Chapter 6 – Follow the Yellow Brick Road
“It's always best to start at the beginning,
and all you do is follow the Yellow Brick Road.”
– Glinda, The Wizard of Oz
– ***** –
(3w – 1d) = 20d before breakdown (IGT)
“That’s it. I give up.”
Elric could finally feel small tears appear in the thin layer of rationality that for years had tentatively held his mind together, enduring dutifully as not to give way to unbounded chaos. The cracks were tiny, but definitely there, and mending them would take time. Time Untold Tales didn’t seem to be willing to allow him.
“I get it now. Haha! This game’s gone insane. Or is it me? Nah… I’ve never been fine to begin with. No. Must be the game… or not? I don’t know anymore. Nor do I care after all… Hehehe. What’s next? Flying poisoned mushrooms? Do send! Three little undead piglets? Ah! Why not four, just for the heck of it?! Hey?! Where’s [Jacky the Crowned Pumpkin]? Seven bony dwarfs and a broken raped slave housewife in an expired cake-cabin? You can’t do better?! Talking PONIES advocating a freakin’ dictatorial ideal of FRIENSHIP?!? AHAHAHAH!!! Give me a break, World!!!” Aaaaaah… my head hurts…
– *** –
For a while after reaching level 127, Elric had walked up the river…or down… He really wasn’t sure. For some reason, the tormented souls persisted in flowing against the natural slope of the grounds. So that meant he actually was climbing downstream, wasn’t it? – Whatever, that’s not the main problem here.
The real mind-numbing enigma here was that, in front of him, crossing over the reversed current of wailing plasma, in the depths of an freaking undead-filled forest, in some arbitrary nook of a ruined nation forgotten by its gods – most gods at least, Chaos clearly was still at work in the place –, there, in the middle of an unequalled hellhole, was a very delicate, very cute, very out-of-place, and very very pink wooden bridge decorated with artsy hearts and smiling flowers… the whole absurdly adorable thing oozing some kind of cheerful tune that irresistibly evoked an ice-cream van.
AND – as if it wasn’t enough – on the opposite shore, connected to the brain-damaging cutesy catwalk, a shining lemon-coloured cobblestone path, visibly lost in the wrong tale, cut through the mossy soil, creeping away from the river and disappearing out of sight among the old crooked trees.
“What the…”
Hearing a rustle from a nearby bush, The Getting-Real-Tired-Of-Your-Shit Knight let out a resigned sight and declared to the newcomer in a flat voice:
“Toto. I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
Not caring in the slightest, neither about Kansas nor its new name, the drooling [Lesser Ghoul] mindlessly jumped at his throat.
“Tsh… ungrateful bastard.”
Nearing his breaking point, Dorot…eeh…Elric wasn’t in any mood to deal with the pseudo-threat. He merely side-stepped a bit, tripped the degenerate vampire, and completed the move with a “light” push… violently thrusting the sucker into the ghastly flux. Spectral arms immediately grabbed it, dragging the creature underwater as it comically waved, shrieking in pain from the contact with the, apparently corrosive, souls. Elric grinned widely at the sight, a hint of madness in his eyes.
Unexpected…
Should try to study the chemical properties of disembodied spirits one of these days. I’ll see if I can collect some ectoplasm next time I get my hands on a [Smoky Reaper] or [Phantasmal Witch]. A [Haunting Parasite Larva] should do too… I haven’t experimented in a while. It’s a shame. Undead make such funny lab rats.
Elric theatrically waved back at the melting creature.
“Goodbye Toto Ghoul… Say hello to Kaneki-san for me. I’ll always remember that, be it for an instant, I faced you as a named monster, if only in my heart. Goodbye Goodbye goodbye… sniff sniff”
Flapping an imaginary tissue, Elric wiped an inexistent tear off his face. Then he bridled his dubious sense of humour, stopped smiling, and focused his annoyed glare back on the Piss-Coloured Brick Road. The yellowish fairy-tale crossover simply didn’t exist on his side of the river, so he would be forced to pass the musical bridge to get a closer look. Thankfully, the merry-go-round melody didn’t seem to have any side effect – not that the system would inform the player of those before it was too late. It’s more realist that way, isn’t it? It’s more FUN!! HAHA… Aaaah… calm caaalm. *expire* Pfeeuu… Will this thing hold by the way?
