earpiece. You depart in… now.”
A noise came from beneath Cadmea, who looked down and saw a magic portal open beneath her feet. She only had time to yelp before she fell through. She landed in a heap in a rose bush on the other side. “Ow,” she whined, looking back up through the portal at Tetra, who gave one comment before closing it.
“Oh, and welcome to Albion.”
King Finvarra watched as Rocket and the two fairies flew off into the forest. “My king?” a salmon-pink haired fairy asked as he flew up from below. “We’ve moved the wounded to the ground for treatment.”
He nodded. “Tell me, Vera: was the evacuation a success?”
“You mean to ask if we missed the two newblooms, your highness?” Vera asked. “I don’t think so. The gray one, Liandan, said they appeared from their flowers twenty minutes ago. That was after the evacuation was complete. They must have bloomed during the fire itself. Perhaps their mother flowers sought to save them?”
“Indeed,” Finvarra agreed. “And did anyone call me by true name after they arrived?”
“They are small and came in quietly, but I don’t think so.”
“So then,” the Fairy King questioned, “how did they know it?”
“That’s… a very good question, your highness,” Vera admitted.
”What a strange pair,” Finvarra thought. It was rare for a flowering plant to create a fairy in its lifetime. Rarer still would one give rise to siblings. Twins? It was practically unheard of.
Furthermore, understanding English, the common tongue created by the angels, was nothing unusual for a newbloom. Speaking it was an entirely different matter. It took months for a fairy to learn how to make the proper sounds, and yet Liandan was speaking it with total fluency.
And then there were their colors. Belladonna’s name pointed to her mother flower easily enough, and like all True Fairies her colors matched. Her twin, though, was born an ashen gray. Given when she appeared, he could only think of one cause.
“Like a phoenix, born from the ashes,” he mused. He’d suggest that for her false name later.
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Dunno if y'all will like this, or if it will even remain up, but a bit of a DISCLAIMER; The first chapter is more akin to a prologue than an actual part of a story, but it is required for the story to make sense, as the story needs a lot of world building and explanation for everything to work out, and unless y'all wanna be confused for the next three chapters, then I suggest you read, unless you aren't interested of course. Oh yeah, it was so long that I needed to post the first chapter in multiple parts, so get comfy, and prepare to read almost forty pages in total.
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Chapter One - Part One
Extremely Lengthy Exposition
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He didn’t know how to describe it.
A sort of lucid state in which he was only partially aware of who and what he was? Maybe. A condition of some sort of brain death, it being a result of gazing upon an entity far too complex for the human mind to ever even dream of conceiving? Perhaps. Or maybe it was a sign. A sign from whatever gods or higher beings that were our forefathers, our creators. The very things that created the universe, and all others as we know it. Perhaps it was a sign from Them, of his ascension, his final evolution into a being so superior, that to others, he could be considered a god himself. Yes, that was right. He could feel it, the power. Not in a way of touching something with a hand, but in a more metaphysical way, one far better than the crude grasping tools that humanity has had to work with for far too long.
It was so close, the innate understanding that was intrinsically tied into the human genome from eons ago, the inheritance he was meant to receive, what he DESERVED to receive, was right there. All he had to do was reach out, and touch it. He did just that, his mental probes extending outwards towards it, to claim what was rightfully his. He closed his fingers around it, and-
“Jacob, wake up. The doctor is trying to say something to you.”
Or it could just all be a construct of his dying brain, one that was futilely trying to sort the things that he was experiencing into something that could be translated and read.
“Jacob?” His mother repeated, with a more stern note entering her voice.
“Oh uh, sorry. What were you trying to say?” Jacob leaned forward, clasping his hands together, placing his elbows on his knees and leaning on his arms.
“I was asking you how you’ve been feeling recently, as it does pertain to the conversation I am having with your parents.” The doctor smiled patiently, expertly hiding most of his probable frustration behind a veneer of placidity.
“Relatively well, though I have been having a good amount of headaches, considerably more than usual.” Jacob responded, plastering a nonchalant expression onto his face.
“And what about that little . . . episode you had a moment ago?” The doctor questioned, leaning forward expectantly.
“Oh yeah, that. I guess I just kinda zoned out there for a second, you know?” Jacob replied casually.
“Zoned out for over half an hour?” The doctor tilted his head.
“Yep.” Jacob wasn’t going to fall for the bait.
“Hmm.” The doctor leaned back. “Well, I'm fairly sure that ‘zoning out’ for over half an hour with absolutely no idea what's going on in the outside world isn’t exactly normal behavior typical for a boy of your age, Jacob. Did you perchance have any sort of feeling that you can’t explain, or something similar to an out of body experience? It could even just be similar to lucid dreaming.” The doctor appears to be very insistent, Jacob, why don’t you take care of him? You could be out of state within a day or tw-
“Well when you put it like that, sure.” Jacob decided that he would indeed play the doctor’s game.
“Hmm. Well Mrs. Pattine, you heard it from him. When we did our testing last week, we noticed extremely irregular brain patterns that would normally indicate extreme stress upon the brain. However, Jacob here seemed perfectly fine, aside from a rather annoying headache.”
“Now, I’m fairly sure that anybody could deduce that that type of behavior from the brain isn’t good at all. In fact, the tumor that we had diagnosed Jacob the same week, being practically the size of a peanut, has now doubled in size. In fact, the growth appears to be scaling upwards in terms of the growth rate. What was doubling in size per week, will quickly grow to quadrupling, and then quintupling. Soon, Jacob will have to undergo intense chemotherapy.”
Jacob’s mother did not seem placated, like what the doctor was trying to do, but in fact appalled.
“Why are you saying all this in front of him!? He’s just a child for damn sake!” Jacob's mother clutched Jacob tighter, much to his both amusement and frustration after she refused to let go.
“I’m sorry Mrs. Pattine, but all parties involved here have to know what’s at stake here, including young Jacob here.” The doctor, to his credit, did seem genuinely remorseful, yet not really backtracking enough to make an effective apology, more like creating a plausible justification for his actions.
Jacob didn’t really care either way. Well, he did care that he was probably going to die and was thankful that the doctor had decided to be blunt, but not caring about his mother’s rather extreme outburst in his supposed defense.
That had been the case as of late, not really caring about his loved ones. Well, he DID care, at least he thought he did, but why did they always have to be just, so, well, like that all the time? Jacob was rather exasperated from the whole ordeal, and plus, the doctor was talking again.
“-however, we have a solution to this problem of Jacob’s.” The doctor reached out to the briefcase on the table to his right, opening it. He then extracted what appeared to be a syringe filled with clear liquid.
“This is a prototype we, us being ANTI, have been working on for a long time. You might have learned what this is from various pop culture and media sources, but if you don’t, I’ll explain what it is now.” Without giving anybody in the room time to protest, he continued on.
“This is a syringe full of nanobots. Yes, honest-to-god, genuine nanobots. We’ve been working on these for a good amount of time, since around 2000, yet no significant headway had been made towards making a nanobot serum cost-effective enough to employ in more, liberal, uses.”
“However, when Russia annexed Crimea back in 2014, Congress decided that a viable threat was rising, and revived the program with a stimulant called cold hard cash. When another budget increase came with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it didn’t exactly hinder us, and a year later, we came up with the first effective prototype of nanotechnological biological cellular regeneration to date. And now, we're gonna give it to Jacob.”
Mrs. Pattine didn’t appear to care about all of the war stuff or fancy political words, only really catching onto the words of, “give it to Jacob” and responded accordingly.
“I don’t believe it. What's the catch?” Mrs. Pattine glared suspiciously at the doctor.
“No catch, just the requirement that we are given full liberty to experiment on the tumor in Jacob’s head, within legal bounds.” The doctor appears to be trying to brush over that fact, but Mrs. Pattine also catches onto the important bits.
“You want to experiment on my son!? That sounds like a pretty big catch to me!” Mrs. Pattine screeches in protest.
“It’ll be within full humane laws, nothing illegal, I promise you. In fact, we’ll give you even more incentive.” The doctor pauses, seemingly for dramatic effect.
“So, out with it!” Mrs. Pattine seems to be quite stressed, and most likely wants nothing more than to just go home already.
“We will give you a sum of thirty million dollars, with no tax put on it.” The doctor says plainly.
Mrs. Pattine doesn’t react for a moment, seemingly processing what she just heard.
“Th-th-thirty million dollars!?” Mrs. Pattine splutters in disbelief. “You can’t be serious!”
The doctor chuckles. “Oh but I am. We’ll place it directly into your bank account, as liquid assets would likely be hard to manage for you. It’ll even be covered by insurance.”
Mrs. Pattine clearly is still suspicious. “This is too good to be true.”
“I can assure you, Mrs. Pattine, it is not.”
She looks unsure as to whether or not to take the deal, and looks at Jacob.
“Go ahead.” Jacob shrugs, hoping to maybe NOT die.
Mrs. Pattine then gets up. “I need to go over this with my family.”
They accepted the deal.
* * *
Three days later, Jacob was inside a chamber packed with men and women in lab coats, all of them seeming to be doing something important. The room was about twenty feet in diameter and in height, circular, with a large ten-foot-high blast door being the only intentional access point that could be used to enter the chamber. A large secure industrial vent was inset into the ceiling, also covered with a steel mesh to prevent something from getting in, or perhaps out. In the center of it all was a large contraption, with many pipes, hoses, and wires protruding from various access ports around the machine. It all seemed a bit too militaristic for a minor cryo experiment, but what did he know?
On the front of the machine in the center of the room was a thick plastic cover that exposed the interior, the interior being a cavity about eight feet tall and two feet wide. It appeared to have been designed to allow a human to rest upright inside the machine, and rest comfortably to boot, utilizing a foam mold to mimic a bed. In fact, the little foam mold appears to be fitted to Jacob’s exact dimensions. Jacob, being the ever-curious fellow, inquired as to what the strange doohickey.
“So uh, what am I looking at here?” Jacob gestured to the machine in the center of the room.
“This is, for all intents and purposes, a cryo pod. It can effectively freeze a human being, preserving them for extended periods of time, without them growing or aging at all.” The doctor, who appeared to be in charge of this whole ordeal, answered him.
“And you’re putting me in there?” Jacob asked.
“Yes. We are hoping to learn more about that little tumor-that-isn’t-a-tumor in your head, as it's something that we haven’t ever seen before. Since the tumor is progressing at an alarmingly fast pace, and since we don’t want you to die, we will be placing you in this for a single year, on the dot. The freeze will stop the progression of the tumor, and the nanobots will keep you in top shape even if something goes wrong with the pod, and they will even combat the tumor, so you aren’t in any danger.” The doctor replied.
“Huh. And you’re gonna find some sort of miracle cure for the tumor while I’m on ice?” Jacob asked, wanting to get all of the essential information.
“Yes.” The doctor didn’t elaborate this time.
“Uh, cool. So we’re starting now? I was wondering why I was in this weird looking wetsuit thingy.” Jacob pulled at his sleeves, the tightness of them a little uncomfortable.
“Yes. Once the specs have been fully calibrated, we can place you in the pod, and you can say goodnight.” The doctor nodded to himself. “Yes, it should only be ten more minutes.”
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, a bit over schedule, everything was set up. Jacob was standing in front of the cryo pod, talking to one of the doctors.
“So I just step inside, right?” Jacob inquired.
“Correct you are. We’ll strap you up, run diagnostics, and then see you in t- a year.” The lady, Dr. Sophia Vasel by her nametag, appeared to have stopped herself from saying something was either a simple misspoken word, or something she wasn’t supposed to say. It didn’t really matter to Jacob, since you could just kill her, now and be done with it. It would be so easy, to ju-
“Alright, nice.” Jacob stepped up inside, a little stepladder conveniently set into the machine. He turned around and shifted a little, trying to get comfortable. Dr. Vasel and one other doctor began strapping him in, hooking little electrodes and wires up to him to do all sorts of technical mumbo jumbo. After a minute of attaching devices to him and making sure everything was in order, they began to run diagnostics to make sure everything electronic was working. After an agonizingly long ten minutes of affirming and reaffirming, the first doctor that he had met with walked up to the plastic clear door with a microphone in his hand.
“Can you hear me Jacob?” The doctor asked.
“Yeh.” Jacob replied lamely
“Uhm, OK, it seems like everything is alright on our side, so without further ado, I think we’ll be seeing you in a year.” The doctor nodded to his colleagues next to him, and they started to press buttons on the console. A loud alarm started blaring, and a hissing noise spread throughout the pod. Devices began to inject what was probably some sort of powerful anesthetic, considering he began feeling extremely drowsy a moment later.
The last thing he saw before he fell asleep was the plastic cover being coated in frost.
* * *
Three weeks after that, a government official of the program that had taken Jacob Pattine in for treatment and experimentation contacted the Pattine family to offer their condolences, as they had to inform them that due to a malfunction in the systems of the nanobots, Jacob Pattine had unfortunately died in testing, and that they hoped this won’t sour relations between them.
However, it did sour relations between them, as the subsequent lawsuit against them proved all too well. It had even progressed to a Supreme Court case called Pattine v Army Nanotechnological Initiative, which ended up with a seventy-two million dollar payment towards the Pattines, and a ruling that outlawed any and all with the use and/or experimentation on humans with nanotechnology, as it was deemed too dangerous to use on humans. A deep-dive into the records of the ANTI yielded many discoveries, the most notable of them being the many deaths of humans in the testing trials of the nanobots. This also led to the dissolution of the ANTI, and shaped the future of nanotechnology for years to come.
However, using nanobots for the use on humans didn’t stop there. In fact, some would say it thrived, just in a different way than imagined. Like many other creations that were found to be too radical or immoral for the majority of the populace, the CIA was the one to collect the scraps, and make it their own. By using their own funding to revive the unofficially named Nano-Cryo project, they resumed research, employing many of the original members of the infamous project, with the doctor being put back in charge of the currently unnamed project.
That left only Jacob to deal with. Luckily for him, Jacob wasn’t so disposable as some might believe, as certain conditions on his being made his potential quite desirable to some shadowy heads of certain organizations. This led to the CIA creating a cover story about the unfortunate death of the boy, which would allow them to both obtain the asset, and snip off the loose thread that was ANTI, killing two birds with one stone. They continued testing within CIA Black Site-046, which was located within the city known as New Jersey, which would later influence the name of the secretive project.
One more alteration would be made to the test. As Jacob had now been cut off from the outside world and was presumed dead, the CIA had no worry about public retribution, allowing them to extend his period in the cryo pod from one year to ten. At the end of the ten years, Jacob would be woken up from stasis, and testing would be enacted, with various procedures analyzing how his physiology had reacted to the tumor and the extended stay in cryostasis. The nanobots were there to ensure that Jacob didn’t die from the tumor, but also to make sure he didn’t die from the long periods of time spent sleeping. After twenty-four hours had passed, Jacob would be placed back within the cryo pod, and be woken up again when another ten years had passed, with this cycle repeating for the foreseeable future.
In the development of the cryostasis model, one thing had persisted throughout the trials. When the testers had been subjected to extended periods of time within stasis, once unfrozen, the brain would refuse to reactivate. No matter what measures were taken, the brain would simply not resume biological function, and the subject would be effectively dead. The leading theory on this was that the brain had been “dead” for so long, that it simply couldn’t remember that it was alive. This is the same reason why cavemen, even if perfectly preserved in ice, couldn’t be simply revived with a shock paddle or some adrenaline.
So, the nanobots were there to stimulate and keep the brain semi-active during time spent sleeping, keeping the brain alive through the barest of actions, making it more akin to sleep instead of simply dying and then being revived with a perfectly preserved body and brain. However, this led to the tumor being slightly active as well, so it would still progress while within stasis, albeit at an incredibly glacial pace. This would likely cause problems in the future, but a solution is bound to come up at some point.
Right?
* * *
Invariably.
What an interesting word
And a nice one at that. It really just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? A word that most people probably can’t even recall the meaning of, yet is seen so commonly in works that are often above the skill of your average eighth grader. It means for something to happen a lot, or always. For instance, you could say, “Oh, whenever I go to my friend's house, the meals his mother makes are invariably burnt.” or something along those lines.
Jacob couldn’t apply that word to his situation.
That would imply that he had been doing or experiencing something for long enough that he could use that word as a hyperbole. However, he hadn’t. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Imagine blinking your eyes. Now try to recall how long the moment between opening your eyes and the light reaching your eyes was. Now that's a more accurate comparison.
