Every night, against his will, Kenneth would relive every awful moment of it. Pulled back into his hellish youth through a dream. The same dream he found himself in once again. He was in a place now so familiar that he could actively acknowledge his unconscious state, but he could never wake up from it. Not until Steve had his fill. Not until he was satiated in his place from beyond the grave, firmly in charge of this horrific dominion within his victim's damaged psyche. It was an evil dreamland, somehow designed to re-inflict every harrowing humiliation and brutal torture experienced in the waking world. The disgusting past, revived.
Kenneth shivered as the cold wind battered against his scantily-clad body. The same as always, he was wearing his pajamas. Now far too small and disintegrating on his adult-sized frame, they tore and fell away as he walked, leaving him little more than torn rags for comfort against the elements. The harsh earth stung under his bare feet. Uniformly black, contrasting the sickening reddish sky which hugged cragged mountain tops on horizons far out of reach. A small light emanated in the distance. Following his usual robotic routine, Kenneth stumbled towards it like a moth to the flame.
The wind ceased almost instantly as he grew nearer and its howling was replaced by an intimidating silent totality. There was no sound left whatsoever besides the first whisper. Loud and clear, as if right in his ear. Right on que. There was nothing he could do.
"To come or go after and take or bring back.
All the children, wrapped up in black.
Venture forth or turn around.
A soul once entered is already bound."
It was his voice. It made Kenneth want to wretch, to empty his nonexistent stomach, but such reliefs weren't present. Not permitted. Stripped from Kenneth like so many other things before, injustices of which he'd now face all over again. His horror was an internal one. The ability to react, dulled and blunted, as if tranced. His foreknowledge of the impending trauma rained a great heavy dread upon the sullen atmosphere of the nightmarish place. A literal rain. Slimy like oil. The air hung heavy, further slowing his movements. Kenneth struggled on regardless, shuffling towards the second glow amidst the growing fog. The second taunting installment retelling his miserable history.
The light blinked out, plunging the landscape into darkness once again. The sky's pale crimson glow only slightly revealed his surroundings, occasionally lit up with bolts of unseen violet lighting. Not that there was anything for Kenneth to see. Nothing to do but obey. Steve's voice throbbed in the void around him. A cruel mockery, cawed in a distorted imitation of the man who'd destroyed his life before it even had a chance to truly begin. The monster who snuffed his innocence out forever.
"All alone the lady waits,
Devoid of a father, whom they now both hate.
House is empty, home is cold.
A shallow dream, eagerly sold."
Visions of his mother tore at Kenneth and he did everything he could to resist, to stamp them down and lock them away. But the more he struggled, the harder it was to keep them at bay.
"A sweet relief, a sweet reprieve. A lovely replacement,
named Steve.
Steve is kind, Steve is nice.
Kenny's mother, in a vice."
Another clockwork recurrence chilled Kenneth as he felt the eyes. Turning to meet them, the wind returned; crashing against him and sending him tumbling to the coarse desert floor. The ashen texture coated everything, acrid and burning in his nostrils. Piercing debris like shattered glass clung and then fell back to their place among the filth as Kenneth strained to get back up. To his relief, Steve wasn't moving yet. Just… standing there. Right on the edge of his visibility. Waving…
He didn't act like the Steve that Kenneth had known in the waking world. The rhymes, that was nothing like him. But the way he… it, would deliver them… that was just Steve all over. That smug cadence, made manifest in a demon now all too real. It cocked its head as it brought its hand back down to its side before extending it outwards. A long bony finger beckoned to Kenneth.
"No…" he whimpered. Desperate to escape the inevitable. "Just… go away…"
"He takes you away to a different place.
Leaves an awful mess all over your face.
'Tell a soul, my little whore,
Then you will suffer.
Your mother, and more."
"Do you remember, Kenny?" It began to advance. An onyx phantom, silhouetted and drawing nearer. "Do you remember the toolshed?" A creature, becoming clearer.
A shrill cackling laughter filled the night air, which immediately became much darker. Thicker. Like being underwater. The monster broke from a shamble into a sprint and fight or flight sent Kenneth running too. The shock that had held him in place cleared fast with the adrenaline, spurring him to flee. To escape that terrible place, once and for all. He could hear its heavy, lumbering footfalls advancing close behind. A sharp pain shredded through him from his bloody soles to his pounding chest, close to bursting, when a cave presented itself in the distance. Small, but safe. A false safety.
A tiny candle flickered dimly in its narrow entryway and as it finally became within reach Kenneth thrust himself inside and awaited his imminent punishment with clenched fists, but his monstrous pursuer was gone. For now. Picking up the fragile light source and shielding it with his cupped hand, Kenneth began to go deeper. The passageway was thin, but there was nowhere to go except forward. There was a strange feeling emerging from inside, one long awaited.
"Of inky black and rotten sack, a filthy mongrel answers back.
Tell him quietly, watch him whimper. Tell him loudly, hear him holler.
The mother tries to help her son. Steve is angry, he says he'll maul her."
A flash of righteous anger bubbled in Kenneth as he felt the presence behind him. Once again eager to give chase.
"And I did maul 'er. Didn't I, boy?" Kenneth heard it scrape its claws on the cold stone wall. Screeching like nails on an old, long abandoned chalkboard. "It's your fault what happened to her."
Another hideous cackle, only this time stifled, Kenneth's response overcoming it in the constricting chasm.
"Fuck off, Steve! You fucking piece of shit!" He'd always wanted to say that, it spewed out all frothy and furious like he imagined it would. A thirst for retribution fuelled him, flowed all through and inspired a long dead hope within. A puncture in its invulnerability. "I'm not afraid of you anymore!"
Kenneth believed it. He knew it, and so did the monster.
"Through Muffled screams and burning holes,
Steve continues, ignoring 'no's'.
Searing flesh, the work is done.
'Uncle Steve', has had his fun."
The cave walls began to rumble, and through some invisible quaking force they splintered and cracked, flooding the dim tunnel in a sea of sparse debris. Two round searchlight-like eyes beamed at Kenneth through the dusty mist as it extinguished his little candle. Silence once again, punctuated only by shallow breath before being interrupted by a deep penetrating growl. The eyes closed, and in the darkness of the tunnel the two's chase ensued. The passage grew slimmer and skinnier with each step and eventually the slick thuds of pounding steps on wet stone were reduced to grunts and pained moans as Kenneth squeezed and crawled and shimmied through dank shafts and up and down stairs and across chambers full of black crystal formations. Impossibly black. Blacker than the remotest void of space. Darker than a sea of dead stars. The sight captivated Kenneth, tempting him to stop and fall into it forever. To give into it. But as he was right on the precipice of the endless cosmic lagoon, about to start tumbling, he heard it stirring behind. Snorting and laughing. Clicking and mumbling incomprehensibly. Scratching and scraping its thick filthy claws in an effort to regain control. To prove its ownership. Kenneth was done. He wasn't scared anymore, he repeated it in his head like a mantra. Giving everything to believe it.
"Amber leaves and dirty knees,
A wife held down, who hardly sees.
Always stoic, mummy's soldier.
No escape from your enclosure..."
Kenneth ducked back and slid into a large crack in the wall as the monster entered into the small crystal chamber, the exit now blocked with its menacing presence. Kenneth held his breath, clamping his hands down tightly over his trembling bottom lip.
"Trapped again, little Kenny,
No escape without a penny.
Tell aloud, try to run.
Watch her suffer.
It's never done."
Thick slopping drool seeped from its distended maw as it lurched past Kenny's hiding spot in the wall. Mere feet away from taking him, bringing him back. Pulling him under. It cooed for him. Humming a sweet song, one he barely remembered. It made him want to give in, for the last time. But he didn't, refusing to scream. Refusing to give it what it wanted.
After a while the creature began to double back, creeping towards the exit from whence it came. As its sweet serenade slowly disappeared, Kenneth climbed out and made a break for it, trudging through the darkness using his hands as eyes. No more song, no more Steve. Kenneth crawled through the mud, desperate to leave. The cold cave air was becoming hot, and as Kenneth traveled ever deeper the walls began to rot. Flesh came away with each frantic grasp, choking poor Kenneth and making him gasp. The musky dead passageway was emitting a horrid miasma. It burned and it stung, rekindling his asthma. But push onward he did, embracing his chance. Ready to face down the monster for one last dance.
"A comforting weapon,
The cold steel gun.
In your tiny palm it weighs a ton.
Grip it tighter, hide it good.
Kill Uncle Steve like a hero would."
Kenneth was in control, a rhyme of his own. Ready to kill. Not maim, but dethrone. Just as in childhood, he felt the gun's weight. Now all the more lighter, and though the darkness remained, it was as if it grew brighter, empowered by the knowledge that he now was a fighter. So he clambered on through the decaying dark tunnel. The tunnel, it seemed, leveled out like a funnel. In through the mouth and down the thin trail. Then into a slide where he slid like a snail. The final hill of a terrible ride, when Kenneth popped out he was no longer inside.
"Childish lies, naievity.
No heroes at all in your nativity.
A growing hope, finally time?
Not so fast, you'll always be mine."
Kenneth got up and looked all around. High above the sea, and yet feeling as if drowned. A precarious mountain top, just him and Steve. A long way down, He could tumble with ease. Kenneth raised the gun, a shake in his knees. About to end the fiend that haunted his dreams.
"Think you're ready?
Think you're strong?
Uncle Steve knows that you won't last for long!"
"Maybe not… but at least you'll be gone…"
Spark and tinder, the monster did splinter. Cast down below, into the cold winter. Kenneth rejoiced, the gun by his side. The ultimate tool that helped leave him behind. Finally free, he yelled and he screamed. Feeling released in the ultimate reprieve. But as his cries carried all through the scorched mountain tops, blood began pouring. The sky weeped like a fountain.
"A trembling hand,
Another chance.
Little Kenny,
is 'free' at last.
Lost his mother, got no friends.
Always alone, no matter the ends.
So know this, my tiny child.
I am undying, forever beguiled.
And you, sad pup, are forever defiled…
I'll always be there. I have the means.
There's no escape, while I lurk in your dreams."
The celebration ended with the stark revelation. The gun met his temple to defy the cantation. Steve's mocking screech, the final desecration. And with a loud bang, he was back in his bedroom…
"Fuck!" Kenneth sprang up and fell to the floor. His shallow breathing leveled out as the pill bottle's lid joined him. He'd been there before. "Not again…"
He choked down six, triple the dose… Now back in this life, that he hated the most.

Every night, against his will, Kenneth would relive every awful moment of it. Pulled back into his hellish youth through a dream. The same dream he found himself in once again. He was in a place now so familiar that he could actively acknowledge his unconscious state, but he could never wake up from it. Not until Steve had his fill. Not until he was satiated in his place from beyond the grave, firmly in charge of this horrific dominion within his victim's damaged psyche. It was an evil dreamland, somehow designed to re-inflict every harrowing humiliation and brutal torture experienced in the waking world. The disgusting past, revived.
Kenneth shivered as the cold wind battered against his scantily-clad body. The same as always, he was wearing his pajamas. Now far too small and disintegrating on his adult-sized frame, they tore and fell away as he walked, leaving him little more than torn rags for comfort against the elements. The harsh earth stung under his bare feet. Uniformly black, contrasting the sickening reddish sky which hugged cragged mountain tops on horizons far out of reach. A small light emanated in the distance. Following his usual robotic routine, Kenneth stumbled towards it like a moth to the flame.
The wind ceased almost instantly as he grew nearer and its howling was replaced by an intimidating silent totality. There was no sound left whatsoever besides the first whisper. Loud and clear, as if right in his ear. Right on que. There was nothing he could do.
"To come or go after and take or bring back.
All the children, wrapped up in black.
Venture forth or turn around.
A soul once entered is already bound."
It was his voice. It made Kenneth want to wretch, to empty his nonexistent stomach, but such reliefs weren't present. Not permitted. Stripped from Kenneth like so many other things before, injustices of which he'd now face all over again. His horror was an internal one. The ability to react, dulled and blunted, as if tranced. His foreknowledge of the impending trauma rained a great heavy dread upon the sullen atmosphere of the nightmarish place. A literal rain. Slimy like oil. The air hung heavy, further slowing his movements. Kenneth struggled on regardless, shuffling towards the second glow amidst the growing fog. The second taunting installment retelling his miserable history.
The light blinked out, plunging the landscape into darkness once again. The sky's pale crimson glow only slightly revealed his surroundings, occasionally lit up with bolts of unseen violet lighting. Not that there was anything for Kenneth to see. Nothing to do but obey. Steve's voice throbbed in the void around him. A cruel mockery, cawed in a distorted imitation of the man who'd destroyed his life before it even had a chance to truly begin. The monster who snuffed his innocence out forever.
"All alone the lady waits,
Devoid of a father, whom they now both hate.
House is empty, home is cold.
A shallow dream, eagerly sold."
Visions of his mother tore at Kenneth and he did everything he could to resist, to stamp them down and lock them away. But the more he struggled, the harder it was to keep them at bay.
"A sweet relief, a sweet reprieve. A lovely replacement,
named Steve.
Steve is kind, Steve is nice.
Kenny's mother, in a vice."
Another clockwork recurrence chilled Kenneth as he felt the eyes. Turning to meet them, the wind returned; crashing against him and sending him tumbling to the coarse desert floor. The ashen texture coated everything, acrid and burning in his nostrils. Piercing debris like shattered glass clung and then fell back to their place among the filth as Kenneth strained to get back up. To his relief, Steve wasn't moving yet. Just… standing there. Right on the edge of his visibility. Waving…
He didn't act like the Steve that Kenneth had known in the waking world. The rhymes, that was nothing like him. But the way he… it, would deliver them… that was just Steve all over. That smug cadence, made manifest in a demon now all too real. It cocked its head as it brought its hand back down to its side before extending it outwards. A long bony finger beckoned to Kenneth.
"No…" he whimpered. Desperate to escape the inevitable. "Just… go away…"
"He takes you away to a different place.
Leaves an awful mess all over your face.
'Tell a soul, my little whore,
Then you will suffer.
Your mother, and more."
"Do you remember, Kenny?" It began to advance. An onyx phantom, silhouetted and drawing nearer. "Do you remember the toolshed?" A creature, becoming clearer.
A shrill cackling laughter filled the night air, which immediately became much darker. Thicker. Like being underwater. The monster broke from a shamble into a sprint and fight or flight sent Kenneth running too. The shock that had held him in place cleared fast with the adrenaline, spurring him to flee. To escape that terrible place, once and for all. He could hear its heavy, lumbering footfalls advancing close behind. A sharp pain shredded through him from his bloody soles to his pounding chest, close to bursting, when a cave presented itself in the distance. Small, but safe. A false safety.
A tiny candle flickered dimly in its narrow entryway and as it finally became within reach Kenneth thrust himself inside and awaited his imminent punishment with clenched fists, but his monstrous pursuer was gone. For now. Picking up the fragile light source and shielding it with his cupped hand, Kenneth began to go deeper. The passageway was thin, but there was nowhere to go except forward. There was a strange feeling emerging from inside, one long awaited.
"Of inky black and rotten sack, a filthy mongrel answers back.
Tell him quietly, watch him whimper. Tell him loudly, hear him holler.
The mother tries to help her son. Steve is angry, he says he'll maul her."
A flash of righteous anger bubbled in Kenneth as he felt the presence behind him. Once again eager to give chase.
"And I did maul 'er. Didn't I, boy?" Kenneth heard it scrape its claws on the cold stone wall. Screeching like nails on an old, long abandoned chalkboard. "It's your fault what happened to her."
Another hideous cackle, only this time stifled, Kenneth's response overcoming it in the constricting chasm.
"Fuck off, Steve! You fucking piece of shit!" He'd always wanted to say that, it spewed out all frothy and furious like he imagined it would. A thirst for retribution fuelled him, flowed all through and inspired a long dead hope within. A puncture in its invulnerability. "I'm not afraid of you anymore!"
Kenneth believed it. He knew it, and so did the monster.
"Through Muffled screams and burning holes,
Steve continues, ignoring 'no's'.
Searing flesh, the work is done.
'Uncle Steve', has had his fun."
The cave walls began to rumble, and through some invisible quaking force they splintered and cracked, flooding the dim tunnel in a sea of sparse debris. Two round searchlight-like eyes beamed at Kenneth through the dusty mist as it extinguished his little candle. Silence once again, punctuated only by shallow breath before being interrupted by a deep penetrating growl. The eyes closed, and in the darkness of the tunnel the two's chase ensued. The passage grew slimmer and skinnier with each step and eventually the slick thuds of pounding steps on wet stone were reduced to grunts and pained moans as Kenneth squeezed and crawled and shimmied through dank shafts and up and down stairs and across chambers full of black crystal formations. Impossibly black. Blacker than the remotest void of space. Darker than a sea of dead stars. The sight captivated Kenneth, tempting him to stop and fall into it forever. To give into it. But as he was right on the precipice of the endless cosmic lagoon, about to start tumbling, he heard it stirring behind. Snorting and laughing. Clicking and mumbling incomprehensibly. Scratching and scraping its thick filthy claws in an effort to regain control. To prove its ownership. Kenneth was done. He wasn't scared anymore, he repeated it in his head like a mantra. Giving everything to believe it.
"Amber leaves and dirty knees,
A wife held down, who hardly sees.
Always stoic, mummy's soldier.
No escape from your enclosure..."
Kenneth ducked back and slid into a large crack in the wall as the monster entered into the small crystal chamber, the exit now blocked with its menacing presence. Kenneth held his breath, clamping his hands down tightly over his trembling bottom lip.
"Trapped again, little Kenny,
No escape without a penny.
Tell aloud, try to run.
Watch her suffer.
It's never done."
Thick slopping drool seeped from its distended maw as it lurched past Kenny's hiding spot in the wall. Mere feet away from taking him, bringing him back. Pulling him under. It cooed for him. Humming a sweet song, one he barely remembered. It made him want to give in, for the last time. But he didn't, refusing to scream. Refusing to give it what it wanted.
After a while the creature began to double back, creeping towards the exit from whence it came. As its sweet serenade slowly disappeared, Kenneth climbed out and made a break for it, trudging through the darkness using his hands as eyes. No more song, no more Steve. Kenneth crawled through the mud, desperate to leave. The cold cave air was becoming hot, and as Kenneth traveled ever deeper the walls began to rot. Flesh came away with each frantic grasp, choking poor Kenneth and making him gasp. The musky dead passageway was emitting a horrid miasma. It burned and it stung, rekindling his asthma. But push onward he did, embracing his chance. Ready to face down the monster for one last dance.
"A comforting weapon,
The cold steel gun.
In your tiny palm it weighs a ton.
Grip it tighter, hide it good.
Kill Uncle Steve like a hero would."
Kenneth was in control, a rhyme of his own. Ready to kill. Not maim, but dethrone. Just as in childhood, he felt the gun's weight. Now all the more lighter, and though the darkness remained, it was as if it grew brighter, empowered by the knowledge that he now was a fighter. So he clambered on through the decaying dark tunnel. The tunnel, it seemed, leveled out like a funnel. In through the mouth and down the thin trail. Then into a slide where he slid like a snail. The final hill of a terrible ride, when Kenneth popped out he was no longer inside.
"Childish lies, naievity.
No heroes at all in your nativity.
A growing hope, finally time?
Not so fast, you'll always be mine."
Kenneth got up and looked all around. High above the sea, and yet feeling as if drowned. A precarious mountain top, just him and Steve. A long way down, He could tumble with ease. Kenneth raised the gun, a shake in his knees. About to end the fiend that haunted his dreams.
"Think you're ready?
Think you're strong?
Uncle Steve knows that you won't last for long!"
"Maybe not… but at least you'll be gone…"
Spark and tinder, the monster did splinter. Cast down below, into the cold winter. Kenneth rejoiced, the gun by his side. The ultimate tool that helped leave him behind. Finally free, he yelled and he screamed. Feeling released in the ultimate reprieve. But as his cries carried all through the scorched mountain tops, blood began pouring. The sky weeped like a fountain.
"A trembling hand,
Another chance.
Little Kenny,
is 'free' at last.
Lost his mother, got no friends.
Always alone, no matter the ends.
So know this, my tiny child.
I am undying, forever beguiled.
And you, sad pup, are forever defiled…
I'll always be there. I have the means.
There's no escape, while I lurk in your dreams."
The celebration ended with the stark revelation. The gun met his temple to defy the cantation. Steve's mocking screech, the final desecration. And with a loud bang, he was back in his bedroom…
"Fuck!" Kenneth sprang up and fell to the floor. His shallow breathing leveled out as the pill bottle's lid joined him. He'd been there before. "Not again…"
He choked down six, triple the dose… Now back in this life, that he hated the most.

