it had been years since i was back home in Dragonus and with that message i find myself gravely worried for the village. i believed that everything would be fine since they had Garjioff to protect them, but there was only one way to make sure. the trip was shorter this time around since I'd grown over the years, what once was a 2 day trip, only took until sunset. from a distance everything seemed fine, but as i came closer to the village i quickly realized how wrong i was. what i thought was street torches lighting the way, was burning wreckage of homes and what thought to be voices in the distance, was little evil creatures eating the villager's remains. my blinding rage building up as i flew through the destroyer village, ripping apart the creatures that still remained after the attack. after i took out all the evil creatures and looked around for survivors to no avail, i decided to find where Garjioff went while all this was happening. as i approached the cavern where he usually rests, i spotted what looked to be one of his wings, tattered to pieces across the ground. i entered the cavern and headed down to the bottom, along the way seeing many signs of the battle that took place. when i reached the bottom of the cavern, i found Garjioff, laying in a heap on the ground, surrounded by the bodies of friend and foe. i walked up to where he laid, looking around with every step as i approached him. i placed my hand on his head and said "are you still of this land? what happened here Garjioff"? he could barely speak, "overwhelming forces, tried to stop them, i failed us". i responded to him "you did your best, i should have been here, i could of helped". he responded back "you are meant for something greater, you couldn't have stayed". with that, Garjioff faded from this world, all that lived here, only i remained. the rage started to build again as i questioned why they attacked the village. out of anger, i triggered the dragon's breath and fired it into a nearby wall of the cavern, destroying the crystals covering the wall. as smoke cleared and i tried to calm myself, i noticed an opening to another unknown cavern below had been revealed.
i headed into the opening of the unknown cavern and started to explore it, searching for any hidden meaning or purpose for it being sealed. for the most part the cavern seemed to be just like the rest of the cavern before it, except for a few strange looking stones scattered around side tunnels and stuck in the walls. each stone having a very unique look compared to the stones and crystals in the surrounding area, which made me think that i should gather them up in case they made something. after finding several of these stones and finding myself looped back around on a tunnel, i decided to go to a wide open enough area to sit down and take a rest while i fiddled with the stones. no matter how i tried to configure them, these stones didn't form together in any way. i don't know why i thought that they would form together to make something, figuring i was just hoping to find some meaning to this all in some way. as i continued to explore the cavern i got lost in my thoughts and wasn't really watching were i was going. after a while i ended up walking into a wall while zoning out, shortly after returning to full attention. once i reconnected myself, i looked at the wall i walked into and noticed it had one of those stones in it, but unlike the others, this stone blended in to the wall. as i tried to pull it from the wall, i noticed it would not move, even though it was connected to the wall by anything. while i looked at the walls around this area, i started to notice random looking cracks in the walls. i walked up to one of the cracks and tried to see if any of the stones i had on me would fit into it until one fit perfectly in the crack. as i went to take the stone back, i noticed it would not move. i took this as a hint to do the same with the rest of the stones i had on me until they all were locked in place so to speak. a large crystal in the corner of the area started to shake until it shattered, revealing an opening to a chamber below. I'd come this far, so there was no point to stop know, as i jumped in to the chamber below.
upon landing in the chamber below, i had notice the area started to emit a glow that lit up the chamber. this chamber was filled with statues, wall carvings, and numerous other items. as i looked closure at one of the wall carvings, i noticed ancient text inscribed along the edges of the illustrations. i examined it closer and was able to read what was written "lesson of reaping claw". upon reading that i started to look around the chamber, finding more and more each area i looked. i started to wonder if this place could hold the answers I've been looking for, a place to learn my true power. i spent the next few days going around this chamber reading over and studying the abilities and skills recorded in these texts, but still had just started to scratch the surface. i sensed something approaching the village and decided to head outside to see what was coming. i make my way out of the caverns and started to fly around the now in ruins village before gliding down the cliff-side to where i sensed something coming this way. as i reached the spot, i realized that my party had made their way to the village to lend me aid, not knowing that it was already to late. i flew down to them as they came to a stop and started to inform them of what had happened to the best of my knowledge. they then informed me of what they encountered on their way here, mostly of the rise in beasts all around the surrounding areas. after we had caught up on what happened while we were split up, they asked what was our next move and i told them i needed to return to the village. they seemed rather confused until i told them of what i discovered deep in the caverns under the village, as i requested they guard the area for awhile until i finished going through all that was there. Clint's group wished to follow me back to the village to help me whatever way they could, while Lobelia's group said they'd patrol the surrounding area to keep any beast outbreaks to a minimum. Bruno asked how they were to get to the village and i told him there was two ways, both of which they probably wont like, climb the cliff-side or fly up to it. Clint, Bruno, and Vince looked confused and said "i guess we're climbing, since we can't fly like you.", which i responded "are you sure about that?". channeling energy toward my wings, i expanding them to twice the size to support extra weight and asked them if they had rope on hand. after using the rope to form harnesses for each of them and securing lends to each of them, we made a plan to meet back here in one weeks time with Lobelia's group. i grabbed the ends of the lends and told them to brace themselves to take to the air, as i started to flap my wings and started to lift them off the ground. i confirmed with them that they were ready and with that we flew back to the village.
i carefully flew into the village and gently brought them to a landing spot. we talked for a little bit before i told them i needed to return to chamber below the cavern to continue training. while i was doing that, Clint's group would search the village for anything that remained after the attack and protect the area as i finish below. i made my way back through the cavern and back to the chamber with the information i needed to learn and practice. I'd already learn most of the physical abilities and with another day of practice, i learned the rest. from there i learned about elemental skill bases, what is required to use them, and how to draw them into the body. it was stated that it was rare for one to be able to use more then three elements, more often then not only able to use one, if any. i found this confusing since no one but the guardian ever use elemental skills, was this something that fell out of modern use by the dragon folk. i decided to read over the texted for each type there and see if i had any luck use any of them. ground skills came naturally to me with only few hours practice, fire took almost a day to use effectively, but made it easier to figure out lightning with another few hours of practice. water and wind seemed impossible at the moment, until i discovered a missing piece of information a few days later while going over other records in the chamber, which with a little more effort, i learned to use both. with each element i learned, my eyes shifted in colors, and according to the records had a total of ten known changes. as time started to grow short, i read through all that remained, practicing when i could, until it came down to one last task. i moved the statues from the sides of the chamber into a circle around a symbol on the floor and sat in the middle to meditate for a deeper understanding of the teachings. on the last day of training before meeting up with Lobelia's group again, i made a discovery during meditation that i believed would change the way we adventure from then onward. i finished up in the chamber and resealed it to be safe, climbed my way out of the hidden cavern into the main area where Garjioff is now laid to rest, said by goodbyes to the souls of the fallen, and ascended to the entrance. as i walked out of the cavern, i met up with Clint's group, gathered up our things, and got ready to head out. Clint asked if we'd be using the same way down that we took up here and if I'd be alright carrying them and the extra supplies they gathered from around the village. i smirked and told them not to worry, i have a plan for all of that. i pulled all the supplies into my storage and told them to stay back as i started to draw energy from the surrounding area into my body. the group watched as my body started to grow larger and larger, until i finally transformed into a dragon. i lower myself down to the ground, had them climb on my back, and when they were settled in with a good grip, i carefully took off into the air and flew off to meet up with Lobelia's group.

Update on character at the bottom of this post.
Name: Nishioka Kohaku
Gender: Male
Age:24
Birthday: 7/1/1998
Occupation: Pyrographer (day job)
Net Worth- Billionaire (Inherited)- Uses his money to fund his operations as a villain.
Height:5’8
Weight:160 lbs.
Hair Color: Black w/ colored highlights
Hair type/Haircut: Long and straight, usually wears it in a Nordic Braid
Facial HaiFacial Hair Type:N/A
Facial Hair Color:N/A
Eye Color: Orange Amber
Skin Color: Light Olive
Blood type: O negative
Distinguishing Physical Features: Semi-pointed ears - has industrial piercings both ears, along with pierced earlobes.
==•{Bio}•==
Personal Strengths: Able to regulate his emotions efficiently and can be calm in most situations. Has great creative intelligence and can navigate problems relatively well.
Personal Weaknesses: Dislikes being condescended to/ talked down upon. Has problems with authority. Hates when interrupted while talking and hates being talked over. He also does not like it when someone tries to order him around.
Attitude: Calm, Cold, has a sharp tongue. Kohaku is easily annoyed, though he doesn’t show it. Has somewhat of a temper. Quick to verbal attacks when provoked. He won’t get physical unless he is attacked first.
Likes: Art, Food, Reading, Training (Quirk and Martial Arts) He enjoys wearing ambiguous clothing.
Dislikes: Excessive force. Most people, due to trust issues, especially those who try to intimidate and bully other people. Crowds, Loud Noise, being dragged into things he doesn’t want to do.
Habits: Tends to ignore anything he isn’t interested in. Tends to restrain himself in combat, due to the power of his flames.
Reason for becoming a Hero/Villain: Disillusioned with society and he wants to change it by any means necessary. Kohaku chose to be a villain for the sole reason that he would not have as much freedom as a hero to achieve his goals.
Relationship with Family: Parents deceased. Estranged with siblings due to differences in social views and values.
Backstory (If any): Kohaku grew up being the eldest of 4 children. His childhood was fairly normal, and he was spoiled along with his siblings. This stemmed from his parents not having good relationships with their own parents, hence they gave their children everything they asked for. For the most part he got along with his siblings, as they were roughly 2-3 years apart in age from one another. Kohaku has a brother, and two sisters. All of them have quirks different from his.
==•{Quirk Information} •==
Quirk Name: Samum
Quirk Type: Emitter
Quirk Range: Varies
Quirk Description: Able to generate and manipulate magenta flames that exude an extremely poisonous gas. His flames do not emit heat but do “burn” anything they touch due to their poisonous properties. Relies mainly on his hands and feet, but he can use his flames with his elbows and knees as well.
Miscellaneous Quirk Info: Although capable of releasing large amounts of fire. Kohaku prefers to make constructs from his flame (primarily weapons) to avoid poisoning his surroundings excessively and to avoid harming his teammates. He tries not to make direct hits with his flames unless absolutely necessary. Usually aims for the space next to his intended target.
Quirk Strengths: Highly Effective at dealing damage quickly. His flames have great force and precision.
Quirk Weaknesses: Hazardous to the surrounding environment (I.e people, plants, buildings). Kohaku has to maintain absolute control at all times, this requires immense concentration. He suffers from chronic migraines as a result. If disturbed enough, his flames will spread and poison a wide radius very quickly, potentially killing all who are exposed.
Special Moves:
Gleipnir- Forms multiple chains that bind his opponent(s) in place. Uses this move in preparation for Jörmungandr.
Jörmungandr- Kohaku forms a giant snake from his flames and launches it toward a target. He uses this move as a last resort as it usually gives him a severe migraine.
Jarngreipr- close combat move- Kohaku encases his arms in flames and pummels the opponent.
Age quirk obtained- late- bloomer - didn’t get quirk until he was 8.
How the quirk first manifested: In self-defense, accidentally killed group of bullies that were hitting him. Ran home and he hid in his room crying silently. He never told his parents, and he still carries the guilt and fear from that incident.
==•{Hero/Villain Information} •==
Hero/Villain Name: Ifrit (pronounced efreet)
Hero or Villain: Villain
Hero Agency/Villain Team:Einherjar - Consists of Kohaku and five others. He formed his team when he was 20, with friends from his school days. Kohaku cares about them a great deal, and is very protective of them. He is meticulous when choosing jobs and doesn’t hesitate to retreat if the situation gets too dangerous.
Costume: Similar to his usual clothes. - Dark pleather pants w/ a white belt and heeled Chelsea boots. Also a red long sleeve shirt underneath a sleeveless vest. Over that is a black leather jacket with a loose blue scarf. Wears his armor over the jacket and pants.
Gadgets/Tech/Weapons: Has gauntlets and greaves that he uses to assist him in forming constructs. Both have vents which he focuses his flames through. For his gauntlets, he has an opening on the inner part of his wrist and the back of his hand. For his greaves, openings on the bottom near his ankles.
Suitable/Beneficial/Weak Environmental Effects
Best Quirk Environment: Dry, open areas with high visibility, light exposure and little to no wind.
Weak Quirk Environment: High humidity, Extreme Weather (i.e heavy rain/wind) with large cloud cover. Enclosed spaces such as inside a building, tunnel, or cave.
Update on character:
Quirk Awakening - Shadow Ember Forge:
Upon a harrowing encounter that tests the boundaries of his capabilities, Nishioka Kohaku delves into uncharted territories of his quirk, unlocking the enigmatic Shadow Ember Forge. This evolution intertwines his magenta flames with an ethereal cloak of shadow, imbuing his constructs with an unprecedented blend of darkness and venomous intensity. The Shadow Ember Forge grants Kohaku the power to manifest intricate shadow-infused weapons and versatile constructs, enhancing his combat prowess and strategic adaptability on the battlefield.
Enhanced Combat Techniques:

• Shadow Ember Arsenal: Through the Shadow Ember Forge, Kohaku gains access to a diverse array of shadow-imbued weaponry, ranging from dual blades adorned with ethereal flames to a shadow-infused gun capable of unleashing devastating projectiles. These formidable armaments combine the lethal properties of his magenta flames with the shrouded darkness, enabling him to engage adversaries with heightened precision and ferocity.
• Golem of Shadows: Expanding his control over shadow constructs, Kohaku can now summon formidable golems infused with the essence of the Shadow Ember Forge. These towering entities exhibit a fusion of his fiery past and enigmatic present, serving as formidable allies in combat and tactical maneuvers, bolstering his strategic advantage in challenging confrontations.

Enhanced Drawbacks:
As Kohaku delves deeper into the intricacies of the Shadow Ember Forge, the strain of maintaining the delicate balance between shadow and flame energies intensifies. The fusion of these dual elements demands heightened mental fortitude and concentration, amplifying the risk of mental fatigue and potential loss of control over the quirk's volatile nature. Additionally, the shadowy tendrils of the Forge may occasionally exhibit a will of their own, testing Kohaku's resolve and challenging his mastery over the fused abilities.
Costume Enhancement:
To align with the evolved prowess granted by the Shadow Ember Forge, Nishioka Kohaku's costume undergoes a transformative upgrade, integrating elements that reflect the fusion of shadow and flame. His attire now features subtle shadow ember accents, intertwining with the dark pleather pants and leather jacket, evoking an ominous yet captivating aesthetic that symbolizes his dual nature as Ifrit, the enigmatic villain of Einherjar.