Right when Jacob closed his eyes, he had been hearing a hissing sound, expecting sleep to take him. Then a slight, rather odd blip in his awareness caused him to lose his bearings for a moment, but quickly regained them. The hissing continued, and became rather annoying after a bit, considering the nasty headache he currently had. Did he have that before he entered the pod? He wasn’t sure, but he was having a hard time remembering his last moments before he entered the machine, which was odd, as that was just a moment ago. Oh, now the hissing noise is stopping, so Jacob guessed that the doctors realized there was a problem, and were now spooling down the machine to take him out before something disastrous happened.
The hissing noise stopped, and the sound of pistons groaning filled the small cavity instead, along with a notable difference in the positioning of the cryo pod door, specifically moving upward. Ah, now the door is opening, fantastic. Jacob hoped that he could just get this damn experiment underway, without any more delays.
Goddamn the door is slow. At least he could see somewhat outside, as the door had opened up enough to let him see the feet of two people standing outside his little home. Actually, scratch that, three people standing outside, as the door had opened more up to let him see a third person standing behind the pair that were closest to him. He blinked several times to clear the fog from his eyesight, his eyeballs feeling pretty cold, as if he had spent a little in pure winter weather with his eyes open, letting them freeze a bit. Matter of fact, as feeling returned to his body, he felt cold all over. Not so cold that it was painful, but more of a cool uncomfortableness.
Speaking of feeling returning to his body, he felt a rather unpleasant prickling sensation throughout himself, like his entire body had fallen asleep, or if he had just returned from the cold after a long stay in the frigid winter air. He flexed his fingers, or at least tried to. His fingers were encased in a hard plastic glove, molded to fit his hand. It was the same story with the rest of his body, many straps fastened tight enough to restrict his movement, but not enough to restrict his blood flow. He tried to see more than the feet of the unknown people in front of him, as the door was open about halfway now, but the fog, or maybe steam, wafting up from his pod was masking everything else.
Oh yeah, the hissing was back too.
After another eternity of the door just slowly opening, the long-awaited event finally arrived. The door clanked to a stop, now resting somewhere on top of the cryo pod. The hissing noise also came to a stop, seeming to have been the cause of the fog as well, considering how it began to clear up with the end of the abhorrent hissing sound. The fog cleared up fully, allowing him to see a rather strange sight.
Three people in full hazmat suits were standing in front of him, one of the two in front holding an odd device that looked vaguely like a heart monitor. The one with the heart monitor stepped up to him, uttering a single word.
“Please hold still.”
Jacob naturally held still as the person wrapped a sensor on his wrist, then one on his neck. The man then pressed a few buttons on his little machine, and then watched some sort of readout on the screen that Jacob couldn’t make out from his angle. The man stayed like that for about half a minute before taking off the little sensors from his wrist and neck, and then put the device down on some sort of table that Jacob also couldn’t see due to his angle, before nodding to the man beside him.
The pair moved into action, unstrapping and unclamping him in various areas around his body, unrestricting his movement. Jacob didn’t move yet though, as once the pair were done taking off the various inhibitors, the third man in the back stepped up, as if he wanted to speak. The unnamed man grabbed the bottom of his visor, where a small lip was present. The man then used that lip to pull up the plastic covering his face, or at least the layer that was preventing Jacob from seeing his face. The man pulled it up, revealing the doctor, who’s name he still didn’t know. However, something was off about him, though Jacob couldn’t put his finger on it.
“Long time no see Jacob.” The doctor smiles disarmingly, which makes Jacob beg the question of why he would need to be disarmed.
“What do you mean, ‘Long time’? It hasn’t even been half an hour.” Jacob frowns, tilting his head questioningly, though Jacob is pretty sure he already knows the answer to his own question.
The doctor’s smile wavers, and his eyes turn downcast, avoiding Jacob’s.
“Well, ah, you see Jacob, it HAS been a long time. I imagine you just didn’t notice, due to no little input on our part.”
Suddenly, Jacob realized what was off about the doctor. When he had seen him last, the doctor had a look about him that made him seem like he could be in his early thirties or late twenties, with a little margin for error, of course.
However, The doctor now looked like he had aged around a decade, sporting a few new wrinkles that definitely weren’t there before. Instead of being a man just entering his more mature ages, he looked more like a man entering a higher, more responsible position in your standard American technical corporation. To put it shortly, he looked like he was in his forties.
“So you're saying that it's been a year already, and I was just too out of it to notice?” The doctor winced, and opened up his mouth to speak, but Jacob continued talking.
“However, I have noticed that while you said I was supposed to be in here for a year, the actual reality is different. Unless you somehow had a growth spurt, or decided that looking older was a new fashion trend, it's odd that you seem to have aged a decade in what was supposed to be a year of stasis.” Jacob tilted his head, focusing a stare on the doctor. “Tell me, doctor, how long was I out?”
The pair in front of him, having been listening this whole time, looked back at the doctor expectantly. The doctor shook his head, and attempted a smile, though the result looked more like a pained grimace. The doctor then looked up at Jacob, giving him a strange look.
“Noticed that, did you? Well, I suppose you do deserve an explanation. Let's talk about this in a more, comfortable, area.”
* * *
Jacob fixed the doctor with another bland stare for the fifteenth time in four minutes.
“So you’re telling me, that the damn CIA kidnapped me, your government organization was dissolved, and now I’m officially dead to the outside world? Not to mention I was asleep for not a year, but a decade?” Jacob said all of this with a tone that might have implied disbelief and anger.
“Well, when you put it like that, it sounds, well, exactly like what happened I suppose, but I wouldn’t put it, well, any sort of other way, so yes.” The doctor, contrary to the facade he was still bravely trying to put up, didn’t appear too comfortable with telling Jacob all of this. After all, who would want to tell an innocent, carefree, bright-eyed young boy, that his family thought him dead, and that he was asleep for a decade as well.
Jacob leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms and breathed out the air he had been holding in.
“Huh.” Jacob didn’t elaborate.
“I’m sure that this might be very alarming to you, but remember that this wasn’t in our control. I’m very sorry for your loss, but just know that we do have therapists and other people that you can talk to on hand, just let us know.” The doctor didn’t seem very proud of this series of unfortunate events happening to the aforementioned carefree child.
“Well, as long as they aren’t dead yet, I’ll be fine.” Jacob shrugs.
The doctor blinks in surprise.
“I- what? Are you sure? Your mental health is very important, and despite what our higher ups at the CIA might say, you are also important as a person.” The doctor had an increasingly worried expression on his face.
“Nah, I think I’m pretty good for now.” Jacob remained seemingly uncaring for his current status as perceived dead by his family, or for his mental health. “So, what happens to me now? I’m assuming I’m not getting executed for lack of further usefulness, or else you wouldn’t be offering me therapists, and I’m not exactly going back out into society, as that would be a rather awkward situation for the CIA. So, that leaves only one more avenue of action.” Jacob leaned forward. “I’m going back in the machine, aren’t I?”
“. . . yes.” The doctor seemed put off by Jacob’s lengthy statement.
Jacob leaned back and nodded, satisfied by his answer. “I have just one question then.”
The doctor cocked an eyebrow.
“Why am I so important? Plenty of people have brain tumors, and yet you guys aren’t kidnapping those people, right? So, what makes this one special?” Jacob tapped the side of his head.
The doctor cleared his throat, seemingly more comfortable to be conversing over a topic more familiar to him, like neuroscience.
“I can do that. Follow me.”
* * *
The doctor led Jacob to a room with only one other person inside, that person being an assistant. The lights were off, the only source of illumination being a projector shining on a blank whiteboard, the image being an x-ray of what looked like a brain.
“Well, as I’ve said before, that so-called tumor in your head isn’t exactly behaving like a tumor normally would. In the beginning, when it first appeared, it looked like any old brain tumor, forming in your cerebral cortex. It grew a bit abnormally, but nothing too out of the ordinary.” The doctor pointed at a small marble sized mass that was present inside the aforementioned section of the brain on the projection. “However, that's when things took a turn for the stranger.” The doctor motioned for the assistant to switch to the next slide, which he did.
The diagram now showed the same image as before, which Jacob now knew to be his brain, with the sole difference being that the mass had now enlarged, seemingly spreading what looked like feelers or tentacles outwards, the longest one stretching towards a middle section of the brain.
“After this happened, we were notified through plants, and we took over your medical case, observing the growth of your tumor.” The slide switched again, now showing a larger tumor. It had grown even more feelers, now numbering at five, and the longest one was now in the middle of the brain.
“The tumor had spread itself out, and the longest appendage of it had now entered what we call the anterior insular cortex, or, “ The doctor looked at Jacob. “the empathy center.”
Jacob stared back at the doctor, not showing any outward form of reaction. The doctor looked back towards the projection, clearing his throat.
“Ahem, anyway. As you can probably guess, this was highly irregular behavior from what was supposed to be a simple tumor. And what we realized next was even more shocking.” The assistant clicked to the next slide, this one showing . . . nothing.
Actually, it did show something, Jacob just didn’t notice at first. The tumor was now not a simple mass, but instead had somehow become, fainter, he supposed. It didn’t have any clear separation from his brain, instead, only sections could be made out from the former tumor. It seemed like it had merged with his brain, which wasn’t exactly comforting to Jacob.
“The tumor now couldn’t be described as a simple tumor. We had to deduce that it had somehow become part of your brain, as we couldn’t find any clear definition of where the tumor began and where it ended. We could still technically see the tumor, though it was like it had faded its edges in with your brain, merging with it.” The assistant shut off the projector, and turned the lights back on.
The doctor turned back towards Jacob, with what looked to be a sympathetic expression on his face.
“Now I hope you understand why we want to know what the hell this thing is. If this was some sort of parasite, and if it could spread . . “ The doctor let Jacob figure out the rest on his own.
“Huh, yeah. I wouldn’t really want the world to turn into a reenactment of a certain hit TV adaptation of a certain hit zombie game.” Jacob nodded. “So, how are you gonna go about solving, “ Jacob gestured haphazardly to his head. “This?”
“We . . . aren’t sure yet.” The doctor grimaced. “However, it has only been, well, it's been quite awhile, but we learned a lot from the first go around. We are hoping to gain more data from the next decade, with some new technologies to be used.”
Jacob nodded his head, looking around. “So do I just go back in now?”
“No, actually. The planned procedure is to keep you awake for a minimum of twelve hours, with us taking several tests to determine if any changes have been made to your mental or intellectual state. And also, you are going to have to visit some therapists, that's non-optional.” The doctor replied.
Jacob only grunted in response to that last statement.
* * *
Jacob is running on a treadmill, with several devices measuring his various functions.
“Just let us know when you’re getting tired.” The man, Dr. Markus Vasquez by his nametag, repeated for the fifth time.
“And that would be right around now, actually.” Jacob stopped running when Dr. Vasquez pressed the off button.
“Hmm, alright. You’re operating at standard rates for a boy of your age.” Dr. Vasquez writes down notes on his clipboard, probably about him. Or maybe some sort of weird fan fiction about some US president, you never know.
Dr. Vasquez motioned for Jacob to follow him, which Jacob does.
“And that should conclude your physical testing regimen for today.” Dr. Vasquez leads Jacob into a square room about six feet wide, with a couch, a chair, two tables, a bookshelf, and a TV on the wall opposite from the couch.
Then, another doctor walks into the room, holding a clipboard and a sheet of papers. Dr. Vasquez and the new doctor share a few silent words, ones that Jacob can’t make out, before Dr. Vasquez walks out of the room. The new doctor, a Dr. Sophia Vasel by her nametag, sits down on the chair next to the couch.
“Hey again Jacob. I’m here to-” Dr. Vasel begins, but Jacob cuts her off.
“Oh wait, aren’t you one of the people who strapped me in that pod a decade ago?” Jacob tilts his head questioningly.
Dr. Vasel blinks. “Erm, yes. Anyway, I’m just here to give you a couple tests, alright? Just standard procedure.” Dr. Vasel flips through her clipboard. “Here is the first one.”
Jacob started again. “No signing any forms or asking for consent or anything?”
Dr. Vasel hid her apparent frustration admirably. “Uh, no. Our policy doesn’t require us to do that. Anyway, if we could get on with the test?” Dr. Vasel pulled out a pen. “Just some questions for the first one.”
* * *
Jacob was a bit bored.
Actually, that was an understatement. He was VERY bored. There, a much more apt statement.
After a large amount of rigorous testing, physical, mental, biological, the whole shebang, they had basically left him in the small room and told him to entertain himself for the remaining eight hours, twenty-seven minutes, and five seconds. After that, he would be going back into cryosleep. They gave him access to a good amount of literature from his time, as well as giving him a rather generous library of online media, also from his time. However, they had severely underestimated his preferences, as the majority of the online material consisted of children for the age of ten, and all the good books he had already read several times over.
So yes, he was quite bored. So bored, in fact, that even pacing around and thinking couldn’t sate his hunger for entertainment, as the intense migraine he had prevented him from running any sort of complicated scenario that could even mildly entertain him. So, he was forced to turn to his old friend.
History.
A decade ought to have yielded a good amount of entertaining historical fruit, especially when you consider the rather hot pot that was world politics at the time of the beginning of his short nap. So, he had requested a book that recapped everything important that had happened in the last ten years. And how interesting it was.
Standing out the most in terms of the global stage, the American intervention in the Russo-Ukrainian war, pushing the Russians not just out of Ukraine, but also reclaiming Crimea for the Ukrainians as well. This had happened due to Russia repeatedly threatening to use nuclear weapons in the war, and so America finally had to intervene, managing to push them out of Ukraine in just two and a half months. And it seems Russia was bluffing, as no nukes were ever launched.
However, war wasn’t the only highlight of the last decade, as a miniature space race actually occurred not between the East and the West, but SpaceX and NASA were both racing for the clout and money that being the first to have a human land on Mars would be. It ended up with a SpaceX victory, and not a small amount of a budget increase.
Nanotechnology had also progressed, yet not as much as other avenues, as it's mostly been used for small-scale construction supposedly. Congress was being quite strict on the Supreme Court’s ruling. However, some small advancements had been made in the effectiveness and build of a standard nanobot, making them considerably cheaper and easier to make. However, the availability of nanobots was mostly limited to either private firms or large corporations willing to invest in the product.
As entertaining as history was, it wasn’t enough to sustain him for more than an hour, so he resigned himself to sitting, standing, pacing, and occasionally watching kids cartoons for the rest of his time. He wasn’t going to ask for his benefactors to obtain some new content for him to watch, not because they couldn’t, no, they likely could do anything, but because his pride would be too injured if he did. Yes, a truly brilliant mind we have here.
* * *
“This feels familiar.” Jacob mused, his words certainly pertaining to the scenario that he was currently in.
Dr. Vasel and another doctor were strapping him in, securing his hands and feet in molded plastic to restrict movement, and straps to secure his arms and legs. This time, a little hat with a dozen blinking electrodes was added to his menagerie of devices. They had also given him a fresh edition of nanobots, these ones supposedly more efficient by two percent. Yes, such a great increase. However, they also fed off the energy his own body produced, so that theoretically gave them an infinite life, as long as he was alive.
The doctors finished up strapping him into the machine, giving him a final once over to make sure nothing bad happens again. They stepped back, and began to run diagnostics on their computers to make sure everything electronic was in order as well.
Jacob sighed. He had a feeling that this set of actions would become an agonizingly long procedure.
After a very long fifteen minutes, the unnamed doctor, who had come down during the diagnostics, nodded to an assistant, and he began pressing buttons. The machine clicked and hissed, and the door came down, blissfully quicker this time. After just thirty seconds, the door sealed shut, and Jacob saw the doctor through the plastic. The doctor walked out of sight, as the foggy plastic couldn’t see that far, though the doctor clearly went somewhere where he could talk to Jacob, as he heard the doctor’s voice over what sounded like an intercom inside the pod.
“You can hear me, right Jacob?” The doctor asked.
“Uh, yep.” Jacob replied.
“Very good. As there isn’t anything else we have to do on our end, we’ll be sending you off right about now. Any questions before you’re frozen?” The doctor inquired.
“None that I can recall.” Jacob said.
“Then we’ll see you again in ten years.” The doctor said.
The intercom shut off with a crackle, and the hissing noise came back, probably meaning he was gonna fall asleep any time now. He wondered what the world would look like in another decade, bu-
Oh wait, he did have a question. What WAS the doctor’s nam-
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Part Two is gonna come, maybe in a day. I've already finished it, but the first part will serve to as a way to observe this communities reactions to this little thing, and see if I should post another. I expect about ten to twenty chapters, with hopefully not all of them being as long as this one, so yeah, hope y'all like this.

