I'm at the point where the new ailments keel stacking up. Now I can't breathe. No one believes me. But I will go to the er in a couple days because the rest of the system has failed me. Pcp pushes healthy diet and depression pills. Neurologist hopefully help someone because they don't care about me. Went to urgent care and they were amazing. Did everything they could do but as they said. They are there to get ya in and out on a fast heal. It's really just pcps that don't dp there job.
I will not live a cursed half life. I'll kill myself soon. But I'm going to keep trying. ER is a last resort.
I can't breath. How can you survive when you can't breathe and the pcp just keeps saying "we will know when it gets worse.

I rested my chin on the palm of my hand, overlooking the serene, green scenery of the rice fields outside of my classroom. The mountains stood tall and unmoving from afar, dividing the clouds that pass through its summit. I sigh in relaxation, appreciating the peaceful surroundings that one cannot find in the cities.
I snapped out of my quiet trance as a small truck carrying hay passed by the road, and I once again noticed the faint yet consistent mashes of buttons coming from my only friend in the province. Since our teacher announced that she had to leave class early, leaving us in class for the rest of our last period today, my friend over to my right has been playing the newly released game nonstop. The new MMORPG game, Alterra.
My blonde-haired friend Hirato was playing on a portable gaming console. His back has been arched towards the console for the past 15 minutes, his eyes are practically glued to the console’s screen. I inched my seat toward him to take a closer look. He was trying to defeat a monster resembling a three-headed snake—a Hydra. His character’s health was one hit away from hitting zero, but the Hydra was practically undamaged.
“Hey, Hirato,” I called him. “How long are you going to play that game?”
“Awww, I died!” He says exasperatedly, leaning back on his chair in annoyance. “I’ve been trying to beat this boss since yesterday and there’s no luck at all! I even have my gear maxed out for this level, and still...”
Hirato continued speaking as he packed his console into his backpack, “I wouldn’t have any problem at all had you continued playing video games with me. You could help me beat the boss, you know."
Then, Hirato started to make some "drama" in a weird, playful manner. "Come on, Naruki! We were best buddies since we were kids! Whatever must have happened between us, my best friend?” The bell rings across the school building, indicating the end of classes for the day. At the same time, I made a disgusted look at him after saying something corny that must have come from some TV show.
“Stop it with that little skit of yours. We are still best buddies, but I’ve grown up from playing games. Remember, we’re going to college next year and I’ve been preparing for it ever since.” I grabbed my bag from beneath my seat, and just as I stood up, the wooden plank I stood on creaked.
"That's not true, and there's no way you'll pass up on an MMORPG like Alterra! There's no way you stopped playing just for college." Hirato claimed, but he quickly switched into a pondering tone. “Though you made me think about college. You want to go to Tokyo University from what I recall, but I thought you were tired of the city because it’s too crowded there?” He asked.
“It’ll give me a greater chance to get hired for a job with a high salary. My dad also said that it takes some time to get used to the city when I’ve been living all my life in the rice fields.” I ignored Hirato's first statement--but it's true. There's no way I can quit gaming, so I lied to him about it, but I also don't want to take precious time off when I'm studying for a test that will literally decide my future.
“You’re already thinking of your future far ahead.”
“Well, do you want to stay in this school?”
As I took another step towards the door, the wood plank creaked again, filling the short silence in Hirato’s pause.
“...You make a point.” He uttered in agreement.
My school was a single-story building with multiple rooms, occupied by a few students in different grades. To add, we were also the only third-year high school students in the school. Everything here is made of thin wood and paper, and the wooden flooring creaked ever so often that if we step on it the wrong way, it might literally collapse the floor. This building was so old that I’d be having a family reunion with the souls of my family from five generations ago every school day.
The cool breeze of the late afternoon blew toward us as we made our way to the paved dirt road.
"By the way, Hirato."
"Hm?"
"I lied. I'm actually playing Alterra. Since it released."
"Wha-- Then why won't you play co-op with me?!" Hirato was almost screaming in my face, taken aback by my lie.
"Because you're stupid. Why would you cast "Damage Reflect" on Hydra's one-turn kill when you're barely alive? Plus, it won't even damage the Hydra because the game recognizes the reflected damage as an effect, and the boss is immune to any effect."
"Urgh... Watch me beat that Hydra tomorrow, you'll regret not playing with me!"
"Do your best, Hirato. See you tomorrow," I sarcastically said to him as I watched my best friend run to his home, probably excited to try out what I just said. After all, I'm way past his level, so I can't even play with him without ruining his casual experience. It's time to go home for me as well, but the next bus stop is an hour from now. Maybe I'll play for a bit while waiting.
It was the scent of fresh air and the quiet atmosphere that separates urban life from rural life. Most people prefer convenience, while the minority prefer peacefulness. I'm part of the latter, but I still want to get a job in the city. Even if I'm still unsure what I wanted to be in the future.
“Hey, you brat!” A faint, old man’s voice screamed from the rice fields beside the paved road. “Watch out, the ground is dangerous there! Didn’t you see the sign?!”
My thoughts were cut off as I heard him shout at me with great urgency. After my eyes dart to the old man, I abruptly turn to see that there was a sign on the side of the road on both sides that said [ENTRY CLOSED]. Why wasn’t there any blockage? But it was my fault for not paying close attention to my surroundings.
“I’m sorry, mister. I didn’t see it earlier.” I apologized in a nonchalant manner, mostly because I still didn't realize the gravity of the situation at this time.
“Let go of your bag. Climb over the fence towards me. Now,” says the man.
While I didn’t know what could be so dangerous about this road that warrants an urgent reaction, I trusted him. But before I could even drop my bag, the ground starts to sink with me in the center.
It was only then that fear started to settle within me. My heart sank from my inability to do anything as my mind tried to process what was happening and what was about to befall. My legs shook from the sinking ground as well, to control my balance. I cannot feel the center of gravity in my feet anymore.
In a desperate attempt to escape from the sinking ground, I jumped, trying to outrun the sinking before I go along with it.
Yet it was too late.
The ground crumbled beneath me, revealing a sinkhole. All the adrenaline in my body surges instantly, slowing down time and making the fall to my imminent death seem like an eternity. The rocks from the ground begin to break apart and fall as if it wants to bury me as well if I wasn't dead yet from the fall.
Strangely enough, I thought that when my time comes, I’ll accept Death and warmly embrace it, but it’s too soon and unfair. My arms are both outstretched to the sunlight above, as my mind screams, “I don’t want to die yet!”
The falling rocks fully cover the sunlight as I fully plunge into the darkness, and along it with me as well. Thankfully with the darkness blinding what seems to be my body being crushed and mutilated by the heavy rocks, it only felt like I fell asleep, never to wake up again.
Good night, world.
My eyes slowly fluttered open to a familiar ceiling; particularly, my bedroom. The dark blue-painted star walls and the transparent curtain were both familiar, yet in front of me was some child using my computer. The window outside is also blindingly bright which made it seem impossible to peek outside.
“Um...” I didn’t know what else to say, so I tried to get the young girl’s attention
“Mhmhm!” A proud, laughing sneer came from the child. Still sitting on my gaming chair, she turned around to face me, her shoulders crossed and an arrogant expression that ticks me off for some reason.
“Welcome to the afterlife, Naruhaya Tabito. I have chosen you to–wait, who the FUCK are you?!” Her arrogant expression transforms into a mix of confusion, panic, and surprise after she opened her eyes.
“I should be the one saying that!” I exclaimed back, but I did not get a response because she quickly turned to the monitor. Upon standing up from my bed, I notice that the sounds of mouse clicking and keyboard pressing were all attributed to her--playing Alterra?
If this was the afterlife... It didn't look too bad. The events that transpired earlier haven’t registered in my mind yet.
“Hey, am I really dead?” I asked her.
The young girl was typing before she exclaimed in panic, “No no no...! You’re really dead! I killed the wrong person!”
“I see.” I didn’t know how to react to my death, but I also didn't feel sad or sentimental. I didn’t have much going on in the real world before I died, after all.
The young girl paused her game as she turned around to face me. “It’s because you aren’t supposed to die! I may have pressed your name accidentally while I was looking for a suitable candidate in the Living Database...” She sighs as she sinks into her chair. “Well, I suppose it’s not that big of a deal.”
The girl stood on the gaming chair, clad in a red-colored robe with a two-pointed hat that almost resembled horns. Her red-toned eyes glinted with the light of the bright window.
“Naruki Haruhito, sit,” With one downward motion of her finger, I immediately felt a strong, compelling force that made me sit on the bed.
“My name is Filya, and I am the Goddess of Creation! Your Creator, and the One Above All!” She introduces herself with her arms crossed. It appears to me that she was trying to act superior and intimidating, but her haughty attitude, matched with her small stature, made it seem like she really was someone’s kid lost in my bedroom who was cosplaying as an anime character.
“You’re a child,” Even at this point in the afterlife, I do not believe her being the world’s creator for a bit.
“Wha–” Filya is taken aback by what I said. “I'm not a child, I'm a goddess! Respect and worship me, you dimwitted mortal, should you desire not to die a second time and leave your soul wandering in the empty void of space.”
While she was speaking, I couldn't move a single inch from the bed. Even if she was a goddess, it's impossible not to take her seriously because she looks like a child scolding her older brother.
Filya raised two fingers before saying, “As a token of apology for wrongfully smiting you, I’ll give you two choices. First choice: You can return back to the real world as a baby of a rich family, and you will be a prodigy who will basically have an easy life from that period until his death of old age. Of course, you won’t remember everything that happened here and in your past life. But that’s basically the same as having a guaranteed GAME CLEAR, in your terms.”
Having an assured future was my long-term goal when I was alive back then. It seemed like a compelling idea until I heard about the second choice.
“Second choice: You will be reincarnated in another world with all your memories intact, and I will grant you a power unique only to you, and it will help you fulfill the condition that comes with this choice.”
Curious, I ask her what the condition is.
“The condition?” A crooked smirk appeared on her face, turning her haughty tone into something vicious. “Conquer the world.”
My eyes widened in surprise, the weight of her words starting to add to my fear-turned-excitement.
“There is a prophecy in this world that if the reincarnation of Typhon–the cataclysmic world-ending being of the past–attains something of unimaginable power and influence, he will destroy the world.”
Filya speaks with complete urgency, “You must conquer the world to stop Typhon’s reincarnation from attaining such power because, at this point, no one in this world is showing promise to become the world’s strongest."
After a small pause, I asked her, "What do you mean?"
"The throne is empty and he can take it anytime.”
After she finished explaining, I was given some time to think about my decision.
A safe, fulfilled, and assured life? Or a dangerous life with a chance for absolute glory?
I could never pass up on this opportunity, I said to myself, and I thought I'd never hesitate. I can return back to the real world and be born to rich parents. I’d have tasty food to eat every day, get the games I want, and in the future, I’d die of old age with my life fully satisfied and fulfilled until the very end. While my life in provincial Japan was a bit bland and boring at times, it was a life I'd want to return back to.
But the concept of determinism disgusts me.
“Can you tell me more about which power you'll give me?” As soon as I asked her that, her lips curled into a smirk as if she already knew what my choice was.
“I can’t tell you which power because the World Administrator grants it to you. I'm simply the overseer of this world, I cannot decide things for you.”
“Then–”
“Ughh shut up!” Filya gritted her teeth at my continued barrage of questions. With one flick of a finger, I stood up on my two feet as she pushed me outside the door. “I’m giving you some traits to make your life in this world easier, on top of what you’ll receive.”
“Hey–” I tried to stop my legs from moving while she was pushing me, but I couldn’t. I should probably learn to stop resisting in the presence of this goddess. “I haven’t chosen yet!”
“But you’ve already made up your mind, right?” I could feel Filya using all of her body weight to push me towards the door, with her light grunts indicating her struggle. “Good luck-urgh, Otherworlder! May the Aether guide you among the river of stars.”
“H-hey, what does that mean?! Are you wishing for me to die again?”
“It’s a saying, dumbass!”
The door opened to a blindingly bright light, causing me to close my eyes. I could feel my body hover in the air, the strong gust of wind making it seem like I was flying. Wherever it will take me, I hope it wouldn't be somewhere dangerous.
The light seeping from my eyes significantly dimmed, and the cool breeze of the tropical, rural area that’s so familiar to me blew across me. Opening my eyes, I am greeted with a sight of a forest clearing and the chirping of the birds. I found myself still wearing the same black hoodie and gray pants from "heaven," or wherever I was reincarnated with the goddess, along with a pair of rubber slippers.
At the center of the clearing was a freshwater lake reflecting the afternoon sun. White ducks with yellow beaks are swimming gently above the lake–the kind that exists on Earth.
As I observed my surroundings, the thought that this was another world flew out of my mind. So far, there was nothing notable that separates this world from Earth.
I noticed a cold, slightly heavy weight of metal in my hoodie pocket. I pull it out to see a strange metallic plate with letters I haven’t seen before, but I could somehow read it. “Status Plate” is what it said.
The Status Plate glows blue for a quick moment before three holographic interfaces popped up from within it.
NAME: Luck LVL 10
Life Points LP : 110 Aether ATH: 110
Class: Dicemaster Equipped Weapon: Six-faced White Die
,,,
[Gift from the Goddess]
“By receiving the gift of the Goddess, you must not forget your true purpose in this world.”
10+ LVL UP↑
Class Set to Unique Class: Dicemaster
,,,
[Otherworlder’s Gift]
“Speak with goodness and greatness, for the vilest of words must be paid with your tongue.”
Granted the innate ability to communicate in Traevilyan.
,,,
[Dicemaster’s Covenant]
“Journey in isolation and hardship, Dicemaster. This is a covenant you made.”
Class Change is restricted.
Weapon Change is restricted.
Interclass Skill Sharing is restricted.
Portable storage class items are restricted.
LUCK is permanently set to -50.
When joining a party, your all party members' defense and attack is set to 0 until the party disbands.
All types of Evolution success rates are permanently set to 100%.
,,,
Message from Filya:
Item Attached: [Otherworlder’s Backpack]
"I made sure of granting you the trait to understand Traevilyan, Melsion's primary language! Aside from that, you'll find a guidebook on the fundamental aspects of Melsion. I wrote it myself, so be sure to follow everything there (* ^ ω ^). There is also a weapon selector at the end of the guidebook once you read everything. Make sure not to lose it!"
,,,
WORLD ADMINISTRATOR
Because of [Dicemaster’s Covenant], the backpack from [Gift from the Goddess] has not been granted.
Lots of terms I don't know here. And my name in this world is Luck? Ironic, considering my luck stat was basically negative.
From what I can understand, my unique class, Dicemaster, doesn’t have too many special skills to begin with. “The power I get should give me an advantage when starting in this world,” said the goddess. And the backpack that should give me a guidebook and a weapon wasn't granted. What kind of fuckery is this world playing at? Not that it might be useful after all, since my passive skill [Gift of the Goddess] didn’t allow me to use any weapon. That said, how am I supposed to fight monsters with a die?
I put the Status Plate back into my pocket before attempting to test my only skill.
And... I don't know how to cast a skill yet. Do I press it while my interface is active? Do I cast it verbally? Hoping it's the latter, I verbally spoke the name of my skill, “Dice Roll.”
A formation of blue crystals suddenly accumulated at a single point above my palm. I hovered my hand below the blue crystals that looked like it was materializing something, all while doing so instinctively.
“This must be aether, then?” I presumed as I carefully observe the translucent crystals.
The aether above my hand slowly faded into the air as the die materializes fully. It starts to spin quickly before coming to a complete stop as soon as it landed on my palm. The number on the top of the die is... one.
[DICE ROLL: 1]
Unlucky... I muttered a curse under my breath before pocketing the Status Plate and retracting its holographic menu back into itself.
Suddenly, I heard a high-pitched clicking noise coming from the other side of the forest clearing. Emerging from the forest is a beetle that was nearly as big as a dog. It stared at me for a few seconds before it clicked once again--this time, it was more high pitched that it hurt my ears.
The clicking noise soon multiplied exponentially from the background of the forest, and as if that isn’t enough to knock me to my senses, the beetle charged toward me, along with probably its entire family emerging from the forest. Without a weapon or even a viable skill for protection, there was only one thing I could do in this situation.
I started to run as fast as I can into the forest, relying on the belief that I was faster than the beetles and that I'd find help along the way. While running, it didn’t take long for me to assume what my dice roll skill does.
“What the hell, Filya, this class is fucking shit!”
Hello, I'm TSR and this is my first post here! I mainly post on RoyalRoad, but I plan to upload all my chapters here in HFY in hopes of getting feedback about the story and criticism as well. I hope you enjoy it!

I rested my chin on the palm of my hand, overlooking the serene, green scenery of the rice fields outside of my classroom. The mountains stood tall and unmoving from afar, dividing the clouds that pass through its summit. I sigh in relaxation, appreciating the peaceful surroundings that one cannot find in the cities.
I snapped out of my quiet trance as a small truck carrying hay passed by the road, and I once again noticed the faint yet consistent mashes of buttons coming from my only friend in the province. Since our teacher announced that she had to leave class early, leaving us in class for the rest of our last period today, my friend over to my right has been playing the newly released game nonstop. The new MMORPG game, Alterra.
My blonde-haired friend Hirato was playing on a portable gaming console. His back has been arched towards the console for the past 15 minutes, his eyes are practically glued to the console’s screen. I inched my seat toward him to take a closer look. He was trying to defeat a monster resembling a three-headed snake—a Hydra. His character’s health was one hit away from hitting zero, but the Hydra was practically undamaged.
“Hey, Hirato,” I called him. “How long are you going to play that game?”
“Awww, I died!” He says exasperatedly, leaning back on his chair in annoyance. “I’ve been trying to beat this boss since yesterday and there’s no luck at all! I even have my gear maxed out for this level, and still...”
Hirato continued speaking as he packed his console into his backpack, “I wouldn’t have any problem at all had you continued playing video games with me. You could help me beat the boss, you know."
Then, Hirato started to make some "drama" in a weird, playful manner. "Come on, Naruki! We were best buddies since we were kids! Whatever must have happened between us, my best friend?” The bell rings across the school building, indicating the end of classes for the day. At the same time, I made a disgusted look at him after saying something corny that must have come from some TV show.
“Stop it with that little skit of yours. We are still best buddies, but I’ve grown up from playing games. Remember, we’re going to college next year and I’ve been preparing for it ever since.” I grabbed my bag from beneath my seat, and just as I stood up, the wooden plank I stood on creaked.
"That's not true, and there's no way you'll pass up on an MMORPG like Alterra! There's no way you stopped playing just for college." Hirato claimed, but he quickly switched into a pondering tone. “Though you made me think about college. You want to go to Tokyo University from what I recall, but I thought you were tired of the city because it’s too crowded there?” He asked.
“It’ll give me a greater chance to get hired for a job with a high salary. My dad also said that it takes some time to get used to the city when I’ve been living all my life in the rice fields.” I ignored Hirato's first statement--but it's true. There's no way I can quit gaming, so I lied to him about it, but I also don't want to take precious time off when I'm studying for a test that will literally decide my future.
“You’re already thinking of your future far ahead.”
“Well, do you want to stay in this school?”
As I took another step towards the door, the wood plank creaked again, filling the short silence in Hirato’s pause.
“...You make a point.” He uttered in agreement.
My school was a single-story building with multiple rooms, occupied by a few students in different grades. To add, we were also the only third-year high school students in the school. Everything here is made of thin wood and paper, and the wooden flooring creaked ever so often that if we step on it the wrong way, it might literally collapse the floor. This building was so old that I’d be having a family reunion with the souls of my family from five generations ago every school day.
The cool breeze of the late afternoon blew toward us as we made our way to the paved dirt road.
"By the way, Hirato."
"Hm?"
"I lied. I'm actually playing Alterra. Since it released."
"Wha-- Then why won't you play co-op with me?!" Hirato was almost screaming in my face, taken aback by my lie.
"Because you're stupid. Why would you cast "Damage Reflect" on Hydra's one-turn kill when you're barely alive? Plus, it won't even damage the Hydra because the game recognizes the reflected damage as an effect, and the boss is immune to any effect."
"Urgh... Watch me beat that Hydra tomorrow, you'll regret not playing with me!"
"Do your best, Hirato. See you tomorrow," I sarcastically said to him as I watched my best friend run to his home, probably excited to try out what I just said. After all, I'm way past his level, so I can't even play with him without ruining his casual experience. It's time to go home for me as well, but the next bus stop is an hour from now. Maybe I'll play for a bit while waiting.
It was the scent of fresh air and the quiet atmosphere that separates urban life from rural life. Most people prefer convenience, while the minority prefer peacefulness. I'm part of the latter, but I still want to get a job in the city. Even if I'm still unsure what I wanted to be in the future.
“Hey, you brat!” A faint, old man’s voice screamed from the rice fields beside the paved road. “Watch out, the ground is dangerous there! Didn’t you see the sign?!”
My thoughts were cut off as I heard him shout at me with great urgency. After my eyes dart to the old man, I abruptly turn to see that there was a sign on the side of the road on both sides that said [ENTRY CLOSED]. Why wasn’t there any blockage? But it was my fault for not paying close attention to my surroundings.
“I’m sorry, mister. I didn’t see it earlier.” I apologized in a nonchalant manner, mostly because I still didn't realize the gravity of the situation at this time.
“Let go of your bag. Climb over the fence towards me. Now,” says the man.
While I didn’t know what could be so dangerous about this road that warrants an urgent reaction, I trusted him. But before I could even drop my bag, the ground starts to sink with me in the center.
It was only then that fear started to settle within me. My heart sank from my inability to do anything as my mind tried to process what was happening and what was about to befall. My legs shook from the sinking ground as well, to control my balance. I cannot feel the center of gravity in my feet anymore.
In a desperate attempt to escape from the sinking ground, I jumped, trying to outrun the sinking before I go along with it.
Yet it was too late.
The ground crumbled beneath me, revealing a sinkhole. All the adrenaline in my body surges instantly, slowing down time and making the fall to my imminent death seem like an eternity. The rocks from the ground begin to break apart and fall as if it wants to bury me as well if I wasn't dead yet from the fall.
Strangely enough, I thought that when my time comes, I’ll accept Death and warmly embrace it, but it’s too soon and unfair. My arms are both outstretched to the sunlight above, as my mind screams, “I don’t want to die yet!”
The falling rocks fully cover the sunlight as I fully plunge into the darkness, and along it with me as well. Thankfully with the darkness blinding what seems to be my body being crushed and mutilated by the heavy rocks, it only felt like I fell asleep, never to wake up again.
Good night, world.
My eyes slowly fluttered open to a familiar ceiling; particularly, my bedroom. The dark blue-painted star walls and the transparent curtain were both familiar, yet in front of me was some child using my computer. The window outside is also blindingly bright which made it seem impossible to peek outside.
“Um...” I didn’t know what else to say, so I tried to get the young girl’s attention
“Mhmhm!” A proud, laughing sneer came from the child. Still sitting on my gaming chair, she turned around to face me, her shoulders crossed and an arrogant expression that ticks me off for some reason.
“Welcome to the afterlife, Naruhaya Tabito. I have chosen you to–wait, who the FUCK are you?!” Her arrogant expression transforms into a mix of confusion, panic, and surprise after she opened her eyes.
“I should be the one saying that!” I exclaimed back, but I did not get a response because she quickly turned to the monitor. Upon standing up from my bed, I notice that the sounds of mouse clicking and keyboard pressing were all attributed to her--playing Alterra?
If this was the afterlife... It didn't look too bad. The events that transpired earlier haven’t registered in my mind yet.
“Hey, am I really dead?” I asked her.
The young girl was typing before she exclaimed in panic, “No no no...! You’re really dead! I killed the wrong person!”
“I see.” I didn’t know how to react to my death, but I also didn't feel sad or sentimental. I didn’t have much going on in the real world before I died, after all.
The young girl paused her game as she turned around to face me. “It’s because you aren’t supposed to die! I may have pressed your name accidentally while I was looking for a suitable candidate in the Living Database...” She sighs as she sinks into her chair. “Well, I suppose it’s not that big of a deal.”
The girl stood on the gaming chair, clad in a red-colored robe with a two-pointed hat that almost resembled horns. Her red-toned eyes glinted with the light of the bright window.
“Naruki Haruhito, sit,” With one downward motion of her finger, I immediately felt a strong, compelling force that made me sit on the bed.
“My name is Filya, and I am the Goddess of Creation! Your Creator, and the One Above All!” She introduces herself with her arms crossed. It appears to me that she was trying to act superior and intimidating, but her haughty attitude, matched with her small stature, made it seem like she really was someone’s kid lost in my bedroom who was cosplaying as an anime character.
“You’re a child,” Even at this point in the afterlife, I do not believe her being the world’s creator for a bit.
“Wha–” Filya is taken aback by what I said. “I'm not a child, I'm a goddess! Respect and worship me, you dimwitted mortal, should you desire not to die a second time and leave your soul wandering in the empty void of space.”
While she was speaking, I couldn't move a single inch from the bed. Even if she was a goddess, it's impossible not to take her seriously because she looks like a child scolding her older brother.
Filya raised two fingers before saying, “As a token of apology for wrongfully smiting you, I’ll give you two choices. First choice: You can return back to the real world as a baby of a rich family, and you will be a prodigy who will basically have an easy life from that period until his death of old age. Of course, you won’t remember everything that happened here and in your past life. But that’s basically the same as having a guaranteed GAME CLEAR, in your terms.”
Having an assured future was my long-term goal when I was alive back then. It seemed like a compelling idea until I heard about the second choice.
“Second choice: You will be reincarnated in another world with all your memories intact, and I will grant you a power unique only to you, and it will help you fulfill the condition that comes with this choice.”
Curious, I ask her what the condition is.
“The condition?” A crooked smirk appeared on her face, turning her haughty tone into something vicious. “Conquer the world.”
My eyes widened in surprise, the weight of her words starting to add to my fear-turned-excitement.
“There is a prophecy in this world that if the reincarnation of Typhon–the cataclysmic world-ending being of the past–attains something of unimaginable power and influence, he will destroy the world.”
Filya speaks with complete urgency, “You must conquer the world to stop Typhon’s reincarnation from attaining such power because, at this point, no one in this world is showing promise to become the world’s strongest."
After a small pause, I asked her, "What do you mean?"
"The throne is empty and he can take it anytime.”
After she finished explaining, I was given some time to think about my decision.
A safe, fulfilled, and assured life? Or a dangerous life with a chance for absolute glory?
I could never pass up on this opportunity, I said to myself, and I thought I'd never hesitate. I can return back to the real world and be born to rich parents. I’d have tasty food to eat every day, get the games I want, and in the future, I’d die of old age with my life fully satisfied and fulfilled until the very end. While my life in provincial Japan was a bit bland and boring at times, it was a life I'd want to return back to.
But the concept of determinism disgusts me.
“Can you tell me more about which power you'll give me?” As soon as I asked her that, her lips curled into a smirk as if she already knew what my choice was.
“I can’t tell you which power because the World Administrator grants it to you. I'm simply the overseer of this world, I cannot decide things for you.”
“Then–”
“Ughh shut up!” Filya gritted her teeth at my continued barrage of questions. With one flick of a finger, I stood up on my two feet as she pushed me outside the door. “I’m giving you some traits to make your life in this world easier, on top of what you’ll receive.”
“Hey–” I tried to stop my legs from moving while she was pushing me, but I couldn’t. I should probably learn to stop resisting in the presence of this goddess. “I haven’t chosen yet!”
“But you’ve already made up your mind, right?” I could feel Filya using all of her body weight to push me towards the door, with her light grunts indicating her struggle. “Good luck-urgh, Otherworlder! May the Aether guide you among the river of stars.”
“H-hey, what does that mean?! Are you wishing for me to die again?”
“It’s a saying, dumbass!”
The door opened to a blindingly bright light, causing me to close my eyes. I could feel my body hover in the air, the strong gust of wind making it seem like I was flying. Wherever it will take me, I hope it wouldn't be somewhere dangerous.
The light seeping from my eyes significantly dimmed, and the cool breeze of the tropical, rural area that’s so familiar to me blew across me. Opening my eyes, I am greeted with a sight of a forest clearing and the chirping of the birds. I found myself still wearing the same black hoodie and gray pants from "heaven," or wherever I was reincarnated with the goddess, along with a pair of rubber slippers.
At the center of the clearing was a freshwater lake reflecting the afternoon sun. White ducks with yellow beaks are swimming gently above the lake–the kind that exists on Earth.
As I observed my surroundings, the thought that this was another world flew out of my mind. So far, there was nothing notable that separates this world from Earth.
I noticed a cold, slightly heavy weight of metal in my hoodie pocket. I pull it out to see a strange metallic plate with letters I haven’t seen before, but I could somehow read it. “Status Plate” is what it said.
The Status Plate glows blue for a quick moment before three holographic interfaces popped up from within it.
NAME: Luck LVL 10
Life Points LP : 110 Aether ATH: 110
Class: Dicemaster Equipped Weapon: Six-faced White Die
,,,
[Gift from the Goddess]
“By receiving the gift of the Goddess, you must not forget your true purpose in this world.”
10+ LVL UP↑
Class Set to Unique Class: Dicemaster
,,,
[Otherworlder’s Gift]
“Speak with goodness and greatness, for the vilest of words must be paid with your tongue.”
Granted the innate ability to communicate in Traevilyan.
,,,
[Dicemaster’s Covenant]
“Journey in isolation and hardship, Dicemaster. This is a covenant you made.”
Class Change is restricted.
Weapon Change is restricted.
Interclass Skill Sharing is restricted.
Portable storage class items are restricted.
LUCK is permanently set to -50.
When joining a party, your all party members' defense and attack is set to 0 until the party disbands.
All types of Evolution success rates are permanently set to 100%.
,,,
Message from Filya:
Item Attached: [Otherworlder’s Backpack]
"I made sure of granting you the trait to understand Traevilyan, Melsion's primary language! Aside from that, you'll find a guidebook on the fundamental aspects of Melsion. I wrote it myself, so be sure to follow everything there (* ^ ω ^). There is also a weapon selector at the end of the guidebook once you read everything. Make sure not to lose it!"
,,,
WORLD ADMINISTRATOR
Because of [Dicemaster’s Covenant], the backpack from [Gift from the Goddess] has not been granted.
Lots of terms I don't know here. And my name in this world is Luck? Ironic, considering my luck stat was basically negative.
From what I can understand, my unique class, Dicemaster, doesn’t have too many special skills to begin with. “The power I get should give me an advantage when starting in this world,” said the goddess. And the backpack that should give me a guidebook and a weapon wasn't granted. What kind of fuckery is this world playing at? Not that it might be useful after all, since my passive skill [Gift of the Goddess] didn’t allow me to use any weapon. That said, how am I supposed to fight monsters with a die?
I put the Status Plate back into my pocket before attempting to test my only skill.
And... I don't know how to cast a skill yet. Do I press it while my interface is active? Do I cast it verbally? Hoping it's the latter, I verbally spoke the name of my skill, “Dice Roll.”
A formation of blue crystals suddenly accumulated at a single point above my palm. I hovered my hand below the blue crystals that looked like it was materializing something, all while doing so instinctively.
“This must be aether, then?” I presumed as I carefully observe the translucent crystals.
The aether above my hand slowly faded into the air as the die materializes fully. It starts to spin quickly before coming to a complete stop as soon as it landed on my palm. The number on the top of the die is... one.
[DICE ROLL: 1]
Unlucky... I muttered a curse under my breath before pocketing the Status Plate and retracting its holographic menu back into itself.
Suddenly, I heard a high-pitched clicking noise coming from the other side of the forest clearing. Emerging from the forest is a beetle that was nearly as big as a dog. It stared at me for a few seconds before it clicked once again--this time, it was more high pitched that it hurt my ears.
The clicking noise soon multiplied exponentially from the background of the forest, and as if that isn’t enough to knock me to my senses, the beetle charged toward me, along with probably its entire family emerging from the forest. Without a weapon or even a viable skill for protection, there was only one thing I could do in this situation.
I started to run as fast as I can into the forest, relying on the belief that I was faster than the beetles and that I'd find help along the way. While running, it didn’t take long for me to assume what my dice roll skill does.
“What the hell, Filya, this class is fucking shit!”
Hello, I'm TSR and this is my first post here! I mainly post on RoyalRoad, but I plan to upload all my chapters here in HFY in hopes of getting feedback about the story and criticism as well. I hope you enjoy!