Obviously, spoilers on the entire game here. For context, I have been playing Zelda since 2014 with Twilight Princess as my first game. Since then I have played Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild, Link's Awakening, and I am about halfway through Ocarina of Time. Because of my obvious bias towards more traditional 3D Zelda games (I enjoyed Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess the most) I will try to be as impartial as possible.
I tried so hard to like this game. I had my doubts at the beginning, but after watching the new trailer it sold me on the game. I didn't like some aspects of Breath of the Wild, but after seeing the new enemies and hopefully a return to a more traditional zelda game that people missed while keeping the awesome open world of Breath of the Wild I really thought it was going to be great. And some parts of it were, but some parts of it I did not like.
Firstly, I would like to congratulate Nintendo because the physics relating to the Ultrahand mechanic blew everyone away, including me, and it is clear that Tears of the Kingdom has some of the best physics and building of any video game out there. The amount of creativity that has sprung from this game is mindblowing, and I don't think any of us expected for there to be simply so much to do. Not only are there almost 30 devices you can obtain each with their own unique purpose, you can also combine them with almost anything you can find in the game. Want to make a stupidly long bridge that can get you around the temple of time at the start of the game? Why not? Want to skip the main puzzle in the shrine by haphazardly building a flying machine that just barely makes it to the end? Go right ahead. Ultrahand allows for so much creativity and makes the new shrines ten times more enjoyable than the ones in Breath of the Wild. Because of this, there is an infinite amount of replayability in this game and the community will always be finding new things to do with this. Judging from how you all pushed Breath of the Wild to its limits, I can't wait to see what will be done in this game. Ultrahand gets a 20/10.
Additionally, Fuse and Recall are also insanely fun and useful abilities that add so much to the game. While I miss the Stasis rune in particular, Recall and Ultrahand can be used in a similar way if done correctly, and it's so much more satisfying when you do it correctly. While Recall doesn't have as many uses as Fuse and Ultrahand, the game still finds great ways to use it, such as sending a Stone Talus' boulders back at it, or knocking those horrible Horriblins down from the cave ceiling. Additionally, I am extremely happy with how Nintendo fixed Durability with the Fuse mechanic. While the durability annoyed me less than some of the others who played Breath of the Wild, my main complaint was wasting several of my good weapons on an enemy like a Silver Bokoblin or Lynel that had a huge healthbar, and only getting one (or sometimes none) good weapons in return. However, with the guarantee that you will usually be able to get an equally powerful or sometimes even better weapon after killing an enemy by fusing their horns to any random "sturdy stick", I don't hesitate to fight Silver enemies or Lynels anymore and I feel much more free to do so. Both of these abilites get a 10/10.
My third compliment goes to the game's shrines. I disliked Breath of the Wild's shrines. I found them tedious and annoying to do, and often skipped them or looked up the answers online. Especially when your only reward was a piece of heart or tiny fraction of a stamina wheel, I just clicked on them to save them as a travel checkpoint and moved on. Even their design was ugly to me. However, the new shrines are much better. While they are easier than Breath of the Wild's shrines, the rewards are a little less lucrative to balance it out and they are so much more fun to do because of how they creatively use the new abilites and allow for a multitude of different ways to solve problems. Many people do not like the "Proving Grounds" shrines, but I absolutely love them because they are a real challenge and I don't have to worry about losing 50 bomb arrows or several good weapons for a "Guardian Sword ++" and some ancient screws. Even if I die five times trying to complete them, I still have fun. And aesthetically they are so much better, the look of the temple, the texture of the lights of blessing, even the music feels a lot less claustrophobic and drab like the ones in Breath of the Wild did. 9/10.
Fourthly, the Great Sky Island was absolutely amazing and I loved every second of it. It felt just like it did when I played Breath of the Wild for the first time, being plunged into an unknown and untouched environment and having to learn the mechanics of this new game. The Zonai Constructs don't carry the same fear level as Guardians did, but they were still cool enemies to fight with drops that were actually helpful unlike the Ancient Screws and Springs which only became helpful late-game. I obviously can't go through every part of the island, but the parts I enjoyed the best were crossing the huge lake to the west, climbing the snowy mountain to get to a shrine where I unsuccessfully attempted to craft a hovercraft out of logs, going on Minecarts around the island, and fusing random crap to sticks to make the most ridiculous weapons possible. 9/10.
My last compliment goes to the introduction of Gloom into the game. When it is first introduced, the Gloom is absolutely frightening, and plunging into the depths for the first time was beyond scary. Malice was an annoying obstacle that you just jumped across until you got to where you needed to be and ate a few foods, but you are forced to avoid the Gloom in this game because you know that it will be catastrophic if you walk in it for too long because the only cure is an extremely rare flower that can only be found in the sky. I just wish that the lightroots either weren't so common, or didn't heal your healthbar, because it kind of subtracted the fear aspect a little bit. The way it actually destroyed your heart containers in the final battle against Ganondorf instead of rendering them unusable for a little while was another surprise I did not expect, and killing the Demon Dragon with a single heart was the best moment of the game for me. 8/10.
Some other minor things I liked:
• Gleeoks are amazing bosses, better than any of the bosses in Breath of the Wild OR Tears of the Kingdom apart from the Ganondorf fight, easy 10/10
• While the Wind Temple wasn't my favorite, I did enjoy the Rito Village quest in the beginning and the leadup to the Wind Temple where you flew with Tulin to the very top. 9/10.
• Pizza?! I loved the introduction of Tomatoes and Cheese into the game! Shame you couldn't do more with them. 7/10.
• The Master Kohga battles were very good. While he was still easy to kill once he was stunned, it is another instance of Ultrahand and Link's other new abilities putting a creative and spicy twist on an old fight. Autobuild was also a lifesaver. 9/10.
• The second stage of the Ganondorf bossfight was probably the most fun I've had with a boss since Twilight Princess. It felt actually challenging in a way that could only be compared to the Gleeok Battles. It was so hard to even get a single hit into his massive healthbar when he could dodge more than 90% of your shots and destroy your health bar. Probably shouldn't have gone in without upgrading any of my armor but doing that was so tedious :p 20/10.
Now that I've talked about what was great about Tears of the Kingdom, here is the stuff I disliked about the game. While I think that the people who call this game an "overpriced DLC" are not arguing in good faith, I can see their point. Much of Breath of the Wild's structure was carried over into Tears of the Kingdom and it felt like I was redoing the same things I did in the old game, just with a new texture and a slightly different story.
Because of how insanely complicated it must have been to put Ultrahand in the game, it was clear that that was what Nintendo spent most of their time on when making Tears of the Kingdom, going for a more creative approach rather than a return to the traditional like I had hoped. And while this was a perfectly valid thing to do that clearly made a lot of people happy, it just wasn't what I wanted, and the final trailers for the game feel like they were marketing a different game than they were actually selling. When they went above and beyond with Link's new abilities, it left other aspects of the game such as combat, story, gameplay, and the structure of the game itself lacking and awfully familiar, if not the same, as Breath of the Wild.
Now that I've talked about what was great about Tears of the Kingdom, here is the stuff I disliked about the game. While I think that the people who call this game an "overpriced DLC" are not arguing in good faith, I can see their point. Much of Breath of the Wild's structure was carried over into Tears of the Kingdom and it felt like I was redoing the same things I did in the old game, just with a new texture and a slightly different story.
Because of how insanely complicated it must have been to put Ultrahand in the game, it was clear that that was what Nintendo spent most of their time on when making Tears of the Kingdom, going for a more creative approach rather than a return to the traditional like I had hoped. And while this was a perfectly valid thing to do that clearly made a lot of people happy, it just wasn't what I wanted, and the final trailers for the game feel like they were marketing a different game than they were actually selling. When they went above and beyond with Link's new abilities, it left other aspects of the game such as combat, story, gameplay, and the structure of the game itself lacking and awfully familiar, if not the same, as Breath of the Wild.
My biggest issue with this game is the story. I disliked almost every part of it. We start out with a very solid intro scene where we meet shriveled Ganondorf and Zelda disappears. Then we see her disappear as she steals our half of a master sword at the end of the Great Sky Island. However, the game then leads us into a wild goose chase to find Zelda for almost the entire game until near the end when we go inside Hyrule Castle. This was fine in Skyward Sword because Zelda was much more likable and it only took up half of the game. I felt like "I have to save Zelda. I have to." in SS and in Tears of the Kingdom I was like "Let's just get this over already." Additionally, the Upheaval which is apparently the placeholder of the Calamity in BOTW just feels like not a threat at all. The castle rose into the air and a few meteors came down and crashed into Kakariko village. The mud in the water doesn't seem to be affecting the Zora much at all, the Gerudo seem relatively unharmed by the Gibdos, only retreating into an underground bunker, and we have almost no time to see how the rock roast affects the Gorons before Yunobo is saved. The only place where I felt any sense of urgency was in Rito Village where the town was starving and abandoned the children to their fate because they're the worst parents ever or something. I enjoyed saving Rito village. The others not so much. And let's not even talk about the Sages. 3/4 of them we had already interacted with heavily in the previous games, which was another reason I liked the Rito quest so much. Yunobo is still as weak and annoying as ever, nothing has changed with Riju, and Sidon is so boring and lifeless comparing to the other game. As we go into the dungeons we have four conversations that are, quite literally, copy and pasted into each one voiced by the blandest sages ever.
"Come, Come" (Random Sage)
"Did you hear that voice?" (Yunobo, Sidon, Riju, Tulin)
and when we get to the end of the dungeon
"X, I am your ancestor from a long time ago. I was the sage of x. Descendant you make me proud. The monster you killed tried to stop you from obtaining my secret stone. Once upon a time there was a great war where the Demon King tried to kill us and Rauru gave us all secret stones but he was too strong so Rauru sacrificed himself to seal him away. And then Zelda appeared to me and told me that it was the duty of the x to aid you Link."
"So it's my duty to... help you? Now take my scary ghost form with a useless ability (besides tulin) to follow you around the rest of your journey!"
These cutscenes weren't disappointing. I hated them. As a person who loves the story so much they never skip a single cutscene these I physically couldn't watch. Everything about them was awful. The completely dry, lifeless, unneccesary sages which don't even have a name or a face and talk like NPCs or someone from an awful anime episode and say the exact same thing four times over, the empty void we are surrounded in, the cutscene we have to watch four times over, the robotic responses that come from the sages, everything about it was horrible and it feels like Nintendo was trying to reinsert the champions in the game but these are such a worse downgrade from them. At the end of the game I was like "ok... I give this a 7/10" and then the horrible after-credits scene with the four sages came in where they repeated the robotic speech from one of the memories and if that was supposed to be a meaningful scene it certainly was not.
Zelda's sacrifice probably would have meant so much more to me if the rest of the story hadn't frustrated me so much. But it feels like it meant nothing since the Demon King is such a non-threat compared to Calamity Ganon. Calamity Ganon devastated Hyrule, destroying most of the villages and probably killing half of the people there, and murdering 4 of the best characters in Zelda history who meant so much to their people that statues were built for them. In comparison, Ganondorf levitated a castle in the air and added some poo to Zora's domain. It ruins Zelda's moment so much because it would have been so beautiful if it felt like she was sacrificing herself for something meaningful. It frustrates me to no end because Ganondorf was a villain I was so hyped about and he's shriveled about 90% of the game and only appears three times, once in the beginning, once as a vision in Hyrule Castle, and once at the end, and only one of them is fully revived Ganondorf. In fact, we only see this version of Ganondorf for a third of the final bossfight. We need more Ganondorf! At least add a sixth dungeon to the game below Hyrule Castle where Ganondorf appears after, or maybe he appears before we get the Master Sword. We just needed more of Ganondorf and more of him being a threat to Hyrule.
Another complaint are the sages. I already stated that three out of the four sages had already been fleshed out in a previous game and not much was added to their personalities this time around. Why couldn't we have gotten new people? Maybe make Muzu a sage, we always like having an old man around, or give Barta/Bullaria some importance for the Gerudo and hand over the torch to one of those young Gorons that always follow Yunobo around. It would have been so much fun to have new characters. The sages add absolutely nothing to the experience of this game besides showing up in the awful cutscenes and it just feels like they're trying to repeat what they had in the last game. If they're going to do that, at least do it with someone new so it doesn't feel like I have to replay the game again. We already helped these people with their character growth in the last game. We know that Riju is insecure about her place as the Gerudo chief, and we helped her be more respected after retriveing the Thunder Helm and calming Naboris. We know that Sidon feels a sense of duty to his domain after what happened to his sister, and we spend time with him getting shock arrows, obtaining the Zora armor, and travelling around Lanayru with him until we got to Zora's domain. We helped Yunobo gain his confidence after he accompained us by firing himself at Rudania. These characters went through almost no development except for Tulin (again showing what Nintendo did right with Rito Village) because he's a new character.
Finally, the memories. Why did there have to be memories again. It would have been such an easy shift from Breath of the Wild, to give us a new main quest. While I was not a big fan of the time travel arc that Zelda went through, it was still workable, but there was no reason to have these stupid memories again. We saw so much of past Ganon and so little of present Ganon. I don't care what happened to the Goat Man and how the Kingdom of Hyrule was formed. Half of those memories were not essential to the plot and were just filler content. In particular, the one with Mineru just spoils Zelda's sacrifice altogether. Mineru as a whole just feels like such an annoying character and I would have much rathered a sheikah sage or even a korok.
While I criticize much of this game for remaining the same as BOTW, the story was one of the only aspects where it was a clear downgrade. So much of what was shown in the trailers hyped this game to be an impactful, story-filled game and many of these scenes are from memories, which I absolutely hate, and one of the scenes with Ganondorf wasn't even in the actual game, just a scene melded together from a memory and the speech at the end!
And why on earth did they call them secret stones. It was so cringe. It felt like something I would hear from a ten year old's cartoon show and I don't know why they insisted calling them that when we have a much better name for them that is in the TITLE OF THE GAME.
All in all, the story gets a 2/10.
Another issue I have with this game is Ascend and how it affects our experience in the dungeons. I liked the Lightning Temple, the Fire Temple and Wind Temple were okay, and the Water Temple was just plain awful. I saw a post about someone complaining about the puzzles in TOTK being too hard and I saw someone respond "If they think these puzzles are hard, I can't imagine them playing Twilight Princess." And I wholeheartedly believe that. While I'm not trying to make this review a comparison to Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, games which are completely different from this one, the puzzles in this game were either super easy or required us to do something that no one would have thought of. I was stuck in the Lightning Temple on two different points, one where the mirrors seemed to reflect to nothing in particular (what you had to do was grab a spare mirror from another room and fuse it to the statue so that it would face the right way which was a random solution that I didn't expect but I actually enjoyed) and another where I had no idea how to get to the last terminal and I looked around for 20 minutes until I looked it up online and found that I ascended into a place I wasn't supposed to and I actually had to teleport out of the temple to a nearby shrine, travel back to the temple on foot, go through another entrance I hadn't gone through, go through a really long tunnel to get to the terminal I should have gone to first. In a game which prioritizes open world exploration and being able to do anything you wanted, this haphazard "linearity" inside the lightning temple really ruined the experience of a dungeon I otherwise enjoyed. Which leads me to my point on Ascend. While Recall, Fuse, and Ultrahand add to this game in so many amazing and dynamic ways, Ascend just feels like something they added because they needed a fourth ability and a way to get out of caves. It allows so many dungeons to be cheesed and using it in the Lightning Temple made the experience so much more complicated than it needed to be. Apart from caves, every other place where you needed to use ascend could have been done with Revali's gale (rest in peace) or a bonfire + hylian pine cone, or any of the other devices that came with ultrahand.
The uses made for it in the Great Sky Island and in other places felt forced and the developers could have easily come up with another creative way to do this without ascend. I just wish that Ascend and Autobuild were disabled inside temples because it would have made things so much better. The companions also make the temples much more annoying because half the time all you're doing is waiting for Riju or Sidon to stop standing in a random corner and walk up to you. Especially in the Water Temple where your ability was on a time limit, this was especially annoying. The Water and Wind Temples felt like big sky islands and not dungeons. The Snowpeak Ruins in Twilight Princess and the Sandship in Skyward Sword are both excellent examples about how to turn something unconventional into an excellent dungeon, but these temples fail in so many ways. Not only is it so easy to get around the entire dungeon with a paraglider and Tulin that makes it possible to complete the dungeon in under 30 minutes on your first playthrough, the puzzles were so easy and the Wind Temple's boss in particular was so easy to kill despite it looking so fearsome. The Mud Octorok was actually a great boss that I have no complaints about, but the rest of the temple was really awful, with most of the puzzles simply being chalked up to "redirect this floating water bubble somewhere else so you can get to a terminal." The terminal thing returning was also something that was a huge letdown. There was no reason to continue it from Breath of the Wild, especially when the Divine Beast dungeons were such a huge complaint, when they could have added a system of small keys, miniboss, maybe even a new ultrahand ability similar to the ones we got from the sages to replace having a companion with you that you would be able to use across the dungeon. This would have turned the Lightning Temple from a 7/10 dungeon to an easy 9/10 or even 10/10 and would have improved my outlook on the other dungeons a lot more, particularly the fire temple, which was so great aesthetically but the gameplay and puzzles simply were not. While I liked the Lightning Temple and to a lesser extent the Fire Temple and the bossfights were much better, I found myself enjoying the Divine Beasts more than the Wind and Water Temples, and many of the bosses were such pushovers. The dungeons in this game get a 4/10.
I have a number of other smaller complaints. First is that I really wished there were more food and armor options. A return to the "meat skewers" and "fried wild greens" let me down a bit as I was hoping for more variance on food, especially after they added new items like stambulbs and tomatoes that I thought would replace the existing items. I mean, we had a whole sidequest dedicated to discovering Cheese and there's only three recipes for it! (as far as I know) Additionally, I wouldn't have been upset if they gave us the same effects for armor as before, just with a new name and texture. Like maybe they could have slightly updated the look of the Hylian set like they did with the Champion's tunic, or we could have the full Sheikah uniform instead of the Stealth armor, or a Lightning Helmet that actually looked different instead of one that reused the exact same texture as the thunder helm. New monsters such as Horriblins, Aerocudas, and Boss Bokoblins added some great new fights to the game, and I wouldn't have even cared if they reused the same enemies, but the way they attack is the exact same as in Breath of the Wild, which left the combat a little predictable and I was able to kill a Gloom Lynel first try. The only battles that really challenged me were against the Gleeoks, one of the best bosses in all of Zelda history.
My last issue with this game is that I really don't understand what vibe they were going for. Majora's Mask was twisted and disturbing. Twilight Princess was dark and gloomy. Skyward Sword was bright and hopeful. Breath of the Wild was free and really emphasized nature. But with Tears of the Kingdom, they really seem to be doing five things at once and accomplishing none of them. They try to put an emphasis on the creative aspect by adding things like Zonai Tech to the beginning and adding new technologies like the batteries, factories, skyview towers, and other. Then they also try to make this game dark and scary by introducing some horrifying things like chasms, gloom hands, and underground areas. They made the game seem bright and sunny like Skyward Sword in the beginning with the Great Sky Island and the bright yellow color palette. Then they also try to keep the open-world aspect of Breath of the Wild by keeping this massive open world, but with nothing to do inside it since we've already seen most of the stuff in this game's nature areas apart from the new caves. I don't understand what the developers were trying to make this game feel like, and it feels like they tried to do too many things at once and failed to flesh out all of them. I would have loved to see a restored Hyrule that we could explore and I would have also loved to have a nature-filled world like in BOTW with new plants, foods, caves, animals, and areas to explore, but the Hyrule in TOTK seems like a haphazard mixture of both.
There's no incentive to explore this time around with only 3-4 new plants and animals in the overworld and only a few caves that only have Brightbloom seeds, bomb flowers, and bubblefrogs. I love the caves, but they seem a bit same-y over time and I have no intention to find them all. I can't even ride around Hyrule on a horse like in BOTW or in a car like the developers seem to want us to do because I run into those stupid Zonai rocks that are littered around every 5 seconds for no particular reason. All they do is make transportation annoying and I wonder why they went through the effort to put all of the sky island materials on the overworld by these ugly rocks instead of actually having more sky islands like we wanted. The Great Sky Island was undoubtedly the most solid part of Tears of the Kingdom's Hyrule, so why did they deincentivise sky exploration by having most of the sky materials on these fallen rocks?
All in all, Nintendo outdid themselves with the coding in this game, especially putting a massive title like this on the six-year-old Nintendo Switch. However, it was clear that they spent most of their time coding in these new mechanics and the writers clearly phoned in this time around with the worst story and dialogue I have seen in any Zelda game so far. Maybe putting in a completely new game on Breath of the Wild's massive world was too much to ask, but so much of Tears of the Kingdom either directly copies Breath of the Wild (four dungeons in the exact same lands, the exact same food, combat, armor, and people) or takes the same structure and retextures it (four terminals in a dungeon, memories, shrines, a quest to rebuild a village from scratch, "champions" that pass on their abilities to their successors, and those cursed Korok seeds) that I really found no reason to play this game after 100 hours because there was nothing new left to do besides a multitude of side quests that I didn't feel like doing because I had no attachment to this Hyrule like I did in Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, Link's Awakening, and Breath of the Wild. Maybe I would have liked it more if I was a new player and hadn't played BOTW before, but the amount of content that was unnecessarily copied from the last game into this one really ruined the experience for me. All in all, this Zelda is a C+ for me, a 6.5/10. While it was more fun than the linear and small world of Link's Awakening, it couldn't compare with the story aspect of Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword or the feel of Breath of the Wild.
TLDR: While Nintendo went above and beyond with the new Ultrahand, Fuse, and Recall mechanics, it ultimately wasn't enough for me to save a game that had an extremely lacking story, underwhelming content and dungeons, and a multitude of side quests that was basically repeating everything you had done in 2017. If you're going to argue with me in the comments, please actually read the whole thing first.

Obviously, spoilers on the entire game here. For context, I have been playing Zelda since 2014 with Twilight Princess as my first game. Since then I have played Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild, Link's Awakening, and I am about halfway through Ocarina of Time. Because of my obvious bias towards more traditional 3D Zelda games (I enjoyed Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess the most) I will try to be as impartial as possible.
I tried so hard to like this game. I had my doubts at the beginning, but after watching the new trailer it sold me on the game. I didn't like some aspects of Breath of the Wild, but after seeing the new enemies and hopefully a return to a more traditional zelda game that people missed while keeping the awesome open world of Breath of the Wild I really thought it was going to be great. And some parts of it were, but some parts of it I did not like.
Firstly, I would like to congratulate Nintendo because the physics relating to the Ultrahand mechanic blew everyone away, including me, and it is clear that Tears of the Kingdom has some of the best physics and building of any video game out there. The amount of creativity that has sprung from this game is mindblowing, and I don't think any of us expected for there to be simply so much to do. Not only are there almost 30 devices you can obtain each with their own unique purpose, you can also combine them with almost anything you can find in the game. Want to make a stupidly long bridge that can get you around the temple of time at the start of the game? Why not? Want to skip the main puzzle in the shrine by haphazardly building a flying machine that just barely makes it to the end? Go right ahead. Ultrahand allows for so much creativity and makes the new shrines ten times more enjoyable than the ones in Breath of the Wild. Because of this, there is an infinite amount of replayability in this game and the community will always be finding new things to do with this. Judging from how you all pushed Breath of the Wild to its limits, I can't wait to see what will be done in this game. Ultrahand gets a 20/10.
Additionally, Fuse and Recall are also insanely fun and useful abilities that add so much to the game. While I miss the Stasis rune in particular, Recall and Ultrahand can be used in a similar way if done correctly, and it's so much more satisfying when you do it correctly. While Recall doesn't have as many uses as Fuse and Ultrahand, the game still finds great ways to use it, such as sending a Stone Talus' boulders back at it, or knocking those horrible Horriblins down from the cave ceiling. Additionally, I am extremely happy with how Nintendo fixed Durability with the Fuse mechanic. While the durability annoyed me less than some of the others who played Breath of the Wild, my main complaint was wasting several of my good weapons on an enemy like a Silver Bokoblin or Lynel that had a huge healthbar, and only getting one (or sometimes none) good weapons in return. However, with the guarantee that you will usually be able to get an equally powerful or sometimes even better weapon after killing an enemy by fusing their horns to any random "sturdy stick", I don't hesitate to fight Silver enemies or Lynels anymore and I feel much more free to do so. Both of these abilites get a 10/10.
My third compliment goes to the game's shrines. I disliked Breath of the Wild's shrines. I found them tedious and annoying to do, and often skipped them or looked up the answers online. Especially when your only reward was a piece of heart or tiny fraction of a stamina wheel, I just clicked on them to save them as a travel checkpoint and moved on. Even their design was ugly to me. However, the new shrines are much better. While they are easier than Breath of the Wild's shrines, the rewards are a little less lucrative to balance it out and they are so much more fun to do because of how they creatively use the new abilites and allow for a multitude of different ways to solve problems. Many people do not like the "Proving Grounds" shrines, but I absolutely love them because they are a real challenge and I don't have to worry about losing 50 bomb arrows or several good weapons for a "Guardian Sword ++" and some ancient screws. Even if I die five times trying to complete them, I still have fun. And aesthetically they are so much better, the look of the temple, the texture of the lights of blessing, even the music feels a lot less claustrophobic and drab like the ones in Breath of the Wild did.
Fourthly, the Great Sky Island was absolutely amazing and I loved every second of it. It felt just like it did when I played Breath of the Wild for the first time, being plunged into an unknown and untouched environment and having to learn the mechanics of this new game. The Zonai Constructs don't carry the same fear level as Guardians did, but they were still cool enemies to fight with drops that were actually helpful unlike the Ancient Screws and Springs which only became helpful late-game. I obviously can't go through every part of the island, but the parts I enjoyed the best were crossing the huge lake to the west, climbing the snowy mountain to get to a shrine where I unsuccessfully attempted to craft a hovercraft out of logs, going on Minecarts around the island, and fusing random crap to sticks to make the most ridiculous weapons possible.
My last compliment goes to the introduction of Gloom into the game. When it is first introduced, the Gloom is absolutely frightening, and plunging into the depths for the first time was beyond scary. Malice was an annoying obstacle that you just jumped across until you got to where you needed to be and ate a few foods, but you are forced to avoid the Gloom in this game because you know that it will be catastrophic if you walk in it for too long because the only cure is an extremely rare flower that can only be found in the sky. I just wish that the lightroots either weren't so common, or didn't heal your healthbar, because it kind of subtracted the fear aspect a little bit. The way it actually destroyed your heart containers in the final battle against Ganondorf instead of rendering them unusable for a little while was another surprise I did not expect, and killing the Demon Dragon with a single heart was the best moment of the game for me.
Some other minor things I liked:

• Gleeoks are amazing bosses, better than any of the bosses in Breath of the Wild OR Tears of the Kingdom apart from the Ganondorf fight, easy 10/10
• While the Wind Temple wasn't my favorite, I did enjoy the Rito Village quest in the beginning and the leadup to the Wind Temple where you flew with Tulin to the very top. 9/10.
• Pizza?! I loved the introduction of Tomatoes and Cheese into the game! Shame you couldn't do more with them. 7/10.
• The Master Kohga battles were very good. While he was still easy to kill once he was stunned, it is another instance of Ultrahand and Link's other new abilities putting a creative and spicy twist on an old fight. Autobuild was also a lifesaver. 9/10.
• The second stage of the Ganondorf bossfight was probably the most fun I've had with a boss since Twilight Princess. It felt actually challenging in a way that could only be compared to the Gleeok Battles. It was so hard to even get a single hit into his massive healthbar when he could dodge more than 90% of your shots and destroy your health bar. Probably shouldn't have gone in without upgrading any of my armor but doing that was so tedious :p 20/10.

Now that I've talked about what was great about Tears of the Kingdom, here is the stuff I disliked about the game. While I think that the people who call this game an "overpriced DLC" are not arguing in good faith, I can see their point. Much of Breath of the Wild's structure was carried over into Tears of the Kingdom and it felt like I was redoing the same things I did in the old game, just with a new texture and a slightly different story.
Because of how insanely complicated it must have been to put Ultrahand in the game, it was clear that that was what Nintendo spent most of their time on when making Tears of the Kingdom, going for a more creative approach rather than a return to the traditional like I had hoped. And while this was a perfectly valid thing to do that clearly made a lot of people happy, it just wasn't what I wanted, and the final trailers for the game feel like they were marketing a different game than they were actually selling. When they went above and beyond with Link's new abilities, it left other aspects of the game such as combat, story, gameplay, and the structure of the game itself lacking and awfully familiar, if not the same, as Breath of the Wild.
My biggest issue with this game is the story. I disliked almost every part of it. We start out with a very solid intro scene where we meet shriveled Ganondorf and Zelda disappears. Then we see her disappear as she steals our half of a master sword at the end of the Great Sky Island. However, the game then leads us into a wild goose chase to find Zelda for almost the entire game until near the end when we go inside Hyrule Castle. This was fine in Skyward Sword because Zelda was much more likable and it only took up half of the game. I felt like "I have to save Zelda. I have to." in SS and in Tears of the Kingdom I was like "Let's just get this over already." Additionally, the Upheaval which is apparently the placeholder of the Calamity in BOTW just feels like not a threat at all. The castle rose into the air and a few meteors came down and crashed into Kakariko village. The mud in the water doesn't seem to be affecting the Zora much at all, the Gerudo seem relatively unharmed by the Gibdos, only retreating into an underground bunker, and we have almost no time to see how the rock roast affects the Gorons before Yunobo is saved. The only place where I felt any sense of urgency was in Rito Village where the town was starving and abandoned the children to their fate because they're the worst parents ever or something. I enjoyed saving Rito village. The others not so much. And let's not even talk about the Sages. 3/4 of them we had already interacted with heavily in the previous games, which was another reason I liked the Rito quest so much. Yunobo is still as weak and annoying as ever, nothing has changed with Riju, and Sidon is so boring and lifeless comparing to the other game. As we go into the dungeons we have four conversations that are, quite literally, copy and pasted into each one voiced by the blandest sages ever.
"Come, Come" (Random Sage)
"Did you hear that voice?" (Yunobo, Sidon, Riju, Tulin)
and when we get to the end of the dungeon
"X, I am your ancestor from a long time ago. I was the sage of x. Descendant you make me proud. The monster you killed tried to stop you from obtaining my secret stone. Once upon a time there was a great war where the Demon King tried to kill us and Rauru gave us all secret stones but he was too strong so Rauru sacrificed himself to seal him away. And then Zelda appeared to me and told me that it was the duty of the x to aid you Link."
"So it's my duty to... help you? Now take my scary ghost form with a useless ability (besides tulin) to follow you around the rest of your journey!"
These cutscenes weren't disappointing. I hated them. As a person who loves the story so much they never skip a single cutscene these I physically couldn't watch. Everything about them was awful. The completely dry, lifeless, unneccesary sages which don't even have a name or a face and talk like NPCs or someone from an awful anime episode and say the exact same thing four times over, the empty void we are surrounded in, the cutscene we have to watch four times over, the robotic responses that come from the sages, everything about it was horrible and it feels like Nintendo was trying to reinsert the champions in the game but these are such a worse downgrade from them. At the end of the game I was like "ok... I give this a 7/10" and then the horrible after-credits scene with the four sages came in where they repeated the robotic speech from one of the memories and if that was supposed to be a meaningful scene it certainly was not.
Zelda's sacrifice probably would have meant so much more to me if the rest of the story hadn't frustrated me so much. But it feels like it meant nothing since the Demon King is such a non-threat compared to Calamity Ganon. Calamity Ganon devastated Hyrule, destroying most of the villages and probably killing half of the people there, and murdering 4 of the best characters in Zelda history who meant so much to their people that statues were built for them. In comparison, Ganondorf levitated a castle in the air and added some poo to Zora's domain. It ruins Zelda's moment so much because it would have been so beautiful if it felt like she was sacrificing herself for something meaningful. It frustrates me to no end because Ganondorf was a villain I was so hyped about and he's shriveled about 90% of the game and only appears three times, once in the beginning, once as a vision in Hyrule Castle, and once at the end, and only one of them is fully revived Ganondorf. In fact, we only see this version of Ganondorf for a third of the final bossfight. We need more Ganondorf! At least add a sixth dungeon to the game below Hyrule Castle where Ganondorf appears after, or maybe he appears before we get the Master Sword. We just needed more of Ganondorf and more of him being a threat to Hyrule.
Another complaint are the sages. I already stated that three out of the four sages had already been fleshed out in a previous game and not much was added to their personalities this time around. Why couldn't we have gotten new people? Maybe make Muzu a sage, we always like having an old man around, or give Barta/Bullaria some importance for the Gerudo and hand over the torch to one of those young Gorons that always follow Yunobo around. It would have been so much fun to have new characters. The sages add absolutely nothing to the experience of this game besides showing up in the awful cutscenes and it just feels like they're trying to repeat what they had in the last game. If they're going to do that, at least do it with someone new so it doesn't feel like I have to replay the game again. We already helped these people with their character growth in the last game. We know that Riju is insecure about her place as the Gerudo chief, and we helped her be more respected after retriveing the Thunder Helm and calming Naboris. We know that Sidon feels a sense of duty to his domain after what happened to his sister, and we spend time with him getting shock arrows, obtaining the Zora armor, and travelling around Lanayru with him until we got to Zora's domain. We helped Yunobo gain his confidence after he accompained us by firing himself at Rudania. These characters went through almost no development except for Tulin (again showing what Nintendo did right with Rito Village) because he's a new character.
Finally, the memories. Why did there have to be memories again. It would have been such an easy shift from Breath of the Wild, to give us a new main quest. While I was not a big fan of the time travel arc that Zelda went through, it was still workable, but there was no reason to have these stupid memories again. We saw so much of past Ganon and so little of present Ganon. I don't care what happened to the Goat Man and how the Kingdom of Hyrule was formed. Half of those memories were not essential to the plot and were just filler content. In particular, the one with Mineru just spoils Zelda's sacrifice altogether. Mineru as a whole just feels like such an annoying character and I would have much rathered a sheikah sage or even a korok.
While I criticize much of this game for remaining the same as BOTW, the story was one of the only aspects where it was a clear downgrade. So much of what was shown in the trailers hyped this game to be an impactful, story-filled game and many of these scenes are from memories, which I absolutely hate, and one of the scenes with Ganondorf wasn't even in the actual game, just a scene melded together from a memory and the speech at the end!
Another issue I have with this game is Ascend and how it affects our experience in the dungeons. I liked the Lightning Temple, the Fire Temple and Wind Temple were okay, and the Water Temple was just plain awful. I saw a post about someone complaining about the puzzles in TOTK being too hard and I saw someone respond "If they think these puzzles are hard, I can't imagine them playing Twilight Princess." And I wholeheartedly believe that. While I'm not trying to make this review a comparison to Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, games which are completely different from this one, the puzzles in this game were either super easy or required us to do something that no one would have thought of. I was stuck in the Lightning Temple on two different points, one where the mirrors seemed to reflect to nothing in particular (what you had to do was grab a spare mirror from another room and fuse it to the statue so that it would face the right way which was a random solution that I didn't expect but I actually enjoyed) and another where I had no idea how to get to the last terminal and I looked around for 20 minutes until I looked it up online and found that I ascended into a place I wasn't supposed to and I actually had to teleport out of the temple to a nearby shrine, travel back to the temple on foot, go through another entrance I hadn't gone through, go through a really long tunnel to get to the terminal I should have gone to first. In a game which prioritizes open world exploration and being able to do anything you wanted, this haphazard "linearity" inside the lightning temple really ruined the experience of a dungeon I otherwise enjoyed. Which leads me to my point on Ascend. While Recall, Fuse, and Ultrahand add to this game in so many amazing and dynamic ways, Ascend just feels like something they added because they needed a fourth ability and a way to get out of caves. It allows so many dungeons to be cheesed and using it in the Lightning Temple made the experience so much more complicated than it needed to be. Apart from caves, every other place where you needed to use ascend could have been done with Revali's gale (rest in peace) or a bonfire + hylian pine cone, or any of the other devices that came with ultrahand. The uses made for it in the Great Sky Island and in other places felt forced and the developers could have easily come up with another creative way to do this without ascend. I just wish that Ascend and Autobuild were disabled inside temples because it would have made things so much better. The companions also make the temples much more annoying because half the time all you're doing is waiting for Riju or Sidon to stop standing in a random corner and walk up to you. Especially in the Water Temple where your ability was on a time limit, this was especially annoying. The Water and Wind Temples felt like big sky islands and not dungeons. The Snowpeak Ruins in Twilight Princess and the Sandship in Skyward Sword are both excellent examples about how to turn something unconventional into an excellent dungeon, but these temples fail in so many ways. Not only is it so easy to get around the entire dungeon with a paraglider and Tulin that makes it possible to complete the dungeon in under 30 minutes on your first playthrough, the puzzles were so easy and the Wind Temple's boss in particular was so easy to kill despite it looking so fearsome. The Mud Octorok was actually a great boss that I have no complaints about, but the rest of the temple was really awful, with most of the puzzles simply being chalked up to "redirect this floating water bubble somewhere else so you can get to a terminal." The terminal thing returning was also something that was a huge letdown. There was no reason to continue it from Breath of the Wild, especially when the Divine Beast dungeons were such a huge complaint, when they could have added a system of small keys, miniboss, maybe even a new ultrahand ability similar to the ones we got from the sages to replace having a companion with you that you would be able to use across the dungeon. This would have turned the Lightning Temple from a 7/10 dungeon to an easy 9/10 or even 10/10 and would have improved my outlook on the other dungeons a lot more, particularly the fire temple, which was so great aesthetically but the gameplay and puzzles simply were not. While I liked the Lightning Temple and to a lesser extent the Fire Temple and the bossfights were much better, I found myself enjoying the Divine Beasts more than the Wind and Water Temples, and many of the bosses were such pushovers. The dungeons in this game get a 4/10.
I have a number of other smaller complaints. First is that I really wished there were more food and armor options. A return to the "meat skewers" and "fried wild greens" let me down a bit as I was hoping for more variance on food, especially after they added new items like stambulbs and tomatoes that I thought would replace the existing items. I mean, we had a whole sidequest dedicated to discovering Cheese and there's only three recipes for it! (as far as I know) Additionally, I wouldn't have been upset if they gave us the same effects for armor as before, just with a new name and texture. Like maybe they could have slightly updated the look of the Hylian set like they did with the Champion's tunic, or we could have the full Sheikah uniform instead of the Stealth armor, or a Lightning Helmet that actually looked different instead of one that reused the exact same texture as the thunder helm. New monsters such as Horriblins, Aerocudas, and Boss Bokoblins added some great new fights to the game, and I wouldn't have even cared if they reused the same enemies, but the way they attack is the exact same as in Breath of the Wild, which left the combat a little predictable and I was able to kill a Gloom Lynel first try. The only battles that really challenged me were against the Gleeoks, one of the best bosses in all of Zelda history.
My last issue with this game is that I really don't understand what vibe they were going for. Majora's Mask was twisted and disturbing. Twilight Princess was dark and gloomy. Skyward Sword was bright and hopeful. Breath of the Wild was free and really emphasized nature. But with Tears of the Kingdom, they really seem to be doing five things at once and accomplishing none of them. They try to put an emphasis on the creative aspect by adding things like Zonai Tech to the beginning and adding new technologies like the batteries, factories, skyview towers, and other. Then they also try to make this game dark and scary by introducing some horrifying things like chasms, gloom hands, and underground areas. They made the game seem bright and sunny like Skyward Sword in the beginning with the Great Sky Island and the bright yellow color palette. Then they also try to keep the open-world aspect of Breath of the Wild by keeping this massive open world, but with nothing to do inside it since we've already seen most of the stuff in this game's nature areas apart from the new caves. I don't understand what the developers were trying to make this game feel like, and it feels like they tried to do too many things at once and failed to flesh out all of them. I would have loved to see a restored Hyrule that we could explore and I would have also loved to have a nature-filled world like in BOTW with new plants, foods, caves, animals, and areas to explore, but the Hyrule in TOTK seems like a haphazard mixture of both.
There's no incentive to explore this time around with only 3-4 new plants and animals in the overworld and only a few caves that only have Brightbloom seeds, bomb flowers, and bubblefrogs. I love the caves, but they seem a bit same-y over time and I have no intention to find them all. I can't even ride around Hyrule on a horse like in BOTW or in a car like the developers seem to want us to do because I run into those stupid Zonai rocks that are littered around every 5 seconds for no particular reason. All they do is make transportation annoying and I wonder why they went through the effort to put all of the sky island materials on the overworld by these ugly rocks instead of actually having more sky islands like we wanted. The Great Sky Island was undoubtedly the most solid part of Tears of the Kingdom's Hyrule, so why did they deincentivise sky exploration by having most of the sky materials on these fallen rocks?
All in all, Nintendo outdid themselves with the coding in this game, especially putting a massive title like this on the six-year-old Nintendo Switch. However, it was clear that they spent most of their time coding in these new mechanics and the writers clearly phoned in this time around with the worst story and dialogue I have seen in any Zelda game so far. Maybe putting in a completely new game on Breath of the Wild's massive world was too much to ask, but so much of Tears of the Kingdom either directly copies Breath of the Wild (four dungeons in the exact same lands, the exact same food, combat, armor, and people) or takes the same structure and retextures it (four terminals in a dungeon, memories, shrines, a quest to rebuild a village from scratch, "champions" that pass on their abilities to their successors, and those cursed Korok seeds) that I really found no reason to play this game after 100 hours because there was nothing new left to do besides a multitude of side quests that I didn't feel like doing because I had no attachment to this Hyrule like I did in Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, Link's Awakening, and Breath of the Wild. Maybe I would have liked it more if I was a new player and hadn't played BOTW before, but the amount of content that was unnecessarily copied from the last game into this one really ruined the experience for me. All in all, this Zelda is a C+ for me, a 6.5/10. While it was more fun than the linear and small world of Link's Awakening, it couldn't compare with the story aspect of Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword or the feel of Breath of the Wild.
TLDR: While Nintendo went above and beyond with the new Ultrahand, Fuse, and Recall mechanics, it ultimately wasn't enough for me to save a game that had an extremely lacking story, underwhelming content and dungeons, and a multitude of side quests that was basically repeating everything you had done in 2017. If you're going to argue with me in the comments, please actually read the whole thing first.