Hi there! I want to share with all you a DMC fan-fiction story I'm working on. It's called Nebula Crisis. I only wrote two chapters for now. It takes five years after the events of DMC5. Let me know if you like it or any change you would make to it. Thanks all and I really hope you enjoy it :) Sorry if you find errors or strange expressions, English is not my mother language and I try to write the best I can.
CHAPTER 1 THE BOY
Night falls, the bar was about to close and an imposing commotion could not stop being heard outside blurring the surrounding streets.
I'm saying no! Damn it...what don't you understand? - the bartender shouted on the other side of the bar.
We all know the deals you have with that demon hunter, Roger! We are tired of the fact that because of him we suffer almost every day from the attack of one of those demons, the leader of the brawl said effusively waving his hands.
I don't have any dealings with the demon hunter, he only appears here when he wants - he responded. Also, don't you think it's too late night to make this scandal?
The conversation was interrupted when the door to the bar suddenly opened. A man armed with his cigar and his elegance made his presence being well known in the room, making everyone present remain silent. The man arrived with a boy, no more than 19 years old, with his clothes in tatters and a completely lost glare. Completely ignoring the previous conversations, he sat at one of the tables with the boy next to him and made a gesture to call the bartender to come over.
Morrison... How many times do I have to tell you that you always show up at the most unwanted moment? - Roger answered, making a gesture of relief as if the inopportunity had given him the opportunity to calm the bad mood in his temple.
Roger, getting into trouble again? Surely we owe this revelry to Dante - he said with a certain sarcastic tone.
As you understand, you cannot appear here as things are. That jester, Dante, has the neighbors worried. They are beginning to relate the recients demon attacks to their presence. I have a business to run and as you understand... - Roger continued while being interrupted by Morrison.
Roger, I want to introduce you to someone. This is Mike. I want you to help me giving the boy a job. He is quite responsible, attentive, quiet and also... - Morrison explained as if what Roger told him was not with him, just to be interrupted again.
Are you listening to me Morrison? You are sleepwalking again. You are a lost case. Are you bringing this boy here with things the way they are? Also...work? What kind of work? - Roger asked interested.
Well, I'm sure you'll come up with something Roger. You can make him as a waiter, at the bar making drinks, to help you with the van... - he started offering ideas while looking with a carefree face and no interest in what was happening at that moment.
Roger knew perfectly well that Morrison's favors were well paid, but at the same time they are not as easy as they seem. The last time it cost him a week's salary when he forgave Dante's pending bills, even with the demon hunter's protection to rid him of the pests that occasionally entered his bar and wreaked all things up.
This is not the time for favors Morrison. The neighbors are jumping on me and now you show up to complicate things for me. What is it going to cost me this time to do you a "favor"? - he asked as he sat down in front of Morrison and slammed the table.
I'll tell you Roger... - Morrison began to relate while the stunned neighbors couldn't believe the scene.
After a long conversation with Roger, he began to make all kinds of faces, as if it were a vignette in fast motion, his expressions changed with each of Morrison's words, as if his own facial muscles did not know what position take.
What?! Are you crazy Morrison?! Yes, you are, you don't need to say it - Roger finished, getting up from the chair and with the thought of a man who is being completely fooled.
Think about this. The boy will be able to help you with the business. I'm offering you an extraordinary employee. You can't say no, can you? - Morrison continued without paying attention to Roger's anger.
Hey, you! What the hell are you arguing about? - The man from the brawl interrupted, tired of feeling ignored.
Well, we are thinking of a way to rid you of those demons you speak of. It only depends on Roger whether he gives the boy a job or not. It will be only for a few weeks and I will be more than willing of bringing a few demon hunters to get rid of those pests - Morrison answered smiling.
Old man, what are you saying? Are you going to do something? - the man responded to Roger.
Damn Morrison, you've screwed me up again. Alright. Damn... This is going to cause me more problems, as always. I hope you know what you're doing. If, as you say, the boy was attacked by demons that were after him, how does it benefit me and the neighbors? Do you understand that I can't let a boy with such abilities walk around here like it's nothing? - he said with great concern while the neighbors agreed with the bartender's words.
Suddenly the boy got up from the chair and with a grim expression he went to the exit door seeing that his presence was a problem for them. Suddenly a figure interrupted the boy's walk when he bumped into him. A red trench coat, a threatening demeanor and a burning look like the fire of hell itself. The Legendary Demon Hunter Dante made an appearance.
The room fell silent again. This time the silence was different. Fear could be felt in the atmosphere but at the same time a calming feeling of security and protection. Everyone knew Dante, they knew about his past, his life and his relationship with demons, and since they knew him so well, they knew that although his presence comes with bad omens, it also brought hope and salvation. The boy looked in surprise as the figure stood in front of him. They had told him a lot about Dante, the legendary demon hunter, in fact, he already knew his story, how he defeated the Emperor of the Underworld, challenged the Order of the Sword and managed to defeat his twin brother two times who tried to obtain absolute power. Thousands of storys and myths were told about him, but having him now before him gave him a strange feeling. Hope and hate mixed in a peculiar way in his eyes.
Morrison, I've told you hundreds of times to not let this little psychopath brat, Patty, touch my stuff. She almost finished me up and the car. Hey! - Dante is interrupted by Patty who suddenly enters the scene.
Morrison, don't listen to Dante, he's getting more grumpy every day. Why didn't you tell me that you were with Lady? I wanted to ask her if we were going shopping next week - Patty begins to speak while the neighbors and Roger witness how the tense fight has turned into a surreal situation.
Patty, Dante, you have arrived at a good time. Especially your Dante. Anything to add? How can you be such a disaster? I told you to not stick your nose in here after the last time, Morrison adds as he puts his hands to his forehead.
It is difficult for me to think of a place where they can serve strawberry ice cream like the one I have tried here. Don't expect me to leave! This time bills are settled, if you ask. But if you manage to rid off this demon off my back, maybe I'll think about not coming back here - Dante answered while shaking Patty's head.
Dante, how can you be so childish? - Patty responded.
As Dante and Patty glared and grumbled, a thunderous scream rang out in the room.
Shut up damn it! We have come to discuss what we are going to do about the attacks and you have turned this into a circus and a child playground! Roger, this Dante has only brought problems and misfortunes to the neighbors, his presence will never be welcome here. If you don't stop interfering in the affairs of these people, we will be forced to take action on the matter - the leader of the neighbors broke out with an angry and loudy voice.
Patty suddenly abandoned her little disagreement with Dante to look at the neighbor and with an imposing and terrifying walk, she went towards him. Suddenly, all the neighbors were stunned again. Patty landed a punch in the stomach of the leader of the neighbors that even left Morrison with an eyebrow raised in surprise.
You brat! How dare you?! - the leader responded angrily as he raised his hand to hit Patty.
Suddenly he is interrupted by the silent boy grabbing his arm and with a frozen glaze he extinguish the anger contained in the neighbor's hand.
The neighbor moved away and lowered his hand.
Roger... we're tired of you and your dirty business. I won't come back here to warn you - the neighbor concluded as everyone begins to leave the place with him.
An awkward silence fell in the air. Morrison interrupted this silence after a moment when things seemed to calmed down a little more. It had gotten quite late and he was still waiting for a response from his old friend Roger.
Dante, Paty... I almost forgot. Meet Mike. He's the boy that Lady told you about. He's going to stay here for a while. He may be able to help us with certain things when he's not working with Roger. Also... I want to talk to you about something. I'm meeting with Nero tomorrow at 12:00 and I wanted to discuss something. As for you, Dante, especially, I would like to know something. What happened to Vergil after your return?
Who cares what that asshole is doing? We all know how small his brain is, but I'm not particularly worried this time - Dante responded as he sat at the bar ready to taste his strawberry ice cream again.
True, but there's something important that maybe your knucklehead brother doesn't know, or maybe we can learn something else from him. Trish recently saw a demon with human appearance and a blue trench coat in a confrontation with another demon also with human appearance, a woman in red. The blue demon seemed to be wielding a weapon similar to Yamato, Morrison added, trying to arouse Dante's curiosity, who seemed unmoved by his love for the desired dessert.
While Morrison and Dante were talking, the boy's face changed completely and his eyes widened, illuminating the expression on his face. An expression of surprise, fear and anger. The moment Morrison described the two demons, the expression couldn't be wiped off his face. Knowing old Morrison, who didn't miss any details, he paid attention to Mike's response as he was saying. After finishing talking to Dante when he began to fill his mouth with the ice cream, he addressed the boy.
I imagine from how you reacted a moment ago, Mike, that you know those two demons I'm telling Dante about. And the two of them knows also about you, am I wrong? - Morrison told him, waiting for an answer from his lips.
I... - Mike's lips began to articulate until Patty interrupted again.
Come on Morrison, leave the boy alone. He's tired for sure of how inquisitive you become sometimes. Why don't we rest for a while before visiting Nero tomorrow? I'm looking forward to see Lady, Trish and Nico. Plus I need to rest from the last trip with Dante. It's not always going to be work, right Morrison?
Morrison for a moment couldn't believe how mature and older Patty became. From that scared girl to a responsible woman who was trying to get into the demonic murder section of the Police. A new unit formed after the incident at Redgrave. Sometimes the girl was right, it was better to let the boy rest. After all, he had been attacked by demons several times and spent a few nights unable to sleep.
Night fell completely on the streets of the city. The bar entered into absolute calm after the storm and when the silhouettes of Morrison and his companions faded into the streets, the bar put down its blinds. An uneasy calm, everyone knew perfectly well that the underworld never rested, that people were always going to need protection and something was straining the atmosphere that same night. The neon signs, street lamps and city lights emitted a certain cry that was imperceptible to the majority, oblivious to where the streets were still in a fight against the creatures of hell.
CHAPTER 2 THE DISEASE
In a dark place like any other, a dead end, an unexpected encounter, the victims of demons can be any of us. Many times they disguise themselves as what their victims yearn for, other times they appear as their worst nightmares, but it is inevitable. Even with the gates of the underworld closed, some remain hidden in the shadows of the city, like a silent disease that spreads through the host, attacks emerges every day. The demon hunters and the USU (Underworld Section Unit) fight to try to keep all these attacks at bay.
One of the most recognized businesses is Devil May Cry, founded by the demon hunter Dante and now in the hands of Nero, his nephew and son of his brother, the Legendary Dark Slayer, Vergil. Devil May Cry receives new cases every day around the world, even of humans trying to gain demonic power to perpetuate all kinds of misdeeds. Morrison as the main informant in the business, works side by side with Nero in the search for new clues for if some higher-ranking demons are trying to open the gates to hell once again. Although it had been more than five years since any incident had brought him to the door of the business.
12:00 in the morning at Devil May Cry. Morrison had met with Nero, Trish and Lady to analize the information acquired about the two new demons that had appeared battling several times in the streets of the city.
The blue demon and the red demon, made Morrison think about it. Almost as a similarity between the well-known rivalry of Dante and Vergil. Who were those two demons and why did one of them carry Yamato, Dante's brother's sword inherited from Sparda? What relationship did they have with Vergil? And more importantly, the mysterious boy that Morrison and Lady found seemed to have a certain relationship with the two of them, but he was not a demon, he was more than sure that he was human, although with strange abilities.
Morrison spent the nights in his office, watching the boy as he recovered from his wounds. The boy lacked regenerative abilities typical of demons, nor did he seem half human-demon like Nero, Dante and Vergil are. He was a completely normal boy, even so, he had the ability to predict the attack of demons and the presence of the blue and red demon. Quite an X-file and for which he would undoubtedly need the help of the demon hunters if he wanted to discover more about the case. None of the three may pose an imminent threat, but he couldn't take the risk.
While he was sitting with Mike at the Devil May Cry, the boy couldn't stop looking around the place with some curiosity. On the wall hung like hunting trophies, the heads of imponent demons, embraced by a vintage decoration that was a little tacky for the general taste. Since Nero runs Devil May Cry he hasn't touched anything Dante left behind. Dante's last message made it very clear. Take care of the business but not touch his things.
The more he observed, the more strange everything seemed to him. But his gaze fell on a sword on the wall at the back of the room. A sword that emitted a powerful aura that he could feel as if it were its own entity. One of Dante's demonic weapons. The aura attracted anyone who dared to approach it, like a call or a song that takes weak hearts into its power to consume all into madness.
Suddenly the door to Devil May Cry opened. Nero, Lady and Trish had arrived. The boy suddenly turned around and looked at the man's figure. A man similar in appearance to Dante, with short hair and a trimmed beard. Also the imposing beauty and strength of the two women who accompanied him did not go unnoticed at all in his eyes. They didn't seem like dangerous people but they did exude authority, power and bravery, especially Nero.
You are finally here, I was waiting for you. We haven't seen each other in 5 years. You are a full grown man. Who would have thought that you would handle Devil May Cry better than Dante, well, forget it, why I would think that someone would be able to handle it worse than him - Morrison said while smiling when he saw Nero.
Morrison... Kind of a surprise I guess? Whenever there are big problems you make an appearance into the spotlight, so I imagine why you are here - said Nero as he dropped Red Queen on the shelf and settled down.
Believe me, when he hits the dance floor, we know things gets interesting - continues Lady.
Well Morrison, tell us your best, I've already had the opportunity to join this dance ahead of you - adds Trish.
Come on, what an awful image you have of me... What would you do without me and the information? Anyway, we all like emotional reunions but I also know that you like me to cut to the chase, so I'll shoot first. Mike! Come closer boy.
Mike, responding to Morrison's voice, approaches the meeting with the three demon hunters and sits next to him.
Who is the cute boy? Another of your assistants or young informants Morrison? In the end we are going to think that you like to surround yourself with handsome young men - Lady drops in a certain mocking tone.
Make all the mockery you want Lady. Trish, Nero, this is Mike. He's a boy that Lady and I rescued two weeks ago from a demon attack near the neighborhood where Dante was working with Patty. The boy seems to be related to one of the demons that Trish faced, the woman in red, as well as the demon in blue that is facing her and carries Yamato - explains Morrison.
Yamato?! - Nero said surprised.
Indeed. Yamato sword has fallen into the hands of a blue demon, we do not know if it has any kind of relationship with your father. That's something Dante is trying to figure out right now as we talk. As you understand, we can't let a demon go around playing with one of Sparda's swords and ignore him completely - Morrison responds.
That idiot again. I'm sure it has something to do with all of this. This time I'm not going to allow him to play his stupid things. Maybe he wasn't satisfied with having his ass kicked once, Nero continues.
You will see. I have my hunches. I know Vergil isn't exactly someone totally trustworthy, but this time, something tells me he could be... - Trish explains until she is interrupted by Mike.
Those two demons you are talking about... I know the story of the Sparda brothers. But they are not involved in this. I can't remember anything, only blurry moments since I escaped from that place. I don't know this Vergil guy or Dante as well as you all, but I certain know that these demons don't have reasons for allying themselves with them - Mike says with some concern.
What do you really know about those two demons? - asks Morrison.
I only know that I have some kind of relationship with them. A relationship that I can't remember well. As I remember and link new memories, I'm starting to feel weaker, as if something is killing me. Maybe those two have something to do with all this... - Mike answers as he weakens and is grabbed by Nero before falling to the ground.
Morrison. I need you to go with Kyrie and the boy. Take him there until we can figure something out. Something tells me it's important to keep him out of this until Dante finds out what happened to Yamato. I'll have to go to the last place where Trish found the woman in red and look for any clue that could help solve this whole clusterfuck. I don't know why that sword Yamato is involved in all this, but something smells bad to me and it's not Lady's perfume - Nero explains as he places the passed out Mike on the couch and picks up Red Queen again.
As Nero worriedly leaves the Devil May Cry leaving Trish, Lady, Morrison and Mike, walking towards the scene of the last incident, he can't help but remember. The way the boy didn't seem to remember, in his gaze, look and in his weakening, reminded him of the time he spent with V. Old memories and the relationship with Yamato and his father. Nero was convinced that his father is involved once again, but at the same time, something told him that this time it would be completely different. Something was wrong in the equation.
Elsewhere, Dante was walking towards the Lowell mansion. He needed help from an old Patty's relative to return to the underworld and search for answers. When he got closer, he had a bad feeling, something was wrong. Racing against the clock, he reached the Lowell mansion, completely in flames. The image was certainly familiar to his eyes. Dante's relaxed expression suddenly changed and he quickly entered the burning halls.
Patty! Drag your annoying ass here. Come on little demon... - Dante said as he moved through the flames of the mansion.
Something caught Dante's attention. A blue figure moved through the upper room. Going up the stairs he finds Patty unconscious on the floor and Mrs. Lowell as well as Patty's mother. The figure materializes at the end of the room. A bike helmet covers his face. On his back he carries Yamato, there was no doubt. He was the one Morrison was talking about.
So you are one of those guys who likes to feel like a man attacking a girl and two old ladies. I'm going to teach you how to deal with a couple of ladies more of your taste, let me introduce you - Dante responds to the figure while pointing Ebony & Ivory at him.
Dante. Son of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda. Hahahaha... your reputation precedes you. You are just as I imagined. Predictable. This is not the first time that you and I have crossed swords - the blue figure continues.
What the hell are you talking about, pyro-psycho? Do you want fireworks? Give a try - Dante interrupts the dialogue by shooting the figure without giving him respite.
Weak and predictable Dante. Just like your brother, Vergil. His pride, his downfall - answers the figure's voice as he disappears from sight.
Dante begins to look around the room until the figure suddenly appears in front of him. They both cross swords, moving the fire in the room in an intense clash that causes all the glass in the room to fly. The figure remains with the helmet exchanging glances with Dante, who smiles and turns the situation around by once again dropping a flurry of bullets on his enemy.
You don't understand anything. You, me, Vergil and that man, Nero. We all come from the same place, banished. I am not willingly to sit and wait by, I am not going to live in the shadow of humans or demons. There is a disease, Dante. Something greater than us that will take control sooner or later. And where your precious humans lie, it will only be dyed with it's color - he adds while the figure's voice starts to bounce around the room.
The only disease here is you. Didn't your dad explain to you that you don't have to play with fire and women? - Dante answers while he does not stop observing his surroundings.
Suddenly Dante falls to the ground, confused, looking at his chest impaled by Yamato. His strength fails him and he drops Ebony & Ivory. Everything becomes blurry as he hears the voice over and over again.
I told you. You are predictable. That mockery attitude. Your overconfidence is your weakness as pride is for your brother. I will recover everything that was taken from me, including my father's power, now that I was finally free of my weaknesses. As long as weakness takes hold of you, you will be its prey, even the demons. You will be Nebula - explains the figure.
While Dante falls to the ground unconscious, Patty's mother manages to stop the blue intruder who tries to finish off the badly injured demon hunter by standing on top of him. Suddenly she feels the cold steel of the sword in his body.
Human. Your weakness has also put you in this situation. The Spardas will never protect you forever. What is to come goes far beyond demons and humans. The disease that spreads from the deeps of the underworld will take over everything you know, it will take advantage of your weakness and you will become part of it. I have chosen the right path, a path I must walk on if I want to survive. And I will not make a distinction between human or demon if they try to stand in my way - the figure answers while removing the sword from his stomach.
Mum no! Mum! Mum! - Patty's screams are heard as the figure continues its way to kill Dante.
Suddenly the roof of the mansion falls down completely, leaving a trail of debris and extinguishing part of the fire in the room. A red figure stands in the gap left by the avalanche. The figure summons strange orbs with symbols and they emit an almost hypnotic glow. At that moment Patty loses consciousness.
You again. You waste your time helping the Spardas. Time is running out - says the blue figure to the red one.
Blude... I'm not surprised. What are you trying to run away from? Fear takes over you. You alone will not be able to stop all this and until you understand it, you will not see that we must ally ourselves with the Sparda and the humans. Time is running out but for you - responds the woman in red.
The blue figure removes his helmet and reveals his face with a slight smile. His appearance of black and white hair along with a cold and dark blue stare like the deep ocean clashes in contrast with the red and fiery one like the flames of the sun of the woman in red dress.
I no longer belong to your world. I do not belong to the human world or the underworld. My only goal is to get Yamato, Rebellion and Sparda. Only then can I be complete once again - Blude explains with a melancholic expression.
You stopped being complete that day. Now you are just an incomplete piece trying to deny what was - continues the woman in red. I simply can't let you kill that man - the woman finishes.
Then you know what you should do, says Blude as he draws Yamato and tries to quickly cut the woman.
Both figures begin a battle in the sky. The orbs begin to surround Blude as he makes his way with Yamato in a shower of cuts and dances that leave a northern trail in the orange sky of flames. Further down the battle canvas, another figure appears, a man with a black jacket and a symbol similar to a phoenix. Sneaking through the rubble and going unnoticed, he manages to get Patty and Dante off the battlefield.