CHAPTER SIX
Falcon
They came in swarms. Almost like flies.
Falcon had always pictured himself either fighting the human Patians head-on with his sword, but never had he expected anything like this. Instead, Falcon was being led by one- a girl of all cases!- to a nearby village. Much to his pride, Falcon wanted to crush his captive and skin the bitch alive. Perhaps her flesh would sell well if he came home. If He came home.
But right now, he was in no mood to think. He had blood on his mind and the only blood he wanted to taint his blade was the girl, who had his wrist held together with rope.
Just wait until I get ahold of you, the prince thought. I will strangle the life out of you and cut you up into a bloody mess. Bake your intestines into a pie and feed you to the wolves
Weirdly, the girl hadn't looked at him once as he tried chewing his way out through the ropes. Even weirder, she allowed him to wear his sword, which was still strapped to his back, and no one seemed to care he was trying to escape.
As for the village itself, one thing Falcon was astonished to see was how well-kept it was. Everything was clean. There was no debris anywhere, almost as if it was illegal to have trash laying about. Despite being a tiny village, snug in a valley and hidden away, this place wasn't Indestructible; Grime, dirt, and the smell of urine were commonplace back home.
Even the villagers here were clean, though they strangely had hair on their faces. Falcon's eyes grew when he saw one Patian with a bright red bushy… Chin fur on his face.
Hypocrites and modest, great…, Falcon thought with a grumpy grin. They're still savages, the whole damn lot of them.
In a fit of rage, Falcon tugged back at his enemy, who almost stumbled to the ground. However, she stood her ground, and in retaliation, she tugged back hard. Falcon landed face-flat in the dirt. A few natives took pleasure in laughing at him.
That diminished Falcon's pride entirely. With no other choice, the young prince walked his distance behind his captive, though he gave an occasional snarl to anyone who snickered. At least they knew he didn't like to be messed around.
Just as it seemed like they trekked a mile, Falcon was even more surprised when the girl led him up a hill. This was when Falcon finally witnessed flowers, as the sweet smell of Lilac graced the misty air. Though it was rather hard getting to breathe. However, the sight he was next took his breath away.
A manor stood proud on top of the hill, though it wasn't as extravagant as his home. For starters, his crib was massive compared to the dinky place. Despite the place seeming bigger than the village's paper huts, this place seemed more like a garden home. Falcon wasn't impressed as he disrespectfully scoffed at the sight. If anything, the place would make a good bonfire.
The townsfolk who followed Falcon in pursuit immediately halted at the presence of the gates. It was here Falcon laid his eyes on a new set of weaponry, their staves. While they didn't resemble any halberds Pyrrhia had, they did have a sleek design that Falcon couldn't help but wonder about. He hoped he would get one, after killing a guard.
The guards made conversation with Falcon's captive and the boy caught the eye of one curious guard. Falcon, pretending to itch his eye, did a clever trick he learned from his mum: flick the bird.
Although it had no effect, Falcon had a feeling they understood the meaning.
After walking through a peaceful garden, Falcon was pushed into a room that reeked of old spice and jasmine. Oil incense fumed the chamber and glowed a vibrant sunset red. It took a minute for Falcon to realize there were floating candles that gave off a red aura. But Falcon had no idea where he was. All he could guess was he was at some… Living room, but just lacking any home commodities. Well, except for a giant pillow in the middle, where a statue lay.
The girl that had Falcon stood before the statue and immediately fell into a bow, speaking in her tongue. Falcon mused at the idea of being a sacrifice to a statue.
To his utter horror, the statue moved its head slowly before and laid its eyes on Falcon.
Little did Falcon know that these eyes would stare at him the same way six years later, into the future…

In Part One, Kazuchika Okada waged war on the wrestling world as part of his quest to purify NJPW, killing BULLET CLUB and giving CHAOS a much-needed facelift in the process. Hirooki Goto and company have since taken refuge under Katsuyori Shibata’s new “Takeover” stable, which has recruited Ren Narita’s services. Sabre-Gun’s been on the up too, expanding to include the likes of Blake Christian and Clark Connors with the recent Best of the Super Juniors, continuing to be at odds with Just6Guys. There’s one group that’s yet to be addressed though, and that’s… United Empire.
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After finally vanquishing Kenny Omega at Forbidden Door, Will Ospreay sets his sights on the next logical step – the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. With another of his white whales clutching onto it tightly, he wants closure to this legendary saga too, and so, he calls out the Rainmaker. Big Brother Kazu isn’t fazed one bit by the challenge, telling Ospreay he’s been waiting for him, though not to expect a result any different to their many past matches. After all, from Okada’s point-of-view, Will isn’t NJPW’s next destined leader. There’s a different prodigal son waiting.
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Under CHAOS’s new vision, not only has Okada been building a ruthless band of companions willing to follow his regime change, but also focusing on its future, no longer being a top-heavy unit destined to collapse the moment Kazuchika stops supporting its roof. With Hiroshi Tanahashi already bringing in his younger counterpart, Shota Umino, Okada recruits the man prophesised to take over his mantle of Ace one day, Yuya Uemura. His Forbidden Door victory over Wheeler YUTA marking the end of his American excursion, Uemura accompanies his leader’s victory against Blackpool Combat Club in major fashion by accompanying him on the Kizuna Road loop.
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Kizuna Road - Night Four (July 3, 2023)
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CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Yuya Uemura) vs United Empire (Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb)
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Impressing thus far, Yuya’s biggest test comes when he teams with Okada 2-on-2 for the very first time to confront UE’s Ospreay and Cobb, and he quickly silences their criticisms. A one-sided manhandling from Cobb soon turns into Uemura employing strategies passed down to him from Okada on how to beat the Hawaiian Hulk, giving him quite the culture shock, before Okada helps bang the big man’s drum. The flow shifts when Ospreay steps in though, severely outclassing Yuya to both his and Okada’s surprise. This is a different Will to the one Okada faced a year ago in the G1 Climax Finals.
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And yet, the Rainmaker has an ego problem. Tagging in, he tries to shut Will down, only to find for once, Ospreay seems to have his number. When the Commonwealth Kingpin has him beat though, going for the Hidden Blade, Yuya throws himself in harm’s way to buy Okada a moment, allowing Kazuchika to Dropkick Will out the equation, before drilling Cobb with a Rainmaker to win! As Ospreay grits his teeth, he understands it’ll take more than that to outsmart Okada.
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CHAOS def. United Empire (13:45)
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Wrestle Dynasty (July 8, 2023)
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Also on the show:
Sabre-Gun (El Phantasmo, Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste) (c) vs Ren Narita & Bishamon - NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship
Aussie Open (c) vs CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & Shota Umino) - IWGP Tag Team Championship
Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs Jeff Cobb - IWGP United States Championship
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Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Will Ospreay IX - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
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Across 8 matches, Ospreay has never once beaten Okada cleanly, his only triumph coming from the night of his betrayal in the G1 3 years ago. But now, with a win over the man Okada failed to beat at Dominion, he’s in the best shape he’s ever been to end the reign of tyranny. The question is though, will he? Returning to Madison Square Garden for this historic show, the last time they were here Ospreay was losing to Cobb in a Winner Takes All opener, whilst Okada was winning back the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the main event. This time, they’re equals.
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Ospreay enters on a throne carried to the ring by UE, hamming up his Commonwealth Kingpin moniker and signalling the days of the Aerial Assassin to be long dead. Okada, on the other hand, is the same old Rainmaker, descending from the heavens on a platform, God mode in full effect. With pre-match introductions out the way, the bell rings, and the match gets underway! And in classic Okada/Ospreay fashion, Kazuchika expects to Big Brother Will with the Tanahashi/Okada-style headlock start… BUT OSPREAY RUSHES HIM WITH THE HIDDEN BLADE!!!
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Caught off guard, Okada only barely evades him, but Ospreay moves like a lightning bolt, instantly transitioning to springboarding off the ropes for an OSCUTTER! Okada catches it and grabs the wrist, ripcording him into a RAINMAKER! Will ducks though, blasting him with a MARUFUJI HOOK KICK! Okada rocked, nails a SILENT WHISPER to the back of the head, before hooking the arms for the STORM BREAKER!!! But yet again, the Rainmaker barely gets out of dodge, shoving Will away and sliding outside for a breather!
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Okada looks like he doesn’t know what’s just hit him, while Ospreay grins and mocks the Rainmaker pose. Snarling, Kazuchika slides back in and gets to trading blows with his challenger. Stiff elbows bounce off their heads in the centre of the ring, an Enzuigiri from Okada whiffing and a Handspring Enzuigiri from Will equally missing the mark! Kazu teases a Dropkick, causing Ospreay to leap, only to meet a stiff Uppercut once gravity gets hold of him.
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Tossed into the ropes for a proper Dropkick attempt, Will instead slides to the apron and thunders in with a PIP PIP CHEERIO! A Running Shooting Star Press misses, Ospreay rolling through and racing back at Okada, though he’s launched onto the top turnbuckle. Again, a frustrated Okada wants the Dropkick, but Ospreay catches the leg and spins him around, nailing an INVERTED TORNADO DDT! Crunch. Here come the neck issues.
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Okada dazed, nursing the injury in agony, Ospreay stomps the hell out of the neck, before connecting with a ROBINSON SPECIAL! He teases a follow-up OsCutter, Okada anticipating it, only to be faked into a SPIKE DDT! ONE! TWO! THR-KICK OUT! Okada DDT’d the life out of Will last time, so Ospreay’s making sure to return the favour here. He goes for broke one too many times though, a Hangman’s DDT attempt ending in Okada spearing Ospreay across the ring and through the ropes, both smacking off the apron to the floor!
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Turning feral ringside, Okada kicks Ospreay senseless like he’s Kaito, before forcefully connecting a DDT of his own! He whips Will at the guardrail for his patented Crossbody spot but Ospreay leaps over, a Silent Whisper staggering Okada, before an OSCUTTER SOARS IN… NOT THIS TIME – OKADA COUNTERS INTO A TOMBSTONE ON THE CONCRETE!!! Getting him back for the G1 Finals, Kazu smugly takes in the boos as Will twitches lifelessly at his feet.
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Tossing him in, a MISSILE DROPKICK guns into his neck, before another BEAUTIFUL DROPKICK smacks into his chest, Okada finally in control! A Flapjack plants Will face-first and an AIR RAID CRASH NECKBREAKER again targets the famously-troubled neck of Ospreay! ONE! TWO! THR-NO DICE! Cinching in the MONEY CLIP, he continues working it over, Will sputtering and gasping for breaths as he reaches out at the ropes. Right as he finds himself inches from them though, a GERMAN SUPLEX dumps him on his neck!
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Okada hits the pose, before dialling up the RAINMAKER… Ospreay snapmares him over, learning from last time to not back him up. and throws the HIDDEN BLADE!!! ONE! TWO! THR-NOOOOOOOO!!! Racing up top, Will prepares a Shooting Star Press, though Okada sluggishly rolls to the apron as he grabs at his head. Deciding to change trajectories… OSPREAY NAILS A SUPER OSCUTTER TO THE FLOOR!!! Body aching yet determined, Will rolls back in, only to soar back out with a SASUKE SPECIAL!!!
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Dragging Okada behind him, he drapes him over the top rope, heading back up to finally hit the BURNING STAR PRESS!!! ONE! TWO! THR-OKADA GETS A FOOT ON THE ROPE!!! Keeping his composure, Ospreay murders Okada’s face with Kawada Kicks, before a CHELSEA GRIN knocks him loopy… OSCUTTER INCOMING – OKADA COLLAPSES UNDER!!! Will smacks off the mat, not anticipating it, and lets out a pained grunt as both lay flat on their backs, New York roaring in approval!
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Ospreay finds his feet first and tries to pick Okada from his knees, though it results in him being tripped into the ropes throat-first! DROPKICK MEETS OSPREAY AS HE TURNS AROUND! Okada’s noticeably slower than usual, though he doesn’t let it hinder him, picking Will up to nail a SHORT-ARM RAINMAKER! Ospreay stays upright, returning a forearm smash, but another SHORT-ARM RAINMAKER takes him down! Okada teases the finishing blow, though Will resists, prompting Kazu to spike him with a LANDSLIDE instead! ONE! TWO! THR-OSPREAY SURVIVES!
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Hauling him right back up, Okada shoots again… WILL COUNTERS WITH AN OSCUTT- DROPKICKED OUT THE SKIES! Okada sets up the SPINNING RAINMAKER, but Ospreay nails the DISCUS ELBOW first! HOOK KICK drops him, before the HIDDEN BLADE closes in… OKADA DUCKS AND FIRES A JOHN WOO DROPKICK, SENDING OSPREAY INTO THE OPPOSITE CORNER! AND A HESITATION DROPKICK – SHADES OF SHIBATA! Will in the drop zone, Okada gets an idea, heading up top… HIGH FLY FLOW!!! ONE! TWO! THR-NOOOOOOOOOO!!!
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Okada scowls, picking Will up for the TOMBSTONE… OSPREAY REVERSES INTO A HITODENASHI DRIVER!!! ONE! TWO! THR-OKADA KICKS OUT!!! And now Ospreay hits the Rainmaker pose again! Securing wrist-control, he nails a RAINHAM MAKER!!! ONE! TWO! THR-STILL NO LUCK!!! Ospreay’s running out of options, though refuses to let his confidence waver, sticking to his gameplan. Mauling Okada’s arms, neck, and back with stomps, he picks him for only his second attempt at the ultimate final blow! OSPREAY WANTS STORM BREAKER!!!
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Getting Okada up… KAZU DROPS OUT AND NAILS THE RAINMAKER!!! BUT HE CAN’T COVER, HAVING TO NURSE THE ARM! Both men returning to their feet at the same time, they knock each other dead with strikes, Okada scoring the ENZUIGIRI this time, Ospreay returning the POP-UP FOREARM SMASH! Tearing off the elbow pad, OSPREAY FIRES UP THE HIDDEN BLADE… OKADA COUNTERS INTO THE SPINNING EMERALD FLOWSION!!! NOT AGAIN – THIS COMBO ENDED WILL LAST TIME! Okada spells the end… RAINMAKERRRRRRRRRRRR!!! ONE! THIS IS IT! TWO! MSG IS ON THEIR FEET! THRE… OSPREAY KICKS OUT!!! HE’S STILL IN IT!!!
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Okada looks like he’s seen a ghost, a barely twitching Ospreay laying at his feet with one shoulder raised! Refusing to accept it, the Rainmaker lifts him back up, BEFORE NAILING ANOTHER ON A DEFENCELESS WILL! Ospreay on his knees, head bowed, Kazu lifts him up by the hair to lock gazes with Will’s glazed-over eyes, before throwing a THIRD AND FINAL- OSPREAY HITS THE RAINMAKER!!! Okada drops like he’s been shot!
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And now Will realises this could be it. Struggling back up whilst maintaining wrist-control, he lets out a roar, before nailing a RIPCORD HIDDEN BLADE!!! Okada at his knees now, Will lifts his head up by the hair this time as Kazu dares him to finish him off, too weak to fight back… AND OSPREAY OBLIGES, FISHING HIM INTO A STORM BREAKERRRRRRRRRR!!! ONE! TWO! THREE!!! OSPREAY’S FINALLY DONE IT!!! WE HAVE A NEW CHAMPION!!!
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Will Ospreay def. Kazuchika Okada (c) to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship (38:09)
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MSG loses its mind as both men lay exhausted, UE rushing out to celebrate with their leader, helping him to his feet and handing him his prize. Golden tickertape hails from the rafters like Okada Dollars, Ospreay seated on a makeshift arm throne by Cobb and O-Khan, raising his title high, whilst Aussie Open and Catch 22 stand on either side, brandishing their respective titles too! And as Okada recovers, rolling out the ring and returning up the ramp, he locks eyes with Ospreay, giving him a look which reads “I’ll be back.” Will doesn’t let it phase him though. This is his night. He’s earned this moment.
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G1 Climax 33
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Not having to wait long for his first test, he enters his fourth G1 for the first time as reigning champion, redeeming the chance that a neck injury robbed him of in 2021. Heading A Block, he battles CHAOS’s Hiroshi Tanahashi on Night One, who tries to avenge Okada’s loss, though meets the same fate. Will dominates his block, dropping his first match after an undefeated 6 nights, losing to Katsuyori Shibata after their teased program last year at Forbidden Door! Still first though, having victimised SANADA, Shota Umino, EVIL, PAC, and KENTA along the way, he murders El Phantasmo on his 8th night, before meeting Tetsuya Naito in the Block Finals after a 5* duology last year! Finally, El Ingobernable avenges his past losses to punch his ticket to the Finals! As for B Block, a Shingo Takagi victory over Sabre puts him through, setting up a rematch from 2019’s G1 between Naito and Takagi for the Finals, adding fuel to the fire of LIJ’s already turbulent year with SANADA’s betrayal!
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(Other key underlying stories are Naito’s loss to SANADA, KENTA beating Shibata in their first match as part of the TakeoveCHAOS feud, PAC finally returning to the ring as AEW’s representative to throw a spanner into LIJ’s works, Kaito taking Okada to a draw, Goto getting his win back over Okada, Sabre equalising his series with Taichi, and Yuya beating Yota in the first chapter of their Ace vs Dark Ace rivalry that’ll propel NJPW once Okada and Naito pass on the respective mantles.)
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G1 Climax 33 Finals (August 13, 2023)
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Also on this show:
Tetsuya Naito vs Shingo Takagi II - G1 Climax Finals
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United Empire (Will Ospreay & Catch 22) vs Los Ingobernables de Japon (Yota Tsuji, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI)
With Naito returning last year’s favour of having the Finals robbed from him by Ospreay, Will instead faces his potential Wrestle Kingdom main event opponent’s factionmates, bringing longest-reigning IWGP Junior Tag Team Champions Catch 22 along for the ride. Whilst using the opportunity to run back his critically acclaimed rivalry with Hiromu Takahashi, he also makes an example out of NEVER Openweight Champion Yota Tsuji, cracking down on the New Generation star to remind Naito and Shingo what he plans to do to them, before pinning BUSHI for the win!
United Empire def. Los Ingobernables de Japon (14:10)
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As UE celebrate their win… BANG! DOUBLE SUPERKICK TO OSPREAY! STEEL CHAIR TO TJP AND FRANCESCO AKIRA! THE ELITE IS HERE!!! No rest for the wicked, Omega plants his boot on Will’s head as he holds the IWGP World Title up, making his intentions crystal clear. His match with Okada ended without a clear victor, and so, he not only wants another crack at the belt, but to crush Ospreay to avenge Forbidden Door. And what better place to do that than Wembley Stadium!
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RevPro 11 Year Anniversary Show (August 26, 2023)
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Will Ospreay vs Ren Narita
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Whilst Ospreay/Omega III is announced for the following night, Will takes care of business in Copper Box Arena the night prior against one Ren Narita, continuing to test out the youth of NJPW, having already faced Yuya, Yota, and Shota in the past month. With Shibata holding a win over Ospreay’s head, promising to be back for the victor of ALL IN’s main event, Will batters his student in the meantime to remind him who the best wrestler in the world is right now, a Hidden Blade slaying Ren!
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Will Ospreay def. Ren Narita (16:07)
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ALL IN: London (August 27, 2023)
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Also on the show:
Zack Sabre Jr. (c)(c) vs Bryan Danielson – NJPW World Television/ROH Pure Championships
FTR (c) vs Aussie Open - AEW World Tag Team Championship
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Will Ospreay (c) vs Kenny Omega III - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
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They’ve fought in Japan’s Tokyo Dome, Canada’s Scotiabank Arena, and now, they finally settle the score in England’s Wembley Stadium. 90,000 strong in attendance, there’s a clear crowd favourite here, football chants raining down for Ospreay. Omega decides to lean into it, tapping fully into his Cleaner look and tendencies with Devil’s Sky, absorbing the hatred. Will, on the other hand, receives a standing ovation in an emotional homecoming, prepared to prove his superiority over Omega once and for all and silence those accusing him of lucky past couple months.
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The big first test for Will as champion starts with Kenny trying to get under Ospreay’s skin, stalling him out each time the Commonwealth Kingpin guns for him. Forcing him to work for his golden snitch, Kenny slides out and does jumping jacks until Will takes the bait, Omega quickly repossessing the ring, shutting Ospreay out. Will yells at the referee to back Kenny up, who obliges… ONLY TO EXPLODE FOR A V-TRIGGER THE MOMENT WILL RE-ENTERS!
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Ospreay leapfrogs him and comes off the ropes with a hurricanrana, Omega cartwheeling through and throwing one back, Will handstanding out, though not fast enough, eating a DROPKICK TO THE FACE! Ospreay stunned, Kenny launches him into the corner and dogs on him with vicious kicks and stomps until the referee intervenes, Omega throwing one last chest-slicing chop! Incensed, Ospreay rushes out with forearms for Kenny, lighting him up, the Kawada Kicks finding their mark, before a CHELSEA GRIN’S BLOCKED BY A V-TRIGGER!
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Ospreay shaking off his arm, Kenny capitalises with another V-TRIGGER, but Will ducks, nailing a Hook Kick, an OSCUTTER due to follow… OMEGA SUPERKICKS OSPREAY OVER THE ROPES! Will floored, a RISE OF THE TERMINATOR wipes him out! Gloating as England boos him, an even better idea crosses Kenny’s mind, sliding back in to nail a SASUKE SPECIAL! Nuclear heat. Battering Ospreay about the ring, he teases smashing his head through a table like WK17, though frantic back elbows force him off!
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Kenny seeing stars, Ospreay attempts an OSCUTTER OFF THE GUARDRAIL- V-TRIGGER TO THE BASE OF THE SKULL SNIPES HIM!!! A sickening thud reverberating through the arena as Ospreay’s head snaps forward, a sadistic Kenny lays the section of railing on Will’s body… BEFORE CONNECTING A DIVING DOUBLE FOOT STOMP OFF THE APRON!!! Champion crushed, Omega cackles and dusts off his hands, before kissing Will’s title, eager to bring it home.
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As Kenny taunts the crowd, Ospreay’s managed to feebly crawl out the rubble after the referee checking on him, though as Omega senses this, he’s immediately on his tail. Watching Will try to pull himself up using the steel post, KENNY CHARGES FOR ANOTHER V-TRIGGER… CRACK! OSPREAY MOVES OUT THE WAY, OMEGA’S KNEE HITTING THE STEEL INSTEAD!!! The Cleaner yowls in sheer agony as what was starting to look like another dominant showing takes a drastic left turn!
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Realising this, Will quickly capitalises, grabbing Omega’s wrists from the opposite side of the post, pulling him up to his feet… Kenny hysterically tries to fight Ospreay off, begging him to spare him, realising what’s coming, WILL YANKING OMEGA HEAD-FIRST INTO THE POST!!! Bouncing it off it over and over again, now it’s Kenny that’s busted open! Omega collapsing back to his knees, Ospreay next grabs the leg and SMASHES KENNY’S KNEE INTO THE POST!!! THEN THE GUARDRAIL!!! AND BACK!!! There’s no mercy from Ospreay tonight.
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Rolling Kenny in, he nails Omega’s YOU CAN’T ESCAPE! ONE! TWO! THR-KICK OUT! Forcing Omega to use the bad leg to free himself, Will goes right back to targeting it, kicking the inside of the knee and slamming it against the mat! SHOOTING STAR PRESS TO THE LEG! Omega can’t even be whipped across the ring, collapsing half-way, a ROBINSON SPECIAL crushing him instead! AND A SLINGSHOT CUTTER! ONE! TWO! THR-NO LUCK!
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Hooking the arms, Ospreay wants STORM BREAKER, but Omega counters into a hurricanrana pin for 2! A Running Knee Strike from Will comes up empty, Kenny flattening him with a SNAP DRAGON SUPLEX! AND A SECOND! KOTARO KRUSHER FOLLOWS! Smacking the leg to keep up, an AOI SHOUDOU plants Ospreay! ONE! TWO! THR-WILL STAYS IN IT! A Doctor Bomb attempt is subdued, Ospreay hammering the knee to escape, before a ROUNDHOUSE cleans Kenny’s clock, a POISONED FRANKENSTEINER standing him up, and an ESSEX DESTROY- POP-UP V-TRIGGER!!!
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Kenny desperately tries getting a limp Will on his shoulders for the ONE WINGED ANGEL, using the ropes for help, but Ospreay leans forwards, tumbling onto the apron to escape! SILENT WHISPER blasts Kenny… OMEGA THROWS A V-TRIGGER BACK, KNOCKING WILL OUT! Leg searing yet title more important, Kenny gingerly lifts Ospreay up the ropes with him, before going for OH GOD A MIDDLE ROPE CROYT’S WRATH!!! OSPREAY FLIPS TO HIS FEET!!!
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The sneer on Omega’s face slowly fades as realisation strikes him, shades of Ibushi/Ospreay, Will not even giving him a chance to respond, HOOK KICK CONNECTING! OSCUTTERRRRRRRRR!!! ONE! TWO! THR-NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Frustrated, Ospreay hammers on the cut on Kenny’s forehead, painting his own chest with Omega’s blood, BEFORE REMOVING THE TURNBUCKLE PAD! He wants to return the favour from WK! Taking Kenny to the top rope, Ospreay teases a DDT onto the exposed steel… Omega slips between his legs to the mat and CROTCHES WILL ON THE METAL!!!
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Kenny cackles as Ospreay howls, before packaging his head and nailing a CHEEKY NANDOS KICK! Blasting Will repeatedly, a V-TRIGGER FOLLOWS, SMASHING WILL’S HEAD INTO THE STEEL!!! AND HE SPINS HIM AROUND – AVALANCHE PHOENIX-PLEX!!! ONE! TWO! THR-NOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Kenny beats on Will’s fresh cut, leaving both men bloody messes, before readying a V-TRIGGER… Ospreay grabs Omega’s foot! Pissed, Kenny shakes him off, nailing a STANDING V-TRIGGER straight to the cut, BEFORE SPIKING HIM WITH AN IBUSHI-STYLE BASTARD DRIVER!!! ONE! TWO! THR-OSPREAY SURVIVES AGAIN!!!
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Ospreay’s body limply leaning on the ropes, Kenny cocks and fires a V-TRIGGER, Will simply bouncing back head-first onto the Canadian! Setting him back, Omega takes another run-up, NAILING HIM WITH A SECOND IN SUCCESSION!!! The champion still out on his knees, twisted thoughts run through Kenny’s mind, prepping his elbow… HE WANTS TO CONCUSS WILL LIKE OSPREAY DID IBUSHI AT WK13!!! OMEGA THROWS THE HIDDEN BLADE… V-TRIGGER FROM OSPREAY!!! Sparking to life, he grabs the wrists and ripcords for a RAINHAM MAKER!!! ONE! TWO! THR-KENNY’S STILL IN IT!!!
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Omega on dream street, Ospreay locks and loads THE HIDDEN BLADE, CONNECTING FLUSH ON KENNY’S JAW!!! But as Will goes to cover, Omega collapses out the ring! Ospreay’s lets out a frustrated wail, but he makes the chase all the same, kicking the lifeless Kenny about ringside. A weak chop from Omega meets a sickening forearm, and a wild punch completely misses, Kenny’s legs giving out. TIGER SUPLEX DUMPS HIM ON THE FLOOR!!! Kenny now fully collapsed, Ospreay gets an idea… PULLING OUT A LADDER FROM UNDER THE RING!!!
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Clearing the commentary table, he hoists The Cleaner onto it, before propping the ladder next-door and climbing! Sending a silent prayer to the skies, OSPREAY LAUNCHES OFF WITH A PHOENIX SPLASH, CONNECTING ALL OF IT!!! The crowd goes ballistic with the two men dead in the rubble, both unmoving for several seconds until Will finally faintly grins to himself for returning a taste of WK17’s table. Dragging himself inside, he flops into his corner, lying in wait for the challenger, who has the look of a soulless corpse once he finds his feet and locks eyes with Ospreay, barely rolling inside at 9 but immediately collapsing again.
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Ready to end it, Will crawls over and lifts Kenny to his knees by the wrists, SCORING A KAMIGOYE-STYLE HIDDEN BLADE!!! Omega rocked, Ospreay backs up to his corner for seconds, BUT KENNY PULLS THE REFEREE INTO THE WAY! Will catches himself in time, pausing in his tracks, though is left exposed to a LOW BLOW!!! Wembley goes mental with boos as Kenny weakly chuckles, feebly clawing up to his feet up a confused referee to nail a V-TRIGGER!!! Lifting him by the wrists, a RAIN TRIGGER FOLLOWS!!! AND HE GETS THE ELECTRIC CHAIR AGAINST ALL ODDS… BUT HE COLLAPSES!!!
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Omega shakes his head in denial, tearing up, his golden ticket in the palm of his hands! Heaving himself back up, he tries again, but Will anchors his body to the ground! Incredulous, he grabs Ospreay by the hair, who grins mockingly, AND SLAMS AN UGLY REAR KAMIGOYE INTO THE BACK OF HIS HEAD!!! COVER!!! ONE! T-KICK OUT!!! OSPREAY KICKS OUT AT ONE!!! Though still completely out of it, the act of sheer defiance certainly sees Kenny’s confidence shatter in real time, who like an unhinged animal beats on Ospreay’s forehead gash until Omega too collapses next to him!
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In a last-ditch effort, he staggers to his feet and puts Will’s head between his legs, wanting a CLASSIC PILEDRIVER!!! OSPREAY HANDSTANDS OUT!!! Omega’s horrified- HIDDEN BLADE!!! ONE TO THE BACK OF THE HEAD!!! Kenny kneeled, Ospreay stands next to him, prepping the OsCutter, but Omega grabs him by the tights! No force in him though, he tells Will to look him in the eyes… AND HE FLIPS HIM OFF!!! SILENT WHISPER TO KENNY!!! AND AN OSCUTTER!!! Rolling through, he deadlifts him up, CONNECTING THE STORM BREAKERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! ONE! TWO! THREE!!!
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Will Ospreay (c) def. Kenny Omega to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship (43:29)
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At long last, it’s over. In front of his own people, the Commonwealth Kingpin has proven he’s Japan’s top gaijin and the most valuable wrestler today. Handed his gold, he watches as a prideful Omega refuses help, mustering up the strength to drag himself up using the ropes, before meeting Will’s gaze. At the end of the first match, he gloated. At the end of the second, he was crushed. But now? He gives Will a subtle nod of respect, officially passing the torch as he takes his bow, leaving Ospreay to take over the world.
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Whilst he may have knocked down his two biggest obstacles in Okada and Omega, a dark horse third awaits him back in Japan by the name of Katsuyori Shibata! The only other individual to beat Will in the G1 other than the winner himself, he calls him out for a shot, still waiting on a reign of his own. A determined Ospreay doesn’t back down, though when he goes for a rare show of respect in a press conference heading in, extending a hand as the bigger man, Shibata outright refuses to shake! Seeing through Will’s superficialness, he declares that he owes Ospreay no respect, refusing to accept him as the company’s face that they’ve so desperately tried to mould him into. He was held back for choosing to carve his own path away from the Musketeers, and now he’s going to stick it to the company by exposing their golden boy like Sakura Genesis 2017! Will grits his teeth but says nothing, knowing he’ll just need to prove himself again.
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Wrestle Grand Slam in Belluna Dome (September 10, 2023)
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Also on the show:
Yota Tsuji (c) vs Yuya Uemura - NEVER Openweight Championship
Catch 22 (c) vs CHAOS (SHO & Taiji Ishimori) - IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
Aussie Open (c) vs FTR - IWGP Tag Team Championship
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Will Ospreay (c) vs Katsuyori Shibata III - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
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In only the third IWGP World Title match of his career, 6 years since the infamous incident, The Wrestler receives a chance to redeem all the troubles he was put through and avenge his pupil Narita in the process. As for Ospreay, having lost to Shibata in both their matches in 2017 and 2023 respectively, he must carve out his spot definitively by knocking down another of his white whales. Taking place interestingly in KENTA’s hometown, Katsuyori’s even more driven to stick it to the man he despises most and lost to in the G1 by winning here, a pair of rather simple, stoic entrances setting the tone for the main event.
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Initially, just like the G1, Shibata starts by beating the hell out of the much younger star to humble him, though Ospreay’s much quicker to put up his fists this time, learning. Youthful arrogance sees him get a couple teeth knocked down his throat though, his patented elbows instantly receiving a much stiffer receipt from Shibata, dropping him dead! Unable to outstrike the most dangerous man in New Japan, Will instead leans on his weight advantage, brutally slamming him down with London Has Fallen and scoring a vicious Liger Bomb to boot. Growing comfortable, he attempts the OsCutter, BUT IS CAUGHT WITH A SLEEPER!
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Choked to a plum colour, the finishing PK narrowly misses, Ospreay dropping him with an ESSEX DESTROYER instead! Cruelling focusing on the skull, Will regains advantage, getting nasty with Kawada Kicks and a CHELSEA GRIN that rocks Shibata! An aerial attempt is again blocked, Shibata evading a Shooting Star Press and simply slapping the hell out of Will! A B*TCHMAKER almost ends him, Katsuyori mocking him as a lesser Okada, but Will takes it personally, rocking him with a brutal Running Knee Strike and nailing a SPIKE PILEDRIVER! Shibata on his knees, inviting Will to give him his best, a (protected) HIDDEN BLADE cracks him upside the head, Ospreay knocking the striker out cold for 3 to retain!
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Will Ospreay (c) def. Katsuyori Shibata to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship (31:46)
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Doubt him, and you’ll be made to regret it. Though earlier in the night, Catch 22’s legendary reign came to an end, United Empire is stronger than ever with Ospreay taking down a murderer’s row of competition. Selling out MSG, Wembley, and a Dome, he only continues to elevate to higher heights. Whilst Shibata is left to be mugged by KENTA to close the show, Will can walk away proud of himself, on the run of a lifetime.
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With the Burning Spirit tour up next leading into a second homecoming in one reign for Ospreay at Royal Quest III, there’s one man in particular that’s been barking up his tree as of late, and that’s the NJPW World Television and ROH Pure Champion Zack Sabre Jr.! Someone who’s been a thorn in Will’s side every step of the way and vice versa, he’s not content holding just two titles, wanting to reclaim his status as Zacky Three Belts, and what better way to do that than with the World Championship! Citing his far superior record and win in their last meeting in 2022’s New Japan Cup, Ospreay grants him a chance to show how deserving he truly is.
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Burning Spirit - Night Six (September 23, 2023)
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Birds of Prey (Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles) vs Sabre-Gun (Zack Sabre Jr. & Gabriel Kidd)
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Will picking his close friend Robbie Eagles to join him (who defected to United Empire during CHAOS’s rebranding after dissension with Lio Rush over Sakura Genesis’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship shot), Sabre chooses an interesting ally of his own in Sabre-Gun’s rising star Gabriel Kidd! Zack’s empire slowly growing across 2023 with the additions of El Phantasmo, El Desperado, TMDK, Blake Christian, Clark Connors, and Kosei Fujita, Kidd’s been another that’s greatly impressed since his return from excursion, joining Zack in a tag on the G1 Finals Night to officially become part of the stable, playing off their history of fighting until respect was reached. Originally set to challenge Ospreay for his RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship last year until a mental health break cancelled those plans, unfinished business stands between the two, Kidd still looking to get Will back for chipping his elbow in a Ladder match back in WCPW 6 years ago.
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The animosity between the two very much shows here, as even with Ospreay ascending to untouchable heights in the past year, he’s still the same Will to Kidd, who incessantly targets him throughout the match, wanting his pound of flesh. Will, of course, outclasses him, using his incredible chemistry with Eagles to keep Gabriel at bay, though their shifted focus does open the doors for ZSJ to employ his cunning, bending Ospreay’s arm over the guardrail with an Article 50 before massacring Robbie, an Orienteering With Napalm Death decisively tapping him out! Holding up all three belts as a hurt Will composes himself, Zack sends a definitive statement of things to come.
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Sabre-Gun def. Birds of Prey (14:25)
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Royal Quest III - Night Two (October 8, 2023)
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Also on the tour:
Aussie Open (c) vs Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi) - IWGP Tag Team Championship
Jon Moxley (c) vs Katsuyori Shibata - IWGP United States Championship
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Will Ospreay (c) vs Zack Sabre Jr. XVI - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
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And so, for the 16th time ever, Ospreay and Sabre are set to go head-to-head! The record 9-6 in Zack’s favour, the Windy Man is nothing short of wholly confident in his own abilities, whilst Will once more enters with a chip on his shoulder, needing to show himself he’s outgrown Sabre for good. For once, London is split directly down the middle between these two, both men having grown up an hour either side from the venue, each in a completely different position since their last meeting, Ospreay on top as the World Champion and Okada-beater, and Sabre now heading a stable of his own like Will, with NJPW singles gold of his own like Will.
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Duelling chants of United Empire and Sabre-Gun, both men are perhaps at their most ruthless they’ve been all year here, which is saying something for Ospreay considering his clashes with Omega, the hatred he shows Sabre unlike anything he’s felt for anyone else, wanting to wipe the sneer off his face. He had Okada figured, he had Omega figured, he even eventually had Shibata figured, but ZSJ is one puzzle which feels like running into a brick wall for Captain Dyslexia, the Technical Wizard tying the champion up into knots that are unheard of!
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Taunting, bullying, torturing, Sabre picks Ospreay apart with such drive and intensity that it becomes crystal clear just how starved he’s been of NJPW’s top title. Conversely, Will’s just forced to do his best, picking his spots to remind the world he’s still very much in there, not letting the challenger shake him down to his core. A Selected Technical Works Vol 2. does get Ospreay in a bind, though he shows progression from all his matches with Sabre, managing to hang with him technically just enough to survive, forcing Zack to keep switching up his submissions. A European Clutch gets the closest call though, ZSJ very nearly flash-pinning Will for the strap!
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That unlocks a whole other beast inside Ospreay, exploding with an uninterrupted 5-minute stretch of offence that has Sabre utterly overwhelmed, Will standing his ground! A HIDDEN BLADE nearly captures another victim, though the impact’s cushioned by Ospreay’s damaged arm dating back to their tag, keeping Zack alive! Still, Will keeps pushing, solely working a striking game despite the searing pain in his limbs, all in the name of strategy, managing to convince an overconfident Sabre to strike with him, though as has been a recurring theme in 2023, Zack gets mauled! And with his guard let ever so slightly down, the hyperfocus on an Article 50 gives way to a STORM BREAKER after being broken on the mat! ONE! TWO! THREE!!!
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Will Ospreay (c) def. Zack Sabre Jr. to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship (33:50)
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Yet again, it’s Ospreay that rules the kingdom with world-class wrestling acumen! As Will collects his title, Sabre cursing under his breath and vowing to be back someday as he leaves with his own two… OUT COMES SHINGO!!! Losing with Naito against Aussie Open for the Tag Titles earlier in the night, the two growing more distant with each other ever since SANADA’s LIJ betrayal put the faction on shaky grounds, Naito’s G1 Finals victory over Shingo only causing further dissension, which they failed to smooth over against the Aussies, the Dragon’s reaching his last wits. And as he eyes Ospreay’s title, it’s clear what he’s here for.
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Not receiving a rematch ever since losing the title at Wrestle Kingdom 16, he’s been kept on an empty stomach long enough, his patience wearing thin. Extending a challenge to Will, he wants to be the one walking into WK defending the strap against Naito! Ospreay, uber-confident in his ability to slay his rival once more, accepts!
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Battle Autumn - Night Eight (October 23, 2023)
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United Empire (Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb, Aussie Open) vs Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, Yota Tsuji, Hiromu Takahashi)
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The Battle Autumn tour pits UE and LIJ against each other in various tags, with Ospreay and co. winning every single one thus far, the issues between Takagi and Naito even spilling into here whilst the rest of LIJ tries to play the role of mediator. With UE dominating and Shingo’s shot mere days away though, they agree something needs to change. And so, for the sake of the greater LIJ family, they do their best to stay out of each other’s ways, finally stringing together some respectable momentum.
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As Aussie Open goes for the Coriolis on Naito, Shingo bursts in off tagging Tetsuya’s back, nailing a PUMPING BOMBER on Davis to knock Tetsuya off his shoulders, before a Pumping BombeDestino combo on Kyle and a LAST OF THE DRAGON breaks the LIJ curse, though going right back to sharing tense stares, Naito ultimately nodding to Shingo, wishing him luck. Ospreay, however, stands unfazed, knowing Takagi’s the one with the chip on his shoulder this time.
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Los Ingobernables de Japon def. United Empire (18:38)