I don’t know if you’ve discussed this before as I am somewhat new to this sub but what are your top?
Here are mine…
Favorite:
• the reality show one ( Keep It Real I think ) •Bel Air • So cheap ( I just think it’s cute and like a full circle moment) • Anything Cassio • Vineyard •Renewing vows ( I just like the setting) • Babies ( even though for some reason I can no longer adopt them after lvl 9😭
Least : • Alienated • The “ Romantic Oportunities” (just all of them in general) • Anything that involves Chad Dylan and Crystal (🤢) • The Paris Mission ( At first I loved it but now it feels like busy work) • The Birthday Quest

I am selling my entire personal collection. 95% of these were purchased new by me. Immediately after purchase I put them into the plastic protectors and haven't removed them since. None are heavily damaged (bending, major dents, multiple large scratches, etc.). There may be tiny dents, scratches, and the odd spine slash here and there. When you are ready to purchase I will let you know if I see any noticeable damage, however minor or major.
 
These are all used and opened and none contain the digital code or j-card. The vast majority contain all the original discs but a few might be missing the regular blu-ray. Most discs have never been played but I have watched a few once or twice. No issues while playing any of them.
 
I will ship for free via Media Mail. If you would prefer I ship using First Class or something else we can work out an extra fee. I would prefer to use PayPal F&F but will accept G&S if you insist. I will ship with the plastic protector (or with the slipcover that originally came with the SteelBook) and I will ship securely in a box with lots of bubble wrap (see picture below).
(https://imgur.com/a/tfyky1A)
 
Prices are somewhat firm but it's hard to say what a lot of these are worth so feel free to make an offer. The more you buy the better deal I can give you. 10% off (possibly more) if you buy 2 and it only goes up from there. I would prefer to keep most of the collections together for now but could sell individually for the right price.
 
Proof (https://imgur.com/a/UOAZ2UL). If you want more assurance I have 224 transactions in DigitalCodeSELL (check my post history). I can also link you my eBay page if that is allowed. 3.6K items sold with 100% positive feedback.
 

Metal Tin SteelBook Collections (https://imgur.com/a/tzS3F1q)

Title	Retailer	Price
Game of Thrones Complete Collection (4K)		SOLD
The Hobbit Trilogy (4K)	Best Buy	$100
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (4K)	Best Buy	$125
Mad Max Complete Collection (4K)	Zavvi	$100
Monsterverse 4 Film Collection (Empty Tin)		SOLD

 

4K SteelBooks (Collections) (https://imgur.com/a/3J3XUjU)

Title	Retailer	Total SteelBooks	Price
Bad Boys 1-3	Best Buy	2	$45
Back to the Future 1-3	Best Buy	3	$100
Bond 1-5 (Craig)	Best Buy, FNAC	5	$140
Cars 1-2	Best Buy	2	$40
Dark Knight Trilogy	Zavvi	3	$130
DCEU 1-12	Best Buy + Amazon.es + Zavvi	12	$450
Equalizer 1-2	Best Buy	2	$45
Finding Nemo/Dory			SOLD
Frozen 1-2	Best Buy	2	$75
Godfather 1-3	Best Buy	3	$60
Godzilla + Godzilla vs Kong	Best Buy	2	$60
Halloween (78, 18, 21, 22)	Best Buy	4	$165
The Hitman's Bodyguard 1-2	Best Buy	2	$40
How to Train Your Dragon 1-3			SOLD
The Hunger Games 1-4	Best Buy	4	$70
The Incredibles	Best Buy	2	$90
Indiana Jones 1-3	Best Buy	3	$70
Indiana Jones 1-4	Best Buy	4	$55
Jack Reacher 1-2	Best Buy	2	$75
John Wick 1-3	Best Buy	2	$60
Jumanji 1-3	Best Buy	3	$55
Jurassic World 1-6	Best Buy	2	$70
Kingsman 1-3	Best Buy	3	$50
The Lion King (94,19)	Best Buy	2	$50
Maleficent 1-2	Best Buy + Zavvi	2	$45
MCU 1-30	Best Buy	30	$1200
Matrix 1-4	Best Buy	2	$95
Men in Black 1-4	Best Buy	2	$40
Monster's Inc/University			SOLD
Mulan (98, 20)	Best Buy	2	$70
A Quiet Place 1-2	Best Buy	2	$50
Scream (96, 22)	Best Buy	2	$40
Sherlock Holmes 1-2			SOLD
The Shining/Doctor Sleep	Best Buy	2	$150
Sicario 1-2	Best Buy	2	$70
Sonic the Hedgehog 1-2	Best Buy	2	$40
Space Jam 1-2	Best Buy	2	$35
Star Wars 1-9 + Solo & Rogue One	Best Buy + Zavvi + FNAC	11	$500
Terminator (91, 19)	Best Buy	2	$35
Top Gun 1-2	Best Buy	2	$75
Toy Story 1-4	Best Buy	4	$100
Trolls 1-2	Best Buy	2	$35
Venom 1-2	Best Buy	2	$40
Wreck-It-Ralph 1-2	Best Buy	2	$45
Zombieland 1-2	Best Buy	2	$30

 

Mondo X SteelBooks (https://imgur.com/a/76drd4b)

Title	Retailer	Mondo #	Price
Boyhood (HD)	Best Buy Canada	#002	$25
Nightcrawler (HD)			SOLD
Ghost in the Shell (HD)	Best Buy	#018	$15
It (HD)	Amazon.it	#022	$30
Friday the 13th (HD)	Amazon.it	#023	$25
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (HD)	Amazon.it	#025	$50
Justice League (HD)	Amazon.it	#026	$25
300 (HD)	Amazon.it	#028	$25
Wreck-It-Ralph (HD)	Zavvi	#034	$30
Avengers (4K)	FNAC	#039	$35
Doctor Strange (4K)	Zavvi	#041	$45
Black Panther (4K)	FNAC	#042	$40
Captain America: The First Avenger (4K)	Zavvi	#043	$40
Thor (4K)	Zavvi	#045	$40
Ant-Man (4K)	Zavvi	#047	$40
Iron Man 2 (4K)			SOLD
Blade Runner: 2049 (4K)	FNAC	#049	$100
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (4K)	Zavvi	#050	$40
Thor: The Dark World (4K)	Zavvi	#051	$40
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (4K)	Zavvi	#052	$40
Avengers: Age of Ultron (4K)	Zavvi	#053	$40
Avengers: Infinity War (4K)			SOLD
Avengers: Endgame (4K)			SOLD

 

4K SteelBooks (Individual Movies) (https://imgur.com/a/RvIWYiY)

Title	Retailer	Price
21 & 22 Jump Street	Best Buy	$30
300	Best Buy	$65
3:10 to Yuma	Best Buy	$20
Air Force One	Best Buy	$25
Alien Covenant	Best Buy	$20
Almost Famous	Best Buy	$45
Animal House	Best Buy	$25
Apollo 13	Best Buy	$40
Baby Driver	Best Buy	$30
Babylon	Best Buy	$30
Beauty and the Beast (1991)	Best Buy	$50
Beetlejuice	Best Buy	$40
Blade Runner: The Final Cut		SOLD
Bloodshot	Best Buy	$30
The Blues Brothers	Best Buy	$45
The Bourne Complete Collection	Best Buy	$60
Boyz N the Hood	Best Buy	$60
Brave	Best Buy	$25
A Bug's Life	Best Buy	$45
Bullet Train	Best Buy	$30
Bumblebee	Best Buy	$30
Carlito's Way	Best Buy	$30
Cinderella (2017)		SOLD
A Clockwork Orange	Best Buy	$30
Cold Pursuit	Zavvi	$50
Coming to America	Best Buy	$15
The Dark Tower	Best Buy	$15
Deadpool 2	Best Buy	$20
The Deer Hunter		SOLD
District 9	Best Buy	$45
Downton Abbey	Best Buy	$15
Dracula	Best Buy	$25
Dune (1984)	Zavvi	$35
Dune (2021)	Best Buy	$35
Edge of Tomorrow	Best Buy	$55
Encanto	Best Buy	$40
Ex Machina	Zavvi	$40
Frankenstein	Best Buy	$30
Free Guy		SOLD
Forrest Gump	Best Buy	$40
Gattaca	Best Buy	$25
Gemini Man	Best Buy	$15
Ghost in the Shell (1995)	Best Buy	$20
Gladiator	Best Buy	$100
Godzilla (1998)	Best Buy	$25
The Good Dinosaur		SOLD
Goodfellas	Best Buy	$70
The Goonies	Best Buy	$50
Grease	Best Buy	$45
The Green Mile	Best Buy	$30
Groundhog Day		SOLD
Hacksaw Ridge		SOLD
Heat	Best Buy	$50
Home Alone	Best Buy	$40
Howard the Duck	Best Buy	$35
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)	Best Buy	$80
The Hurt Locker	Best Buy	$30
I Am Legend	Zavvi	$45
Inception	Best Buy	$80
Inglorious Basterds	Best Buy	$25
Inside Out	Best Buy	$35
Interstellar	Best Buy	$65
The Invisible Man (1933)	Zavvi	$25
The Invisible Man (2020)	Best Buy	$25
It (2017)	Best Buy	$25
It's a Wonderful Life	Best Buy	$20
Jaws	Best Buy	$35
Joker	Best Buy	$40
The Jungle Book (2016)		SOLD
Jungle Cruise	Best Buy	$25
Kick-Ass	Best Buy	$35
King Kong (2005)	Best Buy	$30
Knives Out	Best Buy	$50
La La Land	Best Buy	$20
Last Action Hero	Best Buy	$25
The Last Duel	FNAC	$85
Lawrence of Arabia		SOLD
Léon: The Professional	Best Buy	$65
Lightyear	Best Buy	$25
The Little Mermaid	Zavvi	$45
Logan	Zavvi	$50
Looper	Zavvi	$45
Luca	Best Buy	$55
Mad Max: Fury Road	Best Buy	$55
Mary Poppins Returns	Best Buy	$20
The Meg	Best Buy	$15
Mission Impossible: Fallout	Best Buy	$20
Moana	Best Buy	$30
Moonfall	Best Buy	$25
Morbius	Best Buy	$25
Mortal Engines	Zavvi	$20
The New Mutants	Zavvi	$40
Nightmare Alley	Best Buy	$35
Nope	Best Buy	$25
The Northman	Zavvi	$55
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms	Best Buy	$15
Oblivion	Amazon.fr	$75
Ocean's 8	Best Buy	$15
Old	Best Buy	$15
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood	Best Buy	$20
Onward	Best Buy	$60
Parasite	Zavvi	$35
Passengers	Best Buy	$35
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales	Best Buy	$15
Pokémon Detective Pikachu	Best Buy	$30
Pulp Fiction (Brand New)	Best Buy	$35
The Princess and the Frog	Best Buy	$30
The Punisher	Best Buy	$40
Ratatouille	Best Buy	$70
Raya and the Last Dragon	Best Buy	$50
Rear Window	Best Buy	$35
Red Sparrow	Best Buy	$30
Requiem For a Dream	Best Buy	$40
Reservoir Dogs	Best Buy	$20
Robocop (1987)	Best Buy	$45
Rocketman	Best Buy	$15
Saving Private Ryan		SOLD
Saw (2004)	Best Buy	$30
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World		SOLD
The Secret Life of Pets 2	Best Buy	$15
The Shape of Water	Best Buy	$55
The Shawshank Redemption	Best Buy	$45
Schindler's List	Best Buy	$40
Shooter	Best Buy	$15
Shrek	Best Buy	$40
Shutter Island	Best Buy	$35
Sing	Best Buy	$20
Skyscraper	Best Buy	$20
Soul	Best Buy	$60
Spartacus	Best Buy	$65
Speed	Best Buy	$60
Spies in Disguise	Best Buy	$20
The Spine of Night	Best Buy	$15
A Star is Born	Best Buy	$40
The Sting	Best Buy	$25
Super 8	Best Buy	$25
Tangled	Best Buy	$65
The Ten Commandments	Best Buy	$25
Tenet	Best Buy	$20
The Thing	Amazon.it	$50
Total Recall	Best Buy	$35
The Town	Best Buy	$70
True Romance	Best Buy	$20
Turning Red	Best Buy	$20
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent	Best Buy	$35
Unbreakable	Best Buy	$40
Uncharted	Best Buy	$25
Unforgiven	Zavvi	$40
Universal Soldier	Best Buy	$20
Us	Best Buy	$20
Vertigo	Best Buy	$35
Wall-E	Best Buy	$100
War of the Worlds		SOLD
Warrior	Best Buy	$20
West Side Story	Best Buy	$25
Who Framed Roger Rabbit	Zavvi	$40
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory	Amazon.it	$35
The Wizard of Oz	Best Buy	$70
The Wolf Man (1941)	Best Buy	$15
The Wolf of Wall Street	Best Buy	$15
Zootopia	Best Buy	$25

 

Regular Blu-ray SteelBooks (https://imgur.com/a/i8u4gnU)

Title	Retailer	Price
The Breakfast Club	Best Buy	$15
Cinderella	Best Buy	$15
Django Unchained	Best Buy	$15
Ex Machina	Zavvi	$45
Plaines, Trains, and Automobiles	Best Buy	$15

 

TV Show SteelBooks (https://imgur.com/a/CR27Ciu)

Title	Retailer	Price
Chernobyl (4K)	Best Buy	$70
House of the Dragon S1 (4K)	Best Buy	$35
Westworld S2 (4K)	Best Buy	$55
Westworld S3 (4K)	Best Buy	$55