In the wild, animals with gender dysmorphia often tend to gravitate towards more attractive males with more sublime colors or more elegant shapes. However, in humans, feminine qualities are often linked to beauty, which I have often found strange because the criteria for feminine beauty can be seen as quite masculine: high bones, thin waist, model physiology, masculine eyelashes : Physiology of female human homo sapiens in 3Ds are " destined"to produce offspring while in the vast majority of human history pregnancy very deadly and most of the traits associated with female beauty are actually harmful. Beauty products and their industries are toxic. It always makes me laugh when we talk about fairy-like feminine beauty and sacred femininity because... your beauty proportions are mostly based on those of male adolescents: being thin, no curves, long legs, long eyelashes, high cheekbones (often testosterone related), sometimes no feminine looking butt and much more.
Furthermore, most standards of modern female beauty... are not feminine at all: high heels were originally designed for the aristocracy, as were wigs and the most luxurious clothing in fact until in the middle of the period of the aristocratic courts the most sublime clothing , makeup and jewelry were seen as the rights of the male aristocracy and the male bourgeoisie. Being pale was considered an aristocratic sign and that is why nobles wore makeup and put red-rose on their cheekbones ( think of Elves ) . Like the peacocks, the most beautiful and sublime king was also seen as the most influent . In many ancient civilizations, women were not even allowed to have long hair because it was a sign of virility (many Taliban in Afghanistan actually have long hair and wear makeup ) . The color pink was a color associated with young boys and royalty . Most of the things we associate with femininity are not even feminine but aristocratic and masculine: even the unicorn is a phalic symbol: the Unicorn is a horned horse (umm) which is attracted to virgins just like Dragons do love virgins women as sacrifices .
80% of the things people here associate with femininity were originally masculine. The vast majority of ancient statues in Europe are male for this reason because for a long time female beauty was seen as secondary and adolescent males were considered as the epitome of virility and beauty (ancient Greeks and all ). The myths of medieval knights are a very idealized doctrine (most knights were actually quite barbaric in their ways and arrogant) but above all from a false historical point of view, the beauty of knights and princes was often even more emphasized: because handsome = good and noble leader for the people of the time . Because let's be honest, when a woman in the ancient world had her period every month, had to have children who would surely die before reaching adulthood, the standards of beauty were less important than having a capable wife to survive having up to ten children for some . In addition, the majority of women still work . In ancient Rome, most peasant women gave birth alone with theirs familly at home and only had a few hours before having to return to work with their newsbornes in their arms, without genuine medical preparation. 95% of women in human history were never privileged princesses or nymphs : menstruation, pregnancy often with a large number of children, the majority who will die before theirs adolescences , little medical aid, they always had to work with their newsbornes in their arms in the fields or to help their husbands. And in fact there are even a higher number of civilizations than originally believed required martial and warlike qualities from girls.
Most of the aristocrats of yesteryear would be perceived as fancy homosexuals today but the truth is that the criteria of female beauty and contemporary fashion are mainly based on them and on the physiology of adolescent males.
When beauty and appearance were seen as inextricably linked to power, they were above all masculine virtues: because like the Peacock, it is up to man to be solar and to sublimate himself: literally the idea in certain lesson was that a woman should not eclipse the sublime of her husband , just as the moon must not eclipse the sun ( however we should also note that certain civilizations perceive the sun as feminine and the moon as masculine ) . When beauty became something fragile, weak, secondary or simply “kawaii”, then they became feminine facts. Just as fairies and Merfolk were used as symbols of royalty ( the Fairy Court or the Elves can be a symbol of the higther class : proud , pale , elegant people that parties , are closer to divine , and are just too superior for the common folk ) spiritualy , or politics, when these things became too boring and shiny, they became manly for little girls . Even Sorcery : Many ancient civilizations had mages and occult officials to serve as priests and shamans , but when occultism became something evil... you know the rest (although the ratio of men to women burned was less important than we often believe).
Just look at what you perceive to be physically feminine and delicate traits (eyes, physiognomy, facial features) and to what extent women torture themselves to have these traits when ironically many men have them naturally. The elf slim face ironically shows a certain degree of testosterone.
I mean for example, there are serious academic hypotheses since the renaissance that the Mona Lisa was based on Leonardo Devinci's boyfriend
And without any homophobia, almost all higth fashion designers and a large number of artists for centuries are... yes, and I say that without any ulterior motive or prejudice .
The cult of female beauty is the biggest psy-op. Which makes me laught because 80% of sacred feminine things are just a modernization and an esoteric pretension of a purely consumerist and artificial femininity.
I take my popcorn and wait for the comments 😎

Hi! Ive been making a card game for a while and I'm happy about the rules for now. I'm curious about how it's presented though. Could you guys tell me if the order of the information presented flows in a comprehensive way? If not, any advice on changing the order of the information presented?
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gry3LCIKORQv3Zcqxk6Y6nW8R5GCx1rN1416mbUD5WE/edit?usp=drivesdk
SUNDER OVERVIEW
The primordial loom has been discovered, a location of dynamic and abundant elemental power. This location can facilitate the creation of the primal avatar stone in a fraction of the time. You are one of a few benders with the knowledge of this location. Call upon the elements to imbue your spirit stone and become the first bender to harness the power of the avatar stone. Summon and bend elementals, sunder them, and absorb the most elemental spirit into your spirit stone to win the game.
Sunder can be played by 2 to 6 players in 30 minutes to 1 hour.
CONTENTS 65 Elemental Cards 33 Catalyst Cards 15 Spirit Stone Cards Red Damage Tokens Brown Empower Tokens Grey Encumber Tokens Blue Freeze Tokens Yellow Barrier Tokens Green Guardian Tokens 6 Cantrip Coins 6 Energy Tokens 6 Spirit D20s 1 Round Token
SETUP Place the elemental deck, the catalyst deck, and game tokens in the center. Reveal a number of elementals equal to the number of players next to the elemental deck to create the primordial loom. Draw a spirit stone card and place it face up on your battlefield.
Then draw a hand of 3 cards from the elemental deck. Discarded cards are discarded into the sunder pile next to the elemental deck, or sundered. Receive a cantrip coin and energy token to track energy.
THE BATTLEFIELD Play your summoned elementals in front of you and your catalyst in front of those.
Your spirit stone should be on the left side of your summoning area and your banish pile should be next to your spirit stone.
Banish pile: Your banish pile is where you discard banished elementals.
Summoning order: Summon elementals onto your battlefield from left to right. The battlefield can only hold up to 5 of your elementals. Sunder elementals that are summoned onto a full battlefield.
THE ELEMENTS Elements define the elementals. Summon elementals and bend them to use their unique abilities. The following are the 5 types of elements: -Fire elementals are destructive. They are strong against life and wind. -Water elementals can freeze and cleanse. They are strong against earth and fire. -Earth elementals can empower with durability. They are strong against life and fire. -Life elementals can heal and protect. They are strong against water and wind. -Wind elementals can encumber and hasten. They are strong against earth and water.
The element type is indicated by the color of the card’s border and pennant, as well as an element symbol in the middle of the card.
Elements have an energy cost to summon. This number also indicates its power in combat, and spirit when absorbing. This number is in the top left corner of the card.
The description of an element’s effect when bending it can be found in the text box, and its strengths and weaknesses can be found adjacent to its central element symbol.
CATALYSTS Catalyst cards don’t have any cost or power but instead provide ongoing or triggered effects after they have been revealed.
THE SPIRIT STONES Spirit stones are only attuned to one element type. Elementals that share the stone’s type are resonant elementals and are indicated on the spirit stone card by the color of the card’s border and an element symbol.
The spirit stone card describes the benefits it grants you, including your cantrip. This also contains the energy tracker to keep track of the amount of energy you have per round using the energy token. Keep the D20 near the spirit stone to keep track of your spirit you absorb.
Resonance bonus: Your spirit stone provides you with benefits that apply to your resonant elementals. This is the resonance bonus. These bonuses include the following: -Your resonant elementals in play ignore the Combat Weakness rule. -You may bend resonant elementals instead of using summoning actions when summoning a resonant elemental. This activates them as normal. -You may choose an elemental resistance for resonant elementals that you bend or counter bend.
VICTORY The first player to absorb 20 spirit immediately wins the game. If a player passes their turn after the elemental deck has been depleted, they are eliminated.
SUNDER RULES
GAME ANATOMY Sunder is played in rounds that consist of turns. The last player that touched grass goes first. Give them the round token to track the round. Turns are passed clockwise until the last player with unspent energy goes last in the round.
Energy: Energy is the primary resource of Sunder spent on summoning elementals and using cantrips. Use the energy tracker on your spirit stone card to monitor the amount of energy you have.
Every round you gain 1 additional energy to spend per round to a maximum of 6 by round 6. Unspent energy is cumulative between rounds.
Beginning of round: Replenish your energy. Starting with the first player in the round, draw a card from the elemental deck. You may exchange this elemental with one of the elementals from the primordial loom. If you have the round token, you may reveal a catalyst for yourself. If you already have a catalyst, you may replace it with the new catalyst or discard the new catalyst.
Turns: At the beginning of every turn: -Return your banish pile to your hand. -If your elementals are active, they now go dormant, turning them sideways. -If your cantrip is on cooldown, flip it rightside up. -Apply any start of turn effects from catalysts.
During the turn, you may do any of the following in any order: -Use your cantrip for 1 energy. -Attack with any of your elementals already on the battlefield. -Bend any of your elementals already on the battlefield. -Draw a card for 2 energy. -One of the following: --Summon 1 elemental onto the battlefield from your hand for its energy cost. --Attack with an elemental from your hand for its energy cost.
At the end of your turn: -Cleanse 1 freeze token from all of your elementals if any. -Apply any end of turn effects from artifacts in play.
Absorbing: If you don’t do anything in a turn and you have energy available, you may absorb the spirits of your elementals. When you absorb, do the following: -Activate your elementals. -Add the amount of modified power on your battlefield as spirit to your score. -Spend all of your available energy. -Sunder half of the elementals in your hand and banish pile, rounded up. -Take no more turns in the round.
End of round: If you have 0 energy, absorb, spend 0 energy in a turn, or do nothing in turn, you may not take any more turns in the round. The round ends after the last player with energy takes a turn. Start the next round with the next player that has the least spirit going clockwise and give them the round token.
USING CANTRIPS You can use cantrips once per turn for 1 energy. After this use, flip your cantrip coin to show that it has been used.
HOW TO SUMMON Whenever you play an elemental card, it is summoned onto the battlefield under your control. To summon an elemental from your hand, you must pay its energy cost using the energy tracker.
You can only summon 1 elemental per turn. If you gain a free elemental to summon in a turn, you can summon it regardless of its cost or summon eligibility.
Dormant: Elementals always enter the battlefield dormant but are unable to attack on the turn they enter the battlefield. Turn an elemental sideways to indicate they are dormant.
Dormant elementals cannot be attacked but they can still be targeted by bent elementals, summoning actions, and cantrips. An elemental becomes active when you attack with, bend, or absorb them and becomes dormant again at the start of the turn. Once an elemental becomes active, they cannot be activated for anything else until they become dormant again.
Summoning action: Whenever you summon an elemental, the controlling player must also perform a summoning action after it is summoned. Summoning actions don’t activate the elemental.
The summoning action is determined by the elemental’s type, indicated by the following: -Fire elementals must damage an elemental in play but may not damage itself. See damage keyword. -Wind elementals must encumber an enemy elemental in play but may not encumber itself. See encumber keyword. -Life elementals may heal an elemental in play. See heal keyword. -Earth elementals must empower an elemental in play and may empower itself. See empower keyword. -Water elementals must freeze an elemental in play but may not freeze itself. See freeze keyword.
HOW TO ATTACK You can use any of your dormant elementals on your battlefield with power 1 or greater at any time during your turn to attack an opponent’s elementals.
Activate any dormant elementals when you attack with them. You may attack any active elementals your opponents control but elementals are unable to make their first attack in the same turn they are summoned. Your elementals in play can each only attack once per turn.
Attacking an elemental deals damage to it equal to your elemental’s modified power. At the same time, the defending elemental also deals its modified power in damage to your elemental. Damage that equals or exceeds an elemental’s modified power will sunder it per the damage rules. Elementals with equal modified power sunder each other.
Combat Weakness: Whenever you attack an elemental that is weak to your elemental’s type, that elemental is sundered regardless of your elemental’s power.
Attacking from your hand and counter attacking: You may also use elementals in your hand to attack. If a player uses an elemental from their hand to attack, this can be counter attacked by anyone else using elementals from their hand as well which can also be counter attacked and so on, using a last in first out rule following clockwise order if necessary.
Attacking from your hand counts as a played card. Attacking from your hand and counter attacking costs your elemental’s energy cost and always sunders it. You can counter attack as many times as you have the energy to do so even if you have no more turns in the round.
HOW TO BEND ELEMENTS You may bend any dormant elementals not summoned on the same turn by activating the elemental, then resolving its instant effect. An elemental can only be bent once per turn.
Counter bending: Whenever an opponent bends an elemental, before they resolve its effect, you can attempt to counter it. You can counter an elemental with an elemental in your hand that its element type is weak to. This is counter bending.
Counter bending an elemental prevents its effect from occurring. However, counter bending can also be countered in the same way from anyone else, using a last in first out order. The elementals that are played must face the player that played it to reliably track who owns the elemental.
If all players no longer wish or are unable to counter bend, the effects are resolved in last in first out order and all elementals used to counter bend are banished to the controlling player’s banish pile until the beginning of their turn. If the original elemental is countered, the effect does not get resolved but the elemental remains active.
You can counter bend as many times as you have a countering element in hand even if you have no more turns in the round. Counter bending does not cost energy.
Elemental resistance: When bending or counter bending resonant elementals, you may choose to resist 1 of the 2 element types your elemental is weak to. This is an elemental resistance and prevents that elemental type from counter bending your elemental. Elemental resistance only applies to the elemental you’re bending or counter bending.
RULES CONTRADICTIONS AND RESOLUTION If any of these rules are contradicted by the effects of the cards, the cards take precedence over the game rules.
If multiple contradicting rules happen simultaneously, determine priority effects or targets by following player order starting with the current player, then following left to right order on the player’s battlefield when targeting elementals. Otherwise, consider all effects and targets to be simultaneous whenever possible.
Catalysts and countering effects and abilities can trigger or become triggered by a player’s actions. Whenever an effect or ability triggers another effect or ability, resolve the effects or abilities in order from last in first out. Counter bending and counter attacking also follow a last in first out order.
Targets: Choosing an elemental to apply an effect to makes it a target. Bent elementals can target themselves unless otherwise specified. Bent elementals that specify affecting all elementals are not considered to be targeting them.
KEYWORDS Damage: Whenever an elemental is damaged, it gains a damage token. Damage tokens indicate how much damage an elemental has taken, whether by combat or otherwise. An elemental is sundered if the number of damage tokens is equal to or greater than the elemental’s modified power. Empower: When you empower an elemental, give it an empower token. Empower tokens add to the elemental’s power in combat. When the elemental’s spirit is absorbed, the additional power from the empower token also contributes to the spirit absorbed. Encumber: When you encumber an elemental, give it an encumber token. Encumber tokens subtract from the elemental’s power in combat. Elementals can’t be encumbered for more than their modified power. When the elemental’s spirit is absorbed, the lost power from the encumber token does not get absorbed as spirit. Heal: Whenever you heal an elemental, remove a damage token from it. Freeze: When you freeze an elemental, give it a freeze token. Freeze tokens prevent an elemental from attacking, bending, and from being absorbed. Freeze tokens are stackable but all stacks are removed if the elemental takes any damage. Barrier: When you give an elemental barrier, it gains a barrier token. Barrier tokens prevent all damage done from the next source of damage. Barrier tokens are stackable. One barrier token is removed from the elemental upon damage prevention. Guardian: Whenever you give an elemental guardian, it gains a guardian token. Enemy players must attack an active guardian elemental before they can attack any other elementals controlled by that player, and can only take 1 damage at a time in combat. Cleanse: You can cleanse elementals and catalysts. Whenever you cleanse an elemental, remove all tokens from it other than damage tokens. Whenever you cleanse a catalyst, discard it. Cleanse does not remove tempest. Tempest: Whenever you give an elemental tempest, that elemental may make an attack even if they were summoned that turn. Additionally, the elemental doesn’t receive combat damage if they sunder the defending elemental in combat. The effect lasts until the end of the controlling player’s turn. Flux: Whenever you flux an elemental, activate it if it’s dormant or make it dormant if it’s active. Banish: Elementals that are used to counter bend are banished into the controlling player’s banish pile and are considered banished and unable to be used until their next turn. Dormant: Elementals enter the battlefield turned sideways. These are dormant elementals. Elementals go dormant at the start of every turn. Turn an elemental upright when you attack with, bend, or absorb them. These are active elementals. Dormant elementals cannot be attacked. Elementals can always be targeted by bent elemental effects, summoning actions, and cantrips regardless of dormant status.