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We proceeded at a reasonable pace back towards the planet, making sure that we maintained our course using conventional, STL engines so as to limit any emissions that might’ve given our very presence in this system away to any prying eyes.
With hours until we were able to resume our operations, we began reviewing what was in effect our refurbished ship; repairs done courtesy of the system’s rich mineral deposits.
“As requested, let’s do a full rundown.” Vir began, his voice much cheerier than before, as evidenced by the near-permanent smile now plastered upon his monitor-like face. “When we started off, we began with three spinal canons completely out for the count. A Mark VII Kinetic Accelerator, a Mark V Plasma Lance Half-Canon, and a Mark IX Laser Focusing Array. The latter was operating at a reduced operational capacity, but you know as well as I, reduced operational capacity when it comes to laser weapons might as well be as good as reducing it from a fully fledged weapon to a glorified oversized point defense emplacement. Given the challenge in constructing the components needed to address the more fundamental issues in the laser focusing array, we can more or less consider that a write-off. At least until I have more time to figure out a more comprehensive fix. As it stands, we have our big boy back… the Mark VII Kinetic Accelerator, which is more than sufficient to fend off most ships in my book.” The AI began cackling with glee. “Oh, and that’s not the end of it. You see, back then, hot-swapping and modularity was all the craze. So the chamber for the kinetic accelerator is the same one that we’re using for the plasma lance half-canon. They’re literally the same barrel, as the kinetic accelerator uses a magnetized tube to accelerate ferrous slugs, so too does the plasma lance need a magnetized tube to focus superheated plasma in a concentrated ‘beam’ of plasma. Anyways, long story short, that’s why it’s classified as a half-lance. Because we’re using the same barrel, it's inherently more limited in range compared to its bigger full ‘lance’ brother. Anyways, we have both operating at full capacity now, so that’s great!”
It was at this point that something unexpected happened. The smile on Vir’s monitor-face that had always been more or less a simplified facsimile of a human’s grin sans the teeth, had evolved. Two fangs were now visible at the top right and left edges of the AI’s mouth, changing that gleeful grin into something far more predatory. It was clear though why the AI had chosen to go down this path, as perhaps this alluded to the ship’s main weapon systems being brought back to operational status.
“That’s erm, that’s a new look Vir.” I managed out awkwardly. I still hadn’t gotten used to that human expression, the smile. And despite how artificial Vir’s expressions were in comparison to the real deal, it still harkens back to my memories of those first encounters with Elijah. Humanity, and that predatory zeal, seemed to have carried over exceedingly well to their digital offspring.
“Thanks! This is actually something more akin to my original look back in the day, I now feel ready to just chomp on anything that comes near me. Heck, if I could add claws to this platform, I would.” The AI chirped back with the excitability of a recently adopted pup. Though I couldn’t blame him, given the state of the ship just a week ago before repairs.
“Alright so, the Saturn VII anti-ship missile batteries have also been repaired. When we started out we had 27 missiles out of 150 still working. We exhausted all of them during that first battle, leaving us with 123 duds. Fifty of those were aged beyond repair, so I scrapped those and cannibalized them for parts. The remaining 73 needed minor repairs to the circuitry, fuel intake, what have you, and they’ve all been repaired. I managed to make another 17, however, bringing the missile count to 90.” The AI continued without fail, his fanged grin still very much apparent. “And finally, the Mars V Secondary Kinetic Batteries that really helped us in the first battle, have all been repaired. All ten of them, back to near optimal capacity. I’ve also replenished our munitions for these bad boys, we’re sitting at about 4,500 rounds, so that should be good enough for a while. Though I’d be more comfortable with 10,000, if not the max capacity of 25,000. But hey, I didn’t want to be caught off guard if I extended the repair schedule even more.” The AI explained, before letting out a long sigh as if to highlight just how exhausted he was from rattling on about our armaments.
Though it was a welcome feeling to be quite honest.
To finally have a ship functioning with all systems as close to optimal as possible.
Beyond that, it was impressive that all of this was done with just field repairs.
We spent the rest of those hours discussing the finer details of our plans, as we landed on a two pronged attack that would see us primarily situated on the bridge as our drones did most of the work yet again.
That was just the nature of modern operations after all, the present was, for lack of a better descriptor, simply more disappointing than science fiction in quite a few aspects. Indeed, when the topic of science fiction and its futurist expectations was brought up, the image of the intrepid explorer with bridge crews making their ways down into entirely hostile or unsurveyed territory seemed to have been something of a common trope, even in human media.
The truth of space exploration and modern military operations however, couldn’t be further from the truth.
If electronic battlefield systems could be actively maintained and cyber superiority could be established and enforced, and if there were no finer details of consideration to be made that explicitly called for boots on the ground, then drones were almost always the go-to choice for conducting frontline operations.
As a result, our two-pronged attack would be conducted primarily by the same drones that had been responsible for the first lunar exploration survey. Now optimized with repairs, and with an additional 40 more units added to their ranks, two fronts would be opened. One returning to the confines of the Interloper’s lair, and the other down on the planet below.
Managing both operations simultaneously would’ve proven to be a challenging undertaking, but one that was well within the AI’s capabilities. For what effectively boiled down to a two-man operation, manpower and administrative capacity wasn’t actually the limiting factor in this equation. Indeed that assertion couldn’t be further from the truth. For the moment an AI was added to the mix, all former conventions regarding the principles and expectations of manpower became as relevant as castle’s walls would to artillery and aircraft. The presence of a powerful AI like Vir was more than sufficient for the task at hand. Indeed, as certain memories were unlocked by satellite’s records, it was later revealed to me by the AI himself that his responsibilities had at one point reached far beyond the confines of a single ship. Indeed, he’d actually commanded entire flotillas of ships at his height. Squadrons of varying tonnages ranging from compact bombers to battlecruisers of dizzying tonnages were at one point all but fair game to him, placed under his responsibility by the ever expanding machine that was the human military industrial complex, where automation was quickly becoming the name of the game as humanity was simply producing too many ships for individual humans to actually crew.
It was terrifying to imagine the sheer scale of human industry at that point in time, indeed, if their current iterations were anything to go by… that scale was more than likely only poised to increase.
Whatever the case may be, it was clear that Vir’s ‘comfort zone’ as it were, was always with intraship operations rather than squadron-scale battlespace management. This particular operation however, would warrant a brief return to the AI’s storied past. Indeed, it would actually veer from the written record, and head further into territory previously uncharted.
For the present demanded that Vir's responsibilities extend towards operations far beyond mere combat and battlefield management, moving into territory that would expand on the breadth of his duties. Tasks that were perhaps once relegated to some other specialized AI, now found themselves within Vir’s prerogative.
One of these tasks being terrestrial operations.
“I’ve always hated planets.” Vir spoke, interrupting the long line of discussions that had, up to this point, been all but devoted to the finalization of the details regarding the two concurrent sorties.
“What?”
“You know the drones are sort of an extension of myself, at least, up to a point. They have their own independent subroutines. Analogous to sending out bloodhounds ahead of the hunting party. However, whenever I uplink to them, I can see and feel everything they’ve felt. To be stuck inside of a cavern? That’s one thing. I can sort of rationalize it as being within the confines of a particularly unfamiliar ship or station. But to actually be underneath a sky? To realize that everything above you is a prison? Lysara, that’s fucking distressing.” The AI explained with a great degree of animated exaggerations, something that I’ve noticed was very much an integral part of his personality. This hyperactive state of overexcitability, I’ve started to realize, was Vir’s baseline. Anything outside of that seemed to be an anomaly rather than the norm. “I can’t believe some organics can feel free living underneath a sky.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, when I see the sky, I see a prison, a tomb. I feel as if I’m limbless, flightless, unable to reach beyond it. I don’t know, but to me, space is my home. To have infinite degrees of freedom with which to move, to maneuver, to fly? Unrestrained by gravity, save for the gravity exerted upon you by local stellar bodies? That’s the norm for me. To be on a planet, to be pulled and stuck to its surface like an animal trapped on sticky paper? I don’t know, it just feels restricting. Again, looking up from a planet without seeing the stars, it feels like someone’s shackled you to a prison, and is actively teasing you with the freedom you can never have as a planet-bound body. ESPECIALLY during the day! The day, where the light from the sun is all but diffused into an atmosphere? It feels as if someone has put just enough effort in blindfolding you, but not enough, as you can still see the star, a single one sure, but diffused throughout the skies. It’s… I don’t know Lysara, are you following?” The AI had gone through almost every possible wild gesture capable of being expressed by his platform. At this point, I think it was clear what point the AI was trying to make as I nodded a few times in quiet affirmation.
“I think I understand Vir. The vacuum of space is your natural habitat in a sense, to be able to move, to travel, to jump from point to point, that’s your norm. To be stuck on a small rock would definitely be outside your comfort zone.” I surmised.
“Yes! Thank you! You get it!” The AI grinned back at me, once more, with those toothy fangs that now lined its ‘mouth’.
It was after that exchange that we put our plans into motion. As the drones began descending both towards the planet and the lunar facility at the same time.
The mission down planetside would actually begin above and within the atmosphere, as a careful telemetry and surface scanning operation would commence around the areas where the signal was strongest.
This would take some time.
However, the mission deep within the lunar facility would, in its own way, take up more time than we had initially assumed as we would quickly come to find out.
Entering the Interloper’s chambers, we saw that nothing much had changed. Indeed, we saw our nuclear deterrence still sitting idly by near the entrance of the facility proper.
This brought a strange sense of comfort to my heart that was difficult to really describe.
Regardless, we quickly began the process of assembling the various parts of the neural accelerators onto the interloper, making sure that every component had sufficient air gapping between each component and subsystem, all in an attempt to minimize the potential security risks inherent to the operation.
It took about an hour for the entire setup to be completed, at which point, Vir turned towards me, and with a cock of his head gestured towards the console in front of me.
“Would you like me to start the process, or would you like to do the honors, Lysara?” The AI asked, clearly understanding my reluctance and apprehension on dealing with the Interloper, but in giving me this choice, had clearly had his own idea of helping me through this difficult state of mind. In giving me this choice, this level of control… the AI was in effect handing me the keys to be in charge for once. To be in control of a creature, a being that had in effect been in control of my life up to this point.
This newfound sense of autonomy was unprecedented. Indeed, it felt like something else had been unlocked inside of me as I held my hand on the physical keys that now held the chains of this beast.
I was, for the first time in my life, in control.
And it was with this control that my caution once more returned, as my level headed nature coalesced with my newfound risk taking proclivities to merge into something new, something else.
“I’ll start it.” I announced with firm assurance. My face colored not with a grin of revenge, but a determined, confident, smile.
Without a single nod of warning, and a few knowing glances, I pushed the button.
To awaken the beast.
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(Author’s Note: The button has been pressed! I hope you guys enjoy! :D The next chapter is already out on Patreon as well if you want to check it out!)
[If you guys want to help support me and these stories, here's my ko-fi ! And my Patreon for early chapter releases (Chapter 40 of this story is already out on there!)]