STORY OF THE TWO YOUNG FRIENDS
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There were once in a very large Indian camp two little boys who were fast friends.
One of the boys, "Chaske" (meaning first born), was the son of a very rich family, and was always dressed in the finest of clothes of Indian costume.
The other boy, "Hake" (meaning last born), was an orphan and lived with his old grandmother, who was very destitute, and consequently could not dress the boy in fine raiment.
So poorly was the boy dressed that the boys who had good clothes always tormented him and would not play in his company.
Chaske did not look at the clothes of any boy whom he chose as a friend, but mingled with all boys regardless of how they were clad, and would study their dispositions.
The well dressed he found were vain and conceited.
The fairly well dressed he found selfish and spiteful.
The poorly clad he found to be generous and truthful, and from all of them he chose "Hake" for his "Koda" (friend).
As Chaske was the son of the leading war chief he was very much sought after by the rest of the boys, each one trying to gain the honor of being chosen for the friend and companion of the great chief's son; but, as I have before said, Chaske carefully studied them all and finally chose the orphan Hake.
It was a lucky day for Hake when he was chosen for the friend and companion of Chaske. The orphan boy was taken to the lodge of his friend's parents and dressed up in fine clothes and moccasins.
(When the Indians' sons claim any one as their friend, the friend thus chosen is adopted into the family as their own son).
Chaske and Hake were inseparable.
Where one was seen the other was not far distant.
They played, hunted, trapped, ate and slept together.
They would spend most of the long summer days hunting in the forests.
Time went on and these two fast friends grew up to be fine specimens of their tribe.
When they became the age to select a sweetheart they would go together and make love to a girl.
Each helping the other to win the affection of the one of his choice.
Chaske loved a girl who was the daughter of an old medicine man.
She was very much courted by the other young men of the tribe, and many a horse loaded with robes and fine porcupine work was tied at the medicine man's tepee in offering for the hand of his daughter, but the horses, laden as when tied there, were turned loose, signifying that the offer was not accepted.
The girl's choice was Chaske's friend Hake.
Although he had never made love to her for himself, he had always used honeyed words to her and was always loud in his praises for his friend Chaske.
One night the two friends had been to see the girl, and on their return Chaske was very quiet, having nothing to say and seemingly in deep study.
Always of a bright, jolly and amiable disposition, his silence and moody spell grieved his friend very much, and he finally spoke to Chaske, saying:
"Koda, what has come over you?
You who were always so jolly and full of fun?
Your silence makes me grieve for you and I do not know what you are feeling so downhearted about.
Has the girl said anything to you to make you feel thus?"
"Wait, friend," said Chaske, "until morning, and then I will know how to answer your inquiry. Don't ask me anything more tonight, as my heart is having a great battle with my brain."
Hake bothered his friend no more that night, but he could not sleep.
He kept wondering what "Pretty Feather" (the girl whom his friend loved) could have said to Chaske to bring such a change over him.
Hake never suspected that he himself was the cause of his friend's sorrow, for never did he have a thought that it was himself that Pretty Feather loved.
The next morning after they had eaten breakfast, Chaske proposed that they should go out on the prairies, and see if they would have the good luck to kill an antelope.
Hake went out and got the band of horses, of which there were over a hundred.
They selected the fleetest two in the herd, and taking their bows and arrows, mounted and rode away towards the south.
Hake was overjoyed to note the change in his friend. His oldtime jollity had returned.
They rode out about five miles, and scaring up a drove of antelope they started in hot pursuit, and as their horses were very fleet of foot soon caught up to the drove, and each singling out his choice quickly dispatched him with an arrow.
They could easily have killed more of the antelope, but did not want to kill them just for sport, but for food, and knowing that they had now all that their horses could pack home, they dismounted and proceeded to dress their kill.
After each had finished packing the kill on his horse, Chaske said:
"Let us sit down and have a smoke before we start back.
Besides, I have something to tell you which I can tell better sitting still than I can riding along."
Hake came and sat down opposite his friend, and while they smoked Chaske said:
"My friend, we have been together for the last twenty years and I have yet the first time to deceive you in any way, and I know I can truthfully say the same of you.
Never have I known you to deceive me nor tell me an untruth.
I have no brothers or sisters.
The only brother's love I know is yours.
The only sister's love I will know will be Pretty Feather's, for brother, last night she told me she loved none but you and would marry you and you only.
So, brother, I am going to take my antelope to my sister-in-law's tent and deposit it at her door.
Then she will know that her wish will be fulfilled.
I thought at first that you had been playing traitor to me and had been making love to her for yourself, but when she explained it all to me and begged me to intercede for her to you, I then knew that I had judged you wrongfully, and that, together with my lost love, made me so quiet and sorrowful last night.
So now, brother, take the flower of the nation for your wife, and I will be content to continue through life a lonely bachelor, as never again can I give any woman the place which Pretty Feather had in my heart."
Their pipes being smoked out they mounted their ponies and Chaske started up in a clear, deep voice the beautiful love song of Pretty Feather and his friend Hake.
Such is the love between two friends, who claim to be as brothers among the Indians. Chaske gave up his love of a beautiful woman for a man who was in fact no relation to him.
Hake said, "I will do as you say, my friend, but before I can marry the medicine man's daughter, I will have to go on the warpath and do some brave deed, and will start in ten days."
They rode towards home, planning which direction they would travel, and as it was to be their first experience on the warpath, they would seek advice from the old warriors of the tribe.
On their arrival at the village Hake took his kill to their own tent, while Chaske took his to the tent of the Medicine Man, and deposited it at the door and rode off towards home.
The mother of Pretty Feather did not know whether to take the offering or not, but Pretty Feather, seeing by this offering that her most cherished wish was to be granted, told her mother to take the meat and cook it and invite the old women of the camp to a feast in honor of the son-in-law who was soon to keep them furnished with plenty of meat.
Hake and his friend sought out all of the old warriors and gained all the information they desired.
Every evening Hake visited his intended wife and many happy evenings they spent together.
The morning of the tenth day the two friends left the village and turned their faces toward the west where the camps of the enemy are more numerous than in any other direction. They were not mounted and therefore traveled slowly, so it took about ten days of walking before they saw any signs of the enemy.
The old warriors had told them of a thickly wooded creek within the enemies' bounds.
The old men said, "That creek looks the ideal place to camp, but don't camp there by any means, because there is a ghost who haunts that creek, and any one who camps there is disturbed all through the night, and besides they never return, because the ghost is Wakan (holy), and the enemies conquer the travelers every time."
The friends had extra moccasins with them and one extra blanket, as it was late in the fall and the nights were very cold.
They broke camp early one morning and walked all day.
Along towards evening, the clouds which had been threatening all day, hurriedly opened their doors and down came the snowflakes thick and fast.
Just before it started snowing the friends had noticed a dark line about two miles in advance of them.
Chaske spoke to his friend and said: "If this storm continues we will be obliged to stay overnight at Ghost Creek, as I noticed it not far ahead of us, just before the storm set in."
"I noticed it also," said Hake. "We might as well entertain a ghost all night as to lie out on these open prairies and freeze to death."
So they decided to run the risk and stay in the sheltering woods of Ghost Creek.
When they got to the creek it seemed as if they had stepped inside a big tepee, so thick was the brush and timber that the wind could not be felt at all.
They hunted and found a place where the brush was very thick and the grass very tall.
They quickly pulled the tops of the nearest willows together and by intertwining the ends made them fast, and throwing their tent robe over this, soon had a cosy tepee in which to sleep.
They started their fire and cooked some dried buffalo meat and buffalo tallow, and were just about to eat their supper when a figure of a man came slowly in through the door and sat down near where he had entered.
Hake, being the one who was doing the cooking, poured out some tea into his own cup, and putting a piece of pounded meat and marrow into a small plate, placed it before the stranger, saying: "Eat, my friend, we are on the warpath and do not carry much of a variety of food with us, but I give you the best we have."
The stranger drew the plate towards him, and commenced eating ravenously.
He soon finished his meal and handed the dish and cup back.
He had not uttered a word so far.
Chaske filled the pipe and handed it to him.
He smoked for a few minutes, took one last draw from the pipe and handed it back to Chaske, and then he said: "Now, my friends, I am not a living man, but the wandering spirit of a once great warrior, who was killed in these woods by the enemy whom you two brave young men are now seeking to make war upon.
For years I have been roaming these woods in hopes that I might find some one brave enough to stop and listen to me, but all who have camped here in the past have run away at my approach or fired guns or shot arrows at me.
For such cowards as these I have always found a grave.
They never returned to their homes.
Now I have found two brave men whom I can tell what I want done, and if you accomplish what I tell you to do, you will return home with many horses and some scalps dangling from your belts.
Just over this range of hills north of us, a large village is encamped for the winter.
In that camp is the man who laid in ambush and shot me, killing me before I could get a chance to defend myself.
I want that man's scalp, because he has been the cause of my wanderings for a great many years.
Had he killed me on the battlefield my spirit would have at once joined my brothers in the happy hunting grounds, but being killed by a coward, my spirit is doomed to roam until I can find some brave man who will kill this coward and bring me his scalp.
This is why I have tried every party who have camped here to listen to me, but as I have said before, they were all cowards.
Now, I ask you two brave young men, will you do this for me?"
"We will," said the friends in one voice.
"Thank you, my boys. Now, I know why you came here, and that one of you came to earn his feathers by killing an enemy, before he would marry; the girl he is to marry is my granddaughter, as I am the father of the great Medicine Man.
In the morning there will pass by in plain sight of here a large party.
They will chase the buffalo over on that flat.
After they have passed an old man leading a black horse and riding a white one will come by on the trail left by the hunting party.
He will be driving about a hundred horses, which he will leave over in the next ravine.
He will then proceed to the hunting grounds and get meat from the different hunters.
After the hunters have all gone home he will come last, singing the praises of the ones who gave him the meat.
This man you must kill and scalp, as he is the one I want killed.
Then take the white and black horse and each mount and go to the hunting grounds.
There you will see two of the enemy riding about picking up empty shells.
Kill and scalp these two and each take a scalp and come over to the high knoll and I will show you where the horses are, and as soon as you hand me the old man's scalp I will disappear and you will see me no more.
As soon as I disappear, it will start in snowing.
Don't be afraid as the snow will cover your trail, but nevertheless, don't stop traveling for three days and nights, as these people will suspect that some of your tribe have done this, and they will follow you until you cross your own boundary lines."
When morning came, the two friends sat in the thick brush and watched a large party pass by their hiding place.
So near were they that the friends could hear them laughing and talking.
After the hunting party had passed, as the spirit had told them, along came the old man, driving a large band of horses and leading a fine looking coal black horse.
The horse the old man was riding was as white as snow.
The friends crawled to a little brush covered hill and watched the chase after the shooting had ceased.
The friends knew it would not be long before the return of the party, so they crawled back to their camp and hurriedly ate some pounded meat and drank some cherry tea.
Then they took down their robe and rolled it up and got everything in readiness for a hurried flight with the horses.
Scarcely had they got everything in readiness when the party came by, singing their song of the chase.
When they had all gone the friends crawled down to the trail and lay waiting for the old man.
Soon they heard him singing.
Nearer and nearer came the sounds of the song until at last at a bend in the road, the old man came into view.
The two friends arose and advanced to meet him.
On he came still singing.
No doubt he mistook them for some of his own people.
When he was very close to them they each stepped to either side of him and before he could make an outcry they pierced his cowardly old heart with two arrows.
He had hardly touched the ground when they both struck him with their bows, winning first and second honors by striking an enemy after he has fallen.
Chaske having won first honors, asked his friend to perform the scalping deed, which he did. And wanting to be sure that the spirit would get full revenge, took the whole scalp, ears and all, and tied it to his belt.
The buffalo beef which the old man had packed upon the black horse, they threw on the top of the old man.
Quickly mounting the two horses, they hastened out across the long flat towards the hunting grounds.
When they came in sight of the grounds there they saw two men riding about from place to place.
Chaske took after the one on the right, Hake the one on the left.
When the two men saw these two strange men riding like the wind towards them, they turned their horses to retreat towards the hills, but the white and the black were the swiftest of the tribe's horses, and quickly overtook the two fleeing men.
When they came close to the enemy they strung their arrows onto the bowstring and drove them through the two fleeing hunters.
As they were falling they tried to shoot, but being greatly exhausted, their bullets whistled harmlessly over the heads of the two friends.
They scalped the two enemies and took their guns and ammunition, also secured the two horses and started for the high knoll.
When they arrived at the place, there stood the spirit.
Hake presented him with the old man's scalp and then the spirit showed them the large band of horses, and saying, "Ride hard and long," disappeared and was seen no more by any war parties, as he was thus enabled to join his forefathers in the happy hunting grounds.
The friends did as the spirit had told them.
For three days and three nights they rode steadily.
On the fourth morning they came into their own boundary.
From there on they rode more slowly, and let the band of horses rest and crop the tops of long grass.
They would stop occasionally, and while one slept the other kept watch.
Thus they got fairly well rested before they came in sight of where their camp had stood when they had left.
All that they could see of the once large village was the lone tent of the great Medicine Man.
They rode up on to a high hill and farther on towards the east they saw smoke from a great many tepees.
They then knew that something had happened and that the village had moved away.
"My friend," said Chaske, "I am afraid something has happened to the Medicine Man's lodge, and rather than have you go there, I will go alone and you follow the trail of our party and go on ahead with the horses.
I will take the black and the white horses with me and I will follow on later, after I have seen what the trouble is."
"Very well, my friend, I will do as you say, but I am afraid something has happened to Pretty Feather."
Hake started on with the horses, driving them along the broad trail left by the hundreds of travois.
Chaske made slowly towards the tepee, and stopping outside, stood and listened.
Not a sound could he hear.
The only living thing he saw was Pretty Feather's spotted horse tied to the side of the tent. Then he knew that she must be dead.
He rode off into the thick brush and tied his two horses securely.
Then he came back and entered the tepee.
There on a bed of robes lay some one apparently dead.
The body was wrapped in blankets and robes and bound around and around with parfleche ropes.
These he carefully untied and unwound.
Then he unwrapped the robes and blankets and when he uncovered the face, he saw, as he had expected to, the face of his lost love, Pretty Feather.
As he sat gazing on her beautiful young face, his heart ached for his poor friend.
He himself had loved and lost this beautiful maiden, and now his friend who had won her would have to suffer the untold grief which he had suffered.
What was that? Could it have been a slight quivering of the nostrils that he had seen, or was it mad fancy playing a trick on him?
Closer he drew to her face, watching intently for another sign.
There it was again, only this time it was a long, deep drawn breath.
He arose, got some water and taking a small stick slowly forced open her mouth and poured some into it.
Then he took some sage, dipped it into the water and sprinkled a little on her head and face. There were many parfleche bags piled around the tepee, and thinking he might find some kind of medicine roots which he could use to revive her he started opening them one after the other.
He had opened three and was just opening the fourth, when a voice behind him asked: "What are you looking for?"
Turning quickly, he saw Pretty Feather looking at him.
Overjoyed, he cried, "What can I do so that you can get up and ride to the village with me? My friend and I just returned with a large band of horses and two scalps.
We saw this tent and recognized it.
My friend wanted to come, but I would not let him, as I feared if he found anything had happened to you he would do harm to himself, but now he will be anxious for my return, so if you will tell me what you need in order to revive you, I will get it, and we can then go to my friend in the village."
"At the foot of my bed you will find a piece of eagle fat.
Build a fire and melt it for me.
I will drink it and then we can go."
Chaske quickly started a fire, got out the piece of fat and melted it.
She drank it at one draught, and was about to arise when she suddenly said: "Roll me up quick and take the buffalo hair rope and tie it about my spotted horse's neck; tie his tail in a knot and tie him to the door.
Then run and hide behind the trees.
There are two of the enemy coming this way."
Chaske hurriedly obeyed her orders, and had barely concealed himself behind the trees, when there came into view two of the enemy.
They saw the horse tied to the door of the deserted tent, and knew that some dead person occupied the tepee, so through respect for the dead, they turned out and started to go through the brush and trees, so as not to pass the door.
(The Indians consider it a bad omen to pass by the door of a tepee occupied by a dead body, that is, while in the enemy's country).
So by making this detour they traveled directly towards where Chaske was concealed behind the tree.
Knowing that he would be discovered, and there being two of them, he knew the only chance he had was for him to kill one of them before they discovered him, then he stood a better chance at an even combat.
On they came, little thinking that one of them would in a few minutes be with his forefathers.
Chaske noiselessly slipped a cartridge into the chamber of his gun, threw it into action and took deliberate aim at the smaller one's breast.
A loud report rang out and the one he had aimed at threw up his arms and fell heavily forward, shot through the heart.
Reloading quickly Chaske stepped out from behind the tree.
He could easily have killed the other from his concealed position, but, being a brave young man, he wanted to give his opponent a fair chance.
The other had unslung his gun and a duel was then fought between the two lone combatants.
They would spring from side to side like two great cats.
Then advance one or two steps and fire.
Retreat a few steps, spring to one side and fire again.
The bullets whistled past their heads, tore up the earth beneath their feet, and occasionally one would hit its mark, only to cause a flesh wound.
Suddenly the enemy aimed his gun and threw it upon the ground.
His ammunition was exhausted, and slowly folding his arms he stood facing his opponent, with a fearless smile upon his face, expecting the next moment to fall dead from a bullet from the rifle of Chaske.
Not so.
Chaske was too honorable and noble to kill an unarmed man, and especially one who had put up such a brave fight as had this man.
Chaske advanced and picked up the empty gun.
The Toka (enemy) drew from a scabbard at his belt a long bowie knife, and taking it by the point handed it, handle first, to Chaske.
This signified surrender.
Chaske scalped the dead Toka and motioned for his prisoner to follow him.
In the meantime Pretty Feather had gotten up and stood looking at the duel.
When she heard the first shot she jumped up and cut a small slit in the tent from which she saw the whole proceedings.
Knowing that one or both of them must be wounded, she hurriedly got water and medicine roots, and when they came to the tent she was prepared to dress their wounds.
Chaske had a bullet through his shoulder and one through his hand.
They were very painful but not dangerous.
The prisoner had a bullet through his leg, also one through the muscle of his left arm.
Pretty Feather washed and dressed their wounds, and Chaske went and brought the black and white horses and mounting Pretty Feather upon the white horse, and the prisoner on her spotted one, the three soon rode into the village, and there was a great cry of joy when it was known that Pretty Feather had come back to them again.
Hake, who was in his tent grieving, was told that his friend had returned and with him Pretty Feather.
Hearing this good news he at once went to the Medicine Man's tent and found the Medicine Man busily dressing the wounds of his friend and a stranger.
The old Medicine Man turned to Hake and said:
"Son-in-law, take your wife home with you.
It was from grief at your absence that she went into a trance, and we, thinking she was dead, left her for such.
Hadn't it been for your friend here, she would surely have been a corpse now.
So take her and keep her with you always, and take as a present from me fifty of my best horses."
Hake and his beautiful bride went home, where his adopted mother had a fine large tent put up for them.
Presents of cooking utensils, horses, robes and finely worked shawls and moccasins came from every direction, and last of all Chaske gave as a present to his friend the Toka man whom he had taken as prisoner.
On presenting him with this gift, Chaske spoke thus:
"My friend, I present to you, that you may have him as a servant to look after your large band of horses, this man with whom I fought a two hours' duel, and had his ammunition lasted he would probably have conquered me, and who gave me the second hardest fight of my life.
The hardest fight of my life was when I gave up Pretty Feather.
You have them both.
To the Toka (enemy) be kind, and he will do all your biddings.
To Pretty Feather be a good husband."
So saying, Chaske left them, and true to his word,
lived the remainder of his days a confirmed bachelor.

I've new here, and before today, I never put my thoughts / opinions on where I stand in writing, but here we go....
I'm formerly Christian, now agnostic. In hindsight, I sought refuge in God because I believed my relationship with him would lead to a fruitful relationship with my mother, since she was a believer. However, I realized in time that I did not need to rely on a relationship with God in order to be on good terms with my mom. Just being by her side, among other things, was enough.
That said, I was always fearful of the idea of hell as a child, like many. I assumed God was enacting tough love, but now, I equate it as emotional abuse. People can claim that I wish for God to act based around my feelings, like a spoiled child, but this is not the case. I strongly believe that no one being should have ultimate authority over life, regardless of whether they created life. If I became aware of a being like this, I would attempt to bring them to justice, even under threat of death. I'd probably be wasting my time, but it sure would feel good to try, in spite of the futility.
The nature of God's existence and evidence supporting it are topics that don't mean much to me; I care about how all of it affects the people, specifically the origin and intricacies of religion, as well as its porporters.
Sin as a concept is utterly ludicrous. God's plan relies on the existence of sin in order for anything post-Eden to work properly (lest everyone is buried among mountains of insects reaching into the stratosphere), so it's genuinely concerning as to why God would persecute those who've engaged with the design, especially those with no knowledge of his intended graces or his plan. I imagine many people have already mentioned this, and that many have counter-arguments, just wanted to throw my hat in the ring as well. I'm open for further conversation on this bullet point.
Regardless, I take full responsibility for my actions. Blaming someone else, God or not, is beneath me at this point.
Unless it's the 0.1%, or the State.
I would argue that the observable problems in our society stem from our inability to come together in pursuit of a unified goal. The powerful elite have made it their mission to rob the commoners of their will and purpose, let alone their money. They've priced people out of their homes, and have torn apart the family dynamic that worked to nurture and prepare us for the struggles of life. Education, Healthcare costs, and poverty are skewed in undesirable directions as a result of corporate lobbying. Companies that create urgent job postings never fill these openings since an overworked skeleton crew looks better on a financial report.
It's just another step in their domain to take the world for themselves and keep us from fighting back. Even the very idea of God is used against us, tailored in a way so that we think, act, and believe according to their agenda, always changing, always re-interpreting scripture to convey an idea or argument that one would have to commit career suicide to argue against. Long-standing American values (not sure who here lives in the U.S., but I do) were established to protect against the possibility of men claiming to speak for God from directly influencing the people politically, like they do in the Middle East. No one who goes to Church every Sunday is inherently more American.
I have no qualms over whether God exists or not (as long as he's not a jerk). Personally, I hope he does, since I like the feeling of relying on somebody (again, as long as he's not an jerk). However, the idea that he expects us to worship him for eternity like how Kim Jong-Un expects North Koreans to worship him is laughable to me. Dictators are the loneliest souls to have ever existed on this planet, and a being who commands others through fear of destruction cannot possibly earn true love from those who claim to believe in him. An enlightened being would have more attachment to an agnostic who was steadfast in their principles and thought for themselves even after being cast aside and persecuted (like Jesus), rather than the believers who do not think for themselves and throw stones (like those whom persecuted Jesus).
Of course, I'm just demonstrating an example, and would never claim that anyone is throwing stones. In any case, most of our problems would be solved if housing, poverty, and the 1% elite were working at "acceptable" levels or better, in my opinion. Then everyone can come together in the unified goal of creating a better world, since everyone would know for a fact it would lead to a desirable outcome if they participated (most people are a product of environment and people around them, and desire for either good outcomes of those arrangements to continue into adulthood, or for bad outcomes to be rectified through their innate will and perseverance, ideally at least), rather than devolving into cynicism-inspired degeneracy cultivated by the downfall of housing & family dynamics. Which would in turn foster forward thinking culture, unlike what we have now (mostly). And the God that everyone worships (assuming they still do) would be one who pushes us to be better without disrespecting us (Everyone's idea of God is subjective, and is more or less an extension of their own ego). He does not have the right to ultimate power and authority over us just because he created us. It is the people's responsibility. We have judges and juries for a reason. They exist to establish objective morality without assistance from a higher being.
If 1,000 people on the jury are asked by the prosecution over whether they would be okay with their mothers being murdered if it meant that the murder would coincide with God's plan, and 999 people said that their mother being murdered in that context is inherently wrong, then it is established that God's plan would be absolutely and undeniably wrong in that situation. The people know how to decide what's right and wrong on their own, and no one man can claim they know best without input from others (that's how society functions even throughout all the craziness). Of course, this is harder if degeneracy is a factor, but not impossible (personally, I'd rather degenerates be left to figure things out on their own if that is how it must be, divine intervention will only stifle growth).
If God does exist, all he needs to do is attempt to guide us in the right direction without taking hold of the wheel, like someone with a map in the shotgun seat of a car, giving out directions while we're driving through Detroit. He must never stomp us with his feet and claim that the Devil did it. Only hypocrites use scapegoats.
However, since the 0.1% / State (and the churches they run) have no intention of altering their agenda to respect the people's will (especially since they cultivated degeneracy that no rational mind would agree warrants power), not to mention that no Church would ever alter biblical text to a degree that favors the people, it's more plausible to just accept the observable nature of reality, and communicate that which is observed to others, a.k.a. subjective morality. In any case, nothing will change until the people take back power from the elite.
If there is a God, he must be on the side of the people. Anything else is propaganda. I'll apologize or serve time in prison if I commit a crime, but no one is under any obligation to serve or burn for eternity by any means. Only dictators wish for such things, and their countries are paired with travel warnings in brochures for a reason.
An Enlightened Being would prioritize Reform over Punishment. Even in the Afterlife.

As a TLDR: I killed a fellow PC and that character made a PC for revenge.
I’m playing a very shy, skittish tiefling wizard and the problem player that I’ll just call Mike was originally playing a dwarven fighter. We had ended up in a battle against my character’s former mentor. He was an evil wizard who only took her under his wing as a means to have a servant. She had learned magic through sneaking peeks into his spell books and one night she had been caught. He had meant to lock her away, leaving her to starve in hopes the secrets she had learned would go with her to the grave. Luckily for her, she had been planning her escape for weeks now and had managed to get her hands on a scroll for dimension door without his knowledge. Fast forward several years into the future in-game and the party had learned that he was aiding the BBEG of the campaign had stormed into his hideout to question him and stop their evil plans. During the fight, since my character is a support, I was instantly targeted by the crafty wizard. Usually in fights, I support the martials. Because of this, Mike and I had a good relationship because I could cast haste on him, making him even more of a powerhouse. Her former mentor used dominate person on her and I failed the wisdom save. He started using me to buff himself and forced me to attack my party. Due to most of them being melee or tanks, none of them really wanted to attack me and kept trying to restrain me. However, by some curse bestowed upon the dice gods, I rolled high and they rolled low in their attempts to grapple me. Eventually, Mike and the Barbarian whittled down the wizard’s HP; he decided on a Hail Mary. If he was going to die, we were all going with him. So, he commanded my little wizard to use a spell in her arsenal she had only even used once before. Fireball.
I not only casted it at the highest level, level 6, but Mike and the Barbarian failed their saves. Barbarian only lived thanks to his resistances, but Mike? His character died along with the wizard. The DM had asked Mike to start making death saving throws, but Mike had different plans.
Mike: Can I just willingly fail?
DM: Uuuhhh, yeah sure. Are you wanting to play a new character or something?
Mike: No, I just don’t think my character could work with OP after she attacked everyone like that.
DM: What? Oh, no! This wasn’t a betrayal, the wizard cast dominate person on her.
Mike: Yeah, I know that. But my character doesn’t know that.
I felt bad at this point. I had never killed a fellow PC before and Mike had a good friendship with my little wizard. I tried to express this by having my wizard drop to her knees and sob upon realizing what she had done. We held a funeral for the fallen fighter before continuing on our task of searching the wizard’s hideout. The entire time, Mike hadn’t said a word.
Next session rolls around about two weeks later. Mike had brought in a new character; a human paladin who instantly took a dislike to my character. Calling her names such as devil-scum, a heartless demon, and warned the party I was not to be trusted. I didn’t think anything of it at first. I thought he was playing the holier than thou paladin stereotype and that eventually after seeing my character wasn’t a threat would warm up to her. And in the meantime, this will create an interesting dynamic as the two will have a one-sided rivalry while my wizard tries to prove he's misjudging her. We made it to the next town that session. Our DM likes to have rest and relaxation between huge encounters to give us time to digest what we’ve learned and stock back up on supplies. Mike goes off on his own instead of staying with the group and he tells us that his character wouldn’t go off with us yet since he doesn’t really know us. Fair enough. But, now that I think of it, he never really gave his character a reason to go with us; he never said what his goals were or that he would accompany us on our journey. He just followed along, and I think I overlooked this since he was a returning player. Just with a new character. Little did I know, his paladin had his own secret motivation for tagging along with our group.
It started at the tavern. Once night rolled around, we paid for our rooms and drank before heading to bed. The barbarian was making some jokes about the music being awful at this bar and was making a bet with a very furious bard that he could play the lute better with one hand. We laughed as he rolled performance with disadvantage and got a natural 1. The DM described that not only could he barely hold onto the lute, but the strings he did try to strum sounded so terrible everyone in a 10 foot range had started covering their ears. It was at this point that Mike tells the DM to check his messages. DM did and sounded concern, giving him the typical, “are you sure?”.
I was then asked to make a perception check. Wisdom is one of my dump stats so I easily fail the check. The DM tells me that I don’t notice anything and the night continues. I eventually describe getting a refill on my drink.
Mike: (gleefully) Did you drink all of it?
Me: Yeah, I did.
Mike: DM, she has to make a Con save.
Me: (laughing) Oh, to see if I’m drunk? This should be good.
DM: No … No, not for that …
I’m confused but I roll, getting a 18. The DM tells me that I start feeling very nauseous, like I need to lie down. Mike is very quiet at this point, not saying anything as I describe my character hurrying to her room to turn in for the night. After a couple of minutes when everyone’s characters start doing the same, Mike says he wants to take off his armor once he gets to his room. I thought he was just adding a bit of flavor into the RP, describing how his paladin removes his armor before he sleeps. But, that’s not what this was. Not at all.
He had his character sneak down the hallway to my room and open my bedroom door. I don’t see the obvious red flags and tell the DM that since my character was drinking and had gotten sick then she probably would be fast asleep. The DM asks me if I’m sure and I instantly get a bad feeling, but I stick to what I said to avoid metagaming. The next thing I know, Mike is rolling a grapple to grab my character and cover her mouth.
And this is when it starts going down. Unlike before when we faced the wizard, I’m repeatedly failing my rolls to get myself out of the grapple. And because my mouth is covered there are several spells I can’t cast since most of them that I have that would get me out of this situation are verbal. Mike brags about how there’s no way I’ll be able to break free since he took the grappler feat. Mike describes how he’s using one arm tucked around my character’s neck, holding her in a choke hold while using his bicep to cover her mouth. In his other hand, he had his sword and, you guessed it, is casting smite on it as he proceeds to stab into my little wizard.
She’s dying. He's murdering her right under the party's nose and none of the other players can do anything because they don’t know this is happening.
I’m looking through my spells, trying to figure out what to do when I realize that thunderclap is only a somatic spell and will create enough noise to draw attention to my room. I cast it, awakening everyone in the tavern. The party members rush to my room and barbarian manages to wrestle me away from the paladin who begins screaming at the paladin, asking him what he thinks he’s doing. Mike claims that this is what his character would do, he wouldn’t see my wizard as a person, just a monster to dispose of. The party goes back and forth in character for a bit while the bard helps patch up my little wizard. Mike’s paladin then turns to her, vowing that he will rip the world of my kind, before stomping back to his room. Barbarian volunteers to sleep in my room with me for protection. As the session continues after the group’s long rest, Mike keeps making comments about how his paladin isn’t going to stop trying to kill my wizard and how she got lucky. He also reveals that the reason my wizard had gotten sick before was because he had snuck a poison into her drink and luckily, I had passed the DC. Mike was actually mad about this; the DM had lowered the DC for me since he was trying to poison a fellow party member. As the night continues most of the party has left the voice chat, including the DM. We’re alone, so I eventually tell Mike that I’m a little sad that he made a character that would be so hostile towards mine, but he throws his fighter’s death back into my face. Saying that he’s not doing anything that I already didn’t do.
I remind him that I wasn’t in control of my wizard at that point and that I would never willingly try to kill him. But his response is just that his character wouldn’t know that, so his dwarf died thinking my character betrayed the party. I asked him if that’s why he made this paladin; to kill my wizard. He responded with that he purposely made a character he knew my wizard wouldn’t like, but whether she died or not would depend on how I played. I just awkwardly tell him okay before getting off.
I’m not sure if I should tell the DM about Mike’s plans or intentions with his paladin. Mike and I usually play well together so it’s shocking he’s being so hostile in this instance. I’ve tried messaging him a couple of times trying to tell him I’m not okay with this behavior and I don’t want my character to die for metagaming reasons. If she does die, I want it to be natural. Not because he purposely invented a character that will hate her. He denies that it’s metagaming and is telling me to play smarter. I told him that my wizard would be very weary around him now, wanting to avoid him as much as possible.
His response?
Mike: Good.Me: Don't you care?Mike: No, my character really wouldn't care about what a devil--spawn thinks of him.
Me: Don't you at least care how I feel about it?Mike: Your character was the one who started this. How can she be okay with killing but not being killed herself? Seems kind of hypocritical.
Me: She's not okay with killing, she didn't have a choice! I just really don't want her to die over something like this.
DM: It's just a character, character's die all the time. I should know since you killed mine.
It's like he magically forgets my character was being controlled and refuses to acknowledge my emotions can extend outside of the game when it comes to him purposely trying to kill my wizard. He keeps throwing the it's just a character line out there while also simultaneously being upset about his fighter's death. Although, he denies being upset about it.