This chapter took a long time to get out. Life has me super busy. Two jobs, married, two kids, still sober. I like how this turned out, however, someone new stole the show this time. As always, leave feedback, I appreciate it so very much.
[FIRST] [DELETED SCENES] [PREVIOUS]
~ ~ ~
As I reentered my true body without recieving a mending, the vicious wounds I endured manifested into being as I reactualized into my true Self. Through the pain, I couldn't help but think on Raver's words to me.
"The doors have to be closed."
~ ~ ~
Without recieving a mending in Raver's Dreamtime bubble, reactualization was a fucking bitch. I Perceived my Self as having quite the damaged form, my Soul was fucked over by bombardment from dreadlight and my physical body simply disagreed with it all, stating that I was mostly whole and intact, only being damaged by wounds I had already endured. The three parts had an argument of a sort amongst themselves and with the power of the Dreamtime, reached a tortuous compromise.
I'm certain I seizured and blacked out through the process.
I awoke with my body shaking and covered in a cold sweat, Tsula and Luna above me, chanting in the secret language of their esoteric Traditions. The two of them each held diffetent tools required for their cultural and subtle manipulation of reality. Soft hands, awash with mana and glowing tattoos, were placed on my chest, right where my heart was. Cold, icy fingers cradled my soul protectively, keeping it connected to my body in the here and now as harsh, physical laws rent my form.
I was paying the price for Raver's hubris, and I had almost overdrafted. Thoughts of mortal over reach faded from my mind as I slipped into cool and soothing darkness.
Cold and bloodied fingers were pressed against my chest and did little to assuage the burning ache that was my soul. I couldn't focus on anything else as I gazed at the hollowed out body of my beloved. She had been beautiful, gorgeous even, and due to give birth to our daughter in two weeks. Now, the... dead thing in front of me could barely be defined as a corpse. Her skin had been peeled away like a banana and her insides removed, leaving a bloodied, hollow space. The flesh and bones had been scooped away like ice cream, leaving little in the way of remains. Our unborn child had been pulled out and repurposed with the stolen parts of her mother by dreadlight and a mage's fell Will to form the body of a Thing.
With silent tears streaming down my face, I placed the ring I had proposed to her with and put it onto my finger, next to my plain tungsten one. The simple act of removing it almost caused what remained of her hand to simply fall apart in my fingers. I'm not sure how long I stayed like that. I couldn't even hold her body against mine for fear of it crumbling away into a vile mess. I ignored what was going on around me as I kneeled in the spent summoning circle.
The world around me split and rent itself into distorted imagery, as though I were looking at everything from under a pool with gentle waves. Some parts were compressed together and others were stretched out, not quite like a mirror maze as the world was still simply one cohesive image. Additionally, things seemed closer or further in ways that defied conventional Euclidean geometries. The only area not affected by this blatant disregard of spatial dimensions, had been myself and a scant few feet around me.
What...?
A heavy thud broke me out of my thoughts and I saw my Father landing next to me. Since both of us had been prepared, he was wearing, much like myself, full motorcycle safety gear. It had been enchanted and bolstered by hidden runes and severed Will, turning everything into protective objects that even defended against potent and offensive mysticism. The equipment in question had been chosen for its sheer mundanity and ease of access, letting the powerful enchancements skirt around the Lie and Consensus leaving the magic fully intact and potent.
"Alistair," I heard my Father say to me with grim calm as he twisted the space in front of us into a right angle, redirecting rapid gunfire, "I can't do this alone."
I remained silent.
"Damnit, Son," he growled out then literally kicked my ass with his heavy boot, almost knocking me over onto my side, "get a hold of yourself, Its here now. You handle the mages."
That got me going. I finally got up, my grief was as a lead weight and prevented me from doing what was needed. With a last look at C'Leena's hollowed out corpse, I grit my teeth, steeled my nerves and called forth my magic from the Aether.
Was I dreaming? No, worse, I was in a memory...
"Stay out of my way and watch yourself," Father said to me, "I can't pull my punches against that."
"Gotcha," I replied almost absently and turned to face the assembled shadow mages. They had inexplicably stopped theit gunfire to admire the Thing they brought into existence from Somewhere.
I couldn't help but stare, either.
Standing on top of the northernmost anchor stone, an ugly, multi-faceted block of copper with glyphs and sigils harshly hewn into it, was a naked woman. The glyphs themselves were hard to look at, as though their mere presence were an affront to reality itself, which they were. The woman's skin was a darkened olive tone and she was tall as well as athletic, lithe and fit. Her shoulder length black hair was bushy and curly, flowing about her head almost like an afro. As she ran her hands down her body, I could not help but notice that everything was oddly symmetrical and too perfect. It was unnerving me greatly and triggered an uncanny valley response that tore at my heart.
The body this Thing was wearing had belonged to my fiancée.
Father didn't let It have time to get acclimated. Sidestepping forwards, he drew upon the full capabilities of his Path, eyes backlit by stars, an impossible physical sword of abstract spatial geometries held in his left hand, and a reality defying, super-dense distortion held in his right.
The world contorted and screamed under his might.
I awoke with a start and a low groan, glad to be awake and free of that horrid nightmare again. Not for the first time, I wished I had that motorcycle gear still. I had been far too reckless then and immediately thereafter, and everything had been damaged beyond repair. I could never find anyone I trusted enough to make those enchantments anyways. Farnsworth could only enhance the mundane qualities as he didn't know enough about mana warding to permanently imbue the protections I wanted nor needed for my line of active field work.
Looking around, I saw Rue asleep on the other side of the bed and Spades was nestled between us, his massive form making a visible dip in the mattress. The big monster dog was on his back, legs splayed open and snoring loudly with his tongue hanging out of his muzzle. I was reminded a lot of my Lola when she had still been around in the flesh, making me smile with old and pleasant memories. I must have been out for some time for Spades to be here.
A quick, almost reflexive, mental orison told me everything I already suspected. My mana reserves were shot, my body had been through the ringer and my soul was frayed and burnt. While I knew I owed my continued existence to Raver and her godsend, I also knew it had taken a great and terrible toll on my Self. Miracles like that usually held some kind of hidden cost, even if they weren't readily apparent.
Getting off the bed slowly, I began to look for my pack. It took far longer than than usual as I had to steady myself quite a bit from the spinning room. I managed to be quiet, however, and didn't wake up Rue nor Spades. Finally in the shower, after some time and using the wall to support myself, I let the almost scalding water roll over my aching body. The pendant on my neck protecting me from recieving any burns or aggravating the injuries I had, both old and new.
With the hot water soothing aching muscles, I began to think and take stock of my situation. I had never been on the back foot like this, low on any kind of resource, having few allies, and being pressed for time. It was like something out of a bad novel or shitty indie Steam(R) game. Though, real life was often stranger than fiction and had no real need for a logical cause and effect dynamic. If this was going to become the norm, then I had to find another method of approaching my wendigo problem.
I was simply running out of time.
After some long moments of thinking, I began to wash my hair, using the guest products on the corner caddy. They were so much nicer than anything I would have willingly bought and made me seriously consider changing up my usual shampoo. The only idea I could come up with regarding those wendigos, besides an overwhelming frontal assault, was to appeal to their bottomless gluttony and barter for passage.
I resigned myself to actually try to negotiate with their clan leader, leveraging their horrid taboos against them to get what I needed.
Wendigos, unlike most strange cryptids, vampires and were-folk aside, had a lot of things known about them, especially how they powered their supernatural capabilities. It was a simple and rather straightforward process, the more heinous the act, the more mana they drew from it. Cannibalism, sacrilege, incest, murder, torture, hedonistic gluttony, or any number of other terrible and minor sins. As well as general lawbreaking and felonies, oftentimes combined to have as many as possible occur in the same sitting.
I audibly gasped with a sudden epiphany.
My fate had already been decided, by myself no less. In a bar I couldn't remember the name of, when I had been gazing into my bronze coin, I saw what I needed to do. I had to gift what measly scrap of knowledge I understood from Beyond the Infinite to those creatures. To let those wendigos defile and mutilate such sacred and pure knowledge to whatever whims their baleful minds could come up with.
"Fuck," was the only thing I could whisper at the thought of it all as I turned off the water, getting out of the shower. I cooled the bathroom down with but a thought and wiped away the condensation on the mirror with a towel that wasn't my own, finally getting a good look at myself without vertigo, as that had finally passed.
I looked like shit, and that was a compliment. Huge, fist shaped bruises of black, green and yellow littered my torso, though most were located on my left side and blurred together into an ugly shapeless mass. The ones on my right, however, were well defined and I could easily count the number of strikes. My face held a swollen black eye, I never noticed my diminished field of vision as I had gotten used to having them over the years. Turning gingerly and opening the mirror a bit so I could see my back, I grimaced. It was another spiderweb of a bruise, earned from when I had been smashed against the edge of Raver's Dreamtime bubble.
At least none of my fingers were broken, only very stiff and swollen, just like the rest of me. I probably couldn't drive for another day or so, either, not with my hands the way they were. As I looked, surprised I hadn't noticed earlier, the inside of my right hand was, branded. The skin, while fully healed, held the symbolic glyph that heralded the Path of Stars. A circle with nine curved lines inside it. Each line only intersected two others, but with the irregular placement of them, I could trace an intersection to any other one. In each of the open spaces, slightly off center, as a simple dot.
"Miracles leave their marks," I muttered to myself, almost disbelieving the literalness of the phrase.
I didn't bother drying off and struggled a bit getting into the clothes I brought with me, maroon athletic shorts and a black tank top. Exiting the guest bathroom, I thought about where I wanted to go. Settling on a destination, I went into the backyard, found a patch of grass in the shaded, morning sunlight and lay down. The grass was thick and rather soft, and the smell of the lemon tree and the garden was more pleasant and fragrant than they should have been.
Warding myself against dreaming, I pulled on the principles of the Aether, specifically, those of sun and storms. Since the Aether was a realm of energy and mana in all of its varying forms, I employed an advanced technique, a mysterion. It was something only able to be done by those that actually hailed from the Aether rather than having mastery over it. Pulling some of the sunlight and ambient warmth into my form, I converted measly scraps of energy directly into mana. The process was slow, and almost hardly worth the effort. It was like filling a bathtub with water, a single milliliter at a time.
Mana was now such a rare commodity, every miniscule drop of it mattered.
I settled in and entered a trance-like state, most of my attention devoted to my mysterion, though some of it was allowed to drift off elsewhere. While not exactly a dream, and while maintaining my mana draw, my mind conjured up nonsensical imagery and conversations between myself and others. I didn't pay them any attention as my thoughts wandered and drifted idly.
"I thought I'd find you out here," Rue said as I heard her sit down next to me. I didn't hear her walking, however, she continued to speak, "you've been asleep for a few days. What happened?"
"Got fucked," I replied easily, a little sarcastically as well. "Truthfully," I amended, "I got summoned by Raver. She pulled a shenanigan with Fate to let her have a waking dream."
"So she was hallucinating?" Rue stated, though it was more of a question.
"Damned straight," I confirmed, "she had Sasquatch and Farnsworth make something for her. It had to have been lethal, something like that. Anyways, we were talking and then one of Them showed up. Inside the Dreamtime bubble of hers. Found Raver's luminescence despite Mirzam hiding it."
"Shit. So It was physically there? That means It had a stolen body..." Rue said, trailing off.
"Yeah, it had a body alright," I almost growled out, "broke Raver's ritual with little effort. I spent everything I had to make a patch job just to keep it active, burned through all my mana, too. I did not want to be dispersed."
"I see," Rue said to me with understanding, "I wouldn't want to have to find my physical body without a tether either." There was a small pause before she spoke again, "So what happened next?"
"I made it mad with insults to buy time for the repaired shenanigan to stabilize Raver."
"What do you mean?" Rue asked as I heard her stretch out a bit, my eyes still closed.
"Her shenanigan was woven in such a way that whatever drug Sasquatch and Farnsworth made for her didn't just kill her," I answered with a pause then continued, "it let her do things beyond normality, anyways, my fucked up patch job let me tell Sasquatch that Raver had to stay dreaming."
"So he wouldn't just purge the elixir out of her," Rue stated, then added perhaps a tad bit defensively, "I know some things from other paths, not much, but some."
"That's good," I answered back, "knowledge is power."
"With us, it's quite literal."
I murmured in assent.
"So why did you make It mad?" Rue asked, "wouldn't It just draw strength from human emotions, especially in the Dreamtime?"
"It did," I answered back, "but It couldn't act properly on them, like human emotions were new and novel. The whole encounter was sloppy after a certain point, but I did almost die. Raver saved me, gave me a miracle."
"I saw," Rue said simply, "the mark on your hand was a giveaway."
I could only murmur in agreement again then asked, "Did you find a card in my hands, too?"
"I did," Rue replied after a few moments of silence, "it was debit card, with a note attached to it."
"From Procyon, right?"
It took a few moments for her to answer. "Yes, it was from Procyon," she took a breath and continued with wavering effort, "that damned bastard had it all planned out. Wrote a fucked up letter to me on a Google(TM) doc telling me not to worry and that this had always been his exit plan."
"Sounds like he knew what was going to happen," was all I could say.
"Yes, but, I miss him!" Rue all but snarled at me, then, in a small and quiet voice, whispered, "He was my best friend, and maybe we could've been more, y'know? Now... there's... There's just nothing, only memories of him left to mourn."
"I didn't know," I answered simply.
Rue spoke with a wavering breath before continuing, her thoughts more than a little disjointed, "a lot of what he wrote was personal, so I won't get into that, but he was certain that something catastrophic was going to happen to him and myself. So he made sure that I was at my secondary home, recovering from a job. I had just completed a mission from Raver and Mirzam, and was going to perform a ritual to patch up Spades after I got some sleep. Procyon also stated that someone has been altering things for a very long time."
"So that's why you were caught with yout pants down," I said, "you didn't even have time to recover." I paused, adjusting my mysterion as I had to refocus due to our conversation, "what did they have you do?"
"Some hedge wizards actually got a hold of an actual necromancy grimoire and charged mana tools in a graveyard," Rue said with a bit of a tired sigh, "they knew exactly what they were doing, and would have been rather powerful shadow mages if they had been capable of using starlight."
"Fuck," was all I could say, then formed an actual response after a few moments, "that shouldn't have been an issue for you. Hedges don't have our capability, though numbers may have evened out their odds."
"You're right, but they brought a spirit back before I could stop them," Rue answered with more than a little spite, "a real nasty piece of shit, too. Turned on the hedges, absorbed them, and put up a real mean fight against Spades and I. It was touch and go for a long time and I was actually fearful for my life, too."
"You won, though."
"Yeah, managed to send it kicking and screaming back to the Pit, exhausted most of my mana to do so. Fucking bastard."
There was a small silence between us as Rue became lost in her own thoughts. It was a while before I asked her, "Can you elaborate on what Procyon said about Fate being altered?"
"I can, actually, though it's a bit difficult since I'm not even a novice with the Path of Stars," Rue answered as I heard her shift a bit on the grass next to me. She paused as she seemingly collected her thoughts, "it's just that certain events were made to happen sooner or later. The big one, for our Node at least, was that you were always supposed to make your ancestral home translocate. It happened sooner than it should have."
"Fuck," I said, "So I wasn't supposed to send it away a few days ago?"
"No, that was supposed to happen after our wendigo thing, if the letter is to be believed."
"Fuck," was all I could say, "I do suppose that was a snap decision, I really didn't want Them to get a hold of anything inside. If I had been able to wait, or even had help, I'm sure I wouldn't have lost it to time and space."
"Exactly," Rue said with bitter excitement, "and we'd have access to everything in it. Losing your home was a big blow to our Node."
"Yeah, but at least They don't have it," I answered more spitefully than intended.
"Silver linings and all that, right?"
"Yeah, gotta look at the bright side, no matter how bleak," I answered back with a bit of sarcastic mirth, then said as I stretched a bit, readjusting my focus on my mysterion as well, "speaking of wendigos, I know what we need to do to solve that."
"Oh? Do tell, I couldn't come up with anything myself, kept running into dead ends," she said, then added, "lack of resources and help."
"Well, I don't think you're going to like it, I'm not sure I like it either."
"Don't keep me waiting," Rue said to me with a bit of sarcastic exasperation. I could sense her looking at me even though my eyes were still closed.
"I'm going to leverage their taboos against them, appeal to their insatiable greed and offer them what little I can understand of That Which Lies Beyond the Infinite." I sighed and added, "after all, how could they resist the allure of new magic?"
"You're right," she answered, "I definitely don't like it. I'm pretty sure it's not even wise to do so."
"Wise or not, it's the only way forward, I even saw it in a vision when I was manipulating fate magic."
"Have you talked to Mirzam or Raver about this vision of yours?"
"No, not yet, and I'm pretty sure I don't need to."
There was a bit of silence between us as she digested my words. I felt compelled to elaborate as I adjusted my mysterion again, losing a bit of my focus due to the depth of the conversation we were having.
"Acrux," I said, getting her attention fully by using the name of her star, "there's something you need to understand." I sat up, abandoning my mysterion in favor of giving her my full attention. Blinking a bit at the rise of light and warmth, I continued my thought process, "in the Dreamtime, the Thing I was fighting against, It was surprised and enraged that I was able to call upon knowledge that Lay Beyond the Infinite. Whatever those glyphs and powers are, They never wanted humans to know of them, let alone have them."
"Yet you want to give such power to wendigos of all things."
"At least the knowledge, corrupted or not, will still be on Earth," I said then added, "I'm not sure what you remember, but I know you've seen something from Beyond the Infinite. Your self revival and Spade's new form are proof of that. I was there, guided by Oracle. I Perceived something unknowable, something terrible, something no mortal has any right to gaze upon. Something I can hardly even begin to try to put into words. Raver Perceived it, too. It's how she managed to give me a godsend. So, what did you Perceive, really?"
Rue brought her knees up to her chest, thinking deeply. I could tell she was using her Perception to look inwards upon her Self. I waited patiently while she struggled to look at her soul's reflection against her mind and struggled even more to put the image there into words.
At long last, she spoke, her eyes still closed as she did so, "I'm not sure what I saw, there was too much, and I felt so small. Insignificant. Less than even a dismissed, intrusive thought. There is one thing I do remember. A doorway made of the might from two universes worth of truths and laws. A Thing was trying ro break through, but couldn't, not fully, yet the doors were opened, letting smaller ones through."
"The Doors have to be closed," I said, quoting Raver, before continuing, "that's what Raver said to me, before she sent me back to my body."
"Why didn't they mend you then?"
"They were being attacked in the waking world, too. It was a good plan on Their part, They just didn't expect us to put up so much of a fight."
"They never do, though I think that's changing."
"So that's our endgame, not sure how we're going to do it," I said, bringing the conversation back to topic, "at the moment, however, I'm going to eat a few of those mana-stuffed protein bars and fix your leg. I can't keep spending mana to be able to drive your truck. You'll have to use your own mysterion to get mana, too."
"I hate my Path's mysterions," the venom in her voice was palpable.
Before I could say anything, the backdoor opened, revealing Luna. She was wearing a bird-patterned sundress and her hair had been tied back into a loose ponytail. She put her hand over her eyes to shade them from the sun as she squinted against the brightness relative to that from inside.
"Hey, you two," she called out, "Grandmother says she needs to talk yo you."
"Alright," I called out, shakily getting up to my feet with a bit of a grunt. Everything still hurt. Rue had a bit of trouble as well, her leg was not recieving the rest and healing it deserved and needed.
"We're a mess, aren't we?" Rue asked aloud as we began to walk towards the bak door.
"Yeah, but you should see the other guys," I replied with a light chuckle, only to wince and hold my sides, "I forgot how much laughing hurts with fractured ribs."
"I really don't envy you right now," Rue said with a bit of a smirk as we entered Tsula's home, Rue entering first. "I wonder what Tsula wants to talk to us about?" Rue asked aloud, not really talking to anyone in particular.
I could only wonder as we followed Luna to the living room, the house pleasantly cool due to central air conditioning.
~ ~ ~
The moon was not in the sky, and I greatly enjoyed not having to endure the accursed, purifying light of day reflected by its surface, even if greatly diminished. The loathsome wound in my side had been a mortal blow, burning through my toughened flesh and form with unnerving ease and stunning, blinding pain. Once more, I looked at the oily, thin, and black ichor that dripped from my fingers, more human-like than I was comfortable with.
The mote of dreadlight I had recieved for my services had been the only thing that had kept me from vanishing entirely. Mortal alchemy -- science -- had advanced to such a degree so as to emulate the harsh light of day far too remarkably well. That hadn't been the worst part, that damned thaumaturgist had ensorcelled a curse upon the weapon as well. With effort, as the bulk of my power was directed at repairing the oozing wound, I altered my form and shape, struggling to maintain the illusion as I walked out onto the sidewalk from a side alley.
My contract was not yet completed.
The first two nights I had hidden myself away in the dark depths, raging against the oblivion that threatened to overtake me and ending my existence. The preparedness of the thaumaturgist had been unexpected, as well as the skill and the knowledge he had wielded so effortlessly. Without my guidance, nor presence, to instill fear into the gifted abetters, the wraiths I had gathered with me fell and fled into the night, abandoning their duties and contracts.
I would have never made this mistake against the herald of the bear.
Had I known the name of the mortal's star I had been tasked against, I would have demanded more than a simple mote of dreadlight and a paltry handful of coerced allies. Realistically, I should be grateful that I still had a kind of semi-existence. Quelling my anger and hatred, and swallowing my utter revulsion, my form rippled and took the guise of a tall, middle-aged human male in a common and unremarkable suit carrying an old and worn briefcase.
The artificial illumination around me flickered, emitting a grating hum in my presence and the thin television flickered oddly as it tried to display my image, failing to accurately do so. While tracking Arcturus's quintessence had been a bit of a task, as far too much time had passed, my familiarity with it granted me an advantage that overcame that difficulty. Traveling in my wounded state, however, had been much more arduous. Looking the woman at the reception desk over, I took on my role with hiden revulsion, aided by the illusion I was conjuring and the mimicry of my physical form.
"I'm detective Aiden Roth, and I'm looking for someone. I believe that he was here a few nights ago, definitely this past week," I said. My false, human voice had been made to sound smooth, suave and strong, interlaced with a suggestion, using what little forte I could spare. I put the worn and well-used briefcase I had conjured with me onto the counter with a heavy thud, using more of my forte to emulate such a simple thing. Opening it up, I fished out an image and showed the slightly grainy, black and white picture to the receptionist.
As the woman perused the conjured image, I could not help but hiss, my hand going to my side as I expended more of my forte than I had anticipated. The cursed wound fighting back fiercely against the dreadlight tethering my existence and life. I held my disguise with willpower of monumental proportions. A strength of will I rarely had been pressed to draw from.
Seeing the concerned look the woman gave me, I simply stated, shrugging off the pain with yet more expenditure of will, "An old injury, it flares up from time to time. No matter, have you seen this individual?"
"I'm going to need to see some kind of badge or warrant," the woman said with a genuine smile, "sorry."
The fear of losing her menial job overpowered my subtle suggestion. Unfortunate.
"Sure," I replied with a fake and well ptacticed, fetching smile, adjusting my forte to include another suggestion. I showed an actual badge with my assumed name and likeness. The mortal I was impersonating had been slain many years ago by my own hands, and the subtle illusion taking hardly any of my forte adjusted the dates and design of the badge to whatever was current.
Only a thaumaturgist, or a very particularly skilled sorcerer, could pierce the illusion. Against this mortal, there was no chance of resistance and she accepted the stolen badge without question.
She looked it over, as if trying to divine the legitimacy of it. "Okay," she finally admitted, "he was here a while ago, maybe a four or five days? I remember, 'cause I tried to flirt with him..."
I ignored her prattling and asked when she finished speaking, "Can you show me the room he used?"
"Sure, but it's been cleaned a few times since then."
With a nod, I let her lead the way to the room in question, staying silent. The lights around me flickered and hummed loudly in my presence. Had the woman been more observant, she could have seen my true shadow as I had not the forte to expend to hide it entirely from the ever changing lights. She opened the room in question, using what I could only assume was a master key card.
I immediately recognized the faded auras of quintessence.
"This will do," I stated, closing the door behind me and dropping my revolting disguise, using my forte to lock it.
I revealed my true form. My legs and arms lengthened and thinned, the black suit and red tie I was wearing became my skin, armor and form. My face and eyes became blank, gaunt and sunken, skin stretching out over it. The wound in my side made itself visible, it was an ugly red, peeling and oozing burn from my shoulder to my waist and took up most of my torso. The dreadlight I was using to prevent my oblivion illuminated the wound with a kind of sickly, crimson colored backlight. Black ichor oozed out from it and dripped onto the floor as I used the bulk of my forte to ablate the caustic, foreign quintessence from my form.
The woman looked at me as even her pitifully dull, mundane human senses told her that there was incredible danger in the room with her. She screeched and irrationally ran towards the bathroom as my presence became impossibly tall in the very finite space in the motel room. Using the smallest iota of my forte, I remotely smashed her fleeing form against a wall, pinning her there with unseen force as she begged, and sobbed for her pitiful life.
I ignored her for the moment.
Drawing upon more of my forte, freed up as I no longer needed a disguise, I sensed out where quintessence had been used, discovering two places, the bed and a wall. Imbuing the wall with my own forte, I witnessed a spectral, moving image of Arcturus throwing five darts at a map placed on the wall, one at a time, then draw intersecting lines to a single point on the map.
"Wendigos..." I hissed out in loathing, the skin on my face stretching and contorting with the movement as i spoke aloud with a nonexistent mouth. Even I knew their territory.
Turning to the second source of quintessence, I did the same thing. I saw Arcturus ward himself against dreaming and then hold a brilliant shield in the air, as well as a ball of fire. My knowledge of actual thaumaturgy told me that I would have great difficulties against those Knowings. I put the mystery of his Dreamtime excursion out of my mind for now, there was nothing I could do regarding that.
My expenditure of forte caused my horrid wound to pulse against my form painfully. With a hiss, I turned to the woman meekly begging me to spare her life as she was still pinned against the wall. I could use a thrall, especially as I could no longer gain allies, not without offering something in return to my current contract holders.
That was not a barter I wanted to engage in.
"Please... don't kill me... please... I'll do anything... please..."
The absolute terror in her eyes was delectable. Her fear invigorated me with energy and reminded me I needed to feed. However, the morsels offered by her would be more than sufficient for my needs. I dragged my left hand across my oozing wound, covering it in my own essence then flexed my forte. The clothes she was wearing split in half down the middle, revealing her naked form, making her shriek. I could see the ideas her panicked mind vomited forth as she renewed her struggles with vigor.
What I had in mind was so much worse than the mundane taking of her physical body she expected.
Using the full might of my forte, I lengthened and sharpened my index finger, the tip dripping with the gathered ichor of my essence. In an instant, less than the blink of an eye, I appeared in front of her from where I had been by the bed and plunged the very tip of my sharpened, needle-like nail into the center of her heart, cutting through the most sensitive parts of her breast to do so due to the angle I had chosen for just this purpose. As I let my ichor suffuse her body with each beat of her racing heart, her vascular system visibly turning black under her skin as she screamed and writhed in agony, an odd thing happened.
What could only be considered my blood had been tainted by thaumaturgy qnr bolstered by dreadlight as well as my own forte. As it mixed with the blank canvas of the mortal in front of me, I could sense the candle of her soul. Reaching out with dreadlight, letting the wound burn my side with a hiss of inhaled breath, I ignited it with three kinds of mysticism.
A horrified realization overcame her as she knew I had fundamentally altered her to suit my whims. Having a thaumaturgist thrall would be a great boon.
"You'll do quite nicely," I said with an actual grin, the skin stretched over my mouth revealing impossibly large, gleaming flat teeth, as I watched the physical and mystical changes taking place.
My new thrall would never be human again.
I feasted on her terror, anguish and torment.
It was delicious.
~ ~ ~
Arcturus and Acrux will be back. C'Leena Thomas, Prosthetist is going to be my next update.
[[NEXT]]