Elric had equipped his silver armour back when he first encountered the [River of Lost Souls]. Abnormal landmarks tended to attract dangerous mobs, and he wasn’t about to re-enact the “Sacred Grove Fiasco” – definitive official name, less embarrassing than “Knight-Getting-Nearly-Axed-Off-By-A-Squirrel Fiasco”. Elric thus worried a bit about how well the structure would fare, supporting almost two metres – he did change his appearance a bit at the creation stage – of muscular manhood clad in thick metal. He needn’t have worried though, as the girly glorified trestle didn’t even flinch under the heavy weight, somehow denying its own fragile appearance. Magic – and bad taste – must have played a part in its construction.
Well, DUH!? I mean… It’s diffusing music out of nowhere! And it did remain in an unnaturally good shape, considering the standards of neighbourhood. And the pillars resist to the acidic ghosts… At the same time, so does the shore… Mmmmh. Does it only affect organic matter? Maybe I should…
“AaAaah. Focus!”
One thing at a time. First, L. Frank Baum of the Dead. Next you can play with demonic acid if you want. Voilà. Good boy… So, what do we have here?
On second inspection, the pretty walkway didn’t look so innocent. In fact it was rather creepy, as what resembled small black bugs crawled all over its golden stones.
~ *whistle* ~ “Oh my, you keep your cards close, don’t you?”
Each and every brick was in fact carved with crisscrossed lines of minuscule inky runes that moved fast and erratically all over its surface, like demented shockwaves.
Prone on the wooden deck – very vulnerably so, which made the whole silver armour thing pretty pointless – Elric frowned as he tried to identify the oddly familiar blurry symbols. The image of snow-white lightning and the – extremely uncomfortable – feeling of being reduced to ashes flashed through his mind.
…holi-fucking-ness! Right! Those are the same glyphs that were in that short-circuited, overcharged freaking broken temple of doom! Still have no clue what it means though. Nor what tongue it’s from. God it’s irritating.
With exploring ancient ruins in mind, the Wandering Knight had made sure to acquire the passive skill [Ancient Language Mastery]. All said and done, it wasn’t one too difficult to get, as it only required to read books… lots and lots of books. Not many were willing to tackle a pile of thick dusty tomes that would dwarf any encyclopaedia. Because of that, aside from librarians and historians – two quite unpopular classes to say the least – only a few eccentrics, among which Elric’s old knight master, actually possessed it.
True, the skill didn’t always suffice to translate some of the most obscure texts. However, if it really didn’t pick anything – like it was presently the case – the dialect had to be either fake or utterly lost and forgotten – A bit like the Erwyn Kingdom as a whole in fact. The former was scarcely possible however, as the disturbing liveliness of these writings seemed to deny any possibility of forgery. Moreover, the odds of encountering the same bogus language in two out-of-the-ordinary, seemingly unrelated, places were rather low, so it probably was some ancient tongue barely anybody alive even knew.
Sadly, “anybody alive” doesn’t encompass liches. Elric, still lying face down, was now giving the brick road a scornful look… An unconvincing scornful look, considering his position and the jolly background.
The Near-Soul-Magicophobic Knight got up, and started as he only now noticed the dense milky fog that filled the woods on this side of the river. He stayed unmoving for a few seconds, observing the ominous whiteness. He then breathed out in relief after confirming the cloud was stagnant and not slowly surging out to get him. It also seemed a little thinner around the Canary Lane.
“Tsk. I’m getting edgy. Should be used to weird by now. Ah! But usually, I’m the source, not the recipient. Feels unnatural. Anyway… Now, let’s sum up our present predicament, shall we?”
Folding his left arm over his stomach, he rested his right elbow into his cupped hand, and used his right fingers to slowly stroke the two weeks old beard that ate up his chin. He struck a dignified pose and looked in the distance for a while. Then, he brought back his eyes on an attentive audience, that existed only in his mind, and said in a deep professorial voice, lifting fingers up as he went down a discouraging list:
“The situation is as follow. We… are lost, definitely so. This place doesn’t make any sense, and I have no idea neither where this road goes, nor what the enchantment engraved onto it does. Ladies and gentlemen, I’m sorry to inform you… we’re screwed.”
His imaginary public nodded.
Well… you guys are accommodating as ever, aren’t you?