We all have problems as kids, right?
But they’re not adult problems. Those come later.
Kid problems are much easier to deal with. Kid problems might seem ridiculous now, but back then they were practically the end of the world for some of us. Playground politics was a thing—who was friends with who. If we didn’t wear nice clothes, kids would laugh. If we didn’t like the things other kids liked, we were weird. We were a hive-mind, obsessed with being liked, being appreciated and accepted. High school sucks, sure, but elementary school is just as bad. Nobody says it these days so I will.
Kids can be fucking cruel.
I remember my biggest problem that morning being that I hadn’t gotten the new Pokémon game—Diamond and Pearl, I think it was called. I’d begged my parents for a Nintendo DS when it came out and had opened up a brand new light pink DS Lite on my 10th birthday, the day before. I wanted the game that all the other kids were playing, but according to mom it was too expensive. Instead, I got Barbie Horse Adventures: Summer Camp.
Needless to say, I wasn’t thrilled with it.
It was raining that day.
I remember watching big, fat raindrops run down the classroom window, my head pressed to my desk and turned towards looming grey clouds. I liked pretending the raindrops were racing each other and mentally cheering them on.
I was too embarrassed to pull out my DS practically burning a hole in my skirt. I’d made the stupid mistake of telling everyone I was getting the new Pokémon game for my birthday, and the idea of admitting to them that I actually hadn’t—instead having some stupid Barbie game that I was pretending I liked—was making my stomach twist.
Still though, the rain was nice to watch. Since the weather wasn’t that great, we’d been strictly told to stay inside, though some kids had decided to ignore the teacher and go outside anyway so the classroom was mostly empty. I was watching one particular raindrop dance across the glass, when a laugh startled me out of my thoughts. When I lifted my head, I saw the usual suspects gathering around Lily’s desk.
They were bullying her again.
Licey Lily. That’s what everyone called her. Mom told me to stay away from the girl—though I think that was a universal thing all the parents told their kids. Lily came to school with clothes which didn’t fit her and holes in her socks and her shoes falling apart around her feet. When I sat behind her, sometimes I’d glimpse red markings on her wrist and her ankles. Lily didn’t wear winter clothes when it snowed. I remember when she came in late one day and wasn’t even wearing a coat. I’d heard from other kids her parents didn’t look after her, while others spread a rumour that she was an orphan. Lily had thick blonde curls that fell in front of her face in tangles and knots. Mrs Lewis tried to help her. She was maybe the only one who cared.
Mrs Lewis made sure Lily had a thick, woolly coat to play outside in. When Lily walked into class with her hair looking like a bird's nest, Mrs Lewis made it look pretty again. I liked Lily’s hair when it was brushed and in ribbons.
In kindergarten I was convinced she was a princess because her hair, despite being messy, looked like it was glowing, caught up in ethereal light from the sun.
I was sure the other kids were jealous. That was why they bullied her.
That day Lily’s hair didn’t look pretty—she didn’t look like a princess. The bright red ribbons Mrs Lewis had put in on Friday were still clinging to clumpy tangles of blonde, and she was wearing the same knitted cardigan she was wearing on Friday over a creased skirt and shoes that were too big for her. Though it wasn’t her clothes, or even the state of her hair that had attracted her usual tormentors. Lily had been scratching her head all the way through class. It wasn’t like normal though. Usually, she idly scratched maybe once or twice, but that day it had been a constant scratch, scratch, scratch all the way through class. Of course Scarlett Maine noticed.
The girl had waited until Mrs Lewis left the classroom before sidling over to Lily’s desk.
“Do you even wash your hair, Licey Lily?” Scarlett had dark hair pulled into pigtails that bobbed when she giggled. She leaned towards Lily. Scarlet acted older than she was—probably because she had a sister in high school. “My mom said only dirty kids like you get lice, and your hair is so gross.”
Lily didn’t move, her mess of blonde curls hanging in front of her face.
“Hey.” Scarlett grabbed a handful of her hair and tugged violently, “Licey Lily, why aren’t you talking to us?” She jumped back suddenly with a choked laugh. “Urgh, you can see them! They’re wriggling in her hair!”
“Scarlett.” I said. “Cut it out.”
I was ignored. If I tried to stop it, I knew what would happen. It always happened. Anyone who tried to help Lily, or told Mrs Lewis about the bullying, either got outcasted or bullied too. I opened my mouth to speak again, louder this time, but the others were in their own world—like tormenting Lily was their own personal fantasy and nobody could penetrate that little bubble of theirs. Freddie Caine who had been hovering over Scarlett with an identical cruel grin let out a disgusted snort. He grabbed Scarlett’s arm and the two of them stumbled back.
“I can see them!” He pointed, his eyes wide. “They’re all over her back! There are so many!”
More murmurs. Giggling. Some kids jumped up from their own desks and joined the growing crowd surrounding Lily. Freddie edged forwards like the desk was teeming with crawlies. “Did you make friends with them?” He whispered in Lily’s face. When the others laughed at that, Scarlett being the loudest, he shoved Lily hard.
“I bet you did.” Freddie grinned, “That’s why you’re always scratching. They’re your only friends.”
Scarlett nodded. Giggling, she rushed to her desk and grabbed her bag, pulling something out. The kids laughed harder. It was a water bottle—but it definitely wasn’t filled with water. Lily seemed to notice this too. She came back to life, lifting her head, glistening eyes widening in panic. I already knew what Scarlett was going to do, but nobody could stop her. Scarlett rounded Lily’s desk and held the bottle up high over the trembling girl’s head.
“Bath time!” Scarlett giggled, tipping the bottle.
I was aware of something that wasn’t water splashing down on a squeaking Lily’s head. She cried out, trying to shield herself. When she tried to jump up, tears welling in her eyes, Freddie and two other girls held her down. Scarlett didn’t stop until the bottle was empty and Lily was soaking wet, her cardigan glued to her, a huge wet patch on her skirt. When Lily lifted her head, her sopping knotted curls hung in clumps in front of her eyes. The bottle hit the ground and Freddie picked it up with a frown.
“What is that?” He sniffed it and pulled a face. “That stinks!”
The other kids murmured in agreement, and Scarlett shrugged. Her gaze pierced Lily, who was crying, her entire body trembling with the force of her sobs. “It’s apple juice, dummy! “ She said, “My mom wouldn’t let me fill my water bottle and my big sister was in the shower, so I got some apple juice from my dad’s office. It was on his desk.”
Freddie pinched his nose. “That’s not apple juice!” His voice was all nasally, “It smells like old socks! And it’s green!”
“You’re going to get in trouble.” Jasper Parker spoke up. He sat across from me and barely ever spoke- unless it was to brag about how smart he was. He’d been organising his gold sticker collection, though the splash had made him jump. He wasn’t smiling, though the muscles in his face were gradually contorting into one. Jasper wasn’t fooling me. I knew he only pretended to be nice so he could maintain his position as best student. He found it funny. I could see it in the sparkle in his eyes, his smirk when Scarlett and Freddie shoved Lily into her chair.
“Yeah?” Freddie’s gaze found Jasper’s. “Are you going to tattle, Goody Two Shoes?”
Jasper shrugged. “No.” He went back to his gold sticker collection, though his voice had softened a little. Goodie Two Shoes was his nickname in 3rd grade. Not just that—Jasper was obsessed with being the teacher’s pet. He had been as unpopular as Lily before bringing in Pokémon cards one day, and suddenly he was cool. Jasper had all the special sparkly ones he happily traded, so naturally the other kids had decided he wasn’t so bad after all. “She needed a bath. She stinks.”
“Stinky Lily!” Isabel Hades laughed, the others joining in – including Jasper, bowing his head further.
Ignoring them, Scarlett’s attention was on Lily, who had stood up, her hair dripping. All of her was dripping. Her clothes, her face—her eyes. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and yet they still laughed, pushing and shoving her. “See?” Scarlett’s voice was sugary sweet. “I’m so nice, Licey Lily! I even gave your friends a bath!”
Lily didn’t speak. She only ran out of the classroom, the others laughter chasing her all the way down the corridor. When the girl was gone, the other kids returned to their desk and Scarlett acted like nothing had happened. Jasper grabbed a mop from the janitor's closet, lying that Lily had spilled her water and cleaned up the mess on his own. He always did that— always helping someone or doing something helpful for his own gain.
When Jasper was mopping up the mess, I was frowning at him.
Well, not him. Because we all knew if you looked at a boy for too long you would explode or get cooties.
I wasn’t looking at Jasper, or the giant spot on his chin. No. I was staring at the liquid pooling at his feet which definitely wasn’t water. It was a funny green colour, and it was maybe a little thicker. It reminded me of Nickelodeon slime if it had been watered down. The green so-called water was giving me the creeps. I was looking at it for maybe a little too long, because Jasper noticed my gaze when he looked up.
He didn’t look happy.
It was an unwritten rule that boy’s and girl’s didn’t talk to each other unless they wanted a song being made about them. I could still remember when Sara Jacobs and Josh Simons had been caught talking to each other together in the playground. The next day, everyone was talking about it—and Scarlett was skipping around the two of them, singing that stupid rhyme that always got stuck in my head.
“Sara and Josh sitting in a tree! K. I. S. S. I. N. G.”
Jasper bugged out his eyes. “What are you looking at?”
“What’s that you’re cleaning up?”
“Apple juice.” Jasper said, not sounding sure.
“Uh-huh.” I folded my arms. “And why are you cleaning it up? That’s Scarlett’s mess.”
He stuck out his tongue, going back to mopping up. “None of your beeswax.”
I scoffed. I’d picked up the other kids' taunts over the years—and they felt natural coming off my tongue, slick like honey. This is where I admit I was no different from the others.
“You’re just being a teacher’s pet as usual.”
Jasper didn’t lift his head, but I noticed his mopping slowed a little—his fingers tightening around the handle.
“I know your secret.”
“My secret?”
Jasper nodded. “You have a Barbie game.” He giggled. “I saw you playing it under your desk.”
“And?”
He scrubbed a little harder. “If you call me that again I’ll tell everybody you play Barbie games.”
Jasper had won.
I stood down.
Lily came back before class started again. Since it was raining, she matched a bunch of other kids who had gone outside to play in the shower. So she too had been yelled at by Mrs Lewis. The teacher had handed out towels so they could dry themselves, and it hadn’t been long before Freddie had snatched Lily’s and screwed it into a ball, throwing it to the back of the classroom. Lily trembled all the way through math. At first I thought it was because she was cold, but when I lifted my head from my drawing, I saw her body was quivering—her pale hands gripping her scalp, fingernails scratching at her forehead. She was whimpering to herself, hiding behind her book.
The scratching got worse until she curled into herself, her fingers clawing at her curls.
It was endless. The noise didn’t stop all the way through class.
When I was trying to answer questions, all I could hear was scratch, scratch, scratch. “Lily?” Mrs Lewis stopped explaining multiplication. “Are you okay?”
The girl’s head bobbed up and down in a sharp nod, and Mrs Lewis went back to teaching.
“Licey Lily.” Scarlett, who had insisted on sitting behind Lily, kicked the back of the girl’s chair.
“Her friends are dancing.” She said, loud enough for us to hear, but not the teacher.
Everyone giggled, and Lily scratched harder—until she was squeaking, scratting at her scalp.
I caught Jasper staring, his eyes wide. He wasn’t smiling or laughing like the others.
Instead, he was frowning at the floor where the mess had been.
At lunch it had stopped raining and I was relieved to get out of the classroom. I ate my lunch in the cafeteria before heading outside. There was a game of Tag happening, but the last time I’d joined in I’d ended up with skinned knees. Instead, I headed to the jungle gym—and there I found Lily. She was sitting on the very top, her legs dangling off the edge. Lily wasn’t wearing a coat and I remember feeling a chill down my spine when I noticed how pale her exposed arms were. The girl was shivering, her head of blonde curls pressed into her lap.
She was scratching again, scratching, scratching, scratching – and I swore when her fingers left her hair, I could see flecks of white stuck in her nails. Lily lifted her head. She wasn’t looking at me, her gaze on something else far away. It was the first time, I remember thinking—the first time I’d seen her face in a while. She always had her head bowed and was hiding behind her hair. Her cheeks were white, her lips twisted into a pained cry. “They won’t stop.” She was whispering to herself, her hands like claws going back into her hair and grasping at clumps of ratty gold and ragging violently. Her whole body shuddered, “They won’t stop.”
“They’re mean.” I said, “Don’t listen to them, okay? I like your hair. It’s really pretty!”
Lily didn’t respond, raking her fingernails down her face. “They won’t stop. Won’t stop. Won’t stop!”
Swallowing hard, I took slow steps towards her. “Lily?” I reached into my pocket to pull out my DS. My first thought was to let her play it. Maybe that might make her feel better. When I was pulling it out, though, Lily startled me with a shriek. “Stop!” Her hands balled into fists and she slammed them into her head, her sobs growing progressively more hysterical. Lily was running her hands through her hair and then staring down at the palms of her hands with a look of fright of terror. It hit me, then—that she wasn’t talking about Scarlett and the others. I felt myself take a slow step back. Lily was talking about the lice—the bugs crawling in her hair.
“Mommy.” Lily whimpered, her shaking fingers entangled with knotty curls. “I want my mommy.”
“I’ll get Mrs Lewis.”
But Lily wasn’t listening. She was swaying slightly, squeezing her eyes shut.
When I ran back inside, lunch had ended and everyone was heading to class. I flew directly into Mrs Lewis in my rush. Normally, I’d squeak out an apology or run away, but the words were already streaming from my mouth before I could help them. I could still see Lily in my mind—swaying back and forth, her eyes flickering, the red staining her fingernails. “It’s Lily!” I shrieked. “She’s outside, and she’s crying,” I gestured with my hands, pointing to my own head. “She had bugs in her hair. Like, humongous bugs, and she keeps scratching and the bugs are really big—”
“Miri.” Mrs Lewis cut me off, “Calm down. First of all, we don’t say bugs. They’re called lice, and they’re completely normal. All kids your age will get lice.” Her eyes found the end of the corridor. “Where is Lily now?”
“She’s on the jungle gym.” I said, “Is Lily going to be okay? Is she going to give us all lice?”
The teacher’s eyes turned sharp, and I automatically knew I’d said the wrong thing.
“Okay, Miri. Tell everyone I’m going to be a little late. I’ll go and find Lily.”
When I went back to class, someone had drawn a stickwoman on the board with a giant bug on her head.
I slumped in my chair and turned to Jasper, who was organising his crayons in order of shade.
“Hey.” I pointed to the board. “Who drew that?”
“Scarlett.” He muttered. “I’ve already wiped it off three times.”
I was daydreaming, counting clouds in the sky—trying to ignore Freddie and Scarlett singing about bugs, when Mrs Lewis came back. She was hand in hand with Lily, who looked better. I wasn’t sure how, but the girl seemed different. The way she moved, holding her head high as she skipped to her desk. Lily was skipping. She was smiling. Her eyes were bright—a glitter in her demeanour that none of us knew. We only knew the girl who stared down at the floor, peering through straggly hair. It’s not like her hair was better. It was worse, matted to her back.
When she found her seat, giggling to herself, her hands went back to her hair—scratching.
But she was smiling, giggling, laughing, as her scratting got more intense, raking her scalp. Her fingernails—I thought, something slimy creeping up my throat. Lily’s fingernails were still red, and the white flecks had turned fleshy pink. It was like jello, stuck to her nails and splattered on her palms. I didn’t want to think about what the goop was. I was squinting at the wooden grains of my desk to avoid barfing, when a shadow loomed.
I looked up to find Mrs Lewis glaring down at me.
“Miri, I am very disappointed in you. Lily is perfectly fine. If I hear you saying things about other children I will be talking to your mother. Do you understand me?”
I opened my mouth to protest, but she cut me off.
“Would you like it if some of your friends said mean things about your hair?”
“But Mrs Lewis,” I whispered, “She did. I saw the bugs. They were making her cry.”
The teacher shook her head. “I combed through Lily’s hair several times. She does not have lice.”
If Mrs Lewis had combed through her hair, it wouldn’t still be a mess.
Why was she lying?
“She does though.” Jasper spoke up. “I saw them crawling in her hair.”
“Jasper!” The teacher’s voice hardened. “Of everyone in this class, I didn’t expect you to join in this bullying.”
“It’s not bullying!” He said, “Mrs Lewis, she has lice! Like, crazy lice!”
The teacher ignored us and went back to the front. I was surprised that Scarlett hadn’t spoken a word.
“Get out your workbooks.” Mrs Lewis told everyone.
“I was going to let you write stories today, since it’s coming up to the holidays, but since all you can do is make mean remarks against your friends, I want you to work in silence. Do the activity on pages 5, 6, and 8. Jasper, put your hand down. Yes, I know you’ve already done them—you can turn to the back and do question 10.”
Mrs Lewis cleared her throat. “Is that understood?”
“Yes, Mrs Lewis!” Lily chirped.
I heard the collective breath from everyone.
It was the first time in days that Lily had spoken without being forced to. There was something strange about her face. When I looked at the girl for long enough, she didn’t move, didn’t blink, her lips splitting her mouth apart into a smile. But her hands kept going—kept scratching, even when the fleshy pink built up in her fingernails. The teacher smiled, seemingly failing to notice the state of Lily. If she did, she didn’t care.
“Well done, Lily.”
I went through my workbook, struggling with the questions, especially when Lily would not stop scratching at her head. It was driving me crazy and knowing the damage she was doing to her head, seeing her wearing that unnerving grin—she was scaring me. I wanted to tell Mrs Lewis there was something wrong, but the words wouldn’t form in my mouth. I didn’t want to get in trouble again, but Lily’s scratching was unbearable.
When we were done, Mrs Lewis went around the class asking for answers.
Only two hands shot into the air.
Jasper, as usual— and to my surprise, Lily. Mrs Lewis looked equally baffled. Still, she nodded and smiled at the girl. “Lily, do you have the answer to—” she flicked through the workbook. “Question two?”
Lili shook her head. “No, but I have the answer for the one you’re doing.”
“Hmm?” The teacher looked confused, and Lily giggled, pointing to the red notebook on her desk.
“That one! The question you’re looking for is X=2. If you divide—“ Her words didn’t make sense to me, just like gibberish. I’d never heard of that kind of math. We were doing division, and I was still struggling with the basics.
Lily had never answered a math question, though I’d noticed her workbooks had always been coloured in green marker pen and glittery stickers. I guess it made sense that she was smart at math, but I didn’t understand how she’d somehow gotten the answer to the problem in Mrs Lewis’s private notebook.
“Lily, that’s not the question I’m asking. What’s the correct answer to question two?”
“Three.” Lily said. “Duh. You just divide 21 and 7.”
“That’s right.” Mrs Lewis’s lips pricked into a smile. “However, we do not say that word.”
Lily nodded and sat down with a bounce, her hands going back to scratch at her hair.
Behind me, Jasper grumbled. "I knew that."
When the day was over I was ready to get home—away from Lily and the smile that was stuck to her face.
Lily was packing up her stuff when Scarlet shoved past her.
“Get out of my way, Licey Lily! Don’t touch me.”
To my surprise, Lily laughed. She reached out her hand, giggling, and tucked a straying strand of Scarlett’s hair behind her ear. Beaming, Lily’s expression glittered with something I couldn’t and never would understand.
They looked strange—her eyes, I mean. They looked like they were moving, her pupils growing larger and then smaller, bouncing up and down like in cartoons. I had to blink to see if I was seeing things. When I turned around, Jasper was staring too, his mouth open, gaping.
Lily tugged her pigtails—hard.
I’d never seen Scarlett look scared. She always looked happy, always gleeful.
And yet then, I only saw terror. I saw a whole new shade of her personality bleeding through.
“They like your hair, Scarlett.” Lily murmured. “They’ve been talking to me and they want to eat it all up! And then they want to eat up your brain too!” Still laughing, Lily pressed her head to Scarlett’s. The girl didn’t move. Freddie, standing nearby, looked shaken, his lips twisted in disgust. And then I knew why. Because when I looked at Lily properly, I saw that her hair was moving. Twitching. I could see them, I could see bugs skittering across her head. I saw tiny legs peeking from her hairline. Freddie hissed out. “Hey.” His voice was shaky.
“Stop that.”
Scarlett stumbled back, clinging to Freddie.
“You’re so gross.” She managed to hiss. “Get… get away from me.”
Lily’s pupils shrunk to a dot. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”
She was skipping away before any of them could respond.
That night I told mom to wash my hair three times just in case.
A sicky feeling had followed me to the Elementary school gates the next day.
I kept my head down for most of the morning. Scarlett was quiet and Lily had stopped scratching—she’d stopped everything though. Lily didn’t raise her hand to answer questions or work in her books.
She just sat there staring at nothing and smiling. Like she could see something I couldn’t.
I noticed scratching during reading period. When I lifted my head though, it was Freddie scratting his curls.
The scratching spread like a virus. By the end of the class it was everyone. Even Mrs Lewis.
At recess, I went to the bathroom to hide from Lily, who was eagerly dancing across the classroom and pressing her head to other kids.
They didn’t run though. They just stood and let her. When I was washing my hands, a stall creaked open, and Scarlett came out. She didn’t look like she usually did. Her hair was a tangled mess, no longer in pigtails, instead hanging in her face. Scarlett’s eyes didn’t find me, instead flicking to the mirror. Taking slow steps, she went over to the mirror and clawed at her hair, yanking and pulling at it.
“Make it stop.” She whispered, nails like claws scratching at her head, and then her face. Her eyes were red, and when I looked closer—I had to swallow a cry. Scarlett’s hair was moving. Just like with Lily. I saw them, bulging black bugs sticking to her hair and scuttling across her forehead. The girl’s arms were wild, trying to dig and claw and pull them off, but they were merciless, sticking into her skin and not letting go. She lunged forwards, her body swaying like she was dizzy before slamming her head into the mirror with a wet splat. My body froze up.
Blood, I thought.
There was blood.
“Stop.” Scarlett’s head hit the mirror again. Splat. More blood. More blood smearing the glass. I felt my legs give way and my knees hit cold tiles, my eyes glued to the bugs burrowing under her hair, clawing into her skin.
“They’re in my head.” She whimpered, her eyes flickering. Her pupils were bulging, growing bigger and then smaller, and the skin of her face contorted, like they were under there too. They were everywhere, I realised.
They were in her hands, bulging bumps writhing under the skin of her flesh when she tried to claw at her hair—but her hands fell limp by her side. Like they were stopping her. Puppeteering her.
“I can… hear them.” Scarlett’s contorting pupils found mine. When she opened her mouth to scream, I spied tiny holes on her tongue. “They’re in my head,” her voice was light, almost dreamy. “I want my… I want my mommy.”
Scarlett held out her hands, staring wide-eyed at fleshy pink covering her skin.
Mommy. Her lips moved, but no sound came out.
When I saw tiny black dots writhe across the whites of her eyes, bulging into her pupils like it was taking over—
I screamed.
I just remembered screaming, and the BANG when Scarlett’s head hit the mirror again, and again.
Until her head didn’t look like a head.
“Miri?”
The familiar voice made me cry harder.
Jasper stumbled in, one hand covering his eyes, the other grasping at the wall to balance him. “This is the girl’s bathroom! I could get a disease here,” He groaned. “Why are you screaming? Is there a spider?”
“Scarlett!” I managed to whisper when the girl flopped to the ground. “It’s Scarlett!”
“What’s wrong with her?“
“Miss Lewis.” I backed into the wall, watching her body flailing. “Get Miss Lewis!”
Staggered footsteps.
The door shut, and I was alone with Scarlett.
And it was the first time I heard it.
Staring down at my lap, I refused to look at Scarlett, at the smear of red on the mirror. I was counting my breaths when I heard it—skittering and twitching. I heard them burrowing into Scarlett’s head, dancing across her hair.
SKKRR. CHH. CHH. CHH.
I was sobbing when Mrs Lewis hurried in, Jasper at her side. His hands were still over his eyes.
“Miri!” Mrs Lewis hissed out. “What’s going on?”
“Scarlett.” I whimpered into my dress. “She’s—”
I opened my mouth to speak, but then my eyes caught Scarlett standing in front of the mirror. She looked normal again. There was no splash of deep red painting her face, no dent in her head where she’d smashed her face into the mirror. I noticed there was dripping toilet paper tinged red balled in her fists. She’d wiped it off, I thought. Scarlett had cleaned the mirror. When the girl faced the teacher, her eyes were funny—like Lily’s.
“Yes, Mrs Lewis?”
I squinted, catching movement on the shrinking crack in the mirror.
Tiny black dots— like ants— crawling across the glass. They were fixing it, I realised.
Like the dent in Scarlett’s head.
Had they fixed her too?
Jasper peeked through his hands. “Is it okay to look?”
Mrs Lewis was red-faced. “This is the second time, Miri!” She yelled. “This isn’t an isolated case, this is crying wolf!”
I didn’t know what that meant.
Slowly, I got to my feet. I was trembling.
“Miss Lewis.“ My voice was shaking. “Scarlet had—“ I reached into my own hair. “Magic… magic bugs—"
“Lice?” The teacher finished. “I’m going to talk to your mother. This is unacceptable behaviour.”
She gestured to the door. “Girls. Get to class. Jasper, stay behind. I’d like to talk to you.”
Jasper squeaked. “Me? Why?”
“Just a talk, Jasper.”
“But—I didn’t do anything!”
I didn’t want to leave Jasper—but I didn’t have a choice.
On the way back to class, I considered going home. I wanted to run away—back to mom. Someone’s hand clawed in my hair, entangling in my ponytail. I cried out, pulling away. It was Scarlett with eyes that weren’t hers anymore. “Pretty hair!” She sang, tugging on my hair. “Pretty, pretty, pretty hair!”
I was the only one not scratching my head when I went back to the classroom. The other kids continued playing, laughing, talking—scratting at their heads. Lily sat at her desk—as did Scarlett and Freddie. They didn’t move. They didn’t join in. Freddie’s fingernails were red, but he didn’t care, scratching and scratching and scratching.
I pressed my hands over my ears to block out the noise.
When Jasper sat back in his seat, his eyes were red. I turned to him quickly. “What did she say?”
The boy glowered at me. “I’m not the star student anymore,” He mumbled. “Mrs Lewis said I can have my stickers back when I stop being mean to Lily.” His eyes narrowed into slits. “This is all your fault, Miri. You’re the one who keeps saying there’s bugs in kids' hair. You made me go in the girl’s bathroom, so now I’ve got girl cooties.”
Jasper rested his head in his arms. “Mrs Lewis was weird too. She kept touching my head.”
“What?” I hissed, leaning my chair against his desk. “Jasper, what happened?”
“I don’t want to talk to you anymore.” He grumbled into his arms. “Go away.”
Jasper wasn’t lying. He ignored me for the rest of the day. Even when I offered him the cupcake my mom had packed me. He ate it in one bite and went back to glaring at his own lunch. I wanted to talk to him, because he was the only one who wasn’t acting weird. The other kids started to follow Lily and Scarlett and Freddie. They stopped playing, stopped talking and laughing, and just sat in silence. I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t stand the scratching. I wanted to go home. When I told Mrs Lewis I felt sick, she just smiled and told me I was crying wolf.
It was only much later on when I realised I was the only one left. I was writing about panda’s when I heard it coming from behind me. It started slow, soft, and then grew louder. When I turned around, it wasn’t Ella or Jack or Sara scratching their heads. Instead, I glimpsed Jasper attacking his dark brown curls with his nails.
He wasn’t doing math problems like usual.
I should have noticed sooner.
I should have noticed his heavy breathing, panicky breaths coming out in hysterical sobs that the rest of the class and teacher ignored. I know, looking back, I didn’t want to. I was in denial that it had spread to our side.
“Jasper?” I said with a tangled tongue. I wanted to ask if he was okay, but when he lifted his head, I saw the exact same—that look of fright and pain I’d seen in Lily and Scarlett. Fear—the kind of fear I’d never expected a kid to feel. His whole body was quivering, contorting. His skin looked like it was rippling, like something was underneath. I caught something moving behind his ear, far more visible on short shaggy curls. Legs. But not tiny ones. I could see them scuttling down his neck. When I leaned forward, I could see them. But they weren’t in his hair, they were in his skin. They were twitching in his nose and trickling from his lips, choking his panicked sobs.
“Miss Lewis.” He finally whispered, spitting out writhing black. It hit the desk, crawling across his book.
“There’s something… in my head.” Jasper sobbed. “Something… in my… in my head.”
Mrs Lewis didn’t stop writing on the whiteboard. “Don’t be ridiculous, Jasper.”
I couldn’t move. If I did, I was scared I’d catch them too.
That my head would start scratching.
“But there is.” Jasper’s voice was strange. Dreamy. “They’re telling me they’re going to eat my brain.”
Like Lily, like everyone else, his eyes found nothing.
And he smiled—like he was seeing something beautiful.
When my teacher exploded I was writing.
I didn’t want to look at Jasper, whose eyes were funny, or the others—who had turned to Jasper like they were waiting. I didn’t fully register my teacher being there one second and then gone the next. I saw it as an explosion.
Not like fireworks, sizzling colours streaming across the night sky.
More like a bang. A sudden bang that sent my world spiralling. My pen dropped from my hand. I’d been writing about— about pandas. And for some reason I wanted to continue. I wanted to write more. I wanted to write pages and pages and pages of panda facts, and maybe if I was lucky, things might go back to the way they were. Maybe if I wrote enough Jasper would stop screaming. Maybe he’d stop scratching.
I didn’t register something warm hitting my face. It was the same colour as Freddie’s fingernails.
Red blurring my vision and spattering my desk and workbook.
Nobody cried out.
Jasper was the only one screaming, pulling at his hair, stumbling and staggering. But I was too busy staring at the writhing pieces of Mrs Lewis on the ground. Moving. Bugs streaming out of her and crawling across the floor. I wondered if I was one of them. If I was infected too. Because I sat too- staring at what was left of Mrs Lewis. The bugs worked in harmony, crawling across desks and streaming into my classmates' ears.
But when I looked at Holly Henderson and Nick Jacobs, they were laughing.
“That tickles!” Lily squealed when one wormed its way through her lips, and nose. And then Lily started to come apart slowly, still smiling. It was like the bugs—the lice—were folding her inside out like she was one of my dolls.
Bugs erupted from her grinning mouth, her eyes, tiny legs coming from her head, before she, like Mrs Lewis—
Popped.
That’s what it sounded like.
Pop! Lily sounded like a balloon.
I didn’t look. I squeezed my crimson eyes shut.
But I still heard her. Them. I heard them writhing through the speckled pieces of Lily.
SKRRR. CH. CH.
When I lifted my head, kids started to pop like Lily. I was so busy staring, watching them disappear in shades of red, I didn’t notice Jasper had grabbed me and pulled me to my feet. The world spun around me and I blinked.
I felt like I was floating—flying, my feet slipping on the floor.
Jasper’s cry.
“Get them off me!”
When he opened his mouth to cry, there were holes on his tongue.
And the bugs came popping from his lips like maggots, gagging his cries.
Jasper was grasping hold of his head, cradling it, because he knew.
He’d seen what had happened to the others.
I didn’t want to look. I didn’t want to look. But I found my gaze flicking to the back of his head, which was— twitching. There was something there, something fighting to get out. The boy moaned, falling to his knees.
“Get them out of my head! Get them out!”
Jasper was crying, slamming his head into his desk, his trembling hands going to his neck— and I realised he was trying to choke himself, or more accurately, choke the crawlies bulging in his throat.
I remember grabbing hold of him, wrapping my arms around him. I don’t know what I was trying to do.
I think I was trying to pick them off him in the hysteria building and building—- I remember he hit the ground and took me with him. I was picking bugs from his face, trying not to look at his eyes, dancing pupils multiplying into ones and twos and threes expanding and shrinking.
I was staring at him, trying to choke out his name when I knew it wasn’t really him anymore. It couldn’t be. Jasper didn’t have three pupils.
“Jasper.” I was saying his name over and over again. “Why do you have funny eyes?”
I said it like a mantra.
I wouldn’t stop until he answered me.
That was before the bright red. It was hitting me in the face, and my hands were in front of me trying to find Jasper, but only clawing thin air. At my feet I knew he was there, like the others, glittering scarlet contorting beneath me.
And the bugs that had spewed out of him.
But I didn’t want to think about that.
I was going to pick the bugs off of Jasper. I was going to save him from Lily’s lice.
I was still trying to find Jasper when men in white came and pulled me away.
Away from my classroom filled with writhing black.
I was still trying to find him when they sprayed me with ice cold water.
When I was in my mom’s arms, she wore a protective suit, my face pressed against her visor.
“Mom, where’s Jasper?”
She didn’t reply, hugging me tighter. I could feel her gloved hands in my hair, feverishly flitting through strands.
When a man shaved all my hair off I didn’t complain.
The school was shut down, and mom and I moved to Canada.
I was 16 when I started growing my hair out again.
When I was 19, I caught someone scratching their head in college class.
I excused myself and went back to my dorm.
I spent hours going through my hair.
Checking.
I’m 23 now. It’s been 13 years and what happened to my fourth grade class—I’ve mostly suppressed. It was a virus, I was told. Except I knew exactly what it was. Lice. Lice that had turned my classmates into squiggling red.
I just remember squiggling red.
Yesterday, I was on the Subway to a friend's place. It’s the first time I’ve been in the US since I was 10. I could barely keep my eyes open and the light rocking of the carriages was sending me to sleep. I was squashed between a guy in ray bans with his head bowed, probably asleep, and an elderly woman with a dog. I was staring down at my lap when the guy lay his head on my shoulder. I wasn’t a fan of touching people in public, but he was warm and wouldn’t move when I tried to shove him off, so I left him.
I drifted off myself.
When I heard it.
SKRRRRRR CH CH CH.
My head jerked up, slivers of ice sliding down my spine. The train was still moving. I wasn’t dreaming.
I could hear people talking around me, a kid crying, and a teenager’s music blasting.
But it was still there. I could hear it. So close.
It was so… close.
SKRRRRRR CH CH CH.
Looking up, I realised something.
I’d never looked at the guy sitting next to me.
That was my first mistake.
My first mistake—and I can’t stop thinking about it— even now. Almost three hours later.
I can’t get his words out of my head.
As I scratch.
I keep scratching.
I can’t stop.
Because the guy sitting next to me wasn’t a stranger. Without his raybans when he slid them off, I recognised those eyes, and that stupid smile from all those years ago. His face had been carved with age—and adulthood had been good to him, a bedhead of messy light reddish curls falling in flickering eyes that drank me in feverishly—pupils that expanded and multiplied in twos, threes and fours. Jasper. When I jumped up, he reached and pulled me back down with strength that sucked the breath from my lungs.
“Well, would you look at that? We finally found you.” He said, his voice a mixture of a child and an adult—as well as an insect-like chitter. I could only stare at him, a scream clawing at my throat.
In the corner of my eye, I glimpsed blonde curls.
Another chitter, which Jasper reacted to.
Like a signal.
“Ten minutes.” He murmured, snuggling into me with a sigh. His whole body was writhing with them. I felt them tickling my ear. When I looked down, scuttling black dots ran across my shoes. “That’s how long it took for them to put us back together.”

"Me? Just a bed of no consequence, made for removing obstacles."
Shortly after two siblings were born, it was discovered that they were too smart for their brains to handle, with just them being awake running the risk of causing them to overheat. Put in a coma to prevent this, they made use of the dreamscape they found themselves in, only for the two to lose each other. The brother, known only as Bedman, set out to find his sister. Coming into contact with a person named Ariels, the contemporary embodiment of the Universal Will, and worked with her to create the Absolute World, a mass extinction event which would lead to the rebirth of a whole new humanity, allowing him to bring life back to all those he killed in the process. In doing so, the two created a complex sequence of events, using Bedman's incredible strength and intelligence to ensure their plans were seen through.