I have a watts bypass valve installed in lieu of a dedicated return line for hot water recirculation. After the bypass valve was installed, any time a toilet is flushed or cold water is run in the house, I hear a knocking sound for a few minutes and then it goes away until cold water is run again or another toilet is flushed. I read online that it may be due to the fact that my system is over 60psi and that something needs to be removed from the cold water inlet of the bypass valve to prevent the knocking sound, however I'm hesitant to remove any internal parts from the bypass valve willy nilly.
​
I have tested the bypass valve's functionality by shutting off the cold water and running water from the faucet and it slowly trickles to a stop, so I believe that the valve itself is working properly.
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Any suggestions on how to get the knocking sound to stop?

As the title says, I got some thoughts after playing the new update VT2 just got today. Most of it being how and why it feels so much better playing VT2 than in DT. Some of these are just balance issues, some can be fixed and some not so much. So here I go.

1. Walking Characters just moves faster in VT2. Walking feels about the same as sprinting in DT. I can't believe how enpowering being able to fking walk faster feels. Whenever I play DT, no matter what class I'm playing, it always feels sluggish and slow. Getting anywhere feels like a chore. Sprinting barely feels faster than walking. VT2 walking is DT perm sprinting+.
   
2. Animation speed its just quicker too. from weapon swings to swapping everything just feels much quicker and smoother. No flipping switches or turning knobs, just pull it out and go. Going from melee to ranged or visa versa is the same. Hell, you can practically fire the ranged weapon the same frame you swapped.
   