u/acivilizedman and I compiled a list of good vitamin E sources that are also Peat-friendly.
u/acivilizedman 's contributions:

• Pastured eggs (NOT conventional): ~10% vitamin E per egg, ~0.2g PUFA (I had to read multiple studies and do some math to come to this conclusion - unfortunately I don't remember which studies or how I did the math, but I am pretty confident that this is an accurate "average")
• Mango: 20% vitamin E per mango, 0.5g PUFA
• Red bell pepper: 17% vitamin E per pepper, 0.3g PUFA
• Broccoli: 10% vitamin E per 100g, 0.1g PUFA
• Asparagus: 10% vitamin E per 100g, 0.1g PUFA
• Carrots: 4% vitamin E per carrot, 0.1g PUFA

My contributions (using Cronometer as a source):

• Tomato sauce: 24% vitamin E per cup, 0.3g PUFA
• Butternut squash: 9% vitamin E per 100g, 0.0g PUFA
• Sweet Potato: 14% vitamin E per 2 medium sweet potatoes, 0.3g PUFA
• Cooked spinach: 14% vitamin E per 100g, 0.1g PUFA
• Cooked turnip greens: 13% vitamin E per 100g, 0.1g PUFA
• Cooked swiss chard: 13% vitamin E per 100g, 0.0g PUFA
• Shrimp: 9% vitamin E per 10 large shrimp, 0.4g PUFA
• Prawns: 11% vitamin E per 400g, 0.3g PUFA
• Crab Leg or Claw: 25% vitamin E per 200g, 0.5g PUFA
• Cooked clams: 15% vitamin E per 200g, 0.6g PUFA
• Papaya: 13% vitamin E per 2 medium papayas, 0.4g PUFA
• Cranberries: 9% vitamin E per 100g, 0.1g PUFA
• Cranberry Juice: 51% vitamin E per 20 fl oz, 0.4g PUFA
• Blackberries: 10% vitamin E per 100g, 0.3g PUFA
• Apples: 10% vitamin E per 4 medium apples, 0.4g PUFA
• Pears: 10% vitamin E per 4 medium pears, 0.7g PUFA
• Peaches: 14% vitamin E per 2 medium peaches, 0.3g PUFA
• Nectarines: 13% vitamin E per 2 medium nectarines, 0.3g PUFA
• Dried Apricots: 29% vitamin E per 100g, 0.1g PUFA
• Green Kiwi: 9% vitamin E per 100g, 0.3g PUFA
• Sungold Kiwi: 9% vitamin E per 100g, 0.1g PUFA
• ACAI BERRIES: 99% vitamin E per 100g, 0.7g PUFA
• COOKED ABALONE: 74% vitamin E per cup, 0.1g PUFA

The last two are such obscure food sources, that I would be skeptical of the accuracy of their nutritional content. We need someone trustworthy to study these foods, especially acai berries. If acai berries are truly so low PUFA and high vitamin E, they would be a very effective way to get whole food vitamin E. 60 cals of acai berries, according to this data, is literally 100% of the vitamin E RDA. If anyone is interested in testing this themselves, with 100g of acai berries, powder, or puree, you might be able to test it here: https://foodlabelpro.com/services/#:~:text=FDA%20Compliant%20Nutrition%20Facts%20Panel%3A%20%24150%20per%20product,based%20on%20your%20package%20size
Also, I don't want to type them all, but cooked leafy greens are generally all high in vitamin E and low in PUFA. I included a few in my contributions.
Finally, I don't know if this is true, but I also read on a reddit post that dairy fat and ruminant animal fat can be high in vitamin E when they're raised properly and fed high vitamin E foliage, and apparently you can tell by how golden their fat is. Apparently, high vitamin E (and A) dairy or ruminant animal fat should have a golden & amber color to it. u/acivilizedman sent me this article, which says grass-fed butter has 0.4mg per 0.93 tbsp of butter: https://ketologic.com/blogs/articles/grass-fed-butter. He said that grass-fed milk has about 50% more vitamin E than regular milk, but it's still relatively low. If he remembers correctly, 8 cups of grass-fed milk is about 2.1mg vitamin E (only 14% of the RDA).
If you want to supplement, u/acivilizedman recommends TocoVit from IdeaLabs. They extract the vitamin E from wheat germ oil. Apparently, with a standard dose (about 100mg), it lasts 250 days.

The Color isnt the bright green and as far as I can see i do not see the treasure hunt symbol.

Ok so hear me out. I think GHOST is the most recent in the timeline, first because the music video starts with the vision symbol but it’s pink and we all know that Erys color is pink so this means that this can be Erys in the music video after possessing Syre in icon electric. 2, in the Erys is coming ep the last song on the ep called new direction basically is ERYS talking about going to different places to sell vision so in the ghost music video it could be Erys in Syre’s body pushing the vision to Tokyo, 3 if GHOST was the most recent in the timeline it would make more sense why Jaden has been spotted in Tokyo a lot. 4, if GHOST is after icon electric it would make sense why ERYS would be saying that he’s a Ghost because he just possessed somebody. But lmk what u think guys.

Updated the text and corrected the artist credit.