Legend

Move - Guilty Gear Xrd Gameplay
S-A - Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- Arcade Mode
S-S - Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- Story Mode
R-A - Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- Arcade Mode
R-S - Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- Story Mode
Strive - Guilty Gear -Strive- Another Story: Departure
In Strive, only Bedman's bed appears. While it acts in accordance to his wishes, it is never explicitly stated whether it is acting entirely on its own, if it's Bedman possessing his bed, and if the latter is true how much of its abilities can be attributed to either. To play it safe, all feats from Another Story will be listed under the Bed's section.

Fighting Ability

• Decommissions Potemkin while holding back^S-A
• Axl says he doesn't stand a chance against Bedman^S-A
• Is unsure whether he can break Sol Badguy while going all out, but gives him a close fight^S-A

The Bed

Strength

Striking

• Deflects Ramlethal's projectiles with its head^Strive
• Hits several people away^Strive
• Punches Baiken back, hitting her into an armoured individual and causing both to skid back a distance^Strive
• Damages the top of a train^Strive
• Punches stone ground and has its hand move through a large amount of it to get behind Slayer^R-S
• Clashes a punch with Slayer's, the strike creating a large shockwave around them and creating a large canyon between them^R-S
  • This was done with under eight percent of his power^R-S

Clashing / Blocking

• Clashes with Venom^R-S
• Parries a sword swing from Leo^S-S
• Has an extended clash with Baiken before making her skid back a short distance^Strive
• Clashes with before disarming Sin, who moments before deflected a large flying metal structure^Strive
• Blocks Slayer's punch, creating a shockwave around them, before cutting off his arm^R-S

Other

• Holds a person in the air^S-S
• Stated to be destroying everything in his path while attacking the Zepp base^S-S

Durability

Blunt Force

• Hit by a number of Gabriel's punches, which he claims will pulverise anyone within eight meters regardless of their speed or defensive ability, with its hand only starting to crack at the end^S-S
• Struck out of the air and back by Slayer's cut off arm^R-S
• Slammed into the ground hard enough to break it, though this incapacitates the bed^S-S
• Sent flying back a huge distance by the air displacement of Slayer's punch, slamming into a large amount of stone to break off smaller pieces and throw up a huge cloud of dust, though this does break off an arm^R-S
• Clashes a punch with Slayer's, the strike creating a large shockwave around them and creating a large canyon between them^R-S

Slashing

• Blocks a strike from Robo-Ky^R-S
• Blocks a slash from Chipp, skidding back a short distance after rushing towards him^S-S
• Unaffected by slashes from Chipp and Johnny^S-S
• Skids back a distance, seemingly breaking the ground where he was first hit, after behind hit by Leo^S-S
• Parries a slash from Leo, though this starts to crack the bed's hand^S-S
• Run through by Baiken's sword and is seemingly unaffected^Strive

Other

• Unaffected by Zepp Soldiers' weapons^S-S
• Appears to briefly be caught in an energy field before teleporting out^R-S
• Hit by an explosion from Robo-Ky exploding, with this knocking Bedman out of his bed^R-S
• Levitates immediately next to Bedman's sister when she was creating an area which would grind normal people to dust^Strive

Speed

• Teleports to dodge Gabriel's ranged punch^S-S
• Teleports away from Slayer's dashing punch despite him trying to hit Bedman^R-S
• Blocks an attack from Robo-Ky despite being unable to sense him^R-S
• Blocks Chipp's slash after he dashed in front of a charging Bedman^S-S
• Flies to catch the compartment of a train Baiken's standing on^Strive
• Briefly dashes FTE^Move

Physical Abilities

• Swaps whether its arms end in hands or spiked wheels at will^R-A
• Can extend the spikes on its hands^S-A
  • Does this to an individual spike^S-S
• Shoots the spikes from its hand with enough force to pierce into Robo-Ky, replenishing them shortly after^R-S
  • These create explosions when hitting a cliff face^Strive
• The arm stretches a great distance underground to get behind Slayer^R-S
• Has the bed itself turn into a spike wheel and rapidly spin to attack enemies^Move
• Creates an energy buzzsaw from the bottom of it^Move
• Can throw his head to act either as a boomerang, hurting opponent on the return trip as well, or so he can teleport to it^Move
• The head contains an alarm clock which can damage nearby foes^Move
• Rolls forward on its hand wheels^R-S
• Rocks back and forth^S-A
• Can appear as a regular bed^Move

Other

• After performing certain attacks known as tasks, leaves a symbol floating in midair where they were used reflecting them. With his Deja Vu move, an echo of himself using that move appears from the symbol, capable of hitting an opponent^Move
• Charges an energy beam which tears up the ground and takes out Slayer, Venom, and Millia^S-S
• Appears to use some kind of projectiles to destroy a large amount of spread out beacons^S-S
• Creates several energy bubbles around Bedman's sister to try and hold back her power through unclear means^Strive
• Can manifest a sheep of dark energy which, after a delay where it's a rough mass of energy, appears behind an opponent before stunning them on contact^Move
• Can hover in the air^S-S
• Puts Faust under 'some kind of hypnosis'^S-S
• Quickly regains an arm after it was broken off^R-S

The Man

Dreams

• Brings others nearby into his dream world^S-S
  • Does this from an unknown distance to bring people to the Nightmare Theatre, allowing Bedman to hold them there and fight them^S-A
• Intrudes on and takes over other people's dreams by being physically close to them^S-S
• Easily goes from a dreamscape with other people in to another area where he can contact his client^S-S
• Creates a landscape instead of the usual white void of the dream world, and claims to be able to make any wish come true there^R-A
  • While he can create a variety of phenomena, only killing a person has any lasting impact on the waking world^R-S
• Can kill a person in his dream from a great distance away, causing their waking body to collapse dead^S-A
• Creates an exact duplicate of a dog from the real world^S-S

Teleportation

• Teleports into a stage inside his dreams^S-A
• Dodges an attack by teleporting right behind his attacker^S-S
• Teleports into the air to dodge an attack^S-S
• Disappears from a ranged punch, and several seconds later reappears behind his attacker^S-S
• Teleports That Man away^S-S
  • He sealed That Man away in a dreamscape^R-S
• Teleports onto and around the Zepp airship base^S-S
• Presumably teleports Slayer, Millia, Venom, and himself a great distance after defeating the three^S-S
  • This distance is said to be between Illyria and close to Uighur^S-S
• Requires more time to prepare when teleporting longer distances^S-S

Physicals

Given Bedman is controlling his bed, all reaction speed feats from above can apply to him.

• In a dream, holds a person up by their neck^S-A
• Appears to briefly be caught in an energy field before teleporting out^R-S
• Hit by an explosion from Robo-Ky exploding, with this knocking Bedman out of his bed, before getting struck by a massive energy attack from Venom. He's conscious afterwards, but significantly worn out^R-S

Other Abilities

• With his Theatre of Pain Instant Kill, brings his opponent to a theatre where they watch a film of their nightmares, giving them a 'bad end' as Bedman watches on^Move
• Reads people's mind moments before they attack to assist with blocking or evading attacks^R-S
  • Can't read the minds of robots, with him not being able to sense Robo-Ky's presence^R-S
• Appears in-person as a distortion in the air^R-S
• Observes events occurring from a distance through a dream through unclear means^S-S
• Creates a barrier around That Man, with him being unable to break free on his own^R-S
• Jack-O' Valentine believes he's always asleep as, when he's awake, his mind overheats due to his physical memory being unable to keep up with the speed of his thoughts^R-A
• After taking a significant attack and waking up, Bedman creates a field around himself and Ariels which negates all of the latter's attacks, though (be it due to finally draining all his energy after Venom's attack, the stress of being awake, or a mix of both) he turns to stone and crumbles shortly after^R-S

Other

• Willing to kill a dog^S-S
• Breaks the fourth wall^S-A

Other

• Had all of his records erased through some means^R-A

"Ha ha ha ha, did I just raise some more questions? Two? Four? More? Exponentially more? Ha ha ha ha, oh, I'm sorry. To be frank, I'm a bit nervous. After all, even if I go all out, I may not be able to break you. That word, 'break'...being unable to break you, you are 'unbreakable'...that strikes me as arrogant. All things have a beginning and an end. But 'unbreakable' suggests an object has flouted those laws; discarded its natural limitations. Culture, civilization, everything humankind has created...even the idea of God. Destroy the laws, destroy the things the laws allow. Doesn't that seem unfair? Like how thinking too hard about something makes it MORE difficult? Instead of giving hope you take it away. We might as well discard 'morals' entirely! Anyway, I detest long conversations."

This is going to be one of my more serious, long posts, so strap in, as they say (though I cannot possibly detail out everything you might need to know. That would require at least three posts). To quote -- and set the stage through -- Dostoevsky (from Notes from Underground):
'Is it [history] many-coloured? May be it is many-coloured, too: if one takes the dress uniforms, military and civilian, of all peoples in all ages--that alone is worth something, and if you take the undress uniforms you will never get to the end of it; no historian would be equal to the job. Is it monotonous? May be it's monotonous too: it's fighting and fighting; they are fighting now, they fought first and they fought last--you will admit, that it is almost too monotonous.
In short, one may say anything about the history of the world--anything that might enter the most disordered imagination. The only thing one can't say is that it's rational. The very word sticks in one's throat. And, indeed, this is the odd thing that is continually happening: there are continually turning up in life moral and rational persons, sages and lovers of humanity who make it their object to live all their lives as morally and rationally as possible, to be, so to speak, a light to their neighbours simply in order to show them that it is possible to live morally and rationally in this world. And yet we all know that those very people sooner or later have been false to themselves, playing some queer trick, often a most unseemly one.
Now I ask you: what can be expected of man since he is a being endowed with strange qualities? Shower upon him every earthly blessing, drown him in a sea of happiness, so that nothing but bubbles of bliss can be seen on the surface; give him economic prosperity, such that he should have nothing else to do but sleep, eat cakes and busy himself with the continuation of his species, and even then out of sheer ingratitude, sheer spite, man would play you some nasty trick. He would even risk his cakes and would deliberately desire the most fatal rubbish, the most uneconomical absurdity, simply to introduce into all this positive good sense his fatal fantastic element. It is just his fantastic dreams, his vulgar folly that he will desire to retain, simply in order to prove to himself--as though that were so necessary--that men still are men and not the keys of a piano, which the laws of nature threaten to control so completely that soon one will be able to desire nothing but by the calendar.'
-
I would only add that he was rather harsh on the soldier and his general. Many-coloured, is he! The eternal shine of the ten million blades, the wooden hilt; the forgotten hammer, the ships of our forefathers. Ah! Such a pity to see nought in it but blood and sand -- now, that is monotonous. If man is to mean anything at all, it must be finding some honour in life... and death. War, it must be known, is the great stage-play of time. Surely, then, the warrior is the greatest (male) part to play? Otherwise, it's all for nought!
If you're going to, as the author, gift your setting a military and its honour, you have to actually put yourself inside the mind of the general, the trooper, the law-maker, the wife at home, the child in the street; otherwise, it's going to be a hollowed-out system, a mere mote. It does not matter to me if you believe in war or not, or if all war is just (certainly, it's not): what matters is that you do your setting and peoples justice, regardless of what they may find themselves. After all, this is your job as the writer, as the artist. It's your job to let your characters and their stories free, and follow them, as to see where they may lead.
I'm not even going to dig into the elements at play, such as brotherhood, inter-national conflict resolution, national defence, social structure, and physical fitness. These elements ought to be known to you all: they are some of the clear benefits to warfare and boot camp/training, in general. I have not yet found a defeatist army, for example -- or yet a nation without some kind of guarder force, vast or not. (Note: there are some claims that actual warfare did not exist until around 9,000 BC, but I find this very difficult to believe, and have seen some counter-evidence. For example, Jane Goodall and de Waal find that chimps go to war (raiding parties, sometimes wiping out entire tribes); and there are strong indications that pre-historic human tribes were war-driven, just on smaller scales, and often using wooden weapons (thus, no direct evidence is found). We know that modern hunting (and fire-making, and related matters) existed at least 1.5-2 million years ago, according to the books I own and more recent research. That's the entire history of humanity, ultimately. There is no way these spears and slings were not used against man.)
Well, a big part of space opera is, indeed, warfare (typically in relation to defence of the Good [nation] and psychomachy). Anyway, without further ado, I give to you...
Part One: A Brief History of Battles, Great and Small
Let's begin with Alexander the Great, because why not (though I could have started with Sargon of Akkad many years prior). Alexander's army was a powerful, fast-moving, and relatively small force of 40,000 men (equal to a Napoleonic corps or so). Often credited with inventing genius 'shock' tactics (the so-called hammer and anvil tactic) to overwhelm equally-sized forces. He even managed to break up, and then defeat, the vast Persian army under King Darius III (around 1500,000 strong). Alexander the Great's army is as close to the cinematic glory of 300 (2006) as you're likely to find. Soon after, Alexander was crowned King of Asia in a lavish ceremony.
Moving forward a few hundred years, at its peak, the Roman military possibly had over 500,000 soldiers across its regions (around 0.5% of citizens -- which is a fairly reliable standard across history) by 306 AD during the reign of Constantine I. Compare this to the Roman conquest of Britain under Plautius, with just a 40,000-man force (four legions and 20,000 auxiliary troops, including Thracians) in 43 AD. (It's also worth mentioning, if you're in a long-term space war, individual companies, legions, or otherwise could stay outfitted for as long as 500 years at a time without issue. The Roman Legion, Legio IX Hispana, for example, existed for at least 150 years, and led the conquest of Britain. And, within the Warhammer 40,000 universes, a single Space Marine sees battle for about 400 years before he's KIA (killed in action).)
During the Battle of Hastings in 1066 AD, each side only had upwards of 5,000-8,000 men (around 15,000 in total). This was actually a common trend, from what I found: equally common was the notion of 'law of war' and related, which meant that each side wanted to be roughly equal to the other side. This is one of the most profound discoveries of my life (more on this later). (The Japanese invasion of China, for example, taught me that having too much control over your enemy leads to madness -- there must be an innate drive to some sense of honour, fair challenge in war-making. When men are without equals, they become titans, as it were. And, if you know anything about some of the Greek titans: they were not very friendly or sane.)
Around this time (960-1279 AD), the Song Dynasty of China had a remarkable standing army of over two million men, and made use of tank-like carts and newly-invented 'grandes' (known as 'thunder crash bombs'). However, this was financially exhausting, but it was sometimes capable of fighting against invading Khitans, Jurchens, and Mongols, largely thanks to the great iron industry. Individual battles, however, were quite small.
By the time of the First Italian War (1494 AD), Europe was really starting to take its modern shape, and there were hundreds of what are ultimately power struggle wars and rebellions across Europe as we moved out of the Middle Ages. This was the opening phase of the Italian Wars, which existed between 1494 and 1559 AD. The Battle of Marignano was the last major engagement of the War of the League of Cambrai (aka the wars between 1508 and 1516 AD, within the Italian Wars. The main participants were the French, Papal States, and Republic of Venice) and took place in 1515 AD, southeast of Milan. The Battle of Marignano pitted the French army, led by Francis I and the best heavy cavalry and artillery in Europe, against the Old Swiss Confederacy (within the Holy Roman Empire -- this was the precursor of the modern state of Switzerland), whose mercenaries until that point were regarded as the best medieval infantry force in Europe. The French had German landsknechts (mercenaries famed for pike and shot formations) on their side. The French won and suffered just half the losses, and did so with a fairly stronger force -- possibly 35,000 men compared to 22,000 on the Swiss side. This led to the Treaty of Fribourg, which established the 'Perpetual Peace', and ensured good relations between the two nations for nearly 200 years. This event is largely what led to Switzerland's world-famous diplomatic autonomy and militaristic neutrality. Nonetheless, this battle -- and countless others at the time -- saw similar numbers to centuries past: roughly 20,000 on each side.
Part Two: An Introduction to Military Divisions & the Numbering System
Enter Maurice de Saxe circa 1710 AD, whom you can thank, at least in part, for the modern military system, largely due to the major increase in soldiers by the 18th century, and his advanced thinking in response. A major battle felt by a young de Saxe was the Battle of Malplaquet during the War of the Spanish Succession. Battles pressed on in this manner, and at some point, de Saxe began to write about it. He wrote Mes Reveries, a profound work on the art of war, which was published after his death in 1757 AD.
He had the grand idea of reshaping the regiment system into large 'legions' (modern divisions), so that the effective officers were not wasted on smaller, single regiments. These divisions would consist of four regiments and would have a more even mix of veteran soldiers and new recruits, as well. On top of this, he -- along with some other key theorists at the time -- had the idea of simply numbering the divisions and regiments, replacing the traditional system of naming them by their commanders or by locations/regions: because that's a very temporary, rigid system that only works for small, tight-knit groups. The divisional system also allowed soldiers to climb the ranks, and effectively learn from the veterans.
The regimental system shatters command structure and weakens mobility, despite the fact you have smaller, often lighter units. Too many small, separate, disorganised units is highly ineffective when you're dealing with large armies, and quite an advanced enemy (be it the British or Prussians, in this case). What de Saxe noticed was a failing system of rigid tradition. He also hated this sort of grenadier mentality of the 17th and 18th centuries, as it displaced all the strongest and most experienced soldiers. Of course, de Saxe was not against the existence of grenadiers: the strongest soldiers, leading the assaults, such as storming fortifications. He simply wanted to evenly spread them out across all the regiments, and legions, so that every single unit was an effective tool. (This grenadier concept actually survives to this day, as a grenade launcher specialist of a typical four-man fireteam (traditionally, sharing much in common with WWII-era shock troops), and you see it all the time in movies, where he is still typically the biggest, strongest of the team.)
Battles were increasingly crossing the 100,000 mark in terms of soldier count; whereas, not long ago (that is, around 1650 AD), the numbers were more likely in the range of 20,000 for most battles, other than a few outliers.
Then, de Saxe died before he had the opportunity to actually implement his system, though the Duke de Broglie led some successful experiments with it during the Seven Years War, but it took until the French Revolution for the 'division' concept to be enforced, systematically. This ultimately fell at the hands of the French Revolutionary Army.
Enter Lazare Carnot. Like de Saxe, Carnot saw that some regiments were full of veterans, whilst others -- namely, the new revolutionary brigades -- were filled with barely-trained recruits. And, like de Saxe, his solution was to separate out the veterans and embed them within these new brigades. More importantly, he embraced de Saxe's idea of the 'division'. The new demi-brigades (regiments, as the Revolutionary Government hated and removed the term regiment) would be combined into brigades, and brigades would be combined into divisions. Later, under Napoleon, divisions themselves were combined into corps (which is and has always been the highest level of operational units for actual combat, with all units larger than corps being purely administrative, with a clear exception being Napoleon's Armee (i.e. modern field army), and a few other, smaller army groups).
This wonderfully created an intermediate level of control between the general and the brigade commanders. The Revolutionary Army became at once an army of mass and mobility. This allowed the army to move faster and more decisively than their enemies, who were still commanding at regiment or brigade level.
Full implementation of the divisional system was not realised until the French Revolutionary Government, in their centralising and anti-aristocratic ways, when they decided to entirely remove the old system of naming regiments after their commanders. They saw all of this as part of the 'ancien regime' (i.e. 'the System' or 'old system', language also used by Hitler in relation to what he called the 'Weimar Republic'. Not uncommon language from any new system). The second factor at play was that the French Revolutionary Government also didn't like the idea of merely naming regiments after regions of France. The final factor was scale: the Army was larger than ever, which made it very difficult to give specific names.
As a result, the Government began numbering their units by the late-1700s. Although the Roman legions themselves had been numbered, and de Saxe argued for it many years prior, some scholars believe that this was purely an administrative decision. (Obviously, your naming convention can be more on the religious/traditional or seculamodern side, depending on just how the entire system is set up. Warhammer 40,000 is a good example of a more Roman-inspired system, despite its far-future nature, so it's not uncommon to find very traditional, religious naming conventions within Warhammer 40,000, coupled with simple, administrative systems. And, again: Nazi Germany and other 20th-century powers, such as America and England, also shifted towards numbered and/or lettered systems for pretty much everything. Not shockingly, this is heavily featured in sci-fi, as well.)
Part Three: Napoleon & the Birth of Modern War:
Although the concepts of the 'corps' and 'battalion carre' (that is, four corps) existed, they were also not implemented until the time of Napoleon in the early-1800s. He began grouping divisions into corps, making the largest units in history -- equal to entire armies of older periods (three divisions and some cavalry regiments, for upwards of 30,000 men). He commanded dozens of these corps (I think, around 20 of them for his Grande Armee when he invaded Russia in 1812 AD -- or, 500,000-600,000 men, equal to the entire core Roman military at the height of its power).
Napoleon's genius -- despite his supreme failure to invade Russia -- was ensuring that these corps were typically independent fighting units. This meant they were self-sufficient armies unto themselves. This allowed for a vast force, without the whole system becoming sluggish and disorganised. Of course, as with Alexander the Great before him, this ultimately led to major decentralization and failure once the leader is defeated; thus, without a singular ruler, and without endless success, the entire system breaks down (unless there is something else binding them).
Nonetheless, by now, all the European powers had adopted the divisional system. The first British divisions were established by Arthur Wellesley in 1809 AD, for example. The Napoleonic corps system then became standardised, as well.
On the other hand -- and other side of the world -- the U.S. had its own 'legion', wholly separate from the European divisional evolution. They were independent units for the western wilderness, not sub-elements of a larger army. The U.S. finally adopted a more European system by WWI, however. (Mostly because the U.S. was simply not a large enough force yet, though it did have some major battles and unit examples.)
Regardless, the primary building block for all was still the regiment or division. This remained true through WWII and beyond.
Part Four: The Four Spatial Forms of Sci-fi
I shall skip modern history, because it's -- shockingly -- not much different to older history. This further tells me that there are some universal themes and elements to warfare, unless something changes beyond measure. As of 2023 AD, the basic building block of most armies is still the regiment or division, and 'shock' tactics, of smaller units are back in style, and have been since the 1960s or so. (I do have a few things to say about WWI and beyond, but I cannot fit it in this post, and it's not required reading.)
Technically, there is a fifth: space warfare proper (an admixture). But, we shall simply focus on the four primary. I use the term 'spatial forms' because I don't know a better term. See below.

• Space as an ocean (navy propeoceanic)
• Spaceships as submarines (navy/subaquatic)
• Spaceships as tanks (army/ground)
• Space as air with less stuff (air force/air)

You find, and should focus on, one of these as the primary mode (at least). This is true in most combative and non-combative contexts. All are workable and interesting, and have some notable examples, mostly in film/TV and novels. There is much psychology connected to each, and some innate differences to consider; and you have to think about such in relation to your nation/culture, as well, and their pre-spacefaring history.
An interesting, real-world example is America's Space Force. This is fundamentally army-and-naval driven (i.e. Marines), despite its primary air force-like nature in simple terms of the vessels and how it would function in a war. This is evidenced by the fact its ranking system and such is built around the Marine Corps. I guess, that means, going with American Marines (a complex admixture of both soldier and sailor) is not such a bad idea in sci-fi. We all know this is a decent idea, anyway, and it's seen heavily in sci-fi since the 1940s (hence, the term 'space marine'). Other marine forces are fairly in line with this, as well. The typical route here is space as an ocean. The ships are merely carrying the marines to their location (planet or otherwise). You see this with Star Wars' Stormtroopers (though I did not mention such above, I shall now: this stems from late-WWI when Germany created new advanced tactics for storming British trenches. But, most of all, it speaks to Hitler's Stormtroopers, fused with some kind of space marine position; thus, we end up with Lucas' forgetting Stormtrooper force). (Of course, the Rebels of Star Wars and the Empire's TIE Fighters go with the space as air with less stuff trope. And, there is a general sense of both army and navy from the Empire. You rarely get the 'submarine feel', in this case.)
Star Trek (at least, the original) takes the spaceships as submarines trope much of the time (other than the fact, their ships are far too wasteful, volume-wise -- but that's mostly for filming purposes, so I can accept it). I actually love this mode (though I don't care for Star Trek's version so much).
Battlestar Galactica (new series), among others, seems to take a mixed view.
Which form or mode you run with, primarily, really depends upon the exact setting, culture, story, theme, and style you're going with. I suggest figuring out which you want/which fits best, and then trying to stick to that singular vision as much as possible. To get ideas, you can research as much as possible -- both real science/history and fiction.

Updated May 2023
I recently changed Reddit accounts and it's been about a year, so it seemed prudent to repost this for visibility. :)

Link to the Below Zero guide

https://subnauticamap.io/ - This is an interactive map of the crater. However, be warned that it will show the general location of things you need to find. This can be toggled but if you have zero point of reference for the places mentioned in this guide, this map should provide one.

General tips are at the bottom, however, they rely on you having played at least part of the way through the game so I don't recommend checking them until at least part 3, AKA "Going Traveling"

Subnautica is a game primarily about exploring your environment while overcoming the trepidation that the game sets up in you over doing so. Although there isn't a perfect guide to being able to clear the game, there also isn't an unambiguous path of progression for the player, either.
Consequently new players often find themselves at an impasse in terms of progression and where to go. The following is a no-nonsense, straight to the point guide on how to progress, but it's not a bible. You can do most of this just by exploring and wandering around.
A blind playthrough is critical to the first time player experience. This is often true of every game but for Subnautica it makes or breaks the whole story - you need to have no idea what the hell is going on the first time you clear the game. If you spoil it for yourself you will regret it, please believe me in this. This guide is meant to give you a nudge when you find you don't know where to go next, it's not really meant as a walkthrough, even though it can be used as one. Do yourself a favor friends, don't go wandering /subnautica or the wiki too much and this guide will not lead you astray. It is written specifically for brand new players.

The Beginning

When you first arrive on 4546b, you find yourself with basically nothing. You're hungry, thirsty, your lifepod is broken and your cookies are gone. The Aurora is burning (and you nearly did too) but despite all that, you're alive and this planet is about to get some Ryley in it.
The environment around you has most of what you need to get started. The metal scrap strewn around the shallows provides an easy source of Titanium while you can break limestone and sandstone to get the minerals you need for your starting tools. You'll want the quartz you find for glass.
Although you have a number of options for making equipment, at this stage I don't recommend using resources for the air pump or pipes. Truth is they don't really have much use; they create a breathing line from the surface for when you're diving, but they're expensive and there's better alternatives in your near future.
Once you have a scanner and knife, take the time to scan everything you can. All the local wildlife can be scanned and most of the flora.
Your objective at this point is to build a repair gun, knife, seaglide, flashlight and scanner.

Branching Out

Now that you've got your basic tools and you can get around a little, it's time to begin exploring. At this point you've seen the deeper waters on the edges of the kelp forest.
It's time to go take a look.
The red grassy plains have what you need to progress to deeper waters. You'll want to explore the wrecks there. There are four grassy plains surrounding the shallows at compass points and cave systems exist in three of them which will become relevant later, but are largely out of your reach for now. It is out here that you will find fragments necessary for an important task you must complete soon. Raiding the aurora will require the laser cutter you learn to make here. You'll also want a propulsion cannon, which you can find the fragments to near the side of the Aurora. DO NOT GO AROUND THE BACK OF THE AURORA. SERIOUSLY. You are not prepared for that level of giggling insanity yet.
By now you've fixed the radio and may have triggered the sunbeam event, in which case you will want to go follow that. Give yourself the full span of time to go to the island and explore unless you'd prefer to explore after the event, but don't let yourself get distracted by what you find there and miss the ship arriving. The signals you've been getting are important prompts and need to be checked out when possible, so make sure you take the time to do that. Also, when you go to either island DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACH. DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACH. There is a real risk of it phasing through the ground and becoming inaccessible and then you'll end up on this subreddit asking how to get it back like the other 5 guys a week. Seriously.
Also note that bringing an ion cube to the top of the mountains caves will let you do something interesting up there, but I won't be specific. A scanner room at this spot is ideal not just to track the reaper leviathan on the eastern side of the island but there is quite a lot of shale and lithium here as well, which is probably something you're gonna want.