Talking to someone always helped Elric focus his thoughts, as well as to get a better understanding of what he was trying – or supposed – to do. However, since he travelled mostly alone, he had to improvise – not that they were very helpful nor insightful. They usually listened, nodded, and produced timely voiceless onomatopoeia.
Maybe I should find real companions. Yeah… I’ve had enough of Zombieland for now anyway. As soon as I get out of this forest, I head to the nearest town, excavate/unseal/draw a teleportation circle and “Bye-bye”! And I won’t come back until I find some “nakama” willing to hunt down corpses for a while – Don’t take it personally Brooky. Maybe a cleric, or a dark mage? I’ve nothing against those as long as it’s not me they attack… Oh. I derailed again didn’t I?
“Focus. Focus. The road. So? What now? Ah. Yes. First, I’ll do a few tests.”
– *** –
Three hours, five trips in the woods, two [Skeleton Swordsman], one [Dead Hunter], three [Lesser Ghoul], one [Immaterial Whore], this one granting him a bucket of – probable – ectoplasm, two health potions, one grass sandwich, and lots of various probing methods later, Elric finally reached a conclusion.
“Yep. Still nothing.”
“…” The audience was consternated.
He had used all the detection spells he could think of, as well as other various unorthodox techniques he picked up on his journey – “Throw a rock on the thing, if it doesn’t explode, maybe you won’t.” – but to no avail. The cobblestone way remained mysterious.
This calls for Elric’s rule number four! <1>
“If it doesn’t look like it’ll kill you right away, it’s saaafe.”
The devising of this rule quite immediately led to the advent of rule number five: “If it wasn’t, you’ll know better next time.”
Brimming with self-imposed confidence, Elric firmly stepped onto the road.
He would have closed his eyes in anticipation, but closing one’s eyes in hostile territory while stepping on a potentially mortal device was… pretty stupid. Well… nothing happened for about ten seconds, so he brought forth his second foot next to the first one.
Congratulations!
You are the first to discover the [Yellow Cobblestone Path of No Return].
+100 Fame.
You know… Whatever Incorporated. You won’t avoid copyright infringement just by altering the name a little. Or maybe you will. I don’t know. I’m no lawyer. And why did you feel forced to add “of No Return”? Was the colour yellow to funny for the neighbourhood? You’ve got a freaking music box of cuteness here! Let me tell you that pus might be yellow but it’s nothing funny… Aaaah… Why would I immediately associate yellow with “piss” and “pus”? I don’t know… I’m sick, or maybe I just like to shock people. Not that there’s anybody to shock here. Maybe I’m just lonely. I don’t know. What am I? Ah, right. I’m lost.
Dismissing the floating translucent blue window, the Solitary Knight started walking.
– *** –
Mist… Fog… Cloud… It really doesn’t seems much when one think of it. A floating heap of gaseous white candy floss. An inoffensive mass of barely condensed liquid in suspension in the air. In nature, one normally would not need to fear anything from mist. However, when magic was thrown into the mixst, this seemingly inoffensive phenomenon became one of the world’s most vicious tools of assassination.
Ever felt the knife of a steam-cloaked assailant? Ever lost your way in a cloud of poison? Ever died after billions of droplets suddenly turned into a lethal storm of frozen needles? Ever been encased in an instantaneous block of ice? Ever seen eyes pop under a pressure seemingly coming out of nowhere? Ever drown above ground after the water density in the air exponentially increased? Ever exploded as vapour infiltrated in your lungs suddenly expansed? Same with acid? Ever gotten strangled by condensed moist smoke?
Elric had. He once witnessed a whole experienced party instantly reduced to shredded meat by a single clever, mist-wielding, newbie water mage. Therefore, the Sage of the Wild was far from relaxed as he progressed through the dense haze, constantly monitoring his breathing and heart-rate, and keeping a watchful an eye on his surroundings.
However, after a while without anything happening, the fog began to clear and Elric distinguished a low man-made structure in the distance. He doubled his pace, accelerating towards his newfound target without lowering his guard. Soon, his visibility went back to normal, and he finally recognised the wooden construction.
“…”
His brain skipped a beat, his heart blinked and his eyes froze.
“What the…”
In front of him, spanning over turbulent milky waters, was a delicate, cute, and far too rosy bridge covered in carved hearts and blooming plants.