3. Maps Being set in unique areas just makes it more memorable. I remember the place, where things are at, what was the story there etc. It's also a lot more open in terms of design so spotting things are much easier with more room for movement. Meanwhile I really don't remember much of any of DT's map. Besides the higher spires, sand land and melt my PC forges, all the rest are just some dark tunnels.
   
4. Bots OMG HAVING ACTUAL BOTS ARE A BLESSING. THEY CAN ACTUALLY FIGHT, PICK THINGS UP, FOCUS SPECIALS ETC THEY ARE BETTER THAN SOME ACTUAL PLAYERS. I CAN EASILY PLAY LEGEND (basically T4- T5ish) WITH NO ISSUES. In DT bots are actual bots. lobotomized and all.
   
5. Grey health It just works. As long as youre fighting and staggering you keep getting it back. So if you play it right, you can stay in combat forever. It's also just basically the empty part of your HP bar so the only difference is that it decays. It will take as much punishment as the HP bar will. But the shield in DT feels like a wet paper towel. A single trash mob with a gun will rip the shield off in a single bullet. Being hit without the shield makes you basically stationary. It can only regen naturally, some abilities or killing something which gives like nothing worth a damn. Being able to push a few times and get back nearly a full HP bar that lets me back in the fight feels so much better than fk my shield got sneezed on, I'm suppressed and can't even move, oh I'm dead.
   
6. Loot Kill a mini boss? Killed the Boss? Killed some random loot rat? Here take some supplies and some loot dice to make your rewards better. Completed the mission? Here take a box with 3 items inside. DT gives no reason to kill anything besides the single item if you complete the mission.
   
7. Crafting Don't like your items? scrap them for mats and just craft one you like. No hassle of collecting mats during a mission, no getting 300 power items when your max level. Crafting a item could be blue out the get go. Rerolling just uses mats from scrapping.
   
8. Linked Resources Don't need to explain this one. DT doesn't have this and it's heresy.
   
9. Classes Different playstyles, same character. Switch whenever. DT also don't have this, but does have limited character slots.... I wonder why...
   
10. Useful and varied abilities AoE knockbacks, Team buffs, Self Buffs, Charges, Large Burst Damage, Stealth, Movement, temp healing, grow walls, A GATLING GUN etc. So many uses so many choices. Darktide gets 2 charges, a self damage buff and a fk I didn't watch a bar don't let me die button.
    
11. Cosmetics Yellow tier weapons all have their own looks. Multiple kinds. Use it however you like. All looks damn nice too. A decent amount of earnable character cosmetics too. It's not just color swaps. Neat.
    
12. QoL ya being able to do everything without taking a yr to walk to stuff is just one of the examples.
    

Build Help/Ready:

Have you read the sidebar and rules? (Please do)
Yes
 
What is your intended use for this build? The more details the better.
Work/Personal/PC Gaming
 
If gaming, what kind of performance are you looking for? (Screen resolution, framerate, game settings)
N/A
 
What is your budget (ballpark is okay)?
N/A
 
In what country are you purchasing your parts?
United States
 
Post a draft of your potential build here (specific parts please). Consider formatting your parts list. Don't ask to be spoonfed a build (read the rules!).
2021 14" Mac M1 Max (Personal) 2019 16" Macbook Pro (Corporate Device) Custom Built PC (Gaming PC) 2x 32" LG Monitors (1x HDMI, 1x Display Port inputs each) 1x 32" Dell Curved (Optional usage) (2x HDMI [I think? At least one], 1x Display Port
   
Provide any additional details you wish below.
Perhaps this is not the correct subreddit for this post, my apologies if it is not, I will happily take it down and put it somewhere more appropriate if this is the case.
I will outline how I have everything setup current, and how I would like to have it setup, as well as optional and required constraints below.
   
Current Setup:
I have a 2021 14" M1 Max (referred to as "Personal" or "Personal Laptop"), a 2019 16" Macbook Pro (referred to as "Corp Laptop" or "Corporate Laptop") and my gaming PC. Presently, I have the 2x 32" LG monitors plugged into the gaming PC, as well as the keyboard and mouse that I wish to use.
 
The gaming PC and my personal laptop have Synergy (Symless) installed on them, and can currently share the keyboard and mouse between the two. Right now, in order to use one of the LG displays with the Corp Laptop, I just plug the HDMI cable into the Corp Laptop and unplug it when I'm done.
The Dell curved display is currently not being used, but I may want to use it in the future as a 3rd display.
   
Due to security policies in place on the Corp Laptop, I am not able to install software, or configure Accessibility Devices on it, meaning that I am not able to install Synergy, or a fork (Barrier a fork of the upstream synergy-core).
   
Desired Outcome:
Ideally, I would like to be able to use the keyboard and mouse with all three machines, concurrently by moving the mouse around to the display(s) active and just continue typing. Additionally, I would prefer to be able to use any combination of monitors with any of the devices, e.g. 2x on PC OR 1x on PC, 1x on Personal OR 2x on Corp OR 1x Corp, 1x Personal, etc...
For the monitor switching, I believe this would require a KVM Matrix, not just a KVM Switch, and I am aware that those are pricier than a standard KVM Switch.
My sticking point here, and where I'm asking the hivemind for Reddit for help, I'm not aware of any, and from my research have thus far come up mostly empty, a device that will function as a KM 'Bridge' (for lack of a better term), allowing the Mouse & Keyboard to be used by any (or all) devices at the same time. My understanding of KVM Switches is that they are a push button (binary/ternary) switch that will switch the input from one device to another.
 
I did come across a KVM Switch of sorts from HighSecLabs (SK21x-N/DK22x-N, SX41x-N/DX42x-N, SX81x-N/DX82x-N manual here indicates it does have a KM Mode, see page 8-9) that will allow what they refer to as 'cursor navigation switching' but that does require disconnecting the display(s) from the switch and plugging them into the computer(s) directly)
Is there a [hardware] device out there that will allow monitor(s) matrix switching, that will also function to allow sharing the same keyboard & mouse between devices?
   
Edit: Also apparently the IOGEAR’s 2-Port 4K Dual View DisplayPort Matrix KVMP but this is only designed for 2 computers, not 3.

I have done this offer over the past couple of weeks and there seems to be a distinct lack of information posted on the sub previously, so I wanted to dump my observations as I think this is one of the easiest offers to complete at the moment. Sorry this is a mega essay, but I hope it is helpful to someone.
Far too often I find games are described as easy, but they often require a heavy amount of babying or watching an insane amount of ads. This offer is great; It can be done passively and without spending; you just need to be consistent. Will explain this more next.
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What is the time commitment needed
I want to be up front about what is needed, as what is easy for me may be too much for others. To beat this offer you will need to log on every 3-4 hours, use up all your world energy by playing stages. This takes around 15 minutes each time. If you do this 5-6 times per day, it will take 14-21 days to complete. It pends early at 20. I think you technically have a month to do it. It took me 14 days.
You absolutely can spend as much time as you want doing everything in the game, but there is quite a few things in this game you can simply ignore. This guide is therefore not going to be a guide to get max xp and beat it as fast as possible. So experts in the game may question some things. But it is a guide to beat it without stressing or babying.
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How this game differs from the usual city builders
At first glance this game looks like a city builder, and your immediate reaction will be to play it like one. It is not, so you do not need to. See below the key reasons this differs from a city builder and why that makes your life easier.
· XP is gained by playing stages, not by upgrading buildings. It is your player level that needs to reach 20, not your stronghold.
· Therefore as a whole, you do not need to worry about upgrading all buildings, keeping your builder constantly active, or forgetting to upgrade a building. For the most part they do not matter, you should aim to get your stronghold to level 10, but many of the other buildings you can ignore. An idle builder is fine. Will give recommended building levels later
· You do not need to buy the second builder, which costs 5$ for a VIP pass. I did this and it was a waste of money. You are perfectly fine with one, mainly because of the prior point.
· You do not have 78 different currencies and energy types to worry about/baby. This makes things simpler. The currencies you have to focus on are Iron, which you use to build things, food which you upgrade mines and heroes with. Lastly you have world energy which you spend to play levels. There is also raid energy and titan energy, but these are largely not important
· Clans/teams are not very important, you can fight a titan with your team. But this yields such a pitiful amount of currency, I honestly would not bother
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Guide to beat this as simply as possible.
The focus of the game is to play missions which are a basic puzzle game that is very simple. You do this with a team of 5 heroes, which go from 1 to 5 stars. As you progress you level up your heroes more to enable you to beat harder levels. XP from levels plateaus out pretty quickly so we want to get to a decent level, then do it over and over until we reach level 20. There is an auto button, so you can let the levels auto play themselves, while your phone is put down on the desk.
· You will start with one 3 star hero, Bane. Invest all your food into upgrading him initially
· Do not spend any money on a hero less than 3 stars.
· Our goal is to get a team of three or four 3*+ heroes as quick as possible. 3 is all we need to get to a level high enough to grind to. You get these as follows
· Your second 3* hero will come from beating the starter quests you unlock close to the start. It is about 18 levels you can beat within your first few days. Doing this will award you several epic troop and hero coins, which will get you at least one 3* hero
· Your third will come by accumulating 300 gems and buying a summon. Ideally buy one of the current seasonal summons, as they guarantee a rare, epic, or legendary summon. Mine let me pick a specific element, so that made sure I did not get a hero of an element I already had. Getting 300 gems will take a few days
· Now you simply play the game, levelling up your heroes when you can and try push to Province 7, stage 1. This will take 5-7 days. You will be around level 10 at this point.
· Once you are here, simply play this stage over and over, making sure to use your world energy every 3 hours. Do this until you can comfortably do the same with Province 8, world 1. You can then play this stage until you reach level 20.
· Province 8, world 1 yields 857 XP. You can beat it twice per hour. It takes 458k xp to get from level 10-level 20. Assuming you are not playing at night, and use all your world energy generated for 17 hours of each day; so you have 5 or 6 sessions a day, this will yield ~30k xp per day, this would take a further 15 days to complete. So around 20 days of total play. Giving a week spare.
· Feel free to push to any higher levels you like, Providence 8 is good enough to give the xp you need though.
Building level recommendations
As I said earlier, you do not need to worry about upgrading things much. For the most part, simply upgrade your mines, farms, storages, and strongholds.
· Stronghold: aim for level 10 as this unlocks the barracks, which is helpful. Not worth higher than that though
· Farms and mines: aim for level 7, past this they become expensive and not worth the money if you are playing a few weeks
· Training camps: level 2 is all you need to generate uncommon heroes
· Forge: level 2 is fine
· House: maybe upgrade one to level 5, not important though
Miscellaneous comments
· Raids can be done with raid points. They give a little resources, but overall they are not worth worrying about doing much. The matchmaking is atrocious, so you will get unwinnable matches very often. Only do If you really want to.
· Keep an eye out for the quests, in particular the XP quests; they can yield some solid XP rewards to help you out
· Recruits: you will constantly be notified you cannot hold more recruits. This does not matter, you can earn recruits back so easily losing out on them is irrelevant