mostly just a vent, advice if you have any? not expecting any though, I just need to vent also not proofread, sorry
the following is very long, tldr I am incredibly lucky and well off and have every reason to be happy but I'm a shitty selfish person who wants easy instant gratification more than to improve and I can't get myself to care about anything enough to try hard enough
I have grown up in an upper middle class family, my parents are cheap because they grew up poorer then dirt but I have never felt insecure about money or that my needs and wants weren't met financially. my parents have some issues, products of traumatizing childhoods they treated with alcohol when they were younger and now they try and ignore, but they are certainly not awful. My dad can irrationally angry and yell, my mom will flip from being the most loving adoring person to seemingly despising me over the exact same thing, but I have in no way ever been physically abused and at worst maybe got a couple overly harsh words... well paragraphs (she does not know when to stop talking even when she's just digging a deeper hole for herself) from my mom. their worst attribute is probably just the gaslighting that fights never happened or went differently then I remembered but it's not that big of a deal and to be fair I have god awful recall so maybe they are right???
I have a wonderful boyfriend, he lives across the US from me right now because his dad is in the coast guard but we spent a very nice couple months together and are still going very strong. he is the most kind, loving, and supportive person in the world, I love him more than I knew I could love anything.
I don't have many friends because I either pushed them away directly or indirectly because I am a shut-in online college student and will forget to respond to text messages for weeks sometimes, but I have a couple who still try even despite how god awful of a friend I am.
I am not doing the greatest in college, but I am not doing terrible either, my state has the Running Start program where you can take partially school-funded college classes from the local community college to count as high school credits junior and senior year, I've been doing that the last 2 years. I am graduating from highschool next month and from college with a business associates next year in March hopefully. I also skipped kindergarten, meaning I am very far ahead in things.
I am in discussion with a local CPA accounting firm about a part-time junior accountant position which is an incredible opportunity in the accounting field as is regardless of how young and relatively inexperienced I am to be having these conversations. It's one of the few things I'm actually good at (at least so far) that I don't despise AND makes good money, I am very excited for it.
I am a trans guy, took me a while to realize it because I tried so hard to convince myself I just needed to "be a girl better" and that's why I hated myself, literally made my own "girl-bootcamp" where I tried to teach myself to be a girl in the most toxic feminity misogynistic way possible like a fool. I'm out of it now though! I am dressing the way I want, I go by a preferred name now, I was out in my highschool's theatre program and everyone was chill with it, I am not working right now so I'm not stuck getting dead named and misgendered all day anymore, and I just had my first appointment with the best gender clinic in my state and I'm supposed to start testosterone in a month. I should be happier then I've ever been.
but in the last month I almost killed myself 3 times, I had only gotten that close to an attempt once before. I've gained this sickening awareness, now that I've met all the imaginary conditions for happiness and success, that I am not getting any better, and it's because I don't want to.
As a kid I daydreamed so hard about the future, so sure the future would make everything better for me, that I became a maladaptive daydreamer and I am still no better about that to this day. eventually I stopped being able to imagine having a future at all, any event planned to happen past this afternoon doesn't feel real until it's occuring. I got out of toxic friendgroups, got in a relationship, got out of it, did therapy, got ADHD meds, did more therapy, got antidepressants, did virtual intensive outpatient therapy, did more therapy after that. I got good grades, I discovered myself, I got a job, I dropped the job to focus on school and myself, I fell in love, I make planner after planner after planner trying to organize my life, I try everything I can to find things I enjoy doing that make my happy and might give me motivation, I have did everything I was supposed to and I am the same trash I was at the start.
I take a shower maybe once a month I brush my teeth maybe once every couple months I eat average 2 meals a day, often just one I stay up late into the night, sleep long into the morning, or fall asleep a 6pm and wake up at 6am, I fall asleep all the time randomly and fatigue clings to me like plastic film I pace for hours and hours daydreaming, or ranting out loud to myself when I'm home alone I doomscroll until my eye sockets feel hollow I play stupid games I know are wasting my time when there are urgent things to be done I rot. I lay in my bed in rot. I sit on the couch and rot. I pace in the kitchen and rot. I sit on my phone and rot.
I can not control myself, I only care about self-fulfilling instant gratification and nothing else. eating is hard and I don't like it, won't do it. showering is hard and I don't feel like it, won't do it. brushing my teeth is hard and I am tired, won't do it. going outside is hard and I know secretly they can't help but judge my stupid girly voice the moment I open my stupid fucking mouth, won't do it studying is hard and I am too stupid for this shit anyways, won't do it
I am not getting better, I am only getting worse. I am at the highest dose of ADHD meds I can comfortably take before the side effects start to bug me, I take a pretty high dose of anti depressants. I know I am chemically better than before, it's not raw exhaustion and disinterest and misery, I get very happy and excited and energetic, but only if does something for me NOW. I get excited about dandelions and weird bugs and Hank green tiktoks and playing Stardew valley and city bus rides and zoos, but only in the moment and once it is gone I am hollow. if something is at all out of reach, no matter how good it is, how much ecstatic euphoric joy it brings me in the moment, I will not fight for it. no matter how miserable I am, if improving the situation is perceived as even slightly more uncomfortable for the tiniest moment, I won't do it. I sometimes have... bladder control issues, absolutely not fucking fun. I used to be so ashamed and proactive about it, and I still feel awful and disgusting and ashamed, but if it's the usual small amount where I can convince myself "it'll dry", I'll literally rot in my own filth for a week or so. it's disgusting, I am disgusting. I have been trying so hard to do better but it's never enough because I can't put my full heart in it, I just want my simple easy pleasure and then die. I am still trying to keep up with things, but I am continuing to worsen. the same cycle happened to me with both jobs I worked, I'd start out a star employee, learning really fast, showing up early, being very responsible, then I'd progressively show up a little later, just barely on time, a minute or two late, 5 minutes late, 10, 20, I call out "sick" an hour before my shift, I do this a couple times, I put in my two weeks/quit. I make up some excuse, usually some mysteriously serious and private family matters, and rot in bed because I fell behind on work or just couldn't find the energy to go and then I realized I'm a shitty employee and leave. I am at the "realizing I'm a shitty employee and leaving" stage in my life as a whole, but that's not allowed. Giving up is a terrible sad tragedy, but the only cure to sadness is to want to be happy. The only way to get better is to want to improve and push through the hard times and work hard and someday things will be easy and good. There's no cure to being the selfish asshole who cares more about not having to brush my teeth then living for my loved ones. I don't want to fight anymore, I am tired, the fighting isn't making me better, my ADHD and depression and arfid all keep from doing the things to fight my ADHD and depression and arfid enough as is, simply not having the will to fight is the final nail. I'm so tired, I want to take off from school and ignore the job opportunity and ignore any needs or responsibilities or meals and just play games and watch science videos and walk around town solely just to walk and look at things in stores I'll never buy and make weird clothes and pick flowers and impulse buy that Amtrak ticket to Monterey so I can visit the aquarium and sleep outside because I'm too young to book and stay in a hotel room alone and catch a bus going somewhere I don't know just to see where I end up and walk through the woods behind my house and try to find animal bones or a snake or something, I want to scream and cry and tear myself to shreds and laugh until I can't breath and spend every second and those awful unproductive dangerous stupid expensive waste-of-time wonderful perfect soul-filling tiny tiny little moments and then just drop dead. no more responsibility to anyone, certainly not myself, just ecstasy and permanent sleep.
it's not fair, I don't deserve that at all, it's selfish to want it when every person in my life has been through so much worse and are doing a thousand times better, I'll hurt people, life isn't that hard, ADHD and depression and common and executive dysfunction happens to people all the time and they do incredible amazing things and all I'm asked is to eat my dinner, take my 2 online college classes, and not fucking kill myself and I am failing at all 3 and I don't deserve to be getting away with this, even if I live but keep up tis behavior I will hurt people and ruin myself, but I just don't care enough to try because at night when I'm standing in front of the bathroom door, more than enough energy to brush my teeth for two minutes, knowing I should, knowing it's easy and fine and good for me and I need to I really need to, I still turn my head and walk into my room. I yell at the people trying to help me, I shove everyone away, and ruin my own life again and again and again and I'm never going to stop because I don't want to. I am shitty selfish person and I don't fucking care and I want to care but I just can't fucking care.

A terrifying movie or book or show gets your blood pumping in the moment of consumption, sure—we covered our eyes in Squid Game with the rest of the world. But for the most part, you rest easy afterward knowing that what you've witnessed is fiction, deliberately spun up to creep you out. When the real world gets eerier than anything Stephen King could dream up, that's when you have every right to get a little scared of the dark.
Once in a while, a story of a dreadful disappearance, demonic possession, or devil worship will land in the local paper instead of a pulpy old paperback. We've rounded up the most unnerving real-life tales below. In honor of spooky season, here are eleven we can't stop thinking about.

The Axe Murder House

The Villisca Axe Murder House in Villisca, Iowa is a well-known tourist attraction for ghost hunters and horror lovers alike. The site of a gruesome unsolved 1912 murder, in which six children and two adults had their skulls completely crushed by the axe of an unknown perpetrator, was purchased in 1994, restored to its 1912 condition, and converted into a tourist destination. It costs $428 a night to stay at the old haunted home, where visitors always report strange paranormal experiences, such as visions of a man with an axe roaming the halls or the faint screams of children.
But in November of 2014, the haunting took a darker turn. Robert Steven Laursen Jr., 37, of Rhinelander, Wisconsin was on a regular recreational paranormal visit with friends when true horror struck. Per VICE:

His companions found him stabbed in the chest—an apparently self-inflicted wound—called 9-1-1, and Laursen was brought to a nearby hospital before being helicoptered to Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said Laursen suffered the self-inflicted injury at about 12:45 a.m., which is around the same time the 1912 axe murders in the house began.
Laursen recovered from his injuries, but has never spoken publicly about what occurred that day. For Martha Linn, the owner of the home, the incident was very upsetting. "It's publicity, but it's not exactly the kind of publicity you desire to have. I don't want people thinking that when they come to the Villisca Axe Murder House something's going to happen that's going to make them do something like that.” The house remains open for tourist visits and overnight stays today.
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The Haunted Doll

When you think of haunted dolls, it’s likely the creepy old Victorian-looking porcelain kind that springs to mind. None of which you probably have laying around. Still, don’t get too comfortable around any kids toys too soon, though: a Disney’s Frozen Elsa doll that was gifted for Christmas 2013 in the Houston area made headlines earlier this year when it seemingly became haunted.
Per KPRC2 Houston News:

The doll recited phrases from the movie Frozen and sang “Let It Go” when a button on its necklace was pressed.
“For two years it did that in English,” mother Emily Madonia said. “In 2015, it started doing it alternating between Spanish and English. There wasn’t a button that changed these, it was just random."
The family has owned the doll for more than six years and never changed its batteries. The mother says the doll would randomly begin to speak and sing even with its switch turned off.

The family decided to throw the creepy doll out in December of 2019. Weeks later, they found it inside a bench in their living room. “The kids insisted they didn’t put it there, and I believed them because they wouldn’t have dug through the garbage outside,” Madonia told KPRC2 Houston News.

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At that point, Elsa ceased to sing the English rendition of “Let It Go” altogether, speaking only Spanish when pressed. The family then double-bagged the bizarre doll and placed it at the bottom of their garbage which was taken out on garbage day. They went on a trip shortly after, but when they returned, Elsa too had come back, and was waiting in the backyard of their home.
This time, the family mailed Elsa to a family friend in Minnesota, who taped the haunted doll to the front bumper of his truck. It doesn’t seem to have made its way back to Houston yet, as per Madonia’s latest February Facebook update on the creepy doll.

A Deadly Exorcism

In August 2016 in North London, 26-year-old Kennedy Ife began acting strange and aggressive following a pain in his throat. He reportedly bit his father, threatened to cut off his own penis, and complained of a python or snake inside of him before his family restrained him to a bed with cable ties and excessive force.
As the BBC reported:

“The family then set about attempting to ‘cure’ Kennedy through restraint and prayer over the next three days, the court was told.”

His brother, Colin Ife, told police:

“It’s clear that thing was in him, what we believed was a demon because it was not natural. It was clearly trying to kill him,” he said.
“We had to restrain him for himself. It was clear if we didn’t restrain him, he could have tried to harm people in our family.”

Kennedy Ife had been bound to his bed for three days without medical attention when his brother called emergency services, explaining that Kennedy Ife was complaining of dehydration. He appeared to have developed breathing issues, and was pronounced dead at 10:17 a.m.
As The Independent reported:

While police were at the house Colin Ife allegedly carried out an “attempted resurrection” by chanting and praying for Mr. Ife.

All seven of Kennedy Ife’s family members were accused of manslaughter, false imprisonment, and causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable adult. A post-mortem examination revealed over 60 wounds including a possible bite on Kennedy Ife’s body, and his father, Kenneth Ife, along with four of his brothers, sustained injuries as well.
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The BBC reported:

Kenneth Ife told jurors he ordered his sons to take shifts and use "overwhelming force" but denied that an "association with cults, occults and secret societies" played any part in the death.

After a four day jury deliberation, all seven family members were cleared of charges on March 14, 2019.
📷Witches prepare themselves for a journey by broomstick to the Black Mountain, circa 1650. From a 17th century Dutch copperplate by Adrianus Hubertus.Hulton Archive

Dead Animals in the Walls

When the Bretzuis family decided to insulate their home in Auburn, Pennsylvania in 2015, they discovered that it had already been—with scores of dead animal carcasses.
As Fox reported:

The dead animals were wrapped in newspapers from the 1930s and 40s and were among half-used spices, and other items.
After removing the items they sent hundreds of artifacts and carcasses to an expert in Kutztown.

The expert attributed the rotting animals in their walls to Pow-wow or Dutch magic, a ritual originating in the culture of the Pennsylvania Dutch to treat ailments and gain physical and spiritual protection. The Pennsylvania Dutch were a group of German-speaking settlers to Pennsylvania in the 1600 and 1700’s, and are often of Lutheran, Mennonite, or Amish faiths.
The Washington Post notes on the magic:

Many of the spells deal with the care of livestock, finding water, or the treatment of minor ailments, reflecting the conditions and concerns of early American settlers.
But powwow also has within it a tradition of darker spells, and even of such things as conjuring demons.

One notable ritual in their tradition is this hex to create loyalty in a dog:

To attach a dog to a person, provided nothing else was used before to effect it: Try to draw some of your blood, and let the dog eat it along with his food, and he will stay with you.

The mold found on the rotting carcasses in the Bretzuis home has caused illness among the family members, and they say that the odor hasn’t gone away.
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Florida Devil Worshipping

Friends noticed that Danielle Harkins, a 35-year-old schoolteacher near St. Petersburg, Florida, started acting strangely in June of 2012, developing an interest in demonic rituals.
Soon after, she was arrested for abuse of seven of her former students, as the Tampa Bay Times reported:

Danielle Harkins told the kids they needed to rid their bodies of demons as the group gathered before dusk Saturday around a small fire near the St. Petersburg Pier. They should cut their skin to let the evil spirits out, police said she told the children. Then, they needed to burn the wounds to ensure that those spirits would not return.
When Harkins held a lighter to one teen's hand, wind blew the flame out, police said. That prompted her to douse his hand in perfume before setting it on fire. The boy suffered second-degree burns, police said.
Another teen was cut on the neck with a broken bottle, police said. Harkins used a flame to heat a small key, which she then used to cauterize the wound.

The police were notified because a friend of one of the students who participated in the ritual raised alarms. However none of the students themselves told their parents about the event or would comment following the arrest of Harkins for aggravated battery and child abuse.
NBC reported:

Investigators said they've spoken to Harkins, but she didn't spell out what type of religion would require such drastic measures.
"She hasn't informed us exactly what she was trying to accomplish with this," Puetz [of the St. Petersburg Police Department] said.

The Death of Elisa Lam

Elisa Lam was last seen on January 31, 2013 in the lobby of the Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. She was vacationing through the West Coast, documenting the trip on her blog, and checking in with her parents every day. On January 31 those calls stopped. Lam had vanished. Soon the police were involved and her parents arrived to help with the search.
They had nothing. That February, LAPD released elevator surveillance footage of Lam before her disappearance. The footage shows Lam behaving strangely in the elevator, appearing to talk with invisible people, peering around the corner of the door, crouching in the corner, and opening and closing the door. But what exactly is going on in this video raises more questions than answers. Theories range from psychotic episodes, to demonic possession, to unknown assailants just out of the camera's view:
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Around that time, hotel guests started reported weird things happening with the Cecil Hotel water supply. As CNN reports:
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"The shower was awful," said Sabina Baugh, who spent eight days there during the investigation. "When you turned the tap on, the water was coming black first for two seconds and then it was going back to normal."The tap water "tasted horrible," Baugh said. "It had a very funny, sweety, disgusting taste. It's a very strange taste. I can barely describe it."But for a week, they never complained. "We never thought anything of it," she said. "We thought it was just the way it was here."

On the morning of February 19, a hotel employee climbed to the roof and used a ladder to investigate the hotel's water storage tanks. That's where authorities found the decomposing, naked body of Lam, whose personal items were found nearby. After an autopsy, her death was labeled accidental. NBC Los Angeles reported at the time about the strange circumstances in the hotel's past:

The tank has a metal latch that can be opened, but authorities said access to the roof is secured with an alarm and lock.The single-room-occupancy hotel has an unusual history. "Night Stalker" Richard Ramirez, who was found guilty of 14 slayings in the 1980s, lived on the 14th floor for several months in 1985. And international serial killer Jack Unterweger is suspected of murdering three prostitutes during the time he lived there in 1991. He killed himself in jail in 1994.In 1962, a female occupant jumped out of one the hotel's windows, killing herself and a pedestrian on whom she landed.

In February 2021, a Netflix doc called Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel explored Elisa's tragic case and the history of the "cursed" Cecil Hotel.

An Exorcism in Indianapolis

Last year, the Indianapolis Star published a lengthy report on a family terrorized by three children allegedly possessed by demons. The account of Latoya Ammons and her family tells disturbing stories of children climbing up the walls, getting thrown across rooms, and children threatening doctors in deep unnatural voices. It would seem like something straight out of a movie–a work of fantasy, except all of these accounts were more or less corroborated with "nearly 800 pages of official records obtained by the Indianapolis Star and recounted in more than a dozen interviews with police, DCS personnel, psychologists, family members and a Catholic priest."
One of the more chilling sections of the report includes a segment about the possessed 9-year-old:

According to Washington's original DCS report—an account corroborated by Walker, the nurse—the 9-year-old had a "weird grin" and walked backward up a wall to the ceiling. He then flipped over Campbell, landing on his feet. He never let go of his grandmother's hand.

Another segment of the piece reads:

The 12-year-old would later tell mental health professionals that she sometimes felt as if she were being choked and held down so she couldn't speak or move. She said she heard a voice say she'd never see her family again and wouldn't live another 20 minutes.

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Utah Murder-Suicide

In September of 2014, a Utah teen returned to his home to find his parents and three siblings dead. "In a notebook, a 'to-do list' had been scribbled on the pages ... The list looked as if the parents were readying to go on vacation—items such as 'feed the pets' and 'find someone to watch after the house' were written," The Salt Lake Tribune reported. It appeared to be murder-suicide, but there was no suicide note, no prior indication that they would do this, no explanation. Police could not figure out why two parents would kill themselves and three of their four children.
For a year, no one knew exactly what happened to the family, or what would drive the parents to do something so unthinkable. In January, police released more chilling details in the case. According to accounts from family members and an investigation by police, the parents were driven by a belief that the apocalypse was coming and an obsession with a convicted killer. As the Washington Post reported:

Friends and family told police that the parents were worried about the "evil in the world" and wanted to escape a "pending apocalypse." But most assumed they just wanted to move somewhere "off the grid." Investigators also found letters written by Kristi Strack to one of the state's most infamous convicted killers, Dan Lafferty, who was convicted in the 1984 fatal stabbing of his sister-in-law and her 1-year-old daughter. According to trial testimony, he killed the victims at the order of his brother, Ron Lafferty, who claimed to have had a revelation from God. The story became a book called "Under the Banner of Heaven."Police said Kristi Strack became friends with Dan Lafferty, and she and her husband even visited him in prison.

The Phone Stalker

In 2007, ABC news documented a series of cell phone calls to families with terrifyingly specific death threats. The unidentified callers knew exactly what families were doing and what they were wearing.

The families say the calls come in at all hours of the night, threatening to kill their children, their pets and grandparents. Voice mails arrive, playing recordings of their private conversations, including one with a local police detective.The caller knows, the families said, what they're wearing and what they're doing. And after months of investigating, police seem powerless to stop them.

This went on with the Kuykenall family for months, who reported a caller with a scratchy voice threatening to slit their throats.

When the Fircrest, Wash., police tried to find the culprit, the calls were traced back to the Kuykendalls' own phones -- even when they were turned off.It got worse. The Kuykendalls and two other Fircrest families told ABC News that they believe the callers are using their cell phones to spy on them. They say the hackers know their every move: where they are, what they're doing and what they're wearing. The callers have recorded private conversations, the families and police said, including a meeting with a local detective.

"The Watcher"

After moving into their $1.3 million dream home, a New Jersey family started receiving creepy death threats from someone who identified themselves as "The Watcher." As CBS News reported earlier this year:
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Since moving in, the owners said they have received numerous letters from the mysterious person. "The Watcher" claimed the home "has been the subject of my family for decades," and "I have been put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming," Castro reported.The new owners have several children, and other letters asked, "Have they found out what's in the walls yet?" and "I am pleased to know your names now, and the name of the young blood you have brought to me."

The family was forced to flee from their home and later filed a lawsuit against the previous owners.

Issei the Cannibal

In 1974, 24-year-old Wako University student Issei Sagawa allegedly followed a German woman to her home in Tokyo, Japan, broke into her apartment while she was sleeping, and attempted to cut a piece of flesh off her body to consume. When she awoke, she reportedly fought him and he was later captured by the police. According to a 2012 Vice documentary that covered Issei's bizarre story, he was mistakenly charged with attempted rape and his wealthy father paid the victim a settlement outside of court to have the charges dropped.
Seven years later, in 1981, he allegedly committed a murder in France—shooting and eating a fellow University student, Renée Hartevelt. Issei creepily documented the entire experience with photographs and he was captured by authorities once again while attempting to dump the rest of her body in the Bois de Boulogne lake. He was deported back to Japan and committed to a mental institution. For reason unknown, his psychologists in Japan declared that he was sane. Furthermore, a legal technicality involving the French government refusing to turn over the documents from his case meant that his murder charges were dropped completely. He checked himself out of the mental hospital and has reportedly been walking the streets as a free man ever since. Issei has even become a controversial celebrity, writing over 20 books. According to Japan Today, he most recently fantasized about an unnamed TV actress, saying:
"I'll catch a glimpse of her thigh and think, 'That sure looks tasty.' But I don't feel like I actually want to eat it. As I accomplished the act of cannibalism once, there's no meaning to maintaining the desire for it anymore. In my book, I wrote that it [human flesh] was tasty, but that was not really true; I'd much rather eat Matsuzaka (Kobe) beef. But because I'd desired to consume human flesh for so long, I'd managed to convince myself that it would necessarily be delicious."
Issei Sagawa was also referenced in the Rolling Stones song "Too Much Blood," with the lyrics reading: "And when he ate her he took her bones/To the Bois de Boulogne." He is currently 73 years old and continues to live in Kawaski City, Japan. To this day, no one knows why France did not allow Japan to give him a trial.
📷MATT MILLER