– *** –
Damn! I’m so stupid. F’cking scatterbrain…
All to his caution against deadly threats, Elric forgot one of the most basic mist-related spells, [illusion Mist]. As the name suggested, its objective was to mislead the target using a combination of lowered visibility and simple deceiving imagery. Well… Elric had been misled. He didn’t exactly retrace his steps though, as he emerged from the forest about fifteen to twenty metres up… downstream from the melodic crossing. At some point, he must have wandered off the road, and was magically brought back to the nauseating torrent of hell.
He knew [Illusion Mist] had one major weakness, which is why he dismissed it as a possibility. As a spell of the Void Affinity, it dealt with raw mana, and the “mist” it produced wasn’t actually made of water. Experienced adventurers would always be on guard against “dry” clouds, and so would easily detect the trickery before falling prey to it.
What Elric forgot, however, was that higher tier magi had several options to cover up this deficiency. One being to cast a normal [Mist] simultaneously with its deceiving variant. The intrinsic essence of void magic would prevent any interference, and, since [Mist] actually had no effect whatsoever except being wet – It’s just airborne water, what d’ya expect? – nobody would notice right away. Another possibility was always to improve the illusion to affect not only sight, but the others senses as well, turning the illusion into convincing fog, smoke, or even fire if the caster wished it so.
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The Wandering Knight, despite how unfocused he was, wouldn’t normally make such a blunder. Months of encountering nothing but undead and dark magic, mostly the accursed “soul” kind, apparently influenced his subconscious more than he thought.
Need to get myself back together. Ashen was a nice place, but I don’t really want to revive there and have to fight my way back here. Supposing I can even find this place again.
Lost or not, pissed or not, composed or at the brink of mental breakdown, the Knowledgeable wasn’t about to let a mystery slip past him unclarified. He would find out what this road was, and where it went, or die – as many times as necessary – trying.
– *** –
“♫ From Tales Untold, rose the Black Raven. ♪”
After casting a few protection spells, Elric once again set about walking the [Yellow Cobblestone Path of No Return] – Which part of this warrants the “No Return” again? – and this time glued his eyes to the canaryness… The singing was a way to protect the mind from external influences by focusing it on a rhythmic tune. He learnt the trick from cave dwellers who actually raised [Slutty Dream Slug]. According to them, slug milk was a delicacy.
It really was delicious… Although, I still feel guilty about suggesting them to market “mind porn” to the surrounding villages. I might have launched a terrifying industry… Oh, well… At least that place will be the safest in Pandore once adventurers reach it. Most players would die before allowing the destruction of their fap material.
With unflattering philosophical thoughts about the profound essence of mankind, Elric struck up the next verse with approximate faithfulness. Singer wasn’t exactly his strong suit. He was better at whistling.
“♫ Her land at peace, she kept us warmed. ♪ Gift of Heaven, Her name’s Ishtar. ♩♬”
This song was his current favourite. By the raising band “Faust”<2>, it told the story of a benevolent queen, who was dragged down into war and insanity by envious neighbouring rulers, which ended up causing their mutual destruction.
“♩ Jealousy at heart, they stole what was Hers. ♫♪ They woke the beast: DEATH TO THOSE FUCKERS!! ♫”
It wasn’t a quiet song.
Faust was in fact mostly into folk metal <3> with a bit of symphonic <4> on the side. They played UT too, as bards – obviously – but very violent and chaotic bards, wielding self-customized musical weapons. People still came to their concerts though, both in real life and in-game.
“♬ Her back to the gods, who betrayed Her trust, ♪ Her powers rampaged, fed by Her bloodlust, ♪ Forbidden dark spells, insults to Heaven, ♫ The angel was dead, rose the Black Raven! ♩ ♫”
Their music and their play-style had made Elric a die-hard fan.
Now that I think of it, the release of their next album is in three days. I must remember to… Oh.
“FU…dge.”
…to not lose focus on the road.
Concentration definitely wasn’t his forte.
The bridge was before him.
– *** –
It took four more hours, one rage trip to the other side of the river, two [Why-Me Unfortunate Zombie], three [That-Is-Not-A-Way-To-Deal-With-Your-Issues Animated Cadaver], one [Calm-Down-Man Dullahan] – as he vent his anger, [Out-Of-Patience Solar Kight “Elric”] was renaming his victims –, one rancid weed sandwich, one improvised poisonous tea, one detoxification spell, three mana potions, one newfound hatred for hearts, pink, and bridges in general, as well as a growing ice-cream carving, for Elric to finally figure out what was wrong in his approach. The verdict was, of course:
“Soul magic.”