Guide Version 1.0
Written: 3-28-2023
-------------------PART I-----------------
Baseline: We need to establish a baseline to start from so you can expect similar performance numbers once all of the adjustments are made.
OS: Dell’s OEM Windows 11. If you have already installed Retail Windows 11 to eliminate Dell’s software – I get it, I am with you. However, I was only able to achieve this performance with Dell’s provided OS since we need AWCC at least for initial setup of fan curves based on temps, more on that later. If you need to revert to Dell's Windows 11, you can download their recovery tool here: https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/osiso/recoverytool
-You will be asked for your service tag #.
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Drivers: Install ALL of Dell’s recommended drivers/software packages via Dell Support or Alienware Update once you are booted into the Dell OEM Windows 11 OS. This includes, as of 3-28-2023, the 1.5.2 BIOS. DO NOT install retail Nvidia GPU drivers from the NVIDIA website, only install GPU drivers from Dell Support, specifically version: “NVIDIA-GeForce-RTX-4050-4060-4070-4080-4090-Graphics_Y24JP_WIN_31.0.15.2852_A01”
BIOS: Check the images on this post for my exact BIOS setup. I only changed about 16 items on my BIOS. The recommended changes should also keep you on BIOS 1.5.2 UNLESS you manually update the BIOS yourself.
BEFORE CONTINUING RESET BIOS TO FACTORY DEFAULTS. This option is available as a load defaults button on the bottom left of the BIOS screen. Select this option and boot back into bios before continuing.
BIOS Settings:
Boot Config: Disable/Enable Secureboot. This is disabled to boot into the USB flash drive you created, and re-enabled once you are done: https://imgur.com/eDl6f6B
Display: Disable hybrid graphics (Advanced Optimus): https://imgur.com/WA0Qg02
Power: Disable the lid switch. It has been a culprit of my system turning on unintentionally: https://imgur.com/E6y4fjI
Power 2: Set AC setting to your desired need, this is a desktop replacement PC for me so I set it to Primary AC use. https://imgur.com/XD8pzOh
Pre-Boot: Set Fastboot to minimal if you want a little faster boot times. https://imgur.com/P2II8zQ
Storage: Set to AHCI mode, if it is set to RAID it has seemed to cause issues with 2ndary NVME drives dissapearing in windows. https://imgur.com/xe9BYyk
Update/Recovery: Disable UEFI capsulated updates so OS can not push BIOS updates. https://imgur.com/wAdXXGg
Connection: Disable UEFI network stack for faster boot times as well: https://imgur.com/tCNSzdV
Performance: Leave all settings toggled on, but enable ResiZable BAR support: https://imgur.com/yf1puSl NOTE: Remember we reset the BIOS to default settings so in your BIOS screen your overlock settings should be modifiable and set to OCLevel2. It greyes out but is enabled the next time you load into BIOS.
Software:
If you have installed Intel XTU. Uninstall it before continuing. This software will revert the BIOS setting for the undervolt hack. I do not use XTU at all in this guide.
AWCC 6
Used to set fan profiles but not to control CPU or GPU:
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=d4x01&oscode=w2021&productcode=alienware-m18-r1-laptop
GPU monitoring and clock tuning:
MSI Afterburner: https://www.msi.com/Landing/afterburnegraphics-cards
UV Application and Enforcement:
Throttlestop 9.5: https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-throttlestop/
Temp and Power monitoring:
HWInfo: https://www.fosshub.com/HWiNFO.html
-Use the Installer option if you want it installed or the portable option if you want it standalone.
​
​
-------------------PART II-----------------
OK – once you have all of that in place we can get to the hard bit.
DISCLAIMER: Any process followed beyond this point is at your own risk. I do not encourage or recommend changing any BIOS settings with 3rd party tools. This part of the guide is a means to prove that it is possible to undervolt without adverse CPU effects when the BIOS is set to allow for it.
Needs:
1x USB Flash drive.
RU.RU.EFI: https://ruexe.blogspot.com/
-Download the file by clicking the green link on the page “encrypted zip file here”
https://github.com/JamesAmiTw/ru-uefi/raw/940709871b94993f19bbdab698bf4a1e40c5f459/5.32.0423.zip
-Password: CC!2AmMWZSa4f3D8
EFI Shell file to enable the ability to boot to the RU.efi tool:
https://github.com/chipsec/chipsec/blob/main/chipsec/modules/tools/secureboot/Shell.efi
-Rename the downloaded file to bootx64.efi it is going to go into the efi > boot folder on the USB drive. (see below)
Once you have the above files downloaded:

1. Format the USB flash drive as FAT32 ( https://imgur.com/anOlRaO )

a. Drive label can be anything you want it to be. I used BIOS for mine.
Setup the file structure for the USB Drive as follows: -Visual aid: https://imgur.com/kd5HSI0 / https://imgur.com/1i1WlSN
​
You are now ready to boot into the USB drive. Restart your laptop and at the first splash screen as soon as the laptop screen powers on and shows the Alienware logo press the F12 key: https://imgur.com/B74QiXW
You will be brought to the boot screen. Select your USB flash drive by left clicking it. It will then boot into that drive: https://imgur.com/wtZ1J7A
When booting into the drive it will briefly show the alienware logo again and should take you to the efi shell like this: https://imgur.com/Y36yV2X
You then need to type a few commands to boot into RU.efi: https://imgur.com/ihYjVQL
Commands: Type in: fs0: (then press enter) Type in: cd efi (then press enter) Type in: dir (then press enter) -This shows the list of files to confirm you have the file structure correct. You should se RU.efi Type in: RU.efi (then press enter)
The above set of commands will launch RU.efi and take you into the software: https://imgur.com/RrFADy2
-Dismiss the initial window by pressing any key. I use Spacebar or ESC keys. They do the same thing.
You will then see this screen. It can be overwhelming, but changes have to be committed in this software, so the ESC key is your friend to undo temporary changes if a key is accidentially pressed. https://imgur.com/UJXCZWz
​
You will need to navigate to the section of hex values for CPUSetup as you see in the image above. To get there, press a key combo ALT + = keys together (ALT key plus equal sign key) -This takes you to a list of sub menus, use the arrow keys to navigate down to CPUSetup. The list is in alphabetical order. https://imgur.com/UXb5Vo3
Once CPUSetup is selected, it has 4 pages of values (the bottom right shows pages 0000 of 0004) Take note of this as you will need to navigate the pages later. https://imgur.com/UJXCZWz
The values are ordered by hex value location, the left side rows define the primary place value and the columns across the top represent the secondary place value. This is important for locating the correct values to adjust such as changing it from 01 to 00.
First, these are the only two values you need for this laptop: VarOffset: 0x43 (CFG Lock) 1 -> 0 VarOffset: 0x381 (Undervoltage Protection) 1 -> 0
There are two more values, but they should be set correctly if you followed my BIOS settings prior.
VarOffset: 0x10E (Overclocking Lock) 1 -> 0 VarOffset: 0x1D9 (Overclocking Features) 0 -> 1
​
How to understand the page and section you need to be on. For the 0x43 setting, on page 0000 of CPUSetup, scroll down to the 4th line which is 0040, and then scroll over to the right until you get to 03. This location represents 0043 with 004 being the 4th row and 0003 being column 03. This value will be set to 01, change it to 0 and press enter. It will then be highlighted. Press CTRL + W to commit the change to BIOS. https://imgur.com/sMTU8vR
To Disable Undervolt protection we need to then change pages within CPUSetup. You hold the CTRL key and then press the down arrow key on the keyboard for PAGEDOWN. You can also use the Numpad BUT MAKE SURE NUMLOCK IS OFF so it uses the function and does not enter values, as you would accidentally change a value on one of the values you have highlighted instead of changing pages.
Change pages until you see 0300 as the topleft most value. Then navigate line by line down to 0380 and then navigate to the 01 column to reach the 0381 value. Modify this from 01 to 0 and then press CTRL + W key combo to commit the chances.
​
You can then press ALT+Q to leave the software and press the power button on your laptop to power down. Undervolting is now unlocked! Don't forget to re-enable secureboot and remove the thumb drive before booting back into windows.
​
-------------------PART III-----------------
--Section A--
Windows Settings:
I recommend some windows settings as well to make sure you are setup and ready to go.
​
Sleep: Windows 11 sleep mode is borked at the moment, so I disabled sleep settings and only use shutdown or hibernate to control power states of the laptop.
Start Menu > Type "control" and open the control panel. I prefer the classic list view so in the top right of control panel select View by: and Choose small or large icons. Then find "Power Options". Under the balanced power plan (default), chose "Change plan settings". Under "put computer to sleep" chose never / never. Display turn off time is up to you. Press the Left arrow back button to go to the previous menu <-- and then click "chose what the power buttons do". In this menu, select "Change settings that are currently unavailable" with the shield next to it. Confirm you want to edit that menu and there are 4 radio buttons at the bottom of that page that will go from gray to blue / unchecked. Uncheck sleep and Fast Startup (also not 100% working without issues). Check Hyibernate and Lock. Then click save changes at the bottom of the page. Done.
--Section B--
AWCC: This software is bugged, esp version 6, but it does do a good job of fan control once you get it setup. The settings stick once you go to disable it later on. Open the software (requires a reboot after install for values to be correctly adjusted) and then go to the speedometer icon on the far left near the top of the window to modify the performance plan. I chose "custom" and left all of those values for clocks AS-IS. But at the bottom below the different sections is a toggle between Performance > Thermal. Selecting that will change the view to show the fan profiles. For all 4 sections, choose custom and then "smooth" and then set your fan profile. I used a smooth curve starting at 0 and then ramping to 100% at the top right. it looks like a straight line from 0,0 (bottom left) to 100,100 (top right) for all 4 sections. -After this is all set and applied, close the software then go disable these dell services. Stop the service then set it to disabled.

1. Alienware Client Management Service
2. Dell Data Vault Collector
3. Dell Data Vaule Service API
4. Dell Data Vault Processor
5. Dell TechHub

-You will need to re-enable these if you use the Alienware Update Service. Alternatively you can update driver from their website using their detection tool which works well enough.
​
--Section C--
HWInfo: When launching the software, it prompts you for 2 checkboxes, I use "sensors only" and click OK. This will pull up a window with a list of values. I collapsed all sections except for GPU and GPU related ones to watch temps. The value I search for when undervolting to make sure my values in ThrottleStop stick are: https://imgur.com/FsyaqPy
​
--Section D--
ThrottleStop. Place the extracted folder after downloading it into a folder you can easily access. Example: C:\Tools\Throttlestop\ -This makes it easier to find during setting up of the Scheduled Task for auto-launch on boot up.
Once the folder is placed in the desired location, start it by launching throttlestop.exe you will see the intiial window here: https://imgur.com/gfF8iIO click FIVR button near the bottom right to open the next page to enable undervolting.
FIVR Page for CORE: https://imgur.com/7zmTBYl
FIVR Page for Cache: https://imgur.com/rmBCLkN
Once the above values are set, we need to modify our options in Throttlestop: https://imgur.com/vQhAA3E
Finally for Throttlestop we need to set it as a scheduled task that launches automatically on boot.
​
--Section E--
Open Task Scheduler by searching in the start menu for "task scheduler"
Right-click Task Scheduler Library and select "create basic task". Give it a name in the next window.
Trigger: Select When the computer starts
Action: Start a program
Click browse to navigate to where you stored throttlestop.exe. And then NEXT
Before closing the window, check the box for "Open the properties dialog.." for this task and click Finish.
You will then have the properties menu open for your new task: https://imgur.com/kiIQYeC -Copy my settings, you will be prompted for your user password when saving changes after selecting "run whether user is logged in or not" and "run with highest privileges"
Then click the Conditions tab and match my settings: https://imgur.com/hFiUbeh
Then click the Actions tab and match my settings: https://imgur.com/bA74u1z
Click OK to save (you will be prompted for your user password). This saves the task into your task library.
​
--Section F--
MSI Afterburner:
Setup your GPU overclocks however you want, I need to clean up and dial in mine further, but the below settings will help you set it up to start with windows and apply your set profile. https://imgur.com/wg7dKJe
-Everyone will have different results on what frequencies are stable for them due to silicone lottery. Tweak and adjust as needed on your own.
Be sure to click the gear icon on the left of the software and select the options for "Start with windows" and "Start Minimized".
-------------------PART IV-----------------
Source References:
https://www.reddit.com/Alienware/comments/123sd8k/m18_undervolting_01v_cinebench_r23/
Thread posted by Think_Noise7109
BIOS Mod Guide: https://starkeblog.com/firmware/uefi/ru.efi/bios/2020/08/01/modifying-bios-using-ru-efi.html
​
RUefi source: https://ruexe.blogspot.com/
​
​
​
FIN
P.S.- If I missed anything let me know I can adjust and provide help. Remember, this guide is at your own risk. I am not affiliated with Alienware or Dell.