I told you that you'd heal quickly now."
"Yeah, well, still," said Jack, "it's the principle of the thing. And nobody likes being bitten in the butt! Couldn't you have gotten my calf or something instead?"
"More meat in the typical human butt," replied Nate. "And less chance you accidentally kick me or move at the last second."
"Yeah, right. So, tell me all of these wonderful secrets that I now qualify to hear," answered Jack.
"Ok," said Nate. "Do you want to ask questions first, or do you want me to just start talking?"
"Just talk," said Jack. "I'll sit here and try to not think about food."
"We could go try to rustle up some food for you first, if you like," answered Nate.
"Hey! You didn't tell me you had food around here, Nate!" Jack jumped up. "What do we have? Am I in walking distance to town? Or can you magically whip up food along with your other powers?" Jack was almost shouting with excitement. His stomach had been growling for hours.
"I was thinking more like I could flush something out of its hole and bite it for you, and you could skin it and eat it. Assuming you have a knife, that is," replied Nate, with the grin that Jack was starting to get used to.
"Ugh," said Jack, sitting back down. "I think I'll pass. I can last a little longer before I get desperate enough to eat desert rat, or whatever else it is you find out here. And there's nothing to burn - I'd have to eat it raw. No thanks. Just talk."
"Ok," replied Nate, still grinning. "But I'd better hurry, before you start looking at me as food.
Nate reared back a little, looked around for a second, and then continued. "You, Jack, are sitting in the middle of the Garden of Eden."
Jack looked around at the sand and dunes and then looked back at Nate sceptically.
"Well, that's the best I can figure it, anyway, Jack," said Nate. "Stand up and look at the symbol on the rock here." Nate gestured around the dark stone they were both sitting on with his nose.
Jack stood up and looked. Carved into the stone in a bas-relief was a representation of a large tree. The angled-pole that Nate was wrapped around was coming out of the trunk of the tree, right below where the main branches left the trunk to reach out across the stone. It was very well done - it looked more like a tree had been reduced to almost two dimensions and embedded in the stone than it did like a carving.
Jack walked around and looked at the details in the fading light of the setting sun. He wished he'd looked at it while the sun was higher in the sky.
Wait! The sun was setting! That meant he was going to have to spend another night out here! Arrrgh!
Jack looked out across the desert for a little bit, and then came back and stood next to Nate. "In all the excitement, I almost forgot, Nate," said Jack. "Which way is it back to town? And how far? I'm eventually going to have to head back - I'm not sure I'll be able to survive by eating raw desert critters for long. And even if I can, I'm not sure I'll want to."
"It's about 30 miles that way." Nate pointed, with the rattle on his tail this time. As far as Jack could tell, it was a direction at right angles to the way he'd been going when he was crawling here. "But that's 30 miles by the way the crow flies. It's about 40 by the way a man walks. You should be able to do it in about half a day with your improved endurance, if you head out early tomorrow, Jack."
Jack looked out the way the snake had pointed for a few seconds more, and then sat back down. It was getting dark. Not much he could do about heading out right now. And besides, Nate was just about to get to the interesting stuff. "Garden of Eden? As best as you can figure it?"
"Well, yeah, as best as I and Samuel could figure it anyway," said Nate. "He figured that the story just got a little mixed up. You know, snake, in a 'tree', offering 'temptations', making bargains. That kind stuff. But he could never quite figure out how the Hebrews found out about this spot from across the ocean. He worried about that for a while."
"Garden of Eden, hunh?" said Jack. "How long have you been here, Nate?"
"No idea, really," replied Nate. "A long time. It never occurred to me to count years, until recently, and by then, of course, it was too late. But I do remember when this whole place was green, so I figure it's been thousands of years, at least."
"So, are you the snake that tempted Eve?" said Jack.
"Beats me," said Nate. "Maybe. I can't remember if the first one of your kind that I talked to was female or not, and I never got a name, but it could have been. And I suppose she could have considered my offer to grant requests a 'temptation', though I've rarely had refusals."
"Well, umm, how did you get here then? And why is that white pole stuck out of the stone there?" asked Jack.
"Dad left me here. Or, I assume it was my dad. It was another snake - much bigger than I was back then. I remember talking to him, but I don't remember if it was in a language, or just kind of understanding what he wanted. But one day, he brought me to this stone, told me about it, and asked me to do something for him. I talked it over with him for a while, then agreed. I've been here ever since.
"What is this place?" said Jack. "And what did he ask you to do?"
"Well, you see this pole here, sticking out of the stone?" Nate loosened his coils around the tilted white pole and showed Jack where it descended into the stone. The pole was tilted at about a 45 degree angle and seemed to enter the stone in an eighteen inch slot cut into the stone. Jack leaned over and looked. The slot was dark and the pole went down into it as far as Jack could see in the dim light. Jack reached out to touch the pole, but Nate was suddenly there in the way.
"You can't touch that yet, Jack," said Nate.
"Why not?" asked Jack.
"I haven't explained it to you yet," replied Nate.
"Well, it kinda looks like a lever or something," said Jack. "You'd push it that way, and it would move in the slot."
"Yep, that's what it is," replied Nate.
"What does it do?" asked Jack. "End the world?"
"Oh, no," said Nate. "Nothing that drastic. It just ends humanity. I call it 'The Lever of Doom'." For the last few words Nate had used a deeper, ringing voice. He tried to look serious for a few seconds, and then gave up and grinned.
Jack was initially startled by Nate's pronouncement, but when Nate grinned Jack laughed. "Ha! You almost had me fooled for a second there. What does it really do?"
"Oh, it really ends humanity, like I said," smirked Nate. "I just thought the voice I used was funny, didn't you?"
Nate continued to grin.
"A lever to end humanity?" asked Jack. "What in the world is that for? Why would anyone need to end humanity?"
"Well," replied Nate, "I get the idea that maybe humanity was an experiment. Or maybe the Big Guy just thought, that if humanity started going really bad, there should be a way to end it. I'm not really sure. All I know are the rules, and the guesses that Samuel and I had about why it's here. I didn't think to ask back when I started here."
"Rules? What rules?" asked Jack.
"The rules are that I can't tell anybody about it or let them touch it unless they agree to be bound to secrecy by a bite. And that only one human can be bound in that way at a time. That's it." explained Nate.
Jack looked somewhat shocked. "You mean that I could pull the lever now? You'd let me end humanity?"
"Yep," replied Nate, "if you want to." Nate looked at Jack carefully. "Do you want to, Jack?"
"Umm, no." said Jack, stepping a little further back from the lever. "Why in the world would anyone want to end humanity? It'd take a psychotic to want that! Or worse, a suicidal psychotic, because it would kill him too, wouldn't it?"
"Yep," replied Nate, "being as he'd be human too."
"Has anyone ever seriously considered it?" asked Jack. "Any of those bound to secrecy, that is?"
"Well, of course, I think they've all seriously considered it at one time or another. Being given that kind of responsibility makes you sit down and think, or so I'm told. Samuel considered it several times. He'd often get disgusted with humanity, come out here, and just hold the lever for a while. But he never pulled it. Or you wouldn't be here." Nate grinned some more.
Jack sat down, well back from the lever. He looked thoughtful and puzzled at the same time. After a bit, he said, "So this makes me the Judge of humanity? I get to decide whether they keep going or just end? Me?"
"That seems to be it," agreed Nate.
"What kind of criteria do I use to decide?" said Jack. "How do I make this decision? Am I supposed to decide if they're good? Or too many of them are bad? Or that they're going the wrong way? Is there a set of rules for that?"
"Nope," replied Nate. "You pretty much just have to decide on your own. It's up to you, however you want to decide it. I guess that you're just supposed to know."
"But what if I get mad at someone? Or some girl dumps me and I feel horrible? Couldn't I make a mistake? How do I know that I won't screw up?" protested Jack.
Nate gave his kind of snake-like shrug again. "You don't. You just have to try your best, Jack."
Jack sat there for a while, staring off into the desert that was rapidly getting dark, chewing on a fingernail.
Suddenly, Jack turned around and looked at the snake. "Nate, was Samuel the one bound to this before me?"
"Yep," replied Nate. "He was a good guy. Talked to me a lot. Taught me to read and brought me books. I think I still have a good pile of them buried in the sand around here somewhere. I still miss him. He died a few months ago."
"Sounds like a good guy," agreed Jack. "How did he handle this, when you first told him. What did he do?"
"Well," said Nate, "he sat down for a while, thought about it for a bit, and then asked me some questions, much like you're doing."
"What did he ask you, if you're allowed to tell me?" asked Jack.
"He asked me about the third request," replied Nate.
"Aha!" It was Jack's turn to grin. "And what did you tell him?"
"I told him the rules for the third request. That to get the third request you have to agree to this whole thing. That if it ever comes to the point that you really think that humanity should be ended, that you'll come here and end it. You won't avoid it, and you won't wimp out." Nate looked serious again. "And you'll be bound to do it too, Jack."
"Hmmm." Jack looked back out into the darkness for a while.
Nate watched him, waiting.
"Nate," continued Jack, quietly, eventually. "What did Samuel ask for with his third request?"
Nate sounded like he was grinning again as he replied, also quietly, "Wisdom, Jack. He asked for wisdom. As much as I could give him."
"Ok," said Jack, suddenly, standing up and facing away from Nate, "give it to me.
Nate looked at Jack's backside. "Give you what, Jack?"
"Give me that wisdom. The same stuff that Samuel asked for. If it helped him, maybe it'll help me too." Jack turned his head to look back over his shoulder at Nate. "It did help him, right?"
"He said it did," replied Nate. "But he seemed a little quieter afterward. Like he had a lot to think about."
"Well, yeah, I can see that," said Jack. "So, give it to me." Jack turned to face away from Nate again, bent over slightly and tensed up.
Nate watched Jack tense up with a little exasperation. If he bit Jack now, Jack would likely jump out of his skin and maybe hurt them both.
"You remember that you'll be bound to destroy humanity if it ever looks like it needs it, right Jack?" asked Nate, shifting position.
"Yeah, yeah, I got that," replied Jack, eyes squeezed tightly shut and body tense, not noticing the change in direction of Nate's voice.
"And," continued Nate, from his new position, "do you remember that you'll turn bright purple, and grow big horns and extra eyes?"
"Yeah, yeah...Hey, wait a minute!" said Jack, opening his eyes, straightening up and turning around. "Purple?!" He didn't see Nate there. With the moonlight Jack could see that the lever extended up from its slot in the rock without the snake wrapped around it.
Jack heard, from behind him, Nate's "Just Kidding!" right before he felt the now familiar piercing pain, this time in the other buttock.
Jack sat on the edge of the dark stone in the rapidly cooling air, his feet extending out into the sand. He stared out into the darkness, listening to the wind stir the sand, occasionally rubbing his butt where he'd been recently bitten.
Nate had left for a little while, had come back with a desert-rodent-shaped bulge somewhere in his middle, and was now wrapped back around the lever, his tongue flicking out into the desert night's air the only sign that he was still awake.
Occasionally Jack, with his toes absentmindedly digging in the sand while he thought, would ask Nate a question without turning around.
"Nate, do accidents count?"
Nate lifted his head a little bit. "What do you mean, Jack?"
Jack tilted his head back like he was looking at the stars. "You know, accidents. If I accidentally fall on the lever, without meaning to, does that still wipe out humanity?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it does, Jack. I'd suggest you be careful about that if you start feeling wobbly," said Nate with some amusement.
A little later - "Does it have to be me that pulls the lever?" asked Jack.
"That's the rule, Jack. Nobody else can pull it," answered Nate.
"No," Jack shook his head, "I meant does it have to be my hand? Could I pull the lever with a rope tied around it? Or push it with a stick? Or throw a rock?"
"Yes, those should work," replied Nate. "Though I'm not sure how complicated you could get. Samuel thought about trying to build some kind of remote control for it once, but gave it up. Everything he'd build would be gone by the next sunrise, if it was touching the stone, or over it. I told him that in the past others that had been bound had tried to bury the lever so they wouldn't be tempted to pull it, but every time the stones or sand or whatever had disappeared."
"Wow," said Jack, "Cool." Jack leaned back until only his elbows kept him off of the stone and looked up into the sky.
"Nate, how long did Samuel live? One of his wishes was for health too, right?" asked Jack.
"Yes," replied Nate, "it was. He lived 167 years, Jack."
"Wow, 167 years. That's almost 140 more years I'll live if I live as long. Do you know what he died of, Nate?"
"He died of getting tired of living, Jack," Nate said, sounding somewhat sad.
Jack turned his head to look at Nate in the starlight.
Nate looked back. "Samuel knew he wasn't going to be able to stay in society. He figured that they'd eventually see him still alive and start questioning it, so he decided that he'd have to disappear after a while. He faked his death once, but changed his mind - he decided it was too early and he could stay for a little longer. He wasn't very fond of mankind, but he liked the attention. Most of the time, anyway.
"His daughter and then his wife dying almost did him in though. He didn't stay in society much longer after that. He eventually came out here to spend time talking to me and thinking about pulling the lever. A few months ago he told me he'd had enough. It was his time."
"And then he just died?" asked Jack.
Nate shook his head a little. "He made his fourth request, Jack. There's only one thing you can ask for the fourth request. The last bite.
After a bit Nate continued, "He told me that he was tired, that it was his time. He reassured me that someone new would show up soon, like they always had.
After another pause, Nate finished, "Samuel's body disappeared off the stone with the sunrise."
Jack lay back down and looked at the sky, leaving Nate alone with his memories. It was a long time until Jack's breathing evened out into sleep.
Jack woke with the sunrise the next morning. He was a little chilled with the morning desert air, but overall was feeling pretty good. Well, except that his stomach was grumbling and he wasn't willing to eat raw desert rat.
So, after getting directions to town from Nate, making sure he knew how to get back, and reassuring Nate that he'd be back soon, Jack started the long walk back to town. With his new health and Nate's good directions, he made it back easily.
Jack caught a bus back to the city, and showed up for work the next day, little worse for the wear and with a story about getting lost in the desert and walking back out. Within a couple of days Jack had talked a friend with a tow truck into going back out into the desert with him to fetch the SUV. They found it after a couple of hours of searching and towed it back without incident. Jack was careful not to even look in the direction of Nate's lever, though their path back didn't come within sight of it.
Before the next weekend, Jack had gone to a couple of stores, including a book store, and had gotten his SUV back from the mechanic, with a warning to avoid any more joyriding in the desert. On Saturday, Jack headed back to see Nate.
Jack parked a little way out of the small town near Nate, loaded up his new backpack with camping gear and the things he was bringing for Nate, and then started walking. He figured that walking would leave the least trail, and he knew that while not many people camped in the desert, it wasn't unheard of, and shouldn't really raise suspicions.
Jack had brought more books for Nate - recent books, magazines, newspapers. Some things that would catch Nate up with what was happening in the world, others that were just good books to read. He spent the weekend with Nate, and then headed out again, telling Nate that he'd be back again soon, but that he had things to do first.
Over four months later Jack was back to see Nate again. This time he brought a laptop with him - a specially modified laptop. It had a solar recharger, special filters and seals to keep out the sand, a satellite link-up, and a special keyboard and joystick that Jack hoped that a fifteen-foot rattlesnake would be able to use. And, it had been hacked to not give out its location to the satellite.
After that Jack could e-mail Nate to keep in touch, but still visited him fairly regularly - at least once or twice a year.
After the first year, Jack quit his job. For some reason, with the wisdom he'd been given, and the knowledge that he could live for over 150 years, working in a nine to five job for someone else didn't seem that worthwhile any more. Jack went back to school.
Eventually, Jack started writing. Perhaps because of the wisdom, or perhaps because of his new perspective, he wrote well. People liked what he wrote, and he became well known for it. After a time, Jack bought an RV and started traveling around the country for book signings and readings.
But, he still remembered to drop by and visit Nate occasionally.
On one of the visits Nate seemed quieter than usual. Not that Nate had been a fountain of joy lately. Jack's best guess was that Nate was still missing Samuel, and though Jack had tried, he still hadn't been able to replace Samuel in Nate's eyes. Nate had been getting quieter each visit. But on this visit Nate didn't even speak when Jack walked up to the lever. He nodded at Jack, and then went back to staring into the desert. Jack, respecting Nate's silence, sat down and waited.
After a few minutes, Nate spoke. "Jack, I have someone to introduce you to."
Jack looked surprised. "Someone to introduce me to?" Jack looked around, and then looked carefully back at Nate. "This something to do with the Big Guy?
"No, no," replied Nate. "This is more personal. I want you to meet my son." Nate looked over at the nearest sand dune. "Sammy!"
Jack watched as a four foot long desert rattlesnake crawled from behind the dune and up to the stone base of the lever.
"Yo, Jack," said the new, much smaller snake.
"Yo, Sammy" replied Jack. Jack looked at Nate. "Named after Samuel, I assume?"
Nate nodded. "Jack, I've got a favor to ask you. Could you show Sammy around for me?" Nate unwrapped himself from the lever and slithered over to the edge of the stone and looked across the sands. "When Samuel first told me about the world, and brought me books and pictures, I wished that I could go see it. I wanted to see the great forests, the canyons, the cities, even the other deserts, to see if they felt and smelled the same. I want my son to have that chance - to see the world. Before he becomes bound here like I have been.
"He's seen it in pictures, over the computer that you brought me. But I hear that it's not the same. That being there is different. I want him to have that. Think you can do that for me, Jack?"
Jack nodded. This was obviously very important to Nate, so Jack didn't even joke about taking a talking rattlesnake out to see the world. "Yeah, I can do that for you, Nate. Is that all you need?" Jack could sense that was something more.
Nate looked at Sammy. Sammy looked back at Nate for a second and then said, "Oh, yeah. Ummm, I've gotta go pack. Back in a little bit Jack. Nice to meet ya!" Sammy slithered back over the dune and out of sight.
Nate watched Sammy disappear and then looked back at Jack. "Jack, this is my first son. My first offspring through all the years. You don't even want to know what it took for me to find a mate." Nate grinned to himself. "But anyway, I had a son for a reason. I'm tired. I'm ready for it to be over. I needed a replacement."
Jack considered this for a minute. "So, you're ready to come see the world, and you wanted him to watch the lever while you were gone?"
Nate shook his head. "No, Jack - you're a better guesser than that. You've already figured out - I'm bound here - there's only one way for me to leave here. And I'm ready. It's my time to die."
Jack looked more closely at Nate. He could tell Nate had thought about this - probably for quite a while. Jack had trouble imagining what it would be like to be as old as Nate, but Jack could already tell that in another hundred or two hundred years, he might be getting tired of life himself. Jack could understand Samuel's decision, and now Nate's. So, all Jack said was, "What do you want me to do?"
Nate nodded. "Thanks, Jack. I only want two things. One - show Sammy around the world - let him get his fill of it, until he's ready to come back here and take over. Two - give me the fourth request.
"I can't just decide to die, not any more than you can. I won't even die of old age like you eventually will, even though it'll be a long time from now. I need to be killed. Once Sammy is back here, ready to take over, I'll be able to die. And I need you to kill me.
"I've even thought about how. Poisons and other drugs won't work on me. And I've seen pictures of snakes that were shot - some of them live for days, so that's out too. So, I want you to bring back a sword.
Nate turned away to look back to the dune that Sammy had gone behind. "I'd say an axe, but that's somewhat undignified - putting my head on the ground or a chopping block like that. No, I like a sword. A time-honored way of going out. A dignified way to die. And, most importantly, it should work, even on me.
"You willing to do that for me, Jack?" Nate turned back to look at Jack.
"Yeah, Nate," replied Jack solemnly, "I think I can handle that."
Nate nodded. "Good!" He turned back toward the dune and shouted, "Sammy! Jack's about ready to leave!" Then quietly, "Thanks, Jack."
Jack didn't have anything to say to that, so he waited for Sammy to make it back to the lever, nodded to him, nodded a final time to Nate, and then headed into the desert with Sammy following.
Over the next several years Sammy and Jack kept in touch with Nate through e-mail as they went about their adventures. They made a goal of visiting every country in the world, and did a respectable job of it. Sammy had a natural gift for languages, as Jack expected he would, and even ended up acting as a translator for Jack in a few of the countries. Jack managed to keep the talking rattlesnake hidden, even so, and by the time they were nearing the end of their tour of countries, Sammy had only been spotted a few times. While there were several people that had seen enough to startle them greatly, nobody had enough evidence to prove anything, and while a few wild rumors and stories followed Jack and Sammy around, nothing ever hit the newspapers or the public in general.
When they finished the tour of countries, Jack suggested that they try some undersea diving. They did. And spelunking. They did that too. Sammy finally drew the line at visiting Antarctica. He'd come to realize that Jack was stalling. After talking to his Dad about it over e-mail, he figured out that Jack probably didn't want to have to kill Nate. Nate told Sammy that humans could be squeamish about killing friends and acquaintances.
So, Sammy eventually put his tail down (as he didn't have a foot) and told Jack that it was time - he was ready to go back and take up his duties from his dad. Jack, delayed it a little more by insisting that they go back to Japan and buy an appropriate sword. He even stretched it a little more by getting lessons in how to use the sword. But, eventually, he'd learned as much as he was likely to without dedicating his life to it, and was definitely competent enough to take the head off of a snake. It was time to head back and see Nate.
When they got back to the US, Jack got the old RV out of storage where he and Sammy had left it after their tour of the fifty states, he loaded up Sammy and the sword, and they headed for the desert.
When they got to the small town that Jack had been trying to find those years ago when he'd met Nate, Jack was in a funk. He didn't really feel like walking all of the way out there. Not only that, but he'd forgotten to figure the travel time correctly, and it was late afternoon. They'd either have to spend the night in town and walk out tomorrow, or walk in the dark.
As Jack was afraid that if he waited one more night he might lose his resolve, he decided that he'd go ahead and drive the RV out there. It was only going to be this once, and Jack would go back and cover the tracks afterward. They ought to be able to make it out there by nightfall if they drove, and then they could get it over tonight.
Jack told Sammy to e-mail Nate that they were coming as he drove out of sight of the town on the road. They then pulled off the road and headed out into the desert.
Everything went well, until they got to the sand dunes. Jack had been nursing the RV along the whole time, over the rocks, through the creek beds, revving the engine the few times they almost got stuck. When they came to the dunes, Jack didn't really think about it, he just downshifted and headed up the first one. By the third dune, Jack started to regret that he'd decided to try driving on the sand. The RV was fishtailling and losing traction. Jack was having to work it up each dune slowly and was trying to keep from losing control each time they came over the top and slid down the other side. Sammy had come up to sit in the passenger seat, coiled up and laughing at Jack's driving.
As they came over the top of the fourth dune, the biggest one yet, Jack saw that this was the final dune - the stone, the lever, and somewhere Nate, waited below. Jack put on the brakes, but he'd gone a little too far. The RV started slipping down the other side.
Jack tried turning the wheel, but he didn't have enough traction. He pumped the brakes - no response. They started sliding down the hill, faster and faster.
Jack felt a shock go through him as he suddenly realized that they were heading for the lever. He looked down - the RV was directly on course for it. If Jack didn't do something, the RV would hit it. He was about to end humanity.
Jack steered more frantically, trying to get traction. It still wasn't working. The dune was too steep, and the sand too loose. In a split second, Jack realized that his only chance would be once he hit the stone around the lever - he should have traction on the stone for just a second before he hit the lever - he wouldn't have time to stop, but he should be able to steer away.
Jack took a better grip on the steering wheel and tried to turn the RV a little bit - every little bit would help. He'd have to time his turn just right.
The RV got to the bottom of the dune, sliding at an amazing speed in the sand. Just before they reached the stone Jack looked across it to check that they were still heading for the lever. They were. But Jack noticed something else that he hadn't seen from the top of the dune. Nate wasn't wrapped around the lever. He was off to the side of the lever, but still on the stone, waiting for them. The problem was, he was waiting on the same side of the lever that Jack had picked to steer towards to avoid the lever. The RV was already starting to drift that way a little in its mad rush across the sand and there was no way that Jack was going to be able to go around the lever to the other side.
Jack had an instant of realization. He was either going to have to hit the lever, or run over Nate. He glanced over at Sammy and saw that Sammy realized the same thing.
Jack took a firmer grip on the steering wheel as the RV ran up on the stone. Shouting to Sammy as he pulled the steering wheel, "Better Nate than lever!", he ran over the snake.
THE END

So, there's a man crawling through the desert.
He'd decided to try his SUV in a little bit of cross-country travel, had great fun zooming over the badlands and through the sand, got lost, hit a big rock, and then he couldn't get it started again. There were no cell phone towers anywhere near, so his cell phone was useless. He had no family, his parents had died a few years before in an auto accident, and his few friends had no idea he was out here.
He stayed with the car for a day or so, but his one bottle of water ran out and he was getting thirsty. He thought maybe he knew the direction back, now that he'd paid attention to the sun, and thought he'd figured out which way was north, so he decided to start walking. He figured he only had to go about 30 miles or so and he'd be back to the small town he'd gotten gas in last.
He thinks about walking at night to avoid the heat and sun, but based upon how dark it actually was the night before, and given that he has no flashlight, he's afraid that he'll break a leg or step on a rattlesnake. So, he puts on some sun block, puts the rest in his pocket for reapplication later, brings an umbrella he'd had in the back of the SUV with him to give him a little shade, pours the windshield wiper fluid into his water bottle in case he gets that desperate, brings his pocket knife in case he finds a cactus that looks like it might have water in it, and heads out in the direction he thinks is right.
He walks for the entire day. By the end of the day he's really thirsty. He's been sweating all day, and his lips are starting to crack. He's reapplied the sunblock twice, and tried to stay under the umbrella, but he still feels sunburned. The windshield wiper fluid sloshing in the bottle in his pocket is really getting tempting now. He knows that it's mainly water and some ethanol and coloring, but he also knows that they add some kind of poison to it to keep people from drinking it. He wonders what the poison is, and whether the poison would be worse than dying of thirst.
He pushes on, trying to get to that small town before dark.
By the end of the day, he starts getting worried. He figures he's been walking at least three miles an hour, according to his watch for over ten hours. That means that if his estimate was right, he should be close to the town. Unfortunately, he doesn't recognize any of this. He had to cross a dry creek bed a mile or two back, and he doesn't remember coming through it in the SUV. He figures that maybe he got his direction off just a little and that the dry creek bed was just off to one side of his path. He tells himself that he's close, and that after dark he'll start seeing the town lights over one of these hills. That'll be all he needs.
As it gets dim enough that he starts stumbling over small rocks and things, he finds a spot and sits down to wait for full dark and the town lights.
Full dark comes before he knows it. He must have dozed off. He stands back up and turns all the way around. He sees nothing but stars.
He wakes up the next morning feeling absolutely lousy. His eyes are gummy and his mouth and nose feel like they're full of sand. He’s so thirsty that he can't even swallow. He barely got any sleep because it was so cold. He'd forgotten how cold it got at night in the desert and hadn't noticed it the night before because he'd been in his car.
He knows the Rule of Threes - three minutes without air, three days without water, three weeks without food - then you die. Some people can make it a little longer, in the best situations. The desert heat and having to walk and sweat isn't the best situation to be in without water. Unless he finds water, he figures, this is his last day.
He rinses out his mouth with a little of the windshield wiper fluid. He waits for a while after spitting that little bit out to see if his mouth goes numb, or he feels dizzy or something. Has his mouth gone numb? Is it just in his mind? He's not sure. He'll go a little farther, and if he still doesn't find water, he'll try drinking some of the fluid.
Then he has to face his next, harder question - which way does he go from here? Does he keep walking the same way as yesterday (assuming that he still knows which way that is), or does he try a new direction? He has no idea what to do.
Looking at the hills and dunes around him, he thinks he knows the direction he was heading before. Just going by a feeling, he points himself somewhat to the left of that, and starts walking.
As he walks, the day starts heating up. The desert, too cold just a couple of hours before, soon becomes an oven again. He sweats a little at first, and then stops. He starts getting worried at that. He knows that when you stop sweating, you’re in trouble. It’s usually right before heat stroke..
He decides that it's time to try the windshield wiper fluid. He can't wait any longer - if he passes out, he's dead. He stops in the shade of a large rock, takes the bottle out, opens it, and takes a mouthful. He slowly swallows it, making it last as long as he can. It feels so good in his dry and cracked throat that he doesn't even care about the nasty taste. He takes another mouthful, and makes it last too. Slowly, he drinks half the bottle. He figures that since he's drinking it, he might as well drink enough to make some difference and keep himself from passing out.
He's quit worrying about the denaturing of the wiper fluid. If it kills him, it kills him. If he didn't drink it, he'd die anyway. Besides, he's pretty sure that whatever substance they denature the fluid with is just designed to make you sick: their way of keeping winos from buying cheap wiper fluid for the ethanol content. He can handle throwing up if it comes to that.
He walks. He walks in the hot, dry, windless desert. Sand, rocks, hills, dunes, the occasional scrawny cactus or dried bush. No sign of water. Sometimes he'll see a little movement to one side or the other, but whatever moved is usually gone before he can focus his eyes on it. Probably birds, lizards, or mice. Maybe snakes, though they usually move more at night. He's careful to stay away from the movements.
After a while, he begins to stagger. He's not sure if it's fatigue, heat stroke finally catching him, or maybe he was wrong and the denaturing of the wiper fluid was worse than he thought. He tries to steady himself and keep going.
After more walking, he comes to a large stretch of sand. This is good! He knows he passed over a stretch of sand in the SUV - he remembers doing donuts in it, or at least he thinks he remembers it; he's getting woozy enough and tired enough that he's not sure what he remembers anymore or if he's hallucinating. He thinks he remembers it, so he heads off into it, trying to get to the other side, hoping that it gets him closer to the town.
He was heading for a town, wasn't he? He thinks he was. He isn't sure anymore. He's not even sure how long he's been walking anymore. Is it still morning? Has it moved into afternoon, and the sun is going down again? It must be afternoon; it seems like it's been too long since he started out.
He walks through the sand.
After a while, he comes to a big dune in the sand. This is bad. He doesn't remember any dunes from when he was driving over the sand in his SUV. At least he doesn't think he remembers any. This is bad.
All the same, he has no other direction to go. Too late to turn back now. He figures that he'll get to the top of the dune and see if he can see anything from there that can help him find the town. He keeps going up the dune.
Halfway up, he slips in the bad footing of the sand for the second or third time and falls to his knees. He doesn't feel like getting back up, since he'll just fall down again. He keeps going up the dune on his hand and knees.
While crawling, if his throat weren't so dry, he'd laugh. He's finally gotten to the hackneyed image of a man lost in the desert, crawling through the sand on his hands and knees. It would be the perfect image, he imagines, if only his clothes were more ragged. The people crawling through the desert in the cartoons always had ragged clothes, but his have lasted without any rips so far. Somebody will probably find his dessicated corpse half buried in the sand years from now, and his clothes will still be in fine shape - shake the sand out, give them a good wash, and they'd be wearable again. He wishes his throat were wet enough to laugh. He coughs a little instead, and it hurts.
He finally makes it to the top of the sand dune. Now that he's at the top, he struggles a little, but manages to stand up and look around. All he sees is sand. Sand and more sand. Behind him, about a mile away, he thinks he sees the rocky ground he left to head into this sand. Ahead of him, more dunes, more sand. This isn't where he drove his SUV. This is Hell. Or close enough.
Again, he doesn't know what to do. He decides to drink the rest of the wiper fluid while figuring it out. He takes out the bottle and starts removing the cap when he glances to the side and sees something. Something in the sand. At the bottom of the dune, off to the side, he sees something strange. It's a flat area, in the sand. He stops opening the bottle and tries to look closer. The area seems to be circular, and it's dark: darker than the sand, and there seems to be something in the middle of it, but he can't tell what it is, so he looks as hard as he can but still can't tell from here. He's going to have to go down there and look.
He puts the bottle back into his pocket, and starts to stumble down the dune. After a few steps, he realizes that he's in trouble; he's not going to be able to keep his balance. After a couple more sliding, tottering steps, he falls and starts to roll down the dune. The sand it so hot that he thinks he's caught fire on the way down - like a movie car wreck flashing into flames as it goes over the cliff, before it ever even hits the ground. He closes his eyes and mouth, covers his face with his hands, and waits to stop rolling.
He stops at the bottom of the dune. After a minute or two, he finds enough energy to try to sit up and get the sand out of his face and clothes. When he clears his eyes enough, he looks around to make sure that the dark spot in the sand it still there and he hadn't just imagined it.
Seeing the large, flat, dark spot on the sand still there, he crawls towards it. He'd get up and walk towards it, but he doesn't seem to have the energy to get up and walk right now. He must be in the final stages of dehydration he figures as he crawls. If this place in the sand doesn't have water, he'll likely never make it anywhere else. This is his last chance.
He gets closer and closer, but still can't see what's in the middle of the dark area. It’s hard to focus, and lifting his head up to look takes so much effort that he gives up trying. He just keeps crawling.
Finally, he reaches the area he'd seen from the dune. It takes him a minute of crawling on it before he realizes that he's no longer on sand - he's now crawling on some kind of dark stone. Stone with some kind of marking on it - a pattern cut into the stone. He's too tired to stand up and try to see what the pattern is, so he just keeps crawling. He crawls towards the center where his blurry eyes still see something in the middle of the dark stone area.
His mind, detached in a strange way, notes that either his hands and knees are so burnt by the sand that they no longer feel pain, or that this dark stone, in the middle of a burning desert with a pounding, punishing sun overhead, doesn't seem to be hot. It almost feels cool. He considers lying down on the nice cool surface.
Cool, dark stone. Not a good sign. He must be hallucinating this. He's probably in the middle of a patch of sand, already lying face down and dying, and just imagining this whole thing. A desert mirage. Soon the beautiful women carrying pitchers of water will come up and start giving him a drink. Then he'll know he's gone.
He decides against laying down on the cool stone. If he's going to die here in the middle of this hallucination, he at least wants to see what's in the center before he goes. He keeps crawling.
It's the third time that he hears the voice before he realizes what he's hearing. He would swear that someone just said, "Greetings, traveler. You do not look well. Do you hear me?"
He stops crawling. He tries to look up from where he is on his hands and knees, but it's too much effort to lift his head. So he tries something different: he rolls over and leans back trying to sit up on the stone. After a few seconds, he catches his balance, avoids falling on his face, sits up, and tries to focus his eyes. Blurry. He rubs his eyes with the back of his hands and tries again. Better this time.
Yep. He can see. He's sitting in the middle of a large, flat, dark expanse of stone. Directly next to him, about three feet away, is a white post or pole about two inches in diameter and sticking about four or five feet out of the stone, at an angle.
And wrapped around this white rod is what must be a fifteen foot long desert diamondback rattlesnake, with a hovering tail and rattle seemingly prepared to start rattling, looking directly at him.
He stares at the snake in shock. He doesn't have the energy to get up and run away. He doesn't even have the energy to crawl away. This is it: his final resting place. No matter what happens, he's not going to be able to move from this spot.
Well, at least dying from a bite from this monster should be quicker than dying of thirst. He'll face his end like a man. He struggles to sit up a little straighter. The snake keeps watching him. He lifts one hand and flicks it in the snake's direction, feebly. The snake watches the hand for a moment, then goes back to watching the man, looking into his eyes.
Hmmm. Maybe the snake has no interest in biting him. It hasn't rattled yet - that’s a good sign. Maybe he isn't going to die of snake bite after all.
He then remembers that he'd looked up when he'd reached the center here because he thought he'd heard a voice. He is still very woozy; he feels like he might pass out soon. The sun still beats down on him even though he is now on cool stone. He still doesn't have anything to drink. Although maybe he had actually heard a voice. This stone doesn't look natural. Nor does that white post sticking up out of the stone. Someone must have built this. Maybe they are still nearby. Maybe that was who talked to him. Maybe this snake is even their pet, and that's why it isn't biting.
He tries to clear his throat to say, "Hello," but he’s too dry. All that comes out is a coughing or wheezing sound. There's no way he's going to be able to talk without something to drink. He feels his pocket, and the bottle with the wiper fluid is still there. He shakily pulls out the bottle, almost losing his balance and falling on his back in the process. This isn't good. He doesn't have much time left by his reckoning before he passes out.
He gets the bottle open, manages to get the bottle to his lips, and pours some of the fluid into his mouth. He sloshes it around, and then swallows it. He coughs a little. His throat feels better. Maybe he can talk now.
He tries again. Ignoring the snake, he turns to look around him, hoping to spot the owner of this place, and croaks out, "Hello? Is there anyone here?"
He hears, from his side, "Greetings. What is it that you want?"
He turns his head back towards the snake. That's where the sound seemed to come from. The only thing he can think of is that there must be a speaker hidden under the snake, or maybe built into that post. He decides to try asking for help.
"Please," he croaks again, suddenly feeling dizzy, "I'd love to not be thirsty anymore. I've been without water for a long time. Can you help me?"
Looking in the direction of the snake, hoping to see where the voice was coming from this time, he is shocked to see the snake rear back, open its mouth, and speak. He hears it say, as the dizziness overtakes him and he falls forward, face first on the stone, "Very well. Coming up."
A piercing pain shoots through his shoulder. Suddenly he is awake. He sits up and grabs his shoulder, wincing at the throbbing pain. He's momentarily disoriented as he looks around, and then he remembers: the crawl across the sand, the dark area of stone, the snake. He sees the snake, still wrapped around the tilted white post, still looking at him.
He reaches up and feels his shoulder, where it hurts. It feels slightly wet. He pulls his fingers away and looks at them - blood. He feels his shoulder again - it feels like his shirt has two holes in it - two puncture holes. They match up with the two aching spots of pain on his shoulder. He has been bitten. By the snake.
"It'll feel better in a minute." He looks up - it's the snake talking. He hadn't dreamed it. Suddenly he notices - he's not dizzy anymore. And more importantly, he's not thirsty anymore - at all!
"Have I died? Is this the afterlife? Why are you biting me in the afterlife?"
"Sorry about that, but I had to bite you," says the snake. "That's the way I work. It all comes through the bite. Think of it as natural medicine."
"You bit me to help me? Why aren't I thirsty anymore? Did you give me a drink before you bit me? How did I drink enough while unconscious to not be thirsty anymore? I haven't had a drink for over two days. Well, except for the windshield wiper fluid... hold it, how in the world does a snake talk? Are you real? Are you some sort of Disney animation?"
"No," says the snake, "I'm real. As real as you or anyone is, anyway. I didn't give you a drink. I bit you. That's how it works, it's what I do. I bite. Plus I don't have hands to give you a drink, even if I had water just sitting around here."
The man sat stunned for a minute. Here he was, sitting in the middle of the desert on some strange stone that should be hot but wasn't, talking to a snake that could talk back and had just bitten him. And he felt better. Not great - he was still starving and exhausted, but much better - he was no longer thirsty. He had started to sweat again, but only slightly. He felt hot, in this sun, but it was starting to get lower in the sky, and the cool stone beneath him was a relief he could notice now that he was no longer dying of thirst.
"I might suggest that we take care of that methanol you now have in your system with the next request," continued the snake. "I can guess why you drank it, but I'm not sure how much you drank, or how much methanol was left in the wiper fluid. That stuff is nasty. It'll make you go blind in a day or two, if you drank enough of it."
"Ummm, n-next request?" said the man. He put his hand back on his hurting shoulder and backed away from the snake a little.
"That's the way it works. If you like, that is," explained the snake. "You get three requests. Call them wishes, if you wish." The snake grinned at his own joke, and the man drew back a little further from the show of fangs.
"But there are rules," the snake continued. "The first request is free. The second requires an agreement of secrecy. The third requires the binding of responsibility." The snake looks at the man seriously.
"By the way," the snake says suddenly, "my name is Nathan. Old Nathan, Samuel used to call me. He gave me the name. Before that, most of the Bound used to just call me 'Snake'. But that got old, and Samuel wouldn't stand for it. He said that anything that could talk needed a name. He was big into names. You can call me Nate, if you wish." Again, the snake grinned. "Sorry if I don't offer to shake, but I think you can understand - my shake sounds somewhat threatening." The snake give his rattle a little shake.
"Umm, my name is Jack," said the man, trying to absorb all of this. "Jack Samson."
"Can I ask you a question?" Jack says suddenly. "What happened to the venom...umm, in your bite. Why aren't I dying now? How did you do that? What do you mean by that's how you work?"
"That's more than one question," grins Nate. "But I'll still try to answer all of them. First, yes, you can ask me a question." The snake's grin gets wider. "Second, the venom is in you. It changed you. You now no longer need to drink. That's what you asked for. Or, well, technically, you asked to not be thirsty any more - but 'any more' is such a vague term. I decided to make it permanent - now, as long as you live, you shouldn't need to drink much at all. Your body will conserve water very efficiently. You should be able to get enough just from the food you eat - much like a creature of the desert. You've been changed.
"For the third question," Nate continues, "you are still dying. Besides the effects of that methanol in your system, you're a man - and men are mortal. In your current state, I give you no more than about another 50 years. Assuming you get out of this desert, alive, that is." Nate seemed vastly amused at his own humor, and continued his wide grin.
"As for the fourth question," Nate said, looking more serious as far as Jack could tell, as Jack was just now working on his ability to read talking-snake emotions from snake facial features, "first you have to agree to make a second request and become bound by the secrecy, or I can't tell you."
"Wait," joked Jack, "isn't this where you say you could tell me, but you'd have to kill me?"
"I thought that was implied." Nate continued to look serious.
"Ummm...yeah." Jack leaned back a little as he remembered again that he was talking to a fifteen foot venomous reptile with a reputation for having a nasty temper. "So, what is this 'Bound by Secrecy' stuff, and can you really stop the effects of the methanol?" Jack thought for a second. "And, what do you mean methanol, anyway? I thought these days they use ethanol in wiper fluid, and just denature it?"
"They may, I don't really know," said Nate. "I haven't gotten out in a while. Maybe they do. All I know is that I smell methanol on your breath and on that bottle in your pocket. And the blue color of the liquid when you pulled it out to drink some let me guess that it was wiper fluid. I assume that they still color wiper fluid blue?"
"Yeah, they do," said Jack.
"I figured," replied Nate. "As for being bound by secrecy - with the fulfillment of your next request, you will be bound to say nothing about me, this place, or any of the information I will tell you after that, when you decide to go back out to your kind. You won't be allowed to talk about me, write about me, use sign language, charades, or even act in a way that will lead someone to guess correctly about me. You'll be bound to secrecy. Of course, I'll also ask you to promise not to give me away, and as I'm guessing that you're a man of your word, you'll never test the binding anyway, so you won't notice." Nate said the last part with utter confidence.
Jack, who had always prided himself on being a man of his word, felt a little nervous at this. "Ummm, hey, Nate, who are you? How did you know that? Are you, umm, omniscient, or something?"
Well, Jack," said Nate sadly, "I can't tell you that, unless you make the second request." Nate looked away for a minute, then looked back.
"Umm, well, ok," said Jack, "what is this about a second request? What can I ask for? Are you allowed to tell me that?"
"Sure!" said Nate, brightening. "You're allowed to ask for changes. Changes to yourself. They're like wishes, but they can only affect you. Oh, and before you ask, I can't give you immortality. Or omniscience. Or omnipresence, for that matter. Though I might be able to make you gaseous and yet remain alive, and then you could spread through the atmosphere and sort of be omnipresent. But what good would that be - you still wouldn't be omniscient and thus still could only focus on one thing at a time. Not very useful, at least in my opinion." Nate stopped when he realized that Jack was staring at him.
"Well, anyway," continued Nate, "I'd probably suggest giving you permanent good health. It would negate the methanol now in your system, you'd be immune to most poisons and diseases, and you'd tend to live a very long time, barring accident, of course. And you'll even have a tendency to recover from accidents well. It always seemed like a good choice for a request to me."
"Cure the methanol poisoning, huh?" said Jack. "And keep me healthy for a long time? Hmmm. It doesn't sound bad at that. And it has to be a request about a change to me? I can't ask to be rich, right? Because that's not really a change to me?"
"Right," nodded Nate.
"Could I ask to be a genius and permanently healthy?" Jack asked, hopefully.
"That takes two requests, Jack."
"Yeah, I figured so," said Jack. "But I could ask to be a genius? I could become the smartest scientist in the world? Or the best athlete?"
"Well, I could make you very smart," admitted Nate, "but that wouldn't necessarily make you the best scientist in the world. Or, I could make you very athletic, but it wouldn't necessarily make you the best athlete either. You've heard the saying that 99% of genius is hard work? Well, there's some truth to that. I can give you the talent, but I can't make you work hard. It all depends on what you decide to do with it."
"Hmmm," said Jack. "Ok, I think I understand. And I get a third request, after this one?"
"Maybe," said Nate, "it depends on what you decide then. There are more rules for the third request that I can only tell you about after the second request. You know how it goes." Nate looked like he'd shrug, if he had shoulders.
"Ok, well, since I'd rather not be blind in a day or two, and permanent health doesn't sound bad, then consider that my second request. Officially. Do I need to sign in blood or something?"
"No," said Nate. "Just hold out your hand. Or heel." Nate grinned. "Or whatever part you want me to bite. I have to bite you again. Like I said, that's how it works - the venom, you know," Nate said apologetically.
Jack winced a little and felt his shoulder, where the last bite was. Hey, it didn't hurt any more. Just like Nate had said. That made Jack feel better about the biting business. But still, standing still while a fifteen foot snake sunk it's fangs into you. Jack stood up. Ignoring how good it felt to be able to stand again, and the hunger starting to gnaw at his stomach, Jack tried to decide where he wanted to get bitten. Despite knowing that it wouldn't hurt for long, Jack knew that this wasn't going to be easy.
"Hey, Jack," Nate suddenly said, looking past Jack towards the dunes behind him, "is that someone else coming up over there?"
Jack spun around and looked. Who else could be out here in the middle of nowhere? And did they bring food?
Wait a minute, there was nobody over there. What was Nate...
Jack let out a bellow as he felt two fangs sink into his rear end, through his jeans...
Jack sat down carefully, favoring his more tender buttock. "I would have decided, eventually, Nate. I was just thinking about it. You didn't have to hoodwink me like that."
"I've been doing this a long time, Jack," said Nate, confidently. "You humans have a hard time sitting still and letting a snake bite you - especially one my size. And besides, admit it - it's only been a couple of minutes and it already doesn't hurt any more, does it? That's because of the health benefit with this one.