Going traveling

At this point you should have a seamoth, your basic tools, a laser cutter, propulsion cannon and lead suit. You are prepared. It's time to go to the Aurora... but only if you've gotten the communication from Alterra with the captains door code. Otherwise, you must wait for that radio event. You can go explore the ship anyways of course, but not having the code means you can't get into the captains room, requiring you to go back and get it later. So it's up to you. You can open the door anyways if you get the code off the internet or something but since the game gives it to you anyways, you can always wait for the prompt. If not, the door code is 2679
If you have a cyclops I don't recommend taking it, since reapers hang out at the front and back ends of the ship. However, a seamoth is small enough to fit through the broken superstructure of the ship at the front and thus avoid this danger. There are two ways to access the ship and although it seems impossible, you CAN in fact climb up to access the open one. Otherwise, you can use the prop cannon to move the debris out of the way of the door near water level. Be sure to take the time to explore inside and use the carry-all bags to leave stuff you want to keep from the ship out the front so you can come back and pick it all up later. There's lots of useful stuff in there.
As a side note here, the leech-like things that annoy you in the reactor room are called Bleeders. I hate Bleeders personally, but I noted that if you grab one with the propulsion cannon and fling it into the wall out of sheer spite then other bleeders will be attracted to the body, which makes grabbing and doing the same to them quite easy. Clearing the entire room of those little #*([email protected]'s only takes a couple minutes.
You can get the codes for various rooms inside from the PDA's you find. Also note that some doors can only be opened once you repair them. Sometimes the Aurora glitches and these repair sections don't work but because the ship has two entrances, you can always go around the back to clear the whole thing, which is... annoying. If you don't mind being patient, leaving the Aurora and doing other things for awhile will reset the wreck, allowing you to come back later and potentially be able to repair the doors then.
The codes for the ship are:
Cabin No. 1: 1869
Captain's Quarters: 2679
Cargo Bay: 1454
Lab Access: 6483

Time to go down

With the Aurora repaired you have the ability to wear things other than the lead suit, so it's time to chuck that in the trash 'cuz you won't need it again. It's time to get the outer wrecks in the zones beyond the shallows and hoo boy ain't that gonna be an experience.
The cyclops is your friend here. But what's this, you don't have a cyclops? Well, that's okay. You may have found one of the engine fragments on the aurora in the cargo bay but if you missed it, it's not really a big deal. Your next objective to build one is to go explore mushroom forest and the underwater floating islands for the fragments you'll need. If you've been following your radio signals you've probably been to the aurora rendezvous point by now, but if not, take the time to go thoroughly explore that island. One of the PDAs you need to find the next place is not at the degasi base, but on one of the paths of the island near an arch of rock. You'll need to explore the island thoroughly to find it. Make sure to scan everything and bring back plant samples if you have a seabase. You can use plant pots to keep food trees on your cyclops for easy access to food without worrying about curing everything all the time.
Once you have the cyclops, you need to take the time to upgrade your seamoth to depth so you can explore the various wrecks, supplement your PDA database and establish yourself properly for long-term operations. At this point in the game you should be aiming for or already have:
A seabase, even a basic one. A couple corridors with lockers are invaluable for storage and operations and the scanner room is MISSION CRITICAL. If you haven't built one yet, get on that!
A seamoth, either at or being upgraded to 500m depth
Knife, flashlight, repair gun, seaglide, scanner, laser cutter, propulsion or repulsion cannon, rebreather
Be sure to check everything, then check it again! It's easy to miss things on the island. Be sure to check the buildings on the tops of the hills there too. Although it would be nice to be able to plant land beacons (hint hint, Unknown Worlds), it's not feasible for marking out the precursor gate on the floating island so unfortunately, it's not of much use unless you have your base on one island or the other. I don't recommend the floating island for this for reasons which will become apparent later in the game.

Looking into the abyss

If you've explored most of or all of the wrecks and no longer have missing technology, it's time to go deeper. If you've been following your PDA signals you need to check out the degasi bases and follow their story, as they lead you to a large, deep cave which is the path to deeper places you need to explore.
There are several inlets to the place you need to reach. Northern Bulb Zone where it meets Mountains has a large entrance. Blood Kelp Zone and Trench both have entrances. The last one is in deep grand reef, where the final Degasi base is. I personally recommend either Deep Grand Reef or Bulb Zone but the latter has the most accessibility.
Raiding the final Degasi Base before exploring this cave system will get you the orange precursor key which you'll need to access something hidden at the southern end of the caves near blood kelp trench's entrance. While working down here I strongly recommend making liberal use of beacons as navigational guides if you're new to this place. It is VERY confusing and looks very same-y if you haven't spend a lot of time here.
Deep inside the caves you'll come upon a chamber with a massive skull sitting on a chunk of land in the middle and access to a slightly lower part of the cave system which is not green. This is the Cove Tree Cave and the brine there will not hurt you the way the green brine does. This leaves you able to free dive there to gather materials without needing to rely on your prawn.
This chamber with the skull is, in fact, the central chamber of Lost River. It is an excellent place for building a scanner station and the entire area is ludicrously rich in resources. It's a perfect place to stock up and catch up any upgrades, tools or devices you may be lacking so far. You'll want the resource stocks for later and honestly, it's just a really cool place to have a base in general.
The Disease Research Facility is in the north-eastern arm of Lost River, accessible through the Bulb Zone entrance. A juvenile ghost leviathan guards the path but as with most leviathans, operating in silent running and staying above or below it while sticking to the cave walls will get you by without any issue. If they do notice you, just pop a decoy, go full speed for about 5-8 seconds and then drop the engine to low and stay in silent running until you get far enough for the big ugly to stop bothering you.
The southern part of Lost River holds a large chamber with a ghost leviathan juvenile and houses another rather large skeleton. This area in particular is rich in large ore deposits and crystallized sulfur that you'll be needing for some big upgrades.
By the way, remember the cyclops shield? By now you're probably noticing that using the auxiliary functions on the cyclops eats a lot of power. Redundant power cells are your friend and if you feel you're worried about power costs while exploring, you lose nothing by having a buttload of spare power cells. It can pay off, being able to spam the shield for awhile and run away.
You'll want that shield for what's coming next.

Once More Unto The Deep

By now you've probably explored Lost River a bit and you're wondering where to go from here. If you've built a scanner room in the central chamber, you'll have noticed that the scanner, when at full range, shows a chamber below Lost River.
This is the inactive lava zone and it is here your answers lay.
You have two access points to reach this chamber. The North-east arm past the disease research facility and the cove tree caves. Both entrances are equally difficult to get through but the first one feels more open, if you don't mind the ghost leviathan circling around above the opening.
This chamber is rich with even more valuable resources, if you somehow haven't got enough already. The cove tree cave entrance leads to the western part of the ILZ chamber. The North-east entrance leads to the north edge of the chamber. The chamber itself is rather oval-shaped, with the western edge of it relatively empty and the eastern part containing a massive lava bubble.
If you wander around down here long enough the PDA will prompt you to take a look at that bubble a bit more closely. You will need two purple precursor keys to access the facility inside. Now that you're down here you'll notice there's a fair number of warpers, crimson rays (who are harmless) and leech-like things which will attach to the hull of your ship and drain power. That sounds like a problem, doesn't it?
Don't worry though, we got you covered. Once you're down here, go grab some kyanite and you can build the cyclops thermal reactor which pretty much eliminates the whole running out of power problem. The shield is a great way to get the leeches off your hull at the same time.
As for the leviathan, the sea dragon isn't actually a whole lot of threat. It might spit fire at you and is capable of picking up and biting the prawn but will mostly ignore you if you don't go hanging out in front of it.
With that said, treat it like any other leviathan while in the cyclops. Drive slow, keep an eye on it and if it gets curious, drop a decoy and move away ASAP. Cutting your engines once you've gotten a little distance will almost always make them lose interest.

But Wait, There's More!

If you've explored the inner depths of the lava bubble, then you have the blue key, ion battery plans and have opened the portal to the QEP. Great! Now coming down here in the prawn isn't a big deal and you don't have to drive the cyclops all the way down here to go grab resources. A small scanner base down here would be great for quickly finding what you need.
As you can probably guess, there's an even deeper chamber than this, which is the active lava zone. You can find the entrance by following the lava flows around the ILZ and keeping an eye on the floor. You'll find a large space big enough for the cyclops to lower down into.
Down here you'll find 2 sea dragons to avoid, so don't you get conservative with your power. By now you'll probably have built ion power cells and those can run your shield and sonar together for a full 5 minutes with silent running going so don't be shy about using them!
Getting into the alien base down here will require two blue keys, one for accessing the facility, the other for accessing the inner facility. It is here you will find the ion cube fabricator which requires the prawn. You can use this to open the warp gates in the facility. Six ion cubes in total are required for this. Four for the warp gates on the upper floor and two in the Sea Emperors tank. One of these leads back to the upper floor, if you find you're struggling to get back out. This gate in particular is about halfway up the tank at the back and sits on a large ledge. An ion cube is provided to activate it, giving you a way to walk out of the tank if you find you're struggling to get out.
And... that's pretty much it, really. After that encounter you'll know where to go and what to do. The paths laid out for you in the final facility lead you to the places you need to go to find the things you require.

Tips and tricks

• Keep floaters in your cyclops. When you're operating above 500m, running out of power, floaters will allow you to passively bring your ship to the surface without power expense so that you can resupply it. This is pretty much a last ditch move but it never hurts to be prepared.
  
• You can fit up to 8 basic plant pots in an observatory, which will grant you twice the amount of growing space as an indoor grow bed for the same amount of floor space while also making the crops more easily accessible.
  
• The engine comparment of the cyclops has a lower deck behind the vehicle bay which everybody ignores, but it's a great spot for plant shelves and marble melons for food security.
  
• Load your vehicles. Dedicate storage in them to supplies. Water, food, medkits, beacons, flares (bonesharks and crabsquids react to them) and spare power supplies for the vehicles. Keep this kit supplied and you will never be caught unprepared for an 'oh crap' situation.
  
• Okay, so you don't want to give up inventory space for your vehicles. The next best thing is then to fill a watertight locker or two with food, water, medpacks and maybe a couple spare batteries and power cells, then drop them someplace with a beacon next to them. Do this a dozen times in random spots around the map as you travel and now you have emergency caches you can access if you get into trouble.
  
• When you reach the point where materials gathering is easy, consider creating vehicle-creation drop points. 2-3 spots on the map with a mobile vehicle bay, a couple lockers with everything you need for a new seamoth and some basic supplies. If you lose your vehicle, it's a lot easier to make a replacement and get the mats than to get the mats to make a replacement.
  
• The propulsion gun is your friend. Use it to grab items to pick up, use it to grab cave crawlers and yeet them into low orbit, use it to pick up rocks and fling them at things you particularly don't like. Use it to collect gas pods from gasopods without getting hit by the cloud. Use it to move debris in wrecks. Bring a spare battery specifically for it because flinging things around uses a lot of power but the sheer utility of the tool makes it worth the cost.
  
• You'll be tempted to deck your seamoth out with all the toys but the truth is once you have the prawn, it's obsolete. Don't fall into the temptation of continuing to build tons of upgrades for it unless you plan to use it for a fast-fetch vehicle for things you need from far away. However, with that said, the seamoth is really the superior vehicle for wreck-diving.
  
• Keeping a second air tank in your inventory and swapping them mid-dive is a perfectly viable option. However, the tanks only refill when wearing them, so make sure to switch again once you're back in breathing space. This can and will save you when wreck diving and two ultra high quality tanks equals 450 seconds of air in total, or 7m30s of air.
  
• Speaking of air, you can use the air bladders alternate use key (F on PC - the same button for self-scanning) to get a few seconds of air out of it into your tank. It's not much - 20 seconds or so - but sometimes, that little bit extra can save your life if you're just out of reach of your vehicle.
  
• You can collect flora and fauna samples as you progress through the game and have a garden base specifically for growing plant samples from around the crater. Obviously this looks really nice (creepvine in an alien tank under the floor provides the room in your base with a nice golden glow) but is also useful later.
  
• SCANNER ROOMS. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE. If you're struggling to find the magnetite, go to Jellyshroom. If you're struggling to find Jellyshroom, always remember that lifepod 17 is directly next to one of its exit points. The range upgrades are incredibly important and the HUD chip makes the whole thing work.
  
• Farm supplies! You don't need to work or power anything to grow crops. Consider dropping a foundation with some growbeds, a beacon and your farmables (gel sack, creepvine seeds, creepvine samples, acid mushroom, blood oil and deepshrooms). Now you can stock up on things like batteries, rubber, lubricant, benzene, polyaniline. Keep a few of these crops in your cyclops for planting in new spots and never run out of the stuff you need while keeping your home base nice and lag free.
  
• Creature decoys can be deployed both by hand and by prawn propulsion arm, which lets you pull items out of your inventory to 'throw'. You can also do this with the propulsion cannon by using the F key (the alternate tool use button, the same one you use to self-scan, for all you console folks).
  
• Turning off your engines greatly reduces the chance of a leviathan damaging the cyclops, even if it's right on top of you. Moving is what gets their attention. If one is swimming near the sub, cut all engines and just wait patiently for it to get a little distance, then silent running and max speed for a few seconds. Pop a decoy for good measure if you want to make absolutely sure.
  
• You can access the right side of the Aurora relatively safely by going south to Crag Zone and then banking east into the deeper parts of crash zone. Most of the reapers are up by the ship, sticking to the bottom will keep you relatively safe and net you as much titanium as you will ever need.
  
• Blood kelp zone, the sea treader wreck and the meteor crater in Dunes all have secrets that you may find interesting.
  
• Remember the Bleeders in the reactor room of the Aurora? Bring a grav trap along - they're cheap, it's disposable - and enter through the top door by climbing along the wreckage up there. Pop the grav trap in the reactor room and kill one of them with the propulsion cannon - the others will come for the body and be stuck in the trap, making picking them off much, much easier than it would be trying to find them all individually. You can just leave the trap behind. If you have the stasis gun, you can wait for them to stack up in the grav trap, stun them, then drop gas pods amidst the several bleeders and watch them get bodied.
  
• Gas pods 'o doom also work against leviathans. They work against EVERYTHING. You just need a lot of them, but getting a lot of them is really easy with the propulsion cannon (which can fire them too, by the way).
  
• Reefback barnacles are a good source of copper and silver, but beware the tiger plants on their backs. If you have a reinforced dive suit, tiger plants can't hurt you, but without one they're a pain. You can yeet them with the propulsion cannon. That trick works for drooping stingers too.
  
• Beacons everywhere. No seriously, everywhere. You'd be amazed how few people use them as much as they ought to be used.
  
• Eastern red grass plains has deep caves with a type of plant which can only be found in a few select spots on the map. Bulb Zone's lifepod has caves with some nearby and the Dunes also has some, but a Reaper is guarding them. If you do manage to find the spot though, it's GREAT for rubies!
  
• Scanner room cameras are a good way to keep track of nearby leviathans. They also force the terrain to load, which is required for the scanner room to actually pick things up. Stalkers will snag the cameras and move them around, but they're pretty useful for quickly getting the scanner room working right. The wildlife ignores the cameras too, so if you want a really nice picture of some creature you really hate getting close to, they're a great way to get it.
  
• Breed some stalkers, release them outside your base next to a pile of metal scrap and never worry about finding teeth for glass again. Barring that? Drop a random beacon in the kelp forest and wait for a stalker to collect it, follow it back to their stash and drop a grav trap.
  
• Light sticks can be good for wreck diving, as are flares. Flares provide much better lighting in large open spaces than the flashlight or seaglide. It makes them a good alternative to the flashlight in the early game.
  

• DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACHES. DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACHES. DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACHES.

• The following is a list of zones where one can find particular ores. It isn't a complete list, but will allow you to find everything you need in a timely fashion:
  

Lithium - Jellyshroom, Bulb Zone, Mushroom Forest, Lost River
Loose Lithium - Mushroom Forest, Mountains, Grand Reef, Shale, lost river
Magnetite - Jellyshroom is the only biome with large nodes
Loose Magnetite - Jellyshroom, mountains, cove tree cave, blood kelp zone, lost river
Rubies - Dunes, Spare Reef Caves, Lost River, Grand Reef, Underwater Islands
Diamonds - Lost River, Shale, Inactive Lava Zone, Sea Treader Path, sometimes caves
Table Coral - Shallows, Lost River
Copper - Mushroom forest, blood kelp zone, bulb zone, lost river, limestone, Inactive Lava Zone
Silver - Crag Zone, Mountains, Lost River, sandstone, Inactive Lava Zone
Gold - Jellyshroom, Blood Kelp Zone, Lost River, sandstone, shale
Lead - Sandstone, mountains, crash zone, lost river, Inactive Lava Zone
Titanium - Crash Zone, Dunes, Limestone, Lost River, Inactive Lava Zone
Metal Salvage - Crash Zone, Crag Zone, Kelp Forest
Kyanite - Inactive Lava Zone
Crystalline Sulfur - Lost River
Nickel - Lost River
Uraninite - Blood Kelp Zone, Blood Kelp Trench, Lost River, Inactive Lava Zone, Grand Reef
Quartz - Dunes, Crag Zone, Lost River, Inactive Lava Zone, Red Grassy Plains
If you're reading this guide and have any suggestions for additional information, feel free to share them for the next iteration.

Good luck, survivor!

Welcome back to Advent's Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc. and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible!
The Genius Creator of A Wild Sheep Chase, The Wolves of Welton, and To The End of Time is back at it again with another amazing One-Shot! A Most Potent Brew brings together a group of rookie adventurers on a classic adventure; clearing out a cellar from some rats. Things take an unexpected turn though and lead them to their first dungeon! This level-one adventure will take your players into the depths of a brewery, that turns out to be connected to an abandoned mage towers basement. Will your players survive their first adventure slaying giant rats, centipedes, and more?
Coming in at approximately 2 hours of play, this is the perfect one shot to show new players what D&D is all about, without overwhelming them with a 6hr+ sessions!
Thanks to this One-Shot's popularity, countless maps have been made. I took the time to collect the best ones that I could find. My notes currently work best for the original map and Alternate Maps 2 and 4; however if you would like me to adjust the notes to be able to run smoother with the other maps, please let me know in the comments below! If enough people are interested, I'll begin work on those immediately!
\Average Session Length: 1.5 - 2hrs*
Without further ado:

• Google Docs Notes for A Most Potent Brew: DM Notes
• Link to: A Most Potent Brew + Original Map and Mosaic Puzzle Handout (Credits: Winghorn Press/Richard Jansen-Parkes)
• Link to: The AAA Collection

Included in The AAA Collection is:

• A Word document with all my notes including links to music tracks for ambiance and fights
• Special PDF for the encounter. This includes the enemy stat block organized neatly along with an initiative tracker and a spot to mark HP
• Multiple Custom Maps!
• A Playlist for every scene

Index:
Other Fully Prepped One-Shots, Adventures, and More:

• The Wild Sheep Chase - Click Here
• Death House - Click Here
• We Be Goblins - Click Here
• The Egg of Estyr - Click Here
• Wolves of Welton - Click Here
• To the End of Time - Click Here
• A Most Potent Brew - Click Here
• A Wild West One-Shot - Click Here
• The Drunken Treasure - Click Here
• A Grimdark Adventure - Click Here
• D&D vs Rick and Morty - Click Here
• The Tavern at Death's Door - Click Here
• Dragons of Stormwreck Isle - Click Here
• Shadow of the Broodmother - Click Here
• L'Arsène's Ludicrous Larceny - Click Here
• The Night Before Wintermas - Click Here
• The Lost Mine of Phandelver - Click Here
• The Secret of Skyhorn Lighthouse - Click Here

As always, If you see something you think I can improve, add, change, etc. please let me know. I want this to be an amazing resource for all DMs and plan to keep it constantly updated! If you'd like to support me, shape future releases, and get content early feel free to check out my Patreon!
P.S. I just unlocked Yearly Subscriptions! If you'd like to unlock every piece of content I've ever released, get 2 months free, and receive exclusive Annual Member fully prepped One-Shots check this post out!
P.P.S. I've just started releasing my prep work for The next Mini-Campaign Dragons of Stormwreck Isle; by the end of the month, The Lost Mine of Phandelver will be moving from The Adventurer Tier to The Hero Tier on my Patreon. If you're looking to save money and would like to support me, consider subscribing now to receive the entire Lost Mine of Phandelver Prep!
Cheers, Advent
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As required by the subreddit here's the text; however, I highly recommend either using the google doc link or the Word doc in order to get the most up-to-date and properly formatted version including color coding! (Reddit is really weird with formatting and ruins it at certain points) Not only that, but you'll be able to leave comments right next to specific spots and I'll be able to easily update it!
P.S. As of about a month ago I'm no longer able to simply copy and paste my google doc into Reddit with all the formatting included. I have no idea why this has happened, if anyone has any advice please let me know. In the meantime click here for the fully formatted text.
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A Most Potent Brew
A Level 1 Adventure
Play Tavern Ambiance
As you all enjoy a pint of ale with your new found companions, you realize that none of you have properly introduced yourselves just yet.
Why don’t you each describe your characters
Perception Check (Highest Roll)
As you finish up chatting, you see the Bartender head over to the notice board and nail in a new flier
Upon taking a closer look at the flier, it reads: In need of those well-trained with a weapon to exterminate exceedingly large vermin, speak with Glowkindle at the Wizards’ Tower Brewery. 100gp reward (25gp per party member)
If players ask for directions
Persuasion Check DC 10
Advantage if they offer a drink
The Wizards Tower Brewery, oh that’s simple it’s a couple of miles out of town, just follow the dirt road and you’ll pass right by it.
Play Travel Ambiance
You follow the directions you’ve been given, trudging maybe a mile or two out of town along an old dirt road that winds its way up a low hill. As you near the top, a large stone building comes into view, flanked by a couple of barns. By the door is a brightly painted sign that reads ‘The Wizard’s Tower Brewing Co. For the Freshest Pint in the Realm!’
If Players walk right in (Play Alternate Tavern Ambiance)
You enter a building infused with the smell of hops and beer. It’s extremely clean and well-organized. A few humans and Halflings, dressed in white shirts and tight black trousers held up with green suspenders wander about, checking on barrels and vats of bubbling liquid with no sense of urgency.
A fairly young looking Gnome, who sports an impressive beard looks over to you.
GlowKindle: Yes, yes how may I help you? We’re not currently running tours right now.
After a moment of confusion you can see his face turn to a smile.
All those weapons are quite lovely, you don’t happen to be adventurers who saw my job posting do you?
Perfect! Well my name is Glowkindle, why don’t you come in and join me for a drink and I’ll explain everything!
If Players knock
As you knock on the door and wait a few moments, it’s eventually answered by a fairly young looking Gnome, who sports an impressive beard, as well as a white shirt and tight black trousers held up with green suspenders.
GlowKindle: Yes, yes how may I help you? We’re not currently running tours right now.
After a moment of confusion you can see his face turn to a smile.
All those weapons are quite lovely, you don’t happen to be adventurers who saw my job posting do you?
As you follow Glowkindle, you enter a building infused with the smell of hops and beer. It’s extremely clean and well-organized. A few humans and Halflings, dressed much like their boss wander about, checking on barrels and vats of bubbling liquid with no sense of urgency.
(Play Alternate Tavern Ambiance)
You continue your way to a small bar set up in the corner of the brewery where he offers you all a seat and begins to pour drinks for each of you
This is our Tashalar Pale Ale, it’s a nice hoppy summer ale. I hope you enjoy it.
Now onto business. I suppose I should start when this all began. We’ve been doing fairly well for ourselves and were looking to expand our operations. In order to do this, we first needed to expand their beer cellar.
We had some workmen down there, digging out some extra room, when they uncovered an old wall. As far as we could tell it may have been a remnant of some long-forgotten ruin.
Curious, we knocked a hole in the wall, only to be attacked by black rats the size of dogs! Big dogs too, not poodles, you know? Which emerged from the darkness on the other side.
We all managed to escape with nothing worse than a few cuts and bruises, but the cellars are completely unusable. If we have any hope of getting production starting again, we need the giant rat infestation dealt with.
Now that’s where you all come in. I’m not sure where the rats came from, but the brewery took its name from the old Wizard’s Tower that used to be on the site, so it may be something to do with that.
If you find out where they came from, take care of the infestation and make sure we won’t have any surprises like this in the future, I’d be willing to pay each of you 25gp
Players agree
I can’t thank you enough, follow me to the cellars.
Glowkindle leads you to a hatch in the floor of the main brewing area. Lifts it up and peers into the darkness below.
Play Dungeon Ambiance
Beer Cellar
The wooden stairs creak as you descend into the cool, dry air of the cellar, which is infused with the smell of beer and damp fur. Somewhere in the darkness you hear the scrabbling sound of claws on floorboards and a faint squeaking noise.
If players have darkvision or shine light
It’s difficult to make out the entire area at once, the floor is taken up by barrels and casks of beer. The only clear area is towards the far side of the cellar, which has a dirt floor littered with stones and workman’s tools.
You’re actually able to just make out make out the hole in the wall mentioned by Glowkindle as well
Enemies (Play Combat Music 1)
8 x Giant Rats
DC 10 Perception to spot or surprise round
After 5 die the rest will flee
As you tear down yet another vermin, you watch as the rest flee in fear through the hole in the wall…only to be greeted with screeches of pain moments later, followed by complete silence.
Mosaic Corridor
Through the hole in the wall you can see a dusty stone corridor, its floor lying around a foot below that of the cellar where you stand. Over to the left you can see the start of a staircase buried in collapsed masonry, earth and rubble that block the way completely. To the right the passage heads around a corner, but on the wall you can just make out what appears to be writing in a clear gold script.
When player asks about writing
As you make your way to the gold script you can see that the passageway continues to the left and ends with two doorways, one heading left and the other straight on. In front of you is a 20 ft. section of floor covered in a mosaic that depicts a rural scene. It shows the sun, the sky, a hillside, and a river. Each showing the scene at a different time of day. You also notice that two halves of a Giant Rat seemingly cut by a giant blade lie on the river section of the second panel.
The writing on the wall is engraved in a golden script that appears to be shining slightly, even in complete darkness. It’s written in Common and reads:
"Dawn breaks with stirring air, As sun shines down on new day fair
Answer = Air (Sky)
"Midday blaze bakes earth and grass, The farmer waits for heat to pass
Answer = Earth (Hill)
"Evening cool brings water, wine, Drink and laughter passing time
Answer = Water (River)
"Night sees shining, roaring fire, as wood and coals burn on the pyre"
Answer = Fire (Fire)
Players must stand on correct portion of each tile in order to not activate trap
DC 12 Dex Save or
1d10 Slashing damage
Activates each time player steps on wrong panel
Well Room
In the center of the small room ahead of you is a large stone well, topped with a wooden handle and the rotten remnants of a heavily frayed rope that descends into the shaft. In the far right corner, the ceiling has collapsed slightly, and a narrow shaft of weak sunlight shines through a narrow hole. To the far left is a plain wooden table, crusted with dirt and dust and laden with old plates, buckets and other strange pieces of tableware.
DC 12 Perception
You’re able to find that several of the old plates on the tables are made from tarnished silver.
Set of Silver plates – 50gp
If Players aren’t stealthing
3 x Giant Centipedes (Play Combat Music 2)
As you make your way through the room looking about, you begin to hear a scuttling sound from inside the well. In a flash the wood covering the well shatters. The first thing you see is antennas moving frantically from side to side, followed by a massive pincer-like mouth. As it exits you count 2, 4, 6, 10, 20, 50, 100 plus legs skittering all about, excitedly looking for its next meal and these 3 giant centipedes are quite sure they’ve found it.
Will attempt to knock player unconscious and drag them into the well
Well is 50ft deep, with 10ft of water that will break fall
The Lab
The door opens onto what might once have been a lab or workroom. To your left sits a moldering desk and the shattered remnants of alchemical glassware, while the center of the room is dominated by a set of tall bookcases arranged back-to-back. All around, however, are scorch marks and signs of countless small fires. The air is filled with the smell of smoke and burned meat. The wooden furniture is blackened and burned in places, while what may once have been a pile of books has been reduced to ash. Singed traces of what may be webbing hang from the ceiling. As you enter you feel something crunch beneath your feet - glancing down, you realize that it’s the charred hindquarters of a Giant Rat.
1 x Giant Inferno Spider(Adv on Stealth vs player perception) (Play Boss Music)
As you peer around attempting to find what could have caused all this damage, you begin to hear a scuttling sound just above you. You feel something drip on you and burn your skin. You look up to see what and as you do the entirety of the ceiling begins to glow, no…not the ceiling, the creature itself. What appears to be magma like blood courses through its veins of this 8 legged abomination that’s latched onto the ceiling. The tip of its abdomen glows brighter and brighter as it releases an onslaught of burning webs at you.
Roll for initiative
As you lay your final blow into this creature it lets out a screeching hiss, you’re unsure if it comes from the creature's pain or the steam escaping its body. Its legs slowly curl in on itself and all that’s left is the lifeless carcass of this mutated arachnid.
DC 12 Perception Check
Taking a look around you can see that most of the books and equipment are charred and falling apart rendering them completely unusable. However; there is one thing that stands out. A single book atop the bookshelf appears to be completely undamaged.
Spellbook
Contains: Detect Magic, Identify, and Arcane Lock
Storeroom
The rear wall of this small room is lined with sturdy-looking wooden shelves. Clearly these were once laden with bottles and glass vials, but over the years many of these have been reduced to glittering shards of glass on the floor. There’s a flicker of movement among the wreckage and you see a small black rat lapping up the last remnants of liquid left in the shattered remains of a dark blue bottle.
Perception check
Taking a closer look at the broken bottle that the rat is drinking from you notice that it has the torn remains of a white label affixed to it. The writing on it reads ‘-tion of enlargement’.
After one minute rat will turn into a Giant Rat and attack
Giant Rat x 1 (Play Battle Music 4)
You’re also able to find another smashed and empty bottle on the floor with a partial label reading ‘Essence of Fire Ele-’.
Lastly upon looking at the shelves you notice that a few bottles are still fully intact. There’s 3 bottles, each with different colors. One Red, One a clear liquid and finally one containing a greenish liquid.
Potion of Healing
Potion of Invisibility
Potion of Vitality
As you make your way back, following the reverse order on the mosaic tile trap and finally reaching the exit to the cellar, you see the bearded gnome pacing back and forth anxiously. Upon seeing your faces, his eyes immediately light up!
Play Tavern Ambiance
You’ve made it back I see, I heard so much noise down there. I’m so glad you’re all in one piece! Please, please, tell me what you found out. Here follow me I’ll have one of my workers grab us another round of drinks!
Questions he’ll ask if players take a while to recount things or are unsure what to say.
Were you able to clear out all of the vermin?
Do you have any idea what made them so large
Where did the tunnel lead you all?
Thank you all so much for your help, this is truly a day to celebrate! Not only is the cellar cleared, but there’s entire rooms that can be dedicated to storage down there. We’ll be able to expand and become the largest brewery on the Sword Coast!
As promised, here's your reward of 25gp each, I added a little bit extra for your trouble (35gp ea). Also any time you have the urge to wet your whistle feel free to drop on by. With what you were able to accomplish here today, I can tell you have a bright future as adventurers and I’d love to hear those stories!
With your first successful adventure, you all exit the brewery, excited for all that the future may hold. Will you continue on together and make a name for yourselves or was the constant threat of death, dismemberment and nearly being eaten a bit too much for some of you. Only time will tell, but those stories are for another time. For now you head back home a tad bit richer, slightly worse for wear, but with an experience you’ll never forget.
And that is where we’ll end tonight’s session!
Special Thanks
NihilVerum322X
Tim
James
And to all my Patrons!
Without your support, none of this would be possible! Thank you so much!!!