This chapter took a long time to get out. Life has me super busy. Two jobs, married, two kids, still sober. I like how this turned out, however, someone new stole the show this time. As always, leave feedback, I appreciate it so very much.
[FIRST] [DELETED SCENES] [PREVIOUS]
~ ~ ~
As I reentered my true body without recieving a mending, the vicious wounds I endured manifested into being as I reactualized into my true Self. Through the pain, I couldn't help but think on Raver's words to me.
"The doors have to be closed."
~ ~ ~
Without recieving a mending in Raver's Dreamtime bubble, reactualization was a fucking bitch. I Perceived my Self as having quite the damaged form, my Soul was fucked over by bombardment from dreadlight and my physical body simply disagreed with it all, stating that I was mostly whole and intact, only being damaged by wounds I had already endured. The three parts had an argument of a sort amongst themselves and with the power of the Dreamtime, reached a tortuous compromise.
I'm certain I seizured and blacked out through the process.
I awoke with my body shaking and covered in a cold sweat, Tsula and Luna above me, chanting in the secret language of their esoteric Traditions. The two of them each held diffetent tools required for their cultural and subtle manipulation of reality. Soft hands, awash with mana and glowing tattoos, were placed on my chest, right where my heart was. Cold, icy fingers cradled my soul protectively, keeping it connected to my body in the here and now as harsh, physical laws rent my form.
I was paying the price for Raver's hubris, and I had almost overdrafted. Thoughts of mortal over reach faded from my mind as I slipped into cool and soothing darkness.
Cold and bloodied fingers were pressed against my chest and did little to assuage the burning ache that was my soul. I couldn't focus on anything else as I gazed at the hollowed out body of my beloved. She had been beautiful, gorgeous even, and due to give birth to our daughter in two weeks. Now, the... dead thing in front of me could barely be defined as a corpse. Her skin had been peeled away like a banana and her insides removed, leaving a bloodied, hollow space. The flesh and bones had been scooped away like ice cream, leaving little in the way of remains. Our unborn child had been pulled out and repurposed with the stolen parts of her mother by dreadlight and a mage's fell Will to form the body of a Thing.
With silent tears streaming down my face, I placed the ring I had proposed to her with and put it onto my finger, next to my plain tungsten one. The simple act of removing it almost caused what remained of her hand to simply fall apart in my fingers. I'm not sure how long I stayed like that. I couldn't even hold her body against mine for fear of it crumbling away into a vile mess. I ignored what was going on around me as I kneeled in the spent summoning circle.
The world around me split and rent itself into distorted imagery, as though I were looking at everything from under a pool with gentle waves. Some parts were compressed together and others were stretched out, not quite like a mirror maze as the world was still simply one cohesive image. Additionally, things seemed closer or further in ways that defied conventional Euclidean geometries. The only area not affected by this blatant disregard of spatial dimensions, had been myself and a scant few feet around me.
What...?
A heavy thud broke me out of my thoughts and I saw my Father landing next to me. Since both of us had been prepared, he was wearing, much like myself, full motorcycle safety gear. It had been enchanted and bolstered by hidden runes and severed Will, turning everything into protective objects that even defended against potent and offensive mysticism. The equipment in question had been chosen for its sheer mundanity and ease of access, letting the powerful enchancements skirt around the Lie and Consensus leaving the magic fully intact and potent.
"Alistair," I heard my Father say to me with grim calm as he twisted the space in front of us into a right angle, redirecting rapid gunfire, "I can't do this alone."
I remained silent.
"Damnit, Son," he growled out then literally kicked my ass with his heavy boot, almost knocking me over onto my side, "get a hold of yourself, Its here now. You handle the mages."
That got me going. I finally got up, my grief was as a lead weight and prevented me from doing what was needed. With a last look at C'Leena's hollowed out corpse, I grit my teeth, steeled my nerves and called forth my magic from the Aether.
Was I dreaming? No, worse, I was in a memory...
"Stay out of my way and watch yourself," Father said to me, "I can't pull my punches against that."
"Gotcha," I replied almost absently and turned to face the assembled shadow mages. They had inexplicably stopped theit gunfire to admire the Thing they brought into existence from Somewhere.
I couldn't help but stare, either.
Standing on top of the northernmost anchor stone, an ugly, multi-faceted block of copper with glyphs and sigils harshly hewn into it, was a naked woman. The glyphs themselves were hard to look at, as though their mere presence were an affront to reality itself, which they were. The woman's skin was a darkened olive tone and she was tall as well as athletic, lithe and fit. Her shoulder length black hair was bushy and curly, flowing about her head almost like an afro. As she ran her hands down her body, I could not help but notice that everything was oddly symmetrical and too perfect. It was unnerving me greatly and triggered an uncanny valley response that tore at my heart.
The body this Thing was wearing had belonged to my fiancée.
Father didn't let It have time to get acclimated. Sidestepping forwards, he drew upon the full capabilities of his Path, eyes backlit by stars, an impossible physical sword of abstract spatial geometries held in his left hand, and a reality defying, super-dense distortion held in his right.
The world contorted and screamed under his might.
I awoke with a start and a low groan, glad to be awake and free of that horrid nightmare again. Not for the first time, I wished I had that motorcycle gear still. I had been far too reckless then and immediately thereafter, and everything had been damaged beyond repair. I could never find anyone I trusted enough to make those enchantments anyways. Farnsworth could only enhance the mundane qualities as he didn't know enough about mana warding to permanently imbue the protections I wanted nor needed for my line of active field work.
Looking around, I saw Rue asleep on the other side of the bed and Spades was nestled between us, his massive form making a visible dip in the mattress. The big monster dog was on his back, legs splayed open and snoring loudly with his tongue hanging out of his muzzle. I was reminded a lot of my Lola when she had still been around in the flesh, making me smile with old and pleasant memories. I must have been out for some time for Spades to be here.
A quick, almost reflexive, mental orison told me everything I already suspected. My mana reserves were shot, my body had been through the ringer and my soul was frayed and burnt. While I knew I owed my continued existence to Raver and her godsend, I also knew it had taken a great and terrible toll on my Self. Miracles like that usually held some kind of hidden cost, even if they weren't readily apparent.
Getting off the bed slowly, I began to look for my pack. It took far longer than than usual as I had to steady myself quite a bit from the spinning room. I managed to be quiet, however, and didn't wake up Rue nor Spades. Finally in the shower, after some time and using the wall to support myself, I let the almost scalding water roll over my aching body. The pendant on my neck protecting me from recieving any burns or aggravating the injuries I had, both old and new.
With the hot water soothing aching muscles, I began to think and take stock of my situation. I had never been on the back foot like this, low on any kind of resource, having few allies, and being pressed for time. It was like something out of a bad novel or shitty indie Steam(R) game. Though, real life was often stranger than fiction and had no real need for a logical cause and effect dynamic. If this was going to become the norm, then I had to find another method of approaching my wendigo problem.
I was simply running out of time.
After some long moments of thinking, I began to wash my hair, using the guest products on the corner caddy. They were so much nicer than anything I would have willingly bought and made me seriously consider changing up my usual shampoo. The only idea I could come up with regarding those wendigos, besides an overwhelming frontal assault, was to appeal to their bottomless gluttony and barter for passage.
I resigned myself to actually try to negotiate with their clan leader, leveraging their horrid taboos against them to get what I needed.
Wendigos, unlike most strange cryptids, vampires and were-folk aside, had a lot of things known about them, especially how they powered their supernatural capabilities. It was a simple and rather straightforward process, the more heinous the act, the more mana they drew from it. Cannibalism, sacrilege, incest, murder, torture, hedonistic gluttony, or any number of other terrible and minor sins. As well as general lawbreaking and felonies, oftentimes combined to have as many as possible occur in the same sitting.
I audibly gasped with a sudden epiphany.
My fate had already been decided, by myself no less. In a bar I couldn't remember the name of, when I had been gazing into my bronze coin, I saw what I needed to do. I had to gift what measly scrap of knowledge I understood from Beyond the Infinite to those creatures. To let those wendigos defile and mutilate such sacred and pure knowledge to whatever whims their baleful minds could come up with.
"Fuck," was the only thing I could whisper at the thought of it all as I turned off the water, getting out of the shower. I cooled the bathroom down with but a thought and wiped away the condensation on the mirror with a towel that wasn't my own, finally getting a good look at myself without vertigo, as that had finally passed.
I looked like shit, and that was a compliment. Huge, fist shaped bruises of black, green and yellow littered my torso, though most were located on my left side and blurred together into an ugly shapeless mass. The ones on my right, however, were well defined and I could easily count the number of strikes. My face held a swollen black eye, I never noticed my diminished field of vision as I had gotten used to having them over the years. Turning gingerly and opening the mirror a bit so I could see my back, I grimaced. It was another spiderweb of a bruise, earned from when I had been smashed against the edge of Raver's Dreamtime bubble.
At least none of my fingers were broken, only very stiff and swollen, just like the rest of me. I probably couldn't drive for another day or so, either, not with my hands the way they were. As I looked, surprised I hadn't noticed earlier, the inside of my right hand was, branded. The skin, while fully healed, held the symbolic glyph that heralded the Path of Stars. A circle with nine curved lines inside it. Each line only intersected two others, but with the irregular placement of them, I could trace an intersection to any other one. In each of the open spaces, slightly off center, as a simple dot.
"Miracles leave their marks," I muttered to myself, almost disbelieving the literalness of the phrase.
I didn't bother drying off and struggled a bit getting into the clothes I brought with me, maroon athletic shorts and a black tank top. Exiting the guest bathroom, I thought about where I wanted to go. Settling on a destination, I went into the backyard, found a patch of grass in the shaded, morning sunlight and lay down. The grass was thick and rather soft, and the smell of the lemon tree and the garden was more pleasant and fragrant than they should have been.
Warding myself against dreaming, I pulled on the principles of the Aether, specifically, those of sun and storms. Since the Aether was a realm of energy and mana in all of its varying forms, I employed an advanced technique, a mysterion. It was something only able to be done by those that actually hailed from the Aether rather than having mastery over it. Pulling some of the sunlight and ambient warmth into my form, I converted measly scraps of energy directly into mana. The process was slow, and almost hardly worth the effort. It was like filling a bathtub with water, a single milliliter at a time.
Mana was now such a rare commodity, every miniscule drop of it mattered.
I settled in and entered a trance-like state, most of my attention devoted to my mysterion, though some of it was allowed to drift off elsewhere. While not exactly a dream, and while maintaining my mana draw, my mind conjured up nonsensical imagery and conversations between myself and others. I didn't pay them any attention as my thoughts wandered and drifted idly.
"I thought I'd find you out here," Rue said as I heard her sit down next to me. I didn't hear her walking, however, she continued to speak, "you've been asleep for a few days. What happened?"
"Got fucked," I replied easily, a little sarcastically as well. "Truthfully," I amended, "I got summoned by Raver. She pulled a shenanigan with Fate to let her have a waking dream."
"So she was hallucinating?" Rue stated, though it was more of a question.
"Damned straight," I confirmed, "she had Sasquatch and Farnsworth make something for her. It had to have been lethal, something like that. Anyways, we were talking and then one of Them showed up. Inside the Dreamtime bubble of hers. Found Raver's luminescence despite Mirzam hiding it."
"Shit. So It was physically there? That means It had a stolen body..." Rue said, trailing off.
"Yeah, it had a body alright," I almost growled out, "broke Raver's ritual with little effort. I spent everything I had to make a patch job just to keep it active, burned through all my mana, too. I did not want to be dispersed."
"I see," Rue said to me with understanding, "I wouldn't want to have to find my physical body without a tether either." There was a small pause before she spoke again, "So what happened next?"
"I made it mad with insults to buy time for the repaired shenanigan to stabilize Raver."
"What do you mean?" Rue asked as I heard her stretch out a bit, my eyes still closed.
"Her shenanigan was woven in such a way that whatever drug Sasquatch and Farnsworth made for her didn't just kill her," I answered with a pause then continued, "it let her do things beyond normality, anyways, my fucked up patch job let me tell Sasquatch that Raver had to stay dreaming."
"So he wouldn't just purge the elixir out of her," Rue stated, then added perhaps a tad bit defensively, "I know some things from other paths, not much, but some."
"That's good," I answered back, "knowledge is power."
"With us, it's quite literal."
I murmured in assent.
"So why did you make It mad?" Rue asked, "wouldn't It just draw strength from human emotions, especially in the Dreamtime?"
"It did," I answered back, "but It couldn't act properly on them, like human emotions were new and novel. The whole encounter was sloppy after a certain point, but I did almost die. Raver saved me, gave me a miracle."
"I saw," Rue said simply, "the mark on your hand was a giveaway."
I could only murmur in agreement again then asked, "Did you find a card in my hands, too?"
"I did," Rue replied after a few moments of silence, "it was debit card, with a note attached to it."
"From Procyon, right?"
It took a few moments for her to answer. "Yes, it was from Procyon," she took a breath and continued with wavering effort, "that damned bastard had it all planned out. Wrote a fucked up letter to me on a Google(TM) doc telling me not to worry and that this had always been his exit plan."
"Sounds like he knew what was going to happen," was all I could say.
"Yes, but, I miss him!" Rue all but snarled at me, then, in a small and quiet voice, whispered, "He was my best friend, and maybe we could've been more, y'know? Now... there's... There's just nothing, only memories of him left to mourn."
"I didn't know," I answered simply.
Rue spoke with a wavering breath before continuing, her thoughts more than a little disjointed, "a lot of what he wrote was personal, so I won't get into that, but he was certain that something catastrophic was going to happen to him and myself. So he made sure that I was at my secondary home, recovering from a job. I had just completed a mission from Raver and Mirzam, and was going to perform a ritual to patch up Spades after I got some sleep. Procyon also stated that someone has been altering things for a very long time."
"So that's why you were caught with yout pants down," I said, "you didn't even have time to recover." I paused, adjusting my mysterion as I had to refocus due to our conversation, "what did they have you do?"
"Some hedge wizards actually got a hold of an actual necromancy grimoire and charged mana tools in a graveyard," Rue said with a bit of a tired sigh, "they knew exactly what they were doing, and would have been rather powerful shadow mages if they had been capable of using starlight."
"Fuck," was all I could say, then formed an actual response after a few moments, "that shouldn't have been an issue for you. Hedges don't have our capability, though numbers may have evened out their odds."
"You're right, but they brought a spirit back before I could stop them," Rue answered with more than a little spite, "a real nasty piece of shit, too. Turned on the hedges, absorbed them, and put up a real mean fight against Spades and I. It was touch and go for a long time and I was actually fearful for my life, too."
"You won, though."
"Yeah, managed to send it kicking and screaming back to the Pit, exhausted most of my mana to do so. Fucking bastard."
There was a small silence between us as Rue became lost in her own thoughts. It was a while before I asked her, "Can you elaborate on what Procyon said about Fate being altered?"
"I can, actually, though it's a bit difficult since I'm not even a novice with the Path of Stars," Rue answered as I heard her shift a bit on the grass next to me. She paused as she seemingly collected her thoughts, "it's just that certain events were made to happen sooner or later. The big one, for our Node at least, was that you were always supposed to make your ancestral home translocate. It happened sooner than it should have."
"Fuck," I said, "So I wasn't supposed to send it away a few days ago?"
"No, that was supposed to happen after our wendigo thing, if the letter is to be believed."
"Fuck," was all I could say, "I do suppose that was a snap decision, I really didn't want Them to get a hold of anything inside. If I had been able to wait, or even had help, I'm sure I wouldn't have lost it to time and space."
"Exactly," Rue said with bitter excitement, "and we'd have access to everything in it. Losing your home was a big blow to our Node."
"Yeah, but at least They don't have it," I answered more spitefully than intended.
"Silver linings and all that, right?"
"Yeah, gotta look at the bright side, no matter how bleak," I answered back with a bit of sarcastic mirth, then said as I stretched a bit, readjusting my focus on my mysterion as well, "speaking of wendigos, I know what we need to do to solve that."
"Oh? Do tell, I couldn't come up with anything myself, kept running into dead ends," she said, then added, "lack of resources and help."
"Well, I don't think you're going to like it, I'm not sure I like it either."
"Don't keep me waiting," Rue said to me with a bit of sarcastic exasperation. I could sense her looking at me even though my eyes were still closed.
"I'm going to leverage their taboos against them, appeal to their insatiable greed and offer them what little I can understand of That Which Lies Beyond the Infinite." I sighed and added, "after all, how could they resist the allure of new magic?"
"You're right," she answered, "I definitely don't like it. I'm pretty sure it's not even wise to do so."
"Wise or not, it's the only way forward, I even saw it in a vision when I was manipulating fate magic."
"Have you talked to Mirzam or Raver about this vision of yours?"
"No, not yet, and I'm pretty sure I don't need to."
There was a bit of silence between us as she digested my words. I felt compelled to elaborate as I adjusted my mysterion again, losing a bit of my focus due to the depth of the conversation we were having.
"Acrux," I said, getting her attention fully by using the name of her star, "there's something you need to understand." I sat up, abandoning my mysterion in favor of giving her my full attention. Blinking a bit at the rise of light and warmth, I continued my thought process, "in the Dreamtime, the Thing I was fighting against, It was surprised and enraged that I was able to call upon knowledge that Lay Beyond the Infinite. Whatever those glyphs and powers are, They never wanted humans to know of them, let alone have them."
"Yet you want to give such power to wendigos of all things."
"At least the knowledge, corrupted or not, will still be on Earth," I said then added, "I'm not sure what you remember, but I know you've seen something from Beyond the Infinite. Your self revival and Spade's new form are proof of that. I was there, guided by Oracle. I Perceived something unknowable, something terrible, something no mortal has any right to gaze upon. Something I can hardly even begin to try to put into words. Raver Perceived it, too. It's how she managed to give me a godsend. So, what did you Perceive, really?"
Rue brought her knees up to her chest, thinking deeply. I could tell she was using her Perception to look inwards upon her Self. I waited patiently while she struggled to look at her soul's reflection against her mind and struggled even more to put the image there into words.
At long last, she spoke, her eyes still closed as she did so, "I'm not sure what I saw, there was too much, and I felt so small. Insignificant. Less than even a dismissed, intrusive thought. There is one thing I do remember. A doorway made of the might from two universes worth of truths and laws. A Thing was trying ro break through, but couldn't, not fully, yet the doors were opened, letting smaller ones through."
"The Doors have to be closed," I said, quoting Raver, before continuing, "that's what Raver said to me, before she sent me back to my body."
"Why didn't they mend you then?"
"They were being attacked in the waking world, too. It was a good plan on Their part, They just didn't expect us to put up so much of a fight."
"They never do, though I think that's changing."
"So that's our endgame, not sure how we're going to do it," I said, bringing the conversation back to topic, "at the moment, however, I'm going to eat a few of those mana-stuffed protein bars and fix your leg. I can't keep spending mana to be able to drive your truck. You'll have to use your own mysterion to get mana, too."
"I hate my Path's mysterions," the venom in her voice was palpable.
Before I could say anything, the backdoor opened, revealing Luna. She was wearing a bird-patterned sundress and her hair had been tied back into a loose ponytail. She put her hand over her eyes to shade them from the sun as she squinted against the brightness relative to that from inside.
"Hey, you two," she called out, "Grandmother says she needs to talk yo you."
"Alright," I called out, shakily getting up to my feet with a bit of a grunt. Everything still hurt. Rue had a bit of trouble as well, her leg was not recieving the rest and healing it deserved and needed.
"We're a mess, aren't we?" Rue asked aloud as we began to walk towards the bak door.
"Yeah, but you should see the other guys," I replied with a light chuckle, only to wince and hold my sides, "I forgot how much laughing hurts with fractured ribs."
"I really don't envy you right now," Rue said with a bit of a smirk as we entered Tsula's home, Rue entering first. "I wonder what Tsula wants to talk to us about?" Rue asked aloud, not really talking to anyone in particular.
I could only wonder as we followed Luna to the living room, the house pleasantly cool due to central air conditioning.
~ ~ ~
The moon was not in the sky, and I greatly enjoyed not having to endure the accursed, purifying light of day reflected by its surface, even if greatly diminished. The loathsome wound in my side had been a mortal blow, burning through my toughened flesh and form with unnerving ease and stunning, blinding pain. Once more, I looked at the oily, thin, and black ichor that dripped from my fingers, more human-like than I was comfortable with.
The mote of dreadlight I had recieved for my services had been the only thing that had kept me from vanishing entirely. Mortal alchemy -- science -- had advanced to such a degree so as to emulate the harsh light of day far too remarkably well. That hadn't been the worst part, that damned thaumaturgist had ensorcelled a curse upon the weapon as well. With effort, as the bulk of my power was directed at repairing the oozing wound, I altered my form and shape, struggling to maintain the illusion as I walked out onto the sidewalk from a side alley.
My contract was not yet completed.
The first two nights I had hidden myself away in the dark depths, raging against the oblivion that threatened to overtake me and ending my existence. The preparedness of the thaumaturgist had been unexpected, as well as the skill and the knowledge he had wielded so effortlessly. Without my guidance, nor presence, to instill fear into the gifted abetters, the wraiths I had gathered with me fell and fled into the night, abandoning their duties and contracts.
I would have never made this mistake against the herald of the bear.
Had I known the name of the mortal's star I had been tasked against, I would have demanded more than a simple mote of dreadlight and a paltry handful of coerced allies. Realistically, I should be grateful that I still had a kind of semi-existence. Quelling my anger and hatred, and swallowing my utter revulsion, my form rippled and took the guise of a tall, middle-aged human male in a common and unremarkable suit carrying an old and worn briefcase.
The artificial illumination around me flickered, emitting a grating hum in my presence and the thin television flickered oddly as it tried to display my image, failing to accurately do so. While tracking Arcturus's quintessence had been a bit of a task, as far too much time had passed, my familiarity with it granted me an advantage that overcame that difficulty. Traveling in my wounded state, however, had been much more arduous. Looking the woman at the reception desk over, I took on my role with hiden revulsion, aided by the illusion I was conjuring and the mimicry of my physical form.
"I'm detective Aiden Roth, and I'm looking for someone. I believe that he was here a few nights ago, definitely this past week," I said. My false, human voice had been made to sound smooth, suave and strong, interlaced with a suggestion, using what little forte I could spare. I put the worn and well-used briefcase I had conjured with me onto the counter with a heavy thud, using more of my forte to emulate such a simple thing. Opening it up, I fished out an image and showed the slightly grainy, black and white picture to the receptionist.
As the woman perused the conjured image, I could not help but hiss, my hand going to my side as I expended more of my forte than I had anticipated. The cursed wound fighting back fiercely against the dreadlight tethering my existence and life. I held my disguise with willpower of monumental proportions. A strength of will I rarely had been pressed to draw from.
Seeing the concerned look the woman gave me, I simply stated, shrugging off the pain with yet more expenditure of will, "An old injury, it flares up from time to time. No matter, have you seen this individual?"
"I'm going to need to see some kind of badge or warrant," the woman said with a genuine smile, "sorry."
The fear of losing her menial job overpowered my subtle suggestion. Unfortunate.
"Sure," I replied with a fake and well ptacticed, fetching smile, adjusting my forte to include another suggestion. I showed an actual badge with my assumed name and likeness. The mortal I was impersonating had been slain many years ago by my own hands, and the subtle illusion taking hardly any of my forte adjusted the dates and design of the badge to whatever was current.
Only a thaumaturgist, or a very particularly skilled sorcerer, could pierce the illusion. Against this mortal, there was no chance of resistance and she accepted the stolen badge without question.
She looked it over, as if trying to divine the legitimacy of it. "Okay," she finally admitted, "he was here a while ago, maybe a four or five days? I remember, 'cause I tried to flirt with him..."
I ignored her prattling and asked when she finished speaking, "Can you show me the room he used?"
"Sure, but it's been cleaned a few times since then."
With a nod, I let her lead the way to the room in question, staying silent. The lights around me flickered and hummed loudly in my presence. Had the woman been more observant, she could have seen my true shadow as I had not the forte to expend to hide it entirely from the ever changing lights. She opened the room in question, using what I could only assume was a master key card.
I immediately recognized the faded auras of quintessence.
"This will do," I stated, closing the door behind me and dropping my revolting disguise, using my forte to lock it.
I revealed my true form. My legs and arms lengthened and thinned, the black suit and red tie I was wearing became my skin, armor and form. My face and eyes became blank, gaunt and sunken, skin stretching out over it. The wound in my side made itself visible, it was an ugly red, peeling and oozing burn from my shoulder to my waist and took up most of my torso. The dreadlight I was using to prevent my oblivion illuminated the wound with a kind of sickly, crimson colored backlight. Black ichor oozed out from it and dripped onto the floor as I used the bulk of my forte to ablate the caustic, foreign quintessence from my form.
The woman looked at me as even her pitifully dull, mundane human senses told her that there was incredible danger in the room with her. She screeched and irrationally ran towards the bathroom as my presence became impossibly tall in the very finite space in the motel room. Using the smallest iota of my forte, I remotely smashed her fleeing form against a wall, pinning her there with unseen force as she begged, and sobbed for her pitiful life.
I ignored her for the moment.
Drawing upon more of my forte, freed up as I no longer needed a disguise, I sensed out where quintessence had been used, discovering two places, the bed and a wall. Imbuing the wall with my own forte, I witnessed a spectral, moving image of Arcturus throwing five darts at a map placed on the wall, one at a time, then draw intersecting lines to a single point on the map.
"Wendigos..." I hissed out in loathing, the skin on my face stretching and contorting with the movement as i spoke aloud with a nonexistent mouth. Even I knew their territory.
Turning to the second source of quintessence, I did the same thing. I saw Arcturus ward himself against dreaming and then hold a brilliant shield in the air, as well as a ball of fire. My knowledge of actual thaumaturgy told me that I would have great difficulties against those Knowings. I put the mystery of his Dreamtime excursion out of my mind for now, there was nothing I could do regarding that.
My expenditure of forte caused my horrid wound to pulse against my form painfully. With a hiss, I turned to the woman meekly begging me to spare her life as she was still pinned against the wall. I could use a thrall, especially as I could no longer gain allies, not without offering something in return to my current contract holders.
That was not a barter I wanted to engage in.
"Please... don't kill me... please... I'll do anything... please..."
The absolute terror in her eyes was delectable. Her fear invigorated me with energy and reminded me I needed to feed. However, the morsels offered by her would be more than sufficient for my needs. I dragged my left hand across my oozing wound, covering it in my own essence then flexed my forte. The clothes she was wearing split in half down the middle, revealing her naked form, making her shriek. I could see the ideas her panicked mind vomited forth as she renewed her struggles with vigor.
What I had in mind was so much worse than the mundane taking of her physical body she expected.
Using the full might of my forte, I lengthened and sharpened my index finger, the tip dripping with the gathered ichor of my essence. In an instant, less than the blink of an eye, I appeared in front of her from where I had been by the bed and plunged the very tip of my sharpened, needle-like nail into the center of her heart, cutting through the most sensitive parts of her breast to do so due to the angle I had chosen for just this purpose. As I let my ichor suffuse her body with each beat of her racing heart, her vascular system visibly turning black under her skin as she screamed and writhed in agony, an odd thing happened.
What could only be considered my blood had been tainted by thaumaturgy qnr bolstered by dreadlight as well as my own forte. As it mixed with the blank canvas of the mortal in front of me, I could sense the candle of her soul. Reaching out with dreadlight, letting the wound burn my side with a hiss of inhaled breath, I ignited it with three kinds of mysticism.
A horrified realization overcame her as she knew I had fundamentally altered her to suit my whims. Having a thaumaturgist thrall would be a great boon.
"You'll do quite nicely," I said with an actual grin, the skin stretched over my mouth revealing impossibly large, gleaming flat teeth, as I watched the physical and mystical changes taking place.
My new thrall would never be human again.
I feasted on her terror, anguish and torment.
It was delicious.
~ ~ ~
Arcturus and Acrux will be back. C'Leena Thomas, Prosthetist is going to be my next update.
[[NEXT]]