Played against Burgundians 1v1 Arabia. I was Japanese. Opened MAA archers, did very little bc palisade walls are indestructible. Got to castle first, opened CA he was literally xbow, e skirm, siege. His castle was a couple min later but he has the eco upgrades so who cares? Pumped out like 10 +2 knights to clear his AI army and killed a few vils making a castle. Thats when I first made the realization this dude had TCs and castles everywhere.
​
As Japanese I dont have a strong army, I have a numerous army usually. I made it to imp way behind him and spammed halbs and was trebbing his castles, it was actually looking pretty good. Then he hit the button at 175 vils. Yeah I didnt even consider that. So it was super over.
​
Looping back around to the question, if I had managed to scout that a bit earlier, what can I even do? The range of his castles and TCs covered his whole eco. A couple of mangonels on a hill are just gonna be like a house fly against that eco. Thanks for any help. This game was at like 1240 btw.

To celebrate the "Return" of the "Big Gold Belt" on Raw, I thought I'd make a history combining all title runs from the first world heavyweight championship, through it's time in the NWA, its two off shoots in WCW and its appropriation by WWE. All lineages combined, all vacancies ignored, all reigns recognized and all champions holding the belt once.
​

Name	Date	Location	Days
George Hackenschmidt	May 4, 1905	New York, New York	1,065
Frank Gotch	April 3, 1908	Chicago, Illinois	1,824
Americus	March 13, 1914	Kansas City, Missouri	55
Stanislaus Zbyszko	May 7, 1914	Kansas City, Missouri	176
Charlie Cutler)	January 8, 1915	N/A	178
Joe Stecher	July 5, 1915	Omaha, Nebraska	644
Johan Olin	December 11, 1916	Springfield, Massachusetts	142
Earl Caddock	April 9, 1917	Omaha, Nebraska	1,026
Ed Lewis)	May 2, 1917	Chicago, Illinois	34
Wladek Zbyszko	June 5, 1917	San Francisco, California	5844
Wayne Munn	January 8, 1925	Wichita, Kansas	1360
Gus Sonnenberg	January 4, 1929	Boston, Massachusetts	705
Ed Don George	December 10, 1930	Los Angeles, CA	1693
Danno O'Mahoney	July 30, 1935	Boston, Massachusetts	216
Dick Shikat	March 2, 1936	New York, New York	54
Ali Baba)	April 25, 1936	Detroit, Michigan	48
Dave Levin)	June 12, 1936	Newark, New Jersey	109
Dean Detton	September 29, 1936	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	273
Bronko Nagurski	June 29, 1937	Minneapolis, Minnesota	507
Jim Londos	November 18, 1938	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	2628
Orville Brown	July 14, 1948	Des Moines, IA	501
Lou Thesz	November 27, 1949	Los Angeles, California	2300
Leo Nomellini	March 22, 1955	San Francisco, CA	359
Whipper Billy Watson	March 15, 1956	Toronto, ON	609
Édouard Carpentier	June 14, 1957	Chicago, IL	153
Dick Hutton	November 14, 1957	Toronto, ON	421
Pat O'Connor)	January 9, 1959	St. Louis, MO	903
Buddy Rogers)	June 30, 1961	Chicago, IL	145
Killer Kowalski	November 22, 1961	Montreal, Quebec	254
Bruno Sammartino	August 2, 1962	Toronto, ON	16
Bobo Brazil	August 18, 1962	Newark, NJ	1239
Gene Kiniski	January 7, 1966	St. Louis, MO	1131
Dory Funk Jr.	February 11, 1969	Tampa, FL	1563
Harley Race	May 24, 1973	Kansas City, KS	57
Jack Brisco	July 20, 1973	Houston, TX	500
Giant Baba	December 2, 1974	Kagoshima, Japan	373
Terry Funk	December 10, 1975	Miami Beach, FL	1350
Dusty Rhodes)	August 21, 1979	Tampa, FL	616
Tommy Rich	April 27, 1981	Augusta, GA	143
Ric Flair	September 17, 1981	Kansas City, KS	355
Jack Veneno	September 7, 1982	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic	122
Carlos Colón	January 6, 1983	San Juan, Puerto Rico	487
Kerry Von Erich	May 6, 1984	Irving, TX	1238
Ron Garvin	September 25, 1987	Detroit, MI	515
Ricky Steamboat	February 20, 1989	Chicago, IL	502
Sting)	July 7, 1990	Baltimore, MD	257
Tatsumi Fujinami	March 21, 1991	Tokyo, Japan	116
Lex Luger	July 14, 1991	Baltimore, Maryland	363
Big Van Vader	July 12, 1992	Albany, Georgia	21
Ron Simmons	August 2, 1992	Baltimore, Maryland	10
Masahiro Chono	August 12, 1992	Tokyo, Japan	145
The Great Muta	January 4, 1993	Tokyo, Japan	48
Barry Windham	February 21, 1993	Asheville, NC	210
Rick Rude	September 19, 1993	Houston, Texas	178
Hiroshi Hase	March 16, 1994	Tokyo, Japan	123
Hulk Hogan	July 17, 1994	Orlando, Florida	42
Shane Douglas	August 27, 1994	Philadelphia, PA	85
Chris Candido	November 19, 1994	Cherry Hill, NJ	97
Dan Severn	February 24, 1995	Erlanger, KY	247
The Giant	October 29, 1995	Detroit, Michigan	29
Randy Savage	November 26, 1995	Norfolk, Virginia	974
Goldberg	July 6, 1998	Atlanta, Georgia	174
Kevin Nash	December 27, 1998	Washington, D.C.	78
Naoya Ogawa	March 14, 1999	Yokohama, Japan	29
Diamond Dallas Page	April 11, 1999	Tacoma, Washington	167
Gary Steele	September 25, 1999	Charlotte, NC	57
Bret Hart	November 21, 1999	Toronto, Ontario	56
Chris Benoit	January 16, 2000	Cincinnati, Ohio	8
Sid Vicious	January 25, 2000	Las Vegas, Nevada	83
Jeff Jarrett	April 16, 2000	Chicago, Illinois	9
David Arquette	April 25, 2000	Syracuse, New York	75
Booker T)	July 9, 2000	Daytona Beach, Florida	71
Mike Rapada	September 19, 2000	Tampa, FL	6
Vince Russo	September 25, 2000	Uniondale, New York	50
Sabu)	November 14, 2000	Tampa, FL	12
Scott Steiner	November 26, 2000	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	149
Steve Corino	April 24, 2001	Tampa, FL	91
Kurt Angle	July 24, 2001	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	6
The Rock	August 19, 2001	San Jose, California	26
Chris Jericho	October 21, 2001	St. Louis, Missouri	55
Shinya Hashimoto	December 15, 2001	McKeesport, PA	186
Ken Shamrock	June 19, 2002	Huntsville, AL	49
Ron Killings	August 7, 2002	Nashville, TN	26
Triple H	September 2, 2002	Milwaukee, WI	76
Shawn Michaels	November 17, 2002	New York, NY	236
A.J. Styles	June 11, 2003	Nashville, TN	401
Randy Orton	August 15, 2004	Toronto, ON, Canada	231
Ray González	April 3, 2005	San Juan, Puerto Rico	>1
Batista	April 3, 2005	Los Angeles, CA	77
Raven)	June 19, 2005	Orlando, FL	126
Rhino	October 23, 2005	Orlando, FL	112
Christian Cage	February 12, 2006	Orlando, FL	49
Rey Mysterio	April 2, 2006	Rosemont, IL	231
Abyss)	November 19, 2006	Orlando, FL	133
The Undertaker	April 1, 2007	Detroit, MI	37
Edge)	May 8, 2007	Pittsburgh, PA	70
The Great Khali	July 17, 2007	Laredo, TX	46
Adam Pearce	September 1, 2007	Bayamón, Puerto Rico	303
CM Punk	June 30, 2008	Oklahoma City, OK	33
Brent Albright	August 2, 2008	New York City, NY)	84
Blue Demon Jr.	October 25, 2008	Mexico City, Mexico	29
John Cena	November 23, 2008	Boston, MA	196
Jeff Hardy	June 7, 2009	New Orleans, LA	296
Jack Swagger	March 30, 2010	Las Vegas, NV	110
Kane)	July 18, 2010	Kansas City, MO	212
Dolph Ziggler	February 15, 2011	San Diego, CA	19
Colt Cabana	March 6, 2011	West Hollywood, CA	48
The Sheik	April 23, 2011	Jacksonville, FL	148
Mark Henry	September 18, 2011	Buffalo, NY	91
Daniel Bryan	December 18, 2011	Baltimore, MD	105
Sheamus	April 1, 2012	Miami, FL	215
Kahagas	November 2, 2012	Clayton, NJ	67
Alberto Del Rio	January 8, 2013	Miami, FL	67
Rob Conway	March 16, 2013	San Antonio, TX	294
Satoshi Kojima	January 4, 2014	Tokyo, Japan	407
Hiroyoshi Tenzan	February 14, 2015	Sendai, Japan	196
Jax Dane	August 29, 2015	San Antonio, TX	419
Tim Storm	October 21, 2016	Sherman, TX	414
Nick Aldis	December 9, 2017	Sewell, NJ	266
Cody	September 1, 2018	Hoffman Estates, IL	1093
Trevor Murdoch	August 29, 2021	St. Louis, MO	167
Matt Cardona	February 12, 2022	Oak Grove, KY	273
Tyrus)	November 12, 2022	Chalmette, LA	196
Seth "Freakin" Rollins	May 27, 2023	Jeddah, Saudi Arabia	1+

​

• Bold means the film received at least 1 Oscar nomination (47)
• Bold and italic means the film was only nominated in the Best International Feature category (17)
• Coin means the film won Best International Feature (7)
• Trophy means the film won Best Picture (1)

Year	Palme d'Or	Grand Prix	Jury Prize
1975	Chronicle of the Years of Fire	The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
1976	Taxi Driver	Cría Cuervos 🪢 The Marquise of O
1977	Padre Padrone
1978	The Tree of Wooden Clogs	Bye Bye Monkey 🪢 The Shout
1979	Apocalypse Now 🪢 🪙The Tin Drum🪙	Siberiade
1980	All That Jazz 🪢 Kagemusha	My American Uncle	The Constant Factor
1981	Man of Iron	Light Years Away
1982	Missing 🪢 Yol	The Night of the Shooting Stars
1983	The Ballad of Narayama	Monty Python's The Meaning of Life	Kharij
1984	Paris, Texas	Diary for My Children
1985	When Father Was Away on Business	Birdy	Colonel Redl
1986	The Mission	The Sacrifice	Thérèse
1987	Under the Sun of Satan	Repentance	Shinran: Path to Purity 🪢 Yeelen
1988	Pelle the Conqueror	A World Apart	A Short Film About Killing
1989	Sex, Lies, and Videotape	🪙Cinema Paradiso🪙 🪢 Too Beautiful for You	Jesus of Montreal
1990	Wild at Heart	The Sting of Death 🪢 Tilaï	Hidden Agenda
1991	Barton Fink	La Belle Noiseuse	Europa 🪢 Out of Life
1992	The Best Intentions	The Stolen Children	Dream of Light 🪢 An Independent Life
1993	Farewell My Concubine 🪢 The Piano	Faraway, So Close!	The Puppetmaster 🪢 Raining Stones
1994	Pulp Fiction	🪙Burnt by the Sun🪙 🪢 To Live	La Reine Margot
1995	Underground	Ulysses' Gaze	Don't Forget You're Going to Die 🪢 Carrington
1996	Secrets & Lies	Breaking the Waves	Crash
1997	The Eel 🪢 Taste of Cherry	The Sweet Hereafter	Western
1998	Eternity and a Day	🪙Life Is Beautiful🪙	Class Trip
1999	Rosetta	Humanité	The Letter
2000	Dancer in the Dark	Devils on the Doorstep	Blackboards 🪢 Songs from the Second Floor
2001	The Son's Room	The Piano Teacher
2002	The Pianist	The Man Without a Past	Divine Intervention
2003	Elephant	Distant	At Five in the Afternoon
2004	Fahrenheit 9/11	Oldboy	The Ladykillers 🪢 Tropical Malady
2005	L'Enfant	Broken Flowers	Shanghai Dreams
2006	The Wind That Shakes the Barley	Flanders	Red Road
2007	4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days	The Mourning Forest	Persepolis 🪢 Silent Light
2008	The Class	Gomorrah	Il divo
2009	The White Ribbon	A Prophet	Fish Tank 🪢 Thirst
2010	Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives	Of Gods and Men	A Screaming Man
2011	The Tree of Life	The Kid with a Bike 🪢 Once Upon a Time in Anatolia	Polisse
2012	🪙Amour🪙	Reality	The Angels' Share
2013	Blue Is the Warmest Colour	Inside Llewyn Davis	Like Father, Like Son
2014	Winter Sleep	The Wonders	Goodbye to Language 🪢 Mommy
2015	Dheepan	🪙Son of Saul🪙	The Lobster
2016	I, Daniel Blake	It's Only the End of the World	American Honey
2017	The Square	BPM (Beats per Minute)	Loveless
2018	Shoplifters	BlacKkKlansman	Capernaum
2019	🪙🏆Parasite🏆🪙	Atlantics	Bacurau 🪢 Les Misérables
2021	Titane	Compartment No. 6 🪢 A Hero	Ahed's Knee 🪢 Memoria
2022	Triangle of Sadness	Stars at Noon 🪢 Close	The Eight Mountains 🪢 EO
2023	Anatomy of a Fall	The Zone of Interest	Fallen Leaves

• Bold means the actor received an Oscar nomination (23)
• Bold and italic means the actor was nominated in a non-acting category (1)
• Trophy means the actor won the Oscar (6)

Year	Best Actor	Best Actress
1975	Vittorio Gassman – Scent of a Woman	Valérie Perrine – Lenny
1976	José Luis Gómez – Pascual Duarte	Dominique Sanda – The Inheritance 🪢 Mari Törőcsik – Mrs. Dery Where Are You?
1977	Fernando Rey – Elisa, My Life	Shelley Duvall – 3 Women 🪢 Monique Mercure – J.A. Martin Photographer
1978	🏆Jon Voight – Coming Home🏆	Jill Clayburgh – An Unmarried Woman 🪢 Isabelle Huppert – Violette Nozière
1979	Jack Lemmon – The China Syndrome 🪢 Stefano Madia – Dear Father	🏆Sally Field – Norma Rae🏆 🪢 Eva Mattes – Woyzeck
1980	Michel Piccoli – A Leap in the Dark 🪢 Jack Thompson – Breaker Morant	Anouk Aimée – A Leap in the Dark 🪢 Milena Dravić – Special Treatment 🪢 Carla Gravina – La terrazza
1981	Ugo Tognazzi – Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man 🪢 Ian Holm – Chariots of Fire	Isabelle Adjani – Possession 🪢 Qaurtet 🪢 Elena Solovey – Faktas
1982	Jack Lemmon – Missing	Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieślak – Another Way
1983	Gian Maria Volonté – The Death of Mario Ricci	Hanna Schygulla – The Story of Piera
1984	Alfredo Landa 🪢 Francisco Rabal – The Holy Innocents	Helen Mirren – Cal
1985	🏆William Hurt – Kiss of the Spider Woman🏆	Norma Aleandro – The Official Story 🪢 Cher – Mask
1986	Michel Blanc – Ménage 🪢 Bob Hoskins – Mona Lisa	Barbara Sukowa – Rosa Luxemburg
1987	Marcello Mastroianni – Dark Eyes	Barbara Hershey – Shy People
1988	Forest Whitaker – Bird	Barbara Hershey 🪢 Jodhi May 🪢 Linda Mvusi – A World Apart
1989	James Spader – Sex, Lies, and Videotape	Meryl Streep – A Cry in the Dark
1990	Gérard Depardieu – Cyrano de Bergerac	Krystyna Janda – Interrogation
1991	John Turturro – Barton Fink 🪢 Samuel L. Jackson – Jungle Fever	Irène Jacob – The Double Life of Veronique
1992	Tim Robbins – The Player	Pernilla August – The Best Intentions
1993	David Thewlis – Naked	🏆Holly Hunter – The Piano🏆
1994	Ge You – To Live	Virna Lisi – La Reine Margot
1995	Jonathan Pryce – Carrington	Helen Mirren – The Madness of King George
1996	Daniel Auteuil 🪢 Pascal Duquenne – The Eighth Day	Brenda Blethyn – Secrets & Lies
1997	Sean Penn – She's So Lovely	Kathy Burke – Nil by Mouth
1998	Peter Mullan – My Name Is Joe	Élodie Bouchez 🪢 Natacha Régnier – The Dreamlife of Angels
1999	Emmanuel Schotté – Humanité	Séverine Caneele – Humanité 🪢 Émilie Dequenne – Rosetta
2000	Tony Leung Chiu-wai – In the Mood for Love	Björk – Dancer in the Dark
2001	Benoît Magimel – The Piano Teacher	Isabelle Huppert – The Piano Teacher
2002	Olivier Gourmet – The Son	Kati Outinen – The Man Without a Past
2003	Muzaffer Özdemir 🪢 Mehmet Emin Toprak – Distant	Marie-Josée Croze – The Barbarian Invasions
2004	Yūya Yagira – Nobody Knows	Maggie Cheung – Clean
2005	Tommy Lee Jones – The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada	Hanna Laslo – Free Zone
2006	Roschdy Zem 🪢 Bernard Blancan 🪢 Jamel Debbouze 🪢 Samy Naceri 🪢 Sami Bouajila – Days of Glory	Carmen Maura 🪢 Lola Dueñas 🪢 Blanca Portillo 🪢 Yohana Cobo 🪢 Chus Lampreave 🪢 Penélope Cruz – Volver
2007	Konstantin Lavronenko – The Banishment	Jeon Do-yeon – Secret Sunshine
2008	Benicio del Toro – Che	Sandra Corveloni – Linha de Passe
2009	🏆Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds🏆	Charlotte Gainsbourg – Antichrist
2010	Javier Bardem – Biutiful 🪢 Elio Germano – Our Life	Juliette Binoche – Certified Copy
2011	🏆Jean Dujardin – The Artist🏆	Kirsten Dunst – Melancholia
2012	Mads Mikkelsen – The Hunt	Cristina Flutur 🪢 Cosmina Stratan – Beyond the Hills
2013	Bruce Dern – Nebraska	Bérénice Bejo – The Past
2014	Timothy Spall – Mr. Turner	Julianne Moore – Maps to the Stars
2015	Vincent Lindon – The Measure of a Man	Emmanuelle Bercot – Mon Roi 🪢 Rooney Mara – Carol
2016	Shahab Hosseini – The Salesman	Jaclyn Jose – Ma' Rosa
2017	Joaquin Phoenix – You Were Never Really Here	Diane Kruger – In the Fade
2018	Marcello Fonte – Dogman	Samal Yeslyamova – Ayka
2019	Antonio Banderas – Pain and Glory	Emily Beecham – Little Joe
2021	Caleb Landry Jones – Nitram	Renate Reinsve – The Worst Person in the World
2022	Song Kang-ho – Broker	Zar Amir Ebrahimi – Holy Spider
2023	Kōji Yakusho – Perfect Days	Merve Dizdar – About Dry Grasses

• Bold means the film received at least 1 Oscar nomination in a corresponding category (9)
• Bold and italic means only the film was nominated, but the awarded filmmaker wasn't (8)
• Coin means the film won Best International Feature (4)

Year	Best Director	Best Screenplay
1975	Michel Brault – Orders 🪢 Costa-Gavras – Special Section
1976	Ettore Scola – Down and Dirty
1977
1978	Nagisa Ōshima – Empire of Passion
1979	Terrence Malick – Days of Heaven
1980		La Terrazza – Furio Scarpelli, Agenore Incrocci, Ettore Scola
1981		🪙Mephisto🪙 – István Szabó
1982	Werner Herzog – Fitzcarraldo	Moonlighting – Jerzy Skolimowski
1983	Robert Bresson – L'Argent 🪢 Andrei Tarkovsky – Nostalgia	Voyage to Cythera – Thanassis Valtinos, Theo Angelopoulos, Tonino Guerra
1984	Bertrand Tavernier – A Sunday in the Country
1985	André Téchiné – Rendez-vous
1986	Martin Scorsese – After Hours
1987	Wim Wenders – Wings of Desire
1988	Fernando Solanas – Sur
1989	Emir Kusturica – Time of the Gypsies
1990	Pavel Lungin – Taxi Blues
1991	Joel Coen – Barton Fink
1992	Robert Altman – The Player
1993	Mike Leigh – Naked
1994	Nanni Moretti – Dear Diary	Dead Tired – Michel Blanc
1995	Mathieu Kassovitz – La Haine
1996	Joel Coen – Fargo	A Self Made Hero – Jacques Audiard, Alain Le Henry
1997	Wong Kar-wai – Happy Together	The Ice Storm – James Schamus
1998	John Boorman – The General	Henry Fool – Hal Hartley
1999	Pedro Almodóvar – All About My Mother	Moloch – Yuri Arabov
2000	Edward Yang – Yi Yi	Nurse Betty – James Flamberg, John C. Richards
2001	Joel Coen – The Man Who Wasn't There 🪢 David Lynch – Mulholland Drive	No Man's Land – Danis Tanović
2002	Paul Thomas Anderson – Punch-Drunk Love 🪢 Im Kwon-taek – Painted Fire	Sweet Sixteen – Paul Laverty
2003	Gus Van Sant – Elephant	🪙The Barbarian Invasions🪙 – Denys Arcand
2004	Tony Gatlif – Exils	Look at Me – Agnès Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri
2005	Michael Haneke – Caché	The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada – Guillermo Arriaga
2006	Alejandro González Iñárritu – Babel	Volver – Pedro Almodóvar
2007	Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly	The Edge of Heaven – Fatih Akin
2008	Nuri Bilge Ceylan – Three Monkeys	Lorna's Silence – Jean-Pierre, Luc Dardenne
2009	Brillante Mendoza – Butchered	Spring Fever – Mei Feng
2010	Mathieu Amalric – On Tour	Poetry – Lee Chang-dong
2011	Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive	Footnote – Joseph Cedar
2012	Carlos Reygadas – Post Tenebras Lux	Beyond the Hills – Cristian Mungiu, Tatiana Niculescu Bran
2013	Amat Escalante – Heli	A Touch of Sin – Jia Zhangke
2014	Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher	Leviathan – Andrey Zvyagintsev, Oleg Negin
2015	Hou Hsiao-hsien – The Assassin	Chronic – Michel Franco
2016	Olivier Assayas – Personal Shopper 🪢 Cristian Mungiu – Graduation	🪙The Salesman🪙 – Asghar Farhadi
2017	Sofia Coppola – The Beguiled	The Killing of a Sacred Deer – Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou 🪢 You Were Never Really Here – Lynne Ramsay
2018	Paweł Pawlikowski – Cold War	3 Faces – Jafar Panahi, Nader Saeivar 🪢 Happy as Lazzaro – Alice Rohrwacher
2019	Jean-Pierre 🪢 Luc Dardenne – Young Ahmed	Portrait of a Lady on Fire – Céline Sciamma
2021	Leos Carax – Annette	🪙Drive My Car🪙 – Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe
2022	Park Chan-wook – Decision to Leave	Boy from Heaven – Tarik Saleh
2023	Tran Anh Hung – The Pot-au-Feu	Monster – Yuji Sakamoto

dI made a bunch of posts here and in the forums about the Fortification update.
Today I once again had ample opportunity to use the system inside a larger squad. I just wanted to leave some pointers here.
For background this was on Cobalt. Me and my TR outfit Terran Republic Legacy scheduled a "Cleanup Crew" Squad for today around 7PM CEST so Prime Time. The idea I as lead had, was to get behind enemy lines and destroy as many bases as possible and cleaning enemy spawns. Also in services of other factions so they don't have to deal with ghost bases.
First we were fighting on the last half an hour or Amerish, where we did okayish, but nothing to amazing.
We had someone start up on Indar early and they built a base close to NC warpgate between the VS/NC frontline, west of havar physics lab.
Despite having a somewhat full squad with 3ish construction enthusiasts it took us like 5 minutes to be setup properly. during that time the rest did some early havoc by spawning ligthnings skyguarding NC warpgate or just killing smaller bases under construction. Of building the base a majority of the time was slotting modules into all the walls, turrets and terminals. Bottom Line: Allow for preinstallation of modules. Saw some wonderful ideas for UI implementation.
Anyway the real fun started after someone spawned a collossus + amor column on NC warpgate. At this point we had taken out 2-3 bases using lightnings, siege ants (please add stealing cortium from silos for the siege mandibles and yellow yacket) and cortium bombs. I gave the order to get a sortie for rushing the big tank and before I even had time to get my own tank, my squad of 12 people just smashed the entire column to pieces including the golden goose. And in the process saving active TR bastion from being harrassed.
Someone in NC didn't like us ruining their fun and so they started assaulting us. I am talking ground farmers, valks hovering above us (since this was their space and respawning inside easy), infils coming on falshes from nearby bases as well as flail bases hammering us. In short we had to juggle keeping modules up (horray firewall), swap between skyguards and tanks to deal with aiflail bases and all that in the heart of NC territory with no backup from TR (reasonable)
And let me tell you, the 45 minutes we stood our ground in our shack of walls having infantry rain and atillery shells all around us was amazing. Easily the most fun and excitement I had for months and profitable too, for all the repairs, cortium and various kills. 10/10 would do again.
Of course I cannot see how Fortifications really skews the balance in favor of the first successful base. We didn't bother with flails of our own, would we, no assualt base could have setup in the time we would have rained hell on them. Instead we relied on our 12 people manpower, infinite lightnings and an all encompassing fortress shield to become an island of pain against the odds. Sure a more coordinated attack might have succeeded actually in a short period of time, but on the other side we were and open squad with 60% randoms and honestly very "open" base design.
But this isn't how it ended, after letting VS just plow through NC as we kinda did disrupted the latter a bit in that direction, we kinda decided to relocate. So we deconstructed our entire base including the silo before the eyes of our enemies (power move 101) and made a mad dash across the continent with enemies in tow using our last pulls for an amor and support column. We immediately found ourselves north of berjess still surrounded by NC, but got to work with the last suviving ANT carefully being guarded by repair sunderers, skyguards and a few heavy tanks.
Within 10 minutes thanks to cortium drill, we had an ample supply of cortium, a router for berjess and xeno labs plus infinite tanks. I directed my squad to take berjes by just shelling their position (I dunnow whoever had built there didn't bother making more than some walls and a rebirth center on the western edge of the silo range) This is the other extreme, if a base isn't properly considering fortress shields and the like, they get rushed so easily by an amor column.
We had it within minutes during which I already had a router placed in the corner of Xeno Labs far away from any door behind massive cover, right next to the point and called TR leadership and my squad to rush the base and we easily took it. Shame construction is still so expensive, waited since the annoucement for them to lower some prices, but because now that I no longer put this expenditure off, I can actually contribute massively to capture regular bases, protecting and assaulting construction. But just spend my last 10k Certs for it and still lack big walls to cover the Silo and the various items like tunnel, infantry tower or pillbox. And we will probably don't see an uptick in routers being used due to all the hassel they involve.
Oh by the time we captured both bases, a good deal of amor was busy witteling our base down, never bothering to take out the router. A fair trade I would say.
Anyway while our contribution to the Alert Victory for TR was perhaps minimal with just 2 captures and a lot of time spent in NC heartlands, we would like to think that helping VS to become the biggest threat caused NC and TR to team up with TR being able to get ahead thanks to the amazing work of other squads, while we secured the NC flank by kepping pressure on their bases from behind their own lines.
Honestly from what I've seen during that alert, the best base is one behind enemy lines. Build a base on your side of the battlefield and you might secure a capture or protect a position, but in case of the latter you might just as easily overun. Once your Team pushes down a lane, your base becomes irrelevant and you need to relocate. Meanwhile behind enemy lines, you are much less expected (literally had a valkery under fire from my skyguard turn towards me as they tried to safe themselves and didn't realize they were shot in the back) and seen as waste of manpower to assault. And best case your team pushes past you, which can take a while and gives ample opportunity to help with routers and vehicle spawns. Worst case of course if the enemy pushes away from you, but then you can still assault them from an unexptected angle or be much quicker on backcaps and the like.
​
But this was just the first alers. After Indar closed, we rushed to Esamir. Where VS had pushed us all the way to jaeger's fist leaving us with a tiny strip on the south. My team rolled out in MBT, Sunderer's and 2 ANTs. We found my new favourtie base building spot on western Esamir and got to work. Our ANT protection paid off as the enemy was trying something in the area either claim the spot for themselves or just setup a defensive line against the rest of TR, but we caught their 2 vanguards and sunderer by suprise and wrecked shop. By the time they came back, we had unloaded the 2 ANTs, built a rebirth center and vehicle pad plus some walls and just kept them at bay with lightning spam. Proving once again my point that construction operates under a somewhat unfair first come, first serve principle. Anyway while my squad just mucked around the base, killing vehicles or putting up more walls, I got into contact with TR leadership and coordinated the use of my router spire. And let me tell you, my spot was ideal as it covered containment site, tapp waystation and south bank. During all 3 captures I had routers up for the entire duration allowing a friendly platoon to just go to town, while we did our thing. Got a lot of positive feedback for that.
Seriously if there should be one item, everyone should be given for free or at least highly encouraged to buy, it should be the Router Spire.
Anyway while we didn't want to get involved in 96+ slaughterfests, we used our ample vehicle supply to rush the traverse and secure it. Afterwards, I got back into contact with TR Command and we devised a plan. Stop pushing direct pressure onto NC, so that they would team up with us on VS and then steal their southern flank, while being distracted. I offered to relocate my base during that cool down period, so we would once again have some routers up to hasten our demise.
Another great reason to built behind enemy lines. Because unlike prepping a base by blowing up generators and the like, unless enemy air is flying reconissance, a base without CC or Skyshield can be safely setup and provide devestating results (see router).
And while due us indulging a bit into recording the base design for future reference and keepsake memory, we arrived a bit to late to provide routers ahead of our last minute NC betrayl, my squad did manage to setup a small base northwest of yimir ruins, to supply routers to both containment side and crashsite and also wreck the nearby NC fortress (remember cleanup crew) on ruins to prevent NC from responding properly. And the BL crashsite router stayed for the rest of the alert and was actively used in both the attack and subsequent defense by friendly platoons.
While I don't mind the hijinks this allows: Having mutliple functioning router pads across different hexes even when the original spire has been killed/replaced, is a bug that should probably be fixed for the health of the game.
At the end, we rounded the Alert off with a mad dash on tapp waystation, which we no longer could use our old base for, because I was the only one with all the core buildings and we had reloacted earlier. Securing it with one second to spare, tipping the control ever so slightly into TR's favor.
While I alreadly left some pointers, here are some new thoughts in no particular order gathered since my last post in this manner.