After his little rampage, he had calmed enough to thoroughly analyse the situation once again. It appeared his starting postulate had been slightly off. Firstly, yes, the mist drove him back to the river of souls, but it wasn’t a void-based spell, but really a soul-based one. It directly enticed the very core of his being, without bothering with the external senses, and forced it to seek the cursed shore. Secondly, despite at first feeling something was amiss, Elric had eventually assumed the engraved bricks only caused the haze. Breaking his newest rule number 373 <5>, he hadn’t paid much attention to it and soon forgot about the thought.
In fact the [Yellow Cobblestone Path of No Return], atop of spreading illusionary fog, also lead those who walked it out of its own course, pushing them inside the murky trap. It made sense it would, as the whiteness was less dense around the road. So if one managed to stay on tracks, they might possibly reach the other side of the wicked candy floss.
That… or there are two identical bridges at both ends of the road, and this whole forest has been heavily trolling me since this morning.
Elric had finally noticed his error after he reluctantly used one of the three soul spells he knew, [Soul Defence] – the others being [Soul Heal] and [Soul Grab]. After centuries of undead infestation, the Erwynians had picked up a few tricks. A month ago, right after defeating his third lich, Elric had made the acquaintance of an old self-proclaimed necromancer, begging in the town of Utar, which is somewhere east of Ashen. In exchange for a week of meals, the man, named Kalver, had accepted to teach Elric the basics of soul magic while he cured the Solar Knight of a nasty curse, parting gift of the relentless bony warlock.
The [Soul Defence] offered him some protection against spiritual manipulation. At Elric’s level of mastery, it wasn’t enough to prevent it, but sufficed for detecting if he was being influenced and vaguely how.
Should have used that in the first place. F’cking genius! Being distracted and riled up isn’t an excuse.
“But that doesn’t tell me how to actually get through.”
With exaggerated moues, he rummaged through his deranged brain – putting back some order while he was at it – and tried to find a way to bypass his magical shortcomings. After a while:
“AH! Hahaha. That could work. Seriously…” He shook his head in self-mocking.
I’ve been really out of it this past two days. How do the Reckless Imbecile deal with such situations? Don’t think too hard.
“The simplest solution is often the right one. Rule 8!”
Ah. I did find it strange how those rules were popping in the right order lately…
Back to his usual “normal” self – for now –, Elric stood up from the bridge he was sitting on and, without halting, he followed the Yellow Brick Road – Fuck you, copyright! –, [Soul Defence] up, and eyes shut.
His reasoning was as such: he had no way of protecting himself from the spell, so he would just go exactly in the opposite direction from where his mind told him to go! His [Soul Defence] enabled him to feel the magical influence and he closed his eyes to better concentrate on his intuition, all in order to disobey himself more efficiently! The strategy was simplistic, borderline suicidal. Even if the white mist was devoid of predators, one mistake and he would be back on the shore, blindly strolling towards the caustic phantasmal current. It was, however, his only option. Well, he could always grind his soul magic until it was up to the task, but how boring was that!
Slowly pacing in total darkness, Elric voicelessly sang “Rise of the Black Raven”, ignoring the feeling of stone under his feet, the moisture against his skin, or the sound of fallen branches he supposedly stamped over, going left when right felt right, and right when left right felt.
– *** –
After what seemed hours, he sensed the caress of the sun against his skin, and stopped. That was new. Without opening his eyes, he pondered what to do. His [Soul Defence] didn’t seem to detect any danger anymore, and, as a Solar Knight, he could tell the sunlight was the real deal. However, the entire sky of Erwyn was supposed to be constantly covered in clouds. According to the Locals – the way adventurers referred to NPCs – it had been this way for centuries, and Elric was too afraid of heedlessly trusting himself after looping in place all the afternoon.
By the pink bridge of cuteness, this is annoying… Blast! I’ve done enough thinking for an entire month already. I’ll ju-
*fa-thud*
Something heavy hitting the ground interrupted his thinking. At the sound, he reflexively opened his eyes and turned around in search of its source, distractedly noting he was indeed in an immense sunny clearing surrounded by the foggy woods, and still standing on the lemon road. He suddenly came face to face with a sturdy – living – thirty-something woman in villager garb. She looked human. At her feet, a basket spilling its apples was probably what made the loud thud. She stood frozen in front of a row of apple trees, her hands covering her mouth, and was staring at the armoured knight in visible shock.