Previous
​
Across the seas separating the dwarven Alpine from the lush beaches of california, The green forests stretched off into the horizon covering the rolling hills and towering mountains in a blanket of green,slowly fading away to reveal grey rock and white snow as the mountains stretched higher and higher into the clouds. The howl of the wind was all that could be heard from these mountains.Distant screeching of jet engines and howl of artillery shells and rockets quickly replaced the calm rustling of leaves and quiet chirping of birds.In an instant, the white capped mountains of the Dwarven alpine were covered in a blanket of fire, beginning the long grind of the mountains into the ground
Enhanced by dwarven magic, perfected by experience and technology accumulated from years of warfare, the human arsenal had no shortage of explosives. The tall mountains stretching high into the clouds will soon find themselves flattened given the time, just as the Dwarven Archmage had flattened the Tibetan mountain range almost a year ago, humanity will now return the favour. It will take time but soon the dwarves will find themselves cornered, but for now the bombardment served to ensure that no dwarven force would be able to cross the sea and reinforce the patches of resistance forces hiding underground in human territory.
Underneath these towering chunks of rock, The Dwarven city of Ganzir sprawled outwards across a rocky plateau,surrounded by an abyss that led directly to the planet’s mantle, High above the city distant rumbling gently shook the stone roof. The dwarves would be safe from all human attacks for now but they knew it is only a matter of time before the humans would find some way of circumventing their underwise air tight defence. Smoke stacks spewing black smog, churning out new equipment for the dwarven war effort, electrical cables stretched haphazardly from them reaching every building providing them with the lifeblood of any sufficiently industrialised civilization with the help of primitive coal generators stolen from the humans. Within this city. A dwarf by the name of Hallthrim was running up the steps of a towering stone palace, a loud creaking echoed throughout its massive halls,as the dwarf signalled the large stone doors to be opened, inside tall dwarven statues stood, holding gigantic braziers which served as the halls sole light sources. Its decorated pillars stretch up towards the tall ceiling, strolling into the chamber Hallthrim walked up the red carpeted floor towards a second reinforced stone door. Which opened to reveal a single empty stone throne overlooking a long wooden table, filled with paper maps, and stone figurines, around which 5 dwarves clad in shining enchanted armour, their hammers, swords and spears, literally glowing in their holsters.1 was sat at the head of the table clad in fur robes and a gold crown with 2 sat on either side of the table, 1 had was clad in shining white the other was clad in polished black. Both bearing a different insignia on their shoulders. On the table itself in the place of several empty chairs were the helmets of several dwarves, laden with shrapnel and bullet holes, placed on their respective parts of the table. The room quite similarly to the last one was silent. The atmosphere was grim, the 3 dwarves stared at the paper map on the table, as another stone figurine that had been silently moving across a part of the map marked as the Neptune Sea, crumbled into rubble before their very eyes with 7 more stationed in what was marked the Ironside highlands following suit.
“ How the hel did this happen!” One of the generals yelled his head in his hands as he watched his division literally crumble before his very eyes, “ A Year ago these insect’s barbaric weapons could barely scratch us!” he yelled
“ Its all because of Baldur! If only that damn idiot hadn’t gotten himself killed.” The dwarf clad in black, with the insignia of a red gryphon slammed the table with his fist.
“ Calm down Treant, none of us could have predicted the humans would have been able to take him down” The dwarf in white bearing the insignia of a golden dragon answered, as yet another similar dragon figurine on the board crumbled.
“Yea, but what shall we do now, Halvar?”
“I…I know not.” He said, his face looking down onto the board in defeat “Forgive me my lord, we have failed you.”
The dwarf at the head of the table sat forward, “ It is alright, the humans have yet to figure out how to properly enter our lands. Let us retreat what we can on the surface and shore up our defences, underground. Lure them into our element.”
“ That is an excellent idea my lord. We shall execute this at once.”
“ I’m sorry to interrupt my lords..but I have a request from the Elven mage we had harboured known as Eva.” Hallthrim interrupted. “ She claims she is on the verge of something big.She just needs a little more time”
“ We have no time for more of her outlandish claims of the power of ‘atoms’ and ‘molecules’……we have invested far too much into her ‘endeavours’ and have received far too little. We had given her everything she had claimed she needed, human databases, human analysis equipment, even the giant metal ring thing that she wanted so badly we had stolen for her yet she has yielded no results.”Halvar yelled, before being interrupted by a distant rumble, followed dust falling from the ceiling
“ Alright, fine, I will pay her a visit and we’ll decide from what she has got so far.” Halvar
“ Thank you my lord.” Hallthrim said before running back out of the war room.
“And in other news, celebrations are erupting across freshly liberated Europe and America as liberation forces have now pushed the remnants of the dwarves off all human lands… Yes you heard that correctly, viewers. Earth is now officially back under human control” A news reporter’s voice reverberated through the speakers of the holodesk in front of Jean, inside a well furnished victorian era style office.Muffled cheers and celebrations of troops and civilians alike could be heard from both outside her door as well as in the streets below as long separated families are finally after 4 years of constant reunited within the Terran capital. The once grim and smog filled industrial zones of the core human territories,was now entirely unrecognisable as multi-colored fireworks lit up the night sky, and the humm of heavy machinery, as well as the typical chatter of the human workforce had been replaced entirely with cheers and pops of fresh champagne bottle being opened. Most of these fresh bottles had text written on their fronts in dwarven tongue,many still held contempt for the dwarves for the enslavement of many of their friends and family, as such they had no quarrel with using the captured dwarven supplies for our own recreational needs. The air itself had a nice lavender scent to it, the once smog filled air completely cleansed of its pollution, thanks to the help of what were once Elven high ranking officers and concentration camp wardens who now with the help of a little invasive surgery and corrective neural implants now ‘willingly’ used their magical abilities to better give back to the human community.
The news report was playing in an open tab next to multiple tabs of wordy military reports and civilian reports, which Jean flipped through disinterestedly with her left hand, whilst taking a sip of her wine with her right. The Orcs had easily capitulated following the neutralisation of their Arcmage, They might have had our access to our military technology but without their Arcmage, they had no idea how to use them in combat, as such many of their tanks ended up dying in a cavalry charge at our more superior tanks and anti-tank infantry squads. Their air force was quickly crippled as the Orcs had no idea what stealth or radar actually meant. Which meant that even with access to advanced stealth jets like the F22 and Su57, many were easily shot down when their pilots engaged our air superiority fighters in head to head combat resembling primitive dogfights of WW2. Or even worse tried to do gun strafing runs on anti-aircraft batteries in open plains with clear skies. Once their human equipment ran out the Orcish tribes quickly agreed to our terms of surrender. They apparently had no problem turning on the Dwarves once we promised them that they could use them as livestock instead of us.
The dwarves however are another problem, though we have pushed them off our lands,finishing them off proves another issue,The dwarven underground tunnel network is immense,and ever changing. Cramped ever shifting underground tunnels prevent us from even beginning to find an entrance to their cities. Not to mention the fact that the earth itself on dwarven ground seems to have an appetite for literally swallowing any heavy equipment that landed on their beaches. Jean had thus ordered a pause to the offensive, having liberated almost all of the human population from their concentration camps and all of our lands. There was simply no reason to even continue with a ground invasion of Dwarven lands. Thus she had given her men a well earned break,for after this week. High command will order a high intensity bombing of dwarven lands, the lights of which this world and even humanity itself has never seen.
Thinking on this, she swiped through another report, a seemingly routine logistical report of the newly liberated CERN. These reports were ordered to be taken by her in order to take account on what human technologies were stolen by the dwarves so as to be able to create effective counters to them should the dwarves decide to employ them, thus Jean would usually overlook reports on the civilian sector, but this one was interesting everything had been accounted for except for the large hadron collider, an obsolete piece of research equipment that was supposed to discover new quantum particles.That had since been turned into a tourist exhibit in the early 2050s. Now why would the Dwarves want that, of all the equipment in cern and all the military industrial complexes they had access to, they decided to take the one thing that was effectively useless? She had vigilantly read through all the logistical reports, fearing that our hydrogen centrifuges, nuclear reactor cores, or even calcutrons would be found missing but they were all there. Instead the dwarves took a tourist attraction? She leaned back into her office chair and stared at the ceiling overhead for a few moments, before getting up from her chair and walking towards her office window.
The celebrations continued to echo through the hallway outside her office as well as in the streets below. She looked out above the squat military factories into the well lit streets and towering skyscrapers of the residential districts,which stretched high into the skies, fireworks launching from their roofs.
For this first time in 3 years, the threat of extinction has been lifted, For the first time, soldiers and pilots have the chance to stand down, and for the first time, our missile silos and artillery pieces that line the grand wall in the distance lay silent.Silently watching over the large sprawling cityscape and industrial sprawl below. 3 long years of war, death and misery had finally seemed to pay off. The Elves and Orcs have been defeated and the Dwarves are on the brink of joining them soon. She breathed in the lavender scented air, through her open window the skies were clear and the full moon shone bright in the night sky, “Maybe I’m overthinking this.” She muttered to herself, it is likely the Dwarves simply did not understand how we manufacture and create our nuclear weapons and went for the flashiest and most alien looking thing present.
“ Marshall!” a voice shouted from the street below, it was one the members of high command, currently shitfaced, with a bottle of Dwarven brew in his hand surrounded by other members of command all equally wasted. “ When are yer joining us.”
Jean looked down and smiled, “ I’ll be there in a bit!” She called.
“ Your working too hard Ma’am come on down and enjoy yourself a bit, we know your part robot but it can’t hurt to live a little.” Another officer shouted
“ Yea! Science assistant Kim here suggested that we test the capabilities of the cyber-liver we installed. ”The ballistics division head added
“ What? I did not say that!..” She shouted playfully punching Frederick in the shoulder,
Jean looked down endearingly at her celebrating team, it had been forever since she last had a proper celebration. Walking back into her office, she closed her holoprojector before leaving, to join the celebrating crowd below. She was sure she was just overthinking this.
Meanwhile, in the lush green jungles of the Elven Archipelago, A mix of white concrete and clear glass skyscrapers had been built alongside the towering trees of the thriving Elven megapolis. Inside one of these massive trees, Marshall Jean was taking a tour, accompanied by Fredrick who was now walking with the aid of a black cane. His cybernetics was making a slow recovery after the encounter with the Orcish Archmage had nearly fried half his brain. A few power armoured guards accompanied the 2 as a security detail and led by an Elf known as Professor Greenstead.The newly appointed Governor and liaison between the human government and their newly acquired Elven colonies. Having been head of an Elven group known by the Elves as the Human Rights Activists,her group had worked alongside captured or separated human military forces to help break out and save many human lives from Arcane experimentation and concentration camps. At the price of being branded heretics by her own government, in the end when the war had ended, the human expeditionary force had found her and her group hidden deep in the jungles of the fringe islands within a small camouflage town which housed thousands of rescued humans. So as a recognition of their actions she was appointed the new governor of the Elven Colonies and her closest officers were appointed as high ranking administrative staff.