• The lack of construction outposts on other continents is a bit tragic. I also understand that changing the map to accomedate them would probably not well recieved and even I have a hard time even seeing space to add them without breaking the flow of the map. A possible solution might be to have some "unconnected" construction outpost in empty places of hexes, especially around large bases. They don't contribute territory control (thus not taking away existinig lattice balance), but provide guidance and ressources to create a base in prime locations to assault from or provide additional defenses. Think the towers around bases in Planetside 1, which can be hacked to provide a forward spawn. To take them over you need to have a stable link to the hex/be in control of the hex itself. (The whole point flip/asset handover might also help with the first come, first serve problem, since these particular bases can be taken over and thus not requiring trying to setup your own while in range of flails and orbitals)
• Construction Outpost can have terrible designs. All bases technically can have, but around Construction Outpost, especially Berjess, this can be felt quite pronounced. One lazy silo and you might not be able to wall up the bridges. One good citadel shield building and good luck trying to ever break through from the East. There are a few things, I would like to see here:
  • Have a minimum distance for all construction spawn options around the Control Point. No Elysium Tubes, Command Centers and especially Rebirth Center should be sitting within 50-100 meters of that thing, otherwise just completly enclosing it and making capture hell is way to easy.
  • Have a similiar very small no deploy area for sunderers, loadstars and the like around the control point. Not only to have defenders circumvent the above rule, but also to not have attackers basically make a point indefensible, as they use the skeleton of the base as cover for their own vehicles after smashing through one side.
  • Said no deploy area should also account for flails as with the first rule skyshields might no longer be available.
  • Silos should also have some no deploy areas around construction outpost, to prevent lazy/uninformed players from blocking valubale spots as they just put a silo next to the outpost heart. These no deploy zones shouldn't be massive circles. Just for example so that on Berjes a silo placed to the east always covers the bridge access points.
  • Berjess Overlook often turns into a clog around the walls on the eastern bridge. My suggestion would be to create some ledges for LA's around the perimeter that could be climbed from the bottom of the hill and could be positions to place routers which if blocked with walls on top would leave that flank more easily exposed to sideways fire. Another could be more usable, reliable and especially to new players communicated climb towards the nothern bridge, if only to make a pincer attack on berjess more likely.
• Air Defense is a pain. If you are better off just pulling a bunch of skyguards and leaving them around the base as turrets, instead of bothering with the actual AI turret, you know something is wrong. This mostly comes down to them not being Flak-Weapons, but also small "magazine size". Given they now need a human, they should be much more viable as a defense tool. Make them Flak-Cannons and give them a "magazin" comparable to a skyguard, at least half.
• Inconsistency in the NSO Haywire Ammo. Against base turrets, they apply havoc, against construction turrets they don't. I am not saying all buildings repairs should be disabled by the Linecutter (I mean could you imagine?), but at least have some of the debuff carry over to turrets would be a nice way for them to support an assault.
• In some corners of the map the NDZ or rather their combined blocked area is just excessive. Might do a write up about it later, where to fix what.
• Siege Ant not dealing damage to silos is maybe a bug, if not it should be better indicated and Siege ANT should be allowed to extract enemy Cortium.
• No idea why some buildings have their own cortium reserve, but I hope/would suggest that if a terminal is hacked and stuff pulled, it would drain this reserve and as long as it remains hacked, doesn't refill this reserve so a hacked terminal eventually runs out of juice even if the silo is still up. Might be a bit whacky for CC, but again no idea what other purpose these reserves fufill.
• Allow resupply tower to be fitted with terminal module. just because it fits the theme of the structure in my oppinion.
• increase the heat dissepate module runtime. between the pitifull ammount of shots, overall low fire rate and the fact that without a dedicated engineer, you bleed health under attack, it is just not worth it especially if places farther away from a module pull slot.
• i would love to repeat my point about deployed ants being allowed to serve as a silo replacement at least for walls, turrets and structures (though keeping all terminals and modules unpowered). Not only as a band aid to save a base after its silo went down, but also to allow for ramparts, etc being thrown up on a wide scale in the field. without clogging up the place with silos.
• skyshield module should be available for smaller buildings such as pillbox or bunker. As a tradeoff, add a limit of 2-3 skyshield modules per player into the game. Just because some cozy corners cannot accommedate them if only for the uneven terrain.

• Bold means the film received at least 1 Oscar nomination (47)
• Bold and italic means the film was only nominated in the Best International Feature category (17)
• Coin means the film won Best International Feature (7)
• Trophy means the film won Best Picture (1)

Year	Palme d'Or	Grand Prix	Jury Prize
1975	Chronicle of the Years of Fire	The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
1976	Taxi Driver	Cría Cuervos 🪢 The Marquise of O
1977	Padre Padrone
1978	The Tree of Wooden Clogs	Bye Bye Monkey 🪢 The Shout
1979	Apocalypse Now 🪢 🪙The Tin Drum🪙	Siberiade
1980	All That Jazz 🪢 Kagemusha	My American Uncle	The Constant Factor
1981	Man of Iron	Light Years Away
1982	Missing 🪢 Yol	The Night of the Shooting Stars
1983	The Ballad of Narayama	Monty Python's The Meaning of Life	Kharij
1984	Paris, Texas	Diary for My Children
1985	When Father Was Away on Business	Birdy	Colonel Redl
1986	The Mission	The Sacrifice	Thérèse
1987	Under the Sun of Satan	Repentance	Shinran: Path to Purity 🪢 Yeelen
1988	Pelle the Conqueror	A World Apart	A Short Film About Killing
1989	Sex, Lies, and Videotape	🪙Cinema Paradiso🪙 🪢 Too Beautiful for You	Jesus of Montreal
1990	Wild at Heart	The Sting of Death 🪢 Tilaï	Hidden Agenda
1991	Barton Fink	La Belle Noiseuse	Europa 🪢 Out of Life
1992	The Best Intentions	The Stolen Children	Dream of Light 🪢 An Independent Life
1993	Farewell My Concubine 🪢 The Piano	Faraway, So Close!	The Puppetmaster 🪢 Raining Stones
1994	Pulp Fiction	🪙Burnt by the Sun🪙 🪢 To Live	La Reine Margot
1995	Underground	Ulysses' Gaze	Don't Forget You're Going to Die 🪢 Carrington
1996	Secrets & Lies	Breaking the Waves	Crash
1997	The Eel 🪢 Taste of Cherry	The Sweet Hereafter	Western
1998	Eternity and a Day	🪙Life Is Beautiful🪙	Class Trip
1999	Rosetta	Humanité	The Letter
2000	Dancer in the Dark	Devils on the Doorstep	Blackboards 🪢 Songs from the Second Floor
2001	The Son's Room	The Piano Teacher
2002	The Pianist	The Man Without a Past	Divine Intervention
2003	Elephant	Distant	At Five in the Afternoon
2004	Fahrenheit 9/11	Oldboy	The Ladykillers 🪢 Tropical Malady
2005	L'Enfant	Broken Flowers	Shanghai Dreams
2006	The Wind That Shakes the Barley	Flanders	Red Road
2007	4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days	The Mourning Forest	Persepolis 🪢 Silent Light
2008	The Class	Gomorrah	Il divo
2009	The White Ribbon	A Prophet	Fish Tank 🪢 Thirst
2010	Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives	Of Gods and Men	A Screaming Man
2011	The Tree of Life	The Kid with a Bike 🪢 Once Upon a Time in Anatolia	Polisse
2012	🪙Amour🪙	Reality	The Angels' Share
2013	Blue Is the Warmest Colour	Inside Llewyn Davis	Like Father, Like Son
2014	Winter Sleep	The Wonders	Goodbye to Language 🪢 Mommy
2015	Dheepan	🪙Son of Saul🪙	The Lobster
2016	I, Daniel Blake	It's Only the End of the World	American Honey
2017	The Square	BPM (Beats per Minute)	Loveless
2018	Shoplifters	BlacKkKlansman	Capernaum
2019	🪙🏆Parasite🏆🪙	Atlantics	Bacurau 🪢 Les Misérables
2021	Titane	Compartment No. 6 🪢 A Hero	Ahed's Knee 🪢 Memoria
2022	Triangle of Sadness	Stars at Noon 🪢 Close	The Eight Mountains 🪢 EO
2023	Anatomy of a Fall	The Zone of Interest	Fallen Leaves

• Bold means the actor received an Oscar nomination (23)
• Bold and italic means the actor was nominated in a non-acting category (1)
• Trophy means the actor won the Oscar (6)

Year	Best Actor	Best Actress
1975	Vittorio Gassman – Scent of a Woman	Valérie Perrine – Lenny
1976	José Luis Gómez – Pascual Duarte	Dominique Sanda – The Inheritance 🪢 Mari Törőcsik – Mrs. Dery Where Are You?
1977	Fernando Rey – Elisa, My Life	Shelley Duvall – 3 Women 🪢 Monique Mercure – J.A. Martin Photographer
1978	🏆Jon Voight – Coming Home🏆	Jill Clayburgh – An Unmarried Woman 🪢 Isabelle Huppert – Violette Nozière
1979	Jack Lemmon – The China Syndrome 🪢 Stefano Madia – Dear Father	🏆Sally Field – Norma Rae🏆 🪢 Eva Mattes – Woyzeck
1980	Michel Piccoli – A Leap in the Dark 🪢 Jack Thompson – Breaker Morant	Anouk Aimée – A Leap in the Dark 🪢 Milena Dravić – Special Treatment 🪢 Carla Gravina – La terrazza
1981	Ugo Tognazzi – Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man 🪢 Ian Holm – Chariots of Fire	Isabelle Adjani – Possession 🪢 Qaurtet 🪢 Elena Solovey – Faktas
1982	Jack Lemmon – Missing	Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieślak – Another Way
1983	Gian Maria Volonté – The Death of Mario Ricci	Hanna Schygulla – The Story of Piera
1984	Alfredo Landa 🪢 Francisco Rabal – The Holy Innocents	Helen Mirren – Cal
1985	🏆William Hurt – Kiss of the Spider Woman🏆	Norma Aleandro – The Official Story 🪢 Cher – Mask
1986	Michel Blanc – Ménage 🪢 Bob Hoskins – Mona Lisa	Barbara Sukowa – Rosa Luxemburg
1987	Marcello Mastroianni – Dark Eyes	Barbara Hershey – Shy People
1988	Forest Whitaker – Bird	Barbara Hershey 🪢 Jodhi May 🪢 Linda Mvusi – A World Apart
1989	James Spader – Sex, Lies, and Videotape	Meryl Streep – A Cry in the Dark
1990	Gérard Depardieu – Cyrano de Bergerac	Krystyna Janda – Interrogation
1991	John Turturro – Barton Fink 🪢 Samuel L. Jackson – Jungle Fever	Irène Jacob – The Double Life of Veronique
1992	Tim Robbins – The Player	Pernilla August – The Best Intentions
1993	David Thewlis – Naked	🏆Holly Hunter – The Piano🏆
1994	Ge You – To Live	Virna Lisi – La Reine Margot
1995	Jonathan Pryce – Carrington	Helen Mirren – The Madness of King George
1996	Daniel Auteuil 🪢 Pascal Duquenne – The Eighth Day	Brenda Blethyn – Secrets & Lies
1997	Sean Penn – She's So Lovely	Kathy Burke – Nil by Mouth
1998	Peter Mullan – My Name Is Joe	Élodie Bouchez 🪢 Natacha Régnier – The Dreamlife of Angels
1999	Emmanuel Schotté – Humanité	Séverine Caneele – Humanité 🪢 Émilie Dequenne – Rosetta
2000	Tony Leung Chiu-wai – In the Mood for Love	Björk – Dancer in the Dark
2001	Benoît Magimel – The Piano Teacher	Isabelle Huppert – The Piano Teacher
2002	Olivier Gourmet – The Son	Kati Outinen – The Man Without a Past
2003	Muzaffer Özdemir 🪢 Mehmet Emin Toprak – Distant	Marie-Josée Croze – The Barbarian Invasions
2004	Yūya Yagira – Nobody Knows	Maggie Cheung – Clean
2005	Tommy Lee Jones – The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada	Hanna Laslo – Free Zone
2006	Roschdy Zem 🪢 Bernard Blancan 🪢 Jamel Debbouze 🪢 Samy Naceri 🪢 Sami Bouajila – Days of Glory	Carmen Maura 🪢 Lola Dueñas 🪢 Blanca Portillo 🪢 Yohana Cobo 🪢 Chus Lampreave 🪢 Penélope Cruz – Volver
2007	Konstantin Lavronenko – The Banishment	Jeon Do-yeon – Secret Sunshine
2008	Benicio del Toro – Che	Sandra Corveloni – Linha de Passe
2009	🏆Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds🏆	Charlotte Gainsbourg – Antichrist
2010	Javier Bardem – Biutiful 🪢 Elio Germano – Our Life	Juliette Binoche – Certified Copy
2011	🏆Jean Dujardin – The Artist🏆	Kirsten Dunst – Melancholia
2012	Mads Mikkelsen – The Hunt	Cristina Flutur 🪢 Cosmina Stratan – Beyond the Hills
2013	Bruce Dern – Nebraska	Bérénice Bejo – The Past
2014	Timothy Spall – Mr. Turner	Julianne Moore – Maps to the Stars
2015	Vincent Lindon – The Measure of a Man	Emmanuelle Bercot – Mon Roi 🪢 Rooney Mara – Carol
2016	Shahab Hosseini – The Salesman	Jaclyn Jose – Ma' Rosa
2017	Joaquin Phoenix – You Were Never Really Here	Diane Kruger – In the Fade
2018	Marcello Fonte – Dogman	Samal Yeslyamova – Ayka
2019	Antonio Banderas – Pain and Glory	Emily Beecham – Little Joe
2021	Caleb Landry Jones – Nitram	Renate Reinsve – The Worst Person in the World
2022	Song Kang-ho – Broker	Zar Amir Ebrahimi – Holy Spider
2023	Kōji Yakusho – Perfect Days	Merve Dizdar – About Dry Grasses

• Bold means the film received at least 1 Oscar nomination in a corresponding category (9)
• Bold and italic means only the film was nominated, but the awarded filmmaker wasn't (8)

Year	Best Director	Best Screenplay
1975	Michel Brault – Orders 🪢 Costa-Gavras – Special Section
1976	Ettore Scola – Down and Dirty
1977
1978	Nagisa Ōshima – Empire of Passion
1979	Terrence Malick – Days of Heaven
1980		La Terrazza – Furio Scarpelli, Agenore Incrocci, Ettore Scola
1981		🪙Mephisto🪙 – István Szabó
1982	Werner Herzog – Fitzcarraldo	Moonlighting – Jerzy Skolimowski
1983	Robert Bresson – L'Argent 🪢 Andrei Tarkovsky – Nostalgia	Voyage to Cythera – Thanassis Valtinos, Theo Angelopoulos, Tonino Guerra
1984	Bertrand Tavernier – A Sunday in the Country
1985	André Téchiné – Rendez-vous
1986	Martin Scorsese – After Hours
1987	Wim Wenders – Wings of Desire
1988	Fernando Solanas – Sur
1989	Emir Kusturica – Time of the Gypsies
1990	Pavel Lungin – Taxi Blues
1991	Joel Coen – Barton Fink
1992	Robert Altman – The Player
1993	Mike Leigh – Naked
1994	Nanni Moretti – Dear Diary	Dead Tired – Michel Blanc
1995	Mathieu Kassovitz – La Haine
1996	Joel Coen – Fargo	A Self Made Hero – Jacques Audiard, Alain Le Henry
1997	Wong Kar-wai – Happy Together	The Ice Storm – James Schamus
1998	John Boorman – The General	Henry Fool – Hal Hartley
1999	Pedro Almodóvar – All About My Mother	Moloch – Yuri Arabov
2000	Edward Yang – Yi Yi	Nurse Betty – James Flamberg, John C. Richards
2001	Joel Coen – The Man Who Wasn't There 🪢 David Lynch – Mulholland Drive	No Man's Land – Danis Tanović
2002	Paul Thomas Anderson – Punch-Drunk Love 🪢 Im Kwon-taek – Painted Fire	Sweet Sixteen – Paul Laverty
2003	Gus Van Sant – Elephant	🪙The Barbarian Invasions🪙 – Denys Arcand
2004	Tony Gatlif – Exils	Look at Me – Agnès Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri
2005	Michael Haneke – Caché	The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada – Guillermo Arriaga
2006	Alejandro González Iñárritu – Babel	Volver – Pedro Almodóvar
2007	Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly	The Edge of Heaven – Fatih Akin
2008	Nuri Bilge Ceylan – Three Monkeys	Lorna's Silence – Jean-Pierre, Luc Dardenne
2009	Brillante Mendoza – Butchered	Spring Fever – Mei Feng
2010	Mathieu Amalric – On Tour	Poetry – Lee Chang-dong
2011	Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive	Footnote – Joseph Cedar
2012	Carlos Reygadas – Post Tenebras Lux	Beyond the Hills – Cristian Mungiu, Tatiana Niculescu Bran
2013	Amat Escalante – Heli	A Touch of Sin – Jia Zhangke
2014	Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher	Leviathan – Andrey Zvyagintsev, Oleg Negin
2015	Hou Hsiao-hsien – The Assassin	Chronic – Michel Franco
2016	Olivier Assayas – Personal Shopper 🪢 Cristian Mungiu – Graduation	🪙The Salesman🪙 – Asghar Farhadi
2017	Sofia Coppola – The Beguiled	The Killing of a Sacred Deer – Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou 🪢 You Were Never Really Here – Lynne Ramsay
2018	Paweł Pawlikowski – Cold War	3 Faces – Jafar Panahi, Nader Saeivar 🪢 Happy as Lazzaro – Alice Rohrwacher
2019	Jean-Pierre 🪢 Luc Dardenne – Young Ahmed	Portrait of a Lady on Fire – Céline Sciamma
2021	Leos Carax – Annette	🪙Drive My Car🪙 – Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe
2022	Park Chan-wook – Decision to Leave	Boy from Heaven – Tarik Saleh
2023	Tran Anh Hung – The Pot-au-Feu	Monster – Yuji Sakamoto

I have been no contact with my father since last Sunday.
This is going to e a long story. So...strap in, I guess?
In 2018 my father was living with my grandfather in an apartment. My grandfather had finally gotten to a point with his age (90) and health (bad) that he couldn't be left alone while my dad worked. He had fallen a few times, and wasn't really capable of making his own lunch or breakfast. So the family made the decision to move my grandfather into an assisted living facility.
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My father had originally planned to move in with a friend of his. She had a spare bedroom she was going to rent him. Well, not long before this all set to happen, she backs out and says that she thinks he is too messy, and doesn't want to deal with him. Man...if I would have just listened then.
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I had just bought a 12'x28' building from a friend. He had built it as an addition on his house, however decided to move and was open to selling the addition. We literally sawzalled it off his house, and had a roll on tow truck come haul it a few miles to my house where I had it put on a slab. I was planning on turning it into like a man cave / home office type thing since I work from home a lot.
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Well, given the situation with my father, and that he couldn't afford to live alone on his $13 an hour job, I said hey, we work close to each other. Why don't I turn this building into a mini-house and you can live there and we can ride to work together. We agree to a very low rent amount, with the agreement being he will help out around the house, watch our kids occasionally, that sort of thing.
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First few months of him living with us went fine. He was respectful, helpful, my only complaint was he'd chain smoke in my car on the way to and from work and I hated going to work smelling like smoke.
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Then COVID hit. He worked at a pharma company doing packaging, and was laid off. A week after he was laid off he said a friend of his from work was going to come by and hang out. Well, turns out that friend was a woman, and very very quickly it turned into a relationship. And then soon after that we realized...he basically thought it was ok for her to live with us. I explained to him many times over that I had turned that building to a home for him, and just him. There was not room for a 2nd person, and with his extremely low rent, I wasn't paying for a 2nd persons utilities. But worse, she was a non-functional alcoholic. She drank and drank and drank, non stop. She would drive drunk. She would basically drink until she passed out, wake up and wash, rinse, repeat. That is literally all she did. She refused to interact with the rest of the family at all. She wouldn't even look at us. She was a grifter, she was just looking for a free place to live and drink. She didn't eat. I never once saw her eat.
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We went on vacation summer of 2020, and my dad came with us. She stayed in his tiny home while he was gone, to watch our dogs and keep an eye on the place. Well, a massive limb fell out of the one tree in my backyard and crushed about 20 feet of my fence, RIGHT NEXT to the tiny home. She didn't notice. My neighbors called me and let me know. My dad called her and she was oblivious, and even pretended to go outside and check, and said she saw nothing. About 2 cords of wood fell out of the sky 20 feet from where she had been sleeping and crushed my chainlink fence. Then, when we came home, I check my security cameras. She only had been letting our dogs out once a day. We had to basically re-house train our dogs because they'd spent 10 days shitting in the house because she wasn't doing the one job she was supposed to do and that I was paying her $250 to do. Of course my dad defended her and said she'd done everything asked, he couldn't explain why she didn't notice the massive limb down. Just excuses.
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Halloween 2020, she finally comes out of the tiny house and agrees to help pass out candy on our porch. She was extremely intoxicated. I mean drunk as hell, barely coherent. My wife and I were pissed that her and my father thought this was acceptable around our kids, or any kids. The next morning both claimed she hadn't had a drop to drink the previous day. They told me this at 9am, while she was drinking box wine out of a 20oz tumbler. Suffice to say, I didn't believe them.
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At this point we finally started pushing very hard on him that she needed to leave. She was welcome to spend a night or two a week, but she wasn't moving in, and she needed to go home. This enraged my dad. He called me and my wife all sorts of horrible names, and then told me if I wanted her out, I had to tell her. Oh man, he had no idea how happy that made me. I marched right on out there and told her to pack her shit and be off my property in the next 5 minutes or I was calling the Sheriff and having her trespassed.
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I go back in my house. 10 minutes later I get a text from him asking to talk. I go back out. He asks if she signs a lease, could she live here? I said what part of no to her moving in here did either of them not understand? We went back and forth more. Finally I said she was no longer welcome on my property, and she needed to leave. Now.
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The next morning I get up, and guess who's car is back in my driveway? I went out, basically kicked his door open, and tore into the both of them and kicked her out again. He was testing me. He wanted to see how serious I really was.
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Then the medical problems started. So the entire time we had been battling the girlfriend issue, he had an infection in his big toe. Finally, January 2021 he had to have it amputated, none of the antibiotics had worked. Then he had to have a 2nd surgery to remove more infection. Then he was on a wound vac for 2 months. Now, I understand how big of a pain in the ass the wound vac is, especially on your foot. So, I was more than helpful in this time-frame. I made him dinner and brought it out to his tiny house every night for him. I would run to the store whenever he needed. Just generally trying to be helpful to a guy laid up on bed rest.
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And this is when things REALLY started, with him taking advantage of me. I would make him meals, and he would always have something nasty to say about it. He basically destroyed my love for cooking, because everything I made he would have something shitty to say. I made chicken fried rice and he bitched that it was dry. I explained that fried rice doesn't have a sauce, its not stir fry, its fried rice. "Well it was dry and it needed a sauce." But then, when I would bring his food out, he would be sitting at his TV tray with a knife and fork in his hands like waiting on me. But then always the nasty comments on my cooking.
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And the running and getting him stuff went from once or twice a week, to daily. Or multiple times a day. I work from home, and would get texts from him demanding I go to the store. I'd say I'm in meetings, I can go after work. So he'd say shit like "I'm having a panic attack" or "I really need this stuff." And of course it was always stuff that could have waited a few hours like cigarettes and coffee.
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THEN, one time he forgot something on the list, and asked me to go back for it. The dollar store is like half a mile from my house, so it really wasn't a huge deal. But after that....he started forgetting stuff almost every time. Because he liked making me have to go back out.
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He also wanted me to bring him ice. So he was dealing with kidney failure, and was supposed to drink a lot of water to keep things flushing through. He wouldn't consider a tap filter, or like a brita pitcher. He demanded I buy him gallons of spring water and bring him ice from my ice maker. He wouldn't get ice cube trays because he said they were too big a pain in the butt.
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One night, I was taking him out some ice, and I tripped in the dark and ended up tearing a huge flap of skin on my arm that caught on an exposed screw on the side of my house. 40 something stitches. He was pissed he didn't get his ice that night.
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Things continue on this way. He had to get a heart cath and have antibiotics injected into his heart 2x a day. He refused a home health aid and said his son would do it. Never asked me. I'm not a doctor, and I was incredibly uncomfortable doing this, but he demanded I do it and refused to do it himself.
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That summer (2021) I took my family to the beach. His kidneys had continued to shut down, and he was retaining water like crazy. He looked like the Michelin man. He was so swollen his penis wouldn't come out of his pubic fat area, so when he urinated, it just went everywhere. And because of the meds they had him on, he was peeing every 20 minutes. He was IRATE that I wouldn't bring him along. His "solution" to the pee problem was that he would shove a towel down his pants and pee into that, if he had to. His solution was to sit in the backseat of my fairly new car and piss himself, while sitting next to my daughters. He would berate me and scream at me and say all kinds of guilt ridden stuff at me about how doesn't he deserve to go to the beach one more time? And why would I take that away from him? That I owed this to him. And then finally that he was scared to be home by himself because of his health. But somehow...wasn't scared to travel 900 miles to Tampa? I almost broke, and my wife made it very clear that she did not want him on this trip, that it was a family trip for our family, and him being along was only ok if he was helpful, but spending the entire time being his nurse would not be a vacation. And of course she was right, and I am glad I finally listened.
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We came home from vacation, and I spent 10 days without him. It was wonderful. And then we came home. And things continued down hill.
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I don't know if you guys know what Kratom is, but its a drug from south east asia, its the ground up leaf of a plant. It hits the same receptors in your brain as opiates, but it doesn't get you high. Helps some people with pain. And he had restless leg syndrome, and became convinced this kratom stuff fixed it. He started taking it sometime around 2016. His dosage slowly ramped upwards. He wouldn't listen when I explained he needed to change things up, try different strains, and take tolerance breaks. He just took more and more and more.
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Not only does kratom effect your kidneys, but it also can cause alzheimers like symptoms with chronic use. Recommended max dose is 15 grams, 3x a day. He is now up to around 2 kilograms a month. So, so do the math on that.
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We tried to tell him many times that we were worried the kratom was impacting his health. His kidneys continued to fail and he ended up having to start dialysis. He also continued to be more and more demanding. He wouldn't ask you to do something, he'd just say "Go to family dollar and buy me some smokes." He basically treated me and my wife like rented mules. Just beat on us whenever he wanted.
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He would put on these massive guilt trips about how he's all alone out in his tiny house by himself with no one to talk to. He would demand I come out every day and spend time with him, and when I'd say no, I have a wife and kids that need my time too, he would insult me, call me nasty shit or just flat out say he needed me more than them.
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If you told him no, or tried to tell him how nasty he was being, he would do what I started calling the "(His Name) 3 step".
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1. Insult.
2. State what he could no longer do, because of you
3. Stomp away like a toddler.

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So if you said "Dad, I don't want to take you out on the boat anymore, you are miserable to fish with, you treat me like shit the entire time, and its not enjoyable for me."
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1. FUCK YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT
2. THAT WAS MY RETIREMENT PLAN, NOW I CANT GO FISHINg, WHAT THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW?
3. Stomp away.

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It got to where I would start holding up my fingers and counting while he did his little act, and it would piss him off so badly.
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Finally, I cracked. I couldn't take the abuse anymore. And I told him that he needed to find somewhere else to live. I wasn't kicking him out, I was going to help him find somewhere, but he needed to go, and if he didn't take my help, well he could go live in his car I guess.
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We found him an apartment at a senior and disabled apartment complex. His rent was $100 cheaper than he had been paying me. Utilities were low. He was about a mile from our house, you could easily walk it on a nice day. Not only that, he had really nice neighbors. He instantly became friends with his neighbor, and they would go fishing together.
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Things actually seemed like they were looking up. He even told me several times he was very thankful I had helped him find an apartment, he was enjoying being independent, and that he kind of had needed a push to go make some friends.
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A few months ago, we started noticing he was talking about his neighbors less.
Then, a few weeks ago, he texts and asks me about buying a gun because "I guess I have to go fishing by myself now and I want protection."
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Friday before last, he texted and asked me to come over. He was not in good shape. His other foot (not the toe missing one) was hurting very badly. He refused to go to the hospital, he said he was waiting until Saturday because the doctor that worked at the ER on the weekends gave out better meds.
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Saturday afternoon, I drove past and saw the EMTs hauling him off on a stretcher.
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About 10 minutes later, I get a facebook message from his neighbors girlfriend, and she asks me to call them. So I call, and then I say you know I'm 2 minutes away, let me just come over and we can talk.
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We end up talking for close to 3 hours. They told me everything that had been going on. And frankly, I am disgusted.
He was stalking a home health aid that worked for the lady behind him, He learned her schedule and would stand in the hallway waiting for her and make nasty and lewd remarks. Apparently she had been cleaning his apartment for him as a side job, and he offered her $50 for sex. After that, she wouldn't talk to him or be near him, but he continues to try to approach her over and over.
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He was sexually assaulting his neighbors girlfriend. He would grab at her, or pretend to trip and then grab her chest. Make horrible nasty comments to her. Wait for her boyfriend (his neighbor) to leave the room and say like "I don't know why you are dating him, and not me." or "He's a piece of shit, you should dump him and date me instead." and worse. I'm trying to be clean here. Some of the things she told me he'd said were just disgusting.
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Finally, and most concerning, he had originally been buying a little weed from his neighbors now and then. That turned into him demanding weed. And money. And food. Food stamps got cut back, and instead of cutting back on the kratom and smokes, he would just beg and demand his neighbors feed him, give him money, and weed. When they wouldn't, he would start screaming he was going to go kill himself. THAT was why he had asked me about a pistol. However, he has a shotgun.
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That apartment complex has 2 rules on the front page of the lease. No guns. No drugs. And here he was begging for drugs and when he didn't get it, saying he was going to go off himself with his gun.
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I probably shouldn't have, but I went and confronted him at the hospital. He denied everything. Said I was crazy and his neighbors made everything up. Everyone was lying except for him. I told him that was BS, everything his neighbors had told me he'd done lined right up with the things he'd done to me, so I knew he was full of crap. He kicked me out of his room. I told him that was fine, but I was going to talk to a social worker because he needed help.
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The nurses got a social worker for me, and I sat down with her for about 45 minutes and explained everything. He was threatening suicide. There was no food in his apartment. His apartment is disgusting, his bedroom reeks like feces. His neighbors do not think he can take care of himself. He is addicted to that kratom stuff and its causing dementia issues, or he just straight up has dementia. But he has something going on. He doesn't take his medications correctly, he just kind of takes what he wants, when he wants. And, he doesn't go to dialysis. He's supposed to go 3 days a week. He goes once, maybe twice, and he only stays about half the time. So that was likely causing him mental issues as well.
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I've not talked to him since last Sunday. I can't do it anymore. I have tried so hard to help him, and he treats you like shit. I am absolutely disgusted at the sexual stuff he was doing. He's also made comments around my daughters, like some tampons were left out and he acted like it was kryptonite and went on and on about how disgusting a package of tampons was and he didn't want to be around it. I have twin daughters, with autism, and the last thing they need to hear from someone they see as an authority figure is how disgusting their periods are. He's made horrible comments about my wife. I honestly think he was pushing me to get a divorce, back when he lived with me. He'd say horrible shit about my wife and then say I should just leave her so that me and him could spend more time together.
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He hasn't tried to contact me. He did text his neighbors a bunch (and they forwarded me everything) and basically demanded to know what all they had told me and why they did that. So...he knows he's guilty. He's embarrassed, and he knows I'm not putting up with his crap anymore. And I just flat out don't want to even talk to him.
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I have been taking care of paying his bills for him, I log in to his checking account and move bill money to a separate account every month and pay his bills with that. I also pay his car insurance and cell phone out of my pocket. Well, thats over with. Both get turned off at the end of the June billing period.
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I put a letter together for him with all of his bills, amounts, where to mail checks, etc, and explained he needed to find his own cell plan and car insurance. I would send it certified mail, but I know he won't go sign for it because he's lazy. So I'm probably just going to go tape it to his front door when I know he's not home.
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I am worried he is going to try to retaliate against me. He is going to be very mad I talked to a social worker and both my wife and his neighbors opened adult protective service investigations. He's made threats in the past that if I didn't do what he wanted, he would make false accusations about me to CPS and the police.
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And on top of all of that, I am going on vacation next week, taking my family to the west coast, so we won't be home. My neighbors know what is going on, and I asked them to let me know if they saw him creeping around.
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I do know that is foot is broken, and the other foot is missing the big toe and has a lot of pain, his wound care doctor wants to remove the rest of his toes on that foot. So at the very least he's going to be in a boot and a walker. But I strongly suspect since its been a week and he's not home yet, he's probably being sent to a nursing home to recover.
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Sooner or later he is going to try to reach out. Either with a bullshit apology, or just more insults and demands. I'm worried about him making false accusations, but I would hope the APS cases being open against him would show he's a nutjob. But the last thing I want to deal with is a CPS investigation because he called and said I hit my kids or something.
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For the last several years, I have just wanted him to go away. And now I REALLY want him to go away. I don't want him to bother me. I just want to be happy and live my life, and I am so much happier when he isn't around.
I'm worried he is going to wait until I am on vacation to do something, or start problems, because he knows how big of a headache it will be for me.
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I just want this anxiety to go away that every time my phone dings, its going to be him with a new insult or demand or threat, telling me to do what he says or else.