“Hee…” Socialising, along with singing and thinking straight, had always been quite low level skills on Elric’s list.
“Hel… Okay?”
Midway through his – tentative – salutations, the villager turned on her heels and, leaving her apples behind, ran towards a wooden-fenced hamlet, which stood on the other side of the clearing, leaning against an emerald-coloured mountain – Still ripping off Oz, hum? I thought you said “Waiting for you in Wonderland” or something. Keep your story strait Whatever! The mountain was kind of low – as far as mountains go – but quite large, and still managed to block most of the view.
They don’t seem to have visitors often around here.
The Wandering Knight wasn’t overly concerned with the woman’s reaction. When travelling the Wild, one would often come across secluded villages, whose residents were ill-disposed towards outsiders. The important thing was not to counter-attack too earnestly when they brought out the pitchforks.
Picking up the fruit sack, he made his way towards the hamlet. The gloomily named cobblestone path still continued in that direction after all, and its bricks were now free of scribbling. A quick look backwards confirmed the runes stopped at the limit of the trees, and the evil candy floss with them. The mist apparently served as a barrier of sorts, and not a single raised corpse was in sight. That explained the need for soul magic, as the walking dead wouldn’t be swayed by normal illusions. Elric even spotted a few birds flying around, and a fox poking his muzzle out of its earth. Feeling the sun for the first time in months was a bliss. The Solar Knight could feel all his exhausted power come back to him. He took in a deep breath of pure, rot-free air, and sincerely smiled, without wicked afterthoughts, for the first time in a while.
After some more leisurely strolling, Elric arrived at the gates of the small village. No one was in sight. Only silence greeted him. The Famished Knight swallowed the rest of his fourth apple, and was about to call out when an untimely pop-up startled him.
Congratulations! You are the first to discover [Kansas].
+200 Fame.
Okay. Now you even stopped trying.
He dismissed the unoriginal window, took an inspiration and, once again, was about to call out to the villagers, when a huge roaring snow-white fireball suddenly materialized above the gate, swooping down on him with the momentum of a point-blank meteor.
“Oh. No pitchforks then?”
– ***** –
<1> For those who wonder where rule #3 went – pretty sure nobody paid enough attention, or cared – it was “Irresponsible, yes! Overconfident, no.” As a reminder, rules #1 and #2 were “When there’s fun to get, take it! When there isn’t, make it!” and “Comfortableness and style have to be prioritized over efficiency”.
<2> I’m aware there’s actually a band called Faust. That isn’t it and is an entirely fictional group whose members will become secondary characters at some point.
<3> Here’s a little example, by a band named Ensiferum:
Spoiler :
This one is actually classified as “viking metal”, but it’s similar and has common origin. Most compilations you’ll find on youtube mix the two anyway. And to those who still wish to argue about genres, I’ll use the author’s joker and say musical norms evolved through the years, since the story takes place somewhere between 2040 and 2060, the exact date don’t really matter right now.
<4> Nightwish and Epica are the two examples I can think of right now, without going into my playlist.
<5> Elric’s rule #373: “Only trust your guts in places that spawn undead squirrels.”
----------------------------------------
This chapter was written while listening to Kimyou na Yume (Nazo no Kanojo) in a loop. I think I killed someone in my brain. But it’s okay. He didn’t talk to me much lately anyway. And maybe he’s fine? Who knows? I’ll have to ask his siblings. And my eyes suffered much more from screen-fixation.
Sorry for the cliff-hanger. I really ham, and I really salami too, but this was the only place I could cut without it falling flat on its metaphorical face or being even frustratinger.
Also, seeing last chapter marked the end of massive exposition, this one started what I could call “the plot”, although real epic adventuring will have to wait after Elric gets cursed. I still welcome any suggestion: a monster, a character – player or NPC –, a place, a power, a plot element even, whatever you feel like suggesting. I don’t promise I will use it, but I will read all comments, and answer if they call for it. Likewise, all critiques will be thoroughly considered.
So, entschuldigung, and, as always, thank you for killing your brain cells on what killed my eyesight, and see you next chapter.
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