Alien-Nation Chapter 168: Now or Never

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Chapter summary: Elias wanders the grounds inspecting everything he can, has a fatheson moment with Larry then sends Vaughn to go try and spring people from jail.
Chapter Art
It had been easy for me to see during the speech I'd given roughly how many had already arrived up the narrow pass, and as I stood from inspecting a firing port in a trench, testing whether the old cast iron cannon would roll back far enough on its rails after firing.
I gave it a pass after measuring against a rod. Certainly it was far from the highest of technologies at our disposal, but certainly it would be either lethal, injurious, or at the very least, extremely loud. The gathered mishmashed array of weaponry pointing outward was impressive enough, but the real piece de resistance was the sheer number of railguns we'd had returned to us, frequently carried by a two man team. I signed off on it for final inspection, noting the plug in place over the end, and went to the railgun positioned further down the trench near the intersection.
This was one I recognized. This shared at least something in common to the cannon, insofar as it was far from the latest model at our disposal. I spotted some of my own extremely crude handiwork, a far more rough set of welds performed along the plate's protective, unsanded metal edges. Mister Singer, if he were ever presented with it, may have recognized the shoddy, unstable hand that welded together some of the protective casing. The service flap told me the model without needing to even open it, the household door frame hinges pulled from Verns' stock of spare parts bin, before we implemented something even so basic as refined latches with catch points.
That had to make this a Mk. II. Sentimentality had no place on the front lines. I sucked in a breath at the sight of another old muzzle-loader being carried into the workshop for upgrades, already laid out on the timber worktable and ready for use.
I just hoped the earliest design of managing power flow wouldn't give out from the faster firing. Complex but beautifully arrayed piping had given way to simpler, more streamlined designs as we incorporated a greater number of readily available alien parts. Some of which we were supplied an initial batch of in the bag with the blueprints, and then we were told how to work free those same parts from various broken pieces of technology we'd reclaimed off the Shil'vati, or even the freely given away omni-pads. With every iteration we demonstrated a degree of adaptation to using the parts we had available, and each generation marked a leap forward in our own understanding of Shil'vati technology, courtesy of G-Man and his father's handiwork.
The final barrels of the extremely limited run of the second batch we'd paid handsomely for were marked 'present,' too. They had gone the least far afield, with one already slagging itself during the attack on the data center. I frowned at the spreadsheet, as if my impression of it might cause their fate to improve.
The latest blueprints could maintain a decent rate of fire without burning out its power management system located in the welded together case. Or, rather, the barrel gave out first. For the first time, perhaps as a result of being coupled with the magazines and a relatively rapid-fire exchange meant the neosteel barrels we received had finally become the weak point in the design.
It was only after we'd returned to Camp Death that I'd noticed the difference.
The new batch we'd paid dearly for seemed somewhat altered from the first batch we'd been building all the others out of, made from an alloyed material that shone somewhat dimmer under the sun as George and I worked in the shed elbow-to-elbow, though the contrast was not immediately obvious until one held the two against each other. It was slightly thicker, too, all of which to me indicated a change in supply in some manner, but our supplier had hardly announced themselves to Sam.
This was a troubling puzzle to me. I still couldn't be sure it was the new microbatch of barrels alloys being far from equal to the originals we'd finally finished building out? Or was it the expanded magazines and power couplings' ability to fire faster creating an overall volume of fire that overheated the barrel from overuse? Or was the power management design faulty, generating more heat per shot? Were we misusing them?
I measured the barrel of the Mk. II, just to be sure the shelf life of the barrel hadn't come due. So far, inspections of the original batch of barrels had mercifully indicated they'd all been brought back here were in comparatively great shape, with this one being no exception. That lent me some comfort that these new barrels were just not up to the task of heavy, sustained fire. I couldn't know that for certain, and an unreliable weapon was cause for anxiety.
Indeed, there was almost no wear on this version at all, disproving the worst case scenario that these were only good for a certain number of rounds before they'd be worn down to uselessness. Certainly, they'd eventually give out, but it seemed we were still far off from that point.
"Sir?" Asked the gunner, staring at me.
I stared at him, then down at the spreadsheet. "This thing fires three rounds a minute. Do you think that rate of fire is sufficient?"
I could tell he wasn't sure whether a 'no' would have him replaced with someone professing to be more accurate.
"Get it upgraded." I took the white gel pen and scribbled on it- make ready for an upgrade as soon as the final repaired railgun clears the shed. Assigned to casemate #4, Operator... "Call sign?"
"Brut," he answered.
"Brut...with the Umlaut?" He gave a thumbs up and I added them. Costing nothing but a drop of gel ink for a little personalization if it made for a happy gunner was a good investment. "Use it well. Get it upgraded if there's time, keep an eye on the work shed. Once the repairs stop, you can take this to the front of the line, Brüt."
There was no point dismantling all our old ones and creating a backlog while some still needed repairs. I wrote on the hatch Upgrade from Mk. II to Mk. IV. That would give it a magazine and more than triple its firing rate. Anything more than that, I quietly held my doubts for the feasibility of upgrading in a timely manner. The Mark V's took too much time and effort to build their complex power management systems for not enough gain, stuffed too tightly into the protective case to be completed quickly. The Mark VI's tended to overheat their crude fire control circuitry, the consequence of an overcorrection back to simplicity; they could maintain a high fire rate, but were too delicate. The VII's were the ones with the new barrel. Promising, but those barrel faults...I still worried it might have been the power management system.
We'd started considering adding water tanks to help maintain them, but it brought the weight higher than that of a Mk. I, and successfully swapping a boiling hot tank off a delicate, electronically-loaded railgun in combat seemed like a very questionable use of the time. We'd just have to ask the crews manning the railguns to be a bit judicious in our fire, and hope that the flaw was limited to the new little batch of barrels.
How many rounds, exactly, and exactly how fast was yet to be determined; we hadn't conducted the amount of testing a proper military might carry out, but while we had no shortage to man, we also did not have so many as to test dozens until their point of failure, weighing and comparing all their possible conditions.
All this uncertainty kept bouncing around my head. How many troops did we have here? How many rounds for every type of rifle, including the more exotic variants? How reliant on them were we to deal damage, and was it all stored somewhat safely? On the less direct side of things, how many tons of food did we have stored, and was it distributed well? How many thousands of gallons of water could we draw? How many pounds of soap to wash utensils, cups, wounds, and shower with? How many pounds of food over how many men, to last how many days? If it rained, some of these might be alleviated, and yet might kick off a whole host of other issues. There was no way of knowing, no way of taking a perfect stock. But I could estimate.
We had a lot of people. And a lot of guns. And a lot of defenses, and literally countless tons of high explosives, triggered by various means and methods. And we were mad as hell. While exactly how mad was less concrete a figure, I knew this many men away from home could end poorly.
Ultimately, whether it was the fault of the new barrel or the design had finally reached the limitations of its potential rate of fire without causing other issues, I couldn't say for certain. So I had to do my best.
I gave the railgun a clean bill of health to operate if needed, 'priority upgrade,' and noted the rate of fire for the defensive position at 'three a minute.' This one being one of our oldest models, I left it to the operator with my blessings, and made a mental note to add the next railgun we had to be stationed nearby, just so that we weren't under strength from that angle.
I craned my neck from the trench to behold even more insurgents trickling into the old clearing. The arrivals always came in ones-and-twos, their body language telling me the story of the journey it had taken to get here. They'd had to have abandoned their vehicles to the traffic-snarled roads almost certainly some miles away unless they knew the path George and I would occasionally take;.
Those who brought their own heavy weapons lay them down at their feet before collapsing. Water and food was distributed, though I couldn't speak to the quality, and a trash run would have to be made, tossing the empty tins into ammunition containers.
Of all the newcomers who had yet to be organized into place, I counted two mortars, several more volunteers grouping up to retrieve ammo after taking down descriptions of the vehicles from their exhausted owners and sprinting back out into the night to fetch whatever had been left behind.
The resourcefulness lifted my spirits. No one entertained the notion that these men were taking their leave to flee a certain doom. All present felt some degree of faith, understood who they were, why they were here, and what we were setting out to accomplish. Cells worked to find one another in the darkness, congealing themselves into a more coherent, practiced fighting force by virtue of familiarity with one another. Discipline was sharp and needed little enforcement past an initial reminder. No flashlights switched on inside the premises or campfires were lit despite the encroaching edges of the cold front. Insurgents were guided to whatever defensive positions, pillboxes, trenches, battlements, or bunkers still sat empty, depending somewhat on their expected role after detailing their skills to sentries or those otherwise familiar with the camp carefully explaining sight lines and our overall defensive strategy.
Whispered word overheard from those arrivals seemed to indicate a mixture of panic and outrage was fast spreading through the state's populace, carrying them on frightened wings as they took flight in the night, from here to the southernmost beaches and bays. It seemed word had gotten out successfully, then. That knocked down one more obstacle to our success, or at least set the pieces in place. Soon, all that would remain would be the ugly business of following through, and hoping, no praying that I hadn't massively miscalculated in my hubris.
I took the ramp out of the trench so they could pour some loose gravel into it, helping ensure that if those threatening looking storm clouds opened and if the drains clogged, we still would have some footing, and retired to the command cabin, eyeing how empty it felt with all the finished products being set into defensive arrangements; only the workshop still retained all its rather explosive concoctions.
The manpower situation was such that those familiar in reliably manufacturing complex bombs were spending their time setting up defenses in the fields beyond and settling in our new arrivals.
And then I had the couple hostages, weakened by months of captivity, restrained and kept under guard, but still sitting right on top of the half-done armaments.
I told myself that we had taken precautions- the most reactive sets separated by a thin membranous bag of water to prevent chain reactions from taking root and a few emergency containment systems, but they relied on someone present. I'd need all hands on deck- and what if a direct lance of energy landed from some heavy weapon hit the shed, perhaps to try and make a point? No mere bag of water would make a difference then.
Then again, if they brought that kind of weaponry to bear, then the outcome would be certain. The Shil'vati would still lose their hostages, and have tacitly admitted I'd forced their hand, and that they'd declared we were enough of a threat to sacrifice noblewomen just to put a stop to.
I hunched over a smaller map in the command cabin, pinning down the garrisons and jails Verns might be held in. Perhaps I'd been premature in my assessment in lacking a future need of a good map when I'd jumped atop the table for my little motivational speech. I'd gotten caught up in the moment; I hadn't foreseen the need for an offensive element.
I was sorely missing my Lieutenants. Vendetta wasn't here, which was one of the greater anxieties weighing on my shoulders.
The one word I'd whispered in his ear all that time ago to bring him around to believing I did, in fact, have a plan: Victory. He should be here already.
He'd sprinted off across the field in glee back when I told him of this plan's possibility, that "Plan C" might come about due to a few cells going dark and my suspicion that it wasn't moles. The null hypothesis, that there were in fact moles, had put him in direct danger by sending him to double-check.
I cursed my blindness. My eagerness to take a night off, to get him out of the way so he wouldn't clash with the others, so I could be a 'normal boy' for a night and attend a party- one I wouldn't be kicked out of, To find social acceptance.
All part of a 'coming of age,' even after I'd already spilt blood, led a war campaign effort, kissed, earned more money than most would see in a lifetime, and mentally cut ties with my family. By almost any account, I already was a man, yet I'd gotten obsessive in imitating the modern trappings of defining such things. I should have seen the cells reporting members' absences and even going dark as a whole for what it was. I could have called off Town Hall, started assembling even more people here.
Then again, if I had, then perhaps...the shil'vati might not have started grabbing everyone. I hated to think of Verns as 'sacrificial.' They likely didn't have much on him, just a neighbor's report. Then again, we'd had that meeting right after the bar fight at Lucky's, right? How thoroughly had George cleared out his house, if they went back to rummage around and investigate? How well could George cover his tracks? We'd left that ammo crate in the hallway, for starters- clumsy of us, yet we were in a panic. Like children. I tensed as I remembered so vividly the sudden sharp report of the gun, watched Patrick's empty eyes stare up. But not children.
There was nothing I could do for Vendetta. We'd sent the Bat Signal out. Either he'd be here, or he'd miss it.
I weighed the value of sending George away once he got here. The order would certainly annoy him after he'd just arrived, something of an arduous task given how far backed up the traffic had become. I also knew it meant I'd have one fewer lieutenant here, where I desperately needed him. I could hardly ask him to burn down the childhood home, and it would certainly reek of hiding evidence.
"Sir," A sentry stood in the door frame, and I stretched from where my muscles had tensed up, pulling my shoulders back and yawning silently beneath my mask, lumbering toward him.
I didn't realize how tall I'd gotten until I realized he was staring up at me and had taken a half-step backwards- not to make way so I could lead from the door, either, but almost defensively.
"Yes, what is it?" I asked, stopping in place.
"We've received a message for you, sir. Radio is reporting that a 'Hex' has checked in from her position. She and Binary report 'Green as Grass,' sir."
I wasn't used to being called 'sir,' and it caught me off guard. I realized he was standing there, waiting for a response from me of some sort, too.
What should I say for him to send back to Hex? I momentarily remembered the sensation of the kiss, the warm, slightly wet softness, the tenderness, and felt a bit of a blush under my mask. While every instinct screamed at me to not air even a hint of my romances or inner turmoil about a kiss over the unencrypted connection, there was a level of 'not talking about it' that I was unfamiliar with and hadn't planned for. Could my message back be coded into something subtle? Nothing came to mind.
"G-good," I finally stuttered a little awkwardly. "That's very good."
"What does it mean, sir?"
I pushed the distractions out of my head. This was no time to be thinking about girls- and my mind stubbornly disobeyed, wandering right back to Natalie. At first to the hug she'd offered me, when I was scared. Frightened of the mind-wiper device. That tenderness she'd offered- I pushed the memory from my mind, too. This wasn't the time to fantasize, either. I had to live in the world that was before me, here in the present. People were relying on me. I could figure out all that other stuff- girls, hope, my future- sometime later.
"It means the operation can proceed as planned."
If the Twins stopped reporting or got caught with the hostages, then we'd have a lot less leverage stopping Azraea from blowing us all sky high. A couple noblewomen- who I wasn't terribly familiar with and seemed to be somewhat less important, provided they were truthful to me of their station. This unfortunate pair had relied on connections to already-stationed family members to arrive, rather than on their raw political power to muscle their way to Earth's then-closely guarded secret coordinates, and were present only for evidence of said hostages' presence.
"Sir, beg your pardon," I could sense something bubbling under his words, against his better judgment, but some sense of desperation demanded he ask me this anyways. "But what is the operation? I've been manning the airwaves with Radio, helping spread word, but everyone I make contact with seems to want to know."
"I don't see the wisdom in broadcasting the finer details of our plan, I'm sure you understand."
I sensed the inner conflict by the way he froze up. He wanted to object, probably, to swear he wouldn't leak more than the minimum. The problem was, anyone listening for long might take a morsel here, a morsel there, and bring it all together and undo us.
"You have all you're meant to have at this point, frustrating though that must be to try and inform others of the going-ons. Our objective is right before us. When the time comes and the enemy appears, blast them." I didn't want to say there isn't much else to plan. At least, not for them to consider.
"And you, sir?"
"I'll be right here, alongside you," I promised. That seemed to ease some of his pressing curiosity, at least. "We'll be here together, to watch the birth of a miracle." That, or we'd die together. Those words didn't quite have the same catchy ring, though.
I looked over my shoulder back at the map. What more good could be wrought over pondering what jail he might be in, without more details?
"Another matter. Hex said G-Man should arrive in a few minutes."
"Thank you. Anything else to report?"
"No sir, the shortwave beckons." They gave a hand-on-heart and stepped out, leaving the doorframe empty.
I told myself I may as well follow. There was no good to come of disappearing into a tent, secluded for long periods, not when anxiety might run through the gathered troops. I had to make myself seen at least periodically. Besides, it was easier to get a more complete picture from out here than in there.
Radio looked like a one-man-band by the way he was surrounded by boxy electronics of varying sizes, their glows dimmed slightly by thin pieces of fabric taped over the tiny glowing screens, and the trap stretched over his head. Wires snaked their way along the ground, a trooper trying to lay the cable into a thin channel of dirt with a spade to reduce the tripping hazard.
Pierce crouched next to him with a laptop plugged into something wired together, the final outlet of which looked vaguely like an international travel inverter, her fingers flying across the trackpad.
"Radio, how are we?"
"We've made lots of contact, I think. So much traffic on the airwaves it's actually hard to find a clear channel to broadcast on."
"Do they have our encryption keys?" I asked, the question almost automatic.
"No, having one kind of defeats the purpose of being heard and getting the signal out. Besides, encrypting's probably easy for the Shil'vati to crack. Less easy for human intelligence agencies, but impossible for the people who we want to hear us."
I already knew most of this, but humoured him. Little entertained radio quite like his namesake.
"What's our chance of discovery, then? Rough time to them figuring out it's us here, and finding the signal's origin."
"At least with a somewhat uncountable number of HAM signals being thrown across the airwaves, we are a really big needle in a gigantic haystack. Besides, how many times have we actually been where we're broadcasting from?"
That was a point I hadn't considered.
The Shil'vati would likely regard our signal as just a relay point, rather than the source, let alone the destination.
Would they strike it just to silence the orders, once they figured out how many of them were originating from the same point?
I comforted myself by staring upstream of the creek that wandered to the south of Camp Death, following its course with my eyes to where it flowed under the concrete tunnels under the highway, under the train tracks, to where it ultimately ran back to where Radio and I had visited Saint Michael's. Then I turned my head back across the field, toward where the foundation of Mojo and Mister Pasta's had been, where Vaughn had called in the kill team on the Fed's sting operation,
We'd certainly set up plenty of remote broadcast towers before, to entice them into launching strikes on collaborationists. That Saint Michael's was still standing after we'd broadcast all kinds of propaganda from there meant they'd almost certainly learned to be a bit more cautious about lashing out blindly.
In the darkness I saw a familiar figure materialize, and with a bit of relief, I ran up to greet Larry. I wanted to give the old mechanic a hug, but knew that expressions of intimacy while standing near the middle of the camp's defensive perimeter in front of everyone was more than a bit inappropriate, and settled for a nod of acknowledgment.
"I cleaned up the mess at Jules place," he said, going back to referring to his friend by their code name, glancing at Pierce.
I felt a moment of shame. We'd panicked and grabbed everything. Perhaps we were like children after all, leaving our toys out and in the hall. "Thank you."
"Saw Patrick."
"Patrick saw," I said back. "Patrick- called."
Whatever Larry was about to say, that brought him up short. "Oh. Oh." The words seemed to leave him pained. He'd known Patrick, too, and I felt the weight of guilt. It seemed he moved on faster than I could, because he changed the topic quickly.
"What's up?" He gestured at the radio setup.
Pierce seemed to be quite engrossed in her work, trying to connect the laptop to a radio via a USB cable, fumbling with the port in the dark. The laptop's screen was showing a shaky handheld video of a mass arrest- and I thought I could hear my own voice echoing the words I'd spoken just a short while ago.
"Just uploading the speech. I've spliced it up to some footage that one of the newcomers brought. We'll also be exporting raw versions of both- just the audio, the video, make sure people have the record and can decide for themselves."
Sometimes the truth was the best propaganda.
"How are you getting video out? I thought the internet was down."
Radio held a hand up, and then put it down, as if I'd been a teacher asking a question and he'd been chasing extra credit. The next few sentences were practically a foreign language to me, uttering a series of numbers in rapid succession, followed by what sounded like a name. That may've been a model, an edition of a model, a make, a special form of broadcasting- all of it may well have been bounced off the ionosphere for how far it went over my head. I wasn't used to being so completely out of my depth, but everyone seems to have specialized in some skill or another. I'd preferred getting involved in all aspects of the revolution, but at a certain point delegation was a necessity, and I was watching not just the task's needs, but also the capabilities of my lieutenants grow well past my ability to offer useful insight and guidance.
"I...see." I didn't, but I wasn't sure what else to say. I wanted to express curiosity, but I felt like this new capability was something we'd discuss later, if there was a later. "And people can receive high definition video over shortwave? It just takes a long time?"
It seemed to me to be an apparently somewhat technical process to perform over shortwave, and only when finally pressed for details, Radio at last admitted something I did understand: "I am not sure most people know how to collect the signal, or have the right equipment to, but I'm sure someone will, Maybe that person will redistribute the videos."
There. Actionable, useful information.
"Then continue," I said. "At least unless anything more pressing jumps up to do."
"Let's hope it's good for more than the history books," Pierce commented mildly.
"The world has to know, and I am certain the shil'vati have no interest in putting such footage out there. That's reason enough for us, isn't it?" I watched Radio nod and then scurry about the camp, tracing one of the wires toward the antenna array nearest the highway. I turned to Larry, breaking off from the amusing spectacle. "Do you remember my promise?" My question was genuine, but he seemed to waver slightly, now that the possibility of actually delivering on it was here and present. Perhaps the aura of our inner circle's invincibility had been shattered with the loss of his neighbors, and it would be best to set his mind to something productive. "If you want it to come true, see to it that the mortar teams are trained. Get the cannons in position, and make sure we're good for more than just one wave."
Larry snapped a salute, fingers on brow, and I clumsily approximated one in return, though I had never done a salute before in my life. I could sense the slight smile from behind his mask, and with a quick check over his shoulder that no one was watching, he reached out, straightened my palm out slightly, then brought the edge of my palm higher until it was a bit more level. "That's better," he judged, then leaving me alone once I dropped the hand a few seconds later.
George showed up a few minutes earlier than Hex had predicted, out of breath and escorted by a sentry. "Ditched the truck," he wheezed. "The huge bags of claymores and equipment were really heavy. Had to haul it under the interstate." His shoes shone with creekwater; He'd almost certainly taken the path Larry had forbade us from trying, and I couldn't imagine doing it in the pitch black darkness at any speed.
I motioned to the sentry. "Help him get that bag into the workshop." He was the best bomb maker, but he also had helped build this place. I wanted to pick his brain, but I would give him time to rest, first.
"Hey, Radio. Radio!" I heard the shortwave radio he'd set at the top squawk to life with a familiar grumble on the other end, distorted somewhat by the tinny speaker. I scooped it up. Someone with a vocoder- Radio gave those out sparingly.
"'E' here," I answered for him, but didn't want to announce myself. Not right away.
A moment's pause.
"What are your orders?"
"Vendetta?" I wanted to confirm.
"I'm here with over fifty people waiting at Warehouse Base for something to do," I knew the transmission would likely be monitored, but the time for subtlety was over. "You're on speakerphone, by the way."
The line was likely tapped, or at least would be intercepted, its contents determining priority for being passed upward or presented to someone with authority, possibly even Azraea herself.
Whatever orders I gave, they'd have to be in code, or at least sound like something unimportant, low-priority so that we might give him as much opportunity to get the drop on the enemy as he could be afforded.
"Don't bother trying to come here yet," I quickly supplied. "By now, if you're not on your way here, you have your own party to go to." I took a moment to survey the grounds. "We've practically got a full house. See about getting a house party of your own, though you'll have to pull the guests out of their own company. Or something to flank."
"Any idea where to start?"
The map fresh in my mind, I found the answer sprang to me.
"There's a rest stop along Route One. If you've got any party poppers, you can get them to open up to you like a can opener. You know, it's all about introducing yourself well."
I heard him laugh mirthlessly, the sound coming through like a cheese grater run over the asphalt.
"That one's a big bite, maybe more than we can chew without choking. Why don't we start with something smaller?"
I wanted to protest, to direct him to the biggest ones first. Then again, how much did they have on Verns? How likely was he to be somewhere heavily defended?
"What do you have in mind?"
"Well, right across the river from where the naughty girls all get sent. Why don't we start there? Every party needs a few ladies, right?" I could hear a roar of assent from the background.
I wasn't quite sure what he meant by that- was he going to try and attack the Shil'vati base? Surely not those women? He wasn't that insane. Then it clicked- the Women's Correctional Facility in Wilmington, just upstream of the Christina River from where he was broadcasting from at the old Warehouse Base. Easy to get to, certainly, and right near the interstate with pedestrian bridges and neighborhoods to scatter in after the strike made it an excellent candidate. Almost certain to succeed.
The strike wouldn't yield us Verns, though forcing the Shil'vati to admit that they couldn't both take and hold their prisoners at the same time might force them to at least pause rounding up ever more people.
If I gave it my blessing, I would be sacrificing any chance of rescuing Verns for...for what? The tradeoff strained my soul to even consider.
"If you feel that's best, you know your crowd. That said, they got Jules- we want him back." He'd helped build Camp Death. He knew its ins and outs, though my real reasons were somewhat sentimental. "Keep an eye out for Morningstar and a few other cells. I've little doubt they can party with the best of them." They were one of my heaviest hitters, routinely bragging they could go clay pigeon hunting with an unguided RPG, yet I was pretty sure I'd never rallied them to Camp Death- if they were to rally, Warehouse Base was where they'd be.
There was a moment of silence, until Vaughn reported back- "Yeah, they're here. They were going to move up to you once they got everyone together. Should we leave instructions for where to find us, or to find you?"
"Do it- supplies are overall good here. Lots of...uh, balloons, confetti..." I felt like I was stretching the analogy too far, so I gave up trying to equate weaponry to party paraphranelia. "...you know, the works. Take Morningstar and use 'em as you see best fit. What've you got for your party? Any good party supplies?" We certainly could make a trash run and see if we could also deliver them some RPGs at the same time.
"Got some Bump-n-Grinds, and you know those are always good for an up-close-and-personal encounter."
I laughed. "From what I read about bumping and grinding? The closer, the better." Their accuracy left a fair bit to be desired. Still, it would be a good, even vital carry just in case those dreaded Security Forces Technicals made an appearance, and would probably be 'good enough' against a stationary target like a wall, especially in the hands of a capable squadron like Talonstar.
"What time are you thinking?"
"I'd say as soon as we're all ready. You really overestimated how many people know where Camp Death is. A fair number showed up here, and are still trickling in."
"Enough to throw several parties at once?" I asked, suddenly hopeful.
"Well, I suppose, maybe, but I'd be wary of partygoers without someone in charge to, uh..." the metaphor seemed to be breaking down, but I got what he was going for.
"Yeah, I see."
"Are you thinking if there are too many noise complaints at once, it'll keep the party going longer?"
"That's part of it, but I'm hoping we might find a particular person we're missing, lost him when we were playing unexpected host. Someone of G-Man's, you'd know him as Jules. A divide and conquer might maximize our odds of finding him."
"Plus, maximize the number of partygoers we pick up as we move. I like it. A few small house parties for every big house. Any special orders?"
"None. K.I.S.S. principle applies. Good, bad, I want it all out on the streets. 'KISS' 'em until they can't see straight." Keep It Simple, Stupid.
"You're certain?" I could hear the hesitancy in his voice. "This is going to be the greatest thing we've ever done, and I want to be by your side for it 'til the end. I don't want any last-minute cancellations, and I sure as hell don't wanna miss it. How long should I party?"
We'd be letting absolute chaos loose. Fire. Looting. The worst of humanity, turned loose, with Vaughn potentially at its head if he decided to recruit for some reason. Could I still claim to be the good guy if I turned those kinds of people free to wreak havoc on the state I claimed whose denizens I was protecting?
Blackstone's Ratio holds that it is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer. It would still hold me no less accountable for whatever followed from this mass prison break, though.
I looked over to the recently arrived George, and hung my head.
So be it.
"Confirmed, Vendetta. I'll next talk to you when you're here in person- call it when you start either getting tired or if the hosts hire a doorman, a bouncer, or something you can't handle. Bring any good partygoers and favors you find, guide them here, O Pied Piper. Over and out." The signal went quiet again, and I turned off our radio, standing and yawning. The hour was late, and it would be my last opportunity for some shuteye.
I pulled aside a few sentries to my first order. I felt it was a strange one, and likely futile: I asked everyone to 'try and get some rest.'
The sentries were going to be exhausted, and I needed them to start working in shifts if we were to maintain our vigil and perimeter. Doubtless, more would be coming, and giving them at least some rest might be a difference-maker. G-Man helped lead the newcomers to the subterranean bunkers and tunnels, trying to make sure everyone had a place to stay the night and resources got split, even if it was throwing tarps and blankets on hard-packed dirt. I eyed the tunnels, knowing which one of them would spit me out near the stream, itself running so low I might as well refer to it as a ravine. Digging that had been cramped, paranoia-inducing, but we'd dug out so much of the hill and filled it with enough weapons to wage a full-scale war.
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Alien-Nation Discord Buy A Coffee for the Author