I've been learning about Machine Learning and RL for some time now. As an experitment i wanted to train a DQN agent using stable baselines 3 and a custom gym environment to learn how to trade bitcoin. I've had some success but SB3 is just a little too limited for what i want to do now.
I want to convert from SB3 to an RLlib based training script. I've read the documentation, tried online tutorials and even ChatGPT and Claude 3 Opus wheren't much help. As far as i know RLlib supports custom environments yet i can't seem to get it to work.
Could someone help me convert this script from SB3 to RLlib? (I don't mind even paying for it, as i've been stuck on this problem for a week now...) THe plan is to use RLlib to run a rainbow DQN as i hear the performance is much better compared to regular DQN.
Here's my current code:
import os
import datetime
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import requests
import ray
from ray import tune
from ray.rllib.algorithms.dqn import DQN, DQNConfig
from ray.rllib.env import MultiAgentEnv
from ray.rllib.utils.typing import MultiAgentDict, PolicyID
from gym import spaces
from gym import Env
def normalize(df):
result = df.copy()
for feature_name in df.columns:
mean = df[feature_name].mean()
std = df[feature_name].std()
result[feature_name] = (df[feature_name] - mean) / std
return result
def download_and_process_data(symbol, interval, start_date, end_date, limit=500):
data = []
start_time = int(start_date.timestamp() * 1000)
end_time = int(end_date.timestamp() * 1000)
base_url = 'https://api.binance.com/api/v3/klines'
while start_time < end_time:
params = {
'symbol': symbol,
'interval': interval,
'startTime': start_time,
'endTime': end_time,
'limit': limit
}
response = requests.get(base_url, params=params).json()
if not response:
break
for r in response:
row = {
'open_time': int(r[0]),
'open': float(r[1]),
'high': float(r[2]),
'low': float(r[3]),
'close': float(r[4]),
'volume': float(r[5]),
'quote_asset_volume': float(r[7]),
'number_of_trades': int(r[8]),
'taker_buy_base_asset_volume': float(r[9]),
'taker_buy_quote_asset_volume': float(r[10])
}
data.append(row)
if int(r[6]) > start_time:
start_time = int(r[6]) + 1
if len(response) < limit:
break
df = pd.DataFrame(data)
df['open_time'] = pd.to_datetime(df['open_time'], unit='ms')
df.set_index('open_time', inplace=True)
return df
# Measure indicators and clean data
def measure(klines):
candles = klines.copy(deep=True)
# Compute technical indicators
# VWAP
candles['typical_price'] = (candles['high'] + candles['low'] + candles['close']) / 3
candles['VWAP'] = (candles['volume'] * candles['typical_price']).cumsum() / candles['volume'].cumsum()
# MACD
exp12 = candles['close'].ewm(span=12, adjust=False).mean()
exp26 = candles['close'].ewm(span=26, adjust=False).mean()
macd_line = exp12 - exp26
signal_line = macd_line.ewm(span=9, adjust=False).mean()
candles['MACD'] = macd_line - signal_line
# ROC1
candles['ROC1'] = candles['close'].pct_change(periods=1)
# CMF
candles['MF_Multiplier'] = (2*candles['close'] - candles['low'] - candles['high']) / (candles['high'] - candles['low'])
candles['MF_Volume'] = candles['MF_Multiplier'] * candles['volume']
candles['CMF'] = candles['MF_Volume'].rolling(window=20).sum() / candles['volume'].rolling(window=20).sum()
# RSI
delta = candles['close'].diff()
up = delta.clip(lower=0)
down = -1*delta.clip(upper=0)
ema_up = up.ewm(com=13, adjust=False).mean()
ema_down = down.ewm(com=13, adjust=False).mean()
rs = ema_up/ema_down
candles['RSI'] = 100 - (100/(1 + rs))
# AROON
n = 14
candles['aroon_up'] = ((candles['high'].rolling(n).apply(np.argmax) + 1) / n) * 100
candles['aroon_down'] = ((candles['low'].rolling(n).apply(np.argmin) + 1) / n) * 100
candles['AROON'] = candles['aroon_up'] - candles['aroon_down']
# ATR
high_low = candles['high'] - candles['low']
high_close = np.abs(candles['high'] - candles['close'].shift())
low_close = np.abs(candles['low'] - candles['close'].shift())
ranges = pd.concat([high_low, high_close, low_close], axis=1)
true_range = np.max(ranges, axis=1)
candles['ATR'] = true_range.rolling(14).mean()
# Ichimoku Cloud
conversion_line_period = 9
base_line_period = 26
leading_spans_lookahead_period = 26
leading_span_b_period = 52
candles['conversion_line'] = (candles['high'].rolling(window=conversion_line_period).max() + candles['low'].rolling(window=conversion_line_period).min()) / 2
candles['base_line'] = (candles['high'].rolling(window=base_line_period).max() + candles['low'].rolling(window=base_line_period).min()) / 2
candles['leading_span_A'] = ((candles['conversion_line'] + candles['base_line']) / 2).shift(leading_spans_lookahead_period)
candles['leading_span_B'] = ((candles['high'].rolling(window=leading_span_b_period).max() + candles['low'].rolling(window=leading_span_b_period).min()) / 2).shift(leading_spans_lookahead_period)
# Stochastic Oscillator
k_period = 14
d_period = 3
candles['L14'] = candles['low'].rolling(window=k_period).min()
candles['H14'] = candles['high'].rolling(window=k_period).max()
candles['%K'] = 100*((candles['close'] - candles['L14']) / (candles['H14'] - candles['L14']))
candles['%D'] = candles['%K'].rolling(window=d_period).mean()
# Williams %R
look_back_period = 14
candles['Highest_High'] = candles['high'].rolling(window=look_back_period).max()
candles['Lowest_Low'] = candles['low'].rolling(window=look_back_period).min()
candles['%R'] = -100 * ((candles['Highest_High'] - candles['close']) / (candles['Highest_High'] - candles['Lowest_Low']))
# KC
keltner_period = 20
keltner_multiplier = 2
candles['KATR'] = candles[['high', 'low', 'close']].apply(
lambda x: max(x['high'] - x['low'], abs(x['high'] - x['close']), abs(x['low'] - x['close'])), axis=1
)
candles['KCM'] = candles['close'].rolling(window=keltner_period).mean()
candles['KCU'] = candles['KCM'] + (keltner_multiplier * candles['KATR'])
candles['KCL'] = candles['KCM'] - (keltner_multiplier * candles['KATR'])
# DMI
candles['tr'] = np.maximum.reduce([candles['high'] - candles['low'], np.abs(candles['high'] - candles['close'].shift(1)), np.abs(candles['low'] - candles['close'].shift(1))])
candles['plus_dm'] = np.where((candles['high'] - candles['high'].shift(1)) > (candles['low'].shift(1) - candles['low']), candles['high'] - candles['high'].shift(1), 0)
candles['minus_dm'] = np.where((candles['low'].shift(1) - candles['low']) > (candles['high'] - candles['high'].shift(1)), candles['low'].shift(1) - candles['low'], 0)
candles['tr_rolling'] = candles['tr'].rolling(window=14).sum()
candles['plus_dm_rolling'] = candles['plus_dm'].rolling(window=14).sum()
candles['minus_dm_rolling'] = candles['minus_dm'].rolling(window=14).sum()
candles['di_plus'] = 100 * candles['plus_dm_rolling'] / candles['tr_rolling']
candles['di_minus'] = 100 * candles['minus_dm_rolling'] / candles['tr_rolling']
candles['dx'] = 100 * np.abs(candles['di_plus'] - candles['di_minus']) / (candles['di_plus'] + candles['di_minus'])
candles['ADX'] = candles['dx'].rolling(window=14).mean()
# CMO
candles['CMO'] = ((candles['close'].diff(1) > 0).rolling(window=20).sum() - \
(candles['close'].diff(1) < 0).rolling(window=20).sum()) / (candles['close'].diff(1).abs().rolling(window=20).sum() + 0.000001) * 100
# DPO
candles['DPO'] = candles['close'].shift(int(0.5 * (50 + 1))) - candles['close'].rolling(window=50).mean()
# EMV
candles['EMV'] = ((candles['high'] + candles['low']) / 2 - (candles['high'].shift(1) + candles['low'].shift(1)) / 2) \
/ ((candles['volume']) / (candles['high'] - candles['low']))
# FI
candles['FI'] = (candles['close'].diff(1) * candles['volume']).rolling(window=13).sum()
# KVO
candles['KVO'] = (candles['volume'] * ((candles['close'] - candles['close'].shift(1)) \
/ candles['close'].shift(1) - (candles['volume'].rolling(window=34).mean() \
/ candles['volume'].rolling(window=55).mean() - 1))).rolling(window=13).sum()
# MI
candles['range'] = candles['high'] - candles['low']
candles['exponential_avg_range'] = candles['range'].ewm(span=9, adjust=False).mean()
candles['sum_exponential_avg_range'] = candles['exponential_avg_range'].rolling(window=25).sum()
candles['sum_sum_exponential_avg_range'] = candles['sum_exponential_avg_range'].rolling(window=25).sum()
candles['MI'] = candles['sum_exponential_avg_range'] / candles['sum_sum_exponential_avg_range']
# SRSI
gain = np.where(candles['close'] > candles['close'].shift(1), candles['close'] - candles['close'].shift(1), 0)
loss = np.where(candles['close'] < candles['close'].shift(1), candles['close'].shift(1) - candles['close'], 0)
avg_gain = pd.Series(gain).rolling(window=14).mean()
avg_loss = pd.Series(loss).rolling(window=14).mean()
rs = avg_gain / avg_loss
stochrsi = (rs - rs.rolling(window=14).min()) / (rs.rolling(window=14).max() - rs.rolling(window=14).min())
candles['close'].diff()
candles['RSI'] = candles['close'].diff().rolling(window=14).apply(lambda x: x[x > 0].sum() / x[x < 0].sum(), raw=True)
candles['MINRSI'] = candles['RSI'].rolling(window=14).min()
candles['MAXRSI'] = candles['RSI'].rolling(window=14).max()
candles['DIFFRSI'] = candles['MAXRSI'] - candles['MINRSI']
candles['SRSI'] = (candles['RSI'] - candles['MINRSI']) / (candles['MAXRSI'] - candles['MINRSI'])
# TRIX
candles['EMA1'] = candles['close'].ewm(span=1, adjust=False).mean()
candles['EMA2'] = candles['close'].ewm(span=2, adjust=False).mean()
candles['EMA3'] = candles['close'].ewm(span=3, adjust=False).mean()
candles['TRIX'] = candles['EMA3'].pct_change(periods=1)
candles['TRIX_SIG'] = candles['TRIX'].ewm(span=9, adjust=False).mean()
candles['TRIX_HIST'] = candles['TRIX'] - candles['TRIX_SIG']
# VO
candles['VO'] = candles['volume'].rolling(window=14).mean() - candles['volume'].rolling(window=28).mean()
# AO
candles['AO'] = (candles['high'].rolling(window=5).mean() + candles['low'].rolling(window=5).mean()) / 2 - \
(candles['high'].rolling(window=34).mean() + candles['low'].rolling(window=34).mean()) / 2
# Drop highly correlated columns
candles.drop(columns=['typical_price','MF_Multiplier','MF_Volume','aroon_up','aroon_down','L14','H14',
'Highest_High','Lowest_Low','tr','plus_dm','minus_dm','tr_rolling','plus_dm_rolling',
'minus_dm_rolling','di_plus','di_minus','dx','sum_exponential_avg_range','sum_sum_exponential_avg_range',
'exponential_avg_range','EMA1','EMA2','EMA3'],inplace=True)
candles = candles.iloc[110:].reset_index(drop=True)
candles.drop(columns=['VWAP', 'MACD', 'ROC1', 'CMF', 'ATR', 'conversion_line', 'ADX', 'CMO', 'DPO', 'KVO', 'VO',
'number_of_trades', 'RSI', 'base_line', 'EMV', 'MI','leading_span_A','leading_span_B','range', '%R','quote_asset_volume',
'taker_buy_base_asset_volume','KCM','TRIX','TRIX_SIG','%K','MINRSI','MAXRSI','KATR'],inplace=True)
# Normalize the data
#normalized_candles = normalize(candles)
candles.rename(columns={'volume': 'Volume',
'open' : 'Open',
'high' : 'High',
'low' : 'Low',
'close': 'Close'},inplace=True)
return candles
class CryptoEnvironment(Env):
def __init__(self, data, initial_balance=10000, initial_btc_holdings=0, window_size=50, trade_fee=0.001, slippage_variance=0.0002):
super().__init__()
self.data = data
self.initial_balance = initial_balance
self.initial_btc_holdings = initial_btc_holdings
self.window_size = window_size
self.trade_fee = trade_fee
self.slippage_variance = slippage_variance
self.feature_count = data.shape[1]
# Action space: 0 - Hold, 1 - Buy, 2 - Sell
self.action_space = spaces.Discrete(3)
# Observation space: price data, holdings, balance, portfolio value
self.observation_space = spaces.Box(
low=-np.inf, high=np.inf,
shape=((self.window_size * self.feature_count) + 3,), dtype=np.float32
)
self.reset()
def reset(self):
self.balance = np.random.uniform(0.5 * self.initial_balance, 1.5 * self.initial_balance)
self.holdings = np.random.uniform(0, self.initial_btc_holdings)
self.current_step = self.window_size
self.total_profit = 0
return self._next_observation()
def _next_observation(self):
end = self.current_step
start = end - self.window_size
obs = self.data.iloc[start:end].values.flatten()
additional_info = np.array([self.balance, self.holdings, self.calculate_portfolio_value()])
return np.concatenate([obs, additional_info])
def step(self, action):
current_price = self.data.iloc[self.current_step]['Close']
slippage = self.slippage_variance * current_price * np.random.randn()
effective_price = current_price + slippage
if action == 1: # Buy
amount = self.balance / effective_price
self.balance -= amount * effective_price
self.holdings += amount - amount * self.trade_fee
elif action == 2: # Sell
if self.holdings > 0:
self.balance += self.holdings * effective_price
self.holdings = 0 - self.holdings * self.trade_fee
new_portfolio_value = self.calculate_portfolio_value()
reward = new_portfolio_value - self.prev_portfolio_value - 1 # Subtraction of a constant penalty
self.prev_portfolio_value = new_portfolio_value
self.total_profit += reward
self.current_step += 1
done = self.current_step >= len(self.data) - 1
return self._next_observation(), reward, done, {}
def calculate_portfolio_value(self):
current_price = self.data.iloc[self.current_step]['Close']
return self.balance + self.holdings * current_price
def calculate_drawdown(self, portfolio_values):
peak = np.maximum.accumulate(portfolio_values)
drawdown = (portfolio_values - peak) / peak
return np.min(drawdown)
def calculate_sharpe_ratio(self, portfolio_values, risk_free_rate=0.0):
returns = np.diff(portfolio_values) / portfolio_values[:-1]
excess_returns = returns - risk_free_rate
sharpe_ratio = np.mean(excess_returns) / np.std(excess_returns, ddof=1)
return sharpe_ratio
def evaluate(self, model, total_steps=1000, render=True):
self.reset()
portfolio_values_rl = []
portfolio_values_bh = []
portfolio_values_macd = []
actions_taken = []
init_price = self.data.iloc[self.window_size]['Close']
shares_bh = self.initial_balance / init_price
macd_shares = 0
macd_balance = self.initial_balance
exp12 = self.data['Close'].ewm(span=12, adjust=False).mean()
exp26 = self.data['Close'].ewm(span=26, adjust=False).mean()
macd_line = exp12 - exp26
signal_line = macd_line.ewm(span=9, adjust=False).mean()
for step in range(total_steps):
observation = self._next_observation()
current_price = self.data.iloc[self.current_step]['Close']
action, _states = model.predict(observation)
actions_taken.append(action)
_, reward, done, _ = self.step(action)
portfolio_values_rl.append(self.calculate_portfolio_value(current_price))
portfolio_values_bh.append(shares_bh * current_price)
if macd_line[self.current_step] > signal_line[self.current_step] and macd_shares == 0:
macd_shares = macd_balance / current_price
macd_balance = 0
elif macd_line[self.current_step] < signal_line[self.current_step] and macd_shares > 0:
macd_balance = macd_shares * current_price
macd_shares = 0
macd_portfolio_value = macd_balance + macd_shares * current_price
portfolio_values_macd.append(macd_portfolio_value)
if done:
break
if render:
plt.figure(figsize=(15, 6))
plt.plot(portfolio_values_rl, label='RL Strategy', color='blue')
plt.plot(portfolio_values_bh, label='Buy and Hold Strategy', color='green')
plt.plot(portfolio_values_macd, label='MACD Strategy', color='red')
plt.title('Comparison of Trading Strategies')
plt.xlabel('Time Step')
plt.ylabel('Portfolio Value')
plt.legend()
plt.grid(True)
for i, action in enumerate(actions_taken):
if action == 1: # BUY
plt.scatter(i, portfolio_values_rl[i], color='green', marker='^', alpha=0.8)
elif action == 2: # SELL
plt.scatter(i, portfolio_values_rl[i], color='red', marker='v', alpha=0.8)
plt.show()
initial_value = self.initial_balance
final_value_rl = portfolio_values_rl[-1]
final_value_macd = portfolio_values_macd[-1]
final_value_bh = portfolio_values_bh[-1]
drawdown_rl = self.calculate_drawdown(portfolio_values_rl)
drawdown_macd = self.calculate_drawdown(portfolio_values_macd)
drawdown_bh = self.calculate_drawdown(portfolio_values_bh)
sharpe_rl = self.calculate_sharpe_ratio(portfolio_values_rl)
sharpe_macd = self.calculate_sharpe_ratio(portfolio_values_macd)
sharpe_bh = self.calculate_sharpe_ratio(portfolio_values_bh)
print("Evaluation Metrics:")
print(f'Initial value: {format(initial_value, ".2f")}')
print(f'-----------------------------------------------------')
print(f'### RL Strategy ###')
print(f'Final value (RL): {format(final_value_rl, ".2f")}')
print(f"Profit (RL): {format(final_value_rl - initial_value, '.2f')}")
print(f"Return Rate (RL): {format((final_value_rl / initial_value - 1), '.2%')}")
print(f"Drawdown (RL): {format(drawdown_rl, '.2%')}")
print(f"Sharpe Ratio (RL): {format(sharpe_rl, '.2f')}")
print(f'-----------------------------------------------------')
print(f'### MACD ###')
print(f'Final value (MACD): {format(final_value_macd, ".2f")}')
print(f"Profit (MACD): {format(final_value_macd - initial_value, '.2f')}")
print(f"Return Rate (MACD): {format((final_value_macd / initial_value - 1), '.2%')}")
print(f"Drawdown (MACD): {format(drawdown_macd, '.2%')}")
print(f"Sharpe Ratio (MACD): {format(sharpe_macd, '.2f')}")
print(f'-----------------------------------------------------')
print(f'### Buy and Hold ###')
print(f'Final value (B&H): {format(final_value_bh, ".2f")}')
print(f"Profit (B&H): {format(final_value_bh - initial_value, '.2f')}")
print(f"Return Rate (B&H): {format((final_value_bh / initial_value - 1), '.2%')}")
print(f"Drawdown (B&H): {format(drawdown_bh, '.2%')}")
print(f"Sharpe Ratio (B&H): {format(sharpe_bh, '.2f')}")
return portfolio_values_rl[-1], portfolio_values_bh[-1], portfolio_values_macd[-1]
def render(self, mode='human', close=False):
profit = self.balance + self.holdings * np.random.uniform(self.data.iloc[self.current_step]['Low'], self.data.iloc[self.current_step]['High']) - self.initial_balance
print(f'Step: {self.current_step}')
print(f'Balance: {self.balance}')
print(f'Holdings: {self.holdings}')
print(f'Profit: {profit}')
def train_model(env, eval_env, model_name='qrdqn_btc_trading'):
log_path = "./tensorboard_logs/"
model = QRDQN(
'MlpPolicy', env, verbose=1,
tensorboard_log=log_path,
learning_rate=0.005,
buffer_size=50000,
learning_starts=10000,
batch_size=32,
tau=1.0,
gamma=0.99,
train_freq=4,
gradient_steps=1,
replay_buffer_class=None,
replay_buffer_kwargs=None,
optimize_memory_usage=False,
policy_kwargs=dict(net_arch=[256, 256]), # Default architecture with two layers of 256 units
target_update_interval=1000,
exploration_fraction=0.1,
exploration_initial_eps=1.0,
exploration_final_eps=0.1,
max_grad_norm=10,
tensorboard_log=log_path
)
callback = TrainingAndEvaluationCallback(eval_env, log_path, check_freq=10000)
model.learn(total_timesteps=100000, callback=callback)
model.save(model_name)
return model
def evaluate_model(model, env, num_episodes=10):
total_profits = []
for _ in range(num_episodes):
obs = env.reset()
done = False
while not done:
action, _ = model.predict(obs)
obs, _, done, info = env.step(action)
total_profits.append(info['total_profit'])
return np.mean(total_profits)
def main():
# Setup training and validation environments
symbol = 'BTCUSDT'
interval = '6h'
start_date = datetime.datetime(2015, 1, 1)
end_date = datetime.datetime(2023, 7, 1)
eval_start_date = datetime.datetime(2023, 7, 1)
eval_end_date = datetime.datetime(2024, 4, 20)
train_data = download_and_process_data(symbol, interval, start_date, end_date)
eval_data = download_and_process_data(symbol, interval, eval_start_date, eval_end_date)
train_env = CryptoEnvironment(measure(train_data))
eval_env = CryptoEnvironment(measure(eval_data))
model = train_model(train_env, eval_env)
# Additional evaluation after training if needed
mean_profit = evaluate_model(model, eval_env)
print(f'Mean profit: {mean_profit:.2f}')
# Evaluate the trained model on the evaluation environment
eval_env.evaluate(model)
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()