I want to start off this post by saying that these are just my raw ideas for what I would see in a Yakuza game and I write this just have the idea out there. Although I would interested see what y'all think. As of this I have only ever played the mainline games and I do plan on getting to spin-offs like Judgement and Ishin soon, so keep that in mind for I'll be referencing the I have played games and no close to zero about the games I haven't played. Oh and spoilers for the mainline series obviously. The stuff I want in my ideal game I would put in bold so if you wanted quickly read through that's an option.
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So as you know from the Yakuza games, there are a bunch of stuff that is one game but not in another and with that there is stuff taken away from one entry that leaves you wondering why would RGG Studios decided to do that.
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Combat

Although I do not mind Dragon Engine (K2/Y6) combat, I much preferred pre-DE combat. Everything feels like everyone is made of rubber with how enemies fly like ragdolls and it's such a slog anytime Kiryu gets knocked down or gets his combos interrupt. Plus a lot of combos felt more clunky. The biggest crime of them is how badly Tiger Drop got nerfed like not only is the timing harder but it does so little damage that it's not worth going for. Though one thing I did enjoy about DE combat and I would like in my ideal Yakuza game is the ability to bring fights into certain restaurants and convivence stores and trash the place.
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Yakuza 3 combat, I'm with everyone who calls this game Blockuza 3 because it's no secret that enemies block more often than in the other games and it can be a bit annoying at times but also I would say people exaggerate how bad it actually is. Partly because Kiryu has a nice move set in Y3. First he has an ability called "Golden Dragon Spirit" that allows him to manually gain heat while standing next to enemies and holding the taunt button. He can also gain heat after a certain from holding charge kick which super useful during dungeons. Then there's two great heat moves: Essence of Smoking and Essence of Rolling. See a majority of heat requires come kind of special setup which is not always easy to pull off in certain situations but these two are always easy to off 99% of the time and I personally I think look really cool. Finally, finishers are also cool but I'm split between these Yakuza 4's and 5's Feel The Heat because Hell's Gauntlet is super satisfying to pull off but can always be repetitive when you're doing it on every boss because the other two finishers don't do as much as damage. Also I would like to mention Komaki's Parry it's in other games as well but I most notably remember it as a staple move to have in Y3 as well as Komaki's Knockback.
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Yakuza 4 introduced multiple characters each with their own unique move sets and everyone seems have their own reservations about which character sucks to play as but I liked them all a game with them all would be fun. I would like to Akiyama and Saejima in my ideal game but I would prefer their Yakuza 5 versions because being able to fling enemies in the air and hit them mid-air like Dante from Devil May Cry with Akiyama was fun and having Tiger Dragon Drop on Saejima completes him as a fighter.
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Speaking of Yakuza 5, there's also a lot of unique stuff that I'm surprise did not make it's way into Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami despite Yakuza 5's engine being the beta for the engine those games run on. Tiger Drop for one can hit multiple targets at once which I think is because in Y5 enemies do not take turns attacking you like they do in Y0 and YK. It can get annoying in parts of the game where you fighting 10+ guys at once but having multiple enemies attack at the same time added to Y5's difficulty. Enemies can flee from random encounters if get scared from you brutalizing their friends. I know other games have but off the top of my head I can't which games have it or don't but enemies would times get mad and become more aggressive (indicated by the red steam over their heads) or fall to the floor in fear (indicated by the purple cloud over their heads). Though exclusive to Y5 when they fall to the floor in fear you can stomp on their heads which is an instant knock out regardless of their health bar. Even though this can make a game considerable easier Tatsuya's training was pretty cool because it gave us temporary second health bar and along with it stat boost that increased our strength (STR), ability to maintain heat (FCS) and increased the power of heat moves (SPR) but only lasted until the second health bar was depleted. There's also Dragon Spirit which is basically K2/Y6's Extreme Heat Mode but visually I much preferred Dragon Spirit and I think it's activation was better. Weapons were also better than ever in this game each of them had their own upgrades the more you used them in battle and you could store away weapons you picked up in fights. Should also bring back Kamiyama Works.
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As for learning abilities. I think most will agree but K2/Y6's method of leveling up is not the preferred method of learning abilities. Although a cool idea, having to level up the your Health, Attack, Defense, Evasion and Heat Gauge is not something I would like in my ideal game because if you are not careful with upgrading your stats you can become pretty OP quick and if you do not upgrade enough it's easy to fall behind in strength. Featured in every game before Y0 and aside from Y4 where you a set of Soul, Tech., Body, and Soul upgrades and in order to get a certain ability you need to upgrade a bunch of other abilities. This method is better but not ideal. Personally I'm split between K1/Y0's skill tree and Y4's letting upgrade whatever you want. I like Y4's method because it provided me with one of my most fun moments while playing a Yakuza game which was playing through Saejima's prison escape. Due to it's difficulty it forced me to strategically chose my upgrades wisely so that I could better adapt to the challenge. Though K1/Y0's method did a better job at making feel like I was getting progressively stronger over the course of the game game so I lean more towards the skill tree.
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Heat Moves? Tbh every game as hundreds of heat moves and I have not keeping track of which games have which and which do not but in an ideal game I want every heat move there ever has been in one game. I though I would say I want tag team heat moves to be an option because I noticed that tag team heat moves something added in Y5 but isn't in any of the game's prior. Also I know people hated this from Kiwami but I liked those heat moves where you could punish a boss for healing during a battle.
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Also I do like Yakuza 7 Like A Dragon's turn-based combat but seeing that I play a bunch of turn-based games as is and not many beat 'em up brawlers like Yakuza, I would prefer the brawler combat.
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Dungeons. If you do not know what I'm referring to it's those parts of the game you go through an area fighting hoards of enemies, picking up healing items along the way, and usually there's boss a the end. Like Shangri-La in K1/6, Saejima's prison break in Y4, Tojo HQ in K1/0, etc. This usually where the game's combat is most exciting for me and I would like game to have a few of them (a lot more than two). As well as some kind of unique sequence like the car chases in K1/K2/0 or snowmobile chase in Y5.

Story

To be honest I do not have many concrete ideas for a story but I know what I like and what I do not like.
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One gripe I have about series are the villains. For me there's two types of villains which I'll dub, "the Rival " and "the Schemer". The Rival is a villain who if they met Kiryu/the protagonist under any other circumstances they could have been good friends and they're believably his equal or relatively close in strength to him. Some examples are this are Nishikiyama, Ryuji, Mine, Someya, and Ryo Aoki. The Schemer is villains who spend a majority of the game scheming behind the scenes and is later reveal to be responsible for all the bad stuff that happens during the game. Some examples are Jingu, Terada, Andre Richardson, the Omi's 7th Chairman, and Iwami Jr..
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Generally I like the rivals and I dislike the schemers. Usually the schemer gets little to no screen time and the reveal feels cheap because of it. Sometimes they get the schemer right like in the case of Jingu, where it kind of adds to his character where he's this extremely corrupt and power hungry politician who would go as far to attempt to kill his own wife and daughter for that power. Putting him in the final chapter kind of added to his character more than it took away from because he alluded to a few times before with that MIA guy almost leaking Jingu's name before getting killed and the Snake Flower Triad their involvement with the MIA. The rivals on the other hand usually appear multiple times during the story and it finally comes time for the final face off, it's some of the most epic fights in the series. Aizawa is one character who I would call a rival but he kind of fails due him hiding his true intentions all the way to the finale.
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Sagawa. He is one of my favorite villains in the series and rather than trying to articulate why that is this video (I linked the summary of video but you can watch the rest for added context) does a good job at explaining why I like him better than I could explain. Though one thing I would say I like how Sagawa does fall into one of the two categories and is unique. So what I'm saying is that I want a villain that could match Sagawa's uniqueness.
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Yakuza 0 Story Beats. One thing I would praise for Yakuza 0 is objectively having the best story in the series, it's a culmination of the Yakuza writer's experience writing Yakuza 1-5 in the best way. I liked how they alternated between Kiryu's and Majima's story and how each of their sections ended in a cliff hanger or an extremely emotional scene. Like Chapter 4 where Majima contemplates killing Makoto and as he unsheathes his dagger the chapter ends or Chapter 6 where Nishikiyama drives Kiryu out of the city and attempts to give Kiryu a mercy kill but ultimately can't bring himself to kill his sworn brother. All these made wanting to get back into the sections exciting and made it so that there never was a dull moment. It's that level interest for a story that I would want in my ideal game. Plus I think the plot is not too convoluted like other games can be at times.
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Protagonist. I really like Kiryu as a protagonist but part of the fun of Y4, Y5, and Y0 is that you get to experience different characters and see how they interact with the story. So ideally I would like game where you play as Kiryu, Akiyama, Majima, Saejima, Tanimura, and Shinada. Although I would say that might want to replace Tanimura and Shinada with other characters because with the way their stories ended in Y4 and Y5 I think there would not be much benefit from seeing them again even though I liked both of them. Instead I think Daigo with Tanimura's moveset and Ryuji whose somehow alive with Shinada's moveset if I wanted to go the route of different characters. Sidenote: I would give Majima his Mad Dog of Shimano style from Y0 and a new abilities. One thing I did not like about Y4 and Y5 is that each character was limited to 4 chapters of screen time because the writers did not want the game to be too long but had to fit in 4-5 characters. So think the way I would do it is that each part would be 5 chapters, focusing on 2 protagonist, alternating between the two of them, and the 5th chapter would be like Y5's finale where you choose which of the two you want to play as, as they team. So the first part could be 5 could be Kiryu & Akiyama, the second part could be Majima & Saejima and the third part could be Daigo & Ryuji or Tanimura & Shinada. With the finale being like Y5's where they each play a role in this massive fight at the end. So 16 chapters total.
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Canon? Probably not because with how I would ideally want the story to be I do not see how it could integrated nicely into the current Yakuza plot or be sandwiched between older titles. Plus if it was a spin-off game, it would be able to take more creative liberties.
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Side note: I would like see more of Joon-gi Han and what's up with his body doubles

Side Content

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Substories. I think 78 substories is a perfect amount because it not too many where it could be overwhelming but not to little either. Each character would get 13 substories to be fair. I would some substories to be call backs to older substories like the Akimoto and Mizuki substory line from K1, K2, and Y3. I would like some substories that puts the protagonist personality on display like the ones in Y4 for Akiyama, Saejima and Tanimura. I also would like substories that are in direct relation to main story like the two from Yakuza Kiwami involving the assassin sent to kill Kiryu in prison and the one with Yayoi Dojima seeking revenge for Dojima's death. Of course I would like some silly and funny substories like the one with patriarch who has a fetish for being treated like baby and forces his family act as babies too because it's a classic staple of Yakuza games.
Also no substories that require you to spend time with and money on hostess or substories that require you to be really good at a specific minigame to complete because personally I do not like them. Although I would not eliminate hostess or the rewards for getting good a minigame because I like having options.
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Minigames? Why not have them all. Some of the gambling minigames are not for me but again I like having options so I would keep them. It sucks that DE games do not have bowling but my game would of course have them. I would like Y4's ping pong sauna and Y5's table tennis air hockey sauna to return but maybe this time the sauna can feature both minigames. Y3 has a bad golf and fishing minigame but I think K2/6 made golf fun and Y5/Y0 made fishing fun so I would prefer those versions. Say what you want about song selections in DE but I think the karaoke UI is better in Y7 so I would Y7 karaoke with every song featured in a Yakuza game. Some standout minigames I would like to return is Y5's Winter Combat, Y0's Disco, Y6's Spearfishing and Y7's Dragon Cart. Sidenote I guess this game would have to take place during the winter.
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Side Stories? It'd be cool if every character had their own side story. The cabaret club is a fan favorite so another one would be cool and I would like one too because I got a extremely good at it. Although I did not much hunting in Y5, the tutorial was pretty fun and I would like to one day complete it. Same as hunting I did not finish it and although the story did not quite grasp me the taxi racing from Y5 would be pretty cool. Aside from those 3 I would like 3 new side stories, of what I do not know. I would just hope they have an interesting story and that they are fun to play.
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Y7's Drink Links, I like how they are an obvious reference to Persona another series I enjoy and I think they do a lot to give us insight on a character. Perhaps each duo could have drink links with other like imagine Kiryu and Akiyama grabbing drinks. Then maybe in finale each character could have one drink link with every other character. Then after completing a character's drink link, that characters gets a special new ability in combat.
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Visuals, Sound and Overworld

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One thing I have to appreciate the Dragon Engine for is the graphics. Sure it's not perfect, there have been weird textures and filters but generally the games featuring the DE look really good. They also make NPCs look more detailed whereas in pre-DE games NPCs looked kind of ugly and low poly when compared to main story characters. Though the visuals of heat I think Yakuza 5 did it best. I also like how during certain heat moves in Y5/Y0/K1 you see the protagonist fist change color as he is punching. As the health bars and heat bar, I do not have any preference just as long as the heat bar is not just one single bar like K2 or a bunch of orbs like Y6.
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I also noticed that fighting sound effects varies from game to game and I think that once again Y5/Y0/YK had the most satisfying fighting sound effects especially the Tiger Drops. This might be a niche thing but in Y3 there's combo where Kiryu puts his hands together and smashes the bottom his fist on his opponent's heads, it makes such a satisfying sound. Here's a clip of that.
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As for the music. I will like the upbeat battle themes as much as the next guy for me the highlight ost tracks always seem to be the unreleased tracks. Some of examples: Akiyama tells Lily he knows the truth, Saejima's re-arrest, Sagawa says Farewell, and Sugiuchi get caught. These osts such as these usually tend to be the most memorable which is always a bummer to find that their unreleased but ideal game would feature these among the other unreleased tracks and similar new osts tracks. Also like quite a few of battle osts as well but for the general I battle I would different ost tracks for each character kind of like how Yakuza 4 did it.
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I miss being able to knock NPCs down when bumping into them which something the DE changed.
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Even though I like the other cities I would like a bulk of the game to take place in Kamurocho as always. However one thing added in Y4 and was slowly phased out after Yakuza 5 & 6 are the new locations add to Kamurocho like the underground mall, underground parking lot, rooftops, the shortcut near the coin lockers, Saejima's hideout, the sewers, and Little Asia (Y6 messed this one up). These locations gave Kamurocho new feel and I missed them. Similar I really liked Sotenbori so imagine if they new locations in Sontenbori. Story wise it might not be possible to fit all the other cities but I like all of them except maybe Tsukimino (Saejima's Y5 city). I'm hesitant to add in Ijincho because on hand it would not quite fit into a story involving the six protagonist I mentioned but on the other hand it's such a big city with many attractions and it's a perfect hub for minigames and side content.

Conclusion

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https://preview.redd.it/2m07uwts4g2b1.jpg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4520d5374fadca076335064aa03310cdaf8d2168
If you read any of that, I appreciate you. Again I just wanted to put my thoughts out there as a fan of the Yakuza series and go through stuff I enjoyed from playing it.

When that fateful night came, Adam allowed himself a moment to steady his nerves. Keep to the plan. Be nice. Find out more about Aspreay. The thoughts in his head were firm, but he still swallowed a nervous lump in his throat. He took one last deep breath before pushing the imposing doors open and stepping into the treasure room.
Immediately after stepping into the room, he felt the door close behind him. This probably should have concerned him, but instead he found himself captivated by the beauty of the room around him.
Every window was shut, but what little light that filtered in through their stained glass exteriors was hazy and beautiful. Even the flickering torches appeared to emit a soft, fading light that gave the whole room a sort of dream-like feeling. From the beautiful, red carpet on the floor, to the finely woven tapestries draped over each wall that depicted the town's former lords, there was not one direction Adam could aim his eyes at without finding something beautiful.
He would have moved on to admiring the ancient weapons and artifacts if not for the smell that proceeded to invade his nostrils.
Damp stone and stale wine told the story to his nose before his eyes learned it from the sight of Lord Aspreay, slouched on a stained chair. The lord glared at Adam in silence, his eyes bloodshot and his hand holding a goblet still half-full with wine. “What the devil are you doing here, painter?”
I can smell the drunkness from here. He looks worse than someone after finals week. “You requested me to paint your treasures, my lord,” Adam said, politely.
“Wha—ah!” Realization seemed to dawn on Aspreay mid-sentence. The lord raised the goblet to his face in a long, if unsteady gulp. Some wine dripped down his chin and he didn't appear to care. “Well, get on with it then!”
“Of course, my lord.”
Adam moved his painting materials to the furthest corner from the lord and tried to make himself look like less of a target. He had never seen the man look like this before. Even after work for the day was done and his courtiers took pleasure in their opulent feasts, Aspreay always kept himself sober. Not so now.
What sorrow was he drowning?
Adam didn’t plan on finding out. He was just going to stay in a corner, say nothing, and leave to his room as soon as–
He felt a sudden gust of wind shooting beside his head as something brushed against his skin.
A moment later, he heard the clang of metal striking against the stone walls, followed by a splash of liquid that nearly stained the tapestries. The goblet had narrowly missed his face. Adam touched the side of his cheeks, feeling where the metal had grazed him. When he looked over his shoulder, he saw Lord Aspreay staring at him.
Was he going to say anything? He’d thrown a fucking goblet at him without any reason whatsoever. He couldn’t just stay silent and glare at Adam to move on with his life, could he?
The ensuing silence said that yes, he could. Rich bastard. What the hell was he thinking? What if he’d damaged those works of art? Did he think he could just buy more?! Those tapestries looked ancient – they were clearly irreplaceable!
Maybe that was his way of saying he didn’t want Adam to paint anymore. Testing that theory, he cast a glance at the closed doors.
“Stay,” Aspreay barked out in a low voice. “Stay, Painter.”
The lord’s eyes flashed a glint of danger. His right hand flickered, and a familiar sensation that reality was shifting overcame Adam all at once. He didn’t need his tablet to know what was happening – the Lord Talent was active now.
A visible blue wind swirled in a loop before touching the wall. Even without attempting, Adam knew the exit door wouldn’t open anymore.
His hand leaped to his throat at the sudden pressure he felt there. A painful, invisible force was squeezing tight, lifting him to where his feet no longer touched the ground. Is he going to send me flying or just strangle me to death? Both ways would end in death. As his consciousness began to fade, Adam desperately tried to think of a way to free himself – yet it was another thought that spoke louder.
Maybe he should just let it happen.
Nothing had felt real since he had come to this world. And even before then, it wasn’t like there’d been a hell of a lot to live for, anyway. Would it really be so bad to die right there?
A part of him hoped that the thought would spark an intense outrage inside of him, a burning desire to live that would bloom into a fiery explosion.
No such thing happened.
Ah, well. Had a good run. Might as well–
It was here that Adam caught sight of Aspreay’s face. He saw much in that expression. Anger, entitlement, pride, arrogance. Everything that came with being someone like him. And it was here that yet another thought screamed inside his head, louder than the desire to live, louder even than the desire to die: I REFUSE TO LET THAT BASTARD LAUGH AT MY CORPSE.
Adam turned his body around. It did nothing to free himself from the invisible hand strangling him, but it would hide his hands from the lord at least. Stained Ink, Adam called in his mind. The corrupted, tumorous growth spawned from within his palm, slithering around his wrist and moving toward the invisible hand. It did nothing to stop the force.
Maybe it didn’t even realize it was being touched.
There was no way a Viscount Talent could be undone by an Apprentice Talent. Adam understood that much.
That’s fine. Surviving is optional – ruining his life is mandatory.
Aspreay was terrified of the Rot, the tumor, the Stained Monsters. Adam wanted to cover the invisible hand with as much of the Stained Vines as he could, then turn around at once to horrify the man. Even if–
Without warning, the invisible force dropped him to the ground.
“What the hell am I doing?” Lord Aspreay angrily cursed. Adam looked over his shoulder and saw the drunken lord staring at the floor. “Just keep painting, you hear me?”
I could escape right now, he thought. It might be his only chance. The lord was drunk to the point of unsteadiness, and Adam could probably break down the door and run out of the castle, run out of the city even.
And then what?
He’d tried surviving outside the city. It hadn’t really worked out too well. There was a reason why Lords ruled; their power was one of the few things that could keep people safe from monsters.
No…he had a plan, and he was going to stick to it. Slowly, Adam recalled the Stained Ink into his being and drew a deep breath. With a fake smile, he stood up like nothing ever happened, and walked toward his canvas.
THREE MORE MONTHS, he shouted inside his head. After that I’m done putting up with this. That’s my limit. At least tonight tells me that–
“Son of a whore!” Aspreay shouted. Adam turned around and was surprised to see the lord wasn’t talking about him. He was looking at the floor, whipping his hand toward it as if throwing another, nonexistent goblet. “How dare he?”
After that last experience, even Adam knew it would’ve been smarter to stay quiet. Still, there was no point in remaining in the castle if he wasn’t going to get more information out of it.
“Who dares, my lord?” he asked. It was hard to sound casual when his throat hurt so much.
“Vasco! The whoreson refused every single request! Why did he even come here? Just to look at me with that damned smug face of his!” Aspreay let out a visceral scream, searching for a surface to break. Suddenly, his rage gave way to maniacal laughter. “You should’ve seen him back at the capital, when we were being trained for our Talent. Back then he was so polite to me – always calling me ‘my lord.’ Can you guess why?”
So he was in a meeting with another lord. That’s why he was late in calling me to this room. Adam bit his lip. He knew he shouldn’t engage in this conversation, but the words refused to stay inside his mouth. “He thought that he had to. That his station was beneath yours.”
“Correct!” Aspreay’s laughter grew louder. He seemed almost pleased. “Ah, you are smart. Yes…the treacherous little weasel used to follow me around, ask for favors – and I gave him everything he asked! You’d think that kind of thing would have made us sworn brothers. Instead, it just gave him the chance to backstab me and get assigned the city I wanted. That’s why I’m stuck with this shithole.”
Adam considered what to say next. Cautiously, he said, “And he refused your requests?”
The lord let out an indignant laugh, then grunted in affirmation. “Our closest neighbor – and he refuses to assist, even though we’re saddled with refugees from fallen cities. Bastard. Just came here in person to mock me. The way he looked at me…pretended to be sorry…damn him to hell. May the Rot take him!”
Adam remained in silence as Aspreay breathed heavily, his angry outbursts so intense he found himself out of breath. “My lord, if there is anything I can help–”
“There is.” Aspreay turned to him with a manic expression. “Painters like you are rare. Vasco’s city is rich, but not enough to afford someone like you.”
“I will paint as much as you request, my–”
“DAMN RIGHT YOU WILL!” Aspreay’s voice echoed. “Vasco will return in 92 days. When he gets back, I want him to be surrounded by masterwork paintings from every corner. They must be so detailed as to seem like photographs at first glance. Do you understand, Painter? You have 92 days to finish 92 of the greatest paintings your brush will ever create!”
“You want WHAT?”
That number was absurd. Adam wasn’t particularly skilled in oil paintings, and even just considering the time it would take for everything to dry…
Maybe if the paintings themselves were simple enough, but Aspreay’s demented tone made it clear: the man wouldn’t be satisfied unless each painting looked breathtaking. Beauty and complexity were not always siblings, but very often at least cousins. His request is impossible.
“Why, my lord?” Adam muttered. “Wouldn’t it better to focus my skills on a small number of–”
“I want him to cower when he comes in and realizes how insignificant his luxuries are compared to mine! Not a single piece that he could steal, trade for, or think myself lucky to have obtained. I want him to feel as insignificant as he did when we first met. You hear me, Painter? You will paint me 92 masterpieces!”
Adam considered taking his chances with the drunken lord. Still, despite his desire to punch the man in the face, another louder thought burst inside his head. I have another clue about how Aspreay thinks.
92 days…that would fit with the internal deadline he’d set to have everything sorted. Although it would be absolute insanity to go along with this at all.
You’re on. “Of course, my lord.”
--
At court the next day, Aspreay behaved as regally arrogant as always. He appeared so normal Adam nearly thought the night before had been a dream.
Until the lord approached him to inspect his paintings of courtly procedures and whispered, “That looks passable for a recording of today’s procedures, but that won’t be enough for your other work. Make sure the 92 paintings are better, however. They need to be beautiful.”
It was then that Adam realized that not only did Aspreay still expect him to do those paintings, he expected him to create them on top of his regular courtly work. That was so unreasonable it bordered on hilarious.
There was nothing funny, however, about what his life became after.
92 days of madness that felt worse than fighting any monster.
Adam slept only when he dropped from exhaustion. He ate only when Tenver forced him to at night. During the day, he skipped lunch to have more time to work on his paintings. He studied, painted, fretted, despaired, celebrated. He should have escaped earlier; even the outside world was less dangerous than here.
Some days were hard enough to make him wish for death. During others, he would think of a new way to accelerate the painting process and feel like the greatest genius to ever bless both Earth and this world. The next day he would be the sun itself: he should never leave the castle, this was too easy.
And then, inevitably, burnout settled in. Sometimes he would only realize he was weeping when Tenver found him on the floor.
“Adam – what’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong? I’m still alive. That’s what’s wrong. Tenver, do me a favor and kill me.”
“I shall not. How about you sleep instead?”
“Still got too much crap to finish. Failures don’t get sleep, we stay up to finish projects.”
“Come on. Just a little bit. As a favor to me.”
“Fine. Just a little.”
Some days Tenver would find him smirking, admiring his own skill and feeling so proud he wondered why he had ever considered himself untalented.
“You’re accepting food today without being forced. Things are going well?”
“Better than well! I’m ahead of schedule!”
Then, the very next day, Adam would be despairing on the floor when Tenver found him.
“It’s hopeless. This is impossible.”
It was 92 days of that cycle of suffering, like an endless rush to finishing the longest college paper ever assigned. Many times Adam considered just letting the lord kill him. Sometimes he considered taking his chances with the monsters outside. At the end of the third month, he was surprised to wake up and find Tenver standing beside him with a concerned expression.
“Is it morning yet?” Adam asked, praying he was wrong.
“No.”
“Ah. Let me sleep then.”
Tenver shook his head. “I’d rather let you escape. There’s this merchant – he’ll accept a bribe to smuggle you out of here. It will be a rough start, but with your painting Talent, I’m sure you’ll be able to make a new life for yourself there.”
Wait, what? Adam sat up, now feeling wide awake. “Are you serious? What happened to wanting to do things the right way, encouraging me to listen to Aspreay? You’re really telling me to escape even though I’m supposedly indebted to the city?”
“This is going to kill you, one way or another. Be it through overwork or execution.”
Adam shrugged. “Man, this is my life we’re talking about. Let me die.”
“I gave you my word I wouldn’t.”
“What’s the difference between me and the other people Aspreay banishes or executes?”
Tenver shook his head and looked down shamefully. “Call me a coward,” he muttered. “It may be deserved. But I didn’t get to know them. I have been talking to you for three months now. You are my friend. And you know how few of those I have.”
“About as many as I do,” Adam replied. They both smiled.
Adam wasn’t overly desperate to keep living, but after that talk…he didn’t feel fine with the idea of just dropping dead anymore. Tenver would definitely blame himself if it came to that. Betrayal is the lowest of the low. I won’t betray him by dying like that. “I can’t run right now. I’m this close to figuring the goddamn egomaniac out.”
“Figuring him out? Adam, he’s going to kill you!”
“And even if I escape, it’s not going to stop him from being a terrible lord. You were the one who said it, right? I have to figure him out. Understand him. Then we can change things.”
“Yes, but…” Tenver hesitated. His prior optimism appeared shaken. “Adam, I don’t know how many more chances I will have to help you escape.”
“I won’t resent you if you can’t save me in the future.”
“You’re really not gonna budge on this, huh?”
“Not even a little.”
“In that case, I want you to keep this in mind.” Tenver drew his sword out. “I solemnly swear this oath, upon my name, and my father’s blood: if Lord Aspreay declares for your execution or if you die from overwork…I will use this very sword to fight against him.”
Adam nearly fell from his bed. “What the hell? Why would you say that?”
They had known each other for only a few months now. It was an absurd vow to make to someone who you’d met a short while ago. Adam recalled Tenver’s explanation for serving as a guard – it explained things, in a way.
But not enough.
What’s your damage?
“Look, Tenver, I appreciate the gesture, I really do. But, Aspreay’s Talent is ranked higher than yours. That’s not even risking your life, it’s just…throwing it away. For nothing.”
Tenver laughed. “No. There’s a point. I know your type. You are fine entrusting your life to gambling, because you no longer care how the dice rolls. But you won’t raise that bet with someone else’s chips.”
“Are you seriously saying that–”
“–Get yourself killed and you kill me too. So if you aren’t confident you can survive this…leave the city now.”
Annoying bastard. Despite wanting to, Adam didn’t – couldn’t feel angry at him. “Fine. I’ll stay – and I’ll survive.”
Much as he wanted to be annoyed at Tenver for refusing to leave him be, Adam was pretty sure he couldn’t have survived those months without him. Despite the insane schedule, it somehow didn’t feel as bad as some much lighter college assignments had been. Yeah, he was overworked, sleep deprived, and begging for death, but at least he had someone to complain to at the end of the day.
He truly appreciated that. Although he still had to remind himself he didn’t know anything about Tenver’s background. You’re willing to risk your life for me, but you won’t tell me your past. Then again…I’m willing to risk living for you, and I still won’t tell you my past, either.
It was an odd friendship that only two outcasts in that strange castle could have forged.
And it saw Adam through those last hellish paintings.
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At the end of the 92 days, Adam still had only one painting to finish. Just one. He told Aspreay of this, who ‘magnanimously’ agreed to allow him to finish the painting while the other lord visited. Every judgment and petition was canceled that day; the lord insisted that his meeting with Lord Vasco would take place in the Great Hall instead of his more formal quarters.
Even Adam, unaccustomed to this world’s culture as he was, understood that it was basically an insult to meet with a foreign lord in the same place where you saw petitioners and criminals. There were no equals in that room where Aspreay watched from his raised throne – he looked down on all who dared enter that domain of his. If this is how he negotiates, no wonder he gets no help from this other lord, Adam mused.
That was fine. These past 92 days had allowed him to confirm his suspicions.
Adam understood Aspreay now.
Truly understood him.
And thus, he was happy to give his final painting some finishing touches while awaiting the new lord’s arrival. He did allow himself a break to take in the lord’s reaction, however.
Lord Vasco was a tall, imposing man with a brown mane of a beard and long flowing matching hair. Annoyance was writ across his features, yet it soon gave way to shock that bordered on disbelief. His eyes shifted from painting to painting, as if he couldn’t decide whether to be more surprised by the sheer amount or their otherworldly quality. Adam was far from a perfect painter, but his knowledge of perspective and shading alone let him create what must have looked like near mirrors to these men.
Then, sitting arrogantly on his throne and sporting a grin, Aspreay said, “Ah, my lord – you have come here to discuss a trade agreement with the Lord of Penumbria, have you not? I’m right here. Let’s get on with it.”
“The trade – Aspreay!” Vasco cried out. “Where did you get all of those? How have you managed…you don’t have the Orbs for even a quarter of this! Are you still wasting Orbs meant for your people?”
“Do you accuse me, Vasco?”
“One accuses another of the unproven. I’m stating a fucking fact.”
It was then that Adam decided to, for the first time since his trial, clear his throat and speak loudly. “Aspreay, you are a difficult man. Took me six months to finally understand you.”
Every pair of eyes in the room turned to face the lone Painter. Nearly all of them appeared confused, almost like they had misheard the source of the noise. Tenver seemed outright horrified, his mouth hanging open and his hand dropping to the hilt of his sword. Only Aspreay looked insulted that the court Painter dared to speak in a meeting between lords, his face contorted in a rage so great that he was left momentarily speechless.
“People often speak of good and evil as if they’re black and white,” Adam mused aloud, sweeping his digital brush across the canvas. “They also speak of shades of gray, like people are just mixtures of two extremes. I don’t think that’s how I’d paint a person, honestly.”
Adam glanced at his painting. Yes…this was going to turn out really well. “There’s more to a person than good and evil. Sometimes, they just have things they value highly. Promises they made.” He thought of Tenver. “Passions they have.” He thought of his own art. “And the experiences that lead them to develop a moral code. If black and white are good and evil, what color would a passion be? Enjoying my art isn’t good or evil, but it’s certainly a huge part of me. I don’t think you could paint a good portrait of me with just black and white. There’s more colors to me. So…what about Aspreay?”
The Painter drew a deep, contemplative breath. “Let me paint you a picture. Lord Aspreay is not an evil person. He started out, perhaps, like a young guy who wanted to make a difference in the world. He was proud of his abilities, but never forgot the common people. One day, he promised himself, he would be a good lord to them. And he sincerely believed it. Do you know what happened then?”
Vasco made an uncomfortable sound. Without looking up from his work, Adam agreed and said, “Yes, he had an incident with a close friend of his, and was sent to a nearly forsaken town, so close to the abominable Rot – and with a terrible economy to boot. His pride and dreams were shattered. So what did he do? Turn to evil? No. People are rarely that simple.”
Even if it’s easier to believe that. “He found comfort in luxuries. Even though there weren’t enough Orbs to take care of his people to begin with, he drowned his sorrow with extravagance. And yet, he still wanted to be a good lord. So he started finding justifications for the people he couldn’t help. It made it easier. It made it bearable.”
That was why Adam couldn’t find a link between the people Aspreay helped and the ones he didn’t. There wasn’t one. It was just whoever they could help or not at any given moment, depending on how much of the daily budget had been used up.
“Those he couldn’t save, Aspreay blamed. He would justify to himself that they were traitors, at fault, or whatever let him sleep at night. Because he still wanted to help people. Even now, he legitimately wants to make a difference.” Adam lifted his eyes from his art to look at Aspreay. The lord still appeared insulted, but his brows were furrowed now.
“Only…he doesn’t want to help people enough to give up on his luxuries. He’ll feel angry at his powerlessness, but still have feasts every day. He’ll curse the Emperor for not allowing him to save his people, but bring foreign theater troupes for private shows. And he justifies it all to himself. He was betrayed by his friend, sent to this desolate place…he deserves a little reward, surely? He feels some shame about it, but deep down he assures himself he is still a good person, with good intentions. He’s not perfect right now, but maybe he will change in the future.”
He paused. “There is good inside of him. Maybe he will become a better person in the future. Except…”
Adam finished his work and smiled as he started to name it. He looked Aspreay dead in the eye, then said, “Except you don’t get a gold star for MAYBE not being an asshole someday. People are dying while you figure out your emotions. They can’t wait for your crisis of conscience. Their lives aren’t just props for your story.”
His gesture looked and felt like an attack.
Adam kicked the stand to flip it around, displaying his work to the entire room. The final of the 92 paintings, his masterful portrait of Aspreay. It featured the lord laying on the ground, dressed in ill-fitting white clothes, stained with Rot that grew from the ground and pulled him into a dark void. Beneath it was the title:
The Miserable Lord
I understand your core, as I understood the monster that attacked me back then. Deep inside, all it wanted was food, and all it feared was that I wouldn’t bow. This is you – this is who you are!
“You don’t even deserve death,” Adam muttered, “when you give it out so freely to those you think beneath you.”
Aspreay began to say, “Guards, kill—” but he would never finish the order.
A blinding flash of green light shot out from within Aspreay's body. The larger beams came from his eyes, his mouth, his nostrils, his ears. Smaller, more smoke-like lines of light flowed from within the pores of his skin, pulling the lord up and toward the painting, until he was leaning so forward none of him touched the throne anymore. They flew slowly at first, then launched themselves aggressively at Adam – at his tablet.
And then the lord fell on the floor, his head resting on the lower steps leading up to the throne.
Adam glanced at his screen.
Name: Adam Talents and Rank: Painter [Novice] Stained Vines [Apprentice] Lord [Viscount]
Without another word, Adam started walking toward Aspreay. He walked right past Lord Vasco, who made no motion to stop him, only gaping open-mouthed and stuttering out some sound of surprise. Slowly, he climbed up the steps. When he caught up to the still breathing, but soulless husk that was Aspreay’s body, Adam kicked it away. Then, his foot still raised from the kick, he whirled around, and let his body fall backwards.
Adam sat on the throne.
He threw his left leg over his right, placed his elbow on the armrest, and let his head rest on a closed fist.
After a long silence, he looked at Vasco and said, “Ah, my lord – you have come here to discuss a trade agreement with the Lord of Penumbria, have you not? I’m right here. Let’s get on with it.”
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Thanks for reading!