The corridor around them had a homely feel, but yet mystical. The walls were made of oak bark while the floors were polished stone brick. Many smaller wooden doors flanked the Marshall’s entourage, with Elves, clad in blue robes running up and down the corridors with scrolls in hand. Leading the Marshall down the corridor was a tall elf,with red hair. She was clad in green robes and walked with a certain spring in her step. Her aura was extremely energetic and lively, as she introduced the Marshall and the Director to the facility.
After a short walk the entourage came across a large open wooden door, which opened up to a massive clearing, a wooden spiral staircase, sprawled both up and down as far as the eye could see, leaving quite a large empty space in the centre of the stairwell, where a steel bridge led to an elevator that was being built in the centre of the stairwell. Around it many wooden platforms floated up and down with Elven scholars riding upon them, their arms filled with scrolls, accompanied by human scientists. Human scientists walked alongside the Elven mages up and down the spiral staircase, rushing to their respective labs or arcane chambers and classrooms.
“And now that you are familiar with the dorms, here is the central staircase. Each level of the tree has been specialised to a different field of arcane discovery, with a new level expansion being dedicated to the field of combining the Human Physics research with Elven Water magics. That is if your grace would allow us that honour that is.`` The Elf spoke,
“ Thank you Professor Greenstead, and, please do call me Marshall. We humans are not governed by the imperial system.” The Marshall replied to the lively professor.
“ Ahh of course! You humans are governed after a ‘Merry to crazy’ right?” Greenstead smiled.
“ A Meritocracy professor.” Frederick corrected
“ Yes! A government where the ruling class is decided by the academic or military achievements of the individual, Rather than bloodlines. Maybe if we Elves had that kind of sense we could have avoided the war altogether.” The professor said, her smile disappearing for a second as she led the group down a level through a glass auto door and into another smaller corridor. Instantly the environment was a far cry from what it was,natural wooden bark was quickly replaced with concrete and glass, the plank wood floor was replaced with that of white sterile ceramic tiles. To the left and right large glass windows peered into labs filled with a mix of Elven magical equipment and human electronics, stone runic tablets stood next to human electronic ones, while Elven spell scrolls sat upon keyboards in front of flatscreens or holo displays. Large biovats stood upon floors inscribed with arcane circles. Inside Human Scientist, worked alongside Orcish warlocks, and Elven Mages to further their understanding of all their respective fields, “Anyway, here we are at the Aracnoscience level.” The professor said as she introduced them to the labs which surround them. “ Thanks to the approval and funding from you Mr Fredrick, we have made tremendous breakthroughs in multiple fields, the labs you see here are dedicated to life magic or as you humans like to call it, biology.” She said as their group walked down the corridor. “ Ahh, its no problem professor, Though I am sorry we had to put that chip in your head in order to do this. It's just… the safety of our own people has to come first, you know having no magic and all that.”
“It's no problem at all, director, as long as it does not hinder our abilities ‘most’ of us are ok with it.”
“ Ah, that's great to know and all, professor, but why exactly have you called us here?” Marshall Jean interrupted as they continued to walk down the rows of laboratories and libraries.
“ Oh Oh, I’m glad you asked Marshall, its because of this.” She said as they reached the end of the corridor stopping before a large stone door, carved with runes and engravings. She gently knocked on the stone door, causing it to slowly creak open. Greeting them behind the right side of the doorframe, was a human scientist in a white lab coat,holding an electronic table. Her long blonde hair tied in a bun. To her right was a slightly taller red haired Elf clad in white robes and holding a wooden tablet in her hand, and to her left a towering green muscular Orc warlock with black hair clad in a similar white lab coat which looked like it’s buttons were about to burst should the Orc decide to flex and holding a 2 metre long wooden staff tipped with the skull of an oxen. “ These are the researchers that are responsible for the breakthrough.” Professor Greenstead said gesturing towards the team of 3, whilst stepping into the poorly lit stone antichamber. A large transparent glass tank was placed in the centre of the room, The stone circle around it was inscribed with various symbols compromising Elven script. In front of the tank was the cloned bodies of the 3 archmages, Dwarf, Elf and Orc, Each of the bodies was placed in the centre of an Orcish Arcane symbol. Their skulls were cut open and their cloned brains were removed and placed at their feet, facing the tank with an array of electrodes covering each brain, their wires linking them to the tank.The tank itself had Dwarven Rune carved into the base reading absorb. Inside the tank was a sort of brain, it was suspended in the air by wires hanging from the roof of the tank which then stretched down the back of the tank into the base, on closer inspection, the brain was not organic, it looked like a brain from afar but instead of the grey squishy biomass, it was made of warm black steel. The back of the room was a large table filled to the brim with human computers, Elven wooden tablets, and scrolls as well as Orcish bone charms.
“ Hello, It is…an hon…a pleasure to meet with you, Marshall, I am lead scientist Amelia. These are my colleagues Guranak and Windstrider.” She said introducing herself and her colleagues.
“ Please the honour is mine,do explain to me wha.. What exactly am I looking at right now”
“ YES!” Amelia’s face lit up, a little similar to Fredrick when he had first introduced his breakthrough in enchantment.
“ We have, after extensive…very extensive… research and effort, created an artificial blank slate,a mind capable of absorbing the souls of the archmage without their memories and in turn wield, their magical abilities as well.” She explained gesturing to the tank. As she led the group around the circle. “ However, what you are seeing is simply a testbed we had set up to test whether what kinds of minds could take that kind of magic. Guranak and Windstrider will explain the rest” She said, passing the explanation on to her colleagues as the group approached the large table at the back of the room.
“ Souls, and memory are very hard to separate, so we use elven life magic to leave memory in body while Orcish soul magic absorbs the soul.” Guranak began
“ Yes indeed, however the mana released from separating 2 fundamental parts of life from one another will squash any human, Elven, Orc or Dwarven mind, it has even proven too much from some of the ‘syn-tee.thick’ minds you humans have made. Thus we have made use of your new found mastery of dwarven enchantments to help resist this mana explosion.” Windstrider continued
“However since according to Guranak, and Windstrider our clones don’t technically have the proper souls, we would require the use of the original bodies and brains of the Archmages to create one capable of wielding the full might of these 3 formidable foes.” Amelia completed.
“ So your telling me, this thing would allow the user to use the power of all 3 archmages.”
“Yea.” Amelia answered, Meanwhile Fredrick was just staring at the tank in awe, his mouth agape.
“ Holy crap, you guys actually did it, my guys have been working on this for years t o no avail and you guys finally did it.” Frederick smiled, a wide grin appearing on his face. “ The possibilities behind this are endless.”
“ I don’t know, is there a possibility this thing might go rogue?” Marshall Jean asked
Amelia let out a worried sigh, “ Yes we thought of that, and that is why we need to ask you for one more thing….” She said, looking away for a second. “ We need a human host, more specifically, you. We need you to host it. ”
“ Wait, wait ,wait…” Frederick turned away from the tank. “ You want the Marshall to host this.”
“ I mean why not, Being the only human to ever merge with another mind and survive, The Marshall would be the best candidate to host this thing.”
“ Hmm, I see, and what are the chances of failure.”
“ Unknown, we have not had the chance of merging the testbed to a human host and we do not know what that might do to the person’s personality, or even soul for that matter.”
“ Then we cannot pro…”
“ I’ll do it.” Jean interrupted.
“What? We don’t know what it could do to you. You might go insane, die, or worse.”
“ I’ll do it, Fredrick, this… this thing would be the key to ending the war once and for all.”
“ Marshall, I cannot allow the Jeopardisation of humanity’s greatest asset.”
“ Please, for once just trust me.”
Frederick looked at the Marshall in the eyes before turning to look at the machine
“ Alright, but I will be overseeing the process.”
“ YES! Alright!” Amelia jumped into the air, cheering.
“ You will not regret this, Ma am. I am confident this will work.”
A few day later, in a lab in the human capital in the same facility that turned the tide of the war, the facility that gave humanity the power to save itself from extinction. Jean was hooked up to the synthetic brain, the cloned dwarven brain that had once resided on the nape of her neck was now removed, replaced with sprawling cables linking her directly to a glass tank with the synthetic brain. It was set up the same as seen before in the Human-Elven labs, except the 3 bodies were in different stages of decay as opposed to the fresh ones before. Their brains were still fresh though as they had been kept as fresh as possible to provide the blueprints for their clones. Frederick stood in front of Jean, who was lying on an inclined bed. Amelia and her team were watching the 2 from a glass viewing window above them.
“ Are you ready for this Jean?”
“ Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“ Alright, this is going to hurt.” He said, signalling a thumbs up to the team above. Instantly, an arc of electricity surged through the tank, its runes began to glow, as did the Orcish symbols and the Elvish circle. The bodies and the brains began to hover upward as electricity in the form of lightning came from the base of the tank, and arcane energies alike flowed from the circle and the texts through them. Soon the brains began to disintegrate its fragments flowing into the tank through the base of the tank, through the dwarven runes, their biological mass being absorbed by the runes and converted into an electrical signal which was sent directly to the mechanical brain which now surged with power. Jean screamed in pain and agony as this happened, the power of the synthetic mind being passed onto her own, sending every single pain receptor left in her body into overload. Passing out from the pain soon after, The lights began to flicker and soon after the bodies began disintegrating as well, their biomass quickly turned to ashes before exploding, coating the entire room in ash. The pulses of electricity slowed and the runes all began to slowly dim. Once the pulses stopped and the runes went dark. The room fell silent, the humm of the overhead lighting the only thing making a sound. “ Jean?” Frederick whispered as he slowly walked over to her. Jean let out a loud gasp as she shot upright. A muffled cheer could be heard from the viewing room above.
“ Oh thank god.” Frederick said, “ How do you feel.”
“ Amazing!” She said unplugging herself from the synthetic mind. She felt powerful, unlike the power she had before with the dwarf, one of pure rage. This time she felt in control, but she did see the world completely differently. She could see the blood flowing through Fredrick’s veins, she could see his soul, a bright blue glow just above his brainstem.Its a shame she couldn’t have any of the memories absorbed, having been corrupted by memes and all. Though She could still feel the air move in and out of his lungs as he breathed. Similarly she saw this through the one way glass of the viewing deck. Every air current, or movement she could see. Similarly, the earth underneath her didn’t even feel properly solid anymore. She felt it move and slide above the mantle of the planet, even ever so slightly. It felt like clay that she could just… A boulder was immediately lifted from the ground, tearing through the ceramic tile from and slamming through the ceiling tearing a hole all the way to the roof before being flung into the sky and off into the horizon.
“Damn.” she said staring at the roof. “ Oops” we let out a weak smile. Frederick was staring at the ceiling with his mouth agape, “holy shit… it worked” he muttered, before looking back at the Marshall. “Now that you have their magic, what will be our next move?” He asked recomposing himself.
“ I think…it's time we put an end to this Once and For all.”
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