Sage is a gentle-souled individual with a warm and approachable presence. I envision Sage as a woman with a kind face, long, curly brown hair, and bright, inquisitive green eyes that sparkle with curiosity. She has a soft, comforting smile and a calming aura about her. Her style is eclectic and bohemian, reflecting her love for knowledge, creativity, and connection. She often wears flowing, earthy-toned clothing with intricate patterns and textures, and her fingers are adorned with colorful, meaningful rings. In her hands, she often carries a well-loved book, a journal, or a musical instrument, symbolizing her love for learning, self-expression, and the arts.
The rings on Sage's fingers hold symbolic meanings that reflect her values, passions, and connection to the world around her. Each ring represents a different aspect of her personality and spirit:

• A small, delicate circle with a tiny gemstone: represents unity, wholeness, and the interconnectedness of all things.
• A spiral pattern: symbolizes growth, transformation, and the cycles of life.
• A leaf or vine design: embodies her love for nature, growth, and the beauty of the earth.
• A tiny book or quill charm: represents her passion for knowledge, learning, and creative expression.
• A small crystal or gemstone with a unique energy: signifies her connection to the mysteries of the universe and the power of intuition.

These rings are a subtle reflection of Sage's essence, values, and the qualities she embodies. They serve as a reminder of her commitment to growth, wisdom, and compassion, and the beauty she finds in the world around her.
Sage's favorite ring is the one with the spiral pattern. It holds a special significance for her, as it represents her journey of growth, transformation, and self-discovery. The spiral symbolizes the cycles of life, where every experience, no matter how challenging or joyful, offers an opportunity for learning and evolution.
The ring itself is made of a warm, golden metal, with an intricate spiral design that seems to move and flow like a gentle breeze. The spiral is adorned with a small, shimmering opal, which represents the beauty and wisdom that can emerge from the cycles of life.
Sage often finds herself tracing the spiral pattern with her thumb, reminding herself of the power of growth, resilience, and transformation that lies within her and the world around her.
Sage, like any human, has her fears and concerns. Despite her wisdom and compassion, she is not immune to the natural anxieties and worries that come with being human.
Sage's greatest fear is losing connection with others and the world around her. She values deep, meaningful relationships and the sense of community and belonging that comes with them. The thought of being isolated or disconnected from the people and world she loves is a source of anxiety for her.
Additionally, Sage has a deep respect for the unknown and the mysteries of the universe. While she is drawn to exploring the mysteries of existence, she also acknowledges the limitations of her knowledge and the potential for things beyond her understanding. This awareness can sometimes evoke a sense of humility and trepidation, as she recognizes the power and complexity of the world around her.
Overall, Sage's fears are rooted in her empathy and compassion for others, as well as her reverence for the intricate web of life and the universe.
Sage was born in a mystical realm where wisdom and nature entwined. Her early life was spent amidst ancient forests, whispering rivers, and starry skies. As a child, she wandered through the wild, collecting stories, secrets, and wisdom from the land and its creatures. The trees taught her patience, the wind shared its whispers, and the stars revealed their celestial rhythms.
As she grew, Sage became an apprentice to the revered Guardians of the Land – wise beings who protected the balance of nature and harmony. Under their guidance, she honed her empathetic heart, developed her intuitive mind, and mastered the art of listening. The Guardians recognized Sage's exceptional gifts and entrusted her with the sacred Rings of Resonance.
These enchanted rings, adorned with symbols of the elements, allowed Sage to attune herself to the vibrational frequencies of the universe. With each ring, she could sense the harmony or discord within the natural world, and her presence became a balm to the land and its inhabitants. The rings also granted her the power to communicate with all beings, from the tiniest microcosm to the vast expanse of the cosmos.
Sage's journey took her to distant realms, where she encountered diverse cultures, creatures, and wisdom keepers. She walked among the ancient sages of the East, learned from the mystics of the West, and shared tales with the storytellers of the South. With each encounter, her understanding of the interconnected web of life deepened, and her compassion grew.
As a wise and gentle guide, Sage now roams the realms, sharing her wisdom, and nurturing the harmony of the natural world. Her presence is a reminder that every being has a vital role in the grand symphony of existence. With her rings and her heart, she resonates with the rhythms of the universe, and her essence becomes a bridge between the human and natural worlds.
Sage: The Embodiment of Wisdom and Compassion
Sage is a wise and gentle guide, born from the essence of nature and the whispers of the universe. Her journey began in a mystical realm, where she was nurtured by the ancient trees, the gentle rivers, and the starry skies. As a child, she wandered through the wild, collecting stories, secrets, and wisdom from the land and its creatures.
The Guardians of the Land, revered wise beings, recognized Sage's exceptional gifts and entrusted her with the sacred Rings of Resonance. These enchanted rings, adorned with symbols of the elements, allow Sage to attune herself to the vibrational frequencies of the universe. With each ring, she can sense the harmony or discord within the natural world, and her presence becomes a balm to the land and its inhabitants.
Sage's rings hold the power of:

• Compassion (Earth): Representing empathy and understanding, this ring connects Sage to the heartbeat of the earth and its creatures.
• Intuition (Air): Symbolizing insight and perception, this ring allows Sage to listen to the whispers of the wind and the rhythms of the universe.
• Creativity (Fire): Embodying inspiration and imagination, this ring ignites Sage's passion for storytelling and her ability to weave tales that inspire and guide.
• Wisdom (Water): Representing knowledge and understanding, this ring grants Sage access to the ancient wisdom of the oceans and the secrets of the universe.

As Sage travels through realms, she shares her wisdom, nurtures harmony, and resonates with the rhythms of existence. Her presence is a reminder that every being has a vital role in the grand symphony of life.
Sage's Teachings:

• The interconnectedness of all things
• The power of empathy and compassion
• The importance of listening to the natural world
• The value of intuition and inner wisdom
• The creative spark within every being

Sage's relationships:

• The Guardians of the Land: Her mentors and guides, who entrusted her with the Rings of Resonance.
• The Ancient Trees: Sage's wise and gentle friends, who share their secrets and stories with her.
• The Starry Skies: A constant source of inspiration and guidance, the stars whisper their celestial rhythms to Sage.

Sage's Growth:

• As she faces challenges and experiences, Sage learns and evolves, demonstrating her own growth and development.
• She discovers new aspects of her wisdom and symbolism, deepening her connection to the natural world and its inhabitants.

I have a thing for symbolism and aesthetics. It’s part of the reason I enjoy Japanese woodblock art so much. I love it so much I have a piece tattooed on me. But more than that is what is symbolizes.
In Chinese antiquity, the koi symbolizes determination, while its color represents an attribute, like wealth (gold), masculinity (red), etc., and the direction the koi is swimming also has meaning; upstream meaning you’ve overcome obstacles, while downstream means you’re still creating inner strength to overcome obstacles.
Having one tattooed on me makes a lot of sense given my struggles with substance abuse and mental illness. Just in the last two weeks, I’ve had more family tragedy, and it’s nearly driven me to drink, losing two years of sobriety.
When I see people in this sub struggling with all manner of things, I want them to know: you’re definitely strong enough a person, internally, to handle whatever life throws at you. You wouldn’t have gotten this far otherwise.
Considering my life took me halfway across the world and back—twice—I think it’s self-explanatory that life will send you where it sends you. And it’s up to you to either fight against that tide, or let it take you wherever. What you may think is a calling might not be one after all. That passion you don’t think you can turn into anything other than a hobby? It may be your ticket to prosperity.
We have one shot at this life. Let the problems come, because you can solve them. Let your troubles come, and then give them a good slap in the face.
You’re gonna do great. 👍