This post is the final part of this story. Sorry it has taken so long to get through. And I'm not sure I even understand all of it yet. If you're new, this all started here. The previous part (Part 7) is here. Thank you to everyone who followed along.
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“Do you see her?” I asked in a meek voice.
“You mean that girl in black?” Harvey answered.
It was her, in the flesh. Her lips parted and formed a malevolent smile. Her dark eyes fixed on mine. My legs turned to solid lead. My feet refused to move. The anxiousness to reach Parker and Juliet and Beth in the cellar crumbled like the wood turning to ash behind us. She demanded my attention.
A hand rocked my shoulder. Harvey. I pushed him away.
“You have to go. Help them. I’ll take care of her.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
A mirage of Harvey flitted past Ally and disappeared into the kitchen. Everything blurred, everything but her.
She tilted her head to one side and bridged the gap between us with four slow and deliberate steps. She pushed her right hand out from a long sleeve and ran the black painted nail of her index finger across my cheek, the smooth lacquer cold against my skin. I shuddered as the chill spread like ice creeping up a window.
“It is such a shame to be losing you so soon. We’ve only just met, and yet I feel like we’ve known each other our whole lives. Do you feel it too?”
I shook my head. “Let me go.”
“We’re past that now Sam. I considered if we could coexist, you and I. It gave me a thrill knowing there is another one out there like me. But you insist on meddling with my work.”
“You mean locking all those girls in that filthy dungeon where they met their end? And Jane here.”
“The work is sometimes unpleasant.”
“But the pay is good?”
“This isn’t about money Sam. You and I are the same. The pain you felt from not fitting in. The lonely nights lying awake, wishing you could be like everyone else. The stares and the whispers. The rejection from those who are supposed to love us the most. I too know. But where you hid, I searched out a path where my talents were appreciated and rewarded. You don’t hate me Sam. You hate yourself for not thriving like I have.”
“Thriving? Is that what you call it?”
“By all measures yes. I am good at what I do. The best. The only. Or so I thought. And then there is you. A naïve, sheltered little boy who can barely put on his own pants in the morning. It is such a shame. And these so-called friends of yours, that was always doomed to failure. Oh and if you harbour any thoughts of them escaping, know that we blocked the little secret entrance the stable boy showed you. There’s no escape except through the fire. When they pick through the ashes of this building they will find their bones, and yours. Is this how you imagined it turning out?”
I flexed the muscles in my legs, but they refused to move. Ally smiled.
“It’s useless now Sam.”
I heard the faint whisper of Juliet’s voice in my head. She pleaded with me. Come on Sam, you can do this. I remembered the last encounter with Ally, outside the wall separating Windhaven Manor from the world. Ally had put me in the white room. I had broken free. I had overcome her power once. I had to do it again.
I took a deep breath in through my nose and cried out and willed my feet to move. Electricity coursed through my body and I directed it down to the floor. My left heel separated from the floor and that set the whole thing in motion. The dam burst. I lurched forwards and overbalanced and sprawled to the floor.
Ally crouched beside me and chuckled. “Some would call it a tragedy for a child to die so soon after learning to walk.”
I looked back towards the front of the house. The fire burned hot. Thick black smoke circled up the huge open space of the gallery. Portraits hanging on the wall bubbled and curled as flames consumed them.
A figure appeared at the foot of the staircase. The spectre of Crown. The goons had dragged his lifeless corpse out of the house, but stood before me was the spirit with unfinished business. The ugliness of his actions showed through now in death. His skin was sallow and wrinkled. His head too big for his body and his teeth yellowed. A grotesque monster made worse by his mortal demise.
Ally whispered in my ear. “He knows it was your meddling that brought about his end. I’ll leave you two alone.”
She brushed my cheek with the back of her hand and stood. As she walked away leather straps materialised out of thin air and pinned my body to the floor.
The spectre of Crown grew before me, swelling in size until he had to crouch to stay below the chandelier. He clenched his fists and with burning red eyes let out a guttural growl that skipped my ears and penetrated directly into my skull.
I tried to pull my hands to my ears but they would not come. It made no difference. The roar coming from Crown stabbed the inside of my head like a thousand daggers. I lifted my head and the growl grew to a scream that ricocheted around the inside of my skull. I couldn’t take much more. It felt as though my head would explode.
Guilt bubbled up and mingled with the fear and I shrank into the floor and wished for it to swallow me. They were down there, the only friends I had known, banging against a locked door denying their escape. I sobbed. I sobbed like I had the night my parents turned from me.
In the pit of my stomach something else grew. A seed of frustration born of a lifetime existing in a world that didn’t make sense. A world where I had no idea who I was and what I could or should do. A world in which I hid. I couldn’t do that now.
Juliet’s voice as clear as day, cutting through the racket of Crown’s scream. Do it Sam. I gritted my teeth and electricity buzzed somewhere deep inside, at first dull and imperceptible, and then amplified and resonating until it peaked into a deafening roar.
Above Crown the bulbs in the chandelier glowed white. He swivelled his head and watched them dumbly.
I concentrated, felt the energy forming an extra limb. Like the arms and legs of a newborn it flailed spasmodically. I fought to control it, to turn it to my will. I focussed on the straps pinning me to the floor. The electricity fed into the straps and turned them hot. For a moment I feared they would scold my skin, and then in a moment of release they split and flung upwards.
I picked myself up off the floor and faced the spectre of Crown. Like a spent boxer throwing one final punch I threw out my hands and screamed, willing Crown to be quiet and be still. Demanding he be so.
The floor shook. The dozens of bulbs in the chandelier shattered. The giant spectre of Crown diminished and the screaming inside my head softened until it was no more. Crown’s eyes opened wide as his mouth stitched together and his arms wrenched behind his back. I flicked my hand like I was swatting a fly and Crown flew into the corner of the room and slumped to the floor.
I bent over and rested my hands on my knees. My muscles ached, like I had run a marathon. Shadows played on the floor. I sucked in air and smoke and spluttered and coughed.
In the hallway the silhouette of Ally. She turned and shook her head. The heat of the fire intensified and crackled at my skin. If we were to make our escape, she could not be here to block us. I straightened and strode towards her.
I cycled furiously through the events of the last few days, searching for something to defeat Ally. I had to do to her what she had done to me. The time for running and breaking her spells was through.
I closed my eyes and concentrated. I stripped away everything except for the two of us. The crackle of the fire replaced with silence. The smell of the smoke disappeared. The heat washed away. One by one I shut down all my senses. When I opened my eyes a monotone room of white. Sterile calm had replaced the burning insides of Windhaven Manor.
Her eyes scanned the room and she giggled. “Cheap tricks won’t get you far,” she said. “And you learned this one from me.”
The white rippled as if the walls were made of water. She was fighting it. I concentrated, focussing all my energy, all my will. The ripples slowed and then stopped.
“You’re a fast learner,” she said. “But I have been doing this for more than a weekend.”
Strips of colour permeated the white. A rectangle of tile appeared on the floor. And then some blue from the curtain. Enough of a smouldering wall to let in some smoke. The acrid smell reached my nose and I spluttered. As each wedge of colour appeared, I filled it back in white. But it was a sinking ship and the pail I held to bail out the water would not be enough.
Ally grunted under her breath. A grunt of frustration. The white room shook and made a sound like a train bearing down.
I had to bind her. I raised my palm and coils of rope rose from the ground and oscillated like snakes around her. She swatted them away and wrenched them from the ground and flung them at my feet, limp and unmoving.
“It won’t be that easy,” she sneered.
My arms jerked behind my back. She bound my wrists and then my ankles. She pursed her lips and blew as if extinguishing a single candle on a birthday cake, and it was enough to send me to the floor. I couldn’t do this on my own. I needed help.
I shut my eyes and concentrated my energy not on my bindings, but on the woods at the back of Windhaven Manor. On the girls who escaped the dungeon and now roamed the forest, watching the house burn from behind the barrier Ally constructed.
I fed the energy coursing through my body into the giant snowdome structure until it burned hot and then like the globes in the chandelier, it cracked and exploded into the night sky. The spirits of the girls watched the shards disappear and then strode towards the Manor.
I turned my attention to the tiny room beside the pantry, where Jane Laughlin lay bound to the bed. I stood beside her and lay my hand on the shackles binding her to the bed. She shuddered as the mask came free from her mouth and then stood as the shackles broke.
I opened my eyes and the white of the room flickered off and then back on again like bad reception on a television. I had to keep the white walls up long enough for them to draw near. For them to be ready when the façade fell. Ally strode towards me, exuding confidence.
“You can’t beat me Sam.”
Ally squeezed her hands into fists and screamed. In a burst of energy she wiped the white room clear and we were back in the burning house. The air was thick with smoke. Behind me a timber beam tumbled from the ceiling and crashed to the floor. The heat and smoke sucked the moisture from my insides and I heaved out a series of coughs.
Ally opened her eyes and smiled. She had bested me. But then they came. The girls from the dungeon and Jane Laughlin surrounded her. The sum total off all the pain and hurt inflicted in this place. Everything Ally had worked to keep hidden from the world.
They lurched at Ally. She raised her hands and pushed them back one by one as they went for her. She spun on the spot, trying to keep them at bay. She could not hold them all back. The sheer weight of numbers overwhelmed. They leaned in and pushed their heads into hers and showed her what those men had done. Made her feel it. The fear and despair and anger of each individual stacked together and Ally crumpled to the floor holding her head.
“Make it stop,” she said.
They kept at her.
Jane Laughlin sidled over to the base of the stairs where Crown sat, bound and with his mouth stitched. She considered him, restrained and helpless on the floor as she had been. He fought with his restraints, and then whimpered, as she had. As I ran for the pantry and the wine cellar, the corridor filled with the muffled sound of his screams.
The door to the cellar stood open and I made the descent of the stairs in three leaps. The enclosed space already full with smoke. At the end of the long corridor leading outside, Parker and Harvey shouldered the door. Juliet and Beth screamed encouragement. The door would not budge.
“We can’t go that way,” I yelled.
They raced back up the long corridor. A sudden rush of emotion bubbled up to the surface. I was so happy to see them all still alive. My lower jaw rattled and my hands shook. I fought to hide it.
Beth reached me first. “Sam, you’re ok.”
I blubbered a response and took in a lung full of smoke. We had to get out.
The fire raged outside the kitchen door. A wave of flame climbed up and spread across the ceiling. A subtle cracking sound from above intensified and a chunk of the upstairs floor came crashing down through the ceiling, blocking the rear door. We couldn’t get out the back. The only way now was back through the house. A ball of flame whooshed through the doorway and I put my arm up too late, my eyebrows wilting in the heat.
We crouched together in the middle of the kitchen, lowering our heads to get the last of the remaining oxygen. Malicious red flames and choking black smoke surrounded us on all sides.
“Where do we go now?” Parker’s words came out between coughs. Tears streaked down his cheeks. Soot covered his brow. I wished I had an answer.
Then he was there, standing over Parker’s shoulder. Leon. With the protective bubble gone, he too was free to come in the Manor.
“The fire has not yet consumed the dining room. But you don’t have long.”
I looked vaguely in the direction of the kitchen door and blinked back the stinging from the smoke. “I don’t think we can find it in this.”
“Follow me.”
I pulled my shirt up over my head. “We have to go. The dining room, we can make it. All together on three.”
I shouted out the numbers, the sound drowned out by the roar of the fire. I grabbed Beth’s hand and yanked her into action. Leon led the way and I kept my eyes on his heels. Together we were a flurry of arms and legs bounding for the dining room. I gritted my teeth against the heat. We burst through the doorway and everything turned orange.
From below the sweater pulled tight down over my hair, I shot a glance over to the floor of the grand gallery where I had left Ally writhing on the floor. She was not there now. Nor were the spectres of the girls.
I followed Leon’s heels into the dining room. The great wooden table smouldered in the centre of the room. Brilliant orange flames consumed the thick curtains. Parker spotted his camera still atop the tripod and set to pulling the camera free before Harvey grabbed his arm and yelled something that sounded like ‘leave it’.
Harvey grabbed one of the heavy chairs with their high backs and velvet cushions and heaved it at the window in the back corner of the room. The chair disappeared into the darkness of the night and Harvey kicked at the glass shards left behind. Parker joined. We piled out the opening.
I drank in the fresh cool air of night, staggering over the narrow path beside the house and to the small strip of grass beyond. Parker collapsed beside me and pulled the laptop out from under his shirt. He tapped at the casing and for a moment a brief smile flashed across his face, but it did not last long. He wiped soot and sweat from his face with shaking hands.
Harvey checked us all in turn, like a parent fussing over their children. We had scrapes and bruises and our skin was red and raw, but we were alright. We had survived. He ran to the front of the house and came back with palms held out by his sides. The man in the black suit, the goons Ponytail and Beanie, and Ally were all gone, along with the black van and the BMW.
Huddled together, we watched the fire consume Windhaven Manor, bright reds and oranges lighting up the windows and thick black smoke tumbling into the purple haze of sky. It was almost morning, the horizon signalling the coming of the sun.
Leon stood apart on the grass. I went to him.
“Thank you for coming back for us.”
He shrugged. “It’s something. It isn’t enough to make up for the rest.”
“You saved our lives. And those girls, they had their chance to meet their tormentors. That’s something too.”
He nodded. “What happens now?”
I turned my head sideways. “I’m still learning how all this works.”
The red of the fire reflected in his eyes. “Me too. I might go for a walk in the woods. I always liked it out there.”
He glided across the lawn and entered the trees and was gone.
The sound of sirens fought with the crackle of the fire. The fire brigade and the police. I got to my feet and shuffled to the front of the Manor. The burnt out carcasses of our cars stood by the low height wall. Black soot smudged the stone façade above the windows and the doors.
By the oak tree on the ocean side of the house stood Jane Laughlin. She peered down into a hole dug at the base of the tree. A pale and withered hand poked up out of the dirt. Her hand. They had meant to remove the body, but had aborted the task and fled.
A fire truck appeared at the head of the driveway and then another. They sped down the gravel and came to a sliding stop. A lone police car followed. Harvey sidled over.
Jane looked to the horizon. Out on the cliff edge stood a figure in a red dress. She recognised her sister Kylie immediately and ran down the slope. The two sisters embraced in the first light of the sun. I turned to the whoosh of water through a hose from the fire trucks and when I turned back, the Laughlin sisters were gone.
The members of The Séance Club, which I now consider myself a part, sat together on the low-height stone wall as the firefighters extinguished the flames consuming Windhaven Manor. The house was quiet now. The nausea and vibration I had felt that first night replaced with calm.
The police stripped the compound clean for the best part of a week. They identified Kyle the sketch artist and Hugo from the teeth that survived the fire of the hovel built over the dungeon. Hugo’s wife lay on the back lawn where Beanie and Ponytail had left her. But as to specific evidence of the crimes that occurred, they could not find enough to put a case together.
The two fires and the disappearance of Crown made some headlines, but there wasn’t enough to hang anyone else. The police claimed publicly that there was no link between the fire at Windhaven Manor and the fire at the squalid residence over the back fence. At Harvey’s behest they searched the area with cadaver dogs for the remains of the girls, but they found nothing.
Parker turned his laptop over to the police. They identified the two goons, Ponytail and Beanie, low level thugs who had disappeared from the streets years earlier. Those in the know presumed them dead. It made tracing them almost impossible. Tracing their vehicles lead to a dead end.
The man in black the suit on the other hand might as well be a ghost. On him they found nothing. They have a face, but nothing else.
As for Ally, the girl somehow managed to always turn her face away from the cameras, as if she knew where they were.
I sat in a small room at the police station for three days with Harvey putting the pieces together. He showed me a photograph of an old and gaunt man with a bent back, the last owner of Windhaven Manor before it was sold after his death. He had to be the man with the bent back from the ceremony in the dungeon, but I could not be certain. I never saw his face. Of the faces I did see, we knew Crown and Kyle and Hugo, but the others were harder to pinpoint.
At the end of it all Harvey sighed. There was nothing more we could do. But we could rest on the knowledge that the key players in the ceremony were all now dead.
Questions nagged at me. Where was Ally and what was she doing? Would she try to find me? Who was she working for?
That was the biggest question of all. Who was at the top and pulling the strings? Harvey wasn’t giving up. He was a dog with a bone at the best of times, and now he had a taste of blood. He refused to go back to the police even after Crown’s departure, which he described as the removal of a cancerous limb.
Harvey called me after the dust settled on everything. I told him that the trail had gone cold and I had no idea where Ally was. For all I knew she had evaporated into thin air. Harvey thought it unlikely, and I agreed. He told me it was time for some old-fashioned detective work. The names of the goons would be a start.
And there was something else Harvey mentioned, something that I had almost forgotten. He had always believed that his investigation into the disappearance of the girls was the reason one of his colleagues was murdered. Crown confirmed as much in the bedroom right before he was shot. Harvey thinks there is something to it. Another thread to pull, and he has a hunch. For now he’s keeping his cards close to his chest until he has some proof. I almost pressed him on the issue but decided I’d rather put it all behind me.
The story made headlines in the local press for a while, but ultimately it fizzled into a non-story, quickly forgotten by a public with a short attention spans. We all waited for a reckoning from within the police ranks, but it never came. Harvey predicted that’s the way it would go, and he was proven right.
The one item they did recover was a gold necklace with a heart pendant. The necklace Jane Laughlin wore the night of her death. The police found it where the black van had parked. After a few days in the possession of the police, Harvey arranged to have the necklace released to the family of its former owner.
The following day Mr. and Mrs. Laughlin appeared on the local news, thanking the efforts of those who recovered the remains of their daughter. It was closure, though not the kind they had hoped for. Both their girls were dead.
A week later The Séance Club convened in Beth’s apartment. Parker and Juliet were already there when I arrived. It was cathartic to talk about the events at Windhaven Manor, to compare stories and scars. I guess that’s why they have the saying about a problem shared.
After a brief silence, Beth asked, “Are you going to talk to the parents of Jane and Kylie?”
I shook my head. “What will I tell them?”
“That their daughters found each other out by the cliff edge.”
“And what about the agony of their deaths? Should I tell them that too? Besides, it doesn’t feel right. None of this feels right to me yet. And what weight do my words hold over those of some Priest talking about how he knows their souls are at rest.”
“Because you really do know.”
I shrugged. “I can’t prove any of it.”
Truth was I had no idea how to integrate the things I could see and do into my life. From childhood all I had wanted was to be like everyone else. For people not to stare or whisper as I walked by. To find acceptance. Sitting with my three new friends at Beth’s tiny kitchen table, with our shared experience behind us, I finally had it. This could be the start of something.
Parker was already planning the next Séance Club trip. An abandoned farm up north with mysterious sightings going back centuries. Juliet was already on board. I told them to wait. I couldn’t jump back in right away.
I was the last to leave, Beth and I sipping mug after mug of coffee and sharing comfortable silence. When I sighed and told her I should go, she grabbed my arm.
“I’ve never had a real family, and then I found Juliet and Parker. The Séance Club became my family. Whatever happens we are there for each other. And we mean it when we say we want you to join.”
I thought about that all night, unable to sleep.
The next morning I called Parker.
An abandoned farm up north you say?
* * * *
I navigated to the narrow alley and checked the time. The Exchange should be open. It looked out of context in the Saturday morning light. No bright light spilling from the window. No surge of Friday night after work traffic.
I slipped in the front door. A lone man lifted upturned stools down from the bar. He had his back to me and I crept across the hardwood floor in the direction of the stairs down and the bathrooms.
The vibration swelled in my chest, but I did not fear it. A dull pain rose in the base of my skull, but I gritted my teeth. A man wearing a pair of rough leather shoes came from the other end of the corridor and stopped before me.
“Are you here to help?”
I nodded.
X

Introduction

Environmental law has undergone significant evolution in response to the growing recognition of environmental issues and their result on human health, ecosystems, and the planet as a whole. Over the years, governments, organizations, and individuals have recognized the need for legal frameworks to regulate and protect the environment.
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Early Environmental Laws

The roots of environmental law can be traced back to ancient civilizations that recognized the importance of natural resources and sought to manage them sustainably. For instance, ancient civilizations such as the Indus Valley Civilization in South Asia implemented regulations for water use and waste disposal. Similarly, the Code of Hammurabi in ancient Mesopotamia included provisions for protecting trees and controlling water usage.
However, modern environmental law as we know it today emerged in the mid-20th century, largely driven by incidents of environmental pollution and degradation. The publication of Rachel Carson's groundbreaking book, Silent Spring, in 1962 raised public awareness about the detrimental effects of pesticides, leading to the formation of regulatory agencies and the enactment of laws to protect the environment.

Environmental Legislation and International Cooperation

In the 1960s and 1970s, countries worldwide began enacting legislation to address various environmental issues. The United States passed landmark laws such as Clean Air & Water Acts, which established regulatory frameworks for air and water pollution control. Similarly, other countries, including Canada, Australia, and European nations, implemented their own environmental laws and regulations.
At the international level, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 marked a significant milestone in global environmental cooperation. The UNEP was created as a result of the conference, and it opened doors for other international environmental agreements like the Montreal Protocol (1987) that aims to protect the ozone layer and the UN framework that addresses the issue of global warming.

Expansion of Environmental Issues and Legal Responses

As awareness of environmental issues grew, environmental law enlarged to address a wide range of challenges. Legislation and regulations were enacted to regulate hazardous waste disposal, protect endangered species, conserve biodiversity, and address issues such as deforestation, land degradation, and pollution.
Environmental impact assessments (EIAs) became a crucial tool for evaluating the potential environmental consequences of proposed projects, ensuring that development activities adhere to environmental standards. Environmental law also began incorporating the principle of sustainable development, recognizing the need to balance economic growth with environmental protection and social well-being.
Additionally, the concept of corporate environmental responsibility gained prominence, leading to the development of laws and regulations needing businesses to lessen their environmental footprint, disclose their environmental practices, and adopt sustainable business practices.

The Rise of International Environmental Law

International environmental law has witnessed significant development and cooperation among nations to tackle global environmental challenges. Treaties and agreements, including the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement (2015), have aimed to address climate change by setting emission reduction targets and promoting international cooperation.
Transboundary environmental issues, including air and water pollution, deforestation, and illegal wildlife trade, have prompted the development of regional agreements and collaboration among countries. Examples include the European Union's environmental legislation and initiatives, such as the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization in South America.

Integration with Other Legal Fields

Environmental law has also become increasingly integrated with other legal disciplines, reflecting the interconnectedness between environmental issues and various sectors. Environmental considerations are now embedded in areas such as land use planning, energy law, international trade law, and human rights law.
Furthermore, environmental law has increasingly incorporated indigenous rights, recognizing the vital role of indigenous communities in preserving ecosystems and promoting sustainable practices.
In conclusion, the evolution of environmental law reflects a growing awareness of the interconnectedness between human activities and the environment. You can study and build a lucrative career in the field of environmental law by enrolling in a top BA LLB Hons college in India.

23F. I have been seeing a doctor for my chronic back pain and currently in the process of diagnosing the problem. Anyway I’ve just noticed this new issue today and I’m just wondering if anyone has any insight.
Been experiencing chronic back pain for the past 6 months. Along with other joint pain. Currently going through the motions with doctors to try and get to the bottom of it. Tbh it’s Looking like it’s probably gonna be some sort of arthritis.
Anyway moving on to my question today. I’m naturally very skinny so my spine protrudes through my skin prominently. Today I was massaging my back with my fingers and I started rolling my fingers over the vertebrae my lower back and noticed what feels like tiny little fluid bubbles sort of moving around directly under the skin on top of my vertebrae. Anyone experienced this? I can’t be sure it’s fluid or air bubbles but that is what it feels like. I can’t really describe it any way else. It’s not painful to the touch.